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Bryce Dallas Howard on new Jurassic World poster
See the new one-sheet poster for the latest instalment.
A new poster has been released for Jurassic World, the latest instalment in the Jurassic Park series.
The one-sheet features new dinosaur hybrid the D-Rex as well as Bryce Dallas Howard’s Park Operations Manager, Claire Dearing. More posters for the movie are expected to be released over the weekend ahead of the brand new trailer on Monday.
Twenty-two years after the events of Jurassic Park, Isla Nublar now features a fully functioning dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World, as originally envisioned by John Hammond. After 10 years of operation and visitor rates declining, in order to fulfill a corporate mandate, a new attraction is created to re-spark visitor’s interest, which backfires horribly.
Jurassic World is directed by Colin Trevorrow and Executive Produced by Steven Spielberg. It stars Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Irrfan Khan, Vincent D’Onofrio, Jake Johnson, Omar Sy, BD Wong and Judy Greer.
The movie will be released in UK cinemas on 11th June 2015. Take a look at the new poster below:
In this article:Jurassic World
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FREEConsult
EpiOn
EmPower - Managed IT
User / Device Security
User Training / Enablement
Cloud WorkSpace
Web & Domain Hosting
Zultys Cloud
Zultys Premise
Mobile Enterprise Management
Secure Cloud
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Nonprofit IT
IT For Financial Services
About the Modern Office
About Cloud Computing
About BYOD
About Network Security
About Shadow IT
About Business Continuity
About Your Virtual Identity
About the Internet of Things
About Microsoft Windows
About Windows 10
About Compliance
About HIPAA
About SOX
About PCI DSS
Understanding the Sarbanes-Oxley Act
For accountants that deal with publicly owned companies, ensuring your IT infrastructure is SOX-complaint is a must.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was adopted as law to ensure that investors have reliable data in which to make their financial decisions. The law was, in large part, a result of the accounting scandals that took place around the turn of the century including within publicly-traded organizations such as Enron, Tyco International, Adelphia, and WorldCom. These scandals costs investors billions of dollars and resulted in a widespread loss in confidence in American securities. To remedy this loss-of-confidence, the United States congress took swift measures in a bipartisan co-sponsored bill that amended the necessary processes that publicly traded companies reported revenue. The bill is named after its co-sponsors, Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) and Representative Michael G. Oxley (R-OH)\ and was signed into law by President George W. Bush on July 30, 2002.
By upgrading fiscal reporting laws, many of which were over 60 years old, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (as it was known upon ratification) changed the way that accountants were required to go about presenting information to the boards of publicly traded companies, and thus places an emphasis on IT to assist in accomplishing this task. Since the law calls for dynamic reporting requirements to be put in place, including pro-forma figures, stock transactions of corporate officers, and off-balance-sheet transactions, computing was to play a larger role than ever in the execution of proper oversite under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
What is SOX Compliance?
SOX Compliance is the observation of the protocols mandated by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
The sprawling reform, made it necessary to report all numbers to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) in an effort to cut back on corporate scandals that had been defrauding investors. IT was a enacted as a few well known publicly-owned corporations were "cooking their books" in order to retain unjustifiably high stock prices, inflating the worth of their companies. When the fraud was realized, it was too late and billions of investment dollars were lost.
In regards to technology, a SOX-compliant infrastructure is the creation and maintenance of a secure computing system that allows for privacy for secure transfer of financial information directly to accountable parties (i.e. Company officers). The creation of this infrastructure must meet the requirements of a SOX third-party auditor. These auditors are hired at the expense of the organization that requires the audit.
SOX Compliance Questions
Some of the variables that SOX auditors look for in a compliant IT infrastructure:
Is there an identity-based security system in place on the applicable framework?
Do the right people have access to the right data?
Are services isolated to ensure that a compromised service can't compromise an otherwise compliant infrastructure?
Does the IT framework or database provide the confidentiality required by Article 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley?
Is there physical security in place for applicable servers?
Is there a firewall protecting that server from the internet, with applicable alterations that are to be made specifically for SOX compliance?
Are you connections to your server encrypted?
It's true that the protection against the misrepresentation of revenue often lays on the shoulder of a company's technology.
The IT professionals at EpiOn can clarify network security and the role it plays in regulatory compliance. Our certified technicians can help you prepare for your SOX, HIPAA, or PCI DSS audit.
For more information on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance for accounting firms, call us today at (931) 526-3742.
Free IT Whitepaper
This whitepaper will evaluate the differences between traditional technical support practices and modern managed IT practices and the pros and cons of both in regards to small and medium-sized businesses.
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Labour department warns against social media scammers
The fake website claims that workers who have worked between 1990 and 2020 have the right to get R35 000 from the department.
THE Department of Employment and Labour has reiterated its warning to the public to remain vigilant of a scam that continues unabated on social media, promising a pay out of between R33 000 and R35 000.
Department spokesperson Teboho Thejane said the scammers have re-created a fake Department of Employment and Labour website using the old coat of arms/logo in which they ask members of the public to check if their names appear on the list of those that are entitled to withdraw these funds.
Thejane said the fake website claims that workers who have worked between 1990 and 2020 have the right to get R35 000 from the department.
“The Department of Employment and Labour has not asked anyone to come forward to receive any of these benefits and will never do so in a manner that it is done through this website. All the benefits from the department are received by those that have worked for them or are entitled to receive them, and are processed at its 125 offices that are spread across the country,” Thejane said.
Thejane advised members of the public to visit the Department of Employment and Labour Provincial Offices, or a nearest Labour Centre to seek information.
To report any suspected criminal acts, members of the public are requested to inform the South African Police Service; report on the department’s fraud hotline number 08600 22 194 or email fraud@labour.gov.za (link sends e-mail) and, or visit the nearest department office.
Source: Northglen News at https://northglennews.co.za/249375/labour-department-warns-against-social-media-scammers/
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Workers and the poor remain the most vulnerable in times of crises
4 May 2020 by Reneva Fourie
May 1 was declared International Workers’ Day in appreciation of the power of worker unity and worker solidarity and to affirm the rights of workers to have decent conditions of service and wages. The Second International, held in Paris in 1889, extended a decision by the Federation of Organised Trades and Labour Unions in the United States and Canada recognising an 8-hour workday as of May 1, 1886, following a very effective, but costly, general strike by more than 300 000 workers in over 13 000 workplaces in the USA.
As we celebrate International Workers’ Day this year, our consciousnesses of worker conditions are heightened due to the Covid-19 pandemic, for workers have no choice but to sell their labour to survive. Our essential workers were at the frontline of ensuring our sustenance during the lockdown period and they are now bearing the consequences as some, particularly healthcare and retail workers, are testing positive for the virus. Workers have also had to bear the brunt of loss of income and jobs. Workers and the poor remain the most vulnerable in times of crises – whether natural as in the case of the pandemic, or man-made as in the looming economic recession. May Day serves as a reminder that worker unity is the only protection that exists against these vulnerabilities. Worker unity is essential if the common interests of workers are to occupy prominence in the programmes and policies of the government. The Nedlac victory around a substantive social security network allocation of R40 billion within the broader Covid-19 support package by government, would not have been possible without a collective progressive voice. But more needs to be achieved. The number of trade unions organising in one sector is excessive. The plethora of trade union federations including Cosatu, Fedusa, Saftu, Nactu is too much for one country. This dispersal of worker power weakens its voice and capacity; hence the victory secured at Nedlac by labour and the community combined amounts to less than ten percent of the total Covid-19 support package. While a multitude of perspectives is useful, the coalescing around common interests commands more authority. The consolidation of worker ideas, voices, energies and resources is essential in the context of the dominance of business interests in South Africa and in the world. This unity becomes particularly important as digitalisation, artificial intelligence and robotics change the nature of work. Just as worker struggles in the past went beyond the workplace by having challenged the impact of apartheid on society as a whole; workers currently also have a responsibility to practically and ideologically influence the trajectory of what is termed the fourth industrial revolution. Workers must shape the inevitable expansion of digital technologies into the workplace, society and even the body to ensure that it is beneficial and developmental in character. It is possible for the nature of work to be redefined to minimise job losses, shorten working hours and increase leisure time, whilst securing higher wages. Likewise, workers are a key lobby for a redistributive tax, which could be reaped from the process of automation and directed towards a fund for the expansion of a universal basic income, thereby ensuring a better quality of life for all. Such an ambition requires togetherness. Maximising the power of workers does not only require better integration domestically, it also requires solidarity internationally. International Workers Day is an outcome of class struggle. Workers had to protest and die before an eight-hour workday was agreed to. All peace-loving South Africans, of which the majority are workers and the poor, must have compassion with progressive struggles around the world that seek to create more just and equitable conditions for their people and should condemn governments who wish to undermine such processes.
International worker solidarity implies an awareness of and support for the struggles for democracy in countries like Swaziland and the Saharawi Arab Republic and the condemnation of increasing South African support for the Swazi or Moroccan monarchies. It implies a rejection of token support from countries like Turkey and the USA, albeit miniscule in content, when they are facilitating instability and causing suffering of workers and the poor in countries like Libya and Syria, and ignoring the sufferings in their own countries. Workers must particularly reject such token support when it is associated with military equipment, as in the case of Turkey. Likewise, it is not correct for workers to be silent when Israel oppresses the Palestinians and wages terror on countries like Lebanon and Syria. The World Federation of Trade Unions represents 92 million workers from 126 countries. The International Trade Union Confederation represents 176 million workers across 156 countries and territories. If all that power was harnessed towards calling for the protection of human rights, the lifting of sanctions against countries such as Cuba, Venezuela, Syria and Iran, a global cease-fire, and a universal basic income amongst others, the world will be a much better place. As the champion of the working class, Karl Marx famously put it: “Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains”.
* Reneva Fourie is a policy analyst specialising in governance, development and security and currently lives in Damascus, Syria.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of IOL.
Source: IOL at https://www.iol.co.za/news/opinion/workers-and-the-poor-remain-the-most-vulnerable-in-times-of-crises-47515651
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Saint Louis: Robson joins Zhao in the Juniors lead
7/16/2010 – 15-year-old GM Ray Robson, top seed in the Junior section of the US championships, easily won his round six game to join surprise leader Parker Zhao, who lost to FM Conrad Holt, at the top of the table. Nobody will be surprised if it is all RR from now to the end. In the Women's both top contenders Anna Zatonskih and Irina Krush won their games to leave Zatonskih in the lead. Round six report.
2010 U.S. Women's and
Junior Closed Championships
Two of the most prestigious tournaments in the country, the 2010 U.S. Women's Championship and the 2010 U.S. Junior Closed Championship are taking place July 9-20 at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. IM Anna Zatonskih is looking to defend her crown, which she won for two years in succession. In the Junior section Ray Robson is the top seed.
Women round six – July 15, 2010
Foisor, Sabina-Francesca
Krush, Irina
Melekhina, Alisa
Baginskaite, Camilla
Zenyuk, Iryna
Rohonyan, Katerina
Marinello, Beatriz M
Abrahamyan, Tatev
Marshall, Abby
Zatonskih, Anna
Zenyuk,I (2236) - Rohonyan,K (2319) [D15]
ch-USA w St Louis USA (6), 15.07.2010
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 a6 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Bg5 Ne4 7.Nxe4 dxe4 8.Nd2 Nc6 9.e3 Qa5 10.Bf4 e5 11.dxe5 Be6 12.a3 Rd8 13.b4 Nxb4 14.axb4 Qxb4 15.Qa4+ b5 16.Qxb4 Bxb4 17.0-0-0 0-0 18.Be2 a5 19.Nxe4 Ra8 20.Nd6 a4 21.Bxb5 a3 22.Kc2 Ra5 23.Bc4 Rc5 24.Kd3 a2 25.Ra1 Ra8 26.e4 Ra3+ 27.Kd4 Rca5 28.Bxe6 Bc3+ 29.Kc4 R5a4+ 30.Kb5 Rb4+ 31.Kc5 fxe6 32.Rxa2 Rxa2 After surviving the "iron king" march up the board White is fairly safe, but now blunders: 33.Bg3? (33.Rc1 was required).
33...Rc2. The mate-in-one threats 33...Ra7 34.Kc6 Bd4 would have finished it off faster. 34.Ne8 Rxe4 (or 34...Be1+ and mate to follow) 35.Kd6 Kf7 36.Kd7 Bxe5 37.Bxe5 Rxe5 38.Nd6+ Kf6 39.Ne8+ Kg6 40.f4 Ree2 41.g4 Rxh2 42.Rxh2 Rxh2 43.Kxe6 Re2+ 44.Kd7 Re4 45.f5+ Kh6 46.f6 gxf6 47.Nxf6 Re1 48.Kd6 Kg6 49.Nh5 Re4 0-1.
Everyone's watching you! Beatriz Marinello under pressure from Tatev Abrahamyan
WIM Beatriz M. Marinello, former President of the USCF (2003 to 2005) and Member of FIDE Verification Commission since 2006, is part of the Presidential ticket of Mr. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Marinello, born in Chile, became a National Women's Champion when she was 16 years old. She organized her first national championship in Chile at the age of 20 years old, and later organized other international competitions. She moved to the US in 1990, became a chess teacher in Miami and represented the US in two Interzonals (1991 and 1993) and in the 1994 Chess Olympiad in Moscow.
Irina Krush discusses her game with commentators Jennifer Shahade and Ben Feingold
IM Irina Krush returned to her winning way with a fine a+b-pawn win over Sabina-Francesca Foisor. But at the same time Irina's main rival Anna Zatonskih walked all over the position of tail-ender Abby Marshall and stayed half a point ahead.
Standings after six rounds – Women
Juniors round six – July 15, 2010
Yang, Darwin
Shankland, Samuel L
Robson, Ray
Hughes, Tyler B
Rosen, Eric S
½-½
Bryant, John Daniel
Zierk, Steven C
Harper, Warren
Holt, Conrad
Zhao, Parker
FM Conrad Holt beat leader Parker Zhao to take away his one-point lead over the field
15-year-old GM Ray Robson, top seed in this tournament, easily outplayed Tyler Hughes
to join Parker Zhao in the lead. Nobody will be surprised if it is all RR from now to the end
Standings after six rounds – Juniors
After six rounds and thirty games of play we have the following statistics (games, percentage):
White wins
Black wins
All games in PGN: Women – Juniors
The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!
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Tragedy of Karbala Remains Unforgetable
:Dr. Ibrahim Ayati
In the month of Muharram 61 A.H. a terrific tragedy took place in Iraq on the bank of the river Euphrates. It seemed in those days to be trivial and insignificant from the historical point of view. A large army which had been mobilized by the Umayyad regime besieged a group of persons numbering less than one hundred and put them under pressure so that they might take the oath of allegiance to the caliph of the time and submit to his authority. As the persons constituting this small group did not swear allegiance and did not surrender, a severe battle took place.
Its duration was very brief. The matter was settled in less than a ! day's time and all the persons constituting that small group were killed. It appeared at that time that like hundreds of other similar and more important events which continue to take place in human history this historical event would also be recorded in history and forgotten with the lapse of time.
The usual way of life of the Muslims did not change on account of this tragedy and everyone remained engaged in his daily business. The Muslim tradesmen were busy with their occupations. The masjids were frequented as usual. The Muslim preachers spoke about lawful and unlawful things, Paradise and Hell, spiritual reward and punishment and other religious matters from the pulpits. The only thing which was not talked about was this event which was apparently transient and without any effect. It was only the organization of the caliphate which published this event in various regions of the Islamic territories although in a brief and ambiguous manner. This was done with two objects in view; firstly that the people should come to know about the leaders of the movement opposed to the government having been killed, and should take a lesson from it, and similar risings should not take place in future; secondly that the caliphate should show itself guiltless and innocent in the matter and the leaders of the movement should be depicted as adventurous and mischievous. Husayn bin Ali who was at the head of the rising was to be introduced as opposed to truth and a liar.
Not only the regime of Bani Umayya and its supporters but even the majority of the Muslims of those days considered this tragedy to have culminated in the success of the killers of Imam Husayn. It was imagined that not only that the Imam and his companions had met martyrdom but thereafter nope from amongst Ahlul Bayt (the progeny of the Holy Prophet) nor anyone else would pick up courage to oppose Yazid, and the hearts which had been wounded due to the martyrdom of the Imam would also heal up with the passage of time.
Those people were not aware of the true spirit of this tragic event which covered only a few hours. They did not know that with the passage of time the greatness and effect of this sacred campaign against falsehood and tyranny would continue to increase.
At the time of the occurrence of this tragedy there were only a few persons from amongst the Ahlul Bayt, who could assess its value and importance, speak about the effects, which it would have later on the Muslims and relieve them to some extent from the misunderstanding in which they were involved. These were the few persons who could unveil with their speeches, the wickedness of the prevailing regime and the misunderstanding of the people and draw the attention of the people to the blow, which had been dealt to the enemy by those martyrs who were lying calmly in their graves, and to the tumult those heads would create in history later -the heads, which had been severed and held on the spears. The persons who went to various cities and regions in the capacity of prisoners, changed the thinking of the people and exonerated their sacred martyrs from the charges leveled against them in such a way that the facts of the event became crystal clear.
Here arises a question, which must be looked into and answered. The question is: Why did it so happen that the tragedy of Karbala occupied the central position amongst all the historical events of Islam and all religious risings, and no collective rising, struggle and martyrdom could acquire greatness in the world similar to that of the rising of Imam Husayn?
In the Battle of Uhud which took place near Madina in the month of Shawwal 3 A.H. between the Muslims and the polytheists of Makkah, a group of forty Muslims disobeyed their commander owing to some misunderstanding. Consequently 700 Muslims, who were fighting against 3000 polytheists, were defeated after having gained victory over the enemy. More than 80 persons were martyred. The bodies of most of the martyrs were mutilated in such away that a sister could not identify the body of her brother except by means of a defect in his finger. Notwithstanding this the Battle of Uhud and the martyrdom of more than 70 to 80 Muslim mujahids has not acquired the grandeur of the tragedy of Karbala.
Another tragical event is that of the martyrs of Fakh, wherein a number of the descendants of the Holy Prophet were martyred near Makkah during the time of Hadi Abbasi.
Another similar event is that of the martyrdom of sixteen Hasani Sayyids who were imprisoned in the Hasimiyya jail of Kufa under the orders of Mansur Dawaniqi. They died one after the other and Mansur did not allow their dead bodies to be buried. When all of them died he ordered the roof of the . jail to be made to fall on the dead bodies of these sons of the Holy Prophet. They were neither bathed, nor shrouded nor buried. These as well as other similar tragedies of the history of Islam cannot equal the tragedy of Karbala and none of these martyrs can be matched with Imam Husayn.
Hamzah bin Abdul Muttalib, the magnanimous uncle of the Prophet of Allah was martyred in Uhud and he received the title of Doyen of Martyrs from Allah and His Prophet. However, if even his name is substituted for that of Imam Husayn it cannot be expected to create the same effect.
We do not intend to give and cannot perhaps give a complete and comprehensive answer to this question. It may, however, be said that besides the personality of the leader of this rising which is certainly a reason for its enjoying precedence over other risings, one of the most important and effective factors and causes for the superiority of Imam Husayn's rising was the chapter which was added to the tragedy after the martyrdom of Imam Husayn and his companions. It was a chapter on the creation of which the enemy himself insisted and thus unintentionally provided the means of his own disgrace. The result was that it was through Ahlul Bayt, who had been made prisoners, and also through those who had killed Imam Husayn, the world came to know about the reality and importance of this rising.
The enemies most brutally treated the Ahlul Bayt after the martyrdom of the Holy Imam and termination of fighting. They denuded the martyrs of their belongings, and plundered their dresses. They rushed into the tents, looted the property of Ahlul Bayt and set their tents on fire. They attempted to kill the ailing Imam Sajjad in his bed. They got the dead bodies of the martyrs trampled upon under the hooves of the horses and held their heads on the spears. They behaved harshly towards the bereaved prisoners and struck a stick on the lips and teeth of their Imam.
These heinous acts which recoiled upon the enemy themselves and made the real position known to the people commenced from Karbala and continued up to Damascus. Yazid himself took part in these atrocities and had a share in the consequent disgrace for himself and his associates.
On the contrary the Ahlul Bayt showed perfect greatness and magnanimity and behaved as if nothing had happened and they had experienced no hardship. Most of the people were under the impression that they had been defeated and eliminated, but wherever they went they talked about their own success and the enemy's disgrace. At a time when most of the people thought that the enemy had been victorious, they introduced themselves as exalted and successful, and the proud enemy as unfortunate and disgraced, in history. Contrary to the anticipation of the people they predicted the downfall of Bani Umayya.
If Ibn Sad and Ibn Ziyad, after the martyrdom of Imam Husayn and his companions, had even as a matter of expediency, shown honor and respect to the Ahlul Bayt of the Holy Prophet and offered condolences to them for the tragedy which had been brought about by themselves. They did not prevent the burial of the martyrs but buried them earlier than their own soldiers, and sent the Ahlul Bayt to Madina direct. From Karbala with due honor and respect. If the barbarous activities of the enemy on the one hand and the impressive preachings of the Ahlul Bayt on the other, had not taken place, the martyrdom of the Imam and the tragedy of Karbala would certainly not have been reflected in the world in the shape which it assumed, and the enemies of the Imam, too, would not have been disgraced to such an extent. This too was as willed by Allah.
The enemy took the powerful preachers (Ahlul Bayt) forcibly as captives from one city to another and provided them an opportunity to speak to the people, who were mostly spectators of this tragedy, and introduce themselves to them and mentioned the Holy Prophet everywhere as their father or grandfather. The Ahlul Bayt got the first opportunity to display their eloquence on the 12th of Muharram when they were brought into the city of Kufa. Seeing Kufa was very painful for the Ahlul Bayt, because the major part of the Caliphate of Imam Ali had been spent in this city. In 41 A.H. the daughters of Imam Ali had gone from Kufa to Madina along with their brother Imam Hasan and now, after twenty years, they had arrived as prisoners in a city where they had ruled for about four years. The people of Iraq who had been the Nahrawan supporters of Ali in the Battle of the Camel, Siffin and Nahrawan had now killed his son and taken his other descendants captives.
However, it might be said that the orators of Ahlul Bayt had come from Madina and the Hijaz to Kufa and Iraq to address the people and the people assembled in the lanes and bazaars to hear their speeches. They commenced their mission from the very 12th day of Muharram and spoke out to the people without fear. When there was no chance of speaking in the bazaar or at the door and no audience other than the court of Ibn Ziyad was available, they continued their task there also, although it was in the shape of replies to his questions, and then returned to the prison of Kufa. The speeches of these brave and matchless orators extremely impressed the people, stirred their hearts and changed their views. Tears began to trickle from their eyes and they realized their grave error. These speeches roused the sentiments of the people and the value and importance of this event became known to them. The efforts of the enemy to tamper with the facts of this event were frustrated and the tragedy of Karbala was recorded in history in its true shape.
The severe thirst of Ahlul Bayt was confirmed in the pages of history .The misdeeds of the enemy were recorded. History also shows the spiritual eminence of the companions and supporters of the Imam. This sentence of Ali bin Husayn is also recorded in history: "When we are on the right path why should we fear death?" The following words of Qasim bin Hasan also brighten the pages of history: "For me death is sweeter than honey". The devotion and the manner of speech of Muslim bin Awsaja has been embodied in these words: "If we withdraw our support from you and fail in performing this duty what excuse shall we put forward before Allah? I swear by Allah that so long as I live I shall not give up my support to you till I may lay down my life for your sake and am killed earlier than all your other friends".
The Imam had permitted Sa'id bin Abdullah Hanafi to go away. His spiritual greatness, character and courage is summed up in this sentence: "I swear by Allah that even if I am killed and am brought to life again and am then burnt in fire and my ashes are scattered in the air and this process is repeated seventy times I shall not leave you till I am martyred in this path".
The following words have made the name of Bishr bin Amr everlasting in the history of the martyrs of Islam: "O Husayn bin Ali! May the fierce animals of the desert tear me into pieces if I leave you and enquire about your circumstances from others. Why should I withdraw my support to you when you are alone and friendless? I am not at all going to do any such thing". He expressed his devotion in these words: "Is it possible that I should leave the son of the Holy Prophet at the mercy of the enemies and try to save my own life? May Allah not bring such a day".
The following words uttered by other honorable martyrs of Karbala, which show their matchless magnanimity, valor, sincerity and steadfastness are recorded in the pages of history: Amr bin Qurza Ansari said while he was breathing his last: "O son of the Holy Prophet! Have I been faithful and have I discharged my duty?"
Habib bin Mazahir Asadi said to Muslim bin Awsaja when the latter was about to die: "Muslim! I congratulate you for you are going to Paradise earlier than us".
Muslim who was lying on the ground said in reply: "Habib! I am going, but you must not desert the Imam".
Abu Thamama Saidi said to the Imam at about noon: "What a good thing it would be if we offer the noon prayers along with you before we are martyred!"
If those speeches which were delivered in Syria had not been there and if the sister and son of Imam Husayn had not got opportunities to speak in the courts of Ibn Ziyad and Yazid, the event of the martyrdom of Imam Husayn and his companions might not have been recorded in history in its present form. History would have ignored the true accounts. Even the sentence uttered by a black slave who said to the Imam: "Do not deprive me of martyrdom and let me acquit myself of my responsibility in spite of my having a black face" would have been forgotten.
Indeed there are very few chapters in history which remained immune from any change to such an extent. Historians often differ about most of the details of historical facts, but it may be said with certainty that the tragedy of the martyrdom of Imam Husayn is one of the most luminous, sublime and the most unique chapters of history. None has been able to tamper with this historical event and to write contrary to the facts. The renowned historians like Shaykh Mufid, Tabari and Abul Faraj Isfahani have unanimously recorded the exact details of this tragedy. As we have already mentioned, its reason was that the enemy made a grave mistake and insisted unintentionally that this tragic event should be related in Kufa -the center of Iraq, Damascus -the center of Syria and Madina -the center of the Hijaz by the Ahlul Bayt, who had been taken prisoners and were eye-witnesses of the happenings on the day of Ashura and who could explain them better than anyone else. Ali bin Husayn related these events to the people one day in the bazaar of Kufa, on another day in the Jamea Masjid of Damascus, and after some time in Madina, in such away that the position became crystal clear to them as if they themselves had been present in Karbala on the day of Ashura.
At last Yazid felt regretful on account of these developments. He realized correctly that it was a grave mistake to bring the women and children to Kufa and Syria as prisoners and it would have been better if the matter had ended with the martyrdom of Imam Husayn and his companions, and anew chapter had not been opened, and the Ahlul Bayt had not been allowed to speak in the bazaars and before the public gatherings. However, it was then too late. What had been said with the lips could not be returned to the breasts and the scenes seen by the people and the speeches heard by them could not be wiped out from their memory. It was no longer possible that those, who had cried loudly in the bazaars, should once again consider the descendants of the Holy Prophet, about whom the verse of Purification (33:33) was revealed, rebellious and fit to be killed!
When common people are overtaken by a calamity they usually conceal it and do not wish that others should know what has befallen them. Contrary to this the Ahlul Bayt endeavored that as far as possible they should apprise the people of what they had suffered. It was for this reason that whenever they got an opportunity they mentioned the events of Karbala in detail and even Imam Husayn who possessed the highest human and Islamic virtues was usually mentioned with the title of the martyr.
Adapted from the book: "A Probe into the History of Ashura" by: "Dr. Ibrahim Ayati"
Prev: Negative Attitude Towards the Tragedy of Karbala
Next: The Sermon of Imam Sajjad (a.s.) in Kufa
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Pauline Sabin
Pauline Sabin on the cover of Time magazine (July 18, 1932)
Pauline Morton Sabin (April 23, 1887 – December 28, 1955) was a prohibition repeal leader and Republican party official. Born in Chicago, she was a New Yorker who founded the Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform (WONPR). Sabin was active in politics and known for her social status and charismatic personality. Sabin's efforts were a significant factor in the repeal of Prohibition.[1]
2 Opposition to prohibition
3 After repeal
Portrait of Pauline Morton Sabin by Philip de László, 1926
Pauline Sabin was a wealthy, elegant, socially prominent, and politically well-connected New Yorker. She was born Pauline Joy Morton, the daughter of Paul Morton and Charlotte Goodridge. Sabin's family was very active in business and politics. Her father Paul Morton was a railroad executive. Her uncle Joy Morton founded Morton Salt Company. Her grandfather Julius Sterling Morton had been a prominent Nebraska Democrat who served as Secretary of Agriculture under President Grover Cleveland, and her father had served as Secretary of the Navy to President Theodore Roosevelt. This later on helped spark her interest in politics.[2] Sabin's education included private schooling; she attended school in Chicago and Washington before making her debut into society.[1]
She married J. Hopkins Smith, Jr., in 1907. The couple had two sons before divorcing in 1914.[3] After getting divorced, she owned her own interior decorating business.[1] In 1916 she married Charles H. Sabin, president of the Guaranty Trust Company[4] and treasurer of the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment (AAPA). Despite the fact that her husband was a Democrat, Sabin remained a Republican but did not support Coolidge when he refused to back repeal of the 18th Amendment. She was very active in politics; she became the first member of the Suffolk County Republican Committee in 1919. She later on helped find the Women's National Republican Club and became the president. From 1921-1926 she gained enormous recognition for recruiting thousands of members and for raising funds. She also was selected to be New York's first woman representative on the Republican National Committee in 1923.[1]
Before 1929, she favored small government and free markets. She initially supported prohibition, as she later explained: "I felt I should approve of it because it would help my two sons. The word-pictures of the agitators carried me away. I thought a world without liquor would be a beautiful world." Towards the 1920s, however, Sabin realized that no one was taking Prohibition seriously.[1] She was growing increasingly disenchanted with prohibition but worked on behalf of Herbert Hoover in the election of 1928 despite his uncertain stand on the issue. In his inauguration speech he vowed to enforce anti-liquor legislation. After the enactment of the Jones-Stalker Act in May 1929 drastically increased penalties for the violation of prohibition, she resigned from the Republican National Committee and took up the cause of repealing prohibition.
Opposition to prohibition[edit]
Sabin voiced her first cautious public criticism of prohibition in 1926.[5] By 1928 she had become more outspoken. The hypocrisy of politicians who would support resolutions for stricter enforcement and half an hour later be drinking cocktails disturbed her. The ineffectiveness of the law, the apparent decline of temperate drinking, and the growing prestige of bootleggers troubled her even more. Mothers, she explained, had believed that prohibition would eliminate the temptation of drinking from their children's lives but found instead that "children are growing up with a total lack of respect for the Constitution and for the law."
After her resignation as Republican National committeewoman, Sabin received tremendous support.[1] In May 1929 in Chicago, Pauline Sabin founded the Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform with two dozen of her society friends as its nucleus. Its leadership was dominated by wives of American industry leaders. She found women who would be active workers. The organization had outstanding women as their leaders: Mrs. R. Stuyvesant Pierrepont, Mrs. Pierre S. du Pont, and Mrs. Coffin Van Rensselaer.[1] The WONPR had very prominent family names, they were not only highly involved with their community but they were also very wealthy.[2] The Women of the WONPR were considered smart and sophisticated women of the era.[2] Their high social status attracted press coverage and made the movement fashionable. For housewives throughout middle America, joining the WONPR was an opportunity to mingle with high society. In less than two years, membership grew to almost 1.5 million,this was triple of the membership of the WCTU.[1] Sabin became a symbol for independent women; she showed women that they weren't bound to support the Prohibition movement.[2]
As head of the WONPR, she countered the arguments of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). She later recalled that she decided to fight Prohibition while sitting in a congressional office where the president of the WCTU asserted: "I represent the women of America!" Repeal would protect families from the crime, corruption, and furtive drinking that prohibition had created. Repeal would return decisions about alcohol to families. The WONPR stole tactics and members as well as arguments from the WCTU. Its members looked for allies in both major parties and minimized internal dissension. The WONPR gained the upper hand in the battle for the support from women; the WONPR became the largest repeal group in the country.[2] Sabin thought that it was her duty as chairwoman to make sure the cause was made public. In 1923, WONPR moved the campaign southward to places like South Carolina and Charleston to appeal for southern support. Sabin went to Atlanta where she was the subject of the social page of the Atlanta Constitution and later on her picture appeared on the cover of Time magazine.[1] The WONPR gained massive recognition from the media; they wanted daring, newsworthy women.[2]
In later statements, she elaborated further on her objections to prohibition. With settlement workers reporting increasing drunkenness, she worried, "The young see the law broken at home and upon the street. Can we expect them to be lawful?" Mrs. Sabin complained to the House Judiciary Committee: "In pre-prohibition days, mothers had little fear in regard to the saloon as far as their children were concerned. A saloon-keeper's license was revoked if he were caught selling liquor to minors. Today in any speakeasy in the United States you can find boys and girls in their teens drinking liquor, and this situation has become so acute that the mothers of the country feel something must be done to protect their children."
After repeal[edit]
After the repeal amendment in December 1933, the WONPR dissolved immediately. She returned to politics and joined the American Liberty League, formed by conservative Democrats in 1934. This organization was formed to oppose Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. She hoped that women would show the same enthusiasm for the league like the WONPR but they didn't. Due to the lack of membership, the committee only lasted a year but she still remained on the executive committee in the 1930s. By 1933 she was widowed and remarried in 1936 to Dwight F. Davis. He was former secretary of war and donor of the Davis Cup tennis trophy. She campaigned for Fiorello La Guardia and Alfred Landon in 1936. In 1940, Sabin became the director of Volunteer Special Services for the American Red Cross. She aided more than 4 million families. In 1943, she resigned and moved to Washington D.C. She became a consultant on the White House interior decoration renovation for President Harry Truman. She was a member of the First iteration of the Committee on the Present Danger, established in 1950. On December 27, 1955 Pauline Sabin died in Washington D.C.[1]
^ a b c d e f g h i j Marilyn Elizabeth Perry. "Sabin, Pauline Morton"; http://www.anb.org/articles/06/06-00142.html; American National Biography Online Feb. 2000.
^ a b c d e f Lerner, Michael A. Dry Manhattan: Prohibition in New York City 2007, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
^ New York Times: "Mrs. Charles H. Sabln Will Be Wed in May To Dwight Davis, Former Secretary of War," April 8, 1936, accessed May 29, 2011
^ New York Times: "Dwight Davis Dies," November 29, 1945, accessed May 29, 2011
^ The Independent Review: Paula Baker, "Review: Kenneth D. Rose, American Women and the Repeal of Prohibition, Fall 1998, accessed November 28, 2010
David E. Kyvig, "Pauline Sabin" in Dictionary of American Biography, (Supplement 5, volume 5) (Chicago: Charles Scribner's Sons/Thompson Gale, 1977)
David E. Kyvig, "Pauline Morton Sabin" in Notable American Women: The Modern Period, edited by Barbara Sicherman and Carol Hurd Green (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980)
David E. Kyvig, Daily Life in the United States, 1920-1940: How Americans Lived Through the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression (Ivan R. Dee, 2004)
David E. Kyvig, "Hard Times, Hopeful Times" in Repealing National Prohibition (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1979)
David E. Kyvig, ed., Law, Alcohol, and Order: Perspectives on National Prohibition (Greenwood Press, 1985)
Catherine G. Murdock, Domesticating Drink: Women, Men, and Alcohol, 1870-1940 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998)
Daniel Okrent, Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition (NY: Scribner, 2010)
Kenneth D. Rose, American Women and the Repeal of Prohibition (NY: New York University Press, 1997)
Perry, Marilyn E. "American National Biography Online." American National Biography Online. American National Biography, Feb. 2000. Web. 02 Oct. 2013.
"Pauline Sabin." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Aug. 2013. Web. 02 Oct. 2013.
Lerner, Michael A. Dry Manhattan: Prohibition in New York City. Cambridge, MA:Harvard UP, 2007. Print.
Marilyn Elizabeth Perry. "Sabin, Pauline Morton"; http://www.anb.org/articles/06/06-00142.html; American National Biography Online Feb. 2000.
Bayberry Land Biography: Pauline Morton Smith Sabin Davis
Hamptons.Com: Bayberry Land, by Mary Cummings
SNAC: w6jq7b2q
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pauline_Sabin&oldid=994007598"
American temperance activists
American socialites
Activists from New York (state)
American women activists
People from Chicago
Activists from Illinois
Daughters of the American Revolution people
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War of the Worlds (2005 film)
2005 film directed by Steven Spielberg
A request that this article title be changed to War of the Worlds (film) is under discussion. Please do not move this article until the discussion is closed.
Theatrical release poster
Josh Friedman
by H.G. Wells
Narrated by
Janusz Kamiński
Cruise/Wagner Productions
Paramount Pictures (United States theatrical and international home video)
DreamWorks Pictures (International theatrical and United States home video)
June 23, 2005 (2005-06-23) (Ziegfeld Theatre)
June 29, 2005 (2005-06-29) (United States)
$132 million[1]
War of the Worlds is a 2005 American science fiction action film[2] directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Josh Friedman and David Koepp, loosely based on the 1898 similarly-titled novel by H. G. Wells and jointly produced and released by Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures. It stars Tom Cruise with Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin, Miranda Otto, and Tim Robbins in supporting roles. It also features narration by Morgan Freeman. The film follows an American dock worker who is forced to look after his children, from whom he lives separately, as he struggles to protect them and reunite them with their mother when extraterrestrials invade the Earth and devastate cities with giant war machines. This was Gene Barry's final film before his retirement that year and his death in 2009.
The film was shot in 73 days, using five different sound stages as well as locations in California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia. The film was surrounded by a secrecy campaign so few details would be leaked before its release. Tie-in promotions were made with several companies, including Hitachi.
War of the Worlds was released in the United States on June 29, 2005 and in United Kingdom on July 1, 2005, by Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with many praising the performances (particularly those of Cruise and Fanning), Spielberg's direction, screenplay, action sequences and visual effects, and was a box office success, becoming 2005's fourth most successful film both domestically and worldwide, with $234 million in North America, and $603 million overall. The film earned three Academy Awards nominations for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing.
3.1 Development
3.2 Filming
3.3 Design and visual effects
3.4 Music
3.5 Themes
4.1 Secrecy
4.2 Marketing and home media releases
5.1 Box office
5.2 Critical reaction
5.3 Accolades
Plot[edit]
The plot begins with an opening narration explaining that Earth was being observed by extraterrestrials with immense intelligence and no compassion. As man dominated the world without doubt, much like microorganisms swarming in a drop of water, these beings plotted to take it all from us.
Divorced longshoreman Ray Ferrier works as a crane operator at a dock in Brooklyn, New York, and is estranged from his children: 10-year-old daughter Rachel, and teenage son Robbie. Ray's pregnant former wife, Mary Ann, drops the two off at his house in Bayonne, New Jersey, on her way to visit her parents in Boston.
Later, a strange storm occurs during which lightning strikes multiple times into the middle of a local intersection, causing an EMP that disrupts all technology and electricity. Ray joins the crowd at the scene of the impacts, where a massive "tripod" war machine emerges from the ground and uses powerful energy weapons to destroy the area, disintegrating most of the witnesses into a grey dust. Ray collects his children, steals a van that had just been repaired, and drives to Mary Ann's empty home in suburban New Jersey to take refuge. That night, they take shelter in the basement, but they soon hear a strange roaring noise followed by an explosion, which destroys the house. The next morning, Ray discovers a Boeing 747 had crashed into the neighborhood wherein he meets a wandering news team surveying the wreckage and scavenging meals from it. The team explains to him there are multiple tripods that have attacked major cities around the world, adding that the tripods have force shields to protect them from human weapons, and the tripods' pilots traveled to Earth within the lightning storms as a way to enter their machines, which are assumed to have been buried underground for millions of years.
Ray decides to drive the kids to Boston to be with their mother, but a desperate mob swarms their vehicle, forcing them to abandon it. They eventually get to a Hudson River ferry only to be surrounded by tripods, which either massacre or abduct many of the refugees, but Ray's family manages to escape. They then witness U.S. Marines engaging in a futile battle with some tripods; Ray tries to stop Robbie from joining the fight, but is reluctantly forced to release him so he can take Rachel to safety. Ray and Rachel flee as the machines annihilate the marines, and are offered shelter in a farmhouse basement by a deranged man named Harlan Ogilvy.
The three remain undetected for several days, even as a probe and a group of the tripods' alien pilots explore the basement. They soon discover the aliens have started cultivating a red-colored vegetation across the landscape that is quickly spreading; the group deduces the aliens are modifying Earth to make it more like their home planet. The next morning, Ogilvy suffers a mental breakdown upon witnessing the tripods harvesting human blood and tissue to fertilize the alien vegetation. Fearing Ogilvy's mad shouting will alert the aliens, Ray reluctantly kills him. A second tripod probe catches the Ferriers sleeping; Rachel flees and is abducted by a nearby tripod, and Ray joins her after picking up a belt of grenades. With help from other abductees, Ray uses the grenades to destroy the tripod from within, freeing them all.
Ray and Rachel arrive in Boston, where they find the alien vegetation withering and the tripods inexplicably collapsing. When an active tripod appears, Ray notices birds landing on it, indicating that its shields are now offline. Ray successfully alerts the soldiers escorting the fleeing crowd, who shoot it down using anti-tank missiles. As the soldiers advance on the downed tripod, a hatch opens and a sickly alien struggles halfway out before dying. Ray and Rachel finally reach Mary Ann's parents' house, where they are reunited with Mary Ann and Robbie (who somehow managed to survive).
A closing narration explains the aliens' deaths was due to their immune systems being unable to handle the countless billions of microbes that inhabit the Earth, and that humanity has "earned" the right to the planet by virtue of naturally coexisting with the rest of its biosphere.
Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning portray the two main characters of the film.
Tom Cruise as Ray Ferrier
Dakota Fanning as Rachel Ferrier
Justin Chatwin as Robbie Ferrier
Miranda Otto as Mary Ann Ferrier
Tim Robbins as Harlan Ogilvy
Rick Gonzalez as Vincent
Yul Vázquez as Julio
Lenny Venito as Manny the Mechanic
Lisa Ann Walter as Sheryl
Ann Robinson as Grandmother (she played the lead role of Sylvia van Buren in the 1953 film)
Gene Barry as Grandfather (he played lead role of Dr. Clayton Forrester in the 1953 film)
David Alan Basche as Tim
Roz Abrams as Herself
Camillia Sanes as News Producer
Amy Ryan as Neighbor with Toddler
Danny Hoch as Policeman
Morgan Freeman as the Narrator (voice)
Dee Bradley Baker as Alien Vocals (uncredited)
Columbus Short as Soldier
Channing Tatum as Boy in Church Scene (scene cut)
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
After collaborating in 2002's Minority Report, Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise were interested in working together again. Spielberg stated about Cruise, "He's such an intelligent, creative partner, and brings such great ideas to the set that we just spark each other. I love working with Tom Cruise."[3] Cruise met with Spielberg during the filming of Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can (2002) and gave three options of films to create together, one of them being an adaptation of The War of the Worlds.[3] Spielberg chose The War of the Worlds and stated, "We looked at each other and the lights went on. As soon as I heard it, I said 'Oh my God! War of the Worlds – absolutely.' That was it."[3]
The film is Spielberg's third on the subject of alien visitation, along with Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Producer and longtime collaborator Kathleen Kennedy notes that with War of the Worlds, Spielberg had the opportunity to explore the antithesis of the characters brought to life in E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. "When we first started developing E.T., it was a much edgier, darker story and it actually evolved into something that was more benign. I think that the edgier, darker story has always been somewhere inside him. Now, he's telling that story."[3] Spielberg stated that he just thought it would be fun to make a "really scary film with really scary aliens", something which he had never done before.[3][4] Spielberg was intent on telling a contemporary story, with Kennedy stating the story was created as a fantasy, but depicted in a hyper-realistic way.[3]
"For the first time in my life I'm making an alien picture where there is no love and no attempt at communication."
– Steven Spielberg[5]
J. J. Abrams was asked by Spielberg and Cruise to write the script but had to turn down the film as he was working on the plot for his television series Lost.[6] Josh Friedman delivered a screenplay, which was then rewritten by David Koepp.[7][8] After re-reading the novel, Koepp decided to do the script following a single narrator, "a very limited point of view, from someone on the very periphery of events rather than someone involved in events", and created a list of elements he would not use due to being "cliché", such as the destruction of landmark buildings. Some aspects of the book were heavily adapted and condensed: Tim Robbins' character was an amalgam of two characters in the book, with the name borrowed from a third. While changing the setting from 19th century to present day, Koepp also tried to "take the modern world back to the 1800s", with the characters being devoid of electricity and modern techniques of communication.[9]
Spielberg accepted the script after finding it had several similarities to his personal life, including the divorce of his parents (Ray and Mary Ann's divorce), and because the plight of the fictional survivors reflects his own uncertainty after the devastation of the September 11 attacks.[4] For Spielberg, the characters' stories of survival needed to be the main focus, as they featured the American mindset of never giving up.[4] Spielberg described War of the Worlds as "a polar opposite" to Close Encounters, with that movie featuring a man leaving family to travel with aliens, while War of the Worlds focused on keeping the family together.[4] At the same time, the aliens and their motivations would not be much explored, as "we just experience the results of these nefarious plans to replace us with themselves".[10]
Although accepting the script, Spielberg asked for several changes. Spielberg had been against the idea of the aliens arriving in spaceships, since every alien invasion movie used such a vehicle.[8] The original Martian cylinders were discarded, where Spielberg replaced the origins of the Tripods with stating they were buried underground in the Earth long ago.[5][8]
Spielberg had Miranda Otto in mind for the part of Mary Ann, but at the time he called her she was pregnant and thought the opportunity would be missed. Spielberg then decided to incorporate Otto's pregnancy into the film, changing the part for her.
Lawrence Brown wrote: "Spielberg's decision to present the invaders' fighting machines as having been there all along, buried deep under the Earth, raises questions which did not exist in the original Wells book. In Spielberg's version, these invaders had been here before, long ago, in prehistoric times. They had set up their machines deep underground, and departed. Why? Why not take over the Earth right there and then? Spielberg does not provide an answer, and the characters are too busy surviving to wonder about this. An answer suggests itself – a very chilling answer. The invaders were interested in humans as food animals. When they came here before, humans were very scarce. The aliens left their hidden machines and departed, patiently observing the Earth until humans would multiply to the requisite numbers – and then they came back, to take over. Under this interpretation, all of us – all humans over the whole of history – have been livestock living in an alien food farm, destined to be 'harvested'".[11]
Filming[edit]
Destroyed Boeing 747 used on the War of the Worlds set. Currently, visitors can view the destroyed airliner set during the Universal Studios Hollywood's Studio Tour.
Filming took place in Virginia, Connecticut, New Jersey, California, and New York. The film shooting lasted an estimated 72 days.[12] Spielberg originally intended to shoot War of the Worlds after Munich, but Tom Cruise liked David Koepp's script so much that he suggested Spielberg postpone the former while he would do the same with Mission: Impossible III. Most of Munich's crew was brought in to work on War of the Worlds as well.[5] In 2004, the production crews quickly were set up on both coasts to prepare for the start date, scouting locations up and down the Eastern Seaboard and preparing stages and sets which would be used when the company returned to Los Angeles after the winter holiday. Pre-production took place in only three months, essentially half the amount of time normally allotted for a film of similar size and scope. Spielberg notes, however, "This wasn't a cram course for War of the Worlds. This was my longest schedule in about 12 years. We took our time."[3] Spielberg collaborated with crews at the beginning of pre-production with the use of previsualization, considering the tight schedule.[12]
The scene depicting the first appearance of the Tripods was filmed at the intersection of Ferry Street, Merchant Street, and Wilson Avenue, in Newark, New Jersey.[13] Later, Spielberg filmed several scenes in Virginia.[14] The continuous scene[which?] was filmed in California.[15]
The ferry scene was filmed in the New York town of Athens, and Mary Ann's parents' house was located in Brooklyn (but was featured in the film in Boston).[3] For the neighborhood plane crash scene, the production crew bought a retired Boeing 747 formerly operated by All Nippon Airways as JA8147, with transportation costs of $2 million,[16] dismantled it into several pieces, and built houses around them.[3] The destroyed plane was kept for the Universal Studios back-lot tour.[16] Ray's house was filmed in Bayonne, New Jersey (with a soundstage doubling the interior); meanwhile, the valley war sequence was filmed in Lexington, Virginia and Mystery Mesa in California. The scene where the tripod is shot down and crashes through a factory was filmed in Naugatuck, Connecticut at an abandoned chemical plant. The scene of the bodies floating down the river was filmed on the Farmington River in Windsor, Connecticut by a second unit using a stand in for Dakota Fanning shot from behind with the portion showing the faces of the credited actors cut in later. Some filming was shot on the Korean War Veterans Parkway in Staten Island, NY.[3][17] The film used six sound stages, spread over three studio lots.[3]
Principal photography began on November 8, 2004 and wrapped on March 7, 2005.
Design and visual effects[edit]
Industrial Light & Magic was the main special effects company for the movie.[18] While Spielberg had used computers to help visualize sequences in pre-production before, Spielberg said, "This is the first film I really tackled using the computer to animate all the storyboards."[3] He decided to employ the technique extensively after a visit to his friend George Lucas.[3][18] In order to keep the realism, the usage of computer-generated imagery shots and bluescreen was limited, with most of the digital effects being blended with miniature and live-action footage.[19]
The design of the Tripods was described by Spielberg as "graceful," with artist Doug Chiang replicating aquatic life forms.[19] At the same time, the director wanted a design that would be iconic while still providing a tribute to the original Tripods, as well as intimidating so the audience would not be more interested about the aliens inside than on the vehicle itself.[10] The visual effects crew tried to blend organic and mechanical elements in the Tripods depiction, and made extensive studies for the movements of the vehicle to be believable, considering the "contradiction" of having a large tank-like head being carried by thin and flexible legs.[20] Animator Randal M. Dutra considered the movements themselves to have a "terrestrial buoyance", in that they were walking on land but had an aquatic flow, and Spielberg described the Tripods as moving like "scary ballet dancers". Most of the alien elements revolved around the number three – the Tripod had three eyes, and both the vehicle and the aliens had three main limbs with three fingers each.[10]
Visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman considered depicting the scale of the Tripod as challenging, considering "Steven wanted to make sure that these creatures were 150 feet tall",[19] as it was the height described by Wells in the novel.[10] The aliens themselves had designs based on jellyfish, with movements inspired by red-eyed tree frogs,[20] and an amphibian quality particularly on the wet skin. A styrofoam alien was used as a stand-in to guide the actors in the basement scene.[10] Spielberg did not want any blood or gore during the Heat-Ray deaths; in the words of Helman, "this was going to be a horror movie for kids". So the effects crew came up with the vaporization of the bodies, and considering it could not be fully digital due to both the complexity of the effect and the schedule, live-action dust was used alongside the CGI ray assimilation and particles.[19] Digital birds followed the Tripods in most scenes to symbolize the presence of death, which Chiang compared to vultures and added that "you don't know if these birds are going to the danger or away from it, if you should follow them or run away."[10]
During the scene where Ray's stolen minivan is attacked by a mob, Janusz Kaminski and Spielberg wanted a lot of interactive lights, so they added different kinds of lights, including Coleman lamps, oil lanterns, flashlights and Maglights.[3] The IL&M crew admitted that the destruction of the Bayonne Bridge was the toughest scene to be made with heavy usage mix of CGI effects and live action elements,[21] and a four-week deadline so the shot could be used in a Super Bowl trailer.[19] The scene originally had only a gas station exploding, but then Spielberg suggested blowing up the bridge as well.[19] The scene involved Tripods shooting a Heat-Ray towards the minivan and the minivan's escapes from it involved a lot of CGI layers to work out. Over 500 CGI effects were used in the film.[22]
Costume designer Joanna Johnston created 60 different versions of Ray's leather jacket, to illustrate the degrees to which he is weathered from the beginning of the journey to the end. "He begins with the jacket, a hoodie, and two t-shirts," explains Johnston. One piece of Dakota Fanning's costume that takes on a special importance is her lavender horse purse: "I wanted her to have something that made her feel safe, some little thing that she could sleep with and put over her face," Johnston notes. "That was the lavender horse purse. We tied it up on a ribbon and Dakota hung it on her body, so it was with her at all times." Johnston dressed Robbie for an unconscious emulation of his father, "They're more alike than they realize, with great tension on the surface," Johnston says.[3]
Music[edit]
War of the Worlds: Music from the Motion Picture
Film score by
Sony Pictures Studios
John Williams chronology
(2005) War of the Worlds: Music from the Motion Picture
(2005) Memoirs of a Geisha
Professional ratings
AllMusic [23]
Filmtracks
ScoreNotes C+
SoundtrackNet
Longtime Spielberg collaborator John Williams composed the music score of War of the Worlds. It was the first time Williams had to compose with an incomplete Spielberg film, as only the first six reels, totalling sixty minutes, were ready for him to use as reference.[24] He considered the score "a very serious piece," which had to combine "necessary frightening atmosphere" with "propulsively rhythmic drive for the action scenes" –[25] the music would be symbolically "pulling forward" vehicles in chase scenes such as Ray driving out of Bayonne or the Tripod attacking the Hudson ferry. Williams added small nods to classic monster movie scores by having orchestras doing a "grand gesture" in scenes overlooking Tripods. To increase the scariness, Williams added a female chorus with a crescendo resembling a shriek – which would "humanize" the track representing "victims that go out without saying an 'ouch' – they're gone before they can say that" – for the Tripod attacks, and a nearly inaudible male choir – which Williams compared to "Tibetan monks, the lowest known pitch our bodies can make" – for the aliens exploring the basement. The only deviation from orchestras were electronic sounds for the opening and closing narrations.[24]
A soundtrack album was released by Decca Records, that featured the film's music and Morgan Freeman's opening and closing narration.[26][27] The songs "Little Deuce Coupe" and "Hushabye Mountain" are also featured in the movie, the former sung by Tom Cruise, and the latter by Dakota Fanning.[28][29]
"Prologue" 2:52
"The Ferry Scene" 5:49
"Reaching the Country" 3:24
"The Intersection Scene" 4:13
"Ray and Rachel" 2:41
"Escape from the City" 3:49
"Probing the Basement" 4:12
"Refugee Status" 3:50
"The Attack on the Car" 2:44
"The Separation of the Family" 2:36
"The Confrontation with Ogilvy" 4:34
"The Return to Boston" 4:29
"Escape from the Basket" 9:21
"The Reunion" 3:16
"Epilogue" 3:11
Total length:
Themes[edit]
The film was described as an anti-war film, as civilians run and only try to save themselves and their family instead of fighting back against the alien Tripods.[30] Debra J. Saunders of San Francisco Chronicle described the film as "If aliens invade, fight." Saunders compared the film to Independence Day, where the civilians do run, but they support the military efforts.[30] Many reviewers considered the film tried to recreate the atmosphere of the September 11 attacks, with bystanders struggling to survive and the usage of missing-persons displays.[31] Spielberg declared to Reader's Digest that beside the work being a fantasy, the threat represented was real: "They are a wake-up call to face our fears as we confront a force intent on destroying our way of life."[32] Screenwriter David Koepp stated that he tried not to put explicit references to September 11 or the Iraq War, but said that the inspiration for the scene where Robbie joins the Marines was teenagers fighting in the Gaza Strip – "I was thinking of teenagers in Gaza throwing bottles and rocks at tanks, and I think that when you're that age you don't fully consider the ramifications of what you're doing and you're very much caught up in the moment and passion, whether that's a good idea or not."[9] Retained from the novel is the aliens being defeated, not by men's weapons, but the planet's smallest creatures, bacteria, which Koepp described as "nature, in a way, knowing a whole lot more than we do".[10]
Release[edit]
War of the Worlds premiered at the Ziegfeld Theatre on June 23, 2005. There, Tom Cruise revealed his relationship with Katie Holmes.[33] Six days later, on June 29, the film was released in approximately 3,908 theaters across America.[1] The home video was subsequently released on November 22, 2005.
Secrecy[edit]
Spielberg kept most of the parts secret in the filmmaking, as the cast and crew were left confused about how the aliens looked.[34] When asked about the secrecy of the screenplay, David Koepp answered, "[Spielberg] wouldn't give [the screenplay] to anybody". Koepp explained he would e-mail it to him, and he would give a section of the script that was relating to whatever somebody was doing.[34] Miranda Otto thought of not even discussing the story with her family and friends. Otto said, "I know some people who always say, 'Oh, everything's so secret.' I think it's good. In the old days people didn't get to know much about movies before they came out and nowadays there's just so much information. I think a bit of mystery is always really good. You don't want to blow all of your cards beforehand."[35]
Spielberg admitted after keeping things secret for so long, there is in the end the temptation to reveal too much to the detriment of the story at the press conference of War of the Worlds. So, Spielberg only revealed the hill scene, where Ray tries to stop his son from leaving, stating "to say more would reveal too much."[36] The actual budget of the film was $132 million.[1][37]
According to Vanity Fair, Spielberg's relations with Cruise were "poor" during the film's release because Spielberg believed Cruise's "antics" at the time (such as an erratic appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show) had "hurt" the film and after a doctor whose name Spielberg had given to Cruise was picketed by Scientologists.[38]
Marketing and home media releases[edit]
Paramount Pictures Interactive Marketing debuted a human survival online game on its official website, on April 14 to promote the film.[39] Hitachi collaborated with Paramount Pictures for a worldwide promotional campaign, under the title of "The Ultimate Visual Experience". The agreement was announced by Kazuhiro Tachibana, general manager of Hitachi's Consumer Business Group.[40] Kazuhiro stated, "Our 'The Ultimate Visual Experience' campaign is a perfect match between Spielberg and Cruise's pursuit of the world's best in film entertainment and Hitachi's commitment to the highest picture quality through its digital consumer electronic products."[40]
The film was released on VHS and DVD on November 22, 2005, with both a single-disc edition and a two-disc special edition which included production featurettes, documentaries and various trailers.[41] The film grossed $113,000,000 in DVD sales, bringing its total film gross to $704,745,540, ranking tenth place in the 2005 DVD sales chart.[42] Paramount released the film on Blu-ray Disc on June 1, 2010.
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
On June 29, 2005 (2005-06-29), the film grossed approximately US$81 million worldwide,[43] and earned the thirty-eighth biggest opening week by grossing $98,826,764 in 3,908 theatres, averaging out to $25,288 in each theater.[44] Meanwhile, on Independence Day weekend, War of the Worlds grossed $64,878,725 in 3908 theatres also, giving an average of $16,601.[45] This is the third-biggest film opening on Independence Day weekend.[46] The film earned $200 million in 24 days, ranking thirty-seventh place in the list of fastest films to gross $200 million.[47] The film has grossed $704,745,540 including DVD sales,[1] making it the fourth highest-grossing film of 2005, and the 66th highest-grossing film worldwide.[48][49]
Critical reaction[edit]
On Rotten Tomatoes, War of the Worlds holds a 75% approval rating based on 264 reviews and an average rating of 7.00/10. The critical consensus states: "Steven Spielberg's adaptation of War of the Worlds delivers on the thrill and paranoia of H.G. Wells' classic novel while impressively updating the action and effects for modern audiences."[50] Review aggregator website Metacritic gave the film an average score of 73 out of 100 based on 40 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[51]
James Berardinelli praised the acting and considered that focusing the narrative on the struggle of one character made the film more effective, but described the ending as weak, even though Spielberg "does the best he can to make it cinematically dramatic".[52] Total Film's review gave War of the Worlds four out of five stars, considering that "Spielberg finds fresh juice in a tale already adapted for film, TV, stage, radio and record", and describing the film as having many "startling images", comparing the first Tripod attack to the Omaha Beach landing from Saving Private Ryan.[53]
Los Angeles Times' Kenneth Turan, who commended the film's special effects, stated that Spielberg may actually have done his job in War of the Worlds "better than he realizes". Turan claimed that, by "showing us how fragile our world is", Spielberg raises a provocative question: "Is the ultimate fantasy an invasion from outer space, or is it the survival of the human race?"[54] However, Broomfield Enterprise's Dan Marcucci and Nancy Serougi did not share Berardinelli and Turan's opinion. They felt that Morgan Freeman's narration was unnecessary, and that the first half was "great" but the second half "became filled with clichés, riddled with holes, and tainted by Tim Robbins".[55]
Michael Wilmington of the Chicago Tribune gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, writing "War of the Worlds definitely wins its battle, but not the war." Wilmington stated that the film "takes [viewers] on a wild journey through two sides of [Spielberg]: the dark and the light." He also said the film contained a core sentiment similar to that of Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.[56] About.com's Rebecca Murray gave a positive review, stating, "Spielberg almost succeeds in creating the perfect alien movie", with criticism only for the ending.[57] Jonathan Rosenbaum of Chicago Reader praised the special effects and Cruise's performance.[58] Roger Ebert criticized the "retro design" and considered that despite the big budget, the alien invasion was "rudimentary" and "not very interesting", regarding the best scenes as Ray walking among the airliner wreckage and a train running in flames, declaring that "such scenes seem to come from a kind of reality different from that of the tripods."[59]
The French film magazine Cahiers du cinéma ranked the film as 8th place in its list of best films of the 2000s.[60] Japanese film director Kiyoshi Kurosawa listed the film as the best film of 2000–2009.[61]
Accolades[edit]
War of the Worlds was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Visual Effects (Pablo Helman), Sound Mixing (Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer and Ron Judkins), and Sound Editing, losing all to King Kong.[62] The film was nominated for six Saturn Awards,[63] and won Best Performance by a Younger Actor (Dakota Fanning).[64] The film won a Golden Reel Award for Sound Effects & Foley,[65] a World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Soundtrack,[66] and three VES Awards for its special effects,[67] and was nominated for three Empire Awards, three Satellite Awards, and an MTV Movie Award.
The War of the Worlds, 1953 film
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^ "War of the Worlds (2005) - Steven Spielberg". AllMovie.
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^ a b c d Anthony Breznican (June 23, 2005). "Spielberg's family values". USA Today. Retrieved September 12, 2009.
^ a b c "Steven Spielberg Goes To War". Empire. Retrieved January 17, 2010.
^ Jensen, Jeff (December 29, 2009). "'Lost': The 'M:I 3' Connection". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
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^ a b c d e f g Designing the Enemy: Tripods and Aliens. War of the Worlds DVD: Paramount Home Entertainment. 2005.
^ Lawrence C. Brown, "H.G.Wells' Enduring Influence" in Mark Smythe (ed.) "Old and New trends in 21st Century Popular Culture"
^ a b "Close Encounters of the Worst Kind". Wired. June 2005. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
^ James Wray (October 9, 2004). "More on War of the Worlds Filing in New Jersey". Monsters and Critics. Archived from the original on October 2, 2012. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
^ "Spielberg to film in Shenandoah Valley". USA Today. November 29, 2004. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
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^ a b c d e f Freer, Ian. "Pablo Helman On War of the Worlds". Empire. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012. Retrieved January 17, 2010.
^ a b Desowitz, Bill (July 7, 2005). "War of the Worlds: A Post 9/11 Digital Attack". VFXWorld. Retrieved December 7, 2009.
^ Claudia Kienzle. "Industrial Light & Magic" (PDF). Autodesk. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 27, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2009.
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^ Burlingame, Jon (November 29, 2005). "Master class". Variety. Retrieved December 7, 2009.
^ "War of the Worlds (2005)". Soundtrack Info. June 28, 2005. Retrieved September 16, 2009.
^ "War of the Worlds (2005)". Ricard L. Befan. John Williams Fan Network. June 6, 2007. Retrieved September 16, 2009.
^ Jason Cook. "War of the Worlds Review (2005)". The Spinning Image. Retrieved September 17, 2009.
^ "War of the Worlds". Premiere. June 29, 2005. Archived from the original on December 7, 2009. Retrieved December 7, 2009.
^ a b Saunders, Debra (July 10, 2005). "Spielberg's anti-war 'War of the Worlds'". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved September 16, 2009.
^ Steven D. Greydanus. "War of the Worlds (2005)". Decent Films. Retrieved September 16, 2009.
^ "Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise: The Fascinating Truth Behind "War of the Worlds"". Reader's Digest. June 2005. Retrieved September 16, 2009.
^ Donna Freydkin (June 23, 2005). "Cruise, Holmes step out". USA Today. Retrieved September 17, 2009.
^ a b Steve Head (June 24, 2005). "Headgame 7: War of the Worlds". IGN. p. 1. Retrieved September 18, 2009.
^ Steve Head (June 24, 2005). "Headgame 7: War of the Worlds". IGN. p. 2. Retrieved September 18, 2009.
^ Press Conference of War of the Worlds. Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg. June 23, 2005.
^ "Movie Budgets". The Numbers. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
^ Burrough, Bryan. "Showdown at Fort Sumner".
^ "Paramount Pictures Interactive Marketing to Place Online Gamers Into the Action With 'War of the Worlds' Online Game". PR Newswire. April 12, 2005. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
^ a b "Hitachi goes global for 'War of the Worlds'". Hitachi. April 20, 2005. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
^ Netherby, Jennifer (September 12, 2005). "DW has big War plans". Video Business. Retrieved December 20, 2009.
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^ "Fastest Movies to Hit $200 million at the Box Office". Box Office Mojo. July 22, 2005. Retrieved September 28, 2009.
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^ "War of the Worlds". Metacritic. Retrieved September 28, 2009.
^ Berardinelli, James. "War of the Worlds". Reel Views. Retrieved September 28, 2009.
^ "War Of The Worlds (12A)". Total Film. July 1, 2005. Retrieved September 28, 2009.
^ Turan, Kenneth (June 29, 2005). "War of the Worlds". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 23, 2005. Retrieved September 28, 2009.
^ Marcucci, Dan; Serougi, Nancy (October 27, 2005). "A basic rule of thumb is – if you see Tim Robbins, you've stayed too long". Broomfield Enterprise (in Rotten Tomatoes). Retrieved September 30, 2009.
^ Wilmington, Michael (August 24, 2007). "Movie review: 'War of the Worlds'". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on January 19, 2008. Retrieved September 30, 2009.
^ Murray, Rebecca. ""War of the Worlds" Movie Review". About.com. Archived from the original on April 3, 2009. Retrieved September 30, 2009.
^ Rosenbaum, Jonathan. "War of the Worlds". Chicago Reader. Retrieved September 30, 2009.
^ Ebert, Roger. "War of the Worlds". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved September 30, 2009.
^ "PALMARES 2000". Cahiers du cinéma (in French). Archived from the original on January 11, 2010. Retrieved January 17, 2010.
^ Aoyama, Shinji; Hasumi, Shigehiko; Kurosawa, Kiyoshi (2011). Eiga Nagabanashi (in Japanese). Little More. p. 271. ISBN 978-4-89815-313-0.
^ "The 78th Academy Awards (2006) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
^ "SITH Leads Nomination List for 32nd Annual Saturn Awards". Mania Entertainment. February 15, 2006. Archived from the original on May 4, 2010. Retrieved December 13, 2010.
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^ "4th Annual VES Awards". Visual Effects Society. Archived from the original on April 10, 2012. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
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Posted on February 1, 2011 by peterstone
One of the new pro-sortition bloggers recently posted this homemade video on the subject–
Two comments. First, I do think that a lot of sortition fans act as though it was obviously bad that a system doesn’t give everyone exactly an equal probability of getting into office. But it’s just not an obvious problem. I can’t think of any job where “equal opportunity” means having all candidates getting the job with equal probability. (The legal scholar Lesley Jacobs is good on this point.) Second, I think it’s important to stress the internal problems with parties. It’s true that (in England at least) you can’t win office without a political party. But the modern ideal says that it’s good to have a different groups of people organized behind different principles competing for office. It takes a separate critique to show why this is a bad thing. (Incidentally, has anyone read Nancy Rosenblum’s recent book on partisanship and political parties? It’s on my “to read” list.)
« PBS documentary on DVD: “Athens: The Dawn of Democracy” Gloating from fans of Fukuyama »
Yoram Gat, on February 2, 2011 at 6:17 am said:
> a lot of sortition fans act as though it was obviously bad that a system doesn’t give everyone exactly an equal probability of getting into office. But it’s just not an obvious problem. I can’t think of any job where “equal opportunity” means having all candidates getting the job with equal probability.
Regarding the analogy to a job candidate: The job of allotted delegates is like no other job in the sense that they are not supposed to carry out the job (of governing) themselves – they are supposed to make sure that the job is carried out to their satisfaction – by themselves if they find it appropriate, or by others if they prefer to work by proxy. That is, the position of the allotted delegates is akin to that of the employer, not of the employee. An employer can hire a professional manager if she believes that the manager would do a better job at a certain point, but she would not transfer ownership to the manager, and would reserve the right to overrule the manager at any point. Thus, the manager is essentially in no more than an advisory role.
As for theoretical justification for sortition – how about the following? As I see things, there is no legitimate democratic way to institute a system that is not sortition-based. The reason is this: to begin with, any proposal for a system of government would be created by a select group, and therefore, unless the group is allotted, would be inherently democratically illegitimate. Thus, at the outset, constitutional design can only be carried out by an allotted chamber.
But the same argument, essentially, goes for legislation and any other aspect of government. Delegation of authority from a representative sample to a non-representative sample can only be a matter of convenience, not a matter of principle. Thus, at any point an allotted body should be able to over-rule any political decision by a non-allotted body.
[There are a few exceptions – when the interests of the allotted are in conflict with those of the public, but those exceptions are quite limited, and the natural solution to those problems would be to rely on plebiscites, not on experts.]
peterstone, on February 2, 2011 at 7:57 pm said:
Yoram, I think you may be blurring together the questions of 1) how should a government official, however selected, behave, and 2) how should government officials be selected? Of course, we might answer #2 by relying on an answer to #1–in other words, we might say, we want officials to do this, and randomly-selected officials are the people who are most likely to do this.
With that in mind, I still think it’s true that sortition proponents act like its an automatic failing that everyone doesn’t have an equal probability of getting into office. My point was just that we don’t think this about plumbers, or morticians, or brain surgeons. So either we admit that it’s not automatically bad for some people to get into office with greater probability than others, or else we show why and how political office is just so different. We get competence performances out of many non-randomly-selected people; we need a special story to show why competent performance from political officials can require sortition.
> I think you may be blurring together the questions
I don’t see what your meaning here is. I argued that no system that removes policy making control from the hands of an allotted body could claim to be democratic. One could still claim that such a system (e.g., an expert-run system) would produce better results, but doing that must lead to an explicitly anti-democratic stance – i.e., a stance which claims that most people are unable to understand their own best interests even when they are given the resources and the motivation to do so.
> I still think it’s true that sortition proponents act like its an automatic failing that everyone doesn’t have an equal probability of getting into office. My point was just that we don’t think this about plumbers, or morticians, or brain surgeons.
My reply was that the analogy between delegates and employees is inappropriate. Rather, the appropriate analogy is to an employer, or a business owner.
Say, for example, that you inherit one day a business which you know nothing about. Many would recommend to you to avoid doing the managing of the business yourself and instead hire a manager.
But it would be a very odd recommendation to create a binding mechanism in which control of the business is transferred permanently to the manager in such a way that the you would be unable to find out the details of how the business is run, unable to intervene in particular decisions, and would be barred from removing the manager and taking back control of the business yourself at any future time.
Thus – the manager is essentially in an advisory role. He is handling matters only as long as, and only on those matters that, the owner finds it suitable to do so. This is exactly the relationship that the allotted chamber should be taking with any professional personnel.
Keith Sutherland, on February 3, 2011 at 6:05 am said:
Agreed, and most business proprietors would seek to hire the most competent manager. If it was a business they knew nothing about they would almost certainly outsource the shortlisting to a firm of headhunters (although they would wish to make the final choice and would ensure that the contract of employment left them with the power to fire an incompetent or venal manager).
P.S. Better not to use the word “delegate” in this context, the normal word is “representative”. If anything the delegate relationship is that between (in your analogy) the proprietor and the hired manager.
Harald Korneliussen, on February 3, 2011 at 10:48 am said:
I wrote a reply about headhunters that got eaten by the system before it got posted in a previous thread, perhaps I can restate the gist of it here.
Corporate culture isn’t an ideal that should be emulated uncritically. There’s a great deal of plain stupidity going on – a bit of it in particular relation to headhunters, consulting companies etc.
There may be good reasons to use such “expert on expert” services. There are also at least two very bad ones, which are hard to miss:
1. Business executives can be pretty superstitious in their way. They do a lot of things for reasons of self-reassurance. There is scarcely a company of significant size that doesn’t buy some management snake oil – which, like medical snake oil, does have a certain placebo effect. “I’m fit to steer this ship” is sometimes hard to tell yourself. Even if the medicine doesn’t make you a better captain, it may help you believe it, and that’s better than nothing – or is it?
2. Blame. Using expert-experts introduces another level of people to blame when things go wrong. It is quite rational – in a perverse sort of way – to pay a high price for an emergency scapegoat.
It seems to me that quite often, the surplus value that a head-hunting/consultancy company creates (which allows it to go on existing) is not from being better at finding competent people than their customers, but that they are providing these two perverse services – reassurance and cover from responsibility.
Keith Sutherland, on February 3, 2011 at 11:39 am said:
Agreed. Nevertheless, a proprietor who knows nothing at all about the business (Yoram’s analogy) would have no alternative but to put the shortlisting of candidates for the position of manager in professional hands. Otherwise he might be inclined to resort to nepotism — Uncle Alf used run a whelk store, so I’m sure he would make a good chief executive. The other danger to nepotism is corruption (someone he meets in the pub might offer him some tax-free inducements to favour an otherwise unsuitable candidate). On the other current thread, an unwarranted degree of faith has been expressed in the uncorruptability of ordinary citizens (as opposed to members of the political class).
The crucial issue is that the owner should have the ultimate right to hire and fire (and, by analogy, that the sovereign citizen assembly should have the right to hire and fire government officials). This seems like a sensible balance of expertise and democratic control.
I’m a little confused by the employer analogy? Who is being compared to an employer? I thought you were comparing the REPRESENTATIVE to an employer. That seemed to me to be a question of how the representative should act, which is separable from the question of how the representative should be selected (although obviously the questions are interrelated). If you mean that the PUBLIC is like an employer, then that just reinforces my point. No employer decides who to place in an important position by selecting someone by lot. Rather, they’d select the guy who has the best qualifications, keep him in as long as he did a good job, and fire him if he did badly. In other words, they’d do exactly what we do with elections. And so I think that if you’re going to distinguish sortition and elections, you need to tell a story about the former that is very different from the traditional story about employers and employees.
Finally, Yoram could you please restate briefly the argument that “no system that removes policy making control from the hands of an allotted body could claim to be democratic. “I’m afraid I’m missing it, and it’s not an obvious point. Maybe it’s true, but it requires a strong defense.
Keith Sutherland, on February 3, 2011 at 5:05 pm said:
In the analogy the (mini) public is the employer, and I agree that competence should be the prime qualification when the sovereign body delegates tasks to government officials. This is just regular Rousseau, the principal difference is that the sovereign assembly is selected by lot. Admittedly Rousseau assumed the delegated officials would also be wise and virtuous, but we would be unwise to make such optimistic assumptions.
Yoram Gat, on February 3, 2011 at 6:17 pm said:
I think I see your point now. I do mean the analogy to be between the allotted chamber and an employer. I now see that some steps in my argument remained implicit. I’ll write another comment to explicate things. Thanks.
Harald,
Leaving the management consultancy issue aside (which, I agree, has very little to do with the actual productivity of the firm), “headhunting” – i.e., recruitment – is a necessary function.
The question of whether recruitment should be carried out by a professional recruiter or by the employer directly is, as I see things, besides the point for the purposes of our discussion. The point is that it should be up to the employer to decide what recruiting method she employs. Again, in our case the employer is the allotted chamber. The idea that the allotted chamber would be forced to rely on a certain non-allotted agency in order to do the recruiting is anti-democratic because it infringes on the powers of the allotted chamber. It is analogous to an employer being forced to use a certain recruitment procedure even if the employer thinks that the procedure produces poor results.
keithsutherland, on February 3, 2011 at 10:06 pm said:
However the “shareholders” (unallotted citizens) would want some guarantee of competence and security against nepotism and corruption. What you are suggesting risks a return to eighteenth-century political arrangements. But I’m repeating myself again, so by all means (continue to) ignore this argument, as we don’t want to bore everyone to tears over again.
> could you please restate briefly the argument that “no system that removes policy making control from the hands of an allotted body could claim to be democratic.”
The argument goes as follows:
(1) In a democratic system, policy is determined according to the informed, considered opinion of the majority of citizens. In a democracy, this principle holds at any point in time and on any matter, rather than only occasionally or on limited issues.
(2) With few exceptions, the most effective way of determining the informed, considered opinion of the majority of citizens is by empowering a random sample of citizens – an allotted chamber (AC) – to make the relevant decisions (after due investigation and discussion). Indeed, on almost all matters, allowing an AC to make the relevant decisions is the only way to determine the informed, considered opinion of the majority of citizens.
(3) Thus, if at any point decision making power is taken out of the hands of an AC, the decisions made are no longer democratically legitimate. Of course, an AC may choose to follow the recommendations of an expert, or even to empower an expert to take independent action, but such decision are at all times and on all matters those of the AC – and may be changed or reversed if the AC decides to do so.
(4) Going into the realm of paradoxes of omnipotence, one could ask about a hypothetical situation in which an AC chooses to permanently, or semi-permanently, transfer decision power to a non-representative body. Such a decision would be non-democratic in the same way that a decision to strip some citizens of their political rights would be non-democratic even if it were made by a representative body.
(5) The suggestion to institute a system in which decision power is given to, say, an elected body, is essentially a suggestion to make a decision of the type discussed in item (4) above. According to this suggestion, a representative body would commit the population in a permanent or semi-permanent fashion to a non-democratic decision making procedure. Again, I think it is rather obvious that such a decision (even if it did reflect the informed, considered opinion of the population at the time that it was made) cannot be a democratic decision, since it privileges the opinions of the population at the time of the constitutional decision is made over the opinions of the population at later times.
As for the relationship between the population and the AC: as I indicated before, the analogy between allotted delegates and employees is inappropriate. The reason is apparent from point (2) above. An AC represents the interests of the population by its very nature, not due to some sort of compensation or to a mechanism of accountability. In our society, which fetishizes employer-employee relationships, there is a tendency to portray every relationship in those terms, but they are completely in appropriate in many situations including this one.
A more appropriate analogy for the relationship between the population and an AC may be the relationship between a person and the same person at a different time. If I do my house chores on a certain day, I do not do so in order to be compensated by the me-of-tomorrow who would enjoy the benefits of having those chores carried out. I do it because the me-of-today shares the interests and ideas of the me-of-tomorrow.
Thanks for this. A few comments. Claim 1 strikes me as plausible–it would be nice to have a clear defense of it, but most people would probably grant it. Critically, if you want to ascertain the “informed, considered opinion” of a group, it is neither necessary nor sufficient actually to ask them. It is not sufficient because the opinion might not be informed or considered, which would disqualify it from being democratic on your story. It is not necessary because other people (including, critically, an AC) are capable of ascertaining it without consulting the people as a whole. In principle, if I could consult the Oracle of Delphi and ask her what the informed considered judgment of the people would be, then it would be democratic of me to impose that opinion on the public, right?
Claim 2 seems to be the critical move for you. Again, I find it intuitively plausible, but it’s pretty darn tough to mount a sustained theoretical defense of it. (I’ve tried, and I haven’t found anyone else that’s done a great job either.)
I’m not sure if I accept Claim 4. I guess I don’t see any reason why a group could not democratically decide to abolish democracy. We need to separate the questions of a) would a decision to take power out of the hands of the people (or an AC) be democratic and b) would the resulting system be democratic. I say yes to a but no to b. You might say that Athens actually did this during the Peloponnesian War, when the Assembly decided to transfer power to the Four Hundred. That might have been a mistake, but it was arguably still a democratic decision.
On a related note, suppose that one believed that a representative electoral body could accurately ascertain the informed, considered opinion of the entire people. Wouldn’t it then be democratic, by your definition? I’m not saying I believe this to be the case; I just want to emphasize that what’s at stake here is an epistemic question–who is most likely to figure out what the “will of the people” (albeit informed and considered) really is.
Finally, it seems that there is a tough problem generated when one moves from the individual to the collective. I can make sense of the idea of me acting in accordance with your informed, considered opinion–I might have trouble doing it in practice, but in theory it’s pretty straightforward. But it ‘s harder to make sense of the idea of me acting in accordance with the informed, considered opinion of a collective body–the people as a whole. And it’s even harder to make sense of the idea of one collective body–the AC–acting in accordance with the informed, considered opinion of another collective body. So that’s what I’m stuck trying to figure out.
You made several points. I’ll address a couple, starting from the top, and hopefully we will eventually get to discuss all your points.
> In principle, if I could consult the Oracle of Delphi and ask her what the informed considered judgment of the people would be, then it would be democratic of me to impose that opinion on the public, right?
This seems like a self-contradictory hypothesis: since you are talking about imposition, I understand that you are imagining a situation where it is the will of the people not to follow the advice of the Oracle. If this is the case, then how could the Oracle be reflecting the judgment of the people?
> Claim 2 seems to be the critical move for you. Again, I find it intuitively plausible, but it’s pretty darn tough to mount a sustained theoretical defense of it.
When you say that it is difficult to defend (2), what do you mean? Are you claiming that there is a better (or even any alternative) way to find out what the informed, considered opinion of the majority of citizens is? Or, that you are unaware of such an alternative but that as long as such a way could hypothetically exist then then (2) is indefensible. As I see things, the absence of a known alternative is enough for our purposes. I would not rule out the possibility of establishing theoretically that an alternative cannot exist, but, again, I think this is not necessary for our purposes. As long as no credible alternative has been offered, we are bound to use the AC method to determine what the informed, considered citizen opinion is.
peterstone, on February 10, 2011 at 1:39 am said:
>This seems like a self-contradictory hypothesis: since you are talking about imposition, I understand that you are imagining a situation where it is the will of the people not to follow the advice of the Oracle. If this is the case, then how could the Oracle be reflecting the judgment of the people?
Not really self-contradictory. The critical bit is “informed and considered.” If the actual people disagree with the Oracle, it could just mean that they are not giving an informed and considered judgment–just as it might be the case that the actual people disagree with an AC for the same reason. Like I said–it’s a question of who should we ask if we want to ascertain what the informed and considered opinion of the entire people would be. It could be the people, but it might not be for all the reasons people have given for opposing direct democracy (rational ignorance, etc.). And if an AC could do a better job in principle of ascertaining this, then I’m simply saying it’s possible that somebody else might also do well. It’s an open question.
This relates to your second point. I guess what I want is a theoretical argument as to why the AC would reliably reach the informed and considered judgment of the people. I guess the argument is 1) the composition of the 2 groups is the same, and 2) the people in the AC would become informed and consider things carefully, therefore the conclusion follows, QED. I guess I’m not quite ready to admit that 1) and 2) obviously establish the conclusion. It might be right–there’s an intuitive appeal to the idea. And you’re right–I don’t have reason to believe some other body would do better (although this doesn’t mean I’d endorse an AC for all decision-making purposes). But as a theorist, it would be nice to have something more–ESPECIALLY if we propose to use sortition to fill some offices but not others. (Surely we don’t want to say that filling any office non-randomly is anti-democratic, do we?)
Yoram Gat, on February 10, 2011 at 6:38 am said:
> The critical bit is “informed and considered.” If the actual people disagree with the Oracle, it could just mean that they are not giving an informed and considered judgment–just as it might be the case that the actual people disagree with an AC for the same reason.
In that case, I don’t think there is any difficulty – it is clear that the Oracle or AC is the way to go. Uninformed or unconsidered decisions are useless, and following them is not a democracy but a sham-democracy.
> I guess I’m not quite ready to admit that 1) and 2) obviously establish the conclusion.
Where do you suspect the flaw in the argument is? I would concede, for example, that there are clearly some very specific points where there is reason to suspect that the interests of the AC would diverge from that of the population. An obvious example would be the matter of the salary of the AC members. As I wrote above, I consider such matters to be rather rare exceptions. Are you looking for an analysis that would explicitly handle the distinction between questions on which the outlook of the AC and the population can be expected to be the same and the questions on which it can be expected to diverge?
> Surely we don’t want to say that filling any office non-randomly is anti-democratic, do we?
Do we not? What would be examples of offices that you consider as not being suitable for being filled by lot? It seems that the considerations above show that any office that carries political power should, ideally, be filled by an AC. There are, of course, some important practical constraints, but as a matter of principle this seems right, and the more powerful the position, the more important it is that the principle would be followed.
Keith Sutherland, on February 10, 2011 at 11:02 am said:
“Uninformed or unconsidered decisions are useless, and following them is not a democracy but a sham-democracy.”
Is that strictly true? I suspect this is based on the widespread view that democracy is a Good Thing. Athens was just as much a democracy before the introduction of the nomothetai, it’s just that there was a need for democratic decisions to be informed and considered. Similarly the decisions of a monarch or an oligarchy could be informed and considered without being democratic.
Harald Korneliussen, on February 10, 2011 at 2:52 pm said:
Either way, if the people don’t see the need for an AC, and disagree with the one they have and consider their own unconsidered opinion is superior, that is a huge problem. You could even say it’s the problem we have today. I don’t think instituting an AC by force would be either a useful or morally defensible thing to do.
As such, I disagree that uninformed and unconsidered decisions are useless – at the very least, we need a (relatively) uninformed and unconsidered decision to prefer the informed and considered decisions of an AC.
keithsutherland, on February 10, 2011 at 3:21 pm said:
Agree with Harald that a functioning democracy that is regarded by the public as legitimate requires both; the crucial proviso being that the considered vote in the AC should trump the unconsidered US verdict (US in this context meaning universal suffrage, rather than useless). Perhaps trumping is not the right word as the two processes would have separate functions (setting the agenda and deciding on the outcome).
That is not what I believe.I trust allotted assemblies to set the agenda also (it could of course be a different allotted assembly from the one making the ultimate decisions, if you’re concerned with separating investigation from judgement).
What I’m saying is that although the allotted assembly can fairly represent people’s interests, a simple majority (of comparatively uninformed, unconsidered opinions) nonetheless need to realize and accept this for it to be democratic. An initial referendum, maybe followed by formal reaffirmation every ten years or so, would be sufficient for legitimacy – keeping the old show of party elections going alongside it would not.
Yoram Gat, on February 10, 2011 at 5:34 pm said:
> if the people don’t see the need for an AC, and disagree with the one they have and consider their own unconsidered opinion is superior, that is a huge problem. You could even say it’s the problem we have today. I don’t think instituting an AC by force would be either a useful or morally defensible thing to do.
> we need a (relatively) uninformed and unconsidered decision to prefer the informed and considered decisions of an AC.
As I see it, we need a fully informed and considered decision to prefer the informed and considered decisions of an AC. There is no reason that the average person cannot make a considered and informed decision about such a fundamental question that is a matter of general principle rather than of fine details and expertise. As I see it, the objective of a pro-sortition movement should be exactly to encourage a public discussion and decision making process that would allow the population-at-large to reach that informed and considered decision.
But that is, in effect, saying that unconsidered view of the majority should trump the considered view of the AC. This is what happened in the oft-cited case of the 2005 British Columbia constitutional convention, and is the opposite of all that sortitionistas believe in.
Or perhaps I’m misunderstanding you and you are calling for periodic referenda on the continuing existence of the AC. This would be a highly unusual constitutional strategy — either a structural arrangement is legitimate or it isn’t, and this certainly wouldn’t constrain the behaviour of allotted members as they would certainly have changed several times during the ten-year interval. And why would you wish to leave this decision in the hands of uninformed and unconsidered opinion?
The decision would also be open to manipulation by all sorts of nefarious forces with a vested interest in the corruption of democracy. It would be very easy for a Caesarist demagogue to seize power by ridiculing a couple of bad decisions by the AC. Constitutions are long-term things and do not benefit from upheavals every ten years.
Public Opinion vs. Sortition « Equality by lot, on February 11, 2011 at 12:41 am said:
[…] Opinion vs. Sortition Posted on February 11, 2011 by peterstone There’s been some recent discussion here of the possibility that a randomly-selected decision-making body (an Allotted Chamber, or AC) might […]
> But that is, in effect, saying that unconsidered view of the majority should trump the considered view of the AC. This is what happened in the oft-cited case of the 2005 British Columbia constitutional convention, and is the opposite of all that sortitionistas believe in.
I am not quite sure what you mean by that. I am certainly not suggesting that ratification referenda should be held on every decision made by the AC. Since on most questions referenda do not produce an informed and considered decision then they are usually not a democratic procedure and should usually be avoided in a well functioning democratic system.
That said, I think that any well functioning government system (democratic or not) should enjoy a wide perception of legitimacy, and so a situation in which most of the population sees the AC as not being the source of legitimate decisions would indicate a deep problem in the system.
BTW, this situation – of the government being seen as acting in illegitimate ways – is the current situation in the US, and it does indicate a serious problem with the system.
keithsutherland, on February 11, 2011 at 8:18 am said:
Sorry, this was a response to Harald, and I think I misunderstood his argument. I agree that plebiscites (the modern equivalent of thumbs up or thumbs down at gladiatorial contests in the Roman arena) should be avoided at all costs.
On the question of perceived legitimacy, public information campaigns are much less effective than practical demonstrations — this is why I urge everyone to support Fishkin’s efforts. Even if you find his work less than optimal, incremental steps are the most effective way of demonstrating the effectiveness of sortition. Say, for example, if Fishkin-style deliberative forums were introduced as an integral part of democratic procedures it would be a relatively small step for such bodies to insist on setting their own agenda and appointing their own advocates (even though the likes of Fishkin and myself would argue strongly against it).
Regarding the perceived legitimacy of elected governments, Fishkin found (in his Italian DP) that the AC was viewed by the public as a lot more legitimate than elected officials — due, primarily, to widespread corruption in Italian politics. So we really are pushing at an open door here (which will be slammed back shut if we insist on sortition as the only way, rather than starting off as a supplement). As the saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Harald Korneliussen, on February 11, 2011 at 8:34 am said:
Rome wasn’t built in a day, OK, but one of Gandhi’s rules which I like is that you got to be up front about your demands, and not move the goalposts when they are fulfilled. Doing that can certainly work, but it’s not right.
I’m all for sortition as a supplement, but I won’t hide that I have more faith in it than that.
Unfortunately Gandhi failed completely to implement his ideal of a non-sectarian independent India. It was Nehru, Jinnah and others who played the regular political game who won out in the end. Perhaps Gandhi would have been more successful if he had adopted Baden-Powell’s maxim (softly, softly, catchee monkey)
I hope you’re not advocating concealing from the public what you really want, or moving the demand goalposts, Keith Sutherland. That was the only aspect of Gandhi’s practice which I was referring to.
> I hope you’re not advocating concealing from the public what you really want
Keith is being honest about his willingness to be dishonest.
iGregor, on February 11, 2011 at 6:53 pm said:
Excuse my butting in, but how does the honesty of participant sortites play in any of this, other than as some idealized and hoped for, but no-to-be expected, attribute?
I mean, we’re still talking about real live human beings, right? If we set up a decision process that is dependent upon real live participants to the decision being honest (with each other and themselves), then haven’t we, essentially, set that process up to fail? Doesn’t the process have to be set up in such a way that it is somehow able to minimize the effect of, if not outsmart, the inevitable dishonesty that creeps into it?
Whilst I wouldn’t go so far as to recommend you read Machiavelli’s Il Principe, nevertheless it remains the case that Gandhi failed. I would prefer success to martyrdom and if that means taking an incremental approach, then so be it.
“Doesn’t the process have to be set up in such a way that it is somehow able to minimize the effect of, if not outsmart, the inevitable dishonesty that creeps into it?”
Absolutely. This is why I prefer Harrington’s self-regulating approach to good government rather than the competing civic humanist approach with its inevitable appeal to virtu. What Pettit, Skinner and the rest of the republican gang fail to appreciate is that virtu was itself a product of structural features (the need to defend the integrity of the polis against outside threats). If you translate this “virtue” into modern conditions you end up with the Third Reich.
Greg, it’s not about the honesty of allotted members, but about the honesty of sortition advocates. Should we say:
“This fair and balanced approach featuring an elected executive, appointed judges, and a little sortition in one legislative branch is the ideal. Really, it’s perfect. We’ll never suggest another reform after this!”
Or should we say:
“Ideally, we want to use sortition for everything that remotely might be a position of power, but sure, even some allotted advisory committees are better than nothing.”
First is not acceptable according to Gandhi. Even if you think it’s more effective (which I don’t), it’s not a matter of what “works”. I have a feeling some sortition advocates (not just Keith Sutherland) are selling the idea short in an attempt to make it more palatable.
> I have a feeling some sortition advocates (not just Keith Sutherland) are selling the idea short in an attempt to make it more palatable.
Well, Keith is claiming that he is on our side, deceiving those on the other side, but since he has already admitted to favor the use of deception, I find it just as likely that he is on other side, deceiving us.
As for making sortition more palatable, I don’t see Keith making significant gains in garnering support for his “moderate”, by-his-own-admission-deceptive, proposals. If he did, he wouldn’t still be hanging out with us, the fundamentalist sortinistas.
Thank you, Harald, for the clarification.
But, then, why not approach the matter with the view that we aren’t certain about the precise extent to which sortition applies, and precisely where/how it applies, but that we are confident that when tried in the following manner (whatever that manner might be) that the wizards of sortition in conjunction with the participant sortites will advance further recommendations/proposals for consideration once we all acquire greater practical experience [poorly crafted sentence, for sure, but I think you’ll get my drift]? Kinda bootstrap our way along, if you will, while not saying we’re sure of the precise outcome in advance.
Yes that’s true. The trouble with sortition is that people either think it’s completely insane or else believe it’s the only show in town. If there is a blog for moderate sortinistas, please point me to it and I’ll leave you all in peace. As for your recourse to extreme paranoia (which I hope is tongue in cheek), I’m afraid I really am lost for words (other than to say that gradualism and deception are not really the same thing).
Actually there are a number of moderate sortinistas on Conall’s list but I suspect they are put off by all the mud-slinging. And I think it’s fair to say that all blogs tend to reflect the views of the moderator, however impartial he or she strives to be. And it’s also the case that blogs tend to attract those with the most impassioned views. So I may have a long wait.
> If there is a blog for moderate sortinistas, please point me to it and I’ll leave you all in peace.
Well, there isn’t as far as any of us is aware, and that is exactly the point: if the whole “moderate position” is merely a ploy to garner support, then not only isn’t it honest, it is not effective either.
As for leaving us in peace – by the amount of responses your comments generate, it seems that your presence here is not without some appeal to other readers, so there is really no need for you to feel unwanted.
> As for your recourse to extreme paranoia (which I hope is tongue in cheek), I’m afraid I really am lost for words (other than to say that gradualism and deception are not really the same thing).
Gradualism and deception are surely not the same thing. Your Baden-Powell reference puts you squarely in the deception area. Since this is the case, I think it is not paranoia, but merely healthy realism, to consider the possibility that you would be willing to apply your “softly, softly” tactics in your dealings with us as well. (Not that it really matters to me – just something to be aware of.)
> Actually there are a number of moderate sortinistas on Conall’s list but I suspect they are put off by all the mud-slinging.
I am afraid that is probably not the reason. For one thing, this blog was much less contentious before you joined us, and yet the list of contributors (of posts or comments) was even more limited than it is now. Secondly, if those people wanted a less-tumultuous forum, they could have easily arranged for one. I think you are much closer to the mark with your point about people with impassioned views – those who are aware of this blog but choose not to contribute are probably not as emotionally moved by the idea of sortition as those who take part in the conversation.
> And I think it’s fair to say that all blogs tend to reflect the views of the moderator, however impartial he or she strives to be.
This blog doesn’t have a moderator in the sense that no content contributed has ever been rejected or materially changed. As an editor I carry out completely mechanical functions. You, or anybody else, can contribute just as much as I do and thus have as much influence on the blog as I do. This blog reflects the views of its contributors (weighted by the contributors’ activity levels) and it is the case that your views are minority views here.
Whatever my other crimes, “softly, softly tactics” on this blog is not one of them, as I’ve repeated my views ad nauseam. What I do believe though is you can’t always get what you want, as the Stones put it, hence the need for an incremental approach.
sa'ada, on February 14, 2011 at 7:27 am said:
sorry for jumping in; as you know, i’m new here.
Yoram – “A more appropriate analogy for the relationship between the population and an AC may be the relationship between a person and the same person at a different time. If I do my house chores on a certain day, I do not do so in order to be compensated by the me-of-tomorrow who would enjoy the benefits of having those chores carried out. I do it because the me-of-today shares the interests and ideas of the me-of-tomorrow.”
“Finally, it seems that there is a tough problem generated when one moves from the individual to the collective. I can make sense of the idea of me acting in accordance with your informed, considered opinion–I might have trouble doing it in practice, but in theory it’s pretty straightforward. But it ‘s harder to make sense of the idea of me acting in accordance with the informed, considered opinion of a collective body–the people as a whole. And it’s even harder to make sense of the idea of one collective body–the AC–acting in accordance with the informed, considered opinion of another collective body. So that’s what I’m stuck trying to figure out”
it’s because the individual is a part of the collective. there is no permanent political class. the individual was not part of the AC, now they are, but after a term, they will not be. so it is in their long term interest to do what is best for people who are not in the AC.
@yoram “An obvious example would be the matter of the salary of the AC members.”
salary should be set in the constitution as 200% of the individual’s previous year’s salary. that way all are compensated at the level which they are foregoing in order to serve. plus a little extra. allowing them to decide their own salary is too much temptation.
@igregor “approach the matter with the view that we aren’t certain about the precise extent to which sortition applies, and precisely…”
sounds great. “we are really excited about seeing how this works here. and we think eventually all governance can take place this way.”
re: employer, employee, headhunter
i’m not sure what the grand design is envisioned here for sortition. i’m working on an assumption that different positions would have different pools. so minister of education would be allotted from a pool of eligible educators (with parental and student advisors). i would take it farther down and say that a principal of a school should be allotted from amongst it’s teachers. police chief should be chosen from the ranks, etc. i think if i owned a company this is how i would pick managers.
anybody know of anywhere that does this already? and can it be expanded now?
> salary should be set in the constitution as 200% of the individual’s previous year’s salary. that way all are compensated at the level which they are foregoing in order to serve. plus a little extra.
That’s actually the part of your proposal that I don’t quite agree with. I don’t see any reason that a poor person would be paid less than a rich person for the same job. I think that the salary should be set at a fixed level which is reasonably high, to reflect the importance that society places on this job. Say 200% of the median household income. If someone finds this level of pay unsatisfactory, they would have the option of giving up their spot.
> allowing them to decide their own salary is too much temptation.
That’s true, and even if they do manage to resist the temptation, this situation (which is the situation today, BTW) is bound to arouse suspicion.
Harald Korneliussen, on February 14, 2011 at 10:28 pm said:
> That’s actually the part of your proposal that I don’t quite agree with. I don’t see any reason that a poor person would be paid less than a rich person for the same job.
Well, it’s not an ordinary job. I can see the argument about opportunity cost: we shouldn’t discourage rich people from taking the seat. Alien as the thought may be that rich people need to be protected from disenfrancisement, it would be bad if wealthier people systematically refused to serve.
By the way, that is arguably the case in Norway. The PM makes 1.1 million NOK, less than 200000$. The most common profession (aside from full-time politician) is teacher and nurse. People from the private sector are underrepresented, and engineers are among the least represented of all.
Of course, this may be because rich businesspeople find that they can influence society to their satisfaction without being elected. I don’t exactly pity the rich in Norway for their lack of representation (also, millionaires are still overrepresented in congress, although there are only a handful).
(that should be parliament in the last sentence)
Yoram Gat, on February 14, 2011 at 11:01 pm said:
> I can see the argument about opportunity cost: we shouldn’t discourage rich people from taking the seat.
I find this argument to be wholly without merit. Again, the idea that because one is rich then one should be paid more is odious to me. Talking about opportunity costs is just a polite way of saying that some people’s time and effort are more valuable than those of others. And, as usual, “opportunity cost” is applied only to monetary opportunities – what about other types of opportunities – familial, romantic, intellectual, etc., etc., etc.? Are you going to compensate people for those? Even on a practical level, differential pay will enhance inequality among the allotted delegates, reducing the chance that democratic dynamics would be created within the chamber.
As for the rich not serving, one can set the compensation bar high enough so that very few will turn it down. I doubt that many would turn this opportunity down even at 2x median income, but if refusal rates prove to be high, pay can be set at 3x or 4x. For those few rich who are still concerned about the money they will not make, it is their privilege to give up their slot. The same goes for other people who are concerned about missing the other opportunities suggested above. The recruiting mechanism should try to accommodate people’s legitimate needs and concerns, but there is no reason to accommodate extravagant demands.
All in all, I find the idea of differential pay to be the source of potential great damage and very little potential gain.
thanks for that. mind if i edit the salary part out of the egypt post. i’d never considered other opportunity costs. and, even though i am a stay at home, homeschooling, anti-everybody-into-the-workforce-so-you-can-consume-more mom i hadn’t ever considered my own position. under that system, if i was allotted a seat in an AC i wouldn’t get paid anything.
and what about others who are writers, students, ok, i can see that 200% of previous year’s salary doesn’t work. also, what about farmers. a farm is not something that you can just leave for a term.
@harald “it would be bad if wealthier people systematically refused to serve.”
can you tell me why? i don’t think i would lose any sleep over underrepresented rich people. it just doesn’t sound like a problem to me; so i’m curious. also, i’d like to think that under a system of sortition, things would begin to balance out a bit more so we wouldn’t have such disgustingly rich people.
Sa’ada: For the same reason it would be bad that poor people would be underrepresented. Rich people are also people, and they are entitled to a say in how the country is run.
I agree we would hopefully get much less economic inequality under sortition.
I’m not married to differential pay myself – in fact, one right-wing proposal (here in Norway) that I have a good deal of sympathy for is eliminating differentiated pensions: The state should provide a solid minimum pension for all, not further reward the wealthy. If the wealthy want larger pensions (and they/we probably will) they can take their chances with private pension schemes.
But we must be very pragmatic when it comes to getting people to serve. If any group turns out to reject serving to a significant degree, whether it’s farmers, poor people, rich people, drug addicts or prisoners, steps need to be taken to make it more appealing to them.
sa'ada, on February 15, 2011 at 3:18 pm said:
yes, rich people are people too and deserve representation. but i wouldn’t be worried if they weren’t represented in the way in which i would be worried if poor people weren’t represented. rich people have an interest (sole interest?) in keeping themselves rich and making themselves richer which usually happens at the expense of the poor, making them poorer.
whereas, the interest of poor people is to maintain or improve their lot and sure, the rich will become not as rich, especially comparatively, but i don’t think the poor would set out to make the rich poor.
by the way, no offense intended if you’re a rich person. seeing as how you support sortition i’ll be glad to make you an honorary poor person.
I’m not a very rich person by my country’s standards. But this argument sounds a lot like an opposite version of the one used by many constitution-makers to argue for land ownership as a prerequisite for voting. They said that since the poor have nothing to lose, they aren’t concerned enough in protecting the social order, in particular protecting property rights.
I think the basic institutions need to be as free from bias as we can possibly make them. If a bias would be a good thing, it can be argued for inside the system.
> I think the basic institutions need to be as free from bias as we can possibly make them.
Is it really your claim that not paying the rich delegates more is bias against the rich? I think it is absurd. To the contrary: paying the poor less is bias against the poor.
peterstone, on February 16, 2011 at 5:33 pm said:
I think that the work of John McCormick is relevant here. He points out that rules that de jure treat people equally may de facto give some much more power than others. Everyone in the U.S. is equally entitled to vote and run for office, but obviously rich people and people who do what rich people want have a huge advantage in obtaining it. And so we need to be mindful of both effects.
Now McCormick’s solution, I understand, is to reconsider de jure equality–perhaps, he suggests, there should be special tribunals just for ordinary (non-rich) people. But an alternative possibility is to set the institutions up in a de jure equal way but in ways that tilt in the direction of non-rich people. This is how Aristotle thought democracies worked. Democracies, he thought, paid people small amounts to hold office–enough to entice the poor but not the rich. Aristocracies didn’t pay officials at all, so only the rich could afford to serve. (They also fined the rich for not participating, but let’s ignore that right now.) Both could conceivably be de jure equal, but the democracies will have lots of poor people serving in office and the aristocracies will not.
I think that in ANY social system, rich people are going to have more political influence than poor people. Even with a system of sortition, they will be better able to access the media, fund think tanks, get their positions put before randomly-selected bodies, etc. A system in which few rich people sat on randomly-selected bodies (which seems to be the worry expressed here) might still be de jure equal (everyone’s eligible to serve) but with an anti-rich bias de facto–but one that has the effect of countering the unavoidable pro-rich bias any system gives to the rich.
Of course, this argument does work at cross-purposes to a number of other goals people have attributed to ACs, like descriptive representation, but that simply proves that sortition can serve different goals depending upon how the accompanying institutions are structured.
“Democracies, he thought, paid people small amounts to hold office–enough to entice the poor but not the rich.”
I wonder what he would have to say about today’s mega-rich deigning to serve for a couple years at the federal maximum salary, only to revise the rules of the game while in office to create even greater avenues to mega-mega-riches for themselves & fellow country-clubbers upon their departure through the revolving door (just think Henry Paulson, for starters).
I would hope sortition would, somehow, form a natural obstruction to this type corruption. Perhaps by limiting the power of such self-servants to enact unilateral decisions without formally consulting the AC.
i think that you said what i was trying to say. thank you!
harald, of course i wouldn’t want to have the system be biased against anyone. but a scenario like greg outlines is very worrisome.
> Is it really your claim that not paying the rich delegates more is bias against the rich? I think it is absurd. To the contrary: paying the poor less is bias against the poor.
That may be. We will see. The test of what is bias against either group, is how many will turn up from either at a given wage. I’m not saying we have to pay people differently. I’m saying it should not be off the table for securing the participation of all.
You know from our long squabbles with Keith that there are very few things I want to be off the table for the allotted. That doesn’t mean I want them to do it. If there were to be differences in payment, it would have to be instituted by the allotted themselves – hopefully they will also have sense to not set their own wages, and only make such changes apply to the next set of allotted members.
> de jure equal
How would you define “de jure equal”? One could claim that any rule that doesn’t explicitly categorize people according to inherent characteristics is de jure equal. If we accept that then an explicit plutocracy would be de jure equal.
I think it is quite clear that de facto equality is the only thing that matters. Some forms of de jure equality could probably be used as tools toward de facto equality.
> The test of what is bias against either group, is how many will turn up from either at a given wage.
This measures but one aspect of bias, and it is a problematic measure even of that aspect. If someone simply refuses to attend, for no particular reason, would you say the system is biased against him? If he comes up with arbitrary demands as conditions for attending, would you try to accommodate him in various ways? If he demands that he is given larger staff than other delegates, would you accommodate that? Would you be biasing the system against him if you don’t?
As for taking things off the table – anything that is clearly undemocratic should be taken off the table. I think differential pay is undemocratic. Of course, deciding what’s democratic cannot be done extra-politically so in any case what I am arguing for is, in effect, not taking differential pay off the table but that decision should be made, by the appropriate democratic decision maker, against differential pay.
Since it seems our discussion here has ground to a halt, I would like to briefly respond to the points you made (here) that I haven’t responded to yet.
> I guess I don’t see any reason why a group could not democratically decide to abolish democracy. We need to separate the questions of a) would a decision to take power out of the hands of the people (or an AC) be democratic and b) would the resulting system be democratic.
This may be just a matter of terminology. I think it is clear that if it is the informed and considered decision of the people to eliminate the democratic system, then there is no course of action that can be considered democratic. Following the decision is anti-democratic by assumption, and not following the decision is anti-democratic by definition. Thus, I am led to conclude that “democracy” cannot be defined as a system of rules controlling the activities of a group, but as a state of the group – a state which encompasses the the mental state of the members of the group. Certain collective mental states are undemocratic under any rule system. When such a mental state is reached, the group is no longer democratic, no matter what the system of rules controlling the group is.
> I just want to emphasize that what’s at stake here is an epistemic question–who is most likely to figure out what the “will of the people” (albeit informed and considered) really is.
I agree. I think this is the allure of the electoral system – it has the superficial appearance of reflecting the “will of the people”. If it really did, it would be a democratic system.
> And it’s even harder to make sense of the idea of one collective body–the AC–acting in accordance with the informed, considered opinion of another collective body.
Here is a suggested hypothetical way to determine whether an agent (single or collective) worked in accordance with the interests of a group (you may recognize this from a previous communication):
Allow each member of the group to follow the activities of the agent – having been given the resources, time, motivation and authority to access all the information needed for understanding the decision making activity. Then take a vote among the group members as to whether or not the agent has been acting in the interests of the group. An agent that wins the approval of a majority of the members of the group would be determined, according to this criterion, as having acted in the interests of the group.
iGregor, on February 18, 2011 at 12:18 pm said:
“I don’t see any reason why a group could not democratically decide to abolish democracy”
This points to one of the most troubling flaws in most (all?) practical schemes of democracy. It is not only the views of those citizens currently on the planet that must be taken into account, but those of future generations of citizens, as well. It was West Churchman, I think, who, several decades ago brought to my attention that, though not limited to democracy, even the most perfectly formed democracy totally discounts the will of those people who, in many ways have the largest stake in the outcome of any decision made today: unborn future generations.
This flaw manifests in such contemporary difficulties as: (1) during the last 3 decades we the living have discounted the interests of unrepresented future fellow citizens by sticking them with the tab for our living waaaaaay beyond our means, and (2) in much the same way we currently living benefactors of industrialization have heaped enormous environmental deficits that will be payable by those poor souls who arrive on the scene in our wake.
Keith Sutherland, on February 18, 2011 at 1:07 pm said:
Mike Saward argues this point well in his new book, The Representative Claim, although I don’t agree with his proposed remedy (leaving it all to Bono and Bob Geldof). It strikes me that a more sensible proposal is for a mixed constitution, in which the long-term interest is ensured by a hereditary monarchy — Prince Charles has always spoke eloquently on the need to ensure the interests of future generations. Hans-Herman Hoppe argues a strong case for hereditary monarchy in his book Democracy — the God that Failed, but I can already hear the howls of outrage from everyone on this list who feels that the answer is to “simply apply sortition”.
I’d rather have Bono than Prince Charles as king, all things considered. But if we aren’t capable of looking after our long-term interests on our own, we’re royally messed up no matter what we do.
We’ve shown conclusively that we aren’t capable, for all the reasons that Greg has outlined. Bono and Geldof currently have more influence on UK policy than Prince Charles and there isn’t any sign that they are looking after future generations. In fact opponents of Western policies on overseas aid argue that the effect is malign in the long term as it tends to undermine local self-sufficiency.
“… if we aren’t capable of looking after our long-term interests on our own, we’re royally messed up no matter what we do.”
Yes, we are messed up. Experience repeatedly shows the corrupting influence of power. That’s behind the need for governments, in the first place.
So, if an argument for sortition rests upon a rightful suspicion that others will have difficulty resisting the inevitable corrupting influences of power to the point that they are incapable of properly representing the rest of us, then what would lead any reasonable person to conclude that the living will be able to resist the temptation to attempt to sustain a standard of living beyond their means by passing increasing burdens onto future generations? Surely there is little in the last 40 years that would sustain such a conclusion, as is indicated by exploding national debts and deteriorating environmental conditions.
Imagine that we were among the crop of characters who will come to comprise the citizenry of the future (surely, there was a time when this was so). Wouldn’t we be justified in our suspicion of any system of government that leaves the future of the planet in the hands of proven self-servants?
I believe that Jefferson was concerned about this as he contemplated the post-revolution, fledgling US. He was not just interested in the lessons of Rome and Athens, and so forth, but in the lessons of the Iroquois Nations and their stated interest to see that policy decisions weighed the impact of such choices over the subsequent severn generations. Their solution left this in the hands of tribal chiefs — essentially getting to a Bono vs Prince Charles sort of debate.
I’m not suggesting that to operationalize such a system doesn’t depend on resolving enormous conceptual, theoretical and practical challenges. I merely am suggesting that democracy in it’s most perfect form is deficient to the extent that it does not properly weigh the will/interests of those who come in our wake.
> This flaw manifests in such contemporary difficulties as: […]
This current situation (of the environment, I don’t really believe in the “beyond our means” story) does indicate disregard for future generations, but how can that be seen as an indication of a problem in democracy, if the current system is anti-democratic?
I think there is every reason to believe that a democratic system would take much better care of the interests of future generations than the current elitist system. For example, even with the ubiquitous corporate and governmental anti-environmental propaganda, public sentiment is much more concerned about environmental issues than the government is.
Keith Sutherland, on February 19, 2011 at 8:40 am said:
The public may claim to be more concerned about environmental issues but (as I’ve mentioned before) Blair refused to impose an aviation fuel tax because he feared a mass uprising and I would imagine this is one of the reasons why no US government is prepared to tax gasoline in the way that environmentalists advocate.
So I agree with Greg’s pessimism regarding the inherent problems of “democracy in its most perfect form”, hence the need for a mixed constitution including a hereditary monarchy to look after the interests of the unborn.
Harald Korneliussen, on February 19, 2011 at 10:39 am said:
> I merely am suggesting that democracy in it’s most perfect form is deficient to the extent that it does not properly weigh the will/interests of those who come in our wake.
I’m not worried about this, actually. If a well-informed citizen isn’t concerned about his children’s future, that is equally much a problem whether his name is Charles, Bob, Paul David or anything else.
But there’s a decision here: how much to discount the future. Discounting the future may sound bad, but we all do it, not because the future is unimportant but because the future is ultimately uncertain, and out of your control even given the best of intentions (yes, even if you are a government).
Lest you think a sharp discounting of the future is only the province of the Lomborgs of the world, consider that Jesus demanded a very sharp future discount when he advocated doing the right thing now and “let tomorrow worry about itself”.
For good or bad, how much and how to discount the future is a question the presently living have to agree on. They’re better represented through an allotted assembly than a hereditary monarch.
@Yoram
“…how can that be seen as an indication of a problem in democracy, if the current system is anti-democratic?”
Sure, I’m not making the claim in any empirical sense. Rather it’s conceptual. But, how does this make any difference? Much of what is discussed here and elsewhere about proposed government systems has not been tested/tried empirically on a large scale, if at all.
“there is every reason to believe that a democratic system would take much better care of the interests of future generations than the current elitist system.”
How so? This is the argument of the aristocrats — that they’ll take better care of the rest of us than we’d be able to care for ourselves — all we have to do is trust in their judgment. Sure, this might work, but we’re right to be suspicious.
If you were to look at the situation from the perspective of a member of a future society, you might well consider those currently living souls in the same light as aristocrats without much other than their virtue to protect the interests of future generations. Accepting that we the living will much consider the will/interests of the many who follow requires a good degree of wishful thinking — seems to me.
@Harald
“If a well-informed citizen isn’t concerned about his children’s future.”
And what justifies your confidence that well-informed (and virtuous) folks will come to prevail, let alone exist in any but small numbers among the masses?
And, isn’t there everywhere evidence of parents who care little about their children’s future? Or, if they do care about the future of their, are either clueless about what needs be done to protect it or indifferent about the well-being of someone else’s kids?
I mean, it’s seems a matter of social justice to design a system that, somehow, incorporates the voices/interests of all stakeholders into policy decisions — and not just excuse this consideration on the basis that the masses might magically, and in opposition to experience everywhere, become well-intended and well-informed guardians & representatives of the interests of the children of complete strangers.
Greg: You care about future generations. I care about future generation. I’m sure people like us exist in more than small numbers. I’m not worried that we’ll neglect to take future generations into account.
I worry a lot more that someone will demand more than their fair share of influence over society, with the justification of serving future generations.
Really. I know one particular loon, for instance. He runs a popular Norwegian blog, stylizes himself a serious intellectual – a disturbing number of people think of him as such since he’s got some kind of natural science degree. He quite seriously thinks the muslims are coming to take over Europe, kill all the men and steal our superior genes by using “our” women for breeding purposes. (He assumes all serious people except silly sentimental westerners secretly share his social darwinistic beliefs as well). I see all to well what people like him are calling for in order to protect future generations.
> I’m not making the claim in any empirical sense.
I interpreted your argument as seeing current conditions as being evidence for a problem with democracy.
>> there is every reason to believe that a democratic system would take much better care of the interests of future generations than the current elitist system.
> How so?
I see the fact that popular sentiment supports stronger environmental protections than those implemented by elite government as supporting this view. I also think that this difference in attitude makes sense – an elite group can realistically hope to use its power to insulate itself from any long term negative consequences of current policy. The average person cannot.
> For good or bad, how much and how to discount the future is a question the presently living have to agree on. They’re better represented through an allotted assembly than a hereditary monarch.
Very true – but I would go even farther. It is not only a matter of balancing current interests vs. future interests. It is a matter of deciding what those future interests are (or would be). The current oligarchs argue that “growth” promotes future interests even if the environment is destroyed in the process. Most people disagree, but it is an inherently political matter. No one can claim to be an objective representative of interests of future generations.
iGregor, on February 20, 2011 at 1:50 am said:
“I’m not worried that we’ll neglect to take future generations into account.”
But, the point is that this is the same argument the aristocrats make when they say they care about the common folk and aren’t worried that they’ll neglect to take them into account. The proof is in how the future sees what we do today, and that creates an enormous challenge that, in my view, deserves to be taken seriously — which few, if any, discussions on democracy seem willing to do.
“…popular sentiment supports stronger environmental protections than those implemented by elite government …”
Yes, this may well be the case. But, if it were not, then would we merely ignore/dismiss it? To do so would be following the same course as some arrogant cult of elites. And to not do so begs the question: What is the appropriate way to address these concerns?
> What is the appropriate way to address these concerns?
So you are concerned that future generations would feel that democratic governments of previous generations have ignored their interests. To emphasize, this is not about non-democratic governments, and this is not about mistakes made in good faith, but about intentional or negligent disregard of the interests of future generations by democratic governments.
Regarding this concern, I would say (1) this seems like a quite hypothetical problem because (a) there are currently no democratic governments, and (b) there is no way to know how future generations would feel, (2) there does not seem to be any possible solution to this hypothetical problem.
Yoram, the problem is not merely hypothetical. If we look over our own history, there are many groups that can be seen to be rightly offended by the choices of ancestral generations — perhaps even worthy of reparations, if you’re of such a mind. Blacks in America, to some great extent continue to suffer from disadvantages institutionalized in the original U.S. Constitution. And certainly many of Native American heritage are disadvantaged due to results of the invasion of North America by European fore-bearers during the 16th-19th centuries. Surely there are other examples if you find these unsuitable.
Is there evidence to suggest true democracy would have spoken to, or resolved such inequities and injustice? I’m more than a little skeptical that there is such evidence for the reason you submit (there are no true democracies), but, also, since I’m not so sanguine to expect that even the most perfect democracy ever conceived has much of anything to contribute to resolving this challenge.
Now, that we might lack the interest and/or imagination to address the problem, is itself part of the problem I’m trying to make clear.
“I see the fact that popular sentiment supports stronger environmental protections than those implemented by elite government as supporting this view.”
This is just as unfounded as my claims on the Egyptian revolution that you castigated me for. It’s very easy to get popular (hypothetical) support for environmental issues, but the support usually evaporates when confronted with real choices (tax dollars and reduction in consumption). If anything it would be more true to say that environmentalism was an elite issue that is only constrained by popular (electoral) pressure.
Greg’s pessimism over unchecked democracy is very hard to refute.
> If we look over our own history, there are many groups that can be seen to be rightly offended by the choices of ancestral generations
I don’t see the examples that you give as being good cases of inter-generational injustices. They are cases of injustice carried out against living people (which of course have consequences for future generations as well). We are imagining a situation where a certain generation decides, say, to pollute the atmosphere with CO2 because doing so provides the members of that generation with certain advantages, while ignoring the possibly catastrophic consequences of such activity for future generations.
Again, I don’t dismiss such concerns as unfounded, but I do think this is not a high priority concern at this point, because of the considerations I laid out above.
> Is there evidence to suggest true democracy would have spoken to, or resolved such inequities and injustice?
I don’t see democracy as a panacea. Democracies can carry out grave injustices – the Athenian democracy certainly did. (Although the injustice is usually carried out against those that are officially outside the democratic group.) My claim is that all indications – both empirical and theoretical – are that democracies are more just than conceivable alternatives (at least partly because of the reduction of injustice toward people within the democratic group).
> This is just as unfounded as my claims on the Egyptian revolution that you castigated me for.
Don’t flatter yourself. When you provide opinion poll results showing that a large sector of the Egyptian population was prompted to go to Tahrir square by Mr. Ghonim’s Facebook page, then our claims would be resting on a comparable basis. As it is, my claim has a basis (shaky or not, we may disagree, but a basis nonetheless), while yours is baseless.
The same goes for the various nonsense in your current comment – it is not really worth a substantive reply until you back up your claims with any kind of evidence (and, no, Blair’s self-serving excuses for destroying the environment do not count as evidence).
“My claim is that all indications – both empirical and theoretical – are that democracies are more just than conceivable alternatives ”
Perhaps, so. But no need to limit democracies to familiar conceptualizations once a serious deficit with even the most favored conceptualization is identified.
Now, since we still seem to not agree on the nature of the deficit or its seriousness, let me try another approach.
I think we’d agree that one of the major advantages of sortition-based democracy lies in its capability to rectify the misrepresentation that throughout history has corrupted all attempted democracies. While sortition does not guarantee freedom from corruption, it goes a long way toward combatting the corruption associated with selecting representatives from a biased sample (of likely arrogant and all-too-easily corruptible buffoons).
Now, it is also true that when trying to decide policy issues we are concerned with matters that largely, if not completely, manifest their impact in the future through experiences that have yet to occur and for which there can be very limited data before the fact (basically, in a fluid and complex social situation we cannot be certain of the outcome of decisions regardless what has happened in the past).
So, how is it just to discount the stake of a huge portion of folks (unborn) who will experience the future outcomes of the choices made today? I assert it is not just, and all the claims of the difficulty associated with accounting for such outcomes is little more than parroting claims made by arrogant aristocrats who incumber positions as modern day misrepresentatives of the masses.
> So, how is it just to discount the stake of a huge portion of folks (unborn) who will experience the future outcomes of the choices made today?
I think that philosophically, this is a bit dubious. Don’t you have to exist in order to have a stake in something? Either way, we discount the future all the time, as I pointed out.
Anyway, suppose one of my great-grandchildren visits me in a time machine and accuses me of not taking his interests more into account. “I really tried!” I say. “Not hard enough!” he answers, “and when you did care, you were blocked by contemporaries who didn’t. You shouldn’t have let them decide!”
“Could you have done any better?” I retort. “Even if we could make a better system, how could we have persuaded the people to accept it? You can’t make a system better than the people it’s composed of, and it wasn’t possible to make one composed of you as well.”
Feel free to tell me what my great-grandchild would have replied.
(But if he launches into a speech about the virtues of hereditary monarchy, I will say “You’re no child of mine! Begone!”)
“…dubious…Don’t you have to exist in order to have a stake in something?”
Dubious? No more than any discussion about the existence of the future — which is the appropriate realm of policy.
Exist? I’m reminded of a recent snake-oil President on this side of the Atlantic, who might well reply that this depends on what the meaning of the word “exist” is. Exist in an empirical sense, or more abstractly?
The answer, for me, is not limited to empirical existence — since the existence of the future is itself no less an abstraction than the people who will come to inhabit it. As, too, is the meaning of the word democracy (or any other word so far created by the mind of the living and those abstractions we carry around about those who preceded us).
Accepting you invitation to speculate on the reply of your great-grandchild — “Thanks for all of your good work, gramps. But, in spite of your good work, clean water and clean air and fertile soil are in desperately short supply beyond the gated communities of the oligarchs. Had you and others given serious consideration to Greg’s constructive criticism, you might have been able to come up with an innovative approach to forestall the desperate conditions that I now confront.”
In any democracy, there will be groups which cannot feasibly represent their own interests, although they have legitimate ones. Small children and people with dementia or other severe mental illness, to name a couple. I suppose if you wish, you can think of of people who may come to exist in the future into this category (though I still think it’s dubious).
It isn’t perfect – the perfect would be to make them capable of representing their own interests somehow – but I think admonishing the regular allotted assembly to keep their interests in mind is the best we can do. If they wish, they may appoint special advisors to the assembly for these groups (ombudsman for children, ombudsman for the mentally ill), but they should not have power to vote in the assembly or veto its decisions. Such power can be all too easily abused – “think of the children!” is a phrase that has been used to justify a lot of dubious things.
The assembly – not us, and especially not Keith – must decide which group they want an ombudsman-advisor for, or any other special arrangement. They could also make laws applying to themselves, saying we will not do so and so – but it would be up to them to not repeal them again. (The assembly cannot make a rock so heavy they can’t lift it themselves).
To my great-grandchild, regarding innovative approaches, I would ask, “such as?” (and also, probably: “where did you get oligarchs?!”)
Greg, I’m completely with you on this (not that it will provide much succour, given the general opprobrium my views elicit on this blog). The only qualification that I would add is the Burkean/Confucian observation that the compact also includes past generations, whose views are usually discounted here.
Yoram: “Don’t flatter yourself. When you provide opinion poll results showing that a large sector of the Egyptian population was prompted to go to Tahrir square by Mr. Ghonim’s Facebook page, then our claims would be resting on a comparable basis. . . . The same goes for the various nonsense in your current comment.”
Those of us who advocate the informed decision making generated by sortive bodies would be unwise to give much credence to opinion polls. And I do think it unseemly for the moderator of this blog to use such unparliamentary language. I’ve never resorted to such tactics (unless, that is you take the word Marxist to be a term of abuse), so I don’t see why my posts should be treated in this way.
P.S. I’m a big boy, sticks and stones etc, so I really don’t mind Yoram’s little tantrums. But I think most people will be put off from a blog that is dominated by a bunch of Marxist fundamentalists who decry any viewpoint that smacks of liberal pluralism and a longer-term perspective than the immediate whims of the current demos as Madisonian reaction. If we want any success in the real world, then I think sensible people need to reclaim sortition from fundamentalism of all varieties.
> – not us, and especially not Keith –
heheh.
> But I think most people will be put off from a blog that is dominated by a bunch of Marxist fundamentalists
Your concern troll protestations are about as convincing as your other arguments. Also, writing a sentence like that within minutes after claiming that you don’t resort to “unparliamentary language” is laughable.
“It isn’t perfect – the perfect would be to make them capable of representing their own interests somehow…”
OK. So, after all this, it seems that you actually agree with my original point from several days ago that even the most perfectly formed democracy discounts the will of unborn future generations — and that’s worthy of being addressed, somehow.
Now. can we proceed to inventing a way to address this matter in a way that does not resort to hereditary monarchies, if that’s what you find so distressing?
I, too, am not too keen on hereditary monarchies, or any other variety of monarchy. So, I’d prefer to spend energy finding alternative approaches for how to address this issue justly, rather than denying the seriousness of the deficit in traditional democratic theory.
> rather than denying the seriousness of the deficit in traditional democratic theory.
It is one thing to state that a problem exists, or at least could potentially exist, as Harald and I do, and it is another to assert that this is a major problem. I think there are many problems with defining and implementing a democratic system that are at least as serious as the one you raised. Would you agree, or do you believe that the problem of representation of the not-yet-born is a particularly serious and/or urgent problem?
I believe it to be a serious problem that becomes more serious as the time horizon increases beyond the life span of those currently living. if the impact of policy measures are realized during the life times of those who are represented within the the AC, then they will deal with matters as well as is humanly possible. But, if the time span is beyond the expected life spans of those within the AC, then it’s too easy for them to be ignored and discounted.
For example, when we built dams all over the western US during the 20th century, it offered great benefit during the lifetimes of most who came to live there, and created enormous problems for those who followed. It’s not that we were completely surprised by these unintended consequences, although many were not anticipated, but that the others were completely ignored.
I expect they would have been less ignored had a system of AC been in place that distributed representation across the population, but still the weight would have been too heavy on current generations.
Now, how to deal with this is a real challenge. It clearly requires some degree of representation of those who do not yet exist, but will suffer the burdens of today’s choices. And, of course, we’re all sensitive to the inherent weakness of any system of representation that does not fairly represent all with a stake in the outcome.
Again, I am not quite sure that the dams example is a good example for your case. I think this is more a case of lack of public awareness (possibly due to manipulation by elites). My general feeling is that once people become aware of long term damage of various policies, they become quite concerned.
But be that as it may, accepting the potential for present generations to promote their own interests at the expense of future generations, and since to you this seems like a particularly acute matter, do you have any proposals for addressing this issue?
> OK. So, after all this, it seems that you actually agree with my original point from several days ago that even the most perfectly formed democracy discounts the will of unborn future generations
Not exactly. I said, I still think it’s dubious to say people who don’t exist yet have an interest (I wondered if I should compare it to the absurdity of claiming long-dead people have an interest in our present arrangements, but Keith beat me to it in a suprising way, by thinking that they do) – but it’s kind of a moot point, since “they”, like a few other groups, aren’t capable of representing their own interests.
I said also how I suggested dealing with such groups as fairly as possible (whether future persons qualify as such a group or not). I insist, in opposition to Keith and in agreement with Yoram, that special arrangements to take care of such interests must _not_ be done by a privileged group of constitution writers. How and how much to give advantage to a supposedly unrepresented group, is a political question, and political questions need to be answered by an assembly that is as representative as possible.
They are free to make these advantages quite constitution-like (e.g, mandating that laws must respect the rights of children, and instituting a citizen jury to judge whether a given law doesn’t), but they cannot “make a rock so heavy they cannot lift it”: such laws must be equally possible to remove.
The assembly must follow their own rules, but no one has sovereignty to stop them from changing them. Maybe future generations ought to for all I know, but they aren’t here, and no one is especially entitled to speak on their behalf.
ok, in islam, the place where the unborn and the dead reside is called the barzak. we may be able to find a sufi adept who speaks the language of the barzak and is able to communicate with the inhabitants in order to ascertain their position(s) on contemporary issues. is this an acceptable solution?
any other ideas?
Hehe, sa’ada… If the assembly wants to take advice from the sufi adept, that is up to them. But such an arrangement should not be written into the initial constitution by us: we must steer clear of political and religious issues as far as we can.
sa'ada, on February 22, 2011 at 10:48 am said:
ok, so if the solution is that the solution is not up to us then why are we spending all this energy deciding which solution we want?
do we have any more important work to be doing? just from reading comments about the current revolutions it is dishearteningly astounding the number of people who believe in the electoral system. can some people see no need for change?
Let me point out that I believe in the electoral system quite a lot myself: Done right, it can give representative government on a couple of core issues, as selected by the people (not all issues will be up for choice, though, and there is still the problem of rational ignorance when the people are choosing). Sortition would suit the new Arab democracies best, but proportional representation and parliamentarism will be a vast improvement, and probably solve most of the people’s current frustrations (it will bring new ones, though).
I wouldn’t downplay either of these ideas: A strong elected executive as there is in the US and France, is bad, bad, bad. If they get parliamentarism, they at least get rid of one particularly harmful variant of elections. And if it’s coupled with parliamentarism, the public has a good chance at fighting those elite policies which they manage to effectively organize against.
Coupled with proportional representation, the last phrase should read.
I seem to have wasted my time. I won’t be making this mistake here, again. Bye.
greg, what were you trying to accomplish with your time? i’d like to thank you for bringing to my attention a problem that should be sorted. but really, if none of us can think of any solutions, and don’t view the problem as a deal breaker for sortition, then we should just keep it in mind and move on. what more could you accomplish?
Yeah, I’d like to know what was offensive as well. I’d even like to know what you disagree with, Greg.
(You did not think I suggested parliamentarism and PR would be a vast improvement over sortition, did you? I meant over the present state of events.)
I’ve been following this discussion, and I also don’t see what was said that was obnoxious (towards Greg anyway). I admit that the discussion may in the end have generated more light than heat, but I also don’t see why this is a specifically democratic problem. Any government will have trouble representing the interests of people who aren’t there yet–that goes for monarchies, electoral democracies, demarchies, theocracies, etc. It’s a problem, and we should look for ways to encourage all governments towards long-term thinking. But why exactly is this a particular problem for sortition? I guess I just missed that.
> If they get parliamentarism, […] Coupled with proportional representation
As you know, I am with sa’ada on this – I don’t think there is evidence that there is much inherent difference between the systems. Elitism is a core characteristic of the electoral system, and so it promotes elite interests.
I’ll also add my voice to the chorus of those mystified by Greg’s abrupt departure. I thought we were having a calm discussion. I am disappointed.
> I don’t think there is evidence that there is much inherent difference between the systems.
I came across a claim on wikipedia, though not fully sourced:
“There is also a body of scholarship, associated with Juan Linz, Fred Riggs, Bruce Ackerman, and Robert Dahl that claims that parliamentarianism is less prone to authoritarian collapse. These scholars point out that since World War II, two-thirds of Third World countries establishing parliamentary governments successfully made the transition to democracy. By contrast, no Third World presidential system successfully made the transition to democracy without experiencing coups and other constitutional breakdowns.[citation needed]
A recent World Bank study found that parliamentary systems are associated with lower corruption.[2]”
I don’t see any incompatibility between these claims. To say that changing features of an electoral democracy–unicameral vs. bicameral legislature, PR vs. plurality rule, presidential vs. parliamentary system, single- vs. multi-member districts–won’t solve the problem of elite rule is not to say that changing these features will make no difference at all. It just won’t solve the problem of concern here.
I agree with Peter.
I would also point out that the causation mechanism for the parliamentarism-stability association (to the extent such an association does exist) could be very different from the “parliamentarism causes stability” implied by the Wikipedia quote.
“But why exactly is this a particular problem for sortition? I guess I just missed that.”
Greg never claimed that it was, only that it was an inherent problem with any form of unchecked democracy (I’ve pointed this out over and over again, only to be derided as a “Madisonian Reactionary”). Unfortunately this is what the fundamentalist majority on this blog is advocating (unchecked democracy), so I can fully understand Greg’s frustrations, especially when the moderator keeps saying things like “heheh”. I’ve left this blog several times out of a similar sense of frustration, and can only hope that Greg’s departure will make the fundamentalists rethink their views. I enormously valued Greg’s contribution and I’m deeply saddened that he was driven away.
If this is the effect on the tiny number of sortinistas (Greg’s word) just think how insane we must look to the rest of the world). It really is time to grow up.
> fundamentalist majority on this blog
I had a feeling Keith would use Greg’s inexplicable departure to promote his inexplicable views. This inexplicability is the only shared characteristic of those two matters. Up until Greg joined this thread he was part of this fundamentalist majority you are decrying.
> sortinistas (Greg’s word)
Maybe I misremember, but as I recollect it was your term. Can you point me to the point where Greg first made use of this term?
Keith, I’m still not getting how this is supposed to be a problem for democracy, on either your view or Greg’s. (I also thought Greg was on the opposite side from you in many of these debates. Am I wrong about this?) I guess I don’t see why one would expect a nondemocratic regime to care more about the future than a democratic one. Certainly, there’s no evidence that Mubarak or Gaddafi cared about the future more than their respective peoples did, unless you count their Swiss bank accounts. (It’s nice to be able to use the past tense for each of those SOBs.)
> > sortinistas (Greg’s word)
Ok – I checked. It is your word, Keith. How do you expect to be taken seriously, Keith, when you cannot be trusted on the matter of the record of your own words?
“Keith, I’m still not getting how this is supposed to be a problem for democracy”
the key word is “unchecked”. Any kind of checks and balances are derided by the Taliban element on this blog as undemocratic
I acknowledge having repeated Greg’s use of the word “sortinistas”.
PS I suspect that Greg’s departure may have been a result of sarcastic references to the need to employ a medium or Sufi mystic in order to divine the wishes of the unborn. I’m very grateful to Greg for raising this point, which hadn’t really occurred to me, but even if you don’t agree with his concerns you should at least treat them as genuine and not employ sarcasm as a response.
Regarding my own reference to the Marxist wing of this blog, this was intended to be an accurate description of the conversation on the Paul Cockcroft thread. I’m not up to date with socialist terminology so if “Marxist” was the wrong word, then I stand corrected (I should have said Socialist, Leninist, Troskyite or whatever). I should add that I have a lot of time for Marxist sociology (not eschatology) so this was not intended as a term of abuse. But I don’t think this blog is the right place to discuss the length of the working week etc.
sa'ada, on February 24, 2011 at 12:29 pm said:
keith, you’re right. what i wrote was obnoxious, as peter said, and trivializes my own beliefs. if there was an edit button i would delete that comment. just goes to show that, once said, i can’t take it back so i should think about it beforehand. i apologize to greg and the rest of you.
Sa’ada: I did not think your joke was out of line, nor does it trivializes your faith or make me doubt its sincerity. No apology needed :)
thanks harald but, as much as i believe in the barzak i don’t think that any of you do therefore my remark was sarcastic and obnoxious. and using it to try to make a point here does trivialize it. what i should have said is:
yes, greg, i can see how that is a problem. thanks for bringing it up. i can’t think of any acceptable solutions now and since the problem is not unique to sortition, maybe we should keep it in mind while we move on to something else.
@keith
ok, so which checks and balances should we employ to ensure that the interests of future generations are served?
> just think how insane we must look to the rest of the world)
considering how insane the rest of the world looks to me, i don’t mind if they think the same of me :)
I don’t think there’s anything out of line with pointing out that there’s no way to ascertain today what people who have not yet (and possibly never will) be born think. We can ask how to consider the interests of future people, but there’s nothing to be said about considering their opinions. The very idea does indeed deserve ridicule.
Keith–still not getting it. I get that “unchecked” democracy might conceivably cause certain problems. But I don’t see how a disregard of future persons is one of them. First, why should “unchecked” democracy do worse at considering future persons than “unchecked” monarchy, aristocracy, etc. Second, is it obvious that “unchecked” government will do worse on this issue than “checked” government? Maybe sometimes, but in the U.S. global warming is being almost entirely neglected by the federal government precisely because there are just so many places for the oil companies to intervene and “check” energy policies. Maybe checks and balances do more good than harm, but surely you will acknowledge that they can do real harm in some instances.
> I acknowledge having repeated Greg’s use of the word “sortinistas”.
No, Mr. Sutherland. It is your neologism which Greg repeated. The link I gave above is to the first use of the term on this blog (and quite likely the first use of the term ever on the Web).
Again – you simply cannot be taken seriously. Not even when it comes to the easily verifiable record of your own words.
sa’ada,
> keith, you’re right. what i wrote was obnoxious, as peter said, and trivializes my own beliefs. if there was an edit button i would delete that comment. just goes to show that, once said, i can’t take it back so i should think about it beforehand. i apologize to greg and the rest of you.
That’s interesting – I took you to be sincere in your suggestion. I certainly do not find your suggestion (essentially, relying on expert opinion) to be any more objectionable, unreasonable or comical than Keith’s ideas about relying on Prince Charles to represent future generations.
I would also add that even if Greg perceived that he was being made the butt of a joke, I think he over-reacted. His ideas did get seriously considered by all of the discussants here.
but i knew that no one else would accept that suggestion, therefore it was obnoxious, sarcastic, disingenuous, whatever. and the fact that it could be compared to prince charles representing future generations – trivializing. it should not be objectionable, unreasonable, or comical.
moving on: in talking to people on other forums i find that many have an abiding faith in elections to deliver reform. they say that the revolution could be taken over by the militaries in egypt and tunisia so the revolution is not complete until elections are held. could we start (or do we have) a talking points section to be used when discussing sortition with people who are unfamiliar with it?
i’d like to offer one here.
somebody said ‘at least in a democracy if politicians do something we don’t agree with, we get the chance to vote the bums out’
wrong. you get the chance to vote other bums in which is not the same thing. the new bums are owned by and represent the same interests as the old bums.
Sa’ada: It is in some ways true, but not always, and not always equally much. There are significant, important policy differences between the roughly seven influential parties in Norwegian parliament. They are also, of course, non-representative on many important secondary issues.
But it’s important that you who live in the US, and less democratic democracies, understand that dissatisfaction with government doesn’t go nearly as far here as it does elsewhere. It’s also associated with extremist groups, mostly on the right.
Consequently, if you attack government as viciously as sometimes happens on this blog, you’re in danger of being seen as a dangerous fanatic. I think it’s more sensible, and more effective, to acknowledge the current system’s strengths as well as its weaknesses, and large potential for improvement (from starting to use allotted bodies for increasingly more tasks).
Keith Sutherland, on February 24, 2011 at 11:08 pm said:
Sa’ada: many thanks for your kind apology to Greg, I do hope he gets to read it.
Peter: Obviously unchecked aristocracy or monarchy is just as bad as unchecked democracy (as acknowledged by Charles I in his reply to the parliamentarian petitition). I certainly wouldn’t wish to suggest that the US was a good example of mixed or separated government in either the classical or Montesquieu sense. The lobbying power of Big Oil is purely derived from the need to finance electoral democracy with campaign contributions; whereas a genuine mixed constitution would not be dominated in the same way as there would be a balance of sortive, elective, ex officio and hereditary interests. Whilst I agree with Greg that it would be good to find a “modern” alternative to the latter, if the best that anyone can come up with is Bono and Bob Geldof, I’d rather stick with the devil we know. Hoppe does offer a convincing argument in favour of hereditary monarchy in his book Democracy: The God that Failed and I would strongly recommend it (as I’m still on holiday I don’t have it to hand and I’m loth to paraphrase the argument from memory, especially as it’s very late and I’ve had much too much to drink).
Yoram: I really can’t be bothered to trawl through old posts over such a banal triviality, but I assure you that I did not invent the delightful term sortinista (this was a Gregologism). Although people often claim credit for things they didn’ t do, it’s rare for it to happen the other way round, but by all means attribute this to me if it makes you happy (although Greg might be even more pissed off to find his words stolen).
Yoram Gat, on February 25, 2011 at 12:24 am said:
> I really can’t be bothered to trawl through old posts over such a banal triviality, but I assure you that I did not invent the delightful term sortinista
Sorry, but your assurances carry very little weight. I am well aware, however, that you often cannot be bothered to check the veracity of various claims you make.
As for whether this is a banal triviality: If this is a banal triviality, why did you make the point of asserting that it was his term? Obviously you attached some importance to this point – an importance that you now deny. And in any case, as I said, even if this is banal, it is a simple and verifiable matter regarding the record of your own words – if you cannot be trusted on this, you simply cannot be taken seriously.
> could we start (or do we have) a talking points section to be used when discussing sortition with people who are unfamiliar with it?
As I think I wrote to you before, I have in the past suggested that we create a manifesto that would be a concise introduction to the idea. Unfortunately, the response here was tepid. I have recently created a pamphlet of sorts that could serve as starting point. It addresses the very topic that you mentioned – the impossibility of “throwing the bums out”. If you or others here would like to collaborate on that, I would be happy to be part of this effort.
> But it’s important that you who live in the US, and less democratic democracies, understand that dissatisfaction with government doesn’t go nearly as far here as it does elsewhere. It’s also associated with extremist groups, mostly on the right.
That may be true, but I doubt that a clear association with the type of the electoral system can be established. I doubt that people in Ireland, Iceland and Israel are as happy with their government as the Norwegians are, despite the fact that all four have PR without a directly elected executive.
> acknowledge the current system’s strengths
What do you see those strengths as being? This is not a rhetorical question – I really want to know.
I think I already at one point cited Amartya Sen’s claim that by nature electoral regimes do not produce famines, together with his qualification that they do produce chronic malnutrition and other chronic health issues. He (cited by Chomsky) also pointed out that overall China did much better than India over their first four or five decades – the two countries having started from a similar starting point more or less at the same time.
> I doubt that people in Ireland, Iceland and Israel are as happy with their government as the Norwegians are.
Right now? No, probably not. But over the course of their history, it’s probably comparable – and better than executive-oriented systems. There is both empirical evidence that people in PR states are happier with their governments, and good theoretical explanations why it would be so.
One theoretical explanations you’ve touched on yourself: In a FPTP system the main argument that politicians will behave is because they’ll be thrown out if they don’t. You try to make them represent your interests, in other words. (The reward-based theory of virtue you wrote about).
In a PR system, your ability to wield the whip over individual members is reduced (because of lists), but you instead have more options to look for people likely to advance your interests without the use of that whip.
It’s no surprise that the latter works better in practice. Even if it’s hard to find people who can be counted on to advance your interests, it’s far harder to wield the whip effectively (more information is needed).
It’s fundamentally the right approach – it’s what sortition does as well! Where PR limits the option of “throwing the bums out” in favour of seeking representative representatives, sortition takes the “throwing out” option completely away, and relies solely on a priori expectation of representativeness.
> What do you see those strengths as being? This is not a rhetorical question – I really want to know.
The main two strengths being that :
1. on a couple of core issues, politicians will be reasonably representative of (uninformed, possibly quite manipulated) popular opinion.
2. There is some diversity on non-core issues, so if these interests can be accomodated at low cost, they often will be.
In concrete terms: 1. Things like the Iraq war won’t be initiated, and are unlikely to be supported. 2. Things like what’s going on in Wisconsin are unlikely to happen.
> There is both empirical evidence that people in PR states are happier with their governments, and good theoretical explanations why it would be so.
I am not aware of convincing evidence of either kind – empirical or theoretical – that the electoral system makes much of a difference. Certainly the theoretical argument that you sketch ignores the most important question – to what extent the elected really are representing a substantive variety of positions on the most important issues.
Yes, nominally there are more credibly electable options available to the voter in a PR system, but there is no real reason to believe that this makes a significant difference. All the options have been vetted by the competitive process of becoming credibly electable – a process which is guarantees that those vetted will have more in common with each other than with the public. Even if a certain party manages to become electorally noticeable without being corrupt, it is soon co-opted by various devices on its way to becoming a major political force.
And, of course, the concession you made – that the voters are uninformed and possibly manipulated – would take away much of the force of your argument about the existence of a substantive variety of positions, even if the argument was convincing. (In Israel, for example, decades of government propaganda and manipulation have created absurd public misperceptions of the realities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict resulting in severe popular belligerence.)
> In concrete terms: 1. Things like the Iraq war won’t be initiated, and are unlikely to be supported.
What do you mean by “things like the Irag war”? The Iraq war did enjoy popular support in the US at the time of the invasion. (Of course, this was after a propaganda campaign by the government in concert with various corporations.) At the same time, the governments of both Denmark and Spain, both of which are elected using a PR system, supported the US invasion despite having majorities of their populations being opposed to the war.
> 2. Things like what’s going on in Wisconsin are unlikely to happen.
Again, what do you mean by “like what’s going on in Wisconsin”? What about the austerity measures in Ireland? How are they different from the “what’s going on in Wisconsin”?
Again, I believe both the empirical data and the theoretical support for your position are somewhere between weak and non-existent.
By the way, I wonder, do you think many people in Norway specifically and in PR states in general think that PR is significantly better than FPTP systems? I do not think this is the case in Israel, and I doubt this is the case in other places. In Israel, where pro-Americanism is rampant, the US system is often brought up as a model for emulation. Except for you, I never heard the claim for the superiority of PR anywhere outside of theory books and the occasional clueless op-ed writer (in those sources claims for superiority are made on both sides, of course).
I was considering adding a caveat about Israel, for obvious reasons (large part of population are there by choice + most militarized western democracy by far). Israel will not be like other democracies. But still, judging by turnout, they consider their system far more usful than Americans consider theirs.
> do you think many people in Norway specifically and in PR states in general think that PR is significantly better than FPTP systems?
Most people in PR systems indeed have no clue about what kind of system we have; some react with surprise and rejection when they find out just how different it is from the US one. There are always people who will want a political system because it favors people like them, so right-wingers who see right-wingers in charge in the US sometimes demand a more “American” system (usually only by advocating direct elections of things like mayors, though).
Few people have lived in both systems (and most of those who have are rather privileged) so naturally people will complain about the system they have – with good reason – and sometimes demand systems more like what other people have (with far worse arguments).
Of people who have studied it, you’ll find almost zero people in PR countries who prefer FPTP over PR. Whereas in FPTP countries, you will find a lot – possibly even a majority – supporting a change to PR. This is just the impression I have from the bookshelves of the political science library at the University of Oslo, of course, so feel free to show me otherwise.
> What do you mean by “things like the Irag war”? The Iraq war did enjoy popular support in the US at the time of the invasion. (Of course, this was after a propaganda campaign by the government in concert with various corporations.)
A campaign which could not have been pulled off just anywhere.
> At the same time, the governments of both Denmark and Spain, both of which are elected using a PR system, supported the US invasion despite having majorities of their populations being opposed to the war.
In part, yes they did – at least after the invasion appeared to be successful. It would probably have been quietly supported by our government also, if it wasn’t for the Christian Democratic party being in coalition with the Conservatives. But it would never have been initiated. It was never a core issue for the population in Norway, and I’ve already conceded PR systems do not give very representative government on non-core issues. But if it was Norway going to war, you can bet that would have been a core issue!
> What about the austerity measures in Ireland? How are they different from the “what’s going on in Wisconsin”?
Well, for one thing, the republican party doesn’t stand to have their support decimated by these actions. Fianna Fáil appears to have lost 59 of their 77 seats. Will that lead to a change in policy? Yes. As much as it should? Maybe not. More change in policy than you could expect to get in a PR system? Hell yes.
(Also, I think outlawing collective bargaining is a far more chilling thing than the Irish austerity policy.)
Yoram Gat, on March 1, 2011 at 6:16 am said:
Unsurprisingly, I am not convinced by your case. I think the lines you are drawing of what would or wouldn’t happen in the various systems are too arbitrary to be a compelling description of a clear difference between the systems. It seems that you are making your theory so flexible that it is in fact non-falsifiable (you are the who recommended Popper, I think?).
Just as an example: you argued before that
> In a PR system, your ability to wield the whip over individual members is reduced (because of lists), but you instead have more options to look for people likely to advance your interests without the use of that whip.
Now you are arguing that PR system in Ireland is more responsive than the FPTP system in the US because the former delivered a whiplash to the non-representative government.
Harald Korneliussen, on March 1, 2011 at 8:19 am said:
> Now you are arguing that PR system in Ireland is more responsive than the FPTP system in the US because the former delivered a whiplash to the non-representative government.
No. What I said was that the ability to wield the whip over individual members is indeed higher in FPTP systems. But your ability to wield it over parties, and actually change policy at election time, is better in PR systems.
Also, I’ve never said PR systems do not rely on after the fact-control at all. I said they rely more on before the fact-control than FPTP systems. This is not a controversial statement – you can find both opponents and proponents of PR who state it.
The system that relies only on before the fact-control is sortition. And remember, IMO that’s the way to go. But some after the fact-control is better than nothing.
By the way, the Irish were not nearly as opposed to the “tiger” economic policy before it crashed and burned. Before the fact-accountability might not have helped much. Even an allotted assembly might have been fooled by its apparent success – we can hope they would have seen through it, but it is by no means certain.
(As I’ve said before, in Ireland, the social axis – social conservative, social liberal – appears to matter more compared to the economic axis, than in otherwise similar states. Thus, in the first place I expect their government to be less representative on economic issues than, say, the Norwegian government will be. This is a subjective judgement, so if you disagree that social issues are more in the forefront in Ireland than Norway, feel free to object.)
As to falsifiability, it’s a much easier demand to satisfy than many think. If, over the next hundred years, PR democracies initiate as many wars of agression as FPTP democracies do, I will consider my ideas conclusively falsified. There you have it, my ideas are falsifiable. It doesn’t have to be easy to falsify to be falsifiable.
But I shall hardly be that unreasonable. I probably will also admit that I am wrong if you for instance can show me that FPTP/presidental systems have larger participation rates than PR/parlamentarist systems overall.
I am not preaching to a crowd here, I’m talking to you. It all comes more down to whether you have faith in my intellectual honesty or not, than issues of falsifiability.
It won’t be easy to disprove what I believe I see with my own eyes (that the governments of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Germany, Spain, etc. do a better job of representing their citizens than the governments of the UK, the US, France, Italy and Russia to name a few) but if anyone could do it it’s probably you.
Yoram Gat, on March 1, 2011 at 10:52 pm said:
> I said they rely more on before the fact-control than FPTP systems.
Ok, but faced with a case where before-the-fact control failed, you invoked after-the-fact control. It seems that you are convinced of the superiority of PR, and when one mechanism that you offer to explain your conviction doesn’t work, you are immediately willing to resort to a different mechanism. This is not a convincing theoretical argument.
> By the way, the Irish were not nearly as opposed to the “tiger” economic policy before it crashed and burned. Before the fact-accountability might not have helped much. Even an allotted assembly might have been fooled by its apparent success – we can hope they would have seen through it, but it is by no means certain.
Maybe they were simply propagandized into supporting this policy – by the same kind of propaganda that you said is a feature of FPTP systems? Again – I think your argument is too malleable to be convincing. You are able to portray any set of facts as supporting your conclusion.
> There you have it, my ideas are falsifiable. It doesn’t have to be easy to falsify to be falsifiable.
Well – they are not falsifiable for the next 100 years, so for our purposes they are not falsifiable. But your other proposed test – participation (turnout?) rates – is not really much better. It is such a coarse aggregate statistic with such a tenuous link to your rather strong claim, that it is quite difficult to see it as a real prediction that provides an opportunity for falsification.
> I am not preaching to a crowd here, I’m talking to you. It all comes more down to whether you have faith in my intellectual honesty or not, than issues of falsifiability.
I don’t doubt your intellectual honesty, in the sense that you believe what you say. On the other hand, I think we are all prone to come to believe in various things without having good grounds for doing so. It certainly happened to me before.
> I believe I see with my own eyes (that the governments of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Germany, Spain, etc. do a better job of representing their citizens than the governments of the UK, the US, France, Italy and Russia to name a few)
I just don’t share this sense that the first group is doing clearly better than the second one. Admittedly, I don’t know most of those countries at anything beyond a very superficial level. Yet, you don’t seem to be able to provide data that would justify your convictions on this matter. (BTW, Russia seems like a clear odd man out here that is too conveniently for your case bundled with the “bad” systems. Also BTW, I thought Italy is a PR system.)
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Tag Archives: advertising
Phineas Taylor Barnum, 1810-1891
Fun Facts about P.T. Barnum
John O'Neill, of the Bethel Land Trust, stands near Ivy Island in Bethel, which was once owned by PT Barnum
Phineas Taylor Barnum was born in Bethel, Connecticut in 1810.
Speaking of his youth, P. T. Barnum said, “I was always ready to concoct fun, or lay plans for moneymaking, but hard work was decidedly not in my line.” Indeed, he succeeded in making a great deal of money by working hard at having fun.
When he was born, his grandfather deeded him a parcel of land known as lvy Island. The growing boy was constantly reminded of his property. When he was 10 years old, he went to visit his estate and discovered it to be “a worthless piece of barren land.”
When Phineas was 15, his father died, leaving his widow and five children penniless. Phineas immediately became clerk in a country store, where he learned the fine art of Yankee trading. During the next 10 years he was a shop owner, director of lotteries, and newspaper publisher.
When he was 19 he eloped with a local seamstress, Charity Hallett (who would remain his wife for 44 years and give him four daughters).
At 22, as publisher of the Herald of Freedom, he was jailed for libelously accusing a deacon of usury; upon his release 60 days later, Barnum was met by a band and “a coach drawn by six horses” for a parade back to town.
Barnum's Advertisement for Joice Heth
He made his first sensation in 1835 when he met Joice Heth, a slave who claimed she was 161 years old (she was about 80) and had been the nurse of George Washington.
Seeing Joice Heth’s possibilities as a human curiosity, Barnum purchased the right to exhibit her, along with the documents validating her age, and set her upon her couch in Niblo’s Garden in New York City. She was extremely popular, but when interest began to flag, a newspaper item appeared suggesting that Joice was not human at all but an “automaton” made of whalebone, indian rubber, and springs.
Shortly after the article was published, the exhibition hall was full once more, for Barnum always knew how to use the news as well as the advertising sections of newspapers. Finally, upon her death in 1836, when an autopsy proved that Joice had been no more than 80 years old, Barnum was as surprised and indignant as anyone else. He had learned, however, that “the public appears disposed to be amused even when they are conscious of being deceived.”
For the next four years Barnum was an itinerant showman in the West and South. By 1840 he was back in New York, poor, weary of travel, and without prospects.
The American Museum, New York City
When he heard that the struggling Scudder’s American Museum (with its collection of curiosities) was for sale, Barnum determined to buy it. “With what?” asked a friend. “Brass, ” Barnum replied, “for silver and gold I have none.” He mortgaged himself to the building’s owner, proposing for collateral good references, a determination to succeed, and a “valuable and sentimental” piece of property known as Ivy Island.
In 1842 he opened the American Museum in New York City and immediately became famous for his extravagant advertising and his exhibits of freaks.
By the end of 1842 the museum was his, and a year later he was out of debt.
Barnum’s American Museum was to become the most famous showplace of the century. Here, in constantly changing and elaborately advertised parade, the public could see educated dogs and fleas, automatons, jugglers, ventriloquists, living statuary, albinos, obese men, bearded women, a great variety of singing and dancing acts, models of Paris and Jerusalem, dioramas of the Creation and the Deluge, glassblowing, knitting machines, African Americans performing a war dance, conjoined twins, flower and bird shows, whales, mermaids, virtuous melodramas such as The Drunkard, a menagerie of rare animals, and an aquarium—”all for twenty-five cents, children half price.”
The "Feejee Mermaid"
His Great Model of Niagara Falls with Real Water was actually 18 inches high; the Feejee Mermaid was really a monkey’s head and torso fused to a fish’s tail; the Woolly Horse of the Frozen Rockies had in truth been foaled in Indiana.
Only half in jest did Barnum seek to buy Shakespeare’s birthplace, hire the Zulu leader who had recently ambushed a British force, and tow an iceberg into New York harbor. Altogether, the museum showed over 600, 000 exhibits during its existence.
Among his great attractions were the aforementioned Feejee Mermaid, “General Tom Thumb,” who was viewed by over 20 million people, and the original Siamese Twins, Chang and Eng.
Barnum with General Tom Thumb
General Tom Thumb was Barnum’s greatest attraction. Charles S. Stratton, a native of Bridgeport, Conn., was 25 inches tall and weighed 15 pounds when he entered Barnum’s employ in 1842. When he died in 1883, at the age of 45, he had made millions of dollars and delighted international audiences.
In the first of Barnum’s many European junkets the General entertained Queen Victoria, King Louis Philippe, and other royalty with his songs, dances, and impersonations in miniature. Of the 82 million tickets Barnum sold during his lifetime for various attractions, Tom Thumb sold over 20 million.
In 1850, Barnum managed the American tour of the Swedish singer Jenny Lind and, with his talent for publicity, made it a huge financial success for her and for himself.
"Swedish Nightingale", Jennie Lind
The immensely profitable tour of this gracious “Swedish Nightingale” was prepared with ingenious public relations but conducted with dignity and generosity by Barnum. Its success initiated the vogue of European concert artists visiting the United States.
In 1855 he retired from show business; he served as mayor of Bridgeport, Conn., and in the Connecticut legislature.
In 1857 his famous house, Iranistan, fashioned after George IV’s Pavilion at Brighton, burned to the ground.
The original museum burned in 1865, and new museums burned in 1868 and again in 1872.
The showman’s greatest financial catastrophe had nothing to do with show business. For years he had cherished the dream of building a city out of the farmland of East Bridgeport—a benevolent endeavor, he thought. In order to attract business, he signed some notes guaranteeing the debts of the Jerome Clock Company. As a result, he lost all he owned. Thus, in 1855, at the age of 46, the great Barnum was bankrupt.
"The Art of Money Getting"
He worked his way back from bankruptcy, however, in part from successful lectures on “The Art of Money Getting, ” and by 1860 he was free of debt once more.
Throughout his life Barnum was a political liberal, serving in the Connecticut Legislature in the late 1860s, where he diligently fought the railroad interests, and as mayor of Bridgeport in 1875-1876.
A year after the death of his first wife, Charity, in 1873, Barnum married Nancy Fish, an English woman 40 years his junior.
In April 1874 Barnum opened his Roman Hippodrome in New York; this was to grow into the great circus. While he did not invent the circus, an ancient form of entertainment, he made it a three-ring extravaganza the likes of which had never been seen before.
In 1881 he merged with his most successful competitor, James A. Bailey, and under the name Barnum and Bailey the circus continued for a generation after Barnum’s death.
Advertisement for Jumbo
In what was described as “Barnum’s last great coup” he purchased Jumbo, the 61⁄2-ton African elephant (and largest elephant kept in captivity), from the London Zoo despite the furious protests of English elephant fanciers, including Queen Victoria.
Violent objections by the English only made Jumbo and the circus that much more appealing.
In 1882 the circus opened its season in Madison Square Garden, where it was to become an American institution; and everywhere the “big top” traveled, a “Barnum Day” was declared. Circling the arena in an open carriage as leader of the parade always brought roars of approval (and great satisfaction) to the aging genius.
In 1887, the great circus in its winter quarters, with most of its menagerie, was lost to fire, yet it somehow managed to continue on.
By 1891 Barnum’s body began to fail, though not his spirit. His child’s delight in the joke, the curious, and the splendid had set an entire nation to wondering and laughing and buying.
A few weeks before his death, Barnum gave permission to the Evening Sun to print his obituary, so that he might have a chance to read it. On April 7 he asked about the box office receipts for the day; a few hours later, he was dead.
His autobiography was published in 1855 and went through many editions.
He also wrote Humbugs of the World (1865), Struggles and Triumphs (1869), and Money Getting (1883).
Special thanks to education.yahoo.com and www.encyclopedia.com
Filed under Entertainment, Historical Events & Figures
Tagged as advertising, African, African elephant, albinos, American Museum, aquarium, attraction, automaton, automatons, bankrupt, bankruptcy, Barnum, Barnum and Bailey, Barnum Day, bearded women, Bethel, big top, bird shows, Bridgeport, burn, captivity, catastrophe, Chang and Eng, Charity Hallett, Charles S. Stratton, children, circus, competitor, concoct, conjoined twins, Connecticut, CT, curiosity, curious, dances, debt, diorama, director of lotteries, dogs, East Bridgeport, elephant, European, Evening Sun, exhibit, exhibition, exhibition hall, extravagant, extravaganza, Feejee Mermaid, Fiji Mermaid, financial, fire, fleas, freak, fun, General Tom Thumb, genius, George IV, George Washington, glassblowing, Herald of Freedom, Hippodrome, Humbugs of the World, impersonations, institution, Iranistan, itinerant, jailed, James A. Bailey, Jenny Lind, Jerome Clock Company, Joice Heth, joke, jugglers, Jumbo, junkets, King Louis Philippe, knitting machines, laughing, lecture, legislature, libel, liberal, living statuary, lvy Island, Madison Square Garden, mayor, menagerie, mermaids, models, money, Money Getting, moneymaking, museum, Nancy Fish, New York City, news, newspaper, newspaper publisher, Niblo's Garden, obese men, obituary, P. T. Barnum, parade, Pavilion at Brighton, Phineas Taylor Barnum, political, public relations, publisher, Queen Victoria, Roman Hippodrome, Scudder's American Museum, shop owner, show business, showman, Siamese Twins, slave, songs, splendid, Struggles and Triumphs, Swedish, The Art of Money Getting, three-ring, Tom Thumb, United States, ventriloquists, war dance, whales, wondering, Yankee trading
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Tag Archives: Garden of Eden
Fun Facts/Legends About Friday the 13th
There are several theories about why Friday the 13th has its reputation:
The number 13 suffers from its position after 12, according to numerologists who consider the latter to be a complete number — 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 apostles of Jesus, 12 days of Christmas and 12 eggs in a dozen.
It may date back to Biblical times. Some say Friday’s bad reputation goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. It was on a Friday, supposedly, that Eve tempted Adam with the forbidden fruit. Adam bit of the fruit and they were both ejected from Paradise.
Tradition also holds that the Great Flood began on a Friday; God tongue-tied the builders of the Tower of Babel on a Friday; the Temple of Solomon was destroyed on a Friday; the 13th guest at the Last Supper betrayed Jesus
To the ancient Egyptians, life was a quest for spiritual ascension which unfolded in stages — twelve in this life and a thirteenth beyond, thought to be the eternal afterlife. The number 13 therefore symbolized death, not in terms of dust and decay but as a glorious and desirable transformation. Though Egyptian civilization perished, the symbolism conferred on the number 13 by its priesthood survived, we may speculate, only to be corrupted by subsequent cultures who came to associate 13 with a fear of death instead of a reverence for the afterlife.
“You can trace it all the way from the followers of Pythagoras, whose maxim to describe the universe was ‘all is number,'” says Mario Livio, an astrophysicist and author of “The Equation That Couldn’t Be Solved” (Simon & Schuster, 2005). Thinkers who studied under the famous Greek mathematician combined numbers in different ways to explain everything around them, Livio said.
The Crucifixion of Jesus is said to have place on a Friday
The number 13 may have been purposely vilified by the founders of patriarchal religions in the early days of western civilization because it represented femininity. Thirteen had been revered in prehistoric goddess-worshiping cultures, we are told, because it corresponded to the number of lunar (menstrual) cycles in a year (13 x 28 = 364 days). The “Earth Mother of Laussel,” for example — a 27,000-year-old carving found near the Lascaux caves in France often cited as an icon of matriarchal spirituality — depicts a female figure holding a crescent-shaped horn bearing 13 notches. As the solar calendar triumphed over the lunar with the rise of male-dominated civilization, it is surmised, so did the “perfect” number 12 over the “imperfect” number 13, thereafter considered anathema.
In pagan Rome, Friday was execution day (later Hangman’s Day in Britain), but in other pre-Christian cultures it was the sabbath, a day of worship, so those who indulged in secular or self-interested activities on that day could not expect to receive blessings from the gods — which may explain the lingering taboo on embarking on journeys or starting important projects on Fridays.
Loki, Norse god of evil and trickery
An old Norse tale tells of twelve gods invited to a banquet at Valhalla. Loki, the Evil One, god of mischief, had been left off the guest list but crashed the party, bringing the total number of attendees to 13. True to character, Loki raised hell by inciting Hod, the blind god of winter, to attack Balder the Good, who was a favorite of the gods. Hod took a spear of mistletoe offered by Loki and obediently hurled it at Balder, killing him instantly. All Valhalla grieved. And although one might take the moral of this story to be “Beware of uninvited guests bearing mistletoe,” the Norse themselves apparently concluded that 13 people at a dinner party is just plain bad luck.
By the Middle Ages, both Friday and 13 were considered bearers of bad fortune.
Katharine Kurtz in Tales of the Knights Templar (Warner Books, 1995) wrote:
On October 13, 1307, a day so infamous that Friday the 13th would become a synonym for ill fortune, officers of King Philip IV of France carried out mass arrests in a well-coordinated dawn raid that left several thousand Templars — knights, sergeants, priests, and serving brethren — in chains, charged with heresy, blasphemy, various obscenities, and homosexual practices. None of these charges was ever proven, even in France — and the Order was found innocent elsewhere — but in the seven years following the arrests, hundreds of Templars suffered excruciating tortures intended to force “confessions,” and more than a hundred died under torture or were executed by burning at the stake.
In 13: The Story of the World’s Most Popular Superstition (Avalon, 2004), author Nathaniel Lachenmeyer argues that the commingling of “unlucky Friday” and “unlucky 13” took place in the pages of a specific literary work, a novel published in 1907 titled — what else? — Friday, the Thirteenth. The book, all but forgotten now, concerned dirty dealings in the stock market and sold quite well in its day. Both the titular phrase and the phobic premise behind it — namely that superstitious people regard Friday the 13th as a supremely unlucky day — were instantly adopted and popularized by the press.
Some other items to ponder…
A study conducted in the UK regarding Friday the 13th and health yielded some interesting results. Incredibly, they found that in the region sampled, while consistently fewer people chose to drive their cars on Friday the 13th, the number of hospital admissions due to vehicular accidents was significantly higher than on “normal” Fridays. Their conclusion:
“Friday 13th is unlucky for some. The risk of hospital admission as a result of a transport accident may be increased by as much as 52 percent. Staying at home is recommended.”
The British Navy is said to have built a ship named Friday the 13th, or the HMS Friday, which on its maiden voyage left dock on a Friday the 13th, and was never heard from again.
The HMS Friday story seems to be a legend, however. The Royal Navy Museum states on its web site that this story, which has been told before, is a hoax. “There has never been a Royal Navy ship named HMS Friday – or after any other day of the week for that matter,” the museum states.
Apollo 13 crew
The ill-fated Apollo 13 launched at 13:13 CST on Apr. 11, 1970. The sum of the date’s digits (4-11-70) is 13 (as in 4+1+1+7+0 = 13). And the explosion that crippled the spacecraft occurred on April 13 (not a Friday). The crew did make it back to Earth safely, however.
Many hospitals have no room 13, while some tall buildings skip the 13th floor.
Fear of Friday the 13th — one of the most popular myths in science — is called paraskavedekatriaphobia as well as friggatriskaidekaphobia. Triskaidekaphobia is fear of the number 13.
Quarterback Dan Marino wore No. 13 throughout his career with the Miami Dolphins. Despite being a superb quarterback (some call him one of the best ever), he got to the Super Bowl just once, in 1985, and was trounced 38-16 by the San Francisco 49ers and Joe Montana (who wore No. 16 and won all four Super Bowls he played in).
Butch Cassidy, notorious American train and bank robber, was born on Friday, April 13, 1866.
Fidel Castro was born on Friday, Aug. 13, 1926.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt would not travel on the 13th day of any month and would never host 13 guests at a meal. Napoleon and Herbert Hoover were also triskaidekaphobic, with an abnormal fear of the number 13.
Superstitious diners in Paris can hire a quatorzieme, or professional 14th guest.
Mark Twain once was the 13th guest at a dinner party. A friend warned him not to go. “It was bad luck,” Twain later told the friend. “They only had food for 12.”
Woodrow Wilson considered 13 his lucky number, though his experience didn’t support such faith. He arrived in Normandy, France on Friday, Dec. 13, 1918, for peace talks, only to return with a treaty he couldn’t get Congress to sign. (The ship’s crew wanted to dock the next day due to superstitions.) He toured the United States to rally support for the treaty, and while traveling, suffered a near-fatal stroke.
Eagle seal on the back of a dollar bill
The seals on the back of a dollar bill include 13 steps on the pyramid, 13 stars above the eagle’s head, 13 war arrows in the eagle’s claw and 13 leaves on the olive branch. So far there’s been no evidence tying these long-ago design decisions to the present economic situation.
Special thanks to livescience.com and urbanlegends.about.com
Filed under Historical Events & Figures
Tagged as 13, 13th floor, Adam, afterlife, anathema, Apollo 13, arrow, bad fortune, Balder, Balder the Good, banquet, Biblical, blessing, book, Britain, British Navy, Butch Cassidy, Cave, Christian, Christmas, civilization, Congress, Crucifixion, culture, Dan Marino, death, dinner party, dirty dealings, dollar bill, dozen, Eagle, Earth Mother of Laussel, economic, Egyptian, Equation, Eve, execution day, femininity, Fidel Castro, forbidden fruit, founder, France, Franklin D Roosevelt, Friday, Friday the 13th, friggatriskaidekaphobia, Garden of Eden, goddess-worshiping, gods, Great Flood, Hangman's Day, Herbert Hoover, HMS Friday, Hod, icon, ill fortune, infamous, Israel, Jesus, Joe Montana, journey, Katharine Kurtz, King Philip IV, knights, Knights Templar, labors, Lascaux, Last Supper, legend, Livio, Loki, lunar, lunar calendar, maiden voyage, male-dominated, Mario Livio, Mark Twain, mathematician, matriarchal, Miami Dolphins, Middle Ages, mischief, mistletoe, months, Napoleon, Nathaniel Lachenmeyer, Normandy, Norse, number, number 13, numerologist, olive branch, pagan, Paradise, paraskavedekatriaphobia, Paris, party, patriarchal, prehistoric, priests, pyramid, Pythagoras, quarterback, quatorzieme, religion, Rome, Royal Navy Museum, sabbath, San Francisco 49ers, seals, sergeants, ship, solar calendar, spirituality, stock market, Super Bowl, superstition, symbolism, taboo, tale, Templars, Temple of Solomon, Thinker, thirteenth, Tower of Babel, transformation, treaty, tribes, Triskaidekaphobia, unlucky, Valhalla, voyage, winter, Woodrow Wilson, worship, zodiac
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Lebanese businessman sentenced in US over Hezbollah support
A Lebanese businessman accused of providing millions of dollars to the Hezbollah militant group has been sentenced to five years in prison for his role in a money laundering conspiracy aimed at evading U.S. sanctions.
Kassim Tajideen was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Washington.
Tajideen was arrested in Morocco and extradited to the United States in March 2017.
He was accused of conspiring with at least five other people to conduct over $50 million in transactions with U.S. businesses, in violation of sanctions that barred him from doing business with U.S. people and companies because of his support for Hezbollah.
He pleaded guilty last December and agreed to forfeit $50 million.
Original article on apnews.com
South Korea's highest court has upheld former President Park Geun-hye's 20-year prison sentence for her 2018 bribery conviction, ending a corruption scandal that has...
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Ukrainian businessman and honarary head of Ukrainian Tennis Federation suspected of money laundering
The National police of Ukraine announced on Wednesday that the businessman Vadym Shulman is being investigated on suspicion of money laundering.
No further details have been released regarding the allegations, but the Ministry of the Interior said that it added Shulman to its wanted persons list on July 26.
Shulman is a former partner of Ihor Kolomoiskiy and Gennady Boholiubov in the mining and metallurgical business. Shulman also has extensive interests in the chemical and energy industries as well in telecommunications. He is also an honorary president of the Tennis Federation of Ukraine.
In May 2017, Shulman filed a lawsuit in the High Court of London, in which he accused Kolomoiskiy and Boholiubov of fraud of more than 500 million dollars.
He claimed that his partners defrauded him and from 2000 to 2007, he did not get profit from his share in the common business.
Related: Oligarchs Weaponized Cyprus Branch of Ukraine’s Largest Bank to Send $5.5 Billion Abroad
The British court refused to consider the claim, stating that it was not in its jurisdiction.
Ihor Kolomoiskiy is seen by many as playing vital role in the election of Volodomyr Zelenskiy as President of Ukraine in May. Kolomoiskiy’s television station 1+1 hosted Zelenskiy’s tv show and provided security and logistical backup for the comedian’s campaign. It was also revealed that Zelenskiy traveled 14 times in the past two years to Geneva and Tel Aviv, where Kolomoisky is based in exile, according to Politico.
Vadym Shulman, was one of the Ukrainian names who featured on the Paradise Papers uncovering the hidden wealth tax exiles stashed in offshore accounts. According to OCCRP, Shulman, who lives in Monaco, bought a Gulfstream G450 jet direct from the manufacturer for $35,000,000 in 2012 and set up a network of companies in the Isle of Man and British Virgin Islands for the purposes of operating and servicing the aircraft. In internal documents, the firm refers to the aircraft deal as being of “high risk.”
Original article on eu-ocs.com
Former agriculture minister Takamori Yoshikawa was indicted Friday by prosecutors without arrest for alleged bribery charges, after receiving ¥5 million from the former president...
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Girl in the Cellar: The Natascha Kampusch Story
by Allan Hall (Author), Michael Leidig (Author)
Non-Fiction News and investigations True crime
26 Loans, One at a time
Loans count 26 Loans
License duration unlimited lifetime
Eight years of darkness
On March 2, 1998, while on her way to school, ten-year-old Natascha Kampusch was abducted. More than eight years later, on August 23, 2006, she escaped with a story that shocked and horrified the entire world. She spent the most delicate years of her life hidden in a cellar underneath an ordinary Austrian suburban home. How was she able to survive? What sort of woman had emerged? What kind of man was Wolfgang Priklopil, her abductor—and what demands had he made of her?
Journalists Allan Hall and Michael Leidig covered Natascha's story from the beginning. The result of extraordinary investigative reporting, Girl in the Cellar gets to the heart of this very tragic case to reveal a truth no one would have imagined.
HarperCollins e-books
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Starting today, you can buy everything the group released -- from their 13 studio albums to their Past Masters collection to their beloved "Red" and "Blue" best-of collections -- on Apple's iTunes store. There is also a special "Beatles Box Set" that features all of the above, as well as the Live at the Washington Coliseum, 1964 concert film, an iTunes exclusive.
The albums are a little on the pricier side of things, at $12.99 for single albums, $19.99 for double sets like The White Album and $1.29 for single tracks, but fellow EMI artists like Gorillaz and Katy Perry have deluxe discs that cost the same.
And the Beatles themselves are thrilled to finally have their tunes available digitally.
"We're really excited to bring the Beatles' music to iTunes," Paul McCartney said in the statement. "It's fantastic to see the songs we originally released on vinyl receive as much love in the digital world as they did the first time around."
Apparently, Ringo Starr is also breathing a sigh of relief this morning, as he will never have to field another question about holding out on digital music stores ever again.
"I am particularly glad to no longer be asked when the Beatles are coming to iTunes," he said. "At last, if you want it, you can get it now -- the Beatles from Liverpool to now! Peace and love, Ringo."
While many assumed that the iTunes partnership would have been announced last year to coincide with the Beatles' massive reissue campaign, Yoko Ono believes the timing feels right in 2010 as it accompanies the ongoing celebration of John Lennon's 70th birthday.
"In the joyful spirit of 'Give Peace a Chance,' I think it is so appropriate that we are doing this on John's 70th birthday year," she said.
At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter why it took so long to get the Beatles onto iTunes. Let's just start updating our playlists with the classics and let Apple CEO Steve Jobs wrap this up with a well-worded pun.
"It has been a long and winding road to get here," Jobs said. "Thanks to the Beatles and EMI, we are now realizing a dream we've had since we launched iTunes ten years ago."
More Beatles
An Abbey Road Studios Documentary Is in the Works
This November will mark 90 years of music-making at Abbey Road Studios, and the famed recording space will be treated to a new feature-lengt...
Watch St. Vincent Cover the Beatles' "Martha My Dear"
In addition to flexing some Fortnite skills, St. Vincent has spent 2020 honing her craft as a cover artist. She's taken on the likes of "Sta...
Watch the First Trailer for Peter Jackson's Beatles Documentary 'Get Back'
Peter Jackson is best known as the director of the Lord of the Rings series, but he'll soon showcase the grand adventures of another four li...
Bob Dylan Unearths '1970' Collection with George Harrison
Never one shy of archival material, Bob Dylan has another new package headed our way. The set is called 1970, and it features a bunch of tra...
Paul McCartney Teams Up with Rick Rubin for New Documentary Series
With Paul McCartney's new album McCartney III coming out this week, the Beatles legend is set to release a new six-part documentary series l...
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Days after news broke about his hospitalization, “Saved by the Bell” actor Dustin Diamond, 44, is confirming what we all feared… he has cancer.
In a statement, his team wrote on Facebook, “At this time we can confirm that Dustin does have cancer. Dustin Will disclose more information once it is available and a plan moving forward is made.”
Dustin’s team also provided a mailing address for anyone who wanted to send a card or well-wishes.
“We ask everyone to respect Dustin’s privacy during this difficult time,” the statement ended. “All positivity and prayers are appreciated “
Earlier this week, TMZ reported that Diamond was suffering from pain throughout his body before being admitted to the hospital.
According to the outlet, Diamond’s family has a history of cancer and that his mother died of breast cancer.
Diamond is not part of the Peacock reboot of “Saved by the Bell” that premiered in November. He was on “Saved by the Bell” from 1989-1993, and on the spin-offs “Saved by the Bell: The College Years” (1993-1994) and “Saved by the Bell: The New Class” (1994-2000). He was also Screech in the TV movie “Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas” (1994).
#CelebrityNews #DustinDiamond #instagram
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Yame Japan
Yame City
Yame Tea
Yame Flowers
Yame Cuisine
Yame Outdoors
Yame Sightseeing
Yame Crafts
Yame Festivals
Yame Old Town
Yeme Japan
Yame Tea Gardens
Tsuhime Shrine
Reiganji Temple
Yame Old Merchant quarter.
Old arts and traditions still echo amidst the eaves and street corners of this peaceful district. Walking down the main street, one can shop for all the trappings and daily necessities of life in feudal Japan; from tea rooms and traditional Japanese confectionery, to miso paste stores and lantern makers. Interspersed between these are the workshops of master craftsmen who made the city what it is today. Yame is recognized across Japan as being one of the premier suppliers of traditional goods such as Buddhist alters, shrines, paper, woodcarvings, traditional bows and much more; all of which are painstakingly handcrafted using the same techniques perfected over generations.
The story of Yame begins over 400 years ago, at the start of the Edo period, when the flames of civil war that had wracked the country had at last began to stutter and die. As families slowly began to rebuild their livelihoods, a number of merchants and artisans settled down in what is now the Fukushima district in the center of Yame city. As business prospered, so did the city, and the craftsmen built stately workshops that doubled as homes for their families.
Even now the city center still retains something of the old days, and is a showcase for this particular style of traditional architecture. By walking down the old main thoroughfare, one can admire a diverse range of restored houses and shops, many of which are still in use today. Of the 130 buildings lining the old main street, some of the residences date back to the early days of the Edo period, almost four hundred years ago, while others were constructed in the Meiji, Taisho, and Showa periods.
Location: Yame City.
Yame Tea Gardens and Overlook Point
Location: Yabe city, Yame district
Tucked away in the foothills of Yame, but surprisingly close to the town center, this scenic vista overlooks the tea plantations that make Yame famous. Only fifteen minutes by car or an hours leisurely walk from Yame city office, the view on offer here is simply spectacular no matter the season. That being said, the most popular time to visit is in the first week of April; the blooming cherry tress perfectly complimenting the lush green of the tea plantations.
Yame Tsuhime Shrine
One of the most important events is a ceremony known as Furyuu. Held only once every five years, locals gather at the shrine to perform this scared rite in order to beseech the goddess for a bountiful harvest and sound health. Accompanied by gongs and Taiko drums, devotees will dance, chant and sing in what can only be described as an extremely extravagant manner. The ceremony has been recognized by Fukuoka Prefecture as a integral part of local folklore and as an intangible cultural asset.
Yame Tshuhime shrine, located far to the west of Yame, is said to enshrine the goddess Yame Tsuhime, from which the city of Yame draws its name. It is said that almost two millennium ago, around the time the Legendary emperor Keiko had stopped in Yame during his Imperial pilgrimage, Saru Oomi, Lord of what would become the city of Chikugo proclaimed that “there is a goddess in these lands. Her name is Yame Tsuhime, and she resides in the mountains here.” As a result, the surrounding area came to be called Yame as well. The shrine itself has existed for over 1300 years, despite being rebuilt on several occasions due to fires; and the traditions and rituals surrounding it are still passed down from one generation to the next to this day.
Yame Reiganji Temple
As well as the main temple complex, there are also two pagodas, said to have served as bases for covert operations against the forces of the north. However, Reiganji is perhaps most famous for the role it played in the development of Yame tea. After completing a pilgrimage to China, the monk Eirin Shunsui brought back with with him some twenty seeds he received from a Chinese monastery. The monks at Reiganji began cultivating them, and within a few years the temple served as knowledge base for a variety of cultivation and processing techniques. This is commemorated every 88 nights, as the monks of the temple make a ritual offering of the finest green tea Yame has to offer to the gods in recognition for their blessing.
Reiganji temple was founded in 1423 by Eirin Shuzui, a Zen Buddist monk belonging to the Myoshin Temple sect located in Kyoto. His meditations drew him deep into the wilds of Yame. There, alone in the mountains and valleys, he found a series of massive boulders towering over their surroundings, and proclaimed the area to be holy ground. Even before that, the site was frequently visited by itinerant Buddist monks and Shugendō monks seeking to strengthen and develop their physical and spiritual powers. It even served as a base of operations for resistance movements for the Southern Court during the turbulent Nanboku-cho Era for over 60 years.
Location: Kurogi city, Yame district
Come visit us soon!
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Microsoft will sell their games on Steam
microsoft Microsoft will sell their games on Steam
June 18, 2016 in Backpage News
While some of Microsoft's older game titles, such as Age of Empires II HD (a 2013 update of a 1999 game) are found on Valve's Steam platform, its latest high-profile titles, such as Forza 6 Apex and Quantum Break, are exclusive to the Windows Store. But this is going to change, with Microsoft planning to release more titles on the popular store.
Phil Spencer, head of the Xbox team at Microsoft, was talking on Giant Bomb's E3 stream, via GameSpot. When it comes to PC gaming, the Windows Store is very much an also-ran, with Steam the dominant force. As Spencer noted, "I don't think Valve's hurt by not having [Microsoft's] first-party games in their store right now. They're doing incredibly well." Accordingly, Spencer said that Microsoft "will ship games on Steam again."
Meanwhile, Microsoft's own experience had been more inconsistent. While some games have done well in the Windows Store, with Spencer naming both Forza 6 Apex and Killer Instinct as successful titles, he said that "Quantum Break wasn't our best PC release" and that Gears of War Ultimate Edition was merely "OK."
The Windows Store is used to selling games built using the Universal Windows Platform. These have come under fire for certain technical restrictions that they suffer, such as having no option to disable V-sync and limited support for multiple GPUs. Microsoft is continuing to work to lift these restrictions: the Windows 10 Anniversary Update will allow disabling v-sync and will improve multiple GPU support, and the latest builds of Store app make it easier to install games onto different disks. This was a particular annoyance for large games such as the 50GB or so of Quantum Break—with many gamers preferring a fast SSD system drive combined with a larger spinning disk for their games, the Store's default to using the system drive for all installations was a problem.
Spencer did not say which games would be sold on Steam, nor when they would appear. Selling games this way could do more than merely open them up to a wider audience; it may also be useful in proving that UWP apps are not inextricably tied to the Windows Store and that they can in fact be sold by third parties. This has been a point of contention after game developer Tim Sweeney said that UWP is a "closed platform-within-a-platform" that "should, must, and will die," even though this isn't actually true.
Selling UWPs on Steam would underscore this point and demonstrate that third-party storefronts are perfectly possible.
Source: ArsTechnica
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Canadian Museum for Human Rights
Gauthier Autogroup
Latest News Gauthier Donations
The Friends of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights announced Gauthier's latest donation to the museum's capital campaign, bringing his contribution total to $1.5 million.
"Jim is a great supporter of Winnipeg and of the museum," Gail Asper, the organization's national campaign chair, stated in a news release Monday.
The Canadian Museum for Human Rights is slated to officially open Sept. 20 in downtown Winnipeg. (CBC)
"He truly understands what this museum can do for our city and the effect it will have worldwide. This is a centre that will have a huge impact locally, while reaching out to the world with human rights awareness, education and action."
To recognize Gauthier's support, the museum's drop-off entrance will be named the Jim & Joyce Gauthier Accessible Drop-off Entrance.
"We're really excited to be able to make this additional gift to the museum," Gauthier said in the release.
"We believe in giving back to our community and feel the museum is one of the most ambitious and inspiring initiatives that has been undertaken in Winnipeg. It's important for the Gauthier Automotive Group to be strong supporters."
Gauthier AutogroupPosition example
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Or email Gidget Foundation
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Perinatal Mental Health Week
Milestone Moment – 20,000 appointments!
As of this week, we have hit an incredibly humbling milestone – 20,000 appointments conducted via our clinically-based Gidget House and Start Talking programs.
This is a remarkable milestone in our history.
As we approach our 20th anniversary next year, everyone at Gidget Foundation Australia is so proud to know we have been able to support so many parents when they have needed us most.
Thank you to our generous, kind, and supportive community for your ongoing commitment to stand by our side as we continue to work towards more milestones like this one, so that more of the 100,000 parents who experience PNDA each year know that they are not alone.
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Copyright @ 2021 Gidget Foundation Australia
ABN 52 160 202 960 | CFN 20789
Christie Arbuckle
Christie is a registered Clinical Psychologist with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Authority (AHPRA) and a board-approved clinical supervisor. She has held both clinical and senior leadership roles assisting in clinical program development and delivery, supervising teams, and is experienced in assisting clients to find a therapeutic approach to best meet their recovery needs. Christie is an experienced clinician having worked across a variety of settings including community health, private practice, schools, and private hospitals. She has professional interests in clinical areas including perinatal health, leadership development, and eating disorders.
Christie is passionate about providing a client-centered approach and utilises evidence-based therapies, she also is the founder of the mental health app, The Compassionate Parent App. She has completed perinatal specific training from the Centre of Perinatal Excellence (COPE) and The University of Sydney’s Perinatal Mental Health Course.
Anthea Barry
Anthea is an Endorsed Mental Health Occupational Therapist with additional training in Psychological Sciences.
Anthea has more than a decade of experience working in perinatal, infant, and youth mental health. She has worked across inpatient and community settings, supporting the psychological, social, and emotional wellbeing of parents through grief and loss, pregnancy, birth trauma, and the postnatal period. In addition to her work with Gidget Foundation Australia, Anthea works with Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia (PANDA).
Anthea is passionate about practicing from a strengths-based model of care, working collaboratively with clients to help them identify their own treatment goals. Anthea is particularly interested in attachment theory and is a Registered Circle of Security Parent Educator. She integrates various models of evidence-based therapy into her practice including CBT, ACT, Motivational Interviewing, and Mindfulness.
Anthea values creating a warm and respectful environment, empowering clients to navigate challenges in their parenting journey.
Dr Tiffany Hense
Dr Tiffany Hense is a Registered Clinical Psychologist, who is passionate about family mental health and wellbeing, especially within the perinatal period. With more than a decade spent working in both public and private practice across Sydney, she has experience providing support and therapy across the lifespan, from infancy through to adulthood. Her work draws on many evidence-based models of care, including cognitive-behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and systemic and relational therapies. She also has a particular interest in attachment and the parent-infant connection.
Tiffany is keen to help parents and families harness their strengths and resources to help navigate the challenges that may arise during the perinatal period, including anxiety, depression, grief and loss, relationship concerns, and adjustment issues. She aims to provide a warm, empathic, safe, and collaborative environment for families to explore and process their experiences.
Susan Rudnick
Susan is a Registered Psychologist and has previously worked with families, children, and adolescents across a diverse range of community-based organisations. She has facilitated the Circle of Security Parenting program and educational groups for separated parents who have young children and intend to co-parent.
Susan offers warmth and empathy supporting parents during the peripartum and postpartum period, coping with changes to relationship dynamics, along with the challenges of adapting to life as a parent. Her preferred approaches to treatment involve evidence-based interventions that focus on Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, including Grief and Loss therapy.
Susan is a passionate advocate of perinatal mental health and empowering parents to develop skills to build resilience and emotional well-being. In her psychology honours thesis, she explored the incompatibility of maternal ambivalence with the positive social constructions of motherhood and how this influences psychological adjustment to parenting.
Organisational Programs Manager
Bethany spent the first 12 years of her career working within the government and corporate sectors. Bethany worked for The Department of Lands Heritage Division for 5 years in several Marketing and Public Programs roles.
Most recently Bethany has worked within the automotive industry and managed many facets of the marketing, public affairs, events, and communications initiatives of Jaguar Land Rover. She launched the first-ever brand experience program and most recently performed the role of Communications Manager where she oversaw the implementation of the brand strategy and retail network programs.
Bethany has lived experience of perinatal anxiety and insomnia and is deeply passionate about the work of Gidget Foundation Australia. She is responsible for managing all aspects of the implementation of Gidget Foundation Australia’s support programs.
Bethany has a cheeky little boy who keeps her and her husband busy and reminds her constantly to pause and take in the simple things!
Lynette is a warm and compassionate Clinical Psychologist with a B.Psych, Masters in Clinical Psychology and PhD from UNSW Sydney.
She has worked in a variety of private practice, health and university settings over the last 7 years, including teaching postgraduate psychology students at UTS, and interim clinic director at the Flinders University Psychology Clinic. She has been with Gidget House since 2016 and has loved every moment working and supporting her incredible clients through challenging times.
She uses an evidence-based approach drawing on modalities such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to tailor an individual treatment plan. She is so passionate about women’s health she is also studying to be an OB/GYN.
Julie is a Registered Clinical Psychologist with extensive clinical experience working across the lifespan in Infant, Child and Adolescent, and Adult Mental Health Services in government, private practice, and university clinic settings.
The focus of her work is to develop resilience in families, working with them to develop personal resources to get through tough times. Fundamental to this process has been working with parents to develop skills in emotional wellbeing and to build infant attachment in the prenatal and postnatal periods.
Julie values developing a collaborative therapeutic relationship with clients in which they can express their individual emotional and support needs while also responding to the needs of their infant and family. She brings training and experience in a range of evidence-based cognitive psychotherapies and parent-child interaction therapies to her practice.
Julie is a Fellow of Clinical College of APS and an accredited clinical supervisor with APHRA.
Amanda Bryen is a Clinical Psychologist with over 19 years of experience. Amanda’s natural warmth and care draw her to the area of perinatal psychology where she loves helping women and young families to survive and thrive in the early years of parenthood.
Amanda is an excellent communicator who takes great care in treating her clients with respect, sensitivity, and kindness. Amanda has both a personal and professional interest in assisting new mums, and has much empathy, compassion, and is non-judgemental in her work.
Amanda is an experienced counsellor and is trained in several approaches of therapy, including; Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, CBT, Circle of Security, Neurodevelopmental Care, Family Therapy, Trauma-Informed Care, Grief & Loss Therapy, Schema Therapy, Compassion Focused Therapy, Art Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Relaxation Training, Assertiveness Skills, Contemplative Therapies, Interpersonal Therapy, and Mindfulness.
Diana is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker based in Coffs Harbour who has worked with individuals, families and children in community and private systems in regional remote Australia and the Pacific Islands. Diana has post-graduate studies in Perinatal Mental Health and a Masters of Humanitarian Development and Aid.
Diana has years of experience providing trauma-informed psychological care to clients across the lifespan including psychological disorders, family and domestic violence, displacement, and loss. Her practice is grounded in empathy and cultural sensitivity. In therapy, Diana draws on evidence-based psychological interventions including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Interpersonal Therapy, Mindfulness with Attachment and Family Systems theories framing her practice.
Diana values creating a safe and warm environment for parents and families to explore their experience of parenthood and develop skills to improve adjustment and overall wellbeing.
Robyn is a psychologist with a Masters in Health Psychology.
She has worked most recently in a public hospital environment providing support to women during the antenatal period, as well as patients on the adult inpatient mental health ward. Robyn has also had considerable experience working in community mental health settings.
Robyn has a particular interest in supporting new parents to navigate all areas of the perinatal period such as pregnancy-related concerns, adjustment to parenthood, perinatal anxiety and depression, and birth trauma.
Robyn provides a warm and supportive environment for parents to explore and address concerns relating to parenthood, recognising that it’s often hard to acknowledge they may be struggling in this role.
Robyn draws upon a wide range of evidence-based psychological approaches including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT), and Mindfulness-Based Therapies.
Kate Luttick
Kate holds a Masters of Counselling Psychology which researched the emotional processes of women experiencing depression in the perinatal period.
Kate has worked and studied in psychology for over 20 years across private, public, and not-for-profit sectors. She is passionate about supporting her clients to foster meaningful, purposeful, and satisfying relationships, connections, and lives.
Kate works from a value-based, trauma-informed, and recovery focussed perspective. She values empowerment, hope, respect, and authenticity. When working with clients she utilises evidence-based therapies such as CBT, ACT, Emotion Focussed Therapy, Neuropsychotherapy, and Mindfulness and Relaxation Training. Kate is also a Clinical Hypnotherapist.
Kate has a special interest in depression, anxiety, and trauma as experienced by women during the perinatal period. She also works with grief, loss, and trauma experiences connected to the birth experience, pregnancy loss, and IVF conception complications.
Ange Conn
Ange is a Registered Psychologist who has experience working with mothers in the perinatal period, as well as with families, children, and adolescents. She has worked in both NSW community health and non-government settings.
Ange is a compassionate and caring clinician who understands how challenging it can be for people to reach out and seek support, especially in rural areas. Ange has lived and worked in rural NSW all her life. She is passionate about providing support and empowerment to parents as they navigate their journey through early parenting. She has experience working with perinatal depression and anxiety, birth trauma, perinatal loss, and complications during pregnancy.
Ange works from an Attachment and Family Systems approach and is familiar with techniques such as CBT, Mindfulness, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Compassion Focused Therapy.
Deeva Richardson
Deeva is an accredited mental health social worker, clinical family therapist, and a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner. She has over 10 years of post-graduate experience specialising in children and families, attachment, trauma, grief, and loss.
Deeva is passionate about working with individuals and families and supporting them to heal the wounds of early trauma, attachment, and intergenerational trauma.
Deeva has a special interest in mindfulness-based therapies such as Somatic Experiencing and Internal Family Systems and compliments this with a range of evidence-based practices such as CBT, ACT, and Interpersonal Psychotherapy.
Deeva understands that each stage of the journey of parenthood is a special, yet challenging time for many. She feels incredibly privileged to support families through the significant life transition and challenges of fertility, conception, birth, and the first year of infancy. Her priority is to provide a nurturing space for clients so that they feel safe in exploring and processing their vulnerabilities and strengths and collaboratively finding ways to optimise their mental health.
Raphaella Warwick
Raphaella Warwick is a caring and empathetic Clinical Psychologist who is passionate about working with and supporting families. She is experienced in evidence-based practice with specialisation in mindfulness-based approaches and cognitive therapies. Through working with her wonderful clients at Gidget Foundation Australia, and through her own experience as a mum of two young children, Raphaella has an understanding of the transformative experience of becoming a parent and cares about helping families through this wonderful and meaningful but also challenging time.
Raphaella has a Bachelor of Science (Honours in Psychology) from the University of Sydney, a Master of Clinical Psychology from UTS, and is completing a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with a focus on mindfulness therapies for reducing parent stress.
Clinical Practice Executive
Eliza joined Gidget Foundation Australia in 2020 as a member of the clinical administration team.
Eliza is currently studying a Bachelor of Nursing and hopes to one day become a maternity or neonatal registered nurse.
Working with Gidget Foundation Australia has provided invaluable experience and insight into the field of maternity and the importance of the promotion of perinatal health for new and expecting parents. Away from work and her studies, Eliza spends her spare time catching up with friends and family and enjoying some time outdoors.
Grace joined Gidget Foundation Australia in August 2020 and supports the clinical administration team. Grace grew up living in Singapore, USA, and Sydney. After finishing school, she completed a Bachelor of Commerce/ Bachelor of Arts with a focus on sociology and gender.
In 2020, Grace began studying a Master of Counselling at The University of Notre Dame. She is excited to pursue a career in mental health, and is looking forward to the invaluable experience working with Gidget Foundation Australia will provide.
Organisational Administration Executive
Sabrina joined Gidget Foundation Australia in 2020 as the Organisational Administration Executive. Sabrina takes care of administrative duties relating to Gidget House, Fundraising, Events, Volunteers and the Gidget Virtual Village
Sabrina has a background in Gender Studies after graduating from the University of Sydney. Sabrina is now undertaking a Masters of Counselling and Psychotherapy at the University of Western Sydney. Sabrina hopes one day to unite her passion for diversity and inclusion with a career in the mental health field.
Away from work Sabrina loves spending quality time with friends & family, all whilst saving up for her next overseas adventure!
Clinical Practice Manager
Catherine has a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Psychology from Macquarie University and started her career as a Buyer in Retail Duty Free.
After spending nine years as an Expat in Dubai, Catherine relocated to England where she worked in the education sector and most recently as Family Centre Co-ordinator in Guildford, Surrey UK. She is now very excited to be joining the Gidget Foundation Australia team as the Clinical Practice Manager. Catherine takes care of our new and existing clients, Clinicians, and our Admin Team.
When not at Gidget House, Catherine enjoys spending time with her husband, as well as her two children who are both currently studying at University. She is also enjoying getting reacquainted with Sydney after spending 13 years overseas.
Justine is a warm, insightful and supportive therapist, who has worked for over 20 years as a Clinical Psychologist. She has gained specialised expertise in the perinatal period while working at Karitane Randwick and St John of God Burwood. In these settings, she has used individual and group treatments.
As a Registered Circle of Security Parent Educator, she has also facilitated several such groups. Justine recognises the importance of having appropriate support to navigate the journey to parenthood, including those that have had difficulty with conception, pregnancy losses, and birth trauma. She also has a particular interest in helping those experiencing perinatal anxiety.
Her work is largely informed by attachment-based therapy and interpersonal neurobiology. In therapy, Justine draws on a wide range of evidence-based psychological approaches, including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Interpersonal Psychotherapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Schema Therapy, and Mindfulness-Based Therapies.
Justine also has relationships with a number of professionals working in the area. These include Perinatal Psychiatrists, Midwives, Parentcraft nurses, Child and Family Nurses, and perinatal mental health teams to ensure that where appropriate there is additional input and support. Justine is a Member of ACPA (Australia Clinical Psychology Association) and a Board Approved Supervisor with APHRA.
Amanda is a psychologist with Gidget Foundation Australia, based at North Shore Private, St Leonards.
She has worked for a number of years with parents in therapeutic contexts. Amanda appreciates the emotionally taxing nature of parenting, around fertility, birth trauma, perinatal loss, infant caring, and other needs. Her focus is on providing consistently warm, empathetic, and compassionate support for parents and their families.
Romy is a Registered Clinical Perinatal Psychologist. She holds a Masters in Clinical Psychology from Deakin University.
It was through her early work as a relationship counsellor that Romy became passionate about supporting parents and infants during the perinatal period; including the planning of conception, pregnancy, and during the post-partum. Romy recognises that the parenthood journey presents many challenges to families, as well as joys and hope. Romy also supports people who have suffered birth trauma, perinatal loss (including miscarriage, stillbirth, and neonatal death), and those who face fertility issues.
Romy’s therapeutic approach aims to help parents find joy in their parenting experience, as well as to foster a secure and loving bond between parent and infant. Romy recognises that reaching out to a psychologist takes considerable courage. She takes the time to listen carefully to people’s concerns and, together, to work out a way forward.
Leah is a caring and skilled social worker, with 14 years’ post graduate experience. Leah has a warm and welcoming approach and understands how daunting it can be to seek support. She is committed to providing a non-judgmental and supportive environment for clients to talk about and work through their issues. She is particularly interested in supporting people during the perinatal period and has specific knowledge and training in this area.
Leah has worked in numerous locations across Australia and overseas, however is particularly passionate about the health and wellbeing of people in regional areas being from a small country town herself. She understands the unique needs and challenges for people living in and raising families in regional communities. Leah has relocated to the beautiful Manning region of NSW and is raising her own family there.
Leah is experienced in working with people facing a range of challenges and mental health conditions. Leah works from evidence-based theoretical frameworks to support people to live the life they want. She is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker and her passion for strengthening families and supporting individuals has led her to undertake a PhD in advanced social work practice with families.
Joanne is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker and has over 10 years counselling experience working with clients of all ages, including children, adolescents, adults and the elderly. Joanne has a breadth of experience and a passion for working with individuals, couples and families during the perinatal period and beyond.
Joanne has worked in a range of practice areas, including Private Practice in Newcastle and Taree for the past 3 years. She works with a variety of issues including anxiety, depression, PTSD, perinatal mental health, domestic violence, sexual assault, trauma, substance abuse, stress, parenting issues, relationship difficulties, attachment issues, bereavement, grief and loss, BPD and other mental health issues. Her work includes a collaborative approach with clients and families and is informed by therapeutic frameworks with a solid evidence base, including a strengths approach.
Joanne has undergone extensive training in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (Mindfulness), Narrative Therapy, Trauma Therapy, Grief, Loss and Bereavement Counselling, Interpersonal Psychotherapy, CBT and Couples Counselling.
Apart from her work at Gidget House, Joanne also has a Private Practice on the NSW Mid North Coast, where she lives with her family.
Marije Vrieze is a registered psychologist who has worked with children, adults and families for over 20 years.
Her work is focused on supporting individuals and couples dealing with a range of issues, including anxiety, depression, stress, trauma, grief and loss and relationship issues.
Originally trained as a child and family psychologist in The Netherlands, Marije has a special interest in the early bonding process between parent and child and supporting families through parenting challenges.
She has worked in variety of public and private settings and holds a Graduate Diploma of Systemic Therapy (Family Therapy) through Relationships Australia. She currently also works for the Red Nose Foundation and has extensive experience in supporting parents perinatally.
Her therapeutic approach draws from a number of theories and interventions, including psychodynamic therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy and radical exposure tapping.
Jenn Duncombe is a public health professional specialising in the prevention, detection, and control of infectious diseases. Jenn worked for NSW Health as an Epidemiologist before moving into the humanitarian sector. Since 2013, Jenn has been working for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF; Doctors Without Borders) in emergencies throughout the world. Jenn has worked in large-scale disease outbreaks (e.g. cholera, malaria, measles, Ebola) and conflict zones (e.g. Iraq, Turkey/Syria, Myanmar, South Sudan).
Jenn recently returned to Australia and joined Gidget Foundation Australia team as Program Manager. Her role involves overseeing all aspects of the Gidget Foundation Australia’s client-focused programs.
When Jenn is not at Gidget, she loves spending time with friends and family, going to the beach, drinking coffee and hiking.
Melissa is a professional and empathic Psychologist who is passionate about empowering her clients to live full, happy and meaningful lives. Aside from Gidget Foundation Australia, Melissa also works within her own private practice and has done for the past 9 years, with a particular focus on working with perinatal clients. Other areas of interest include life transitions, adjustment issues, relational difficulties, grief and loss, resilience, anxiety, and depression.
Melissa is passionate about supporting new parents to navigate all areas of the perinatal period such as pregnancy-related concerns, antenatal and postnatal depression, and grief and loss. Melissa provides a non-judgemental, caring and supportive space to work through any difficulties and challenges her clients may be experiencing.
Melissa utilises aspects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Solution Focused Therapy (SFT).
Rowena is a registered Psychologist and mother of two teenagers. She has been working in child and family health services for the past 23 years with comprehensive experience in perinatal mental health. Rowena also works for an early parenting service assisting parents adjust to the challenges of parenthood, treating perinatal depression and anxiety, facilitating parent-infant/toddler groups, father’s groups, Circle of Security Parenting programs, and meditation groups for staff and mothers. She is also an accredited Triple P facilitator.
Rowena’s therapeutic approach relies on evidence-based interventions that are attachment-focused and trauma-informed, underpinned by compassion and cultural sensitivity. She has a keen interest in schema therapy and self-compassion practices.
Gidget Foundation Australia is not able to provide crisis support.
Please refer to the below support options:
If you need urgent medical help please call 000
The PANDA National Helpline is available Mon-Fri 9am-7:30pm 1300 726 306
For 24 hour crisis support please call Lifeline 13 11 14
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In a move that has stirred a deep sense of betrayal among members of the music industry, it has been revealed that the UK may well have rejected a deal to allow British artists to tour EU countries without a work visa, which, especially given the hit that the touring industry has taken with the COVID-19 pandemic, could prove disastrous for many popular musicians.
Thom Yorke at Rome Film Fest 2020 / Photo Credit: Mondadori Portfolio/SIPA USA/PA Images
Apparently, the government claimed that, despite pushing for a more “ambitious agreement which would have covered musicians”, their proposals were rejected by the EU. But that’s not at all what the EU are saying…
“It is usually in our agreements with third countries, that [work] visas are not required for musicians”, an anonymous EU source told The Independent. “We tried to include it, but the UK said no.”
“The UK refused to agree because they said they were ending freedom of movement”, they added. “It is untrue to say they asked for something more ambitious.”
In fact, even the US and Saudi Arabia have a standard deal with the EU to allow artists in those countries to tour without permits.
Naturally, musicians and other artists have responded to this news with absolute outrage on social media.
Wow. Spineless fucks. Wow…. https://t.co/GrjYbRwtxT
— Thom Yorke (@thomyorke) January 9, 2021
Rina Sawayama, whose debut album made our top ten albums of 2020, branded the decision “devastating, pointless [and] mean-spirited” while Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement Award winner Nitin Sawhney CBE accused the UK government of xenophobia.
“Why the hell is this government so keen on destroying the music industry???” He wrote on Twitter. “They give no money to struggling artists (none of the £1.7 billion was for artists themselves) and then this after lockdown robs musicians of live performance income. Why??”
Meanwhile, The Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess tagged politicians Oliver Dowden, Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson in a Tweet reading: “I think we are owed an explanation.”
Rock band Garbage featuring Scottish singer Shirley Manson weighed in, calling the situation a “scandalous disaster for already beleaguered musicians”, but it was Radiohead’s Thom Yorke that got straight to the point.
“Wow. Spineless f***s. Wow…” He said, in a now widely-circulated Tweet.
Musicians have also been showing their concern for the visa issue by signing and sharing an official petition to allow artists to tour Europe on a visa-free work permit. It’s already received more than 200,000 signatures ahead of its June 22nd deadline, but that doesn’t mean that the issue will necessarily be up for debate in parliament.
Related Topics:ArticleGarbageHeadlinenewsStoryThom Yorke
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New York Dolls guitarist Sylvain Sylvain has died.
The 69-year-old musician – who was an original member of the band and stayed with them until they split for a second time in 2012 – had been battling cancer for over two years but passed away on Wednesday (13.01.21).
A statement shared on his Facebook page by his wife, Wanda O’Kelley Mizrahi, read: As most of you know, Sylvain battled cancer for the past two and 1/2 years.
“Though he fought it valiantly, yesterday he passed away from this disease.
“While we grieve his loss, we know that he is finally at peace and out of pain. Please crank up his music, light a candle, say a prayer and let’s send this beautiful doll on his way.”
The band’s frontman, David Johansen, has also paid tribute to his “best friend”.
He wrote on Instagram: “My best friend for so many years, I can still remember the first time I saw him bop into the rehearsal space/bicycle shop with his carpetbag and guitar straight from the plane after having been deported from Amsterdam, I instantly loved him.
“I’m gonna miss you old pal. I’ll keep the home fires burning.”
The statement from Wanda also included a touching tribute from musician Lenny Kaye, who touchingly reflected on the life of the “lynchpin” of the group.
Lenny wrote: “Syl loved rock and roll.
“His onstage joy, his radiant smile as he chopped at his guitar, revealed the sense of wonder he must have felt at the age of 10, emigrating from his native Cairo with his family in 1961, the ship pulling into New York Harbor and seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time.”
“His role in the band was as lynchpin, keeping the revolving satellites of his bandmates in precision.
“Though he tried valiantly to keep the band going, in the end the Dolls’ moral fable overwhelmed them, not before seeding an influence that would engender many rock generations yet to come.
“The New York Dolls heralded the future, made it easy to dance to.
“From the time I first saw their poster appear on the wall of Village Oldies in 1972, advertising a residency at the Mercer Hotel up the street, throughout their meteoric ascent and shooting star flame-out, the New York Dolls were the heated core of this music we hail, the band that makes you want to form a band.
“Syl never stopped. In his solo lifeline, he was welcomed all over the world, from England to Japan, but most of all the rock dens of New York City, which is where I caught up with him a couple of years ago at the Bowery Electric. Still Syl. His corkscrew curls, tireless bounce, exulting in living his dream, asking the crowd to sing along, and so we will. His twin names, mirrored, becomes us.
“Thank you Sylvain x 2, for your heart, belief, and the way you whacked that E chord. Sleep Baby Doll.
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How to support older workers
While the abolition of the UK’s default retirement age (DRA) under the 2010 Discrimination Act was considered by many to be a good thing, it has generated significant challenges for employers. That employees are entitled to continue working until they no longer wish to do so, coupled with advances in medical science, mean that more people are continuing at work for much longer than was previously the case.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the proportion of those aged 65 and over who work has almost doubled over the last 15 years, with the most significant driver believed to be financial, perhaps as a result of inadequate pension provision, dependent children or a desire by individuals to maintain their lifestyle.
But while employers undoubtedly benefit from keeping hold of experienced and loyal long serving employees, the situation can prove to be testing. The much discussed issue of having three or four generations in the workplace brings with it organisational and cultural considerations, not least that younger employees can feel frustrated by a lack of opportunity to progress into more senior roles.
Moreover, a recent report by Stephen Bevan, head of HR research development at the Institute for Employment Studies, estimates that by 2030 around 40% of the working age population will have at least one chronic, work-limiting health condition. The Alzheimer’s Society also indicates in its ‘Dementia UK’ study that more than 40,000 people are living with early onset dementia, which means they were diagnosed before the age of 65 – and there is evidence to suggest that the prevalence of the early onset version of the condition is on the rise.
Understanding the issue
As a result, such issues really need to start moving onto employers’ radars more and more, especially as many employees wish, or indeed need, to continue working for reasons of their own.
This means that it is important for employers to understand the implications of their workforce’s changing demographics and to make appropriate arrangements to support individuals if they wish to remain in the workplace.
For instance, there are a number of illnesses that are more likely to affect more mature workers, which include cancer, stroke, dementia and Parkinson’s. Many older workers also find themselves with significant caring responsibilities, whether that means looking after their partner or supporting their children and grandchildren. They are also more likely to suffer a significant bereavement.
How to provide useful support
Flexible working patterns and providing opportunities to work from home can go a long way towards accommodating older workers and may also be helpful in easing them into a phased retirement. But other support services such as specialist group insurances, employee assistance programmes (EAPs), charities, workshops and training can also prove invaluable.
The kind of support that many older workers find particularly useful includes:
• Help in understanding specific medical conditions and how best to manage symptoms;
• An explanation of treatment options;
• Suggestions for coping strategies;
• Assistance in ensuring they make the best use of whatever services are available, for example from the National Health Service (NHS), their employer, insurance company, specialist charities or social services;
• Being assessed and provided with occupational therapy or counselling to aid recovery rather than being subject to NHS waiting lists;
• Advice on appropriate workplace adjustments or therapeutic equipment.
Such services are generally available either individually or as part of a larger package via some group insurers, associations such as the Federation of Small Businesses and trade unions, which specifically tailor offerings for their members. Providing them not only helps employers to fulfil their duty of care, but also contributes to employee engagement, boosts loyalty and improves retention rates among the whole workforce.
Christine Husbands has been managing director of RedArc Nurses, a service that provides personal nurse advisers for people experiencing illness, disability, trauma or bereavement, since 2010. She spent the initial part of her career in financial roles and has held several board-level positions in financial services organisations.
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GoldParty.org
to main page
The two-party system has failed America. Both the Democrats and Republicans have failed to serve the people, catering instead to well-funded special interests. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars, huge budget and trade deficits, the financial collapse, low wages, high unemployment, social divisions, environmental neglect, rampant lobbying, public subsidies to Wall Street, scandals involving top government officials, citizen surveillance, and a general lack of leadership and relevant ideas have weakened public confidence in government. Third-party politics, while untainted with those failures, suffers from a lack of credibility that its candidates can win.
So what’s to be done? This web site is dedicated to the proposition that a new political organization can lift our nation out of its quagmire. The forces of history have advanced to a point of fundamental change making this organization possible. Our mission is to bring about a transformation of government and other major institutions so as to make American society more responsive to people and more responsible in terms of environmental policy.
This new political organization is called "Gold Party". Would this be a “third party” like others? Yes and no. Yes, it would have a structure separate from the other political parties. No, it would not be a conventional third party. It would be unique in its structure of control. It would be a revolutionary party, in some ways akin to the old socialists but also respecting the free market. Mass mobilization through personal incentives would be its chief aim.
This party would be anti-totalitarian, devoted to freedom including free speech, decentralized in its power structure, balanced between entrepreneurial freedom and reasonable government regulation. At the same time, it would fight plutocratic encroachments upon people's personal freedom and employment. It would resist the security state.
The main focus of attention would be economic. Integrating people - all people - into productive jobs that maximize labor efficiency while bolstering income from jobs would be the goal of a government taken over by this party. This party would not idolize poverty. It would avoid wars. It would not pit people against each other on the basis of religion, gender, ethnicity, or race. The goal would be to make everyone affluent to the extent that human ingenuity and the earth’s resources can afford this, recognizing environmental limitations.
What designs or mechanisms would make Gold Party different from other political parties? What makes us think we will succeed where other parties have failed? First, it builds upon an existing model of successful insurrection. Second, it offers incentives for individuals to contribute to a political organization that other parties lack. Hard-working, dedicated individuals would own what they have built.
Essentially, Gold Party combines insights gained from local political activity with the untested concept of a point system that mimics money in its motivating power. The goal of this party is initially to grow to the point that it can take over the government. If enough people are committed to the party and its ideals, anything becomes possible.
Motivation to join Gold Party, to convince other people to join, and then, when the party has reached a certain size, to effect a political revolution that transforms both government and the larger society would be the key to realizing this dream. Gold Party would advance itself through grassroots communication.
There is no other way to overthrow the plutocracy. Government officials must communicate with voters through expensive newspaper advertisements, robo-telephone calls, or radio or television commercials to be elected to public office. Unless they are independently wealthy, the candidates must raise lots of money to pay for campaign advertising. Wealthy donors, expecting something in return, step up to the plate. Then, after the candidate is elected, the well-heeled special interests employ an army of lobbyists to enact legislation favorable to their industry or cause. This system will remain in place so long as elections are beholden to the commercial media and there is no competing power source.
Although the aim of Gold Party is to capture the U.S. government, this would happen through elections rather than force of arms. No sensible person would be in favor of an armed insurrection against the government especially when other options are available. This peaceful revolution would take place by force of persuasion and by providing party members with incentives to aid its cause. We are out to change society through focused political work.
A Landlord Organization as a Model of Political Action
With respect to an existing model of political activity, a landlord organization in the city of Minneapolis called Minneapolis Property Rights Action Committee showed how a relatively small group of people could effectively fight City Hall. (Visit its archives.) There were maybe thirty active members of this group that confronted the political establishment in a city with 380,000 residents. Who would have thought that such a group could defeat the entrenched politicians? But they did. They beat them decisively.
The members, who owned property mostly in poorer neighborhoods, were widely reviled as “slumlords” in the city’s political culture. They were seen as “irresponsible” business owners who had brought crime into particular neighborhoods by failing to screen their applicants properly and by neglecting building maintenance.The Minneapolis police department had a multi-million-dollar budget to employ “community police” who would work with non-profit neighborhood organizations and block clubs to promote an ideology of shifting the blame for crime upon private-sector landlords. After being targeted by politicians and the police, the property owners typically were punished by aggressive building inspections augmented by police.
Keep in mind that Minneapolis was and is a one-party town. The mayor and twelve of the thirteen Council members belonged to the Democratic Farmer-Labor (DFL) party while the remaining Council member was politically independent. Also, the city’s sole daily newspaper, the Star Tribune, was generally unfriendly to these landlords, both in its editorials and news reporting.
Previously, most landlords in this city tried to keep a low profile in hopes that city officials would leave them alone. In contrast, the Property Rights group went after the politicians with two-by-fours (figuratively speaking) over a period of five or so years. They picketed City Hall and a police precinct station, protested building demolitions, spoke out forcefully at public meetings, and once even shut down a meeting of the Minneapolis City Council. They also conducted “crack tours” to show visting dignitaries how easy it was to purchase crack cocaine on Minneapolis streets under the nose of city police when building owners were being punished for "tolerating" the same activities.
The group also held monthly meetings that were videotaped and shown on cable television. A member published a free-circulation newspaper. Gradually, the idea sank in among city residents that “people cause crime, not buildings”, that city police rather than landlords were the ones responsible for dealing with crime, and it did not make sense for Minneapolis officials to be tearing down structurally sound houses at the same time that they sought funds to build more “affordable housing.”
The payoff came in the 2001 municipal elections. A sign often displayed at the landlords’ televised meetings during that year listed the mayor and four City Council members (including the Council president) whom the group wished to have defeated and four City Council members whom it wished to reelect. All four of the favored candidates were reelected. The mayor and three of the four disfavored candidates were either defeated or motivated not to seek reelection. The man who succeeded the incumbent mayor in 2002 was a three-time guest speaker at the landlords’ meetings.
What were the elements of their success? First, the landlords refused to be intimidated by the overwhelming political power directed against them. Not bothering to disguise their identities, they spoke out forcefully against their adversaries in City Hall. The group chose to advance its cause through protest activities rather than through attempts to persuade elected officials by reasoned arguments or campaign contributions.
Just as important, the group had its own communications capability. The free-circulation newspaper and the cable-television show allowed the landlords to tell their stories to a wider audience. Even if their megaphone was smaller than most, the message went out in an unedited form to voters as an expression of real people. It had a cumulative effect. People seeing someone else stand up to abusive authority inspires imitation.
A lesson to be learned from this experience is that groups operating in a hostile political environment cannot count on “working within the system” to gain favor if that means trying to convince the decision makers to change their minds. It seldom happens. A more effective strategy is to bypass the system. Instead go directly to the people.
But, alas, movements come and go. That also happened to Minneapolis Property Rights Action Committee. The organization today is a shadow of its former self. The weeds in city government have grown back. Political movements cannot be sustained forever by ideological fervor or charismatic leadership. If they happen to succeed, they often become complacent and fade. If they fail, they just fail. What has staying power is moneyed interests - the lobbyists and developers and public-sector unions and politically well-connected nonprofits that hang around City Hall seeking financial favors.
A System of Weighted Voting
The second part of the Gold Party concept has to do with motivation. This is based on a simple insight. If money controls politics, let’s see how money does it and then mimic its operation.
Let’s suppose that you invest money in a business. You own and operate this business. Someone in that situation is motivated to work hard to attract a growing number of customers and make money. The success of the business equates with success in monetary terms. The more money a business makes, the more money the owner has. He can spend this money however he pleases or he can pass the money along to his children. In other words, there is a permanent beneficial result of having worked effectively to build a business.
Compare that situation with the situation of a volunteer in a political campaign. Presumably, he donates time, effort, and money to the campaign because he believes in the candidate’s qualifications to hold public office or he believes in the package of policy proposals which the candidate advocates. If the candidate loses the election, he has nothing to show for the volunteer work. If the candidate wins, this candidate alone becomes empowered to cast votes or make administrative decisions. Those who helped him get elected are now out of the loop. Except for a few lucky individuals offered a job, there is no "ownership" interest in the candidates's success.
Maybe the candidate, now a public official, will be grateful to his former campaign supporters and be inclined to vote the way they want him to vote. Maybe he will hire some of them in government jobs. That's entirely up to him. The majority of campaign volunteers will, at best, be left with a sense of satisfaction at having participated in a winning campaign. Then, when seeking reelection, the elected official will have less need of those who initially “brung him to the party” because incumbent officeholders can attract money and support from financially interested groups.
Political parties hold conventions to nominate candidates for public office, elect party officials, and adopt platforms. The party members who show up all have an equal vote in making decisions. This system provides little incentive to help build an organization. If its members expend unequal effort on behalf of the party but receive an equal reward, the rational approach would be to claim as much of the reward as possible while offering as little as possible by way of contribution.
Active, hard-working members of a political party do, of course, tend to gain more influence than the average party member. Even so, the difference in status resulting from party work remains ill-defined. Compared with money-based distinctions in the business world, political distinctions lack clarity and definition. People want to know where they stand in terms of internal position.
If politics mimicked the business world, then members of a political party would receive quantifiable credit for the work they do in building the party and electing candidates. The more credits a person receives, the more say he or she would have in party affairs. Such a system might be embodied in a system of unequal voting based on a member’s credits or points. Visit a page on this site, "point system", to see how this might work.
There are two motivations which may matter to politically interested persons. First, they will be hoping to have government pursue a certain program of action that advances their interests or matters to them. Second, they may be hoping to gain something personally from the party’s victory.
The Gold Party program caters to both needs. First it has a legislative and administrative agenda in case the party takes over the government. It's important to keep the party unified during the period of organization building and not become too hung up over issues. Therefore, the proposed issues would be subject to a national referendum once the party is in a position to exercise government power. The second part of the program would be to convert Gold Party points into U.S. currency, rewarding members in proportion to the points they have at the time of conversion. The laws would be changed to permit this one-time conversion of party points into money. Presumably most or all members would be in favor of this provision.
A New “Spoils System”?
The idea of rewarding party members with government-furnished money may offend the political sensibilities of Americans. But that’s how the world works. The idea of awarding high-level jobs on the basis of “merit” is largely a myth. Politics always plays a part in the selection of individuals for jobs, especially at a higher level.
In nations with a totalitarian system of government, party membership equates directly with leadership positions in society. Boris Yeltsin was once asked why he remained a member of the Communist Party if he no longer believed in its ideals. “Party card” was his short but honest answer. Being a communist in the old Soviet Union conferred tangible benefits. Party membership was a requirement of high rank in the socioeconomic hierarchy.
In the United States, jobs are usually awarded by criteria other than membership in a political party. We say that education “qualifies” a person to hold certain positions. Except in some technical positions, however, the correlation between course content and the requirements of real-life employment is quite weak. In fact, personal connections, demographic identity, mode of speech, dress, and conformity to the prevailing values of the group (including political ones) count for far more than what we would admit. The "knowledge" gained from education to do a job is less important; politics matters more. When this myth is punctured, it may hit many people hard.
In our society, corporate and professional power have effectively merged with political power. We live in a plutocracy more than in a democracy. If Gold Party takes over the government, that would change. After a brief period, the fusion of political and economic power would end. Party members would dislodge the plutocrats and their minions from positions of government power but keep the free-enterprise system (with a more broadly based ownership) in place. We would then have at least two power structures, the economic and the political, each checking the other’s abuse.
Click for a translation into:
French - Spanish - German - Portuguese - Italian
COPYRIGHT 2005 Thistlerose Publications - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED http://wwwgoldparty.org/allabout.html
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Evan Rachel Wood Biography
By Abigail - Mar 18, 2020
Quick Facts Of Evan Rachel Wood
Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Ira David Wood III
Sara Lynn Moore
Ira David Wood IV, Thomas Wood and Dana Wood
Aden Elins
Laurel Springs School and Cary Elementary School
5 feet 7 inches.
4(US)
her role as Tracy Freeland in the teen drama film Thirteen (2003) which earned her Golden Globe-nomination and later for HBO series Mildred Pierce (2011), a role for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe and Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actr
Who is Evan Rachel Wood?
Evan Rachel Wood is an American actress, model, and musician. In 2016, she made her huge name from the HBO television series Westworld, for which she won a Critics’ Choice Award and a Golden Globe nomination. Wood is widely famous for her Golden Globe-nominated role as the troubled teenager Tracy Freeland in the teen drama film Thirteen (2003). She is also known for appearing in many television series and films, including American Gothic (1995–96) and Once and Again (1999–2002), Digging to China (1997), Little Secrets (2001), and HBO’s drama TV series like True Blood (2009-2011). She is also recognized for her music group, Rebel and a Basketcase (2016 – 2017).
Source: @usatoday
What is Evan Rachel Wood famous for?
Evan Rachel Wood Net Worth famous for her role as Tracy Freeland in the teen drama film Thirteen (2003) which earned her Golden Globe-nomination and later for HBO series Mildred Pierce (2011), a role for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe and Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress and TV series like True Blood (2009-2011).
When is Evan Rachel Wood from?
Wood was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. Her mother, Sara Lynn Moore, is an actress, director, and acting coach. Her father, Ira David Wood III, is a locally prominent actor, singer, and Executive Director of a local community theatre company called Theatre in the Park. Wood's three brothers, Ira David Wood IV, is also an actor, Dana and Thomas, and a sister named Aden. Her paternal aunt, Carol Winstead Wood, was a Hollywood production designer. She was raised in Christian culture in childhood. Wood and her brothers were actively involved in Theatre in the Park while growing up and played in her father's directed several productions. She was also a martial artist in her teenage and was awarded a black belt in taekwondo when she was 12 years old.
Wood's parents separated in 1996 and later divorced, and Wood moved with her mother to her mother's native Los Angeles County, California. Wood briefly attended Cary Elementary, a public school in Cary, North Carolina, and Laurel Springs School. She was subsequently home-schooled and received her high school diploma at age 15. Wood's nationality is American and she belongs to White ethnicity. Her religion is Judaism and her zodiac is Virgo.
What is Evan Rachel Wood's career?
Wood began her acting career appearing in several small television films from 1994 onward. Her first TV debut was from small role series American Gothic in 1995. She then did support the role of Jessie Sammler on the television show Once and Again in 1999. Wood's first major screen role was in the low-budget 1997 film Digging to China. Wood made her teenage debut as a leading film actress in 2002's Little Secrets. Her breakthrough came to a movie role in the 2003 film Thirteen. Her performance was nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best Actress - Drama and for a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award for Best Actress.
Wood continued acting mostly in independent films, including Pretty Persuasion (2005), Down in the Valley (2005), Running with Scissors (2006), and in the big studio production Across the Universe (2007). Since 2008, Wood has appeared in more mainstream films, including The Wrestler (2008), Whatever Works (2009) and The Ides of March (2011). She also returned to television, playing the supporting role of Queen Sophie-Anne on True Blood from 2009 to 2011 and playing the daughter of Mildred Pierce in the HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce (2011), for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe and Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She currently plays the sapient android Dolores Abernathy in the HBO series Westworld, for which she won a Critics' Choice Award and earned Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominations.
How tall is Evan Rachel Wood?
The American actress, Rachel Wood has a tall height of 5 feet 7 inches. She is now 32 years old and she lacks not a bit of glamour she would have in 22. She has a slim body that weighs 54kg. The mother of one has a red hair color and her eyes are Blue. Furthermore, her body figure measures as 34-26-34 inches. Likewise, her bra size is 32B, her dress size is 4(US) and her shoe size is 9(US). She has a bisexual orientation.
What is Evan Rachel Wood's net worth?
The Westworld actress Evan Rachel Wood estimated net worth is $8million as of 2020. She has earned this huge sum of money from her professional career as an actress and a model. This is the result of her working hard in the film industry to leave a remark for over two and half decades which has eventually bear her huge reward. As a model, she works for big agencies like Creative Artists Agency and Circle Talent Agency. She also earns from her brand endorsements. She was chosen to be the face of Gucci Guilty fragrance in 2010 alongside Chris Evans. Information regarding her cars, real estate, and other businesses is currently under review.
What happened to Rachel Evan Wood?
In 2016, Wood told a Rolling Stone reporter that she had been raped twice many years ago. Wood explained that whenever she was threatened or abused by her named ex-boyfriend, she would cut her wrist as a way to stop the abuse. She even shared a photo of the scars on her wrists via Instagram with a pose closing her eyes while lying on a pillow alongside her scarred wrist. In February 2018, Wood testified before the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations as a rape survivor and survivor of sexual abuse.
Who is Evan Rachel Wood Dating?
Evan's relationship status is currently single. However, she was married before and involved in numerous affairs. Wood began dating English actor Jamie Bell for a year in 2005 after they met at the Sundance Film Festival. Wood rekindled her relationship with Bell, five years after they first broke up in 2011. They were married in a small ceremony on October 30, 2012, and have one son, Jack Matfin Bell, born on July 29, 2013.n May 2014, Wood and Bell announced that they had separated after 19 months of marriage.n January 2017, Wood became engaged to her Rebel and a Basketcase bandmate, Zach Villa. In September 2017, they called off the engagement. Wood had a relationship with Marilyn Manson from 2007 to 2010. Wood turned out to be bisexual in 2011, which she disclosed via Twitter.
Evan Rachel Wood is an American actress, model, and musician. In 2016, she made her huge name from the HBO television series Westworld, for which she won a Critics’ Choice Award and a Golden Globe nomination.
Wood was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. Her mother, Sara Lynn Moore, is an actress, director, and acting coach.
Wood began her acting career appearing in several small television films from 1994 onward.
The American actress, Rachel Wood has a tall height of 5 feet 7 inches.
The Westworld actress Evan Rachel Wood estimated net worth is $8million as of 2020.
Evan's relationship status is currently single.
#Songs
#TV Shows
#Albums
#Frozen
#Westworld
#Thirteen
#Mildred Pierce
Permalink: https://gossipgist.com/evan-rachel-wood
Afton Smith Biography
Abigail / March 18, 2020
Rita Wilson Biography
Jeeya / March 18, 2020
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Count Us In! Student Census
Count Us In! Frequently Asked Questions
Progressive Discipline, Suspensions and Expulsions
Safe School Terminology
Safe Schools Code of Conduct
Safe Schools Team
Street Safety
Grand Erie Delves into Student Census Data to Address Factors Affecting School Experiences
Grand Erie District School Board has completed important next steps in the analysis of data collected from its first student census.
“The census initiative follows Ontario’s Education Equity Action Plan, the province’s strategy for identifying and eliminating discriminatory practices, barriers, and biases from schools and classrooms, and is a crucial step to ensuring equity and addressing the factors affecting it,” said Christine Bibby, Grand Erie’s Safe and Inclusive Schools Lead, who spearheaded the initiative along with the Safe and Inclusive Schools team. “Our goal is to create learning environments that allow every student to reach their full potential, and with this information, we’re in a better position to achieve that.”
The findings from the census are being used to remove barriers to inclusion, inform programming, and better understand the factors that contribute to students’ overall experiences of school. The recently completed phase of analysis examined students’ perceptions of their schooling, and how various demographic factors intersect to affect those experiences. Find the full report here: http://bit.ly/38Zpo1f.
“Some of the key findings from the census reveal that socio-economic status is a factor related to students’ experiences of school, and our LGBTQ+ students appear to be having challenges related to their school experiences,” said Greg Rousell, Grand Erie’s System Research Lead, who presented the information to Trustees on Monday at the Regular Board Meeting. “When data reveals something troublesome, we have an ethical and a moral obligation to respond to it.”
Grand Erie’s response includes plans for consultations with community agencies and advocacy groups to address some of the systemic barriers to inclusion, and to share key findings with school principals and administrative staff to inform School Achievement Plans moving forward.
Grand Erie’s student census was completed last March. The voluntary and confidential census received feedback from 83 per cent of Grand Erie students in Grades 4-12. The census asked students about their race, culture, and religion. Students in Grades 9-12 were also asked about their sexual orientation and gender identity. Results from the student census were shared with Trustees at the September 9, 2019 Committee of the Whole Meeting. Find those results here: https://bit.ly/37UebgX.
Grand Erie’s Multi-Year Plan, Success for Every Student, includes a commitment to Equity, promoting practices that help students and families feel safe, welcomed and included.
September 2019: Results from Grand Erie's First Student Census Will Inform the Board's Next Steps for Planning and Supports for Students
The results are in from Grand Erie District School Board’s first student census, a survey of students in Grades 4-12 conducted last spring. The data collected will be used to better understand student needs, remove barriers to inclusion, and effectively plan programming and supports for all students.
“The census findings provide a more accurate picture of our student populations and school communities, an understanding which is crucial to ensuring equity and addressing systemic barriers,” said Wayne Baker, Superintendent of Education responsible for Grand Erie’s Safe and Inclusive Schools team, which led this initiative. “To help students succeed, we need to understand who they are.”
The confidential and voluntary student census was completed in class, and asked students about themselves and their experiences both inside and outside of school. Grand Erie’s participation rate was 83 per cent. Responses are secured in a database accessed only by authorized research staff.
“It was extremely important that the census capture a multitude of student voices,” said Baker. “What we now know is that we have diversity in all areas of our Board, and this information will help us close the gaps for marginalized students.”
The census initiative follows Ontario’s Education Equity Action Plan, the province’s strategy for identifying and eliminating discriminatory practices, barriers, and biases from schools and classrooms, and is a critical step to ensuring equity and addressing the factors affecting it. The census was supported by Grand Erie’s Board of Trustees, Senior Administration, and a host of community groups and organizations.
Key findings from the census report include:
12 per cent of respondents identified as Indigenous (Six Nations, First Nations, Metis, or Inuit)
A majority of Grand Erie students identified as white (81 per cent), with more racial diversity in the City of Brantford where 29 per cent of respondents identified as non-white, followed by Haldimand County (21 per cent), and the Counties of Brant and Norfolk (both 13 per cent)
31 per cent of respondents indicated some form of disability (including mental health, learning, or medical-related)
Students in Grades 9-12 were asked about sexual orientation. From those students, 16 per cent identified as other than heterosexual (gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual or pansexual)
Overall, respondents had a positive view of school, with 74 per cent indicating they feel accepted by adults at school, and 73 per cent indicating they feel their teachers care about them.
For the full report on the student census and its findings, click here.
For the public data set from the student census, click here.
For questions about the student census, contact Greg Rousell, System Research Leader at Grand Erie at: greg.rousell@granderie.ca or 519-756-6301, ext. 281042.
March 2019: Count Us In!, Grand Erie’s First Student Census
The goal of Grand Erie’s Multi-Year Plan is Success for Every Student. This can only be achieved if the Board truly understands the needs of its students and their families.
To gather this information, Grand Erie will launch its first-ever student census, Count Us In!, from March 18-29.
All Grand Erie students in Grades 4-12 will take part in the census. This initiative is being led by the Board’s Safe and Inclusive Schools Team and has the support of Trustees, Senior Management and a host of community groups and organizations. It is also part of a larger initiative by the Ministry of Education and Ontario’s Education Equity Action Plan.
The census findings will help Grand Erie better understand student populations and school communities; identify and eliminate barriers to student success, inclusion and well-being; and establish effective programs to increase student services.
The student census will be completed in class and feature questions that ask students about themselves and their experiences, both inside and outside of school. To view the student census, Student Census Grades 4-8 and Student Census Grades 9-12.
Grand Erie’s student census is confidential. All responses will be stored in a secure, confidential database that will only be accessed by authorized research staff to identify and summarize Board trends. Individual student questionnaires will not be analyzed. Grand Erie District School Board is committed to the highest levels of privacy and confidentiality in collecting information about students. We follow all privacy requirements outlined in the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA). The information gathered through the student census is collected under the legal authority of the Education Act (R.S.O. 1990, c. E. 2, as amended) for educational and research purposes only.
Grand Erie believes it’s critical for the student census to reflect all of the voices that exist within the Board. The more responses received, the more reliable the data will be and the more effective Grand Erie can be in supporting all students moving forward. The data collected will be used to inform and improve programming and instruction as well as create and improve student services.
Students or parents/guardians who decide not to participate will need to let their school know by Friday, February 22.
For questions about the student census, see the Board’s Frequently Asked Questions here or contact Greg Rousell, System Research Leader at Grand Erie at: greg.rousell@granderie.ca or 519-756-6301, ext. 281042.
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GRAND JURY TARGET
Tracking Key Issues in White Collar Prosecutions
About Sara and Andrea
September 8, 2015 September 9, 2015 Kropf Moseley
First, We’ll Blame the Lawyers: Second Circuit Grants New Trial in Remarkable Jury Taint Case
This is the k ind of case that wakes up lawyers in a cold sweat at night.
The Second Circuit recently granted a new trial to a defendant after the trial court found that he had waived his right to a new trial. The waiver came when his lawyers discovered the possibility that a juror had lied during jury selection but did not raise it until after trial when they had actual knowledge of the lies.
A lot of potential jurors may avoid the truth during voir dire. They don’t to be put on the jury, so they will come up with all sorts of reasons to get out of it. In this case, though, a juror lied to stay on the jury.
The lawyers did everything right, in my view. The trial court concluded that it wasn’t enough. The punishment was visited not on the lawyers but on their client. Luckily, the Second Circuit saved the day.
The Voir Dire Lies
A few years ago, David Parse, a former Deutsche Bank broker, and four other defendants were accused of criminal tax fraud for orchestrating a tax shelter scheme that allegedly cost the government $1.63 billion in lost revenue. They went to trial in 2011.
This was a high-profile trial. The other defendants included another Deutsche Bank broker, two partners at defunct law firm Jenkens & Gilchrist and the former CEO of BDO Seidman.
The juror in question was named Catherine Conrad. Her name is important because it’s not a very unique name. You can imagine that if you searched that name online, you would get a lot of hits on a lot of different people.
She apparently lied (under oath) during jury selection in order to make herself a more “marketable” juror. Here is a snapshot of the transcript from her testimony during voir dire:
THE COURT: All right. What is the highest level of education you’ve attained?
CONRAD: I have a BA in English literature [and] classics, and I studied archaeology abroad. . . .
THE COURT: All right. Is there anything that you think it would be important for us to know about you in making a decision as to whether you should serve as a juror in this case?
CONRAD: If the trial lasts more than three months, I’m still available.
THE COURT: All right. Thank you very much. Is there any reason that you feel you could not be fair and impartial in this case, Ms. Conrad?
CONRAD: Not at all.
The problem with this testimony was that Ms. Conrad was an attorney with a suspended license who had just applied for reinstatement the day before.
That wasn’t the only misrepresentation. Ms. Conrad lied about a personal injury trial in which she was the plaintiff and a witness, her current address, and her extensive criminal record, among other things.
The Attorneys’ Supposed Errors
In courts where the lawyers get potential jurors’ names ahead of time, we try to do some preliminary research on the jurors to find any public information that may help us evaluate whether the juror would be good or bad for our side. This can range from having a paralegal search the internet for each person’s name to hiring a full-blown investigative firm. It depends on time and budget. (In some courts, you get the list of jurors when you walk into the courtroom that morning, so forget about researching them.)
During an initial round of juror research, the attorneys for Mr. Parse found that an individual by the name of “Catherine Conrad” had a suspended law license in the State of New York. But, based on the juror’s voir dire responses, the lawyers concluded that it was not have been the same person. Ms. Conrad. Call this Red Flag #1.
During the trial, however, Ms. Conrad sent out a note asking about respondeat superior, a legal concept which had nothing to do with the case. At that point, the firm did some more research on Westlaw that suggested that she could be the same person as the suspended New York lawyer. Call this Red Flag #2.
After exchanging various emails and meeting with one another, the lawyers for Mr. Parse concluded that it was “inconceivable” that a lawyer would perjure herself to that degree and that Ms. Conrad must have asked the question because she learned the term during her personal injury case.
Mr. Parse and three of the other defendants were convicted of some charges. (The other Deutsche Bank broker was acquitted at trial.) Mr. Parse was sentenced to three and a half years in prison.
After the trial, Ms. Conrad sent an unusual note to the government praising the prosecutors for their work. After learning of the letter, Mr. Parse conducted further investigation and realized that Ms. Conrad the juror was Ms. Conrad the suspended New York attorney.
It is important to note that only the lawyers for Mr. Parse had this information about Ms. Conrad. They did not share it with the other defendants’ lawyers.
Trying to Fix the Problem – Unsuccessfully
All four defendants immediately filed a Joint Rule 33 Motion for a New Trial. Under Rule 33, the court may vacate judgment and order a new trial “if the interest of justice so requires.” According to the Supreme Court (McDonough Power Equipment, Inc. v. Greenwood, 464 U.S. 548 (1984)) to get a new trial when a juror lies during voir dire:
[A] party must first demonstrate that a juror failed to answer honestly a material question on voir dire, and then further show that a correct response would have provided a valid basis for a challenge for cause. The motives for concealing information may vary, but only those reasons that affect a juror’s impartiality can truly be said to affect the fairness of a trial.
Judge William H. Pauley held an evidentiary hearing on the Rule 33 motion and questioned Ms. Conrad. (Notably, she initially refused to appear and a warrant had to be issued for her arrest, plus the government provided her use immunity to preclude her from taking the Fifth.)
She told the court that she wanted to be on the jury to “get back in the swing of things,” and that if the defense counsel had known her true identity, then they would be pleased to include her on the jury because they “want crooks on the jury.” According to her, she wanted to be more “marketable” as a juror.
The court concluded that Ms. Conrad was a “pathological liar and utterly untrustworthy” and that she was actually biased against the defendants.
The good news was that the district court found that the three other defendants were entitled to a new trial on the basis that they had no knowledge of Ms. Conrad’s lies and omissions during voir dire.
Now for the bad news. As the court said, it
bears noting at the outset that a defendant can waive certain rights through the actions of his attorneys, even if the defendant himself was unaware of the circumstances and actions giving rise to the waiver.
The district court found that Mr. Parse alone was not entitled to a new trial because his attorneys had waived that right. The court concluded that based on the Westlaw report that they read and the conversations among them, it was clear that the attorneys knew that the juror had told a material lie and chose not to disclose their knowledge to the court.
The court found that Mr. Parse’s attorneys had shown an unreasonable lack of diligence after discovering the red flags and that they should have sought guidance from the court after they learned about the potential issues with Ms. Conrad.
In short, the lawyers screwed up and the client would have to pay the price.
The Reversal
The Second Circuit set things right.
The court of appeals disagreed with the lower court’s finding that Mr. Parse’s lawyers had made an error large enough to prevent him from getting a new trial. They noted that it was reasonable for Mr. Parse’s attorneys not to jump to the conclusion that Ms. Conrad had told such enormous lies after finding the attorney with the same name online.
Although the lower court believed that the attorneys either knew or should have known there was an issue after obtaining the Westlaw report, the Second Circuit credited their contention that they found it “inconceivable” that an attorney would perjure herself so much during voir dire just to sit on a jury. The Second Circuit made two basic holdings:
We conclude that to the extent the district court found that Parse’s attorneys knew Conrad had lied, that finding is not supported by the record; and to the extent that the court ruled that Parse’s right was waived because his attorneys failed to exercise due diligence to learn the facts, that ruling was based on an error of law.
Mr. Parse’s attorneys, along with amici, urged the Second Circuit to adopt a rule that attorneys should not be obligated to bring their concerns about jurors to the court absent actual knowledge. Unsurprisingly, the court sidestepped and declined to rule on that issue, concluding that the panel doubted “that such a sweeping and absolute rule is appropriate” and that it did not need to adopt such a rule to reverse the conviction.
Where Are Things Now?
According to the docket, the case has been reassigned from Judge Pauley to a different SDNY judge and a status conference is scheduled for September 10th. It is not clear whether the prosecutors intend to retry Mr. Parse.
They did retry the other defendants—one pleaded guilty, one was acquitted and one was convicted.
When Is a Red Flag Worth Waving?
This case is a frightening one for white collar defense attorneys (and any other trial lawyer, for that matter). It suggests that we may need to bring to the court’s attention anything we find in our juror research that conflicts with what a potential juror says. If we don’t, we risk the trial court concluding later that we’ve waived any right to a new trial based on an tainted jury.
I’m not sure judges (or jurors) love the concept that the lawyers are researching jurors in the first place. Bringing to the court’s attention the results of extensive research is awkward, to say the least, particularly where the information is unreliable and the conclusions drawn from it are uncertain.
I’m sure that Mr. Parse’s lawyers did not sleep well until the Second Circuit decision came down. As criminal defense lawyers, we do everything we can to keep our clients from being charged. If they are charged, we do everything we can to win at trial. It’s stunning that one small error in judgment at trial could have tragic consequences for our clients. This story has a happy ending (so far) but will yours?
Jury issues
Published by Kropf Moseley
Whether you need to take a case to trial, negotiate a resolution without ever setting foot in the courtroom, or navigate a complex public relations problem, we can help. View all posts by Kropf Moseley
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Randall Eliason says:
Interesting post, thanks. You say the lawyers did everything right, but I’m not so sure. I agree Mr. Parse should not have suffered the consequences, but I think the prudent thing to do would have been to call the issue to the trial judge’s attention so the judge could question Conrad. That allows the Court to get rid of her and put in an alternate juror, thus avoiding the risk of what happened here: you go all the way to verdict, and then it all gets thrown out and has to be done all over. If it was a different Conrad, then there is no harm done by having the court voir dire her. I think just deciding it was “inconceivable” and keeping it all secret was kind of reckless.
Sara Kropf says:
A thoughtful comment, thanks, Randall. I may come out differently if there were something in the record that suggested the lawyers were trying to sandbag the court, or to hold back the information to make a post trial motion. But these are very good lawyers who know that the risk of not raising an issue is a serious one. (Waiver by trial counsel seems to be how I lose nearly all my CJA appellate cases.) I am concerned that in this day of social media, it is way too easy to find some online information about a juror that could be relevant and was not disclosed. Unless it is a highly unusual name, there’s a good chance it is someone else.
gloria sheldon says:
In this situation there really was an injustice, it was recognized and the appropriate action was taken but the system does not work this perfectly for all of us. . I wish all mistakes made by attorneys were followed up on but it is not an ideal system. This is the side you see when a defendant has the money to continue persusing such and follow through with it. The average person, like me, expects nothing and in my case, gets nothing when there’s an error in the system. If you Google my name you will see why I am so bitter. How does the average person get satisfaction or closure when County and State errors were made prior to and during trial and make sure nothing like this (in my case) ever happens again. I was a victim in a horrific home invasion and due to these errors 2 out of 3 perpetrators WALKED on 9 counts. I am at a loss as to why EVERYONE down the chain of command is not held accountable for huge mistakes. Where would one start in a debacle such this?
Top 10 Posts in 2015 (and My Other Favorites) | Grand Jury Target says:
[…] First, We’ll Blame the Lawyers: Second Circuit Grants New Trial in Remarkable Jury Taint Case. The facts of this one are just so fascinating, hit very close to home given the judgment calls we all make during a fast-moving trial. Plus, it was a close call for the lawyers with a happy ending. […]
www.kmlawfirm.com
sara@kmlawfirm.com
andrea@kmlawfirm.com
Appeal Bribery civil case Conspiracy Conviction After Jury Trial Criminal Forfeiture Criminal Investigation Discovery/Brady Dismissal of charges in indictment DOJ policy and practice DOJ Statements False statements FCPA Government contracting fraud Health care fraud Indictment Insider Trading Mail Fraud Misc Money Laundering Obstruction OIG investigations Plea Agreement Public Corruption Search warrant SEC Investigation SEC policy and practice Securities fraud Sentencing Wire Fraud
© Kropf Moseley and Grand Jury Target Blog, 2013.
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GRAZIA 08: NEW WAVE
Gotham: The Rebuild
Harry Styles releases new single, teases new album
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By Annabel Ross
Harry appears half naked for the duration of his sexy new music video
Harry Styles attends The 2019 Met Gala Celebrating Camp: Notes on Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 06, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
1D-ers, rejoice, Harry Styles is back with a new song and music video, and he’s made a triumphant return to the ‘Gram too with three promotional posts for his new music after a one year absence.
His new song is called Lights Up, and it’s a slinky, sexy dream of a track. In the video Harry is mostly half naked for the duration, often in the midst of a pack of sweaty half-naked bodies pressing against each other.
Talking to Rolling Stone for their September cover story in, Harry said of his upcoming album, “it’s about having sex and feeling sad.” He also spoke at length about using psychedelics — his favourite were the mushroom chocolates — and laughed about the time he bit off the tip of his tongue while on mushrooms, joking that he was going to call the album Mushrooms and Blood.
LIGHTS UP. Out now.
A post shared by @ harrystyles on Oct 10, 2019 at 9:00pm PDT
When asked if he could see One Direction ever getting back together, he said, “I don’t know. I don’t think I’d ever say I’d never do it again, because I don’t feel that way. If there’s a time when we all really want to do it, that’s the only time for us to do it, because I don’t think it should be about anything else other than the fact that we’re all like, ‘Hey, this was really fun. We should do this again.’ But until that time, I feel like I’m really enjoying making music and experimenting. I enjoy making music this way too much to see myself doing a full switch, to go back and do that again. Because I also think if we went back to doing things the same way, it wouldn’t be the same, anyway.”
A post shared by @harrystyles on Oct 10, 2019 at 8:02pm PDT
Zayn Malik was the first to leave the band in 2015 and has released two RnB-flavoured albums since, most recently in 2017.
Niall Horan released a pop-folk album Flicker in 2017.
Louis Tomlinson became a judge on The X-Factor in the UK, his mentee Dalton Harris won the show last year.
Liam Payne’s debut solo album including the single strip that down, which went platinum in the US and the UK.
Harry’s self-titled 2017 debut album topped the UK and US charts and he also had a role in the critically acclaimed film Dunkirk.
Yesterday he also launched a website that spits out affirmations in what seems to be a clever promotional tool for the album.
Get yours here: doyouknowwhoyouare.com
topics: Harry Styles, one direction, Rolling Stone, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, louis tomlinson
Olivia Wilde Is Now Wearing The Same Jewellery As Harry Styles
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Have Harry Styles And Olivia Wilde Really Moved In Together?
Harry Styles And Olivia Wilde Are In Love And They Don’t Care Who Knows It
The Best Twitter Responses To Olivia Wilde And Harry Styles’ Reported Romance
Phoebe Waller-Bridge And Harry Styles Dancing Together In Matching Outfits Is The Best New Year’s Gift
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i3 Interactive acquires controlling interest in Indian Poker Operation
3 Interactive announced that it has closed the previously announced transaction to acquire a controlling interest in an Indian entity that owns an active Indian poker brand (Indian Poker Operation).
The completion of the transaction marks the latest step in the company’s continued efforts to capitalize on the international growth of poker and create long-term value for its shareholders.
“We are thrilled to have completed this Transaction. With the historical and projected growth of poker in India the Company has strategically positioned itself within a key market in order to deliver strong performance and return on shareholder value. This acquisition is a significant step forward in executing on our strategy to identify and pursue growth in strategic markets. The Indian Poker Operation creates an immediate additional stream of recurring revenues from a loyal customer base in an established international market for the poker business,” said Chris Neville, Chief Executive Officer of the Company.
Indian Poker Operation
As of the date of this press release, the Indian Poker Operation is part of one of the largest poker networks in the world with over a million registrations and 100,000 active users. The Indian Poker Operation operates on a mobile poker platform with features such as unparalleled welcome bonuses and VIP programs.
The Transaction, which was completed pursuant to the terms of the business combination agreement dated August 10, 202 entered into by and among the Company and an arm’s length, private British Columbia corporation, was completed by way of a three-cornered amalgamation under the Business Corporations Act, among the Company, B.C. Corp., and 1260039 B.C. Ltd. (“Subco”), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company incorporated for the purposes of completing the Amalgamation. Under the Amalgamation, B.C. Corp. and Subco amalgamated to combine their corporate existence, with the entity resulting from the amalgamation continuing as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company under the name “i3 India Holdings Corp.” (the “B.C. India Holding Subsidiary”).
Pursuant to the Transaction, the Company acquired all the issued and outstanding shares of B.C. Corp. (the “Target Shares”), and in exchange, issued, to the former shareholders of B.C. Corp., one (1) common share in the capital of the Company (each, a “Common Share”) for each Target Share held prior to the Amalgamation (the “Exchange Ratio”). An aggregate of 7,859,600 Common Shares were issued to the former shareholders of B.C. Corp. As part of the Transaction, Chris Neville, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, was appointed as the sole director and officer of the B.C. India Holding Subsidiary.
Prior to closing the Transaction, B.C. Corp. held a 99.37% ownership interest in an Indian holding entity (the “Indian Holding Entity”), with the Indian Holding Entity holding a controlling 67.47% ownership interest in the Indian Operating Entity. As a result of the Transaction, the B.C. India Holding Subsidiary now holds a 99.37% ownership interest in the Indian Holding Entity. Pursuant to a shareholders agreement entered into by the Indian Holding Entity and the minority shareholders of the Indian Operating Entity, the Indian Holding Entity is entitled to increase its ownership interest in the Indian Operating Entity up to 75% (on a pre-Reorganization basis, as defined below) on or before May 31, 2020, conditional on satisfying certain funding obligations. The Indian Holding Entity is expected to complete a capital reorganization on or before the end of calendar Q1, 2021 (the “Reorganization”).
Following completion of the Reorganization, the B.C. India Holding Subsidiary’s ownership interest in the Indian Holding Entity is expected to be reduced to 86.12% (on a post-Reorganization basis), and, assuming that the Indian Holding Entity satisfies its funding obligations, the Indian Holding Entity’s ownership interest in the Indian Operating Entity is expected to be reduced to 64.59% (on a post-Reorganization basis).
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acquires, controlling, Indian, Interactive, interest, Operation, poker
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DEWA announces record low bid for 200MW Dubai CSP solar plant
The bid is nearly 40 per cent lower than the previous international record
by Robert Anderson
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority said on Monday it had received a record low bid of $9.45 cents per kilowatt-hour for its 200MW concentrated solar power (CSP) plant.
The bid, which MEED.com reports came from Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power, is nearly 40 per cent lower than the previous international record. Others ranged from 10.85 cents to 17.35 cents per kilowatt-hour.
The plant, which aims to be the biggest CSP project in the world based on the independent power producer model, forms the fourth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park and is due to be operational by April 2021.
DEWA said it opened bids from four international consortiums after first inviting expressions of interest in October. It later received interest from 30 players and then seven requests for quotations from bidders and consortium partners in December.
Read: DEWA receives 30 expressions of interest for Dubai concentrated solar plant
The Requests for Proposal were sent to qualified bidders in January.
Dubai plans to eventually generate 1,000MW from CSP as part of plans to boost capacity at the solar park from 1,000MW by 2020 to 5,000MW by 2030.
The 13MW photovoltaic first phase of the plant became operational in 2013, followed by the 200MW second phase in March 2017.
The 800MW third phase is scheduled for 2020 followed by the CSP phase in 2021.
Read: DEWA signs purchase agreement with Masdar for 800MW solar project
Dubai is aiming to generate 7 per cent of total power output from clean energy by 2020, 25 per cent by 2030 and 75 per cent by 2050.
Robert Anderson June 6, 2017
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Saudi’s AlUla South project to begin issuing applications for building permits next week
The kingdom has announced plans to establish AlUla as the world’s largest living museum
AlUla South, the urban redevelopment project taking shape in Saudi Arabia, has revealed details of its first phase, developer Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) has confirmed.
Applications for building permits and commercial activities in AlUla South will begin on March 15, RCU said in a statement.
The first phase of building permits will include parts of Alazizia and Alsalam neighbourhoods. Landowners in that area will be allowed to build residential or commercial properties.
A new design studio has also been established – under the supervision of the RCU planning team – to help residents’ architects adopt new guidelines, while providing advice on sustainable urban development.
Overall, urban regeneration will focus on the existing built-up areas of AlUla and AlUla South, with 80 per cent of AlUla county remaining protected, including the historic old town area.
Amr AlMadani, CEO of the RCU said: “Opening permits for residential and commercial building in AlUla South is a first step towards unlocking growth while enhancing quality of life and the overall aesthetic of AlUla for the community.
“We have launched a series of programmes and initiatives aimed at enhancing quality of life for local communities, including training programmes for 3,500 AlUla community members and more than 900 jobs created, and we are now building a high-quality urban landscape to match.”
The move follows a number of development projects aimed at improving AlUla’s tourism infrastructure, including the expansion of Prince Abdulmajid Airport to welcome 400,000 visitors annually.
The masterplan and development programme will include multiple streams focusing on infrastructure, telecommunications and transportation systems, the statement said.
This will be accompanied by the provision of new training and career opportunities in sectors that serve the strategic direction of the governorate.
Located 1,100km from Riyadh in north-west Saudi Arabia, AlUla is spread across over 22,561 sqkm and includes an oasis valley, sandstone mountains and ancient cultural heritage sites dating back thousands of years to the Lihyan and Nabataean time periods.
The most well-known and recognised site in AlUla is Hegra, Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO world heritage site.
Last month, the kingdom announced that under Saudi Arabia’s 2030 Vision, it plans to establish AlUla as the world’s largest living museum and a major heritage, cultural, arts and adventure tourism destination.
Saudi Arabia aims to host two million visitors a year in AlUla by 2035, and the RCU estimates the project will create more than 67,000 new jobs – almost half of them in the tourism sector.
Aarti Nagraj March 8, 2020
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Community Eichenstein: Cuomo’s Ruling on Camps ‘Makes Zero Sense’
CommunityCoronavirus
Eichenstein: Cuomo’s Ruling on Camps ‘Makes Zero Sense’
By Reuvain Borchardt
Wednesday, June 17, 2020 at 1:45 pm | כ"ה סיון תש"פ
New York state Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein joined other officials to bust open Dome Playground in Boro Park on Tuesday, defying Mayor de Blasio’s closure of playgrounds. (Benjamin Kanter)
New York State Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein had lobbied the Cuomo Administration for six weeks to allow camps to open this summer, as the coronavirus pandemic has waned and all regions of the state are now in one phase or another of reopening.
Eichenstein spoke with Hamodia on Tuesday, four days after the administration announced that, despite day camps being allowed to open, sleepaway camps would be banned.
What was your reaction when you heard the news late Friday afternoon that sleepaway camps will be banned in New York state this summer?
I received a text message shortly before the official announcement. I was very disappointed, and I think the governor is 100% wrong.
Quite frankly, after all the negotiations, the back and forth, over the last six weeks, I was surprised that that’s the decision that the governor came to.
I think there were many ways this could have been handled aside from just “yes” or “no.” And I was actually very surprised that it was a hard “no, under no circumstances.”
The announcement was made in the form of a written statement by Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker. Do you believe that this was actually Dr. Zucker’s decision, or do you believe that Cuomo just had the commissioner release the statement because he wanted political cover for what he knew would be a controversial decision?
When this effort to allow camps to open began six weeks ago, the conversations were actually around both sleepaway camps and day camps. Once the governor announced two weeks ago that day camps could open, the effort was obviously solely focused on sleepaway camps. But for a month, the conversation was about both day camps and sleepaway camps. How convenient for the governor to make the announcement about day camps himself — because those were allowed to open — but when it came to sleepaway camps, because they were not allowed to open, all of a sudden it was the health commissioner’s announcement. Don’t be fooled. At the end of the day, there is one chief executive in this state, and that is the governor.
This was the governor’s decision to make. And when the governor and health commissioner were asked about the camp closures at the following day’s press conference, the commissioner said that during the pandemic, “This has been one of the tougher decisions that I have had to make about, or pass the message on, you know, pass the advice on …”
The health commissioner can make a recommendation, but ultimately the buck stops at the governor’s desk. This was the governor’s decision. I don’t get fooled by these political games that when it comes to the day camps, that’s good news so the governor announces it, but when it’s about sleepaway camps, it’s not good news, so they have the commissioner announce it. We know whose decision it is ultimately.
It seems that you believe that the decision was not based only on the health commissioner’s recommendation. So why do you believe, ultimately the governor decided to close the camps?
Well, I am very surprised that this is what his ultimate decision was. I find it very hard to believe that this was solely based on the recommendations from the Health Department, because we have worked together with camp directors and medical experts, we’ve put together some really impressive documents. I was on many, many conference calls; on these conference calls, the medical concerns were addressed.
And by the way, these were not just some local doctors. We’re talking about some real medical experts.
Even Scott Gottlieb, the former FDA commissioner, has said publicly, at a CNBC health-care conference, that he believes that “Sleepaway camps have the potential to create a protective bubble.”
There was an article written in The Atlantic by Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel — who worked at the National Institutes of Health — about how important sleepaway camps are and how they can be opened the right way and safely.
I really don’t believe that this was solely based on the medical concerns, because I actually don’t believe that the medical concerns are that great, after listening in to all these conversations. I’m not a medical expert, I can’t speak to most of what the doctors were talking about, but I was listening in on those conversations, and I’ve read the documents that they have put together. This is not a politician trying to make the medical case; this was done by medical experts.
And put aside the argument of the positives outweighing the negatives. Just the concerns of how to create this bubble, and the testing — it can be done and it makes sense.
If you actually think about it, it makes no sense that day camps are less of a concern than sleepaway camps from a medical perspective.
It makes zero sense that the medical community is okay with day camps, but not sleepaway camp. Sleepaway camps, if anything, should be less of a concern.
So if it was not a medical decision, why do you believe the governor banned sleepaway camps?
I’ve been struggling with that.
I don’t think it’s fair for me to throw out potential theories without being able to back them up concretely, but again, I find it hard to believe that this was a solely medical-based, health-based decision.
Do you believe that there was opposition from the upstate counties and towns, where the camps are located, and that they were lobbying against the sleepaway camps, and that ultimately is what carried the day?
Earlier on we got pushback from some of the counties. We’ve actually been in touch with some of the counties, and in the last couple of weeks, we’ve really not gotten much pushback from the counties. At the end of the day I do not believe that that was much of a factor.
So do you believe that Dr. Zucker’s statement was just used by the administration as political cover for Cuomo’s decision which was really based on another reason, or do you believe that Dr. Zucker really believed that statement that he put out, and the governor simply chose not to override him?
Dr. Zucker does not put out a statement on something like this without approval from the governor. The governor has made it clear throughout the entire reopening process that he is the one that makes the decisions on reopening.
I’ll tell you what the facts are the way I see it, and all your readers can decide for themselves why is it that day camps, the good news, was announced on a weekday by the governor, while sleepaway camps, the bad news, was announced on a Friday just before 5 p.m. which in the world of journalism is referred to as a Friday news dump. [Ed.’s note: The “Friday news dump” is a technique used by politicians to release controversial news Friday evening, just before the weekend, in the hope that it will get less attention.]
Do you believe that Zucker told the governor that he wants to ban camps and put out a statement banning it, or do you believe the governor said to Zucker, “I want to ban camps, so I need you to write a statement banning them”?
I don’t know who went to whom. I believe there are conversations going on. But ultimately, it’s the governor’s decision. Could it be that amongst the members of his administration, there is disagreement on issues? I’m sure. That’s healthy. Every executive wants to have different perspectives within his administration. In business as well as in politics. But ultimately, it all comes together and lands on someone’s desk, and there’s one person who needs to make that decision. That’s the governor.
So if you don’t believe the decision was solely medically based, and there wasn’t a significant opposing lobbying effort by the upstate localities in recent weeks, why do you believe Gov. Cuomo banned the camps?
First, let me say that I do think they were fearful of the responsibility.
But honestly, I think it’s a question that you have to ask the governor — and I would really love to hear the answer myself.
On that note of being fearful of the responsibility: I know that you and many others seem to be totally advocating for camps’ opening. Is there any concern, on your part and on the part of others you’ve been dealing with, that maybe camps should indeed be closed? I’m asking because it seems that you’ve been all for it.
First and foremost, I would never, never, ever advocate for anything that potentially puts our children’s lives, or anyone’s lives, at risk. And I don’t only say this as an assemblyman.
This was to be the first year that my 13-year-old daughter was going to sleepaway camp; she was super-excited. I was going to send my own child to camp. As a father, I would never send my child if I wasn’t certain that this could be done in a safe manner.
This is not a political person saying it’s safe. We had an impressive team of medical experts that came together, all saying this could be done.
We had 19 pages of guidance, outlining exactly how everything was going to work, from the testing to the protocols, to the staff to the “protective bubble.” It was really impressive.
I would never push something unless I’m certain that we’re not endangering anyone’s life.
Can you take our readers now into the details of the lobbying effort? I know this one question could be a five-hour discussion. But if you can tell us, somewhat briefly, the story of this lobbying effort.
A child protesting for camp openings, in Williamsburg last week. (@WMSBG)
You’re right; it could be a five hour discussion!
But I’ll start by saying that in general, whenever it comes to advocacy, it’s always a delicate balance of when do you start a public campaign versus having private conversations. When do you want to apply public pressure versus letting these conversations just gradually happen. All these things are always a balance.
About six weeks ago I started engaging the governor’s office about camps.
The city had already announced that the school system would remain closed for the remainder of the school year. The hope was that if we could open camps, we knew that it would be tough to get government to agree to open schools, given that they had shut the school system for the remainder of the school year. But at the time, the thought was that if the government agreed to allow camps to open, since the kids weren’t in school perhaps the camps could even open a couple of weeks or a month earlier than usual.
But as negotiations were dragging on, it became clear that would be unlikely.
We had guidance that I’ve mentioned, which were produced by medical experts and camp directors. People also have to understand that aside from the actual guidance, there are many other pieces to it. For example, when we discuss testing, you have to ensure that you actually have the test kits available. You have to ensure that there’s a lab that’s willing to do it and is committed to testing, thousands of test kits. We had a lab lined up willing to do it. There were other concerns as it relates to the local region. For example, the local hospital: Sullivan County’s Harris Hospital. If, chas v’shalom, something happens, Harris Hospital would be overwhelmed. How do we handle that? That’s a concern to the governor’s office. Hatzolah agreed to transport downstate should there chas v’shalom be an uptick in cases.
So it’s not only about the actual guidance and the protective bubble. It’s also how you deal with things beyond the bubble, should that become necessary.
I was in touch with many Litvishe Rabbanim and Chassidishe Rebbes. They unanimously told me to go ahead with this effort. In fact, they were constantly calling me for updates about where things stand, how does the situation look, how can we be helpful.
Earlier on we were in touch with some of the non-Jewish camps as well. But as it got closer to the camp season, unfortunately, those camps started making the decision that it would be tough for them to open, and many decided against it.
During the course of the conference calls, it became clear that the Health Department was taking the position against opening. We tried to address all these concerns. But ultimately I don’t know that they were ever going to move anyway despite all the concerns being addressed. That’s my guess, my personal sense.
Who did you speak to in the administration?
I’ve been in touch with literally the entire senior staff, constantly. This was not something that was thrown to lower-level staffers.
There were numerous conference calls. The engagement was there.
Early last week, it became pretty clear that it was going to be nearly impossible to move the Health Department off their “no” decision.
So I came up with an idea that I pitched to the governor’s office. I said, “Why don’t we place sleepaway camps in Phase 4 of the reopening.” Phase 4 officially includes “arts/entertainment/recreation” and “education” and other large gatherings.
They had decided to a standalone announcement on camps — which seemed pretty clear would be a “no” — rather than including it in the four phases. So I said, “Put it in Phase 4, where it rightfully belongs with other large gatherings. If you’re going to open museums and recreational centers, why can’t we have a bubble-environment sleepaway camp?
Sullivan County is already now in Phase 2. They’ll be in Phase 4 by the second week of July at the latest.
But this proposal I made to the governor’s senior staff, to include camps in Phase 4, even that was rejected.
So when we started this interview, I said I was very disappointed by the decision to ban camps, but I was also very surprised that they landed at such a hard “no” — I believed that there were other ways to go about this; this is one of the other options I was referring to. Their unwillingness to even allow for some possibility of sleepaway camps reopening in any form.
During the negotiations, did you point out that if sleepaway camps would be banned, they’ll just have day camps at the site, which will run from morning until night, like a regular camp except for the sleeping?
The governor’s entire reopening plan is filled with inconsistencies and makes absolutely no sense.
It makes no sense that day camps in which children are going home every night can operate, yet sleepaway camps, where they’re in a protective bubble, can’t operate. For the same reason that it makes no sense why a small business in Boro Park can’t be open, perhaps with a limited capacity or even by appointment only, while big-box chain stores, can be packed without any regard for social distancing.
The entire reopening plan makes no sense.
That can be another five-hour conversation — just to go into all the inconsistencies of the reopening!
In day camps, the kids are together all day, then at night they go back into the regular population, then they come back to camp the next day. But in the sleepaway camp, they’re together all the time and never go back into the regular population, and ultimately interact with fewer people.
Correct. It makes no sense.
And by the way, the fact of the matter is that many of these camps are now going to go to other states that have allowed sleepaway camps. So what did you accomplish by banning camps in New York?
Do you believe this decision is final or is the lobbying effort continuing? Do you believe there is a chance that New York might reverse this decision?
We never give up. But I find it very hard to believe that the governor will reverse this decision tomorrow.
Many people are saying, “Look at what these huge Black Lives Matters protests have accomplished in such a short time. Why doesn’t the Jewish community take 50,000 kids, who are not in yeshivah anyway now, bus them into Albany and make massive demonstrations?”
We’ve had those conversations. I will say this: on all the calls, the governor’s people know the numbers. They know that there are 42,000 Jewish children who attend sleepaway camp in New York. The numbers were clear; that piece resonated well.
It’s all part of advocacy. You try to do whatever you can. You push on all fronts.
There’s a feeling that some in government may believe that summer camp is a luxury for rich children, and don’t realize that in the Orthodox community, there are many large families living in small homes in the city, and for them, even from middle- or lower-income families, camp is a way of life, not a luxury. Do you believe that the Cuomo administration has that belief, or do they fully realize what camp means to the Orthodox community?
I think the administration understood what camp means to our community.
If, after all is said and done, this decision is not reversed, what will summer 2020 look like for New York children?
Some camps will obviously go out of state.
There’s the potential of a lawsuit to try to overturn the camp ban.
You’ll see day camp greatly expanded here in the city and in the Catskills.
Even some of the teens, who normally go to sleepaway camp, I’m sure there will be day camps for them.
But I’m not going to lie: I’m very concerned. This is part of the advocacy when we were talking to the governor’s office. The reality is that our children have now been home for three months. They need structure. They need educational programming. And we cannot have thousands of children, thousands of young adults roaming the streets in boredom.
It’s easy for the governor to sit in the governor’s mansion and hand out orders. But if you’re going to say no to structured educational programming for our children, what is your plan? What is your alternative? Because this will just create chaos.
And if we have chaos on the streets because our children are not in a structured setting, that’s on Governor Cuomo.
rborchardt@hamodia.com
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George R.R. Martin in conversation with Jane Johnson
Last night at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London, 500 George R.R. Martin fans had the opportunity to listen to the man himself in conversation with his UK editor (and Voyager Publishing Director, and successful author in her own right) Jane Johnson. Tickets were sold through Waterstones Gower Street, who were wonderful hosts for George and Jane, and who delivered a sell-out event.
The scheduled 30-minute conversation overran to just under an hour, but no-one in the audience was complaining – in fact, most tweeters were annoyed that it didn’t go on longer! George opened with two very exciting announcements: that both Game of Thrones the TV series and A Dance with Dragons had been nominated for Hugo Awards (for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form and Best Novel, respectively) and that Game of Thrones has officially been picked up by HBO for a third season.
Then Jane opened with the questioning, beginning with a note on how closely related Fantasy and Historical fiction are – as George said, they are “sisters under the skin” – which gave George the opportunity to expand upon his love of Historical fiction. Any George fan should read his excellent interview with Bernard Cornwell, and he also cites the brilliant French author Maurice Druon (The Accursed Kings) as one of the influences for A Song of Ice and Fire.
Following on were questions concerning how he manages to hold all the character threads and settings and histories of A Song of Ice and Fire in his head while writing (George admits: sometimes at the expense of real-life memories!) and his views on war and why fantasy writers in particular find it such fascinating subject matter. A few questions from Jane’s Twitter feed (Follow her: @JaneJohnsonBakr) caused a few laughs and a bit of consternation from George – like the question about how he manages to write so well from the point of view of a teenage girl! The answer, said the author, comes down to empathy – he’s not a dwarf, a crippled boy or a teenage girl but all of those characters are, at their heart, just people, and that common thread of humanity helps George get into the skin of any person he needs to. Look out for a full transcript of the interview, coming shortly on this blog.
A very successful signing followed, with fans lining up to have their books ‘defaced’ (as George calls it) by one of their idols.
It all went very smoothly and we have it on good authority that George RR Martin loved his time meeting and greeting the UK fans. Voyager would like to extend a special thanks to anyone who came out to the event and contributed to being such a gracious audience – it was a great event and that’s all down to the fans.
Preview the entire World of Ice and Fire book in 13 seconds!
Voyager UK hosts a party at the Tower of London
Publishing today: Ray Bradbury’s Summer Morning Summer Night now in beautiful new Livery
12 Days of Dragons: Rhaegal
Designing a Spaceship
Introducing Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron
When I sat down to write Kingdom of Souls many years ago, I was terrified. Growing up, I desperately searched for characters in books who looked like me and was always disappointed to find none. I loved reading stories where kids saved the world, tamed dragons, wielded magic, flew… Read More
Welcome to Rilpor, please enjoy the stabbing! by Anna Stephens
On 5 September 2019, the third book in my Godblind Trilogy will be published. Godblind, Darksoul and Bloodchild chart the story of an epic, world-changing and god-killing war of conquest and religious zealotry, not just between the neighbouring kingdoms of Rilpor and Mireces, but between the Gods… Read More
The End of a Trilogy by Anna Smith Spark
Five years ago I sat down and started writing a scene of violence. Men in the desert. Heat. Sunlight. Battle. A hero with a terrible flaw in him. A story emerged, fully formed, pouring itself out of me, a whole world and its history there in my head, love and… Read More
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School improvement plan introduced to public
The plans for multi-million dollar improvements to Thayer Central Community Schools were presented to the public last week in two townhall-style meetings. The presentation focused on an ‘ideal’ design developed by W Design Associates of Hastings addressing all concerns initiated by the school’s staff, administration and board. And while the plans do answer wants and needs, the $10-16 million price tag takes away the breath of even the most stoic taxpayer.
“You know who’s going to pay for this, don’t you?” Asked local farmer Bob Marsh attending the Monday night meeting. “All of us with ag land. My land valuation increased by 37 percent while my dad’s house went down. We’ll end up paying 80 percent of it. The plan is great, but it isn’t fair that some of us will have to pay so much.”
TCCS Superintendent Drew Harris said the plans as shown were not solid and actually had quite a bit of flexibility. “It’s like a home remodeling project,” he said. “You start with what you want and whittle back.”
W Design architect Todd Kwiecinski walked those present through the proposed changes which include site and building design changes, the addition and upgrade of athletic facilities and the addition of an auditorium and fine arts center. While the design is simply an outline and more changes are sure to be made, large-scale modifications were the addition of a sunken gymnasium providing enough seating for 1,200 people, elimination of the central parking lot and the addition of a separate auditorium.
With the addition of a new gymnasium, the elementary gym will be used for more classrooms; the hope is to move primary students from the school downtown up to the main campus. Harris said he was told by the fire marshal that the primary school gym would need to be sprinkled if the district continued to use the downtown facility. He said with the additional classrooms and space suggested by the proposed design, the district could close the primary building and sell it.
Campus security will also improve with all the district’s students in one place and the elimination of the central parking lot. The new gymnasium would connect the two existing buildings unifying the campus. “Right now with kids going through the parking lot between buildings, all the doors must stay unlocked to allow access to the buildings,” Harris said. “Quite frankly, it’s a different world today and security is an issue.”
Kwiecinski said the main addition (new gymnasium, entrance, elimination of the central parking lot) will cost $7.5 to 8 million while the auditorium will cost about $4.6 million. Other modifications will run about $902,000, as the design reads now.
During the primary election in March, Fillmore Central patrons overwhelmingly rejected a proposed $9.8 million bond issue to pay for improvements and more space at the school. If the bond had passed, it would have paid for a 36,000-square-foot addition to the high school and raised the taxes on a $100,000 home by about $115 a year.
Harris said the Thayer Central school board will hold additional presentations, the next later this month; information will include more specific dollar figures in relation to individual projects and improvements within the design.
← Commissioners review plan of assessment
Hebron Fourth of July big hit despite heat →
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January 8, 2013 hebronjournal 0
Creighton Law School Presents Small Business Workshop April 8th
April 4, 2013 hebronjournal 0
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PORT.im
CHAPTER 9 - Provisions relating to specific processing situations: Articles 85 - 91
Safeguards and derogations relating to processing for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes
1. Processing for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes, shall be subject to appropriate safeguards, in accordance with this Regulation, for the rights and freedoms of the data subject. Those safeguards shall ensure that technical and organisational measures are in place in particular in order to ensure respect for the principle of data minimisation. Those measures may include pseudonymisation provided that those purposes can be fulfilled in that manner. Where those purposes can be fulfilled by further processing which does not permit or no longer permits the identification of data subjects, those purposes shall be fulfilled in that manner.
2. Where personal data are processed for scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes, Union or Member State law may provide for derogations from the rights referred to in Articles 15, 16, 18 and 21 subject to the conditions and safeguards referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article in so far as such rights are likely to render impossible or seriously impair the achievement of the specific purposes, and such derogations are necessary for the fulfilment of those purposes.
3. Where personal data are processed for archiving purposes in the public interest, Union or Member State law may provide for derogations from the rights referred to in Articles 15, 16, 18, 19, 20 and 21 subject to the conditions and safeguards referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article in so far as such rights are likely to render impossible or seriously impair the achievement of the specific purposes, and such derogations are necessary for the fulfilment of those purposes.
4. Where processing referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 serves at the same time another purpose, the derogations shall apply only to processing for the purposes referred to in those paragraphs.
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Pro-Cannabis Beto O’Rourke Faces Off With Ted Cruz Over Drug Policy
Beto O’Rourke is challenging Ted Cruz in the Senate race. With radically different policies, who will come out on top?
Beto O’Rourke for Congress Committee/ Flickr
Drug policy is emerging as a campaign issue in the Texas Senate race, according to local media reports. On Tuesday, Republican incumbent Ted Cruz attacked Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke for his pro-cannabis stance. O’Rourke currently represents Texas’ 16th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
While on the campaign trail, Cruz talked with reporters about a story in conservative media published earlier in the day. That story said that as a member of the El Paso City Council, O’Rourke had called for legalizing all narcotics.
In 2009, O’Rourke had introduced an addition to a resolution on the war on drugs passed by the city council. His amendment actually merely called for “honest, open national debate on ending the prohibition on narcotics.”
And at the time, he was clear he wasn’t calling for the legalization of all drugs.
“I’m not saying that we need to do that – to end the prohibition,” O’Rourke said in a 2009 council meeting. “I think we need to have a serious discussion about doing that, and that may, in the end, be the right course of action.”
But that didn’t stop Cruz from running with the story. He suggested to reporters at a San Antonio campaign stop that O’Rourke wanted to legalize all drugs. Interestingly, he left that possibility open for cannabis.
“Reasonable minds, perhaps, can differ on whether marijuana should be illegal, but what Congressman O’Rourke introduced was a resolution for the City Council to take up legalizing all narcotics, legalizing everything, legalizing heroin, legalizing deadly opioids,” Cruz said.
“As this country is facing a crisis — an opioid crisis … and in light of that growing tragedy, Congressman O’Rourke’s radical proposal to legalize all narcotics is a suggestion that might be very popular up at Berkeley. It might be popular in far-left circles, but it doesn’t reflect the values of Texans. Texans don’t want to see heroin and deadly opioids legalized and our kids able to just walk into the corner store and buy them.”
Cruz also said that the federal government should let the states take the lead on cannabis policy.
“I’ve always said that should be a question for the states. I think different states can resolve it differently. So in Texas — if we were voting on it in Texas — I would vote against legalizing it. But I think it’s the prerogative of Texans to make that decision, and I think another state like Colorado can make a very different decision.”
O’Rourke Meets With Voters Over Doughnuts
Although O’Rourke has not made cannabis legalization an issue in the campaign, he often hears about the subject. Voters asked his views at a campaign stop at a Sonora, Texas doughnut shop last weekend. O’Rourke stated his position clearly.
“I’m on a bill that would end the federal prohibition on marijuana once and for all,” he said.
O’Rourke also noted that there are far more pressing priorities for limited government resources. He said that we are “spending on that war on drugs right now when we could put it into the classroom, into teacher pay, into treating an opioid epidemic, a methamphetamine epidemic that I’m seeing through lots of West Texas right now.”
O’Rourke and Cruz are currently running in a statistical dead heat for the Senate seat. A Quinnipiac University poll released two weeks ago shows Cruz leading 47-44 percent, a margin of three points. But the margin of error for the poll is plus or minus 3.6 points.
A.J. Herrington
A.J. Herrington is a San Diego-based writer and photographer covering cannabis and the environment.
CBD Company Organizes Patients To Fight For Better Medical Marijuana
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High Times to Host First-Ever Licensed Recreational Cannabis Event
bySean Cooley
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Tag Archives: Holbeck Hall Hotel
LOST HOUSES, YORKSHIRE
June 22, 2018 David Poole
A Victorian country house you’ve most likely never heard of… except you did know it – and twenty-five years ago it fell into the sea
In 1879, when George Alderson-Smith decided to build a new house on a clifftop above Scarborough, he chose not to listen to those people who thought it ill-advised. It was common knowledge that there was a history of cliff collapses in the area, but the house called Wheatcroft Cliff was built anyway. He died here in 1931, reaching the grand old age of 96, still declaring the property ‘safe as houses’.
114 years later, his words were little comfort to Barry and Joan Turner who had bought the property in 1988. In June 1993, after a period of heavy rainfall, the world watched as the now-named Holbeck Hall Hotel fell into the sea, the victim of a rotational landslip. It seemed that the Victorian doom-mongers had been correct after all.
It was a tragic end for the former ‘country house by the sea’. It had to be demolished completely after the incident, and twenty-five years on, there are few traces of its existence.
George Alderson-Smith (1834-1931), a native of Leeds, was the son of Mr John Smith, J.P., of Burley House and Belvedere in Harrogate, a partner in the firm of Beckett and Co. He had lived in Scarborough for nearly half a century, the whole time connected with the fishing industry. He was one of the town’s biggest steam trawler owners, amassing a small fortune and a reputation to match. This wealth allowed him to build Wheatcroft Cliff looking over Scarborough’s picturesque South Bay.
In time, Alderson-Smith became chairman of the Grand Hotel Company, chairman of the South Cliff Tramway Company and a director of the Scarborough Spa Company. His standing in the community also allowed him to become a J.P. for the North Riding of Yorkshire and eventually Deputy Lieutenant of the same county. Two of his mischievous sons, Hubert and Alder, had caused significant embarrassment when they appeared before Scarborough Police Court in 1889 after throwing five public seats over a cliff.
Alderson-Smith’s fishing business didn’t end well, his last three trawlers – the Seal, the Otter and Dalhousie – were sunk by First World War enemy submarines somewhere off Aberdeen, but by this time he was well into retirement. When Alderson-Smith died in 1931 he left gross estate to the value of £107,736 (net £93,812).
Wheatcroft Cliff was described as ‘standing in six acres of secluded grounds at the extremity of the South Cliff, from where it overlooked Holbeck Gardens and the coast, north and south’. The contents of Wheatcroft Cliff were quickly sold at auction. The important collections included antique furniture, oriental porcelain of the Ming and Chinese dynasties, fine old English silver, oil paintings, watercolours, arms and armour and a fine library of books.
In June 1932, Wheatcroft Cliff was bought by Messrs Laughton, the proprietors of the Pavilion Hotel in Scarborough, who announced that the mansion was going to be converted into a first-class hotel. Mr Robert Thomas Laughton was the brother of Charles Laughton, the actor, and whose family had been operating hotels in Scarborough for 30 years. He told the Leeds Mercury that they had been searching for some years through various parts of the country for an estate suitable for an hotel to stand in its own grounds, which he considered to be a feature of the most successful first-class holiday hotels.
All the architectural features of Wheatcroft Cliff were preserved, but a new wing was built to accommodate its new services. Once the conversion was completed it had cost nearly £40,000.
Scarborough was actor Charles Laughton’s boyhood home, where he had his first experience of acting as a member of Scarborough Amateur Players. “I found him in holiday mood, strolling in the beautiful grounds of Holbeck Hall Hotel, which his mother and two brothers recently opened.” From the Leeds Mercury. 3 September 1935. Image: The British Newspaper Archive.
“Charles Laughton is once again in the news. I can hardly pick up a paper without seeing some review of his new film ‘Vessel of Wrath’. Though I will admit to being one of his fans, there is something which appeals to me far more, and that is the Laughton Hotels at Scarborough – the Pavilion, the Royal and Holbeck Hall. Now, the Laughton Hotels at Scarborough are a family concern. Although Charles is a director, it is his mother and his two brothers, Tom and Fred, who are in active control. In nearly every town you will find a local name, and I believe I am correct in saying that the Laughtons have been associated with hotel keeping in Scarborough since the first one was opened. Perhaps my favourite of the Laughton hotels is Holbeck Hall – the hotel with a view. Here there are six acres of private ground stretching down to the beach, and you can walk straight from your bedroom down to the sea in your swimming suit. There are all the characteristics of a country mansion. In the hall is a magnificent baronial fireplace, beautiful parquet floor, a minstrels’ gallery – everything, in fact, to promote a sense of well-being.” – ‘Hotel Discoveries’ by Ashley Courtenay in The Illustrated and Sporting Dramatic News – March 18 1938.
From the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 28 April 1934. Image: The British Newspaper Archive.
And so Wheatcroft Cliff began life as the four-star Holbeck Hall Hotel. Although it was used briefly as part of a scheme to re-settle returned prisoners of war after World War Two. The property passed through other owners until it was bought by Barry and Joan Turner, who added it to their English Rose Hotels portfolio.
Until that fateful day in 1993. Cracks had been seen near the hotel some weeks before, but it took until the night of 3 June for the cliff near the hotel to finally give way. Guests had to make a quick exit after its owners realised the seriousness of the situation following the landslip which left the building perched perilously close to the edge. As the cliff continued to collapse, parts of the building soon began to follow.
Image: BBC News.
The hotel was in ruins by the time the ground finally stabilised by the end of the weekend, and what was left was bulldozed into the ground two weeks later. The Turners later used the insurance money to buy a new hotel in Malton and continued to build up their hotel empire.
At the bottom of the cliff where the Holbeck Hall Hotel once stood, the material which fell during the landslip between 3-5 June 1993 has been landscaped, giving little clue as to the dramatic events which took place there 25 years ago. Image: BBC News.
Charles LaughtonCountry HouseCountry MansionHolbeck Hall HotelMansionNorth YorkshireScarboroughThe British Newspaper ArchiveThe Victorian SocietyWheatcroft Cliff
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<- Blog
Phi Theta Kappa Graduate on Path to Medical Forensics Career
Michelle Tsai
Daylin, third from left, at her Phi Theta Kappa induction ceremony with her family and supporters, including mentor Susann, at far right.
As a newcomer to the U.S. and a student at North Grand High School in Chicago, Daylin Amaya faced some basic challenges, such as learning English and completing her schoolwork in a new language. She not only graduated high school, but also earned a spot at her top choice school, Arrupe College of Loyola University Chicago.
From left: Susann Gilbert, Amaya Daylin, and iMentor program manager Kevin Finnegan celebrating Amaya's high school graduation in 2017
This summer, Daylin will graduate from Arrupe College with an associate’s degree in social and behavioral science. She plans to continue her studies at a four-year college and aims to become a medical examiner.
Daylin’s mentor, Susann Gilbert, a longtime Citi employee, was the first person Daylin spent prolonged time with who did not speak Spanish. Through the monthly iMentor meetings with Susann and through texting and talking together on the phone regularly, Daylin was able to practice speaking English and, over time, she became fluent. Susann also helped Daylin research colleges, made visits to schools with her, and and even accompanied her to an admissions interview with Arrupe.
“I strongly believe education is the only thing that will give everybody a fair opportunity at getting jobs,” said Susann. “I’m really proud of Daylin. She has overcome so many hurdles—it’s unbelievable. She takes advantage of every opportunity for advancement she is given, and improves herself continuously.”
“Susann is really lovely and supportive. I know she’s always there and always trying to help me,” said Daylin.
Meeting up after Daylin completed her first semester in college
At Arrupe, Daylin attended school full-time while also holding down a part-time job. She continued to receive support from her mentor on everything from how to write papers to how to deal with stress as a student. “I see now that high school was easy,” said Daylin. “The writing papers and the level of math and science in college – I was really stressing out, and Susann really helped me a lot. Now I don’t stress so much, but I do my best.”
This spring Daylin was inducted into Arrupe’s Phi Theta Kappa honors society. She celebrated with her family, and of course, with Susann.
Read more success stories featuring iMentor students. Learn about becoming a mentor in Baltimore, the Bay Area, Chicago, and New York.
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« India capable of responding to World War III – Experts
The lesson for RAW, IB from Kargil to Ladakh — fix responsibility »
Terrorist leadership degraded; residual terrorist strength in Kashmir below 200, says India’s defence ministry
Residual terrorist strength in Jammu and Kashmir is currently below 200, said India’s Ministry of Defence in its annual review. The ministry also pointed out that local recruitment is decreasing giving a serious blow to the “nefarious designs” of Pakistan to “indigenise” the movement and fuel unrest in the valley.
“Well synergised, intelligence-based operations have resulted in significant successes and have considerably degraded terrorist leadership and their capabilities in Jammu and Kashmir,” the ministry said.
Attempts to spread violence South of Pir Panjal Range have been comprehensively defeated by proactive operations. It is South of Pir Panjal Range from where terrorists from Pakistan make attempts to infiltrate in the valley.
The ministry also said that possible steps are being taken to provide a secure environment to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
“Significant reduction has been observed in protests over the past two years providing an opportunity to the Awaam to lead a peaceful life,” the ministry said.
Attempts of inimical elements to mislead people by running disinformation campaigns were defeated by proactively monitoring the situation and engaging with the local population.
In the challenging times of the global pandemic of COVID-19, the Indian Army rendered assistance not only to the civil administration but directly to civil populace as well, by carrying out medical evacuations, provision of necessary supplies to the needy and educating common people about nitty-gritties of COVID-19.
“The humane approach of the Army has been appreciated by one and all,” the ministry said.
The ministry further pointed out that with the ‘whole of government’ approach adopted against the terror ecosystem and the consistent efforts of the security forces, the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir has seen progressive improvement.
On one hand, a high level of alertness by troops along the Line of Control blunted Pakistan’s endeavors to infiltrate terrorists into the Valley, at the same time, high tempo of kinetic operations in the hinterland ensured denial of operational space to terrorist organisations.
“Ceasefire violations committed by the Pakistan Army were given a befitting reply by own troops causing significant casualties to the Pakistan Army,” the ministry said.
The counter-infiltration grid was strengthened resulting in neutralisation of a number of terrorists along the Line of Control.
“A number of attempts to smuggle arms, ammunition and contraband were also foiled along the Line of Control,” the ministry said.
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Home / Stock Picks / Stock Market Today / 3 Stocks to Watch on Thursday: Jack in the Box Inc. (JACK), Juniper Networks, Inc. (JNPR) and Semtech Corporation (SMTC)
3 Stocks to Watch on Thursday: Jack in the Box Inc. (JACK), Juniper Networks, Inc. (JNPR) and Semtech Corporation (SMTC)
JACK profit rose year-over-year, Nokia to buy JNPR and SMTC net sales up 10%
By Karl Utermohlen, InvestorPlace Writer Nov 30, 2017, 7:00 am EST November 30, 2017
Tech stocks were hammered on Wednesday as Bitcoin skyrocketed to above $11,000 before falling to around $8,000. The S&P 500 Index fell by a fraction, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.3%.
Several companies made headlines after hours, including Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ:JACK), Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) and Semtech Corporation (NASDAQ:SMTC).
Jack in the Box Inc. (JACK)
Jack in the Box posted its fourth-quarter results late yesterday.
The company earned $30 million during its fall period, roughly $1.01 per share. Its net earnings fell year-over-year from $32 million, but its per-share earnings rose from 97 cents per share.
However, the company suffered from lower restaurant revenues as the combined business from Jack in the Box and Qdoba fell $50 million during the quarter to $241 million.
Same-store sales at Jack in the Box suffered a 1% dip, while Qdoba saw this figure fall by 2.1%, as well as a 4% slip for the restaurant chain’s company-owned stores.
“Our fourth quarter operating results concluded a challenging year for both brands,” said CEO Lenny Comma. “Our key initiatives in 2018 will be focused on regaining momentum in a highly competitive environment.”
JACK stock fell 5.4% after the bell Wednesday.
Nokia Oyj (ARD) (NYSE:NOK) is reportedly seeking to acquire Juniper Networks.
Reports suggest that Nokia has been in talks with Juniper Networks in order to buy its assets. The two companies have already had a marketing partnership since 2014.
The deal values Juniper at around $16 billion, according to one of the sources, topping its market capitalization of roughly $11.12 billion as of the close of the market Wednesday.
A Juniper spokesperson did not comment on these rumors as it is company policy to not address market speculation or rumors. Nokia has not commented on the matter either
Nokia recently purchased Alcatel-Lucent for $16.6 billion.
JNPR stock skyrocketed 20.4% after hours yesterday.
Semtech Corporation (SMTC)
Semtech posted its third-quarter results on Wednesday.
The company brought in $36.5 million, or roughly 54 cents per share, topping the year-ago mark of $24.3 million, or 37 cents per share. Analysts were calling for the company to earn 50 cents per share, per Thomson Reuters.
Semtech also raked in revenue of $150.30 million for the period, a 9.6% surge compared to the year-ago mark of $137.19 million.
Net sales during the third quarter popped 10% year-over-year, while non-GAAP net sales were 11% better compared to the year-ago mark. Semtech experienced a record quarterly net sales of its LoRa products.
SMTC stock fell 9.9% after hours.
As of this writing, Karl Utermohlen did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2017/11/stocks-watch-thursday-jack-box-inc-jack-juniper-networks-inc-jnpr-semtech-corporation-smtc/.
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IP Legal Corner Publishing, Contracts, IP, Internet and Domain Name Law
Legal Corner Press
You are here: Home › Making a Strategic Decision: URS or UDRP?
Making a Strategic Decision: URS or UDRP?
By Gerald M. Levine on May 11, 2018 in Abusive registration, Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, Contracts/Copyright, Cybersquatting, cybersquatting law, UDRP Commentaries, udrp law, udrp proceedings, Uniform Domain Name Resolution Policy
A discussion is presently underway about the Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS) (and in Phase 2 next year of the Uniform Domain Name Resolution Policy (UDRP)), whether it is performing as intended. The URS is less than 5 years old and there are not an overwhelming number of decisions. Since 2013, rights holders have filed less than one thousand complaints (with three providers, the Forum being the most active), which translates into less than 170 decisions annually, 10 to 15 monthly (of which 10% or less are denied, and approximately 3% withdrawn) (from the Forum, there were more denials at the beginning, less so now). That filing number is minuscule in comparison with the number of complaints filed under the UDRP—in the region of 4,000 annually (in its first years its total was twice the URS in 4 1/2 years)—but the denial and withdrawal percentages are similar.
There is a question rattling around whether the URS is functioning properly (perhaps dysfunctional?), although I think it really too early to tell. It seems to be functioning well for the purpose intended if that intention is properly understood. The utilization (or under utilization) is not an issue. Rights holders will make a strategic decision about which rights protection mechanism they will use. Instead of looking at what is wrong, I want to look at what is right about the URS. For an understanding of the progress of the URS it is better to take a closer look, not what the whole roster of Examiners is doing, but at a select number who take the time to pinpoint failures of proof (both persuasion and production) and in this way imprint the DNA for the URS. It must be admitted that not all Examiners are responding to their decision-making tasks equally well; some have too little to say about the reasons for their decisions, and fall back on formula: citing relevant paragraphs of the URS Procedure followed by “Determined: Finding for Complainant.” (It is likely that rapidity in filing decisions coupled with meager compensation encourages less thought, even if the result is correct).
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) describes the URS as complementing the UDRP, but it has a more limited jurisdiction, designed specifically for “rights holders experiencing the most clear-cut cases of infringement” and is only available “against domain names registered in a New gTLD” (URS Procedure, para. 3(f)). The Examiner in Virgin Enterprises Limited v. lawrence fain, FA1402001545807 (Forum March 20, 2014) underscored that the “URS process is a narrow one” and that it is “without prejudice to the Complainant… proceed[ing] with an action in [a] court of competent jurisdiction or under the UDRP.” (URS, para. 8.5). Rather than the preponderance of evidence standard for the UDRP, Complainants must prove their case by clear and convincing evidence. (The burden of proof matches the announced purpose of the policy). That burden has tripped up at least two Complainants, one with a very well-known if not famous mark and the other a name famous for the iconic mark of his business, Bloomberg L.P. v. zhang guo jie, FA1703001721683 (Forum March 31, 2017) for <bloomberg.space> and Virgin Enterprises for <branson.guru>).
In Bloomberg L.P. the Examiner explained that the “Complaint is, … devoid of any allegations or proof of facts tending to show, even prima facie, either that Respondent has no right to or legitimate interest in the <bloomberg.site> domain name, or that the domain name was registered and is being used by Respondent in bad faith. For the same reason, incidentally, the Complainant was denied in a later UDRP case, Bloomberg Finance L.P. v. zhang guo jie, FA1704001727926 (Forum June 8, 2017) (<bloomberg.site>). Both Examiner and Panel came to the same conclusion, namely that “Accordingly, on the record before us, we cannot conclude that Respondent has no right to or legitimate interest in the domain name or that the domain name was registered and is being used by Respondent in bad faith.”
There is no question that unexplained holdings fall short of the educational goal expected of filed decisions. The purpose of having accessible decisions (even if not reasoned to the same extent as is the practice of the best UDRP Panels) is to educate parties, their counsel and representatives about the different and stiffer demands of the URS and prepare them for asserting and defending their rights. In this respect it could be said an unthought-through decision short-changes users (rights holders as well as respondents). However, having said this there are a good number of explained, thought-through decisions (even if not fully reasoned) like Bloomberg L.P. and Virgin Enterprises that lay a proper foundation for establishing consistency and predictability in the application of the URS.
URS Examiners have a great advantage in not having to reinvent a jurisprudence of domain names. They have ready-made a powerful resource for illuminating the reasons for a party’s success or failure of proof by turning to easily accessible, reasoned decisions from UDRP Panels supplemented since 2005 by an “overview” of the jurisprudence published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)—the WIPO Overview of WIPO Panel Views on Selected UDRP Questions, now in its third edition (2015). There is, in fact, a mature jurisprudence of domain names.
Certainly, the combination of URS features plays a role in restraining rights holders from using it and favoring the UDRP. But, the URS nevertheless is a remarkable tool for the purposes for which it is intended. I pointed out in a recent essay (What is the Uniform Rapid Suspense System and What is it Good For?), that it can be used as a substitute for a preliminary injunction. In fact, some rights holders have specifically used the URS in this manner by shutting down counterfeit goods websites by having the domain names suspended. W.L. Gore & Associates Inc v. WhoisGuard, Inc. et al., FA1711001758178 (Forum December 6, 2017) (<goretexgiyim.world>. ”[T]he impression created by … Registrant’s website is [that it is] an original online shop of the Complainant with even more convenient prices but offering counterfeit products”); Eli Lilly and Company v. Shaternik et al., FA1705001731038D (Forum June 1, 2017) (Offering counterfeit products on dozens of websites). Also, some phishing and spamming websites have been silenced in this manner, more quickly and less expensively than through the UDRP.
While the URS is quick out of the gate and moves rapidly to award (typically, twenty days) an initial award is subject to being vacated under two circumstances: 1) if post-default the Respondent appears with a meritorious defense or its counter contentions are sufficient to raise a triable issue of fact, and 2) the losing party appeals with new facts and arguments that result in an award being reversed. Reversals are sometimes in Complainant’s favor— Aeropostale Procurement Company, Inc. v. Michael Kinsey et al., FA1403001550933 (Forum April 28, 2014) (<aeropostale.uno> Initially denied; reversed and suspended on appeal and LVMH SWISS MANUFACTURES SA v. GiftSMS et al., FA1509001637103 (Forum November 24, 2015) (<tagheuer.digital>. Initially denied; reversed and suspended on appeal: “The Respondent claimed that the disputed domain name was available for purchase in the commercial market once the sunrise period expired…. However, trademark rights are not released or waived as a result of the passage of the Sunrise period or for that matter any other period relating to the registration of domain names. In Aeropostale Procurement the Examiner concluded that “The rule stemming from URS 1.2.6.3 (d) is satisfied since the Respondent admitted that he has registered the domain to take ‘an opportunity similar to when .com first came into existence’ so purely for a reason of expected gain resulting from using the ‘AEROPOSTALE’ mark.”
Sometimes the initial denial is affirmed in Respondent’s favor, for a familiar reason that is well established in UDRP jurisprudence. In Grey Global Group LLC v. i-content Ltd. et al., FA1606001681062 (Forum July 8, 2016) (<grey.email>), the Examiner stated that :
Given that the Domain Name in fact corresponds to a generic term, that the Respondent has registered numerous similar generic domain names, such as <white.email>, <martin.email>, <hans.email>, or <one.email>, that the Domain Name was used in connection with a parking website with sponsored links using the term “grey” solely in a descriptive way and not in connection with the Complainant’s services, and that the Complainant has not provided evidence as to its business activities in Germany, where the Respondent is located, the Examiner finds that the evidence is not clear and convincing that the domain name was registered in bad faith.
The initial denials in Aeropostale Procurement and Lvmh Swiss Manufactures present an interesting distinction between the URS and UDRP. URS Procedure, para. 12.2 and URS Rules, 19(b) provide that “Appellant shall have a limited right to introduce new admissible evidence that is material to the Determination . . . provided the evidence clearly pre-dates the filing of the Complaint” (Emphasis added). Under the UDRP, complainants either get it right the first time or their complaints are dismissed and res judicata as far as returning to the UDRP is concerned.
For Complainants who want instant gratification and have no interest in carrying the expense of maintaining identical or confusing domain names into infinity, the URS supplies it for ninety plus percent of the disputes for which respondents have no defensible right to the domain names and invariably default in appearance. For this class of dispute involving well-known and famous marks, the offending domain names are suspended for the duration of the registration (and for another year at Complainant’s option), and if they resolved to active websites, shut down.
What can be said about consensus? Since the URS employs the same language as the UDRP for the tiered requirements: standing, demonstrating Respondent’s lack of legitimate rights or interests, and conjunctive bad faith, Examiners can rest on authority from UDRP jurisprudence whether or not they actually cite to it. For the first limb, for example, Complainants can only maintain a proceeding if they have standing; if they are unable to prove registered marks in commercial use they lose. Example: Sks365 Malta Ltd., MT v. Mansour Ben Khamsa, D5C230DE (MFSD December 28, 2016) failed to show it currently held any trademark rights “on the sign ‘planet win 365’”) (this link is to a list of a dozen or so decisions wherein there is an internal link to a pdf).
For the second limb, Complainant must prove lack of legitimate interests or rights by clear and convincing evidence (which is two notches higher than the UDRP). This leads to some interesting differences with the UDRP. If the domain name is passively held and can plausibly be used for non-infringing purposes (whether the Respondent appears or defaults) the complaint will be found deficient of clear and convincing evidence. In contrast, UDRP Panels are more likely to move on to the third limb before drawing conclusive inferences. Example: HOLA S.L. v. North Sound Names et al., FA1407001570171 (Forum August 9, 2014) (<hello.photo>) in which the Examiner held (relying on authority from UDRP decisions) that
Previous decisions involving domain names based on generic, commonly used terms are consistently denied, protecting the right of domain registrants to retain such domains against trademark owners.” The Examiner than cites a dozen cases before explaining that “for the complainant to prevail, there must be some other proof to evidence bad faith, such as actual notice of trademark prior to registration (<ancestry.com> FA140500 1560028) or evidence of a pattern of registering domains using protected marks ( FA1203001435300).
For the third limb, Complainant must prove conjunctive bad faith. Example: Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. v. WhoisGuard, Inc., FA1804001780755 (Forum April 26, 2018) (<Wikipedia.kim>. The Examiner
deplores the fact that the Complainant has not submitted any evidence supporting its claim of bad faith use and registration. The Examiner would have expected the Complainant to provide evidence of, for instance, the website associated with the disputed domain name. The Examiner notes that the Complainant submitted a screenshot of its own website (associated with its own domain name <Wikipedia.org>), but not of the Respondent’s website (associated with the disputed domain name <Wikipedia.kim>”).
The cited decisions underscore that the URS 1) delivers on its promises to grant relief rapidly (faster in fact than could ever be expected from a motion for preliminary injunction in shutting down counterfeiting websites or even phishing and spamming under the UDRP) and 2) is severe on Complainants who fail to understand its demands. It is not time for buyer’s remorse!
Mr. Levine is the author of a treatise on trademarks, domain names, and cybersquatting, Domain Name Arbitration, A Practical Guide to Asserting and Defending Claims of Cybersquatting under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy. (Legal Corner Press, 2015). Available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Supplement and Update through August 2016 published January 2017. A Second Edition of the treatise is scheduled for publication September/October 2018. If you purchased the First Edition, you can buy the Second Edition 50% off list price by contacting inquiries@legalcornerpress.com or gmlevine@researchtheworld.com. The discount will not be available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
About Gerald M. Levine
GERALD M. LEVINE is a member of the New York bar, admitted in 1976. Before earning a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School he received a Ph.D in English Literature from New York University (recipient of Founders Day Achievement Award) and taught for several years at Queens College, City University of New York. His practice is divided between counseling on publishing, copyright and trademark matters for authors and entrepreneurs, acting as a mediator and arbitrator and litigating commercial and real estate disputes, He is a neutral arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association; on the roster of neutrals for FINRA; a mediator in the Commercial Division of the Supreme Court, New York County, and a meditor for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He is the author of numerous articles on a range of legal topics in various law reviews and journals, including the Dispute Resolution Journal of the American Arbitration Association, the New York Law Journal and law school law journals. He is the author of a critically acclaimed treatise on trademarks, domain names, & cybersquatting, Domain Name Arbitration, and the creator of a widely read Blog on domain name disputes and cybersquatting arbitrated under the UDRP and URS implemented by the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers and analyzing the jurisprudence that has developed in that area of the law. Gerald was also co-founder of “Writers, Readers and Publishers,” a monthly Special Interest Group at the Princeton Club of New York, inviting speakers from the publishing industry including literary agents, writers, editors and consultants. For Full listing of publications go to Resume.
View all posts by Gerald M. Levine →
IP LEGAL CORNER
Noteworthy Domain Names for 2021
Exploring the Meanings of “Right” and “Legitimate Interest” (UDRP Proceedings)
Speculating in Domain Names: Pricing War(e)s
UDRP’s Younger Sibling: Rapid Suspension of Cyberquatting Domain Names under the URS
The Spontaneous Development of the Domain Name Market
What Domain Names Get Transferred: Why and Why Not?
Noteworthy Domain Names for 2021 January 15, 2021
Exploring the Meanings of “Right” and “Legitimate Interest” (UDRP Proceedings) January 7, 2021
Noteworthy Domain Names for 2020 December 28, 2020
Speculating in Domain Names: Pricing War(e)s November 18, 2020
UDRP’s Younger Sibling: Rapid Suspension of Cyberquatting Domain Names under the URS October 14, 2020
“Objective” and “Objectivity” in UDRP Decision Making September 23, 2020
The Suitable Defendant Rule: In Rem Jurisdiction under the ACPA September 13, 2020
UDRP and the Law: Should Cybersquatting be the Default View? September 8, 2020
Cybersquatting and Reverse Domain Name Hijacking: UDRP to ACPA March 30, 2020
False Expectations: Attorney’s Fees and Statutory Damages in ACPA Actions February 5, 2020
Unfamiliarity with / Unprepared for Proceedings under the UDRP January 13, 2020
Revisiting Reverse Domain Name Hijacking December 17, 2019
Challenging Domain Names for Abusive Registration: UDRP and ACPA November 1, 2019
Dead Ends: The Achievement of Consensus in UDRP Jurisprudence October 1, 2019
Recovering Domain Names Lost to Fraudulent Transfer August 29, 2019
A look at the history of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking – Domain Observer: […] in a UDRP complaint, though there was no...
Roping that domain back in | LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION™: […] to my expectations a few years ago, have...
Domain names for resale? | LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION®: […] reselling domain names a violation of th...
Domain names and fair use | LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION®: […] for domain name law, Domain Name Arbitra...
“Domain Name Arbitration”: An Old Testament for a New Body of Law | LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION®: […] name arbitration, who has just released ...
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Publication of Domain Name Arbitration - IP Legal Corner: […] Media […]...
Gmlevine: Sujatha, Short answer to your question. You can ...
Sujatha Krishna: where the owner of a domain name (as well as trade...
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Suspending or Terminating a UDRP Proceeding - webdevelopmentbanglore.in: [...] Read this article: Suspending or Terminating...
Gmlevine: The CEDRP reads at paragraph 3. Remedies The sol...
MediaWizard: Once a domain is cancelled under the CEDRP, does i...
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Cerecor Inc. Announces Pricing of $36.4 Million Public Offering of Common Stock and Pre-Funded Warrants
ROCKVILLE, Md. and CHESTERBROOK, Pa., Jan. 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cerecor Inc. (Nasdaq: CERC), a biopharmaceutical company focused on becoming a leader in development and commercialization of treatments for rare pediatric and orphan diseases, announced today that it has entered into an underwriting agreement with Jefferies LLC under which the underwriters agreed to purchase, on a firm commitment basis, 12,323,077 shares of common stock of the Company, at a public offering price of $2.60 per share (the “Public Offering Price”). In addition, and in lieu of common stock, the Company is offering to a certain existing investor pre-funded warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 1,676,923 shares of common stock at a purchase price of $2.599 per pre-funded warrant, which represents the per share public offering price for the common stock less the $0.001 per share exercise price for each pre-funded warrant. The offering is expected to close on or about January 12, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.
Jefferies is acting as the sole book-running manager for the offering and Oppenheimer & Co. is acting as lead manager for the offering.
The Company also has granted to the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 2,100,000 shares of common stock at the Public Offering Price to cover over-allotments in the sales of the securities, if any. The gross proceeds to Cerecor from this offering, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses and excluding any exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares of common stock, are expected to be approximately $36.4 million. Assuming the full exercise of the over-allotment option, total gross proceeds to Cerecor would be approximately $41.9 million. Cerecor intends to use the net proceeds of the offering for general corporate purposes and working capital, primarily to support the ongoing clinical development of key assets within its pipeline and for general and administrative expenses.
The securities described above are being offered by Cerecor pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-233978), previously filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on September 27, 2019 and declared effective on October 24, 2019, and the accompanying prospectus contained therein. The offering of securities is being made only by means of a prospectus, including a prospectus supplement, forming a part of the effective registration statement. A final prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus relating to and describing the terms of the offering will be filed with the SEC. Copies of the final prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus relating to this offering may be obtained on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov or by contacting Jefferies LLC at 520 Madison Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10022, Attention: Equity Syndicate Prospectus Department, by e-mail at prospectus_department@jefferies.com or by calling (877) 547-6340.
Before investing in the offering, you should read in their entirety the prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus and the other documents that Cerecor has filed with the SEC that are incorporated by reference in the prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, which provide more information about Cerecor and the offering.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.
About Cerecor Inc.
Cerecor is a biopharmaceutical company focused on becoming a leader in the development and commercialization of treatments for rare and orphan diseases. The company is advancing its clinical-stage pipeline of innovative therapies that address unmet patient needs within rare and orphan diseases. The company's rare disease pipeline includes CERC-801, CERC-802 and CERC-803, which are in development for congenital disorders of glycosylation and CERC-006, an oral mTORc1/c2 inhibitor in development for the treatment of complex lymphatic malformations. The company is also developing two monoclonal antibodies, CERC-002, and CERC-007. CERC-002 targets the cytokine LIGHT (TNFSF14) and is in clinical development for treatment of severe pediatric-onset Crohn's disease, and COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome. CERC-007 targets the cytokine IL-18 and is in clinical development for the treatment of Still’s disease (adult-onset Still’s disease (AOSD) and systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA)), and multiple myeloma (MM). CERC-006, 801, 802 and 803 have all received Orphan Drug Designation and Rare Pediatric Disease Designation, which makes all four eligible for a priority review voucher upon FDA approval.
This press release may include forward-looking statements made pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. Such forward-looking statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that are subject to change based on various factors (many of which are beyond Cerecor’s control), which could cause actual results to differ from the forward-looking statements. Such statements may include, without limitation, statements with respect to Cerecor’s plans, objectives, projections, expectations and intentions and other statements identified by words such as “projects,” “may,” “might,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “continue,” “seeks,” “aims,” “predicts,” “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “intends,” “plans,” “potential,” or similar expressions (including their use in the negative), or by discussions of future matters such as: the completion of the public offering, the development of product candidates or products; timing and success of trial results and regulatory review; potential attributes and benefits of product candidates; and other statements that are not historical. These statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of Cerecor’s management but are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, including: drug development costs, timing and other risks, including reliance on investigators and enrollment of patients in clinical trials, which might be slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic; regulatory risks; Cerecor's cash position and the potential need for it to raise additional capital; general economic and market risks and uncertainties, including those caused by the COVID-19 pandemic; and those other risks detailed in Cerecor’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Except as required by applicable law, Cerecor expressly disclaims any obligations or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in Cerecor’s expectations with respect thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based.
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Home India Even after death, Jayalalithaa makes news
Even after death, Jayalalithaa makes news
J. Jayalalithaa
Chennai– The Madras High Court on Thursday cast doubts on the reason behind the sudden death of J. Jayalalithaa, and asked why the late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s body could not be exhumed.
Hearing a public interest litigation filed by an AIADMK member, the court referred to the media reports about the secrecy surrounding Jayalalithaa’s health condition while she was in Apollo Hospitals, and said it too has doubts.
The court said that after news reports about Jayalalithaa recovering well, there was the sudden news that she was dead.
The court issued notices in this regard to the Prime Minister, and the central and state governments.
The court also said no revenue division officer saw the body nor any health report was given.
The court also asked whether the guidelines given in Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose case were followed in Jayalalithaa’s case, when it came to the death of a person having a large public following.
Jayalalithaa was in the Apollo Hospitals for 75 days. Nobody was allowed to see her in the hospital on the pretext of risk of causing infection.
Reacting to the court’s observations, PMK founder S. Ramadoss in a statement demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into Jayalalithaa’s death.
Citing reports about amputation of Jayalalithaa’s legs, Ramadoss said if that was true, it was not known whether the permission for the surgery was obtained from her blood relatives or from the state government.
He said normally when hospitalised, a person would lose weight, but Jayalalithaa did not seem to have lost any weight. (IANS)
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Swara Bhasker: Picking roles that span across genres important to me
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U.S. Air Force Chief Warns against Over-Reliance on GPS
Gen. Norton Schwartz, USAF photo
The Global Positioning System is vulnerable to threats such as jamming and anti-satellite weapons and the United States should reduce its dependence on the system while developing alternatives for precise positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT), the U.S. Air Force’s top military leader said Wednesday (January 20).
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz made the comments during his opening keynote address, “The United States as an Aerospace Nation: Challenges and Opportunities,” at the Tuft University Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis (IFPA) Fletcher Conference on National Security Strategy and Policy. The 2010 conference’s theme is "Air, Space, and Cyberspace Power in the 21st Century."
The Air Force is the Defense Department’s executive agency charged with maintaining and operating GPS.
“Another widely-known dependence that creates an exploitable vulnerability is that of GPS,” Schwartz told the IFPA conference audience. “From efficient mission planning to lethal precision munitions, global positioning has transformed an entire universe of warfighting capabilities.
“Our dependence on precision navigation and timing will continue to grow,” he said. “So, physicists at the Air Force Research Laboratory are exploring promising new technologies like cold atoms, pseudolites, and image-aided inertial navigation systems that use laser radar, which move us toward achieving ultra-accurate, less GPS-dependent, navigation systems.”
Schwartz said the U.S. military and its allies must be able to operate in a GPS-denied environment because efforts by adversaries to prevent allied use of GPS-provided PNT will only increase.
“It seems critical to me that the Joint force should reduce its dependence on GPS-aided precision navigation and timing, allowing it to ultimately become less vulnerable, yet equally precise, and more resilient,” Schwartz added. “The global value of GPS will endure, but our forces must be able to operate in GPS-denied environments in the future.”
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Naval Observatory Rebuts Wall Street Journal…
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By Shiloh PaulAugust 27, 2020October 30th, 2020Nevada
ID.me to Help Nevada Unemployment Site to Verify Identities and Combat Fraud
By Jonathan Ng, Las Vegas Review-Journal
“Nevada’s employment agency has launched a pilot program with a new ID verification vendor to help clear the state’s logjam of unemployment claims and to root out fraudulent applications.”
Shiloh Paul is a Marketing Manager at ID.me. She has authored a number of articles and quantitative research studies. Her work has appeared in articles published in the Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, Accounting Today, and various other industry newsletters. She's also published a children's book. Shiloh lives in the Northern Virginia area where she is active in local charity efforts to support pet adoption, community cleanup, and ending childhood hunger. In her spare time, she enjoys science fiction and fantasy, oxford commas, and acting. Shiloh is hard at work writing her first novel.
Recent Insight
With Clarity Says Thank You to Frontline Heroes with ID.me
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Literary Aspects of the Qur’an: Al-Baydawi’s Interpretation of Alif Lam Mim Using the Rules of Tajweed
By Mawlana Dr M Mansur Ali
The Qur’an, that inimitable symphony, the very sounds of which move men to tears and ecstasy, invigorated the barren hearts of camel shepherds and transformed them in to guiding stars for humanity. That eternal and unimpeachable writ, which laid the foundation of a civilization that carried the knowledge of late antiquity in its bosoms and brought Europe out of its darkest hours. It had occupied the minds of philosophers, theologians, jurists and politicians of yesteryears. It had informed poetry, grammar, arts, aesthetics and belles-lettre. Umar II’s politics, Al-Rumi’s gazals, Al-Razi’s logic, Al-Ghazali’s ethics, al-Hariri’s prose, al-Attar’s poetry and Ibn Al-Arabi’s metaphysics all find their origins in this heavenly mandate. It had inspired the Sufi’s chanting of the souls, the music of the dervish’s reed, the literalism of the Salafi and the speculation of the rationalist. And yet its ultimate reality lies with Allah blessed be He in Whose hands is Dominion; and He over all things hath Power.
Muslims believe that the Qur’an is a literary miracle. An entire body of literature called ‘ijaz al-Qur’an had been developed to understand this miraculous aspect of the Qur’an. It uses eloquent Arabic language of the highest standard as well as a plethora of literary devices, the hallmark of any magnum opus. At times it employs short and fast paced verses resembling the beatings of the heart, whilst other times slow, meticulous and clear instructive verses are used to lay down points of law. Clear, unambiguous words, similes, alliterations, onomatopoeias, hyperboles, rhetorical questions, imageries, allegories, metaphors, aphorisms, euphemisms and ironies are its common features.
Whilst some verses of the Qur’an are clear in their meanings, others are somewhat ambiguous and veiled. Allah in his infinite wisdom had decided to keep some of the knowledge of his words concealed from public consumption, and it is only those who have been touched by divine aurora have been made privy to some of its mysteries. Some of these unclear verses constitute a set of cryptic letters found in the beginning of some chapters of the Qur’an, the meaning of which only Allah knows. These are known as al-huruf al-muqatta’at the disjointed letters, or al-huruf al-fawatih the opening letters such as Alif Lam Mim, Ya Sin, Ta Sin, Kaf Ha Ya ‘Ayn Sad. This did not stop scholars from exercising their God given intellect in trying to decipher these letters. For example where the majority of the scholars remained reticent to interpret the three letters Alif Lam Mim found in the opening section of sura al-Baqara the second chapter of the Qur’an, other scholars ventured to understand them. Some have interpreted them to mean Allah, Jibril and the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), others opined that the Arabs were already familiar with these types of letters in their poetry, hence they were not a cause of confusion and contention for the immediate Arab audience of the Qur’an. A third group of scholars maintained that by employing simple letters of the Arabic alphabet, the contrast was being made between the literary works of the Arabs and the divine writ. That these were the very same letters employed to write both sets of writings, but how different are the outputs when the one is authored by the transcendent God and the other by mortal beings.
One scholar who attempted to appropriate some meaning to these letters was Qadi Abdullah b. Umar al-Shirazi al-Baydawi (d. 684/1286) a seventh/thirteenth century Shafi exegete of the Qur’an. Al-Baydawi’s interpretation is interesting as he makes an attempt to understand them using the rules of Arabic elocution (tajweed). The alif (in this instance a hamza) is a glottal letter (al-harf al-halqi) that emanates from the lowest point of the larynx closest to the lungs (aqsa al-halq). The letter lam is an alveolar letter (al-harf al-dhalqiyya) which articulates when the tip of the tongue makes contact with the roots of the upper incisors and the letter mim is an endo-labial letter (al-harf al-shafatayn) where the sound is forced through the lips by closing and opening of the inner lips.
Qadi al-Baydawi says that the vocal apparatus and the places of articulation (makharij al-huruf) are the same organs used by the respiratory system. The letters of alif lam mim cover the entire gamut of the respiratory system from the lower trachea to the outer lips. Since they constitute the words of Allah, al-Baydawi says that what can be learnt from them is that each and every breath that we take and every word that we utter should be in accordance with Allah’s will and pleasure.
These are human attempts to understand that which transcends our feeble minds as absolute truth only remains with The Absolute Truth (al-Haqq). After exercising their intellectual faculty, one is required to humble his knowledge in front of the Omniscience and all Muslims are required to concede in humility the emphatic statement Wallahu A’lam, and Allah knows best.
Courtesy of ilmgate.org
Filed Under: Articles, November 2013, Quran
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Jill and the Pony Club ~ 1
Posted By Jane Badger Under Ruby Ferguson's Jill Books
Here’s chapter 1 of my new Jill story. Do please jump in and say what you think. I will not throw a stroppy flounce if you’re critical, or if you point out places where I’ve got it wrong. When I wrote the last one it was a huge help to have people critique as I went. So here it is. It follows on from my Jill in London story, Jill and the Lost Ponies, which will be available on Amazon shortly.
I was sitting on the gate of Pool Cottage, the five-barred one that leads out on to the road. It was a lovely day, the blue and green sort at the end of summer where it is not too hot, and not too cold, and the birds are singing and everything seems all right with the world. If someone had been walking along the road, they would have been singing. Or whistling. But there was no one walking along the road. There wasn’t anyone in the cottage either, and there weren’t any ponies in the orchard, or even any hens grubbing around in the garden.
There was only me.
It had been very odd walking up the lane to Pool Cottage. I hadn’t been back for ages because it had been rented out while Mummy was in America and I’d been at secretarial college in London, and the tenant had only just left. I’d been back to see Mummy and Martin, of course, since they were married and had moved into Martin’s parents’ old house, The Grange. While I was there I’d walked along to see the cottage, just to see how it looked, but I had got to the end of the road and no further. That was as far as I could go. I’d turned round and got the train back to London and my job, and that was it.
And now I was back, and this time I had to go in.
When you think of the place you grew up in, you think of it as you saw it last, and that’s how I expected Pool Cottage to be, just like it was when I’d left it, but when I opened the door I noticed straight away that the little table in the hall we’d always put the post on had gone. And so had Mummy’s desk, and her chair. When I went to make myself breakfast, I found out that even our Cona coffee maker had gone with Mummy. The thing that most upset me, and I expect you will be snorting into your coffee when you read this, is that Mummy had taken her napkin ring with her. We both had ones with our initials on, and they always came out at every single mealtime but now mine was the only one left in the drawer.
Breakfast on my own in Pool Cottage seemed very strange. There was no Mrs C banging around in the kitchen, and no Mummy sitting opposite me at the old table we’d brought with us from Wales when Daddy died and we’d moved to Chatton. Outside wasn’t any better, with no ponies looking over the doors of the looseboxes. If I tell you I even missed the yelling of the hens when they contributed their morning egg, you will know how bad I was feeling.
So what with one thing and another, I wasn’t feeling very cheery when I was sitting on the gate.
Then I heard the sound of hooves, and there is nothing quite like the sound of a horse to cheer you up. I looked up, and round the corner appeared Ann Derry on a nice looking chestnut horse, at the head of a whole herd of children on ponies.
‘Ann!’ I yipped.
“Hello, you mutt,” said Ann as soon as she got within talking distance. Turning round, she shouted, “Ride, prepare to halt! Aaaaaand halt!” And they did. Good distances between them and everything, and no one letting their pony have a crafty nip of grass. I have to say that ride was an absolute credit to Ann.
“What on earth are you doing there?” she asked. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”
“Sitting here is better than being inside,” I said. “Inside reminds me that I’m there on my own and I haven’t got a job, and it’s all frankly making me feel rather low.”
Ann frowned. “What do you mean?” she said. “What’s happened? Why haven’t you got a job?”
“Well…” I said, And that was as far as I got. There was a wail from the back of the ride, and Ann and I turned round to see a tot at the back on a little grey Welsh pony yelling as he put his head down to eat and she slipped down his neck.
“Let go of the reins, Patricia!” shouted Ann. “Let go! Let the reins go through your fingers … Oh, for goodness’ sake – sorry, Jill, I’d better get them moving. Give me a ring in the evening.”
And with that, she trotted off to the end of the ride, being watched by a lot of wide-eyed riders, all making sure that their ponies weren’t snatching a crafty mouthful, and all glad they weren’t the one that Miss Derry was giving the sharp end of her tongue to. I leant back against the gate as Ann trotted back to the front, now with the naughty grey on a leading rein and the tot looking very subdued on his back. She gave me a wave as she went past, and one by one, as they trotted past, all the riders turned round and looked at me. I felt like an exhibit in the zoo.
When they’d gone, peace descended on the lane again.
I don’t know if you’ve even been without a job, but if you have, you’ll know that everyone else that you know appears to be gainfully employed, and although I had plenty of friends still in Chatton, there was no point my trying to see any of them, as they’d all be working. Diana and James Bush would be working on the farm, and Wendy would be up with Ann and Robin at the stables. Mrs Darcy had retired now and had gone to live on her father’s estate on the other side of Ryechester. Val and Jack Heath were living in Paris, where, according to Ann, their father had packed them off as he’d got so annoyed with them arguing all the time. I didn’t want to drift round to Mummy and Martin’s because Martin would have gone up to the Foreign Office now he’d been transferred back to London and Mummy would be writing. And after all, it wasn’t as if I was six anymore and could expect Mummy to entertain me.
I gave a very deep sigh, the sort that comes up from your boots, and went back into the cottage, where I sat down in the sitting room, and picked up my writing pad and my pen. When I’d gone to see my publisher just before I’d left London, he had told me that school stories were selling terribly well, and why didn’t I try one of those? I’d told him that I’d hated school, and that I was sure that anyone who loved that sort of story would have picked up straight away that my heart wasn’t in it, and he’d said, well, why not give it a try? Because I never knew. Now that I am older I know that there are times when it is best not to say what you want to say, and that then was one of those times, so I crammed my less than golden words back into my brain and smiled, only by the look on the publisher’s face, I don’t think a smile was quite what I managed.
Perhaps, the publisher had said, when he’d recovered a bit, I could try combining ponies and school. That hadn’t been done before. One of their writers had done very well with a book that featured cricket and a girls’ school, and he could just see people absolutely loving a series where girls could take their ponies to school. I’d said yes, but there would still have to be some school, and I couldn’t think of anything more dreary than describing a miserable round of lessons and teachers and people getting detention and throwing bread rolls at each other at meal times, or whatever it was people got up to at boarding school, because that was another thing. I’d never been to a boarding school in my life, and neither had anyone I knew, except for James Bush, and he’d been to a boys’ boarding school, and I thought that whatever girls’ schools got up to, they wouldn’t have got up to what James and his friends got up to. Or at least what he said they got up to. Which may well, of course, have been two entirely different things.
I still had a row of school stories up in the bookcase in my room at Pool Cottage, which my cousin Cecilia and Aunt Primrose had given me at various times in my glorious career. I had tried to read some of them, because although they were absolutely not the sort of book I usually read, I do think that if someone has been kind enough to give something to you, you should at least try to read it, but I had failed completely. For one thing, in one of the books, the story didn’t really seem to be about the school at all, but about one of the old girls who was still hanging about the place long after any sane person would have left. And another one I tried had people who were well and truly married and seemed to spend all their time organising country dance festivals and marrying Lords.
My books, you see, are about me and the things I’ve done, which makes them very easy to write because I’m just telling you what I’ve done, and there’s nothing particularly clever or imaginative about that. I’d suggested to my publisher that I write one about my life after secretarial college as someone working with horses, but he’d pulled a face at that, and said no, because he liked children’s series where the children stayed as children, and that was the sort of book children bought.
Now I don’t know about you, but I would have been very happy if someone was writing about people like me who were just starting off in their lives and how they were doing, but my publisher disagreed and said that he thought it was all very well for children to take over a riding stable, but not to have one of their own when they were grown up. Now I had in fact, in my dim and distant past, started up a stable of my own with some friends, and you can read all about it in A Stable for Jill, and that had sold quite well, as I reminded my publisher, but he pulled a face again, and said well, yes, but you were still a child then, dear, weren’t you, and you were always going to go back to school, weren’t you?
And so I said, well, why not have one about someone who was a former pupil of a riding school but who was still involved with the school? One of those school series that Cecilia liked had someone just like that, and she’d gone on and on for whole books of not actually being at the school at all. And then she’d gone on and had thousands of children, and they’d all gone to the riding school, I mean the school, and that had gone on for books and books and no one seemed to mind. And the publisher had sniffed again and said that well, that was different, and that adults didn’t like to read about riding schools, and I should come up with a good mystery story or a story about terrible goings on at a racing stable, or perhaps, he said, looking at me with a fixed stare, I could come up with a romance? I could set that at a stable. I was just the sort of age of person who ought to be thinking about settling down and finding a husband, and perhaps I could write the sort of light and amusing romance that several of his authors specialised in? I could make them historical romances if I really wanted to get horses in somewhere. Because it wasn’t as if I was a serious writer, like my mother, dear, was it? The Times Literary Supplement was hardly likely to review me, was it?
This, I imagined, was true. The frightfully serious and important papers that liked to review the chidren’s books Mummy wrote hadn’t generally been keen on reviewing anything I wrote. In fact, they hadn’t reviewed me at all. That had never bothered me before, and it still didn’t bother me now. Good reviews hadn’t meant that Mummy’s books had sold well – in fact her last one, The Charms of Cosy Cottage, had sold so badly that it had led to Mummy going to lecture in America and my ponies being sold, and that had led to a whole load of trouble that you can read about in Jill and the Lost Ponies. In case you haven’t read it, the upshot of it all was that James and Diana Bush had bought Rapide, and I had eventually managed to find Black Boy myself.
Since Mummy married Martin (who, in case you have forgotten, taught me to ride when I was a rank and awful beginner and still doing things like putting Black Boy’s bridle on wrong and not knowing that he needed grooming) she had carried on writing, and that, I must tell you, was bothering me a bit, because Mummy had a new book on the go, and she wanted me to read it. I always do read Mummy’s books, because I do try and support Mummy even though I just can’t get on with her stories, which are all about desperately good children who suffer terribly but manage to bring light and joy to all despite their horrible lives. Basil the Birdsong Boy was just one example of Mummy’s deathless prose. Basil was an orphan who was born in a beautiful village in the countryside to lovely parents who both died very young and Basil was shipped off to a horrible orphanage. I don’t know if you have ever read Nicholas Nickleby or Jane Eyre, but this orphanage made Lowood and Dotheboys Hall look like holiday camps.
But Basil, although often sad and lonely, had one great gift. He could remember every song of every bird he had ever heard during his short time in the country, and he would sing birdsongs whenever the other orphans were unhappy, which they often were, or whenever the orphans were struggling with the city’s dreadful washing in the laundry, and the strains of birdsong would rise up with the rank and smelly steam to the rafters and the orphans would find the strength to carry on. There was a lot more like this – I have only got you to about halfway through the book with this summary, but I will leave it to you to fill in the rest of it for yourself, which you might like to do when you are particularly bored, or when you have been trying to teach your pony the turn on the forehand and have given up and gone off to sit in a hedge and sulk.
And so here I was, staring at a blank sheet of paper with, for the first time in my life, no idea of what to write.
Click here for chapter 2
Photo by Liv Cashman on Unsplash
3 Thoughts on Jill and the Pony Club ~ 1
Pingback: Jill and the Pony Club 2 – Jane Badger Books
Helena Nelson-Smith
Oh I love it! How wonderful to meet Jill again. And I am much amused by the digs at Joey Bettany and the Chalet School!!! Tell me, where can I find Jill and the Lost Ponies, because I feel I ought to read that one first.
PS It’s ok; I found, downloaded, and read Jill and the Lost Ponies. It was terrific, but I’m glad she’s back at Pool Cottage now.
Tags Jill and the Pony Club, new book
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Jill: the Reading Order Question
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The Saving of the Railway Horse
The Jinny Books by Patricia Leitch (2)
Jane Badger on The pony book: how it all began
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The Jinny Books by Patricia Leitch (2) – Jane Badger Books on The Jinny Books by Patricia Leitch (1)
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The Letterbox Project: Connecting Isolated Australians Through Old-Fashioned Letters
By: Georgia Free
There’s something so special about writing a letter to someone, or, perhaps even better, receiving a letter.
They are the next best thing to a conversation, and, when conversations can’t be had, the power of letters can increase tenfold.
The Letterbox Project is a letter writing initiative that aims to bring meaningful connection to older and isolated Australians, who may be isolated from their usual social circles during isolation due to pandemic restrictions.
When developing the project, founder Mea Campbell was particularly inspired by the memory of her late grandfather.
“He was 95 when he passed away, and he lived alone. He would have found this experience awfully challenging,” Mea said. “There are so many people in similar situations, and I wanted to help them.”
In the weeks since the project’s inception, 5000 people across the nation have registered to write or receive letters, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Mea reflected on one call she received from a lady with Parkinson’s disease, who had recently received a letter from a young girl.
“She couldn’t write back,” said Mea, “but she wanted to pass on her thanks. She said ‘tell the little girl that I’ll keep her picture forever.’”
To register for the Letterbox Project, either as a writer or recipient, head to connectedau.com.au or call 1300 26 82 28.
About the Author: Georgia is a broadcaster from Sydney, Australia.
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One way to deal with cops who lie? Blacklist them, some DAs say
One way to deal with cops who lie? Blacklist…
By Justin George and Eli Hager, THE MARSHALL PROJECT
Posted January 25, 2019, 7:55 am CST
Shutterstock.com.
In the racially divided city of St. Louis, the chief prosecutor has embraced a controversial tool to hold police accountable: blacklisting cops who she says are too untrustworthy to testify in court.
So far, Kim Gardner has dropped more than 100 cases that relied on statements from the 29 officers who got on the list for alleged lying, abuse or corruption. And she won’t accept new cases or search-warrant requests from them, either.
From Philadelphia to Houston to Seattle, district attorneys recently elected on platforms of criminal justice reform are building similar databases of their own. Often known as “do not call” lists, they are also called “exclusion lists” or “Brady lists” after a famous Supreme Court decision requiring prosecutors to disclose to defense lawyers information about unreliable police officers or other holes in their cases.
The goal is to help prosecutors avoid bringing cases built on evidence from officers who are likely to be challenged in court, these new DAs say. Having a centralized list at a district attorney’s office, they say, allows for the gathering of institutional knowledge, so that if one prosecutor on staff knows about a bad cop, all the prosecutors do.
But the strategy has infuriated police unions and some law-enforcement officials, who say they should get a say in who’s named on the lists—or else crime victims will pay the price.
“Kim Gardner is saying that when you dial 911, you’re playing 911 roulette: You may get an officer who’s on her list and who can’t give you justice,” said Jeff Roorda, spokesman and business manager for the St. Louis Police Officers’ Association.
Prosecutors who’ve adopted exclusion lists counter that victims rely on officers to be able to testify about the evidence they’ve collected and the witnesses they’ve interviewed without being challenged on integrity grounds.
Supporters of the lists say that officers are typically included based on documented instances of lying on the stand or in their police reports, not rumors. And under police-friendly state laws and employment contracts negotiated by powerful unions, cops have a variety of legal opportunities to clear their names.
“As elected prosecutors, we have the discretion to choose whether to entertain certain cases from certain individuals,” Gardner said in an interview. “Our obligation is to evaluate the credibility of any witness, regardless of whether they’re police.”
“We have people whose liberty is at stake,” she said.
Exclusion lists are not entirely a new phenomenon. But in the past, they worked more like a grapevine, with anecdotes about cops shared among line prosecutors case-by-case. DA’s offices would discreetly inform police departments about officers with credibility issues, and those individuals would just as discreetly be reassigned to desk jobs.
In a city like Baltimore, which struggles to maintain police credibility in the black community, exclusion lists date back a decade. In 2008, the elected prosecutor, Patricia Jessamy, listed 15 current or former officers her office deemed not reliable enough to call as witnesses in court cases.
Police union leaders called the move unfair to officers, saying they are often subject to false complaints. Judging should be left to courts or administrative tribunals, they said. Prosecutors responded that those processes of determining guilt often took years.
Baltimore’s exclusion list forced the police to assign officers to desk duties, where they couldn’t make arrests or have other contact with the public. Due to the bad blood the policy created between cops and prosecutors, it was abolished in 2010 by Jessamy’s elected successor.
But the spectre of the list hangs over frigid police-prosecutor relations to this day. DAs still factor in the credibility of officers when mulling over cases, and the current prosecutor, Marilyn Mosby, is actively considering reconstituting a list, said her chief deputy, Michael Schatzow.
The Baltimore police union did not respond to requests for comment.
The city has dealt with a spate of high-profile allegations of police abuse and corruption, from the in-custody death of Freddie Gray in 2015 to a group of police officers who were convicted in the last year of robbing people.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner.
Especially in the black community, the lists can help reassure frustrated citizens who believe that too many police officers have gotten away with misconduct, proponents say. While landing on a list may not get an officer fired, it is a roadblock to advancement.
“There has to be some level of balance where you’re not ostracizing police officers who are working hard at making their cities and communities safer, and also some way for a city to not go through what Baltimore has had to deal with,” said Baltimore City Councilman Brandon Scott.
There are challenges to implementing do-not-call databases successfully. Officers who have committed wrongdoing in other states or counties may be difficult to identify, for example.
And in many parts of the country, prosecutors are not given full access to police departments’ files. In a handful of states, they are banned from seeing certain disciplinary records altogether, effectively preventing many DAs from maintaining a comprehensive list of bad cops.
Prosecutors and some police officials note that DAs may not be aware of low-level efforts to mislead on the part of rogue officers; due to the sheer volume of cases that district attorneys’ offices handle, individual prosecutors say they can’t go back and reinvestigate everything the police are telling them. That means that the most everyday forms of dishonesty by officers (and crime lab employees) might never land them on an exclusion list.
Ronal Serpas, executive director of Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime & Incarceration, an advocacy group of more than 200 police chiefs and prosecutors, said a better solution than blacklists would be for district attorneys to urge police leaders to implement “one and done” policies. Such rules would require immediate firing for any work-related lie.
Serpas said he followed that policy when he ran both the Nashville and New Orleans police departments.
“You don’t need to have a ‘Brady no call’ list if the police department is terminating people,” he said.
Chris Magnus, the police chief in Tucson, Arizona, says that’s easier said than done.
“If I had my way, officers who lie wouldn’t just be put on a list, they’d be fired, and also not allowed to work in any other jurisdiction as a police officer ever again,” said Magnus, who says he hands over a list of problem officers to prosecutors. “But unfortunately, we have to allow them back into the workplace” due to union contracts.
“It frustrates the hell out of me,” he said, “that we have employees receiving full pay but who can’t really function as full police officers.”
This article was originally published by the Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. Sign up for the newsletter, or follow the Marshall Project on Facebook or Twitter.
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Hey, Quick Question: Why Aren't We All Selling Our Poop?
If your answer is "because nobody would want it," you are wrong, because a fecal bank called OpenBiome will buy your poop to the tune of $13,000 a year.
From the Washington Post:
Since 2013, OpenBiome has been processing and shipping loads of it all over the country. The frozen stool is administered to patients who are very sick with infections of a bacteria called C. difficile. The bacteria can cause extreme gastrointestinal distress, leaving some sufferers housebound. Antibiotics often help, but sometimes the bacteria rears back as soon as treatment stops. That leads to a miserable, continuous course of antibiotics.
Si, difficile. OpenBiome pays donors "$40 a sample, with a $50 bonus if you come in five days a week. That's $250 for a week of donations, or $13,000 a year." Sounds amazing, let me quickly poop in a Tupperware and pay off the consumer debt I have accrued since moving to New York this October. Except, of course, there's a catch: only about 4% of people they've screened are healthy enough to produce turds of a magnificence necessary to be made into miniature turd pills that magically bring other people back to health.
And, of course, there's another catch: the screening process can cost up to $5,000 on its own.
Guess I'll just have to go back to doing what I normally do with my poop: pulling it out of the toilet with a ladle and whipping it, like a shot-put, into my magnificent backyard.
For more about stool banks, check "The Excrement Experiment," from the New Yorker late last year.
Image via Shutterstock.
accordingto
You left out the most important part! From the website's donor page, http://www.openbiome.org/stool-donation…
Earn prizes
Win competitions like biggest single donation of the month, or most donations in a month for bonuses and prizes!
YOU CAN LITERALLY WIN A PRIZE FOR HAVING THE MOST/BIGGEST/HEAVIEST POOP AT ONE TIME!!!!!!!
If I lived close enough to this place to donate, I absolutely would. In a heartbeat, not just because of money and an interesting conversation starter, but because I've seen how devastating C. Diff is for people.
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Quest Diagnostics Launches Simplexa(TM) C. Difficile Universal Direct Test in Europe
First test from the Focus Diagnostics' Simplexa product line for the hospital-acquired infection (HAI) market
MADISON, N.J. and CYPRESS, Calif., May 5, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE: DGX), the world's leading provider of diagnostic testing, information and services, today announced the availability in Europe of the Simplexa C. difficile Universal Direct test on the 3M(TM) Integrated Cycler. The new CE marked in vitro diagnostic (IVD) Simplexa test enables fast, high volume lab testing, eliminating the traditional extraction step and allowing for processing of up to 94 patient specimens in about an hour.
Focus Diagnostics, a business of Quest Diagnostics and developer of the Simplexa product line, will unveil the new test as well as the Simplexa Epstein Barr (EBV) and BK Virus tests, which were CE marked last month, during the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Tradeshow, which begins on May 7 in Milan (Exhibit number: 241). A CE mark is a regulatory requirement to sell products in about 35 countries in Europe.
Simplexa tests, running on the 3M(TM) Integrated Cycler, employ real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to qualitatively and quantitatively detect viruses, bacteria and other agents. The Simplexa C. difficile Universal Direct test is performed on liquid or unformed human stool samples and detects toxin producing strains of Clostridium difficile, including NAP1/B1/027.
"Clostridium difficile is a common cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea and an extremely important and serious hospital-acquired infection," said Jay M. Lieberman, M.D., medical director for Quest Diagnostics and Focus Diagnostics. "C. difficile infections (CDI) range in severity from mild diarrhea to life-threatening pseudomembranous colitis, and result in significant suffering and deaths. Timely diagnosis is essential for clinicians when treating patients presenting with possible C. difficile disease."
"Our Simplexa C. difficile Universal Direct test will help physicians make a fast, reliable diagnosis of CDI," says Dr. John Hurrell, General Manager at Focus Diagnostics. "This is vital to treating patients and reducing the threat of transmission to other patients."
CDI is a bacterial infection that most commonly affects patients on prolonged use of broad spectrum antibiotics, over 65 in age, and those who have recently undergone gastrointestinal surgery or are immunocompromised. In major European Union (EU) countries, such as Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom, CDI is estimated to be responsible for 1.1 in 1,000 hospital admissions and is expected to double over the next four decades.[1] The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control estimates the financial impact of each CDI case in England can cost euro 5.000 - 15.000. With a European population of 457 million, the potential cost to the Union may exceed euro 3.000 million annually.[2]
Focus Diagnostics launched the Simplexa molecular product line in 2009 with a focus on influenza and respiratory syncytial virus. Since that time, the Simplexa product line has expanded to include Tests for detecting Flu A/B and Respiratory Syncytial virus, EBV, BK virus and Bordetella pertussis. Simplexa tests run on the 3M Integrated Cycler, a compact, portable testing platform that can provide results in as few as 60 minutes following sample extraction, as part of an exclusive worldwide agreement with 3M.
In April 2011, the Simplexa/3M technology won a 2011 Edison Award for new science and medical diagnostic product, based on criteria that included technological innovation and marketplace success.
To order the Simplexa EBV or BKV tests, please contact Focus Diagnostics at 800-445-0185 (U.S.) or +49-6026-9499540 (Europe). You may also visit us FocusDiagnostics.com or Simplexadx.com.
About Focus Diagnostics
Focus Diagnostics, Inc. is an infectious disease diagnostics company, providing infectious disease reference laboratory services to hospitals and laboratories nationwide, and manufacturing and distributing diagnostic products worldwide. Focus Diagnostics develops innovative tests and products to assist physicians in diagnosing infectious diseases, and often provides the first diagnostic tests in the U.S. for emerging diseases, such as West Nile virus and SARS. HerpeSelect® type-specific HSV serology and West Nile Virus DxSelect(TM) are top-selling Focus Diagnostics products used in laboratories worldwide. Focus Diagnostics is a wholly owned subsidiary of Quest Diagnostics. Visit FocusDiagnostics.com.
Quest Diagnostics is the world's leading provider of diagnostic testing, information and services that patients and doctors need to make better healthcare decisions. The company offers the broadest access to diagnostic testing services through its network of laboratories and patient service centers, and provides interpretive consultation through its extensive medical and scientific staff. Quest Diagnostics is a pioneer in developing innovative diagnostic tests and advanced healthcare information technology solutions that help improve patient care. For more information, refer to QuestDiagnostics.com.
Quest, Quest Diagnostics, the associated logo, Nichols Institute and all associated Quest Diagnostics marks are the registered trademarks of Quest Diagnostics. All third party marks - (r)' and (tm)' - are the property of their respective owners. (c) 2000-2011 Quest Diagnostics Incorporated. All rights reserved.
[1] Kuijper EJ, et al. Emergence of Clostridium difficile-associated disease in North America and Europe. Clinical Microbiology and Infection 2006 12(s6) 2-18.
[2] European Center for Disease Prevention and Control website http://www.ecdc.eu/ on Clostridium difficile infection, accessed on May 2, 2011.
Kathleen Valentine (Investors): 973-520-2900
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Biografie politiche
The Revolution of Robert Kennedy: From Power to Protest After JFK
Di John R. Bohrer
Salva per dopoSalva The Revolution of Robert Kennedy: From Power to Protest After JFK per dopo
Valutazioni:
Valutazione: 3 stelle su 53/5 (292 recensioni)
Lunghezza: 678 pagine9 ore
A groundbreaking account of how Robert F. Kennedy transformed horror into hope between 1963 and 1966, with style and substance that has shaped American politics ever since.
On November 22nd, 1963, Bobby Kennedy received a phone call that altered his life forever. The president, his brother, had been shot. JFK would not survive.
In The Revolution of Robert Kennedy, journalist John R. Bohrer focuses in intimate and revealing detail on Bobby Kennedy's life during the three years following JFK's assassination. Torn between mourning the past and plotting his future, Bobby was placed in a sudden competition with his political enemy, Lyndon Johnson, for control of the Democratic Party. No longer the president's closest advisor, Bobby struggled to find his place within the Johnson administration, eventually deciding to leave his Cabinet post to run for the U.S. Senate, and establish an independent identity. Those overlooked years of change, from hardline Attorney General to champion of the common man, helped him develop the themes of his eventual presidential campaign.
The Revolution of Robert Kennedy follows him on the journey from memorializing his brother's legacy to defining his own. John R. Bohrer's rich, insightful portrait of Robert Kennedy is biography at its best--inviting readers into the mind and heart of one of America's great leaders.
Storia degli Stati Uniti
John R. Bohrer
Jason Redman
Pat F. Garrett
William Balsamo
John Balsamo
Robert L. Beir
Brian Josepher
Kevin Powers
Shane O'Sullivan
Josh Mensch
Correlati a The Revolution of Robert Kennedy
American Values: Lessons I Learned from My Family
Autore Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Kennedy: The Classic Biography
Autore Ted Sorensen
Camelot's Court: Inside the Kennedy White House
Autore Robert Dallek
The Making of the President 1968
Autore Theodore H. White
Kennedy & Nixon: The Rivalry that Shaped Postwar America
Autore Chris Matthews
Tip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked
Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit
RFK: His Words for Our Times
Autore Robert F. Kennedy
The Unfinished Odyssey of Robert Kennedy: A Biography
Autore David Halberstam
Blind Ambition: The White House Years
Autore John W. Dean
Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero
Broken Glory: The Final Years of Robert F. Kennedy
Autore Ed Sanders
Conversations with Kennedy
Autore Benjamin C. Bradlee
A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House
Autore Arthur M. Schlesinger
"Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye": Memories of John Fitzgerald Kennedy
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LBJ: Architect of American Ambition
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Robert Kennedy: His Life
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Ray Boomhower, “Robert F. Kennedy and the 1968 Indiana Primary” (Indiana UP, 2008): As some of you may be aware, there’s a big election coming up. Yes, it’s time to pick a new auditor for Iowa City, Iowa, my hometown. It’s a hotly contested race between a jerk with a drinking problem and a twenty-four-year-old who ran a cake business ...
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Howard Jones, “The Bay of Pigs” (Oxford UP, 2008): There is just something about Fidel Castro that American presidents don’t like very much. Maybe it’s the long-winded anti-American diatribes. Maybe it’s the strident communism (to which he came rather late, truth be told ). Maybe it’s the beard.
Trailer - Welcome to LBJ and the Great Society: History, told by those who were there and had a hand in its making. Subscribe now to listen to the first episode on February 4th!
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The Kennedy Legacy: Kerry Kennedy, president of the Robert F. Kennedy…
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Kyle Longley, “LBJ’s 1968: Power, Politics, and the Presidency in America’s Year of Upheaval” (Cambridge UP, 2018): It was a year that at times left Lyndon Johnson feeling as though he was living in a continuous nightmare. Yet as Kyle Longley describes in his book LBJ’s 1968: Power, Politics, and the Presidency in America’s Year of Upheaval (Cambridge University Pre...
S2 Ep 1 - The Great Unveiling: Reeling from JFK's assassination, Johnson lays out an ambitious vision for America.
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LBJ's political bombshell: By 1968, things were going badly for President Lyndon B. Johnson. Morale around the Vietnam War was sinking, and in Washington, political sharks were circling.
ENCORE: President John F. Kennedy on Civil Rights
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Political Parties - The Reagan Revolution | 6
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That Time When a Presidential Candidate Actually Was Bugged: …and probably for a good reason. 1968 and an announcement of a bombing halt over Vietnam by LBJ in the last week of the election has all sides moving in many directions. Evidence points to Nixon campaign involvement in scuttling talks through a thi
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The 50th Anniversary of RFK's Assassination
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The Last Words of Robert F. Kennedy
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Bobby, All in All
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Mountain Memories
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Working for Bobby
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Commentary: How Robert F. Kennedy's assassination altered California politics
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The Revolution of Robert Kennedy - John R. Bohrer
THE REVOLUTION OF ROBERT KENNEDY
For all my JB’s …
Introduction: Memorial
Book I: The New Frontier Behind
1: The Future Question
2: A Job for Bobby
3: Seeing Ghosts
4: Distractions
5: Loyalty Above All
6: A Newer World
Book II: Revolution
7: The Sixties Breaking Open
8: Ruthless
9: The Revolution Now in Progress
10: Slow Boil
11: Revolución
12: Power and Responsibility
13: Ripple
Epilogue: Memorial
A Note on the Author
In his darkest moment, Robert Kennedy defined change.
We are a young country, he wrote on December 18, 1963, four weeks after his brother, the President, was assassinated. We are growing and expanding until it appears that this planet will no longer contain us. We have problems now that people fifty, even ten years ago, would not have dreamed would have to be faced.
Bobby was writing the foreword to a memorial edition of John F. Kennedy’s book Profiles in Courage—something he would not have dreamed of facing four weeks earlier. In an instant, he had lost his brother, his boss, and his security. The mingling loyalties to family and country had made life before simple, he would say. Now it was racked by uncertainty. The presidency belonged to Lyndon Baines Johnson, a man whose morals and judgment he questioned, and whose insatiable appetite for political domination convinced Bobby that the name Kennedy would mean little in a few short months. The attorney general warned friends to act fast and get what they wanted, for their political power would soon expire.
Bobby himself was unsure of what he wanted. With each passing day, pressure mounted for him to decide how to use what he had inherited. So many had put their faith in a future with JFK at the helm. People now looked to Bobby for action—some for direction, most just for comfort in their grief.
This reaction would have seemed strange just a few weeks earlier. Many liberals did not trust the President’s younger brother and chief political strategist. They thought he put elections before principles and were disgusted by his battering style on behalf of Communist-hunting and crime-fighting Senate committees in the 1950s. Robert was perceived as a tough guy, insensitive, cruel, vindictive, clannish, summed up in a word which he never shook off … ruthless, the Yale law professor Alexander Bickel would write.¹ He was so polarizing that civil rights managed to cut against him both ways: demonstrators picketed him for lacking urgency and segregationists accused him of cramming court orders down their throats.² In the weeks leading up to the assassination, Bobby felt he was becoming so politically toxic that he spoke with his brother about resigning before the reelection campaign. Recounting the conversation in 1964, he said, What was costing us was the great dislike for me in the South particularly, but in certain other [areas] as well, and that the blame for enforcing desegregation rulings in what had been reliably Democratic states like Alabama and Mississippi "had changed from just me in ’62 and ’63 to both of us—‘the Kennedy brothers.’ Bobby couldn’t even go off to manage the campaign as he did in 1960, he told the President, because then they would have thought I was still in there, still important. When Bobby suggested they say he was leaving to make speeches, JFK insisted he stay on to avoid the appearance of wavering. It was an unnecessary burden, in my judgment, Bobby recalled.³ At a gathering of Justice Department aides for the attorney general’s thirty-eighth birthday on November 20, two of his assistants left with the impression he was depressed that night" and about to resign.⁴ Less than forty-eight hours later, the President was dead.
That mood was nothing compared to the lows Bobby would experience after JFK’s assassination. But the tragedy also elevated him in ways he wouldn’t have expected. In time, ruthless Robert Kennedy would become the redoubt of a young decade’s ideals. There were people who wanted to hope, to recapture the excitement, and believe that the New Frontier President Kennedy spoke of was not behind them.
This idea was slow to dawn on Bobby as the cold crept in, the days became shorter, and the sleepless nights stretched on. He would later say that he thought about the future in that month to the point where the only decision he could make was to stop thinking about it. ⁵ Yet in those lost days, he wrote the truest expression of who he was and what he lived for.
On December 18, the day they renamed New York’s Idlewild Airport for JFK and Congress authorized putting his face on money,⁶ tributes to the late president were piling up. The Profiles in Courage memorial edition was one of them, and a rumor had made its way to the publisher that Bobby might write the foreword. If not Bobby, the book’s editor gently suggested, how about Sandburg? ⁷ Carl Sandburg, the poet and biographer of Lincoln, was ancient—nearly eighty-six years old. Bobby had just turned thirty-eight. It was up to him.
And so the attorney general sat alone in his Justice Department office— this enormous mausoleum, as a reporter once described it⁸—with ceilings so high he could lob a football. Children’s drawings clung from pieces of tape to the walnut-paneled walls, as dreadful thoughts of the future crowded that terribly empty space. He sent questions to JFK’s top aide and their father’s office, looking for a quote from a speech, or wondering about Jack’s illnesses—his suffering—as a young man.⁹ Bobby ignored his speechwriter’s recommendations¹⁰ and put the draft down entirely in his own hand. He wrote the word Courage in bold, underlined text at the top of the first sheet of ruled paper. Hardly any revisions were necessary.
He wrote how President Kennedy had suffered greatly in his forty-six years. A bad stomach. A bad back. Long spells in hospitals. At least half of the days that he spent on this earth were days of intense physical pain. Bobby remembered their 1951 trip around the world, to Okinawa, where Jack’s fever reached 106 degrees. They didn’t think he would live, he wrote. But during all this time, I never heard him complain. I never heard him say anything which would indicate that he felt God had dealt with him unjustly.
Kennedys didn’t cry. They did not wear their pain for all to see. They were not halted midsentence by emotion or have eyes welled with tears. They were not given a sleeping pill and heard through the door, crying, Why God?
In the four weeks between his brother’s death and writing the foreword, Robert Kennedy had done all these things, no matter how much he willed himself not to. He didn’t just feel pain—he emitted it. Desolation, scribbled Edwin Lahey, the smoky old newsman who was granted the first interview days before Bobby’s writing. Lahey had watched him since he first arrived in Washington as one of Senator Joe McCarthy’s tenacious boy prosecutors, determined to root out Communism and win absolute victory in the clean-cut 1950s. A dozen years on, the youthful face was creased with experience and crushed by despair. To see Robert Kennedy was to feel his pain.
This was not how Jack Kennedy would be seen, as Bobby wrote in the foreword: Those who knew him well would know he was suffering only because his face was a little whiter, the lines around his eyes were a little deeper, his words a little sharper. Those who did not know him well detected nothing. He didn’t complain about his problem so why should I complain about mine—that is how one always felt. ¹¹
Kennedys didn’t cry. This was the family mantra and hard-hearted edict of their father, ruthless entrepreneur and ambassador to the Court of St. James, Joseph P. Kennedy, who pounded into his children this unmatched toughness and stubborn refusal of defeat. But few understood the deeper meaning: that Kennedys didn’t cry so that others might not cry, too. As their mother, Rose, would write, "What he really meant was that there was to be no self-pity, and no burdening of others with any personal misfortunes by making a commotion about them. He knew that for almost everyone life is likely to hold many knocks and bruises, and that people had better get used to that idea at an early age."¹²
Robert Kennedy’s entire life had led to a bruise he could not forget, a pain that fell drop by drop upon the heart, in the words of a Greek poem he would months later discover. Bobby had to cope with change. Sudden, unwanted, stunning change. It was a time to be brave, a time to have courage. In his memorial foreword, he quoted a passage from his brother’s inaugural, beginning with the part just before the eternal Let the word go forth … the torch has been passed to a new generation …
We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. ¹³
In the years that followed, Robert Kennedy underwent his own revolution, recasting him in his time and beyond into a glimpse of a leader still longed for. He had been as rough as JFK had been smooth, and his transition was at many times rocky. He searched for power in traditional means and, when he found himself incapable, used his dissenting voice to exert what influence he could. His actions and gestures, from someone who had been so clearly wounded by the world, brought hope to those who needed healing, even across political divides. These years tell the story of how he dreamed and plotted, where he failed and succeeded—but ultimately, how he handled change and tried to send it forth. By 1966, he would find his revolution was catching and watch it sweep across his life and cross currents with a generation, to the extent that a person who had walked the secret corridors of power would at last claim membership among the world’s youth. This world demands the qualities of youth, he would say, not a time of life but a state of mind. For Robert Kennedy understood that a true revolution takes a leader young enough to change with the times.¹⁴
Though not a politician in the traditional sense, Bobby was the most political of the Kennedys in November 1963. Unlike his two brothers, he had never run for office—a difference that freed him from the burden of having to be liked by all. He became the Kennedy most closely identified with the cold, calculating compromises beneath every successful campaign.
Campaigns had consumed most of his adult life. He missed his law school graduation to return to Massachusetts to run Jack’s 1952 Senate campaign.¹⁵ He put his future aside or altered its course every time Jack Kennedy’s political career required. He joined Adlai Stevenson on the road in 1956 to learn the workings of a presidential operation,¹⁶ and his ruthless reputation only grew as he took his brother’s ambition nationwide. Gentlemen, I don’t give a damn if the state and county organizations survive after November, he told a meeting of New York reform Democrats in 1960. "And I don’t care if you survive. I want to elect John F. Kennedy."¹⁷
Ask anyone why Bobby was appointed attorney general in 1961 at the age of thirty-five, and they would say because his brother was elected president. But few would observe what was equally true: that JFK would never have been elected president had Bobby not delivered the unpopular decisions the candidate didn’t want to sully himself with. Every negative thing about Jack was put on Bobby. From the right, from the left—he was the bogeyman. One anonymous politician remarked to a columnist how both always told it to me straight. The difference was that Jack spoon-fed it to you while Bobby barked it at you. ¹⁸ As U.S. senator, Jack was the one who met with favor seekers, smiling and nodding as they made impossible demands in his Senate Office Building suite. Then he would send them down to Bobby’s office in the basement, where little brother’s stone face said no.¹⁹
As evident as the routine was, many refused to accept the truth, even as Jack moved to the White House and Bobby went from the basement to the Justice Department. Bobby Kennedy did it to me was Washington-speak for The President would never do this to me. The President would have given me what I wanted. It was the role Bobby played. Political columnist Drew Pearson wrote that Bobby was one of the most devoted brothers in American history … He took the knocks, let his brother get the praise. ²⁰ Bobby was the fall guy, another wrote. Absorbing the blows so that his brother would remain untouched. ²¹ He didn’t cry about it. He just took it.
You won’t have any trouble finding my enemies, he told a reporter in 1962. They’re all over town. ²²
And just as he did with the favor seekers, Bobby was often the one telling his brother the things he did not want to hear. Bobby was a critical voice in the Kennedy administration—advising, pushing, and often challenging the President’s thinking. His unimpeachable loyalty allowed him to do this without raising a single question about his motives, his ambition, his angle. To spur was his role, his father’s rationale for putting him at the head of a powerful executive department, making them the closest two relatives—let alone siblings—in the line of succession since Woodrow Wilson’s treasury secretary married the president’s daughter.
I think there was an advantage in our relationship, Bobby said in February 1964, because my motivation really could never be questioned. There wasn’t anything to be gained by me, and I wasn’t running for any office, so I didn’t have any political future that I was attempting to work for or help. ²³
He was willing to make this trade-off because his relationship with his brother gave his life meaning. No one telephoned the President more often than his brother Bob did, JFK’s personal secretary Evelyn Lincoln later wrote, and it was a rare day when Bob did not come to see him at least once. ²⁴
Bobby had a superhuman devotion. Even while he was up all hours running the 1960 West Virginia campaign, he still made it to mass on Sunday mornings.²⁵ Jack works as hard as any mortal man can, Joseph Kennedy said. Bobby goes a little further. ²⁶ This was the legend, born in part from words attributed to the Ambassador: "He hates like me." The infamous anecdote has never been pinned down and was most likely never said,²⁷ rising out of the ether, typifying how others felt Bobby came into being. It was wrong, though, because if anything gave Bobby Kennedy his toughness, it was being on his own.
He was born eight years after Jack and seven years before Teddy. So there he was, his mother wrote, with two older brothers and one very much younger, none of whom was much use to him as boyhood pals, playmates. ²⁸ He attended more schools than he could remember, and his coming of age was punctuated by international upheaval, war, and the loss or impairment of three older siblings between 1941 and 1948. It was along this tragic and lonely path that he discovered strength within himself—a tremendous fight. He lettered in football at Harvard despite his smaller stature, was the first brother to marry, and fathered the first Kennedy grandchild. He quickly plunged all of his energies and devotion into his family. Bobby’s a tough one, the Ambassador told a reporter in 1957. He’ll keep the Kennedys together, you can bet. ²⁹ He didn’t have to stand as tall as his brothers had because he was the one they leaned on. And therefore he could be as ruthless as he had to.
I don’t think about the future, he said in 1962. If you start thinking about doing something else, you have a tendency to change. You start preparing for it—you can’t help it. During the campaign I rarely considered doing anything in government. I thought I might travel. I thought of going back to Harvard after Election Day to study history. You can’t let it change you. If you begin changing, you’ve got to get out. ³⁰
Now change had come for him.
Newscasts offered glimpses of his sorrow in those first weeks after the assassination, short reports on his activities. Journalists cheered him on, speculating over when—not if—he would emerge. The New York Times reported that at the time of his writing the foreword the possibility of his resigning was rumored. The New York Herald Tribune quoted one of his closest associates: Bob is in a state of shock. He’s been wounded in combat. He has to recover, and only then can he really make a decision. Other people who knew him well spoke of Johnson’s pleas for him to stay, but that a political bid in Massachusetts seems inevitable. The New York Daily News had close associates saying he would stay attorney general through the passage of the civil rights bill—a JFK proposal that President Johnson advocated as a tribute—but that he would be gone by the November election, lest he hurt LBJ’s chances in the South. And some— those closest to the Attorney General —believed he would seek the vice presidential nomination.³¹ To many, this notion seemed absurd. To Bobby, it seemed his duty.
When he was still a senator, Jack had once told a reporter, Just as I went into politics because Joe died, if anything happened to me tomorrow, my brother Bobby would run for my seat in the Senate. And if Bobby died, Teddy would take over for him. ³²
Though he was confused and conflicted, Robert Kennedy undertook a bid for the vice presidency, which became vacant with Lyndon Johnson’s ascension and would remain that way—as it had during the nearly four years Harry Truman inherited from FDR—until a successor could be elected in the next general election. Recent tradition dictated that Johnson would have most, if not all, of the influence over who his running mate should be. But the final decision would be made by the delegates to the summer’s Democratic National Convention, nine months away. Bobby had the difficult task of swaying the delegates and the near-impossible mission of convincing the President. His actions and thinking were occasionally out in the open, but most often in secret, with some of its aspects hidden to close aides, unknown or misunderstood. Ultimately, he decided against carrying out his final and what would have been his most dramatic play to join the Johnson ticket—to resign his office as attorney general and wage a full-out campaign to stampede the convention. Whatever his reason for going so far down the path and then abruptly stepping off it, the fact remains that he had made such preparations. And the reason he did can be found within the memorial foreword he wrote in December 1963, where he quoted one of the President’s favorite authors, Lord Tweedsmuir, who wrote, Politics is still the greatest and most honorable adventure.
Bobby added, It has been fashionable in many places to look down on politics, on those in Government. He had done so himself, saying after the 1952 Senate race, Politicians do nothing but hold meetings. By December 1963, he understood what politics could mean: Government is where the decisions will be made affecting not only all our destinies, but the future of our children born and unborn. He remembered talking with his brother during the Cuban missile crisis about their being killed in nuclear annihilation, writing that what the President feared most was the fate of the world’s children. They would never have been given a chance to make a decision, to vote in an election, to run for office, to lead a revolution, to determine their own destinies. ³³
This was his inheritance—one he knew he had to pass on. And so when speaking to young people anywhere in the world, he would return to the theme.
A revolution is now in progress, he said on New York college campuses in 1965. It is a revolution for individual dignity … for economic freedom … for social reform and political freedom, for internal justice and international independence.
This revolution, he would say, "is directed against us—against the one third of the world that diets while others starve; against a nation that buys eight million new cars a year while most of the world goes without shoes …"³⁴
To students in Peru, Robert Kennedy—who had recently been among the most powerful men on the planet—advised that it was their responsibility to lead a revolution. A revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough; humane if we care enough; successful if we are fortunate enough. But a revolution will come whether we will it or not. We can affect its character, we cannot alter its inevitability. ³⁵
Robert Kennedy’s exile from political power had sharpened his awareness of change and heightened his ability to embrace it. He was one of the comfortable, yet afflicted. A member of the establishment who understood how powerless the old order was against people and an idea whose time had come.
Robert Kennedy occupied both sides of the coin in the middle of the 1960s. He became the old and the new—architect of a war and its chief critic; master of the backroom politics and defender of street protest; able to evoke nostalgia and hope for the future—for he stood and spoke like the Kennedy who had led the country into the decade, but wore the hair of someone who looked like he had actually learned from it. He was an authority figure and troublemaker, chiding abusive lawmen and executives in committee hearings, rallying to the side of farmworkers on the picket line, and railing against oppressive governments in foreign countries. He crusaded for mental health, education, an end to the ghettos, and, ultimately, an end to a war. He spoke of revolutions across society, inevitable but threatening only that which was wrong. Revolutions were cathartic, corrective experiences, as evidenced by the one he underwent himself. Through it all, he dared not forget that he and his adopted generation of young people were, too, the heirs of that first revolution.
This is how Robert Kennedy came to define change, and find his way forward through the valley of his life. What happens to the country, to the world, he wrote on that lonely December day, depends on what we do with what others have left us. ³⁶
THE NEW FRONTIER BEHIND
THE FUTURE QUESTION
November 1963–January 1964
The poolside telephone rang at Hickory Hill, Bobby Kennedy’s Virginia manor house across the Chain Bridge from Washington, piercing what had been a quiet, unseasonably warm November afternoon. The extension was one of many secure lines that ran through his property, installed by the Signal Corps. It was a testament to his power and place in his brother’s administration—to be within a digit’s reach at all times. On November 22, 1963, Bobby was having a swim and a tuna fish sandwich because it was Friday and he was Catholic. The telephone at the foot of the pool delivered words that burst into his life, never to exit: The President’s been shot.
Jack’s condition was bad, inconclusive, and Bobby went from the pool to his bedroom to dress, intending to go to his brother’s side in Dallas at once. Then the extension in the upstairs study rang and he learned that the trip would not be necessary.¹
Bobby had expressed shock by the swimming pool, clapping his hand to his mouth, speechless.² He cried out when the official word came. And then, passing by the framed pictures in Hickory Hill’s hallways—photographs of his father, his deceased siblings, his wife, his young children—he seemed to find a well of calm within himself. His lunch guests had gone to the television set in the living room, searching for news. Bob came down the stairs and poked his head in. He died, he said softly.
Robert Kennedy spent the next hours wandering the grassy slopes around his house, going from telephone to telephone, speaking with family and friends, consoling them and assigning tasks: there was an office to turn over, people to collect, a funeral to plan … He saw to it that the White House changed the locks on the President’s personal and medical files, for reasons only he knew.³ He spoke with his brother’s successor, Lyndon Baines Johnson, who sought his attorney general’s legal opinion on whether he should be sworn in immediately or wait until landing in Washington. Bobby said it didn’t matter. Johnson’s secretary asked for the wording of the oath of office, and Bobby started to read it over the phone to her, but his voice trembled repeating the words he had last heard on a bright, cold day some three years earlier. His deputy Nicholas Katzenbach took over.⁴
Still, the encounter showed just how tough Bob Kennedy truly was, and how tough Lyndon Johnson must have seen him to be. Johnson wanted Bobby’s approval for a ceremonial swearing-in not just as attorney general, but as leader of the Kennedy family. And Bobby showed him he was tough enough to discuss it while the blood still cooled in his brother’s veins.
Bobby spoke to many others that afternoon. Comforted them. Asked questions. Gave answers. Of all the words he spoke, the most revealing were the ones he spoke to himself. As he moved between the phone calls, Bobby Kennedy said to himself simply, There’s been so much hate. ⁵
Family had defined Robert Kennedy’s public service, and now he believed the public was through with his family. He even blamed them in the hours after the assassination.
He paced the lawn behind Hickory Hill, while his press aide, Ed Guthman, loyally paced at his side. Bobby vented that through all the anger directed toward the Kennedys, he never thought a horror like this would happen, and if it did, I thought it would be me. He told Guthman, There’s been so much bitterness and hatred, and so many people who might have said something have remained silent— and the sound drained from his throat before he could finish. It was one of the few times in his life that Bobby would verbally direct his anger for his brother’s death, and it was toward the words of opponents, the silence of friends—a toxic political discourse.
Guthman tried to comfort him, saying maybe it would bring people together.
No, Bob said slowly, this will make it worse. ⁶
Two days after President Kennedy’s funeral, Jack Rosenthal, Guthman’s assistant in the Justice Department press office, was walking to his desk when he caught a glimpse of the attorney general. Rosenthal was shocked to see him back in the office so soon and slightly relieved his boss hadn’t noticed him. Rosenthal was only twenty-eight years old. He simply didn’t know what he would say to him. Then Guthman summoned Rosenthal to his office.
There was the attorney general— Bob, as the men and women who worked on his staff called him—a week over thirty-eight, five days into his grief, the color drained from his face. He looked awful. He held out that morning’s copy of the Wall Street Journal. Smack in the middle of the front page was a story detailing Washington’s embrace of President Johnson—glowing reviews all, with the exception of one complaint, that of a Kennedy appointee at the Justice Department, who said, It’s pretty hard to identify with a Texas wheeler-dealer. ⁷ The attorney general wanted to know who in the department would say such a stupid thing to a reporter.
You know, Guthman said to Rosenthal, "you talk to the Wall Street Journal reporter every day. Could you call him up and ask him who that was?" Rosenthal knew it’d be a lot to ask, but, given the circumstances, said he would try.
Rosenthal got hold of his friend at the Journal and asked about the source.
Well, I’m really embarrassed to tell you this, Jack, he said, "but it was you."
Rosenthal’s friend didn’t have a byline on the story, but contributed to its reporting, and Jack had all but forgotten that, the day before, the friend had asked for Jack’s opinion of Lyndon Johnson. Jack replied, It’s pretty hard to identify with his shit-kick style.
Since shit-kick couldn’t be printed in the Wall Street Journal in 1963, the reporter changed the phrase to Texas wheeler-dealer —which Rosenthal would have objected to, had he been asked, but there was nothing he could do now. He went back into the office to face the music.
Oh, thank God, Bob replied—he was worried an assistant attorney general was behind the quote. He knew that it was only a matter of time before Johnson ferreted out the source, and that it was a lot better if it was the junior press officer. Nothing was ever spoken of the incident again, but even decades later Rosenthal couldn’t help but wonder, "Why did he care?"
What the concern showed was how even in the days after the assassination, when he was racked by exhaustion and despair, Robert Kennedy was thinking about where he stood with President Johnson.⁸ It showed that in those days of aching grief Robert Kennedy was thinking about his future. Robert Kennedy was thinking about politics.
Later that afternoon, Johnson summoned Kennedy to the Oval Office to clear up what a White House staff memo called several points of misunderstanding. Bobby had ‘misunderstood’ why the plane in Dallas couldn’t take off until Johnson was sworn in, and Bobby had ‘misunderstood’ how Jacqueline Kennedy had been made into a prop at Johnson’s side, and Bobby had ‘misunderstood’ why President Kennedy’s furniture was moved, and Bobby had misunderstood, period. The memo concluded, The Attorney General has the feeling the President doesn’t deal directly … The arts of the Hill are not his arts. Johnson tried to put Bobby’s mind at ease, explaining why he moved into the Oval Office so swiftly, how he had treated Jackie on the plane back to Washington. People around you are saying things about me, Johnson told him. I won’t let people around me say anything about your people, and don’t let any of your people say anything about me. They were done within twelve minutes.⁹
Bobby later said of the conversation, I didn’t get into an argument about it … I didn’t know quite what to say. ¹⁰
That night, at President Johnson’s address before a joint session of Congress, the New York Times described Bobby’s slight figure sitting among the other cabinet members as the most moving sight in the House chamber. ¹¹
Kennedy wasn’t ready to discuss his future yet or at least didn’t attempt to with his dear friend and former aide John Seigenthaler. Seigenthaler took heart at how Bob was still functional in those first days after the assassination, how he made dark, wry jokes about the absurd and strange new world he occupied.
Come on in, he said the night of the burial, somebody shot my brother and we’re watching his funeral on television. ¹²
He and Ethel had invited their usual mix of Justice Department officials and newspapermen, serving Bloody Marys and putting up a front of light banter. His joking did not hide that he was on the verge of a breakdown. Some feared that he would follow his grief away from public life and abruptly resign his office. We need you, you know, one former aide told Bobby.
Yeah, I know, but I don’t have the heart for it right now. ¹³
Nor did he have the heart to spend Thanksgiving at Hyannis Port, the summer home on Cape Cod where, in the past, the Kennedys had planned and celebrated so often. It was something he could not quite do, Bobby’s mother, Rose, later wrote. He had reached a state, I suppose, of almost insupportable emotional shock. Instead, he chose a week of recuperation in Florida, where Treasury Secretary C. Douglas Dillon lent the Robert Kennedys his house on Hobe Sound. There, he walked the beach and thought. His feelings came out, Pierre Salinger remembered, in really vicious games of touch football, knocking people down. ¹⁴ He was angry. He was hurt. He wanted to resign.
On the day he returned from Florida,¹⁵ Bobby spent two hours talking to Clark Clifford about what he would do next, another of the contrasts the attorney general faced after Dallas. Clifford was Washington’s Democratic wise man and had handled the Kennedys’ White House transition in late 1960. He had even tried to get Bobby off the hook for the cabinet position that his father insisted he take. The Kennedy brothers let Clifford go down to Palm Beach to explain to the Ambassador in person why Bobby shouldn’t be the attorney general. Ambassador Kennedy listened politely, thanked Clifford for sharing his views, then told him forcefully but without malice, "Bobby is going to be attorney general."¹⁶ And so he was.
Now, three years later, a stroke had taken Joseph Kennedy’s ability to speak, Jack was dead, and President Johnson told Clifford, "Clark, you’re my transition expert now." The fixer was ordered to talk the attorney general into keeping his post.¹⁷
I have just finished a two-hour session with Bobby, an exhausted-sounding Clifford told President Johnson on the evening of December 4, and first I want to say, he’s going to stay … We, we really had it out and we covered it all. And I think there are some arguments that he found unanswerable, and I’m just authorized to say now that he’s going to stay. ¹⁸
This was not what Bobby wanted, for he knew as well as his enemies that he was just another lawyer now. Bobby Kennedy is out, Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa told his membership—a crude, but accurate observation from the corrupt union chief whom Bobby was closing in on after years of pursuit.¹⁹ Ironically, the organization helping Bobby put Hoffa away—the Federal Bureau of Investigation—was the first to echo Hoffa’s sentiment. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover welcomed the end of Bobby’s power. The director had been in his post since before the attorney general was born, and though the bureau was nominally under the umbrella of the Justice Department, Hoover had grown accustomed to an open-door policy with the Oval Office. But that changed in the Kennedy administration. Bobby had Hoover report to him and even installed a direct line to the director’s desk so he wouldn’t get a secretary when he called.
That line was dead when Bobby returned from Florida, and when an aide brought up the FBI’s insubordination, he smiled back wryly and said, Those people don’t work for us anymore. Whenever Hoover and Kennedy spoke after Dallas, and the times were few, their interactions were insignificant. Bobby had to go to President Johnson to make requests of his subordinate. As I’ve said before, he told LBJ that July, it’s quite difficult for me … I have no dealings with the FBI anymore. It’s a very difficult situation. Johnson did nothing—even feigned ignorance. Bobby later said of this time that given the President’s lack of support for him, If I had just been appointed attorney general, I would have resigned. But he felt that it would be considered that I was getting out for a different reason, so that wouldn’t do any good, and I was going to accept that relationship through the year—and then I’d get out. ²⁰
His friend Dean Markham warned him in a letter a week after Dallas, The entire country is on your side. If you should make any hasty decision to resign, this attitude could boomerang. The reaction would be that if you can’t play the game under your rules you will take your ball and go home. So he stayed, merely to keep up appearances. He ordered a late Christmas present for each of his top aides: gold cuff links bearing the Department of Justice seal and inscribed 1961–1963, as if his term as attorney general had already come to an end.²¹
His life included one grim task after another. On the night that he promised Clifford he would stay, he took Jackie and Teddy to Arlington National Cemetery, eerily calm after another day of mourners passing in endless procession. Silent in the glow of the eternal flame, Bobby watched the reburial of President Kennedy’s babies alongside their father. An infant son, Patrick, had died a mere fifteen weeks before. A baby girl was stillborn in the summer of 1956 while Jack was sailing in the Mediterranean. It was Bobby at Jackie’s bedside when she awoke. It was Bobby who told her. It was Bobby who comforted her.²²
And it was Bobby who, upon Jackie’s return from Dallas, sat with her behind the gray curtains of the ambulance to Bethesda Naval Hospital, next to the box with the remains of her husband—his brother—as she unburdened herself of the full horror of what had happened in the motorcade. Bobby listened in silence for twenty minutes. He knew Jackie needed to tell him, tell someone. I didn’t think about whether I wanted to hear it or not, he said later.
The relationship was not one-sided. Jackie gave to Bobby, too, as someone who felt the loss as deeply as he did and indulged his grief. She was the one he turned to the night of the funeral, shortly before Jack’s first midnight in the ground, and nodded when he asked, Should we go visit our friend? ²³
Bobby would go to the grave more than anyone else. Living out at Hickory Hill, he had to pass his brother’s final resting place on his way to and from work, but he would most often go at night, after the crowds had been locked out, when it was just him bathed in the orange light of the eternal flame. A columnist quoted a friend, In times of great trouble, Bobby instinctively felt he ought to be in physical range of his brother’s call. Robert Kennedy was the only one the President trusted to give him direct answers—as another columnist put it in 1962, the brother to whom the President could talk as though to himself. ²⁴ Bobby would go to the grave often, to be near him. He would go there with nothing but his own thoughts, as though he were talking to himself.
Ethel would tell a reporter months later, Bobby never thought about himself—or his own life. So when the President died—well, it was like part of Bobby died, too. ²⁵
Ethel, ever chipper, ever trusting in God’s will, kept him strong, kept him in the world. She was the candle in the window, guiding him home past the marker of death in his path. Without her, a friend said in 1964, Bobby might have gone off the deep end … ²⁶
The day after the children’s reburial, Bobby flew to Boston to incorporate the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library. On the flight back aboard the Caroline, he asked Arthur Schlesinger whether he should go for the vice presidency. It was December 5, less than two weeks after the assassination. The vice president’s chair would be vacant for another thirteen months, as a constitutional remedy to replace one was only in its early stages. The choice of the next vice president rested with President Johnson, but could be heavily influenced by Democratic Party leaders. In the years before reforms turned the delegate selection process over to primary and caucus elections, insiders decided who had the power at the national nominating convention. The assassination’s impact on the 1964 race was considered almost immediately. The New York Times’ Warren Weaver filed a story from Washington on the day JFK was killed, appearing in the next day’s paper, speculating over Bobby’s role going forward.²⁷ He and Johnson might not have seen eye to eye, but the name Kennedy still meant something.
My first reaction was negative, Schlesinger recorded in his journal about Bobby’s suggestion of the vice presidency, though, when he asked me why, I found it hard to give clear reasons. Schlesinger felt it might seem a little too artificial and calculated, and that he needed to develop his own political base. Bobby added that he did not like the idea of taking a job which was really based on the premise of waiting around for someone to die. ²⁸
He asked Schlesinger what he thought he should do. Schlesinger suggested staying on as attorney general for an appropriate period, then softening his image with a few years of working on civil rights or juvenile delinquency. This would help erase the national impression that he was a demonic prosecutor, Schlesinger thought. He suggested buying the liberal New York Post, whose owner, Dorothy Schiff, had tried to sell the paper to Jack only months earlier as a post–White House hobby.²⁹ Then in 1966, depending on where Bobby moved, he could either run for governor of Massachusetts or New York.
Bobby said Teddy had suggested the Alliance for Progress, the Kennedy administration’s initiative to improve relations with Latin America. Schlesinger remembered the President’s idea of putting Bobby in charge both of the Alliance and Latin American political affairs under the auspices of the State Department. The idea was one Bobby liked.
As they talked, Schlesinger showed him letters from leading thinkers Isaiah Berlin and Reinhold Niebuhr reacting to the death of his brother. Bobby read and wiped tears from his eyes—the first time Schlesinger saw him lose his composure.³⁰ It was not to be the last.
Schlesinger told him that Labor Secretary Willard Wirtz, who had been for Adlai Stevenson at the 1960 Democratic convention and a believer in ruthless Robert Kennedy, said a few days before, I am very high on him—and you know how much that means, since you know how far back I started. Bobby seemed pleased, Schlesinger recorded in his journal, and said that he would get in touch with Bill so that they could concert their plans and strategies. ³¹
Days later, New York Post columnist James Wechsler placed a single line in his column: Bobby Kennedy is beginning to schedule conversations with political associates over his own future. ³²
The first press interview Bobby did after the assassination went to Edwin A. Lahey, the chain-smoking, blunt-spoken veteran correspondent of the Chicago Daily News. Lahey first got to know Bob Kennedy’s determined cool years earlier on the Senate Rackets Committee, when the boy prosecutor dressed down hardened labor leaders, throwing questions like punches. Lahey looked at the kid again now, behind a desk in his calm and cavernous Justice Department office. Bobby was still young, the newspaperman wrote, only there was this desolation … written all over [his] boyish face. When Lahey entered, Bobby was on the telephone with his father, long distance. Despite his stroke, Joseph Kennedy could still listen and feel disappointment when his children didn’t call. So Bobby and his siblings each had their assigned days to phone and lift their father’s spirits.³³ Bobby spoke into the receiver and heard nothing back. Outwardly, Lahey wrote, Bob Kennedy seems crushed beyond hope, mentally, spiritually, and physically. He puts on a bright bit of banter for an occasional visitor and seems to act at times like the chief legal officer of the United States. Gently, Lahey became the first reporter to ask him the future question—What will you do?—and the first to get the reply that Robert Kennedy would give over and over again that year.
"I just don’t know …
I suppose I’ll stay here until the civil rights bill gets through Congress, Bobby said of the legislation his brother had proposed and put him in charge of. After that, I don’t know. Lahey asked about the vice presidency. RFK returned a blank look. This, too, would become a familiar dance. Bobby said he wasn’t considering it and that he had seen the job and knew it too well to want it. A speculative bid for Massachusetts governor seemed far-fetched, too. He just didn’t know—publicly or privately. Bobby remarked to a friend, I don’t know whether I’ll stay, or whether I want to go on the ticket in ’64, or anything, until I know whether I think Johnson can be President of the United States and follow through with the Kennedy program. I’m not going to make my judgment on anything other than that. It’s too early for me to even think about ’64, because I don’t know whether I want to have any part of these people. I don’t know how they’re going to be, running this country. And if they don’t fulfill and follow out my brother’s program, I don’t want to have anything to do with them. ³⁴
Soon after, the columnist Murray Kempton would write, In December Robert Kennedy said to an old friend from the papers that he had to find a goal for the first time in his life because, for as long as he could remember, he had had no goal that was not his brother’s. ³⁵
On December 13, Schlesinger and JFK aide Richard Goodwin, who had started as a speechwriter on the campaign and was now at the State Department, met with Bobby in his tomblike Justice Department office. So many things about the room were still the same: the furniture was just as it was, the children’s drawings taped to the walls. Yet the phone didn’t ring the way it had before Dallas. And though visitors continued to stop by, they seemed duller. They were all little tells, journalist Hugh Sidey wrote, that the power had passed. ³⁶
Bobby had brought Schlesinger and Goodwin in to talk about what they would do next. His idea of the Alliance for Progress was already vanishing, as Johnson was giving a key Latin America appointment to Thomas Mann, an Eisenhower-era colonialist whom Johnson privately called the nut-cutter. Under Secretary of State Averell Harriman told Schlesinger that Mann’s designation would reverse the direction of President Kennedy’s progressive Latin American policy, and that he was willing to resign over it. Bobby had been hoping Johnson would hold off on the appointment, in deference to President Kennedy’s memory.³⁷ But he was wrong, and now they had to figure out what to do—not just about this incident, but in a broader sense.
I don’t want to see Averell Harriman get hurt, or anyone else, Bob told Schlesinger and Goodwin. Harriman’s got his faults. I’ve got my faults. We’ve all got faults. The important thing for us to do now is to stick together. Our power will last for just eleven months. It will disappear the day of the election. What we have to do is to use that power in these months to the best permanent advantage. Schlesinger said the vice presidency was the best way to achieve that. Bobby seemed to agree but said that wasn’t important at the moment. Schlesinger would remember him imploring them, We must all stay in touch and not let them pick us off one by one. Goodwin recalled Bobby twice saying, The secret is collective action. They had to concert the efforts of the hundreds of New Frontiersmen in government. We’re important to Johnson. I’m the most important because my name happens to be Kennedy. But we’re all important. I haven’t thought it through yet, but we are. Bobby stood next to his desk, next to the telephone connected to the White House that no longer rang, his hands tense at his sides. Sure, I’ve lost a brother, he said, keeping his head down. Other people lose wives— and his voice broke off while he struggled to maintain his composure.
But that’s not what’s important. What’s important is what we were trying to do for this country. We got a good start. Schlesinger recorded him saying, The thing is we worked hard to get where we are, and we can’t let it all go to waste. My brother barely had a chance to get started—and there is so much now to be done—for the Negroes and the unemployed and the schoolkids and everyone else who is not getting a decent break in our society. This is what counts. The new fellow doesn’t get this. He knows all about politics and nothing about human beings … I haven’t talked to him yet. I don’t feel mentally or physically prepared to do so yet. When I talk to him, I am ready to be tough about what we must have … There are a lot of people in this town. They didn’t come here just to work for John Kennedy, an individual, but for ideas, things we wanted to do. It’s one thing if you’ve got personal reasons for leaving, like you may want to leave, Arthur. But I don’t think people should run off … After November fifth we’ll all be dead. We won’t matter a damn. A lot of people could scramble around now, get themselves positions of power and influence. I could do that. But that’s not important. What’s important is what we can get done. Remember, after November fifth we’re all done. We won’t be wanted or needed. ³⁸
Just before the meeting broke up, Goodwin showed Bob a poll in the paper that said naming Robert Kennedy for Vice President could tear the Democrats apart. More than a
seriousgrace
Wales's little town of Hay-on-Wye, or just "Hay," is known as the "Town of Books." With 1,500 residences and forty bookstores, what better place for a writer to move from Manhattan? Collins writes about his time in the village as a writer, as a house hunter, and as a new father in a whimsical manner; lacing the prose with mini lectures on long-dead writers, dust jackets not doing their one job, and what it means when an author's color photograph occupies the entire cover of a book. Collins has a sense of humor that is self-deprecating (just try not to giggle when he shares the story of inadvertently peeing on his manuscript of Banvard's Folly). You find yourself wanting to have a cup of coffee with him just to hear more. My only complaint? No photographs. Confessional: I love a book that makes mention of Wallace and Gromit!
eye_gee-1
Amusing travelog, especially for bibliophiles. A quick read.
gospodyina
A personal memoir of someone not honestly that interesting.
szbrooks1
I think this book could have just as easily been called Hay , or The Apartment . I guess Sixpence was the last straw though . I learned something, but at times it was certainly train of thought story telling .
mmoj_2
This is the story of Paul Collins and his family who move from San Francisco to Hay-on-Wye (or just Hay), the "Town of Books". I can understand why he would want to move there as they are a Town Of Books. If you don't understand the appeal of that please stop reading both this review and do not start the book.
The charm of this is book is the references to so many books we probably wouldn't have heard about if not for Paul's love for used, antiquarian books. And his interactions with the people of Hay, his obvious love of things British, even though I think he's more American then he wants to be. He and his wife think they love old houses as well - until they realize both what it costs to purchase a crumbling pile but more importantly what it would cost to repair said pile.
I enjoyed this book up to the end as they are moving back to America - it's almost as if he's so proud of bashing all things American and so proud of realizing that his parents had it wrong by moving to States that when he and his wife decide to move back Stateside that the end of the book he's covering his mouth and mumbling, "and we went back".
If only he just ended the book with the knowledge that he and the family decide not to live in Hay I think the book would have ended better and I would have been left with the feeling, as I did from the beginning that this was a lovely book about bookstores and someone who loves books.
coolmama_1
Just a delightful read.Paul Collins, his wife Jennifer, and toddler Morgan decide to relocate to England to experience an idyllic English countryside life. But, where to go? As they both have mobile careers (he - writer, she - artist) -- they pick Hay-on-Wye on the Welsh/English border, a town of more bookstores than people.The story is about their experience of being ex-pats (one I know well), attempting to buy a house with the bizzare English estate system, and live and work in town without driving a car.
dono421846
In anticipation of the release of his first work, a writer moves with his family to a book town in Wales. The text centers on their efforts to find a suitable house to buy (unsuccessful; apparently authentically ancient homes are both expensive to buy and even more expensive to remodel), and explore the many bookstores that serve as the main economic driver of the town. Being real life, it lacks the neat dramatic bow to tie things all together. After much effort, in the end they decide just to move back to the States, so it is all much ado about nothing. But the telling is delightful, with touches of wry humor. Collins offers interesting insights into the book publishing process -- he discusses the choosing of a book cover, and the remaindering of titles -- but some of these digressions go a tad overlong.
cariola_6
Maybe I was expecting too much, having heard high praise for Sixpence House from a number of fellow readers that I generally trust. I imagined a sort of booklover's 'Doc Martin,' a charming town of quirky characters. But I found the book to be more of a rambling, rather disjointed personal essay. I'm not a regular reader of memoirs, so perhaps I'm just not used to the style and tone. I didn't feel that I got a very good picture of Hay or the locals or why, exactly, Paul had decided to move his family there in the first place. Because the residents seem to care more about books than Americans? (A rather lame reason, even for a book lover.)
mrn945_1
Hay-on-Wye is my idea of the ideal vacation place! 1500 people, 40 bookstores, millions of books to discover!! Plus, they do a book festival every spring which I'm really hoping to get to next year.Sixpence House is a memoir written by a British-American who decides, along with his wife and young son, to move to Hay-on-Wye to pursue an ideal countryside life and work on his novels. Unfortunately, they realize that it's hard to break into the housing market there, and ultimately some dreams are best left as dreams. Although they end up moving back to the USA, it still gives me hope that my crazy dream of moving to the South of France and opening a bookstore might come true!Sixpence House is even better however because of Mr. Collins writing. He's funny and observant, and the little bits of literary trivia make this one of the most interesting books I've read in quite awhile! I think I've added about thirty new books now to my wishlist thanks to this book, including Mr. Collins first novel about people who disappeared into the footnotes of history.This is a great little travel memoir. I've read it a few times, and yet I still love to come back to it. I absolutely recommend you give this book a try!!
tututhefirst_1
This book is billed on the cover as "The Bookworm's answer to A Year in Provence." It's not nearly as good. It has moments of mirth, wedged between pages of boring 'where is this going?' blabber. The characters, including the author/narrator were not well developed, there was no plot, nor was there really an indication of what the book was supposed to be. If I had to describe it I'd say "notes from an adult adolescent looking for a way to enjoy life w/o working for a living" The first 8-10 of the 20 chapters were not too bad, at least I thought there was something that might be going to happen. But it just kept getting worse.It wasn't even really very much about books. It was set in a famous real life town in Wales, Hay-on-Wye, where there are 1500 permanent residents and 42 bookstores. But....trust me, after reading this book, I have no more picture of this town, its inhabitants, or its obsession with books than I know how to make homemade sausage.
mooose_1
Quick read that I enjoyed, chuckled at some funny bits, wrote down titles/authors. Sometimes I get tired of hearing things like, "Why do you read so much?" or "You've read everything!" and it can be nice to read about people who would never even think of saying such nonsense.
fliss88_1
It was the cover that made me pick up this book and take it home to read, and I'm so glad it did. I loved it, but then i think any book lover would! Sixpence House is a book about books, about the people who read them, sell them, write them, store them and most of all, love them. Set in the Mecca of the book selling world, Hay-On-Way, Paul Collins gives us a small glimpse of a town with 40 book stores, and of the people who live and work in them.
vlcraven_1
A true story of bibliophile and writer, Collins moving his wife and toddler to the Welsh village, of Hay-on-Wye, pop. 1,500, 40 Antiquarian bookshops. A delight for Anglophiles, bibliophiles and writers. I laughed, I learned, I underlined whole pages.
vivienner_3
Because of their love of books, Paul Collins and his wife, with baby, moved from San Francisco to Hay-on-Wye in Wales, a town renowned for the high number of bookshops. Unfortunately this pair of incompetents are unable to find their dream house with a rock bottom price, and are dissatisfied that Britain doesn't do things as they are done in America.This book seemed like a perfect choice for someone who loves everything to do with books. It turned out to be so disappointing, boring, tedious, and seriously annoying. I'm sure Hay-on-Wye is a charming place but better off without Collins.
cookierooks
I love any book-about-books this one is about Hay On Wye, the whole town full of bookshops in Wales. My dream vacation.
lycomayflower
Collins recounts his stay with his wife and infant son in Hay-on-Wye, a town in the Welsh countryside with well over thirty used bookstores. He and his wife consider settling there, and the book tells of their search for a house and Collins's encounters with the local residents and book-lovers as well as relates anecdotes from Collins's wide-ranging reading (particularly from forgotten texts of the 19th century) and his experiences as a writer. Pleasant, sometimes informative, and a nice twist on the usual material one usually sees in a book-about-books.
libmhleigh
Paul and his wife and young son decide to leave their San Francisco home and move to a small town in the countryside of Wales called Hay. This town specializes in selling books- mostly really, really old books. The books are sold if they are valuable- if not, they are gradually priced lower and lower, given away free with the purchase of any other book, or finally burned in huge bonfires that rain bits of other peoples' thoughts on the town's inhabitants. This book is not just about the town, it is also about the humor of the family's adjustment to life in Britain, the hopes of a new writer, and the struggles of a young couple to buy their own home. Quote: "To look for a specific book in Hay is a hopeless task; you can only find the books that are looking for you." I thought this was a fabulous book. It is half a book about Paul's life and half a book about books, so the author references this or that interesting work he has stumbled across in the town of books (not that I need to be adding anything else to my to-read list at this point, but that's okay). The author is very entertaining, particularly because he is working on getting a book published and on the shelves (Barnvard's Folly) while writing this book and while surrounded by this graveyard for books. I am also entertained by the fact that each chapter is given a persona which is reflected in the title (such as "Chapter Fifteen Beholds the LORD").
mstrust
Loved this book! How a tiny Welsh town has become the second-hand book capitol of Great Britain. Collins actually moved his family from San Francisco to spend a year in Hay-on-Wye. At first it sounds crazy, then I began envying him. He describes the weird inhabitants , including a local King, and deals with housing problems-BUT the town has more than forty bookstores.
ricefun
Having read this book - I wish that I would have heard of it from a glowing book review and then chosen to buy it at list price from a groovy local bookseller. But, instead, I picked up a copy from the local library book sale - because of the cute cover and sub-title. I've fallen in love with Paul Collin's dry humor and observations spanning American and British idiosyncrasies. I hope to read more of Collins, either from across the pond or in the states
zmrzlina_1
This book is a gem. For one thing, the author and his wife don't own a car...one (I forget which) doesn't even have a driver's license. That makes them heroes for me to start. And the author has such a lovely way of inserting obscure tidbits about odd books he has come across in his life (which is why this is shelved in Lit Crit). He also manages to get in a bit about the publishing process as his first book is just about to go to press as he is writing this one. And of course, there is Hay-on-Wye, one of the places I visited while in Wales in March 2003. I adore this little book village, and all of Wales actually. I wish I had Brit heritage (as the author does) that would allow me a Brit passport and a chance to try my luck at living in Wales....And the author's prediction that second books are always a disappointment is completely wrong. I didn't read his first, but for sure it can't be better than this one. But, maybe I am seeing through Wales coloured spectacles.Collins often makes the British, and British life, seem out-of-touch with reality, but not in a way that puts me off. It does some, though.
extrajoker
Collins's account of his time in Hay-on-Wye, a small Welsh town with a proliferation of booksellers, is consistently witty and engaging.
sanddune_1
The story of the author's brief relocation from San Francisco to Hay-on-Wye, on the English-Welsh borders, and his discovery that living somewhere and holidaying somewhere can be a very different experience. This fell between a sub-genre that I like (non-British author looks at British society with an outsider's perspective and offers some interesting insights on it) and one that I don't (author moves to another country because he thinks he'd like the lifestyle and then spends all his time wondering why it can't be more like home). Unfortunately, in this book I didn't find that the insights offered were very insightful, and that the prevalent theme was wondering fairly superficially why Britiain wasn't more like the US. And my problems weren't particularly because it's a US writer writing about the UK: there's a distinct sub-genre of books about British writers moving to France and discovering that it's all too ... well ... French, and I don't like those either.I do think that if an author is going to make the sorts of general points that were being made in this book about what Britain is like then he needs to be able to look at his own experience constructively, to see whether it is characteristic of the country as a whole or specific to the particular circumstances in which he finds himself. And this was the area which I found quite annoying. For, instance, there's quite a lot of discussion about the paucity of what Collins can find in British shops compared to what's available in the U.S. But as he has no car he does his shopping in the small convenience stores that most British people only use to pick up the odd pint of milk or some chocolate on the way home from work, and that are used for a main shop only by those who can't afford the transport to go elsewhere. It would be like me moving to a small town in one of the less propsperous and cosmopolitan states of the US, limiting myself to shops within walking distance and then complaining that US shops didn't have a good a selection of French cheese as you can get in the UK. And I definitely didn't get this comment: The kitchen, like a bizarrely high proportion of British kitchens that I have seen, is distinctively of 1950's vintageThe one thing that all sections of British society seems to agree on on moving house is the necessity of ripping out the kitchen as soon as possible, and replacing it with something new. I haven't seen a 1950's kitchen since about 1980. In fact, I think a genuine 50's kitchen would be a real selling point at the moment as it would be fashionably retro.So while I might try something else on a different topic by this author, this one didn't work for me.
bnbookgirl
LOVED IT!!! I will go to Hay on Wye someday.
skraft001
I learned about the book town of Hay-on-Wye which was the most rewarding aspect of the book. The author appeared to want to impress his audience with his knowledge of American literature so digressed repeatedly to prove that point.
I’m so confused bc all these reviews are about some guy from Wales, but these are supposed to be reviews for a book about RFK’s political career
valerieandbooks
Can you imagine living in a town with forty bookstores? And this is a small town with about 1,500 inhabitants, not a huge metropolitan area. Hay-on-Wye in Wales is this town; and author Paul Collins lived there with his wife and toddler son for a couple years. This story is told in “Sixpence House”.Paul, his wife, Jennifer and son Morgan leave San Francisco to live in Hay-on-Wye. This book is also the story of Mr. Collins going through the editing and publication process of his first book (“Banvard’s Folly: Thirteen Tales of People Who Didn’t Change the World"). So, each chapter is titled as such: “Chapter One Begins Both the Book and the Journey”, “Chapter Twelve is Crap that Nobody Reads Anymore”, and so on.I like Mr. Collins’ humor, and how he shares with us the quirky characters that he encounters in Hay-on-Wye. Mr. Collins has a penchant for discussing obscure books he finds in the bookshops there, and also shares arcane information with us. He even becomes an employee when the “King of Hay” (owner of the local castle which houses the town’s largest bookstore) insists that he needs Mr. Collins to set up an American section of his bookstore.Mr. Collins also enjoys comparing the difference between Britain and America — some of them may be sweeping generalities, however, such as this one:“…I am in the next room taking a bath. This is because there is no point in taking showers in Britain. In the United States, water pressure presses; in Britain water pressure sucks. Every shower in Britain has some sorth of Heath Robinson mechanism — he is their equivalent of Rube Goldberg, only Robinson had to work with metric wrenches and 220 current….”I really like the chapter about unspoken rules in publishing and how books are judged by the dust jacket style that they end up being encased in. Mr. Collins state that publishers feel that chance buyers don’t really look at the jacket copy or blurbs; but that they mainly make their decisions based on the cover design. “There is an implicit code that customers rely on. If a book cover has raised lettering, metallic lettering, or raised metallic lettering, then it is telling the reader: Hello. I am an easy-to-read work on espionage, romance, a celebrity, and/or murder.”Then there are the colors chosen for covers. Mr. Collins point out that “a work of Serious Literature will have muted, tea-stained colors. Black is okay here too, but only if used to accentuate cool blues and grays and greens”.And this:“Finally, on Serious Books and crap alike there will be a head shot of The Author sitting still while looking pensive or smiling faintly into the indeterminate distance — the one pose that has no existence in the author’s daily life. The size of the photo will be in inverse proportion to the quality of the book. If this photo is rendered in color, it is not a Serious Book. If there is no author photo at all, then it is a Serious Book indeed — perhaps even a textbook”.Okay, one more. This is about books that end up in remainders:“Among the many banes to a secondhand dealer’s existence, four unloved genres reign supreme: textbooks, theology, celebrity autobiography, and military history.”This is a book that is mostly about books, but not just that. If you enjoy thoughts on the reading life, quirky real-life characters, and a taste of what it’s like to be an ex-pat, you will enjoy “Sixpence House”. It does not seem to be currently in print, which is a shame, but still seems to be found online at reasonable prices.
bookwallah
“Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books” is a refreshing first person account of life in Welsh (UK) town – a book town – perhaps THE quintessential used book town. Wonderful anecdotes highlighting the contrasting American and British worldviews. Multitudinous quotes from very obscure books. Recommended for all who love browsing for used book treasures.
deltaqueen50
Sixpence House by Paul Collins is a rambling reflection on his life, books and the time the family spent in the fascinating town of books, Hay-on-Wye. I was looking forward to this book hoping for a nice comfortable story of how he and his family set off from America and found their true home in this small Welsh town. Unfortunately I had my expectations raised a little high as this was not the book I read. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate this book, there were some interesting tidbits, but they are scattered and you must wade through a lot of useless, trivial detail to get to them.At times he rants against all things American and perhaps with a view to equal time, he then turns and rants against all things British. This pointing of fingers at these two countries to me felt very mean-spirited. He writes of his love of this particular town, but I never felt that love in these pages. Overall I found Sixpence House to be a little too disjointed and cerebral for me. I would love to visit Hay-on-Wye as I am sure it is a delightful place, especially for book lovers but I certainly don’t feel like I was able to get a clear picture from this book.
bookconcierge
Paul Collins moved his wife and baby from San Francisco to the small Welsh town of Hay-on-Wye. He wanted to give his son the chance to grow up as he had – in the country, free to roam the hills, exploring as any boy would love to do. But Hay-on-Wye is not just a small Welsh village. It is “The Town of Books” – with only 1500 residents and forty bookshops (almost all of them specializing in used / antiquarian books). This is a memoir of their family adventure.
Collins was born in America, of British parents. He had frequently traveled to England and Wales and was familiar with Hay-on-Wye. Still, living in a place is different from visiting it, and Collins soon finds himself immersed in the world of books in ways he hadn’t anticipated. His memoir includes thumbnail sketches of some of the eccentric inhabitants – including Richard Booth, the self-proclaimed King of Hay, who bought the ancient castle ruins and turned it into the least-organized bookstore imaginable. (Although Collins does cite one of my own local favorites – Renaissance Books in Milwaukee WI – as “the closest thing the United States has to Booth’s.”)
There are passages that would merit 4 stars, but overall the book gets 3 stars from me. I enjoyed it, and some references to obscure, long-forgotten books make me want to hunt those volumes down and read them, but I wasn’t particularly moved by this book.
mrs_mcgreevy
Sixpence House is ostensibly Collins’ story of attempting to move his family from San Francisco to Hay-on-Wye, a small Welsh village with 1,500 inhabitants and 40 bookstores. Hay-on-Wye is an interesting place, and in the right hands, that story could be enough. Luckily for us, Paul Collins is an inveterate reader and collector of obscure tidbits. The story of the move and his time in Wales thus becomes a framework from which to hang some of the most fascinating asides it has ever been my pleasure to run across.
This sounds somewhat disjointed, and in lesser hands it could easily be so. But Collins has a knack for making these asides tie in to the story he’s telling at the time, even if the connection is tenuous at best. Plus, the asides are so much fun, you forgive the author for reaching just a bit here and there
The framework of the book details Collins and his family’s attempt to buy a house in Hay-on-Wye, and if you’ve ever harbored a dream of owning a 200-year-old stone cottage in a sleepy British village, you should pay special attention. Collins describes the process in hilarious detail, from the ins and outs of British real estate laws to all of the problems inherent in dealing with a moldering stone building in its dotage. The family looks at so many houses that they tend to run together in the reader’s mind, except for the eponymous Sixpence House, a former pub with water in the basement and canting floors that they pin their hopes on.
By necessity, the story of their house search is also the story of the Collins family getting to know the inhabitants of Hay-on-Wye. As you might expect in such a small town with such a large number of bookstores, the good folks of Hay-on-Wye are a tad eccentric. The main character, Richard Booth, considers bookselling an anarchistic profession, which is obvious by the cavalier attitude towards sectioning and shelving in his stores. Booth, the self-styled King of Hay, looms large over this small town, but there are plenty of other characters in town, like Martin Beale, the solicitor who wrote a book about a murder that happened to one of his predecessors, or Violet, the elderly proprietor of the Hogshead which serves what is apparently the most godawful cider known to man. These are “characters” in the southern sense of the word and might strike some as too much, but Collins’ fondness for them is palpable and mitigates the preciousness.
Collins is a writer with an attraction to the eccentric and the oddball. He picks up antique books on every subject imaginable, and somehow manages to glean something unique from every one. I can think of no greater compliment for a writer than for readers to be so fascinated with the topic at hand that they seek out information not covered in the book on their own. Darned if Collins hasn’t gotten me jonesing to read books like Dr. William Hammond’s 1883 A Treatise on Insanity in Its Medical Relations or Riccardo Nobili’s 1922 The Gentle Art of Faking. Collins really brings home the idea that any book, no matter how old or shopworn or unappealing-sounding, has treasures buried within for the careful excavator.
It is this idea that is the heart and soul of the book. Collins has a companionable voice and he sounds reasonable enough as the story unfolds. But that reasonableness is a facade: a seductive trap for the unwary bibliophile. Without your realizing it, Collins pulls you further and further off the path. It’s just a small detour; a quick side trip to see something really special, and before you know it, you’re somewhere far away from where you thought you were going. Collins’ gift is that you don’t care that you end up someplace different from where you wanted to go. The journey is enough
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The letter L probably started as a picture sign of an oxgoad, as in a very early Semitic writing used in about 1500 bc on the Sinai Peninsula (1). A similar sign (2), denoting a peasant’s crook, is found in earlier Egyptian hieroglyphic writing. In about 1000 bc, in Byblos and other Phoenician and Canaanite centers, the sign was given a linear form (3), the source of all later forms. In the Semitic languages the sign was called lamedh, meaning “oxgoad.”
The Greeks first gave the sign some unbalanced forms (4) and renamed it lambda. Later they formed their sign symmetrically (5). The Romans adopted the earlier Greek forms (6). From Latin the capital letter came unchanged into English.
In late Roman times the small handwritten l was developed from the capital by rounding the lines. Later a form with an open loop in the vertical stroke was developed (7).
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Kingston City Land Bank
A city for all
Kingston City Land Bank Hires Executive Director, Adds Three Board Members
The City of Kingston Land Bank (KCLB) is pleased to announce the hiring of Mike Gilliard as its new executive director. The KCLB is also pleased to announce the addition of three new Kingston residents to its board of directors.
Kingston resident Mike Gilliard has over 15 years of experience developing housing and mixed-use projects along the Eastern Seaboard, including in the Hudson Valley. In senior executive roles with non-profit and for-profit developers, he has worked extensively with municipalities, housing and community organizations. Gilliard has successfully led the production of thousands of new and adaptive-reuse affordable and market-rate homes.
“I am humbled and honored to continue this important work in direct service to the City and all of its residents,” said Michael Gilliard.
The KCLB also recently brought on three new members to its board of directors: Karin Roux, Robert Dennison, and Sarina Pepper. The board is made up of Kingston residents with equal representation among the city’s Wards. Roux will be seated on the Finance committee, Dennison on the Acquisition/Disposition committee, and Pepper on the Communications and Governance committees.
The KCLB is also pleased to announce the establishment of an advisory design committee. The purpose of this Committee is to establish various specific general standards for preserving existing elements of KCLB properties. The design committee will produce a set of Design Standards, which will serve as a list of best practices that individuals or organizations Responding to Requests for Proposals issued by the KCLB. Participation in the committee will be open to members of the public.
The KCLB’s mission is to expand the availability of high-quality, affordable housing stock to existing Kingston residents. In doing so, it will remove barriers to redevelopment and return properties to the tax rolls.
Since launching in November of 2018, The KCLB has launched a website outlining its planned acquisitions throughout the City of Kingston. The KCLB also went through an extensive process to gather community feedback on its disposition policy, including an citywide online survey, neighborhood canvassing, and a public meeting. The disposition policy, which will guide how the KCLB transfers properties in its possession, was passed by the board earlier this year and can be read in full on the KCLB’s website.For more information and to stay informed on the Kingston City Land Bank’s activities, please visit www.kingstoncitylandbank.org.
← Kingston City Land Bank Seeks Applicants for Two Open Board Seats
Kingston City Land Bank and City of Kingston Announce First Acquisitions →
Kingston City Hall
info@kingstoncitylandbank.org
© 2021 Kingston City Land Bank // Site design by Beccatron Studios
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The Woman Who Loves Giraffes
The run of this film has ended. Thank you for your support of Cinema Theatre.
Directed by Alison Reid
In 1956, four years before Jane Goodall ventured into the world of chimpanzees and seven years before Dian Fossey left to work with mountain gorillas, 23-year-old biologist Anne Innis Dagg made an unprecedented solo journey to South Africa to study giraffes in the wild. When she returned home a year later, the insurmountable barriers she faced as a female scientist proved hard to overcome. In THE WOMAN WHO LOVES GIRAFFES, Anne (now 86) retraces her steps, offering an intimate window into her life as a young woman, juxtaposed with a first-hand look at the devastating reality that giraffes are facing today. Anne and the species she loves have each experienced triumphs as well as setbacks. THE WOMAN WHO LOVES GIRAFFES gives us a moving perspective on both.
“This warm documentary uses one woman’s singular passion to fuel a tale of zoological discovery, blatant sexism and environmental alarm.”
- Jeannette Catsoulis, THE NEW YORK TIMES
“INSPIRING... A bright spot in the middle of this dark month, Alison Reid’s unabashedly sincere documentary offers gentle comfort even when it brushes up against tough subjects.”
- Elizabeth Weitzman, THE WRAP
“Her research was groundbreaking, and the 16 millimeter color footage she shot at the time, amply displayed in the documentary, is breathtaking.”
- Peter Rainer, THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
“Alison Reid’s loving documentary affectionately celebrates little-known giraffologist Dr. Anne Innis Dagg’s groundbreaking scientific work and generous contributions to women’s equality.”
- Tomris Laffly, VARIETY
“A uniquely captivating hybrid of a movie.”
- David Lamble, THE BAY AREA REPORTER
“An inspiring documentary that should be at the top of everyone’s list of must-see films.”
- THE ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS
Anne Innis Dagg
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Rodrigo Valenzuela lecture at Arizona State University 3.19.19
2019 Visiting Artists and Scholar Lecture Series featuring Rodrigo Valenzuela
Tuesday March 26th, 5 – 6:30pm
Neeb Hall
Rodrigo Valenzuela was born in Santiago, Chile in 1982 and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. Valenzuela studies art history and photography at University of Chile (2004), holds a BA in philosophy at the Evergreen State College and MFA at University of Washington. Recent residencies include Core Fellowship at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (Texas), Skowhegan School of Painting and Scuplture (Maine), MacDowell Colony (New Hampshire), Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts (Nebraska), Lightwork (Syracuse) and the Center for Photography at Woodstrock (New York).
Recent solo exhibitions include Lisa Kandlhofer Galerie, Vienna, Austria (2018), Klowdenmann Gallery, Los Angeles (2018), the Frye Art Museum, Seattle (2015), Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Santiago (2015) and Upfor Gallery, Portland, Oregon (2017). Valenzuela is an assistant professor at University of California, Los Angeles and the recipient of the 2017 Joan Mitchell award for painters and sculptors.
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The Complete Product Development & Systems Engineering Course
Introductory / Groundwork Topics
Course Introduction (15:40)
System Defined (6:15)
System Hierarchies (10:10)
System Context (25:20)
System Domains (21:39)
Users & Stakeholders (7:07)
Boundaries & Interfaces (12:10)
Systems Engineering Overview (19:35)
Alternative Systems Engineering Methods (5:04)
Systems Thinking (5:10)
Origins & Evolution of Systems Engineering (5:12)
Why Systems Engineering is Valuable (6:31)
Who is a Systems Engineer? (18:36)
The System Life Cycle
Life Cycle Overview (34:34)
Milestone & Gate Reviews (10:35)
The Concept Stage (11:28)
The Development Stage (3:50)
The Production Stage (2:27)
The Utilization Stage (2:03)
The Support Stage (1:31)
The Retirement Stage (1:53)
Life Cycle Alternatives (4:03)
Technical Processes
Technical Process Overview (11:27)
The Business & Mission Analysis Process (23:09)
The Operational Concept (5:59)
The Need Statement (10:46)
The Business Requirements Specification (BRS) (7:36)
The Stakeholder Needs & Requirements Definition Process (19:36)
Operational Life Cycle Concepts (12:09)
The System Requirements Definition Process (18:00)
Capturing System Requirements (26:19)
The System Requirements Specification (SyRS) (6:43)
The Requirements Domain (19:03)
The Types of Requirements (8:08)
Requirements Derivation, Allocation and Flow Down (18:34)
Writing Good Requirements (47:23)
The Architecture Definition Process (24:43)
Architectures Overview (13:46)
Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) (22:45)
SysML & UML (26:44)
System Behavioral Analysis (18:52)
Use Cases (26:15)
How to Construct the Behavioral Domain (32:57)
How to Construct the Physical Domain (15:55)
The Design Definition Process (32:54)
The Proposal Process & Development Contract (15:40)
Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) (9:11)
The Principles of Design Definition & Implementation (24:25)
The System Analysis Process (11:46)
The Implementation Process (18:52)
The Integration Process (16:50)
The Principles of System Integration (15:01)
The Verification Process (16:36)
The Principles of Verification (13:46)
System Production Overview (14:00)
Low-Rate Production & Full-Rate Production (5:47)
The Transition Process (9:10)
The Validation Process (17:21)
The Principles of Validation (15:55)
The System Operation Process (13:03)
The System Maintenance Process (16:03)
The Principles of Transition, Operation and Maintenance (11:47)
The Disposal Process (11:22)
Technical Management Processes
The Project Planning Process (21:55)
The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) (7:25)
The Systems Engineering Management Plan (SEMP) (5:06)
The Project Assessment Process (13:11)
The Decision Management Process (6:31)
The Principles of Decision Management and Trade Studies (23:42)
A Decision Process Walk-through (26:38)
The Risk Management Process (5:31)
The Principles of Risk Management (31:11)
The Configuration Management Process (14:54)
The Information Management Process (7:17)
The Measurement Management Process (16:33)
The Quality Assurance Process (14:21)
The Agreement Processes
Agreement Overview (7:44)
The Acquisition Process (15:16)
The Supply Process (14:03)
The Project-Enabling Processes
The Life Cycle Model Management Process (17:50)
The Infrastructure Management Process (8:22)
The Portfolio Management Process (8:18)
The Human Resource Management Process (7:19)
The Quality Management Process (12:03)
The Knowledge Management Process (11:29)
Tailoring Processes
Tailoring The Processes (9:21)
Object-Oriented Systems Engineering (OOSEM) (53:32)
Prototyping (15:58)
Integrated Product Development (IPD) (17:34)
Lean Systems Engineering (18:59)
Agile Systems Engineering (16:15)
Specialty Engineering Processes
Affordability (18:00)
Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) (5:45)
Environmental Engineering (3:48)
Reliability (20:55)
System Safety (14:43)
Models & Simulations (29:04)
Human System Integration (HSI) (16:08)
System Security (11:53)
Product Support Engineering (19:09)
Value Engineering (8:47)
Resilience Engineering (16:18)
Course Closeout & INCOSE Information
Course Closeout & INCOSE Information (8:57)
The Principles of Decision Management and Trade Studies
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0861 10 20 92 info@legalex.co.za
Legalex Individual
Legalex Family
Legalex Business
Contracts: The Link between Cause of Action and Jurisdiction
by Christelle | Oct 15, 2018 | Uncategorized
Going back to basics with regards to contracts, the prerequisites for a contract to be valid (such as consensus, formalities, free will and/or intent, possible performance, good faith, lawfulness and certainty) appear to be simple and the remedies (such as specific performance, cancellation and damages) apparent. However, when it comes down to enforcing the contract or implementing remedies, there is more than meets the eye.
Legal proceedings by the aggrieved party to enforce remedial action must be instituted in a forum with jurisdiction to adjudicate thereon. A court will have jurisdiction if the defendant (party against whom the proceedings are instituted) either resides or carries on business in the court’s area of jurisdiction or if the whole cause of action arose within the court’s jurisdiction. If the aggrieved party is situated in Cape Town, for example, and the party against whom the aggrieved party institutes proceedings is situated in Johannesburg, the aggrieved party will have to institute proceedings in a court in Johannesburg, unless that party can prove that the whole of the cause of action arose in Cape Town.
In order for a court to have jurisdiction on the basis that the whole cause of action arose within its area of jurisdiction, the aggrieved party must prove that the contract was entered into in that jurisdiction, performance had to take place in that jurisdiction and the breach of contract took place in that jurisdiction.
If the contracting parties conclude the contract in each other’s presence (inter praesentes), it is effortless to establish the place of conclusion. With regards to the ‘place’ where a contract is concluded, the general rule that has crystallised in South African law is that the area where an offer was accepted is deemed to be the place where the contract was concluded. For example, if the offer was made (by the offeror) and accepted (by the offeree) in Cape Town, then the contract was concluded in Cape Town.
However, in modern times technology and telecommunications have drastically replaced the traditional inter praesentes approach for concluding contracts. Contracting parties rely on the convenience of reaching an agreement via a telephone call, an email or by post. This inter absentes approach is mostly relevant where the contracting parties are not in the same area when the contract is concluded. These circumstances may appear to be convenient, however when it comes down to determining jurisdiction the contracting parties often find themselves between a rock and a hard place.
Where, for example, the offeror is situated in Cape Town and the offeree is based in Johannesburg, the question arises whether the contract was concluded in Cape Town or Johannesburg
If an offer is made by post (by sending a proposal letter), the contract is deemed to be concluded in the place where acceptance of the offer was affected. Against the background of the abovementioned factual setting, the offer would have been posted from Cape Town to Johannesburg. If the offeree responds to the offer by sending an acceptance letter to the offeror, then the contract would be deemed to have been concluded in Cape Town upon the acceptance letter reaching the offeror.
In contrast to the above, a different approach is upheld when a contract is concluded by means of a telephone call. In the case of Tel Peda Investigation Bureau (Pty) Ltd v Van Zyl (4) SA of 1965 the question of where the cause of action (breach) arose and which court should have jurisdiction was scrutinised. In this case the Defendant (offeror) was based in Johannesburg and the Plaintiff (offeree) was based in East London when the parties concluded a contract over the telephone. According to the facts at hand, the Defendant was in breach of contract – therefore the Plaintiff proceeded to sue the Defendant in East London (due to the fact that it was of the view that the cause of action arose in East London). However, the Defendant made the averment that the court in East London did not have jurisdiction to hear the matter, due to the cause of action not wholly arising in the East London court’s jurisdiction.
Section 28(1)(d) of the Magistrates Court Act provides a court will have jurisdiction in respect of any person, whether or not he resides, carries on business or is employed within the district, if the cause of action arose wholly within the district. The phrase “cause of action” is described as every fact which is material to be proved to entitle the plaintiff to succeed and every fact which the defendant would have the right to traverse. In this case the Defendant filed a special plea claiming lack of jurisdiction. The Defendant argued that the contract came to existence in Johannesburg as opposed to East London (in which event the Johannesburg court would have jurisdiction). The special plea did not succeed in the Magistrates court, as the court was of the view that the Plaintiff accepted the offer in East London and therefore the cause of action arose in East London. The Defendant appealed against the Magistrate’s finding and the Appeal court subsequently overruled the Magistrate’s decision, finding that where a contract is concluded by means of a telephone call, the acceptance of the offer instantly becomes known to the offeror (over the telephone), hence the contract is concluded in the area where the offeror is based at that point in time. The Appeal court found that the contract has indeed been concluded in Johannesburg and the special plea should have been upheld.
When one considers all of the above, it is clear that contracting parties should be vigilant with regards to which area and/or court would have jurisdiction in the event that a cause of action arises. If the parties are clear on where the contract was concluded, where the cause of action arose and which court has jurisdiction then the litigation process on a breach of contract becomes streamlined.
Chantal Smith is a candidate attorney at Barnard Incorporated in Centurion.
RMI4law members enjoy the benefit of legal advice from an attorney 24 hours a day. If you wish to join RMI4law, call 0861 668 677.
Legalex (Pty) Ltd, registration number 2003/003715/07, is an authorized Financial Services Provider (FSP 5277) and underwritten by Guardrisk Insurance Company Limited (FSP 26/10/75)
WHEN SETTLEMENT AGREEMENTS BECOME A CRIME
REFLECTIVE LOSS: CAN SHAREHOLDERS CLAIM DIRECTLY AGAINST COMPANY DIRECTORS?
Retentions and Storage Costs
Retentions and Repudiations
THE CLAIMS OF LANDLORDS FOR ARREAR RENTAL IN BUSINESS RESCUE PROCEEDINGS
Legalex (Edms) Bpk / (Pty) Ltd Reg No: 2003/003715/07 FDV / FSP No: 5277 Onderskryf deur / Underwritten by: Guardrisk Insurance Company Limited FDV / FSP No: 75
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Life Vs Film
Life vs. Film; who will win?
1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Empire 5-Star 500
Empire Top 100 (2017)
Empire Top 500
Total Film Top 100
My Top 100
Fading Gigolo
Posted on November 3, 2014 by jaycluitt
This review was originally written for Blueprint: Review.
In New York’s Jewish Quarter, Murray, a failing bookshop owner (Allen), needs money. When his dermatologist (Stone) mentions she and her friend (Vergara) have always wanted a ménage a trois, Murray sees an opportunity; he recruits his florist and general odd-job-man friend Fioravante (Turturro) to become a gigolo, and soon the money comes pouring in.
Do you ever watch a film and think it was made purely so those involved could enact what is occurring on screen? Most recent Adam Sandler films seem to be a thinly veiled excuse for the guy to bring his mates with him to a tropical locale and get paid to go, an idea they presumably stole from Couples Retreat. Here, writer/director/star John Turturro has managed to create multiple situations wherein he gets to kiss, dance with and generally have a great deal of fun with the likes of Sharon Stone, Vanessa Paradis and Sofía Vergara, all of which must have been incredibly difficult days on set, I’m sure. I can’t say I blame the guy, and I may be viewing this film a little too cynically, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that Turturro came up with the idea of “Hey, why don’t I play a pimp to the most beautiful women that will let me kiss them?” before he thought about structuring a compelling narrative around the concept.
You see, the premise is more than a little daft. I don’t just mean the notion that Sofía Vergara has difficulties finding a man – her only criteria is that he be tall and not too attractive, in which case I’m 6’3” and have been told I look like Al Gore on a roller coaster, so whenever you’re ready Miss Vergara, I’ll be waiting over here. No, it’s more than that. The way Murray and Fior fall so effortlessly into the pimping game, plus the lack of any real obstacles on their mission all feels false, not to mention the silly sub-plot involves Live Schreiber’s local law enforcer, who has something of a long-standing crush on one of Fior’s clients (Paradis). He is the closest thing the story has to an antagonist, which isn’t a bad thing, but it does leave the plot a little light on drama, and considering how little comedy is evident it leaves this dramedy with not a great deal left to provide.
Sure it’s good natured, with an interesting cast (Bob Balaban, Michael Badalucco and Aida Turturro all crop up in too-minor roles, the latter of which fortunately does not play a customer to Fior, thereby avoiding the most awkward and incestuous scene in cinematic history) with some moments of humour, but there’s not enough plot to sustain a feature length picture, with side elements such as Allen’s Murray attempting to teach the neighbourhood kids baseball feeling more like padding than anything worthwhile.
It’s a shame the film didn’t work out. I’m a big fan of one of Turtrurro’s other films, Romance and Cigarettes, and had high hopes for this one too, but alas it fell flat. It means well and doesn’t offend, but it also doesn’t stand out. Other than seeing Woody Allen back on comedic form – he discusses threesomes whilst in a lingerie store, which is something I thought I’d never see – there’s not a lot else here to make it a worthwhile experience.
Choose Life 5/10
This entry was posted in 05/10, Blueprint Review, Choose Life, New Release, Review, Unlisted and tagged Aida Turturro, Bob Balaban, Fading Gigolo, John Turturro, Michael Badalucco, Sharon Stone, Sofia Vergara, Vanessa Paradis, Woody Allen by jaycluitt. Bookmark the permalink.
3 thoughts on “Fading Gigolo”
TSorensen on November 4, 2014 at 7:55 am said:
Agreed. This movie is rather disappointing. It just does not seem to go anywhere. The highlight is watching the girls in the movie, they are awesome, but, alas, you are right, why would they need a gigolo?
jaycluitt on November 4, 2014 at 9:31 am said:
Glad you agree. I had hopes for this film, but alas was left disappointed.
Pingback: 2014 Review of the Year Part 1 of 3 | Life Vs Film
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The Sky is the Limit: The Art of Upgrading Your Life: 50 Classic Self Help Books Including.: Think and Grow Rich, The Way to Wealth, As A Man Thinketh, The Art of War, Acres of Diamonds and many more
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Genre: Management & Leadership
In a beautiful, durable volume suited to a lifetime of use, here is the all-in-one "bible" on how to harness the creative powers of your mind to achieve a life of prosperity-packaged in a handsome display box with a ribbon bookmark. The Prosperity Bible is a one-of-a-kind resource that collects the greatest moneymaking secrets of authors from every field-religion, finance, philosophy, and self-help-and makes them available in an attractive, keepsake edition. This is a book to treasure and return to again and again for guidance, ideas, know-how, and inspiration. Here is the only single volume where you can read success advice from Napoleon Hill, P. T. Barnum, Benjamin Franklin, Charles Fillmore, Wallace D. Wattles, Florence Scovel Shinn, and Ernest Holmes-along with a bevy of million-copy-selling writers who have one key element in common: a commitment to understanding and promulgating the laws of winning. These are the beloved teachers and writers who created the idea of a mental formula for success. Their principles, comprehensively collected in nineteen selected writings, have been proved in the experience of millions of men and women who have cherished their works from the late nineteenth century to the present day. Now they are enshrined in this all-in-one treasury-complete in a handsome display box with a ribbon bookmark.
More by George Matthew Adams, James Allen, Charles F. Haanel, Napoleon Hill, William Walker Atkinson, Marcus Aurelius, B. F Austin, P. T. Barnum, Genevieve Behrend, Dale Carnegie, Wallace D. Wattles, Florence Scovel Shinn, Sun Tzu, Lao Tzu, Benjamin Franklin, George S. Clason, Joseph Murphy, Niccolò Machiavelli, Kahlil Gibran, Elbert Hubbard, Earl Nightingale, Miyamoto Musashi, Russell H. Conwell, Charles Fillmore, Ralph Waldo Trine, F. W. Sears, Elizabeth Towne, Emmet Fox, Orison Swett Marden, H. A. Lewis, Harvey Hardman, Emile Coué & Neville Goddard
George Matthew Adams, James Allen, Charles F. Haanel, Napoleon Hill, William Walker Atkinson, Marcus Aurelius, B. F Austin, P. T. Barnum, Genevieve Behrend, Dale Carnegie, Wallace D. Wattles, Florence Scovel Shinn, Sun Tzu, Lao Tzu, Benjamin Franklin, George S. Clason, Joseph Murphy, Niccolò Machiavelli, Kahlil Gibran, Elbert Hubbard, Earl Nightingale, Miyamoto Musashi, Russell H. Conwell, Charles Fillmore, Ralph Waldo Trine, F. W. Sears, Elizabeth Towne, Emmet Fox, Orison Swett Marden, H. A. Lewis, Harvey Hardman, Emile Coué & Neville Goddard
George Matthew Adams
The Prosperity & Wealth Bible
George Matthew Adams, James Allen, William Walker Atkinson, Marcus Aurelius, P.T. Barnum, Genevieve Behrend, George S. Clason, Robert Collier, Russell H. Conwell, Emile Coué, Charles Fillmore, Emmet Fox, Benjamin Franklin, Kahlil Gibran, Neville Goddard, Charles F. Haanel, Harvey Hardman, Napoleon Hill, Elbert Hubbard, William Crosbie Hunter, H.A. Lewis, Niccolò Machiavelli, Orison Swett Marden, Joseph Murphy, Miyamoto Musashi, Earl Nightingale, F.W. Sears, Florence Scovel Shinn, Elizabeth Towne, Lao Tzu, Sun Tzu, Wallace D. Wattles & Knowledge House
George Matthew Adams, James Allen, William Walker Atkinson, Marcus Aurelius, P.T. Barnum, Genevieve Behrend, George S. Clason, Robert Collier, Russell H. Conwell, Emile Coué, Charles Fillmore, Emmet Fox, Benjamin Franklin, Kahlil Gibran, Neville Goddard, Charles F. Haanel, Harvey Hardman, Napoleon Hill, Elbert Hubbard, William Crosbie Hunter, H.A. Lewis, Niccolò Machiavelli, Orison Swett Marden, Joseph Murphy, Miyamoto Musashi, Earl Nightingale, F.W. Sears, Florence Scovel Shinn, Elizabeth Towne, Lao Tzu, Sun Tzu & Wallace D. Wattles
George Matthew Adams, James Allen, William Walker Atkinson, Marcus Aurelius, P.T. Barnum, Genevieve Behrend, George S. Clason, Robert Collier, Russell H. Conwell, Emile Coué, Charles Fillmore, Emmet Fox, Benjamin Franklin, Kahlil Gibran, Neville Goddard, Charles F. Haanel, Harvey Hardman, Napoleon Hill, Elbert Hubbard, William Crosbie Hunter, H.A. Lewis, Niccolò Machiavelli, Orison Swett Marden, Joseph Murphy, Miyamoto Musashi, Earl Nightingale, F.W. Sears, Florence Scovel Shinn, Elizabeth Towne, Lao Tzu, Sun Tzu, Wallace D. Wattles & The griffin classics
George Matthew Adams, James Allen, William Walker Atkinson, Marcus Aurelius, P.T. Barnum, Genevieve Behrend, George S. Clason, Robert Collier, Russell H. Conwell, Emile Coué, Charles Fillmore, Emmet Fox, Benjamin Franklin, Kahlil Gibran, Neville Goddard, Charles F. Haanel, Harvey Hardman, Napoleon Hill, Elbert Hubbard, William Crosbie Hunter, H.A. Lewis, Niccolò Machiavelli, Orison Swett Marden, Joseph Murphy, Miyamoto Musashi, Earl Nightingale, F.W. Sears, Florence Scovel Shinn, Elizabeth Towne, Lao Tzu, Sun Tzu, Wallace D. Wattles & A to z Classics
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PDF2 PDF |Add To My Favorites | Version: 05/26/15 - Chaptered 05/20/15 - Enrolled 04/27/15 - Amended Assembly 02/27/15 - Introduced
ACR-37 Sikh American Awareness and Appreciation Month.(2015-2016)
Current Version: 05/26/15 - Chaptered Compared to Version: 05/26/15 - Chaptered 05/20/15 - Enrolled 04/27/15 - Amended Assembly 02/27/15 - Introduced
ACR37:v96#DOCUMENT
Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 37
Relative to Sikh American Awareness and Appreciation Month.
[ Filed with Secretary of State May 26, 2015. ]
ACR 37, Gray. Sikh American Awareness and Appreciation Month.
This measure would designate November 2015 as California Sikh American Awareness and Appreciation Month. The measure would recognize and acknowledge the significant contributions Californians of Sikh heritage have made to the state. The measure would also seek to afford all Californians the opportunity to understand, recognize, and appreciate the rich history and shared principles of Sikh Americans.
Fiscal Committee: NO
WHEREAS, California and our nation are at once blessed and enriched by the unparalleled diversity of our residents; and
WHEREAS, The Sikhs, who originated in Punjab, India, first entered California in 1899 legally through the Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco, California; and
WHEREAS, The Sikh pioneers initially worked on railroad construction projects, and in lumber mills; and
WHEREAS, By 1910, these pioneers turned to farming in the Sacramento, San Joaquin, and Imperial valleys; and
WHEREAS, On October 14, 1912, the first Sikh temple (Gurdwara) in the United States, the Sikh Temple Stockton, was founded by Professor Teja Singh of the Pacific Coast Khalsa Diwan Society; and
WHEREAS, There are now more than 100 Gurdwaras in the United States; and
WHEREAS, The Stockton Record, dated November 22, 1915, quoted the Gurdwara’s elected leadership declaring, “We do not permit our people to become charges on public charity”; and
WHEREAS, Legislation to authorize Sikhs and other East Indian immigrants to naturalize as United States citizens was not enacted until 1946; and
WHEREAS, On January 1, 1912, Jawala Singh and Wasakha Singh, who immigrated to California through Angel Island in 1908 and served as the founding Granthis of the Sikh Temple Stockton, recognized the value of education, and started six Sri Guru Govind Singh Educational Scholarships at the University of California, Berkeley; and
WHEREAS, These scholarships were awarded without regard to ethnicity or religion and the first awardees included three Hindus, one Christian, one Sikh, and one Muslim; and
WHEREAS, Board and lodging was provided at the students’ home at 1731 Allston Way, Berkeley, where smoking and drinking were prohibited; and
WHEREAS, On November 1, 1913, Ghadar, the first Punjabi-language newspaper in the United States, was published by Kartar Singh Sarabha, who was then 17 years of age, with financial support from the Stockton Gurdwara; and
WHEREAS, On December 31, 1913, Jawala Singh and Wasakha Singh organized the Ghadri Conclave in Sacramento to form the Ghadar Party to overthrow the British colonial rulers of the Indian subcontinent; and
WHEREAS, The Ghadar Party sent 616 of its members to India, of whom 86 percent were Sikhs; and
WHEREAS, Homage is paid to them annually at a dozen different gatherings (Melas) from Sacramento, California, to Bakersfield, California; and
WHEREAS, The Sikh history and culture is represented in the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C., in the Community Memorial Museum of Sutter County, and the Museum at the Sikh Temple Stockton; and
WHEREAS, Sikh farmers contribute abundantly towards production of peaches (Didar Singh Bains), raisins (Charanjeet Singh Batth), pistachios (Mangar family), and okra and other vegetables (Harbhajan S. Samra); and
WHEREAS, Sikhs have also excelled in security services (Akal Security) and transportation services, and as doctors, attorneys, engineers, teachers, and other notable capacities, and as small business owners; and
WHEREAS, Dalip Singh Saund, a Sikh who was born in Punjab, India, and earned a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1924, initially worked as a foreman of cotton pickers in the Imperial Valley, and later became a farmer, played a major role in raising the funds needed to lobby for the Luce-Celler Act of 1946 that enabled him and others to naturalize as citizens, and served as an elected judge in the Westmoreland Judicial District from 1952 to 1956, before becoming the first Asian American elected to the United States Congress, wherein he served three terms from 1957 to 1963; and
WHEREAS, Sikh Americans have served as mayors of many California cities, including, for example David Dhillon in El Centro, Gurpal Samra in Livingston, Amarpreet “Ruby” Dhaliwal in San Joaquin, Sonny Dhaliwal in Lathrop, and Kashmir Singh Gill in Yuba City. Numerous Sikh Americans have served as council members of California cities; and
WHEREAS, Bhagat Singh Thind, a Sikh born in Punjab, India, who was a United States veteran of World War I, who campaigned actively for the independence of India from the British Rule, and who supported Indian students and lectured on metaphysics throughout the United States, has been honored by the Fred Korematsu Institute as a “Race in the Courts Hero” for fighting his citizenship case in the United States Supreme Court in 1923; and
WHEREAS, Sikhs have served in all American wars since World War I; and
WHEREAS, Narinder Singh Kapany of Palo Alto, a Sikh born in Punjab, India, is an accomplished scientist and inventor, who has been awarded over 100 patents that spurred advances in lasers, biomedical instrumentation, pollution monitoring, and solar energy, and is widely acknowledged to be the father of fiber optics, a technology that has allowed for high-speed digital communication; and
WHEREAS, Yuba City, often called “Mini-Punjab” because of its 10 percent Punjabi population, commemorates the inauguration of the holy Sikh scripture, Sri Guru Granth Sahib, on the first Sunday of November, rain or shine, and this international event has in recent years attracted up to 100,000 participants from all over the United States, Canada, and even abroad; and
WHEREAS, Sikh Americans throughout California celebrate the coronation of Sikh scripture and other Sikh festivals at the Gurdwaras and through parades in cities across California and the United States; and
WHEREAS, Various Sikh organizations, including the Sikh Council of Central California, the Sikh Coalition, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Sikhs United, Jakara, and individual Gurdwaras participate in interfaith meetings, seminars, conferences, meetings, and functions and share the tenets of their monotheistic religion that respects other religions and welcome all to their Gurdwaras, and try to promote mutual understanding and respect among all peoples; and
WHEREAS, The Sikh American community continues to make significant contributions to the California and United States economies and societies through military service, as business owners, transportation professionals, doctors, attorneys, engineers, teachers, farmers, and in a great many other notable capacities; and
WHEREAS, Since September 11, 2001, the Sikhs are often mistaken for terrorists of Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaida owing to the commonality of beard and the turban, and subjected to a disproportionately high rate of hate crimes, and Sikh boys suffer bullying at twice the national bullying rate for other boys; and
WHEREAS, The Sikh American community continues to peacefully overcome attacks on its identity and practices, whether in the form of school harassment, employment discrimination, or fatal shootings, including the murders of six Sikhs during the Oak Creek Wisconsin Sikh Gurdwara shooting on August 5, 2012, as well as the senseless murders of Surinder Singh and Gurmej Atwal in Elk Grove, California, on March 4, 2011; and
WHEREAS, The faithful service of the Sikh American community to this state and country merits appreciation as an integral thread in the fabric of American plurality; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the month of November 2015 to be California’s Sikh American Awareness and Appreciation Month; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature recognizes and acknowledges the significant contributions made by Californians of Sikh heritage to our state, and by adoption of this resolution, seeks to afford all Californians the opportunity to better understand, recognize, and appreciate the rich history and shared principles of Sikh Americans; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution to the Members of the Legislature, to the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the purpose of advising county and district superintendents and charter school administrators, to members of the California Sikh American community, and to other interested organizations or persons.
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Wall street journal dating
NEW YORK—Insisting that he’s capable of reaching the same heights as in the past, small forward Carmelo Anthony told reporters Wednesday that he is confident he can still help a contender flame out in the first round.
Previously, he served as president and chief operating officer for Southwestern Electric Power Company, and held other leadership roles in Energy Marketing Services, Transmission, External Affairs and Industry Restructuring.
Sitting on a
Sitting on a $1 billion stockpile of drugs and facing the daunting process of destroying and replacing its supply every two to three years, the military began a testing program to see if it could extend the life of its inventory. The results, never before reported, show that about 90% of them were safe and effective far past their original expiration date, at least one for 15 years past it.
Food and Drug Administration, ultimately covered more than 100 drugs, prescription and over-the-counter.
“There’s a reason why I’m always optimistic, even when things aren’t necessarily going the way I want, and that is because of young people like this,” the 55-year-old said, gesturing to the young adults who joined him on the panel discussion.
Obama adhered to the tradition of giving new President's some leeway in the early period of the administration and did not mention President Trump in the entirety of his speech.
Previously, he served as president and chief operating officer for Southwestern Electric Power Company, and held other leadership roles in Energy Marketing Services, Transmission, External Affairs and Industry Restructuring. Sitting on a $1 billion stockpile of drugs and facing the daunting process of destroying and replacing its supply every two to three years, the military began a testing program to see if it could extend the life of its inventory. The results, never before reported, show that about 90% of them were safe and effective far past their original expiration date, at least one for 15 years past it. Food and Drug Administration, ultimately covered more than 100 drugs, prescription and over-the-counter.“There’s a reason why I’m always optimistic, even when things aren’t necessarily going the way I want, and that is because of young people like this,” the 55-year-old said, gesturing to the young adults who joined him on the panel discussion.Obama adhered to the tradition of giving new President's some leeway in the early period of the administration and did not mention President Trump in the entirety of his speech.In 2001, Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) is released from prison after serving eight years for insider trading and securities fraud.Seven years later, Gekko is promoting his new book Is Greed Good? His estranged daughter, Winnie (Carey Mulligan), runs a small, non-profit news website and is dating Jacob Moore (Shia La Beouf), a top proprietary trader at Keller Zabel Investments (KZI).Gekko tells him that Keller Zabel's collapse started when rumors of the company having toxic debt started to spread.Jacob and Gekko arrange a trade: Jacob will try to reconcile Winnie's and Gekko's relationship, and Gekko will gather information to destroy Bretton's career to seek revenge for Zabel's suicide. The expiration date doesn't mean, or even suggest, that the drug will stop being effective after that, nor that it will become harmful. In light of these results, a former director of the testing program, Francis Flaherty, says he has concluded that expiration dates put on by manufacturers typically have no bearing on whether a drug is usable for longer. Flaherty notes that a drug maker is required to prove only that a drug is still good on whatever expiration date the company chooses to set.
billion stockpile of drugs and facing the daunting process of destroying and replacing its supply every two to three years, the military began a testing program to see if it could extend the life of its inventory. The results, never before reported, show that about 90% of them were safe and effective far past their original expiration date, at least one for 15 years past it.
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418 F. 2d 59 - United States v. Davis
418 F2d 59 United States v. Davis
418 F.2d 59
UNITED STATES of America, Appellee,
Fred DAVIS, Appellant.
No. 23132.
United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.
October 24, 1969.
Charles S. Stout (argued), Boise, Idaho, for appellant.
Clarence D. Suiter (argued), Asst. U. S. Atty., Jay F. Bates, U. S. Atty., Boise, Idaho, for appellee.
Before MERRILL, DUNIWAY and CARTER, Circuit Judges.
JAMES M. CARTER, Circuit Judge:
Appellant Davis, in two consolidated cases,1 was convicted by a jury of seven counts of securities fraud (15 U.S.C. § 77q (a)), five counts of mail fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1341) and one count of conspiracy (18 U.S.C. § 371). This appeal challenges the admissibility and weight of the evidence and asserts several procedural errors. We affirm.
Davis makes five contentions of error. (1) The court erred in refusing to grant him a separate trial from co-defendant Carl Harrison, Jr.; and that Harrison's statement to an S.E.C. investigator was erroneously received in evidence in violation of the holding in Bruton v. United States (1968), 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476. (2) The court erred in reading the information to the jury after Davis had moved to strike passages of it as prejudicial. (3) The evidence was inadequate to support the verdicts and to show the specific criminal intent required for conviction. (4) The court should have granted the motion for acquittal. (5) The court should have granted the motion for new trial. Davis' briefs do not separately support the last two contentions. We treat them as standing or falling with the more specific allegations of error.
THE FACTUAL SETTING
The charges arose out of the participation of Davis, Harrison and Michael Boulds in a series of Idaho business enterprises. Between 1963 and 1966 Davis helped promote and control Mid-Day Dew, Inc., Command Products, Inc., and Command Products, Ltd., a common law trust. While there were differences in form between the three enterprises, the evidence indicated that essentially only one business was involved, with the form changing primarily for promotional advantage. The stated purpose of all three businesses was the development and marketing of various types of cleansing tissue.
Financing for all enterprises was provided by investors recruited by Harrison, Davis and Boulds. Typically subscribers would be asked to invest in return for Davis' promissory note and shares of stock. As Davis explained it, the note guaranteed repayment and the shares were a bonus. During the marketing of the notes and shares, Davis or Harrison or both made the misrepresentations on which these actions are based. While the specific misrepresentation varied according to the enterprise promoted and the prospective purchaser, the substance of the misstatements together with the actual situation, can be summarized.
(1) The promoters claimed that all money subscribed would be used exclusively to produce and market the corporate products; none would be used for personal expenses. In fact, the majority of the money was appropriated to personal use by Davis, Harrison and Boulds.
(2) Davis stated he was selling his own stock. In fact, Davis did not hold much stock in the businesses. Further, he did not reveal the ownership interest of others in his sales attempts.
(3) Davis claimed he had invested everything he had in the businesses. In fact, his investment was minimal.
(4) The corporations were protrayed as on the verge of being ready to market their products based on substantial recent progress and the establishing of several distributorship agreements. In fact, most progress was imaginary.
(5) It was represented that Mrs. Ernest Hemingway, widow of the famous author, and Harmon Killibrew, a prominent professional baseball player, would be investing in the businesses. In fact, Harrison had contacted them and received non-committal responses.
(6) The investment was described as certain to double the investors' money within a year. It was also talked of as a "sure thing" and one that "couldn't miss." In fact, no dividends have been paid. Nor have repayments on the promissory notes been made. At the time of making such representations there was no factual basis to support such positive assertions.
The dealings by Davis with subscriber Keith Allred are illustrative and typical of the deception practiced. Davis initially phoned Allred saying that a mutual friend had told him of Allred's interest in investment possibilities. An appointment was arranged between Harrison, Davis and Allred at the latter's Salt Lake City home. At the meeting, Davis waxed eloquent over the prospects for Mid-Day Dew. He stated he was the sole owner, never mentioning the real majority shareholder; that business had been so good that the product couldn't be made fast enough to meet the demand. To support this contention, Davis produced a purported list of orders. Davis stated that since he had invested all his money in the corporation, he was forced to seek limited outside funding. Allred was told that Mrs. Hemingway would be backing the business as soon as the product had proven itself on the market. In asking for a loan, Davis promised repayment within a year. The stock would be there as a bonus. Davis further guaranteed that no wages or salaries would be drawn until after the company was showing a profit. Suitably impressed, Allred became a stockholder in the Mid-Day Dew-Command Products businesses.
After investigation by the S.E.C., the three promoters were charged with securities and mail fraud. Michael Boulds pleaded guilty. Harrison and Davis pleaded not guilty and were tried and convicted as charged. Only Davis perfected an appeal.
THE MOTION FOR SEPARATE TRIAL AND THE BRUTON PROBLEM.
Davis alleges error in the failure of the trial court to grant his motion for separate trial. Rule 14, Fed.R. Crim.P. leaves the decision in the discretion of the trial judge. Here strong arguments of judicial convenience supported the decision not to separately try Harrison and Davis. The trial lasted ten days and involved the introduction of almost 400 exhibits by the government. Thirty two witnesses testified, some coming from considerable distances to do so. The government's case would have been only slightly less complex if Davis alone had been tried.
Davis claims the indictment was so long and complex that it was impossible to segregate the proofs and defend against the charges. We find no undue complexity. The charges were phrased in the language of the applicable statutes and were clear as to which of the defendants were charged. The length and complexity was not due to the presence of two defendants in the action, but rather to the magnitude of the frauds perpetrated.
Nor is there substantial merit to Davis' claim that testimony was offered which only Harrison, fearful of impeachment for prior convictions, could refute. Davis did not raise this particular objection in his motion for separate trial. Nor is it shown that Harrison would have given testimony favorable to Davis if he had taken the stand. Indeed, the argument in Davis' brief makes it appear likely that Harrison would have been as reluctant to incriminate himself at a separate trial as at a joint one.
Defendant strenuously contends that the ruling of the Supreme Court in Bruton v. United States, supra, makes the admission of testimony of co-defendant Harrison at an examination by Securities and Exchange Commission investigators prejudicial error. Bruton was decided after the trial but since Bruton has been held retroactive, Roberts v. Russell (1968), 392 U.S. 293, 88 S.Ct. 1921, 20 L.Ed.2d 1100 its teachings must be considered in this case.
In Bruton the Supreme Court considered the admission at a joint trial of one defendant's confession where that defendant did not take the witness stand. The Court held that such a practice violated the other defendant's 6th amendment right to confront the witnesses against him even though the jury was instructed to consider the confession only as evidence against the confessor. The Court regarded the mutually incriminating statement as inevitably prejudicial to the non-confessing party no matter how strongly the judge's limiting instruction was phrased.
In reaching its decision in Bruton, the Court placed great emphasis on the "powerfully incriminating" nature of the confession. The Court observed: "Not every admission of inadmissible hearsay or other evidence can be considered to be reversible error unavoidable through limiting instructions * * *," 391 U.S. 123, 135, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 1627.
Recently in Harrington v. California (1969), 395 U.S. 250, 89 S.Ct. 1726, 23 L.Ed.2d 284 the Supreme Court refused to overturn a felony-murder conviction on Bruton grounds. The Court found that the evidence, aside from the prejudicial confessions, was so overwhelming, that the Bruton violation was harmless error beyond a reasonable doubt2 under the standard of Chapman v. California (1967), 386 U.S. 18, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705, 24 A.L.R.3d 1065.
Several circuit court decisions also indicate that alleged Bruton errors need not always be grounds for reversal. Two theories have been used to reach such conclusions. One line of cases stresses that the questioned evidence was not incriminating to the objecting party. United States v. Hoffa (7 Cir. 1968), 402 F.2d 380 (statements of one defendant to a Congressional investigating committee involved matters about which there was no substantial dispute and no possibility of incrimination of other defendants); Cortez v. United States (9 Cir. 1968), 405 F.2d 875 (statement "I told them something was going to go wrong" held not incriminating); and Clark v. United States (9 Cir. 1969), 412 F.2d 491. The alternate approach stresses the sufficiency of other evidence, reaching the same conclusion as Harrington where overwhelming independent evidence of guilt is present. Posey v. United States, 416 F.2d 545 (5 Cir. 7/17/69); United States v. Levinson (6 Cir. 1968), 405 F.2d 971; Ignacio v. People of Territory of Guam, 413 F.2d 513 (9 Cir. 7/7/69).
Davis' claim of Bruton error should be disallowed under either standard. Harrison's testimony was clearly not a confession inculpating Davis. The testimony was given to an S.E.C. investigator in the presence of Harrison's attorney. Full self-incrimination warnings were given before the start of the interrogation. Harrison apparently viewed the proceedings as an opportunity to convince the government that no criminal wrong doing had taken place. His testimony in the main attempted to exonerate both Davis and himself. Harrison flatly denied making several of the specific misrepresentations charged in the information and indictment. He further explained other statements as being phrased in terms of opinion rather than fact. He denied knowledge of Davis' financial situation. While Harrison did admit that corporate funds had been used for personal living expenses, this statement mirrored statements made by Davis at a similar S.E.C. interrogation and placed in evidence against him at the trial.
Overwhelming evidence supported the guilt of Davis aside from the admission of Harrison's testimony. The government's witnesses detailed the numerous misrepresentations, contrasting them with the true state of affairs. In the face of such clear proof, any error in the admission of Harrison's testimony was harmless to Davis beyond a reasonable doubt. Harrington v. California, supra.
MOTION TO STRIKE FROM THE INFORMATION
Davis urges as error the failure to strike the following portions of the information before reading it to the jury.
"(2) That investors who had purchased stock in other business ventures promoted by Boulds, Davis or Harrison, including Quenzer & Co., Inc., Mid-Day Dew, Inc., Drop Shopper, Inc., and Command Products, Inc., had little or nothing of value to show for the money they had invested."
"* * * That in the light of past experiences of Boulds, Davis and Harrison, an investment in said securities could not be considered safe and secure, and that they had no reasonable basis for representing that investors would receive returns in any amount on their investments within the foreseeable future, or at all."
Davis claims the material is not relevant and highly prejudicial. However, he presents no argument in support of this position. The government correctly points out that the objectionable paragraphs pertain to matters of fact not disclosed to investors, which if disclosed, may have been highly significant in an investment decision. As such, the statements were relevant to the charges against Davis and not prejudicial.
SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE
Davis' final contention is that the evidence was insufficient to convict or to show criminal intent. Counsel attempts to picture Davis as a well-intentioned optimist whose only mistakes were ones of business judgment. The jury clearly did not consider this an accurate picture. Nor do we. There was ample evidence to prove Davis was guilty of more than innocent over-promotion. The record shows repeated and material misrepresentations of fact were made to persuade hesitant investors to fund a series of business ventures of dubious merit.
We find no error under the contentions made by Davis. To the contrary the district judge properly and ably handled the conduct of a long and complex trial.
There are two docket numbers in this appeal. Originally Davis pleaded not guilty to all counts of an indictment. Later he changed his plea to guilty on two of the counts. The other counts were then dismissed. Still later Davis withdrew his guilty pleas. The previous counts were then realleged in a separate information. The charges of the indictment and information were tried together
InHarrington, the white petitioner was tried with three black co-defendants for first degree felony-murder. Petitioner testified that he had been at the scene of the crime; that co-defendant Bosby had fired the fatal shot; that he had fled with the other defendants, and that he had later attempted to disguise his appearance. A number of eyewitnesses placed petitioner at the scene of the crime. Two, however, had previously told the police that four Negroes had committed the crime. Defendant Rhone's confession was introduced. It placed Harrington inside the store with a gun at the time of the crime. Rhone took the stand and was cross examined by Harrington's counsel. Confessions of defendants Cooper and Bosby were also introduced. Both referred to Harrington as "the white guy" without naming him and both placed "the white guy" at the scene of the crime. Neither, however, testified as to "the white guy" having a gun. Neither Cooper nor Bosby took the stand and their inability to be cross-examined was the basis of Harrington's Bruton claim. The Supreme Court reasoned that the confessions of Cooper and Bosby merely added to a wealth of other evidence, sufficient in itself to convict Harrington.
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Wreaths laid at National Cemetery to honor fallen residents
This aerial photo taken by Walter Frazier in June 2019 just a portion of the expansive flooding in the Yazoo Backwater Area. (Walter Frazier/The Vicksburg Post)
Survey of historic backwater flood documents individual losses
Published 10:47 am Thursday, May 21, 2020
By Bonnie Coblentz
STARKVILLE — A sharper focus on the economic impact of the lower Delta backwater flood of 2019 helps predict the implications of continued flooding this year.
Mississippi State University Extension Service researchers compiled data on the overlooked costs of the backwater flood that affected the Yazoo Mississippi Delta in 2019. They surveyed residents in the five affected counties in an attempt to quantify losses.
“These findings show a terrible cost, which can be repeated each time the area floods,” said Nicolas Quintana-Ashwell, an economist at the National Center for Alluvial Aquifer Research and a researcher with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station who is based at the MSU Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville.
At its peak in May 2019, the Backwater Flood of 2019 flooded 548,000 acres, damaged hundreds of homes and closed three highways. The affected area includes all or part of Warren, Yazoo, Issaquena, Sharkey and Humphreys counties, and flooding impacted an estimated 20,000 people.
“We found a $42,160 self-assessed loss per household in costs associated with the flood not covered by insurance or any assistance programs,” Quintana-Ashwell said. “Additionally, 69 percent of workers reported a reduction in work productivity due to stress and fatigue associated with the flood.”
The flood measured and quantified in 2019 continues in many places, so its economic impact is still growing. As of early May 2020, water accumulations in portions of the state’s Delta region were again causing rivers to overflow, spilling over into an estimated 200,000 acres of farmland.
“Several thousand acres have been underwater for over a year and a half in places,” Mississippi State agronomist Ben Lawrence said. “In the areas affected by the continuous flooding, people are reliving 2019, which would have been unimaginable for two years in a row.”
That means the economic impact numbers of the backwater flood that began in 2019 are growing with each month the flood persists.
The study of the 2019 backwater flood calculated an increased cost of $3,217 per resident due to extra commuting distance and time, plus an average loss of $5,183 per worker in missed time on the job.
Sandy Havard, Extension agent in Warren County, commented on the ongoing struggle with flooding in areas such as the highly populated area around Eagle Lake.
“A lot of people still live there, and if they did go back to their home, they had to get a permit to rebuild, and the house had to be at a certain elevation,” said Havard, who is involved with the Warren County Long Term Recovery Committee. “That helped a lot in that area when the backwater flood came again this year.
“But some of those who moved away because of the flood in 2019 have not been able to move back because they don’t have the money to rebuild,” she said.
Emily Carter, Extension coordinator for Sharkey and Issaquena counties, said the intangible losses to the flood are harder to measure.
“Many people who had to move out of their homes for most of 2019 were just completing renovations and getting back into their homes when they were displaced again this year,” Carter said. “That caused a sense of hopelessness in some residents, but it also has drawn our community closer together as neighbor helps neighbor.”
This sense of caring is combined with resilience.
“Many families in the South Delta have been here for generations, and they will stay here, persevering through the hard times like their ancestors,” Carter said.
For a report on the full study, see Extension Publication 3418, “Survey of Overlooked Costs of the 2019 Backwater Flood in the Yazoo Mississippi Delta,” at https://bit.ly/35WN2KW.
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Packt Publishing launch fifth annual Open Source Awards
The 2010 Open Source Awards was launched today by Packt, inviting people to visit www.PacktPub.com and submit nominations for their favorite Open Source project. Now in its fifth year, the Award has been adapted from the established Open Source CMS Award with the wider aim of encouraging, supporting, recognizing and rewarding all Open Source projects.
WordPress won the 2009 Open Source Content Management System (CMS) Award in what was a very close contest with MODx and SilverStripe. While MODx was the first runner up, SilverStripe, a Most Promising CMS Award winner in 2008, made its way to the second runner up position in its first year in the Open Source CMS Award final.
The 2010 Award will feature a prize fund of $24,000 with several new categories introduced. While the Open Source CMS Award category will continue to recognize the best content management system, Packt is introducing categories for the Most Promising Open Source Project, Open Source E-Commerce Applications, Open Source JavaScript Libraries and Open Source Graphics Software. CMSes that won the Overall CMS Award in previous years will continue to compete against one another in the Hall of Fame CMS category.
These new categories will ensure that the Open Source Awards is the ultimate platform to recognise excellence within the community while supporting projects both new and old. “We believe that the adaption of the Award and the new categories will provide a new level of accessibility, with the Award recognizing a wider range of Open Source projects; both previous winners while at the same time, encouraging new projects” said Julian Copes, organizer of this year’s Awards.
Packt has opened up nominations for people to submit their favorite Open Source projects for each category at www.PacktPub.com/open-source-awards-home . The top five in each category will go through to the final, which begins in the last week of September. For more information on the categories, please visit Packt’s website www.PacktPub.com/blog/packt’s-2010-open-source-awards-announcement
Free Tech book – in association with Packt Publishing – August 2010 Free Tech book – in association with Packt Publishing – September 2010
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*The Expanse* Is Sci-Fi Like TV Has Never Seen
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The Expanse is back! Season 4 of the sci-fi thriller launched on Amazon Prime last week, and I’m already deep into it. The story is set in a future where humans have colonized the solar system and split into three groups, based on Earth, on Mars, and in the asteroid belt. And of course, whenever you have groups of people, they find ways to get in trouble. But no spoilers!
The show is based on a series of novels by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. It was turned into a TV series in 2015, which ran for three seasons on Syfy before getting canceled. Luckily Amazon stepped in to keep it going, and it has now released a new season of 10 episodes for streaming.
What I love about this show is that it’s “realistic” science fiction. There’s no faster-than-light travel, no crazy artificial gravity or dopey aliens. It’s just people like us, in an actually possible world. Honestly, it’s great. So I was excited to get a chance to talk to the showrunner of The Expanse, Naren Shankar—who, I have to mention, has a PhD in applied physics.
Here’s an edited version of our chat.
Rhett Allain: So you studied physics, but you work on a sc-fi TV show. How did this happen? I’m really asking for my students, so they can see the options you have with a physics degree.
Naren Shankar: I had a weird trajectory. I started in liberal arts at Cornell. I was thinking about medieval studies or French literature or history, but my entire life I had loved science and math. I think I was a generalist at heart. So in my second year I transferred into Cornell’s College of Engineering, and I stayed there all the way through to get my doctorate.
But I felt like I was becoming more and more of an expert on a smaller and smaller corner of the universe. I actually started taking courses in history and literature again while I was working on my dissertation. So when I finished, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I had some friends that I’d done some fun creative writing with, and they said, come out to LA and be a screenwriter. I said, “Sounds good.” I was only 25, and my parents thought I had a couple of years to burn, so I just drove to LA and slept on my buddy’s floor.
I was just a writing intern, but because of my background, I got hired as a science consultant on Star Trek: The Next Generation. That was my foot in the door, and that led to getting on staff as a writer. That was, like, almost 30 years ago.
Allain: Beyond giving you a working knowledge of science, do you think your background has helped you in your career?
Shankar: Oh, sure, and I’m realizing that more over the years. Like I used to enjoy the peer review stage of research—writing up an experiment and then sitting down with your colleagues and tearing it apart, to see if it really held up. Well, television is the same! You write in a room with other people. You create the story together. Then you all sit down with the script and say, “Does this work? Is it solid?” You test what you’ve made. It’s a remarkably similar process.
Allain: The Expanse is full of little touches that are grounded in real physics. You don’t make a fuss about it; they’re just part of the background of life in a strange environment. There was a scene in season 1 where Miller is pouring a glass of whiskey, and the liquid takes a weird path because of the Coriolis force. How did you decide to include that detail?
Shankar: Well, in the story Eros Station is a spin station, and so the shittier levels are closer to the center, where there’s more Coriolis. What we were showing was that Miller is a lifelong resident of the station—he’s used to it and knows how to move in that environment. So when he pours himself a drink, he flicks it so it kind of spirals down into his cup.
You see details like that all the time in this show. My favorite from the beginning is the bird flapping its wings in one-third g. Our animators spent a lot of time making sure it felt believable but also sort of weirdly magical. It’s uncommon, right? And we’re not telling the audience, “Oh, the birds move this way because gravity is different here.” There’s no explanation. But I think these things, when you use them carefully, can put a spell on the audience.
Allain: Of course audiences might say, “Well, that looks weird,” because it doesn’t agree with their sense of how things move. I think there’s often a fear that if you portray space realistically, viewers will find it jarring—it might pull them out of the story. But you’re actually going for that?
Shankar: Yeah. It’s actually one of the reasons I wanted to do this show. I had stayed away from science fiction for a number of years. The genre had gotten boring to me, and I ended up doing CSI for many years, which also has scientific angles to it, I guess.
It wasn’t until Battlestar Galactica came back that sci-fi started getting interesting again. And one thing that attracted me to The Expanse, in particular, was the way the books made space into an actual character in the show. It was embracing things that other shows had always avoided.
So the fact that you only have weight when you have thruster acceleration, and you don’t when you don’t. And rockets only fire in one way. And we don’t have instantaneous communication across the solar system. So many things that other shows have run away from. You probably have to go all the way back to Kubrick’s 2001 to see a film that tried to portray space realistically.
So I thought this would be a unique way to convey this kind of drama. It hadn’t been done before—certainly not on a television show. And we were at a time, in terms of filmmaking technology, when we could actually do these things.
Allain: Can you give me an example where the action really hinges on the physics?
Shankar: There’s a battle sequence in season 1 [episode 4, 36:20] when Holden and Naomi are running to an escape vehicle on the Donnager. They’re on a gangway, being shot at, and suddenly the ship’s engines cut out and they just float up. They’re stuck. So he lashes a cable onto her and kicks her upward—which sends him back down to the deck. Then he can pull her down. There’s a lot of physics in that.
Allain: Yeah, I wrote about that one—it’s a great scene.
Shankar: I love to bring these ideas from the novels into the show. We don’t spell out what’s happening with dialog, because in real life people don’t go around explaining things to each other. It’s “uncommented”—we use that word a lot. But the physics are there; there’s a logic underlying what happens. The audience can see the effects, and I think they subconsciously make the connection: No thrust, no gravity.
Allain: Have you ever gotten to a point where a plot idea might violate momentum or something like that—where the story wants to go one way and the science wants to go another way?
Shankar: Well, it’s all future technology, so there’s going to be things we don’t understand. That really comes up later with the protomolecule. It’s a mystery. If you talk to Tye and Daniel, I think it kind of comes from ideas about a biological computer. But we can’t ground it in known science. And we don’t try to do that—it’s not a technology porn show.
But in terms of the science we do know, we try to be consistent. We try not to violate our own rules. Instead of just ignoring the science when it’s convenient, like most shows do, my idea is to find the dramatic possibilities in the actual reality of science. That’s the joy of it.
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PHOTOGRAPHER NORMAN SEEFF’S SESSION FOR Van Morrison’s 1979 album, Into the Music, nearly never happened. “I met with him at his home in Northern California,” recalls Seeff, “and he took me on a crazy drive in his Porsche as we listened to the album.” But by the end of the day the quixotic artist expressed doubts about using his image on the album cover. Seeff turned to a mutual friend, who had played violin on one of Morrison’s previous records, for help. She assembled a makeshift band in a studio near Morrison’s home. “‘This is going to be fun,’ I told him,” says Seeff. “I explained he didn’t have to do anything special—just play music.” Morrison wound up performing for three hours, leading the band through much of his monumental catalog. “It was an amazing jam session,” recalls Seeff, who brought along a small film crew. “He was in the zone. I believe it’s one of the great pieces of music captured on film.”
Filed in: Encore,Norman Seeff Tags: ISSUE NO28, Van Morrison
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Tag: Business and Professional Women
In the Company of Women
Florence Wick early 1930s
My mother used to wonder aloud why my generation of girls and young women chose to hang out in co-ed groups. Why was there so much pressure to be with boys? She told me that as a young woman she’d had loads of fun communing with sisters in same sex groups. They invited boys to dances and events that they organized, but otherwise they sought the companionship of other women. Now, looking through scrapbooks she made in the 1930s, I can see what she was talking about.
My mother, Florence Wick, had graduated from Yakima High School at age 16 in the class of 1929½, just as the country sank into the Great Depression. She was planning to enroll at Washington State University (my alma mater) when the stock market crashed and ended her dream of going to college. Instead she went to secretarial school. She got a job as a stenographer and worked steadily throughout the decade, living at home and supporting her family when her father lost his teaching job. In the 1930s my mother actively participated in women’s organizations that I now see set the stage for the feminist movement of the 1970s.
Flo was Biz-Pro president in 1936
While she could never afford college, she did join a sorority, Epsilon Sigma Alpha, which had been reorganized from a college group to include businesswomen. She was also a member and president of the Business and Professional Women’s Club (Biz-Pro) one of the “business girls” clubs that fell under the umbrella of the YWCA. These linked organizations provided opportunities for what we now call networking, but they also promoted the rights and welfare of workingwomen by sponsoring legislation for equal pay and to prohibit legislation denying jobs to married women. Founded to address the surge of women into the workforce during WWI, Biz-Pro still continues to advocate for workingwomen promoting equal pay, comparable worth and family leave legislation.
The ESA flower was jonquil
She saved dance programs
Biz-Pro dance program
The sorority met twice a month, once for a study program and once for a social event. My mother saved programs and newspaper articles reporting on their events. Flo sometimes appears in the programs reviewing books (Stanley Walker’s Mrs. Astor’s Horse) or authoring skits. She participated in a bridge club and took home prizes. She directed a questionnaire on current event topics at one meeting. At another she reported on the biography of Nijinsky written by his wife. Politics was also on the agenda. On the Oct. 6, 1936 program, Miss Sylvia Murray presented a “Symposium of Nazism and Fascism.” Flo presented “Excerpts from Days of Wrath by Andre Malraux.” They had picnic summer potlucks. They played games. The local news reported: At the Thanksgiving party, 30 members and their friends were expected. The colors were yellow, orange and brown.
Sorority sisters
Sisters’ Ski Trip
Smart cotton frocks of today’s vogue and demure fashions of 50 years ago vied for supremacy last evening when Epsilon Sigma Alpha sorority members entertained at a dessert bridge party in the Woman’s Century clubhouse. The sorority will have a horseback riding party as a feature of its next meeting, reported the local Yakima newspaper. In news articles the married women are referred to by their husbands’ names. A dinner and theater party were planned by sorority members at their meeting last evening in the home of Mrs. Malcolm Mays.
Bridge Tallies
The Biz-Pro meetings, too, sought to combine business and pleasure.
Miss Edith Livingston had charge of decorating the tables with white cellophane Christmas trees, snowmen, blue streamers and white tapers. Girls made a contribution to the iron lung fund.
Despite their name, the business and professional women were not above movie stars and gossip.
Mrs. Gledhill, the former Miss Margaret Buck of Yakima, related interesting Hollywood anecdotes and described the YWCA work in the southern city. She particularly mentioned the Studio club in Hollywood where girls who are hoping for a “break” live and rehearse, “even tap dancers,” she says. Among board members are Mary Pickford and Mrs. Cecil De Mille.
Both my mother and I were active in the YWCA during the 1970s when its “One Imperative” was to “use its collective power to eliminate racism by any means necessary.” Together we attended the 1973 national conference in San Diego where the farmworker leader Cesar Chavez spoke. But I hadn’t realized how involved she had been in the YW during the 1930s. After its members demanded a focus on workingwomen at the 1910 world conference in Berlin, the YW’s objectives changed from protecting women from the vagaries of industrialization to promoting their equal inclusion. To this day the YW remains a worldwide force working against violence and supporting women, racial minorities, people with AIDS and refugees.
ESA invitation
Flo represented Biz-Pro as a council member at its conference in Chicago in November 1937. A newspaper report of the meeting quoted her: “It was grand and I liked Chicago so much,” says Miss Florence Wick, all in one breath, of the National Business and Professional Women’s Council of the YWCA meeting in Chicago from which she returned this week. The article says of the 26 council members, she was the youngest (she was 24). The meetings were held in the McCormick residence in Chicago, a memorial to Harriet McCormick, an early supporter of the YW. “The loveliest building you ever saw,” according to Miss Wick. “I met so many notables in YWCA work, I feel so very insignificant,” Miss Wick remarks, laughing.
Flo as drawn by her teenage (biological) sister Ruth Wick
In April 1938, she traveled to Columbus, Ohio to the national YWCA convention and later explained the “reorganization of the business girls’ groups” to her local chapter. She traveled around the Northwest to represent the local group along with others including her best friend and my namesake, Molly (Mildred) Hardin, another single workingwoman. By that time they called themselves the “Business and Professional and Industrial Girls.” Industrial referred to women who worked in factories and plants, as opposed to the “business girls” who worked in offices.
Flo told me she had accepted that she would be an “old maid” when, at 33, she met my father. Still working as a stenographer, she had assumed the identity of “career girl.” Her sister Eva, my aunt, told me Flo was always popular. She had lots of boyfriends but she was in no hurry to get married. She enjoyed the independence and self-esteem that came from earning her own living as a workingwoman. And she thoroughly enjoyed the rich friendships and associations she cultivated in the women’s organizations she joined.
Me at the ’73 YW convention
Me and my namesake
Flo in her office 1970s
Author Molly MartinPosted on August 18, 2016 December 9, 2020 Categories history, My mother Florence Wick, womenTags 1930s, Business and Professional Women, Epsilon Sigma Alpha, YWCA4 Comments on In the Company of Women
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Our urban forest is under siege
The urban forest on Mt. Davidson is slated for destruction.
According to California Trees (1) the US Forest Service has determined that tree cover in the country’s urban areas is decreasing by 4 million trees a year. Although no research has been done on tree loss throughout California, the US Forest Service reported a one-percent decline in trees and shrubs in Los Angeles despite a big campaign to plant one million trees there.
You might think that the loss of trees in urban areas is the result of increasing development and you would probably be at least partially correct. But many trees are lost for more trivial reasons that we think could be easily prevented. Here are some local examples of trees in the Bay Area that were needlessly destroyed or soon will be.
The City of Oakland has a “view ordinance” which guarantees homeowners the preservation of their view at the time they purchased their home. This view ordinance was invoked by a resident in the Oakland hills who demanded that her neighbor and the City of Oakland destroy trees obstructing her view. Her neighbor purchased her house because of its forested view. Yet, the desire for a forested view was trumped by her neighbor’s desire for a treeless view. The law required that 25 trees be destroyed on private property and 21 trees on city property in order to restore the view of a 95-year old property owner who no longer lives in her home. When trees are destroyed for such trivial reasons, we should not be surprised by the following compendium of absurd excuses to destroy trees. (The story is here.)
The people of San Francisco are trying to prevent the destruction of their urban forest which is almost entirely non-native. The City of San Francisco is systematically destroying non-native trees in order to return the landscape to its historical origins as grassland and dune scrub. The latest battle in this long war is a particular park, Glen Canyon, in which the City proposes to destroy about 160 trees in the short -run and 300 trees in the long-run. A handful of the trees are hazardous and aren’t disputed, but most have been evaluated as “poor suitability” which is the latest euphemism used by native plant advocates to describe non-native trees. They propose to replace most of the trees with native shrubs and a few tall trees that are native to California, but not to San Francisco, such as Douglas Fir and Cottonwoods. It remains to be seen if either of these species will survive in San Francisco. Douglas Fir requires more rainfall than San Francisco receives and Cottonwoods are hot-climate trees which don’t tolerate mild temperatures without seasonal fluctuations. We suspect that is the strategy, i.e., to plant trees for the sole purpose of placating the public without any intention that the trees will survive. (The story is here.)
The space shuttle Endeavor was recently retired from service. Its permanent home is now a museum in Los Angeles, where 400 street trees were destroyed to accommodate the delivery of the space shuttle from the airport to the museum. The neighbors were not pleased, as you might imagine. They unfortunately live in a blighted part of Los Angeles, so they didn’t have the clout needed to save their trees. Do you think these trees would have been destroyed in Beverly Hills? We doubt it. (The story is here.)
The neighbors of Dimond Park in Oakland are trying to save the trees in their park from being destroyed by a “restoration.” We often marvel at the use of the word “restoration” to describe projects which are more accurately described as “destruction.” This is yet another native plant project, which is hell bent to remake nature to its liking. In this case 42 trees would be destroyed, of which 27 are native, including 17 redwood trees. Please help the neighbors save their trees by signing their petition which is available here.
Finally, we share the story of a property owner on 65th St in Oakland who with a great deal of courage and tenacity was able to save most of the street trees on her block from being destroyed by the City of Oakland. The trees weren’t posted as required by Oakland’s ordinance. The crew who came to cut them down couldn’t tell her why they were being cut down, nor could they tell her who owned the trees. We encourage you to read her story because it will give you a brief lesson on the difficulty of advocating against the needless destruction of trees.
Deforestation causes climate change
We have been accumulating these stories in the past few months, but are finally inspired to share them with our readers because of the recent storm on the East Coast, Sandy, which caused over $50 billion in damage and the lives of over 100 people. What’s the connection? The connection is that Sandy has finally forced people to take the threats of climate change more seriously.
When will this new interest in climate change translate to an interest in saving our trees? Probably not soon, because few people understand that globally, deforestation contributes 20% of greenhouse gases that cause climate change. The public and its elected representatives are focused primarily on transportation as the source of climate change. Transportation contributes only 10% of greenhouse gases globally.
Here in California, we are gearing up to put our climate change law (AB 32) into action by creating a cap and trade auction which will enable emitters of greenhouse gases to purchase carbon offsets. Ironically, one of the things that carbon emitters can do to offset their contribution to greenhouse gases is to plant trees. Yet, those who destroy trees are not being required to purchase carbon offsets. Until the people who destroy trees are required to pay for the damage they do to the environment, we are unlikely to see a change in the cavalier attitude that governments seem to have about destroying trees.
(1) California Trees, Winter 2012, Vol 20, no 2
Author milliontreesPosted on November 27, 2012 Categories Climate Change, EcologyTags Deforestation, Dimond Park, Glen Canyon Park, native plant restoration, Oakland, Space Shuttle Endeavor
One thought on “Our urban forest is under siege”
Maxina Ventura says:
Regarding what is happening at Dimond Park in Oakland, in the Fruitvale district, there is history which predates this, going back to at least 2004, of Jean Quan and various agencies’ deceit. Go to the wildfire page of http://www.dontspraycalifornia.org to learn details.
Another aspect of this blog piece which rings true to the L.A. Space Shuttle Endeavor tree slashing is that the Fruitvale district is home to many very low income people for whom this glorious park is a refuge, and the trees have been cited as one of the primary reasons for this as park users have been being surveyed over past weeks.
Facts about lies used as excuses to ram through this project can be seen on the Facebook page where there is a petition: http://www.facebook.com/SaveOurDimondParkTrees.
And now Jean Quan is invading San Leandro, too, with another of her “native plant restoration” projects. As a resident of SL, I do not welcome her input on anything after experiencing her in person pushing for pesticide use in Sausal Creek in 2005 and 2006. Choosing not to respond to East Bay Pesticide Alert’s information presented publicly and directly to her in Jan., 2005, at a hearing on the subject, information including toxicological profiles and translocation facts about herbicides she was promoting, I would welcome her to stay out of the local part of the creek and to stop the abuse planned for Dimond Park’s trees. Daylighting the creek which has always been in that location would require removing concrete and lawn. To date, I am aware of not one person who would object to removing concrete and some lawn upstream from these old trees. and the very canopy which allows water to remain in the creek beset by dramatically higher ambient temperatures than were present 150, or even only 60 years ago.
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'Mr. Robot' to debut VR short film on iOS, Oculus, HTC Vive
Image: usa network
By Adario Strange 2016-07-20 01:03:37 UTC
The USA Network cult hit Mr. Robot has already blazed new trails by taking underground hacker culture mainstream, and now the producers are pushing the tech envelope further by diving into the world of virtual reality.
SEE ALSO: Mr. Robot Season 2 premieres on Twitter and Facebook
On July 21 at 1:45 p.m. ET, the show will debut an original VR short film that will be available to anyone in the U.S. using the Within app (the company formerly known as Vrse).
However, in keeping with the "FSociety" hacker aesthetic from the show, the VR short will only be available during its initial showing, after which the content will be removed from the app.
To experience the VR short, users can use iOS, Android, the Samsung Gear VR, Oculus Rift or the HTC Vive and look for the Mr. Robot VR Experience on the Within app. It should also be noted that this might be the first live national VR event to be offered on all the most popular VR platforms simultaneously.
Written and directed by Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail, the 12-minute VR film will take viewers into an important moment from the main character's (Elliot played by Rami Malek) past. Those familiar with the show understand that flashbacks are key to the Mr. Robot storyline, so fan interest will likely be high.
The VR event is also being rolled out in conjunction with the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con, where attendees will receive a special Mr. Robot Cardboard VR device for an on-site premiere.
This is just the latest innovative, tech-powered event from the show. Earlier this month, the producers premiered the entire first installment of Season 2 via Twitter and Facebook, with a similarly time-limited availability.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
Topics: Comic-Con, Mr. Robot, Tech, Television, usa network, virtual reality, VR
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Four Drivers Selected for NASCAR Drive for Diversity Youth Driver Development Program After National Combine in North Carolina
May 2, 2019 Mike
Drivers Ages 12 to 16 to Train with Rev Racing for Summer 2019
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (May 1, 2019) – Four talented youth drivers have been selected to hone their racing skills as participants in the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Youth Driver Development Program after a national talent search in March.
NASCAR and Rev Racing hosted a youth driver combine at GoPro Motorplex in Mooresville, N.C., where drivers ages 12 to 16 were evaluated during practice sessions and heat races.
Four drivers were selected to the 2019 class, including Rajah Caruth, 16, an iRacing competitor from Washington D.C., with aspirations of a traditional racing career. Among the new participants are Lacy Kuehl, 12, of Sarasota, Fla., who has experience racing dirt oval flat karts, and Blake Lothian, 16, a World Formula Kart driver from Wellesley, Mass.
Fourteen-year-old U.S. Legends car driver Isabella Robusto of Fort Mill, S.C., returns to Rev Racing having trained with the youth driver development program in 2017 and 2018.
“We were very impressed with what we saw from these drivers at the combine in March,” said Jusan Hamilton, NASCAR director, racing operations and event management. “Each driver demonstrated strong potential and we believe will be successful in racing. The four selected stood out based on their abilities both on and off the track, have great experience and left quite the positive impression on our evaluators.”
NASCAR Drive for Diversity and Rev Racing seek the highest quality candidates from diverse backgrounds and develop them into successful NASCAR drivers. During the summer, the youth program provides selected drivers with equipment, mentoring and competition experience.
Rev Racing, the competition arm of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Youth Driver Development Program, will put the four drivers in INEX Legend Cars in 2019. Each driver will compete in the Bojangles’ Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway in June and July, and several other events throughout the summer.
“We have really taken an in-depth look at how we develop and train our drivers at the youth level,” said Max Siegel, CEO of Rev Racing. “We’ve seen the program grow over the last 10 years and make a substantial impact in NASCAR. The level of talent and enthusiasm we are already seeing in these young individuals is both promising and exciting. Connecting with drivers as early as possible allows us to have a greater impact on driver development on and off the race track. Our goal is to see these drivers move through the pipeline and into the national series.”
The youth development program serves as a stepping stone for drivers to eventually move to NASCAR Whelen All-American Series and NASCAR K&N Pro Series race cars with the goal of one day competing for a NASCAR national series team.
The NASCAR Drive for Diversity Driver Development Program, a separate program that will host its combine later this year, introduces talent to Late Model Stock cars and offers opportunities for drivers to compete in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series and Whelen All-American Series with the Rev Racing team.
Graduates of the youth development program include NASCAR K&N Pro Series West driver Hailie Deegan, 17, and Rev Racing Late Model driver Nicholas Sanchez, 17. In 2018, Deegan became the first female driver to win a K&N Pro Series race after taking the checkered flag at Meridian Speedway in Idaho. Deegan won her second K&N Pro Series race in 2019, finishing first at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dirt Track.
Sanchez raced in last year’s Bojangles Summer Shootout with Rev Racing’s Legends Car program and recently completed his rookie season in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series.
The 2019 class features the following drivers:
Rajah Caruth: In 2018, Caruth raced the Legends ’34 Coupe in the inaugural season of the eNASCAR Ignite Series, NASCAR and iRacing’s youth series created specifically to identify and attract young and diverse talent. He made 18 starts in the eight-week regular season, where he finished second seven times, made the playoffs and advanced to the championship round. Caruth has raced in more than 230 races on iRacing thus far in 2019 with 21 wins and more than1,600 laps led.
Lacy Kuehl: Kuehl has raced in a dirt oval flat kart 32 times with one first-place finish. Notable accomplishments include winning at the Inverness Grand Prix and racing for Diabetic Ketoacidosis survivors. Kuehl would eventually like to earn an invitation to the Maxxis Nationals.
Blake Lothian: Lothian raced nine of 10 races in a World Formula Kart in the 2018 New Hampshire Karting Association (NHKA) Outdoor Series in New Hampshire. His highest finish was third place and he finished the season seventh out of more than 20 drivers. In 2017, he was the NHKA Briggs and Stratton LO206 Senior Champion with seven first-place finishes and three second-place finishes.
Isabella Robusto: A current youth development driver, Robusto competed in the 2018 Bojangles Summer Shootout 10-race series where she finished sixth in the overall points standings. She won Battle at the Big Top at Texas Motor Speedway, a U.S. Legends National Qualifier.
About NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for the No. 1 form of motorsports in the United States. NASCAR consists of three national series (Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series™, NASCAR Xfinity Series™, and NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series™), three regional series, one local grassroots series, three international series and the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). The International Motor Sports Association™ (IMSA®) governs the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship™, the premier U.S. sports car series. Based in Daytona Beach, Fla., with offices in eight cities across North America, NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races in more than 30 U.S. states, Canada, Mexico and Europe. For more information visit www.NASCAR.com and www.IMSA.com, and follow NASCAR on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat (‘NASCAR’).
About Rev Racing
Headquartered in Concord, N.C., Rev Racing, owned by Max Siegel, operates the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Program, which is the industry’s leading developmental program for ethnic minorities and women drivers and pit crew members. For more information about Rev Racing visit http://revracing.net or follow on Twitter @RevRacin.
NASCARnascar, drive for diversity, rev racing, max siegel, stock car racing, Auto racing, DAYTONA BEACH, SNAPCHAT, Motorsport, Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc., Mexico, United States, Canada, CONCORD, charlotte motor, Jusan Hamilton, BOJANGLES, MOORESVILLE, Hailie Deegan, Sam Mayer, NASCAR Pinty's Series, Rajah Caruth, Nicholas Sanchez, Wellesley, Lacy Kuehl, Washington D.C., Briggs and Stratton, Sarasota, Isabella Robusto, Blake Lothian
$2,000 S197 Mustang GT Budget Build | Hot Lap
Win a pair of Wrangler Bumpers from ExtremeTerrain
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Assam’s NRC process mired in ad hocism and prejudice
by SANJOY HAZARIKA
, August 2, 2018 12:12 pm
File Photo of people visiting an NRC Seva Kendra to check their names in the final draft NRC.
The first thing that strikes us about the numbers that have emerged from the protracted exercise, spread over several years and known simply by its acronym, NRC or National Register of Citizens, is just the scale. Four million. This does not mean that all four million, as some mentioned on Twitter, are to be ‘deported’ to Bangladesh. Nothing of that sort is going to happen as it has not been proven that all of these are Bangladeshis. They just haven’t made the draft second list.
Let me give you a few examples: I am not on that list, neither is anyone from my immediate family, although, according to the family tree, our ancestors migrated to Assam in the 16th century from Kanauj in Uttar Pradesh. That is little further back in time than 1951 that the Assam government is insisting upon. We did not apply because the NRC exercise was limited to Assam and we do not live there, although my parents, my brother and I grew up in Shillong and have a home there. We also have a property in Assam valley.
Lakhs of Assamese, who live in other parts of India, are in the same situation because of the confounded approach of this exercise where those residing in the state were encouraged to apply. My cousin, her husband and daughter are not on the list; the little girl piped up the other evening, “Are we going to be sent to Bangladesh?” Their names were excluded from the list because of a spelling mismatch of the grandfather on the husband’s side. In addition, one of the state’s best-known novelists found that while she was on the first list, which was published at the end of December 2017, her sons and a daughter-in-law were not. That has since been remedied. I personally called the NRC coordinator to ask what kind of an exercise he was running when true-blooded Assamese, who were Indian citizens, were being left out.
This is not an exception. I am sure many lesser mortals have faced the same fate, those who have known no home apart from Assam. They have been given three months to resolve the problem. But it is the State and its minions who have made a mess; they should be bending over backward to fix it. At least a year’s time should be given to enable course correction.
Another crucial point needs to be made with regard to possible deportations to Bangladesh: this simply cannot happen. India has no deportation treaty in place with Dhaka. Deportation is not a unilateral process. There has to be acceptance of the deportees! But the media, in its hasty rush to judgement, has failed to research its facts.
That this could adversely impact relations with a friendly neighbour that the Narendra Modi government has been at pains to cultivate and placate is obvious. It would certainly provide major ammunition to opponents of the pro-Delhi regime of Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League in national elections there later this year, with accusations of her failing to speak up for and protect the rights of Muslims in India as she has done with the Rohingyas of Myanmar. That silence is seen as an outcome of her closeness to the BJP government. People in Dhaka speak of a growing fear that many would be pushed across the border into Bangladesh.
What happens now to the draft National Register of Citizens? It will undergo a further revision. Assam’s law minister told a BBC reporter that those who don’t make the cut would have to leave the state. But they can’t be deported to Bangladesh. So where would they go? There is absolutely no clarity on where they would go as few states barring West Bengal’s mercurial Mamata didi (Banerjee), have shown any interest in welcoming them. Actually, no state apart from West Bengal has even said anything about the need to resettle them.
Too many critical questions unanswered
New Delhi is absolutely silent about the disastrous spectacle of millions of people becoming stateless in their own land, a totally unacceptable condition. In a weak argument, Swarajya, the RSS mouthpiece, said that they could be sent to the hills and dry terrain of other states; but on what basis? Who would send them? Which state government would accept them amid local furore? Would panchayats issue documents of settlement? Will it not make them, although second class, citizens of another state? There are too many unanswered questions because the whole process is not coherently thought through. It is mired in ad hocism, prejudice and political profit. The poor and vulnerable, as always, are the worst sufferers. The affluent and connected will get out of the mess as they always do.
Other critical questions arise. What would, for example, happen to families in case parents (or a parent) are defined as foreign nationals? Where will they be kept? The thought of ripping children apart from parents is brutal. What would happen to lands they have cultivated for generations or for decades?
In geographies such as char lands (temporary islands) on the Brahmaputra River, many cultivators and settlers live without proper documentation. Again, that doesn’t make them illegal immigrants. They produce much of the vegetables and fish that are brought fresh to bustling urban and village markets. Their economy is market-driven, another source of competition and clash with local farmers whose production goals are subsistent.
When Narendra Modi declared in the run up to the elections of May 2014 that all Bangladeshis would have to pack up and go, it sent a chill through a highly sensitive state where communal anger has been steadily stoked and have burned for long. Thousands have died in riots and sweeping slaughters in Assam on religious and ethnic lines over the past 35 years. The younger generation has not seen what hatred and unbridled prejudice can do except in bits and bursts in the past decade or two.
But if we cast our minds back to the 1980s, and especially 1983, when not less than 3,000 persons were killed, mostly Muslims of Bangla origin who had lived in the Assam valley for generations and were not Bangladeshis by any stretch of the imagination, we would understand what harm and violence can overwhelm many pockets of our small and diverse state. That these killings took place during the midst of an anti-immigrant agitation that sought to detect and deport Bangladeshis is no coincidence. The atmosphere of fear and mistrust was such that little eruptions were taking place everywhere in February 1983. I witnessed some of this, which most pundits sitting in Delhi or Guwahati are clueless about.
Is there a plan for what lies ahead?
We have seen that deportation is not possible. In the tumult that is growing, within and without the state and India, we are likely to lose sight of why the NRC process was launched—to prise out illegal immigrants who had come from Bangladesh after 1971. This is a long-standing issue that goes back decades and is rooted in fear of the Assamese and other smaller ethnic groups of being overwhelmed by a changing demography. There is a prejudice that has grown toward the Muslims of Bangla origin as well as Hindus. The fact that immigration is happening, largely a labour flow, is undeniable. It is the scale which is disputed or even unknown. The NRC was supposed to fix it, but instead, it has thrown up a host of new, potentially irreconcilable issues.
In my view, out-migration into Assam from Bangladesh has dropped extensively in the past decades as our neighbour’s economic conditions have improved significantly.
I have a deep sense of foreboding about the next years and this is not mitigated by reports of large spaces being acquired for detention camps. Hundreds who have not been able to prove their citizenship though other processes but are still fighting court cases remain incarcerated. There are multiple legal fronts: the Foreigners Tribunals which have been functioning since the 1980s and the D-voters (Doubtful) categorisation. The latter has been extremely arbitrary with people suspected to be of doubtful origin being taken off voters’ lists.
About 93,000 have been declared foreigners in over 30 years. Many of them, according to the police, are ‘missing’.
The Supreme Court chose a role for itself as an oversight body in the NRC process. It is now embroiled in a highly sensitive and politically charged issue that has far reaching social, political and even security implications. There should not be any crowing over the temporary figures presented by the NRC. We need to understand what could happen should radicalisation, born of prejudice and a sense of injustice, take root. In the process, the issue of who is a citizen or what makes a foreigner would diminish.
Sanjoy Hazarika is a noted author and an expert on Northeast. He can be reached at [email protected]
The article originally appeared on DownToEarth
Assam: APSC sets up panel to check educational proof documents
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(Business)
Emirates Orders 150 New Planes in a Sh 860 Billion Deal
By Ken / Thursday, 21 Nov 2013 03:00AM / Leave a Comment
Emirates Airline has placed an order for 150 Boeing 777X long-haul jets, as well as a separate 50 Airbus A380 airliners, in a deal said to be worth over $100bn.
With a previous order of 90 Airbus jets, the agreement will bring total orders for the world’s largest aircraft to 140, Emirates chief executive, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum, announced at the Dubai air show on Sunday.
The Dubai-based carrier said the Boeing contract was valued at $76bn and that the new deal with Airbus exceeded the $18bn agreed at the last event in 2011.
Boeing launched the long-awaited new version of its 777 long-haul jet with 259 orders from the top three Gulf carriers, including Dubai’s Emirates, Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways, as well as Germany’s Lufthansa which has already tentatively committed to buy 34 of the planes.
Boeing Chairman James McNerney said the order, based on commitments worth some $100 billion at list prices, was the largest combined order in the company’s history.
The deal includes orders for 150 of the aircraft from Dubai’s Emirates, 50 from Qatar Airways and 25 announced earlier by Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways.
Gulf airlines have been expanding rapidly as they seek to take advantage of a strong geographical position connecting East and West.
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Come together: Grassroots track, NASCAR track unite to grow racing
By Jerry BonkowskiJun 27, 2019, 12:00 PM EDT
Chicagoland Speedway and Grundy County Speedway are located roughly 25 miles apart. But until recently, that distance might as well have been 2,500 miles.
Their class of racing is as disparate as you can get. Chicagoland Speedway, located in Joliet, Illinois, plays host once a year to NASCAR’s Cup, Xfinity and Truck Series, while Grundy County, located in Morris, Illinois, hosts four sportsman series on more than 20 weekends.
The 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway has a seating capacity of nearly 50,000, while the 1/3-mile Grundy County Speedway seats about 3,700. Ticket prices, concessions and souvenirs are also a world apart.
It used to be that the two tracks had little in common and little interaction. But that’s changing. Big tracks like Chicagoland Speedway realize that grassroots speedromes like Grundy County are fertile breeding grounds for racing fans. That’s why the two tracks are no longer competitors fighting for the same dollar. Now, they’re partners and friends in the racing world. Each supports the other, offers assistance and cross-promotes at the other’s events.
Chicagoland Speedway hosts this weekend’s NASCAR action and the kickoff of NBC Sports’ portion of the Cup schedule. Photo: Getty Images
“They’re in our backyard essentially, we’re neighbors,” Denny Hartwig, Chicagoland Speedway’s public relations director, told NBC Sports. “There are several other short tracks around, but I think it’s so important to connect the dots between Chicagoland Speedway and Grundy County.
“We actually have some staff members that go there and work on their operations crew, so there’s a natural fit there. With them being so close to us and us to them, it’s important that we stay in touch. We find ways that are going to help them and there’s ways they can help us. But we need to be working hand-in-hand; it’s so important.”
Scott Kosak, founder of the grassroots racing site RacingIn.com (its motto is “For Fans of Fast”) has kept a keen eye on increased relationships between tracks like Chicagoland and Grundy County.
“Any time a major league entity recognizes the synergies with the minor league entities that are in proximity, that’s a great thing for the sport,” Kosak said. “Specifically for NASCAR, when the series only comes through Chicago once a year, many of those same race fans want to be engaged year-round.
“If they’re not able to watch a race on Sunday on TV, they can go to a place like Grundy County Speedway virtually 25 or 30 Fridays or Saturdays a year and be engaged by the product. That can only help race fans continue to feel engaged with a sport that has had its share of growing pains, but also has its share of opportunities if they’re able to continue to engage fans year-round rather than just watching on TV or a hand-held mobile device.”
Chicagoland Speedway opened in 2001. Grundy County has been around since 1905, first in rural Mazon, Illinois from 1905-71. When it outgrew its venue, Grundy County Speedway relocated 10 miles north to its current home.
“Short tracks right now are trendy, it’s hip, it’s cool,” Hartwig said. “It’s a pretty small space, so there are synergies between the two (tracks), and along that path, there are ways we can help them and they can help us. That’s going to help everybody involved, from the local guys to the (NASCAR) folks down in Daytona.”
Photo: Jerry Bonkowski
In its 18-year existence, Chicagoland Speedway has hosted a number of NASCAR stars including Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Dale Jarrett, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Grundy County Speedway has also seen its share of NASCAR luminaries chase the checkered flag there, including Hall of Famers Bobby Allison, Dale Earnhardt, Mark Martin and Stewart, as well as Tom and Ted Musgrave, late actor/racer Paul Newman, Johnny Benson, Ryan Newman and others.
“Those guys don’t forget their roots, they don’t forget where they come from, guys like Clint Bowyer, who hasn’t forgotten where he comes from in Kansas,” Hartwig said. “Going back at Grundy, some of the guys that have raced there are big names in addition to the guy that works at the local hardware store.
“There’s a ton of history and the need to default back to it, that this is where they started, how it’s evolved and to reconnect, to realize and make sure this works well for both of us.”
As Technical and Operations Director at Grundy County Speedway, Don Marshall is essentially the traffic cop who keeps things on the straight and narrow. If a fight breaks out in the pits or if there’s an on-track incident similar to what happened between Johnny Sauter and Austin Hill at the NASCAR Trucks race in Iowa earlier this month, Marshall has a zero-tolerance policy.
“I make the rules up and enforce them,” Marshall told NBC Sports. “My thing is if it’s in the rules, it’s black and white. If you’re wrong, you’re wrong. I don’t care who it is.
“If you want to fight, you’re going to get booted out. There’s no fighting, no leaving your pit to go to someone else’s pit and start something. Kids don’t need to see that or hear bad language. They want to see adults act like adults.”
Grundy County Speedway Tech and Operations Director Don Marshall inspects a race car. Photo: Chris Goodaker/Goodaker Photography.
Marshall oversees the racing with a soft-spoken but firm manner. Fields for the four classes have drawn a combined 87 cars entered this season, from the entry level Four-Cylinder Division, through the Street Stock and Mid-America classes, up to the kings of the track, the Late Models.
Racers come from Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. And they bring family and friends.
“A lot of the fans in the stands probably know somebody who’s racing, and then there’s fans that have been going to races since they were kids,” Marshall said. “Their parents took them and now they’re bringing their own kids to the races.”
Those kids are the key to Grundy County’s future.
“We have to get the kids involved,” Marshall said. “We’ve got to take the phones away from the kids and also do things to get the costs down to get more people involved.”
Like in NASCAR, fans at Grundy County have their loyalties. One of the most successful drivers there is five-time track champion Eddie Hoffman Jr. The current Late Model points leader is bidding to tie his father, Eddie Hoffman Sr., for all-time titles (six) at the track this season.
“Eddie has fans and he has non-fans,” Marshall said with a smile. “When you’re a winner, people boo you. They don’t like repeat winners. If you win a lot, you’ll get booed.”
Back in the 1980s and ’90s, Grundy County Speedway often played host to packed houses. And while Morris has grown in population, the track still suffers from somewhat of an identity crisis at times.
“There’s a lot of people in Morris that don’t even know the race track’s there,” Marshall said. “We’ll do some promotional stuff and people will be like, ‘There’s a race track in Morris?’ Yes, it’s been there since 1971.”
Marshall has been involved in racing for more than 40 years. A former midget car championship crew chief, he has been at Grundy County Speedway since 2011. As long as there’s racing and he’s involved, Marshall is happy.
“Once you get racing in your blood, it’s hard to get away from it,” he said. “I tried to get away from it for a little bit and I got drawn back in.”
The enhanced relationship between Grundy County Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway is paying dividends, bringing more fans to the short track, especially on a weekend like this with NASCAR in town, both Hartwig and Marshall agree. While Grundy County will welcome NASCAR fans on Friday night, Chicagoland Speedway will recognize and introduce some of Grundy County’s champions during Saturday’s pre-race activities, as well as have them take part in a meet-and-greet in the infield fan zone.
Zach Ortz celebrates a four-cylinder win June 14 at Grundy County Speedway. Photo: Chris Goodaker/Goodaker Photography
“The guys at most of these short tracks are pseudo celebrities,” Hartwig said. “They’ve built their own brands, are racing in front of the same people – they may be racing in front of their neighbors. We thought it would be cool to bring them out, put them in front of a new audience and with the ultimate intention that some of our fans go to their track, some of their fans come to our track and we just tell their story.
“Later this summer, we’re going to be the entitlement sponsor for one of Grundy County’s races, so it’s something we’re going to continue to grow and work closer together to make sure we help one another. Whether it’s us going to Grundy County for a night doing social media at their track or bringing our mascot or our show car. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship that I think is going to pay dividends for both facilities.”
Grundy County Speedway sits on the northern edge of the Morris, a blue-collar town of about 15,000. Located 60 miles southwest of downtown Chicago, Morris is surrounded by fertile farmland and is bisected by Interstate 80, which sees thousands of semi-trailers and cars pass through daily.
On the northern edge of town sits the Grundy County Fairgrounds, where the annual Corn Festival – a five-day festival touted by the Heritage Corridor Convention and Visitors Bureau as “the perfect mix of small-town charm and big city fun” – is held and also is the home of Grundy County Speedway, which hosts races every Friday night (and occasionally on Saturdays) in spring and summer.
From left: Randy Weese, Cheryl Hryn and Don Marshall (Photo: Jerry Bonkowski)
Two of Grundy County’s veteran racers are Randy Weese and Cheryl Hryn.
The 63-year-old Weese is celebrating his 25th year of racing at the speedway.
“I’m the old-timer,” Weese said with a laugh.
But racing keeps Weese young. He’s in excellent physical shape and could pass for someone 15 years younger. He attributes a lot of that to coming back week after week to race.
“It’s the camaraderie with the other drivers,” Weese told NBC Sports. “I was in it for about 21 years and then got out of it for about three years when we started our own (floor covering) business here in Morris and pulled me away from racing. I wanted to get that up and off the ground and then got lured back into the racing. I love it because it’s very exciting and it’s in the blood. Once you get it in the blood, it’s hard to get out of it and give it up.”
Grundy County Speedway has been good to Weese. He’s a two-time track champion and one of its biggest supporters. Not only does his company have several billboards and signage around the track, Weese also sponsors his own race car and six others driven by friends in the four divisions that regularly compete at the track.
He admits there are some unique moments with the cars he sponsors.
“It becomes interesting when your own sponsored race car is next to you and you’re doing a little bit of beating and banging or you’re trying to push that guy around and you say, ‘Hey, my name’s on that car,’” Weese said with a laugh.
But in a more serious tone, Weese says he believes in giving back to a track that has been so good to him. That’s why he writes so many sponsorship checks.
“If you don’t have cars, you don’t have a race track and you don’t have fans is what it boils down to,” Weese said. “You’ve got to fill the stands. But before you fill the stands, you have to fill the pits with race cars. People don’t like to see eight or nine cars. They would rather see 30 cars. Today, we’re 18 or 19 cars (in most classes). But I see that coming back, I see the car count getting better. That’s of course going to naturally increase the (number of fans in the) stands also.”
Although he has raced at other tracks, Grundy County Speedway is and always will be Weese’s home.
Randy Weese. Photo: Chris Goodaker/Goodaker Photography
“It all started with my children,” Weese said. “I started coming out there when my children were six years old and I brought them year after year. I started getting to the point where I thought, ‘You know what, I could do this.’ My kids absolutely loved it. They’d pick out their favorite driver, go down into the pits after the race to get their autograph, get their hat or program signed. That’s what really keeps the people there.”
Weese’s 36-year-old daughter, Tracy, helps in the pits not only with his car but with others. The elder Weese sees himself racing for many more years.
“Even though I’m 63 years old, it’s still exciting,” he said. “That’s what it’s all about. If the health stays well, I’m probably going to go to 70. It keeps you young.
“Most of the drivers out there are in their 30s or 40s. Hanging around that kind of age group keeps us older guys young. Plus, I’ve also taught a lot of guys racing things. We’ve got guys out there 15, 16 years old (racers can begin competition at 14 years old). I tell them to try this or that, and those 16 year olds started beating me. But I’m the kind of person that says, ‘You know what, that’s great, you tried it, it worked for you, you beat me, more power to you.’”
One of Weese’s fellow competitors and close friends is Hryn, who also competes in the Street Stock Division. The Blue Island, Illinois, resident followed in the footsteps of her father, who also was a sportsman racer.
Cheryl Hryn. Photo: Chris Goodaker/Goodaker Photography
“I always wanted to be behind the wheel,” Hryn said. “I thought it was neat when he did it and when I watched him against the people he competed with, that was what I wanted to do when I got older.”
Hryn is one of more than a half dozen females who compete at the speedway. She will make her first start of the season Friday.
“Each one of us girls, when we go out there, we stand on our own,” she said. “We fight tooth-and-nail with the guys and the other girls equally.”
Now in her 13th year of racing, the 49-year-old Hryn has ended the last few seasons thinking that maybe its time to hang up her helmet. But once January 1 rolls around, she’s already heavily into getting her race car ready for the upcoming season.
“It’s hard to walk away,” Hryn said. “I went to Rockford (Illinois) Speedway and they had a guy who was 78 years old in the Road Runner Division. When you’re almost ready to give up and then you go there and see someone out there 78 years old and still winning, how can you quit?”
Like Weese, racing is a family affair for Hryn. Her 31-year-old daughter Alexis is a major part of the crew, setting up the car, changing tires and more. It’s that kind of mother-daughter relationship that helps Hryn serve as one of the track’s key role models for female fans.
“Girls come up to me all the time,” Hryn said. “I have some of the real little ones that follow me real close. I have a Late Model driver whose daughter has been following me. She’s only five years old. Daddy was her favorite and now I’m her favorite.
“And then there are a couple of girls that race right now that have told me, ‘I’m doing this because of you. You made it interesting and you inspired me, so I want to race just like you.’ It makes me feel really great.”
Like Weese, Hryn also believes in giving back to the sport and to the track. Friday, she’ll have her fourth annual Kids Night bicycle giveaway, where she presents several dozen two-wheelers to kids attending the race.
“Last year, we gave away 86,” Hryn said. “Over 400 kids show up every year.
“That’s one of the reasons I do what I do with the kids because there’s a huge age gap between me and the next generation, and if you don’t get them in the stands, no one is going to be interested – and how are you going to keep the tracks going then?”
One of the closest observers of grassroots racing around the country, and particularly in Illinois is Scott Kosak, who started RacingIn.com in 2008. At the time, racing in all forms faced challenges in the U.S. Not only was that the height of the downturn of the economy, numerous grassroots short tracks and drag strips began closing.
“Over a decade ago, there were 1,600 grassroots tracks, including dirt and asphalt tracks, as well as drag strips,” Kosak told NBC Sports. “Now there are about 1,100.”
Grundy County Speedway is a survivor. Several popular grassroots tracks within a 100-mile radius of it have closed over the last two-plus decades, including Raceway Park (Calumet Park, Illinois); Santa Fe Speedway (Willow Springs, Ill.), Illiana Speedway (Schererville, Indiana) and Lake Geneva (Wisconsin) Raceway.
But Kosak has also noted a turnaround – primarily for grassroots tracks like Grundy County – in recent years.
Grundy County Speedway. Photo: RacingIn.com
“One of the benefits that grassroots racing has endured, while NASCAR has felt challenges over the last 10 years, is people that wanted to see great racing found it at their local race tracks,” Kosak said. “That’s not to say that NASCAR isn’t great racing, but as people’s attention spans have diminished over the last 10 years with the rise of social media, people wanted to see racing in a shorter segment, be able to see it close to home. They wanted to get their fix of fast, if you will, and they could see it in heats, and in a matter of three or four hours, they could see eight or 10 different races during that time period with shorter lap segments.
“I think NASCAR has adopted some of those things to its benefit and is starting to take a little bit from the playbooks of local tracks that are experiencing success because of some of the shorter attention span opportunities that they have evidence are successful.”
One of the biggest things that tracks like Chicagoland Speedway, Daytona International Speedway and others have taken from the playbooks of grassroots tracks is increased fan engagement and accessibility.
“The ability of race fans to see, touch and feel race cars and be a part of that experience (has rubbed off on NASCAR),” Kosak said. “The last time I went to Grundy County, what stuck out in my mind is that when they were done for the night, they opened the pit gates for people to be able to go into the pits and walk around.
“I believe that was an opportunity for everybody, whether they had a pit ticket or not. The racers of tomorrow are the youth of today. I think any time younger kids and younger fans and families can go and experience something like that and get as close to the action as that, that’s a plus for sure. NASCAR has some of those experiences now, as well.
“I think a lot of the reasons that grassroots racing is starting to come back is that the tracks that are surviving are finding ways to form partnerships with other larger entities to help them drive traffic. I think the relationships between grassroots tracks and some of the larger NASCAR tracks are a great example of that beginning to happen. We’re seeing that in the dirt world side with tracks in the World of Outlaws and other entities like that, but I think the parallel for paved oval track racing are relationships like what Chicagoland Speedway is doing with Grundy County Speedway.”
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Mammals on land
Environment and Mineral Resources
The red list
Ph.D. and postdoctoral stipends
The Goals of The Institute
Dpt. Fish and Shellfish
Dpt. Birds and mammals
Greenland Climate Research Centre
From the 15th meeting of the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group (PBSG) meeting.
15th Meeting of the IUCN/SSC Polar Bear Specialist Group Published 03.07.2009
The 15th meeting of the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group (PBSG), hosted by the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, was held at the Greenland Representation in Copenhagen Denmark , June 29-July 3, 2009. The Polar Bear Specialist Group is composed of researchers and managers representing each of the five circumpolar nations that signed the International Agreement for the Conservation of Polar Bears of 1973.
Since the late 1960s, the members of PBSG have met every 3 to 5 years under the umbrella of the Species Survival Commission of the IUCN (the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) to review and exchange information, and make recommendations for research and management of polar bears throughout the Arctic.
The PBSG renewed the conclusion from previous meetings that the greatest challenge to conservation of polar bears is ecological change in the Arctic resulting from climatic warming. Declines in the extent of the sea ice have accelerated since the last meeting of the group in 2005, with unprecedented sea ice retreats in 2007 and 2008. The PBSG confirmed its earlier conclusion that unabated global warming will ultimately threaten polar bears everywhere.
The PBSG also recognized that threats to polar bears will occur at different rates and times across their range although warming induced habitat degradation and loss are already negatively affecting polar bears in some parts of their range. Subpopulations of polar bears face different combinations of human threats. The PBSG recommends that jurisdictions take into account the variation in threats facing polar bears.
The PBSG noted polar bears suffer health effects from persistent pollutants. At the same time, climate change appears to be altering the pathways by which such pollutants enter ecosystems. The PBSG encourages international efforts to evaluate interactions between climate change and pollutants.
The PBSG endorses efforts to develop non-invasive means of population assessment, and continues to encourage jurisdictions to incorporate capture and radio tracking programs into their national monitoring efforts. The members also recognized that aboriginal people are both uniquely positioned to observe wildlife and changes in the environment, and their knowledge is essential for effective management.
The PBSG recognizes that where habitats are stable, polar bears are a renewable resource, and reaffirmed its support of the right of aboriginal groups to harvest polar bears within sustainable limits. The PBSG noted that the population of polar bears in Baffin Bay, shared between Greenland and Canada, may simultaneously be suffering from significant habitat change and substantial over harvest, while at the same time interpretations by scientists and local hunters disagree regarding population status.
Similarly, the Chukchi Sea polar bear population which is shared by Russia and the United States is likely declining due to illegal harvest in Russia and one of the highest rates of sea ice loss in the Arctic. Consistent with its past efforts to coordinate research and management among jurisdictions, the PBSG recommended that the polar bear populations in Baffin Bay and the Chukchi Sea be reassessed and that harvests be brought into balance with the current sustainable yield.
A variety of management changes have occurred since the PBSG last met in 2005. The PBSG members were particularly pleased that quotas for the harvest of polar bears in Greenland were implemented in January 2006, and that quota reductions have been implemented in some parts of Greenland. Also since the last meeting, the government of Nunavut reduced the harvest quota in Western Hudson Bay because of the documented population decline.
The PBSG reevaluated the status of the 19 recognized subpopulations of polar bears distributed over vast and relatively inaccessible areas of the Arctic. Despite the fact that much new information has been made available since the last meeting, knowledge of some populations is still poor. Reviewing the latest information available the PBSG concluded that 1 of 19 subpopulations is currently increasing, 3 are stable and 8 are declining.
For the remaining 7 subpopulations available data were insufficient to provide an assessment of current trend. The total number of polar bears is still thought to be between 20,000 and 25,000. However, the mixed quality of information on the different subpopulations means there is much room for error in establishing that range. That potential for error, given the ongoing and projected changes in habitats and other potential stressors is cause for concern. Nonetheless, the PBSG is optimistic that humans can mitigate the effects of global warming and other threats to polar bears, and ensure that they remain a part of the Arctic ecosystem in perpetuity.
For more information, contact Dr. Erik Born: ewb@ghsdk.dk
The Greenland Institute of Natural Resources hosted the meeting held at the Greenland Representation in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The new chairman for IUCN, Senior scientist Dr. Erik W. Born, Greenland Institute of Natural Resources and scientist Kaare Winther-Hensen from the Ministry of Fisheries, Hunting and Agriculture.
The old chairman for IUCN, professor Andrew Derocher from University of Alberta, Canada (left) and the new chairman seniorscientist Dr. Erik W. Born from Greenland Institute of Natural Resources.
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Center Joakim Noah to be waived by LA Clippers, likely ending his career, agent says
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The LA Clippers are waiving two-time All-Star center Joakim Noah, signaling a likely end to his 13-year NBA career, his agent, Bill Duffy, told ESPN.
In his prime with the Chicago Bulls, Noah built a reputation as one of the league’s best defenders and most ferocious competitors.
“What an illustrious career for Joakim, starting with two national titles at the University of Florida, to becoming an NBA Defensive Player of the Year and ultimately evolving into one of the most passionate, spirited players to ever come through our sport,” Duffy told ESPN on Tuesday night. “It’s been my honor to represent Joakim through his journey.”
Noah, the son of former French Open tennis champ Yannick Noah, helped lead the Florida Gators to consecutive national championships before he was selected ninth overall by the Chicago Bulls in 2007.
Noah’s finest years were with the Bulls as one of the league’s best and most versatile defenders. A two-time All-Star (2013 and 2014), Noah became a three-time All-Defensive performer and the league’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2013-14. In earning All-NBA first-team honors that season, Noah averaged 12.6 points, 11.3 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.2 steals.
Noah — who averaged 8.8 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks over his career — had stops with the New York Knicks, Memphis Grizzlies and Clippers through his 13 seasons. Injuries cost him a multitude of games on the back end of his career, limiting him to only 129 games since the 2015-16 season. After signing a four-year, $72 million free-agent deal with the Knicks in 2016, Noah played a total of 53 games over two seasons.
Noah, 35, suffered a freak injury in September of 2019 when he dropped a steel ice tub and cut his Achilles tendon. He signed a 10-day contract with the Clippers prior to the pandemic shutdown and played five games during the rest of the season.
ESPN’s NBA reporter Ohm Youngmisuk contributed to this report.
NBA Christmas Day schedule: Ranking every matchup, with Lakers vs. Mavericks headlining the reported slate
5 most handsome NBA players from Miami Heat in 2021 – CONAN Daily
Isaiah Thomas discussing NBA return with multiple teams, per report
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Home » NCUTCD Members
The three categories of NCUTCD membership include:
Members are appointed by Sponsors and serve as voting members of the Council and as voting members of a technical committee. Only members are eligible to hold office.
Associate Members are also appointed by the Sponsors and serve as voting members of a technical committee and can serve as the Member’s alternative on the Council.
Technical Members are nominated by the technical committee chairperson and approved for membership on each technical committee by the Executive Board. They are eligible to vote in Technical Committee proceedings, to serve as secretary of a Technical Committee and to be appointed as chair of a working group or task force.
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Carbon Blues : Cars Catastrophes and the Battle for the Environment
NNELS formats guide
McGill-Queen's University Press, 2020
Note: This book was purchased with support from the Government of Canada's Social Development Partnerships Program - Disability Component.
Author: Mason, Mike
Climate change is the most serious crisis of our time. As history is being written in fire in California and Greece, in the warming waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and in the melting ice of the Arctic and Antarctica, Carbon Bluesdemystifies current debates on climate change, discussing everything from carbon dioxide increases in the atmosphere caused by cars, coal, and oil to global warming and worsening natural disasters.A detailed examination of the history of climate change and its present and future consequences, Carbon Bluestraces the essential economic importance of coal in the nineteenth century and oil in the twentieth, emphasizing the role of the automobile and the internal combustion engine in the dereliction of our planet. Exposing campaigns to mislead the public, Mike Mason reveals that the fatal consequences of CO2 and NO2 have been widely known for decades but successfully discounted and manipulated by the carbon lobby led by Exxon, BP, figures such as the Koch brothers, and democratically elected governments. The book underlines the disturbing truth: that despite current attempts to remediate climate change, the harm already done - melting polar ice and the warming and rising of the seas - will be virtually irreversible.As the fight against climate change comes to a head, Carbon Bluessearches for fruitful ways forward.
Subject(s): POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Environmental Policy
Original Publisher: Montreal, McGill-Queen's University Press
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Toll free:1300-654-369
news@nswtf.org.au
NSWTF
Improved public school provision for Aboriginal students needed to break cycle of disadvantage
Doubling the number of permanent teachers and halving face-to-face teaching time in difficult to staff schools and communities will help close achievement student gaps and improve the prospects of attracting teachers to work in those locations, the Gallop Inquiry has been told.
Speaking on day 1 of the second round of public hearings, Federation Deputy President Henry Rajendra brought sharp focus to the government’s failure to meet the learning, health and social needs of Aboriginal young people. In doing so, Mr Rajendra also drew particular attention to the Department of Education’s Connected Communities strategy, the need for additional permanent teachers as well as the expansion of preschool education for 3 and 4 year olds.
“Unfortunately for many of these [Connected Communities] schools the additional [Gonski] funding… has not necessarily translated into stability, expansion of teaching and learning programs or more permanent teachers”, Mr Rajendra told the expert panel.
“These schools, consistent with Local Schools, Local Decisions, have been left to fend for themselves with a bucket of money. The Government have a real opportunity here to put in place policy reforms that have the potential to break poverty cycles and change people’s lives, but rhetoric needs to be matched with action. Failing to implement reform in this area is putting a generation of disadvantaged students at further risk,” he said.
Launched by the Department in 2013, the Connected Communities program was intended to address the educational and social aspirations of Aboriginal children and all young people but the success of these intentions is something the union has described as varied and in need of improvement.
Attracting, supporting and retaining additional permanent classroom teachers, executives and principals is particularly necessary for Connected Communities schools and is something the union sees as critical if governments are serious about closing the achievement gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students.
“This is a test of the government and Department of Education as to whether they are genuinely committed to meeting the needs of Aboriginal students in these schools and across the state.”
Mr Rajendra concluded, “We are at a time, again, when significant attention is drawn to Aboriginal deaths in custody and the Black Lives Matter movement, nationally and globally.
As a materially-rich country, there are no further excuses for Australian governments to remain indifferent to the plight of this nation’s First Peoples. This country has a poor commitment to the lives of Aboriginal young people, their families, their communities and their history.
We believe that the realisation of our union’s policy objectives aimed at ensuring the highest standard of public education for all students will be our greatest contribution to closing the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples.”
The Gallop Inquiry hearings continue.
Disability: secret report exposes new wave
If you don't try, you never even have a chance
Aboriginal Education, Teaching Inquiry, Gallop Inquiry
Women in Education
Peace and Environment
Corrective Services
The President writes
Ask Federation
The New South Wales Teachers Federation is the registered trade union which covers NSW public school teachers. Read more
Toll free: 1300-654-369
© New South Wales Teachers Federation. All Rights Reserved.
Authorised by John Dixon, General Secretary, NSW Teachers Federation, 23-33 Mary St. Surry Hills NSW 2010
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Card Schemes
Authentication Platform
MPP mPOS
MPP SoftPOS
MPP inBranch
PIN on Mobile Integration
Transforming payments for vulnerable people
By Justin Pike, Founder and Chairman of MYPINPAD
COVID-19 has rapidly accelerated digitisation of the customer experience, particularly with respect to how consumers shop, pay and bank. The shift to digital channels has been an important lifeline for many consumers, providing access to essential products and services during a time when physical contact must be significantly reduced or eliminated.
But the pace of digital evolution this year has brought two significant issues to the fore – an increased risk of fraud, and an urgent need to address the barriers some consumers face in accessing digital and financial services, which has resulted in them being financially excluded. A lack of financial education, physical restrictions, limited access to technology, and security concerns are some of the factors that have prompted the industry to invest more effort and ensure that financial services products are accessible, secure and meet the needs of all consumers, irrespective of age, financial status, disabilities or any other factors.
As COVID-19 continues to change daily life, possibly for some time to come, how do we balance the benefits of digital channels while ensuring financial inclusion and protecting everyone against fraud?
Digital adoption and the risk of fraud
The shift to digital has been happening for years; even before COVID-19 cash transactions represented only 23% of all payments in 2019, according to UK Finance. And digital transformation has fast become a strategic imperative for any business seeking to remain relevant, enabling a technology-driven digital experience across multiple touchpoints, channels and devices, whenever and wherever consumers need it.
Furthermore, regulatory changes have also played a key role in encouraging digital innovation and security, while also incentivising further developments for the benefit of the consumer. For example, changes to strengthen security and authentication standards are a crucial step in ensuring all customers can securely access financial services with great confidence.
As a result and unsurprisingly, the risks of fraud have dramatically increased in light of more digital offerings and cashless transactions, and despite changes in regulation such as extending the contactless limit. In fact, UK Finance released a warning that criminals have been exploiting and adapting to the opportunities COVID-19 has enabled.
An example of this is the closure of TSB branches across the country. Impersonation scams – where fraudsters pose as bank staff – almost doubled in the first half of the year, rising to 15,000 at a £58m cost to victims, and it hasn’t dropped yet. Conducting its own research on the topic, TSB found that over a third (37%) of Brits would respond to at least one fraudulent message claiming to be from their bank, which indicates just how convincing these scams can be.
Against this backdrop, we acknowledge the importance of working collaboratively as an industry to collectively and continuously ensure consumers are educated and aware of the latest online fraud and security threats, and how to prevent them.
Wider digitisation impacts the elderly and visually impaired
While digital evolution brings a degree of risk for all consumers, there are groups of people who are more at risk in a digital environment than others. As pioneers for technological innovation that impacts consumers, we must be mindful of the risks posed to those who are most vulnerable.
The highest risk group is elderly people, who are not only high risk when it comes to coronavirus, but also tend to be most negatively impacted by the shift to digital. This is for a multitude of reasons, not the least that many simply aren’t as tech savvy as younger digital native generations. They also tend to be less trusting of financial technology due to a lack of familiarity with digital processes, information overload or underlying health issues, which makes them less eager to adopt.
If we look at the UK as a case study, prior to the pandemic roughly four million over-65s did not use the Internet at all, according to Age UK. And, while Mintel has found that 43% of those in this age group have now shopped online, there are likely some who still struggle to adjust to making payments and managing finances digitally.
Physical restrictions such as visual impairments can also impact adoption and can be a prominent route to financial exclusion – using small screens can be challenging and dexterity issues can hinder the ability to use mobile phones and pin pads. Blindness and visual impairment affects at least 2.2 billion people around the world, so it is essential that the digital solutions being developed are inclusive for people of all abilities.
In 2018, a blind woman made headlines when she lodged a lawsuit against Commonwealth Bank of Australia over its “inaccessible” touchscreen-only Albert POS terminal, which she said was so difficult to use she often needed to share her PIN with shop staff. This is a particular area of focus for MYPINPAD.
The payments industry’s role in supporting vulnerable people
As an industry we have a responsibility to tackle the challenges facing all consumers, and especially those more vulnerable groups, And while the threat of online fraud is present for everyone, as we continue to develop more financial offerings and services that better serve the individual, we must ensure that everyone can access and benefit from these.
MYPINPAD’s founding purpose was to build the most trusted, secure authentication platform, free of legacy constraints, for everyone. We imagined a world where customer experiences such as payments and identification, which must be secure and are inherently full of friction points, could be innovated and transformed to create a better experience for consumers. And this means equal access for all people, regardless of age, stage, race and ability.
Now, more than ever, our purpose is right at the heart of everything we do, especially as smart devices with stronger security standards continue to play an increasingly vital role in supporting our society. As we develop solutions that not only unlock opportunities to innovate and improve customer experiences such as payments, but also secure, cost effective and scalable, ensuring they are inclusive for everyone is at the forefront of our thinking.
Payments regulators have identified stronger authentication standards for ‘PIN on Mobile’ as developed by MYPINPAD, which enables smart devices to become financially inclusive payment and authentication tools. From contactless payments and new regulations, to improved authentication measures and seamless user experiences, global financial inclusion payment innovations hold the key to improving the way we transact online now and in the future.
Look out for the next blog in the series, where we will discuss how we can help small and medium enterprises bridge the digital gap.
December 16, 2020 /by Anna Seccombe
https://mypinpad.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/mypinpad-protecting-the-vulnerable.jpg 1062 1600 Anna Seccombe https://mypinpad.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/mypinpad-logo.png Anna Seccombe2020-12-16 20:35:332020-12-17 09:16:21Transforming payments for vulnerable people
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MYPINPAD TAKES NEXT STEP TOWARDS SAFER OMNICHANNEL PAYMENTS WITH VISA READY...
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MWF Seeking BFF Review | No Commitment Blogger Book Club #4
Oops, I’m a date late sharing this book club review. Here’s my review of April’s book, MWF Seeking BFF by Rachel Bertsche.
What was the book about?
This is a non-fiction book about Rachel Bertsche’s search for a new best friend after she moves to Chicago with her newlywed husband. She goes on 52 first friend dates and this book accounts her journey to find a new BFF.
Did you enjoy the book? Why? Why not?
I liked the concept of the book, but not really the execution. The question of How do you find a best friend? is a very relevant and important one, especially to many young professions seeking post-college friendships, but I didn’t connect with the writer and didn’t like her approach.
It all seemed way too forced. She took this search for the new BFF so seriously, it made her seem desperate, like none of her conversations with these women were authentic, she always had an ulterior motive. At times it read like a research thesis on friendships, with boring statistics on the dispositions of people who have more friends than others. She even consulted with a professor on the topic and got his opinion on what she was doing wrong on her friend dates. Too much!
For someone who lived in the same town as her husband, her mom, close cousins, and four close work friends that have lunch almost every day, it seemed like she was doing fine socially. She also mentioned she had multiple best friends in different cities and was busy maintaining those relationships. Maybe I’m just skeptical of people who write non-fiction books these days, but it felt like she had a book deal and needed to go on this journey just to fill up the pages (I felt this way with Happier at Home and Eat Pray Love too, but maybe I’m just a cynical non-fiction reader?).
I also was a little annoyed at how she treated her husband. Between the two book clubs, weekly yoga classes, 52 friend dates on top of working a full-time job, she didn’t seem to value quality time with him at all. She shared a few of their arguments in the book, and I have to admit I was on his side most of the time. I certainly don’t think a husband can substitute for a gal-pal, but I also think cultivating that relationship–especially in the first year of marriage–is a really big deal.
But I still liked the concept of the book, and I share her sentiment about finding an in-town hang-out-at-the-drop-of-the-hat best friend. Y’all, making friends isn’t what it used to be when you bond over snacks in your lunch box in the first grade. Good friends are hard to find, and making a best friend out of school can be a real challenge.
I thought a lot about my friendships while I read this book. Friendships are so important, and different seasons of my life I have had more or less “support system” near where I live. I first moved to DC after graduation and didn’t know anyone but one of my college guy friends. My best friend Allison joined me after two months, but for those first few months it was very lonely and took time to develop friendships with co-workers and neighbors. I also had a similar feeling when I first moved to Raleigh. I moved in with one of my oldest, closest friends from high school and I knew J and his family, but it still took time to get adjusted here and develop my group of friends and who I could call to hang out with on the drop of the hat. Joining a small group and getting involved with our church has been a huge way to make new friends, and I feel like my life here is very settled now and I have a good group of friends both at work and elsewhere. It’s also hard balancing old friendships. I have a handful of friends that I keep up with on a regular basis — girls that I call or text or chat with at least once a week. And then there are old friends that I don’t see or talk to on a regular basis, but when we do finally catch up, we pick up right where we left off. Those are real gems.
This book may not have been my style or the approach I would have taken, but I did like how strongly Rachel valued friendships and truly understood how rare and precious good friendships are. The “best friends” title for me isn’t something you can casually place on friends or seek to fill, I think that has to happen organically and over lots of time. Nevertheless, this book did make me appreciate my friendships and more open about meeting new people.
What’s your favorite quote from the book?
“Popular culture has made it okay to yell “I want a man!” from the rooftops, so why are we still embarrassed to say, “I want a best friend”?”
“Some of the friendships I’ve found as an adult are far more rewarding than those forged out of the convenience of adolescence.”
“According to psychologists Debra Oswald and Eddie Clark’s research, there are four necessary behaviors to make a friendship stick. Self-disclosure, supportiveness, interaction, and positivity.”
“‘It takes a lot of work,’ I say. ‘You’ve got to say yes to all the invitations that come your way. The more you say yes, the more invites you’ll get. You have to follow-up with all those meetings where you say ‘We should totally get together!’ instead of just saying it to sound nice. And signing up for things helps. Oh, and asking for setups. You know, basically all the things you do when you’re dating.’”
Would I recommend this book?
I guess I would recommend this to a girl who just graduated college, has a boyfriend or husband, and is seeking a best friend in a new city.
Have you read the book? What did you like, or didn’t like about it?
If you wrote a blog post about it, please link here:
May’s Book: This month we are reading the Bittersweet by Shauna Niequist. I’ll be reviewing this Monday June 3rd!
January: Bossypants
February: What Alice Forgot
March: Happier at Home
Mrs PoP @ PlantingOurPennies says:
I read it last month, too and while I think the journey felt a little forced, she was straight up with that from chapter 1. The author seemed like a goal oriented girl and she was going to friend date for a whole year.
I think there are a lot of women (myself and my BFF) in the author’s boat that move to a new town and don’t know many people after college and its hard to make friends. For a lot of us, this means getting comfortable trying new things, not staring at our cell phones in elevators, and occasionally taking out our headphones at the gym.
Dorothy Clement says:
I loved reading your book review, don’t think it will be in my pile of summer reads.
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Ask A Question Articles What can an Online Therapist Do?
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Is it possible to gain joy and prosperity in my relationship after years of unhappiness?
My boyfriend and I have been together for five years now. Throughout the entire first day that we met, he and I had the opportunity to interact quite a lot and instantly sparked a deep connection with one another. That same night, he and a friend stayed over at my house (without my mom's acknowledgment) and we kissed. The next two days were a repetition of the first day. On the third night, my mother finally caught us, and I was kicked out of my house. I left with him of course, and we went from meeting each other to being like a married couple. It was very hard for us. His stepdad also kicked him out of his home, and we were staying at cheap hotels and friend's houses with the little money we had. I quit my job and dropped out of school because it was hard to do anything without a stable home. There were times when we had nowhere else to go but sleep in the car outside a Walmart parking lot. Our honeymoon stage, as they call it, probably only lasted one month. After that, it was a downward spiral. We were constantly arguing about money, food, and our families. We kept having the famous "you're doing it wrong—do it this way" argument. After six months, we moved across the country only to live the same thing, and that's when the violence started. One afternoon, after a serious argument, he got into his truck and threatened to leave me. I was frightened that he would actually go through with his word, given that we had just moved to a place where we knew no one. He told me to let him leave or he would hit me. He had once promised he would never touch me, so I challenged him to do it. He slapped me, and ever since that time, when we have serious fights, he loses control and hurts me. I haven't had the courage to leave him, and there's really nothing stopping me now. I don't live with him, I don't depend on him, and we don't have children. We both haven't been able to let go of that deep connection that we still have and that has been damaged so badly. He always apologizes, and at the beginning, he was more willing to change. Now he just wants me to understand why he does it and how I don't ever make the effort to try to be okay. I've read enough about domestic violence to know that it's not my fault that he loses control, so that's not even an issue for me. I know he has to change that on his own. I just want to know if there's people who have gone through this and had the tables turned? Is there hope for a better future together?
Do not use this site if you're feeling suicidal! If you are from the U.S, please call 1-800-273-8255, a free, 24-hour hotline. If you are outside the U.S. visit IASP to find a helpline in your country.
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HOME > NEWSROOM > ARTICLES > NRB Member Spotlight: Lamb & Lion Ministries
Lamb & Lion Ministries was founded in 1980 by Dr. David Reagan following a 20-year career in higher education as a professor of International Law and Politics. The ministry focuses on teaching the fundamentals of Bible prophecy and proclaiming the soon-return of Jesus. The name of the ministry is related to its purpose. It reflects the two great prophetic images of the Messiah that can be found in the Scriptures – that the Messiah would come the first time as a suffering lamb and would return as a conquering lion.
The ministry has several means of outreach. It produces a weekly television program called Christ in Prophecy, which is broadcast over five national Christian networks with access to 70 million homes in America. The program is also broadcast via 13 satellites to every nation in the world.
Another major means of outreach is through the ministry’s interactive website at www.lamblion.com. Hundreds of articles about Bible prophecy are posted on the site, and the ministry’s TV programs can be viewed at the site. The site is maintained by a full-time Web Minister who is available eight hours a day to answer questions. Other means of outreach include book publishing, video production, and a bi-monthly magazine called The Lamplighter.
The ministry is heavily involved in supporting both foreign and domestic missions.
The ministry is non-denominational and is controlled by a board of 22 trustees.
PHOTO ABOVE: Dr. David R. Reagan, Senior Evangelist, Lamb & Lion Ministries
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More than an Apple a Day: Preventing the Most Common Diseases
Michael Greger M.D. FACLM July 15th, 2013 Volume 14
4.52 (90.45%) 176 votes
Dr. Greger has scoured the world’s scholarly literature on clinical nutrition, and developed this brand-new live presentation on the latest in cutting-edge research on how a healthy diet can affect some of our most common medical conditions.
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Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
In my annual presentation last year, I ran through the 15 leading causes of death—exploring the latest science on the role diet may play in preventing, arresting, and even reversing the progression of some of our top 15 killers. (Or, if you recall, actually the top 16 killers). Since side effects from prescription drugs kill an estimated 106,000 Americans a year, the sixth leading cause of death, may actually be doctors.
And, that’s just from adverse drug reactions. Add in medical mistakes, which the Institute of Medicine estimates kills at least 44,000 Americans every year, and that brings doctors up to here. Throw in some hospital-acquired infections, and we’re talking maybe 187,000 Americans dead every year, and millions injured by medical care. Even preventive medicine kills… in its own way.
The best way to avoid the adverse effects of medical and surgical tests and treatments is not to avoid doctors, but to avoid getting sick in the first place. So, this year, I thought I’d run through the top dozen reasons people visit their doctors, to highlight some of the latest research in hopes of moving me lower down the list of common killers.
The #1 primary disease diagnosis at office visits is a respiratory disease, like the common cold. Most Americans report between two and three colds annually. This year, I featured evidence suggesting that simple water gargling is effective to prevent upper respiratory tract infections. This virtually cost-free modality would appreciably benefit people.
But that’s the problem: it’s “cost-free.” Nobody makes any money off it. That’s why you’ve probably never heard of this research. Whenever there’s a new drug or surgical procedure, you can be assured people will know about it, because there’s a profit motive—a corporate budget driving the promotion. That’s why you’ll never see an ad on TV for broccoli.
Nor for simple water, even though water may actually improve cognitive performance in school children, for example, because most kids end up at school in a state of mild dehydration. If you randomize kids to get a cup of water, you can improve their ability to think in school. Not with Ritalin or some new drug, but just plain water. Think how much drug companies could make if they could just sell sugar pills, but tell kids to take the fake pill with a cup of water. It’s like using exercise to treat ADHD. Effective, but we won’t hear about it because you can’t put it into a pill bottle for your stockholders.
Same with exercise—can also improve immunity, and decreases illness rates from respiratory infections. We’re talking a 25 to 50% reduction in sick days. Name one drug or supplement that can do that.
And, it doesn’t take much. Let kids run around for just six minutes, and you can boost the number of immune cells in their bloodstream by more than a third. In just six minutes!
At the other end of the life cycle, exercise may help prevent age-related immune decline. Sedentary women in their 70s have about a 50% chance of getting an upper respiratory illness every fall season. But, walk a half-hour a day, you may cut your risk down to 20%. And, the runners in the group got it under 10. Looks like exercise can make our immune system like five times more effective.
Now while regular physical activity improves immune function and lowers respiratory infection risk, sustained and intense exertion can have the opposite effect, forming a so-called J-shaped curve relationship. As you go from inactive to active your infection risk declines, but hardcore athletes that overtrain may increase their risk of infection.
How do you prevent that? Marathon runners consuming the equivalent of a teaspoon of nutritional yeast a day may not only cut respiratory infection risk in half but result in decreased confusion, fatigue, tension, anger – and my favorite – increased vigor… thanks to nutritional yeast. Yeast are one-celled fungi. What about multicellular fungi, mushrooms? If you split people into two groups, half eat their normal diet, and half eat their normal diet with cooked white button mushrooms every day for a week, no change in the control group. But after a week of mushrooms, antibody secretion jumps 50% and even stayed up there for a week after they stopped. Lots more detail in the video.
I just wanted to touch some of these areas. Mushrooms technically aren’t in the plant kingdom, so in theory the healthiest diet may not just be a plant-based diet, but a plant and fungus-based diet, though that sounds even less appetizing, I’m afraid.
Who wouldn’t want a boosted immune system? Well, millions of people suffer from autoimmune diseases, whose immune systems may already be a bit too active. So, might a healthy lifestyle make things worse, by boosting immune function further? No. Those who eat healthy appear protected from autoimmune diseases—given the extraordinary rarity of most autoimmune diseases among those following a traditional plant-based diet, for example. Before they Westernized their diet, not a single case of multiple sclerosis was diagnosed among 15 million people.
What about treating autoimmune diseases with a plant-based diet? Well, even a semi-vegetarian diet was found to successfully treat Crohn’s disease—better than any other intervention. The “best result in relapse prevention.” And, Crohn’s is an autoimmune disease. So, what about treating MS with diet?
The most frequently prescribed drug for multiple sclerosis is beta interferon, which can make you feel lousy, and cost $30,000 a year. But hey, it might be worthwhile if it actually worked. We learned last year that it does not seem to prevent or delay long-term disability.
That leaves chemo drugs like mitoxantrone, that causes irreversible heart damage in one out of every eight people who go on the drug, and treatment-related acute leukemia. It causes leukemia in nearly 1% of people who take it. But hey, MS is no walk in the park. If only there was a cheap, simple, safe, side effect-free solution that also just so happened to be the most effective treatment for MS ever described.
Dr. Roy Swank, who we lost at age 99, was a distinguished neurologist whose research culminated in over 170 scientific papers. But, I’ll just cut to the chase. He found that “in all probability, MS is caused largely by consumption of saturated animal fat.” He thought it was the sludging of the blood caused by even a single meal high in saturated fat that may clog tiny capillaries that feed our nerves. But, now we know animal fats can have all sorts of other adverse effects, such as inflammation—so, who knows what the actual mechanism may be.
Regardless, the results Dr. Swank published remain “the most effective treatment of multiple sclerosis ever reported in the peer review [medical] literature. In patients with early stage MS, 95% were without progression of their disease 34 years later after adopting his low saturated fat dietary program.” To date, no medication or invasive procedure has ever even come close to demonstrating such success. Doesn’t cost $30,000; doesn’t give you leukemia, and works—better!
Neurological problems are second on the list, but tend to be more common conditions, like headaches. Feel free to check out my videos on treating migraine headaches with lavender oil rubbed on the upper lip. And, hot sauce in the nose for cluster headaches? Believe me, it’s better than having cluster headaches.
I’ve talked about both preventing and treating Parkinson’s with a plant-based diet, since it’s a leading killer. But, the most common movement disorder isn’t Parkinson’s; it’s what’s called “essential tremor”—affecting 1 in 25 adults over 40, and up to 1 in 5 of those in their 90s, making it one of the most common neurological diseases. In addition to the potentially debilitating hand tremor, there can be other neuropsychiatric manifestations of the disease, including difficulty walking, and various levels of cognitive impairment.
What causes it? Well, there’s a group of neurotoxins that produce tremor, called beta carboline alkaloids. Harmane is one of the most potent of these tremor-producing neurotoxins. You expose people to these chemicals, and they develop a tremor. You take it away; the tremor disappears. What if we’re exposed long-term? Well, this recent study found those with essential tremor have much higher levels of this toxin in their bloodstream compared to those without tremor.
How did they get exposed to it? Primarily through meat: beef, chicken, and pork—and fish, actually. So, if this potent, tremor-producing neurotoxin is concentrated in cooked muscle foods, is meat consumption associated with a higher risk of essential tremor? Men who ate the most meat in this study had 21 times the odds of essential tremor. Just to put that in context, you go back to the original studies on smoking and lung cancer, smoking was only linked to, at most, 14 times the odds—not 21. That’s like a 2,000% increase in odds for this disabling brain disease.
Next on the list is circulatory diseases, the #1 killer of men and women. Among populations eating plant-based diets, MS was almost non-existent. What about heart disease?
Last year, the International Journal of Epidemiology reprinted this landmark article from the 50s that started out with a shocking statement: “In the African population of Uganda, coronary heart disease is almost non-existent.” Our #1 cause of death, almost nonexistent? What were they eating? Plantains and sweet potatoes, other vegetables, corn, millet, pumpkins, tomatoes, and, “green leafy vegetables are taken by all.” And, their protein almost entirely from plant sources. And, they had the cholesterol levels to prove it—similar to modern day plant-eaters.
Maybe the Africans were just dying early of other diseases, and so, never lived long enough to have a heart attack? No, here’s age-matched heart attack rates in Uganda versus St. Louis. Out of 632 autopsies in Uganda, one myocardial infarction. Out of 632 Missourians—same age and gender distribution—136 myocardial infarctions. More than a hundred times the rate of our #1 killer. In fact, they were so blown away, they did another 800 autopsies in Uganda, and still, just that one small healed infarct (meaning it wasn’t even the cause of death) out of 1,427 patients. Less than one in a thousand. Whereas in the U.S., it’s an epidemic.
This is a list of diseases commonly found here (and in populations that eat and live like the U.S.), but were rare, or even nonexistent, in populations eating diets centered around whole plant foods. These are among our most common diseases, like obesity. Hiatal hernia—one of the most common stomach problems; hemorrhoids and varicose veins—the most common venous disorders; colorectal cancer—the #2 cause of cancer death; diverticulosis—the #1 disease of the intestine; appendicitis—the #1 cause for emergency abdominal surgery; gallbladder disease—the #1 cause for nonemergency abdominal surgery; and ischemic heart disease—the commonest cause of death here, but a rarity in plant-based populations.
Heart disease is a choice. It’s like cavities. If you look at the teeth of people who lived over 10,000 years before the invention of the toothbrush, they pretty much had no cavities. Didn’t brush a day in their lives, never flossed. No Listerine, no Waterpik, yet no cavities. That’s because candy bars hadn’t been invented yet. Why do people continue to get cavities when we know they’re preventable though diet? Simple. Because the pleasure people derive from dessert may outweigh the cost and discomfort of the dentist. And, that’s fine!
Look, as long as people understand the consequences of their actions, as a physician, what more can I do? If you’re an adult, and decide the benefits outweigh the risks for you and your family, then go for it. I certainly enjoy the occasional indulgence (I’ve got a good dental plan). But, what if, instead of the plaque on your teeth, we’re talking about the plaque building up in your arteries? Another disease that can be prevented, by changing your diet.
Then, what are the consequences for you and your family? Now, we’re not just talking about scraping tartar. Now we’re talking life, and death. The most likely reason most of our loved ones will die is heart disease. It’s still up to each of us to make our own decisions as to what to eat and how to live. But, we should make our choices consciously, educating ourselves about the predictable consequences of our actions.
Atherosclerosis, hardening of the arteries, begins in childhood. By age ten, the arteries of nearly all kids have fatty streaks—the first stage of the disease. Then, the plaques start forming in our 20s, get worse in our 30s, and then can start killing us off. In our hearts, it’s a heart attack. In our brains, it’s a stroke. In our extremities, it can mean gangrene. And, in our aorta, an aneurism. If there is anyone in this audience that is older than ten years of age, then the choice isn’t whether or not to eat healthy to prevent heart disease—it’s whether or not you want to reverse the heart disease you already have.
As Drs. Ornish and Esselstyn proved, you can reverse heart disease with a plant-based diet. But, we don’t have to wait for our first heart attack to unclog our arteries. We can start reversing our heart disease right now. We can start reversing heart disease in our kids—tonight.
How do we do it? According to the Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Cardiology this year, the only risk factor required for these atherosclerotic plaques—our #1 killer—is cholesterol. Elevated LDL or “bad” cholesterol in our blood. To drop our LDL cholesterol, we need to drop our intake of three things: trans fat, saturated fat, and dietary cholesterol.
Trans fats increase our risk of heart disease, sudden death, and diabetes, and are basically found only one place in nature: animal fat. The food industry, however, found a way to synthetically create these toxic fats by hardening vegetable oil in a process called hydrogenation, which rearranges their atoms to make them behave more like animal fats. Currently, nearly half of America’s trans fat intake comes from animal products.
According to the USDA, cheese, milk, yogurt, burgers, chicken fat, turkey meat, bologna, and hot dogs contain up to about 1 to 5% trans fats naturally. They also found small amounts of trans fats in non-hydrogenated vegetable oils, due to the refining process.
Is getting a few percent trans fats a problem, though? The most prestigious scientific body in the United States, the National Academies of Science, concluded that the only safe intake of trans fat is zero, because any incremental increase in trans fatty acid intake increases coronary heart disease risk. Trans fat intake, irrespective of source—hydrogenated junk food or animal fat—may increase cardiovascular disease risk.
Because trans fats are unavoidable in ordinary non-vegan diets, getting down to zero percent trans fats would require significant changes in patterns of dietary intake for most Americans. One of the authors of the report, the Director of Harvard’s Cardiovascular Epidemiology Program, famously explained why, despite this, they didn’t recommend a plant-based diet: “We can’t tell people to stop eating all meat and all dairy products,” he said. “Well, we could tell people to become vegetarians,” he added. “If we were truly basing this only on science, we would, but it is a bit extreme.”
Wouldn’t want scientists basing anything on science, now. Would we? No.
Avoiding saturated fat means basically avoiding dairy, chicken, cake, and pork. And avoiding cholesterol means avoiding animal products in general—especially eggs. The American Egg Board, a promotional marketing board appointed by the U.S. government, whose mission works “to increase demand for egg and egg products, on behalf of U.S. egg producers.” Because the board is overseen by the federal government, if an egg corporation wants to dip into the $10 million the Egg Board sets aside every year for advertising, they’re not allowed to break the law with those funds—what a concept. This leads to quite revealing exchanges between egg corporations and the USDA, on what the egg industry can and cannot say about eggs.
Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, I was able to get my hands on some of those emails. Do ya wanna see ’em? Of course, a lot of what I got looked like this… (entire page filled with censored [redacted] text) “Please note a number of items” about our salmonella crisis module—”any questions?” Or, even better, entire sheets of paper that literally just said this. That was the whole sheet of paper. Our tax dollars, hard at work.
But, check this out. This is some egg company trying to put out a brochure on healthy snacking for kids. But, because of existing laws against false and misleading advertising, the head of the USDA’s poultry Research and Promotion Programs reminds them that you can’t couch eggs or egg products as being healthy or nutritious. See, the words nutritious and healthy carry certain connotations (you know that a food is actually good for you), but, because eggs have the amount of cholesterol they do (plus all the saturated fat), the words healthy and nutritious are problematic when it comes to eggs. This is the USDA saying this!
Since you can’t say eggs are a healthy start to the day, the USDA suggests eggs are a “satisfying” start. Can’t call eggs a healthy ingredient, but you can call eggs a “recognizable” ingredient. Can’t truthfully say eggs are good for you. By law, the egg industry needs to steer clear of words like “healthy” or “nutritious.” For a food to be labeled “healthy” under FDA rules, it has to be low in saturated fat—eggs fail that test—and, less than 90mg of cholesterol per serving. Even half an egg fails that.
Not only is the industry barred from saying eggs are healthy, they can’t even refer to eggs as safe: “all references to safety must be removed.” Remember, this is the USDA talking. Why? Because more than 100,000 Americans are salmonella-poisoned, by eggs—every year.
Instead of “safe,” you can call eggs “fresh,” the USDA marketing service suggests. But, you can’t call eggs safe. You cannot say eggs are safe to eat. Can’t say they’re safe; can’t even mention safety. Can’t say they’re healthful. All “references to healthfulness must be deleted,” as well.
Wait a second. Not only can eggs not be called healthy, they can’t even be called safe? Says who? Says the United States Department of Agriculture. I love the Freedom of Information Act.
Musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders are next. I always assumed cholesterol drugs were the top class of drugs prescribed. But, it’s actually painkillers, for conditions like fibromyalgia, a syndrome suffered by millions, that can be dramatically improved with a variety of plant-based diets—in fact, producing some of the “most impressive results” to date.
I already covered both diabetes, and, depression, as two of our leading causes of death, last year.
Pap smears—for early detection of cervical cancer—are a common reason for a doctor’s visit. Cervical cancer is now considered a sexually transmitted disease, caused by a sexually transmitted virus, HPV.
Most young women these days contract HPV, but most don’t get cervical cancer, because their immune systems are able to clear the virus away. 70% of women clear the infection within one year, and more than 90% within two years—before the virus can cause cancer, unless you’re immunocompromised or something.
Well, if that’s the case, maybe those with particularly strong immune systems might clear the virus even faster. That’s what may be behind this new study, that found women eating vegetarian also appeared to have significantly lower infection rates with HPV—one of many studies reporting lower risk of HPV infection among those eating plant-based diets.
So, for example, if you take a bunch of women with cancer-causing strains of HPV infecting their cervix, and retest at three months, then nine months—while analyzing their diets, what do you find? Higher levels of vegetable consumption may cut the risk of HPV persistence in half, doubling one’s likelihood of clearing this cancer-causing infection. And, “higher” levels meant just like two or more servings a day.
This may help explain these important new findings this year. Vegan woman have significantly lower rates of all female cancers combined, including cancer of the cervix. So, even though it’s a virus that’s causing the cancer, a healthy diet may still reduce the risk.
In the same way, fermented pickles, kimchi, and sauerkraut foster the growth of good bacteria by maintaining an acidic environment, so does the human vagina. The normal pH of one’s vagina is that of tomato juice.
Once it starts creeping up to that of coffee, though, an overgrowth of bad bacteria can take hold, and cause bacterial vaginosis, which affects an astounding 29% of American women—making it the most frequent cause of vaginal complaints. It’s commonly diagnosed with the so-called whiff test, where the doctor takes a whiff of the vaginal discharge, smelling for the characteristic fishy odor.
Why’s it so common? Well, it’s thought that “High fat intake, particularly saturated fat [remember—dairy, chicken, cake, and pork], may increase vaginal pH, thereby increasing the risk of bacterial vaginosis.” So, now that we know, “The next steps ahead include sharing these findings with OB/GYNS, and general practitioners, as well as increasing the awareness of the general community to the importance of optimal nutrition, to prevent infections of the genital tract, reduce associated disease, and maintain reproductive health.”
What might saturated fat do to the reproductive health of men? A recent Harvard study found that increasing saturated fat intake just 5% was associated with a 38% lower sperm count. But why? I’ve talked about the role of xenoestrogens—endocrine-disrupting industrial pollutants that build up in animal fat. But, male fertility is not just about sperm count (the number of sperm), but also how well the sperm cells work. More about that in my video on Male Fertility and Diet.
When it comes to male reproductive health, though, here is what doctors hear about the most. Erectile dysfunction is present in up to 30 million men in the U.S., and approximately 100 million men worldwide. Wait a second. The U.S. only has around 5% of the world’s population, yet up to 30% of the impotence? We’re #1!
Who cares, though? We’ve got red white and blue pills, like Viagra. The problem is, pills just cover up the symptoms of vascular disease, and don’t do anything for the underlying pathology. Erectile dysfunction and coronary artery disease can be thought of as two manifestations of the same disease—inflamed, clogged, and crippled arteries.
In fact, 40% of men over 40 have erectile dysfunction—40 over 40. Placing them at nearly 50 times the risk of having a cardiac event—like sudden death. Nearly a 5,000% increase in risk, leading the latest review to ask, “Is there any risk greater?”
And, we used to think of erectile dysfunction in younger men, in their 20s and 30s, as “psychogenic in origin”—meaning it’s all in their heads. But, now were realizing it’s more likely the early signs of vascular disease. A man with erectile dysfunction (even if they have no cardiac symptoms) should be considered a cardiac patient, until proved otherwise.
The reason even young men should care about their cholesterol level is that hardening of the arteries can lead to softening of the penis later in life. Your cholesterol level now can predict your sexual functioning later.
Just going to keep eating crap because you can pop some pills? All the Viagra in the world may not help your sex life after a stroke. The take-home message is a simple equation: ED stands for early death. It’s survival of the firmest.
The enzyme that Viagra-like drugs muck with is found primarily in two places in the body: the erectile tissue of the penis, and the retinas of the eyes. That’s why the FDA encourages people to stop taking drugs like Viagra, and call a doctor right away if you experience sudden loss of vision, (if, of course, you can still find your phone).
Which brings up the next group of primary diagnoses—injury and poisoning—which includes adverse drug side effects.
Next comes skin complaints. Any hope for those with cellulite? Check out the video, but basically, researchers compared a meat-free, egg-free diet of mostly vegetables, grains, beans, fruits, and nuts to the conventional diabetic diet. The veg group lost more weight, even though they were made to eat the exact same number of calories—yet still lost more weight. Lost more waist; got slimmer; lost more cholesterol; more subcutaneous fat, and more belly fat. And the subcutaneous fat is what makes up cellulite.
And those with sensitive skin should give flax seeds a try.
Next up is digestive issues. Though, there is an International Prune Association, keeping us all apprised of the latest prune news from around the world. In the U.S., the California prune board successfully pressured the FDA to change the name from prunes to dried plums, which evidently evokes more of a positive, fresh fruit goodness image, in hopes of attracting their target audience—women. (Of course, it might help if they actually included one or two on their board.)
The name change was in hopes of “de-emphasizing” its connections to digestive regularity issues. Why sell yourself short, though!? Randomized clinical trial: prunes vs. Metamucil. Nearly 60 million Americans suffer from chronic constipation. Here’s the study subjects at baseline. Each dot is a complete spontaneous bowel movement. Note how many people had zero bowel movements— per week—at baseline, but how many had an average of 1.7 a week, which went up to 3.5 on prunes—a bowel movement every other day, at least. Better than Metamucil. They conclude that dried plums should be considered as a first-line therapy for chronic constipation.
But, if that’s what adding one plant can do, what if all you ate was plants? Off the charts. Vegans, it turns out, are just regular people.
Elsewhere on my website, I also cover other common digestive conditions, such as irritable bowel and chronic indigestion.
But, what about cancer?
A half-million Americans are expected to die this year from cancer—equal to five jumbo jets crashing every day. The number of Americans who die from cancer each year is more than all those who have died in all U.S. wars combined. And, this happens every single year.
A tumor cannot grow, though, without a blood supply. Currently, it is believed that a tumor can’t get much bigger than the ball at the tip of a pen without a blood supply, which indicates that angiogenesis (angio means vessel; so genesis is the creation of new blood vessels) is critical to tumor growth.
Each one of us has cancer cells in our bodies right now. But, they can’t grow without getting hooked up to a blood supply. So, tumors diabolically release angiogenic factors—chemicals that cause new blood vessels to sprout into the tumor. The most important one is called VEGF—vascular endothelial growth factor. But, we can suppress VEGF with veggies.
Many of the phytonutrients we know and love in tea, and spices, and fruit, and berries, and broccoli, and beans, can block cancer’s stimulation of new blood vessels. Given the power of plants, one might speculate that the foundation of an anti-angiogenic approach to cancer might be a whole food vegan diet.
How else can we starve cancer? Forty years ago, a landmark paper was published showing that many human cancers have what’s called absolute methionine dependency—meaning “normal cells thrive without the amino acid methionine, but cancer cells need it (and must get it), or they die.”
What does cancer do with the methionine? Tumors use methionine to generate gaseous sulphur-containing compounds that specially trained diagnostic dogs actually can detect. There are mole-sniffing dogs that can pick out skin cancer. There are breath-sniffing dogs that can pick out people with lung cancer. Pee-sniffing dogs that can diagnose bladder cancer. And, yes, you guessed it—fart-sniffing dogs for colorectal cancer. Doctors can now bring their Lab to the lab. A whole new meaning to the term PET scan.
Chemo companies are fighting to be the first to come out with a methionine-depleting drug. But, since methionine is sourced mainly from food, a better strategy may be to lower methionine levels by lowering methionine intake—eliminating high-methionine foods for both cancer growth control as well as lifespan extension.
So, where is methionine found? Particularly in chicken, and fish, milk, red meat, and eggs (which have less). But, if you really want to stick with lower methionine foods, stick with plants—fruits, nuts, veggies, grains, and beans. In other words, “In humans, methionine restriction may be achieved using a predominately vegan diet,” making methionine restriction “feasible, as a life extension strategy.”
So, do people who choose beans live longer? Legumes– beans, split peas, chickpeas, and lentils— may be the single most important dietary predictor of survival in older people from around the globe, whereas a bean-free diet may increase the risk of death.
It is now eight years since the famous Ornish study was published, suggesting that 12 months on a strictly plant-based diet could reverse the progression of prostate cancer.
Wait a second. How were they able to get a group of older men to go vegan for a year? They home-delivered prepared meals to their door, figuring men are so lazy, they’ll just eat whatever’s put in front of them.
But, what about out in the real world? Realizing that you can’t get most men with cancer to eat even a measly five servings of fruits and veggies, researchers settled on just trying to change their A-to-V ratio—the ratio of animal to vegetable proteins. And, indeed, were successful in cutting this ratio in half at least—from about two to one animal to plant, to kinda half-vegan, one to one.
How’d they do? A part-time plant-based diet appeared to slow down cancer progression. What Ornish got, though, was an apparent reversal in cancer growth. The cancer biomarker PSA didn’t just rise slower; thanks to eating healthier, it trended down—which could be an indication of tumor shrinkage. So, the ideal animal-to-plant ratio may be closer to zero.
But if there’s just no way grandpa’s going vegan, and we just have half-measures, what might be the worst A, and the best V? Eggs and poultry may be the worst, respectively doubling, and potentially quadrupling, the risk of cancer progression. Harvard researchers found eating less than a single egg a day doubles the risk—and, eating less than a single serving of chicken or turkey quadruples the risk.
And, if you could only add one thing to your diet? Cruciferous vegetables. Less than a single serving a day of either broccoli or Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, or kale may cut the risk of cancer progression more than half. A similar result was found for breast cancer survivors—less than a single serving a day may cut the risk in half of the cancer coming back.
This Women’s Healthy Eating and Living Study was undertaken in 3,000 breast cancer survivors to determine whether a plant-based, low-fat, high-fiber diet could influence breast cancer recurrence rates and survival.
Imagine you have been diagnosed with breast cancer. In fact, an estrogen receptor negative tumor, which normally means twice the death rate—unless you eat five servings of fruits and veggies a day, and walk 30 minutes, six days a week. The “high” vegetable, fruit, and physical activity should really be in quotes. I mean, you could eat five servings in a single meal, and certainly walk more than, like, two miles a day.
But, imagine, for a second, you have just been diagnosed. Imagine sitting in that chair, in the doctor’s office, as your doctor breaks the news. Imagine how you’d feel, at that moment. Let it sink in. But, your doctor says there’s also a new experimental treatment that can cut your chances of dying in the next few years from over 16%, down to just 4%. To quadruple their survival rate, many women would remortgage their homes to fly to some quack clinic in Mexico; would lose all their hair to chemo. But most, apparently, couldn’t stand the thought of eating broccoli, and cutting down on meat.
Maybe someone should start cooking meals for the women, too!
The only reason Ornish and colleagues could get away with treating prostate cancer with a vegan diet alone—with no chemo, surgery or radiation—is because prostate’s such a slow-growing cancer, that patients with early disease can be placed in a holding pattern. So, if you’re not going to do anything but watch-and-wait, might as well test out a dietary intervention. Are there other cancers like that we can try plants on?
Esophageal cancer, for example, which is not the cancer to get. Most die within months of diagnosis. But, the development of esophageal cancer is a multistage process. You start out with a normal esophagus—the tube that connects your mouth to your stomach. Starts out fine, then precancerous changes start to take place. Then, localized cancer starts to grow. Then, eventually it spreads, and you die.
Because of the well-defined, stepwise progression of the cancer, researchers jumped on it as a way to test the ability of berries—the healthiest of fruits—to reverse this process. A randomized Phase Two clinical trial of powdered strawberries. Six months eating the equivalent of a pound of fresh strawberries a day, and the progression of disease was reversed in 80% of the patients.
At the beginning of the study, none had a normal esophagus. But, by the end of the study, most lesions either regressed from moderate to mild, or disappeared completely. From moderate to mild. Or, from mild to gone. By the end of the study, half of those on the high-dose strawberry treatment walked away disease-free. 52.7% cured.
A drop in tumor markers: before and after. All because of just strawberries. Cellular proliferation before, and none after, strawberry treatment. Same story with black raspberries and oral cancer; most of the patients’ lesions improved, including complete clinical regression. Now, you see it; now, you don’t. A turning back on, of tumor-suppressor genes. So, even though it may have been something like tobacco that caused the cancer, diet may still affect progression. But, this kind of treasure remains “berried”—no pun intended—because nobody profits. Nobody, that is, except the hundreds of thousands of people that otherwise would die every year from these horrific cancers.
And, finally, infections. After the common cold, the most common infection is of the urinary tract. We’ve known for decades that it’s bacteria creeping up from the rectum that cause bladder infections. But, only recently did we figure out where that rectal reservoir of bladder-infecting E.coli was coming from: chicken.
We now have “proof of a direct link” between farm animals, meat, and bladder infections—solid evidence that urinary tract infections can be a zoonosis, that is, bladder infections as an animal-to-human disease. The best way to prevent bladder infections is the same way you best prevent any type of infections—by not getting infected in the first place.
Can’t you just use a meat thermometer, and cook the chicken thoroughly? No, because of cross-contamination. We’ve known for decades that if you give someone a frozen chicken to prepare and cook in their own kitchen as they normally would, a multitude of antibiotic-resistant E. coli jump from the chicken into the gut of the volunteer—even before eating it! This jump happens after the bird is prepared, but before any meat was eaten.
So, not only did it not matter how well the chicken was cooked; it doesn’t even matter if you eat any! It’s bringing it into the home, and handling it. Within days, the drug-resistant chicken bacteria had multiplied to the point of becoming a major part of the person’s gut flora. The chicken bacteria was taking over.
What if you’re really careful in the kitchen, though? “The effectiveness of hygiene procedures for prevention of cross-contamination from chicken carcasses in the domestic kitchen.” They went into five dozen homes, gave them each a chicken, and asked them to cook it. After they were done cooking, there was bacteria from chicken feces—salmonella, campylobacter, both serious human pathogens—everywhere. On the cutting board, utensils, on their hands, on the fridge handle, cupboard, oven handle doorknob. But this was before they cleaned up.
What about after cleaning? Still, pathogenic fecal bacterial everywhere. And, this was just regular retail chicken bought at the store. The researchers didn’t, like, inoculate the birds with bacteria— they came prepackaged with pathogens. Obviously, people don’t know what they’re doing in the kitchen. So, they took another group of people, and gave them specific instructions. After you cook the chicken you have to wash everything with hot water and detergent. They were told, specifically: wash the cutting board, knobs on the sink, the faucet, the fridge, the doorknobs, everything. Okay, and, the researchers still found disease-causing fecal matter chicken bugs everywhere.
Fine. Last group. This time, they were going to insist that people bleach everything. The dishcloth, immersed in bleach disinfectant, and then they spray the bleach on all those surfaces. Let the bleach disinfectant sit there for five minutes. And, still they found campylobacter and salmonella on some utensils, a dishcloth, the counter around the sink, and the cupboard. Definitely better, but still. Unless our kitchen is like some biohazard lab, the only way to guarantee we’re not going to leave infection around the kitchen is to not bring it into the house in the first place.
The good news is that it’s not like you eat chicken once, and you’re colonized for life. In this study, the chicken bacteria only seemed to last about ten days before our good bacteria was able to muscle it out of the way. The problem is that most families eat chicken more than once every ten days, so they may be constantly reintroducing these chicken bugs into their systems.
What if you already have a urinary tract infection though? For example, can cranberry juice treat bladder infections?
Find out in my video, “Can Cranberry Juice Treat Bladder Infections?” Of course, eating chicken can give you regular food poisoning, too. When foodborne pathogens were ranked last year to figure out which was kind of the worst, #1 on their list was salmonella, the leading cause of food poisoning related hospitalization, and the #1 cause of food-infection related death. Yet it remains legal to sell salmonella-contaminated chicken in the supermarket. It all goes back to a famous case in 1974, when the American Public Health Association sued the USDA, saying wait a second;
you can’t put a stamp of approval on meat contaminated with our leading foodborne killer. What could the USDA possibly say in meat’s defense? They pointed out that, look, there’s salmonella infections linked to dairy and eggs, too, so since there are numerous sources of contamination it would be unjustified to single out the meat industry.
That’s like the tuna industry saying, yeah, there’s no reason to put, you know, label levels of mercury on tuna cans because people can get exposed to eating a thermometer, too! OK… The DC Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the meat industry position, arguing you can allow potentially deadly salmonella in meat because, and I quote, “American housewives normally are not ignorant or stupid, and their methods of preparing and cooking food does not ordinarily result in salmonella poisoning.” That’s like saying, “Oh, minivans don’t need seatbelts because, you know, soccer moms don’t ordinarily crash into things.” To this day it’s legal to sell salmonella contaminated meat.
Anyways, there we have it—the top dozen reasons people seek medical care. Mostly, for diseases that could have been prevented. And then, rather than treating the underlying causes of the disease, typically doctors treat risk factors for disease—such as giving a lifetime’s worth of medications to lower high blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol.
But, think about it. High blood pressure is just a symptom of diseased, dysfunctional arteries. Yes, you can artificially lower blood pressure with drugs, but that’s not treating the root cause. Disregarding the underlying causes, and treating only risk factors is somewhat like mopping up the floor around an overflowing sink, instead of just turning off the faucet. But, drug companies are more than happy to sell people a new roll of paper towels, every day, for the rest of their lives.
When the underlying lifestyle causes are addressed, patients often are able to stop taking medication, or avoid surgery. We spend billions cracking people’s chests open, but only rarely does it actually prolong anyone’s life.
In contrast, how about wiping out at least 90% of heart disease? Think about it. Heart disease accounts for more premature deaths than any other illness, and is almost completely preventable by simply changing diet and lifestyle. And, those same changes can prevent, or reverse, many other chronic diseases as well—the same dietary changes! So, why don’t more doctors do it?
Well, one reason is doctors don’t get paid for it. No one profits from lifestyle medicine, so it is not part of medical education or practice. Presently, physicians lack training and financial incentives. So, they continue to do what they know how to do—prescribe medication, and perform surgery.
After Dean Ornish proved you could reverse our #1 cause of death—heart disease; open up arteries without drugs, without surgery—just with a plant-based diet and other healthy changes, he thought that his studies would have a meaningful effect on the practice of mainstream cardiology. After all, a cure for our #1 killler? But, he admits, he was mistaken. He realized physician “reimbursement is a much more powerful determinant of medical practice than research.”
Reimbursement over research. Not a very flattering portrayal of the healing profession. But hey, if docs won’t do it without getting paid, let’s get them paid. So, Dr. Ornish went to Washington arguing that, look, “If we train and pay for doctors to learn how to help patients address the real causes of disease with lifestyle medicine and not just treat disease risk-factors, we could save trillions,”—and, that’s just talking heart disease, diabetes, prostate, and breast cancer.
The “Take Back Your Health Act” was introduced in the U.S. Senate in 2009 to induce doctors to learn and practice lifestyle medicine—not only because it works better, but (and here’s the critical factor) physicians will be paid to do it. The bill died—just like millions of Americans will continue to do, with reversible chronic diseases.
We have known for at least a decade that the leading causes of both premature death and persistent misery in our society are chronic diseases. These diseases are attributable to the use of our feet (exercise), forks (diet), and fingers (smoking). Feet, forks, and fingers are the master levers of medical destiny, for not just thousands of people on any one occasion—like a tsunami or earthquake—but the medical destiny of millions upon millions, year after year.
We, as doctors, as a medical profession, have known all this. Ornish published 23 years ago. But, “we have not managed to care,” writes the Director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center. “At least, not care deeply enough to turn what we know into what we routinely do. Were we to do so, we might be able to eliminate” most heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and cancer.
But saving millions of lives is just a number. He asks doctors to forget the bland statistics of public health, and ask yourself if you love someone who has suffered a heart attack, stroke, cancer, or diabetes. “Now, imagine their faces, whisper their names. Recall what it felt like to get the news. And, while [you’re] at it, imagine the faces of others…like you and me imagining beloved faces.” Look around the room.
“Now imagine if eight of 10 of us wistfully reflecting on intimate love and loss, on personal anguish, never got that dreadful news because it never happened. Mom did not get cancer; dad did not have a heart attack; grandpa did not have a stroke; sister, brother, aunt, and uncle did not lose a limb or kidney or eyes to diabetes. We are all intimately linked, in a network of personal tragedy, that need never have occurred.”
Which leads to what he is asking doctors to do about it—to “put a face on public health every chance you get. When talking about heart disease and its prevention—or cancer or diabetes—ask your audience to see in their mind’s eye the face of a loved one affected by that condition. Then, imagine that loved one…among the 80% who need never have succumbed if what we knew [as doctors] were what we do.”
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
For all the sources (and links to the full-text PDFs if available!), see the individual daily videos in which each subject is covered.
Thanks to Aaron Wissner of Local Future, who generously donated his time and energy to videotape this presentation.
American Egg Board
animal fat
animal protein
beta-carboline alkaloids
breast cancer survival
cancer survival
cluster headaches
esophagus health
fecal bacteria
fecal contamination
flexitarians
immune function
industry influence
placebo effect
plant-based diets
safety limits
trans fats
Republishing "More than an Apple a Day: Preventing the Most Common Diseases"
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Doctor's Note
In my annual nutrition review last year, Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death, I explored the role diet may play in preventing, arresting, and even reversing our top 15 killers. Actually, if you recall, the top 16. Since side effects from prescription drugs kill an estimated 106,000 Americans a year, the sixth leading cause of death may actually be doctors.
And that’s just from adverse drug reactions. Add in medical mistakes (which the Institute of Medicine estimates kills at least 44,000 Americans), and that brings “health” care up to our country’s third leading cause of death. Throw in hospital-acquired infections, and we’re talking maybe 187,000 Americans dead every year (and millions injured) by medical care.
The best way to avoid the adverse effects of medical and surgical treatments and tests is not to avoid doctors, but to avoid getting sick in the first place. This year, I thought I’d run through the top dozen reasons people visit their doctors in order to highlight some of the latest research, in hopes of moving me and my colleagues lower down the list of common killers.
So you can more easily navigate through the menu of diseases I touch on, this presentation is also available on DVD through my website or Amazon. All proceeds from the sales of all my books, DVDs, and presentations go to charity.
Since this video was published, I’ve release several more live talks. See them here:
From Table to Able: Combating Disabling Diseases with Food
Food as Medicine: Preventing & Treating the Most Dreaded Diseases with Diet
How Not to Die: The Role of Diet in Preventing, Arresting, & Reversing Our Top 15 Killers
If you haven’t yet, you can subscribe to my videos for free by clicking here.
Anti-Angiogenesis: Cutting Off Tumor Supply Lines
Fighting the Blues with Greens?
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Promote advancements in economic prosperity for residents of HUD-assisted housing.
Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services
Residents of HUD-assisted housing often face challenges such as lack of employable skills and low educational attainment levels that limit their ability to become economically self-sufficient and rise out of poverty. The Department recognizes that, while some families and individuals will need assistance for longer periods, others are capable, with assistance, of rising out of poverty. A majority of adults receiving rental assistance who are able to work have some income from wages; however, they are most often in the lowest paying jobs. Further, increasing workplace
Residents of HUD-assisted housing often face challenges such as lack of employable skills and low educational attainment levels that limit their ability to become economically self-sufficient and rise out of poverty. The Department recognizes that, while some families and individuals will need assistance for longer periods, others are capable, with assistance, of rising out of poverty. A majority of adults receiving rental assistance who are able to work have some income from wages; however, they are most often in the lowest paying jobs. Further, increasing workplace demands for technical expertise require attention to education and training for both adults and youth, including digital literacy. HUD will utilize its housing platform to expand access to employment and educational services. HUD seeks to significantly increase the economic opportunities available to low-income residents in neighborhoods where it invests, particularly through the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program and Section 3.
HUD strives to support the economic opportunity of all residents and put them on a path to prosperity and self-sufficiency. In April 2015, HUD announced the award of $24 million to the Jobs Plus Pilot Program in nine communities. The funding supports community-based solutions for improving work readiness, linkages to employment, and financial empowerment for public housing residents. Awards for the FY 2015 Jobs Plus Program were made to nine PHAs in December 2015. We continue to analyze and improve the data on participants in the FSS program. In FY 2016, HUD will enter into an interagency research agreement with Health & Human Services to use National Directory of New Hires (NDNH) data to measure sustained wage increases for FSS participants, according to national employment data.
HUD published a proposed Section 3 rule on March 27, 2015. This rule will clarify and update requirements under Section 3. HUD is currently reviewing public comments on the proposed rule. FHEO also launched the Section 3 Performance Evaluation and Registry System (SPEARS) on August 24, 2015. This system will be used by HUD funding recipients for reporting Section 3 outcomes on jobs, training, and contracting; reporting for FY 2013 and FY 2014 was due in to HUD by December 15, 2015. HUD also worked with SBA to include Section 3 related contracting opportunities in Business USA, the portal developed by Small Business Administration (SBA) to assist America’s small businesses in finding business opportunities.
Use Housing as a Platform to Improve Quality of Life
End homelessness for veterans, people experiencing chronic homelessness, families, youth, and children.
HUD’s annual “Point-in-Time” estimates measure the scope of homelessness on a single night in January of each year. Based on data reported by more than 3,000 cities and counties, the January 2013 one-night estimate reveals a 24-percent drop in homelessness among veterans and a 16-percent reduction among individuals experiencing long-term or chronic homelessness since 2010. HUD’s estimate also found the largest decline in the number of persons in families experiencing homelessness since the Department began measuring homelessness in a standard manner in 2005. Overall, a total of 610,042 people experienced homelessness in the United States on a single night in January 2013.
Homelessness among unaccompanied youth is a hidden problem, which HUD and its partners are taking steps to solve. Some subpopulations of youth are at particularly high risk for homelessness, including youth aging out of foster care and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning youth.
In 2010, the Obama Administration released Opening Doors*, the first ever comprehensive federal strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness. The goals of the plan are to prevent and end veterans’ and chronic homelessness by 2015, to prevent and end homelessness for families, youth, and children by 2020, and to set a path to ending all types of homelessness. HUD remains committed to the goals of Opening Doors, but to reach them the pace of current efforts must accelerate. Over the next 5 years, HUD will work with its partners to deploy the solutions that we know are effective for the right persons, such as rapid rehousing and permanent supportive housing. These tools must be informed by a Housing First approach, whereby preconditions and barriers to housing entry are removed and people move into housing as quickly as possible.
*United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness (June 2010).
FY 14-15 Priority Goal: End Veterans homelessness
In partnership, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) aim to reduce the number of Veterans living on the streets, experiencing homelessness to zero (as measured by the 2016 Point-in-Time count).
This goal represents HUD’s effort to reduce homelessness among Veterans. Veterans are overrepresented in the homeless population; while only 9.3 percent of the U.S. adult population has Veteran status, Veterans represented approximately 11.3 percent of homeless adults at a given point in time in 2014. On a single night in January 2014, there were 49,933 Veterans reported as experiencing homelessness. Veterans experiencing homelessness often face the same issues that lead others into homelessness, including a lack of affordable housing and inadequate income and savings. Service men and women returning from active duty may also have specific challenges, such as lingering effects of post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse, which can make it more difficult for them to find and maintain adequate employment and, consequently, to pay for housing.
Effectively transitioning Veterans experiencing homelessness to permanent housing requires access to healthcare, employment, and benefits. Because Veterans have greater medical and mental health needs than non-Veterans, healthcare and its associated benefits play a significant role in achieving and maintaining stability in permanent housing for Veterans experiencing homelessness. Employment and VA benefits are critical in providing Veterans the income required to support housing and other daily living expenses.
HUD and VA continue to implement proven systems of service delivery to end Veteran homelessness, especially among those experiencing chronic homelessness, such as the Housing First approach. Housing First offers individuals and families experiencing homelessness immediate access to permanent affordable or supportive housing. Reducing clinical and economic barriers, Housing First yields higher housing retention rates, lower returns to homelessness, and significant reductions in the use of crisis service and institutions.
Promote the health and housing stability of vulnerable populations.
Many residents of HUD-assisted housing face health-related challenges, especially elderly people, people with disabilities, homeless people, and those individuals and families at risk of becoming homeless. New studies of the health status of HUD residents show that they have higher rates of chronic health conditions and higher utilization of hospitals and emergency rooms than peer comparison groups. Some may have a criminal record, a history of homelessness, be making the transition out of military service back into civilian life, or be transitioning out of healthcare treatment settings.
In 2013, one out of every six Americans did not have health insurance. Hardworking families in HUD housing may not get insurance from their employers, and they may not make enough money to afford a plan for their family. Without health insurance, families risk forgoing necessary preventive care or facing economic catastrophe from a major illness.
In January 2014, many more affordable insurance options became available through the new health insurance marketplaces, including, in those states that have opted in, an expansion of Medicaid. When residents of HUD-assisted housing also have health insurance, they gain an additional stepping stone to better health and financial security. This makes for healthier, stronger households and communities.
The Affordable Care Act can help as many as 40 million currently uninsured Americans find greater peace of mind and financial stability that will help them work toward their own goals and dreams. Access to health insurance is important, but so too is access to health care. As the healthcare system develops new tools to provide better care at a lower cost, new partnerships are needed between housing and the healthcare system.
Additionally, work led by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and HHS related to enforcement of and compliance with the Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision reinforces the rights of individuals with disabilities to live, work, and receive services in the greater community in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs. As a result of Olmstead, there is a significant need for affordable, integrated housing opportunities where individuals with disabilities are able to live and interact with individuals without disabilities. Achieving this goal requires an increase in the supply of integrated housing options so that individuals have meaningful choice in where they live, including housing without services and supportive housing with access to voluntary services.
HUD also helps protect the health of residents of assisted multifamily and public housing from both direct and environmental (that is, second- and third-hand) tobacco smoke exposure by encouraging owners of assisted housing and PHAs to issue and implement smoke-free policies and by providing outreach and technical support. The Department will enhance those efforts to help reduce the extent of this public health problem among residents of its housing portfolio.
FY 14-15: End Veterans homelessness
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Public Infrastructure Engineering Vulnerability Committee (PIEVC)
Effective March 30, 2020, ownership and control of the PIEVC Program, including the Protocol has been transferred to a partnership consisting of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR), the Climate Risk Institute (CRI) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. Please direct all future inquiries regarding the PIEVC Protocol and associated programs to pievc@iclr.org.
About PIEVC
Home > FAQ> Glossary
This page contains definitions to commonly used terms within the work of the Vulnerability Committee.
Adaptation is an adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic changes, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities.
Climate change is any systematic change in the long-term statistics of climate elements (such as temperature, pressure, or winds) sustained over several decades or longer. Climate change may be due to natural external forcings, such as changes in solar emission or slow changes in the earth's orbital elements; natural internal processes of the climate system; or anthropogenic forcing.
Engineering vulnerability
Engineering vulnerability is defined as the shortfall in the ability of public infrastructure to absorb the negative effects, and benefit from the positive effects, of changes in the climate conditions used to design and operate infrastructure.
Vulnerability is a function of:
Character, magnitude and rate of change in the climatic conditions to which infrastructure is predicted to be exposed;
Sensitivities of infrastructure to the changes, in terms of positive or negative consequences of changes in applicable climatic conditions; and
Built-in capacity of infrastructure to absorb any net negative consequences from the predicted changes in climatic conditions.
Vulnerability assessment will, therefore, require assessment of all three elements above.
Engineering vulnerability to climate change
Engineering vulnerability to climate change is defined as the level of risk of destruction, disruption or deterioration of engineered public infrastructure resulting from changes in the climatic conditions used to establish the engineering design and operational elements and tolerances for the public infrastructure.
Mitigation is an intervention to reduce the sources or enhance the sinks for greenhouse gases that are a driver for climatic change. This strategy is used to slow the rate of climatic change.
Public Infrastructure is defined as those facilities, networks and assets operated for the collective public benefit including the health, safety, cultural or economic well-being of Canadians, whether operated by government and/or non-government agencies.
Resilience is defined as the ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate to and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions.
Vulnerability is the degree to which a system is susceptible to, or unable to cope with, adverse effects of climate, including climate variability and extremes. It is a function of the character, magnitude and rate of climate variation to which a system is exposed, its sensitivity, and its adaptive capacity.
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Low BW
Malaysia: Ban On Sexuality Rights Festival Violates Human Rights
Roberta Sklar, Press Secretary
917-704-6358, robertasklar@yahoo.com
Grace Poore, Regional Coordinator for Asia and Pacific Islands
301-589-4462, gpoore@iglhrc.org
(New York, November 9, 2011) Today, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) sent a letter to the government of Malaysia condemning the November 3rd police ban of all events related to Seksualiti Merdeka, an annual arts and performance showcase dedicated to the rights to identity and self-determination out of alleged concern for public order.
"The police rationalized the shutdown of Seksualiti Merdeka as a preemptive move against possible altercation by conservative groups misusing religion to vilify people who do not conform to their expectations of acceptable sexual orientation and gender identity," said Grace Poore, Regional Coordinator for Asia and the Pacific Islands at the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC).
Datuk Seri Kahlid Abu Bakar, Deputy Inspector-General of Police, who issued the ban against Seksualiti Merdeka told media during a press conference in Kuala Lampur on November 3, "We are not against the people's right to freedom of speech or human rights. However, if the event creates uneasiness among the vast majority of the population, it may result in disharmony, enmity and threaten public order."
Mr. Khalid threatened police action against anyone who defied the ban and announced that festival organizers would be taken in for questioning under Section 298A of the Malaysian Penal Code and Section 27A(1)(c) of the Malaysian Police Act.
Ten organizers were questioned by Royal Malaysian Police in Kuala Lumpur. As a result of the ban, organizers were forced to stop the annual festival. In an atmosphere of increasing intimidation and harassment, on November 1, two plainclothes and two uniformed police officers entered a workshop on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer and questioning (LGBTQ) human rights.
"The police abused their authority by targeting people already being vilified," said Poore. "Their conduct encouraged intolerance, hate speech and aggression."
The 2011 Seksualiti Merdeka, scheduled from November 2 to 13, was themed "Queer Without Fear." The theme aptly captures the violence, culture of impunity and harassment experienced by LGBT Malaysians. The national Malay media has condemned women who appear masculine and men who appear feminine.1 Terengganu state schools have removed effeminate male students from regular schools and mandate them to "reparative" education.2 Melaka religious authorities have sanctioned the intimidation and beating of transgender people (mak nyah).3 Reports from an unpublished study on violence against LGBT people preliminarily indicate that police have extorted money from LGBT individuals, and families are using physical violence to punish gender and sexual non-conformity of female members.4
Seksualiti Merdeka was launched in 2008 by a network of artists and activists advocating for the social, cultural, civil and political rights of Malaysian citizens who are denied the rights to identity and self-determination. The two-week festival, which is always held on private premises, has featured workshops, poetry, music, dance, interactive installations and film screenings to generate discussion, raise awareness, and promote respect for sexual and gender diversity. According to organizers, festival attendance has been growing: 500 people in 2008 and 1500 in 2010. Previous years saw no disruptions.
The following excerpts are from press releases by organizers of Seksualiti Merdeka, as well as women’s rights and human rights NGOS, the Malaysian Bar Council, and Islamic and non-Islamic groups that support Seksualiti Merdeka and oppose the ban.
Organizers of Seksualiti Merdeka, November 5, 2011
"The Malaysian government should uphold our right to conduct peaceful forums, workshops and performances. The intimidating displays of hatred and ignorance towards us and calls for us to be shut down demonstrate why we absolutely need a safe space and event like Seksualiti Merdeka. The blanket ban on Seksualiti Merdeka’s programme this year is unprecedented as we have been conducting similar events over the past few years. In the interest of the safety of our participants, we will not proceed with all public events of Seksualiti Merdeka while we seek a meeting with the Inspector General of Police YB Tan Sri Ismail Omar to explain the objectives of Seksualiti Merdeka."
http://komunitikini.com/kl-selangor/kuala-lumpur/mccbchst-seksuality-merdeka-religion-lgbt-human-rights
Malaysian Consultative Council on Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST), November 5, 2011
"MCCBCHST is against all forms of harrassment, intimidation, threats and violent attacks on any Malaysian including those from the lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) community. Their right to personal liberty, dignity and privacy must be respected. We also note that all Malaysians have a right to freedom of expression and can disagree with our existing laws. As long as they assemble in peace to discuss these matters, to educate and create awareness, and to seek law reform, their right to express themselves and to assemble peacefully must also be respected."
Women’s Candidacy Initiative, November 4, 2011
"The banning of this festival is an attack on Malaysia’s democracy and the fundamental principles of the Federal Constitution, including the right to freedom of expression and association. … WCI seeks to improve the democratic participation of women in Malaysia and regards the current act of censorship as extremely damaging to the participation of all women, especially women of diverse sexual orientations and/or gender identities."
http://komunitikini.com/kl-selangor/kuala-lumpur/wci-condemns-seksualiti-merdeka-bans
Sisters In Islam, November 3, 2011
"Sisters in Islam (SIS) strongly disagrees with the police's blanket ban on Seksualiti Merdeka. We see this as yet another pattern of censorship and banning of freedom of expression, association and the free circulation of ideas in Malaysia. We are also concerned at how the ban is going to be enforced by the police force. Was there, for example, a court order to ban the festival? How exactly do the police intend to follow through this "ban"?... While we understand that there are Muslims opposed to ideas of respecting gender and sexual diversity, as a Muslim women's organisation, SIS disagrees with the methods used to stifle these ideas."
http://komunitikini.com/kl-selangor/kuala-lumpur/sisters-in-islam-opposes-ban-on-seksualiti-merdeka
Ahmad Fuad Rahmat, Islamic Rennaisance Front, November 3, 2011
"We are living in a heterogeneous society full of diversity. In order for a society to mature, it must be able to remodel itself to be inclusive in nature. There should be no discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation, irrespective of race and religion. Every single citizen has the right to live and express his or her conviction without fear. … In the spirit of democracy and fundamental liberty, we must respect the freedom of expression of all Malaysians."
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/mobile/sideviews/article/on-the-seksualiti-merdeka-controversy-a-plea-for-calm-and-rationality-ahmad-fuad-rahmat/
Suara Rakyat Malaysia with 16 Endorsements, November 2, 2011
"We are deeply concerned with the situation where religious and political leaders, as well as the media continue to demonise LGBTIQ activists and communities in Malaysia. In addition, LGBTIQ persons are frequently exposed to hate speech, attacks and harassment. We believe that everyone in Malaysia deserves to be free from discrimination, harassment and violence regardless of their sexual orientations and their gender identities. We believe it is our right to be responsible for our own body. We, the undersigned organisations, whole-heartedly will continue to support the much-needed efforts taken by the Seksualiti Merdeka."
http://www.facebook.com/suararakyatmalaysia
Malaysian Bar Council President, Lim Chee Wee, November 2, 2011
"In Malaysia, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender ("LGBT") community has long been treated as "outsiders", even though they are citizens. Members of the LGBT community in Malaysia face numerous hardships, including a lack of personal safety due to harassment by civil and Syariah authorities, living in fear of prosecution for the private acts of consenting adults, and constantly facing public discrimination and denigration. They are perennially at the receiving end of negative innuendo and hate speech in the mainstream media, which is seemingly tolerated by the authorities. The Malaysian Bar encourages PM Najib Razak to follow up on his words that Malaysia is a "progressive, liberal nation" and to alleviate the suffering of members of the LGBT community in Malaysia. He can do so by quickly introducing laws to remove legislation that impose unwarranted restrictions on the individual liberties of the LGBT community in Malaysia."
http://www.kritis-online.com/
Letter to the Inspector General of Police
YB Tan Sri Ismail Omar
Ibu Pejabat Polis Diraja Malaysia
Bukit Aman
Tel: 03 - 2266 2222
Fax: 03 - 2070 7500
Re: Ban of Seksualiti Merdeka
Dear Tan Sri Ismail,
I write to you from the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), a twenty-one year-old human rights organization with offices around the world, to express deep concern about recent events around Seksualiti Merdeka, an annual festival dedicated to the use of art and performance to advocate for human rights. On November 3, 2011, police shut down all events related to Seksualiti Merdeka, citing concern for public order. The police crackdown represents a violation of the rights to assembly, association, privacy and expression.
On November 1, two plainclothes and two uniformed police officers entered a workshop on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer and questioning (LGBTQ) human rights, an act we interpret as surveillance and intimidation. The police acted in response to a complaint by members of a Malay rights group, Perkasa, to the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Datuk Seri Khalid Abu Bakar, alleging that Seksualiti Merdeka was promoting "abnormal and immoral activities."
On November 3, Mr. Khalid in a press conference in Kuala Lumpur ordered that Seksualiti Merdeka be banned, saying, "We are not against the people's right to freedom of speech or human rights. However, if the event creates uneasiness among the vast majority of the population, it may result in disharmony, enmity and threaten public order." The police then threatened "action" against anyone who defied the ban. He also announced that festival organizers would be taken in for questioning by police under Section 298A5 of the Penal Code and under Section 27A(1)(c) of the Police Act.6
Ten organizers were questioned by Royal Malaysian Police in Kuala Lumpur. As a result of the ban, organizers were forced to stop the annual festival.
Since 2008, Seksualiti Merdeka has been an annual showcase of artistic expression to advocate for Malaysian citizens who are denied the rights to identity and self-determination. Seksualiti Merdeka has always held peaceful, educational gatherings on private premises. The 2011 theme, "Queer Without Fear," aptly captures the violence, culture of impunity and harassment experienced by LGBT Malaysians. Homophobia and transphobia take diverse forms. The national Malay media has condemned women who appear masculine and men who appear feminine.7 Terengganu state schools have removed effeminate male students from regular schools and mandate them to "reparative" education.8 Melaka religious authorities have sanctioned the intimidation and beating of transgender people (mak nyah). 9 Reports from a unpublished study being conducted on violence against LGBT people preliminarily indicate that police have extorted money from LGBT individuals, and families are using physical violence to punish gender and sexual non-conformity of female members.10
The National Commission of Human Rights of Malaysia, Suhakam, has made a commitment to promote the respect of LGBT people. Suhakam has demonstrated this commitment by specifically reprimanding members of the press who have used derogatory language against LGBT people and have affirmed that LGBT human rights must be respected. As a member of the Asia Pacific Forum (APF), which adopted the Yogyakarta Principles, an authoritative interpretation of international human rights law with regard to sexual orientation and gender identity, Suhakam has also affirmed that according to the Principles, "All people regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity are entitled to enjoy their basic rights as human beings." Furthermore, it has committed to speak out against "name-calling, bullying and infliction of bodily harm against LGBT groups."
We urge you to:
Lift the ban against Seksualiti Merdeka.
Ensure that police do not arrest or intimidate the organizers of and/or anyone connected to Seksualiti Merdeka.
Protect the organizers of and/or anyone connected to Seksualiti Merdeka from private actor violence and hold vigilantes who commit acts of violence on this basis accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
Conduct a public awareness campaign about equality before the law and non-discrimination, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Train police officials with regard to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights to end arbitrary harassment of LGBT individuals, their speech and assembly.
Ensure that the rights to assembly, association, speech, and expression are upheld universally and not subject to arbitrary or biased perceptions of public order.
The ban on Seksualiti Merdeka represents unmitigated censorship and stifling of freedom of expression, association and exchange of ideas. As noted by members of the Islamic Renaissance Front and the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST), two of the many Islamic and non-Islamic groups that support Seksualiti Merdeka, "All Malaysians have a right to personal liberty, dignity and privacy." Rather than violating the rights of Malaysians to conduct peaceful forums, workshops and performances, IGLHRC calls upon the government to live up to Prime Minister Najib Razak's vision of a "progressive, liberal nation."
Cary Alan Johnson
Prime Minister of Malaysia, YAB Dato’
Sri Haji Mohd Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak
Deputy Prime Minister, YB Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin
The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia
http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2010; http://www.kosmo.com.my
http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/16eff/Article/
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/04/19/mak-nyah-want-to-be-heard/; http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/70572
Information on file with the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) and confidential sources within Malaysia
Section 298A of the Penal Code allows police to take action against anyone who causes "disharmony, disunity, feeling of enmity, hatred, ill-will or prejudice or for the maintenance of harmony or unity on the grounds of religion" http://www.agc.gov.my/Akta/Vol.%2012/Act%20574.pdf
Section 27A(1)(C) of the Police Act empowers police to act against any activity that takes place on private premises but is deemed prejudicial to the interest and security of Malaysia or that would excite a disturbance of the peace." http://www.agc.gov.my/Akta/Vol.%207/Act%20344.pdf
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/04/19/mak-nyah-want-to-be-heard/ AND http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/70572.
Published on November 9, 2011 | OutRight Action International an LGBT human rights organization
Letter to the Inspector General of Police »
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Cameroonians Abroad Poised for Major Impact
By Denis Foretia, MD.MPH.MBA*
Every student of history or international development would certainly agree that my country, Cameroon, faces tremendous challenges if it is to seriously implement a growth agenda in order to regain its economic footing. These students would also agree that while structural issues diminish the prospects of an economic renaissance, significant opportunities exist to re-engineer a collective political dispensation as a necessary precursor to socio-economic prosperity. For the last decade, we have maintained a staggering unemployment rate of greater than 30 percent. In 2009, the government of Cameroon put together the Vision 2035 strategy with the goal of attaining middle-income status by 2035. For this to be remotely feasible, the country must sustain double-digit growth in its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The fact that our GDP growth has not reached 5% since the onset of this strategy is not particularly surprising. Bretton Woods institutions estimate only a 4.5% increase in GDP for 2013. It is particularly informative that the government of Cameroon, in its Vision 2035 plan has no real strategy for engaging the Cameroonians residing abroad.
While many African countries, notably Senegal, Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria have made tangible efforts to attract diasporan investments, we in Cameroon have proceeded very timidly. The recent presidential degree, issued late last year amid the October presidential elections, to extend voting rights to Cameroonians abroad was largely seen as window-dressing to a problem that should pre-occupy the government’s growth agenda.
Despite the timidity with regards to the formulation and passage of the Cameroon Diaspora Bill, efforts are underway among Cameroonian communities abroad to facilitate the country’s economic transformation. A growing consensus has emerged among Cameroonians in the United States to play such a pivotal role with regards to Diaspora-Directed Investments and the conveyor belt for foreign-direct investment, the strengthening of civil society and the spearheading of progressive economic policies.
The Cameroon Professional Society (CPS) is a key organization in the quest for substantive diaspora engagement. Some have argued that it is the singular organization with a truly “national” agenda. With its focus of “nurturing tomorrows leaders today” the CPS has expanded the playing field, energized Cameroonians from all professions and has laid a detailed framework for harnessing the socio-economic potential of Cameroonians abroad. The CPS Diaspora Proposal calls for government incentives that are not only broad in scope but equally deep in reach. It calls for the elimination of travel bottlenecks, the facilitation of land ownership, business creation and the strengthening of our legal framework.
CPS activities have demonstrated its broad reach and unique perspective on macroeconomic policies. In fact, the Distinguished Annual Congress organized in Washington D.C provides the platform for critical appraisal of our current development trajectory by Cameroonian stakeholders, development institutions and foreign partners seeking to capitalize on the investment opportunities in the country. As Cameroonians and friends of Cameroon convene this weekend in Washington D.C for the 2012 CPS Distinguished Annual Congress, they will use the opportunity to focus on the Congress theme: – “Towards an Emerging Economy – The Road Map for Cameroon.”
Participants will discuss the feasibility of the 2035 strategy given the current growth projections, the state of both hard and soft infrastructure, the challenges facing our health, social services and educational sectors, and the credibility, or lack thereof, of our legal system. The Congress provides the opportunity for attendees to examine important areas in our feeble economy with a focus on the banking and informal sectors.
The world is changing rapidly, powered by the revolution in information technology especially within the last decade. As once famously said, even if we stumble in our quest for a better future, we, as a people, would still be moving forward. The 2012 CPS Distinguished Annual Congress will demonstrate that Cameroonians abroad are ready for constructive engagement. Now is the time to become part of the solution. http://congress.cpsociety.org
*Dr. Denis Foretia is a surgeon and president of the Cameroon Professional Society (CPS). He holds a medical degree from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, a Masters in Public Health from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins as well as a Masters in Business Administration from the Carey School of Business also at the Johns Hopkins University. For more information on the CPS,visit www.cpsociety.org
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Charming Street Scenes of Penang, Until October 10th 2017
Sep 11, 2017 | Exhibitions
Charming Street Scenes of Penang by Alex Leong Yim Kuan
Established in 1989, The Art Gallery Penang is the brain child of philanthropist and avid art collector Dato’ Dr Tan Chee Khuan and his late wife, Siau Bian. The gallery quickly made a name for itself in Malaysia’s art scene as a prominent art gallery holding exhibitions of the masterpieces by well-known local artists. Among its repertoire of pioneer artists are artworks by Yong Mun Sen, Kuo Ju Ping, Khaw Sia, Dato’ Chuah Thean Teng and Dato’ Mohd Hoessein Enas. The gallery has also ventured into publishing and has produced more than forty art books on Malaysian art and artists.
Their most recent up-and-coming exhibition, “Charming Street Scenes of Penang”, celebrates one of Penang’s most endearing watercolour artists, Alex Leong Yim Kuan. Born and bred in George Town, Alex has a treasure trove of memories remembering the city as it used to be, an identity and culture that is fast disappearing with each step towards progress. As a child he used to play with his friends on George Town’s city streets, games and adventures free from traffic in a less motorised era.
Alex has been an artist all his life. Beginning his career as a young talent in the early 1990s, Alex has
held numerous exhibitions in Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea and China. He is also part of numerous art societies such as the Malaysian Watercolour Society, the Penang Watercolour Society, the Penang Art Society and the North Kedah Art Society. In addition, Alex’s works have also been included in two of Malaysia’s most prestigious art auctions in recent years: the Henry Butcher auction in 2014, and The Edge Auction in 2015 and 2016.
Using his depth of experience of George Town’s historic streets, Alex brings them back to life in vibrant watercolours and impressionist scenes. A key component in most of his compositions is movement, typically reflected in people – either walking, cycling, eating or even children playing – and white birds fluttering over George Town’s iconoclastic gables or over the heads of his subjects. Together with often slightly exaggerated perspective, Alex’s watercolour pieces are energetic, full-of-life creations with an underlying childhood innocence that never cease to bring a loving parental smile to ones face. Altogether more impressive is that his scenes are painted either in situ and/or from vivid memory, giving the impression that the real-life occurrence is never far away – sitting just underneath the paint on canvas.
The exhibition opens with a tea reception on Sunday 17th September 2017 from 12 noon until 5pm, and will continue until October 10th on Saturdays and Sundays from 2pm until 5pm, and at other times by appointment only. The Art Gallery is on Level 4 of Belissa Row in Pulau Tikus. Contact Tan Ee Lene on 012 604 1434 or eelenetan@gmail.com for more details or an appointment to view.
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Hugh Jackman: The Moment I Was Told I Had Skin Cancer
The star details his four surgeries and the importance of skin protection
By Liz McNeil
Updated May 06, 2015 07:10 PM
Credit: McBride/face to face
When Hugh Jackman first discovered a mark on his nose in November 2013, he thought it was a spot of blood caused by his Wolverine claws.
“I was filming X Men: Days Of Future Past, he recalls. “And my makeup artist said ‘You’ve got a little spot of blood, here on your nose’ and I said ‘Yeah, I know it was from a fight sequence and I knocked it somehow.’ And trust me for 17 years I’ve played Wolverine and I’ve had more scraps and cuts … I’m very clumsy with those claws.”
A week later, the makeup artist mentioned it again. “And I said ‘Yes, it must have dried up and in the shower I rubbed it off,” says Jackman, 47. “Cut to a week later, and she said ‘I think you should go get it checked.’ ”
Jackman’s wife, Deborra-Lee Furness, also urged him to see a doctor. “She said ‘Get it checked, get it checked, get it checked.’ until I did,” he recalls.
That’s when he was told he had basal cell carcinoma, one of three types of skin cancer.
“It’s always a bit of a shock just hearing the word ‘cancer,'” says the actor, who opens up about his several skin cancer surgeries in the new issue of PEOPLE. “Being an Australian it’s a very common thing. I never wore sunscreen growing up so I was a prime candidate for it.”
“I was trying to keep calm about it but it wasn’t until [his skin cancer surgeon] Dr. Michael Albom really explained to me that what I had, in a way, was the kind of skin cancer you want to have if you’re going to have it,” he continued. “Basal cell carcinoma is just something you have to deal with. It’s cancerous. It will grow. You just have to get it out.”
All together, Jackman has had four skin cancers removed in the last 18 months, three from his nose and one from his shoulder. He’s since launched a line of sunscreen for kids, Pure Sun Defense, and wants to raise awareness about how sun exposure can lead to serious complications.
“I go every three months for checkups,” he says. “It’s the new normal for me. My doctor says I’ll likely have more and if that’s your cross to bear in life, you should be so lucky.”
His doctor, Michael Albom, echoes his message. “Most people want to know what a skin cancer looks like,” he says. “And I always say, ‘If you get a growth, a lump or a bump or something that looks a little odd to you, get it checked. See a dermatologist. Get a biopsy when warranted.”
“I give Hugh a lot of credit for speaking out,” adds Dr. Albom. “Hugh is on top of his game because he has been through this enough times now that he is acting on it properly. He is doing great and we are thrilled.”
For much more from Hugh Jackman, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday
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Opulent Express
Anthropology and History
When The World’s Greatest Whodunit Writer Disappeared, The Police Were Left Utterly Clueless
On an ice-cold winter evening in 1926 Agatha Christie kissed her daughter goodnight, got into her car, and disappeared. The woman who created mysteries for a living had now become engulfed in one herself. Decades on, and the incident still baffles people. So, what happened? Why did she feel the need to leave? And, maybe the biggest question of all… Whodunit?
Christie’s disappearance has been fictionalized for a long time now. Writers have offered their own ideas about what made her leave, with some being more serious than others. The 1979 film Agatha, for example, suggested that she had a vendetta against her husband. Meanwhile, a 2008 Doctor Who episode brought alien wasps into the fold.
Of course, it was much easier in 1929 to fall off the face of the Earth if you wished – assuming, of course, that Christie actually did want to. There was no GPS, no CCTV, no cell phones. Even someone famous, as Christie very much was, could potentially run away and never be found.
Christie was already a renowned crime writer by that point in her life, having previously introduced her iconic Hercule Poirot character back in 1920. Moreover, her sixth novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was doing very well. So, it probably hadn’t been money issues making her flee, right?
Perhaps Christie’s personal life held the answer? She married a man named Archie Christie in 1914 – he’s where she got that now-famous last name from, her original one having been Miller. The couple had one child together, a daughter they named Rosalind. Could a mother really just walk out on her own child without ever planning to return?
The police asked themselves those questions and many others as they tried to investigate what had happened. They found some answers in the end – but not all of them. Today, the disappearance is an established part of the Agatha Christie legend. And it proves that truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.
Only the household staff were around on the night that Christie left her Berkshire home and got into her car. Notably, her husband Archie wasn’t there. The couple were having some pretty major marital problems. Archie had already confessed to being in love with another woman, and that was where he’d been – with his mistress.
With her husband playing away Christie had the whole house to herself. Except, she chose to leave it. Before getting in her car she wrote a brisk letter to her secretary saying she was going on vacation and not to expect her back that same night, which was December 3, 1926. Then, she simply drove into the pitch-black darkness of 1920s England.
There were other letters that Christie left behind, as well. She’d written notes for her brother-in-law Campbell Christie and for her spouse Archie. The note to Campbell claimed she was visiting a spa in the English region of Yorkshire, but the letter to Archie was apparently much more intimate. Even when the search was in full swing, he wouldn’t reveal its contents.
Despite what was said in the note, Christie’s staff began to worry when she didn’t come back. Quite aside from anything else, there was a young child in the house who needed her mother. Eventually, Christie’s secretary decided to call the police. Knowing what a big deal the mystery author was, they got to work straight away.
It wasn’t, however, the police who found the first clue, but rather an ordinary person who could’ve come out of a Christie novel himself. A young Romani fellow named George Best was walking in Guildford, near the area where the Christies lived, when he found an empty vehicle on a slope. He immediately reported it to the local authorities.
The car had been deserted over 12 miles away from the Christie house, and worryingly it was on an incline near a quarry. Even more concerning was that Christie’s possessions were still inside. Police found some of her clothes, a case full of her papers and a driver’s license. All clues, but where did they lead?
The letters Christie had left behind may have been useful… if they were still there. But over the following days, the police interviewed Archie and Campbell and found, bafflingly, that both of them had apparently burnt their letters. Campbell did, however, provide his envelope, which was postmarked the day after Christie’s disappearance.
The police were able to get a description of Christie to put on “missing” posters. She’d been wearing a hat, a skirt, a jumper and a cardigan. Notably, she was apparently not wearing her wedding ring. That wasn’t the biggest issue, though. Dressed as she was in the freezing cold of England, Christie was in danger of hypothermia. If, of course, she was alive.
The area Christie had been in was considered a dangerous one. Near where the car had been found lurked something called the Silent Pool. This was a natural spring with a very bad reputation. It had a legendary ghost story involving a King of England attached to it, for a start.
So the story goes, a young King John I was riding by the pool and noticed a beautiful girl bathing there. He made advances on her, but she was unsettled and retreated into the water. She began to panic and her brother came running to save her, but he couldn’t swim well, either. Both drowned, and when their bodies were found a royal crest lay near them.
The truth of whether that’s a true story or one made up to discredit King John I has been lost to history. But Agatha Christie hadn’t gone the same way just yet. The police were operating on the assumption that she was still alive, even though rumors spread that she’d met her fate in the Silent Pool.
Before long, over 1,000 policemen and 15,000 citizens were helping to look for Christie. The Silent Pool was searched, but nothing was found. Lead detective William Kenward told the Daily Mail, “I have handled many important cases during my career, but this is the most baffling ever.” Plenty were treating the case like a real-life whodunit.
Quickly, the rumor mill spun out of control. Some people thought it was all a big plot orchestrated by Christie herself to drum up publicity for a new book. Others, though, whispered that perhaps her spouse had killed her and disposed of the body. He was, after all, having an affair.
Christie’s secretary absolutely denied the suggestion it was a publicity stunt. As the search continued The New York Times reported her as saying, “It is ridiculous. Mrs. Christie is quite too much a lady for that. She never for one moment would think of causing all this sorrow and suspense.”
Archie himself seemed to believe that his wife was alive. On December 11 he told the Daily News publication, “My wife stated that she could disappear at will if she liked. And, in view of the fact that she was a writer of detective stories, it would be very natural for her to adopt some form of disguise to carry out that idea.”
Archie did not, however, mention to the newspaper that he’d been seeing his mistress at the same time his wife vanished, and generally he was criticized for his attitude in the interview. People continued to gossip just as if they, too, were players in a murder mystery. One of the oddest ideas was the theory that Christie was alive in London, but disguising herself in men’s clothes.
And then another famous author got involved in the case. This was Arthur Conan Doyle, the man who created the legendary Sherlock Holmes who was himself a notorious believer in the supernatural. He even went so far as to take one of Christie’s gloves to a medium named Horace Leaf in his quest to recover her.
According to Doyle, who revealed his findings to the Morning Press newspaper, Leaf had revealed, “The person who owns [the glove] is half dazed and half purposeful. She is not dead as many think. She is alive. You will hear of her, I think, next Wednesday, in a location with connection to water.”
However, the police didn’t put too much stock in spirit mediums, and they continued to investigate. Some 50 officers investigated a Romani settlement near the Christie home and interviewed people there, but found nothing. Then, they brought out the big guns and used airplanes in the search. This was actually the first time that this had ever been done in the United Kingdom.
Everything seemed to point to Archie as the culprit, a philanderer who’d probably murdered his wife and faked her running away. There was the issue of the car, for a start. The police observed that the handbrake hadn’t been pulled and there wasn’t a trace of blood. Christie didn’t seem to have crashed the car, so perhaps it had been pushed near to the Silent Pool.
Archie was very much a person of interest to the police. He offered up £500 to anyone who could tell him where his spouse was, but that didn’t help matters much. Detectives followed him to his office, clearly waiting for him to slip up. It seemed so obvious that the cheating husband was to blame – but it wasn’t him.
Christie hadn’t been murdered by her husband, nor had she met her end in the Silent Pool. She was very much alive… Just under strange circumstances. On December 14 – which was a Tuesday, not a Wednesday – it was reported that she’d been found at a place called the Swan Hydropathic Hotel in Harrogate, using a fake name.
A hotel banjo player named Bob Tappin had recognized this hotel guest as the missing mystery author and alerted the police. But that wasn’t the end of the story by a long shot. For a start, Christie had checked into the hotel under the name Teresa Neele – Neele being the last name of her husband’s mistress.
What in the world had Christie been doing at the hotel? Well, the maids reported on “Teresa Neele’s” activities. She’d been reading the newspapers avidly – papers which, of course, had been reporting nonstop on Agatha Christie’s disappearance. She’d also been playing the piano, and on her first night she’d been seen dancing to the song “Yes, We Have No Bananas.”
“Neele” had told the other hotel guests that she was from South Africa, and that she’d recently lost a child. She’d been getting mystery novels from the library and seemed to be a fan of them. She’d also shopped a lot – perhaps to replace the clothes that she’d abandoned in the car. And perhaps most notably, there was a photograph of Rosalind on her bedside table.
Archie traveled down to Harrogate to collect his wayward wife. He waited in the hotel dining area and observed as Christie picked up a newspaper which bore her own picture on the front. When he approached her she seemed puzzled as to who exactly he was, but she did agree to go home with him.
The conclusion to the mystery was obviously a huge deal. Hundreds of civilians crammed into a train station to try and spot Agatha Christie coming home. And the press was there, of course. Archie informed them that his wife was suffering from memory loss, with little idea of who she was. When asked why she chose the name “Neele,” he responded that he didn’t recognize it.
So, that’s what had been going on with Agatha Christie. But what had been going on inside her brain? Well, the best explanation would appear to be the one that Christie herself gave. In 1928 – the year she divorced Archie – she spoke to the Daily Mail about what she thought had happened during those lost 11 days.
Christie told the newspaper that she’d intended to take her own life that night, but when the car spun off the road she’d experienced amnesia. She said, “The car struck something with a jerk and pulled up suddenly. I was flung against the steering wheel, and my head hit something. Up to this moment, I was Mrs. Christie.”
Was that really what had happened? Unfortunately, the secret died with Christie. In the years since her death, though, many people have come forward to offer new explanations. For example, in 2000 The Guardian scored an interview with the daughter of Christie’s sister-in-law – and she claimed to know some truths about the matter.
Judith Gardner, the daughter of Nan Watts, told the newspaper that she’d been told the account as a child. Christie had fled to Watt’s house the night she disappeared, hiding there until being put on a train to Harrogate. Why? Because, Gardner claimed, Christie wanted revenge against her cheating husband.
Gardner pointed out, “If she had had amnesia she would not have signed the register in the other woman’s name. She was a highly intelligent woman.” And many people believe this theory. Christie might have planned, Gone Girl-style, to have her husband suspected of her murder and dragged through the mud.
Not everyone agrees with that story, however. In 2006 biographer Andrew Norman told The Guardian newspaper that he believed Christie had been in a “fugue state” when she disappeared. Unwell mentally, she’d basically taken on the personality of a different, imagined woman named Teresa Neele.
So, what’s the answer? Interestingly, if you rearrange the letters of “Teresa” you get “Teaser.” Was Christie’s disappearance all a careful plot, or was it a mental breakdown caused by her unfaithful husband? Perhaps we’ll never know for certain, but the Christie herself might have delighted at the idea of her life becoming such an enduring mystery.
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Home > JOURNALS > HASTINGS_LAW_JOURNAL > Vol. 56 (2005)
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Teacher perceptions of the contribution of home economics to sustainable development education: A cross-cultural view
73142_1.pdf (161.8Kb)
Dewhurst, Yvonne
Pendergast, Donna
Pendergast, Donna L.
This paper reports on the contribution of Home Economics to sustainable development education as part of the school curriculum for students aged 11-18 years in a number of cultural contexts. A survey was used to collect data from Home Economics teachers in Australia, Canada, Malta and Scotland to better understand the similarities and differences of Home Economics curriculum in these contexts, as it contributes to sustainable development education. The data reveal that the teachers in the study considered sustainable development to be an important issue, and the formal Home Economics curricula made significant contributions ...
View more >This paper reports on the contribution of Home Economics to sustainable development education as part of the school curriculum for students aged 11-18 years in a number of cultural contexts. A survey was used to collect data from Home Economics teachers in Australia, Canada, Malta and Scotland to better understand the similarities and differences of Home Economics curriculum in these contexts, as it contributes to sustainable development education. The data reveal that the teachers in the study considered sustainable development to be an important issue, and the formal Home Economics curricula made significant contributions to the education of this topic. It is noted, however, that the field of sustainable development education has neglected studies of Home Economics education and its teachers' perceptions about sustainable development education, and this is reinforced by a lack of research generated from the Home Economics field. The researchers argue that this is an inhibiting factor affecting the capacity of schools to achieve sustainable development goals.
International Journal of Consumer Studies
© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: Teacher perceptions of the contribution of home economics to sustainable development education: A cross-cultural view, International Journal of Consumer Studies, Vol. 35(5), 2011, pp. 569-577, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1470-6431.2011.01029.x.
Curriculum and Pedagogy Theory and Development
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The Role of Arginase I in Ischemic Stroke and Cardiovascular Disease
Ashley Brooke Petrone
Taura L Barr
Paul D Chantler
Stanley M Hileman
Gregory Konat
James W Simpkins
Acute ischemic stroke (AIS) is currently the fifth leading cause of death and a leading cause of long-term disability in the United States. Further, the incidence of AIS is expected to increase dramatically through year 2030. Despite the current and anticipated burden of AIS, treatment options for AIS, both acute and chronic, are extremely limited. Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is currently the only FDA-approved drug used to treat AIS; however, only a small fraction of AIS patients are eligible to receive tPA, and of these, only roughly 15 percent benefit from treatment with tPA. Given this, there is a crucial need to develop novel therapeutic options for AIS that may act independently or improve the efficacy of tPA. The use of human biomarker studies has led to the discovery of several biomarkers that can be used to diagnose AIS from other pathological conditions and can also be used to identify therapeutic targets for future therapeutics. Our laboratory has previously identified arginase 1 (ARG1) as the most significantly upregulated gene in the blood of AIS patients compared to control; however, the source and functional significance of this elevation is unclear. ARG1 has been shown to have a broad range of functions, including mediating the immune system response and vascular function, and because changes in both immune and vascular function play a role in AIS severity and recovery, ARG1 may represent a novel prognostic marker and therapeutic target in AIS.;The purpose of this dissertation was to better characterize the role of ARG1 in AIS and cardiovascular disease (CVD) as a whole. Specifically, to determine how changes in ARG1 expression may mediate immune function and vascular function, and how these alterations impact disease incidence, progression, and recovery. Herein, we have shown that increased ARG1 expression is associated with changes in immune function that may contribute to post-stroke immunosuppression and poor recovery following AIS. Further, in addition to mediating the immune response to AIS, increased ARG1 is also associated with increased arterial stiffness and vascular dysfunction following AIS. Lastly, we have shown that increased ARG1 expression is associated with vascular dysfunction outside of AIS, in the context of patients with CVD risk factors. Our results suggest a potential role for ARG1, as both a diagnostic and prognostic marker in AIS. We also have evocative evidence to suggest that ARG1 inhibition may be a potential therapeutic strategy to reduce the incidence and severity of AIS.
Petrone, Ashley Brooke, "The Role of Arginase I in Ischemic Stroke and Cardiovascular Disease" (2015). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 6414.
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Nano-derived sensors for high-temperature sensing of H2, SO2 and H2S
Engin Ciftyurek
Industrial and Managements Systems Engineering
Edward M Sabolsky
Konstantinos A Sierros
Xueyan Song
Charter Stinespring
Nianqiang Wu
The emission of sulfur compounds from coal-fired power plants remains a significant concern for air quality. This environmental challenge must be overcome by controlling the emission of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) throughout the entire coal combustion process. One of the processes which could specifically benefit from robust, low cost, and high temperature compatible gas sensors is the coal gasification process which converts coal and/or biomass into syngas. Hydrogen (H2), carbon monoxide (CO) and sulfur compounds make up 33%, 43% and 2% of syngas, respectively. Therefore, development of a high temperature (>500°C) chemical sensor for in-situ monitoring H2, H2S and SO2 levels during coal gasification is strongly desired. The selective detection of SO2/H2S in the presence of H2, is a formidable task for a sensor designer. In order to ensure effective operation of these chemical sensors, they must inexpensively function within the gasifier's harsh temperature and chemical environment. Currently available sensing approaches, which are based on gas chromatography, electrochemistry, and IR-spectroscopy, do not satisfy the required cost and performance targets.;There is also a substantial necessity for microsensors that can be applied inexpensively, have quick response time and low power consumption for sustained operation at high temperature. In order to develop a high temperature compatible microsensor, this work will discourse issues related to sensor stability, selectivity, and miniaturization. It has been shown that the integration of nanomaterials as the sensing material within resistive-type chemical sensor platforms increase sensitivity. Unfortunately, nanomaterials are not stable at high temperatures due to sintering and coarsening processes that are driven by their high surface to volume ratio. Therefore, new hydrogen and sulfur selective nanomaterial systems with potentially highly selective and stable properties in the proposed harsh environment were investigated. Different tungstates and molybdates (WO3, MoO3, MgMoO4, NiMoO4, NiWO4, Sr2MgWO6 (SMW), Sr2MgMoO6 (SMM), SrMoO4, and SrWO4) were investigated at the micro- and nano-scale, due to their well-known properties as the reversible absorbents of sulfur compounds. Different morphologies of aforementioned compounds as well as microstructural alterations were also the subject of the investigation. The fabrication of the microsensors consisted of the deposition of the selective nanomaterial systems over metal based interconnects on an inert substrate. This work utilized the chemi-resistive (resistive-type) microsensor architecture where the chemically and structurally stable, high temperature compatible electrodes were sputtered onto a ceramic substrate. The nanomaterial sensing systems were deposited over the electrodes using a lost mold method patterned by conventional optical lithography.;Development of metal based high temperature compatible electrodes was crucial to the development of the high temperature sensor due to the instability of typically used noble metal (platinum) based electrode material over ceramic substrates. Therefore, the thermal stability limitations of platinum films with various adhesion layers (titanium (Ti), tantalum (Ta), zirconium (Zr), and hafnium (Hf)) were characterized at 800 and 1200°C. Platinum (Pt)-zirconium (Zr)-hafnium (Hf) were investigated. The high-temperature stable composite thin film architecture was developed by sequential sputter deposition of Hf, Zr and Pt. In addition to this multilayer architecture, further investigation was carried out by using an alternative DC sputtering deposition process, which led to the fabrication of a functionally-gradient platinum and zirconium composite microstructure with very promising high temperature properties. The final process investigated reduced labor, time and material consumption compared to methods for forming multilayer architectures previously discussed in literature.;In addition to electrical resistivity characterization of the different thin film electrode architectures, the chemical composition, and nano- and micro-structure of the developed nanomaterial films, as well as sensing mechanism, were characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopies (XPS and UPS), atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, temperature programmed reduction (TPR) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The macro-configurations of the sensors were tested and analyzed for sensitivity and cross-sensitivity, response time and recovery time, as well as long term stability. The microsensor configuration with optimized nanomaterial system was tested and compared to a millimeter-size sensor platform in terms of sensitivity and accuracy. Electrochemical relaxation (ECR) technique was also utilized to quantify the surface diffusion kinetics of SO2 over the chosen sensor material surface. The outcomes of this research will contribute to the economical application of sensor arrays for simultaneous sensing of H2, H2S, and SO2.
Ciftyurek, Engin, "Nano-derived sensors for high-temperature sensing of H2, SO2 and H2S" (2014). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 7305.
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Neutrophil Extracellular Traps in Breast Cancer and Beyond: Current Perspectives on NET Stimuli, Thrombosis and Metastasis, and Clinical Utility for Diagnosis and Treatment
Hunter T. Snoderly, West Virginia University
Brian A. Boone, West Virginia University
Margaret F. Bennewitz, West Virginia University
Statler College of Engineering and Mining Resources
The formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), known as NETosis, was first observed as a novel immune response to bacterial infection, but has since been found to occur abnormally in a variety of other inflammatory disease states including cancer. Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy in women. In breast cancer, NETosis has been linked to increased disease progression, metastasis, and complications such as venous thromboembolism. NET-targeted therapies have shown success in preclinical cancer models and may prove valuable clinical targets in slowing or halting tumor progression in breast cancer patients. We will briefly outline the mechanisms by which NETs may form in the tumor microenvironment and circulation, including the crosstalk between neutrophils, tumor cells, endothelial cells, and platelets as well as the role of cancer-associated extracellular vesicles in modulating neutrophil behavior and NET extrusion. The prognostic implications of cancer-associated NETosis will be explored in addition to development of novel therapeutics aimed at targeting NET interactions to improve outcomes in patients with breast cancer.
Snoderly, Hunter T.; Boone, Brian A.; and Bennewitz, Margaret F., "Neutrophil Extracellular Traps in Breast Cancer and Beyond: Current Perspectives on NET Stimuli, Thrombosis and Metastasis, and Clinical Utility for Diagnosis and Treatment" (2019). Faculty & Staff Scholarship. 1377.
Snoderly, H.T., Boone, B.A. & Bennewitz, M.F. Neutrophil extracellular traps in breast cancer and beyond: current perspectives on NET stimuli, thrombosis and metastasis, and clinical utility for diagnosis and treatment. Breast Cancer Res 21, 145 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13058-019-1237-6
Chemical Engineering Commons
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How Private Investigators Assist with Police Investigations
By DarrinOctober 10, 2017Private Investigator
Largely influenced by movies and TV shows, there is a widespread misconception that private investigators get in the way of the authorities and solve crimes on their own by breaking laws. The truth, however, is that private investigators are valuable assets in criminal investigations and often work with the police and other law enforcement agencies when the situation calls for it.
You might even find instances where the police force becomes the client of a private investigator. This is because the police may have some of their actions restricted, as officers and enforcers of the law, that a PI, as a private individual, may not be limited by.
Collecting Evidence
Without sufficient evidence to build and support a case, law enforcement can’t step in and take the reins of the investigation. With the help of a good private investigator, enough evidence can be obtained and handed over to the police, so that the latter can take over, pursue the case, and make an arrest.
It’s important to remember, though, that while private investigators aren’t restricted by the law, they are not above the legal system. If a PI acquires evidence by breaking the law, it will most likely be inadmissible in court and would derail the investigation.
Manpower Support
Sometimes, a police department can get overwhelmed with a huge volume of cases. They can even be undermanned in some situations. This is where the assistance of private investigators come in – while the police are pursuing priority investigations, they can acquire the services of PIs who can already begin gathering evidence and interviewing witnesses, among others, so that law enforcement can make headway in their other caseloads.
Some private investigators have previously worked on the police force or have military training and/or experience, making their skill set a useful resource when they assist in police investigations.
A Fresh Perspective
Because a private investigator’s working methods usually differ from that of a police detective’s, PIs can uncover things that the latter can immediately find out. They also have resources that may not be as accessible to law enforcement, such as their own previous case files and personal contacts. If need be, a private investigator can even go undercover to collect evidence that may otherwise be unreachable for police officers.
Some PIs may also have certain fields of expertise that the police may need. For example, if the investigation involves intellectual property theft, private investigators are most likely more informed about patents and trademarks compared to police detectives.
Locating People, Serving Warrants
There are some people who have reservations talking to authority figures, especially law enforcement, sometimes out of fear that they would get in trouble, sometimes out of distrust. This makes a private investigator more effective in locating and talking to witnesses and other persons involved in the investigation, according to Great Neck NY private investigator Darrin Giglio. “People may be more open to talk to private individuals (and therefore share more details) rather than the police.” It is this reason that PIs may also be able to more effectively serve warrants, subpoenas, and other documents.
As an added bonus, private investigators are also an excellent source of lawyer referrals, which can come in handy for witnesses and the police themselves.
Movies and TV shows don’t always get things right, and private investigators are among the “victims”, though there are some PIs that do give the profession a bad rap. However, one shouldn’t be quick to judge private investigators and lump them together as unsavory lawbreakers. In fact, if the police are stumped and keep hitting dead ends, PIs are more than ready to help them catch a break and eventually solve the case.
4 Types of Cyber Crimes and How to Protect Yourself from Them
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