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Bentley’s First Electric Car Won’t Be What You’re Expecting
by Martin Bigg Luxury
Don’t get your hopes up about the EXP 12 Speed 6e Concept going into production.
This year marks 100 years since Bentley was formed. To celebrate its historic anniversary, the automaker recently announced it will present a new special edition model inspired by one of the company's iconic racing models at the Geneva Motor Show in March. This won’t be the only new model that will commemorate Bentley’s centennial celebrations, however, as the automaker will also be presenting a brand new mystery concept car.
"It’s our vision of a luxury car in the future,” Dr Werner Tietz, head of engineering at Bentley, revealed to CarSales. "It will show where we are going to, where we are heading. But, of course, with the relationship to the history of Bentley.”
No further details were revealed, but Tietz hinted the concept will be unveiled around the middle of this year. Judging from his comments, it could debut at the UK’s 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed in July. This would make sense, since the Festival of Speed kicks off just a few days before Bentley's centenary on July 10.
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Tietz went on to reveal new details about Bentley’s first ever all-electric car. In the short term, Bentley is committing to plug-in hybrids, but the automaker also plans to roll out an all-electric model in the future. The automaker’s first EV will be a new standalone model designed for city driving, rather than a derivative.
"It’s easier to do it that way because the package is easier. It is quite difficult to build a flat electrified car.” Despite being a city car, it won’t be a small electric car like the BMW i3 – it’s going to be a proper Bentley. "It has to be luxury. We are thinking about an extraordinary luxury car for big cities. So this is the direction. We don’t build a small car. It will be a luxury car with enough space to sit in.”
Tietz’s comments support previous reports that Bentley’s first EV won’t be a sports car, so don’t get your hopes up about the beautiful Bentley EXP 12 Speed 6e Concept going into production.
Tags: #Bentley #Electric Car #Interview #Luxury
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2019 Bentley Continental Review
First Look: 2011 Bentley Continental GT
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Florida Launches App to Connect Job Seekers with Employers
Today, Governor Rick Scott announced the launch of the Employ Florida mobile app, which gives Florida job seekers instant access to thousands of job openings across the state. The Employ Florida mobile app is now available free on Google Play for Android and in the Apple App Store. The app connects job seekers to Employ Florida, one of the largest job banks in the nation, with postings from Florida businesses and nearly 20,000 websites, including Monster, Indeed and CareerBuilder.
Governor Scott’s announcement comes as hundreds of business and education leaders met last week in Orlando for the Degrees to Jobs Summit, focused on connecting Florida’s world-class talent pipeline with companies across the state.
Governor Rick Scott said, “The launch of the Employ Florida mobile app is great news for Florida job seekers. We want Florida to be the state where anyone who wants a job can get a job. With 270,000 online job openings across the state, we are well on our way, and this app is just another tool to help Floridians find a lasting career.”
The Employ Florida Mobile app allows access to more than 200,000 job advertisements from more than 130,000 Florida businesses. Customers registered on employflorida.com can apply for positions and save searches. Guest users can view openings on their mobile device, view previous searches and apply later to those in which they are interested.
Florida Department of Economic Opportunity Executive Director Cissy Proctor said, “We are so excited to announce the launch of the Employ Florida mobile app. This user-friendly app will help job seekers across the state, with openings from the Panhandle to the Keys and everywhere in between.”
The app was developed by Geographic Solutions, Inc., in collaboration with CareerSource Florida and the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.
“In an increasingly mobile world, Floridians want to know about job opportunities promptly and take action,” said CareerSource Florida President and CEO Chris Hart IV. “Businesses also will benefit from the Employ Florida mobile app, as qualified applicants can respond more quickly to their job postings.”
The app allows job seekers to map, categorize and sort job listings by geographic location and quickly locate the latest jobs in their area with the “Jobs Nearby” function. Registered users can even upload their resumes and apply for a job while on the go.
Paul Toomey, president of Geographic Solutions, said, “As a Florida company, we are proud to partner with the state to place hundreds of thousands of Florida jobs a day at the fingertips of job seekers. The new Employ Florida mobile app will help Floridians find great jobs on their tablets and smart phones. The system uses new technology to help job seekers find the jobs that closely match their skills and background.”
Job searches can be viewed on a map or as a list. Registered users can use their job searches on employflorida.com, using the desktop version or the mobile app, for their work search requirements on their Reemployment Assistance Claims.
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« * comments posted by DXer based on recent FOIA produced documents … Ivins did not have the knowledge, the skill or the equipment … so how could he be the sole perpetrator as the FBI continues to assert?
* Declaration of Richard L. Wade, PhD MPH on Deficient Security in Fall 2001 At USAMRIID Relating To Control of Anthrax »
* DXer … It’s naive and uninformed to think that Al Qaeda could not have obtained Ames just because it tended to be in labs associated with or funded by the US military. … The reality is that a lab technician, researcher, or other person similarly situated might simply have walked out of some lab that had it.
a recent comment from DXer …
In mid-December 2003, two brothers, Michael Ray and James Stubbs, were arrested in a Manila suburb where they were fundraising for a charity that supported the militant islamists and allegedly in contact with militant brothers. Michael Ray, an American, had been a HVAC technician at Lawrence Livermore near San Francisco — until March 2000 — where the Defense Threat Reduction Agency had launched a program to combat the Bin Laden anthrax threat in 1998. He had a high security pass that he permitted him to go to labs throughout Lawrence Livermore, including those combatting the Bin Laden anthrax threat.
His brother, James, Jr., also known as Jamil Daud Mujahid. James reportedly was monitored saying that he had been a classmate of bin Laden and had named his son Osama. James once was a policeman in California and a teacher in Missouri. James allegedly met with members of Abu Sayyef and Moro Islamic Liberation Front while in the Philippines doing charity fundraising. The brothers had been under surveillance at the time of their arrest. James Stubbs, according to some reports, had recently left a job as a teacher in California to study Arabic in Sudan. Other reports suggested that his recent work instead involved training dogs. Authorities allege that the brothers in May 2003 had met with several charity groups suspected of being al-Qaida fronts, founded by Osama bin Laden’s brother-in-law Khalifa.
In mid-April 2004, Patrick Hughes, Lieutenant General (Retired), Assistant Secretary for information Analysis, Homeland Security Department testified before the 9/11 Commission. He explained that interrogations and other evidence revealed that Al Qaeda wanted to strike the US with a nonconventional weapon, most notably anthrax.
It’s naive and uninformed to think that Al Qaeda could not have obtained Ames just because it tended to be in labs associated with or funded by the US military.
US Army Al Qaeda operative Sgt. Ali Mohammed accompanied Zawahiri in his travels in the US. (Ali Mohamed had been a major in the same unit of the Egyptian Army that produced Sadat’s assassin, Khaled Islambouli). Ali Al-Timimi was working in the building housing the Center for Biodefense funded by the DARPA and had access to the facilities at both the Center for Biodefense and the adjacent American Type Culture Collection. For example, Michael Ray Stubbs was an HVAC system technician at Lawrence Livermore Lab with a high-level security clearance permitting access; that was where the effort to combat the perceived Bin Laden anthrax threat was launched in 1998. Aafia Siddiqui, who attended classes at a building with the virulent Vollum strain. She later married a 9/11 plotter al-Balucchi, who was in UAE with al-Hawsawi, whose laptop, when seized at the home of a bacteriologist, had anthrax spraydrying documents on it. Indeed, Bruce Ivins had supplied virulent Ames to a non-citizen from Egypt whose friends and classmates had been recruited personally by Dr. Ayman Zawahiri.
The reality is that a lab technician, researcher, or other person similarly situated might simply have walked out of some lab that had it.
This entry was posted on December 29, 2013 at 10:28 am and is filed under Uncategorized. Tagged: *** 2001 anthrax attacks, *** FBI anthrax investigation, Al Qaeda & anthrax. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
33 Responses to “* DXer … It’s naive and uninformed to think that Al Qaeda could not have obtained Ames just because it tended to be in labs associated with or funded by the US military. … The reality is that a lab technician, researcher, or other person similarly situated might simply have walked out of some lab that had it.”
FBI warns Texas academic and medical leaders of ‘classified’ security threats
Todd Ackerman Aug. 8, 2018
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/FBI-warns-Texas-academic-and-medical-leaders-of-13142650.php
In an unprecedented gathering, FBI officials warned top leaders of Texas academic and medical institutions Wednesday about security threats from foreign adversaries, the first step in a new initiative the bureau plans to replicate around the country.
The gathering, attended by more than 100 academic officials from the Texas Medical Center and around the state, focused on how the institutions can better partner with the FBI to prevent the theft of intellectual property and research, often through internal threats.
“We want to establish, cultivate, and enhance public-private relationships to mitigate attempts by foreign adversaries to steal from our institutions for their benefit,” said Special Agent in Charge Perrye K. Turner. “It is incumbent on us, given the importance of medical and academic institutions in Houston, to create platforms to share information to mitigate the risks and prevent theft.”
Turner said “inside threats,” people hard to identify because they’ve gained the institution’s trust, pose the No. 1 risk to academic and medical institutions.
Nerve agent was used in 1995 murder, claims former Soviet scientist
Vladimir Uglev, developer of Soviet-era chemical weapons, contradicts Russian denials at existence of novichok nerve agents
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/23/nerve-agent-was-used-in-1995-claims-former-soviet-scientist
“Immediately after Kivelidi’s telephone was analysed, the investigator in my case asked me a number of questions as the substance was synthesised in our group,” Uglev wrote to journalists. He first went public on Wednesday.
Court documents first reported by Reuters and later published by the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta said that a member of Uglev’s lab, Leonid Rink, had been jailed briefly after admitting to selling a small amount of a deadly nerve agent developed under Russia’s so-called foliant programme.
That programme has become famous in the west in recent days as novichok, identified by British authorities as the Soviet-era nerve agent used in Salisbury earlier this month.
The likely sale of the nerve agent to a criminal group in the 1990s will raise questions about Theresa May’s assurances that only a state could have ordered the attack on Skripal.
The tragic events unfolding in Houston bring to mind the flooding of the Koehler anthrax lab in June 2001. The lab had been upgraded to B3 in March 2001. Strains were being grown in soil as part of a $100,000 CIA study focused on the persistence of anthrax on the battlefield. As I recall, previously avirulent strains were being rendered virulent by insertion of the relevant DNA by then graduate student Melissa D.
There reportedly was no lock on the door even in normal times. (See 2001 Theresa K interview, NPR)
Then, according to a university medical center newsletter, after the flooding, the building’s outside door was left open for ventilation.
In this (supposed) new age of biosecurity (post-2001), what steps were taken to safeguard dangerous pathogens from walking out the building upon this sudden flooding — or to protect against the unintentionally leaking?
The mysterious toxic leak at Beachy Head, England over the weekend shows how stuff happens. So no one should be critical of or unduly sensitive about the relevant questions being asked. It is all about paying more than grant-motivated lip service to principles of emergency preparedness and biosecurity.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Beachy+Head+England&source=lnms&tbm=nws&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi34ZeU6fnVAhXKx4MKHTKpBJwQ_AUIDCgD&biw=824&bih=400
Let’s hope that newly minted Aafia Siddiqui wasn’t visiting her sister-in-law in the building at the time the door to the anthrax lab was unlocked or left open. She later researched anthrax weapons for the better part of a year for the 911 plotters.
http://www.chron.com/news/article/UT-veterinary-official-laments-drownings-of-2021076.php
UT veterinary official laments drownings of research animals
‘We failed them, and it’s terrible’
Drownings of 78 monkeys, 35 dogs lamented by UT veterinary official
Nearly 80 monkeys and 35 dogs drowned when flooding from Tropical Storm Allison buried basement labs at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston.
The school’s veterinarians, researchers and staff members said they tried to reach the animals as the pouring rain began late Friday and early Saturday, but Allison flared up too quickly, flooding all roads leading to the Texas Medical Center.
ERIC BERGER, Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle Science Writer
Published 5:30 am, Friday, June 15, 2001
Dr.Koehler’s lab and Dr. Drysdale lab, in Houston, that was upgraded to BL-3 in March 2001. See TK’s interviews. Dr. Koehler and Dr. Drysdale did research with Dr. Lyons using Ames. Dr. Koehler says there was not a lock on the Houston BL-3 doors in 2001 (before 9/11). See her 2001 NPR interview. A tropical storm wiped out the lab in June 2001 with millions of gallons of water. Dr. Siddiqui’s sister-in-law, Dr. Khawaja, had an office down the hall from Dr. Koehler. (Dr. Khawaja did not respond to my emailed inquiry that sought to confirm the details). Dr. Ayman has said he’ll kill anyone who talks about Aafia and has demanded her release. Dr. Ayman’s chivalry is noble but his threats should not be allowed to deter understanding the finer points of the distribution of Ames. The FBI, in an ideal world, would have obtained the very best evidence of what virulent strains the Houston lab was using in March 2001 requiring that everyone be vaccinated (rather than relying on self-reporting of employees in the lab when the inquiries were later made). Dr. Drysdale did not respond to my inquiry years ago asking for the details of her insertion of the virulence plasmids. (There was an inverted plasmid observed in the mailed anthrax). See 2002 Science article. Dr. Lyons did not respond either but gave a forthright interview in 2002 or so explaining that the UNM Ames was expected to be a genetic match to the attack anthrax. There is only speculation as to why the Ames submitted to the repository by UNM did not contain the 4 morphs. The FBI, in its rationalizations, only speculated in a manner that was consistent with its cotton candy “Ivins Theory” it was developing.
Aafia Siddiqui’s sister Fowzia is in the news this week. She formerly had a very senior position at Johns-Hopkins and was subject to (illegal?) NSA spying post-2001. Fowzia complains that she has not received a response to her FOIA request in Pakistan about her sister’s release. (She had asked Pakistan officials to ask for her release). It seems that if she wanted Aafia’s release, she should have urged that Aafia’s cooperate about Al Qaeda’s biological program guided by Dr. Ayman Zawahiri. Authorities had to learn of it from other means, such as her second husband, the 9-11 plotter who was KSM’s nephew.
I have no idea why Fowzia considers Aafia, a close Al Qaeda associate, a “daughter of Pakistan.” It didn’t help that Dr. Ayman then took up her cause, and demanded her release.
Fowzia’s advocacy would have been more likely to be effective if she denounced Zawahiri and Al Qaeda and encouraged Aafia to stop lying and start cooperating. (And then if it turned out she had been mistreated by ISI, that could have been revealed and proven.) (It does seem that she was considerably worse for the wear by the time she was detained in Afghanistan).
Fowzia reiterates demand for Aafia’s release, August 24, 2017
http://nation.com.pk/karachi/24-Aug-2017/fowzia-reiterates-demand-for-aafia-s-release
The family has not had contact, they report, with the lovely Aafia for two years.
I believe Fowzia is correct that she was taken from the streets of Karachi but I don’t know of any basis to suggest that she then was “sold” to the US (although such payments and corruption in such circles are well-known).
But Aafia was detained in Afghanistan years later when she travelled there. Right? See the interview by her Uncle who visited and spoke to her while still in Pakistan, before she left for Afghanistan.
Moreover, in an OpEd, Fowzia says Aafia was never convicted of a crime — overlooking her trial and conviction in the US federal court that was widely followed and publicized.
Family says no contact with Dr Aafia since 2 years
I commend the family though for its continued advocacy. Whether the problem was her politics, her upbringing or association with the wrong people, she clearly was in a frail state after she was detained and on trial and needed her family to advocate on her behalf. She was never the Volvo-driving mom her ACLU lawyer Annette portrayed her to be, but she deserved a zealous defense. I don’t recall the specifics. But didn’t she get a vigorous and high-priced defense?
Wasn’t she her own worst enemy? It seems that the role the Pakistan government could usefully play would be to try to make sure that Aafia’s lack of telephonic contact is of her own choice, made of sound mind.
http://nation.com.pk/national/15-Jul-2017/family-says-no-contact-with-dr-aafia-since-2-years
Although I know of no basis for Fowzia’s wild claim that the US paid her “kidnappers” for her (and it is against all the public evidence concerning the circumstances of her detention), it seems accurate that the Islamic State has offered to pay $6.6 million dollars for her to be released.
It might have been more effective advocacy to let human rights activists lobby for her release — having Islamic State and Al Qaeda demand her release was counterproductive, I would think.
In fact, I think all terrorism is a waste of time. Nature — and the serendipity of life — causes far more damage than intentional malevolent people with a political or religious agenda.
Fowzia and Aafia seem like-minded — and their values were imparted by their mom, Ismat.
‘Lady al-Qaeda’: The American-educated PhD the Islamic State desperately wants freed
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/08/28/lady-al-qaeda-the-american-educated-doctor-the-islamic-state-desperately-wants-freed/?utm_term=.cbd356e43ae4
By Terrence McCoy August 28, 2014
Amid the kidnappings, the demands for riches and the executions, a name of controversy and conspiracy has reemerged: Aafia Siddiqui. Once called the “most wanted woman in the world,” she is now more widely known as “Lady al-Qaeda.” And Islamic State leaders want their lady back.
They want her back so badly, jihadists said they would have traded James Foley for Siddiqui, who’s in U.S. prison. They said they would have traded Bowe Bergdahl for her. They said they would trade a 26-year-old American woman, kidnapped one year ago, for her.
“You were given many chances to negotiate the release of your people via cash transactions as other governments have accepted,” the Islamic State wrote James Foley’s family a week before his execution. “We have also offered prisoner exchanges to free the Muslims currently in your detention like our sister Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, however you proved very quickly to us that this is NOT what you are interested in.”
Then on Tuesday, the Islamic State said it wanted to exchange the 26-year-old American woman for $6.6 million — and Siddiqui, who was convicted in 2010 of attempting to murder Americans and sentenced to 86 years in federal prison.
“The terror group has sent a laundry list of demands for the release of foreigners, starting with money but also prisoner swaps, including the liberation of Aafia Siddiqui, an M.I.T.-trained Pakistani neuroscientist,” the New York Times reported.
The repeated demands for Siddiqui’s release revives one of the oddest tales to emerge out of the war on terror. At its center is an enigmatic and extremely educated mother who apparently cast off a comfortable, successful professional life in pursuit of terrorism.
To this day, the same questions that haunted Siddiqui at the time of her trial remain. Why would this mother, who spent a decade studying at the most prestigious U.S. universities, scribble plans detailing a “mass casualty attack” on the Empire State Building? Was she a terrorist mastermind or a victim of an over-aggressive war on terror?
And what does the Islamic State, years after her conviction, want with her now? “We are aware of at least one entity in the Defense Department that has developed possible options to trade Siddiqui,” a spokesman for Rep. Duncan Hunter (R.-Calif.), who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, told Foreign Policy.
Siddiqui’s story begins in Karachi, where she was born in 1972. According to a Guardian profile, education and faith came first in her family — as did professional ambition. Her father was an English-trained doctor. Her mother was a pal of former Pakistani president and general Zia ul-Haq. Her brother became a Houston architect. Her sister was a neurologist.
Though her family denied it, she then reportedly married a nephew of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the Guantanamo detainee said to be a mastermind of the attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11, 2001.
Shortly thereafter, she disappeared for five years for reasons that remain uncertain. The Pakistani doctor claimed she had been kidnapped by U.S. personnel, imprisoned and tortured for five years. The U.S. government, however, denied that, saying she was really “the most wanted woman in the world,” as reported by the Los Angeles Times. She posed a “clear and present danger to the U.S.,” one high-ranking American official said.
The narrative clarified on July 18, 2008, when Afghan authorities captured her carrying handwritten notes detailing a “mass casualty attack” on several New York City spots.
U.S. officers were invited to question her and were ushered into a room without being told by their Afghan hosts that Siddiqui was “unsecured” behind a curtain that divided the room, according to an FBI criminal complaint. She grabbed an Army officer’s M-4 rifle that was on the floor next to the curtain and screamed, “Allah Akbar!” and, in English, “Get the f— out of here!” the complaint said. She opened fire, but missed the officers, who returned fire and hit her twice in the abdomen.
Two years later, following her recovery, she was convicted in Manhattan federal court of the attempted murder and assault on Americans for that attack and sentenced to 86 years in prison. She’s currently incarcerated at a federal prison in Fort Worth, Tex. and slated for release on Aug. 6, 2083. And there, most perhaps believed would be where Siddiqui’s story ended.
But the Islamic State wants otherwise. It wants Lady al-Qaeda back.
http://www.heraldnet.com/news/911-families-might-get-day-in-court-against-saudi-officials/
But the 9/11 families’ fortunes changed in September, when during a distracting, raucous 2016 presidential campaign, Congress delivered the only veto override of Obama’s eight-year tenure and made the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, or JASTA, settled law.
It has already had an effect: While JASTA was being debated, a federal judge in New York ordered Iran to pay the families and insurance companies $14 billion for having allowed some of the hijackers to enter and leave the country before Sept. 11 without having transit visas stamped in their passports. Such visas would have made it more difficult for them to enter the United States.
Now, the families are heading to court in the coming weeks, seeking a punitive payout that legal experts say could exceed $1 trillion.
Chertoff: IPhone override is software equivalent of biological weapon
Elizabeth Weise, USATODAY 6:06 p.m. EST March 4, 2016
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/03/04/fbi-apple-code-software-biological-weapon-michael-chertoff/81291524/
SAN FRANCISCO — Forcing Apple to write an operating system so it can try to break into the iPhone used by a terrorist is the computer code equivalent of building a biological weapon, the former secretary of U.S. Homeland Security said Thursday.
The problem is that the FBI demand would require Apple to not only build the code, but also maintain it, because there are already multiple requests for law enforcement to get into other phones, Michael Chertoff said Thursday at the RSA computer security conference.
“Once you’ve created code that’s potentially compromising, it’s like a bacteriological weapon. You’re always afraid of it getting out of the lab,” Chertoff said at a keynote panel titled “Beyond Encryption: Why We Can’t Come Together on Security and Privacy — and the Catastrophes That Await If We Don’t.”
In 1987 al-Qaeda Master Spy Tells Fort Bragg Officers the Goal of Radical Islam Is to Set Up an “Islamic State”, by Peter Lance
Posted: 11/14/2015 9:43 pm EST Updated: 11/14/2015 9:59 pm EST
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-lance/in-1987-al-qaeda-master-s_b_8565408.html
Mohamed twice played host to al Qaeda’s second-in-command, Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, who traveled to the U.S. in the 1990s to raise money for the Jihad. He used his Army vacation to hunt down elite Soviet Spetsnaz commandos in Afghanistan, and later toyed with gullible special agents in New York and San Francisco while he learned the inner workings of the FBI’s al Qaeda playbook.
In the annals of espionage, few men have moved in an out of the deep black world between the hunters and the hunted with as much audacity as Ali Mohamed–known to his al Qaeda brothers as Ali Amiriki, or “Ali the American.”
A deep-penetration al Qaeda sleeper, he succeeded as a triple agent, gaining access to the most sensitive intelligence in the U.S. counter-terrorism arsenal. Next to Ramzi Yousef, the bomb maker who plotted both attacks on The Twin Towers, Mohamed remains the greatest enigma in the war on terror.
Brazenly slipping past watch lists, he moved in and out of the U.S. with impunity for years, marrying an American woman, becoming a naturalized citizen, seeking top secret security clearance from a Silicon Valley defense contractor and working for the FBI while servicing the top echelons of al Qaeda.
And in a training video taped while he was a U.S. Army sergeant at Fort Bragg, NC in 1987 Mohamed openly states what has now become the goal of ISIS: the creation of an Islamic state.
This is a direct quote from Mohamed in that video first reported in my HarperCollins investigative book TRIPLE CROSS in 2006. …
“We have what we call a dar ul harp, which is the world of war, and dar ul Islam, which is the world of Islam. Dar ul harp, the world of war, comprises all the territory that doesn’t have Islamic law.
“So if I live in an area of Egypt, for example, or in the Middle East, I will consider it dar ul harp. I will consider it the world of war, because actually it doesn’t apply the Islamic law one hundred percent. As a Muslim I have an obligation to change dar ul harp to dar ul Islam and establish Islamic law. It’s an obligation. It’s not a choice.”
To fully appreciate the extraordinary trajectory of this deadly jihadi spy, read the 32 page illustrated timeline from TRIPLE CROSS.
Jeb Bush published this October 17, 2001 email.
http://jebbushemails.com/email/results/20011017/12
To: “‘jeb@jeb.org'”
From: “Ward, Kevin D”
Anthrax – I hope we have ruled out a USF connection…
Governor –
As I understand it, the University of South Florida has received a 4 million
dollar grant for an Anthrax study. USF also has the distinction by media
accounts of having the largest contingent of purported Egyptian Jihad
members anywhere other than Cairo itself. The thought of Anthrax being
housed and studied @ USF is very disconcerting – especially if the claims
about it being a “hot bed” for Islamic militantism are true. As you know,
we are also the home to MacDill AFB and its Central Command and Special
Operations Command Headquarters. “Operation Enduring Freedom” is being
logistaically coordinated from right here. Previoulsy, “Desert Storm” was
coordinated from MacDill. Bin Laden and his worldwide web of terrorist cells
clearly understand this. I certainly hope that the security @ USF has been
augmented to guarantee that each of these Anthrax strains stay put under
lock and key. I would hate to think that a simple student visa could be the
passport to government supported Anthrax supplies right here in Tampa.
Hopefully, the USF program is being placed under a microscope itself…
Better safe than sorry.
Best wishes –
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/14/us/nation-challenged-disease-anthrax-threats-points-limits-health-systems.html
A year ago, the University of South Florida started a Center for Biological Defense within its school of public health, to help train doctors and public health workers on how to detect and respond to germ attacks.
Jeb Bush October 18, 2001 email:
To: ‘MCLEANED@aol.com’
From: “Jeb Bush”
RE: University Of South Florida Professor
if he is raising money for the terrorists he shouldn’t be working for the University. The FBI has done an investigation and found no wrong doing as I understand it. The Board of Trustees is monitoring this issue carefully.
From: MCLEANED@aol.com [mailto:MCLEANED@aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2001 10:01 AM
To: jeb@jeb.org
Subject: University Of South Florida Professor
Jeb- I don’t know anything about this man, but if he is raising money for
terrorists, he doesn’t need to be working for the state of florida and
teaching our young people.
From: Dana, Pamella
To:’jeb@jeb.org’
CC: Shanahan, Kathleen
Sasser, Charla
Date: 5/30/2001 6:03:25 PM
RE: Cooperative Research and Development Team
FYI. The LG, Rep Bowen, Martha Roberts (Ag Dept), and I met with this group
today. They have a light-driven technology that is being approved by the
FDA which ensures that fruit juices are germ-free (e.g., irradication of
ecoli in Apple Juice). Apparently, the same “laser light” technology may be
applicable to cleaning water and air. The Coast Guard is interested in its
application in cleaning ballist water (hence not spreading contaminated
waters). The DOD has shown interest in this technology as a way to protect
military forces (and American homeland) from biological chemicals used in
warfare (e.g., Anthrax ).
They want to develop technology and spin-offs in Florida (opposed to New
York where it currently is being performed), as they consider Florida to
provide a quicker means to bring to market. They wants a cooperative
agreement between UF, U of Miami and U of Buffalo. They want our help to
match them up with those who will support their research and varied research
grant applications. They feel Florida presence and institutions will offer
We will arrange meeting between them and UF leadership (Winn Phillips) to
see if there is a fit.
—–Original Message—-
From: Jeb Bush [mailto:jeb@jeb.org]
Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2001 2:53 PM
To: Pam Dana (E-mail)
Subject: FW: Cooperative Research and Development Team
I apologize in advance if you have responded to me on this but have you
contacted Mr. Kelly?
Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2001 7:11 AM
To: ‘bbkelly’
Cc: Pam Dana (E-mail)
MONDAY PREVIEW: Mishap reports reveal lost and forgotten vials at Fort Detrick. Read the next part of the series in Tuesday’s Frederick News-Post.
But first, here are brief snippets from Syliva Carignan’s linked story in the Frederick News-Post:
Multiple researchers potentially exposed to biological warfare agent at USAMRIID
Sylvia Carignan News-Post Staff
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/health/research/multiple-researchers-potentially-exposed-to-biological-warfare-agent-at-usamriid/article_ef9aae2a-f8cf-5f6d-aa54-4cbc0edfc1a5.html
Posted: Sunday, January 4, 2015 2:00 am
By Sylvia Carignan News-Post Staff
While sitting in a boiling hot water bath in a Fort Detrick lab, a plastic tube holding a biological warfare agent popped open. Steam rose up out of the bath.
A microbiologist walked into the room. And another.
One stood in the room for 10 minutes as they discussed what to do, the steam spreading through the lab.
In all, six people were potentially exposed to Burkholderia mallei, a bacteria that causes an infectious disease called glanders. The bacteria can be spread via aerosol, contaminated food and water and was used as a biological weapon during World War II.
The Frederick News-Post obtained copies of the mishap and occupational hazard reports from USAMRIID, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Integrated Research Facility and the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center at Fort Detrick through Freedom of Information Act requests filed in 2014.
On May 23, 2014, a USAMRIID microbiologist was working with TC-83, a virus derived from Venezuelan equine encephalitis, when tubes of the virus broke and released the substance while spinning inside a centrifuge.
“Used wrong tubes,” the report states.
Infection, Genetics and Evolution
Volume 29, January 01, 2015, Pages 26-34
The hidden face of academic researches on classified highly pathogenic microorganisms (Note)
Devaux, C.A.
Centre d’Etudes d’agents Pathogènes et Biotechnologies pour la Santé-CPBS, UMR5236 CNRS-UM1-UM2, 1919 route de Mende, F-34293 Montpellier cedex 5Montpellier, France
Highly pathogenic microorganisms and toxins are manipulated in academic laboratories for fundamental research purposes, diagnostics, drugs and vaccines development. Obviously, these infectious pathogens represent a potential risk for human and/or animal health and their accidental or intentional release (biosafety and biosecurity, respectively) is a major concern of governments. In the past decade, several incidents have occurred in laboratories and reported by media causing fear and raising a sense of suspicion against biologists. Some scientists have been ordered by US government to leave their laboratory for long periods of time following the occurrence of an incident involving infectious pathogens; in other cases laboratories have been shut down and universities have been forced to pay fines and incur a long-term ban on funding after gross negligence of biosafety/biosecurity procedures. Measures of criminal sanctions have also been taken to minimize the risk that such incidents can reoccur. As United States and many other countries, France has recently strengthened its legal measures for laboratories’ protection.During the past two decades, France has adopted a series of specific restriction measures to better protect scientific discoveries with a potential economic/social impact and prevent their misuse by ill-intentioned people without affecting the progress of science through fundamental research. French legal regulations concerning scientific discoveries have progressively strengthened since 2001, until the publication in November 2011 of a decree concerning the “PPST” (for “Protection du Potentiel Scientifique et Technique de la nation”, the protection of sensitive scientific data). Following the same logic of protection of sensitive scientific researches, regulations were also adopted in an order published in April 2012 concerning the biology and health field. The aim was to define the legal framework that precise the conditions for authorizing microorganisms and toxins experimentation in France; these regulations apply for any operation of production, manufacturing, transportation, import, export, possession, supply, transfer, acquisition and use of highly pathogenic microorganisms and toxins, referred to as “MOT” (for “MicroOrganismes et Toxines hautement pathogènes”) by the French law. Finally, laboratories conducting researches on such infectious pathogens are henceforth classified restricted area or ZRR (for “Zone à Régime Restrictif”), according an order of July 2012. In terms of economic protection, biosafety and biosecurity, these regulations represent an undeniable progress as compared to the previous condition. However, the competitiveness of research laboratories handling MOTs is likely to suffer the side effects of these severe constraints. For example research teams working on MOTs can be drastically affected both by (i) the indirect costs generated by the security measure to be applied; (ii) the working time devoted to samples recording; (iii) the establishment of traceability and reporting to national security agency ANSM, (iv) the latency period required for staff members being officially authorized to conduct experiments on MOTs; (v) the consequent reduced attractiveness for recruiting new trainees whose work would be significantly hampered by theses administrative constraints; and (vi) the limitations in the exchange of material with external laboratories and collaborators. Importantly, there is a risk that French academic researchers gradually abandon research on MOTs in favor of other projects that are less subject to legal restrictions. This would reduce the acquisition of knowledge in the field of MOTs which, in the long term, could be highly detrimental to the country by increasing its vulnerability to natural epidemics due to pathogenic microorganisms that are classified as MOTs and, by reducing its preparedness against possible bioterrorist attacks that would use such microorganisms.
Selected keywords
Biological weapons and bioterrorism threats; Biosafety and biosecurity concerns; Highly pathogenic microorganisms; Prohibited experiments
Professor Les Baillie, who advised Amerithrax while at the University of Maryland, and was Chairman of the Dangerous Pathogens 2000 Conference at which Al Qaeda anthrax scientist explained his research involving killing mice with anthrax, has recently explained that it is a simple matter to steal the virulent lab from a lab that has it.
http://image.slidesharecdn.com/professorlesbailliecompatibilitymode-141013083740-conversion-gate02/95/professor-les-baillie-6-638.jpg?cb=1413207506
Shoe bomber’s accomplice to give evidence against Abu Hamza to prove he was a ‘terrorist with global reach’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2551157/Shoe-bomber-accomplice-Badat-evidence-against-Abu-Hamza.html
An al Qaeda supergrass is to give evidence against hate preacher Abu Hamza and show he was a ‘terrorist with a global reach’.
British-born Saajid Muhammad Badat will be the star witness when Hamza goes on trial in New York later this year, according to court papers.
Badat, who was jailed for plotting to blow up a U.S. passenger jet with shoe bomber Richard Reid and later released for agreeing to become the first terrorist supergrass, has agreed to give evidence via a video link.
He is also charged with providing material support to the al Qaeda network by trying to set up a training camp in Oregon and attempting to organize support for the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2551157/Shoe-bomber-accomplice-Badat-evidence-against-Abu-Hamza.html#ixzz2sLolKkxq
I’ve long urged that Abu Hamza was involved in the February 1999 threat to use anthrax in Yemen. It would be great if that background came out in Abu Hamza’s trial.
Abu Hamza, now extradited to New York, wanted to open a terrorist training camp in Oregon.
Al Qaeda suspects were arrested in the US with documents in their possession about how to poison the country’s water supplies.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/2002/07/30/feds-arrest-al-qaeda-suspects-with-plans-to-poison-water-supplies/
Feds Arrest Al Qaeda Suspects With Plans to Poison Water Supplies
By Carl CameronPublished July 30, 2002FoxNews.com
WASHINGTON – Federal officials have arrested two Al Qaeda terror suspects in the U.S. with documents in their possession about how to poison the country’s water supplies, Fox News has learned.
The first case involves James Ujaama, 36, who surrendered to the FBI last week in Denver. Sources say they found documents about water poisoning among several other terrorism-related documents in his Denver residence.
Sources say the government has additional evidence that prior to Sept. 11 James Ujaama acted as a courier delivering laptop computers to the Taliban. Federal agents seized two computers and two floppy disks from the house where James Ujaama had been staying when he was arrested as a material witness to terrorist activity, his brother said.
James Ujaama’s brother is Mustafa Ujaama, the founder of the now-closed Dar-us-Salaam mosque in Seattle. The FBI has been investigating activities and officials from the former mosque for several months.
Investigators believe officials and members of the mosque were trying to establish a terrorist training camp in Bly, Ore., Fox News has confirmed. Investigators say there is evidence that Mustafa Ujaama visited Bly to check it out as a possible facility location.
From Dr. Gerard Andrews civil deposition recently produced to this blog under FOIA:
A. The third page is dated November 5th 2001.
Q. And what does that pertain to?
A. It looks like Bruce — from Bruce Ivins. It looks like Bruce was trying to send some sort of link to — to something on the Internet to us. And I don’t know who he’s referring to, “friend over in Saudi.” I have no idea.
Page 37.
I have requested the email from USAMRIID but alternatively someone might simply follow-up and obtain it from DOJ Civil.
Perhaps it referred to Hibri */, the owner of Bioport that made the gift of ownership to Admiral Crowe, the former head of the Joints Chiefs of Staff. I have no idea.
But under the central purpose of FOIA, the email should have been produced as it bears very importantly on the operations of government.
May I obtain under FOIA a copy of this November 5, 2001 email from Bruce Ivins providing a link to colleagues about a “friend over in Saudi”?
Page 37 of civil deposition of Gerard Andrews in Stevens v. United States.
It was not produced and uploaded to the Electronic Reading Room.
The email is a document that originated with USAMRIID and would have been responsive to the September 2001 FOIA request for Dr. Ivins’ emails by Scott Shane of the New York Times.”
FBI Overlooks Foreign Sources of Anthrax
http://www.edwardjayepstein.com/archived/anthrax.htm
Prior to his taking over this biotech company, Fuad El-Hibri had worked in the mergers-and-acquisitions department of Citibank in Jedda, Saudi Arabia, where he specialized in arranging investments for large Saudi investors. Saudi Arabia then was interested in obtaining an anthrax vaccine to counter Saddam Hussein’s biological warfare capabilities. But the U.S. would not provide it.
So when Mr. El-Hibri took over the British biotech lab, he reorganized its bio-terrorism defense business, and arranged deliveries of biotech defense products to Saudi Arabia. Mr. El-Hibri was unavailable for comment, but the ownership is a matter of record and he has not made a secret of his involvement in bio-warfare research. Indeed, he testified before Congress in 1999: “I participated in the marketing and distribution of substantial quantities of two bio-defense vaccines — botulinum Type A and anthrax.”
Even more intriguing, Mr. El-Hibri’s interest in anthrax vaccines did not stop with his deal with CAMR. In 1998, he arranged a leveraged buyout of the Michigan Biological Products Institute. MBPI, which originally had been owned by the state of Michigan, held the exclusive contract for providing the U.S. government with anthrax vaccine. While its vaccine worked well against the Vollum strain of anthrax (used by Russia), it was more problematic against the Ames strain. So it had conducted tests with the virulent Ames strain on guinea pigs, mice and monkeys with mixed results. BioPort’s spokeperson confirmed that it had access to the virulent Ames strain for testing on animals. ..
So far, the offshore availability of anthrax has been overshadowed by the search for a domestic lone wolf. Since the lethal bacteria could have been stolen from either a foreign or domestic lab, weaponized in a stealthed bio-warfare facility overseas and sent in ziplock bags to the person mailing the letters, The investigative focus needs to be widened.
Exhibit 112 is described as 10/30/01 from Webster to Ivins, Subject: FW: US Secret Weapon ARMY03-006979
The “friend in Saudi” email was discussed on page 37 when printed 4 to a page (as my copy has). (But it is discussed on page 145 when the pages are printed singly.)
It is Exhibit 112 of Dr. Andrews’ civil deposition. It follows pages 6969 and 6978 (Exhibit 111) that related to specific regulations that related to the transportation and shipment of etiologic agents, “which everyone knew at the time how to go through the biosafety office.” So the “friend in Saudi” email may have been associated with the documents relating to the Chief of Bacteriology reminding folks about the transfer of agents.
In the case of the supply of virulent Ames to a former associate of Ayman Zawahiri (taught microbiology by his sister Heba), there was no vetting done.
Years ago I emailed Dr. Hamouda about the details of Bruce Ivins’ supply of virulent Ames to him in connection with his research on a decontamination agent but did not get a reply back.
University of Michigan denied by FOIA request for the related documents.
USAMRIID similarly claimed to have no responsive documents.
Some of the documents were first produced to the FBI in March 2005 from AF’s telephone number, after he obtained them from Dr. Ivins.
But narrowly the question is this: Can the “10/30/01 from Webster to Ivins, Subject: FW: US Secret Weapon ARMY03-006979” be produced under FOIA?
Dr. Andrews, in his newly produced civil deposition, describes an incident of an unauthorized entry in June 2001 by a maintenance technician. The document at issue was a June 15, 2001 email from Pat Worsham to Mark Kortepeter. The entry was without any knowledge or approval of Bacteriology Division personnel. Pat Worsham apparently caught him exiting and insisted it be reported to higher authorities.
Page 142.
The reason for entering offered was “like sink maintenance or something. He was diong something with the sink. And this was a contract person. Contractors — maintenance contractors also were required to go through a special immunization program if they were entering these biocontainment suites, depending on the agents the suites were dealing with.”
Page 155 of Andrews deposition:
Q. “Let me show you this. This is Army03-006651. Appears to be an email fro Patricia Worsham to Mark Kortepeter, with a copy to you.
A. This looks like it relates back to an earlier email that I read in regards to a memo that Kortepeter wrote involving the maintenance person who entered — or a civilian entered an animal room without appropriate protective clothing.
Q. Was this the individual that was going to install the sink or something, or do some repair work on the sink?
A. I — I think so. It looks like it. Sink installation. No one, including the division chief, had been notified of sink installation. Yes.:
MR. SCHULER: Okay. We’ll mark that as Plaintiffs’ 118.”
I have requested the documents relating to the unauthorized June 15, 2001 by FOIA:
“Re: FOIA request for 3 identified documents relating to unauthorized June 15, 2001 access into biocontainment by man who apparently installed a sink
May I obtain under FOIA copies of these two emails by Dr. Patricia Worsham and a related memo by Colonel Korpeter about an unauthorized entry in June 2001?
A man who had gone into the biocontainment area, apparently to install a sink without anyone’s knowledge, was discovered and confronted by Dr. Patricia Worsham upon exiting.
There is a 1) June 15, 2001 email from Patricia Worsham to Colonel Korpeter, 2) a memo by Colonel Korpeter and 3) another email from Dr. Worsham about Colonel Korpeter’s memo.
The entry apparently was without any knowledge or approval of Bacteriology Division personnel. Some versions in the Army possession of one of the emails is batestamped Army03-006651.
Such information is very important and bears on potential access to the virulent Ames strain, the strain used in the Fall 2001 anthrax incidents.
Thanks very much. I appreciate that the greatest challenge under FOIA typically is locating a document — and not unduly distracting an agency from its core mission.
But I think these three documents warrant top priority.”
One of several other examples of unauthorized access occurs at page 156. It related to unauthorized access by a post doc. (Page 156.)
Yet another example of unauthorized access involved a ventilation contractor. (Page 143.)
I have not yet requested those documents under FOIA but the quickest means of obtaining might be to request the exhibits from Dr. Andrews’ deposition.
Dr. Andrews, in his recently produced civil deposition, states:
“But if RMR 1029 was directly transferred from — from lab B — or from lab A, which would be USAMRIID, to lab B, and then lab B transferred an aliquot of RMR 1029 to another laboratory, then laboratory C — laboratory C’s preparation would be able to be traced back to RMR 1029.”
In the Dr. Jahrling civil deposition produced this week under FOIA, Dr. Jahrling explained of the IG inspection:
“And, um, you know, I don’t recall the 22 details. At that point I had little to no contact with h”im. He went off and talked to a number of other people. He came back with a fairly scathing report, basically said, you know, these guys are not taking security seriously and all of that but he was, I mean he was applying standards that, you know, with twenty-twenty hindsight probably would have been appropriate back then but at the time were not common practice in biological laboratories.”
Pages 25-26.
ARMY Inspector General Findings (March 2002) regardling lax security relating to anthrax
Posted by Lew Weinstein on November 4, 2011
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2011/11/04/army-inspector-general-findings-march-2002-regardling-lax-security-relating-to-anthrax/
These are documents relating to the Inspector General visit to USAMRIID in Fall 2001 that reporters, GAO and Congressional staff should obtain
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/there-are-documents-relating-to-the-inspector-general-visit-to-usamriid-in-fall-2001-that-reporters-gao-and-congressional-staff-should-obtain/
Plaintiff: Inspector General and Sandia National Laboratories found security system inadequate to prevent access to laboratory by persons not cleared by security
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2011/09/27/plaintiff-inspector-general-and-sandia-national-laboratories-found-security-system-inadequate-to-prevent-access-to-laboratory-by-persons-not-cleared-by-security/
The blogger Ed didn’t understand why one would want to bother to ask the opinion of the Al Qaeda lab tech working at Omar Hospital with a virulent strain his opinions about the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings. For starters, Yazid Sufaat and the vaccinated lab assistants could identify the strain they were using. On Facebook exchanges and IM chat, Yazid did not deny to me that it was the Ames strain. He, however, poiltely invoked the equivalent of “the Fifth.” In a public interview, he said the CIA was not going to hear such things from his mouth.
The even more basic misapprehension of pundits like Milton L. for years was that Al Qaeda scientists were not working with virulent anthrax — when it has known for a decade that they were. See KSM interrogation report.
What documents did the FBI submit relating to the testing done in 2002 of the lab in Kandahar where traces of anthrax were found? Did they submit any? What strain was the anthrax identified to be?
What documents did the FBI submit relating to testing of residence pointed out by Hambali during his harsh interrogation in Jordan — where Peter Suskind finds that extremely virulent anthrax was found? Did they submit any? I believe it was Dr. Ayman’s residence.
What was the basis for withholding those and related documents on the grounds that they were classified?
Traces of anthrax were found at the Kandahar lab was discovered in March 2002. Then “extremely virulent” anthrax was found in a residence pointed out by Hambali in August 2003
This USA Today article excerpt below addressed testing done by the FBI in 2004. That was what was submitted to the NAS.
But the GAO needs to obtain the testing from 2002 — and also 2003 — when the anthrax was first discovered. It was done by the Army and the CIA.
The FBI refused to provide key documents relating to testing of Afghanistan to the NAS on the grounds that it was classified.
The FBI has refused to provide GAO key documents also.
I hope people are taking down names of the people responsible for the withholding and destruction of documents central to understanding the analysis of Fall 2001 anthrax mailings and Dr. Zawahiri’s anthrax program.
Al Qaeda lab lingers in anthrax story
By Dan Vergano, USA TODAYUpdated 10/2/2011 11:51 AM
Fears that al Qaeda had some role in the anthrax letter attacks that killed five and terrorized the U.S. 10 years ago surfaced early in the investigation.
Science Snapshot
By Dan Vergano
“THIS IS NEXT. TAKE PENACILIN NOW. DEATH TO AMERICA. DEATH TO ISRAEL. ALLAH IS GREAT,” read the anthrax-laden letter sent to NBC newsman Tom Brokaw on Sept 18, 2001, at the start of the attacks. At least five letters were sent in the attacks that autumn, all containing similar words.
Those messages likely contributed to one of the more curious endeavors of the nine-year “Amerithrax” investigation into the anthrax murders, the retrieval of a suspected terrorist lab, right down to the pipes of the kitchen sink.
The National Research Council in February delivered an evaluation of the science used by investigators to tie the anthrax used in the attacks, a mutant-laced variant of the “Ames” anthrax strain, to the infamous RMR-1029 flask at the United States Army Medical Research Institute (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick, Md. The flask was controlled by a researcher named Bruce Ivins, who committed suicide in 2008, days before investigators say they had intended to indict him for the crime. Based in part on the link to the RMR-1029 flask, the FBI, in itsinvestigative summary of the case, concluded, “Ivins, alone, mailed the anthrax letters.” The conclusion, though, is still disputed by some observers. Even the NRC said it was “not possible to reach a definitive conclusion about the origins of the anthrax,” in its evaluation.
In May of 2004, U.S. investigators weren’t so sure either. They had information about al Qaeda plans to develop an anthrax program, the NRC report said. So FBI investigators and “partners from the intelligence community” then visited a suspected bioterror lab abandoned by al Qaeda and collected swabs there. Three samples tested positive for Ames strain anthrax in tests, conducted at the USAMRIID lab. They had been taken from “an unopened medicine dropper package, a sink, and a sink drain hose,” according to a partly-declassified FBI report.
Subsequent tests at microbiologist Paul Keim’s lab at Northern Arizona University found signs of the Ames strain of anthrax on two of the three samples, according to the same report.
2002 Excerpt:
AL QAEDA LAB HUNT REVEALS ANTHRAX
By Niles LathemMarch 26, 2002 | 5:00am
WASHINGTON – U.S. forces have found traces of anthrax at a half-dozen al Qaeda laboratories in Afghanistan, raising concerns the terrorists may have biological weapons, the Pentagon said yesterday.
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said small traces of anthrax and another deadly substance, ricin, have been detected during inspections of at least 60 sites throughout Afghanistan.
But he said the traces are so small, it’s impossible to say whether al Qaeda has the capability to use the deadly substances in weapons.
Ricin is highly toxic and easily produced from the castor plant. There is no vaccine or medical cure if it is ingested or inhaled.
It was last seen in the United States in 1991, when four members of the anti-tax, anti-government Patriots Council were arrested with a bathtub full of it.
The new disclosures come on the heels of reports that Ahmed al-Haznawi, one of the Sept. 11 hijackers, was treated for a skin form of anthrax at a Florida hospital last year.
Those reports have prompted the FBI to investigate whether there is any link between the Sept. 11 plot and the anthrax attacks that terrorized the nation in the weeks afterward.
U.S. forces searching a laboratory near Kandahar recently found sophisticated chemical “dryers” and other equipment used in the production of anthrax.
Yazid Sufaat’s court date is coming up this month (I think) — which might present an opportunity to ask him the anthrax strain he was using.
We can revisit what we know about Hambali, Anthrax Lab Tech Yazid Sufaat And The Anthrax Bomb Maker.
George Tenet in his May 2007 In the Center of the Storm says Sufaat was “the self-described ‘CEO’ of al-Qai’da’s anthrax program.” Tenet reports that “Sufaat had impeccable extremist credentials” and “[i]n 2000 he had been introduced to Ayman al-Zawahiri personally, by Hambali, as the man who was capable of leading al-Qai’da’s biological weapons program.”
The 9/11 Commission Report explained:
“Hambali played the critical role of coordinator, as he distributed al Qaeda funds earmarked for joint operations. In one especially notable example, Atef turned to Hambali when al Qaeda needed a scientist to take over its biological weapons program. Hambali obliged by introducing a U.S.-educated JI member, Yazid Sufaat, to Ayman al Zawahiri in Kandahar. In 2001, Sufaat would spend several months attempting to cultivate anthrax for al Qaeda in a laboratory he set up near the Kandahar airport.”
Participants at a key meeting in Kuala Lumpur in January 2000 included Hambali, Yazid Sufaat, two of the 9/11 hijackers, Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almidhar, Cole planner Attash aka Khallad, and others. Tawfiq Bin Attash was a long time Bin Laden operative. The Yemeni first went to Afghanistan in 1989. He came to lead Bin Laden’s bodyguards and was an intermediary between Bin Laden and those who carried out the bombing of the Cole in October 2000. Attash also had been a key planner in the 1998 embassy bombings, serving as the link between the Nairobi cell and Bin Laden and Atef. Khalid Almhidhar, one of the 9/11 hijackers, was from Saudi Arabia but was a Yemeni national. Almhidhar was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the indictment against Zacarias Moussaoui. Al-Hindi, who along with Jafar the Pilot would later case the NYC landmarks, had gone to Kuala Lumpur with Attash. While not at the meeting with the hijackers, they met Hambali shortly after.
Zacarias Moussaoui was alleged, at least initially, to have received his money from Yazid Sufaat, under the cover of a company managed by his wife named Infocus Tech. A legitimate company, the company has eight employees and virtually no connection to the US. The company was an importer of US computer software and hardware. After authorities found a letter signed by Yazid Sufaat purporting to authorize Zacarias Moussaoui as its marketing representative, authorities went looking for Sufaat. But by then, he had left for Pakistan and Afghanistan. According to his wife, he went to Pakistan in June 2001 because he wanted to do his doctorate in pathology at the University of Karachi. Dursina had attended Sacramento State with Sufaat. It was her mother who encouraged Yazid’s religious studies. According to his wife, Sejarhtul Dursina, “He had planned to set up a medical support unit in Afghanistan, near Kandahar.” Kandahar is where Al Qaeda established its anthrax lab and where extremely virulent (but unweaponized) anthrax, according to author Suskind, was found at a home identified by Hambali after his capture.
Sufaat graduated from California State University, Sacramento in 1987. He received a bachelors degree in biological sciences, concentrating on clinical laboratory technology, with a minor in chemistry. Sacramento State biological sciences professor Robert Metcalf taught Sufaat a food microbiology class in the spring of 1986. The first lesson in class was to teach students how German physician Robert Koch proved that anthrax was caused by a specific bacterium. “All of my students know how to isolate anthrax in soil samples,” Metcalf told the Chicago Tribune. “Anthrax was the first organism we talked about.” Sufaat joined the Malaysian army, where he was a lab technician assigned to a medical brigade. After five years, he left the service with the rank of captain and worked for a civilian laboratory. In August 1993, he set up his own company, Green Laboratory Medicine. The 9/11 Commission Report notes that Sufaat started work on the al Qaeda biological weapons program after he participated in JI’s December 2000 church bombings. In December 2001, Sufaat was arrested upon returning from Afghanistan to Malaysia where (his wife says) he had been serving in a Taliban medical brigade.
Malaysian officials sought to minimize Sufaat’s role. Sufaat merely was a foot soldier who provided housing and false identification letters and helped obtain explosives. “I would put it this way: If Hambali [Al Qaeda’s point man in Southeast Asia] was the travel agent, Sufaat was the guy at the airport holding up the sign.” In minimizing Sufaat’s role, they failed to mention that he had been part of a secret Malaysian biological weapons program.
Sufaat admits to having purchased 4 tons of ammonium nitrate to build a truck bomb for the Singapore cell. The Malaysian officials report that they believe that Sufaat had no knowledge of what the hijackers who stayed at his condominium or Zacarias were planning. That is consistent with the principles of cell security ordinarily followed — also evasion in interrogation. Yazid may be gracious but he is a slippery and wily fellow. At a minimum, however, the established facts relevant to the Amerithrax investigation show that in the Summer and Fall of 2001 an Al Qaeda supporter who had assisted in the 9-11 operation — and who was a lab technician working with anthrax — was in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Was he the fellow perceived as Filipino who the journalist met in Afghanistan in the Fall of 2001 bragging about his ability to manipulate anthrax? I think that instead of Hambali’s right-hand man, Muklis Yunos. According to Sufaat’s attorney, Sufaat gave two FBI agents no fresh evidence during a 30-minute interrogation finally conducted in November 2002 (where they mainly wanted to know how he knew Zacarias). The U.S. has asked for his extradition in connection with hosting of the two 9/11 hijackers, but Malaysia refused. President Bush reports that US officials did not fully appreciate Sufaat’s role in Al Qaeda’s anthrax program until after KSM’s capture in March 2003.
As described in US News, a former reporter from the Kabul Times actually may have met a Filipino carrying papers from Zawahiri and bragging about his ability to manipulate anthrax. The man may have been Hambali’s lieutenant, Muklis Yunos, who had been Hambali’s right-hand man and was in charge of special operations for the Philippine Moro Islamic Liberation Front (“MILF”). British reporter Philip Smucker explained that the Afghan reporter working with him spoke fluent Arabic and made regular undercover trips into Afghanistan from Pakistan. He had visited three functioning al Qaeda camps at grave risk to his life. Smucker explains that his colleague had landed in a Kabul hotel with a Filipino scientist who had a signed letter from al Qaeda’s number two, Dr. Ayman al Zawahiri, authorizing him to help the network develop biological weapons. The man at the hotel had described his own efforts to develop an “anthrax bomb.” Filipino Muklis Yunos was an explosives expert who had participated with Yazid Sufaat in the December 2000 church bombings. Upon his arrest in May 2003, Philippine intelligence said he had received anthrax training in Afghanistan.
Perhaps he was who the journalist encountered.
Who does Muklis Yunos think is responsible for the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings?
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« * Did North Korea provide Al Qaeda/Moro Front and Dr. Ayman Zawahiri anthrax as claimed in 1999 testimony in Egypt by the shura members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad?
* The soon-to-be-released DoD report attributes Dugway’s problems with radiation dosing viability testing, and aseptic procedures to “scientific uncertainty” concerning dose levels and time intervals between irradiation and viability testing; Bruce Ivins experienced the same thing at USAMRIID »
* The Pentagon Anthrax Scandal Is Getting Worse by the Day … * The new edition of CASE CLOSED could not come at a more opportune time.
Posted by DXer on July 11, 2015
Update 7/28/15 …
Department of Defense said 106 additional labs had been sent the bacteria
They were added on top of the 86 facilities they previously knew about
Investigation now covers seven countries, all 50 states and three territories
Update 7/11/15: 85 labs sent live anthrax … Italy most recently added to list … DOD to release report soon.
DoD Anthrax Update: Live Samples Sent To Mississippi 78 labs have received live anthrax and counting…
http://www.talkradionews.com/pentagon/2015/06/29/dod-anthrax-update-live-samples-sent-to-mississippi.html#.VZGxbuvuj2Q U.S. Defense Department officials said on Wednesday that a total of 51 laboratories in 17 states, the District of Columbia, and three foreign countries have received potentially dangerous samples of anthrax from a U.S. Army lab in Dugway, Utah — dramatically expanding the scope of a scandal that raises serious questions about the Pentagon’s ability to properly oversee its stocks of deadly pathogens. So far, a total of 10 samples tested in the United States have come up positive for live anthrax, a sharp increase from the single case at a Maryland laboratory that was disclosed last week. Pentagon officials have continued to insist that the miscues pose no risk to the general public, but Defense Department officials have had to repeatedly acknowledge that their earlier statements about the extent of the problems have proven false. While the number of potentially affected labs has shot from 12 to 51 over the past day, “we expect this number may rise” as more testing is done, Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday. The samples sent to Canada, South Korea, and Australia are also being tested. Domestically, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are scrambling to test a total of 400 separate “batches” of anthrax at four Defense Department labs, though so far all of the positive samples have come from the one in Dugway, Work said. While all shipments of anthrax from government labs have been halted, no one at Dugway has yet been reprimanded for the shipments — though many there may eventually be disciplined. Investigators have been told to report back to Work by the end of June with their findings, and he said decisions about how to move forward will be made then. Work stressed that at this point in the investigation, “there is absolutely nothing to indicate” that the shipments were an act of terrorism or were done deliberately. That isn’t terribly reassuring, since it would mean that the samples were instead sent out because of simple inattention or incompetence.
“This incident makes a complete hash” of the stringent security protocols put in place since the anthrax attacks in the fall of 2001 that left five people dead and sickened 17 others, Richard Ebright, professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Rutgers University told Foreign Policy.
It takes an extremely small amount of live anthrax to produce “a limitless quantity of the material,” he added. That, in turn, means “that every institution that received this received live anthrax, and every individual who had access to the material had the ability to remove, transfer, sell, or use the seedstock for biological weapons. This is the real scandal here.”
Work was joined at the briefing by the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer, Frank Kendall, and U.S. Navy Cmdr. Franca Jones, who oversees the department’s chemical and biological defense office. None of the officials could identify what exactly went wrong at Dugway in the process of killing the anthrax spores and testing them before shipment, but Jones did note that samples have been heading out of the lab since 2005, which gives a sense of the sheer scope of the task facing the government in tackling the issue of ultimate responsibility, and what protocols need to change. Al Mauroni, director of the U.S. Air Force’s Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies, also believes there was little chance that “Something was going to get loose to the public. The risk to the public is much less than some make it out to be.” But the number of labs that are working with chemical and biological materials has swelled since 2001, with the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Health and Human Services issuing a number of grants to labs for medical-biological countermeasures, he said. Kendall said that government and commercial labs have different safety and security protocols for how they conduct their work, and that the investigation will look at the possibility of bringing them more into line with one another, thus making oversight easier. The Defense Department issued new guidance in 2008 as to how U.S. military labs should handle materials like anthrax and other biological warfare agents, but it is unclear if the workers at Dugway failed to follow these guidelines.
These regulations stem from the aftermath of the 2001 attacks, in which five envelopes containing live anthrax were sent to news outlets and two more to Democratic Sens. Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy. The FBI eventually accused Dr. Bruce Ivins, a former Army researcher who worked with anthrax at Fort Detrick, of sending the envelopes, but he killed himself before he could be formally charged. The new guidance, Mauroni said, was “very stringent.”
The Pentagon Anthrax Scandal Is Getting Worse by the Day • BY PAUL MCLEARY • JUNE 3, 2015 – 5:20 PM https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/06/03/pentagon-anthrax-scandal-is-getting-worse/
The new edition of CASE CLOSED could not come at a more opportune time.
Just a few days ago, on June 3, 2015, the Pentagon reported that 51 laboratories received shipments of live anthrax, across 17 states (plus D.C.) and three foreign countries over a period of at least ten years. The Defense Department admitted it didn’t know everywhere it had sent the toxic bacteria. This is happening fourteen years AFTER the 2001 anthrax attacks that killed 5 Americans and paralyzed our country. What would you speculate about controls over anthrax BEFORE the attacks? Right, they were virtually non-existent.
Yet the FBI, in the face of no credible evidence of any kind, still insists that Dr. Bruce Ivins was the sole perpetrator of those attacks. The FBI’s case offers no physical evidence, no witnesses, no scientific evidence, and an impossible time line. Both the NAS and the GAO have conducted independent reviews which concluded the FBI’s claims to scientific evidence are not valid.
So we are left with two questions, both of which have important national security implications. Who really did carry out those attacks in 2001? Why does the FBI stick to its demonstrably false assertion?
The story of CASE CLOSED is told through the activities of a team of DIA investigators who re-trace the steps of the FBI, find many of the same flaws that have been exposed in real life, and then develop a scenario of why the FBI did not solve the case and who was responsible. This latter is of course fictional, but many informed readers, including one highly placed in the US Intelligence Community, have concluded that CASE CLOSED is more plausible than the story the FBI has concocted.
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Department of Defense Press Briefing by Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook in the Pentagon Briefing Room
Press Operations
Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook
http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/616811/department-of-defense-press-briefing-by-pentagon-press-secretary-peter-cook-in
Q To follow up on Jamie’s question, are you saying that live samples of bubonic plague were detected at one of the four DOD labs, and were any of those samples inadvertently shipped, like the anthrax was?
MR. COOK: So my understanding of the situation and bubonic plague, I’m not even sure medically speaking or scientifically speaking is the exact substance we’re talking about here.
My understanding is that there was a sample at a DOD facility that was — as part of this program, was a form of plague and that it was in — not in a containment area, but in a freezer outside of containment area, but within a controlled setting.
And the question was raised by the CDC whether or not this was an infectious agent, infectious form of plague, or a noninfectious, and that the testing done by the Army has determined that was noninfectious and that a additional testing is being conducted to try and verify once and for all whether or not it was labeled correctly and placed in the right location or whether or not it did have some infectious threat.
And I think that’s the scientific work that’s being done at this particular time determining exactly what happened there and whether or not, again, there was mislabeling, if it was catalog issues there.
The CDC’s raised some concerns all throughout this process. I think they’ve done so again here, and we’re continuing to work collaboratively with the CDC.
Q: (inaudible) — was found in one of the Maryland labs.
MR. COOK: It was the — and let me make sure I’ve got the location correct for you — the — the Edgewood facility.
Q: Any indication that that sample was shipped anywhere else?
MR. COOK: I — at this point, I think the investigation — I think our folks, the Army in particular is trying to determine whether or not any other forms of that, any other samples went to any other location. I don’t have a definitive answer for you there. That’s something we hope that this investigation will determine once and for all.
Q: When and how did this come to life? Did the Army or DOD or whomever find — figure out that — (inaudible)?
And also, I think there’s — the report also said there was two strains of encephalitis that were also — so how — how did — how did the Army determine this?
MR. COOK: My understanding is that the way this first came to light was a CDC spot inspection of this facility and that the CDC looked at the freezer area where this sample was being held and then checked against the inventory logbook and raised questions about whether or not what was listed in the inventory as noninfectious was, in fact, noninfectious, and that started this testing process.
Q: And when did that occur?
MR. COOK: That happened, as I understand it, on the 17th of August.
Q: And then the — the encephalitis, are you aware of the — the circumstances around that? Was — was any of that shipped specifically overseas or to non-DOD facilities?
MR. COOK: Yeah. This — this is, again, something still under investigation right now. This goes to CDC’s own assessment of inventory logs being held by the Army.
I might have to refer you to the Army on all of the details here in terms of those logs, where they’re being kept, but the questions about the other substances has to do with inventory, whether or not things were labeled properly as infectious or non-infectious and that the scrutiny being exposed — the scrutiny to these other samples deals with sort of the same issue, whether or not they were labeled properly in the first place.
Q: So this whole new — these new allegations that have come to light about plague and encephalitis are solely about storage and not about any shipping, like the anthrax one, right?
MR. COOK: I can’t tell you with 100 percent certainty. I think one of the things they’re doing right now is trying to assess whether any of these substances, first of all, pose any sort of threat; second of all, whether these substances were shipped to any other laboratories. And I think that’s consistent with the — sort of what happened with the anthrax situation.
Comment: As RHE once remarked to me recently in connection with a development earlier this month, “it’s deja vu all over again.”
Q: — activities at these labs, the Pentagon specifically referred to anthrax, but it didn’t mention Ebola or encephalitis, despite the fact that you knew about that on August the 17th and the fact that the Army now says that was directly responsible for the moratorium. Why wasn’t it mentioned last week?
MR. COOK: Tom, I think the statement that came out last week did reference questions about inventory and mislabeling. And at that time, and I think still at this point, there’s been no indication, no testing done definitively that shows that this, in fact, was mislabeled as a threat versus something that non-infectious.
So we’re still waiting for those results back, and I think we’re trying to, out of an abundance of caution, first of all, put that moratorium in place. Secretary McHugh, the Army, doing that out of an abundance of caution. We don’t know yet exactly whether or not this substance did pose a threat, and I think that was reflected in that statement. And that’s why at this — the moratorium was put in place at that time.
What’s really important here is, again, based on the Army’s assessment, the CDC’s assessment, there’s been no public health threat and no threat that we’re aware of to the workers themselves, and that’s what we’re trying to get to the bottom of as well through the Army’s investigation as well as the CDC’s.
Q: For the sake of transparency and openness, what — shouldn’t you have mentioned the fact that those agents were possibly in the wrong places and that that led to the moratorium?
MR. COOK: I think — Tom, I think what we’re trying to do here is verify — wait for these test results to come back to determine once and for all whether or not these were indeed mislabeled or whether they hadn’t. And so I think we’re trying to be as forthcoming as we can be right now without alarming the public.
And again, this investigation is ongoing, and this remains a concern. We want to be as transparent as possible going forward.
Q: And one final question.
MR. COOK: Sure.
Q: Is Ebola another concern, another agent that you’re tracking?
MR. COOK: I have — I personally have not been told that it is on the list of substances in question here. And if that’s not the case, then I’ll — certainly, we’ll let you know. But my information at this point is that Ebola is not on the list.
Q: Are there any other agents other than the ones that we now know about?
MR. COOK: What I’m aware of are, of course, the original anthrax revelations. Now there’s concern about plague and equine encephalitis as well.
Q: Peter, have any DOD personnel been reprimanded or lost their jobs as a result of these various incidents?
MR. COOK: As you know, there’s an accountability review that is still ongoing. We expect the results of that in October, and so I can’t point to anyone at this point who has faced any sort of repercussions, if you will, as a result of what’s happened, but that’s an ongoing review, and so my suggestion would be let’s — let’s see what happens in October.
Q: It seems as though that you know an awful lot — enough to talk at the podium — about what’s going on, and, as you said, the secretary has pointed out that this is an issue, as well.
It seems kind of strange that no one has been reprimanded for doing things that are obviously wrong, and — and I wonder why that — that — that we have to we have to wait for this accountability.
MR. COOK: We want to do this right. This is complicated — complicated material. This is difficult for the scientific and medical community to determine everything that’s happened here, and I think, we want to get this right. We want to have a thorough investigation.
We want to get this program in the right place. Remember, the purpose of this program, in large measure, is to make sure that we are able to address these bio-threats, these hazards, for our servicemen and women, for the general public as well. This is an important program, needs to be done right, and that’s the goal of this investigation.
Anthrax scandal: US army orders new toxins crackdown
• 20 minutes ago
“Anthrax entered the US national consciousness in 2001, when shortly after the 9/11 attacks, letters containing powdered anthrax arrived at news organisations and the offices of US senators. Twenty-two people were sickened and of those, five people died.”
Comment: Yet, analysis was truncated and only included shipments post -911. Do none of the reporters know enough about Amerithrax to appreciate the significance of this fact? … to know enough to ask the hard question:
what about the shipments thought to have been irradiated prior to 911?
Anthrax lab scare now even worse than first thought as Pentagon admits it sent live samples to all 50 states and nine countries
• Department of Defense says number of labs sent anthrax is now up to 194
• Samples sent to nine countries from the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah
• Report in July said workers had failed to kill bacteria before shipping it off
By JULIAN ROBINSON FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 05:59 EST, 3 September 2015 | UPDATED: 05:59 EST, 3 September 2015
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3220877/Anthrax-lab-scare-worse-thought-Pentagon-admits-sent-live-samples-50-states-nine-countries.html
How many labs were excluded in the Amerithrax analysis because what had been sent was irradiated?
Yet the former FBI people in charge of the DOD review (Hassell and Majidi) are not following the implications of their own findings.
Thus, the DOD in fact is not taking responsibility for the institutional failure. Specifically, the former FBI people leading the DOD review are truncating analysis and not testing the irradiated Ames seized from Ivins in 2007.
The DOD is acting as if the science pre-2001 was certain and that Dugway just suddenly forgot how to do it right.
The irradiated Ames that Bruce Ivins distributed to numerous other researchers was not available for the recent DOD review conducted at USAMRIID because it had been removed from USAMRIID by the FBI in November 2007
Posted by Lew Weinstein on August 4, 2015
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2015/08/04/the-irradiated-ames-that-bruce-ivins-distributed-to-numerous-other-researchers-was-not-available-for-the-recent-dod-review-conducted-at-usamriid-because-it-had-been-removed-from-usamriid-by-the-fbi/
If and when Dr. Ayman Zawahiri attacks the US with anthrax it will be a massive institutional failure all right — on the part of DOD and the FBI and also the CDC.
I no longer can access the DOD Laboratory Review website (re anthrax shipments).
http://www.defense.gov/Home/Features/2015/0615_lab-stats
This is what it looked like on July 20, 2015.
https://web.archive.org/web/20150720203401/http://www.defense.gov/home/features/2015/0615_lab-stats/
Am I right that there a new URL upon a shift to a new hosting platform? Is there a new update today? Last week I’m told that two countries were added.
The website — current as of August 14, a few days ago — is here:
http://www.defense.gov/News/Special-Reports/DoD-Laboratory-Review
88 primary labs
106 secondary labs
194 total labs
9 foreign countries
50 states, 1 District, 3 Territories
Report: Research monkeys escaped several times
By Olivier Uyttebrouck / Journal Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: Monday, August 10, 2015 at 12:05 am
http://www.abqjournal.com/625966/news/report-research-monkeys-escaped-several-times.html
Federal inspectors reported that monkeys used in research projects at Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute escaped from their cages at least six times over the past year.
The monkeys, nearly all rhesus macaques, were all recaptured without injury to the animals or staff, often by using food to luring them into enclosures, U.S. Department of Agriculture officials said in inspection reports.
The reports do not indicate that any of the monkeys were able to get outdoors or escape into public areas.
A USDA report written in June 2014 noted that a monkey involved in a biosafety level 3 research escaped its primary enclosure and had to be recaptured. None of the subsequent reports listed escapes by animals involved in biosafely level 3 research.
Comment: I met socially with a chemical engineer this week who worked at Sandia, living at the Hilton. He said that they kept secret the fact that they had monkeys because of the controversy elsewhere at the time — I believe he may have been referring to the Silver Spring monkey case or the infectious disease epidemic in monkeys in VA. Or perhaps he was referring to animal rights controversy more generally. He said that they kept the monkeys long term, letting them die off of natural causes.
It was a coincidence, I believe, that he was working on a decontamination agent for anthrax.
Having gone to the zoo yesterday and seen the monkeys, I can appreciate that they have a mind of their own.
Number now, as I recall, is up to 193.
More laboratories affected by live anthrax shipments from U.S.Updated: 2015-08-07 09:15:21 KST
Norway was newly added to the list.
http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?nseq=182112
I had dinner with a chemical engineer last night who explained that the Army tested his decontamination agent using live anthrax south of Buffalo in 2000. I believe he said it was dispersed by helicopter. The method of identifying locations where there was virulent Ames was wholly inadequate for the task.
This January 2001 article “Bacillus Spore Inactivation Methods Affect Detection Assays” by Edgewood authors about inactivation methods discusses Delta Ames supplied by the Battelle-managed Dugway, subtilus, and use of sheep blood agar.
The data demonstrate that inactivation methods can affect the sensitivity of nucleic acid-based detection and immunoassays for the detection of Bacillus spores. We have observed a differential effect based on the type of assay employed. The need to avoid handling and testing large amounts of potentially harmful spore preparations dictates that we understand the effects of inactivation procedures. We have studied two common spore inactivation procedures and demonstrated how they affect three types of biodetection assays. These effects should be taken into consideration when comparing laboratory results to data collected and assayed during field deployment.”
Bacillus Spore Inactivation Methods Affect Detection Assays, Received 12 January 2001/Accepted 25 May 2001
• Jessica L. Dang1,*,
• Karen Heroux1,
• John Kearney2,
• Ameneh Arasteh3,
• Mark Gostomski3, and
• Peter A. Emanuel3
http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/67/8/3665
Growth and processing of Bacillus cultures.Inactivation and biodetection protocols were conducted using B. anthracis NNR1 (pX01+ pX02−), B. anthracis ΔAmes (pX01−pX02+), B. anthracis ΔSterne (plasmid free), and two negative controls,Bacillus subtilisstrain 1031 and Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki. Bacillus cultures were generously provided by Alvin Fox (University of South Carolina Medical School) and Bruce Harper (Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah).
I read this 2001 article about irradiation as indicating Edgewood got Ames from Harper at Dugway and X01 plasmid was removed at Edgewood (after receipt)
Years ago, I emailed Peter Emmanuel about whether Edgewood to confirm that Edgewood had virulent Ames but he did not respond.
192 labs… but 575 separate shipments.
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2015/07/cdc-dod-anthrax-errors-involved-575-shipments
CDC: DoD anthrax errors involved 575 shipments
Filed Under: Anthrax; Biosecurity Issues
Robert Roos | News Editor | CIDRAP News | Jul 28, 2015
“The inadvertent transfer of potentially live Bacillus anthracis (BA) samples by a US Army lab in Utah over the past decade involved a total of 575 separate shipments to other labs, including those that received the materials indirectly, a federal health official testified today.
Demske commented that no federal agencies have been fined for [Federal Select Agent Program (FSAP) ] violations, because monetary penalties would only result in moving money from the agency’s budget to the general fund, and the government would incur the cost of negotiating or disputing the penalty.”
http://docs.house.gov/meetings/IF/IF02/20150728/103816/HHRG-114-IF02-Wstate-SosinD-20150728.pdf
“On May 22, 2015, after being advised by a laboratory that live anthrax was detected in a sample from Dugway that was supposed to have been inactivated, CDC initiated outreach to what has amounted to 183 domestic laboratories (164 of which are not DoD labs) to track 575 shipments of presumed inactivated anthrax material (that turned out to include live anthrax) coming from Dugway. (There were an additional nine labs in seven foreign countries that received lots from Dugway, making for a total of 192 labs that received hot lots, but CDC’s outreach was only to domestic labs).”
Testimony before the Subcommittee on Oversight and
Investigations Committee on Energy and Commerce U.S. House of Representatives
Review of Department of Defense Anthrax Shipments
Daniel M. Sosin, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.P. Deputy Director and Chief Medical Officer
Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response Centers for Disease Control and Prevention U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Excerpt from statement at hearing today of Gregory E. Demske, Office of Counsel to the Inspector General:
https://oig.hhs.gov/testimony/docs/2015/demske-0728.pdf
“Dugway: 2007 Anthrax Violation
In April 2007, Dugway shipped anthrax to a research facility. The shipment included a certification that the anthrax was nonviable. The research facility tested the material upon receipt and found the presence of a low concentration of viable anthrax.
DSAT investigated and concluded that Dugway used a scientifically acceptable inactivation method to kill the anthrax, but that method was not part of Dugway’s Standard Operating Procedures. DSAT also found that Dugway used a scientifically acceptable viability test, but that Dugway ignored the outcome of the test, which showed that viable anthrax was still present.
DSAT referred the potential violation to OIG for review on November 16, 2007. After considering all the evidence, OIG concluded that Dugway shipped viable anthrax without obtaining prior DSAT approval. On December 2, 2009, OIG issued a Notice of Violation letter to Dugway stating that OIG had determined Dugway had violated FSAP by making an unauthorized transfer of anthrax. The letter also stated that Dugway should examine its current policies and practices, take corrective action, and monitor its safeguards on an ongoing basis.”
A March 27, 2007 email titled “Meeting this Morning,” indicated that USAMRIID similarly had not worked out what was needed for 100% sterility — in connection with the use of formalin, that led to the 2007 violation.
Bruce wrote: “We still need to work out how much formalin treatment is needed to ensure 100% sterility in a spore preparation. A “killing curve” could be used to predict how fast spores are inactivated in certain concentrations of formalin.”
https://mrmc.amedd.army.mil/content/foia_reading_room/Batch75/20070324_batch75(redacted).pdf
Pentagon blames live anthrax shipments on sloppy work, poor procedures
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/national-security/article28438900.html
Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work, who headed a review whose findings were released Thursday, expressed shock at the weak and inconsistent testing protocols the probe uncovered in the unit charged with developing ways to counter the use of biological weapons by enemy forces.
“By any measure, this was a massive institutional failure with a potentially dangerous biotoxin,” Work said.
While the review found no evidence of purposeful malfeasance, Work directed Army Secretary John McHugh to determine whether any military scientists should be punished for the loose handling and shipping of the deadly pathogen.
Anthrax has been an ongoing focus of health concern in the United States since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks when spores sent through the U.S. mail killed five people and sickened 17 others. The source of the letters was never proven, but the FBI accused a deceased worker at the government’s biodefense labs at Fort Detrick, Md., of sending them.
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/national-security/article28438900.html#storylink=cpy
When Dugway scientists were asked about the problem before the eview, they said that 2 to 3 percent of their anthrax samples had live spores. When the Pentagon team went through the center’s raw testing data, it found the true rate was 20 percent. Live samples were found in 17 of the 33 anthrax batches in Dugway’s inventory.
Obviously, when over half of the anthrax batches that were presumed to be inactivated instead proved to contain live spores, we have a problem,” Work said.
https://books.google.com/books?id=_iyyCQAAQBAJ&dq=anthrax+FBI&source=gbs_navlinks_s
Trojan Horses: A Story of Homegrown Terrorism
Sheldon Cohen
AuthorHouse, May 22, 2015 – Fiction – 194 pages
Ben Marzan Searching for meaning in his life, Marzan studies with the Imam and converts to a radical sect of Islam. He’s the perfect candidate for a homegrown terrorist—American born, assimilated, and eager to embrace Jihad. Anatoly Shenko A disaffected Russian scientist working in Siberia, Shenko is one of the world’s top experts on biological warfare. But his wife and son are in ill health, and he’s in desperate need of money. Abdul Saidadov A former Chechen rebel, Saididov aligns himself with terrorists in hopes of spreading the message of Allah throughout the world. Marzan, Shenko, and Saidadov, along with other conspirators and the terrorist hierarchy, are part of a terrorist plot to smuggle weapons of mass destruction into the United States. To keep America off balance, they are prepared to sow chaos in Chicago. Anthrax and smallpox are successfully disseminated throughout the city, and as Chicagoans die in ever-increasing numbers, the city soon learns that a nuclear bomb is next. Will a young Chicago emergency room physician, a team of FBI agents, and a Chicago police detective be able to abort the coming attack?
Exclusive: Pentagon Blames Anthrax Fiasco on…No One at All by Nancy A. Youssef
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/16/pentagon-blames-anthrax-fiasco-on-no-one.html
For over a decade, the U.S. military shipped a deadly biological agent around the globe. But the Pentagon can’t find a single ‘root cause’ for this monumental goof.A Pentagon report designed to explain how a military lab sent live anthrax to 86 locations worldwide could not find a “single root cause” for the worst biosafety mishap in decades. Nor does the report finger any individual or group for the blunder, The Daily Beast has learned.
Instead, the report blames the shipments of deadly bacteria to 21 states and seven nations over the last decade on the lack of a common scientific standard for killing anthrax, also known as bacillus anthracis. It’s a claim that some experts rejected as an attempt to whitewash sloppy military practices.
A highly anticipated 38-page draft report viewed by The Daily Beast focused on aDugway Proving Ground, the Army base that produced all the activated anthrax spores sent around the globe. The report concludes that “a single root cause for shipping viable BA [bacillus anthracis] could not be identified” but considers the “primary systematic issue” a lack of “specific validated standards to guide the development of protocols, processes and quality assurance measures.”
The report finds that Dugway failed to use enough radiation to kill anthrax and it did not correctly conduct subsequent tests to confirm the anthrax was dead. In footnotes throughout, the report dwells on how difficult it is to kill anthrax. On that, outside scientists and the Pentagon agree. But the scientists also note that commonly accepted procedures, when used correctly, would not allow a lab to unknowingly send activated anthrax spores, as Dugway did for a decade.
Richard Ebright, professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Rutgers University, rejected the Pentagon’s claims that the shipment of live anthrax spores was solely the result of a lack of scientific consensus. Indeed, he called Dugway’s practices “criminally negligent.”
To Ebright, Dugway’s use of such practices over a decade, despite numerous signs that the methods were insufficient, indicates an unsafe lab.
Ebright believes the Pentagon is hiding behind a lacking scientific consensus and a federal standard to avoid making changes at a dangerous facility.
“The errors had nothing do with scientific uncertainties. This was a mismanaged industrial operation,” Ebright said. “The errors were avoidable at many different steps.”
“Dugway runs an industrial production program—not a science program,” Ebright added. “The recipients of the spore samples were military contractors and military bases—not scientists.”
The Pentagon report said there were “deficiencies” in the lab’s radiation dosing, which refers to the amount of radiation used to inactivate the spores.
Dugway took procedures that had been shown in the scientific literature to be barely sufficient to inactivate a million anthrax spores and applied them to production batches containing trillions (millions of millions) of anthrax spores.
“Dugway not only failed to inactivate their production batches of spores properly. They also failed to test their production batches properly,” Ebright said.
The report refers to “scientific uncertainties” in “sample sizes” for testing and in “incubation periods” between irradiation and testing. In other words, Dugway didn’t know exactly how much anthrax it was blasting with gamma rays—or how long the bacteria should sit before scientists examined it.
But Ebright contends that these “scientific uncertainties” cannot account for the failure of Dugway’s quality control testing to detect that spores still were viable. He notes that Dugway produced hundreds of batches of spores over a decade-long interval and consistently failed to detect live spores. “This massive, consistent failure cannot be accounted for, or explained away by, minor technical issues such as sample sizes and time periods between irradiation and testing,” Ebright said.
“It is hard to believe testing actually was done. If it was performed, it was performed in an appallingly bad way,” he added.
The report also noted deficiencies in Dugway’s “aseptic” procedures for keeping unwanted microbes—microbes other than anthrax itself—out of production of anthrax spores. Ebright said sloppiness with sterile techniques at Dugway is not surprising, given the other practices at Dugway, But it does not by itself account for the shipment of live spores.
ALL HEADLINESAll Headlines
(EDITORIAL from Korea Times on July 17)
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2015/07/17/0200000000AEN20150717000600315.html?input=rss
Anthrax doubts
Honesty is best policy for US to keep alliance strong
Officials of Korea and the United States Wednesday renewed their determination to find ways of preventing a recurrence of the delivery of lethal samples of anthrax to Osan Air Base, an hour’s drive south of Seoul.
Wednesday’s meeting followed the formation Sunday of the Joint Working Group, led by major generals, one from each side, and composed of experts from related agencies which will conduct an on-site inspection this month.
These events came after U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) revealed on May 28 the mistaken delivery from a military lab in Utah in April. Two days later, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter expressed his regret over the incident.
So far, the allies have made a good start in handling the aftermath of this horrific mistake, which apparently and fortunately caused no casualties. But they still have more than a few challenges ahead, considering the many aspects of this mistake.
First and foremost among them is an incredible fact that the samples were moved through FedEx, a U.S. package delivery service. When the U.S. discloses the results of its investigation, a clearer picture is expected to emerge and provide directions on how to fix the flaws, human or systemic.
But more importantly, the Korean government was kept in the dark about the transfer of this hazardous material into its country.
History shows this occurrence can be taken by the Korean public as an example of U.S. unilateralism, and there is a remote chance it might turn into a severe test of the two countries’ alliance, like what happened following the deaths of two girls crushed by a U.S. armored vehicle during training in Yangju, north of Seoul, in 2002.
Regarding the so-called Yangju Highway Incident, not just the U.S. but also the Korean government at that time was responsible for failing to foresee the potential backlash evidenced by months of candlelight protests. Then U.S. President Bill Clinton apologized, albeit belatedly.
Now, the alliance has by most accounts matured so much since then. But for the allies, it is better to err on the side of caution.
For that, the U.S. should come clean and keep the host country informed at all times when it brings in hazardous materials. Korea gives USFK the privilege of customs clearance exemptions for mail and parcels, because they are believed to help its operations. It is only natural that the accumulation of cases of abuse, by mistake or intentionally, will be grounds for revocation.
How to ensure a transparent process, whether through a revision of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) or other means, should be left to the best intention of the negotiators.
We acknowledge that living next door is the wackiest dictator, who reportedly ordered the testing of anthrax on his own people.
We also agree that the mistaken delivery took place as part of U.S. Operation Jupiter aimed at boosting bio-surveillance against North Korea, which has successfully weaponized a variety of bacteria.
We suggest that any transfers of hazardous materials be conducted only when extremely necessary and under the safest possible circumstance, and, when they are moved, the two sides be fully consulted.
Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez is the name of the Chattanooga shooting suspect according to the latest reports by CBS.
The to-be-released DoD report attributes DPG’s problems with radiation dosing viability testing, and aseptic procedures to “scientific uncertainty” concerning dose levels and time intervals between irradiation and viability testing; Bruce Ivins experienced the same thing at USAMRIID
Bruce Ivins at USAMRIID found it amazing that 6 million rads wasn’t killing the spores
Posted by Lew Weinstein on June 13, 2015
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2015/06/13/bruce-ivins-at-usamriid-found-it-amazing-that-6-million-rads-wasnt-killing-the-spores/
Bruce Ivins experienced repeated irradiation failures with virulent Ames anthrax
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2015/06/13/bruce-ivins-experienced-repeated-irradiation-failures-with-virulent-ames-anthrax/comment-page-1/#comment-39950
“More bad irradiation news” – USAMRIID’s Bruce Ivins found that sometimes samples that had tested negative then upon retesting came up “hot”
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2015/06/19/more-bad-irradiation-news-usamriids-bruce-ivins-found-that-sometimes-samples-that-had-tested-negative-then-upon-retesting-came-up-hot/
USAMRIID today produced an “Information Paper” explaining production of gamma-irradiation sterilized dried Ames anthrax spores pre-9/11
Posted by Lew Weinstein on July 26, 2014
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2014/07/26/usamriid-today-produced-an-information-paper-explaining-production-of-gamma-irradiation-sterilized-dried-ames-anthrax-spores-pre-911/
“All the B. anthracis dried spores were destroyed over a year ago due to lack of quality assurance documentation.”
“Two vials were tained, one of which was used to compare to the spores from the Senator Daschle and Senator Leahy letters and the second has remained unopened, at the request of the FBI, for future analysis.”
“All dried materials were sterilized by gamma-radiation prior to drying.”
Governor Cuomo: Hailing from Syracuse, let me celebrate the opening of the new amphitheater on the lake by news that you and the NYS DEC won’t shoot my daughter’s swans.
Absent a change course by the DEC, the kill plan will not survive an Article 78 challenge.
SUFFOLK CLOSEUP
Sign The Bill To Save The Swans
BY KARL GROSSMAN
http://olive.pressnewsgroup.com/olive/odn/ehpress/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=EHP%2F2015%2F07%2F15&entity=Ar00806&sk=1714AB66
Anthrax Lab’s History of ‘F-ing Around’ With Explosives
The same facility that accidently shipped live samples of the deadly pathogen was mixing powerful bomb-making ingredients with everyday kitchen tools, investigators found.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/13/anthrax-lab-s-history-of-f-ing-around-with-explosives.html
It came as a shock when the U.S. military came clean about one of the worst biodefense screw-ups on American soil in decades — the release of live, lethal anthrax to more than 85 unsuspecting labs. Perhaps it shouldn’t have been a complete surprise, given the anthrax’s source.
Dugway Proving Grounds — a massive, 1,300 square mile Army research and testing facility in remote, northwestern Utah — has had throughout its history a number of alarming safety lapses involving deadly chemicals, biological agents, and high explosives.
Internal Army documents obtained by The Daily Beast show that Dugway’s handling of dangerous explosives was so slipshod that Defense Department inspectors in 2014 recommended that a bomb-handling course be “suspended.” Those inspectors discovered that staffers at Dugway were mixing together potentially lethal “primary” explosives in everyday pots and pans — the kind of gear you’d find in your kitchen, not in a cutting-edge military research facility. And these staffers had no coherent rationale for why they were so casually handling explosives that made nitroglycerin look like Play-Doh.
“People were shocked… It was like: What are you guys doing out here?” a source familiar with the investigation said. “No one could adequately explain why they needed to be f-ing around, making these exotic explosives.”
And of course, the live anthrax release tells a different story. In May, a Maryland biotech firm disclosed that it had discovered an anthrax sample that it believed to be dead was, in fact, alive. And that was a matter of some concern, because anthrax can be fatal. Its spores can make their way into the human bloodstream, unleashing a pair of toxins. One triggers a fluid buildup in the central chest cavity, squeezing the heart and lungs. The other assaults white blood cells that serve as the body’s natural defenses. That’s how five people were killed during the anthrax attacks of 2001.
Thankfully, no one was killed — or even injured — in that still-undisclosed Maryland lab. (Many biodefense experts believe the risk to public health was minimal, in fact.) But when investigators began examining the source of the live samples, they found that they came from Dugway, and that Dugway had been shipping other live samples around the world for a decade.
1968, things took an even stranger turn, as the website io9 recounts. An aircraft sprayed droplets of VX nerve agent over one of Dugway’s test sites. A strong gust carried the droplets over neighboring farms. Nearly 4,000 sheep died as a result. It took the Army decades to admit what happened.
The next year, according to a history website run by the Utah state government, “rare antibodies of a disease called Venezuelan Encephalitis were found in birds, cattle, sheep, and rodents around the base. During the same year Air Force pilots flying over Dugway identified an entire region as highly contaminated.”
Isr Med Assoc J. 2015 May;17(5):269-73.
Lessons to be Learned from Recent Biosafety Incidents in the United States.
Weiss S, Yitzhaki S, Shapira SC.
During recent months, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced the occurrence of three major biosafety incidents, raising serious concern about biosafety and biosecurity guideline implementation in the most prestigious agencies in the United States: the CDC, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Federal Drug Administration (FDA). These lapses included: a) the mishandling of Bacillus anthracis spores potentially exposing dozens of employees to anthrax; b) the shipment of low pathogenic influenza virus unknowingly cross-contaminated with a highly pathogenic strain; and c) an inventory lapse of hundreds of samples of biological agents, including six vials of variola virus kept in a cold storage room for decades, unnoticed. In this review we present the published data on these events, report the CDC inquiry’s main findings, and discuss the key lessons to be learnt to ensure safer scientific practice in biomedical and microbiological service and research laboratories.
http://www.ima.org.il/FilesUpload/IMAJ/0/146/73128.pdf
” There is no substitute for adherence to up-to-date protocols, communication policies and transparency.”
Is Germany on the list or not? I don’t read German but today’s news seems to indicate it perhaps should be on list.
Last Official Public Update: 85 labs sent live anthrax — Italy most recently added to list. DOD to release report soon.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/07/08/us-armys-mistaken-anthrax-shipment-fiasco-keeps-growing.html
But compare:
Rough translation of news coming out of Germany – (strain, I believe, from one of the articles was reported to have been Ames)
Deadly chemical weapons may still be active
US Army is said to have anthrax used in Germany
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/deutschland/militaer-verteidigung/id_74678432/us-armee-setzte-anthrax-in-deutschland-ein.html&prev=search
This is apparent from an email exchange between the German Embassy in Washington and the US military on 24 June 2015 reported the “Bild” newspaper.
Thus were in the years 2007, 2009 and 2010 spores of the deadly anthrax -Erregers been delivered to the laboratory of the US Army in the Rhineland-Palatinate Landstuhl.
Biokampfstoff “may still be active”
Under “several NATO exercises”, these samples were then used “to identify” chemical, biological and nuclear warfare, writes the paper.
Bundeswehr members allegedly not endangered
The German Defense Ministry said, according to “image” that Bundeswehr -Labore had not been supplied with the highly contagious germs. “Bundeswehr staff are not at risk according to the current state of play,” the paper quoted a spokesman of the Ministry.
http://www.germandailynews.com/bericht-57417/bericht-us-armee-operierte-bei-nato-uebungen-in-deutschland-mit-anthrax.html
Bericht: US-Armee operierte bei Nato-Übungen in Deutschland mit Anthrax
Autor: GDN | Berlin/Washington, 11.07.2015, 08:42 Uhr
GDN – Die US-Armee hat angeblich mehrfach mit aktiven Sporen des Biokampfmittels Anthrax bei Nato-Übungen in Deutschland operiert. Das gehe aus einem Mailwechsel zwischen der deutschen Botschaft in Washington und den US-Militärs vom 24. Juni 2015 hervor, aus dem die “Bild” (Samstag) zitiert.
Danach seien in den Jahren 2007, 2009 und 2010 aktive Anthrax-Sporen an das Labor der US-Armee in Landstuhl in Rheinland-Pfalz geliefert worden. Sie sollen im Rahmen “mehrerer Nato-Übungen als Proben zur Identifizierung” chemischer, biologischer und nuklearer Kampfstoffe eingesetzt worden sein. Nach Angaben der US-Militärs war es bei der Inaktivierung der Keime durch das US Labor “Dugway Proving Ground” vorab zu “Unregelmäßigkeiten” gekommen, schreibt die “Bild” weiter. “Möglicherweise könnten einige Sporen noch aktiv sein”, heißt es demnach in dem Mailwechsel. Das Verteidigungsministerium habe erklärt, dass Bundeswehrlabore mit den hoch ansteckenden Keimen nicht beliefert worden seien. “Bundeswehr-Mitarbeiter sind nach jetzigem Sachstand nicht gefährdet worden”, sagte ein Sprecher des Verteidigungsministerium der “Bild”. Anthrax-Sporen verursachen Milzbrand und können mehrere Jahrzehnte aktiv bleiben.
– See more at: http://www.germandailynews.com/bericht-57417/bericht-us-armee-operierte-bei-nato-uebungen-in-deutschland-mit-anthrax.html#sthash.qBuq8Hzk.dpuf
The original Bild article appears to require a subscription:
http://www.bild.de/bild-plus/politik/inland/us-army/operierte-mit-biowaffen-in-deutschland-41731226,var=a,view=conversionToLogin.bild.html
Schock bei der Bundeswehr!
Die US-Armee hat offenbar versehentlich mehrfach mit aktiven Sporen des Biokampfmittels Anthrax (verursacht Milzbrand) bei NATO-Übungen in Deutschland operiert.
Das geht aus einem Mailwechsel zwischen der deutschen Botschaft in Washington und den US-Militärs vom 24. Juni 2015 hervor, der BILD vorliegt.
Note: I may be mistaken that it was reported to have been Ames — that may still await being first reported.
I’m finding it hard to know what really happened as to this Germany incident. But here is an english version. On a minor separate point, I wish reporters would start getting right the difference between a biological and chemical weapon — and bacteria and viruses. If they get those aspects wrong, I would be slow to credit a claim that the anthrax was in fact been found to be live.
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150711/1024501984.html
The investigation revealed that several of the US military exercises on German soil involved “incidents” in which live anthrax spores were released. The incidents took place in the town of Landstuhl, near France, Luxembourg and the Ramstein military base. The US military previously sent live anthrax spores to South Korea.
The German defense ministry told the newspaper that the spores were not sent to any German military laboratories. The US military previously admitted that since 2005 it sent anthrax spores to South Korea, Australia and Canada, but not Germany.
“According to current information, Bundeswehr servicemen were not put in danger,” the German defense ministry claimed in an inquiry to Bild.
The spores were supposed to be neutralized at the Dugway Proving Ground in the US state of Utah before being sent to the exercises, but the incident made “some spores even more active,” according to the newspaper.
Congressional watchdogs demand names, details of sanctioned bioterror labs
Alison Young, USA TODAY5:57 p.m. EDT July 6, 2015
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/07/06/bioterror-lab-sanctions/29768513/
Alison Young’s article links the July 6, 2015 letter:
http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2158399-house-energy-commerce-letter-to-hhs-oig-6july2015.html
Pentagon Completes Review on Mistaken Anthrax Shipments, July 6, 2015
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/07/06/pentagon-completes-review-on-mistaken-anthrax-shipments.html
“The Department will publicly provide the comprehensive review report and an overview of the next steps by mid-July,” Badger said of the review that was led by Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall.
The number of impacted laboratories has been climbing steadily since the incident was first discovered. Pentagon officials now acknowledge that as many as 84 laboratories in 20 states and Washington, D.C., as well as five foreign countries are now known to have received the live anthrax samples.
America’s biolabs need greater scrutiny
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/opinion/editorials/2015/06/30/americas-biolabs-need-greater-scrutiny/29533693/
Comment: My friend RHE would argue, in contrast, that the US should very dramatically cut the number of labs working with such pathogens.
I don’t have an opinion on the policy question. Reasonable people can disagree on the issue. As an activist in the past on other issues relating to public health (liike soda in schools, benzene in soda etc,) I admire RHE’s fierce advocacy on the subject. I think that many people could agree that the world is less safe, not more, by the uncontrolled proliferation of labs and pathogens that we’ve witnessed since Fall 2001.
Like the invasion of Iraq, there were dire unintended (but foreseeable) consequences. Proliferation of labs and pathogens was the wrong move. After scientists have been drawn to careers in the field, addressing the issue has become increasingly difficult.
This is one reason why it is important to have clarity and confidence in the resolution of Amerithrax. The FBI’s Dave Hardy — notwithstanding the press of his many responsibilities managing the FBI’s FOIA operation — should make it a priority to see that Lab Notebook 3655 is located and produced.
For starters, Ken Dillon has been known to litigate over FOIA issues. He is the Fonzie to my Richie –and his motorcycle just pulled into the parking lot.
The FBI took Lab Notebook 3655 from Bruce Ivins in April 2007 and then didn’t give it back. The law of the land, FOIPA, requires that the FBI deliver it to USAMRIID so that USAMRIID can produce it under FOIA. Any redactions required by FOIA, of course, can then be made.
I believe the notebook related to Ivin’s Flask 1030, which contained a silicon signature and multiple morphs found in the anthrax mailed in Fall 2001. I believe it related to aerosol experiments conducted in Building 1412. Maybe Patricia Fellows or Henry Heine could confirm this, I don’t know.
USFK planned experiments to detect airborne benign microbes
Posted on : Jul.1,2015 17:13 KST Modified on : Jul.1,2015
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/698387.html
Civic groups asking for confirmation that planned tests didn’t also include anthrax, which the US shipped to South Korea
US forces in South Korea were planning to carry out an experiment to detect benign microbes that had been released into the air, according to one analyst. Benign microbes are symbiotic microorganisms that live inside the human body, but some want the US military to make clear whether it had plans to move on to outside experiments with anthrax and other deadly pathogens.
June 30 Column by Thomas J. Ridge and Joseph I. Lieberman are co-chairs of the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense
We need to strengthen biodefense now
http://marshfieldmail.com/opinion/we-need-to-strengthen-biodefense-now/article_038ca212-1e7f-11e5-a315-8778ed1bb72d.html
Terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have stated that they intend to acquire biological and chemical weapons — and use them against America.
Unfortunately, our nation is dangerously unprepared to prevent or respond to such attacks. Whether the actor is another country, a terrorist organization or even Mother Nature, the consequences are potentially catastrophic.
It’s as if our government has forgotten what it learned from the anthrax attacks in 2001.
If the government forgot the lesson, perhaps it is because Senator Lieberman has done nothing to force disclosure of the documents that the FBI’s former lead investigator says are being concealed by the FBI.
And it happened under Thomas J. Ridge’s watch while head of Homeland Security.
These folks — encouraged by highly paid lobbyists still dizzy from the revolving door — push for millions in funding… when a walk to a xerox machine and a dime per page would serve nicely in lending clarity to the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings.
For example, withholding the lab visited by Rauf Ahmad constitutes the continuing obstruction of justice.
Health Experts: Animal Diseases Can Be Used As Biological Weapons
http://www.hngn.com/articles/105565/20150701/health-experts-animal-diseases-used-biological-weapons.htm
During a conference in Paris, experts around the world have decided to raise awareness on the possibility of using animal diseases to create biological weapons, calling out to people to help stop the spread of such diseases
I’ve uploaded the memo from Dr. Ayman to Atef explaining that they only got the idea of using anthrax after repeatedly being told how easy it would be.
The press should instead emphasize that the hadiths forbid the use contemplated by Yazid Sufaat. The murder of elderly Ottilie Lundgren will cause the perpetrator’s soul to be lost forever under the belief system of the jihadis.
If Yazid Sufaat were exposed as the soulless murderer he is, it would be a deterrence to others.
I wrote:
Yazid Sufaat: I originally wrote “pussy-whipped soulless murderer” but I didn’t want to offend you. You are good with soulless murderer, right?
In written correspondence with the Case Closed blog, the Sacramento State graduate and former Malaysian Army Captain Yazid Sufaat has invoked the “Fifth Amendment” and declined to disclose the b. anthracis strain he was using.
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2015/04/28/in-written-correspondence-with-the-case-closed-blog-the-sacramento-state-graduate-and-former-malaysian-army-captain-yazid-sufaat-has-invoked-the-fifth-amendment-and-declined-to-disclose-the-b/
Yazid Sufaat hasn’t disclosed the strain he was using but I’ll tell you: It was virulent Ames. See Relman article in Science.
The press hasn’t yet told you the strain that Dugway sent to 78 labs but I’ll tell you. It was virulent Ames.
Before turning to the current Dugway matter, author Jen J. Danna has a very informative explanation of a July 2014 incident at CDC involving the unsuccessful irradiation of anthrax. Ms. Danna is from Toronto, ON and is Canadian forensic crime fiction author,
Biosecurity Incidents In Top U.S. Labs—What, Me Worry? Anthrax Edition
Tuesday, June 30, 2015 at 03:00AM | by Jen J. Danna
http://www.jenjdanna.com/blog/2015/6/30/biosecurity-incidents-in-top-us-labswhat-me-worry-anthrax-ed.html
Does CDC have a conflict of interest?
Dr. Ebright responds by email:
“Ross–Yes. The CDC has a COI.
RHE”
Maybe the Government Shouldn’t Put a Pathogen-Research Lab in Tornado Alley
Slate Magazine – 2 hours ago
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015/06/national_bio_and_agro_defense_facility_government_puts_pathogen_research.html
Just this month, U.S. defense officials revealed that an Army lab mistakenly sent live samples of anthrax to at least 52 labs in 18 states and three countries.
This article originally appeared in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
Laura H. Kahn is a general internist and works on the research staff of Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security.
13News Now Investigates: Inside America’s secretive biolabs
http://www.13newsnow.com/story/news/2015/06/15/inside-americas-secretive-biolabs/28215407/
Committee leaders expand inquiry into anthrax shipment
Monday, Jun 15, 2015 @ 5:15pm by BioPrepWatch Reports
Leaders from both the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee requested documents relating to biosafety inspections of the Dugway Proving Ground on Friday.
Reps. Fred Upton (R-MI), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Tim Murphy (R-PA) and Diana DeGette (D-CO) sent letters to both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS OIG) requesting documents dating back to 2006 relating to safety inspections.
“We remain deeply concerned by the issue of inactivation protocols and procedures for studying dangerous pathogens in our federal research laboratories, an issue that this committee has been overseeing since similar incidents occurred at the CDC more than a year ago,” they said in the letters. “We understand that Dugway was inspected a number of times in the past decade by the CDC’s Division of Select Agent and Toxins as part of the federal select agent program. We are requesting copies of all inspection records, referrals of enforcement action to the HHS OIG, and any corrective action plans issued to Dugway.”
It has been reported that samples of live anthrax spores were accidentally sent to 69 labs nationwide and in five countries from the Dugway facility.
– See more at: http://bioprepwatch.com/stories/510549434-committee-leaders-expand-inquiry-into-anthrax-shipment#sthash.UFxU50NO.dpuf
Bruce Ivins found it amazing that 6 million rads was not killing the spores. “Irradiation sterilization failure … again.” Emailed dated June 13, 2007.
As he famously said in a June 13, 2007 email: “Some thing is not right.”
Oops. What Ivins said was in response: “And what’s not right is all that’s left.”
Before 9/11, virulent Ames was being irradiated with 5 million rads.
The FBI’s entire analysis was based on the scientifically unvalidated assumption that irradiation was effective and only samples not irradiated needed to be included in the genetic analysis.
https://mrmc.amedd.army.mil/content/foia_reading_room/Batch6/20000321_Anthrax%20spores.pdf
Ivins, Bruce E Dr USAMRIID (b) (6) USAMRIID
Anthrax spores
Tuesday, March 21, 2000 7:50:34 AM
Yesterday, 20 MAR 00, B. anthracis Ames spores were irradiated by your department with 5 million rads. The samples were plated out onto Tryptic soy agar and found to be sterile.
– Bruce Ivins Bacteriology Division
Before 9/11, they were killing virulent Ames spores with 5 million rads.
Then they came to sometimes use only 4 million rads.
But then in 2007, to Ivins’ alarm, they found that 6 million rads was not working.
But they also sometimes killed by formalin.
From: Ivins, Bruce E Dr USAMRIID
Subject: FW: Given to for Irradiation Date: Friday, November 03, 2006 5:18:53 PM
Who do I give the material to, and when? Also, I have the Delta Sterne spores below which have NOT been irradiated. They can be given out. Also, (b) (6) has said that she’d be willing to learn (b) (6) procedure for formalin killing, so we could give them the various isolates killed by formalin.
http://www.mycentraloregon.com/2015/06/12/cdc-finds-live-anthrax-in-all-test-samples-shipped-by-military/
CDC Finds Live Anthrax in All Test Samples Shipped by Military
iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON)
— The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now believes that there was live anthrax in all of the samples mistakenly sent by the U.S. military to 69 laboratories in 19 states, Washington D.C. and five countries. It has instructed the labs to destroy any remaining anthrax still in their possession.
CDC testing found low levels of live anthrax in all 22 samples it had received from affected laboratories.
“We are assuming any samples that were derived from lots prepared at Dugway contain live material,” said CDC spokesman Jason MacDonald. “There is no need to test those samples further. The priority is to secure the samples and destroy the material.”
Accordingly the CDC has instructed any laboratories that may have received anthrax sample shipments from Dugway between 2004 and 2015 to destroy their existing samples.
“If the labs are able, destroy the samples in accordance with standard procedures and with an approved method (e.g., autoclave). The destruction must be completed within 7 days and evidence of the destruction provided to CDC,” said MacDonald.
If the lab is unable to destroy the samples on their own they are to be transferred to a more capable ”select agent registered site” that can handle and destroy the spores. The CDC and the FBI would assist with the transfer.
A third option would be for labs classified as a select agent registered entity to register their sample with the Federal Select Agent Program and retain it.
Meanwhile the military continues to test the more than 400 lots of supposedly dead anthrax it keeps at four military facilities. Some 11 of 91 lots have tested positive for anthrax, and all of those are from the Dugway facility.
Alison Young deserves an award for this article.
Army lab cited eight years ago for failing to properly kill anthrax samples
Alison Young, USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/06/12/dugway-live-anthrax-shipments/71093540/
Pentagon sent live anthrax to Japan in 2005
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/12/us-usa-japan-anthrax-idUSKBN0OS21F20150612
The sample was sent to the U.S. military base of Camp Zama about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Tokyo in 2005 and was destroyed in 2009, said Defense Department spokesman Colonel Steve Warren.
Warren said the anthrax, which was sent to Japan for the purpose of testing detection equipment, came from a master lot that was thought to have been inactive but turned out to be active when tested.
World | Fri Jun 12, 2015 1:07pm EDTRelated: WORLD, UNITED NATIONS, NORTH KOREA
North Korea accuses U.S. of targeting it with anthrax
UNITED NATIONS | BY MICHELLE NICHOLS
North Korea accused the United States of targeting it with anthrax and asked the United Nations Security Council to investigate Washington’s “biological warfare schemes” after a live anthrax sample was sent to a U.S. base in South Korea.
He attached a statement from North Korea’s National Defense Commission, which urged the world to consider the anthrax shipment “the gravest challenge to peace and a hideous crime aimed at genocide.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/12/us-usa-northkorea-un-anthrax-idUSKBN0OS1N820150612
Comment: I do not find the suggestion plausible or the characterization at all accurate.
Instead, for Lew’s next spy thriller, perhaps he could imagine espionage through sabotage of radiation equipment delivered to Dugway. It would be simple to change the calibration and hard to detect.
CDC has blocked USAMRIID from responding to my FOIA. CDC will deny production directly. I will appeal under the precedent previously cited because only Sandra has earned my deference.
Accidental anthrax shipments follow a familiar pattern
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pathogen-mishaps-20150612-story.html
I recently obtained quotes for a new roof for my house. But I asked the wrong questions. Contractors answered the question I asked them. But because I asked the wrong answer, I would have ended up with the totally wrong roof had someone not pointed out my error.
Consider this article.
Bobbie-Jo Webb-Robertson, Courtney Corley, Lee Ann McCue, Karen Wahl, Helen Kreuzer, “Fusion of laboratory and textual data for investigative bioforensics,” Forensic Science International, 2013, 226, 1-3, 118
Chemical and biological forensic programs focus on the identification of a threat and acquisition of laboratory measurements to determine how a threat agent may have been produced. However, to generate investigative leads, it might also be useful to identify institutions where the same agent has been produced by the same or a very similar process, since the producer of the agent may have learned methods at a university or similar institution. We have developed a Bayesian network framework that fuses hard and soft data sources to assign probability to production practices. It combines the results of laboratory measurements with an automatic text reader to scan scientific literature and rank institutions that had published papers on the agent of interest in order of the probability that the institution has the capability to generate the sample of interest based on laboratory data. We demonstrate the Bayesian network on an example case from microbial forensics, predicting the methods used to produce Bacillus anthracis spores based on mass spectrometric measurements and identifying institutions that have a history of growing Bacillus spores using the same or highly similar methods. We illustrate that the network model can assign a higher posterior probability than expected by random chance to appropriate institutions when trained using only a small set of manually analyzed documents. This is the first example of an automated methodology to integrate experimental and textual data for the purpose of investigative forensics.
Helen Kreuzer consulted for Amerithrax. Did Yazid Sufaat’s publish any papers on the production of anthrax? Would you expect a surreptitious lab to publish papers? If not, is a dramatic and fatal bias introduced into such an analysis?
Separately, did the NAU genetics analysis fuse the textual data about the inactivation of Ames? Wasn’t the analysis limited to samples known to be virulent without testing the premise that samples inactivated had been successfully inactivated?
Even the FBI’s own expert consultant, John Ezzell, was saying that the science on irradiation had not been done.
David M. Englelthaler writes in the Arizona Daily Sun:
“An investigation that would last for years and result in the indictment of an Army scientist who would go on to kill himself just prior to his arrest.”
Under the microcope: Flagstaff’s bioscience dividend
June 09, 2015 7:00 am • DAVID ENGELTHALER Special to the Daily Sun
http://azdailysun.com/news/opinion/columnists/under-the-microcope-flagstaff-s-bioscience-dividend/article_5ba26711-cce6-5c08-b417-673bd7e3e865.html
This is patently false.
It would be unacceptable not to correct a false published claim that someone had been indicted for a crime when he had not been. The matter reportedly was weeks away from even being presented to a grand jury.
(BTW, he killed himself after being swabbed for DNA after semen-stained panties were found again put out in his garbage).
While the Pentagon sorts out the ineffective inactivation of mailed samples of anthrax — and thus addresses the entire flawed genetics analysis in the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings — let’s at least correct basic misstatements of facts about the legal procedure.
Errors tend to be perpetuated in the media once left uncorrected. The entire problem in Amerithrax has been the FBI’s failure to correct its mistakes.
11 live anthrax lots found at Dugway lab so far
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jun/11/11-live-anthrax-lots-found-dugway-lab-so-far/
Col. Steve Warren, Pentagon spokesman, said that 26 lots have been tested so far at Dugway. Of those, 11 have contained live anthrax.
In total, 91 lots have been tested from three military labs. The only positive samples have come from Dugway, he said.
The testing is part of a Pentagon review that was spurred by a civilian Maryland lab receiving live anthrax last month in a sample that was supposed to be killed by radiation. The Maryland lab contacted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is conducting its own investigation independent of the Defense Department.
The Pentagon investigation is testing every Defense Department anthrax sample to check for live bacteria as well as looking for how the radiation process, as well as a culture test to ensure the sample was dead, failed to catch the live bacteria.
Defense officials had previously estimated that there were more than 400 lots to test, but Col. Warren said Thursday that that number may not be correct.
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jun/11/11-live-anthrax-lots-found-dugway-lab-so-far/#ixzz3cmE4Bjg7
“We need to take this where the facts lead us. Obviously there’s a significant problem here and we all need to know why,” panel chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said Wednesday during a press conference before the Emerging Threats and Capabilities subcommittee received a closed-door breifing on the Pentagon’s investigation.
“This is something you’ve got to take really seriously. Something did not go right here. And we all have to find out what did not go right,” he added.
Rep. Jim Langevin (R.I.), the subpanel’s top Democrat, said it’s important to figure out where the breakdown occurred.
“Was this a human failure? Was it some type of systems failure, or some kind of mechanical failure? These are all the tough questions we are asking right now,” Langevin said.
Emerging Threats chairman Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) said the Pentagon has briefed several Armed Services members individually about the anthrax distribution but Wednesday’s classified session would be the first time in a formal setting.
He said he planned to ask why such potentially hazardous research couldn’t be done at a central location.
Thornberry said that, as far as he is aware, DOD has taken no disciplinary action yet because the agency is focused on “preventative action to keep any further mishandlings from happening.”
“You don’t mess around with this,” he added. “This is serious business.”
The policy implications are beyond the scope of the blog.
Limiting myself to the “whodunnit” of the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings, it would be a huge mistake to not take the probe back to the late 1990s. Do people think that Dugway knew how to do it right and then forgot? Is that it?
And do they think that others were doing anything different?
When the Oakland Children’s Hospital was sent live anthrax in 2004 by Southern Research Institute in MD — where the B3 was headed by Bruce Ivins’ former assistant — it was thermal inactivation that was used.
In 2001, Dugway didn’t even have the equipment to irradiate anthrax.
John Ezzell — the FBI’s key anthrax consultant in the late 1990s — had always said that the research had not been done on irradiation.
A blog’s entry from a couple weeks ago:
Return to Sender: The Biosafety of Unknowingly Shipping Live Anthrax
http://www.trackingzebra.com
“I don’t believe anyone will be sickened by this lapse (those exposed who were not vaccinated are received post-exposure prophylaxis) but it is concerning chiefly because there clearly is a biosafety problem that remains at the nation’s labs and each lapse, when it is splashed across the front pages, alarms the public who understandably may begin to question what is very vital research.
Meticulous biosafety at government labs tasked with doing such important research is essential given that the FBI’s (somewhat disputed) conclusions regarding the source of the anthrax employed during the Amerithrax attacks (see an interesting new twist on this here).”
The blog links:
“Former F.B.I. Agent Sues, Claiming Retaliation Over Misgivings in Anthrax Case
By SCOTT SHANEAPRIL 8, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/09/us/ex-fbi-agent-claims-retaliation-for-dissent-in-anthrax-inquiry.html?_r=0
Now, a former senior F.B.I. agent who ran the anthrax investigation for four years says that the bureau gathered “a staggering amount of exculpatory evidence” regarding Dr. Ivins that remains secret. The former agent, Richard L. Lambert, who spent 24 years at the F.B.I., says he believes it is possible that Dr. Ivins was the anthrax mailer, but he does not think prosecutors could have convicted him had he lived to face criminal charges.”
Dr. Ivins committed suicide after semen-stained panties were found again in a search. He previously had told the FBI (in November 2007) that was why he was so upset. He was so upset a doctor had to come and sedate him.
No surprise that when he commits suicide, the investigators and prosecutors with the newest theory would want to close the case without persuasive evidence.
Sometimes we need to speak up for the mute swan even when vilified by those on the hunt who only know shooting the odd birds.
“Another anthrax threat”
Jun 9 2015 12:01 am
“In the latest instance, the number of individuals who might have been exposed to the anthrax spores could total in the thousands. Like the CDC error, the Army’s breaches of protocol in its handling of anthrax raise serious public health issues. They also bring unwelcome memories of the domestic terror attack in 2001 using live anthrax in which five people died and 17 were taken ill. In that case anthrax spores later traced to an Army laboratory in Maryland were mailed to media and political figures. The events exposed the highly volatile and dangerous nature of anthrax. Two postal workers and two other random individuals were among the victims.
Despite a seven-year investigation, the perpetrator was never positively identified, although the FBI asserted that he was likely a researcher at the Army lab who committed suicide before he could be arrested.”
Pentagon says British lab received live anthrax samples
PUBLISHED: 12:33 EST, 9 June 2015 | UPDATED: 12:33 EST, 9 June 2015
WASHINGTON, June 9 (Reuters) – The Pentagon on Tuesday added Britain to the list of countries that received live anthrax samples from the U.S. military.
The samples were sent to a company in Britain in 2007, a spokesman for Britain’s Health and Safety Executive said. The agency declined to name the company.
Besides the lab in Britain, another in Massachusetts was added to the list of laboratories that received live anthrax samples, said Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Defense Department spokesman, raising the total number of labs to 68.
“The company has informed us it destroyed samples shortly after testing,” the British Health and Safety spokesman said in a statement. “On this basis we do not believe there is any continuing health risk to staff or to the public.
“We look forward to speaking with the US Department of Defense to understand how this issue arose in 2007 and how they will ensure similar situations are avoided in the future.”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-3117225/Pentagon-says-British-lab-received-live-anthrax-samples.html#ixzz3caUu0fgU
I will be out of pocket as weather permits. These are the issues that need updating:
1. Lambert v. US
What is status of docket in the case brought by the former lead Amerithrax investigator Richard L. Lambert? I don’t envy him going up a formidable team of spinning DOJ attorneys determined to win. See PACER.
NYT interview of former lead Amerithrax investigator Richard Lambert: “a staggering amount of exculpatory evidence” regarding Dr. Ivins remains secret
Posted by Lew Weinstein on April 9, 2015
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2015/04/09/nyt-interview-of-former-lead-amerithrax-investigator-richard-lambert-a-staggering-amount-of-exculpatory-evidence-regarding-dr-ivins-remains-secret/
2. Ali Al-TImimi defense
What is status of massive filing by self-described “anthax weapons suspect” Ali Al-TImimi in his matter? Are they any new, formerly classified documents of note? Is there any discussion of anthrax beyond the previous mentions in defense counsel’s filing? See PACER.
Mary Beth Sheridan, “Hardball Tactics In An Era of Threats,” September 3, 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/02/AR2006090201096_5.html
The agents reached an alarming conclusion: “Timimi is an Islamist supporter of Bin Laden” who was leading a group “training for jihad,” the agent wrote in the affidavit. The FBI even came to speculate that Timimi, a doctoral candidate pursuing cancer gene research, might have been involved in the anthrax attacks.
On a frigid day in February 2003, the FBI searched Timimi’s brick townhouse on Meadow Field Court, a cul-de-sac near Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax. Among the items they were seeking, according to court testimony: material on weapons of mass destruction.
3. USAMRIID FOIA re Dugway shipments
What is status of USAMRIID’s FOIA production on the Dugway shipments? My main concern is that in considering any systemic failure that the Pentagon go back in time to 1998. The Pentagon should consider whether such systemic failure existed also in 2001 and the years immediately prior to that. Ask the wonderful USMRMC FOIA official after tomorrow (or better yet, check the wonderful USAMRIID FOIA Reading Room).
4. Yazid Sufaat’s ongoing trial in Malaysia
What is schedule in Yazid Sufaat’s trial in Malaysia? In written correspondence with me. Yazid Sufaat did not deny responsibility for the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings. (He pled the Fifth). Does the FBI have the cooperation of Malaysian authorities with respect to statements made in interrogation? Have they had direct access? Check for the next update on google news pr check his wonderful daughter’s twitter feed.
5. Mute swan bill
What will the vote on the mute swan bill today in the New York State Assembly? (I predict they will pass it by a vote of about 100-25 but I won’t count my cygnets before they are hatched.) An Article 78 judicial challenge is planned as the NYS DEC’s decision-making has been demonstrably “arbitrrary and capricious.” Don’t call Cymbrowitz or Heastie’s office; just check the website. Their office staff is busy enough.
1. Lambert lawsuit – Plaintiff has a motion to amend his Complaint pending.
In the Lambert lawsuit, Plaintiff seeks to add a Bivens claim under F.R.Civ. P. (Consent to the amendment was not forthcoming).
2. Al-Timimi – Briefing has slipped to July.
Here is an update on the Ali Al-Timimi docket.
05/18/2015 46 MOTION by Appellant Ali Al-Timimi (for stay or, in the alternative) to extend filing time for opening brief and appendix. Date and method of service: 05/18/2015 ecf. [999584980] [14-4451]–[Edited 05/20/2015 by CB] Jonathan Turley
05/22/2015 48 ORDER filed [999589292] granting Motion to extend filing time [46], updating/ resuming briefing order deadlines. Opening brief and appendix due 07/08/2015. Response brief due 08/05/2015. Copies to all parties.. [14-4451] (CB)
3. Dugway anthrax debacle – They’ve added UK as a country that received live anthrax by mistake. In 2007, I believe.
4. Yazid Sufaat – I don’t see reporting on any development.
5. Mute swan – It was #90 on the agenda today. The live stream of proceedings has been like watching paint dry. Just a few minutes ago, it was “laid aside.” As part of a Plan B, I am closing this week on a small parcel where a tripod and camera will be set up to film the shooting of the pair of swans.
Any shooting caught on film will go viral just like the police shootings have of late.
The mute swan bill passed Assembly 86-5 (I believe though I haven’t confirmed it by a list of who voted how) — after passing the Senate 60-1. The bill requires that the DEC prioritize non-lethal means and establish that its management methods are justified by the harm that it claims.
The four swans in my county — two that hang out near my lounge chair and two others that I paddle by each day — do no harm at all.
To the contrary, to the extent they eat, they eat the invasive seaweed that risks making the river impassable. The NYS DEC is motivated by money — not science. For example, they introduce 1.8 million highly invasive non-native brown trout — and 120,000 pheasants The pheasants are non-native and steal the nests of other birds. I’ve got nothing against brown trout or pheasants. But it is entirely hypocritical for the DEC to want to shoot the 200 upstate swans. DEC urges that only because they do not make money for the DEC. NYS DEC is killing for a bigger paycheck and has long since been captured by hunters. DEC has not well- served the broader public interest of the people of the State of New York on this issue.
I look forward to the day I can go back to being a big fan of the DEC for their good work on other issues.
By Jacqueline Klimas – The Washington Times – Monday, June 8, 2015
The Defense Department said Monday that its ongoing investigation has revealed that 66 labs may have received live anthrax, up from 52 last week.
Mr. Work also said he expected the number of affected labs to continue to grow as the investigation continues.
Mr. Work promised to be transparent with the review and said the department would be posting updated numbers as the investigation continues at http://www.defense.gov/labreview. As of Monday at noon, however, the website had not been updated with the numbers released today by Col. Warren.
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jun/8/more-labs-suspected-receiving-live-anthrax-19-stat/#ixzz3cUVr1wal
CBS – Pennsylvania is the new state added to the list today.
CBS NEWS June 8, 2015, 1:33 PM
Anthrax investigation broadens
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/anthrax-investigation-broadens/
And it will update its numbers daily until its investigation is complete.
The Proper Care and Handling of Anthrax
2 JUN 8, 2015 8:00 AM EDT
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-06-08/anthrax-accidents-are-troubling-for-military
This led the Army to test 400 more batches, and the first four turned up positive.
Its use as a weapon exploded into the public consciousness shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when letters containing powdered anthrax were mailed to members of Congress and the news media, killing five and infecting 17 others.
Comment: I have not excerpted the policy recommendations. Policy is beyond the scope of my interest. My focus is on the true crime analysis of the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings. I will leave the differing views on such issues in the good hands of people like RHE and MHJ.
Anthrax, Ayman and Al Qaeda: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
This is a good article.
ANTHRAX SCARE: REMAIN CALM! ALL IS WELL!
Al Mauroni
http://warontherocks.com/2015/06/anthrax-scare-remain-calm-all-is-well/
But on a key point germane to this blog, I believe it is seriously mistaken.
There is no reason to assume that the problem began in 2008.
See, e.g.,
Anthrax sent to the Pentagon in 2006; ‘most likely’ live
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/06/02/anthrax-sent-to-pentagon-in-2006-official-says/
Utah lab that shipped anthrax has a long history with the disease and weapon
By NATE CARLISLE | The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published 7 hours ago • Updated 6 hours ago
http://www.sltrib.com/home/2563809-155/utah-lab-that-shipped-anthrax-has
It was 1955. Dugway, the U.S. Army testing center in Utah’s West Desert, wanted to know how lethal anthrax could be. So anthrax was loaded into bomblets. The bomblets were dropped from an airplane in the vicinity of 285 monkeys that were brought onto Dugway.
A 2010 report by the Environmental Protection Agency raised questions about the scientific quality of the tests. (There was no discussion of the ethics.) The EPA said it didn’t know the distance at which the bomblets exploded and how long the monkeys were exposed to anthrax. The Army also didn’t document whether it decontaminated the monkeys after exposure.
Desert test chamber
The U.S. military, particularly the Army, is fascinated with anthrax, either as a weapon to deploy or guard against. Part of the allure is that the bacteria cannot be spread from person to person. In nature, anthrax is transmitted through infected meat or animal skin. But anthrax can be converted into a liquid or dry form and its spores can be targeted.
A study published in 2000 in MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory Journal shows the kind of advantage Dugway provides. Scientists tested sensors that would alert them to an anthrax attack. Sensors tested at sites in Atlanta and Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., detected anthrax every time, but also issued one false alarm per day, the study said.
The sophisticated, but lucid and readable 2000 study, is linked by the Salt Lake Tribune article.
Detection of Biological Agents, by Charles A. Primmerman.
https://www.ll.mit.edu/publications/journal/pdf/vol12_no1/12_1detectbioagents.pdf
As escapes from the WMD world Dr. Primmerman enjoys downhill skiing and sailing.
Latest anthrax scare points to dangerous lack of accountability, experts warn
Epidemiologist notes possible ‘systemic issue’ as scientists fear similar accidents with other pathogens could have devastating results for CDC and Pentagon
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/07/anthrax-cdc-accountability-pathogens
One week after the terrorist attack in New York on 9/11, another attack on the US began. Letters containing spores of anthrax, a weaponised bacterial agent, were posted to the offices of several newspapers and two Democratic senators. Twenty-two people were infected. Five died. …
The difference is this: the first incident was a terrorist attack. The second and third were accidents. Samples of the pathogen that were supposed to be inactivated were sent to laboratories by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2014 and the Department of Defense most recently.
After the 2001 anthrax attacks – known to some as “Amerithrax” – there was a 20- to 40-fold increase in the number of institutions and individuals working with biological weapon agents like anthrax, according to Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist and biosecurity expert at Rutgers university.
In response to questions from the Guardian, a spokesperson for the CDC said there were 181 “organizations or entities” such as Dugway registered as working with live anthrax, and 321 in total working with live pathogens.
Within those 321 entities, according to the Government Accountability Office, there are some 1,495 laboratories accredited under the Federal Select Agent Program to work with live pathogens such as anthrax, and a much larger number working with inert versions of the same pathogens.
There is no official government body to oversee production and research of bioweapons that does not – as the CDC does – engage in its own active pathogen research, and no apparent fixed official guidelines regarding their handling. …
Morse, who also worked at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) between 1995 and 2000 on biodefence, speculated that the process by which machines irradiate the live pathogens, inactivating them, might be “poorly calibrated”.
“Luckily for us, human beings are relatively resistant to anthrax compared to smallpox,” said Morse. “But that’s not something we should rely on.”
Indeed, according to Ebright, military contracted laboratories across the US routinely work with other, more dangerous pathogens than anthrax – including several virulent strains of avian flu. A mistake with one of those, instead of anthrax, could have devastating results, including “a global pandemic”. ..
“Even one spore is a sufficient seed stock from which an amount could grow to mount a biological weapons attack,” Ebright said. “The sad circumstance is that this massive effort since 2001 has dramatically increased the chances of a biological weapon attack on the US, precisely by distributing a highly lethal strain of the agent with no structure and no ability to record where they have gone.”
“The major concern is the security breach, that the material will be transferred to domestic terror and international terror and be used as the seed source for a bomb or weapon,” said Ebright.
“It would be disappointing if the Department of Defense becomes the supplier for al-Qaida that enables a bioweapon attack.”
Comment: My friend RHE, quoted above, is very bright. I first came to know about him decades ago from reading as a kid a feature in BOYS LIFE about this wunderkind Eagle Scout.
His field is microbiology and policy analysis — rather than true crime or intelligence analysis. But I am looking forward to this famous and oft-quoted expert Eagle Scout earning his next merit badge in intelligence analysis.
If we don’t learn from history, we are bound to repeat it.
Today is international Animal Rights Day
CDC sent around a memo noting that it wants to screen all FOIA production and may want to invoke Exemption 7A.
The first subpart of Exemption 7 of the Freedom of Information Act, Exemption 7(A), authorizes the withholding of “records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that production of such law enforcement records or information . . . could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings.”1
CDC is neither the originating agency nor a law enforcement agency.
The USMRIID documents are not “records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes.”
Here is another handwriting sample of Bruce Ivins — this one discussing the planned visit by the former Zawahiri associate being supplied virulent Ames in early May 1998
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2011/04/07/here-is-another-handwriting-sample-of-bruce-ivins-this-one-discussing-the-planned-visit-by-the-former-zawahiri-associate-being-supplied-virulent-ames-in-early-may-1998/
* tracking Dr. Ivins’ RMR-1029 anthrax; Dr. James Baker says [ no virulent Ames ] at the University of Michigan
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2009/06/27/tracking-dr-ivins’-rmr-1029-anthrax-dr-james-baker-says-none-at-the-university-of-michigan/
from DXer … the lifelong friends of Dr. Tarek Hamouda, supplied virulent Ames by Bruce Ivins, actively denounce their former medical school associate Ayman Zawahiri as a fanatic – one serving as President of CAIR-St. Louis and the other as author of INSIDE JIHAD.
Posted by Lew Weinstein on May 7, 2010
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2010/05/07/the-lifelong-friends-of-dr-tarek-hamouda-supplied-virulent-ames-by-bruce-ivins-actively-denounce-their-former-medical-school-associate-ayman-zawahiri-as-a-fanatic-one-serving-as-president-of-ca/
http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/oip/legacy/2014/07/23/exemption7a.pdf
As time permits, I will try to find cases involving the CDC where the documents were generated by a third party and the FOIA request was made not to CDC but to that third party.
USMRMC FOIA has been so steadfast and patient over the course of years, that I will be not filing any administrative appeal whatever the FOIA officer decides. At some point, an agency or specific individual earns a level of trust where they simply are entitled to trust and deference.
I’m am working through the precedent out loud so that I can better understand 7(A) under these facts — given that my request was submitted to USAMRIID, not CDC.
If the request had been submitted to a law enforcement agency, determining the applicability of this Exemption 7 subsection thus requires a two-step analysis focusing on (1) whether a law enforcement proceeding is pending or prospective, and (2) whether release of information about it could reasonably be expected to cause some articulable harm.FN 1
Further, even after an enforcement proceeding is closed, courts have ruled that the continued use of Exemption 7(A) may be proper in certain instances. One such instance involves “related” proceedings, i.e., those instances in which information from a closed law enforcement proceeding will be used again in other pending or prospective law enforcement proceedings — for example, when charges are pending against additional defendants /FN 2 or The extent of protection in such a circumstance, however, varies; some courts have limited Exemption 7(A) protection to only the material not used at the first trial,FN 3 while other courts in some cases have extended Exemption 7(A) protection to all of the information compiled during all of the law enforcement proceedings.
FN 1/ See, e.g., NLRB v. Robbins Tire & Rubber Co., 437 U.S. 214, 224 (1978) (holding that government must show how records “would interfere with a pending enforcement proceeding”); Juarez v. DOJ, 518 F.3d 54, 58-59 (D.C. Cir. 2008) (explaining that government must show that its ongoing law enforcement proceeding could be harmed by premature release of evidence or information); Sussman v. U.S. Marshals Serv., 494 F.3d 1106, 1113-14 (D.C. Cir. 2007) (discussing dual elements necessary to invoke Exemption 7(A): reasonably anticipated law enforcement proceeding and harm if information released); Lion Raisins, Inc. v. USDA, 231 F. App’x 565 (9th Cir. 2007) (stating that applicable standard met where “criminal investigation remains ongoing” and release of information could “jeopardize that investigation”); Lion Raisins, Inc. v. USDA, 231 F. App’x 563 (9th Cir. 2007) (finding that agency submissions described “ongoing proceedings and explained how disclosure” could interfere); Manna v. DOJ, 51 F.3d 1158, 1164 (3d Cir. 1995) (“To fit within Exemption 7(A), the government must show that (1) a law enforcement proceeding is pending or prospective and (2) release of the information could reasonably be expected to cause some articulable harm.”); Campbell v. HHS, 682 F.2d 256, 259 (D.C. Cir. 1982) (stating that agency must demonstrate interference with pending enforcement proceeding); EDUCAP, Inc. v. IRS, No. 07-2106, 2009 WL 416428, at *5 (D.D.C. Feb. 18, 2009) (explaining that Exemption 7(A) permits government to withhold documents related to ongoing proceeding where release could harm case); Cozen O’Conner v. U.S. Dep’t of Treasury, 570 F. Supp. 2d 749, 783 (E.D. Pa. 2008) (stating that to “fit within Exemption 7(A), the government must show” pending or prospective law enforcement proceeding and that release of information could “cause some articulable harm”); Radcliffe v. IRS, 536 F. Supp. 2d 423, 437 (S.D.N.Y. 2008) (noting that standard met where agency established that release of information could interfere with ongoing investigation); Estate of Fortunato v. IRS, No. 06-6011, 2007 WL 4838567, at *3 (D.N.J. Nov. 30, 2007) (explaining that “agency must demonstrate” that law enforcement proceeding is pending or prospective and release of information “could reasonably be expected to cause some articulable harm”); Stolt- Nielsen Trans. Group, Ltd. v. DOJ, 480 F. Supp. 2d 166, 179 (D.D.C. 2007) (reiterating necessity of pending or prospective law enforcement proceeding and “some articulable harm” caused by release of information), vacated and remanded on other grounds, 534 F. 3d 728, 733-34 (D.C. Cir. 2008 ) (agreeing that while Exemption 7(A) is applicable, reiterating that “agency cannot justify withholding an entire document simply by showing that it contains some exempt material'” (quoting Mead Data Cent. Inc. v. U.S. Dep’t of Air Force, 566 F. 2d 242, 260 (D.C. Cir. 1977)) and remanding for agency to segregate); Owens v. DOJ, No. 04-1701, 2007 WL 778980, at *6 (D.D.C. Mar. 9, 2007) (noting that agency must identify “concrete prospective law enforcement proceeding” and demonstrate that release of “documents could reasonably be expected to interfere”); Long v. DOJ, 450 F.2d 42, 73 (D.D.C. 2006) (reiterating that “agency must demonstrate” that enforcement proceeding is pending or prospective and that “disclosure of the information could reasonably be expected to cause some articulable harm to the proceeding”); Beneville v. DOJ, No. 98-6137, slip op. at 22 (D. Or. June 11, 2003) (explaining that simply satisfying law enforcement purpose “does not establish the remainder of the requirement . . . that disclosure of the documents could reasonably be expected to interfere with law enforcement proceedings”); Franklin v. DOJ, No. 97-1225, slip op. at 7 (S.D. Fla. June 15, 1998) (magistrate’s recommendation) (two-part test), adopted, (S.D. Fla. June 26, 1998), aff’d, 189 F.3d 485 (11th Cir. 1999) (unpublished table decision); Hamilton v. Weise, No. 95-1161, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18900, at *25 (M.D. Fla. Oct. 1, 1997) (same). But see Goodrich Corp. v. EPA, 593 F. Supp. 2d 184, 193-94 (D.D.C. 2009) (limiting harm to law enforcement proceeding to destruction of evidence or fabrication of alibis by targets of investigation, with no consideration of harm to government’s case in court).
FN 2 See Solar Sources, Inc. v. United States, 142 F.3d 1033, 1040 (7th Cir. 1998) (explaining that although government has “closed” its cases against certain defendants by obtaining plea agreements and convictions, withholding is proper because information “compiled against them is part of the information” in ongoing cases against other targets); New England Med. Ctr. Hosp. v. NLRB, 548 F.2d 377, 385-86 (1st Cir. 1976) (finding Exemption 7(A) applicable when “closed file is essentially contemporary with, and closely related to, the pending open case” against another defendant; applicability of exemption does not hinge on “open” or “closed” label agency places on file); DeMartino v. FBI, 577 F. Supp. 2d 178, 182 (D.D.C. 2008) (explaining that case remains open and pending because co-defendant is “scheduled to be retried” and “other unindicted co-conspirators” remain at large); Hidalgo v. FBI, 541 F. Supp. 2d 250, 256 (D.D.C. 2008) (finding “although [plaintiff was] convicted long ago . . . ongoing search for — and possible future trials of — indicted and unindicted fugitives satisfies” standard); Givner v. EOUSA, No. 99-3454 slip op. at 3, 7 (D.D.C. Mar. 1, 2001) (explaining that although plaintiff is “serving his sentence,” withholding is proper because “release of prosecutorial documents could potentially jeopardize” pending trial and habeas action of co conspirators); Cucci v. DEA, 871 F. Supp. 508, 512 (D.D.C. 1994) (finding protection proper when information pertains to “multiple intermingled investigations and not just the terminated investigation” of subject); Engelking v. DEA, No. 91-0165, slip op. at 6 (D.D.C. Nov. 30, 1992) (reasoning that information in inmate’s closed file was properly withheld because fugitive discussed in requester’s file is still at large; explaining that records from closed file can relate to law enforcement efforts which are still active or in prospect), summary affirmance granted in pertinent part, vacated in part & remanded, No. 93-5091, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33824 (D.C. Cir. Oct. 6, 1993); Warmack v. Huff, No. 88-H-1191-E, slip op. at 22-23 (N.D. Ala. May 16, 1990) (finding Exemption 7(A) applicable to documents in multi-defendant case involving four untried fugitives), aff’d, 949 F.2d 1162 (11th Cir. 1991) (unpublished table decision); Freedberg v. Dep’t of the Navy, 581 F. Supp. 3, 4 (D.D.C. 1982) (holding that Exemption 7(A) remained applicable when two murderers were convicted but two other remained at large). But see Linn v. DOJ, No. 92-1406, 1995 WL 417810, at *9 (D.D.C. June 6, 1995) (explaining that statement that “some unspecified investigation against a fugitive, or perhaps more than one fugitive, was ongoing . . . without any explanation of how release” of information would interfere with “efforts to apprehend this (or these) fugitive (or fugitives) is patently insufficient to justify the withholding of information”), appeal dismissed voluntarily, No. 97-5122 (D.C. Cir. July 14, 1997).
FN 3See Pons v. U.S. Customs Serv., No. 93-2094, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6084, at *14 (D.D.C. Apr. 23, 1998) (ruling that disclosure of information not used in plaintiff’s prior trials could “interfere with another enforcement proceeding”); Hemsley v. DOJ, No. 90-2413, slip op. at 10 (D.D.C. Sept. 24, 1992) (holding that Exemption 7(A) protection applied when “only pending criminal proceeding” was appeal of denial of new trial motion; “[k]nowledge of potential witnesses and documentary evidence that were not used during the first trial” could “genuinely harm government’s case”); cf. Senate of P.R. v. DOJ, 823 F.2d 574, 578 (D.C. Cir. 1987) (relying on language of statute prior to 1986 FOIA amendments to remand case for additional explanation of why no segregable portions of documents could be released without interfering with related proceedings); Narducci v. FBI, No. 93-0327, slip op. at 3-4 (D.D.C. Sept. 22, 1995) (explaining that Exemption 7(A) remains applicable “in light of retrial, not yet scheduled, of several defendants,” when agency had “adequately identified” how disclosure would interfere with retrial; however, agency must release all “public source documents”).
Exemption 7(A) ordinarily will not afford protection when the target of the investigation has possession of or has submitted the information in question.
See, e.g., Lion Raisins v. USDA, 354 F.3d 1072, 1085 (9th Cir. 2004) (stating– in a situation in which investigatory target already possessed copies of documents sought — that “[b]ecause Lion already has copies . . . USDA cannot argue that revealing the information would allow Lion premature access to the evidence upon which it intends to rely at trial”); Estate of Fortunato v. IRS, No. 06-6011, 2007 WL 4838567, at *4 (D.N.J. Nov. 30, 2007) (explaining that because information appears to be either in plaintiff’s possession or known to plaintiff, agency “has not met its burden of justifying the withholding of these documents under Exemption 7(A)); Dow Jones Co. v. FERC, 219 F.R.D. 167, 174 (C.D. Cal. 2002) (stating that there cannot be harm, because “each target company has a copy . . . and therefore is on notice as to the government’s possible litigation strategy and potential witnesses”); Scheer v. DOJ, 35 F. Supp. 2d 9, 14 (D.D.C. 1999) (declaring that agency assertions of harm and “concern proffered . . . cannot stand” when agency itself disclosed information to target); Ginsberg v. IRS, No. 96 2265-CIV-T-26E, 1997 WL 882913, at *3 (M.D. Fla. Dec. 23, 1997) (reiterating that “where the documents requested are those of the [requester] rather than the documents of a third party . . . ‘it is unlikely that their disclosure could reveal . . . anything [the requester] does not know already'” (quoting Grasso v. IRS, 785 F.2d 70, 77 (3d Cir. 1986)); see also Oncology Servs. Corp. v. NRC, No. 93-0939, slip op. at 17 (W.D. Pa. Feb. 7, 1994) (finding that agency may not categorically withhold transcribed interviews, conducted in presence of requester’s attorney, for interviewed individuals who consented to release of their own transcripts); cf. Campbell v. HHS, 682 F.2d 256, 262 (D.C. Cir. 1982) (discussing legislative history of Exemption 7(A), and distinguishing between records generated by government and those “submitted to the government by such targets”).
Editorial: Secrecy around biolab violations adds to safety fears
The Register’s editorial
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/editorials/2015/06/06/biolabs-anthrax-secrecy/28592107/
Six years ago, the federal watchdogs at the Government Accountability Office outlined a serious problem with the nation’s biolaboratories.
In its 2009 report, the GAO pointed out that no one knew exactly how many “BSL-3” laboratories — those that deal with agents such as anthrax that can cause serious illness or death when inhaled — existed or were planned, since only some of the facilities were registered with the Centers for Disease Control. That said, the number of BSL-3 labs that were registered had more than tripled in the previous five years, the GAO reported.
In fact, although the number of labs dealing with deadly pathogens was rapidly increasing, no federal agency knew whether that number met or exceeded the nation’s security needs, or even whether that many labs could be operated safely.
Six years later, not much has changed.
In a special report last week on biolab security, USA Today found that over the past 12 years, more than 100 labs experimenting with potential bioterror agents had been cited by regulators for serious safety and security violations.
During that time, the CDC referred 79 labs for enforcement action, resulting in fines totaling $2.4 million.
But don’t ask which labs failed to meet these standards or where they are located. Citing a 2002 bioterrorism law, the CDC and USDA say they can’t identify them.
Yet this federal law didn’t stop the CDC from announcing this year’s suspension of the Tulane National Primate Research Center. The research center’s accidental release of a bioterror bacterium was already the subject of news reports, so the disclosure of that sanction, when coupled with the secrecy surrounding the others, seems entirely self-serving.
Obviously, the federal government needs to maintain security at these labs, so a certain amount of secrecy is to be expected. But the current lack of public accountability is all but certain to undermine those efforts.
After all, some of the violations are directly related to security problems that have put the public at risk. Keeping that information secret is bad policy. Doing so in the name of public safety is scandalous.
Pentagon’s Anthrax Scare Is Only 1% Over
In-Depth-Daily Beast-
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/03/military-shipped-around-anthrax-they-swore-was-dead.html19 hours ago
“We expect this number may rise,” Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work told reporters Wednesday.
That’s because every single lot, or master collection, of bacillus anthracis that has been tested so far has came back positive for live, activated anthrax spores, the Pentagon said Wednesday. That the initial tests were all positive hints at a widespread crisis in which the Pentagon sent live anthrax to an untold number of recipients. And only 1 percent of the samples have been tested so far. There are another 396 military lots yet to go.
In his briefing, Work sought to minimize the health risks to the public, noting the quantities sent out were too small to affect most—and were not dried, like the anthrax in the 2001 attacks that killed five people.
But Ebright said there was a larger, indirect danger. The labs working with anthrax could have sent out the samples to subcontractors without informing the Defense Department. Therefore, “There is no way they can put a ceiling” on how many received anthrax, he said.
“It is a massive security breach,” Ebright added.
The Defense Department had established a website with what it promises will be regular updates on the anthrax. But the Pentagon has yet to reveal which labs received the live spores.
RI receives anthrax from Utah lab
To date, 52 labs across 18 states — including Washington, D.C. — and three countries have received live shipments.
http://wpri.com/2015/06/04/ri-receives-anthrax-from-utah-lab/
The FBI’s entire analysis in the 2001 anthrax mailings (which served to limit the pool of suspects to less than 300 (plus anyone they could have given it to) depended on a number of unsupported assumptions:
(1) any anthrax thought to be inactivated was in fact dead;
(2) the perp would voluntarily submit a sample of the anthrax, even if he had surreptitiously obtained it; and
(3) if a scientist had transferred Ames to someone without doing the required paperwork under a law in 1997, they would have voluntarily come forward and admitted to the crime; and
(4) the detection of Ames in Afghanistan and in a hijackers remains were the result of sloppy, unpersuasive lab work.
This happened AFTER the stringent protocols were put in place. In 2001, Dugway didn’t even have equipment to irradiate anthrax.
The Pentagon Anthrax Scandal Is Getting Worse by the Day
• BY PAUL MCLEARY
• JUNE 3, 2015 – 5:20 PM
https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/06/03/pentagon-anthrax-scandal-is-getting-worse/
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Suzannah Weiss is a freelance writer and editor who currently serves as the Weekend Editor for Teen Vogue, a daily news writer for Glamour and Refinery29, and a features writer for Bustle, Vice, Elle, The Washington Post, and more. She authored a chapter of Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World and frequently discusses gender, sex, body image, and social justice on radio shows and podcasts. Whoopi Goldberg cited one of her articles on The View in a debate over whether expressing your desires in bed is a feminist act (she thinks it is).
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How a Human Cannonball Works
by Nathan Chandler
Zazel was the world's first female human cannonball. She got her start when she was only 14 years old.
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's…Uncle Hugo?
Human beings have always dreamed of flying through the clear blue sky -- and, in some ways, they've succeeded. Parachutes, jet packs, and planes, among many other technological marvels, let us find a way to blaze through the heavens. But human cannonballs take a unique path to the wild blue yonder -- an extremely dangerous one.
Human cannonballs are pretty much exactly what they sound like: These daredevil performers pack themselves into the tight confines of huge cannons, which shoot them high into the air. This performance has a long history with roots in old-time circuses, but as you'll see, no one has mastered the art of becoming a human bullet yet.
It's certainly not for a lack of trying. People have been tinkering with the cannonball idea since the late 19th century. On June 13, 1871, an Englishman named George Farini patented a so-called "projector," which was simply a spring-loaded platform he used to flip people into the air at public venues throughout the country.
In 1873, a man masquerading as a woman, "Lulu," was the first person in America to go airborne via Farini's contraption. Lulu might've gone as high as 25 or 30 feet (7.6 or 9 meters) and, at the apex of her flight, she grabbed onto a trapeze or rope.
It wasn't until 1880, however, that a person -- a 14-year-old girl named Rosa Maria Richter, stage-named Zazel -- finally clambered inside an actual cannon, courtesy of famed circus entrepreneur P.T. Barnum. The cannon used springs to propel her into the air, as fireworks simultaneously exploded for effect. Zazel was also one of the first casualties of this circus thrill act. At another performance, she broke her back, ending her career as Barnum's first human cannonball.
Around the same time, the Yankee Robinson Circus was working on its own cannonball act. The company shot a man named George Loyal out of a cannon toward a woman on a trapeze, who would catch him in midflight. And that was just for starters.
If all of this sounds like a perilous way to make a living, well, you're right. Keep reading to find out how human cannonballs get their wings -- and what happens when landings go horribly awry.
10 Things That Can Go Wrong in Air Sports
Fact or Fiction: Daredevils
How Daredevils Work
How Evel Knievel Worked
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The Gill Family Takes Full Control Of Gill & Macmillan
Some of the most interesting news in Irish publishing for some time tripped across my phone line and email inbox last night. The Gill Family has bought out Macmillan’s 50% share of one of Ireland’s largest trade and educational publishers, Gill & Macmillan.
It’s a fascinating move on many fronts. Firstly it’s nice to see such a large element of the Irish trade firmly in local hands, that’s healthy for the Irish industry given how heavily exposed to outside publishers it already is. Secondly it indicates that Macmillan’s strategic interests no longer include holding such a complex position in a joint venture like G&M. Lastly it lays the ground for interesting years ahead as the newly focused Gill (no longer & Macmillan?) faces the challenge of Penguin Random House which controls a large chunk of Irish publishing.
See the full press release below:
RELEASE DATE [ Wednesday 14 August at 10am ]
Gill family takes full ownership of Gill & Macmillan
The Gill family and Macmillan Science and Education, joint owners of Dublin-based publishing company, Gill & Macmillan, have announced that the Gill family has taken full ownership of the company.
The new ownership structure will have no trading consequences for the business and the Gill family, alongside the company’s Management Team, looks forward to building on its current success. A change in name and branding will take place at a later stage.
Gill & Macmillan was founded forty-five years ago in 1968 when Macmillan acquired an interest in the long-established Irish company, M. H. Gill & Son Ltd. Since then the company has become one of the most prominent book publishing and publishing services companies in Ireland. Publishing educational content for Irish schools and colleges has been a major part of Gill & Macmillan’s activities since its foundation. The company is also Ireland’s largest trade publisher as well as providing distribution services to the majority of the country’s independent publishers.
This development marks the next chapter for the Gill family, whose name has been synonymous with books in Ireland for 180 years, since Michael Henry Gill was appointed printer to Dublin University in 1833. Six generations of the family have now been actively involved in management of the business.
Michael Gill, Chairman of Gill & Macmillan said: “This is a very positive development for the company. Now wholly Irish-owned again and continuing to employ more than 70 talented and energetic people here in Dublin, we are excited by the transformative power and many opportunities and challenges provided by the digital age, both in Ireland and worldwide”.
Annette Thomas, CEO of Macmillan Science and Education, said: “The relationship between Macmillan and Gill has, over many years, been a model partnership of collegiate cooperation and shared business interests in this successful company. Whilst the sale of our 50% holding fits within our greater strategic objectives, we are delighted to maintain the many close friendships which have been forged with our colleagues in Dublin.”
The financial details of the sale have not been disclosed.
For Gill:
Teresa Daly, Communications Manager, Dublin, Ireland
+353 (01) 500 9521 / +353 (0) 86 838 3559; tdaly@gillmacmillan.ie
For Macmillan Science and Education:
Sarah MacDonald, Group External Communications, London, UK
+44 (0)20 7833 5672 / +44 (0)7714 916798; sarah.macdonald@macmillan.com
About Macmillan Science and Education
Macmillan Science and Education, part of the Holzbrinck Publishing Group, is home to the Macmillan businesses which empower those with curious minds to achieve great things. Through the provision of high-quality content and services to scientists, educationalists, students and academics around the world, Macmillan is changing the way students learn, teachers teach and scientists discover. Operating in over 50 countries with some 5000 employees, the division consists of Nature Publishing Group (NPG), Palgrave Macmillan, Macmillan Education, Macmillan Higher Education, Digital Science, Digital Education and Macmillan New Ventures. For more information, please see http://www.learndiscover.com.
About Gill
Gill & Macmillan is the most prominent book publishing company in Ireland. Drawing on more than one hundred previous years of tradition and experience, Gill & Macmillan publishes educational content for primary and secondary schools as well text books for university, college and further-education courses. Its trade division publishes widely in history, politics, current affairs, sport, entertainment and lifestyle. The company has met the emergence of digital communication by providing e-book versions its bestselling titles alongside a rapidly evolving range of digital resources and tools for teachers and students. The company also provides a comprehensive distribution service for the majority of independent Irish trade publishers. For more information, please see http://www.gillmacmillan.ie.
Posted in Books, Irish Publishing and tagged Digital, G&M, Gill, Gill & Macmillan, Ireland, Irish Books, MacMillan, Publishing, strategy, Trade Publishing on August 14, 2013 by Eoin Purcell. 2 Comments
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← Beebs
Agent E →
LeVar Fucking Burton
Instead of watching the opening ceremony for the 2012 Olympics, I ran a few miles while watching “Bridget Jones’ Diary” and wondering how on earth I ever thought “huh, Renee Zellweger was kind of big in this.” Granted she’s probably a good 6 inches shorter than me, but I haven’t been 138 pounds since maybe my junior year in high school, so maybe Younger Me would like to see what a decade of laziness and casual drinking will realistically do to a person. Absent of time travel, I didn’t see the opening ceremony but I have been checking out highlights when I can find them.
Now, I’m not asking anyone to be my psychologist or anything, but could someone please tell me why I lost my shit when the Mary Poppinses appeared in the stadium? No joke, when the umbrellas appeared around the 50-foot Voldemort, my thought process went something like this:
“What the what are those things?”
“Parachutes?”
“Is that the Queen again?”
“Wait a minute, those are umbrellas!”
“What the balls are umbrellas doing at the Olympics? Come on, England.”
“Mary Poppins! Flying Mary Poppinses! Mary Poppins flying into the Olympics! Lots of them!”
“That’s remarkable! Go, England, go!”
“Behhhh hehhhhh Mary Poppins sob sob sob why can’t I stop the tears from coming out of my eyes and rolling down my face?!?!”
I have no idea what happened and it’s not my period or anything, but something about seeing Mary Poppins come down from the sky like that made me weep. And then, because I was apparently in the mood for crying and felt that England should continue being responsible for it, I watched one of the scenes from the Doctor Who episode “Vincent and the Doctor,” which, if you’re any kind of a human person and not a sociopathic serial killer, will just make you want to die. I can’t go into all of Doctor Who here (at least half of the Internet is Doctor Who and cats, so I’m confident you can figure it out on your own), but in this episode, the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond go through time (not back, because if you watch Doctor Who then you know there is no backwards and forwards as that would imply a straight line) to meet Vincent Van Gogh, who is Amy’s favorite artist and an historically accurate grade-A sad and crazy person. Also historically accurate is that Van Gogh only sold one painting during his life (“The Red Vineyard At Arles”) and was pretty sure he was a failure. So the Doctor and Amy take Van Gogh in the Tardis to the present-day Musee d’Orsay to show him the exhibit of his work and, because Doctor Who is an English show, get Bill Nighy’s opinion. Obviously. But here’s the best scene in the entire series:
http://vimeo.com/22839017#
Ignoring the subtitles because that’s the only version of this I could find, can you even? Come on.
AND because I think I’ve blamed England enough at this point, last week I caught up on The Nerdist podcast and caught the LeVar Burton episode, which might be one of the best things in all of pocasting history and thank you Chris Hardwick and Matt Mira and especially LeVar Burton, you are all magnificent creatures and you made my entire day, and if anyone else would like to be magically transported into a land of hilarious awesome nerdery, please listen to the episode, not least for the part where LeVar calls Patrick Stewart an asshole.
Naturally, I thought everyone at work would be just as excited about this episode as I was, but when I mentioned that I was going to listen to it, I got a lot of blank stares in return. Granted, the people I was talking to range from two to six years younger than me, but Reading Rainbow was on the air for 25 years, and Star Trek will endure nuclear war with the cockroaches. “LEVAR BURTON,” I said to them. “LeVar. Burton. Reading Rainbow, Geordi LaForge, Roots, motherfuckers.”
Well, except one person, who said “What’s Roots?” and then I called her a racist. Legitimate insult or not, it’s unacceptable to be over the age of 21 and not know who LeVar Burton is, and worse, look at me like I’m a lunatic for fucking LOVING LeVar Burton.
Or for lighting up like crazy when Matt Mira told LeVar that he remembered the Reading Rainbow episode where they visited the set of Star Trek, and then, when LeVar answered, “But do you remember the book?” and Matt said he didn’t, LeVar said it was “The Bionic Bunny Machine” and all of my memory circuits EXPLODED and I nearly collapsed with happiness.
That’s to be expected. It’s LeVar Fucking Burton.
This entry was posted in I Heart, The Pop Life. Bookmark the permalink.
5 Responses to LeVar Fucking Burton
secretlystephie says:
Erin, you are an asshole for posting that Doctor Who clip. I can’t even think about that episode without getting sad and now I have to watch it.
Also, I remember all the hubbub about Renee Zellsfhjdfh weighing 138 and being SO depressed because I weighed much more, and it was awesome reading about how obese and disgusting 138 apparently is. I would kill (a bottle of wine and a box of doughnuts) to be a 30-something binge-drinking singleton and only weigh 138.
erineph says:
I’m sorry. I am compelled to share misery, I cannot help it.
Also, I don’t know what the fuck Bridget Jones was so bummed about, especially with that bitchin’ apartment.
I have never heard of anyone who loves LeVar Burton like you apparently do. Don’t get me wrong. I rocked so Reading Rainbow…but that’s hilarious.
I was also one of those stupid girls who thought Renee Zellweger was kind of big in that movie. I wish I could go back and slap myself.
Btw, did that girl at your work SERIOUSLY not know what Roots was?
She seriously did not know what Roots was. She looked at me like an alien when I said “Kunta Kinte.”
Although maybe it means that she had a better education than we did, because pretty much the entire history of American slavery was taught to me with a miniseries insteady of, you know, ACTUAL classwork.
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154 Informatics jobs
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Linnaeus University
Location: Växjö, Sweden | Closing on Sep 01
Postdoc fellowship eHealth
Welcome to Linnaeus University! A place for knowledge, ideas and development. For growth potential and a belief in the future. In Småland and in the world. Welcome as a postdoc to the eHealth Institute and to the Department of Medicine and Optometry at Linnaeus...
Örebro University
Location: Örebro, Sweden | Closing on Aug 15
PhD position in Computer Science
Örebro University is currently offering research study opportunities on the doctoral programme in Computer Science. For the successful candidate, the programme will conclude with the award of the Degree of Doctor Philosophy in Computer Science. The start date of the programme...
Location: Växjö, Sweden | Closing on Aug 31
Senior lecturer - Sustainable IT
Welcome to Linnaeus University! A place for knowledge, ideas and development. For growth potential and a belief in the future. In Småland and in the world. The Department of Computer Science and Media Technology at the Faculty of Technology is responsible for a large number...
Location: Jönköping, Sweden | Closing on Sep 01
Postdoc in Computer Science with a focus on Sports Analytics
The School of Engineering is one of four schools within Jönköping University. We offer attractive technical education at undergraduate and graduate levels and conduct advanced research in several technological areas.Working with us, you are close to colleagues in an...
Assistant/Associate professor in Computer Science(Al specialization in HPC)
The School of Engineering is one of four schools within Jönköping University. We offer attractive technical education at undergraduate and graduate levels and carry out advanced research in several technological areas. Working with us, you are close to colleagues in an...
Assistant/Associate professor in Computer Science (specialization FAT)
The School of Engineering is one of four schools within Jönköping University. We offer attractive technical education at undergraduate and graduate levels and carry out advanced research in several technological areas. The School of Engineering is able to award doctorates in...
Assistant/Associate professor in Computer Science (Al, specialization NLP)
Location: Stockholm, Sweden | Closing on Sep 30
Associate Professor in Computer Science
at the Department of Mathematics. Closing date: 30 September 2019. The last century of research has led the Department of Mathematics at Stockholm University to acquire a prominent place in Scandinavian mathematics. The department consists of three divisions: Mathematics,...
KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Location: Stockholm, Sweden | Closing on Jul 31
Doctoral student in Building Editable 3D Models using Deep Learning
KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm has grown to become one of Europe’s leading technical and engineering universities, as well as a key centre of intellectual talent and innovation. We are Sweden’s largest technical research and learning institution and home to...
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Money in Japan
The yen, ATMs, exchanging currencies, and etiquette
By Edward Yagisawa Jul 9, 2019 - 12 min read
The Yen
Getting Yen
Etiquette & Points of Note
A trip to even the most exciting locations has the potential to be a total disaster if you are unfamiliar about the country's money situation. Read the guide below on the Japanese yen to prepare yourself to spend on the many blessings the country has to offer, with great food, great shopping, and great activities.
The official Japanese currency is the yen (円), pronounced “en” in Japanese and denoted with the symbol ¥ (though you'll more likely see the kanji symbol 円 in everyday use). Fun fact: En also means “circle” in Japanese; therefore, the exchange rate was initially fixed at 360 yen to 1 US dollar.
The current tax rate (consumption tax) is 8% nationwide.
The Japanese yen is available in 10 denominations. Six coins are used including 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 and 500 yen values, alongside 4 bills/notes including 1,000, 2,000, 5,000 and 10,000 (although the 2,000 yen note is quite rare). Read more in-depth about each denomination.
Despite the increased acceptance of credit and debit cards, Japan is mainly a cash-based society; this is especially true in rural areas. Furthermore, regular train, subway, and bus tickets can only be purchased by cash (unless you are using an IC card, which can only be charged by cash).
It’s always a good idea to have small denominations (10 yen and 100 yen coins, as well as 1,000 yen bills) handy, as many ticket and vending machines will not accept larger denominations (especially 5,000 and 10,000 yen bills). And although they may be annoying, keeping a few 1 yen coins also won’t hurt, especially given the current 8% tax rate.
Having so much cash in your wallet may make you feel uneasy at first, but Japan does have one of the lowest crime rates in the world. While nothing beats being careful, chances are you’re more likely to lose money by dropping or leaving it, rather than it getting stolen.
Although Japan is still predominantly a cash-based society, credit and debit cards have become increasingly accepted, especially in urban areas. Even if you decide to use a credit card, it is still better to carry more cash than you are used to.
Most small restaurants and businesses will not accept cards.
Most credit card companies will charge a surcharge (usually 1-3%) for foreign-issued cards.
The most commonly accepted cards are MasterCard, Visa, and JCB. American Express and Diner’s Club are accepted to a lesser extent.
IC cards, such as Suica and PASMO, have become increasingly common in Japan (especially in urban areas).
They are predominantly used for train and bus fares, but can be used for a variety of other purposes, especially at facilities in or near train stations.
The two best ways to withdraw yen are through Japan Post’s and 7-Eleven’s ATMs.
Japan Post ATMs are located at more than 26,000 locations nationwide (denoted with the “JP” logo); each post office will have at least one, while they can also be found at shopping malls and supermarkets. Service hours vary according to location; large post offices in major cities will have longer hours than small ones in rural areas. English services are also available
7-Eleven (Seven Bank) has over 20,000 ATMs across Japan, located at 7-Eleven convenience stores. Services are offered virtually 24/7 and currently available in five languages (Japanese, English, Korean, Simplified Chinese, and Portuguese), with seven more (Chinese traditional, Thai, Malay, Indonesian, Vietnamese, French, and German) scheduled to be added by December 2015
Most other ATMs do not accept foreign-issued cards; the only Japanese bank that accepts international transactions is Citibank. However, even their ATMs are limited in number. Furthermore, most will charge an extra fee if withdrawals are done outside operating hours (usually 9 am to 5 pm on weekdays):
MasterCard ATMs in Japan
Visa Card ATM Locator
Exchanging Currencies
For a general idea of what current exchange rates are like, use the Currency Converter at the top of the page, or check out XE Currency Converter.
All places with an “Authorized Foreign Exchange” sign can exchange currencies; these places include banks and money changers (such as Travelex), which can be located at airports and in major cities.
Banks are usually open from 9am to 3pm on weekdays.
Hotels and large department stores may offer currency exchange services, although with extra fees and less favorable rates.
Traveler's Checks
Due to the relatively limited number of ATMs that support foreign-issued cards, traveler’s checks are more useful than you’d think in Japan.
Traveler's checks tend to carry more favorable rates than money changers and ATMs, and are accepted by leading banks, hotels, ryokan, and stores in major cities, but very few places elsewhere.
Do not pay with a check drawn from a foreign bank; as many Japanese places will either charge large extra fees or not accept them at all.
For a basic idea of how much living in Japan costs, check out this informative blog.
Perhaps the most important rule when it comes to using money in Japan is NO TIPS. Leaving a tip at a restaurant or a taxi driver will often result in them chasing you down to return the money, thinking that you forgot it there.
If you do want to leave a tip (such as for a maid at a ryokan or a tour guide), put the money in an envelope and give it to them in person.
Most restaurants, shops, and even taxis will provide a small tray for you to put money on, instead of giving it directly to the cashier.
Although it depends on the currency, it is generally better to exchange yen in Japan than in your home country, due to a lower commission and better exchange rate.
You do not need to worry about counterfeit money in Japan, as they are virtually non-existent.
Read more in detail about each of the Japanese yen's coins and bills.
1 yen (ichi-en)
Light silver color with smooth edges.
The smallest and lightest of the 6 coins, composed of 100% aluminium.
Weighs exactly 1 gram, thus occasionally used as weights.
The only Japanese coin that can float on water (if placed carefully).
Its current design includes a young tree on the front to symbolize the healthy growth of Japan.
5 yen (go-en)
Gold color, smooth edges and has a hole in the middle.
The current design of the front includes a rice stalk, a gear, and the sea to symbolize the agriculture, industries, and fisheries of Japan respectively.
The current design of the back includes two leaf buds, which symbolize Japan’s forestry and democracy.
Is the only coin that does not depict the monetary value numerically.
10 yen (jyuu-en)
Bronze color (composed of 95% copper) and has smooth edges.
Has the Byodo-in Phoenix Hall (Ho-o-do) on the front.
The back of the coin includes the evergreen tree.
10 yen coins with ridged edges (colloquially known as giza-jyuu) are rare and a collector’s item, as they were minted for only 7 years (1951-58).
50 yen (gojyuu-en)
Silver color, ridged edges and a hole in the middle.
Three chrysanthemums are depicted on the front of the coin.
100 yen (hyaku-en)
Silver color with ridged edges.
The current design on the front depicts sakura blossoms.
A number of limited edition designed 100 yen coins exist to celebrate various events.
A new series of 100 yen coins commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Shinkansen will be circulated in limited numbers in 2015 and 2016.
500 yen (gohyaku-en)
Light gold color, ridged edges.
Is the largest and heaviest of the six Japanese coins, weighing 7 grams.
The current design on the front depicts the paulownia.
The back of the coin includes bamboo and tachibana leaves.
If you tilt the coin at an angle, you can see the word “５００円” as a hologram inside each of the zeros on the back.
A limited number of the old 500 yen coins (minted until 2000), with a slightly different design, is still in circulation.
1,000 yen (sen-en)
The design is printed in blue.
The front of the current banknote features a portrait of Hideyo Noguchi, a bacteriologist famous for his groundbreaking research on syphilis and yellow fever.
The back of the current banknote features Mount Fuji and Lake Motosu, flanked with cherry blossoms.
2,000 yen (nisen-en)
The design is printed in green.
It was issued in 2000 to commemorate the millennium, as well as the 26th G8 Summit, held in Okinawa.
The front of the banknote features the Shurei-mon, one of the main gates of the Okinawan castle Shuri-jyo.
The back features a scene from the Tale of Genji and a portrait of the author, Murasaki Shikibu.
Due to its limited number, 2,000 yen bills are considered a novelty in Japan.
5,000 yen (gosen-en)
The design is printed in purple.
The current design of the front features Ichiyo Higuchi, the first prominent Japanese female author.
The current design of the back is the “Kakitsubata-zu,” a painting of irises by Ogata Korin.
10,000 yen (ichiman-en)
The design is printed in brown.
The front of the current banknote features a portrait of Fukuzawa Yukichi, the founder of Keio University.
The back features the phoenix statue from Byodo-in.
Edward Yagisawa @edward.yagisawa.cannell
Intern at JapanTravel & rising 4th year (senior) at the University of Virginia. 3/4 Japanese and 1/4 Australian; born and currently live in Yokohama. My favorite spots in Japan (aside from Yokohama) are Hokkaido, Okinawa, and Tochigi, but hopefully someday I'll get to visit all 47 prefectures.
Questions about this Guide?
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Getting Money in Japan with UnionPay..
ATM Upgrade in Okinawa
By Bonson Lam
Explore Planning around Japan
Victoria Vlisides 2 years ago
Reply Show all 0 replies
Preethu 3 years ago
Thanks for this article,informative one...
Jerome Lee 3 years ago
Very informative guide! Definitely useful for those who are travelling to Japan. Nice one Edward!
Justin Velgus 3 years ago
very informative article. I would love to see some of those bullet train coins!
https://en.japantravel.com/guide/money-in-japan/22045
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Find sources: "Sydney Theatre Company" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Sydney Theatre Company (STC) is an Australian theatre company based in Sydney, New South Wales. The company performs in The Wharf Theatre at Dawes Point in The Rocks area of Sydney, as well as the Roslyn Packer Theatre (formerly Sydney Theatre)[1] and the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre.
1979; 40 years ago (1979)
www.sydneytheatre.com.au
This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Sydney Theatre Company was formed in December 1978, following the closure of The Old Tote Theatre Company the month before. The then Premier, Neville Wran, approached Elizabeth Butcher, who had been seconded from the National Institute of Dramatic Art to administer the Old Tote, and asked her to set up a new state theatre company, to perform in the Drama Theatre of the Sydney Opera House. Butcher established its legal identity and managerial structure, and proposed the name, Sydney Theatre Company. With John Clark (Director of NIDA) as the Artistic Adviser of the first season, five theatre companies were invited to produce six plays to be presented by STC as the 1979 Interim Season in the Drama Theatre. The first production, by The Paris Company, was A Cheery Soul, by Patrick White, Australia's Nobel Laureate for Literature, directed by Jim Sharman, featuring Robyn Nevin as Miss Docker.
In June 1979, Richard Wherrett, then one of Nimrod Theatre's co-Artistic Directors, was appointed Artistic Director of STC to plan and organise activities for the 1980 season. The first STC-produced play was The Sunny South, 1 January 1980, by George Darrell, with music by Terence Clarke, directed by Richard Wherrett, assisted by John Gaden.
In its early years the company operated out of several rented premises around the city, producing 38 productions in five separate venues. Elizabeth Butcher, STC Administrator, was given the task of finding one location that could house all the activities of the company, and a theatre. After an extensive search, Butcher had the vision to propose the derelict Walsh Bay Wharf 4/5 as STC's new home, immediately envisaging the capacity of the building to fulfill all requirements of space, location and additional venue.
More than three years of budgetary and bureaucratic obstacles were overcome when, on 12 September 1983, NSW Premier, the Hon. Neville Wran, announced that the State Government had approved the expenditure of $3.5 million to finance the re-cycling project. The 60-year-old ironbark timber wharf warehouse built to load cargo onto ships tied up alongside, was converted into premises suitable for creating, producing, performing and enjoying theatre, without sacrificing its historical integrity or context.
The Wharf was officially handed over to STC in a plaque-unveiling ceremony on 13 December 1984. In 1985, The Wharf, by architects Vivian Fraser in association with NSW Govt Architect JW Thomson, won the Sir John Sulman Medal awarded by the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (NSW Chapter) for a work of excellence in public and commercial architecture. The first STC production in The Wharf Theatre (now Wharf 1), 17 January 1985, was Late Arrivals, by Pamela van Amstel, directed by Wayne Harrison in his directorial debut. (Wayne Harrison went on to become the second Artistic Director of the company, in 1990.) The play was part of a season of one-act plays called Shorts at the Wharf.
Since 1984, and the visionary adaptation and re-use of an industrial site by Sydney Theatre Company, Walsh Bay has been transformed into an arts precinct and residential area, which continues to attract adjunct services.
Other performing arts companies and organisations now enjoy premises at The Wharf, including Sydney Dance Company, Ausdance, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Gondwana Choirs, Sydney Children's Choir, The Song Company, Australian Theatre for Young People, Regional Arts, Accessible Arts, Bangarra Dance Theatre. Nearly a quarter of a century's use later, The Wharf, by Vivian Fraser, in association with the NSW Government Architect, was presented the RAIA 25 Year Award for Enduring Architecture by the Institute.[2]
Directors working regularly for STC include Gale Edwards, Barrie Kosky, David Berthold, Neil Armfield, Benedict Andrews and Kip Williams. Many Australian actors who would later find wider success both locally and internationally such as Hugo Weaving, Geoffrey Rush, Cate Blanchett, Jacqueline McKenzie, Richard Roxburgh and Toni Collette have established their careers in STC productions.
Artistic directorsEdit
Artistic Director(s)[2]
1978–79 Elizabeth Butcher STC Administrator
1979 John Clark
1979–1990 Richard Wherrett
1990–1999 Wayne Harrison
1999–2007 Robyn Nevin
2008–2013 Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton
2013–2015 Andrew Upton[3]
2016 Jonathan Church[4]
2016– Kip Williams
Greening the WharfEdit
The Sydney Theatre Company operates out of a heritage site of the wharf area of Sydney Harbour. Under the leadership of Blanchett and Upton, STC initiated a comprehensive large scale environmental program called Greening the Wharf, investing in solar energy, rainwater harvesting, energy efficiency measures and best practice waste management. The program goes beyond infrastructure projects to include employees, environmentally responsible theatre production, community engagement and education.[5] The program won two Green Globe Awards.[6]
New South Wales portal
Culture of Sydney
Wharf Revue
^ "News: Sydney Theatre to be renamed". Sydney Theatre Company. 21 October 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
^ a b "Sydney Theatre Company - History". Sydney Theatre Company. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
^ Blake, Elissa (17 December 2015). "Andrew Upton farewells Sydney Theatre Company as Jonathan Church steps in". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
^ Blake, Elissa (19 December 2015). "New artistic director replaces Andrew Upton at Sydney Theatre Company". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
^ "Greening the Wharf". Sydney Theatre Company. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
^ "Greening the Wharf". NSW Government. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
Meyrick, Julian (2002). See How It Runs Nimrod and the New Wave. Crows Nest, N.S.W. : Allen & Unwin. ISBN 0-86819-651-7.
Parsons, Philip; Chance, Victoria (1995). Companion to theatre in Australia. Sydney : Currency Press in association with Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-86819-357-7.
Wherrett, Richard (2000). The floor of heaven my life in theatre. Sydney: Hodder Headline. ISBN 0-7336-1049-8.
Sydney Theatre Company website
Greening the Wharf project video explanation
Coordinates: 33°51′18″S 151°12′21″E / 33.855087°S 151.205757°E / -33.855087; 151.205757
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sydney_Theatre_Company&oldid=903756393"
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Pompous buildings, impressive parklands, extravagant parties and unimaginable luxury.
Art, Science, Architecture
While large parts of Europe still lived in the Dark Middle Ages and huge cathedrals dominated the cities, a new consciousness blossomed in Florence, Italy at the beginning of the 15th century.
Gothic Architecture
Pointed Arch, Ribbed Vault and Buttress
At the beginning of the 12th century, a new building style suddenly appeared in France and revolutionised the dark Middle Ages – the Gothic style.
Mixing, Effect, Symbolism
Colour is something ordinary. But colours determine nature and our life fundamentally.
The expression of a painting is meant to depict the artist’s inner world and bring it out.
Art of Building
Eras of Architecture
If you want to tell the story of architecture, you have to go back to the very beginning of humanity. To the so-called Neolithic Age, which was around 5500 BC. Instead of constantly roaming the country and stopping where is was convenient, people became sedentary and began to build primal habitations to be protected from cold, rain and wild animals.
The Dawning of the Modern Era
The Blue Rider – this is the name a group of artists chose for themselves when they joined forces just over 100 years ago to exhibit their works together.
Picture Analysis
Picture analysis is a reliable method of revealing the secrets of works of art. Let us take for example the portrait of a child. There would have been innumerable ways of depicting the child but the painter painted it specifically the way he did and not otherwise.
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Götz Spielmann
Find sources: "Götz Spielmann" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Spielmann presenting Revanche at the Crossing Europe film festival Linz, Austria
11 January 1961 (1961-01-11) (age 58)
Wels, Austria
Götz Spielmann (born 11 January 1961) is an Austrian director and scriptwriter.
Life and career[edit]
Spielmann was born in Wels, Austria, and grew up in Vienna. After High School, he lived in Paris for several months. From 1980 to 1987 he studied film direction and script-writing in Vienna at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. At the Viennese Filmacadamy, his professors included Harald Zusanek and Axel Corti.
After making several short films, and receiving his diploma with Vergiss Sneider!, with the drama Erwin und Julia, Spielmann had his first great success. In 1993, his film Der Nachbar won the Vienna Filmaward at the Viennale. And in 1994, his film for television Dieses naive Verlangen was awarded with the Erich-Neuberg-Preis. In 2006, he was honored with the Upper Austrian Landeskulturpreis in the “Film” section.
Spielmann is one of the most important contemporary Austrian Film directors. His films The Stranger and Antares were the Austrian candidates for Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. Antares has been screened widely at more than thirty International Film Festivals.
Spielmann is on the committee of the Verband der Filmregisseure Österreichs (the Association of the Austrian film directors).
In the Linzer Kammerspiele (Linz, Upper Austria) he made his debut as Theatre Director with the performance of the play Der einsame Weg, written by Arthur Schnitzler. For the season 2006/2007, he wrote his first play for the theatre, the Landestheater Linz, Imperium, which was first released on 5 January 2007 at the Linzer Kammerspiele.
In January 2009 Spielmann's Revanche was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Films (selection)[edit]
1990: Erwin und Julia
1993: Der Nachbar
1993: Dieses naive Verlangen
1995: Loveable Lies aka Pretty Lies (Liebe Lügen)
1996: Fear of the Idyll (Die Angst vor der Idylle)
2000: The Stranger (Die Fremde)
2001: Spiel im Morgengrauen
2004: Antares
2008: Revanche
2013: October November
Götz Spielmann on IMDb
BNF: cb16185774h (data)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Götz_Spielmann&oldid=901853719"
Austrian film directors
Austrian dramatists and playwrights
Male dramatists and playwrights
Austrian male writers
Austrian screenwriters
English-language film directors
German-language film directors
Male screenwriters
BLP articles lacking sources from June 2019
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Bishops and Child Abuse
BishopAccountability.org has posted a list of 84 bishops who have been credibly charged with sexual abuse (here). This is over 1.5% of bishops worldwide. Bishops are far less likely to abuse children than priests. Only about 1% of priests get promoted to bishop, and they manage to screen out most of the abusers – suggesting that the Church knows much more about abusive priests than they admit.
But this only concerns bishops who themselves are abusers. This is a very small fraction of bishops who are negligent in handling the sexual abuse of their priests. There is no good data on this subject, and the Catholic Church has done almost nothing to identify and punish such bishops.
You may remember the case of Jerry Sandusky, a football coach at Penn State who was guilty of sexually abusing students. Recently, two senior administrators at Penn State were found guilty of child endangerment for failing to report Sandusky’s crimes to the authorities (here). Virtually no bishop has received comparable treatment. Bishops almost always have credible reports about abusive priests, and never initiate charges with the authorities. At best, they cooperate with the authorities after someone else brings charges. Very often they do not, and try to shield the offending priest, compounding their crime.
In a just world, one that did not discriminate in favor of the Catholic Church (and most other large religious organizations), a large percentage of bishops would be in jail. Recently, a French TV station produced a lengthy exposé of 25 bishops who protected abusive priests (here). Like the earlier exposé by the Boston Globe, such investigative reporting is extremely rare, despite the pervasive spread of clerical child abuse. The French Government has not acted, much as the U.S. Government failed to act.
You may have heard about the failure of the papal commission on child abuse. It lost credibility after the remaining victim in the commission, Marie Collins, left and complained of inaction and insufficient resources. She didn’t specify any financial requirements. I suspect they are probably trivial relative to what the Vatican spends on PR. But she complained that the commission couldn’t develop guidelines because it didn’t have access to a canon lawyer, and therefore couldn’t evaluate whether proposals were technically permissible in the byzantine world of the Church.
Pope Francis is almost never criticized. No one is willing to admit his toothless commission for child abuse was always just intended to buy time until the crisis blew over – even though this seemed obvious from the beginning. While some might claim that Pope Francis cannot find adequate funds for the commission, no one can seriously maintain that he could not have given the commission access to a canon lawyer. This is outrageous. Pope Francis has put off doing anything about the abuse crisis for four years. Without external prodding, the Church is unlikely to make more than cosmetic changes.
Christian zealots go to war over abortion. They are up in arms about transgender use of bathrooms. But they are largely indifferent to the sexual abuse of children. They need moral guidance.
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Dean, “Dizzy”
"Dizzy" Dean (1910–1974)
aka: Jay Hanna Dean
Jay Hanna “Dizzy” Dean was a professional baseball player and radio and television baseball broadcaster who was later inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. Dean and his younger brother, Paul, pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals during the team’s “Gashouse Gang” era of the 1930s. Along with the aging Babe Ruth, “Dizzy” Dean was considered baseball’s major drawing card during the Depression years of the 1930s.
Born in Lucas (Logan County) on January 16, 1910, Jay Dean was the son of Albert Monroe “Ab” Dean, a tenant farmer and sawmill worker, and Alma Nelson Dean. His Arkansas childhood was not an easy one. His mother died in 1918 from tuberculosis, and parental guidance from his father was scarce because he worked long hours. The family moved to Yell County in 1920 and later to Oklahoma, first to Purcell in 1924 and then to the Okemah and Spaulding area in 1926. Dean’s school attendance became sporadic following his mother’s death, ceasing totally in 1926 when he joined the Army at age sixteen. In later years, Dean would claim a fourth-grade education. Growing up, he demonstrated more skill at picking cotton than at being a scholar, though throwing a baseball would prove to be his real talent.
Named for Jay Gould, the nineteenth-century railroad magnate, and Mark Hanna, an Ohio political figure of the same era, Dean confused sportswriters by going, at times, by “Jerome Herman,” the name of a former Lucas playmate who had died when Dean was seven. He added further confusion shortly after arriving in the major leagues by telling three reporters (in a matter of hours) three different locations and dates of his birth. Dean later explained, “I was helping the writers out…. Them ain’t lies, them’s scoops.”
There is also some debate as to how Dean acquired the nickname “Dizzy,” though the generally accepted explanation is that it resulted from a 1927 incident during Dean’s military career when an Army sergeant found young Dean throwing peeled potatoes against garbage can lids and erupted with an exclamatory, “You dizzy son-of-a-bitch!” Dean left the Army in 1929, signing with a semi-pro team in San Antonio. In 1930, he signed a baseball contract with the Houston minor-league team, which sent Dean to St. Joseph, Missouri, to pitch. Dean joined the Houston club for the 1930 and 1931 seasons and was in the big leagues for the 1932 season when the St. Louis Cardinals purchased his contract. Dean married Patricia Nash on June 15, 1931, and she proved to be a shrewd business manager for her husband’s interests throughout his life. They had no children.
The 1933 season saw the colorful Dean emerge as a star for the St. Louis club. He won twenty games that season and set what was a record for strikeouts at the time when he fanned seventeen batters in a nine-inning game.
The 1934 season would be Dean’s greatest and one of the memorable performances by any pitcher in history. His brother Paul joined the St. Louis pitching staff for the 1934 season, and though Paul had never pitched in the major leagues, Dean promised reporters before the season began that “me ’n Paul” would win forty-five games. For once, Dean underestimated himself, as he won thirty games (making Dean the last National League pitcher to win thirty in a season), while Paul won nineteen, for a Dean family total of forty-nine wins. Dean’s 30–7 record gained him the National League’s most valuable player award, and he was voted by the fans to the 1934 all-star game.
The 1934 World Series was the first national radio broadcast of the October classic, and the Deans made the most of the national spotlight, winning two games each as the Cardinals won the series.
Dean’s playing career essentially came to an end almost three years later. He had won twelve games by the all-star break of the 1937 season and was the starting pitcher for the National Leaguers in that exhibition game. The last batter Dean was to face, Earl Averill, hit a line drive that struck Dean’s big toe on his left foot. Dean left the field seemingly unhurt, but his toe had been broken. Only ten days later, however, he was back on the mound pitching. Due to the pain, he could not throw normally, but he continued to attempt to pitch as frequently as he had in the past. An arm injury resulted and effectively ended at its peak one of the brightest pitching careers of the 1930s. For the remainder of the 1937 season, Dean won only one game as he rested his arm for extended weeks and refrained from pitching in an attempt to regain his fastball.
The Cardinals sensed that Dean might be seriously injured, so they agreed to a trade in the off-season, sending Dean to the Chicago Cubs, but not before reaching an understanding with Cubs’ management that Dean might be seriously hurt. Lightly used over the next three years because of his arm problems, Dean managed to win only sixteen games for the Chicago club, using a combination of off-speed pitches, slow curves, and his “nothing” ball. He retired early in the 1941 season.
Dizzy Dean found new employment by moving his talking from the baseball field to the broadcast booth. A St. Louis radio station that broadcast the home games of the Cardinals and the American League’s St. Louis Browns provided the opportunity. Dean was part of the first generation of former players to use their first-hand knowledge of the game to become a baseball broadcaster, and Dean was the first announcer to make humor a regular part of his broadcast. He saw no need to report statistics to listeners, and he didn’t keep a scorecard of the game’s progress. A Dean radio broadcast (or a television broadcast, after Dean moved to that medium with the first national broadcast of The Game of the Week in 1953) featured baseball slang, the vocabulary of rural America, Dean’s own word inventions, and his mispronunciations of players’ names. “I’m just gonna speak plain ol’ ordinary pinto bean English,” Dean told baseball fans.
A new baseball language emerged from the Dean broadcasts. Runners “slud” into bases, players “throwed” the ball, a batter strode to the plate “confidentiality” and looked “mighty hitterish” in the batter’s box. If a batter “swang” at the pitch mightily, he “had quite a ripple” at the ball. If runners were on base and a foul ball was hit, the runners had to return to their “respectable” bases. Listeners could generally count on a Dean rendition of “The Wabash Cannonball” and a few baseball stories from Dean’s playing career.
As Dean’s popularity as a broadcaster grew, some teachers expressed concern regarding Dean’s misuse of the language, but he withstood all challenges because of his great popularity with the fans. “I ain’t never met anybody that didn’t know what ain’t means” was Dean’s assessment.
Dean was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953, and he was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame posthumously in 1983.
Dean died July 17, 1974, in Reno, Nevada, following a heart attack. He is buried in Bond, Mississippi, his wife Pat’s hometown, where the Deans made their home.
Alexander, Charles C. Breaking the Slump: Baseball in the Depression Era. New York. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.
Dixon, Paul. The Dizzy and Daffy Dean Barnstorming Tour: Race, Media, and America’s National Pastime. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2019.
Gregory, Robert. Diz: The Story of Dizzy Dean and Baseball During the Great Depression. New York: Viking, 1992.
Huber, Patrick and David Anderson. “‘Butcherin’ Up the English Language a Little Bit’: Dizzy Dean, Baseball Broadcasting, and the ‘School Marms’ Uprising of 1946.” Missouri Historical Review 96 (April 2002): 211–231.
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. http://www.baseballhalloffame.org (accessed June 23, 2005).
Smith, Curt. America’s Dizzy Dean. St. Louis: Bethany Press, 1978.
Staten, Vince. Ol’ Diz. New York: Harper Collins, 1992.
Tye, Larry. “Satchel & Dizzy: Depression Era Duel.” American History 45 (June 2010): 34–39.
Bob Razer
Early Twentieth Century (1901 - 1940)
Baseball / Individual and Team Sports / Recreation and Sports
N is for Natural State (Grades 3-4)
Who's Who in Arkansas (Grades 5-8)
"Dizzy" Dean Plaque
"Dizzy" Dean
"Wabash Cannonball," Performed by "Dizzy" Dean
Dean Brothers
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Phones with Dual-OS Will Be Released Later this Year
Karbonn Mobiles, an Indian mobile phone manufacturer is going to release a phone with dual OS (Two Operating System) later this year. These devices, with the blessing of Microsoft, will work with Windows Phone and Android. The company's chairman, Sudhir Hasidzh told The Times India, that "Microsoft eased rules and opens its platform to other players."
Karbonn Mobiles has signed an agreement with Microsoft, to release Windows Phones with dual boot option "in the next three months." Yet clearly understood the benefits of the two mobile operating systems on the same device, so it is likely that these phones are aimed at application developers and enthusiasts. Hardly a normal user wants to tinker with the two systems in the near future. But the question arises, that whether the contacts, messages, apps and data will be shared on both OS.
Microsoft is currently working on an update to Windows Phone 8.1, which will allow manufacturers to create low-end phones based on Windows with 4GB of storage space. Other updates mobile platform will include the Dual-SIM support, Siri competitor named Cortana, and finally the volume change phones.
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Bromance Records Releases New Line of Merch
Sam Tiba
Bromance Records have already established themselves as tastemakers in the electronic music world. Now, they have their sights set on the fashion world. They've just released a whole new line of merchandise that puts all other labels' swag to shame.
In the gallery above, you can see an assortment of the clothing and accessories that are available for purchase on their official webstore, worn by some of the label's most well-known faces. Amongst the variety of fresh threads, you'll find album/single artwork tees of Brodinski's "I Can't Help Myself" (the single from his highly-anticipated LP Brava), Gener8ion's "The New International Sound" and Sam Tiba's Samuel. Also available on the webstore are special limited-edition collaboration tees by SM Bousille, Romain B. James, Hassan Rahim and Baptiste Alchouroun, celebrating the label's Homieland compilations.
In November of 2014, Bromance Records recently released the first installment of these Homieland compilations, which serves as a collection of 19 new and previously unreleased tracks showcasing the label and its associating mates’ sensibilities. One month prior to its official release, Bromance Records captain Brodinski has released a minimix of his forthcoming debut album Brava, set for release on March 2. In other news, Louisahhh!!! and Maelstrom will be collaborating on the Bromance #19 release, Friction EP, set for release on February 23, and are currently on a world tour together. Check out Lousiahhh!!!'s Facebook page for tour dates and tickets.
Bromance Records continue to establish themselves as one of the coolest and most forward-thinking labels. Watch for them to continue changing the game, and spreading their brand even further throughout the world.
Filed Under: bromance records
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Livestock Subsidies
Gregg County, Texas
Pick a county Texas State Total Anderson County, Texas Andrews County, Texas Angelina County, Texas Aransas County, Texas Archer County, Texas Armstrong County, Texas Atascosa County, Texas Austin County, Texas Bailey County, Texas Bandera County, Texas Bastrop County, Texas Baylor County, Texas Bee County, Texas Bell County, Texas Bexar County, Texas Blanco County, Texas Borden County, Texas Bosque County, Texas Bowie County, Texas Brazoria County, Texas Brazos County, Texas Brewster County, Texas Briscoe County, Texas Brooks County, Texas Brown County, Texas Burleson County, Texas Burnet County, Texas Caldwell County, Texas Calhoun County, Texas Callahan County, Texas Cameron County, Texas Camp County, Texas Carson County, Texas Cass County, Texas Castro County, Texas Chambers County, Texas Cherokee County, Texas Childress County, Texas Clay County, Texas Cochran County, Texas Coke County, Texas Coleman County, Texas Collin County, Texas Collingsworth County, Texas Colorado County, Texas Comal County, Texas Comanche County, Texas Concho County, Texas Cooke County, Texas Coryell County, Texas Cottle County, Texas Crane County, Texas Crockett County, Texas Crosby County, Texas Culberson County, Texas Dallam County, Texas Dallas County, Texas Dawson County, Texas Deaf Smith County, Texas Delta County, Texas Denton County, Texas DeWitt County, Texas Dickens County, Texas Dimmit County, Texas Donley County, Texas Duval County, Texas Eastland County, Texas Ector County, Texas Edwards County, Texas Ellis County, Texas El Paso County, Texas Erath County, Texas Falls County, Texas Fannin County, Texas Fayette County, Texas Fisher County, Texas Floyd County, Texas Foard County, Texas Fort Bend County, Texas Franklin County, Texas Freestone County, Texas Frio County, Texas Gaines County, Texas Galveston County, Texas Garza County, Texas Gillespie County, Texas Glasscock County, Texas Goliad County, Texas Gonzales County, Texas Gray County, Texas Grayson County, Texas Gregg County, Texas Grimes County, Texas Guadalupe County, Texas Hale County, Texas Hall County, Texas Hamilton County, Texas Hansford County, Texas Hardeman County, Texas Hardin County, Texas Harris County, Texas Harrison County, Texas Hartley County, Texas Haskell County, Texas Hays County, Texas Hemphill County, Texas Henderson County, Texas Hidalgo County, Texas Hill County, Texas Hockley County, Texas Hood County, Texas Hopkins County, Texas Houston County, Texas Howard County, Texas Hudspeth County, Texas Hunt County, Texas Hutchinson County, Texas Irion County, Texas Jack County, Texas Jackson County, Texas Jasper County, Texas Jeff Davis County, Texas Jefferson County, Texas Jim Hogg County, Texas Jim Wells County, Texas Johnson County, Texas Jones County, Texas Karnes County, Texas Kaufman County, Texas Kendall County, Texas Kenedy County, Texas Kent County, Texas Kerr County, Texas Kimble County, Texas King County, Texas Kinney County, Texas Kleberg County, Texas Knox County, Texas Lamar County, Texas Lamb County, Texas Lampasas County, Texas La Salle County, Texas Lavaca County, Texas Lee County, Texas Leon County, Texas Liberty County, Texas Limestone County, Texas Lipscomb County, Texas Live Oak County, Texas Llano County, Texas Loving County, Texas Lubbock County, Texas Lynn County, Texas McCulloch County, Texas McLennan County, Texas McMullen County, Texas Madison County, Texas Marion County, Texas Martin County, Texas Mason County, Texas Matagorda County, Texas Maverick County, Texas Medina County, Texas Menard County, Texas Midland County, Texas Milam County, Texas Mills County, Texas Mitchell County, Texas Montague County, Texas Montgomery County, Texas Moore County, Texas Morris County, Texas Motley County, Texas Nacogdoches County, Texas Navarro County, Texas Newton County, Texas Nolan County, Texas Nueces County, Texas Ochiltree County, Texas Oldham County, Texas Orange County, Texas Palo Pinto County, Texas Panola County, Texas Parker County, Texas Parmer County, Texas Pecos County, Texas Polk County, Texas Potter County, Texas Presidio County, Texas Rains County, Texas Randall County, Texas Reagan County, Texas Real County, Texas Red River County, Texas Reeves County, Texas Refugio County, Texas Roberts County, Texas Robertson County, Texas Rockwall County, Texas Runnels County, Texas Rusk County, Texas Sabine County, Texas San Augustine County, Texas San Jacinto County, Texas San Patricio County, Texas San Saba County, Texas Schleicher County, Texas Scurry County, Texas Shackelford County, Texas Shelby County, Texas Sherman County, Texas Smith County, Texas Somervell County, Texas Starr County, Texas Stephens County, Texas Sterling County, Texas Stonewall County, Texas Sutton County, Texas Swisher County, Texas Tarrant County, Texas Taylor County, Texas Terrell County, Texas Terry County, Texas Throckmorton County, Texas Titus County, Texas Tom Green County, Texas Travis County, Texas Trinity County, Texas Tyler County, Texas Upshur County, Texas Upton County, Texas Uvalde County, Texas Val Verde County, Texas Van Zandt County, Texas Victoria County, Texas Walker County, Texas Waller County, Texas Ward County, Texas Washington County, Texas Webb County, Texas Wharton County, Texas Wheeler County, Texas Wichita County, Texas Wilbarger County, Texas Willacy County, Texas Williamson County, Texas Wilson County, Texas Winkler County, Texas Wise County, Texas Wood County, Texas Yoakum County, Texas Young County, Texas Zapata County, Texas Zavala County, Texas Texas NRCS
Pick a district 1st District of Texas (Rep. Louis Gohmert) 2nd District of Texas (Rep. Ted Poe) 3rd District of Texas (Rep. Sam Johnson) 4th District of Texas (Rep. John Ratcliffe) 5th District of Texas (Rep. Jeb Hensarling) 6th District of Texas (Rep. Joe Barton) 7th District of Texas (Rep. John Culberson) 8th District of Texas (Rep. Kevin Brady) 9th District of Texas (Rep. Al Green) 10th District of Texas (Rep. Michael McCaul) 11th District of Texas (Rep. Michael Conaway) 12th District of Texas (Rep. Kay Granger) 13th District of Texas (Rep. Mac Thornberry) 14th District of Texas (Rep. Randy Weber) 15th District of Texas (Rep. Vicente Gonzalez) 16th District of Texas (Rep. Beto O'Rourke) 17th District of Texas (Rep. Bill Flores) 18th District of Texas (Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee) 19th District of Texas (Rep. Jodey Arrington) 20th District of Texas (Rep. Joaquin Castro) 21st District of Texas (Rep. Lamar Smith) 22nd District of Texas (Rep. Pete Olson) 23rd District of Texas (Rep. Will Hurd) 24th District of Texas (Rep. Kenny Marchant) 25th District of Texas (Rep. Roger Williams) 26th District of Texas (Rep. Michael Burgess) 27th District of Texas (Rep. Blake Farenthold) 28th District of Texas (Rep. Henry Cuellar) 29th District of Texas (Rep. Gene Green) 30th District of Texas (Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson) 31st District of Texas (Rep. John Carter) 32nd District of Texas (Rep. Pete Sessions) 33rd District of Texas (Rep. Marc Veasey) 34th District of Texas (Rep. Filemon Vela) 35th District of Texas (Rep. LLoyd Doggett) 36th District of Texas (Rep. Brian Babin)
Livestock Subsidies in Gregg County, Texas totaled $478,897 from 1995-2017.
Programs included in livestock subsidies
Livestock Forage Disaster Program $252,122
Emergency Livestock Feed Assistance $115,031
Livestock Compensation Program $90,211
Livestock Emergency Assistance Program $21,533
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The Latest: Djokovic beats Federer in Wimbledon final
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — The Latest at Wimbledon (all times local):
Novak Djokovic has won his fifth Wimbledon title, beating eight-time champion Roger Federer in a fifth-set tiebreaker after saving two match points.
The top-seeded Serb won 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 13-12 (3) on Centre Court, defeating Federer in the final for the third time. He also beat Federer in the final in 2014 and 2015.
Djokovic is the first man since 1948 to save championship points in the final and go on to win.
Djokovic has now won 16 Grand Slam singles titles, within four of Federer’s record of 20. Rafael Nadal has 18.
Wimbledon started using deciding-set tiebreakers for the first time this year.
The Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic is going to a fifth-set tiebreaker with the score even at 12-12.
This is the first year Wimbledon is using deciding-set tiebreakers, and only when the score reaches 12-12.
The Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic is 6-6 in the fifth set.
For the first time this year, Wimbledon will have tiebreakers in deciding sets if the score reaches 12-12.
The Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic is going to a deciding fifth set.
Federer won the fourth set to even the match at 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-7 (4), 6-4.
Federer broke Djokovic twice in the fourth to take a 5-2 lead, but was broken for the first time in the match when serving for the set. However, he held at love on his second opportunity.
Federer and Djokovic are playing each other in the Wimbledon final for the third time. Djokovic won the previous two, in 2014 and 2015.
Novak Djokovic is one set away from a fifth Wimbledon title after winning another tiebreaker against Roger Federer in the men’s final.
Djokovic leads 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-6 (4).
Federer has yet to face a break point in the match and had a set point with Djokovic serving at 5-4 in the third, but sent a backhand return wide.
In the tiebreaker, Djokovic jumped out to a 5-1 lead and clinched the set when Federer netted a forehand.
Roger Federer has won the second set against Novak Djokovic 6-1 to level the men’s Wimbledon final at 1-1.
Djokovic won the first set 7-6 (5) but was broken twice as Federer took a 4-0 lead in the second. Federer broke again at love in the final game, with Djokovic double-faulting on set point.
Djokovic hit just two winners in the second set, compared to 14 in the first.
Novak Djokovic has won the first set 7-6 (5) against Roger Federer in the men’s Wimbledon final.
Federer led 5-3 in the tiebreaker after winning four straight points, but missed forehands on each of the next three points. He then sent a backhand wide to hand Djokovic the set.
Federer had the only break point of the set at 2-1, but sent a forehand wide that time.
Federer is looking for his ninth Wimbledon title, while Djokovic is after his fifth.
Jonas Forejtek and Jiri Lehecka won the junior boys’ doubles title at Wimbledon.
The top-seeded pair from the Czech Republic beat Liam Draxl of Canada and Govind Nanda of the United States 7-5, 6-4.
Also, Aniek Van Koot won her second Wimbledon title in two days.
Van Koot and Diede De Groot of the Netherlands won the women’s wheelchair doubles title, beating Marjolein Buis of the Netherlands and Giulia Capocci of Italy 6-1, 6-1.
Van Koot also won the singles title on Saturday, beating her doubles partner in three sets.
It’ll either be Wimbledon championship No. 9 for Roger Federer or No. 5 for Novak Djokovic when they meet in the final.
This is the pair’s third meeting in the title match at the All England Club. Djokovic won both of those previous matchups, in 2014 and 2015.
Federer, who is 37, is going for his 21st Grand Slam trophy overall on Sunday, while the 32-year-old Djokovic is playing for his 16th.
They have played each other 47 times already, with Djokovic holding a 25-22 head-to-head edge. This is also their 16th showdown at a major tournament — the most between any two men in the professional era — and Djokovic leads that count 9-6 so far.
More AP tennis coverage: https://www.apnews.com/apf-Tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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Some calling for independent probe of fatal Texas drug raid
By JUAN A. LOZANO
HOUSTON (AP) — The growing investigation into the deadly January drug raid by Houston police that killed a couple and injured five officers has some local officials and community activists asking whether the probe should be taken over by an independent third party.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office, which is heading the investigation into the deadly drug raid at a Houston home, pushed back on the idea, describing it as effort by officials to “interfere with the duties of the elected district attorney.”
But some legal experts say bringing in a third party, as has been done in other investigations around the country of alleged police misconduct, might be the best thing to do as the inquiry has ballooned into a review of the inner workings of the Houston Police Department’s narcotics division and 14,000 of its cases over several years.
“If you’re talking one or two bad apples, I’m not sure it has to go outside. But if it becomes like the whole narcotics division and it’s ingrained in the unit or there’s a culture there, then I think that may be something that you’d probably want to give to an outside entity,” said University of Dayton law professor Thaddeus Hoffmeister.
The Jan. 28 raid came under scrutiny after allegations that one of the officers who was shot, Gerald Goines, lied in a search warrant about having a confidential informant buy heroin at the home. The informant told investigators no such drug buy took place.
During the raid, four officers were shot in a gunfight that killed 59-year-old Dennis Tuttle and 58-year-old Rhogena Nicholas, the couple who lived in the home. A fifth officer injured his knee.
Family and friends of Tuttle and Nicholas have angrily dismissed allegations the couple sold drugs.
Shortly after the shooting, prosecutors said they were reviewing more than 2,000 cases tied to Goines and another officer connected to the drug raid.
But this week, prosecutors said their investigation has now grown into probe of 14,000 cases handled by the Houston Police Department’s narcotics division.
The district attorney’s office asked county commissioners on Tuesday for funding to hire more prosecutors to help with the probe. Officials turned down the request and instead suggested an outside investigator might be needed.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the county’s top administrator, said she and other officials had spoken with Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg months earlier about the need for an independent investigator after experts told county officials that a district attorney’s office, which works closely with police, would not be the best agency to conduct such a probe.
In a statement Friday, Ogg said that under the law, only a district attorney has the authority and jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute.
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“This is a constitutional fact derived from the checks and balances that keep local politicians’ hands out of criminal investigations. We have promised the people of Harris County that we are going to get to the bottom of this,” she said.
Ray Brackens, with the Texas Organizing Project, a progressive community group, told county commissioners his organization favors an independent investigator as it doesn’t “have confidence in … Ogg’s ability to deliver the oversight that we need.”
“The outside person coming in … gives you a much cleaner picture of what happened and when the community looks at it, it gives the community confidence that the system worked,” said David Thomas, a criminal justice professor at Florida Gulf Coast University and a former police officer who has taken part in independent probes of police agencies.
Alex Piquero, a criminology professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, said he can understand the concerns some activists might have about prosecutors being involved in the investigation.
“But I see no reason why the DA should not continue to be involved in this process as well as having this independent investigation and let the facts come out when the facts come out,” Piquero said.
Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70
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Is Change Coming to Bosnia? Reflections on Protests and their Prospects
I want my ID number
When the protests in Turkey began on the 28 May, what struck me was the centrality of the Mediterranean as the focal areas of social movements in the last two years. In addition to the Arab spring (summer and winter), mass protests were held in Spain, Israel and Greece and Italy is experiencing a crisis of confidence in the established party system. While there, the democratic governments either fall or could/had to absorb the grievance of many, the dictatorships in the southern Mediterranean were not able to. While Turkey is closer to the democracies of the northern rim of the Mediterranean, the response of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been more following the authoritarian reflex of its southern neighbors, thereby strengthening the protests.
At first, I was struck who the Balkans had been largely ‘protest-free’ in recent years, unlike neigbouring regions. However, recent protests in Bosnia suggest that the social movements against the status quo are now reaching the region as well. Of course, the protests in Sarajevo and other Bosnian cities had other causes as the protests in Turkey or other countries of the Mediterranean, but also share a number of features: the carries are young, urban, feel excluded from politics and government and see now other way to chance the status quo than by protest. What is striking is that the loss of public spaces and parks has been a key feature in small scale protests in the last years in the Balkans: Protests in Banja Luka in June of last year over a park, in Belgrade the cutting down of trees on Bulevar Revolucije earlier and in Tirana also over the destruction of a park. These protests failed to gather the momentum as in Turkey, largely because local politics and national politics had different dynamics, but they highlighted the concern not just for parks, but also for the symbolic loss of public spaces and more broadly a public good to what seems like narrow commercial (and political) interests. Thus the destruction of a park is a symbolic act that carries more significance than “just” an environmental issue, as Orhan Pamuk expressed in his reflections on the protests.
The current protests in Bosnia are not about a park, but over the lack of a decision. In a county that is more characterised by decisions not taken and with a prime minister (officially chair of the council of ministers) who claims in his government’s defense that “I think we are not the worst of the world, nor are we a country like Zimbabwe or Somalia”, it is decisions not taken that create most grief. After the constitutional court ruled in February that the current law on ID numbers is unconstitutional the government has been unable to propose a solution, resulting in newborns not being able to receive official documents. This has meant that newborns can’t get passports and are thus unable to travel. When the small baby Belmina Ibrišević needed to travel abroad for urgent medical treatment, but could not get the documents, the lack of a decision became a life or death issue and galvanized public opinion and led to protests.
The Bosnian government is notorious for not taking decisions as these are caught between competing interests of the entities and ethnopolitics where the substance of decisions is trumped by the question of who is to be in charge. Next to ID numbers, this is nowhere as obvious as the dispute in Bosnia about veterinary and sanitary inspections. As Bosnian politicians have been unable to agree on who is to implement the inspections, thousands of Bosnian farmers are likely to be unable to export their dairy products to Croatia once it joins the EU next month and more rigid controls come into effect. While here, also the economic survival of many hangs in the balance, it has not mobilized protests as the issue over ID numbers.
The response of political elites to the protests has been ugly. While some tried to ingratiate themselves with them, others dismissed the protests as either being anti-Serb or called on citizens to get off the streets and vote in next years elections. This response led Eric Gordy to comment in his blog that “[t]he national game is up. When it worked it produced a generation of politicians who believed that firing up resentment and fear would give them a permanent hold on power. It’s ringing hollow and their permanent mark is fading. They have become objects of ridicule. They’re over.”
While I wish he was right, I am more skeptical in my view. Heleen Touquet in her PhD on new social movements in Bosnia: “Escaping ethnopolis: postethnic mobilization in Bosnia-Herzegovina” (for the table of contents, see here) looked closely at groups in recent years that sought to mobilization citizens against the status quo. These efforts have largely failed, because they were unable to build a genuine cross-ethnic constituency or a country agenda that would make it difficult for existing elites to dismiss or ignore them. The new protest have this potential. There are, however, two formidable obstacles: First, how to build an agenda for change that all citizens of Bosnia can rally for. Second, how to translate this movement into a political option. While social movements can set the agenda, change has to come from the political system (unless it is overthrown in a revolution). While there are some parties (like Naša stranka) that aspire to pursue different politics than the currently dominant parties, it is at the moment hard to imagine a country-wide political movement that could be successful and transform the way decisions are taken and how the country is governed. The current political set-up encourages parties to run on mono-ethnic platforms and makes it easy of ethnonationalist parties to sow the seeds of doubt in change.
Filed under Bosnia, Democratization, Western Balkans Tagged with Arab spring, protests, Turkey
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Amazon Pulling Out of Agreements to Build NYC HQ Deal
By Gabriella Agliata '19
Amazon had contrived a plan to build an expansive corporate campus in Queens, New York. However, these preparations were put to a stop due to backlash from lawmakers, progressive activists, and union leaders. They argued that such a wealthy cooperation didn’t deserve nearly 3 billion dollars in government incentives. As a result of this, the state of New York sprung into a heated debate of whether or not subsidies are being given out.
The company then pulled out of this construction, delivering a huge blow to Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, and damaging their effort to further diversify the city’s economy by making it an inviting location for the technology industry. In fact, Amazon made a statement saying, “A number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward.” DeBlasio tried to reach out to Amazon’s chief executive, but the official refused to speak to him.
Many of the company’s supporters in the business showed strong support for the second headquarters, but it wasn’t enough to keep the plan intact. The governor blamed the newly emboldened Democrats who now control the State Senate for derailing the project. He was significantly disappointed and said that the protestors put personal interest above the community’s well-being. Amazon stated that despite the overwhelming issues that engulfed this project, they still have an undying loyalty towards New York City.
Michael Cohen's Testimony Before Congress
By Emanuela Gallo ‘19
Source: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Michael Dean Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer, has represented Donald Trump for a decade. However, his loyalty has shifted away from the man he now describes as a racist, conman, and cheat. On Wednesday, February 27th, he spoke about Trump in a sworn testimony to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. During the daylong hearing, he accused him of following a pattern of lies, criminal activity, and deception.
Republicans worked to discredit Cohen, accusing him of lying just as he lied under oath to Congress before (to which he pleaded guilty). Across the aisle, Democrats sought to extract more and more details of Trump's world behind closed doors. Cohen revealed several bits of information during the five-hour period. He described working for Trump as “intoxicating” due to his tendency to heed his ambition rather than his conscience. “Sitting here today, it seems unbelievable that I was so mesmerized by Donald Trump that I was willing to do things for him that I knew were absolutely wrong,” Cohen said.
The now-disbarred lawyer made other accusations, including that Trump lied to the press concerning Hillary Clinton’s emails. Cohen claimed he was in Trump’s office during a conversation between him and advisor Roger J. Stone Jr. on speakerphone. Stone allegedly stated that he had just talked to the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, who said that “within a couple of days, there would be a massive dump of emails that would damage Hillary Clinton’s campaign.” In an interview with the New York Times in January, Trump affirmed that he never spoke with Stone about WikiLeaks or the emails it posted.
The information Cohen revealed painted the president as a man of doubtful character. He stated that over the decade he worked for Trump, he was asked to threaten individuals an estimated 500 times. He referred to the idea of “catch and kill,” which is a method of preventing an unfavorable article from being published. Cohen also presented letters the president asked him to write to his high school, colleges, and the College Board. These letters threatened these entities not to reveal his academic records, grades or testing scores. In addition, Cohen disclosed a few racist comments stated by Trump insulting African-Americans. His testimony also included a confession of hush payments made to Stormy Daniels, who claimed to have an affair with Trump. He presented copies of checks Trump gave him displaying $130,000 in reimbursements.
“My loyalty to Mr. Trump has cost me everything,” Cohen said. “I will not sit back, say nothing and allow him to do the same to the country.
The State of the Union: Controversy and Unity Collide
By Jenine Samara ‘22
This year’s State of the Union Address left much of the country with a question mark over their heads. At the onset, the lack of assurance in the President’s speech was certainly evident. Certain elements that remain fixated in President Trump’s ideas were strongly conflicted during his address. Contrary to his tweets, Donald Trump proselytized a lot about bipartisanship and his desire to stride for a country whose limits exceed those of a specific political agenda.
However, his tweets and declarations tell a different story. The President’s tirades of scapegoating the Democratic Party for various political, social, and economic problems are far from the political unity he spoke of during his address.
Another notable aspect of the State of the Union Address was the frequent discussion of the economy. Although there were several components to his speech, it felt as if every issue, regardless of the sector, was returned to a discussion of economics. In addition, Mr. Trump ceased to regard the critical issue of climate change once. Trump’s attention to the economy has always been significant, but has it reached a point where his fixation on the economy has “trumped” other important issues?
On a lighter, more inspirational note, The State of the Union was an event that provided a great sense of female unity. Women in Congress coordinated with one another and wore white as an homage to the suffragettes. During the era in which women fought for suffrage, women wore white dresses in order to establish a universal identity and press coverage for themselves. Kudos to the congresswomen who used this event to channel the empowering and inspiring message of the women who paved the pathway for our liberties.
Midterm Election 2018: A Changing Tide
By Jenine Samara '22
The Midterm Election of 2018 brought us into some uncharted territory. It was a night of many notable firsts.
An especially monumental event took place in Staten Island and Bay Ridge, where candidate Max Rose (D) shifted the 11th Congressional Seat to the Democratic Party. Since the 11th Congressional District is primarily comprised of Staten Island, it tends to lean Republican. However, Max Rose (D) brought a “blue wave” to the district, which kept both Staten Island and Bay Ridge as the topic of political conversation throughout election night.
This local shift was indicative of a bigger change that happened later that night. Although the Senate majority remained Republican, the House flipped in favor of the Democrats. This will have striking effects on the way that Washington operates and we can only wait to see what the next two years have in store.
In addition to the astonishing partisan shifts, women also created a wave of their own, emerging victoriously with a number of firsts. We have witnessed the first Muslim congresswoman, the youngest congresswoman in US history, the first Palestinian congresswoman, the first Latinx congresswoman, the first female senator of Tennessee, and the first Native American congresswoman.
This bodes well for us as young women. The glass ceiling that has hovered above women throughout time is slowly yet surely being shattered by ambitious women such as these. All in all, it was an evening of shifts, swerves, surprises and most importantly, strides toward change.
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The Human Brand – Chris Malone
http://traffic.libsyn.com/realworldbranding/The_Human_Brand_-_Chris_Malone.mp3
Chris Malone is the co-author of The Human Brand. Following three years of research, Chris explains how social psychology and the way we interact with humans mirrors how we interact with brands, products, and companies. Using the principles of warmth and competence, Chris demonstrates how brands can better connect with consumers. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a rating!
Chris Malone:Never let a great crisis go unused, go to waste because it doesn’t come along very often. When things are going smoothly and everything’s going according to plan, it’s tough to stand out.
Bill Gullan:Greetings one and all. This is Real-World Branding. I’m Bill Gullan, president of Finch Brands, a premier boutique branding agency. Thank you for joining us. So we have taken a little bit of a hiatus from the pod for good reasons both client related and also the exciting news that we’ve moved offices. We were in a wonderful space in Old City Philadelphia which is for those who don’t know the region pretty much the historic district near the Liberty Bell and other interesting attractions. So many folks from all over the world would walk by every single day, school groups, etc.
But we were there from about 2003 or early 2004 until about a month ago. And now, I speak to you from our perch on the 21st floor of 123 South Broad Street. Again, those who don’t know the area, that’s sort of in the central business district in Philadelphia. Just a couple of blocks from City Hall. And also for you movie buffs and I’m dating myself, this is the building where Duke and Duke from Trading Places, the wonderful flick in early 80’s I guess was located. So folks will perhaps recognize that. It’s now a building that I think is Wells Fargo branded and has a branch in the lobby etc.
Anyway, happy to be here and really happy to bring you an interview that we conducted actually just before we moved with Chris Malone. Chris is the managing partner at Fidelum Partners. He has an incredible background as an executive in situations like the NBA and the NHL and then moving into sort of consumer-packaged goods with Leaf, the confectionery and then Coca-Cola of course as a brand manager both on the coke brand and other brands within the umbrella. All the way through Aramark at the CMO at Choice Hotels. An incredible track record of executive leadership in marketing and other areas.
And also a published author and you’ll hear from our conversation he’s a thought leader. He has really interesting theories that are both sort of practical as well as academically grounded about how to build strong brands. I won’t steal anymore thunder from our terrific guest, Chris Malone.
Coming to you live, not really live but from Finch Brands world headquarters, we’re here with Chris Malone who’s the managing partner at Fidelum Partners. Thanks for joining us and for coming down.
Chris:Great to be here, Bill.
Bill:It’s our pleasure. Let’s start as we customarily do with a little bit of a twirl through your background which is an incredible story of various responsibilities across this landscape and could take us through the main stops and kind of what’s led you to this point?
Chris:Sure, sure. I started my career as a field sales rep for Procter and Gamble and my territory was Queens in the Bronx, New York City which was quite an education for a kid from suburban Maryland. I really enjoyed the experience and learned a great deal from it. After a few years there moving up the ranks, came back to Philadelphia for grad school where I studied entrepreneurship at the Wharton School. And after grad school I unexpectedly ended up working at the National Basketball Association at NBA Properties in their licensing and sponsorship group. Got recruited away to do similar things for the National Hockey League Players Association in Toronto. So a few more years in professional sports. And eventually found my way down to Coca-Cola where I became a global brand manager on everything related to Coca-Cola and the Olympics.
Bill:We’ve heard of that.
Chris:Yeah. So it was a great opportunity for me because they were interested in my sports background and I was very interested in getting kind of classical brand management training.
Bill:That was right in the aftermath of the Atlanta Games?
Chris:It’s exactly right.
Bill:What a moment.
Chris:Yeah, exactly.
Bill:With Atlanta with coke and everything.
Chris:They had just put 500 million dollars into the Olympics around the world in 1996 and I came in in January of ’97 and they were kind of in this post-Olympic hangover, kind of asking, gosh, we spent all this money, we did all this stuff, but we’re not entirely sure what we got for it. And so it was an opportunity to kind of a deep dive post-mortem on the Olympics and try to figure out what they should do for the ’98 and 2000 games so that was a great experience for me.
Worked there for the next few years developing a strategy for the ’98 and 2000 Olympic games around the world and then actually left with the chief marketing officer from Coca-Cola, a guy named Sergio Zyman.
Bill:Very well known, legend.
Chris:Exactly. We started a consulting firm in Atlanta. There was about five of us and Sergio started the Zyman Marketing Group in Atlanta and we consulted to large Fortune 500 both consumer and business to business on how to apply consumer marketing principles to their business to grow it. We had great success with that. Grew the firm to about 150 employees before selling it to an ad holding company out of Toronto. And that was what really opened the doors for me to come back to Philadelphia again and become the senior V.P. of Marketing for Aramark Corporation back in 2002.
After five years at Aramark, I joined Choice Hotels as their chief marketing officer and then in 2010 decided I’d seen enough of the corporate marketing world and decided to start my own consulting firm here in the Philadelphia area and wrote a book called The Human Brand.
Bill:Yeah, which we’ll definitely get to and what a bunch of lessons you’ve learned along the way that you are now applying obviously in pursuit of your client’s objectives. Just track Philadelphia over and over just because we’re City champions or what leads you here to our fine city. A Maryland kid but couldn’t resist the lure of coming back.
Chris:Exactly. It’s a great town of course. From a family standpoint, there is a personal appeal of it. One is that I’m from DC but my wife is from New York. And so Philadelphia is some place I’m familiar with as well as it’s exactly halfway between, makes for lots of great day trips on holidays and birthdays and weddings and things like that and so it’s ideally suited, I managed to fulfill that promise I made to her parents that eventually I’d bring she and my offspring back within driving distance. Got that monkey off my back.
Bill:Perfect. Our tagline, I’m not sure that city marketers would like, we’re on the way somewhere but anyway such is life. So you talk about and we’ve been blown away learning more about this, the book’s called The Human Brand. I encourage all of our listeners to check it out. It’s based on a model that I know that you’ve sort of conceptualized I think, you can tell us about it with some folks in the academic realm. You want to tell us about the warmth and competence model and how you came to it and what it means in a little bit about what some of the practical applications of that might be?
Chris:Yeah, absolutely. It’s been a fascinating story and experience for me. Just to briefly describe what it is, the warmth and competence model is a model of human social perception that was developed by number of social psychologists around the world that in the last 10 years has been kind of accepted as the universal way that humans everywhere perceive, interact and form relationships with one another. And my co-author Dr. Susan Fiske at Princeton is probably the best known at kind of formalizing and kind of publishing her work on warmth and incompetence which has been shown to be highly predictive of stereotypes, bias, all kinds of social behavior.
And so it was in 2009 when I first stumbled across some writing about this. It was in Harvard Business Review. There was an article entitled Just Because I’m Nice Don’t Assume I’m Dumb, and it was written by one of doctor Fiske’s proteges Dr. Amy Cuddy who has since become very well known as well.
Bill:Power poses and all that.
Chris:Exactly. Amy Cuddy wrote this article in 2009 that talked about warmth and competence in the workplace and how we have these stereotypical perceptions of people that we may work with and that people who are more friendly and approachable and warm an affable, we may sometimes assume that they’re less competent. And similarly, there is kind of a stereotypical perception that people who are really cold and unapproachable and difficult to judge their intentions, we might assume that they’re more competent as a result of that, and how we should be thoughtful about this. And I said, wow, that’s really interesting. I never thought of it that way but it certainly makes a lot of sense.
One of the things that I had developed during my time in professional sports, I had the opportunity to market products as brands at Coca-Cola and Procter and Gamble but also athletes and people as brands and professional sports. I’d always had the belief that probably people were probably the first brands, faces were probably the first logos and all this branded trade and commerce that we engage in was probably some kind of adaptation of the way that we interact with one another. But I’d never really seen any research to that extent or seen a model that could prove this.
And so, when I stumbled across warmth and competence, gosh, the social psychologists say that this is driving 80% of human behavior and I’m thinking one, if that’s the case how come I’ve never heard of it. It turns out it wasn’t well known outside of academia. But then two, if that’s the case how could it not be impacting how we do business. And so, I had the belief that perhaps this model could be predictive of what we choose to buy and become loyal to. And so I reached out to Dr Fiske at Princeton University out of the blue with kind of a random email saying, “Hey, I’ve become a fan of your work and I have a theory that I’d like to share with you and I basically explained I think your model might be predictive of what we buy and become loyal to.”
And she said, “You know, I’m not really into marketing. I’ve got eight published textbooks, 250 published academic papers and so forth but I’ve got a fellowship student here with me that I’m looking to get involved in some other projects and if he’s interested maybe you can have us as a packaged deal.” And he was interested and that led to over three years of research and nearly 50 companies around the world studying how their customers perceive them on the basis of warmth and competence. And what we found is that over 50% of what we buy and become loyal to can be explained by these basic human perceptions, things that we never think or talk about in our marketing or positioning and that was a real eye opener for me.
Bill:Yeah. I can imagine in some ways predictive of what we’ve seen, certainly with the other consumers who really are looking to access values in a sense of what a company stands for which is one way to express warmth and …
Chris:Absolutely.
Bill:This explains a lot of human behavior but also a lot of what’s happening in the commercial realm as well. When we were first introduced to this I think what really brought it home for me beyond the obvious sort of cogency and power of it was a little bit about how it works in practice. Is there a story or two that you think are effective in expressing that?
Chris:Yeah, absolutely. One of the most striking things that we learned from our research was how, a lot of what we are taught and trained in life is that all of our success in our careers comes from our competence and that the quality of our product and product features and all of that kind of stuff. It turns out that in social psychology, they’ve been able to show over and over again that yes, we have to have competence to get by but competence alone can only get us so far. I think it really set people apart and [in fact it 00:10:40] was the more predictive element in human survival was what people believe your intentions or your warmth is towards them.
And so what we’ve found through our research is that virtually every company we evaluated was falling short of customer expectations on warmth and was perceived to be much more competent than warm. It turns out that a lot of what we are taught and trained in business is actually fundamentally at odds with what it takes for us to trust one another. We need to get more as quick as we can-
Bill:Control the message.
Chris:Control the message, control the information, close the sale, get the price, change the policy, limit the cost. All of these things send these little subtle messages that perhaps the company or the brand isn’t perhaps looking out for our best interests. And so that really causes to think differently. Our first round of research we did in 2010 was during like when B.P. was gushing oil into the gulf, Tylenol was being taken off the shelf.
Bill:All financial services brands were …
Chris:Exactly. Toyota, speeding down California highway is out of control with the accelerator problem and all that. We looked at which of those brands were really harmed by that and which of those weren’t. One of the things that really jumped out at us is that one, most companies and brands are not perceived to have the customers’ best interests in mind but two, when you have one of those major crises, it’s really a moment of truth. It’s an opportunity that you don’t get very often right to change the way people think about you and it’s an opportunity to demonstrate that you do have the best interest of the customer in mind in a way that doesn’t come along very often.
So for instance, if B.P. had said, you know what, unilaterally we’re going to stop drilling around the world until we get to the bottom of this. We’re not sure what the cause of the fire and the explosion was but we’re going to get to the bottom of it. We’ll take whatever responsibility is ours because we really do care about the environment and really what we say in all of our marketing is true. How might that have unfolded differently if they would have perhaps been the most loved energy company to ever exist depending on how they’d handled it.
And it turns out that Tylenol as it turns out back in that recall actually did pretty well. They weren’t perhaps as good as the 1983 episode but they did well enough that actually they continue to have stronger purchase intent and loyalty than Advil despite that you could hardly find the product anywhere in the United States.
Bill:Right, interesting. We did podcast a couple of weeks ago looking at some of the big crises of 2017. Your Uniteds and your Ubers. It seemed to me without any research backing at all, certainly not three years of it, the brands that recovered quickly were also those were the sort of core of the crisis was not anchored to a core brand attribute. Uber is a disrupter, Uber is not supposed to be a warm and cozy fireman. United amazingly has recovered quickly too but there may be something to the messages that you were talking about earlier, how you deal with it. How many apologies did we have in that first week.
Bill:It was amazing.
Chris:I think there is something else that has been changing. What we’ve found is that this basic warmth and competence that we are wired with as humans hasn’t changed in human psychology or physiology for thousands of years. However, the environment that we have been living and working and doing business in has changed dramatically. And it seems like there was a bit of a tipping point around 2010 with the convergence of mobile devices, social networks, E-commerce, all of that, because frankly there is a kind of a dynamic of social accountability that has existed for thousands of years in small communities.
If you imagine a small town, the merchant does wrong by a customer, those are pretty interdependent relationships and if the merchant doesn’t make it right, pretty much everyone in town is going to know about by Sunday at church and he could come under pressure or be run out of town if he doesn’t kind of balance the scales and do the right thing.
Well, there was a period during the industrial revolution where lots of those kind of social accountabilities went away. Companies became very large, bad news and good news didn’t travel very far, very fast and the kind of social accountability that we were wired to hold each other’s feet to the fire to keep things in balance went away to a large extent.
Well, around 2010, that really flipped back and I really think of it as kind of a back to the future moment where the social accountability that we were a wire with by evolution is now back with a vengeance turbo charged by this digital technology. Because now if a company or a merchant does wrong by a customer, it’s not that everybody in town could know about it by the end of the week, it’s everybody in the country could know about it by the end of the day. The demands and the accountability and the transparency that is demanded of companies, whether it’s Uber, or United or what have you is really thrown us for a loop because our systems and our corporate communications and all of that stuff wasn’t, we haven’t had that level of accountability in a long time.
So, it just requires us to be that much more open and transparent and to basically say more often than not, you know what, here’s what our intentions were, we did make a mistake, here’s what we’re doing about it and try to turn all of those crises and problems into opportunities basically. Never let a great crisis go unused, go to waste because it doesn’t come along very often. When things are going smoothly and everything’s going according to plan, it’s tough to stand out. But when you do have one of those incidents you can either be the hero that basically says, you know, we really do care about you or you can be the goat basically that doesn’t care and doesn’t respond fairly or rapidly enough or what have you.
Bill:Yeah. Well it seems the more progressive voices recognize customer service as an opportunity.
Bill:As opposed to whatever the case may be. But you’re right, there was [inaudible 00:16:14] time obviously but between the industrial revolution and the internet revolution there was a disintermediation of brand from consumer often with a retail location in between often with three broadcast networks in between and the nature of the dialogue, well, it wasn’t a dialogue, it was more of a sort of a dictation of by this, not this and now wild and wooly. It definitely is.
It’s wonderful. First of all before we get to that, warmth in this definition is more about motivation and intention it sounds like as opposed to just congeniality or …
Chris:That’s exactly right. It’s an important distinction because there’s a couple of different flavors of it. To back up a step, you should think of warmth as a whole category of perceptions that have to do with what are the intentions of other people towards me. Are they warm, are they friendly-
Bill:Do we come in peace.
Chris:Do we come in peace. Do they have my best interests in mind or are they looking out for themselves? Are they honest, are they trustworthy, do we have anything in common? All of that list of stuff that you could have about someone’s intentions and they’re kind of two flavors of warmth if you will. There’s the kind of sociability part, warm, friendly, affable and there’s kind of the morality part, honest, trustworthy, integrity, character, all of that stuff. Those are two different pieces but they’re all in that kind of warm bucket.
And so we should not take the word warmth only to mean kind of warm cold, it’s intended to be kind of an umbrella term to refer to a whole bunch of stuff. Similar with competence. Competence as all those things having to do with abilities, whether it’s knowledge, resources, expertise, problem solving, creativity, all of that stuff related to competence. What we found in all of our research is that in most cases a lot of what we think of as product or service features or benefits fall into the competence bucket. We’re covering that bucket pretty well.
What we found is what we’ve been missing is recognizing that everything we may infer or know about the people behind the companies and brands we do business with is actually even more important than the product features because we view those at those products as an extension of the people.
So I’ll give you a great example related to Hershey Company. So Hershey many people in this part of the country know was founded by Milton Hershey and in 1909, he and his wife donated their entire fortune to create the Hershey Foundation and the Hershey School for Underprivileged Children.
Bill:Which has had some issues as I think you may be about to tell us.
Chris:Exactly. Most people don’t know this. In our research we found only 20% of the population know about the Hershey School and the Hershey Trust and all that. But if you tell people the story of Milton Hershey and what he did and then ask people afterwards again, before, what’s your purchase intent and perception and loyalty towards Hershey and then tell them the story of what he’s done that for over one hundred years, every purchase of a Hershey product benefits this trust and the school and then ask them again about purchase intent and loyalty, you see a 15% jump in purchase intent, loyalty and brand perception.
Nothing changed about the product. What you did was you told them something new about the people at that company and causes them to think they pay their farmers fairly for chocolate, they must treat their employees well, they must give back to their communities and all of that. And so it turns out that the information we get about the people behind these companies and brands has a huge impact and it’s actually the more dominant impact on our behavior. So that’s why when we hear one of these scandals and we find out that what they did or what they said or what they were prying to do can have such a big impact on our attitude, not only towards the product but towards the company, despite that the product itself may not have changed.
Bill:Fascinating. And actually, it ties a lot of things together. We were wondering, I was on a panel the other night about Super Bowl ads this year and there seemed to be a pullback from directly over political statements but a big move in the direction of sort of philanthropic expressions. Be it Budweiser, not trotting out Clydesdales and puppies but instead their role in disaster relief in terms of flipping the switch of that factory away from beer and into water which they then put in cans. We saw Verizon’s similar message, we saw Hyundai not promoting and you could second guess whether the Super Bowl actually promote the New Genesis line of vehicles or whether Hyundai’s sort of strangely expressed commitment to, I don’t even remember what the health cause was but there’s that.
The degree to which folks convey that there are caring good purposeful people, I think you’re saying if they can convince folks of that have really significant benefits.
Chris:Exactly. And you highlight two different kinds of things that were a shift this year from what might be considered in the past kind of the warm and fuzzy animals, jokes, humor, puppies, all of that stuff, which is more on the sociability side of warmth to a shift of more about philanthropy and doing the right thing and giving back to communities which is more on that morality character integrity side of things.
We have found certainly that both of them have an impact but the integrity morality part is the part that is more important to consumers. And so, it needs to be reflected in more than just your Super Bowl ad in order for people to believe it but that you’re seeing both of those two things going on, not totally in the absence of competence related stuff but kind of as the overshadowing of the competence related things. So I think it’s an interesting observation and I think what’s going on there is they’re trying to send the message, they’re trying to demonstrate that we as people we as a company or a brand care about more than just making a profit.
There’s nothing wrong with making a profit, customers don’t have a problem with that. They would only have a problem with if you’re making a profit at their expense or to their harm. If you’re helping them solve a problem, God bless you, have a profit. A lot of these small purpose-driven, cause-oriented companies that have grown very rapidly nibbling away market share from the Procter and Gambles, the Gillettes, the Lever Brothers-
Bill:Toms and your Warbys and your …
Chris:Exactly. I think part of what draws people to them not just as customers but also as employees is that you feel like you are attaching yourself to something that’s about more than just making a profit. It is a cause that demonstrates, I might not even care about people who don’t have shoes in the other part of the world but the guys at Toms, I know they care about making something more than just money and that may cause me to trust them more and be more willing to give them a try.
Bill:Absolutely. As a downstream permission slip or even as an upstream sort of decision tree I want to work with and invest in people that I believe in and care and that care about me and the world.
Fascinating stuff. How might marketers incorporate these insights into their day to day. There are some very obvious implications of this but if you wanted to kind of highlight a few in terms of folks who are, practitioners who are completely compelled by this idea and wondering what it means for them.
Chris:I think I could boil it down to three imperatives. If you really are interested in leveraging the insights of warmth and competence to build stronger customer loyalty, client loyalty, repurchase growth, those kinds of things, I could boil it down to three things. And the first is, we’ve been really getting blindsided. We have to become more self-aware of how our policies, practices and processes are coming across to customers.
Because it turns out a lot of what we have taken for granted as standard operating procedure for the last 20 or 30 years is actually no longer acceptable and not meeting the transparency expectations of customers. Whether it’s how often we take price increases, what level of customer service we offer, our return policy, our cancellation policies. All of these other little things that we do, the degree to which we push out one way messages that say no reply, we’re only interested in sending you communication, not hearing anything back from you. All send subtle little signals that we care more about us than we care about you.
And so the first step is gather feedback from your customers about how they perceive you on the basis of warmth and competence. What you often will find is as I said with all the companies that we evaluated, that we’re not meeting expectations on warmth. In many cases, we’re meeting or exceeding expectations on competence but as a result there isn’t a lot of trust. Lots of the choices are competent, no, I don’t really trust any of them and so as a result I’m willing to switch between brands for a small difference in price and you create this kind of very transactional environment without a lot of loyalty.
So step one is get the feedback from customers, find out what are the little things you are doing that may be rubbing customers the wrong way and pushing them away. That’s step number one.
The second step is that once you’ve gotten that feedback, you’re going to have to be willing to embrace the notion of significant change. That whether we like it or not the world is changing faster than before and the expectations of us are changing faster than ever before. And so, the stuff that got us here, those policies, practices, processes, the way we do business may not be good enough to keep our customers in the future. So, if we’re not meeting expectations on those things, we’re going to have to say, you know what, we always used to do it that way but maybe this isn’t good enough anymore and we’re going to have to try doing things differently in the future to better demonstrate warmth through what we do.
Some quick examples, Zappos and Amazon are great at demonstrating warmth to customers despite they never have any physical contact with them, right? Zappos has got that 800 number on every page of their website. They want you to call 24/7, 365 days a year. And if you call you’ll get a live human on the phone in the first 30 seconds. The reason is they know that if they get you on the phone and started talking to one of their live people, you’re going to like them, you’re going to come back. Those people, they don’t even call them the customer service department, they call it the customer loyalty department. And so despite they never have any contact with person to person directly, they’ve demonstrated warmth through these little things that they do and they have tremendous loyalty, 75% of their sales every day from repeat customers.
So that’s the kind of change that we have to be willing to embrace. Not a lot of people know this about Zappos but they didn’t really adopt that whole customer service focus until they were about to go out of business. Tony Hsieh invested his last million dollars into the company that he sold the company to Microsoft for 30 million bucks and was down to his last [nook 00:25:59] and said, we can’t lose a single customer, we’ve got to do whatever we can to keep the ones that we’ve got and that’s what led to the tremendous focus on customer service they have. That’s the second part, embrace that change.
Then the third part is we really got to take a hard look at what our priorities are. And so if our priority is that to maximize our profit, maximize our revenue growth at the expense of our customers or employees, the reality is we’re not going to be able to get away with that for very long anymore. There used to be a time where you could do little things and squeeze the grape if you will and more blood out of the stone for a while and kind of keep that ball in the air but word travels so far so fast anymore that customers and employees figure out pretty quickly when we’re profiting at their expense and it becomes unsustainable.
That’s why you see a lot of these ups and downs. A company squeezes the margin here or cuts costs there, reduces labor there and they get kind of a boost out of but they can’t keep it going because when you take that stuff from customers and employees, those are the ones you rely on for the service delivery, for the customer loyalty, for the customer referrals and things of that nature. And so what we really need to do is to rebalance those priorities. It’s not that growth or profit is bad, it’s that we just need to keep that in balance with the need to maximize our loyalty of customers and to maximize the engagement of our employees. If we can grow and generate profit that way, it’s much more sustainable.
As Sam Walton said when he founded Wal-Mart that if we take care of the employees they’ll take care of the customer. And the problem was that that philosophy did not outlive him and that Wal-Mart became known as the exact opposite, not taking care of employees who didn’t take care of customers. And so, it can be kind of a virtuous cycle. And so that’s why I think the short term focus of current business and public companies has really done us a disservice because we’ve tended to profit at the expense of customers and employees and it hasn’t been sustainable.
Bill:Right. Absolutely. You’re making a case and one that’s very compelling that these sort of contemporary discussions about finding purpose, about triple bottom lines, about these other things are not just ethical imperatives but they’re financial and performative imperatives as well.
Chris:Domino’s Pizza is another great example. The headline of the story is we actually generate better financial results by putting the interest of customers and employees first than if we put the shareholders first. So Domino’s Pizza back in 2008, the Great Recession hit and all that discretionary spending got cut back. Domino’s wasn’t known for great pizza at that point anyway. They were already not in great shape. And so they got hit really hard. They had the humility to say you know what, we’re going to have to go and talk to customers and figure out what we need to do differently.
They knew that their quality had not kept up with the frozen pizza you can get in the supermarket and so forth. They were not prepared for the level of vitriol that they heard from customers in focus groups. Your pizza tastes like cardboard, it’s totally devoid of flavor.
Bill:They turned that into a campaign.
Chris:Yeah, exactly. Even the people saying, what was even worse than that it’s clear that the people of Domino’s don’t care. And so they had been going about kind of developing this new pizza recipe, they worked on it for two years but they got to the point where say, gosh, based on what we heard, we can’t just come out and say we got new improved pizza. Who’s going to believe us, who’s going to give us a chance.
And so it was at that point that they got inspired to do something kind of unthinkable from a business an advertising standpoint but was totally natural from a human warmth and incompetence standpoint which is their C.E.O. as you recall went on national television during the NFL playoffs and said, I’m sorry. We lost our way. Our pizza wasn’t very good, our service wasn’t very good but we’ve not only had a change of recipe but we’ve had a change of heart too and we hope you’ll give us another chance.
I don’t know if you’ve seen what has happened to Domino’s stock since then. They were trading at about $10 in 2009 when this started. As of today, I believe despite today’s downturn, $210 a share. They’ve had double digit revenue growth for almost 10 consecutive years and far outpaced any other fast food brand. I think it’s just a great example of, what they realized is that wasn’t just a campaign for them. For them, that was a new way to operate. It was a level of transparency and focus on telling the truth and doing the right thing and putting the customer first that just changed their fortunes.
Bill:Yeah, total reset. Amazing. This has been wonderful. Thank you so much. As we tend to finish and particularly in this case with all that you’ve accomplished and the teams you’ve built and the businesses you’ve built, are there a couple of learnings for those inspired by your career path, a couple of sort of words to live by or important philosophies that you’ve sort of built and adopted over the years that sort of are central to who you are as a business person?
Chris:Yeah. Yeah, there are a couple of things that I would certainly say that I wish I knew about this early in my career.
Bill:That’s the category here that we want to talk about.
Chris:Yeah, exactly, right? Because I wish I knew this earlier. In all candor, I think there were times early in my career where I was kind of a competent jerk. I’ve never been accused of being stupid but I don’t think I understood at the time the importance of relationships and the importance of warmth. And that the reality is it doesn’t matter if you have a better idea, your answer is more thorough, you’re smarter or whatever if no one can stand you and wants to listen to you. I used to think at the time that my competence would carry the day. To some extent, I was fortunate to have some measure of success but I could have been much more effective if I had recognized that it doesn’t matter if my answer is right if you’re not hearing me because I’m kind of demonstrating coldness and indifference to you basically.
So that would be number one is to get this message to younger people in their careers and recognize that you can only get so far with your competence. Your warmth is actually going to be the dominant driver of success over the course of your career. So that would be number one.
I think the other would be, there is a simple rule of thumb in my book that can simplify this down to a single idea. We call it the principle of worthy intentions and it’s a surefire way to demonstrate warmth and confidence to others without having to kind of overthink the thing or what have you. And what we think describe it as is that it’s the notion that we’re going to put the best interest of others before our own in the short term. Doesn’t require us to recklessly disregard our own interests but rather by putting the best interests of others ahead of our own in the short term, we demonstrate loyalty towards them first and we demonstrate that our intentions are worthy of their loyalty in return.
The way that human psychology works with if someone goes out of the way to do you a favor, we feel an obligation to reciprocate, right? And so often I think in business we’re asking for customers to show loyalty to us before we’ve done that for them. And so the principle of worthy intentions has put the best interest of others first in the short term and in the medium and long term we will all get much more in return.
Bill:Makes sense. Words to live by, words to work by certainly. Steve here who we tend to make fun of gently because he doesn’t have a microphone and he can’t clap back has perfected the art of being congenial but incompetent but we’ve appreciated all that he does in producing this and Chris thank you so much for your time and insight over an incredible career that certainly continues day in and day out. It was a real pleasure having you on with us.
Chris:My pleasure.
Bill:Wow, what a conversation. I could have gone hours with Chris. He’s such an interesting guy and his ideas are so powerful and he’s accomplished so much. So grateful for his time and insight. Chris Malone. Three ways to help us is always at Finch Brands on the Real-World Branding Podcast than they are to rate and review. Give us a rating in the App Store, leave a review. If you’re so inclined we are told that that helps make us visible to those who would enjoy this content with business and brand builders that we try to bring on a regular schedule, though, I know we’ve been a bit challenged recently. We promise we’ll get back to it.
And also let’s keep the conversation going, That’d be the third way. On Twitter @BillGulan or @FinchBrands, ideas comments, criticisms, this skin is thick. Interest level is high when it comes to the sort of dialogue that has sprung up around this show and so we’re so grateful for your time and your participation and what it is that we’re building here. And so in that spirit, we’ll sign off from the cradle of liberty.
The post The Human Brand – Chris Malone appeared first on Finch Brands.
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While there is a lot to think about in planning a service for a loved one, it's good to know that your Funeral Director will take care of all the details involved in bringing your plans to reality. In this section we have practical information about writing an obituary and delivering a eulogy. We've also included tips on funeral etiquette - those essential social graces that make such an occasion bearable. Our FAQ section may have the exact answers you're looking for - but if not, we invite you to call us.
An obituary serves as notification that an individual has died and provides service details. But it can be for more than that. Our guidelines will help you in writing a well-crafted obituary.
Writing and delivering a eulogy is a way of paying tribute to a loved one’s memory. But it can be a challenge to write and to deliver. Our tips can help.
Unless you’ve been to many funerals, we’re sure you have questions about what you should wear, say, or do while there. We’ve got the experience, and can give you the right information.
Do you have questions? We’ve listed the most common ones we’ve heard here, and provided honest answers to each. If yours isn’t listed here, we invite you to call us.
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Flint May Be Ordered By a Federal Court to Replace Its Lead Pipes
Filed to: flintFiled to: flint
safe water drinking act
The water contamination scandal in Flint has led to plenty of legal action, but new lawsuit filed today finally has some teeth. A coalition of advocacy groups allege that by switching drinking water sources, Flint officials violated the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, meaning a federal court could order Flint to replace its lead-pipe infrastructure immediately.
“We are asking a federal court to step in because the people of Flint simply cannot rely on the same government agencies that oversaw the destruction of its infrastructure and contamination of its water to address this crisis,” said Dimple Chaudhary, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The federal complaint was filed today by the NRDC, the ACLU of Michigan, Concerned Pastors for Social Action, and Flint resident Melissa Mays. It’s different from the class action lawsuits that have already been filed, because it’s not seeking monetary damages. Instead, the lawsuit wants the federal government to step in and do what local officials haven’t.
The Safe Drinking Water Act, which was passed in 1974, orders US water utilities to rigorously test and treat their drinking water for contaminants. It also allows citizens to sue government officials when they suspect these rules weren’t followed. This includes testing requirements that are part of the EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule, which was passed in 1991 but is currently being revised. Members of the EPA task force have come forward alleging that testing in many cities is being gamed to make the water appear safer than it is.
Water samples from a Flint, Michigan home taken in January 2015, via FlintWaterStudy.org
As NRDC scientist Kristi Pullen explained on a call with journalists today, Flint has been particularly vulnerable because about 40 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, making these residents more likely to have existing health problems. Flint also has a large population of children between the ages of five and 16, who are more susceptible to lead poisoning. In some places, the number of kids in Flint with elevated blood lead levels has tripled over the last two years.
In addition to replacing lead pipes, changing water testing procedures, and fixing the damage from lead contamination, the lawsuit also wants a repeal of Michigan’s Emergency Manager Law, which placed drinking water decisions in the hands of state-appointed leaders, not voters. “In a failed attempt to save a few bucks, state-appointed officials poisoned the drinking water of an important American city,” said Michael J. Steinberg, legal director of the ACLU of Michigan, “causing permanent damage to an entire generation of its children.”
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder (who also held a press conference today and named a task force for the response) said earlier this week that replacing the pipes wasn’t a short-term option. But Reverend Allen Overton, a Flint resident and member of Concerned Pastors for Social Action, said a $500 million surplus in Michigan’s state budget could be made readily available to get the job done.
Melissa Mays, a resident who launched the local advocacy group Water You Fighting For, painted a bleak picture of life in Flint, where people are afraid to bathe their children and many residents have their water turned off—even though they’re still paying for it.
“For years the state told us we were crazy, and that our water was safe, which wasn’t true,” she said. “For the sake of my kids and the people of Flint, we need a federal court to fix Flint’s water problems because these city and state agencies failed us on their own.”
[NRDC]
Registered Nurse Brian Jones draws a blood sample from Grayling Stefek, 5, at the Eisenhower Elementary School, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016 in Flint, Mich. The students were being tested for lead after the metal was found in the city’s drinking water. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
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Hong Kong Shops
The Armoury
307 Pedder Building, 12 Pedder St., Central
In a city known for its dime-a-dozen custom tailors, the Armoury quickly made a name for itself back in 2010 when it started offering bespoke men’s clothing by top craftsman from Spain, Italy, and the UK. The high-ceilinged, dark wood-paneled space serves as a backdrop for an assortment of colorful Drake’s ties and suede Aldens for the modern gentleman. It’s the kind of place you can walk into and leave with a whole new wardrobe that’s tailor-made just for you. Bonus: the concierge-like shop staff is happy to tell you if your sportcoat is too big in the shoulders, or if you can really pull off that double-breasted jacket. The Armoury has a second location in HK on Queen’s Road Central and a US outpost in Tribeca in New York City.
Goods of Desire
9 Sharp St. E, Causeway Bay
Abbreviated to G.O.D., Goods of Desire began as a small retail space in Ap Lei Chau in 1996. Since then it's grown into a larger Hong Kong lifestyle brand with multiple locations. They sell women's, men's, and kid's clothing but we go for their fun home accessories.
WOAW
11 Gough St., Central
If you have time to swing by just one store in Hong Kong to pick up gifts for friends back home, WOAW (stands for World of Amazing Wonders) should be it. Curated by local entrepreneur Kevin Poon, the store is an unexpected blend of industrial and rustic elements (exposed pipe ceilings and wood fixtures throughout), packed to the rafters with hard-to-find goods—everything from vintage band tees to feather-weight sunglasses from Mykita to out-there interpretations of everyday items like ashtrays, flip-flops, canvas totes, and more.
Select 18
18 Bridges St., Sheung Wan
The front of Select 18 is packed to overflowing with an array of antiques, jewelry from local artists, and vintage pieces. Americana, typewriters, handbags, 1970's designer clothing...you could stumble upon pretty much anything and everything in the small space. There's also a trove of vintage sunglasses—it's hard to leave with just one pair.
67 Hollywood Rd., Central
Shopping at minimally, yet thoughtfully, stocked EDIT is kind of like having an in-the-know fashion editor as a best friend. The team here hand-picks their favorite items—everything from familiar prints and classic A-line silhouettes from New York-based designer Tibi to colorful athletic-inspired separates from London label (and goop fave) Mother of Pearl—and presents it via simple, easy to shop displays. Look for special collaborations, including denim culottes from HK cult store WOAW.
Shop 111, Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Admiralty
If there’s one thing we—and the rest of the world—can’t get enough of, it’s tailored shirting. And in a city known for its renowned tailors, no one was up to the task of creating a store devoted entirely to the perfect button down more than up-and-coming entrepreneur Dee Poon. Located in Pacific Place mall in Hong Kong, this minimalist, wood-accented space features a dozen ready-made, predominantly white shirts in everything from classic poplin to twill. (See also: some great striped and checked options.) For those who are still craving a wholly bespoke shirt experience, Poon’s tailors can deliver one to you in ten days. There is also a location in Central.
Shops 19 & 22, Central Building, 23 Queen’s Rd., Central
If there’s one thing we—and the rest of the world—can’t get enough of, it’s tailored shirting. And in a city known for its renowned tailors, no one was up to the task of creating a store devoted entirely to the perfect button down more than up-and-coming entrepreneur Dee Poon. Located in Pacific Place mall in Hong Kong, this minimalist, wood-accented space features a dozen ready-made, predominantly white shirts in everything from classic poplin to twill. (See also: some great striped and checked options.) For those who are still craving a wholly bespoke shirt experience, Poon’s tailors can deliver one to you in ten days. There is also a location in Admiralty.
The Toys Club
1 On Hing Terrace, Central
Kids go absolutely nuts in this place. And even if you're traveling sans kids, check out this toy stores for a little memento to bring back. The Toys Club is the local mega-store in Hong Kong—absolutely everything a child would ever wish for. It also has a huge book department.
International Finance Centre
8 Finance St., Central
The IFC, which is right on the water and also houses The Four Seasons (if you’re in for a luxury shopping trip), is the best place to go shopping in HK. It has all the basic, big name brands plus every single luxury brand you can think of. It can be dangerous if you’re a serious shopper—you could spend an entire weekend here without seeing the light of day.
1 Matheson St., Causeway Bay
"Lane Crawford is a beautifully decorated, incredibly well-selected specialty store. It’s the only place in HK where you’ll find varied brands like Acne, Elizabeth and James, Moncler, Vanessa Bruno, etc. It was definitely my favorite find at the IFC with its beautiful displays of contemporary art and huge and equally well-edited homeware department. There are also outposts in Tsim Sha Tsui, IFC, and Pacific Place." —GP
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bad academics · grad school · ideas for change · turgid institution
So you want to get a funded PhD in the humanities?
November 11, 2010 April 19, 2017 aimeemorrison
By Matt Schneider, PhD Candidate
Over the past week, this blog has been abuzz with insightful and well-considered responses to the now-infamous “So You Want to Get a PhD in the Humanities” video. The conversation has unearthed a number of important concerns, and has identified some worrisome trends that have emerged in scholarship in the humanities, especially concerning the teleological assumption that PhD students are working towards employment in the academy. These concerns highlight the facts that the humanities in general function on the basis of a number of unexamined assumptions, and that these assumptions are damaging both to PhD students at any stage of their programme and to the public’s perception of the humanities in general.
One thing I think I’d like to add to the conversation is the way that departments tend to avoid dealing with students who want to work in what essentially amount to “unproven” fields. In my programme, I’ve noticed a lot of students finding themselves having to fight with their departments to varying degrees in order to be able to do the work they want to do, simply because some aspect of their work—be it comics/graphic novels, digital texts, children’s literature, romance novels, speculative fiction, etc—has not yet become a Proper Field and as such the university is unsure whether that work is Serious and Important. And to make matters worse, these projects are almost always SSHRC funded, normally with a CGS, and every one of these projects was accepted by the department when the PhD students applied.
It is frustrating that the government is willing to fund these projects (and well, too), and that the university is willing to accept them (at least initially), but when it comes time for the student to get to work, the university (or key figures in it) would then express doubt as to the feasibility/hire-ability/validity of this same work. This contradictory behaviour is especially frustrating because many of the students working in these unproven fields are especially well-suited to work in them, having great personal interest in an area that is either misunderstood or ignored by most scholars. Essentially, some of the brilliant students who could well one day be the stars of these new and emerging fields are being told that their work is interesting and could hold great potential (so much so that the government was willing to pick up the tab), but that they’re not allowed to do it until the field is better established.
This attitude is detrimental to those emerging fields, too. Several of my fellow students have had to change their projects drastically, often times cutting out the very interests and elements that made their work so valuable and unique. A student studying affect in the non-fiction comics of Joe Sacco, Art Spiegelman, and Marjane Satrapi, for example, quickly shifts focus, with supervisors and faculty asking the student to include more novels or biographies that aren’t comics until, by the time the student hands in her dissertation proposal, the comics have moved from the position of primary text to secondary, at best, or entirely absent, at worst. This is not to say that dissertations in new fields wouldn’t benefit from a grounding in canonical (that word!) texts and methodologies—I, for example, just recently discovered a connection between the work of Jonathan Swift and Unicode (for those interested, search for the words “bigendian” and “smallendian”)—but rather that these canonical works should simply enrich our studies into new fields, rather than authorise or rationalise these studies. If we insist that students spend the majority of their time studying the tried and true, we effectively stunt the developing fields by forcing students to wait until they’ve become established in a “traditional” field before shifting their scholarly focus back to their passions.
Perhaps most frustrating is the fact that many of these fields could well make the humanities more serious in the eyes of the public. Sure, the public may at first find it amusing that Intellectuals are Studying something like romance novels, comics, and videogames, but ultimately these are works the public can connect with. There’s a reason books like The Philosophy of Buffy the Vampire Slayer sell better than your average scholarly anthology. The latest collection of post-Lacanian psychoanalytic explorations of the works of Djuna Barnes may well be stunningly insightful and invaluable to scholars studying that amazing writer (I meant Barnes, but you can pick your favourite of the two), but much of the public is simply not in a position to connect with this work. By contrast, a dissertation examining the intersections between religion, gender, and politics in the Twilight series has the potential to reach a much broader, non-academic audience—the series has sold over one hundred million copies according to Publishers Weekly. If a scholar were to connect with even a fraction of a percent of this audience, she would, by academic standards, be a best-seller dozens of times over. When we discourage scholars from studying these popular works, we are wilfully distancing ourselves from the public at large.
Perhaps if we in the humanities want to be taken more seriously, we should encourage bright up-and-comers to prove themselves in these new or obscure fields. Not only would this attitude prevent students who were accepted for proposals in these areas from feeling like they fell for the old bait-and-switch, but it would also open up new avenues for the scholarly community to engage with the public. If we want others to take the humanities seriously, perhaps we should first ensure that we take the humanities seriously ourselves.
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8 thoughts on “So you want to get a funded PhD in the humanities?”
I should add, of course, that not everyone sees relating to the public as a good thing.
Hear! Hear! I agree with most (all?) of what you write, Matt. I think, as well, what you write about is the vexing notion of how best to define/negotiate/articulate the relationship between the PhD Candidate and his/her supervisor and/or supervisory committee. While ultimately PhD Candidates need to take seriously the advice of their supervisors/committees, they also need to know when to politely “agree to disagree” with some of the advice that they may be given about THEIR projects. It's a very difficult dance to learn, I think. How much pushing back is necessary? How much pushing back is pig-headed stubbornness? I have no answers to those questions, but I think that they are all part of your discussion of PhD Candidates who change their projects radically to fit someone else's notion of disciplinary priorities.
That's my two cent's worth.
Hm. I should start by saying that I did a PhD in an 'unusual' and emerging and not-canonized field (roughly cyberculture studies, degree starting in 1998; my two foreign languages are French, and Java). So I am obviously sympathetic to the idea of the academy and its disciplines moving in new directions.
If I may be perfectly frank, a lot of crappy work is done under the name of discipline-busting, new-frontier-opening, no-one-understands-the-genius-of-my=work innovation. I know. My field is full of it in the period of 1989(?) to 2001(?) particularly. A lot of this work is: blind to proven methods and hard-won bodies of critical knowledge, trading on its 'newness' rather than its smarts, making wild and general claims about how the world is forever different.
The disciplines are conservative, by nature: by this, I mean that they are oriented towards careful and slow building up of knowledge over the long haul. This can be a powerful boon to understanding what looks like something new under the sun: for example, when I do a panel on “Is Twitter Killing the English Language” I can point to more than a 1000 years of similar vast upheavals and public worry over language growth and change. There's context. A firm ground to stand on.
Of course, the disciplines can be conservative to the point of hidebound, too. In my own interdisciplinary work, I sometimes have real trouble passing peer review: the sociologists want me to use more statistics, and the literary critics don't understand why I need them, and everyone calls me a dilettante. The bar is higher for those who want to do this kind of work, and rightly so. That doesn't mean the bar should be insurmountable, and I'm sorry for all those who have had the spirit and newness crushed out of them in that way.
Part of what graduate students do is to push against the frontiers of knowledge, and against the comfort level of their committees. That's necessary, and appropriate, and it enlarges our scope and brightens everything up. Part of what professors have to do is to make sure those new projects take full advantage of what disciplinary accomplishments to date can offer in terms of context or theory or method. Like Lindy says, it's a dance where we risk stepping on one another's feet, to mutual injury.
Amanda K Allen says:
Awesome post, Matt!
I think the thing that saddens me most about the standard academic view of “emerging fields” is the fact that many new PhD students are doing fabulously interesting work within these fields, but it's very, very interdisciplinary. As Aimee noted above (in terms of grad students pushing the frontiers of knowledge), that's fine and good for grad school (and, I suspect, for SSHRC), but once one goes on the job market one has to re-box oneself into the traditional fields, and it doesn't work. And I know: the sensible, well-advised students start boxing themselves from an early period (hence many schools accepting non-canonical proposals, but then slowly molding students toward more recognized work), but… well, frankly, I find it all a little heartbreaking. And it often feels connected to some antiquated notion of the “high” versus “low” debate.
I'll admit that I'm biased: this is all coming from someone who managed to get a job in which she is currently teaching Satrapi's Persepolis, Buffy, and yes, even Twilight. I think that one additional angle on this debate surrounds the politics of creating non-traditional, “money-maker” enrollment-heavy courses, and how they may prop up the less-enrolled, more traditional classes (this type of funding is obviously more prevalent in the US). I know that the eight over-enrolled Harry Potter courses at my current institution basically fund a good chunk of the English department. I don't necessarily think that such a set-up is a good thing, but I do think it further questions the interactions between traditional and emerging fields.
Great comment, Amanda, and I think the problem of “Blockbuster” (to borrow a term from Art History) classes is an important one to consider. I'm torn on this one: on the one hand, they open up a popular topic to scholarly inquiry, and allow students to engage critically with a work of great personal relevance; on the other hand, it's easy to treat them as short-lived cash cows, which decreases their sustainability.
When we in English are asked what students gain from a BA in English, we often say that we prepare them to read and interpret their world, and as such make them critical thinkers and better citizens. If this is the case, however, it would seem that things like the Harry Potter classes are a perfect example of us keeping true to our word: a Harry Potter class is the perfect environment for students to see the benefits of English in action. It also allows us to bring up theorists and works that students would normally find inaccessible in a way that they can relate to. Unfortunately, they can also prove highly unproductive if the students are unprepared to engage critically with the works being studied. Sure, a blockbuster exhibit on Picasso might bring a bunch of people into an art gallery, but if the gallery's not very careful about the way they engage these visitors, they'll come and go without ever having changed their understanding of Picasso's work. It's a fine balance, but I think it's one we should strive to attain, as these sorts of classes really do offer a unique opportunity to educate students.
::EDIT:: Corrected a few typos
Hannah McGregor says:
I have to say, I'm hesitant about validating popular culture studies through the argument that they are more apparently relevant to a contemporary audience. That isn't because I have a problem with popular culture studies (I think some enormously interesting and valuable work is being done in the field) or with relevance (because I am completely behind humanities scholars pushing the borders in terms of public engagement).
What gives me pause is accepting the terms of relevance on which the public is already functioning. It seems to trend so dangerously close to the myopic. Sure, students will show up in droves for Harry Potter and Twilight courses, and this may be an opportunity to teach them to critically engage with the world around them, but it fails to make an argument for the critical or cultural relevance of what lies beyond the popular sphere or the contemporary moment. It is this broader attention to culture in its synchronic and diachronic forms that I think gives humanities work much of its value, and I would hate to see it get lost through a disproportionate privileging of the contemporary.
And while it seems that, within your current institution, you're fighting against an unusually conservative disciplinary structure, I'm not sure if that's true across the board. In fact, with increasing pressures to prove relevance, I wonder if what's at risk isn't 17th century Spanish life writing more than digital texts. If you know what I mean.
S.B Orphee says:
I honestly think that these university level conflicts are because of egos. Some professors are threatened by their students and want to sabotage them, or they feel insecure and unqualified to supervise them.
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The Classic Film ‘9 to 5’ Was Almost a Murder-Centric Dark Comedy
Written by Matt Baume on May 02, 2019
It doesn’t exactly sound like a comedy: A trio of secretaries determined to stand up for themselves against a cruel, abusive boss. But the 1980 film 9 to 5 remains a beloved film, decades later — not just because it’s hilarious, but because of its strong feminist stand for equality in the workplace. Today, it represents workers rising up against oppressors, a theme that remains as vital as ever (or, given rising income inequality, perhaps even more so).
The idea for the film originated in Boston, where there was an organization called “Nine to Five” that supported women working in professional settings. One of the founders was friends with actress Jane Fonda, and shared with her the stories that she heard from colleagues. The concept for the movie began to form from there. Initially conceived as a drama, it slowly morphed into a dark comedy featuring actual murder attempts before becoming a more broad comedy.
Jane fought to get Lily Tomlin involved in the film. At first, Lily declined — she was exhausted from working on her previous picture, The Incredible Shrinking Woman. She initially said that she wouldn’t do another movie, but her then-partner, now-wife, Jane Wagner, persuaded her to reconsider.
Dolly Parton was brought in to draw audiences that were fans of her country/western music. Dolly had never appeared in a film before, and assumed that she needed to memorize every single line in the script — even for scenes she wasn’t even in. She cut a smart deal: as a condition of her appearing in the film, she got to write the theme song. Despite coming out at the same time as a Sheena Easton song by the same name, it was a huge hit, winning two Grammys and getting an Oscar nomination. Since then, Dolly’s made similar arrangements on nearly every film she’s appeared in, with the exception being Steel Magnolias.
The movie was almost immediately turned into a sitcom. Like the film, it was a huge success, running for six years and nearly a hundred episodes on ABC. Dolly’s sister, Rachel, took over her part. Fifteen years later, Dolly began working on a musical version, and before long the curtain went up on Allison Janney leading a cast in a retelling of the classic film. It was directed by Joe Mantello, best known for Love! Valour! Compassion! and Wicked.
The film was a huge success — the only movie to gross more that year was The Empire Strikes Back. Naturally, talk turned immediately to a sequel, and sure enough 9 to 5 has enjoyed a long life in a variety of formats. But it’s never had a direct sequel, and all of the lead actresses involved are now long past retirement age (though still working). One reason: the death of writer/director Colin Higgins.
In addition, the phrase “9 to 5” is a bit out of date now, since these days it’s more common for employers to exploit office workers until 6pm. That probably a sign that a modern re-imagining, focusing on the theft of labor by capitalist executives, is sorely needed.
Did you know about the original idea behind 9 to 5?
This article was originally published on July 26, 2018
Dolly Parton Lily Tomlin
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Mary Poppins Returns in the ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ Trailer
More than 50 years after she first floated onto movie screens around the world, Mary Poppins returns in the very appropriately titled Mary Poppins Returns. She hasn’t aged a day the characters in the film say, so she’s no longer played by Julie Andrews; now Emily Blunt fills the role. And while Dick Van Dyke does appear in the film, the role of her chimney sweep pal is now played by Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda. The grown-up versions of the Banks children are played by Ben Whishaw and Emily Mortimer and Meryl Streep joins in on the fun as Topsy Poppins (not a typo), Mary’s “eccentric cousin.”
The trailer’s above; here’s the official synopsis:
In Disney’s “Mary Poppins Returns,” an all new original musical and sequel, Mary Poppins is back to help the next generation of the Banks family find the joy and wonder missing in their lives following a personal loss. Emily Blunt stars as the practically-perfect nanny with unique magical skills who can turn any ordinary task into an unforgettable, fantastic adventure and Lin-Manuel Miranda plays her friend Jack, an optimistic street lamplighter who helps bring light—and life—to the streets of London.
It is a little jarring to see that accent coming out of Blunt’s mouth. But the imagination and animation sequences do definitely resemble the ones from the classic Disney film, which had those wonderful Sherman brothers songs. (The songs in the new film are by Marc Shaiman.) Mary Poppins Returns opens in theaters on December 19.
The Top 25 Disney Songs Ever
Source: Mary Poppins Returns in the ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ Trailer
Filed Under: Emily Blunt
Categories: Articles, Movie News
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The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is
the people versus the banks. — Lord Acton
Story of Napoleon - H. F. B. Wheeler
Glory at Erfurt and Humiliation in Spain
The cloud of misfortune which overshadowed the French armies in Spain and Portugal gradually grew in size and density until it covered practically the whole of Europe. Encouraged by the success of the insurgents in the Iberian Peninsula and the triumph of British arms in Portugal, both Austria and Germany took courage and prepared to throw off the yoke. In Austria a landwehr, or local militia, designed to number 180,000 of the young men of the country, came into being; in Prussia patriotic clubs sprang up on all hands, while such able statesmen as Stein, who had been Minister of State for Trade, and Scharnhorst, a skilful officer and organizer, worked nobly in the interests of military reforms which were destined to bear much good fruit in due course.
Napoleon was more immediately concerned with the intentions of the former Power. To a certain extent he had clipped the wings of the Prussian eagle by forcing the King into an undertaking that for the next ten years his army should not exceed 40,000 troops. This did not prevent many civilians being quietly drafted into a reserve for future service, or the formation of a school of thought with the highest patriotic ideals. The Emperor's policy was thoroughly sound. By still holding the fortresses of Glogau, Stettin, and Kustrin, and reducing the number of national troops to a minimum, the French troops which had been kept in Prussia since the campaign of her humiliation were set free for service in the South. Napoleon already knew of Austria's warlike disposition, and was even a little uncertain as to Russia. Suspicion was mutual, and as he was about to set out for Spain to take command of his troops, he thought it advisable to "sound" the temper of his ally personally.
It was arranged that the Emperor and the Czar should meet at the little town of Erfurt towards the end of September 1808. No fewer than seventy sovereigns and princes came to the meeting, including the Kings of Saxony, Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and Westphalia, the Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, Prince William of Prussia, the Dukes of Saxe-Weimar, Saxe-Gotha, and Holstein-Oldenburg, together with distinguished marshals and courtiers. There were reviews, plays in the theatre acted by the most talented artists in France—Talma having been promised "a parterre full of kings"—and a stag-hunt on the battle-field of Jena. Costly presents were exchanged, one of the Czar's gifts being a magnificent Persian horse, silvery grey in colour, which Napoleon afterwards used by a strange coincidence in the battles of Vitebsk, Smolensk, and Borodino during the Russian campaign. The animal also accompanied him to Elba.
This great diplomatic performance was magnificently staged. If less dramatic than Tilsit, it was no less important. The festivities and conferences between the Emperor and Alexander lasted seventeen days. They parted on the 14th October, the anniversary of the great fight which did so much to make Napoleon master of Prussia. The terms of the Peace of Tilsit had not been kept too scrupulously by either monarch, and when one is uncertain as to one's own morality, a strong suspicion is usually entertained as to that of others. Alexander had not withdrawn his troops from the Danubian Provinces, which suggested that he still had in view the partition of the Ottoman Empire, while Napoleon, until his misfortunes in the Peninsula, had seen fit to keep a large number of troops in Silesia. Spain and Portugal were stepping-stones to the East as well as necessary acquisitions for the enforcement of his Continental System, facts quite well comprehended by the Czar of all the Russias. Napoleon, who was as well informed concerning his ally's weak spot, threw out suggestions for an expedition to India, and consented to Finland, Moldavia, and Wallachia being added to the Russian Empire. Alexander returned these courtesies by approving of Napoleon's recent moves regarding Naples, Tuscany, and the Peninsula, and promised to lend his aid should Austria come to blows with France. "We talked of the affairs of Turkey at Erfurt," the Emperor told Las Cases at St Helena. "Alexander was very desirous that I should consent to his obtaining possession of Constantinople, but I could never bring my mind to consent to it. It is the finest harbour in the world, is placed in the finest situation, and is itself worth a kingdom." As a concession to Prussia, probably because of the Czar's wish, Silesia was to be returned to her former possessor.
Chancellor Pasquier says of Napoleon at Erfurt that "On no other occasion, perhaps, did the suppleness and craftiness of his Italian spirit shine to more brilliant advantage." Boutourlin avers that notwithstanding these qualities Alexander felt that when the interests of Napoleon were adversely affected the friendship would not last, "that the grand crisis was approaching which was destined either to consolidate the universal empire which the French Emperor was endeavouring to establish on the Continent, or to break the chains which retained so many Continental States under his rule."
Mention must be made of the interviews which took place at this time between Napoleon and Wieland and Goethe, two of the greatest literary geniuses which Germany has given to the republic of letters. Both poets were fascinated by the magic personality of Napoleon, and both have left us some record of their conversation with the man who at this period was in very truth a ruler of kings.
"I had been but a few minutes in the room," Wieland says, "when Napoleon crossed it to come to us. I was presented by the Duchess of Weimar. He paid me some compliments in an affable tone, fixing his eye piercingly upon me. Few men have appeared to me to possess, in the same degree, the power of penetrating at a glance the thoughts of others. I have never beheld anyone more calm, more simple, more mild, or less ostentatious in appearance. Nothing about him indicated the feeling of power in a great monarch. He spoke to me as an old acquaintance would speak to an equal. 'That was more extraordinary on his part, he conversed with me exclusively for an hour and a half, to the great surprise of the assembly. He appeared to have no relish for anything gay. In spite of the prepossessing amenity of his manners, he seemed to me to be of bronze. Towards midnight I began to feel that it was improper to detain him so long, and I took the liberty to request permission to retire: 'Go, then,' said he in a friendly tone. 'Goodnight.' "
The Emperor conferred the Cross of the Legion of Honour on Wieland, a mark of Imperial favour which he likewise showed to Goethe. The interview between Napoleon and the latter took place on the 2nd October 1808, in the presence of Talleyrand, Daru, Berthier, and Savary. "You are a man!" he exclaimed, either in a burst of admiration or of flattery, and then he asked the poet his age and particulars of his work, adding that he had read "Werther" seven times and had taken the volume to Egypt. "After various remarks, all very just," says Goethe, "he pointed out a passage, and asked me why I had written so, it was contrary to nature. This opinion he developed in great clearness. I listened calmly, and smilingly replied that I did not know whether the objection had been made before; but that I found it perfectly just. . . . The Emperor seemed satisfied and returned to the drama, criticising it like a man who had studied the tragic stage with the attention of a criminal judge, and who was keenly alive to the fault of the French in departing from nature. He disapproved of all pieces in which Fate played a part. 'Those pieces belong to a dark epoch. Besides, what do they mean by Fate? Politics are Fate!'"
Even more interesting perhaps, because it so essentially reveals Napoleon's outlook on life, was a remark he made at a later meeting at which both Wieland and Goethe were present. He wished the latter to treat of the "Death of Caesar." "That," he said, "should be the great task of your life. In that tragedy you should show the world how much Cesar would have done for humanity, if only he had been allowed time to carry out his great plans." When we reflect on the events which had immediately preceded this notable utterance, on the grandiose schemes which were then being actively promulgated by the speaker for the conquest of Europe and the advancement of his Empire of the West, we can understand why Napoleon wished to woo this literary giant to his cause. "Come to Paris," Napoleon said in his abrupt, commanding way, "I desire it of you. There you will find a wider circle for your spirit of observation; there you will find enormous material for poetic creations." But it was not to be; Goethe had other wishes and ideals. Had he acceded to the despot's request the result would have been no more felicitous than that which had attended Voltaire's removal to the Court of Frederick the Great. Goethe loved Prussia too well to desert her, and while he admired Napoleon in some ways he did not admire him in all.
Peace with Great Britain was suggested by the two Emperors at Erfurt, but England had far too much to lose to seriously entertain such an overture. In his reply Canning made it perfectly clear that George III. was not prepared to break faith with his Portuguese, Sicilian, and Spanish allies. Both the King and his Minister fully realised the nature of the undertaking upon which they had embarked, and having put their hands to the plough there was to be no turning back. Their course gave rise to many blunders abroad and many heart-burnings at home, yet they loyally followed the precept of the great man whose ashes were now lying in Westminster Abbey. "England," said Pitt in his last public speech, "has saved herself by her exertions, and will, as I trust, save Europe by her example."
We must now glance across the Pyrenees at the strife still going on in the Peninsula. Had Sir John Moore secured the active and loyal assistance of the people, as he clearly had a right to expect, all might have been well with the cause of the allies. The preliminary successes of the Spaniards, however, had made them over-confident, and over-confidence is a sure prelude to disaster. Of all their many mistakes, the most fatal was their preference for fighting with independent corps, each under a Captain-General. Instead of joining together in the common cause there was considerable rivalry and many misunderstandings between the various forces. As a consequence when Napoleon, feeling comparatively secure from Austrian menaces because of the Russian alliance, determined to lead his armies in person, the Spaniards were but ill-organized. Their antagonist, on the contrary, soon had at his disposal 300,000 trained soldiers divided into eight corps under his most skilled generals. "In a few days," the Emperor said before leaving Paris, "I shall set out to place myself at the head of my army, and, with the aid of God, crown at Madrid the King of Spain, and plant my eagles on the towers of Lisbon." The Spaniards could not muster at the moment more than 76,000 men, and whereas their cavalry totaled 2000, that of Napoleon was at least twenty times the number. A reserve of nearly 60,000 Spaniards was gathering in the rear, but would not be available for the first desperate onslaught, on the result of which so much would depend. The British army of some 30,000 was, by a series of misfortunes, in three divisions and unable to come up with any of the Spanish armies, which were also separated.
Napoleon began his movements and got into action while his opponents were thinking of what was likely to happen. Blake's ragged patriots were scattered by Lefebvre early in November after having been defeated at Tornosa and Reynosa. Soult defeated the army under the Count de Belvidere at Burgos on the 10th November, the Spaniards suffering a loss of 2000 men and 800 prisoners, as well as their ammunition and stores. The town, after having been pillaged, became the Emperor's headquarters. On the 22nd of the same month Castanos' forces, augmented by the men under Palafox, and amounting in all to 43,000, were routed by the 35,000 troops opposed to them by Lannes. After such a series of defeats it was not difficult for the Emperor to push towards Madrid, the outskirts of which he reached, after forcing the Somosierra Pass, on the 2nd December. The inhabitants made some show of resistance, but they were so badly organized as to preclude any possibility of serious defensive measures. Wishing to spare the city from bombardment, Napoleon sent a flag of truce, and a capitulation was speedily signed.
A soldier who was present thus relates the entry of the French into Madrid: "A heavy silence," he says, "had succeeded that confusion and uproar which had reigned within and without the walls of the capital only the day before. The streets through which we entered were deserted; and even in the market-place, the numerous shops of the vendors of necessaries still remained shut. The water-carriers were the only people of the town who had not interrupted their usual avocations. They moved about uttering their cries with the nasal, drawling tone, peculiar to their native mountains of Galicia, 'Quien quiere agua?'—Who wants water? No purchasers made their appearance; the waterman muttered to himself sorrowfully, 'Dios que la da,'—It is God's gift,—and cried again.
"As we advanced into the heart of the city, we perceived groups of Spaniards standing at the corner of a square, where they had formerly been in the habit of assembling in great numbers. They stood muffled in their capacious cloaks, regarding us with a sullen, dejected aspect. Their national pride could scarcely let them credit that any other than Spanish soldiers could have beaten Spaniards. If they happened to perceive among our ranks a horse which had once belonged to their cavalry, they soon distinguished him by his pace, and awakening from their apathy, would whisper together: 'Este caballo es Espanol'—That's a Spanish horse; as if they had discovered the sole cause of our success."
On the 7th December 1808, Napoleon issued a proclamation which was largely a fierce tirade against England and the English, whose armies were to be chased from the Peninsula. In the constitution which he framed for the nation he abolished the iniquitous Inquisition, and the old feudal system which had held Spain in its shackles for so long, reduced the number of monasteries and convents by two-thirds, improved the customs, and endeavoured to institute reforms which would have been beneficial. "It depends upon you," the Emperor told the people, "whether this moderate constitution which I offer you shall henceforth be your law. Should all my efforts prove vain, and should you refuse to justify my confidence, then nothing will remain for me but to treat you as a conquered province and find a new throne for my brother. In that case I shall myself assume the crown of Spain and teach the ill-disposed to respect that crown, for God has given me the power and the will to overcome all obstacles."
The concluding words are noteworthy. Napoleon now regarded himself as little less than omnipotent. Impelled by the force of his own volition, into a dangerous situation, he was to find it impossible to draw back when the nations which he had treated with contempt felt that self-confidence which alone made Leipzig and Waterloo possible. The Peninsular War was indeed what Talleyrand prophesied, "the beginning of the end."
After considerable hesitation, due to the varying and oftentimes contradictory accounts which he received as to what was actually happening in the field, Sir John Moore, having concentrated his troops, cautiously began to close upon Souk's army on the banks of the river Carrion. When Napoleon heard of this he speedily decided to crush the friends of Spain and Portugal by sheer force of numbers, God, according to him, being "on the side of the biggest battalions," a parallel remark to Nelson's "Only numbers can annihilate." Winter had set in with severity, but disregarding the inclemency of the weather, the Emperor marched with his 40,000 men along the Guadarrama Pass through the blinding sleet, traversing no fewer than twenty miles a day for ten days. Meanwhile Moore had given up hope of attacking and had decided to retreat as rapidly as possible. Unfortunately his troops did not follow the example of their noble commander; they broke away from every restraint, drinking and pillaging whenever they had opportunity. It is only just to add, however, that at Lugo, when there seemed an opportunity to contest Soult, who was following in their track, they stood to arms with a confidence and precision worthy of the best disciplined regiment in the British service. Lord Paget's corps, which covered the retreat, behaved with conspicuous bravery, and succeeded in worsting some of the chasseurs, the "Invincibles" of the French army.
"Before our reserve left Lugo," writes a soldier of the 75th Regiment who endured the hardships of this terrible retreat, "general orders were issued, warning and exhorting us to keep order, and to march together; but, alas! how could men observe order amidst such sufferings, or men whose feet were naked and sore, keep up with men who, being more fortunate, had better shoes and stronger constitutions? The officers in many points, suffered almost as much as the men. I have seen officers of the Guards, and others, worth thousands, with pieces of old blanket wrapped round their feet and legs; the men pointing at them, with a malicious satisfaction, saying 'There goes three thousand a year'; or 'There goes the prodigal son, on his return to his father, cured of his wanderings.'"
On the 11th January 1809, Coruna was reached, and several days afterwards the welcome sails of the British troop-ships made their appearance, ready to convey the survivors of the battle to be fought on the 16th to England and to home. Soult had the advantage of 4000 more troops and of a better position, but lacked ammunition, while the British general had been able to obtain a supply of new muskets from the vessels which rode at anchor in the Bay.
It was round the little village of Elvina that the fight raged most fiercely, for a French battery of eleven guns was placed on a ridge not more than 600 yards off, and from this commanding position shells were hurled at the British defenders with ruthless fury. Elvina was taken by the French and recaptured by the gallantry of Charles Napier, who led the fearless Irishmen of the 50th regiment. He then endeavoured to secure the French battery, but without success, and during the charge he was wounded and made prisoner.
"My brave 42nd," cried Moore, when the enemy was again advancing on the village, "if you have fired away all your ammunition, you have still your bayonets. Recollect Egypt! Remember Scotland! Come on, my brave countrymen!"
"Sir John," according to an eye-witness, "was at the head of every charge." Indeed, he had several narrow escapes before he received his death-wound. He was talking to Napier when, records the latter, "a round shot struck the ground between his horse's feet and mine. The horse leaped round, and I also turned mechanically, but Moore forced the animal back, and asked me if I was hurt. 'No, sir.' Meanwhile a second shot had torn off the leg of a 42nd man, who screamed horribly and rolled about so as to excite agitation and alarm in others. The General said, 'This is nothing, my lads; keep your ranks. My good fellow, don't make such a noise; we must bear these things better.' He spoke sharply, but it had a good effect, for this man's cries had made an opening in the ranks, and the men shrank from the spot, although they had not done so when others had been hit who did not cry out. But again Moore went off, and I saw him no more."
Sir John was struck by a cannon-ball which tore his flesh in several places and precluded all possibility of recovery. "I hope the people of England will be satisfied: I hope my country will do me justice," were the noble words which passed his parched lips as he lay dying on the field of victory.
"We buried him darkly at dead of night,
The sods with our bayonets turning;
By the struggling moonbeam's misty light,
And the lantern dimly burning."
Napoleon the Boy
The Schooldays of Napoleon
Napoleon as Officer
The Corsican Volunteers
Eve of the Reign of Terror
The Fight with the English
The Soldier of Fortune
The Spark of Great Ambition
The Italian Campaign
The Expedition to Egypt
From Cairo to Frejus
Napoleon Seizes the Reins
The Passage of the Alps
Blessings of Peace
The Dawn of the Empire
Threatened Invasion of England
War of the Third Coalition
The Prussian Campaign
The Polish Campaign
Friedland and Tilsit
Napoleon's Commercial War
The Peninsular War
Glory at Erfurt
The Austrian Campaign
Austrian Campaign (Cont.)
War in Poland and Tyrol
A Broken Friendship
The Russian Campaign
Triumphal Entry into Moscow
The March of Humiliation
Conquest of the Conqueror
The Prisoner of Europe
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Whale of a Sale Coming to Events Center 2017-2019
October 21, 2016 Grand ParkPress ReleasesNo Comments
Westfield, IN—Whale of a Sale, a massive upscale children’s consignment event featuring toys, furniture and brand name clothing, has signed a multi-year deal to host the sale inside the new Grand Park Events Center, the centerpiece of the 400-acre Grand Park Sports Campus.
Whale of a Sale will host five-day, biannual sales in the Events Center in 2017, 2018 and 2019. The date of the first event will be May 9-13, 2017, with an event to follow in September.
The popular ev ent, which is Indiana’s largest children’s consignment event, features more than 42,000 square feet of clothing from baby to teen sizes, toys, furniture and more at a fraction of the retail cost. Participants can earn money as a consignor or find great deals as a shopper. The sale also features a half-price day on the final day of the event.
“We’re excited to have found a permanent home with an excellent opportunity for growth,” said Courtney O’Neil, co-founder of Whale of a Sale. “This venue is the perfect location for our large fan base of families in Hamilton County.”
Whale of a Sale co-founders O’Neil and Jennifer Hare are moms, entrepreneurs and friends. They started the event in 2009 to help their friends save money on the cost of raising kids and the idea took off. The duo said more than 5,000 shoppers attend each event and thousands more visit the website and Facebook page during the weeks leading up to the sale.
“We know the Grand Park Events Center will increase our event attendance with all of the traffic from the various sports leagues at Grand Park,” Hare said.
The 370,000 square-foot Grand Park Events Center opened in July 2016 in Westfield, Indiana, and is ideal for trade shows, conventions and other live events.
“We’re excited that Whale of a Sale has chosen the Grand Park Events Center as its new location,” said Westfield Mayor Andy Cook. “Our community is composed primarily of families with young children so it will be a great addition to the calendar of events and will bring thousands of new visitors to Grand Park.”
For more information on Whale of Sale, please click here. For guidelines on complete instructions on items that can be sold, how to price and how to use the online tagging system, please click here.
Grand Park in Westfield, Indiana, is a destination like no other. The thoughtfully designed 400-acre Grand Park Sports Campus features 26 baseball and softball diamonds, 31 multipurpose fields for soccer, football, and lacrosse. The Grand Park Events Center is now open, featuring three full-sized indoor soccer fields, a restaurant and administrative offices. The Jonathan Byrd’s Fieldhouse indoor basketball/volleyball facility opened in January 2016. Grand Park also features an abundance of green space and more than 10 miles of pedestrian/bicycle trails, including the largest trailhead on the Monon Corridor.
Previous Post Big Ten Conference selects Grand Park as site of men’s soccer tournament Next Post Red Card Cancer 5K on Sat, Nov 12
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Big Ten Men’s & Women’s Soccer Championships Return to Grand Park October 1, 2018
Softball GameDay is Back at Grand Park August 21, 2018
Grand Park Named a Top Sports Facility in the United States June 7, 2018
Westfield Police Facilitates City Staff in Sports and Special Events Incident Management December 14, 2017
2017 Big Ten Men’s Soccer Championship November 15, 2017
Grand Park to Host Big Ten Women’s and Men’s Soccer Tournament October 24, 2017
Methodist Sports Medicine to Celebrate Opening of New Clinic at Grand Park Sports Campus October 6, 2017
September Events September 19, 2017
Grand Park Named the Official Home to Indianapolis Colts Training Camp September 6, 2017
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Culture Steering Group meet to discuss plans for Greater Manchester
The future isn't what it used to be - final line-up for Distractions announced
Culture music enterntainment technology digital
‘Distractions’ is coming to Manchester - tickets now on sale
Homelessness Housing Culture The Mayor
Greater Manchester musicians to 'Raise the Roof' for homelessness
Greater Manchester launches first ever Culture Strategy
LOCAL and national cultural figures came together today, alongside Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham and Culture Portfolio Leads, Linda Thomas Leader of Bolton Council and Chief Executive of Wigan Council Donna Hall, to discuss cultural plans for the city-region.
The 19-strong steering group is made up of members representing national cultural organisations, as well as home grown artists, including Director of Culture and HOME CEO Dave Moutrey, and Lowry Chief Executive Julia Fawcett.
A range of topics was discussed at the first meeting held today (Thursday, November 8) including Greater Manchester’s Culture Strategy – which is currently up for consultation, The Great Place Project and a number of projects currently in development.
Reflecting on today’s meeting, Chair of the Steering Group Linda Thomas said: “I’m delighted with how the first meeting went with our Culture Steering Group. It was great to have everyone in one room to discuss the cultural offerings in all boroughs of Greater Manchester and to have an open and honest discussion on how we can do culture better.
“We need to work to ensure that artists and organisations deliver high quality culture that is reflective of our people and places in Greater Manchester, but also maintains the height of our ambition. We will continue to improve on the city-regions offerings, putting Greater Manchester on the map as the lead for culture regionally, nationally and internationally.”
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham launched the steering group in July to strengthen the arts and culture sectors for the city-region. He said: “There has always been great culture backing in Greater Manchester and we need to support it in a way that it improves lives across Greater Manchester. Creativity needs to be at the heart of what we do, embedding culture into our wider agenda ensuring there are opportunities in all boroughs of the city-region.
“The steering group has the freedom to come up with ideas that will help people across Greater Manchester, which is both authentic and refreshing. There is a genuine appetite to make our city-region, working alongside its people and a range of cultural organisations, to be the best place in the world to create, participate and engage with culture and heritage.”
Chief Executive of Wigan Council and co-chair of the Steering Group, Donna Hall said: “We need to build on our amazing reputation as a culturally rich city-region as well as supporting the people of Greater Manchester to fulfil their creative potential.
“Creativity can be found throughout Greater Manchester, in our homes, on our streets, in our nurseries, schools, colleges, workplaces and in our care settings. Today was just the first meeting with the Steering Group and I am looking forward to working alongside them to build on the city-regions cultural offerings.”
The steering group will meet four times a year to discuss a range of topics and to identify opportunities to develop Greater Manchester’s cultural offer for our residents, artists and visitors.
Article Published: 14/12/2018 14:37 PM
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Indian Removal
The Indian removal policy was not fair and had many bad consequences for the Native Americans. The Indian removal policy was unjust. In the Indian Removal Act of 1830, Andrew Jackson guaranteed the Native Americans five million dollars and stated that the U.S. will aid and assist them the first year after their removal if they need the help, and land that they lived on woul...
Marilyn Monroe: The Real Story
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Is It Okay For Men To Harass Women On The Street?
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Students Should Not Use Phones in School
Many kids these days have cell phones. You often see teenagers talking on their phones, or, just as often, texting. It has become a part of everyday life. Many teenagers and pre-teens get cell phones as early as possible, sometimes younger than age 12. It is encouraged socially, especially among teenagers, to have a phone, and many teenagers get phones just because of peer pr...
Literary Analysis on “A Worn Path”
Literary Analysis on “A Worn Path” In “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, the protagonist Phoenix Jackson helps portray the theme that people will do anything for whom they love. Everyday people are going out of their way to make either a theoretical or literal journey to help someone they love. In the movie “The Notebook” a man tells the story ...
Tone Analysis of “We Are Still Only Human”
We Are Still and Always Will Be “We Are Still Only Human” by Verlyn Klinkenborg is an analysis of expectations and human nature in which there is too much of a positive outlook for the future of society. Klinkenborg uses a serious tone that makes his essay fit for a speech. He also uses many techniques to show tone including diction, imagery, details, language, and sentence s...
Dove Case
Dove soap was launched in the United States in 1957 as a non-irritating skin cleaner for treatment use on burn and wounds during World War II under, the one of the largest consumer products companies in the world, Unilever. The basic Dove bar was reformulated as a beauty soap bar with one-fourth cleansing cream. It was the first beauty soap to use mild plus moisturizing cream...
Literary Analysis Paper- Mark Twain
I believe Mark Twain’s work is worthy to be considered American literature reasons being as follows: The definition of literature according to Merriam Webster’s online dictionary is writings in prose or verse; especially writings having excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest. [3] In my opinion his works DO express permanent or...
Company E-mail
Hope each and every one is well. As a result of the approaching financial year end, all relevant documents are required in the head office by 30th November 2011. Duly note that monthly estimates for the month of July to October were reviewed by the finance committee. The accounting discrepancies discovered in the estimates were to be resolved, and the final estimates re submi...
Evaluative Analysis
Over the past months studying Film, I have developed many skills. I have familiarised myself with film terminology. I have learnt that micro and macro were the two biggest components of Film studies’ terminology. Words such as stereotypes, synergy and Prop’s character’s types come under the micro aspects and macro which contains vocabulary on genre and narr...
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Marijuana And Cannabis Delivery In Oakland CA Alameda County 94601
Easily get the best Marijuana and Cannabis products delivered in Oakland CA Alameda County 94601 to your door!
Oakland California Alameda County Weed Delivery Officially Legal In California
Though it had been granted under temporary regulations, the rules now allow it to be the only state to completely allow home delivery — regardless of the local laws
On January 16th, California’s Office of Administrative Law (OAL) accepted the rules and regulations governing the nation’s cannabis business, a bit more than a year after lawful recreational earnings moved into effect. The Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC), the Department of Food and Agriculture and the Department of Public Health spent months writing and revising 358 pages of regulations and rules before submitting them to OAL in December. According to the Associated Press, regulars say the OAL made no substantive changes before devoting their rubber stamp, effective immediately.
The industry, which includes tens of thousands of trucks, merchants, testing labs and other companies, had been working under temporary principles, most of which have been cemented to law. Among the most noteworthy policies allows dispensaries to make marijuana deliveries to any jurisdiction in California, even those municipalities which have passed local laws prohibiting cannabis. The rules guarantee legal security to the greater than 100 state-licensed”non-storefront” delivery businesses and their customers in so-called bud”deserts,” which is particularly good news for all those tokers who may be homebound or have additional constraints that prohibit them from travel.
“We get people interested in those areas,” said Ray Markland, director of EcoCann, a dispensary at Eureka, CA, according to this Times-Standard. “We have worked under the temporary state laws and sent there. It’s very good for clients who are physically challenged and are not able to make it out to us to get our merchandise. it is a positive movement showing validity to the cannabis industry and to cannabis as an everyday consumable product and not something to be ashamed to use.”
California is formally the first and only nation to legalize home delivery service throughout all municipalities. According to the Times-Standard, delivery vehicles may only take a maximum of $5,000 worth of marijuana at any time, and must be free of any markings which indicate they’re transporting marijuana”to decrease the risk of theft or other crime. Supporters also state that legal delivery service can help further undermine what remains of their marijuana black market, which had continued to thrive because roughly three-quarters of the nation’s municipalities have passed local legislation banning licensed cannabis stores from launching.
“You can not prohibit delivery,” Maximillian Mikalonis, a cannabis lobbyist for K Street Consulting, advised Leafly. “You can just prohibit legal, licensed, regulated and expedited delivery”
California’s newly formalized regulations also support the usage of child-resistant smaller and packaging testing rules for heavy metals and toxins in most marijuana products. Marijuana will last to become a cash-only company, since the federal banking business is controlled by the United States Department of Treasury, which adheres to the national law prohibiting marijuana. But going forward, cannabis retailers in the Golden State will only have to check client IDs before buying, and no more are required to record names and other identifying info.
“These approved regulations are the culmination of more than two years of hard work by California’s cannabis licensing authorities,” Lori Ajax, chief of the state Bureau of Cannabis Control, said in a statement. “Public feedback was invaluable in helping us develop transparent regulations for cannabis businesses and ensuring public safety.”
Video: Cannabis Delivery in Oakland
Decriminalization of non-medical cannabis in the United States
In the United States, the non-medical use of cannabis is decriminalized in 15 states (plus the U.S. Virgin Islands), and legalized in another 10 states (plus Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the District of Columbia), as of May 2019.[1] Decriminalization refers to a policy of reduced penalties for cannabis offenses, typically involving a civil penalty for possession of small amounts (similar to how a minor traffic violation is treated), instead of criminal prosecution or the threat of arrest.[2][3] In jurisdictions without any penalties the policy is referred to as legalization, although the term decriminalization is sometimes broadly used for this purpose as well.[3]
The movement to decriminalize cannabis in the U.S. emerged during the 1970s, when a total of 11 states decriminalized (beginning with Oregon in 1973). The findings of the 1972 Shafer Commission helped provide momentum to these efforts, as did the 1976 election of President Jimmy Carter (who spoke in favor of decriminalization and endorsed legislation to federally decriminalize). By the end of the decade the tide had turned strongly in the other direction, however, and no state would decriminalize again until 2001.
Efforts to legalize cannabis in the U.S. included a number of ballot initiatives leading up to 2012, but none succeeded. In 2012, success was finally achieved when Washington and Colorado became the first two states to legalize. In 2014 and 2016 several more states followed, and in 2018 Vermont became the first to legalize through an act of state legislature. All jurisdictions that have legalized allow for the commercial distribution of cannabis, except Vermont and the District of Columbia. All allow for personal cultivation, except Washington State.
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Norfolk Island’s convict past
The cemetery from the lookout
Norfolk Island’s early European history is entwined with the British penal system and the colonisation of Australia, so part of any visit to the island has to include the convict ruins, and the graveyard. There’s not much to show for the island’s first settlement in 1788. Here’s a short piece about those first colonists. When the colony finally closed down in 1814 all the buildings and livestock were destroyed before the settlers were returned to the Australian mainland. Although convicts were included amongst the first colonists, it was never a penal colony. That came later.
The original settlers who landed in 1788
In 1824 the government in NSW decided to send the worst of its prisoners to Norfolk Island, never to return. The prisoners were put to work quarrying stone and constructing the beautiful Georgian buildings gracing the area around Kingston. The stone was cut on nearby Nepean Island, and more than one man died in the treacherous channel there. The worst job the convicts could have was cutting the finer stone from below the high tide line. It meant they had to work waist-deep in water. The difference in quality is obvious, and the better stone was used for verandas to this day.
On our first introductory tour of Norfolk our driver took us across the bloody bridge. While the true reason for the name isn’t altogether settled, the story’s a good one. Seems the convicts working on the bridge didn’t much like the brutal overseer, so they killed him. To hide the crime, they put the body into the bridgework. Next day the replacement overseer noticed blood seeping out in the mortar between the stones. The name (of course) has stuck.
John Christian with a headstone
John Christian took us on a tour of the convict ruins. The man is a mine of information, rattling off names, dates, and facts like a machine gun. There’s not much left of the interior of the jail – the stones were used by the new arrivals to construct new buildings. But the outlines are still there. John described the living conditions, with several men crammed into tiny cells. Prisoners worked in chains and flogging was a common punishment. John told us about one fellow who was flogged to death. When he fainted after 100 blows he was placed in a cell for three days then wheeled out for a second round, which killed him.
There are plenty of sources of information about the conditions in the prison. I’ve had a look and I do wonder about some of the stories we heard. Read a more balanced account of the penal system here. But the whole tour is about stories and family history. I’m sure the ghost tour would be well worth attending – maybe next time.
You can see the size of the cells from the ruins
There is no doubt that Norfolk Island prison was a hell on earth, but the prisoners sometimes put up a fight. In 1846 William Westwood, known as Jacky-Jacky, led a revolt, killing four prison officials. This was a man who couldn’t be contained. He escaped in Sydney, was sent to van Diemen’s land (Tasmania) where he escaped more than once, then finally ended up on Norfolk. His story is worth reading. He and several others were hanged for their part in the revolt, and their remains placed in unconsecrated ground. The commandant at the time, a man named Childs, was replaced by John Price, who had a fearsome reputation. Our guide told us about a particularly awful punishment, being confined in the dark cell. The prisoner was lowered into a tiny cell without doors and windows. Then the cell was sealed at the top (although it must have been opened to provide food and water). One man was kept in these conditions for a year and when he was removed, he was insane. All these stories reminded me very much of Auschwitz and even more of the prison on Rottnest Island. We haven’t learnt too much over the centuries.
Of course, some of the stories had happy endings. John told us about a seamstress sentenced to transportation, accused of stealing a scrap of fabric. This woman had a very useful skill and soon started making clothes for the officers’ wives. John said she started dress shops in Sydney and Paramatta, and went back to Blighty a wealthy woman who bought the shop where she had been employed. I couldn’t find the story on the web, but I hope it’s true.
Women in those days were treated like breeding stock. When it was recognised that there were not enough women in Australia, all the women who had incurred the death penalty in England had their sentences commuted to transportation. The Lady Juliana sailed for Port Jackson and arrived in 1790 with more than two hundred women aboard. She carried only women – an interesting point in its own right, and well worth a look at this article. One hundred and twenty of the women were sent to Norfolk. One was just 11 years old, sentenced to death for highway robbery (stealing another child’s clothes). Mary Wade ended up being the mother of twenty-one children. Read her story here.
The cemetery is divided into two halves with the older remains from convict times closer to the sea, marked off by a line of pillars. The rest of the area is still used, and we noticed locals tending family graves. One famous writer is buried here – Colleen McCollough called this island home and her memory is much-loved. Her husband still lives here, and her house is open to the public.
There are quite a few stones marking the graves in the old cemetery, but there are a lot more graves than the stones suggest. Convict graves were usually marked with wooden crosses, which have disappeared over the years. Female convicts, and some who had been executed, were given a headstone. Of course, soldiers and freemen automatically qualified.
When the British finally realised the folly of transporting ‘criminals’ to the colonies, they closed the prison at Norfolk in 1855. When the British left I get the idea the place wasn’t completely abandoned, though, because the people from Pitcairn arrived in 1856, and were confronted with huge four-legged beasts they’d never seen before – cows and horses. [1]
The Commandant
Anyway, enough of this morbid stuff. The enterprising Norfolk Islanders also use their convict past to entertain. Our group attended a “night as a convict”, all of us dressed in glamorous convict clothes. It wasn’t just our group of twenty – there must have been around one hundred seated at bench tables. Our overseers were the (smartly dressed) Commandant, and the red-robed Private Arty Parts. Both men possessed large dongers. The Commandant’s can be seen on the table beside him. It was an absolutely hilarious evening, with some off-colour humour, games and dances, and so forth. We convicts provided the entertainment. One example was a version of pass the parcel. The women were asked to form a circle, and three hats were passed around clockwise. When the music stopped, if you had a hat, you were out. Simple enough. But the Commandant and Private Parts introduced a complication – they added a Very Large rolling pin which was to go counter-clockwise, and which was to be passed with the knees, not the hands. Remember, the hats are also being passed. Nobody was obliged to take part, and naturally some people didn’t. Yes, of course I did. I haven’t laughed so much in a long while, and I’d recommend the evening. Dinner was involved, a simple meal served buffet-style with staff putting the food on the plate for you, just as would have happened in the convict mess halls. I can assure you we ate far better than the real convicts did.
The costumes are provided, but you have to give them back – although you can purchase them for $30. I couldn’t quite imagine where I’d be wearing it again, so I passed. One more point – the Commandant and Private Parts are not professional actors, they’re just members of the community doing their part. Sometimes things don’t work out. The week before, several of the guys scheduled for the roles were sick, so the convicts didn’t get a show. I know they were disappointed, and I would have been, too. But that’s life, I guess.
Next time we’ll get on to the people from Pitcairn.
Quality row – beautifully restored Georgian cottages, some of which are lived in.
This entry was posted in Travel and tagged cemetery, convicts, graveyard, holiday, Kingston, Norfolk Island, penal colony, travel on 3 January 2018 by Greta.
← A tiny speck of an island The settlers from Pitcairn →
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Nikki Burch
Hungry, hungry humans
So can we really feed the world? Yes — and here’s how
By Nathanael Johnson on Feb 10, 2015
Over the past six months I’ve been trying to figure out how we can feed ourselves sustainably and equitably without wrecking the planet. I’ve been reading, interviewing experts, and blogging as I learn. This, the final post of the series, is a synthesis of what I’ve found out.
If the world goes on with business as usual, there’s not going to be enough food to feed everyone by 2050. A lot of things would have to change.
And a lot of things should change! Currently, the daily effort to satisfy the collective appetite of humanity is causing deforestation, erosion, extinction, and massive release of greenhouse gases. In changing how it feeds itself, humankind can drive down poverty, sequester greenhouse gas, conserve wild environments, and put organic matter back into the soil. All of that is plausibly within reach.
More in this series :
The science (and art) of feeding ourselves
Teaching a humongous foundation to listen to small farmers
Is producing more food to feed the world beside the point?
How can we stop the world from having too many babies? Feed more people
Let’s start with population. If we can’t get a handle on our swelling numbers, everything else is moot. So what would make human population level off, or even fall? There are always political measures — like China’s one-child policy — but laws like that are hard to pass and even harder to enforce. They restrict freedom while producing terrible unintended consequences — like families getting rid of girls.
There’s another option that actually works better: Improve the lives of poor women and children.
“If you want parents to make the choice to reduce their number of offspring, there’s no better way than making sure those offspring survive,” said Joel Cohen, author of the magisterial book How Many People Can the Earth Support? “There’s no example of decline in fertility that has not been preceded by a decline in child mortality that I know of.”
More on population.
This is counterintuitive. But there is abundant evidence of this pattern all over the world, regardless of religion. Where children die and women are repressed, population booms. Where children thrive, and women are empowered, population growth stops.
As sustainable agriculture expert Gordon Conway writes in his book, One Billion Hungry: Can We Feed the World?:
A popular misconception is that providing the developing countries with more food will serve to increase populations; in other words, it is a self-defeating policy. The more food women have, the more children they will have and the greater will be their children’s survival, leading to population growth, so goes the argument. However, the experience of the demographic transition described above suggests the opposite. As people become more prosperous, which includes being better fed and having lower child mortality, the fewer children women want. Providing they then have access to family planning methods, the fertility rates will drop and the population will cease to grow.
To control our impact on the environment, we have to stop growing. A measure of freedom and security for women and children is a precondition to ending population growth. The key factor connecting child mortality and lack of women’s rights is poverty. Therefore, environmental efforts have to be, first and foremost, campaigns for social justice.
More on yield vs. distribution.
If ending all poverty were as simple as producing enough food to feed everyone, our work would be done. Farms already grow enough food for every person on the planet — 2,800 calories a day, if it were divvied up equally. But we have never shared resources equally, and no one seems to have figured out a realistic way of making people start. Attempts by governments to distribute food in equal shares have failed; they almost immediately lead to black markets, with the poor selling food and the rich buying it. An investment banker in New York will always eat better than a beggar in Lagos.
More on safety nets.
It doesn’t work for governments take complete control of food markets, but it’s also a bad idea for governments to completely wash their hands of responsibility for feeding people. If left entirely to market forces, food flows toward wealth and away from poverty, which leads to famine. Governments must intervene to prevent hunger. Social safety nets — in the form of meals, money, healthcare, and education — really do increase the likelihood that children born into poverty will be able to go to school and make better lives for themselves.
So there’s been a huge shift in thinking from the days of the Green Revolution, when the driving imperative was to increase production. The goal has gone from increasing farm yields to decreasing poverty.
More on increasing yield.
It turns out, however, that if you want to decrease poverty, one of the best ways to do it is to increase farm yields. As the economist Michael Lipton put it: “No country has achieved mass dollar poverty reduction without prior investment in agriculture.”
More than 70 percent of the world’s poor are farmers, or work for farmers in the rural economy. In places where there are no jobs, and the economy sucks, people survive by carving up the land into smaller and smaller plots and working it more intensively. Because of this, typical farm sizes are actually getting smaller in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. As of 2000, the average farm was 2.5 acres in Asia and 3.7 acres in Sub-Saharan Africa, not counting South Africa.
More on farm size.
Americans like small farms, but this trend toward tiny landholdings in poor countries is not a good thing. When I spoke to a pair of Ethiopian farmers, they told me that what they really wanted was for their children to go to school rather than working on the land and eventually dividing it up. They wanted labor-saving tools — herbicide, plows, planting machines — so that the children could spend time on schoolwork rather than farm work.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, farmers get a little over a ton of grain per hectare in an average year — about what farmers in Europe were getting during the Roman Empire. Clearly there’s tremendous room for improvement, and increasing yields puts money directly into the pockets of the poor. At the same time, it allows their children to go to school and brings down the cost of food — a benefit to both rural and urban poor.
Another argument for increasing yields is that, in the last decade, we got closer to the bottom of the world grain barrel than we have since the 1970s. Economists largely agree that this lack of supply was the primary factor in causing price shocks: The price of food spiked twice, which caused suffering and hunger among the poor.
More on food prices.
The final argument for increasing farm productivity is that it will keep people from clearing forests and infiltrating the last remaining wild lands. The world is making progress on this front. Environmental scientist Jesse Ausubel has made a convincing case that we are already past the point of peak farmland. Since 1998 the amount of land devoted to agriculture has fallen, while the global food supply has continued rising. Reducing the human footprint means increasing farm yields.
More on peak farmland.
And yet, despite all the arguments for increasing yields, the goal is controversial, thanks to the legacy of the Green Revolution. During the Green Revolution, the push to increase yields was focused on large farmers, and sometimes smaller farmers did not benefit. There’s a huge amount of conflicting literature on this point. As Conway writes, “A review of over three hundred studies found that for 80 percent of the studies inequality had worsened.” In addition, the heavy use of pesticides and fertilizer during the Green Revolution caused all sorts of environmental problems.
It’s possible to learn from the mistakes of the Green Revolution and strive to increase yields in a way that benefits the poor and is environmentally friendly. The current jargon for this is “sustainable intensification,” which — as happens with jargon — is taken to mean everything and nothing.
Sustainable intensification includes a panoply of agroecological techniques. Farmers are planting nitrogen-fixing trees, which shelter crops, prevent erosion, and provide fertilizer. There’s the push-pull strategy, where farmer push bugs away from grain by growing insect-repellent plants along the rows, while also pulling pests away from the crops by planting an attractive plants outside the fields. Aquaculture is on the rise, creating an opportunity for more fish polyculture. There is significant evidence that these techniques are already providing a part of the solution.
However, I don’t think that they can, or should, be the only solution. In Ghana, farmers trained by 4-H in agroecological techniques abandon them when they actually have to manage their own land and make a living. And an organic farmer training people in Malawi has found that teaching small farmers how to use a little bit of synthetic fertilizer and herbicide is much more likely to work than the all-natural alternatives. As the U.N.’s former special rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, put it, “While investment in organic fertilizing techniques should be a priority, this should not exclude the use of other fertilizers.”
More on farm tech.
Farmers in poor countries have more important priorities than strictly dividing organic from industrial farm tools. As I put it in this story, farm technology isn’t a war between good and evil — it’s a quest for whatever works. Small farmers have proven that they can use tools of industrial ag in a non-industrial way. They use high-tech hybrid seeds to get record-breaking yields with an alternative cropping technique. Across India, small farmers have found that genetically engineered cotton decreases their pesticide exposure while increasing their earnings. And in Niger, farmers developed a method of using Big Ag fertilizer on a tiny scale: by filling a soda-cap with a mix of phosphorus and nitrogen, and dumping this micro-dose in with each seed.
GMOs, because they are politicized, are especially controversial. I’ve heard the argument that we won’t be able to feed the world without GMOs. I doubt that’s true. Genetic engineering is not a silver bullet. At the same time, the goal of helping small farmers improve their lives gets a lot harder if they are held to an impossibly Edenic standard, and we keep rejecting the tools that they’d like to use.
Many people worry that giving poor farmers industrial technology will lock them into an industrial path. There’s no doubt that is true, as far as it goes. If it’s easy to get nitrogen, you may not want to do all the work, and develop the skills needed, to nurture nitrogen-fixing trees to maturity. But as I’ve argued here, small farmers are already taking a middle path — it’s not as if use of some modern technology will forever corrupt them. When I looked at path-dependency in agriculture, I found that it exists in many small forms, but can be overcome with government assistance and regulation. It’s also worth noting that many small farmers already suffer from path-dependency: They are locked into generational poverty. For me at least, the most important goal is breaking out of poverty, even if that leaves people short of true sustainability. How can I demand perfect sustainability from the poor, when I haven’t achieved it myself?
OK, you’ve reached 2,000 words, it’s time to pause, stretch, regroup, and look at a picture of a baby meerkat.
John Pinder
So far, I’ve argued that the goal is to decrease poverty — that means building social safety nets, and increasing small-farm production. (Because I’m a food and ag guy I’m focusing on farms, but the safety nets are just as important.) I think that increasing yields should be done according to the rule of whatever-works-best, rather than going all natural or all industrial.
And that brings us to solutions: First, what do poor farmers need to make more money? And second, what can those of us living in richer countries do to make food more sustainable and equitable?
Helping poor farmers increase yields
To make more money, farmers need information, inputs, and infrastructure. Information, to learn better techniques; inputs, like fertilizer, disease-resistant seeds, and nitrogen-fixing trees; and infrastructure, which comprises everything from roads and irrigation ditches to agricultural universities.
Governments and charities are spreading information with agricultural advisors. There are also innumerable technological efforts to spread knowledge. I wrote about Plant Village for example. Or there’s Digital Green, which makes videos of farmers carrying out various techniques, and then, in the evening, goes into the village and project the movies. It’s entertainment for the local farmers, and they also learn from someone who speaks their dialect and looks like them.
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Inputs and infrastructure go together, because the lack of good roads is the main reason that farmers have trouble getting the supplies they need. Roads also allow farmers to get their crops to market with less spoilage.
Roads are terrible for the environment when built through undeveloped wilderness, but great for the environment when built through poverty-stricken farmland where many people are carving up the land into tiny plots for farms. You need roads to get sustainable intensification — without roads, people keep pushing farther out into marginal lands.
My jaw just about hit the floor when Birtukan Dagnachew Tegegn, a farmer from Ethiopia, told me that there’s no road to her land, and it’s a four-hour walk to the nearest town. Imagine how difficult it is for her to get tree saplings, or a bag of fertilizer, to her farm. A road would save her a lot of time and money.
Conway writes that roadbuilding is a proven intervention:
In India, every additional million rupees spent on rural roads during the 1990s was found to lift 881 people out of poverty. Villages in Bangladesh with better road access had higher levels of input use and agricultural production, greater incomes, and greater wage-earning opportunities.
Roads, canals, and electric systems require government intervention. But small, distributed infrastructure is important too. For instance, when farmers get the machines to process their crops, like the banana farmers of Talamanca, it drastically reduces food waste, while opening up international markets to small farmers.
There’s one other thing beyond information, inputs, and infrastructure that farmers need: money. Farmers all around the world go into debt to buy the things they need to start a new crop, and then pay it off with the harvest. Poor farmers frequently don’t have bank accounts, and take high-interest loans. Banking via mobile phone is solving this problem, and it’s even possible in some places for small farmers to buy affordable crop insurance on their phones.
More on government regulation.
I’m been making the argument here for some serious government intervention to build infrastructure and train farmers, but it’s also important for governments to help by getting out of the way when farmers want to start businesses serving their growing rural economy. Poor countries tend to have a mind-boggling amount of regulation that hampers homegrown businesses.
What can the people reading this actually do?
A lot, actually. Unless you are the agricultural minister of Kenya or the director of the Rockefeller Foundation, there’s not much you can do with any of the preceding. But people living in richer countries have tremendous influence over multinational corporations that do business, for better or worse, in poor countries. We can also be a lot better at sharing our portion of food, by eating less, wasting less, and choosing more environmentally responsible meals.
There are just a small number of corporations that serve as multinational middlemen — buying crops from farmers in one place and selling them to food makers in another place. Jason Clay, a senior vice president at the World Wildlife Fund, has narrowed it down to 100 businesses — get them to act responsibly, he says, and you save the world. We’re already seeing this working with soy in the Brazilian Amazon, and it’s beginning with palm oil in southeast Asia. The key to getting these companies to commit to sustainability are regular people with reasonable requests, putting strategically targeted pressure on companies. When big companies make sustainability promises, they do a 180 — and instead of resisting regulation, they begin asking governments to regulate their competitors to level the playing field. This really does have the potential to change the world.
The other thing we can do — as I put it here — is to eat with smaller forks. That means changing our diet so that we eat less meat, less food in general, and throw less of it away. There’s also a side benefit: We’ll be healthier. As I wrote:
Right now we live in an upside-down world where the people who get the least food are the ones who are doing the most manual labor. (They’re also the most likely to suffer from infectious disease.) And in the most developed countries, we have technology taking care of all our physical, calorie-burning labor, while we sit on our butts all day and drink everyone else’s milkshake.
All this can seem overwhelmingly large. And it is. The challenge of feeding humanity is enormous and unprecedented. No species, that I know of, has ever organized itself to ensure that every one of its kind is fed. We have the means to meet this demand in the short term, and we are in the process of figuring out how to meet it in the long term. Human welfare depends on our figuring this out. So does the welfare of thousands of other species that live alongside us.
The good news is that, after studying this for six months, I can say that meeting the challenge seems entirely possible. It requires the rich to eat more responsibly, poor farms to become more productive, and all farms to be continuously improving their sustainability. To make this possible, governments must provide safety nets and infrastructure, while cutting red tape.
All this requires a series of political and social changes that are difficult to implement but almost universally supported. No one is morally opposed to reducing food waste, or to increasing the income of small farmers. The most serious impediment is inertia, and we’re already moving in the right direction.
I’ll end with one small, easily achievable suggestion for people who want a well-fed world. (In this piece I also make some recommendations for shrinking forks.) Learn a killer lentils recipe — not just something edible, but something that excites your friends and family as much as steak does. Legumes, like lentils and beans, fertilize the soil and provide a good nutritional replacement for meat, which generally has a big environmental impact. (Though not always — carbon-negative beef exists and is a great alternative.) If everyone replaced one meat dish a week, deliciously, we’d all take a big step toward an equitable and sustainable food system.
Correction: This story included a reference to Zaire as a tossed off example of a developing country. That was a mistake, since the territory previously known as Zaire is now called the Democratic Republic of Congo. Grist regrets the error and the writer has been sentenced to remedial third-grade geography.
Stories in this series:
Feed lots
The planet may be jammed with people, but there's an awful lot of food out there. The big question: How can we grow it sustainably and distribute it equitably, too?
Opening the Gates
Sam Dryden led the Gates Foundation's farm program for five years, guided less by his background in Big Ag than his upbringing on a hardscrabble Appalachian farm.
Which should be tackled first: hunger or inequality? Food production or distribution? These chicken-and-egg questions tangle every "feeding the planet" debate.
See all articles in this series
algae whiz
Massive toxic algae blooms predicted in Lake Erie and Gulf of Mexico
Forest frenemies
How Cargill went from corporate hero to ‘the worst’
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Michael Milburn
Michael Milburn is Founder and Chief Scientific Officer for DRUIDapp, Inc. The DRUID® app calculates the level of impairment from cannabis or any other source in 2 minutes by measuring reaction time, decision making, hand-eye coordination, balance and time estimation. He has just been awarded a substantial Small Business Research Grant from NIH for research on DRUID. Dr. Milburn holds degrees from Stanford (AB) and Harvard (PhD), and he was Professor of Psychology at the University of Massachusetts/Boston for 40 years, with a specialty in research methods, measurement and statistics. His unique set of skills enabled him to develop the DRUID® impairment measurement app, now in the App Store and Google Play.
Should You Worry about a Fatal Cannabis Overdose?
By Michael Milburn | Jun 12, 2019 | Commentary, Health and Wellness, Life, News
The CDC webpage poses in its FAQ: “Is it possible to ‘overdose’ or have a ‘bad reaction’ to marijuana?” To answer, they say, “A fatal overdose is unlikely.” Of course, since there is not a single overdose death from cannabis in recorded history, they could have said that. Maybe that’s what they meant by “unlikely.” “Ah,” you say. “But, I just heard about a fatal marijuana overdose in Louisiana.” Some facts of the case How did the coroner in the case, Christy Montegut, decide that the cause of...
Would You Like Magic Mushrooms with That?
By Michael Milburn | May 11, 2019 | Brands, Commentary, Entrepreneurship, Health, Health and Wellness, Life, News
You most likely have heard about the vote — unprecedented anywhere in the United States — that decriminalized possession of psilocybin mushrooms in Denver. These are also called “magic mushrooms.” Psychedelic! So, what‘s this all about? Are Denver residents nuts? Is Denver adding drivers who are tripping on psilocybin, in addition to the cannabis-impaired drivers already there? What Denver Passed First, the vote did not legalize psilocybin. Initiative 301 decriminalized the...
If you’re worried about cannabis’ “Black Market” then you need to read this.
By Michael Milburn | Apr 16, 2019 | Brands, Commentary, E-commerce, Entrepreneurship, Legal, Life, News
You’ve seen the headlines: “Massachusetts legal pot sales sparking illicit marijuana market” and “Black market pot sales booming in wake of legalization: Cops” and “Legal marijuana didn’t end black market elsewhere. What can Michigan learn?” One thing you can note about all these news stories: the evidence for the black market is anecdotal. There are, of course, multiple reasons for the success of illegal sellers. For example, there is a shortage of legal cannabis in Michigan. The slow...
Say What? The Problem with Per Se Laws for Cannabis-impaired Driving
By Michael Milburn | Apr 5, 2019 | Legal, Life, News
Most people know about per se laws to test for alcohol-impaired driving. A blood alcohol of .08 or higher allows police to infer that you are impaired from alcohol. If you are driving and your blood alcohol level exceeds .08 level, then you are in trouble. For cannabis, you may also know that seven states like Washington and Colorado have per se laws that specify legal limits of THC in the blood, typically 5 ng/mL. The entire nation of Canada has the same per se limit, and even more U.S....
Cannabis Consumers Look to Protection from “Illegitimate” Drug Testing
By Michael Milburn | Mar 6, 2019 | E-commerce, Entrepreneurship, News
Have you ever been drug tested at work? In order to provide protections for cannabis users at work who “fail” a drug test, cannabis activists in Oregon currently have identical bills under consideration in the Oregon House (House Bill 2655) and the Oregon Senate (Senate Bill 379). These are very important protections. Allowing the termination of an employee when they are not impaired, simply because they used a legal substance on their own time, should be viewed as a fundamental violation of...
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Southern California struck by even more powerful quake, second in two days
July 6, 2019 at 8:36am
A powerful magnitude 7.1 earthquake shook Southern California on Friday, causing some damage to buildings, with 11 times more force than an apparent foreshock that rattled the same area a day earlier.
The latest quake struck at about 8:20 p.m. local time (0320 GMT) near the town of Ridgecrest on the edge of Death Valley National Park, about 125 miles (202 km) northeast of Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). It was also measured at 7.1 by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Agency.
Lucy Jones, a seismologist for the California Institute of Technology (CalTech), said Friday’s quake was the most powerful to hit the region since another 7.1 temblor in the same area in 1999.
The San Bernadino County Fire Department reported that Friday’s quake had caused some damage to buildings.
“Homes shifted, foundation cracks, retaining walls down,” the department said on Twitter. “One injury (minor) with firefighters treating patient. No unmet needs currently.”
A swarm of strong aftershocks have jolted the high desert region of Southern California since a 6.4 quake on Thursday morning. Only a few injuries were reported in Thursday’s quake but two houses caught fire from broken gas pipes, officials said.
The USGS said Friday’s earthquake was about 11 times more forceful than Thursday’s tremor, which geologists described as a foreshock to the larger one.
The Metrolink commuter rail service said on Twitter it had halted service in Los Angeles, a city of 4 million people, for the time being in the immediate aftermath of the latest quake.
Pools in Los Angeles sloshed wildly and TV cameras at major league baseball’s Dodger Stadium were shaking as they filmed the night game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres.
Thursday’s quake hit during America’s Independence Day celebrations and was one of the largest in Southern California since the 1994 Northridge temblor.
The Northridge temblor, which was centered in a heavily populated area of Los Angeles, killed 57 people and caused billions of dollars of damage.
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Campus Communication
May Board of Regents Update
I write to update you on yesterday’s Board of Regents meeting. The Board met as part of its regular meeting schedule.
The Board heard four presentations during its morning session. Sue Hodges Moore, Senior Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness, Sue Ott Rowlands, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Vickie Natale, Assistant Vice President for Planning and Institutional Research, presented on the University’s proposed new Executive Dashboard. The purpose of the dashboard is to monitor and evaluate the University’s effectiveness at achieving the five major goals of our strategic plan, Fuel the Flame. The dashboard was developed with broad consultation from faculty and staff. Updates on the University’s progress towards meeting the targets for these metrics will be presented to the Board of Regents annually.
Ken Ramey, Vice President for Administration and Finance, and Ken Kline, Budget Director, presented the proposed 2014-2015 annual budget and tuition rates. The 2014-2015 undergraduate tuition rates will increase by $16 a credit hour for most students and graduate tuition rates will increase $24 a credit hour for most students.
Ms. Zoe Welch, President of the Association of Campus Residents, presented a recommendation for a beautification project in the Residential Village. Earlier this academic year, I challenged the residential students to develop a project to enhance the residence halls and demonstrate school spirit. The students were also challenged to participate meaningfully in the installation and ongoing maintenance of the project that they propose. The Association of Campus Residents, in consultation with many residential students, proposed adding a spirit boulder, creating additional green space, and establishing a more welcoming entrance to Norse Commons and the Residential Village.
Finally, the Board learned more about this year’s outstanding Celebration of Student Research. Dr. Judy Voelker and Dr. Stephen Walker, the co-chairs for the event, presented an overview of the growth of the Celebration. Debbie Hines, a student in the MSW program, discussed her research on aging, socioeconomic status, and exercise. Debbie’s faculty mentor is Dr. Holly Riffe. Caitlin Ferris, a senior psychological science major, presented her research on success dispositions in Psychology 100. Caitlin’s faculty mentor is Dr. Perilou Goddard.
During the afternoon session, the Board approved all of the items on the consent agenda, including awarding honorary degrees to Dr. Pearse Lyons, Dr. Leon Boothe, and Justice Michelle Keller. The Board also approved a new Center for Information Security, the University’s Executive Dashboard Metrics, the 2014-2015 budget authorization, and the tuition and fee schedule for next year.
The next Board of Regents meeting is the July Board Retreat. The next on-campus meeting is on Wednesday, September 10. The Policy and Finance Committee will meet at 9:00 a.m., and the Board of Regents business meeting will start at 1:00 p.m. Both meetings are open to the public and will be held in Student Union room 104.
In just a few days, we will celebrate the commencement of more than 1,600 students. It will be a wonderful celebration. And as I said in my comments to the Board, this year has been a very good one. Even better days for our University are in our future.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Regents Distinguished Service Award
In March, we honored three employees who embody the great spirit of our University. The Regents Distinguished Service Award recognizes staff employees who have made exemplary contributions to the growth, image, or efficient operations of the University. I am very pleased that the recipients of this year’s award could be with us this afternoon. Ms. Millie McLemore was recognized in the Service Maintenance/Skilled Crafts/Technical and Scientific category. Millie has served the University for six years and is presently a systems manager in Steely Library. Ms. Jackie Marsala was recognized in the Office Clerical category. Jackie came to NKU in 2008 and presently serves as the Academic Assistant for the Department of Nursing. Ms. Tina Altenhofen was recognized in the Professional/Research Assistant category. Tina has served the University for seven years and is the Executive Assistant to the Director of the Center for Applied Informatics. Please join me in thanking and congratulating this year’s winners of the Regents Distinguished Service Awards.
Dean Searches
As I shared with you in April, we have now completed the Dean searches for the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Education and Human Services, and Haile/US Bank College of Business. Dr. Katherine Frank will be the new Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Frank presently serves as the Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Indiana University East. Dr. Cindy Reed will be the new Dean of the College of Education and Human Services. Dr. Reed presently serves as the Director of the Truman Pierce Institute and the Emily R. and Gerald S. Leischuck Endowed Professor of Educational Leadership at Auburn University. Finally, Dr. Becky Porterfield will be the new Dean of our Haile/US Bank College of Business. Dr. Porterfield is presently the Graduate Associate Dean of the University of North Carolina Wilmington Cameron School of Business. Our three new Deans will begin in July. We look forward to welcoming them to campus.
Vice President for Enrollment Management Search
Last month, we began our search for a Vice President for Enrollment Management. This Vice President will report directly to the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. Given the extraordinarily competitive enrollment management hiring market and in order to attract top candidates, we have engaged a search firm to assist us. The search will be conducted over the summer, and we will welcome finalists to the campus in the Fall semester for interviews. Later this month, Joel Robinson will transition to Assistant Provost for Special Projects. Ms. Leah Stewart, Director of Student Financial Assistance, will serve as the Interim Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management. I am very grateful to Joel for his service and dedication.
Landor Marketing and Branding Engagement
As I have previously shared, the University has engaged Landor, an international marketing and branding firm with a strong local office, to help us develop updated branding and messaging guidelines. The work began in early March, and I anticipate that Landor will complete its work in September. The process involves qualitative and quantitative research through focus groups, individual conversations, and input provided by the faculty, staff, students, alumni, prospective students, and business and community leaders. We have just completed the qualitative research phase where Landor’s team interviewed current students, alumni, and business and community leaders. I will meet with Landor tomorrow to learn more about this initial phase of research findings. The next phase of the project will involve testing of ideas and themes generated from Phase 1 of the project.
AASCU Exceptional Universities – Outreach Initiative
The American Association of State Colleges and Universities has chosen five exceptional universities to feature in AASCU’s Outreach Initiative Pilot Program. This pilot program seeks to broaden the public’s understanding of the high-quality, accessible, and affordable college opportunities at state colleges and universities like NKU. I am very pleased to report that our University has been selected by AASCU as one of the five exceptional universities. This selection means that NKU will be recognized nationally for our contributions to excellence, access, and opportunity.
Student Celebration of Research and Creativity
Just a few weeks ago, the University held our 12th Celebration of Student Research and Creativity. This year, 750 students presented posters, oral presentations, or other scholarly and creative works. 139 faculty members mentored these students – and many faculty members mentored more than one student. In total, there were more than 300 projects and 25 live student performances. This is the largest Celebration of Research and Creativity yet. I would like to thank Dr. Judy Voelker and Dr. Stephen Walker for their leadership of this event. I’d also like to express my gratitude to the committee members, students, and faculty who participated in this extraordinary event.
Cyber Defense Competition Wins
Just last week, our Cyber Defense Team competed at the national cyber defense competition. These competitions are exhaustive multi-day experiences that test each team’s skills in defending a corporate-style computer network under sustained attack by judges posing as hackers. At the regional competition, the team defeated state champions from the nine Midwestern state competitions, including our long-time rival, the Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, to earn a spot in the national contest. At the national competition, we fared very well. Our team placed 6th and edged out the Air Force Academy and UC Berkeley. More than 180 teams competed through the regional and national competitions. Dr. Yi Hu and Teresa Riley coached this year’s team. They were assisted by alumni who were previous team members. NKU’s prowess in Cyber Defense extends beyond this team. Earlier this month, a research poster and presentation by women in the NKU Masters program in Computer Information Technology won the graduate student poster competition at the national Women in Cybersecurity Conference in Nashville, beating out PhD students from universities such as NYU and Carnegie Mellon. Members of the team included Darci Guriel, Irina Vorobyeva, Helina Oladapo, and Mary Ferguson. The team was coached by Dr. Marius Truta.
This time of year is always a special time in the life of a campus. On Saturday, we will celebrate the accomplishments of more than 1,600 students as they graduate with their undergraduate, graduate, doctoral, and law degrees. This semester we have celebrated the many accomplishments of these students and are proud of their many achievements. In just a few minutes, I will ask that you approve our honorary degree recipients for this year – Dr. Pearse Lyons, Dr. Leon Boothe, and Justice Michelle Keller. We are delighted that each of these individuals has agreed to speak at our commencement.
Regent Pederson
As you know, today is Regent Pederson’s last Board of Regents meeting. Erik has ably served on our Board for the past two years and has faithfully represented our student body as the Student Government President. Personally, I have enjoyed working with him and appreciate the insight he brings to the Board’s deliberations. I look forward to shaking Erik’s hand on Saturday at Commencement. Erik, congratulations and thank you for your service.
In closing, this year has been a very good one. And even better days for our University are in our future.
Geoffrey S. Mearns
Nunn Drive
800 Lucas Administrative Center
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← Photo-essay: The last day of trading for Surrey Street’s stalls
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One-third of Croydon’s SEND budget is spent on tribunal work
Posted on March 27, 2017 by insidecroydon
Croydon Council staged a(nother) flag-raising at the Town Hall this morning, this time for World Autism Awareness Week.
“Croydon Council is on a mission to increase understanding of what it means to be autistic and bust some of the most common myths surrounding the condition,” the council’s press office stated in a release today.
But one thing that the Labour-run council does not appear to want people to be aware of is the amount it is spending from government grants in attempts to avoid having to pay for young people with autism and special educational needs from actually receiving the education to which they are entitled.
In a response to a Freedom of Information request, Croydon Council has revealed that at least one-third of its spending from a transitional grant from the Department for Education for SEND, Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, is going towards preparing for tribunal cases – where the council disputes whether it has any responsibility to provide education for a child or young person.
“My personal belief is that there is a blanket policy in Croydon to stop funding post-19 SEN education placements, despite the reforms being put in place to ensure access to SEN education for up to age 25,” said one anxious parent with a teenager affected by the council’s obstructive approach to its legal obligations to provide such educational help.
And a senior councillor admitted to the secret policy which in 2016-2017 will see Croydon spending more around £150,000 on tribunal-linked activities, out of a £430,000 budget for SEND education provision.
“Every council has to do it,” the Town Hall figure told Inside Croydon, “otherwise they’d be broke, and then the government administrator would walk in.”
Under changes introduced in 2014, councils have to have an EHC, or education, health and care plan, for every child and young person aged up to 25 years old who needs more support than is available through special educational needs support. “EHC plans identify needs and set out the additional support to meet those needs,” says the government website.
Around 1.5million school pupils in England are thought to have special needs
But in Croydon, in common with many other local authorities, there have been long delays in implementing those EHCs, some of the delays seeing parents forced to go to a legal tribunal to get educational provision for their child.
Last year, Inside Croydon reported how Croydon Council had spent £110,000 per year on legal fees to Baker Small, a specialist solicitors firm which had been described as having a “callous” and “despicable” attitude towards some of the most vulnerable in society, as it worked to deny young adults with SEND their education. The council continued to use the law firm even after council leader Tony Newman declared that they should be dropped.
Now, figures from the council show that the council is still spending huge amounts of public money in its efforts not to deliver the education required for some of its vulnerable young people, and instead to prepare for the tribunals which seek to deny them that care and education.
Among other amounts, the council’s figures show:
£15,000 spent on a mediation service, “Required to cover duty to ensure parents attend mediation before attempting to go to tribunal”;
there’s £50,000 to pay for a EHC co-ordinator, “Required to undertake mediation requirements prior to parents appealing to tribunal”;
there’s £35,000 for a tribunals administration officer;
and £45,000 for project management “Required to work on embedding SEN reform as business as usual”.
And there’s £120,000 being spent in 2016-2017 by Croydon Council on three members of staff to complete the transfers to EHC – even though the council’s deadline for completing all such transfers was March 2016.
Since 2014, the Department for Education has given local authorities a grant each year to help them implement the SEND reforms. About £180million in SEND reform grant money has been doled out so far, and another £40million has been lined up for the next financial year. Croydon’s grant has increased from £208,200 in 2014-2015, to £295,200 in 2015-2016, to the £430,200 being spent in the current financial year.
The campaigning website, SpecialNeedsJungle.com, which conducted the FoI to 150 local authorities around the country, contend that the money is being ill-spent, on out-sourced and temporary staff, as well as legal defences, and that such spending is “more than a pity, it’s a tragedy”.
Potentially, they suggest that this system has managed to waste £500million, money that might be better utilised actually providing the special education required.
Matt Keer, at SpecialNeedsJungle, writes: “LAs need extra personnel to make the SEND reforms work – not just to carry out EHCP assessments, but also to convert existing statements and Learning Difficulty Assessments over to EHCPs. So most LAs have drawn on the DfE grants to bolster their in-house SEN assessment teams – extra case officers, educational psychologists, managers, and so on.
“However, a lot of this investment looks like it’s short-term. Nearly half of the spending on extra staff I tracked has gone to people who won’t be sticking around: temps, agency staff, short-term change management teams, and outsourcing…
“All LAs face challenges in getting the SEND reforms implemented, and bringing more staff in to get the increased workload done is absolutely necessary. But there are big drawbacks to relying on temporary and outsourced staff so heavily; when they leave, the expertise and experience they have gained leaves too.”
Inside Croydon is Croydon’s only independent news source, still based in the heart of the borough. In 2016, we averaged 17,000 page views every week
This entry was posted in Croydon Council, Education, Schools and tagged Croydon Council, London Borough of Croydon, SEND, Special Educational Needs. Bookmark the permalink.
1 Response to One-third of Croydon’s SEND budget is spent on tribunal work
raheemazim says:
Croydon Council and ‘autism awareness’ are two things that should never be seen side by side. Irony upon irony, as the flag flies today, this council is causing ongoing mental and physical suffering to one of their employees with autism and has made no attempt to raise their awareness to this condition in reality. They are also being taken to Employment Tribunal in a serious case of disability discrimination by an employee with autism. The departments from the top to the bottom are ill equipped to understand autism properly, including HR and Occupational Health. Senior management refer to an autistic employee as a problem they wish were gone. “Disability Confident” employer…? One can only be amused that the autism awareness flag is flying while this is going on directly under their noses and being swept under the rug.
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Fact-checking is dead
Carly Fiorina likes to talk about she rose from secretary to CEO. For example:
I started as a secretary, typing and filing for a nine-person real estate firm. It’s only in this country that you can go from being a secretary to the chief executive of the largest tech company in the world, and run for president of the United States. It’s only possible here.
This is, in fact, true. She did start as a secretary. She did become a CEO. Full story here (sorry, video only).
But somehow, the Washington Post gives Fiorina “three pinnochios” for the claim. How does a completely factual statement become a big lie?
You’d have to read their article to get the full tortured reasoning. But the gist of it is that the secretary-to-CEO story is part of a “Horatio Alger-like” rags-to-riches narrative that they judge to not be a good description of her career. She left her secretary job to go back to school, earn advanced degrees, and work other jobs, before eventually returning as CEO of HP, and that — says the Washington Post fact-checker — isn’t a rags-to-riches story.
You can make that case, I suppose, but it isn’t fact-checking. The facts she stated were true and not even misleading.
(Via Ace.)
Leave a Comment » | Media Failure, Political | Permalink
Posted by K. Crary
Movies that don’t exist
The most memorable scene in The Empire Strikes Back, I’m sure everyone would agree, is when Darth Vader reveals himself as Luke’s father:
No, Luke, I am your father!
As a kid in a movie theater, seeing Empire for the first time, this blew my mind. I remember it so vividly.
Alas, that movie doesn’t exist.
What, you ask? The Empire Strikes Back doesn’t exist? What are you talking about?!
It’s true. No such movie exists with that scene.
As you can see, the line is slightly different than the one that is burned into my memory:
No. I am your father.
When I remember the line, I am off by one word. He never says “Luke”. The movie I remember doesn’t exist.
In a hyper-technical sense, what I just wrote is true. But if you were explaining the error, would you say (1) the movie doesn’t exist, or would you say (2) I made an insignificant error in remembering a key scene? Of course you would say (2). To say (1) is stupid, unhelpful, and misleading.
Unless, for some reason, I wanted to convince people that The Empire Strikes Back doesn’t exist at all. (Actually, for the Star Wars prequels, I do, but that’s another story.)
This is the bizarre place we find ourselves in the attack on Carly Fiorina, who said in the Republican debate:
Anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking while someone says, ‘We have to keep it alive to harvest its brain.’ This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us.
First, let it be conceded that Fiorina made an insignificant error in remembering the scene. The sentence “We have to keep it alive to harvest its brain” is not word-for-word, it’s a paraphrase; and the paraphrase obscures the fact that the fully formed fetus to which the interviewee referred is not the same one that appears on screen. As it turns out, the fully formed fetus on screen — its heart beating and its legs kicking — is B-roll footage, used to illustrate the interview. The whistleblower didn’t have a hidden camera to capture the scene she described.
So we don’t know what happened to the fetus on screen. Well, we do know that it was left to die, cold and alone, in a stainless steel specimen vessel. But we don’t know whether someone cut into his skull to harvest his brain.
Nevertheless, the video certainly exists. (Warning: horrifying footage.)
When discussing this, you can say (1) Fiorina’s video doesn’t exist, or you can say (2) the video is slightly different that Fiorina’s off-the-cuff description.
Why would you say (1), which is stupid, unhelpful, and misleading?
There’s only one reason. You want to insinuate that the video doesn’t exist at all (even though you know it does). You want the people who read your column to think that video appeared out of Carly Fiorina’s fevered imagination.
For their target audience at least, it seems to be working. Other leftists echoing the attacks — people who haven’t seen the videos, and therefore don’t know how narrow and hyper-technical the attacks are — misunderstand them, and thus say things that are simply false. They say that the videos are “imaginary”, which they certainly or not. Or, this outright falsehood (from Amanda Marcotte):
There is nothing in the videos made by CMP, either in the edited or full-length versions, that has anything approaching images of legs kicking or hearts beating.
(ASIDE: I’m assuming that Marcotte is a dupe here, but perhaps she is simply lying.)
So that is the plan: Announce that the video does not exist [whispering] precisely as described [/whispering]. Let everyone draw the wrong conclusion and repeat that the video doesn’t exist at all.
In support of this, they also Dowdify Fiorina’s defenders. For example, Jonah Goldberg wrote:
The exact scene, exactly as Fiorina describes it, is not on the videos. But anybody who has watched the videos would find Fiorina’s off-the-cuff account pretty accurate.
(Emphasis mine.) But when Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick quoted Goldberg, she deleted the part in bold. (ASIDE: She also added many outright falsehoods, such as describing live babies as stillborn, but that’s not my point here.)
I’ll be interested to see if the new standard for off-the-cuff descriptions is consistently adhered to. (Just kidding! We know it won’t be.) Misremember a detail from Uncle Tom’s Cabin? That means the book doesn’t exist, and no one needs to grapple with its content.
It’s just too bad about Casablanca, Dirty Harry, Silence of the Lambs, Field of Dreams, The Graduate, The Wizard of Oz, All About Eve, and Snow White and Seven Dwarves. I guess I imagined some really good movies.
(Previous post.)
POSTSCRIPT: More along these lines from Ross Douthat. (Via Instapundit.)
Barack Obama clearly has no idea what motivates Iran’s rulers:
Chanting death to America does not create jobs.
Judging not only by this clip, but from the entire speech, it seems never to have occurred to Obama that economic prosperity might not be their aim.
This always seems to be our problem with this bunch: We assume that they think like we do. This was the central folly of the Oslo agreement. It seemed to us like a really fair and reasonable agreement. I confess that I too was taken in. But it assumed that the Palestinians wanted peace. In the years since 1993, we’ve learned that they (and all the Islamist fundamentalists) want peace only after the complete annihilation and/or subjugation of their enemies.
What was an excusable error in 1993 is sheer idiocy now.
Leave a Comment » | Geopolitical, Political | Permalink
Your lips are moving again
Is anyone surprised that Hillary Clinton, despite all her claims to the contrary, still has not handed over all her work-related emails?
The Obama administration has discovered a chain of emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton failed to turn over when she provided what she said was the full record of work-related correspondence as secretary of state, officials said Friday, adding to the growing questions related to the Democratic presidential front-runner’s unusual usage of a private email account and server while in government.
The messages were exchanged with retired Gen. David Petraeus when he headed the military’s U.S. Central Command, responsible for running the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They began before Clinton entered office and continued into her first days at the State Department.
Leave a Comment » | Political | Permalink
Barack Obama has released the 20th 9/11 hijacker from Guantanamo Bay. I have no words for this.
Leave a Comment » | National Security, Political | Permalink
Believe literally nothing this woman ever says:
Documents released by a conservative watchdog group Thursday show Hillary Clinton personally signed official forms in 2012 that allowed her top aide [Huma Abedin] to attain status as a special government employee (SGE), despite the Democratic presidential frontrunner’s denial of any involvement in the situation during a recent interview. . .
The document, obtained by Judicial Watch as part of a Freedom of Information Act request, shows that Clinton signed off on a title change for Abedin on March 23, 2012. . .
In an interview with NBC’s Andrea Mitchell that aired Sept. 4, Clinton was asked about the propriety of Abedin collecting a salary from the State Department and Teneo, which was founded by a longtime aide to former President Bill Clinton.
“Well, you know, I was not directly involved in that,” Clinton answered.
Natch
If the idea of the federal government ranking colleges and universities made you a little queasy, you were right:
The new “College Scorecard” released by the Department of Education and the White House that ranks universities excluded several institutions widely considered among the best conservative colleges in the nation: Hillsdale and Grove City colleges.
Of course progressive politics plays a role in their rankings. Could you imagine anything else?
Things liberals believe
Mormons are too weird to be president. (2, 3, 4, 5)
There are too many Catholics on the Supreme Court. (2, 3, 4, 5)
Jewish senators are not loyal to the United States. (2, 3, 4, 5)
It is never acceptable to consider religion when evaluating candidates for public office. (2, 3, 4)
UPDATE: “What they really mean is that no values should ever come before the liberal agenda.”
Of course they did
The IRS has been using the donor lists that they (illegally) demanded from conservative organizations applying for non-profit status, to identify people to audit.
This is what Obama describes as “not even a smidgen of corruption.” Because if it serves the Democrats, it’s not corruption.
Leave a Comment » | Legal, Political | Permalink
Smart diplomacy
It seems that the Russians offered to dump Bashar Assad in 2012. The Obama administration refused the offer because they were sure the Assad would fall soon without Russian assistance.
Geniuses.
Donald Trump is bad at business
I’ve heard people describe Donald Trump as a self-made man. He is, in fact, the opposite of a self-made man. He inherited a huge real-estate fortune. If he had sold all his real-estate holdings and invested the proceeds in an S&P 500 index fund, he would be much richer today than he is, according to the Washington Post.
All that Trump’s ballyhooed deal-making has accomplished is to lose himself $3 billion, relative to what a passive investor could have obtained. (That’s according to Forbes’s numbers. According to Trump’s own numbers, he’s only lost $2 billion.)
And in order to get himself that terrific -$3 billion return, he has had to employ strategic bankruptcies, abuse eminent domain, and exploit taxpayer funds. If business acumen is an important quality for President of the United States, Donald Trump is disqualified.
Fact-checking is hard, I guess
In the most recent GOP debate, Carly Fiorina had strong words for abortion-supporting Democrats in light of the Center for Medical Progress’s expose on Planned Parenthood’s horrifying practices:
As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain.
The left went ballistic, claiming that no such video exists. Uber-feminist Amanda Marcotte, for example:
There is nothing in the videos made by CMP, either in the edited or full-length versions, that has anything approaching images of legs kicking or hearts beating. . .
and again:
Many people have [watched the videos] and continue to be pro-choice anyway—and not just because they missed the part with the legs kicking (which doesn’t exist!).
(Emphasis mine.) Clearly Amanda Marcotte is not one of those people, since the leg-kicking part does indeed exist. It is horrifying.
Glenn Kessler, who writes a fact-checking column for the Washington Post, and who usually seems to be trying to be somewhat fair, is more connected with reality, but nevertheless starts with the snark:
Fiorina might have trouble finding this video to show to Clinton. No video has surfaced showing the scene Fiorina describes taking place inside a Planned Parenthood facility.
What he’s getting at here is not that the video doesn’t exist (it does, of course), but he is nit-picking Fiorina’s description. The fetus pictured with legs kicking is not actually the same one from which the former procurement technician being interviewed in the video was ordered to harvest the brain. It’s an illustration using stock footage (properly noted as such on screen), which of course is standard practice for any news organization unable to obtain pictures or video of an actual event.
So yes, CMP was not able to obtain footage of the vivisection. (Or, if they did, they haven’t released it yet.), However, they did get people to admit to extracting brains from live fetuses exactly like that one.
Others have claimed that the fetus wasn’t from an abortion, that it was stillborn. This is stupid, since the fetus was moving and thus obviously not stillborn. More plausibly, they claim that the fetus might be from a miscarriage. Not so, says the organization that obtained the footage:
The video clip we provided to CMP depicted an intact delivery abortion. It was filmed at an abortion clinic. It was not a miscarriage. Mothers don’t go to abortion clinics to miscarry. Had this case been a miscarriage, the mother would have presented at a hospital and her baby would have been rushed to an Isolette for appropriate neonatal care — not abandoned to writhe and eventually expire in a cold, stainless steel specimen vessel. As regards the organizational affiliation of the abortion facility in which this termination was performed, our access agreements forbid the disclosure of any information which might tend to identify the relevant clinics or personnel with whom we work. Preserving confidentiality is vital to future clinic access. I can, however, assure you that the footage in question is not anomalous. It is representative of the frequent outcomes of many late term intact delivery terminations performed at clinics of all organizational affiliations.
In short, Planned Parenthood extracts brains from live babies, and sells them. There is a video about it. That video is very disturbing. Carly Fiorina challenges abortion-supporting Democrats to watch it. However, it does not contain video of any actual vivisection; it merely contains people talking about performing vivisections — some cheerfully, and others in horror.
Also, it’s not a “tape”. No one uses video tape any more. Gotcha, Carly!
Thank heaven for the editors!
There was a time, not that long ago, when the New York Times was a good newspaper. It’s not good any more. It’s not just the relentless bias, but how their relentless bias prevents them from employing good writing and reporting. Kevin Williamson edits an egregious example from two days ago.
Leave a Comment » | Media Failure | Permalink
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Chutzpah, thy name is Hillary!
Okay, first let’s be clear (again) that Obergefell is the law of the land. (Okay, literally it’s controlling Supreme Court precedent, but let’s not split hairs.) Government officials have no right to deny citizens any service (including marriage licenses) to which the law entitles them. Kim Davis, the (Democratic) clerk jailed by a (Republican) judge for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, is in the wrong.
Now, let’s marvel at the astonishing hypocrisy shamelessly exhibited by our Democratic front-runner, Hillary Clinton:
Marriage equality is the law of the land. Officials should be held to their duty to uphold the law—end of story. https://t.co/9WfxgULBga
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 3, 2015
I guess she was out of characters, and simply didn’t have room to add the important conclusion:
But just this one time only.
I mean, where could Kim Davis have possibly gotten the idea that Democratic elected officials can ignore the law?
Could it be from Democratic officials in DC and Chicago who — in a very parallel situation — refuse to issue firearms permits despite a Supreme Court decision ordering them to do so? Could it be from Democratic officials in California who violated California law to issue marriage licenses before the court cleared them to do so? Could is be from a Democratic president who decided simply to ignore immigration law, or who many times has ignored the text of his own health “reform” law, or who decided that the Constitutional requirement to obtain Senate approval for treaties is obsolete? Could it be from a Democratic administration that ignored a court injunction against its immigration policy? Could it be from a Democrat-run IRS that illegally targeted conservatives for negative treatment, and illegally shared confidential filings with progressive activists, and which destroyed the relevant records once their misconduct came to light? Could it be from a Democrat-run ATF that shipped weapons to Mexican drug cartels, and never gave a plausible explanation why? Could it be from a Democratic Secretary of State who, in violation of public records laws, maintained a private email server, and then, in violation of classified information laws, used it for classified information, and then in further violation of those laws, turned all that classified information over to a private law firm? Could it be from a Democrat-run Justice Department that filed false affidavits in order to obtain illegal wiretaps on journalists? Could it be from a Democratic president who ignored the War Powers Act and launched a war against Libya without any notice to or consultation with the Congress? Could it be from Democratic officials in Seattle who imposed punitive taxes on guns and ammunition in clear violation of state law? Could it be from a Democrat-run EPA that imposed limits on carbon dioxide that were plainly outside the parameters of the law, and justified it by making up entirely different parameters? Could it be from a Democratic mayor of Baltimore who “gave those who wished to destroy space to do that”? Could it be from a Democratic prosecutor in Austin, Texas who indicted the governor for using his constitutional veto prerogative? Could it be from Democratic prosecutors in Wisconsin who raided homes with no cause other than their support for Republican candidates, and then barred them from discussing the raids, even with their own lawyers? Could it be from Democratic strategiests who urged the president to ignore the Supreme Court if they lost the King v. Burwell case? Could it be from a Democratic White House that set new records for denying Freedom of Information Act requests, and did so in violation of the law one-third of the time?
And could it be from a Democratic Party that watched all above the above happen, and never gave the slightest hint of any discomfort with any of it? From a party that scoffs at the rule of law in any circumstances where it might stand in the way of their goals?
Gee, where could Kim Davis have possibly gotten the idea that Democratic officials can get away with anything at all?
So yes, officials should be held to their duty to uphold the law. Let’s start doing that now please. Any time you’re ready would be fine.
POSTSCRIPT: This was all just off the top of my head. If I went through my notes, I could find plenty more.
UPDATE: Wow, the White House spokesman said this:
I will just say on principle that the success of the democracy depends on the rule of law, and there is no public official that is above the rule of law. Certainly not the president of the United States, but neither is the Rowan County clerk.
He really did say that. Unbelievable.
You are currently browsing the Internet Scofflaw blog archives for September, 2015.
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The Rock of Dunamase
Published June 19, 2012 in Medieval Ruins
The Rock of Dunmase is a stunning medieval ruin perched on a rocky outcrop a few miles east of Portlaoise, Co Laois. Overlooking the surrounding landscape the ruinous castle was once a formidable fortress. Standing atop a steep rock it is protected on three sides by cliffs while the only accessible side was protected by a double barbican, two gatehouses and numerous defences.
Originally built in the 12th century the castle may well have been abandoned by the mid 14th century during the Gaelic revival which saw large swathes of the country reconquered by Gaelic Irish lords. Dunamase survived somewhat intact up until the arrival of Cromwellian troops in 1650. Then a ruin it was rendered unusable after being battered to pieces by cannons.
A brief history of Dunamase
Initial work on the norman castle at Dunamase was probably started my Meiler Fitzhenry shortly after the norman invasion in 1180’s. Fitzhenry went on to attempt to resist the take over of the Lordship of Leinster by a new feudal lord William Marshall to whom it passed, when he married Isabella de Clare, Strongbows daughter and heir. This failed and around 1208 Dunamase as part of the lordship was eventually taken by Marshall.
Marshall undertook massive developments in the lordship of Leinster. This saw him build the port of New Ross, Kilkenny castle, Carlow castle and overhaul Dunamase. In 1219 William Marshall died and this precipitated the most unusual breakup of the lordship of Leinster which had a huge impact on Dunamase. All four of Marshall’s sons became the Lord of Leinster but all died without an heir, each passing the title to his younger brother. When the last son Anselm died in 1245 in accordance with medieval law the lordship was divided between Marshall’s five daughters or their heirs. This saw the lordship broken in five parts. One daughter, Sybll was had died earlier in 1245 and she left no male heir but seven daughters who each received an equal portion of their mothers claim. By 1250 after more deaths the once unified Lordship of Leinster was broken into 14 parts each passing into different families.
Many of Marshall’s daughters and granddaughters married into major families in England. Through these marriages they passed their share of the lordship into families who often had little interest in Ireland. Those that did were frequently involved in feuds with other norman families Ireland, weaking the norman colony in Ireland. This was one of the contributing factors that saw a Gaelic revival in the late 13th and 14th centuries which would have a profound impact on Dunamase.
After the break up of Leinster, Dunamase passed into the Mortimer family who held the castle until about 1330. This period coincided with a revival of the Gaelic Irish who had been driven off their lands into bogs and mountains. Dunasmase’s close proximity to the Slieve Bloom mountains where the Gaelic Irish of the midlands had retreated saw it frequently attacked. It appears the Mortimers abandoned the site probably in 1330 when Roger Mortimer fell from grace and was executed for treason.
In their absense the gaelic O Mores retook Dunamase and the surrounding lands, however they did not occupy the castle which fell into ruin. In 1650 Dunamase was destroyed by a Cromwellian army in an effort to render it militarily useless. This they clearly succeeded in doing – the castle was destroyed as a military installation.
Outer Barbican
This picture is taken from what would have been the approach to the castle entrance. The foreground would have been what is called the outer barbican. A barbican was a defensive work designed to protect the gateway to a castle. They can take the form of an extra tower like at Trim castle or in the case of Dunmase large enclosures. At Dunamase there was a two: an outer and an inner barbian. The outer barbican was an earthen enclosure with wooden pallisades and nothing save some earth works now remain.
Inner Barbarican
The first stone defensive work facing an attacker was the inner barbican. This took the form of a walled enclosure in front of the main gateway. This barbarican was entered through this arch in the circular tower above.
Little remains of this tower although this murder hole still remains in the roof arch.
This picture shows the inner Barbarican. The barbarican was overlooked by walls on all sides and an attacker had to walk parallel to these walls before approaching the inner gatehouse exposing them to fire. This enclosure was defensive and probably had little or no structures inside given the steep incline of the terrain
The Lower Ward
This is the remains of the main gatehouse. It connected the Inner Barbarican to the Lower Ward of the castle. The Lower ward was the first part of the castle proper.
This is the view from the tower at the north end of the barbican which overlooked the gatehouse.
The Lower ward was the first functional / residential part of the castle. This area would have contained numerous wooden structures along with a massive gatehouse, the remnants of which can seen in the picture above.
The most interesting feature in the lower ward is the remnants of a postern gate. The postern gate was a small second easily defended entrance given the sharp incline and narrowness of the path.
This postern gate was accessed down two ramps. One is visible demarcated by the darker grass in the centre of the picture. There was another parellel ramp leading down off the hill side on the other side of the ramp of the wall on the right.
At the peak of the hillside was a large two storied keep. This was the residence of the occupying nobility. This is completely ruinous despite of some rebuilding in the 18th century
The view through this remaining window in the keep looks out over another hillside in the distance. The earthworks on the hillside are apparently the remains of the gunplatforms built by the Cromwellian army in 1650 when they destroyed the castle.
The “Rock” in the distance.
The Rock of Dunamase is easy to get to by car – situated a few miles east of Portlaoise. There is no entry charge.
O Connor, K. Dunamase Castle The Journal of Irish Archaeology , Vol. 7, (1996), pp. 97-115
Hodkinson, B. The Rock of Dunamase Archaeology Ireland , Vol. 9, No. 2 (Summer, 1995), pp. 18-21
Tags: Laois, portlaoise, The Rock of Dunamase
0 comments on “The Rock of Dunamase”
Máire O'Donoghue on June 19th, 2012 - 4:57pm
Having walked up to the rock a few weeks ago I really enjoyed the pictures and relived the experience. The account also tells the story as it was and I have to think in the present times—-What have we done to our country, how short is memory–
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Toto's 'Africa' plays continuously at Namibia desert installation
posted by DeWayne & Tamme - Jan 15, 2019
Africa" has become a permanent part of the continent it's named for.
A Namibian artist has set up a desert installation run by solar energy that continuously plays Toto's 1980s classic.
Max Siedentopf tells the BBC he "wanted to pay the song the ultimate homage and physically exhibit 'Africa' in Africa." Still, he admits that not everyone appreciates his tribute. He says some of his countrymen "love it and some say it's probably the worst sound installation ever. I think that's a great compliment."
Six speakers are patched into the solo powered mp3 player that continuously repeats the single-song playlist.
{"position1": {"artist": {"bio": "", "id": 30393191, "name": "Toto"}, "catalog_type": "artist", "description": "", "id": 30393191, "name": "Toto", "related": [{"bio": "", "id": 3801, "name": "Journey"}, {"bio": "", "id": 42568, "name": "REO Speedwagon"}, {"bio": "", "id": 43589, "name": "Christopher Cross"}, {"bio": "", "id": 35143, "name": "Boston"}, {"bio": "", "id": 645736, "name": "Daryl Hall \u0026 John Oates"}, {"bio": "", "id": 98123, "name": "Mr. Mister"}, {"bio": "", "id": 5663, "name": "Chicago"}], "tagged": false, "type": "catalog"}}
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Ariana Grande and Meryl Streep Join Star-Studded Cast of ‘The Prom’ Musical on Netflix
Dia Dipasupil/Frederick M. Brown, Getty Images
Ariana Grande and Meryl Streep are going to be in a movie together!
The two have joined the star-studded cast of Ryan Murphy's The Prom, which also features Nicole Kidman, James Corden, Andrew Rannells, Awkwafina and Keegan-Michael Key. Deadline reports the American Horror Story creator will be adapting the Tony-nominated Broadway musical into a movie for Netflix.
According to the website, the story "centers on four down-and-out theater actors who head to Indiana, where they help a teen whose prom was canceled when she tried to bring her girlfriend as her date."
Streep will play Dee Dee Allen, a two-time Tony winner, who teams up with Corden's character Barry Glickman on a big musical production that fails. They later join forces with Kidman and Rannells' characters, who play Angie Dickinson and Trent Oliver respectively, in an attempt to get their careers back on track—and they do that by helping Emma Nolan, a teenager who can't go to her own prom because she's gay.
The "thank u, next" singer will play Emma's girlfriend, a closeted popular high school student named Alyssa, who also happens to be the daughter of the PTA president. Meanwhile, Crazy Rich Asians star Awkwafina will take on the role of publicist Ms. Sheldon and Key is set to play Streep's love interest, Principal Hawkins.
It's also being reported Grande will produce the film's soundtrack with Murphy and her manager, Scooter Braun, so fans will get brand new music from the pop star as well.
It's unclear when The Prom will be released, but the movie will reportedly begin filming this December for a Fall 2020 release.
Best Movies of 2019 (So Far!)
Source: Ariana Grande and Meryl Streep Join Star-Studded Cast of ‘The Prom’ Musical on Netflix
Filed Under: Ariana Grande, meryl streep, nl, Ryan Murphy, The Prom
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Listen to Jacob Bryant’s Hard-Fought ‘Practice What I Preach’ Album
Courtesy of HBPR
Jacob Bryant has a couple of good women to thank for his life and country music career. The Keith Whitley, George Jones and Travis Tritt-raised, Georgia-born country-rocker knows one saved his artist soul, and the other saved his life.
That's not an exaggeration — Bryant's mother is the one who really encouraged him to chase music, even though he figured she was just being a mom-ager at the time. You'll hear her influence all over his new Practice What I Preach album, streaming on Taste of Country on Thursday (Feb. 7) ahead of a Feb. 8 release. The single "Bring You Back" was written as a love song, but the well-traveled indie artist admits he recorded it because it reminds him of mom. "Hot Mess" is a smartly-penned track about the struggles of a single mother — his mother.
"I've always been a mama's boy, and it's my kind of thank you to all the moms who give a damn about their kids," Bryant tells ToC, chuckling a sort of admission that the title is purposely bro-y, while knowing the content is deep enough anchor you as a fan for life. If you're living this song in any way, it's a tear-jerker.
"Sometimes I Pray" was written about his mom specifically and is the song he says defines him.
"'Pour Whiskey on My Grave' was another one that I didn’t write, but every year I go pour a beer out and sit out on my mom's tombstone and have a beer with her," the newcomer shares. He'll speak candidly about the circumstances of her January 2010 passing as best he can. She was only in her 40s.
"We don't really know. She fell asleep and didn't wake up," Bryant says.
Like his No. 1 contemporary influence Brantley Gilbert, Bryant packs the chapters of his life into guitar-heavy country-rock ballads and anthems. It's impossible to ignore his more authentic country raising on songs like "25 in Jail" (a true story, but not his story), a rambler that song-checks Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried."
American Roots Records
Find personal similarities between Bryant and both Gilbert and Haggard. He's not afraid to show his scars, even if he isn't proud of all of them. Alcohol and a drug problem got him through the difficult times after his mother's death. Throw a busted marriage in there for good measure. Speaking to him, know it's clear things are different. He'll still enjoy a cold beer, but his mind is focused and his words sharp.
"My fiancee now ... I would definitely give her the kudos for saving my life," he admits. "It was time to slow down and grow up. I think I just met my quota."
Days of hard partying led to days of hard work. Bryant took a break from an at-home drywall project to talk to Taste of Country and mentioned how his girlfriend of four years has a vanity and bathroom tile project waiting on his honey-do list. They'll get married in spring 2020. It's a safe bet he'll lose the indie artist label by then, as well.
Listen to Jacob Bryant's Practice What I Preach Album:
Source: Listen to Jacob Bryant’s Hard-Fought ‘Practice What I Preach’ Album
Filed Under: Jacob Bryant
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Home>Faculty & Staff>Fac-Staff-Resources>Faculty Rules
Rules of the Faculty
Approved by the Faculty: October 13, 2017
I. NAME
The name of the organization shall be the faculty of Jefferson Community and Technical College.
II. AUTHORITY
The Rules of the faculty of Jefferson Community and Technical College describe the composition, organization, and procedures for the conduct of its functions as authorized by the Board of Regents in the KCTCS Policy Manual, vols. I and II, and the Rules of the Senate of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.
III. FUNCTIONS
Within the limits established by the policies of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System and the Rules of the Senate of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, the faculty of Jefferson Community and Technical College shall determine the educational policies of the College. Any rules adopted by the faculty pertaining to educational policies of the College shall be published in an appendix to this document.
The faculty shall make recommendations to the Kentucky Community and Technical College System or the Senate of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System on the following matters:
Academic policies;
Policies and regulations governing admission classifications, probation, and dismissal of college students;
All candidates for degrees and certificates from Jefferson Community and Technical College;
Criteria for faculty appointments, reappointments, promotions, and tenure in the Colleges;
An academic calendar for Jefferson Community and Technical College within parameters established by KCTCS;
Changes in the Rules of the Senate of the Community and Technical Colleges and in the policies of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.
The faculty shall review and approve all Jefferson Community and Technical College curricula and courses before being submitted to the system.
The faculty may make recommendations on other matters to the Senate, to the President of Jefferson Community and Technical College, to the Chancellor of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, or to the President of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.
The faculty shall provide consultation to the Chancellor on the selection of a search committee for a President of Jefferson Community and Technical College.
IV. COMPOSITION AND ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
Multi-Campus structure:
The faculty is composed of the Downtown faculty, the Southwest faculty, the Bullitt County faculty, the Carrollton faculty, the Shelby County faculty, and the Jefferson Technical Campus faculty.
All full-time personnel of Jefferson Community and Technical College with academic rank shall be considered members of the faculty with voting privileges and shall also be members of their respective campus faculties with voting privileges.
All visiting professors or part-time faculty members of Jefferson Community and Technical College shall be members without voting privileges. They shall have the privilege of the floor.
The President of Jefferson Community and Technical College is an ex-officio member of all faculty committees and Faculty Council.
Any question of the voting privileges shall be decided by a majority vote of the faculty.
The faculty will be represented by 2 Co-Chairs, one General Education Co-Chair, and one Technical Education Co-Chair elected by their respective faculty. The Co-Chairs will prepare and distribute the agenda for Faculty Council meetings to all faculty and Faculty Council members on a rotating basis. The Co-Chairs of the Faculty will be members of the College Leadership Team and will receive one released class per semester at the discretion of the President and Vice-President of Academic Affairs.
There will be two Secretaries, one General Education Secretary, and one Technical Education Secretary elected by their respective faculty. Each Secretary is a voting member of the Faculty Council. The Secretaries shall be responsible for the publication and distribution of the minutes and other material of Faculty and Faculty Council meetings.
The Parliamentarian is elected by the faculty for a three-year term and shall be a non-voting member of the Faculty Council. The parliamentarian shall advise the Faculty on procedure and assist the Faculty in ruling on parliamentary questions. The Parliamentarian will also serve as an ex-officio member on the College Rules Committee without voting rights.
Voting Members include Co-Chairs of the faculty, the Secretaries of the faculty, 1 elected representative from each academic division.
Ex-Officio Non-voting Members are the President of the College, all Vice-Presidents of the College, Deans, a representative of Business Affairs, the Chairperson (or designee) of each Standing Committee, the Jefferson Community and Technical College KCTCS Senate Representatives, JCTC Board of Directors Faculty Representative, the Director of the Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Community Engagement, and the Parliamentarian.
In the event that an elected member cannot attend a Faculty Council meeting, the elected member shall designate, in writing, another faculty member from the same division to attend. Each designee shall have all the rights and privileges of the person being replaced.
The Co-Chairs of the faculty shall preside as Chairperson of Faculty Council on a rotating basis.
The Faculty Council shall establish the time and place of regular meetings of the faculty.
The Faculty Council shall develop the items of the agenda for regular meetings of the faculty.
The Faculty Council may charge standing committees with matters for study and recommendations.
In emergencies, when the faculty cannot meet, the Faculty Council shall act for the faculty. Any action taken shall be reported to the faculty as soon as possible and no later than its next regular meeting. The sentiment of the faculty, as evidenced by a vote, shall be noted in the minutes.
The Faculty Council shall perform such other duties as are delegated to it by the faculty.
Members of the Faculty Council are expected to both report the actions of the Council and its deliberations to their division members and to bring issues from their division members forward for consideration by the Council.
The Faculty Council will meet during the months of August, September, October, November, January, February, March, and April. Meetings of the Faculty Council shall be open to students, visitors, the public, and the press, except when a meeting may be properly closed pursuant to the provisions of the Kentucky Open Meetings Act.
Quorum: The quorum for the transaction of business shall be two-thirds of the voting members or their designees.
Special meetings of the Faculty Council may be held on the written call of a Co-Chair of the Faculty Council when deemed necessary or in response to a request by at least one-fourth of the current voting members of the Faculty Council.
The faculty shall have three standing committees--the Faculty Affairs Committee, the Curriculum Review Committee, and the Rules Committee.
Voting Members: An elected representative from each academic division shall serve on that committee as a voting member. The Jefferson Community and Technical College Senator that has been elected as the System Representative for the System Curriculum Review and System Rules Committees shall serve as the chair of these respective local committees for the two-year senatorial term.
Ex-officio Non-Voting Members: the Jefferson Community and Technical College President, Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs, the Dean of General Education and the Dean of Technical Education.
In the event that an elected member cannot attend a standing committee meeting, the elected member shall designate, in writing, another faculty member from the same division to attend. Each designee shall have all the rights and privileges of the person being replaced.
In April, the faculty shall elect a chairperson for the Faculty Affairs committee for a two-year term.
Chairs will be given one released class each year at the discretion of the President and Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs.
Each standing committee shall elect a secretary from among its members.
The secretary shall post minutes of each meeting in hard copy and electronically as appropriate.
Committee Functions
All Standing Committees shall be responsible to Faculty Council.
Faculty Affairs Committee
Recommend procedures and policies, which assist the faculty in its professional and personal development and welfare;
Analyze the current faculty evaluation process every three years or more frequently as needed and make recommendations;
Consider and make recommendations on concerns of individual faculty members or groups;
Perform other responsibilities as assigned to it by the faculty, the Faculty Council, or the President of Jefferson Community and Technical College.
Review the Faculty handbook every two years unless a major change to the college necessitates doing it more often.
Curriculum Review Committee
Review, evaluate, and determine the feasibility of course and program proposals; proposals shall be accompanied by a written evaluation from the same program area of the other campuses;
Prepare these proposals for submission at the System level;
Advise or recommend, to the faculty, upon request or upon its own initiative, changes in existing courses or programs;
Grant final approval for Jefferson Community and Technical College generated curricula and courses after system level processing has been completed and the proposals have been returned to the college.
Act on behalf of the faculty to approve system generated course and curricula when deadlines do not allow items to be presented at faculty meetings after consulting with involved faculty.
Perform other responsibilities as assigned to it by the faculty, the campus faculties, the Faculty Council, or the President of Jefferson Community and Technical College.
Rules Committee
Codify the Rules of the Faculty of Jefferson Community and Technical College;
Recommend to the faculty, upon request or upon its own initiative, any modification of the Rules of the Faculty of Jefferson Community and Technical College, the Rules of the Senate, or the Policies of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.
Make continuous evaluation of the Rules to meet new conditions;
Perform other responsibilities as assigned by the faculty, the Faculty Council, or the President of Jefferson Community and Technical College.
V. MEETINGS OF THE FACULTY
The faculty shall meet in August, October, December, February, and April.
The schedule of meetings shall be distributed to members at the beginning of each academic year. The Faculty Council may cancel any regular faculty meeting.
The faculty may be called into special session by the President, the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs, the Dean of General Education, the Dean of Technical Education, the Faculty Council, the Chancellor, the President of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, or at the written request of one-fourth of the voting members of the faculty.
Individual faculty members may submit items to be considered for the agenda to the Faculty Council. The President may add agenda items. All committee and/or individual recommendations requiring a vote of the faculty must be submitted to Faculty Council for approval and distribution to the appropriate faculty. Agenda items which require a vote by the faculty must be distributed to the appropriate faculty at least four days before the vote is to be taken. Following Robert's Revised Rules of Order, the agenda may be amended at the beginning of the faculty meeting to permit the introduction of unanticipated voting items. A two-thirds vote is required to amend the agenda. Prior to a regular meeting, an agenda and minutes of previous meetings shall be distributed to the appropriate faculty. The Standing Committee reports shall be a part of the agenda of all faculty meetings. The last item of the agenda shall be a faculty forum.
Those present and eligible to vote shall constitute a quorum.
The Faculty Council may ask for a voting item or resolution to be placed on a secure electronic ballot.
Meetings of the faculty shall be open to members of the faculty of all campuses, students, visitors, the public, and the press, except when a meeting may be properly closed pursuant to the provisions of the Kentucky Open Meetings Act.
VI. ELECTIONS, APPOINTMENTS, AND TERMS OF OFFICE
Chairperson and Secretary of the campus faculties
The Co-Chairs and the Secretaries of each faculty shall be elected by their faculty in April. A majority of those voting is necessary for election. When there is more than one candidate for an office, the vote shall be by secret ballot.
Co-Chair: In order to maintain continuity of leadership, the Co-Chair of each faculty shall be elected for a two-year term on a staggered basis. The term of office begins August 1.
Secretary: The secretary of the faculties shall be elected for a two-year term as above.
Faculty Council Members
Representatives of the Division of Allied Health, the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences, the Division of Business and Advanced Technology, the Division of Nursing, the Division of Humanities, the Division of Mathematics, the Division of Natural Sciences, Division of Trade & Industry and the Division of Academic Services, shall be elected by their respective division every two years in April. The following divisions will elect representatives in even-numbered years: Division of Allied Health, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Division of Natural Sciences, Division of Trade & Industry and Division of Academic Services. The following divisions will elect representatives in odd-numbered years: Division of Nursing, Division of Business and Advanced Technology, Division of Humanities, and Division of Mathematics.
The term of office for divisional representatives elected to Faculty Council shall be for two years.
The term of office begins August 1.
Term of office for divisional representatives elected to Standing Committees shall be for two years.
Vacancies in any position shall be filled by an election within the division as soon as possible.
VII. SENATORS AND THE MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Number and Representation
The faculty shall elect senators from the full-time faculty of Jefferson Community and Technical College according to KCTCS policies. For purposes of KCTCS Senate elections only, former Jefferson Community and Technical College Corrections faculty who elected to remain under KCTCS benefits are eligible to vote according to the Department of Corrections/KCTCS Memorandum of Agreement.
After the faculty has certified the list of eligible faculty, the President of Jefferson Community and Technical College or his or her designee shall be responsible for submitting the list of eligible faculty members by area (one list of general education faculty and one list of technical faculty) to the Chairperson of the Senate for certification.
During the April meeting, the faculty shall nominate (number of nominees not to be limited) and elect by secret ballot faculty members to fill the number of expiring Senate terms. The first two positions will be filled by the general education and the technical faculty members receiving the most votes. After this, those nominees receiving the most number of votes, in descending order, will fill the remaining expiring Senate terms.
The term of office for an elected senator shall be two years.
The term of office begins August 1 after election in April.
The senator shall be eligible for re-election but may not serve more than two consecutive terms. After serving two terms, an elected senator shall be ineligible for election or appointment to the Senate for a period of one year. Service of one year or more in an unexpired term shall constitute a full term.
Vacancy in an unexpired term among the elected senators shall be filled by a special election of the faculty in the same manner as provided in the original election.
The Member of the Board of Directors
The faculty's representative to the Board of Directors of Jefferson Community and Technical College shall be a full-time faculty member at the rank of Associate Professor or higher.
The member of the Board of Directors shall be elected by secret ballot during the April meeting of the faculty.
The term of office of the member of the Board of Directors shall be three years, beginning August 1, following election in April.
A vacancy in an unexpired term of the member of the Board of Directors shall be filled by a special election following the same procedures used for the original election.
VIII. NEW RULES AND MODIFICATION OF RULES
In order for action to be taken on a new rule or policy or on modification of an existing rule, notification of such pending action must be given in the call for the meeting at which the action is to be taken.
IX. MAINTENANCE OF UPDATED COPY OF RULES
A copy of updated Rules of the Faculty shall be maintained by the Chair of the Rules Committee and the Provost and shall be included each year as a part of the Faculty Handbook IX.
X. PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURES
Robert's Revised Rules of Order shall be followed in conducting faculty meetings except when the Rules of the Faculty, the Rules of the Senate, or the KCTCS Policy Manual, vols. I and II, of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, provide otherwise.
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home » JIS News » Education
69 Wards Recognised for Outstanding Performance in CSEC, CAPE
Written by: Ainsworth Morris
Photo: JIS Photographer
Minister of State for Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green. (JIS Photo).
JIS News | Presented by:
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Gov’t Boosting Internet Access in Primary Schools and Early Childhood Institutions
Sixty-nine wards of the State have been recognised for outstanding performance in the 2018 Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) tests.
State Minister in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green, commended the award recipients and pledged that the Government will continue to pay for them to sit as many subjects as possible.
“To our children, we are very proud of you, and you should be very proud of yourselves. We understand that sitting examinations can be very daunting; however, you have executed and did very well,” she said.
At the Child Protection and Family Services Agency’s (CPFSA) seventh annual Educational Achievement Awards on Thursday (November 29) at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel, St. Andrew, 52 youth were awarded for achievement in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and 17 for the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE).
He noted that during the period 2016 to 2018, a total of 632 children in State care were registered for secondary examinations, with 410 excelling in areas such as English, Mathematics, Social Studies and Principles of Business.
“Our mantra is ‘every child can learn and every child must learn’ and we don’t differentiate whether our children are in State care or not,” he said.
Mr. Green told the students that their achievement represents what it means to ‘Level Up’, which is the theme of Youth Month.
“I’m truly inspired and very proud to share in your achievements, considering often times, the very difficult circumstances that you may have encountered,” he said.
“We’re awarding more and more persons, which means more and more of our children are doing well, and I think that is an excellent sign,” he added.
Chief Executive Officer, CPFSA, Rosalee Gage-Grey, in her remarks said that this year’s CXC passes represent a 21 per cent increase over 2017.
“Twelve more of our children are blazing the trail in academia,” she noted.
She informed that the Spanish Jamaica Foundation will be making a special presentation to seven children, who did well in their Spanish language examination.
This year’s awardees are from the CPFSA’s four regions in the western, north east, southern and south east areas of the island.
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Senior Support Assistant - Refugee Services
REQ0000020IP
Charities, Advocacy
11 hours per week
Salary: GBP 16,774 per annum, pro rata
We have an opening.......
As part of the Refugee Support and Restoring Family Links team, the Senior Support Assistant will be responsible ensure efficient and reliable administrative support is being delivered to the team.
The overall purpose of the role is to provide administrative support to Refugee Support and Restoring Family Links teams in Norwich in order to support high quality service delivery to people in crisis.
In the role of Senior Support Assistant, you will work alongside the team who are delivering our services, and provide a vital link in our service delivery.
Say hello to the team.....
Within the wider East of England Refugee Support team, this role is part of a team of four members of staff managed by a service manager based in Peterborough and responsible for developing, coordinating, and delivering the casework support for refugees, asylum seekers and other vulnerable migrants in Norwich.
The team are supported in their work by a small team of volunteers who they coordinate.
The project provides casework, destitution and emotional support to refugees, asylum seekers and other vulnerable migrants living in Norwich, many of whom are experiencing social isolation, trauma and separation while trying to navigate complex legal systems within the UK. From providing emotional support to reuniting families, we're committed to helping as many people as we can in as many ways as we can.
The role might be for you if......
Our team come from many different backgrounds, but the common link we all share is we love working with people.
To be successful in this role you must have following skills and experience:
Organisational skills - planning, managing and monitoring own and others workload
IT literate. Experience of using email, word processing, databases and spread sheet packages
Time management skills - responding to and prioritising a range of competing demands
Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
An understanding and empathy with the needs of refugees and asylum-seekers
Educated to GCSE level or equivalent by experience
Knowledge and ability to demonstrate an understanding of issues such as confidentiality, data protection, and health and safety
Good knowledge of Microsoft Office (including word, PowerPoint, & excel
Closing date for applications is 23:59 on, Wednesday 18th July 2018.
Interviews scheduled for week beginning, Monday 6th August 2018
Here's a little bit more about us...
The British Red Cross help anyone, anywhere in the UK; get the support they need if crisis strikes.
From hiring a wheelchair or dealing with loneliness, to adjusting to life in a new country, we're there when you need us. Our goal is to connect human kindness with human crisis.
We're part of the global Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and we believe in the power of kindness.
We offer a wide range of staff benefits, these include:
36 days holiday (including Bank Holidays) pro rata
Up to 6% contributory pension
Additional holiday purchase scheme
Childcare vouchers
Flexible working policy
Our organisation was born out of a desire to bring help without discrimination. Impartiality and neutrality have been central values for the Red Cross since we started.
We support a huge range of people and we recruit for a diverse workforce - including disabled and ethnic minority candidates. This is to contribute to the breadth of experience we need to respond to people in crisis.
As part of its recruitment and selection process the British Red Cross undertakes PVG/DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) checking of all individuals who regularly work with or have access to children and vulnerable adults.
The British Red Cross, incorporated by Royal Charter 1908, is a charity registered in England and Wales (220949) and Scotland (SC037738).
Follow us on Twitter @RedCrossJobsUK and on Linked in - British Red Cross, to hear about our latest job vacancies.
Connecting human kindness with human crisis
Charities jobs in Norfolk
Advocacy jobs in Norfolk
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Tag Archives: Detroit Tigers
Remembering Those Who Played Their Last Inning in 2017 – Part 2
By KL Mitchell on February 7, 2018 | Leave a comment
There were three former Major League baseball players who died in 2017 that I would like to mention. None of them had their beginning in Negro League baseball. One is the first of many Major League players that would come from San Pedro de Marcois, Dominican Republic. The other two are Caucasians who were on one of the last Major League franchises that fielded African-American and dark-skinned Hispanic players.
Why mention them? They played during the time when baseball consumed my life, my youth. I collected their baseball cards and remembered the events in their careers. Even though I will always retain good memories of that time, the death of these players still gives me a sense of lost.
Manny Jimenez – December 12, 2017
There had been no players of color on the roster of my hometown team Kansas City Athletics in 1960. However, Charlie Finley purchased the A’s in 1961 and the next season a group of African-American and dark-skinned Hispanic players were added to the roster: Ed Charles, John Wyatt, Jose Tartabull, Diego Segui, Orlando Pena, and Manny Jimenez. A contact left-handed hitting outfielder, Jimenez came from San Pedro de Marcois in the Dominican Republic; the first of many Major League players that would come from that city. The list of players that would follow includes former Major Leaguers Sammy Sosa, Joaquin Andujar, Rico Carty, Alfonso Soriano, Pedro Guerrero, Tony Fernandez, and George Bell in addition to current active players Johnny Cueto and Robinson Cano.
Jimenez started the 1962 season with a hot bat, hitting .351 by the All-Star break. But Finley believed due to his physical stature, 6’1” and 185 pounds, Jimenez should hit with more home run power. Saying he did not pay him to hit singles, Finley ordered Jimenez to swing harder to hit more home runs. Altering his swing, the outfielder experienced a batting slump the remainder of the season. Although he finished with a .301 batting average, Jimenez never again consistently regained the swing he had earlier that season. He had three injury-prone more seasons with the A’s and three as a pinch hitter in the National League before retiring in 1969.
Manny Jimenez
Jim Bunning and Frank Lary
Teammates with the Detroit Tigers from 1955 – 1963, Bunning, who died May 26, and Lary, who died on December 13, were both All-Star pitchers. The Tigers were the next to last franchise to add African-American and dark-skinned Hispanic players; the team’s first being Ozzie Virgil in 1958. The Boston Red Sox, the last team to integrate, added Elijah “Pumpsie” Green the next year.
Frank Lary
From 1949 – 1964 the New York Yankees won the American League pennant every year but two; 1954 and 1959. With me being a young baseball fan in Kansas City, an American League city, you can understand how I became a “Yankee hater”. I rooted for any team who had the potential to beat the Yankees and surprisingly the Tigers in 1961 came close to doing it.
Detroit finished the 1960 season in 6th place (71 – 83), with the high point acquiring 1959 American League home run co-champion Rocky Colavito from the Cleveland Indians in a trade. He would be a factor in the team’s dramatic turn around in 1961. Colavito with 45, first baseman Norm Cash with 41, and future Hall of Fame outfielder Al Kaline with 19 combined for 105 home runs. The Tigers added more color to the line-up that season. Billy Bruton, a trade acquisition from the Milwaukee Braves, played centerfield. Starting shortstop Chico Fernandez had come over from the Philadelphia Phillies the previous year. Jake Wood, the first African-American to work through the Tigers’ farm system and earn a starting position on the team, played second base.
The pitching staff, led by Jim Bunning and Frank Lary, had a huge role in the team’s success in 1961. At that time, both had been mainstays of the starting rotation for years: Bunning winning 62 games since 1957 and Lary 94 since 1955. In the midst of what would be a 28 – 13 lifetime record against New York, Lary had been given the moniker “Yankee Killer” by the sports media. The number three spot in the Tiger’s pitching rotation went to Don Mossi, a seven-year veteran of American League campaigns. Combined the three won 53 games that season; Lary 23, Bunning 17, and Mossi 15.
Jim Bunning
The defending American League champion Yankees had a powerful hitting line-up in 1961 led by Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle. They pursued the single season home run record of 60 held by Babe Ruth. Maris broke it with 61, while Mantle finished with 54. However, on July 24 the Tigers were in first place by one game ahead of the Yankees. Detroit certainly had my hopes raised high.
On September 1, the Tigers went to Yankee Stadium for a three game weekend series in second place trailing New York by only 1.5 games. However, Detroit lost all three games and ended the in season in a tailspin. They lost 14 of their last 29 games, finishing in second place with a 101 – 61, 8 games behind the Yankees.
Never again having his 1961 form due to shoulder problems, Frank Lary won only nine more games the final years (1962 – 65) of his career. The Tigers traded him to the New York Mets after the 1963 season.
Around the same time, the team traded Jim Bunning to the Philadelphia Phillies. He won 106 games the final years of his career (1964 – 71) in the National League. After baseball, he became a six-term US Congressman and two-term US Senator from his home state of Kentucky. In 1991, Bunning was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies on June 21, 1964, Jim Bunning pitched a perfect game against the New York Mets. His former Detroit Tiger teammate Frank Lary looked on from the Mets’ bullpen that day. Lary may not have been surprised at the pitching mastery shown by Bunning. He had seen it numerous times in their nine years together with the Tigers.
Posted in: Kevin L. Mitchell | Tagged: Baseball History, Detroit Tigers, Frank Lary, Jim Bunning, Kansas City A's, Manny Jimenez
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Risk quotes
“Hadn’t I always thought that life was just one great risk?” Maya Angelou, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” - 1969
“Every man has a right to risk his own life in order to preserve it.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “The Social Contract” - 1762
“In the past... those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.” John F. Kennedy, “Inaugural Address” - 20 January 1961
“to confide a part of your soul to something that can think and move for itself is obviously a very risky business.” J. K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” - 2005
“No right way is easy in this rough world. We must risk our lives to save them.” John Muir, “Stickeen” - 1897
“It is impossible to win the great prizes of life without running risks, and the greatest of all prizes are those connected with the home.” Theodore Roosevelt, “Theodore Roosevelt; an Autobiography” - 1913
“He received no stars or bars, but he deserved them, for he cheerfully risked all he had, and life and love are very precious when both are in full bloom.” Louisa May Alcott, “Little Women” - 1868
“It has not been the path for the faint hearted, for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame, rather it has been the risk takers, the doers, the makers of things, some celebrated, but more often men and...” Barack Obama, “Inaugural Address” - 20 January 2009
“Hatred is blind, rage carries you away; and he who pours out vengeance runs the risk of tasting a bitter draught.” Alexandre Dumas, “The Count of Monte Cristo” - 1845
“If you are a risk-taker, then the art is to protect the downside.” Richard Branson, “Losing My Virginity” - 1998
“Throughout my business life I have always tried to keep on top of costs and protect the downside risk as much as possible. The Virgin Group has survived only because we have always kept tight control of our cash. But, likewise, I also know that...” Richard Branson, “Losing My Virginity” - 1998
“Two separate beings, placed in different situations, confronting each other in their freedom, and seeking the justification of existence through each other, will always live an adventure full of risks and promises.” Simone de Beauvoir, “The Second Sex” - 1949
“When a woman marries again, it is because she detested her first husband. When a man marries again, it is because he adored his first wife. Women try their luck; men risk theirs.” Oscar Wilde, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” - 1890
“Many people don’t allow themselves to love . . . because there are a lot of things at risk, a lot of future and a lot of past.” Paulo Coelho, “Veronika Decides to Die” - 1998
“Maybe people have to really suffer before they can risk doing what they love.” Chuck Palahniuk, “Diary” - 2003
“That's the good part of dying; when you've nothing to lose, you run any risk you want.” Ray Bradbury, “Fahrenheit 451” - 1953
“I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts.” Herman Melville, “Moby-Dick” - 1851
“don’t be over-wise; fling yourself straight into life, without deliberation; don’t be afraid—the flood will bear you to the bank and set you safe on your feet again.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “Crime and Punishment” - 1867
“Anyway, where’s the fun without a bit of risk?” J. K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” - 2000
life love freedom adventure trust marriage fear relationship revenge suffering power fun hate cost luck danger thought nature business action
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Inaugural Address (2)
Losing My Virginity (2)
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Moby-Dick (1)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1)
Stickeen (1)
Theodore Roosevelt; an Autobiography (1)
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The Count of Monte Cristo (1)
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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (1)
Crime and Punishment (1)
Veronika Decides to Die (1)
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Here’s an artist you should start getting to know: Zola Jesus. Hers is both an unusual story and yet a very thoroughly modern one. To make it short and sweet, she’s a child of Russian emigres, born Nika Danilova, raised in small-town Wisconsin, who started her musical career making tapes in her bedroom and posting them on the internet. She built an audience of fans who were entranced by her otherworldly voice and ice-witch aesthetic. She’s made five albums and still lives in Wisconsin. That’s a modern-day, internet-age ascent to… not exactly fame, but the kind of niche success that outlasts mere celebrity and allows for decades of artistic growth. In pre-internet times, weirdo artists had to built their weirdo careers by locating themselves in the kind of cultural centers where weird-taste having people gather, playing and touring incessantly, and hoping for a write-up in one of a handful of influential publications. Nowadays you can do those things without leaving the comfort of your home. Word of mouth is still word of mouth, though, and self-promotion is still work, so I’m not saying that bedroom artists who make it out of their bedrooms are less deserving of acclaim. It’s just that they’re less likely to die trying. Kids these days can just network and self-promote without having to step in bigger stars’ vomit in the back hallway of the CBGB.
December 5, 2018 ladygarfunkel 2011, Conatus, Zola Jesus
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Chris Petrovic
SVP, Corporate Strategy & Development, Zynga Inc.
Mr. Petrovic is a video games, tech and digital media veteran, with over 17 years of global experience in the sector. He currently serves as SVP and Head of Corporate & Business Development for Zynga, a leading developer of the world’s most popular social games that are played by millions of customers worldwide. Chris is responsible for driving the company’s growth through strategic M&A, partnerships and market expansion efforts, including Asia.
Prior to joining Zynga, Chris served as SVP and Head of Corporate Strategy & Development at Kabam, another leading mobile gaming company. During his time at Kabam, he led Kabam’s international growth strategy efforts, with a particular focus on Asia, and also was responsible for a number of key licensing deals with Disney, Marvel, Warner Bros. and Lionsgate. In addition, Chris oversaw Kabam’s M&A activity as well as its 3rd party publishing business, which was sold to Chinese publisher Gaea Mobile.
Prior to Kabam, Petrovic served as the global GM of GameStop Digital Ventures, the digital strategy, corporate development and incubation arm for GameStop, the world’s largest provider of video game products and services. As a member of the company’s senior management team, Chris served as the principal leader of GameStop’s global digital strategy and was responsible for building on the company’s ongoing efforts to integrate digital initiatives and business lines into the company’s multi-channel strategy, as well as overseeing the development and execution of new organic growth and product development, acquisitions, strategic partnerships and investments. As a result of these efforts, digital revenues grew from $100MM to over $600MM during Petrovic’s tenure.
Prior to joining GameStop, Petrovic held senior level digital positions at Playboy, AG Interactive (a division of American Greetings), drkoop.com and theglobe.com. He began his career in the late 90’s as an entrepreneur, serving as the CEO of Internet start-up BannerGreetings.com. From there he went on to become COO of Buzztone.com, a leading interactive marketing agency, before joining Prime Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm based in Santa Monica, California.
Petrovic is a co-founder of an event called the Unlock Summit, an annual invite-only off-the-record event that brings together thought leaders from across the games industry: https://bit.ly/XMwJW5
In 2011, Petrovic was recognized as one of “25 Digital Entertainment Executives to Watch” by Digital Media Insider: https://bit.ly/YYfhxe
Petrovic continues to serve as a board member and advisor to a handful of early and growth stage companies, including Highwinds, PlayWire, Feed.fm and SEAL Innovation.
All session by Chris Petrovic
View from the Top: The State of the Game Industry
Disney and Glu Aim To Target Nostalgia Without Exploiting It https://t.co/3XFbryl8P9 https://t.co/UQdDHpQYg4 10 hours ago
Saban Music Group Launches With $500 Million Investment https://t.co/Lq2AmEw7fz https://t.co/keKrbDg0e3 11 hours ago
Netflix Shares Dive After Q2 Stumble: Just a Hiccup or Sign of Bigger Trouble? https://t.co/9zJ5Q7gXaM https://t.co/BZxTs0VqB0 12 hours ago
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Gen-X in a Millennial World: Chargers, city relationship like a bad marriage
in Columns, Featured, Gen-X in a Millennial World
Genevieve Suzuki
By Genevieve A. Suzuki
I don’t believe in staying with someone who has said repeatedly they don’t want you.
And while some couples may be saved by counseling and a whole lot of effort, it’s never good to remain in an unhealthy relationship.
Such is my take on the San Diego Chargers.
When my husband and I moved to San Diego, we were thrilled to live in a town with a professional football team. Having grown up in Hawaii, pro football games were reserved only for sporadic trips to the “mainland,” and only by happenstance as the trips would have to coincide with local games. As such, when we moved to San Diego, we were happy to become Bolts fans.
Years later, we are now looking at the very real prospect of becoming citizens in a town without a team. And while many diehard fans still believe there’s a chance of the Chargers staying around, I am over it.
By now we all know the Chargers are looking to build a $1.7 billion stadium in Carson, a suburb in Los Angeles. Perhaps the harshest thing about this – aside from the fact they’re moving from San Diego – is they’re looking to do this with the Oakland Raiders.
The Chargers getting into bed with the Raiders is like a guy sleeping with his wife’s frenemy. It sucks that he’s cheating – it’s even worse that it’s with her.
I’m not alone when I say the stories about San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s efforts to keep the Chargers in his city are wearing on me. At this point, there’s a growing sentiment of “If you want to go, go,” because, sadly, San Diego’s fight to keep the Chargers resembles the beginning of the end for a broken marriage.
First, let’s take a look at this relationship. The Chargers have been in San Diego for more than 50 years, making this a long-term relationship in California.
When dissolving a marriage such as this one, we have to consider the assets and obligations. Clearly we’re getting Qualcomm Stadium, an “asset” that needs some serious upgrades. As for obligations, we have none. Once these guys leave San Diego, they’re gone. My baby isn’t wearing a Chargers jersey nor are we rooting for the former home team.
Next is the saddest part of this whole mess – the kids, aka the players. As with any divorce, dealing with custody and visitation is extremely difficult. With so many players’ lives invested in San Diego, our town deserves visitation when it comes to the athletes that comprise the team. Take Philip Rivers – a Charger since the 2004 NFL draft. Rivers has led the team for almost 10 years. He has contributed time and money to San Diego organizations, including raising more than $1 million to help foster children through his now-defunct charity, Rivers of Hope.
Rivers will leave if the Chargers go. But, as with a child in the middle of a divorce, Rivers doesn’t seem to want it to be over. After rumors he may not leave with the team, he finally signed a contract extension. Nevertheless, Rivers was quoted in an nbcsandiego.com article as saying, “My lack of excitement was more about leaving this community, not a disdain for Los Angeles.” This sounds a lot like, “Dad, it’s not that I don’t love you. It’s that I love mom as well.”
If the Chargers go, they’ll regret it. Carson won’t have a San Diego kind of love for them, particularly if they’re sharing the attentions of a fickle Los Angeles. And when our Bolts realize they made a mistake, it may be too late. After all, once they leave, there’s nothing to keep another team from making its home in San Diego with a brand new stadium by the sea. Then, when they see the San Diego [insert new team here] living it up in America’s Finest City, they’ll remember the good times they threw away for big city dreams.
La Mesa Foothills Democratic Club: Issues, local and national candidates focus of next meeting
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Local artists to look out for at ArtWalk
in Arts & Entertainment, Featured, Features
By Margie Palmer
The 32nd annual Mission Federal ArtWalk will return to Little Italy on April 30 and May 1; as in previous years, the event will continue to celebrate San Diego’s rich arts and culture landscape. More than 300 fine artists, including La Mesa residents John Straub, Chris Schwimmer, Monique Straub and Stephen Fishwick will be showing and selling their work.
A close-up, enhanced image of a succulent by digital photographer John Straub (Courtesy of John Straub)
John Straub
Photographer John Straub has been telling stories through his camera lens for decades.
“[It] plays out because it’s all there, just waiting to be found, waiting to be experienced, waiting to be captured,” he said, adding that exploring, engaging and clicking allows him to take a scene and make it his own.
Although his original medium was film, Straub has since migrated to a digital format because it’s given him a way to advance his art.
“Today there are no barriers with what can be done on a computer; my camera is an amazing tool,” he said. “It’s a black box between me and the world that lets me translate what I see with my eye and feel in my soul when I finish making my image.”
A painting by artist Chris Schwimmer (Courtesy of Chris Schwimmer)
Chris Schwimmer
Abstract painter Chris Schwimmer said that while she didn’t officially become a full-time artist until about 10 years ago, her love of art has been with her since she was a child.
“I began dreaming of becoming an artist ever since my fifth-grade art teacher praised a piece of work I’d done in class,” she said.
Schwimmer, who was born and raised in Chicago, said that spending 30 years in such a multi-cultural metropolitan area definitely had an impact on her as an artist.
Another painting by artist Chris Schwimmer (Courtesy of Chris Schwimmer)
“Between the beauty, the grime and grit, the poorest to the richest, raw and refined, perfect yet imperfect, all of these influences are woven into the fabric of my art.”
Monique Straub
Painter Monique Straub said that it wasn’t until 2001, after half a lifetime of non-creative occupations, that she decided to take a risk and follow her dreams of becoming a full-time artist.
It all started with a vintage box of 300 Grumbacher soft pastels that were given to her by her father-in-law. Straub admits that she didn’t have any formal training and relied solely on “high school art lessons and a few pastel instruction books,” but she decided to run with it.
“Within the first year, I was entering the San Diego County Fair, local juried art shows, and [was] selling my work through a shared art studio at Spanish Village Art Center in Balboa Park,” she said. “I filled my days with experimentation and non-stop painting, and my unique style developed quickly. I believe my design and composition skills are attributed to having extensively studied photography in my younger years. I compose and photograph all of my own material, and paint from my photos in the studio every day.”
Stephen Fishwick
Stephen Fishwick best describes his painting style as Spontaneous Realism, as his style allows him to be free of the confinements of traditional techniques.
“I tend to use everything from brushes and sponges to forks, knives and spray bottles, to my bare hands,” he said. “My work has a chaotic-ness to it, but there is a bit of reality that I hope shines through.”
A portrait of The Beatles by artist Stephen Fishwick (Courtesy of Stephen Fishwick)
Fishwick, who has partnered with a number of corporate and professional clients including but not limited to the National Football League, Apple, Microsoft, Disney and the San Diego Padres, also has a deep-running philanthropic streak.
To date, he’s raised more than $1 million for different charities. “My goal is to have my artwork do something bigger than myself,” he said.
The 32nd annual Mission Federal ArtWalk will run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 30 and Sunday, May 1 and will feature professional artists from all throughout the region. The free, family-friendly event will not only include art, but also live musical performances, street food, interactive art activities and Kids Walk, which will offer a wide range of creative projects.
For more information on this year’s ArtWalk, visit artwalkSanDiego.org.
—Margie Palmer is a San Diego-based freelance writer who has been racking up bylines in a myriad of news publications for the past decade. Reach her at margiep@alumni.pitt.edu.
Going native
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Van Allen Belts
Study finds surprising variability in shape of Van Allen Belts
Understanding the shape and size of the belts, which shrink and swell in response to magnetic storms coming from the sun, is crucial for protecting our technology in space.
1. The traditional idea of the radiation belts includes a larger, more dynamic outer belt and a smaller, more stable inner belt with an empty slot region separating the two. However, a new study based on data from NASA’s Van Allen Probes shows that all three regions—the inner belt, slot region, and outer belt—can appear differently depending on the energy of electrons considered and general conditions in the magnetosphere. 2. At the highest electron energies measured—above 1 MeV—researchers saw electrons in the outer belt only. 3. The radiation belts look much different at the lowest electron energy levels measured, about 0.1 MeV. Here, the inner belt is much larger than in the traditional picture, expanding into the region that has long been considered part of the empty slot region. The outer belt is diminished and doesn’t expand as far in these lower electron energies. 4. During geomagnetic storms, the empty region between the two belts can fill in completely with lower-energy electrons. Traditionally, scientists thought this slot region filled in only during the most extreme geomagnetic storms happening about once every ten years. However, new data shows it’s not uncommon for lower-energy electrons—up to 0.8 MeV—to fill this space during almost all geomagnetic storms. Credit: NASA Goddard/Duberstein
Laura Mullane
“It’s like listening to different parts of a song,” said Reeves. “The bass line sounds different from the vocals, and the vocals are different from the drums, and so on.”
Findings could impact how we protect technology in space
LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Feb. 23, 2016—The shape of the two electron swarms 600 miles to more than 25,000 miles from the Earth’s surface, known as the Van Allen Belts, could be quite different than has been believed for decades, according to a new study of data from NASA’s Van Allen Probes that was released Friday in the Journal of Geophysical Research.
“The shape of the belts is actually quite different depending on what type of electron you’re looking at,” said Geoff Reeves of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Intelligence and Space Research Division and lead author on the study. “Electrons at different energy levels are distributed differently in these regions.”
Need to Know: Van Allen Belts
Understanding the shape and size of the belts, which shrink and swell in response to magnetic storms coming from the sun, is crucial for protecting our technology in space. The harsh radiation isn't good for satellite's health, so scientists want to know just which orbits could be jeopardized in different situations. Los Alamos has been studying space weather and its effects on national security satellites since the 1960s, when the U.S. launched the Vela satellites to support nuclear treaty verification.
Since scientists first began forming a picture of these rings of energetic particles in the 1950s, understanding of their shape has largely remained unchanged—a small, inner belt, a largely empty space known as the slot region, and then the outer belt, which is dominated by electrons and is larger and more dynamic than the others.
But this new analysis reveals that the shape varies from a single, continuous belt with no slot region, to a larger inner belt with a smaller outer belt, to no inner belt at all. Many of the differences are accounted for by considering electrons at different energy levels separately.
The authors of the study, from Los Alamos National Laboratory and the New Mexico Consortium, found that the inner belt—the smaller belt in the classic picture of the belts—is much larger than the outer belt when observing electrons with low energies, while the outer belt is larger when observing electrons at higher energies. At the very highest energies, the inner belt structure is missing completely. So, depending on what one focuses on, the radiation belts can appear to have very different structures simultaneously.
These structures are further altered by geomagnetic storms. When high-speed solar wind streams or coronal mass ejections—fast-moving magnetic material from the sun—collide with Earth’s magnetic field, they send it oscillating, creating a geomagnetic storm. Geomagnetic storms can increase or decrease the number of energetic electrons in the radiation belts for days to months, though the belts return to their normal configuration after a time.
These storm-driven electron increases and decreases are currently unpredictable, without a clear pattern showing what type or strength of storm will yield what outcomes. There’s a saying in the space physics community: if you’ve seen one geomagnetic storm, you’ve seen one geomagnetic storm. But, it turns out, those observations have largely been based on electrons at only a few energy levels.
“When we look across a broad range of energies, we start to see some consistencies in storm dynamics,” said Reeves. “The electron response at different energy levels differs in the details, but there is some common behavior. For example, we found that electrons fade from the slot regions quickly after a geomagnetic storm, but the location of the slot region depends on the energy of the electrons.”
Often, the outer electron belt expands inwards toward the inner belt during geomagnetic storms, completely filling in the slot region with lower-energy electrons and forming one huge radiation belt. At lower energies, the slot forms farther from Earth, producing an inner belt that is bigger than the outer belt. At higher energies, the slot forms closer to Earth, reversing the comparative sizes.
The twin Van Allen Probes satellites expand the range of energetic electron data we can capture. In addition to studying the extremely high-energy electrons—carrying millions of electron volts—that had been studied before, the Van Allen Probes can capture information on lower-energy electrons that contain only a few thousand electron volts. Additionally, the spacecraft measure radiation belt electrons at a greater number of distinct energies than was previously possible.
“Previous instruments would only measure five or ten energy levels at a time,” said Reeves. “But the Van Allen Probes measure hundreds.”
Measuring the flux of electrons at these lower energies has proved difficult in the past because of the presence of protons in the radiation belt regions closest to Earth. These protons shoot through particle detectors, creating a noisy background from which the true electron measurements needed to be picked out. But the higher-resolution Van Allen Probes data found that these lower-energy electrons circulate much closer to Earth than previously thought.
“Despite the proton noise, the Van Allen Probes can unambiguously identify the energies of the electrons they’re measuring,” said Reeves.
Precise observations like this, from hundreds of energy levels, rather than just a few, will allow scientists to create a more precise and rigorous model of what, exactly, is going on in the radiation belts, both during geomagnetic storms and during periods of relative calm.
“You can always tweak a few parameters of your theory to get it to match observations at two or three energy levels,” said Reeves. “But having observations at hundreds of energies constrain the theories you can match to observations.”
Los Alamos co-authors of the paper are Reiner Friedel, Brian Larsen, Ruth Skoug, and Herbert Funsten. The co-author from the New Mexico Consortium is Mick Denton. The higher energy electron data came from the Magnetic Electron Ion Spectrometer (MagEIS) built by The Aerospace Corp. The lower energy electron data come from the Helium Oxygen Proton Electron (HOPE) spectrometer, which was designed and built at Los Alamos. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., built and operates the Van Allen Probes for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. The mission is the second mission in NASA’s Living With a Star program, managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Native American Venture Acceleration Fund grants
Analyzing genetic tree sheds new light on disease outbreaks
Fossil analysis pushes back human split from other primates
Five Los Alamos scientists receive 2015 Fellows Prize
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Fall 2014 Newsletter (archive)
Volume 5, Number 1
Fall Spotlight: Luis Ricardo Fraga Joins ILS Faculty
We are pleased to announce that Luis Ricardo Fraga is the inaugural Arthur Foundation Endowed Professor of Transformative Latino Leadership at the Institute for Latino Studies and concurrent Professor of Political Science. Professor Fraga will oversee the Transformative Latino Leadership Lecture Series at the Institute. During the spring semester he will launch a new course entitled "Latinos in the Future of America: Building Transformative Leadership" that will be offered in conjunction with the Lecture Series.
Prior to his Fall 2014 appointment at Notre Dame, Fraga was Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement, Russell F. Stark University Professor, Director of the Diversity Research Institute, and Professor of Political Science at the University of Washington. He had the responsibility for developing strategies and policies with the Provost, Vice Provosts, Deans, and Department Chairs to recruit, promote, and retain faculty at the UW. He has been on the faculty at Stanford University, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Oklahoma. He is a native of Corpus Christi, Texas.
He received his A.B., cum laude, from Harvard University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Rice University. His primary interests are in American politics where he specializes in the politics of race and ethnicity, Latino politics, immigration policy, education politics, voting rights policy, and urban politics. His most recent co-authored book is Latinos in the New Millennium: An Almanac of Opinion, Behavior, and Policy Preferences (Cambridge University Press 2012). He has two other recent books: the co-authored Latino Lives in America: Making It Home (Temple University Press 2010) and United States Government: Principles in Practice (Holt McDougal 2010), a high school textbook. He has also published the co-authored book Multiethnic Moments: The Politics of Urban Education Reform (Temple University Press 2006). He was a member of the APSA standing committee on Civic Engagement and Education that co-authored Democracy at Risk: How Political Choices Undermine Citizen Participation, and What We Can Do About It (Brookings Institution Press 2005). He is also co-editor of Ethnic and Racial Minorities in Advanced Industrial Democracies (Greenwood 1992). He has published extensively in scholarly journals and edited volumes including the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, Perspectives on Politics, The Journal of Politics, Urban Affairs Quarterly, Western Political Quarterly, Dubois Review, Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, and the Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy. He is also completing the co-authored manuscript Invisible No More: Latino Identities in American Politics as well as The Changing Urban Regime: Toward an Informed Public Interest, a history of the political incorporation of Tejanos in San Antonio city politics from 1836-2009.
In 2011 President Barak Obama appointed him to the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. The Commission develops action plans and priorities for President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to improve the educational attainment of Hispanics. He is co-chair of the Higher Education Committee that organized a symposium in August 2012 entitled “Enriching America Through the 21st Century: Enhancing Latino Postsecondary Completion.” In 2011, Hispanic Business named him one of the top “100 Influentials” in the U.S. In 2013, Seattle Mayor Michael McGinn appointed him to the Immigrant Voting Rights Task Force where he serves as co-chair. He is the immediate past president of the Board of Directors of OneAmerica, an immigrant rights and advocacy organization based in Seattle, WA. In 2011 Archbishop Peter Sartain appointed him to the board of the Fulcrum Foundation that provides financial support to families and schools in the Archdiocese of Seattle. In 2008 he was appointed by Governor Christine Gregoire to serve on Washington’s New Americans Policy Council.
He is a past Vice-President of the American Political Science Association (APSA). He was also co-chair of the Presidential Task Force on Political Science in the 21st Century of the APSA. He was Secretary of the APSA in 2006-07. He served on the Executive Council of the APSA in 1998-2000. He served as president of the Western Political Science Association in 1997-98.
In 2003-04 he was a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, and in 1989-90 he was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University.
Fraga is also one of six principal investigators on the Latino National Survey (LNS), the first-ever state-stratified survey of Latinos in the U.S. The LNS asks questions regarding political attitudes, beliefs, behavior, and policy preferences. This project received $1.5M in support from major foundations and universities.
Fraga received a number of teaching, advising, mentoring, and service awards at Stanford including the Rhodes Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching (1993), the Dinkelspiel Award for Distinctive Contributions to Undergraduate Education (1995), the Allan V. Cox Medal for Faculty Excellence Fostering Undergraduate Research (1997), the Faculty Award from the Chicano/Latino Graduating Class (1993, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001), the Undergraduate Faculty Advisor of the Year Award (2001), and the Associated Students of Stanford University Teaching Award (2003). The Luis R. Fraga Fellowship was established in 2007 in his honor through the Haas Center for Public Service at Stanford University. He was also given the Adaljiza Sosa-Riddell Award for Exemplary Mentoring of Graduate Latina/o Students by the Committee on the Status of Latinos in the Profession of the American Political Science Association (2001) and this same award for mentoring junior faculty (2004). In 2010 he received an award from the Graduate School of the University of Washington for exemplary advocacy and leadership on behalf of graduate education. He was recognized as one of the Champions of Catholic Education in 2012 for his work to establish the first Spanish-English, two-way immersion school in the Seattle Archdiocese, the Juan Diego Academy at Holy Rosary School in Tacoma, WA. In 2013 he was the first recipient of the Juan Diego Award.
ILS Welcomes Professors Amezcua and Chávez
The Institute is also pleased to welcome to our faculty Professors Mike Amezcua and Alex E. Chávez.
Mike Amezcua, History, specializes in the fields of Latina/o history, U.S. urban history, and comparative race relations. His research is driven by an exploration of the intersections of race, culture, immigration, and metropolitan transformation. A native of Los Angeles, he earned his PhD at Yale University (2011) and received his undergraduate education from UCLA (2004). He is currently at work on a book entitled The Second City Anew: Mexicans, Urban Culture, and Migration in the Transformation of Chicago, 1940-1986. The book examines Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans as they encountered, responded to, and helped shape Chicago’s midcentury modernity in its various forms: racial formations, spatial change, and cultural practices. He is the recipient of numerous research and teaching awards from Northwestern, the University of Illinois, the University of California San Diego, the National Museum of American History, and Yale. When not teaching or doing research, Dr. Amezcua, an avid music fan, enjoys visiting local record stores and adding to his ever-growing vinyl collection.
Alex E. Chávez, Anthropology, earned his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin with a concentration in folklore and public culture and also holds doctoral portfolios in both Mexican American Studies and Cultural Studies. Centered around the US-Mexico Borderlands and Latinas/os in the United States, Chavez’s research and teaching interests explore the innermost workings of transnational migration, embodiment, place-making, and everyday life as manifest in political economies of performance with particular emphasis on music and language. His most immediate research project was a multi-sited ethnographic study of the performance of huapango arribeño music among transnational Mexican migrants in both the United States and Mexico. With the support of the National Science Foundation and the Ford Foundation, this work forms the basis of his book manuscript, ¡Huapango!: Mexican Music, Bordered Lives, and the Sounds of Crossing. In collaboration with Daniel Sheehy—Director and Curator of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings—he is currently lead consultant for a Folkways recording of huapango arribeño for inclusion in the world-renowned Tradiciones music series, lending an anthropological perspective on this music to a broader audience. In a similar capacity, he also serves as co-contributing editor of the Association of Latina and Latino Anthropologists column in Anthropology News, helping anthropological research focused on U.S. Latinas/os communities to reach a wider public. He has published in the Latin American Music Review and has contributed to Celebrating Latino Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Cultural Traditions (2012), Icons of Mexico (forthcoming), Latino, American, Dream (forthcoming), in addition to Con La Música a Otra Parte: Migración e Identidad en La Lírica Queretana (2010) published with the support of the Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes in Mexico.
Professors Pensado and Ramírez Earn Tenure
Two ILS faculty members were up for promotion this year and both earned their tenure in their respective departments. Jaime Pensado is the Carl E. Koch Associate Professor of History. He specializes in modern Mexican history with a particular emphasis on student politics, youth culture, and the Cold War. He is the author Rebel Mexico: Student Unrest and Authoritarian Political Culture during the Long Sixties (Stanford University Press, 2013). Ricardo Ramírez is an Associate Professor of Political Science whose scholarly interests include political behavior, state and local politics, race and ethnicity, and immigration. His recent book is Mobilizing Opportunities: The Evolving Latino Electorate and the Future of American Politics (University of Virginia Press, 2013). We congratulate our colleagues on this milestone in their academic careers.
Afro-Latino Conference
ILS faculty fellow and sociology faculty member Jennifer Jones will convene a conference on Afro-Latinos in Movement: Critical Approaches to Blackness and Transnationalism in the Americas on October 31. Speakers for this national conference include Alejandro de la Fuente (Director, Afro-Latin American Research Institute, Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, Harvard University), and Miriam Jiménez Román and Juan Flores (editors of The Afro-Latin@ Reader: History and Culture in the United States and leaders of the Afrolatin@ Forum). The conference will be at Remick Commons in Carol Sandner Hall on Friday, October 31 from 8:45 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Further information and full conference schedule and registration link are available at http://latinostudies.nd.edu/news-events/events/2014/10/31/28458-afro-latino-conference/.
ILS Mourns Loss of Beloved Advisory Council Member Olga Villa-Parra
It is with a heavy heart that the Institute for Latino Studies pays tribute to this phenomenal community leader. Olga will be long remembered for her roles as former director of both the Midwest Council of La Raza and later the Midwest Hispanic Catholic Commission based at the University of Notre Dame. The Institute for Latino Studies was privileged to have her serve as an Advisory Council member, 2001-2010. Our most sincere condolences to her husband Ricardo, her other loved ones, and her close circle of friends.
We are delighted to announce the launch of our new website. Keep up with our latest news and events at latinostudies.nd.edu/.
Call for Applications, Young Scholars Symposium
The Institute is pleased to announce our annual Virgilio Elizondo Distinguished Visiting Professorship named for our esteemed senior ILS colleague, the eminent theologian, Fr. Virgilio Elizondo. Our visiting professor for this year is Dr. Davíd Carrasco, the Neil L. Rudenstine Professor of the Study of Latin America, Harvard Divinity School, joint appointment with the Department of Anthropology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University.
Professor Carrasco’s activities on the Notre Dame campus will include a symposium for advanced doctoral students and pre-tenured professors. We seek applications from young scholars who are working on a dissertation, a book, or another research project related to the study of U.S. Latina and Latino populations. Successful nominees will attend Professor Carrasco’s public lecture and participate in a symposium at which they will present a dissertation chapter or essay draft for discussion with Professor Carrasco and ILS faculty fellows. ILS will cover all expenses and offer an honorarium of $500 to each young scholar selected to participate in these events, which will take place April 9-10, 2015 at the University of Notre Dame.
Applicants are asked to submit a CV, one letter of recommendation, and a brief (2 pages or less) application letter that presents (a) a general summary of your dissertation project and/or overall research agenda, (b) a précis of your proposed chapter or essay submission for the symposium, (c) a statement of your progress to date on the overall project and on the proposed chapter or essay submission, and (d) a statement of how specifically Professor Carrasco’s expertise and mentorship will enhance your research. Please submit your application materials no later than January 15, 2015 to latino@nd.edu.
Professor Jennifer Lee Presents to Latino Studies Seminar
Professor Jennifer Lee, Department of Sociology, University of California Irvine, presented her research to the Latino Studies Seminar on September 22. Her talk, “Reframing Culture and Success: Why Mexicans are the Most Successful Immigrants in America,” drew on research from her forthcoming book on this topic. She addressed issues of how one defines success, including her insightful observation that most studies examine the end result of a person’s trajectory rather than their starting point. Thus she asked whether a person with a college degree whose parents both had graduate degrees actually achieved greater “success” than a counterpart who earned an associate degree but whose parents never finished high school. Professor Lee attracted a large group of faculty and students who engaged her in fundamental questions of how one measures success in the lives of immigrants and their descendants, and the implications of how one measures success for public policy and other initiatives. This event was cosponsored by the Mexico Working Group of the Kellogg Institute for International Studies.
ILS in the University News
Father Gutierrez to Receive 2014 Gittler Prize
National Poetry Prize Winner to Read at Notre Dame
Theology Professor Awarded for Social Justice Work
Theology Professors Receive Catholic Press Association awards
Theology Professor Awarded Two Prestigious Research Grants
Video: Peter Casarella on the Future of Latino Theology
Art Exhibit Brings Notre Dame Literary Initiative to Sacramento, CA
Faculty Accomplishments and Activities
Francisco Aragón, ILS Letras Latinas, has organized a visit of creative writers to three Latino studies classes during the fall term. Paul Martínez Pompa will speak at Aragón’s “Latino/a Poetry Now” class on October 29; Marcelo Hernández Castillo will visit Marisel Moreno’s “Migrant Voices” class on November 4; and Reyna Grande will present to Karen Richman’s “Mexican Immigration: South Bend Case Study” class on November 6.
Alex E. Chávez, Anthropology, won a Course Development Grant for his College Seminar course on "American Borderlands." He also won a Teaching Beyond the Classroom grant which enabled him to include in his Seminar a workshop and visit with acclaimed poet Roger Reeves. Over the summer, he finished co-producing a Smithsonian Folkways recording of Guillermo Velázquez y Los Leones de la Sierra de Xichú for inclusion in the world-renowned Tradiciones series.
Luis Fraga, Arthur Foundation Endowed Professor of Transformative Latino Leadership at ILS and concurrent Professor of Political Science, co-chaired the symposium “Postsecondary Access and Completion for All: Latina/os in America’s Future” as a member of the Postsecondary Education Subcommittee of the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. The June 9-10 symposium was held at the Roosevelt House in New York City and convened 100 invited participants, including keynote speaker Undersecretary Ted Mitchell of the Department of Education.
Rev. Daniel G. Groody, CSC, Theology, and Rev. Gustavo Gutiérrez, OP, Theology, received a Catholic Press Association book award in the social teaching category for their coedited volume The Preferential Option for the Poor beyond Theology.
Timothy Matovina, Theology, was a finalist for the 2014 Excellence in Publishing Award of the Association of Catholic Publishers. The honor was for his book Latino Catholicism: Transformation in America’s Largest Church. He also won a Catholic Press Association Award for best feature article in a scholarly magazine for his essay “The First Guadalupan Pastoral Manual: Luis Laso de la Vega’s Huei tlamahuiçoltica (1649).” Finally, Notre Dame president Father John Jenkins, CSC presented him the Rev. William A. Toohey, CSC Award for Social Justice at the annual university faculty dinner.
Orlando Menes, English, had his poetry manuscript Heresies chosen as a finalist for the National Poetry Series. Publication is set for 2015 with the University of New Mexico Press.
Francisco Aragón, ILS Letras Latinas. “January 21, 2013.” Poem published in MiPoesías, Summer, 2014. “Academia Escolar” and “Gloria’s.” Poems published in Great River Review, Spring 2014.
Francisco Aragón, ILS Letras Latinas, “Etched in Glass: Remembering Jack Walsh.” Essay published in Origins (online), Fall 2014.
Francisco Aragón, ILS Letras Latinas, “Poem as Prism.” Review of Orlando Ricardo Menes’ poetry collection, Fetish (University of Nebraska Press, 2013), in Notre Dame Review 38 (summer/fall 2014).
Virgilio Elizondo, Theology, and Timothy Matovina, Theology, eds. New Frontiers in Guadalupan Studies. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2014.
Timothy Matovina, Theology, “The Origins of the Guadalupe Tradition in Mexico” and “A Response to Stafford Poole.” Catholic Historical Review 100 Spring 2014: pp. 243-270, 284-291.
Timothy Matovina, Theology, “Building Bridges.” ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America 14 Fall 2014: pp. 102-104.
Marisel Moreno, Romance Languages and Literatures, “Reflections of a Puerto Rican Teaching US Latina/o Literature in the Midwest.” La Respuesta: A Magazine to (Re)Imagine the Boricua Diaspora 7 October 2014. At http://larespuestamedia.com/pr-teaching-literature/.
Karen Richman, Latino Studies, “Possession and Attachment: Notes on Moral Ritual Communication among Haitian Descent Groups.” In Spirited Things: The Work of "Possession" in Afro-Atlantic Religions (s). Paul C. Johnson, ed., pp. 207-223. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2014.
Karen Richman, Latino Studies, “The Impact of Collectivism on Savings Behavior: A Case Study of Mexican-Americans and non-Mexican Latinos.” With Joelle Saad-Lessler. Review of Economics of the Household. 2014.
Student Accomplishments and Activities
Víctor Carmona, Theology, successfully defended his doctoral dissertation, “Neither Slave nor Free: A Critique of U.S. Immigration Policy in Light of the Work of David Hollenbach, Gustavo Gutiérrez, and Thomas Aquinas.” Dr. Carmona has joined the faculty of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, where he teaches moral theology and Christian ethics.
Justin Sena ‘14 was the editor-in-chief of Beyond Politics, an annual student publication highlighting outstanding undergraduate political science scholarship at the University of Notre Dame.
Congratulations to our graduates in the class of 2014:
Adriana Camacho: major in Political Science and supplemental major in Latino Studies. After graduation she joined the Mexican National Fencing Team.
Victor Manuel Cruz: major in Anthropology and a supplemental major in Latino Studies. He is an account executive at SoCal Office Technologies.
Maggie Duffy: major in Anthropology, a supplemental major in Latino Studies, and minor in Peace Studies. Maggie wrote her thesis in Latino Studies on the changing roles and images of the coyote on both sides of the border. She is a field organizer for Battleground Texas.
Lindsay Rojas: major in Psychology and a supplemental major in Latino Studies. She is now a graduate student in Canine Life Sciences at Bergin University.
Katelyn Campbell: major in science pre-professional studies and minors in Africana Studies and Latino Studies. She is a graduate student in the Master of Science in Global Health program of Notre Dame’s Eck Institute.
Jordan Lange: major in Information Technology Management in the College of Business and a minor in Latino Studies. Jordan is an IT consultant with Grant Thornton, LLP, a leading audit, tax, and advisory firm in Chicago.
Chelsea Lehman was a student in the Glynn Family Honors Program and a Hesburgh-Yusko scholar. She completed a major in Anthropology, a supplemental degree in pre-health, and a thesis in Latino Studies, which examined how the Affordable Care Act is likely to affect Latino health in the United States. She is in medical school at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, which has special opportunities for doing medical rotations in their secondary health science center in Harlingen near the U.S.-Mexican border.
Lauren McGrath: major in American Studies and a minor in Latino Studies. Lauren is doing a year of service as an ESL Teacher at Hua Hin Salesian School in Thailand.
Grace Parsons: major in Anthropology, a supplemental major in Pre-Health Studies, and a minor in Latino Studies. Grace is teaching English and serving a community on the Northern coast of the Dominican Republic.
Justin Sena: double major in Political Science and Theology and a minor in Medieval Studies. Justin was a research assistant and academic affairs assistant for three years in the Institute for Latino Studies. He is a graduate student in political science at the University of Chicago.
ILS Faculty & Graduate Student Reception: Welcome event for our new graduate students and new faculty members Mike Amezcua, Alex Chávez, and Luis Fraga. August 27.
Letras Latinas/Red Hen Poetry Reading: Dan Vera, author of Speaking Wiri Wiri. September 10.
Latino Studies Seminar: Jennifer Lee, Professor of Sociology, University of California Irvine, “Reframing Culture and Success: Why Mexicans are the Most Successful Immigrants in America.” September 22. Cosponsored by the Mexico Working Group.
Panel Presentation: Isabel Valenzuela and Tony Nelson, Centro Autónomo, Chicago, “We Question While We Walk: Building Community through Popular Education in Albany Park, Chicago.” October 6.
Latino Studies Seminar: Lindsey Passenger Wieck, PhD student, History, “Lattes, Skyscrapers, and Comunidad: Fighting for Space and Safety in Postwar San Francisco.” October 8.
Letras Latinas Workshop and Poetry Reading: Pintura: Palabra poetry workshop and post-workshop reading featuring 18 poets. Facilitated by noted poet and educator, Francisco X. Alarcón. Sacramento, California. October 11-12. Convened in tandem with the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s traveling exhibit, “Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art.”
Día de los Muertos Celebration: “Remembering the Undocumented across the Rio Grande.” Altar created by noted artist Sandra Fernandez. Opening reception and altar dedication. Notre Dame Center for Arts and Culture, Thursday, October 30, 5:00-7:00 p.m.
Día de los Muertos Lecture: Professor Sandra Fernandez, University of Texas at Austin. Annenberg Auditorium, Snite Museum of Art, Friday, October 31, 4:00 p.m.
Conference: Afro-Latinos in Movement: Critical Approaches to Blackness and Transnationalism in the Americas. October 31. For further information, see related story above.
Latino Studies Seminar: Amy Langenkamp, O’Shaughnessy Assistant Professor Chair of Educational Studies, Sociology, “Latinos’ Transition to College: How Families and Schools Are Sculpting the Next American Generation.” 112-114 McKenna Hall, Tuesday, November 4, 12:30.
Extended Study Hours: ILS will host extended study hours in the Julian Samora Library (204 McKenna Hall) during final examinations. Free snacks and drinks will be provided. 204 McKenna Hall, Friday, December 12 & Monday-Friday, December 15-19.
Latino Studies Seminar: Mike Amezcua, Assistant Professor, History, “The Second City Anew: Mexicans, Urban Culture, and Migration in the Transformation of Chicago, 1940-1986.” 112-114 McKenna Hall, Wednesday, January 28, 12:00 noon. Cosponsored by the Mexico Working Group.
Latino Studies Seminar: Jason Ruiz, Assistant Professor, American Studies, “Searching for Mañana: A Century of American Re-Creationism in Mexico.” 112-114 McKenna Hall, Tuesday, February 10, 12:30. Cosponsored by the Mexico Working Group.
Virgilio Elizondo Distinguished Visiting Professor: Davíd Carrasco, Neil L. Rudenstine Professor of the Study of Latin America, Harvard Divinity School, joint appointment with the Department of Anthropology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University. Professor Carrasco will lead the ILS Young Scholars Symposium April 9-10 and present a public lecture on Thursday, April 9 at 4:00 p.m.
Young Scholars Symposium: April 9-10. See call for applications to young scholars in Latino studies in related story above.
IUPLR Siglo XXI Conference: “Intra-Latinos/as: Entre Latinos/as: Reconceptualizing Nations, Regions, and Disciplines.” April 23-25, 2015, Notre Dame Conference Center. ILS will host the fifth biennial conference of the Inter-University Program for Latino Research (IUPLR). Full program TBA.
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Home Securities Law Oklahoma
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Mack Kelly Martin
Oklahoma City, OK Securities Law Attorney with 40 years experience
(405) 236-8888 Oklahoma City, OK 73102
Free ConsultationSecurities, Antitrust, Criminal Defense and White Collar Crime
Oklahoma City University School of Law
Mack K. Martin's entire career has specialized in criminal defense. He's represented clients and tried cases throughout the State of Oklahoma. Mr. Martin has likewise represented clients throughout the United States, including: California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Texas and Washington, D. C. in State and Federal Courts.
His recognitions and awards include: (1) Oklahoma Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Association Lord Erskine Lifetime Achievement Award in Criminal Defense, 2000; (2) Outstanding Law Review Alumni Award, Oklahoma City University School of Law,...
A Ainslie Stanford II
Edmond, OK Securities Law Attorney with 19 years experience
(405) 285-8588 171 Stonebridge Blvd
Securities, Arbitration & Mediation, Business and Stockbroker Fraud
Ainslie's practice focuses on representing and serving his clients in litigated matters. He has broad litigation experience and has tried numerous cases to verdict in both jury and non-jury cases. Ainslie's background provides him with a unique blend of both government and civil litigation experience. The first six years of his legal career were spent in the Oklahoma County District Attorney's Office, where he successfully tried more than 30 jury trials to verdict. In addition to his state and federal court litigation experience, he has successfully represented clients in arbitration hearings across the country, ranging from multinational...
The OneCLE Lawyer Directory contains lawyers who have claimed their profiles and are actively seeking clients. Find more Oklahoma Securities Lawyers in the Justia Legal Services and Lawyers Directory which includes profiles of more than one million lawyers licensed to practice in the United States, in addition to profiles of legal aid, pro bono and legal service organizations.
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Las Vegas, Nevada – An Altercation at The Stateside Lounge Led to a Shooting at Nearby Sinclair Gas Station
A fight that led to a shooting outside of the Stateside Lounge left 1 person dead and another injured in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Police Are Investigating a Shooting That Killed 1 Person and Injured Another in Las Vegas
It was around 4 a.m. on Saturday when a fight broke out inside of The Stateside Lounge on 931 Las Vegas Blvd North. The altercation escalated and moved to the parking lot of the lounge which is connected to a Sinclair Gas Station, according to KTNV Las Vegas.
Then the two men fighting outside of the gas station exchanged gunfire. One of them was shot and killed. The suspect fled the scene, leaving the wounded man in the parking lot. No arrests have been made.
Prior History of Violent Crime in The Same Parking Lot
According to the Las Vegas Review Journal there have been 3 homicides in the same business complex parking lot just in this year. In March a man tried to steal a beer from the gas station when he was shot and killed by one of the employees. Again in March, a man was found stabbed to death in the parking lot between the gas station and the bar.
If you or a loved one were injured or killed in this incident or a similar incident, I would be happy to speak with you and discuss your options.
Call the number below. It would be my honor to help you. Consultations are free.
Legal Options For Parking Lot Shooting Victims and Their Families
Attorney contributor Brian Kent of CrimeVictim.Attorney represents victims of parking lot shootings in civil lawsuits. Mr. Kent shares his thoughts on the legal options open to these victims.
“All commercial property owners must fulfill their important legal duty of ensuring the safety of their patrons and employees. Property owners of places such as parking lots and bars must provide adequate security measures to anyone that visits their premises in order to prevent any injuries or deaths. However, property owners only have the responsibility of preventing reasonably foreseeable crimes. A crime may be deemed reasonably foreseeable if a parking lot had a history of criminal violence and the security measures were not improved”, said Mr. Kent.
He continued by explaining, “If a restaurant owner fails to provide adequate security and a violent crime like a shooting does occur due to their negligence, then the owner may be held partially liable. However, the victim’s lawyer must prove that the crime was also reasonably foreseeable. If the incident is proven to be caused by negligent security and deemed reasonably foreseeable, then victims may have grounds for a lawsuit.”
If you or a loved one has been a victim to a parking lot shooting, you can learn more about your legal options by reviewing your case with a crime victim attorney.
Location of The Stateside Lounge in Las Vegas, NV
News Coverage From KTNV Las Vegas
https://www.ktnv.com/news/crime/man-killed-at-gas-station-where-clerk-shot-man-a-few-months-ago
https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/homicides/coroners-office-ids-man-killed-saturday-outside-las-vegas-bar-1694107/
About Joe LaFrance
Joe is a content writer with a focus on the legal field. He covers cases of sexual abuse, drunk driving, and preventable violent crime for the Legal Herald.
Contact Joe: [email protected]
Mukwonago, Wisconsin – Woman Stabs Man At North Star Shell Gas Station - July 18, 2019
Chattanooga, Tennessee – 2 Hospitalized And 1 Dead After Shooting At Douglas Heights Apartment Building - July 18, 2019
Orange County, California – Caregiver & Massage Therapist Russell Bernardino Accused of Sexually Assaulting 3 Clients - July 18, 2019
By Joe LaFrance|2019-06-25T18:38:39-04:00June 25th, 2019|Shooting or Stabbing Victim - Lawyer Commentary|0 Comments
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A Sign for the Times … June 1, 2013
This is my last night in Shreveport. I had fun this week, not only interacting with new folks, but also walking down Memory Lane, as it were, without tripping up too many times with my veracity or recollections.
But one thing that tickled my soul earlier today was recalling when we made a decision thirty-two years ago, to take our little Artist’s Haven, which was meeting at the museum, and place it in a more centrally located building in town. We decided to rent an H&R Block store, which was on hiatus since tax time was all finished and there was no more need to drain finance off the common man.
It was a small place. They said it was 750 square feet, but I’m sure that included the roof. I jokingly told the real estate agent that we were a fellowship of creative Christian musicians and writers, so we thought it was quite apropos to have our gathering place in a building of tax collectors. I don’t know whether the joke escaped his Biblical purview or if he thought it was in poor taste, but I moved on quickly, signed the lease and set up shop with our little entourage in the enclosure.
We were young and adventurous, so we decided we wanted a really cool sign outside to advertise that something different was happening in town–and it was happening right here. We got permission to remove the H&R Block logo from the lighted pole, and we purchased some white, shiny plywood that was the perfect width to slide into the slot for illumination. Little did we know that cutting out the letters to spell “The Haven” was going to be an arduous task, demanding several different kinds of saws (of which I had no acquaintance).
After about four or five days of being in a perpetual state of disappointment and exhaustion, we actually completed the sign, climbed up on two rickety ladders and were delighted beyond our wildest dreams when it slid down through the gap, into its place of rest.
That evening when we turned on the light, the sign was so bright that you could see it for blocks. Matter of fact, we had hoped to get recognition in the Shreveport Times for having such an attractive sign–but unfortunately, only received a story in the Gazette about people complaining because they nearly crashed from being blinded by the light.
It was so audacious that some of the religious folk thought we were a Satanic cult because they mistook the word “Haven” for coven. (As you may have heard, there is no IQ test involved in church membership.)
We didn’t care. The first night the sign was lit, I drove by it at least thirty-five times, reveling in the beauty of the symbolism of being a “city set on a hill for all to see.” After a while, as things often do, all the furor about the sign disappeared and it was just another message in the night.
But I was always thrilled when I saw it–partly because it was so difficult to make that it reminded me of the Pyramids, but mostly because a handful of simple, young people got together and did something in unity–for no other reason than just trying to bless and enlighten their world.
Jonathan’s thinking–every day–in a sentence or two …
Jonathots, Jr.!
https://jonathots.wordpress.com/jonathots-jr/
Please contact Jonathan’s agent, Jackie Barnett, at (615) 481-1474, for information about personal appearances or scheduling an event
on June 1, 2013 at 3:57 am Leave a Comment
Tags: adventurous, Artist's Haven, audacious, Biblical, coven, Finance, H&R Block store, IQ test, Jonathan's thoughts, ladders, lease, logo, museum, musicians, Pyramids, recollections, roof, Satanic cult, Shreveport, sign, tax collectors, The Haven, veracity, world
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Joy Ladin
Links to Trans-Related Sites
Overview of My Work
Poems Online
Positions and Awards
Recent Presentations
Trans and Jewish Identity
Trans Theology
Transgender Studies
I am a teacher, widely published essayist and poet, literary scholar, and nationally known speaker on transgender issues. (My TEDx talk, “Ain’t I a Woman?”, can be viewed here.)
I am the author of eleven books, including 2018’s The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective (Brandeis UP), a finalist for both a Lambda Literary Award and Triangle Award that received a starred review in Publishers Weekly; Through the Door of Life, a memoir of gender transition that was a finalist for a National Jewish Book Award and winner of a Forward Fives Award; and nine books of poetry, including last year’s The Future is Trying to Tell Us Something: New and Selected Poems (Sheep Meadow Press) and Fireworks in the Graveyard (Headmistress Press), Forward Fives award winner Coming to Life, and two Lambda Literary Award finalists, Transmigration and Impersonation. I have been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts writing fellowship and a Hadassah Brandeis Institute Research fellowship. (You can hear me reading poetry at Poets House in NYC in summer 2018 here – my part begins around minute 56 – and a poetry reading I did for high school students at Westminster School in Simsbury, CT here – my part starts around minute 6.)
I hold a Ph.D. in American Literature from Princeton University, where I was awarded the Porter Ogden Jacobus Fellowship as top graduate student in the Humanities, an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Massachusetts (Amherst), and a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College. Since 2003, I have held the David and Ruth Gottesman Chair in English at Stern College of Yeshiva University. My scholarly work has been supported by a Fulbright Scholarship and an American Council of Learned Societies Research Fellowship. (You can find links to my dissertation, “Soldering the Abyss: Emily Dickinson and Modern American Poetry,” as well as essays on poetry and transgender issues on my page on Academia.edu.)
Since coming out as transgender in 2008, I have become a nationally recognized speaker on transgender issues. I have been featured in many National Public Radio interviews, most notably “On Being with Krista Tippett,” which has been rebroadcast twice, as well as numerous interviews and profiles in numerous publications.
I have given invited talks and readings at many universities and colleges, including Harvard, Columbia, Princeton, Boston University, George Washington University, the University of Arizona, the University of Connecticut, the University of San Francisco, Mount Holyoke College, and Smith College. (Here is a link to a talk I gave at Hebrew College: docs.google.com/file/d/0Bz2ZlrMDNbY1Z0p5Wm1vWVA1ams/edit.)
I have also been a featured speaker outside academia, including delivering keynote talks at the 21st World Congress of LGBT Jews, and the 2015 Asanbe Diversity Symposium at Austin Peay State University. I have spoken to dozens of Jewish communities around the country, and served as scholar-in-residence at a number of synagogues. I am a member of the Board of Keshet, a national organization devoted to full inclusion of LGBTQ Jews in the Jewish world.
Please contact me at joyladin@gmail.com if you are interested in engaging me as a speaker. For details about and examples of my work, please click on the relevant tabs.
ViviLnk
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Dr. Aili Bresnahan
October 19, 2018 November 20, 2018 by Glenn Zucman
Glenn Zucman
Assistant Professor of Philosophy & Humanities Commons Coordinator
at the University of Dayton Arts & Sciences/Dayton/Ohio (2012-present)
Ph.D., Philosophy/Temple University/Philadelphia/Pennsylvania
J.D., Law/Georgetown University Law Center/Washington, D. C.
B.A., Philosophy/Columbia University/New York City/New York
NOTE: Click on the aqua colored (this color) hyperlinks or a book cover/logo for more information about that item.
American Pragmatism
Appreciation in the performing arts
Intentional action
Philosophy of law and culture as it pertains to the arts
Specializing in Aesthetics, particularly in contemporary philosophy of art, including dance, theatre and performance.
Assistant Professor, College of the Arts: Philosophy department, University of Dayton (UD), Dayton, Ohio (2012-present)
Humanities Commons Coordinator of the University of Dayton
UD Philosophy Department Advisory committee member
CAS Prelaw committee
Served as Vice-Chair for the Diversity Committee of the American Society for Aesthetics
Aesthetics Editor for The Philosophers’ Magazine
Founder and moderator of the DancePhilosophers Google group
Dr. Bresnahan with other dancers at a dance-interactive panel on “Dance as Embodied Ethics” for the Performance Philosophy conference at the Academy of Sciences and the Performing Arts in Prague, Czech Republic, in the summer of 2017
Dr. Bresnahan (second from right) with MFA in Dance students at the Mason Gross Center for the Arts at Rutgers University after a public lecture and workshop on the aesthetics of dance improvisation
Dr. Bresnahan Chairing the American Society for Aesthetics Eastern Division meeting for Spring 2016 in Philadelphia, PA
American Society of Aesthetics (ASA) Eastern Division organizer for 2016
Dr. Bresnahan’s Artists Matter website
Dr. Bresnahan’s C.V.
Dr. Bresnahan’s Research Focus
Linked bibliography for the Stanford Encyclopedia Of Philosophy article “The Philosophy of Dance” by Aili Bresnahan
SELECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Dr. Aili Bresnahan’s publications at Google Scholar
Selected downloadable list and text of Dr. Bresnahan’s publications at University of Dayton’s ECommons.
“Improvisation in the Arts,” Philosophy Compass, 2015.
[Forthcoming in 2018–in press] “Dance Rhythm.” In The Aesthetics of Rhythm : Science, Philosophy, Music, Dance, Poetics, edited by Andy Hamilton and Max Paddison. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[Forthcoming in 2018] with Michael Deckard. “Beauty in Disability: An Aesthetics for Dance and for Life.” In Dance and Quality of Life, Social Indicators Research Series, edited by Karen E. Bond and Sally M. Gardner. Netherlands: Springer.
“Dance Appreciation: The View from the Audience.” In Aesthetics: A Reader in the Philosophy of the Arts, 4th edition, 347-350, edited by David Goldblatt, Lee Brown, and Stephanie Patridge. New York: Routledge, 2017.
“Dancing in Time.” In The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Temporal Experience, 339-348, edited by Ian Phillips. London: Routledge, 2017.
“The Philosophy of Dance,” in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (principal editor), http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dance/, first published January 12, 2015.
“Improvisational Artistry in Live Dance Performance As Embodied and Extended Agency,” in Dance Research Journal, 45 (1) (April 2014): 84-94. Publisher: Cambridge University Press.
Review of The Philosophical Aesthetics of Dance: Identity, Performance, and Understanding by Graham McFee, Dance Research Journal, 45 (2) (August 2013): 142–145.
“Diversified Philosophy,” in The Philosophers’ Magazine, 1st Quarter 2018.
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS:
Dr. Bresnahan presenting on “The Philosophy of Dance: What and Why?” Fall, 2016 at a Dayton community Pecha Kucha event
Invited Lectures, Aesthetics Forum, Institute for Logic, Cognition, Language, and Information (ILCLI), University of the Basque Country, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain (June 2017): “Improvising Dance” (first day), and “Interpretation in Dance Performing” (second day).
Invited Lecture, Dialogues on Dance, Philosophy, and Performance in the Contemporary Neoliberal Moment Conference, University of Coventry, UK (June 2017): “Dancing Together: How Dance Involves Lived, Shared, and Interconnected Experience.” Organized by the University of Coventry, the University of Brunel (London), the Performance Philosophy Institute (Surrey), and supported by the British Society for Aesthetics.
Invited Lecture and Seminar Workshop, Rutgers University Dance Department MFA Program, Mason Gross School of the Arts, New Brunswick, NJ (March 2017): “The Aesthetics of Dance Improvisation: A Challenge for Philosophy.” Co-sponsored by the Rutgers Philosophy Department and by the Center for Women in the Arts and Humanities. Here I provided a public address and then held a seminar the next day with the Rutgers Dance Department MFA program students.
Dr. Bresnahan’s Quora Profile page and links to her answers to Quora questions (pictured below)
RESEARCH RESOURCES:
RESEARCH RESOURCE: Dance Research Journal Table of Contents from 2008 to the present
Dr. Robert P. Crease
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← Latics make a point in bore draw – Ipswich Town 0 Wigan Athletic 0
12th Man: Revolving door is not slowing down →
Latics transfer deadline day round up
Posted on February 2, 2015 by ianhaspinall
New loan signing Sheyi Ojo
Wigan Athletic’s transfer deadline day activity resulted in three new additions and two departures.
Liverpool and England Under 18 winger Sheyi Ojo joined on-loan until the end of the season, Cameroon international full back Gaëtan Bong signed a short-term contract and Wolves striker Leon Clarke signed a loan deal.
Striker Andy Delort returned to his previous club FC Tours for the remainder of the season and Scottish midfielder Fraser Fyvie joined Hibernian after his contract was terminated at Latics.
Ojo, Bong and Clarke become Wigan’s fifth, sixth and seventh signings since the start of the year following the arrivals of Liam Ridgewell, Chris Herd, Billy McKay and Jason Pearce.
Wigan manager Malky Mackay said he was delighted with the capture of the England U18 international. He commented:
“I spoke to Brendan Rodgers at length about Sheyi, and we both agreed that this is the next stage of his development,
Brendan sees him as a Liverpool player of the future and will take him into his squad in the summer. We both hope that his time at Wigan Athletic can be a productive one for both parties.
I have watched him and was excited by what I saw in terms of his pace, touch and awareness. Now it’s a question of integrating him with our squad and managing his progress carefully.”
Gaëtan Bong playing for Cameroon
Left back Gaëtan Bong has signed a short-term contract until the end of the season.
The 26-year-old is a free agent after leaving Greek side Olympiakos and has impressed after a trial period.
Latics manager Malky Mackay welcomed Bong to the club, saying:
“I’m delighted Gaëtan has agreed to join us. He impressed me a lot during the week. He is a terrific athlete, his professionalism stood out immediately and I believe he will be a very good addition to the squad.”
After seven signings in short succession, plus the loan window opening in a week’s time, he added:
“I have said all along we need to reshape the squad. The first part of that process was to allow players to leave and make way for new players to come in and take their place and that process is now taking place.
Every transfer in and out over the last month has been done with the benefit of Wigan Athletic football club in mind and myself, along with Jonathan Jackson and David Sharpe, are working day and night to make this squad as strong as it can be for the future.”
Bong began his professional career at Metz in the French league, and after a spell on loan at Tours, joined Valenciennes for whom he played over 100 times before moving to Olympiakos. He appeared in the 2010 World Cup for Cameroon, but missed out on the 2014 squad having played in the qualifying stages.
Bong can play in a number of defensive positions but he is likely to provide stiff competition for current left back Andrew Taylor.
New loan striker Leon Clarke
Latics last signing of deadline day was the 29-year-old striker Leon Clarke who joined from Wolverhampton Wanderers on loan until the end of the season.
Clarke started his career at Wolves in 2003 and has scored goals throughout his career, netting 90 goals from 188 league starts.
He was prolific in 2013-14, bagging 16 league goals in 36 for Coventry City, earning himself a move back to Wolves last Summer.
Clarke has struggled to get into the first team this season at Molineux and has been forced to play most of his minutes off the bench – nevertheless, he has scored two late winners, at Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday.
About ianhaspinall
Communications specialist, Wigan Athletic fan & blogger, interested in music, arts & culture.
View all posts by ianhaspinall →
This entry was posted in Andy Delort, Championship, Fraser Fyvie, Gaetan Bong, Leon Clarke, Sheyi Ojo, Transfers, Wigan Athletic and tagged Andy Delort, Championship, Fraser Fyvie, Gaetan Bong, Leon Clarke, Sheyi Ojo, Transfers, Wigan Athletic. Bookmark the permalink.
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U.S. troops occupying Berlin
Clayallee 135, Berlin
Occupation Victory and defeat
The army of the Soviet Union conquered Berlin in April/May 1945. Two months later the Western Allied troops also entered the city. On 4 July 1945, the American Independence Day, U.S. troops officially took charge of their occupation sector in southwest Berlin. In September 1994, after almost 50 years, the Allied troops withdrew from Berlin.
At the end of April 1945 the Soviet forces occupied Berlin, the capital of the German Reich. American and British troops did not enter the city until two months later on 4 July, the French forces participating initially with only a small unit. During those first two months, the Soviet Union was the sole occupying force, reorganizing life in the city in line with its own ideas and objectives.
The Western Allies chose first class combat troops for entering the German capital. But the march to Berlin would prove full of obstacles. When the U.S. 2nd Armored Division, also known as ‘Hell on Wheels’ due to its wartime activities, started moving from Halle to Berlin on 3 July, the Soviet forces stopped the advance on the Elbe Bridge near Dessau. A detour of more than 140 km became necessary because the Soviets declared the bridge unsafe, although it had been previously tested and determined to be passable by U.S. units.
On 4 July 1945, the American Independence Day, an official ceremony was held in the American sector: the Star-Spangled Banner was hoisted in front of the former Prussian Cadet Headquarters in Berlin-Lichterfelde, what later became the Andrew Barracks and today is the Bundesarchiv (The Federal Archives).
In order to set up military government organizations, the Western powers requisitioned real estate as, for example, the former Luftwaffe district headquarters Luftgaukommando III in Berlin-Zehlendorf which became the U.S. headquarters in Berlin.
In September 1994, after almost 50 years, the Allied troops withdrew from Berlin.
General Omar Bradley accepts authority over the American sector of ...
© AlliiertenMuseum/U.S. Army
U.S. troops take over the American sector in Berlin. 4 July 1945.
Victorious powers in Berlin - SL002
Manfred Steinfeld
Josef Brettschneider
Josef Brettschneider era un giovane tenente quando partecipò alla Battaglia di Berlino. Si trovò a combattere ...
Svetoslao N. Hlopoff
Svetoslao N. Hlopoff arrivò nella Francia orientale come soldato dell’Esercito degli Stati Uniti d’America ...
Frank Howley
Ilse Schier
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← asecs thread
Kathryn Temple, “The Ends of Cultural Studies in Curriculum” →
Today’s Eighteenth Century
Posted on September 9, 2011 by Laura Rosenthal | 10 Comments
Tita Chico continues the discussion:
In the 2008 edition of Profession, William B. Warner and Clifford Siskin, scholars whose work is grounded in the field of eighteenth-century British literary studies, advise literary critics to stop doing cultural studies altogether. Their primary complaint is that the term “culture” connotes two ideas that emerged concurrently in the late eighteenth century, both the notion that every society has a culture and the understanding that culture more narrowly means high culture, not just any art form. For them, this “historic doubling” (Warner and Siskin, “Stopping,” 102) produces an incoherence that negatively implicates cultural studies, forcing practitioners both to dispense with disciplinary logic to accommodate the broad meaning of culture and also, contradictorily, to revert back to the disciplines in their most traditional forms to analyze great art. Given the double-bind they imagine, the only solution, in their view, is to stop the practice altogether. Long before the emergence of cultural studies, however, the field of eighteenth-century British literary studies in particular had been shaped by what might be called “culture,” “historicism,” or even “background.” The historicizing tendency is evident, for instance, in footnotes to Gulliver’s Travels that narrow the satire to a specific political allegory (Swift, Gulliver’s Travels, 22 n. 1; 36, n.1) as well as in the work of critics such as F. R. Leavis and Cleanth Brooks, who would not ordinarily be associated with contextualizing (Norris, “Pope among the Formalists,” 141). Given the field’s persistent, if uneasy, relation to these references, Warner and Siskin’s complaint posits an opposition that, in effect, undermines the important ways cultural studies over the past twenty years has opened up topics, texts, and methodologies for consideration – and a flexibility and capaciousness – that have, in turn, strengthened the field. Their message also obscures the genealogy of today’s eighteenth century, an archive and an epistemology that have been made available because of the questions and concerns that cultural studies raise.
When cultural studies began to emerge in the academy during the late 1980s and 1990s, eighteenth-century literary studies was buffeted by the recovery of forgotten texts and by explicitly theoretical work that called “attention to the resistance to contemporary theory that has largely characterized the study of eighteenth-century English literature” (Nussbaum and Brown, 1). The conceptual reframing of “early modern” that often accompanied the moniker of “cultural studies” at this time likewise offered a loose boundary to think beyond the confines of the traditional eighteenth century. Cultural studies scholarship opened up the canon, extended the boundaries, re-conceived historical difference, and produced political criticism. In its most hopeful manifestation, cultural studies asked literary scholars to look at different things–to take the literary critical eye to examine the formal features of materials that were beyond the normative bounds of the literary and, in so doing, to look at them differently. If the field of eighteenth-century literary studies has long engaged with “culture,” then cultural studies has given many scholars concerned with eighteenth-century literature an opportunity to reflect upon these texts’ relation to history and other contemporary artifacts per se, and to grapple with and deepen the various intellectual and political legacies of the theory wars.
Even as cultural studies began to make these kinds of inroads into how eighteenth-century literature was studied and taught, there were various forms of resistance to its practice and findings. One year (2004), the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies’ Cultural Studies Caucus featured a panel of scholars voicing their fatigue with political criticism and hoping that scholarship might just focus on art again. The next year (2005) showcased critics who firmly advocated for political criticism, a conversation that led, in part, to a special issue of Philological Quarterly edited by Rajani Sudan, entitled “Rethinking New Formalism.” While the arguments back and forth can be productive, the significant difference today is that these debates now take place within a much more fraught and tenuous economic environment for higher education in which almost every unit on campus is under budgetary – and, at times, political – siege. As it turned out, the year that Warner and Siskin published their cease-and-desist message happened to be the same year that the worst economic crisis in the US since the 1930s began. Why does the concurrence of the call to stop cultural studies and the economic contractions convulsing through institutions of higher education matter? If this recession “threatens to be not so much a period of retrenchment followed by recovery as an opening onto a thoroughgoing transformation of the postsecondary system” (Porter), then it is even more incumbent to articulate and to advocate for the field’s pedagogical and scholarly work, and that economic entrenchment not be allowed to be repackaged as an intellectual principle.
Implicitly underwriting Warner and Siskin’s work, as well as that of others, may be a concern for preservation, perhaps in response to material and political conditions that threaten obsolescence (Warner and Siskin, “Stopping,” 105; Siskin and Warner, Enlightenment, 1-12; Rosenthal; Latour, 232). At this time, there is much work to be done to demarcate and identify the intellectual work that literary scholars do, though arguably the trope of the humanities in crisis has circulated for more than a century. When a friendly and curious colleague from the sciences asks why graduate students are reading Robinson Crusoe, “a book they all should have read years ago,” the question incorrectly presumes that the reading of literary critics is just like all other reading and that the meaning of a literary text is easily decipherable and ultimately transhistorical. The answer to such a question must convey the knowledge production of literary studies writ large as well as the specificity of today’s eighteenth century. Reading as literary critics means re-reading with ever greater insight and nuance, developing and refining the skills of close reading and attending to much more than the adventure story that the scientist remembers having read as a child. Reading also means doing so in concert with related texts, no matter how that relation might be defined, through the lens of today’s eighteenth century. Together, these models of reading allow for an illumination of how, for example, the afterlife of Robinson Crusoe as a recurring myth of Western individualism and colonialism in fact overshadows the uneasy and uneven global order through which Robinson navigates.
Setting aside their provocation, Warner and Siskin make a helpful point that the “culture” of “cultural studies” is an under-theorized term that, in practice, stands as “the Teflon category. We fret over it—everyone complaining at one time or another that it doesn’t quite do the job—but the complaints don’t stick because it’s so easy to use. We simply don’t know what we would do without it” (Warner and Siskin, 104). Extending their logic, “culture” in “cultural studies” can be a catch-all term that almost mystically has the evidentiary status of a truth claim, though the specificity of that status may not be fully articulated; as a result, it is important to reconsider how the term “culture” functions in eighteenth-century literary studies. How, for example, does the word “culture” suggest, but perhaps not fully explore, particular domains of knowledge and experience? How are these related to – or in tension with – literary practices? What happens, moreover, when agents and actors are imagined in specific relation to claims about culture? The point of these questions is not to dispense with cultural studies per se, in large part because of the radical work that it has provided, pedagogically, intellectually, and institutionally. The literary criticism characterized here has brought with it innovations in how we study literature and who matters enough to have a voice, whether this is in the eighteenth-century archive or on the faculty and in the student body of the modern university. Cultural studies has the potential to open up institutions to forms of difference that can deepen our thought and practices. Literary criticism that perceives and articulates these forms of difference can show more nuanced relationships and yield ever more powerful and pertinent analyses.
To stop cultural studies, then, is to yield to obsolescence, an idea that, of course, took root in the eighteenth century along with its twin, novelty. Both of these likewise opened a Pandora’s box of criticism qua criticism that arguably has produced this putative impasse in the first place (Latour, 232). So while it may be novel to argue for obsolescence from within the field at the same moment that higher education and intellectual work are being challenged from without, the more productive route is to consider the eighteenth century as an archive that promises a way forward. This is an understanding of the Enlightenment as a theoretical-historical concept that simultaneously calls for radical change as well as harbors appeals to the ideals of humanism. Today’s eighteenth-century archive is, as Derrida acknowledges, “at once institutive and conservative,” it catalogues anew and it preserves (Derrida, 9). Today’s eighteenth century builds upon and extends the cultural studies model with its multiplicity of voices, texts, and concerns, known through and by the material conditions of their production and interpretation. Today’s eighteenth century also encourages scholars to see beyond the traditional markers of the field, whether those divisions are defined chronologically or regionally. These efforts –whether regarding, say, sensory perception, poetry, or politics– draw from the expansiveness of earlier iterations of cultural studies and share, at the core, a commitment to mimesis, the object of literary interpretation. Thus the knowledge making of literary critics is not exclusively about the discovery of new texts and new things, or merely re-enacting an epistemology that vacillates between novelty and obsolescence. The work of literary critics is more accurately, if difficultly, concerned with unraveling these histories of representation, pushing ourselves to think hard about what is represented when, how, and by whom — arguably, the central tenets of a cultural studies approach–even when the answers to and satisfaction with those questions change over time.
Derrida, Jacques. Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression. Translated by Eric Prenowitz. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1996. Print.
Latour, Bruno. “Why Has Critique Run out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern.” Critical Inquiry 30 (Winter 2004): 225-48. Print.
Norris, Christopher. “Pope among the Formalists: Textual Politics and ‘The Rape of the Lock.’” Post-Structuralist Readings of English Poetry. Ed. Richard Machin and Christopher Norris. Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press, 1987. 134-61. Print.
Nussbaum, Felicity and Laura Brown, eds. The New 18th Century: Theory, Politics, Literature. New York: Methuen, Inc., 1987. Print.
Porter, Catherine. From the President, “(Re)Defining Productivity,” Reprinted from the Winter 2009 MLA Newsletter. Weblog entry. Accessed 24 April 2011.
(URL: http://www.mla.org/blog&topic=131)
Rosenthal, Laura J. “The Perils and Pleasures of Legitimacy.” Paper presented at the Modern Language Association Annual Conference, January 8, 2011. Revised and expanded as “Pirate Studies and the End of the Humanities.” Weblog entry. The Long 18th. January 27, 2011. April 1, 2011. (URL:https://long18th.wordpress.com/2011/01/27/pirate-studies-and-the-end-of-the-humanities/ ). A fuller version is forthcoming in The Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation.
Siskin, Clifford and William B. Warner, eds. This Is Enlightenment. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2010. Print.
Sudan, Rajan, ed. “Rethinking New Formalism,” special issue of Philological Quarterly 86:3 (Summer 2007). Print.
Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver’s Travels. Ed. Robert A. Greenberg. Second edition. New York and London: W. W. Norton, 1961. Print.
Warner, William B. and Clifford Siskin. “Stopping Cultural Studies.” Profession (2008): 94-107. Print.
This entry was posted in Cultural Studies, Politics, Profession, Tita Chico, Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.
10 responses to “Today’s Eighteenth Century”
John Richetti | September 9, 2011 at 3:00 pm |
An excellent and beautiful essay, although I wonder if it is too good for what I understand this website should be: extemporaneous “blogging.” But that’s not important. I think Tita’s essay, not a blog of course, is terrific, and I plan to read it again more carefully. Historians, as she notes are tone deaf and unable to see the cultural-historical-textual nuances in Robinson Crusoe. I admire historians, but they are not cultural or literary historians.
tchico | September 9, 2011 at 4:19 pm |
Thank you, John!
That question of seeing and valuing nuance, I think, is crucial. It’s an obvious point, of course, but we see meaning and significance where other disciplines and fields do not.
Dave Mazella | September 9, 2011 at 4:57 pm |
I’m not persuaded by the notion that literary studies owns the concept of nuance, or even textual nuance, which other fields are too flatfooted to understand. I suspect that philosophers might strongly protest this (hopelessly unnuanced) generalization, as would historians. What is the basis for judgment here? What kinds of textual evidence are we invoking? I certainly wouldn’t characterize Anthony Grafton, John Pocock, Keith Thomas, or Edward Thompson in this manner. We may or may not want to read their work, or use their work, but I don’t think we can gainsay the accomplishment.
I also suspect that literary criticism itself is not uniform in its practices: we read critics like R.S. Crane or for that matter Raymond Williams for interpretations that help to organize our understanding of multiple works, not their explorations of single works. Literary history, too, is a field in which nuance and innovation can be discovered, but these often exist at the level of selection, organization, and discussion of its materials.
Finally, I think that literary criticism benefits by having such an eclectic variety of perspectives available when discussing individual and grouped work: literary history, practical literary criticism, and now a history of critical theory that includes cultural studies. Why should we surrender any of these options for use in the future?
I think that there’s a great need to articulate that literary criticism is about–to use a blunt formulation — critical reading, reading that attends to the terms of its own assumptions. The short-hand example I cited above was a comment from a friend from the other side of campus, i.e., from the sciences, a reader, of course, but who imagines that reading a novel is a one-time affair. From this perspective, the sign of expertise, then, is to read even more of them. While that constitutes part of what I do and teach, the other part is explicitly methodological — reading *better*, as it were, as much as what that might be changes. What I am aware of, increasingly, is that the very core of our practices of reading and interpretation — in the variety that you evoke — are ever-more important.
Tita,
I completely agree that literary studies demands some notion of “critical reading,” which in my view also entails expectations of both reflection and re-reading: literature, or literary value, is defined as that which is capable of being repeatedly reread over time by readers (cf. Calinescu, Rereading); literary readers are then defined as those who benefit by reading, reflecting upon, and responding to one another.
I also believe that we should not slight the collective discussion, or the research- and writing-processes, that our scholarship also requires for professional academic criticism. If historians fetishize the “archive,” then literary scholars often fetishize “the reading.” This amounts to mystifying the role of the scholar as she selects the material, shapes her arguments, and produces a scholarly text for others to read. All this is to say that reflective practice would suggest that we not reduce literary criticism to a single kind of activity, however important.
tchico | September 10, 2011 at 11:20 am |
Thanks for the follow-up comments. I’m not interested in an interpretive world that falls into lock step — not in the least — but the short-hand example in my piece, which seems to have caught attention, is not about humanists and their differences. Experiences on campus-wide selection committees (13 this past year; that’s another conversation!) have been highly instructive. As we debate about what we do, want to do, or ought to do, our colleagues in other fields — colleagues also invested, in varying degrees, to the principles of a university — do not see meaning and significance in the ways that literary critics do, even if there is not consensus about our own practices. In those instances, I saw that the idea of ‘close reading,’ as fraught as it is, doesn’t resonate as deeply as one might want. Moreover, since everyone can ‘read,’ there’s a possibility for that reading to *seem* transparent, when, of course, it isn’t, nor am I wanting to encourage it to be. To my mind, what I talk about in my piece — that is, the vacillation between a rhetoric of obsolescence and and that of novelty, and their relation to the eighteenth century more specifically — can be helpful here to reframe things. For me, the eighteenth century is a great place to work through the questions and implications of cultural studies, as I work with increasing awareness of the larger intellectual community of the ‘university.’
Dave Mazella | September 10, 2011 at 4:03 pm |
Hi Tita,
I do think that literary scholars need to be able to explain to outside disciplines and the public that we practice a kind of “productive rereading” that is very different from the classicist or novelty/obsolescence models you mention. Unfortunately, this mode does not fall within the two dominant modes of legitimation available to disciplines today, either humanist or scientific. These modes of legitimation become all the more crucial as knowledge becomes ever-more commodified and subject to an analysis of immediate utility or profit, as you describe. However, I do not think other disciplines are in any rush to legitimize our efforts, and we may have to accept that we are in Tim Burke’s world of rival disciplines competing for the same disciplinary turf. But I would rather distinguish myself with an account of the professional work we produce than the earlier work of others we process.
To return to Warner/Siskin for a moment, what I find strangest in their program is their insistence on using the language of obsolescence to describe work that others are happily pursuing, even as they accuse cultural studies of a similar dismissal of earlier work. To me, there is nothing easier than this kind of self-legitimating assertion (and this is something that they share with Nussbaum and Brown’s New 18th Century). Nonetheless, to announce this is to misunderstand the collective nature of the production of both scholarship and culture. What helped create this more social and collective view of scholarly authorship were of course the insights produced by feminist, working-class, and post-colonial critics after the 1960s and 70s. Would interests in genres like diaries, political pamphlets or slave narratives have arisen outside of the context of cultural studies and the scholarly movements that helped to shape it? Would we be reading Equiano or Mary Collier apart from the pressures exerted by this kind of scholarship?
tchico | September 11, 2011 at 5:29 pm |
Good questions, Dave. I don’t have a specific answer, but am always in awe of finding these writers and materials discussed in, say, early 20th-century scholarship — I’m thinking, for instance, of the critical biographies published by Columbia PhDs (many of whom were women).
Dave Mazella | September 14, 2011 at 6:30 am |
In my version of “Austen and predecessors,” a grad course in the 18c novel, I always have students compare J.M.W. Tompkins with feminist-era scholars on the same writers. Tompkins is a terrific scholar, but there’s a lot of ambivalence in her treatment of the female writers, who are generally treated as “minor writers,” figures who are necessary for scholarly understanding but sometimes tedious or hyper-conventional. Pre-WWII literary scholarship, with its emphasis on biography, brought a lot of invaluable information into circulation, but it also tended to use categories like the “minor writer” in ways that discouraged scholars from seeing them as potentially interesting in their own right.
Laura Rosenthal | September 10, 2011 at 4:40 pm |
In this context, Michele Lamont’s *How Professors Think* (I know I’ve blogged about this book before) is really interesting because it is a systematic study of, in part, how scholars in various fields are able to evaluate excellence in other disciplines by the standards of excellence that those fields appear to set up for themselves. Lamont only looks at humanities and social science disciplines, but finds some wide differences even within this pool. She concludes that certain disciplines communicate their standards better than others. Historians, for example, win a disproportionate percentage of awards in interdisciplinary competitions, and she thinks this is because they communicate their disciplinary standards in their proposals. Literature turns out to be one of the disciplines perceived by those in other disciplines as not having clear and/or stable standards; proposals are thus less likely to be funded in interdisicplinary competitions. I’m not sure what the solution is here, but her research suggests that the problem anyway is systematic rather than idiosyncratic. It also point to one place where I think W+S are on the mark, even if I don’t agree with their solution: the parameters of our discipline tend to be either implicit rather than explicit, or more porous, or maybe both. I wouldn’t solve this by stopping and it’s not entirely clear that it is something that can or should be solved. But I do find this to be a resonant observation.
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An Unexpected Sight, and a Cat
Sílvia Bastos
It’s 4:57am and she’s driving alone through the empty streets of her childhood.
“Right on time”, she thinks.
She just left her husband at the airport. Usually, she leaves the car in the underground park — this way she can go up with him and prolong those last moments together before he goes through security.
But this time was different. They are used to goodbyes by now, and the parking fee is expensive, so she just drove through the passenger’s drop-off area, gave him a kiss, let their bodies touch each other for one more minute,
(“I love you.”
“I love you too. So much.”)
and then drove away.
She knows this feeling very well,
(a bittersweet nostalgia,
a mixture of freedom and regret,
the things she could have said but didn’t,
love like in the movies.)
and she knows it will go away when the sun goes up and she wakes up again (this time for good). For him, she is sure, it will go away as soon as he boards the plane. She’s been on the other side, and she knows it’s always easier for the one who leaves.
She enjoys having the road for herself. There is music playing on the radio, but she doesn’t pay attention to it. She has seen this neighborhood almost everyday since she was born, but only a dozen times at 4:57am. She soaks in the novelty of it without every realizing it, and it adds up to her fairytale-ish mood.
Her head feels heavy (her body ready for sleep, her mind flying 1000 mph) and she is almost ready to accept the familiarity of her surroundings, when she suddenly sees it:
She is there.
Not in her car, not coming back from the airport, not thinking about the cozy bed that awaits her at home: she is on the sidewalk, under the moonlight and the open sky.
She sees herself, flesh and bone, right in front of her car.
(“That can’t be me, this is absurd. I’m right here, driving this car, thinking these thoughts.” — she knows it, but she doesn’t — “Right…?”)
She sees herself, fifty meters ahead, on the sidewalk, wearing her baggy shirt, her short shorts, her running shoes, in the middle of her jog.
For a moment, it almost makes sense.
(“I do run here, every morning, wearing that shirt and those shoes and listening to M.I.A. with those headphones...”)
For a moment, she almost lets herself believe that the sweaty, sporty-looking (“and quite attractive”, she notices) is herself.
There is no one else around, apart from a black stray cat who hides behind a trash bin when he sees the jogging woman approaching him at a threatening speed.
But then she tells herself that she “cannot know for sure; after all I am driving behind her, and all I can see is the back of her head (I wear my hair like that), the back of her Dark Side of The Moon shirt (my husband gave it to me for my birthday), and her muscled glutes propelling her legs back and forth, up and down, one step at a time (the slight unbalance caused by my old running injury is still visible).”
“STOP IT!”, she screams, while she hits the break and the car screeches to a halt. The cat — who had been snacking on the abandoned remains of a chicken leg — jumps over the bin, across the road, and over a gate leading to a vacant lot full of old tyres and bags of cement.
She doesn’t want to overtake the runner (“I don’t want to look at her face. I can’t look at her face”). She looks at the clock — it’s 4:59 — and she decides that she won’t move until the jogger is out of her sight.
She thinks she is going crazy. The radio is playing Blackstar by David Bowie. This time she pays attention to it, but she quickly switches it off. She doesn’t want to be distracted. She is scared, but she’s aware, and she wants to remain that way. She know that she is safe in the car
(but is she, really? and safe from what? from herself?)
and there she remains. The jogger turns left and disappears. The cat must have found a new delicacy in the empty lot, because he never showed up again. The street is empty again — apart from the motionless car that waits, and waits, and waits.
Hopes and Dreams for Our Future
We believe in dreaming big and smashing our goals.
Journaling my way to happiness. I’ll show you how here: www.journalsmarter.com
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UCLA Health physicians stand out in Los Angeles Magazine's "Top Doctors" list
Finding a top doctor isn't always easy, especially in a big city such as Los Angeles. Los Angeles Magazine decided to help, recently producing its first list of "top doctors." The result: more than 150 UCLA Health physicians have been designated a "Los Angeles Top Doctor."
The results were based on a peer-to-peer survey of practicing physicians throughout Los Angeles County, who were asked to identify the doctors they consider to be at the top of their game.
"The idea is to tap into the wisdom of professionals who know medicine and know the people working within it," the magazine explained in an accompanying editorial.
Leadership of UCLA Health and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA were pleased, if not surprised, by the results.
"Our physicians exemplify – every day -- UCLA Health's mission of delivering leading-edge patient care, research, and education," said Johnese Spisso, president of UCLA Health and CEO of the UCLA Hospital System. "This acknowledgement highlights the expertise, commitment and compassion that UCLA Health physicians have for delivering patient-centered care."
The fact that the acknowledgement comes from physician peers makes the listing even more meaningful.
"This is a remarkable accomplishment, and we are extremely pleased at the recognition from other respected physicians within our community," said Dr. Eve Glazier, president of the UCLA Health Faculty Practice Group. "In many ways, the list also shines a well-deserved spotlight on the overall accomplishments of our faculty."
If the numbers themselves weren't enough, physicians and programs at UCLA Health and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA were spotlighted in three "medical frontier" features accompanying the list: on the UCLA International Medical Graduate Program, on the Undiagnosed Diseases Network, and UCLA's Neuroplasticity and Repair Laboratory.
Search the magazine's listing here – or simply search for a physician in the UCLA Health Provider Directory.
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Celebrity abusers
metrowebukmetroWednesday 22 Oct 2003 2:16 pm
IF YOU THINKyou’re stressed, spare a thought for those poor celebs who turn to drink and drugs to cope with their rigorous lifestyles.
* When Robbie Williams left Take That in 1995 he was an alcoholic and using drugs. By 1997 he was being treated in a rehabilitation clinic. And he reached the nadir three years ago when he collapsed at a post-MTV awards party and was seen to be frothing at the mouth.
Following extensive therapy with both Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous, Robbie is now said to be teetotal and free from drug abuse. But he revealed earlier this year that he still faced a daily struggle to resist cocaine and that the years of drug abuse have left him suffering from depression.
*Caroline Aherne’s inability to cope with the pressures of celebrity has been widely cited as a cause for her slide into alcoholism, but it began after a divorce, and the deaths of both her father and former boyfriend in quick succession.
In 1998 this culminated in an attempted suicide – an overdose on a cocktail of pills and champagne. Aherne has since been into the Priory three times – where she was diagnosed as a binge alcoholic – and even fled to Australia to escape the pressures of the UK. She has since returned to Britain and appears not to have succeeded in beating the booze, having been seen out binge drinking on a number of occasions.
* Kate Moss checked in to the Priory clinic in 1998 for drink and drug addictions after splitting from then boyfriend Johnny Depp.
But the supermodel, who once said she carries a hip flask of vodka with her at all times, still seems to drink heavily. She has blamed the tedious nature of modelling for her problems, saying she turned to drink and drugs to cope with such a vacuous job. She also said the abundance of champagne laid on for models at fashion shows doesn’t help.
Caroline AherneJohnny DeppKate MossRobbie Williams
Love Island star Harley Brash’s mum dated Robbie Williams: ‘He was a wonderful lover’
Robbie Williams proves he’s still an untouchable entertainer with BST Hyde Park show
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Gary K. Michelson; President’s Page: Convergence [Spring 2014; C.L. Max Nikias, USC Trojan Family] {Web}.
President’s Page: Convergence
Gary Michelson advances the university’s efforts to fast-track detection and treatment of diseases.
by C. L. Max Nikias [USC Trojan Family • Spring 2014]
On a sunny day in January, scores of Trojans filled Town & Gown to overflowing, as a sense of excitement permeated our campuses. Faculty, staff and students gathered outside, on the patio, eager to hear that morning’s news: USC had received a $50 million gift from Dr. Gary K. Michelson, a renowned inventor and retired orthopaedic surgeon. His extraordinarily generous gift will establish the USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience.
Housed in a new building, the center will signal a new era of collaboration between the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. The center will stand in the southwest quadrant of our University Park Campus, in close proximity to the majority of our science and engineering buildings. It will fundamentally redefine how research is conducted at the intersection of engineering and the life and biomedical sciences, and help further develop a major biomedical research corridor in Southern California.
Dr. Michelson, who is a resident of Los Angeles, is a new benefactor of the university. In supporting USC, he said he was drawn to our collaborative spirit and our unique ability to bring together experts from diverse fields. He told the Los Angeles Times that this approach “resonates with my life work,” and that he wishes to advance “research for humanity’s sake, goal oriented, with results manifested in the real world.”
Today Dr. Michelson is internationally known as a philanthropist. He has funded medical research, provided textbooks to students and worked to convert municipal animal shelters into no-kill adoption facilities. He spent more than 25 years as a spinal surgeon, and his groundbreaking work has generated more than 955 issued or pending patents worldwide. Over the course of his career, he has improved spinal implant operating procedures and the instruments to perform those procedures, which have helped millions of patients suffering from spine ailments.
Now, in providing his support to create the USC Michelson Center, he advances the university’s efforts to turn the biological sciences into a quantitative and predictive science, fast-tracking the detection and cure of diseases. In recent years, we have made significant strides in our understanding of living systems spurred by the genome revolution, coupled with improvements in computing technology. Scientists at the USC Michelson Center will collaborate to translate those advances to the real world and accelerate the invention of life-saving biomedical devices.
The USC Michelson Center will house 20 to 30 principal investigators with laboratories employing hundreds of researchers and students. The facility will include cutting-edge flexible labs, a center for electron microscopy and analysis, a nanofabrication facility and a suite of microscopy imaging technology that can take precise measurements inside cells.
In addition to advancing this pioneering work, Dr. Michelson’s gift represents a magnificent milestone in USC’s current fundraising initiative, which seeks to raise $6 billion or more in private support from individual donors, foundations and corporations. When we launched the campaign, its fundraising goal was the largest ever announced in higher education. And in just three years, we have seen remarkable progress, reaching the landmark sum of $3 billion. Dr. Michelson’s $50 million gift comes as a superb boost to our efforts and advances the university well past the halfway point.
I know the entire Trojan Family joins me in expressing gratitude to Dr. Michelson and his wife, Alya. Dr. Michelson’s philanthropic foresight will benefit so many around the world, as the USC Michelson Center flourishes in the coming decades. We will break ground on the center later this year and anticipate its opening within three years.
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A traveler’s guide to talking to someone you totally disagree with
Photo: Pedro Ribeiro Simoes
I AM A TRAVELER, so I have spent a lot of time talking to people who believe very different things than me, and who I will probably never share worldviews with: The communist student in China who believed the Tiananmen Square Massacre was justified; the South African cabbie who loved George W. Bush because “he kills Muslims”; the Argentine barfly who insisted that the racist gringos would murder Barack Obama in the first year of his term.
I was never going to agree with these guys. But over time, I learned how to have conversations with them that were productive and illuminating for both sides — even though neither of us changed our minds in the end.
Last week got ugly. Trump’s election sparked a horrific flame war on social media, and in many cases, it looked as if a lot of hot air was being blown, but no progress was actually being made. Liberals were “elitist.” Conservatives were “stupid.” Everyone got to feel superior to one another, and nothing got done.
But this isn’t a particularly helpful or enriching way to engage with people who think differently than you. As someone who has had some (mild) success in engaging people who are fundamentally different to myself, I wanted to share a few pointers that I have learned as an argumentative wanderer.
1. Don’t rely too much on facts.
There’s a popular saying from the former US Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” This is true! But saying that to someone you’re arguing with is a very good way to get yourself punched in your stupid smug face.
Look: there are no “false” facts. Facts are either facts or they aren’t. So yes: there’s a good chance that someone you’re arguing with is factually wrong about one thing or the other. But the problem with facts is that there are a lot of them. There are 7 billion sentient human beings living on this planet, and what we don’t collectively know could (nearly) fill a universe.
A single person doesn’t have a chance at fully understanding anything. You are confronted with constant information, and have to develop some system for sifting through all of it, selecting the information that’s important, and organizing it in your mind in a meaningful way. We humans like to organize our facts using stories.
This is important: when talking to someone you disagree with, listen to their story, not their facts. Trying to fight someone on facts is like trying to destroy a beach one grain of sand at a time. Stories are also not easy to change, but they are where the real power is. Which brings us to step 2:
2. Trade stories.
Stories are like assholes: everyone knows a lot of them. The most fulfilling moments while you’re traveling are when someone tells you their story, and gives you a glimpse into their (very different) life. These stories are incredible reminders both of the diversity of human experience, and of the fundamental humanity that holds us all together.
They’re also a great way of explaining political or ideological differences. Last week, post-election, I got into an argument with a Trump supporter who was pretty furious with liberal America. I identified myself as a liberal, and he kinda hated on me for a second, but when I refused to get into the my facts vs. your facts war, he opened up about his family’s escape from Cuba a generation ago.
He told me how Castro had destroyed his country, and how communism had hurt his family. He saw Barack Obama’s form of government as creeping communism, and that’s why he was so opposed to “liberals” like myself.
I disagree with this interpretation of Barack Obama, but it’s hard to not sympathize with a family that was driven from its own country. I will not change this man’s mind — his history is too strong — but he got to tell his story, then I told mine. I told of my family’s experiences with right-wing El Salvador, which in some ways mirrored his family’s experiences.
And he was totally cool about it. We could both acknowledge one another as human. He will no longer be able to say “All liberals are smug and elitist.” I will no longer be able to say, “All Trump supporters are idiots.” A very small amount of progress was made.
And then, of course, another liberal hopped on, started debating him on the facts of the matter, and the flame war restarted.
3. Be vulnerable.
If you want to really get to know someone, you have to let your guard down. This is actually a much easier thing to do when you’re traveling than when you’re at home. At home, you build up walls to protect yourself. You have routines, you have defenses, and you can spend a huge amount of time making sure that the people who you spend most of your time around know the least about you. Until I opened up about it, my closest family members didn’t know I’d been struggling with depression for years.
This was one of the most fundamental facts of my existence during my late 20s. But I successfully walled it off so that only one person — my wife — could see it.
But when you’re traveling, you’re in a new place, surrounded by people you will probably never see again. There is much less risk in making yourself vulnerable. So you have bizarre, deep, intense, intimate conversations with strangers under the stars, or in the backseats of busses, or in the corner of grimy pubs.
Vulnerability is scary, but it is, in part, what gives travelers such a high when they go out and see new people. Because often — not always, but often — you bare yourself to someone and they don’t blanch in horror. They smile and say, “me too.”
People will not always recognize your common humanity. But you will get nowhere if you don’t recognize theirs. And there’s no way to recognize theirs without also revealing yours. Show your true self to people. It’s scary, and yes, you may get hurt. But human frailty is one thing we all have in common.
4. Don’t give into anger, contempt, or hate.
Hate takes up a lot of energy, and it hurts you more than it hurts the people you’re aiming at. There is a philosophy among the Bantu people of South Africa known as “ubuntu.” This roughly translates to “I am because we are.” It is important to remember that by recognizing other people’s dignity and worth, you are affirming your own. This goes not only for friendly strangers you meet on the road, but for personal acquaintances you have intense disagreements with.
But hate doesn’t appear in a vacuum. It tends to, as Master Yoda says, come from fear and anger. It also comes from contempt. Relationship psychologists have found that the one factor that is most predictive of future trouble in a relationship is the presence of contempt. Contempt basically poisons the well — you can’t have a good relationship with someone if you think you’re better than them.
You can fight contempt with the other steps — usually, knowing someone’s story helps explain why they are the way they are. And by making yourself vulnerable, you are essentially humbling yourself — it’s hard to convince yourself that you’re better than someone when you’ve just shown them your weakness, your sadness, or your fear.
By being humble and by listening, you can begin to understand the lives of others. You may not be able to change their minds, or bend them according to your will, but you’ll both leave your encounter richer for the experience, and a little less alone.
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McKenzie Lynn Tozan
"Creative minds are rarely tidy." – John William Gardner
Commitment & The Portrayal of a Wife: Reading Rebecca St. James & Nancy Rue’s One Last Thing
I will not lie to you, from one reader to another, this was a difficult book and topic to trudge through. It follows the last few weeks of one couple’s engagement, in which the main character, Tara, discovers her fiancé, Seth, is addicted to pornography and has to decide whether to further pursue the marriage and support her husband through his healing process or to pursue other opportunities. And while current societal expectations may suggest that pornography can be acceptable in an open-minded, communicable relationship with established boundaries, pornography can also be a severe obstacle that can destroy a relationship or marriage, based on the needs and beliefs of the couple. In One Last Thing, Rebecca St. James and Nancy Rue thoroughly explore the intricacies of a secret uncovered late in an engagement, how a relationship changes, and the decisions made about marriage and commitment.
What I really admired about this novel was carried through the development of the story and its characters. The novel opens with the lines, “What happened to Seth and me changed everything. Everything. And yet it began with a completely innocuous question: Where are we going to put the couch?,” which winds up generating a great deal of opportunity in the book: all at once, the couch becomes a centerpiece of the beginning of a relationship, a practice in negotiation, and a manifestation of unfaithfulness in a relationship. What I imagine is having a large orange couch in the middle of my otherwise-neutral living room and the couch visually screaming with memories every time I walked past it, looked at it, or relaxed on it. This display is similarly demonstrated through the central characters in the book and their behaviors; through Tara’s personal exploration of her feelings toward Seth and his behavior, there are recurring images and sentiments that evolve with Tara and Seth’s characters as they grow further apart in their relationship.
And while I admired how the authors handled the subject by way of story arch and parallels, I found myself intensely bothered by the portrayal of the main character and the writing of her internal thoughts and narrations. Many of her lines carry an air of “Well, I guess I have to do this now,” or “It’s such a burden on me,” which comes across, rather-immediately, as petty and self-absorbed. While I fully understand many of the complexities she is faced with in her oncoming marriage, I find myself unable to understand her or to feel compassionate for her, because of her “It’s all about me,” and “He’s the only one at fault here; there’s nothing I could do to make this better” demeanor. However, this is an issue that resolves itself by the end of the story; as I stated earlier, much of Tara’s character is explored through the evolving of the problem, and by the end, after (no spoiler) a dramatic change in Tara and Seth’s relationship and her apology to Seth for her behavior and attitude. Without this apology, and without this adjustment, I would have been highly bereaved at this story; so though it was difficult to get through part of the story and found Tara’s character difficult to get along with for much of the story, I found my way to acceptance through Tara’s admission.
Rebecca St. James and Nancy Rue’s One Last Thing is a really raw and lovely exploration of obstacles in a serious and long-term relationship and follows the sharp transformation of the characters on this journey. And while it is a really difficult read, it was worth the time, effort and emotional investment. I recommend steeling yourself and giving this a try.
REBECCA ST. JAMES has been a defining voice in contemporary Christian music for more than a decade. She is a three-time Dove Award winner, as well as a winner of the prestigious Grammy Award. In January 2007 she was voted Favorite Female Artist by CCM magazine readers for the sixth year in a row. She also recently received her fourth consecutive Best Female Artist Award from ChristianityToday. In addition to her success as a musician, Rebecca St. James is the author of several books, with combined sales of more than 350,000 copies. Her books include SHE: Safe, Healthy, Empowered; SHE Teen; Wait for Me; Sister Freaks; 40 Days with God; and You’re the Voice: 40 More Days with God.
NANCY RUE is the author of 122 books, including 11 novels for adults, 17 for teens, and 61 for tween readers, as well as 2 parenting books, 33 non-fiction books for tweens and teens, and the features for the FaithGirlz Bible. Her Lily Series, published by Zondervan, has sold well over one million copies. Her ability to relate to a wide audience has made her a popular radio and television guest and an in-demand speaker and teacher for writer’s conferences across the country. She has been a regular keynoter for The Young Writer’s Institute, Virtuous Reality Ministries, and Zondervan’s Beauty of Believing Tour for FaithGirlz. Nancy is the cofounder of the Writers Workshops held annually at Glen Eyrie, Colorado and also offers a one-one-one Writing Mentorship program and two-day intensives for small groups of writers. Her latest titles include the Christy Award winning Reluctant Prophet trilogy for adult readers (David C. Cook), The Whole Guy Thing (Zondervan) for teens, and the Mean Girl Makeover trilogy for tweens (Tommy Nelson, as well as the first of three novels written with Rebecca St. James for the New Adult audience, The Merciful Scar. A student of the Academy for Spiritual Formation, sponsored by the Upper Room, Nancy continues her own spiritual journey even as she writes and speaks for mothers, daughters, and would-be writers about theirs. For more information, visit her website at www.nancyrue.com. Nancy’s biggest passion is for anti-bullying, and is the co-founder with Thomas Nelson of the movement SO Not Okay.
Published March 16, 2015 By McKenzieTagged book review, fiction, Nancy Rue, One Last Thing, reading fiction, Rebecca St. James, Rebecca St. James and Nancy Rue, Rebecca St. James and Nancy Rue's One Last Thing, Thomas Nelson
Previous Stages of Fear & Domestication: Reading Laura Madeline Wiseman’s Some Fatal Effects of Curiosity and Disobedience
Next Journeying Through the Fear Tactic That Is the Subtle & the Severe: Reading Sarah Rose Nordgren’s Best Bones
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And King Solomon sent and brought Hiram from Tyre. He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze. And he was full of wisdom, understanding, and skill for making any work in bronze. He came to King Solomon and did all his work. He cast two pillars of bronze. Eighteen cubits was the height of one pillar, and a line of twelve cubits measured its circumference. It was hollow, and its thickness was four fingers. The second pillar was the same. He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits. There were lattices of checker work with wreaths of chain work for the capitals on the tops of the pillars, a lattice for the one capital and a lattice for the other capital. ... Bible Verse Wall Art
"Now I am sending Huram-abi, a skilled man, endowed with understanding, the son of a Danite woman and a Tyrian father, who knows how to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone and wood, and in purple, violet, linen and crimson fabrics, and who knows how to make all kinds of engravings and to execute any design which may be assigned to him, to work with your skilled men and with those of my lord David your father. Christian Gifts
Now King Solomon sent and brought Hiram from Tyre. He was a widow's son from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill for doing any work in bronze So he came to King Solomon and performed all his work. He fashioned the two pillars of bronze; eighteen cubits was the height of one pillar, and a line of twelve cubits measured the circumference of both.read more. Bible Verse Wall Art
In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the Lord. The house that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, and ten cubits deep in front of the house. And he made for the house windows with recessed frames. He also built a structure against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both the nave and the inner sanctuary. And he made side chambers all around. ... Share Your Faith Products
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Christian Gifts
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For the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood, the lintel and five-sided doorposts. So he made two doors of olive wood, and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold; and he spread the gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees. So also he made for the entrance of the nave four-sided doorposts of olive woodread more.
The Lord said to Moses, “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft. ...
What does the Bible say about creativity? The very first verse of Scripture actually describes a creative act as "God created the heavens and the earth." Additionally, from Genesis, the Bible says, "God created man in his own image." This could be interpreted as we are creators just as God created us. We create relationships, art, homes, cities, nations and many more things including inventions even yet to be known! The creative spirit is certainly favored by God and our fellow man. Learn more from the collection of Bible verses about creativity below!
"You shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, six of their names on the one stone and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, according to their birth. "As a jeweler engraves a signet, you shall engrave the two stones according to the names of the sons of Israel; you shall set them in filigree settings of gold.read more. Christian Canvas Art
The house that I am to build will be great, for our God is greater than all gods. But who is able to build him a house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I to build a house for him, except as a place to make offerings before him? So now send me a man skilled to work in gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and in purple, crimson, and blue fabrics, trained also in engraving, to be with the skilled workers who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.
and in the cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, that he may work in all kinds of craftsmanship. "And behold, I Myself have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and in the hearts of all who are skillful I have put skill, that they may make all that I have commanded you: the tent of meeting, and the ark of testimony, and the mercy seat upon it, and all the furniture of the tent, the table also and its utensils, and the pure gold lampstand with all its utensils, and the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering also with all its utensils, and the laver and its stand, the woven garments as well, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, with which to carry on their priesthood; the anointing oil also, and the fragrant incense for the holy place, they are to make them according to all that I have commanded you." The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. 'Therefore you are to observe the sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. Share Your Faith Products
We are faced with a startling opportunity. We may think that we can’t walk this Christian path, but Peter tells us that we have all of the resources that we need in his “very great and precious promises”. When our circumstances cause insecurities and thoughts of despair to dance around our minds, God gives us a way out. We can escape this corruption by knowing God through Jesus Christ. How can we know God? By taking Him at His word! God has already provided for us and He is looking for people who will have the courage to replace their current thinking with God’s faithfulness. Are you looking for the thoughts of God? The Bible is God’s life support to us as we encounter a world of difficulty. Bible Verse Wall Art
Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. ... Christian Canvas Art
Huram also made the pails, the shovels and the bowls. So Huram finished doing the work which he performed for King Solomon in the house of God: the two pillars, the bowls and the two capitals on top of the pillars, and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on top of the pillars, and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on the pillars.read more. Christian Canvas Art
Glory of ChristOther BlindingChrist's Own GloryAgeControlling Your ThoughtsUnbelieversPerfection, DivineCommitment, to the worldChrist, Names ForSatan, Kingdom OfSatan, Titles ForThe Light Of ChristDarkness, As A Symbol Of SinCultsRevelation, In Ntevil, origins ofSpiritual Warfare, Causes OfHeart, Fallen And RedeemedBlindingSpiritual Blindness, Results Of Sin Christian Gifts
A Psalm for giving thanks. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. ... Christian Canvas Art
For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. ... Bible Verse Wall Art
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1 Then the LORD said to Moses, 2 “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— 4 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 5 to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts. 6 Moreover, I have appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, to help him. Also I have given ability to all the skilled workers to make everything I have commanded you: Bible Verse Wall Art
1 Then the LORD said to Moses, 2 “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— 4 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 5 to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts. 6 Moreover, I have appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, to help him. Also I have given ability to all the skilled workers to make everything I have commanded you:
The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre. He is trained to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, and in purple, blue, and crimson fabrics and fine linen, and to do all sorts of engraving and execute any design that may be assigned him, with your craftsmen, the craftsmen of my lord, David your father. Christian Gifts
"Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch. "This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. "You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. Christian Canvas Art
“You shall make an altar on which to burn incense; you shall make it of acacia wood. A cubit shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth. It shall be square, and two cubits shall be its height. Its horns shall be of one piece with it. You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and around its sides and its horns. And you shall make a molding of gold around it. And you shall make two golden rings for it. Under its molding on two opposite sides of it you shall make them, and they shall be holders for poles with which to carry it. You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. ...
He also made two capitals of molten bronze to set on the tops of the pillars; the height of the one capital was five cubits and the height of the other capital was five cubits. There were nets of network and twisted threads of chainwork for the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital and seven for the other capital. So he made the pillars, and two rows around on the one network to cover the capitals which were on the top of the pomegranates; and so he did for the other capital. The capitals which were on the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily design, four cubits. There were capitals on the two pillars, even above and close to the rounded projection which was beside the network; and the pomegranates numbered two hundred in rows around both capitals. Thus he set up the pillars at the porch of the nave; and he set up the right pillar and named it Jachin, and he set up the left pillar and named it Boaz. On the top of the pillars was lily design. So the work of the pillars was finished. Christian Gifts
and in the cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, that he may work in all kinds of craftsmanship. "And behold, I Myself have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and in the hearts of all who are skillful I have put skill, that they may make all that I have commanded you: the tent of meeting, and the ark of testimony, and the mercy seat upon it, and all the furniture of the tent, the table also and its utensils, and the pure gold lampstand with all its utensils, and the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering also with all its utensils, and the laver and its stand, the woven garments as well, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, with which to carry on their priesthood; the anointing oil also, and the fragrant incense for the holy place, they are to make them according to all that I have commanded you." The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. 'Therefore you are to observe the sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.
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GEORGE WASHINGTON'S NIGHTMARE ... ALEC REVEALED IN GEORGIA
This is not what the Founding Fathers had in mind.
An Atlanta TV station captured Georgia lawmakers and ALEC (America Legislative Exchange Council) lobbyists meeting to craft and approve industry supported legislation that will be introduced in Georgia's state legislature ...
In the report ALEC is referred to by former members as little more than a private "corporate bill mill" run by angry "white men controlled by industry not legislators."
ALEC's role in organizing and bankrolling the push for private prisons, voter ID, and anti-immigration laws are detailed here, here and here.
GRADUATION WEEK(S) 2015
As my regular readers have noticed, it's been a few days since I've posted anything. It's graduation time and I've been extra busy with regular campus-university duties, while hosting family and friends for my daughter's graduation at Centennial High School this past Thursday.
Centennial High School graduating class 2015.
I'm finally catching up on work, and will get back to semi-normal posting schedule (though we have Cal State's graduation next week).
A FLOOD OF DOLLARS, NEW COMPETITION, AND A CRUMBLING GLOBAL ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK IS WHAT AILS THE WORLD ... YET WE DO NOTHING (STILL)
It was the 1970s. Inflation, which started at 6.2% in 1970, reached over 13% by the end of 1979. Unemployment hovered around 6%, while borrowing money to pay for a home or a car could easily cost you 20% in interest. Recession, high oil prices, low productivity, and inflation were the new norm in America. The result was a new term in the field of economics, and a fresh challenge in American politics: Stagflation.
With both confidence and investment lagging in America, the economy was on the ropes. While it was clear that too many dollars floating in the global economy had wiped out the gold standard, new competition from Europe and Asia combined with OPEC price hikes in the 1970s in a way that altered and destabilized global markets.
With economists and policy analysts arguing over the causes there was little political consensus about what to do. The political void created by these developments would be filled by presidential candidate Ronald Reagan in 1980.
Claiming that excessive regulations and high taxes were the problem, candidate Reagan's message touched a political nerve in America - in spite of the fact that his political prescriptions did nothing to address the economic problems challenging America. In the end, Reagan was able to sell America on a deregulation and tax cut program that would do little more than transfer wealth to America's richest class, while exacerbating the economic problems facing the nation, and the world.
In fact, regulations and taxes were only a small piece of the economic puzzle that challenged policy makers in 1980. The economic instability and new challenges America faced were ultimately rooted in the successes - and subsequent collapse - of the post-war world order that the United States had created, then poorly managed and, finally, helped to undermine with reckless budget deficits.
How we arrived at this point is what makes this story.
THE POST-WAR ENVIRONMENT
After World War II, the uncertainty caused by the destruction of war was heightened by the reality that we were now in a nuclear age. Post-war leaders knew they also wanted to avoid the economic conditions that led to the rise of tyrants like Adolf Hitler (economic collapse) and the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin (underdevelopment).
With nuclear weapons and the cold war staring us in the face, it was clear that the post-war world needed to learn how to cooperate, on many levels.
With memories of walking away from the global community after World War I - when the United States Senate rejected the League of Nations - America was convinced it would have to lead the world in constructing a world order that would be both politically inclusive and economically disciplined.
By supporting the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank - economic institutions created at Bretton Woods in 1944 - the United States demonstrated that it was committed to building a new world order. With the hope that the world economy would stabilize and grow, America put the full force of its authority behind these political, military, and economic institutions.
In the process, because the goal was cooperation rather than domination, the United States demonstrated that it had embraced a more sophisticated understanding of power.
The Marshall Plan - which committed about 4% of the U.S. GDP to Europe - showed the world that the U.S. was serious about its commitment to the global institutions it helped build. The costs of the Marshall Plan, however, would pale in comparison to the benefits the U.S. enjoyed from having the dollar enshrined as the world's "anchor currency," which nations sought and coveted. Over the years the privileged position of the dollar would allow the U.S. to effectively print and send dollars around the world, which other nations dutifully held.
But this privileged position would come with a price.
The United States would have to pay the bulk of the costs associated with defending the west. While the western world enjoyed the benefits of global stability (as virtual free riders), and recovered economically, the U.S. experienced bloated budgets. So while the post-war world order was at times tense it was a stable one. This set the stage for new market competitors to arrive on the global commercial stage.
As well, a flood of U.S. dollars would spread across the globe, as market players found it convenient and profitable to trade in dollars.
This, as we shall see, is something the United States and their allies may have anticipated - see especially economist Robert Triffin - but never prepared for. This is an issue that continues to plague our world today.
POST-WAR SUCCESSES ... AND A WAVE OF U.S. DOLLARS
Because so many countries sought and welcomed dollars the U.S. learned that it could print and send out dollars without the fear of having them sent back to America, where inflation would then become an issue. Colloquially, the United States found that it could write checks that others would not cash.
With the United States taking the lead in the cold war, in Korea, Vietnam, and in every region around the world America learned that paying for the defense of the west was not so difficult. Demand for devalued dollars was maintained because the world was willing to hold dollars.
This condition was facilitated by several developments that the United States did not necessarily anticipate, and may have even encouraged because of how it promoted the dollar abroad.
Beginning in the 1950s the British understood how popular the dollar was around the world. In an effort to benefit from the demand for dollars the British actively began soliciting and then lending dollars on their own terms in 1957. And just like that, a Euro-currency market built around dollars was born. While this would help undermine its long-term stability (because the British effectively began speculating on the dollar), in the short-term the British were promoting and increasing demand for the dollar.
The rise of the Euro-currency market would parallel the surging demand for dollars that was created by U.S. firms that went abroad in search of new markets to conquer. With increased trade by U.S. multinationals came increased demand for financial services. Following lead of the British in 1957, by the early 1960s U.S. banks jumped in to fill the dollar needs of multinational firms around the world.
By the 1960s the U.S. was putting military bases up around the world and paying for the defense of the west. The Euro-currency market was in full swing. Multinational corporations were also paving the way for the increased use of dollars around the world.
One could be pardoned for thinking that increased demand for U.S. dollars meant all was well for the United States. The reality was quite different.
THE FRENCH CHALLENGE THE EXORBITANT PRIVILEGE ... AND LOSE
Global markets had become so saturated with dollars that the U.S. promise to pay $35 for every ounce of gold became an unrealistic promise. By the 1960s the French began demanding more dollars for gold, and wanted others to follow their lead. This was the backdrop to a meeting between the French and the Americans in the late 1960s.
It was 1967 and Secretary of State Dean Rusk was engaged in yet another round of frustrating talks with the French over defense issues related to NATO and the creation of multilateral forces. The United States was trying to convince the French that its security needs would be covered by the U.S. “nuclear umbrella” in Europe.
French President Charles de Gaulle was not convinced by the promise. He believed the U.S. wanted to dissuade France from building her own nuclear arsenal because it would undermine America's position as the leader of the free world. The prestige associated with her privileged position, according to de Gaulle, enabled the Americans to avoid being held to account in other areas. And de Gaulle’s evidence was strong.
Charles de Gaulle pointed to the war in Vietnam, which he believed was irresponsibly financed by deficit spending. Coupled with balance of payment deficits and the costs of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society programs, de Gaulle complained that the U.S. was recklessly printing and issuing more money than it could back with gold. Noted historian, Walter La Faber, explained it this way:
War costs shot upward from $8 billion in 1966 to $21 billion in 1967. Dollars flew out of the United States to pay for both the war and growing American private investments abroad (which rose from $49 billion in 1960 to $101 billion in 1968). The nations export trade could not pull those dollars back.
Charles de Gaulle was particularly miffed that the U.S. was the only country that could unilaterally print money and issue credit without having to experience the inflationary effects at home. No other country had the privilege of writing checks that others would hold. According to de Gaulle this was an “exorbitant privilege” that no other nation enjoyed, and he set out to make things right by demanding gold when France’s dollar reserves grew.
If other nations had been receptive to France's complaints the financial position of the U.S. would have suffered a serious setback. As Benjamin J. Cohen pointed out in In Whose Interest? International Banking and American Foreign Policy (1986), by the mid-1960s “almost two-thirds of America’s cumulative deficit was transferred in the form of gold.” This was up from just 10 percent in 1958.
Fortunately for the United States, there was no real effort to collectively demand gold as the French did after 1965. The Americans, to de Gaulle’s chagrin, could not be disciplined.
This was the backdrop to Charles de Gaulle’s tense meeting with American Secretary of State Dean Rusk over NATO in 1967. Events came to a head for de Gaulle when he announced that France was pulling its troops out of the military arm of NATO. He went so far as to declare that France’s nuclear forces might even be deployed against the west.
Making matters worse was the bitter and acrimonious tone surrounding France’s break from NATO. When de Gaulle informed U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk that the French were pulling out of NATO he bluntly told Rusk that he “wanted every American soldier out of France.”
Impatient and angry over de Gaulle’s lack of decorum, Rusk replied, “Does that include the dead Americans in the military cemeteries as well?”
The Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and Memorial in France, where 6,012 American rest.
Whatever misgivings Charles de Gaulle had, one thing was clear: The military position of the U.S. and the prosperity generated by the American-led global system meant the U.S. could continue spending beyond its means. As long as the world continued to hold dollars the United States would be able to avoid financial accountability back home.
This privilege position would not last. Trouble was around the corner.
Continued deficit spending on the part of the U.S. coupled with the demands of the French would help convince President Nixon to quit exchanging dollars for gold on demand. This would be followed by price controls, a flood of petrodollars, and climbing debt after 1973.
These and other forces combined to collapse the stability built around the Bretton Woods currency system.
Worse, it would facilitate facilitate a speculative assault on the dollar that has destabilized world markets ever since.
Ronald Reagan’s arrival, as we will see, would help accelerate this development.
MISREADING THE TEA LEAVES
So what happened after Charles de Gaulle called attention to U.S. spending habits? For our purposes, effectively nothing. The United States continued to spend. And when de Gualle’s criticisms failed, America spent even more.
The question for us then is, Why didn’t the U.S. suffer the inflationary consequences from creating more dollars? Very simple: The U.S. and its cold war allies had come to an agreement. As Benjamin J. Cohen explained, in the early 1970s the U.S. agreed to continue paying for the defense of the west. For their part, U.S. allies agreed to continue underwriting American debt and to hold U.S. dollars.
While this was both an economic and geo-strategic coup for the United States its western allies benefited as well.
Instead of spending on tanks and guns they could concentrate on producing a parade of better cars and stereos (as it were). The Germans and the Japanese led this economic parade in Europe and Asia. In essence our allies said, “Go ahead, build up your military and spend all that money doing it. Even though you'll be creating more dollars and debt we still won’t won’t send your dollars back (at least not yet).”
In the process the U.S. kept its perch as the undisputed leader of the free world.
There was only one problem. Nothing was being done about the long term political, economic and military issues that continue to affect the U.S. position today:
(1) BLOATED BUDGETS: The costs associated with paying for the defense of the west has been matched today with the costs associated with industry bailouts and the costs of failed wars. These are financial burdens that will last generations.
(2) FINANCIAL INSTABILITY: A wave of dollars has undermined the value of the dollar, fluctuating interest rates, and the economic stability we experienced immediately after World War II. Today we see speculation, gambling and bailouts caused by bets made on increasingly complex financial products.
(3) THE GLOBAL CASINO: The cumulative impact of multinationals and other firms who went from hedging their bets in currency markets to outright speculating and gambling on currencies and other financial products has not been helpful.
(4) VIETNAM SYNDROME RUN AMOK: The penchant for the U.S. to pursue reckless wars and military-spying adventures has undermined America's position, and eroded its prestige around the globe.
(5) ENERGY PLANNING: After OPEC jacked up prices - which supercharged financial instability and global debt - little was done to develop a viable energy policy. Because the OPEC nations made a commitment to continue trading their product in dollars - and to purchase U.S. debt - after 1973, the U.S. has been unable to wean itself and the world from the instability in the Middle East.
(6) NEW COMPETITION: While Europe and Asia were able to recover and develop under the protective institutional umbrellas created after WWII, America was left flat-footed. To date, in an effort to deal with new competition the U.S. has chosen to embrace a race to the bottom strategy that takes jobs overseas and undermines the prospects of labor at home, while castigating other nations for cheating.
(7) THE SYMBOLIC ECONOMY: Finding it easier and more profitable to gamble on currencies and other financial products, market players are increasingly more interested in wealth extraction than with wealth creation.
In the case of #7 above, economist Joseph Schumpeter would have argued that our biggest market players today are now playing monopoly rather than building them.
In any case, it's clear that was ailing the United States in 1980 was not simply too many taxes or too many regulations. The challenges confronting the nation were a product of too many dollars wrecking the institutional discipline created at the 1944 Bretton Woods conference. As well, new competition from Asia and Europe came about precisely because the post-war world order did what it was supposed to do: nurture market stability and economic development.
The problems that Ronald Reagan saw, and the tax cutting and deregulation policies he sold to America, missed these larger issues.
Not only did President Reagan's trickle down policies make matters worse by putting more deficit dollars into the global economy, but they redistributed wealth in America in ways that threatens to undermine the American experience even today.
Worse - and contrary to popular opinion - President Reagan's policies didn't actually fix the problems that confronted America in 1980, as we will see in the next section.
REAGAN'S DEFICIT SPENDING ORGY, AND KEYNESIAN RECOVERY
By the time Ronald Reagan left office inflation and interest rates were down to single digits, while unemployment hovered around 5%. Because of these developments, conservatives and ill-informed talk show hosts like to claim that a combination of tax cuts, deregulation, bureaucratic reform, and assorted incentives created the environment for investment that energized the economy.
Indeed, according to revisionist historians the Reagan administration was able to get America moving by reducing the size of government, cutting government spending, and getting “government off of our backs.”
This would be an interesting by-line except for one thing. It’s not true.
First, it’s interesting to note that job creation under Ronald Reagan never matched the levels achieved under Jimmy Carter, while the size of the federal government’s workforce grew from 2.8 million employees to 3.1 million under President Reagan.
Job growth, by president, 1981-2015.
Public sector job growth, federal government.
Note the growth under President Reagan after the recession (1981-89).
In fact, the number of federally subsidized programs under Ronald Reagan was scaled back only to 1970-1975 levels. This helps explain why the Reagan administration hardly put a dent in the size of government.
Acknowledging this, in 1985 Fortune magazine wrote that the “budget is way out of balance because of a little-known fact: real federal spending, adjusted for inflation, has climbed even faster under President Reagan than it did in the Carter years.” In the end, in spite of what the supply-side supporters promised, the national debt almost tripled from approximately $930 Billion to $2.7 Trillion under Reagan.
So what created the conditions for the American economy to stabilize in the late 1980s, and take off during the 1990s? Primarily three factors: all of which undermine the idea that Reagan fixed America with a good ol' shot of capitalism.
On the inflation front, we find that OPEC – an oligopoly that depends on cooperation to sustain itself – found its solidarity undermined by late 1981. With the beginning of the Iran-Iraq War, which Saddam Hussein initiated in part because the ayatollahs were fomenting fanatic revolution in Iraq, black markets in the oil industry grew as cheating on the part of the two combatants began (to fund their war efforts).
In addition, conservation efforts, alternative energy sources, new oil discoveries, among other developments, helped to stabilize oil prices. But these efforts were initiated by President Ford and, to a larger degree, by President Carter. Still, the reality was OPEC unity – one of the primary catalysts behind price hikes – had unraveled, while government-inspired conservation efforts paid off.
As the price for oil dropped, so did inflationary pressures.
We also need to recognize a second force on the inflation front. Recall the strategy employed to control inflation was taken up by Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. In spite of pressure from the Reagan administration, who initially wanted to expand the money supply, most economists agree that by sticking to his guns, and maintaining a stringent monetary policy, Mr. Volcker helped to slay the inflation dragon. Critical here is that Mr. Volcker was appointed by Jimmy Carter, and not Ronald Reagan.
Finally, the Reagan administration’s deficit spending broke all previous records.
In fact, his administration spent twice as much as the previous 39 presidential administrations combined, in the process using taxpayer funded debt to deposit hundreds of billions of dollars into the national and global economy each year. This government induced “pump priming” was an artificial stimulus – what economists call a “Keynesian stimulus” – and was hardly a vote of confidence for laissez-faire economics.
SUMMING UP ... IT'S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE
In sum, cracks in OPEC unity, conservation efforts, a tight monetary policy, and a state-led stimulus to our larger economy suggest that the Reagan administration’s policies were, at best, a supporting rather than leading factor in reversing the dismal economic environment of the 1970s. Worse, President Reagan's policies did absolutely nothing to fix the very real problems associated with a flood of dollars, new competition, a crumbling global economic framework, and the rise of the symbolic economy. The events of 2008 were neither unforeseen, nor a product of - as Alan Greenspan comically put it - the product of once-in-a-century event.
What we experienced in 2008 was the product of developments that we have chosen to ignore for the better part of four decades. And, yes, our continued "head-in-the-sand" response to the events of 2008 make it clear that things are only going to get worse before they get better.
UPDATE: For my International Commerce students, below are additional posts on topics we've discussed in class this quarter ...
Derivatives explained, Part II
Developing Afghanistan and Iraq ... It's mindless Modernization Theory, again
Decoupling of Productivity from Labor ... The Rise of the Machines, Part I
Decoupling of Productivity from Labor ... The Rise of the Machines, Part II
A MEMORIAL DAY/MILITARY MASTERPIECE
On Memorial Day ... I liked this song before, but the U.S. military has turned into a real masterpiece. This is absolutely the best rendition of "Unchained Melody" I've ever heard:
MEMORIAL DAY PROFILE #3 ... JOSEPH KENNEDY
As promised, over the Memorial Day weekend I'm going to re-post the stories of three Americans who exemplify what military service and honor are all about.
Unlike our modern day cowardly politicians, and blow hard media pundits who cheer every war opportunity without sacrificing anything, the Americans I'm profiling had fame and fortune. But they also believed they should contribute more to the cause. Not one of the three individuals profiled this weekend were drafted, or forced to abandon the charmed and comfortable lifestyles that would have been part of their future.
Yesterday I posted on Pat Tillman. Today's post is about Joseph Kennedy.
JOSEPH KENNEDY, JR.
The Joseph Kennedy, Jr. story is a unique one because of his family connections and wealth. His father, Joseph Kennedy, Sr., made a name for himself on Wall Street, and as Franklin D. Roosevelt's Ambassador to Britain. His accomplishments on Wall Street would compel Franklin D. Roosevelt to appoint him as the first chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). His younger brother, John F. Kennedy, would become the 35th President of the United States.
A graduate of Harvard, Kennedy studied for a year at the London School of Economics before attending Harvard Law School. As a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1940, Kennedy was already fabulously rich as a young man. His father, as the story goes, gifted each of his kids $1 million (about $17 million today) early in life so they could tell the family (more specifically, the Dad) to go to hell if they wanted.
Joe Kennedy, Jr., Joe Kennedy, Sr. and JFK.
Joe Kennedy, Jr. voluntarily left Harvard before finishing his final year in law school to join the U.S. Navy in 1942. There he completed 25 combat missions, and volunteered for Operation Aphrodite weeks before his tour was up.
The mission he volunteered for can best be described as as a combination of modern drone warfare and kamikaze strategy. The U.S. military outfitted "tired" planes with explosives that weighed twice the payload weight authorized for a B-17 plane. Pilots were told to abandon their planes only when radio guidance was handed over to controllers. The plane Joe Kennedy, Jr. was flying blew up prematurely. He is officially listed as killed on a mission over England in 1944.
MEMORIAL DAY PROFILE #2 ... PAT TILLMAN
Yesterday I posted on Glenn Miller. Today's post is about Pat Tillman.
PAT TILLMAN
Pat Tillman was an NFL player who was in his prime playing for the Phoenix Cardinals in the late 1990s. After the 9/11 attacks Tillman left a lucrative career in football to enlist in the U.S. Army at the age of 25.
At one point Tillman turned down a multi-year $9 million contract from the St. Louis Rams because of the loyalty he felt towards the Cardinals. Before enlisting in the U.S. Army Tillman also turned down a 3-year $3.6 million contract offer from the Phoenix Cardinals. Put another way, Pat Tillman was a talented football player who had options.
After Tillman joined the Army Rangers he was killed in the mountains of Afghanistan under circumstances - first called an ambush, and later labeled as "friendly fire" - that remains a mystery for many today.
MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND READING (5-23-15)
Nevermind: Jeb Bush walks back comment about authorizing Iraq invasion (Russian Times).
Top 10 banks to sell your soul (Zero Hedge).
U.S. rent prices continue to increase faster than home prices, and show no sign of letting up (Market Watch).
Scientists now projecting near 100% chance of strong El Nino, but rainfall isn't always guaranteed (San Francisco CBS).
RICH MAN, POOR MAN
Wealth gap hits 30-year high among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries (Russian Times).
The richest 1% in the world will have more than the remaining 99% by 2016 (International Business Times).
Welcome to the Oligarch recovery: 82% of multifamily rental construction in the U.S. was in luxury units between 2012 and 2014 (Zero Hedge).
FOX IS JUST PATHETIC
Obama: Fox News portrays poor people as 'leeches' (Politico).
Jon Stewart rips Fox, Scarborough for whining after President Obama criticized them for demonizing the poor (Crooks and Liars).
"The rich suffered more": The worst of Fox News' poor-shaming (Media Matters).
THINGS THAT SHOULD BE CHANGED
Nike, Obama, and the fiasco of the Trans Pacific Partnership (Robert Reich).
One startling GIF show how much the U.S. spends on imprisoning vs. educating people (Policy Mic).
UK's private health firms get unfair tax advantage to outbid National Health Services (Russian Times).
8 disturbing revelations about policing in Baltimore since the Freddie Gray cops were arrested (Alternet).
The big banks are corrupt - and getting worse (Huffington Post).
Congress tells court that Congress can't be investigated for insider trading (Info Wars).
THIS IS NOT GOOD
9 things many Americans just don't grasp compared to the rest of the world (Alternet).
Why are suicide rates crawling up the charts across the planet (Alternet)?
The icy paradox. While the Arctic continues to lose ground, Antarctica is gaining ice at a record pace ... the explanations for Antarctic growth suggest a real messy future (CS Monitor).
China's building islands in resource rich, and geo-strategically contentious Spratly Islands, with the U.S. threatening retaliation at their land grab (Zero Hedge).
SERIOUSLY, THESE PEOPLE ARE IDIOTS
Louie Gohmert: Bush would never have invaded Iraq if he knew Obama would come along and bungle it (Raw Story).
Ted Cruz goes full Ted Cruz: "Is there something about the left that is obsessed with sex?" (Salon).
Scott Walker doubles down on his assertion that Ronald Reagan firing U.S. air traffic controllers was the most significant foreign policy decision that has been made in his lifetime (Bloomberg).
Meet the Christian right's new doomsday prophet - and his insane, apocalyptic "blood moon" theory (Salon).
India & China seal record 24 deals estimated at $10 billion (Russian Times).
Boot camp or school? Critics worry that charters for minority kids are too militant (Takepart).
The GOP's war on science gets worse (The New Yorker).
The GOP attack on climate change science takes a big step forward (Michael Hiltzik).
MEMORIAL DAY PROFILE #1 ... GLENN MILLER
Over the next three days I'm going to break up and re-post one of my more popular posts because of it fits the Memorial Day narrative. These are the stories of three Americans who exemplify what military service and national honor are all about.
Today's post is about Glenn Miller.
Glenn Miller was a band leader in the swing era. His career was beginning to sky rocket with still recognizable hits like "In the Mood" and "Moonlight Serenade." In 1942, while making between $15,000 and $20,000 per week (roughly between $200,000 and $300,000 today), Miller decided to join the war effort.
At 38 he was too old to be drafted, and was initially told by the Navy that they did not need his services. He convinced the U.S. Army that they could use him to help "modernize" their music, which allowed him to serve by entertaining the allied troops.
Miller and his 50-piece band played across Europe, and perished on December 15, 1944 while crossing the English Channel to play in Paris. Glenn Miller is still listed as Missing In Action.
For those who didn't click on the Glenn Miller links above ...
BAKERSFIELD HITS YET ANOTHER TOP 10 LIST
This is one those Good News, Bad News stories for the city of Bakersfield - where I live. First, the good news. This weekend the Bakersfield Police Department reported that the crime rate in the city hit a 10-year low in 2015. This is good news.
The bad news is that Bakersfield just made another top 10 list. When it comes to violent crime, murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault Bakersfield is still the 10th most dangerous metropolitan area in the western United States (#32 nationwide).
RON BURGANDY IN THE HOUSE? THE GOP-LED ASSAULT ON SCIENCE CONTINUES ...
Ron Burgundy. Honorary House Republican?
The Republicans are at it again. Before you read on, watch the Monty Python clip below. It will help you understand the GOP congressional mindset that's currently leading the assault on science, and the scientific method.
As you saw in the clip, simply because you can make the connections, and it makes sense to you, doesn't mean it's true. This is the case no matter how much you want to believe it (or how much lobbyist money you get for ignoring it). So, how bad is it in our halls of Congress, you ask? Good question.
In "The GOP attack on climate change science takes a big step forward" we learn from the Los Angeles Times' Michael Hiltzik that the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology voted to "cut deeply into NASA's budget for Earth science." As Hiltzik points out, this is a "clear swipe at the study of climate change."
But wait. The GOP's war on science gets worse.
According to the The New Yorker. The same House committee that approved major funding cuts to the NASA Earth Science budget also voted to cut the budgets for the National Science Foundation’s geosciences program and the Department of Energy programs, which support research into new energy sources (guess which industry benefits from this).
None of this should come as a surprise to the regular readers of this blog. We talked about the coming Republican assault on science and reason long before the House shifted back into the hands of the GOP.
What we're currently experiencing is an age-old argument about scientific truths, as argued by idiots ...
WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE TRANS PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP, IN ONE CARTOON
This cartoon on the Trans Pacific Partnership below has the best commentary on what's wrong with the investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) rule that I've seen.
Artist Kevin Tucker has a nice overview of the Trans-Pacific Partnership to go along with his cartoon - complete with links to Senator Elizabeth Warren's comments on the TPP in the Washington Post - which you can access by clicking here.
A TALE OF TWO CITIES ... CRIME IN AMERICA
LESSON OF THE DAY: If you're going to pose a threat to your community, do it while working in Wall Street's derivative markets. The actual theft not only gets rewarded financially, but the cover of "the market" lets you convince yourself that you're actually doing something of value.
THE REPUBLICAN KOCH ADDICTION
To be fair, because of Citizen's United, this could be politicians of all stripes playing the money game. Still, the Koch brothers give almost all of their political contributions to extreme libertarian groups that push their financial interests, and to the GOP. This reality, combined with the Koch name, is what makes this David Horsey comic so humorous.
NEIL deGRASSE TYSON NAILS IT, AGAIN
THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF THE RUSSIAN FAMILY LIVING IN SIBERIA FOR 40 YEARS, CUT OFF FROM THE WORLD
From Smithsonian.com we learn about a Russian family that lived in Siberia for 40 years, cut off from all human contact. They didn't know about World War II when they were finally located by Soviet sponsored geologists in 1978. Below is an excerpt from the long but fascinating tale of the family found in the Russian boreal forest (taiga) of Siberia.
... The sight that greeted the geologists as they entered the cabin was like something from the middle ages. Jerry-built from whatever materials came to hand, the dwelling was not much more than a burrow—”a low, soot-blackened log kennel that was as cold as a cellar,” with a floor consisting of potato peel and pine-nut shells. Looking around in the dim light, the visitors saw that it consisted of a single room. It was cramped, musty and indescribably filthy, propped up by sagging joists—and, astonishingly, home to a family of five:
The silence was suddenly broken by sobs and lamentations. Only then did we see the silhouettes of two women. One was in hysterics, praying: ‘This is for our sins, our sins.’ The other, keeping behind a post… sank slowly to the floor. The light from the little window fell on her wide, terrified eyes, and we realized we had to get out of there as quickly as possible.
Led by Pismenskaya, the scientists backed hurriedly out of the hut and retreated to a spot a few yards away, where they took out some provisions and began to eat. After about half an hour, the door of the cabin creaked open, and the old man and his two daughters emerged—no longer hysterical and, though still obviously frightened, “frankly curious.” Warily, the three strange figures approached and sat down with their visitors, rejecting everything that they were offered—jam, tea, bread—with a muttered, “We are not allowed that!” When Pismenskaya asked, “Have you ever eaten bread?” the old man answered: “I have. But they have not. They have never seen it.” At least he was intelligible. The daughters spoke a language distorted by a lifetime of isolation. “When the sisters talked to each other, it sounded like a slow, blurred cooing.”
Slowly, over several visits, the full story of the family emerged. The old man’s name was Karp Lykov, and he was an Old Believer–a member of a fundamentalist Russian Orthodox sect, worshiping in a style unchanged since the 17th century. Old Believers had been persecuted since the days of Peter the Great, and Lykov talked about it as though it had happened only yesterday; for him, Peter was a personal enemy and “the anti-Christ in human form”—a point he insisted had been amply proved by Tsar’s campaign to modernize Russia by forcibly “chopping off the beards of Christians.” But these centuries-old hatreds were conflated with more recent grievances; Karp was prone to complain in the same breath about a merchant who had refused to make a gift of 26 poods of potatoes to the Old Believers sometime around 1900.
Things had only got worse for the Lykov family when the atheist Bolsheviks took power. Under the Soviets, isolated Old Believer communities that had fled to Siberia to escape persecution began to retreat ever further from civilization. During the purges of the 1930s, with Christianity itself under assault, a Communist patrol had shot Lykov’s brother on the outskirts of their village while Lykov knelt working beside him. He had responded by scooping up his family and bolting into forest.
For the rest of the story click here.
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← Australia: Minister tells principals to throw One Nation senator’s anti-Islam letters in the bin – The Guardian
When Hitler’s Henchman Called the Shots in Hollywood →
US expat groups vow to continue fight to end citizenship-based tax regime, repeal FATCA
Despite the efforts, too small an interest group, and not domestically-based, to effect change to date:
After the US Senate voted early on Saturday morning to approve a version of a major tax reform bill that failed to include certain fiercely-fought-for changes that would have benefited expatriate Americans, spokespeople for some of the organisations that lobbied on behalf of these changes said they didn’t regard the battle as over – and that in any event, the fight would go on.
They also stressed that much had been achieved in terms of educating Americans at home and abroad to the issues, and organising and building groups that will continue to work for a change. Said Marylouise Serrato, executive director of the American Citizens Abroad, one of the organisations at the centre of the campaign: “Thanks to everyone’s efforts, the awareness and interest in the topic of residency-based/territorial taxation for Americans overseas is the highest its ever been.”
As reported, the ACA, along with such other organisations as the Republicans Overseas, the Democrats Abroad, Americans for Tax Reform, the Heritage Foundation and a number of American chambers of commerce have fought hard for months to convince US lawmakers to do away with the current US system of citizenship-based taxation.
Some of these and others, including the Campaign to Repeal FATCA, and certain members of Congress such as Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, have been campaigning for the US to get rid of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, which has made life difficult for expatriate Americans since it was signed into law by president Obama in 2010.
Saturday’s Senate vote saw 51 Republican lawmakers vote to approve the Senate version of the so-called Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and 49 senators – all Democrats – voting against it. Neither a proposal to replace the current citizenship-based tax regime nor one that would have called for the repeal of FATCA was included in the version that was passed, even though, as reported, such key lawmakers as the Republican head of the House Ways and Means committee, Kevin Brady, had publicly indicated that Washington officials were taking “seriously” the call for a shift away from the citizenship-based income tax system.
via US expat groups vow to continue fight to end citizenship-based tax regime, repeal FATCA
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Racism, Sexism, Ageism. Are Agencies Ready to Tackle Their Demons?
Oberland's video series targets ongoing bias
By Tim Nudd on Feb 15 2019 - 1:36pm
For an industry that prides itself on its own perceptiveness, advertising has some glaring blind spots.
A level of racism, sexism, homophobia and ageism still exists in the business—despite what are sometimes good intentions. We can surely chalk a lot of this up to the continuing dearth of diversity and inclusion in the industry; in a system where the power still resides largely with straight white men, it shouldn't be surprising that unconscious bias (and worse) and so-called "microaggressions" are perpetuated within the culture of agencies—and, often, in the work they produce.
Oberland, a purpose-based New York indie agency, is trying to tackle this issue of bias with an initiative called "Nothing Changes If We Don't." It includes a series of videos showing ordinary agency situations—from career conversations to casting sessions—where bias can crop up.
Each video ends with a well-known ad executive talking more about the specific problem highlighted in that video—from mansplaining to tokenism to typecasting.
See the videos here:
Oberland isn't just throwing out these topics for debate. It's shining a light on itself, too, by undergoing a compensation study, environmental analysis, diversity and inclusion training, mental health training, harassment training, and a comprehensive HR policy audit—the results of which it plans to make public.
And it's calling on other agencies to do the same, in the hope it will catch on and accelerate the process of eradicating bias from the agency world.
Oberland co-founders Bill Oberlander and Drew Train launched the initiative. Oberlander, the agency's executive creative director, tells Muse that the idea originally came out of pitch work for the Southern Poverty Law Center. Oberland didn't end up working with the SPLC, but the pitch process involved a discussion about racial microaggressions—and got the agency thinking about how such issues manifest in the ad business.
"We said to ourselves, 'Why don't we think about all these things we've witnessed, that we've heard, that we've been down the hallway from, and kind of call bullshit on ourselves and hold up this mirror to the industry?' " says Oberlander.
They held a brainstorming session, stockpiled true stories and wrote scripts against them. Even in the process of the campaign's creation, they realized they had blind spots—they had to shelve one of the videos, which was sending out the wrong tone, according to Oberlander.
Bias continues to haunt the ad industry partly because of its historical lack of diversity, Oberlander says. "It goes back to Don Draper and Madison Avenue," he says. "Just look at those old oil paintings. They're all white guys. And quite frankly, not much has evolved since then."
Aside from being, on one level, a self-promotion project for the agency, the initiative does seem heartfelt in terms of wanting things to change. Indeed, Oberland has been reaching out to other agencies—smaller shops like Barton F. Graf but also much bigger places like FCB, Ogilvy and Publicis—to see if they'd like to get involved somehow.
"It would be great to have the might of those agencies because their reach is so much farther and deeper," says Oberlander. "But their employee handbook is a thick as your arm. I don't know how much they'd be able to turn it upside down and do the walk-the-walk audit that we've gone through. But we will invite and accept the help, as shallow or as deep as people want to get involved."
It is a tricky topic to address—there are reasons people are afraid to meaningfully engage in conversations around racism, sexism, ageism and pay equity. But with Oberland opening up the conversation, the hope is others will follow. The agency is considering some kind of open mic night where more stories can be told (either anonymously or not). And if all goes well, Oberland may even host an event at Cannes Lions around the topic.
"Something I embrace is the willingness to say, 'You know what? We're not perfect and we have to change that,' " says Oberlander. "Hopefully it'll have an impact. It's meant to be contagious."
Tim Nudd
@nudd
Tim Nudd is editor in chief of the Clio Awards.
More from Tim Nudd
Volkswagen Uses David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' in Lovely Ad Celebrating the Moon Landing
Inside Lyft's Remarkably Textured Look at the Immigrant Experience
Busch Hid a Pop-Up Shop Deep in a National Forest. Can You Find It?
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Toto’s Steve Porcaro Joins Weezer on ‘Jimmy Kimmel’ for ‘Africa’
Christopher Polk / Jesse Grant, Getty Images
Weezer's cover of Toto's 1982 hit "Africa" has become their highest-charting song in nearly a decade, so it's no surprise they'd take that show on the road.
Last night, they performed the Toto IV hit on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
The cover recently reached No. 89 on the Billboard chart, a spot Weezer hasn't beat since 2009's "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To." The Ratitude track reached No. 81 back then.
Joining the band for a solo on the bridge on Kimmel's show last night was Toto keyboardist Steve Porcaro. You can watch the "Africa" performance below. (Weezer also performed "Buddy Holly" from their 1994 eponymous debut.)
Weezer first took a stab at the cover after a months-long campaign by a 14-year-old Twitter fan, @weezerafrica, lobbied for it. The band first responded with a cover of another Toto hit, "Rosanna," before relenting and fulfilling the teen's request. The recording has since gone viral on social media, though it seems frontman Rivers Cuomo, still donning preppy vests, hasn't nailed down the lyrics just yet, as he seemed to read them from a laptop onstage at the Kimmel taping.
Toto co-founder and guitarist Steve Lukather recently tweeted his approval of the cover and vowed to return the favor by covering a Weezer song.
In March, Cuomo released the solo single "Medicine for Melancholy," while Weezer are promising a new LP, Weezer (The Black Album), soon.
Next: The Ongoing Legacy of Toto's 'Africa'
Source: Toto’s Steve Porcaro Joins Weezer on ‘Jimmy Kimmel’ for ‘Africa’
Filed Under: weezer
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Calder/Kentridge
by Alexander Calder
Niccolò Castiglioni, Aldo Clementi, Bruno Maderna
A Teatro dell’Opera di Roma production
WAITING FOR THE SYBIL
Design and direction by
New production
Teatro dell'Opera di Roma - Teatro Costanzi
A new way to discover the finest details in different opera houses, theatres one can explore from home in advance through the revolutionary GOOGLE PERFORMING ARTS PROJECT. CLICK ON THE LINK TO SEE THE THEATER.
The Teatro dell'Opera, from its building (1879), at Domenico Costanzi’s request (1810-1898), and 1926, when it was bought by the then Governor of RomE, bore the name of Domenico Costanzi, building contractor and impresario, who committed the building to the Milanese architect Achille Sfondrini (1836-1900), specialized in theatre building and renovation. Built in 18 months on the area prevIously occupied by Heliogabalus’ villa, it was inaugurated on November 27th, 1880 with Semiramide by G. Rossini, conducted by the Maestro Giovanni Rossi, in the presence of the King and Queen of Italy.
Sfrondini’s design privileges the acoustic effect, by conceiving the interior structure as a "resonance chamber": as is particularly evident from the horseshoe shape. At the beginning, the theatre, with a seating capacity of 2,212 spectators, had three tiers of boxes, an amphitheatre, a gallery. All was surmounted by a dome with splendid frescoes by Annibale Brugnoli.
Costanzi invested all his personal assets in the venture. However, due to the despotic refusal of the City Council to redeem the theatre, Costanzi was obliged to manage it himself. Despite the fact that he had to deal with huge financial problems, under his management the opera house held many world premières of such operas as Cavalleria Rusticana (on May 17th, 1890) and L'Amico Fritz(October 31st 1891), both by Pietro Mascagni, who then became very well known.
For a brief period, the theatre was managed by the founder's son, Enrico Costanzi, who contributed to other great premières: Tosca by Giacomo Puccini (January 14th, 1900) and Le Maschere (January 17th, 1901). In 1907, the Teatro Costanzi was managed by the impresario Walter Mocchi (1870-1955) on behalf of the Società Teatrale Internazionale e Nazionale (STIN).
In 1912 Emma Carelli (1877-1928), Mocchi's wife, became the managing director of the new «Impresa Costanzi», named as such following various changes in the company structure. With Rome City Council’s purchase of Costanzi company, the theatre became “Teatro Reale dell'Opera” and a partial rebuilding was commissioned to the architect Marcello Piacentini. Closed on November 15th, 1926, it was re-opened on February 27th, 1928 with the opera Nerone by Arrigo Boito, conducted by the Maestro Gino Marinuzzi.
With the advent of the Republic, the theatre gained the current name of Teatro dell'Opera. In 1958, the building was further remodeled and modernised at the request of the Rome City Council. In over a century, the Teatro dell’Opera has seen its prestige increase internationally. During the several seasons, the most acclaimed voices worldwide followed one another: Enrico Caruso; Beniamino Gigli; Aureliano Pertile; Giacomo Lauri-Volpi; Claudia Muzio; Maria Caniglia; Maria Callas; Renata Tebaldi; Montserrat Caballé; Marilyn Horne; Raina Kabaivanska; Mario Del Monaco; Franco Corelli; Giuseppe Di Stefano; Tito Gobbi; Alfredo Kraus; Ruggero Raimondi; José Carreras; Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. Among the finest conductors, we can mention Otto Klemperer, Arturo Toscanini, Victor De Sabata, Marinuzzi,Vittorio Gui, Tullio Serafin, Von Karajan, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Carlo Maria Giulini, Georg Solti, Claudio Abbado, Georges Prêtre, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Mstislav Rostropovich, Giuseppe Patanè, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Nino Sanzogno, Gianluigi Gelmetti and since 2008 the Maestro Riccardo Muti.
How to reach Teatro dell'Opera
Piazza Beniamino Gigli, 7
Linea A - REPUBBLICA TEATRO DELL'OPERA stop
Via Nazionale - H, 40, 60, 64, 70, 71, 170, 116T
Via Depretis - 70, 71
Via Cavour - 16, 75, 84, 150 (festivo), 360, 590, 649, 714
Stazione Termini - 16, 38, 75, 86, 90, 217, 310, 360, 649, 714
phone number - 06.3570
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New data reveals key stats on how we move as a nation
With modern day jobs, and constantly evolving technology resulting in more time spent behind screens and less time on our feet, the Boston based footwear brand, Rockport, has revealed some key stats on how much we move as a nation – it’s not as much as you’d think.
What the data reveals
This research has detailed that the average Brit walks 32,000 miles between the ages of 16 and 65, with only 30% of Brits walking 1 to 2 miles every day. Unfortunately, a quarter of young people (aged 25-34) said they walk only 1 mile or less each day. Not good news folks. The north of the country holds both the highest and lowest levels of walking, with Leeds leading the way with and average of 2.02 miles a day.
Whilst the average distances walked appear low, Brits were prepared to make sacrifices, if it meant being able to walk to work. 12% of respondents would be willing to sacrifice their car completely if it afforded them the chance to walk to work, and a further 12% would give up a slightly higher salary in return for the privilege. Over all, money proved more of a pull to older participants with just 5% of over 55 year olds prepared to sacrifice the cash, compared to 20% of 16-24 year olds. Male respondents (16%) also appeared more willing to part with their car in exchange for a walkable commute than female respondents at 10%.
Our preferences are changing – a shift towards the outdoors
In addition to respondent’s walking habits, the Boston brand also provided refreshing statistics on the public’s preferences when it comes to exercise in general. Almost a third (31%) of young people aged 16-24 would rather swim than go to the gym, with Londoners the least likely in the UK to choose a walk outdoors than a session in the gym (32%). Respondents based in Wales revealed themselves as perhaps the most outdoor-orientated region in the UK, with more than half choosing outdoor walking over going to the gym (56%).
Rockport’s’ findings are presented in correlation with the launch of the brand’s ‘Let’s Walk’ collection; a revolutionary integrated motion technology that provides a walking experience never felt before. Encouraging wearers to ditch the taxi and take the long route home, the brand’s latest offering contains a seven-layer system to deliver superior cushioning, energy return and support.
The Let’s Walk collection retails at £130.00 and is available from key UK retailers including John Lewis and Blacks.
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Alrighty then
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What I Learned from my Father’s Addiction
Maggie M.
In April of 2018, my father checked into a rehabilitation center to confront his alcoholism. In February of 2019, he battled addiction a second time. My character was put to the test when my father first came clean about his addiction. Before this, I would have considered my life “normal.” My “normal” was one that did not associate my father with an inherited disease so unimaginably hard to break free from.
The vigorous character that sobriety calls for is one I was unaware I lived with. As my father selflessly devoted time towards sobriety, he found a spark for life in rehab, signifying his will to support those around him as well as himself. Although rehab changed my father for the better, no one except an addict could begin to understand the difficulties that follow sobriety. His struggle to stay sober after rehab became evident to me.
As my father fought his psyche to divert its cravings, his indomitable will drove me to develop a character he would be proud of. My father is assiduous in avoiding a relapse which inspires me to work hard for what I believe in. It drives my relentless and conscientious work ethic. His willingness to seek help from sponsors and therapists has taught me that acquiring help to succeed takes courage and builds character. His devotion to those he has met throughout his journey, as well as his devotion towards our family, pushes me to match his ability to care and to love.
My character has developed into one that works diligently, seeks help from others, and strives to live by strong morals. An example is my unyielding diligence towards academics. Although I was studious before my father admitted he had a problem, it was only after he acknowledged his addiction that I persevered towards developing a sturdy platform for a bright future that did not inherit alcoholism.
Before, I was an independent individual who did not perceive the need to seek help regarding the challenges I faced. I was focused on heightening personal performance, but have now developed a care for the success of those around me as well. I’ve learned to strengthen my character by being open to information from those who are able to provide suggestions.
I have applied the strides my character has made into strengthening the aspects of life I care about the most: succeeding in school, being a role model on the soccer field, and building stronger relationships with those I love. By focusing on these three aspects of life, and with the support of a mature character, I am able to provide the necessary support both my father and I can learn to thrive off of.
If your loved one is struggling with alcoholism or drug addiction, we are here to help. Reach out to Mountainside by calling 888 833 4676.
Maggie M. is a high school student with an interest in writing. She is passionate about her academics and supporting her father throughout his journey of recovery.
What to Do If Your Addicted Son/Daughter Asks You for Money I’m a Gay Male Addict in Recovery How to Recognize Depression
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Tom Hooper Brings 'Cats' From Stage to Screen
Oh boy. Have you ever seen anything more horrifying than this trailer? Who really thought it was a good idea to put Cats on the big screen, and in realistically rendered human/CGI hybrid form at that? Damn, this looks bad. And coming from Tom Hooper, the guy who did Les Mis, that really gives me less than zero faith that this could possibly be good. The creepy cat people are too distracting to even pay attention to anything else that might be happening.
July 18, 2019 by Ariel Shavonne.
Jay and Silent Bob are Back in Kevin Smith's 'Jay and Silent Bob Reboot'
By the way, we’re being bombarded with trailers today because Comic-Con started, so that explains the deluge of stuff (as you can see, mostly remakes and sequels) we’ll be seeing for the next few days. This could be amusing, but it has been a while since Kevin Smith did a good movie, right? So who knows. For what it’s worth, Smith did endorse it as “the same fucking movie all over again,” so presumably if you liked the first one…(it had its moments).
Mysterious Look at Sundance Thriller 'Monos'
This Colombian film won the World Cinema Special Jury Award at Sundance and is being released in September by Neon. When studios cut trailers for foreign-language films, they either go ahead with the subtitles or cut together a bunch of scenes without dialogue. I prefer the former, this is one of the latter, but it has an effective, haunting feel to it nonetheless. Keep an eye out for this one.
Tom Cruise Returns as Maverick in New 'Top Gun' Sequel
Yeah, you read that right. They should start resurrecting his other old movies, see what happened to the guys from Risky Business, Cocktail, Color of Money. How about Jerry Maguire next? I would not be surprised if it happened. The original Top Gun is a really cheesy movie by the way. It dated very quickly, so this sequel isn’t really aimed at me. Not sure if there are a whole lot of die hard Top Gun fans out there waiting for this either, but I guess we’ll find out.
Brad Pitt Searches for His Father in New 'Ad Astra' Trailer
This looks interesting, but I already said I’m wary of James Gray as a director, so I'm waiting for reviews on this one. I’m also not sure about that release date- normally if studios think an adult driven drama like this is particularly good, they’ll release it in October or November for awards season. September, not so much. That’s usually reserved for movies they don’t think are quite good enough.
Pennywise is Back in the Final Trailer for 'It: Chapter Two"
The movie may not be as scary as it looks, but this is a pretty good trailer. Traditionally people only like the first half of Stephen King’s It, so we’ll see if the interest is still there for the adult versions of the kids after the first one was a smash hit two years ago.
Judy Garland Brought Back to Life by Renee Zellweger
As good an actress as Renee Zellweger can be, I just can’t stop thinking about how little she resembles Judy Garland in any way here. She doesn’t look like her, she doesn’t sound like her, she doesn’t sing like her. Even though actors have given critically acclaimed performances as famous people before without really imitating them (Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe for example) that’s going to be too distracting for me here, I think.
July 8, 2019 by Ariel Shavonne.
Disney's Live-Action 'Mulan' Gets a Teaser
So, this trailer make Mulan look like it might not be a carbon copy of the cartoon, which means it has potential to actually be good. Even though you can hear the strains of “Reflection” in there, apparently this is not a musical, there’s no Mushu and no Shang, so it will be fairly different. That’s a good thing. They could do the same with properties like Hercules, Tarzan and The Hunchback of Notre Dame from their 90’s canon if they wanted to- maybe since those later ones are less culturally beloved than the big four (Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and Lion King), they might actually deviate from them and turn out better movies?
Kristen Stewart Stars in a New 'Charlie's Angels' Remake
I don’t know why this movie exists or why Elizabeth Banks wanted to direct it. It looks stupid just like every version of this, but in case anyone’s interested:
June 27, 2019 by Ariel Shavonne.
Zachary Levi hosts the 2019 MTV Movie Awards
'Avengers: Endgame' Tops the MTV Movie & TV Awards
If anyone cares, these took place tonight. The MTV Movie (and now TV) awards have long since lapsed in cultural relevance, but the popular winners were pretty expected. No surprises here.
2019 MTV MOVIE AND TV WINNERS
Best Movie: Avengers: Endgame
Best Performance in a Movie: Lady Gaga, A Star is Born
Best Hero: Robert Downey, Jr., Avengers: Endgame
Best Villain: Josh Brolin, Avengers: Endgame
Best Kiss: Noah Centineo & Lana Condor, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
Breakthrough Performance: Noah Centineo, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
Best Fight: Captain Marvel (Captain Marvel vs. Minn-Erva)
Best Real-Life Hero: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, RBG
Most Frightened Performance: Sandra Bullock, Bird Box
Best Documentary: Surviving R. Kelly
Best Musical Moment: A Star is Born, “Shallow”
Best Show: Game of Thrones
Best Performance in a Show: Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid’s Tale
Reality Royalty: Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta
Best Comedic Performance: Daniel Levy, Schitt’s Creek
Best Host: Nick Cannon, Wild ’n Out
Most Meme-able Moment: The Bachelor- Colton Underwood jumps the fence
The always popular Sandra Bullock picks up another popcorn
Franco Zeffirelli 1923-2019
Franco Zeffirelli died today at the age of 96. An Italian director best known for his Shakespearean adaptations like 1967’s The Taming of the Shrew and 1968’s Romeo and Juliet (which was nominated for four Oscars, including Picture and Director), he made films steadily from the late 60’s through the 90’s. Other notable entries in his filmography included The Champ (1979), Endless Love (1981), La Traviata (1983), Hamlet (1990), Jane Eyre (1996) and Tea With Mussolini (1999). He also directed the beloved 1977 miniseries Jesus of Nazareth, which became a huge success and is still a holiday mainstay on television. My favorite film of his is undoubtedly Romeo and Juliet, by far the best version of the play ever filmed, and the definitive one in my eyes.
1968 Trailer for Romeo and Juliet:
Keira Knightley is a Whistleblower in 'Official Secrets'
This political thriller showed at Sundance, about the forgotten story of a whistleblower who worked for British intelligence, and who tried to stop the Iraq War by leaking secret documents in 2003. These kinds of stories about fighting for the truth and against government propaganda are more timely than ever- especially coming from people who do the right thing from inside the government rather than bowing down to what they tell you to do, when you know it’s wrong. It bothers me that we haven’t had more patriots in our current government trying to save the country from the evil squatting in the White House. Everyone just seems to be sitting on their hands, paralyzed in fear or complacency.
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‘Total Recall’ Official Synopsis Revealed
Total Recall Official Synopsis Revealed
Movieweb Contributor
— January 16th, 2012
Sony Pictures has released the official synopsis for Total Recall, director Len Wiseman's remake of the 1990 sci-fi adventure, which hits theaters August 3. Take a look at the official plot rundown below.
Total Recall is an action thriller about reality and memory, inspired anew by the famous short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick. Welcome to Rekall, the company that can turn your dreams into real memories. For a factory worker named Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), even though he's got a beautiful wife (Kate Beckinsale) who he loves, the mind-trip sounds like the perfect vacation from his frustrating life - real memories of life as a super-spy might be just what he needs. But when the procedure goes horribly wrong, Quaid becomes a hunted man. Finding himself on the run from the police - controlled by Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston), the leader of the free world - Quaid teams up with a rebel fighter (Jessica Biel) to find the head of the underground resistance (Bill Nighy) and stop Cohaagen. The line between fantasy and reality gets blurred and the fate of his world hangs in the balance as Quaid discovers his true identity, his true love, and his true fate."
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Seattle NAACP experiences 244 percent spike in membership
MYNORTHWEST
By KIRO Nights
A march in Seattle on Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2019. (Seattle/King County NAACP)
Clifford Cawton remembers his first experience with the NAACP. It was years ago, in New York where he was living at the time.
“When I was a kid, back in New York, I called the NAACP there for membership, they actually hung up on me,” he told KIRO Nights. “It was something that I always remembered.”
It left a lingering, poor impression of the NAACP for Cawton. But fast forward to today — Cawtown is now the chair of housing for the Seattle/King County NAACP. He is among a range of leadership changes the organization has experienced, starting with the election of Sadiqa Sakin as its new president in November 2018 — the first black Muslim woman to take on the role in the organization’s 115 year history.
“We’re putting a new face on the NAACP,” Sakin said. “I know a lot of people think it’s that old organization from the ’60s … we are pushing everything, we have legal clinics, various things we are doing in the community. It’s exciting.”
“The NAACP, this is our platform, civil rights for all,” she said.
Sakin says she interviewed and recruited each board member personally. Whether it’s new faces at the organization, or a more modern feel, the Seattle/King County NAACP is now experiencing a surge in support. Since Sakin took on the role of president, the organization went from a membership count of 398 to 973. That’s a 244 percent spike.
“Visibility, and I’m cool like that,” Sakin joked about the increase in support. “Or we can say that we are out there, excited, we’re progressive and we are moving. I think that’s what people want to see. They want to see some type of movement, that you are taking action and getting things done.”
A modern NAACP
Visibility, Sakin said, was initially a challenge for the NAACP chapter — conveying what the organization is in 2019.
RELATED: Education for ignorance, confrontation for hate
RELATED: The politics of taking a rideshare
“We have all colors on our board,” Sakin said. “You can become a member, volunteer, donate. And come to some of our meetings and let us know what you are interested in. Tell us what you want to see us do … give us some feedback on what we are doing now.”
“It was a challenge letting people know we’re relatable,” she said. “Ya know, Caucasians, it’s OK. You can come and be a part of the NAACP. I’m Muslim. This is the first time in history we’ve had a large influx of Muslims … because they are saying ‘OK, she’s Muslim, I can relate to that.’ So being relatable is what we want to hone in on.”
Cawton emphasizes the word “approachable.” It’s a big difference from his experience in New York years ago.
“There are a number of different communities that are a part of the NAACP,” Cawton said. “One of the reasons I personally think there has been a spike in membership is that there are a lot of people out there right now that see the politics coming from DC and it doesn’t represent them. It doesn’t represent them and a core component of democracy is … essentially feeling your interests are being represented, regardless of whether you agree with someone on the particulars.”
NAACP takes on housing
Housing is one example of how the Seattle/King County NAACP is putting its energy into a range of civil rights initiatives — “civil rights for all” as Sakin puts it.
RELATED: Inspired by faith, landlords give tenants free month
RELATED: Landlords selling over Seattle rental rules
“Right now, we are not just facing a housing crisis, but an eviction crisis and a homelessness crisis as a result of the housing crisis,” Cawton said. “It’s one of affordability. It’s not just a housing crisis in the city of Seattle, it’s regional and now it’s a statewide housing crisis. People’s basic human dignity is violated every single day … you have rights. Landlords are not some feudal lords that can make decisions and not be held accountable for those decisions.”
The last bill that the NAACP lobbied for did not garner enough support in Olympia — it failed to pass. The organization is now working on a new bill with Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan aimed at alleviating the strain of evictions for renters. It proposes to increase the number of days for a tenant to remedy an eviction notice to 14 days.
“That increase would be really a life saver, and a game changer for a lot of elderly people, a lot of people on public assistance,” Cawton said. “Often, it may take a week for their stipend or their assistance to come in place.”
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Alien Civilizations and the Search for ‘Eyeball Planets’
The search for alien life hasn’t been a fruitful one yet. NASA and other space agencies have greatly improved their abilities to detect new exoplanets, but identifying distant planets is a long way from discovering the first evidence of life outside of Earth. Scientists have identified some signs that a few nearby bodies may have the ingredients necessary to support life, but so far it seems as if we’re all alone in our neck of the cosmic woods.
Still, the search continues for planets which lie in the “Goldilocks zone,” or circumstellar habitable zone if you’re not into the whole brevity thing. This area is the orbital region surrounding stars which is the perfect distance to support life – not too hot, not too cold. Astronomers frequently discuss finding Earth-like planets out of the assumption that our planet must somehow by the ideal type of world to support life.
A “hot” eyeball planet.
However, a new theory proposed by astronomer Sean Raymond at the Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Bordeaux in France says that perhaps we’re focusing too much on finding new Earths and we should turn our attention instead to discovering what he calls “eyeball planets.” These are a type of tidally locked planet, meaning the same side of the planet always faces towards its host star or planet. Raymond proposes that these orbits can result in two different types of eyeball-like planets in which there is a warmer side and a colder side. On a “hot” eyeball planet, the hot ‘pupil’ of the eye is composed of rock while the cold side is liquid; on a “cold” eyeball planet the ‘pupil’ is liquid while the dark side remains ice.
Raymond writes that the Milky Way “may be littered with wild varieties of eyeball planets” and that the search for alien life “will almost certainly start with these worlds.”
There is good reason to think that the first potentially life-bearing worlds that are now being detected around other stars probably look very different than Earth. Rather, these planets are more likely to look like giant eyeballs whose gaze is forever fixed on their host stars.
Raymond’s argument for prioritizing these types of worlds in our search for life is that “eyeball” planets can exist in a much wide range of circumstellar space than the Earth-like planets we seek out in stars’ Goldilocks zones. Thus, there could me many more of these eyeball planets out there in the universe than there are Earth-like planets, opening up further possibilities for discovering alien life.
Tags "Goldilocks Zone alien life exoplanets Extraterrestrial life eyeball planet
Brett Tingley is a writer and musician living in the ancient Appalachian mountains.
You can follow Brett on
Aliens May Be Trapped By the Gravity of Their Own Planets
Brett Tingley April 26, 2018
Breakthrough Listen Launches Groundbreaking New Search for Alien Life
NASA Launches Department Dedicated to Finding Aliens
Sequoyah Kennedy February 21, 2019
Mysterious Organisms Living Inside Gemstones and the Search for Alien Life
Brett Tingley August 11, 2018
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Home Events Audra McDonald: Next on the BROADWAY AT NOCCA series
May 19, 2013: The NOCCA Institute & The Lupin Foundation Present The ART & SOUL Gala
Now Live: The NOCCA Institute’s 2013 ART & SOUL Silent Auction!
Audra McDonald: Next on the BROADWAY AT NOCCA series
25 April, 2013 31 January, 2014 Leave a comment
Next on Mark Cortale’s
BROADWAY AT NOCCA series:
AUDRA MCDONALD!
Visit www.BroadwayNOLA.com for tickets or call 800-838-3006!
Audra McDonald — the five-time Tony Award-winner and recent star of Porgy and Bess on Broadway and TV’s Private Practice — makes her New Orleans debut with two shows only on Saturday, May 18 at 7:30 and 9:30. Both performances will take place in NOCCA’s Lupin Hall, with Sirius XM Radio star Seth Rudetsky as pianist and host.
What’s more: the Broadway @ NOCCA series announced last month that it will initiate a new, $2,500 scholarship! Each year, the scholarship will be awarded to one NOCCA senior who is attending a conservatory or college and specializing in Musical Theatre performance. Each award recipient will be selected by the school’s faculty, based on merit and need. Ms. McDonald will give out the first Broadway @ NOCCA scholarship onstage immediately after her performance!
The Broadway @ NOCCA season closes with Megan Hilty — star of NBC’s Smash (role of Ivy) and Wicked on Broadway — with one show only on Saturday, June 1 at 7:30 (replacing the previously programmed Betty Buckley due to a scheduling conflict). Preceding Ms. Hilty and Ms. McDonald in the star-studded series this season were Patti LuPone in January, Sutton Foster in March, and Megan Mullally of Will & Grace in April. Broadway @ NOCCA artists also give master classes for NOCCA’s Musical Theatre students.
Tickets for all remaining concerts can be purchased at www.BroadwayNOLA.com or by calling 800-838-3006. All concerts are produced by Mark Cortale, long -time producer/manager of Jeffery Roberson, aka Varla Jean Merman, and will be hosted by Sirius/XM radio star Seth Rudetsky at the piano. The series is sponsored exclusively by the New Orleans Hotel Collection and Gambit.
Audra McDonald became a three-time Tony Award-winner by the age of 28 for her performances in Carousel, Master Class, and Ragtime, placing her alongside Shirley Booth, Gwen Verdon, and Zero Mostel by accomplishing this feat within five years. She won her fourth in 2004 for her role in A Raisin in the Sun, a role she reprised for a 2008 television adaptation, earning her a second Emmy Award nomination. On June 10, 2012, McDonald scored her fifth Tony Award win for her portrayal of Bess in Broadway’s The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, thus tying a record held by Angela Lansbury and Julie Harris for most Tony Awards won by an actor.
She also maintains her ties to classical repertoire with an active concert and recording career, performing song cycles and operas as well as concerts throughout the U.S. Audra’s many television appearances include four seasons as Naomi Bennett in Private Practice, as well as Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order: SVU, Having Our Say, Mister Sterling, The Bedford Diaries, Kidnapped, the television remake of the musical Annie, and HBO’s Wit with Emma Thompson. She was recently announced as joining the cast of The Good Wife. Her film roles include Cradle Will Rock, Object of My Affection, It Runs in the Family, Best Thief in the World, and Seven Servants.
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Arkansas Ties Run Deep at Women's Open July 8, 2015 | Lancaster, Pa. By Lisa D. Mickey
Stacy Lewis has enjoyed advising some amateur golfers with ties to her alma mater, the University of Arkansas. (USGA/Hunter Martin)
Imagine being an amateur player in the field of the 70th U.S. Women’s Open Championship and getting to play a practice round with the No. 3-ranked player in the world.
Now imagine that same player, who has won 11 LPGA tournaments and earned a boatload of accolades, being interested in your success on the course and even showing you how to play a few shots around the green.
It might sound too good to be true, but three young players from Mexico had that experience Tuesday afternoon during a practice round at Lancaster Country Club with Stacy Lewis, the LPGA’s 2014 Rolex Player of the Year.
Why were they the recipients of such inside knowledge?
Well, two of the players, Gaby Lopez and Regina Plasencia, are members of the women’s golf team at the University of Arkansas, where Lewis also played college golf. The third player, Maria Fassi, is a rising high school senior who says she will attend Arkansas in 2016 as a freshman. (Fassi has not yet signed a letter of intent with the school.)
But more importantly for Lewis, it’s about helping young players get ready for a big event like the U.S. Women’s Open.
“They are Razorbacks and a future Razorback, that’s part of it, but I want to see these kids be successful,” said Lewis, a four-time All-America player and 12-time winner at Arkansas, where she was also the individual 2007 NCAA Division I champion.
“They’re all really talented and I want them to learn what it takes to play at the highest level,” Lewis added. “What better way than to see it out here and to watch the way I practice and the way I go about things?”
Lopez got an on-course lesson Tuesday from Lewis on different ways to play out of the course’s penalizing rough. Lewis considered hitting a 5- or 6-iron for one shot, but ended up selecting a hybrid club and using a three-quarter-swing punch shot to pop the ball out and roll it onto the green.
Lewis encouraged Lopez to try hitting the shot the same way. Much to the collegian’s surprise, it worked.
“There’s not just one way to hit shots, so I had Gaby try something different,” said Lewis, who was runner-up to Michelle Wie in last year’s Women’s Open at Pinehurst. “I love showing these girls shots and the coolest part is when you can tell they get it.”
The other thing Lewis did was to expose the three amateurs to the most distracting and nerve-racking aspect of her job. They witnessed large crowds pressed around tees and practice areas, fans seeking autographs, media asking questions and Lewis maneuvering her way through it all at a major championship.
“If you are not used to a big event like this, it’s very uncomfortable,” Lewis said. “I get them out there with me with a lot going on and let them see what it’s like. If they do it in a practice round, it’s going to be a lot easier on Thursday.”
Lopez agreed, watching as Lewis was greeted greenside by media even after her Tuesday practice round.
“From the cameras, to the people, to the media, she helps us get more comfortable with it all and to try to make this feel like just another golf tournament,” said Lopez, a senior at Arkansas who is competing in her second Women’s Open. “It’s a matter of being comfortable out here and knowing we are good enough to compete against these girls.”
“She talked to us and really made us feel comfortable,” added Plasencia, also a senior at Arkansas, whose cousin, former LPGA Tour player Sophia Sheridan, is caddieing for her this week in her first Women’s Open. “She also showed me some shots and shared what she saw on the greens and how the ball would break.”
Fassi learned that, while she may not have the same amount of experience as many others, she still has a chance to play well this week.
“Stacy helped me see that everyone can make shots and everyone makes mistakes,” said Fassi, who recently reached the Round of 16 with fellow teen Maria Balcazar, also of Mexico, in the inaugural U.S. Women’s Four-Ball. “It’s my first U.S. Women’s Open, so she helped me with that. She shared some really good stuff.”
Lewis kept the atmosphere relaxed, but also helped the players to focus on their preparation.
“I think it says a lot about Stacy that she’s so willing to lend a helping hand to these young players who have the dream of playing out here someday,” said University of Arkansas head coach Shauna Estes, who walked the course Tuesday with her Razorbacks. “It’s pretty fun to watch them interact and learn, and to see Stacy teaching shots at a major championship.”
Lewis returns to Arkansas several times a year to practice alongside the collegians and to serve as a volunteer assistant coach for the team. She knows the players and they know and respect Lewis.
“She’s continued to support us every way she can and she’s still interested in helping us be the best that we can be,” said Estes.
“It means a lot for her to show friendship to us,” added Lopez. “Obviously, what she’s doing out here works, so what she’s showing us is the way to success.”
If the three young players can get comfortable with the kind of attention that Lewis draws every time she steps onto the course, they will leave this week’s Open with more experience than they ever imagined.
Lisa D. Mickey is a Florida-based freelance writer whose work frequently appears on USGA websites.
More from the Women's Open
Championships For Ko, 18, Major Win the Next Logical Step
Championships Expect Park to be a Major Factor at Lancaster
Championships Notebook: Balikoeva Blazes Trails, Wie Ready to Defend
Championships Pressel Centers Preparation Around Majors
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Bright Armenia faction MP: I'm going to vote against Vahe Grigoryan
Theme: Politics
The members of the Bright Armenia faction haven’t made a final decision on voting in favor of candidate for judge of the Constitutional Court Vahe Grigoryan yet. This is what deputy of the faction Gevorg Gorgisyan told journalists today.
“We’re still considering it. We’ll wait for the final speech, but our principles remain unchanged. Before this, we had two candidates who were absolutely neutral in the political sense and were rejected by the My Step faction. Today there were only a couple of people who registered to ask questions. They are definitely biased. There are two problems. The first is political bias, and the second is a violation of the law which clearly states that the President shall nominate a new candidate. We know that Vahe Grigoryan is not a new candidate. The parliamentary majority can change the law or wait to nominate Mr. Grigoryan for a seat in government next year. I don’t know why it didn’t do this,” Gorgisyan said and added that the members of the Bright Armenia faction have made decisions together until today, but today the members might be free to make their own decisions. “There is still no clear position. I will vote against Vahe Grigoryan so long as the faction hasn’t made a final decision.”
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New 3D camera with clear, graphene light detectors
by Kate McAlpine
The new design, under development at Michigan, should be smaller and able to achieve higher resolutions than current 3D cameras.| Medium Read
IMAGE: An illustration of the 3D camera recording an image of the U-M solar car, showing how different parts of the car come into focus on different detectors. Credit: Steve Alvey
A camera that can record 3D images and video is under development at the University of Michigan, with $1.2 million in funding from the W.M. Keck Foundation. While other 3D cameras are currently on the market, the new design should be smaller and able to achieve higher resolutions.
3D cameras are useful for a variety of applications including 3D movie filming and, eventually, virtual reality. While 3D films are currently made using multiple cameras to reconstruct each frame, this new type of camera could record in 3D on its own. Images and video recorded by 3D cameras might one day be projected as holograms – although projection is a different challenge entirely.
In photography, 3D images enable users to decide the depth of focus after taking the photograph. Attached to microscopes, a 3D camera can image cells and tissues for more accurate analysis of biopsies and medical cultures, as well as for fundamental research. 3D video recording could give robots depth perception and eventually lead to a bionic eye.
“When the light hits the detector inside a camera, it can come from different directions, and this spatial information can be used to reconstruct 3D images,” said Zhaohui Zhong, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science.
“Normally, that information is lost because the detector only measures intensity,” he added, which is why 3D images made with traditional recording methods must be constructed from multiple shots.
One-shot 3D cameras available now rely on a micro-lens array to divert the light after it has been focused by the main lens. This array of smaller lenses essentially tears up the picture to recover the directional information from the rays of light, and then the camera’s software reconstructs the image along with the depth information.
The design to be developed by Zhong, Theodore Norris, the Gérard A. Mourou Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), and Jeffrey Fessler, a professor of EECS, does away with the micro-lens array. Instead, their camera will record the light as it passes through a series of transparent light detectors.
“The microlens approach involves an inherent trade-off between resolution and the ability to refocus or resolve depth. Our stack approach enables more information to be acquired without losing image resolution,” said Norris.
This method works because objects at different distances from the lens will come into focus at different points inside the camera. Objects will appear brightest where they are most in focus. Using this principle, it is much easier for the computer to reconstruct the images. The faster processing makes it possible to produce high speed and high-resolution video.
The concept is simple, but the challenge is making those transparent light detectors. Typically, the detector needs to absorb as much light as possible to give the most detailed image. However, a material called graphene, which is a single layer of carbon atoms, can be fashioned into a highly sensitive light detector that allows much of the light to pass through.
“Ordinarily, you want the light detector to absorb as much light as possible for high sensitivity, to produce a clearer picture,” said Zhong. “Graphene detectors can offer very high sensitivity, so you don’t really sacrifice the clarity by making them transparent.”
The team is considering an SLR-sized camera to begin with, but Norris thinks it may be possible to squeeze 3D camera capability into a smartphone.
Norris is also a professor of applied physics. Fessler is also a professor of applied physics, biomedical engineering and radiology.
Explore:Biomedical EngineeringElectrical Engineering and Computer ScienceHealthResearchImaging TechnologyLight Lasers and Optics
Kate McAlpine
Senior Writer & Assistant News Editor
kmca@umich.edu
3214 SI-North
Bionic heart tissue: U-Michigan part of $20M center
Scar tissue left over from heart attacks creates dead zones that don’t beat. Bioengineered patches could fix that.| Medium Read
$7.75M for mapping circuits in the brain
A new NSF Tech Hub will put tools to rapidly advance our understanding of the brain into the hands of neuroscientists.| Medium Read
‘Sister cell’ profiling aims to shut down cancer metastasis
Michigan engineers release individual cells from a specially-designed chip using laser pulses.| Medium Read
Jeff Fessler
William L Root Collegiate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Zhaohui Zhong
Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Ted Norris
Gerard A Mourou Collegiate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
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Pasekas Donate $5 Million to MSUM
February 24, 2015 August 6, 2015 monson
Business School Renamed Paseka School of Business
Pictured L to R: Dean Marsha Weber, Carolyn and Rodney Paseka, President Anne Blackhurst.
Rodney and Carolyn Paseka have donated $5 million to Minnesota State University Moorhead’s School of Business. Located in the Center for Business, the school will be renamed the Paseka School of Business in honor of this generous gift.
The Paseka’s philanthropy will extend beyond the naming of the Paseka School of Business. The Rodney and Carolyn Paseka School of Business Endowment will provide support for students into perpetuity, with at least 80 percent of this endowment to be applied to scholarships for Paseka School of Business students.
Other uses for the remaining funds could include student/faculty research, student competitions, applied learning experiences, faculty positions and development, program development and speakers series.
“The School of Business has a long history of excellence; many graduates from the business programs are in highly successful and visible careers,” said Dean Marsha Weber, College of Business and Innovation. “The School of Business is accredited by AACSB, the premier accrediting agency for business schools in the world. This generous gift will help us elevate our tradition of excellence in student-centered education, community service, and innovative programs.”
The Pasekas believe in the power of education to transform lives, and they have consistently demonstrated that philosophy by sponsoring annual scholarships in the School of Business and in Nursing. Both have been awarded to single mothers, as the Pasekas believe an education is the surest way to break the cycle of poverty.
“Rodney and Carolyn have been loyal supporters of MSUM for many years. This generous gift to the School of Business is historic and truly transformative,” said MSUM President Anne Blackhurst. “We are honored the Pasekas believe MSUM is worth their investment. Our students will benefit from their gift for years to come. Fostering partnerships and growing relationships is an important priority of my presidency, and the Paseka gift demonstrates the momentum and excitement we are building with our valued alumni and business leaders.”
Rodney and Carolyn Paseka
Both Rodney and Carolyn have strong ties to MSUM stretching back many years.
Rodney, a Georgetown, Minn., native and Moorhead High School graduate, earned MSUM degrees in Accounting and Business Administration in 1971 before beginning his career as a salesman with Can-Tex Industries. He joined Hebron Brick as sales manager in 1978, and in 1986, became one of three company owners and its Chief Executive Officer.
Rodney is a visionary credited with transforming an aging manufacturing company in a mature industry and revitalizing it to become a top 10 percent brick plant in the country in terms of technology. Today, Hebron Brick is the only manufacturer of brick in North Dakota and one of the most successful brick companies in the Upper Midwest.
After Rodney became sole owner in 1999, he took a huge technological leap by becoming one of the first North Dakota companies to significantly use robotics. His leadership and vision brought Hebron Brick into the 21st century and catapulted the company from $4 million in sales annually to more than $40 million in sales annually in 2014.
Under Rodney’s leadership, Hebron Brick emerged as a nimble and specialized player in a market of competitors with massive resources. In addition to introducing robotics to the manufacturing plant, he directed efforts toward providing architectural products for commercial projects and developing new product lines to grow the business. The company’s ancient veins of extraordinary clay and state-of-the-art brick plant continue to yield a distinctive variety of colors and enable Hebron Brick Company to offer a wealth of options in fine brick.
His commitment to quality and adaptability has secured the future of this 111-year-old company, which in its history has survived bankruptcy, fire, two world wars and the Great Depression. Today, Hebron Brick thrives—with 80 percent of its brick distributed to 40 states and Canada, and with seven retail centers in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.
Learn more about Hebron Brick Company at thisbuiltamerica.com/north-dakota.
At 69, Rodney remains a dynamic CEO with an eye toward transforming the brick industry. He is an avid golfer and wine connoisseur.
Carolyn (nee Jacobson) is a Moorhead native and a graduate of Moorhead High School. She attended MSUM and also worked 10 years at Northwestern Bell before becoming a stay-at-home mom. She later began her career at MSUM as a senior clerk in the offices of Financial Aid, Affirmative Action, Philosophy and Publications. She retired from MSUM in 2001 after a 15-year career.
Carolyn is a volunteer with Heirlooms and enjoys Mahjong, book club, entertaining and photography.
Rodney and Carolyn married in 2001 and together have four children and four grandchildren. They are generous with their time and talent and are passionate world travelers, having visited all seven continents.
Academics, College of Business & Innovation, Dragon Digest, Paseka School of Business, Points of Pride, Points of Pride Faculty/Staff, Students Carolyn Paseka, College of Business and Industry, Faculty news, major gift, Minnesota State University Moorhead, MSU Moorhead, MSUM, Paseka School of Business, Rodney Peterson, School of Business
Planning underway in anticipation of major research and education initiative at MSU Moorhead Regional Science Center
Jake – He’s Basically a Champion Cleaner
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Dolby Appoints Anjali Sud to its Board of Directors
New director brings extensive knowledge of the technology industry and operational experience to the boardroom
SAN FRANCISCO, May 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:DLB) announced today the appointment of Anjali Sud to its Board of Directors as a new independent director, effective May 13, 2019. The appointment fills the vacancy resulting from the passing of former director Nicholas Donatiello, Jr. in June 2018.
Sud is the Chief Executive Officer of Vimeo, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of IAC (NASDAQ: IAC) and provider of cloud-based software tools that enable creative professionals, marketers and enterprises to stream, host, distribute and monetize videos online and across devices. She has held various positions at Vimeo since July 2014, before being promoted to CEO in July 2017. Prior to Vimeo, Sud served in various positions at Amazon.com, Inc. from 2010 to 2014, most recently as Director of Marketing.
“We are very pleased to welcome Ms. Sud to the Board of Directors,” said Peter Gotcher, Chairman of the Dolby Board of Directors. “She brings a unique combination of leadership, technology industry knowledge and operational experience that will greatly add to the strength of the Board.”
Additional details regarding the appointment can be found in a Current Report on Form 8-K filed by Dolby today with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
About Dolby Laboratories
Dolby Laboratories (NYSE: DLB) is based in San Francisco with offices in over 20 countries around the globe. Dolby transforms the science of sight and sound into spectacular experiences. Through innovative research and engineering, we create breakthrough experiences for billions of people worldwide through a collaborative ecosystem spanning artists, businesses, and consumers. The experiences people have – with Dolby Cinema, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, Dolby Voice, Dolby Dimension, and Dolby Audio – revolutionize entertainment and communications at the cinema, on the go, in the home, and at work.
Dolby, Dolby Atmos, Dolby Audio, Dolby Cinema, Dolby Dimension, Dolby Vision, Dolby Voice, and the double-D symbol are among the registered and unregistered trademarks of Dolby Laboratories, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Other trademarks remain the property of their respective owners.
DLB-G
Jennifer Bowcock
Jennifer.Bowcock@dolby.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8f4824cc-26bd-4b7c-abda-6f4f5da0c002
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Ex-Kurdish party lawmaker seeks political asylum in Greece
A pro-Kurdish former lawmaker convicted of insulting Turkey's president has requested asylum in Greece after illegally crossing the border
A former lawmaker from the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) has requested asylum in Greece after fleeing Turkey in violation of conditional prison release terms and illegally crossing the border, Greek authorities said Friday.
Turkish citizen Leyla Birlik, 44, was released pending the asylum process.
She was sentenced in January to 21 months' imprisonment for insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Birlik was freed pending appeal but banned from leaving Turkey.
She had also been arrested in 2016 along with the HDP co-leaders on separate terror-related charges. Birlik's parliamentary immunity was lifted in May 2016, on accusations of making "terror" propaganda."
Ankara considers the HDP to have links to the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), designated as a terror group by Turkey and its Western allies, including the United States and the European Union.
Athens and Ankara have lately clashed over Turkish demands that Greece extradite eight Turkish soldiers wanted over the July 2016 attempted coup aimed at unseating President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
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Home > News Releases > Berkeley College NY Men's Cross-Country Team Leads 85-Block Run for 85th Anniversary Celebration
Berkeley College NY Men's Cross-Country Team Leads 85-Block Run for 85th Anniversary Celebration
Jul 7, 2016 7:26:00 AM Comms Team
Categories: Top News
Cell: 862-432-2104 or
Cell: 609 -610-8362
Contact: Ilene Greenfield or Zachary Shaw
973-278-5400, ext. 1-5122
or ext. 1-1644
igl@BerkeleyCollege.edu
Zachary-Shaw@berkeleycollege.edu
BERKELEY COLLEGE NY MEN’S CROSS-COUNTRY TEAM LEADS
85-BLOCK RUN FOR 85TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
Monday, July 11, from North End of Central Park
to Midtown Campus on East 43rd Street
The Berkeley College NY Men’s Cross-Country Team and other members of the Berkeley College community, including President Michael Smith, will be leading an 85-block relay in recognition of the 85th Anniversary of Berkeley College. The celebratory reception at the end of the run on campus includes a donation to the ALS Association of Greater New York in the amount of $8.50 for each of the 85 blocks of this relay run ($722.50).
WHEN: Monday, July 11, 2016
11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
WHERE: Runners are gathering and passing the Berkeley College banner from the following locations at the following times:
* 11:00 a.m. -- Central Park North 110th street subway station -- Berkeley College President Michael Smith will be here.
* 11:20 a.m. (approximately) -- Tavern on the Green restaurant -- 66th Street and West Drive, Central Park
The relay runners will then head south on the west side of Central Park, exiting on 59th street and Fifth Avenue.
* 11:40 a.m. (approximately) -- St. Patrick's Cathedral -- 50th Street and Fifth Avenue, southeast side of block
* 12:00 p.m. (approximately) – Arrive at Berkeley College -- 3 East 43rd Street (between Fifth and Madison Avenues) Celebratory reception.
Ilene Greenfield igl@berkeleycollege.edu Cell: 862-432-2104
Zachary Shaw Zachary-shaw@berkeleycollege.edu Cell: 609-610-8362
Berkeley College at a Glance
Officers and Administration
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Major milestone reached against infectious diseases
A collaboration involving UW Medicine researchers reached a major milestone toward helping investigators create drug therapies and vaccines for some of the world’s major infectious diseases. The...
Op-ed: 1 year after tragedy, fear and resilience among LGBTQ
Karen Fredriksen-Goldsen, a professor at the University of Washington School of Social Work, was principal investigator of the first U.S. longitudinal study of health and well-being of LGBTQ midlife...
Doctor’s gingerly posed Q: 'Are there guns in your home?'
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(-) Remove global health filter global health
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Texas Churches
Painted Churches
According to Wikipedia: The town was originally called Mulberry by the first Anglo settlers, James C. Duff, William Criswell and Leroy Criswell. (It was also known as Hottentot, a name which apparently referred to a band of local outlaws.) In 1854 a recent Czech immigrant named Matiáš Novák purchased 100 acres (0.40 km2) of land and built a house in which early masses were celebrated. His arrival attracted other Czech immigrants, including Jan Baca, Josef Vyvjala, Ondřej Gallia, Josef Hájek, František Václ, and George Morýsek. In 1858 the town was renamed “Praha”, the native name for the Czech capital Prague.
The small town slowly grew over the next decades. In 1865 Joseph Bithowski, a Bernardine father, built a small frame church, and at midnight on Christmas Day the first Mass was offered. In 1868 a public school was established, and by the 1880s Praha had three stores, a restaurant, and a new frame church, which served as the mother parish for surrounding towns. A post office started service in 1884, and in 1896 a Czech Catholic school was established. At its peak in the 1880s, Praha boasted 700 residents, but during the twentieth century the population of Praha never rose above 100, and in 1906 the post office closed. By 1968 the population had dropped to 25. In 1973 both the parochial and public schools closed.
However, worshipers from the area continue to attend masses at the parish church, currently the town's most notable feature. This spectacular Gothic structure was completed in 1892 and is the center of the annual Feast of the Assumption homecoming festival, which has been celebrated in Praha each August 15 since 1855. Locally known as "Praha Picnic", the celebration draws as many as 5,000 visitors to its traditional Czech polka music and kolaches.
During the Second World War Praha had the unfortunate distinction of being the U.S. town with largest ratio of war deaths to residents. The largest number of deaths occurred in 1944, when 9 soldiers from Praha were killed. Three small identical chapels were built in memory of the dead. These deaths resulted in a great deal of friction with the residents of German descent in the towns surrounding Praha.
Praha - St Mary's Church
PrahaPainted ChurchPainted ChurchesTexas ChurchesTexasChurchGottfried FlurySt. Mary'sCzechFather NetardusGene A. MikulikBohemianOur Lady of VictoryTerry WoodwardTRWCatholic ChurchesTexas Catholic ChurchesChurchesCatholic
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ND Women’s Soccer: ND ready with youth in lineup
Douglas Farmer | Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Not many teams in the country can say they are confident starting three sophomores on the field and a first-year starter in the goal as the postseason begins.
No. 4 Notre Dame (15-3-1, 10-0-1 Big East) has started at least three sophomores for the vast majority of the season, and junior goaltender Nikki Weiss is shining in her first taste of extended playing time.
“It doesn’t bother me to have young players [carry us],” coach Randy Waldrum said. “The last month we’ve been playing as good as anybody in the country … You’ve got some sophomores that play like they’ve been here four years already.”
The reason the underclassmen play like veterans is because, in many ways, they are veterans. Any highlight reel of the Irish in the past two seasons has featured sophomore Melissa Henderson prominently. Last year she was named Big East Rookie of the Year and earned first-team Freshman All-American honors as she played in all 27 games, starting 20, and scored 17 goals.
“A couple of those kids are kids that really played last year, and had a great year,” Waldrum said of the Irish youth movement. “Melissa was pretty much a starter for most of the year.”
Joining Henderson on the field their freshman season were classmates Jessica Schuveiller and Courtney Barg. Schuveiller started every game and totaled the second-highest volume of minutes among position players on the team, and Barg started all six NCAA Tournament games. This deep experience leads to Waldrum’s rock-solid confidence.
“[Henderson, Schuveiller, and Barg] are kids that had a year experience under their belt playing deep into the NCAA Tournament,” he said. “I don’t think [the postseason] will be something that is new or intimidating to them. They have gone through it.”
Joining the three young veterans on the field this season has been freshman defender Jazmin Hall. As injuries this season depleted any upperclassmen depth the Irish may have had at the beginning of the season, Waldrum was forced to turn to players like Hall to step in. Once on the field, Hall has only impressed and gained valuable experience, so much so that Waldrum said he is already certain she will not be daunted by the playoff pressure.
“This will be new for her, with the playoffs and everything,” he said. “She’ll have to get her feet wet and not let the process intimidate her. But I think she has played in enough big games through the year that she is ready for it.”
One of the biggest differences for Notre Dame between this postseason and last is the girl in the goal. Weiss did not start a single game last year, but about halfway through the Big East slate this season, she moved past senior Kelsey Lysander into the starting spot in the goal, and after only allowing one goal in nearly 600 minutes of conference action, she has not looked back.
“The competition between the three keepers [freshman Maddie Fox being the third] has been very close all year,” Waldrum said. “Nikki has been hot lately, which has been good because we have been able to get her into some big games.”
Despite Weiss’ record-setting performances so far, Waldrum said his expectations for her in the playoffs are being held in check.
“The playoffs are a little different animal,” the 11th-year head coach said. “She has shown us that she has the consistency to handle that and do well with it, and this time of year that is all you really ask of your goalkeeper, just to be consistent and handle the things you are supposed to. And then if she shows a great save in there along the way, that is icing on the cake.”
As long as the young Irish continue to play as well as they have been, a cake or celebration of some sort looks to be on its way. Notre Dame plays St. John’s in the Big East tournament semifinal Friday, and the youth are just getting started.
“It’s been the young players that have really carried us,” Waldrum said. “That bodes well for the future too.”
SMC Volleyball: Belles split four weekend matches
Saint Mary’s broke even this weekend at the Manchester Invitational, winning a pair of...
SMC Volleyball: Belles win three straight sets to defeat Olivet
Men’s Basketball: Irish rally to win Saturday after loss Friday
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USA vs. Italy Match Report
Date: Tuesday, July 11, 2017
The NBC10 Newport International Polo Series, Presented by BMW featured a heated rivalry between USA and Italy, with Italy vying for the elusive Silver Cup on Saturday, July 8th.
Representing Team Italy, in the #1 position was Lanfranco di Campello, playing #2 was Massimo Elser with Captain Marco Elser as his alternate, Peter Elser was at #3, and playing #4 was Marcos Antinori.
Representing Team USA, Sam Clemens was at #1, Captain Dan Keating was #2, Jim DeAngelis played #3, and Dave Bullis played position #4.
Team Italy kicked off the first chukker of the match with a goal by Campello, but Team USA answered with a goal scored by Clemens. Italy fought back with a goal by P. Elser to end the first chukker with a score of 2-1 with Italy in the lead. Team USA kicked it into gear, scoring three consecutive goals by Bullis, Keating, and DeAngelis. Italy pushed back with a goal scored by Antinori, but USA answered with two goals scored by Bullis and Keating. Italy had the final goal of the second chukker scored by Antinori; bringing the score to 6-4 with Team USA taking control of the lead. The final chukker of the first half started off with three consecutive goals for Team USA scored by Clemens and DeAngelis (two goals), Team Italy answered with a goal scored by Campello bringing the score to 9-5 to end the first half of the match.
Team USA took control during the fourth chukker with three consecutive goals scored by Keating and DeAngelis (two goals) to end the chukker with a score of 12-5 with Team USA holding onto the lead. Team Italy started off the fifth chukker with two goals by P. Elser and Antinori, but Team USA answered with a goal by Clemens. Team Italy continued their momentum scoring two more goals by P. Elser and Massimo Elser; bringing the score to 13-9 with Team USA in the lead going into the final chukker. Team USA kicked off the final chukker scoring two goals by DeAngelis and Clemens, Team Italy answered with a goal by Antinori but it was not enough to regain the lead. Team USA won the high scoring match with a score of 15-10.
During the match, the door prize drawing of a Magnum of Veuve Clicquot Champagne was awarded to one lucky attendee from West Greenwich, RI. A bellissimo tailgate with gorgeous, Italian themed décor and a mouth-watering spread of food and drink won the Best Tailgate Picnic Trunk from Stella Artois.
The Polo Series will feature 8 international teams this season including France, Italy, Ireland, Mexico, Jamaica, England, Dominican Republic and the debut of Peru, as well as 5 City Teams from major US cities and a few top regional rivals for an action-packed season through the end of September. This is the 26th season of Newport International Polo Series, which has hosted teams from over 30 nations including, Germany, Spain, England, Argentina, France, Egypt, India, Australia, Costa Rica, Ghana, Canada, Chile, Jamaica, Nigeria, Portugal, New Zealand, Barbados, Scotland, South Africa, Hungary, Dominican Republic, Netherlands, Kenya, Brazil, China, Italy, Mexico, Sweden, Singapore, Monaco, and Morocco.
Minutes from downtown Newport, the International Polo Grounds are located at historic Glen Farm, 250 Linden Lane (off of Rte. 138) in Portsmouth, RI. This bucolic setting is the last 100 acres of what was once a 700-acre manorial farm whose settlement dates back to the 1600's. Its classical stone barns from the Gilded Age and its park-like grounds were rehabilitated by polo series founder, Dan Keating, and thrive today as an equestrian & community recreational property, and home of the Polo Series.
The Newport International Polo Series is proud to present its 2017 sponsors including NBC - 10, BMW Centers of Rhode Island, ALEX AND ANI, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, Gurney's Newport Resort & Marina, Hotel Viking, The Chanler at Cliff Walk, Vanderbilt International Properties, Veuve Clicquot Champagne, Brahmin, Stella Artois, Clarke Cooke House, Patrón Spirits, Rockstar Limo, Newport Daily News, Where Boston, RIB & RHEIN x New & Lingwood, Atria Senior Living and promotional partners including McGrath Clambakes, International Tennis Hall of Fame, America's Cup Charters, Bird’s Eye View Helicopter Tours, The Cocktail Guru, Newport Mansions, Island Surf and Sport and Scooter World. “Our sponsors have been with us since the beginning. Without their support, the Series would not be as extensive as it is,” explains Dan Keating, Polo Series founder.
There's no sport like polo. Be a part of it! Newport Polo hosts the Newport International Polo Series XXVI, and is the home of America's first polo club, est. in 1876, and a founding member of the United States Polo Association offering public exhibition matches, polo club member services for grass & arena polo, and polo instruction year-round.
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North Korean Foreign Minister Threatens to Shoot Down US Bombers
Ri Yong-ho also claimed that President Trump has declared war on the DPRK.
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho told reporters on Monday that the United States has declared war on his country, and threatened to shoot down U.S. bombers, even if they were in international air space.
The foreign minister said that President Trump’s words against North Korean leader Kim Jong-un amounted to a declaration of war.
“Last weekend, Trump claimed that our leadership wouldn’t be around much longer and at last, he declared a war on our country,” Ri said. “This is clearly a declaration of war.”
Ri told reporters that Pyongyang would take steps to protect its nation: “Since the United States declared war on our country, we will have every right to make countermeasures, including the right to shoot down the United States strategic bombers, even when they’re not yet inside the airspace border of our country.”
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part angel, part demon
After reading Andrew Barrow’s heartfelt memoir about the short life of his younger brother I did a little googling to find out more about him. Among other things, he’s also the author of this obituary for the poet Philip O’Connor
“As thin as a skeleton, his face already eroded, his smile never calm, he lived off doughnuts and Woodbines, ogled at women and spoke in cryptograms, spoonerisms and jingles, delivering sentences backwards and falling about in drunken exhilaration.
Philip O’Connor’s life had been full of folly from the beginning. Born in Leighton Buzzard in 1916, delivered – he claimed – by the King’s physician, and encouraged by his mother, a fallen gentlewoman of mixed Asiatic, Dutch and Burmese blood, to consider himself descended through his father from the last King of Ireland, O’Connor had a disorderly childhood. Taken to France as a baby, he was abandoned at the age of four with Madame Tillieux, matronly proprietor of a patisserie in the seaside resort of Wimereux near Boulogne. Two years later, his mother returned to claim him and was met with violent protests. “Non!” screamed young Philip, scurrying to Madame’s black skirts. “Ce n’est past Maman, t’es Maman. ‘Suis Francais.”
Wimereux found here
Back in England a few years later, O’Connor was again adopted, this time by a one-legged bachelor civil servant who wore size 13 boots and owned a small wooden hut on Box Hill near Dorking. In circumstances unthinkable in today’s suspicious climate, here the dreamy little lad and his shy misogynist guardian set up house.
NOT this one legged man (found here)
By the time he left school, O’Connor’s megalomania or messianism was already pronounced: “The word ‘fool’ had fastened itself sharply, hissingly on my tongue.” Autocratic bad temper, omniscience and almost epileptic exhibitionism had become his trademarks.
O’Connor’s extreme outsider status was reinforced in his late teens by a longish period tramping across England – an experience which formed the basis for his book Vagrancy published in 1963. His time on the road was followed by a six-month stay in the Maudsley Hospital, where he was diagnosed as the youngest schizophrenic in the ward. He then bounced, or fell, back into Fitzrovia and into a marriage with the daughter of a Scottish lawyer, whose inheritance he was to squander on pate de foie gras and percussion instruments.
Gene Krupa found here
The marriage ended after five years and O’Connor embarked upon a number of other relationships, fathering an unknown number of attractive and intelligent children, in whose upbringing he was to play little part.
Some of his wives and girlfriends attempted to tame him and at various times O’Connor earned a living by pushing an old man round Salisbury in a bath-chair, wielding the lights at the Bedford Music Hall in Camden Town, and as an operator on the continental telephone exchange. In this last role, he boasted that he had eavesdropped on a private conversation between the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
bath-chairs found here
Along the way he took up with a woman who earned her living taking baths with older men, then improved his lot by marrying a wealthy woman who financed a high-living fling that ended when her money and her sanity ran out. (After she tried to kill him, she was confined to a mental hospital and Philip O’Connor went on to other lovers.)
In material and emotional terms, O’Connor’s life was stabilised by his meeting at the age of 51 with the young, beautiful and beguiling American Panna Grady, whose self-effacing generosity to artists and writers in her New York apartment in the Dakota building had been on an epic scale. O’Connor began a love affair which was to last for the rest of his life.
Panna Grady and friends (including Andy Warhol) found here
O’Connor and Grady never married, but they created an atmosphere of strange fastidiousness around them in which O’Connor’s hisses and cackles were matched by a neurasthenic fear of the sounds and movements of others. This private world hedged in by Grady’s antique screens and Chinese tapestries was rarely penetrated or understood by others, though O’Connor could on occasions be an exhilarating host. Reluctant to shake hands – he was more likely to extend a dangling finger – he had considerable skills as a cook, dabbled interestingly with chickens but was just as likely to offer visitors a glass of boiling rum as a tumbler of the best champagne.
It could be argued that Philip O’Connor never grew up. Most of his life he avoided responsibility for others and himself. He was, said Stephen Spender, “part angel, part demon”.
In his own words, he “bathed in life and dried myself on the typewriter“.
Lego Vintage Typewriter found here
inmates antics
on June 15, 2011 at 12:11 pm Comments (41)
Tags: disorderly childhood, one legged bachelor, percussion instruments, writer
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ANNA NICOLE OUT $89M
By Gersh Kuntzman
Former Playboy centerfold and diet-pill spokesmodel Anna Nicole Smith lost a lot of weight – from her wallet – yesterday when a federal appeals court blocked her from getting nearly $90 million from her late oil-tycoon husband’s estate.
Smith – then Vickie Lynn Hogan – met billionaire J. Howard Marshall II in 1991, while she was working as a stripper.
She became a favorite of the wheelchair-bound mogul – 63 years her senior – who gave her millions in jewelry, paid for her cosmetic augmentations and repeatedly asked her to marry him.
She finally agreed three years later. She was 26 and he was 89.
When he died a year later, he left Smith nothing in his will. She went to court in California and was eventually awarded $89 million.
But yesterday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the California court should never have heard the case.
A call to Smith’s attorney was not returned.
BEST & WORST CREDIT CARDS
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‘DADDY IN HEAVEN’ – DESPAIR OF SLAY VICTIM’S FAMILY
By Lorena Mongelli
A 4-year-old boy, whose hardworking dad was gunned down in Hell’s Kitchen in a possible case of mistaken identity, had one tearful wish for the holidays.
“Mommy, if Daddy’s in heaven, I just want him to fly down from the sky and spend Christmas with us,” little Eric Lopez said in the family’s cramped apartment in Elmhurst, Queens.
“He’s in your heart forever,” his mom, Gloria Huero, replied, barely able to choke back her tears.
Eric’s dad, Fausto Lopez, 40, a Mexican immigrant who toiled double shifts six days a week to feed his four kids, was shot dead by a drunken thug while walking from the subway to a second job in Manhattan on Nov. 12, police said.
There weren’t any presents to unwrap or a Christmas tree to admire or a turkey to adorn the table at the Lopez home on Christmas.
The children’s mom hasn’t paid this month’s rent, telephone or the electricity bill. She also has nearly $3,600 worth of hospital bills overdue.
“The financial burden is overwhelming,” the 38-year-old mother said. “I have four children to take care of, and I don’t know how I’m going to do it. We have no money. We have nothing now.”
Police said Anthony Reed, 27, a bloodthirsty con who has a rap sheet for attempted murder, was itching for a fight when he and another twisted punk stumbled upon the mild-mannered Lopez on Ninth Avenue and 48th Street at around 4 a.m.
The boozed-up Reed allegedly shot Lopez twice at point-blank range, possibly having mistaken the innocent passer-by for a man with whom he had quarreled outside the China Club a block away.
Reed should have been in jail, but authorities say he slipped through the cracks of the parole system and was back on the street despite a gun violation.
Big sister Nancy, 12, said she sees her worried mother crying all the time.
“My dad didn’t deserve that. He [the killer] needs to pay for what he did,” she said. “My family will never be the same.”
Narlene, 10, said, “Everything is so different. My little brother asks for [his father] all the time. He asks where he is and when he’s coming back.”
Guadalupe, who is 22 months old, waits by the door, hoping, too, her father will return.
“He was a good man, a family man that didn’t deserve this,” Huero said. “He spent over 20 years at that bar [where he worked]. He never had any problems.”
Huero recalled the last time she saw her loving husband. She said he kissed his children gently on their foreheads and whispered to her, “Take care of them.”
“Our family was happy once,” Huero said. “Now it’s broken. When that man killed my husband, he took part of us with him, too.”
Those wishing to help the family can send checks to: Gloria HueroFausto Lopez Fund, Citibank N.A., 87-11 Queens Blvd., Elmhurst, N.Y. 11373. Write “Project Angel Mom” on the memo line of the check.
BURST MAIN DAMPENS CHRISTMAS
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