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Yusuf Qosim: Finding Time For Allah In Today's Fast Paced World (2)
By 1one4 Team On Jan 25, 2013 1858 Views
I wish to cite two examples in our history of where an opportunity was seized and another of where it was lost: 1) In the Khilaafate of Sayyiduna Umar (May Allah be pleased with him), during one of his famous nightly patrols, while resting against a wall of a particular house, he overheard a conversation from within that house between an elderly woman and her daughter. They were people who sold milk. The mother, in order to increase the volume of the milk encouraged her daughter to mix water with the milk. The girl refused saying that the Khalifa Umar (May Allah be pleased with him) has prohibited such practices. The mother retorted that at this odd hour of the night how would Umar (May Allah be pleased with him) be aware of what they were doing? The girl than said, \'But Allah (SWT) knows!\' Sayyiduna Umar (May Allah be pleased with him) was so impressed with this response that he asked his servant to mark this house and they both returned home. The next morning Umar (May Allah be pleased with him) sent his servant to enquire as to whether the young girl was married. He was informed that she was unmarried. Sayyiduna Umar (May Allah be pleased with him) called his three sons together and asked which of them would like to get married because he has found an ideal woman. He also told them that had it not been for his old age he would have married the woman. One of his sons, Aasim (May Allah be pleased with him), indicated his willingness and the proposal was duly sent and accepted. This couple had a daughter who later married and had a son. This son grew up to be Umar bin Abdul Aziz (May Allah have mercy on him). The Noble Messenger of Allah (PBUH) mentioned in a hadith \'Surely, Allah will send for this Ummah at the beginning of every hundred years a person who will revive its religion for it\' - (Hadith-Abu Dawud) for the past fourteen hundred years all scholars have reached consensus (they%20differ regarding every other century) only on one person and that is none other than Umar bin Abdul Aziz (May Allah have mercy on him) whom they regard to be the Mujaddid (Reviver) of the first century of Islam. He was also regarded to be the fifth Khalif of Islam. He ruled with such justice that was reminiscent of the Khilafate of his great grandfather Sayyiduna Umar (May Allah be pleased with him). It is said that in his time, which unfortunately lasted only two years, the wolves and sheep would drink from the same watering hole without the wolves devouring the sheep, indicative of his justice. On a particular day a wolf devoured a sheep which prompted the shepherd to say t hat, \'Today justice has been removed from this world. The Khalifa has passed away\'. Upon enquiry it was found that the Khalifa had indeed passed away! This was an example of an opportunity seized by Sayyiduna Umar (May Allah be pleased with him). 2) In the early days of the mission of the Noble Messenger of Allah (PBUH) a man from Taif came to Makka Mukkarrama for some business. When he went to the Haram he saw a man, a woman and a young boy doing, what he thought, were strange actions. His curiosity aroused, he enquired from Abbas( RA), the uncle of the Noble Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) as to what it was that they were doing and who these people were. He was told that this is my nephew Muhammad (PBUH), who claims to be a prophet, his wife Khadijah (RA) and his cousin Ali (RA) and they claim to be worshipping their God and they have rejected the religion of their forefathers. The man, being interested, thought for a moment and than decided that as he was in a hurry he needed to leave. He reasoned that as his business interests brought him frequently to Makka he would meet Muhammed (PBUH) on his next business trip ... fast forward 20 years later, in the year after the conquest of Makka, an entire group of people come to Medina Munawwarah to accept Islam at the hands of the Noble Messenger of Allah (PBUH). Amongst this group was a man who was crying profusely! He was asked as to what is it that has caused him to weep so much. He replied that many years earlier he had an opportunity of being from amongst the first to embrace Islam and he let that opportunity pass by. This was the reason for his crying. In fact his name is not even mentioned in the narrations so all that he is now, is a statistic, when he could have been one of the well known personalities of Islam. This is an example of an opportunity not seized. With regards to health an incident comes to mind. A few years back a scholar from Palestine narrated an incident of a youngster in Palestine who was a very wealthy businessman. They had been to visit him encouraging him to spend some of his time for the sake of Allah and contribute towards the benefit of the community through active involvement in meeting people and giving them encouragement. His response was always that he was too busy in his business and had no time. One day while driving one of his fancy cars he met up in a severe accident that resulted in him being totally paralysed from his neck down. When he was visited in hospital he began to cry and he said, \'Pray that Allah (SWT) gives me my health back so that I can assist you in good works\' As far as our health is concerned we have no guarantee and incidents like the one mentioned above are a common occurrence these days. In fact the Noble Messenger of Allah (SWT) has said: Value five before five, youth before old age, good health before sickness, free time before you become occupied, wealth before poverty and life before death. (Hadith-Narrated by Ibn Abbas in the Mustadrak of Hakim & Musnad Imam Ahmad) It is mentioned that the Companions (May Allah be pleased with them) were very easy with their money but very tight with their time. Whenever they%20parted company they would recite this Surah Al Asr so as to remind themselves of the importance of time and its correct utilisation. In other words they parted easily with their money but not their time. May Allah (SWT) make it possible for us to value both our health, time and to understand that as long as we have both of them we have an ideal opportunity for good.
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#ABBYSTRONG initiative launched
By The EditorNovember 10, 2016Extras
Submitted. Businesses in Abbotsford are banding together in the wake of the tragedy at Abbotsford Senior Secondary to raise funds for the victims’ families and help the community heal by spreading a message of strength and love with sales of #ABBYSTRONG t-shirts and window stickers.
The initiative spearheaded by Josh and Gina Vanderheide, owners of Field House Brewing Co., is a collaborative effort with several dozen Abbotsford businesses and the City of Abbotsford. Together, these community partners have raised $20,000 to kick start the #ABBYSTRONG project. Gina, who is a teacher at Abbotsford Senior Secondary School and was at the school when the tragedy occurred, felt compelled to do something to help.
“Our intention is more than just financial support,” said Gina Vanderheide. “We developed the #ABBYSTRONG initiative with the common goal of displaying strength and resolve in our community in an effort to spread a positive message of hope in the wake of this terrible tragedy that has shaken the entire community.”
The t-shirts and bumper stickers are available for purchase at Abbotsford City Hall, Spruce Collective, UFV Bookstore, Field House Brewing Co. High Street Shopping Centre and Whatcom Wine and Spirits. The t-shirts are being sold for $25 and the window stickers are just $2. Orders over 50 can be made by contacting WeAreAbbyStrong@gmail.com. Net proceeds from the sale of all #ABBYSTRONG t-shirts and bumper stickers will go directly to the families of the victims, with the goal of raising $50,000.
On November 10, organizers will be providing a t-shirt for every student and teacher at Abbotsford Senior Secondary School along with window stickers as a show of support from the community.
As part of the campaign, organizers are encouraging people to post pictures of themselves wearing their t-shirts on social media and tag #ABBYSTRONG as a show of solidarity for the cause. The public is also being encouraged to join the #ABBYSTRONG movement on Facebook.
So far the outpouring of local support for the campaign has been substantial with many local businesses donating their resources and financial support. Partner businesses include Brickhouse Signs, Alliance Clothing, Spruce Collective, Field House Brewing Co., High Street Shopping Centre, Whatcom Wine and Spirits, Klaassen Business Group – as well as financial contributions from Tourism Abbotsford and City of Abbotsford to help fund the initial costs of the campaign.
For more information, visit www.weareABBYSTRONG.com.
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The Russian Mafia in Asia
By Bertil Lintner (3 February, 1996)
"In Russia, the brigand is the only true revolutionary. He is a revolutionary without phrases, without bookish rhetoric...the brigands of the forests, towns and villages, scattered throughout Russia, together with the brigands confined in the innumerable prisons of the empire - these constitute a single, indivisible, tight-knit world, and in it alone, there has always been revolutionary conspiracy. Anyone in Russia who seriously want to conspire, anyone who wants a people's revolution, must go into this world."
- Russian 19th century anarchist Mikhail Bakunin.
Every month, Valerian, a Russian gangster, pays a tenth of his income to the Church in Ho Chi Minh City. "That's why I'm still alive. I believe in God," he says sipping at a glass of vodka in one of the city's many newly opened bars. "I don't like what I'm doing. But for us there is no other choice if we want to make money."
Only a few years ago, Valerian was an academic in Vladivostok on the Japan Sea in eastern Siberia. We discuss Mayakovsky's poetry and the wars between Peter the Great and Charles XII of my own country, Sweden. But Valerian's speciality is Asia. In fact, he holds a Ph.D. in East Asian studies. He also speaks fluent Vietnamese - and that was the why he was hired by the group to which he now belongs: a gang of Russian mobsters who have established themselves in Vietnam. His burly boss sits in the middle of the crowd at the bar, drink in his hand and surrounded by Valerian and other gang members. When the Boss speaks - which he does often and loudly - his underlings remain silent, nodding their heads.
"Do you want to know about a Russian patriot who loved his country? A person who said, 'fuck you, Russia' and went to Vung Tau to become rich?" the Boss says, clinking his glass of vodka against my mug of beer. "You must be talking about yourself," I say with Valerian as the interpreter. The Boss laughs uproariously at his rather meaningless joke, but his followers have to laugh politely and nod in agreement.
Valerian and his gang, like all other organised criminals, are engaged in a wide variety of both legal and illegal activities. Their company rents out Russian helicopters in Vung Tau, a Vietnamese port and beach resort where many foreign oil companies exploring in the South China Sea are based. They also import diamonds from the mines in Siberia and sell them to the many nouveaux riche in today's Ho Chi Minh City, which has regained its freewheeling lifestyle of the pre-war era.
"But why are you so afraid of losing your life?" I ask Valerian. A tenth to the Church every month? He fixes his eyes upon me and looks serious for the first time since we met in this racy bar in Ho Chi Minh City. "Do you want to know how we make big bucks? If Russian businessmen want to set up shop here, we provide protection. Competitors, we can eliminate." He purses his mouth and makes a sudden sweeping movement with his right hand.
Most Russian criminal organisations use former KGB agents as hitmen, and Valerian's gang is no exception. Following the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union in 1991, the old KGB was replaced by a new, more professional spy agency called the SVR, or the state intelligence bureau. The SVR was modelled after its Western equivalents, the CIA and Britain's MI-6: a tightly knit group of analysts attached to embassies abroad. But back home in Russia, this reorganisation meant that over 200,000 former informers, street detectives and gunmen lost their jobs. It is those thugs who the Russian mafia now uses all over the world to carry out "special assignments," as Valerian puts it.
The Russian mafia in Vietnam is reputed to collect millions of dollars every month in protection money from their many countrymen who want to set up business in the only country in the booming Far East where the Russians have had power and influence for years. I ask Valerian where they "eliminate" their targets: in Vietnam or in Russia.
"We don't want to upset our arrangements here. We do things cleanly, we have good connections with the police," he says. "So we wait until they return to Russia. We can even have undesirables expelled by the Vietnamese authorities. In Russia, you can have an ordinary person killed there for 200, 400 or 600 dollars. A police chief or a bank director? Perhaps as much as 20,000 dollars. But nothing is impossible. That's why I don't want to go home. I'd be killed immediately by people who have become my enemies. You just can't imagine how dangerous it is in Russia today. No one is safe. At least 20 people get killed in Moscow alone every day."
It soon becomes obvious that contract killings are not the only criminal activity they direct from Ho Chi Minh City and Vung Tau. As they talk openly about their business, and the levels in the vodka bottles sink, a couple of Australians join us at the bar. They look rough, like oil workers, with tattoos on their arms. The Boss recognises them immediately. "Rudy!" he says, slapping the oil worker on the back. But because the Boss's English is fairly limited, Valerian has to intervene. I hear the word "white pussy" and the name of a hotel in town where the oil workers are told to go and wait. I have already learned from a bicycle-taxi driver that there are many Russian prostitutes in Ho Chi Minh City. They stay in small, discreet hotels where they are protected by gangs such as Valerian's.
Nobody know how many Russian gangsters - or prostitutes - there are in Vietnam today. But since the fall of communism in the former Soviet Union four years ago, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of Russians in Asia. The exodus has been more massive than after the first Russian Revolution in 1917, when hordes of defeated anti-communist fighters, and their families, arrived in the Far East. Most sought refuge in the International Settlement in Shanghai, where the Russian population by the mid-1930s numbered 25,000. As author Lynn Pan puts it, "dispossessed, deprived of citizenship, socially, they occupied a grey area between white expatriates and Chinese." The men became bodyguards and riding instructors; the women hair-dressers, cabaret dancers and prostitutes, selling their services to all buyers, Chinese and Europeans alike.
In the present second wave of migration to the Far East, it is not only Vietnam which has received a massive influx of Russians. The number of Russian visitors to Thailand has increased from only a few hundred in the late 1980s to 24,000 in 1993, 31,000 the following year and nearly 50,000 in 1995. Entire Russian quarters have sprung up in the beach resort of Pattaya east of Bangkok. Officially, they are "tourists". Most of them are small-scale merchants who buy electronics and textiles in Asia and sell them in Russia for a modest profit. But many remain behind in Thailand to run restaurants which serve borsch, shashlik and, when available, Russian caviar. Some talented young men find jobs as jazz musicians in clubs catering to the Bangkok's affluent, new middle class. Many Russian girls work as entertainers in Bangkok's numerous night clubs, or can be hired as "escorts".
The police in Bangkok estimate that there are now at least 5,000 Russian prostitutes in Thailand, and the number is likely to increase the wealthier the country becomes. According to a Bangkok-based diplomat: "There's no shortage of local prostitutes in Bangkok. But rich Thai, Chinese, Japanese and Korean businessmen prefer white girls. It gives them prestige." The prices they charge - US$ 200-400 as opposed to US$ 20-30 for a Thai girl - contribute to their special value in terms of social status.
The girls are believed to have come to Asia through networks operated by the Russian mafia. But in the Far East as well as in North America and in Europe - and even in Moscow and Vladivostok - it is hard to say what the term "mafia" actually means in today's chaotic Russian context. Stephen Handelman, a journalist who was Moscow Bureau Chief of The Toronto Star from 1987 to 1992 and an expert on Russian organised crime, estimates that total active gang membership today is actually not more than 100,000 people. Between 3,000 and 4,000 gangs operate all over Russia, which means that most of them are fairly small, most probably loosely organised and that their activities - as well as members - often overlap.
Valerian and his colleagues are a typical example of this phenomenon: a small gang which is engaged in a variety of criminal and legal businesses to survive in today's Russia, a society where the law has little meaning. Following the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union in 1991, and the break-up of the former empire into 15 separate republics, there was no new system that overnight could replace the old one, which for all its flaws and shortcomings had still provided a functioning administrative superstructure.
The new Russia that emerged was not the democratic state which many had hoped for: gangsterism reigns, and corruption and abuse of power has followed the breakdown of social and civil order. Handelman argues in his book about the Russian mafia, "Comrade Criminal", that "the second Russian revolution is not over; it has only been stolen." The communist system has been overthrown, but the mafia, not the people, became the new rulers.
The Russian criminal underworld is actually not new: it existed during the communist regime as well when gangsters of all kinds were running the ubiquitous black market in the former Soviet Union. But, as Handelman points out, "their cohesiveness and wealth enabled them to survive the collapse of the old regime, and to profit from the disarray of the new one."
Criminal cartels, despite their haphazard structures, are believed to control as much as 40% of Russia's wealth. They run their own banks, they manipulate stock exchanges and the real-estate market and they have managed to turn crime into the only really profitable growth-industry in the post-Soviet era. According to Handelman: "As the hopes engendered by the dismantling of communism turned sour, demokratiya practically disappeared from everyday Russian usage. Instead of democracy, the new word sprinkled through conversations was bespredel (literally, without limits) - a word which captured Russians' sense of living in a frontier where all the comforting signposts were missing."
The new hero in Russia is the gangster, sometimes outlandishly dressed in a striped suit and dark sunglasses, today's version of the old Russian brigands of the 19th century. During the communist regime, it was fashionable for Russian girls to have an artist, a rock singer or even a journalist as a boyfriend. Now, trendy young females want mafia boys.
The strength of the Russian mafia lies in its undisputed role in its home country, its ability to operate openly and with impunity in a society which has collapsed. Moreover, as Major Sergei Avdienko, Russian liaison officer at the Interpol European Secretariat, said in a speech in late 1993: "From Siberia in the north to the Afghanistan frontier in the south, from the Far East of Russia to what was East Germany in the west, people have one thing in common - they speak or understand Russian and this facilitates cooperation between criminals."
Vietnam, a country with thousands of Russian speakers and where the Russians themselves have been present since the Vietnam War, also fits into this pattern of Russian gangsterism abroad. It is hardly surprising that small gangs like Valerian's have managed to establish good contacts in the shady world of gangsters, police and civil authorities who in a seemingly paradoxical symbiosis often control criminal activities in East Asia.
In Thailand, the Russians have also, despite differences in language and culture, managed to carve out a niche for themselves where they can earn money mainly because they have proved that they can satisfy some of the demands of their host country. But elsewhere in Asia, the rough, badly organised Russian mafia has not managed to challenge the power of the region's traditionally well-established gangs: the Chinese Triads, the Japanese yakuza and its Korean equivalents.
"Shanghai, Bangkok and Hong Kong are not London, Paris or New York. In the West, the Russians feel at home, they're familiar with local conditions and know how to operate. In Asia, it's an entirely different ball game," says a Western law enforcement official in Bangkok who is observing the arrival of the Russians in the Far East.
This subordinate role the Russians are playing in Asia is evident in their role as prostitutes and, in the case of the men, the cheapest and most willing drug couriers - and the fact that in both cases they often work for Asian gangs. Nowhere is this illustrated more clearly than in the Portugese enclave of Macau on the South China coast, where Russian gangs until only a few years ago were running prostitution rings, but had to give them up to local Chinese Triads (see separate story).
Now that China is rediscovering its capitalist past, Russian prostitutes are also back in large numbers in Shanghai. Valerian tells me with bitterness that his ex-wife now dances in a Shanghai night club. He doesn't know which one, since they lost contact more than a year ago. "But she works for some bloody chinks, that's all I know," he says, with the racism of the New Russia evident in his remarks.
But I have no reason to doubt him. In a dimly lit night club in the old "Paris of the East," young, blonde girls sing love songs from the Russian tundra while the overwhelmingly Chinese audience clap their hands in rhythm with the hip movements of the dancers. A Russian jazz band plays in the background - and, by the entrance, two Chinese punters, each with a conspicuous bulge under the left armpit, are keeping an eye on the customers.
After nearly half a century of puritan communism, the old Shanghai has been reborn with even more jazz, glitter and razzmatazz than in the 1930s. This particular night club, I am told, is a joint venture between a Taiwanese gang and officers of the Chinese Public Security Bureau, China's own version of the KGB, the CIA, the FBI and the traffic police, all rolled in one.
The involvement of the Russian mafia in the marketing of stolen ex-Soviet Army weapons, which later turned up in the ethnic conflicts on Russia's southern borders in Central Asia, is well-documented, as is the role of areas such as the rebellious Chechen republic in the Caucasus in the new drug trade from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan to Russia and Europe.
But the role of Russians as couriers in the Southeast Asian drug trade only became known when in November 1992 the Moscow police made its first seizure of Golden Triangle heroin. The incident involved a Russian prostitute who had been working in the Far East, and it was soon to be followed by many more, similar cases in different parts of the world. In early 1993, the first Russians selling drugs from the Golden Triangle were arrested in New York.
The number of Russians working for Chinese syndicates either as prostitutes, drug couriers or as minor business partners is likely to increase as the situation in Russia continues to deteriorate. The only two Russia-based gangs which may be able to play a more important role in the overall context of organised crime in East Asia may, not surprisingly perhaps, be gangs involving the large Asian population of the former Soviet Union. The first consists of Vietnamese who have stayed behind in Russia and run a large portion of the black market, prostitution, drug smuggling rings and foreign exchange scams there. The other is made up of ethnic Koreans from eastern Siberia.
Valerian describes Vladivostok as a city "without limits", beyond control of the authorities and already in the hands of the gangs: "But there are too many gangs there. All of them ask shopkeepers and others for protection money; there's complete chaos. If you pay one gang but not another, you may still get shot."
However, the best-organised - as well as the most vicious - gangs in Vladivostok are the Korean. During the Stalin era, Koreans were resettled in Siberia and others were even transferred to the steppes of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in Central Asia. "They kill anybody to protect Korean interests," says Valerian. More importantly, they have regional links of a kind which other Russian-based gangs often lack. Many recent cases point at connections with North Korea, where many of the Siberian Koreans have relatives and other contacts dating back to the communist era in the former Soviet Union. There is also a significant Korean minority in northeastern China, which used to be known as Manchuria.
Local officials in China's Yanbian Autonomous Region claim that the North Koreans - or gangs with North Korean connections - are using northern China as a transhipment point for heroin bound for Japan and the USA. In early 1994, an ethnic Korean from China was arrested as he attempted to smuggle through China 300 kg of heroin from North Korea. Chinese border officials reportedly are very concerned about this cross-border traffic, but feel powerless to stem it as most of it occurs across the Yalu and Tumen rivers at night. The origin of the drugs that are being smuggled in this way is unknown, but the raw opium from which the heroin was made is most probably from the Golden Triangle.
Drugs of Southeast Asian origin smuggled through North Korea have also been found in Russia. On 9 June 1994, the Russian authorities across the border from North Korea arrested two North Korean citizens carrying 8 kg of heroin. A Moscow newspaper, Segodnya, reported on 16 June 1994: "To smuggle such a large amount of narcotics from North Korea without the deliberate connivance of the authorities appears most improbable." The value of the heroin seized from the North Korean citizens was US$ 1 million at the going rate on the world drugs market, which is all the more impressive against the backdrop of the economic plight of Kim Il-Sung's regime.
The two North Koreans were later identified as Kim In-Chol and Choe Chong-Su. Both are alleged to be North Korean intelligence officers based in Vladivostok. On 3 January 1995, two North Koreans, one of them in possession of a Democratic People's Republic of Korea passport, were arrested in Shanghai attempting to sell 6 kg of opium. A Macau-based North Korean company that operates as a liaison office for the Korean People's Army has been implicated in the case.
Any evidence of official North Korean involvement in the East Asian drug trade - and links with the ethnic Korean underworld in the Russian Far East - remains circumstantial, although suspicions are strong. With the economic situation in North Korea worsening, Pyongyang's dependence on illicit sources of foreign exchange, such as gun running and most probably also drug trafficking, is likely to increase.
The Russian gangs may play a secondary role in this intricate network of gangsters, governments and security agencies in the Far East. But they are here to stay, and although they may be disorganised compared to other indigenous crime organisations, they are certainly no less brutal. When Valerian and his comrades have finished their drinks and left, I turn to one of the Vietnamese waiters in the bar: "Do you know those guys?"
That they were regulars had been evident from the moment they walked in to order their vodka. But the waiter now cast nervous glances over his shoulders to his colleagues behind the bar. "No. I have never seen them before." As Valerian pointed out, they are well connected and have "good friends" in high places in Ho Chi Minh City.
RUSSIAN ROULETTE IN MACAU
Conservatively dressed in a pin-striped pant suit, with earphones connected to a portable CD-player in her handbag, Yekaterina looks every bit what she would have been if Russia had not collapsed economically and socially: a young female computer specialist. But she earns much more money now than she would have, had she remained in her native Khabarovsk by the Amur river in eastern Siberia. Yekaterina charges 1,000 Hong Kong dollars per short-time session in a room in one of the poshest hotels in the Portugese enclave Macau. Her customers are almost exclusively wealthy Chinese, Japanese and Korean businessmen whom she picks up in the hotel's coffee shop.
"I can serve up to eight customers a day", she says, almost defiantly, when I ask her about her business. It is if she were trying to say: that's 8,000 Hong Kong dollars. Is that bad? Can you make that much money? After all, she comes from an old and proud civilisation, a country which until only a few years ago was a superpower. The tragedy of today's Russia is evident in the entire scene in the coffee shop in Macau: it is full of tired and weary, long-legged blonde girls - and few look as proper as Yekaterina. Nearly all have thick layers of make-up on their faces. One is dressed in a daring miniskirt and leather boots which reach almost to her knees. Many smoke incessantly.
But regardless of their appearance, most of them come from backgrounds similar to Yekaterina's. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, she was only 19 and still struggling with her computer course at a university in Khabarovsk. But she became pregnant and her boyfriend left her. With a new-born son to support - and with parents whose old state pension still stood at 20,000 roubles a month, or approximately US$ 5, despite rampant inflation - she had to take whatever offers came her way. One day she saw a poster on a telephone pole in Khabarovsk: well-paid jobs for women available in the Far East.
Yekaterina rang the number which was listed on the poster. A Russian syndicate escorted her and a number of other girls through China to Macau. That was her first trip, which lasted two months, until her visa for Macau ran out. "You can work in Russia, too," she says. "But for crumbs. Nothing." She is deeply disillusioned with the new politicians in Russia, who she says "promise everything and give nothing."
The communist leaders were the same, she states, but somewhat surprisingly, she expresses admiration for Stalin. "He was strong, that's what my mother told me." I ask her if her mother knows what she does, and the mix of sadness and defiance comes back in her voice: "How can a mother ask her daughter such a question when she understands what's going on? I send my parents money, they would not survive otherwise."
She smiles awkwardly after a while: "No, money, no honey, you know. It's as simple as that. And we Russian girls offer good services. We may be expensive, but our customers get value for their money." Unlike other prostitutes in the territory, no one can bargain with the Russian girls. The price is fixed: 1,000 Hong Kong dollar, take it or leave it. "I don't come down a single kopek," Yekaterina says, again defiant.
Girls like Yekaterina can be found all over Macau today. The local authorities here are much less rigid when it comes to law enforcement than their Hong Kong counterparts. Apart from gambling - which is Macau's main source of income - there is also widespread prostitution and all sorts of vice, much of which is controlled by local Chinese Triads. In the beginning, they cooperated with the Russian syndicates which brought the girls to Macau. But by a curious twist of events, the Russian mafia has recently been squeezed out of the Portuguese territory.
On July 24th, 1994, a couple was found dead in a dingy flat in a working-class suburb of Vladivostok in the Russian Far East. The man had been shot once through the eye and the girl had been tortured and then shot in the head. Such murders are everyday occurrences in today's Russia and mostly pass unnoticed in the world of drive-by shootings, kidnappings, smuggling and gambling which characterise the port city of Vladivostok even more than other places in the Russian Wild East.
But this case received the attention of even the world media when the identity of the murdered couple became known. The man turned out to be Gary Alderdice, a 48-year old New Zealander, a top Queen's Counsel and one of Hong Kong's leading criminal lawyers, as well as a well-known socialite in the British colony. The girl, who was found tied to a chair in a dingy flat in Vladivostok, was identified as Natalia Samofalova, a 20-year old Russian prostitute whom Alderdice had first met at the Skylight nightclub in the Hotel Presidente on Avenida Da Amizade in Macau.
The police investigation into the case revealed that Alderdice had had US$ 150,000 in cash on him just hours before he and his Russian girlfriend were shot. This led to speculations that he had gone to Vladivostok to buy Natalia free from the syndicate which many suspected had controlled her when she worked as a nightclub dancer in Macau only weeks before her escape with Alderdice. According to the police investigation, Natalia had entered Macau in August 1993 and first met Alderdice in March 1994. In May, she left her work at the Skylight to live with the New Zealand lawyer.
The front for the syndicate which had sent Natalia, Yekaterina and other Russian girls to Macau was the "tourism department" of a local "firm" in Siberia called Dialog Naradov ("Dialogue of Nations"). A "chief executive" of that company, Sergei Guramovitch Sukhanov, was seen in the area on the night of the murders, which seemed to strengthen that suspicion.
However, Hong Kong lawyer Michael Lunn, a colleague of Alderdice, went to Vladivostok shortly after the murder to identify the corpse - and to find out more about the case. He returned to Hong Kong in July 1994 with the conclusion that the sole motive for the murder was robbery. He also questioned press reports that Alderdice was carrying as much as US$ 150,000 with him, saying he entered Russia with less than US$ 3,000.
This assumption is supported by Yekaterina - who reveals that she she knew Natalia very well. In fact, they lived together in Edificio Jardim, a luxury apartment block in Praceta De Miramar near the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal before Natalia met Alderdice. "It was just robbery, that happens all the time in Russia," Yekaterina says. "That foreigner just made the mistake of revealing that he was carrying lots of money. Life is cheap in Russia today." Many girls are killed as soon as they return to Russia with money which they have saved up in Macau and elsewhere in the Far East - for their money and with a "fee" to the gunman which may be as little as US$ 200.
But the publicity which the case of Alderdice and Natalia attracted led to a crackdown on Russian prostitution in Macau - in true Macau style. The Russians males from the "Dialogue of Nations" were forced to leave along with over 100 girls who were rounded up and expelled from the territory. Then, local Chinese gangs took over the entire operation. The Russian males have not been allowed to return, but the girls are once again to be found everywhere in Macau, from the Lisboa Hotel coffee shop, a popular meeting place for people who have just won some money in the establishment's casino downstairs, to the glitzy China City night club, a massive entertainment complex in the same street as Hotel Presidente, where Natalia once worked.
The famous Tonnochy Nightclub in Rua Da Praia Grande in central Macau is another popular place and its supply of girls actually reads like a real "dialogue of nations". Apart from Russians, there are also Chinese girls from every province on the mainland, Brazilians, Colombians, Koreans, Thais and Filipinas. The decor seems to be out of a Chinese Kung Fu movie: chrome, glass and red silk - and private rooms where the customers can meet the "hostesses" of their choice to discuss the price for further activities.
Yekaterina says that the girls at the China City and Tonnochy sign four to six month contracts with the owners, with whom they share their income 50-50. "But it's safer to work in a club than to be freelance," she adds. "There are lots of regular customers." The Japanese are the best and the most generous, she says. The Chinese and the Koreans are acceptable too, but the Europeans are the worst: "They're too stingy," scorns Yekaterina.
With the Russian males gone from Macau, I ask her who brings the girls to Macau now and who protects them once they are here. She answers the first question without hesitating: "We know our way by now. It's not difficult." A new flight from Khabarovsk to Seoul, South Korea, has opened an alternative route to the longer and more awkward one through China. After spending a few days in Seoul, the girls fly on to Hong Kong where they catch the hydrofoil across the Pearl River estuary to Macau. "But we're treated like dirt," she says. "A Russian passport? You're in for trouble at every immigration checkpoint in the world. It's even easier for the Thais and the Filipinas."
I try to steer the conversation back to the question of protection. "We are well protected," she replies diplomatically. "We have good relations here." She reveals that her boyfriend is a local policeman in Macau, a territory where the line between what is legal and illegal has always been somewhat blurred.
But more importantly, the new prostitution scene in Macau demonstrates both the weaknesses of the chaotic, ill-organised Russian mafia - as well as the strength and power of the Chinese Triads. Says a Western law enforcement official in Southeast Asia: "The Russians are no match for well-organised local gangs. They have to be content with playing second fiddle if they want to get any share of the cake in this part of the world."
NOTE. Valerian and Yekaterina are not the real names of the Russians interviewed in these articles. However, all other persons and places are mentioned by their real names.
(Bertil Lintner researched these stories over a six-month period in Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Shanghai and Macau. The story appeared in the May 1996 issue of the Tokyo Journal, and in Manager magazine [Thailand], April 1996)
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1. A Charity Bazaar for Senior Citizens
Offering food and objects from more than 30 different countries and regions, a special bazaar was held in Beijing on September 24.The Association of Former Diplomats in the Beijing International Club
Author: DING YING Year 2002 Issue 42 PDF HTML
2. Calling for a More Open Capital Market
Officials, economists and their overseas advisors said China can already afford to have a more open capital market at a recent Beijing seminarThe development of China's half-open capital market is at
3. Nutty for Noodles
Lanzhou protects its most famous, and tasty, brand - big bowls of beef noodlesTo most Chinese, when they think of Lanzhou, nestled in northwest China's Gansu Province, they think of a big bowl of
4. Fall of A Media 'Empire'
A media legend fell from grace in September when Liu Bo, former Chairman of the Hainan-based Chengcheng Culture Development Group (Chengcheng), allegedly fled the country after coming under
5. Creative Job Creator for Youth
Liu Jiangang was a salesman with a private enterprise in Beijing. When he lost his job months ago, he had hoped to make a fortune by offering quality household management services to wealthy people.
Author: DING YING Year 2004 Issue 3 PDF HTML
6. A Story of Reciprocity
One is a developing country with the world's fastest developing economy and the other is the world's second wealthiest nation; one needs the other's capital and technologies during its economic
7. Roadmap to War?
Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan irrevocably damaging the situation in the Mideast'It's death whether by killing or by cancer; it's the same thing. Nothing will change. Whether by Apache
8. Democracy Step by Step
Hong Kong's democracy must be promoted gradually and in accordance with the lawThe Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, adopted a decision in Beijing
9. Blueprint for An Orderly World
Since jointly initiated by the prime ministers of China, India and Myanmar in June 1954, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence-mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual
10. Quiet Handover
U.S.-dominated coalition authority surprises the world with a low-profile ceremony to hand over sovereignty to Iraq's interim government on June 28, two days ahead of scheduleAfter nearly 15 months
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5 chegongzhuang Xilu, P.O.Box 399-T, Beijing, China, 100048
Email: cmjservice@mail.cibtc.com.cn
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Thematic routes
Town of Petrich
Razhdak Village
Belasitsa Village
Kolarovo Village
Samuilovo Village
Kamena Village
Yavornitsa Village
Klyuch Village
Skrat Village
Gabrene Village
Landscapes 2
Klyuch is a village in the municipality of Petrich, located at 20 km to the southwest of the municipal center in the foothills of Belasitsa Mountain, at about 200 m a.s.l. The quarter of Samuilova Krepost was attached to the village in 1958. Local people grow tobacco, vegetables, vines and sheep. The village has 320 houses and 1170 citizens at the average age of 45 years. Electrification and water systems have been fully built; sewage is built at 60%.
The primary school of Hristo Smirnenski was opened in 1915. Cultural activities are the domain of the Gotse Delchev Chitalishte. On the Samuil Fortress Hill (5 km north of the village) stand the National Memorial Complex of Tsar Samuil (997-1014) and his army. On the same hill, scientists have found remains of a Thracian settlement (3rd-1st c. BC) and of Medieval Bulgarian settlement (9th-10th c.) burnt at the end of the 10th c. In the early 11th c., a fortification was erected on top of its ruins. South of the village, there are the remains of another fortification from the Roman epoch used in the 11th c. as one of the elements of the Klyuch Defense Line of the State of Tsar Samuil.
The name of the village comes from the Byzantine name of the gorge – Kleydion – meaning key or “klyuch” in Bulgarian. Archaeological excavations held in 1970-76 on the territory of Samuil’s Fortress have discovered several pits with built-in fireplaces and dugout homes – typical Slav dwellings from the time of the First Bulgarian Kingdom. This place was called Kufulnitsa – a Greek word meaning something hollow. For the celebrations of the 1300th anniversary of the Bulgarian State, the National Museum Park of Samuil’s Fortress was opened in 1981.
A signed trail leads from Klyuch to Mt. Tumba. The vicinities of the village host the cave of Lednika, Markova Rock and the historic site of Gergevche. There are several localities whose names are related to the dramatic Belasihka Battle from 1014: Kokalitsa (where the bones of Samuil’s soldiers were buried); Smardashets (where some of them were leaved to rot and smell); Vadioch (where the 14000 captured soldiers were blinded). In 1913 and 1924, Bulgarian refugees from the villages of Ledovo, Gorni Poroi and Matnitsa came to settle here. The main means of livelihood remained agriculture.
The church holiday is on August 2 (old-style Ilinden); a ritual Kurban is cooked on July 20. Horse races are organized on Todorov Den. The local Chitalishte of Gotse Delchev has a male folklore group, a mandolin orchestra and children’s dance group.
Phone code of Klyuch: (0)74202; postal code: 2899.
The village of Klyuch is receiver of the GOLDEN STAMP Prize for a Unique European Settlement for its ancient history and unique cultural heritage. The prize was presented by the European Experts Forum. Other settlements with the same prize are Florence, Drama, Strasbourg and many others.
Part of the information comes from the unpublished book of Simeon Bliznakov.
Map of the region
The project is financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the state budget of the Republic of Bulgaria through Operational programme “Environment 2007 – 2013”. The Directorate of Natural park Belasitsa (Executive Forest Agency) takes the full responsibility for the content of this website. This content cannot be taken as opinions of the EU and Bulgarian government represented by the Ministry of Environment and Water.
2880 Kolarovo village,
Petrich Municipality
14, Belasitsa Street
Tel: 00359 7423 20 03
Fax: 00359 7423 20 33
Directorate of Natural Park "Belasitsa" :: 2015 © All rights reserved
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Why You Should Treat Your iPhone Like a Toddler: The State of Mobile App Security [TCTV]
By: TechCrunch
March 02, 2012 at 17:26 PM EST
Privacy and security issues have been at the forefront of tech news this week, with recently exposed loopholes in Apple's iOS and Google's Android indicating that apps can access much more content on our smartphones than most users realize. Superstar security researcher Ashkan Soltani (his Ashkan Soltani came by the TCTV studio to dig a bit deeper into how safe smartphones are today and whether things are getting better.
Privacy and security issues have been at the forefront of tech news this week, with The New York Times reporting on loopholes in two major mobile operating systems — Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android — that allow apps to access much more personal smartphone content than most users realize.
Superstar security researcher Ashkan Soltani (his résumé includes work with the Federal Trade Commission and The Wall Street Journal and giving testimony in front of Congress about mobile privacy) was in San Francisco this week speaking at the RSA Conference, so yesterday afternoon he came by the TCTV studio to dig a bit deeper into how safe smartphones are today and whether things are getting better.
In short? It’s complicated. But Soltani has clever and compelling ways of describing what’s going on, which made for a pretty fascinating discussion. You can watch the whole interview above; here are just a couple of his points:
Smartphones aren’t as smart as you think
This part of our chat happened off-camera, but Soltani has come up with an interesting analogy: Smartphones today are like toddlers who don’t understand etiquette. Just like a four-year-old who overhears you saying that Aunt Helen is fat (and repeats your statement to Aunt Helen the next time he sees her), mobile operating system software is not yet mature enough to understand that you may want an app to access some of your photos, but not others. That in itself is not necessarily a bad thing, but the real problem is that most average users think their smartphones are a lot smarter than they really are — and are surprised to find out otherwise.
Context is key
But as toddlers grow up, they come to understand that certain information is meant to be shared only with certain people. According to Soltani, smartphone software should evolve in a similar way, learning to keep more data in context. Right now, the only data that smartphones understand to keep private is location data. Going forward, things like photos and texts could start to be treated with more consideration. Even as smartphone security gets more sophisticated, though, average users would do well to be more wary with what they share with their devices.
These are the early days
Even though it may be hard to remember life without your iPhone, Soltani said, it’s important to remember that they’ve only been around for four-and-a-half years (which ties in well with the toddler comparison.) That means that we’re in the very early days of reaching a consensus on where the privacy and security boundaries should be. For comparison, Soltani brought up the car industry: The earliest versions of the Ford Model T were popular but also very dangerous, and it took decades for regulations such as drivers licenses, seat belts, and air bags to create some structure around the industry. It could take some time for the same thing to happen with mobile devices.
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Volume 3 Chapter 4
Selection Of Lands In Caldwell And Daviess Counties For Settlement—Adam-Ondi-Ahman.
The Prophet Leaves Far West to Locate Settlements.
Friday, May 18.—I left Far West, in company with Sidney Rigdon, Thomas B. Marsh, David W. Patten, Bishop Partridge, Elias Higbee, Simeon Carter, Alanson Ripley, and many others, for the purpose of visiting the north country, and laying off a stake of Zion; making locations, and laying claim to lands to facilitate the gathering of the Saints, and for the benefit of the poor, in upholding the Church of God. We traveled to the mouth of Honey Creek, which is a tributary of Grand river, where we camped for the night. We passed through a beautiful country the greater part of which is prairie, and thickly covered with grass and weeds, among which is plenty of game, such as deer, turkey, and prairie hen. We discovered a large, black wolf, and my dog gave him chase, but he outran us. We have nothing to fear in camping out, except the rattlesnake, which is native to this country, though not very numerous. We turned our horses loose, and let them feed on the prairie.
The Prophet and Party Reach Tower Hill.
Saturday, 19.—This morning we struck our tents and formed a line of march, crossing Grand River at the mouth of Honey Creek and Nelson’s Ferry. Grand River is a large, beautiful, deep and rapid stream, during the high waters of Spring, and will undoubtedly admit of navigation by steamboat and other water craft. At the mouth of Honey Creek is a good landing. We pursued our course up the river, mostly through timber, for about eighteen miles, when we arrived at Colonel Lyman Wight’s home. He lives at the foot of Tower Hill (a name I gave the place in consequence of the remains of an old Nephite altar or tower that stood there), where we camped for the Sabbath.
Adam-ondi-Ahman.
In the afternoon I went up the river about half a mile to Wight’s Ferry, accompanied by President Rigdon, and my clerk, George W. Robinson, for the purpose of selecting and laying claim to a city plat near said ferry in Daviess County, township 60, ranges 27 and 28, and sections 25, 36, 31, and 30, which the brethren called “Spring Hill,” but by the mouth of the Lord it was named Adam-ondi-Ahman, 1 because, said He, it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken of by Daniel the Prophet. 2
Sunday, 20.—This day was spent by our company principally at Adam-ondi-Ahman; but near the close of the day, we struck our tents, and traveled about six miles north and encamped for the night with Judge Morin and company, who were also traveling north.
Monday, 21.—This morning, after making some locations in this place, which is in township 61, ranges 27 and 28, we returned to Robinson’s Grove, about two miles, to secure some land near Grand River, which we passed the day previous; and finding a mistake in the former survey, I sent the surveyor south five or six miles to obtain a correct line, while some of us tarried to obtain water for the camp.
Council called to determine Location of Settlements.
In the evening, I called a council of the brethren, to know whether it was wisdom to go immediately into the north country, or tarry here and here abouts, to secure land on Grand River, etc. The brethren spoke their minds freely on the subject, when I stated to the council that I felt impressed to tarry and secure all the land near by, that is not secured between this and Far West, especially on Grand River. President Rigdon concurred, and the council voted unanimously to secure the land on Grand River, and between this and Far West.
Elders Kimball and Hyde this day (21st May) arrived at Kirtland from England.
American Antiquities Discovered.
Tuesday, 22.—President Rigdon went east with a company, and selected some of the best locations in the county, 3 and returned with a good report of that vicinity, and with information of valuable locations which might be secured. Following awhile the course of the company, I returned to camp in Robinson’s Grove, and thence went west to obtain some game to supply our necessities. We discovered some antiquities about one mile west of the camp, consisting of stone mounds, apparently erected in square piles, though somewhat decayed and obliterated by the weather of many years. These mounds were probably erected by the aborigines of the land, to secrete treasures. We returned without game.
Varied Movements of the Prophet’s Company.
Wednesday, 23.—We all traveled east, locating lands, to secure a claim, on Grove Creek, and near the City of Adam-ondi-Ahman. Towards evening I accompanied Elder Rigdon to Colonel Wight’s, and the remainder of the company returned to their tents.
Thursday, 24.—This morning the company returned to Grove Creek to finish the survey, accompanied by President Rigdon and Colonel Wight, and I returned to Far West.
Friday, 25.—The company went up Grand River and made some locations. In the afternoon they struck their tents and removed to Colonel Wight’s.
Saturday, 26.—The company surveyed lands on the other side of the river opposite Adam-ondi-Ahman.
Sunday, 27.—The company locating lands spent the day at Colonel Wight’s.
Monday, 28.—The company started for home (Far West), and I left Far West the same day in company with Brother Hyrum Smith and fifteen or twenty others, to seek locations in the north, and about noon we met President Rigdon and his company going into the city, where they arrived the same evening.
Birth of Alexander Hale Smith.
President Hyrum Smith returned to Far West on the 30th, and I returned on the 1st of June, on account of my family, for I had a son born unto me. 4
The Prophet’s Return to Adam-ondi-Ahman.
Monday, June 4.—I left Far West with President Rigdon, my brother Hyrum and others for Adam-ondi-Ahman, and stayed at Brother Moses Dailey’s over night; and on the morning of the 5th, went to Colonel Lyman Wight’s in the rain. We continued surveying, building houses, day after day, for many days, until the surveyor had completed the city plat.
Monday, June 11.—President Joseph Fielding was married to Hannah Greenwood, Preston, England.
June 16.—My uncle, John Smith, and family, with six other families, arrived in Far West, all in good health and spirits. I counseled them to settle at Adam-ondi-Ahman.
Minutes of the Meeting which Organized the Stake of Zion called Adam-ondi-Ahman.
Adam-ondi-Ahman, Missouri, Daviess county, June 28, 1838. A conference of Elders and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was held in this place this day, for the purpose of organizing this Stake of Zion, called Adam-ondi-Ahman.
The meeting convened at 10 o’clock a. m., in the grove near the house of Elder Lyman Wight.
President Joseph Smith, Jun., was called to the chair. He explained the object of the meeting, which was to organize a Presidency and High Council to preside over this Stake of Zion, and attend to the affairs of the Church in Daviess county.
It was then moved, seconded and carried by the unanimous voice of the assembly, that John Smith 5 should act as President of the Stake of Adam-ondi-Ahman.
Reynolds Cahoon was unanimously chosen first counselor, and Lyman Wight second counselor.
After prayer the presidents ordained Elder Wight as second counselor.
Vinson Knight was chosen acting Bishop pro tempore by the unanimous voice of the assembly.
President John Smith then proceeded to organize the High Council. The councilors were chosen according to the following order, by a unanimous vote: John Lemon, first; Daniel Stanton, second; Mayhew Hillman, third; Daniel Carter, fourth; Isaac Perry, fifth; Harrison Sagers, sixth; Alanson Brown, seventh; Thomas Gordon, eighth; Lorenzo D. Barnes, ninth; George A. Smith, tenth; Harvey Olmstead, eleventh; Ezra Thayer, twelfth.
After the ordination of the councilors who had not previously been ordained to the High Priesthood, President Joseph Smith, Jun., made remarks by way of charge to the presidents and counselors, instructing them in the duties of their callings, and the responsibility of their stations, exhorting them to be cautious and deliberate in all their councils, and be careful and act in righteousness in all things.
President John Smith, Reynolds Cahoon, and Lyman Wight then made some remarks.
Lorenzo D. Barnes was unanimously chosen clerk of this Council and Stake. After singing the well known hymn, Adam-ondi-Ahman, the meeting closed by prayer by President Cahoon, and a benediction by President Joseph Smith, Jun.
Lorenzo D. Barnes,
Isaac Perry, Clerks.
Description of Adam-ondi-Ahman.
Adam-ondi-Ahman is located immediately on the north side of Grand River, in Daviess county, Missouri, about twenty-five miles north of Far West. It is situated on an elevated spot of ground, which renders the place as healthful as any part of the United States, and overlooking the river and the country round about, it is certainly a beautiful location. 6
June 28.—This day Victoria was crowned queen of England.
Chapter 4 Notes
1. See D&C 116. This is not the first time that the name or phrase “Adam-ondi-Aham” is used in the revelations of the Lord. Some six years before this, viz., in the year 1832, it is used incidentally in one of the revelations where the Lord in addressing a number of the brethren who had been ordained to the High Priesthood, said that notwithstanding the tribulations through which they should pass, He had so ordered events that they might come unto the crown prepared for them, “and be made rulers over many kingdoms, saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Zion, who hath established the foundations of Adam-ondi-Ahman” (D&C 78:15). Some years afterwards, viz., in 1835, W. W. Phelps composed his beautiful hymn bearing the name of Adam-ondi-Ahman, which was first published in the Messenger and Advocate (No. 9, vol. I); see also History of the Church, Vol. 2, p 365.
This hymn was a great favorite among the early Saints, although they, perhaps, did not understand at that time the significance of the name, nor even now do they understand its full significance. All that is known of its meaning is what the Lord revealed to the Prophet, viz., that it is significant of the fact that it designates the place where the Lord will come and meet with His people as described by Daniel the Prophet.
2. Daniel’s description of the events here referred to is found in the 7th chapter of his prophecies. The description is very imposing, hence I quote it: “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. * * * * * * I saw in the might visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”
The prophet Daniel also saw in this connection that earthly powers would make war upon thy Saints and prevail against them—until the Ancient of Days should come. “And (then) the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the Saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.”
3. This most likely was Livingstone county, which borders both Daviess and Caldwell counties on the east.
4. The birth of the son took place on the 2nd of June. It was Alexander Hale Smith.
5. The Prophet’s uncle, who had but recently arrived at “Diahman.’
6. Perhaps the following more detailed description of Adam-ondi-Ahman, as also the allusion to at least one stirring event which occurred there in the past, may not be without interest: Adam-ondi-Ahman, or “Diahman,” as it is familiarly known to the Saints, is located on the north bank of Grand River. It is situated, in fact, in a sharp bend of that stream. The river comes sweeping down from the northwest and here makes a sudden turn and runs in a meandering course to the northeast for some two or three miles, when it as suddenly makes another bend and flows again to the southeast. Grand River is a stream that has worn a deep channel for itself, and left its banks precipitous; but at “Diahman” that is only true of the south bank. The stream as it rushes from the northwest, strikes the high prairie land which at this point contains beds of limestone, and not being able to cut its way through, it veered off to the northeast, and left that height of land standing like palisades which rise very abruptly from the stream to a height of from fifty to seventy-five feet. The summit of these bluffs is the common level of the high rolling prairie, extending off in the direction of Far West. The bluffs on the north bank recede some distance from the stream, so that the river bottom at this point widens out to a small valley. The bluffs on the north bank of the river are by no means as steep as those on the south, and are covered with a light growth of timber. A ridge runs out from the main line of the bluffs into the river bottom some two or three hundred yards, approaching the stream at the point where the bend of the river is made. The termination of the bluff is quite abrupt, and overlooks a considerable portion of the river bottom. On the brow of the bluff stood the old stone altar, and near the foot of it was built the house of Lyman Wight. When the altar was first discovered, according to those who visited it frequently, it was about sixteen feet long, by nine or ten feet wide, having its greatest extent north and south. The height of the altar at each end was some two and a half feet, gradually rising higher to the center, which was between four and five feet high—the whole surface being crowning. Such was the altar at “Diahman” when the Prophet’s party visited it. Now, however, it is thrown down, and nothing but a mound of crumbling stones mixed with soil, and a few reddish boulders mark the spot which is doubtless rich in historic events. It was at this altar, according to the testimony of Joseph Smith, that the patriarchs associated with Adam and his company, assembled to worship their God. Here their evening and morning prayer ascended to heaven with the smoke of the burning sacrifice, prophetic and symbolic of the greater sacrifice then yet to be, and here angels instructed them in heavenly truths.
North of the ridge on which the ruins of the altar were found, and running parallel with it, is another ridge, separated from the first by a depression varying in width from fifty to a hundred yards. This small valley with the larger one through which flows Grand River, is the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman. Three years previous to the death of Adam, declares one of the Prophet Joseph’s revelations, the Patriarchs Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah, together with all their righteous posterity, were assembled in this valley we have described, and their common father, Adam, gave them his last blessing. And even as he blessed them, the heavens were opened, and the Lord appeared, and in the presence of God, the children or Adam arose and blessed him, and called him Michael, the Prince, the Archangel. The Lord also blessed Adam, saying: “I have set thee to be the head—a multitude of nations shall come of thee, and thou art a prince over them for ever.” So great was the influence of this double blessing upon Adam, that, though bowed down with age, under the outpouring of the Spirit of God, he predicted what should befall his posterity to their latest generation (D&C 107). Such is one of the great events which occurred on this old historic land of Adam-ondi-Ahman.
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Great literature demands continual reinterpretation
Saturday, April 24, 2010 10:25 am by M. in Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Wuthering Heights No comments
The Times publishes an article about the Brontë movies in the making and includes a first picture of Mia Wasikowska as Jane Eyre. Credits: Laurie Sparham. Picture Source.
In 1847 a pair of extraordinary novels appeared two months apart, apparently written by brothers.
Jane Eyre proved an immediate success while Wuthering Heights was sneered at as “wild, confused, disjointed and improbable”. Today both are among the classics of English literature.(...)
Alison Owen, the producer of Jane Eyre (and mother of the singer Lily Allen), said: “There is something about the current situation that the world finds itself in where the Brontës more suit the mood of the moment [than Austen]. Jane Austen is a lighter cut than the Brontës, who are much more brooding and bleak.” (...)
Owen said she believed that Fukunaga can pull off the same trick that the Indian director Shekhar Kapur managed with her 1998 film Elizabeth. “He is someone who is outside the culture, so he can shake it up, [meaning] we don’t get the chocolate-box version that everyone is familiar with.”
Andrea Arnold, who is directing Wuthering Heights, is a former children’s TV presenter who is one of arthouse cinema’s favourite new auteurs. (...)
Although the directors are certain to bring an idiosyncratic vision to the novels, Brontë enthusiasts should not be alarmed just yet. Fukunaga told The Times: “We are not reinventing the wheel here.” Both projects are expected to stick faithfully to the books and have sent out early statements of intent by casting actors of roughly the right age to play the heroines, in contrast to many previous screen versions. (...)
Christine Langan, the head of BBC Films, acknowledged that revisiting classics is a fraught business. “There will be people saying, ‘Why the hell are they doing that all over again?’.” But the film industry is an uncertain place at the best of times and more than ever the search is on for stories with which audiences feel a familiar connection.
Six years ago 400 prominent women were asked which books had made the greatest difference to their lives. Wuthering Heights came second — just behind Jane Eyre. (Ben Hoyle)
The Times also makes a very interesting (and pertinent) comment on these new more 'social' approaches to the Brontë novels:
Philip Larkin said that he wrote poetry out of an impulse to preserve. Those who care about preserving English literature may feel apprehension at the prospect of film adaptations of the two best-known novels of the Brontë sisters. But while the directors may seem unlikely, a quiet anticipation of their interpretations would be justified.
Cary Fukunaga, who has directed a film about the travails of Mexican immigrants to the US, is to tackle Charlotte’s Jane Eyre for BBC Films. Andrea Arnold, who has made two films set on deprived housing estates, will direct Emily’s Wuthering Heights for Film4. Purists will note that Fukunaga had not read the book when he was approached to do the film, but admires the script.
Social realism and kitchen sink drama are movements distinctively of the 20th rather than the 19th century. But they are a legitimate prism through which to understand the Brontës’ work. Novels of the 18th and 19th centuries, especially those by women, have suffered from popular perception that they are primarily costume dramas about more refined times. Yet George Eliot wrote of the clash between country and industrialisation, and faith and scepticism. Jane Austen used irony to show how her heroines’ sensibilities became more ordered. And the Brontë sisters both exemplified and superseded the spirit of the Romantic movement.
Jane Eyre is torn by her wish for emotional fulfilment and her sense of spiritual obligation. Both Brontë novels are unusual for their times, in resisting an easy moralism and questioning what is expected of women. Great literature demands continual reinterpretation. Directors who come to the works afresh are amply qualified for the task.
Concerning Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights production, the UK Film Council has awarded the production £300,000 Lottery funding:
The UK Film Council is pleased to continue to support Andrea's inspirational career as one of Britain's most exciting female directors, after backing her previous award-winning filmsWasp, Red Road and Fish Tank. Wuthering Heights has received £300,000 Lottery funding from the UK Film Council, and is co-financed by Film4, Goldcrest and Screen Yorkshire. Artificial Eye acquired UK rights from HanWay Films who are responsible for worldwide sales.
Categories: Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Wuthering Heights
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Bad News About Christianity
Ever suspected that your Church leaders and Christian school masters didn't tell you the full truth about their religion?
Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens debate religion
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11843586
27 November 2010 Last updated at 06:08 GMT
Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens debated the idea 'Religion is a force for good in the world'
Former UK PM Tony Blair has defended the role of religion in global affairs, in a televised debate in Canada with atheist columnist Christopher Hitchens
Mr Blair, a Catholic convert, said faith was a force for good and it was "futile" to attempt to drive it out.
But Mr Hitchens, who is terminally ill with cancer, argued religion forced people into doing terrible things.
In a vote after the debate, the audience voted two-to-one in Mr Hitchens' favour.
A 23-country poll paid for by the debate's Canadian organisers suggests the world is evenly split on the issue.
The confrontation took place in front of a sell-out audience of 2,700 people in Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall.
The two men were asked to debate the motion: "That religion is a force for good in the world".
'Cruel experiment'
The BBC's Paul Adams, who was in the hall, said it was a carefully moderated and largely polite debate, without the rumbles of thunder many had been hoping for.
Continue reading the main story
Former Labour PM, aged 57
Brought up in a Christian family, he says he became a practising Christian while studying at Oxford University
Converted to Catholicism in 2007
Launched Tony Blair Faith Foundation in 2008
Sixty-one-year-old journalist, author and critic
Refused to take part in prayers at his Christian boarding school
Says his "bohemian and rackety" lifestyle may have caused his cancer of the oesophagus
Regarded as a leader of the "New Atheism"
Blair and Hitchens keep the gloves on
Mr Blair, a lifelong Christian who converted to Catholicism after leaving office in 2007, acknowledged that "horrific acts" had been committed in the name of religion.
But he said that a "world without faith would be morally diminished".
He said the most challenging issue for people of faith was how to explain the relevance of ancient scripture in the modern world.
Mr Blair also insisted that his decision to support the US invasion of Iraq was based on policy and not on his faith.
Mr Hitchens, who has previously described Christianity, Judaism and Islam as the "real axis of evil", said religion was "a cruel experiment whereby we are created sick and ordered to be well".
Humans gained little, and compromised their freedom, by acting like sheep, said Mr Hitchens.
He said religions created a "celestial dictatorship" which was "greedy for praise from dawn to dusk". He won a laugh from the audience and Mr Blair when he compared such an authority to the North Korean leadership.
In the end, the audience seemed more impressed, and perhaps more entertained, by Mr Hitchens, says our correspondent, and he won the debate by a margin of two to one.
Global poll
Prior to the debate, the organisers had commisioned a 23-country poll on religion by Ipsos.
Paul AdamsBBC News, Toronto
Anyone expecting verbal pugilism, or a blood-soaked gladitorial contest, with Tony Blair as the Christian thrown to the hungry atheist lion, might have walked out into Toronto's chilly night a little disappointed.
It's not that the two men didn't debate with conviction, but the format engendered politeness - this is Canada, after all- and somewhat stifled argument.
And perhaps the lion is wounded. Mr Hitchens is starting to look frail, in the throes of a cancer that he acknowledges will probably kill him. Tony Blair, by contrast, looks a picture of well-dressed health.
When asked which of each other's arguments they found convincing, both men were polite, respectful.
Tony Blair admitted that it wasn't always easy for people of faith to explain the importance of scripture in the modern world.
Mr Hitchens admitted no such intellectual difficulties, saying he preferred the awe-inspiring wonders of the cosmos to what he sees as the destructive teachings of organised religion.
An audience of 2,700 sat in rapt attention, frequently applauding both men. But a random sample afterwards tended to tell a consistent story. People weren't necessarily opposed to Mr Blair's argument, but they found Mr Hitchens the more persuasive speaker.
Some 48% of the 18,192 people questioned by Ipsos took the view that "religion provides the common values and ethical foundations that diverse societies need to the thrive in the 21st Century".
Fractionally more - 52% - supported the view that "religious beliefs promote intolerance, exacerbate ethnic divisions, and impede social progress in developing and developed nations alike".
Rich countries were less likely to see religion as a force for good than poor countries - the main exception being the United States, where 65% said it had a positive impact.
The Ipsos poll, conducted in September, found that Europe was the region most doubtful about the benefits of religion, with just 19% in Sweden agreeing that it was a force for good.
At the other end of the scale, in Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, it was seen as a positive force by more than 90% of those questioned.
Within North America, there was a pronounced divide. In Canada, only 36% agreed with the positive view of religion whereas 64% saw it as a negative force - figures almost exactly the reverse of those in the US.
Christopher Hitchens has continued his outspoken attacks on religion in interviews as he is treated for cancer of the oesophagus.
He is scathing about those who suggest his illness might lead him to retract his atheism.
In a BBC Newsnight interview to be broadcast on 29 November, he says he is not afraid of death, but regrets the fact that it will cause distress to friends and family.
Blair v Hitchens on the BBC
BBC World Service radio will air the Blair-Hitchens debate on 4 December, followed by Radio 4 on 11 December
It can be viewed on BBC World News and the News Channel on 1 January 2011
In comments released by the debate's organisers he said it was "bizarre" that Mr Blair, a Catholic since 2007, had converted "at one of the most conservative times for the Catholic Church, under one of the most conservative popes".
Speaking before the debate, Tony Blair said: "The good that people of faith all over the world do every day, motivated by their religion, cannot be underestimated and should never be ignored."
It could, and should, be a force for progress, he said.
Posted by Bad News at 8:43 AM 8 comments:
Fr James Robinson 03
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3192776/Evil-paedo-priest-jailed-for-21-years.html?OTC-RSS&ATTR=News
Add a comment (7)
AN ex-priest who carried out a horrific campaign of sexual abuse against young boys was jailed for 21 years today.
Paedophile James Robinson was found guilty of 21 charges of sexual abuse between 1959 and 1983.
The beast was extradited back to the UK from California last year after fleeing to the US in 1985 after he was first accused.
Birmingham Crown Court was told the disgraced priest abused six youngsters over four decades.
His victims are all now in their 40s, 50s and 60s.
The court heard he had moved from parish to parish sexually abusing children, including two altar boys.
He gave them gifts and took them on trips in his sports car to get close to them.
Passing sentence, Judge Patrick Thomas QC branded Robinson devious and manipulative and slammed him for running away from his accusers.
He said: "The offences you committed were unimaginably wicked and caused immense and long-lasting — we can only hope not permanent — damage to the six victims.
"You used, you abused your position of trust, your position of authority and total trust within the communities that you moved to and from."
He added: "You enjoyed, I have no doubt at all, selecting your victims, choosing vulnerable children.
"You enjoyed doing your best to habituate them, to groom them into accepting what you did to them.
"You were and are sufficiently devious, manipulative and bold to have got away with a highly risky sequence of sexual encounters over a period of 25 years."
Despite fleeing the country after the allegations surfaced Robinson was kept on by the Archdiocese of Birmingham until December 2001, earning up to £800 a month and bagging a separate payment of £8,400 in 2000.
But Robinson, 73, still claimed in court he could not afford to return to Britain.
Describing the Catholic Church's role in Robinson's case as highly questionable, Judge Thomas said: "It is not for me to judge.
"Others may take the view that a full investigation and full disclosure of the results of that investigation is due to the members of that church and [Robinson's victims]."
Robinson turned his back on a professional boxing career in his 20s to become a Roman Catholic priest. He worked in the Black Country, Staffordshire, Birmingham and Coventry after being ordained in 1971.
Robinson, originally from Brownhills, near Walsall, West Mids, received a unanimous verdict.
He did not face charges relating to two of his six victims because they contacted cops after he was extradited. But they were allowed to give evidence in support of the other four.
Judge Thomas added: "You fled the country and hid yourself away, hoping and believing that you were beyond the reach of the law.
"Fortunately, the law does not forget, your victims would not forget and you have been brought to justice."
Another three victims came forward during the police investigation but declined to take part in the prosecution and cops believe there are more.
Detective Sergeant Harry May said: "I have no doubt there are more victims, not only in this country but in America.
"On a personal note, I would like to say how brave these men have been, giving their testimonies in court.
"We couldn't have done it without them."
Detective Chief Inspector Steve Bimson, who headed the Major Investigation Team, said: "He became ingrained in these families, he became a trusted member of the family, so he could target these individuals.
"But it wasn't recognised at the time that this was taking place.
"We have heard evidence from people who thought he was a fine priest who would come into a parish and make changes and start motivating people.
"They found it difficult to believe he had committed this abuse.
"But clearly the evidence and the decision of the jury by accepting what the victims have said, demonstrates this abuse has taken place and Robinson did live this double life."
Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3192776/Evil-paedo-priest-jailed-for-21-years.html?OTC-RSS&ATTR=News#ixzz14QOJYWr8
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/8081958/Church-attacked-after-paedophile-priest-jailed-for-sexual-abuse.html
Church attacked after paedophile priest jailed for sexual abuse
The Catholic Church was criticised in court as a paedophile former priest was jailed for a campaign of sexually abuse against young boys that spanned four decades.
By Nick Collins
Published: 11:30PM BST 22 Oct 2010
James Robinson, 73, who fled to the US in 1985, was found guilty of 21 sexual offences at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday after being extradited from America.
The jury heard he carried out a string of abuses against six victims, including two altar boys, between 1959 and 1983.
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Robinson, who worked in the Black Country, Staffordshire, Birmingham and Coventry after being ordained as a priest in 1971, denied all the charges but was jailed for 21 years.
The court heard Robinson continued to be paid up to £800 a month by the Archdiocese of Birmingham until December 2001, despite officials being aware of the allegations.
Robinson told the court he had been unable to afford to return to Britain, but the jury later heard that in February 2000 the archdiocese sent him a cheque worth £8,400.
Judge Thomas said: "The role of the Catholic Church [in the case] is questionable, but it's not for me to judge.
"Others may take the view that a full investigation and full disclosure of the results of that investigation is due to the members of that church and [the victims]."
Describing the defendant as "devious, manipulative and bold", the judge said Robinson's crimes were "unimaginably wicked".
He added: "You used, you abused your position of trust, your position of authority and total trust within the communities that you moved to and from."
The judge also condemned the defendant's decision to emigrate in the hope of outrunning the law, adding: "Fortunately, the law does not forget, your victims would not forget and you have been brought to justice."
The Most Reverend Bernard Longley, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham, issued a statement after the case confirming that Robinson would be defrocked after his convictions.
The archbishop, who refused to answer questions about the Church's role in Robinson's case, said: "The Archdiocese of Birmingham sincerely regrets James Robinson's serious betrayal of the trust placed in him."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11595092
22 October 2010 Last updated at 15:31 GMT
Former priest jailed for 'wicked' sex abuse of boys
Robinson worked in churches in Staffordshire, Birmingham and Coventry
An "unimaginably wicked" former priest has been given a prison sentence of 21 years for sexually abusing boys in the West Midlands.
Richard John James Robinson, 73, was found guilty of 21 charges relating to offences against boys, all aged under 16, between 1959 and 1983.
One victim told Birmingham Crown Court he had "carried" Mr Robinson's face with him ever since being assaulted.
Robinson was extradited from the US in August last year.
He had worked in churches in Staffordshire, Birmingham and Coventry until the mid-1980s, when he moved to California.
Abuse victim 'thought it was love'
Journalist confronted abuse priest in US
Abuse conviction hailed as 'victory'
Sentencing him, Judge Patrick Thomas QC said Robinson was "devious and manipulative".
"The offences you committed were unimaginably wicked and caused immense and long-lasting - we can only hope not permanent - damage to the six victims.
Judge Thomas said of Robinson's targeting of the boys: "You enjoyed doing your best to habituate them, to groom them into accepting what you did to them.
"You were, and are, sufficiently devious, manipulative and bold to have got away with a highly risky sequence of sexual encounters over a period of 25 years."
He also criticised Robinson for refusing to return to the UK to face his accusers, saying he believed he was beyond the reach of the law.
'Father Robinson had moved on too many times. But finally we had a tip-off he was living in a trailer park in the US,' says Kenyon
The court had also heard Robinson was paid £800 a month by the Archdiocese of Birmingham until December 2001, after officials had been made aware of the allegations.
Robinson had said in court he was unable to afford to return to Britain, even though the Church had sent him a cheque for £8,400.
Judge Thomas said it was not for him to judge the Catholic Church's role in proceedings.
Robinson engaged in a course of behaviour that we would recognise today as a grooming process”
Det Ch Insp Steve Bimson
"Others may take the view that a full investigation and full disclosure of the results of that investigation is due to the members of that church and Robinson's victims."
The court heard prosecutor John Atwood say Robinson had "something of a knack for spotting the quiet child of the family".
He told the court Robinson was sexually attracted to young boys and used the trust and respect that came with his position to prey on vulnerable children for his own sexual gratification.
The court also heard he used his status as a priest to gain "unfettered and unlimited" access to boys, giving them gifts and taking them on trips in his sports car.
Robinson did not face charges relating to two of the six victims who gave evidence, because they contacted the police after he was extradited.
However, they were allowed to give evidence in support of the other four victims.
The court heard Robinson's behaviour did not appear suspicious to his victims' families because "it was a different world back then".
'Grooming process'
Robinson took the boys to football matches and rock concerts and some of them stayed overnight at the house he shared with his mother.
Detective Sergeant Harry May: "Robinson has showed no sense of dignity or any remorse for his victims"
The prosecutor said the abuse had left some of the men emotionally damaged and needing counselling as adults.
He said the boys did not speak out at the time because they were bewildered, ashamed and felt they would not be believed.
Charges against Robinson included serious sexual assault, indecent assault and indecency against a child.
BBC journalist Paul Kenyon tracked Robinson down in the US and confronted him about the allegations for a documentary in 2003.
Speaking after the case, Det Ch Insp Steve Bimson said the sentence reflected the serious nature of the offences.
"For each of his victims, Robinson engaged in a course of behaviour that we would recognise today as a grooming process.
"He would become a trusted friend of the family able to mix freely in the family home, becoming liked and admired by the victims' parents, before engaging the victim in his sexual activity."
The Archdiocese of Birmingham said in a statement it sincerely regretted James Robinson's "serious betrayal of the trust placed in him".
The Archbishop of Birmingham, the Most Reverend Bernard Longley, said: "We hope that today's outcome will enable the victims and their families to bring the process of healing and ultimately bring some peace of mind."
He said the archdiocese had co-operated with police throughout the inquiry and had "robust safeguarding policies" as part of its commitment to the safety and protection of children and vulnerable people.
Abuse victim 'thought it was love' 22 OCTOBER 2010, ENGLAND
Journalist confronted abuse priest in US 22 OCTOBER 2010, ENGLAND
Abuse conviction hailed as 'victory' 22 OCTOBER 2010, ENGLAND
Accused priest's 'surprise' visit 07 OCTOBER 2010, ENGLAND
Man tells court 'of priest abuse' 05 OCTOBER 2010, ENGLAND
Ex-priest 'had dreadful weakness' 04 OCTOBER 2010,
Posted by Bad News at 8:56 AM 24 comments:
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Social Tee Box
Presidents Cup 2026 at Medinah
We are all excited. The next U.S. location for the 2026 Presidents Cup has been announced by the PGA TOUR today (December 11, 2020). Medinah Country Club, close to Chicago, IL, and less than a 30-minute drive from O'Hare airport, will be the venue for the 2026 event.
Presidents Cup Venues
After 2019 in Melbourne (Australia), 2022 at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, 2024 at Royal Montreal, the 2026 will feature Medinah as the place to be for the U.S. Team and the International Team to compete against each other.
Originally, the 2026 Presidents Cup was slotted for TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, but we are equally happy to see the event now coming to the historical course at Medinah Country Club. Follow us or join our email newsletter to stay up-to-date for possible volunteer opportunities. We are still almost 6 years away, so be patient.
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U.S. Supreme Court justices question human rights claims against Nestle and Cargill
Tuesday, 1 December 2020 17:18 GMT
FILE PHOTO: A man walks at the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, U.S. November 10, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo
The two companies are asking the court to reverse a lower ruling that allowed the lawsuit against them to proceed
WASHINGTON(Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday appeared wary of barring lawsuits against American companies over alleged human rights abuses abroad but signaled they could toss out a case accusing Cargill Inc and a Nestle SA subsidiary of knowingly helping perpetuate slavery at Ivory Coast cocoa farms.
The two companies are asking the nine justices to reverse a lower court ruling that allowed the lawsuit, brought on behalf of former child slaves from Mali who worked at the farms, filed against them in 2005 to proceed.
The case concerns a 1789 U.S. law called the Alien Tort Statute that lets non-U.S. citizens seek damages in American courts in certain instances. The business community has long sought to limit corporate liability under this law.
Some justices questioned whether the lawsuit actually made clear that company officials knew that the farms involved used child slavery.
“After 15 years, is it too much to ask that you allege specifically that the defendants ... who are before us here, specifically knew that forced child labor was being used on the farms or farm cooperatives with which they did business?” conservative Justice Samuel Alito asked.
The lawsuits targeted the U.S. subsidiary of Swiss-based Nestle, the world’s biggest food producer, and commodities trader Cargill, one of the largest privately held U.S. companies.
The plaintiffs accused the companies of aiding and abetting human rights violations through their active involvement in purchasing Ivory Coast cocoa and turning a blind eye to the use of slave labor on the farms despite being aware of the practice in order to keep cocoa prices low.
A federal district court in Los Angeles dismissed the lawsuit twice, most recently in 2017. That court found that the claims were barred by recent Supreme Court decisions that made it harder for plaintiffs to sue corporations in U.S. courts for alleged violations overseas.
The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2018 revived the claims, citing the allegations that the companies provided “personal spending money” to local farmers to guarantee the cheapest source of cocoa. The 9th Circuit found that the payments were akin to kickbacks and that the low price of cocoa was dependent upon the child slave labor.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business interests backed the two companies in the case, as did President Donald Trump’s administration.
The Supreme Court in 2013 and 2018 cases curbed the ability of plaintiffs to sue corporations in U.S. courts under the Alien Tort Statute for overseas human rights violations. The court said in those rulings that there needed to be a strong connection between the alleged conduct and actions that took place in the United States. But the court did not definitively rule that companies can never be sued under that law.
Since the 2018 ruling, which was 5-4, the court has shifted further to the right with the appointment by President Donald Trump of conservative justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham
(Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.)
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EXPERT VIEWS - How can the world boost efforts to end child labour in 2021?
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Meet the Center for Internet and Society (Past Event)
280B - Stanford Law School
The Center for Internet and Society (CIS) is a public interest technology law and policy program at Stanford Law School and a part of Law, Science and Technology Program at Stanford Law School. CIS brings together scholars, academics, legislators, students, programmers, security researchers, and scientists to study the interaction of new technologies and the law and to examine how the synergy between the two can either promote or harm public goods like free speech, innovation, privacy, public commons, diversity, and scientific inquiry. Read more about Meet the Center for Internet and Society
International Criminal Justice and Transitional Justice: Tensions and Synergies? (Past Event)
New York City Bar Association
After 20 years of international criminal trials, it is time to reassess the relationship between such trials and transitional justice. Do such trials promote the aims of transitional justice or thwart them? Are there synergies between rule of law initiatives and accountability measures or are they operating at cross-purposes? Our speakers will address these fundamental questions in the context of the latest developments in the field, such as the trial of Hissene Habré. Read more about International Criminal Justice and Transitional Justice: Tensions and Synergies?
Artificial Intelligence: Law and Policy (Past Event)
The University of Washington School of Law is delighted to announce a public workshop on the law and policy of artificial intelligence, co-hosted by the White House and UW’s Tech Policy Lab. The event places leading artificial intelligence experts from academia and industry in conversation with government officials interested in developing a wise and effective policy framework for this increasingly important technology. The event is free and open to the public but requires registration. - Read more about Artificial Intelligence: Law and Policy
Carleton College Weekly Convocation (Past Event)
Attorney and scholar Morgan Weiland ’06 will present Carleton College’s weekly convocation on Friday, April 22 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel. A leader in the study of the law and policy around the internet and other emerging technologies, Weiland has been active in policy debates surrounding telecommunications, mass surveillance, and network neutrality.
Carleton convocations are free and open to the public. They are also recorded and archived for online viewing at go.carleton.edu/convo/. Read more about Carleton College Weekly Convocation
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Kyiv must seek collapse of Putin regime, not ‘restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity at any price,’ Portnikov says
Some of the devastation in the Donbas after product of Putin's military aggression into peaceful Ukraine. (Image: Slavyansk Delovoy)
2015/11/20 - 20:25 • International, More
Edited by: A. N.
Ukrainian commentator Vitaly Portnikov argues that the goal of the Ukrainian government should not be “the restoration of territorial integrity at any price but rather the undermining of the economy of the aggressor country and the collapse of Putin’s political regime.”
Vitaly Portnikov, Ukrainian political analyst and writer
Western media say that the EU and the US “do not intend” to lift their sanctions against Russia “in exchange for cooperation in the struggle with international terrorism. This is completely logical: Russia was sanctioned in response to its annexation of Crimea and the occupation of the Donbas,” he says.
Thus, these sanctions against Russia will be extended at the upcoming EU summit. But the real question is “for how long?” And Ukraine has a vital interest in that question.
The Kremlin understands all this perfectly well, Portnikov says. It assumes that sanctions will be extended for several months, and consequently, it plans to use that time to “show that Ukraine itself is not fulfilling the Minsk agreements” while Moscow is doing everything necessary so that the sanctions won’t be extended again.
Instead, the West will increasingly view both Russia and Ukraine as being to blame and therefore there will be calls not to punish only one side, something that will contribute to pressures to lift the sanctions against Moscow and push for “a final resolution of the conflict and the restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine all together.”
Given that “the crisis in the Donbas could be solved in 24 hours if Putin ended the occupation and support of the militants,” that is Moscow’s position, the one it is “discussing with representatives of the pro-Russian lobby in the West,” Portnikov says. And that reality should dictate Kyiv’s approach and negotiating goals.
Russian terrorists are deliberately destroying the infrastructure of the Donbas. Destroyed railway bridge over the road Sloviansk-Donetsk-Mariupol
“Kyiv’s chief task must be the extension of sanctions against the aggressor for the maximum extent possible [now] and work for their further prolongation” when more decisions are made in the future, he argues.
And he says that Ukrainians “must remember that our goal is not the restoration of territorial integrity at any price but the undermining of the economy of the aggressor country and the collapse of the political regime of Russia. Only this – and nothing else – will secure us long-term security and normal development in the future.”
Portnikov’s position on this will infuriate many in Ukraine but even more in Moscow and the West, both of whom have made the issue of the restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, albeit defined in entirely different ways and to be used for entirely different purposes, the centerpiece of their policies.
But Portnikov’s realism on this point is likely to spark new debates on how Kyiv should proceed especially now when many in Moscow are demanding and many in the West are considering an easing of the sanctions regime imposed on Russia because of its actions in Ukraine in the name of cooperation between Russia and the West in the war against ISIS.
Tags: international, Russia, sanctions against Russia
Paul A. Goble
Paul Goble is a longtime specialist on ethnic and religious questions in Eurasia. He has served as director of research and publications at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, vice dean for the social sciences and humanities at Audentes University in Tallinn, and a senior research associate at the EuroCollege of the University of Tartu in Estonia. Earlier he has served in various capacities in the U.S. State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency and the International Broadcasting Bureau as well as at the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Euromaidan Press republishes the work of Paul Goble with permission from his blog Windows on Eurasia.
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Roster File
This is how BB-8 works, straight from Sphero’s co-founder
BB-8 has enamored Star Wars fans since we first saw the little droid in trailers and teasers, and once it was revealed that the droid was actually a practical effect, meaning it wasn’t created in a computer, the fans had a good time trying to figure out how it worked.
The $150 version of the toy has since been released — it’s amazing, by the way — and Games4Life caught up with Adam Wilson, the co-founder and chief scientist at Sphero, to talk about the toy’s design.
We were scared that he wouldn’t be able to say much, but after launch not many surprises were left. “I mean, I can tell you everything now!” he said with a laugh. “As of today I can just explore all of that. Really it’s our Sphero robot ball, a self-balancing, gyro-driven ball inside of there. And on the top of that it has keyed magnets, so one of them is positive and the other is negative.”
This means that the head can only connect in one direction, so the robot always knows which way is “forward.” The folks at uBreakiFix actually tore their toy apart to get a look at the internal mechanism if you want to see the little droid without its shell. A fair warning for any tinkerers; there doesn’t seem to be a way to open BB-8 without destroying the outer shell.
What’s interesting is that the arm that supports the head isn’t articulated in any way. The entire internal structure of the robot moves when the head moves. “If you want to just spin the head, it’s still the same thing, the sphero inside of there is turning,” Wilson explained. “When you’re spinning the head around, the whole mechanism is spinning around, giving it a new forward.”
“It’s very tricky because you can’t see the mechanism inside,” he continued. “We have clear ones for development. It’s a complicated physical system for sure.”
The $80 version of the toy, which was made by Hasbro, opens much more easily, so you can see a simplified version of the same mechanism.
What’s interesting is that this version of the droid came after the movie was finished; The Force Awakens used a variety of practical effects for the movie version of the droid.
“They had already shot the movie and made a prop … they had shot all the movie with these props but none of them were full working droids,” Wilson explained. “They were half-droids with a man and a green screen. They were still physical props but it wasn’t a solo act. It couldn’t stand on its own.”
The idea of a fully functional BB-8 was attractive, however. Sphero was a part of Disney Techstars, an accelerator working with startups, and they had a meeting with Disney CEO Bob Iger where they were shown an image of the droid and asked if it would be possible to make a functional, standalone robot.
“We wanted to try to come lower than $150 actually, but it was a struggle”
“We had already done a lot of stuff like this, with magnets on the head,” Wilson said. “We showed him our idea of how that would work, we showed him a magnet head that day.” Sphero isn’t involved with the creation of the larger versions of the droid you may have seen at events and may come to Disney’s theme parks, but according to Wilson those droids may be using some of the ideas that Sphero shared with Disney.
“We wanted to try to come lower than $150 actually, but it was a struggle,” he explained. For a while they thought it would even be released at $200, but they wanted to get the features and price to the point where they themselves said they would buy the product and be happy with it.
“We felt that $150 was a pretty good number, and it leaves a little bit of meat on the bone for both Disney and us to make money on this product, because it’s really hard to make money on toys,” Wilson said. “We also know what the competition is for the same character … we just felt we had to surpass a certain point. It has to do a lot more than just be an RC toy to be worth that.”
The toy doesn’t just roll around; it can react to voice commands and learn about its environment. It can even be updated with new features as the movie grows closer. The Sphero team had exacting standards for the details and design of the robot’s external shell. All of these things work together creates a toy that’s one of the most interesting products on the market, even if you’re not particularly interested in Star Wars.
Knowing how it’s done is fascinating, but the real magic of the design happens when you see one in action, rolling around and interacting with its environment and the people in it. The Sphero team has made an amazing toy.
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Ocean City proposes $5M Bond
for Public Works Building
By MICHAEL MILLER Staff Writer
OCEAN CITY - City Council on Tuesday introduced an ordinance to borrow $5.3 million to build a new public works center designed by Garrison Architects of Mt. Laurel, NJ..
Meanwhile, developer Jack L. Snyder and Associates this week offered the city nearly that much to buy the two blocks where the new building will go. Solicitor Gerald Corcoran said the offer was moot because the land - at least for the moment - is not for sale. "If it was $1 billion, you couldn't accept it," he said.
The city wants to consolidate six different buildings in one new, two-story center at 12th Street and Haven Avenue. One in five full-time city employees works in this department, paving roads, cutting grass and repairing or replacing whatever breaks on the island.
Bonding for the 42,500-square-foot building has been postponed several times, most recently last year when the city opted instead to dredge lagoons and replace the Boardwalk between 12th and 14th streets.
Public Works Director George Savastano said the building is needed because many of his employees' workplaces are falling apart. Buildings such as a converted 1920s dairy are unusable for all but storage because they are in such bad condition.
Council voted 4-2 to introduce the bond. A public hearing will be scheduled next month."It's worth every penny," Councilman Ron Denney said.
Councilmen Ray Jones and Jody Alessandrine dissented. Alessandrine said the city's taxes have increased significantly since the project was proposed several years ago."It's been said that $5.3 million is affordable for us. I think zero is even more affordable," he said.
The city has spent $1.3 million to buy land, draw up engineering documents and prepare the site. Some residents want the city to build at 46th Street and West Avenue.
Business Administrator Richard Deaney said postponing the project could cost the city more in rent for temporary trailers or renovations to dilapidated workplaces. This project is a priority, he said.The immediate tax impact would be minimal because the city has planned for the expense in its budget and long-range capital plan, he said."Mark my words tonight," he said. "If you don't spend it on this purpose, you'll spend it on something else."
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Assad offers talks with opposition, refuses to quit
Syrian embattled President al-Assad says he can engage in dialogue with the opposition to end the 23-month-long conflict and accuses the UK of playing unconstructive role by militarizing the 'terrorists'
Sunday 3 Mar 2013
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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in a rare interview he is ready to negotiate with the opposition but will not step down, as the UN chief and his Syria envoy offered to broker peace talks between his regime and rebel leaders.
Assad offered to hold talks with rebels to try to end the crisis on condition they lay down their arms, but made a distinction between the "political entities" he would talk with and "armed terrorists".
"We are ready to negotiate with anyone, including militants who surrender their arms," Assad told The Sunday Times in a videotaped interview conducted last week in his Damascus residence, the Al-Muhajireen palace.
"We can engage in dialogue with the opposition, but we cannot engage in dialogue with terrorists."
His offer of talks was aired as UN chief Ban Ki-moon and his Syria envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said they were prepared to broker peace talks between the Assad regime and the opposition.
A joint statement by the pair said the UN would "be prepared to facilitate a dialogue between a strong and representative delegation from the opposition and a credible and empowered delegation from the Syrian government".
The offer came after both sides in Syria had indicated a "willingness to engage in dialogue", the UN said.
They also warned that both the regime and opposition fighters "have become increasingly reckless with human life" and said perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity must be brought to justice.
In Tehran on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said Assad, who took over as president in 2000 following the death of his father Hafez, would take part in next year's presidential election and that it was up to the Syrian people to choose their own leader.
Syria is locked in a 23-month-long conflict in which the United Nations estimates more than 70,000 have been killed. But Assad rejected the idea that the fighting is linked to his continued role as president.
"If this argument is correct, then my departure will stop the fighting," Assad said. "Clearly this is absurd, and other recent precedents in Libya, Yemen and Egypt bear witness to this."
Assad accused the British government of wanting to arm "terrorists" in his country.
"How can we expect them to make the violence less while they want to send military supplies to the terrorists and don't try to ease the dialogue between the Syrians?"
Britain has been pushing for the lifting of a European ban on arms supplies to Syrian rebels, but at a meeting last month European Union foreign ministers decided instead to allow only "non-lethal" aid and "technical assistance" to the opposition.
Assad added that "Britain has played a famously unconstructive role in different issues for decades, some say for centuries" and talked of "a bullying hegemony".
The British government is currently bound by an EU arms embargo which European foreign ministers decided not to lift at a meeting in Brussels on February 18.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague had called for changes to the arms ban "so that we can provide a broader range of support to the National Coalition", the opposition umbrella group in Syria.
Assad in his interview dismissed the suggestion that Britain could play a constructive role in resolving the fighting, saying: "We don't expect an arsonist to be a firefighter."
He accused Britain of wanting to escalate the conflict through its desire to supply military equipment to the rebels.
"How can we expect to ask Britain to play a role while it is determined to militarise the problem?" Assad said.
On the ground, the army said Saturday it had seized control of a key road linking the central province of Hama to Aleppo international airport, the scene of fierce battles since mid-February.
Fierce clashes raged in the northern city of Raqa, where 16 rebels and 10 soldiers were killed, according to the chief of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman.
At least 133 people were killed nationwide on Saturday, the Observatory said.
They included two Palestinians hanged by rebels from trees at Yarmuk refugee camp in Damascus on suspicion of aiding the regime by pinpointing rebel targets, the Observatory said.
The Israeli military said mortar rounds believed to have been fired from Syria hit the southern Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday without causing damage or casualties.
Al-Muhajireen
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L7 to Release Their First Album in 20 Years
The grunge vets have launched a PledgeMusic for their first full-length since 1999
Taking their reunion one big step forward, L7 have announced their first album in two decades.
Today the reunited grunge vets launched a PledgeMusic campaign with pre-orders for their first album since 1999's Slap-Happy. While details for the comeback album are sparse, it is expected to arrive in February 2019 via Don Giovanni.
A note from L7's PledgeMusic page reads as follows:
After having an amazingly great experience with our L7 reunion tour in 2015 as well the release of a documentary on our band, L7: Pretend We're Dead, the band felt inspired to do some songwriting and return to the studio once again. The end results were recording the tracks "Dispatch From Mar-a-Lago" and "I Came Back to Bitch." Our first new tunes in 18 years!
We've had such a blast hanging out, writing, and recording with each other again that we decided to keep the ball rolling. More song ideas have been flowing out of us every time we get together and play, so we've decided to make a full length album which we will record this year.
You can donate to the campaign, as well as check out its various perks, over here. You can also check out a video for the campaign at the bottom of the page
In addition to the new album news, L7 have fleshed out their upcoming tour. You can see the updated schedule, which includes dates in Toronto and Montreal, down below.
04/10 Jersey City, NJ - White Eagle Hall
04/11 Boston, MA - Paradise
04/12 New York, NY - Brooklyn Steel
04/13 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero
04/15 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
04/16 Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Club
04/18 Indianapolis, IN - Vogue
04/19 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
04/20 Chicago, IL - Metro
04/21 Detroit, MI - El Club
05/27 Las Vegas, NV - Punk Rock Bowling & Music Festival
06/09 Leicestershire, UK - Download Festival UK
06/29-30 Madrid Spain - Download Madrid
06/13 Paris, France - La Cigale
06/15 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg Amsterdam
06/17 Berlin, Germany - SO36
06/27 Zürich, Switzerland - Dynamo Zürich (offiziell)
06/28 Segrate, Italy - Circolo Magnolia, Punk In Drublic
07/23 Grand Rapids, MI - Pyramid Scheme
07/24 Detroit, MI - St. Andrew's Hall
07/25 Toronto, ON - The Danforth Music Hall
07/27 Montreal, QC - 77 Festival
10/06 Glasgow, UK - Garage
12/06 London, UK - Electric Ballroom
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L7 and Joan Jett have teamed up for a rework of the Runaways hero's 1983 song "Fake Friends." In addition to their new cover, L7 have also s...
L7 Scatter the Rats
More than nineteen years ago, L7 went on "an indefinite hiatus" after putting out their sixth studio album, Slap-Happy, two years prior, to...
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L7 have announced a North American tour in support of Scatter the Rats, the reunited band's first new album in 20 years. The tour kicks o...
L7 Detail Their First Album in 20 Years
Last April, L7 announced plans to release their first new album in 20 years. And while the effort has yet to see release, the grunge vets ar...
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American Museum of Natural History. Mollusks of New York State (Exhibit)
uncontrolled form
Shells of the New York Area
dates of use: 1971
Permanent exhibition. Opened Fall 1972. Located on Floor 1, Section WC. The Mollusks of New York State at the American Museum of Natural History was planned by William K. Emerson, William E. Old, and Harold S. Feinberg of the Department of Invertebrate Zoology (2, 1971/72, p. 27), and showcases common mollusks of the region (1, 1972, p. 78). It shares a corridor with the Evelyn Miles Keller Memorial Exhibit, which also exhibits mollusks.
(1) American Museum of Natural History. Annual Reports. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1971/72.
(2) American Museum of Natural History. The American Museum of Natural History: An Introduction. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1972.
Information for the hall appears in the following Museum publications:
Annual Reports for years 1971 (pages 27, 36), 1972 (page 30) 1973 (page 13, 20)
AMNH: Floor 1, Sections WC. [Additional location information: West Corridor ]
Emerson, William K.
Exhibit curator (2, 1971/72, p. 27).
Evelyn Miles Keller Memorial Exhibit.
Shares corridor with exhibit
Feinberg, Harold S.
Old, William E.
Written by: Clare O'Dowd
Last modified: 2018 December 7
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Happy Hours transforming lives in St Mary
Published:Wednesday | October 7, 2015 | 10:34 AM
Five-year-old students listen to their teacher and principal, Monica McKenzie (right) at the Happy Hours Early Childhood Development Centre in Cromwell Land, Highgate.
Orantes Moore
Monica McKenzie, founder of the Happy Hours Early Childhood Development Centre in Highgate, St Mary.
HIGHGATE, St Mary:
A veteran kindergarten principal in Highgate, St Mary is hoping that new state-of-the-art teaching equipment, tablet computers for students, and recently completed building renovations will help transform her school into the parish's premier early-childhood learning institution.
According to Monica McKenzie, founder of the Happy Hours Early Childhood Development Centre in Cromwell Land, Highgate, while her day care centre has experienced many changes over the last two years, the introduction of the Tablets in Schools project has been the most significant.
She told Rural Xpress: "The Tablets in Schools scheme has benefited us so much because in addition to giving the children and teachers tablets to work with, we have also received things such as MimioTeach equipment (interactive whiteboards).
"The scheme has settled the children because they are really serious about the tablets. Instead of running up and down, they come in and spend their free time exploring on the tablets, which are also integrated into the lesson plans. The whole world is technologically inclined now, so I think it's really good that they are able to feel free on these instruments."
McKenzie opened Happy Hours in 1981 and spent the next three decades helping the institution establish a reputation as one of the best preschool facilities in St Mary.
"I decided to open this school 34 years ago because I didn't want to leave my son at home with a helper," she explained.
"This was the first day care in St Mary and because people in this community were not used to the idea, for the first year, I only had two children; and one of them was my son (laughs)."
Although the road to success has been long and laborious, the principal insists that she still gets a thrill from supporting parents with their children's education.
McKenzie said: "When you see enthusiastic parents getting excited about the accomplishments of their children, it really lets us know we are doing something good for the community."
Nevertheless, she notes that over time, there has been a gradual shift in parents' attitudes towards child-rearing.
"I think it has deteriorated because these days, babies are having babies, and they don't like to be corrected or told anything.
"They are aggressive, like a mother hen who will pick you if you go near her chicks. I always say that before a parent brings their child to a kindergarten school, they should do parenting classes.
"I think you have to start with [parents] because they have to understand the importance of good nutrition and the child coming to school everyday; some of them don't think these things are important. They are too permissive in certain areas."
Over the last two years, Happy Hours has undergone a huge revamp, thanks to the CHASE Fund, which provided capital to construct a new roof and two additional classrooms.
Looking ahead, McKenzie believes that preschool education will only improve, and hopes the upgrades to her own facility may encourage the Early Childhood Commission (ECC) to grant her one of their first licences.
"The ECC took over a few years ago, and yes, there were complaints about their stringent standards, but because of those standards, I can see basic schools really improving in years to come.
"Parents tell me their children are waking them up to come to our 'pretty' school and [other schools] are now trying to see if they can upgrade their buildings, and that's what the Early Childhood Commission wants."
rural@gleanerjm.com
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Lesbian Lifestyle
We May Have Lost Ruth Bader Ginsburg, But We’ll Always Have Her Fight In Us
September 22, 2020 Robin Kish
It’s almost as if we’ve lost a little bit of ourselves as well.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg is, in short, legendary. Her decades-long legal battles for gender equality, along with her frequent dissenting opinions as SCOTUS veered right in the 2000s, made her a beacon of hope, a real-life hero, a celebrity, and icon later in life, and even a meme: the Notorious RBG.
Her death on Friday — from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer — left many across the nation heartbroken at the enormity of her loss. That her seat on the Supreme Court could be filled by a Trump nominee is especially bitter, but beyond the politics of the moment, and, perhaps, the decades to come, is also the shocking reminder that someone so larger than life — a bonafide intellectual giant and badass, the lone figure standing between us and the darkness — could be taken from us.
At least, that was how I felt when I returned home from my run Friday night to hear my wife deliver the news: Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died. I thought she was mistaken. The woman had survived four previous bouts with cancer, heart surgery, and three fractured ribs. Maybe this was just more fake news. It’s easy to imagine a figure like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, revered for her defiance and her dissenting opinions, a four-time survivor of cancer, as somehow transcending mortality. But no, this was a sad reality: We had officially lost her.
Ginsburg rose, improbably, at a time when women were confined to the domestic sphere. She was one of only nine women admitted to Harvard Law School in 1956. She later transferred to Columbia Law School where she graduated with top honors — but was unable to secure a job. As reported Friday in NPR, “[I]t was bad enough that she was a woman, [Ginsburg] recalled later, but she was also a mother, and male judges worried she would be diverted by her ‘familial obligations.'”
After she secured a teaching position at Rutgers University in the 1960s, she had to hide her second pregnancy “by wearing her mother-in-law’s clothes,” NPR reports. “The ruse worked: her contract was renewed before her baby was born.”
She rose to further legal — and public — prominence after she started litigating gender rights. In Morwitz v. Commissioner, she petitioned on behalf of an unmarried man to claim a tax deduction for caregiving costs, which previously extended only to women and widowers. She wrote the amicus curiae brief in Reed v. Reed, which resulted in SCOTUS extending the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to women.
She was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1980, where she earned a reputation — oddly enough — for being a somewhat moderate jurist. In 1993, when she was nominated by Bill Clinton to be the second woman to serve in SCOTUS, some feminist critics were worried because of her critical views on Roe v. Wade, which she believed took the wrong line of reasoning: determining a woman’s right to choose based on privacy, and not on gender equality, which she feared would leave the Court’s decision vulnerable to future litigation.
But Ginsburg’s liberal views, and her star power, only strengthened, especially as the court swung toward the conservative side during the administration of George W. Bush. In 2009, she took an unprecedented step following the SCOTUS decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear, which resulted in the court denying Lilly Ledbetter equal pay on account of statute of limitations; in her dissent, Ginsburg called on Congress to undo the Court’s interpretation of the law and later worked with President Obama on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
In 2014, she issued a fiery dissent of the Court’s decision to side with Hobby Lobby by granting for-profit employers the right to deny employees contraception on the grounds of religious belief. In her dissent, she pointed out that the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act — which the majority opinion cited as reasons for siding with Hobby Lobby — did not allow religious groups to. “The reason why,” she wrote, “is hardly obscure: Religious organizations exist to foster the interests of persons subscribing to the same religious faith. Not so of for-profit corporations. Workers who sustain the operations of those corporations commonly are not drawn from one religious community. Indeed, by law, no religion-based criterion can restrict the workforce of for-profit corporations. … The distinction between a community made up of believers in the same religion and one embracing persons of diverse beliefs, clear as it is, constantly escapes the Court’s attention. One can only wonder why the Court shuts this key difference from sight.”
Her willingness to stand up to the patriarchy in general — and her male SCOTUS colleagues specifically — has made her a figurehead of feminism and an icon to our community.
At a time when the country appears particularly on edge — and when the rights of women, minorities, and LGBTQ+ persons to control their own bodies and choices are under grave threat from an increasingly right-leaning government — having a voice on our side in the highest court of the land means something, even if all that voice could do was dissent with the majority opinion.
Ginsburg might have been larger than life, but she understood what it was like to be a woman and to face discrimination purely on the basis on one’s sex. She brought that understanding to the law and helped make things better for women everywhere. As Sheryl Gay Stolberg writes in the New York Times, the grief we feel is “also a deeply personal loss.” With Ginsburg’s death, it’s almost as if we’ve lost a little bit of ourselves as well.
But I doubt Ginsburg would want us to dwell in our sorrow for too long. Yes, she was an icon. Yes, she stood up to those who kept their feet on our necks (if I might borrow a phrase from her). And while we might have lost one of our most powerful advocates, Ginsburg herself knew all too well what it was like to lack power — yet that never stopped her from fighting for it.
May her memory be a blessing. May her memory be a revolution. Let’s let the sense of loss, and the grief we feel now, drive us to preserve her legacy — and ours.
deathobituaryrbgruth bader ginsburgSCOTUSSupreme Court
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Analysis: The day America realized how dangerous Donald Trump is
by JewishNews-David
When the history of the 45th presidency is written, Wednesday, January 6, will go down as the day America realized how dangerous President Donald Trump really is.
In the span of hours, the country finally witnessed the price of its five-year experiment turning its election process into a reality show that produced an unhinged megalomanic as commander-in-chief who amassed so much power through his lies and fear-mongering that he was able to engineer an insurrection as a final act that left democracy dangling by a thread.
Wednesday’s siege at the Capitol marked the culmination of Trump’s years-long quest to cultivate a fiercely loyal base that would do anything for him by playing on their fears and resentments as he lured them into believing his incessant lies about the sinister motives of government, election fraud and his own conduct.
The consequences were deadly: five people have died as a result of Wednesday’s riot, including a Capitol Police officer. Some of Trump’s supporters were armed and ready for war: an Alabama man allegedly parked a pickup truck with 11 homemade bombs, an assault rifle and a handgun two blocks from the Capitol hours before authorities discovered it, according to federal prosecutors. Another man allegedly showed up with an assault rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, telling acquaintances he wanted to shoot or run over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Pipe bombs were found near the headquarters of the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee as authorities tried to dispel the mob and secure the Capitol.
But three days later, Trump appears no more aware of the consequences of his actions than on the day of the riot when he delighted in the mayhem. Bunkered at the White House with an ever-shrinking circle of aides, he has offered no remorse for inciting the crowd and offered only a forced denunciation of their actions. Aides, weary and disgusted, refuse to come near him. His central line to the outside world, Twitter, was severed Friday night. People who admired him, worked for him and followed him down dark paths before now say he has crossed into a delusional place, entirely detached from reality.
Supporters of President Donald Trump climb the west wall of the the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington.
Wednesday’s shocking events can be traced to the inception of Trump’s candidacy. From the earliest days of the 2016 presidential race, his rallies crackled with tension and anger — a testament to his skill in finding the fault lines on issues of class and race and exploiting them to draw in followers who felt marginalized and wronged by their leaders. His supporters had hungered for a charismatic leader like him who would empower the “silent majority” and serve as a voice for their grievances. He thrilled them as he blasted through societal norms and the guardrails of democracy, while offering safe harbor to White supremacists, conspiracy theorists, anti-government renegades, racists and anti-Semitic activists who fell in line behind a political figure who would channel their rage in exchange for their fealty.
As he lurched from one shocking maneuver to the next, Trump commanded the constant attention of the press, broadening his universe of followers as he used Twitter as his megaphone. By threatening to punish his critics and by firing civil servants who tried to check his thirst for power, he cowed members of the Republican Party and his own aides, who became complicit in his unraveling of democracy. Meanwhile, much of America grew numb to his circus act, shrugging off the magnetic power of Trumpism as though it was a passing fad.
Trump faces fallout
That all changed Wednesday as the country watched the mob encouraged by Trump scale the walls of Capitol, beating back police officers as they smashed through the historic building’s doors and windows, shattering glass to force their way in bearing metal pipes, sticks and other weapons. Lawmakers from both parties were forced to cower below the seats in their respective chambers before being evacuated to secure locations, as the insurrectionists ransacked congressional offices and attempted to occupy the nation’s seat of government on the day Congress was affirming President-elect Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 election. The barbarism of the day was underscored by chilling reports that some of the Trump faithful were on the hunt for Vice President Mike Pence — who had refused to accede to the President’s demand that he overthrow the election results and was presiding over the counting of the Electoral College votes.
As the horrifying riot unfolded in the “people’s house,” it became clear that Trump had finally gone too far. His political capital was already weakened by the Republicans’ defeats in two runoff races in Georgia that were poisoned by the President’s lies about voter fraud — with some in the GOP openly blaming Trump for their resulting loss of the Senate majority.
And the breach of the barricades that put the lives of the nation’s lawmakers in danger began to break — at least for now — the spell that Trump has cast over his party. When order was restored some outraged Republicans condemned the President for his role in inciting the violence; others signaled it was time to move on and rebuild the Republican Party after four years in which the President has tried to bully them into submission.
With Democrats now poised for full control of Congress, Trump was now facing real consequences for his actions. During the overnight certification of results, which had been delayed by the rioters, the rumblings began among Democratic members of Congress about whether he could be ousted through the 25th Amendment or impeached for a second time to prevent him from holding office again.
Momentum has only grown among Democrats for fast-track impeachment beginning next week, and the latest draft of the resolution obtained by CNN included one article of impeachment for “incitement of insurrection.” Many Republicans, however, say that step is futile for a President who has less than two weeks left in his term.
Still as the glass was being swept up from the Capitol grounds, some GOP lawmakers considered supporting his impeachment. More than a dozen administration officials, including two Cabinet secretaries, have resigned citing their concerns with Trump’s response to the riot.
“I want him to resign. I want him out. He has caused enough damage,” Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski told the Anchorage Daily News in a report published Friday, making her the first Republican senator to call on Trump to resign because of Wednesday’s riot.
Protesters supporting U.S. President Donald Trump break into the U.S. Capitol on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Congress held a joint session today to ratify President-elect Joe Biden’s 306-232 Electoral College win over President Donald Trump. Pro-Trump protesters entered the U.S. Capitol building during demonstrations in the nation’s capital.
Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, a frequent Trump critic who favored acquitting Trump in the first impeachment trial last year, said Friday during an interview on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show that he was seriously considering whether he would vote to remove the President from office once articles of impeachment are introduced. “There are a lot of questions that we need to get to the bottom of,” he said.
Sasse also voiced concerns about Trump’s response to the riot, noting that senior White House officials had told him that Trump “wanted chaos on television” and was “confused about why other people on his team weren’t as excited as he was” as rioters pummeled Capitol Police trying to get into the building.
“The question of ‘Was the President derelict in his duty?’ That’s not an open question. He was,” the Nebraska Republican said.
Earlier, Republican Utah Sen. Mitt Romney — the lone GOP senator to vote to convict Trump in 2020 — called Wednesday’s invasion of the Capitol “an insurrection incited by the President,” and Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, a member of the GOP leadership team, said the combination of the losses in the Georgia Senate races and the storming of the Capitol underscored the GOP’s need to move beyond Trump.
“Our identity for the past several years now has been built around an individual,” Thune told CNN this week. “You got to get back to where its built around a set of ideals and principles and policies.”
Facing staff resignations and a looming impeachment, Trump made a meager attempt to mitigate the damage by finally acknowledging he won’t be serving a second term in a prerecorded video Thursday evening. But the next day, he was tweeting about his supporters having a “giant voice” and said he would not attend President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, a hint that he would continue his efforts to delegitimize the election results.
That was the final straw for Twitter, which announced that it was permanently suspending Trump’s account “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.” With his political fate hanging in the balance, he had been silenced, at least for the moment.
A day that encapsulated the danger of Trump
For weeks, while advancing the false claims that the presidential election was rigged and mired in fraud, Trump had whipped up excitement about the January 6 certification of results, inviting his supporters to descend on Washington and promising it would be “wild.”
He arrived at the Ellipse to address the “Save America March” shortly after his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani warmed up the crowd by falsely suggesting voting machines were “crooked” and insisting that Pence could change the election outcome, which the vice president did not have the power to do. “Let’s have trial by combat!” the former New York Mayor told the crowd as they awaited the President.
Backstage, Trump’s son and his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, recorded themselves dancing to the soundtrack and encouraging Trump supporters to “fight.”
President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a rally Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington.
Inciting the crowd with an address threaded with lies — including that “the states got defrauded” in the election and “want to revote” — Trump stirred anger toward his vice president, telling the crowd once again that he hoped Pence would “do the right thing” — pressuring him to toss out the election results, which would have been illegal and beyond the bounds of his constitutional authority.
He already knew that his vice president would not take that step.
Pence had informed him in a tense conversation that he could not overturn the election results, leading Trump to curse at him, according to a source familiar with the conversation. But Trump did not let up at the Wednesday rally as he railed against “weak Republicans” and “pathetic Republicans” who refused to bend to his whims, while calling lawmakers who planned to contest the election results “warriors.”
“We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol. And we’re gonna cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women,” the President said as he marshaled the crowd for action. “You’ll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength and you have to be strong.”
But as his supporters marched down Pennsylvania Avenue and began their assault on the Capitol, Trump had returned to the White House consumed with his schemes for overriding an election that he lost with 232 electoral votes to Biden’s 306. To the dismay of his aides, he delighted in watching the riot that injured dozens of officers and sent fears of a coup racing across the Capitol. Aides struggled to get him to understand how serious the situation had become. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, one of the President’s staunchest allies, had a “heated exchange” with the President as rioters overran the Capitol building, urging him to denounce the attack and try to quell the violence, according to a source briefed on the exchange. But Trump declined to do so. Asked on Fox whether he expected Trump to address the situation, McCarthy said only: “I don’t know.”
Trump did not even attempt to secure the safety of the vice president, even though several of his supporters who were part of the violent mob were heard shouting “Where’s Mike Pence?” in the midst of their Capitol rampage. Those threats alarmed Pence and his family, a source close to the vice president told CNN’s Jim Acosta, widening the breach between the President and Vice President.
In fact as the siege unfolded, Trump demonstrated the callous depths of his narcissism by trying to pressure senators to derail the affirmation of the election results, as they feared for their safety in the midst of a riot he had incited.
CNN reported Friday that Trump mistakenly called Republican Sen. Mike Lee on his personal cell phone as the rampage was unfolding while trying to reach Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a newly elected Republican from Alabama. Lee fielded the President’s call shortly after 2 p.m. ET, at a time when senators had been evacuated from the Senate floor to protect them from the approaching mob. Lee handed Tuberville his phone, a spokesman for the senator confirmed to CNN, and the President proceeded to try to convince Tuberville to slow down the certification of the Electoral College vote. The call ended when the senators were moved to a secure location.
At the White House, Trump’s daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump and chief of staff Mark Meadows tried to convince Trump to record a message that would direct the rioters to stand down.
But the resulting message satisfied no one as he ad-libbed, telling the insurgents who had stormed the Capitol: “We love you. You’re very special.”
On Thursday, the wave of administration resignations and condemnations of the President by former Trump staffers continued as shaken staff members cited real concerns about the stability and continuity of government. On Capitol Hill, GOP lawmakers expressed anger about Trump’s role in that dark moment in the country’s history.
Trump went about his business, including awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a pair of professional golfers in the East Room.
His attempts to proceed as normal angered some aides even further.
With the President increasingly isolated, Trump’s aides, including his daughter, Meadows and White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, warned him that he was in real danger of being removed or impeached. Though reluctant to denounce his supporters, he agreed to record a second video released Thursday where he acknowledged a new administration is coming — without congratulating Biden. (Cipollone is now among those who are considering resigning, two sources familiar with his thinking told CNN’s Pamela Brown.)
But Trump’s thinking hadn’t changed.
“I think that video was done only because almost all his senior staff was about to resign, and impeachment is imminent,” a White House adviser, who spoke with senior officials as the debacle was unfolding, told CNN’s Jim Acosta. “That message and tone should have been relayed election night … not after people died.”
Later, Trump appeared to some aides like he regretted taping the spot, asking those around him whether it was being well received.
The arrests of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol began to pile up Friday including Derrick Evans, a West Virginia state legislator who is being charged with entering a restricted area and entering the US Capitol, and Richard Barnett of Arkansas who was photographed sitting at a desk in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office during the Capitol siege. Barnett was charged with knowingly entering and remaining in restricted building grounds without authority, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds as well as the theft of public property, federal officials said Friday.
Lonnie Leroy Coffman of Alabama, who allegedly parked the pickup truck with the weapons cache near the Capitol Hill Club near the Capitol, told police he also had mason jars filled with “melted Styrofoam and gasoline” — a combination that could have the same effect as napalm if it exploded, court documents said, because “it causes the flammable liquid to stick to objects that it hits upon detonation.”
While the possibility of removal of the President through the 25th Amendment looks increasingly remote, in part because Pence has no interest in participating in that process, more Republicans are turning their attention to helping Biden transition into the job.
McCarthy rejected calls for Trump’s impeachment Friday, but referred to Biden as the President-elect for the first time: “I have reached out to President-elect Biden today and plan to speak to him about how we must work together to lower the temperature and unite the country to solve America’s challenges,” the California Republican said.
After Trump indicated in one of his final tweets that he won’t attend Biden’s inauguration, the President-elect expressed relief at the prospect of his absence Friday, stating it was the one of the few things they had ever agreed on. Pence, however, would be welcome to attend, Biden said.
Wednesday’s events, Biden argued, proved that Trump is “not fit to serve.” If the nation were six months from inauguration, Biden said, he would be all for “moving everything” to get Trump out of office, including invoking the 25th Amendment. But with less than two weeks to go, the President-elect said he was focused “on us taking control” and would leave decisions about impeachment up to the Congress.
The President’s encouragement of a mob Wednesday, Biden said, reminded him of what happens in nations with tin horn dictators. But he said the country’s realization of the danger Trump poses could make his job easier as he attempts to unite a divided country — though that remains an open question.
“I’ve had a number of Republicans who are former colleagues call me.
They are as embarrassed and mortified by the President’s conduct as the Democrats are,” Biden said Friday. “What this President has done is ripped the band-aid all the way off to let the country know who he is, and what he’s about, and how thoroughly unfit for office he is.”
As reported by CNN
Jewish News and Israel news – Breaking News
© 2021 Jewish News and Israel news - Breaking News. All rights reserved.
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People Do Vote For Tyranny
by Clare M. Lopez
Radicalislam.org
http://lopez.pundicity.com/12656/vote-tyranny
As the world watches and waits for the Egyptian people to vote in a nationwide referendum to be held December 15 on a new constitution drafted largely by the Muslim Brotherhood, it would be well to consider another constitutional referendum from 33 years ago when another people who'd just been through a revolution went to the polls and cast their votes firmly in favor of tyranny.
On October 24, 1979, after a tumultuous year of revolution, the Iranian people turned out by the millions and voted overwhelmingly (over 98%) to approve a new constitution that subjugated the country to the rule of Islamic Law under the leadership of a single man – the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini – an Islamic cleric with unlimited power.
The vote was no snap response, as the full text of the new Iranian constitution had been published for the electorate's consideration more than four months earlier (from June, 1979). More than 15 million Iranian voters willingly chose to subordinate themselves, their children and their country to an Islamic theocratic dictatorship, whose provisions were spelled out to them and accepted by them in an explicitly worded constitutional document that described the totalitarian system of Velayat-e Faqih (Rule of the Jurisprudent) and dedicated the nation to jihad.
Further, the preamble to the constitution made clear that the Iranian revolution was not intended to stop at the country's borders but rather would strive for the formation of a "single world community" (ummah) in accordance with the "universal values of Islam," thus committing Iran and its military forces to open-ended aggression and warfare (which followed soon enough).
While the draft Egyptian constitution contains no such institution as a Supreme Leader or Velayat-e Faqih, it does state in Article 2 that "Principles of Islamic Sharia are the principal source of legislation," thus ensuring that genuine liberal democracy (in which the people and their representatives craft laws free of theological constraints) will have no chance in the new Egypt.
Also, as both Andrew McCarthy (here) and Barry Rubin (here) point out, the new constitution makes clear that implementation of sharia will be far stricter under the Muslim Brotherhood than it ever was under Mubarak: Article 219 defines the "principles of Islamic Sharia" to be bound by "sources accepted in Sunni doctrines and by the larger community," which means the four classical schools of Sunni jurisprudence and the Islamic institution of scholarly consensus (ijma). The Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki and Shafi'i schools hold that the principles of Islamic Law were fixed many centuries ago and have remained immutable ever since.
So, despite a cursory nod in the direction of individual "rights and freedoms" (Article 81), the very next words of the Egyptian draft document, stipulating that such rights and freedoms "shall be practiced in a manner not conflicting with the principles pertaining to State and society included in Part I of this Constitution," make clear that means Egyptians get whatever "human rights" are allowed under sharia (see below).
Just like the 1990 Cairo Declaration of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which exempted all Muslim countries from compliance with the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and declared that under Islam, human rights means sharia and only sharia.
Further, much as Article 96 of the Iranian constitution designated the Guardian Council (comprised of 12 jurist experts in Islamic Law) to determine the "compatibility of the legislation passed by the Islamic Consultative Assembly with the laws of Islam," so too does Egypt's new constitution designate al-Azhar's "Senior Scholars … to be consulted in matters pertaining to Islamic law."
Thus, a non-elected assembly of Islamic jurists will be granted the authority to approve or disapprove any legislation the Egyptian parliament passes, with judgment to be based solely on Islamic laws set down in the 10th century.
Those laws assign the death penalty for adultery, apostasy from Islam, homosexuality and, in some cases, for blasphemy or slander (criticism) against Islam. They establish legal inequality between Muslims and non-Muslims and between men and women. And lest any think these laws apply only to Egyptians or only to Muslims, sharia also mandates jihad against non-believers for the express purpose of imposing sharia globally.
In addition, as Yousef al-Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood's senior jurist, decades of accumulated Brotherhood ideology, and the campaign speeches of Ikhwan stalwarts like Khairat al-Shater or Mohammed Morsi himself all attest, mainstream Islamic doctrine also mandates virulent hatred of infidels and Jews.
The Muslim Brotherhood may not move immediately to implement all of these principles, but approval of the new constitution would give them the authority and the popular mandate to do so. Morsi himself has left no doubt about how he intends to govern, pledging to an enthusiastic crowd in a May 2012 campaign speech on Egyptian TV that he is dedicated to "The shari'a, then the shari'a, and finally, the shari'a."
And the thing is, the Egyptian people, who are over 70% literate, know all this either from their own reading or through their imams and mosques. Andrew Bostom has been indefatigable in drawing our attention to credible surveys of the Egyptian public which unambiguously and overwhelmingly demonstrate that they want "strict application of Sharia law in every Islamic country (74%)," to "keep Western values out of Islamic countries (91%)" and to "unify all Islamic countries into a single Islamic state or Caliphate (67%)."
As recently as December 2010, a Pew survey found that 82% of Egyptians favor the stoning to death of people who commit adultery, 77% approved of whipping and hand amputation for theft and 84% said they thought apostates from Islam should be executed.
Despite the last spasms of protest from Egypt's tragically outnumbered liberals and secularists, does anyone still have any serious doubts about how this referendum is going to go? Backed and emboldened by the Obama administration in Washington, D.C., the Muslim Brotherhood has orchestrated its takeover of Egypt masterfully from the beginning: It won the initial constitutional amendments referendum by a landslide, then, together with its Salafist allies, grabbed an overwhelming majority in the January 2012 parliamentary elections, before taking the presidency in June 2012.
As Andrew McCarthy has pointed out, though, "The constitution was always the prize" and now that looks to be soon within their grasp as well. Once the December 15 up or down vote enshrines these sharia principles as law of the land, just as in Iran, there will be no going back for Egypt for a long, long time.
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US Home Values Continue to Surge in August
Nearly 35% of Metros in the U.S. Saw Double-Digit Annual Appreciation, Which Will Begin to Level Out as Inventory Shortages Ease and Mortgage Rates Rise
SEATTLE, Sept. 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — National home value appreciation continued to climb in August, up 0.4 percent from July to a Zillow(R) Home Value Index(i) of $162,100, according to the August Zillow Real Estate Market Reports(ii) . Home values were up 6.6 percent annually in August, the largest gain since July 2006, when home values rose 7.9 percent year-over-year.
National home values have risen or remained flat month-over-month for almost two years, though the pace of monthly home value appreciation has slowed in recent months. August marked the third consecutive month in which monthly home values rose more slowly than the month prior.
A majority (85 percent) of the 382 metros covered in August experienced annual home value appreciation. Among the 30 largest metro areas covered by Zillow, 20 saw annual appreciation of 10 percent or more. Metros with notable annual increases in August include Sacramento (34.1 percent), Las Vegas (30.6 percent) and Riverside, Calif. (29.7 percent).
For the 12-month period from August 2013 to August 2014, U.S. home values are expected to rise another 5.2 percent, to approximately $170,500, according to the Zillow Home Value Forecast(iii) . Large metro areas expected to show the most appreciation over the next year include Riverside (21.9 percent), Sacramento (19.2 percent) and Los Angeles (13.2 percent).
“August marked the end of one of the hottest summer home shopping seasons in years, as home value appreciation rates continued their rocket ride upward — perhaps dangerously so in some metro areas,” said Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries. “Double-digit appreciation rates do help to lift homeowners out of negative equity and to entice sellers into a low-inventory environment, but this rapid growth is not normal and cannot and should not be expected to last. We are already beginning to see moderation in the monthly pace of home value appreciation, which will be good for the market overall and in the long term.”
National rents also rose in August compared with July, up 0.5 percent to a Zillow Rent Index(iv) of $1,293. Year-over-year, national rents were up 1.9 percent in August.
The number of completed foreclosures in August fell to 5.17 homes foreclosed out of every 10,000 homes nationwide, down from 5.27 homes in July. Foreclosure resales represented 8.28 percent of homes sold in the U.S. in August, down 0.3 percentage points from July and 3.1 percentage points from August 2012.
Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI) Zillow Rent Index (ZRI)
Metropolitan 2013 2013
Areas ZHVI Month-Month % Change Year-Year % Change ZRI Month-Month % Change Year-Year % Change
United States $162,100 0.4% 6.6% $1,293 0.5% 1.9%
New York, NY $351,800 0.6% 3.3% — — —
Los Angeles, CA $483,200 1.7% 22.8% $2,318 0.4% 1.6%
Chicago, IL $169,700 1.2% 4.9% $1,541 0.4% 0.8%
Philadelphia,
PA $189,600 0.0% 2.5% $1,503 0.1% 0.7%
Washington, DC $341,900 0.8% 8.9% $2,089 0.4% 1.5%
Miami-Fort
Lauderdale,
FL $170,200 1.5% 15.2% $1,659 0.6% 4.0%
Atlanta, GA $126,000 1.6% 13.3% $1,138 0.4% 1.2%
Boston, MA $341,200 1.2% 10.1% $1,997 0.1% 3.5%
CA $633,700 1.5% 28.1% $2,555 0.3% 2.9%
Detroit, MI $93,700 1.7% 20.3% $1,044 0.7% 2.0%
Riverside, CA $241,700 3.0% 29.7% $1,586 0.2% 2.6%
Phoenix, AZ $181,400 1.5% 20.9% $1,145 0.0% -0.4%
Seattle, WA $305,900 1.4% 16.0% $1,672 0.7% 3.8%
Minneapolis-St
Paul, MN $197,100 2.0% 16.3% $1,463 0.4% 1.5%
San Diego, CA $436,000 1.8% 23.7% $2,149 0.2% 2.5%
St. Louis, MO $128,300 -0.1% 1.7% $1,091 1.0% -1.4%
Tampa, FL $127,000 1.7% 15.6% $1,207 0.2% 2.8%
Baltimore, MD $230,000 0.3% 6.0% $1,683 0.4% 0.2%
Denver, CO $248,600 1.3% 14.5% $1,577 0.9% 5.6%
Pittsburgh, PA $112,900 0.8% 4.6% $1,005 1.2% -2.0%
Portland, OR $256,800 1.3% 15.8% $1,433 0.5% 3.3%
Sacramento, CA $279,600 2.0% 34.1% $1,466 0.3% 0.3%
Orlando, FL $143,000 1.8% 17.5% $1,246 0.3% 3.8%
Cincinnati, OH $127,700 0.7% 4.0% $1,122 -0.9% 7.3%
Cleveland, OH $115,100 0.3% 5.1% $1,109 0.2% 3.3%
Las Vegas, NV $156,600 2.8% 30.6% $1,159 0.3% 0.9%
San Jose, CA $734,500 0.9% 24.0% $2,685 0.6% 3.8%
Columbus, OH $132,200 0.4% 6.4% $1,192 0.8% 3.4% ————— ——– ——————– —————— —— ——————– ——————
Charlotte, NC $139,100 0.3% 2.9% $1,144 0.0% 0.3%
Indianapolis,
IN $137,500 0.8% 10% $1,155 0.2% 1.1%
About Zillow:
Rising Home Prices Help with Underwater Mortgages
Rising home prices drove down the number of U.S. homeowners struggling with underwater mortgages in the second quarter, leaving 14.5 percent of residential properties with a mortgage in negative equity, a report from CoreLogic showed on Tuesday. The rate was down from 19.7 percent in the first quarter, 22.3 percent a year ago and 26 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, which was the most since CoreLogic began keeping statistics earlier that year.
Negative equity, another term for underwater mortgage, refers to properties whose value is less than what is owed on the mortgage. Negative equity rates spiked in the aftermath of the housing crisis, which began in earnest five years ago and set off a multiyear free-fall in prices. But recovery in the sector over the past year has helped improve some homeowners’ standings. There were 7.1 million underwater homes in the second quarter compared with a downwardly revised 9.6 million in the first three months of 2013, CoreLogic said.
According to the S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas, prices were up 12.1 percent in the 12 months to June. “Price appreciation obviously had a positive impact on home equity over the first half of 2013, especially in the second quarter,” CoreLogic Chief Executive Anand Nallathambi said in a statement.
About 3.5 million homeowners regained positive equity in the first half of the year, the report said.
Nevada had the highest percentage of properties in negative equity in the second quarter at 36.4 percent. Rounding out the top five were Florida, Arizona, Michigan and Georgia. These five states combined accounted for 34.9 percent of negative equity in the United States.
The housing market, however, is far from fully healed. In addition to the 7.1 million homes with underwater mortgages, another 1.7 million were considered to be in near-negative equity in the second quarter, a description for properties with less than 5 percent equity. Even a modest fall in prices could put those mortgages underwater, and economists expect a recent rise in mortgage rates to slow the pace of price gains in the months ahead.
Mark Fleming, CoreLogic’s chief economist, said that a slowing in price gains could slow the rate at which homeowners return to positive equity.
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by Nettrice Gaskins | Apr 30, 2012
Maya Lin. "Dew Point 18 (detail)," 2007. Blown glass. © Maya Lin Studio, Inc., courtesy The Pace Gallery. Photo courtesy The Pace Gallery.
In this week’s roundup Maya Lin invites and challenges viewers, Alfredo Jaar makes history, Mike Kelley, Pepón Osorio, Carrie Mae Weems, and Jessica Stockholder explore everyday things, and more.
Maya Lin recently launched What Is Missing?, as part of the fifth, and last, of her memorial projects, which began with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial built on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in 1982. The web-based, multimedia memorial coincides with her exhibition in the Heinz Architectural Center, Carnegie Museum of Art. The show closes May 13.
Mike Kelley, Pepón Osorio, Carrie Mae Weems, and Jessica Stockholder have work in Everyday Things: Contemporary Works from the Collection at the Rhode Island School of Design. This show features artworks that depict commonplace objects and imagery, utilize everyday elements in their construction, or serve as functional artist-made objects, including benches, chairs, and light fixtures. This work is on view through February 24, 2013.
Richard Serra‘s, Kiki Smith‘s and Martin Puryear‘s works are currently on view in Inside|Out at the Speed Art Museum (Louisville, KY). The exhibition illustrates how art and nature connect at the “New” Speed when the Museum reopened after its renovation and expansion project. Inside|Out looks at sculptures and prints made by these artists, among others. The exhibition closes September 23.
Jeff Koons lent his entire body of work to designer Lisa Perry’s latest collection of apparel and accessories. Perry’s art-inspired collection featuring Koons’s work is available at her boutique and on her website. Some of the proceeds will go to the Koons Family Institute, an initiative of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Alfredo Jaar is featured in Making History at Frankfurter Kunstverein (Frankfurt, Germany). The exhibition addresses how photographs shape our view of history as well as the images that are withheld from us. Jaar’s photographs investigate the potential effect and ideological power of published photographic icons in his work, as well as in a large-scale installation. This show runs through July 8.
Barry McGee‘s stickers are featured in Stuck Up: A Selected History of Alternative and Popular Culture told through Stickers at the UGLYgallery and New Bedford Art Museum (Massachusetts). Contemporary artists not necessarily known for stickers, such as Jenny Holzer, are shown side by side with anonymous stickers peeled from the streets of New York City. This exhibition will run concurrently at the New Bedford Art Museum and UGLYgallery through May 4.
Nettrice Gaskins
Nettrice Gaskins is an artist and educator who holds a Ph.D. in Digital Media. Gaskins previously compiled the Magazine's "Weekly Roundup" and occasionally contributes articles on afrofuturism.
Pepón Osorio
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A Bakewell Media Publication
Home News The Life of Kamala Harris Represents Preliminary Steps for Change
The Life of Kamala Harris Represents Preliminary Steps for Change
The presence of Madam Vice President-elect Kamala Harris represents the new era of America.
She solidified the time for change and exemplifies the tide of cultural balance. As the first Black and South Asian woman to be listed on a major political ballot, and the first woman to be voted on as vice president, Harris raises the awareness of a nation before her words begin to cut through her lips.
As the past generation takes her win as a nod to the countless steps made in the past for women empowerment and racial equity, the future will use her resolve as a vessel to sail through the future with a fresh force. She is symbolic of the change America is seeing, Harris embodies the energy of a new day in American history.
Kamala Devi Harris was born on October 20, 1964, in Oakland, California to Donald Harris and Shyamalan Gopalan. Harris was the first-born and that preliminary title follows her into a professional career.
Harris’ family were people of strategy, with her parents holding their own in economic study and cancer research center; Kamala and her younger sister Maya were brought up in a house of mental elevation.
As a daughter of South Asian and Jamaican genetic makeup, she was aware of cultural awareness early on.
That energy is draped over her heart; Harris plans to be planted in that solidarity, to be persistent until physical evidence of Justice. She knows how to continue on into battle, even if the odds seemed to be stacked up against her.
Empowered by the jostle of her mother, Harris pushed through seemingly unbreakable boundaries.
She holds the title as the first Black woman to have held district and general attorney roles in California’s history.
From 2004 to 2011, Harris had a meteoric effect on many communities as district attorney, finding her essence in the initiative that gives first-time drug offenders the chance to earn a high school diploma and find employment in California.
Knowing her place was at the top, Harris bloomed with the determination and perseverance to become a lawyer, district attorney, and U.S. Senator.
Longing for change, Harris wore her courtroom introduction, like a pendant of honor and embodied the statement: “Kamala Harris, For the People.”
From there, she has installed those words as part of her personal trait that shines through her platform of public policy. Harris followed in her destined role with the armor to fight against an enemy of any size.
Harris shared experiences fighting in court; she fought for the residents of working-class communities and victims of a failed system.
Harris expressed that she could recognize the hunter and hunted, and she is well suited for the battle for the sovereignty of fairness.
Before she was the first Black woman and South Asian American to be voted in as vice president, Harris was a student in a sea of new minds.
Harris attended Howard University and she graduated with her B.A. in 1986. She completed her courses to earn a Juris Doctor degree from Hastings College.
Passionate to fight for justice, Harris was admitted to the state bar in 1990.
She was the leading attorney of the Career and Criminal Unit in San Francisco, eight years later.
As U.S. Senator, her “quiet and exquisite power” burrowed through testosterone filled rooms, creating the tunnel vision needed to become the vice president.
Harris overcame strongholds that left the previous political aesthetic narrow, she was the first Black woman to be on a major ballot, breaking the mold of the White male line up found in the American timeline of political candidacy.
Harris continues to stand on the words she discovered while being a prosecutor; she is for the people.
Relishing in the memories of fighting for children and survivors of sexual assault, Harris was never afraid of confrontation. She would take on some of the most prominent banks and conglomerate companies that tried to take advantage of smaller voices.
Harris formally accepted her nomination as vice president on August 19.
Her speech consisted of mindfulness, alignment, faith, and the fight this country needs to elevate to a new definition of equality and freedom. Harris disclosed the details of her alignment with Biden, she stated, “We must elect Joe Biden.
I knew Joe as Vice President. I knew Joe on the campaign trail.
But I first got to know Joe as the father of my friend.”
Her election is the steepest crack into the glass ceiling; Harris cultivated her answer for evolution of human quality to be the vehicle navigated by the Biden Administration.
There is a shared goal of moving forward with a new sense of purpose, healing generational wounds, and restoring the health of the nation.
The Harris name now embarks on authority; she has pushed a new standard forward.
The story of her victory told America, there is no need to wait permission to make the change for equality. COVID-19 has heavily influenced the need for change.
Harris stressed her strong faith in the Biden Administration to be the best guide through this new terrain.
She stated, “We believe that our country—all of us, will stand together for a better future.
We already are.”
Public policy is being represented by a Black woman, Harris continues to mirror a new dimension of change and aspires the nation to accept the new frontier.
She continues to lean on a pillar of Justice and center her purpose to bring balance back into a system that has seen the same type of political figures in seats of power.
Vice President-elect Harris continues to break barriers with each step she takes on Capitol Hill soil and her position works as a pivotal point for the course of history.
There is much to be admired about this time of acceptance. Harris intends to bring an overflow of inclusivity and balance in the White House. Her words come with high potency to make needed change, but her presence solidifies that it will take place under her watch.
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AllRefer.com > Pictures & Images > Electronic Control Squadron at Naval Air Station - Flying over Idaho
Electronic Control Squadron at Naval Air Station - Flying over Idaho
A five-ship formation flies over the Idaho Sawtooth Mountains Nov. 1. Col. Anthony Rock, 366th Fighter Wing commander, led the formation of two F-15E Strike Eagles, and F-15 Eagle, an F-16 Fighting Falcon, all from the 366th FW at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, and an EA-6B Prowler from the 388th Electronic Control Squadron at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash., a geographically separated unit from the 366th FW The 366th FW began the first phase of its F-16 drawdown when five jets departed the base Nov. 2. The departure is part of the wing’s realignment. The 366th FW began the first phase of its F-16 Fighting Falcon drawdown when five jets departed the base Nov. 2. The departure is part of the wing’s realignment from an F-16, F-15C and F-15E base to an all F-15E Strike Eagle installation by 2011. The move, outlined in the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure recommendation, is al
A five-ship formation flies over the Idaho Sawtooth Mountains Nov. 1. Col. Anthony Rock, 366th Fighter Wing commander, led the formation of two F-15E Strike Eagles, and F-15 Eagle, an F-16 Fighting Falcon, all from the 366th FW at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, and an EA-6B Prowler from the 388th Electronic Control Squadron at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash., a geographically separated unit from the 366th FW The 366th FW began the first phase of its F-16 drawdown when five jets departed the base Nov. 2. The departure is part of the wing’s realignment. The 366th FW began the first phase of its F-16 Fighting Falcon drawdown when five jets departed the base Nov. 2. The departure is part of the wing’s realignment from an F-16, F-15C and F-15E base to an all F-15E Strike Eagle installation by 2011. The move, outlined in the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure recommendation, is also part of the Air Force initiative to become a smarter and leaner force by consolidating its F-15 and F-16 fighter aircraft. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Kevin J. Gruenwald)
Squadron & Thunderbird
Original 1024 x 604 116.95 KB
Squadron & Thunderbird Pictures
Military & Weapons > Squadron & Thunderbird Pictures
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Indigofera aralensis Gagnep.
This species is accepted, and its native range is Indo-China.
Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam
Indigofera aralensis Gagnep. appears in other Kew resources:
Herbarium Catalogue (1 records)
Identified As
Pierre, L. [998], Thailand K000848666
Balslav, H. & Chantaranothai, P. (2018). Flora of Thailand 4(3.1): 221-371. The Forest Herbarium, Royal Forest Department.
Lock, J.M. & Heald, J. (1994). Legumes of Indo-China a checck-list: 1-164. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
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Indigofera fulgens Baker
This species is accepted, and its native range is Tanzania to Northern Prov., W. Madagascar.
Accepted Infraspecifics
Not Threatened
According to Flora of Tropical East Africa
[FTEA]
Leguminosae, J. B. Gillett, R. M. Polhill & B. Verdcourt. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1971
Softly woody shrub up to 2 m. tall; stems often slightly zigzag, pubescent at first, then glabrescent.
Stipules filiform, pubescent, up to 18 mm. long; rhachis pubescent, up to 13 cm. long, including a petiole of ± 10 mm., prolonged 5–9 mm. beyond lateral leaflets; leaflets 11–23, with filiform stipellae 2–3 mm. long exceeding the petiolules, rather paler beneath than above, elliptic-lanceolate, pointed at the base, up to 25 mm. long and 11 mm. wide, sparsely silky pubescent on both surfaces.
Inflorescences
Racemes densely many-flowered, pubescent, up to 11 cm. long including a peduncle of up to 15 mm.; bracts linear-lanceolate, up to 8 mm. long, out-topping the buds, pubescent, caducous; pedicels pubescent, 1.5 mm. long in flower, up to 3 mm. long and usually reflexed in fruit.
Calyx pubescent; lobes triangular, ± as long as the tube, the lower longer than the upper.
Corolla white puberulent outside; standard and keel pointed.
Stamens 13–15 mm. long.
Ovary glabrous, with ± 14 ovules.
Pod (immature) almost straight, up to 4 cm. long, glabrous.
In thickets on sandy soils; 0–500 m.; rainfall ± 950 mm.
T8 subsp. brachybotrys (Bak.) Gillett with stamens ± 10 mm. long, in Madagascar
Madagascar, Mozambique, Northern Provinces, Tanzania
Includes 1 Accepted Infraspecifics
Indigofera fulgens subsp. fulgens
Indigofera fulgens Baker appears in other Kew resources:
First published in D.Oliver & auct. suc. (eds.), Fl. Trop. Afr. 2: 101 (1871)
Schrire, B.D. (2012). Flora Zambesiaca 3(4): 1-245. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Lock, J.M. (1989). Legumes of Africa a check-list: 1-619. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Du Puy, D.J., Labat, N.-N., Rabevohitra, R., Villiers, J.-F., Bosser, J. & Moat, J. (2002). The Leguminosae of Madagascar: 1-737. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Gillett in Kew Bulletin, Add. Ser. 1: 86 (1958).
J.P.M. Brenan, Check-lists of the Forest Trees and Shrubs of the British Empire no. 5, part II, Tanganyika Territory p. 429 (1949).
Bak. in Flora of Tropical Africa 2: 101 (1871).
Du Puy, D. J. et al. (2002). The Leguminosae of Madagascar. RBG Kew.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
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Last Name: Gill – Would you like to know the origin, Coat of Arms and Ancestors of the Surname Gill? – X-Finder
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Coat of Arms of your Family
The surname Gill can be of English, Scottish, Irish, Dutch or Jewish origin. In England the name is derived from the short form of the given names Giles, Julian, or William. It may also be a topographical name for someone who lived by a ravine or deep glen, the Middle English ‘gil(l)’ ( Old Norman ‘gil’, gill of a fish, also used as a transferred sense of a ravine ). A family could acquire a place name as a surname under three different circumstances: 1. the gentleman lived or worked in or near some topographical formation or landscape feature, either natural or artificial. 2. he formerly lived in a village and thus acquired the reputation of being from that place. 3. he owned or was lord of the village or manor designated. However, it is safe to say that in most cases a placename merely identifies the place where the original bearer of the name formerly resided; as is the case with the surname Gill. To the Scots and Irish the name is an anglicized form of the Gaelic name Mac Gille (Sc), Mac Giolla (Ir), patronymics from an occupational name for a servant or a short form of various personal names formed by attaching this elementt to the name of the saint. To …
Coat of arms: Erminois an eagle displaed with two heads sable on a chief i…
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Harry Belafonte wants to resolve issues with JAY Z + Beyoncé, requests a sit down [Video] | News
|By Natasha Nanner
Renowned social activist Harry Belafonte is hoping to resolve his issues with JAY Z and Beyoncé by inviting the superstar couple for a one-on-one sit down, in which they can perhaps address their differences and reach some common ground.
The icon recently rubbed Mr Carter up the wrong way with a remark reportedly claiming that the rapper and his wife have turned their back on social responsibility and could be utilising their celebrity status more effectively. Jay then responded via his new album, Magna Carta Holy Grail, and also went into more depth about why Harry’s comment had offended him during a #FactsOnly interview with Elliott Wilson last week.
“Belafonte went about the wrong way. The way he did it within the media and then he bigged-up Bruce Springsteen. It was like woo, you just sent the wrong message like all around…” Jay told Elliott.
Now, Belafonte – who is currently protesting the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case – has attempted to clear the air by explaining what he really meant by his controversial remark.
When asked on MSNBC about whether Jay should continue touring with Justin Timberlake, Harry responded:
“I would be hard pressed to tell Mr. JAY Z what to do with this time and his fortune. All I can be critical is of what he is not doing. This conflict that is emerging was not from me as a direct attack on Jay-Z or Beyonce. I was at a press conference in Switzerland. Questions were raised by the international press. They asked about the artists and the social engagement of the past based on a film we were watching…and how artists responded earlier in my life and how they responded today.
“And I made the observation that the highly powerful voice that our community has – Black America has – there is so much celebrity power that it was sad to see that the collective of the celebrity power had not been applied to bring consciousness to the inequities that we face,” Belafonte said. “Artist that heard that responded in a very strong way. You’ll find that Jamie Foxx, you’ll find Chuck D [of Public Enemy]…you find that any number of highly profiled people have taken that critique and called for [a meeting]. We’ve sat. We’ve talked. And I will tell you now that these people that I’ve just mentioned are officially behind Dream Defenders. They are prepared to come down. They are prepared to perform. I would hope that Jay-Z would not take personally what was said because it was not said about him personally.”
He then extended an invitation to Jay and Bey, with hopes that the trio can sit down privately and talk things through.
“Having said that, I would like to say to Jay-Z, to Beyonce: My heart is wide open and filled with nothing but hope and the promise that we can sit and have a one-on-one. And lets understand each other rather than try to answer these questions and these nuances in a public place.”
Watch the full interview below and skip to the 11 minute mark to watch the section JAY Z and Beyonce.
Coincidentally, the MCHG rapper and Beyoncé recently attended a Trayvon Martin protest rally in New York.
beyonce Harry Belafonte Jay-Z music news trayvon martin
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Cayla Petree named 2019-2020 NJCAA Div. I Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year
LEVELLAND — Leading the Lady Texans to a 32-1 clip and their first outright conference title since 2013, Cayla Petree was named the 2019-2020 NJCAA Div. I Women's Basketball Coach of the Year Friday.
Petree led the Lady Texans to a No. 2 overall seed at the Women's Basketball National Tournament proving to be one of the top teams on both ends of the floor throughout the season. South Plains ripped off a 26 game win streak to begin the year, earning the program a No. 1 national ranking for just the second time in program history, both coming under Petree's guidance.
Already named the WBCA Two-Year College National Coach of the Year, as well as the WJCAC Coach of the Year and WhoopDirt.com Coach of the Year, the Lady Texans finished first nationally with a 50.6 percent shooting clip for the season and gave up just 49.5 points per game, the top mark in the NJCAA.
Petree, who will be moving on to Gulf Coast State next season, amassed an overall record of 127-36 during her five-year stint in Levelland, leading the Lady Texans to back-to-back conference crowns and three national tournament appearances. South Plains reached the Elite Eight of the national tournament during the 2018-2019 season and was undoubtedly a national title contender again this year.
Petree's squad without question reached its full potential, with five players earning all-Conference honors, with six members from the 2019-2020 team inking Div. scholarships.
Sophomore sharpshooter Sarah Shematsi signed with LSU on Nov. 13, while Caroline Germond and Channel Noah inked with TCU. The Lady Texans will also send 6-foot-5 center Ruth Koang to the South Eastern Conference next year after Koang committed to the University of Alabama on March 20. Most recently, 6-foot-1 forward Ka'Lia Smith announced she will be moving on to play for the University of Texas at Arlington next season, and sophomore Oceane Robin announced her commitment to California Baptist University at Riverside.
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