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Thread starter sdhoosier
Sam has been in business for 25 years and is finally sick of the stress. He quits his job and buys 50 acres in Alaska as far from humanity as possible. He sees the postman once a week and gets groceries once a month. Otherwise it's total peace and quiet. After six months or so of almost total isolation, someone knocks on his door. He opens it and there's a big, bearded man standing there.
"Name's Lars ...Your neighbor from forty miles away....Having a birthday party Friday ... Thought you might like to come. About 5...
"Great," says Sam, "after six months out here I'm ready to meet some local folks. Thank you."
As Lars is leaving, he stops. "Gotta warn you...There's gonna be some drinkin'."
"Not a problem... after 25 years in business, I can drink with the best of em."
Again, as he starts to leave, Lars stops. "More'n'likely gonna be some fightin' too."
Sam says, "Well, I get along with people. I'll be there. Thanks again."
Once again Lars turns from the door. "I've seen some wild sex at these parties, too."
"Now that's really not a problem," says Sam. "I've been all alone for six months! I'll definitely be there. By the way, what should I bring?"
Lars stops in the door again and says, "Whatever you want, just gonna be the two of us".
and a chick...
Reactions: kkott, cryano, paige3 and 7 others
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Human Rights Now Global Site
Home > News > Statement > Current Human Rights Situation in Myanmar/Written Statement to 31st Human Rights Council
Current Human Rights Situation in Myanmar/Written Statement to 31st Human Rights Council
Human Rights Now has submitted a written statement “Current Human Rights Situation in Myanmar” to the 3１st session of Human Rights Council, which is going to be held in Geneva from February 29 to March 24, 2016.
31st Human Rights Council Written Statement (Myanmar) [PDF]
We’ll deliver an oral statement in the HRC session in Geneva as well.
Current Human Rights Situation in Myanmar
Human Rights Now (HRN), a Tokyo-based international human rights NGO, welcomes the recent progress towards democracy and legal reforms in Myanmar and expects democratic transition will be peacefully advanced soon following the general election last November 2015.
However, we remain seriously concerned over the human rights situation in Myanmar given continuing human rights violations. These include discrimination against Rohingya and other minorities, human rights violations in conflict areas, continuing restrictions on media and free expression, land confiscations, and other issues highlighted by UPR recommendations. HRN calls on Myanmar to meet its international obligations by rectifying these human rights violations with appropriate and effective measures, and to follow recommendations from the UPR process. Also, it stresses the necessity to extend the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation in Myanmar under Agenda Item 4.
Rohingya and other minority rights
The rights of minorities continue to be violated in Myanmar, most significantly the Rohingya population of northern Rakhine state.
Under four discriminatory laws passed in 2014 and 2015—The Religious Conversion Law, the Population Control Healthcare Law, the Buddhist Women’s Special Marriage Law and the Monogamy Law—Rohingya and other Muslims need state permission to convert, marry, and have more than two children or face criminal sanction. These laws inhibit Muslims’ social integration in the name of “protecting race and religion,” and they violate numerous rights including the freedom of religion and association.[1]
The ability of Rohingya, along with other former Temporary Registration Card Holders, to have equal access to applying for citizenship through a non-discriminatory process continues to be restricted, including by the 1982 Citizenship Law which limits the granting of citizenship based on ethnicity or race.[2] In the 2015 census, persons self-identifying as “Rohingya” were not included, leaving them uncounted and their status precarious.[3] The non-citizenship status of Rohingya means they are not protected by important rights and subject to persecutions without recourse.
There are severe restrictions on Rohingya’s freedom of movement in Rakhine state including curfews and a need for authorities’ permission for meetings or travel between townships.[4] These restrictions on movement are in the context of widespread displacement of Rohingya following 2012 communal violence and 2015 flooding in Rakhine state, with about 140,000 living in displacement camps with squalid conditions and lack of access to health care, food, water, sanitation, education, and work, violating Rohingya’s rights to all of these, and particularly negatively impacting Rohingya women.[5] The situation has precipitated a trafficking crisis as a reported 32,000 people (many Rohingya) were smuggled out of Myanmar in 2015 to flee persecution, often with the participation of corrupt local authorities.[6]
Myanmar authorities allow persecutions, violence, and hate speech against Rohingya to continue with impunity, perpetuating their discrimination.[7]
Human rights violations in conflict zones
Human rights violations in Myanmar have been particularly concentrated in conflict areas. UNHCR estimates 587,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Myanmar, and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre reports 662,400 IDPs due to conflict, primarily in Kachin, north Shan, and Rakhine states, to camps where living conditions are dire and access to health, education, and work is limited.[8]
There have been continuing reports of torture, ill treatment, and sexual violence by the Myanmar military in conflict zones in Kachin, northern Shan, and Rakhine states, with widespread impunity for these violations.[9]Criminal investigations are either not carried out or are flawed, and military courts are not transparent.[10]Persons making allegations against the military have also found themselves subject to criminal defamation charges.[11]
Regarding the recruitment of child soldiers, despite efforts to end the practice, it continues by the military, border forces, and non-state armed groups, and child soldiers which attempt to leave the military continue to be detained as “deserters.”[12]
Violations of the freedoms of assembly and expression
While the Myanmar government has reformed some media laws since 2012, such as dissolving its censorship board, widespread restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly remain.[13]
The 2014 Law on the right to Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession requires demonstrations to receive government approval or face criminal sanctions, and vague and broad language permits arrests and detentions for peaceful assemblies virtually at authorities’ discretion, as was seen in the peaceful protests in Letpadaung and Michaungkan in late 2014 and early 2015.[14]
With regards to journalism, a report by the PEN American Center recently detailed continuing prosecutions, jail sentences, harassment, physical attacks, censorship, weak protection, restrictive laws, and intrusive bureaucracy for journalists and media workers.[15] Freedom House lists multiple laws under which acts of investigative journalism may be directly or indirectly (through overbroad or ambiguous language) criminalized, restricting the ability of a free press to hold the government accountable.[16]
Land rights and confiscations
Land confiscations and forced evictions by the military, police, and private companies in the name of “land development,” as well as the displacements they cause without sufficient compensation or access to services, remain a serious problem in Myanmar, prompting protests among farmers, women, and ethnic groups.[17]Farmers are threatened with arrests to leave their land, and a variety of laws give the government significant discretion to confiscate land with little to no protections for farmers land rights, particularly in a context where many farmers do not possess formal title, and customary and communal land use is unprotected.[18]
Human Rights Now calls on the government of Myanmar to respect international human rights obligations and standards on the following issues.
Amend the Constitution to remove provisions inconsistent with Myanmar’s international obligations, such as those giving the military immunity from prosecution, vague language for exceptions to rights, and the limitation of universal rights only to citizens;
Implement the recommendations received by the UPR Myanmar working group;[19]
Ratify major human rights treaties such as ICCPR, ICESCR, CAT, ICERD, and ICCPED;
Invite the OHCHR into a country office with full capacity;
On the issue of Rohingya and other minority rights:
Resolve the citizenship status of former temporary registration card holders and remove discriminatory restrictions on their access to citizenship;
Ensure The Religious Conversion, Population Control Healthcare, Buddhist Women’s Special Marriage, and Monogamy Laws are consistent with Myanmar’s international obligations by removing language discriminating treatment of Muslims;
Enact measures to end hate speech against Muslims which encourages discriminatory legislation and incites communal violence;
Respect Rohingya’s and other minorities’ right to self-identification in all administrative processes;
Lift travel restrictions and other restrictions on the freedom of movement in Rakhine state;
Ensure access to health, education, and other services for all displaced persons without discrimination;
On the issue of violations in conflict areas:
Conduct prompt and impartial investigations of allegations of military abuses in conflict areas, and end prosecutions of persons bringing allegations;
End child recruitment with recruitment procedures and independent oversight, and make recruitment of children into the military a criminal offense;
On the issue of restrictions on freedom of assembly and expression:
Amend the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Assembly Law and related penal laws to permit peaceful protests without arrests or crackdowns;
On the issue of land takings:
Ensure development and land-use projects respect land owners in line with international human rights standards; do not force their evictions; and ensure they are sufficiently compensated and secured with access to basic services, education, and work in their new locations following any land taking;
Reform land laws to provide ownership rights for individuals or groups with customary or communal land possession;
HRN also requests the UN Human Rights Council to adopt the resolution to extend the mandate of the UN special rapporteur on the situation in Myanmar under agenda item 4 in order to support successful democratic transition and promote human rights.
[1] http://thediplomat.com/2015/08/the-truth-about-myanmars-new-discriminatory-laws/.
[2] http://www.nationalityforall.org/burma-myanmar.
[3] http://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/census-03132014181344.html.
[4] http://www.rvisiontv.com/rohingya-students-denied-of-intra-township-travel-permissions/.
[5] http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/08/displaced-rohingya-rocked-devastating-floods-150826102826508.html.
[6] http://www.ucanews.com/news/small-scale-people-smuggling-reported-in-myanmar/74890.
[7] http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/01/patterns-impunity-deceit-myanm-2014124152347728535.html.
[8] http://www.internal-displacement.org/south-and-south-east-asia/myanmar/figures-analysis;http://www.burmalink.org/background/thailand-burma-border/displaced-in-burma/.
[9] http://www.fortifyrights.org/downloads/Fortify%20Rights_Myanmar_9_June_2014.pdf;http://www.shanhumanrights.org/index.php/news-updates/205-shooting-killing-and-torture-of-civilians-by-burma-army-during-kokang-conflict.
[10] http://hrp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/2014.11.05-IHRC-Legal-Memorandum.pdf, pp. 74 ff.
[11] http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2015/11/06/2003631785.
[12] http://www.child-soldiers.org/news_reader.php?id=838.
[13] http://www.mediasupport.org/media-reform-myanmar-government-media-must-learn-change-ways/.
[14] https://www.article19.org/data/files/medialibrary/37666/14-08-01-LA-myanmar-assembly.pdf, pp.4-5.
[15] http://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/myanmar-court-sentences-journalist-for-protesting-without-a-permit-12182015164619.html.
[16] https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2015/myanmar (laws permitting press criminalization include the 2008 Constitution, 1950 Emergency Provisions Act, 2013 Telecommunications Law, 2004 Electronics Transactions Law, and 1923 Official Secrets Act).
[17] http://hrn.or.jp/eng/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/mudec2015report.pdf, pp. 6-7.
[18] http://www.burmalibrary.org/show.php?cat=3211 (reported laws include the Land Acquisition Act, the 2012 Farmland Law, and the Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Land Law, and the draft National Land Use Policy).
[19] A/HRC/31/13, http://www.upr-info.org/sites/default/files/document/session_23_-_november_2015/a_hrc_31_13.pdf, pp. 4 ff.
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New York City Is a One Very Interesting Place Indeed (25 pics)
Posted in INTERESTING 26 Nov 2015 6574
About 1 in every 38 people living in the United States resides in New York City.
Madison Square Park, Washington Square Park, Union Square Park, and Bryant Park were once cemeteries.
There are actually 20,000 bodies buried under Washington Square Park alone.
It can cost over $289,000 for a one-year hot dog stand permit in Central Park.
There are more than 26,000 people living in each square mile of New York City.
The population of NYC Is greater than 39 of the 50 states.
The Federal reserve Bank in NYC has vaults that are 80 feet below ground containing 25% of the world’s gold bullion.
NYC has the largest Chinese population of any city outside of Asia.
A safe deposit box in New York contains a jar with Albert Einstein’s eyeballs.
Musicians in the subway actually go through an intense selection process, with many of them having performed in Carnegie Hall prior to the subway stations.
When the skies are clear, you can see up to 80 miles from the top of the Empire State Building. You can see five states including: New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
Those metal canisters of nitrogen that you see on the streets are used to keep underground wires dry.
Up until 1978, pinball was outlawed in NYC.
Homeless residents of NYC are eligible to receive a one-way plane ticket free of charge if they have a guaranteed place to stay upon arrival.
There is a man who searches for gold and jewels on a sidewalk in NYC netting over $600 per week.
A wind tunnel near the Flat Iron building used to be a popular area for people to gather as it would regularly raise women’s skirts.
There are actually fake buildings that exist throughout the city that house ventilation and maintenance supplies for the subway.
The Empire State building has its own zip code.
Times Square was originally named Longacre Square until it was renamed to Times Square after the New York Times moved there.
If all of the U.S. was as densely populated as NYC, then the entire population could fit in the state of Texas.
The narrowest house in NYC is just over 9 feet wide.
Eating a bagel in New York is the same as eating up to a half of a loaf of bread.
The price of slices of pizza and subway tickets have remained almost the same over the past 50 years.
Every 4.4 minutes, a new baby is born in NYC.
The New York Yankees organization began as the Baltimore Orioles in 1901. In 1903 the team moved to New York and took on the name of the New York Highlanders.
Credits: bigappled.com
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The Resilience, Resistance & Regional Equity Convergence: Moving Toward a Sustainable and Equitable New England
by sarahb | posted in: Blog, Uncategorized | 0
On June 11 2016, over 110 people came together at the Resilience, Resistance, and Regional Equity Convergence in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood. The gathering was convened by the New England Resilience & Transition (NERT) network, a network of grassroots groups working to build resilience, sustainability and equity in their communities and the region as a whole. NERT members were joined by groups and individuals fighting new fossil fuel infrastructure in New England. The crowd was highly engaged throughout the day, connecting around a variety of topics such as renewable energy, group dynamics, food justice, and equity.
Richard Heinberg of the Post Carbon Institute kicked us off with a keynote address, sharing thoughts from his new book, Our Renewable Future. (To read more about Richard’s book, see this summary on YES! Magazine.) Richard reviewed the basic contours of the world’s situation, pointing out that our entire globalized economy has only been possible because of the use of fossil fuels. One slide depicted a man trying to push a car down a highway. “It would take you 6 to 8 weeks to go 30 miles if you were using human muscle alone,” Richard pointed out. With gasoline, we can do that in about 30 minutes.
Richard’s talk helped participants gain a clearer picture of what it will take to transition to a fully renewable economy. He and his co-author, David Fridley, identified three categories of changes from the “easy” to “really hard.” It would be fairly easy, for example, to switch the sources of our electric power to renewables such as wind and solar. However, electricity only represents about 25% of our energy use. In the “very hard” category were things like the production of concrete and steel, which form the basis of our built environment. In a “it may not be possible” category (my language, not Richard’s) were the continued widespread use of aviation and some forms of telecommunications. Some of these things simply may not be possible.
Richard also pointed out that the energy transition must “pay close attention to equity issues.” It will take significant investment now in renewables if people want to use them in the future, potentially leaving poor countries with little or no sources of energy in a renewable future.
In sum, the renewable future will have to use less total energy, and that energy will be less controllable and predictable. Our lives will be less mobile and much more localized. This won’t be a “plug and play” transition, simply switching out solar and wind for fossil fuels—if it were that easy, we might have done it already. Rather, we are looking at a full “civilization reboot.”
The good news is that a civilization reboot provides the perfect opportunity to correct the ills that are prevalent in our current society—everything from racial injustice to ongoing wars to social isolation and the loss of community. This re-visioning of society is what drives and motivates our movement for a new economy, resilience, sustainability and equity.
Richard’s talk was followed by two respondents from the NERT network, Marla Marcum of Resist the Pipeline and Karen Spiller of Food Solutions New England. Marla powerfully encouraged people to notice the emotions kicked up by the facts that Richard touched on in his talk. “When we talk to new people about this work,” she reminded us, “we need to come from a place of emotions and values. Facts alone will never convince people to join us.”
In Q&A, Marla gave a rousing appeal to become involved with the upcoming 10 days of action against the Spectra gas pipeline currently being built in the Boston neighborhood of West Roxbury (read more here). Marla also gave a workshop later in the day on the crucial relationship of resilience and resistance (read more in this blog post by Sarah Byrnes & Chuck Collins). One participant chimed in, “I am really grateful to meet more folks aligned with both resistance and resilience, and that these two frames are being unified and highlighted within a network orientation in our region.”
After Marla’s response to Richard’s talk, Karen Spiller underscored and elaborated upon Richard’s point about equity. In Q&A, she encouraged the group to reach out and make human connections with everyone, everywhere. “People of color are everywhere,” she pointed out. “And we can do a better job of bringing them into our work by paying close attention to our language, when we hold our events, and how we reach out. The human touch is essential.” (Stay tuned for a video of the morning session athttp://nertnetwork.org.)
The morning talk was followed by lunch (big thanks to Onsite Organics!) and a full group networking session where Ben Roberts of the Conversation Collaborative helped folks connect with each other in pairs. “I felt really connected to the group and enjoyed hearing from folks from around the region,” said one participant about the session.
Next, folks were treated to an array of workshop options. Topics included renewable energy, food justice, the new economy, biodiversity, equity in Transition and resilience organizing, the intersection of resilience and resistance, group dynamics, and the use of story.
There was also a workshop designed to continue the conversations begun in the full group networking session. People were able to offer support and ideas to each other about their community work. One woman came away with some new ideas for helping her university become more sustainable, and the full group coalesced around an idea to identify an interested person inevery New England community and connect them to each other in order to create new systems for food, energy, economy, and more. This “big idea” inspired people to think about how NERT can become that network.
Elsewhere, Samantha Wechsler of Wildwise helped workshop participants explore building beneficial relationships using a permaculture framework. In the food justice workshop, Karen Spiller of Food Solutions New England (FNSE) shared the FSNE vision and plan for a sustainable New England food system that provides 50% of the region’s food by 2060. Orion Kriegman illustrated what the Boston Food Forest Coalition was doing that helps contribute toward the development of such a system. Participants in the workshop shared what food projects they were or hoped to work on in their communities. Karen closed by suggesting that we find a way to keep the lines of communication open between FSNE and our grassroots efforts, and invited five NERT members to the MA Food Summit debrief.
In summary, the day was a “a really good mix of everything,” according to one participant. “Conversation, collaboration, informative presentations, action steps and lovely everything.”
NERT was thrilled to offer this opportunity to local and regional activists, and is excited to keep working with participants and others in our common quest to build a resilient, sustainable and equitable region.
To stay involved or jump in, join an Online Discussion on Wednesday, June 22, from 12pm – 1:30. We will use an Open Space format (on the Zoom platform) where participants will suggest break out topics and join small groups on topics that interest them. Read more here. We hope you’ll join us!
For more information, visit http://nertnetwork.org.
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Hacked George Soros documents detail plans to fight Israel’s ‘racist’ policies
By Ron Kampeas August 18, 2016, 3:13 pm 0 Edit
George Soros, pictured in 2012, is the founder and chair of Open Society Foundations, which have given nearly $10 million since 2001 to groups advancing the rights of Arab Israelis. Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images
WASHINGTON — Hacked emails show that the Open Society Foundations led by Jewish billionaire George Soros have as an objective “challenging Israel’s racist and anti-democratic policies” in international forums, in part by questioning Israel’s reputation as a democracy.
The documents are available on a website, reportedly backed by Russia that uses anti-Semitic stereotypes to attack Soros.
They reveal that Open Society, which was founded and is chaired by the hedge fund billionaire and philanthropist, gave nearly $10 million since 2001 to groups advancing the rights of Arab Israelis, with an emphasis in recent years on countering what one document says are Israel’s “restrictive measures” against minorities.
“In recent years the radicalization of public opinion and consecutive Israeli right wing governments have resulted in more restrictive measures against Palestinians within Israel,” a Sept. 1, 2015 review of Open Society’s Arab Regional Office’s work said.
It cites as an example the Jewish Nation State bill, advanced by its sponsors to entrench Israel’s Jewish status, but decried by some Arab Israelis as further marginalizing non-Jewish minorities. The bill has yet to pass.
Among achievements listed in the document, the Arab Regional Office includes increased advocacy by “Palestinian citizens of Israel,” or PCI, in international forums, challenging Israel’s “racist” policies in the face of its reputation as a democracy.
The document advocates the “development of a more organized and efficient PCI advocacy and presence in international forums (UN, EU, US), especially in light of the increasingly limited domestic avenues available for seeking justice.”
“In shifting to international advocacy, PCI’s [sic] are up against Israel and its image as a democratic state before the international community, therefore Palestinian civil society organizations in Israel feel the pressure of filling this gap by strengthening their relations with international actors and systems such as the European Union and United Nations to put their issue on the international agenda,” it says.
“There have been a number of successes in challenging Israel’s racist and anti-democratic policies in the international arena and influencing EU-Israel bilateral negotiations,” the document says.
The emails were posted in recent weeks by DC Leaks, a group Bloomberg News, in an Aug. 11 report, quoted security experts as saying is likely backed by Russia’s intelligence agencies.
In a statement, Open Society said it reported the hacks to the FBI.
“A number of Open Society Foundations documents, including strategies, work plans, and funding requests, have been published after being removed from an online community that served as a resource for Open Society Foundations staff, board members, and partners across the world,” said the statement. “A security firm reviewed the incident when documents first began to appear online in June and the FBI has been notified.”
Former communists in the Eastern bloc have reviled Soros for years for promoting democracy and free markets in their countries. At the same time some Jewish groups have labeled Soros, a child survivor of the Holocaust, as anti-Israel.
The Soros page on the DC Leaks website, in broken English, notes Soros’ Hungarian Jewish roots. Depicting a sinister-looking Soros presiding over an array of news photos of rioting and violence, it invokes anti-Semitic tropes commonplace in Russia and Eastern Europe, describing him as a “vampire” managing “puppets” and “slaves” who “spill blood of millions and millions people just to make him even more rich.”
Soros is a major backer of the presidential bid of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, whose campaign has accused Russian intelligence of being behind a deluge of recent embarrassing email dumps. The campaign also has alleged that Russian President Vladimir Putin is backing Clinton’s rival, Republican nominee Donald Trump.
An Aug. 6, 2015 document details Open Society’s Arab Regional Office funding of civil society groups in Israel since 2001, amounting to $9,591,801. The group obtaining the most money is Adalah, a legal rights group for Arab Israelis, which received a total of $2,688,561 over the period.
Another grantee is the New Israel Fund, a clearinghouse for Israeli civil rights groups, which received $837,500 from 2002 to 2015.
Notably, the Sept. 1, 2015 Arab Regional Office review depicts as a positive a controversial initiative, the 2007 Democratic Constitution, calling it one of several “important cooperation efforts among leading OCI civil society groups.”
That document, which the review describes as “the most direct and substantive challenge posed by Palestinian citizens to their status in the Jewish Israeli state,” was decried by pro-Israel groups at the time as promoting an outcome that would all but remove Israel’s Jewish character.
Adalah was one of the drafting bodies, and the subsequent controversy led the New Israel Fund in 2010 to revise its funding criteria to reject any group that “works to deny the right of the Jewish people to sovereign self-determination within Israel.” The NIF policy was not retroactive and the group still funds Adalah.
The Open Society statement said the documents focused on “big picture” strategies.
“The Open Society Foundations work with Israeli and Palestinian civil society organizations to support democracy and human rights in Israel and Palestine,” it said. “We oppose human rights violations on all sides of the conflict and support implementation of international law.”
The release of the Open Society documents was overshadowed by last month’s similar dump by WikiLeaks of Democratic National Committee emails, also believed to have been hacked by Russians. Those emails, revealing antagonism within the DNC toward the ultimately unsuccessful bid by prohibitive underdog Bernie Sanders for the party’s nomination, led to the resignation of top DNC officials.
NGO Monitor, an Israeli watchdog, uncovered among the DC Leaks trove a separate document prepared by Open Society’s European Policy Institute suggesting questions for September 2014 hearings to confirm senior European Union foreign policy officials.
Among the questions are one that promotes labeling products from West Bank settlements and another that favors the ascension of the Palestinian Authority to the International Criminal Court. Israel adamantly opposes both policies.
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Philip Epstein Papers
This collection contain records relating to Epstein’s community and veterans support activities, with the materials focusing primarily on his two terms as Commander of JWV Post 656 Marblehead-Swampscott. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence, announcements, and meeting minutes, though there are a few publications produced by organizations of which he was a member and photocopied newspaper clippings. The collection is arranged chronologically.
Epstein, Philip D., 1918-2004 (Person)
Philip D. Epstein was born December 12, 1918 to Philip and Dora (Cohen) Epstein in Boston, Massachusetts. He attended Boston University and Hebrew Teachers College in Boston before returning to Boston University to pursue a degree in law. He was a trial attorney from 1941 to 1999.
Epstein served with the Twelfth Air Force from 1942 to 1946 during World War II. After he was discharged from the Air Force, he participated in a variety of community and veterans support activities in the Marblehead and Lynn, Massachusetts area. He was one of the founders of Temple Sinai of Marblehead and Swampscott and Cohen-Hillel Academy in Marblehead. He served as president of the Lynn Hebrew School and was one of the first recipients of the KLAL Yisroel Excellence in Jewish Education Award given by the Bureau of Jewish Education in Boston. He also worked with organizations under the umbrella of the National Jewish Welfare Board (JWB) in a number of capacities: board member of the Jewish Community Center in Lynn; Chairman of the Armed Services USO Committee of Greater Lynn; and panelist at the 1954 biennial conference of the JWB.
In 1952, Epstein became the first commander of Post 656 of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America (JWV). The post served Marblehead and Swampscott and was inducted into the JWV on January 31, 1952, with support from Lynn Post 32. Epstein was commander from 1952 to 1953 but returned for another one-year term in 1963. In the intervening years, he served in an advisory role as a Past Commander. He was also appointed as Deputy Judge Advocate for the JWV Department of Massachusetts under Department Commander William Carmen, a position he held for three years.
Epstein’s wife, Louise, died in 1999. The following year, he moved to Albany, New York. He died on June 1, 2004 after a brief illness.
Material from the collection
"Epstein, Philip D." Times Union, June 2, 2004, p. B6, Obituaries.
Philip D. Epstein born
Begins practicing law
Joins the United States Air Force
Discharged from the Air Force
Serves one-year term as Commander of Post 656
Speaks at the JWB biennial conference
Serves as Deputy Judge Advocate of JWV Department of Massachusetts
Louise R. (Bender) Epstein dies
Retires from practicing law
Moves to Albany, New York
Philip Epstein dies
Philip D. Epstein was a trial attorney from 1941 to 1999 and a veteran of World War II. He was active in the Jewish community of Marblehead, Massachusetts and worked with a number of veterans support organizations, such as the National Jewish Welfare Board and Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America. He served two terms as Commander of JWV Post 656 Marblehead-Swampscott. The material in the collection includes correspondence, announcements, meeting minutes, membership rosters, and publications primarily concerning his tenure as JMV commander.
National Jewish Welfare Board Records, I-337
Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America Records, I-32
Jewish War Veterans, Post 31, Lynn, Massachusetts Records (unprocessed)(AJHS Boston)
Temple Sinai (Swampscott, Mass.) Records
Lynn Hebrew School Records (unprocessed)(AJHS Boston)
Bureau of Jewish Education Records, I-120
Bureau of Jewish Education—Boston, Massachusetts Records, I-497
Col. Bernard L. Gorfinkle Papers, P-664
Processed by Shannon Struble, 2015
Jewish War Veterans of the United States, Inc.
Jewish students -- Scholarships, fellowships, etc
Jewish veterans
Marblehead (Mass.)
National Jewish Welfare Board
Swampscott (Mass.)
JHC7. Lawyers and Judges
Guide to the Philip Epstein Papers, P-989
Published citations should take the following form: Identification of item, date (if known); Philip Epstein Papers; P-989; box number; folder number; Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center at NEHGS, Boston, Mass. https://jewishheritagecenter.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/resources/186 Accessed January 15, 2021.
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News Home » Health Care » Kimberly Guilfoyle, Trump campaign official and girlfriend of president's son, tests positive for coronavirus
Kimberly Guilfoyle, Trump campaign official and girlfriend of president's son, tests positive for coronavirus
運営事務局 JIMOPLE 8 July 4, 2020
Donald Trump Jr. looks on as Kimberly Guilfoyle speaks during a 'Make America Great Again' campaign rally at Williamsport Regional Airport, May 20, 2019 in Montoursville, Pennsylvania.
Kimberly Guilfoyle, a senior Trump campaign official and Donald Trump Jr.'s girlfriend, tested positive for coronavirus while in South Dakota on Friday, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Trump Jr., the eldest son of President Donald Trump, tested negative, the person said.
Neither Trump Jr. nor Guilfoyle traveled with the president on Air Force One as the president went to Mount Rushmore for a July 4th weekend celebration, the person said.
They both planned to attend but never made it to the site. Requests for comment from Guilfoyle and Trump Jr. were not immediately returned Friday night.
Guilfoyle is expected to drive back to the East Coast to avoid interactions with other people, two people familiar with the matter said.
The White House says Trump is tested for the coronavirus daily.
The New York Times first reported that Guilfoyle tested positive.
The development occurred on a day in which there were more than 53,000 new cases of COVID-19 reported across the United States, according to NBC News counts.
Guilfoyle, who is Trump Victory Finance Committee chair, spoke at Trump's June 20 rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and in the introductory program ahead of Trump's remarks in Phoenix, Arizona, on June 23.
But it is unknown when or where she was exposed to the coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19.
While the site of exposure is not known, since the Tulsa rally multiple people who attended have tested positive for the virus, including a journalist and at least two members of the campaign's advance team.
In addition, six campaign staffers tested positive hours before the rally but were not present at the event.
On Thursday it was announced that former presidential candidate Herman Cain, who attended the Tulsa rally tested positive for Covid-19.
He received the positive result on Monday, and on Wednesday he developed symptoms serious enough that he required hospitalization, a statement posted to his Twitter account said.
Cain, 74, did not need a respirator and was awake and alert at an Atlanta area hospital, the statement said.
It is not known when Cain was exposed to or contracted the illness.
Trump's campaign said in a statement Thursday that Trump did not meet with Cain at the Tulsa rally.
There have been more than 2.7 million cases of COVID-19 in the United States, with more than 130,000 deaths linked to the disease, according to NBC News' count.
Cases have been rising in a number of states, and 19 states have either rolled back or paused reopening plans due to the illness.
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New Teacher Profile: Donald Regan
By Bennett Carter, Sentry Staff|October 12, 2018
Donald Regan is a new teacher at Prep this year, but he brings years of educational experience.
Mr. Donald Regan works with a student in the senior high Fab Lab. Photo by Bennett Carter
Mr. Regan teaches engineering for 8th grade, marketing for 10-12th grades, and has a 9th grade advisory. Before he taught at Prep, he taught business and coached soccer and softball at McComb High School. Then he taught computer and coached soccer at Terry High School.
Mr. Regan then went on to serve as an assistant principal at Crystal Springs High School for the past 11 years, but he missed teaching and wanted to move back into the classroom because of the time away from his family. He said that working at Prep offered him the opportunity to teach and spend time with his daughter, Rachel, who is a ninth grader at Prep.
Mr. Regan went to Pearl River Community College and the University of Southern Mississippi, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing. He worked as a retail manager for a number of years before returning to USM and receiving his teacher’s certificate. He later went back to USM to receive his Master’s of Educational Administration, and he attended Delta State while working on his Doctorate in Educational Administration.
New faculty and staff, 2018-2019
Outside of the classroom, Mr. Regan says he likes athletics, specifically baseball and soccer, as well as fishing. He also enjoys spending time with his family. His favorite ice cream is Rocky Road and his favorite movie is Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder (not Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Johnny Depp).
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Michael Kret, Father
We live on a block in Middletown, New Jersey. It’s really not a block, but that’s what our parents called the streets where we grew up. So we call it a block. It’s really a half circle. We enter on Southview Terrace South and we exit on Southview Terrace North. About half way up the circle is a big hill. The kids in the neighborhood love to ride their bikes down the hill. Going up the hill is another story. We organize hayrides around the circle on Halloween and once a year we have a big block party when we welcome new neighbors and say goodbye to old.
It’s a great neighborhood for raising a family. People buy houses when their children are young, stay in the neighborhood for 20-30 years and then move on and sell their homes to families that are just starting out. It’s walking distance from a train station and if you catch the express train you can be in midtown Manhattan in about an hour. The Jersey Shore is about 15-20 minutes in the opposite direction.
My Dad must have walked around our block a thousand times. He and Mom lived with us for three years when we first bought the house in 1996. Mom helped with cooking and cleaning. Dad was our resident handy man and they both helped us raise our children. Life was good. Dad died in 2004 from complications of pneumonia at the age of 75, way too young for a man who kept himself in outstanding physical condition, but then Dad was always an athlete. He played semi-pro baseball for several years, but for reasons I guess we’ll never fully understand, he abruptly decided to give it all up just 19 games into his final season. Even Mom never got the full story. I guess I should be happy. If Dad hadn’t quit baseball I might not be here today. It’s funny how fate sometimes takes precedence over our personal plans and dreams.
Actually, what ended Dad’s life prematurely was a traumatic brain injury that led to hydrocephalus, literally meaning water on the brain. I believe it all started when he took a fall cutting the hedges at our house when we first moved in, but we’ll never really know for sure. I miss my Dad.
Mom lives just four miles from our home. She and Dad moved out of our house in 1999. I think the craziness of four kids and several animals finally got to them. Mom loves to be with her family, to cook, to shop through QVC, and to place a bet now and then, pretty much in that order. Almost every Friday night she makes Italian gravy, not sauce, and every Sunday afternoon she comes to our house and we eat macaroni, not pasta. I love my Mom.
We have four children; Kevin, Dylan, Megan and Jenny. My wife Joan and I always wanted a big family, but neither of us expected four beautiful children, two older boys and two younger girls.
Add to the mix the dogs and the cats and chaos is usually the norm in the Kret house, but somehow we make it all work.
About half way up the block, where Southview Terrace South turns into Southview Terrace North there is an eight inch by eight inch square box drawn in fading white paint on the pavement. The local police put it there to mark the spot. That’s where Kevin landed when he fell off his skateboard. He had a scratch on his knee, a scrape on his thigh and a traumatic brain injury that left him unconscious. No, he wasn’t wearing a helmet. You might expect this to be an agonizing story about quality of life and the demise of a happy family where tragedy has struck, but it’s not.
It’s a Journey of Hope.
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Reviewing: The Man From Yesterday: A Jack Lehman Mystery by Seymour Shubin
The mind can be a tricky thing. The name of someone you just met might escape your remembrance while at the same time the name of some classmate in elementary school from decades ago can’t be forgotten. How many of us have forgotten our home phone number from time to time? For retired Detective Lieutenant Jack Lehman it seems to be happening more and more.
As the novel opens, he knows one thing for sure. A former snitch of his, the name he can’t remember, reached out and by phone told him that a big heist of over a million dollars had happened. The phone call had come after a long night when he was tormented by the fact that he simply could not remember the name of who his favorite late night talk show host was as he watched him on TV. He was still more asleep than awake when his snitch called and now, as he sits in front of Captain Hewitt, who runs his old 32nd District, he is humiliated and embarrassed.
As Captain Hewitt points out, while Jack can’t remember the name, a heist that big means the police should have heard something. Jack knows that is true but he also knows the call happened. Driven by a need to prove himself as well as to dispel the notion that he is nothing more than a senile old man, Jack begins to work the case. A case that leads back to the past and scores unsettled. Beset by his own memory problems and the assumptions of others, including his family that he is suffering from senility or early stage Alzheimer’s, Jack continues to push the case with little outside help others than from writer Colin Ryan who believes the former Lieutenant is on to something that could turn into a book for him.
While the novel does shift in point of view occasionally, the story is told primarily from the viewpoint of Jack Lehman. In so doing, the reader is treated to the viewpoint of a man who knows his memory is weakening and yet at the same time is sure that there is a case. A case that while shadowy and vague has some substance to it if he can just start pulling the pieces together. He also knows how others, including his family, feel about him and know that because of those assumptions, they aren’t going to take him seriously. That pain of self awareness as he rages against the dying of the light flows throughout the entire novel.
Featuring a complex central character dealing with the efforts of aging on so many levels, this novel becomes an engrossing story that works across the board. It becomes easy to cheer each success Jack has and suffer the agony of each setback. This book, much like “Witness To Myself” also from this author, pulls the reader into a world of personal pain and obsession where the character is on a hunt for vindication.
The Man From Yesterday: A Jack Lehman Mystery
By Seymour Shubin
Academy Chicago Publishers
www.academychicago.com
Reviewing: Witness To Myself by Seymour Shubin
Adolescence is a hard perplexing time ripe with strange thoughts, strange feelings, and impetuous actions with little consideration of the consequences. It certainly was fifteen years ago for teenager Alan Benning. His family, on vacation in Cape Cod by way of a large motor home, had no idea what he thought or felt. The family was well off, his parents were conservative and Alan, with no one to talk to about life and his feelings, began to hate and fear himself. That hatred and fear of himself grew and grew after the incident in the woods near the beach during that vacation.
In the present day, Alan, now thirty is a successful lawyer with a steady girlfriend, Anna, a loving cousin, and an obsession about what might or might not have happened that fateful day fifteen years ago. Driven to know, he begins to unravel his own perfect life. A life that appears to be perfect but hides so many dark secrets that he is not sure of what actually happened back then.
Author Seymour Shubin has weaved a complete tale about the human spirit. Shifting in point of view between Alan and his cousin the author paints a picture of obsession. Not only is Alan obsessed with what he might or might not have done but the cousin has his own obsession. The cousin’s need isn’t as obvious early in the novel but the end of the book it is clear that his own obsession is just as strong.
It is also clear that the author is commenting on the nature of mankind. Those little things that surely lead to disaster. Those little things, unnoticed or unremarked at the time and yet become telling through the use of hindsight. The signs were obvious, as they often are, and unnoticed until long after the fact. The author makes this point throughout the work as he weaves complex multifaceted characters throughout the tale.
The result is a fast paced intense read. While only 250 pages in paperback, this isn’t a beach book and far from it. This is a book that rapidly becomes a real page turner as it pulls the reader into a world not unlike his or her own. This is a book that one doesn’t want interrupted and is sorry to see end. Intense and driven, the book doesn’t let go until that final phrase “the end” and even then lingers in the mind.
www.HardCaseCrime.com
ISBN #0-8439-5590-2
Reviewing: Nothing But Trouble: A Kevin Kerney Novel
This latest Kevin Kerney novel finds Kerney and his family at a cross roads. The Santa Fe Police chief knows that his current lifestyle is not working. With his job in New Mexico and his wife Sara currently assigned to the Pentagon he is unable to see her or his three year old son Patrick as he wants too. With the nation at war and Sara unable to leave her job and not wanting to either, Kevin is beginning to think that it is time to move on.
Moving on is also a concept he also feels should apply to his former friend Johnny Jordan. Johnny always had one scheme or another going while he chased women and drank to excess. That hasn’t changed but the schemes have gotten grander. This time he intends to produce a modern day western and wants Kevin involved as a technical advisor for old times sake. Though suspicious of Johnny’s real motives, Kevin needs a change of pace and decides to accept the proposition.
Before long, Kevin finds himself deep in a murder investigation that may have links to illegal immigrant smuggling and organized crime. He is also deep into parenting as Sara is off to Ireland on a far reaching investigation of her own that first began several novels ago involving desertion and smuggling. Kevin juggles both and before long, finds himself failing at all of it.
This latest book in the series, that 10th overall, clearly is a set up for the next one. Fundamental changes in their lives are happening and neither Sara nor Kevin is very sure about where their professional careers are headed. A story plot that could have been exploited and yet is not given nearly as much attention as the focus is primarily on the details of how to make a movie.
Those details, which are extensive, one could reasonably expect to be key in resolving the investigation aren’t. Instead, they provide long breaks in action throughout the book and do not provide any more information than one could gleam from watching one of the many Hollywood coverage shows. They seen to serve no real purpose other than to fill pages and boost the word count.
However, when author Michael McGarrity allows the characters to do what they do best, both Kevin and Sara move steadily forward carrying the novel forward in their separate cases. As always, in those sections the result is a good read that captivates the reader and provides strong entertainment especially in regards to Sara’s case.
The overall novel is a bit of rollercoaster read as it bogs down in several spots and moves smoothly at a rapid pace in others. While average for the series, McGarrity’s work is better than most others on their best day and that certainly is true here.
Nothing But Trouble: A Kevin Kerney Novel
By Michael McGarrity
Reviewing: The Man From Yesterday: A Jack Lehman M...
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BM Matthew Kim (KARD Member) Age, Height, Girlfriend, Wiki
1 BM Matthew Kim (KARD Member) Wiki
3 Career as a singer – group KARD
4 Relationships and girlfriend
BM Matthew Kim (KARD Member) Wiki
Kim Jin Seok (English name Matthew Kim) was born on 20 October 1992, in Los Angeles, California USA; he holds both American and South Korean nationality but lives in Seoul, and his zodiac sign is Libra. He is a singer and a dancer, perhaps best known for being a member of the co-ed group KARD.
Original source: https://kpopwiki.org/bm-matthew-kim-kard-member-age-height-girlfriend-wiki/
BM was raised partly in Los Angeles alongside his two younger brothers by their mother who is a clothes designer, and their father who is a travelling salesman. BM and his brothers spent a lot of time with their babysitter while they were growing up, as their mother was busy working and their father worked in Brazil for several years.
Posted by Bm-Matthew KIM – Kard bolivia off. on Monday, 17 April 2017
BM attended a high school in Los Angeles at which he played a variety of sports, but also practiced dancing and singing which represented a hobby to him. After he matriculated in 2010, he enrolled at a college to study philosophy and while there he and his dancing crew took part in the dancing competition “World of Dance”, held in Los Angeles – BM’s mother watched him perform without having known prior to that that her son was a great dancer. His mother then signed him up for a K-pop audition, to which BM almost refused to go because he couldn’t speak Korean that well. However, with the help of his mother and the South Korean solo singer BoA, passed all three auditions and signed a contract with DSP Media.
He graduated from college with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology in 2014, and then chose to focus on singing rather than to work in his field of studies.
Career as a singer – group KARD
BM trained with DSP Media for nearly five years, together with J. Seph, before it was announced that they would both become members of the new co-ed group KARD, which would also be made up of two girls Somin and Jiwoo. It was initially planned by DSP Media to have J. Seph and BM found a two-boy hip-hop group, but when Somin – who was once a member of the Japanese girl group Puretty, left her second group April – management decided to put her into the new group, along with Jiwoo who only trained only for two months under them.
KARD released their debut single “Oh NaNa” on 13 December 2016, featuring Heo Young-ji as a ‘hidden card’ – the group KARD represents each of its members as a playing card, with BM’s sign K standing for the card King. KARD attracted the attention of USA’s Billboard, and it placed the group on their list of “Top 5 Notable K-pop Artists” on 19 January 2017. The group’s second single came out on 16 February entitled “Don’t Recall”, while its English version followed on 1 March. KARD started collaborating with LG Electronics in April, and served as their G6 Smartphone’s global ambassadors – KARD also released their third single, “Rumor”, as a collaboration with LG Electronics on 24 April.
The song became a hit, topping the iTunes K-pop charts in over 10 countries, including ranking high around Europe, Asia and the USA. In May, KARD embarked on their first tour of the US called “2017 The 1st Tour ‘Wild K.A.R.D’” and which finished in June.
Their first extended play (EP) “Hola Hola” was released on 19 July 2017, made up of six songs, and on the same day they were invited to perform in the music program “M Countdown”. KARD went on to tour Europe in September, visiting big cities such as Milan in Italy, Rotterdam in the Netherlands and London in England, and they also performed in North American cities such as Washington D.C. and San Francisco. Their second EP “You & Me” came out on 21 November 2017, with the song “You In Me” serving as its lead track.
BM Matthew Kim
Somin and Jiwoo were allowed by DSP Media to collaborate with the musician Super Junior on his song “Lo Siento”, which later found its way onto his album “Replay” that came out on 12 April 2018, and the girls were then invited to keep Super Junior company in Korean music programs, and perform the song with him.
Shortly after that, KARD embarked on another tour, visiting four countries the Philippines, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong, and performed at the music festival South By Southwest. The group was the only K-pop group to be made one of the ‘2018 year expectation teams’ by the American pay TV channel FUSE TV. Then while performing in Jakarta in Indonesia, KARD attended their first fan meeting, followed by an additional two meetings organized on 26 April in Melbourne, Australia and three days later in Sydney.
Their third EP “Ride On the Wind” was released on 25 July 2018 followed by their performance in “M Countdown” on the following day.
On 27 March 2019, their new digital single “Bomb Bomb” came out, and on 19 August KARD held their debut solo concert in South Korea. They released another digital single on 21 September 2019, entitled “Dumb Litty” and both the aforementioned songs made their way into the top 50 on the Billboard Digital Sales Chart. On 6 November, KARD members talked about “Dumb Litty”, and played the Mystery Box Challenge in Los Angeles’ Young Hollywood.
Most recently, their fourth EP “Red Moon” came out in February 2020.
Relationships and girlfriend
The agencies of K-pop groups do not allow their members to be dating, because most of their fans are interested in them not only because of their music but also because they are single – if any of the members started a relationship, the group would most likely lose many fans. This is one of the reasons why BM hasn’t been seen spending time with any girls, nor has he spoken about any girlfriends he might have had since the launch of his singing career. He has, however, talked about his ideal type of a girl: BM would like to date a girl who has a healthy mind and soul, and could understand that he has to spend a lot of time working – singing and touring.
As of August 2020, BM is single, hasn’t married and doesn’t have children.
BM likes to taste various cuisines while travelling and touring around the world, but states that his favorite food will always be French fries, while he also likes to eat chicken breast.
He prefers to listen to South Korean music rather than American, and some of his favorite performers are Monsta X, Jessi and Super Junior.
BM is a huge lover of animals, and when asked about which animal he would have as a pet if he could choose, said that he’d have an alpaca named BM Jr., but if he could choose to become an animal, he would become a lion.
Taking pictures is one of his greatest passions, and there are many pictures taken by him featured on his Instagram account.
Uzun süren çalışmalar ve yüksek derecede “Azim” ile çalışıyorum. ASLA PES ETME . . . . . . . #인친 #댓글 #셀기꾼 #친구 #여행 #봄 #대구 #럽스타그램 #옷스타그램 #팔로미 #인스타사이즈 #다이어트 #맞팔 #소통 #선팔 #셀스타그램 #셀카 #일상 #팔로우 #먹스타그램 #얼스타그램 #인스타그램 #데일리룩 #맛스타그램 #셀피 #인친 #댓글 #셀기꾼 #친구 #여행 #봄 #대구 #럽스타그램 #옷스타그램 #팔로미 #인스타사 #맞팔 #소통 #선팔 #셀스타그램 #셀카 #일상 #팔로우 #먹스타그램 #얼스타그램 #인스타그램 #데일리룩 #맛스타그램 #셀피 #인친 #댓글 #셀기꾼 #친구 #여행 #봄 #대구 #럽스타그램 #옷스타그램 #팔로미 #인스타사이즈#like4like #likeforlike #다이어트 #likeforlikes
A post shared by ⚜️Matthew Kim ⚜️ (@kard__bm) on Jan 6, 2018 at 7:09am PST
He is a huge fan of the actor Jason Momoa and would like to either star alongside him in a movie, or play a gangster in any film.
BM likes tattoos and has two inked onto his skin. He is physically very active as he has four to five training sessions at the gym each week, which usually last about one hour, and he also plays a variety of sports including soccer and basketball.
Encouraged by his mother, BM launched his own clothing line called “Staydium”, with the catchphrase reading ‘Stay motivated. Stay Inspired’.
BM’s age is 27. He has brown hair which he usually dyes blonde, and his eyes are brown as well. His height is 6ft 1in (1.86m) and he weighs around 175lbs (80kgs).
As of August 2020, BM’s net worth has been estimated at around $200,000.
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The Untold Truth About Twice Member – Momo Hirai
Olivia Hye (LOOΠΔ/LOONA) Age, Height, Eyes, Dating, Profile
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Europe’s populist leaders are outraged by the decision of U.S. social-media giants to block U.S. President Donald Trump from posting on their sites. They fear Facebook, Twitter and other major social media companies could start banning them, too.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki condemned the internet giants Tuesday. “The censorship of freedom of speech, the domain of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, is returning today in the form of a new, commercial mechanism fighting against those who think differently,” he wrote on Facebook.
Poland’s ruling populist Law and Justice Party (PiS) already has introduced legislation aimed at limiting the power of social media giants to remove content or ban users.
The draft law was proposed after Twitter started flagging as misleading content tweets by Trump and supporters disputing the U.S. election result. PiS lawmakers say there shouldn’t be any censorship by social media companies or curtailment of speech because debate is the essence of democracy.
Opposition critics say the proposed measure sits oddly with the ruling party’s efforts to muzzle the national media and to turn the public broadcaster into a propaganda vehicle. Those moves are currently being investigated by the European Union, which has accused the PiS government of rolling back democratic norms.
The Polish government also has vowed to bring foreign-owned media outlets in the country under Polish control, which critics fear means turning them into government propaganda outlets.
Under the draft law, if content is removed, a social media company would have 24 hours to respond to a complaint from a user and any decision could be appealed to a newly created special court.
Populist leaders aren’t alone in denouncing the moves by social media giants. Across Europe there is unease regardless of political affiliation at censorship by social media giants and their expulsion of Trump, a response to last week’s bid to derail the certification of the U.S. election results by pro-Trump agitators storming the U.S. Capitol. Twitter cited violations of its civic integrity policies to block Trump.
Facebook is blocking and deleting content that uses the phrase “stop the steal,” which refers to false claims by Trump supporters of election fraud. And Twitter says it has suspended more than 70,000 accounts of adherents of the QAnon conspiracy, who believe Trump is waging a secret war against elite Satan-worshipping pedophiles in government, business and the media.FILE – A figure representing hate speech on Facebook is seen featured during a carnival parade in Duesseldorf, Germany, Feb. 24, 2020.German Chancellor Angela Merkel has expressed her concerns about the actions of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, saying they are a step too far.
“The right to freedom of opinion is of fundamental importance,” her spokesperson Steffen Seibert told reporters this week. But campaigns are mounting in Germany and in other European countries for social media giants to block hate speech, populist misinformation and fake news from their sites, regardless of authorship.
Additionally, political pressure is mounting for a tightening of regulatory restrictions that some European governments have already introduced aimed at policing social media.
When voicing concern about the social media blocking of Trump, Merkel’s spokesperson cited Germany’s Network Enforcement Act, which was approved in 2018 and requires social media platforms to remove potentially illegal material within 24 hours of being told to do so, or face fines of up to $60 million.
Seibert said free speech should only be restricted in line “with the laws and within a framework defined by the legislature, not by the decision of the management of social media platforms.”
But some German lawmakers want the law toughened and are also urging social media companies to be more forward-leaning in efforts to block what they see as dangerous speech. German Social Democrat lawmaker Helge Lindh told broadcaster Deutsche Welle that Germany is “not doing enough,” saying more restrictions are needed.
The German parliament approved legislation last year that would ensure prosecution for those perpetrating hate or for inciting it online. Under the legislation, social media companies would have been obliged to report hate comments to the police and identify the online authors.
Final passage of the legislation was halted, though, because of objections raised by the country’s Constitutional Court, which ruled parts of the new legislation were in conflict with data protection laws. The court called for adjustments that are scheduled to be debated this month by German lawmakers.
Populist politicians stand to lose more from the renewed focus on misinformation on the internet, whether the outcome from the new focus is more stringent state regulations or just social media giants being more restrictive in Europe.
Populists tend to be able to galvanize support using social media more than mainstream politicians and parties have managed, says Ralph Schroeder, an academic at the Oxford Internet Institute, part of Britain’s University of Oxford.
“They stand to lose most along with other politicians, on the left and the right and beyond, that seek a politics that is anti-establishment and exclusionary toward outsiders,” he told VOA. “The reason is that social media gives them a means to express ideas that cannot be expressed in traditional news media or in traditional party affiliations.”
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VUMC /
Bader Lab
Beauchamp Laboratory
Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is a comprehensive healthcare facility dedicated to patient care, research, and biomedical education. Its reputation for excellence in each of these areas has made Vanderbilt a major patient referral center for the Mid-South. Each year, people throughout Tennessee and the Southeast choose Vanderbilt for their health care needs, not only because of its excellence in medical science, but also because the faculty and staff are dedicated to treating patients with dignity and compassion. Vanderbilt's mission is to advance health and wellness through preeminent programs in patient care, education, and research. See the 2011-2012 Factbook for detailed information.
The Medical Center campus includes:
Vanderbilt University Hospital (VUH)
This twin-towered building with over 600 beds is supported by the most up-to-date systems and technology. The hospital is designed to provide each patient with an outside view. Each floor of the towers holds a nursing core so that patient rooms are close to nursing stations. The hospital is supported by respected, research-based medical and nursing schools, and delivers both routine inpatient care and highly specialized medical treatment and surgical procedures. The hospital is home to the region's only Level I Trauma Center as well as the region's only Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
http://www.vanderbiltchildrens.com
At Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, it has always been understood that children require special treatment. Our state-of-the-art facility created just for children and their families includes special designs and features to welcome young patients. The hospital has bright rooms, play spaces, a family resource center, as well as a garden and performance area in a relaxed, comfortable environment that makes patients feel as much at home as possible. We believe every child deserves the care and personal attention that the facility offers. The address of the hospital is 2200 Children's Way, Nashville, TN 37232. Reference the second section of this directory for complete information about our pediatric services.
The Vanderbilt Clinic (TVC)
http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/tvc
The Vanderbilt Clinic provides space for over 100 ambulatory specialty practices of the Vanderbilt Medical Group (VMG). Clinicians within the VMG practice across several locations within the medical center campus including: The Vanderbilt Clinic, the Medical Arts Building, Medical Center North, Medical Center East, The Village at Vanderbilt and across numerous satellite locations throughout Middle Tennessee. TVC offers a friendly environment for the most comprehensive up-to-date outpatient diagnostic and treatment services for patients.
http://www.vicc.org
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center is Tennessee's only Comprehensive Cancer Center. It brings together hundreds of faculty and staff involved in cancer care, research, education, outreach and education throughout the Vanderbilt University and Medical Center campus in Nashville, Tennessee, and through partnerships with colleagues throughout the state and the nation.
Psychiatric Hospital at Vanderbilt (PHV)
The Psychiatric Hospital at Vanderbilt, situated along Blakemore Avenue, is a full-service 88-bed psychiatric hospital. Specialized services are offered across all ages to children, adolescents, and adults.
The hospital is the only freestanding facility of its kind in Middle Tennessee. The 80-bed hospital provides both inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services to children and adults who have suffered strokes, head injuries or have other orthopaedic or neurological diseases requiring varying formats of rehabilitation.
Nashville Veterans Administration Medical Center (VA)
http://www.tennesseevalley.va.gov
Located next to the Medical School, the VA provides inpatient and ambulatory care services by both Vanderbilt faculty and residents. More than 100 full-time and part-time VA physicians have academic appointments at Vanderbilt. This leads to effective collaboration between the two campuses.
Also located within the medical center complex:
http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/medschool
The School awarded its first degrees in 1875. Now, with approximately 100 new students a year, the School is one of the leading centers of medical education in the United States.
http://www.nursing.vanderbilt.edu
The School became part of the medical center in 1984 and currently is located in Godchaux Hall near 21st Avenue South. Several innovative programs are offered within the school as it continues to educate individuals who are integral to the health-care team.
Ann and Roscoe R. Robinson Research Building and Preston Research Building (PRB)
These buildings represent the medical center’s commitment to world-class biomedical research. The medical research facility houses faculty in the Departments of Biochemistry, Molecular Physiology, Biophysics, and Pharmacology. The buildings also are home to the A.B. Hancock, Jr. Memorial Laboratory for Cancer Research and the Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanner and cyclotron. Frances William Preston (PRB) Cancer Research Building includes space for both clinical and administrative operations.
Annette and Irwin Eskind Biomedical Library (EBL)
http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/biolib
The library houses a significant reference collection to assist those interested in the field of medical care. In addition, users benefit from numerous work stations. The library's Information and Education Services Division provides assistance in all aspects of information retrieval, transfer, and management.
Jeffrey Balser
Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs
Associate Vice Chancellor for Research
biomedical discovery health medical research
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ADA lawsuit abuse may soon end
By David J. Canupp
Small business owners are often surprised to learn that the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) provides for very specific architectural standards applicable to the physical locations where businesses operate. These standards are prescribed by the Department of Justice in a manual referred to as the “ADAAG,” or ADA Accessibility Guidelines. They are incredibly detailed, with down-to-the-inch requirements for things such as urinals and toilet paper dispensers. They prescribe the appropriate slope and dimensions of parking spaces, and the type of permissible door handles and locks. They even prescribe the range of appropriate heights for signs and the size of the lettering on signs used at small businesses. There is no funding available to help small businesses meet the requirements of the ADAAG, but violations can be quite costly, as set out below.
Here in Huntsville, many unsuspecting small businesses have become the target of lawsuits and letters sent by ADA lawyers who claim to represent disabled individuals denied appropriate access to local businesses because of so-called “access barriers” (architectural barriers). I am often called to defend these lawsuits and respond to these letters. Too often, the alleged violations are minor, and could be fixed by a business owner him- or herself if the business owner were simply given a chance. But therein lies the problem: It seems that lawyers who represent disabled individuals in these matters usually elect against giving the business owner the chance to remediate the problems, instead choosing to file a federal lawsuit against the business.
Although the ADA does not provide for monetary damages against small businesses (see 42 U.S.C. § 12188(a)), attorneys who represent disabled individuals in these matters can seek attorneys’ fees and costs from the small business owner, in what the law refers to as “fee shifting.” These fees can be exorbitant, and if there are violations at the physical locations of the business, it is difficult to avoid the obligation to pay them. As a result, small business owners who never realized they had code violations at their locations and would be more than happy to correct them must pay not only to make their place of business accessible, but also must pay the lawyer suing them and the lawyer they hired to defend them.
For years now, I have been astonished that Congress didn’t step in to correct this miscarriage of justice by requiring that ADA lawyers give small business owners a “cure period” before seeking attorneys’ fees. At long last, however, changes may be coming to ADA litigation.
On July 7, 2016, the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a bill (H.R. 3765) to the floor of the House to address ADA lawsuit abuse. If passed by both the House and Senate and signed by the President, the bill will become known as the ADA Education and Reform Act.
What is ADA lawsuit abuse?
ADA lawsuit abuse typically involves a single plaintiff filing multiple lawsuits against many businesses in a community and sometimes governmental facilities. The plaintiff alleges violations of Title III of the ADA, which requires public accessibility to businesses and public buildings (those open to the public). Sometimes, the plaintiff is a well-intentioned activist for the rights of the disabled, but in other cases the plaintiff and his or her attorneys are merely out to make a fast buck. Although alleging ADA violations, the plaintiff merely drives by a business to identify a minor violation without ever attempting to take advantage of a business’ services or buy its products.
Testimony before Congress during May 2016
Mili Shah (the owner of two small hotels in Atlanta, Georgia) testified before the Judiciary Committee about his experience with what some have labeled an ADA troll. When Shah received notice that his hotel was being sued for violation of the ADA, he immediately called the general manager to determine when the plaintiff had stayed in the hotel and the circumstances of the plaintiff’s unpleasant experiences.
Mr. Shah found out the plaintiff had never stayed at the hotel. Further investigation revealed the plaintiff had sued nearly 100 other businesses. The language of the complaints in each of these lawsuits was nearly identical, with extremely vague and general terms: problems in the parking lot, inadequate signs, and failure to provide accessible entry to the hotel’s pool. Although Mr. Shah didn’t think this vague and general language properly described his hotel, he was especially surprised by the allegations about the hotel’s pool: Since the pool is closed, he was being sued for not providing access to a part of the hotel that was closed.
Congressman Ted Poe (from Texas and the author of the bill) testified about how a Florida plaintiff had filed 529 ADA lawsuits; a California plaintiff, 124; a Pennsylvania plaintiff, 21; and a New York, plaintiff, 24. In one case, the Florida plaintiff filed suit against a hotel that he had never stayed in. Congressman Poe indicated that Bill Norkunas (who wrote the original ADA and the attorney who defended the Florida hotel) said the plaintiff was operating a “continuing criminal enterprise that boils down to extortion.”
Congressman Ken Calvert (from California) testified that 7,188 ADA lawsuits have been filed in California and 31 plaintiffs accounted for 56% of these lawsuits. (This data covers the period from 2005 to 2014.) He pointed out the California legislature had passed and the governor signed a bill similar to H.R. 3765 to address similar lawsuits brought under that state’s disability act.
A spokesman for the International Council of Shopping Centers testified:
The number of ADA lawsuits has continued to rise at alarming levels. Title III ADA lawsuits filed nationally in 2014 increased by 63% from the previous year. It is worth noting that the majority of these lawsuits are being filed by the same plaintiffs. Of the more than 4,700 Title III lawsuits filed in 2015, over 1,400 were filed by just eight plaintiffs.
California doughnut shop sued
In November 2015, Congressman Poe spoke on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives about a small California doughnut shop that was threatened with an ADA lawsuit over minute violations of the ADA: a mislabeled table, door handles off by centimeters, and a trash can in the wrong location. Ironically, the manager of the doughnut shop is herself disabled, running the shop from a wheel chair. Ultimately, the owner determined that the plaintiff had sued about 80 other businesses in the area.
Plaintiff blocked from further ADA lawsuits
In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed a decision by a California U.S. District Court judge barring a plaintiff from filing additional ADA lawsuits. (He had filed more than 400 by the time the judge acted.)
Details about the bill approved by the Judiciary Committee
This bill requires the Department of Justice to develop a program to educate state and local governments and property owners on strategies for promoting access to public accommodations for persons with disabilities. The program may include training for professionals on how to remedy potential violations of the ADA.
The bill prohibits persons from sending demand letters or other presuit notifications alleging a violation of ADA public accommodation requirements if the notification does not specify the circumstances under which an individual was actually denied access. The notification must specify—
Address of the property.
ADA sections violated.
Whether a request for assistance in removing an architectural barrier was made.
Whether the barrier was permanent or temporary.
The bill also prohibits plaintiffs from suing about an ADA violation (architectural barrier) unless the following procedures have been followed:
The plaintiff must provide the owner or operator with written notice of the violation and the notice must be specific enough to identify the architectural barrier.
The owner or operator must respond to the written notice within 60 days (from receiving the notice) with a description of how the barrier will be removed.
The owner or operator must remove or make substantial progress toward removing the barrier within 120 days of receiving the plaintiff’s notice.
Finally, the bill requires the Judicial Conference of the United States to develop a model program to promote alternative dispute resolution to resolve such claims. The model program must include an expedited method for determining relevant facts related to architectural barriers and steps to resolve accessibility issues before they can be litigated.
About the author: Mr. Canupp regularly advises government agencies and businesses about the public accessibility requirements of Title III the ADA and has filed an amici curiae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving those requirements. In addition, he has spoken about the ADA at the Alabama City County Government Seminar. In addition to public accessibility issues, Mr. Canupp regularly advises government agencies and businesses about the employment aspects of the ADA.
Published July 15, 2016 Posted in News About the Law
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Perhaps best known as a National Basketball Association (NBA) legend, two-time Hall of Famer, and Olympic Gold Medalist, Earvin “Magic” Johnson has enjoyed an equally successful second career in business. He is a Major League Baseball owner, an Entrepreneur, a Philanthropist and a Motivational Speaker, successfully parlaying his skills and tenacity on the court into the business world, propelling his company to the status of #1 Brand in Urban America.
Chairman and CEO of Magic Johnson Enterprises (MJE), Mr. Johnson’s company provides high quality products and services that focus primarily on ethnically diverse and underserved urban communities through strategic alliances, investments, consulting and endorsements.
The conglomerate is comprised of multiple business entities and partnerships which includes Yucaipa Johnson, a $500 million dollar private equity fund; EquiTrust Financial Services, a fixed annuities and life insurance services company; SodexoMAGIC, a food service and facilities management company; ASPIRE, an African-American television network; The Marvel Experience, a virtual 3-D attraction centered around Marvel characters; Los Angeles Football Club, a new Major League Soccer team; and Magic Johnson Bridgescape Academies, a high school drop-out prevention program.
In the business world Mr. Johnson is most noted for his unprecedented Starbucks partnership, which served as the catalyst for redevelopment in urban communities and is literally the blueprint for Corporate America’s engagement and success with urban consumers.
In 2010, the savvy businessman divested his Starbucks, and Los Angeles Lakers shares in excess of $100 million dollars.Mr. Johnson in 2012, as a member of Guggenheim Baseball Management (GBM), became an owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, a Major League Baseball Franchise. In 2014, Mr. Johnson with some of the partners from GBM purchased the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA. Mr. Johnson also serves as Chairman and Founder of the Magic Johnson Foundation, where his unwavering commitment to transform Urban America continues through HIV/AIDS Awareness & Prevention Programs, Community Empowerment Centers, and the Taylor Michaels Scholarship Program. Celebrating over 20 years of success, the Magic Johnson Foundation has become one of the most recognizable philanthropic organizations around the world. Magic Johnson is a most requested Las Vegas Sports Speakers
“I’ve watched Orel Hershiser from the press box since he came up to the majors in 1984. From a distance he seems too good to be true. Now that he’s joined us (ESPN) as a broadcaster, I’m discovering that he’s not. Orel is the real thing.” – Sports Commentator Chris Berman
Orel Hershiser, a former Major League Baseball pitcher and Cy Young winner, returned to ESPN as a game and studio analyst prior to the 2006 season and currently contributes to the network’s Sunday Night Baseball telecasts and Sports Emmy Award-winning Baseball Tonight show. In addition, Hershiser serves as an analyst for ABC & ESPN’s coverage of the Little League World Series.
Hershiser previously served as a baseball analyst during ESPN’s and ABC’s coverage of the Little League World Series from 2000-01 and as an MLB commentator on ESPN’s Wednesday Night Baseball in 2001.
Before re-joining ESPN, Hershiser spent four years as a member of the Texas Rangers organization, as pitching coach from 2002 until 2005 and as their executive director in the front office.
Hershiser, a three-time National League All-Star, pitched 18 years in the Major Leagues for Los Angeles (1983-94, 2000), Cleveland (1995-97), San Francisco (1998) and New York Mets (1999).
In 1988, he won the Cy Young Award and was named World Series Most Valuable Player, Associated Press Athlete of the Year and Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year. After missing the 1990 season due to shoulder surgery, Hershiser returned to the Dodgers in 1991 and was named UPI Comeback Player of the Year. Las Vegas Sports Speakers – Orel Hershiser
Steve Lavin
Las Vegas Celebrity speaker Steve Lavin is frequently an invited keynote speaker throughout the country for business, community and collegiate events. He addresses a wide range of topics including effective communication, motivation, management, recruiting, leadership, and naturally, college basketball. His riveting speech is very motivational and he touches on how he overcame the many obstacles in his life including with family, competitively and professionally.
Steve Lavin is a Basketball Analyst on ABC and ESPN. Lavin’s coaching perspective was forged over 15 years as a Division I college basketball coach at both UCLA and Purdue University. As UCLA Head Basketball Coach from 1996-2003 Lavin compiled a record of 145-78. In his inaugural season as head coach, Lavin directed the Bruins to the 1997 Pac-10 Championship and the NCAA Elite Eight. During Lavin’s tenure as a head coach, he was one of only two coaches in the country, along with Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, to lead his team to five NCAA “Sweet 16s” in six years (‘02, ’01, ’00, ’98, ’97). Lavin guided UCLA to six consecutive 20+ game winning seasons and to six consecutive NCAA tournaments. As head coach, his career record in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament is 10-1.
Steve is known as one of the best recruiters in the history of College Basketball.
In 2001, after the Bruins finished 23-9, Lavin was honored with the Pacific-10 Coach of the Year award. He is the only head coach in NCAA Men’s Basketball history to lead his team to victory over the No. 1 team in the country in four consecutive collegiate seasons (Arizona ’03, Kansas ’02, Stanford ’01, Stanford ’00). Lavin had a 12-4 record in contest involving overtime periods. Additionally Lavin’s Bruins had a 10-4 record against the rival USC Trojans. During his time working the sidelines at both Purdue and UCLA, Lavin’s teams qualified for 13 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances (1989-2002). Lavin was an assistant coach on the Bruins 1995 National Championship team that finished with a 32-1 record.
Grateful beyond words for a 27 year run associated with college basketball. In particular I’m thankful for being afforded the opportunity to teach young men at institutions with the exceptional basketball heritage of UCLA and most recently, St John’s University for the last 5 years.
Creating a Winning Culture
Larry Krystkowiak is entering his fifth year as the head coach of the Runnin’ Utes. Krystkowiak was introduced on April 4, 2011 as the new men’s basketball coach at the University of Utah and the man to lead the Runnin’ Utes into the next phase of their storied history. Krystkowiak, who has prior head coaching experience in the NCAA, CBA and NBA, left a position as an assistant coach with the New Jersey Nets to become the 15th head coach in Utah men’s basketball history.
Creating a winning culture was a key component to turning the Utes program around and Larry Kystkowiak did just that.
Krystkowiak, led the Utes to a 26-9 record, a berth in the Sweet 16 and a No. 15 final national ranking during the 2014-15 season. Utah was ranked in the top 25 for 19 weeks in — its most time spent in the national polls since the Final Four campaign of 1997-98. Utah also had its best finish since joining the Pac-12, placing third with a 13-5 conference mark and reaching the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament for the second time in three years.
The Utes defeated Stephen F. Austin and Georgetown in the NCAA Tournament before losing to eventual national champion Duke in the Sweet 16, 63-57.
The resurgence of Utah basketball under Krystkowiak has also ignited Utah’s fan base. The Utes averaged more than 12,000 fans to its home games this season, its highest attendance average since 2000-01
Striving for success, both on and off the court, are trademarks of the Krystkowiak era and due to improvements in both areas, the Utah head coach was rewarded with a five-year contract extension that runs through the 2023-24 season.
In his previous collegiate head coaching post, Krystkowiak led his alma mater, the University of Montana, to a 42-20 record and two NCAA appearances as the Grizzlies’ from 2004-06 before joining the NBA coaching ranks.
Hired as an assistant coach by the Milwaukee Bucks in 2006-07, “Krysko” was elevated to head coach with 17 games remaining in the season. He was retained as the Bucks’ head coach in 2007-08. Among the players he coached was former Ute All-American Andrew Bogut. Krystkowiak’s other head coaching experience was in the CBA with the Idaho Stampede in 2003-04.
After a nine-year NBA playing career in six cities, Krystkowiak’s first coaching job was as an assistant coach at Montana from 1998-2000. The Grizzlies were the Big Sky champions in 2000. He then moved on to Old Dominion as an assistant in 2001-02 before signing on as the head coach of the CBA’s Idaho Stampede. In his lone season with the Stampede in 2003-04, he led the team to a 38-14 record and a berth in the CBA Finals.
Krystkowiak spent the next two seasons as the head coach at Montana. The Grizzlies were Big Sky champions in 2004-05, winning the conference tournament and earning an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. They appeared in the Big Dance in 2006 as well, earning an at-large bid and advancing to the second round with an upset victory over fifth-seed Nevada. It was UM’s first NCAA tournament win since 1975. Montana finished the season with a 24-7 record, after going 18-13 in Krystkowiak’s first season, losing to No. 1 seed Washington in the NCAA First Round.
The only three-time Big Sky MVP in league history and two-time Academic All-American for Montana from 1982-86, Krystkowiak is still the school’s all-time career leader in points (2,017) and rebounds (1,105). He was selected in the second round (28th overall pick) of the 1986 NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls and played in the league for nine years with San Antonio (1986-87), Milwaukee (1988-92), Utah (1992-93), Orlando (1993-94), Chicago (1994-96) and the Los Angeles Lakers (1996). Over his NBA career, he averaged 8.1 points and 4.1 rebounds a game with his best season in 1988-89 when he averaged 12.7 points and 7.6 rebounds a game for Milwaukee.
Krystkowiak made the Dean’s List four times at Montana, including in 1996, when he completed the degree he began over a decade earlier in business administration. He graduated with honors, boasting a 3.5 grade point average.
Krystkowiak and his wife Jan have five children, sons Cam, Luc, Ben and twin daughters Samantha and Finley.
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Justia › US Law › Case Law › Nevada Case Law › Supreme Court of Nevada Decisions › 1994 › Hutchins v. State
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Hutchins v. State
867 P.2d 1136 (1994)
Tyrone Bobby HUTCHINS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Nevada, Respondent.
Supreme Court of Nevada.
*1138 Cherry, Bailus & Kelesis, Las Vegas, for appellant.
Frankie Sue Del Papa, Atty. Gen., Carson City, Rex Bell, Dist. Atty., and James Tufteland, Deputy Dist. Atty., Clark County for respondent.
A jury convicted Appellant Tyrone Bobby Hutchins, a/k/a Tyrone Bobby Hutchinson ("Hutchins"), of robbery, kidnapping with the use of a deadly weapon, and four counts of sexual assault with the use of a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to one twelve-year term on the robbery charge and ten consecutive life terms on the other charges, five of which represent enhancements based upon the use of a deadly weapon. Hutchins raises five assignments of error on appeal.
We conclude that Hutchins' sentences were improperly enhanced for use of a deadly weapon, as scissors are not a "deadly weapon" under the Zgombic[1] rule. The five enhancements must therefore be reversed and vacated. We otherwise affirm the remaining judgments of conviction.
At trial, the victim ("Tammy") testified that on the evening of September 15, 1990, she was visited by Hutchins, an acquaintance, at the Airport Inn Apartments in Las Vegas. Hutchins asked Tammy if she would loan him some money, but Tammy declined and asked Hutchins to leave. Hutchins then began choking Tammy and dragging her through the apartment. At some point in the struggle, Hutchins also beat the victim. Tammy directed Hutchins to some money in a closet, which Hutchins took, along with some jewelry. Hutchins then bound Tammy's arms, legs and mouth with belts, chipping one of her teeth in the process. He also threatened to kill her if she made any noise.
Hutchins thereafter called a person by the name of "Jose" and forced Tammy to talk to him on the phone about meeting Hutchins to buy her jewelry. Later, Hutchins responded to a knock on the door and, while Tammy was trussed on the floor, engaged in a transaction regarding his victim's jewelry.
After the jewelry transaction, Hutchins returned to his victim with some hair-cutting scissors which he used to cut off the victim's shirt. He also removed the victim's shorts and again warned Tammy that he would kill her if she made any noise. Hutchins then placed the scissors on a counter and proceeded to commit various acts of sexual assault upon his victim, including digital vaginal penetration, cunnilingus and fellatio. Hutchins thereafter untied the victim's legs and placed his penis in her vagina. Tammy thought he ejaculated onto her stomach. Hutchins then freed Tammy's arms and left the apartment. Tammy telephoned the police and her former boyfriend.
After the police arrived, Tammy was taken to the University Medical Center, where she was examined by Dr. John W. Wilson. Wilson testified that Tammy appeared to have been severely beaten and nearly choked to death. Wilson also stated that there were no vaginal tears or lacerations, a common finding among sexual assault victims, and that there was no abnormal amount of mucous membrane secretions.
Linda Errichetto, the State's criminalist, testified that her examination revealed no indication of semen in the victim's oral or vaginal samples. She did find some indication of semen in the victim's panties upon her initial presumptive test, but a second confirming test produced no evidence of semen, thus rendering the test inconclusive. Errichetto also determined that the hairs given her from Tammy's pubic combing belonged to the victim. Accordingly, Errichetto could form no opinion as to whether Tammy had been sexually assaulted.
Photographs of the victim depicting bruises, swelling and scars on her right eye, left cheek and jaw, chest, tongue, right hand, neck, arm and knees were admitted to show *1139 the effects of Hutchins' attacks. Photos of the victim's apartment were also admitted showing the blanket upon which she was assaulted, the belts on the floor, the victim's shorts and Hutchins' shirt. The latter item was demonstrated by the defense to be a tight fit as Hutchins donned the garment at trial. The shirt worn by Tammy and cut by Hutchins was not found or recovered. However, the scissors found by Tammy after her ordeal were introduced into evidence.
Other evidence presented at trial included the testimony of Terry L. Walker, a resident of the Airport Inn at the time of the incident. Walker testified that in the late evening and early morning hours of September 15-16, 1990, Hutchins called her three times. Hutchins was crying and stated that he was scared. He told Walker that he had a fight with Tammy over money or a chain "or something like that." He also said that he had beaten Tammy, and that "his leg was bleeding really bad" where Tammy had angrily hit him.
The defense called Hutchins' wife,[2] Barbara Hutchinson. Hutchinson testified that she picked up the defendant at the Airport Inn on the evening of the 16th, that he was limping, and that he explained that Tammy had hit him in the leg with a pipe. Hutchinson further testified that Hutchins admitted beating Tammy.
The jury found Hutchins guilty of first-degree kidnapping with use of a deadly weapon, robbery, and four counts of sexual assault with the use of a deadly weapon. The court sentenced Hutchins to a twelve-year term on the robbery charge, and to a life term for the kidnapping conviction and for each of the four sexual assault convictions, enhanced by five life terms for use of a deadly weapon, for a total of one twelve-year term and ten life terms, each term to run consecutively.
DISCUSSION I. Whether appellant's convictions were supported by sufficient evidence.
Hutchins' first assignment of error is that his convictions were not supported by sufficient evidence to support a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Although his convictions are based primarily on the testimony of the victim, it is for the jury to determine what weight and credibility to give various testimony. Bolden v. State, 97 Nev. 71, 73, 624 P.2d 20, 20 (1981). Furthermore, when the sufficiency of the evidence is challenged on appeal in a criminal case, "[t]he relevant inquiry for this Court is `whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.'" Koza v. State, 100 Nev. 245, 250, 681 P.2d 44, 47 (1984) (citing Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S. Ct. 2781, 27, 61 L. Ed. 2d 560 (1979)) (emphasis in original). With these standards in mind, we review Hutchins' contentions concerning this issue.
A. Whether there was sufficient evidence to support the kidnapping conviction.
Hutchins argues that there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction for kidnapping, as the movement of the victim from the living area of her apartment to the closet or hall area did not increase the danger to the victim.
NRS 200.310(1) provides:
Every person who willfully seizes, confines. . . or carries away any person by any means whatsoever with the intent to hold or detain, or who holds or detains, the person ... for the purpose of committing sexual assault . . . or robbery upon or from the person ... is guilty of kidnaping in the first degree.
Tammy's testimony meets the requirements of this statute, showing that Hutchins seized, confined and carried her, intending to hold and detain her for the purpose of committing robbery and sexual assault.
"While the plain language of NRS 200.310(1) does not require asportation, the court has required it when the kidnapping is *1140 incidental to another offense, such as robbery, where restraint of the victim is inherent with the primary offense." Clem v. State, 104 Nev. 351, 354, 760 P.2d 103, 105 (1988), overruled on other grounds, Zgombic v. State, 106 Nev. 571, 798 P.2d 548 (1990). However, if the victim is physically restrained, "this, in itself, establishes kidnapping as an additional offense." Clem, 104 Nev. at 354, 760 P.2d at 105. Moreover, the kidnapping is not incidental to the underlying offense if "the restraint increased the risk of harm" or "had an independent purpose and significance as [being] essential to the accomplishment of" the other offense. Id.
In the present case, Tammy was forcibly asported to a different part of the apartment where she was physically restrained and less apt to be heard by a passerby. Additionally, the forcible method used to relocate her to a more secure setting for the assault, coupled with the measures used to accomplish her restraint, created a greater risk of harm without more. See, e.g., Beets v. State, 107 Nev. 957, 962, 821 P.2d 1044, 1048 (1991), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 113 S. Ct. 116, 121 L. Ed. 2d 73 (1992) ("[T]he act of binding [the victim's] hands and feet was sufficient evidence to establish the kidnaping charge since these acts increased the risk of harm to [her] and had independent significance with regard to appellant's ability to commit the sexual assault.").
Accordingly, we reject Hutchins' challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence to support the conviction for kidnapping.
B. Whether there was sufficient evidence to support the sexual assault convictions.
Hutchins emphasizes that the only witness to the sexual assaults was the alleged victim, whose credibility the defense sought to impugn. Hutchins also maintains that while the combination of physical evidence and his admissions to other witnesses confirmed that he had beaten the victim, forensic experts were unable to find any physical corroboration of sexual contact.
However, as previously stated, it is for the jury to determine the degree of weight, credibility and credence to give to testimony and other trial evidence, and this court will not overturn such findings absent a showing that no rational juror could have found the existence of the charged offenses beyond a reasonable doubt. Furthermore, this court has long ago determined that the uncorroborated testimony of a victim, without more, is sufficient to uphold a rape conviction. For example, in May v. State, 89 Nev. 277, 279, 510 P.2d 1368, 1369 (1973), we confirmed that "[it is] a correct statement of the law of this state... that in a rape case a jury may convict on the uncorroborated testimony of the prosecuting witness." Id. (citing Bennett v. Leypoldt, 77 Nev. 429, 432, 366 P.2d, 343, 345 (1961)); see also Martinez v. State, 77 Nev. 184, 189, 360 P.2d 836, 838 (1961) (the uncorroborated testimony of a prosecutrix in a rape case, standing alone, is sufficient to sustain a conviction).
Hutchins mounts a more specific challenge to the fourth count of sexual assault by contending that the evidence showed only that he had placed his tongue on the victim's vagina and not in it, and thus the requisite penetration was lacking.[3] However, NRS 200.364 and 200.366, upon which the sexual assault counts are based, provide as follows:
200.364 Definitions. As used in [NRS 200.366], unless the context otherwise requires: . . . . 2. "Sexual penetration" means cunnilingus, fellatio, or any intrusion, however slight, of any part of a person's body or any object manipulated or inserted by a person into the genital or anal openings of the body of another, including sexual intercourse in its ordinary meaning. 200.366 Sexual assault: Definition; Penalties. 1. A person who subjects another person to sexual penetration . . . against the victim's will . . . is guilty of sexual assault.
Thus, while sexual penetration is required for a count of sexual assault, the act of cunnilingus is considered "penetration" according to *1141 that word's statutory definition. Based upon the testimony, the jury was properly able to determine that Hutchins accomplished at least a slight penetration of the victim's vagina by placing his tongue on it. Accordingly, we conclude that even if it were only shown that Hutchins had placed his tongue on and not in the victim's vagina without her consent, this constituted sufficient evidence to sustain a conviction for sexual assault.
II. Whether scissors are properly considered a deadly weapon for purposes of enhancing Hutchins' sentences.
Hutchins contends that his sentences were improperly enhanced pursuant to NRS 193.165,[4] Nevada's "deadly weapon penalty-enhancement" statute, as scissors are not a "deadly weapon" under Zgombic v. State, 106 Nev 571, 798 P.2d 548 (1990). In Zgombic this court overruled our previously adopted "functional" test for determining whether an instrumentality is a deadly weapon for purposes of NRS 193.165. The Zgombic decision, in overruling the functional test adopted in Clem v. State, 104 Nev. 351, 760 P.2d 103 (1988), embraced the "inherently dangerous weapon" test, meaning "that the instrumentality itself, if used in the ordinary manner contemplated by its design and construction, will or is likely to, cause a life-threatening injury or death." Zgombic, 106 Nev. at 576-77, 798 P.2d at 551. In other words, Zgombic determined that the legislature, in passing 193.165, meant to enhance crimes committed with instrumentalities designednot just usedas "weapons." Id.
In the present case, the question of whether the scissors were an inherently dangerous weapon was determined by the jury, pursuant to Zgombic's admonition that, "in a few close cases where the court cannot determine as a matter of law whether the weapon is or is not a deadly weapon, the judge will need to submit the entire issue to the jury after instructing it on the previously stated definition of a deadly weapon." Id. at 577, 798 P.2d at 552. However, it is apparent to this court that scissors are not a "weapon" at all under the "inherently dangerous" test, because when "used in the ordinary manner contemplated by [their] design or construction," scissors do not cause bodily harm nor are they designed for that purpose. Thus, it was error for the district judge to submit the question to the jury in the first place.
The State argues that scissors are analogous to a knife, something which could clearly be classified as a "deadly weapon" even under the "inherently dangerous" standard. However, in addition to their more commonplace uses, knives are often designed as weapons and have been so used throughout history. Scissors, however, are more analogous to tools and other items which are potentially harmful when misused, but are not intended by their nature or design to be used to cause injury. In this respect, scissors are similar to "knitting needles," mentioned in Zgombic as the type of item, the use of which in the commission of a crime should not be the basis for invoking the enhancement statute. Zgombic, 106 Nev. at 576, 798 P.2d at 551.
Additionally, this court supported its decision in Zgombic, in part, by pointing out that the legislative intent behind the penalty enhancement statute was to deter the carrying *1142 and use of "arms" and other "deadly weapons." Id. at 575, 798 P.2d at 550; see also Kazalyn v. State, 108 Nev. 67, 76, 825 P.2d 578, 584 (1992) ("the Legislature intended to curb the potential violence inherent in the weapon itself and to deter injuries caused by weapons"). This legislative intent is not furthered by enhancing penalties for the use of potentially dangerous household items, such as scissors, in the commission of a crime.
For the reasons specified above, we conclude that five of Hutchins' consecutive life terms, specifically, those relating to the use of a deadly weapon in conjunction with his kidnapping and sexual assault convictions, must be vacated, as Hutchins cannot be said to have used a "deadly weapon" under the Zgombic test.[5]
III. Whether the district court's instruction to the jury on the definition of reasonable doubt constituted reversible error.
Hutchins contests the propriety of the district court's instruction on reasonable doubt based upon the following sentence: "Doubt to be reasonable must be actual and substantial, not mere possibility or speculation." Hutchins contends that this part of the instruction was erroneous, as the statute governing the instruction for reasonable doubt, NRS 175.211, had been amended before trial, deleting the words "and substantial" from the quoted sentence.[6]
We have previously determined that the jury instruction given here, following the former version of NRS 175.211, is constitutional, despite the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Cage (see supra note 6), as the word "substantial" was given a much different context and meaning in the former Nevada statute than in the Louisiana instruction. See Lord v. State, 107 Nev. 28, 40, 806 P.2d 548, 556 (1991); Beets v. State, 107 Nev. 957, 963, 821 P.2d 1044, 1048-49 (1991), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 113 S. Ct. 116, 121 L. Ed. 2d 73 (1992). Accordingly, we decline to reverse on this basis. Although the district court failed to use the language of the current statute, any resulting error does not rise to the level of substantive or constitutional error required for reversal. Nevertheless, in the future, courts are admonished to use the current statutory definition.
IV. Whether the district court erred in giving a jury instruction on flight.
Hutchins contends that the district court erred in giving the following jury instruction:
The flight of a person immediately after the commission of a crime or after he is accused of a crime that has been committed, is not sufficient in itself to establish his guilt, but is a fact which, if proved, may be considered by you in the light of all other proved facts in deciding the question of his guilt or innocence. Whether or not evidence of flight shows a consciousness of guilt and the significance to be attached to such a circumstance are matters for your deliberation.
Hutchins insists that the quoted instruction should not have been given as there was no evidence of flight; there was only evidence that he had left the scene of the crime.
Our review of the record discloses that there was evidence sufficient to support at least an inference that Hutchins fled. In the early morning hours after the crime, Hutchins was not in his residence, wherever that may have been, despite the fact that his leg was painful and bleeding. Terry Walker testified that Hutchins called her three times in the early morning hours of September 16th, immediately following the incident, from "Ralph's Market." During these calls, Hutchins stated that he was "scared." Inferentially, Hutchins was too "scared" to go where he was living or to a place where he could receive medical attention even though *1143 he told Walker that his leg was bleeding badly. Furthermore, Hutchins chose, on the evening of the 16th following the incident, to be picked up and taken to his home by Hutchinson, which appears unusual as Hutchinson testified that Hutchins "really wasn't staying at home" at the time.
These facts justified giving the flight instruction to the jury. It was for the jury to decide whether the facts warranted an inference of flight. This assignment of error is also without merit.
CONCLUSION AND DISPOSITION
Our disposition of the foregoing issues makes it unnecessary to address the remaining assignments of error.
Accordingly, we affirm Hutchins' robbery, kidnapping, and sexual assault convictions, but reverse and vacate Hutchins' five life sentences for use of a deadly weapon.
[1] Zgombic v. State, 106 Nev. 571, 798 P.2d 548 (1990).
[2] According to her testimony, Hutchinson is appellant's wife, although appellant's counsel's brief refers to her as his mother.
[3] The testimony of the victim on this point is inconsistent and thus inconclusive.
[4] NRS 193.165 provides, in pertinent part, as follows:
193.165 Additional penalty: Use of a deadly weapon or tear gas in commission of crime; restriction of probation.
1. Except as otherwise provided in NRS 193.169, any person who uses a firearm or other deadly weapon . . . in the commission of a crime shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for a term equal to and in addition to the term of imprisonment prescribed by statute for the crime. The sentence prescribed by this section runs consecutively with the sentence prescribed by statute for the crime.
2. This section does not create any separate offense but provides an additional penalty for the primary offense, whose imposition is contingent upon the finding of the prescribed fact.
3. The provisions of subsections 1 and 2 do not apply where the use of a firearm, [or] other deadly weapon ... is a necessary element of such crime.
4. The court shall not grant probation to or suspend the sentence of any person who is convicted of using a firearm, other deadly weapon or tear gas in the commission of any of the following crimes:
(b) Kidnaping in the first degree;
(c) Sexual assault....
[5] We elect not to re-examine the Zgombic opinion, as urged upon us by the State.
[6] This legislative amendment was apparently in response to Cage v. Louisiana, 498 U.S. 39, 111 S. Ct. 328, 112 L. Ed. 2d 339 (1990), which invalidated a Louisiana jury instruction on reasonable doubt because of its inclusion, among other things, of the term "substantial."
The amendment to Nevada's statute was made effective upon passage and approval on May 2, 1991 (see AB 426, 1991 Nev.Stat., ch. 138, §§ 1-2 at 257), two months before Hutchins' July 1991 trial.
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Justia › US Law › Case Law › New Mexico Case Law › New Mexico Supreme Court Decisions › 2014 › New Mexico ex rel. King v. B&B Investment Group, Inc.
New Mexico ex rel. King v. B&B Investment Group, Inc.
In January 2006, two former payday lenders, defendants B&B Investment Group, Inc., and American Cash Loans, LLC, began to market and originate high-cost signature of $50 to $300, primarily to less-educated and financially unsophisticated individuals. The loans were for twelve months, payable biweekly, and carried annual percentage rates ranging from 1,147.14 to 1,500%. The Attorney General’s Office sued Defendants, alleging that the loan products were procedurally and substantively unconscionable under the common law and that they violated the Unfair Practices Act (UPA). The district court found that Defendants’ marketing and loan origination procedures were unconscionable and enjoined certain of its practices in the future, but declined to find the high-cost loans substantively unconscionable, concluding that it is the Legislature’s responsibility to determine limits on interest rates. Both parties appealed. Upon review, the Supreme Court affirmed the district court’s finding of procedural unconscionability. However, the Court reversed the district court’s refusal to find that the loans were substantively unconscionable because under the UPA, courts have the responsibility to determine whether a contract results in a gross disparity between the value received by a person and the price paid. The Supreme Court concluded that the interest rates in this case were substantively unconscionable and violated the UPA.
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO Opinion Number:______________ Filing Date: June 26, 2014 Docket No. 34,266 STATE OF NEW MEXICO, ex rel., GARY K. KING, Attorney General, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. B&B INVESTMENT GROUP, INC., d/b/a CASH LOANS NOW, and AMERICAN CASH LOANS, LLC, d/b/a AMERICAN CASH LOANS, Defendants-Appellees. CERTIFICATION FROM THE NEW MEXICO COURT OF APPEALS Gary K. King, Attorney General Karen J. Meyers, Assistant Attorney General John D. Thompson, Assistant Attorney General Santa Fe, NM for Appellant Modrall, Sperling, Roehl, Harris & Sisk, P.A. Alex C. Walker Albuquerque, NM for Appellees OPINION CHà VEZ, Justice. {1} In January 2006, two former payday lenders, B&B Investment Group, Inc., and American Cash Loans, LLC (Defendants), began to market and originate high-cost signature loans of $50 to $300, primarily to less-educated and financially unsophisticated individuals, 1 obscuring from them the details of the cost of such loans. The loans were for twelve months, payable biweekly, and carried annual percentage rates (APRs) ranging from 1,147.14 to 1,500 percent. The Attorney General s Office (the State) sued Defendants, alleging that the signature loan products were procedurally and substantively unconscionable under the common law and that they violated the Unfair Practices Act (UPA), NMSA 1978, Sections 57-12-1 to -26 (1967, as amended through 2009). {2} The district court found that Defendants marketing and loan origination procedures were unconscionable and enjoined certain of its practices in the future, but declined to find the high-cost loans substantively unconscionable, concluding that it is the Legislature s responsibility to determine limits on interest rates. Both parties appealed. We affirm the district court s finding of procedural unconscionability. However, we reverse the district court s refusal to find that the loans were substantively unconscionable because under the UPA, courts have the responsibility to determine whether a contract results in a gross disparity between the value received by a person and the price paid. We conclude that the interest rates in this case are substantively unconscionable and violate the UPA. I. BACKGROUND {3} Defendants market, offer, and originate high-interest, small-principal loans that they call signature loans, from retail storefronts in Albuquerque, Farmington, and Hobbs, New Mexico. Signature loans are unsecured loans which require only the signature of the borrower, along with verification of employment, home address, identity, and references. Borrowers take out loans of $50 to $300 in principal, which are scheduled for repayment in biweekly installments over a year. Signature loans carry APRs between 1,147.14 and 1,500 percent. {4} Defendants are subprime lenders from Illinois who opened several payday lending operations in New Mexico in the early 2000s because, according to company president James Bartlett, there was no usury cap here. Before 2006, Defendants loan portfolios were predominantly payday loans which, like signature loans, are small-principal, highinterest loans. See Nathalie Martin, 1000% Interest Good While Supplies Last: A Study of Payday Loan Practices and Solutions, 52 Ariz. L. Rev. 563, 564 (2010). Payday loans differ from signature loans primarily in the length of time they take to mature: payday loan terms are between fourteen and thirty-five days, whereas Defendants signature loans are yearlong. Prior to 2007, when legislation was passed to limit payday lending, payday loans could be rolled over indefinitely, which essentially turned them into medium- to long-term loans that had the effect of keeping the borrower in debt for extended periods of time, similar to the signature loans at issue here. See the 2007 amendments to the New Mexico Small Loan Act of 1955 (Small Loan Act), NMSA 1978, §§ 58-15-31 to -39 (1955, as amended through 2007); see also Martin, supra, at 585-88 (discussing the similarities between signature loans and payday loans). {5} Defendants converted their loan products from payday to signature loans in Illinois 2 in 2005, after the Illinois legislature enacted its Payday Loan Reform Act. 815 Ill. Comp. Stat. 122/1-1, 1-5 (2005). Defendants also converted their loan products from payday to signature loans in New Mexico just before the New Mexico Legislature implemented extensive payday loan reforms in 2007. See § 58-15-32. Signature loan products are not subject to the restrictions placed on payday loans by the 2007 amendments to the Small Loan Act because they do not meet the definition of payday loans. Compare § 58-15-2(E) (defining installment loan) with § 58-15-2(H) (defining payday loan). By 2008, Defendants no longer marketed payday loans at their stores. Defendants admitted their signature loans definitely could be a substitute product for payday loans. {6} Defendants extend signature loans to the working poor; they lend exclusively to people who provide proof of steady employment but who, by definition, are either unbanked or underbanked. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) defines unbanked households as those without a checking or savings account, and underbanked households as those that have a checking or savings account but rely on alternative financial services. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 2011 FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households, Executive Summary at 3 n.2 (Sept. 2012), http://www.fdic.gov/householdsurvey/. The State s expert testified, and Defendants admit, that signature loans are alternative financial services. All signature loan borrowers are at least underbanked, and those borrowers without a checking or savings account are unbanked. These borrowers are highly likely to live in poverty: in New Mexico, one-third of all unbanked households and almost one-quarter of all underbanked households earn less than $15,000 per year.1 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, supra, Detailed State and MSA Tables, Appendices H-I, Table H-68, Household Banking Status by Demographic Characteristics: New Mexico at 71. Borrowers testimony bears out the fact that Defendants target the working poor. {7} One borrower, Oscar Wellito, testified that he took out a signature loan from Defendants after he went bankrupt. He was supporting school-aged children while trying to service debt obligations with two other small loan companies. He earned about $9 an hour at a Safeway grocery store, which was not enough money to make ends meet, yet too much money to qualify for public assistance. That s why, he testified, I had no choice of getting these loans, to feed my kids, to live from one paycheck to another paycheck. He needed money for groceries, gas, laundry soap, and whatever we need to survive from one payday to another payday. Mr. Wellito borrowed $100 from Defendants. His loan carried a 1,147.14 APR and required repayment in twenty-six biweekly installments of $40.16 with a final payment of $55.34. Thus, the $100 loan carried a total finance charge of $999.71. {8} Another borrower, Henrietta Charley, took out a loan from Defendants for $200 that 1 In 2014, the federal poverty level for a family of four in the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia was $23,850. Annual Update of the HHS Poverty Guidelines, 79 Fed. Reg. 3593-01, 3593 (Jan. 22, 2014). 3 carried the same 1,147.14 APR as Mr. Wellito s loan. Ms. Charley, a medical assistant and mother of three, earned $10.71 per hour working thirty-two hours per week in the emergency department of the San Juan Regional Medical Center. She earned around $615 in take home pay every two weeks, while her monthly expenses, excluding food and gas, exceeded $1,000. Ms. Charley s ex-husband would only pay child support every now and then, and when she did not receive that supplemental income, she would fall behind on her bills. She needed a loan to buy groceries and gas. Defendants gave her a $200 signature loan with a total finance charge of $2,160.04. {9} After borrowers brought complaints to the Attorney General, the State sued Defendants under the UPA, which prohibits [u]nfair or deceptive trade practices and unconscionable trade practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce. Section 57-12-3. Unconscionable trade practices are defined in relevant part as an extension of credit . . . that to a person s detriment: (1) takes advantage of the lack of knowledge, ability, experience or capacity of a person to a grossly unfair degree; or (2) results in a gross disparity between the value received by a person and the price paid. Section 57-12-2(E). The State identified numerous business practices that it argued were procedurally unconscionable, and alleged that the loan terms were substantively unconscionable. The State sought restitution, civil penalties, and injunctive relief. The State also sued Defendants for violating New Mexico s common law of substantive and procedural unconscionability. {10} The district court adjudicated liability in a four-day bench trial, and found that Defendants had not violated Section 57-12-2(E)(2), but that they had violated Section 57-122(E)(1).2 The district court correspondingly found that the loans were not substantively unconscionable, but they were procedurally unconscionable under common law. The evidence adduced at trial is discussed below. {11} The State appealed, claiming the district court erred in three ways: first, by failing to correctly interpret and apply Section 57-12-2(E)(2), reading the substantive unconscionability prong in such a way that the section would become meaningless; second, by failing to apply the common law doctrine of substantive unconscionability to the loans; and third, by denying the State s requested restitution. Defendants cross-appealed, claiming the district court erred in determining that the loans violated Section 57-12-2(E)(1), and in determining that the loans violated the common law of procedural unconscionability. The Court of Appeals certified the case to this Court pursuant to NMSA 1978, Section 34-514(C)(2) (1972). We accepted certification. II. STANDARD OF REVIEW {12} Because the litigation in this case involved a determination of whether a contract was 2 The district court misstated Section 57-12-2(E)(1) as Section 57-12-1(E)(1) in the final paragraph of its decision. 4 unconscionable, we review de novo. By both statute and case law, we review whether a contract is unconscionable as a matter of law. Cordova v. World Fin. Corp. of N.M., 2009NMSC-021, ¶ 11, 146 N.M. 256, 208 P.3d 901 (citing NMSA 1978, § 55-2-302 (1961) ( providing that courts, as a matter of law, may police against contracts or clauses found unconscionable )); see also Fiser v. Dell Computer Corp., 2008-NMSC-046, ¶ 19, 144 N.M. 464, 188 P.3d 1215 (stating that unconscionability is a matter of law and is reviewed de novo. ). The district court s factual findings are reviewed for substantial evidence. See Landavazo v. Sanchez, 1990-NMSC-114, ¶ 7, 111 N.M. 137, 802 P.2d 1283 ( [The] court views the evidence in the light most favorable to support the findings of the trial court. ). Substantial evidence is such relevant evidence that a reasonable mind would find adequate to support a conclusion. Id. III. DISCUSSION A. There was substantial evidence to support the district court s judgment that Defendants loans were procedurally unconscionable and violated Section 5712-2(E)(1) {13} Section 57-12-2(E)(1) defines an unconscionable trade practice as any extension of credit that takes advantage of the lack of knowledge, ability, experience or capacity of a person to a grossly unfair degree and is detrimental to the borrower. Defendants challenge the sufficiency of the evidence for the district court s finding that they violated Section 5712-2(E)(1). To support the district court s ruling, there must be substantial evidence that the borrowers lacked knowledge, ability, experience, or capacity in credit consumption; that Defendants took advantage of borrowers deficits in those areas; and that these practices took advantage of borrowers to a grossly unfair degree to the borrowers detriment. Section 57-12-2(E). We conclude that substantial evidence supports the district court s findings as to each of these elements. 1. Evidence of borrowers lack of financial sophistication {14} There was substantial evidence that the borrowers lacked knowledge, ability, experience, or capacity in credit consumption. The district court heard from Defendants that a [s]ignature loan primarily is for someone that is an unbanked person [or] underbanked. As discussed above, all signature loan borrowers are by definition underbanked because they are utilizing alternative financial services. Ms. Charley is an example of an underbanked borrower because although she had access to a bank account, she only used it to receive child support payments. A subset of Defendants borrowers are unbanked, like Mr. Wellito, who testified he never had a bank account because he could not afford to open one. The district court heard evidence about demographic characteristics of unbanked and underbanked New Mexicans, as well as their behavioral and cognitive biases, which were borne out by borrower testimony. We will discuss each piece of demographic and cognitive evidence in turn. 5 {15} Demographically, unbanked and underbanked New Mexicans have significantly less education than the general population, are disproportionately living in poverty, and are more likely to be people of color. See generally Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households (Dec. 2009). Their education levels are lower: the State presented evidence that in over 25 percent of unbanked and underbanked households, no one holds a high school degree, and in only a handful of unbanked households just over 9 percent does anyone have any college education at all. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, supra, Appendix B, Detailed State Tables, Table B-33, Banking Status by Household Characteristics: New Mexico at 102. They are more likely to be poor: 27.9 percent of unbanked households and 24.2 percent of underbanked households in New Mexico lived on less than $15,000 per year in 2009. Id. Over 50 percent of underbanked households live on less than $30,000 per year. Id. They are also more likely to belong to an ethnic minority: 41.6 percent of Hispanic households are unbanked or underbanked, and 58.3 percent of other households (defined as non-Hispanic, non-black, and non-white, which is a category that includes Native Americans) are unbanked or underbanked. Id. {16} Behaviorally and cognitively, unbanked and underbanked New Mexicans exhibit heuristic biases that work to their detriment. The State s expert, Professor Christopher Peterson,3 testified that these borrowers exhibit certain cognitive biases that lead them to make decisions that are contrary to their interests. They exhibit unrealistic optimism, or fundamental attribution error, meaning that they overestimate their ability to control future circumstances and underestimate their exposure to risk. Thus, these borrowers have unrealistic expectations about their ability to repay these loans. They also exhibit intemporal biases, meaning they tend to focus on short-term gains, while discounting future losses they might suffer. Thus, borrowers focus on the promise of quick cash, and fail to make more considered judgments about the long-term costs of the loan. They also are subject to framing and anchoring effects, meaning that the way the price of a loan is framed at the outset may distort the prospective borrower s perception of the cost, and the borrower will retain that initial perception. If the cost initially is framed as being very low, such as $1.50 per day, a borrower will anchor his or her expectations on that claim and have difficulty reassessing the true costs once more information becomes available. Finally, borrowers are subject to information overload, meaning that when they are presented with a technically complex loan agreement, they cease trying to understand the terms at all because they realize they will not be able to understand all of the pricing features. {17} These cognitive biases were confirmed in a New Mexico-specific study of borrower perceptions at the point of sale in the high-cost lending environment, which Professor Peterson relied on to formulate his opinion. See Martin, supra, 52 Ariz. L. Rev. at 596-613. 3 Professor Peterson is a law professor and associate dean at the University of Utah whose area of research is consumer finance with a particular focus on high-cost, smallprincipal loans. 6 In that study of 109 borrowers, Professor Martin found that 75 percent of borrowers could not identify the APR of their small-principal, high-interest loan at the point of sale, or mistakenly believed that the interest rate was between one and 100 percent. Id. at 600-01. Additionally, borrowers could not reliably distinguish whether their loans were payday or installment loans, suggesting that the labels as far as borrowers were concerned are a distinction without a difference. Id. at 586 n.123. {18} Moreover, these cognitive biases were consistent with borrower testimony. Mr. Wellito and Ms. Charley testified that they thought they would be able to pay off their loans early, which is consistent with the unrealistic optimism bias described by Professor Peterson. Evidence of intemporal bias was shown by Mr. Wellito s testimony that he took out the loan because Defendants advertisements made it look[] so easy, like the money s there and . . . [y]ou just walk in and you just get it . . . [and] you pay it all off. Ms. Charley also testified that she took out the signature loan because it looked like an easy way out of her financial distress. The theory of framing and anchoring effects and information overload was consistent with statements from borrowers who testified that they focused on the biweekly payment amount and did not consider the long-term costs of the loan. Borrowers also testified that loan origination at Defendants stores took about 10 minutes and was a hurried sign here, sign there process, which is further evidence that the borrowers may have been subject to information overload at the time of loan origination. {19} Beyond cognitive biases, borrowers simple lack of knowledge, experience, ability, or capacity in credit transactions was evident from their testimony. Mr. Wellito, who had never had a bank account in his life, could not accurately describe how interest is calculated, stating that interest is when you borrow money . . . you pay a little bit more to have them lend you the money. He did not know that interest is quoted in terms of a percentage, and did not understand that it is better for the buyer if the number is lower. Ms. Charley had not taken out a small loan before and did not understand that her loan would require sixteen interest-only payments. Another borrower, Rose Atcitty, understood only the amount she would have to pay and the date she would have to start repayment when she took out her signature loan; she was not told about the interest rate or the finance charge, and did not understand that it was a year-long loan. This testimony shows that these were not sophisticated borrowers, but borrowers who lacked knowledge of basic consumer finance concepts and had little experience in banking and credit markets. 2. Evidence of Defendants exploitation of borrowers disadvantage {20} There was substantial evidence that Defendants took advantage of borrowers deficits. Defendants directed their employees to describe the loan cost in terms of a misleading daily rate. Employees were instructed to tell customers that interest rates are typically between $1.00 and $1.50 per day, per one hundred you borrow. Defendants admitted that this was a factually inaccurate rate. At $1 per day, the finance charge for one year would be $365, and at $1.50 per day, the finance charge would be $547.50, but Defendants knew that the actual finance charge for one year would be at least $1,000. 7 Defendants would also advertise that they were selling loans at 50 percent off, when in fact the only thing that was 50 percent off was the interest on the first installment payment on the loan. {21} Defendants aggressively pursued borrowers to get them to increase the principal of their loans. Maximize Every Customer s Principle [sic] Balance and maximize every opportunity that presents itself was the mandate. Defendants directed employees to take time every day to give every customer a courtesy call[] to make them aware of the possibility of rewriting their loan if there is availability on their account. Employees were also directed to CALL[] ACTIVE FILES TO INCREASE PRINCIPAL with the objective of increas[ing the] principal amount borrowed to build store. The script for the courtesy calls was as follows: Your account balance as of today is $_______, and your credit available is $_____. Renewing your loan with us today Mr./Mrs.______ would put an extra $____ in your pocket which I m sure would come in handy with back to school, last minute vacations or anything else that comes up towards the end of Summer. Would you like me to get things ready for you to come in today and take care of this? At least one store employee described a practice of calling customers who were one payment away from paying off their loans to encourage them to take out another loan. {22} Defendants also instructed their employees to withhold amortization schedules from customers. The store manual instructed, PRINT OUT THE AMORTIZATION SCHEDULE FOR THE FILE, BUT NEVER GIVE ONE TO A CUSTOMER! Mr. Bartlett claimed that this entire instruction was a misprint in the 2007 store manual, and explained that the reason he had included it again in the 2010 version is that it was an instruction he had overlooked when revising the manual. He stated that although that is exactly what [the store manual] says, Defendants actually train their employees to give out amortization schedules to everybody. Borrowers, however, testified that they had not received amortization schedules. The district court did not credit Mr. Bartlett s testimony, finding instead that Defendants have a practice of withholding the schedules. {23} Amortization schedules revealed the signature loans were interest-only loans for extended periods of time. For example, the amortization schedule in Ms. Charley s file showed that she would have to make sixteen biweekly payments of $90.68 each before any of her payments would be allocated toward her principal. According to her amortization schedule, on the seventeenth biweekly payment, she would finally pay off the first $1.56 toward her principal. Thus, Ms. Charley would have to make timely payments totaling $1,541.56 over thirty-four weeks (seventeen biweekly payments) before her loan balance would fall below the principal she borrowed. Defendants did not explain this to Ms. Charley, nor did they give her a copy of the amortization schedule. 8 {24} All of these practices were mandated by Defendants own confidential employee manuals, demonstrating that they were systematic company policies, as opposed to isolated incidents. These practices were confirmed by the testimony of both store employees and borrowers. 3. Evidence of gross unfairness and detriment {25} There was substantial evidence that Defendants practices took advantage of borrowers to a grossly unfair degree. We consider whether borrowers were taken advantage of to a grossly unfair degree by looking at practices in the aggregate, as well as the borrowers characteristics. Portales Nat l Bank v. Ribble, 2003-NMCA-093, ¶ 15, 134 N.M. 238, 75 P.3d 838. In Ribble, the Court of Appeals considered a bank s pattern of conduct and demographic factors of the borrowers in determining whether the bank had violated Section 57-12-2(E)(1) in foreclosing on an elderly couple s ranch: [T]he pattern of conduct by the Bank . . . when considered in the aggregate, constitutes unconscionable trade practices [under] Section 57-12-2(E). Though the individual acts may be legal, it is reasonable to infer that the Bank took advantage of the Ribbles to a grossly unfair degree because of (1) the Ribbles advancing age, (2) their clear inability to handle their accounts, and (3) their long-term dealings with the Bank that could have justified their belief that the Bank had sufficient collateral in their property. Ribble, 2003-NMCA-093, ¶ 15. Similarly, the pattern of conduct by Defendants in this case shows they were leveraging the borrowers cognitive and behavioral weaknesses to Defendants advantage, and that the borrowers were clearly among the most financially distressed people in New Mexico. This evidence supported a reasonable inference that Defendants were taking advantage of borrowers to a grossly unfair degree. {26} Defendants argue that the State failed to prove detriment because it offered no evidence as to whether the individual borrower thought the loan transaction worked to his or her detriment. The UPA does not require a subjective, individualized showing of detriment. See § 57-12-4 (stating that the UPA is to be construed in line with Federal Trade Commission (FTC) interpretations and federal court decisions); see also Fed. Trade Comm n v. Sec. Rare Coin & Bullion Corp., 931 F.2d 1312, 1316 (8th Cir. 1991) (rejecting individualized proof of detriment and stating [i]t would be virtually impossible for the FTC to offer such proof, and to require it would thwart and frustrate the public purposes of FTC action. This is . . . a government action brought to deter unfair and deceptive trade practices and obtain restitution on behalf of a large class . . . . It would be inconsistent with the statutory purpose for the court to require proof of subjective reliance by each individual consumer. ); Fed. Trade Comm n v. Kitco of Nev., Inc., 612 F. Supp. 1282, 1293 (D. Minn. 1985) ( Requiring proof of subjective reliance by each individual consumer would thwart effective prosecution of large consumer redress actions and frustrate the statutory goals of the [FTC Act]. ). We may presume detriment from the evidence that Defendants corporate 9 practices took unfair advantage of borrowers disadvantages to a gross degree. See Fed. Trade Comm n v. Nat l Bus. Consultants, Inc., 781 F. Supp. 1136, 1141 (E.D. La. 1991) ( [T]he FTC does not need to prove individual reliance on defendants material representations and omissions; rather, the proper standard to establish reliance in an FTC action, as here, is based on a pattern or practice of deceptive behavior. ). Thus, there was sufficient evidence of detriment to the borrowers, and substantial evidence supported the district court s ruling that Defendants violated Section 57-12-2(E)(1). {27} For the same reasons, there was also substantial evidence supporting the finding of procedural unconscionability as understood in common law. Procedural unconscionability may be found where there was inequality in the contract formation. Cordova, 2009-NMSC021, ¶ 23. Analyzing procedural unconscionability requires the court to look beyond the four corners of the contract and examine factors including the relative bargaining strength, sophistication of the parties, and the extent to which either party felt free to accept or decline terms demanded by the other. Id. As discussed at length above, the relative bargaining strength and sophistication of the parties is unequal. Moreover, borrowers are presented with Hobson s choice: either accept the quadruple-digit interest rates, or walk away from the loan. The substantive terms are preprinted on a standard form, which is entirely nonnegotiable. The interest rates are set by drop-down menus in a computer program that precludes any modification of the offered rate. Employees are forbidden from manually overriding the computer to make fee adjustments without written permission from the companies owners: manual overrides will be considered in violation of company policy and could result with . . . criminal charges brought against the employee and or termination. Because these contracts are prepared entirely by Defendants, who have superior bargaining power, and are offered to the weaker party on a take-it-or-leave-it basis, Defendants loans are contracts of adhesion. See Fiser, 2008-NMSC-046, ¶ 22 (discussing the factors that create an adhesive contract). Adhesion contracts generally warrant heightened judicial scrutiny because the drafting party is in a superior bargaining position, Rivera v. Am. Gen. Fin. Servs., Inc., 2011-NMSC-033, ¶ 44, 150 N.M. 398, 259 P.3d 803, and although they will not be found unconscionable in every case, an adhesion contract is procedurally unconscionable and unenforceable when the terms are patently unfair to the weaker party. Id. (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Under these circumstances, there is substantial evidence that Defendants loans are procedurally unconscionable under common law. B. The district court s permanent injunction is an appropriate remedy {28} The UPA grants the State the right to seek restitution, civil penalties, and injunctive relief for unfair trade practices. Section 57-12-8(B) (empowering the Attorney General to petition the district court for temporary or permanent injunctive relief and restitution ); § 57-12-11 (allowing the Attorney General to recover a civil penalty of up to $5,000 per willful violation). The district court granted the State a permanent injunction. An injunction is an equitable remedy. Cafeteria Operators, L.P. v. Coronado-Santa Fe Assocs., L.P., 1998-NMCA-005, ¶ 19, 124 N.M. 440, 952 P.2d 435. The application of equitable doctrines and the granting of equitable relief rests in the sound discretion of the district 10 court. Moody v. Stribling, 1999-NMCA-094, ¶ 30, 127 N.M. 630, 985 P.2d 1210. The grant or denial of equitable remedies is reviewed for abuse of discretion. Nearburg v. Yates Petroleum Corp., 1997-NMCA-069, ¶ 9, 123 N.M. 526, 943 P.2d 560. Such discretion is not a mental discretion to be exercised as one pleases, but is a legal discretion to be exercised in conformity with the law. Cont l Potash, Inc. v. Freeport-McMoran, Inc., 1993-NMSC039, ¶ 26, 115 N.M. 690, 858 P.2d 66, holding limited on other grounds by Davis v. Devon Energy Corp., 2009-NMSC-048, ¶¶ 34-35, 147 N.M. 157, 218 P.3d 75. An abuse of discretion will be found when the trial court s decision is clearly untenable or contrary to logic and reason. Id. (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). {29} The district court permanently prohibited Defendants from (1) targeting borrowers to try to increase the amount of their principal debt obligation until the borrower s file had become inactive for at least sixty days; (2) quoting the cost of signature loans in terms of a daily or other nominal amount . . . or in any other amount than that which is mandated by the federal Truth in Lending Act, in advertising materials or during loan origination; (3) engaging in any practice that focuses the borrower s attention on the loan s installment payment obligation without also clearly, conspicuously, and fully disclosing and explaining the cost of the loan if repaid over the course of the full repayment term ; and (4) representing that the loans will be in any way easy to repay. The district court also ordered Defendants to (1) provide all borrowers with a copy of the amortization schedule; (2) provide information regarding a substantive legal defense and contact information for the Attorney General s Office when communicating with a borrower in connection with debt collection; and (3) revise employee manuals to reflect these changes. {30} Because there was substantial evidence supporting the district court s findings that Defendants lending practices were procedurally unconscionable, the district court had the authority to grant this injunctive relief pursuant to Section 57-12-8(B). The injunction attempts to remedy Defendants procedurally unconscionable practices and is narrowly tailored to address each practice. We see nothing improper about the injunction. C. The loans were substantively unconscionable under common law and the UPA {31} The district court concluded that it was precluded from ruling on substantive unconscionability absent an express statutory prohibition of the interest rates at issue, and without considering the evidence on each individual loan issued by Defendants. We disagree with both conclusions. {32} Unconscionability is an equitable doctrine, rooted in public policy, which allows courts to render unenforceable an agreement that is unreasonably favorable to one party while precluding a meaningful choice of the other party. Cordova, 2009-NMSC-021, ¶ 21. Substantive unconscionability is found where the contract terms themselves are illegal, contrary to public policy, or grossly unfair. Id. ¶ 22 (quoting Fiser, 2008-NMSC-046, ¶ 20). In determining whether a contract term is substantively unconscionable, courts examine whether the contract terms are commercially reasonable and fair, the purpose and effect of 11 the terms, the one-sidedness of the terms, and other similar public policy concerns. Id. Contract provisions that unreasonably benefit one party over another are substantively unconscionable. Id. ¶ 25. Thus, substantive unconscionability can be found by examining the contract terms on their face a simple task when, as here, all substantive contract terms were nonnegotiable, and embedded in identical boilerplate language. See id. ¶ 22. The test for substantive unconscionability as outlined in Cordova simply asks whether the contract term is grossly unreasonable and against our public policy under the circumstances. Id. ¶ 31. We hold it is grossly unreasonable and against public policy to offer installment loans at 1,147.14 to 1,500 percent interest for the following reasons. {33} Courts are not prohibited from deciding whether a contract is grossly unreasonable or against public policy simply because there is not a statute that specifically limits contract terms. In a landmark case on substantive unconscionability, Williams v. Walker-Thomas Furniture Co., the District of Columbia Circuit Court reversed the District of Columbia Court of Appeals on precisely this issue. 350 F.2d 445, 448 (D.C. Cir. 1965). In that case, the court of appeals had determined that, although it [could not] condemn too strongly appellee s conduct in selling a woman a $514 stereo set with full knowledge that appellant had to feed, clothe and support both herself and seven children on a $218 monthly income, it would not find the contract unconscionable because it found no caselaw or legislation that would support a declaration that the contract at issue was contrary to public policy. Id. The circuit court reversed, stating [w]e do not agree that the court lacked the power to refuse enforcement [of] contracts found to be unconscionable. Id. Even in the absence of binding precedent or statutory power, the circuit court held that the notion that an unconscionable bargain should not be given full enforcement is by no means novel. Id. We agree with the reasoning of Williams. Ruling on substantive unconscionability is an inherent equitable power of the court, and does not require prior legislative action. Equity supplements the common law; its rules do not contradict the common law; rather, they aim at securing substantial justice when the strict rule of common law might work hardship. Larry A. DiMatteo, The History of Natural Law Theory: Transforming Embedded Influences into a Fuller Understanding of Modern Contract Law, 60 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 839, 890 (1999) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Although there is not a specific statute specifying a limit on acceptable interest rates for the types of signature loans in this case, in addition to our caselaw addressing unconscionability, the Legislature has empowered courts to adjudicate cases involving claims of unconscionable trade practices under the UPA. {34} In determining the public policy behind the UPA, we must first examine the statute s plain language. The statute expressly prohibits extensions of credit that take advantage of borrowers weaknesses to a grossly unfair degree or that result in a gross disparity between the value and the price. Section 57-12-2(E). The UPA is a law that prohibits the economic exploitation of others. The language of the UPA evinces a legislative recognition that, under certain conditions, the market is truly not free, leaving it for courts to determine when the market is not free, and empowering courts to stop and preclude those who prey on the desperation of others from being rewarded with windfall profits. 12 {35} The district court determined that the signature loans do not result in a gross disparity between the value and the price because borrowers could pay off the loans early, and they obtained a value beyond the face value, or even the time value, of the money borrowed the ability to buy groceries for [their] children now, the ability to buy gas to get to a new job, [and] the ability to pay off a cell phone. In adopting this view, the district court was following a subjective theory of value, under which the more desperate a person is for money, the more value that person receives from a loan. Thus, hypothetically a highcost loan could violate the statute if a person borrows money for betting on blackjack, because the value that person receives would be low compared to the price of the loan, whereas the same high-cost loan sold to a single mother who needs to feed her children could not violate the statute, because the value that mother receives would be high compared to the price of the loan. Under that erroneous reading of the statute, consumer exploitation would be legal in direct proportion to the extent of the consumer s desperation: the poorer the person, the more acceptable the exploitation. Such a result cannot be consonant with the consumer-protective legislative intent behind the UPA. It is not the use to which the loan is put that makes its value low or high, but the terms of the loan itself. {36} Under an objective, not a subjective, reading of the UPA, Defendants signature loans are low-value products. First, these loans are extremely expensive. The least expensive signature loan carries a 1,147.14 APR, meaning a loan of $100 carries a finance charge of $999.71. Second, Defendants do not report positive repayments to credit reporting agencies. Thus, borrowers who succeed in bearing the exorbitant costs associated with these loans and who make good-faith efforts to repay them can never improve their credit scores. Borrowers who fail to pay, however, can have their credit scores negatively impacted. They can be sued and have their wages garnished. They will also be liable for Defendants costs of collecting on the debt, including attorney fees. Third, there is a $25 bounced check or automatic clearinghouse fee that can be added to the cost of the loan each time a check is returned for insufficient funds, and there is a 5 percent penalty fee for each late payment, each of which potentially increase the cost of these loans. Fourth, there is an acceleration-upon-default clause which provides that if a borrower falls behind on his or her payments over the year, then the full amount of the debt principal and interest comes due immediately. All of these loan features, in combination with the quadruple-digit interest rates, make it a low-value product regardless of how the borrower uses the principal. Defendants point out that people who take out mortgages will, like borrowers here, pay several times the principal in interest payments over the life of their loan. However, unlike a mortgage loan, borrowers are not gaining an asset when taking out a signature loan; rather, they are taking on liability. The value the borrower receives from a signature loan consists of a small amount of principal never more than $300 and an enormous amount of risk. Therefore, these loans are objectively low-value products and are grossly disproportionate to their price. {37} Defendants further contend it is not the public policy of this state to prohibit usurious interest rates because the Legislature removed the interest rate cap in 1981. In this argument lies the implicit assertion that by removing the interest rate cap, the Legislature was stating that there is no interest rate that would violate public policy. Indeed, Defendants expert 13 testified that interest rates of 11,000 percent or even 11,000,000 percent would be acceptable under our statutory scheme.4 If we were to accept Defendants argument, we would have to hold that the doctrine of unconscionability as it exists at common law and in the UPA does not apply to the extension of credit. We decline to do so because to do so would thwart New Mexico public policy as expressed in the UPA and other legislation. {38} Public policy is not set by a single statute, or the repeal of a single statute. Instead, we look to other statutes in pari materia under the presumption that the legislature acted with full knowledge of relevant statutory and common law . . . [and] did not intend to enact a law inconsistent with existing law. State ex rel. Quintana v. Schnedar, 1993-NMSC-033, ¶ 4, 115 N.M. 573, 855 P.2d 562. We also look to the common law and to equity in determining public policy. {39} Other relevant statutes include the Small Loan Act, Sections 58-15-31 to -39, which regulates the small loan industry; the unconscionability clause of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), Section 55-2-302; and the Money, Interest and Usury Act (Money Act), NMSA 1978, Sections 56-8-1 to -21 (1851, as amended through 2004), which sets a default interest rate of 15 percent for contracts where no interest rate is stated. Section 56-8-3. Because these statutes were enacted prior to the UPA, we can infer that the Legislature enacted the UPA with full knowledge of and in harmony with the public policy expressed by those statutes. See Schnedar, 1993-NMSC-033, ¶ 4 (holding that similar statutes should be harmonized and construed together when possible, in a way that facilitates their operation and the achievement of their goals. (internal citation omitted)). {40} The Legislature enacted the Small Loan Act in 1955 to, among other factors, insure more rigid public regulation and supervision of those engaging in the business of making small loans, and . . . to facilitate the elimination of abuse of borrowers. Section 58-15-1(D). The Legislature was concerned with the exploitation of borrowers, declaring experience has proven . . . that without regulations, borrowers of small sums are often exploited by charges generally exorbitant in relation to those necessary to conduct a small loan business. Section 58-15-1(C). This statutory language about exploitation and abuse evinces a consumerprotective public policy goal. At the time the Small Loan Act was enacted, New Mexico had an interest rate cap of 12 percent for unsecured debts such as small installment loans, which Defendants now offer at between 1,147.14 and 1,500 percent interest. NMSA 1978, § 56-811 (1957), repealed by 1981 N.M. Laws, ch. 263, § 4 (July 1, 1981). {41} The UCC also addresses substantive unconscionability. The New Mexico Legislature 4 In an example of the unlimited nature of this argument, Defendants expert, Professor Thomas Lehman, also posited that it would be acceptable for a borrower to agree to harvest a kidney in exchange for $100. However, he stopped short of endorsing freedom to contract for one s own involuntary servitude, stating that although one could enter such a contract, one could break that bond at any time they want. 14 adopted the UCC s unconscionability doctrine in 1961, which codifies the courts broad remedial power to refuse to enforce an unconscionable contract, strike the offending clause, or limit the application of the offending clause to avoid an unconscionable result. Section 55-2-302. The official comment to Section 55-2-302 directly discusses legislative intent: This section is intended to make it possible for the courts to police explicitly against the contracts or clauses which they find to be unconscionable. Id. cmt. 1. It goes on to state: This section is intended to allow the court to pass directly on the unconscionability of the contract or particular clause therein and to make a conclusion of law as to its unconscionability. The basic test is whether, in the light of the general commercial background and the commercial needs of the particular trade or case, the clauses involved are so one-sided as to be unconscionable under the circumstances existing at the time of the making of the contract. . . . The principle is one of the prevention of oppression and unfair surprise. Id. (emphasis added). Although Section 55-2-302 pertains to the sale of goods, it was enacted prior to the UPA sections dealing with unconscionability.5 Therefore, we can infer that when it enacted the unconscionability clause of the UPA, the Legislature intended to allow the courts the same flexibility in determining whether a contract extending credit is unconscionable. {42} The Money Act also evinces a legislative intent to establish a consumer-protective public policy. Although the Legislature abolished the interest rate cap in 1981, Defendants argument that in so doing the Legislature intended to permit any interest rate is without merit. The Money Act sets the default interest rate at 15 percent for contracts that do not specify an interest rate. See § 56-8-3 ( The rate of interest, in the absence of a written contract fixing a different rate, shall be not more than fifteen percent . . . . ). Thus, when the Legislature repealed the absolute cap of 12 percent interest for unsecured debts but left the default rate in place, it contemplated that a reasonable interest rate would be 15 percent. The Money Act sets the default interest rate for court judgments at 8.75 percent, unless the judgment is based on tortious conduct or bad faith, for which the default interest rate is 15 percent. Section 56-8-4(A)(2). Fifteen percent interest was the high end of the Legislature s contemplation. Additionally, the Money Act still prohibits excessive charges. Section 56-89(A) ( [N]o person, corporation or association, directly or indirectly, shall take, reserve, receive or charge any interest . . . or other advantage for the loan of money or credit . . . except at the rates permitted in Sections 56-8-1 through 56-98-21 NMSA 1978. ). Lenders who violate the Money Act are required to disgorge all profits from the usury, not offset by 5 The UCC provision on unconscionability, Section 55-2-302, was enacted by 1961 New Mexico Laws, Chapter 96, Section 2-302, six years prior to the enactment of UPA Sections 57-12-2 (defining unconscionable trade practices) and 57-12-3 (prohibiting unconscionable trade practices). 15 their operating costs. See § 56-8-13 (imposing a penalty of forfeiture of the entire amount of interest for [t]he taking, receiving, reserving or charging of a rate of interest greater than allowed by this act ). {43} In 2007, the Legislature amended the Small Loan Act to try to address the payday loan crisis in New Mexico. See §§ 58-15-31 to -39; see also Martin, supra, 52 Ariz. L. Rev. at 577-87 (discussing the legislative history of payday loan regulation in New Mexico). The amendments cap the effective interest rate on payday loans at about 400 percent by limiting fees and interest on payday loans to $15.50 per $100 borrowed, plus an additional $0.50 per loan for fees charged by the consumer-information database provider. Section 58-15-33(B), (C). Payday lenders are required to take into account the borrower s financial position, and they cannot extend loans exceeding 25 percent of the borrower s gross monthly income. Section 58-15-32(A). However, the effective fee cap and other consumer protections built into the Small Loan Act only apply to payday loans, defined as loans with a duration of fourteen to thirty-five days, for which the consumer receives the loan principal and in exchange gives the lender a personal check or debit authorization for the amount of the loan plus interest and fees. Section 58-15-2(H). {44} Defendants could not lawfully charge 1,147.14 APR on a year-long loan under the payday loan provisions of the Small Loan Act. Defendants were payday lenders until 2006, the year before the New Mexico Legislature enacted these statutory limitations on payday lending. Defendants admit that they substituted signature loans for payday loans in Illinois when the Illinois legislature began to regulate payday lending. In addition, Defendants admit that their signature loans could be considered substitute products for payday loans in New Mexico. The reasonable inference is that Defendants signature loan products were specifically designed to make an end run around the consumer protections of the Small Loan Act, which the Legislature tried to prevent by stating that licensee[s] shall not . . . use a device or agreement that would have the effect of charging or collecting more fees, charges or interest than that allowed by law by entering into a different type of transaction with the consumer that has that effect. Section 58-15-34(D). Their success in evading application of the Small Loan Act does not immunize Defendants from other laws that prohibit unconscionable loan practices. {45} The Legislature did not repeal all statutes protecting consumers from usurious practices: far from it, the Legislature empowered the Attorney General and private citizens to fight unconscionable practices through the UPA; it ratified the court s inherent equitable power to invalidate a contract on unconscionability grounds under the UCC; it maintained a prohibition on excessive charges and set a reasonable default interest rate of 15 percent under the Money Act; and it set a de facto interest rate cap on substantively identical types of loans with the 2007 amendments to the Small Loan Act. Contrary to Defendants contention that the repeal of the interest rate cap demonstrates a public policy in favor of unlimited interest rates, the statutes when viewed as a whole demonstrate a public policy that is consumer-protective and anti-usurious as it always has been. A contrary public policy that permitted excessive charges, usurious interest rates, or exploitation of naive borrowers 16 would be inequitable, particularly in New Mexico where a greater percentage of people are struggling in poverty, and where more households are unbanked and underbanked than almost anywhere in the nation.6 Professor Peterson testified that Defendants signature loan product is among the most expensive loan products offered in the recorded history of human civilization. For comparison, interest rates that were considered high in the mid-twentieth century rates used for high-risk borrowers on unsecured loans were between 18 and 42 percent. Mafia loan sharks in New York City at the height of mafia power charged 250 percent interest. It is contrary to our public policy, and therefore unconscionable as a matter of law, for these historically anomalous interest rates to be charged in our state. We next address the appropriate remedy or remedies for the substantively unconscionable loans. D. Restitution is the appropriate remedy for the procedural and substantive unconscionability of the signature loans in this case {46} During the remedies phase of trial, the State requested that the district court invalidate all of the loans as the fruit of unconscionable lending practices and return the parties to their precontract status. Thus, the State sought restitution in the form of a full refund for borrowers of all money paid in excess of the principal on their loans. The district court denied restitution by any measure, reasoning that: (1) complete avoidance of the loans was improper because it would result in borrowers paying no interest; (2) the State s proposed remedy ignored the subjective value borrowers received, and would be a windfall to borrowers; (3) any refunds to borrowers would have to be offset by the subjective value they received; and (4) full refund restitution would be inequitable because it would put Defendants out of business. The final question is whether the district court abused its discretion in failing to grant restitution. {47} An abuse of discretion occurs when the trial court s decision is clearly untenable or contrary to logic and reason. Cont l Potash, 1993-NMSC-039, ¶ 26 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). In this case, the district court was correct in determining that Defendants violated Section 57-12-2(E)(1), and the loans were procedurally unconscionable. 6 Nineteen and a half percent of New Mexicans live below the poverty level, compared to 14.9 percent of people nationwide. See United States Census Bureau, State and County QuickFacts, New Mexico, Persons below poverty level, percent, 2008-2012, http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/35000.html. Thirty-five percent of New Mexico households are unbanked or underbanked, compared to 28.3 percent of households nationwide. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 2011 FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households, Appendices A-G, Table C-1, 2011 Household Banking Status by State at 126, www.fdic.gov/householdsurvey/. More New Mexico households are unbanked and underbanked than anywhere in the Northeast, Midwest, or West. Id. Only six states have a higher or the same percentage of underbanked households: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Id. Only three states have a higher percentage of unbanked households: Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas. Id. 17 On that basis alone, the district court could have voided the contracts entirely. Loans need not be both procedurally and substantively unconscionable to be invalidated by a court. Cordova, 2009-NMSC-021, ¶ 24 ( [T]here is no absolute requirement in our law that both [substantive and procedural unconscionability] must be present to the same degree or that they both be present at all in order to invalidate a contract.). Thus, where, as in this case, there is overwhelming evidence that the loans were procedurally unconscionable, no evidence of substantive unconscionability is needed in order to invalidate the contract. However, in this case, we hold that the interest rate terms were substantively unconscionable. Given the fact that these loans were both substantively and procedurally unconscionable, it would not have been an abuse of discretion to invalidate the entirety of the contracts. See, e.g., Rivera, 2011-NMSC-033, ¶ 56 (invalidating the entire arbitration scheme on substantive unconscionability grounds); Cordova, 2009-NMSC-021, ¶ 40 (same). {48} Moreover, [i]n the UPA, the Legislature has provided for damages and other remedial relief for persons damaged by unfair, deceptive, and unconscionable trade practices. Since the UPA constitutes remedial legislation, we interpret the provisions of this Act liberally to facilitate and accomplish its purposes and intent. Quynh Truong v. Allstate Ins. Co., 2010-NMSC-009, ¶ 30, 147 N.M. 583, 227 P.3d 73 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). It is the task of the courts to ensure that the Unfair Practices Act lends the protection of its broad application to innocent consumers. Ashlock v. Sunwest Bank of Roswell, N.A., 1988-NMSC-026, ¶ 7, 107 N.M. 100, 753 P.2d 346, overruled on other grounds by Gonzales v. Surgidev Corp., 1995-NMSC-036, ¶ 16, 120 N.M. 133, 899 P.2d 576. In order to facilitate the consumer-protective legislative purpose of the UPA, there was ample reason to grant restitution to borrowers for Defendants unconscionable trade practices. It would not further the purpose of the UPA under these circumstances to allow Defendants to retain the full profits of their unconscionable trade practices. Thus, the district court abused its discretion in failing to grant any form of restitution. Nevertheless, we agree with the district court that it would be inequitable to allow borrowers to pay no interest at all. {49} When a contract term is unconscionable, like the 1,147.14 to 1,500 percent interest rates in this case, the court may refuse to enforce the contract, or may enforce the remainder of the contract without the unconscionable term, or may so limit the application of any unconscionable term as to avoid any unconscionable result. Padilla v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 2003-NMSC-011, ¶ 15, 133 N.M. 661, 68 P.3d 901 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). We decline to grant a windfall to all borrowers by allowing them to completely avoid the contracts. We hold instead that the quadruple-digit interest rate, a substantively unconscionable term, shall be stricken from the contracts of all borrowers. We then enforce the remainder of the contract without the unconscionable term. Id. {50} The district court avoided calculating restitution, calling the task arbitrary and unjustified without precise figures to draw upon. However, the New Mexico statutes provide a default interest rate that allows private lenders to charge interest on money debts at the legal rate where the contract is silent on the issue. Martinez v. Albuquerque 18 Collection Servs., Inc., 867 F. Supp. 1495, 1508 (D.N.M. 1994) (citing 47 C.J.S. Interest & Usury § 11 (2014) (promise to pay interest at the legal rate implied at law) ). Fifteen percent is the maximum allowable default interest rate. Section 56-8-3(A) ( The rate of interest, in the absence of a written contract fixing a different rate, shall be not more than fifteen percent annually . . . on money due by contract. ); Sunwest Bank of Albuquerque, N.A. v. Colucci, 1994-NMSC-027, ¶ 24, 117 N.M. 373, 872 P.2d 346 (holding that Section 56-8-3 fixes the maximum rate that can be awarded by the district court). The default rate under Section 56-8-3 is calculated as simple interest. See Consol. Oil & Gas, Inc., v. S. Union Co., 1987-NMSC-055, ¶ 42, 106 N.M. 719, 749 P.2d 1098 (holding that Section 56-83 must be calculated as simple interest); c.f. Peters Corp. v. N.M. Banquest Investors Corp., 2008-NMSC-039, ¶¶ 51-52, 144 N.M. 434, 188 P.3d 1185 (distinguishing Section 56-8-3 from another statutory section whose express language allows for compound interest). Because the unconscionable interest rates in Defendants loans are invalid terms, these contracts are silent with respect to rates. We apply the statutory default interest rate of 15 percent simple annual interest to these loans. {51} Defendants must refund all money collected by Defendants on their signature loans in excess of 15 percent of the loan principal as restitution for their unconscionable trade practices. We recognize that the district court could have fashioned a remedy whereby the borrowers would pay less for these loans by either setting a default interest rate lower than the statutory maximum of 15 percent, or by imposing an amortization schedule on the loans under which the total finance charge on the 15 percent simple interest loans would amount to less than 15 percent of the whole principal. We decline to do so here for the sake of equity and to prevent delay. Instead, Defendants will keep the maximum allowable interest of 15 percent under Section 56-8-3 and refund the remainder of the monies that the borrowers paid on their loans that is over 15 percent of the principal. For example, Oscar Wellito s $100 loan with 1,147.14 APR is now rewritten as a $100 loan with 15 APR. With simple interest, he therefore owes $115 on the contract. He paid Defendants a total of $160.64. Defendants must refund $45.64 to Mr. Wellito, which is the difference between the monies he paid on their unconscionable contract, $160.64, and the monies he owes under the reformed contract, $115. Because these contracts are unconscionable, Defendants must also refund any penalties or fees they collected from borrowers that were associated with missed, late, or partial payments. IV. CONCLUSION {52} We hold that loans bearing interest rates of 1,147.14 to 1,500 percent contravene the public policy of the State of New Mexico, and the interest rate term in Defendants signature loans is substantively unconscionable and invalid. We therefore reverse the district court s ruling on substantive unconscionability. We affirm the district court s ruling that Defendants engaged in procedurally unconscionable trade practices, and uphold the permanent injunction granted against Defendants. Accordingly, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand to the district court for a determination of damages in accordance with this opinion. 19 {53} IT IS SO ORDERED. ____________________________________ EDWARD L. CHà VEZ, Justice WE CONCUR: ____________________________________ BARBARA J. VIGIL, Chief Justice ____________________________________ PETRA JIMENEZ MAES, Senior Justice ____________________________________ RICHARD C. BOSSON, Justice ____________________________________ CHARLES W. DANIELS, Justice 20
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The right to speak and publish does not carry with it the unrestrained right to gather information.
—Justice Earl Warren1
Access to Private Property
Access to Government Property
Access to Governmental Decision-Making Processes
Access to Governmental Information and Records
Misused Terminology: Getting it Straight
Access by Government and Others to Media Information
The First Amendment has been consistently interpreted to mean that although there is a fundamental freedom to communicate and publish information after it is obtained, there is no right of access by the public or press to information. Therefore, the First Amendment cannot be used as a lever to force disclosure of information, no matter how newsworthy it may seem, from any source, private or public.
This chapter discusses many of the problems faced by mass communications professionals who seek to gather information from private and public sources. It also explains obligations mass communications practitioners have to provide information in response to court orders.
The first section deals with media access to private property or information. In a much longer second section, we address problems associated with obtaining access to governmental facilities, government decision-making processes, and government records. We include a description of a series of Supreme Court cases dealing with the issues of government ownership and management of its own property. Next, we summarize the federal Sunshine Law and similar open meeting laws enacted by the states. Then we turn to the topic of access to government information and records, including the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and similar state access statutes. The clash of interests inherent when government agencies must collect private information about individuals in order to perform its various functions is described when the Privacy Act of 1974 is introduced and juxtaposed against the FOIA.
We then begin our explanation of how government may force information disclosure from media with the definition and analysis of seven terms and concepts. These terms and concepts are privilege, immunity, “shield law,” defense and affirmative defense, exemption, exception, and protection. This terminology is important to understand the remainder of this chapter and subsequent chapters. In the next section, we describe the problems faced by reporters when government officials and others seek information from the media through the use of subpoena powers.
The final part of the chapter includes several practice notes that focus on how to avoid and deal with subpoenas.
This chapter concerns the clash of many competing interests. One of the major freedoms inherent in the American form of government is the right of privacy. The rights of citizens to be let alone by government and not to have others intrude into their private lives, businesses, and affairs is implicit in both the Fourth and Ninth Amendments. Yet, when some common disaster befalls any person or group, curious members of the public as well as the media descend in great numbers to view and report on the horrors that can suddenly happen to anyone at any time. Whether compelled by a sense of compassion or morbid curiosity, the public and press want to see what has occurred. Another set of competing interests comes into play when a newsworthy event occurs on private land whose owner wishes to occupy and enjoy her or his property free from public intrusion. This competition of interests is exacerbated because the public and the press seem to believe they have a right to go onto or across private property in order to gain access to the scene of a newsworthy event.
It is incumbent on all who work in mass communications to understand and respect the right of citizens to enjoy their privacy and their private property. The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly said that the First Amendment does not guarantee any right to media personnel that is different than that of the general public.2 The general public does not have a right of access to private property; ergo, neither do members of the media. Responding to an argument that denying media access to private property would restrict the free flow of information, Justice Warren wrote,
There are few restrictions on action that could not be clothed by ingenious argument in the garb of decreased data flow. For example, the prohibition of unauthorized entry into the White House diminishes the citizen’s opportunities to gather information he might find relevant to his opinion of the way the country is being run, but that does not make entry into the White House a First Amendment right.3
Justice Warren also explained that private property owners may deny access to their land and the government may limit travel to protect safety; the First Amendment has nothing to do with such situations.4
Public access to private property, in most jurisdictions in the United States, is still controlled by the application of common law principles. The modern communication torts are covered in chapter 9. However, many of those laws are expansions and extensions of the tort of trespass so it is important to understand the concept. It is also important to understand that the laws regarding trespass are applicable to reporters and their agents who go on private property to gain access to newsworthy events.
The simple, common law definition of trespass to private property or land is the intentional, unauthorized entry on property rightfully possessed by another.5 Each state jurisdiction has its specific definition of trespass from either common law interpretations or statute. But most have only two fundamental requirements, which are “a rightful possession in the plaintiff and unlawful entry upon such possession by the defendant.”6 Under these laws, anyone, including members of both the public and media, can be sued for the civil tort of trespass to property, or prosecuted under the criminal statutes of any state, or both. “The First Amendment does not insulate a person from liability for unlawful trespass.”7 The elements of trespass are summarized in Exhibit 6.1.
Exhibit 6.1. Elements and Defenses for Trespass.
May include accidental entry if defendant staysm beyond notice or reasonable realization that he or she has entered property of another.
Without express or implied consent. See defenses below.
Entry on Property
Simply means crossing the boundary of another’s land or property. May inc!ude entry by misrepresentation.
Possessed by another
Rental property or loaned property is included. May specifically include hotel rooms and rented conference rooms.
Express consent
Specific permission to enter from the person in rightful possession of the property. Note a land owner may not give permission to enter property he or she has rented to another.
Permission to enter is implied by the common use of the property. Usually applies to retail businesses. Does not include permission to enter non-public areas and areas posted as non-public.
May be revoked with notice or for: Activities not normally part of implied consent Staying beyond normal hours of invitation.
The most common defense to either civil or criminal liability for trespass to real property is consent. If, prior to the entry onto land owned or occupied by another, an individual obtains consent of the property owner, this permission to enter constitutes a complete defense to the tort or crime of trespass. There are two recognized types of consent: express and implied. Express consent results from invitation by the landowner or person occupying the land or by specific authorization by these individuals to be on the property. Implied consent is a bit more complex, and includes the concept or “doctrine of custom and usage.” Implied consent generally applies to situations wherein the public is invited onto property for the purpose of conducting business or for some specific reason intended by the property owner. Implied consent would extend to those areas, days of the week, and times of day that are covered by signs on the premises or by the pattern of use permitted by property owners in similar situations. If an individual goes beyond the scope of the implied consent given, he or she is trespassing.8 Trespassing in an implied consent situation results from (a) entering into areas specifically marked “private,” “employees only,” or “no admittance beyond this point”; (b) wandering into clearly non-public rooms or spaces on the premises; (c) staying beyond the hours posted for invitees; (d) engaging in activities inconsistent with those of normal invitees; and (e) staying on after specific notice to leave. Effective notice to leave may be oral or posted by sign.
“Wrongful conduct following an authorized entry upon land can result in trespass.”9 Even if one has been given express consent, this is revoked by any behavior that goes beyond the scope of consent. Further, express consent can be revoked by overstay (a) the period given, (b) failing to leave after notice, (c) entering an unauthorized area or, (d) engaging in activities inconsistent with the express consent. Specifically, secret videotaping or other covert behaviors involving subterfuge or snooping are trespass in most jurisdictions. In some jurisdictions, obtaining entry by misrepresentation is trespass and can negate any express or implied consent. In other jurisdictions it does not, but any conduct beyond what is implied by the consent, such as secret photography, filming or taping of activities, will subject an individual to charges of trespass.10 “The First Amendment is not a license to trespass, to steal, or to intrude by electronic means into the precincts of another’s home or office.”11
In addition, no one may assume that just because consent has been given to one person, that consent extends to others. Specifically, media that have been invited to ride with police, firemen, or other emergency personnel may not accompany them onto private property without the property owner’s permission.12 Even though law enforcement or emergency personnel have given their consent to ride along and film their activities and private parties give implied or specific permission for the police to enter their homes, this permission does not extend to the media. Media personnel can be, and have been, sued by these private property owners for trespass as well as for invasion of privacy, which is discussed more fully in chapter 9.
Even on public land, access may be legally denied. When newsworthy events occur on public property, such as highways, schools, or government buildings, law enforcement authorities may govern access. Often, such areas will be closed in the interest of public safety, for the purposes of search and rescue operations, or to preserve evidence. Access in these situations often may only be had from a legal vantage point on the ground or in the air. The reporter must always obtain private landowner or occupant permission, regardless of why he or she seeks entry to private land. Emergency personnel are charged with granting or denying access to public property, and can arrest noncompliant reporters or any nonessential members of the public for any number of crimes. The laws of most jurisdictions do not have exceptions for media access independent of public access. Some law enforcement authorities do have agreements with members of the media to whom they issue courtesy press passes. However, these agreements are discretionary; there is no legal obligation to issue or to recognize a press pass.
Those who go into crime scenes or disaster areas without express permission of law enforcement personnel may be arrested for criminal trespass, disobeying a police officer, interference with police investigation, interference with rescue operations, or obstruction of justice. In short, media representatives have no greater right of access to private property or accident scenes than do any other citizens. Permission and good relations with emergency personnel are a reporter’s only protection.
In chapter 1, we defined the concepts of power, authority, and sovereignty. Sovereignty refers to one who is or who holds the ultimate supreme power in a state. Both the federal government and the 50 state governments are sovereigns. As sovereigns, our various governmental jurisdictions have sole ownership, control, possession, and exclusive management rights to the property owned by them. This is true even though such property is simultaneously said to belong to The People, whose tax monies purchased and maintain it. Merely because government property has a public purpose or use does not mean that the whole or any part is open to the public or media. Public and media access to government property is determined by the sovereign government based on whatever use best serves the property’s purpose and meets the standards of public safety, national security, or state police power interests. The laws of both civil and criminal trespass to government lands or chattels apply to the public and media personnel alike. If members of the public or press trespass on government property, they have violated the government’s proprietary interest and government policy and thus open themselves to prosecution. “Governmental entities are empowered to regulate property under their control in order to preserve the property for the use to which it is lawfully dedicated.”13 “The First Amendment does not shield newspersons from liability for torts and crimes committed in the course of news-gathering.”14 “The State, no less than a private owner of property, has power to preserve the property under its control for the use to which it is lawfully dedicated.”15
The Supreme Court’s ruling that there is no First Amendment right of access to government places or information does not conflict with the fact that the High Court has also fairly consistently held, at least in the past 50 years, that once the media have gathered information, the Constitution, with few exceptions, prohibits prior restraint of publication by the government. Therefore, it is very important for mass communications practitioners to be aware continually of the legal distinction between the First Amendment freedom of the press, which is a freedom to publish, and the ability of the press and public to gather, obtain, or acquire information, which is not guaranteed by the First Amendment. As seen in chapters 3 and 4, “freedom of the press” has been interpreted to include the right to publish legally obtained, non-obscene, non-defamatory, non-inciteful material without governmental restraint. Even illegally obtained material or material that falls into the unprotected areas of non-speech can be published with recognition and acceptance of the consequences, such as criminal and civil liability. “The prevailing view is that the press is not free to publish with impunity everything and anything it desires to publish.”16
Competing Interests and Examples
Numerous cases have been brought to court because the public and media have sought access to government-owned and controlled places. These cases emphasize the clash of interests between the governmental entity, the interests of the people being served by the facilities, the business interests of the media attempting to gain access, and the more generalized interests of the public.
Cases that involve attempts by the media to gain access to government-owned and operated facilities usually arise when media access has been thwarted by a statute, rule, or regulation and/or by the specific application of a statute, rule, or regulation by some public official. Sometimes, the media actually interpose public interests as part of their arguments for access, at other times the public has actually pushed for regulations confining the media to certain locations or parameters of operation. Cases involving access to polling places by the media to conduct “exit polls” offer pertinent examples.
The 1988 case of Daily Herald Co. v. Munro17 involved media plaintiffs who were challenging a Washington State statute that prohibited exit polling within 300 feet of a polling place. The law was amended in 1983 from an older law that prohibited exit polling within 100 feet. While recognizing the compelling interests of the people and states in “maintaining peace, order, and decorum at the polls and in preserving the integrity of their electoral processes,” the Court of Appeals found that polling places were traditional public fora and the regulation of speech covered was content-based because it involved the discussion of voting.18 The court then applied the strict scrutiny standard of review to the state statute and said, “(a) content-based statute that regulates in a public forum is constitutional only if it is narrowly tailored to accomplish a compelling government interest.”19 After finding the statute was “content-based, overbroad, and not the least restrictive means of advancing the state’s legitimate interest of keeping peace, order, and decorum at the polls” and that there were “no alternative channels of communication [existing]& to gather the type of information obtained through exit polling,” the court ruled the statute “unconstitutional on its face.”20
A similar case involved a Georgia statute, which made it a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment of up to 1 year or a fine of up to $ 1,000 or both for any person to “conduct any exit poll or public opinion poll with voters on any primary or election day within 250 feet of any polling place.” The federal District Court permanently enjoined the operation of the statute beyond 25 feet of the exit of any building in which a “polling place” is located. In this case, the statute had been enacted in reaction to voter complaints after the 1984 national election.21
In still another case, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a Tennessee statute involving a 100-foot “campaign-free” zone from the entrance to polling places. In that case, the High Court said,
(W)e reaffirm that it is the rare case in which we have held that a law survives strict scrutiny . . . . Here, the State, as recognized administrator for elections, has asserted that the exercise of free speech rights conflicts with another fundamental right, the right to cast a ballot in an election free from the taint of intimidation and fraud. . . . we hold that requiring solicitors to stand 100 feet from the entrances to polling places does not constitute an unconstitutional compromise.22
In summary, it appears laws forcing exit pollsters to remain 250 to 300 feet from the polls cannot survive constitutional challenge while prohibitions forcing those soliciting votes to remain at least 100 feet from the polls are constitutional.
Jails, Prisons, and Inmates
Cases involving public and media access to jails, prisons, or prisoners for the purposes of observing and reporting on prison conditions and the treatment of inmates as well as interviewing specifically named prisoners all produce the same conclusion. Prisoners have no specific First or Fourteenth Amendment rights that are violated by procedures confining them to communications with their family, friends, ministers, and legal counsel. Any right of access by the public and media can be limited to public tours of the facilities and visits subject to strict restrictions imposed for institutional safety. The media, depending on the jurisdiction, may also be allowed to speak with randomly selected inmates as they tour the facilities. However, the media have no greater right of access to prisons or prisoners than does the general public; neither the public nor the media have any specific First or Fourteenth Amendment right of access to specifically named inmates for interviews.23 Statements of legal authority supporting state and prison regulations prohibiting face-to-face interviews with specifically designated inmates, made by the U.S. Supreme Court, include the following:
It has generally been held that the First Amendment does not guarantee the press a constitutional right of special access to information not available to the public generally. . . Newsmen have no constitutional right of access to the scenes of crime or disaster when the general public is excluded. Similarly, newsmen have no constitutional right of access to prisons or their inmates beyond that afforded the general public.24
Governmental control of access to military facilities via the authority vested in base commanders is absolute, regardless of whether or not these regulations might arguably violate First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Three cases serve as examples.
Cafeteria & Restaurant Workers Union v. McElroy25 involved a female employee who worked as a short-order cook for a food services contractor at the Naval gun factory in Washington, DC. Her security clearance was cancelled, her identification badge was confiscated, and she was refused further admission to the base. Therefore, she could not perform her job. The commander of the installation denied her request for a hearing or even to explain the reason why she had failed to meet security requirements. Her union filed suit, on her behalf, in U.S. District Court, based on the alleged denial of her Fifth Amendment right to due process. The complaint was dismissed and this decision was affirmed through the U.S. Supreme Court. The two issues the Supreme Court addressed were (a) was the commanding officer of the gun factory authorized to deny the woman’s access to the gun factory in the way he did? and (b) did his action in excluding her deprive her of any right derived from the Constitution?26 The Supreme Court ruled the commander was authorized to deny access and that the petitioner was not deprived of any constitutional rights. The Court’s legal analysis is instructive because it typifies the reasoning involved in all military installation access cases.
The control of access to a military base is clearly within the constitutional powers granted to both Congress and the President. . . The power of a military commandant over a reservation is necessarily extensive and practically exclusive, forbidding entrance and controlling residence as the public interest may demand. It is well settled that a post commander can, in his discretion, exclude all persons other than those belonging to his post from post and reservation grounds. . . [He may] in his discretion, exclude private persons and property therefrom, or admit them under such restrictions as he may prescribe in the interest of good order and military discipline.27
Greer v. Spock involved several individuals seeking access to a U.S. Army post for political campaigning. This suit involved two separate interest groups. The first group all claimed to be candidates for national political office who had been denied permission to enter Fort Dix, New Jersey, to distribute campaign literature and discuss political issues with Army personnel. The second group had been evicted from the post on a number of occasions for distributing political literature. Both groups filed suit in U.S. District Court. They sought an injunction against the enforcement of post regulations based on an asserted violation of their First and Fifth Amendment rights.28 The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to review the case after the District Court had denied a preliminary injunction and the Court of Appeals reversed and prohibited the military authorities from interfering with po!itical speech and leafleting in the areas of Fort Dix that were open to the general public. The Supreme Court reversed this decision and confirmed its opinion that the rules and regulations issued and enforced by base commanders cannot be challenged under the First Amendment. The Court reasoned:
The guarantees of the First Amendment have never meant that people who want to propagandize protests or views have a constitutional right to do so whenever and however and wherever they please. The State, no less than a private owner of property, has power to preserve the property under its control for the use to which it is lawfully dedicated. . . A necessary concomitant of the basic function of a military installation has been the historically unquestioned power of [its] commanding officer summarily to exclude civilians from the area of his command.29
Finally, the Supreme Court listed a number of federal statutes and regulations that prohibit the military from engaging in political activities or appearing to influence the political lives of service men and women. According to the Supreme Court, the purpose of these statutes is to “insulate [the military]. . . . from both the reality and the appearance of acting as a handmaiden for partisan political causes or candidates.”30
JB Pictures, Inc. v. D.O.D. also addresses public and media access to military facilities.31 This case also exemplifies problems created by conflicting interests when a government policy is chosen with the specific concerns of a small group of the public in mind rather than the interests of the U.S. people as a whole.
JB Pictures involved a change in Department of Defense (DOD) policy that moved the site of arrival for soldiers killed abroad and any ceremonies or services connected therewith to sites near the families of the deceased. This policy also provided the families with veto power over press coverage of these events. The point of entry for deceased soldiers beginning in 1983 was Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. Dover was the site of the only mortuary jointly operated by the military services.32 In 1991, in connection with Operation Desert Storm, military policy for the return of war dead was significantly changed. The DOD stopped ceremonies or services at Dover and held them at the deceased service member’s home duty station. This new policy also permitted media coverage only “if the family so desires.”33
The DOD explained its new policy saying it was trying to reduce the hardship on the bereaved, who might otherwise have felt obliged to travel to Dover for the arrival ceremonies.34 Media representatives were not permitted to view the arrival of war dead and concomitant ceremonies but the policies allowing civilian access to other activities on the base, including departure activities for outgoing military personnel and supplies to the Persian Gulf remained in place.
A disgruntled group including the plaintiff media organization, several other media groups, and individual reporters, as well as veterans’ organizations, challenged the new Dover access policy in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The suit was based on the First Amendment but took the unusual approach of claiming that the new DOD policy constituted impermissible “viewpoint discrimination.”35 The viewpoint discrimination argument was predicated on the idea that allowing the media and public access to view and gather information about outgoing troops supplies and activities led to the transmission of a substantially different message than the message produced by viewing images of caskets of deceased soldiers. The former purportedly carried an implicit pro-war attitude and the latter an implied anti-war viewpoint.36
The district court dismissed the complaint, finding no First Amendment violation. On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirmed the decision of the lower court. The appellate court applied a balancing test, which considered the competing interests supported by the new government policy and those allegedly disadvantaged by the denial of access. The court categorically rejected the viewpoint discrimination argument. In its reasoning, the court noted that the DOD policy applied to all members of the media and public regardless of their views on the war or the U.S. military. The court also said that viewpoint discrimination could be claimed in virtually any situation restricting access to government facilities and that accepting the argument would require public access to all venues and events absent a special government justification. The tradition of limited access to military bases was also noted, as was the fact that the policy did not impede newsgathering because other sources of information remained available. Finally, the court noted that the governmental interest in protecting grieving families was consistent with limiting press access to funeral services and that the press had only a right of speech, not a right of access.37
The Circuit Court then concluded with its holding and judgment: Because the access policy at Dover does not violate the First Amendment’s guarantees of freedom of speech and of the press, and because the complaint does not embrace a claim based on the right to engage in on-base speech, the judgment of the district court is Affirmed.38
Access Permitted by Government Must Not Discriminate
As we have seen, the cases dealing with access to military and other governmental facilities are often based on distinctions that require a balancing of competing interests. Also, the interests involved in access to government places, functions, or processes cannot be easily condensed into just those of the government on one side versus the public and press combined on the other side. There are often at least two types of media interests that need to be considered in First Amendment freedom of access cases; there are also at least two forms of public interest involved. Media interests arise from their roles as businesses and as sources of public information. There are also two major categories of publics in access cases: (a) the people, whose powers of self-government require information as the basis for decision making; and (b) the public as a mass audience seeking entertainment.
Most cases dealing with access to governmental facilities lump the competing interests of the public and press together vis-à-vis the interests of the government. The media are viewed as representatives of the people and are allowed no greater access than the public. The Supreme Court, in a simplistic “all for one, and one for all” scheme, views their competing interests as one and the same. The Supreme Court’s mantra comes straight from its decision in Zemel v. Rusk wherein it said: “[i]t has generally been held that the First Amendment does not guarantee the press a constitutional right of special access to information not available to the public generally.”39
However, the courts have also held that once the government does grant even limited access to its facilities, information, and processes, it may not discriminate based on either the viewpoint of those seeking access or the content of their communication. The First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments require the government to provide or deny access to everyone equally. In its 1972 decision in Police Department of the City of Chicago v. Mosley, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a city disorderly conduct ordinance that prohibited picketing near schools, except for “the peaceful picketing of any school involved in a labor dispute.”40
Justice Marshall, writing for the Court, expounded on the requirement of equality of access to communications fora, and the concomitant Constitutional limitations on governmental abridgment of First Amendment freedoms of speech and press.
Necessarily, then, under the Equal Protection Clause, not to mention the First Amendment itself, government may not grant the use of a forum to people whose views it finds acceptable, but deny use to those wishing to express less favored or more controversial views. And it may not select which issues are worth discussing or debating in public facilities. . . Once a forum is opened up to assembly or speaking by some groups, government may not prohibit others from assembling or speaking on the basis of what they intend to say.41
Once it opens its facilities to limited access by the public and press, the government is prohibited from restricting admission on the basis of the content of expressive activity allowed to be conducted therein. In addition, the government, acting through its officials and agents, must also grant equal access to all who fit within the categories of individuals or groups it has admitted to its forum. The district court decision in Borreca v. Fasi serves as an illustration of this principle. In that case, Fasi, the mayor of Honolulu, directed his staff to keep, Borreca, a city hall reporter, out of the mayor’s office. This directive also excluded the reporter from general news conferences given by the mayor on at least four occasions. The mayor also instructed city officials not to talk to the reporter. The mayor objected to Borreca because he thought the reporter was “irresponsible, inaccurate, biased, and malicious in reporting on the mayor and the city administration.”42 In granting the reporter’s request for a preliminary injunction, the district court discussed the requirements of the First Amendment and the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment:
Requiring a newspaper’s reporter to pass a subjective compatibility-accuracy test as a condition precedent to the right of that reporter to gather news is no different in kind from requiring a newspaper to submit its proposed news stories for editing as a condition precedent to the right of that newspaper to have a reporter cover the news. Each is a form of censorship.43
A third decision describes the equality of access doctrine. Sherrill v. Knight involved a reporter who was denied a White House press pass because of a recommendation by the Secret Service.44 Clearly, the governmental function of protecting the president of the United States is of paramount importance, and seems to fit somewhere between the absolute control of access, which can be exercised by a military base commander as seen in Cafeteria & Restaurant Workers Union v. McElroy,45 and the access to jails and prisons cases illustrated by Pell v. Procunier,46 The problem in the Sherrill case was that there were no published or internal regulations describing the criteria for a White House press pass, there was no procedure for explaining the basis for denial, and there was no opportunity for a reporter to respond or refute a false allegation.
Sherrill had all the prerequisite press pass credentials, including a pass for the House and Senate press galleries and the fact that he had been employed as the Washington correspondent for The Nation since 1965. He resided in the Washington, DC, area and his editor confirmed that he needed to report regularly from the White House. Sherrill was summarily denied a White House press pass and all his attempts to find the reasons for this denial were refused. He even filed a Freedom of Information Act request to which the Secret Service claimed an exemption.
Sherrill filed suit in Federal District Court, basing his complaint on a violation of his First and Fifth Amendment Constitutional rights. Sherrill challenged the system under which his application had been denied, including the lack of procedures for notification, opportunity for rebuttal, and final written summary of the bases for denying the press pass. He did not challenge the authority of the Secret Service to determine clearance, or the decision made to deny him the credential; he challenged the apparent arbitrariness of the decision in his case, compared with the 1,589 other reporters who had been granted press passes. He also challenged the lack of due process involved in the decisionmaking system.
The District Court granted Sherrill two types of relief. First, it required the Secret Service formulate specific standards by which applications are to be judged. Second, it required the creation of procedures for handling requests for press passes.47 However, on appeal by the Secret Service, the Circuit Court determined that the courts should leave the standards by which applications are judged to the Secret Service because of the importance to national security and of the continuing safety of the president. The Circuit Court said the Secret Service is uniquely qualified to make such determinations and reviewing courts should accord them appropriate deference and wide latitude in such matters.48
The appellate court’s reasoning is instructive because it creates case law rules governing access to government facilities. The first of these rules says the government has absolute power to grant or deny access to its places, processes, and information. The second rule says that once the government grants access to a designated location or to a specific group, for expressive behavior, the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit the government from arbitrarily denying access to otherwise qualified members of the group. Finally, the government must provide due process to any otherwise qualified member of the group who is denied access.49
Access Granted by Government Neither Prohibits Nor Requires Preferential Treatment
The principles governing access to government property are summarized in Exhibit 6.2. Once access to government facilities or information has been granted, equality of access must be given to all members of the groups that have been admitted. However, the government is not prohibited from granting exclusive access in some situations nor is it required to give preferential treatment to everyone within the category. Although this may appear to violate the requirement for equality of access, some members of the class may receive specialized treatment. Granting preferential treatment to one member of the class does not create a requirement that preferential treatment be accorded to everyone else in the class.
Exhibit 6.2. Access to Government Property.
The government, as a sovereign land owner, has no obligation to provide access to its land, [Green v. Spock, 424 U.S. 823, 836 (1976)] and
The press has no greater right of access to government property than does the general public, [Zemel v. Rusk, 381 U.S. 1,16 (1965)] but
Once some class or group of the public is admitted to any government property, the government may not discriminate against members of that class or group based on their viewpoint or expression while there, [Mosley v. Rusk, 408 U.S. 93, 95–96 (1972)] but
Providing special treatment or access for one person does not create an obligation to provide that same treatment for everyone. [Snyder v. Ringgold, 40 F.Supp 2d 714, 715717 (D. Md. 1999)]
This conceptual distinction is partially illustrated by the appellate court in the Sherrill decision where the court explains a corollary to its equal access doctrine.
The First Amendment’s protection of a citizen’s right to obtain information concerning the way the country is being run does not extend to every conceivable avenue a citizen may wish to employ in pursuing this right. Nor is the discretion of the President to grant interviews or briefings with selected journalists challenged. It would certainly be unreasonable to suggest that because the President allows interviews with some bona fide journalists, he must give this opportunity to all.50
The second part of this corollary to the court’s “equal access doctrine” is that granting preferential treatment or exclusive access to one member of the media, does not mean the government must give special, preferential, or exclusive treatment to all reporters. This part of the access to government judicial interpretation scheme is illustrated by the decision in Snyder v. Ringgold. Snyder was a journalist in the Baltimore area who worked in both print and television media. She sued Ringgold, the police public relations officer, for tortious interference with prospective economic relations. Snyder based her claims on the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, as well as the corresponding state constitutional sections and state law. She claimed her right to obtain information had been denied because Ringgold, in his official capacity, had refused to give exclusive access to police investigations and had limited her access to police officials to specific times and places.51 In her complaint, Snyder failed to mention that, from the police perspective, she had been a royal pain and was viewed as a source of harassment. She paged the public relations officers needlessly many times during the weekends when they were off duty for information about police scanner calls and, in violation of confidentiality agreements, she had printed information obtained from police records and investigations.
New General Data Protection Regulation—Where Are We Are and Where Might We Be Heading?
Findings: The Time Is not yet Ripe for a Policy for Biobanks
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Serbian Cultural Heritage digitization project
What is the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SASA) is a leading scientific and cultural institution in Serbia. Founded in 1841, it boasts a library and archive, precious not only for Serbian culture, but containing significant elements of world cultural heritage as well. At the same time, part of the Archive of the Serbian Orthodox Church, located in Sremski Karlovci is under trusteeship of SASA, and preserves documents of priceless value for European history from the 15th to the 19th centuries.
Building of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SASA)
Establishment of the Audiovisual Archive and Center for Digitalization of SASA (AVA SASA)
In order to preserve and present to the public the most important and valuable parts of the material in its possession, in 2017 SASA established its Audiovisual Archive and Center for Digitization (AVA SASA). At the time of establishment, it was decided that, due to the significance and value of the material preserved in SASA Library and Archive, its digitization must be performed in accordance with the highest standards through clearly defined digitization procedures. The invaluable importance of the material that is to be digitized is evident in that it contains, among other items, charters and codes of Serbian rulers from the 14th and 15th centuries, works and correspondence of the most important Serbian scientists and writers, an art collection with over 3,000 paintings, drawings and sculptures, music scores of Serbian composers, photo archives with about 10,000 photographs and negatives, and more.
Marginalia of Vuk St. Karadžić on the first edition of his Serbian Dictionary (1818) / SASA Library, Rv 46/
Appian’s History of Rome, Venice, 1477 /SASA Library, R8 1/
One digital AVA SASA studio is located in the SASA building itself, while the core of AVA SASA is located in a building in close proximity, occupying about 800 square meters on three levels with six digital workstations. There is also a digital studio in Sremski Karlovci, where the church archives are digitized.
Digitalization at AVA SASA – Following the highest standards
In order to attain top standards in digitizing cultural heritage, AVA SASA has opted for the acquisition of Phase One solutions, following the example of the world’s most important archives and museums that use this equipment in digitizing their material.
The AVA SASA digital workstations are equipped with four Phase One cameras (iXG 100MP, iXG 50MP and two XF 100MP cameras), Schneider lenses and Capture One CH supporting software. This equipment is housed in specially-designed rooms, where all factors that could affect the quality of the digital image (e.g. wall color, blackout on windows, humidity and room temperature control, etc) are controlled.
One of the digital studios in AVA SASA
Twelve associates are currently engaged in AVA SASA, including two expert consultants and six operators. Maintenance of IT equipment is entrusted to a specialized company, which monitors the workstations, servers and storage, as well as the process of backup of digitalized material, daily.
A clear focus on training
Even the best equipment for digitization will yield modest results if it is not serviced by experts and well-trained operators. Thus, AVA SASA has also conducted intensive daily training of six operators, who follow all phases of the digitization process. In addition to technical details, special attention is paid to the developing of their sense of what is a well-digitized item.
Training with expert consultants
Training is provided by expert consultants who have exceptional experience with digital photography, as well as with the processes of digitization of cultural heritage.
Phase One arranged a two-day workshop where experts from Hungary hosted a training on Phase One cameras and demonstrated some of the features of the Capture One software. The next workshop, additional training at the expert level, follows the introductory training, ensuring all who work at AVA SASA are expertly-trained in every part of the digitization process that they are involved in.
Procedures for the digitization of Cultural Heritage
In view of the importance, value, and sensitive nature of the material that needs to be digitized, the AVA SASA team developed a detailed description of the procedures for accessing, restoring and handling the material during its digitization. This is an extremely important and delicate part of the digitization process. The absence of such procedures for digitization would expose valuable archival and library materials to many unnecessary risks and potential damage.
Operator preparing to digitize a manuscript from the 15th ct.
Particular attention is paid to the manner and mode of storage of digitized material, from original to derived digital images, which are publicly available under certain conditions, as well as to the legal aspects of digitization. All these aspects of digitization are part of the AVA SASA Rules, which are currently being finalized and will define the overall work of this institution.
Operator working with Phase One camera and Capture One software
AVA projects and plans for the future
Over the next several years, the work of AVA SASA will be primarily directed towards the cultural heritage of SASA. In that sense, the priority projects will be related to the especially valuable collections of the SASA Archive and the SASA Library, the material that is stored in the Archive in Sremski Karlovci, and the Art Collection of SASA. In addition to these cultural assets, AVA SASA intends to digitize all editions (books, scientific magazines) published by SASA since its inception in 1841, which amounts to almost 16,000 titles.
Additionally, AVA SASA will finalize strategic cooperation agreements with various cultural institutions in Serbia, as well as other institutions that preserve priceless cultural artifacts.
Digitization of photographic material
The intention of AVA SASA is to become a model of excellence in all aspects of the digitization of cultural heritage. That reasoning underscores AVA SASA’s decision to opt for the Phase One system and is the backbone of why rigorous training of operators is carried out and detailed procedures are defined for the process of digitization.
The formation of the AVA SASA Research Center is underway, in which different methods of digitization and the optimal relations between the quality and the time of digitization will be examined. The results of these surveys will be available to the public on the AVA SASA website.
All of the above goals pose major challenges that AVA SASA has to meet, but any other approach would fail to meet the required standards of SASA. They are challenges that we are happy to take on to ensure the highest standards of digitization for our priceless collections.
All photos in this article are by Branislav Vojnović and Veselin Milunović.
Click here to learn more about SASA.
Click here to learn more about the Phase One Cultural Heritage solutions.
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Case studies - Servicing a Car
Two-year battle to recover car repair costs
Which? member Ken West faced a two-year battle to recover the cost of getting his car repaired – despite having bought an extended warranty on the vehicle.
In March 2011, the anti-lock braking system (ABS) warning light appeared on Ken’s VW Touareg. He took the car to his local VW dealer to diagnose and repair the fault. He then made a claim on his extended warranty policy from Warranty Direct, having first checked that the ABS unit was insured under the terms.
But Warranty Direct rejected the claim following an engineer’s report on the car, which the company commissioned.
The report found that the fault was caused by water getting into the car, which wasn’t covered by the policy.
Ken then contacted Which? Legal Service for advice.
We advised Ken to instruct an independent expert to investigate the ABS failure. This report found that the fault wasn’t caused by water. On the strength of this, Ken requested that Warranty Direct honour the terms of its policy, but it refused.
After a final response from the company, and on our legal advice, Ken referred the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
The FOS adjudicator agreed with Ken’s complaint. Warranty Direct refused to accept the adjudicator’s decision and requested that the matter be reviewed by the Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman upheld the adjudicator’s decision and awarded Ken the costs of the repair, along with the costs of the further expert report and associated expenses. With interest, Ken got a total of £3,095.
Insurance providers may try to refuse a claim by relying on a particular clause in the contract. If you disagree, you can refer the matter to the FOS.
Usually, this must be done within six months of receiving a final response from the company. The FOS adjudicators will make a decision, which can then be reviewed by the Ombudsman.
The FOS decision is binding on the insurance provider. In this case, Ken had to rely on the evidence of an expert that he found, but it’s normally better to agree an expert with the party with whom you are in dispute.
Compensation for lengthy car repairs
Mrs Jones took her car into a local garage for a service and some additional repairs. The repairs ran over the time that she had thought they would take and she had to hire a car from another garage. The repairs to her car were finally completed more than a month later.
When returning the hire car, Mrs Jones told the garage staff about the repairs that she was having done to her own car. They were shocked at the length of time that it had taken. They suggested that these repairs should only have taken about two weeks, and suggested she seek compensation for the cost of the hire car.
Not sure what action to take, Mrs. Jones contacted Which? Legal Service. She told us that while she was happy to pay for the service and repairs to her car, she wanted to know if she could claim back any of the money that she had spent on the hire of the car.
Our lawyers told Mrs Jones that under the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 (as amended) the repairs should have been completed within a reasonable time. What is reasonable is subjective and is normally decided on the facts of each particular case.
We told Mrs Jones that as the hire-car garage suggested that these repairs should have taken no longer than two weeks to complete, this could be considered the ‘benchmark’ with regards to the time that the repairs should have taken.
The fact that the garage had taken over a month to complete the repairs would indicate that they had not done so within a reasonable time.
Our lawyers advised Mrs Jones that her right to claim any of the costs incurred for the hire car was dependant on whether she had told the original garage that she’d need a replacement car while her own car was being repaired. It would also depend on whether she had asked the garage for use of a courtesy car.
If the garage was aware of Mrs Jones’ need for a car and were unable to provide her with a courtesy car, they would then be liable to compensate her for the cost of the hire car – for the period in which the garage retained her car beyond what would be deemed to be a reasonable time.
Any compensation that Mrs. Jones could claim would be dependent on her telling the garage of her potential losses (her need to hire a car) and have arisen as a direct result of the garage’s failure to repair her car within a reasonable time.
Otherwise, it would be reasonable for the garage to have assumed that Mrs Jones had an alternate mean of transport such as a second car or public transport.
Car fixed for free after legal help
Which? Legal helps driver get car fixed free of charge after manufacturer offered to meet only half the cost
Which? Legal member James Cook came to us for help after enduring a catalogue of serious and repeated problems with a new Land Rover Discovery 4 from the moment he took possession of it in June 2012. The car suffered issues including a water leak in the boot and a rear brake light coming loose from its mounting, causing paintwork damage. These problems were rectified by the dealership under the warranty, which was still in place at this time.
In December 2014, James saw the exhaust pipe hanging below the rear bumper line and the silencer dangling on its rubber mounting, having broken away from the tail pipe. He couldn’t use the vehicle and called the AA. It couldn’t fix the exhaust at the roadside but, for safety reasons, removed the silencer. The issue was so serious he was advised to contact Land Rover immediately.
James contacted the dealership and Land Rover offered to pay 25% of the price of a new exhaust and fitting. He declined this, and the offer was raised to 50%. But he was still unhappy with this. He looked into the matter and found a ‘technical bulletin’ Land Rover had issued in July 2013, warning of an exhaust pipe issue with the car he had bought, which he’d been told nothing about. He came to Which? Legal for help.
We suggested that James write to the dealership and Land Rover’s chairman, detailing the issues and the breach of contract committed by selling a defective car. The company quickly agreed to repair it for free, with the modified exhaust fittings highlighted on the technical bulletin.
Goods sold to you in the UK must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described. For goods bought before 1 October 2015, this is covered by the Sale of Goods Act 1979. If what you buy isn’t satisfactory, you can reject it (but you must usually do this within 30 days) or the retailer must repair or replace it. If neither is possible, you should be offered a full or partial refund.
However, the Consumer Rights Act 2015, that came into force on 1 October, allows a trader to take into account how much you’ve used a product when assessing how much of a refund to give you, even where this is within the first six months after you bought it.
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Bill Title: Public health crisis: racism.
Introduced by Senator Pan
(Principal coauthors: Assembly Members Arambula and Chiu)
(Coauthor: Senator Durazo)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Robert Rivas and Weber)
An act relating to public health.
SB 17, as introduced, Pan. Public health crisis: racism.
Existing law establishes an Office of Health Equity in the State Department of Public Health for purposes of aligning state resources, decisionmaking, and programs to accomplish certain goals related to health equity and protecting vulnerable communities. Existing law requires the office to develop department-wide plans to close the gaps in health status and access to care among the state’s diverse racial and ethnic communities, women, persons with disabilities, and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning communities, as specified. Existing law requires the office to work with the Health in All Policies Task Force to assist state agencies and departments in developing policies, systems, programs, and environmental change strategies that have population health impacts by, among other things, prioritizing building cross-sectoral partnerships within and across departments and agencies to change policies and practices to advance health equity.
This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to require the department, in collaboration with the Health in All Policies Program, the Office of Health Equity, and other relevant departments, agencies, and stakeholders, to address racism as a public health crisis.
(a) Racism is the systemic subordination of members of targeted racial groups who have historically had relatively little social power in the United States by members of the racial groups who have more social power. Racism in the United States is informed by over 400 years of Black slavery, settler colonialism, and American neoimperialism.
(b) Racism, as a negative social system, is supported by the actions of individuals, cultural norms and values, institutional structures, practices of society, and laws and regulations imposed by government.
(c) Through the “Three-Fifths Compromise,” racism was embedded as a founding principle in the United States Constitution. It is an ugly stain that continues to haunt our nation and that we must confront and actively dismantle.
(d) Public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of people and their communities by promoting healthy lifestyles, researching disease and injury prevention, and detecting, preventing, and responding to infectious diseases.
(e) Many government policies, institutional practices, and individual actions continue to be imbued, both consciously and unconsciously, with racist assumptions and practices that have created unhealthy physical and social conditions for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and thereby prevent BIPOC communities from achieving good public health.
(f) For instance, the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, and discriminatory housing policies against Black people have restricted the ability of Black families to build generational wealth, in comparison to White families, leading to income inequality. Income inequality and poverty have been well researched to be negative social determinants of health. Children who grow up in poverty, and especially those who are BIPOC, are more likely to be exposed to risk factors for obesity, elevated blood lead levels, and experience more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).
(g) Racism in government policies, institutional practices, and income inequality also results in BIPOC communities being more likely to live near polluters, breathe polluted air, and be impacted disproportionately by the effects of climate change. Breathing in dangerous substances in the air has been linked to asthma, other chronic respiratory illnesses, and some cancers. In California, Black and Native American individuals have a significantly higher prevalence of asthma and are more likely to experience an avoidable hospitalization due to asthma.
(h) BIPOC communities experience racial disparities in accessing health care and receiving quality care. For example, Black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than White women. Research indicates these disparities persist in spite of income differences and can often be attributed to Black women receiving discriminatory care, such as health care providers dismissing symptoms raised by Black women or racist assumptions about pain thresholds experienced by Black people.
(i) Black transwomen suffer from employment, housing, and educational discrimination and police brutality that result in the most acute health disparities. Government policies, such as recent federal actions that encourage homeless shelters, social services, educational institutions, and health care providers to discriminate against transgender people and overlook the deleterious impacts of racism, actively prevent Black transwomen from accessing services critical to achieving optimal health.
(j) On an individual physiological level, studies show that chronic stress from individual and systemic acts of racism and discrimination trigger high blood pressure, heart disease, immunodeficiency, and result in accelerated aging.
(k) The COVID-19 pandemic, the ensuing economic crisis, and recent protests against institutional violence committed against Black communities again highlight the racial injustices and health disparities that have long threatened BIPOC communities.
(l) In California, Black and Latino individuals are more likely to have existing health conditions that make them more susceptible to contracting COVID-19, experience more severe symptoms, and suffer from higher mortality rates. BIPOC tend to work in essential jobs that may lead to a higher likelihood of being exposed to COVID-19, or in jobs that have an inability to work remotely and, therefore, are more severely impacted by the economic crisis.
(m) Racism results in the underinvestment of social, health, and educational services in BIPOC communities and an overinvestment of disproportionate and inappropriate policing by law enforcement. Racism threatens to endanger the health of individuals, the community, and public health.
(n) Accordingly, California, joining a growing list of cities and counties across the state and country to acknowledge the long-standing impacts of systemic racism, declares racism as a public health crisis. In order to advance and improve public health for all Californians, the state must approach laws and regulations with an antiracist, Health in All policy equity-driven focus that interrogates whether policies play a role in upholding or dismantling racist systems, and must secure adequate resources to address the crisis.
It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to require the State Department of Public Health, in collaboration with the Health in All Policies Program, the Office of Health Equity, and other relevant departments, agencies, and stakeholders, to address racism as a public health crisis.
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Mysteries | December 31, 2009
Top 10 Mysteries of Outer Space
mtarmyman
Since the beginning of life, man has looked to the stars with a sense of wonder. Between then and now, many advances have been made in the fields of astronomy, mathematics, and physics in an attempt to explain the things we see above, yet the more we believe we understand, the less we really seem to know. In something as big as the universe, there are bound to be unexplainable phenomena, and things we truly can’t grasp. The universe shows us how small we really are, and in a place so big, is it really plausible to believe that we are alone? And is there any reason someone might not want us to know? This is a list of what I believe to be some of the best mysteries and conspiracy theories of outer space.
Simulacrum in Eagle Nebula
One of the strangest photos that has ever been taken of space is that of the Eagle Nebula. The photo itself is supposed to show the birth of a star from the gaseous clouds. However, when the photo was shown on CNN, hundreds of calls came in from people reporting they could see a face in the cloud. When the color of the photo was adjusted, a large human form seemed to appear within the cloud. Scientist have not been able to explain this phenomena (though listverse very possible has on this list – see item 1). You can read more about it here.
Where did galaxies come from?
Science has only recently been able to explain where the stars and planets came from. Now, scientists have turned their attention to a much bigger mystery, where did galaxies come from? What is known is that galaxies are not scattered randomly throughout space, rather they are found in clusters, known as “super clusters”. Scientists have two main theories to attempt to explain galaxy formation. First, the gas left over from the big bang clustered together to form galaxies, in which stars and planets were born. Second is that gas from the big bang created stars and planets all over the universe, and they migrated through gravity into galaxies. Neither theory has been universally accepted yet.
Other Earths
Our star, the sun, is just one of trillions in the universe. When you look at the fact that our star has eight planets, and do the math, it tells you that it is possible for there to be eight times as many planets in the universe than stars; an astounding figure. Is it not possible that just one of those planets might have life on it? It is a fact that, since the year 2000, hundreds of extra solar planets have been discovered orbiting distant stars. Some of these have found to be earth- like, such as the planet Gliese 581d, a planet believed to have liquid water on its surface. Could it possibly contain life? Hopefully with advances in technology in the next decade, we will soon know the answer. Till then, it remains one of space’s greatest mysteries.
Are there Other Universes?
This is one of the more controversial arguments out there. The theory is that there are an infinite number of universes, each which is governed by its own set of laws and physics. Many scientists dismiss this argument as nothing more than speculation, as there is no evidence or mathematical law that allows for the existence of other universes. However, believers in this theory have argued that there are none that disprove it either. This is one mystery which can only be solved if we were able to travel there, however, with the expansion of the universe, it is unlikely humanity will ever find the answer.
Albert Einstein’s equation E = MC^2 is perhaps the best known equation of the century. However when applied to space, an anomaly occurs. When we use it to determine how much matter the universe should have, we realize that we have only found four percent of the matter in the universe! Where is the rest of it? Many believe it is in the form of dark matter. Where is this dark matter? It’s everywhere, wherever there is no visible matter. Scientists have yet to show any conclusive proof that dark matter does in fact exist. The fact that you can’t see it, touch it, and light and radio waves pass right through it undeterred makes it extremely hard to detect.
Mars/Earth Connection
When talking about life on other planets, some say we need go no further than our own solar system. Mars has always been thought to harbor life by many conspiracy theorists, saying that NASA is covering it up. Many photos have also called into question civilization on Mars, such as the face on Mars, Pyramids on Mars, and photo of what appears to be an ape like figure sitting on a rock on Mars. While scientists have come out to debunk these photos, they have also admitted that they believe liquid oceans once covered the surface of Mars before its magnetic field disappeared. Is it possible that life did indeed once exist? The current missions to Mars hopes to answer this question.
UFO sightings by NASA Astronauts
NASA Astronauts are some of the most highly trained and specialized people in the world. Often they are expert scientists that can explain almost anything. So when they see something they can’t explain, you can bet it is going to raise eyebrows. One of the most famous incidents occurred on a live broadcast on NBC in 1963. Major Gordon Cooper was at the end of his 22 orbit solo journey around the earth when he said that out of one of his windows he could see a glowing green object fast approaching. The object then made a sharp turn and shot away. He was sure he was not seeing things, as the radar in his spacecraft picked up the object as well. Upon his return to earth interviewers wanted to ask him about the object, however NASA officials would not allow it. You can read about this and other Astronaut sightings at this web site.
“White” Holes
One of Albert Einstein’s greatest accomplishments was the proving, though mathematics, the existence of black holes. From the advances in technology, we now have been able to find several black holes, and believe one to be at the center of our very own Milky Way galaxy. What is astonishing, however, is what Einstein also proved through his equations; white holes also exist. The exact opposite of black holes, white holes are believed to “spit out” an incredible amount of matter from seemingly nothing. Such an object should be easy to find, yet none have been. If one was found, it may help us explain other unknown mysteries, such as where the material that made the galaxies came from.
Ruins on Moon
In this list we have discussed the possibility of life on distant planets, and in near planets. But could it possibly at one time have been as close as the moon? This conspiracy theory states that there are indeed ancient ruins and buildings on the moon, but the government has been censoring them from the public. This theory had no backing until two recent breakthroughs. A man who claims to have worked for the government censoring moon photos came forward with several, explaining how the censorship was done and that indeed there were structures on the moon. More recently, scientist announced they believe they have discovered water, possibly in ice or liquid form, under the surface of the moon. For conspiracy theorists, this was all the proof they needed, while critics dismiss it as “ridiculous speculation”. You can read more about this, and watch a fascinating video, here.
Dark energy is the greatest mystery in the universe today, because of the fact that it is believed to be all around us, and it explains why there seems to be anomalies within the law of gravity. By the law of gravity, large objects, like galaxy clusters, should attract each other, and their gravitational pull should pull in other objects. This however, is not the case, and the fact is most galaxy clusters are moving farther apart. This is due to the fact that the universe is expanding at an incredible rate. To answer the question of why this is, scientists developed the theory of Dark Energy, which has the opposite effect as gravity, pushing things apart. Mathematical calculations have shown that if it exists, it makes up 74% of our universe, outweighing gravity, and this is why the universe is stretching out. However we still have no conclusive proof, so it remains a mystery to us.
10 Reasons To Believe Humans Came From Outer Space
10 Paranormal Mysteries That Are Not Paranormal Mysteries
Top 10 Fresh Finds Proving Space Is Stunning And Strange
Top 10 Interesting Facts About The International…
Top 10 Space Movies Judged By Actual Astronauts
Top 10 Insights And Mysteries Gleaned From Ancient Tombs
Top 10 Clues That Solved Or Deepened Old Mysteries
Top 10 Recently Discovered Mayan Mysteries And Facts
10 Creepy Mysteries You Haven’t Heard Of
10 Of The Strangest Unsolved Hospital Mysteries
10 Animal Mysteries That May Finally Be Solved
10 Unsolved Pirate Mysteries That Will Shiver Your Timbers
10 Civilizations That Mysteriously Vanished
10 Enigmatic Gold Artifacts
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A unique undertaking:To celebrate the words that have shaped America.
Publishing authoritative new editions of American literature.
Preserving the words that built America.
Championing America's greatest literary voices.
Pushing the boundaries of the American literary canon.
Library of America, a nonprofit organization, champions our nation’s cultural heritage by publishing America’s greatest writing in authoritative new editions and providing resources for readers to explore this rich, living legacy.
Widely recognized as the definitive collection of American writing, Library of America editions encompass all periods and genres—including acknowledged classics, neglected masterpieces, and historically important documents and texts—and showcase the vitality and variety of America’s literary legacy. Additional public programs, digital resources, and community partnerships help readers worldwide make meaningful connections with the nation’s written heritage.
“There’s nothing like Library of America, it’s a national treasure—true to the protean, multi-vocal, democratic spirit of America itself.”—Tony Kushner (Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright)
More than a publisher, Library of America is a vital part of the cultural landscape—an invaluable portal through which the words and ideas that formed and continue to shape America can enrich our lives for years to come.
Why Library of America?
“America is hard to see,” poet laureate Robert Frost famously wrote. Although in this poem Frost alluded to Columbus’s difficulty in navigating toward these shores, his words resonate with the continued challenge of clearly understanding a nation so diverse and so complex.
How, then, do we gain a true view of America? Taken together, the writings of the Founders, the poems of Frost and Walt Whitman, the novels and stories of Mark Twain and Edith Wharton, the slave narratives of Frederick Douglass and William Wells Brown, the essays of Henry David Thoreau, James Baldwin, and Susan Sontag, the speeches and letters of Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, the lyrics of Cole Porter and Ira Gershwin, and many other exceptional works of American writing begin to reveal the country’s multi-faceted identity.
These writings are our shared birthright. Everyone should have access to the enjoyment and enlightenment they provide. Yet the closing of brick-and-mortar bookstores and the loss of many book review pages have greatly eroded the potential for people to browse and discover important books. Through the mainstream media, readers learn of only a handful of the most popular and bestselling books. While millions of titles are now available in libraries and through online retailers, there are few places to turn for guidance in finding and appreciating the exceptional writing that best reflects this country's history and culture.
To address this need, Library of America publishes carefully curated editions of works by the greatest and most significant American writers and develops nationwide and international initiatives to help readers discover these timeless works. In New York City, we also engage readers in a deeper appreciation of American writing with local programs on literary and historical topics and their continued relevance.
Readers value the timeless works published in Library of America collections and can encounter this writing in a variety of ways. We serve thousands of subscribers to the LOA series and to LOA’s free digital Story of the Week. LOA volumes are available in bookstores and online retailers and in public libraries and universities worldwide. To date, more than 8 million copies of Library of America volumes have been sold.
Library of America was long a dream of the literary critic Edmund Wilson (1895–1972), who was concerned that many works by America’s best writers were either out of print or nearly impossible to find. Without a deliberate publishing effort to preserve American writing and make it widely available, many important works would disappear from the cultural conversation. As a consequence, deprived of an important part of their cultural inheritance, Americans would lose a collective sense of the country’s literary accomplishments and the vital role writing has played in our history.
Library of America ran this ad in The New York Times in 1982 to announce its mission and its first published volumes.
“The most important book-publishing project in our nation's history.”—Newsweek
The Pléiade series—published in France since the 1930s—provided a model. Discussion of a similar American series began in the 1950s and continued until the late 1970s, when the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation provided seed funding to create Library of America. LOA’s first volumes were published in 1982.
LOA's Founders Included
Daniel Aaron (Professor of American studies at Harvard University and Edmund Wilson’s literary executor)
Jason Epstein (Editorial Director at Random House)
Nathan Huggins (Professor of History and Afro-American Studies at Harvard University)
Richard Poirier (Professor of English at Rutgers University)
G. Thomas Tanselle (Vice President of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation)
Among the writers and scholars who served on the initial board of advisors were: Robert Coles, Irving Howe, R.W.B. Lewis, Robert Penn Warren, Eudora Welty, and C. Vann Woodward.
The LOA series has earned the Carey-Thomas Award for Creative Publishing and the National Book Critics Circle special award for “distinguished contributions to the enhancement of American literary and critical standards.” It has also received the “Ambassador of Honor” title multiple times from the English-Speaking Union.
Watch: This three-minute video presents LOA’s mission, publishing, and community outreach. (Video: Los Angeles Times)
LOA’s edition of Zora Neale Hurston features her 1942 autobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road, presented for the first time as Hurston intended, with controversial passages restored and four never-published chapters.
Alec Baldwin joined LOA in a celebration of Philip Roth’s writing on the occasion of the writer’s 80th birthday.
News, Views & Events
News | In the Community
Library of America offers grants to libraries to celebrate African American poetry
What the National Endowment for the Humanities has meant for Library of America
How a Library of America book is born
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Back Rick Atkinson on Cornelius Ryan’s “vivid, visceral, riveting” histories of World War II Print
Rick Atkinson on Cornelius Ryan’s “vivid, visceral, riveting” histories of World War II
This June, for the seventy-fifth anniversary of D-Day, Library of America releases Cornelius Ryan: The Longest Day, A Bridge Too Far, a new collector’s edition of two classic narratives of World War II. In these books Ryan pioneered a new kind of democratic military history, combining the individual stories of top brass and ordinary soldiers, combatants and civilians, into pointillist masterpieces—novelistic epics told on a human scale.
Cornelius Ryan: The Longest Day,
The new volume also collects seventeen of Ryan’s wartime dispatches for the London Daily Telegraph, including his eyewitness account of D-Day as seen from an American bomber; magazine stories that supplement The Longest Day; revealing letters to publishers; and samples of the research questionnaires he sent to veterans. It restores the full-color endpaper maps from the 1959 edition of The Longest Day, and includes an introduction, a chronology of Ryan’s life and career, explanatory endnotes, eighty-eight pages of photographs, many from Ryan’s personal collection, and twelve black and white maps.
The editor of Library of America’s Ryan edition is journalist and historian Rick Atkinson, whose books include the acclaimed Liberation Trilogy about World War II: An Army at Dawn, which won the Pulitzer Prize for History, The Day of Battle, and The Guns at Last Light, as well as The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775–1777, the first volume in a planned Revolution Trilogy.
Via email, Atkinson discussed his longstanding admiration for Ryan’s work and why, out of so many histories of World War, Ryan’s have endured.
“Into the Jaws of Death — U.S. Troops wading through water and Nazi gunfire,” photograph of Omaha Beach landings, June 6, 1944, by Chief Photographer’s Mate Robert F. Sargent, courtesy National Archives and Records Administration.
Library of America: Thousands of books have been written about World War II. Why are these two books by Cornelius Ryan classics? Why are they still worth reading?
Rick Atkinson: These two books are still illuminating, and at times electrifying, because the extraordinary research that went into Ryan’s narrative provides us with a vivid, visceral depiction of these two battles, among the greatest battles in modern warfare.
LOA: A. J. Liebling, who memorably reported on the war for The New Yorker, once wrote: “Books about war fall into two classes—those about what it was like and those about what happened.” How do Ryan’s narratives fit into this scheme?
Atkinson: With all due respect to the great Liebling, these two categories are not mutually exclusive. Cornelius Ryan proves the point. His battle narratives certainly give us a tactile, auditory, visual, and olfactory sense of what it was like, and his sleek storytelling tells us very clearly what happened. Can’t do better than that as a military historian, in my estimation.
Cornelius Ryan at Pointe du Hoc, France, on June 5, 1964. (Paul Slade; courtesy Paris Match via Getty Images)
LOA: Ryan was a war correspondent for The Daily Telegraph in 1944–45, and an editor at Collier’s magazine for much of the 1950s. How did his journalistic background influence his writing about war?
Atkinson: As a former hack myself, I can see clearly how Ryan’s long experience as a newspaper and magazine journalist informs his narrative writing. We see it in his meticulous reporting, in his commitment to accuracy, in his ability to tell the story compactly, and in his recognition that making the tale accessible to a reader is paramount. Until his death, he remained one of the great reporters, which is why the single-word epitaph on his headstone—Reporter—is apt.
LOA: Do you have a favorite scene in The Longest Day? In A Bridge Too Far? By “favorite” we mean exceptionally well-written and/or memorable—passages that really convey the essence of what he was trying to do.
Atkinson: In The Longest Day, I very much admire the way he essentially bookends the story with the camera’s lens focused on Erwin Rommel, the senior German commander at Normandy. The brushstrokes of detail in describing Rommel’s return to La Roche Guyon, his headquarters on the Seine, are masterful, and contribute to the suspense he builds as the invasion draws near. I’ve been to that chateau, with a copy of Ryan’s description in my pocket.
In A Bridge Too Far, I love the scene in the theater where General Horrocks, the senior British tactical commander, reviews the plan for Market Garden a final time. The reader feels as though he’s sitting in the audience as this magnificent, doomed moment plays out.
LOA: How has the success of Ryan’s books influenced the subsequent writing of military history?
Atkinson: Every scribbler who has tried to write narrative military history in the past half-century owes some debt to Ryan. He demonstrated that a non-academic could write riveting narratives while observing the appropriate conventions of academic history. His influence on me personally is deep and enduring.
Read Library of America’s interview with Rick Atkinson on The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775–1777 here.
Watch: Why Cornelius Ryan’s The Longest Day isn’t “victors’ history”
Related Volumes: Reporting World War II: The 75th Anniversary Edition (boxed set) A. J. Liebling: World War II Writings Cornelius Ryan: The Longest Day, A Bridge Too Far
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The Fate Of Millions – Unequal Trade, Debt, Poverty, Starvation and Death
Filed under: Brian A. Mitchell,imperialism/globalization,poverty — louisproyect @ 8:36 pm
Käthe Kollwitz, “Poverty” (1897)
(A guest post by Brian A. Mitchell)
The power and importance of original quotes cannot be stressed enough. It is most revealing and undeniable, especially to the incredulous, to let Presidents, Prime Ministers and military leaders speak for themselves. If enough people in power say much the same thing, you can be sure that there is a policy in there somewhare. Through tutoring, speaking, articles, debates and general argument, I have always found that original quoted statements have the most powerful impact; far more than any dialogue from me or any journalist or academic could ever have; and were an integral part of my political education. Some of these quotes are chosen not necessarily because of who said them but how true and educating they are. Although some of the quotes may be dated, the ideology of capitalism remains more inhuman, predatory, warlike, not only murderous but more genocidal every day. Many of these quotes are not widely known, some not at all. So spread them as widely as possible so that many more people can know what really goes on in this troubled world in our name.
Ever wondered how is it that after more than some 200 years of modern capitalism, the vast majority of humanity in this overwhelmingly rich and abundant world is still in massive poverty and debt of some hundreds of billions of dollars to the rich world? This “debt” is absolutely unpayable. It is such that the rich world owns the national wealth of these countries in perpetuum. Otherwise how is it that they are still so poor after so long? They are only so poor because we are so rich. There is no other way of looking at it. Especially for us British, who have plundered the world’s raw materials and cheap labour for centuries. And under imperialism, the rich capitalist world of the US, Britain, and the rest of the wealthy world still take everything from them every day.
“Don’t forget, there are two hundred million of us in a world of three billion. They want what we’ve got, and we’re not going to give it to them!”
(US President Johnson.)
“Before people can do anything they have got to eat. And if you are looking for a way to get people to lean on you and to be dependent on you, in terms of their cooperation with you, it seems to me that food dependence would be terrific.”
(US Senator Hubert Humphrey.)
“There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword and the other is by debt.”
(US President John Adams, in the 1800s.)
“There are two ways of conquering a foreign nation. One is to gain control of its people by force of arms; the other is to gain control of its economy by financial means.”
(US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, in the 1950s.)
“We get a five to one return on investment in Africa, through our trade, investment, finance and aid. … We’re not aiding Africa by sending them aid. Africa’s aiding us.”
(US Representative to the United Nations Andrew Young, February 1995.)
“American capitalism, based as it is on exploitation of the poor, with its fundamental motivation in personal greed, simply cannot survive without force, without a secret police force. Now, more than ever, each of us is forced to make a conscious choice whether to support the system of minority comfort and privilege with all its security apparatus and repression, or whether to struggle for real equality of opportunity and fair distribution of benefits for all of society, in the domestic as well as the international order. … A considerable proportion of the developed world’s prosperity rests on paying the lowest possible prices for the poor countries’ primary products and on exporting high-cost capital and finished goods to those countries. Continuation of this kind of prosperity requires continuation of the relative gap between developed and underdeveloped countries – it means keeping poor people poor. Increasingly, the impoverished masses are understanding that the prosperity of the developed countries and of the privileged minorities in their own countries is founded on their poverty.”
(Former CIA officer Philip Agee, in his book CIA Diary.)
“The per capita income gap between the developed and the developing countries is increasing, in large part the result of higher birth rates in the poorer countries… how should we tackle these problems?… It is quite clear that one of the major challenges of the 1970s … will be to curb the world’s fertility.”
(US President George Bush.)
“Depopulation should be the highest priority of foreign policy towards the Third World.”
(US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.)
“Our responsibility as Christians makes us tremble. The northern hemisphere, the developed area of the world, the 20% who possess 80% of the world’s resources, are of Christian origin. What impression can our African and Asian brethren and the masses in Latin America have of Christianity, if the tree is to be judged by its fruits? For we Christians are largely responsible for the unjust world in which we live.”
(Brazilian Archbishop Helder Camara.)
“The ever more sophisticated weapons piling up in the arsenals of the wealthiest and the mightiest can kill the illiterate, the ill, the poor and the hungry, but they cannot kill ignorance, illness, poverty or hunger…”
(Cuban leader 1959-2008 Fidel Castro.)
“I believe that if we had and would keep our dirty, bloody, dollar-crooked fingers out of the business of these nations so full of depressed, exploited people, they will arrive at a solution of their own. That they design and want. That they fight and work for. And if unfortunately their revolution must be of the violent type because the ‘haves’ refuse to share with the ‘have-nots’ by any peaceful method, at least what they get will be their own, and not the American style, which they don’t want…”
(General David Shoup, Commander of the US Marine Corps, 1966.)
“These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert, to fleece the people.”
(A Marxist? No; US President Abraham Lincoln.)
“Our so-called foreign aid program, which is not really foreign aid because it isn’t to foreigners but aid to us, is an indispensable factor in carrying out our foreign policy.”
(US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, in a rare moment of honesty, October 25 1956.)
“The forces in a capitalist society, if left unchecked, tend to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.”
(First Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru.)
“In its 46 years of existence the UN has been used more often than not as a tool for Western – shall we say US – foreign policy goals. UN ineffectiveness over the years cannot be blamed entirely on Cold War divisions. An overwhelming majority of the US Security Council resolutions were vetoed by the US and Britain. Most had little or nothing to do with the Cold War, but were supporting anti colonial struggles in the Third World.”
(India Quarterly, Delhi, October 1992. [Note: The use of the word “western” or the “west,” almost always means the capitalist and imperialist world.])
“Food aid is a fertiliser which grows a rich crop called hunger. It is a contradiction in terms.”
(African leader Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia.)
“This is a huge, colossal battle against imperialism, because what we are proposing is that the enormous, unpayable debt of the Third World be repudiated… it isn’t $700 billion; it’s more like $900 billion, and, in 20 years we’ll have to pay $3 trillion, that is, $3 million million. They want to take $3 trillion from this hungry, starving to death world in 20 years, gentlemen! It’s impossible, of course; the first thing we should realise is that it is quite impossible. This is the battle for all of the Third World countries, for more than 100 countries. It is enormously important. This is the battle for this hemisphere’s independence… This is the battle for the lives and future of 4 billion poor and hungry people. … That’s why we say that payment of that debt is an economic impossibility, a political impossibility. You practically have to kill the people to force them to make the sacrifices required to pay that debt.”
(Fidel Castro, to Latin American Federation of Journalists, July 6 1985.)
“We hold that man cannot exercise his right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness without the ownership of the land and the tools with which to work. Deprived of these, his life, his liberty and his fate fall into the hands of the class that owns those essentials for work and production. This ownership is today held by the minority in society, the capitalist class, exercising through this ownership and control an economic despotism without parallel in history.”
(US Socialist Labour Party.)
“The top 400 people own more wealth now than the bottom 185 million Americans taken together. That is a medieval structure.”
(US political economist Gar Alperovitz.)
“Three-fourths (one may say nine-tenths) of the people of the world are poor… but the miserably poor want to turn the world upside down … They regard the United States as basically in favour of the status quo. All rich people are supposed to be that way. More significant, perhaps, is the fact that Moscow [Soviet Union] is regarded by most of the poor people around the world as the friend of the poor and of the rebel… In a nation motivated by revolutionary fervour, including countries which have recently become independent and those undergoing rapid social change, there is great enthusiasm for planning for the future. Five, seven, and even ten-year plans are popular. People are told to sacrifice present living for future benefits to the nation and to their children. Emphasis on consumer goods for the present generation seems disloyal, unpatriotic, and even immoral… Russians, who are pictured as sacrificing themselves today for the benefit of their children of tomorrow, are somehow regarded as more admirable than profligate Americans.”
(US Information Agency Director George Allen.)
“A modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”
(Canadian economist John Galbraith.)
“The question to be asked is not what we should give to the poor but when will we stop taking from the poor.”
(Jim Wallace, Sojourners, USA.)
“Indeed, there is freedom in the capitalist countries, but for whom? Of course not for the working people, who are forced to hire themselves out to the capitalists on any conditions just to avoid finding themselves in the ranks of the huge army of people who are “free from work”. …”Freedom” in capitalist countries exists only for those who possess money and who consequently hold power.”
(Soviet President Nikita Kruschev.)
“In proportion as the exploitation of one individual by another is put an end to, the exploitation of one nation by another will also be put an end to. In proportion as the antagonism between classes within the nation vanishes, the hostility of one nation to another will come to an end.”
(Karl Marx and Frederick Engels”The Communist Manifesto.”)
“…the 200 richest people have more assets than the 2 billion poorest.”
(US economist and internationalist David Korten,)
“A criminal is a person with predatory instincts who has not sufficient capital to form a corporation.”
(Howard Scott.)
“The foreign policy that monopolistic capital imposes is a ruinous one for the people of the United States. The United States had some thirty billion dollars in gold in its reserves at the end of the Second World War; in twenty years it had used up more than half of these reserves. What has it been used for? With what benefit to the people of the United States? Does the United States perhaps have more friends now than before?
In the United States many people proclaim that they are defending liberty in other countries. But what kind of liberty is it that they are defending, that nobody is grateful to them, that nobody appreciates this alleged defence of their liberties? What has happened in Korea, in Formosa [Taiwan], in Vietnam? What country has prospered and has achieved peace and political stability under that protection from the United States? What solutions has it found for the great problems of the world? The United States has spent fabulous resources pursuing that policy; it will be able to spend less and less, because its gold reserves are being exhausted.
Perhaps the influence of the United States is greater now than it was twenty years ago when the war ended? Nobody could say so. It is a certainty that for twenty years, under the pretext of the struggle against Communism, the United States has been carrying out a repressive and reactionary policy in the international field, without having solved the problems of a single underdeveloped country in the world… The United States wants to “liberate” Cuba from Communism, but in reality Cuba doesn’t want to be “liberated” from Communism.”
(Fidel Castro, quoted by US journalist Lee Lockwood, May 1965.)
“The world can support its population and more. You have to think of who owns the means of production of life’s means of subsistence. When you understand that you will know the one true reason for poverty and starvation in this very rich and abundant world; where some 40,000 children below the age of one will die tonight from lack of the simple basic things like food, clean water, education, doctors and medicines to make them well when they become ill – things that we in the rich neo-colonial or imperialist world not only take for granted, but take from them every day of our rich lives without even thinking about it. It is as if we rip open the stomach of an already starving child and consume the contents. All because we in the imperialist world have historically grabbed most of the production of humanity’s very means of subsistence of life itself. Isn’t that how we got so rich and they are still so poor?”
(Respondent to British TV discussion program The Wright Stuff.)
“Those who know the normal life of the poor… will realise well enough that, without economic security, liberty is not worth having.”
(British economist and politician Harold Laski.)
“The IMF consistently demands that its pupils make drastic reductions in civil spending, but arms budgets remain untouched. When asked about this anomaly, Fund personnel recoil and explain in pained tones that such measures would be ‘interfering in the internal affairs of sovereign nations’ (which is exactly what the Fund does every working day).”
(Susan George, in her excellent book on the world debt crisis, “A Fate Worse Than Debt.”)
“Either we free ourselves of the foreign debt burden, acquired without benefit to us or solution to our problems, or we doom three-quarters of humankind to a future without hope… millions of human beings who, along with a right to be born, have an obligation to pay… This means the debt is devouring humankind, devouring peoples and nation states that no matter what they do… find the debt grows and is, therefore, absolutely unpayable.”
(Carlos Serrate, Bolivian delegate, Latin American and Caribbean foreign debt conference, Havana, Cuba, 1985)
“The huge effort of the past two years resulted in an export surplus of a billion dollars a month. Yet this money served only to pay the interest on the debt. It’s impossible to go on this way; we have already taken everything the people had to eat, even though two thirds of them are already going hungry. When we borrowed, interest rates were 4 per cent; they’re 8 per cent now and at one point they even went as high as 21 per cent. Even worse, these loans were contracted by the military, mostly for military ends – $40 billion were swallowed by six nuclear plants, none of which is working today. The people are now expected to pay off these debts in low salaries and hunger. But we have already reimbursed the debt, considering the interest paid. We must stop giving the blood and the misery of our people to pay the First World.”
(Archbishop of Sao Paulo Brazil, Cardinal Paulo Arns, 1985.)
“When we are shown scenes of starving children in Africa, with a call for us to do something to help them, the underlying ideological message is something like: “Don’t think, don’t politicise, forget about the true causes of their poverty, just act, contribute money, so that you will not have to think!””
(Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek.)
“Capitalism has neither the capacity, nor the morality, nor the ethics to solve the problems of poverty.”
“Capital eschews no profit… just as Nature was formally said to abhor a vacuum… A certain ten percent will ensure its employment anywhere; 20% will produce eagerness; 50%, positive audacity; 100% will make it ready to trample on all human laws; 300% and there is not a crime it will scruple, nor a risk it will not run, even the chance of its owner being hanged.”
(British economist T.J.Dunning, quoted by Karl Marx.)
“We in the West must bear in mind that the poor countries are poor primarily because we have exploited them through political or economic colonialism.”
(Martin Luther King.)
“Why should the labour of the many become the capital of the few?”
(English economist and historian Michael Briant.)
“The meek may inherit the earth, but not its mineral rights.”
(US billionaire industrialist John Paul Getty.)
“When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.”
“Does it sound outrageous to you that military spending for fiscal year 2000 will be almost $290 billion and all other domestic discretionary spending, such as education, job training, housing, Amtrak, medical research, environment, Head Start and many other worthwhile programs will total $246 billion, the biggest disparity in modern times?”
(US Senator Dale Bumpers.)
“What sort of world will we hand over to our children? What sort of life lies ahead for those five billion mouths that we will have to feed in our underdeveloped world, those five billion bodies that have to be clothed, shod and sheltered, those five billion minds that will strive for knowledge, those five billion human beings that will struggle for a decent life, worthy of the human condition. What will their quality of life be like?
The Executive Director of UNICEF has said that in 1981 the life of a child would be worth less than $100. If such a sum were judiciously spent on every one of the five hundred million poorest children of the world, it would cover basic health assistance, elementary education, care during pregnancy and dietary improvement, and would ensure hygienic conditions and a water supply. In practice it has turned out too high a price for the world community. That is why, in 1981, every two seconds a child paid that price with its life.
…In the face of nuclear war threatening us, the drama of underdevelopment and exploitation that oppresses us, and the economic and social crisis that plagues us, there is no place for resignation of accommodation. The only solutiomn in keeping with man’s stature is to struggle.
And this is the message I bring in my capacity as Chairman of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries. To struggle tirelessly for peace, improved international relations, a halt to the arms race and a drastic reduction in military spending and that a considerable part of those funds be dedicated to developing the Third World.”
(Fidel Castro, Speech at the 7th Non Aligned Summit.)
“How far, O rich, do you extend your senseless avarice? Do you intend to be the sole inhabitants of the earth? Why do you drive out the fellow sharers of nature, and claim it all for yourselves. The earth was made for all, rich and poor, in common. Why do you rich claim it as your exclusive right?”
(St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan.)
“Weary men, what reap ye? Golden corn for the stranger. What sow ye? Human corpses that await for the avenger. Fainting forms, all hunger-stricken, what see you in the offing? Stately ships to bear our food away amid the stranger’s scoffing. There’s a proud array of soldiers what do they round your door? They guard our master’s granaries from the thin hands of the poor.”
(English poet Jane Francesca Wilde.)
“Capital has one sole driving force, the drive to valorise itself [maximise profits for its owner], to create surplus-value [profits], to make its constant part, the means of production, absorb the greatest possible amount of surplus-labour. Capital is dead labour which, vampire-like, only lives by sucking living labour, and lives the more, the more labour it sucks.”
(Karl Marx, Capital Vol 1.)
“What is a bank robbery compared to the setting up of a bank?”
(Gernam playwright, author and activist Berthold Brecht.)
“the United States is slipping into a category of countries – among them Brazil, Britain, and Guatemala – where the gap [between rich and poor] is the worst around the globe.”
(United Nations Human Development Report, 1966.)
“We need a Nuremberg to put on trial the economic order that they have imposed on us, that every three years kills more men, women and children by hunger and preventable or curable diseases than the death toll in six years of the second world war.”
“I am a servant of the hungry, the exploited and the oppressed. Before giving them – if I can do this – the treasures of my spirit, I am obliged to give them bread, justice and freedom. Precisely by participating in the privileges of the intelligentsia, I acquire the means and, consequently, the obligations to actively support society, illuminating its political and social road, stigmatizing those who deceive it and indicating it, as far as possible, the true road and cautioning it against perils.”
(French writer Romain Rolland.)
“Famine and hunger are not inevitable, but are caused by identifiable forces within the province of rational human control. I have tried to identify some of the forces. You are part of humanity; you can be part of that control.”
(Susan George in her excellent book “How the Other Half Die.”)
“How noble the law, in its majestic equality, that both rich and poor are equally prohibited from peeing in the streets, sleeping under bridges, and stealing bread!”
(French philosopher, author, poet and journalist Anatole France.)
“The social system in which a man, willing to work, is compelled to starve, is a blasphemy, an anarchy, and no system.”
(Irish writer Thomas Devin Reilly.)
“The law doth punish man or woman That steals the goose from off the common, But lets the greater felon loose, That steals the common from the goose.”
(Anonymous 1764, during the English land enclosures, where land in common was privatised.)
“Our trade with the Western world is insignificant; 85% of our trade is with the other socialist countries. This crisis affects only 15% of our trade; we’re the ones least affected. This is why we can be the standard-bearers of this cause and speak with complete freedom. …we can feel secure because, fortunately, we depend very little on the Western world, and we don’t depend at all on economic relations with the United States. I wonder how many other countries in the world can say the same.”
“Was the earth made to preserve a few covetous, proud men to live at ease, and for them to bag and barn up the treasures of the Earth from others, that these may beg or starve in a fruitful land; or was it made to preserve all her children?”
(Gerrard Winstanley, The New Law of Righteousness, 1649, some 200 years before Marx.)
“We have a single system, and in that system the only question is the price at which the proletariat is to be bought and sold, the bread and circuses… From top to bottom the whole system is a fraud, all of us know it… all of us are consenting parties to it.”
(US historian and journalist Henry Brooks Adams.)
“The dirty truth is that the rich are the great cause of poverty.”
(US political economist, social scientist and author Michael Parenti.)
“If Latin America were to abstain from borrowing any further money and would pay these ten percent of export earnings for twenty years – at stable world market prices – toward foreign interest charges of 6 percent, these interest payments would amount to almost 430 billion dollars by the year 2005 while total debt would increase to about 445 billion dollars.”
(Philippine Currents, Aug 1987.)
“Countries such as the U.S. and Britain have taken it upon themselves to decide for us in the developing world, even to interfere in our domestic affairs and to bring about what they call regime change.”
(Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe.)
“Esteemed Chairman; Distinguished Representatives of the World Community. I have not come here to talk about Cuba. I have not come to denounce in this Assembly the attacks to which our small but worthy country has been subjected for twenty years. Nor have I come to use unnecessary adjectives to wound a powerful neighbour in his own house…
The first fundamental objective in our struggle consists in reducing and finally eliminating the unequal exchange that prevails today and that makes international trade a vehicle for the further plundering of our wealth. Today, the product of one hour’s work in the developed countries is exchanged for the product of ten hour’s work in the underdeveloped countries… …a historic and moral obligation of those who benefited from the plunder of our wealth and the exploitation of our men and women for decades and for centuries…
Mr Chairman and distinguished representatives, frequent mention is made of human rights, but mention should be made of the rights of mankind. Why should some people go barefoot so that others may ride in expensive cars? Why should some live only 35 years so that others may live to 70? Why should some be miserably poor so that others may be exaggeratedly rich?
I speak on behalf of the World’s children who do not even have a piece of bread (Applause); I speak on behalf of the sick who have no medicine; I speak on behalf of those who have been denied the right to life and human dignity… (Applause)
You cannot speak of peace on behalf of the tens of millions of human beings all over the world who are starving to death or dying of curable diseases. You cannot speak of peace on behalf of nine hundred million illiterates…
Enough of words! We need deeds. (Applause.) Enough of abstraction! We need concrete action. Enough of speaking a speculative new international economic order which nobody understands! (Laughter and applause). We must speak about a real, objective order which everybody understands.”
(Fidel Castro, speech to United Nations, Oct 12 1979.)
“Wherever possible we should try to shape our aid programme to fit more appropriately the pattern of our trade and investment interests in different countries.”
(British Foreign Office, January 26 1968. By the 1990s, for every £1 of this “aid” to poor countries, more than £4.60 came back in profits from those same poor countries. How else could it be that we are so enormously rich and these peoples remain so devastatingly poor?)
“Of what use is political liberty to those who have no bread? It is of value only to ambitious theorists and politicians.”
(French revolutionary leader Jean Paul Marat, 1790.)
“And so, what did the Director of UNICEF say? That if the countries of Latin America had the health levels of Cuba, the lives of 800,000 children would be saved every year. Eight hundred thousand! And if the Director of UNICEF, an agency of United Nations, says that, I ask: Who is it that kills those 800,000 children under one year of age every year? Who is it that kills countless other millions of children between one and fifteen years? Who is it that reduces life expectancy to 40, 45, 50 years in so many places, throughout the centuries? This has happened and goes on happening, to the shame of all of us. The answer is exploitation, colonialism yesterday, imperialism now. And what about those lives, don’t they count? And as to the millions who are growing up mentally retarded or physically disabled, who is causing all of that, who is the guilty party, who is responsible for it?”
(Fidel Castro, at the Meeting on the Foreign Debt of Latin America and the Caribbean, Havana, Aug 3 1985.)
“Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. You can be that great generation.”
(Nelson Mandela.)
“All I wanna say is that they don’t really care about us.”
(Michael Jackson, singing about the poor in Brazil.)
“The power and importance of original quotes cannot be stressed enough.” Accuracy of quotes is also important.
Mitchell continues to use fabricated quotes and, for some reason, they disproportionately involve Jews.
Take this:
This quote is commonplace among anti-Semites and ultra-rightists.
When and where did Kissinger say or write this?
Comment by Alan Ginsberg — May 30, 2018 @ 3:59 pm
This has some bearing on that: https://www.zebrafactcheck.com/did-kissinger-call-depopulation-a-priority/
Comment by louisproyect — May 30, 2018 @ 8:30 pm
fascinating story on the quote attributed to Kissinger.
Comment by Curt Kastens — May 31, 2018 @ 2:46 pm
Kissinger may not have said those exact words in that exact order, but the ruling elites in the U.S. are most definitely interested in ‘population control’; meaning, they have a vested interest in getting rid of a portion of the population everywhere; both here at home and abroad. The world capitalist system is simply incapable of supporting the existing population, let alone the ever increasing numbers of people.
Why else would the right wing here in the U.S. fight tooth and nail to deny people affordable health care? Why are they so interested in destroying environmental safeties that keep people healthy? Why would they cut the miserly benefits that were previously afforded to poor children (like school lunches) or poor people in general (like food stamps)? Why are they so hell-bent on getting rid of social security, medicare and medicaid?
You may say these social programs and environmental regulations cost money, and the capitalist classes don’t want to spend the money. That is true to a certain extent. But most of these programs are easily paid for by the taxes you and I pay (through individual income taxes), and are not an extra burden in terms of corporate taxes, which have been dwindling for more than forty years. Also, the costs of these programs are small compared to, say, the military budget (the healthcare costs are high, granted; but that’s mostly because we have a for-profit healthcare system, and due to high use of technology in the American healthcare system, and the high cost of drugs plus the fact that generics are kept out of, or kept to a minimum in the market by the big pharma).
And of course, the U.S. military and foreign policy are perhaps the biggest instruments of ‘population control’ overseas.
Comment by Reza — May 31, 2018 @ 11:40 pm
It’s interesting that the alt-right wing nut sites like Alex Jones’ always talk about the evil goal of the elite being population control and they’re strongly against it but mainly because they’re so rabidly anti-abortion. It seems evangelicals always want more souls to pack into heaven.
Comment by Karl Friedrich — June 6, 2018 @ 6:04 am
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GRAMMY AWARD-WINNING SUPERSTAR BRUNO MARS RETURNS TO PARK MGM IN LAS VEGAS
Mars Adds 11 2019 Show Dates; Tickets on Sale Friday, Feb. 8 at 10 a.m. PST
LAS VEGAS (February 4, 2019) – Multi-GRAMMY Award-winning superstar Bruno Mars will return to Park Theater at Park MGM in Las Vegas for 11 new performance dates in 2019.
Monday Sept. 9
Tuesday Sept. 10
Tickets for the shows start at $87.61, not including applicable service charges, and go on sale to the general public Friday, Feb. 8 at 10 a.m. PST. Tickets can be purchased online at ticketmaster.com.
M life Rewards members and Live Nation customers will receive access to a pre-sale running Wednesday, Feb. 6 at 10 a.m. PST to Thursday, Feb. 7 at 10 p.m. PST. To join the M life Rewards program or for more information, visit mlife.com.
About Bruno Mars
11x GRAMMY Award-winner and 27-time GRAMMY Award-nominee Bruno Mars is a celebrated singer, songwriter, producer, and musician who has sold more than 180 million singles worldwide, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time. Recently, Mars’ critically acclaimed RIAA certified triple-platinum album 24K Magic album swept the 2018 GRAMMY Awards taking the most coveted trophies for Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year. The album marked his highest first week sales debut, remaining in the Top 10 on the Billboard 200 for an impressive 44 consecutive weeks. The lead hit single “24K Magic” is certified four-times Platinum by the RIAA. Mars’ six-time platinum certified single “That’s What I Like” climbed to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking his seventh Hot 100 chart-topper and his first No. 1 on the Hot R&B Songs chart, where it remained at the top-spot for 19 consecutive weeks.
Mars is the first artist to have two songs spend 24 or more weeks in the Hot 100’s Top 5 (“That’s What I Like” and “Uptown Funk”). He is the only artist in the past year to have both a four-time and six-time platinum single from the same album. Also, Mars is one of the few artists to have written and produced all of his No. 1 hits and has had a No. 1 song on the Hot 100 from each of his first three studio albums.
With seven Hot 100 No. 1s, Mars is ranked No. 1 among male artists with the most Hot 100 No. 1s for this decade, extending his lead over Justin Bieber, Drake, Eminem, and The Weeknd. Mars has been traveling the globe on his massive 24K Magic World Tour, which sold more than 1 million tickets in a single day. In 2015, Mars dominated music charts with the hit single “Uptown Funk,” which took home three GRAMMY Awards, including Record of the Year. Mars’ first solo single, “Just The Way You Are” recently achieved RIAA Diamond certification.
About Park Theater
Park Theater is the entertainment centerpiece of Park MGM, a partnership between MGM Resorts International and New York-based Sydell Group. The resort features two distinct hotel experiences, including a Las Vegas version of Sydell’s widely acclaimed NoMad Hotel. The 5,200-seat venue, with its cutting-edge audio and visual technology, provides artists of diverse talents with a dynamic space to create one-of-a-kind productions where every seat allows guests to feel up close and personal. From comedy shows and live concerts, to sporting events and award shows, the theater is specially designed to transform seamlessly for any occasion. Park Theater is home to special engagements by Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Aerosmith and Cher. For more Park Theater show and ticket information, visit ParkTheaterLV.com or follow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
About Live Nation Las Vegas
Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE: LYV) is the world’s leading live entertainment company comprised of global market leaders: Ticketmaster, Live Nation & House of Blues Concerts, LN Media and Artist Nation Management. Live Nation Las Vegas produces residency shows from Gwen Stefani, Backstreet Boys and Christina Aguilera at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino; Lady Gaga, Aerosmith, Bruno Mars, Stevie Wonder and Queen + Adam Lambert at Park Theater at Park MGM; Mariah Carey at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace; and Blink 182, Billy Idol and Lady Antebellum at Pearl Concert Theater at the Palms. Live Nation Las Vegas also brings other world-famous artists to many of the city’s other premier concert venues including T-Mobile Arena, Mandalay Bay Events Center, MGM Grand Garden Arena, House of Blues, Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, and more. For additional information, visit www.livenation.com. Find Live Nation Las Vegas on Facebook, Instagram and follow us on Twitter.
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939 F. 2d 44 - Lerman v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue
939 F2d 44 Lerman v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue
68 A.F.T.R.2d 91-5223, 91-2 USTC P 50,480
Charles S. LERMAN and Barbara Lerman, Cross-Appellants at
No. 90-1835 Appellees at No. 90-1813,
COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Appellant at No. 90-1813
Cross-Appellee at No. 90-1835.
Joseph L. FRAITES and Evelyn Fraites, Cross-Appellants at
Dwight B. MASSEY and Joann V. Massey, Cross-Appellants at
Nos. 90-1813 to 90-1815 and 90-1835 to 90-1837.
Elias Rosenzweig (argued), Stanley Klein, Michael Weitzner, Brauner, Baron, Rosenzweig, Kligler, Sparber, Bauman & Klein, New York City.
Shirley D. Peterson, Asst. Atty. Gen., Kenneth L. Greene (argued), Gary R. Allen, Kimberly S. Stanley, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Tax Div., Washington, D.C.
Before SLOVITER, Chief Judge, and GREENBERG and HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judges.
GREENBERG, Circuit Judge.
This case involves the continuing saga of a crackdown by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue on a tax shelter device we will call the "option-straddle transaction" and the divers attempts of various taxpayers to avoid the consequences of this crackdown.
The particular straddle transactions involved silver options on the London Metals Exchange. Appellant-taxpayers, Charles S. Lerman, Joseph L. Fraites, and Dwight B. Massey, who on this appeal are assumed to be commodities dealers, engaged in the transactions on the Exchange, and deducted losses, for 1975, 1976, and 1977 purportedly incurred in those transactions. The Commissioner disallowed the deductions and assessed deficiencies against them. The appellants sought a redetermination of the deficiencies in the Tax Court, and both sides moved for summary judgment.
The Tax Court granted the Commissioner's motion, holding that the transactions were devoid of economic substance and therefore created no "loss" for which a deduction could be based. Fox v. Comm'r, 56 T.C.M. (CCH) 863 (1988). The Tax Court rejected the appellants' argument that, because they were commodities dealers, section 108(b) of the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984, Pub.L. No. 98-369, Sec. 108(b), 98 Stat. 494, 630, as amended by the Tax Reform Act of 1986, Pub.L. No. 99-514, Sec. 1808(d)(2), (4), 100 Stat. 2085, 2817-18, reprinted at I.R.C. (26 U.S.C.) Sec. 1092 note (1988) (hereinafter "section 108(b)"), countenanced the deductions. Section 108(a) provides that "any loss" "form[ing] part of a [pre-1982] straddle" "shall be allowed" "if such loss is incurred in a trade or business" or "if such loss is incurred in a transaction entered into for profit though not connected with a trade or business." I.R.C. Sec. 1092 note (section 108(a)). Section 108(b) provides an irrebuttable presumption that any straddle-related "loss incurred by a commodities dealer in the trading of commodities shall be treated as a loss incurred in a trade or business." Id. (section 108(b)) (emphasis added). The Tax Court held that the irrebuttable trade-or-business-loss presumption of section 108(b) is inapplicable to sham transactions devoid of economic substance, and thus cannot justify the deductions.
We agree. If a transaction is devoid of economic substance--as the transactions involved here undeniably were--, it simply is not recognized for federal taxation purposes, for better or for worse. This denial of recognition means that a sham transaction, devoid of economic substance, cannot be the basis for a deductible "loss." Section 108, then, which allows deductions for losses incurred pursuant to straddle transactions, is inapplicable to straddle transactions devoid of economic substance as there is no "loss" to which the presumption provided by section 108 can apply.
The Tax Court had jurisdiction pursuant to I.R.C. Secs. 6214(a), 7442. We have jurisdiction to review final decisions of the Tax Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1291, and I.R.C. Sec. 7482(a). Inasmuch as the appellants resided in New Jersey at the time of the filing of their respective petitions to the Tax Court, venue for these appeals lies in this court pursuant to I.R.C. Sec. 7482(b)(1)(A). Timely notices of appeal were respectively filed by the taxpayers and the Commissioner.1
Facts/Procedural History
The underlying facts of this case are essentially not in dispute. Each appellant claims to be a "commodities dealer" as that term is used in the Code,2 and each seeks to deduct losses incurred as a result of dealings in option-straddle transactions engaged in through brokers operating on the London Metal Exchange in 1975, 1976 and 1977.3 In a prior, unrelated case, Glass v. Comm'r, 87 T.C. 1087 (1986), which we discuss in further detail infra, the Tax Court held that the London option-straddle transactions are shams, lacking in economic substance. The petitioners in Glass were therefore denied the deductions they claimed as "losses" incurred from the transactions. 87 T.C. at 1177. Significantly, however, the Glass court stated that, "[t]he case before us does not involve commodities dealers." Id. at 1167.
The parties here stipulated that the "London options transactions at issue in this case are of the same type as those described by the Court in Glass et al. v. Commissioner, 87 T.C. No. 68 (Nov. 17, 1986) in the Court's Findings of Fact, Section III A." They thus agree, per Glass, that the transactions in this case were shams, lacking economic substance. Appellants nonetheless moved before the Tax Court for summary judgment, arguing that as commodities dealers they should be permitted to deduct the losses pursuant to section 108(b). Appellants contended that, because they are commodities dealers, under section 108(b) they are presumed to have incurred the straddle-generated losses in a trade or business, and that the transactions in which they engaged therefore cannot be classified as shams devoid of economic substance. They argued that their case was distinguishable from Glass, which did not involve commodities dealers. The Commissioner, however, refused to concede that appellants were dealers and the Tax Court held that "[w]e are unable to establish from the stipulated facts that petitioners were 'person[s] who [were] actively engaged in trading [I.R.C. Sec.] 1256 contracts and [were] registered with a domestic board of trade which is designated as a contract market by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission' during the years at issue." 56 T.C.M. at 866. See n. 2 ante. Since the appellants' commodities dealer status remained in dispute, and since their entitlement to the presumption provided by section 108 revolved around this controverted issue of material fact, the Tax Court denied their summary judgment motion, a disposition not before us on appeal. 56 T.C.M. at 867.
The Commissioner cross-moved for summary judgment on the basis that, as a matter of law, even if the appellants were commodities dealers they were not entitled to the deductions. Relying on its opinion in Glass for the proposition that the London option-straddle transactions were devoid of economic substance, and on its opinion in Cook v. Comm'r, 90 T.C. 975 (1988), aff'd, 931 F.2d 59 (9th Cir.1991) (table), holding that since the London option-straddle transactions are economic shams devoid of substance even commodities dealers may not take deductions based on losses sustained in the transactions, the Tax Court granted the Commissioner's motion. The court held that, as a matter of law, even if appellants are commodities dealers, the London option-straddle transactions are shams, 56 T.C.M. at 869, and that since the transactions therefore lack economic substance, they produce no "loss" to which section 108 could apply. Id.
The Tax Court based its summary judgment on a legal determination regarding the construction of section 108 and thus our review is plenary. See Pleasant Summit Land Corp. v. Comm'r, 863 F.2d 263, 268 (3d Cir.1988), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 260, 107 L.Ed.2d 210 (1989); Casper v. Comm'r, 805 F.2d 902, 904 (10th Cir.1986) (Tax Court's decision to grant summary judgment is legal determination reviewable de novo by court of appeals). As the Commissioner was the prevailing party in the Tax Court, we resolve all controverted issues of material fact in favor of the appellants and accordingly, like the Tax Court, for the purposes of this appeal we assume that they are commodities dealers.
The London Option-Straddle Transactions4
The London Metal Exchange is a commodity exchange on which cash, futures, and option contracts in silver, copper, zinc, tin, and lead are traded. Unlike its counterparts in the United States, such as the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the Exchange does not operate as a clearing house for trades. Rather, all transactions on or subject to Exchange rules are executed on a principal-to-principal basis, meaning that a person purchasing an option or futures contract through a broker/dealer, purchases that contract from the broker/dealer. The broker/dealer does not operate simply as an agent for a third party.
A person can trade on the Exchange in options or futures or both. The three most common forms of options are call, put, and double options. A call option gives the holder/buyer the right to buy from the grantor/seller a specified quantity of a commodity at an agreed price at any time before the option's expiration date. A put option gives the holder the right to sell a specified quantity of a commodity at an agreed price to the grantor at any time before the option's expiration date. A double option gives the holder the right either to sell or buy the underlying commodity at the agreed price before the option's expiration date. Under an option contract the holder has the right but not the obligation to purchase or sell the stated commodity at the agreed price and, accordingly, is never at risk for more than the cost of the option.
A futures contract requires the buyer to receive, and the seller to deliver, a specified quantity of a given commodity at some future date. Although a futures contract is legally binding between the parties, actual delivery of the underlying commodity rarely occurs. In traded futures and traded options, the contract is normally terminated ("closed out") before actual delivery by offsets, that is, the execution of an equal and opposite transaction. See DeMartino v. Comm'r, 862 F.2d 400, 402 (2d Cir.1988).
A "straddle" is the simultaneous holding of a contract to buy and a contract to sell the same commodity. Kirchman v. Comm'r, 862 F.2d 1486, 1488 (11th Cir.1989). It consists of the simultaneous holding of a "long position" (a purchased contract) of a commodity for delivery in a future month, and a "short position" (a sold contract) for the identical amount of the same commodity for delivery in a different future month. Each contract is called the "leg" of the straddle. A straddle may be established (or "put on") using either option or future contracts or a combination of both. A "switch" occurs when the holder of a straddle liquidates (i.e., closes out) one leg of the straddle and replaces it by either purchasing or selling (depending on which leg was closed out) an identical quantity of the same commodity for delivery in a different month.
The potential for profit from a straddle derives from changes in the price differential between the legs of the straddle. A straddle in which the long position is held in a month farther out than the short position increases in value if the price differential between the legs widens, and decreases in value if the price differential narrows. Conversely, a straddle in which the short position is held in a month farther out than the long position increases in value if the price differential narrows, and decreases in value if the price differential widens.
On the Exchange, the more common transaction strategy involved what is called the option-straddle transaction. The option-straddle strategy was based on the use of both option and futures contracts.
The typical London option transaction involved a two-year series of trades in options and futures designed to create losses in the first year and nearly offsetting gains in the second year. In the first year, the following combination of trades was initiated:
(1) an option-straddle was established, consisting of the simultaneous purchase and sale of either a call or put option, or both, for identical quantities of the same commodity with different delivery dates; and
(2) a futures straddle was also established, consisting of the simultaneous purchase and sale of futures contracts for identical quantities of the same commodity with different delivery dates.
Shortly after the option-straddle was established, the legs would be closed out through the purchase and sale of identical offsetting positions. If a call option was purchased, the dealer would sell an identical put option; vice versa for a put option. Because this second set of option contracts would be purchased and sold on a different date than the original option contracts, the prices of the contracts would differ. The result would be that in closing out one leg of the option straddle, the taxpayer would incur a loss, and in closing out the other leg, the taxpayer would incur an approximately equal gain. The loss realized would be deducted as ordinary loss under I.R.C. Sec. 165(c)(2) and offset income from other unrelated sources. The gain would be a short-term capital gain. See Kirchman, 862 F.2d at 1488.
Next, to defer recognition of the gain, the "loss" leg of the futures straddle would be closed out in a "switch transaction" through the purchase (or sale) of an identical offsetting position and replaced by a new position with a different delivery date. The net loss on the closed leg of the futures straddle would be reported as a short-term capital loss in the first year and would approximately equal the short-term capital gain incurred in closing out the option position described above. This capital loss would offset the capital gain.
The final step of a typical option-straddle transaction occurred in the subsequent year, although not earlier than six months after the switch. Both legs of the futures straddle would be closed out by offsetting trades, resulting in a gain approximately equal to the loss incurred on the switch in the previous year. The gain incurred would be reported as either short-term or long-term capital gain in the second year of the transaction. Many participants attempted to defer or convert this second-year gain by engaging in a rollover transaction, which meant putting on another futures straddle in the second year of the transaction, subsequently closing out the loss leg in a switch and then closing out the straddle at a gain in the third year. The net general objective of these transactions was the realization of ordinary loss in the first year, and the deferral of capital gain, short- or long-term, to the second year. While paper "losses" were substantial for tax purposes in year-one, ultimate actual losses, if any--and actual gains, if any--, were small by comparison.
The Glass Decision and Section 108
Glass v. Comm'r, 87 T.C. 1087,5 involved aggregate deficiencies determined by the Commissioner against over 1000 taxpayers totalling in excess of $61 million for the years 1975-1980. The transactions involved the "London option-straddle transaction," and were all virtually identical to the transactions described above. There were two issues before the Tax Court in Glass: (1) whether the transactions were shams; and (2) if not, whether the transactions were entered into for profit under the standard set forth in section 108. 87 T.C. at 1091.
The Tax Court in Glass found that the London option transaction was without economic substance and was a sham.6 Id. at 1177. It therefore determined that the transaction and loss deductions taken pursuant thereto must be disregarded for federal income tax purposes. Id. The Tax Court analyzed the entire two-year scheme in detail and concluded that the transactions were "intentional[ly] skew[ed] ... to realize year one losses...." Id. at 1174. The potential for a profit existed but the taxpayers avoided making a profit by intentionally realizing losses in the first year which "were not necessary or helpful in profiting from difference gains in petitioners' commodity straddle transactions." Id. at 1175-76. Based on its determination that the London options transactions lacked economic substance and were shams, the Tax Court further held that section 108 was "not available to permit loss deductions in the first year of commodity straddle transactions when, as here, the sham involves a series of transactions having no business or profit-making function apart from obtaining tax deductions." Id. at 1176.
The Tax Court in Glass rejected the taxpayers' argument that, since the tax effects to them of the transactions were sometimes adverse, the Commissioner's allegation that they paid for pre-arranged tax results was unfounded since it failed to account for the ability to offset in future years. The Tax Court found that "[i]t requires no lengthy or elaborate analysis of the facts to demonstrate that petitioners did not enter into these transactions primarily for economic profit," and that "[t]he expected tax benefits completely overwhelm[ed] any potential economic benefits that might have been expected from the straddles." Id. at 1162. "[P]etitioners hoped to obtain substantial interest-free loans from the government and achieve more favorable tax rates. At the same time the actual economic gains realized through straddling were either minuscule or non-existent." Id. at 1163.
During the course of the proceedings in Glass, but before decision was rendered, Congress enacted section 108 of the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984, Pub.L. No. 98-369, 98 Stat. 494, 630, subsection (a) of which essentially provided that losses from the disposition of a leg of a straddle entered into before 1982, were deductible if the straddle was entered into "for profit." Subsection (b) provided that straddle transactions of commodities dealers were rebuttably presumed to have been entered into for profit.7 Section 108 was enacted as a response to the Commissioner's decision to challenge the deductibility of losses incurred in London option transactions, which resulted in an overwhelming amount of litigation. To deal with the backlog of straddle cases, in 1984 Congress passed section 108, with its for-profit presumption.8
The Tax Court first applied the 1984 section 108 in Miller v. Comm'r, 84 T.C. 827 (1985). In Miller, the Commissioner argued that the phrase "transaction entered into for profit" used in section 108 was unambiguous, was intended to be interpreted identically to the exact same phrase as used in I.R.C. Sec. 165(c), and transactions not entered into primarily for profit were therefore not entitled to a loss deduction. A divided Tax Court rejected this argument finding that the language of section 108 was "sufficiently ambiguous to warrant [a] search for interpretive assistance." 84 T.C. at 838. Relying on the legislative history of section 108, the Tax Court found that the phrase "transaction entered into for profit" as used in section 108, allowed deductions for loss when the taxpayer merely had a "reasonable expectation of any profit." Section 108 did not require that profit have been the primary motive for the transaction. Id. at 841-42.
The Tax Court's decision in Miller, however, was reversed. Miller v. Comm'r, 836 F.2d 1274 (10th Cir.1988). The Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that section 108 incorporated the "primarily for profit" standard that has emerged as the settled case law of I.R.C. Sec. 165(c)(2). Prior to the court of appeals' decision, however, and in direct response to the Tax Court's holding in Miller, Congress retroactively amended section 108 in section 1808(d) of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, Pub.L. No. 99-514, 100 Stat. 2085, 2817. As amended, section 108(a) provides that losses attributable to the disposition of a leg of a commodity straddle are deductible if incurred in a trade or business or in a transaction entered into for profit. Section 108(b), in turn, provides an irrebuttable presumption that losses incurred by a commodities dealer were incurred in a trade or business.9 As explained by the Tax Court in Glass, amended section 108 traces the pattern of the loss provisions of I.R.C. Secs. 165(c)(1) and (2),10 and "makes it clear that losses incurred by commodities dealers trading in commodities are deductible under section 108 since they are losses incurred in a trade or business." Non-dealer investors, on the other hand, must meet the test of loss incurred in a transaction entered into for profit. Thus, in Glass, rendering decision based on section 108 as retroactively amended, the Tax Court stated that the deductibility of straddle losses was to be determined by a "primarily for profit" standard. 87 T.C. at 1167.11 "The case before us," said the court, "does not involve commodities dealers." Glass, 87 T.C. at 1167.
The Cook Decision
Subsequent to its decision in Glass, the Tax Court decided Cook v. Comm'r, 90 T.C. 975 (1988), aff'd, 931 F.2d 59 (9th Cir.1991) (table). Cook involved a motion for reconsideration by one of the taxpayers in Glass based on a taxpayer's contention that he was in fact a commodities dealer during the tax years at issue in Glass. Therefore, according to the taxpayer, the per se rule under section 108(b) for commodities dealer losses incurred in a trade or business allowed him to take deductions for losses incurred in the London option transactions, 90 T.C. at 979. For purposes of his argument, the taxpayer conceded that his straddle transactions "lacked economic substance and were a sham in the economic sense," which the Tax Court noted was "consistent with [its] holding in Glass." Id. at 980.
The Cook petitioner's position was, of course, virtually identical to that of the appellants in that both rest on section 108(b). Thus, in this case, the appellants contend as did the petitioner in Cook, that a commodities dealer, as a matter of law, is entitled to the deductions for losses on the Exchange because under section 108(b), losses incurred by a commodities dealer in straddle transactions are irrebuttably presumed to have been incurred in a trade or business and under section 108(a) are allowable deductions. See 90 T.C. at 979.
The Commissioner's position in Cook was identical to the position he takes before this court. The Commissioner argued there that section 108(b) is not applicable to sustain loss deductions claimed from the London option transactions because the transactions were shams in substance, prearranged solely to achieve a tax-avoidance objective. As such, section 108(a) does not apply in determining whether the losses were allowable. Because section 108(a) does not apply, section 108(b) and its presumption do not come into play. Put another way, the Commissioner argued--and again argues here--that when a transaction lacks economic substance, there is, in the legal sense, no loss for purposes of section 108(a), and the presumption of section 108(b), therefore, simply does not apply.
In Cook, the Tax Court conceded that its statement in Glass that the case did not involve commodities dealers was "inaccurate" at least as to Cook. The Tax Court nonetheless did not allow his deductions. It held that, even as to commodities dealers, "it is appropriate before applying the per se rule of section 108(b) to enquire whether straddle transactions were fictitious, prearranged, or otherwise in violation of the rules of the exchange, and if so, whether there were losses actually incurred." 90 T.C. at 986. See also id. n. 6. Since the London option transactions were unquestionably prearranged to generate a loss, reasoned the court, the per se rule of section 108(b) was unavailable to Cook.
In reaching its determination in Cook, the Tax Court considered it appropriate to consider the legislative history surrounding section 108(b) which "expressly provides a caveat to the per se rule." 90 T.C. at 984. The House Report regarding amended section 108(b) states that the section 108(b) "presumption would not be available in any cases where the trades were fictitious, prearranged, or otherwise in violation of the rules of the exchange in which the dealer is a member." H.R. Rep. 426, 99th Cong., 1st Sess. 911 (1985) (emphasis added).
The Tax Court stated that the "prearranged" language of the Report "casts a shadow on the otherwise bright line parameters of the per se rule." 90 T.C. at 985. Based on the language in the House Report, the Tax Court determined that, where the losses are prearranged, the issue arises whether the losses were actually incurred, which is a necessary precondition to the application of the per se rule. The Tax Court reiterated its finding in Glass that the losses putatively incurred were lacking in economic substance and therefore were shams. "In effect, then, no losses were incurred." Thus, the per se dealer rule is not available since section 108(b) only applies to "any loss" incurred by a commodities dealer. Id. at 985. The Tax Court further noted that "we think it would be highly anomalous to disallow loss deductions to over 1,000 petitioners claiming them under the London Option Transaction, as we have done in Glass, while allowing them to petitioner, even though a dealer, on the self-same transaction." Id. at 985. Accordingly, the holding in Cook stands for the proposition that the per se dealer rule will be unavailable not only in situations involving fictitious transactions but will also be unavailable to dealers involved in actual transactions, "prearranged" to lack economic substance.
Glass, Cook, and Section 108 As Applied To This Case
Appellants' basic position before this court is that section 108(b) was intended to treat dealers as a favored class and to make the "profit motive" test inapplicable to them. They argue that section 108(b) allows them to deduct losses incurred pursuant to straddle transactions, even if those transactions are unquestionably economic shams. Accordingly, if dealers incur losses in transactions designed solely to generate tax losses, they are nonetheless deductible because section 108(b) precludes the Commissioner from challenging dealers' profit motive.
The legislative history to section 108 as amended allegedly reflects a congressional intent in accord with this position. Appellants claim that section 108 was originally enacted in a congressional effort to "break the log jam" of cases in which the Commissioner challenged loss deductions based on options or future straddle transactions.12 The amendments to section 108, particularly the addition of the irrebuttable presumption regarding commodities dealers in subsection (b), are said to reflect a congressional intent to give commodities dealers special treatment regarding straddle transactions. According to appellants, the amendment to section 108 was intended, and is understood, to have given straddle-loss-deduction amnesty to everyone engaged in the commodities trading business. Thus, appellants urge this court to hold that section 108(b) applies to provide an irrebuttable presumption that losses stemming from straddle transactions engaged in by dealers before 1982 are deductible even though such transactions were designed solely to create tax losses. We decline to accept this invitation.
Per Gregory v. Helvering, 293 U.S. 465, 55 S.Ct. 266, 79 L.Ed. 596 (1935), it is settled federal tax law that for transactions to be recognized for tax purposes they must have economic substance. Therefore, economic substance is a prerequisite to the application of any Code provisions allowing deductions, including section 108.
The London option transactions involved lacked economic substance because they were prearranged transactions intended solely to generate tax benefits in the form of deductible losses. Thus, as they lacked economic substance, they cannot be recognized for tax purposes. Because they are not recognized for tax purposes, section 108 does not even come into play. Section 108(b) applies to "any loss" deducted under section 108(a), but section 108(a) cannot be applied to transactions lacking in economic substance because, in tax terms, a transaction lacking in economic substance cannot result in a "loss." The option-straddles in this case, then, lacking economic substance and therefore non-recognizable for tax purposes, produced no "losses" to which section 108(a) can apply, thus precluding any application of section 108(b).
We agree that the irrebuttable presumption in amended section 108(b) was intended to, and did, eliminate any profit motive inquiry for straddle transactions as to dealers. We agree also that this amendment reflected Congress' concern with the inherent difficulty in determining a dealer's profit motive with respect to any particular trade because a dealer is involved in so many trades. Amended section 108(b), therefore, was enacted to avoid this difficulty. Thus, section 108(b) prevents the Commissioner from disallowing loss deductions by pointing to evidence that any one dealer did not have a profit motive when engaging in a straddle transaction.
We see no basis to hold, however, that the amendment to section 108(b) was intended to override the long-standing requirement that transactions have economic substance to be qualified for loss deduction status. See DeMartino, 862 F.2d at 407; Cook, 90 T.C. at 984-85. As explained in DeMartino, elimination of a profit motive inquiry does not "prevent the inquiry into the economic substance of a dealer's commodity trading." The Tax Court and numerous appellate courts have held that section 108 does not apply to sham commodity transactions devoid of economic substance. See, e.g., Glass, 87 T.C. at 1176; Keane, 865 F.2d at 1093; Sochin, 843 F.2d at 353-54 n. 6. The fact that such a transaction involves a commodities dealer is neither a logical nor a statutorily-authorized reason to alter the economic substance rule.
For instance, in DeMartino v. Comm'r, 862 F.2d at 400, the taxpayer, a commodities trader, invested in crude oil future straddles executed on the New York Cotton Exchange, a regulated American exchange. The market in crude oil futures was extremely thin and the brokers were able effectively to control the contract prices. They executed these contracts in a prearranged plan designed to create tax losses without any real possibility of gain or loss. The Commissioner assessed deficiencies which the Tax Court upheld, finding that the transactions were shams and that the losses sustained therein could not be recognized for federal tax purposes. 862 F.2d at 404. On appeal, the taxpayer claimed that he was entitled to the deductions under section 108(b) since he was a dealer. The taxpayer claimed that since his trades were not factual shams, but were cleared through a regulated American exchange, they had economic substance and, even if they did not have economic substance, section 108(b) applied to allow the deductions.
The court of appeals rejected this argument. The court first held that, even though the trades were cleared on a regulated American exchange, they lacked economic substance because they were prearranged to result in nothing more than tax losses. 862 F.2d at 406. The court then rejected the argument that section 108(b) nonetheless entitled the taxpayer/dealer to the deductions. The court stated that in enacting section 108(b):
Congress eliminated the profit motive inquiry in cases involving dealers because of the inherent difficulty involved in making such an inquiry, but it did not prevent inquiry into the economic substance of a dealer's commodity trading.
862 F.2d at 407 (emphasis added).
The court further stated that section 108(a) does not apply to straddle transactions that are shams and since section 108(a) cannot apply to sham transactions, section 108(b) does not apply. The court defined a sham as a transaction that "is fictitious or ... has no business purpose or economic effect other than the creation of tax deductions." Id. at 406.13
And quite recently, in Cook v. Comm'r, 90 T.C. 975, the Tax Court held specifically that even as to commodities dealers involved in the London option transactions, the presumption provided by section 108(b) is not available where the transactions are devoid of economic substance. As discussed above, the Tax Court held that, even as to commodities dealers, before applying section 108(b), a straddle transaction must have economic substance. Id. at 986. The Tax Court found that since the London option transaction was "deliberately prearranged," section 108(b) was unavailable to sustain the petitioner's deductions. Id.
The Tax Court considered the legislative history surrounding section 108(b) and particularly focused on the language in the House Report noted above which states that the section 108(b) "presumption would not be available in any cases where the trades were fictitious, prearranged, or otherwise in violation of the rules of the exchange in which the dealer is a member." H.R.Rep. No. 426, 99th Cong., 1st Sess. 911 (1985). The presumption in section 108(b), then, absolves dealers of the need to prove any profit motive so long as the transactions involved are not fictitious, prearranged, or otherwise in violation of the exchange's rules. 90 T.C. at 985-86.
Based on this language, the Cook court determined that, where the losses are prearranged they are non-recognizable for tax purposes. Such non-recognizable losses lack economic substance and are therefore shams. In essence, losses pursuant to sham transactions are not losses for tax purposes. Therefore, the per se dealer rule is not available to sustain deductions based on the alleged losses since section 108(b) only applies to "any loss " incurred by a commodities dealer--and any "loss " must be an actual loss.
We accept the reasoning in DeMartino and Cook, there being no principled distinction between them and the present case as to facts or legal consequences. The basic rule of law is that taxation is based upon substance, not form. Gregory, 293 U.S. at 469-70, 55 S.Ct. at 267-68. The holdings in DeMartino and Cook, and the position taken by the Commissioner in this case are in accord with that rule. The result urged on this court by appellants would allow a small group of taxpayers--commodities dealers who engaged in sham straddle transactions before 1982--to claim "losses" when none in fact were sustained. We do not believe Congress intended this unseemly result, which would undermine the power and duty of the Commissioner and the courts to look beyond the mere forms of transactions to their economic substance and to apply the tax laws accordingly. Forseth v. Comm'r, 845 F.2d 746, 749 (7th Cir.1988).
The economic substance doctrine has been consistently applied by the courts for many years in a variety of tax situations. There is no sound reason to conclude that, in enacting the amendments to section 108(b), Congress meant to abandon the doctrine. See, e.g., Frank Lyon Co. v. United States, 435 U.S. 561, 98 S.Ct. 1291, 55 L.Ed.2d 550 (1978) (court looked at economic substance or reality of sale and leaseback transactions); Knetsch v. United States, 364 U.S. 361, 81 S.Ct. 132, 5 L.Ed.2d 128 (1960) (interest expense deductions disallowed because only thing of substance to be realized from transaction was tax deduction); Commissioner v. Court Holding Co., 324 U.S. 331, 65 S.Ct. 707, 89 L.Ed. 981 (1945) (recognizing step transaction doctrine, whereby courts must consider all steps of transaction in light of entire transaction, so that substance of transaction will control over form of each step).
In essence, the appellants would have this court find that, because of a backlog in the court system, Congress abandoned the economic substance requirement as to straddle transactions involving dealers, along with some 40 years of jurisprudence regarding the economic substance doctrine, and instead gave these sham transactions post-facto blessing. This is an unreasonable conclusion, and one which as a basic tenet of statutory interpretation should not be reached. See Dewees, 870 F.2d at 35-36 (it is unreasonable to believe that Congress in enacting section 108 wished to weaken the sham in substance doctrine). See also Haggar Co. v. Helvering, 308 U.S. 389, 394, 60 S.Ct. 337, 339-40, 84 L.Ed. 340 (1940). If Congress had intended to grant such a windfall it could and, one must assume, would have done so in a manner free from any doubt or ambiguity.
Faced with overwhelming and well-reasoned case law, see, e.g., n. 15 infra, and less than unambiguous statutory authority, the appellants nonetheless contend that section 108(b) does apply to sustain their sham transaction deductions. They urge that the legislative history of section 108 proves that Congress, in creating the irrebuttable presumption of profit-motives for dealers, intended to allow dealers to deduct losses pursuant to sham transactions such as those involved in this case. According to the appellants, Congress clearly intended to sacrifice the tax revenue which would be received pursuant to disallowing deductions sought by dealers in its desire to clear the Tax Court's docket of cases involving straddle transactions. In its attempt to do so, it amended section 108(b) to remove the profit motive requirement as to dealers because of the inherent difficulty in determining the existence or lack thereof of profit motive for dealers in numerous individual transactions. That is, for expediency's sake, Congress gave dealers unique treatment as far as pre-1982 straddle transactions, granting them an unquestionable right to deduct losses based on straddle transactions, in an effort to clear the docket of these cases.
Although the legislative history of section 108 does reveal congressional concern with the logjam of straddle cases before the Tax Court, the idea that Congress intended to grant dealers the right to deduct losses pursuant to sham transactions is unpersuasive. Both the 1984 and 1986 versions of section 108(b) reflect congressional recognition that dealers conduct numerous trades, as a result of which there is an "inherent difficulty in distinguishing tax-motivated straddle transactions from profit-motivated straddle transactions...." H.R.Rep. No. 426, 99th Cong., 1st Sess. at 910-11 (1985). Thus, it is quite possible that in amending section 108(b), Congress was willing to give up a certain amount of revenue from straddle transactions because it recognized the inherent difficulty in proving a dealer's subjective profit motive as to any one transaction. This, however, is a far cry from saying that Congress intended to allow dealers to take deductions based on straddle transactions totally devoid of any purpose beyond the generation of tax deductions and passed a statute by which there would be absolutely no inquiry into the substantial tax validity of such transactions.
The much more logical conclusion is that reached by the court of appeals in DeMartino--viz, that section 108 eliminated the profit motive inquiry in cases involving dealers because of the inherent difficulty in making such an inquiry, but it did not prevent inquiry into the economic substance of a dealer's commodities trading. 862 F.2d at 407. There is ample support for this proposition. See Knetsch v. United States, 364 U.S. at 365, 81 S.Ct. at 134-35 (Court put aside district court's finding concerning motive in determining whether a transaction was a sham); Forseth, 845 F.2d at 748 (if a transaction is a sham, then such "niceties" as whether it was primarily for profit are not involved); Kirchman, 862 F.2d at 1492 (once a court determines that a transaction is a sham, no further inquiry into intent is necessary); Dewees, 870 F.2d at 35 (a taxpayer cannot deduct a sham transaction loss, irrespective of his subjective profit motive).14 Furthermore, we see no internal inconsistency in the DeMartino conclusion as it does not follow that Congress by restraining one inquiry intended that a conclusion on another point must follow.
Finally, although the majority of the cases construing the London option transactions did not involve commodities dealers, a number of them do involve section 108 in general. These cases have uniformly held that when a transaction is a sham, it is outside the purview of section 108. Since the application of section 108(b) depends on the availability of section 108(a), the fact that this case involves commodities dealers is not sufficient to distinguish it from the overwhelming majority of cases which have found section 108 unavailable to the London option transactions.15 These cases confirm our belief that Congress did not enact section 108(b) as a safe harbor for commodities dealers who engage in transactions devoid of economic substance, prearranged to create losses. In essence, the problem with the appellants' case is that they were really trading tax consequences rather than silver.
The Tax Court correctly determined that the option-straddle transactions at issue in this case are shams, devoid of economic substance, and thus any losses generated thereby cannot be the basis for deductions. Section 108(a), which allows loss deductions for straddle transactions, does not apply to countenance deductions for a sham transaction from which no true "loss" occurs, and the trade-or-business-loss presumption of section 108(b) cannot be claimed by commodities dealers unless they have sustained an actual loss. Therefore, we will affirm the decisions of the Tax Court and will dismiss the appeals of the Commissioner.
The Commissioner, in appeals filed "for protective purposes only," asserts that if this court holds that the taxpayers are entitled to the deductions disallowed by the Tax Court, the appellants are required to offset their claimed losses with corresponding gains reported in the subsequent years of the transactions at issue. In light of our disposition, we do not reach the issue asserted by the Commissioner's appeals
See I.R.C. Sec. 1092 note (section 108(f)) (1988) (cross-referencing I.R.C. Sec. 1402(i)(2)(B)); I.R.C. Sec. 1402(i)(2)(B) (1988) (defining "commodities dealer"). Appellants' spouses are parties to these proceedings only by virtue of the filing of joint tax returns. Fox v. Comm'r, 56 T.C.M. at 865
Title V of the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 ("ERTA") essentially eliminated the tax benefits of straddle transactions. See I.R.C. Secs. 1256, 1092 (1988). Essentially, these provisions provide that: (1) regulated futures contracts held by the taxpayer at the close of the year are treated as having been sold on the last business day of the taxable year, with any resulting gain or loss recognized for tax purposes; and (2) losses from other commodity straddles will be recognized only to the extent that such losses exceed unrealized gain on the offsetting position of the straddle. See Miller v. Comm'r, 836 F.2d 1274, 1276 n. 1 (10th Cir.1988). By forcing a year-end framework on the straddle transactions, ERTA prevents the two-year period required by straddles to create apparent losses. We discuss the workings of the straddle transactions in further detail infra
The following description is culled primarily from Glass, and is included in an attempt to make the transactions at issue understandable. See Glass v. Comm'r, 87 T.C. at 1095-1106
Glass has been affirmed by every circuit court of appeals to which it has been appealed. Lee v. Comm'r, 897 F.2d 915 (8th Cir.1989); Kielmar v. Comm'r, 884 F.2d 959 (7th Cir.1989); Dewees v. Comm'r, 870 F.2d 21 (1st Cir.1989); Friedman v. Comm'r, 869 F.2d 785 (4th Cir.1989); Keane v. Comm'r, 865 F.2d 1088 (9th Cir.1989); Ratliff v. Comm'r, 865 F.2d 97 (6th Cir.1989); Killingsworth v. Comm'r, 864 F.2d 1214 (5th Cir.1989); Kirchman v. Comm'r, 862 F.2d 1486 (11th Cir.1989); Yosha v. Comm'r, 861 F.2d 494 (7th Cir.1988); Herrington v. Comm'r, 854 F.2d 755 (5th Cir.1988), cert. denied, 490 U.S. 1065, 109 S.Ct. 2062, 104 L.Ed.2d 628 (1989)
An economic sham is distinguished from a factual sham. A factual sham is one in which the alleged transactions never actually took place. In an economic sham, or a sham in substance, the alleged transactions actually took place, but are nonetheless without economic substance. The Tax Court has defined "sham in substance" as the "expedient of drawing up papers to characterize transactions contrary to objective economic realities and which have no economic significance beyond expected tax benefits." Falsetti v. Comm'r, 85 T.C. 332, 347 (1985). The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has defined a transaction as a sham in substance if it is fictitious or if it has no business purpose or economic effect other than the creation of tax losses. Sochin v. Comm'r, 843 F.2d 351, 354 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 824, 109 S.Ct. 72, 102 L.Ed.2d 49 (1988). See also Friedman v. Comm'r, 869 F.2d 785, 792 (4th Cir.1989) (same). The Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has stated that a transaction with the sole function of the production of tax deductions is a sham regardless of the taxpayer's motives. Kirchman v. Comm'r, 862 F.2d 1486, 1491 (11th Cir.1989)
As characterized by at least one court, the economic substance requirement is a sub-test for a sham transaction. That is, there is a two-part test of whether a transaction constitutes a sham. Under this test, a transaction is a sham if: (1) it is not motivated by any economic purpose outside of tax considerations; and (2) it is without economic substance because no real potential for profit exists. Rice's Toyota World, Inc. v. Comm'r, 752 F.2d 89, 91 (4th Cir.1985) (interpreting sham transaction doctrine of Frank Lyon Co. v. United States, 435 U.S. 561, 98 S.Ct. 1291, 55 L.Ed.2d 550 (1978)).
In the case before this court, the London option transactions were found by the Tax Court to be shams and without economic substance--indeed, the parties essentially stipulated to this finding. Although this characterization may be repetitive, the Tax Court's determination that the transactions involved were shams has been uniformly upheld on appeal. See, e.g., Lee, 897 F.2d at 915; Dewees, 870 F.2d at 21; Friedman, 869 F.2d at 785; Keane, 865 F.2d at 1088; Ratliff, 865 F.2d at 97; Kirchman, 862 F.2d at 1486.
Section 108 originally provided in part:
TREATMENT OF CERTAIN LOSSES ON STRADDLES ENTERED INTO BEFORE EFFECTIVE DATE OF ECONOMIC RECOVERY TAX ACT OF 1981.
(a) GENERAL RULE--For purposes of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, in the case of any disposition of 1 or more positions--
(1) which were entered into before 1982 and form part of a straddle, and
(2) to which the amendments made by title V of the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 do not apply,
any loss from such disposition shall be allowed for the taxable year of the disposition if such position is part of a transaction entered into for profit.
(b) PRESUMPTION THAT TRANSACTION ENTERED INTO FOR PROFIT.--For purposes of subsection (a), any position held by a commodities dealer or any person regularly engaged in investing in regulated futures contracts shall be rebuttably presumed to be part of a transaction entered into for profit.
Tax Reform Act of 1984, Pub.L. No. 98-369, Sec. 108(b), 98 Stat. 630 (emphasis added).
This history of Section 108 is derived primarily from Friedman v. Comm'r, 869 F.2d at 789-91
As amended, Section 108 reads in part:
(a) GENERAL RULE.--For purposes of the International Revenue Code of 1954, in the case of any disposition of 1 or more positions--
any loss from such disposition shall be allowed for the taxable year of the disposition if such loss is incurred in a trade or business, or if such loss is incurred in a transaction entered into for profit though not connected with a trade or business.
(b) LOSS INCURRED IN A TRADE OR BUSINESS.--For purposes of subsection (a), any loss incurred by a commodities dealer in the trading of commodities shall be treated as a loss incurred in a trade or business.
Tax Reform Act of 1986, Pub.L. No. 99-514, Sec. 1808(d)(1)-(2), 100 Stat. 2817-18 (emphasis added).
Those sections relate to I.R.C. Sec. 165(a), which provides:
(a) General rule.--There shall be allowed as a deduction any loss sustained during the taxable year and not compensated by insurance or otherwise.
Sections 165(c)(1) and (2), I.R.C., in turn provide:
(c) Limitation on losses of individuals.--In the case of an individual, the deduction under subsection (a) shall be limited to--
(1) losses incurred in a trade or business;
(2) losses incurred in any transaction entered into for profit, though not connected with a trade or business....
See also Dewees v. Comm'r, 870 F.2d at 29 (Congress enacted section 108 to clarify the application of the general loss deduction rule of section 165 to straddle transactions because Congress wanted to make clear that taxpayers could take a straddle position loss in the year of disposition; prior to the enactment of section 108, the IRS had claimed that the sale of one leg of a straddle was not a closed and completed transaction under which the taxpayer could deduct losses--rather, the taxpayer had to dispose of the other leg to deduct losses under section 165(c)); DeMartino, 862 F.2d at 407 (section 108 was intended to overrule the sharply divided Tax Court's decision in Miller and to harmonize section 108 with section 165 of the Code)
By one estimate, at least 4,400 straddle cases were pending before the Tax Court in the early 1980's. Miller, 84 T.C. at 855. There were over 1,400 original petitioners in Glass alone. Glass, 87 T.C. 1087-90
Appellants claim that DeMartino is distinguishable from this case because it involved transactions that were factual, rather than economic, shams. In essence, they argue that section 108(b) would be unavailable to sustain deductions on transactions that never actually occurred, but as long as the trades do in fact occur, even if prearranged to create tax losses, section 108(b) allows dealers to take deductions based on them. This attempt to distinguish DeMartino is faulty, for in DeMartino, the trades did actually occur but were devoid of economic substance because they were designed solely to create losses. 862 F.2d at 406
In their reply brief to this court, appellants claim that the Supreme Court recently held in Cottage Savings Ass'n v. Comm'r, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 1503, 113 L.Ed.2d 589 (1991), that "transactions will not be denied effect as wanting in economic substance if the transactions are bona fide." They argue that since the transactions here actually occurred, they were bona fide and cannot be found wanting in economic substance. This argument mischaracterizes the holding in Cottage and has no merit in this case. In Cottage, the Court rejected the Commissioner's argument that the transactions at issue lacked economic substance and therefore could not sustain the deductions taken. There the transactions involved the exchange by a financial institution of its interests in one group of residential mortgages for another lender's interests in a different group of residential mortgages. The mortgages given over had a face value of some $2 million more than the fair market value of those received, based on which the petitioner took a loss deduction. As relevant to this case, the Court rejected the Commissioner's contention that the losses could not be sustained because they lacked economic substance because the Commissioner failed to meet its burden of proof on this claim. That is, the Commissioner relied on a case in which a finding of lack of economic substance was based on the determination that the transaction was not conducted at arm's length and because the taxpayer never relinquished control over the securities on which he based his deduction. The Commissioner in Cottage failed in any regard to contend or prove that the exchange involved was not at arm's length or that Cottage did not actually give up control over the mortgages it exchanged. Therefore, the Court rejected the Commissioner's claim that the transaction lacked economic substance. Cottage cannot be read for the proposition that, as long as a transaction is bona fide, i.e., actually occurred, it cannot be denied economic substance
See, e.g., Lee v. Comm'r, 897 F.2d 915, 917 (8th Cir.1989) ("[t]he London option transactions ... lacked economic substance. As such, they are outside the purview of ... [section] 108 ..."); Friedman v. Comm'r, 869 F.2d at 791 (section 108 is inapplicable to transactions constituting economic shams); Keane v. Comm'r, 865 F.2d at 1092-93 (because the London option transactions had no economic substance, section 108 did not apply); Kirchman v. Comm'r, 862 F.2d at 1494 (since the transaction as a whole, not just the first year losses, were designed solely to produce tax benefits, the transaction was a sham in substance and section 108 does not apply); Sochin v. Comm'r, 843 F.2d at 353-54, n. 6 (section 108 does not apply until the court determines that the transaction is not a sham); Enrici v. Comm'r, 813 F.2d 293, 295, n. 1. (9th Cir.1987) (same); Mahoney v. Comm'r, 808 F.2d 1219, 1220 (6th Cir.1987) (same); Glass, 87 T.C. at 1176 (section 108 unavailable to permit loss deductions in year one of sham transaction)
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Sri Meenakshi – Sundareswarar Temple
Sri Meenakshi - Sundareswarar Temple
Synonymous with Madurai is the Meenakshi Sundareswarar twin Temple, the pivot around which the city has evolved. The Meenakshi Temple complex is literally a city – one of the largest of its kind in India and undoubtedly one of the oldest too. The temple grew with the contribution of each dynasty and victorious monarchs, into an enormous complex extending over an area of 65000 Sq m. The temple first came in to being 2000 years ago and was substantially expanded during the regime of Thirumalai Nayak(1623-55 AD).
Lord Siva in his incarnation as Sundareswarar and his fish-eyed spouse, Meenakshi, are enshrined in this twin temple. There are five massive gateways enclosing these two shrines. Even a casual visitor is fascinated by the many paintings and sculptures.
A striking feature of the temple is the astonishing structure know as “Ayiramkaal Mandapam” or the Hall of Thousand Pillars and each pillar features high, ornate, bold sculptures that look life like. View from any angle these pillars appear to be in a straight line, an architectural masterpiece indeed In the outermost corridors are situated the matchless musical pillars carved out of stones. When it is tapped, each pillar produces different musical note.
Timings : The temple is usually open between 0500hrs and 1230hrs and again between 1600 hrs and 21.30 hrs.
Madurai Airport is located at Avaniyapuram, about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) from the city. It offers domestic flights to select cities in India. The airport has international flights and services to Colombo, Dubai and Singapore. The carriers operating from the airport are Air India, Air India Express, Jet Airways, SpiceJet, Indigo and Srilankan Airlines.
Madurai Junction is the major railway station serving the District. Madurai has direct trains connecting other major cities and towns across India including New Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai.
Madurai District is well connected with the National Highways NH 7, NH 45B, NH 208 and NH 49 passing through Madurai. The state highways passing through the city are SH-33, SH-72, SH-72A, SH-73 and SH-73A which connect various parts of Madurai district.
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Satanic Temple Approved For Capitol Holiday Display
A Satanic holiday display approved to be shown in the Florida Capitol. (Courtesy: Satanic Temple)
American Atheists of Tallahassee, Ben Wolf, Chaz Stevens, Deerfield Beach, Festivus, Festivus Holiday, Florida, Florida Department of Management Services, Florida Prayer Network, Florida’s Capitol, Gov. Rick Scott, Hanukkah, Hanukkah Menorah, Happy Winter Solstice, International House of Prayer Tallahassee, John Tupps, Lucien Greaves, Pam Olsen, Politics, Rockettes, Satanic Temple, Satanic Temple Florida
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TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) — Florida’s Capitol will have a new holiday decoration this year. The Satanic Temple will be among its nativity scenes and secular presentations.
It’s for Festivus, a non-commercial festival “for the rest of us,” is close to coming back as a 6-foot stack of empty beer cans.
The Florida Department of Management Services this week approved the proposed holiday display from the Satanic Temple, which a year ago was rejected because the agency said its proposal was “grossly offensive.”
The temple’s entry was one of five displays that got approval to be put up in the first-floor rotunda of the Capitol for the end-of-year holiday period.
Two additional requested displays, including one to mark the sitcom-created Festivus holiday, are pending final approval.
The state agency offered no explanation with its approval of the displays.
John Tupps, a spokesman for Gov. Rick Scott, deferred comment to the department.
“DMS makes the rules for the Capitol,” Tupps said.
Lucien Greaves, spokesman for the Satanic Temple, said in an email that “the difference seems to be in the fact that this time around we arrived with lawyers.”
The temple, which threatened to sue after being rejected last year but never took action, is scheduled to put up its display Dec. 22.
The approved display will banner the phrase “Happy holidays from the Satanic Temple” atop a diorama of an angel falling into hell.
“We hope that, this holiday season, everybody can put their religious differences aside and respect that the celebratory spirit of responsible hedonism is available to all,” Greaves said in the email.
Pam Olsen, who is president of the Florida Prayer Network and also submitted the application for an approved nativity scene for the International House of Prayer Tallahassee, said she doesn’t have a problem with the others putting up displays. However, she questioned the motives of people who again are putting up displays in reaction to the Florida Prayer Network’s introduction of a nativity scene into the Capitol last year.
“This is not a religious endorsement by our state government. It’s freedom of religion and freedom of speech, and we will all be up there,” Olsen said. “But are they really putting them up to wish everyone a happy holiday from the atheists and the Satanists, or are they up there to protest baby Jesus?”
Last year, a nativity joined a Hanukkah menorah and Christmas trees that had been displayed for years on the first floor of the Capitol.
Department of Management Services spokesman Ben Wolf said in an email the state agency is waiting for Deerfield Beach resident Chaz Stevens, the sponsor of the Festivus pole, and the American Atheists of Tallahassee, to select the seven-day period for their displays to be set up.
Stevens, whose irreverent display made from Pabst Blue Ribbon cans went up last year to make a point about the need for a separation between church and state, said Wednesday he intends to ask for his display to go up Dec. 15, the same day the Florida Prayer Network’s nativity scene can be put up.
“The proud tradition continues forward for another year,” Stevens said Wednesday. “I’m trying to be just a little more professional this year. I’m going on Craigslist to see if I can find a mariachi band to bring along.”
Festivus is a “holiday” created for the TV sitcom “Seinfeld” as a non-commercial festival “for the rest of us” in the Christmas and year-end holiday season.
The atheist group, meanwhile, plans a poster that says “Celebrate the true meaning of Xmas,” and offers random words that include “charity,” “family,” “Rockettes,” “hot chocolate,” and “Chinese food.”
The state agency also approved a “Happy Winter Solstice” banner from the Madison, Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation and an entry from the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
The spaghetti monster, which is more often associated with opposition to the introduction of creationism and intelligent design as science in public schools than the year-end holidays, last year was represented by a pile of shredded paper on an office chair.
A change by the Department of Management Services from a year ago is that displays are being limited to seven days, rather than being given open-ended dates to go up and come down.
There is also a minimum fine of $100 for groups that don’t remove their displays on time.
Posted in Florida, Satan, Stanic WorshipTagged American Atheists of Tallahassee, Ben Wolf, Chaz Stevens, Deerfield Beach, Festivus, Festivus Holiday, Florida, Florida Department of Management Services, Florida Prayer Network, Florida's Capitol, Gov. Rick Scott, Hanukkah, Hanukkah Menorah, Happy Winter Solstice, International House of Prayer Tallahassee, John Tupps, Lucien Greaves, Pam Olsen, politics, Rockettes, Satanic Temple, Satanic Temple FloridaLeave a comment
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Home EU WORLD NEWS Why this Nobel laureate predicts a quicker coronavirus recovery: ‘We’re going to...
Michael Levitt, a Nobel laureate and Stanford biophysicist, began analyzing the number of COVID-19 cases worldwide in January and correctly calculated that China would get through the worst of its coronavirus outbreak long before many health experts had predicted.
Now he foresees a similar outcome in the United States and the rest of the world.
While many epidemiologists are warning of months, or even years, of massive social disruption and millions of deaths, Levitt says the data simply don’t support such a dire scenario — especially in areas where reasonable social distancing measures are in place.
“What we need is to control the panic,” he said. In the grand scheme, “we’re going to be fine.”
Although the number of daily deaths had increased, the rate of that increase had begun to ease off. Essentially, although the car was still speeding up, it was not accelerating as rapidly as before. “This suggests that the rate of increase in number of the deaths will slow down even more over the next week,” Levitt wrote in a report he sent to friends Feb. 1 that was widely shared on Chinese social media. And soon, he predicted, the number of deaths would be decreasing every day.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE: https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-03-22/coronavirus-outbreak-nobel-laureate
SourceLOS ANGELES TIMES
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Common class of drugs linked to dementia even when taken 20 years before diagnosis
by Regenstrief Institute
Pill bottle. Credit: CDC/Public domain
The largest and most detailed study of the long-term impact of anticholinergic drugs, a class of drugs commonly prescribed in the United States and United Kingdom as antidepressants and incontinence medications, has found that their use is associated with increased risk of dementia, even when taken 20 years before diagnosis of cognitive impairment.
An international research team from the US, UK and Ireland analyzed more than 27 million prescriptions as recorded in the medical records of 40,770 patients over age 65 diagnosed with dementia compared to the records of 283,933 older adults without dementia.
The researchers found greater incidence of dementia among patients prescribed anticholinergic antidepressants, anticholinergic bladder medications and anticholinergic Parkinson's disease medications than among older adults who were not prescribed these drugs.
Dementia increased with greater exposure to anticholinergic medications.
"Anticholinergic Medication and Risk of Dementia: Case-control Study" is published in BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal) an international peer-reviewed medical journal.
"Anticholinergics, medications that block acetylcholine, a nervous system neurotransmitter, have previously been implicated as a potential cause of cognitive impairment," said Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University Center for Aging Research investigator Noll Campbell, PharmD, MS, a co-author of the new BMJ study. "This study is large enough to evaluate the long-term effect and determine that harm may be experienced years before a diagnosis of dementia is made." Dr. Campbell is also an assistant professor of pharmacy practice at Purdue University College of Pharmacy.
"These findings make it clear that clinicians need to carefully consider the anticholinergic burden of their patients and weigh other options," said study co-author Malaz Boustani, M.D., MPH, a Regenstrief Institute and IU Center for Aging Research investigator. Dr. Boustani is the founder of the Indiana Clinical and Translational Science Institute's IU Center for Health Innovation and Implementation Science and the Richard M. Fairbanks Professor of Aging Research at IU School of Medicine.
"Physicians should review all the anticholinergic medications - including over-the-counter drugs - that patients of all ages are taking and determine safe ways to take individuals off anticholinergic medications in the interest of preserving brain health," Dr. Boustani said.
The study, which was led by the University of East Anglia and funded by the Alzheimer's Society, both in the UK, utilized data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink which includes anonymized diagnosis, referral and prescription records for more than 11 million patients from 674 primary care practices across the UK. The data is broadly representative of the UK population in terms of age, sex and ethnicity.
"This research is really important because there are an estimated 350 million people affected globally by depression. Bladder conditions requiring treatment are estimated to affect over 13 percent of men and 30 percent of women in the UK and US," said study lead researcher George Savva, PhD, visiting researcher at University of East Anglia's School of Health Sciences.
"We don't know exactly how anticholinergics might cause dementia," said study co-author Chris Fox, MD, professor of clinical psychiatry at UEA's Norwich Medical School and a consultant psychiatrist. "Further research is needed to understand possible reasons for this link. In the meantime, I strongly advise patients with any concerns to continue taking their medicines until they have consulted their doctor or pharmacist."
Study co-author Ian Maidment, PhD, senior lecturer in clinical pharmacy at Aston University in the UK, said: "With many medicines having some anticholinergic activity, one key focus should be de-prescribing. Clinical staff, patients and carers need to work together collaboratively to limit the potential harm associated with anticholinergics."
Older adults often prescribed meds linked to higher side effect risks
More information: Kathryn Richardson et al. Anticholinergic drugs and risk of dementia: case-control study, BMJ (2018). DOI: 10.1136/bmj.k1315
Editorial: Anticholinergic drugs and dementia in older adults, www.bmj.com/content/361/bmj.k1722
Journal information: British Medical Journal (BMJ)
Provided by Regenstrief Institute
Citation: Common class of drugs linked to dementia even when taken 20 years before diagnosis (2018, April 26) retrieved 15 January 2021 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-04-common-class-drugs-linked-dementia.html
Using anticholinergics for as few as 60 days causes memory problems in older adults
Commonly used drugs lead to more doctor's office, hospital and emergency department visits
Common drugs adversely impair older adults' physical as well as cognitive functioning
Use of anticholinergic drugs does not increase risk for dementia in Parkinson's disease patients
Common drugs linked to cognitive impairment and possibly to increased risk of death
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Home » Features » CREATIVE AWAKENING
CREATIVE AWAKENING
The Kennedys explore the unconscious mind
Dreaming is a great source of creativity, says singer/multi-instrumentalist Pete Kennedy, and he and wife Maura tested that theory while writing songs for the latest Kennedys album, Better Dreams (Appleseed).
“Maura had been reading up on dreaming, and she had started keeping a journal of dreams,” he recalls. “She discovered that if you write things down right away when you wake up, and you go back a few months later, you’d be amazed at some of the stuff you wrote down — stuff you hadn’t thought about since then.
“When you’re dreaming, you’re not thinking about stuff like, ‘I gotta go to the post office and the bank,’ ” Pete adds. “That never enters in — you’re just acting on your creative impulses in a dream. And if you write that stuff down, suddenly you have all these songs that have no mundane quality about them.”
Maura wrote a few songs in that manner, Pete says. When she discovered that some friends were interested in doing the same, the folk-rock duo conducted dream-unlocking songwriting seminars in late 2006 and early 2007.
“Everybody in the course had written songs, and they all felt they had made some breakthroughs [from the seminars] in their songwriting,” Pete recalls.
By summer 2007, the Kennedys started thinking about making an album of dream-themed songs.
“You have artistic license once you start writing, so you can take part of the dream and build a song around it,” he says. “You didn’t necessarily write down what’s in the dream.”
Not every song was literally from a dream — “there just had to be connections throughout the album,” Pete says.
” ‘Sago Mine’ — that’s a real event that happened; it’s about those guys who died in that mine in West Virginia,” he explains. “When you die that way — we didn’t get so graphic in the song — you go to sleep from lack of oxygen, so that’s obviously a really different kind of dream. Then the very next song is ‘Light My Way’ — it’s picturing a loved one in a dream.”
The Kennedys recorded Better Dreams in various locations around the United States, including motels in Austin, Texas, and Flagstaff, Ariz.
“We always take portable recording stuff with us,” Pete says. “We haven’t been in a real recording studio since ’95, so we’ve done about eight albums since then all on our portable gear — sometimes at home, and if we go on the road, we take the stuff with us.”
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Opening Speech to the Melkite Holy Synod, 2015
Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate
Of Antioch and the All the East
Of Alexandria and of Jerusalem
Monday 15 June 2015 Opening of the Holy Synod of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church
Gregorios III, “Let’s work unceasingly in our eparchies and parishes to try to stop the haemorrhage of Christian emigration.”
The grace of the Holy Spirit gathers us together in this Holy Synod, symbol of our unity as pastors of our Church and guardians of the deposit of faith ensuring its transmission.
The Holy Father Francis’ concern for the Christian East
On the threshold of this Holy Synod we remember the letter that Pope Francis addressed to us Christians in the Middle East on 21 December 2014, a letter that we must disseminate in our eparchies and parishes to rekindle the flame of hope: “Sadly, afflictions and tribulations have not been lacking, even more recently, in the Middle East. They have been aggravated in the past months because of the continuing hostilities in the region, but especially because of the work of a newer and disturbing terrorist organization, of previously unimaginable dimensions, which has perpetrated all kinds of abuses and inhuman acts. It has particularly affected a number of you, who have been brutally driven out of your native lands, where Christians have been present since apostolic times. “…Every day I follow the new reports of the enormous suffering endured by many people in the Middle East. I think in particular of the children, the young mothers, the elderly, the homeless and all refugees, the starving and those facing the prospect of a hard winter without an adequate shelter. “…Dear brothers and sisters, who courageously bear witness to Jesus in the land blessed by the Lord, our consolation and our hope is Christ himself. I encourage you, then, to remain close to him, like branches on the vine, in the certainty that no tribulation, distress or persecution can separate us from him (cf. Rom 8:35). May the trials which you are presently enduring strengthen the faith and the fidelity of each and all of you! “…The situation in which are you living is a powerful summons to holiness of life, as saints and martyrs of every Christian community have attested. I think with affection and veneration of the pastors and faithful who have lately been killed, often merely for the fact that they were Christians. I think also of those who have been kidnapped, including several Orthodox bishops and priests of various rites. “…In the midst of hostility and conflicts, the communion which you experience in fraternity and simplicity is a sign of God’s Kingdom. I am gratified by the good relations and cooperation which exist between the patriarchs of the Eastern Catholic Churches and those of the Orthodox Churches, and also between the faithful of the different Churches. The sufferings which Christians endure contribute immensely to the cause of unity. It is the ecumenism of blood, which demands a trusting abandonment to the working of the Holy Spirit. “… May you always bear witness to Jesus amid your difficulties! Your very presence is precious for the Middle East. You are a small flock, but one with a great responsibility in the land where Christianity was born and first spread. You are like leaven in the dough. Even more than the many contributions which the Church makes in the areas of education, healthcare and social services, which are esteemed by all, the greatest source of enrichment in the region is the presence of Christians themselves, your presence. Thank you for your perseverance! “… Dear brothers and sisters, almost all of you are native citizens of your respective countries, and as such you have the duty and the right to take full part in the life and progress of your nations. Within the region you are called to be artisans of peace, reconciliation and development, to promote dialogue, to build bridges in the spirit of the Beatitudes (cf. Mt 5:3:12), and to proclaim the Gospel of peace, in a spirit of ready cooperation with all national and international authorities. “…Dear Christian brothers and sisters of the Middle East, you have an enormous responsibility and in meeting it you are not alone. That is why I wanted to write to you, to encourage you and to let you know how precious your presence and your mission are in the land which the Lord has blessed….”
A Church “with” and “for”
The Holy Father’s words are a roadmap for us Christians to remain united and remain united too as Christians and Muslims, citizens of a single country. From our dearly beloved Lebanon we tell all our faithful in the Middle East, of the expansion and all emigration countries:
We Muslims and Christians ought to stay together, to build together a better future for our upcoming generations and our shared future.
We Christians and Muslims can stay together, to build together a better society for our rising generations and our joint future.
We Muslims and Christians want to stay together to build together a better society for our rising generations and our common future.
We recall the words of Pope Saint John Paul II for the 2005 World Day of Peace, “An individual’s … social nature [consists in] his being `with` and `for` others”! Let us never forget that our presence is closely bound up with our mission, role and vocation.
Ecumenism of blood and communion
We Catholics and Orthodox are experiencing an ecumenism of blood and communion primarily in the field, not only undergoing together a daily crisis but also working, meeting and publishing addresses to our Churches together, not to mention also the summit meetings that occur regularly in Lebanon, bringing together Christian and Muslim community leaders representative of all denominations.
Christian Emigration
It is terribly sad to see how the crises that the Middle East is going through are driving an exponential growth in Eastern Christian emigration. Emigration can only have serious consequences for the very essence of their mission in the predominantly Muslim Middle East which is their homeland, a mission that many, following Father Corbon, S.J. have called Church of the Arabs, Church of Islam, phrases that sum up their mission, history and future. But we are even sadder when we see emigration affecting the very balance of Lebanon and its Christian presence. According to the statistics that we have received, 60 % of Lebanese have decided to emigrate and 35 % are waiting for a visa. Most of them are Christian. If that is the case with Lebanon, what then can be the situation and outlook for less stable countries, torn by war and ruled by chaos? We have to work in our eparchies and parishes as well as in our diaspora to try to slow down this movement that can only be described as a haemorrhage.
Christian Emigration at the Sant’ Egidio Conference
On 29 and 30 April 2015, the Sant’Egidio Conference was held at Bari, on “Christians in the Middle East: what Future?” Together with more than fifty other patriarchs, prelates, and representatives of international organisations, we made a contribution to this conference. We are also making this speech available for the consideration of this Holy Synod. (Copies of it are also available from our secretariat.)
Holy Synod’s Agenda
The question of the family in our eparchies and parishes in preparation for the XIV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family next October at the Vatican on the theme of The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and Contemporary World.
The situation of our eparchies and parishes, which are experiencing head-on the consequences of the critical situation prevailing in our countries, starting with Lebanon and passing through Syria, which is in its fifth year of war and Iraq, dealing with the very serious refugee problem which weighs heavily on our eparchies, particularly that of Damascus, which is hosting most displaced person on a monthly budget of between forty and fifty thousand dollars. The bishops of our Syrian eparchies will describe the daily life of their eparchies…
We shall establish the list of our episcopable priests and tackle a range of issues.
We wish success to:
The meeting of Melkite Greek Catholic Youth on 5 September next at the Liqa’a Centre in Rabweh, the organisation of which has been entrusted to Archbishop Issam Darwish.
The consecrated persons’ congress (bishops, priests, monks, nuns, seminarians, novices…) the organisation of which has been entrusted to Archimandrite Antony Dib B.S., Father General of the Order of the Most Holy Saviour.
Shoulder to shoulder confronting the crisis
We are grateful to everyone who during these crises has stood alongside us, expressing solidarity through action and closeness, and most especially to our dear Lebanon which has received and continues to host the majority of Syrian refugees. As for the expansion… our deep gratitude goes to our Eparchy in the United States and to its bishop, Nicholas Samra, for their unfailing, constant generosity. Thank you to our Eparchy in Canada which has also contributed something towards this surge of solidarity… but what has become of our faithful in the expansion? What are their bishops doing?
Saints for our Church
At the opening of this Holy Synod, we thank the Lord, for the graces he has deigned to grant us and our Christian East, and especially to our Melkite Greek Catholic Church, with the canonisation of the Carmelite Mary of Jesus Crucified, of the Carmel of Bethlehem and founder of the Carmel of Mangalore, parishioner of our parish in Marseille of Saint Nicholas of Myra as well as the canonisation of Marie Alphonsine Danil Ghattas, founder of the Dominican Sisters of the Holy Rosary. We are very attentively following the dossier of the Venerable Father Beshara Abu Mrad. A new miracle has just been added to the dossier. Next 7 August, we shall open the canonisation dossier for Dr. Boutros Wadih Kassab, founder of the Schools at Said in Egypt. Nor can we forget Semaan Sruji, a Salesian, whose dossier is following its course. We thank the media and media outlets accompanying the opening of this Synod and especially Télélumière, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary: a real jubilee of light! May our Lord fill us with his grace, at the intercession of His Most Holy Mother, Our Lady of the Annunciation, patron of our summer residence here at Ain Traz, granting us the grace of living this Holy Synod in a real priestly, pastoral communion and enabling us to be really “of one heart and soul.” May this Holy Synod be blessed, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God! Amen !
Névine Toutounji-Hage Chahine
+ 961 3 22 64 87
nevinehc@gmail.com
Al Maryamiyah Joint Appeal Ramadan and the Apostles’ Fast 2015
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Syria: Gregorios III appeals to Pope Francis for help
“Holy Father, be our Saint Simon of Cyrene on the Way of the Cross!” was the appeal made by His Beatitude Gregorios III, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem, in an open letter to Pope Francis. In this very personally expressed message, dated 29 March, Holy Friday, when the Pope celebrated the first Way of the Cross of his pontificate, Gregorios III outlined the “violence, terror, chaos and death” ravaging Syria.
Patriarch Gregorios III says he addressed to the pope “a plaintive and affectionate cry, as much as to say: come to the aid of Syria, which cannot bear such a long Way of the Cross. It needs resurrection …through reconciliation and dialogue, to bring to an end the crisis that is destroying thousands upon thousands of Christians and non-Christians.” He made a real call for help, admitting that he was expecting “a gesture, an initiative, a roadmap” from the Holy Father.
“We are expecting an initiative, a gesture and a word”
The Patriarch of Antioch and All the East exhorted “the Vatican, as a State, Pope Francis, personally and the Catholic Church, by way of the Episcopal Conferences” to launch a joint appeal to save Syria. “We are not afraid of Muslims,” he explains, “but we are afraid of chaos taking root in the Middle East. Syria has become a highly lucrative market-place for interested parties, while every aspect of democracy, freedom and secularism has been lost. Nowadays,” laments His Beatitude Gregorios III, “no-one cares about that.”
Daily kidnappings, acts of violence and killings
Last Sunday, in his Easter Urbi et Orbi message, the pope urged peace in the Middle East and “above all for dear Syria, for its people torn by conflict and for the many refugees who await help and comfort. How much blood has been shed!” declared Pope Francis, “And how much suffering must there still be before a political solution to the crisis will be found? ”
The Patriarch of Antioch and All the East emphasised the joy awakened by these words from the pope which made headlines in all the papers. He said something “quite precise and concise, that made complete sense and touched the hearts of all Syrian citizens. We need someone from the Catholic Church calling stop; enough fighting. Every day we have new abductions and killings. Where are we going? People can’t take any more. That precisely why I made this appeal,” explains Gregorios III, “for the Catholic Church to be in the front line for saving Syria.” See the full English text of Patriarch Gregorios III’s Letter to Pope Francis.Read the news item in French on the Vatican Radio website.
Patriarch’s Letter to Pope Francis on Great and Holy Friday Appeal to world leaders from Patriarch Gregorios III
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Ryanair share price struggles to regain altitude
Ever since Ryanair’s dispute with the pilots’ union in September 2017, the airline has been struggling, with the share price down by half from its peak.
Michael O'Leary is winding down his racing operations "in order to spend more time with his family", says Alistair Osborne in The Times. But after Ryanair's latest results, you have to wonder if he'd have done better to give up the airline and keep the horses.
Ever since Ryanair's dispute with the pilots' union in September 2017, the airline has "been struggling to hit former heights"; the shares have halved from their peak.They slipped again earlythis week thanks to a 29%drop in full-year profits to €1.02bn after tax.
Ryanair's problem is that many of its costs, notably rising fuel prices, are "out of its hands", while it is beingforced to slash fares in orderto maintain growth, saysEd Cropley for Breakingviews. Still, ancillary revenue was the "one bright spot" as "sales of everything from food and drinks to reserved seats and priority baggage jumped 19% to €2.4bn, a third of all the airline's top line". Indeed, if Ryanair is able to replicate last year's "bumper" performance by flogging "ever more expensive on-board snacks", this could add another €455m to Ryanair's top line, "all but wiping out the budgeted rise in fuel prices".
It's not just Ryanair that is feeling the pinch, as easyJet is also struggling owing to intense competition and a public "increasingly looking to save every penny and cent", says Jim Armitage in the Evening Standard. The group lost £275m in its winter half,but it is working very hardto reduce costs, and "thisself-help will set [easyJet]up well for when times, eventually, improve".
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Sale of Pioneer bar poised to be finalized next week
The sale of the Pioneer bar and restaurant building will be finalized next week, but the future use of the property remains in limbo.
Kathryn Greenaway • Montreal Gazette
Dec 12, 2018 • Last Updated December 12, 2018 • 3 minute read
The Pioneer bar in Pointe-Claire. Photo by Normand Blouin /The Gazette
The sale of the Pioneer bar and restaurant property in the Pointe-Claire Village will be notarized next week, but the future use of the property remains in limbo as a fierce stand-off between some villagers and merchants and a developer who would like to build a luxury condo facility continues unabated.
The aging structure has captured the imagination of some villagers who see it as a village icon. It had been designated as a building of heritage interest, but was not protected by a full-fledged heritage designation.
Delays in the project moving forward have already resulted in renegotiation of the selling price and then, last month, a sprinkler pipe in the basement of the now-shuttered building burst, causing more than $100,000 in damages including the destruction of the heating system.
Chatter on social media in the wake of the flooding infuriated realtor Jordan Perlis, who is handling the sale of the property for the bar’s owner Diane Marois. The online comments pointed fingers at Marois, accusing her of not taking precautions to protect the property from damage.
“The idea that something nefarious took place, that the flood would help the vendor, is completely ridiculous,” Perlis said. “Everything that goes wrong affects the (final) sale price. When the building was inspected and asbestos was discovered, the price dropped. By the way, the heating was on when the flooding happened.”
Perlis said when he first took on the contract, he thought it would be a quick and uncomplicated sale to another bar owner. But he learned that the property had been flagged as potential site for multi-use — residential and commercial — in the village’s Special Planning Project. This meant finding a developer. Developer Greg Koegl presented a plan to build condos.
The village’s historical society, along with some merchants and village residents fought the plan with vigour. It was ultimatelyrefused by council and now Koegl is working on reducing the elevations and adjusting architectural elements in the hope of winning public and council approval.
Koegl received a demolition permit from the city, which is good until April 2, 2019. A plan for the re-use of the property must be approved before the demolition can take place.
Even if a building is slated for demolition, Koegl said an owner of a commercial property looking to sell is compelled by law to properly maintain the building right up until the transfer of sale. If the building is damaged before the sale, the value of the property drops and can be reflected in the final sale price. Koegl’s responsibility as the new owner will be to make sure the building is sealed tight to prevent vandals from entering and its exterior structure must not present a danger to the public.
“We were already one year behind schedule for a build which would take eight months to complete. And then the flood happened,” Koegl said. “But I am committed to paying Diane the price which was negotiated prior to the flood.”
Ideas for the future of the property include a live-performance venue, a micro-brewery, a hotel or a commercial space with offices and stores. One person stepped up to make an offer to Marois after the original condo-project was announced but she was already committed to Koegl’s offer.
Koegl is waiting for a third evaluation of the adjacent, city-owned parking lot to be completed. The sale of the parking lot was part of his deal to purchase. Two vastly different evaluations were done — one by the city and one by the Pointe-Claire’s heritage society. After the third evaluation is completed adjustments will be made, up or down, to what Koegl has already paid for the lot. The loss of the parking lot and the handling of its sale continue to be points of contention with residents opposed to the idea of condos in the village.
The project was the first to test the rigorous Pointe-Claire Village Code which was forged following public consultations. The project adhered to the code, but public outcry resulted in the city stepping back to revisit the vision for the village. Consultations with villagers and merchants are scheduled for this month and next.
kgreenaway@postmedia.com
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The genetics of uveal melanoma: An emerging framework for targeted therapy
J. William Harbour
Uveal melanoma is the second most common form of melanoma and the most common primary intraocular malignancy. Until recently, very little was known about the genetics of this aggressive cancer. Mutations in oncogenes and tumor suppressors that are common in other cancers are conspicuously absent in uveal melanoma. In recent years, however, uveal melanoma has begun to yield its secrets, and a fascinating picture is emerging of how it develops and progresses. Mutations in the G q alpha subunits, encoded by GNAQ and GNA11, appear to be early or perhaps initiating events that require further mutations for malignant transformation. On the other hand, mutations in the BRCA1-associated protein-1 (BAP1) appear to occur later and demarcate a molecular brink beyond which metastasis becomes highly likely. BAP1 mutations can also occur in the germline, leading to a distinctive cancer predisposition syndrome. These mutations appear to be key events that provide the potential for targeted therapy. This article will review the genetic findings in uveal melanoma over the past two decades and suggest important areas for future work.
Pigment Cell and Melanoma Research
GNA11
GNAQ
Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'The genetics of uveal melanoma: An emerging framework for targeted therapy'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
BRCA1 Protein Medicine & Life Sciences
Harbour, J. W. (2012). The genetics of uveal melanoma: An emerging framework for targeted therapy. Pigment Cell and Melanoma Research, 25(2), 171-181. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-148X.2012.00979.x
The genetics of uveal melanoma : An emerging framework for targeted therapy. / Harbour, J. William.
In: Pigment Cell and Melanoma Research, Vol. 25, No. 2, 03.2012, p. 171-181.
Harbour, JW 2012, 'The genetics of uveal melanoma: An emerging framework for targeted therapy', Pigment Cell and Melanoma Research, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 171-181. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-148X.2012.00979.x
Harbour JW. The genetics of uveal melanoma: An emerging framework for targeted therapy. Pigment Cell and Melanoma Research. 2012 Mar;25(2):171-181. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-148X.2012.00979.x
Harbour, J. William. / The genetics of uveal melanoma : An emerging framework for targeted therapy. In: Pigment Cell and Melanoma Research. 2012 ; Vol. 25, No. 2. pp. 171-181.
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title = "The genetics of uveal melanoma: An emerging framework for targeted therapy",
abstract = "Uveal melanoma is the second most common form of melanoma and the most common primary intraocular malignancy. Until recently, very little was known about the genetics of this aggressive cancer. Mutations in oncogenes and tumor suppressors that are common in other cancers are conspicuously absent in uveal melanoma. In recent years, however, uveal melanoma has begun to yield its secrets, and a fascinating picture is emerging of how it develops and progresses. Mutations in the G q alpha subunits, encoded by GNAQ and GNA11, appear to be early or perhaps initiating events that require further mutations for malignant transformation. On the other hand, mutations in the BRCA1-associated protein-1 (BAP1) appear to occur later and demarcate a molecular brink beyond which metastasis becomes highly likely. BAP1 mutations can also occur in the germline, leading to a distinctive cancer predisposition syndrome. These mutations appear to be key events that provide the potential for targeted therapy. This article will review the genetic findings in uveal melanoma over the past two decades and suggest important areas for future work.",
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T2 - An emerging framework for targeted therapy
AU - Harbour, J. William
N2 - Uveal melanoma is the second most common form of melanoma and the most common primary intraocular malignancy. Until recently, very little was known about the genetics of this aggressive cancer. Mutations in oncogenes and tumor suppressors that are common in other cancers are conspicuously absent in uveal melanoma. In recent years, however, uveal melanoma has begun to yield its secrets, and a fascinating picture is emerging of how it develops and progresses. Mutations in the G q alpha subunits, encoded by GNAQ and GNA11, appear to be early or perhaps initiating events that require further mutations for malignant transformation. On the other hand, mutations in the BRCA1-associated protein-1 (BAP1) appear to occur later and demarcate a molecular brink beyond which metastasis becomes highly likely. BAP1 mutations can also occur in the germline, leading to a distinctive cancer predisposition syndrome. These mutations appear to be key events that provide the potential for targeted therapy. This article will review the genetic findings in uveal melanoma over the past two decades and suggest important areas for future work.
AB - Uveal melanoma is the second most common form of melanoma and the most common primary intraocular malignancy. Until recently, very little was known about the genetics of this aggressive cancer. Mutations in oncogenes and tumor suppressors that are common in other cancers are conspicuously absent in uveal melanoma. In recent years, however, uveal melanoma has begun to yield its secrets, and a fascinating picture is emerging of how it develops and progresses. Mutations in the G q alpha subunits, encoded by GNAQ and GNA11, appear to be early or perhaps initiating events that require further mutations for malignant transformation. On the other hand, mutations in the BRCA1-associated protein-1 (BAP1) appear to occur later and demarcate a molecular brink beyond which metastasis becomes highly likely. BAP1 mutations can also occur in the germline, leading to a distinctive cancer predisposition syndrome. These mutations appear to be key events that provide the potential for targeted therapy. This article will review the genetic findings in uveal melanoma over the past two decades and suggest important areas for future work.
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KW - Eye
KW - GNA11
KW - GNAQ
JO - Pigment Cell and Melanoma Research
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About the HLSA
HLSA Constitution
On November 5, 1886, the HLSA--the oldest association of its kind--was born through an assembly of about 400 alumni at Harvard Law School in Cambridge. Today, more than 125 years later, the HLSA consists of over 40,000 members and 39 Clubs and Shared Interest Groups around the globe.
The mission of the HLSA is "...to advance the cause of legal education, to promote the interests and increase the usefulness of the Harvard Law School, and to promote mutual acquaintance and good fellowship among all members of the Association."
As one becomes a member of the HLSA upon matriculation to HLS, there are no applications to complete nor membership fees to pay.
Connect with the Harvard Law School Association:
HLSA Executive Committee
HLSA Senior Advisory Council
HLS Staff Contacts
Christopher L. Mann J.D. '89
Michael Friedland J.D. '91
Maja Zerjal LL.M. '11
Patricia Paul J.D. '92
Lindsay Breedlove J.D. '09
Vice President at Large
Hon. Yvonne Campos J.D. '88
Kristin Turner J.D. '17
Pantea Yashar J.D. '04
Salvo Arena LL.M. '00
HAA Appointed Director
Hon. Christine Arguello J.D. '80
Antonio Baena LL.M. '00
Alexandria Bradshaw J.D. '14
Trevor Cox J.D. '09
Daniel E. Eaton J.D. '89
Past President & HAA Appointed Director
Richard Hall LL.M. '88
Masahisa Ikeda J.D. '93
Karim Kobeissi LL.M. '00
Kevin J. Lesinski J.D. '83
Edith Ramirez J.D. '92
Sydney Schaub J.D. '07
Kannon K. Shanmugam J.D. '98
Margaret Stock J.D. '92
Luciana Tornovsky LL.M. '00
Kruti Trivedi J.D. '04
Christopher Wheeler J.D.'02
Nathalie Younan LL.M. '99
Venera Ziegler LL.M. '00
James E. Bowers J.D. '70
Co-Chair, Senior Advisory Council
Guido Brosio LL.M. '69
Member, Senior Advisory Council
Pamela D. Everhart J.D. '90
Juanita C. Hernandez J.D. '85
Andrea Jádi Németh LL.M. '00
David K. Kessler J.D. '09
Young Joon (YJ) Kim J.D. '83
Peter C. Krause J.D. '74
Talhia T. Tuck J.D. '10
Pete Mumma
Meagan Flint
Associate Director of Alumni Relations
Marsha Robinson
Kelsey Walsh
Coordinator of HLSA Clubs and Shared Interest Groups
HLSA Award Overview
HLSA Award Recipients
Carter Award Overview
Carter Award Recipients
Harvard Law School Association Award Guidelines
The HLSA designates up to four Award recipients per year. Awards are presented at an appropriate event in Cambridge or elsewhere, e.g., HLSA Association meetings, during class and affinity reunions and HLSA of Europe reunions. Awards are not presented in absentia; however, posthumous Awards are considered.
HLS Alumni
HLS faculty members
Friends of HLS
Individuals in HLS administrative positions and incumbent members of the Harvard Corporation or Board of Overseers are not eligible to receive Awards. Generally, individuals who have received an honorary degree from the University are not considered.
The HLSA Award is intended to honor service in any one or more of the following categories:
Sustained or extraordinary service to the legal profession reflecting the qualities of intellect, integrity, leadership and responsibility that HLS fosters.
Service to society, recognizing a single contribution to the public welfare that exemplifies the values of HLS.
Sustained or extraordinary service to HLS.
The HLSA Awards Committee comprises up to nine individuals appointed by the President with the approval of the Executive Committee of the HLSA.
The Awards Committee selects the Award recipients from among the nominations that it receives. The selection of Award recipients is subject to the approval of the Executive Committee and the Dean of the Harvard Law School and to such University approvals, if any, as may be necessary.
Send us your suggested nominees: hlsa@law.harvard.edu
Harvard Law School Award Recipients
JED S. RAKOFF J.D. '69
Presented October 26, 2019; Cambridge, Massachusetts
ROBERT L. WILKINS J.D. '89
Presented April 6, 2019; Cambridge, Massachusetts
KENNETH C. FRAZIER J.D. '78
INAUGURAL ALUMNAE CLASS OF 1953
Presented September 15, 2018; Cambridge, Massachusetts
EMANUELE TURCO LL.M. '67
Presented May 12, 2018; Rome, Italy
DEVAL L. PATRICK J.D. '82
Presented April 21, 2018; Cambridge, Massachusetts
DAVID GERGEN J.D. '67
DEAN MARTHA L. MINOW
LORETTA E. LYNCH J.D. 1984
KATHLEEN M. SULLIVAN J.D. 1981
DAVID B. WILKINS J.D. 1980
ROY L. FURMAN L.L.B. 1963
WILLIAM P. ALFORD J.D. 1977
Presented May 16, 2015; Paris, France
CHARLES J. OGLETREE, JR. J.D. 1978
JACQUES SALÈS LL.M. 1967
Presented May 31, 2014; Madrid, Spain
CHARLOTTE P. ARMSTRONG L.L.B. 1953
JOAQUIN G. AVILA J.D. 1973
AHMED ZAKI YAMANI LL.M. 1956
Presented April 8, 2012; Doha, Qatar
DAVID H. SOUTER L.L.B. 1966
STEPHEN G. BREYER L.L.B. 1964
ANTHONY M. KENNEDY L.L.B. 1961
ANNETTE GORDON-REED J.D. 1984
BRUCE WASSERSTEIN J.D. 1970
Posthumously recognized April 24, 2010; Cambridge, Massachusetts
FINN M. W. CASPERSEN LL.B. 1966
JANE LAKES HARMAN J.D. 1969
ROBERT B. ZOELLICK J.D. 1981
OLARA A. OTUNNU LL.M. 1978
Presented June 15, 2007; Washington, District of Columbia
MICHAEL H. BROWN J.D. 1988
Presented June 7, 2006; Cambridge, Massachusetts
ALAN A.A. KHAZEI J.D. 1987
Presented June 7, 2006; Cambridge; Massachusetts
BARACK H. OBAMA J.D. 1991
DAVID G.T. WILLIAMS 1957-58
Presented June 17, 2004; London, England
DOMENICO DE SOLE LL.M. 1972
NAVANETHEM PILLAY LL.M. 1982, S.J.D. 1988
ROBERT C. CLARK J.D. 1972
ALBERTO R. GONZALES J.D. 1982
JENOE C.A. STAEHELIN LL.M. 1965
Presented June 26, 2001; Paris, France
JANET RENO LL.B. 1963
KENNETH I. CHENAULT J.D. 1976
CLARK BYSE, Byrne Professor of Administrative Law Emeritus
SAMUEL C. BUTLER LL.B. 1954
ABRAM CHAYES LL.B. 1949
GUSTAVE M. HAUSER J.D. 1953
Presented June 12, 1998; Rome, Italy
RITA E. HAUSER Class of 1958
ELLIOT L. RICHARDSON LL.B. 1944 (’47)
ARCHIBALD COX LL.B. 1937
JOHN FRANCIS COGAN, JR. J.D. 1952
DEREK BOK J.D. 1954
MARY THERESE WINIFRED ROBINSON LL.M. 1968
Presented May 26, 1995; Dublin, Ireland
ROSWELL BURCHARD PERKINS LL.B. 1949
WILLIAM THADDEUS COLEMAN, JR. J.D. 1943 (’46)
HARRY ANDREW BLACKMUN LL.B. 1932
Presented May 19, 1993; Washington, District of Columbia
ERWIN NATHANIEL GRISWOLD LL.B. 1928, S.J.D. 1929
James Coolidge Carter Award for Distinguished Service
The James Coolidge Carter Award for Distinguished Service recognizes individuals, HLSA Clubs, and HLSA Shared Interest Groups for their outstanding service to the Harvard Law School Association and Harvard Law School. The award is named in honor of James Coolidge Carter, an 1853 graduate of the Law School and first president of the Harvard Law School Association (1886-1896).
Mr. Carter was one of the most prominent members of the New York Bar during his day. His keen intellect and congenial demeanor were signature characteristics. He carried himself with quiet dignity in every task he undertook.
He had a passion for good government as evidenced by his tenacity in assisting the fraud prosecutions of the “Tweed Ring.” He carried forth that civic zeal by serving on successive commissions, established by Governors Tilden and Hill, which enhanced the administration of municipal government and the judicial system. Many of his ideas on the distinctions between written and unwritten law were later embodied in a series of lectures penned for Harvard Law School at the urging of President Eliot, which were published posthumously.
Mr. Carter took a leading part in establishing the Bar Association of the City of New York and served as its president for five terms. He also served as president of the American Bar Association. He was the founding partner of the law firm of Carter & Ledyard. He was prominently mentioned as a possible Justice of the Supreme Court, and was President Cleveland’s first choice for the office of Chief Justice of the United States.
James Coolidge Carter was loyal and true to Harvard Law School. In addition to serving as the first president of the HLSA, his will left a generous gift that established the Carter Professorship of Jurisprudence. In turn, Professor James Bradley Thayer dedicated his treatise on evidence to Mr. Carter. And at Mr Carter’s funeral, a delegation that included Professors Langdell, Ames, and Williston paid its final respects to a man who had given much to the Law School.
James Coolidge Carter Award for Distinguished Service Recipients
HLSA WOMEN'S ALLIANCE NETWORK
JAMES E. BOWERS J.D. 1970
HLSA ENTREPRENEURS NETWORK
DONNA M. CHIOZZI Director of Alumni Affairs
SCOTT G. NICHOLS Associate Dean for Development, Alumni Affairs and Communications 1986-2006
The First Meeting of the HLSA (November 6, 1886)
Article from the Boston Post
THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION HAS A GREAT MEETING
An Oration by Judge Holmes – Dinner in the Hemenway Gymnasium – Speeches by Prominent Advocates
The 250th anniversary celebration of the founding of Harvard College will be inaugurated today. The organization of the Harvard Law School Association, which is an accompaniment, but no part of the regular celebration, took place yesterday under the happiest auspices. There was a polished oration by Judge Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. followed by a banquet and speeches at the Hemenway Gymnasium. The large attendance and earnest remarks told not only of the great interest manifested in the new association, but of the love and veneration for the time-honored university. The formation of the law association has for a long time been discussed, and at a meeting held on Sept. 23 it was decided that there could be no more fitting time to perfect such an organization than during the celebration of the 250th anniversary. The meeting adjourned until yesterday, when the first meeting of the association was held in Austin Hall, Cambridge. The Hon. George O. Shattuck presided, and, in opening, said: “Brethren of the Harvard Law School – The time to which this meeting was adjourned has arrived. As you all know, a preliminary meeting was held on Sept. 23 and a constitution adopted and a committee appointed to nominate officers.” Before the report of the nominating committee was presented, Mr. Wade moved to so amend the constitution that all who have been members of the law school for a whole academic year, not including commencement week, may become members of the association, and also that honorary members may be elected when recommended by the council. Mr. Darwin E. Ware seconded the motion, saying that the amendment, if adopted, would permit the admission of fresh, young blood, as by the terms of the constitution, as originally adopted, members of the law school would not be eligible to membership in the association in time to attend the annual meeting to be held in the week preceding commencement. The amendments were adopted. Mr. Darwin E. Ware, chairman of the nominating committee, presented the list of candidates, which was published in full in the Post of yesterday, all of whom were elected. The meeting then adjourned to meet in Sanders Theatre at 1 o’clock.
IN SANDERS THEATRE
Speech by President Carter Oration by Judge Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Some few minutes before 1 o’clock the procession formed in front of Austin Hall. Mr. Roger Wolcott was chief marshal, and was assisted by the following aids: Charles C. Read, Henry G. Pickering, Timothy J. Dacey, Austen G. Fox, Lauriston L. Scaife, William F. Wharton, Edward W. Hutchins, Walter Clifford, George Wigglesworth, Felix Rackemann, William A. Gaston, Henry E. Warner, and William A. Hayes, Jr. The president of the association and the invited guests were followed by members in the order of the seniority of the connection with the law school. Among the prominent gentlemen were General A. R. Lawton of Georgia, who was nominated by President Cleveland as minister to Russia; the Hon. Dorman B. Eaton; John Winslow of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Charles Jerome Bonaparte of Baltimore, Md.; Solomon Lincoln, Nathan Morse, Robert A. Bishop, W.W. Vaughan, T. Lothrop Thorndike, Robert M. Morse, Jr., John C. Gray, Francis Rawley of Philadelphia, F. V. Balch, and Dr. William Everett. As the procession entered the theatre the Germania band played during the seating of the company. After an announcement by the chief marshal as to the reforming of the procession after the exercises, the newly-elected president of the law association, the hon. James C. Carter of New York, advanced to the front of the platform and said:
PRESIDENT CARTER’S SPEECH
Gentlemen of the Harvard Law School Association – I make to you my most grateful acknowledgment of the distinguished honor you have conferred upon me. In the presence of this assembly, embracing not only recent graduates, but also veterans in the legal profession, I hail this occasion as an auspicious inauguration of this association, and one that is full of promise. The Dane law School we may justly consider as occupying, if not the first, certainly not the second, place among institutions devoted to legal education; for here we find many advantages for the study of law not equaled elsewhere. Without disparagement of those whose names have become famous as authorities on legal matters, it is true that it does not follow that hose occupying the highest seats at the bench are best fitted to impart instruction. It has been said that the Dane Law School is too theoretical, but I think its methods have been much improved of late years. What is the law? It was not promulgated from Mt. Sinai, it is not in the Gospel, it is not found in the writings of Socrates nor of Bacon. It is found, and is found only, in the adjudications and decisions made from time to time in our courts. The true way of acquiring knowledge is to go to the original and not take it at second hand. This is why it is best to take big cases and find the rule involved in them. This is the method now pursued at the Dane Law School. Whenever I have found it necessary, by reason of press of business, to obtain the services of an assistant, I have found none so well fitted for the work as the recent graduates of the Dane Law School. The method they have followed is the way lawyers study law, and why not do it at the beginning. It is no royal road to learning; it is no primrose path to give to each point its due weight. I know of no more difficult task. The lawyer who seeks to obtain reputation by indulging a desire for applause or for newspaper notoriety, will soon be outstripped by the veriest charlatan. But, gentlemen, I keep too long from you the distinguished judge whom you have gathered to hear. His name is potent, and if the law did not claim him we might expect from him occasional letters like those we have received from his father. But the law knows no divided duty. I have the honor to present Mr. Justice Holmes of the Supreme Judicial Court.
JUDGE HOLMES’ ORATION
It is not wonderful that the graduates of the Law School of Harvard College should wish to keep alive their connection with it. About three-quarters of a century ago it began with a chief justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts for its Royall Professor. A little later, one of the most illustrious judges who ever sat on the United States Supreme bench – Mr. Justice Story – accepted a professorship in it, created for him by Nathan Dane, and from that time to this it has had the services of great and famous lawyers; it has been the source of a large part of the most important legal literature which the country has produced; it has furnished a world-renowned model in its modes of instruction; and it has had among its students future chief justices and justices, and leaders of State bars and of the national bar, too numerous for me to thrill you with the mention of their names. It has not taught great lawyers only. Many who have won fame in other fields began their studies here. Sumner and Phillips were among the bachelors of 1834. The orator whom we shall hear in a day or two appears in the list of 1840 alongside of William Story and the chief justice of this State, and one of the associate justices, who is himself not less known as a soldier and as an orator than he is as a judge. Perhaps without revealing family secrets I may whisper that next Monday’s poet also tasted our masculine diet before seeking more easily digested, if not more nutritious food elsewhere. Enough. Of course we are proud of the Harvard Law School. Of course we love every limb of Harvard College. Of course we rejoice to manifest our brotherhood by the symbol of this association. I will say no more of the reasons for our coming together. But, by your leave, I will say a few words about the use and meaning of law schools, especially of our law school, and about its methods of instruction as they appear to one who has had some occasion to consider them. A law school does not undertake to teach success. That combination of tact and will which gives a man immediate prominence among his fellows comes from nature, not from instruction; and, if it can be helped at all by advice, such advice is not offered here. It might be expected that I should say, by way of natural antithesis, that what a law school does undertake to teach is law. But I am not ready to say even that without a qualification. It seems to me that nearly all the education which men can get from others is moral, not intellectual. The main part of intellectual education is not the acquisition of facts, but learning how to make facts live. Culture in the sense of fruitless knowledge, I for one, abhor. The mark of a master is that facts, which before lay scattered in an inorganic mass, when he shoots through them the magnetic current of his thought, leap into an organic order and live and bear fruit. But you cannot make a master by teaching. He makes himself by aid of his natural gifts. Education, other than self-education, lies mainly in the shaping of men’s interests and aims. If you convince a man that another way of looking at things is more profound, another form of pleasure more subtle than that to which he has been accustomed – if you make him really see it – the very nature of man is such that he will desire the profounder thought and the subtler joy. So I say the business of a law school is not sufficiently described when you merely say that it is to teach law, or to make lawyers. It is to teach law in the grand manner, and to make great lawyers. Our country needs such teaching very much. I think we should all agree that the passion for equality has passed far beyond the political or even the social sphere. We are not only unwilling to admit that any class or society is better than that in which we move, but our customary attitude toward everyone in authority of any kind is that he is only the lucky recipient of honor or salary above the average which any average man might as well receive as he. When the effervescence of democratic negation extends its working beyond the abolition of external distinctions of rank to spiritual things, when the passion for equality is not content with founding social intercourse upon universal human sympathy and a community of interests in which all may share, but attacks the lines of nature which establish orders and degrees among the souls of men, they are not only wrong, but ignobly wrong. Modesty and reverence are not less virtues of freemen than the democratic feeling which will submit neither to arrogance nor servility. To inculcate those virtues, to correct the ignoble excess of a noble feeling to which I have referred, I know of no teachers so powerful and persuasive as the little army of specialists. They carry no banners. They beat no drums. But where they are, men learn that bustle and push are not the equals of quiet genius and serene mastery. They compel others who need their help, or are enlightened by their teachings, to obedience and respect. They set the example themselves. For they furnish in the intellectual world a perfect type of the union of democracy with discipline. They bow to no one who seeks to impose his authority by foreign aid. They hold that science, like courage, is never beyond the necessity of proof, but must always be ready to prove itself against all challengers. But to one who has shown himself a master they pay the proud reverence of men who know what valiant combat means, and who reserve the right of combat against their leader, even if he should seem to waver in the service of truth their only queen. In the army of which I speak the lawyers are not the least important corps. For all lawyers are specialists. Not in the narrow sense in which we sometimes use the word in the profession, of branch of practice, such as conveyancing or patents, but specialists who have taken all law to be their province; specialists because they have undertaken to master a special branch of human knowledge – a branch, I may add, which is more immediately connected with all the highest interests of man than any other which deals with practical affairs.
Lawyers, too, were among the first specialists to be needed and to appear in America. And I believe it would be hard to exaggerate the goodness of their influence in favor of sane and orderly thinking. But lawyers feel the spirit of the times like other people. They, like others, are forever trying to discover cheap and agreeable substitutes for real things. I fear that the bar has done its full share to exalt that most hateful of American words and ideals – smartness – as against dignity of moral feeling and profundity of knowledge. It is from within the bar, not from outside, that I have heard the new gospel that learning is out of date and that the man for the times is no longer the thinker and the scholar, but the smart man unencumbered with other artillery than the latest edition of the digest and the latest revision of the statutes. The aim of a law school should be, the aim of Harvard Law School has been, not to make men smart, but to make them wise in their calling – to start them on a road which will lead them to the abode of the masters. A law should be at once the workshop and the nursery of specialists in the sense which I have explained. It should obtain for teachers men in each generation who are producing the best work of that generation. Teaching should not stop, but, rather, should foster, production. The “enthusiasm of the lecture room,” the contagious interest of companionship, should make the students partners in their teacher’s work. The ferment of genius in its creative moment is quickly imparted. If a man is great he makes others believe in greatness. He makes them incapable of mean ideals and easy self-satisfaction. His pupils will accept no substitute for realities, but, at the same time, they learn that the only coin with which realities can be bought is life.
Our school has been such a workshop and such a nursery as I describe. What men it has turned out I have hinted already and do not need to say. What works it has produced is known to all the world. From ardent cooperation of student and teaches have sprung Greenleaf on “Evidence” and Stearns on “Real Actions” and Story’s epoch-making “Commentaries,” and Parsons on “Contracts” and Washburn on “Real Property,” and, marking a later epoch, Langdell on “Contracts” and on “Equity Pleading” and Ames on “Bills and Notes” and Gray on “Perpetuities,” and I hope we may soon add Thayer on “Evidence.” You will notice that these books are very different in character from one another, but you will notice also how many of them have this in common, that they have marked and largely made an epoch. There are plenty of men nowadays of not a hundredth part of Story’s power who could write as good statements of the law as his, or better. And when some mediocre fluent book has been printed, how often have we heard it proclaimed, Lo, here is a greater than Story! But if you consider the state of legal literature when Story began to write, and from what wells of learning the discursive streams of his speech were fed, I think you will be inclined to agree with me that he has done more than any other English-speaking man in this century to make the law luminous and easy to understand. But Story’s simple philosophizing has ceased to satisfy men’s minds. I think it might be said with safety that no man of his or of the succeeding generation could have stated the law in a form that deserved to abide, because neither his nor the succeeding generation possessed or could have possessed the historical knowledge – had made or could have made the analysis of principles which are necessary before the cardinal doctrines of the law can be known and understood in their precise contours and in their innermost meanings. The new work is now being done. Under the influence of Germany science is gradually drawing legal history into its sphere. The facts are being scrutinized by eyes microscopic in intensity and panoramic in scope. At the same time, under the influence of our revived interest in philosophical speculation, a thousand heads are analyzing and generalizing the rules of law and the grounds on which they stand. The law has got to be stated over again, and I venture to say that in fifty years we shall have it in a form of which no man could have dreamed fifty years ago. And now I venture to add my hope and my belief that when the day comes which I predict, the professors of the Harvard Law School will be found to have had a hand in the change, not less important than that which Story has had in determining the form of the text-books of the last half-century. Corresponding to the change which I say is taking place there has been another change in the mode of teaching. How far the correspondence is conscious I do not stop to inquire. For whatever reason, the professors of this school have said to themselves more definitely than ever before: We will not be contented to send forth students with nothing but a ragbag full of general principles – a throng of glittering generalities like a swarm of little bodiless cherubs fluttering at the top of one of Correggio’s pictures. They have said that to make a general principle worth anything you must give it a body. You must show in which way and how far it would be applied actually in an actual system. You must show how it has gradually emerged as the felt reconciliation of concrete instances no one of which established it in terms. Finally, you must show its historic relations to other principles often of very different dates and origins, and thus set it in the perspective, without which its proportions will never be truly judged. In pursuance of these views there have been substituted for text-books more and more, so far as practicable, those books of cases which were received at first by many with a somewhat contemptuous smile and pitying contrast of the good old days, but which now, after, fifteen years, bid fair to revolutionize the teaching both of this country and of England.
I pause for a moment to say what I hope it is scarcely necessary for me to say – that in thus giving in my adhesion to the present methods of instruction I am not wanting in grateful and appreciative recollection – alas! it can be only recollection now – of the earlier teachers under whom I studied. In my day the dean of this school was Professor Parker, the ex-chief justice of New Hampshire, who I think was one of the greatest of American judges, and who showed in the chair the same qualities that made him famous on the bench. His associates were Parsons, almost if not quite a man of genius, and gifted with a power of impressive statement which I do not know that I have ever seen equaled, and Washburn, who taught us all to realize the meaning of the phrase which I have already quoted from Vaugerow – the enthusiasm of the lecture room. He did more for me than the learning of Coke and the logic of Fearne could have done without his kindly ardor. To return, and to say a word more about the theory on which these books of cases are used, it has long seemed to me a striking circumstance that the ablest of the agitators for codification, Sir James Stephen, and the originator of the present mode of teaching, Mr. Langdell, start from the same premises to reach seemingly opposite conclusions. The number of legal principles is small, says, in effect, Sir James Stephen, therefore codify them. The number of legal principles is small, says Mr. Langdell, therefore they may be taught through the cases which have developed and established them. Well, I think there is much force in Sir James Stephen’s argument, if you can find competent men and get them to undertake the task, and at any rate I am not now going to express an opinion that he is wrong. But I am certain from my own experience that Mr. Langdell is right. I am certain that when your object is not to make a bouquet of the law for the public, nor to prune and graft it by legislation, but to plant its roots where they will grow, in minds devoted henceforth to that one end, there is no way to be compared to Mr. Langdell’s way. Why, look at it simply in the light of human nature. Does not a man remember a concrete instance more vividly than a general principle? And is not a principle more exactly and intimately grasped as the unexpressed major premise of the half dozen examples which mark its extent and its limits than it can be in any abstract form of words? Expressed or unexpressed, is it not better known when you have studied its embryology and the lines of its growth than when you merely see it lying dead before you on the printed page? I have referred to my own experience. During the short time that I had the honor of teaching in the school it fell to me, among other things, to instruct the first year men in torts. With some misgivings I plunged a class of beginners straight into Mr. Ames’s collection of cases, and we began to discuss them together in Mr. Langdell’s method. The result was better than I even hoped it would be. After a week or two, when the first confusing novelty was over, I found that the class examined the questions proposed with an accuracy of view which they never could have learned from text-books, and which often exceeded that to be found in the text-books. I, at least, if no one else, gained a good deal from our daily encounters. My experience as a judge has confirmed the belief I formed as a professor. Of course, a young man cannot try or argue a case as well as one who has had years of experience. Most of you also would probably agree with me that no teaching which a man receives from others at all approaches in importance what he does for himself, and that one who has simply been a docile pupil has got but a very little way. But I do think that in the thoroughness of their training, and the systematic character of their knowledge, the young men of the present day start better equipped when they begin their practical experience than it was possible for their predecessors to have been. And although no school can boast a monopoly of promising young men, Cambridge, of course, has its full proportion of them at our bar, and I do think that the methods of teaching here bear fruits in their work.
I sometimes hear a wish expressed by the impatient that the teaching here should be more practical. I remember that a very wise and able man said to a friend of mine when he was beginning his professional life, “Don’t know too much law,” and I think we all can imagine cases where the warning would be useful. But a far more useful think is what was said to me as a student by one no less wise and able – afterwards my partner and always my friend – when I was talking, as young men do, about seeing practice and all the other things which seemed practical to my inexperience: “The business of a lawyer is to know law.” The professors of this law school mean to make their students know law. They think the most practical teaching is that which take their students to the bottom of what they seek to know. They, therefore, mean to make them master the common law and equity as working systems, and think that when this is accomplished they will have no trouble with the improvements of the last half-century. I believe they are entirely right, not only in the end they aim at, but in the way they take to reach that end. Yes, this school has been, is, and I hope long will be, a centre where great lawyers perfect their achievements, and from which young men, even more inspired by their examples than instructed by their teaching, go forth in their turn, not to imitate what their masters have done, but to live their own lives more freely for the ferment imparted to them here. The men trained in this school may not always be the most knowing in the ways of getting on. The noblest of them must often feel that they are committed to lives of proud dependence; the dependence of men who command no factitious aids to success, but rely upon unadvertised knowledge and silent devotion; dependence upon finding an appreciation which they cannot seek, but dependence proud in the conviction that the knowledge to which their lives are consecrated is of things which it concerns the world to know. It is the dependence of abstract thought, of science, of beauty, of poetry and art, of every flower of civilization, upon finding a soil generous enough to support it. If it does not, it must die. But the world needs the flower more than the flower needs life. I said that a law school ought to teach law in the grand manner – that it had something more to do than simply to teach law. I think we may claim for our school that it has not been wanting in greatness. I once heard a Russian say that in the middle class of Russia there were many specialists, in the upper class there were civilized men. Perhaps in America, for reasons which I have mentioned, we need specialists even more than we do civilized men. Civilized men who are nothing else are a little apt to think that they cannot breathe the American atmosphere. But if a man is a specialist it is most desirable that he should also be civilized; that he should have laid in the outline of the other sciences as well as the light and shade of his own; that he should be reasonable and see things in their proportion. Nay more, that he should be passionate as well as reasonable – that he should be able not only to explain but to feel. That the ardors of intellectual pursuit should be relieved by the charms of art, should be succeeded by the joy of life, becomes an end in itself. At Harvard College is realized in some degree the palpitating manifoldness of a truly civilized life. Its aspirations are concealed because they are chastened and instructed, but I believe in my soul that they are not the less noble that they are silent. The golden light of the university is not confined to the undergraduate department. It is shed over all the schools. He who has once seen it becomes other than he was forever more. I have said that the best part of our education is moral. It is the crowning glory of this law school that it has kindled in many a heart an inextinguishable fire.
The Constitution of the Harvard Law School Association was originally adopted on June 3, 1947.
Download the amended Constitution (as of March, 2018).
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« Travis Picking | Main | Sunflower Seeds »
Dynastic struggles
After stories about elder son Kim Jong-nam disapproving of the idea of dynastic succession - and having been passed over in favour of his younger half-brother, you might well think that he would say that - comes this rather strange tale:
The eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il met his father in Beijing in late August this year and protested against his younger brother Kim Jong-un's orchestration of an attack against the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan, KBS reported Thursday.
The broadcaster cited a close associate of Kim Jong-nam's in China as saying when Kim Jong-il visited China, Kim Jong-nam went to his hotel room and told him Jong-un was behind the Cheonan incident to make up for a botched currency reform late last year he had also pushed. "Why are you condoning this when nobody even knows who Jong-un is?" the associate quoted Kim Jong-nam as saying.
He said Kim Jong-nam told his father to stop condoning Jong-un's behavior and warned if the 27-year-old heir apparent keeps misbehaving, then Jong-nam would go his own way too. He added the mysterious delay of an extraordinary Workers Party congress in September was due to Kim Jong-nam's protest. "There are many supporters of Kim Jong-nam in China and North Korea," the associate said.
The associate also claimed that Kim Jong-il worries about a brewing feud between the two sons. Kim Jong-un tried to assassinate Kim Jong-nam in Macau but failed when Chinese authorities found out. "Later, Kim Jong-il personally asked Chinese President Hu Jintao to ensure Jong-nam's safety and got the promise," he said.
KBS did not reveal the identity of the associate.
A senior government official said, "We've heard similar rumors before, but none of them have been confirmed."
Hmm. All hearsay, of course, but whether Kim Jong-nam himself is involved in spreading these stories, or it's being done without his say-so, it does rather suggest that someone or other has an interest in keeping alive the dynastic struggle angle. Could it even be the Chinese themselves, keeping the pot simmering with rumours of an alternative to Kim Jong-un? If No. 2 Fat Boy turns out to be a problem, he can be gently reminded that No. 1 Fat Boy will always be there in the wings waiting.
In which case there'd be an intriguing parallel with Tibet and the pantomime over the various Beijing-approved Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas . But perhaps I'm getting carried away with the speculation here.
It's interesting, meanwhile, to see how worried the NK authorities are about the notable lack of enthusiasm for No. 2 Fat Boy:
As part of efforts to crack down on negativity about the third generation succession, the North Korean authorities are spreading the notion that “groundless” rumors about Kim Jong Eun are being spread by South Korea.
North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity (NKIS) cited an inside source today as saying that several cadres in Hoiryeong have been taken into custody for speaking negatively about the succession of Kim Jong Eun....
According to the NKIS source, the North Korea people are now widely aware that bad things can happen with “a slip of the tongue,” so now even cadres are careful not to speak out of turn.
Workers and farmers remain resolutely disinterested in the fact that Kim Jong Eun has become the successor, according to sources. Criticisms of the Kim Jong Eun succession are spread mainly by cadres and intellectuals.
The source noted, however, “Following special distribution for the October 10th holiday, the authorities have also handed out a decree ordering distribution of six months of corn to the people right after the harvest.” But, he added, “Once the corn is released, people may be happy for a while, however, what will they give us next year? It is hard to garner the trust of the people with this kind of quick fix.”
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Korean photographer KangHee Kim, based in New York, creates images of what she calls "surreal escapism". From her new book Golden Hour:
[Photos © KangHee Kim]
Central Park at night
I'm not the only one taking photos of trees, though I draw the line at going out at 4 in the morning.
From a gallery On Loneliness in a City. Michael Massaia, “The Mall, 4 a.m." 2013:
[Image: © Michael Massaia]
Encouraging violence against women
Meanwhile, in Birmingham:
A Muslim school will not allow girls to eat lunch until after boys have finished, an Ofsted chief has told MPs.
Al-Hijrah school in Birmingham is still segregating boys and girls despite a Court of Appeal ruling in 2017 that found it was unlawful, according to Luke Tryl, director of corporate strategy at Ofsted.
Addressing the women and equalities select committee, he said that Ofsted inspectors are trying to hold schools account for discriminating against girls but feel “isolated” when their stance is not backed up by ministers.
“Our inspectors are going out and having to make some quite tricky judgements where there are those potential clashes [between equalities laws and religious freedoms],” Mr Tryl said.
“We perhaps don’t always feel we get the support we need from the rest of Government in pushing that forward.”
He said that Al-Hijrah school was enforcing a “very strict gender segregation” which included “denying the girls to have their lunch until the boys had had theirs”. “And we had some very discriminatory texts for instance, encouraging violence against women,” he said.
Pollarded plane trees
In Stamford Hill:
Guardian Eurovision letter
Well this is depressing, if not unexpected. A Guardian letter from the usual suspects - Ken Loach, Mike Leigh, Roger Waters, etc. "fifty figures from the creative industries" - demands that the BBC not screen Eurovision 2019 from Israel. Not because Eurovision is appalling rubbish and an insult to popular music, but because of, you know, apartheid, systematic violation of Palestinian human rights....
Fortunately Adam Levick has already done the necessary work of taking it apart.
Wicked Wick
Hackney Wick in the winter sun:
The Lord Napier previously.
Now surrounded by building sites. Next to go? It's a prime site, right next to Hackney Wick Overground station. But apparently not. From ZCD Architects:
The Lord Napier is recognised as one of Hackney Wick’s most important heritage assets, is locally listed and forms a key part of the Hackney Wick Central Masterplan. It gains this status due to being the only surviving evidence on the site for the nineteenth century residential development of the area, as well as for its significant communal value.
ZCD have received planning approval for minor alterations and a sensitive refurbishment, so as to enable the Lord Napier to reopen as a modern working public house that can serve the local community.
The harshest of re-education sentences
North Korean Vice-Foreign Minister Han Song-ryol was one of the leading figures in recent dealings with the Trump administration. He was appointed head of the North American affairs department at Pyongyang's foreign ministry in 2015, after spending time at the UN in New York.
Well, seems like he's been purged:
North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-ryol, an old hand in U.S.-North Korean diplomacy, has been sacked and sent to a reeducation camp. Han's name has been scrapped from a list of the top seven Foreign Ministry officials in the "2019 Who's Who in North Korea" published by the Unification Ministry.
A government source said, "We received information from an agency in the second half of last year that there were significant changes in Han Song-ryol's status and reflected the developments."
Another source said Han and five other director-level officials had been sent for reeducation to the Komdok mine in South Hamgyong Province. "It seems a proposal for U.S.-North Korea talks he submitted to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was criticized for breaching doctrine," the source added.
Those sent away for reeducation perform hard labor in mines, plantations and poultry farms. One defector who used to be a senior official said, "Being sent to the Komdok mine is the harshest of reeducation sentences and means he just escaped being sent to a concentration camp."
The defector added most who serve there return with serious physical impairments.
A government source said, "The sacking of Han Song-ryol is related to his long-term service in the North dealing with the U.S. He was probably labeled a spy due to his years serving as the U.S.' main contact point in the North."
No cushy House of Lords number for old out-of-favour politicians in Pyongyang...
It could be a matter of internal power politics. Or it could be, as suggested, that he was considered tainted by his US association. This at a time when North Koreans are being lectured about the colonisation of South Korea by the Americans:
Lecture materials handed out to Workers’ Party of Korea (WKP) directors last month claim South Korea is facing a loss of national identity due to “colonization” by the US.
“The bourgeois lifestyle spread by the imperialists is killing the national identity of the country and its people,” the lecture materials recently obtained by Daily NK claim. “This lifestyle is like poison, spreading like a plague through society.”
“The imperialists use propaganda tools like newspapers, magazines, radio and television to spread all kinds of reactionary ideology and false beliefs, which paralyze the healthy minds of people,” it continues. “There are many movies, songs, dances and novels that are erotic, crude and grotesque in nature, along with various kinds of cultural artwork that teaches people to do whatever it takes to fulfill one’s desires.”
It doesn't look too propitious for the forthcoming US-North Korea summit. But then, it never did.
Desert Iran
Strange and powerful images by photographer Gohar Dashti, from her series “Iran, Untitled”. It's not difficult to read these as a comment on Iran now, with the people forced to live in an alien world where nothing makes sense, condemned to meaningless rituals in a harsh desert landscape.
That, of course, may be too pat. The accompanying text though, it has to be said, is not notably helpful:
Thus, “Iran, Untitled,” offers a sense of unity of place, which fosters an emerging narrative, but it also implies a place that has lost its locality. Over the course of the pictures, we find only a desert in the middle of nowhere.
The photographer has sprinkled the soil of the land upon the surface of the desert. The horizon on this vast desert slowly flexes up and down, providing air to the people. Dashti has cast such scenes in the midst of this open desert and has fixed her own imagination upon the ground. It is as if her imagination were filled with snapshots of the realities of her country. The snapshots are released in bundles upon the vastness but they don’t recite stories—they whisper...
But yes....wonderfully disquieting and beautiful photographs:
[Photos © Gohar Dashti]
As always, click to enlarge.
London planes in Victoria Park
The park was created in 1845, so the larger trees here will date right back over 150 years. The Heritage Tree Walk leaflet claims that no plane trees have ever been recorded dying of old age, so no one knows how long they can live.
Asia Bibi free to go
The acquittal of Asia Bibi on blasphemy charges in October last year was challenged after widespread protests by mobs of enraged Islamists. In surprising but welcome news, that challenge has now been rejected:
The Supreme Court upheld its decision to overturn Asia Bibi's conviction and death sentence.
She was originally convicted in 2010 after being accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad in a row with her neighbours, and spent eight years on death row.
She has always maintained her innocence in a case that has polarised Pakistan.
The Supreme Court's quashing of her sentence last October led to violent protests by religious hardliners who support strong blasphemy laws, while more liberal sections of society urged her release.
Hardliners had petitioned to overturn this ruling.
"Based on merit, this petition is dismissed," Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa said in court on Tuesday.
Asia Bibi - also known as Asia Noreen - was unable to leave Pakistan while an appeal request was pending.
"She should now be free to reunite with her family and seek safety in a country of her choice," Amnesty International said in a statement.
Bibi has been kept in a secret location in Islamabad, and should now be free to leave Pakistan. To stay would be unthinkable, given the threats of violence against her from hardliners.
There will now, no doubt, be further riots...
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Al Mussanah on a roll
The early rounds of the 2020-21 Omantel League have witnessed a strong showing by unfancied Al Mussanah Club, which made their return to the top-flight domestic football after a gap of four years.
Mussanah had managed to earn a berth in the new Omantel League season after earning a narrow 1-0 win over favourites Al Shabab in aplayoff to determine the third and last team from the Oman Football Association (OFA) First Division to be promoted.
The team's return to the top-flight began on a disappointing note as they took on defending champions Seeb in their opening clash with the latter running away as easy 4-0 victors.
However, unfazed by the setback, the team has regrouped remarkably under Tunisian coach, Abdel-Halim El Warimi, and has come out stronger with their performances in the last three matches. The club has sent out a strong signal to the rivals that they are here in the top-flight league to make a mark, though it is still too early in the season.
On Friday, up against a strong and fancied Al Suwaiq Club, Al Mussanah recorded their third consecutive win (1-0) to climb to the second spot in the Omantel League table with nine points, just a point behind leaders Seeb, who continue to remain unbeaten in the new season.
Mussanah's comeback journey began with a 1-0 win over fellow promoted side and 2019-20 OFA First Division champions Nizwa 1-0 five days after they had suffered a hammering at the hands of Seeb on December 17.
The win against Nizwa gave the team the much-needed boost and they were at their attacking best as they trounced Saham 5-1 to end the year with two back-to-back wins.
And on Friday, Mussanah resumed their league campaign on a winning note with a win over neighbours Suwaiq, a club that havea strong history in top-flight league with four titles and three His Majesty's Cup crowns.
Seeb on top
The Omantel League resumed on Thursday after a nine-day break for the opening round of the His Majesty's round-of-32 competition. Leaders Seeb continued to stay unbeaten with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Sohar at the Sohar Sports Complex on Thursday. The all-important goal was scored by their in-form striker Abdulaziz al Miqbali, who converted a spot kick in the 30th minute of the match.
With the latest victory, Seeb stay on top with ten points and are followed by Mussanah (9) and Al Nasr with eight.
Al Suwaiq, despite the loss are at fourth place with seven points and record 11-time champions Dhofar are at fifth with six points despite winning all their four games so far.
Dhofar began the season with minus six points following OFA sanctions against them, Al Nahda and Saham clubs.
In the other matches played on Thursday, Al Nasr edged past Oman at Saada Sports Complex by a solitary goal, scored by Hamed al Habsi. And Saham opened their account in the new season with a 2-1 win over Nizwa at the latter's home ground.
Despite the victory, Saham remain rooted at the bottom of the 14-team table with minus three points. On Friday, Al Nahda, the third club to be docked six points, drew with Bahla 1-1 to make it minus two points for them.
Also on Friday, Dhofar's winning streak continued with a 2-0 win over Muscat while Al Rustaq were a 2-1 winner over Al Ittihad in their away game at Saada Sports Complex to be placed seventh with six points.
Standings after round four:
1 Seeb (10), 2 Al Mussanah (9), 3 Al Nasr (8), 4 Al Suwaiq (7), 5 Dhofar (6), 6 Oman (6), 7 Al Rustaq (6), 8 Sohar (4), 9 Bahla (3), 10 Nizwa (3), 11 Al Ittihad (2), 12 Muscat (1), 13 Al Nahda (-2), 14 Saham (-3).
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National Women’s Political Caucus Stands Against Abortion Restrictions Nationwide
Washington, D.C. – The National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC) is appalled by the recent attacks on women’s reproductive freedom. Since the beginning of 2019, 30 states have introduced legislation that impacts a woman’s right reproductive decisions.
Most recently, the Alabama Senate passed a measure that intends to ban abortions, even in the case of rape and incest. This legislation criminalizes the doctor who performs an abortion with up to 99 years in prison. Yesterday, Alabama’s Governor Kay Ivey signed the bill into law.
“These attacks on women must be stopped,” said Donna Lent, National President. “We must continue to fight against these barbaric and repressive laws that attempt to strip women of their bodily autonomy. NWPC has spent nearly fifty years fighting for a woman’s right to choose. We succeeded with Roe and we will continue to fight against these abhorrent attacks which due nothing more than punish women!”
Roe v. Wade is the landmark Supreme Court decision of 1973 that protects women’s “right to privacy” and freedom to have an abortion. “Abortions are still legal in all fifty states and the NWPC will continue to fight alongside our sister organizations to uphold a woman’s right to privacy and abortions,” continued Lent. “Attacks on women’s rights further demonstrates the essential role of NWPC in recruiting, training, and electing pro-choice women.”
The NWPC, founded in 1971, was the first national, multi-partisan, grassroots membership organization dedicated to identifying, recruiting, training and supporting women candidates for elected and appointed office.
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THEY’RE ALL GONNA LAUGH AT YOU, WENDY WILLIAMS, THE WARLOCK, HORNED GOD & THE SATANIC THIRD RACE MATRIX
BLIND MAN- MK ULTRA & THE THIRD RACE
I don’t intend to laugh at Wendy Williams. And, I don’t intend to cry for her like a blind man, either. Wendy Williams is no longer a puzzle wrapped inside an enigma. For fame, wealth and fortune, Wendy Williams cheated. There is no question now that she sold her soul to Lucifer, and that her mind, heart, and body belongs to SATAN. She shall not put the people out on a corner to be left to cry. It is the Black Matrix– the Covert 2nd Civil War, Re-Enslavement of Black People, and the creation of a mind controlled Satanic Third Race that will serve White Supremacy that we face in the 21st century.
Stalked by Demons, NBC Al Roker, CNN Angela Rye, and now Fox’s Wendy Williams
Global Black celebrities that enter the homes and minds of millions of people worldwide are being subjected to clandestine severe trauma- based mind control programming in secret “sunken places” away from the public. They are ritually tortured and sexually abused 24 hours a day that is now scientifically possible by advancements in systematic psychotronic electronic, electromagnetic low frequencies harassment, and artificial telepathy hologram programs. They will SERVE LUCIFER, and white supremacy as part of a mind control THIRD RACE MATRIX.
Artificial Telepathy Hologram manipulations explained how the late Whitney Houston could see faces, images and All-Seeing Eyes on the walls, carpets, doors, and inside and outside of her closets; and be harassed 24 hrs a day with stalking holographic DEMONS.
THIRD RACE Wendy Williams in Trance Formation
People want to see. I can let her go until the people open their eyes to see, and come up with some answers, and solutions to this covert war against the black entertainment industry, and its people. At this point, laughing at or crying for Wendy Williams don’t do us any good. It won’t cure our collective blindness to the Satanic/ILLUMINATI agenda of Old Angel Heart and the Dark Satanic Circle that occupy the highest elected public offices in America.
On the Halloween morning of October 31, 2017, I turned on Wendy Williams while my wife took her medicine, and I fixed breakfast. The Wendy Williams Show is an American syndicated infotainment talk show produced by Debmar-Mercury (subsidiary of Liongate) and distributed by 20th Television (Fox Television). It is primarily aired on Fox, CW and MyNetwork TV affiliates. Wendy is broadcast live in front of a studio audience on Mondays through Thursdays. Wendy reach at least 1.7 million people on a global daily basis.
For Halloween, Wendy wore an emerald green Statue of Liberty Halloween costume. In symbolic color code, emerald green is a very significant extremely ancient and deep statement in Kemetic cosmology. It represents God Aset (Osiris), and Goddess Wadjet.
God Aset- Osiris, Ausser–or Wizzer (Wsjr), is the original Green Man–he is the land and the earth in his representation of mankind migrating through cycles of consciousness. He is the seed, self, sun and universe, enabling consciousness to express itself as a manifestation in the physical, earthly realm. As such, he is associated with all phases of agricultural processes and to the symbolism of the tree of life. He is expressed as green in many depictions to represent these associations and their relationship to the fertility of the earth, his dual feminine aspect.
Wadjet is ” ‘She Who is Green’ Cobra-Netjer associated with both the land of Lower Kemet itself and its protection, and the protection and symbolism of the Red Crown (Nit), Wadjet is often depicted as a full cobra, or as the head of the cobra, rearing up in protection on the forehead of Netjeru and rulers.”
The mythology surrounding Christian Rosenkreutz, the legendary namesake of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood, involves the Emerald Tablet of Hermes, upon which their Hermetic wisdom is based, as well as the famed relic of the Holy Grail.[4] Hermes, the god-man, is said to have brought the alchemical wisdom of the Gods to mankind. He has thus been equated with the Kemetic God Thoth, as well as with Enoch, the patriarch in the Bible who was allowed to go to Heaven and take the “Elixir of Life”, which caused him to live forever. Enoch also was allowed to write down the secrets of the gods upon a tablet, which was brought down to Earth and given to Noah to enlighten mankind.[5]
Hermes had a similar tablet, said to be the color of emerald, and to contain all the secrets of alchemy, known to the gods. Because he revealed this hidden knowledge to man, Hermes therefore has a Luciferian, Titanic and Promethean aspect to him. Hermes is said to never die, but to fall into periods of prolonged sleep, from which he is awakened at regular intervals by the periodic rediscovery of his tomb. The Emerald Tablet of Hermes is upon which the Rosicrucian writings are undoubtedly based.[6]
There is an old legend about an ancient Star-Stone that fell to Earth ages ago when the archangels Lucifer and Michael first battled. Michael struck Lucifer on the head and the crown jewel fell off and down to Earth (Malkuth). This legendary stone is called the Lapsit Exillis, or Stone of Exile. The Stone the builders rejected, which ended up being the Capstone.
The Jewel has been equated with the Emerald Tablet of Hermes, as well as the Graal. It is symbolic of yet another allegorical rendition of the “Fall” of not only Lucifer from Heaven, but of The Middle Pillar on the Tree of Life (Tiphareth, Yesod, Malkuth), which created Daath/Death/Dimensions/Time-Space (i.e. Life).
In Arthurian legend, The Stone holds the Excalibur that only “The True King” with Strength can withdraw.[7] There is a possibility that the legend of King Arthur may be rooted in that of a historical Irish king.[8]
Wendy Williams, “It felt like I was in the middle of a FIRE,” she explained. “Starting down at my feet going all the way up to my top.”
WENDY WILLIAMS SHOW, HALLOWEEN, THE IRISH WARLOCK & THE HORNED GOD
At the very beginning of her Halloween show, Wendy Williams introduced her celebrity guest host, HollyWeird’s Irish Roman Catholic Actor, Jerry O’ Connell.
The name Connell comes from the possible meaning Cú (Con) meaning “Wolf or Hound”. They are descendants from the [Tuatha Dé Danann] High King of Ireland, Aengue Tuirmeach in 180 BC. The Coat of Arms colors are silver and [Emerald] Green, comprising of a Stag, signifying longevity. The stag is between three trefoil which signifies abundance.[9] It appears from the knight in the cress that it was a warrior- Knights Templar clan.
In the Mythological Cycle of Irish Mythology, the Tuatha Dé Danann lived in the other-world and was a magical race that became known as the Sidhe Faerie Folk in Irish folklore.[10] They are also linked to the biblical mythology of Lucifer and the “Fallen Angels.” The Tuath(a) Dé Danann (usually translated as “people(s)/tribe(s) of the goddess Danu” ), also known by the earlier name Tuath Dé (“tribe of the gods“), are a supernatural race in Irish mythology. They are thought to represent the main deities of pre-Christian Gaelic Ireland. The Old Irish word tuath (plural tuatha) means “people, tribe, nation”; dé is the genitive case of día and, depending on context, can mean “god, gods, goddess” or more broadly “supernatural being, object of worship”. In the earliest writings, the mythical race is referred to as the Tuath Dé (plural Tuatha Dé). However, Irish monks also began using the term Tuath Dé to refer to the Israelites.[11]
LUCIFER, “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit on the mount of assembly on the heights of Zaphon; I will ascend to the tops of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High’” (Isaiah 14:12-14). According to Lebor Gabála Érenn, they (Tuath Dé) came to Ireland “in dark clouds” and “landed on the mountains of [the] Commaicne Rein in Connachta [CONNACHT, IRELAND]; and they brought a darkness over the sun for three days and three nights”.[12] Many Scottish and Irish tribes and clans claim secret descent from the Tuatha Dé Danann, and have organized themselves to secret societies committed to ancient Tuatha ancient blood oath secrecy, racial supremacy, Satanism, demonology, magick, sorcery, and human sacrifice.
One of Ireland’s most infamous orators, lawyers, politicians, liberators, Master Masons was Roman Catholic Daniel O’Connell (1775 – 1847). He was initiated 1799, Lodge 189, Dublin. He was sitting counsel, and Deputy Grand Master of the mother lodge, the Grand Lodge of Ireland.[13]
Wendy Williams introduced Jerry O’Connell. He came from back stage dressed in drag, a purple (occulted color) sequin dress. He had to two bizarre sick female rubber dummies attached to him enough to scare anyone. I heard the name, Kardashian. Then, I heard him squealing strange low and high- pitched sounds as alter personality voices of his dummies that banged in my heard. I dashed and grabbed the TV remote, muted the sound, turned away from the TV. I switched channels. My inner conscious told me to run, turn away from it- protect yourself.
Later that evening, I discovered during that morning live show that Wendy Williams had a MK ULTRA malfunction, lost consciousness and fell to the floor on air. From her hand signs and gestures during her shows, it was pretty clear that she was a sick Luciferian ILLUMINATI black celebrity.
Jerry O’Connell & The Horned God
“But it’s Halloween!” Jerry O’Connell in a serial killer Green Meanie costume from the 2015 TV series, Scream Queens.
Green Meanie, the Horned God Pan
The ancient Celts and Druids in the West had worshiped a horned God who went by the names of Cernunnos, and in Old Irish literature as Uindos, Herne (Hermes), Hu Gadarn, and Hesus (Jesus). He was known as the most ancient and powerful Celtic deity who was called the “lord of wild and all things” like the Greek God Pan. The meaning of Cernunnos in Gaelic and Old English and Irish is the “horned one or he who has horns.”
Celtic Horned God Cernunnos & Jerry O’Connell
This God was usually depicted in artwork wearing stag antlers and was normally accompanied by his symbols of the stag, ram, bull and holding a horned and spotted serpent or worm. After Halloween day 2017, it is also crystal clear that Wendy Williams is a CIA MK ULTRA/MONARCH multi-personality disordered victim.
Wendy Williams, Regressing not Recovering at Home
Wendy Williams is an extremely valuable high profile House Negro that reach millions on the idiot box for the glory of Lucifer. She is far more mentally sick than anyone realize. She She has been programmed with multiple alter personalities. Each alter most likely have multiple levels of other personalities to utterly prevent de-programming. Each alter would most likely have its own system and codes of post-hypnotic suggestions. After her mental breakdown on the set of the show, she went home and went thru a set of programmed mental regressions. When you experience regression, you “go back” in some way.
Wendy dressed, and surrounded herself in a security blanket and zone of MK ULTRA Sex Kitten personality animal prints. On Halloween morning, we got a pretty good idea of who deliberately triggered her, warlock handler, Jerry O’Connell. His wicked and disturbing multi-personality disordered routine set her off. It was deliberate, and he faded away in the background of the firestorm following Wendy’s very public global mental breakdown and malfunction.
Wendy Williams & the African Auset Deception
Kemetic Goddess Auset (Isis)
There is a lot of misinformation flowing around on the internet that Wendy Williams’ statue of liberty costume is a representation of the ancient African Kemetic Goddess Auset (Isis). It is true to a certain degree, but it completely ignores the European Rosicrucian and Masonic manifestation and bastardization of the goddess developed over the ages to SERVE their nature. It skips over a lot of very significant and important links, and history.
Wendy Williams & the Masonic Goddess Columbia and the NY Columbian Order
Wendy Williams’ statue of liberty costume is a manifestation of the Masonic Goddess Columbia that is particularly sacred to the Columbia Masonic Order of New York. The Columbian Order is sacred to memory of Columbus, and the idol of Goddess Columbia that represents the feminized Columbus– representing Mother Earth and the Motherland. The District of [Goddess] Columbia, the seat of power of the United States, is Masonic grounds dedicated to her.[14]
Queen Semiramis
Before Goddess Columbia, she was Babylonian Queen Semiramis, consort of Nimrod.[15]
Goddess Cybele and Her Cannibal Consort, Saturn
Before Queen Semiramis, she was Earth Mother (Magus Mater) Goddess Cybele.[16]
Goddess Columbia– Queen Semiramis of Babylon (goddess of the moon), holding the torch with the eternal flame of Nimrod (sun god). The Statue of Liberty in New York harbor was presented in 1884 as a gift from the French Grand Orient Temple Masons to the Masons of America in celebration of the centenary of the first Masonic Republic. She is holding the Masonic “Torch of Enlightenment“. It is also referred to back in the 1700’s by the Illuminati Masons as the “Flaming Torch of Reason“. The Torch represents the “Sun” in the sky. The Statue of Liberty’s official title is, “Liberty Enlightening the World“.[17]
1790s Tammany Hall, NY, NY
Tammany Hall, now the “Sun Building”, was the early meeting place of Grand Lodge of New York, and of many subordinate lodges. It played a major role in controlling New York City and New York State politics and helping immigrants, most notably the Irish, rise up in American politics from the 1790s to the 1960s.[18]
The Sons of Saint Tammany were formally organized in New York City on May 12, 1789.[19] For the next 35 years after the Boston Tea Party, each of the original Sons of Liberty and Sons of St. Tamina groups went their own way. In 1813, at historic Fort Mifflin, near Philadelphia, several of these groups came together and formed one organization known as the Society of Red Men.[20] By the mid-1830s, the Tammany Society had been reconstituted as the Improved Order of Red Men.[21] The Improved Order was modeled after the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (Brotherhood of Death) and used the legend of Hiram Abiff of Masonic legend as its third degree.[22]
The Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order is a secret Masonic Order whose hidden power reached all the way up to the White House. The Sons of St. Tammany certainly had Masonic Lodges. President Andrew Jackson seems to have been a Member of St. Tammany Lodge No. 1, Nashville, Tennessee, as early as 1800. It was the first Lodge in Tennessee, organized in 1789, under a Dispensation from the Grand Lodge of North Carolina.[23] The Columbian Order also had its Masonic Lodges. Columbian Lodge in Boston is one of the oldest Masonic Lodges in the United States, instituted in 1795 by Paul Revere.[24]
The late Scandalous Fred, and his son, Donald J. Drumpf were directly VIPs (very important persons) members of the Masonic Society and Sons of Tammany Hall aka St. Tammany, Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbia Order through Brooklyn’s Madison Club, and the Knights of the Round Table in NY.[25]
HollyWeird Ritually Sexually Abused Child Star, Cory Feldman: “ask anybody in our group of kids at that time: They were passing us back and forth to each other.”
Feldman’s HollyWeird group of kids included Jeremiah “Jerry” O’Connell, born in Manhattan, NY in 1974, in the shadows of the Drumpfs and the Masonic Columbia Order, the son of Linda, an art teacher, and Michael O’Connell, an advertising agency art director. They will tell everything you need to know about his mother. But, they will not say anything about his father, (Masonic?) Irishman, Michael O’Connell, out of Great Britain.[26]
Live in the Theater District, Manhattan, NY, Jerry O’ Connell was dressed up as all the pregnant Kardashians. He and the dummies represented MK ULTRA/MONARCH alter personalities of them. It was far from being described as hilarious.
Before O’Connell, Wendy bowed down, and immediately formed the opposite prayer hand symbol- the “downward prayer position” that has been identified as the “Triangle of Satan” symbol often used by the Masonic Columbia Order Brotherhood of Death and President select Donald J. Drumpf.[27]
Wendy begged Satan for protection. However, the Warlock was into an absolutely demonic ritual to demonstrate and magnify SATAN’S POWER on national TV on Halloween before at least a thousand fold- 1.7 million people. O’Connell’s occult ritual routine was designed to scare, humiliate and TERRORIZE Wendy Williams, and the global masses. [28]
“Scare Them, You Can Herd Them”
At about noon, the Manhattan Halloween Terror continued. Sayfullo Saipov, a fake Muslim from Uzbekistan yelling “Allahu Akbar“drove a white rented pickup truck down a protected bike path and collided with a bus, allegedly killing 8 (eight) people and injuring several others. The story-line is that Saipov planned for a year to rent a Home Depot pickup and run down a complete random group of bike riders on a bike path in Manhattan. It makes no sense at all. Donald J. Drumpf of the Manhattan Columbia Order, and Muslim Terror in Manhattan fear mongering campaign reached millions upon millions 24 hours a day. Under the veil, Jerry O’ Connell represents HollyWeird’s extreme EVIL and WICKEDNESS.
JERRY O’CONNELL & HOLLYWEIRD’S UNDERGROUND PEDOPHILIA RINGS
Jerry O’ Connell is directly linked to Cory Feldman, and the underworld HollyWeird Satanic Pedophile ring. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Feldman discussed how he was repeatedly molested by adult males in the HollyWeird entertainment industry, saying these men would pass many young stars “back and forth to each other.” He said, “ask anybody in our group of kids at that time: They were passing us back and forth to each other.”
Corey Feldman 666 Satanic/ILLUMINATI Symbolism
Feldman then made the shocking claim that many people in the industry were aware that he and Cory Haim were being abused by these older men, and that no one did anything to stop it or help the boys. “This person uses intimidation and threats as a way to keep people quiet. And all these men were all friends,” explained Feldman.[29]
Corey Haim (above in 2007) struggled with drugs up until his death in 2010 at the age of 38, a death that Feldman blames on the men who abused the actor.[30]
Ask Jerry O’ Connell, because he was one of Feldman and Haim’s “group of kids at that time.” In March 2011, former child stars Jerry O’Connell, Corey Feldman and Wil Wheaton reunited in Los Angeles with Richard Dreyfus and director Rob Reiner to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their 1986 coming-of-age classic Stand By Me. The film’s other star, River Phoenix, died at age 23 in 1993.[31]
Hidden Hand (Society) of River Phoenix
In the years following his death, a number of theories would be put forth as to why River Phoenix was the victim of a celebrity heroin overdose, or assassinated. Some would say that he retreated in drug abuse as a result of being ritually sexually molested as a child by the global pedophile cult his family belonged to.[32] River Phoenix starred with Jerry O’Connell in Stand by Me when he was 15 to 16 years old. Phoenix had been traumatized, and ritually sexually abused and raped by an ILLUMINATI Cult (Children of God a.k.a. The Family, Family of Love) since at least 11 years old, when he tried to commit suicide.[33]
Child Undressing for Sue and the “The Family”
In the 1990s, the cult faced numerous allegations of pedophilia and sexual abuse from different locations worldwide including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Peru, Spain, Sweden, the UK, USA, and Venezuela. River’s death came in the midst of a major criminal investigation in Argentina. State Chief Inspector Juan Carlos Rebollo, who led the September 1993 raids, stated: “We found evidence suggesting the Family is funded by influential businessmen worldwide.”[34]
Jerry O’Connell is a very complex demonic spirit and personality. To avoid Satanism and Pedophilia Rings in HollyWeird when he was most vulnerable as a child, he would have been able to dance around and between raindrops. So far his lips has been sealed about what went on behind the cameras in tinsel town. However, he is certainly a leading candidate to be the High Priest of a Eyes Wide Shut secret Saturn Society- Aleister Crowley Masonic Satanic Cult and Cabal.
But it’s Halloween. Jerry O’Connell most definitely did Lucifer’s Work to magnify the POWER OF SATAN and make a global mockery of Wendy Williams, then slip away behind the Darkness and EVIL of the Day of the DEAD.
THE SATANIC THIRD RACE MATRIX & LIBERATION
I did not coin the concept, “The Third Race“, to identify a hidden Matrix produced by the horrors of African Human Bondage. It came out of Margo Jefferson’s memoir of growing up in postwar America’s emerging privileged black elite that she entitled, “Negroland“. The nation’s elite House Negroes very proudly call themselves, “The Third Race“, between the masses of Blacks (Africans) and white people. It is a matrix– something within or from which something else originates, develops, or takes form- A HOUSE NEGRO!
Post- Panthers, I had another frightened bird, Barbara, to fly under my wing. She was a fine smooth chocolate brown black young lady- nervous and nearly out of her mind in fear and stress. She couldn’t function normally. She was isolated, and all alone- inside the Black Race Matrix with nowhere to go. She had attempted suicide, and was still suicidal trying to escape the matrix. She was in a very fragile mental state that almost anyone could sexually abuse and exploit her. I kept her close to me with a ring of protection of the African Liberation Movement that remained strong and intact after the Panthers were compromised. She always talked about white men following her. I saw nothing out of the ordinary. I was BLIND.
Barbara was a daughter of affluent and prominent (class conscious) black family out of the deep south (Little Rock, Arkansas). They were brown skinned, that deep roots to mulatto (half-white) Free Negroes of St Lukes Parish, Beaufort, South Carolina. They were an example of your classic black overachievers and professional class. So, we had been led to believe. As a family, they were normally socialized at Southern University in Louisiana, and Texas Southern University. In the Bay Area, they became a class of black professional elite tennis players, teachers and school administrators.
I took her under my wing at San Francisco State University. She followed me thru the A.B. degree program in Anthropology, and the teacher credential program. As I said before, she was like a frightened young bird that often saw mysterious white men following her. It was as if her family had abandoned her while she suffered and toiled under the stress of fear. These classes of House Negroes seem to have a very little sense of self protection. They seem powerless to oppose the systems of white supremacy that they SERVE.
During the late 1960s, I first observed these classes of THIRD RACE House Negroes at Howard University in Washington DC. The students at the university were sheltered children of the privileged super elite black political and professional/Masonic classes from across the nation, and the world. I saw no pain or emotion in their eyes. They had no dirt under their fingernails. Their teeth were pearly white and perfect. Their skins were soft and unblemished as if they had rarely been outside under the toil of the sun. They were like a totally different race of people packed in one place- A MATRIX. When I first arrived on campus, a group of frightened students at the dorm that I was staying at called campus police, and pointed me out as a “block boy” that invaded the campus. The “block people” were ordinarily black residents of the city that weren’t allowed on campus. They didn’t mix with ordinary black people as if they were a different race of people.
I stayed close to Barbara for about 2 (two) years. I was literally forced out of Oakland. I had received my AB degree, and completed the California teacher credential program. I was qualified, and ready to move inside the educational system- another complex Matrix as a liberator. But, the word came down out of Washington, DC– get me away from Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), and Superintendent of OUSD, Dr. Marcus A. Foster. In a long stressful and emotional meeting with Dr. Foster before I left town, I pleaded with him to defy the powers at be, accept the African Liberation Movement’s ring of protection- bring us in. It was about the children– protecting the children. The people would join us in battle.
On November 6, 1973, 44 years ago, they blew Dr. Foster’s brains and heart out with shotgun blasts on the side of the OUSD main office. It was a Masonic assassination. He still remains the only sitting large metropolitan school district administrator assassinated in U.S. history. The crime remains unsolved. It other words, they won’t solve it.[35]
The Alameda County DA, law enforcement and investigative agencies accused the Panthers, and the SLA of assassinating Dr. Foster, but Panthers and the SLA didn’t wear “COWBOY HATS“.
It had gotten far too dangerous for me to live in the city of my birth. Plus, I was on the government’s hit list, whitelist, and shitlist. I couldn’t get a job shoveling shit in Oakland. I settled in Los Angeles. Sometime later, Barbara called me. She had settled in as an OUSD teacher. She was in immediate fear, again, of a white man that she said she had been forced to marry. They separated, but he was stalking and harassing her. I packed up my big stick 357, and flew into town, but again, I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Whatever had been going down suddenly stopped. This time, I really thought something was wrong. Why would she marry a white man that she feared?
By this time, I was much wiser about a lot of unseen and unexplained things. She told me about been the sole witness to her aunt’s murder in 1969 or 1970. She was shot and killed by a jealous suitor. The story line was that he thought that she was moving too fast ahead of him economically and socially with her new job and recent fame making history. He was jealous of her upward mobility within society. So, I didn’t think much of it at the time. But, I dug a little deeper. Her aunt was about to become the first black female Castlemont High School principal in history of a large metropolitan school district in America when she was shot down in cold blood in her backyard. Barbara watched the entire murder unfold from the window of her in-law residential house in the yard. Undoubtedly, Barbara witnessed more.
Oakland’s Secret German Mafia, Edwin Meese III & D. Lowell Jensen
I dug deeper. I found it highly unusual and absolutely unprecedented that Alameda County District Attorneys, Edwin Meese III, and his chief deputy D. Lowell Jensen of the Alameda County German Mafia took over her aunt’s probate estate to the exclusion of her entire family.
They were racialist arch-conservative key advisers of Ronald Reagan as California Governor and U.S. President along beside Nazi- Sturmhauptführer SS Baron Otto von Bolschwing of Reichsfurhrer Heinrich Himmler’s SS, and the Gehlen Org. Reagan was the secret alter-ego of Himmler’s most prized and clandestine Allgemeine SS officer, Baron Bolschwing. They were all alter-egos of the Knights of the Black Sun. Meese and Jensen provided legal shadow government cover and protection in Oakland and Alameda County for the FBI’s covert COINTELPRO War against the Panthers, CIA MK ULTRA Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), and the high level CIA Assassination of Dr. Marcus A. Foster, and much- much more. SS Baron Otto Albert Alfred von Bolschwing is still top secret and classified U.S. national security information in regards to the National Security Council (NSC), CIA, FBI, Ronald Reagan, and California. My Dear Lord! It explains why I never saw anything even with my eyes open. These brutal satanic forces were the shadow government– 20th century’s most racist, dangerous and clandestine force in the U.S. history. While I was looking for them, they were most likely watching me.
I dug deeper. I found that the killer, a Western Pacific railroad employee, pled guilty to homicide. He was sent to Vacaville Men’s Mental Health Facility to reside with CIA Station Chief, Dr. James Alexander Hamilton for the duration of his stay in prison, then I lost track of his whereabouts when he was released. I had come to the conclusion that her aunt’s murderer was an early experimental MK ULTRA/MONARCH Black Manchurian Candidate Assassin on the loose.
They slaughtered Barbara’s aunt, Dorothy Jones, to make it plain and clear to the Black Bourgeoisie that they (Nazi German Cabal)- strict white supremacy, decide when it’s time for them to move up in society, or be freed. Barbara’s aunt had moved too fast up the social and economic ladder equal to white people without their expressed permission and blessings. She acted as if she had been liberated. The Third Race Matrix: she was bound to SERVE, not grow independently and free by the grace of her own god, character and ambitions. Barbara too, had been raised and bound to SERVE inside the Matrix.
When I began to unfold some truths surrounding Barbara and the assassination of her aunt, the stakes suddenly became much higher. She suddenly turned hostile toward me as if I was her arch-enemy. I could no longer trust sitting in the same room with her. Being a former Panther, I must always be careful when things become hostile. I have no reputation or history of violence. Yet, a person’s fear of me, no matter how unreasonable, always seems to be legally justified to the government if something happens to be setup to go down. As far as I know, Barbara is in a class of very wealthy Bay Area property owners inside the Black Matrix, most likely a SLUM- LORD!
Whether the barriers between the black elite and the masses of blacks are silent, benign, or overt, the end result is always the same as it was during slavery. The black elite (bourgeoisie) continue to SERVE the master/servant relationship as it had been during the days of African Human Bondage in America. From the 17th to the 20th century, House Negroes SERVED slavery and white supremacy by interbreeding, strict socialization, brutal behavior modification, and mental conditioning. However in the 21st century, they serve two masters, white supremacy and LUCIFER, through advances in scientific technology, medical, and psychological applications and technologies that makes lay safe zones and deprogramming virtually impossible. In other words, I or the black community would have the chance of a snowball in hell to help to liberate a 21st century House Negro and Modern Slave, or a mind controlled/cloned black celebrity like Wendy Williams. The iatrogenic mind control victim of today may have hundreds of alters layered on dozens of other alter personalities anchored with hundreds of post-hypnotic suggestions with a termination alter. One of many challenges of this age will be to unify the masses, open their eyes and minds to the Dark Satanic Circles and Cabals that hide behind the power and authority of the highest public offices of this nation.
We must identify and close down the “sunken places” that program black celebrities like Wendy Williams, and other high profile influential personalities that lead the masses to LUCIFER. We need to know the doctors, and technicians that command the “sunken” stations and laboratories. There has to be zones of protection, whether inside or outside this country.
BLIND MAN, Little Milton
He lifted up his head toward Heaven and said
“Good Lord, I’d rather die than to let a no good
A no good cheating woman
Make me stand on the corner and cry”
Lord knows I’m living in a world of darkness
But that don’t, that don’t bother me
And until I find that sweet little girl of mine
Lord knows, I just don’t want to see- Lord, won’t somebody please help the blind me?
You have an option to keep her eyes wide shut, stand on the corner and cry like a Blind Man, or wake up to A New Awakening. I have said enough.
[4] https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/merovingians/merovingios_12.htm
[7] http://itsallintheegg.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Emerald%20Tablet
[8] https://childrenofarthur.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/was-king-arthur-irish/
[9] http://www.battleofclontarf.net/the-e%C3%B3ganachta-tribe-and-their-clans/origin-of-the-o-connell-clan-name/3624
[10] https://www.yourirish.com/folklore/the-tuatha-de-danann-invades-ireland
[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuatha_D%C3%A9_Danann
[13] http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/116752898
[14] http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol_washingtonDC09.htm
[15] http://goccuk321.blogspot.com/2012/10/seed-of-nimrod-semiramis.html
[16] http://endrtimes.blogspot.com/2009/08/semiramis-queen-of-heaven-mother-of-god.html
[17] http://freemasonrywatch.org/statue_of_liberty.html
[18] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammany_Hall
[19] http://historic-wheeling.wikispaces.com/The+History+of+the+Improved+Order+of+Redmen
[21] http://www.wvculture.org/history/wvhs1701.html
[22] http://www.meta-religion.com/Secret_societies/Groups/secret_organizations.htm#.VdKK0LJVhBc
[23] http://www.mn-masons.org/masonic-history/famous-masons/masonic-american-presidents
[24] http://www.columbianlodge.org/
[25] https://johngraysonblog.wordpress.com/2017/02/16/donald-trump-is-a-freemason/
[26] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_O%27Connell
[27] https://medium.com/@allanishac/body-language-experts-say-trump-often-flashes-triangle-of-satan-hand-gesture-5b592002c1e8
[28] http://www.wendyshow.com/2017/10/31/jerry-oconnells-halloween-surprise/#.WfsjL1tSyUk
[29] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3611046/I-molested-passed-Corey-Feldman-details-horrors-Hollywood-pedophile-ring-reveals-Corey-Haim-just-11-raped-leading-life-drugs.html
[31] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/photo-stand-by-me-cast-168878
[32] http://heroin.net/heroin-addiction/heroin-addicts/celebrity-heroin-users/the-heroin-death-of-river-phoenix/
[33] https://midnight-rant.com/establishing-motive/the-children-of-god/
[35] http://www.whale.to/b/brussell12.html
Categories : 1000 Year Reich, Advanced Research Projects Agency, african american satanic cult, african holocaust, African Liberation, African slavery, alameda county mafia, Aleister Crowley, artichoke program, Aryan Supremacy, ascendant triangle, aset, ashur, baphomet, black children, black inheritance, black institutions, Black Manchurian Candidates, Black Panther Party for Self Defense, blood covenants, blood oaths, blood sacrifice, BOULE, boys from brazil, BRONFMAN GANG, brotherhood of death, church of satan, CIA, civil war, COINTELPRO, cybele, d. lowell jensen, DARPA, donald j. drumpf, donald j. trump, donald trump, dr. isaac slaughter, Dr. James Alexander Hamilton, Dr. Marcus A. Foster, druids, earth mother goddess, egypt, ELF, evil, Extremely Low Electrical Frequencies, Eyes Wide Shut, fallen angels, False Satanic Rites of Lost Negroes, freemason, freemasons, Heinrich Himmler, hollywood satanic cult, holograms, holy grail, huey p. newton, human bondage, illuminati, Isis, kemet, lucifer's servants, luciferians, marcus a. foster, mind control, MK-ULTRA, modern slavery, monarch child, monarch program, MPD, mulitiple personality disorder, Nazis, new world order, oakland, pizzagate, post amnesia barriers, post hypnotic suggestions, Reichsfurhrer SS-1 Heinrich Himmler, reinhard gehlen, Ritual Satanic Abuse, ritual satanic sexual abuse, rose and cross, Rosicrucian, Rosicrucianism, satan, Satanic Global High Cabal, Satanism, sex kitten, sex slave, SS, Symbionese Liberation Army, trauma-based mind control, underground reich, underground third reich, Untermensch
DRAWING DOWN THE MOON, FENCES & MOONLIGHT, GLOBAL MASS POPULATION ETHNIC PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE
YESTERDAY, I HAD THE FENCES & MOONLIGHT BLUES
I haven’t seen either 2017 Academy Awards celebrated HollyWeird “special black experience films“, Moonlight or Fences, but I had the Blues, anyhow. The films, Fences and Moonlight, have been dropped in our collective laps as the “black experience” like the alleged Dallas police sniper Micah Xavier Johnson, and the Baton Rouge police killer, Gavin Eugene Long as if we own them all. Right in the middle of trying to make sense of LUCIFER’S pathological lying son, Donald J. Drumpf and PIZZAGATE, the global mass population psychological warfare and mind manipulating projects, Fences and Moonlight, dropped in our laps covertly, directly with those with eyes to see, attacking the image, re-imaging and subliminally color coding America’s “Black Males“- big and small.
Pursuant to the SS Nazi Germany Dachau Concentration Camp Color Code, the face of Moonlight Chapter Three (3) is named, Black- Badge: Antisocial.
Chiron- Travante Nemour Rhodes
Moonlight and Dachau Designated Color Coded: Black
Moonlight, the coming-of-age drama about a gay black man growing up in Miami became the first film with an all-black (Satanic cabal) cast with a CIA ILLUMINATI supporting staff to win the Academy Award for best picture. Viola Davis won best supporting actress for Demonic Possession and Satanic Harassment of an impoverished Broken Heart black man in Fences. She became only the second black woman to win an Emmy, an Oscar and a Tony for acting. These so-called HollyWeird ethnic color- coded “black experience” movies- who are the ones picking the black experiences implanted with covert programs that we don’t OWN? All of them are seeds of the CIA Occult Bureau and British Intelligence.
Colored Purple Whoopi Goldberg of the secret Sophia Spiritual Cult is the other, and the only black actor to have a so-called EGOT — an Emmy, Grammy, Tony and Oscar.
“Cross My Heart and Hope to Die”—The Mysterious Pagan “X” Sign and Factor
Alice Walker, Color Code Purple, Sign X of the PAGAN Witch
The bi-cross arm sign, or letter X, has a long history of use in the Ancient Mystery Religions, in apostate Judaism, in Freemasonry, and in the occult. The ILLUMINATI elite use it to this day to symbolize key phenomena and mark significant events. These secret signs are also used as some type of mind control trigger, or a subliminal conditioning key. The “Mysterious X” will appear again in direct relation to a key moment involving the Academy Awards & Viola Davis, below. The “Mysterious X” is PAGAN sign!
There is such of thing as Walt Disney Fantasia Mind Control Programming by Coded Colors that has been secretly researched, developed and deployed over the decades, discussed further below. Right now- notice the pulsating primary colors of red, blue, green purple or violet.
YOU WILL CALL ME, FAGAN (PAGAN)!
This extreme disturbing and very difficult video of the Satanic ritual abuse of a child is an actual secret CIA MK ULTRA/MONARCH Color-Coded ritual rite to split off multiple personalities- notice the pulsating primary colors of red, blue, green purple or violet.
This is an official movie poster of the so-called “black experience” Academy Award Winning movie, Moonlight. It is occult color-coded to the three (3) phases of the moon. From left to right, Little (blue-green?), CHIRON (purple), and Black (blue). I am really not good at naming colors, but you should understand basically that this is clear evidence and an example of color coded programming to the Three (3) phases of the Occult Moon.
If you pulsate or strode the red, blue, blue-green, and purple in the Moonlight movie poster, it will recreate the Walt Disney Fantasia Color- Coded Mind Control Programming.
Moonlight: the life of a young black man growing up in a rough Miami neighborhood is told in three phases of the moon: Childhood- PIZZAGATE coded Pasta: Boy (played by Alex Hibbert), teenaged years, Initiated into the PIZZAGATE Homosexual Underground (played by Ashton Sanders), and adulthood Down Low? Homosexual (played by Trevante Rhodes). MPAA Rating Restricted- R
Sexual Content:
– Portrayals of sexual activity with no nudity and some detail.
– Implied sexual activity.
– Simulated sexual activity.
– Same gender attraction.
– Embracing and kissing.
– Sexual references and language
First Phase of the Moon, Alex Hibbert is a mind controlled Monarch Child (3 Pyramids) framed, fenced in color- coded transformation moon beam Blue, and designated Purple- GAY.
By the teen age phase, Chiron–Waxing/Waning Crescent Moon, Ashton Sanders has actually sold his soul to the DEVIL/ILLUMINATI Homosexual Underground in HollyWeird’s CIA Moonlight covert Color-Code ethnic psychological warfare project.
Chiron & Achilles (PIZZAGATE– James ACHILLES Alefantis)
You can put whatever spin on it, but KHEIRON (Chiron) don’t have a damn thing to do with the “Black Experience.” Chiron was the eldest and wisest of the Kentauroi (Centaurs), a Thessalian tribe of half-horse men. I will cover the Thessalians, Witches and the Drawing down the Moon Rite further, below.
I absolutely refuse to look at substantially or in its entirely anything of Tinseltown’s “black experience” film projects, no matter what it may be. It’s psychological warfare. It’s like running through a mine field, running through hell wearing GASOLINE DRAWERS!
FENCES: THE JEWISH TWIST, SLUM IMPRINTS & DEMONIC POSSESSION
Denzel Washington’s Fences is a HollyWeird adaption of a 1983 play by Black-German American playwright August Wilson (April 27, 1945 – October 2, 2005).[1] He was a man without an identity actually born Frederick August Kittel, Jr., son of a German immigrant. His mother, Daisy Wilson, was a domestic. Remarkably, her mother had walked all the way to Pennsylvania from North Carolina to get out of the South.[2]
August Wilson- Initiated Luciferian
Wilson expressed a general caustic view of Christianity. He had grown up Catholic, even serving as an altar boy in his parish church dedicated to St. Benedict. Wilson grew up in the Hill District (1727 Bedford Avenue) of Pittsburgh.[3] St. Benedict the Moor is a Roman Catholic parish located on Freedom Corner in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The church was founded in 1889 to serve African-American Catholics.[4]
St. Benedict the Moor (1526 – April 4, 1589) is the Vatican’s saint for black people. Of course, he was a loyal and obedient African slave and catholic whose parents had been stolen out of the mother country. He was born in San Fratello in the Province of Messina in the Italian region Sicily. He was a shepherd. At 21 years old and frustrated with the country’s racial prejudice, he joined an independent group of hermits who followed the Rule for a “all male” hermit life written by St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226).[5]
Francis of Assisi and the man he loved in “They Shelter in a Cave” by José Benlliure y Gil, 1926
Historical records reveal a queer (homosexual) side to Saint Francis of Assisi. The 13th-century friar is celebrated by the gay community for his love for another man and his gender nonconformity.
Francis Assisi Hermit, Lady Jacoba also known as Brother Jacoba
When Francis was a young man, he had an unnamed male companion whom he dearly loved — and who was written out of history after the first biography. Other Franciscan friars referred to Francis as “Mother” during his lifetime. He encouraged his friars to be mothers to each other when in hermitage together, and used other gender-bending metaphors to describe the spiritual life. He experienced a vision of an all-female Trinity, who in turn saluted him as “Lady Poverty,” a title that he welcomed.[6]
Young Wounded Child, August Wilson
Wilson attended a private catholic high school. For some reason, he was too wounded and helpless unable to defend himself against bullying and racism. He withdrew and dropped out of school. At Benedict the Moor Catholic Church, Wilson had been an altar boy. It is a space within the shadows and corners of the church where hundreds if not thousands of young boys suffer ritual sexual abuse by priests. He appears to have been silent about the Catholic Church, and the Vatican. Yet, when black (Christianity) ministers appeared or were spoken about on Wilson’s stage, they were objects of pity, ridicule or condescension. Never were they heroic.[7]
Ancient Jewish Passover Seder
What lies behind the veil of August Wilson was not his maternal family remarkable history and struggle in America, but a “Secret Jewish History.” He celebrated the Jewish Passover (freedom of slavery out of Egypt) without question. Yet, he made a dubious and strange distinction between their freedom, and that of his own heritage.[8]
Mordecai & Wilson
His true heroes and heroines, and assumed heritage were among the Jews. Benjamin Mordecai (1945- 2005) a theater producer was long associated with the plays of August Wilson. He first produced Wilson’s plays at the Old Skull and Bones Yale Repertory Theater where he was managing director from 1982 to 1993. At the Rep, he transferred five of Wilson’s plays to New York including “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (1984), and “Fences” (1987).[9]
Mordecai or Mordechai is one of the main personalities in the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible. He was the son of Jair of the Tribe of Benjamin.[10] In the mid-’90s, Mordecai formed Sageworks Inc., a business partnership with Wilson that allowed the playwright greater control of his own work.[11] That should tell you a lot about the Jewish Twist to HollyWeird’s “black experience“, and the “mixed up” and deceptive character of a gutless bootlicker like August Wilson.
August Wilson is celebrated as an unparalleled chronicler of the 20th Century African-American experience. But, he was secretly a Jewish playwrights, too.[12] In my opinion, Fences is a play that should’ve died with Mordecai and Wilson. Fences is the story of Troy Maxson, a mid-century Pittsburgh sanitation worker (GARBAGE MAN) who once dreamed of a baseball career, but was too old when the major leagues began admitting black players. Fences is a clear example of HollyWeird’s clandestine racialist campaign of persistent imaging and re-imaging Black People by the subliminal and subconscious imprints of savagery, slavery, criminality, poverty, social dysfunction, mental illness, homosexuality, slums and damn GARBAGE!
Just recently, I finally came to light about one of my favorite classic black films, Cabin in the Sky (1943) starring Ethel Waters, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, Lela Horne, and Louis Armstrong. The MGM film was directed by the Sicilian descendant and baptized Roman Catholic, Vincente Minnelli, husband of Judy Garland (Wizard of Oz). The film was produced by the Jewish Arthur Freed (Wizard of Oz) that the infamous child actress, Shirley Temple, accused of being a ritual pedophile.[13]
For decades, I lived under the blind ILLUSION that this film produced by HollyWeird was some type of honest example of racial process and advancement. I had always been so struck with the remarkable and extraordinary talent of the actors, actresses and dancers in the film that I never concentrated on the subconscious imprints in the background.
One scene in the film always confused and concerned me, but I never concentrated on it. Eddie “Rochester” Anderson bought his wife, Ethel Waters, a birthday present, a new washing machine. Then, he made a curious statement. He told her that she could use it when they get electricity. They lived in a wood shack without running water or electricity. Without the extraordinary beauty of people, the grace, music and dancing in film (ILLUSIONS), the overall background subliminal imprint of the movie is marred in permanent abject poverty, abnormal sexual modes and values, criminality, social dysfunction, and DEVIL worship.
Fences Wood Cabin on Cement Cinder Blocks
The background of Fences, the play, also features a wood shack without running water or electricity sitting on top of concrete cinder blocks not unlike Cabin in the Sky. It was not unlike the one or two room wood shacks that my father and mother were born into in the deep south.
Denzel & Viola, I Surely Thank You Lawdy for This Here SLUM!
The background of Fences, the movie, is the SLUM, abject poverty and social dysfunction. It has that STOOP or front porch. It represents an image locked in my mind of my great-grandmother. I have no other images or photos of her. She was born in 1868 just after the Great Civil War. At the end of the Great War in 1865, her mother, the remarkable Alice Packwood, a sister and brother, were thrown out with nothing to the snow, wind and rain. All her life, my beloved was fenced in by the so-called badges of slavery, racial prejudice and violence of the deep south.
RFK & Inhuman Wood Shacks on Cement Blocks in the South
Senator Robert F. Kennedy was one of the few in power that was concerned about the way black people were forced to live in the deep south, and the condition of living in the slums of the North, decades ago.
We were once appalled and outraged by the SLUMS. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led movements to protest and address it. In Fences, Denzel Washington and Viola Davis receive worldwide critical acclaim and awards for living in the moment and the drama of the SLUMS. Viola Davis will talk about reviving the dead in graveyards before she would say anything in protest.
Southern Black Grandmother or Mother’s Wood Shack & Stoop on Clement Blocks
The last image of my great-grandmother was passed down to me comes from my late aunt, Mrs. Onetta Bullock Hutchinson. She said that she saw her Grandmother, my great-grandmother, Lydia Bullock, affectionate known as “Littie” only once as a little girl. In the twilight years of her grandmother, she said that she saw a very large woman sitting on the STOOP of an old shack house in the former plantation town of Tylertown, Mississippi. She was told that the large woman was her grandmother. Sometimes, I lone for an actual image of her just to touch. It still hurt to see the conditions under which they lived, and relive my life in the SLUMS after they took my father away in Project CHATTER. It is still extremely painful. That is part of the design of Fences- PAIN and REJECTION.
I suspected very well that the film’s co-star, Viola Davis, would win the academy award for best supporting actress because of a much publicized scene in the movie, the SNOT Rage (nasal mucus) Satanic Attack.
VIOLA DAVIS, “EXHUME THOSE BODIES”
The Satanic Snot Scene
A Satanic Attack or Possession may lead to gagging, coughing, choking spasms that last a few minutes or longer. This is followed by the release of an excessive amounts of mucus down the throat or out of the nose.[14] My dear God. This Satanic stuff scares me all so much, but what they actually do is meant to be frightening and of extreme evil, horror, darkness and wickedness- UNWORLDLY.
YOU WILL CALL ME, PAGAN!
Satanic Possession is clearly direct in your face, day after day, over and over again. Beyonce is a PATRON of occult satanic signs, symbols and imagery, ILLUMINATI hand signs, and ILLUSIONARY sinister images created by her light shows.
Beyonce DEMONIC POSSESSION- You Won’t Believe Your Lying Eyes
She freely admits to conjuring up and becoming possessed by a PAGAN evil and demonic spirit in mass population public appearances. There is no difference between demonic possession in Hip Hop, and popular mass population media entertainment vehicles like film.
Beyonce- DEMONIC POSSESSION
In the SNOT scene, Denzel, in character, stood up and shared a couple of moments to verbally reflect sadly back with his companion on his 18 years with a pocketful of broken dreams. The black man’s sensitive reflection back on his life wasn’t worth a dignified, humble, loving or compassionate response from his beloved companion. It conjured up a volcano of Snot, DEVIL and Demons.
Viola Davis- SATANIC ATTACK
See for yourself. I so wish this wasn’t so. Viola Davis, in character, shouted back in rage with red blood shot eyes, a steady storm of SNOT running down out of her nose in mad RAGE- she conjured up a harassment DEMON.
Viola Davis- Harassment DEMONIC Possession
She had been on that STOOP, too, with him for 18 years of his broken dreams. What about her being mired in slum poverty, social dysfunction, and GARBAGE with a unproductive and dysfunctional socially rejected black male. Is it her black companion’s fault? That seems to be the overall subliminal impression to internalize- the failures and betrayal of a black man. Was it great grandmother Littie’s fault fenced in by the badges of slavery, racial violence, and prejudice sitting on the STOOP with her sack full of broken dreams?
DEUTERONOMY 18:10-20 KJV
10 There shall not be found among you any one that … useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.
11 Or a … consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.
In an absolutely twist of things consistent with her veiled wicked and demonic role and character in Fences. It is the icing on the cake.
In her Oscar acceptance speech for best supporting actress in Fences, Viola Davis had some rather interesting, creepy and absolutely bizarre things to say about necromancy (communication with the dead).
In all fairness, if you seek the original stories of original people, exhume those bodies– bring their stories to life. But, in context to what? In genealogical (ancestral worship), I try to tell the stories of the ancestors, bring them alive, in the context that their stories and my true heritage have been maliciously and wickedly suppressed- buried in 400 years of slavery, racial hatred, and human deprivation.
In the art of acting, language and words are carefully crafted and chosen to communicate messages, and create pictures in the minds of an audience. Viola is very seasoned actress that understands very well that her words are scripted very carefully to implant pictures and as I said, messages. She was a top nominee to win an Oscar for her performance in Fences, that means that she prepared an acceptance speech ahead of time.
Viola Davis said,
“There’s one place that all the people with the greatest potential are gathered. One place. And that’s the graveyard. People ask me all the time, ‘What kind of stories do you want to tell, Viola?’ And I say exhume those bodies. Exhume those bodies. The stories of the people who dream big and never saw those dreams to fruition. People who fell in love and lost. I became an artist, and thank God I did, because we are the only profession that celebrates what it means to live a life.”[15]
Exhume does, indeed, mean: to bring back from neglect or obscurity.[16] What brothers me is that in the Satanic Snot Scene is that her character faced a real live character, an ignored, neglected, dignified, but lonely black man, with a story to tell in his own lifetime. Her character turned her back on him as if he was unworthy of a story of his own dignity during his own lifetime. But, the people in graveyards are more worthy of the dignity of being dug up on general principles to tell their stories, because the DEAD dreamed big like Troy Maxson, loved and lost just like a Troy Maxson. Yet, you won’t allow him to tell his story. But, she prefers the dig up the DEAD and communicate with them- that’s the practice of Occult Necromancy.
In other words, she has more respect and compassion to listen to the stories of dead black men, then her broken down black man companion and husband. This is one formula to surely destroy a black man psychologically from within, and drive him off the living edge and “self-destruct“ – maliciously deny him his god given story (humanity) by the ones he love and trust. However, don’t get it twisted on the “Black Experiences” , our mothers and fathers and forbears were “firm.” They taught us to love each other, and one another no matter the ups and downs, odds and obstacles.
Troy Maxson, Invisible Man
I read Ralph Ellison’s book, Invisible Man, several times when I was young. As a young man, I literally read and defined “Invisible.” So, I didn’t understand it at first. However, as soon as you begin to come of age, and try to find your place in society and the world, you understand the feeling of being “invisible” in America, whenever you try to assert your dignity, humanity and tell your story, whatever that it may be. The Snot Scene is like something out of the “invisible man“. In Troy Maxson’s greatest time of need of human dignity to tell his story, he became “invisible.” Well, you may not still believe that there is anything nefarious about Viola Davis and her role in Fences.
Secret Occult X Sign, Julius William Tennon
This man was captured cluing Viola during her Oscar acceptance speech with the occult bi-crossed arm symbol (X-Sign). This man is her husband, Julius William Tennon. He is a fellow HollyWeird actor. Other than general entertainment industry information, little of anything is known about his background.
Ancient X Sign, Homage to Asur (Osiris)
The bi-crossed arm symbol is an ancient sacred salute and homage to the Kemetic mysteries, and the Great God Asur (Osiris). The Kemetic symbol has been bastardized by secret New Age Spirituality Cults dedicated to Goddess Sophia. The goddess Sophia was introduced into Anthroposophy by its founder, Rudolf Steiner, in his book The Goddess: From Natura to Divine Sophia and a later compilation of his writings titled Isis Mary Sophia.
Secret Occult X Sign, Goddess Sophia
Sophia also figures prominently in Theosophy, a spiritual movement which Anthroposophy was closely related to Satanist Helena Blavatsky, the founder of Theosophy, described it in her essay What is Theosophy? as an esoteric wisdom doctrine, and said that the “Wisdom” referred to was “an emanation of the Divine principle” typified by “…some goddesses — Metis, Neitha, Athena, the Gnostic Sophia…“[17]
Jungian Goddess Sophia
Sofia is a pagan goddess of Wisdom (MITHRA) and wife of God. She is the creator of all. She gave breath to Adam.[18] The Knights Templar are said to be the protectors of the Grail, which many say is actually the lineage of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. Some believe Sophia came to earth in the body of Mary Magdalene.[19]
Secret X Sign, Alice Walker & Great BEAST 666 Aleister Crowley
Sophia was, and is, one of the most worshiped Goddesses. Even today, a huge secret Sophia Cult still exists. Sophia is the Greek version of her name. Others include: Hohkma (Hebrew), Sapienta (Latin), Mother of All (Gnostic), and the Holy Spirit (Early Christian).[20] I suspect that Julius Tennon has absolutely nothing to do with respect or the study of ancient Kemetic (African) Cosmology. So, I assume that he is a follower of secret HollyWeird New Age Spirituality Satanic Cults dedicated to Goddess Sophia and or God Mithras.
The “Fallen Angel” (thrown from heaven) motif universally applied to Lucifer, actually describe the Aeon Sophia, the Pleromic (abundant) goddess who fell from the heights of heaven (galactic center), according to the Gnostic star myth, the Fallen Goddess Scenario.[21]
Satanic Cabal Julius Tennon & Viola Davis, Color Coded?
So, we are really taking the about Viola Davis and Julius Tennon, and the secret HollyWeird Black Satanic Cabal. These negroes will cut your throat for Lucifer. My Lord! Fences is an awful, horrible, wicked and heartbreaking impression to be left imprinted in the hearts, minds and souls of the beloved people.
We already know that Denzel Washington is Evil as HELL. He is a senior member of the black Satanic ILLUMINATI cabal. Now, we know that Viola Davis is another black cabal sick MK ULTRA/MONARCH Satanic ILLUMINATI Witch that will drive a stake through the hearts of the people to please her masters.
DENZEL WASHINGTON & AUGUST WILSON: FROM THE SLUMS TO THE BLACK BOTTOM- HOW MUCH LOWER CAN WE GO IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Denzel Washington plan to do a HollyWeird film project on August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. The play chronicles the twentieth century African American experience. So, they say. The play is set in Chicago in the 1920s, and deals with issues of race, art, religion and the historic exploitation of black recording artists by white producers.[22]
“The Original Black Bottom” is actually a dance that came from an earlier dance called “Jacksonville Rounders’ Dance”, printed in 1907. The word rounder was a synonym for pimp. Both “dance-songs” were written by the black pianist, composer and dancer Perry Bradford and were based on a dance done in Jacksonville, Florida, “way back.” One professional dancer stated, “That dance is as old as the hills.”[23]
During the late 1970s, I had to leave Los Angeles on a thin rail until things claimed down. I temporary relocated to Shreveport, Louisiana. It was a place that I often heard my mother talk about as I understood it, “Sweetport.” Just a couple of blocks from downtown, there was a section of the city referred to as the bottoms, the black bottoms- the SLUMS. My impressions of the bottoms was that it was racialist, and referred to black people that were fenced in at the bottom of society.
The bottoms were in fact related to black people in a sense, but it actually referred to the rich fertile “black” bottom soil of antebellum slave plantations and farms. In Shreveport, the old rich plantation soil that made cotton king was an area of the city of wood structures and buildings out of the late 19th and early 20th century that were occupied by primarily poor black families. It was a place fenced in by deep seated traditional racial prejudice, and a wicked and strange rage, hatred and violence like something out of this world.
I moved into the bottoms for about a week to go back to a historical era, condition and culture that I knew little to nothing about. It was like living in another time and era. I have a AB in anthropology and have always been interested in the study of the true Black Experience and culture of the people. The black poor of the slum bottoms in Shreveport were, indeed, treated like the bottom of the society unworthy of human dignity and respect. As soon as I got setup in the legal aid office, part of my mission and priorities were to protect and vehemently defend their rights, dignity, and humanity as a people.
This is a place where the “The Original Black Bottom” dance would have flourished during that era. However, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottoms was about something else that has nothing to do with the dignity and struggle of the people against the ravages and badges of slavery.
“Ma” Rainey’s Black Bottom, Lyrics
Now, you heard the rest
Ah, boys, I’m gonna show you the best
Ma Rainey’s gonna show you her black bottom …
Don’t you see the dance you call your big black bottom
That’ll put you in a trance …
Now I’m gonna show y’all my black bottom
They stay to see that dance
Wait until you see me do my big black bottom
I’ll put you in a trance …
I done shown y’all my black bottom
You ought to learn that dance.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is really about showing her Big Black Ass, and influencing the people to show off their black asses to introduce trance formations as a diversion from standing up for truth to power, unity, justice and righteousness.
Who is Ma Rainey Historically to the Black Experience
“Ma” Rainey, born Gertrude Malissa Nix Pridgett, September 1882 or April 26, 1886 – December 22, 1939, in Russell County, Alabama or Columbus, Georgia, was one of the earliest African American professional blues singers and one of the first generation of blues singers to record. She was billed as the Mother of the Blues. She was a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance.[24]
Ladies and the Blues, Ma Rainey & Bessie Smith
In 1925, the police raided a Harlem lesbian party hosted by Ma Rainey. When the police arrived, they found some of the women undressed and in “intimate” situations. Ma Rainey was arrested for throwing an “indecent party.” Ma Rainey mentored and initiated another famous bisexual blues singer, Bessie Smith, known as The Empress of the Blues into the homosexual subculture. Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith were close friends and lesbian lovers. As a matter of fact, it was Bessie Smith who bailed Ma Rainey out of jail in 1925. They were an internal part of the Lesbian and Homosexual Black Subculture and Underworld of that era.[25]
That leads us to the other Tinseltown’s “black experience” film project, MOONLIGHT (2016), which is no more than a soft porn “Satanic, homosexual subculture experience and initiation” masqueraded as a traditional “black experience.“
The above purple-violet coded Moonlight poster was released after the Academy Awards. This poster clearly suggests that it is a gay movie. The early movie posters and trailers do not openly suggest that the movie is a gay male initiation film project. The people have made themselves clear that they want film entertainment projects under the guise of the “black experience” to feature more than just slaves, criminals, pimps, whores, comedians, gays and damn garbage men!
MOONBEAMS, CIA MK ULTRA/MONARCH, COLOR CODES & WITCHES
MOONLIGHT: CIA Color Psychology
CIA MK ULTRA/MONARCH mind control slaves are programmed as little children by music and color-code programming. Dr. Josef Mengele, the original Dr. Green (discussed below), played the violin and piano while doing the color programming to slaves. He was the original master at associating “both a tone or chord with a particular color or color scheme.” He loved using Walt Disney’s Fantasia for programming.[26]
“It can’t be overemphasized that Green is the highest color in Satanism–it is Satan’s color. It is not by accident that green has been used in uniforms, although the decision also was dictated by its advantage in camouflage. In the Omega computer programming a CODE GREEN for many victims means “self-destruct“, the ultimate sacrifice for one’s satanic programming.“[27]
Chiron in Purple. It is not part of the book title, the Rite of Sodomy. I added the Chiron in purple movie poster only for color comparison. Purple is a color intermediate between blue and red. It is similar to violet, but unlike violet, which is a spectral color with its own wavelength on the visible spectrum of light, purple is a composite color made by combining red and blue.[28]
Purple Sexuality
Purple has been adopted to be associated with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. It is the symbolic color worn on Spirit Day, a commemoration that began in 2010 to show support for young people who are bullied because of their sexual orientation. Purple is now closely associated with bisexuality, largely in part to the bisexual pride flag which combines pink – representing homosexuality – and blue – representing heterosexuality – to create the bisexual purple. The purple hand is another symbol sometimes used by the LGBT community during parades and demonstrations.[29]
Moonbeams, Barry Jenkins & Tarell McCraney
Moonlight may not be HollyWeird’s first psychological color coded movie, however, it may the first ethnic-specific CIA psychological warfare mass population color coded project. They intend to a mass population psychological warfare project Moonbeam and Initiate Black Boys into Homosexuality. MEET THE MOONLIGHT MOONBEAMERS.
MOONLIGHT: Moonbeam Barry Jenkins
Barry Jenkins, ILLUMINATI/MASONIC DUALISM
Moon Beam Barry M. Jenkins co-wrote Moonlight with openly gay Tarell Alvin McCraney, and the CIA Occult Bureau. Moonlight is CIA MK ULTRA/MONARCH color-coded mass population mind control program.
Barry Jenkins, All-Seeing Eye Purple Symbolism
Purple is a spiritually enlightened color. The hidden magical power of the color of purple (violet) has been especially esteemed in the occult for generations. The magical properties that Masons & New Agers believe are intrinsic to purple is why the 33rd degree has written books using purple, and several New Agers have published books on purple paper. The programmers also manipulate such things so that child alters believe that color “magic” has accomplished things.[30]
Jenkins is a goat-rider and worshiper. He was initiated into Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., in 1999 through the Iota Delta Chapter of the fraternity at Florida State University in Tallahassee where he studied film.[31] If he isn’t now, he will soon be a leading member of the BOULE.
Barry and Tarell McCraney Look Like Gay Black Males
Moon Bean Jenkins is 38 years old. He says that he isn’t gay. But, he remains unmarried as far as I know and rarely appears in public in the company of a female companion, friend or escort. However, he isn’t afraid to come out of the shadows draped in ILLUMINATI symbolism.
Barry Jenkins, Lion’s Claws, Pyramids & Sophia Spiritual Cult?
And, he doesn’t mind Romanizing and flaunting ILLUMANTI Satanic symbolism in the face of the masses.
“THE CLOSE, OR CLENCHED FISTS” is, in the Illuminist Philosophy, the symbol of secrecy, dissimulation, and hermeticism. It veils and conceals secrets from the “profane” and the “vulgar” (the non-ILLUMINISTS).The fists are both clenched, in allusion to one of the penalties of the obligation, which is to have both hands chopped off to the stumps.
However, it appears that the traditional Masonic ILLUMINATI symbolism of the close or clenched may have been expanded by the Sophia Cult beyond its traditional Masonic meaning.
MOONLIGHT: Moonbeam Tarell McCraney
Tarrell McCraney & Occult Mirror Dualism
Tarell Alvin McCraney (born October 17, 1980) is an American playwright and actor. He is the incoming chair of playwriting at the Old Skull and Bones Yale School of Drama, effective July 1, 2017. He is also a member of Teo Castellanos/ D Projects Theater Company in Miami and in 2008 became RSC/Warwick International Playwright in Residence at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Straford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England.[32]
In April 2010, McCraney became the 43rd member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble. He co-wrote Moonlight, based on his own play, “In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue”; and [Color-Coded Purple (Gay)], for which he received an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.[33]
MOONLIGHT: 24, PLAN 24 & Adele Romanski
24 partnered with PLAN B and Adele Romanski to produce and finance McCraney and Jenkins’ Moonlight.[34] A24 is an American independent entertainment company founded on August 20, 2012 by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel, and John Hodges and based in New York City. It specializes in film production, finance, television production and distribution.[35]
MOONLIGHT: Moonbeams Brad Pitt & the DEVIL
HollyWeird’s Master Mason, Brad Pitt
We should be very clear on who and what Plan B is, an wicked Masonic agenda of Brad Pitt. He owns Plan B.
Moonlight is the meddling and works aided by the DEVIL, SATANIST Brad Pitt.[36]
MOONLIGHT: Moonbeam Adele Romanski, The Spiritual Pagan
Adele Romanski- The Roman Witness
For whatever reasons, little if anything is known or revealed about the bewitching Adele Romanski. She is related to a chiropractors in Venice, Florida. Romanski is a habitation name for someone from any of several places in Poland called Romany, named with the personal name- Pagan– Greek spiritual element, ROMAN.[37]
It should become clear as a basic principle that the movie, Moonlight, like Fences isn’t the product or reflection of the true Black Experience and Community, at all. Moonlight is a fraud, and covert homosexual agenda imposed upon the masses.
MOONLIGHT: Moonbeam John Hodges, Wolf Clan
John Hodges, the Wolf
John Hodges previously served as head of production and development at Big Beach Films and exec produced “Our Idiot Brother” and “Safety Not Guaranteed.” He also produced Jordan Vogt-Roberts recently completed “Toy’s House.”[38]
For Hodges, 38, who graduated from York Country Day in 1996, getting to Hollywood has been an unlikely ride. He doesn’t come from a show biz family, although the family is prominent in York County. His father, George Hodges, is a retired executive at the Wolf (brotherhood) Organization, the York-based kitchen cabinet company. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is a relative, too.[39]
After graduating from Georgetown University in 2000 with a degree in American government, Hodges’ entree to the movie business came when, through a friend, he got a job as an assistant to the chairman of USA Films.[40] He then went on to positions at Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels’ production company and oversaw development at Big Beach Films, a film production company, before launching A24 with business partners Daniel Katz, and David Fenkel.[41]
MOONLIGHT: Daniel Katz, British Intelligence
Daniel Katz, British Intelligence
Daniel Katz of A24 was born in Baku, Azerbaijan and emigrated to the US at the age of four. A native bi-lingual of Russian and English, he grew up in San Francisco with exposure to Azerbaijani, Russian/Soviet, Jewish and American culture, all of which have influenced his so-called analytical (diabolical) mind. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Film from the London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. In November 2010, Daniel completed his Master of Arts in International Studies and Diplomacy from SOAS, University of London and has since moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area after a 5 1/2 year stay in London, UK.[42]
SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a constituent college of the University of London. Founded in 1916, it is regarded as one of the leading universities in Europe. SOAS has produced several heads of states, government ministers, diplomats, Supreme Court judges, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and many other notable leaders around the world.[43] SOAS is an institution dedicated to the ends and means of an Anglo Saxon Empire and New World Order. If SOAS was in the U.S., it would be equivalent to a CIA, State Department, and Military Intelligence school. During WWII, it was, indeed, an arm and branch of the British warfare department and intelligence.[44]
MOONLIGHT: David Louis Finkel, CIA MK ULTRA/MONARCH
David Louis Finkel, Project MOCKINGBIRD
David Louis Finkel of A24 is an American journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize in 2006 as a staff writer at The Washington Post. He is currently assigned to the national staff as an enterprise reporter. He has also worked for the Post′s foreign staff division. In 2014, Finkel was awarded with the Erikson Institute Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media (awarded by the Erikson Institute of the Austen Riggs Center) for his investigative reporting at The Washington Post.[45]
Welcome to AUSTEN RIGGS
In 1947, Dr. Robert Palmer Knight, the former chief of staff of the OSS/CIA Menninger Foundation, came to Austen Riggs as medical director. He was a close friend of Anna Freud.
Anna Freud was the 6th and last daughter of Sigmund Freud.[46] She was the aunt of Sir Clement Freud, the son of Sigmund’s 4th child, Ernst Ludwig Freud.[47] The late Clement Freud was the tip of an iceberg to a vast underground VIP/British Royal Pedophile Ring.
Freud is directly connected to Tony and John Podesta and PIZZAGATE. Freud, the Podesta brothers are directly related to disappearance and most likely sacrifice-murder of 3 year old Madeleine Beth McCann in Portugal.[48]
Dr. Knight and Austen Riggs were also connected to some of the CIA’s most notorious psychiatrists and psychologists like Dr. Lawrence S. Kubie.[49] Knight was the American Psychoanalytic Association secretary to Dr. Bertram D. Lewin, of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute that worked with OSS/CIA Dr. Henry A. Murray of Harvard University to develop the infamous profile of Adolf Hitler.[50]
OSS/CIA Henry Murray and Erik Erikson (born in Nazi Germany)
In 1951, Dr. Henry Murray’s OSS recruit and CIA MK ULTRA operative master hypnotist, Erik Erikson, joined the staff at Riggs. Erikson was connected to OSS/CIA agents, Margaret Mead, Dr. Gregory Bateson, and Henry Murray. He was directly connected to the MK ULTRA programming of Huey P. Newton.[51],[52]
From 1951-52, Knight was the President of the American Psychoanalytic Association.[53] In 1967, after Knight’s death, Dr. Otto Allen Will, Jr., formerly of Chestnut Lodge, came to direct Austen Riggs.[54]
Welcome to CHESTNUT LODGE
Chestnut Lodge, a Rockville, Maryland sanitarium whose psychiatrists were in the category for the security of the CIA MK-ULTRA/MONARCH project—“Top Secret” cleared.[55] Dr. Will received his medical degree from Stanford University, School of Medicine. After his residency and service in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he received post-doctorate training at Washington School of Psychiatry and the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute.
CIA Eric and Frieda Fromm (born in Nazi Germany)
Through this training, he joined the Interpersonal psychoanalysis movement founded by Harry Stack Sullivan, Frieda Fromm-Reichmann– former wife of deep cover Eric Fromm (Dr. Michael Maccoby- PIZZAGATE).
CIA Stack Sullivan also teamed up with Eric Fromm in the Narco-Hypnotic Mind Control programming of the infamous dancer and black heroine, Katherine Durham.[56] Dr. Wills served as Director of Psychotherapy at Chestnut Lodge from 1954-1967. [57]
The Erikson Institute awards the Erikson Institute Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media annually “to recognize and encourage writers, journalists, and media experts who have produced sophisticated and accessible work on mental health issues.” It sounds very much like the CIA’s Journalist “MOCKINGBIRD PROJECT AWARD.”[58]
ILLUMINATI David Finkel & John Podesta
In late February 2017, John Podesta joined David Louis Finkel at The Washington Post as a contributing columnist.
It is no coincidence that Moonlight’s official movie trailer opens with A24. The movie trailer does not necessary suggest that it would predicatively involve doctrines of subculture initiation and Rites of Sodomy, or Homosexual (dual) Ecclesiastics.[59],[60]
The Rites of Sodomy is a book that explores homosexuality through the context of secret and underground initiation rituals of the Roman Catholic Church. It is the secret continuance of unspoken and hidden ancient Greek/Roman traditions of the Roman Empire’s Satanic “Do what thou Wilt” homosexual desires of Boy-Love.
Gilles de Rais & Barron, the Demon or the DEVIL, himself
The Great BEAST 666 Aleister Crowley opens the subject of Homosexual Ecclesiastics through his secret works on the rituals of 15th century Satanic Black Mass child murderer Gilles de Rais, who may have murdered/sacrificed according to Crowley at least 800 children in dual Satanic Roman Catholic Black Masses. Homosexual Ecclesiastics exists in a dual/opposite secret underground Black Mass Roman Catholic Satanic Church that co-exist and flow parallel to the Roman Catholic Church.
Letters and numbers possess secret vibrations and colors. Moonlight Colors vibrate in Moonology.
Kemet Goddess Hathor
A is generally Alpha– the Beginning. In Kemet, the Cow or Ox head represents the universal symbol A that is associated with the Great Goddess Hathor. She was often depicted in red, the color of passion, though her sacred color is turquoise (blue-to-green).[61] Along with Great Goddesses Neith and Aset (Isis), nobody knows just old they may or could be. In certain times and aspects, Hathor has had the attributes of a moon goddess, so her sacred colors are relevant to moonology, and the secret moonbeam color spectrum.[62]
At God’s Throne in Heaven, 24 Rich and Wealthy Elders with Crowns of Gold
In HEAVEN,
“And round about the throne were four and twenty seats[24]: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.”
Moonlight as a theme and title of the film did not come out of the Black Experience or Community. The Moonlight that can color- code and transform Black Boys into Blue is the domain of Witches, and MK ULTRA/MONARCH.
On June 25, 1992 in Alexandria, Virginia, Dr. Corydon Hammond, a Psychologist from the University of Utah, delivered a stunning lecture entitled “Hypnosis in MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder): Ritual Abuse” at the Fourth Annual Eastern Regional Conference on Abuse and Multiple Personality. Dr. Hammond alluded to the Nazi connection in clandestine military and CIA mind control research and development. He revealed that Greek Letter and Color Programming were specifically mentioned in the Monarch Project in relation to a form of operative conditioning. Shortly after his ground breaking speech, he received death threats. Not wanting to jeopardize the safety of his family, Dr. Hammond stopped disseminating any follow-up information.[63]
Color-coded programming also involved triggering the names of handlers and programmers. In Project CHATTER (Dachau Concentration Camp Mind Control Experiments), my father had a color-coded doctor only identified as “Dr. Jewel” (colored gemstone). During that time (1947- 1953), I have searched coast-to-coast for a psychologist, psychiatrist or mental health technician named “Dr. Jewel” without success. I had recorded this name from an official state copy of my father’s hospital medical records. Following leads to the Dr. Josef Mengele’s designed electrical-shock machine torture-mind rape and control of my father in Oakland, Alameda Co, I was told in so many words by courthouse staff that I would be dead before I get to some of the puzzles to my fathers’ case now held in a special high security vault at the Alameda County Superior Court Administration building in Oakland.
Just after WWII, the primary or initial torture for many children in western U.S. involving color programming mind control experiments took place at China Lake, CA which officially went under the designations Naval Ordinance Test Station (pronounced in short as NOTS), Naval Weapons Center, NWC, Ridgecrest (the town nearby), and Inyo-kern (the area).[64]
Weird/Satanic Jack Parson’s California Institute of Technology at Pasadena was intimately connected to China Lake’s research. Weird-Satanic Jack, at one time, had top secret U.S. government clearances. Also much of the work at the facility was for the intelligence agencies and not the military. One of the things developed in the California Universities and then implemented at China Lake was color -programming.[65]
Hathor sacred colors’ Red and green were discovered to be the most visible colors for programming. Various colored flashing lights were used in programming at NOTS. Survivors of the programming all remember flashing lights. The use of flashing lights has been introduced into American culture by the CIA. If a person goes into bars and places where bands play, you will notice multi-colored lights flashing. The flashing lights create disassociation, especially in people, children who are programmed.[66]
Color- Coded named German & British scientists/mind control programmers came to NOTS after WWII, including Josef Mengele (known as Dr. Green, or Greenbaum, and other pseudonyms). Dr. Black also reportedly worked out of China Lake. Dr. White (Dr. Ewen Cameron) worked on the east coast, although he did fly in every so often to the west coast to meet with the other top programmers. Dr. Blue was another of the important leading mind control programmers.[67]
MacBeth’s 3 Witch Sisters & Tarrell
It seems very logical to me that Tarell Alvin McCraney wouldn’t be too effective as RSC/Warwick International Playwright in Residence at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Merry Olde Briton without knowing a great deal about Sir Francis AKA William Shakespeare, and MacBeth’s three (3) Witches.[68]
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was a famous Rosicrucian, he is considered by many to be the secret author of the works of William Shakespeare. The original engraving of this portrait is kept at the Sovereign Headquarters of the Rose Cross Order. When it is superimposed over a portrait of William Shakespeare surprising coincidental similarities between the two suggest that are one and the same.[69] The Rosicrucians of Sir Bacon’s era can very well be called a “moon cult” that believes in the “glory” of the moon,
“It is from the visible Sun that every particle of physical energy comes. And it is from the spiritual invisible Sun that all our spiritual energy comes. At the present time we cannot bear to look directly at the Sun. it would blind us. But we can look at the reflected sunlight that comes from the Moon. In the same way man cannot stand the direct spiritual impulse that comes from the Sun, and therefore it had to be sent by way of the Moon, through the hands, and through the mediumship of Jehovah, the Regent of the Moon, as a race religion. Only by initiation was it possible to get into direct touch with the spiritual solar impulse. A veil hung before the temple.“[70]
The Three Wise Men on the Holy Night of Christmas,
“Certain ceremonies were performed and the candidates entranced. They could not at that time be given an initiation in their full waking state, it had to be done in a trance. When the spiritual perception was awakened in them, they could look through the Earth–not seeing any detail but the Earth became transparent, as it were–and they saw the Star at Midnight.”[71]
Sir Francis Bacon had studied the Witches of Thessaly in quite detail, Francis Bacon: Sylva Sylvarum, or a natural history in ten centuries: 903,
“It is worthy the observing, that both in ancient and late times, as in the Thesslian witches, and the meetings of witches that have been recorded by so many late confessions, the great wonders which they tell, of carrying in the air, transforming themselves into their bodies …” [72]
“Three nights were lacking before the moon’s horns met, to make their complete orb. When she was shining at her fullest, and gazed on the earth, with perfect form, Medea left the palace, dressed in unclasped robes. Her feet were bare, her unbound hair streamed down, over her shoulders, and she wandered, companionless, through midnight’s still silence. Men, beasts, and birds were freed in deep sleep. There were no murmurs in the hedgerows: the still leaves were silent, in silent, dew-filled, air. Only the flickering stars moved. Stretching her arms to them she three times turned herself about, three times sprinkled her head, with water from the running stream, three times let out a wailing cry, then knelt on the hard earth, and prayed.”
~Ovid. Metamorphoses. Book 7.[73]
Medea is the High Priestess of the Goddess Hecate. Hecate, or Hekate, is the Goddess of the Underworld and the Goddess of the Dark Phase of the Moon. Hecate is sometimes associated with all three (3) phases of the Moon, she is, more often than not, connected with the third stage of the Moon, which is the Dark Moon. For that reason, she takes on the role of the Crone in a typical Triple Goddess formation in which there is a Maiden, a Mother and a Crone. Hecate has also been known as the “Queen of Ghosts,” the “Goddess of the Three-Way Crossroads” and the “Goddess of the Dead,” and it was there, at those three-way crossroads, that her followers held midnight rituals in her honor. She was also believed to roam the Earth on moonless nights, accompanied by her pack of hounds.[74]
Triple Phase Goddess Hecate
The “Moon” or Lunar Goddess Hecate is invoked into the high priestess by the high priest and in effect comes to possess her in what can often appear as an almost Voodoo-esque manner. Known in the Reclaiming Tradition of Witchcraft as “Aspecting”: a magical practice in which a priestess or priest channels the presence of a deity or quality, Drawing Down the Moon is intended to bring the real, actual presence of the Goddess into the Circle. From the time She overshadows the High Priestess’s consciousness, the Lunar Goddess considered to be physically present amongst the coveners.[75]
The drawing-down of the moon was the characteristic activity of Thessalian Witches. [Thessaly is in northern Greece, below Macedonia, and in antiquity was considered the country of Witches]. The author Statius in the Thebaid 3.558-9 refers to Drawing Down the Moon as “the Thessalian crime“.[76]
The Thessalian women paid a terrible price for drawing down of the moon: they lost either children or an eye.[77] In the New Age Spiritual Sophia/Mithras Cults, the Moon is drawn down for the purpose of erotic attraction magic. It is a form of ritual transformation and possession- an altered state of consciousness, a trance formation, of surrendering yourself to the will of the Goddess or a MK ULTRA/MONARCH sex slave handler or programmer.
“I am she that is the natural mother of all things, mistress and governess of all the elements, the initial progeny of worlds, chief of powers divine, Queen of heaven, the principal of the Gods celestial, the light of the goddesses: at my will the planets of the air, the wholesome winds of the Seas, and the silences of hell be disposed; my name, my divinity is adored throughout all the world in divers manners, in variable customs and in many names, […] Some call me Juno, others Bellona of the Battles, and still others Hecate. Principally the Ethiopians which dwell in the Orient, and the Egyptians which are excellent in all kind of ancient doctrine, and by their proper ceremonies accustomed to worship me, do call me Queen Isis.” – Lucius Apuleius, The Golden Ass, 2nd century AD [78]
Initiates into the Cult of Isis spoke of seeing her sending out rays of BLUE LIGHT OF GRACE AND SALVATION. [79] The blue lotus is sacred flower of the Cult of Isis.[80] Drawing down the moon involve the goddess and entities sending out spectrums of rays of blue light. There are different color spectrums and wavelengths of rays reflecting down on earth during the phases of moon. Since at least the 2nd century AD, the blue light of the moon has been associated with God-Like metamorphoses, transformations, possessions, and trance formation.
Lucius (Lucifer) takes human form, in a 1345 illustration of the Metamorphoses (ms. Vat. Lat. 2194, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana).
For Black Boys in Moonlight, the healing and God-Like blue light of grace and salvation of the Kemetic Goddesses aren’t being reserved for them. Black Boys Look Blue when the Moon is Drawn Down on Them not to transform them into the God-Like during metamorphoses, but to MK ULTRA/MONARCH Color- Code Purple- lock, seal, fence and guide them into the Satanic Homosexual Underworld.
Yesterday, I had the Blues, But all I got is your HEART. I thanked God, I THANKED GOD FOR YOU!
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Wilson
[2] http://forward.com/culture/356896/the-secret-jewish-history-of-fences-author-august-wilson/
[3] https://www.yahoo.com/movies/pittsburgh-fences-august-wilsons-hill-district-202102653.html
[4] http://www.stbtmchurch.org/
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_the_Moor
[6] http://jesusinlove.blogspot.com/2012/10/francis-of-assisis-queer-side-revealed.html
[7] http://www.samuelfreedman.com/articles/jinterest/jpost10262005.html
[8] http://www.jpost.com/Features/August-Wilson-and-the-Jews
[9] https://www.backstage.com/news/benjamin-mordecai-longtime-producer-dies/
[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordecai
[11] http://www.commercialtheaterinstitute.com/about/robert-whitehead-award/
[12] http://forward.com/culture/356896/the-secret-jewish-history-of-fences-author-august-wilson/
[13] https://theendofzion.com/tag/pedophilia/
[14] http://www.biblenews1.com/sin/choking.htm
[15] https://lindsaymdavis.com/
[16] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exhume
[17] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_(wisdom)#New_Age_spirituality
[18] http://www.suppressedhistories.net/articles/sophia.html
[19] http://www.sistersofearthsong.com/SOPHIA/SOPHIA.html
[21] http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/mistic/mistic_38.htm
[22] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Bottom_(dance)
[24] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_Rainey
[25] http://lesbianlife.about.com/od/herstory/p/MaRainey.htm
[26] http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/mindcontrol2/part04.htm#COLOR PROGRAMMING
[28] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple
[31] https://watchtheyard.com/alphas/moonlight-alpha-phi-alpha/
[32] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Shakespeare_Company
[33] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarell_Alvin_McCraney
[34] http://deadline.com/2015/08/barry-jenkins-moonlight-a24-plan-b-ex-machina-brad-pitt-amy-winehouse-cary-fukunaga-1201504815/
[35] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A24_(company)
[37] http://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=romanski
[38] http://variety.com/2012/film/news/katz-fenkel-hodges-launch-a24-1118058061/
[42] http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1906531/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
[43] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOAS,_University_of_London
[45] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Finkel
[46] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Freud
[47] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_Freud
[48] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Madeleine_McCann
[49] http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=paq.030.0286a
[50] http://www.paperlessarchives.com/adolf_hitler_oss_-_cia_files.html
[51] http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0615.html
[52] http://ecotopia.org/huey-newton/
[53] http://www.zoominfo.com/p/Robert-Knight/28441699
[54] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austen_Riggs_Center
[55] http://www.actionlyme.org/BRITISH_PSYCHIATRY.htm
[56] https://mindcontrolblackassassins.com/tag/erich-fromm/
[57] https://alchetron.com/Otto-Allen-Will,-Jr-1365938-W
[59] https://www.henrymakow.com/aloysius.html
[60] http://www.beyondweird.com/crowley/Banned_Lecture.html
[61] http://www.crystalinks.com/hathor.html
[62] http://www.moonology.com/moon-meditation-the-goddess-hathor/
[63] http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol_mindcon02.htm
[64] http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/if_chapter2.htm
[68] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Witches
[69] http://www.rosicrucian-order.com/libro3.htm
[72] http://sirbacon.org/witchcraftmacbeth.htm
[73] http://necropolisnow.blogspot.com/2009/03/drawing-down-moon.html
[74] http://www.angelfire.com/journal/ofapoet/hecate.html
[78] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Ass
[79]http://www.sacredsource.com/Blue-Isis-6-1_2/productinfo/BIS/#.WL8pxm8rKUk
[80] http://sacredbluelotus.com/html/roman_isis.html
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A CASE FOR GENOCIDE: BLACK MANCHURIAN CANDIDATES- DONALD DAVID DEFREEZE, YUSUF BEY IV & THE DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION AND DECONSTRUCTION OF BLACK INSTITUTIONS
The Late Great Bruce Lee (November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973)was much more closer to the People’s Struggle then you are allowed to believe. Bruce couldn’t meet with us personally and we fully understood it. Nevertheless, the ILLUMINATI and the San Francisco Chinese Triads warned Bruce to stay away from the struggle, particularly the Black Liberation Movement.
Yet during the late 1960s, we were able to train and spiritually reconnect with our Asian Brothers under Bruce’s directions somewhat behind the scenes. I didn’t understand it then, because I was so young. But, I learned that there were many battles to fight without our fists. Bruce’s “Art of Fighting without Fighting” required physical, mental and spiritual exercises and training before you ever threw a punch or a kick.
It isn’t happenstance that in Enter the Dragon that Bruce reconnected us with our ancestral spiritual training to fight and destroy ILLUMINATII-Luciferian images and “ILLUSIONS.”
– Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited, 116
The knowledge of escaping the embrace of illusions (slavery) created by the ILLUMINATI’s “Scientific Dictatorship” is an ancient mystery far beyond the written history of mankind. Lord Vishnu is also called Hari, or one who removes the darkness of ILLUSION. From the beginning of history, ILLUSIONS mark the idea that living beings live separate and in darkness without connection to GOD.
The counterpart of Vishnu, below right, is the Ancient Osiris of Ta Merry shown above dreaming while sleeping on the back of the Crocodile God Sebek of the primordial abyss.
Of ILLUSIONS and Smooth Deceits (Trancelike States), the scriptures provide that Lord GOD, “Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. And he shall break it as the breaking of the potter’s vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare : so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or take water withal out of the pit.” Isaiah 30:13-14
ILLUSIONS are no longer the domain and power of Gods and Goddesses, but manipulated by ILLUMINATI oligarchies and their GOONS of the “Brave New World” offering the masses trinkets, entertainment, drugs, and distractions, placated with vicarious tokens and lost in a dream world of “happiness” keeping the people away from GOD and dumbing them down so they won’t awaken and revolt against the Luciferian Masters of Deceptions and ILLUSIONS.
LUCIFERS’ SERVANTS (ILLUSIONISTS) IN OUR MIST, AMERICA’S BIGGEST SECRET
“Goebbels… was a deceiver, an ILLUSIONIST, by vocation, and ‘no ILLUSIONIST believes in the ILLUSIONS he himself fosters.” -Hans-Otto Meisner
NAZIS (ILLUSIONISTS) IN OUR MIST, AMERICA’S BIGGEST SECRET
“National Socialism is nothing more than applied biology.”Deputy Fuhrer Rudolph Hess
It seems that ordinary people even like me are at times absolutely unable to fathom the notion that a group of people exist from one generation to the next with an evil design to bring about total racial destruction of a people.
Very few understand the political meaning of “applied biology” within National Socialism (Nazism). Also, very few understand that the genocidal designs and works of the Nazis often take place right under our collective noses right here in the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Area behind ILLUSIONS, smoked mirrors and the Looking Glass.
Yet, we don’t talk about it. The Late Great Mae Brussell was among a very few that was courageous enough to persistently educate us about the Nazis behind the veil in America. She was literally banned from the white liberal so-called free speech KFPA airways because she refused to be quiet to conceal the truth from us. Even though Mae has been dead for over two decades, her voice is still silenced over liberal and progressive airways.
The list of Bay Area white progressive-Negro journalists’ forbidden subjects continue to grow larger year after year from the Assassinations of JFK, MLK, Jr., RFK, to Jonestown, 9-11Deception and the Libyan Aggression to the Chauncey Bailey Assassination, Your Black Muslim Bakery and Yusuf Bey IV.
What the Nazis considered “applied biology” was actually Darwin’s theory of evolution and eugenics or artificial selection. The Nazis furthered the development of a world view of what they promoted as a blue-eyed, blond-haired Ancient Germanic Master Aryan Race to dominate and control the world.
The Nazis worldview was that the human gene pool could be improved by using selective breeding similar to how farmers breed superior cattle strains. In the formulation of their racial policies, National Socialism relied heavily upon Darwinism to protect the superior Master Aryan Race. Nazism sought to prevent the so-called “inferior races” permanently from mixing, polluting and the contamination of the Master Race’s gene pool by a FINAL SOLUTION, racial mass murder- Genocide.
Sometimes their genocidal agenda appears only through illusions, smoke mirrors and beyond the looking glass. Looking Glass Genocide often takes place in other ways than overt mass murder. The attack on the target group, particular Black people in America, manifests itself through the deliberate destruction or deconstruction of their educational systems, institutions, culture and economic abilities.
Basically, it is a comprehensive and intentional attack on the target race’s social and economic existences. The destruction lies in the end of annihilating their way of life, social networks, institutions and values of the community.[1]
CIA-MK ULTRA is basically a vast multi-million dollar pharmaceutical-trauma based and genetic covert mind control industry developed by the Demon of Death of Auschwitz Concentration Camp, Hauptsfuhrer (Captain) SS Josef Rudolf Mengele.
Yet only through the Looking Glass are we able to see, discuss or explore “applied biology” and the works of the SS (Schutzstaffel) and Dr. Mengele that secretly took place in America after the end of WWII.
Mae Brussell was the first to expose wanted international war criminal, Dr. Mengele, as a U.S. Citizen.[2] During the 1960s, Mengele may have been living in the USA or Canada busy working for the CIA rather than hiding in Argentina or Brazil. Dr. Mengele’s rabbit hole in America runs far deeper than anyone is ready to pursue. “MENGELE told my informant THAT HE personally did the training on Oswald… Oswald was trained as a ‘patsy’ only.”[3]
Reportedly, Dr. Mengele lived in Montreal during 1962, “suspectedly to work in setting up MK ULTRA experiments at the Allan Memorial branch of McGill University in Canada.”[4] That means Dr. Mengele trained the notorious master CIA MK ULTRA Psychiatrist, Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron, head of Allan Memorial.[5]
Dr. Cameron was one of the most influential psychiatrists in the world. He was a member of the Nuremberg Tribunal that ignored pursuing Dr. Mengele as a war criminal. One thing is clear; he shared the same Master Aryan Race GENOCIDIST vision with Dr. Mengele and the SS,
“Cameron’s idea for a societal cure differs from Freud’s, where Freud proposed a talking cure, Cameron did not believe in a cure but a form of quarantine and extermination. Cameron wanted better societal functions, to expose mental deficiencies, environments that might frustrate the mentally weak, however help to reinforce the authority of the psychiatric society. Where Freud saw symptoms of repression, Cameron saw genetic weakness, biological determination and symptoms of social contamination as causes for mental illness. Cameron’s elemental construction of society is not based on repression or the unconscious, id, ego and superego, but is socio-biologically determined as founded on genetics. Cameron’s own use of authority, discipline and control is not seen as any materialization of an unconscious drive.”[6]
When I discuss MK ULTRA Black Manchurian Candidates, you can’t separate it from Dr. Mengele and National Socialism’s designs and worldview of “applied biology,” GENOCIDE.
Black Manchurian Candidates are often used as tools, patsies and pawns in veiled genocidal programs, targeting Black leaders for assassinations, and the destruction and deconstruction of Black Institutions.
As it turns out, Donald Defreeze and Yusuf Bey VI maybe two of the Bay Area’s most significant Black Manchurian Candidates and “pasties” of GENOCIDE in the destruction and deconstruction of an educational system and an independent institution vital and necessary to the prosperity, well being and economic needs of Black People.
Donald David Defreeze (Cinque) was used as a shrouded “patsy” as the means to deconstruct the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD). OUSD had become a vital free comprehensive educational institution to People of Color. It was one of best educational systems in America if not the world. At the time of the Assassination of Dr. Marcus A. Foster, OUSD was home to over 66,000 students that over 70% were Black. It also provided over 4,000 jobs. OUSD provided a livelihood to many residents of Oakland, the majority People of Color.
Yusuf Bey IV (Spiritual Leader of Your Black Muslim Bakery) also was used as a shrouded “patsy” as the means to destroy Oakland’s Your Black Muslim Bakery (YBMB). YBMB had become a vital business and religious institution to People of Color. Over the decades, it had single-handedly carved out a niche in a highly competitive bakery goods market. It produced vital bakery products from raw materials. It provided healthy, nutritious and quality bakery goods to an often ignored target market group, Black People.
It also provided over 200 jobs with a potential of growth and development. YBMB was an inspiration to the community. It was one of the few remaining successful independently owned Black owned corporations in the Bay Area if not the State of California. It also provided a livelihood and a religious haven to many residents of Oakland, the majority People of Color.
Over and over again, the question has been raised why Black People don’t resist drugs, crime and corruption, a Black Holocaust in the community. Why do they allow themselves to be burdened by helplessness, drugs and crimes? Why don’t they produce anything?
They also ask how several thousand Jews could permit themselves to be shot, one by one, with no more than thirty or forty rifles aimed at them.[7]
I think some explanations to both cases are partial answers to the questions. The Nazis and the SS were ingenious in their deployment of elaborate deceptions, illusions and smoked mirrors in veiling in secrecy its policy and practice of genocide.
Lucifer Servants– Knights of the Black Sun, the SS, were the World’s Greatest Racial Mass Murderer Cult. They were Teutonic sorcerers, magikians, quintessential illuminists, two faces of JANUS , and the “Masters of Deception.” Jews were led to believe they were being transported to work sites and received detailed instructions on what to bring with them on the trains. And when they arrived, music would be blaring to “welcome” them inside the camp.[8]
As for the Jewish People, “It wasn’t difficult for the Jews to accept these deceptions. After all, there was nothing in the history of the world to prepare them for what awaited. It was possible to believe that they were being taken to labor camps, that the Germans needed them for free labor, but what civilized person was willing to entertain the notion that the Nazis had constructed gas chambers where shower heads spewed deadly gas that would kill innocent men, women, and children, all destined to death for the simple reason of being Jewish? It is human nature to believe what we want to believe, and the Jews were no exception to this rule.”[9]
As for Black People, we weren’t aware that these same veiled absolute evil, the THIRD REICH and the SS that slaughtered over 6 million people in Eastern Europe had been slipped by the thousands into the United States to continue the 1000 YEAR REICH and prey upon People of Color behind a shroud of secrecy. Without the Nazi uniforms and swastikas, with the exception of Hitler, they would look just like people that we encounter daily.
There was nothing in the history of the world to also prepare us to understand the nature of, or the presence of Lucifer’s Servants like Dr. Mengele clandestinelyimbedded within the bowels of the U.S. government, military, police, corporations, banks, hospitals and universities.
We have been under the ILLUSION that Lucifer’s Servants, the Nazis and SS were defeated, polarized and neutralized. They were tried, convicted, and hanged or had been imprisoned for their crimes against People of Color at the Nuremberg Tribunal.
We were led to believe that the THIRD REICH was truly repugnant to a civilized nation, our practiced form of religion, and the very roots of an open and free democracy.
Beside the Late Great Mae Brussell, white journalist and researchers aren’t particularly interested in pursuing truths or getting behind what was/is really going on in the Black Community.
Far too many of them accept, pander and conspire in collaboration with the ILLUMINATI to mask the footprints, the two faces and works of absolute evil in our community.
Without the particular background research and work of the likes of Mae Brussell that is in the vital interest and concern of the Black Community, we would have to accept the magikians’ ILLUSIONS and tall tales as facts like the Late Jim Garrisons would say is as tall as the tale that “an elephant can hang from a cliff with his tail tied to a daisy.”[10]
Lucifer Servant’s footprint, ILLUSIONS and their designs run throughout the creation of Looking Glass MK ULTRA Manchurian Candidates Donald David Defreeze and Yusuf Bey IV.
“The Elephant Hanging Off a Cliff with his Tail Tied to a Daisy in Our Community: the Terrorist Donald Defreeze, “Field Marshal Cinque”
Donald David Defreeze (November 15, 1943 – May 17, 1974), also known as Cinque Mtume, was the leader of the America guerilla group Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), a group operating in the mid-1970s, under the nom de guerre “Field Marshal Cinque.” Defreeze, along with Patricia Soltyski founded the SLA and soon recruited members for his group. The group perpetrated a number of crimes, the most infamous being the vicious slaying of Oakland Schools Superintendent Dr. Marcus A. Foster Marcus and the abduction, torture, rape, and brainwashing of newspaper heiress Patty Hearst. Defreeze is primarily suspected of having murdered Foster and shooting Assistant Superintendent Robert Blackburn.[11]
How is it possible to continue to spread the lie that the brown skin Defreeze is suspected of murdering Dr. Foster when all the assailants were described to have long straight hair and tan or olive complexions?
According to A STUDY PREPARED FOR THE USE OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNAL SECURITY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (FEBRUARY 18, 1974),
“The murder team was described by a witness who saw them fleeing the murder scene as between 15 to 20 years of age, all with dark, shoulder length hair or wigs, and all of medium height and slender build. According to this witness, each wore a uniform of dark pants, knit hat and a denim jacket with a white patch on the right breast. Their complexion was described as olive or tan, and it was indicated that one or more of the team could be female.” [12]
Donald Defreeze, the CIA and SS ILLUSIONISTS Behind the Veil
Back in 1974, Mae Brussell appears to be the first journalist-researcher to connect Colston Westbrook and Field Marshal Cinque to a CIA Mastermind Planner, Dr. William Herrmann.[13]
In 1974, not much was actually known about Dr. Herrmann in California and since then not much more has been revealed about him in the United States other than Brussell’s original findings.
“I know that the Thatchers and the Reagans will be out in a few years. We have to survive till then.”-Olof Palme[14]
A decade later, Dr. Herrmann raised his ugly head across the Atlantic Ocean as a key international military intelligence ILLUSIONIST behind the political assassination of Sweden’s 26th Prime Minister, Sven Olof Joachim Palme.[15]
On February 28, 1986, Olof Palme was shot in the back of the neck at close range by an assassin in central Stockholm. Palme died instantly. His wife was also shot in the back but survived. By most accounts, Palme had been very vocal against the CIA, U.S. Vietnam Aggression and South Africa’s Apartheid System. He had been an uncooperative head of state to the New World Order.[16]
Palme’s assassination may be linked to Swedish business and right winged Police; and CIA foreign and domestic intelligence circles of former CIA director, U.S. Vice President and President, George Herbert Walker Bush.[17]
From 1991 to 1993, William Herrmann operated as a disinformant (U.S. Disinformation Intelligence Officer). In the investigation of the assassination of Palme, Dr. Herrmann was exposed as one of the National Security Council (NSC) and CIA’s major arms dealers. In the Iran-Contra Cocaine Connection, “the CIA and the FBI made sure that Herrmann was kept out of all congressional hearings.”[18]
In a 1986 interview with the Sunday Telegraph (London), Herrmann said he was 50 years old and born in Poland. He lived in Little Falls, New Jersey. He became a US citizen in 1956, and served in the US military until 1967, when he claimed had reached the rank of colonel. He claimed that he through the most recent decade (i. e. approx. 1976-86) had been a CIA agent in Iran and Iraq and also worked for the FBI.[19]
In 1956, Dr. Herrmann was slipped into the country by the CIA under the veil of national security in the ABOVE TOP SECRET program, Operation BLOODSTONE. [20]
Operation BLOODSTONE was a secret army of CIA operatives, executioners and assassins made up of Nazi-SS and their Eastern European SS collaborators recruited by General Reinhard Gehlen of the Gehlen Org (1947-1968)[21], CIA Director Allen Dulles (1953-1963), and Directorate of Plans, Frank Wisner, Sr. (1947-1958)[22]
Dr. Herrmann didn’t reveal what he did between 1967 and 1976, which was during the creation and making and mind control of Field Marshal Cinque and formation of the SLA at California Men’s Medical Facility with Colston Westbrook at Vacaville.
The U.S. House of Representatives Iran-Contra investigation team questioned and revealed approximately 10 named so-called “allegators”, including William Herrmann. For example, Herrmann is specifically named in Robert Parry ‘s book Trick or Treason, The October Surprise Mystery, Sheridan Square Press (1993:289):
“The House team repudiated other October Surprise ‘witnesses’ as well. None was telling the truth about Republican-Iranian contacts, the House investigators concluded. Yet, most of the so-called ‘allegators’ – including pilot Heinrich Rupp [..], American arms dealer William Herrmann, and [..] – stuck by their stories about Casey’s supposed hostage initiatives.”[23]
Above, the House team connects Dr. Herrmann with SS Pilot Heinrich Rupp. Rupp was a Project PAPERCLIP-Teutonic Knight Magikian that also had been slipped into the country under the veil of U.S. National Security.[24]
Both Herrmann and Rupp were connected to the highest elected official in the United States, California Governor and U.S. President Ronald Reagan. They were also connected to the highest seen and unseen intelligence agency officials in the country, CIA Chief William Casey,[25] and SS Captain Baron Otto Von Bolschwing of the Gehlen Org.[26]
On May 17, 1985, Dr. Herrmann was arrested in London after three million dollars in counterfeit notes was found in his hotel room (Parry 1993:133). At the time, Herrmann was also arranging a sale of 10,000 TOW missiles from the U.S. and Israel through Iranian arms dealer, Cyrus Hashemi. According to Herrmann, “In early 1985, I got the orders from Oliver North to issue pro-forma invoices for 10,000 TOW missiles from Cyrus Hashemi via Bank Melli.” (Bainerman, Joel (1992): The Crimes of a President. SPI Books, 1992: 239)
TOW” is an acronym that stands for “Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire command data link, guided missile”.[27]
For the record, U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North was at the center of national attention during the Iran-Contra Affair, a political scandal of the late 1980s. North was a National Security Council (NSC) staff member involved in the clandestine sale of weapons to Iran, which served to encourage the release of U.S. hostages from Lebanon. North formulated the second part of the plan: diverting proceeds from the arms sales to support the Contra rebel groups in Nicaragua (funding to the Contras had been prohibited under the Boland Amendment amidst widespread public opposition in the U.S. and controversies surrounding human rights abuses by the Contras). [28]
During Dr. Herrmann’s trial in London, he explained that he had acted as a deep cover infiltrator in a counterfeiter gang on assignment from the FBI. In an interview with author Joe Bainerman (Bainerman, 1992:240), Herrmann said he had infiltrated the Belgian terrorist group Action Directe on behalf of the FBI. They, too, had a counterfeiting department that allegedly had turned the false money over to Herrmann for whitewashing.
This is consistent with what the FBI agent John Mencer said during the trial, that Herrmann was informer for the FBI and had provided information on international terrorists and espionage (Sunday Telegraph 1986b). It had been confirmed that Dr. Herrmann also worked for the FBI (Parry, 1993:133), the FBI’s own telexes show that Herrmann days before the arrest was in contact with two FBI agents – one in New Jersey and one at the US embassy in London – about how the money was to be delivered and received. Thus, we find that the entire operation was a sting operation and it was a part of the design that he was arrested by Scotland Yard and sentenced to five years imprisonment (Parry 1993:133).
This sting operation and “arrest” occurred in May 1985. The Iran-Contra scandal broke in November 1986, and investigations of people involved began a month later. Herrmann was obviously one of those Congress wanted to hear.[29]
Dr. Herrmann was also associated as a clandestine arms dealer and international terrorist network group expert with Oliver North and the NSC. Dr. Herrmann and the rabbit hole ran far deeper than Iran-Contra. The hole delved deep down into international SS terrorist networks, mercenaries and clandestine ILLUMINATI overthrow of sovereign nations; assassinations, and international drug rings and trafficking.
From March 1986 to February 1987, British Intelligence MI-5 and MI-6 kept Dr. Herrmann undercover and shielded him in protective custody from the Iran-Contra-Cocaine Crimes U.S. Congressional inquiries.
In December 1989, Dr. Herrmann was allegedly released from a prison in Pennsylvania. By that time, the Iran-Contra congressional inquiries had concluded.[30] At this time, Dr. William Herrmann remains shrouded in secrecy. He is still not officially part of any public record in any significant way.
Both Dr. Herrmann and Westbrook were psychological warfare experts, experienced in the formation and indoctrination of assassination and terrorist cadres among other things.
At the time of the creation and making of Field Marshal Cinque and the formation of the SLA at Vacaville, Dr. Herrmann and Westbrook were also undoubtedly members of the FBI’s special clandestine international counterintelligence and assassination group, Division 5, led by J. Edgar Hoover, the Masters of Deception, the SS, and SS Wernher von Braun of NASA. [31] Dr. Herrmann, Westbrook and the CIA weren’t just another one of Brussell’s kooky conspiracy theories.
This SHIT (excuse my expression) was REAL!
The Timeline of the Making of an ILLUSION, the LEGEND of Donald David Defreeze, Alias General Field Marshal Cinque-SIN, Spiritual Leader of the Symbionese Liberation Army
“I was slowly becoming a nothing.” Donald D. Defreeze[32]
Donald David Defreeze was born on November 15, 1943 in Cleveland, Ohio. He was the oldest of eight children. He was often beaten by his father. Reportedly, his father broke two of his arms. He completed the ninth grade and then left home to live with a cousin in Newark, NJ at 13 or14 years old.[33]
Donald Defreeze ended up living with Christian Minister Reverend William L. Foster, Buffalo, N.Y, and reportedly became deeply religious.[34]
At age 14, he was arrested for robbing a parking meter; later, for stealing a car and a weapon. He spent two years in a reformatory, surrounded by “hell,” loneliness, fear, hatred. Tried to keep out of fights and avoid homosexual advances.[35]
1962, Newark, New Jersey
Defreeze was released from reform school. Subsequently, he would describe his incarceration as living in prison and a mental hospital. I can’t find any references as to which reform school Defreeze had been sent to or where the juvenile offenses occurred, but he revolved around Buffalo and Newark.
However, his activities appeared to have been centered in Newark with his blood relatives. Not too long after being released from reform school, he married an older young lady in Newark, New Jersey.
Donald Defreeze, MK SEARCH and Bordentown Reformatory
It seems more than likely that Defreeze had been sent from Newark to Bordentown Reformatory in New Jersey, a home away from home for “juvenile delinquents.” In those days, Bordentown would have been equally a “prison” and experimental “mental hospital.”
For decades, Bordentown Reformatory had been a notorious OSS and CIA experimental medical and psychological human guinea pig farm.
During World War II and also in 1951 through to at least 1964 when Defreeze may have been there, Bordentown Reformatory had been the site of secret CIA and U.S. Army mind control experiments. Dr. Carl C. Pfeiffer, above, of Emory University, Atlanta and the University of Illinois Medical School oversaw some of these experiments, which were intended to both study and trigger “a model psychosis characterized by visual and auditory hallucinations.”[36]
Earlier, during World War II, the Bordentown Reformatory was used by the OSS, precursor to the CIA, for truth drug experiments. These experiments included Dr. James A. Hamilton’s close associates OSS officer Capt. George White and New York psychiatrist Lawrence Kubie, also discussed later.[37]
In the late 1950s, Kubie wrote White a letter within which he “fondly” recalls their time together conducting drug experiments at Bordentown and at a state prison in Baltimore. Wrote Kubie: “I look back fondly on those days. What great fun we had.”[38]
Dr. Pfeiffer had been a CIA MK ULTRA-SEARCH researcher along with Dr. James A. Hamilton of Vacaville.[39]
From Bordentown Reformatory to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
Furthermore, Luis Angel Castillo of Chicago and Wisconsin was captured in the Philippines in March 1967. He had been sent in to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos. Philippine intelligence found that Castillo suffered Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD). They were able to uncover at least six different layers of programmed alters that had been implanted by a woman with a heavy German accent named, Mrs. Kreps. They also found out that Castillo was linked to the 1963 JFK assassination in Dallas. Castillo was a CIA assassin linked to Bordentown Reformatory at the same time it was a notorious MK ULTRA- SEARCH hallucinogen mind control site.[40]
It seems that Bordentown Reformatory connects perfectly with the major CIA-MK ULTRA-SEARCH players in the clandestine- creation of Field Marshal Cinque and the formation of the SLA.
Defreeze would have been their perfect candidate for a major operation like the SLA. He had a long jacket with covert MK ULTRA drug testing, research and experimentation beginning with Dr. Carl Pfeiffer at Bordentown Reformatory.
As illustrated in the case of Luis Angel Castillo, Bordentown had been a secret MK ULTRA- SEARCH routing station for potential MPD mind controlled assassins and operatives to be passed down the pipe to the CIA and military intelligence for future ABOVE TOP SECRET special operations.
Donald Defreeze from Newark to California
At 19 years old, he married Glory Thomas, 23 years old, mother of three children in Newark, New Jersey. They had three more children. In 1965, after being arrested for firing a weapon at his house, the family moved to California.[41]
The marriage was filled with rejection, disappointment. Defreeze tried to work and support his wife and children, but differences drove him to California. In California, Defreeze began drinking, taking drugs, and collecting weapons.
In California, Donald David Defreeze became a ghetto informer for the Los Angeles Police Department’s “black desk” since the August 1965 Watts Rebellion. His job had been to report on Black Militants- Black Liberation Politics.[42]
Defreeze worked as a police informer for the Los Angeles Police Department, (LAPD) under Detective R. G. Farwell, Public Disorder Intelligence Unit, Criminal Conspiracy Section.[43]
At the time, the LAPD was supplying weapons and bombs to BLACKPROS Ron Karenga and US (United Slaves) and hiring them by contract assignments to kill Black Panthers. Defreeze worked with police agent-provocateur Karenga, head of the US Organization, to disrupt and destroy the Black Panther Party. Later, he continued collaboration with Karenga and US at Colston Westbrook’s Black Cultural Association (BCA) at the California Men’s Medical Facility at Vacaville.[44]
US used the 7-headed cobra, later adopted by the SLA, for its symbol. Nothing in Defreeze’s background indicated a political consciousness while he worked as a police intelligence informer.
June 9, 1967, Los Angeles, CA
Defreeze was arrested for robbery violation 211 of the California Penal Code. He had been charged with two counts of possession of explosives, and one count of possession of a concealed weapon. On March 31, 1965, Defreeze had been arrested in possession of a bomb, knife and sawed off shotgun. He got five more years tacked on his prior probation. He was placed on probation even though he had violated probation on priors; Penal Code Sections 836.3, 459, and 12020.[45]
December 2, 1967, Los Angeles, CA
Defreeze was arrested for the fifth time on an arms charge. He had robbed and beaten a prostitute. He was arrested by LAPD officers Toles and R.G. Farwell. Defreeze allegedly escaped from police custody, but never was charged on escape charges.[46]
On December 6, 1967, Defreeze led police to an apartment where a cache of 200 stolen weapons were found. On December 2, 1967, Defreeze aka Steven Robinson, Ronald Coleman, Donald Williams, John Williams, Donald and Ronald Steven Coleman had been arrested for a November 22, 1967 burglary of Western Surplus Store at 8505 S. Western Avenue in Torrance, CA; buying and receiving stolen property (pistols and rifles); and possession of marijuana.[47]
Defreeze was given a relatively low bail. Subsequently, he had five (5) more years tacked on to his probation and walked again.[48]
April 4, 1968, Inglewood, CA
Defreeze arrested again on burglary PC 459 and PC 836.3 (Escape from Custody). He was released no charges filed. Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4.[49] It is likely that in lieu of the Black Outrage and Rebellions that broke out in Los Angeles and across the country, Defreeze got some emergency assignments from the LAPD.[50]
August 16, 1968, Los Angeles, CA
Defreeze arrested again for Grand Larceny, PC 487.3. On August 24, 1968, Glory Defreeze wrote to authorities, following the arrest of her husband, reminding them that they had promised him protection from arrest while he worked for them. Defreeze was released.[51]
By this time, Defreeze was working with Officer Farwell in the LAPD Criminal Conspiracy Section (CCS) in an illegal war against the Black Panther Party.[52]
April 20, 1969, Los Angeles, CA
Defreeze was arrested with unlawful possession of a dangerous weapon “military type semi-automatic M-68 Nine (9) MM Rifle” loaded with 32 bullet clip designed for military or police work. Defreeze told the judge that the weapon had been registered to him for a police officer friend. The weapon was intended for police work.[53]
It had been Defreeze’s 7th arrest, but these charges also violated federal weapon charges. Nevertheless, he was released on concurrent bail (one bail-numerous offenses) in the interest of the CCS of the LAPD, FBI and CIA.[54]
May 9, 1969, Newark, NJ
Defreeze had been involved in a kidnapping and assault of Alfred Whiters, building superintendant at the Temple B’nia Abraham in Newark, NJ.[55]
The cover story was that Whiters had been kidnapped to raise $5,000 for the criminal defense of a jailed Black Panther brother called, the Enforcer.[56]
A co-defendant in Whiters’ kidnapping, Ralph Cobb, was a Newark Black Panther leader. After a trial, Cobb was acquitted of all charges. Cobb’s attorney suspected that the Whiters kidnapping had been a FBI COINTELPRO special covert operation to neutralize, discredit and disrupt the Newark, New Jersey Black Panther Party for Self Defense.[57]
Newark’s DA Office declined to extradite and prosecute Defreeze for the Whiters kidnapping because he was behind bars in California. They were surprised that he was let out of jail and put back on the streets.
October 11, 1969, Cleveland, OH
Defreeze was arrested in Cleveland outside a bank in possession of a 38 revolver, .25 caliber semi-automatic pistol, hand grenade and burglary tools.[58]
He was given a low $5,000 bail even though he was in violation of his probation and crossed state boundaries, a federal violation of the law. Subsequently, charges were never filed.
Defreeze had been arrested in Cleveland by FBI Special Agent Tom Padden. Padden was the arresting agent of Patty Hearst and Wendy Yoshimura in San Francisco.[59]
He returned to California, and then arrested for robbing a woman at gun point for a $1,000 check. He told the judge that he had been high on pills.[60] Disposition of that case is unknown, but we know that Defreeze was put right back on the street.
November 25, 1969, Los Angeles
Defreeze exchanged gun shots with a bank guard and wounded him – using a .32 caliber Beretta automatic pistol, one of the 200 stolen guns from the November 1967 Western Surplus Store burglary that LAPD had apparently allowed him to keep.[61]
During 1969, Defreeze had also maintained a nice house, only a few blocks from the Los Angeles Airport. He was in the business of pimping for black judges and airport officials, fixing them up with women. He drove around in a city truck during the day, and gave the impression to one of his women that he was employed by the city.[62]
Undoubtedly, Defreeze was an escort-pandering partner with LAPD and the CIA involved in a covert sexual entrapment operation similar to the Lawrence King-Craig Spence Franklin Credit Union CIA child-sexual entrapment and whitemail operation.[63]
In 1969, Defreeze subpoenaed his superior, LA Distinct Attorney Evelle Younger, to testify in his behalf. Younger has always maintained close contact and collaboration with LAPD’s Criminal Conspiracy Section (CDS).[64]
In December, 1969, Defreeze received his most ambitious special assignment that finally would make him the infamous “somebody” that he had always desired to be.
Defreeze was sent to Chino for “psychiatric testing.” Medical reports at Chino described Defreeze as “disorganized; had impaired social adjustment; was a schizoid personality, passive-aggressive, needs 24-hour program of treatment.” Defreeze was sent on to Vacaville Medical Facility.[65]
Behind the walls of Vacaville on a prison term of 6-14 years, Dr. Fredrick Hacker, an expert on “terrorism” and Tavistock Institute Behavior-Mind Control Modification Programs Expert was assigned to Donald Defreeze for “psychiatric evaluation.”[66]
Dr. Hacker had an interesting and most convenient background related to the CIA and the creation of Manchurian Candidates. He was born in Vienna, Austria. In 1939, he graduated from the University of Basel, Switzerland when the THIRD REICH shared borders. Dr. Hacker was yet another well-situated “former escapee from Nazi Germany.”[67]
In 1940, he entered the U.S. at the outbreak of World War II as a medical intern at Saint Francis Hospital in New Jersey from 1940 to 1941. He did his residency at Columbia University’s Psychiatric Institute from 1941 to 1942. He practiced at Manhattan State Hospital on Ward’s Island in New York.[68]
Dr. Hacker’s most significant training took place from 1942 to 1944 with the infamous U.S. Army Neuropsychiatrist Dr. William C. Menninger at the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, KS.[69]
During WWII, Dr. Menninger became Director of the Psychiatry Consultants Division in the office of the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army. [70]
William and his brother Karl, co-founder of the Menninger Clinic, collaborated with OSS agents Stanley Lowell and New York Psychiatrist Lawrence Kubie (Bordentown Reformatory) to program a hypnotically (mind) controlled German prisoner to hate the Gestapo and the Nazi regime then give the subject a hypnotic suggestion to assassinate the Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler.[71] Reportedly, they concluded that it wouldn’t work. THAT DOG WON’T HUNT.
Chemist Stanley P. Lovell became a CIArecruiter for “Wild Bill” Donovan and chief of the CIA’s Research and Development Department.[72]: Kubie, a master hypnotist, subsequently worked with CIA Division of Technical Services (TS) Chief, Dr. Sidney Gottieb. Gottieb, a Dr. Mengele Clone, was the notorious TS director during its Artichoke (Assassination) and MK-ULTRA (Mind Control) programs.[73] Kubie and Vacaville CIA Chief James A. Hamilton had been key operatives in Gottieb-Dr. Mengele’s TS Division.[74]
Dr. Hacker later became a consultant to Patty Hearst’s father, Randolph Hearst, after she was kidnapped by the SLA. He had access to Patty Hearst and psychologically examined her.[75]
During the 1969 Sharon Tate-La Bianca murder investigation, Dr. Hacker, LA County Criminal-Psychological Profiler, rejected the idea of satanic ritual murders or drug-related vendetta. He provided the LA County Coroner, Thomas Noguche, with a detailed profile of the killer fitting Charles Manson before he was arrested.[76]
1970, Los Angeles County
While in prison, Defreeze wanted to “confess,” and end a life of running from the police — or working with them.
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Kanye West Started Sunday Service as a Way to Heal Himself, Says Kim Kardashian
Kanye West's Sunday Service has turned into something big, with festival appearances and pop-up shows in various cites, but it started out as more of a personal endeavor, says West's wife Kim Kardashian.
On Friday (Sept. 13), Mrs. West sat down with The View where she talked about the origin story of Yeezy's gospel sessions.
"Kanye started this, I think, just to heal himself," Kim revealed. "It was a real personal thing, and it was just friends and family, and he has had an amazing evolution of being born again and being saved by Christ. People always ask, 'Well, what are you worshiping?' Or, 'What is this?' It is a Christian service, like a musical ministry. They talk about Jesus and God."
Kim said Sunday Service is mostly a musical thing, with ordained pastors coming through from time to time, and not a full-fledged church, yet.
"For the most part, it's just a musical ministry," she said. "[Kanye] doesn't have his 501(c)(3) yet to make it an official church, but it is for God and it is a Christian church."
She added, "It started off healing for him and it's become something that he really wants to share for everybody else."
Kanye most recently took his show on the road, where he performed in his hometown of Chicago. Chance The Rapper also performed at the Windy City edition of Sunday Service.
West's newfound acceptance of Christianity is evident in the title of his upcoming album Jesus Is King, which is slated to drop on Sept. 27.
Source: Kanye West Started Sunday Service as a Way to Heal Himself, Says Kim Kardashian
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Privacy Policy for
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One Simple Thing We Can All Do to Improve Race Relations
On November 16, 2015 November 16, 2015 By alliegfergusonIn On Race
“Empathy may be the single most important quality that must be nurtured to give peace a fighting chance.” – Arundhati Ray
As part of an effort to educate myself about black culture and racism, I’ve been reading websites and magazines written for black audiences. I think all transracial adoptive parents have a responsibility to learn about their children’s culture and the struggles they will face both as minorities and as adoptees.
A few weeks ago, I was scanning the Atlanta Black Star website, a news site with a mainly black audience, when I saw an article about a white guy from Georgia named Gerod Roth who posted a selfie standing next to a beautiful black child on his Facebook page. The Facebook post was soon riddled with racist remarks from both Roth and his friends and it ended up being passed all over the internet.
The Black community in Atlanta and around the country was outraged (rightfully so), and the people behind Black Twitter dug up the guy’s personal information and he and at least one of the commenters ended up being fired from their jobs (also rightfully so).
Like other people who read it, I was upset by the photo and comments on the guys’ Facebook page. Then I scrolled down to the comments section of the Atlanta Black Star article and read what black people were saying about it–and that made me feel even worse. Things like, “White people don’t like us. Period.” Or, “White people will say this stuff about us but then smile to our faces. My buddy used to call it the fake white girl smile.” Or, simply, “This is why we will never be safe.”
In people’s minds, the rude comments of this overprivileged jerk and his ignorant friends were just another terrible thing in a long line of terrible things that white people have done to people of color. This wasn’t just about one white guy and a handful of idiots–to some of the people on that site, it seemed likethis guy spoke for all white people.
That made me so incredibly sad, because my smile is not fake and it breaks my heart that people might think that. (Not that I would blame them. How can black people trust us when things like this continue to happen?) Suddenly, it seemed impossible to me that we would ever be able to move past racism when there are people like Gerod Roth out there spewing hatred into the world. Feeling helpless, I looked at Miles and his beautiful black skin. How am I going to explain all of this to him? How is he going to feel about my white skin when he learns about racism? What can I do?
“Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eye for an instant?” – Henry David Thoreau
I never comment on news articles, but I left a comment on the Atlanta Black Star article that day, saying how awful the story made me feel, how sorry I was that this happened, and how sorry I was for all of the terrible racist things that black people have to face each and every day.
What happened next amazed me. I started receiving friend requests from people in the black community who read my comment. Lots of them (400+ people) started leaving replies on that comment and sending me messages that said things like “Thank you for recognizing this,” and “You made my day,” and “This means so much,” and “This is sweet. It’s too bad the majority don’t feel this way.”
It was nothing. I simply acknowledged what I was feeling; that this was terrible, that not all white people are like that, and that I felt badly about it, too. But it apparently meant the world to a community that never (or very rarely) hears these kinds of things from white people. For some, it seemed like the only time in their entire lives that they had ever heard a white person express empathy to them in regards to racism. If you read the comments on that article, you’ll see what I mean.
Black people are used to white people denying that racism exists–not acknowledging that it does (even though we wished it didn’t). One commenter said, “White people can see vampires, ghosts, aliens, UFOs, werewolves, and zombies, but can’t see racism, oppression, or white privilege.”
From what I’ve seen and heard and learned about racism over the past two years, that is not far from the truth. Because white people have never experienced racism and don’t have to deal with it on a daily basis, it’s easy for us to think that it no longer exists. It makes us uncomfortable to talk about, and people often even take offense to it because they don’t think they, themselves, are racist. But imagine how frustrating that must be for the people who face the real-world consequences of our systemically racist society?
I think the reason we can’t seem to figure out a way to move past racism in this country is because too many of us refuse to even agree that it’s a problem.
“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” – Albert Einstein
I made new friends by leaving that comment, all because instead of remaining silent and wishing that racism didn’t exist, I expressed the feelings that I’ve been carrying around inside. It didn’t solve anything, but imagine what would happen if we all said “Yes, racism is real and it’s not fair and we want to help do something about it.” Imagine the change that we could create.
What if we all made it a point to learn about racism and then to reach out and express empathy for the struggles our black neighbors have faced for generations? Why don’t more of us do that? What are we scared of? I know there are so many white people that feel the same why I do. If you’re reading this, surely you are one of them. If you believe that racism is real and care about ending it, find a way to express that.
We’ve got nothing to gain but friends and nothing to change but everything.
empathyracerace relationsracismtransracial adoptive parents
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7 thoughts on “One Simple Thing We Can All Do to Improve Race Relations”
Thank you for this post. It is so very poignant. If only everyone in the world could read this and really listen to what you are saying.
Thank you for commenting, Adriana. I really do think that if we all just took a little time to try and understand each other, the world would be a much better place.
I have been following your blog for quite some time. I love your clear voice in your honest and heart felt writing. Thank you. You gave me comfort during our adoption wait and now that we are transracial adoptive parents you are again helping me navigate this new parental journey. I have noticed how uncomfortable people around me get when I bring up race issues but this illustrates that we have to keep doing it in a positive and empathetic way. Well said.
Congratulations on your adoption, Emily! And thank you so much for those kind words. I’m glad you found the blog. It makes me so happy to know that it brought you some comfort during the wait. 🙂
People definitely get uncomfortable talking about race. It’s such a loaded, sensitive issue. It’s top of my mind these days, though, as I’m sure it is for you. I’ve learned so many things about race and inequality that I had no idea about before our adoption. Not all of it was easy to hear at first, but it’s gets easier to talk about it the more you understand. I feel like my new perspective as a transracial adoptive parent comes with a responsibility to share what I’ve learned about race and why it matters. Thanks again for commenting!
adele wilson
Thank you so much for writing this and sharing it with the world. This post makes so many very important points and does so with grace and love.
Thank you for your comment, Adriana!
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As hard as it to believe, the decade is almost over! Wait, it actually IS over! I meant to finish this post around Christmas, but became busy with other things. It has been several months since my last general update in July. Less time has been available since then due to college and such, but I've still got quite a bit done. Let's have a look!
A (slightly late) Christmas present
Without further ado, here is the AY-3-8500, ported to the MiSTer FPGA system. It's centered around a verilog description of the original microchip that was extracted from die photos. The paddles are currently controlled with an attached keyboard. All games are playable, including the undocumented "handicap" game. As to color output, the original chip outputs five different digital signals (corresponding to different game elements) which are combined by external circuitry to create a video signal. Most consoles made using the chip output mono video, some used a separate chip called the AY-3-8515 to color those signals. As the 8515 has not been decapped, I've recreated some palettes by eyeballing the colors from game footage of systems that used the AY-3-8500 or variants. In addition, there are a few palettes I came up with myself, such as the holiday themed one in the image above.
One other feature I played around with is a mode where the ball becomes invisible after colliding with something. This is possible without modifying the chip's internal circuitry by monitoring the audio output. I'm planning on adding a "robot" mode in a similar manner, an original implementation accomplished this with a small number of external TTL chips. Also on the to-do list is support for a joystick/analog controls, once I find a controller to test it.
This core easily has the highest ratio of time spent on it versus game complexity, considering it took me several months just to implement a simple game of pong! Much of the trouble was due to the odd design of the AY-3-8500 (such as latches and no central clock.) I had gotten it working semi-reliably on the tinyFPGA, but porting it using a different synthesis toolchain caused it to not work at all. The fix for this was to emulate non-FPGA friendly design choices using a faster clock, which made all logic properly synchronous.
Alexa, google "FPGA exorcist" please
MiSTer also has a bit of a learning curve which I had to get over. After making the edits described above, Quartus (used to synthesize the design) kept telling me that it couldn't meet timing requirements. This didn't make any sense as the circuitry was clocked at a snail's pace relative to what the FPGA was capable of. Somehow that was fixed by creating a new project from scratch. One other problem I had after that was that the image appeared incorrect/glitched in a different way each time I started the core. Turns out I had the reset signal's polarity swapped, so the chip was enabled for a fraction of a second before being forced into a reset state. This generated an unpredictable glitched image which stayed in the framebuffer. I scratched my head quite a bit figuring those things out.
Next cores
AY-3-8606 "Wipeout" latest debug photo
One ported chip may not be much, but it's a start. Next thing on the to-do list is to work any issues in the
verilog that I fixed manually, into DLAET (my netlist->verilog tool.) Then I'll fix the issues preventing the next two chips (Wipeout and Naval Battle) from being fully processed. Once that's done, they can get their own cores. I've also been meaning to refactor the toolchain I've developed and host it on Github for quite a while now. One thing at a time though.
In addition to those two, there are two more chips which might be simulated sometime soon! I've mentioned acquiring and decapping the AY-3-8603 "Road Race" chip before. Turns out that Sean Riddle actually decapped and photographed one back in 2018 but didn't put it online until recently. As mentioned before, it's a vertical racing game for one or two players. There's some footage of it here.
I've also been highlighting a chip called the MM57105 (rolls right off the tongue!) on and off for a while now. It's gone a bit slower than the others as the features are less clear. All of the transistors have been marked, and almost all of the vias have been as well. This chip isn't particularly special, it plays pong variants just like the AY-3-8500. It was National Semiconductor's response to the '8500, and notably implemented color output without an external chip. I'll have to do the diffusion layer manually as well, but I plan on taking a shortcut with the metal layer.
Automating the process
I've been working on a way to do less work, by getting my computer to do the laborious task of highlighting for me. Some people have tried to automate the process of highlighting/polygon capture before, but not to much success. Back when I marked up the AY-3-8500, I didn't bother with it at all. But after doing two more chips manually, and realizing that there are well over a dozen more to go, I decided automation was definitely something I wanted to look into.
In the past few years there's been an explosion of work done in (soft) "AI" and "Machine Learning" through artificial neural networks. The basic idea of them dates back to the late '50s, but tools like Tensorflow have made it easier than ever to play with these functions. I've been wanting to mess around with these for a while now, and this is the perfect opportunity.
A section of output from the network. Green indicates pixels it believes to be metal
The way my process works is first, the user takes the original die photos, shrinks them down to an ideal size, then highlights a small area manually. This is then used to train a neural network specific to the image/layer. It will likely have trouble the first time marking the image and need additional "guidance." The user finds any trouble spots, does a few of them manually, then marks them for training. A new re-trained network has then "learned" how to properly process those trouble patterns.
So how well does it work so far? I've been experimenting with the 8603 (Road Race) chip's photos. Manually highlighting only a small fraction (roughly 5%) of the metal layer results in a network that is able to discern between metal and non-metal areas fairly accurately, as seen above. Most edges are fairly rough, and some polygons are split or connected where they shouldn't be. It's promising though, as these can be fixed with smart post-processing algorithms.
Output of network trained to recognize vias, transistors, and diffusion
Getting a network to identify other layers is a little harder. Vias and transistors can look very similar to each other, and diffusion is usually only visible as a slight discoloration compared to the background. A section of the results is above. As you can see, it comes pretty close when identifying the vias (dark blue), but other layers could definitely use some improvement.
This is all still experimental at the moment. I have some ideas planned to improve it though. First off, each pixel is currently classified individually using it and its neighbors (within a radius) as input. This scheme will be replaced with a proper CNN, which process multiple pixels at a time using overlapping windows and then "votes" on each pixel, which should boost accuracy. Another way that might improve accuracy is to feed a map of the metal layer into the diffusion-marking network, so it can correct for color changes under where metal was.
The real part to work on isn't the neural network, it's in the post-processing algorithms. The algorithm needs to correct small errors (such as 1-pixel wide bridges between polygons) and alert the user to spots where it is unsure. So there is still plenty of work to be done. Also, some images/layers may simply be too noisy and will need to be done manually (which is why I'm still manually marking the MM57105's underlayers.)
Applying techniques
Manually highlighting chips takes hours upon hours of work and is thus the biggest bottleneck of the whole die photo -> Verilog pipeline. If automation can be applied to even just one or two layers per chip, the time savings would be enormous. The process could be used on more advanced chips in need of better emulation, such as sound synthesis chips.
I've been eyeing the speech generation chip inside the famous Speak 'n Spell for a while now. The SP0256 (another speech generator) has already been highlighted, it just needs some error-hunting work before it will work virtually. Many other interesting chips can/have been decapped and photographed. There's no shortage of targets!
One chip I'm very interested in working on is one that never got an opportunity to be sold to the public. One that most believed lost. One that would return one day seeking revenge. OK, this is sounding a lot like a movie trailer. The chip is the Atari AMY, and it was canceled, was presumed lost, although its intentions regarding revenge are still unknown.
Curt Vendel of the Atari Museum has collected documents and files related to the AMY, while John Hardie of the NVGM found the specimen pictured above. Careful decapping should give us Verilogifiable photos. That may not be necessary though, as Mr. Vendel also has printed plots of the chip which will be non-destructively scanned to obtain a digital layout. Once these show up the reverse-engineering work can begin!
Collected hardware
Since I set up a Patreon earlier this year, I've been collecting some original pong consoles off of Ebay to acquire the chips inside, in addition to documenting the PCBs and photographing them. An additional two have been picked up since July. First is a "Sears Pong Sports IV" which used the last iteration of Atari's dedicated PONG chips. The other is a "Sears Speedway" which contained a "chip" called the F4301, capable of ball and paddle games (with a "robot" mode) in addition to two vertical racing games. I put quotation marks around "chip" because it's actually two different dies in a single Multi-Chip-Module. Some more information about this rare chip can be found here.
The F4301 is inside the black package on a white extra-wide DIP. Interestingly, the PCB and some of the support chips have Atari branding on them
All of these systems are currently in various states of disassembly and modification. Since I'll be home for a little while, there should be time for me to work more on these. Finally getting around to developing a video mod and plundering the chips on one or two of these will be a new year's resolution!
That's pretty much everything. Plenty of stuff to keep me busy in 2020. I have no idea which subproject I'll post about next, so stay tuned. If you have any questions/comments, leave them below or contact my twitter. Until next time!
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Share this Story: Liberals considering privatizing search and rescue operations as part of Canadian Forces review
Liberals considering privatizing search and rescue operations as part of Canadian Forces review
Idea of using private firms to rescue Canadians in distress sure to stoke strong reactions both inside the military and across the country
Lee Berthiaume • Ottawa Citizen
Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press
OTTAWA — The Liberal government is asking if the military should continue to be involved in search-and-rescue missions, or whether private companies and other alternatives should be relied on to save Canadians in distress instead.
The idea has been raised as part of the government’s defence review, and is sure to stoke strong reactions both inside the military and across the country. The previous Conservative government aired a similar proposal five years ago, before letting it quietly die.
Liberals considering privatizing search and rescue operations as part of Canadian Forces review Back to video
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said last week that everything was on the table as he launched consultations with the public, parliamentarians and defence experts on how the military should be structured for the future. Consultations will continue until the end of July, with a new defence policy to be released in early 2017.
Harjit Sajjan defends Canada’s military budget after Donald Trump slams NATO ‘free riders’
Liberals ‘absolutely’ committed to military but it needs a tighter focus, defence minister says
As part of those consultations, the government released a 36-page document asking for feedback on what the military should — and should not — be doing. One section focuses specifically on the military’s role in search and rescue, and asks if there are “models for alternative service delivery that could be explored.”
The Canadian Armed Forces responds to more than 9,000 distress calls each year, the document says. But only about 1,000 actually require military search-and-rescue helicopters or airplanes. The rest involve co-ordinating other government departments, volunteers and private companies hired to help.
“The CAF take their role in search and rescue very seriously and remain focused on continuous improvement,” the document reads.
Master Corporal Kurt Schmidt/DND/The Canadian Press
“Yet given the range of other actors engaged in this activity and the small proportion of rescues that require CAF assets, a valid question is: What role should the CAF have in search and rescue?”
This isn’t the first time a government has considered taking search and rescue away from the military. The Conservatives raised the possibility of privatizing search-and-rescue operations in a meeting with representatives from various aerospace firms in 2011. The idea didn’t get far, however, after a public outcry.
Among those who spoke out against the proposal was Liberal MP Judy Foote, who wrote in a blog post at the time that she was “appalled by the government’s notice to companies that the government would be exploring the privatization of search-and-rescue operations.”
Foote, who hails from Newfoundland and Labrador, is now the minister of public services and procurement, which oversees military equipment purchases. Her department is currently managing a $3.1-billion project to replace the air force’s ancient search-and-rescue planes.
Cpl Vincent Carbonneau/DND
The Liberals have said their goal for the defence review is a “leaner, more agile” military that is better able to respond to the challenges facing Canada, but others fear the review is intended to identify ways the government can cut costs.
Paul Ives, mayor of Comox, B.C., which is home to the air force’s search-and-rescue school as well as one of its search-and-rescue squadrons, said he was surprised to learn that privatizing the service was being considered as part of the federal defence review.
A Canadian Coast Guard communications centre is slated to close in the Vancouver Island community next month, and Ives said there would be an economic impact if search and rescue were privatized as well. But he was more skeptical that private companies could provide the same level of service as the military.
Those guys who are rappelling down to rescue you are professionals to the nth degree
“Those guys who are rappelling down to rescue you are professionals to the nth degree and they’re a very proud part of the military,” he said.
“I can’t see a private company doing necessarily the same thing. I suppose it’s possible. But I wouldn’t want to be out in the wilderness somewhere expecting somebody to come in on a rescue mission who’s working on a contract basis and worrying about ‘Can we really do this? Will it cost us more than it’s worth?’ ”
York University professor Martin Shadwick, who has written extensively on military search and rescue, said the actual monetary savings of privatization or moving the service somewhere else such as the Coast Guard would likely be very small.
Corporal Roxanne Shewchuk/DND
At the same time there would be a number of intangible costs, he said, such as damage to military morale and the force’s links with average Canadians given that search and rescue is one of the military’s most high-profile activities.
“So there’s a whole lot of things that often don’t fit nicely on a balance sheet,” he said. “Getting rid of it completely, I don’t think it’s in the broader national interest.”
NDP defence critic Randall Garrison said he believed the government was just doing its due diligence by including search and rescue in the defence review, and was confident the government would decide not to touch it.
“There are certain capacities that you need to do search and rescue that only the Canadian Forces have,” he said. “So I don’t think there’s much doubt that the ultimate review will confirm that search and rescue as well as disaster assistance will both remain part of the Canadian Forces’ mandate.”
lberthiaume@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/leeberthiaume
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Share this Story: Social distancing: what to do and what not to do to curb spread of COVID-19
Social distancing: what to do and what not to do to curb spread of COVID-19
A man walks through a nearly deserted Convention Centre in Montreal on Thursday, March 19, 2020. Photo by Paul Chiasson /THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA — Social distancing is one of the most effective ways to contain the spread of COVID-19. While specific restrictions on what Canadians can do vary from province to province, here are the basic Dos and Don’ts of social distancing, as advised by the Public Health Agency of Canada and chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam:
Social distancing: what to do and what not to do to curb spread of COVID-19 Back to video
— Stay home as much as possible.
— Get fresh air, go for a jog or walk your dog but always keep two metres (six feet or about two arms-lengths) distance from other people.
— Go to the grocery store or pharmacy as needed but keep the two-metre distance and wash your hands upon your return home. Shopping online and arranging to have things dropped off at your home is even better.
— Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after using the washroom and when preparing food. The extra scrubbing time matters. Use hand sanitizer if soap and water aren’t available.
— Cough or sneeze into a tissue or the bend of your arm, not your hand. Dispose of any tissues as soon as possible in a lined wastebasket and wash your hands afterwards.
— Clean high-touch surfaces frequently with regular household cleaners or diluted bleach (1 part bleach to 9 parts water). This includes things like doorknobs, toys, toilets, phones, electronics, remote controls and bedside tables.
— Use technology to keep in touch with people at higher risk like the elderly or those in poor health. Avoid personal contact.
— Avoid non-essential gatherings. That means no visits with your neighbours or friends, no play dates, no sleepovers, no parties and especially no public gatherings in crowded spaces, like conferences, concerts or sporting events (if there are any on).
— Avoid public transportation or, if you must use it, travel at uncrowded hours.
— Don’t shake hands or kiss cheeks in greeting.
— Don’t touch your eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 19, 2020.
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No Parasites — Not a Single One
About Pornography
Revilo Oliver on Francis Parker Yockey
Blacks, Jews, and Reverse Discrimination
Brainwashing Our Children
Hillary Clinton and Her Enduring Ties to Jews
Capital Culture
Donald Trump: Great White Hope or Great White Hype?
FictionH. Millard
“HEY MAN,” said Homeless Jack, “let me tell you a little more about Arman’s teachings.
“Arman says that we have to think in terms of ‘our people’ and ‘not our people,’ if we are to head off our extinction, expand our kind and prosper.
“But, you won’t understand what he really means so long as you have an incorrect mindset that holds that the person you see in the mirror is the whole of the essential you.
“See, Arman repeatedly says that if you start your thought process by thinking about yourself as the complete organism you are, this gets you off the correct path and then leads you to think about human races in an incorrect way and leaves you open to having false ideas planted in your subconscious by those who want us to blend back in with the rest of humanity. You have to start your thinking way upstream from this.
“A good place to start your upstream thinking is by realizing that ‘you’ — the person in the mirror — are a manifestation of your DNA code. That DNA code is the core that has spun out that person you see in the mirror. But it’s not as though the unique DNA code you carry has an existence separate from you, because it doesn’t. You and it are one. It ‘projects’ you from within every cell of your body. You need it to exist and it needs you to exist in the form it has within you, and as you.
“People in other religions talk about a raceless, usually non-physical or non-material soul or spirit that they believe is the real person, and they believe that it inhabits a body that is often considered evil and a burden on the soul or spirit.
“They’re wrong, man, and they’ve been wrong for centuries. You are the real you — and the DNA code that has made you and which is inside you is the part of you that goes on after your death if you’ve had children in your image who survive you. And, remember, the DNA code is physical and material and it’s not raceless.
“You also need to understand, man, that the DNA code inside all life that we are aware of, including us, is the offspring of that first DNA molecule that came into existence. The basic DNA code is about as close to something immortal as we’re going to find on Earth. It just keeps spinning out life in myriad forms.
“But once that life is spun out in whatever form it takes and however different or similar it is from other life forms, it is up to that life form to struggle to compete and try to dominate as much of existence as it can. This struggling is an automatic process and is seen in the organism as a will to comfort. With the differences, nature also gives all organisms means to defend themselves in the struggle — often, ‘tooth and claw.’
“However, one of the side-effects of our human version of ‘tooth and claw’ — our brain — is that we can think about such things. This being the case, it appears that we have been given the keys to guide our own evolution, but they are keys that must be used or we will devolve. In a sense, nature has kicked us out of our mother’s basement and told us to make our own way in life as fully functioning adults.
“So, what are we to do? Well, we must understand the natural way of existence and we must realize that whether we live or die as individuals is less important in the larger scheme of things than whether or not we expand ourselves by having as many children in our image as possible. By having as many children in our image as possible, we expand the code that we carry. That is the goal of the DNA code that makes and sustains us, and that is the purpose of all life.
“What if you have children outside of our people or if you have no children? Your code does not go on, man. It’s like I told you before. A human male contributes 23 of his 46 chromosomes to a new child and a human female also contributes 23 of her chromosomes to that child so that a child is born with the 46 chromosomes that is normal for our species. Those chromosomes carry our DNA code. If you mate outside the people — outside your race (race is actually a sub-species) — the child who is born does not get the full complement of 46 chromosomes of our people. In other words, you do not survive if your DNA code does not survive.
“You don’t have to overthink this, man. Nature has made your eyes the king of your senses so you can usually tell who is like you and who isn’t. Your eyes are connected to your libido and to your survival instincts for a reason. If you’re a mentally healthy person who has been deprogrammed from the genocidal beliefs of society today, just trust your eyes and you’ll be okay under most circumstances.
“In fact, your brain is automatically programmed to tell like from non-like. It’s a survival mechanism. One glance at another and you can usually tell — at least subconsciously — if they are like you or not.
“But, here’s the rub, man. Society is trying to condition you away from this survival mechanism. Society is trying to convince you that such things as physical appearance are superficial. This is an error in thinking. Don’t buy it man. Trust your eyes and you’ll be safer. And, by trusting your eyes you may live longer to breed more and expand your individual version of the code.
“Okay, now I’m gettin’ pissed off, because this makes me think about the numbnuts who try to minimize the importance of our white skin. You’ve heard these dimwits saying things like ‘Skin color doesn’t matter,’ or ‘I just happened to have been born white,’ or ‘We’re all the same under the skin.’ Well, that’s all BS, man.
“You know where they’re going wrong? They’re equating skin color to paint. And, they’re dead wrong. Skin color isn’t sprayed on some samey-same universal human blank coming off an assembly line like it’s an automobile.
“Our skin color is an integral and essential part of who and what we are, and it comes from within. It is part of our unique code and is just one of many differences we have that are taking us on a different evolutionary path to a different destiny if we make the right choices in life.
“So, ‘looking like us’ starts with white skin. Then it involves bone structure, eye color, hair color and type and on and on. We’re not clones of each other so there will still be plenty of differences, but the basic similarities are there so that anyone with any intelligence will usually recognize like from not like. Just look, man. Just look.
“You with me so far? The real us is the genetic code that we carry. It is the code that makes us who and what we are and it is that code that is passed on to our children if we have children with those like us. It is the code that gives us life beyond the death of our particular body.
“Nah, this ain’t some ego kind of thing. It’s nature and nature’s way for life. Nature’s prime command for life — all life — is to make more like itself.
“Nature constantly tinkers with the basic code that reads: ‘life,’ so that the code will be able to expand in some form of life that is comfortable and able to prosper in every niche and every environment. But it isn’t the fact that we all started with that single molecule of DNA that is important to us on this level of existence, but the fact that we have evolved into different types. It is up to us to see that our type expands — no one or anything else will ensure that.
“Okay, man, let me back up a little and make a picture for you while leaving out all the minutiae. Millions of years ago, some so-called non-living chemicals somehow got mixed together and formed a DNA molecule. Now, this was and is a remarkable molecule because it endlessly ‘eats’ other chemicals in order to expand itself so that it can fill all environments and niches with itself.
“But, how does it do this? This way: It has the remarkable ability to change parts of itself to adapt to different conditions. If there’s water, the DNA will adapt and bring forth organisms to carry it and to live and prosper there. If there’s land, it will adapt to bring forth organisms to carry it and to live and prosper there. If it’s hot, cold, rainy, dry, whatever, the code will change so it brings forth life that will carry it and will be comfortable and prosper. The DNA code is eating its way across the universe, man, and as it does so it is transforming so-called non-living chemicals into life forms that can carry it.
“Just how changeable the code is still isn’t known, but as far as the Earth goes, we find life of some type living and prospering in just about every niche possible. That means the basic DNA code is still here after all these millions of years.
“Humans are just one manifestation of that DNA code that started millions of years ago and as with all life, we continue to evolve.
“However, as I just told you, humans have reached a point where we can think about these things. Arman says that because we have reached this point, not only can we think about these things, but we must think about them and we must, in our own interest, start guiding our own evolution.
“I’ll tell you more next time, man. But for now, remember to breed to your fullest and start eating your way across the universe to expand your DNA code. It is nature’s way.”
(© 2016 H. Millard)
“Millard is an original. His books aren’t like your typical fiction. If you don’t know where to put his books, try the same shelf with Kerouac, Kafka, Sartre and Nietzsche…”
Blacks: A More Criminal Race than Whites
Why Jews Must Be Excluded From All White Societies
Rapid Evolution
Shakespeare: "This Sceptered Isle"
Cherokee Princess Syndrome
Do Not Interfere With Non-Whites
Tags:ArmanDNAEvolutionFictionGeneticsH. MillardHomeless JackRaceRacial differencesReligionScienceSelf-determination
Choosing a Barbie Doll
Parasites vs. Producers
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vietnamese tone marks
In the North, a tilde indicates that the speaker should start mid, break off (with a. The tone names carry the respective tone sounds. In syllables where the vowel part consists of more than one vowel (such as diphthongs and triphthongs), the placement of the tone is still a matter of debate. Tone markings are: a (no mark), à, á, ả, ã, and ạ. Many other languages also use tones, like Chinese. As such getting the hang of Vietnamese words’ pronunciations is understandably not easy. The Vietnamese alphabet (Vietnamese: Chữ Quốc Ngữ; literally "National language script") is the modern writing system for the Vietnamese language. For example: We must be careful when using text processing software to sort Vietnamese words in alphabetical order, unless the software is designed to recognize the specific diacritic marks as the Vietnamese tones and take the correct Vietnamese alphabetical order into account. As mentioned in Chapter 1.1, it is important to note that the "hats" and "whisker" on the vowels ă, â, ê, ô, ơ, ư are not tone marks. The Vietnamese Tones and Tone Marks. Does the word cổ (meaning "neck") contain two tone marks? Are all the special marks in Vietnamese tone marks? Depending on region (north or south) there are six or five Vietnamese tones to make distinctions between words (like in singing). There are six distinct tones in the standard northern dialect. According to this principle, a dictionary lists tuân thủ before tuần chay because the secondary difference in the first syllable takes precedence over the primary difference in the second. There can only be one tone per syllable. Vietnamese is a tonal language, i.e., the meaning of each word depends on the "tone" (basically a specific tone and glottalizationpattern) in which it is pronounced. The u in qu is considered part of the consonant. For more information, refer to the rules of tone mark placement. As early as 1620 with the work of Francisco de Pina, Portuguese and Italian Jesuit missionaries in Vietnam began using Latin script to transcribe the Vietnamese language as an assistance for learning the language. When there is no tone mark, the word carries the neutral tone (which does not mean it has no tone). The first one ("level tone") is not marked and the other five are indicated by diacritics applied to the vowel part of the syllable. Modern writing system for the Vietnamese language, This causes some ambiguity with the diphthong. Most keyboards used by Vietnamese-language users do not support direct input of diacritics by default. In Vietnamese, syllables can have six different tones, with five of them indicated by tone marks applied to the syllable's main vowel. There are six tones in Vietnamese, each of which is represented by a different diacritical mark. The first one ("level tone") is not marked, and the other five are indicated by diacritics applied to the vowel part of the syllable. Each syllable must have a tone. The grave accent indicates that the speaker should start somewhat low and drop slightly in tone, with the voice becoming increasingly. [14] Does the word cười ( meaning "to smile, to laugh") contain multiple tone marks? I would like to use some vietnamese words, but I don't have accent and tone marks on my keyboard. Writing Systems Research, Vol. The French colonial regime then set up another educational system, teaching Vietnamese as first language using chữ quốc ngữ in primary school and then French as a second language (taught in chữ quốc ngữ). In Middle Vietnamese, it was represented by a, In one-lettered non-Sino-Vietnamese syllables, In one-lettered Sino-Vietnamese syllables, i (e.g. Additional marks are added to indicate the tones, referred to as "tone marks" in this course. Vietnamese Writing and Encoding Western Alphabet. Vietnamese is a tonal language, i.e., the meaning of each word depends on the "tone" (basically a specific tone and glottalization pattern) in which it is pronounced. 1, p. Writing Systems Research, Vol. [13] The Latin alphabet became a means to publish Vietnamese popular literature, which were disparaged as vulgar by the Chinese-educated imperial elites. : ti hí, kì cọ, lí nhí, mí mắt, tí xíu), i (e.g. This chapter focuses on the typographic details to help designers see … For example, to type "má" (mother), you need to type "ma1"; to type "mã" (code), type "ma4". Depending on the tones, the word “ma” can mean ghost, mother, which/but, tomb, horse or rise seedling. Exactly one. Realized as [ʃ] in Northern spelling pronunciation. Vietnamese is a tonal language. In the case of the ươ diphthong, the mark is placed on the ơ. Watch Vietnamese shows and movies with the subtitles on. : hy vọng, kỳ thú, lý luận, mỹ thuật, giờ Tý), i (e.g. The six tones are: Mid tone: produced at the relative middle of your voice range. The close vowels /i, ɨ, u/ are diphthongized [ɪi̯, ɯ̽ɯ̯, ʊu̯]. While supposedly we are not yet able to "read" the tone names, it is helpful to know the tone names verbally to refer to them. There are six tones, which are marked in the IPA as suprasegmentals following the phonemic value. While the "old style" emphasizes aesthetics by placing the tone mark as close as possible to the center of the word (by placing the tone mark on the last vowel if an ending consonant part exists and on the next-to-last vowel if the ending consonant doesn't exist, as in hóa, hủy), the "new style" emphasizes linguistic principles and tries to apply the tone mark on the main vowel (as in hoá, huỷ). Most new documents now exclusively use the Unicode format UTF-8. Here’s a video combining some different vowels (a, o, ô, ơ) with the various tones. Most people and the popular media continue to use the spelling that they are most accustomed to. In lexical ordering, differences in letters are treated as primary, differences in tone markings as secondary and differences in case as tertiary differences. Hundreds of thousands of textbooks for primary education began to be published in chữ quốc ngữ, with the unintentional result of turning the script into the popular medium for the expression of Vietnamese culture.[17]. With the exception of the "dot below", all other tone marks are placed above the vowel of a word. The Vietnamese language has many tone marks, so even words with same letters can have different meanings if they have different tone marks. Contrary to English where most words are comprised of multiple syllables, the Vietnamese language consists of all 1-syllable words. A study of Middle Vietnamese phonology. But how do they combine? The five symbols for the Vietnamese tones are: acute, grave, hook above, tilde, and dot "below", as shown in the table below. In Vietnamese, letters in the alphabet are used to denote the syllables, while tones are indicated by additional marks. When we write, however, we should follow the rules to place the tone mark correctly and consistently. In fact, answer to Why did Alexandre de Rhodes favor "ph" over "f" for the /f/ sound when codifying the Latin Vietnamese script? Because in the past some fonts implemented combining characters in a nonstandard way (see Verdana font), most people use precomposed characters when composing Vietnamese-language documents (except on Windows where Windows-1258 used combining characters). In P. T. Daniels, & W. Bright (Eds. It is unknown why the literature books use Lí while the history books use Lý. Between 1907 and 1908 the short-lived Tonkin Free School promulgated chữ quốc ngữ and taught French to the general population. There have been attempts since the late 20th century to standardize the orthography by replacing all the vowel uses of y with i, the latest being a decision from the Vietnamese Ministry of Education in 1984. tay ("arm, hand") is read /tă̄j/ while tai ("ear") is read /tāj/). Older dictionaries also treated digraphs and trigraphs like CH and NGH as base letters. Translation for 'tone marks' in the free English-Vietnamese dictionary and many other Vietnamese translations. These efforts seem to have had limited effect. When there are multiple vowels, certain rules have to be followed and will be introduced in later chapters when such mutiple-voweled words are introduced. Unmarked vowels are pronounced with a level voice, in the middle of the speaking range. The aforementioned 4 letters are only used to write loanwords, languages of other ethnic groups in the country based on Vietnamese phonetics to differentiate the meanings or even Vietnamese dialects, for example: dz or z for Northern Vietnamese pronunciation of gi in standard Vietnamese or to distinguish the English D from the Vietnamese D. The alphabet is largely derived from the Portuguese, although the usage of gh and gi was borrowed from Italian (compare ghetto, Giuseppe) and that for c/k/qu from Greek and Latin (compare canis, kinesis, quō vādis), mirroring the English usage of these letters (compare cat, kite, queen). The uses of the letters i and y to represent the phoneme /i/ can be categorized as "standard" (as used in textbooks published by Nhà Xuất bản Giáo dục) and "non-standard" as follows. Vietnamese words are mono-syllables (containing one syllable). There are six distinct tones; the first one ("level tone") is not marked, and the other five are indicated by … This is because the orthography was designed centuries ago and the spoken language has changed, as shown in the chart directly above that contrasts the difference between Middle and Modern Vietnamese. The dot signifies in Northern Vietnamese that the speaker starts low and fall lower in tone, with the voice becoming increasingly. ă, ơ, ê). Bồ Đào Nha và công trình sáng chế chữ quốc ngữ: Phải chăng cần viết lại lịch sử? Thus, letters in the alphabet alone are not sufficient to accurately denote the Vietnamese sounds. In the south, there is a merging of the hỏi and ngã tones, in effect leaving five basic tones. [14] Historian Pamela A. Pears asserted that by instituting the Latin alphabet in Vietnam, the French cut the Vietnamese from their traditional Hán Nôm literature. Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt, chữ Nôm: 㗂越) is an Austroasiatic language that originated in Vietnam, where it is the national and official language.Vietnamese is spoken natively by an estimated 90 million people, several times as many as the rest of the Austroasiatic family combined. The Vietnamese tones are marked by special marks called diacritics. A written syllable consists of at most three parts, in the following order from left to right: Since the Triệu dynasty in the 2nd century BC, Vietnamese literature, government papers, scholarly works and religious scripture were all written in classical Chinese (chữ Hán). Combining a tone and an accent. To create legible and readable Vietnamese typefaces, the marks not only need to be clear and balanced with the base glyphs, they also must not disrupt the kerning and leading of the overall design. ", "The Historiography of the Jesuits in Vietnam: 1615–1773 and 1957–2007", "The Rise of Christian Nôm Literature in Seventeenth-Century Vietnam: Fusing European Content and Local Expression", "Thi cử và giáo dục Việt Nam dưới thời thuộc Pháp", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vietnamese_alphabet&oldid=991300269, Articles needing additional references from April 2018, All articles needing additional references, Articles containing Vietnamese-language text, Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2012, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, ⟨k⟩ is used instead when preceding ⟨i y e ê⟩. ALT codes for Vietnamese letters with accents. Link to YouTube video clip: https://youtu.be/Jifb6YF5kj8. 10, Issue. [1][11] These efforts led eventually to the development of the present Vietnamese alphabet. [9]) Ordering according to primary and secondary differences proceeds syllable by syllable. The correspondence between the orthography and pronunciation is somewhat complicated. : hi vọng, kì thú, lí luận, mĩ thuật, giờ Tí), y (e.g. The system was based on chữ Hán, but was also supplemented with Vietnamese-invented characters (chữ thuần nôm, proper Nôm characters) to represent native Vietnamese words. A vowel can have one accent from each category, as in ể or ộ – and this is the only circumstance in which a Vietnamese … There are six distinct tones in the standard northern dialect. Once you figure out how to pronounce each letter and tone, you have a pretty good idea of how to pronounce Vietnamese, which has very few exceptions compared to English.Unless otherwise indicated, pronunciation throughout this phrasebook is for Northern (Hanoi) Vietnamese, which is quite different from Southern (Saigon), North Central (Vinh) or Central (Hue) Vietnamese. Vietnamese is a tonal language. Start with the tone marks. Wherever the tone mark is placed, it is applied to the whole word or syllable when we read. Tone marks as vowel diacritics in two scripts: repurposing tone marks for non-tonal phenomena in Cado and other Southeast Asian languages. Though more limited, French also has some forms of accent marks. You can edit your text in the box and then copy it to your document, e-mail message, etc. The tone names are chosen such that the name of each tone is spoken in the … In some cases, the same letter may represent several different sounds, and different letters may represent the same sound. Still, chữ Nôm remained the dominant script in Vietnamese Catholic literature until late 19th century. This is simple enough when there is only one vowel in a word. Nguyên Tùng, "Langues, écritures et littératures au Viêt-nam", Learn how and when to remove this template message, Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum, "Origine des particularités de l'alphabet vietnamien (English translation as: The origin of the peculiarities of the Vietnamese alphabet)". : uy lực, huy hoàng, khuya khoắt, tuyển mộ, khuyết tật, khuỷu tay, huýt sáo, khuynh hướng), y (e.g. This is the order from left to right of the marks on the Vietnamese keyboard. It uses the Latin script based on Romance languages,[4] in particular, the Portuguese alphabet,[1] with some digraphs and the addition of nine accent marks or diacritics – four of them to create sounds and the other five to indicate tone. These many diacritics, often two on the same vowel, make written Vietnamese recognizable among localized variants of Latin alphabets.[5]. I don’t know much at all about Vietnamese. Multiple phonemic analyses of final ⟨nh⟩ have been proposed (, Only occurs initially in loanwords. Thus, learning the alphabet alone is not sufficient to read or write Vietnamese. Vietnamese is a tonal language. Before we start learning more "marks" in Vietnamese, let's emphasize that the breve (˘) , the circumflex (ˆ), and the attached hook ("hats" and "whisker") in ă, â, ê, ô, ơ, ư are parts of the vowels. The keys shaded in light green are tone marks. Tone marks can be typed any time after a vowel is typed, and the software will automatically place the marks at their correct places. Currently, the new style is usually used in textbooks published by Nhà Xuất bản Giáo dục, while most people still prefer the old style in casual uses. : ỉa đái, im lặng, ích lợi, ỉu xìu), y (e.g. If you are new to ALT codes and need detailed instructions on how to use them, please read How to Use ALT Codes to Enter Special Characters. Pay attention to the way the actors pronounce words and use tone marks. The tone mark is added to the prior vowel. [12], In 1910, French colonial administration enforced chữ Quốc ngữ. Feb 14, 2016 - Learn how to distinguish 5 tone marks in Vietnamese The Vietnamese language itself has been likened to a system akin to "ruby characters" elsewhere in Asia. This is because Vietnamese uses tones to make distinctions between words. In textbooks published by Nhà Xuất bản Giáo dục ("Publishing House of Education"), y is used to represent /i/ only in Sino-Vietnamese words that are written with one letter y alone (diacritics can still be added, as in ý, ỷ), at the beginning of a syllable when followed by ê (as in yếm, yết), after u and in the sequence ay; therefore such forms as *lý and *kỹ are not "standard", though they are much preferred elsewhere. Vietnamese Language is very ambiguous without accent marks: please use accent marks. Realized as [tʃ] in Northern spelling pronunciation. Exceptions Any word can be an exception to vietnamization. Realized as [ŋ͡m] in word-final position following rounded vowels ⟨u ô o⟩. They are part of the associated vowels. Thus, letters in the alphabet alone are not sufficient to accurately denote the Vietnamese sounds. As we have learned in the lesson on writing, Vietnamese is a tonal language (i.e., with accent marks/diacritics) with some vowels that don’t appear in the English alphabet (e.g. We have encountered a few web pages who claim the tone alphabetical order to be: MS Excel 2010, on the other hand, would sort in the order of, Both "hooks" together, one as part of the vowel, No. Use the shift key to get upper case Vietnamese letters. ai /aj/) . Vietnamese syllables can have six different tones, with five of them indicated by tone marks applied to the syllable’s main vowel. No. The acute accent indicates that the speaker should start mid and rise sharply in tone. Tone marks for vowel letters are added: lôgic is an alteration of logic and would be need for a few subjects. There are 29 "letters" in the Vietnamese alphabet. Additional marks are added to indicate the tones, referred to as "tone marks" in this course. The following is a sample of Vietnamese in quoc ngu , a rather unexciting story about the increase in tourism to Laos in 2004. Since the 12th century, several Vietnamese words started to be written in chữ Nôm, using variant Chinese characters, each of them representing one word. [citation needed] Various free software such as Unikey that act as keyboard drivers exist. Does the word cằm (meaning "chin") contain two tone marks? No tone … : thương hiệu, kiên trì, bại liệt, ngôi miếu, nũng nịu, siêu đẳng, mẫn tiệp, được việc), A/a, Ă/ă, Â/â, E/e, Ê/ê, I/i, O/o, Ô/ô, Ơ/ơ, U/u, Ư/ư, Y/y, À/à, Ằ/ằ, Ầ/ầ, È/è, Ề/ề, Ì/ì, Ò/ò, Ồ/ồ, Ờ/ờ, Ù/ù, Ừ/ừ, Ỳ/ỳ, Ả/ả, Ẳ/ẳ, Ẩ/ẩ, Ẻ/ẻ, Ể/ể, Ỉ/ỉ, Ỏ/ỏ, Ổ/ổ, Ở/ở, Ủ/ủ, Ử/ử, Ỷ/ỷ, Ã/ã, Ẵ/ẵ, Ẫ/ẫ, Ẽ/ẽ, Ễ/ễ, Ĩ/ĩ, Õ/õ, Ỗ/ỗ, Ỡ/ỡ, Ũ/ũ, Ữ/ữ, Ỹ/ỹ, Á/á, Ắ/ắ, Ấ/ấ, É/é, Ế/ế, Í/í, Ó/ó, Ố/ố, Ớ/ớ, Ú/ú, Ứ/ứ, Ý/ý, Ạ/ạ, Ặ/ặ, Ậ/ậ, Ẹ/ẹ, Ệ/ệ, Ị/ị, Ọ/ọ, Ộ/ộ, Ợ/ợ, Ụ/ụ, Ự/ự, Ỵ/ỵ, at the beginning of a word derived from Chinese (written as. Tone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning – that is, to distinguish or to inflect words. The letters y and i are mostly equivalent, and there is no concrete rule that says when to use one or the other, except in sequences like ay and uy (i.e. The tone names are chosen such that the name of each tone is spoken in the tone it identifies. To learn Vietnamese, you have to forget about adding these kinds of emotions when speaking. Vietnamese is a tonal language, each syllable is spoken with a tone. While the most traditional nationalists favoured the Confucian examination system and the use of chữ Hán, Vietnamese revolutionaries and progressive nationalists as well as pro-French elites viewed the French education system as a means to liberate the Vietnamese from old Chinese domination, to democratize education and to link the Vietnamese to ideals expressed by the French republic. We must not mistaken the left to right order on the keyboard for the alphabetical order, or we might unintentionally propagate the incorrect information. An ending consonant part, can only be one of the following: Gregerson, Kenneth J. we usually just say sắc). : chíp hôi, ghi nhớ, ý nghĩa, khiêu khích, nhí nhố, phiến đá, buồn thiu), i (e.g. : bịa đặt, diêm dúa, địch thủ, rủ rỉ, triều đại, xinh xắn), i (e.g. The vowel is ô, and the one and only tone mark is, No. ), This page was last edited on 29 November 2020, at 10:02. [15] Nowadays, although the Vietnamese majorly use chữ Quốc ngữ, new Vietnamese terms for new items or words are often calqued from Hán Nôm. When people talk about Vietnamese words having two or multiple tone marks, it is the confusion between tone marks and diacritic marks that are parts of the vowels (ˆ ˘ ʾ). ⟨d⟩ was used to write native Vietnamese words and ⟨gi⟩ was used to write words of Chinese origin. Although written in the Roman alphabet Modern Vietnamese (tiếng Việt) the alphabet uses a large number of additional accents for marking tones.As a result, users must ensure they have access to fonts and keyboards needed for reading and inputting the tone marks. So many Vietnamese words have both a tone and an accent (linguists use the term diacritics). In my research, I found inconsistencies in the position of the tone marks when combined with the modified letters, but they don’t seem to bother Vietnamese readers. We have also encountered Vietnamese words sorted in other peculiar "alphabetical order", which we believe were sorted by text processing software not designed for the Vietnamese tones. In both styles, when one vowel already has a quality diacritic on it, the tone mark must be applied to it as well, regardless of where it appears in the syllable (thus thuế is acceptable while thúê is not). An ASCII-based writing convention, Vietnamese Quoted Readable and several byte-based encodings including VSCII (TCVN), VNI, VISCII and Windows-1258 were widely used before Unicode became popular. The French had to reluctantly accept the use of chữ Quốc ngữ to write Vietnamese since this writing system, created by Portuguese missionaries, is based on Portuguese orthography, not French.[16]. There are six tones (though some parts of the country don’t pronounce them all) and they are represented by symbols that actually quite closely match their sound. In the past, syllables in multisyllabic words were concatenated with hyphens, but this practice has died out and hyphenation is now reserved for word-borrowings from other languages. Spelling used instead of ⟨ng⟩ before ⟨i e ê⟩ in accordance with ⟨gh⟩. In Southern Vietnamese, word-final ⟨t⟩ is realized as. Building on previous dictionaries by Gaspar do Amaral and Antonio Barbosa, Rhodes compiled the Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum, a Vietnamese–Portuguese–Latin dictionary, which was later printed in Rome in 1651, using their spelling system. 10, Issue. The universal character set Unicode has full support for the Vietnamese writing system, although it does not have a separate segment for it. If you come across an unfamiliar word or pronunciation, write it down. Tone marks are discussed in … When letters are combined with tone markings, some complex diacritics can result, such as: ắ , ở , ẫ , and ể . This "standard" set by Nhà Xuất bản Giáo dục is not definite. (1996). Among Overseas Vietnamese communities, the old style is predominant for all purposes. Below is the complete list of Windows ALT key numeric pad codes for Latin letters with accents or diacritical marks that are used in the Vietnamese alphabet. : quyên góp, xảo quyệt, mừng quýnh, hoa quỳnh), i (e.g. As you advance, use the Vietnamese subtitles. Vietnamese spelling is more or less phonetic, and generally similar to Portuguese (which it is based on). There are six tones in Vietnamese language, five of which require tone marks when written, the neutral tone requires no tone mark. The full name for the tones includes dấu first (eg. This is not the correct alphabetical order of the Vietnamese tones. There can be more than 1 diacritic marks in a word, but only one can be the tone mark. K is also used before U in the Vietnamese city, Multiple phonemic analyses of final ⟨ch⟩ have been proposed (, Spelling used ⟨gh⟩ instead of ⟨g⟩ before ⟨i e ê⟩, seemingly to follow the, Spelling used instead of ⟨c⟩ before ⟨i y e ê⟩ to follow the, In Middle Vietnamese, ⟨kh⟩ was pronounced, In Southern Vietnamese, word-final ⟨n⟩ is realized as. When you remove the marks, things get harder. The off-glide /j/ is written as i except after â and ă, where it is written as y; note that /ăj/ is written as ay instead of *ăy (cf. Regarding the "hook" vs. "whisker" marks, which are visually similar : If it's attached to the vowel (a whisker), it's part of the vowel. There are 5 kinds of tone markers in Vietnamese: acute accent(“´”), grave(“`”), hook(” ̉ “), tilde(“~”) and dot(“.”). (*) Supposedly we don't know how to "read" these names yet. The vowel is ă, and the one and only tone mark is. Some Vietnamese pronounce it as a "b" sound instead (as in, In Middle Vietnamese, ⟨ph⟩ was pronounced. Unicode allows the user to choose between precomposed characters and combining characters in inputting Vietnamese. This program helps you insert accent marks for texts without them: Enter a text and click Insert Accents. Hold the option key to disable the Vietnamese translation and force the key to … 1, p. [1][3] The work was continued by the Avignonese Alexandre de Rhodes. They support the most popular input methods, including Telex, VNI, VIQR and its variants. To correct an insertion error, click on the word and select the correct option. the meaning of each word depends on the "tone" in which it is pronounced. Where do we place the tone mark in a Vietnamese word? They are not tone marks. If it's detached, it's a tone mark. These 5 diacritics yield 5 different tones and together with the no-diacritic tone, we have the 6 tones in Vietnamese. Vietnamese adds new words when they are needed, especially in the professions of engineering, science, and academics. Nguyễn, Đình-Hoà. "The Origin of the Peculiarities of the Vietnamese Alphabet. Technically, we do not need to know where the tone mark should be placed in order to read texts. I chat with Vietnamese friends on yahoo messenger. Nặng is the only tone written below the letter. Memorize the tone names verbally. In Middle Vietnamese, ⟨d⟩ represented /ð/. Tones are listed as in the table below by their names in alphabetical order.
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Nevis Premier Brantley welcomes Four Seasons Resort’s scheduled November 1st reopening
Hon. Mark Brantley, Premier of Nevis and Minister of Tourism (file photo)
NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (October 09, 2020) — Hon Mark Brantley, Premier and Minister of Tourism in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) says he is looking forward to the reopening of the Four Seasons Resort, Nevis which is scheduled for November 01, 2020.
The Four Seasons Resort, the island’s largest hotel and one of its main employers, was forced to close its doors in March 2020 due to the border closure due to the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Premier Brantley pointed out that tourism, which continues to be the mainstay of Nevis’ economy has effectively been closed since March 2020. This, he said has severely impacted the livelihoods of the many Nevisians working in the industry, therefore the reopening of the Four Seasons Resort is great news for all of Nevis.
“We welcome the reopening of borders and the grand reopening of the Four Seasons Resort. It is time that we get our people back to work and our economy moving again,” he told the Department of Information.
The reopening comes on the heels of an announcement by the Government of St. Kitts that the Federation’s borders will reopen to international visitors on October 31, 2020.
Nevis Dept. of Agriculture hosts week of activities for World Food Day 2020
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Canada Helps UCLA Beat Creighton 86-64
LOS ANGELES (AP) — UCLA came out of the gate on strong and never looked back and now the Bruins are headed to their third consecutive Sweet 16.
Jordin Canada scored 21 points and Japreece Dean added 16 points to lead third-seeded UCLA to an 86-64 victory over No. 11 seed Creighton in the second round of the women’s NCAA Tournament on Monday night.
UCLA (26-7) advances to the Kansas City Regional and will face Texas on Friday.
Canada, made six of seven shots, dished out eight assists, had six rebounds and five steals to lead the Bruins. The senior guard, the Pac 12 defensive Player of the Year and three-time All-Conference guard, has scored 20 or more points in six of her last eight games.
“We knew we had to come out more aggressive and play hard today,” Canada said. “We had to punch first and often. I think we dictated more this game. It was hard for them to get into a rhythm. On defense, they never got into a flow.”
Bruins coach Cori Close said it was a vast improvement from Saturday’s game.
“I was not a happy coach for the last 48 hours,” Close said. “I challenged them and made them accountable and I knew they would be more consistent today. The players deserve all of the credit.
“This is the first UCLA women’s basketball team that has ever gone to three consecutive Sweet 16’s. This team came in here and set a new level of excellence for UCLA women’s basketball. They have the passion.”
Monique Billings scored 15 points and Kennedy Burke added 11 points for UCLA.
Audrey Faber led Creighton with 20 points and Olivia Elger added 13 for the Bluejays.
The Bruins scored on eight of their first nine possessions to jump to an early double-digit lead. Dean’s 3-pointer at the 4:12 mark of the opening quarter gave UCLA an 18-7 lead. The Bruins kept the defensive pressure on the Bluejays and led 26-15 after the first quarter.
“We played with more energy this time than we did the first time we played them,” Dean said.
UCLA continued to use its speed and quickness in the second quarter and forced 10 first half turnovers while upping its lead to 49-32 at the break, following a pair of free throws by Billings down the stretch. Billings led the Bruins with 13 points in the first half. Creighton never got closer than 17 points in the second half.
UCLA improved to 14-3 at home this season. Jaclyn Agnew and Sydney Lamberty, who combined to score 44 points in Creighton’s win over Iowa on Saturday, made only 3 of 13 shots and were held to nine points.
“UCLA was terrific and the game got out of hand early,” Creighton coach Jim Flanery said. “They hit shots early and we didn’t get organized. We started to hit some shots but it’s a testament to how well they played. They did a good job on defense and kept us off balance and kept the pressure on us. They will be super competitive in Kansas City.”
UCLA: The Bruins are making their 15th NCAA tournament appearance. UCLA’s best finish was in 1999 when they reached the Elite Eight. The Bruins have an all-time NCAA Tournament record of 17-14.
CREIGHTON: The Bluejays finished fourth in the Big East this season and were attempting to advance to their program’s first Sweet 16. CU returned to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time under Flanery and the seventh time in program history. Creighton is 5-7 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
On Monday, UCLA seniors Kelli Hayes, Billings and Canada played their final collegiate game at Pauley Pavilion. The trio helped the Bruins to a 46-3 record at home over the past three years.
“It was special, walking on the home court for the last time,” said Canada. “I was thinking about all of the things we accomplished and to win in my last home game, made it even more special.”
Monique Billings has recorded 17 double doubles this season and 46 in her career. With her nine rebounds on Monday, she moved into second place all-time in rebounding with 1,145. Canada is the Bruins all-time assists leader (815) and is second on the all-time scoring list with 2,108 points.
COUNT ON HIM
Bluejays Head coach Jim Flanery has led Creighton to postseason play in 14 of his 16 years.
UCLA: The Bruins advance to the Kansas City Regional and will face Texas on Friday.
Eight Clarinda Academy Students Escape This Morning, Captured Shortly Thereafter
High School Baseball Scores
twenty − eight =
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Rape. From Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein to Wall Street financier Jeffrey Epstein to NFL star Antonio Brown, this ancient crime is in the news. The #MeToo movement has enabled many women to tell their stories for the first time. Who can forget Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony under oath at the Brett Kavanaugh hearings? Forever, women who have been raped have not been believed. That seems to be changing. In one case, which did attract some media attention, a California judge sentenced a Stanford University student found guilty of rape, for which the maximum sentence was 14 years, to six months. The student only served 3 months. An uproar ensued and the judge was recalled. The governor of the state signed a bill imposing mandatory minimum sentences in sexual assault cases. Much is to be done but the silence is broken. The conversations are happening.
Sohaila Abdulali is a writer and an activist. Her articles appear in The Guardian and other newspapers and journals. Her New York Times op-ed “I Was Wounded: My Honor Wasn’t” broke readership records. She is the author of What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape.
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Deaf Wish announce new LP ‘Pain’ on Sub Pop
Australian band Deaf Wish will release their debut full-length album Pain for Sub Pop, on CD/LP/DL worldwide August 7th. Pain, features the tracks “Eyes Closed,” “Calypso,” and the title track, was recorded & produced by the band at Reservoir, Victoria, mixed by Mikey Young and mastered by April Golden at Golden Mastering. Pain is the follow up to their label debut, the 4-song St. Vincent’s 7” single, released last October. The band has shared the track “Eyes Closed,” which you can listen to below.
When Deaf Wish found themselves in a room together for the very first time, they agreed on a guiding philosophy: “Let’s not make anything that’s going to last. If we’re together for just two shows, then that’s what it is.”
Over the course of eight years, the Melbourne foursome—bassist Nick Pratt, drummer Daniel Twomey and guitarists Sarah Hardiman and Jensen Tjhung, with each member contributing vocals—have released run of wooly seven-inches and white-knuckle LPs whose legendary live translation has been most accurately described as “unhinged.” All this despite their being scattered across multiple continents, with no way of getting to know one another outside of intermittent touring. “We didn’t really know what this band was,” Tjhung says. “We had something, but it wasn’t clear—we had to figure out what that was.”
2. Newness Again
3. They Know
4. Sunset’s Fool
5. Eyes Closed
7. Sex Witch
9. Dead Air
10. Calypso
Cartel Madras Debut Video For “Drift”
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever Share “The Only One”
Weyes Blood Shares outtake “Titanic Risen”
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Sky Views: Brexit-obsessed UK risks being forgotten by rest of world
Tuesday 4 February 2020 14:07, UK
Britain needs to stop navel gazing and start re-engaging with the rest of the world.
If I had one wish for Christmas it would be that this country's leaders - whatever brand they turn out to be after the election - don't let Brexit continue to consume all the bandwidth of government at the expense of Really Important Other Stuff going on across the planet.
Of course the UK's future relationship with its closest neighbours and largest trading partner is crucial, but for the past three years the debate around Brexit means that Britain has fallen short in its role as a leading, influential, serious democracy on the world stage.
Image: Boris Johnson stands next to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and US President Donald Trump at the NATO summit in London
Take this past week's meeting of leaders of NATO's 29 member states as well as soon-to-join North Macedonia.
The gathering, across two days, in London and at a golf resort in Watford, was to mark the alliance's 70th anniversary.
Britain was the perfect choice of host country because it was a modest-sized building in Belgravia, central London, that housed the first headquarters for NATO back in 1949.
When the UK was announced as the destination for the 70th birthday party, Theresa May's then-government had hoped it would be an opportunity to project so-called "Global Britain" to the world after Brexit, which was supposed to have happened by then.
For the past three years the debate around Brexit means that Britain has fallen short in its role as a leading, influential, serious democracy on the world stage.
However, the ambition had to be significantly scaled back as the timeframe to leave the European Union was delayed and then a general election called.
Had this not happened, there would most likely have been a big speech on world affairs by the prime minister when parliamentarians from all NATO member states gathered for a 70th anniversary-linked meeting of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in October.
That was scrapped.
A prime minister's speech slot was also scheduled ahead of the headline NATO leaders' meeting last Tuesday and Wednesday but that too was axed.
Two prime-time opportunities for Britain to stamp its brand of democracy on global leadership lost.
It's not just big events where the UK is falling short.
Image: Iranian Revolutionary Guards patrolling around the British-flagged tanker Stena Impero in July
This is also happening with its ability to think and take action on foreign policy issues of strategic importance such as Russia, Syria, China and Iran.
The UK response to the Salisbury poisonings was an anomaly because that really did prompt the British government to lead the world in punishing President Putin's regime.
However, where is the British voice when it comes to the conflict in Syria?
The UK's response to tensions in the Gulf was also - initially - similarly muted even after a British-flagged tanker was captured by Iranian forces.
In the end the government managed to deploy additional Royal Navy ships to help protect the sea lanes but policy decisions were slow and confused - remember then foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt calling for a European maritime mission? That has yet to materialise.
On China, a decision by the National Security Council on whether or not the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei should play a role in the UK's next generation 5G communications network was set to happen on 29 October. It was cancelled as expectations arose that an election would be called.
There are countless other examples of UK policy on complex foreign issues taking too long to be given the attention it requires from ministers because they are all distracted by Brexit - and now election fever.
This has to change next year or else the UK risks being forgotten by the rest of the world.
Sky Views is a series of comment pieces by Sky News editors and correspondents, published every morning.
Previously on Sky Views: Who should you vote for? Adam Boulton's guide to the general election
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Professor Tony Lang, Head of the School of International Relations, comments in The Times on Thursday 14 March 2019.
Last night, Parliament voted against a no deal Brexit. On Wednesday of last week, Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn stated that his party would support a second referendum on the UK’s membership in the EU if the Prime Minister was unable to pass her Brexit plan. Considered together, this means that a People’s Vote is coming closer to reality. But is it a good idea?
Remainers, for obvious reasons, support a second referendum. They see the 2016 vote as unconstitutional, based on false information, or the result of foreign influence. The latter two points may be true, but the first is not. Constitutionality does not require adherence to a legal provision or pre-existing rules. A referendum may not be legally binding, but it can be both politically and morally necessary to ensure legitimacy. As Professor Stephen Tierney of Edinburgh Law School has argued, referenda allow countries to address the most important and difficult constitutional questions.
So should a second referendum be held? Do we face the kind of important constitutional crisis which demands a referendum?
No. To hold another referendum now strips the original referendum, and indeed future ones, of their constitutional importance. By demanding another referendum, supporters cheapen a critical political device, rendering it an act of mere populism rather than the significant constitutional act it has been in British legal history.
Supporters of the People’s Vote present themselves as standing against uninformed populism. They claim that a second vote would counter the mistaken nationalist decision to leave the EU, a decision conflated with the election of Donald Trump, the rise of right wing populist movements in Europe, and the collapse of global liberalism.
In fact, the decision to hold a second referendum so soon after the first would undermine liberal democracy more than the nationalist populism worrying so many. A second referendum allows parliament to shirk its primary responsibility: to undertake the difficult compromises necessary to withdraw the United Kingdom from the European Union.
Jeremy Waldron, a Professor at the New York University Law School, gave a series of lectures in the 1990s which were eventually published under the title, The Dignity of Legislation. In the lectures and book, Waldron argued that though legislative bodies present to the public the ugliest sides of politics, they deserve our respect and support. Defenders of the rule of law and human rights often turn to judiciaries as the last bastion of hope for liberalism. It is in robust legislative bodies, where representatives must simultaneously reflect the interests of their constituents and advance the overall good of society, where liberalism makes its last stand.
Referenda allow legislators to avoid the strong and slow boring of hard boards, as Max Weber described politics. They alleviate MPs of the burden of making difficult decisions. Instead, they foist complex public policies onto an uninformed public and then sit back and let them complain about each other and, too often, their own constituents.
A referendum now would also reinforce the ideological divisions facing this country. There is very little discussion of what would be asked in a second referendum, but it would undoubtedly be presented as a yes/no question. Simple binaries do not encourage compromise, negotiation or good public policy. They harden pre-existing positions.
This is not just a problem in the UK. Global trends are undermining legislative bodies as sites of liberal politics. Throughout the world, executive power is growing. Challenges to that power come either through regional or international institutions or from judicial bodies willing to defend rights. These checks on strong executives remain critical to the success of liberal democracy, but so do vigorous parliamentary debate and the compromise necessary to create legitimate and effective laws.
As just one example, with the election of a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, the US Congress has breathed some fresh air into the constitutional politics of the United States. The ability of Democrats to work with moderate Republicans in that chamber to counter the power of a power hungry executive remains to be seen. But without a strong Congress, American politics will soon crumble into ideological bear baiting and incoherent policy making.
Parliament must figure out a way to leave the EU, not the British public. The emergence of centrists in both parties with the creation of a new independent parliamentary group could either help or hinder this process. Rather than creating a new party, however, these centrist voices need to work together to create a deal with the EU. It is not simply the economic welfare and rights of British citizens that rely on them; it is the future of liberal democracy which demands that they do.
Originally published in The Times on Thursday 14 March 2019.
Brexit European Union Parliament School of International Relations
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Chancellor gives final address to SU community
Wednesday, October 8, 2003, By News Staff
Chancellor gives final address to SU communityOctober 08, 2003
On Oct. 8, Chancellor and President Kenneth A. Shaw gave his final annual address to the Syracuse University community before he retires at the end of the 2003-04 academic year. His remarks are reprinted here as a service to the students, faculty and staff of SU.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for coming today – and for caring about your University. Before I begin, I have two important tasks to accomplish. Both recognize colleagues whose teaching and leadership have been truly outstanding.
First, I ask that our two outgoing Meredith Professors – Shobha Bahtia and Larry Lewandowski – come forward to accept our applause and thanks.
These two gifted teachers have served three years as Meredith Professors but will continue to be role models for teaching excellence in the years to come.
Second, I have the privilege of recognizing another faculty member for his great skill in the classroom and in the laboratory. He has been elected by his peers in the field of physics to serve as spokesperson for a worldwide and highly regarded scientific collaboration that brings together the leading scientists from 44 institutions in an effort to find gravitational waves predicted by Albert Einstein.
He is also a popular and highly effective teacher – no small thing for a subject perceived as difficult as physics is by many.
He is a master at lacing his lectures with real world examples, at being available to students for their many questions and concerns, and above all, communicating his passion for his subject. He is also a sought-after mentor for graduate students whose students praise his ability to teach them to become active and considerate members of the scientific community.
I am very pleased to name Peter Saulson, Professor of Physics, as this year’s Methodist Church Teacher/Scholar of the Year.
I am proud and humbled to be delivering my last formal fall remarks to you, the University community. Transitions-both personal and institutional–always bring back memories.
Many of you recall my speech in this place February 1992. You also recall the context of that talk.
Higher education was facing the double bind of a poor economy plus a demographic drop in the number of college-bound 18-year-olds. In an increasingly competitive market, colleges and universities found themselves offering more and more generous financial aid packages to attract the best students. Given these conditions, SU projected an annual deficit of $40 million if nothing was done.
My job that day in February was to describe what must be done – initiate a major financial restructuring while reaching toward the vision of becoming the nation’s leading student-centered research university.
It was a time to face the problem realistically by working together in new, far more productive ways.
Rereading the comments I made at that time makes me very proud of the enormous progress we have made since then. No American institution of higher education has done a better job at financial restructuring while at the same time innovating in numerous ways to become a better place.
On that February day in 1992, I sketched a vision of the future as well as a list of our challenges at the time. I noted that we needed to grapple with the issue of size – an issue still relevant today.
I said that we needed to come to grips with the conflict between our student-centered focus and our research mandates – again, there is still a healthy tension here but we do a better job with this than any other institution I know of.
I said then that we needed to deal with the reality of limited funding, given that a higher percentage of our income came from tuition than is considered healthy.
Obviously, not all of these challenges have been fully met. But much has. That’s because when I asked for your willingness to do things differently – to embrace change as natural and necessary – you did that.
I asked that you help make this a more student-friendly place as well as a place where innovation thrived, and you’ve done this.
I told you then that if we persisted in our planning, we would be much more confident of our future, not because we would know exactly what that future would bring, but because we would be able to withstand adverse external conditions, and that has happened.
Certainly there have been crises and setbacks over the last 12 years. But we have prevailed and thrived. I believe that’s because we know who we are and what we aspire to become. We have relied on our institutional values of quality, caring, diversity, innovation and service. We know that we can respond to any challenge.
You have made me very proud – and humble — to be your leader.
Soon you’ll be working with new leadership. This kind of change usually evokes mixed feelings, but at the end of the day it should be seen as a great opportunity – a time to move even farther ahead.
I was asked to speak to the Chancellor’s search committee recently. I said that committee members would need to be able to explain what this University community means to them. I then offered them my view. Here’s what I said:
First, this is a great place to work and live. We have reason to be proud and we are, but we’re not arrogant (more about that later).
Second, this is a place that truly cares about its members – its students, faculty and staff. Each summer, I frequently hear that staff and faculty count the weeks until “our kids” come back to campus. You, our students, may not be our kids in a paternal sense, but you are very important to us. And it’s equally important to us that that you be successful. We do care.
Third, this is a place that tries to uphold its values, even if they’re not referred to specifically as quality, caring, diversity, innovation and service.
Fourth, this is a place that has allowed me to grow in new ways – that gave me the self-confidence to lead and to risk making mistakes.
I told the committee members that I hoped their view of the University was as positive, and that they would meet the challenge of conveying to the candidates for the job of Chancellor the great news about Syracuse.
I know the University’s 11th Chancellor will be the best choice from among an outstanding field of candidates. And that will make it easier for me to disappear and teach my students.
I’ve used the word “proud” four times already. That’s intentional because you and I have much to be proud about. Our accomplishments make us optimistic about the future.
But there is a difference between pride and arrogance. Institutional pride means that we know we are good and that we have achieved many things. This kind of pride leaves room for improvement and the kind of innovations that lead to even better ways of doing things. This kind of pride means that individually and collectively we can continue to get better.
Arrogance, on the other hand, is corrosive both individually and collectively. The arrogant person not only feels good about his accomplishments but also believes that no one is better – no one can do things better — and that nothing new needs to be done.
Institutionally, arrogance leads to a false sense of security, to complacency and ultimately to stagnation.
Institutional arrogance spells long-term disaster for any social institution no matter how great it is. No institution or people can live fully on past achievements.
Pride means we move forward; arrogance, we stand still and then begin to slide backward. The great institutions continue to move forward. Clearly Syracuse University is one of the great ones.
In preparation for my time with you today, information to make our discussion more meaningful was published in the Record and on the Web. I described what I and members of my cabinet and the academic deans’ cabinet felt to be the short range challenges – those front burner issues and initiatives we must deal with, and complete where possible, this year in preparation for our new chancellor.
I also, with their help, compiled a list of long-range challenges that you also found in the Record and on the Web. After my formal remarks, I will be asking your views as to which ones may have been left out and should be included.
So let me begin with the short range challenges – which I see as challenges we must address at full throttle. I’ll talk about just a few of them to set the stage for our discussion.
Item 3 dealt with supporting the graduate enrollment management center so that we can improve the recruitment of master’s and doctoral students in our schools and colleges. In the past year we have made great strides in improving our admissions and other administrative processes. There is more to be done. Our prospective graduate students have a right to expect timely and efficient service. Our marketing efforts need to describe how good our programs really are. Improvements in this area, particularly for our advanced professional degrees, will not only strengthen our offerings but also provide us with some financial opportunities. We’ve made a good start, but we have much to accomplish yet this year.
Item 4 calls for a more holistic first-year orientation program for our students. This year, we’ve moved in the right direction with each school and college requiring summer reading and discussion of that reading. We must make every effort to convey to our new students how important it is for them to take full advantage of their opportunities here. Research tells us that comprehensive orientation programs create stronger bonds with students and improve retention rates and overall satisfaction with the college experience. It is important that all of us see welcoming new students as our responsibility. Doing so will reap benefits for many years to come.
Item 7 focuses on the fundraising and public relations activities that Mary Ann and I will be engaged in. While I’m extremely proud of the University’sfundraising success over the past 12 years — we’ve raised over $580 million in pledges and cash gifts — we have many opportunities to raise more. This year Mary Ann and I will work with top donors in an effort to finalize their major gifts. We are all, of course, delighted with two very major gifts and pledges made during the past year – the generous contribution by the Newhouse family, making it possible for the third Newhouse building to be built, and the naming gift from Martin Whitman which will help us greatly improve an already good management school.
It is our hope during this year that we will see more major gifts. Also, this will be a time of preparing for the next campaign — the most ambitious campaign in the University’s history.
Number 9 is controversial – approving a new paradigm for class scheduling that allows for more effective use of available time through the week. The proposal has been advanced through the Vice Chancellor’s office and the Senate Committee on Instruction, and many members of the University community have responded to it. There appears to be opposition – some for the right reasons – some for the wrong. Wrong reasons would include that somehow a class-free Friday is an entitlement. This is a very wrong reason. It is wrong because we should expect far more from our students – indeed, many of our better students tell us that they want to be even more challenged than they are now. An academic culture of an abbreviated week is not consistent with our own values.
It is wrong, also, if we believe our commitment as faculty and staff is to an abbreviated week. This is not to say that time shouldn’t be available for scholarly and other purposes. It should mean, however, that we make maximum use of our time and our space here.
Some of the concerns about the proposed class schedule are for the right reasons – concerns over internships, work, and possible scheduling rigidities. We need to work through these and other issues with a spirit of determining what is best for our students and our own efforts. We owe this to our students. We owe this to ourselves.
The University Senate will discuss this issue in October and present its formal view in November. At the Oct. 15 meeting, I will outline some of my observations before the Senate begins its discussions. These observations are:
Regardless of which paradigm is used, the University must take back the scheduling of classes. While we must listen to specific student and faculty concerns, in the last analysis, the deans and the Registrar’s Office must have both the authority and the responsibility to schedule classes.
Flexibility under any paradigm is an absolute. However, the University must make the exceptions, not individuals who desire a different schedule configuration and can unilaterally make that decision.
The status quo isn’t good enough. No matter the paradigm we choose, it must ensure that we fully utilize the available time and that we improve student access to courses.To date, the discussions have been extended and robust. I trust that the Senate deliberations will follow that very healthy pattern.
Finally, item 11 of the short range challenges describes the flexible work policy which will be implemented yet this academic year. Flexible work policies can lead to improved productivity and performance. If abused and not managed properly, they do the reverse. Ours will be a policy that provides opportunities for staff, where possible, to have more flexible work hours. There will be no diminution of the work commitment. Simply stated, while units may require staff to be available during certain core hours, when we allow for greater flexibility, staff can better deal with personal situations and become even more productive.
This is not something new to Syracuse. Many units already provide flextime. What is new is making this a formal policy and making flextime available to more people. It will require a well-stated policy and managerial effectiveness. We expect this to happen this year.
I’ve left out the rest of the short range challenges – the budget, the Academic Plan, athletics, campus safety and security, among others. Let me be clear, however, that all 12 of these items are important, and I do expect to see them accomplished or significantly farther along this year. The new Chancellor will have plenty to deal with when he or she arrives. These items should not be among them.
What do you think has been left off this list – what needs to be included? What items would you like to talk about that are on this list? You’ll have a chance to tell me in a minute.
Next we move to the 17 long-range challenges identified by my cabinet and the academic deans’ cabinet. I will also be seeking your guidance on what we’ve left out – what we might want to emphasize more. You see that these challenges include continuation of the Academic Plan, branding, budget matters, campus security, diversity and internationalization, faculty and staff compensation, fundraising, graduate education and research, intercollegiate athletics, retention and student quality, the Academic Space Plan, student housing, technology funding, assessment, intellectual property issues, the economic health of Central New York, and substance abuse.
Many of these challenges will last even through the next Chancellor’s tenure and some, to quote a far more famous Buzz – Buzz Lightyear from “Toy Story” – some will continue to infinity and beyond – and Buzz would say perhaps even farther. I won’t try to describe these challenges fully, but as we look at them, we can see that we share many of those facing all institutions of higher education.
Item 2 deals with assessment, something that Middle States will be examining during our next accreditation review in 2008. Our own University Assessment Committee has mandated that all schools and colleges and units in Academic Affairs and Student Affairs participate in this important effort. At this point, we have a wide variety of responses to this mandate. Some units have made significant progress while others have not. We must focus on student learning outcomes so that we can make the necessary changes in our curricula, programs, and departments.
Item 4 focuses on budget concerns. For a variety of reasons, good luck and good planning, we haven’t been faced with some of the difficult budget challenges that our colleagues have seen elsewhere – particularly state universities.
“The Chronicle of Higher Education” recently reported that about half of the states reduced spending on higher education in 2003-04 with the average cut being around 5 percent; some are facing cuts in excess of 25 percent. The University of Illinois has cancelled 1,000 classes. The University of Colorado has eliminated academic programs in journalism, business, and engineering. The University of Wisconsin has raised tuition 16 percent but still faces a $250 million cut in state funding. That means eliminating 300 courses, 90 administrative positions, and 60 faculty positions. And private institutions – including some of the private AAU colleges and universities – have faced similar hard times. For example, both Stanford and Duke University have had to make faculty and staff cuts as well as freeze spending.
We can take pride in not having this problem, but certainly no arrogance is warranted. We continue to be highly tuition-sensitive and any extended recession would cause serious discomfort. At the undergraduate level, we have made a commitment to remain small enough to enable us to focus on the quality of the education we offer. We can plan for some growth in our graduate and professional programs, which has revenue implications, but these improvements won’t provide us with everything we need.
Obviously, the next chancellor will be faced with budget concerns. The Budget Committee of the University Senate, staffed by John Hogan, projects that over the next five years some years will be balanced, some will see slight overages and some will see losses. Overall we will be at about a break-even level. During the past year we were in the black by about $0.5 million. This seems like a lot, but with a $600-plus million budget you can see that’s about one half of one percent.
Difficult decisions will need to be made about priorities, and we can expect that, unless the economy greatly improves, we will have some challenges to meet. This fall, we were slightly under our targeted enrollment range of 2,925-2,975. There was more “melt” this summer than in the previous year. That is, students who signed up to come changed their minds. We think much of this is for financial reasons, a direct impact of the economy. We did, however, meet our goal of improving the freshmen class. The average SAT is 1187 and the average high school GPA is 3.61. Of course, we’ll continue to need to be vigilant in our budget matters – and collaborative in working through solutions.
Item 5 of our long-range challenges list is campus security. There’s nothing about the future that suggests that without institutional intervention we will see a safer campus and surrounding area. The University will need to decide how much to spend on these endeavors and work together to determine the trade-offs between safety and security and personal privacy.
Item 9 deals with graduate education. We’ve made some strides in evaluating our graduate programs – particularly at the Ph.D. level. But basically my observations of over 12 years ago would pertain today. We have too many Ph.D. programs for the size of our faculty. One of our colleges, for example, has a good, strong program and has accomplished much to make us very proud. However when compared to 28 of the top private institutions in the U.S. having such programs, this college has a greater number of doctoral degree programs, when the size of the faculty is taken into consideration: seven Ph.D. programs for a faculty of around 70. And only a handful of students graduate from some of these programs each year. I know there are other examples on this campus. Improving quality won’t come from new revenue alone; it must come from making difficult choices about what can and should be supported and what level of support we are willing to provide.
Item 12 describes challenges related to the economic and social health of Central New York. While I will continue as chairman of the Metropolitan Development Association, the new Chancellor will also be expected to be a positive influence in this area. As one of the area’s largest employers and its largest institution of higher education, we all must stay involved in community matters. This is a difficult time for Central New York – the number of manufacturing jobs is falling precipitously and more people leave the area each year than move in. Yet we know this is a good place to work and study, and we have a responsibility to work to make it even better.
Our future and that of the surrounding community are intertwined. Our health and prosperity affect the entire region, and we are affected by our surroundings. While the University, its Chancellor, faculty, staff and students cannot be expected to solve all of the problems facing the region, we must continue to be full partners in working toward their amelioration. Great universities do this.
To allow for meaningful discussion, I won’t say anymore about the other long-range challenges. It’s time to hear what you think needs to be added to that list and also what you think about our short range challenges.
I close by saying that I couldn’t be prouder of what we have done together. And I couldn’t be happier knowing that after my leave I will join the faculty. My goal will be to teach classes in leadership – and I will be accepting invitations from different disciplines to do such. I thank you for the support you have given and the love that you have for our University.
Let’s make this year a good one and the years following remembering Buzz Lightyear’s charge: to infinity and beyond.
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Yemen: Security Council condemns deadly bombing at Iranian Ambassador’s residence
A wide view of the Security Council meeting on the situation in Darfur.
The United Nations Security Council has condemned yesterday’s bomb attack at the residence of the Iranian Ambassador to Yemen which killed several people.
In a press statement issued today, the 15-member body expressed its deep sympathy and condolences to the families and friends of those killed and injured by these “heinous acts.”
The Council condemned in the strongest terms all acts of violence against diplomatic premises, which endanger innocent lives and “seriously impede the normal work of diplomatic representatives and officials.”
“Terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security…any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable regardless of their motivation,” the Council reiterated.
Council members recalled in their statement the fundamental principle of the “inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises,” and the obligations on host Governments to take all appropriate steps to protect those premises and prevent any attack on diplomatic agents and consular officers.
This, they said, is an obligation under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
Council members reiterated their determination to combat all forms of terrorism, in accordance with its responsibilities under the Charter of the United Nations.
Perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of acts of terrorism to justice must be brought to justice, members said as they urged all States, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with the Yemeni authorities in this regard.
Despite the formation of a new Government on 7 November aimed at ending a period of political turbulence and bringing about a full transition towards democracy, Yemen continues to be plagued by violence.
The UN human rights office has recently voiced concern over human rights abuses in the country, saying that it had “documented serious violations committed by all sides” of the ongoing conflict including killing of civilians, arbitrary detentions, the recruitment of children and the targeting of schools and hospitals.
Yemen: large-scale refugee registration to start shortly by UN agency
UN rushes food aid to Yemen following heavy fighting
Locust infestation in Yemen ‘threatening and extremely serious,’ UN agency warns
Yemen: UN welcomes new government aimed at bringing peace to country
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed the formation of a new Peace and National Partnership Government in Yemen aimed at ending a period of political turbulence and bringing about a full transition towards democracy in the country.
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‘Worst flooding in 50 years’
Carol Matroo
File photo: People walk along the flooded Eastern Main Road leading to the police station in Sangre Grande. PHOTO BY ENRIQUE ASSOON
After four days of torrential rain, the eastern town of Sangre Grande became a virtual sea when floodwaters rose, making many roads impassable. Some residents were left marooned in their homes while others were evacuated.
During the early morning yesterday, drivers were unable to navigate the streets, as the Eastern Main Road and several side streets were flooded. Several sections of the roads were washed away and the asphalt was raised in others, making it dangerous for residents making their way through the muddy water.
While the water dissipated quickly in some areas, residents were bracing for more rain yesterday evening.
Houses on Ramdass Street, Ajish Baksh Road, River Road, Rigby Street, Cooperative Street, Cumuto, Coal Mine and Boodooville remained surrounded by murky water. Yesterday's high tide only contributed to the flooding woes.
Residents made their way to the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation clamouring for assistance after their household items, furniture and appliances were damaged.
The Romero family was just one of those affected. Derek Romero said the Cunapo River caused major flooding.
"We never had a big flood like this.
"You know what caused this? Is because they don't clean the drains and when they do, is halfway," he said.
Other affected residents called for mattresses, water, food and help to repair their homes.
One man began chanting, "We want help, we need help," while another voiced his displeasure when he was not given a mattress.
Sangre Grande Regional Corporation chairman Martin Terry Rondon described the situation as the worst floods to hit Sangre Grande in 50 years. He said this was not the case because of a lack of cleaning the drains, but an act of nature. He renewed his call for a disaster centre to be established in the region.
"The disaster centre has to be designed for storage and housing affected residents. You must have a designated area which is properly staffed. We were not prepared for a flood of this magnitude. We cannot keep going around like headless chickens. This is the last time I am making this appeal," he said. Rondon said about 250 families were directly affected by the flooding. The Sangre Grande Civic Centre was designated as a shelter. Rondon was unable to say exactly what was the overall damage, but said that clean-up costs would run into millions of dollars. "This is a disaster in Sangre Grande."
Cumuto/Manzanilla MP Glenda Jennings-Smith, who accompanied Rondon and other councillors to visit affected areas, said she supported the chairman's call for a disaster centre because it was important to have this facility in a flood prone areas.
"We need a disaster centre which is fully supported and adequately staffed. It must be able to store emergency supplies and must be easily accessible."
Yesterday, the civic centre was unreachable vehicles could not traverse through the floodwaters. In some areas the water reached between four and five feet high.
"Right now we are just trying to make the residents comfortable. Some of the residents who were not affected have been volunteering to prepare meals for those who were unable to do so. They are even preparing meals at the constituency office."
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley made a quick stop at the corporation after he visited residents in La Horquetta.
"‘Worst flooding in 50 years’"
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Night Callers: Scientists Listen in on Bats in the Bronx
Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ih8v3fudjj3hchb/WCS%20Bronx%20Zoo%20-%20Bats%20of%20the%20Bronx.mp4?dl=0
silverhaired. .cori.lausen
NEW YORK (October 27, 2016) The WCS’s (Wildlife Conservation Society) Bronx Zoo and Fordham University have announced the results of the first known published study of bats in New York City. The study provides evidence of winter bat activity in NYC and documents the migratory movement of Eastern Red bats and Silver-haired bats through the Bronx Borough. Since little is known about bat behavior in winter, the research results may prove valuable in determining bat migration routes and overwintering strategies.
To identify bat species and activity levels during the study, scientists acoustically monitored bat echolocations calls at four sites in the Bronx: the Bronx Zoo, Rose Hill Campus of Fordham University, the New York Botanical Garden and Hughes Avenue, in the Belmont neighborhood of the Bronx.
Bat activity was recorded passively using acoustic-recording devices (http://www.wildlifeacoustics.com/) placed on the rooftops of buildings at each site, and actively by conducting surveys using a handheld ultrasonic recording unit. The recorders are programmed to record the echolocation calls that the bats produce in flight in order to navigate and locate their prey. The recorded calls are then processed through a software program, SonobatTM, which identifies bat calls by species.
Insectivorous bats have call frequencies that typically range between 20 kHz and 60 kHz which is outside of the frequency of human hearing (20 - 20,000 Hz). To make the calls audible to people, they are converted to a lower frequency.
The initial study began in May 2012 and identified the presence of five out of a possible nine species found in New York state: Eptesicus fuscus (Big Brown Bat), Lasiurus borealis (Eastern Red Bat), L. cinereus (Hoary Bat), Lasionycteris noctivagans (Silver-haired Bat), and Perimyotis subflavus (Tri-colored Bat).
"When we first began this project, we had no idea what we might learn about bats here in the Bronx,“ said J. Alan Clark, Associate Professor at Fordham University’s Department of Biological Sciences. “The results from our study are both surprising and exciting."
Results indicated that all five species of the night-feeders were present at all four Bronx sites, with the majority of recorded activity coming from Eastern Red bats (comprising 62 percent of identified passes of active surveys). “Tree bats,”— foliage-roosting migratory species—were represented by Eastern Red bats, Hoary bats, and Silver-haired bats and accounted for 70 percent of passively recorded calls. Activity was also recorded for these species during the winter months (December thru February) and revealed greater activity on nights with higher maximum daily temperatures. The other species identified during the study hibernate in caves during the winter and use tree cavities and buildings as roosts in summer.
The authors indicate that the increase in July of Eastern Red bat activity, followed by a peak in August and sharp decline in September suggests migratory movement through New York City as this pattern is consistent with acoustic surveys collected in the Midwest and East Coast in studies by others. In addition, an increase in Silver-haired bat activity occurred in late October—consistent with the timing of coastal migratory movements for this species.
The initial study was published in June of 2016. Since this initial survey, the study has continued at the Bronx Zoo in order to monitor year-round bat activity in the park and to identify any changes in patterns of call activity that could occur as a result of environmental factors. Additionally, the study has been expanded to include acoustic bat surveying at the three other WCS parks—Central Park Zoo, Queens Zoo and Prospect Park Zoo—using the same monitoring methods. Initial results from the on-going surveys reveal that the same five species occur in these three boroughs as well, although the call composition are represented by different species at each park.
“The results of our studies are particularly exciting as they show that within one of the largest megacities like NYC, there are sufficient green spaces available to provide habitat for bat species and other wildlife,” said WCS Bronx Zoo Curator of Mammals Colleen McCann.
Research of bats in North America has increased substantially in recent years. This is due in large part to a host of threats facing bats and the ecosystem services— such as insect control—that they provide. Among those threats are White Nose Syndrome (a fungal disease responsible for catastrophic losses of bat populations in eastern North America), impacts from wind turbines, roost disturbances, habitat loss and more.
While the project has contributed to the knowledge of bat ecology, the scientists say that additional surveys are needed. They recommend continued year-round recording combined with mist-net surveys, harp trapping, and active recording in a variety of landscapes to gain a fuller picture of the bat species assemblage in NYC.
To read more on the study and its findings, please see:
Bats in the Bronx: Acoustic Monitoring of Bats in New York City. published in Urban Naturalist. Authors include: Kaitlyn L. Parkins, Michelle Mathios, and J. Alan Clark of Fordham University; and Colleen McCann of WCS.
Bronx Zoo, bats, Fordham University, echolocatoin
Bronx, New York | April 09, 2018
“Boogie Down at the Bronx Zoo” - April 21/22; Weekends May 5 - June 3
New Blue Iguana Exhibit at WCS’s Bronx Zoo Features Species Once On the Brink of Extinction
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Home Articles Football Dangerous To Your Well-Being?
Football Dangerous To Your Well-Being?
We all surmise that playing a violent sport like football can be a hazardous occupation. For that matter, we can assume any game where it is considered perfectly acceptable to allow a 300 lb man to run as fast as he can and then ram himself into another with his shoulders lowered, often banging ones head at full speeds and extreme force against someone who may not even be looking , would not be a good way to improve one’s physical longevity. But, the win at all costs approach to the sport carries a heftier price than even we might have guessed. New studies shows quite startling low life-expectancy rates, from 53 to 59 depending on playing position–a full 20 years shorter than the average for men in the U.S. overall.
The average NFL player plays just 3.52 seasons, usually stopping due to injury, and loses two to three years off his life for every season played. The causes are not definitively known at this time, but its no mystery that the body breaks down when subjected to repeated force trauma injuries so central to the sport. The expected multiple concussions that players can expect to suffer in their career, leading to brain damage, depression, and Alzheimers, in addition to breaking down of joints, ligaments and tendons would also lower the quality of life significantly, post retirement.
As part of a study of early mortality within the NFL, Scripps Howard News Service compared the lifespan of 3,850 deceased football players against that of 2,403 dead baseball players.
Among the 8,961 pro-football players born in the last 50 years, at least 130 are already dead. Among 4,382 professional baseball players, 31 are known to have died. That means 1 in every 69 football players is dead compared to 1 in every 154 baseball players.
The most common causes of death among baseball players are accidents, especially auto accidents, the study found. Only a third of the baseball players died of medical causes. But a majority (52 percent) of the deceased football players succumbed to conditions such as coronary disease, stroke and cancer.
This heightened interest follows the death of Andre Waters, who committed suicide last November at 44. Reports concluded he had brain damage that resulted from multiple concussions, which is linked to causing depression. In addition, The Boston Globe and The New York Times reported in February that 34-year-old Ted Johnson, who spent 10 years as a linebacker with the New England Patriots, shows early signs of Alzheimer’s.
John Steinke, who provides detailed product support for customers of Tango Nutrition (www.puretango.com), in fact began his medical career as an acupuncturist and herbalist specializing in sports medicine, including trauma care and performance enhancement. He noted way back then that the elite athletes he treated for their injuries all showed signs of premature aging. Football players and other contact sports athletes suffer from chronic pain disorders from frequent injury. Distance runners and triathletes develop chronic fatigue and immune disorders from over-training. This was part of what led him to developd programs using the anti-aging essence herb formulas from China to help both groups of athletes with a great deal of success. His work is highlighted in Total Impact, the autobiographical story of San Francisco 49er Ronnie Lott’s playing career.
Since everybody eventually suffers from premature aging related to poor blood circulation and weak energy metabolism, John decided to offer his sports programs to the general public. He initiated contacts with leading Chinese research institutes to bring their modern formulas for aging disorders to the US.
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Home Nutrition News Aging Aspirin May Fight Cancer by Slowing DNA Damage
Aspirin May Fight Cancer by Slowing DNA Damage
Aspirin is known to lower risk for some cancers, and a new study led by a UC San Francisco scientist points to a possible explanation, with the discovery that aspirin slows the accumulation of DNA mutations in abnormal cells in at least one pre-cancerous condition.
“Aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which are commonly available and cost-effective medications, may exert cancer-preventing effects by lowering mutation rates,” said Carlo Maley, PhD, a member of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, and an expert on how cancers evolve in the body over time.
In the study, published June 13 in the online journal PLOS Genetics, Maley, working with gastroenterologist and geneticist Brian Reid, MD, PhD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, analyzed biopsy samples from 13 patients with a pre-cancerous condition called Barrett’s esophagus who were tracked for six to 19 years. In an “observational crossover” study design, some patients started out taking daily aspirin for several years, and then stopped, while others started taking aspirin for the first time during observation. The goal was to track the rate of mutations in tissues sampled at different times.
The researchers found that biopsies taken while patients were on an aspirin had on average accumulated new mutations about 10 times more slowly than biopsies obtained during years when patients were not taking aspirin.
“This is the first study to measure genome-wide mutation rates of a pre-malignant tissue within patients for more than a decade, and the first to evaluate how aspirin affects those rates,” Maley said.
Gender and ethnic distribution of study patients reflected the known demographics of esophageal cancer, which predominantly affects, white, middle-aged and elderly men, he said. Barrett’s esophagus only occasionally progresses to esophageal cancer.
Cancers are known to accumulate mutations over time much more rapidly than normal tissue, and different mutations arise in different groups of cells within the same tumor. The acquisition of key mutations ultimately allows tumor cells to grow out of control, and diversity within a tumor may foster drug resistance, a phenomenon that is a major focus of Maley’s research.
Maley plans to test a hypothesis that may explain the results — that aspirin’s lowering of mutation rates is due to the drug’s effect of reducing inflammation. Inflammation, a response of the immune system, in recent years has been recognized as a hallmark of cancer. Maley said that less inflammation may result in less production within pre-cancerous tissue of oxidants known to damage DNA, and may dampen growth-stimulating signaling.
For the duration of the study, the rate of accumulation of mutations measured in the biopsied tissue between time points was slow, even when patients were not taking aspirin, with the exception of one patient. While mutations accumulated at a steady rate, the vast majority of mutations arose before the abnormal tissue was first detected in the clinic, the researchers concluded.
These findings are consistent with the fact that although Barrett’s esophagus is a significant risk factor for esophageal cancer, the vast majority of cases do not progress to cancer, Maley said.
In the one patient who later went on to develop cancer, a population of cellular “clones” with a great number of mutations emerged shortly before he started taking aspirin.
More studies are needed to further explore the link between non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, mutation rates and the development of invasive cancer, Maley said. He plans to continue studying Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal cancer, and to expand his research to investigate lung cancer.
Rather than aiming to kill the most tumor cells, it may be better to try to halt or slow growth and mutation. Current drug treatments for cancer may in many cases hasten the emergence of cancer that is more difficult to eradicate, according to Maley. The capability to mutate frequently allows tumors to become resistant to drug treatment, he said. A better-adapted mutant can begin to spin off a population of genetic clones that survives and grows, while poorly adapted tumor cells die off.
Additional authors from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center include Xiaohong Li, PhD, Carissa Sanchez, PhD, Patricia Galipeau, PhD, Thomas Paulson, PhD, Patricia Blount, PhD, Thomas Vaughan, PhD, and Cassandra Sather, PhD. Amitabh Srivastava, MD, and Robert Odze, MD, from Harvard University; Rumen Kostadinov, PhD, from the University of Pennsylvania; and Mary Kuhner, PhD from the University of Washington also were members of the research team and authors of the study.
The research was funded by the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute.
Source: Rumen L. Kostadinov, Mary K. Kuhner, Xiaohong Li, Carissa A. Sanchez, Patricia C. Galipeau, Thomas G. Paulson, Cassandra L. Sather, Amitabh Srivastava, Robert D. Odze, Patricia L. Blount, Thomas L. Vaughan, Brian J. Reid, Carlo C. Maley. NSAIDs Modulate Clonal Evolution in Barrett’s Esophagus. PLoS Genetics, 2013; 9 (6): e1003553 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1003553
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Hailey Bieber wants to be like Rihanna
OHMYGOSSIP — Hailey Bieber would love to go into fashion and beauty like Rihanna.
The 22-year-old model – who is the daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin – is keen to follow in the footsteps of the singer turned fashion designer and cosmetics mogul and has revealed it was one of the main reasons why she decided to have a go in the modelling world.
She said: “I would love to get into designing clothes. I love clothes! That’s actually one of the main reasons I got into the modelling industry. I also want to create comfy athleisure. I love what Rihanna is doing. I think she’s incredible, and her line is great. I also love the Olsen twins. I’ve been a fan since the days of ‘Passport to Paris’. It’s the same kind of thing I want to do – make stuff for myself, and if people gravitate toward it, brilliant.”
And Hailey – who is married to international superstar Justin Bieber – loves being independent and has been since she was “really young”, always wanting to make her own money to fund her own lifestyle. Even when she first started out in the modelling industry, she made her own money before deciding to leave home and fund herself.
Speaking to the March issue of Elle magazine, she added: “I’ve always been super independent since I was really young. When I moved out, I was like, ‘Bye guys! See you later!’ I started modelling and made enough money to pay the rent. I was like, ‘Okay, cool. If this is going to work for me, I’m going to stick with it, because I enjoy making my own money and living on my own.'”
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"That's What I Like About You" lyrics - CATHY FINK & MARCY MARXER
"That's What I Like About You"
(Cathy Fink / Marcy Marxer)
Lyrics for "That's What I Like About You" by CATHY FINK & MARCY MARXER are not available yet
Changing Channels (1998)
Turn It Off, Change The Channel, Leave The Room!
50 Things That I Can Do Instead Of Watch TV
A Ballet Dancing Truck Driver
Count To Ten And Try Again
That's What I Like About You
Use A Word
Dad Threw The Tv Out The Window
Buy Me This And Buy Me That
The TV Way
The Power In Me
CATHY FINK & MARCY MARXER videos - That's What I Like About You
Home > M > CATHY FINK & MARCY MARXER > That's What I Like About You lyrics
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Home Featured Posts Farmfest Interview: “A Big, Defiant Party”
Farmfest Interview: “A Big, Defiant Party”
Depending on who you talk to, you will hear that the music industry is in decline. And while this may be true of the big business side of things, the DIY community, which sprouted in the 80s on both sides of the Atlantic due to disillusionment with the status quo, is in fine fettle.
With the advent of the internet, labels and bands can now be far more independent than in the 80s or 90s. For example, there’s Fortuna POP! in London, which has become a bastion of quality indie pop in its twenty year existence releasing stellar records by the likes of Joanna Gruesome, Martha, and Evans the Death. Or the Bristol/London based Art is Hard Records which revels in releasing music in odd formats (check out their Pizza Club).
It’s a similar story for festivals. While the big festivals still flourish (although while ignoring female musicians), there’s a burgeoning market for more independent, boutique, left-field festivals. There’s Indietracks (they have an owl sanctuary), which is held in Derbyshire and entering its tenth year, and today’s interviewees Farmfest.
Farmfest, staged on a farm in Somerset, was born ten years ago and has simple, but admirable goals. It aims to be affordable (tickets are just £49), genre-defying, while also focusing on arts activities, amazing charities, and local produce. Overblown spoke to Joe Duhig, who runs the main stage at Farmfest over the weekend, about the past, present, and future of the unique, and remarkable independent festival.
Overblown: Thanks for taking the time to talk to us! 2015 is Farmfest’s 10th anniversary. When you started did you envisage that the festival would still be going after ten years?
Joe: No problem! No, we weren’t thinking long term really, there was never a grand plan (I’m not sure there is now!). We’ve always just taken it one year at a time and tried to make it better than the last. It has built up steadily over the years, without us really doing anything to start with to be honest; it was just through word of mouth that we had a good thing going on and we’d have twice as many people turn up each year. We’ve had to do a lot of learning on the job but now after 10 years we’re pretty clued up on what we need to do. That doesn’t mean that there’s never anything new to contemplate each year though!
O:Your line ups are quite eclectic. When you are choosing bands to play, is there any criteria they must fulfil?
J: Thanks, we do strive to cover a lot of ground musically. It’s good for the overall atmosphere when you’ve got different ‘tribes’ of fans coming together and contributing to the good times. The criteria the acts must meet essentially is one, that we like them and two, that they are good live. We’re very open minded when it comes to listening to all sorts of different stuff and we try to replicate that across the different stages. We’ve developed a good sense of what will work at different times, and what will go down well with our crowd and what might be something excellent that they may have never heard before. And we’re keen to give acts that we love opportunities to headline which they may never get at another festival.
O: Recently it emerged that women are often under represented at festivals. For instance, the Reading/Leeds line-up is nearly 90% men. Is gender balance something that concerns you when you are building your line-up?
J: That is an interesting stat. Balance is a key word in general for us. We try to be as inclusive as possible, and that leads to things like making the ticket price as affordable as we can, encouraging a varied mix of people in our crowd, making sure there’s plenty of stuff for all ages to enjoy and having an eclectic line-up. I think having a lot of different music on offer lends itself to having a more natural gender balance among the acts, we’ve got a pretty strong list of girls looking down this year’s line up, but if we’re not close to 50/50 then there’s always work to be done.
O: What bands are you particularly looking forward to this year at Farmfest?
J: Speaking of which, LoneLady is one act I’m very excited about. I was fortunate enough to have a promo of her first album placed on my desk about 5 years ago and I loved it. I’ve not had a chance to catch her live yet though but it will be pleasure for that to happen first the time round at Farmfest. I’m also really looking forward to Lamb. I caught them at Glasto in ’98 or ’99 and loved it, but I haven’t seen them since! I still can’t quite believe they are coming to play.
O:How do you go about deciding what will be your main charity each year? Why did you pick Send A Cow this year?
J: We have a few charities now that we donate to every year (Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance, the Batcombe Church roof fund, British Stammering Association) that we do so for various personal reasons amongst the team, but last year we were approached by Send a Cow who were keen to get involved and to develop a partnership where we could work together. They’re based in the same part of the world (Send a Cow was set up by West Country farmers over 25 years ago to work with and help farmers in Africa) and they’d recognised the links between us and it is just one of those things that is just such a naturally obvious fit, we’d be silly not to. And of course they are lovely people doing great work.
O: What other festivals do you think are worthwhile here in the UK?
J: I haven’t had a chance to get to many other festivals in the last 10 years to be honest! The whole scene has blown up massively in the last decade, it’s great to see and the choice is immense. Glasto is obviously the big mama and whatever your views on what it has become I think every other festival owes Michael Eavis a small debt of gratitude for paving the way. I think any festival that exists to bring people together to have a good time and spread some love is worthwhile.
O: The ticket for the festival is a very reasonable £49. How do you keep the prices down?
J: One of the fundamental reasons that Farmfest exists is to provide an excellent experience but at a price that is affordable and doesn’t alienate people. When you think about what a family of four has to pay to enjoy a festival experience it can get quite astronomical these days. So that is one of the guiding principles that we work to and consider throughout the process. It basically comes down to the good will of a lot very generous people who are prepared to do a lot of hard work for very little financial reward! But there is a choice there as well. We could make the tickets more expensive (and make our lives easier) but we don’t. It doesn’t always have the desired effect though; some people, naturally enough, doubt how good the festival will be because of how cheap it is, which can be frustrating!
O: How will the re-election of the Conservatives impact the festival?
J: Well, I’m feeling positive today so I’ll say that it will bring people together and make them even more determined and empowered to make the change they want to see in the world, and one of the best ways to do that is to have a great big defiant party, right?!
O: What is the ultimate goal of Farmfest?
J: To be a great, big defiant party that welcomes one and all.
O: What has been your proudest moment over the last ten years in relation to Farmfest?
J: If all the bands turn up at the main stage on time throughout the weekend and I make it to our Farmfest Deejays closing party set at 2am Saturday night/Sunday morning with the right records and the right CDs I’m doing well!
Check out the Farmfest line-up and buy tickets.
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Actual Crimes – ‘I Don’t Want To See’ (Overblown Video Premiere)
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October 1, 2016 March 13, 2018 Russia
The border between Asia and Europe is the Ural Mountains near Yekaterinburg so having travelled 4300km across Siberia in 5 days we are now in the Russian heartland.
Yekaterinburg, founded in1723, once closed Soviet industrial town, then scene of the savage Russian Mafia wars of the 1990’s, is today a peaceful city best known as the place where Russia’s last Tzar, his family and servants were murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918, their bodies dumped in an abandoned mine deep in the forest nearby.
We arrived at 1:30 pm and departed at 7:30 pm. The weather forecast: “a little bit crappy, but not too crappy” according to happy Hans, the train’s Tour Director, on his 7 am wake up call. First stop – a memorial to the 18,500 local people “disappeared” during Stalin’s purge of 1937-38 whose mass grave was only discovered during the construction of the new Moscow highway. Second stop – the border between Asia and Europe where, in accordance with tradition, we drank a glass of champagnski in each continent. Third stop – the place where the bodies of the Tzar and his family were disposed of, now a beautiful monastery in the forest. Fourth stop – the site of their murder where the huge Church of the Spilled Blood has been built in remembrance. What a history this city!
Asia/Europe “border” – had a glass of wine in Asia and another in Europe
Mass grave of 18,500 people “disappeared” during Stalin’s 1937 purge
It’s the season for wild mushrooms (but don’t eat these)
Church of the Blood dominates the site of the murder of the Tzar in 1918
Monastery of Holy Martyrs, an exquisite Monastery deep in the forest …
… where the Romanovs bodies were disposed in 1918 …
… 16km northwest of Yekaterinburg
From Yekaterinburg to Kazan is 875 km. The train took 14 hours, arriving at 09:40 am so we could have the whole day there, departing for Moscow at 7:30 pm.
1000 year old Kazan (cooking pot in Tatar) is the capital of the autonomous Tatarstan Republic and an interesting mix of Islamic and Orthodox cultures with one of the most beautiful kremlins (fortreses) in Russia. We were quite surprised by the affluence of this city. The old part, formerly split into Tatar and Russian sectors has been well maintained, restored or recreated in 18th century classic style. There are no modern high rises nor decaying Soviet era concrete buildings; the most charming Russian city we’ve seen.
After traveling 7923 km on a rattling train from Beijing we arrived in Moscow on time at 11:25 am on Saturday 01 October 2016.
View from the train
Kazan Train Station
Kazan’s SS Peter and Paul Cathedral, 1723
In Tatar Kazan, the wooden houses are brightly painted
World Heritage Kazan Kremlin (Fort) 16th c. with Mosque and Orthodox Church
The Kremlin’s Kul Sharif Mosque, the biggest in Europe, opened in 2005
Kazan Kremlin Orthodox Church of the Annunciation 1562, restored 2005
Leaning Tower of Kazan goes back to the reign of Peter the Great
Inside the Kremlin of Kazan
Kremlin tower with steep wooden roof
New Department of Agriculture, built in classic style
Kazan apartment building, constructed in 18th century style, opened 2011
Our final dinner on the Tzar’s Gold Train starts with caviar & smoked salmon
← Siberia
Moscow →
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UK Biobank, GSK and Regeneron announce largest gene sequencing initiative on world’s most detailed health database to improve drug discovery and disease diagnosis
GlaxoSmithKline, Pharmaceutical, Pharmaceuticals, Press Releases Glaxo
Groundbreaking UK/US initiative will deliver first data within a year
London UK – 23 March 2017 – UK Biobank today announced a major research initiative with GSK and the Regeneron Genetics Center (RGC) to generate genetic sequence data from the 500,000 volunteer participants in the UK Biobank resource. The initiative will enable researchers to gain valuable insights to support advances in the development of new medicines for a wide range of serious and life threatening diseases.
Genetic evidence has revolutionised scientific discovery and drug development in recent years by providing clear links between genes and disease. Currently, an estimated 90% of potential medicines entering clinical trials fail to demonstrate the necessary efficacy and safety, and never reach patients. Many of these failures are due to an incomplete understanding of the link between the biological target of a drug and human disease. By contrast, medicines developed with human genetic evidence have had substantially higher success rates and patient care has benefited.
UK Biobank is the world’s most comprehensive health resource. It has been collecting information and samples from its 500,000 participants for the past ten years, and ensures that data provided to health researchers does not identify them. RGC and GSK have committed an initial investment to enable the sequencing of the first 50,000 samples, to be completed before the end of 2017. Sequencing of UK Biobank’s samples will be carried out at the RGC, New York, one of the world’s largest human genetics sequencing centres. Sequencing of the full 500,000 samples in UK Biobank is expected to take three to five years.
Consistent with the founding principles of UK Biobank, these sequence data will be incorporated back into UK Biobank’s resource following a standard exclusivity period for GSK and Regeneron (9 months for the initial phase) and made openly available to the broader scientific community. Research findings will also be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals.
Sir Rory Collins, UK Biobank Principal Investigator and BHF Professor of Medicine & Epidemiology at Oxford University, said: “As a result of the altruism and continued support of our volunteer participants, UK Biobank has amassed an enormous amount of securely-stored health, lifestyle, medical and biological data. Genetics research is already shaping better treatments. This exciting initiative is expected to start producing novel findings rapidly during this year and will make UK Biobank even more useful for health-related research.
“UK Government and charity medical research funders have invested about £200 million in UK Biobank. The costs of gene sequencing are falling, but doing it on a large scale involves highly-specialised capabilities and is expensive – with an estimated cost of $150 million if all 500,000 participants are sequenced. That is why academia and industry working together is so important. The initial investment by GSK and Regeneron will be a tremendous boost to the value of the UK Biobank resource for academic and industry researchers around the world, studying many different conditions.”
The RGC has previously sequenced DNA samples from more than 150,000 individuals and is now sequencing at a rate exceeding 150,000 individuals per year. The centre has successfully applied large-scale human genetics to discover new drug targets and validate existing development programmes, and has collaborated with more than 35 institutions around the world.
GSK has significant expertise in genomics and is increasingly incorporating the almost daily advances in this scientific field into its drug research programmes. A dedicated team of scientists focus on identifying new opportunities for drug discovery based on genetically-validated drug targets, working across the Company’s R&D organisation, and through major external collaborations. GSK’s ‘Open Targets’ collaboration with the European Bioinformatics Institute, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and Biogen includes an open access research platform, which makes genetic and biological data openly available to support drug discovery. Over 60% of the targets selected for new GSK drug discovery programmes in 2016 are supported by human genetic evidence.
Comment from Patrick Vallance, President, R&D at GSK:
“I believe that we are in a new era of drug discovery because of a fundamental change in our understanding of human biology, driven largely by advances in human genetics. UK Biobank is one of the most important health resources available to scientists today, offering a rich source of information about health and disease.
“Having been actively involved in UK Biobank as a board member since 2013, I’m delighted that, through our collaboration with Regeneron, we can enrich this resource for the wider scientific community and also provide potential new opportunities for companies such as ours to develop new medicines for patients.
“It demonstrates how important the UK is as a centre for innovative research. GSK is committed to ensuring that the UK continues to be an environment that fosters collaboration and supports end-to-end scientific progress, ranging from cutting-edge genomics to the rapid uptake of new approaches and medicines by the NHS, which can ultimately benefit patients.”
Comment from George D Yancopoulos, MD, PhD, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Regeneron:
“Our large-scale sequencing and analysis capabilities, coupled with UK Biobank’s vast trove of de-identified biological and medical information, pose tremendous opportunities for clinically meaningful discoveries that can make a difference for patients. We have long-recognised that advancing the pace and clinical utility of human genetics research requires collaboration and an open exchange of data between industry, academia and public health groups, and we are pleased to expand upon our existing foundational research collaborations through this effort with the UK Biobank and GSK. For Regeneron, we believe this initiative will greatly enhance our existing efforts in gene discovery and genetics-guided drug development.”
About UK Biobank
UK Biobank is the most comprehensive resource of its kind in the world. Its 500,000 participants have provided information about their health, well-being and lifestyle, as well as blood and other biological samples for long-term storage and analysis. In addition they have agreed to have their health followed through medical records for many years. Scientists from around the world are able to use the resource for research intended to improve the prevention and treatment of a wide range of common disorders.
UK Biobank is funded by the Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust, Department of Health, Welsh Government, Scottish Government, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK and Diabetes UK.
GSK – one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies – is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. For further information please visit www.gsk.com/aboutus.
About the Regeneron Genetics Center
The Regeneron Genetics Center LLC (RGC) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. The RGC is a fully integrated genomics programme that spans early gene discovery and functional genomics and facilitates drug development. The primary goal of the RGC is to improve patient outcomes by identifying novel drug targets, clinical indications for development programmes, and genomic biomarkers for pharmacogenomic applications. The RGC has developed capabilities across various sequencing and analytical approaches and has established numerous collaborations with leading human genetics researchers. To enable this large-scale sequencing and analysis programme, the RGC utilizes fully-automated sample preparation and data processing, as well as cutting-edge cloud-based informatics. The RGC has sequenced de-identified DNA from more than 150,000 individuals to date and is now sequencing at a rate of greater than 150,000 individuals per year.
Regeneron (NASDAQ: REGN) is a leading science-based biopharmaceutical company that discovers, invents, develops, manufactures and commercializes medicines for the treatment of serious medical conditions. Regeneron commercializes medicines for eye diseases, high LDL cholesterol and a rare inflammatory condition and has product candidates in development in other areas of high unmet medical need, including rheumatoid arthritis, atopic dermatitis, asthma, pain, cancer and infectious diseases. For additional information about the company, please visit www.regeneron.com or follow @Regeneron on Twitter.
GSK cautions investors that any forward-looking statements or projections made by GSK, including those made in this announcement, are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Such factors include, but are not limited to, those described under Item 3.D ‘Principal risks and uncertainties’ in the company’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2016.
SOURCE: GlaxoSmithKline
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Relvar Ellipta significantly improved asthma control in Salford Lung Study patients compared with their usual care
GSK announces regulatory submission in Japan of its candidate vaccine for prevention of shingles
Togo becomes first country in Africa to validate the elimination of lymphatic filariasis as a public health problem
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“Speak to Aharon and say to him: When you kindle the lamps.” (8:2)
Home->Beha'alosecha-> 5760
Aharon HaKohen was chagrined that every Nasi participated in the Chanukas HaMishkan, dedicating the Sanctuary, while he and the tribe of Levi had been excluded. Hashem reassured him that his service was greater than theirs, because he was to prepare and kindle the Menorah. We must endeavor to understand how the kindling of the Menorah represents a greater spiritual service than participating in the dedication of the Mishkan. Horav Yechezkel Levenstein, z.l., explains that every mitzvah that one performs is generally accompanied by a certain amount of physical benefit or pleasure. This physical dimension detracts from the spiritual dimension of the mitzvah. Indeed, the very fact that a human being is fashioned from earth, catalyzes a partnership of the physical and the spiritual in carrying out every mitzvah or spiritual endeavor. It is almost impossible to perform a mitzvah that does not involve an element of physical gratification. To the extent that one diminishes the physical component, one is thereby able to elevate the spiritual aspect of the mitzvah.
This is the underlying meaning of Hashem’s message to Aharon. In the simple act of preparing and kindling the lamps of the Menorah, limited physical benefit is involved. Consequently, this mitzvah has greater spiritual value for the individual who executes it. It is a simple act, unlike that of offering animals for sacrifice.
In his Mesillas Yesharim, the Ramchal elaborates on this theme. He explains that each one of us has the capacity to make our physical body simply a temporary repository for the neshamah, soul. The body should not have more intrinsic significance than a vehicle for the soul to execute its function of fulfilling the Divine Will. The body is not here to be satisfied, but rather, to be maintained, so that it can function at its maximum as an agent for the soul.
In addressing the virtue of taharah, purity, Ramchal explains that purity refers to the perfection of one’s heart and thoughts. This means that one should not anticipate the gratification of physical desires in his actions. One’s deeds should be performed with intelligence and with reverence for the Almighty. The chassid, pious devotee, about whom the Ramchal speaks, the one whom he considers to be at the zenith of devotion to Hashem, is an individual who partakes of no luxuries or excesses. His food is simple; his clothes are modest. Indeed, his whole way of life bespeaks austerity and unpretentiousness.
Eating the most simple food can be enjoyable, and, indeed, it should be. Food that is tasteless is inedible. Hence, taking pleasure in discerning between the savory and the insipid is a requisite for proper nutrition. There seems to be no escape from enjoying food. This does not preclude the chassid’s spiritual ascendancy. When partaking of anything physical, however pleasureful, he must do so with the correct intention – only to fulfill the Divine Will. Self-gratification should not be a goal.
This is all part of Adam HaRishon’s sin. The Midrash relates that when Adam ate the forbidden fruit for which he was cursed, “The land shall produce thorns and weeds, and you shall eat the vegetation of the land” (Bereishis 3:18), he began to cry, “I and my animal shall be eating from the same trough,” he said. Once Adam had succumbed to temptation and eaten the forbidden fruit, he realized the abyss into which he had fallen, for now his consumption of food was no different than that of the common beast. In attempting to rectify Adam’s sin, ideally one should elevate his “achilah,” consumption of food, to a level at which even those actions that are essential to survival are not carried out for physical enjoyment, but only to fulfill the Divine Will.
The true chassid views all physical behavior as a concession to existence, which should be carried out grudgingly. One might think that this concept is something unusual, which applies to a previous generation. This is not true. The true tzaddikim of every generation attain this zenith of service. Indeed, everyone is capable of acting in this manner, commensurate with his own level. We do not have to immerse ourselves in total self-gratification! Every morsel that we give up for Hashem elevates our spiritual plateau. This alone should more than compensate for the loss of some enjoyment.
“The Princes of Yisrael brought offerings…they were those who stood over the counted.” (7:2)
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“Mending” a Broken System
Sabrina Basile, Writer|December 9, 2014
: http://budalawgroup.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Immigration-Lawyer-blg4-e1353249903607.jpg
Five million some odd undocumented immigrants are about to officially gain citizenship in the United States due to President Obama’s Immigration order.
In case you misread that statement, I’ll say it again; five million ILLEGAL immigrants are about to gain citizenship in the United States, even after breaking the laws and forcing their way into the country.
President Obama plans to assert his executive power and reform the immigration policy by easing up on deportation. The order overall prevents deportation and grants legal work status to about four million undocumented immigrants whose children are United States citizens or legal permanent residents, who have no criminal background, and who have lived in the country for at least five years. Another one million unauthorized residents will be provided similar protections, all for three years.
Previously, the immigration law only applied to young adults who had arrived before 2007, but it will now be expanded to anyone who arrived before 2010. Basically, Obama is just allowing more of these illegally placed individuals to freely stay within the country.
America may be all about opportunities, but when opportunities are taken away from those people who legitimately, truthfully, and honestly try to obtain them, just to give to those who cheated the system, the system itself becomes disappointing.
There are hundreds of thousands of people in Europe, Jamaica, Australia, or any other place you want to name that would probably love to come to gain citizenship into America. They apply, like an honest individual, in hopes to gain access to a country they see themselves in to have a better future. Unfortunately, the U.S government is too focused on using all available resources on the illegal Mexicans that have come to the country.
The only moral question left to ask is: does America really care about honesty? We are granting amnesty to millions of people who decided to just swim or walk over the border while denying those who do not have such a “privilege.”
It is understandable that the President is upset over the fact that Republicans refuse to work with and support him or have yet to come up with an alternative, but fixing a broken system with another controversial system may not be the way to go.
Let’s also not forget the fact that this is only the first step to assisting the country’s 11 million undocumented immigrants. So who knows what’s to come next? Maybe Obama is just going give them all a green card for Christmas, that wouldn’t be at all the most surprising thing he has done.
Aside from the idea of Obama virtually slapping those who are honestly trying and have honestly gotten citizenship in the face, he is also slapping his own American people in the face by ignoring their wants.
“If ‘Emperor Obama’ ignores the American people and announces an amnesty plan that he himself has said over and over again exceeds his constitutional authority, he will cement his legacy of lawlessness and ruin the chances for congressional action on the issue.”
Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, hit the nail right on the head with his comment on “Emperor Obama,” because the President is really not taking into account to feelings of the nation. People are so outraged, there are currently 17 states suing over this immigration order.
Texas is the leader of this 17-state coalition suing, all states agreeing that this move tramples key portions of the Constitution. Many top Republicans have denounced Obama’s order, but Governor-elect Greg Abbott, Texas’ current attorney general, took it all a step further by filing a formal legal challenge in federal court to block Obama’s action.
The 16 states joining Abbott mostly are in the South and Midwest, which should speak to the situation. The Southern states are the ones most affected by these illegal immigrants, as they are close to the border of Mexico, the place in which these immigrants illegally cross over. Thus, these states seem to be completely over the responsibility of these people.
The lawsuit raises two major objections: that Obama violates the so-called Take Care Clause of the Constitution- which Abbott said limits the scope of presidential power- and that the order will “exacerbate the humanitarian crisis along the southern [US] border, which will affect increased state investment in law enforcement, health care, and education.”
Another huge issue raised by this law would more on the financial standpoint rather than the constitutional standpoint. If Obama is going to let over four million into the country, does the nation even have the financial means to do so? Even by giving these immigrants work permits, there is no guarantee they will all find jobs. That leaves the only option to be living off government assistance or suffer the financial consequences. And let’s face it; America really cannot afford to support all these people. So, it’s either take these people off the financial programs or deport them.
Schooling systems are also forced to pay the consequences as the children of these immigrants are flooding America’s public schools. Most of these student immigrants cannot even speak English, so the school is forced to accommodate, creating various programs to help these natives. And again, states are under enough financial stress without these extra costs.
Ultimately, Obama has really made a huge mess of this issue so far and has not gone about it the right way. It may seem that his desire to leave behind a lasting legacy will not be one he was hoping; his popularity is continuing to falter with the American people as controversy continues to rise with his policies.
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Kigali, Dar face off again over DRC conflict
Diplomatic tensions between Tanzania and Rwanda appeared set to escalate as the two countries once again traded accusation over the latter’s alleged backing of rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Rwanda’s Foreign Affairs Minister Louis Mushikiwabo on Friday responded to the claims by her Tanzanian counterpart Bernard Membe that the defunct M23 rebel forces that fought the DRC government until recently was a creation of the Rwandan government, saying, “That M23 business is a tired story that has no place in the region right now.
“As for Tanzania’s foreign minister whose anti-Rwanda rant in parliament I heard, he would benefit from a lesson in the history of the region.”
Mr Membe, while appearing before the country’s parliament, is reported to have said: “When I told the BBC that Rwandans were causing instability in eastern Congo, I meant what I said… it’s the UN’s Group of Experts that originally accused Rwanda, not me.”
“Rwanda and other reasonable actors in the region and afar are engaged in finding lasting peace, so we can dedicate more time to improving the lives of our citizens,” Ms Mushikiwabo said in an e-mail to The EastAfrican.
This is not the first time the countries are trading barbs. Tension was initially sparked off by President Jakaya Kikwete’s suggestion in May 2013 during an African Union meeting in Ethiopia that the Rwandan government should hold peace talks with the FDLR rebel group to end violence in the eastern DRC. Rwanda, which regards the Hutu group as genocidaires who played the leading role in the 1994 genocide, termed President Kikwete as a “sympathiser” of the FDLR.
While addressing senior military graduates in north Rwanda, President Paul Kagame noted in reference to President Kikwete’s advice, “I kept quiet about this because of the contempt I have for it. I thought it was utter nonsense. Maybe it was due to ignorance but if this is an ideological problem for anyone to be thinking this way, then it better stay with those who have it.”
Sources say the two leaders have tried to avoid each other by dodging meetings and scenarios that could bring them together. At regional level, they say, the Heads of State Summit is needed to sign off on key protocols, but the soured relations between the two vitiates the atmosphere required to promote the integration process. Mr Membe was reacting to concerns expressed by Ezekiah Wenje, the shadow foreign minister, while presenting alternative budget proposals in parliament, that the allegations Membe made against Rwanda on BBC’s Focus on Africa programme last September would worsen the diplomatic tensions between the two countries.
But Mr Wenje said Mr Membe’s comment, together with the government’s silence on claims by former Rwandan prime minister Faustine Twagiramungu that he had visited Tanzania to seek advice on how FDRL could take over in Rwanda, would only serve to deepen tensions between the countries.
“The statement by Mr Membe will worsen the relationship with our neighbour Rwanda. It is important that national leaders be careful about making such statements,” said Mr Wenje. Mr Membe acknowledged that relations between Rwanda and Tanzania were strained because opportunists took advantage of the situation to fuel diplomatic tensions between the countries.
However, Mr Membe reiterated that the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) were Rwandans, who fled to eastern DRC after the 1994 genocide while the Banyamulenge who formed the M23 rebel group that fought the DRC government for years, were Tutsi from Rwanda.
Tanzania’s recent decision to expel 3,500 Rwandese illegal immigrants heightened the tension *Source East African
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FACT SHEET: U.S.-African Cooperation in Advancing Gender Equality
“…[W]e support societies that empower women — because no country will reach its potential unless it draws on the talents of our wives and our mothers, and our sisters and our daughters… You can measure how well a country does by how it treats its women.” – President Obama, Cape Town, South Africa, June 30, 2013 In this fourth year of what the African Union (AU) has called the “African Women’s Decade,” the United States strongly supports the great strides and commitments many African countries and the African Union have made to increase women’s and girls’ empowerment through steps to promote good governance and rule of law, accelerate economic growth and enhance food security, advance respect for human rights, and improve access to services – from health care to education. Long-term development will only be possible when women and men enjoy equal opportunity to rise to their full potential. As announced earlier today, the United States is committing new assistance to advance gender equality in Africa through: · Support for up to three countries to develop or implement national strategies to advance women’s participation in peacebuilding and their protection from violence. · New programs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, Mali, Rwanda, Somalia, and Uganda, as well as across West Africa, focused on increasing women’s participation in peacebuilding and constitution drafting processes, advancing women’s land rights, and mitigating election-related violence. · Three new centers that will provide business development assistance to women entrepreneurs in East, Southern, and West Africa, through the Department of State’s African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP) and the Women’s Entrepreneurial Centers of Resources, Education, Access, and Training for Economic Empowerment (WECREATE) project. · Technical support to strengthen AU Commission and national-level efforts to address barriers to the equal participation of women in the agricultural sector. · Support through wPOWER, working with the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, for grants to organizations that promote the role of women entrepreneurs in selling clean technologies, as well as support for scaling up programs that educate adolescent girls on clean energy technologies. · Increased assistance to the Inter-Parliamentary Union to build the capacity of African parliaments working to advance gender equality and to support parliamentary campaigns on specific gender equality issues. More broadly, the FY 2015 budget request seeks more than $190 million to directly advance gender equality across Sub-Saharan and North African countries, which includes activities to promote political and economic opportunities for women, access to health and education services, and efforts to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. We further leverage broader development investments to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment across Africa. Promoting Leadership Opportunities for Women and Girls. Women’s leadership and meaningful participation in government, the economy, and civil society accelerates economic development, improves health and educational indicators, advances democratic development, and fosters peace and security. Five sub-Saharan and North African countries participate in the United States-led Equal Futures Partnership, through which countries undertake domestic reforms to removes barriers to women’s economic and political empowerment. The United States has: · Joined in training the next generation of female African leaders through the Young African Leaders Initiative, the Women in Public Service Project, and GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) Camps, which are organized and led by Peace Corps Volunteers. · Supported training for women to run for political office and advocate for legislation that promotes women’s rights across North Africa through the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI). In Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia, the United States trains female candidates and political party leaders on developing campaigns that advance women’s rights and opportunities. Expanding Economic Opportunity. To promote women’s economic empowerment, the African Union, the African Development Bank, the World Bank Group, African countries, and the United States have supported efforts to increase women’s access to markets, capital, and assets, and to advance women’s leadership, voice, and agency. The United States has: · Helped, in 2013 alone, nearly 1.8 million farmers in Africa (more than 700,000 of them women) apply new practices and technologies that have the potential to lift them out of poverty, with support from Feed the Future, the President’s global hunger and food security initiative. The technologies that farmers develop are transforming women-only agricultural tasks into tasks in which husbands and wives work together and produce a greater overall benefit for themselves and their families. TheWomen’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index measures the impact of agriculture investments on women to inform future programming. Targeted programming helps advance women’s empowerment, including the African Women in Agriculture Research and Development fellowships, which strengthens the skills of African women scientists in research and leadership, and encourages research to improve the lives of smallholder famers, especially women. · Promoted a range of measures to advance women’s economic participation through Millennium Challenge Corporation compacts in 14 African countries, including conducting public outreach to more than 11,000 individuals to build support for legal reforms that increase women’s rights in Lesotho, encouraging that land be registered in both husband and wife’s names and supporting the establishment of 54 women’s associations to increase women’s access to land in Mali, and providing $10 million to increase access to electricity for micro and small enterprises in markets where women predominate in Ghana. · Invested $2.6 million since 2010 in a network of more than 1,700 sub-Saharan African women entrepreneurs to help expand their businesses, facilitate professional exchanges, increase trade to the United States, and benefit from the African Growth and Opportunity Act, through the African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program. · Support women entrepreneurs throughout North Africa to gain new skills and networks, launch and expand businesses, and develop as innovative leaders, such as in Tunisia, where the Women’s Enterprise for Sustainability Centers have contributed to more than 150 women launching and expanding businesses since 2012, and in Libya, where 200 women have been trained since 2013 in entrepreneurship, accounting, finance, and economics. · Provided business development training and investment to female entrepreneurs working to bring clean energy access to more than 3.5 million people over the next three years through thePartnership on Women’s Entrepreneurship in Renewables (wPOWER). Increasing Women’s Roles in Conflict Prevention and Security Decision-making. The United States joins the African Union, regional economic communities, and many African countries in committing to strengthen prospects for peace and security through the empowerment and protection from violence of women and girls in countries affected by crisis, insecurity, and political transition. The United States has: · Invested close to $25 million in FY 2014 in Africa to support women’s roles in peacebuilding and participation in decision-making, including through programs in Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan. Programs include capacity building for women leaders and women’s organizations to advocate for and provide assistance to their communities, through training in coalition building, negotiations, conflict resolution, and public speaking. · Engaged women leaders to advance peaceful elections, including in Sierra Leone in 2012, where the United States supported civil society partners to develop conflict-prevention messages and train women community leaders to help prevent local conflicts from escalating by acting as mediators and by advocating nonviolence through radio and other public engagement. · Provided nearly 4,000 African women since 2005 with training to enhance their roles as peacekeepers through the Global Peace Operations Initiative. · Provided training to African militaries though U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and the African Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), focused on promoting women’s participation and ensuring their protection from violence, including through a January 2014 week-long course in Kenya for representatives of 11 African nations focused on peace support operations, and as a component of ACSS’ annual Senior Leaders Seminar and the Next Generation of African Security leaders program, which involve more than 45 African countries. · Supported efforts to prevent and respond to gender-based violence (GBV) in emergency situations across Africa, including as part of the Safe from the Start initiative, which the United States launched in 2013 to better address the needs of women and girls and other groups at risk of GBV in emergencies. The United States is supporting increased programming with the UN Refugee Agency and the International Committee of the Red Cross, in addition to working directly with national partners, such as in Somalia, where USAID is helping to establish referral pathways for GBV survivors to access services; training community workers and health officials on the provision of care and psychosocial support for survivors; and connecting survivors with livelihoods opportunities. Expanding Education Opportunities. Recognizing that education is one of the most effective ways to expand opportunities and life choices for girls and young women, the United States has been working with countries across the continent to close the education gap between boys and girls by identifying gender-related obstacles and working with our country partners to implement policies and programs to overcome these obstacles. The United States has: · Invested an average of $350 million annually since 2010 in approximately 20 Sub-Saharan Africa countries to help girls and boys receive a quality education and obtain the skills they need to live healthy and productive lives. This includes making sure girls are learning in classrooms and building community support for girls’ education, such as in Liberia, where the Girls Opportunity to Access Learning project grants scholarships to girls, supports girls’ clubs, and provides school-improvement grants to communities in order to create safer school environments. · Promoted women’s participation in science, technology, engineering, and math fields, including through TechWomen and TechGirls, which offer women and adolescent girls from North and Sub-Saharan Africa the opportunity to participate in an intensive exchange program in the United States that equips them with skills, networks, and resources to pursue higher education and careers in technology. Promoting the Health of Women and Families. When women are healthy and educated, they are able to participate in the work force and are more likely to have healthy, educated children – ushering in a cycle of opportunity rather than perpetuating a cycle of poverty. The United States has: · Played a key role – by strengthening country health systems, health worker training, and investment in life-saving tools through the President’s Global Health Initiative – in assisting 16 priority African countries to halve maternal and child mortality rates since 1990, reducing maternal mortality on average from 1,065 per 100,000 live births in 1990 to 467 in 2013, and child mortality rates from 190 deaths per 1,000 live births to 96 in 2012. Renewed efforts to expand access to voluntary family planning also contributed to increases in the percent of married women using modern contraception in many African countries, including by up to 50 percent in Liberia and Ethiopia since 2005. · In West Africa, USAID invested an estimated $44 million in FY 2013, and is working through theOuagadougou Partnership to reach an additional 1 million women with family planning information and services by 2015. USAID planned over $98 million in Africa in FY 2013 to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV and to help provide access to life-long treatment for both mothers and their children. Addressing Gender-based Violence. Gender-based violence undermines not only the safety, dignity, overall health status, and human rights of the millions of individuals who experience it, but also the public health, economic stability, and security of countries around the world. In Africa, the United States has: · Invested almost $60 million since 2011 to prevent and respond to GBV in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Tanzania, and Mozambique through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, including promoting girls’ education to help prevent HIV and GBV in the DRC, investing in research and evaluation in Tanzania, and improving the availability and quality of GBV services in Mozambique. · Supported judicial and law enforcement sectors working to improve access to justice for GBV survivors. In the DRC, since 2011 the United States has provided $2.6 million to train local health, legal, and law enforcement professionals on gathering medical evidence for successful prosecution and conviction of GBV perpetrators. In Ethiopia, the United States provided $1.2 million in FY 2012 to increase the capacity of law enforcement agencies to investigate, prosecute, and adjudicate cases concerning child, early, and forced marriage and female genital mutilation/cutting.
· Partnered with six African nations since 2009 through the Together for Girls public-private partnership to conduct CDC national violence against children surveys, building the foundation for evidence-based solutions to end sexual violence against children, especially girls.
· Encouraged men to partner in preventing GBV through behavior change programs, such as in Zambia, where “Boys to Men” project – established in 2014 with $2.3 million – aims to reduce social acceptance and the occurrence of GBV by promoting non-violence in schools.
· Supported a 2010-2016 study in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, and Tanzania to assess the effectiveness of various approaches to prevent child, early, and forced marriage, the findings of which will be shared with other regions impacted by the practice.
· Launched in 2014 the Gender-Based Violence Emergency Response and Protection Initiative,a public-private partnership with Vital Voices and the Avon Foundation, which provides emergency assistance to GBV survivors globally and coordinates a global network of GBV first responders. Hubs for coordinating response efforts and trainings in sub-Saharan Africa, include Mali, Kenya, and South Africa.
*Source White House]]>
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Nadine Tinen appointed to lead the Sub-Saharan Francophone Africa region for PwC France and Francophone Africa
Nadine Tinen intends to grow the Firm’s revenue in the region by more than 40% by 2022
Nadine Tinen
NEUILLY-SUR-SEINE, France, December 20, 2017/ — Nadine Tinen has been named Regional Senior Partner of PwC Sub-Saharan Francophone Africa (www.PwC.com), thus also joining the Territory Leadership Team for PwC France & Francophone Africa. Appointed on 1 July 2017, she takes over from Edouard Messou.
Nadine Tinen, 45, is a graduate of the University of Bourgogne (Dijon), where she earned a DESS postgraduate diploma in tax law, a Magistère specialised postgraduate diploma in corporate law, tax and accounting and an international diploma in European tax law (Diplôme International de Droit Fiscal Européen). Specialising in tax, Nadine has become well-known over her 20 years in the field for her expert advice to businesses.
Nadine began her career in 1996 at PwC Cameroon and was admitted as a partner 10 years later. In 2010, she took over the Firm’s Cameroon practice and, in 2014, joined the Leadership Team for PwC Sub-Saharan Francophone Africa as Tax & Legal Leader, responsible for legal and tax advisory services.
Nadine is also a CEMAC-certified tax lawyer (Conseil Fiscal Agréé CEMAC) and a member of the Cameroon Association of Tax Lawyers (Ordre National des Conseils Fiscaux).
“Africa is a continent on the move, with an important role to play in the future of global affairs. In 2050, Africa will represent 12% of global wealth. Demographic, economic and social change is underway on the continent, and it’s happening now. This is why we need to work with the stakeholders in African development – spanning society, local communities and national, pan-African and even international businesses – to help them carry out their projects, from the initial strategy phase right up to completion. We believe that helping these stakeholders grow will allow us to contribute toward the development and promotion of Africa as a whole,” said Nadine Tinen.
With a view to dealing with the three major challenges that have been identified for the next five years – a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) political, economic and social environment, technological developments and the growth of the regional economy, Nadine Tinen has set herself four strategic objectives:
To drive PwC’s transformation in Sub-Saharan Francophone Africa in a bid to improve support for clients with their own transformations, which are chiefly digital but may also be cultural. This process will involve introducing new innovative and collaborative tools, solutions, concepts and methodologies.
To develop the Firm’s Advisory services for businesses and public authorities in the region, with two ambitions:
Working with the governments of the region on their economic diversification programmes and large-scale projects for transforming and enhancing performance and competitivity;
Working with businesses, regional champions and start-ups with high growth potential with a view to their becoming the future leaders of the region.
To boost PwC’s employer brand in Sub-Saharan Francophone Africa, in two ways:
Implementing policies that promote employee well-being and real opportunities for career development;
Fostering the development of future talents in the region via the creation of a “PwC Academy”.
To develop synergies between PwC offices in Africa as a means of meeting the needs and expectations of both the public and private sector.
PwC reported revenue of nearly €50 million between 1 July 2016 and 30 June 2017 in the Sub-Saharan Francophone Africa region. By meeting her four strategic objectives, Nadine Tinen intends to grow the Firm’s revenue in the region by more than 40% by 2022.
The investments made to achieve this ambitious growth will focus on human capital, innovation and technology and developing synergies. Accordingly, the total headcount of PwC offices in Sub-Saharan Francophone Africa is set to climb by 20% over the next five years, growing from over 700 employees today to close to 900 in 2022. Further, there are plans to promote 12 partners over the same period, growing the partnership from 28 members to 40 over five years. The transformation has already begun: three new partners were appointed as of 1 July 2017 (see appendix for their biographies).
“In addition to setting ambitious financial and business objectives, I will make diversity the focus of my term as Regional Senior Partner. I will continue to take positive action to support the advancement of women in business and in African society as a whole. At PwC, we believe in rewarding excellence regardless of gender and in encouraging individual career plans that allow our employees to achieve a healthy work/life balance,” added Nadine Tinen.
Nadine Tinen introduces her new management team
Nadine Tinen has brought together a new management team to take charge of the development of PwC’s business in the Sub-Saharan Francophone Africa region and help achieve the objectives set for the next five years.
The partners on the new management team are:
Souleymane Coulibaly Soro, Assurance Leader
Laurent Pommera, Tax & Legal Leader
Georges-Louis Levard, Advisory Coordination Leader
Didier Nguessan, Human Capital Leader
Souleymane Coulibaly Soro, 50, a certified accountant admitted to the Association of Certified Accountants (Ordre des Experts-Comptables) in Côte d’Ivoire, is a graduate of the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce d’Abidjan.
He joined PwC in Côte d’Ivoire in 1991. After being promoted to the partnership in 2008, he was selected to lead the Côte d’Ivoire office in 2013 and joined the PwC Sub-Saharan Francophone Africa Leadership Team the following year as Assurance Leader. His role in Nadine Tinen’s new team will be to develop and adapt the Firm’s audit services to the new challenges faced by the public and private sectors in the Sub-Saharan Francophone Africa region.
Laurent Pommera, 42, is a graduate of the University of Rennes, where he earned a DESS in corporate law combined with a DJCE (specialised diploma for in-house legal counsel) and a master’s degree in French and UK corporate law. He also holds a postgraduate diploma (DEA) in private international law and international business law from the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He is a qualified French attorney (avocat) and former member of the Paris Bar.
Laurent began his career at PwC Gabon in 1998 before moving back to France in 2003 to join the corporate litigation practice at Paris law firm D’Armagnac Société d’Avocat. At the end of 2007, he returned to Gabon and was promoted to the partnership two years later. He is now joining the PwC Sub-Saharan Francophone Africa Leadership Team as Tax & Legal Leader. His role will be to oversee the implementation of PwC’s Tax & Legal strategy in Francophone Africa, by promoting innovation and the development of human capital and tools, all with a view to achieving client satisfaction in a rapidly changing Africa.
Georges-Louis Levard, 44, holds a Diplom Kaufmann (German diploma in business administration) from ESCP-EAP and is also a graduate of Sciences Po in Paris.
He joined PwC France in 2001 after working within the corporate restructuring department at BHF-Bank in Frankfurt and at KPMG in Paris.
Georges-Louis specialises in financial audit services for the banking sector and, since 2005, has worked in Gabon, Luxembourg and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He was promoted to the partnership in 2011 and is now based in Kinshasa. He joined the PwC Sub-Saharan Francophone Africa Leadership Team in 2015. As Advisory Coordination Leader, his main role will be to promote synergies and the development of advisory services in Sub-Saharan Francophone Africa, in coordination with the France and Francophone Africa Advisory teams.
Didier N’Guessan, 44, a French certified accountant (Expert-Comptable diplômé de l’Etat français), is a graduate of the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce d’Abidjan (ESCA) and holds a certificate in public financial management from Harvard University (John F. Kennedy School of Government). He is a knight of the National Order of Merit in Côte d’Ivoire and a member of the ethics committee of the Association of Certified Accountants (Ordre des Experts comptables) of Côte d’Ivoire.
Didier has 22 years of experience at PwC in France, the Netherlands and Africa, during which time he has led numerous audit and advisory engagements in various business sectors. Admitted as a partner in 2010, he was appointed PwC Assurance Learning & Education Leader for Sub-Saharan Francophone Africa in 2014. As part of the new management team for the region, he will be coordinating human resources and corporate culture, with the goal of delivering on the Firm’s commitment to playing an active role in the development of the African continent by building human capital.
APPENDIX: Biographies of partners promoted as of 1 July 2017 in Sub-Saharan Francophone Africa
Mahi Kane, 39, holds a master’s degree in tax and corporate law from INSEEC Paris. Specialising in tax, he is a certified member of the Senegalese National Association of Experts (Ordre national des experts).
After completing an internship of nearly two years in the tax department of LVMH in Paris and a further six‑month placement in the Paris office of Landwell et Associés (now PwC Société d’Avocats), he joined PwC Sénégal in 2005.
In Dakar, Mahi has worked on numerous engagements for transport and logistics businesses. He has over twelve years of experience in Francophone Africa, during which time he has developed expertise in telecommunications, oil and gas and banking, all of which are growth sectors on the continent.
In his new role as a partner, Mahi aims to boost the development of tax and legal advisory services at PwC Sénégal, with a particular focus on the oil and gas industry.
Fousseni Traore, 51, holds a master’s degree in political science from the University of Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire.
He joined PwC Côte d’Ivoire out of university in 1999, as a junior associate in the tax and legal department in Abidjan. He advises on various fields, spanning tax audit support and due diligence, employment law and customs. Appointed as a director in 2007, he has developed expertise in a range of business sectors, with a focus on services, mining and agrifood.
As a new partner, Fousseni will be responsible for expanding the Firm’s tax and legal advisory services for local SMEs and customs support services in Côte d’Ivoire.
Ghislaine Djapouop, 43, holds an MBA in corporate strategy and finance from INSEAD in Singapore.
She began her career in Cameroon in 1998 as accountant and treasurer for the company Sotrav. Subsequently, she worked for two years as administration and finance manager at Colgate Palmolive and the CTM (Cellule Technique pour l’Amélioration de la Gestion des Finances Publiques – technical unit for improving governance in the public finance sector), after which she left Cameroon to continue her studies, obtaining two MBAs from CESAG and INSEAD respectively. She entered the world of consulting in South Africa in 2005 when she worked as a strategy consultant at Decipher Consulting and later at Gemini Consulting.
In 2008, she joined the Advisory team at PwC Gabon, before moving to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where she was appointed director in 2014. She advises on improving the business environment and public sector reform.
In her role as a new partner, Ghislaine will be responsible for developing PwC’s business in Sub-Saharan Francophone Africa with international lenders, with a focus on large-scale, multi-year structuring projects.
PwC (www.PwC.com) is developing its advisory, audit and accounting engagements in France and French-speaking Africa by leveraging an industry-specific approach.
More than 236,000 people in 158 countries belonging to the PwC international network share their ideas, expertise and innovative views to deliver high-quality service to clients and partner companies. PwC’s French and French-speaking African firms comprise 6,400 people working out of 23 countries. For more information, visit www.PwC.fr
By working every day to advise clients and support them in their success, PwC actively contributes to the development of the French economy. Through its studies and expert analyses, PwC is also committed to preparing for the economies of the future and developing new technological applications. Lastly, by providing solutions for risk management, PwC creates trust among stakeholders and helps maintain a secure environment at the heart of the French economy.
PwC France launched the #LetsgoFrance movement to showcase all the people, companies and organisations that are working to ensure the success of the French economy.
In 2017, PwC won the Audit Innovation of the Year award for the second consecutive year running. The award recognises its commitment toward leveraging technological innovation to improve the quality of its audit services and the added value provided to its clients.
“PwC” refers to the PwC network and/or one or more of its member firms, each of which is a separate legal entity
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APC’s creation of toxic atmosphere and threat to life of the nPDP
By Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, CON,
President Muhammadu Buhari (Middle) with Senate President, Bukola Saraki (left) and Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara (right)
Following the ongoing talks between members of the former NPDP, the APC and the Presidency in recent days,a team from the former nPDP led by Speaker of the House of Representatives, His Excellency Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara and four others, were to meet with the Vice President, His Excellency Prof Yemi Osinbajo.
Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, CON, in a statement said: ” we are truly and earnestly committed to achieving reconciliation, harmony, truce and cohesion in the APC as we approach the 2019 general elections, it is appears that the Presidency is not interested in the talks and that they may have been negotiating in bad faith.”
“We were alarmed that immediately after our meeting with the Vice President last week, the presidency misrepresented what transpired at the meeting by trying to blackmail some of the principal actors involved in the discussions in a national daily.”
“Similarly, the leadership of the party (APC) went ahead to ratify all the Congresses from ward, local governments, states and zonal where many of our members have complaints, effectively presenting us with a fait accompli.
The persecution of our members using state security apparatus have continued unabated.
We recognize the powers of the Police to conduct criminal investigations but by rushing to the public with the issue even when they have unfettered access to the leadership of the National Assembly suggests an attempt to undermine, caricature and humiliate the institution of the legislature.”
“It appears that there is a fouled and toxic atmosphere and environment of intimidation and threat to life in which we now find ourselves which may no longer be conducive for members of the former nPDP to continue with the talks. Given the unfolding events in the last 24 hours,where the President of the Senate, His Excellency, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki and His Excellency, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, the Executive Governor of Kwara State , both of whom attended the meeting with the Vice President on Monday 28 May, 2018 ,have suddenly been accused of sponsoring armed robbery by the Police under the directives of the Presidency.”
“Similarly, on Saturday, June 2nd, 2018, the Department of State of Services (DSS) also suddenly withdrew more than half of all the security details attached to the presiding officers of the National Assembly under questionable circumstances.”
“The nPDP leadership has decided to brief our members on the unfortunate development and get a fresh mandate if good faith returns to the discussions.”
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Four separate cases, four young girls. All of whom go missing in the early to mid-1970s, all within miles from one another in neighboring New England towns. And not one arrest has been made in over 50 years. In Paper Ghosts, investigative journalist and true crime author M. William Phelps’ decade-long search for answers is reignited when a call reveals new information that sets the investigation in motion, uncovering never-made-public documents and bringing forth new witnesses and suspects.
Introducing Norco80 Podcast
Hey, Missing In Alaska fans! Since you love true crime podcasts, we think you may like Norco80 too. Check it out! About Norco80: In May of 1980, the sleepy streets of Norco, California were turned into an all-out war zone in what was one of the most violent bank robberies in American history. From LAist Studios in collaboration with Futuro Studios comes the new podcast—Norco ’80 based on the book by Peter Houlahan. Listen as host and producer Antonia Cereijido tell the unbelievable true story about God, guns, survivalist, and the bank robbery that changed policing in America forever. Using eyewitness testimony and never before heard police tapes, Norco 80 takes listeners on a wild ride, and serves as a cautionary tale in the context of America being immersed in the middle of an economic crisis, revamped end of the world paranoia, and a complex conversation about policing. If you enjoyed this trailer, be sure to subscribe and listen to Norco80 on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
10. The Last Remains
As far as the investigation into the five cases has gone, a major piece of the puzzle always felt missing. The victims' families have long asked the State Police to bring search dogs out to the biggest points of interest where the bodies of the missing girls may be buried. Those requests have been ignored ... until now. If you have any information regarding the cases involving Janice Pockett, Lisa White, Debbie Spickler, Susan LaRosa, or Irene LaRosa, please contact the law enforcement hotline at 860-870-3228. Or, you can send a direct message to M. William Phelps on Facebook or email him personally at mwilliamphelps@comcast.net. Any tip or bit of information can be helpful and all of it is kept completely confidential. Thank you for listening to Paper Ghosts. Stay tuned and subscribed for season 2. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
He was best friends with Bob LaRosa. His ex-wife has described him as violent. And he’s been talking about bodies being buried in local water wells. It’s time for the Witness to speak. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
8. 'Are You Aware of the Ransom Calls?'
For just a moment in 2013, there was a glint of hope that the remains of one of the missing girls had been discovered. For their families, it was a discovery that finally felt like there would be answers. As the investigation heats up, a new source comes forward and flips the entire investigation upside down. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
7. The Runaway
The faces of Janice Pockett, Lisa White, and Debbie Spickler appear side by side on one missing persons flier that continues to be posted around town to this day. The public and media have always grouped these cases together. Three young girls, suddenly gone. Yet that is where the similarities stop. Recently uncovered documents help clear up the misinformation that’s been reported on 13-year-old Debbie Spickler’s case for over 50 years, and reveals a whole new web of mysteries that takes us in an entirely new direction. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
6. A Grave For Many
A frantic call brings forward a new lead, with new clues and a new person of interest with connections to Bob LaRosa. As local authorities have been focused on a group of violent, sexually perverted men exploiting and violating young women in the area, a surprising connection links this new person of interest back to the water walls where police have been looking. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
5. A Dangerous Man
All of the missing cases have become like the five points of a star—no matter how you draw it, each point shoots a dotted line back to one person of interest: Bob LaRosa. However, there are far more nefarious secrets buried deep within his family that could lead to another suspect and new answers—starting with yet another missing young woman Bob knew very well. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
4. 'Mommy, Wake Up'
WARNING: This episode contains material that may be unsuitable and difficult for some to hear. The story has always been that Susan LaRosa left her apartment to pick up baby supplies and call her mother the night she disappeared. She did this just about every night at the same time at a nearby drug store. Her husband was considered a suspect immediately. More than 40 years later, an eyewitness has come forward with details about what happened the night Susan was murdered. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
3. A Hell House
Susan LaRosa was 20 years old and already a mom to three young children when she disappeared in 1975. She had dark black hair, cut just above her shoulders. She was petite, 95 pounds. Her husband said she left their apartment one evening to get diapers and baby formula and never returned. That’s the extent of what you’d know about Susan LaRosa if you read about her case in the newspapers. But after years of looking into her story, and speaking with family members who are finally ready to talk, the mystery takes a disturbing turn as a person of interest emerges. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
2. ‘I Wish It Was You That Was Dead'
One year after Janice Pockett went missing in Tolland, CT, another young girl was abducted just a few miles from where Janice was last seen. Lisa Joy White was 13 when she suddenly vanished on her way home from a friend's house in 1974. Early belief was that Lisa ran away. Police believed her friend knew what happened. Now, for the first time, Lisa's friend is telling her side of the story. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
1. The Dead Butterfly
Janice Pockett was only 7 years old when she went missing during the summer of 1973. She had been given permission for the first time to ride her bike alone, so she made her way down the dirt road near her family’s home. As she turned the corner, it was the last time anybody ever saw her again. For decades, the case has remained unsolved. It was not until recently, when a new piece of information turns the case upside down and shifts the investigation in an entirely new direction. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
Introducing Paper Ghosts
Four girls go missing, all within miles from one another in neighboring New England towns. And not one arrest is made. Fifty years later, the search for answers is reignited when a call reveals new information that sets the investigation in motion. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
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Shameful Mitch McConnell Received Major Backlash From People After Posting...
US Allies Speak Up On Trump Call: It "Shows Current...
2020, Analysis, Donald Trump, Joe Biden
Scottish Newspaper Ignites Speculation That Trump Is Dodging The Inauguration By Running To Turnberry
While no official plans have been announced by any Trump officials so far, we all know damn good and well that Donald J. Trump isn’t going to dare show his face at Joe Biden’s impending inauguration, despite the long-standing tradition of peaceful transfers of power in the United States. In the weeks since Biden won the election, a lot of speculation has swirled surrounding what Trump’s plans may be for the big day. Some have assumed he’d hold a rally or public event of some sort in an effort to draw attention away from his successor, others have guessed that he’ll just head off to his Mar-a-Lago resort sometime before Inauguration Day and just not come back. To be quite honest, there’s really no telling what that idiot will pull, or try to pull, before it’s all said and done.
But one Scottish newspaper has a theory that certainly makes a whole lot of sense.
According to an article published in the Scottish publication, Sunday Post, it seems possible that Donald Trump may end up heading for Scotland instead of his replacement’s inauguration on the 20th of this month.
The Scottish newspaper was allegedly told by aviation sources at an airport in Prestwick, which is close by to Trump’s Turnberry resort, that a US military plane, a Boeing 757 that’s previously been used by Trump on past trips overseas, was scheduled to arrive on 19 January. Prestwick aviation officials say that all US presidents travel on planes with a special call sign that is generally announced weeks in advance of their departure and that “There is a booking for an American military version of the Boeing 757 on January 19, the day before the inauguration.”
“That’s one that’s normally used by the Vice-President but often used by the First Lady. Presidential flights tend to get booked far in advance, because of the work that has to be done around it,” a source said.
The Scottish publication was also allegedly told that the US military has been sighted carrying out surveillance in the areas around both the Turnberry and the Prestwick airport, in what appears to be preparation for the outgoing president’s arrival.
“The survey aircraft was based at Prestwick for about a week,” one source said. “It is usually a sign Trump is going to be somewhere for an extended period.”
Speaking with The Independent, White House spokesperson Judd Deere doubled down on Trump’s lack of public plans for Inauguration Day, saying, “Anonymous sources who claim to know what the President is or is not considering have no idea. When President Trump has an announcement about his plans for Jan. 20 he will let you know.”
All I can say is, I hope wherever he bugs off to, he doesn’t come back.
ImpeachAgain, TrumpBegged, TrumpIsACriminal
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New Approaches to Business Ethics – University of South Australia
5 March 2018 ~ Giselle Weybrecht
Many schools have been teaching business ethics classes for years, some as electives, some as part of the core. The question is no longer whether or not business ethics should be taught, but how to best teach it. One school that has been testing out a new approach is the University of South Australia Business School. Here they have created a course that is not only part of the core, but is not textbook based. I spoke with Thomas Maak from the University of South Australia Business School about their new approach.
Introduce your new course on business ethics.
“Business ethics” is a new course for all post-graduate management students. Previously an elective offering, we decided to make an introductory course on the ethical challenges for businesses compulsory, demonstrating a long-standing commitment of School and faculty to research and teaching in the area of ethics, sustainability and corporate integrity. The course design is novel in that it focuses on the ‘grand challenges’ for businesses and their leaders rather than a textbook-driven approach. It is built on the understanding that in order to succeed in an environment of contested values managers at all levels need to understand the real challenges, develop skills, relational and ethical abilities, as well as moral imagination, and demonstrate responsible leadership.
“Business ethics” follows a 10-week schedule (30 hours in total) and a highly interactive format. That is, following a short introduction into the topic students are then engaged in classroom discussion, short cases and some group work. The first session provides the context and identifies some of the key challenges and is entitled ‘Business in an environment of contested values’. Week 2 forces student to rethink their assumptions about the purpose of business and engages them in a discussion on purpose beyond profit, including social performance and hybrid organizations. In week 3 we review the history and significance of CSR and how its meaning has shifted over the decades. Subsequent sessions include social innovation and the advancement of human dignity; stakeholder management and resolution of stakeholder conflicts; how to deal with daily temptations and the weakness of will; and ethics and the (mis)-use of power in organizations. The last session of the course outlines the pathways to responsible leadership and a roadmap for students on how to become a responsible leader.
Hence, the last three sessions expose the students to the challenges of moral and financial corruption, the corrosive nature of power, and the intricate relationship of toxic leadership and institutional pressures. For example, we discuss the omnipresent practice of gift-giving and how it may lead to the corrosion of character – stressing the virtues of transparency and integrity; we explore the dangers of groupthink and organizational pressure and what leaders must do to ensure and enhance respect, dignity and well-being at work. While these themes are timeless the discussions with students from different cultural backgrounds and the discussions of current cases ensure an intriguing contemporary business ethics landscape.
What is unique about the approach you are taking?
The course is driven by the ‘grand challenges’ that business faces and the responsibilities that emerge from it. Literature and textbooks are used as reference and background only, not as a foundation. Instead, the course seeks to develop critical insights and reflective abilities, and guiding practical knowledge, such that students are equipped to master future ethical challenges in informed ways – through integrative thinking. To support that learning process guest speakers make the course and respective challenges tangible, up-to date cases illustrate the topics at hand and a weekly reflective journaling exercise helps to capture the key takeaways. In addition, students work in groups on a CSR character analysis, choosing a company and investigating its CSR performance and authenticity. They also present and discuss their findings in class.
What do you mean by ‘grand challenges’
By ‘grand challenges’ I refer to the challenges in a ‘vuca’-world and the aspirational objectives captured in the SDGs, in particular the ones focused on the environment, poverty, inclusion, equity, peace and dignity. The acronym “vuca” has gained traction in recent years because it captures the experience of many business leaders that the world in which they operate has become quite volatile and uncertain, that it is increasingly complex and that they have to make decisions under conditions of ambiguity, especially across cultures. Moreover, not only are businesses under more scrutiny than ever but stakeholders at home and abroad expect more: they want business to play an active role in addressing climate change; it is argued that business must do more to fight poverty and increasingly, we witness a call for businesses to accept their political responsibility as a company and contribute in conducive ways to peace, human dignity and above all, to the affirmation of human rights wherever a company or its subsidiaries operate. What this means in detail, and how companies should go about it, is of course contested territory and reflects the ambiguity of both, the shifting expectations of stakeholders and the changing nature of the role and purpose of the corporations in the 21st Century.
The challenges are perhaps the most common ones for an Australian university. Many international students are exposed to business, ethics, and sustainability for the first time. Our practical as well as reflective approach – in light of the grand challenges – helps them a lot. Like in most places our course could be better integrated with the rest of the traditional curriculum, especially finance, economics and other ‘hard’ topics.
The course is now in its second year and its success comes in form of excellent student feedback making it one of the most highly ranked courses. Student applaud the fact that it is current, tangible, practical and in some cases, revolutionary. “This course changed the way I think about business”; “I wish all courses were as relevant as this one”; “The course opened a new world to me (…) I will choose the organization I work for more carefully…”, are typical statements we receive. The PRME initiative is now overseen centrally which may open up opportunities to foster more SDG-focused projects across the curriculum.
Follow an approach that is relevant, entertaining, and speaks to the current generation of students. Don’t become a victim of other people’s thinking, develop a customized approach toward teaching ethics and sustainability.
What other initiatives at your school you are particularly proud of in this area?
We developed short, customized video cases in collaboration with an award-winning film maker portraying local SDG champions such as Haigh’s chocolates and the cosmetics company Jurlique. These video cases will be available for faculty to be used in internal and external teaching as soon as the final edits are done. For example, the Haigh’s video captures the company’s history and values, its focus on environmental stewardship and the challenges and rewards of being true to one’s beliefs in steering a 100-year old icon into the future. It will be available on the Centre’s website from April 2018 for people to see.
We are also quite proud of the Responsible Leadership course developed by Professor Nicola Pless for the MBA program. The course integrates the latest knowledge and tools on how to become an effective responsible leader with customized 360-feedback and the introduction to, and practise of, mindfulness to strengthen self-leadership. In other words, it provides participants with the tools to become a resonant and responsible leader.
Posted in Australasia, Australia, New Zealand
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One thought on “New Approaches to Business Ethics – University of South Australia”
Adrian Crisostomo says:
This is a very interesting approach to business ethics. Business ethics is sometimes difficult for students to absorb in some degree. Our university has done a good job of making sure our students understand the importance of business ethics but this approach is something to ponder on. Thank you for sharing this.
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Tale of a Japanese Jewelry!
Asia is probably the continent with the richest culture all over the world. Any reference to Asia by the Westerners marks it as a continent where superstition rules and mysticism is alive. Asians regard this in the positive way, with their belief of the gods. There are varying religions in Asia that make it a convergence of cultures that contribute to its rich history. Such is the history of Japan! So let’s take a look inside the one prominent commonality, that is the presence and significance of jewelry in Japan and its cultural traditions.
From as early as 1000 (BCE) until the 6th century, Japanese jewelry primarily consisted of comma-shaped objects which were not usually more than an inch in length, carved initially of green jade and eventually of glass. Called magatama,
these beads or pendants were sometimes pierced to be strung in a necklace. The symbolic meaning of the magatama, which were often placed in tombs, can only be guessed at. Similar beads also were popular in Korea from the 3rd to the 6th century.
In historical times, traditional Japanese costume, male and female, has never allowed the use of ornaments of precious metal or stone, so that nothing in the history of Japanese craft and taste corresponds to the jeweler’s work of the West. Hairpins with elaborate heads were increasingly used in the Tokugawa (Edo) period (1603–1868) by women of the geisha and courtesan classes but not by women of other classes. In the same period men were permitted the ostentation of the inrō,
a small tiered box for tobacco, medicines, confections, and the like, which might be beautifully painted in lacquer and inlaid with mother-of-pearl or precious metal, often in strikingly naturalistic designs. The ivory girdle toggle called ‘netsuke’,
always delicately and often intriguingly carved, was the only other personal ornament that usage allowed.
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Port St. Lucie one of safest cities in Florida, safer than most small towns
Courtesy of Treasure Coast Newspapers Feel safe and secure in Port St. Lucie? There's good reason for that. While crime data, and Port St. Lucie officials themselves, have long touted the city as one of the safest large cities in Florida, a new survey concludes it's safer than most small towns. The survey, by the independent review site SafeWise, ranks Port St. Lucie...
Melbourne named top place in country as best place to live near beach
Courtesy of Cheryl McCloud, Florida Today Melbourne is No. 1 in the nation when it comes to the best places to live near the beach. The ranking was released in a report by U.S. News & World Report. Nine Florida cities were listed in the top 20, including Daytona Beach and Port St. Lucie. Rounding out the top five were San Diego (No. 2),...
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Approval given to declare PNG a ‘Christian’ country
The National Executive Council has approved a proposal to formally declare PNG a Christian country under the Constitution.
PNG is founded on two basic principles — ‘our cultural heritage and our Christianity’’ — as declared in the preamble to the Constitution, which provides the cornerstone to its existence.
Prime Minister James Marape said PNG had more than 20 different Christian churches, with the Catholics leading in membership at 27 per cent, Lutheran at 19.5 per cent, United Church at 11.5 per cent and Seventh Day Adventists at 10 per cent.
“Many who claim to be Christian integrate their Christian faith with some indigenous beliefs and practices,” he said.
“The influence of the church has over the years transformed many societies across the country to the extent of replacing some of their cultural beliefs, while some have merged culture with religion.
“These Christian churches are also providing 60-80 per cent of social and welfare services in the country. Church networks are trusted by most people.”
Mr Marape said the proposal of declaring PNG a Christian country in the Constitution was justified by the overwhelming number of citizens following the Christian religion and the influence it has on the people of this country is to some extent immense and life-changing.
“While the preamble of our Constitution starts with our noble traditions and the Christian principles that are ours, section 45 of the Constitution, however, not only recognises Christian religion or Christianity but others as well,” he said.
“Every person is given the freedom of religion and to practice it as long as it does not interfere with the freedom of others, but this freedom is not complete freedom.
“It can be regulated or restricted by the government for purposes of defence, public safety, public order, welfare and public health as per section 38 (general qualifications and qualified rights) requirements.”
Mr Marape said section 55 further promotes equality of citizens irrespective of religion; but again, the Government can enact laws against these sets of qualified rights as long as that law complies with section 38 and section 55 (2) of the Constitution.
“Consequently, from preliminary assessment, any constitutional amendment to declare PNG as a Christian country will not have any major constitutional implications.
Mr Marape also said that the approval by National Executive Council of the proposal to declare PNG a Christian country would now secure the long-term peace and safety of the country.
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The Prime Minister James Marape wants reforms in all the revenue sectors so he cannot be running all the time to the banks to borrow money.
Govt to file new Supreme Court reference
Justice Minister and Attorney-General Pila Niningi welcomed the court’s ruling in refusing leave for the slip rule application but said government will pursue a fresh Supreme Court reference containing similar questions of law for the court to interpret.
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New Rock Is Alive And Well, Thank You!!!!
Get ready for some amazing new releases and some fairly news ones...
The Brink - NOWHERE TO RUN (Frontiers) - OUT NOW
WOW! This brand new UK band has captured the energy and sounds of the 70's and 80's without sounding dated and tired! For their full length debut, Tom Quick (vocals), Lexi Laine (lead guitar), Izzy Trixx (rhythm guitar), Gaz Connor (bass), and Davide Bocci (drums) have crafted 15 amazing songs that all just jump out right at you. Each song has its own charm and feel with my favorites being the hook filled Never Again, Nothing To Fear, and the down and dirty, Burn. The stand-out track on the album is the powerful Save Goodbye, a song that has become one of my favorite new songs of the past 20 years. The album also includes an acoustic/string/vocal version of the song that just backs up the last sentence.
I admit, this album caught me way off guard and is another one that has found a home in my Top Five and as of now, is my favorite release of 2019. Amazing how 5 young British musicians were able to capture the best of an era they weren't born for and make it sound like they were.
AXEL RUDI PELL - LIVE XXX ANNIVERSARY - release date 6/7/2019
I have to admit it, with my vast knowledge of music and feeling like I know everyone who is anyone, I have very little experience with German guitarist Axel Rudi Pell except I know of his singer (since 1998), Johnny Gioeli. So what better way to dive into a career I know nothing about than with a live 30th anniversary celebratory release. One listen in... consider me quite impressed.
Knowing none of the songs except a few of the covers, I was drawn in by the bands live performance and how tight they are and how it isn't what I expected, everything built around an amazing guitarist. Tracks like The Wild And The Young, Wildest Dreams and the pure epic Mystica have a very German feel to them with a heavy influence of Rainbow, DIO and Black Sabbath. The band; Gioleli (vocals), Pell (guitar), Ferdy Doernberg (keyboards), Volker Krawczak (bass) and former Rainbow/Black Sabbath drummer Bobby Rondinelli are amazing and this live double album has made me do what was intended... search out the entire Axel Rudi Pell collection!!!!
JORN - LIVE ON DEATH ROAD - release date 6/14/2019
One of the biggest secrets in heavy metal is vocalist Jorn Lande who spent his 50th birthday headlining the Frontiers Music Fest in Milan Italy last year. From that is a double live album, LIVE ON DEATH ROAD. Jorn gets a lot of attention for sounding very much like Ronnie James Dio, but there is so much more to him and his amazing band. Joining Lande is Tore Moren (guitar), Alessandro Del Vecchio (keyboards), Sid Ringsby (bass), Beata Polak (drums) and Francesco Jovino (drums), who create a rockin' and intense listening experience. On original tracks like Traveler and Out To Every Nation or the fantastic covers Ride Like The Wind and a super cool version of Shot In The Dark, my hope is that this album will make you interested enough to look up Jorn's huge musical legacy.
LIVE ON DEATH ROAD is a fun heavy listen that has so much to offer those discovering Jorn for the first time. if you have been a long time fan like myself, it's a chance to at least hear him live since I may never get to see him live.
ASIA Featuring John Payne at Foxwoods Casino
6y Matman
There is a real divide and some hostility among ASIA fans about John Payne's decade long run as the bassist/vocalist of the band. Around 1990, John Wetton left the band to begin a solo career, Carl Palmer went back to ELP and Steve Howe returned to YES leaving Geoffrey Downes to either fold the band or continue. Choosing to keep ASIA going, he enlisted John Payne and in 1992 ASIA released the amazing AQUA album. Payne and Downes (with a succession of musicians) would release 6 albums of new material before the original band would reform in 2007. As part of a legal settlement, Payne would continue as ASIA featuring John Payne and be able to tour and record. Last Friday night I finally got to see and hear ASIA featuring John Payne live and well.... I was so impressed!
Playing at the Atrium Bar and Lounge at the Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Connecticut, ASIA featuring John Payne played an incredible 14 song set mixing classic ASIA with some of the best songs from his run. Obviously the casual ASIA fan wants to hear Heat Of The Moment, Go, Don't Cry and Only Time Will Tell, and we got those. But, many of us die hard followers were hoping to hear Payne classics like Military Man, Long Way From Home, Who Will Stop The Rain and Silent Nation and the band didn't disappoint. A solid set list that really gave everyone what they wanted.
Joining Payne was longtime guitarist Moni Scaria who was so smooth and fluid with his playing, he made it look so effortlessly. The two new guys, (Springfield, MA's own) keyboardist Jamie Hosmer and drummer Johnny Fedevich both had some big shoes to fill and musically and pulled everything off with style and power. As for the man himself, Payne displayed his skills around the bass and vocally put on display his never aging powerful voice.
As I document in my upcoming book, ASIA - TIME AND TIME AGAIN, if you only know the John Wetton led version of the band, than you are missing half the history of ASIA. Payne's run gave the band a bit of heaviness and progression and I am so thankful I not only got to see the band (and the sound check) but I got to spend some time with John and Moni which made the show even that much more special.
ASIA featuring John Payne is currently on tour with Lou Gramm.
MGM Springfield Ushers In A New Era Of Live Music... With Metal!
How far will I travel for a great concert in a cool venue? 3 hours to Madison Square Garden to see Electric Light Orchestra... 90 minutes for a zillion shows at the Wolf Den... 2 hours to Poughkeepsie, NY for Stryper or Last In Line? How about 15 minutes for Dokken/Last In Line? SOLD!!!!
Kicking off a new venue and a new summer event at the MGM called MGM Live On The Plaza were two of my favorite bands, Last In Line and Dokken. It was exciting to see a major venue start their inaugural run with bands that mean a lot to me and judging by the attendance, so many other people, too. As someone who has waved the flag most of his life for hard rock and heavy metal, it's refreshing that MGM look at these bands as legitimate and viable enough to start it all!!!!
First off the bands!!!! To read what I thought about Last In Line, just read the story below from last week because nothing has changed... except i'm an even bigger fan now!!!! They had an abbreviated set and took full advantage of every second... winning the crowd over and giving them a show featuring some of the best players in the business. Thank you Andrew, Vivian, Phil and Vinnie!!!!
Having not seen Dokken since 1986, I was excited to not only see and hear some of my favorite music ever, but see a few friends (Chris McCarvill (bass) and BJ Zampa (drums) joining longtime guitarist Jon Levin and the legendary Don Dokken! Despite the fact that Don can't hit the notes like he used to, the show was an awesome collection of timeless songs presented with a lot of energy and power. The most important takeaway was that the fans really enjoyed the set and so did the band. And, Don Dokken is pure attitude!!!!
So lets talk about the venue. On The Plaza has an amazing look to it, with brick everywhere and "the Castle" at one end, giving it such a distinct appearance and feel. The outdoor venue has a large cover over it, giving it a real intimate feel (and keeping you cool and or dry) but allows air to circulate and of course, no crazy hot or stale standing room only pit... just comfortable.
But, what I was worried about was the sound. How would the acoustics be? How would the sound play off all the brick and no real walls? From every part of the area, all the way to the far back, the sides, the concourse, behind the stage and even in the photo pit (I know sad me, eh), the sound was not only perfectly balanced, but clear and clean. And just so you know... I legitimately walked the entire area trying to find a spot where the music didn't carry well... and I couldn't, except the bathroom, but that is to be expected.
AND.... how can I forget some real cool restaurants and free easy in and out parking!!!!!! WIN-WIN!
A full calendar of events including more of my favorites (Village People, Firehouse and Warrant) can be seen by clicking here .
So congrats to everyone at MGM Springfield for their first concert On The Plaza being a huge success with the bands, the fans and with me. With so many boxes to check when it comes to creating a solid and memorable live event these days, you guys did it all... and a little more.
Last In Line At The Chance in Poughkeepsie, NY
In 2012, Last In Line was formed by the musicians who made the music from the first three DIO albums; HOLY DIVER, LAST IN LINE and SACRED HEART. Wanting to play the music they were so much a part of, Vivian Campbell (guitar), Jimmy Bain (bass) and Vinnie Appice (drums) teamed up with vocalist Andrew Freeman to perform live and ultimately release their debut album, HEAVY CROWN. Sadly in 2016 Jimmy Pain passed away and brought in was bassist Philip Soussan who would join the band on their latest album II and the current tour they are on in support. And that brings us up to date...
On Saturday night I took a pilgrimage to The Chance Theater in Poughkeepsie, NY to see the Last In Line, meet the guys and see some amazing players I have never seen before live, any of them! What I got for almost 90 minutes was a high energy show, with some amazing music, fantastic playing and four guys who really enjoy what they are doing and making music together.
The band's set was a mix of classic DIO and tracks from the bands two albums and it just flowed perfectly. New songs like Landslide, Year of The Gun and Give Up The Ghost fit in perfectly with the old like Straight Through The Heart, We Rock and Evil Eyes. As brilliant as they played the thing that I took away from their performance was the fun they were having and how they all just enjoyed what they were doing. There were some hysterical moments like this huge build-up to Rainbow In The Dark that ended with Vivian Campbell instead tuning his guitar and there was the emotional intro from Phil Soussan for the song Starmaker dedicated to Jimmy Bain.
Musically you got what you would expect from such talented and well rounded musicians!!! Vinnie Appice plays with such thunder on a very small kit, Soussan is one of the best bass players I have ever seen or heard live and Campbell was able to play the songs he helped create and be the guitar hero!
For me, all eyes and ears were on Andrew Freeman. How would he sound doing the very demanding Dio material and how would he play it on stage? Vocally Freeman has it all, an incredible range for the high notes and is an excellent front man, playing with the zealous crowd and his band mates on stage. It isn't easy singing songs with the legacy of Ronnie James Dio but Freeman not only delivered, but made them his own.
With the band still on the road, I encourage you... no BEG you to check them out then they come to your town. Last In Line are performing this Saturday with Dokken at the MGM Springfield, MA and I will be there along with anyone I can drag to check out... dare I say it... one of the best bands I have ever seen live... and that says a lot because I have seen them all. But, this time i'll remember to get a shirt!!!!
Last In Line - http://www.lastinlineofficial.com/
Also, a big shout out to Shaggy and Vinnie for keeping the ship afloat.
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Home Money, Politics and Power Romney Accidentally Makes Liberal Case for Taxation
Romney Accidentally Makes Liberal Case for Taxation
Thanks, Mitt!
Last week, Mitt Romney had some kind of weird brain freeze and accidentally stumbled into agreement with President Obama on the fact that entrepreneurs actually do benefit from the efforts of other people, and even get help from the government. You may have heard about it, as a number of bloggers took note. But there was something else he said that was even more interesting, and I wanted to point it out because we do seem to be having a discussion about the fundamentals of capitalism and government. It sounded extemporaneous, so perhaps Romney didn't think through the full implications of it, but here's what he said:
There are a lot of people in government who help us and allow us to have an economy that works and allow entrepreneurs and business leaders of various kinds to start businesses and create jobs. We all recognize that. That's an important thing. Don't forget, by the way, government doesn't invent those people out of thin air. We pay for those people with our taxes! We're paying for those resources that we receive.
This was greeted with enthusiastic applause from the crowd, as though Romney had really connected with a zinger at those big-government liberals. But whether he realized it or not, Romney was really making the liberal case for taxes.
The point is this: Yes, we pay for government. Our taxes fund things like roads and bridges and courts and police and clean air and water, all those things that "allow us to have an economy that works." That's why we need taxes. Much of the time, conservatives talk about taxes as though they don't actually fund anything useful, or maybe anything at all; it's money government steals from you and tosses into some black hole in Washington. If it funds anything, it's "spending," which by never being specified is just money that disappears. That's why conservatives are happy to tell you up and down that they want to "cut spending," while being terrified of telling you just what it is they want to cut.
I hope Mitt picks up on his point about our tax dollars funding the good things government does and keeps repeating it. But somehow I doubt he will.
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Home Money, Politics and Power Which Southern State Is Feeling the Brunt of Big Money Election Spending?
Which Southern State Is Feeling the Brunt of Big Money Election Spending?
It's not just North Carolina.
by Chris Kromm
Retired teacher Blaine Heslett and his son Caleb, 15, right, listen as Lee Greenwood delivers his song "God Bless the USA", at a rally for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, in Cadiz at the Scott Jolly Farm, Tuesday, October 28, 2014. McConnell is campaigning during the final week before the crucial midterm election that could shift the balance of power in Congress.
This article originally appeared on Facing South, the website published by the Institute for Southern Studies.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan's bid to defend her seat against Republican challenger Thom Tillis is shaping up to be one of the most expensive U.S. Senate races in history: a flood of more than $103 million in spending from the campaigns and outside groups, according to The Charlotte Observer. This month, the spending spree has translated into about three TV ads every five minutes supporting-or, more frequently, attacking-one of the North Carolina candidates.
Yet as money-drenched as the Hagan-Tillis contest may be, voters in Arkansas and other Southern states may be feeling even more battered by the barrage of political spending this election season.
North Carolina is one of five states in the South with Senate races in 2014 that will determine whether the chamber is controlled by Democrats or Republicans. With more than 6.6 million registered voters, North Carolina is also the biggest of the Southern Senate battlegrounds, so the more than $100 million in projected spending has to cover more ground and reach more people.
By contrast, while smaller states like Arkansas, Kentucky and Louisiana are being targeted with less total spending, on a per-voter basis these states are experiencing an even greater deluge of election money relative to the size of their population.
A Facing South/Institute for Southern Studies analysis looked at the money flowing through the five Southern Senate races and compared it to the number of voters in each state. The following chart shows how the states compare in election cash per voter (click on it for a larger version):
In Arkansas, the contest between incumbent Democrat Sen. Mark Pryor and GOP challenger U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton has attracted nearly $58 million, with more than $35 million of that coming from super PACs and other outside groups. While much less than the money total for North Carolina's senate seat, Arkansas has only a quarter of the voters in North Carolina, adding up to more than $34 in election money per voter so far.
Kentucky, where incumbent Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell leads over Democratic challenger Allison Grimes, more than $67 million has flooded into the race. With just over 3 million voters, that means the Kentucky race has attracted more than $21 per voter to date.
Louisiana's battle between Democratic incumbent Sen. Mary Landrieu and Republican challenger Bill Cassidy has seen nearly $40 million from the candidates and outside groups. With just under 2 million registered voters, that puts it nearly on par with North Carolina's Senate race at $13.56 per voter.
Georgia may be the biggest surprise: With with Democrat Michelle Nunn pulling even with Republican opponent David Perdue in the polls, the race has attracted just under $36 million, according to the latest available reports. That is not only the lowest raw total of any of the battleground Senate races in the South: Given Georgia's more than 6 million voters, it's also by far the lowest in per-voter cost at $5.91.
Politics Congress Elections Campaign Spending Advertising
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A Little Late with Lilly Singh Season 1 Episode 95
Serie: A Little Late with Lilly Singh
Guest Star: Lilly Singh
Gardeners’ World is a long-running BBC Television programme about gardening, first broadcast in 1968 and still running as of 2013. Its first episode was presented by Ken Burras and came…
Astimerunsout,interrogatorsturnuptheheatonastone-faceddoctorsuspectedofsexuallyassaultingandslayinghisteenagestepdaughter.
Skeptical journalist Ozzie Graham investigates a support group for alien abductees to write about the members’ supposed encounters. The more he digs into their oddball claims, the more he realizes…
Genre: Comedy, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Dr. Temperance Brennan and her colleagues at the Jeffersonian’s Medico-Legal Lab assist Special Agent Seeley Booth with murder investigations when the remains are so badly decomposed, burned or destroyed that the standard…
Explore one of humanity’s most primal and destructive emotions – hate. At the heart of this timely series is the notion that if people begin to understand their own minds,…
Single Ladies is an American comedy-drama television series on VH1 that debuted on May 30, 2011, as a two-hour television film. Created by Stacy A. Littlejohn and produced by Queen…
Xiaolin Showdown is an American animated television series that aired on Kids WB and was created by Christy Hui. Set in a world where martial arts battles and Eastern magic…
Genre: Action, Action & Adventure, Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family
Commander in Chief is an American drama television series that focused on the fictional administration and family of Mackenzie Allen, the first female President of the United States, who ascends…
Monty Don’s Japanese Gardens
Monty Don sets out to discover the true essence of these elegant gardens and what we have taken from them. Armed with his extensive knowledge and passion for all aspects…
The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway
Follow a team of more than 10,000 engineers and construction workers as they race to build a brand new railway under London – Crossrail – London’s new Underground.
Murder Loves Company
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It's so easy to believe someone when they're telling you exactly what you want to hear.
Topics: Believe Picture Quotes, Cheat Picture Quotes, Lie Picture Quotes, Trust Picture Quotes
People will continue to commit atrocities as long as they believe in absurdities
There was once a time when all people believed in God and the church ruled....
She's broken because she believed.
Never explain yourself to anyone. Because who likes you doesn't need it and the person...
It's been said that you only truly fall in love once, but I don't believe...
People may doubt what you say but they will believe what you do
Wanting to believe the best about people doesn't make it true.
Believe in the beauty of your dreams
Faith is taking the first step even when you can't see the whole staircase
Believe you can do anything. Achieve the unthinkable.
Life is short, so don't hold back. forgive like you have amnesia, believe like a...
Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort and letting it be there until...
Don't give up. I believe in you all. A person's a person no matter how...
Forget all the reasons why it won't work and believe the one reason why it...
Give her reasons to believe, not to doubt.
Why is it that we only believe the negative things people say about us?
Believe in love; Believe in infinite.
Ladies you deserve to be his first place girl, not his just in case girl.
Some people treat relationships as a video game they play them and when they get...
We are more likely to cheat if we see others doing so. We tend to...
We live in a world that is built on promises constructed by liars
If you succeed in cheating someone. Don't think that the person is a fool. Realize...
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In 2017, small experiments had a big impact on India’s clean energy sector
Reuters/Uday Deolekar
Not merely tilting at windmills.
By Sushma U N
After a record addition of solar plants and wind farms across India last year, 2017 has been something of a damp squib for the country’s clean energy sector.
Multiple policy and regulatory issues have crippled capacity addition even as the Narendra Modi government has set a target of 175 gigawatts (GW, or 1,000 megawatts) of renewable power by 2022. India’s current capacity stands at around 60 GW, making up for 17.7% of its overall power generation capacity.
The wind energy sector has had to deal with a new method of determining tariffs, which has hit expansion. After 5,400 megawatts (MW) of capacity addition in financial year 2017, the Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association now estimates that the current year will see only about 1,800 MW of new wind farms.
Meanwhile, this year saw solar power prices fall to record lows, even cheaper than thermal power. However, the year also saw rising solar panel prices, the possibility of the government bringing in anti-dumping duties on imported panels, and fewer project auctions. Flat power demand only added to the woes. In all, solar power capacity addition has fallen from around 4.3 GW in 2016 to a little over 3 GW so far this year.
Yet, while large-scale wind and solar power businesses have tottered, a host of smaller, experimental projects have thrived in 2017.
Large-scale rooftop solar: Although small rooftop solar projects have been around since 2012, this is now the fastest-growing segment in India’s clean energy space. The country has added more rooftop solar capacity in the last financial year than in the previous four years combined, taking the total installed capacity to 1.3 GW, according to a report (pdf) by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). The growth has been driven by commercial and industrial buildings for which solar power is now cheaper than power from the state electricity grid. On Dec. 18. the central government proposed a slew of incentives to promote rooftop solar. It plans to give $3.7 billion in financial assistance to the various state electricity distribution companies to adopt rooftop solar.
Solar with storage: In October this year, India’s first solar power project with energy storage facilities was commissioned in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Government-owned mining and coal-based energy producer, NLC India, is building the country’s first utility-scale solar plant on the islands located deep in the Bay of Bengal. The islands now depend on diesel-based power-generating units that are, over time, expected to be replaced by such solar power-cum-storage systems. This plugs a major gap in the renewable energy ecosystem in India. Due to its intermittent nature, solar power is now only used during the day. With storage technology, it can be banked and used even at times when sunshine isn’t available. While energy storage technology is still nascent and expensive, the segment is beginning to gradually open up in India.
Solar-powered trains: In July 2017, India’s first train with rooftop solar panels rolled out for suburban transit in New Delhi. The panels on the roofs of six coaches power the fans and lights inside the carriages. A single train with six solar-powered carriages could help the Indian railways save around 21,000 litres of diesel every year.
Floating solar: On Dec. 05, India’s largest floating solar power plant, where panels are put up on a barge on lakes or rivers, was commissioned. The 500 kilowatt (or 0.5 MW) plant has been set up across the Banasura Sagar reservoir in Kerala. While there are other such projects in India, they are only getting larger. The state-run Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), for instance, is reportedly working on commissioning two 10 MW floating solar plants in the south Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.
Solar-powered agriculture: After years of tepidity, the use of solar-powered water pumps for agriculture in place of diesel-powered ones gained momentum in 2017. Around 8 million diesel-powered irrigation pumps could be replaced by solar pumps, BNEF said in a November 2017 report. Around 128,000 pumps were installed in the financial year 2017, up from 43,000 the previous year, the report added. The segment is heavily driven by central and state government support, with Tamil Nadu even announcing subsidies of 90% on capital expenditure. In 2014, the central government had announced a target to install 1 million solar pumps by 2021.
Heading into 2018
In the coming months, analysts expect the solar power sector to remain flat while wind power installations see an uptick.
“State bids have almost stagnated or are drying up (in the solar sector). So, to meet the ambitious targets of revised 200 GW, (the) government will have to come out with a policy so that the developers feel confident…” Amit Kumar, a partner at consulting firm PwC who focuses on the renewables sector, told Quartz.
The wind energy sector, however, has something to look forward to in the new year.
On Dec. 12, the central government issued guidelines allowing states to conduct auctions for wind power projects. Ambiguity on the norms was among the major problems the sector faced earlier. “That is good clarity, and I am confident that developers will be looking at the sector in terms of installation plans,” Kumar of PwC said. “With these changes, I feel that (for the target of) 60 GW of wind (by 2022), we might be on the right track.”
Just days after the announcement, wind power tariffs crashed in a round of auctions conducted by Gujarat, making wind the cheapest source of clean energy in India now.
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Let’s build African research centers in Africa
Posted on 2 June 2017 27 June 2017 Author Rachel StrohmCategories Africa, Development, Grad School, Mawazo Institute, UK, USA
Image from Africa@LSE
Via Duncan Green, I just learned about the new Centre for Public Authority and International Development (CPAID), which is hosted at the Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa at LSE and funded with a £5 million, five-year grant from the Economic and Social Research Council. According to LSE’s announcement, CPAID will “study how families, clans, religious leaders, aid agencies, civil society, rebel militia and vigilante groups contribute to governance, along with formal and semi-formal government institutions. The research will mainly focus on the lives of ordinary people, in particular vulnerable and marginalised groups and populations … in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Somalia, Burundi, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Ethiopia.”
These are definitely important topics, and a good corrective to the type of political science research that focuses overmuch on formal institutions in places where the state is weak. It’s always great to see more research on the DRC and other states affected by conflict, which tend to be understudied. And LSE’s got a very strong team of researchers.
Why is it seen as neutral and acceptable to build prominent centers of African studies outside of Africa, managed primarily by people who are not from Africa?
Why does the Africa Centre’s founder, who is himself from Uganda, feel that future African leaders are better off being trained in London than in their own countries?
Why are Northern academics so good at studying inequality and uneven post-colonial power dynamics in the South, and so bad at recognizing their own role in perpetuating inequality within the international scholarly community?
Let me be clear: I think it’s really important for every country to have scholars who are interested in international affairs. Places like the Centre for Africa or Berkeley’s own Center for African Studies do important work making African affairs accessible to their university communities, and to the broader scholarly community. And I myself am one of those foreign scholars who’s deeply interested in Africa.
My criticism is of the way in which the exclusion of African scholars from knowledge production about Africa is seen as normal and unremarkable. Even in the field of African studies, where local scholars would seem to have a comparative advantage, only 15% of studies are written by authors based on the continent. The situation is even worse in the sciences, where less than 1% of the world’s scientific research comes from Africa. We must be missing so many interesting voices, so many valuable contributions to knowledge, because we’re systematically underinvesting in African academics. Spending £5 million to set up a research center in the UK rather than somewhere like Accra or Nairobi (or Tamale or Eldoret or Kisangani) only perpetuates the problem.
Fortunately, there are other organizations working to remedy this inequality — and I’m in the process of starting one of them. Stay tuned for more announcements about this project in the next few days.
6 thoughts on “Let’s build African research centers in Africa”
Twesiime Jordan McGurran says:
6 June 2017 at 02.51
Uganda Christian University (UCU) in Mukono, Uganda recently launched the new African Policy Centre. We are working on building up local and indigenous research on a variety of topics going forward. More information will be available shortly.
That sounds great! Would love to hear more. You can contact me at rachel.strohm@mawazoinstitute.org
Kate Vyborny says:
Are you aware of this new institution? https://alueducation.com/
Very interested to hear about what you’re working on.
Yes, I’ve been hearing great things about ALU! Will share more details about my project soon.
Glad you’re raising these important issues. Can’t wait to see what you’re creating.
Thanks Dina!
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Skip Pizzi joins RadioDNS’ Steering Board
Nick Piggott - 1 July 2014
I’m very pleased to be welcoming Skip Pizzi back to the Steering Board of RadioDNS.
Skip was involved with the formation of RadioDNS, and it’s great to have him representing the interests of our members and supporters in the Americas. Skip works for the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters), who were also one of our founding members.
You can meet myself and Skip at the NAB Radio Show in Indianapolis, IN on September 10th/11th this year.
Skip’s appointment to the board was made possible through Ben Husmann of Emmis deciding to stand down, to focus on the continuing success of the NextRadio project. Ben was also a valuable contributor to the direction of the organisation, and we’d all like to thank him for his time and thoughts on how to continue growing RadioDNS.
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Arlington Real Estate Lawyers
Arlington Condo & Co-Op Lawyers
Arlington Condo and Co-op Lawyers
Find the right Condominium and Cooperative attorney in Arlington, TX
Condominium and Cooperative Law in Texas
Co-ops and condo communities are types of "common interest communities."
These are communities in which each resident rents or owns a residential unit. The residential units are part of a larger building, or complex of buildings, which are owned by another entity, such as a corporation or association. The residents are responsible for the upkeep of common areas, such as lawns and walkways. Rather than personally tending to these things, residents usually pay a fee that covers these necessities.
If you simply look at a condominium or cooperative community, you probably won't be able to tell if it's one or the other.
The main difference is that, in condominium communities, the units are purchased and owned by their residents, and they also collectively own the common areas of the development. In a cooperative community, the land and buildings in which the housing units are owned by a single corporation or association. The individual units are rented by the residents, not purchased.
Laws and Regulations Concerning Common Interest Communities in Arlington, Texas
Many Arlington, Texas laws affect common-interest communities. However, almost all of these laws govern real estate more generally, and there are very few laws written specifically for common interest communities. Such generally-applicable laws include zoning regulations, contracts, and the relations between landlords and tenants.
Generally, the rules established by the owner of the property, or the entity tasked with managing it, are going to have much more of a day-to-day effect on your life than any state laws governing these types of communities.
The owner or manager of the property on which your unit sits will likely have a significant number of regulations concerning what can be done in and around the housing units. These rules will likely concern cleanliness, noise, and policies governing the presence of pets and long-term guests.
The authority of landowners is limited, however, and there are some rules that cannot be given legal effect. For instance, in Arlington, Texas, any rule which would exclude residents based on their race is completely unenforceable. Such discrimination is clearly prohibited under federal law, private property rights notwithstanding.
Can a Arlington, Texas Attorney Help?
If you are involved in an argument with your neighbor, in conflict with a zoning regulation, or in a dispute with your landlord, a good Arlington, Texas real estate attorney can help you prevail.
Life in Arlington
You'd have to agree with TV show "King of the Hill" when they assert that Arlington, Texas may be heaven. Arlington boomed in Post World War II era nearly doubling its size in one year. The suburbs of downtown Arlington grew so quickly it became known as one of America's Bloomburbs. Today the population is well over 400,000 Arlington residents who enjoy the Texas Rangers and Dallas Cowboys as hometown teams. Arlington also hosted the 2010 NBA All-Star Game. In addition to professional sports, the local colleges and universities in Arlington offer entertainment and tourist attractions. The University of Texas at Arlington, Tarrant County College, and Arlington Baptist College all operate campuses in Arlington. Six Flags Over Texas is a nationwide attraction for theme park enthusiasts. It's the original Six Flags Theme Park and was also the first park to offer a mine train coaster, log flume splash ride, and the first free fall (cliff hanger) ride. Six Flags Over Texas has some of the most extreme rides around too. The Titan rollercoaster is the tallest and fastest amusement rides in the state of Texas at 245 feet high and with an 85 mph top speed. Spring Break Out, the Best of Texas Festival, and Fright Fest are a few of Arlington's annual festivals with parades.
Arlington Commercial Real Estate Attorneys
Arlington Foreclosure Lawyers
Arlington Mortgage Attorneys
Arlington Boundary Disputes Lawyers
Arlington Construction Disputes Attorney
Arlington Landlord & Tenant Lawyer
Arlington Buy or Sell a Home Attorney
Arlington Zoning Lawyer
Condominium and Cooperative Lawyers in Fort Bend County
Condominium and Cooperative Lawyers in Lumberton
Condominium and Cooperative Lawyers in Austin
Condominium and Cooperative Lawyers in Luling
Condominium and Cooperative Lawyers in Sunnyvale
Condominium and Cooperative Lawyers in Slaton
Condominium and Cooperative Lawyers in Levelland
Condominium and Cooperative Lawyers in Tyler
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Established during an era of unprecedented institutional reform in Congress, the Committee on the Budget’s function derives from the constitutional mandate that fixes control of the nation’s purse in the U.S. House of Representatives. Although Congress has always possessed the legal authority to exercise power over federal appropriations, a formal institutional mechanism to manage taxes and spending did not exist until 1974. Three developments precipitated the need for a formal mechanism: increasing conflicts between Congress and the President over the federal budget; the challenge of managing long-term programs such as Social Security and Medicare; and budget deficits in the latter 20th century.i
The committee originated with the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (PL 93-344), which permitted Congress to develop an independent means to analyze the Presidential budget, reconcile it with congressional plans, and develop a fiscal policy of its own. The act established permanent standing budget committees in both houses of Congress, as well as a Congressional Budget Office to provide Congress with independent, nonpartisan analyses.
Unlike its Senate counterpart, the House Budget Committee has a larger membership (36 in the House compared to 23 in the Senate); ratios are determined at the beginning of every Congress based on party strength. The committee handles broad questions about federal spending and taxation and ensures that the House follows the 1974 law. This committee also has a rotating membership. None of its members may serve more than six out of 10 years. And, in contrast to the Senate whose chair is permanent, the House elects a new chair at the beginning of each Congress. The House also requires that the committee’s membership be drawn from the Ways and Means Committee (5), the Appropriations Committee (5), one from each of the 11 authorizing committees, and one member from the leadership of the Democratic and Republican caucuses.ii
As the first panel to examine the President’s annual budget message, the Budget Committee’s chief responsibility is to draft a concurrent resolution that reconciles spending details with the overall comprehensive budget package. The committee is required to draft a budget resolution, agreed to by April 15 of each year, which establishes total targets in five budget areas: authority; outlays; revenues; surplus or deficit; and public debt. The resolution also sets budget authority and outlay targets for each of the 21 spending categories. Although Congress originally planned to have two budget resolutions per year, the committee eventually eliminated the second resolution date because of the effectiveness of the reconciliation process.iii Finally, the committee prepares guidelines in the annual budget resolution for cutting programs to meet spending targets.iv
For much of its history, the Budget Committee’s agenda has been directed by centrist House Members who advocated fiscal responsibility while crafting compromises between the President’s budget and Congress’s appropriations interests. Although much of the committee’s activity was directed toward reconciling executive and congressional budget goals, the legislative interests of individual committee chairmen also has played a role in steering the committee focus.v
Although the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 outlined the purpose and jurisdiction of the committee, two subsequent acts further shaped the committee’s work. In 1985, Senators Phil Gramm of Texas, Warren Rudman of New Hampshire, and Ernest Hollings of South Carolina sponsored the Gramm– Rudman–Hollings Acts of 1985 and 1987, which required a gradual reduction of the federal deficit by setting target deficit rates within six years. If the projected deficit exceeded the deficit target, the act provided for automatic cuts (or “sequestration”) in other areas of the federal budget to meet the target.vi The second piece of legislation was the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990. A compromise measure between congressional leaders and President George H. W. Bush, this act contained significant revisions from Gramm–Rudman–Hollings. The Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 “placed yearly caps on all discretionary spending, required that any reduction in revenues must be accompanied by an equal reduction in entitlement spending, nullified the Gramm– Rudman–Hollings legislation, and provided pay-as-you-go provisions for any new spending.”vii
Throughout its history, the Committee on the Budget has fulfilled its role as an institutional check on federal spending in two ways. First, the committee has consistently provided independent analyses of federal spending through the Congressional Budget Office. Second, the committee negotiated with its counterparts in the executive branch and the Senate. As a result of the institutional reforms that created the Budget Committee, Congress strengthened its hand in shaping the budget and appropriations process.
Firsts and Milestones
July 12, 1974, by Public Law 93–344
(Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974), 93rd Congress, 2nd Session.
First Chairman:
• Albert C. Ullman of Oregon, 93rd Congress (1973–1975)
Longest-serving Chairmen:
• John R. Kasich of Ohio, 104th through 106th Congresses (1995–2001)
• Jim Nussle of Iowa, 107th through 109th Congresses (2001–2007)
First African-American Budget Committee Chair:
• William H. Gray, III of Pennsylvania, 99th and 100th Congresses (1985–1989)
First Female Budget Committee Chair:
• Diane Black of Tennessee, 115th Congress, 1st Session (2017)
Donald C. Bacon, et al., eds. The Encyclopedia of the U. S. Congress, Volume 1 (NewYork: Simon & Schuster, 1995): 209–224.
Eric Patashnik, “Congress and the Budget Since 1974,” in Julian Zelizer, ed. The American Congress: The Building of Democracy (New York: Houghton–Mifflin Co., 2004): 668–686.
U. S. House Committee on House Administration. History of the United States House ofRepresentatives, 1789–1994, 103rd Cong., 2nd sess., 1994, H. Doc. 103–324. See especially, Chapter 9.
i Eric Patashnik, “Congress and the Budget Since 1974,” in Julian Zelizer, ed. The American Congress: The Building of Democracy. (New York: Houghton-Mifflin, 2004): 669.
ii Lance LeLoup, “The Budget Process,” in Donald C. Bacon et al., The Encyclopedia of the United States Congress, Volume 1 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995): 209; Garrison Nelson et al., Committees in the U. S. Congress, 1947–1992: Committee Histories and Member Assignments (Washington, D. C.: Congressional Quarterly Press, 1994): 1001; Patashnik, “Congress and the Budget Since 1974”: 675.
iii Lance LeLoup, “The Budget Process”: 210.
iv Nelson et al., Committees in the U. S. Congress, 1947–1992: Committee Histories and Member Assignments: 1002
v For example, chairman Brock Adams of Washington had a particular interest in transportation issues. During his tenure as committee chair in the 94th Congress (1973–1975), Adams was credited with helping to reform the railroad system by establishing Amtrak through the Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970, and aiding freight carriers in financial trouble through the Regional Reorganization Act of 1973. Other committee leaders, such as Robert Giaimo of Connecticut and James Jones of Oklahoma considered themselves spending watchdogs. During Giaimo’s tenure in the 96th Congress (1979–1981), the committee sought to manage inflation. In 1981, Jones mitigated the suggested tax cuts and government downsizing proposed by the incoming Ronald Reagan administration, proposing a counter-budget that acknowledged a stricter spending discipline, but proposed a reduction in the administration’s suggested budget cuts on social programs by fifty percent. Like Jones, William Gray III of Pennsylvania, the committee’s first African–American chair, was a centrist who advocated a balanced budget. When the Gramm–Rudman–Hollings Act was passed, Gray’s tenure as chairman was defined by a coalition of Democratic and Republican members that supported balanced budget legislation. He sought greater cooperation with the executive branch by publicly appealing for consultation with the Ronald Reagan administration. For examples, see the following: Alex Fryer, “Ex-Senator Once Seen as State’s ‘Prince of Politics’ Brock Adams, 1927–2004,” 11 September 2004, Seattle Times: A1; Joe Holley, “Brock Adams, 77, Dies; Senator, Carter’s Transportation Secretary, 11 September 2004, Washington Post: B06; Mary Russell, “New Congress to Emphasize Oversight,” 26 December 1978, Washington Post: A7; Mary Russell, “House Reduced Budget Deficit by $2.5 Billion,” 15 May 1979, Washington Post: A1; Rowland Evans and Robert Novak, “The Democrats’ Budget Man,” 5 December 1980, Washington Post: A17; Caroline Atkinson, “Spending Cuts of Up to $30 Billion Urged,” 13 January 1981, Washington Post: D6; William E. Pemberton, Exit With Honor: The Life and Presidency of Ronald Reagan.(Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1998): 101; David Espo, “Lawmakers Complain About Pentagon But Agree Some Domestic Cuts Needed,” 4 February 1985, Associated Press; Eliot Brenner, “Gray Says Reagan Must Lead Deficit Fight,” 19 February 1985, United Press International.
vi Patashnik, “Congress and the Budget Since 1974”: 681.
vii Nicholas A. Masters, “Budget Committee, House,” in Bacon et al., The Encyclopedia of the United States Congress, Volume 1: 211.
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Why we’re so obsessed with zombies
Joseph Gillings
The vast majority of zombie entertainment has been produced in the last 10 years – and this growing fascination says a lot about our modern society. By Joseph Gillings.
http://www.techcentral.co.za/why-were-obsessed-with-zombies/54749/
Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'Why we’re so obsessed with zombies'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
entertainment Social Sciences
Gillings, J. (2015, Feb 27). Why we’re so obsessed with zombies. Tech Central.
Why we’re so obsessed with zombies. / Gillings, Joseph.
Tech Central. 2015, Article.
Gillings, J 2015, Why we’re so obsessed with zombies. Tech Central.
Gillings J. Why we’re so obsessed with zombies. 2015.
Gillings, Joseph. / Why we’re so obsessed with zombies. 2015. Tech Central.
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“Crucified with Christ, I Live”
News “Crucified with Christ, I Live”
This post was written by Rev. Martyn McGeown, missionary-pastor of the Covenant Protestant Reformed Church in Northern Ireland stationed in Limerick, Republic of Ireland. If you have any questions or comments for Rev. McGeown, please post them in the comment section on the blog.
Paul begins Galatians 2:19 with this assertion, “I am dead,” or (better) I died.” The difference between “I am dead” and “I died” is the difference between a state of being (dead) and a completed action in the past (died). You might express it thus: “I died,” with the result that “I am dead.”
The truth that Paul died presupposes that before he died, he had lived—or he had been alive. Such is the case. With respect to what was Paul once alive? And with respect to what did Paul die, so that he is now dead? The answer to the question is “the law.” “I am dead to the law” or “I died to the law.”
There was a time in the past, says Paul, when I was alive to the law. But that has changed. I am now dead to the law, for I died to the law. Paul was alive to the law; he lived for the law; he was devoted to the law; and he sought his salvation in the law.
There was a time in the past, says Paul, when I tried to keep the law. The law said, “Do this and live.” Paul thought that by “doing” the law he would live. Therefore, Paul made every effort to keep the law. He lived very strictly.
Then something happened. Paul died to the law, so that now he is dead to the law.
The law was not able to do for Paul what he imagined. The law cannot give salvation. The law cannot give life. The law cannot give peace. The law was never designed for such things. The law says, “Do this, and live,” but we cannot do this. Therefore, the law threatens; the law curses; and the law damns. The law says, “Since you have not done this, you may not live; you must die.” The law thunders against the sinner, “You are cursed because you have broken me.”
Therefore, Paul’s relationship to the law had to change—and it did.
But how did Paul’s relationship to the law change? Did the law change? Did the law change its demands? Did the law say to Paul, “Do your best, and I will cut you some slack”? Did the law say to Paul, “Do not worry—God grades on a curve”? Did the law say to Paul, “You are better than others and God appreciates your sincere efforts to keep me”? No, the law does not change and it cannot change. The law is the unchanging standard of God’s righteousness. There is nothing wrong with the law, but there was everything wrong with Paul; there is everything wrong with us.
Did the law die, then? Was the law abolished or abrogated? Did God say, “I see that you cannot keep my commandments; therefore, I will no longer require it”? Did God cancel his requirements and then accept something less than perfect obedience instead? The answer is no! The law is still in force and all sinners who are under the law must perish, therefore.
The answer is that Paul changed. The law did not die, but Paul died. “I am dead to the law” or “I died to the law” (v. 19). Paul’s relationship to the law changed because he died; when Paul died, the law lost its power over Paul. The law, says Paul, cannot condemn me; it cannot curse me; it cannot damn me; and it cannot hold me captive.
The law’s threats no longer concern me, says Paul, for I am dead to the law. When the law says to Paul, “You have broken the commandments of God, you deserve to die, and you must die,” Paul responds, “I am dead to you—you cannot condemn me!” Paul says to the law, “I am dead to you. I am free from you, O law. I have a new Master, O law. I serve him; I no longer serve you.”
But how did Paul’s death occur? It was not a physical death. It was the death of a relationship.
Paul’s explanation is surprising: “For through the law I am dead to the law” or “through the law I died to the law.”
The law itself was instrumental in ending its relationship to Paul.
First, the law killed Paul by revealing to him his sins. For a while Paul lived in foolish ignorance, for he thought that he could keep the law. But then Paul realized something: he realized it because the Holy Spirit revealed it to him. Paul relates this in Romans 7:7: “I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, ‘Thou shalt not covet.’” And in verse Romans 7:9 he explains, “For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.”
When Paul’s eyes were opened through the power of the Holy Spirit to the reality of the law and to the reality of his relationship to the law, Paul’s life changed. The law now terrified him. The law in which he had trusted for eternal life revealed to him that he could not keep the law. The law threatened him with eternal damnation.
Have you come to that realization? You must come to that realization. If you do not come to that realization, you will continue to seek salvation in the law. And if you continue to seek salvation in your works, you will perish in your works, which are sins.
Second, Paul died to the law through the satisfaction of the law. The law does not easily let a person go. The law has dominion and jurisdiction over every person. The law says to every person: “Thou shalt,” and when someone refuses to do what the law demands, the law condemns, curses, and damns that person. The law says to every person: “Thou shalt not,” and when someone does what the law forbids, the law condemns, curses, and damns that person.
Therefore, the law must be satisfied. The law must receive its due. The law says, “Pay me what you owe!” The debt to the law must be paid in full. The curse of the law must be removed. The wrath of the offended law must be turned away.
But how did that happen? The law is not satisfied if we offer to it imperfect obedience. The law is only satisfied if it receives two things: perfect, lifelong obedience, and punishment for the transgressor.
Paul did not satisfy the law. We did not satisfy the law.
Christ satisfied the law for Paul, and Christ satisfied the law for us.
That is the gospel, the good news about Jesus Christ.
Christ satisfied that law, first, by obeying the commandments of God perfectly in his life: he rendered to God perfect obedience; he never broke any of God’s commandments; he loved God with his whole heart, soul, mind, and strength; and he loved his neighbor as himself.
Christ satisfied that law, secondly, by enduring the penalty of the law. When Christ died on the cross, he made a payment. That payment satisfied the law by giving the law “enough.” God’s just demands were satisfied. The curse was removed. The debt was paid in full.
Therefore, the law has no power over Paul, for Christ has satisfied the law for Paul, in Paul’s place. The law has no power over us, for Christ has satisfied the law for us, in our place. The law cannot condemn, curse, damn or even threaten us.
Does that mean, then, that we can now live free from the law in sin? That is not Paul’s conclusion. Paul reacts to such a conclusion with horror: instead Paul writes, “For through the law I am dead [I died] to the law [so] that I might live unto God” (Gal. 2:19).
Paul is now alive to God, he is now devoted to God, and he seeks fellowship with God. Paul’s life is now transformed: no longer is he the slave to sin under the law; now he is the servant of God. And a servant of God lives gladly and thankfully in obedience to God for his great salvation in Jesus Christ.
But what precisely did Christ do to satisfy the law? The answer is that he was crucified. In verse 20, Paul’s confession, “I am crucified with Christ,” presupposes that Christ was crucified.
This is important for two reasons. First, this form of death—on a cross—enabled Christ actively and consciously to give his life; he was not quickly killed; he died slowly and deliberately. In verse 20 Paul explains: “He loved me and gave himself for me.” Second, this form of death was the means by which he endured the curse. All lawbreakers, says Paul, are under the curse (Gal. 3:10). Jesus “hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written: Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree” (Gal. 3:13).
But Paul does not simply say, “Christ was crucified for me.” That would not explain his startling statement, “I am dead” or “I died.” Instead, Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ” or “I have been crucified with Christ.” The statement in verse 20 explains verse 19.
While it is true that Christ died for Paul, it does not go far enough. Paul must also be crucified with Christ. Paul expresses this as a word of triumph. He exclaims it for the whole world to hear: “I am—I have been—crucified with Christ.”
Two things are noteworthy in that phrase “I am crucified with.” First, Paul uses the preposition “with,” which indicates association and even union: “crucified with Christ.” Many men have been crucified in the history of mankind, and most of them perished. But Paul has been crucified “with Christ,” which makes the difference. Paul has been crucified in the closest connection or union with Christ; when Christ was crucified, so was Paul. When Christ died, so did Paul; when Christ was buried, so was Paul.
And that is true for all believers—I am, we are, you are (if you are a believer) crucified with Christ. That is possible only because Christ is the representative of others: when Christ died, he represented others; when he died, he took responsibility for others.
The only way in which anyone can know that he or she was crucified with Christ—and that, therefore, Christ represented him or her on the cross—is through faith. By believing a person comes to know this beautiful truth, but without faith a person perishes. Believe, therefore, in Christ. Trust in him alone. And you shall be saved and you shall be able to say, “I have been crucified with Christ.”
The second noteworthy aspect of that phrase, “I am crucified with,” is the tense: it is the perfect tense, which indicates completed action in the past with lasting effects into the present. I have been crucified. That crucifixion happened in the past with the result that I have died. That crucifixion happened in the past with the result that my sins have been removed.
And it has a permanent effect upon Paul and upon the believer.
I have been crucified with Christ, and I died to the law. The law has no power to condemn, curse, damn or enslave me; and I am now free to serve God.
Let others serve the law, says Paul, but I, even I, am crucified with Christ!
death of Christ, Law, Martyn McGeown, Paul
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Company: Nordic Gold Corp.
CEO: Michael Hepworth, President and CEO
Symbol: NOR:TSX-V
Requesting An Investor Package.
Nordic Gold Corp. Interview
For a PDF of the Slide Presentations Click Here
Nordic Gold Corp. is a junior mining company with a near production gold mine in Finland. The Laiva Gold Mine is fully built, fully permitted and financed to production via a gold forward sale agreement. Production is scheduled to start in the 4th quarter of 2018.
The Laiva deposit is located in Raahe, Finland and is one of the largest gold resources in the region. The mine is a conventional open pit mine with 2 pits.
Exploration in the Laiva area started in 2005. Previously the area was worked by both Endomines Oy and Outokumpu. The operation includes two pits and a recently constructed 6,000 tpd, state-of-the-art process plant designed by Metso and constructed by Outotec. Historic expenditure on the property is estimated at €220 million. The mill and leaching plant was completed completed in 2011. Mining at the property was initiated in Q3 2011 and the first doré bar was cast in December that year.
Vancouver, BC V6C 1T2
E: info@nordic.gold
W: https://nordic.gold/
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French and Riviera News Tuesday 8th October 2019
Tramway in Nice - For the first time since work on the new tramline began the Mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi and former French Prime Minister Jean Pierre Raffarin along with a delegation of officials, residents and traders have visited the future underground station of the new tramline in Nice. While the completion of line 3 in the west of the city is expected next month the section Jean Medicin – Le Port is due to be complete on December 14th.
A part of history has also been exhibited on the new platform of the tramline with the original base of the “Sincaire tower” dating back to 1543 and the Franco-Turkish siege with the folk heroine of the city of Nice Catherine Ségurane on display for all to admire.
Farmers to protest in the Var today - Farmers in the Var have announced plans to protest in the region today by occupying roundabouts and access to main roads. The national call to demonstrate was announced by the Federation of Farmers' Unions denouncing what they call "agribashing” and general unfair treatment of farmers and their profession.
Protests are planned from 7am to 9am at the roundabout in Hyeres, the motorway entrance at Cuers and Le Cannet des Maures, aswell as the roundabout of La Foux at Gassin and in Fayence.
Boa constrictor - Firefighters have managed to capture a two-meter-long boa constrictor which had escaped from an apartment in Marseille. Residents in the apartment block alerted emergency services after the snake killed and ate a kitten on one of the balconies. The animal was at the time being looked after by a friend who lives in the residence.
Vineyards on the Côte d’Azur - Recent figures published have shown that the overall wine production in the vineyards of the Côte d’Azur is down by 14% this year compared to last, due to drought. Several departments have been affected by the scorching episodes of June and July including the Gard, Hérault and the Var.
Chanel fashion house buys domaine in Porquerolles – Meanwhile the famous fashion house Chanel has announced its acquisition of The Domaine de l’ile on the island of Porquerolles in the Var, one of three on the island, the domain was until now owned by Sébastien Le Ber, grandson of François-Joseph Fournier, who acquired the island in its entirety in 1910 to offer it as a wedding present to his young wife. A passionate winemaker, it is he who has developed over the last forty years the area with 35 hectares of vineyards and olive groves.
The fashion house is already owner of three estates in Bordeaux. The amount of the transaction has not been revealed.
Le Rayol Canadel honors Jacques Chirac - The Mayor of Rayol Canadel in the Var Jean Plénat has announced plans to rename the Avenue des Belges to Avenue Jacques Chirac, in honor of the former French President who died last week. Chirac moved to the village aged eight and spent time at the Domaine Potez where his father worked. The inauguration will take place on Saturday, October 12th at 11am at the Domaine with the unveiling of a commemorative plaque and an exhibition on the main moments of the life of Jacques Chirac in the village. It will also coincide with celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of Rayol Canadel.
Motorcyclist killed - A thousand people have gathered in Villiers le Bel north of Paris demanding that “the truth” be told about the circumstances following the death of a 23-year-old man in a motorcycling accident on Sunday. The accident occurred near a police intervention and according to the family’s lawyer witnesses say a police vehicle may have been responsible for the fatal fall. The victim’s family have since filed a lawsuit against X for manslaughter and an investigation is underway to determine the exact circumstances including the examination of CCTV cameras.
Internal report - An internal report on the man who killed four police colleagues in Paris last week says the 45-year-old computer expert, who was hearing disabled and had converted to Islam, showed signs of radicalising in 2015 but “no problem” since. Mickaël Harpon was shot dead after stabbing four people to death with a 33-centimetre kitchen knife and an oyster knife during the lunchtime attack at his workplace on the French capital’s Île de la Cité on Thursday. He had been employed at Paris police headquarters since 2003.
Scientific breakthrough - Four years after a nightclub fall that left a 28-year-old from Lyon tetraplegic. The victim has managed to walk again thanks to a brain-controlled exoskeleton. The technology represents a scientific breakthrough that could bring hope to tetraplegics seeking to regain movement. The results of a clinical trial, conducted in June 2017, were published last week.
Mona Lisa returns - The Mona Lisa has returned to its place in the Louvre museum after renovations in the room where it is usually displayed were completed. After two months of work, Leonardo da Vinci's painting, which millions of tourists from around the world come to see every year, is once again back in its place. A statement from the Louvre explained that the decision to renovate the room was made as a result of a huge increase in the number of visitors to the museum since the “Grand Louvre” project and the Pyramid were completed 30 years ago.
Marcel Proust - Letters showing how Marcel Proust waged a charm offensive to get glowing reviews and win France's top literary prize have failed to sell at a Paris auction on Monday.
Sixteen letters that the author of "Remembrance of Things Past" wrote to the influential newspaperman Rene Blum between 1913 and 1916 were expected to go for up to €300,000 euros at Christie's. The letters showed how the well-connected and wealthy Proust pulled every possible string to make sure his books were hailed as masterpieces.
The prospects for progress in the trade war between China and the United States have dimmed after Washington blacklisted a number of Chinese firms over Beijing’s treatment of predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities and President Trump said that the chance of a quick trade deal was unlikely.
The move by the US Commerce Department could deepen divisions between the two sides as they convened for two days of talks aimed at paving the way for further discussions later this week.
Washington and Beijing have been at odds over US demands that China improve protections on American intellectual property ,end cyber theft and the forced transfer of technology to Chinese firms.
President Trump also wants China to curb industrial subsidies and increase access for US firms to largely closed Chinese markets.
The UK Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned that even a “relatively benign” no-deal Brexit would push Britain’s debt to its highest level since the 1960s.
The influential think tank said that borrowing would likely be pushed up to 100 billion pounds and that total debt would rise to 90 percent of national income.
The director of the ISF Paul Johnson said that the government is now “adrift without any effective fiscal anchor”.
He said that given the extraordinary level of uncertainty and risks facing the economy and public finances ,the government should not be looking to offer permanent overall tax giveaways in any forthcoming budget.
And-The restaurant chain Pizza Express has hired financial advisors ahead of a meeting with creditors to review its debt situation.
Pizza Express ,which has 470 outlets made losses for the past two years and its operating profits have been more than offset by the high interest payments on its 1.1 billion pound debt pile.
Pizza Express was founded in 1965 and currently employs 14,000 people.
It’s owned by the Chinese private investment firm Hony.
The current interest on the firm’s debt is costing it 93 million pounds a year which is exceeding its operating profit.
In April auditors concluded that the firm is still a going concern despite its debts being of higher value than its assets.
MA NOLANS RUGBY WORLD CUP REPORT.
There’s one match at the World Cup today.South Africa play Canada in Pool B.
The Springboks will be looking for big score with a bonus point as they bid to see off Italy’s challenge for second place in the Pool but they should make it as Italy’s final Pool match is against New Zealand.
Wales have made two changes for their game against Fiji tomorrow.
James Davies comes in for Justin Tipuric who’s being rested and Ross Moriarty replaces Aaron Wainwright.
Wales will be through to the quarter finals if they win tomorrow and will want to go on and win the Pool to avoid a possible encounter with England in the last 8.
And-England are waiting on the fitness of Billy Vunipola ahead of Saturday’s final Pool game against France.
The number 8 picked up an ankle injury against Argentina and will be replaced by Mark Wilson if he’s ruled unfit.
A final decision is expected today.
Formula 1-Organisers of the Japanese Grand Prix as well as the Rugby World Cup are keeping an eye on Typhoon Hagibis which could bring high winds and torrential rain over the weekend.
The Typhoon is forming south of Japan and could be the strongest to hit the country this year.
The 2014 Grand Prix was halted following atrocious weather which led to the death of Jules Bianchi who suffered severe head injuries and died 9 months later after being in a coma.
Cricket-England have named Chris Silverwood as their new head coach to replace Trevor Bayliss.
The 44 year old joined the England setup as bowling coach in January 2018 after leading Essex to their first County Championship in 25 years in 2017.
Silverwood will take charge for the first time on England’s tour of New Zealand next month when they play 5 Twenty20’s and two Tests.
Tennis-Andy Murray has continued his return from injury with victory against Juan Ignacio Londero of Argentina in the first round of the Shanghai Open.
Murray came through in three sets and says that his match fitness is improving with every game he plays.
He reached his first singles quarter final in more than a year last week when he made the last 8 of the China Open.
Mainly fine with light south westerly winds.
Overnight lows of 15 degrees on the coast and 13 degrees inland with clear skies.
Wednesday and Thursday-Partially cloudy tomorrow with some showers inland.Mainly fine on Thursday.Highs of 22-24 degrees.
The main police officer on a tiny British island says it is fighting a drink-driving epidemic — even though cars are banned.
Folk on Channel Island Sark tootle around on tractors, horses and mobility scooters. Cars are banned on Sark island so locals use carriages among other vehicles But PC Mike Fawson insists it is now “awash” with criminals and drunken road users.
Fawson blames the 500-inhabitant island’s “excessive alcohol consumption” for the current crime wave. And he says the four-strong force needs pepper spray, batons, CCTV and speed radar guns to deal with them.
The officer made the comments in a report as he prepared to end his year-long posting. PC Fawson wrote: “There are many incidents we cannot lawfully do anything about as we don’t have the tools and laws to deal with them.” Records show he dealt with 267 incidents.
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No Turning Back – Alien: Covenant
Date: May 19, 2017Author: Nicolas Bauer 0 Comments
In a year filled with highly anticipated sequels, Ridley Scott’s latest foray into the Alien franchise was at the top of my list. Although his previous entry, Prometheus (2012), had more than its fair share of detractors, I wasn’t one of them. After waiting what seemed like an eternity, Scott’s follow up finally hit theaters in the US, but didn’t quite scratch the itch. Selling audiences on action and fear, Alien: Covenant fails to answer (or even really address) the biggest questions raised by its predecessor and settles for merely connecting the dots.
Unfolding 10-years after the events of Prometheus, this film follows a new crew composed of couples heading to colonize a new world. When a technical problem with the spaceship throws a wrench in the works, the plan takes an incredibly risky turn and members of the expedition must battle to survive a variety of increasingly fierce threats. Chief among them is the infamous Xenomorph, which the film’s trailer isn’t coy about showing. Showcasing the creature in the trailer is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to a lack of mystery in this film. At least the creature design was top notch with a modern take on a nostalgic return to form.
Scott is a visionary director who has tendency to do things on a grand scale and this film is no different. However, the scope of the film is relatively narrow despite the premise being built on a broad foundation. Once the primary plot point takes hold, the film quickly dissolves into a more traditional and one-dimensional monster movie without the cerebral appeal of its precursor. In an interview with Collider, Scott admitted that he succumbed to fan pressure to reintegrate his original monster into the film. Whether or not fans will respond positively this time around remains to be scene. One thing I can say with full confidence, this is the most intimidating version of the Xenomorph we’ve seen. Unlike other versions of the creature, full CGI renders allow for a level of mobility and alien athleticism that makes it far more imposing than ever before. Additionally, Scott upped the ante with the graphic violence in order to really drive his point home.
The screenplay by John Logan and Dante Harper isn’t great, and that’s putting it mildly. Logan had worked on some very good scripts like Gladiator (2000) but this was Harper’s first. The dialogue isn’t consistently strong and has a tendency to wander into vagaries during what should be important explanations. Sadly, the characters aren’t well developed either and the crew lacks the kind of camaraderie which made the ensembles work in other installments in the franchise. Without much chemistry among the crew, it’s difficult to believe in their relationships and cheer for them. Additionally, every decision made by the crew goes directly against protocol and results in almost instant catastrophic failure. Even for a film about aliens and planet colonization, it became increasingly difficult to suspend disbelief with each ridiculous decision. These problems are only exacerbated by the decision to funnel the story through the non-human characters.
Michael Fassbender reprises his role as a Weyland Industries android and anchored a cast without other significant star power. He always delivers good performances and this wasn’t any different. We get to see a wider scope of his character’s emotions and internal motivations, as the film begins with the moment of his awakening by Mr. Weyland and explains some character development that isn’t present later in the film. If nothing else, it should etch him further into the franchise ethos. Drawing the short straw to fill the void left by Noomi Rapace is Katherine Waterston. She plays Daniels, the second officer in command (who is clearly cast in the image of Sigourney Weaver’s iconic Ripley). Those are some big shoes to fill and she just wasn’t up to the task, but she shouldn’t shoulder the blame. Her character introduction is meant to paint her as a sympathetic figure, but without the requisite background the audience can’t form an emotional attachment and the narrative falls flat (based on some extended clips I’ve seen, something undoubtedly got left on the editing room floor). Although Daniels is the only one with a legitimate character arc, her development comes far too late in the film and was poorly established beforehand.
Surprisingly, Danny McBride was the best part of the crew. His character Tennessee felt the most authentic, most human. Considering the aforementioned lack of chemistry, McBride was the only one even close to hitting the mark with his partner. Something about his style of comedy lends itself to a much deeper source of emotion and he tapped into it for this role. Don’t get me wrong, he won’t be winning any awards for his portrayal but, in a cast mostly void of any semblance of genuine emotion, it was a pleasant surprise to see it coming from him. Amy Seimetz plays his wife, Faris, who’s laughably bad. It wasn’t her acting, but the character is shockingly clumsy, drastically panicked in comparison to her crew mates and makes a series of increasingly dumb decisions in a very short period of time.
Then there’s Billy Crudup. Usually a very good actor, he didn’t seem very at home with his character Captain Oram either. Once again, the character wasn’t very well thought out and literally has dialogue explaining how blatantly unbelievable it is for his character to be captain. But sure, let’s run with it. As a “man of faith” he struggles to lead the crew and his faith-based decision making is met with total and utter disaster, further undermining the character choice. Damien Bichir is in this movie but it’s difficult to tell. He plays Lope, part of the military envoy for the colonization team, but for an actor of his caliber, he’s tragically buried in the background. There isn’t much in the way of bright spots looking at the rest of cast list. Aside from one surprising cameo, I didn’t recognize more than half the characters’ names because (as a means to an end) they are mostly forgettable.
Dariusz Wolski returned to the helm as director of photography, so the same vibrant visual style from Prometheus carried over. Chris Seagers did a good job with the production design and had extensive teams to keep on track. The visual effects team was massive and marrying all the different elements into a cohesive vision must have been a tall order for Supervising Art Director Ian Gracie. Set decoration by Victor J. Zolfo combined some sleek design with the more gritty feel of Aliens (1986). Janty Yates costume design was an interesting departure as the cast was dressed in what looked like more utilitarian camping gear. One of the most important elements in Prometheus was Marc Streitenfeld’s original score. It was a brilliant piece of music which captured feelings of hope and wonder. That is noticeably absent from the film as Jed Kurzel took over with a much more intense tone, although homage is payed to Streitenfeld in the film.
I wouldn’t call this movie terrible because it’s well made from a technical standpoint, but I do think it failed to hit the mark in several areas. It takes a while to get to the real point even though shit hits the fan almost right away, but the last 45 minutes of the film are more entertaining than the first hour-fifteen. Unfortunately, the end of the film is painfully uninspired and unsurprising as well. Although the connections to Prometheus are left in Fassbender’s capable hands, those explanations are flimsy and only left me with even more questions. Why is their human vegetation on this planet? Why does an android have hair that grows? Is it possible for artificial intelligence to lose its mind? How come no one is wearing space suits? Why is everyone so massively unprepared? For fans of Prometheus, this film will do little to quench your thirst for knowledge but should bridge the gap for future installments in the larger Alien franchise.
Recommendation: As a stand alone effort, it works as a action-horror-thriller, even though it’s not really rewarding. As a piece of a larger puzzle, there is a lot to be desired. The R rating is appropriate and not a great choice for kids. Considering the lack of competition at the box office, Covenant isn’t the worst way to spend your money this weekend.
Alien: CovenantAliensandroidsBilly CrudupChris SeagerscolonizationDamien BichirDanny McBrideDariusz WolskiEngineersface huggersJanty YatesJed KurzelKatherine WaterstonMarc StreitenfeldMichael FassbenderPrometheusRidley ScottVictor J. ZolfoWeyland IndustriesXenomorph
Published by Nicolas Bauer
I don't write reviews of everything I see, just the stuff I feel like talking about. That usually tends to cover a pretty wide spectrum. Rule #1: The better the trailer, the more disappointing the movie tends to be Rule #2: You do not talk about Fight Club Check out my new site http://thesheist.com/ for all my latest View all posts by Nicolas Bauer
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Mentors and Friends: SAR’s 2019–2020 Resident Scholars
by Sarah Soliz | Jul 10, 2020 | Blog
Every year SAR welcomes a new cohort of resident scholars, who spend nine months studying, writing, and participating in the intellectual life of the campus. As usual, the 2019–2020 scholars brought with them a variety of interests and projects, but they came together in their appreciation of the time, the place, and the community they found here.
Fátima Suárez, one of two Mellon fellows, wrote most of her dissertation, which explores the meanings of Latino fatherhood. “During these past nine months,” she says, “I have learned a great deal about myself and the kind of scholar that I want to be and the type of scholarship that I want to produce. Not only did SAR provide a mental and physical space for me to think through and write my dissertation, but it also introduced me to a community of scholars who were my mentors and friends.”
This year’s Anne Ray fellow, Davina Two Bears, integrated archival research into a book manuscript about the Old Leupp Boarding School, an early twentieth-century federal Indian boarding school located on the southwest Navajo reservation. “As a Navajo archaeologist, it is important for me to research sites that are significant to the Diné (Navajo) people and to share the results with my tribe and others.” She also mentored the 2019–2020 Anne Ray interns, Erin Monique Grant and Amanda Sorensen, which she describes as “an honor and rewarding experience.”
Patricia Crown, one of two Weatherhead fellows, emphasizes the impact of SAR on her career in anthropology. She first applied for a residential fellowship at SAR in 1984, and since then she has organized or co-organized three Advanced Seminars and edited and contributed to a number of books from SAR Press. Her book on Chacoan cylinder jars, which she worked on while at SAR, “will be the culmination of 20 years of research.”
SAR provided largely uninterrupted time, which gave me the opportunity to read extensively, catching up on literature I had missed and finding new studies I knew nothing about. I cannot emphasize enough what a luxury it has been to have this reading time. The peaceful grounds of SAR are the perfect place for quiet reflection, and I have had a number of new insights during my stay. This has enriched my interpretations of these drinking vessels in ways I could not have anticipated when I applied. In particular, I have been able to find patterns in the manner in which these vessels were discarded that have changed the way I understand how Chacoans viewed the jars.
Rashmi Sadana, also a Weatherhead fellow, finished a book manuscript on the Delhi Metro. “Now, after being here for the year, I know that what makes SAR is not just the lovely location, but also and especially, the people, from the permanent and senior scholars to the staff. They were all central to my time here.” Equally important was the setting:
In addition to all the great museums (starting on the SAR campus at the IARC), events, and restaurants, I walked in town or hiked on nearby trails most days, and I’m convinced all the fresh air and amazing views were good for my writing brain. I was also able to take a few weekend trips in the state with my family. That I could be here with them also made this year work for me in a profound way. I really have to thank you for the warm and sustained welcome SAR gave not only to me but to them as well. It has been a wonderful, enriching year for all of us.
As for her colleagues, Sadana says, “We have had lively intellectual exchanges throughout the year, across disciplines. But most of all, I have felt a real sense of camaraderie with them and intellectual support from them. This has continued even after the campus had to close because of Covid-19.”
SAR’s other Mellon fellow and historian of the Chihuahuan Desert, C. J. Alvarez, reflects on his time at SAR “with mixed emotions and a divided mind.”
On one hand, I can say that, without a doubt, my year at the School for Advanced Research has been the highlight of my entire career. On the other, a great sadness has come to the world during my time here, and as my days in Santa Fe wind down, the stranglehold of the virus grows stronger. The contrast between the peace of mind afforded by residency at SAR and the tumultuousness of the world outside could not be more stark.
C. J. Alvarez, Patricia Crown, Davina Two Bears, and Rashmi Sadana at Chaco Canyon in June.
Alvarez describes his time at SAR, especially during the pandemic, as forging an unexpected level of connection between the fellows, one that they seem unlikely to ever forget.
The vision of SAR is to be an institution that “fosters understanding of humankind through scholarly and artistic creativity,” and this is what our fellowship with one another embodied in the fullest sense. In our long exchanges, we drew on both our research and the details of our own lives to try to make sense of what the pandemic has done to our species, and we speculated about what we might be able to learn from it. In those many hours, life felt less like a lockdown and more like the most advanced seminar I have ever attended. Like everyone else, I look forward to the day when the virus has been put behind us somehow. But in the here and now, I am grateful for the opportunity it has inadvertently presented in this special place.
Watch the 2019–2020 SAR resident scholar colloquia, and learn more about each scholar’s current research and writing projects.
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2009 collaboration between the singer/songwriter and actress/vocalist. Includes eight original compositions by Pete/Scarlett in the spirit of Serge Gainsbourg's recording with Brigitte Bardot. The album re-enacts the tempestuous course of a love affair on the rocks. The album had its genesis in the aftermath of a breakup in 2006. After Yorn was unable to sleep for a week, he finally dozed off, only to wake with a start just minutes later. What had awakened him was a dream. "I sat up in bed, and the whole thing was in my head, fully formed," Yorn says, sounding as if he still doesn't quite believe it. "I suddenly felt like I really needed to make a record in the style of Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot. Not that it had to sound like that, but it had to be a guy-and-girl conceptual thing. So then I asked myself, 'Who's Brigitte Bardot today? It's Scarlett Johansson.'" Featuring an interpretation of the classic 'I Am the Cosmos' by the late Chris Bell co-founder of Big Star.
Artist: Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
2. Wear And Tear
3. I Don't Know What To Do
4. Search Your Heart
5. Blackie's Dead
6. I Am The Cosmos
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You are here: Home / Interviews / From Nigeria, With Love: 1on1 with Folake Olowofoyeku (BOB HEARTS ABISHOLA)
From Nigeria, With Love: 1on1 with Folake Olowofoyeku (BOB HEARTS ABISHOLA)
Created by Chuck Lorre (Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men), Bob Hearts Abishola tells the story of Bob Wheeler (Billy Gardell), a divorced man who runs his family’s successful sock company out of Detroit. When the stress of the job causes him to have a heart attack, he finds himself immediately drawn to his kind, hard-working Nigerian nurse, Abishola (Folake Olowofoyeku). Though the two could not be more different, Bob and Abishola’s relationship slowly begins to bloom as they both learn from and celebrate one another. Asked about her experience as the latest piece of the Chuck Lorre legacy of network comedies, Olowofoyeku asserts that his professionalism and expertise makes the process both easy and fun.
“It seems seamless working in [what I call] it the Chuck Lorre universe,” she begins. “I’m a sci-fi head so I think that’s appropriate terminology for all that he’s accomplished in this world. Considering that he’s been at it for decades and has been at the top of his field doing it, coming in it’s just like walking into a well-oiled machine. Everyone on his team works and functions efficiently and are experts to what they do, including himself. He’s a genius. Just watching him work, he comes into the room and knows exactly what you need to do. It makes my work easier as an actress. I’ve got it really easy so I must have built up some good karma. [laughs]”
However, despite Lorre’s history of creating comedy hits, Olowofoyeku also claims that she was able to bring her own ideas to the creative process in developing her character.
“Everything apart from the words on the script, everything about the character has been my choice,” she points out. “I guess they trusted me to execute and deliver that properly. But I was informed by what was written on the script… Most of the roles that I embark on, I look with any script for information about the character and then I develop her based on that, like the way I pronounce ‘Bob’. There was something in the script that was very specific to Abi’s reaction to the American name. So, I thought, I can’t just pronounce this in a Western sort of way… So, I said, ‘Okay, if [the way] I’m pronouncing Bob gets a reaction like this and I have to build a story around why I pronounce Bob in a certain way, that also informs the way my accent should be for the character.”
“Also, in the back of my head, I’m thinking that I don’t want her to be too much of a caricature. So, I have to find a balance between the two worlds having a strong enough accent to justify why I pronounce Bob [that way] and still not being caricature of my people. After finding a way to meld those two characteristics together, I then later on have to think about how to make it more intelligible for our audience. The way I’m going to approach the accent of the character in Nigeria… specifically geared to Nigerians is very different than I will an American [audience]…”
While Olowofoyeku feels that she and Abishola have very different personalities, she also believes that they both contain an inner strength of character.
“[Abishola and I are] extremely different,” she contends. “We have the fundamental things in common. We’re both Nigerian, both raised in Nigeria and then we made the move to America at some point in my life. But, I’m a lot edgier and crazier than she is. I’m not as strict. Certainly, I’m not as devout as she is. I certainly wouldn’t push my child to become a doctor because that was done to me in a different way and I don’t think that’s right. That being said, we also have a tenacity and a strength. There’s a tenacity and strength that I see in women. I grew up [seeing that in] my mother and my auntie–both Nigerian women–and all women, really, But, in molding this character, I drew from characteristics I’ve seen in Nigerian women growing up.”
Having immigrated from Nigeria herself, Olowofoyeku has some understanding of what it means to start one’s life over in a new culture. Nevertheless, while she believes that the show’s depiction of the immigrant experience remains relatively realistic, she also argues that her character’s journey remains quite different than her own.
“It cannot be accurate to my [experience] because my set of circumstances are completely different from Abishola,” she argues. “I moved here my own, I didn’t have a child and I didn’t move in with family… So, it wasn’t similar in that regard. However, I do think it’s still authentic. It’s authentic for those particular set of circumstances. It’s very common to see a Nigerian move to a foreign country and move in with family members that already established themselves there and, in an effort to save money, house together so that the income is based on whatever they’ve all got. So, I think it’s extremely realistic. And I see the dynamic between our Abishola and her Auntie and Uncle as realistic as well. There’s a lot of respect that’s shown in the Nigerian family, regardless of who’s right or wrong and the younger always respects the older. You see that with and Abishola. Yeah. So, it’s not specific to my situation, but yeah, I think it’s definitely an accurate depiction.”
In the midst of the current global pandemic, Olowofoyeku remains passionate about the safety and well-being of those within her home country of Nigeria. As a result, when she was approached by the One Campaign to join them in the call for greater health care, she jumped at the chance to help.
“We’re just starting off this relationship,” she beams excitedly. “Obviously, with the current climate in the entire world, I was wondering how I could be of use and helpful. I was looking for ways that I could be involved a little bit more hands on than just a donation or a couple of words in a post here and there. I really wanted to be involved. [The One Campaign] came to my team and mentioned some of the work that they’re doing and I had an opportunity to talk to them. I was really excited that they were working specifically in Nigeria because I would like to be able to help in whatever way I can. I’m really looking forward to see what we can accomplish together. I like that they’re that’s focused on keeping governments around the world accountable and make sure that they’re looking out for the low income, more vulnerable sectors. They also have a petition going on right now on their website, One.org, and it would be awesome if people could go on there and sign up. (You can access the petition here.) That helps them approach different… governments around the world to make sure that they are providing proper health care for their citizens, especially during this time.”
Since the current health crisis has caused much of Hollywood to shut down, it comes as no surprise that Bob Hearts Abishola would be affected as well. Although last week’s episode was dubbed the season finale, Olowofoyeku reveals that the season did not end as intended as a result of interruptions due to the current pandemic.
“[That was] not the finale. It’s the last one of the season unfortunately, because we had to stop shooting,” she clarifies. “We were two episodes away from the actual finale. That wasn’t going to be the finale. In fact, we were halfway into the second to last episode and were just about to start filming… If we do get to season two, and I’m really hopeful that we will, then those two episodes will be the first two episodes of the new season.”
In light of this, Olowofoyeku also has idea of what she’d like to see from the series as they move forward. Should they get the chance, she believes that their series has the unique opportunity to give the viewer a window into Nigerian celebrations first hand.
According to Olowofoyeku, “I don’t know if it needs to happen in the second season but I think it would be great to have them go to Nigeria and explore what it’s like landing at the Nigerian airport and have a wedding. Nigerian weddings last for days. We have an introduction, the white wedding, the traditional wedding. We have the Thanksgiving. It’s like a week-long festivity. I think it would be great to find an episode to each other’s days. That would be marvelous. We’ve never seen anything like that before, shooting an American show on foreign soil. I think that would be great. It’s mind-blowing, really… I think our crew and cast would have an amazing time of Nigeria. With the festivities, it would be so much fun.”
For full audio of our interview with Folake, click here.
Bob Hearts Abishola is available on demand now.
Filed Under: Interviews, Podcast, SmallFish Tagged With: Billy Gardell, Bob Hearts Abishola, CBS, Chuck Lorre, comedy, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Folake Olowofoyeku, Nigeria, One Campaign, sitcom
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As Lockdowns Ease, European Photonics Ponders the Future
[Image: Getty Images]
In March, OPN talked with European optics and photonics professionals about how pandemic-induced lockdowns were affecting their lives and work. Now, three months later—with the flattening of the proverbial viral growth curve—many European societies have started easing those lockdowns, and find themselves peering down the murky road ahead.
During June, to gauge the current moment, OPN once again spoke with a number of photonic scientists in Europe. Their experiences underscore the widely varying effects—not all of them necessarily negative—wrought by the coronavirus shutdowns, and some of the near- and long-term changes that the pandemic may leave in its wake.
The macro impact
As measured by the popular IHS Markit purchasing manager’s index (PMI), the crash in eurozone economic activity due to COVID-19 lockdowns was far swifter and deeper than the economic slowdown in the wake of the late-2000s financial crisis. Since April, however, signs of improvement have emerged as lockdown restrictions have eased. [Image: IHS Markit] [Enlarge image]
Clearly, the lockdowns have devastated the European economy. A popular indicator of month-to-month economic activity, the IHS Markit flash composite purchasing managers index (PMI), hit a sickening record low of 13.6 in the month of April for the eurozone countries and 13.8 for the United Kingdom. Any reading below 50 indicates a month-to-month economic contraction; hence, these record lows graphically illustrate how sudden and deep the coronavirus-induced cliff-dive in business activity has been.
Since that nadir, though, the news has improved a bit. For the eurozone countries, the flash PMI rose to 31.9 in May and 47.5 in June. (For the U.K., the numbers were 30.0 in May and 47.6 in June.) Both numbers suggest continued business contraction from the previous month—but also hint that the contraction has markedly slowed. Indeed, for France, the PMI jumped to 51.3 in June, pointing to a modest return to economic growth.
The slowing of the downturn, reflecting the gradual lifting of coronavirus restrictions and some resumption of economic activity, has the European business community itching for a possible return to growth in the second half. But given the lockdown’s destructive path of layoffs, business failures and possibly permanent structural changes—and evidence of a recent resurgence of global COVID-19 cases, particularly in the U.S.—the strength of any second-half recovery remains a very open question.
Short-term pain, long-term gain?
For optics and photonics in particular, companies in locked-down Europe have faced a toxic mix of tight financing, supply-chain squeezes and international-trade tensions.
Giorgio Anania.
“Photonics companies in Europe tend to be small companies—SMEs with fragile balance sheets,” says Giorgio Anania, chairman and CEO of the France-based display technology company Aledia, and a vice president of the executive board of the European technology platform Photonics21. In the short term, he says, these companies have encountered “a very hard financing crush” as investors and venture capitalists have pulled in their horns, demanding more favorable terms and offering lower valuations in light of economic risks.
Europe’s photonics firms have also been whipsawed, according to Anania, by the high-profile trade standoff between the United States and China—and by what he calls the “legal arsenal” of extraterritoriality clauses that the U.S. has amassed to dictate trade terms in other areas, including Europe. These also, he says, have raised the perception of short-term risk in companies, such as those in European photonics, that depend on supply chains and technology relationships with China.
Surprisingly, despite these short-term setbacks, Anania believes that the same forces will be good for photonics in the long haul. He argues that these pressures will force countries to rethink long supply chains and global exposure, and to exert more control over their key technologies.
“Longer term, I think the situation is reversed,” Anania says. With all that has happened, “clearly there’s an intention by European governments to invest more in having their own resources, and that’s good for photonics in Europe.”
Greece: Opening up
For individual businesses and research labs, much big-picture uncertainty clearly remains, particularly about whether a potential “second wave” of viral infections will lead to new lockdowns. But for now, countries that have managed to stem the virus’ growth are cautiously reopening their economies. And, as a result, many in the optics and photonics community, stuck at home for the past several months, have started coming back to the lab.
Stavros Pissadakis.
One interesting case is Greece, which has experienced a remarkably low coronavirus casualty toll—only 3,287 confirmed cases and 190 deaths as of mid-June. Stavros Pissadakis, the head of the Photonic Materials and Devices Laboratory of the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser (IESL), Foundation for Research and Technology–Hellas (FORTH), Heraklion, Crete, credits that record to some “radical measures” imposed by the Greek government.
“At the beginning of March, we started having a kind of ‘red alert’,” he says. “And compared with the rest of Europe, we moved quite swiftly,” with restrictions on travel, work and ordinary activities. Pissadakis has been surprised by the speed of the response, and by the willingness of Greek citizens to go along. “Greeks organized coherently,” he says, “and their response this time was quite amazing—they followed the guidelines from the government very, very precisely.”
The tight, early controls in Greece allowed the country to start re-opening at the beginning of May, sooner than in many societies, with children returning to school by early June. At FORTH, Pissadakis says, the majority of the foundation’s activities are “back in place” and the labs are running again—but with strings attached. “In my lab, for instance, we cannot have more than two people working at the same time; we have to wear a mask when we collaborate with other people,” he notes. “We still refrain from physical meetings, and we work a lot with Skype. So things are not quite as they used to be”
Spain: “A deep shock”
The COVID-19 toll has been very different in Spain: nearly a quarter of a million confirmed cases and more than 28,000 fatalities as of mid-June. “In my opinion, Europe, the U.S. and most of the West did not pay proper attention to what was coming,” according to Lluís Torner, the head of the Institute for Photonic Sciences–ICFO in Barcelona. Torner notes that early on, the ICFO team modeled the patterns emerging from Wuhan, China, and was among the groups lobbying the government for action. The government’s lockdown came in mid-March.
Lluís Torner.
“During the first few weeks, it was a deep shock, as it was strict,” Torner says, “and more than one thousand people died every day from the disease across the country.” At ICFO, meanwhile, the labs shut down and remote work began. That part of the process, at least, “has worked like clockwork,” according to Torner. “I am extremely proud of our collective attitude.”
Spain’s lockdown restrictions are now easing, and—except for large groups and gatherings, especially in closed spaces—most activities, including ICFO’s lab efforts, have resumed. “All experimental activities are running already at full speed,” Torner says. He also notes that the government has established working groups (some of which include ICFO scientists) to handle contingency plans for a possible second wave of the virus, and to set “societal and economic priorities for the next decade.”
U.K.: Emerging from “hibernation”?
In the United Kingdom, the government’s COVID-19 response has proved highly controversial, and the country’s experience with the virus has been brutal, with more than 308,000 confirmed cases and 43,000 deaths as of mid-June. Anna Peacock, with the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton, reports that the coronavirus shutdown this spring was very sudden—and that “a lack of clarity from the government at the outset, as to the seriousness of the situation” compounded the problem. “There were mixed messages, and some of the decisions being made were coming as a surprise to us.”
Anna Peacock.
The U.K. government is now courting further controversy with its plans for pulling back from lockdown, which Prime Minister Boris Johnson has referred to as emerging from a “long national hibernation.” For England at least, that reemergence envisions significant easing of social-distancing restrictions—without, some have argued, the necessary tracking-and-tracing capability to keep such a loosening safe.
At Southampton, however, Peacock says that the university is proceeding with significant caution. “The university looks like a very different place from the local high street,” she notes. The restrictions on campus remain “very tight,” according to Peacock, with only a small number of people whose work cannot be done remotely allowed to return—and under severe restrictions. Of her team, she says: “We’re running in a very limited capacity.”
Germany: “Science needs teamwork”
Germany, like Greece, managed to keep the coronavirus mortality very low, through what Cornelia Denz of the University of Münster calls “a very strict shutdown.” Because of the country’s success in keeping the virus in check, her team’s period of exile from the lab was relatively brief, with some personnel allowed to return in a matter of weeks.
“We were still advised to work mostly from home,” she says, “but we could go to the lab to continue our research work.” In addition, she notes that several funding agencies, including the German Research Foundation and the government’s Ministry for Science and Education, have offered to pay an extra three to six months’ salary for Ph.D.’s and postdocs under contracts that were derailed by the coronavirus—“a very generous approach,” she says.
Cornelia Denz.
Though the lab is working again, Denz notes that undergraduate students are still barred from returning to classrooms. As a result, as at many institutions, Münster is doing all of its teaching online—which Denz calls “a very involved, very time-consuming process,” involving recording videos of lectures and synchronizing a variety of other visual aids. “I’d say it’s three times as much work as a classical lecture,” says Denz, “which means, of course, that we have less time for other activities.”
Denz also observes that while online teaching has some time-management benefit for students, it comes at a cost. “Our students tell us that they miss informal interactions with others” in settings such as student restaurants, learning spaces and teams. “Students might be suffering from it,” she says. Amid the current uncertainty, young people at a variety of career stages appear, in her view, to be having “really fundamental thoughts about the future.”
Anna Peacock also wonders about the pandemic’s impact on future education. “We just don’t know what our student body is going to look like next year, and for how many years it’s going to be impacted, so universities could shrink in size,” she says. “There is a lot of uncertainty ahead.”
“Science needs teamwork for the future,” Denz adds. “Big ideas only stem from teams that have diverse people with different backgrounds, and people that speak together.” Such serendipity, she says, is less likely to arise from Zoom meetings—and even face-to-face in research labs currently burdened by tightly policed social-distancing and separation rules.
Surprising outcomes
Denz thinks that, while researchers were able to write papers and do administrative work during the shutdown, the forced hiatus in lab work will ultimately affect her group’s productivity. The impact, she believes, is likely to be felt three to six months hence, when “the lab results are lacking that should lead to new papers. There will be a gap that will be felt afterward.”
Nonetheless, the period hasn’t been free of its positive aspects. Stavros Pissadakis at FORTH–IESL says that, disruptive as the lockdown period has been, he found it “quite useful to restructure many things”—to investigate new ideas, and to think about how his research group’s goals on photonic sensors, processes and codes of practice might be reshaped, potentially in radical ways. “At the end of the day, for me, it was an opportunity.”
Iain Neil.
Indeed, for some optical consultants, the coronavirus created an unexpected surge of new business. Iain Neil is an optical design and technology consultant based in Lugano, Switzerland—a country that, on a per capita basis, was “pretty hard-hit” by the coronavirus, according to Neil, despite “a fairly strict lockdown from quite early on.” Yet he says that 2020 will, surprisingly, be “one of my busiest years,” and that he has heard a similar story from numerous other consultants in the optical-tech business.
The reason, says Neil, is that, while many clients had to close their factories, they kept their R&D efforts alive—and even accelerated some back-burnered projects, budget permitting. “The goal with some of my clients seemed to be, ‘Let’s be ready with some new product once this mess cleans up’,” Neil notes. He has even picked up new work during the lockdown from a client he has never actually met in person. “I’ve only spoken with them on Skype, and yet I have a contract with them.”
Fighting COVID with photons
As the coronavirus situation has unfolded, both government and EU scientific funding has largely coalesced around efforts to fight the virus. Some institutions have responded with an unusual interdisciplinary flair. Pissadakis notes that FORTH consists of eight research institutes—not just IESL in photonic science, but also others in areas such as molecular biology and biomedicine, applied math and computer science. “If you distribute the COVID-19 case along an extended value chain, you can see that FORTH can occupy several positions along the chain.”
As a result—with the extra impetus of some national seed funding—FORTH has been making an active effort to “create interdisciplinarity between the groups to address specific problems related to this pandemic,” according to Pissadakis. The organization has been putting lasers and photonics, machine learning, biotech and other disciplines together to explore faster clinical diagnostics of the coronavirus disease, as well as light-driven materials and techniques for disinfection.
An ICFO-led international team recently put on the table some ideas for how antimicrobial UV-C light could be strategically deployed to help scrub the coronavirus from occupied public spaces, without endangering human health. [Image: Sketches by Nacho Gaubert] [Read the OPN story]
A similar spirit is alive at ICFO, according to Lluís Torner. One effort, led by Javier García de Abajo and recently published in ACS Nano, has brought together an international team of scientists in virology, immunology, aerosol physics, architecture and photonics to explore how UV-C light might be safely deployed in buildings to inactivate the SARS-CoV-2 virus indoors. And the institute is involved in other efforts (led by Turgut Durduran, in collaboration with hospitals) toward developing devices and advanced materials for the coronavirus battle.
Indeed, Photonics21’s Giorgio Anania even believes that the COVID-19 crisis, and some photonics-based technologies quickly developed to test for the coronavirus, may have raised Europe’s consciousness about the value of photonics as a target for technology investment. “People are realizing that photonics really is one of the industries for the future,” he says. “When you need fast reaction, when you need breakthroughs, photonics is there.”
Old biases re-emerging?
Yet if the pandemic has highlighted new opportunities in interdisciplinary science, it has also put pressure on old fault lines in family life and gender equity. In Germany, schools and kindergartens are “still almost in complete lockdown,” according to Cornelia Denz—a situation that has left parents scrambling to use scarce holiday and leave time to handle child care. “We could go back to lab work,” Denz says. “But for those who have families or have to care for people at home, there is almost no chance to go back into the workforce.”
The situation has proved particularly baleful for female scientific staff, most of whom are in dual-career couples. Denz has observed that “even in this group of highly academic, educated persons, 80% of the women in dual-career couples took over the care for children, while the men worked at home for their professions.” She fears that, as the lockdowns lift, women may increasingly find themselves relegated to home roles, especially given high unemployment levels. “It may be that highly skilled, highly educated women will enter a trap,” she says, “where, due to the coronavirus, they are more shifted to family work, and will not come out again.”
Denz ties some of this fear to a strain of German conservatism that seeks a return to “traditional” male–female roles. But the issue is far from limited to Germany. In the United Kingdom, for example, a late-May surveyfound that mothers were 23% more likely to have lost their jobs during lockdown than fathers, and were shouldering a far greater share of child care responsibilities than their homebound spouses.
Anna Peacock, at Southampton, believes that focusing on the pandemic’s impact on diversity and inclusion will be crucial as the world climbs out of the crisis. “This really does affect some groups in different ways from other groups,” she says. “And I think that’s going to be a really hard thing to untangle when we come out of this.”
Uncertain road ahead
[Image: Pixabay]
So what does all of this mean in the long haul for European optics and photonics? Iain Neil, the Swiss-based consultant, thinks that the pressure wrought by COVID-19, along with other changes such as the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, will just serve to accelerate changes that were afoot even before the coronavirus washed ashore.
The changes, he says, stem from a combination of factors: the eroding European manufacturing base in optics, the increasing influence of China, and the quickening pace of technological development itself. “There’s going to be an acceleration of change,” he says. “The way companies do business, the way they’re structured—they have to change.”
Cornelia Denz worries that many smaller companies, and even some larger ones, “may not survive” the current crisis. Funding for research could also come under pressure as it competes with the need for vast spending to resuscitate key industries crippled by the pandemic. “If the [German] government makes the decision to fund Lufthansa and the car business and other very big companies, then perhaps there’s less money for a few years for education and research.”
Yet Denz also stresses the positives that could emerge from the experience of the last few months. “As I see it, we could profit from some of the things we’ve learned,” she says—noting, for example, how digital learning tools might be implemented with conventional teaching in new kinds of “flipped” classrooms, and home office hours could be combined with classical office work to give families more options for handling caregiving tasks at home.
“Maybe,” says Denz, “we will learn, from this experience, to take better care of each other in ‘normal’ times as well.”
The European idea
[Image: Pixabay.com]
From another perspective, Denz does wonder whether the “European idea” and a cohesive European Union may end up as casualties of the pandemic. She notes that individual member states have responded to the crisis by raising border restrictions, struggling with their own budgets, and otherwise looking out for their individual interests. “The European idea—which, I think, has made Europe strong in all respects—is going into the background,” Denz says. “This might be a bad thing for the future, because once those ties are broken, you don’t know if they’re coming back with the same speed.”
Giorgio Anania of Photonics21 takes a different line. “My view is clear—I think that ultimately, it strengthens Europe.” While he acknowledges that “step one in any country is doing what it needs to do to survive,” he believes the combination of the coronavirus crisis, the U.S.–China spat and extended, vulnerable global supply chains will increasingly “push Europe to band together.”
He finds encouragement, for example, in the fact that the continent’s largest economy, Germany—which, during the financial crisis after 2007, consistently stood against concerted European stimulus measures—has appeared much more expansive in the pandemic emergency. It has even supported (with France) the concept of eurozone bonds to help other crippled European economies through the crisis.
“I think Germany’s reaching the conclusion that it actually has more to gain longer term by having a village around it,” Anania concludes, “as opposed to just protecting its own home.
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