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Forums > Documenting Scientology > Important documents >
Operation Snow White
Discussion in 'Important documents' started by Lohan2008, Jul 23, 2009.
Lohan2008 Gold Meritorious Patron
As early as 1960, L. Ron Hubbard had proposed that Scientologists should infiltrate government departments by taking secretarial, bodyguard or other jobs. In the early 1970s, the Church of Scientology was increasingly scrutinized by US federal agencies, having already been raided by the Food and Drug Administration in 1963. The IRS claimed it owed millions of dollars in taxes and the FBI sent agents into the organization. The Church's response involved a publicity campaign, extensive litigation against the IRS and a program of infiltration of agency offices.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Snow_White
Operation Snow White was the Church of Scientology's name for a project during the 1970s to purge unfavorable records about Scientology and its founder L. Ron Hubbard. This project included a series of infiltrations and thefts from 136 government agencies, foreign embassies and consulates, as well as private organizations critical of Scientology, carried out by Church members, in more than 30 countries;[1] the single largest infiltration of the United States government in history[2] with up to 5,000 covert agents.[3] This was also the operation that exposed 'Operation Freakout', due to the fact that this was the case that brought the government into investigation on the Church.[3]
Under this program, Scientology operatives committed infiltration, wiretapping, and theft of documents in government offices, most notably those of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Eleven highly-placed Church executives, including Mary Sue Hubbard (wife of founder L. Ron Hubbard and second-in-command of the organisation), pleaded guilty or were convicted in federal court of obstructing justice, burglary of government offices, and theft of documents and government property. The case was United States vs. Mary Sue Hubbard et al., 493 F. Supp. 209 (D.D.C. 1979).[4][5][6][7]
3 Aftermath and Trial
4 Involved parties
5 Effect of the scandal
As early as 1960, L. Ron Hubbard had proposed that Scientologists should infiltrate government departments by taking secretarial, bodyguard or other jobs.[8] In the early 1970s, the Church of Scientology was increasingly scrutinized by US federal agencies, having already been raided by the Food and Drug Administration in 1963. The IRS claimed it owed millions of dollars in taxes and the FBI sent agents into the organization.[8] The Church's response involved a publicity campaign, extensive litigation against the IRS and a program of infiltration of agency offices.[8]
The specific branch of Scientology responsible for Operation Snow White was the Guardian's Office. Created in 1966 by L. Ron Hubbard himself, the Guardian's Office's purpose was to protect the interests of Scientology.[9] At the time of Operation Snow White, the Guardian's Office had worldwide headquarters (Guardian’s Office WW) located at Saint Hill Manor in England. Headquarters in the United States (Guardian’s Office US) were in Los Angeles, California. A smaller office also existed in Washington D.C. (Guardian’s Office DC) and other cities throughout the United States. Each of the Guardian Offices had five bureaus including the Information Bureau which oversaw the infiltration of the government. L. Ron Hubbard oversaw the Guardian's Office, though it was Mary Sue Hubbard, his wife, who held the title Commodore Staff Guardian.[10]
Several years later, in 1973, the Guardian's Office began a massive infiltration of governments around the world, though the primary target of the operation was the United States. Worried about Scientology’s long term reputation, the Guardian’s Office decided to infiltrate Interpol in order to obtain documents relating to Scientology, as well as those connecting L. Ron Hubbard to criminal activity. This duty was handed by Jane Kember to Hening Heldt and his staff.[11]
Around this time L. Ron Hubbard himself wrote Guardian Order 732, which called for the removal and correction of “erroneous” Scientology files. It is here that Operation Snow White has its origins. Though the order called for this to be achieved by legal means, this would quickly change. [12] Hubbard himself would later be named by federal prosecutors as an "unindicted co-conspirator" for his part in the operation. Though extensive records of his involvement exist, many Scientologists claim his directives were misinterpreted by his followers. [13][14]
Operation Snow White would further be refined to Guardian Order 1361. Addressed from Jane Kember to Heldt, Duke Snider, and Richard Weigand, GO 1361 called for, amongst other things, an infiltration of both the LA and London offices of the IRS, as well as the Department of Justice.[15]
While the order was specific to the IRS, the Guardian’s Office was soon recruiting their own field agents to infiltrate other branches of the government, including the DEA, the Coast Guard intelligence service,[16] the AMA, and the National Institute of Mental Health, among others.[17] The program called for rewards to be given for successful missions carried out by Scientologists. [18]
Other planned elements of the operation included petitioning governments and the United Nations to charge government critics of Scientology with genocide, on the theory that official criticism of the group constituted "deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction".[citation needed] One of the sentencing memoranda in the case also noted that, contrary to what the defendants claimed, the programs planned by the Guardian's Office were not restricted to trying to remove "false reports" but included plans to plant false information—for instance, planting false records about "a cat with a pedigree name" into US security agency computers so that later "the creature holds a press conference and photographic story results." The purpose of this plan was "to hold up the American security to ridicule, as outlined in the GO by LRH."[19]
The start of 1974 saw a Michael Meisner appointed Assistant Guardian for Information in the District of Columbia (AG I DC). Meisner’s responsibilities now included the implementation of all Information Bureau orders, programs, and projects within the DC area. Meisner’s supervisor at this time was Duke Snider, the Assistant Guardian for DC, or AG DC. This was the highest position in Washington’s GO office.[20]
In July 1974 Meisner was ordered by Duke Snider to implement the previously written plan to obtain Interpol documents, which were then located in the US Department of the Treasury. Meisner had more to do than just this, though, as by August he was also taking directions from a Cindy Raymond, the GO's Collections Officer for the US, who ordered Meisner to assist her in finding a loyal Scientologist agent to gain employment at the IRS headquarters in Washington DC. This employee was to steal all documents dealing with Scientology, especially those involving current litigation by Scientology against the government. Meisner discussed this with Raymond for a period of a month before interviewing various Scientologists with no luck. A month after the order had been given, Raymond informed Meisner that she had selected Gerald Wolfe. [21]
The GO's actual infiltration of the government likely began when Gerald Wolfe and Michael Meisner were able to gain employment at the IRS as clerk-typists. Under direction of the Guardian Office, Wolfe monitored files on tax-exempt organizations and, when requested, illegally made copies for Scientology.[16] Meisner supervised both Wolfe and the Information Bureau section in DC, and reported to the GO's Deputy Guardian for Information in the US.[22]
In November 1974, Operation Snow White took an unexpected turn for the GO when they received word that the IRS would be conducting a meeting on Scientology’s tax-exempt status. In response, the church sent a spy to bug the room.[23] On the morning of November 1, the day before the meeting, a GO agent, Hermann, broke into the conference room and plugged the device into an electrical outlet. This device, in turn, then transmitted a signal to an FM frequency, which was picked up and recorded by Scientologists sitting in a car in the parking lot of the Smithsonian, which faced the office. After the meeting Hermann removed the device, and the taped recording of the meeting was sent to LA.[24]
By December, Wolfe, Herman, and Meisner had sent a shipment of stolen documents 20 inches thick to Duke Snider. Snider, in turn, sent notification to Mo Budlong in LA. By the end of December, Wolfe was stealing documents from the IRS’s Chief Counsel’s office. Just days after Christmas, Wolfe broke into the office of Barbara Bird, an attorney in the IRS’ Refund Litigation Service. Bird had been present at the November 1st meeting. Instead of stealing files, Wolfe took them to a copier and made photocopies using government paper. [25]
Later Wolfe met Meisner at a Lums Restaurant, where he reported on his most recent theft. Meisner took the documents and underlined selections that he believed his superiors would find interesting or relevant and wrote a summary of the important points. This was then routed through the Assistant Guardian for DC and on to the Deputy Guardian for the US, the Deputy Guardian for Information in the US, the Branch I Director of the Information Bureau, and the Collections Officer, all of which were in LA. A copy was also sent to Mary Sue Hubbard. This was typically standard procedure for Meisner.[25]
In early 1975 Operation Snow White expanded again as Sharon Thomas obtained employment in the Coast Guard Intelligence Agency and Nancy Douglass began work at the DEA. Douglass stole documents and made photocopies of others. These were transmitted to Hermann.[26]
By Spring, attention had been called back to the IRS case as Mary Sue Hubbard had instructed Kember and Heldt to “use any method at our disposal to win the battle and gain our non-profit (tax) status.[27]" Heldt wrote back telling that her request had been sent to the Information Bureau, who had been ordered to complete the collection of documents from the IRS and the Department of Justice’s tax files within three months.[28]
In April, Meisner procured a directory of the Department of Justice and located the offices that would have files pertaining to Scientology litigation. When he found what he wanted he sent in Wolfe, who broke into the offices of two attorneys on three successive Saturdays. Wolfe copied twelve files and met up with Meisner, as before, at Lums restaurant. These files were especially useful to Scientology, as it detailed the government’s strategy in various court cases.
In May, Willardson directed Meisner to implement “Project Horn,” which called for Meisner to “provide a cover for PR and legal for the way they obtained IRS docs.” The idea would be for the GO’s Public Relations Bureau to view the documents without worrying about being connected to the theft. Willardson’s idea called for Meisner to steal documents dealing with organizations other than Scientology. Willardson also called for the theft of IRS stationary, in order to forge letters from a (fictional) disgruntled IRS employee. The files on various organizations (including Scientology, of course) would then be sent out attached to the fake letter. The idea was that it would appear that an upset IRS agent had himself sent the files to numerous organizations. There would be nothing to tie it to Scientology. Wolfe stole both the stationary and, without permission, files on the Unification Church and Bob Jones University.[29]
During the Summer and Fall months of 1975 the GO launched an additional plan. In July, Meisner was told by Cindy Raymond that the Church of Scientology had initiated a FOIA lawsuit against the IRS. Meisner was directed to add the office of Charles Zuravin to his list of offices to monitor. Zuravin was representing the government in the case. Meisner immediately passed this duty on to Wolfe, who broke into Zuravin‘s office multiple times between July and November. Wolfe revealed to his superiors that Zuravin was preparing an index of Scientology files relevant to the FOIA case. IRS offices from all over the country were sending files to Zuravin. This index file, required by the courts in all FOIA cases, is a total list of the documents requested, and reasons for their exemption from the public, if any.[30]
By October, Zuravin had finished the index, numbering each document in order to simplify location, and had provided a copy to Scientology attorneys. These attorneys, in turn, gave the index to Raymond, who passed it along to Meisner, who passed it to Wolfe. Wolfe then entered Zuravin’s office and then began copying the documents listed on the index. Zuravin had essentially done the GO’s job for them.[30]
On December 5 1975 Jane Kember issued Guardian Program Order 158, which intended to give L. Ron Hubbard early warning of impending legal action. The plan called for the infiltration of the government agencies that had either the power to issue, or the knowledge of, impending subpoenas.[31] Specific agencies include the US Attorney’s Office in DC and LA, the IRS Office of International Operations, the DEA, and the Coast Guard and Immigration and Naturalization. After reviewing the letter, Meisner concluded it would be a better idea to infiltrate the Department of Justice than the US Attorney’s Office.[32]
In January 1976 Hermann, the Southeast US Secretary for the Information Bureau, informed Meisner that Heldt and Weigand approved a plan to send Alverzo to Washington. Alverzo arrived on the 17th, and on the 18th he picked the locks on the doors belonging to the office of Lewis Hubbard (no relation to L. Ron Hubbard) and the file room housing Zuravin’s files. Wolfe stood guard at the end of the hallway while Alverzo worked on Hubbard’s door. A few doors down Meisner worked on Zuravin’s door. After an hour and a half with no success, Meisner was getting upset. In frustration, Meisner hit the top of Zuravin’s door, which popped right open. The three Scientologists entered the office and took the remaining Scientology related documents. They then traveled to another floor where they made photocopies. Wolfe continued to make copies while Alverzo and Meisner tried again to open Hubbard’s office. The trio then worked well into the night photocopying files from Hubbard’s office. When they left, sometime around 2 AM, they left with a foot tall stack of documents.[33] Less than a month later Richard Weigand wrote to Jane Kember, telling her that the IRS documents that had been ordered to be obtained in Guardian Order 1361, over two years earlier, had been obtained.[34]
Gerald Wolfe, along with Meisner, were later able to break into a room and make false IRS identification cards, which allowed them access to the federal courthouse in Washington. Wolfe and Meisner then used these cards to gain access to restricted areas and steal more documents.[16]
While Wolfe and Meisner continued their work at the IRS, Mary Sue Hubbard, along with other Guardian Office members, were coming up with further plans. Guardian Program Order 302, written by Cindy Raymond and approved by Hubbard, amongst others, directed the infiltration of all government agencies that had withheld files from Scientology’s various FOIA requests.[35]
On the night of April 14, Meisner and Wolfe were on the tenth floor of the IRS building housing the Office of International Operations. Trying to enter an office, the pair found it locked. A passing cleaning lady noted Meisner and Wolfe’s suspicious behavior, and notified a security guard. The guard confronted the pair and was presented with Wolfe’s genuine IRS card and Meisner’s fabricated one. Satisfied, the guard had the cleaning lady open the door. Inside, the pair grabbed a hefty load of files. Unable to find a photocopier, the pair then took the files to the main IRS building, where the pair again used their identification to gain access. After copying the files they returned them to Crate‘s office. The entire process took some four hours. [36]
The month of May saw Wolfe break into the United States Courthouse and steal keys to the office of Assistant United States Attorney Nathan Dodell. Wolfe then took these keys to have them duplicated, and returned them with no one the wiser. Almost three weeks later Wolfe and Meisner broke into Dodell’s office, stealing documents and, as usual, forwarding them to Guardian headquarters in Los Angeles. [16] The GO’s interest in Nathan Dodell stemmed from a Scientology FOIA case. In April, Judge George L Hart asked Dodell whether the US had considered taking a deposition of L Ron Hubbard. Dodell responded that it was an “interesting thought.” Furthermore, he promised to discuss it with the Department of Justice. [37]
In May, Meisner and Wolfe entered the US Courthouse for the District of Columbia sometime around four in the afternoon. They went to the third floor, which was the home of both the US Attorney‘s Office and the Bar Association Library. The purpose of the duo’s visit was to locate Nathan Dodell’s office, which was in the back of the Civil Division area, near a elevator. The pair then sought out the location of photocopiers. After mapping out these locations, the pair left. Later, Wolfe and Meisner would make a copy of Dodell's keys.[38]
On May 21 the pair entered the Courthouse, signing in to do research in the library and were issued an elevator key. After riding the elevator to the floor of the library, the pair entered the library and removed several books from shelves and sat at a table. After a few minutes they exited through a backdoor and emerged in a hallway. Off this hallway was Dodell’s office, which they entered using their keys. The duo stole a number of documents related to Scientology and walked through the hallway to the two copy machines they had previously located. The pair photocopied some six inches of documents before returning the originals to Dodell’s office. [38]
One week later Wolfe and Meisner again met outside the IRS building. The duo then walked to the US Courthouse, and signed in under fake names. The pair repeated their actions from the previous week, copying another foot of documents from the District of Columbia Police Department as well as the Food and Drug Administration. Returning to Dodell’s office through the library, the pair was stopped by the night librarian, who asked if they had signed in. While they had signed in at the front desk, they had failed to do the same at the front desk of the library. When they announced that they had not, Johnson told the pair not to come back unless they had specific authorization from the day librarian. The pair promptly left. Three days later Johnson notified the US Attorney’s Office that two individuals had been seen using the photocopying machines of the Attorney’s Office. Johnson and the night guard were told to immediately contact the FBI if the individuals returned.[37]
Less than two weeks later Hermann phoned Meisner, and ordered him to return to Dodell’s office and steal his personal files. The goal was to formulate a plan that would result in Dodell being removed from his position as an Assistant US Attorney for the District of Columbia.[37]
Meisner and Wolfe entered the United States Courthouse on June 11 around 7 in the evening. They signed in as they did before, and headed to the library. Johnson, the night librarian, recognized the pair and immediately stopped them. Meisner was prepared for this, and showed the man a letter from the head librarian. Wolfe and Meisner continued to the back of the library where they exited into the hallway. Outside Dodell’s office the two saw that cleaning ladies were still at work.[37]
While Meisner and Wolfe waited for the cleaning crew to vacate the office, Johnson called the FBI, which sent two agents over immediately. The two agents confronted the Scientologists and demanded to see their identification. Wolfe used his real identification. Meisner presented his fake card, and told the agents that he had recently resigned from the IRS. Meisner told Hansen that the pair was in the library to do legal research, and that they had used the photocopiers to copy books and cases. Neither mentioned Scientology. After roughly twenty minutes of questioning, the FBI agents allowed them to leave. Meisner then phoned Hermann to inform him of the news and was told to immediately fly to LA. [37]
Aftermath and Trial
Meisner and Wolfe were given cover stories by the Guardian's Office. [39] On the last day of June, Gerald Wolfe was arrested. Wolfe was charged with “the use and possession of a forged official pass of the United States."[40] The day after Wolfe’s arrest, Mary Sue Hubbard wrote a letter to Weigand ordering him to keep her abreast of the situation. Hubbard also conversed with Mo Budlong, and Richard Weigand about Wolfe’s arrest, cover story, and subsequent plan to destroy evidence linking Wolfe and Meisner to Scientology.[39]
At the end of July a judge decided that the case against Wolfe warranted an investigation by a Grand Jury. A week later the judge issued an arrest warrant for Meisner, who, at the time, was being hidden in LA. The FBI was able to connect him to Scientology.[41] By January 1977 it was becoming increasingly likely that Scientology would be unable to escape Operation Snow White without serious penalty. Though Meisner was still in hiding, he was growing increasingly anxious about the situation.[42] By April, Meisner wanted to surrender to the authorities. Meisner was quickly put under the control of several guards. [39]
In June, Wolfe, after being sentenced to probation and community service, testified before the Grand Jury. Instead of the truth, Wolfe told the latest incarnation of his cover story.[39] Several days later Meisner would again escape his captors, though this time he would contact the FBI. Meisner was eventually taken to Washington, where he agreed to plead guilty to a five-year conspiracy felony and cooperate with the Grand Jury.[43]
On May 13, Gerald Wolfe entered a guilty plea.[44] Later in the month, Meisner escaped his captors, only to be convinced to rejoin the GO the following day.[45]
On July 4 the FBI raided Church of Scientology locations in Los Angeles, Hollywood and Washington, DC.[8] The Los Angeles raid involved 156 FBI agents: the most that had ever been used in a single raid. It lasted 21 hours and filled a sixteen ton truck with documents and other items.[8]
The raids not only turned up documentation of the group's illegal activities against the United States government,[46] but also illegal activities carried out against other perceived enemies of Scientology. These included "Operation Freakout", a conspiracy to frame author Paulette Cooper on false bomb-threat charges, and conspiracies to frame Gabe Cazares, mayor of Clearwater, Florida, on false hit-and-run charges.[47][48] The papers also revealed that Sir John Foster (author of the official UK Government inquiry into Scientology) and Lord Balniel (who had requested the report) were targets, along with the National Association for Mental Health (NAMH) and World Federation for Mental Health.[49]
Comparing the FBI to the Gestapo, the Church declared that all the files seized from the Church were taken illegally,[50] though the FBI produced a 40-plus page affidavit detailing 160 specific items they were looking for.[51]
By July 20, some 13 days after the raid, a Washington judge ruled that the documents should be returned, at least temporarily, to the Church, and that none of the documents could be shared with branches of the government, unless that specific branch was investigating Scientology. Scientology's lawyers had successfully argued that in order to prepare for an August 8 hearing on the legality of the raid, they must be able to see the documents.[52] By July 27 a judge in Washington had ruled the warrant authorizing the raid was too broad, and as such, violated the Church's 4th Amendment rights.[53] In August this ruling would be overturned, with Scientology promising to take the case to the Supreme Court,[54] which would, early in the next year, refuse to hear the case.[55]
In August 1978 11 high ranking members of Scientology were indicted on 28 charges. One of the indicted was Mary Sue Hubbard, wife of Scientology’s creator L. Ron Hubbard. The other ten were Gerald Wolfe, Cindy Raymond, Henning Heldt, Duke Snider, Gregory Willardson, Richard Weigand, Mitchell Herman, Sharon Thomas, Jane Kember, and Mo Budlong. Kendrick Moxon and L. Ron Hubbard was named unindicted co-conspirators.[56]
Over the course of the investigation the Church of Scientology would attempt to have a judge removed,[56] and would subpoena almost 150 federal agents in what appeared to be a large stalling scheme.[57] The Church would also offer several shifting explanations for their actions.[58][59] Ultimately, these tactics failed and the defendants agreed to a plea deal.
The Scientologists would be found guilty and their attorneys would be allowed to argue for the suppression of the government’s evidence. 7 of the 11 members of the Guardian’s Office pled guilty to just a single count of conspiracy to obstruct justice.One more pled guilty to a similar charge and a ninth pled guilty to a misdemeanor. The remaining two Scientologists were in England, awaiting extradition. [60]
On December 6, 1979, some five years after Operation Snow White began, it officially came to an end. Five of the Scientologists were sentenced to four years in jail, with four of the convicted being taken immediately. Mary Sue Hubbard, wife of L Ron Hubbard, was sentenced to five years. Each of the six faced a fine of 10,000 dollars.[61] The next day the four remaining Scientologists were sentenced. Three of the four faced a fine of 10,000 and five years in jail. The fourth was fined 1,000 and sent to jail for six months. Upon release she was given five years of probation and community service. All of the Scientologists immediately began to appeal.[62] Their appeal was rejected.[63]
In November 1980, the two remaining Scientologists, Jane Kember and Mo Budlong, were finally convicted on nine counts of aiding and abetting burglary in connection with break-ins at government offices,[64] and were sentenced to two to six years.[65]
Involved parties
Mary Sue Hubbard, Cindy Raymond, Gerald Bennett Wolfe, Henning Heldt, Duke Snider (not to be confused with Duke Snider, a baseball player of the same name), Gregory Willardson, Richard Weigand, Mitchell Herman, Sharon Thomas, Jane Kember, and Mo Budlong, all high-ranking Scientologists, were convicted and sent to prison for five years.
Kendrick Moxon was listed as an "unindicted co-conspirator" for providing false handwriting samples to the FBI.[2] Moxon continued to act as an attorney for the Church of Scientology until at least 2000, representing the Church in the Lisa McPherson case.[66][67] L. Ron Hubbard was named by federal prosecutors as an "unindicted co-conspirator" and went into hiding for the rest of his life.[8][14]
After leaving prison Mary Sue Hubbard was no longer involved with the Church and passed away from Breast Cancer in 2002, unacknowledged by the Church.[68]
Effect of the scandal
The Church has been notably reluctant to discuss the operation's details; typical statements by members and operatives are often vague comments saying that the Guardian's Office (GO) had been "infiltrated" and "set up" to fail in its mission to protect the Church, that those involved were "purged" from the Church, without detailing what actually happened (although it has been suggested many of those involved and "purged" remained in important positions of power within the church).[69] Church spokespersons on the Internet and elsewhere have been known to claim that the operatives "had done nothing more serious than steal photocopier paper."[70]
Lohan2008, Jul 23, 2009
Veda Sponsor
Below link contains Hubbard's letters to the FBI from the 1950s. Hubbard wrote them often, making various claims, and accusing numerous people - including his ex-wife, and even some Scientologists (still) "in good standing" - of being Communists or Communist sympathizers. After a while, his frequent letters, claiming such things as that the KGB had contacted him and offered him Pavlov's laboratory in Moscow, earned him the designation, "Appears mental."
http://www.xenu.net/archive/FBI
As far as I know, there is only one account of an FBI agent entering a Scientology Org to do a Communications Course. Scientology was regarded as a probable swindle, but not terribly important. This changed when the USA Feds (and other governments) discovered that Scientology was breaking into their offices, and messing with their documents in their file cabinets.
http://www.forum.exscn.net/showpost.php?p=79110&postcount=23
http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthread.php?t=8070&highlight=paulette+cooper
Veda, Jul 23, 2009
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Man dies after setting himself on fire in Wendy's bathroom
Ms. Brooks was showing up for her evening shift at the Highland Park Wendy's when she discovered a customer had set himself on fire inside the bathroom.
Tony Bazzi who works at the oil change business next door remembers the chaos Friday afternoon.
“We thought the Wendy’s was on fire. We didn't think it was a man on fire. That's crazy. That's sad. That's just sad.”
We're told the man was just released from the hospital. He headed to the Wendy's, entered the fast food restaurant and asked to use the bathroom.
A few minutes later - employees say he walked out on fire.
“He was calling for help. They went back there to try and assist but, being fully engulfed in flames there’s nothing anyone could do but put water on him.”
It's believed the man was in the bathroom doing drugs when the flames broke out. We're told drug paraphernalia was found inside the bathroom.
Employees called 911 and tried to douse the man with water, but their efforts were not enough. Chief Kevin Coney says he died from his injuries.
“Any time you see something that it is traumatic. They’re trying to do the best they have grief counselors in there right now assisting them.”
Police are still investigating. It is still unclear if it was an accident or if the man deliberately set himself on fire.
Superspreader ‘swinger’ party busted in South LA
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Sheriff: Cell phone tracking led to arrest of Sumpter Twp couple in Georgia
(WJBK) - A couple suspected of killing a 4-year-old girl is no longer on the run tonight.
Candice Diaz and Brad Fields are under arrest after being tracked down in Georgia. The US Marshals Service along with deputies from the Lowndes County Sheriff's Office captured the couple this afternoon.
Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk said as soon as he heard what the pair was accused of, he made sure his people were on it.
"I have been a sheriff for 17 years," he said. "I have seen a lot of bad crimes but this ranks right at the top with some of the worst."
Diaz, 24, and Fields, 28, were captured. They are accused of killing 4-year-old Gabby Barrett - who was found inside their Sumpter Township mobile home burned and beaten.
It is a case so heinous that it became a priority for Sheriff Paulk.
"We had an abundance of people on this thing as soon as we got notice they were in our area," he said. "We put every available person out looking for them trying to apprehend them because it is such a bad crime."
Fields and Diaz were arrested Tuesday afternoon on I-75 in Lake Park, Georgia near the state line of Florida.
Sheriff Paulk says the couple would periodically turn on their cell phone to use it - which allowed investigators to ping their location.
A Wayne County woman came forward shortly before their capture saying she unknowingly met the fugitives last week. She had them notarize an affidavit and claimed she felt uneasy from the moment they met.
"I was kind of weirded out because there was satanic symbolism all over the walls, witchcraft, stars, Ouija boards," she said. "It was just get in do the job get out."
Relatives tell FOX 2 this week although the couple both had criminal records and a violent on and off relationship of six years - they never had reason to believe Gabby was in danger.
What led up to the little girl's last moments is still under investigation. The Georgia sheriff is just glad the couple has been caught.
"Let's put it this way, I have five children, 24 grandchildren so what do you think I thought of this crime," he said. "One of the worst crimes you can do in the world is anything to a child, it’s terrible."
Paulk said the two suspects will be extradited to Michigan. Relatives of Fields said that he had a grandfather in Florida and the couple was arrested a few miles from the state line.
City of Detroit plans to demolish 1,380 blighted properties
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Some Israeli settler leaders don’t support West Bank annexation plans, adding another obstacle for Netanyahu
https://www.jta.org/quick-reads/some-israeli-settler-leaders-dont-support-west-bank-annexation-plans-adding-another-obstacle-for-netanyahu
(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged settler leaders to get behind his push to annex parts of the West Bank on Tuesday in the wake of their public arguments that the plan would effectively halt settlement expansion.
Netanyahu is trying to take advantage of the time he has before a possible change in the U.S. administration to follow through on a pledge he promised for over a year of political campaigning: applying Israeli sovereignty over large swaths of West Bank that most of the international community sees as illegally occupied. Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic candidate for president who supports a two-state solution, would likely not support any annexation.
But even President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace team has seemed divided over the possibility of imminent annexation. U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman enthusiastically endorsed the idea in January, but Jared Kushner, a key architect of the administration’s recently released peace plan, soon after said that an exact map of territories has yet to be agreed upon.
Now some Israeli settler leaders, whom Netanyahu has courted and counted on for support for years, have joined in the argument against immediate annexation, as detailed in reports in The New York Times and The Times of Israel. They claim that annexing the territory now would turn the settlements into “disconnected enclaves that would be barred from expanding” and further isolate them from the rest of the Israeli state.
“Either the settlements have a future or the Palestinian state does — but not both,” right-wing lawmaker Bezalel Smotrich told The New York Times.
Netanyahu told settler leaders in a meeting on Tuesday that they have a “historic opportunity” when it comes to annexation.
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Forget China, There's Still a Big Trade Battle in Europe
And it's about to escalate.
Rich Duprey
(TMFCop)
Jan 15, 2020 at 11:26AM
Rich has been a Fool since 1998 and writing for the site since 2004. After 20 years of patrolling the mean streets of suburbia, he hung up his badge and gun to take up a pen full time. Having made the streets safe for Truth, Justice, and Krispy Kreme donuts, he now patrols the markets looking for companies he can lock up as long-term holdings in a portfolio. His coverage reflects his passion for motorcycles, booze, and guns (though typically not all exercised at the same time), but his writing also covers the broader sectors of consumer goods, technology, and industrials. So follow along as he tries to break down complex topics to make them more understandable and useful to the average investor. Have a story idea? Contact Rich here. I may not be able to respond to every suggestion, but I do read them all! Think an article needs a correction? Reach Rich here.
Detente on trade relations between the U.S. and China continues to progress, with President Trump removing China from the list of currency manipulators. While China is obviously a strategic trading partner, and settling points of contention is crucial, the U.S. is apparently still fully engaged in a hot trade war with Europe.
After the U.S. imposed a 25% tariff on French, German, British, and Spanish wines last October, France is considering imposing a tax on U.S. tech giants like Facebook and Alphabet's Google, Trump's trade representative has proposed hiking the duties on all European wines and whiskies to 100% and then extending it to other imported goods like olives, cheese, handbags, and cookware.
The massive increase would cause prices to soar and would hit not only importers, but restaurants and retailers also. And, of course, it will be the consumer who actually pays the cost.
There won't be much to celebrate if the next round of tariffs on European wine goes through. Image source: Getty Images.
Falling dominoes
No one ever really wins in a trade war, consumers least of all, and the latest skirmish shows once again how these kinds of spats always ensnare industries and businesses completely unrelated to the original squabble.
Tariffs on European aluminum and steel, for example, resulted in retaliatory tariffs against Harley-Davidson motorcycles and Brown-Forman's Jack Daniels whiskey. U.S. producers of aluminum and steel used the opportunity to raise their own prices rather than continue supplying the goods at a discount.
The seeds for the current escalating tensions were planted after the World Trade Organization ruled that Airbus improperly received subsidies and therefore authorized the U.S. to impose $7.5 billion worth of tariffs on imported European goods. The U.S. imposed duties of 10% on civilian aircraft and 25% on wine and other agricultural products.
While Trump has used tariffs to bring China, Mexico, and Canada to the negotiating table and hammer out new trade agreements, they have created tumult and higher prices in the process. The U.S. and Europe have not seen such progress, and the tensions are growing.
Small and independent wine importers would undoubtedly be hit hardest, though even some of the biggest would feel the impact. Although Diageo (NYSE:DEO) produces almost all of its wine outside of Europe, it is the world's largest producer of Scotch whisky, which accounts for 25% of total revenue, and its Johnnie Walker brand is the top seller all around the globe. Similarly, Pernod Ricard's (OTC:PDRDY) Jameson is the leading brand of Irish whiskey, and would also be subject to the new tariffs.
On the other hand, U.S. wine and spirits producer Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ) would likely benefit from the protection it received from the tariffs. Its portfolio of wines, which includes brands such as Meiomi, Robert Mondavi, and Ruffino, accounts for 27% of total revenue, but it has made a pointed effort to go after the premium and super premium market.
It recently agreed to sell off a number of low-end brands to Gallo, and even at the elevated price point its remaining wines would sell at, the tariff hike could price the competition out of the market.
The high cost of eating
Upscale restaurants similarly come under pressure. Ruth's Hospitality Group (NASDAQ:RUTH), the owner of the high-end eatery Ruth's Chris Steak House, obviously derives most of its revenue from food and beverage sales, and though it doesn't break out wine sales, it does highlight its world-class wine list as a selling point and notes that some bottles come with a tab of $1,000 or more.
No doubt people paying a grand for a bottle of wine won't be bothered much if they have to pay up a little more for it because of tariffs, but the trade war could also hurt mid-tier chains like Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) since its Olive Garden counts on a broad selection of Italian wines.
Its own upscale chain, Capital Grille, boasts a list of over 350 different wines, and it notes that alcoholic beverages, primarily wine, represent over 29% of the average $83-per-person check at the chain.
The impact would also spread out into other segments of the economy. Even retailers like Walmart would feel the effects, though it would admittedly be a far smaller pain point. Recently the retail giant began adding premium alcoholic beverages to its shelves, and though there would be a large number of domestic beverages in the mix, including craft beer, spirits, and canned wine, adding the Champagne Veuve Clicquot was a point of distinction for Walmart.
The last battlefront
Although there might be a few winners from the trade war, many others will be harmed, some irreparably so. And while most people are focused on the U.S. settling its differences with China, the battle with Europe continues to rage, and we may see further fallout.
Diageo plc
NYSE:DEO
Harley-Davidson, Inc.
NYSE:HOG
Darden Restaurants, Inc.
NYSE:DRI
Ruth's Hospitality Group, Inc.
NASDAQ:RUTH
PDRDY
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Why Ceragon Networks Stock Rocketed 54% Friday
Why Tellurian Blasted 25% Higher on Friday
Forget China, There's Still a Big Trade Battle in Europe @themotleyfool #stocks $STZ $DEO $HOG $DRI $RUTH $PDRDY Next Article
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Saturday Dec 16 2017
Bilawal, CM Sindh welcome Prince Karim to Karachi
Chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Chief Minister (CM) of Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah on Saturday welcomed Prince Karim Agha Khan to Karachi, the CM house spokesperson said. Photo: Geo News
KARACHI: Chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Chief Minister (CM) of Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah on Saturday welcomed Prince Karim Agha Khan to Karachi, the CM house spokesperson said.
Prince Karim Agha Khan and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari pictured at the CM house on Saturday. Photo: Geo News
A dinner, arranged by the CM Sindh in the honour of Prince Karim, was attended by Bilawal today (Saturday).
Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the Ismaili community, arrived in Islamabad on December 7 on the invitation of the Pakistani government.
His visit is part of a series of tours that coincides with the commemoration of his Diamond Jubilee, beginning earlier this year on July 11.
The Diamond Jubilee marks 60 years of his role as the spiritual leader of the Ismaili community.
Aga Khan became the head of the Ismaili community on July 11, 1957, succeeding his grandfather, Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan, at the age of 20.
The Ismailis live in over 25 different countries, mainly in Central and South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, as well as in Europe, North America and Australia.
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NERW Extra: Tower Down in Maine
It’s one of the most terrifying things that can happen to a broadcast engineer – the station goes off the air, hitting “power up” on the remote control doesn’t work, and so it’s off to the transmitter site to find, well, this:
That is – or rather, was – the 200-foot tower of WMDR-FM (88.9 Oakland ME), which collapsed Wednesday morning in a windstorm atop Streaked Mountain, just east of Paris, Maine, and this was a scary day for engineer Joel Eppley. He tells NERW that conditions were so foggy that after hiking up the icy hill past trees that blocked the road, he still couldn’t see the bent-over tower until he was practically atop it.
Eppley says the custom 10-bay Shively directional antenna had been put into service less than a year ago, and that station owner Light of Life Ministries doesn’t have an auxiliary site in service for the 100 kW/1282′ C0 signal that serves much of western Maine.
For now, “God’s Country 88.9” is off the air while Eppley works out a plan to get it back in service, at least at reduced power. The tower collapsed within a tight 50-foot radius, as it was designed to do, and the transmitter shack appears relatively undamaged, but the big challenge now for the station is a basic one: clearing the road so that there’s any kind of vehicle access to the site at all.
On a tight budget, Light of Life is looking for a replacement tower – if you’re in the region and can help Joel, let us know and we’ll make the connection. (In the meantime, Eppley’s at least breathing a sigh of relief that the rest of the stations along WMDR’s network are now fed by an Internet feed instead of directly off the air, so only two small translators are off the air while the main signal is silent.)
We’ll have an update on WMDR’s situation in Monday’s NERW.
tower collapse
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Igarashi on Departure From Konami: “Inspired” by Keiji Inafune, Kickstarter “an Option”
Daniel Bischoff Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Koji Igarashi has been the visionary behind several beloved Castlevania games but now that he's leaving Konami to strike out on his own, creative freedom will be its own reward. That's the word directly from Igarashi in a new interview on his departure.
Speaking with Kotaku, Igarashi related that he loved his time working on the Castlevania series, but that it naturally needs fresh blood in order to try new things and take new risks. The recent Lords of Shadow and Lords of Shadow 2 from Mercury Steam are representative of this, each receiving mixed reactions from fans and critics alike.
Naturally, followers have been pestering Igarashi about his next big game, but working on popular social games at Konami took the developer away from the experiences those fans wanted.
"I was really inspired by the reaction that Keiji Inafune got with Mighty No. 9. It showed me that if you have the fans, you can provide them the games they want," Igarashi said when asked about his future. "[Kickstarter is] an option. There are many options, such as venture capital."
While the developer hasn't had a very big video game in several years, it seems like there's no shortage of inspiration for what to do next. "I want to make games that people like, and that I'm good at."
Tags: Castlevania, Konami
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Analyst speculates on Grand Theft Auto release from Take-Two marketing spike
Update: Publisher refutes speculation, saying unusually high marketing commitments for fiscal 2024 are to external parties
"When will the next Grand Theft Auto come out" is a favorite question of gamers and Take-Two investors alike, and one analyst believes he's found a possible answer in the publisher's SEC filings.
As reported by VentureBeat, Stephens analyst Jeff Cohen circulated a note to investors pointing out that Take-Two's annual 10-K filing last week noted a significant jump in marketing support commitments for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024.
For that year, Take-Two is already on the hook for $89.3 million in marketing support for its products, more than any year through fiscal 2025. The next largest marketing commitment is fiscal 2023's $40.9 million, followed by 2022's $38.9 million and 2025's $35.5 million.
"We are not sure how much we should be reading into this shift," Cohen wrote, "but we would note that this disclosure accurately predicted the launch of Red Dead Redemption 2 prior to that game's announcement. [Take-Two] has spoken very confidently about the pipeline over the next five years and existing live services execution has been excellent. However, the timing of the next Grand Theft Auto remains top-of-mind for investors, particularly with the stock near all-time-highs."
Cohen's point about the marketing spike around Red Dead Redemption 2's release is interesting, as Take-Two's 10-K reports did indicate a significant increase to marketing commitments for fiscal 2019 (when Red Dead Redemption 2 came out) as far back as May of 2016, several months before the game's official announcement.
However, when Red Dead Redemption 2 was announced in October of 2016, it was given a fall of 2017 release window, comfortably within Take-Two's fiscal 2018, for which the company had more modest marketing commitments. Red Dead Redemption 2 wasn't officially delayed into Take-Two's fiscal 2019 until May of 2017, a full year after the marketing commitments would have indicated such a release window.
Additionally, looking back through Take-Two's earlier 10-K reports shows no such similar spike in marketing commitments leading up to the release of Grand Theft Auto V.
Most years (including the year of Red Dead Redemption 2's launch), Take-Two's 10-K also notes that its marketing commitments "primarily reflect our agreements with major sports leagues and players' associations."
Take-Two also recently announced a deal with the NFL to create multiple non-simulation football games, the first of which will launch in fiscal 2022, when its marketing commitments jump from the current fiscal year's $11.9 million to $38.9 million.
The fiscal 2019 time frame of Take-Two's last big spike in marketing commitments also aligned with the inaugural season of the NBA 2K League and the launch of NBA 2K Online 2 in China.
Another potential factor impacting Take-Two's future marketing commitments is that the publisher last week told investors it expects to release a total of 93 new stand-alone games over the next five years despite a relatively light slate for the current fiscal year.
Update May 27, 2020: A Take-Two representative told GamesIndustry.biz that the table in the 10-K reflects marketing commitments made to third-party companies. As Rockstar is an internal Take-Two studio, that undermines the notion that the reported marketing commitments would be related to the next Grand Theft Auto.
Former PlayStation, Xbox, Ubisoft and EA exec leaves after five years
By Christopher Dring
Nintendo Switch accounted for 87% of consoles sold in Japan last year | Japan Annual Report
Famitsu/KADOKAWA data shows that Nintendo held almost 50% of boxed game sales in 2020
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GET FREE JANAMPATRI NOW
Home Blog Astrology The Rise And Fall Of Anand Jon 2075
The rise and fall of Anand Jon
Once a highly feted fashion designer, India-born Anand Jon Alexander may have to spend the rest of his life behind bars. The designer, who was convicted in 2007 for sexually assaulting aspiring models, was sentenced to 59 years in prison on Monday. Concluding the trial, the Los Angeles court found Jon guilty on 14 counts of sexual assault, including forcible rape between 2002-2006.
In his brief, controversial, yet illustrious career, Anand Jon has designed clothes for celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Janet Jackson and Mary J Blige. Jon, 35, had been hailed as the future star of catwalk, and was featured in Newsweek as the designer to watch. He also starred as a guest designer in the reality television show 'America's Next Top Model'. But his career was cut short after he was accused of rape and sexual assault.
While his loved ones and supporters are crying foul, Ganesha tries to give an unbiased view based on Vedic Astro-Numerological analysis.
Anand Jon
Date of Birth: 28th November, 1976
Place of Birth: Kerala, India
Astro-Numerological Interpretations:
a) Birth Date number, which gets more effective after the person concerned crosses the age of 25 (Anand is currently 35) = 28th = 2+8 = 10 = 1+0 = 1. So, Anand has the effect of Sun and Saturn on him, as the total '1' signifies Sun and '8' in end of the total implies that Saturn is in the dominant stage.
Number 28 indicates a lot of contradictions, trouble in trusting people, competition, and loss through law. If we listen to Anand's sister, Anand's business partner may be involved in indicting him.
Also, Anand was a celebrity who is now rotting in jail (a contradiction and also loss through law). He has trouble with trusting people (If we believe his sister's statement).
Currently, he is running through the sub-period of Venus (based on other considerations, which cannot be detailed here). Number 6 represents Venus and stands for love, balance, and relationship with women and law. Number 28 along with number 6 strongly indicate some trouble with the law.
b) Destiny Number
28 + Nov (11) + 1976 (23) = (2+8 = 10) + (1+1 = 2) + (2+3 = 5) = 17 = 8 = Saturn.
So Saturn is bringing him misfortune. A weak Saturn also lead to lawsuits.
Also, number 7 (in 17) causes Ketu to provide him excellent opportunities in a very niche area  in this case fashion designing, which is a suitable vocation for people born with Number 8.
c) Motivation Number
2 + 6 + 3 = 11. Number 11 represents Moon, which is negative.
Number 11 signifies idealism and inspiration. But one needs to understand that at times, balancing such energies is tough. Furthermore, had he not been so idealistic and inspired, he wouldn't have achieved such early success in his career.
Transit of Saturn
Anand has Aries Ascendant (if we take it for Prasna purpose). Moreover, Saturn posited in his chart will be transiting from the 5th House to the 6th House in a weak state.
Weak Saturn sends energy to the 6th House (Saturn, though favourable, is weak in the 6th House, so it can produce unfavourable results). Under the affliction of a weak Saturn, he may face opposition from certain quarters, enmity and the such. He may have to spend many years in fighting the odds. Saturn aspecting the 8th House and the 12th House revealed hidden truths, which led to his imprisonment.
Moreover, weak Saturn affects his destiny = Number 8 = Saturn.
It also strengthens the prophecy of number 28, where 8 indicates Saturn, which is weak during the transit.
Anand's trouble nearly surfaced when Saturn was transiting through Leo. Moreover, his house of love affairs was aspecting the 7th House of profession. We all know what happened on these fronts during this period.
Only the grace of God can save anyone. The prayers of his loved ones may not be as effective. If he has committed those crimes, he should seek God's mercy. But if he is innocent, taking refuge under God may be his only way out.
May justice prevail!
With Ganesha's Grace,
Pankajj Cc Dhar
Celebrity Astrologer
Virat-Anushka’s Baby Predictions - GaneshaSpeaks...
Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Second Baby - Ganeshaspeaks...
Mars Rahu Conjunction Effects on Your Sign - GaneshaSpeaks...
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Executive Insights: DBS Group CEO Piyush Gupta Q&A
Piyush Gupta, chief executive officer and director at DBS Group, our choice for 2020 Best Bank In The World, talks to Global Finance about strategy and the pandemic in Asia.
Author: Andrea Fiano
Global Finance: How has the pandemic changed your strategy?
Piyush Gupta: In the past five years, our transformation strategy was based on three pillars. The first was the technology architecture, which essentially meant a heavy reliance on building and on-premises cloud architecture; on using an API architecture for easy connectivity both internally and externally. The second pillar of our strategy was to focus on the customer-journey thinking, and really learning how to embed ourselves in the customer’s processes. And the third part of our transformation was really trying to create a culture of a startup—so being agile, being a learning organization, experimenting at scale, et cetera.
Truth be told, Covid revealed that our strategy and the progress we made was extremely helpful. But it has also proven to be an opportunity to a double down on many parts of the strategy and other things we need to do, as well.
Now, one thing we realized is that even though we had a lot of technology in place, in many cases we were about 90% there. But when it comes to a Covid kind of situation, you realize 90% is not good enough.
GF: What has been the effect of this crisis in Asia?
Gupta: From a pure health and economic or macroeconomic standpoint, I think North Asia has actually handled the pandemic well. China got the pandemic under control, and the Chinese economy is recovering more strongly than any other economy in the system. Taiwan has been very strong. In fact, Taiwan did not see a slowdown at all, partly because it’s a tech-dominated country. Korea had a little bit of an up and down. But IT has recovered, and Korea’s numbers are looking very good, so that’s very strong. The problem is Southeast Asia and South Asia. First of all, the capacities of the various healthcare systems were not that strong. The capacity to test and trace was not that strong. And unfortunately, the fiscal positions are not that strong.
The other issue is sectoral differences. Many cross-border sectors—tourism, hospitality, leisure, business travel, conventions—are going to suffer for a fairly extended point of time, even in North Asia.
The governments have thrown a lot of money at the problem, so they’re maintaining jobs and they’re protecting people. A large swath of small and medium-size enterprises have been given lifelines, but the lifelines won’t last. You’ll see the cliff effect when the government largesse runs out.
It isn’t going to be a quick recovery. Next year might look good in the GDP aggregate because the year-to-year comparison will look good. But I don't see the region recovering to all levels of demand—and therefore GDP levels—for at least another two years.
GF: Will your geographic strategy change as a result of all this?
Gupta: We’re not changing our geographic strategy. We are an Asian commercial bank, which means that we have to be in China, we have to be in Indonesia, we have to be in India, we have to be in the big countries in our region. And you have to recognize that you have to play the long game. This is the reality of emerging markets. If you have the capacity, the risk appetite and the fortitude to play the long game, you’ll do okay. But if you go in and out of the market every time there’s a short-term problem, you can’t build a franchise.
Many Western institutions, particularly European banks, do a stop/start. They come in, run through a two-year cycle, and when things are bad, they exit. Three, four years later, they want to come in again. That's a hard way to build a business. So we’re not changing our geographic agenda.
GF: What are the other consequences of the pandemic?
Gupta: I’m convinced that one of the big things coming out of this pandemic is a much greater focus on ESG [environmental, social, and corporate governance factors]. And within ESG, there’s going to be a much bigger focus on the S part of ESG, the social issues. Because anybody has seen, through the pandemic, that inequality issues all come to the fore. So the issue of trust is going to be big.
Something else that sort of came from Covid but not entirely, is much greater reliance on distributed ledger. Right in the middle of the Covid, there were some really large cases of trade-finance fraud. Blockchain technology and distributed ledger can actually resolve that. So we are now doubling down on our efforts to use blockchain for these kinds of use cases—authenticity and verification.
There are some other changes that are not directly linked to our digital strategy, but came out of Covid. One is geopolitics: China/US issues are going to be a big game-changer, especially in our part of the world. If you’re sitting in Southeast Asia, you’re sort of caught between two elephants dancing. You’ve got to figure out how you play with both of them without getting trampled.
GF: What about the future of work? Do you see significant numbers of people continuing to work remotely, even after the pandemic?
Gupta: I'm not in the camp with some people that big offices are dead and people are going to work remotely for the rest of their lives. We human beings are social creatures; we want to get together. But without a doubt, people want more flexibility. There's no reason, over the next year or two, why I can't have somebody sitting in Israel and somebody sitting in Silicon Valley all working on my staff. Rethinking working models and talent and sourcing strategies is another big shift that will come out of this pandemic.
GF: DBS has made a large commitment to data analytics. How has big data and AI made a difference during the pandemic?
Gupta: Internally, we used data analytics to figure out contact tracing within the company. When we had our first infection on February 13, we immediately put in place—within four hours—an AI tool to predict employees’ first degree of contacts, second, third degree of contacts, etc.
A second example: Governments in most of our markets implemented moratorium schemes during the pandemic, like suspending small-business loan repayments. But at some stage, this will come to an end and then we will see a big cliff effect when people suddenly have to start paying again. We are using big data and analytics to predict which customers are most likely to have trouble at that point—then we can hand-hold and help these customers ahead of time.
GF: What about the bigger picture? What factors are shaping your strategy?
Gupta: The rich/poor divide is going to be uppermost in the minds of governments and people over the next five, ten years. We have to make sure we’re being responsible and doing the right thing. In the pandemic, for example, Singapore generally did a good job controlling Covid, except for its migrant worker population—about a million people from Indonesia, Myanmar, India and Bangladesh who live in dormitories. As widely reported, Covid went viral in those dormitories, and when it did, the government locked them down. But when they did, there was suddenly no way for many workers to access cash and transfer money back to their families in Indonesia or Bangladesh. Many didn't even have bank accounts—they were receiving cash payments.
We put ATMs in all the dorms for the people who still needed cash. We opened 40,000 accounts over a single weekend, and with those 40,000 accounts, we also provided a simple digital tool for workers to transfer money easily into their home country. Life suddenly became a lot more convenient.
GF: You’ve said that bridging the rich/poor divide can also be a business opportunity. Can you provide an example?
Gupta: Normally, wealth management is for rich people. The threshold is often a million dollars or more in investable assets. But during the pandemic, as interest rates collapsed, it became clear that the mass-market customers also needed simplified wealth management tools. They want to be able to sit at home and do some basic equity trading, with a simplified portfolio to allocate money into. So we digitized all of that. We opened up 28,000 equity trading accounts in one month. We created very simple portfolios, called digiPortfolio, where we provide simple risk-free products and also a budgeting and planning tool called NAV. One million people downloaded it within six months. I call that democratizing wealth management.
GF: Has the pandemic changed your relationship with the government?
Gupta: The public sector, like it or not, is going to get bigger. Governments have pumped so much money into the system that taxpayers will insist that the government have more say in the economy. As a business, you have got to start thinking about how to make yourself more valuable to governments—to work with them, bringing more efficiency to the public sector.
In Singapore, the tax authority and the [state-owned] Central Provident [pension] Fund needed to make two million payments overnight to all the citizens around the country. We helped them digitize that payment operation, converting a check-based process to a digital process. Opportunities like these—helping a government to digitize its operations—will be available in many of our markets.
GF: Thank you, for your time and insights. You’ve given us much to think about.
This article appeared in issue October 2020
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That is a common question for most people who have just finished reading a book. Though it is frustrating to choose the book that you should read next, it is also great fun to browse through the books on your reading list to find the one you want to read. Since it is difficult to read all the books even if you are a fast reader, it is essential that you choose the right books and not end up wasting time on books that are not interesting or not worth spending time reading. Listed below are a few methods that can help you select the next book to read.
Jar method: If you are an avid reader, you will have a list of books that you want to read. If you have one then write down their names on chits of paper and put them in a jar. Mix them and choose one chit from the jar. That will become the book that you are going to read next. People even use different colored chits for must-reads, want-to reads, different authors, etc. but all that is left to your imagination. If you don’t have a list you can make one which interests you or simply go by recommendations of other readers.
Based on hobbies: People often read books based on their choice of genres. You may have boxed yourself into romance, thriller, etc. But there are other books that can interest you, it can be based on your interests and passion too.
Taster method: Read a page or two of each of the books in your list of to be read. There will definitely be one that draws you to read more and that will become your next read. For all you know you would have read more than a chapter of that book standing in front of the book rack.
Check out the internet: You can take the help of internet to look for your next read, there are many websites that can list books similar to the one you liked. Or you can also search for the All-time top 100 books list voted by readers all over the world. Reading through those books will keep you busy for quite a long time.
The book with a cool cover: Pretty cover does not mean the book will not be good. If you find a book with a catchy cover go for it, give it a read and see how it is. It may be worth your time.
Ask for recommendations: There are many writers who are good at their work and may not be writing in the same language as your’s or live in the same country but their writing may appeal to you. Asking for a recommendation from a well-read person will help you find authors and books that you have never heard before but are good reads.
Choosing a book to read is more about intuition, knowing the basic plot of the book and the one that appeals to you the most is the book to read next.
Related Topics:Taster method
5 Key Ways that GDPR Could Benefit Your Business
What Does SOS Stand For?
Rebeca Ehrnrooth, Equilibrium Capital and CEMS Alumni Association President
Attending a New Year’s luncheon on 31 December 2019, we played a game that involved predicting the world in 2020. Some of the questions included: would Uber become profitable? Would the three-decade bond rally finally come to an end? Would the US hit a recession?
Unlike any of our predictions based on a traditional approach to business and predicting, we now know that 2020 became the year where business, professional and personal plans were turned upside down, reshaped and put-on hold. The proverbial black swan had arrived.
As revealed in a new CEMS Guide to Leadership in a Post-COVID-19 World, to which I contributed, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed deficiencies in the 20th Century vision of leadership, giving a rare opportunity to question the status quo.
So, what are the main lessons from 2020?
Humans are enormously adaptive. This is not an extinction scenario. The world is getting used to dealing with global human disaster which may become a recurring event. Life continues guided by new parameters.
No sector or country is immune to rapid change. Just as the leveraged finance and equity markets ground to a halt during the Global Financial Crisis, we have seen a disruption in the financial markets (including M&A) in 2020, including a significant redistribution of wealth between sectors; think tech vs airlines and the hospitality industry. When a market is disrupted it has secondary and tertiary effects such as less work for accountants, lawyers, financiers etc.
Location is not as important anymore. The belief that finance staff need to be based in one of the financial capitals to be effective has been forever altered. Pursuing a career in finance from anywhere is becoming possible. However, it’s likely that over time, financial controls and human interaction will move the work model back towards the traditional office approach, as work is a critical sanctuary for people. While working from home may allow more time for family, chores and sports, it is mainly effective for people who already have their internal and external networks. For junior employees it presents a notable challenge as they may be forced to spend their formative years without a chance to really build their networks.
Change is likely to be lasting. The opportunity for alternative finance and tech focused providers is enormous and 2020 will accelerate this shift. For example, many retail banks are providing rather poor customer service, blaming the pandemic. Even the most loyal customers will be heading elsewhere. For recent graduates and current students this is a major shift; future winners and key employers may not be names we are used to seeing in the headlines.
There will be a spotlight on leaders with visionary strategy and understanding of the operations. 2020 showed many politicians and business leaders behaving like they were playing a game of snakes and ladders, rather than executing a thought-out strategy. The next wave of thoughtful leadership is urgently required.
Collaboration leads to success. The definition of a pandemic is an infectious disease prevalent worldwide. A global problem requires a collaborative solution rather than each country and industry on their own. Quoting Steven Riley, professor of infectious disease dynamics at Imperial College London: “Once you have the knowledge and you share the knowledge, then you are able to take measures to push transmission much lower”. This principle is transferable to management education. In a world more complex than ever, investing in a degree is hard currency. Combined with the full global alumni network, corporate partners and schools, CEMS is capital that doesn’t depreciate.
Resilience has become a watch word. Saint-Exupéry’s quote resonates with me: “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” We are in a new paradigm – so prepare for the next change. For COVID-19, while we hope that the vaccine will soon upon us, the broader long-term positive challenge remains.
Data after Brexit: How does the end of the transition affect GDPR?
By John Flynn, Principal Security Consultant at Conosco
The UK has officially left the European Union now that the transition period has ended on January 1st 2021. But this could raise issues with one of the biggest bugbears for many companies – the international transfer of personal data.
Businesses can relax, somewhat – GDPR, which took businesses months to get their heads around, is not being replaced. It will continue as the UK GDPR 2018, and will still be based on the criteria of the Data Protection Act of 2018. However, the UK will retain the right to change the UK GDPR as it sees fit in the future.
The main changes apply to those who receive data coming into the UK from Europe. Transfers from the UK to other countries can continue under existing arrangements.
We know it can be difficult to cut through the legal jargon, so we have simplified what you need to know to protect yourself and your data:
1 – Update your privacy notice
Most businesses do not have the correct clauses in place ahead of January 1st, potentially exposing their liability, should something happen to their data. All company privacy notices online will need to be updated to specifically state ‘UK GDPR’, as opposed to ‘EU GDPR’. You will also need standard contractual clauses in place, which cover both parties – those transferring and those receiving the data.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has a list of what needs to be included in the standard contractual clause here. The ICO will remain the UK regulator for data protection, regularly liaising with each EU member state.
This also applies to Multi Corporate Groups who operate in multiple countries, who need to update their documentation and privacy notice to expressly cover the data transfers. The UK has applied for an adequacy assessment, which would negate the need for contractual clauses, however this has not yet been approved by the EU.
2 – Data privacy assessments
Any company which runs applications and software should always perform a Data Privacy Impact Assessment. This was also in the guidelines before, but these assessments are now more important for those who outsource their IT operations internationally.
For example, when using a service such as a cloud-based system, the company must be sure that its service provider adheres to UK GDPR and stores the data within the European Economic Area (EEA), or has a binding corporate agreement with the company, where data is stored outside of the EEA. You should also, as mentioned above, make sure that a contractual clause is in place.
3 – Review local legislation
Contracts should now have contractual clauses that specify the responsibilities of the data controller and the data processor. If you are receiving personal data from a country territory or sector covered by a European Commission adequacy decision, the sender of the data will need to consider how to comply with its local laws on international transfers. You should check local legislation and guidance in this case.
4 – Cyber Security health check
The ICO is increasing its capacity and efforts to crack down on data breaches, post-Brexit. Now is a great time for all companies to have a health check to understand their Information Security posture and GDPR compliance. Nobody wants to be caught handling data improperly and fined when it could have been prevented with education and training.
A gap analysis performed by an expert is money well-spent. It’s also a fact that companies that have cybersecurity and Information Security controls are not only able to better defend against attacks but are also far better placed to recover from an attack.
It’s important that all businesses – large and small – are properly preparing their data storage and transferring for the 1st January. ICO has been busy setting examples by fining large, high-profile companies for failing to keep millions of customers’ personal data safe.
It will continue to come down hard on the data breaches of personal identifiable information and special categories of data. The saying ‘prevention is better than a cure’ rings truer than ever this year, and you will thank yourself if you make the efforts to properly store your data now, and not when it’s too late.
2020 reflections and 2021 outlook
By John Hunter, Head of Banking and Fiduciaries, Finance Isle of Man
Reflections on the most surreal year
The Covid-19 pandemic has completely changed the world as we knew it, resulting in catastrophic loss of life and fears of a downturn hang over global economies like a sword of Damocles. In the UK, the new strain has further exacerbated the situation. As I am sure many have already said we are living in what could be called the most surreal times. People have been trying to cope with this “new normal”, by changing their lifestyles and evolving behaviours.
The Isle of Man responded swiftly to the pandemic by closing its borders and enforcing social restrictions which everyone respected and adhered to. Socially and culturally the Island demonstrated all the good things that come from living on a relatively small Island where community still means so much.
The Isle of Man’s financial services sector adapted quickly, seamlessly transitioning to working from home. The banks too adopted flexible remote working practices and continued to support clients around the world helping them navigate the challenging situation and making the most of any opportunities that arose.
Although there is no substitute for face-to-face interactions, we all embraced web-conferencing platforms like Microsoft Teams and Zoom to stay connected with contacts around the world and build and nurture business relationships, whether it was with financial services firms or high net worth individuals looking to relocate to the Island.
Furthermore, a priority for the Isle of Man has been to reinvigorate the business and cultural ties with South Africa. In a normal world, we would have travelled to the country, held in-person meetings with businesses and industry representatives and talked about building on our wonderful historic ties. However, because of the scale and breadth of disruption we had to change all our plans! We hosted a virtual roadshow which comprised a series of webinars exploring why it has never been more important for South African businesses and individuals to choose the right jurisdiction for long term financial planning.
Looking ahead to the future
We are all hoping that the global rollout of vaccines will provide the pathway to some form of return to normality and all the things people are missing will be back. Like amidst all periods of immense turmoil, interesting, new possibilities have emerged such as the revolution in work culture and a renewed importance of being close to nature and green spaces is. And these possibilities can help reshape society for the better.
The global economic recovery and rebuild might seem further away in the current environment especially amidst the new lockdowns. But we are confident in the resilience of economies and are hopeful that different industrial sectors and governments working together would result in green shoots.
The financial services industry has an important role to play in getting the world economy back on its feet. It is a core component of the solution to continue facilitating the financing of corporates, as well as to develop sustainable finance and nurture digital technologies which have proven to be vital during the pandemic. The sector should continue its cooperation and collaboration with governments and regulators to ensure efficient capital flows and financial stability for businesses and individuals.
Banks too have a crucial role to play as they are instrumental to the effective transmission of monetary policies and stimulus packages. As mentioned in a report by EY: “Financial insecurity in the wake of COVID-19 will require banks to boost consumer confidence and help build a more resilient working world.”
We expect the Isle of Man’s financial services sector and banks to continue navigating the situation with resilience as they have been doing thus far and contributing to the global recovery process. Also, we truly hope this will be our busiest year ever (subject to our ability to travel), with an extensive global schedule of planned activity to promote the Island as an international financial centre of excellence and innovation. Personally, I had planned to be in South Africa for the British & Irish Lions tour, but regrettably, it might not take place and as such we will look forward to catching up with friends there as and when we can.
No doubt, there are significant challenges for the world ahead but as Albert Einstein said: “in the midst of every crisis lies great opportunity”. And it is this opportunity that we all need to work together to identify and make the most of. We are confident that in 2021 the Isle of Man will continue to support financial services businesses help their clients, employees, and the wider society through these surreal times. We are all in this together.
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Militants brutally kill up to 50 civilians in Shia Afghan village: Reports
Mon Aug 7, 2017 5:50AM
Militants have massacred dozens of civilians, mostly Shia Hazaras, in "a brutal, inhumane way" after attacking a village in a remote area of Afghanistan's northern province of Sar-e Pul, officials and locals say.
The militants, whose identity was not immediately known, raided a security outpost in the Mirzawalang area of Sayaad District in Sar-e Pul overnight Sunday, said Zabihullah Amani, a spokesman for the provincial governor.
Amani said the assailants were a mixed group of Taliban and Takfiri Daesh militants, and that there were foreign nationals among them.
During the raid, the militants set fire to several mosques, torched at least 30 houses, beheaded a number of villagers and shot dozens of others dead, other officials said.
The carnage occurred "in the province's predominately Shia village of Mirzawalang after insurgents captured it on Saturday," said Sar-e Pul Governor Mohammad Zaher Wahdat.
He added that "as many as 30 to 40 innocent people... were brutally shot and killed" in the raid; however, local elders in the village put the number of civilian victims at around 50.
Up to seven Afghan security forces were also killed and dozens of civilians were taken hostage by the militants.
No group has claimed responsibility for the carnage, which happened in the same area where the Taliban militant group had earlier claimed a victory against the Afghan army.
Following the civilian deaths, Taliban said in a statement that they had gained control of the Mirzawalang village, but dismissed reports of the massacre, calling it "hollow propaganda by the enemy."
Najib Danish, spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry also said, "Fierce fighting continued in Sar-e-Pul over the past two days, unfortunately civilians and military personnel have sustained casualties during the battles."
President Ashraf Ghani condemned the massacre, saying, "This barbaric act of them (militants) is deemed a direct violation of human rights and a war crime."
"Criminal terrorists have once again killed civilians, women and children in Sayad district of Sar-e Pul Province, adding to their crimes," said the president.
A senior government official in the capital, Kabul, said the army has sent more security forces and military equipment, including Air Force attack aircraft, to the area.
Afghanistan is still grappling with violence well over a decade after the US and its allies invaded the country as part of the so-called war on terror. The invasion removed the Taliban from power, but has failed to stop the militancy.
Taking advantage of the chaos, the Daesh terror group, which is mainly based in the Middle East, has managed to establish a foothold in the eastern Province of Nangarhar.
Hundreds of people, including women and children, have fled the recent wave of violence fueled by Daesh terrorists in Nangarhar to take refuge in the provincial capital Jalalabad.
Some 1,500 internally-displaced people have gathered in an unfinished university building on the outskirts of Jalalabad.
Most of them are from Nangarhar's Achin and Haska Meyna districts, which have been the scene of heavy clashes between army forces and Daesh militants.
One of the refugees said Daesh militants "brutally attacked civilians. Afghanistan National Army and foreign forces came to the battlefield. Then the US used the mother of all bombs in our village."
Another displaced Afghan also described how "everything is destroyed by shells and drone aircraft. We have nothing now."
Back in April, the US dropped the largest non-nuclear ordnance in the American arsenal on Achin, killing at least 90 reported militants.
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THE FUTURE OF WorkSPONSORED
West Virginia Leverages the Cloud to Handle Flood of Unemployment Claims
Innovative technology rapidly expands West Virginia’s ability to serve citizens affected by COVID-19.
Amazon | May 7, 2020
Even though West Virginia was the last state in the nation to report a case of COVID-19, social distancing and lockdown orders generated a sudden leap in citizen needs that left it struggling to manage.
Today, the state is rapidly responding to these challenges with cloud-based technologies that transform how government officials communicate with the press and public about the pandemic and dramatically increase the state’s ability to serve citizens impacted by the resulting economic downturn.
Enabling virtual news briefings
One of the state’s first challenges was providing real-time pandemic information to citizens and the news media. With social distancing rules in effect, Governor Jim Justice and his executive team could no longer hold in-person news briefings. The governor’s office had access to broadcasting equipment. But the technology had several shortcomings, including the inability to support live interaction between news reporters and West Virginia leaders and health experts. The state needed a platform to virtualize the governor’s daily COVID-19 news briefings and expand their reach to keep citizens and the press apprised of the latest developments.
“With the rapid change of information, the governor’s office needed a solution that could be implemented extremely quickly so they could widely disseminate important health information in real time,” says Joshua Spence, West Virginia’s chief technology officer and director of the state’s Office of Technology (WVOT).
Amazon Web Services (AWS) approached the state with a solution in the form of Amazon Chime, a cloud-based communications service. Amazon Chime would allow the integration to broadcast to media members located anywhere and support live interactive chat that enabled the governor to field questions from reporters.
Once the state gave the go-ahead, Amazon Chime was deployed in approximately three hours—in time to support Governor Justice’s March 18 news briefing. The solution made West Virginia one of the first states in the nation to conduct completely virtual, interactive press conferences.
In addition, video from the governor’s news briefings is live-streamed to multiple social media channels daily, greatly improving residents’ access to rapidly changing COVID-19 information.
“Our state prioritizes transparency, and this system allowed the continuous flow of information between West Virginia’s leadership team and our citizens,” says Spence.
Scaling services to meet unprecedented needs
Shortly after the Amazon Chime implementation, a bigger and even more pressing issue emerged. The state’s mandatory shutdown of non-essential businesses—issued March 24 to slow spread of the virus—put thousands of West Virginia residents out of work. Traffic began to spike at the state’s unemployment insurance (UI) call center as citizens applied for benefits.
In February 2020, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported West Virginia’s unemployment rate at 4.9 percent. In March, the number swelled to 6.1 percent. By the second week of April, the state’s existing UI call centers received 77,000 calls, overwhelming its legacy call center platform.
Governor Justice’s initial response was to extend call center hours. He also called upon members of the West Virginia National Guard and West Virginia University staff to answer calls in a supplemental call center. But the state soon hit limits in the number of call center staff it could support and the number of simultaneous calls it could handle with existing technology.
“The phone systems in use were not built to handle the extreme call volume we were experiencing,” says Spence. “We knew some of our phone systems were running older equipment and would not be capable of managing the load.”
In addition, the state’s existing on-premises systems could not support remote work for call center agents. Nor did they provide visibility into call volumes and traffic patterns.
“That meant we couldn’t adapt to the necessary call flows,” says Spence.
The state also could not support the use of prerecorded messages with commonly requested information to help callers avoid waiting to speak to a live agent.
“We didn’t have the kind of dynamic call management at the beginning of a call that could help alleviate callers from sitting on hold,” he says. State leaders realized they needed to make a change quickly.
“We didn’t have months to find and implement a solution when things settled down,” says Spence. “We needed an adaptive solution that worked in concert with our existing systems to get callers through quickly.”
WVOT reached out to several technology providers in search of a scalable solution that could help the state better manage the surge in UI calls. On the afternoon of April 10, WVOT selected AWS and Smartronix, a Premier Amazon Consulting Partner, to implement Amazon Connect, a cloud-based contact center solution. Amazon Connect was soft launched approximately 72 hours later.
By April 20, the new Amazon Connect was fully rolled out and processed a record 61,252 calls in one day. The new solution handles an average of 40,000 to 45,000 calls daily. Amazon Connect also provides the advanced analytics and metrics West Virginia needs to use its resources more effectively by matching staffing levels to expected call loads.
Using the fully scalable cloud-based platform, the state is limited only by the number of qualified agents it can put on the phones.
“Before, the on-premises equipment held us back,” says Spence. “With the cloud solution, we are no longer limited from an infrastructure perspective.”
West Virginia also deployed Amazon Polly, a text-to-speech service, to provide callers basic information during the initial call flow. Providing automated information dramatically lowered the number of callers who need help from a live agent. Currently, 96 percent of calls are handled by the interactive voice response (IVR) system and 4 percent require an agent.
“We are answering questions quickly and efficiently without human interaction. That’s where the value is really coming into play,” says Spence. “The modern call flow technology is also flexible and allows us to make fast changes to the information, which is useful in the current situation.”
The state is working to expand capacity even further by adding Amazon Lex, an artificial intelligence-enabled chatbot solution, to its website to provide information and answer questions.
“This is an opportunity to engage on multiple channels in order to assist more West Virginians through the UI process,” says Spence. “Technology is a force multiplier when it comes to our ability to answer questions and help our citizens.”
A new approach to modernization
West Virginia had limited experience with cloud technology before implementing the AWS solutions. But lessons learned from the pandemic response could shape the state’s IT strategy moving forward.
“This put cloud technology and its transformational capabilities front and center for us,” says Spence. “Cloud might not be the right solution for every situation, but in this case, it definitely gave us agility, flexibility and speed at a time we most needed it.”
In addition, the new cloud-based solutions are proof that technology modernization pays off when unexpected challenges arise.
“It can be difficult to move technology change forward because of apprehension about such change. But when properly implemented and leveraged, technology can create significant efficiencies,” says Spence. “I’m confident these projects will provide an opportunity for us to push forward and modernize as we come out of this pandemic and return to our new normal.”
This content is made possible by our sponsors; it is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of e.Republic’s editorial staff.
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More From THE FUTURE OF Work
California Continues Battle Against COVID Benefits Fraud
Due to its size and generosity, the state’s unemployment agency has been inundated with fraudulent COVID-19 benefits claims, which amount to $750 million in false filings each week. Some have come from as far as Russia.
Vaccine Delays Reveal Unexpected Weak Link in Supply Chains: A Shortage of Workers
The shipment of goods to suppliers has become technologically sophisticated. Delays in getting out the COVID-19 vaccine to people show that the breakdowns come down to something more basic.
San Francisco Office Market Plummets As Companies Go Remote
The city’s office market in 2020 reached its lowest levels since 1990 as the pandemic forced companies to send workers home and some, like Twitter and Dropbox, downsized their office footprint.
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What just happened in iowa?
Over the past week, there has been a lot of controversy over what occurred during the 2020 Iowa Democratic Party caucuses, but before I get into what happened, first I will detail how the caucus system works, especially in Iowa.
A caucus is not a typical presidential primary, where someone votes at a ballot box and whoever wins the most votes is declared the winner of the primary. In a caucus system, the winner is determined by the number of State Delegate Equivalents (SDEs). The number of SDEs is not determined by net votes, but instead by the physical spread of a candidate's support. But how is that determined?
Instead of going to a polling place to vote, party members attend caucus sites, which tend to be located at school gymnasiums, libraries, and other large open spaces. Let's say we have 5 candidates: Candidate 1, Candidate 2, Candidate 3, Candidate 4, and Candidate 5. Let's say 30% of caucusgoers support Candidate 1, 25% of caucusgoers support Candidate 2, 15% of caucusgoers support Candidate 3, 18% of caucusgoers support Candidate 4, and 12% of caucusgoers support Candidate 5. Each candidate's supporters physically move to one section of the caucus site where they can support that candidate. These percentages are from the first vote, where all candidates have supporters and vote totals.
Now, viability is tested. In order to become "viable" to move on to the second and final vote tally, a candidate needs to win 15% of the vote in the first vote. As we can see only 12% of caucusgoers supported Candidate 5, so Candidate 5 is not viable to move on to the next vote. Even though Candidate 4 now has the least amount of support out of the viable candidates, if all of Candidate 5's voters agree to support Candidate 4, Candidate 4 now has 30% of the vote and is tied with Candidate 1 in the final vote tally, and both win the precinct or caucus site.
Now, we move on to State Delegate Equivalents. Take the number of people in a certain candidate’s corner at the end of the final round of voting, multiply that by the number of delegates assigned to the precinct and then divide that by the total number of caucusgoers at the site. (Iowa Public Radio)
In our precinct, let's say there were 100 voters. Candidate 1 and Candidate 2 both had 30 votes, multiply that by the number of delegates in the precinct (let's say 10), and now divide that number by 100. Candidates 1 and 4 both now have 3 SDEs. This occurs throughout the state, and since SDEs are determined by the number of the precinct, whoever has the broadest support wins the SDE count, which is then translated to an actual national delegate count which is represented at the party convention.
Let's talk about 2020. For the Republicans, incumbent President Donald Trump won with 97% of the vote and delegates. For the Democrats, it wasn't as simple. Candidate Senator Bernie Sanders, a Senator from Vermont, won both first and final rounds of voting, but Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, won the SDE count by 2 SDEs and won the national delegate count by 1. Buttigieg had the broadest support throughout Iowa, but Sanders had the most support among voters. The Associated Press, the official organization who declares the winner of Iowa, said that they couldn't call the race due to the closeness of all counts, and some inconsistencies with data. These inconsistencies were caused by an app, which was supposed to allow precinct "captains" to tell the state party their results, crashing. National Democratic Party Chair Tom Perez has called for a recanvass, surveying some results to verify they are correct.
There is no clear end in sight for the Iowa caucuses yet, but the next race in the 2020 cycle is the New Hampshire primaries on Tuesday, February 11. This election isn't as complicated, as voters go to the polling place and whoever gets the most votes wins, plain and simple. Then, on Sunday, February 22, Nevada holds their caucuses, similar to Iowa's system, but they will not be using an app to send results to the state party. Tune in to any news station on Tuesday to follow the results in New Hampshire, and stay tuned for potential final results in Iowa sometime soon.
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Committee “Greece 2021”
The objective of the commitee
Chief Executive Coordinator
Committee Assembly
The four pillars
The impact of 1821 in Greece and around the world
Greece today 200 years after independence
Greeks who left their mark on the world
2021 as a window of opportunity for the future of greece
Activities records
2021 Platform
Transparency-Accountability
Presidential decree for the establishment of the Committee
Employment opportunities-vacancies
Supplies and logistics
"Greece 2021" Committee licensed products
Video-multi media
EN ΕΛ
Commemorative medal: We celebrate together
The National Bank, the first bank since the Greek state's establishment, is leading the national celebration for the 200th anniversary of the Revolution of 1821.
During a short ceremony at the National Bank’s Melas Megaron, the celebration of the national anniversary was inaugurated when the President of the Committee "Greece 2021" Mrs. Gianna Angelopoulos, presented "Forerunner," the first official commemorative medal, to the CEO of the National Bank, Mr. Pavlos Mylonas. The National Bank is supporting the work of the Committee "Greece 2021" by undertaking the distribution of the commemorative medal to every Greek or Philhellene through its network of shops and its website.
The "Forerunner" depicts the work of folk painter Theophilos Hatzimihail "Greece Reborn" in a commemorative medal of intricate design which is using for the first time, a special technique that emphasizes the details of the work and the engraving expertise of the artists of the Greek Mint (IETA).
In a statement, Mr. Pavlos Mylonas, CEO of the National Bank, pointed out: "The bicentennial of our country's independence is a pivotal moment for the nation. An opportunity to honor our ancestors' achievements and reflect on the kind of future we want to share and what actions - and sacrifices - we are willing to make toward its achievement, just as our ancestors did.
The Committee "Greece 2021" will play an essential role in this celebration, which is also an introspection.All of us at the National Bank want to have active participation in this historic celebration.Today, upon receiving the official commemorative collectible medal of the Committee "Greece 2021", we undertake its exclusive distribution through our network of stores and the website of the National Bank, we commit to make the existence and the value of this effort publicly known and to persuade the public to support it - to participate in this effort by acquiring it. Celebrating our independence will be a forerunner of an even better future. For the country we envision and desire."
The President of the Committee "Greece 2021" Mrs. Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, commented on the role of the National Bank in the distribution of the "Forerunner," stressing that "the Bank will ensure great momentum in the project and guarantee the best result".Mrs. Angelopoulos stressed that "the Committee has no state funding and both its operation and the implementation of its programme rely solely on its sponsors and the revenues raised by its Numismatic Programme. The Bank of Greece took over as Gold Sponsor of the Numismatic Programme and secured the use of the Mint's outstanding mechanism (IETA) for the production of coins and medals by covering the cost".
Referring to the "Forerunner" Mrs. Angelopoulos pointed out: "it is the commemorative medal that constitutes the pre-celebration opening act of the Numismatic Programme. This is one of the two reasons we called the coin by this name. The second reason is the depiction on one side of the medal of the painting by Theophilos which reveals the processes that preceded the Revolution: the two emblematic figures of the Modern Greek Enlightenment, Rigas Velestinlis and Adamantios Korais, support Greece and lead her to Rebirth. This process can be interpreted as a forerunner of the Revolution, the first act of the course that led to the creation of the modern Greek state."
Regarding the commemorative medal "Forerunner" which is available through the National Bank:
The work of folk painter Theophilos Hatzimihail "Greece Reborn" is depicted on the "Forerunner", the commemorative medal with which the Committee's "Greece 2021" Numismatic Programme is launched, celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Revolution of 1821.
Theophilos' painting is painted on cardboard; it dates from 1911 and is based on an older lithograph (approx. 1840). It depicts Greece, both "ancient" and "Christian", being supported by two emblematic figures of pre-revolutionary Hellenism: Adamantios Korais and Rigas Velestinlis.
The imaginary co-existence of the two men, captured in the folk artistic expression, is not so much owed to the resemblance of their ideas as to the acknowledgment that the intellectual processes that preceded the Revolution played a vital role in the "rebirth" of Greece. A rebirth portrayed in the painting as the phoenix, the mythical bird that is being reborn from its ashes.
Regarding the commemorative medal, it is the first time that such a technique is used to create a commemorative medal in Greece. The coin is composed of 3 parts, which are connected with a blue polymeric ring. On the front side, we see the painting by Theophilos. The engraving dexterity of the National Mint artists is evident: it managed to transfer in such a small area the amazing details of the original, even the facial expressions and the posture of the figures.
On the reverse side, the logo of the Committee "Greece 2021," is depicted, the title of the celebration "200 Years after the Revolution" and the logo of the Mint (IETA.) Finally, along the medal's perimeter, the two dates, 1821 – 2021, are engraved, joined by two laurel branches. The "Forerunner" is placed in a specially designed luxury case "blister" in a diptych printed with a part of Theophilos' painting. A detailed text, in Greek and English, describes the symbolism of the depictions.
Press HERE for more on the Forerunner
The use of the logo without written permission from the Committee is prohibited.
200 years modern Greece
200 years Greeks and innovation
1821 – Mark in history
2021 – Window into the future
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OCONTO COUNTY
Oconto fire chief eyes retirement after teamwork breakdown
John Reed almost quit after he was excluded from closed session held in aftermath of big raises for chiefs
Kent Tempus
Green Bay Press-Gazette
OCONTO – Oconto Fire and Rescue Department Chief John Reed is weighing retirement over what he felt was a breakdown in the relationship between city officials.
Reed was on the verge of resigning earlier this month after being excluded from a closed session on Nov. 1, during which department-head pay issues were discussed.
A closed session discussion at the end of the Nov. 13 Committee of the Whole meeting, however, has resolved the brouhaha, Reed said Friday.
“I am through it,” Reed said. “I need to decide. I am undecided.”
The turmoil erupted after 14.6 percent pay raises were approved for Reed and Police Chief Mike Rehberg at the Oct. 23 Committee of the Whole meeting, at which the proposed city budget was reviewed in depth.
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The Police and Fire Commission in September had recommended salaries of $80,000 for both chiefs after Reed presented information that several firefighters were making more than his current pay of $69,822 because of overtime.
The salaries for the other three department heads, Superintendent of Public Works Jeremy Wusterbarth, Building Inspector Joe Last and Park & Rec Director John Bostedt, were approved for 3 percent pay hikes, which were recommended by Sara Perrizo and in line with the 3 percent in pay increases being set aside for non-union employees — though their pay increases differ and are awarded by department heads on merit.
The council in September also approved an increase of 3 percent for Perrizo.
Bostedt said Friday he was caught off guard by the raises for the two chiefs because during the morning session of the budget meeting, his budget was getting trimmed by about $9,000 and he was unable to get to get $1 per hour raises approved for two key employees.
“I just didn’t understand how in the morning you get cut, cut, cut, then all of a sudden, $20,000 is given out,” he said.
Bostedt added he was happy with his pay and a 3 percent increase and has no problem with what other department heads earn.
“If the council and (Police and Fire Commission) feel the fire chief is worth $100,000 a year, $110,000 a year, I’m fine with that,” he said.
A call to Wusterbarth on Friday afternoon was not returned by deadline.
Mayor Lloyd Heier said he told Reed that the pay increase should have stayed at 3 percent, but reconsidered after meeting with Reed three days in a row. In a meeting with both chiefs, he suggested that their salaries be set for $75,000 in 2019 and $80,000 plus any cost of living increase in 2020.
Heier called a special council meeting for Nov. 1, held in closed session and attended by the other department heads. At that session, he proposed increasing the salaries of the chiefs and Wusterbarth by 7.4 percent, to $75,000 annually; by 7.4 percent for Bostedt to $52,000; by 5.3 percent for Perrizo to $83,000; and 3 percent for Last, to $60,410. That proposal would help the budget, he said.
All four were at the meeting. However, Heier denied Reed’s request to attend that session, or even have a member of the Police and Fire Commission present to provide information to the council.
“It should have been not handled that way,” Reed said, blaming what occurred on a lack of communication. “It created a separation of department heads, I would say.”
That was upsetting, Reed said, as city officials had been handling the problem by working together.
“What a good team does, is when having issues, you pull together, you discuss and solve this (problem),” he said. “That’s what defines a great team, in my opinion.
Heier explained his reasoning at the Nov. 13 meeting.
“I … felt it was imperative, and I had council members (feeling) the same way, (that the other department heads did not have) the opportunity or even know that we were going to go any higher than 3, because that’s what we told everybody,” Heier said. “For me, in all fairness, that’s why I did what I did.”
Heier added that city officials need to get back to meeting regularly.
“I think we can go back to where (we were) ... I’m sorry about the bruised egos on all sides,” he said. “I’m part of the problem, too, but I’ve been trying to resolve it.”
Heier noted, though, that he can’t guarantee the increase to $80,000 for the chiefs in 2020, as salaries will be set for then by the council a year from now. But after speaking with council members, he’s confident it will be in the budget.
“If it (got) down to that point where it got pulled (from the budget), my resignation letter would be on Sara’s desk the next morning because I promised those two guys that’s (what) I’d do,” he said.
Alderperson Jean Feldt then spoke, praising Heier for his stance.
“That’s what integrity looks like,” she said. “We had gotten to a place in this city where we were doing all things with integrity. I don’t know what happened here … there’s a lot of animosity going back and forth. (That’s) not us, that’s not becoming of who we are how we operate.”
Feldt then asked Reed not to retire.
“I beg you, please don’t do it,” she said. “We need, everybody respects you, and the changes you (and Rehberg) …. have made to our city and to our surrounding area are invaluable, and it would be a very, very great shame for all of us, for you to walk away from us. We need you. We appreciate you. We are sorry for the kerfuffle.”
Feldt added that her comments were not intended to diminish the work done by Wusterbarth, Bostedt, Last “and all the other the characters who work and keep this city humming."
"You are all worth it all of it," she said, "120 percent worth, and it would be a shame, so reconsider, please.”
Reed thanked Feldt for her comments but said that Perrizo was aware he was going to ask for $75,000 before the 3 percent raises discussed in early fall.
“Quite frankly it’s not about the money. I was happy with $75,000 — the most I ever made. It’s how this was handled,” he said. “I can’t be part of that. I won’t be part of that, and I expressed that over and over again with the mayor.
To solve the problem, Reed added, he and Rehberg, or at least someone from the Police and Fire Commission should have present.
“How do you deny me access to a meeting?” Reed asked.
Reed added he was told that meeting had nothing to do with him or Rehberg, rather it a chance for other department heads “to vent about what was going on,” though believed they were raised in the discussion.
Alderman Bob LeBreck said he was unaware of any change to the pay plan until the budget meeting and said it should have been brought up sooner.
Perizzo said she had apologized for not bringing it up at the time.
“I didn’t think to put it on agenda because we always had dealt with wages at the budget meeting,” she said. “I learned something in the process. I certainly will handle it differently in the future. So I do apologize, but I was doing it as past practice.”
Alderperson Kim Bronikowsi said she did not know Reed asked to a part of the Nov. 1 closed session and noted she was “shocked” to learn how low his salary was in comparison with his subordinates.
“John knows how I feel about him,” Bronikowski said. “I don’t want him to go anywhere. I want him sitting where he is for as I’m long as I’m sitting over here.”
After bringing his resignation/retirement request to the Police and Fire Commission, Reed said that commission members urged him to think about it for a month. He said it’s an almost nightly discussion with his wife.
Reed, who has been chief for just over three years and with the department for 37 years, said he will announce his decision to the commission at its December meeting.
During a nearly 30-minute interview, Reed made conflicting statements that illustrated that he remained undecided.
At one point, Reed said he was “probably still going to retire.” But later, he said that “in my heart, I feel like I’m going to hang around, but I have to make sure and know that the team is there.”
Reed emphasized, however, that he believed the city is now going in a better direction.
“Not because of my (possible) resignation, but because we sat down as a team,” he said. “Sometimes a well-oiled team runs off the track,” he added. “We sat down, discussed every issue. A lot of them didn’t know what was going on. This whole crew is changing things to improve communication and work things out.”
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Your smartphone is light years ahead of NASA computers that guided Apollo moon landings
Mission Moon
Dwight Silverman April 11, 2019 Updated: May 13, 2019 5:07 p.m.
Your smartphone is light years ahead of NASA computers...
1of3The DSKEY input module, right, shown alongside the Apollo Guidance Computer's main casing.Photo: NASA
2of3In this historic photo, Astronaut Buzz Aldrin prepares to deploy the Early Apollo Scientific Experiments Package (EASEP) during the Apollo II lunar surface extravehicular activity on July 20, 1969. Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong took the photograph with a 70mm lunar surface camera.Photo: NEIL A. ARMSTRONG, HO / AP
3of3A view of the Apollo 14 Lunar Module on the moon as photographed on Feb. 5, 1971 during the first Apollo 14 extravehicular activity on the lunar surface. The astronauts have already deployed the U.S. flag. Astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr. and Edgar D. Mitchell descended in the lunar module to explore the moon while Astronaut Stuart A. Roosa remained in orbit with the Command and Service Modules.Photo: NASA
MISSION MOON: Nearly 50 years have passed since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon. Our special anniversary coverage explores how the country came together to fulfill President John F. Kennedy’s goal of reaching the lunar surface by 1970, NASA's bold missions - and crippling tragedies - since that historic day, and the future of space exploration and Houston as America's "Space City.”
In the 2018 film “First Man” about Neil Armstrong’s journey to becoming the first human to set foot on the moon, a computer plays a starring role in the dramatic moments before the Lunar Module touches down on the surface.
Taken directly from the audio recording of the landing, the scene features a blaring alarm from the Apollo Guidance Computer as it manages the descent and forward motion of the spacecraft. Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin report a couple of instances of the alarm, designated a 1202, and then another, a 1201. In both cases, Mission Control in Houston tells the astronauts to continue, the mission is a “go”.
It’s a dramatic moment both in real life and in the film, but it’s also a pivotal moment in the history of computing. The alarm was an indication that key feature of the guidance computer was doing just what it was designed to do - make landing on the moon the computer’s top priority.
While the computer systems that got humans to the moon and back in July 1969 are considered primitive compared to the smartphones we carry in our pockets or the smartwatches we wear on our wrists 50 years later, they were remarkable for their time. The software created for the guidance computers required new approaches to programming that are still used today.
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“It was the first time any vehicle that carried people had submitted itself to being controlled by a digital computer,” said Don Eyles, a computer scientist who, fresh out of college, landed a job at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Instrumentation Laboratory in 1966. He wound up working on the guidance system for the Lunar Module, and wrote about his experiences in a 2018 book, “Sunburst and Luminary: An Apollo Memoir” (Fort Point Press).
Big body, little brain
The computers on both the LM and the Command Module were the same in terms of hardware. Both weighed about 70 pounds, were encased in gold-colored cases and bolted to the walls of their respective spacecraft. Eyles said 10 pounds of that weight likely was the memory on the computers, composed of iron rings with wires passing through them and wrapped around them. Called rope core memory, it was limited to just 2 kilobytes of memory that could be erased and rewritten, known today as random access memory, or RAM.
Compare that to the 8 gigabytes of silicon-based RAM in Samsung’s latest smartphone, the Galaxy S10: That mobile device has 4 million times more rewritable memory than what was in the Lunar and Command module’s computers.
While modern computers and smartphones have high-resolution displays and can use touch, voice and keyboards for input, the Apollo guidance computers were far more rudimentary. Their Display and Keyboard Unit, or DSKY, had a simple numeric keypad, a series of status lights and a numeric digital display. Commands were painstakingly typed as number combinations by the astronauts, including when NASA wanted to make changes to the code.
In 1971, during the Apollo 14 mission, Eyles was tasked with writing a change in the Lunar Module’s software after a switch malfunctioned on the lander. New commands were needed to bypass the switch, and Eyles had only two hours to rewrite the code or the landing would be aborted. According to a Rolling Stone magazine article about the incident at the time, entering the new program involved typing in 26 sets of five-digit numbers. The code was finished and punched into the computer with just 10 minutes to spare.
The software that ultimately controlled the descent to the moon, as well as other aspects of the Apollo 11 flight, was unique for the time as well. Unlike other computer systems, the Apollo Guidance Computer could multitask, something a modern smartphone now excels at. It also could prioritize tasks that were given to it.
Eyles credits these advances to J. Halcombe “Hal” Laning, who came up with a way for multiple jobs to be prioritized, allowing for the computer to handle more than one task without crashing. His approach had never been tried before, and is still used in programming today.
LISTEN: Our “Cigarettes & Rocket Fuel” podcast follows NASA’s 1969 Apollo missions
“The memory was so small, and the computer so slow, that this was necessary to pack the most processing power into it,” Eyles said.
And it was this system that was at work when the now-infamous 1202 and 1201 alarms began blaring during Apollo 11’s descent to the moon.
As the Lunar Module was descending, the guidance computer had been assigned multiple tasks, but navigating to the surface of the moon was Priority 1. The secondary tasks were halted, causing the computer to issue the alarm that it had too much to do. This was disconcerting to the astronauts.
“The display and keyboard went blank at one time for 10 seconds,” Eyles said.
Armstrong asked Mission Control for a “reading” on the 1202 alarm, and back in Houston guidance experts scrambled for an answer. A 26-year-old guidance controller named Steve Bales gave “thumbs up” to indicate it was OK - Eyles said he was too scared to use words - and the mission continued.
Today, Eyles is an artist, writer and still works in computer science. He carries a smartphone, as you’d expect, and appreciates how far our computing capabilities have come. But there’s one thing he doesn’t like about modern mobile devices.
His smartphone of choice is Apple’s iPhone SE, an older, smaller model that was recently discontinued by Apple.
“Smartphones are just getting too big,” he said. He even went so far as to buy a second one as a backup. Just in case.
Dwight Silverman is the technology editor for the Houston Chronicle and the grillmaster for the TechBurger tech news site. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
Get more tasty tech news at TechBurger. And follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
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Dwight Silverman
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https://www.facebook.com/dwightsilvermandsilverman
Dwight Silverman is the technology editor for the Houston Chronicle. He manages the TechBurger website, writes about personal technology for HoustonChronicle.com and the print edition. He also writes a weekly tech column, also called TechBurger, and a weekly newsletter, Release Notes.
He has been with the Houston Chronicle since 1990 and has worked as an assistant state editor, business reporter, technology columnist, interactive journalism editor, social media manager and manager of the subscriber website. He moved to the website staff in 2000 and was responsible for helping bring blogging and social media to chron.com.
He's also worked at the San Antonio Current, the San Antonio Light and the Beaumont Enterprise.
Silverman is a regular panelist on This Week in Tech, the popular tech news podocast at twit.tv, and is a former co-host of Technology Bytes, a weekly computer call-in show on KPFT-FM.
He is the author of several computer books, including "Running Windows on Your Mac" (Peachpit) and "Switching to a Mac: No Problem" (Wiley & Sons).
Silverman has taught journalism classes at the University of Houston, including a course on social media and news.
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The event will kick off a new fundraising effort to help David and Keziah and their 2 daughters relocate closer to the heart of our ministry and his.
By Julie Wolpers
Please join us for a meet & greet/open house from 4-9pm on Friday, Aug. 23, to help us welcome our special guest from Kenya, David Kariuki. The husband of h.o.w? Ministry in-country coordinator Keziah Murugi and a member of our board, he is also the founder of a mentoring ministry for young men called Reached to Reach.
The event will kick off a new fundraising effort to help David and Keziah and their 2 daughters relocate from Nairobi to Naivasha so they can reside closer to the heart of our ministry and his. Our goal is to raise $60,000 to construct their new home on a portion of the land we purchased in 2016 for the eventual expansion of our h.o.w? widows project in rural Kinangop.
The meet & greet will be held at the h.o.w? Ministry headquarters at 465 Bristle Ridge in Cape Girardeau. (We will also have many new items for sale in our boutique!)
"We are looking forward to having David in Cape Girardeau for a whole week," said Michelle Outman, h.o.w? Ministry's executive director. "He is a man after God's own heart. He serves his family, his ministry, and is a wonderful source of support to h.o.w? Ministry."
Reached to Reach is situated on land nearly adjacent to our 8 acres, which are much closer to the widows (about a 30-minute drive) than the nearly 2-hour journey Keziah routinely makes from Nairobi to meet with them.
Naivasha is a growing but largely suburban and rural area (population 181,966) situated near the beautiful, wildlife-rich Lake Naivasha and Mount Longonot National Park. A tourist destination, it's also a welcome retreat from the heavily populated, crowded city of Nairobi (with a metro area population of 6.5 million).
In Naivasha, David has built a small headquarters, workshop, and farm, where he is helping young men from the slums of Nairobi turn their lives around. Our vision for the h.o.w? Ministry property in Naivasha includes potentially a mission house, workshop, poultry farm, and gift shop, and we have spent several years researching those potential projects. We put development of the land in Naivasha on hold while we established a new Women's Empowerment Center for our widows in Kinangop.
David calls his ministry Reached to Reach because as a young street boy, he was "reached" and saved by Charles Mulli, founder of the Mully Children's Family, a well known philanthropy and collection of homes and schools across Kenya that has saved thousands of children in the past 25+ years.
Mulli rescued David from the slums where he had literally been set on fire --twice-- while living homeless on the streets. David succeeded in school, eventually attained a master's degree in social work, and began his adult life giving back. One of the first to be saved by Mulli, he is now reaching out to young men who have aged out of the schools but still need help getting their lives on track.
David and Keziah have each visited Cape Girardeau multiple times, but never together. Keziah is at home in Kenya with their girls. Once they are able to move to Naivasha, they will be able to more fully focus on their daughters and their ministries without the endless commutes.
"We have been blessed by David's life experience and firsthand knowledge of the difficulty and challenges of being a street orphan in Kenya," Michelle said. "He is a servant at heart, and we are so thankful for the dedication with which he serves."
David in Naivasha last June (above) and with Keziah (below) in 2017. At top is a view of the Reached to Reach greenhouse and farm overlooking Naivasha in the valley below.
We are looking forward to having David in Cape Girardeau for a whole week. He is a man after God’s own heart. He serves his family, his ministry, and is a wonderful source of support to h.o.w? Ministry." - Michelle Outman
Julie Wolpers is our web editor and a member of the h.o.w? Ministry board of directors. She has traveled with mission teams to Kenya 4 times and can't wait to go back!
Posted in news and tagged David Kariuki, naivasha, Reached to Reach
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HMA Admission Policy Click Here for Details
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Meet the Collector
Herman P. Dean was born in West Virginia, and died in West Virginia, but during the 80 years in between he lived a remarkably rich life that took him to the far corners of the world, as well as establishing himself back home in the Mountain State as a journalist, publisher, businessman, and firearms expert and collector.
Born in Wayne, W.Va. on May 6, 1897, Dean’s interest in journalism developed at a young age. When he was just 9 years old, Dean wrote a weekly column for The Herald-Advertiser, which was the combined Sunday edition of The Herald-Dispatch and The Huntington-Advertiser, now defunct. Dean attended Bethany College and Ohio State University majoring in journalism. After serving in the Navy during World War I, he returned to Wayne and bought The Wayne News, changing its name to The Wayne County News to signify its reach across the county. In 1932, Dean bought Standard Printing and Publishing Company, which was located in Huntington. Though a commercial business, Dean used the presses to print books on firearms written by experts.
Not long after he purchased the publishing company, Dean began the first of his many travel explorations. His journeys took him through Europe, Russia, and South America, but perhaps Dean’s favorite locations were the Arctic regions, such as Hudson Bay. Dean traveled with Hudson’s Bay Company to different regions and provinces in Canada. Hudson’s Bay Company began as a fur trading company in the 17th century. By the 19th century, however, the company shifted its ventures to retail, and began selling items such as tea, coffee, and tobacco in its sale shops, which had formerly operated as trading posts. While traveling these parts, Dean developed a fondness for the Inuit he encountered, and often stated how cheerful, courageous, and friendly they were. Dean spent a lot of his time in the bay hunting. He once boasted that he’d shot “just about every animal in North America,” including a 1,650-pound Kodiak bear. As an avid hunter, Dean was knowledgeable about firearms, and began collecting them as a hobby. However, he soon found himself immersed in learning about the craftsmanship of the weapons, as well as the history behind them.
Dean was passionate about Daniel Boone’s ties to West Virginia, and once said that studying Boone opened the door for him to learn about all of West Virginia’s history. One of Boone’s guns, a flintlock rifle, is in Dean’s collection. Also included in the collection are a Remington percussion pistol and a Lefaucheux revolver that were allegedly left behind by the infamous James Gang during the 1875 robbery of the Bank of Huntington. Overall, the Herman P. Dean Firearms Collection holds nearly 400 items, and is widely considered to be one of the finest firearms collections in the country. Dean generously loaned his firearms collection to Huntington Museum of Art (then, Huntington Galleries) upon its formation in 1952, and later donated it to the museum. As a founder of the institution, Dean wanted the Huntington community to enjoy his collection just as much as he had when acquiring its pieces.
After retiring in 1961, Dean set up an office in Huntington, surrounding himself with the souvenirs of his travels, such as Inuit art carved out of soapstone in the shapes of various animals, tusks of ivory, and hunting pictures. During his later years, he also took time to teach tour guides about his firearms collection, as well as lead a few tours of his own. Dean died in 1978 at the age of 80, leaving behind a wealth of items and knowledge to the Huntington area, and around the world.
Dean's Travels with Hudson's Bay Company
During the 1950s, Herman P. Dean made several trips to different regions and provinces throughout Canada with Hudson's Bay Company, which began as a fur trading company, but by the 19th century the company shifted its focus to retail. Dean became very fond of the Inuit he encountered in these Arctic regions. He also spent a great deal of his time hunting, and once claimed he'd shot "just about every animal in North America." Click here to visit the full page.
Herman P. Dean Firearms Collection
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2033 McCoy Rd Huntington, WV Phone: (304) 529-2701
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2033 McCoy Rd | Huntington, WV Phone: (304) 529-2701 | Get Directions > ©2021 Copyright | Huntington Museum of Art
HMA is fully accessible in compliance with current ADA standards.
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Kacie Anning graduates from Oz ‘boot camp’ to Amazon’s ‘Upload’
by Don Groves May 19, 2020 May 21, 2020
Kacie Anning.
When Kacie Anning met Greg Daniels, creator of the US version of The Office, over breakfast in Los Angeles he discussed a futuristic comedy series he was developing.
He related his vision of the show and she responded with her ideas. That was in 2018. Several months later, Daniels made her the biggest offer of her career: direct two episodes of Upload, which had been commissioned by Amazon Prime Video.
Last year Anning went to Vancouver to work on the production, which, co-incidentally, had Simon Chapman as the DOP and Daina Reid among the directing cohort.
Now streaming on Amazon, Upload is set in the near future when people who die can be uploaded into a digital afterlife – if they can afford it.
Robbie Amell stars as Nathan, a young app developer who winds up in hospital after his self-driving car crashes into a truck. After a hasty conversation with his vacuous girlfriend Ingrid (Allegra Edwards), he elects to be uploaded to the seemingly idyllic Lakeview resort.
As he starts to find the virtual afterlife is far from ideal, he turns to his customer service “Angel” Nora (Andy Allo), who becomes his friend and confidante.
Anning is grateful to Screen Australia, which sent her to Los Angeles in 2018 as part of the Talent USA: LA initiative, where she secured representation: WME as her agent and Mosaic as her manager.
Robbie Amell in ‘Upload’.
Her reps, who set up the meeting with Daniels, had sent him a showreel of her work including Fragments of Friday, the Screen Australia funded comedy web series which she wrote, directed and performed in, produced by fellow AFTRS alumni Courtney Wise.
The Amazon series was a big jump for Kacie after she directed the first series of The Other Guy for Stan, three episodes of the ABC’s Hardball and the ABC children’s sketch comedy You’re Skitting Me.
However she took it in her stride, observing: “It’s such a well-oiled machine and you are very well supported. You are asked to jump on the train and hold on.
“Within the first half day I thought, ‘It’s just directing, I know what to do.’ The budget and the scale of the storytelling were certainly intimidating but I had a very high-level creative team to facilitate and support me, particularly on the VFX front.
“I found that really liberating and I used the camera in ways I had not had the time or resources to do previously. My background in Australia, where we make super-fast productions, was a useful boot camp that enabled me to step up.
“Upload is set in a futuristic world but for me it was a rom-com about two people who have an impossible relationship, who like each other but can’t be together.”
After that she directed one episode of Diary of a Future President, a Disney+ commissioned comedy about a 12-year-old Cuban American girl who aspires to be President.
Since then she has been developing her own work, including a female ensemble comedy set in Australia for Matchbox Pictures and a series with Ian Collie’s Easy Tiger.
Reflecting on her career, she says: “I’m a poster child for Screen Australia’s talent development, starting with Fragments of Friday, which led to working in the US and now the dream of creating my own projects. And I’m very grateful to Stan for taking a punt on a new director, which doesn’t happen a lot these days.”
Tagged: amazon-prime-video, courtney-wise, daina-reid, easy-tiger-productions, fragments-of-friday, greg-daniels, hardball, kacie-anning, matchbox-pictures, screen-australia, the-other-guy, upload
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Current: To defend tax reform, Trump must nominate an OECD ambassador
To defend tax reform, Trump must nominate an OECD ambassador
(Washington Examiner) -- Created in 1961, the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development is a 36-country group designed to promote global economic progress — as conceived by a number of Paris-based bureaucrats.
The organization is exactly the type of entity that President Trump, with his “America First” agenda and mix of skepticism and hostility toward globalism, should want nothing to do with. But rather than disengage from the OECD, it is crucial that Trump defend the interests of the U.S. by nominating a representative to the body.
It has been over 500 days since the U.S. had an ambassador to the OECD, and this vacuum of American leadership is allowing the EU to set international norms and take aim at U.S. sovereignty in an effort to undermine the Trump tax bill at the cost of American business, jobs, and innovation.
The tax reform bill passed by the GOP House and Senate, and signed into law by Trump, has made America competitive again. The bill lowered the federal corporate tax to a globally competitive 21 percent and updated the international tax system so that businesses can now compete and reinvest trillions of dollars in foreign earnings into America. In fact, since the passage of tax reform, the U.S. has been named the most competitive economy in the world, according to the IMD World Competitiveness Center.
The bill also included two new international provisions which implement a “carrot and stick” approach with the aim of incentivizing the location of capital and profits within America, and clamping down on erosion of the U.S. tax base. The stick, known as “global intangible low-taxed income,” or GILTI, imposes a 10.5 percent minimum tax on intellectual property derived income. The carrot, known as “foreign-derived intangible income,” or FDII, provides a deduction of 37.5 percent off the 21 percent corporate rate (for an effective rate of 13.125 percent) for income derived from IP held in the U.S.
In combination with the low U.S. corporate rate, these provisions create a strong incentive for companies to invest and do business in America. It is also why high-tax, big-government European nations hate the tax law and have demanded the OECD review GILTI and FDII in its Forum on Harmful Tax Practices. Even before the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act had been enacted, European countries expressed concern over the law. Some countries have even gone as far as to suggest that the OECD designate the U.S. a tax haven, and it is expected that the EU will launch a legal challenge to the tax law in the World Trade Organization.
This is not the only threat to U.S. sovereignty and competitiveness. EU leaders have also called for a discriminatory, global minimum tax on digital innovators. This tax, which would be predominately aimed at iconic American companies out of Silicon Valley, would be imposed on the digital revenue of tech companies, based on the concern from Europe that companies are paying too little.
Ironically, European nations are trying to undermine U.S. tax law that seeks to clarify the tax base and the very problems the EU digital tax purportedly seeks to address. This is not the first effort the EU has taken to undermine tax competition and American businesses. The European Commission has previously ruled that low tax rates of EU member countries constituted “illegal state aid” and ordered U.S. tech companies such as Amazon and Apple to pay these governments back.
Clearly, challenges to U.S. sovereignty and competitiveness will not end. The U.S. needs an ambassador to the OECD who is well-versed in the TCJA — specifically the international provisions of the law — and can clearly and credibly advocate for and defend the pro-growth policies Trump is putting into place.
Fortunately, some lawmakers are beginning to take notice of the need for an OECD ambassador. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Rep. Jim Renacci, R-Ohio, recently released letters urging Trump to consider the need for “a strong and powerful voice defending the United States and U.S.-based companies at the OECD.” This is a welcome first step. At the very least, re-engaging with the OECD by nominating an ambassador will give Trump an opportunity to protect U.S. competitiveness and ensure American jobs, businesses, and innovation have a check against European aggression.
Alexander Hendrie is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. He is tax policy director at Americans for Tax Reform.
Amazon UK tax payment falls to…
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Chip and Dan Heath: Marketing Made Sticky
The authors of "Made to Stick" talk about how to make your messaging memorable.
By Mike Hofman@mikehofman
Marketers have long wondered why simple campaigns sometimes have a greater impact than more sophisticated efforts. Brothers Chip and Dan Heath explore this conundrum in their new book Made to Stick (Random House). The authors--Chip is a professor at Stanford, and Dan works at Duke's corporate education program--looked at ideas from the golden rule to popular urban legends to create a checklist of what makes an idea truly memorable. The Heaths recently ran down their checklist with editor Mike Hofman.
Why do you think some ideas catch on while others languish?
Chip: We believe that the best ideas have most of these traits: They are simple, core messages; they are unexpected; they are concrete, credible, and emotional; and they are stories. So when John F. Kennedy said that we were going to put a man on the moon within the decade, that idea stuck because it had many of those qualities. A more current example, and our favorite marketing example, would be Jared, the Subway spokesperson who lost 245 pounds by eating Subway every day. It meets all of those criteria. But believe it or not, some top people at Subway initially objected to the campaign.
Dan: They thought that the idea of healthy fast food could be problematic. The lawyers worried that there was a legal risk to saying that eating Subway could help you lose weight.
Chip: Paradoxically, Subway's last campaign prior to Jared was "7 sandwiches under 6 grams of fat." Some of the marketing people felt that they had already put out the message that Subway was healthy.
Why didn't the six-grams slogan work? It seems both simple and credible.
Dan: I don't think it's all that concrete. What does six grams of fat mean, really? And it's not a story in the way that Jared losing a ton of weight by eating Subway is a story. When Jared holds up those gi-normous pants and you see the before-and-after photos of him, these things are concrete and they allow the audience to assess the credibility of the message for themselves. And there's an emotional element to Jared's story that the six-grams campaign lacks. You feel like Jared faced a challenge and overcame it and I can, too. It's a simple tale of victory.
You argue that the "simple" part is where a lot of marketers and communicators mess up. Why is that?
Chip: In the book, we call it the "curse of knowledge," and it's actually particularly common among entrepreneurs. They've spent years building a product and now it's time to sell it and they want everyone to hear everything about it. But for a truly sticky idea, you need to edit the message to its very core.
Dan: Simplicity is a powerful force, and it can be hard for people like entrepreneurs, who always have a lot to say, to master it. We're not talking about paring the superfluous elements out of your message. That's the easy part. The hard part is picking from several valuable ideas the single most valuable idea and making it as sticky as possible. Herb Kelleher has told a great story about Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) that captures what this means in practice. Tracy from marketing comes into his office and says that customer surveys say that travelers on the Houston to Las Vegas route would enjoy a meal, and a chicken Caesar salad is the right meal to serve them according to market research. And Kelleher responds that the mission of Southwest is to be the lowest-fare airline in every market. So, he asks her, how is serving chicken Caesar salads on that flight going to make Southwest the lowest-fare airline in that market? There you have an entrepreneur who knows his core value.
I would think entrepreneurs would have an easier time making their ideas stick because they can use their power as owner of the company to end any debate about what the core message is. Is that the case?
Chip: Entrepreneurs have an advantage in that their businesses are relatively small, so it's very easy for them to spread the word about their core message. But these companies also face a huge disadvantage because they are very often focused on the entrepreneur who founded the company--who has that curse of knowledge.
Dan: The great cruelty is that the smarter you get about something, the harder it is to share what you know. This is the problem we all have with doctors, lawyers, and accountants. We all know that they know what they're talking about. But we've all had the experience of sitting in a lawyer's office and not understanding what they're saying because they're forgetting that you don't know what they know. It's the same with a 10-year-old trying to show you how to play a video game. The child can't fathom the scope of your ignorance.
The companies you've mentioned are consumer marketers. How does your checklist apply to business-to-business marketing?
Dan: Business-to-business marketers do a notoriously bad job when it comes to the emotional element of marketing. It's as if the marketing world believes that consumers buying something for themselves are totally emotional, but the minute they go to work and buy something as part of their job, all they care about is optimization and efficiency. There's an interesting story about a Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) campaign in the United Kingdom for a software development product. It came about because the marketing people one day realized that software developers thought of themselves as creative people. Prior to that, my guess is the marketers thought that they were creative and developers were something different--they were technical. So the marketers decided to design a brochure unlike all the brochures out there that described a product feature by feature. Instead, Microsoft made an emotional appeal to developers as creative people. The message was, the next time you have a creative breakthrough, our development tools will help you turn that idea into reality. As a result of that campaign, sales of that product improved.
How can you diagnose whether your business has an unsticky core message?
Chip: You'll know it when the founder of the company is the ultimate arbiter for every question. The typical answer to any major question is, "Let's ask Barry"--that is, let's ask the boss. With the really sticky ideas, a company has told a story to people throughout the company and beyond, so that employees can make the right decisions on their own.
Dan: I would add that if your competitors think that your core statement is also true of them, then it's not good enough.
To read a blog by Made to Stick's authors, go to madetostick.com.
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Transcript of remarks by CE at media session before ExCo meeting (with photos/videos)
Following is the transcript of remarks by the Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam at a media session before the Executive Council meeting today (September 1):
Reporter: Good morning, Mrs Lam. My first question is, I’ve been listening to the radio that Patrick Nip, the Secretary for Mainland and Constitutional Affairs (should be the Secretary for the Civil Service), said on the radio this morning that 600 000 people have signed up for the testing so far. Do you think it’s a satisfactory number, given that the extensive explanation you have given to the public, and only about less than one-tenth of the population has signed up? What is the problem? Do you think your popularity and people’s mistrust on you is what has been impeding the community testing programme? And second question is now that we are having this mass testing scheme happening, also students will be expected to return to school in mid-late September, given all these things that indicating lives can go back to normal, why can’t we have the election a little bit earlier than you earlier suggested? And the last question is regarding the 12 suspects who have fled to Mainland China, do you have all news about them? Are you going to retrieve them back to Hong Kong and what are the ways of doing so if there’s any intention at all? Thanks.
Chief Executive: There are three questions - one is about the numbers who have enrolled for this Universal Community Testing Programme. We have stressed that this is a service made available to people of Hong Kong who want to have this test. It is also a service to enable us to identify the remaining infected cases in community so that we could return to normal as soon as possible. The Government does not have a quantifiable target to start with, but my appeal has always been to encourage as many citizens to come forward for themselves, for their loved ones, their relatives and also their co-workers in various settings as we can because we have seen from statistics that about one-quarter of the confirmed cases were without symptoms. You can imagine that if you did not have a symptom but you go around town, then you could infect others and that is a very worrying trend. This is the purpose of the test. I don’t think it has anything to do with the Government’s popularity, but it does have something to do with people, who either don’t understand the details of the programme, the procedures, the safeguards we have put in place that they try to cause worries and fears amongst the people so they will have less confidence in coming forward. I hope that for those who have done the test in the last two and a half hours, they will be able to show to other people that this is a very safe, very simple, very straightforward process which will contribute to our anti-epidemic efforts.
We have explained so many times that conducting a general election is not a small thing. It is not just only on the voting day when we may have over three million, four million voters coming out to vote on a single day, but there are also a lot of electioneering activities and preparatory work to do before the election. To postpone the election is a very difficult decision. You remember I announced the postponement on the July 31 and I think that was during the period when we have seen successive daily cases over 100. In fact, the peak of 148 (should be 149) confirmed cases happened, I think, on the day before my announcement, so that was a very critical period and a decision had to be made. And the Legislative Council has its own cycle, just like government work has its own cycle, so without knowing when this epidemic will subside and in order to preserve the normal cycle of business of the Legislative Council, the decision was taken to postpone it by one year. This is not unique to Hong Kong, as I have quoted the case of the United Kingdom. As early as March, they have decided to postpone their elections originally scheduled for May for the local governments and all the different mayors by one year to May 2021.
Reporter: …the 12 suspects …
Chief Executive: That’s a matter of law enforcement. It will have to be carried out by the law enforcement authorities. If the breaching of the law took place in another jurisdiction, then of course it is up to the law enforcement bodies in that particular jurisdiction to take the necessary action.
Reporter: Are you concerned about the well-being…
Chief Executive: We will act in accordance with the law. Of course, we have a duty to ensure that justice is done and also to take care of our Hong Kong residents outside of Hong Kong. That has always been part of the Hong Kong SAR Government’s policy.
Ends/Tuesday, September 1, 2020
CE meets the media
CE, Principal Officials and ExCo Members take part in Universal Community Testing Programme
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FW: Digital Media job at the Royal Shakespeare Company, UK [Scanned]
John Benfield <[log in to unmask]>
Wed, 8 Apr 2009 14:47:42 +0100
Apologies for cross-posting
Please feel free to forward this to anyone else or other forums you think might be interested.
John Benfield
Head of Digital Media
Assistant Digital Media Producer - Press and Communications
The Royal Shakespeare Company is creating a new web presence that will be a dynamic and content-rich extension of our theatrical productions, connecting people with Shakespeare and building excitement about our work on stage with audiences across the world.
As part of the Digital Media team you will be responsible for the creation of high quality content (especially written) for delivery from the new website and other digital media platforms. You will also collaborate closely with other RSC teams, from Marketing, Communications and Education, through to our acting companies and our artistic and technical departments.
You will have an excellent track record of commissioning, writing and nosing out compelling and timely online content for a range of audiences. You will be self-motivated with experience of working within a busy news-based team environment and you will be a confident communicator with strong writing skills. Experience with developing for content managed websites and a familiarity with HTML are essential.
You don't have to have a theatre background, but you will excited about live performance and the potential of the internet to connect people to what we do.
It's a full time post, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. The salary will be up to £22,000 per annum.
The closing date for receipt of applications is 27th April 2009.
For details of these positions, please visit www.rsc.org.uk, e-mail [log in to unmask] or phone 01789 412625.
We are committed to equality of opportunity and encourage applications from minority ethnic and disabled people, as they are currently under-represented amongst our staff.
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Category Archives: Terms of Use
Terms of use of this site
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To stay in America, or go home? Coronavirus pandemic brings stress, fear for international students.
Lindsay SchnellUSA TODAY
Shortly after the NBA suspended its season and the 2020 NCAA Tournament was canceled, Jasmine Simmons, an Australian international student playing basketball at Oregon State University, realized just how much the coronavirus could impact her life.
The virus, which started in China and has since spread around the world, has infected nearly 245,000 people and killed more than 10,000 as of early Friday, according to the Johns Hopkins University data dashboard. In the last week, millions of people have been forced to work from home or lost their jobs, countries have closed borders and schools have moved to online learning models, effectively closing campuses.
The pandemic has left international students of all ages scrambling: Do they stay in America? Do they go home and risk being quarantined in an unfamiliar place? What happens if, or when, dorms are closed permanently?
“It’s stressful,” said Simmons, a 21-year-old sophomore from Mildura, Australia, located in the southeast part of the country. “I want to be with my family, but going to the airport seems like the worst decision right now. Also, if I left, I don’t know when I’d be able to get back. It’s been a pretty emotional week.”
It’s been a anxiety-filled week, too, Simmons said: Watching the news and talking with her family has been “eye-opening."
“Fear," she said, "has been instilled in so many people.”
That includes students thousands of miles from their families. Hundreds of colleges across the U.S. have closed their campuses, canceling in-person classes, moving to online learning modules and encouraging students to head home while they wait out the virus.
When home is across the ocean, that’s not easy.
When will school reopen? No date in sight, as schools struggling to put learning online
“The practical reality is that our international students have challenges in doing that,” said Dulce Dorado, the director of international students and programs at UC-San Diego, where almost 9,000 international students are enrolled, nearly one-third of the university’s total population. “Some of them are from areas that were really high impacted, and they can’t relocate because of high risk.”
Like many campuses, UCSD residential and food services buildings remain open for students who have no other options. But it’s a fluid situation, and students and staff everywhere are trying to trying to make adjustments in real time.
Coronavirus concerns: 'What if I got stuck in an airport somewhere?'
In Nashville, Eduard Tataru, a 21-year-old sophomore studying computer science, returned from spring break on March 9 to news that Vanderbilt University was planning to move to an online-only system until the end of the month. He figured he’d wait it out.
But within days, Vanderbilt had canceled in-person classes for the rest of the semester. By that time, Moldova, where Tataru is from, had closed its borders and shuttered its airport. Getting in through a neighboring country — Ukraine or Romania — isn’t likely either.
“It’s moving so quickly every day,” Tataru said. “Finding direct flights is hard, too — what if I got stuck in an airport somewhere?”
Information is coming at warp speed, which makes the situation challenging for students and families, said San Diego's Dorado. On her campus, administrators have started organizing weekly webinars — they start late at night, Pacific Time, when it’s early the next day overseas — with Mandarin interpreters to help explain to families what they’re doing to keep students safe.
At Yale, Aaron Feng, 24, is a graduate student in environmental management. Originally from Wuhan, China — where the virus originated — Feng went back to visit family over winter break in December. From there he went to India, with day trips to Singapore and Abu Dhabi. When he returned to the U.S. on Jan. 19, his family in Wuhan was just starting to feel the impact of its city going into lockdown.
As he learned more about the virus, Feng recalled reading about a man who carried SARS to a handful of countries in Southeast Asia, deemed by many to be a “super infector.”
What if I’m like that guy, Feng worried.
Fortunately, Feng hasn’t experienced any coronavirus symptoms since returning to the states and his family in Wuhan has also remained coronavirus-free.
Now, as he waits out the virus at his off-campus house, Feng is focused on the future, even though he doesn’t know what that will bring, either. Two weeks ago, he got a job offer from a company in New York but with an economy in free fall, he’s recently been told by that company that there’s “lots of uncertainty” when it comes to hiring.
“For international students, the visa issue is going to further complicate things,” Feng said. “If you’re a student and you do want to stay, what happens if your visa expires during this? How do you find a job?”
For international students away from home, coronavirus is 'scary' and 'stressful'
It’s not just college kids who are worried about the transition to life after the virus — foreign exchange students in high schools have been impacted, too.
Students abroad 'scrambling' for flights after Trump restricts travel from Europe
In Channahon, Illinois, about an hour southwest of Chicago, Jill Geers and her family have spent the past seven months hosting two foreign exchange students: John, from China, and Lucca, from Brazil. Coronavirus has been a “tremendous stressor” for Geers, her husband and their three biological sons.
Though they’d originally decided as a group that having John and Lucca stay in America would be best for everyone, Lucca soon received a frazzled email from his exchange program insisting he return to Brazil. Against Geers’ better judgement — “he’s had a cough for two months, and now he’s gonna breathe all that recycled air for how many hours?” — she put him on a plane home. She’s not sure if, or when, he’ll come back to the states.
For now, John will stay in Illinois, but Geers can sympathize with how hard that must be for his family.
“Your maternal instinct is to have your child home with you,” she said. “But if you step away from that, the rational part of you knows it’s probably better to follow the CDC’s guidelines, to respect the lockdowns and keep them sheltered from germs at the airport.
“But I know it’s easy for me to say that, because my kids are all physically with me in this country.”
In Sandy, Oregon, Manon Bebin also opted for safety.
An 18-year-old senior from Brittany, France, in the country’s northwest region, Bebin has decided to stay in America because “I love my host family, I’m having so much fun with them.” She said she was giving a choice by her exchange program, whereas others were not.
“My friend from Spain who is also here, she said she was staying at first,” Bebin said. “But, then, the next morning, she said, ‘They’re forcing me to go home.’”
Bebin worries that if she were to go back to France, she’d potentially get stuck in quarantine in an unfamiliar city, by herself. “Being alone in a room for two weeks in Paris, not being able to see anyone, I’m not ready for that,” she said.
So while she can, she’s soaking up the time with her American family, which includes four siblings.
“Sometimes, I try to imagine the situation in France and it’s really scary,” she said. “It’s stressful here, too. But my host family, they’re like my real brothers and sisters, I don’t want to leave them. But still I’m scared that in a couple days, I’m going to get an email saying I have to go home to France.
“I’m waiting for something, but maybe I’m waiting for nothing. I don’t know. It’s stressful.”
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Does Trump’s lag prove the end of White Christian America?
contributors 10/28/2016
Robert P. Jones | The Atlantic | (Video News Report) | – –
‘The United States is no longer a majority white, Christian country, and that is already beginning to have profound social and political implications. At 45 percent of the population, white Christians are a shrinking demographic—and the backlash from many members of the group against the increasing diversification of America has been swift and bitter. “People fight like that when they are losing a sense of place, a sense of belonging, and a sense of the country that they understand and love,” says Robert P. Jones, the author of ‘The End of White Christian America,’ in this animated interview. “How do they reengage in public life when they can’t be the majority?”’
The Atlantic: “We’ve Reached the End of White Christian America”
Filed Under: Christians, Republican Party, Secular (West)
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Help us continue to fight human rights abuses. Please give now to support our work
Download the full report in English
What Democracy Looks Like
Protecting Voting Rights in the US during the Covid-19 Pandemic
(Washington, DC, September 22, 2020) – Responses by election officials in the United States to the Covid-19 pandemic seriously impaired some people’s ability to vote in primary elections, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Election officials need to ensure that every method of voting allowed in their state is easy to access and use for all voters, so that there can be a credible US general election on November 3, 2020.
The 83-page report, “What Democracy Looks Like: Protecting Voting Rights in the US during the Covid-19 Pandemic,” examines changes that election officials made in response to the Covid-19 pandemic prior to the 2020 primaries in Arizona, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Wisconsin and their impact on the right to vote. Human Rights Watch recommended steps US election officials should take for the November election and beyond to prevent violations of voting rights, which during the primaries had discriminatory impacts on Black and Latinx people.
A voter wearing a mask to protect against coronavirus lines up at Riverside High School for the Wisconsin primary election on April 7, 2020, in Milwaukee. © 2020 AP Photo/Morry Gash
On the afternoon of March 20, 2020, James Nelson, a Black, 66-year-old longtime resident of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, went to the Midtown Center and voted early in person for the presidential primary that was taking place a couple of weeks later. “I always vote early but this year my decision was for health reasons,” Nelson said. He did not want to risk contracting Covid-19 at his polling place on election day.
His fears were well-founded. According to state data analyzed by the Associated Press, in March about half of Wisconsin’s confirmed cases of Covid-19—411 out of 842—were in Milwaukee. At the time, all eight people who had died of complications from the virus in Milwaukee County were Black.
On the state’s primary election day, April 7, Nelson, who has a long history of activism in his northside community, was curious about how it was going, so he took a long walk to the polling station to watch from afar. He told Human Rights Watch he was shocked by the long lines and the crowds. “There were old folks waiting. Some in walkers. People who looked like they were in their eighties, bent over and could barely walk,” he said. “We have to do better.”
It is not easy to hold an election during a global pandemic. However, election officials in Wisconsin made decisions that, even considering the difficult circumstances, violated citizens’ fundamental human right to vote. Milwaukee officials decided to reduce the standard 180 polling places—many of which were in small locations where social distancing would have been difficult—to five sites located in public high school gymnasiums. Reducing the number of polling places instead of increasing the number of sites is exactly the opposite of what should have happened, especially because historically disenfranchised racial minorities often feel most comfortable voting in person and reducing lines and crowds would have been advisable due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Other adjustments to secure poll workers, facilitate absentee voting, and to better support Wisconsin’s municipal clerks should also have been made. None of this would have been easy, but other US states, as well as other countries, such as South Korea, Indonesia, and North Macedonia, have shown that it can be done.
The United States will hold general elections in the midst of the pandemic on November 3, 2020. As Nelson said, the country has to do better. Doing better will be up to state and local officials working to administer the 10,000 different election jurisdictions that make up the decentralized system of elections in the United States.
This report examines changes made by election officials during the 2020 primaries in Arizona, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Wisconsin and their impact on voters, assessing the measures against international human rights standards. Fears of virus transmission to both voters and election workers led state and local election officials to make various changes in the voting process, including to the numbers and locations of in-person voting sites, and adjustments to “special voting” such as early, absentee, and by-mail voting. We identify lessons learned and pathways for reform for the upcoming and future elections.
Historically, many groups in the United States have had their voting rights suppressed. Even after the enactment of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Black, Latinx, and Native American citizens experienced many obstacles to voting. Changes by some states in recent years, including those enabled by a 2013 US Supreme Court case—Shelby County v. Holder, which eviscerated federal oversight under the act—have made voting harder, not easier. The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated these problems. While changes are needed to ensure elections are safe, we found that some measures taken to address the Covid-19 pandemic in Milwaukee have had discriminatory impacts on Black and Latinx populations. Other measures taken in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and in South Carolina may have negatively impacted the voting rights of Black people. If the same or similar mistakes are made in these jurisdictions or elsewhere in future US elections, such measures are likely to have discriminatory impacts on Black, Latinx, and Native American voters.
These same populations are disproportionately impacted by the Covid-19 virus. According to data through the end of May obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by the New York Times, Latinx and Black residents of the United States have been three times as likely to become infected as their white neighbors, and Black and Latinx people have been nearly twice as likely to die from the novel coronavirus as white people. According to a separate Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, the incidence of Covid-19 cases among Native Americans was three-and-a-half times that among whites as of July 2020.
The Covid-19 pandemic also has had specific impacts on elections, increasing voters’ fear of voting in person, which is especially wrenching for populations that normally prefer going to the polls. The pandemic also has required election officials to accommodate new requirements for social distancing and personal protective equipment; and to pivot when poll workers, many of whom are older adults, did not feel safe working the polls. Jurisdictions that were inexperienced with large numbers of absentee or vote-by-mail ballots have had to adjust to an unexpected spike in these forms of “special voting.”
Some states and municipalities we examined took steps to protect voting rights by creating new voting centers, recruiting new and more poll workers, increasing awareness and ease of early in-person absentee and mail-in voting, and adopting various protective measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 during in-person voting.
However, Human Rights Watch’s interviews with experts and voters and analysis of voting data show that some aspects of elections procedures during the 2020 primary season negatively affected the right to vote. These included:
Decisions to relocate, close, and consolidate polling places. In some jurisdictions, in-person voters were forced to search for new polling locations, wait in long lines, or make no-win choices between their health and their right to vote. These changes prevented some citizens from voting, a human rights violation disproportionately suffered by Black and Latinx populations in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and, given many Black people’s preference for voting in person, likely suffered disproportionately by Black people in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania and Richland County, South Carolina.
The failure to take steps to overcome bureaucratic, linguistic and other barriers to absentee voting or voting by mail. While many voters persevered, these challenges prevented other people, including Black, Latinx and Native American people, from voting altogether.
Failures to inform voters of the above measures effectively and in a timely fashion, which exacerbated negative impacts on the right to vote.
Since the 2020 United States primary season, and in the lead-up to November’s general elections, some of the states and municipalities examined for this report have taken steps to improve voter access. Nevertheless, authorities at all levels and throughout in the United States should do more to ensure that all citizens are able to vote freely without discrimination.
Elections in the United States are guided by federal, state, and local laws and regulations. International human rights law to which the United States is party also sets out important voting rights. Provisions in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination obligate governments at all levels to take effective measures to ensure that all persons entitled to vote are able to exercise that right, and forbids laws and policies that have a racially discriminatory impact, regardless of intent. The Covid-19 pandemic places additional burdens on officials tasked with ensuring this basic right. Federal, state, and local officials should take all necessary measures to ensure that both in-person voting and “special voting”—such as by mail and other forms of absentee voting—are available and accessible so that all voters without discrimination have an adequate opportunity and means to vote.
Research has shown that in-person voting, including early in-person voting, is especially important for voters of color. The interviews and research Human Rights Watch conducted for this report support this conclusion. Some voters, especially those who have been denied their voting rights in the past, want visual confirmation, in person, that their vote has been cast. In recent months, other countries, such as South Korea and Indonesia, have increased the number of polling locations, which prioritizes in-person voting in a way that also reduces crowding and better protects health in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. US jurisdictions would do well to follow suit, planning for increased polling locations, recruiting additional poll workers, and informing voters of any changes well in advance
of elections.
Given United States census data indicating that people living in poverty are less likely to exercise their right to vote, officials need to take additional steps to locate polling stations in places that give low-income people easy access to the ballot box. A moratorium on evictions announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may provide some needed protection, but many voters remain likely to move prior to the November 2020 general election because they need to reduce housing costs given the widespread economic impacts of the pandemic. Election officials should offer accommodation to voters who might otherwise experience obstacles to voting due to address changes.
Adjusting to current conditions and avoiding the mistakes of the 2020 primary season also mean that election officials will need to streamline absentee voting by making it available without requiring voters to explain why they are not voting in person, waiving witness signature requirements, supporting vote-by-mail options, and increasing the numbers and locations of drop-boxes for absentee or mail-in ballots. Because of the pandemic, officials may need more staff and resources to process a predicted increase in absentee and vote-by-mail ballots; and they are likely to need time, beyond election day, to complete their work.
Election officials should also proactively adopt measures to assist people who may face particular challenges in voting. This includes ensuring that voters who may not have a stable address—especially given the economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic—have clear and straightforward ways to exercise their right to vote. It includes ensuring that polling locations are physically accessible to voters who may not own a vehicle. Voters with disabilities and older voters, including those living in residential facilities, may need special accommodation, as will people who have had contact with the criminal legal system and who also have the right to vote. Given failures during recent primaries, officials should ensure that voters can promptly access an effective remedy—that is, some way of “curing” their vote in time to be counted—when things go wrong.
Voting needs to be made easier in the United States; and election officials need support to do their jobs well. They need adequate resources to adapt their procedures to the needs of all voters in their communities. Ahead of each election, federal, state, and local governments should ensure these officials have the necessary resources and are accountable for doing their jobs in accordance with fundamental human rights. Ensuring the right to vote and ensuring accountability when that right is violated are essential parts of what democracy looks like.
From a voter education perspective, the current context for United States elections is particularly fraught. Officials will need to overcome the confusion experienced during the primaries and prompted by debates over funding for the US Postal Service, crucial for mail-in voting. This confusion makes it absolutely critical for election officials to do all they can to ensure not only that sufficient safe and accessible voting options are available, but also that all voters are informed and supported so they are able to navigate their local election system. Election officials need to focus on early and clear voter education that embraces the linguistic and other diversity of the United States—especially for Black, Latinx, Native American, and other communities that have been historically disenfranchised, and for voters with disabilities and older voters. In light of differing voter needs and preferences, as one Arizona elections official told us, the goal at this particularly challenging time should be to ensure that US voters are empowered to “choose how they want to participate in the election.”
Deciding when to give up trying to exercise one’s right to vote is a choice no citizen should ever have to make. Abd’ullah in Philadelphia, whom we interviewed for this report, came close. He spent most of his day trying to cast his vote in Pennsylvania’s June 2 primary election. He went to his regular polling station but found it closed, without any signs posted telling him where to go. When he entered his zip code into the election website, the site just froze. Abd’ullah got in his car and drove around, looking out the window for crowds and lines. He finally found a school and waited in line for over an hour—eventually only being able to vote by provisional ballot. He told us, “Someone else would have been discouraged. I myself was very, very discouraged, to the point of almost giving up. But I had my own car, so I was flexible. If I had been taking public transportation, it would not have been possible. I would have given up.”
Inspiring stories in this report like Abd’ullah’s show the courage and resolve of millions of United States citizens to exercise their right to vote even when this involves surmounting challenges and braving potential health risks. For some voters during the US primaries, an election during a global health crisis imbued the act of voting with even more meaning than before. The duty of election officials across the country should be to protect and affirm that meaningful act, doing their utmost to ensure that all citizens can freely and equally exercise their voting rights, in November 2020 and beyond.
To ensure the human right to vote in the United States, state and local election officials, including county and municipal officials, should:
Give priority to expanding both in-person voting and special voting to ensure that all eligible voters are able to vote without being subject to deliberate discrimination or discriminatory impacts:
Increase the number of polling places: Offer as many polling places as possible with particular attention paid to locations that facilitate voting for populations that traditionally vote in person; and to reduce wait times and public health risks due to crowding at polling places. Recruit sufficiently in advance adequate numbers of poll workers to ensure safe and efficient polling stations. Offer financial and other incentives to be able to recruit individuals who are not at high risk from Covid-19 to staff the poll stations.
Provide drop boxes: Increase the numbers and accessibility of secure drop boxes in all jurisdictions in which these are allowed since voters may have the experience of visual confirmation that their vote has been cast without going to the polls on election day, and avoid paying for postage or any possible problems with the US Postal Service.
Expand early voting: Increase numbers of places for early voting and access to in-person early voting.
All-access voting centers: When voter rolls can be easily accessed throughout a jurisdiction, allow voters to cast their vote at any open polling place.
Facilitate and adapt absentee voting and voting by mail: Where a reason is needed for absentee voting, ensure the Covid-19 pandemic is an acceptable reason; remove witness signature requirements; make sure people do not need access to the internet or a printer in order to get their ballots; and that they can vote absentee in accessible locations or drop boxes.
Emphasize consultation: Include Black, Latinx, Native American and other leaders of historically disenfranchised communities and grassroots organizations in making decisions around choice of polling place locations, communicating about, and facilitating access to polling locations.
Facilitate voting for all persons legally allowed to vote, including those needing special accommodation, those who have had contact with the criminal legal system, and those whose address has changed:
Prioritize voting in jails: Ensure communication and collaboration between election administrators, such as municipal clerks, and sheriffs to facilitate voting for all eligible voters in jails (the majority of whom are eligible to vote because they have not been convicted or have low-level, misdemeanor convictions).
Disseminate truthful information on disenfranchisement: Provide clear and accurate information to voters who have had contact with the criminal legal system—especially those with misdemeanor convictions, or who have newly regained the right to vote after a period of incarceration or supervision—about their right to vote.
End disenfranchisement based on criminal convictions: Reform state laws to remove any barriers to the right to vote due to criminal convictions, including felonies. Meanwhile, ensure that all people who have been disenfranchised under current laws automatically have their voting rights restored after completion of their sentence, ensuring voting right restoration is not contingent upon payment of fines and fees.
Anticipate changes to addresses: Adopt measures to allow all people to vote, including those who may experience address changes due to evictions or housing changes, for which the Covid-19 pandemic has put increasing numbers of people at risk. Allow same-day registration and the use of “general delivery” post office addresses for registration purposes.
Accommodate the needs of voters in residential facilities and of voters with disabilities.
Educate voters through a variety of measures and with clear procedures set well in advance:
Expand in-person voter education: Maximize all forms of voter education, including neighborhood-based in-person voter education in languages voters understand, about the procedures that voters must follow to vote.
Explain measures adopted to ensure that elections are safe: Provide clear, advanced information about public health precautions in place at polling stations as well as those expected of voters to avoid surprises on election day.
Provide accurate location information in advance: Provide clear, advanced information through a variety of mechanisms about the locations of polling places and check addresses on mapping applications. Ensure such information is accessible to all people with disabilities, including those with sensory and intellectual disabilities.
Educate voters about absentee and vote-by-mail options: Provide clear information well in advance of elections about the availability of and procedures to follow when voting by absentee or mail-in ballot. Ensure that any changes to witness signature or excuse requirements are communicated as soon as possible.
Provide a remedy: Have a plan in place to ensure all voters have equal and expedient access to any remedies under state law to “cure” problems they may have encountered in casting their ballots in person or via absentee, drop-box, or the US Postal Service. Ensure adequate staffing and time for necessary follow-up.
Admit mistakes, communicate changes: If there were problems during previous election cycles, build voter confidence by admitting mistakes and clearly communicating new remedial measures.
Secure international, federal, state, and municipal support to enhance respect for voting rights:
Minimize law enforcement presence: limit law enforcement at or near polling stations to that absolutely necessary for polling station security, ensure that poll workers are not law enforcement personnel, and ensure that there is no chilling effect on the right to vote due to presence of law enforcement at or near polls. As a matter of last resort, if a deficit in poll workers requires the use of National Guard personnel to serve as poll workers, ensure that they wear civilian clothes.
Welcome nonpartisan election observers: Build voter confidence by inviting and facilitating international and domestic impartial and nonpartisan observers.
Facilitate inter-agency collaboration: State and local officials should provide financial and other incentives to ensure inter-agency collaboration on facilitating outreach and accommodation for people in quarantine with Covid-19, in hospitals, without fixed addresses, people with disabilities, and those in residential care facilities, and to ensure election officials work with departments of parole, probation, and sheriffs; and vice-versa.
To ensure the right to vote without discrimination in the United States, the US Congress should:
Promptly pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act: This federal legislation, which passed the US House of Representatives in 2019, would update the parameters used to determine which states and territories need to seek approval for changes to electoral procedures, require public notice for voting changes, and expand voting access for Native American and Alaska Native voters.
To ensure the right to vote and the right to health, United States congressional and state appropriators should ensure election officials have the necessary resources to:
Protect public health: sufficient financial support should be provided to state election officials, municipal elections commissions, and especially to municipal clerks to ensure public health measures are adequate to fully protect voting rights, as well as to protect the rights to life and health.
Recruit poll workers: Financial and institutional support is necessary to provide adequate recruitment and compensation for polling place workers. Support creative staffing solutions to fulfill specific needs, including by recruiting special workers to facilitate voting in residential facilities and by enabling civilian civil service workers to staff polls.
Ensure adequate polling places and “special voting” measures: As outlined above, ensure that in person voting and absentee voting or voting by mail are available to every voter as allowed under law, with accommodations for voters who need them.
This report is based on 71 interviews conducted in July and August 2020 with international elections experts, elections and data experts, elections attorneys, elected and appointed election officials, voting rights advocates, poll workers, and voters. Due to Covid-19-related precautions, most interviews were conducted via telephone or videoconference. The total comprises 16 interviews conducted over telephone or videoconference with people in Arizona; 10 with people in Pennsylvania; and 10 with people in South Carolina. Another 27 interviews were conducted with people in Wisconsin; 15 of those were conducted in person and 12 over telephone or videoconference. Three interviews were conducted with international elections experts, 2 with data analysts and 3 with attorneys and advocates working on national elections litigation and policy. In order to preserve confidentiality, voters are named by first name only; when pseudonyms are used at the request of the interviewee this is indicated in the citation.
This report is also based on extensive desk research into United States and international efforts to administer elections during the Covid-19 pandemic. Research was especially focused on the four case study states of Arizona, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Wisconsin. Comprehensive national, state and local studies produced by other organizations were also reviewed, and reflect the rich variety of state, local, and community-based organizations doing powerful and important work on the human right to vote in the United States.
We relied on election and voter data analysis by All Voting is Local and Demos as well as the Brennan Center for Justice for the Wisconsin chapter. For the Arizona chapter, we relied on polling station location data compiled by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. For the South Carolina chapter, we relied on analysis of voter turnout data for the state’s primaries conducted by the Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project. For Pennsylvania, we conducted data analysis ourselves, using polling station location data for the entire state during the 2016 and 2020 primaries provided to us under a Right-to-Know-Law request. The Pennsylvania data were reviewed for uniqueness, completeness, and accuracy of information on zip codes, county, and number of polling locations. Demographic data were obtained from the 2014-2018 American Community Survey’s B03002 table.
After several weeks of preliminary interviews and research, we chose to conduct deeper research in Arizona, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Wisconsin because these states represented regional variation, had closed polling places during their primaries, and had varying demographic characteristics in their non-white voting populations.
Administering Elections in the United States
In the United States, elections are decentralized. The day-to-day functions of administering US elections are handled by county and municipal (city and town) officials. The state is responsible for certain aspects of elections as well, and the federal government also has a role, including in ensuring financial support for elections. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures:
[T]he result is that no state administers elections in exactly the same way as another state, and there is quite a bit of variation in election administration even within states. Each state’s election administration structure and procedures grew organically, as times changed and administering an election became an increasingly complex task.[1]
In its first 100 years as a nation, the United States relied on county officials to periodically hold elections. Voters were not required to register ahead of time and the voice vote was the most common voting method.[2] Gradually, especially starting in the 1880s, states and localities began to make changes by adopting voter registration requirements, instituting secret ballot systems, and using voting machines. States also began to adopt laws governing election administration. Though beyond the scope of this report to analyze in detail, these changes were motivated by multiple interests, including efficiency and fairness and countervailing desires to block access to the polls for Black people and other racial minorities.
Today, each state in the United States has a chief election official who has ultimate authority over elections in the state, but there is variety in which official(s) hold this power. For example, many states rely on their secretaries of state as their chief elections official, others require governors to appoint top election officials, and still others use appointed bipartisan election commissions.[3]
Regardless of the structure, the top election officials are often responsible for:
ensuring that election laws are followed by local officials statewide; administration of a statewide voter registration database. . .; assisting local election officials by providing training courses or materials on running elections in the state. . .; providing a process for testing and certifying voting equipment for use in the state; certification programs for local election officials on election procedures[;] and may also help [to] pay for certain types of elections, or a portion of expenses.[4]
Moving beyond such macro-level tasks handled by top officials, the day-to-day of election administration in the United States is run at the county or municipal level by a single individual, a board or commission of elections, or a combination of the two.[5] In all, this means that there are more than 10,000 election administration jurisdictions in the United States. When election duties are divided, the most common division of duties is between voter registration and the actual administration of elections, but there is enormous variety.
The duties handled by these county or city/town election officials include day-to-day operations of registration and voting, including absentee and early voting, election day procedures, including appointing poll workers and election officials, delivering supplies to the polls, counting ballots and canvassing returns.
Other government agencies also have a role to play in United States elections. Although not a part of our investigation or analysis for this report, the US Postal Service plays a role in delivering voter education, registration materials, and ballots to voters; and in returning registration and voted ballots to election officials. The delivery times and resources of the US Postal Service, including funding streams, sorting centers, and locations of mailboxes have been widely debated by US politicians and in the media.[6] Departments of Transportation and of Motor Vehicles are crucial state government agencies involved in administering access to the forms of identification voters must present under state law.[7] Sheriffs and probation officers are among the officials who play a role in ensuring or impeding the voting rights of people with criminal legal system contacts.[8]
Beginning in 1965, the Voting Rights Act (VRA) was a crucial tool to ensure the human right to vote for all United States citizens. Before passage of the VRA, Black citizens were often blocked from the polls by intimidation, violence, poll taxes, and literacy tests. Native American, Latinx, and Asian American citizens also suffered from institutional racism that denied or severely limited their right to vote.[9] According to the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the Voting Rights Act brought measurable improvements: “By 1970, almost as many African Americans were registered to vote in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina as had been in the entire century before 1965.”[10]
Section 5 of the VRA required states and localities with a history of voting rights discrimination based on race to submit in advance any proposed changes to their voting procedures to the US Department of Justice or the US District Court in Washington, DC.[11] The jurisdictions were required to prove that the proposed change would not deny or adversely affect the right to vote on the basis of race, color, or a voter’s membership in a language minority group. In 2013, a US Supreme Court decision, Shelby County v. Holder,[12] invalidated the formula used to identify which states and localities had a history of voting rights discrimination, rendering Section 5 essentially useless for ensuring the human right to vote in the United States. Since Shelby:
States have shortened voting hours and days, enacted new barriers to voter registration, purged millions of eligible voters from the rolls, implemented strict voter identification laws, reshaped voting districts, and closed polling places. Many of these changes have been found [by courts] to discriminate against Black and Brown voters.[13]
Some of these impacts on Black and brown voters were on display during the spring 2020 primaries in the United States, even as states and localities adopted some changes in good faith in attempts to protect public health from Covid-19.
Unless and until Congress adopts legislation to re-institute some centralized oversight of voting procedures, states and localities are on their own to adapt their procedures and policies to ensure equitable access to (or impede) the right to vote for all citizens. Also, without the power of the Voting Rights Act to protect them, voters in states with a history of race-based voting rights discrimination are now left to advocate on their own through litigation under less protective laws or any other means available to ensure the human right to vote.
Since the Shelby decision, applying other US laws, courts have found that certain state and local election policies have violated the prohibition in US law against intentional racial discrimination.[14] The number of violations would be markedly higher if US courts applied the international human rights prohibition against laws and policies that have racially discriminatory effects (even if the intent behind them is race-neutral). That prohibition is binding on the United States, as a state party to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (discussed in more detail in Section V, below), but few US courts have been presented with a chance to enforce this prohibition; when presented with such a chance, few have been willing to enforce it, or have avoided enforcing the prohibition by deciding the case on other grounds.[15]
Other state and federal laws provide some voter protection. Though analysis of all such laws is beyond the scope of this report, the Help America Vote Act, enacted in 2002, has created a centralized source for election administration information, provides funds for improving election administration, and creates some minimum standards for states to follow in several key areas of election administration.[16]
At the time of writing, the United States had recorded more total deaths from the novel coronavirus than any other country in the world.[17]
The United States government, and state and local authorities, are obligated to protect the human rights to life and to health by adopting protective measures in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. These may include measures that affect election administration, though any Covid-19-related measures that affect the right to vote should be objective and reasonable. These may include, for example, taking steps to educate people on how to prevent transmission and ensure non-discriminatory access to testing and treatment; as well as mandates to wear masks or practice social distancing. These measures may have a direct impact on the ability for individuals to get information or exercise their right to vote and require election officials to modify traditional practices related to election administration to simultaneously protect the right to health and ensure people can exercise their right to vote.[18]
Many international, federal, and inter-state entities have adopted guidance on administering safe and equitable elections during the Covid-19 pandemic. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have issued guidance for election officials and voters on administering and participating in elections during Covid-19,[19] and the US Election Assistance Commission has held hearings[20] and compiled resources[21] on administering elections during Covid-19, as have the National Association of State Elections Directors[22] and the National Conference of State Legislatures.[23] At the state level, a large variety of legislation is being introduced to address how elections can be executed during the pandemic.[24] Internationally, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems has published a briefing paper series on administering elections during Covid-19.[25]
As explored further in this report, United States authorities have adopted measures that affect elections in the name of protecting the public from Covid-19. Some appear to appropriately respond to concerns about Covid-19 risk while ensuring that individuals’ right to vote is protected. Others appear not to. It is beyond the scope of this report to determine whether measures adopted were pursued with any specific intent to block the voting rights of particular groups. Such an inquiry is not necessary to establish that certain measures may have had discriminatory impacts.
Moreover, given the many guidelines promulgated by authorities on administering safe and equitable elections during the Covid-19 pandemic, this report does not tackle the requirements in detail. However, many of the recommendations Human Rights Watch makes in this report on ensuring the right to vote—such as significantly increasing polling places, and expanding options for voting—are consistent with and in fact supportive of best practices for protecting life and health. In addition, the obligation to prevent discriminatory impacts on specific racial groups and to accommodate the needs of voters who may face additional obstacles in voting means that officials need to pay special attention to populations of color and low-income communities.
According to data through the end of May 2020 obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by the New York Times, Latinx and Black residents of the United States have been three times as likely to become infected as their white neighbors, and Black and Latinx people have been nearly twice as likely to die from complications arising from the novel coronavirus as white people.[26] According to a separate Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, the incidence of Covid-19 cases among Native Americans was three-and-a-half times that among whites.[27] Given the specific threats the Covid-19 pandemic poses to Black, Latinx, and Native American populations, and the historic disenfranchisement of these populations in the United States, extra measures should be taken to ensure these people’s health and their right to vote.
Low-income communities in the United States are more likely to be exposed to the novel coronavirus, have higher mortality rates, and suffer economically.[28] Citing public health concerns caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, in September, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered a four-month moratorium on evictions, which may help to protect some low-income voters.[29] Despite the moratorium, voters may still need to change their addresses prior to the November 2020 general election because they fail to comply with the bureaucratic steps required to benefit from the moratorium, or because they need to reduce housing costs and decide to move in anticipation of the moratorium being lifted. This is especially relevant given that the most recent analysis conducted by the US Census Bureau reveals that voters with household income of more than US$150,000 had a 57 percent participation rate in the 2014 mid-term elections, compared to just 31 percent for those making $15,000 to $20,000.[30] Given the specific threats the Covid-19 pandemic poses to low-income communities, and their low participation rates in previous elections, election officials need to take extra steps to respect the voting rights of low-income
US citizens.
I. South Carolina Elections During the Covid-19 Pandemic
I tried to vote and I still could not. We need to do something about this. It is easy to suppress the vote because they require too much. Even when we try, we are told, “you’re not in compliance.” It can be exhausting. I worked hard to get my vote in, but I failed to do so. Others will also give up.
— Carrie, Columbia, South Carolina, August 18, 2020.
Voting in South Carolina
South Carolina has a history of voter disenfranchisement.[31] Prior to the US Supreme Court’s Shelby County v. Holder decision in 2013, state officials were required to get approval from the US Department of Justice before changing electoral law. A photo ID law, passed by state legislators in 2011, was seen by many experts as an attempt to put voting restrictions in place.[32] The law was upheld after a 2012 Justice Department challenge, but was made far less restrictive, allowing people to vote if they could explain why they had not procured an ID card. But the 2011 law and subsequent changes reflect a confusing registration and voting process that, ultimately, has interfered with the right to vote.[33] As one voting rights advocate put it, “Many voters here do not know how to get information.”[34]
While South Carolina allows absentee ballots to be dropped off at an election office up to 30 days before the election, the process for requesting the absentee ballot is cumbersome. Voters can request a ballot in person, but local activists told us that voters may be more reluctant to do this during the Covid-19 pandemic.[35] Alternatively, voters can request an absentee ballot by either filling in a form online, printing and mailing it in or by requesting that a form be mailed to them by phone. Once the form is completed, it must be signed by a witness and mailed back to the county registration office before the ballot is then mailed to the voter.[36] A local activist told Human Rights Watch that minorities and people living in rural areas without internet access or a printer may face additional delays because their only option is to use the phone and mail.[37] On their forms, voters must fit within at least one of seventeen categories approved by the South Carolina Election Commission for someone to vote absentee, including military service, work and illness.[38]
South Carolina’s June Primary
In June, with confirmed cases of Covid-19 on the rise,[39] South Carolina voters struggled to use the state’s cumbersome absentee process to vote. At the same time, poor responses to Covid-19 by election officials brought significant problems for in-person voters on election day. Polling places were closed and changed in some counties with inadequate notice to voters, and voters were confronted with long lines, confusion over ballots, and a sense of chaos that negatively impacted the right to vote in the state.
In the lead-up to South Carolina’s presidential primary in June, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, took an important step to protect the right to vote by signing a bill allowing all residents to vote absentee if they cited a “state of emergency” on their absentee applications.[40] This reason had not previously been available to voters in South Carolina.
On May 25, in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a US district court ordered that witness signatures would not be required on absentee ballot envelopes.[41] Both of these changes—the “state of emergency” as a valid reason and the signature waivers—were only instituted for the statewide primary and a subsequent runoff election held on June 23, 2020. As of July 1, the changes had expired. To date, lawmakers have not restored these measures, although Republican legislators have said they would reconsider expanding absentee voting if South Carolina remains under a state of emergency in September as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.[42]
During the June statewide primary, South Carolinians took advantage of this increased availability of absentee voting. The number of people who voted absentee nearly doubled, from 12.5 percent of voters in the 2016 statewide primary to 22.4 percent in June 2020.[43] Nevertheless, voters still overwhelmingly opted to vote in person, with 75 percent of voters casting their ballots at polling stations for the statewide primary on June 9, 2020. Despite the pandemic, there was a record turnout of 767,187 voters, which was an 83.5 percent increase over the 2016 primary.[44] This record turnout occurred amidst significant delays, poll closures and lack of staff at some polling centers,[45] conditions that interfered with the right to vote in the state.
On June 1, the South Carolina Election Commission announced that at least 168 out of 2,200 polling stations would be moved or consolidated with other polling stations.[46] On June 8, the day before the primary vote, that number was revised to 257 polling places that would be moved statewide.[47] Chris Whitmire, the spokesman of the South Carolina Elections Commission, told the media on June 8 that the poll moves and consolidations were a result of poll worker shortages, polling station closures, or because some locations, such as senior centers, posed particular challenges in light of the pandemic.[48]
Elections in Richland County, with the second-largest overall population and the largest Black population in the state, have been mired with problems in recent history.[49] During the June primary, 73 polling stations in Richland County were relocated, representing about 30 percent of all polling stations relocated across the state, and more relocations than any other county.[50] According to the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom, consolidation in Richland County resulted in some polling sites processing up to five times the number of usual voters.[51] Of the 10 consolidated polling stations in Richland County, six were located in areas with majority Black voters.[52] Ballots in Richland County were also misprinted with incorrect candidates, leading to further confusion.[53] The poor planning for the election caused Terry Graham, interim director for the Richland County Elections Board, to tell local media on election morning, “We’re not off to the start I’m looking for.”[54]
The county’s interim elections director told state legislators that the county was trying to send updates to residents outlining the upcoming changes,[55] but the confusion prompted by the last-minute changes led some people to go to the wrong polling stations. For example, Human Rights Watch interviewed a 67-year-old resident of Richland County who tried to vote at her usual polling location at Rice Creek Elementary School, having received no information about polling changes. There was no information at the school indicating where she should go, but she was told by a stranger to try the Blythewood Park polling center. After waiting for over one-and-a-half hours in line, she was informed that she was at the wrong location and that she should have gone to the North Springs location. As it was already 8 p.m., she did not have sufficient time to travel to that location to vote. She told Human Rights Watch:
I was so upset. For the first time since I was 18 years old, I could not vote. It was horrible that night. I felt like they did not care if I voted or not. I just want my vote to count…. We are used to waiting in long lines to vote, but we aren’t used to being turned away. I had received no information in the mail about the change. The next day I called the election commission because I was so upset. They said I should have received a white card in the mail, explaining the poll change, but I had not. I told them I check my mail carefully, even the junk mail, and I had not received the notice.[56]
Another voter, 71-year-old Melinda Anderson, got a robocall on election day from a candidate (not from election officials), informing her of her new polling location; to which her son drove her for curbside voting. After four hours of waiting, they had to leave and she was unable to cast her vote. She told the Center for Public Integrity, “I’m still upset that I didn’t get to vote. . .. Whether my vote mattered or not, I wanted my vote to be counted. That’s what I’m worried about in November.”[57]
Poll consolidation in Richland County led to significant lines, with many voters waiting over 2 hours in 90-degree heat.[58] In a few locations, voters waited over 6 hours to vote.[59] Curbside voting, where a voter can vote in a vehicle outside a polling location, did not work in some places in the county. “The lines wrapped around the building,” one voter from Richland Country with health issues who eventually decided not to vote said. “The parking lots were overwhelmed, there were long lines and there was no social distancing… we couldn’t park curbside, we couldn’t even get to the curb. To vote curbside would have been too much of a risk for me. I was upset.”[60]
Voters, especially from Black households, who opted to vote in person but without access to private transportation may have been especially disadvantaged by polling center consolidation. Data from 2017 indicates that 12 percent of Black households in Columbia did not have a vehicle, versus 4 percent of white households.[61] Transportation to voting centers in June was “definitely an issue” according to one local activist.[62] In addition, given Richland County’s large Black population among South Carolina’s counties, the longstanding preference for in-person voting among Black citizens, and the numerous changed locations and poll closures in the county in June, it is likely that the negative impact on the right to vote fell disproportionately on Black people.
The situation in Richland County was so disastrous that the State Election Commission issued a press release after the primary:
The South Carolina State Election Commission is disappointed with the conduct of yesterday’s primaries in Richland County. . .. We know election officials and poll managers were faced with the extraordinarily difficult task of conducting an election in a pandemic. But yet again, voters were unnecessarily subjected to extreme wait times and confusion at
polling places.[63]
Additional Steps Needed to Protect the Right to Vote in South Carolina
In June’s primary, absentee voting increased by 213 percent compared to the 2016 primaries, with 191,000 voting absentee in 2020 versus 61,000 in 2016.[64] Absentee ballots cast by mail increased 370 percent.[65] At the time of writing, rates of infection with the novel coronavirus in South Carolina were high, with over 112,000 confirmed cases.[66] Even if rates decline into the fall, protecting the health and safety of voters should be a chief concern of voting officials and lawmakers. To that end, the state needs to ensure more voters can more easily access absentee ballots. On July 17, the director of the state’s Election Commission, Marci Andino, sent a letter to the state legislature. Calling the upcoming election the “greatest challenge” to South Carolina’s election system, Andino made several recommendations to lawmakers, including reinstating the “state of emergency” reason for absentee voters, removing the witness requirement on absentee envelopes and allowing for more time to count absentee ballots sent by mail.[67]
Following Andino’s advice, state legislators should extend the “state of emergency” reason to enable all eligible residents in South Carolina to access an absentee ballot. The signature requirement waiver should likewise be extended. Furthermore, assuming voter turnout and participation increases for the November election, the number of absentee ballots mailed in could rise significantly, further straining the capabilities of county election commissions to count votes. Given the anticipated volume of ballots, more time and resources should be allotted to count ballots that were mailed in and postmarked by November 3. According to one activist, approximately 1,500 ballots that arrived too late were not counted in the June primary.[68] Other reforms being sought through litigation may increase access to absentee ballots.[69]
At the same time, data from previous elections indicates that voter turnout for in-person voting in November will be high. For statewide primaries generally in South Carolina, average voter participation is around 18 percent, while presidential elections average 71 percent.[70] South Carolina voters, especially Black voters, more often opt to vote in person. As one activist told Human Rights Watch, “People want to show up at the polling station to ensure that their vote is counted…there is a distrust of the mail, now more than ever.”[71] Therefore, state and local election officials need to improve the in-person voting process, including by increasing the number and age, race, and linguistic diversity of poll workers. Many traditional poll workers in South Carolina are older and therefore at higher risk for severe complications from Covid-19.[72] More poll workers will need to be recruited and trained as soon as possible. The state may need to consider ways to reach younger poll workers, to increase pay for work at the polls, and to allow state workers who are willing to do so to staff polling locations on election day.
It is crucial for South Carolina to prioritize extended hours and an increased number of in-person polling locations, especially in populous areas, and communicate early and clearly to voters about where they should vote. The June primary shows that consolidating polling locations, especially combined with the failure of election officials to provide adequate notice, adds to confusion and makes it more difficult for people and communities who rely on voting in person to do so. If a polling site must be closed, attempts should be made to move its location within the same area so that neighborhood access can be maintained.[73] Information about any changes to polling centers should be disseminated well in advance, working with community leaders, churches and other local groups to communicate the changes. Transportation challenges for voters to new polling locations should be mitigated, including by providing transport, especially as civil society organizations that may have provided transportation to voters in the past will face challenges with Covid-19.[74] South Carolina needs to prioritize increases to polling locations in urban areas, which tend to have fewer locations per capita than suburban and rural locations, according to the Voting Rights Lab.[75]
One activist told Human Rights Watch that they would be driving people to the polls in November, “because we want to have as few mail-in ballots as possible” due to mistrust created around mail-in ballots. To protect the most vulnerable, including older persons, curbside voting options should be better organized and expanded, in line with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to reduce potential exposure in long lines.[76]
Ensure the right to vote for people with criminal legal system contacts. According to local advocates, ensuring voting for pretrial detainees in jail has not been a priority for election officials or sheriffs, “We have thousands of people in jail who can vote who are not convicted. Sadly, [in addition] many people released [from prison] do not think they can vote.”[77] Moreover, the state disenfranchises people with felony convictions and those on probation and parole even after they are released from prison.[78] South Carolina lawmakers should move swiftly to restore the right to vote to all persons as soon as they leave confinement, regardless of the crime of conviction, in accordance with international human rights law. They should also move toward broader reforms to end disenfranchisement for people with criminal convictions.
II. Wisconsin Elections During the Covid-19 Pandemic
That fear that we won’t be heard is [a] new layer of trauma on top of a history of traumatization. Especially in my community there is always that feeling that my vote is not being counted and my voice isn’t being heard. . . .We want to assure people that their voices will be heard and counted.
— Darrol Gibson, managing director, Leaders Igniting Transformation, Milwaukee, August 3, 2020.
Oh no I never had a problem, ’cause you ain’t gonna stop me from voting. If I’ve got to crawl to that poll, I’m going to do it.
— Mary, a 40-year-old Black resident of Milwaukee, August 6, 2020.
Voting in Wisconsin During the April Primary
In the first quarter of 2020, amidst a contradictory and last-minute series of policy moves made by Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, the state legislature, and the state Supreme Court,[79] Wisconsin’s election officials worked to prepare for the state’s primary election. They adopted curbside or drive-through voting[80] and other measures to protect voters from the risk of Covid-19 transmission,[81] but also raised concerns that they lacked sufficient poll workers, and that inadequate supply of hygiene products[82] and the small size of some polling stations (preventing social distancing)[83] created health risks for poll workers and voters during the Covid-19 pandemic. When it became clear that the primary election would move ahead despite these concerns, some of Wisconsin’s municipal clerks[84] closed and consolidated polling places.[85]
The City of Milwaukee consolidated its usual 180 polling locations to just five. Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Neil Albrecht cited “a drastic shortage of poll workers as the reason for the change.”[86] Mr. Albrecht stated that the city normally staffed its polling places with 1,400 poll workers, but only 400 poll workers would be available for the April election.[87] Other cities and counties in Wisconsin made changes, but none as drastic as Milwaukee’s.[88]
It is unclear whether state and local officials used all means available to secure poll workers.[89] Wisconsin’s state election commission had advance notice that there would be insufficient poll workers in jurisdictions across the state. One week prior to the April 7 election, the Commission issued a memorandum summarizing local polling place supply and personnel shortages as reported in the days and weeks prior by Wisconsin municipal and county clerks.[90] This memorandum stated that nearly 60 percent of Wisconsin municipalities were reporting a shortage of poll workers.[91] Yet when election day came, Milwaukee in particular fell far short. State Representative LaKeshia Myers told Human Rights Watch:
The state had the option of the National Guard [to serve as poll workers] and that request should have been made sooner, especially for Milwaukee. Timing is always of the essence, and there is no excuse for how elections officials failed. They have yet to address what happened in the city of Milwaukee. Nothing.[92]
The poll closures meant Milwaukee voters had longer distances to travel on election day.[93] Voters also encountered long waits—for tens of thousands of voters, wait times were more than two hours.[94] These long lines had a chilling effect on voters for a variety of reasons. Some older people and people with disabilities or chronic health conditions were physically unable to wait in line, others feared risk of exposure to the novel coronavirus, and still others had work or other commitments that made waiting impossible. A Black voting rights advocate said:
Take my elderly next-door neighbor. I talked her through how to go to city hall to vote—how to get there and all that. But in the city of Milwaukee—we had lines wrapped around city blocks for a mile and it was raining! Now, she’s an elderly lady. She can’t take all that. What was she supposed to do? I’m pretty sure she didn’t vote.[95]
According to the group Voting Rights Lab, “[T]here is a large body of research that shows how polling place consolidation has long reduced voter turnout, particularly among voters of color, rural voters, infrequent voters, and voters without vehicle access.”[96] Milwaukee’s April 7 primary is a case in point. The voting advocacy groups All Voting is Local and Demos analyzed voter turnout in Milwaukee, comparing 2016 primary data with 2020 primary data. In 2020:
[w]hile white [majority] wards had an average of 49 percent voter turnout, Black and Hispanic [majority] wards had an average of about 18 percent turnout. . . . In 2016, white [majority] wards had an average of 70 percent voter turnout, compared to 37 percent turnout in Black [majority] wards, and 42 percent turnout in Hispanic [majority] wards.[97]
A further statistical analysis by the Brennan Center that sought to control for the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on voters’ willingness to go to the polls, found that polling place consolidation in Milwaukee decreased turnout among non-Black voters by around 8.5 percentage points, and reduced turnout among Black voters by 10.2 percentage points.[98]
Human Rights Watch interviewed registered voters in Milwaukee who were unable to vote during the April primary due to poll closures:
· Cherish, a 32-year-old Black woman in Milwaukee, said: “We went to two different high schools and the lines were just too long. I couldn’t have my elderly mom wait in a line like that. We tried two times but then we just had to go home. Oh yeah. That was bad.”[99]
Clayton, a 35-year-old Black man, said: “I didn’t vote in April. With all those lines it wasn’t worth my time.”[100]
Others persevered and voted in person, but the experience left voters with a mix of negative (and some positive) impressions:
Marquette University professor Robert Smith, who observed Milwaukee’s polls in April, told us: “People were very stoic and defiant in their commitment to the process. There was one location where the line to vote was four city blocks long. People brought chairs. Folks provided water. When you have these failures of government, people have to take on herculean efforts just to make it manageable. As much as that was a moment of abuse, it was also a moment of amazing courage.”[101]
Sheila, a 54-year-old Black woman, said: “I mean what they did in April was just ridiculous. You know what I didn’t like besides those lines? All those police cars parked outside. I mean that was terrible.”[102]
“It took me like 3-4 hours. I was at Washington [High School] waiting in that line. There wasn’t any social distancing and people weren’t wearing masks, but I hung in there because something’s gotta change and I mean I gotta [vote] to make it happen,” 41-year-old Brenda told us.[103]
“Me and two friends were dropping off clean pens and gloves to people. We saw lines wrapped around the block,” said Iuscely Villareal, civic engagement and field manager for Wisconsin Voices.[104]
Molly Collins, advocacy director for the ACLU of Wisconsin, said: “It was really sad. People leaving when they hear the line is two hours long. One woman waited two-and-a-half hours in line and was told she couldn’t vote. But at the same time, every poll worker was trying to do their best. People were bringing chairs from nearby houses. People were sending pizzas to people in line. We saw people trying. We also saw how government and the courts failed those people.”[105]
“It was a travesty. A slap in the face to the voters to be put in an uncompromising situation with long lines and risk of coronavirus,” said 66-year-old James Nelson.[106]
In other locations near Milwaukee, voting was uncrowded and uneventful. In Wauwatosa, a city that borders Milwaukee with a population of over 46,000 that is 86 percent white, polling locations were mostly empty.[107] In Germantown, with a population of just less than 20,000 that is 90 percent white, there were no lines at all on Election Day.[108] Thus, voters faced starkly different opportunities to safely cast a ballot depending on where they lived and their race.
Apart from problems with the poll closures on election day, some voters experienced limited access to in-person and mail-in absentee voting. Wisconsin law allows voters to return their absentee ballots by mail or deliver them in person to an early voting station in the state.[109] For this report, Human Rights Watch interviewed voters who used the absentee process in April and August without incident:
Miles, a 45-year-old Black Milwaukeean, said: “I’ve never had any trouble voting [early by absentee]. I get those texts telling me where to go and reminding me to vote early.”[110]
“I didn’t have any trouble voting. Even in April—I went right down there and got it done [gesturing toward the early voting location at Milwaukee’s Midtown Shopping Center],” said 67-year-old Charles.[111]
William, a 50-year-old voter with a disability[112] who walked with difficulty using a cane, said: “I didn’t have any problems in April. I voted [absentee] by mail. And for this [August] election, I’ve got my vote by mail ballot. . .. I don’t do a lot of moving around so either it’s got to be close by or by mail, otherwise I can’t get it done.”[113]
However, there were serious problems in April with both in-person and mail-in absentee voting. For example, all three of the City of Milwaukee’s in-person absentee voting locations closed abruptly on March 23, 2020, following an announcement made just the day before.[114] Subsequently, the city reopened one of these voting sites, but made it available only as a drive-through, thereby limiting it to those voters with access to a car.[115] A lawsuit alleges that absentee voting locations were poorly publicized, leaving many voters confused or simply unaware of early voting options in the city.[116]
Absentee voting problems during the April election were covered in detail, including with testimonies from voters themselves, by the League of Women Voters in a May 2020 report:
[N]ever have we been contacted by so many voters—more than one hundred—who were disenfranchised because of the way the election was carried out. Stories have poured in from across the state. . . . While each of these voter’s stories and individual experiences are different, one thing was true for the vast majority of voters who responded to our survey: approximately 75% of them requested an absentee ballot that never arrived.[117]
In April’s primary, 150,000 absentee ballots—about 10 percent of all ballots sent—were either not returned or rejected due to errors. One voter told us:
My mom doesn’t even want to request another ballot because they never sent it. A lot of folks are older voters and they rely on absentee ballots. A lot of people are skeptical now. April was a mess.[118]
In combination with such official failures, Covid-19 presented its own chilling effect, especially for Black and Latinx voters already disproportionately affected by the disease.[119] Ahead of the August 11 election, a Latinx voting rights advocate told us:
You know it’s the people in 53204 and 53215—those ZIP codes hit the hardest by Covid—those are the Latinx people feeling vulnerable. People are not going out because they are scared about this virus. Add to that they don’t even know where the polling locations are going to be—and it’s just days before the election. If they go to their regular location and it’s closed, people will just give up. It’s even harder because the language is just in English, information is only in English.[120]
Reflecting on the April primary, a Black voting rights advocate told us:
Given the pandemic, voters already had to shift how they were thinking about voting. We know that the virus is disproportionately affecting our community, and now we see that our election system was not prepared. . . .Hopefully now there are lessons learned.[121]
Wisconsin election officials appear to have learned some lessons from April. For example, the five major cities of Milwaukee, Racine, Green Bay, Kenosha, and Madison applied for and received a grant for US$6.3 million from the Center for Tech and Public Life to ensure “effective,” “resilient,” and “adaptive” election administration during the Covid-19 pandemic.[122] The City of Milwaukee appointed Claire Woodall-Vogg as executive director of its Elections Commission, who issued a memorandum on voting and racial equity.[123] The Wisconsin Elections Commission has also approved spending $7.2 million in federal CARES Act funding, including a $4.1 million block grant program to help local election officials and voters prepare for Fall 2020 elections amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The increase in funds is encouraging; and on August 11, Milwaukee held elections with 168 of 180 polls open; with other cities in Wisconsin also providing larger numbers of in-person polling stations.[124] Looking toward November some local advocates are cautious in their optimism:
My biggest thing is execution. At the end of the day, are they still going to say they’re looking for poll workers? I’m encouraged that there is some kind of planning happening…. But I’m waiting to see how it’s all executed.[125]
Darrol Gibson, managing director of Leaders Igniting Transformation in Milwaukee, said:
What to say about all this money that election officials are getting? Are we up in bus ads? Are we up in the community everywhere we need to be? How about putting ads in that say, “the process hasn’t been the best but we’re going to do better this time?”[126]
Angela Lang, executive director of Black Leaders Organizing our Communities, said:
We’re concerned about voter intimidation at the polls—from a racialized lens. If the lines are long, I fear people hurling racialized insults at people standing in line. We need nonpartisan election observers to stop this kind of behavior. Even if it’s isolated incidents, it shouldn’t happen.[127]
Additional Steps Needed to Protect the Right to Vote in Wisconsin
Looking toward the November election and beyond, state and local officials have more to do to ensure the human right to vote in Wisconsin. The state needs to invest in absentee voting to overcome the legacy of the April election. Voters are concerned that the state may have difficulties processing the expected increase in ballots in November, especially since there were problems in the April primary. Wisconsin’s nearly 1,900 municipal clerks are concerned that they do not have the resources necessary to timely process the ballots. This is especially true since Wisconsin law requires the ballots only be counted starting on election day.[128]
Ensuring voter confidence in the absentee process, and ensuring municipal clerks can give quick and effective notification to voters of problems, as well as an opportunity to “cure” their ballots, are key challenges for the state in November and beyond.[129] An election that fully protects the human right to vote in Wisconsin should ensure timely delivery of all absentee ballots requested, extend the deadline for receipt of absentee ballots, waive the requirement that absentee ballots be signed by a witness, ensure municipal clerks have more time, equipment and staff to process returned ballots and provide statewide equitable and consistent remedies to cure faulty ballots received.
Voters in nursing homes and in residential care facilities also require special attention. On June 24, 2020, the Wisconsin Elections Commission determined that Special Voting Deputies will not be sent to nursing homes and care facilities to administer voting for the remaining elections in 2020. Residents of facilities normally served by these deputies will instead be mailed absentee ballots for each remaining 2020 election.[130] There were problems with ballots not being counted that originated from nursing homes in April, however. Milwaukee Elections Commission Executive Director Woodall-Vogg had heard that in the Milwaukee suburb of Oconomowoc the “eight percent [ballot] rejection rate was [allegedly] almost exclusively due to care facilities.”[131] In addition, while some municipal clerks worked to get ballots to quarantined and people with Covid-19, this is largely left to clerks to manage on their own.[132] The state should consider training a small cadre of workers who could assist such voters, including those in nursing homes.
Voters, probation officers, sheriffs, and courts need to be better informed about the voting rights of people who have been arrested. Individuals with a felony conviction become eligible to vote again only when they complete the terms of their sentence, including any term of probation or extended supervision.[133] This disenfranchises an estimated 68,000 people in Wisconsin. Human Rights Watch interviewed one such person, a 37-year-old Black Milwaukeean named James, who, when asked if he would agree to be interviewed about “the right to vote” in Wisconsin, told us: “I can’t even vote. I’m a convicted felon and I’m on parole. I don’t even have that right to vote.”[134] Human Rights Watch urges Wisconsin to change its laws to enfranchise these voters.[135] Even under existing law, there is more the state should do to help people understand when and how they can legally return to voting. One voting rights advocate in Milwaukee told us:
I can’t tell you how many times we’re the ones to inform people that they actually have the right to vote. We ask: “Do you mind me asking you if you’re ‘off paper?’ [a term used in Wisconsin to signify an individual’s supervision term has ended]” The state needs to do much more on restoration of voting rights. . . .They make a big deal that you lose your voting rights, but they don’t make a big deal when the rights are restored.[136]
In addition, at least half of the approximately 12,000 people in Wisconsin’s jails retain their voting rights, but the state has not lived up to its responsibility to ensure these rights in recent elections.[137] A July 2020 report by the groups All Voting is Local and the ACLU of Wisconsin found that 32 counties do not have a written policy that specifies how people in jails can register to vote and cast a ballot.[138] According to Milwaukee’s Election Commission’s Executive Director Claire Woodall-Vogg:
I’ve always struggled with how to reach eligible voters in the jail. . .. There’s nothing in state law that allows us to set up the jail as a polling place. Local government hasn’t yet figured this out.[139]
Another key concern in the run-up to November’s election is the need to ensure the voting rights of people who do not have a stable address or who may have been recently evicted—a particularly likely scenario given the extremely difficult economic circumstances brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.[140] For example, in Milwaukee, a voting rights advocate said:
This pandemic is an economic crisis. With absentee ballots for the primary, and with rent being due, people don’t know if they’ll be in the same housing when the election comes around.[141]
A voter we interviewed for this report echoed this concern. Describing an ongoing dispute with his landlord over electrical wires hanging from the ceiling in his apartment, and concern he has about a neighbor whose plumbing consistently overflows, including into the voter’s apartment, he told us he doesn’t know if he’ll be in the same place come November.[142] Low-income voters in Wisconsin will face additional challenges, including with the state’s restrictive voter ID laws.[143]
Human Rights Watch urges Wisconsin election officials to make arrangements for this possibility and to ensure that voters are aware that residency for voting purposes is different from residency for other purposes, allowing registration at a half-way house or other facility.[144] Wisconsin should consider other innovations such as allowing registration at general delivery postal addresses to accommodate a likely increase in voters without a stable address.
Wisconsin should act to ensure the right to vote particularly for Black, Latinx, and Native American voters, providing information about and access to in-person early voting and election day polling places in languages these populations can understand.[145] Days before the August 11 election, Woodall-Vogg told Human Rights Watch how the city of Milwaukee had put increased effort into recruiting poll workers, and concluded:
The most important thing is that we continue to preserve as many in-person voting locations as possible. The populations [referring to Black, Native American, and Latinx populations] have a very justified mistrust of government; wanting the visual confirmation that their vote will count.[146]
III. Pennsylvania Elections During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Philadelphia was a shit-show for the mail-in ballot.
— Daren, Philadelphia, August 27, 2020.
Voting in Pennsylvania
Before 2019, absentee voting in Pennsylvania was only permitted under specific circumstances.[147] On October 31, 2019, the state passed a new law, Act 77, which greatly expanded the ability for citizens to vote by mail.[148] The law created a new form of mail-in ballot that was almost identical to the state’s pre-existing absentee ballots, except that mail-in ballots did not require the voter to explain why they could not vote in person. The timing of the law forced election officials to address a larger volume of mail-in ballots than expected. “They were not anticipating Covid when they passed the bill to allow mail-in voting,” a law professor and Pennsylvania voter told Human Rights Watch.[149]
Normally the process for changing or consolidating locations for in-person voting in Pennsylvania is lengthy. The county court maintains authority over the number of election districts within a county and each district has a designated polling place, chosen by the county board of elections.[150] To alter the number of polling locations within a county, the county board of elections must petition the county court to create additional locations or consolidate and reduce polling locations.[151]
Originally scheduled for April 28, 2020, Pennsylvania’s primary approached as Covid-19 cases began to rise across the state. On March 6, Pennsylvania’s Governor, Tom Wolf, issued a Proclamation of Disaster Emergency.[152] On March 27, Wolf signed into law Senate Bill 422, which rescheduled the primary election and allowed polling places to be consolidated at an accelerated pace without the normally required court approval. The new law provided counties a “quicker process” for locating new polling locations or consolidating polling sites and eased rules around staffing at polling centers.[153] In addition, the secretary of the commonwealth released guidance for county boards of elections on polling place consolidation, notice to citizens, and social-distancing at the polls.[154] A press release issued by the governor on March 27 named Covid-19 as a specific reason for the changes.[155]
While Bill 422 allowed for consolidation, it required that the consolidation not result in more than a 60 percent reduction of polling place locations in each county. A subsequent press release reiterated these points and potential, if vague, remedies the counties could use, stating: “Counties must notify voters of polling place changes, and may do so in a variety of ways.”[156]
The secretary of the commonwealth guidance and the provisions of the new law relating to polling place consolidation applied to Pennsylvania’s primary only. Provisions of the law enabling reassignment of poll workers may be used in future elections. Experts predict polling place consolidation is likely to occur in upcoming elections, but how many will require court approval is unknown.[157]
Voting in the primary election was delayed five weeks from April 28 to June 2.[158] In the lead-up to the primary, the Democratic and Republican parties and nonpartisan civil society groups encouraged Pennsylvanians to vote by mail.[159] The state launched an awareness raising campaign about the date change and likewise encouraged voters to apply for mail-in ballots.[160] The governor’s office issued a statement outlining plans to send 4.2 million postcards to residents reminding them of the new registration deadline and explaining the vote-by-mail option.[161] Election officials ran public service announcements on radio, TV, social media, and streaming services.
Prior to 2000, Pennsylvania disenfranchised people in custody for felony convictions and those with felony convictions who had not previously registered to vote until five years after their release from prison.[162] The Sentencing Project estimated in 2016 that these laws took away the voting rights of some 50,000 Pennsylvanians, about half of whom were Black.[163]
Today, individuals currently incarcerated with a felony conviction and those convicted of violating election laws in the previous four years may not vote in the state of Pennsylvania. However, people released from custody with felony convictions, those who are convicted of misdemeanors, and all people held in jails pre-conviction retain the right to vote. Once registered, jailed voters need to request an absentee ballot to vote. Both registration and requesting an absentee ballot are commonly done via the internet and may pose a challenge for some confined people who do not have internet access.[164]
Poll Consolidation and Changes in the June Primary
Philadelphia County, home to the state’s largest city, had a lower turnout in the 2020 primaries compared to 2016. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, 32.4 percent of registered voters cast ballots, down from 39 percent in 2016.[165] Of those who voted, 50.2 percent did so by mail, 47.9 percent were in person, and 1.9 percent voted with a provisional ballot.[166] Other parts of the state, for example Allegheny and Bucks counties, also reported lower voter turnout compared to 2016,[167] but the drop off in numbers was not as great as in Philadelphia County.
Like in other states, Covid-19 posed a challenge for election officials across Pennsylvania. The pandemic made it harder to recruit polling place volunteers (who tend to be older and thus more vulnerable to severe complications from Covid-19 than the population at large),[168] required more spacious polling locations to help voters and workers maintain social distancing,[169] and necessitated money to acquire additional personal protective equipment and sterilization products.[170] Several of these concerns served as the impetus for the legislation to make it much easier to close and consolidate in-person voting locations.[171]
Lisa Deeley, chair of the Philadelphia Board of City Commissioners, which oversees poll workers, told The Philadelphia Inquirer: “‘Poll worker recruitment is always hard, but it is especially hard when whole election boards are telling us that they will not be working due to Covid-19, like they are doing this election.”[172]
A local voting rights activist told Human Rights Watch that younger, less experienced poll workers will be needed in November, but also their inexperience should be planned for ahead of November. “A lot of the polls are run by older people who had been doing that type of work for a while,” he said. “With Covid-19, a lot of younger people without the experience or the training had to step in. They will need to do it again next time around as Covid is not going anywhere.”[173]
On May 18, the Philadelphia Board of Electors sought approval to consolidate additional polling places beyond the 60 percent allowed by the new legislation.[174] Nine of the eleven proposed consolidations cited poll worker safety as a critical concern.[175] In all, 190 polling places out of 831 used in previous elections remained open for the June 2 primary election, representing more than a 75 percent reduction in polling places.[176]
As ordinary notice requirements were waived, many voters did not know about changes to polling locations.[177] Voters who were able to find their new or consolidated polling locations had lengthy travel times[178] and encountered long lines, crowding, greater risk of exposure to Covid-19, and confusion.[179]
Some voters told Human Rights Watch that people were not informed of changes before June 2, election day. “On the election board’s website they would give out some general info and they ran some ads about upcoming changes,” one local activist said. “But for some people in the neighborhoods they learn things by word of mouth. This is especially true if you are from a disenfranchised community. In that case, you didn’t know where to go.”[180] Pennsylvania Department of State officials acknowledged that in late May:
[T]here was no message or indication on the website alerting voters that polling place locations were changing, and that they should check back at a later date. That meant the voters visiting the site had no way of knowing if their polling place information was up to date.[181]
Using data obtained from the state under a Right to Know Law request, Human Rights Watch compared the numbers of polling locations open for the 2016 primary with those open for the June 2020 primary in Pennsylvania. We found a there was a decrease of 606 polling locations, a 10.7 percent decrease statewide. In about 26 percent of the 1,581 zip codes in Pennsylvania there was a reduction in the number of polling places. In total, about 5.7 million people (45 percent of the population of Pennsylvania) live in a zip code that saw a reduction in the number of polling places. Statewide, white voters and racial minorities were impacted relatively equally by these polling place closures,[182] but the impact on Black voters was more pronounced because they are more likely to vote in person, less likely to vote by mail,[183] and less likely to own a vehicle to navigate to the new polling locations (in 2017, 40 percent of Black and 20 percent of white people in the city of Philadelphia did not own a vehicle).[184] A ward leader for the Democratic Party submitted a declaration in NAACP v. Boockvar[185] attesting that:
Crowding 12 divisions into 1 location at Comegys [elementary school] was problematic . . .. Residents from those divisions are almost exclusively African American and have a well-documented history of voting in person. Although members of my ward worked diligently to distribute materials so registered voters could apply for [vote by mail] VBM ballots, we knew our efforts had only limited successes and so we expected long lines at this polling place. Sadly, we were right. Because of the lines at Comegys, I know that many prospective voters, again who were predominantly African American, left without voting.[186]
One Black voter told us of his frustration with the change to his poll location and his inability to access the correct location online:
On June 2 I went to my polling station on N. 25th street, in Philadelphia... I went there thinking I would vote. It was closed. There was nothing set up, no notifications, no signs. I tried to get on the city and state websites, but the sites were freezing up. You put in your zip code after entering all the info, and the site just froze up. So finally, I just decided to get in my car and drive around. I was just looking for crowds and lines, for somewhere to vote. I drive around for 30 minutes and finally found a crowd on 20th and Cecil B Moore [Avenue]; it was at a school. But I was not registered there, so I had to do a write in [provisional] ballot. I waited in that line for over an hour… I left early in the evening. I spent most of the day on this.
Someone else would have been discouraged. I myself was very, very discouraged, to the point of almost giving up. But I had my own car, so I was flexible. If I had been taking public transportation, it would not have been possible. I would have given up. I would not have known where to go.[187]
By contrast, a Black voter from Pennsylvania’s Delaware county told us she voted “at my normal polling place. There is never a line there because it’s a white part of town, it’s not Philadelphia. My sister says they were stressed out in Philly.”[188]
Mail-in Ballots and the June Primary
Citing public safety, political parties, state officials, and non-profits all encouraged residents to use the new mail-in system to vote. The onset of Covid-19 meant that the new mail-in system would not get a test run in a municipal election (which generally has a lower turnout) and glitches would have to be worked out in the process.
People who requested mail-in ballots early, around April, told Human Rights Watch that they encountered no problems. “I voted by mail,” a local activist told Human Rights Watch. “I saw the uncertainty early on when the election was pushed back and was able to vote, track it and I confirmed early on that my ballot was counted.”[189] Another voter saw a story about mail-in voting on a local news station and decided it would be easier to do it early on. “It was an easy process,” he said. “I applied online and three weeks later they said my ballot had been received. I had Covid-19 fears so this was just easier. I was glad I did it remotely.”[190]
Other voters, those who waited until May to request the mail-in ballot, encountered difficulties and did not have their votes counted. One voter said, “I should have done it earlier I guess. The system was good about the email notice on the status [of the ballot], but I never received it. After the elections I got a notice that they received the envelope back as returned undeliverable. I could have put down the wrong address, but I don’t think I did.”[191]
Interviews for this report and media accounts confirm that Pennsylvania’s first mail-in system resulted in ballots lost due to no fault of the voter.[192] One voter told Human Rights Watch:
I tried to vote mail-in. Like others I thought this would be safer. One of my sons was not a registered voter and he got his registration. We all decided to get the mail-in ballots. We started to get the ballot information in March, but mine did not come. In April there was nothing, then in May my son’s arrived, but still nothing for me.
So I started to call them. Some days I never even got a person. I can’t tell you how many times and days I called. When I did get a person they sounded irritated and they would say, “Just keep waiting for your ballot.”
Finally, I called a friend in Pittsburgh who works for the county and she said, “Just go to the voting place on June 2.” So I went and they let me vote. . .I told them I tried to do mail-in and one of them said, “It is a mess all over with the mail-in ballots.” But I had a ballot there and I voted.[193]
Shortcomings of the mail-in ballot procedure, coupled with speculation over the capacity of the US Postal Service, may lead to mistrust of the mail-in system in November. One voter who successfully used a mail-in ballot in June, explained to Human Rights Watch why he will vote in person in November: “I feel safer at the polling center. I see what is going on at the post office and I am not happy with it. I am not sure where I will be voting in November, but I don’t feel safe with the post office.”[194] An elections attorney in Pennsylvania recommended that the state adopt more drop boxes in easily accessible locations, including in front of polling places, in preparation for November: “The drop boxes are secure, they build confidence. I know, anecdotally, that African Americans come to the polling centers because. . .it has real meaning to them and they want to see their vote counted. The drop box could help facilitate this.”[195] At the same time, a local activist said that many older Black voters will insist on voting in person on the day of the election:
It is a ritual for them. It shows respect for the people who put in the fight for them to be there. Also, they are asking themselves, “Is it really safer to vote by mail? If a ballot won’t be counted?” There is no recourse for the mail-in ballot, it is just not counted. So they are saying, “I can wear a mask and gloves and I can make sure my vote will be counted.” For them it is worth the risk.[196]
Additional Steps Needed to Ensure the Right to Vote in Pennsylvania
As the above discussion makes clear, Pennsylvania legislators and election officials should prioritize increasing the number, accessibility, and days and hours of in-person voting locations, particularly in locations where voters are more likely to vote in person. They should also refrain from adopting any further legislation or measures to enable reductions in in-person voting locations. Officials should recognize that in-person voting is often the preference for voters of color, including Pennsylvania’s 12 percent Black and nearly 8 percent Latinx population.[197]
The state also needs to further invest in its mail-in voting system. Although the system is new, officials gained experience with it in the June primary and should apply lessons learned to better ensure the right to vote in November and beyond. One innovation that may be relatively easy to adopt is the placement of secure drop boxes for mail-in ballots near polling places or other easily accessible locations in communities. This should be a priority for neighborhoods with significant populations of voters of color and for Black populations, in particular. The secure drop boxes may offer some semblance of in-person voting experience while potentially reducing the numbers of people seeking to vote in person inside polling locations on election day.
Officials need to prioritize educating voters about their options for exercising their right to vote, and set an adequate number of polling locations in advance so that voters do not experience confusion on election day when navigating to polling sites.
While Pennsylvania’s law enfranchises more people who have been arrested or convicted of criminal offenses than other states with more stringent rules, state election officials need to prioritize voter education, registration, and absentee ballot request drives among voters in jails, those with misdemeanor convictions, and voters recently or soon-to-be released from confinement after a felony conviction. In 2016, ACLU Senior Staff Attorney Sara Rose told National Public Radio, “because there are a number of states that require people to take more steps before they can vote if they have a felony conviction, there’s a lot of confusion over who can vote with a criminal conviction in Pennsylvania.”[198]
State election officials should ensure that people without a stable address can register and receive their ballots at general delivery postal addresses or at open state or city government offices. The current voter registration form offers this instruction to Pennsylvania residents:
If you live in a rural area or are homeless and do not have a street address or a permanent residence, please . . .use the map on the printed form to show where you live or spend most of your time, and mail it to your county voter registration office.[199]
While this accommodation is useful for those wanting to register, it does not afford those without a mailing address an opportunity to vote by mail because there is no location to which a ballot may be mailed. Moreover, some Pennsylvania citizens without a stable address may experience problems with their voter IDs not matching their registration information. These potential problems require urgent attention since in addition to the numbers of Pennsylvanians without housing prior to the Covid-19 pandemic (as of January 2019 about 13,000 on any given day),[200] and prior to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s moratorium on evictions, the Aspen Institute estimated some 633,000 additional Pennsylvanians may be evicted by the end of 2020.[201] Some voters are still likely to move despite the moratorium because they are anticipating its end, or because they need to reduce housing costs regardless.
IV. Arizona Elections During the Covid-19 Pandemic
In person voting is a direct representation of what democracy looks like. We need to keep voting in person; and expand voting opportunities.
— Tomas Robles, co-executive director, LUCHA, Phoenix, August 13, 2020.
[W]e in Arizona can call into question people’s insecurity about voting…. In this state the reason that people participate is because all of the community organizations have stepped up and communicated about the importance of vote by mail. Arizona is a state where you can demonstrate that vote by mail has worked for our communities.
— Alex Gomez, co-executive director, LUCHA, Phoenix, August 13, 2020.
Voting in Arizona
A substantial share of Arizonan voters are experienced and comfortable with voting by mail.[202] For most presidential elections, between 75 and 79 percent of Arizona’s electorate votes by mail.[203] The state’s use of voting by mail prior to the Covid-19 pandemic meant that few innovations were needed in light of the pandemic to ensure citizens could easily exercise their right to vote by mail during the primaries in March and August.[204] We repeatedly heard about the ease and success of Arizona’s vote by mail procedures from white voters. For example:
A white female voter in Tucson said her experience was unremarkable: “I voted by mail in the last election and it was easy, not surprisingly. I’m not part of a demographic that has any trouble. Almost everybody I know is privileged and everybody votes by mail…. I do know a lot of people immediately send [their ballot] off once they get it.”[205]
A white male voter said, “I’ve had just a great experience voting in Arizona…. I’ll certainly mail my ballot early so that timing isn’t an issue and I will mail it at a post office to make sure it gets to where it needs to go.”[206]
Another white female voter said, “I’ve been mail-in voting for years…. There are a lot of safeguards and they’ve designed the envelopes well. You have to have your wits about you but honestly it’s easy. What I do see as an issue is if the mail is late, or if people steal from our mailbox.”[207]
Populations of color, including Latinx, Native American, and Black people in the state are less likely to vote by mail than white voters. According to the executive director of one statewide voting right organization, “The people who are most registered to vote by mail are conservative white voters.”[208] Another Arizona voting rights organization explains, “Arizonans who are less likely to vote by mail [include] Native Americans, Latinos, African Americans, and students.”[209] Similarly, the Brennan Center for Justice found that in the 2016 presidential election in Arizona (a state that is 54 percent white, according to the US Census) “at least two-thirds of all mail ballots were cast by white voters.”[210]
Arizona allows voting by mail for people held in its jails, but according to local advocates, participation is incredibly low and more work needs to be done to educate both Sheriffs and jailed voters. The state has done some work to ensure the voting rights of those in nursing homes and in residential care facilities. While voters in such facilities may vote by mail, other accommodations available prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, such as van services to polling locations for residents of care facilities for in-person voting and the dispatch of special teams to care facilities to assist voters who may need help in filling out their ballots,[211] are not available due to the pandemic. Maricopa County has adopted the possibility for individuals in care facilities, those we are self-quarantined and people with Covid-19 to use Skype or Facetime and other innovations for contactless assistance in voting.[212]
Data on their voting patterns indicates that for Native American, Latinx, and other populations of color in Arizona, voting in person, including in-person early voting,[213] is essential.[214] The number of polling locations available to in-person voters is therefore critical to ensuring the right to vote without discrimination. Yet in a 2019 study, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights compared the number of polling locations in Arizona in 2012 with those available in 2018.[215] The study, which looked at 757 counties in 13 states, found Arizona had the most widespread reduction in polling places. Almost every county in Arizona (13 of 15 counties) closed polling places, for a total of 320 closures between 2012 and 2018.
The trend to close polls has continued. In Arizona’s 2018 midterm election, the state’s most populous county, Maricopa, had 500 polling locations. In its 2020 Presidential Preference Election, Maricopa had 150 polling locations (with the advent of Covid-19 the number was reduced from 150 to 80 due to lack of poll workers and the need to shift locations away from senior centers).[216] All of the 80 locations were vote centers, where voters from anywhere in the county could cast their ballots. In its August 2020 primary, Maricopa had 100 polling locations (also all vote centers).[217] Alongside the reduction in numbers, the state has innovated to ensure voter access. In August, the county phased-in early voting over a period of weeks, with four centers open for early voting about four weeks prior to the election, and 55 more which opened about two weeks prior.[218] Moreover, the state has counteracted the reduction in number of polls by investing in mail-in voting in Arizona, using vote centers, enabling early voting, and increasing the number of check-in stations available per poll location.[219]
Arizona’s Primaries: Voting by Mail and In Person Both Important
In its March and August elections, Arizona election officials worked to provide in-person voting opportunities despite the Covid-19 pandemic. The Arizona state director of All Voting is Local described in-person voting during the March and August elections as:
Not perfect but not bad. . . .Even in places hit hard by Covid, like the Navajo Nation, the tribes still supported local voting sites; they figured out a way to work that out. . . .Of the 15 counties, most did not make any substantial changes to their polling places and that’s good. It’s up to the local board whether or not you can have early voting—but we had some early voting in every county.[220]
However, the fact that Maricopa used all new voting locations in the primaries brought some problems for in-person voters. A Latinx voting rights advocate explained that in March in Maricopa:
There were longer lines…. In one case I know of the poll worker said, “this person wasn’t in line before 7 [pm],” and that person didn’t get to vote…. People were still being told that “it wasn’t their polling location” even though that wasn’t necessary [because voters could vote at any location in the county]. With older poll workers they got confused about this…. Also we had a lot of machines that broke. People had to wait a long time for machines to be fixed. I could see a lot of those things happening again; but it’s also true that for some in-person voters it was a pretty easy process.[221]
Some voters in Maricopa County had trouble finding the new polling locations. The same Latinx voting rights advocate said that during the August election in majority-Latinx West Phoenix:
A lot of the places we went to were really hard to see and to access. For example, we got an address for a polling location and “Food City” was there. And we’re like “okay is the location in Food City”? But there was a little sign…. We found it and it was a little room and just like a door, super-creepy…. Another location—Fowler—was really hard to find…. Once folks got there, we didn’t hear about people being turned away. We did hear that there were no Spanish speakers inside.[222]
The state director for All Voting is Local told Human Rights Watch:
Most of these are new locations…. The County needs to substantially up their signage game. Google their own addresses, find the path to navigate to the polling place, and make it easy for voters.[223]
Looking toward November, some advocates are concerned that Maricopa County in particular is planning for too few in-person voting locations, especially given the predicted increase in turnout for a general election.[224]
For Native American voters, neither voting by mail nor voting in person is an easy option, which means that both need to be available to ensure the right to vote. This seems to be well-understood by some Arizona election officials. One said:
We work with intertribal government directly to figure out solutions for our Native voters. We work together to identify individuals who need assistance or who don’t receive mail. Often, that means we have to provide an in-person environment if they opt not to do the mail.[225]
Detailed analysis of factors impacting Native American voting is beyond the scope of this report, but has been covered by voting rights reports issued by the Native American Voter Engagement Project of Instituto, the Native Vote project at Arizona State University, and by Patty Ferguson-Bohnee, faculty director and clinical professor of law at the Indian Legal Clinic housed at the university, among others.[226] One obvious issue hampering the ease of in-person voting for Native Americans is the distances some people must travel to vote given that their counties of residence may cover large geographical areas; another is that they often have personal or cultural reasons to maintain their registration in one location while working in another. For example, for the March primary, one Native couple, who preferred to maintain their voter registration on the Navajo Nation, had moved to Tsaile to work at Dine College:
[B]ut she was registered [154 miles away] in Kaibito and her husband was registered [193 miles away] near Flagstaff. So, they had to travel extremely long distances so that each could vote [in person].[227]
Arizona’s Latinx and Native American voters have also experienced some problems with voting by mail in the recent primaries. Some Latinx and Native American voters both struggle to read and fill out ballots due to language difficulties or fear of government forms.[228] Many Native voters find the address requirement a major impediment to
mail-in voting:
“Two-thirds of Native voters live in the city—but their address is on the reservation and so there are a lot of Native American voters that no one can access or find.”[229]
“Our community members generally prefer to vote in person on election day because voting by mail is difficult due to unreliable mail service on the reservation and issues related to their nontraditional addresses.”[230]
Latinx voters also benefit from both in-person and mail-in voting options. One Latinx voting rights advocate told us that during the primaries held in the context of Covid-19, “it’s been a little bit of both, older Latinx folks want to vote in person. But the younger voters have been voting by mail.”[231]
Additional Steps Needed to Protect the Right to Vote in Arizona
Voter education is crucial to ensuring the right to vote in Arizona. According to one Maricopa County elections official, “Right now the critical need is communicating with voters on how they can be successful in this election.”[232] Voter education works when it is led by the communities toward which it is directed and when it embraces Arizona’s rich diversity, including even within one demographic category, as well as the multiple languages spoken by Arizona voters.[233] For example, one Native American voting rights advocate explained:
There are 22 tribal communities [in Arizona]. They are quite diverse—there are urban and rural; the cultures are very different…. We have many Native American elders age 50 and up…who are out at the polls and…when you think of the group under age 50, the needs are different.[234]
Arizona’s reliance on voting by mail is an essential tool for the state in the context of Covid-19, even if it is a mode of voting that has proven less useful for Latinx, Native American, and Black voters. There are linguistic, timing, and registration innovations that Arizona has tried and should continue to try to make mail-in voting more accessible.[235] This is a complex task since pending court cases may alter the rules for voting by mail in Arizona,[236] and it may be impacted by US Postal Service capacity.[237]
To minimize any problems stemming from possible constraints of the Postal Service, Arizona should prioritize secure ballot drop boxes.[238] According to our interviews with Maricopa County officials, this is a priority for them, though there are some limitations around securing and monitoring these drop boxes that the county and state should work to overcome.[239] Arizona should work to place secure ballot drop boxes near areas of public transportation, residential care facilities, and lower income and minority communities.
In-person early voting is essential to guaranteeing the right to vote in Arizona and can reduce crowds and lines at polling stations to help prevent Covid-19.[240] This is in part because in-person, early voting locations serve as secure sites for return of vote by mail ballots, in addition to secure drop boxes.[241] Other innovations for early voting should be considered. According to the director of a statewide NGO in Arizona:
We need to be pushing for early voting in Tribal lands. Navajo, Tohono O’odom, a lot more early voting and a lot more creativity. Doing drive through voting—in a parking lot…. Set up a ballot-on-demand printer in the parking lot so people can get their ballots and vote…. For the August election Coconino County set up drive through early voting. That’s a really smart thing. They should stand up like 10 of those. For a subset of people who want to do it; that’s a safe way for people to vote.[242]
While specific problems exist with early voting in Arizona due to voter ID requirements,[243] the state has made some changes, acknowledging that the pandemic has made renewing drivers licenses very difficult.[244]
Other adaptations to make in-person voting more equitable, such as having adequate translation to Spanish or Native languages at polling stations, should be prioritized.
At polling locations at certain sites, they have Navajo translators but it takes resources, so it doesn’t happen for smaller tribes in Arizona. A lot of times they [these smaller tribes] really are just dismissed because no one wants to take the effort to make sure there is a polling location that is convenient to them.[245]
Arizona needs to work to ensure the voting rights of people who do not have a stable address or who may have been recently evicted. Prior to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s moratorium on evictions, the Aspen Institute estimated that more than half a million Arizonans are at risk of eviction by the end of 2020.[246] Some voters are still likely to move despite the moratorium because they are anticipating its end, or because they need to reduce housing costs. Therefore, the state should ready itself for an increase in evictions before the November 2020 elections. While Arizona law does provide options for individuals without an address, voters and election officials should educate voters about these options, including registration for people at “general delivery” post office addresses.[247] Looking forward, Arizona law should be changed to allow for election
day registration.[248]
There remains an enormous voter, probation officer, court and sheriff education problem in Arizona with regard to voters who are or were involved in the criminal legal system. According to testimony and analysis by the US Civil Rights Commission,[249] at least half of the people in Arizona’s jails retain their voting rights, but the state has not lived up to its responsibility to ensure they knew about and could exercise these rights in recent elections.[250] According to the Arizona Coalition to End Jail-Based Disenfranchisement, “During the March [primary] election, out of those estimated 2,700 eligible [jailed] voters, 7 voters cast a ballot.”[251] As one election official put it, allowing in-person voting in the jail “takes some partnership from the Sheriff’s Office. Because of Covid-19 and other logistical challenges, the Sheriff was not able to allow for in-person voting within the jails at this time. Eligible voters detained in jails are able to vote by mail.”[252]
Under Arizona law, a felony conviction triggers cancellation of voter registration[253] and formerly incarcerated people with felony records are required to re-register. This is particularly concerning because Latinx and Black communities are disproportionately affected by felony disenfranchisement and the process is sufficiently complicated to have a chilling effect on voters.[254] In addition, people with two or more felony convictions remain disenfranchised in the state even after they have served their sentences, as are people with past felony convictions who still owe fines and fees to the state.[255] Arizona should change both law and policy to ensure re-enfranchisement in accordance with international human rights law when a person is released from confinement, regardless of the crime of conviction and regardless of any fines and fees owed.
Human Rights Watch also urges Arizona election officials to keep law enforcement away from polling stations unless absolutely necessary for polling station security. The executive director of a voting rights organization in Arizona said, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agencies, “If I’m in [a] mixed status family, if I see an ICE / CBP van, [it] makes it really scary to go into the voting booth.”[256] The executive director of a Latinx voting rights organization said:
When polling places are in schools and when you go and see a police car, that’s scary. [During the March election] I had one person call me and say “oh no I can’t go there, there are police there.” We know that the presence has an effect on people even though in that case they didn’t stop anyone.[257]
V. Voting Rights and Non-Discrimination under International Law
Elections During Health Crises
Governments around the world have grappled with managing elections during public health crises. In 2014, Liberia proceeded with in-person voting for senatorial elections during an outbreak of the Ebola virus. An international elections expert told Human
Rights Watch:
In Liberia, we worked with local community leaders to try to get them information on how to limit [Ebola’s] spread. Once it was time for Liberians to go to the polls, the crisis of the epidemic had largely passed.[258]
While Liberia’s election was largely regarded as credible, the election was delayed and election rallies were banned because of Ebola, and turnout on election day was about
25 percent.[259]
Covid-19 has affected elections internationally in a variety of ways. According to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, from February 21 to August 17, 2020, at least 36 countries and territories have held national elections or referendums as originally planned despite Covid-19, and at least 25 countries and territories have decided to postpone national elections and referendums, citing pandemic concerns.[260]
South Korea went ahead with its April 15, 2020 parliamentary election despite the pandemic. South Korea recruited 20,000 additional poll workers; ensured temperature checks and widespread use of masks and gloves for voters and poll workers; prioritized mail-in voting; encouraged voters to take advantage of early voting at 3,500 stations where prior registration was not required; provided accommodations for people who were quarantined at home or hospitalized; kept all 14,300 election-day polling places open (with the exception of many polling places in diplomatic missions for overseas voters, which were closed);[261] and created separate polling places for people who tested positive for the virus that causes Covid-19 or who failed temperature checks.[262] According to one data analyst, these innovations and accommodations combined with a “flattened” Covid-19 curve to result in the highest voter turnout in South Korea since 1992 (66 percent of voters turned out).[263]
Another international elections expert interviewed for this report explained that in countries such as South Korea and North Macedonia:
What we saw instead of closing stations was an increase in time available for voting. And what we are recommending to the election commissions we work with is that, if anything, they increase the number of polling stations to reduce crowds. We also did not see as many dropouts of poll workers in other countries as we saw in the US. All over the world, we see older people [normally] taking those positions and they are a higher risk group, so authorities have to train more people who can replace them if needed and build poll workers’ confidence that the elections will be safe.[264]
Other countries, such as Australia, France, and Iran, were experiencing rising numbers of Covid-19 cases at the time they held their elections, which appears to have negatively impacted voter turnout.[265] In August, Indonesia announced its plan to increase the number of available polling stations by 50,000 in advance of its December 9, 2020 regional elections.[266]
US Obligations under International Human Rights Law
International human rights treaties to which the United States is party recognizes the rights of all citizens to vote without discrimination. According to the US federal government, “The most fundamental principle defining credible elections is that they must reflect the free expression of the will of the people.”[267] This statement echoes the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which provides that “every citizen shall have the right and opportunity” without discrimination or “unreasonable restrictions” to “vote and be elected at genuine periodic elections…guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the electors.”[268]
International human rights law “does not impose any particular electoral system.”[269] It does set out voting rights and non-discrimination obligations that are binding on the national, state and local governments in United States.[270] In its general comment on the right to vote, the UN Human Rights Committee, the independent expert committee that provides authoritative interpretations of the ICCPR, stated that governments are obligated to take “effective measures to ensure that all persons entitled to vote are able to exercise that right.”[271] Governments are expected to address “factors which impede citizens from exercising the right to vote and the positive measures which have been adopted to overcome these factors.”[272]
In addition, governments have an obligation under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and guarantee the rights of everyone in the enjoyment of political rights, including the right to vote.[273]
To ensure that all citizens are able to exercise their right to vote in the current context of the Covid-19 pandemic, federal, state, and local officials in the United States should take all necessary measures to ensure that both in-person and “special voting” are available and accessible so that all voters without discrimination have an adequate opportunity and means to vote.
As they plan for upcoming elections in November 2020 and beyond, policymakers and election officials should look to the following six principles consistent with international human rights law.
1. Protect the right to health and the right to vote.
US federal, state, and local governments have a responsibility to protect the human rights to life and to health in the context of Covid-19.[274] In order to do this, election officials in the United States should consider a range of measures, such as open registration, mail-in voting, multi-day early voting, increased numbers of polling places to decrease crowding, imposition of social distancing rules, and sanitation and disinfection protocols at voting stations. Election workers and monitors should be provided appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE). Where wearing of masks or gloves is required to enter a polling place, such materials should be made available at polling places and no one should be denied their right to vote on grounds of not having the proper equipment.
While the above measures are critical to protecting the rights to life and health, officials should also ensure that any conditions that apply to voting are objective and reasonable, consistent with the right to vote.[275] For example, as noted above, Milwaukee election officials’ decision to reduce the number of polling places from 180 to 5 in the state’s presidential primary on April 7 failed to meet this standard: far from being objective and reasonable, the reduction in fact may have increased the risk to life and health due to increased crowding and longer wait times for those who tried to vote in person, while also drastically limiting the ability of people to vote. If restrictions on the right to vote are objective and reasonable but produce racially discriminatory effects, they also violate international human rights standards.
2. No unreasonable restrictions, discrimination, or racially discriminatory effects.
Under article 25 of the ICCPR, every adult citizen has the right to vote, which may not be subject to discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion or other listed categories.[276] The ICERD makes clear that even when government officials have no discriminatory intent, they are obligated to prevent “discriminatory effects” of any policy, including restrictions on the right to vote that disproportionately impact particular racial groups.[277]
Officials should pay particular attention to this principle in light of the long US history of discrimination against Black and brown people, including with respect to voting. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the expert body charged with providing authoritative interpretations of the ICERD, has expressed particular concern over “the obstacles faced by individuals belonging to racial and ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples to effectively exercise their right to vote.” The US Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder has heightened these concerns.[278]
It is also because of the racially discriminatory effects of felony disenfranchisement laws in the United States, primarily affecting Black Americans, that the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Human Rights Committee have recommended that the United States end disenfranchisement of people who have completed their sentences, ensure voting rights in jails, and review all automatic felony disenfranchisement laws.[279] Human Rights Watch interprets the requirement that individuals complete their sentences to mean that they are released from incarceration; accordingly, people under probation or parole supervision, or who may owe fines and fees, should have their voting rights restored and respected.[280]
3. Provide forms of secret and secure voting, including in-person voting and “special voting,” that ensure all citizens are able to vote.
Election officials in the US need to take “effective measures to ensure that all persons entitled to vote are able to exercise that right.”[281] International standards recognize that “special” forms of voting such as absentee mail-in ballots may “give greater effect to the right to vote.”[282] International law requires governments to ensure that each person’s vote is private and secret.[283] In-person voting should always be an option for voters, and requires attention to polling places: “Polling places must be established in locations that ensure that voters have an equivalent opportunity to exercise their right to vote in a way that is not unduly burdensome.”[284]
Given the various challenges to voting faced by different sectors of the US population, which are more acute in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, officials should offer a range of in-person and “special” voting options that would ensure that all eligible voters are able to exercise their right to vote.
4. Take positive measures to overcome difficulties in voting.
International human rights law obligates governments take “[p]ositive measures” to overcome specific difficulties, including some forms of disability, language barriers, poverty, or impediments to freedom of movement, that would “prevent persons entitled to vote from exercising their rights effectively.”[285] This includes anticipating the possibility that persons may need to change their addresses for voting purposes to general delivery addresses or other temporary addresses given the likelihood of evictions and housing transitions due to the economic impacts of the pandemic (some of which will persist despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s moratorium on evictions).[286] It also includes ensuring that voters only need to travel a reasonable distance to reach their polling places.
When a voter needs assistance in casting a ballot, assistance should be provided by someone chosen by the voter or by another person chosen in a neutral manner.[287] Governments should adopt measures to assist voters needing accommodation, including where necessary exemptions from requirements placed on other voters, to ensure persons are not denied their right to vote. This may include persons with disabilities, older persons, persons who are ill with Covid-19 or otherwise limited in their mobility, or others who may be not be able to comply, or need support to comply with new public health measures applicable to voting. Finally, election officials should make “information and materials about voting …available in minority languages.”[288]
5. Provide speedy review, appeal, and remedy (or “cure”) for voting rights violations.
International law requires an effective remedy whenever an individual experiences a human rights violation, including a voting rights violation. Voters claiming their rights have been denied or violated should be provided with a fair hearing and appeal, and the right to a speedy and effective remedy.[289] An effective remedy is most likely one that allows the complainant to “cure” their denial of voting rights within the election timeframe.[290]
6. Use impartial non-partisan elector observers.
Each constituent state of the United States has unique and sometimes contradictory rules governing the use of electoral observers[291] and only 35 US states have laws explicitly allowing and regulating the use of non-partisan electoral observers.[292] However, impartial, non-partisan, electoral observers are useful in assisting officials with holding free and fair elections. In accordance with international standards, such observers often add to the credibility of elections by recognizing and highlighting those processes that worked well to protect the right to vote, as well as identifying problems.
This report was researched and written by Alison Leal Parker, US Program managing director, and Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director (seconded to the US Program for this project). Ida Sawyer, acting director for Crisis and Conflict, provided essential research and writing assistance. Jessica Randall, a statistician at Emory University, provided pro bono data analysis for this report. Thomas J. Rachko, Jr., US program acting advocacy officer, provided editing and publication assistance, and Jana Smith, US program associate, provided research assistance.
Nicole Austin-Hillery, US Program executive director, edited the report; Joseph Saunders, acting program director, provided program review; and Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno, senior legal advisor, provided legal review. Additional review was provided by Phil Robertson, Asia division deputy director; Jude Sunderland, Europe and Central Asia director; Lena Simet, senior researcher, business and human rights; Laura Mills, researcher, health and human rights; Joe Amon, health and human rights consultant; Brian Root, senior quantitative analyst; and Carlos Ríos-Espinosa, senior researcher and advocate, disability rights. Fitzroy Hepkins, administrative manager; José Martínez, administrative senior coordinator; and Travis Carr, publications design coordinator, coordinated layout and production.
We are grateful to the following attorneys at Dorsey & Whitney, LLP for their legal research: Shannon Bjorklund, Josh Colangelo-Bryan, Ginny Coles, Erin Conti, Margaret Fitzpatrick, Roxanna Gonzalez, Morgan Helme, Alex Hontos, Max Lesser, Thad Lightfoot, John Marti, Jamie McCarty, Michelle Micetic, Smith Monson, Amy Montgomery, Alissa Smith, Forrest Tahdooahnippah, Bri Whiting and Charis Zimmick; and to the following experts for their feedback along the way: Molly Collins, advocacy director, ACLU of Wisconsin; Alex Gulotta, Arizona state director, All Voting is Local; Eileen Newcomer, Wisconsin director, League of Women Voters; Angela Lang, executive director, Black Leaders Organizing for Communities; Alessandra Navidad, executive director, ACLU of Arizona; Raina Roanhorse, Native outreach specialist, Instituto, Arizona; Peter Burress, campaign manager, Wisconsin, All Voting is Local; Joel Edman, executive director, Arizona Advocacy Network, Myrna Pérez, director, Voting Rights and Elections Program, The Brennan Center for Justice; and Leigh Chapman, director, voting rights program, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
This report draws upon information, insights, and perspectives provided by the numerous practitioners, advocates, and election officials we interviewed. They provided candid assessments of the state of the US systems of elections, directed us to voters, helped us to shape our recommendations, and strengthened our understanding of voting rights issues in the states and communities in which they work. We are immensely grateful to each of them, whether named in this report or not.
Most importantly, Human Rights Watch wants to thank each of the individuals who shared with us their experience with voting and participating in US elections. We carry their stories with us and are inspired by their perseverance even in the face of numerous obstacles. Without them, this report would not have been possible.
[1] National Conference of State Legislatures, “Election Administration at State and Local Levels,” February 3, 2020, https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/election-administration-at-state-and-local-levels.aspx (accessed August 23, 2020). See also Kathleen Hale, Robert Montjoy, and Mitchell Brown, Administering Elections: How American Elections Work (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9781137400413 (accessed August 23, 2020).
[2] National Conference of State Legislatures, “Election Administration at State and Local Levels,” February 3, 2020, https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/election-administration-at-state-and-local-levels.aspx (accessed August 23, 2020).
[3] Of the four case studies featured in this report, Arizona’s chief election official is its secretary of state, Pennsylvania’s is appointed by the governor, and South Carolina and Wisconsin have a board or a commission that oversees elections.
[5] Of the four state case studies featured in this report, Pennsylvania uses a board of elections for local election administration with bipartisan appointments made at the local level; Wisconsin uses a single county- or city-elected or appointed individual to administer its elections; and Arizona and South Carolina split the duties between two county bodies or officers (for example, in Maricopa County, Arizona the responsibility to administer elections is split between the county recorder and the County Board of Elections).
[6] Luke Broadwater, Hailey Fuchs and Nick Corasaniti, “Postal Service Warns States It May Not Meet Mail-In Ballot Deadlines,” New York Times, August 14, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/14/us/politics/usps-vote-mail.html (accessed August 31, 2020).
[7] National Conference of State Legislators, “Voter Identification Requirements,” August 25, 2020, https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/voter-id.aspx (accessed August 31, 2020).
[8] Nicole D. Porter, “Voting in Jails,” The Sentencing Project, May 7, 2020, https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/voting-in-jails/ (accessed August 31, 2020).
[9] See, for example, United States Commission on Civil Rights, “An Assessment of Minority Voting Rights Access in the United States,” 2018, https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/2018/Minority_Voting_Access_2018.pdf (accessed August 23, 2020), p. 171.
[10] Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, “Democracy Diverted,” September 2019, https://civilrights.org/democracy-diverted/ (accessed August 23, 2020) (citing the dissenting opinion of Justice Ginsburg in Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529, 562 (2013)).
[11] Jurisdictions covered by Section 5 include: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia, and counties in California, Florida, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, and South Dakota, (Arizona and South Carolina are two of the case studies featured in this report). A selection of counties in California, Florida, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, and South Dakota were also covered and were required to submit their voting changes for approval. Counties and townships in a few other US states were removed from coverage over time through another provision of the Voting Rights Act. See United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, “Jurisdictions Previously Covered by Section 5,” March 11, 2020, https://www.justice.gov/crt/jurisdictions-previously-covered-section-5 (accessed August 23, 2020).
[12] Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013).
[15] See, for example, Kane v. Winn, 319 F. Supp. 2d 162 (D. Mass. 2004) (“the Court notes that the prohibition against racial discrimination has been affirmed in many treaties, undoubtedly has the status of customary international law and jus cogens, and places greater affirmative obligations on government than does the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to remedy past discrimination and to avoid actions that unnecessarily produce a disparate impact on racial minorities. . . . Yet because other international legal norms and domestic constitutional norms provide adequate grounds for decision in this case, the Court leaves further discussion for another day.”).
[16] Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), Pub. L. No. 107-252, 116 Stat. 1666 (2002).
[17] See World Health Organization, “WHO Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Dashboard,” September 8, 2020, https://covid19.who.int/ (accessed September 8, 2020).
[18] “Human Rights Dimensions of COVID-19 Response,” Human Rights Watch news release, March 19, 2020, https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/03/19/human-rights-dimensions-covid-19-response.
[19] United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Considerations for Election Polling Locations and Voters,” June 22, 2020 https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/election-polling-locations.html (accessed August 25, 2020).
[20] United States Election Assistance Commission, “Public Hearing: Election Response to Covid-19, Administering Elections During the Coronavirus Crisis,” April 22, 2020, https://www.eac.gov/events/2020/04/22/public-hearing-election-response-covid-19-administering-elections-during (accessed August 25, 2020).
[21] United States Election Assistance Commission, “Coronavirus (Covid-19) Resources,” https://www.eac.gov/election-officials/coronavirus-covid-19-resources (accessed August 25, 2020).
[22] National Association of State Elections Directors, “COVID-19 Resources,” https://www.nased.org/covid19 (accessed August 25, 2020).
[23] National Conference of State Legislators, “Covid-19 and Elections,” https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/state-action-on-covid-19-and-elections.aspx (accessed August 25, 2020).
[24] National Conference of State Legislators, “Covid-19 and Elections: State Legislation,” https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/state-action-on-covid-19-and-elections.aspx (accessed August 25, 2020).
[25] International Foundation for Electoral Systems, “IFES COVID-19 Briefing Series: Safeguarding Health and Elections,” https://www.ifes.org/publications/ifes-covid-19-briefing-series-safeguarding-health-and-elections (accessed August 25, 2020).
[26] Richard A. Oppel Jr., Robert Gebeloff, K.K. Rebecca Lai, Will Wright, and Mitch Smith, “The Fullest Look Yet at the Racial Inequity of Coronavirus,” New York Times, July 5, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/05/us/coronavirus-latinos-african-americans-cdc-data.html (accessed September 9, 2020).
[27] Jacqueline Howard, “Covid-19 Incidence More Than Triple Among Native Americans, new CDC Report Says,” CNN, August 21, 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/21/health/covid-19-native-americans-cdc-study-wellness/index.html (accessed September 14, 2020).
[28] “US: Address Impact of Covid-19 on the Poor,” Human Rights Watch news release, March 19, 2020, https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/03/19/us-address-impact-covid-19-poor (accessed September 9, 2020).
[29] United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Federal Register Notice: Temporary Halt in Residential Evictions to Prevent the Further Spread of COVID-19,” September 4, 2020, https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/09/04/2020-19654/temporary-halt-in-residential-evictions-to-prevent-the-further-spread-of-covid-19 (accessed September 8, 2020).
[30] Thom File, “Who Votes? Congressional Elections and the American Electorate: 1978–2014 Population Characteristics,” United States Census Bureau, July 2015, https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2015/demo/p20-577.pdf (accessed September 8, 2020). Reasons for this disparity include that lower-income Americans might not be able to afford to take time off work, pay for childcare, or cover transportation costs to the polls. Lower-income voters are also more likely to rent their housing.
[31] See, for example, J. Morgan Kousser, The Shaping of Southern Politics: Suffrage Restriction and the Establishment of the One-Party South, 1880-1910 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1974); Samuel Issacharoff, Pamela Karlan, and Richard Pildes, The Law of Democracy (St. Paul: Foundation Press, 1998).
[32] Bristow Marchant, “Who does SC’s voter ID law stop from voting? The answer might surprise you,” The State, September 12, 2018, https://www.thestate.com/article218116305.html (accessed August 28, 2020).
[33] Zachary Roth, “Confusion over South Carolina ID Law Could Keep Voters Away,” MSNBC, February 12, 2016, http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/confusion-over-south-carolina-id-law-could-keep-voters-away (accessed August 28, 2020).
[34] Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Brenda Williams, physician and voting rights advocate, Sumter, South Carolina, August 12, 2020.
[36] South Carolina Election Commission, “Absentee Voting,” https://www.scvotes.gov/absentee-voting (accessed August 28, 2020).
[37] Human Rights Watch interview with Shaundra, Columbia, South Carolina, August 24, 2020.
[38] The 17 categories are: Members of the Armed Forces; Members of the Merchant Marine; Spouses and dependents residing with members of the Armed Forces or Merchant Marine; Persons serving with the American Red Cross or with the United Service Organizations (USO) who are attached to and serving with the Armed Forces outside their county of residence and their spouses and dependents residing with them; Citizens residing overseas; Persons who are physically disabled; Students attending school outside their county of residence and their spouses and dependents residing with them; Persons who for reasons of employment will not be able to vote on election day; Government employees serving outside their county of residence on Election Day and their spouses and dependents residing with them; Persons who plan to be on vacation outside their county of residence on Election Day; Persons serving as a juror in state or federal court on Election Day; Persons admitted to the hospital as emergency patients on Election Day or within a four-day period before the election; Persons with a death or funeral in the family within three days before the election; Persons confined to a jail or pre-trial facility pending disposition of arrest or trial; Persons attending sick or physically disabled persons; Certified poll watchers, poll managers, and county election officials working on Election Day; Persons sixty-five years of age or older; Persons who for religious reasons do not want to vote on a Saturday (Presidential Primaries Only). See South Carolina Election Commission, “Absentee Voting,” https://www.scvotes.gov/absentee-voting (accessed September 8, 2020).
[39] “South Carolina Covid Map and Case Count,” New York Times, September 16, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/south-carolina-coronavirus-cases.html (accessed August 28, 2020).
[40] Jacob Reynolds, “'We Want Everybody to Vote' Gov. McMaster Says After Signing Absentee Voting Bill,” WLTX (CBS News), May 13, 2020, https://www.wltx.com/article/news/politics/elections/we-want-everybody-to-vote-gov-mcmaster-says-after-signing-absentee-voting-bill/101-18661e27-a7bd-4e44-9fc8-ab3bfaf73669 (accessed September 15, 2020).
[41] South Carolina Election Commission, “Witness Signature No Longer Required on by Mail Ballots for June Primaries,” May 25, 2020, https://www.scvotes.gov/witness-signature-no-longer-required-mail-ballots-june-primaries (accessed August 28, 2020).
[42] Jamie Lovegrave, “SC Dems Prep More Lawsuits as Legislature Punts on Absentee Voting Expansion Amid Pandemic,” Post and Courier, June 24, 2020, https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/sc-dems-prep-more-lawsuits-as-legislature-punts-on-absentee-voting-expansion-amid-pandemic/article_823643fc-b650-11ea-b500-239ee5e63c0d.html (accessed August 28, 2020).
[43] South Carolina Election Commission, “Fact Sheet,” https://www.scvotes.gov/fact-sheets (accessed August 28, 2020).
[44] Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project, “The 2020 South Carolina Primary,” July 20, 2020, https://healthyelections.org/sites/default/files/2020-07/south_carolina_state_primary_memo_np_edits_adb_edits.docx.pdf (accessed August 28, 2020).
[45] Adam Mintzer, “Hand-written ballots, 90-degree heat, long lines: Voter turnout in Richland County bigger than expected,” WISNews, June 9, 2020, https://www.wistv.com/2020/06/09/hand-written-ballots-degree-heat-long-lines-voter-turnout-richland-county-bigger-than-expected/ (accessed September 15, 2020).
[46] Mike Ellis, “SC has poll worker shortage, unprecedented number of polling place changes due to coronavirus,” Greenville News, June 1, 2020, https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2020/06/01/coronavirus-sc-poll-worker-shortage-unprecedented-number-polling-place-relocations-due-covid-19/5262114002/ (accessed August 28, 2020).
[47] Caroline Colburn, “What S.C. voters need to know ahead of Tuesday’s primaries,” WISNews, June 8, 2020, https://www.wistv.com/2020/06/08/what-sc-voters-need-know-ahead-tuesdays-primaries/ (accessed August 5, 2020); Adam Mintzer, “Hand-written ballots, 90-degree heat, long lines: Voter turnout in Richland County bigger than expected,” WISNews, June 9, 2020, https://www.wistv.com/2020/06/09/hand-written-ballots-degree-heat-long-lines-voter-turnout-richland-county-bigger-than-expected/ (accessed August 28, 2020).
[48] Emery Glover, “Where Do I Vote? Your Polling Place May Have Been Temporarily Moved,” WISNews, June 8, 2020, https://www.wistv.com/2020/06/08/where-do-i-vote-your-polling-place-may-have-been-temporarily-moved/ (accessed September 15, 2020).
[49] Chris Trainor, “After Disastrous Primary Richland County Names New Director for Embattled Elections,” Post and Courier, June 19, 2020, https://www.postandcourier.com/free-times/news/local_and_state_news/after-disastrous-primary-richland-county-names-new-director-for-embattled-elections-office/article_625b4296-b24d-11ea-be00-170b1615618a.html (accessed August 28, 2020). See also Index Mundi, “South Carolina Black Population Percentage by County,” https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/united-states/quick-facts/south-carolina/black-population-percentage#chart (accessed September 14, 2020); Statistical Atlas, “Race and Ethnicity in Richland County, South Carolina,” https://statisticalatlas.com/county/South-Carolina/Richland-County/Race-and-Ethnicity (accessed September 14, 2020).
[50] Ibid. According to a list of polling changes provided by the South Carolina Election Commission, Richland County had a total of 72 of the 250 relocations; no other county experienced more than 21 relocations. South Carolina Election Commission, “2020 Statewide Primaries Polling Place Relocations,” https://www.scvotes.gov/2020-statewide-primaries-polling-place-relocations (accessed August 5, 2020).
[51] Carrie Levine and Pratheek Rebala, “‘I Wanted My Vote to Be Counted’: In South Carolina, a Peek at COVID-19’s Impact on Elections,” Center for Public Integrity, June 22, 2020, https://publicintegrity.org/politics/elections/in-south-carolina-a-peek-at-covid-19s-impact-on-elections-polling-place/ (accessed August 5, 2020).
[53] Greg Hadley, “Voters Report Races Missing from Ballots at Richland Polls During SC Primary,” State, June 9, 2020, https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/election/article243404346.html (accessed August 28, 2020).
[55] Jacob Reynolds, “Richland County to Combine About 70 Polling Locations for June Primaries Due to Covid-19 Staffing Issues,” WCNC, May 26, 2020, https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/politics/elections/richland-co-to-combine-about-70-polling-locations-for-june-primaries-due-to-covid-19-staffing-issues/101-4f6eccf8-5d45-4026-acf7-cf3f80a8e1d5 (accessed August 28, 2020).
[56] Human Rights Watch interview with Dolores, Columbia, South Carolina, August 28, 2020.
[57] Carrie Levine and Pratheek Rebala, “‘I Wanted My Vote to be Counted’: A Peek at Covid-19’s Impact on Elections,” Center for Public Integrity, June 22, 2020, https://publicintegrity.org/politics/elections/in-south-carolina-a-peek-at-covid-19s-impact-on-elections-polling-place/ (accessed August 28, 2020).
[59] “Richland County hires new election director after recent problems,” News 19, June 19, 2020,
https://www.wltx.com/article/news/politics/richland-county-hires-new-election-director-after-recent-problems/101-f0ad1e2d-ffdf-432e-8a68-7b364f84ba1c (accessed September 15, 2020).
[60] Human Rights Watch interview with Carrie, Columbia, South Carolina, August 18, 2020.
[61] National Equity Atlas, “Car Access: South Carolina,” 2017, https://nationalequityatlas.org/indicators/Car_access/By_race~ethnicity%3A49791/Columbia%2C_SC_Metro_Area/false (accessed August 28, 2020).
[63] South Carolina Election Commission, “SEC Statement on Richland County Elections,” https://www.scvotes.gov/sec-statement-richland-county-elections (accessed August 28, 2020).
[64] South Carolina Election Commission, Letter from State Election Director Marci Andino to Senators Harvey Peeler and Jay Lucas, July 17, 2020, https://my.lwv.org/sites/default/files/sec_2020-07-17_letter_to_gen_assembly_covid_changes_for_ge_final.pdf (accessed August 28, 2020).
[66] United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Covid Data Tracker,” https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/ (accessed August 28, 2020).
[69] In early August, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed against the Election Commission filed for a court injunction to allow all South Carolina residents the right to cast an absentee ballot in November, allow for more time for absentee ballots received by mail to be counted beyond the current deadline (7:00 p.m. election day), eliminate the witness requirement on absentee ballots and allow anyone to assist in returning absentee ballots. See John Monk, “Citing COVID-19 threat, voters ask federal judge to force SC to widen absentee voting,” State, https://www.thestate.com/article244712647.html (accessed August 7, 2020); “SC Democratic Party pushes for absentee voting changes,” News 19, August 5, 2020, https://www.wltx.com/article/news/politics/elections/sc-democratic-party-pushes-for-absentee-voting-changes/101-0d9a4ca9-7186-4429-b4fd-0d5002f38a95 (accessed August 9, 2020).
[73] Mike Firestone, Jack Deschler, and Louie Goldsmith, “An Action Plan to Protect In-Person Voting and Voting Rights in the Era of Covid-19,” Voter Protection Corps, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d4510352755f600012998f7/t/5eeb9e73ee8615767d422e4a/1592499829207/VPC+Report+6.18+FINAL+-+FOR+WEBSITE.pdf (accessed August 28, 2020).
[75] Voting Rights Lab, “Polling Place Consolidation: Negative Impacts on Turnout and Equity,” July 2020, https://www.votingrightslab.org/polling-place-consolidation-report (accessed September 15, 2020).
[76] United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Considerations for Election Polling Locations and Voters,” June 22, 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/election-polling-locations.html (accessed August 28, 2020).
[77] Human Rights Watch interview with Brett Bursey, voting rights advocate, South Carolina Progressive Network, Columbia, South Carolina, August 10, 2020.
[78] See Jean Chung, “Felony Disenfranchisement: A Primer,” The Sentencing Project, June 27, 2019, https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/felony-disenfranchisement-a-primer/ (accessed August 28, 2020).
[79] On April 3, 2020, Governor Evers issued Executive Order #73, which called a special session of the Wisconsin State Legislature to consider a suspension of all further in-person voting in the Spring 2020 elections, save for limited circumstances. Republicans quickly adjourned the session without consideration of the issues. In response, on April 6, 2020, the Governor issued Executive Order #74, which ordered the suspension of in-person voting from April 7, 2020 until June 9, 2020. Ultimately, this suspension was struck down by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
[80] Wisconsin Elections Commission, “Curbside Voting, Drive-Through Voting and Outdoor Polling Places,” https://elections.wi.gov/sites/elections.wi.gov/files/2020-03/Clerk%20comm%20re%20Curbside%2C%20Drive-Through%2C%20Outdoors%203.29.20_0.pdf (accessed August 5, 2020).
[81] Wisconsin Elections Commission, “Public Health Guidance for Elections - COVID-19,” https://elections.wi.gov/node/6787 (accessed August 5, 2020).
[82] Wisconsin Elections Commission, “Consolidating Polling Places and use of WisVote – COVID-19,” March 31, 2020, https://elections.wi.gov/node/6799 (accessed August 5, 2020); Wisconsin Elections Commission, “Letter to Governor Evers,” March 20, 2020, https://elections.wi.gov/sites/elections.wi.gov/files/2020-03/3.20.20%20Letter%20to%20Governor.pdf (accessed August 5, 2020).
[83] Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project, “Wisconsin’s 2020 Primary in the Wake of Covid-19,” June 30, 2020, https://healthyelections.org/sites/default/files/2020-06/Wisconsin%E2%80%99s%202020%20Primary%20in%20the%20Wake%20of%20COVID-19.pdf (accessed August 5, 2020).
[84] Wisconsin Elections Commission, “Deciding on a New Polling Place,” https://elections.wi.gov/clerks/guidance/accessibility/new-polling-place (accessed August 5, 2020).
[85] The decisions by municipal clerks to close and consolidate polling places were authorized by a March 31, 2020 memorandum by the Wisconsin Elections Commission which notified clerks that they were authorized to consolidate some, but not all, polling places. This action was taken in light of Wis. Stat. § 5.25 which requires that polling places be established at least 30 days in advance of the election by the local governing body. Wisconsin Elections Commission, “Consolidating Polling Places and Use of WisVote - COVID-19,” March 31, 2020, https://elections.wi.gov/node/6799 (accessed August 5, 2020)(stating “It has become clear that a shortage of available election inspectors due to COVID-19 is one of the most limiting factors related to the number of polling locations to be used.”). In doing so, the commission expanded a prior directive that authorized closing polling places in nursing homes and similar facilities to other “situations in which the continuing effects of COVID-19 require changes to or consolidation of polling locations regardless of where the polling place is currently planned.” Wisconsin Elections Commission, “Elections Commission Takes Action on COVID-19 Issues for April 7 and May 12 Elections,” March 12, 2020, https://elections.wi.gov/node/6711 (accessed August 5, 2020).
[86] Mary Spicuzza and Alison Dirr, “Milwaukee normally has 180 voting sites; because of coronavirus, fewer than 12 polling places will be open April 7,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 31, 2020, https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/milwaukee/2020/03/31/coronavirus-milwaukee-voting-sites-cut-180-fewer-than-12/5099739002 (accessed August 5, 2020).
[87] Mary Spicuzza and Alison Dirr, “Milwaukee normally has 180 voting sites; because of coronavirus, fewer than 12 polling places will be open April 7,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 31, 2020, https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/milwaukee/2020/03/31/coronavirus-milwaukee-voting-sites-cut-180-fewer-than-12/5099739002/ (accessed August 5, 2020).
[88] For the April 2020 election the city of Green Bay only had two available in-person polling places (Green Bay East and West High Schools), whereas in previous elections the city had operated 31 in-person polling places. The Green Bay city clerk, Kris Teske, stated that the city normally has about 280 paid poll workers; however, in the April election there were only about 20 paid poll workers. See Ben Krumholz, “Green Bay plans to have 17 poll locations in August; still needs more poll workers,” Fox 11 News, June 24, 2020, https://fox11online.com/news/election/green-bay-plans-to-have-17-poll-locations-in-august-still-needs-more-poll-workers (accessed August 5, 2020). Dane County opened 66 of 92 polling locations for the April 2020 election. Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project, “Wisconsin’s 2020 Primary in the Wake of Covid-19,” June 30, 2020, https://healthyelections.org/sites/default/files/2020-06/Wisconsin%E2%80%99s%202020%20Primary%20in%20the%20Wake%20of%20COVID-19.pdf (accessed August 5, 2020). The City of Racine operated all 14 of its usual polling locations for the April 2020 election; however, as a result of concern over the risk of transmission of the virus, all of the polling locations implemented curbside voting (a ballot is brought to the voter who remains in the vehicle). Journal Times Staff, “Has your polling place changed? Check here,” Journal Times, April 7, 2020, https://journaltimes.com/news/local/has-your-polling-place-changed-check-here/article_cb4be746-cd4e-5fb0-b658-2748d3a5d686.html (accessed August 5, 2020).
[89] While state workers were asked if they would work the polls, plans to use state workers were never put in place. Also, National Guard workers in civilian clothes were ultimately used in some polling places, but it appears these plans were not put in place sufficiently in advance so that clerks felt confident about opening polling places. Finally, it also appears that clerks’ apprehensiveness that they would have workers drop out at the last minute drove decision making, instead of going ahead with opening polls where there may have been a shorter or non-existent roster of possible replacement workers. See, for example, Patrick Marley and Molly Beck, “Tony Evers Asks State Workers to Staff Polls,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 31, 2020, https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/03/31/coronavirus-wisconsin-tony-evers-asks-state-workers-staff-polls/5093547002/ (accessed August 20, 2020).
[90] Wisconsin Elections Commission, “Special Teleconference-Only Meeting, Polling Place Supply and Personnel Shortages Memorandum,” March 31, 2020, https://elections.wi.gov/sites/elections.wi.gov/files/2020-03/Complete%20Packet%203_31.pdf (accessed August 10, 2020).
[92] Human Rights Watch interview with LaKeshia Myers, Wisconsin state representative, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 5, 2020.
[93] State Representative LaKeshia Myers said, “on the selection of the five voting locations, I just want to say these were not all representative locations for people. Bayview residents were told to go to Hamilton High School, which is not accessible to the bus line. Some were easily accessible by bus, but some were not.” Human Rights Watch interview with LaKeshia Myers, Wisconsin state representative, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 5, 2020. See also Isiah Holmes, “Racial disparities illustrated by Milwaukee’s long voter lines,” Wisconsin Examiner, April 8, 2020, https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2020/04/08/racial-disparities-illustrated-by-milwaukees-long-voter-lines/ (accessed September 15, 2020).
[94] First Amended Complaint, Swenson v. Bostelmann, 3:20-CV-459 (W.D. Wis. May 18, 2020), p. 36, ¶ 118 (In Swenson v. Bostelmann, several individual plaintiffs, along with the Black Leaders Organizing for Communities and Disability Rights Wisconsin, filed suit against the Wisconsin Elections Commission after the April 7 primary election. The plaintiffs’ complaint details the ways in which the Commission failed to safeguard the availability of in-person absentee voting and failed to ensure an adequate number of Election Day polling places).
[95] Human Rights Watch interview with Darrol Gibson, managing director, Leaders Igniting Transformation, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 3, 2020.
[96] Voting Rights Lab, “Polling Place Consolidation: Negative Impacts on Turnout and Equity,” July 2020, https://www.votingrightslab.org/polling-place-consolidation-report (accessed August 25, 2020).
[97] Shruti Banerjee (Demos) and Dr. Megan Gall (All Voting is Local), “Covid-19 Silenced Voters in Wisconsin,” May 14, 2020 https://allvotingislocal.org/reports/covid-19-silenced-voters-in-wisconsin/ (accessed August 5, 2020).
[98] Peter Miller and Kevin Morris, “Voting in a Pandemic: COVID-19 and Primary Turnout in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,” SSRN, June 25, 2020, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3634058 (accessed August 20, 2020).
[99] Human Rights Watch interview with Cherish, 32-year-old Black Milwaukee resident, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 6, 2020.
[100] Human Rights Watch interview with Clayton, 35-year-old Black Milwaukee resident, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 6, 2020 (pseudonym).
[101] Human Rights Watch interview with Professor Robert Smith, director, Center for Urban Research, Teaching and Outreach, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 29, 2020.
[102] Human Rights Watch interview with Sheila, 54-year-old Black Milwaukee resident, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 6, 2020.
[103] Human Rights Watch interview with Brenda, 41-year-old Black Milwaukee resident, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 6, 2020 (pseudonym).
[104] Human Rights Watch interview with Iuscely Flores Villareal, civic engagement and field manager, Wisconsin Voices, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 7, 2020.
[105] Human Rights Watch interview with Molly Collins, advocacy director, ACLU of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 22, 2020.
[106] Human Rights Watch interview with James Nelson, 66-year-old Black Milwaukee resident, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 6, 2020.
[107] First Amended Complaint, Swenson v. Bostelmann, 3:20-CV-459 (W.D. Wis. May 18, 2020), p. 38, ¶ 126.
[108] Ibid.
[109] Any qualified elector (US citizen, 18 years of age, who has resided in the district in which he or she intends to vote for at least 28 days) who registers to vote is eligible to request an absentee ballot. Under Wisconsin law, voters do not need a reason or excuse, such as being out of town on Election Day, to vote absentee.
[110] Human Rights Watch interview with Miles, 45-year-old Black Milwaukee resident, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 6, 2020 (pseudonym).
[111] Human Rights Watch interview with Charles, 67-year-old Black Milwaukee resident, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 6, 2020.
[112] Pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 5.25(4)(a), each polling place must be accessible to all individuals with disabilities. The Wisconsin Elections Commission must ensure that the voting system used at each polling place will permit all individuals with disabilities to vote without the need for assistance and with the same degree of privacy that is accorded to nondisabled electors voting at the same polling place. The municipal clerk or board of election commissioners of a municipality in which an elderly or handicapped elector resides may reassign the elector to a polling place within the municipality other than the polling place serving the elector's residence in order to permit the elector to utilize a polling place that is accessible to elderly or handicapped individuals. Wis. Stat. § 5.25(5)(b). Also, any individual with a disability may notify a municipal clerk that he or she intends to vote at a polling place on election day and may request that a specific type of accommodation be provided that will facilitate his or her voting. Wis. Stat. § 5.36.
[113] Human Rights Watch interview with William, 50-year-old Black Milwaukee resident, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 6, 2020 (pseudonym).
[114] First Amended Complaint, Swenson v. Bostelmann, 3:20-CV-459 (W.D. Wis. May 18, 2020) p. 33, ¶ 106.
[115] First Amended Complaint, Swenson v. Bostelmann, 3:20-CV-459 (W.D. Wis. May 18, 2020).
[117] Wisconsin League of Women Voters, “Wisconsin Election Protection: 2020 Spring Election Report,” May 11, 2020, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VaVDxfiiAr-UrVYzZ2DExeuAwCbviTha/view (accessed August 26, 2020).
[118] Human Rights Watch interview with Angela Lang, executive director, Black Leaders Organizing for Communities, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 27, 2020.
[119] See, for example, Christina Cassidy and Gretchen Elkhe, “Black Voters Weighed History and Health in Wisconsin Election Amid Covid-19 Pandemic,” Associated Press, https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/black-voters-weighed-history-health-in-wisconsin-election-amid-covid-19-pandemic/article_27bc1e11-b75f-5ca8-a602-ef43a32b9311.html (accessed August 25, 2020).
[122] Center for Tech and Civic Life, “CTCL Partners with 5 Wisconsin Cities to Implement Safe Voting Plan,” July 7, 2020, https://www.techandciviclife.org/wisconsin-safe-voting-plan/ (accessed August 22, 2020); Shamane Mills, “Wisconsin Cities Get Grant Funds for Elections,” Wisconsin Public Radio, July 9, 2020, https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2020/07/09/wisconsin-cities-get-grant-funds-for-elections-during-pandemic/ (accessed August 22, 2020).
[123] Cavalier Johnson, “Statement of Common Council President Cavalier Johnson on the Confirmation of Claire Woodall-Vogg,” July 7, 2020, https://urbanmilwaukee.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/07_07-Statement-on-confirmation-of-Claire-Woodall-Vogg-with-report.pdf (accessed August 25, 2020).
[124] See, for example, Briana Reilly, “Wisconsin Cities Secure More Polling Sites, Workers for August 11 Primary,” The Cap Times, August 10, 2020, https://madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/wisconsin-cities-secure-more-polling-sites-workers-for-aug-11-primary/article_67916706-e872-509c-9df4-9d572787c676.html (accessed August 25, 2020).
[126] Human Rights Watch interview with Darrol Gibson, managing director, Leaders Igniting Transformation, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 3, 2020.
[128] Human Rights Watch interview with Eileen Newcomer, voter education coordinator, League of Women Voters, Madison, Wisconsin, July 28, 2020.
[129] The Wisconsin Voting Rights Coalition has produced an advocacy checklist focusing on municipal clerks, who have important discretionary powers to address several of the problems highlighted in this report. Wisconsin Voting Rights Coalition, “Municipal Advocacy Toolkit,” 2020, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sZabGuk5djK0_XqnRJ7i7sDwMDEZLvzNJRkjejVFH9Q/edit (accessed August 5, 2020).
[130] Many nursing home and care facility residents rely on assistance from others to vote. Because most nursing homes and care facilities are not allowing guests at this time, some voters may require assistance from care facility staff to vote. Facility administrators and staff are able to assist residents in filling out their ballots or certificate envelopes and assist in completing voter registration forms and absentee requests, witness ballots, or sign a special certificate envelope (EL-122sp). The Wisconsin Elections Commission created two documents, a letter for facility administrators and a training overview document, to distribute to care facilities to make absentee voting and registering to vote as smooth as possible for their facility and residents.
[131] Human Rights Watch interview with Claire Woodall-Vogg, executive director, Milwaukee Election Commission, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 7, 2020.
[132] Daphne Chen, Elizabeth Mulvey, Dana Brandt, and Catharina Felke, “These Are the Clerks Who Carried Wisconsin Through its April Pandemic Election. Here Are Their Fears About November,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, PBS Frontline, and Columbia Journalism Investigation, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/coronavirus-election-wisconsin-clerks-november-ballots/ (accessed September 15, 2020) (“In Sheboygan, first-time Clerk Peggy Fischer dropped off ballots on the porches of residents who were quarantined, waited while they filled the ballots out and signed as their witness.”).
[133] Wis. Stat. § 6.03(1)(b), any person convicted of treason, felony or bribery may not vote unless the person's right to vote is restored through a pardon. This includes individuals on probation or parole for a felony conviction or anyone convicted of a felony who has not yet completed the terms of their sentence, including incarceration and supervision. For a detailed discussion of the harmful impacts of probation and parole in Wisconsin, see Human Rights Watch, Revoked: How Probation and Parole Feed Mass Incarceration in the United States (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2020), https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/07/31/revoked/how-probation-and-parole-feed-mass-incarceration-united-states.
[134] Human Rights Watch interview with James, a 37-year-old Black Milwaukee resident, Wisconsin, August 6, 2020 (pseudonym).
[135] As recently as 2019, Wisconsin legislators and advocacy groups worked to introduce Senate Bill 348 to allow people with felony convictions who have completed their sentences of incarceration to have their voting rights restored, even if they remain on probation or parole. The bill did not pass the legislature. See Talis Shelbourne, “Unlock the Vote Campaign Seeks to Restore ex-Offenders' Voting Rights,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, September 5, 2019, https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/milwaukee/2019/09/05/unlock-vote-campaigned-launched-support-ex-offenders-rights/2141868001/ (accessed August 25, 2020); Wisconsin State Legislature, “2019 Senate Bill 348,” https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2019/related/proposals/sb348 (accessed August 25, 2020).
[137] American Civil Liberties Union and All Voting Is Local, “Ballots for All: Ensuring Eligible Wisconsin Voters in Jail Have Equal Access to Voting,” July 2020, https://allvotingislocal.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ACLU-AVL-2020_Jail-Voting-Access-Report-FINAL-07012020.pdf (accessed August 25, 2020)(stating “At any given moment, there are about 12,500 Wisconsinites in county jails. More than half of those in jail have yet to be convicted of a crime, but are forced to remain in jail because they are too poor to post cash bail.”).
[138] ACLU and All Voting Is Local, “Ballots for All: Ensuring Eligible Wisconsin Voters in Jail Have Equal Access to Voting,” July 2020, https://allvotingislocal.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ACLU-AVL-2020_Jail-Voting-Access-Report-FINAL-07012020.pdf (accessed August 25, 2020).
[140] The Aspen Institute estimates some 360,000 evictions are likely to occur in Wisconsin before year’s end. Katherine Lucas McKay, Zach Neumann, and Sam Gilman, “20 Million Renters Are at Risk of Eviction; Policymakers Must Act Now to Mitigate Widespread Hardship,” Aspen Institute, June 19, 2020, https://www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/20-million-renters-are-at-risk-of-eviction/ (accessed August 24, 2020).
[142] Human Rights Watch interview with Willy, a 42-year-old Black resident of Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 6, 2020.
[143] See, for example, Kenneth Mayer and Michael DeCrescenzo, “Estimating the Effect of Voter ID on Nonvoters in Wisconsin in the 2016 Presidential Election,” University of Wisconsin Madison, September 25, 2017, https://elections.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/483/2018/02/Voter-ID-Study-Release.pdf (accessed September 8, 2020)(“The burdens of voter ID fell disproportionately on low-income and minority populations. Among low-income registrants (household income under $25,000), 21.1% were deterred, compared to 7.2% for those over $25,000. Among high-income registrants (over $100,000 household income), 2.7% were deterred. 8.3% of white registrants were deterred, compared to 27.5% of African Americans.”).
[144] Wisconsin Elections Commission, “Ex-Felons and Incarcerated Voters,” https://elections.wi.gov/sites/default/files/publication/154/ex_felons_incarcerated_voters_wi_voter_guide_pdf_42117.pdf (accessed August 22, 2020).
[145] See, for example, Patricia McKnight, “Wisconsin's April Primary Was a Mess. Here are Five Changes Officials Hope Will Make the Next Election Smoother,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/solutions/2020/07/23/wisconsin-officials-make-changes-upcoming-elections/5472832002/ (accessed August 22, 2020).
[147] Pennsylvania State Legislature, Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Article VII, https://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/CT/HTM/00/00.HTM (accessed August 31, 2020).
[148] Governor Tom Wolf, “Governor Wolf Signs Historic Election Reform Bill Including New Mail-in Voting,” October 31, 2019, https://www.governor.pa.gov/newsroom/governor-wolf-signs-election-reform-bill-including-new-mail-in-voting/ (accessed September 1, 2020).
[149] Human Rights Watch interview with Anil Kalhan, Drexel law school professor and voter, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 1, 2020.
[150] Pennsylvania State Legislature, Statutes of Pennsylvania, Title 25, Section 2702, https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/LI/consCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&ttl=25 (accessed September 1, 2020).
[152] Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, “Proclamation of Disaster Emergency – Coronavirus (COVID-19),” March 6, 2020, https://www.governor.pa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/20200306-COVID19-Digital-Proclamation.pdf (accessed August 16, 2020).
[153] David Thornburgh, “Committee of Seventy, General Assembly and Governor Approve Bill to Move 2020 Primary,” Committee of Seventy, March 27, 2020, https://seventy.org/media/press-releases/2020/03/27/general-assembly-and-governor-approve-bill-to-move-2020-primary (accessed August 16, 2020).
[154] Pennsylvania Department of State, “Election Operations During Covid-19,” April 28, 2020, https://www.dos.pa.gov/VotingElections/OtherServicesEvents/Documents/PADOS_ElectionOperationsDuringCOVID19.pdf (accessed August 16, 2020).
[155] Governor Tom Wolf, “Gov. Wolf Signs COVID-19 Response Bills to Bolster Health Care System, Workers, and Education and Reschedule the Primary Election,” March 27, 2020, https://www.governor.pa.gov/newsroom/gov-wolf-signs-covid-19-response-bills-to-bolster-health-care-system-workers-and-education-and-reschedule-the-primary-election/ (accessed August 16, 2020).
[156] Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, “PA Primary Voters Can Vote by Mail-In Ballot or In-Person at Polling Places in All Counties on June 2,” PA Media, May 9, 2020, https://www.media.pa.gov/pages/State-details.aspx?newsid=382 (accessed August 16, 2020).
[157] Human Rights Watch interview with Adam Bonin, Pennsylvania election law attorney, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 1, 2020.
[158] Marina Pitofsky, “Pennsylvania to delay primary election as coronavirus spreads,” The Hill, March 25, 2020,
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/489591-pennsylvania-to-delay-primary-election-as-coronavirus-spreads (accessed August 31, 2020).
[159] Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project, “The 2020 Pennsylvania Primary Election,” June 25, 2020, https://healthyelections.org/sites/default/files/2020-07/Pennsylvania%20Pre-%20and%20Post-Mortem%20Memo.pdf, page 4 (accessed September 8, 2020).
[160] Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, “Poll Workers Needed,” Votes PA, https://www.votespa.com/Pages/default.aspx (accessed September 1, 2020).
[161] Governor Tom Wolf, “Gov. Wolf Encourages Voters to Apply for a Mail-in Ballot,” April 22, 2020, https://www.governor.pa.gov/newsroom/gov-wolf-encourages-voters-to-apply-for-a-mail-in-ballot/ (accessed September 1, 2020). The postcards did not include information about polling location changes.
[162] Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, “Information for People who Have Been Convicted of a Felony: Even if You Have Been Convicted of a Felony or Misdemeanor or are in Pretrial Detention you may be Able to Vote,” Votes PA, https://www.votespa.com/Register-to-Vote/Pages/Convicted-Felon,-Misdemeanant-or-Pretrial-Detainee.aspx (accessed August 30, 2020).
[163] Christopher Uggen, Ryan Larson, and Sarah Shannon, “6 Million Lost Voters: State-Level Estimates
of Felony Disenfranchisement, 2016,” The Sentencing Project, October 2016, https://felonvoting.procon.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/48/sentencing-project-felony-disenfranchisement-2016.pdf (accessed August 30, 2020).
[164] Pennsylvania Department of State, “Voting Rights of Convicted Felons, Convicted Misdemeanants and Pretrial Detainees,” https://www.votespa.com/Register-to-Vote/Documents/Convicted_felon_brochure.pdf (accessed August 30, 2020).
[165] Jonathan Lai, Philadelphia Inquirer, Twitter feed, June 17, 2020, https://twitter.com/Elaijuh/status/1273316075602616322?s=20 (accessed September 1, 2020).
[167] Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project, “The 2020 Pennsylvania Primary Election,” June 25, 2020, https://healthyelections.org/sites/default/files/2020-07/Pennsylvania%20Pre-%20and%20Post-Mortem%20Memo.pdf (accessed September 8, 2020), p. 4.
[168] Jonathan Lai, “Pennsylvania allows big reduction in poll workers,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 7, 2020, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/pennsylvania-2020-primary-poll-worker-reduction-20200507.html (accessed August 16, 2020).
[169] Jonathan Lai, “Philly will have way fewer polling places,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 12, 2020, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/philadelphia-new-polling-places-2020-primary-20200512.html (accessed August 16, 2020).
[170] Emily Previti and Katie Meyer, “How to vote during the pandemic in Pennsylvania,” PA Post, May 14, 2020, https://papost.org/2020/05/14/how-to-vote-during-the-pandemic-in-pennsylvania/ (accessed August 16, 2020).
[171] Emily Previti, “Gov. Wolf signs bill delaying primary until June 2,” PA Post, March 27, 2020, https://papost.org/2020/03/27/gov-wolf-signs-bill-delaying-primary-until-june-2/ (accessed August 16, 2020).
[173] Human Rights Watch interview with Daren, Black voting rights activist, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 27, 2020 (pseudonym).
[174] Office of the Philadelphia City Commissioners, “Notice: Special Meeting of the Board of Elections,” https://www.philadelphiavotes.com/en/home/item/1811-special_meeting_of_the_board_of_elections (accessed August 16, 2020).
[175] Ibid., Office of the Philadelphia City Commissioners, “Polling Changes Spreadsheet,” https://files.philadelphiavotes.com/announcements/5-18_POLLING_CHANGES.xlsx#_ga=2.94757916.1240250246.1596476385-153293628.1596314192 (accessed September 15, 2020).
[176] Jonathan Lai, “Philly will have way fewer polling places for next month’s primary because of coronavirus. Find yours here,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 12, 2020, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/philadelphia-new-polling-places-2020-primary-20200512.html (accessed August 16, 2020).
[177] Emily Previti and Katie Meyer, “With Pa.’s polling place changes voters might get conflicting information about where to go,” PA Post, May 23, 2020, https://papost.org/2020/05/23/with-pa-s-polling-place-changes-voters-might-get-conflicting-information-on-where-to-go-june-2/ (accessed August 16, 2020); Emily Previti, “Gov. Wolf signs bill delaying primary until June 2,” PA Post, March 27, 2020, https://papost.org/2020/03/27/gov-wolf-signs-bill-delaying-primary-until-june-2/ (accessed August 16, 2020).
[179] Jonathan Lai, “Philly will have way fewer polling places,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 12, 2020, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/philadelphia-new-polling-places-2020-primary-20200512.html (accessed August 16, 2020); Michelle Bond et al., “Polling locations in Northwest Philly,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 2, 2020, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/northwest-philadelphia-voting-lines-2020-pa-primary-20200602.html (accessed August 16, 2020).
[181] Katie Meyer and Emily Previti, “With Pa.’s last-minute polling place changes, voters might get conflicting information,” WHYY.org, May 23, 2020, https://whyy.org/articles/with-pa-s-last-minute-polling-place-changes-voters-might-get-conflicting-information/ (accessed August 16, 2020).
[182] In Philadelphia County white people comprise 35 percent of the population the county, and 41 percent of those who lived in zip codes which lost polling locations. Black people comprise 41 percent of the population of Philadelphia County, and 46 percent of people who lived in zip codes which lost polling locations.
[183] Jonathan Lai and Julia Terruso, “The Philadelphia Voters Most Likely to Vote in Person — or not at all — Live in Coronavirus Hot Spots,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 14, 2020, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/philadelphia-primary-absentee-coronavirus-covid19-20200514.html (accessed September 1, 2020)(stating that “[Philadelphia] neighborhoods with low-income residents and communities of color are requesting absentee ballots at rates that far lag other parts of the city.”).
[184] National Equity Atlas, “Car Access: Philadelphia,” 2017, https://nationalequityatlas.org/indicators/Car_access#/?breakdown=2 (accessed September 1, 2020).
[185] In this case before the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, petitioners are seeking an injunction requiring election officials to provide, among other things, sufficient number of polling places, ballot drop boxes, and at least two weeks of early voting. See, for example, Memorandum of Law in Support of Petitioner’s Application for Special Relief in the Form of a Preliminary Injunction, NAACP v. Boockvar, No. 364 MD 2020, Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, August 6, 2020, https://www.law360.com/articles/1299598/attachments/1 (accessed August 31, 2020).
[186] Declaration of Carol Jenkins, Ph.D., Ward Leader for Philadelphia’s 27th Democratic Ward, August 6, 2020, ihttps://freespeechforpeople.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/received-jenkins-declaration.pdf-1.pdf (accessed September 1, 2020), para. 9.
[187] Human Rights Watch interview with Abd’ullah, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 1, 2020.
[188] Human Rights Watch interview with Tracy, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, September 1, 2020.
[190] Human Rights Watch interview with Joseph, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 27, 2020.
[191] Human Rights Watch interview with Neil, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 1, 2020 (pseudonym).
[192] Stephen Caruso, “What postal delays and lawsuits mean for mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania,” Pennsylvania Capital-Star, August 16, 2020, https://www.penncapital-star.com/government-politics/what-postal-delays-and-lawsuits-mean-for-mail-in-ballots-in-pennsylvania/ (accessed September 15, 2020); Jonathan Lai, “Pennsylvania’s mail ballot problems kept tens of thousands from voting in a pandemic primary,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 30, 2020, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/pa-mail-ballot-deadlines-disenfranchisement-20200730.html (accessed September 15, 2020).
[194] Human Rights Watch interview with John, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 31, 2020.
[195] Human Rights Watch interview with Adam Bonin, Pennsylvania elections law attorney, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 1, 2020.
[197] United States Census Bureau, “Census QuickFacts: Pennsylvania,” https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/PA (accessed August 31, 2020).
[198] Katie Blackley, “Pennsylvania’s Ex-Cons Can Vote, But Many Don’t Realize It,” National Public Radio, October 27, 2016, https://www.wesa.fm/post/pennsylvania-s-ex-cons-can-vote-many-don-t-realize-it#stream/0 (accessed August 30, 2020).
[199] Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Voter Registration Application, https://www.pavoterservices.pa.gov/pages/VoterRegistrationApplication.aspx (accessed August 31, 2020).
[200] United States Interagency Coalition on Homelessness, “Pennsylvania Homelessness Statistics,” https://www.usich.gov/homelessness-statistics/pa/ (accessed August 30, 2020).
[201] Katherine Lucas McKay, Zach Neumann, and Sam Gilman, “20 Million Renters Are at Risk of Eviction; Policymakers Must Act Now to Mitigate Widespread Hardship,” Aspen Institute, June 19, 2020,
https://www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/20-million-renters-are-at-risk-of-eviction/ (accessed August 30, 2020).
[202] In Arizona’s most recent senate special primary election, held on August 4, 2020, 88 percent of the ballots cast statewide were cast by mail. For the March 17 presidential preference election, 44 percent of the ballots cast in Maricopa County (the state’s most populous) were cast by mail. Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, “Maricopa County Democratic Presidential Preference Election, Final Official Results,” March 24, 2020, https://recorder.maricopa.gov/electionarchives/2020/03-17-2020%20-1%20Final%20Official%20Summary%20Report%20PPE%202020.pdf (accessed August 23, 2020).
[203] See, for example, Human Rights Watch interview with Joel Edman, executive director, Arizona Advocacy Network, Phoenix, Arizona, July 30, 2020. See also Emily Bazelon, “Will Americans Lose Their Right to Vote in the Pandemic,” New York Times Magazine, May 5, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/05/magazine/voting-by-mail-2020 covid.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage (accessed August 23, 2020).
[204] Arizona voters have a number of options, including signing up for the permanent early voting list, which allows for early voting in person or by mail. Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 16-544. Voters can also make a one-time request to cast a ballot by mail. All voters may vote by mail as long as the ballot is received by 7:00 pm on Election Day. Arizona Secretary of State, “Voting by Mail: How to Get a Ballot-by-Mail,” https://azsos.gov/votebymail (accessed September 16, 2020). Voters can track the status of their ballot online or via text. “Each county has different in-person early voting options starting 27-days before Election Day up through 5:00 p.m. on the Friday before Election Day.” See Arizona Secretary of State, “County Election Officials Contact Information,” https://azsos.gov/county-election-info (accessed August 19, 2020).
[205] Human Rights Watch interview with Lee, Tucson resident, Tucson, Arizona, August 13, 2020.
[206] Human Rights Watch interview with James, Phoenix resident, Phoenix, Arizona, August 12, 2020.
[207] Human Rights Watch interview with Marjorie, Phoenix resident, Phoenix, Arizona, August 12, 2020.
[208] Human Rights Watch interview with Luis Avila, executive director, Instituto, Phoenix, Arizona, August 11, 2020.
[209] All Voting is Local, “State Programs: Arizona,” https://allvotingislocal.org/state/arizona/ (accessed September 9, 2020).
[210] Kevin Morris, “Who Votes by Mail?” Brennan Center for Justice, April 15, 2020, https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/who-votes-mail (accessed August 23, 2020).
[211] Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, “Frequently Asked Questions,” https://recorder.maricopa.gov/site/faq.aspx (accessed August 25, 2020).
[212] Human Rights Watch interview with Rey Valenzuela, director of elections (Election Services & Early Voting), Maricopa County, Arizona, August 27, 2020.
[213] Patty Ferguson Bohnee testified to Congress that early voting in person is not as easy for Native American voters as others. She mentioned Arizona’s 2019 voter ID law “requiring voters to also show ID if they vote early in person, while voters who vote early by mail have no such requirement. Not only does this violate equal protection, it will disproportionately impact Native voters, specifically Native language speakers who can only receive language assistance in person.” United States House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Elections, “Voting Rights and Elections Administration in Arizona,” October 1, 2019, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-116hhrg38129/html/CHRG-116hhrg38129.htm (accessed August 25, 2020).
[214] NAACP, “Analysis from CAP and NAACP Highlights Need to Preserve In-Person Voting Options as States Expand Vote by Mail,” April 20, 2020, https://www.naacp.org/latest/analysis-cap-naacp-highlights-need-preserve-person-voting-options-states-expand-vote-mail/ (accessed September 9, 2020).
[215] Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, “Democracy Diverted,” September 2019, http://civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/reports/Democracy-Diverted.pdf (accessed September 15, 2020).
[216] Jessica Boehm and Andrew Oxford, “Maricopa County Cuts Some Polling Places, Won’t Mail Extra Ballots for Tuesday’s Election,” Arizona Republic, March 13, 2020, https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2020/03/13/maricopa-county-mailing-ballots-democratic-presidential-preference-tuesday-election-coronavirus/5044933002/(accessed September 15, 2020).
[217] Andrew Oxford, “Here’s How to Vote Early in Arizona’s August 4 Primary Election,” Arizona Republic, July 7, 2020, https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2020/07/07/arizona-aug-4-primary-election-2020-early-voting/5391452002/ (accessed September 15, 2020).
[219] See, for example, Human Rights Watch interview with Scott Jarrett, director of election day and emergency voting, Maricopa County, Arizona, August 27, 2020 (stating, “In August, we had more time to plan. In March it was very hard to navigate locations closing and having to move out of senior living facilities. That was all new. As election officials we plan months and months in advance. We knew the new locations would be a challenge and that’s why we contacted every single voter that had not yet voted in the PPE [Presidential Primary Election] and let them know that their locations had changed. Voters could navigate to any center. County employees volunteered to man the closed locations and re-direct voters to the new locations.”).
[220] Human Rights Watch interview with Alex Gulotta, Arizona state director, All Voting Is Local, Phoenix, Arizona, August 10, 2020.
[221] Human Rights Watch interview with Viri Hernandez, executive director, Poder in Action, Phoenix, Arizona, August 13, 2020.
[224] Human Rights Watch email correspondence with Alex Gulotta, Arizona state director, All Voting is Local, Phoenix, Arizona, August 10, 2020 (stating “In 2020, prior to COVID, we had advocated and they had agreed not to change the polling place configuration (for the primary and the general in 2020). Then COVID hit. Maricopa set up approximately 100 vote centers for the August primary. They are talking about 150-170 vote centers for the November election. We are advocating for more.”).
[226] See, for example, Instituto, “Hearing from Native Voices, the Covid-19 Impact on Voting in Arizona’s Native American Communities,” August 2020, https://www.instituto.io/blog/hearing-from-native-voices-the-covid-19-impact-on-voting-in-arizonas-native-american-communities (accessed September 15, 2020); Indian Legal Clinic, “Native Vote – Election Protection Project: 2016 Election Report,” Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University, March 6, 2018, https://law.asu.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/2016-native-vote-election-protection-report.pdf (accessed August 24, 2020); Indian Legal Clinic, “Native Vote – Election Protection Project: 2014 Election Report,” Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University, April 20, 2015, https://law.asu.edu/sites/default/files/multimedia/faculty-research/centers/ilp/2014-native-vote-election-protection-report-appendices.pdf (accessed September 15, 2020); Patty Ferguson-Bohnee, “The History of Indian Voting Rights in Arizona: Overcoming Decades of Voter Suppression,” 47 Ariz. St. L.J. 1099 (2015), https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2754783 (accessed August 25, 2020).
[227] Human Rights Watch interview with Navajo Nation member Raina Roanhorse, Native American outreach specialist, Instituto, Sanders, Arizona, August 13, 2020.
[230] United States House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Elections, “Voting Rights and Elections Administration in Arizona,” October 1, 2019, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-116hhrg38129/html/CHRG-116hhrg38129.htm (accessed August 25, 2020).
[232] Human Rights Watch interview with Scott Jarrett, director of election day and emergency voting, Maricopa County, Arizona, August 27, 2020.
[233] Interviews conducted for this report indicate that voter education conducted in Spanish by Latinx organizations and activists in Arizona has increased the voter participation and use of “special” voting procedures such as vote-by-mail. See, for example, Human Rights Watch interview with Viri Hernandez, executive director, Poder in Action, Phoenix, Arizona, August 13, 2020; Human Rights Watch interview with Luis Avila, executive director, Instituto, Phoenix, Arizona, August 11, 2020; Human Rights Watch interview with Alex Gomez, co-executive director, LUCHA, Phoenix, Arizona, August 13, 2020.
[235] Black, Native American, and Latinx voters who struggle without access to transportation and poor understanding of voting locations, sometimes rely on friends or voting rights advocates to collect mail-in ballots and deliver them to election officials. This practice of ballot collecting has been under court challenge. Although at the time of writing it is allowed to continue based on a ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Arizona’s attorney general has asked the US Supreme Court to overturn the ruling. See “Hobbs Asks High Court to Decline Ballot Harvesting Case,” Arizona Capitol Times, July 4, 2020, https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2020/07/04/hobbs-asks-high-court-to-decline-ballot-harvesting-case/ (accessed August 25, 2020).
[236] In Ariz. Democratic Party v. Hobbs, No. CV-20-01143-PHX-DLR (D. Ariz. June 10, 2020), the Arizona Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee sued Arizona challenging a state election rule to discard mail-in ballots missing a signature on the return envelope without providing such voters the same opportunity to fix the error afforded to voters whose envelope signature does not match the signature in their voter registration record. Plaintiffs alleged that Arizona voters “whose mail ballots are rejected because of a lack of signature will not have an equal opportunity to ‘cure’ their ballots as those voters whose ballots are flagged for rejection based on a perceived signature mismatch.” The signature mismatch voters have up to five days to correct the signature, whereas those with missing signatures have no chance to cure the problem.
[237] A full analysis of these issues is beyond the scope of this report; however it is worth noting that on July 29, 2020, Thomas Marshall, the general counsel and executive vice president of the United States Postal Service notified Katie Hobbs, the Arizona secretary of state, that “certain deadlines for requesting and casting mail-in ballots are incongruous with the Postal Service’s delivery standard.” According to the letter, “[t]his mismatch creates a risk that ballots requested near the deadline under [Arizona] state law will not be returned by mail in time to be counted under [Arizona] laws.…” The letter provides recommended timeframes and mailing procedures for (1) voters to submit ballot requests (2) officials to mail blank ballots to voters and (3) voters to mail competed ballots to election officials which may impact votes being properly counted. Letter from Thomas J. Marshal to Katie Hobbs, July 29, 2020, https://context-cdn.washingtonpost.com/notes/prod/default/documents/d1b752f9-f8c9-4c18-b548-4eb9668c672a/note/36253644-7029-4dd3-bd1c-f824054400c2 (accessed August 25, 2020).
[238] Because cash-strapped counties may struggle to purchase the secure ballot drop boxes, lack of funding may become a challenge to the wider use of secure ballot drop boxes. For example, the Navajo County Recorder’s Office stated it purchased secure ballot drop boxes with the help of a grant. See Navajo County Arizona, “Secure Ballot Drop Box Information,” https://www.navajocountyaz.gov/Departments/Recorder/Secure-Ballot-Drop-Box-Information (accessed September 8, 2020).
[239] Human Rights Watch interview with Rey Valenzuela, director of elections (Election Services & Early Voting), Maricopa County, Arizona, August 27, 2020 (stating that “Right now the figures for November are we will have 6 drop box locations open 27 days ahead [in the form of early voting centers]; 49 locations two weeks before the election; 90 one week before and 150 locations on election day. We can put a drop box in other government facilities. We’re trying to get drop boxes in clerks offices–20 beyond those I mentioned is our goal. One secure permanent one is right outside our department. We’re looking to partner with some venues around the valley to do contactless drive through drop boxes, but eyes have to be on the box at all times.. . .Under state law you must affix with concrete bolts. . .not every facility is willing to do that. We’re restricted on the permanent ones, that’s why we only have one permanent one in the parking lot of our office.”).
[240] United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Considerations for Election Polling Locations and Voters,” June 22, 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/election-polling-locations.html (accessed August 25, 2020).
[241] Human Rights Watch email correspondence with Rey Valenzuela, director of elections (Election Services & Early Voting), Maricopa County, Arizona, September 2, 2020.
[243] A detailed discussion of problems with voter ID laws in Arizona, and of several of the problems highlighted in this report can be found in the Arizona Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights’ memo to the US Commission on Civil Rights, June 15, 2018, https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/2018/07-25-AZ-Voting-Rights.pdf (accessed August 24, 2020).
[244] Arizona Governor Doug Ducey issued an executive order deferring the expiration of driver’s licenses between March 1, 2020, and September 1, 2020, by six months, and requiring all Arizona and municipal agencies to accept driver’s licenses that expire between March 1, 2020 and September 1, 2020 as valid identification for any purposes for which the driver’s license cards would otherwise be accepted. Ariz. Exec. Order No. 2020-08, https://azgovernor.gov/governor/executive-order/2020-08 (accessed August 25, 2020).
[246] Katherine Lucas McKay, Zach Neumann, and Sam Gilman, “20 Million Renters Are at Risk of Eviction; Policymakers Must Act Now to Mitigate Widespread Hardship,” Aspen Institute, June 19, 2020, https://www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/20-million-renters-are-at-risk-of-eviction/ (accessed August 24, 2020).
[247] Human Rights Watch interview with Rey Valenzuela, director of elections (Election Services & Early Voting), Maricopa County, Arizona, August 27, 2020 (stating “You can go into the vote center and update your address; you can do that at any vote center. You can use general delivery addresses, a conversion address, or even use the city clerk’s office as your address.”).
[248] According to the Arizona Center for Disability Law, “A person who does not reside at a fixed permanent or private structure shall be properly registered to vote if that person is qualified and if that person's registration address is any of the following places in the state: 1) A homeless shelter to which the registrant regularly returns; 2) A temporary place for living that the individual is a resident of (halfway house, transitional housing, etc.); 3) The county courthouse in the county in which the resident resides; 4) A general delivery address for a post office covering the location where the registrant is a resident. A person who is otherwise qualified to vote shall NOT be refused registration or declared not qualified to vote because the person does not live in a permanent, private or fixed structure.” Arizona Clean Elections Committee, “Voters Without an Address,” https://www.azcleanelections.gov/how-to-vote/voters-without-an-address (accessed September 15, 2020). Election day registration was one of the recommendations made by the Arizona Advisory Committee in its voting rights memo to the United States Commission on Civil Rights, June 15, 2018, https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/2018/07-25-AZ-Voting-Rights.pdf (accessed August 24, 2020).
[250] Lauren Castle, “Arizona Jail Inmates Voting Rights,” Arizona Central, August 4, 2020, https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/08/04/arizona-jail-inmates-voting-rights/5521404002/ (August 25, 2020).
[251] The Arizona Coalition to End Jail-Based Disenfranchisement, “Unlock The Vote Arizona,” July 2020, https://www.votefromjail.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/July-JBV-Report.pdf?_ga=2.141748593.2141915449.1598115550-1768011538.1595017722 (accessed September 15, 2020).
[253] Arizona Advisory Committee, “Voting Rights Memo to the US Commission on Civil Rights,” June 15, 2018, https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/2018/07-25-AZ-Voting-Rights.pdf (accessed August 24, 2020).
[254] “On final discharge, any person who has not previously been convicted of a felony offense shall automatically be restored any civil rights that were lost or suspended as a result of the conviction if the person pays any victim restitution imposed. However, individuals are still encouraged to file an application to restore civil liberties to ensure that the court informs the elections office that the petitioner’s civil rights have been restored. Individuals may also apply to have their civil rights restored. On final discharge, a person who has previously been convicted of a felony or who has not paid any victim restitution that was imposed may apply to the superior court to have the person’s civil rights restored.” Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 13-908(1)(A). ‘[F]inal discharge’ means the completion of probation or the receipt of an absolute discharge from the state department of corrections or the United States Bureau of Prisons. A.R.S. § 13-908(1)(H). See Maricopa County, “Public Advocate - Restoration of Rights,” https://www.maricopa.gov/faq.aspx?TID=66 (accessed August 10, 2020).
[256] Human Rights Watch interview with Luis Avila, executive director, Instituto, Phoenix, Arizona, August 11, 2o20.
[258] Human Rights Watch interview with David Carroll, director, Democracy Program, The Carter Center, Atlanta, Georgia, August 10, 2020.
[259] “Ebola Crisis: Vote Count Under Way in Liberia Senate Election,” BBC, December 21, 2014, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30553837 (accessed September 9, 2020);
Farai Gundan, “Former Football Superstar-Turned Politician, George Weah Wins Liberian Senate Seat In Landslide Victory,” Forbes, December 29, 2014, https://www.forbes.com/sites/faraigundan/2014/12/29/former-football-superstar-turned-politician-george-weah-wins-liberian-senate-seat-in-landslide-victory/#54cecc78788e (accessed September 9, 2020).
[260] International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, “Global Overview of Covid-19 Impact on Elections,” March 18, 2020, https://www.idea.int/news-media/multimedia-reports/global-overview-covid-19-impact-elections (accessed September 15, 2020).
[261] Park Han-na, “Overseas voting for general elections kicks off,” Korea Herald, April 1, 2020, http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20200401000741 (accessed August 18, 2020).
[262] Antonio Spinelli, “Managing Elections under the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Republic of Korea’s Crucial Test,” International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, July 30, 2020, https://www.idea.int/sites/default/files/publications/managing-elections-during-pandemic-republic-korea-crucial-test.pdf (accessed August 18, 2020).
[263] Adhy Aman, “Elections in a Pandemic: Lessons From Asia,” Diplomat, August 5, 2020, https://thediplomat.com/2020/08/elections-in-a-pandemic-lessons-from-asia/ (accessed August 18, 2020).
[264] Human Rights Watch interview with Fernanda Buril, senior research officer, Center for Applied Research and Learning, International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), Arlington, Virginia, August 7, 2020. Because IFES does not work in South Korea, Buril’s comment is based on secondary and expert sources rather than direct experience.
[265] Adhy Aman, “Elections in a Pandemic: Lessons From Asia,” Diplomat, August 5, 2020, https://thediplomat.com/2020/08/elections-in-a-pandemic-lessons-from-asia/ (accessed August 18, 2020). Fernanda Buril offered the following thoughts on France and Australia’s elections: “The case of France was interesting to me because, looking at the preventive measures they put in place, I honestly don’t see major problems. It seems like they covered transmission risks well, but people were not satisfied with them and very worried about the disease. I think timing was very relevant there, since elections were in March, when Europe was becoming the epicenter of the outbreak and everything was still too new and unfamiliar to voters. Australia only had state-level elections during the pandemic, but we also saw some important efforts there to expand remote voting options, including vote by phone. All of that to say that I think, sometimes, election commissions can do a relatively good job with the preventive measures, but other factors impact the success of elections (e.g., timing, voters’ expectations about and trust in public authorities, and their expectations about other voters’ compliance with measures).” Email correspondence with Fernanda Buril, senior research officer, Center for Applied Research and Learning, International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), August 27, 2020.
[266] “Safeguarding Democracy in Time of the Pandemic,” Jaring, August 19, 2020, https://jaring.id/berita/hukum-politik-dan-hak-asasi/safeguarding-democracy-in-time-of-the-pandemic/ (accessed September 1, 2020).
[267] United States Agency for International Development, “Supporting Free and Fair Elections,” https://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/democracy-human-rights-and-governance/supporting-free-and-fair-elections (accessed August 25, 2020).
[268] International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), G.A. res. 2200A (XXI), 21 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 16) at 52, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 999 U.N.T.S. 171, entered into force March 23, 1976, art 25. The US ratified the ICCPR on June 8, 1992.
[269] United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC), CCPR General Comment No. 25, art. 25 (Participation in Public Affairs and the Right to Vote), The Right to Participate in Public Affairs, Voting Rights and the Right of Equal Access to Public Service, July 12, 1996, CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.7, https://www.refworld.org/docid/453883fc22.html (accessed September 9, 2020), para. 21.
[270] ICCPR, art. 50 (“The provisions of the present Covenant shall extend to all parts of federal States without any limitations or exceptions.”).
[271] HRC General Comment No. 25, para. 11.
[273] International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), Dec. 21, 1965, 660 U.N.T.S. 195, art. 5(c). The United States ratified ICERD in 1994.
[274] ICCPR, art. 6. The HRC has stated that states party to the ICCPR have an obligation pursuant to the right to life to address the prevalence of life-threatening diseases. HRC General Comment No. 36, art. 6 (Right to Life), September 3, 2019, CCPR/C/GC/35, https://www.refworld.org/docid/5e5e75e04.html (accessed September 10, 2020), para. 25. Also, under international law, everyone has the right “to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health” without discrimination on the basis of sex, age, or other prohibited grounds. UN General Assembly, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, December 16, 1966, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 993, p. 3, art. 12, https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b36c0.html (accessed September 9, 2020). The United States signed the ICESCR in 1977 but has not yet ratified it. See also Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), “Substantive Issues Arising in the Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,” General Comment No. 14, The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health, E/C.12/2000/4 (2000), para. 12. The rights to life and to health are also inextricably linked to provisions on the right to non-discrimination that are included in the ICCPR and in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. ICCPR, arts. 2, 26; ICERD arts. 1, 2, 5.
[275] HRC General Comment No. 25, para 4.
[276] International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), G.A. res. 2200A (XXI), 21 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 16) at 52, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 999 U.N.T.S. 171, entered into force March 23, 1976, art. 25 (stating “Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity, without any of the distinctions mentioned in article 2 and without unreasonable restrictions: (a) To take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives; (b) To vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the electors; (c) To have access, on general terms of equality, to public service in his country.”). The US ratified the ICCPR on June 8, 1992.
[277] International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), Dec. 21, 1965, 660 U.N.T.S. 195, art. 1, which states “In this Convention, the term "racial discrimination" shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life” [emphasis added].
[278] See CERD Concluding Observations CERD/C/USA/CO/7-9, September 25, 2014, para. 11.
[279] See CERD Concluding Observations CERD/C/USA/CO/7-9, September 25, 2014; Human Rights Committee Concluding Observation, CCPR/C/USA/CO/4, 23 April 2014. See also, A/HRC/33/61/Add.2 (Working Group on People of African Descent, 2016) Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent (“The Working Group calls upon the Government to ensure that all states repeal laws that restrict voting rights. In particular, it urges reinstatement of the voting rights of persons convicted of a felony who have completed their sentences.”). Human Rights Watch has previously noted that in most cases, felony disenfranchisement in the United States is not objective, reasonable, or proportionate, and has recommended that policymakers in the United States move away from felony disenfranchisement entirely. Human Rights Watch, Losing the Vote (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1998) https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports98/vote/usvot98o-07.htm#P118_2910.
[280] See Human Rights Watch, Revoked, July 31, 2020, https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/07/31/revoked/how-probation-and-parole-feed-mass-incarceration-united-states; “US: Florida Needs to Protect Voting Rights for All,” Human Rights Watch news release, April 27, 2020, https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/04/27/us-florida-needs-protect-voting-rights-all. (“[R]equiring people to pay fines, fees, and restitution violates [the ICCPR’s] requirement not to subject the right to vote to a “distinction of any kind, such as … race … property, birth or other status.” Whether or not a person can afford these fees, the requirement to pay before voting is unreasonable as it amounts to a de facto restriction on the right to vote based on property requirements. It’s also inconsistent with the state's obligations to take effective measures to ensure that everyone entitled to vote can do so.”).
[281] HRC, General Comment No. 25.
[282] Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), “Existing Commitments for Democratic Elections in OSCE Participating States,” Warsaw, October 2003, https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/0/d/13956.pdf (accessed August 25, 2020) (“Special voting, e.g., voting conducted either in advance or on election day in residential facilities (including hospitals, other residential institutions, or places of detention or imprisonment), at special sites (such as military bases, diplomatic and consular facilities, or ships at sea), through absentee (including postal) balloting; or by other voting conducted outside the polling station (such as for ill or infirm persons), as well various forms of remote electronic voting, potentially gives greater effect to the right to vote.”). The United States is one of 57 participating states in the OSCE. “Special voting” was also recommended in the Commonwealth of Independent States Electoral Convention, 3(3): “In the cases and in the course stipulated by the laws, the citizen should be provided with the possibility to exercise their right to vote through organization of an [advance] voting, voting outside the voting premises or other voting procedures assuring provision of the maximum convenience for voters.” European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission), “Convention on the Standards of Democratic Elections, Electoral Rights and Freedoms in the Member States of the Commonwealth of Independent States,” Strasbourg, January 22, 2007, https://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/default.aspx?pdffile=CDL-EL(2006)031rev-e (accessed August 10, 2020).
[283] ICCPR, art. 25 (a “genuine periodic election…shall be held by secret ballot….”). See also OSCE, “The Copenhagen Document,” https://www.oscepa.org/documents/election-observation/election-observation-reports/documents/1344-osce-copenhagen-document-1990-eng/file (accessed August 4, 2020), para. 7.4 (“To ensure that the will of the people serves as the basis of the authority of government, the participating States will ensure that votes are cast by secret ballot or by equivalent free voting procedure”).
[284] See, for example, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) final report on the 2000 Albanian local-government elections, p. 19. (“[V]oters should always have the possibility of voting in a polling station.”). See also, Inter-Parliamentary Council, “Declaration on Criteria for Free and Fair Elections,” Unanimously adopted by the Inter-Parliamentary Council at its 154th session (Paris, 26 March 1994) 2(5), https://www.ipu.org/our-impact/strong-parliaments/setting-standards/declaration-criteria-free-and-fair-elections (accessed August 4, 2020)(“Every voter has the right to equal and effective access to a polling station in order to exercise his or her right to vote.”). OSCE, “Existing Commitments for Democratic Elections in OSCE Participating States,” Warsaw, October 2003, https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/0/d/13956.pdf (accessed August 25, 2020)(“The location of polling stations should be, as far as possible, equally convenient and accessible to voters in terms of geographical conditions and existing transportation facilities.”).
[285] HRC, General Comment No. 25, para. 12.
[286] Jessica Lussenhop, “Coronavirus: Why US is expecting an 'avalanche' of evictions,” BBC, August 7, 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53088352 (accessed August 19, 2020). According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, as of 2019 same-day registration was available in 21 US states. Of the four states featured in this report, only Wisconsin currently has this option. National Conference of State Legislatures, “Same Day Voter Registration,” https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/same-day-registration.aspx (accessed August 21, 2020).
[287] Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), “Existing Commitments for Democratic Elections in OSCE Participating States,” Warsaw, October 2003, https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/0/d/13956.pdf (accessed August 25, 2020)(stating “Applicable laws and regulations shall provide that all voting must be personal, and no exceptions should be made by election workers to permit any form of non-personal voting (including group, family, or informal proxy voting),except when a voter who is not able to cast a ballot requires personal assistance in order to do so. In the latter situation, the assistance should be provided by someone of the voter’s own choosing or by another person chosen in a neutral manner, who shall be obliged to respect the secrecy of the vote, and the potential for undue influence should be avoided.”).
[288] OSCE, “Existing Commitments for Democratic Elections in OSCE Participating States,” Warsaw, October 2003, https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/0/d/13956.pdf (accessed August 25, 2020).
[289] ICCPR, art. 2(3). See also OSCE, International Standards and Commitments on the Right to Democratic Elections: A Practical Guide to Democratic Elections Best Practice, November 20, 2002; ODIHR.GAL/44/02/Rev.1; https://www2.osce.org/files/f/documents/9/3/16859.pdf (accessed September 9, 2020).
[290] Inter-Parliamentary Council, “Declaration on Criteria for Free and Fair Elections,” Unanimously adopted by the Inter-Parliamentary Council at its 154th session (Paris, 26 March 1994) https://www.ipu.org/our-impact/strong-parliaments/setting-standards/declaration-criteria-free-and-fair-elections (accessed August 4, 2020), art. 4(9) (“States should ensure that violations of human rights and complaints relating to the electoral process are determined promptly within the timeframe of the electoral process and effectively by an independent and impartial authority, such as an electoral commission or the courts.”).
[291] According to the Carter Center and the National Conference of State Legislatures, of the four state case studies contained in this report, Arizona and Pennsylvania do not allow nonpartisan electoral observers on election day; South Carolina and Wisconsin allow nonpartisan electoral observers.
[292] The Carter Center and the National Conference of State Legislatures, “A Guide to Election Observer Policies in the United States,” October 2016, https://www.cartercenter.org/resources/pdfs/peace/democracy/cc-us-election-observation.pdf (accessed August 17, 2020).
September 22, 2020 News Release
US: Officials’ Pandemic Response Impaired Right to Vote
Lessons From 4 State Primaries Should Guide General Election Reforms
Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people in 90 countries worldwide, spotlighting abuses and bringing perpetrators to justice
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Home » Speakers » Deborah Gordon
Deborah M. Gordon received a B.A. in French from Oberlin College, a M.S. in Biology from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in Zoology from Duke University. Following receipt of her Ph.D., Gordon was a Junior Fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows and a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford and Imperial College before joining the faculty at Stanford University in 1991.
Currently, Gordon is a Professor of Biology at Stanford University. Her lab studies the evolution of collective behavior using ant colonies as a model. She studies how ant colonies regulate their behavior in response to environmental changes, and how collective behavior is related to ecology, in the desert, in ant-plant interactions in tropical forests, and in the spread of the invasive Argentine ant in northern California. She is also a partner in the “Ants in Space” project designed to learn more about how ants search, information that may be useful in designing search algorithms for groups of robots. Gordon was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, and has received several awards for her teaching. Learn more on Dr. Gordon’s labpage at https://web.stanford.edu/~dmgordon/index.htmll
Talks with this Speaker
Local Interactions Determine Collective Behavior
Deborah Gordon explains that an ant colony is an excellent example of collective behavior, since local interactions between individual ants determine the behavior of the whole colony. (Talk recorded in March 2014)
Part 1: Local Interactions Determine Collective Behavior
Educators of Adv. Undergrad / Grad
Part 2: The Evolution of Collective Behavior
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Janet Jackson and Wissam Al Mana welcome son: Baby's name revealed
The couple have named their named their child, Eissa Al Mana.
By Simi John
January 4, 2017 14:56 +08
Janet Jackson is expecting her first child with Wissam Al Mana Reuters
Janet Jackson has welcomed her first child with billionaire businessman Wissam Al Mana. The 50-year-old singer, who is the younger sister of the late Michael Jackson, gave birth to a baby boy.
The couple have named their named their child, Eissa Al Mana. Her rep said in a statement: "Janet Jackson and husband Wissam Al Mana are thrilled to welcome their new son Eissa Al Mana into the world. Janet had a stress-free healthy delivery and is resting comfortably."
The singer converted to Islam after getting married to Mana in 2012. This is third marriage for Janet, who was previously wed to James DeBarge and René Elizondo, Jr.
Speculation that she is pregnant started in April 2016, when she postponed her world tour. She later announced the pregnancy news to People in a statement: "We thank God for our blessing."
In 2009, Janet had opened up about her desire to have children to Harper's Bazaar. She said: "Sure, I'd adopt and I think that if I'm really supposed to have kids, it will happen, if that's God's plan for me."
Meanwhile, Mana had gushed about his wife and their wedding back in 2012. He told Harper's Bazaar Arabia: "She is a very special and talented woman who never ceases to amaze me. My father was a very humble and down to earth man, and was known for being very honest and trustworthy. I think a man's dream woman changes as he goes through different stages in his life. I'm fortunate to be dating my dream woman now."
Cha Tae Hyun discusses age-gap with Kim Yoo Jung
Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Kyo: Closeness at KBS event fuels dating rumours again
Lee Min Ho, Suzy Bae in conflict? 'Heirs' sequel to star Song Joong Ki?
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Huntsman to expand capacity of Singapore polyetheramines plant
www.gupta-verlag.de/polyurethanes
Huntsman said it is investing USD 100 million for this latest expansion at its Jurong Island facility, which will also include backward integration to produce polyethers from locally sourced feedstocks. This project is intended to help the company meet growing global demand for polyetheramines. Construction of the new facilities is expected to be completed in the second half of 2016. "We expect demand for our amines products to increase across all regions over the next decade, particularly in Asia-Pacific - where volume is set to grow by at least 10 % per year, noted Huntsman President and CEO, Peter R. Huntsman. "Combined with our other existing polyetheramine manufacturing facilities in Conroe, Texas, and Llanelli, Wales, the expansion at our Jurong site will help us respond more quickly to customer demand, not only in the rapidly growing Asia market, but also around the globe, Stu Monteith, President of Huntsman's Performance Products division added.
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Researchers in Finland develop large-surface, light-emitting plastic film
Based on organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology and implemented by means of a printing machine, patterned and flexible light-emitting surfaces have been created on advertising displays, information signs and lighting fixtures by VTT Technical Research Center of Finland Ltd. The method also enables transparent smart surfaces to be attached to window panels or packaging, VTT recently explained in a technology paper.
VTT OLEDOLED is commonly used in mobile phone displays and television sets. Until now, though, it has only been found on glass surfaces and implemented using traditional microelectronics manufacturing methods.
Using VTT's method, OLED elements can now be printed not only onto glass or steel surfaces but also onto flexible plastic films, enabling significantly larger light surfaces and expanding the possibilities of the technology.
Traditional printing methods, such as gravure and screen printing, that enable very large production volumes are used for manufacturing OLED light surfaces. Production is, therefore, possible in facilities such as traditional printing houses, said VTT.
Manufactured in this manner, OLED light surfaces measure around 0.2 mm thick, and include electrodes and polymer layers measuring up to a few hundred nanometers, in which light emission occurs. This phenomenon is called electroluminescence; it entails an organic semiconductor emitting light in an electric field. The luminosity of OLED (lm/W) amounts up to around one-third of an LED's luminosity. It has one advantage: OLED emits light throughout its entire surface, whereas LED is a spotlight technology, explained VTT in its recently released technology paper.
At this point, VTT's plastic OLED film will only emit light for around a year, since light-emitting polymer materials are susceptible to oxygen and moisture, said VTT. In the future, the film's lifespan will increase as the development of screen protectors continues and the film's application possibilities grow.
"The plastic film is optimally suited to advertising campaigns, in which large light-emitting surfaces can be used to draw significantly more attention than can be gained through mere printed graphics or e-ink-type black-and-white displays that do not emit light," stated VTT Head of Research Area Raimo Korhonen.
It is also possible to use OLED light as a transmitter in wireless data transfer, which opens up new possibilities for using printed light surfaces in Internet of things applications, said VTT.
Source: Plastics Today
www.k-online.com
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BlueVoyant is a cybersecurity services company whose mission is to proactively defend organizations of all sizes against today’s constant, sophisticated attackers, and advanced threats.
Led by CEO Jim Rosenthal, BlueVoyant’s highly skilled team includes former government cyber officials with extensive frontline experience in responding to advanced cyber threats on behalf of the National Security Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Unit 8200 and GCHQ, together with private sector experts. BlueVoyant services utilize large real-time datasets with industry leading analytics and technologies.
Founded in 2017 by Fortune 500 executives, including executive chairman Tom Glocer and former government cyber officials, BlueVoyant is headquartered in New York City and has offices in Maryland, Tel Aviv, San Francisco, London, and Latin America.
K2 Integrity was part of the launch team at BlueVoyant in 2017.
Consilient, founded in 2020 through a partnership between K2 Integrity and Giant Oak, brings together next-generation technology and best-in-class AML/CFT expertise. This combination powers a more secure, dynamic, and effective solution for financial institutions, regulators, and the financial system.
Consilient has created a next generation model for the AML/CFT system: a behavioral-based machine learning-driven utility and governance model that allows the access and interrogation of data sets in different institutions, databases, and even jurisdictions—by moving the continuously improving alogorithm between institutions, instead of the data itself. Consilient’s behavioral-based machine learning-driven utility—the DOZER algorithm—equips financial institutions to share risks and insights securely in real time, without moving their data.
The Privacy Co., founded in 2019, launched the Priiv Privacy Manager app, which allows users to quickly and easily improve their personal privacy and security, in 2020.
Priiv is the first app to offer a free, simple, and comprehensive solution to the rampant problem of privacy theft. It gives each user a personalized Privacy Path that covers hardware devices, social media, financial accounts, passwords, and more. By following their path—which lays out actions to take, tips on how to make better choices, and tools to install—users can quickly improve their privacy and protect more of their data. The app covers nearly every aspect of a user’s digital life.
The centerpiece of the app is the PriivScore, a new measure that tracks the level of privacy protection the user has achieved in their digital life, much as a credit score tracks achievements in one’s financial life. A target score is calculated for each person, providing a clear goal that reflects the ideal level of privacy for their lifestyle and preferences. As users move through their Privacy Path, their PriivScore improves, reflecting progress in reducing risk.
K2 Integrity helped to found, and is an investor in, the company.
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308-382-0363 1804 W Forrest St, Suite 2
About Dr. Laura
Laura Sweley-Buettner
DC, CKTP
Certified Kinesio Taping Practitioner
Certified DOT Medical Examiner
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Dr. Laura Sweley-Buettner was born and raised in Grand Island, NE. In 2001, she graduated from Grand Island Central Catholic and in 2005 got her undergraduate studies at Hastings College where she received a bachelors of arts in biology degree. In 2010, Dr. Laura graduated from Palmer College of Chiropractic with her doctorate in chiropractic.
Dr. Laura has always loved healthcare. She has a unique outlook on chiropractic as compared to her colleagues in that she had never been adjusted prior to going to chiropractic school and was two months into the program before she received her first adjustment. Dr. Laura has a very traditional medical background and still works part-time at Mary Lanning Healthcare, where she has worked since 2004 as a phlebotomist. This position has given her a very unique perspective in that while she draws a lot on traditional medicine, she also has extensive knowledge on chiropractic and how the two can co-exist. She’s not afraid to refer patients out when something is beyond her area of expertise.
Dr. Laura is married and her husband’s name is Dale. He was also born and raised in Grand Island. They have one little girl whose name is Libby. In her spare time, Dr. Laura loves to spend time with her family. She also loves to run, play tennis, crochet, cook, and is learning more about neonatal diabetes. Some interesting tid bits about her are that in 2002, she did a medical missions trip to Australia to learn about their healthcare system and how it works. She is also currently the president of the Mary Lanning Healthcare Council.
At Inspire Chiropractic, LLC our mission is to inspire better health. We want you to have a better understanding of your health and how you can improve it.
1804 W Forrest St, Suite 2
Thursday 1:00pm-5:00pm
Every Other Saturday 9am-Noon
We accept all major insurance companies including Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Coventry, Medicare, Medicaid, Midlands Choice, and United Healthcare.
© 2021 Inspire Chiropractic, LLC. BH Media Group in partnership with The Grand Island Independent. All Rights Reserved.
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The longest night of 2020 will feature the year's final meteor shower
The extended hours of darkness will feature two celestial happenings that may be worth staying up late to see.
Author: Brian Lada (AccuWeather)
Published: 2:17 PM MST December 18, 2020
Updated: 2:19 PM MST December 18, 2020
The longest night of the entire year will feature an astronomical double-header giving stargazers plenty to look for from sundown until daybreak.
The December solstice occurs on Monday at 5:02 a.m. EST, the day when the sun's rays are most direct over the Southern Hemisphere.
For the Northern Hemisphere, this is the shortest day and longest night of the year and marks the transition from astronomical autumn to astronomical winter. Meanwhile, this solstice signals the start of astronomical summer south of the equator with Dec. 21 bringing the longest day and shortest night of the year.
For folks across the Northern Hemisphere, the extended hours of darkness will feature two celestial happenings that may be worth staying up late to see.
The first of the two events can be seen globally and is an extraordinarily close encounter between the two largest planets in the solar system. However, it will only be visible for an hour or two after sunset in the western sky on Dec. 21.
Jupiter and Saturn will be so close to each other that they will look more like one single object in the sky, leading some to nickname the event the ‘Christmas Star' due to its proximity to the holiday season.
Later in the night, shooting stars will streak across the sky as the first of winter's two meteor showers reaches its peak.
The Ursid meteor shower will unfold during the second half of Monday night and into the early hours of Tuesday morning, but will only be visible for skywatchers across the Northern Hemisphere.
"The Ursids are often neglected due to the fact it peaks just before Christmas and the rates are much less than the Geminds, which peaks just a week before the Ursids," the American Meteor Society (AMS) explained.
"Observers will normally see 5-10 Ursids per hour during the late morning hours on the date of maximum activity," the AMS added. "There have been occasional outbursts when rates have exceeded 25 per hour."
Generally good weather is in the offing for much of the United States for both events with cloud-free conditions in the forecast from California to Colorado and through the Carolinas. However, some patchy clouds could linger along the Gulf Coast and over Southern California.
Those across the northern tier of the U.S. and over much of Canada looking forward to these events may not be as lucky with cloudy conditions expected to obscure the sky throughout much of Monday night. The best chances for breaks in the clouds will be over Atlantic Canada and in the interior Pacific Northwest.
After the Ursids subside, there will be one more opportunity to view a meteor shower in the coming weeks before there is a three-month spell of no major meteor showers.
On the second night of January, the Quadrantid meteor shower will peak, and like the Ursids, will only be visible across the Northern Hemisphere. This shower tends to be more impressive than its predecessor and can feature anywhere from 20 to 120 meteors per hour, according to the AMS.
Once the Quadrantids come and go, it will be three long months before another meteor shower sparkles in the night sky - the Lyrids in late April.
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John Bryant
John Bryant Named Controller at Illinois Wesleyan University
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - John Bryant, a Certified Public Accountant from Pekin, Ill., has been named controller at Illinois Wesleyan University, effective Jan. 31.
Announcement of Bryant's appointment was made by Illinois Wesleyan Vice President for Business and Finance Dan Klotzbach.
Bryant comes to Illinois Wesleyan from Bradley University in Peoria, where he was treasury support analyst and his duties included developing strategic financial models, analyzing investment performance, and managing accounting for the endowment.
A 1992 graduate of Illinois Wesleyan, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in accounting, Bryant previously held positions at Sulaski & Webb CPAs in Bloomington and Ruppman Marketing Technologies in Peoria. Additional experience at Progressive Health Systems in Pekin involved developing an operating budget, implementing new financial system software, and assisting with audits.
At Illinois Wesleyan, Bryant will have primary responsibility for insuring the accurate and timely recording of and dissemination of all financial information related to the University. He will also provide supervision of the University's Business Office and will coordinate the University's annual audits.
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Premier Division 9th Place, 39 points
Season Diary
Aug 5th 2013... The first competitive match for new manager Alan Johnston was never going to be easy up at Pittodrie and that proved to be the case with the home team going two goals up before our prodigal son Kris Boyd was introduced and did what he does best, put one in the back of the net. Our midfield was lightweight and overrun far too easily and the defence was ropey to say the least, we should have conceded more, but there are signs there that given a few games to settle in we should be able to steer clear of relegation despite all our off field troubles. Our fans turned up in numbers and were resplendent in the blue and yellow protest colours, giving the chairman pelters and the team backing in equal measures. There is no doubt that everyone wants Johnston to go, just no consensus as yet on the best way to do that. Change is inevitable, the sooner it happens the better.
Aug 13th 2013... It was a welcome change for us to actually take a point from St Johnstone as they have been our bogey team for the last few years, but we will still need to do better than that. The match was pretty even with the away team tired after their European exertions and Killie eager to make our mark in our first home match and it was Boyd who came closest to breaking the deadlock with shots off both the post and the bar and a claim for a hand ball in the box turned down. The crowd was only 3550, with a poor show of 250 from Saints, but the big miss were the Killie fans that stayed away in protest at Michael Johnston. 1,000 down on our average (without Celtic) last year is a sad indictment of where he has taken us.
Aug 20th 2013... Another bumper away crowd of over 1,000 Killie fans travelled with the team on Saturday. They were rewarded with a 1’1 draw but it could have been a lot different had Boomer not lost the plot with Goodwin and lashed out at the treatment he’d been receiving all game. We kicked the game off with three debutantes, Irvine, Nicholson and Clohessey (with sub Stewart becoming a 4th!) and they all seem to be reasonable enough signings; but the first half was not anything to write home about and the nil each score line accurately reflected the play up to that point. The second half we fared better and that culminated in an excellent strike from the prodigal son after a fine ball in from our new right back. He was mighty please with his own effort and so he should have been, such a pity that he was goaded into taking that swipe at Goodwin and we couldn’t hold out with ten men for all three points. The Trust have sold out our initial allocation of tickets for the Charity Ball on September 7th so we have got the room extended to allow for 50 or so more bodies, hopefully the Rett Research and Ayrshire Hospice will benefit from more fans attending.
Aug 27th 2013... The natives appear to be getting a bit restless based on the last few results as we failed to beat a Hibs side, which also does not have its troubles to seek of late. We started well enough in the first half and took the lead through a cracker from new signing Nicholson, at 35 on the day maybe not one for the future but some welcome experience in the side. The second half proved to be a different ball game though and slack defending cost us all three points yet again. As far as I am concerned it is early days yet though and we have to give Alan Johnston time to get to grips with the squad and how he wants them to play, the long ball stuff does not appear to be winning back many fans, but I’m confident that is a short term measure and when we get the likes of Clingan, Pasca and Boyd back in the team we will come good. The crowd was the lowest for a Saturday in the last 20 years, strangely enough though the media who always seem keen to point out our lack of numbers in recent seasons have failed to pick up on the fact that a lot of fans are deliberately not going in protest at the chairman, you have to wonder if he’s worried yet after stating last week that he wasn’t bothered. The fans can’t seem to agree a way forward, but everyone agrees that is not a reason for Johnston to stay.
Sep 3rd 2013... I got into trouble the other week from my mate Rab who says that there was a Hearts game at Rugby Park that was worse attended than the Hibs game...I’m sure that means everything is fine then! Things on the park looked to have improved on Saturday with the return of Boomer and we did manage to open the scoring but ended up coming away with nothing from the game. If the standard of play continues to improve like this then it is only a matter of time before we start to move up the table, it is not nice being stuck down near the bottom with Hearts who have galvanised behind their fan ownership drive. The stats, and I stand to be corrected again here, tell us that this is our worst league start since 1977, I’m sure Rab or someone else will let me know if I’m wrong again, it does not make for good reading whatever the case and we could have done without the international break before facing high-flying Inverness at Rugby Park. The word on the street is that there will be a call for an all-out boycott of that match to hopefully bring things to a head with the bank, if there is I sincerely hope that will be an end to this sad time at the club and we can all get back to normal again. Saturday sees the Trust Charity Ball at the Fenwick Hotel, there are still tickets available, see the website for details.
Sep 10th 2013... It was all about fans and former players this weekend with the Killie Trust Charity Ball taking place on Saturday night in the Fenwick Hotel. It was a black tie event and you can see all the glitz and glam on the Trust’s Facebook page but the important thing was the 10th Anniversary celebration and the two charities benefiting from the night. The big news was that Marie Macklin of the Klin Group gifted (yes, that’s free gratis Mr Johnston) over 45,000 shares to the Killie Trust, retaining only a nominal amount herself, and sent a letter backing community ownership as the way forward for the club. Hopefully more fans will come to realise that for us, the COG initiative is where we should be concentrating our efforts. There were many fantastic prizes available on the night but even with the online auction still to go over £6,500 has been raised for the Ayrshire Hospice and Rett Syndrome Reverse UK. Mark Reilly, at the function with cup hero Kevin McGowne and QoS boss Jimmy MacIntyre, gave an impassioned speech about his daughter Dionne and her condition which helped raise awareness as well as cash for the charity. It was a top night, thanks to all sponsors and people who attended.
Sep 17th 2013... Only a few months ago Kenny Shiels was released because he failed to reach a top eight place as stipulated in his contract. I sincerely hope Alan Johnston doesn’t have the same clause or Killie will be looking for yet another manager come May. Our new boss is taking a while to adjust to the top league but he will need to learn quickly or else a relegation battle will ensue and that is something that doesn’t bear thinking about. The predictable defeat to Inverness is the latest hammer blow for a club in disarray both on and off the park. The loss of three points was bad enough but the most damning statistic was the paltry attendance of 3,063 as large numbers choose to stay away until the chairman is removed. It’s vital for a provincial club like Killie to have everyone pulling in the same direction however at present we have the polar opposite. Michael Johnston has alienated fans and businesses alike and it’s a lose/lose situation for all parties. It has been reported this week that a local consortium are in talks to buy the club but the longer term goal has to be community ownership. The Klin group recently donated 45,000 shares to the Killie Trust and perhaps it is time for others to replicate this fine gesture. I’d urge Michael Johnston to see sense and do the same before the bank finally run out of patience.
Sept 24th 2013... The pundits were raving about the match at Firhill but the Killie fans were less enthusiastic about the performance and about our lack of points. In normal circumstances we would take a draw away from home at any SPL ground as a reasonable result, but crossing our fingers and hoping that St Mirren and Hearts don’t get anything is not much fun. As it turned out Boomer was on hand to stick one in the net and save our blushes...and much credit goes to Samson at the opposite end as well. Both returning players have been in decent form since coming back and to be honest I think that if we lose Tarbolton’s finest via injury or suspension at all this season then we will be in deep trouble. Some bizarre substitutions were not well received by the travelling fans, and our beloved chairman was also treated to a few choice songs from quite rightly disgruntled Killie supporters, when exactly is he going to get the message that he has overstayed his welcome? Celtic are next up at the Theatre of Pies, I can’t see us being favourites to come out on top on Saturday but we live in hope, that’s all we have just now...and Boyd of course.
Oct 1st 2013... That’s it official, Alan Johnston’s league start is worse than Kenny Shiels and probably up there among the worst of all time if we don’t pull the finger out against Dundee Utd this Saturday. Still, Shiels time at the club included a trophy and many other highlights so no need to panic just yet, there is still time for AJ to get things right, maybe reintroducing the likes of Barbour, Winchester and O’Hara more regularly would be of benefit. There are still plenty of quality youngsters on the books from Kenny’s era; Ashcroft, Hodge, Kiltie and Slater to name but a few, all of them involved at international level and doing really well. I hope we don’t get another Kennedy (sold to Everton in 2012) scenario when they are forced out of the club before we get to see what they can really do and bump up their value. It was always going to be difficult against champions Celtic but to be fair to the team they came back well from a devastating three goal deficit early doors with a couple of excellent goals but they tired towards the end and couldn’t contain the opposition’s players. A fair result but possibly not a fair reflection on the game. While the doom and gloom continued inside the stadium a protest took place out of it and it is clear that there is more to come on that front as the chairman continues to make bad call after bad call, look out for details of an open meeting at the Kilmarnock Grand Hall a week on Thursday.
Oct 8th 2013... Okay, now I’m worried, this run of games without a win is going on far too long and it has to be halted sooner rather than later. Unfortunately I think that the rot starts from the top though and we will be lucky to see any improvement until such times as everyone at the club is pulling in the same direction; and that is simply not going to happen while the current chairman is pulling the strings. To be fair we did not look much worse than Dundee United for the most part of the game and it was an unstoppable shot they scored with, but at times we relied far too heavily on Craig Samson and had it not been for several wonder saves then the damage could have been far worse. At least we will not get beaten this weekend, sadly that is as confident as we can be. There is an open meeting at the Grand Hall in Kilmarnock this Thursday (10th October) at 7:00pm hosted by the Supporters Association, with the Trust represented, to discuss the current problems and see if we can find a consensus for a way forward and what we have to do next to get back on track. If you are going please give everyone the courtesy of having their say whether you agree with their views or not.
Oct 15th 2013... It was good to see that Killie fans still care enough to turn up and fill the Grand Hall so that the upper level had to be opened as well. The KFCSA meeting on Thursday was never going to be easy with so many divided opinions on what we should be doing as a support to help the club through this sticky period. One thing is for certain, the unanimous vote of no confidence in Michael Johnston at least showed there was no dubiety on that front, it is just how to get rid of him that the differences in opinion creep in. Anyone who had something to say was heard and there was decent input from Paul Goodwin of SD Scotland on community ownership and news also broke about a new ‘Kilmarnock Future Consortium’ who were meeting Johnston on the Friday to try and take over his majority share holding. The fans voted on a few proposals and it was agreed that there should be a protest outside the stadium at the upcoming Ross County and Hearts games and that everyone should then pile into the Frank Beattie Stand to support the team and let MJ know what he should do with his shares. Further details will be online prior to Saturday’s match.
Oct 22nd 2013... For the first time this season I am able to report back about a Killie victory, and we managed a clean sheet in the process. Rugby Park also saw the return of a lot of fans that have been boycotting home games so far this season as part of the KFCSA’s call for protest inside the ground, but even with that we still scraped in only 3.5k people, maybe it’s now time for the chairman to worry about the lack of numbers. The opening goal was a scrambled effort kicked initially by Gardyne but bounced in off Boyd who was awarded the goal, a minute later the protesting fans, of whom were well in the majority, held up A3 red cards in the 18th minute of the game and vocalised their wish for regime change. The highs and the lows of football. We dominated most of the game and deserved to be in front, although credit goes to Samson for some fine saves. The second agreed protest went ahead in the 69th minute and that was rewarded with a second goal, a cracking effort from Irvine, as the jeers turned into cheers...the players must like Johnston as much as we do, the timing of both goals was uncanny. Hopefully we can now kick on from our first win at home, the same again next week against Hearts will be fine, the second and hopefully final protest will be then as well, if nothing has changed by then.
Oct 29th 2013... Two appears to be the magic number. In two weeks we have had two back-to-back wins, both by a two to nil goal margin and both sets of goals have been spookily near the two protests in the two games. Nothing to do with Kilmarnock holding Halloween earlier than the rest of the world of course! We looked a bit better this week although both goals were the end product of long balls...but it has to be said that Boyd took both chances remarkably well and if he keeps that up then the ginger one won’t have any option but to consider him for the Scotland squad again. A Jambo mate claimed that Boomer was the only difference between the two teams but I think that was a slight exaggeration and after scoring we played a lot more football than we have of late, and reaped the rewards for that in the end. As relieved as I am to have jumped a place in the table I can’t help but feel sorry for the Hearts fans who are suffering for the sins of their previous owners, I hope like Dunfermline they manage to reclaim the club for themselves. The first meeting of our community ownership working party takes place this Friday; with any luck we can make the change on our own terms.
Nov 5th 2013... I have to be honest and say that I am struggling to find anything positive to report about our defeat at Inverness on Saturday. Even the weather was dire and there was not much worth seeing as the clouds descended in the wet and frozen north. After two decent results and with the team playing a bit more football I dare say that the 220 Killie fans who travelled expected a bit more but in all fairness it seemed that we reverted to long ball tactics, despite the wind and rain dictating to keep the ball down if any control was to be maintained. With Clingan playing the guts of seventy minutes last week I was sure that he would be in the starting line-up, his influence brings something extra to the team, but he was benched again so possibly Alan Johnston is wary of stretching him too much too soon. We lost scrappy goals and pulled one back at the end but it has to be said that losing by a single goal margin was a fair reflection of how the game went down. St Johnston next week is not going to be any easier. The Community Ownership Group working party met on Friday and positive steps were planned to take things forward, that said, things may change in the next week or so when the KF Consortium find out whether their bid for the club has been successful or not.
Nov 12th 2013... Thank the heavens for Hearts, that’s the general feeling around the Theatre of Pies at the moment, and we do not fancy our chances much in a play-off situation either. I fail to understand why anyone agreed to introduce play offs, it is a proverbial turkeys voting for Christmas’ scenario. The powers-that-be were desperate to be seen to introduce something new and everyone knows that play offs work down south, so apparently we just opted for that without a thought about how we have increased the chance of relegation for everyone, but never increased the size of the league to compensate. With a top sixteen we could have two automatic relegations and a further two play-off places to make for some excitement down the bottom...and technically the top 12 would have been actually safer than they are now! Beat again at the weekend, and two players sent off just for comedic value. The manager is getting some stick from the stands now as well as the chairman, and that has served to confuse the media pundits who cannot seem tell the difference. Things are not looking great for the Scottish Cup trip to Tannadice, but knowing us, that will be the one we scrape a result in, we can but hope. It looks like that game will be moved to the Sunday to accommodate Dundee, unless the regime changes before then I can see us taking a lot less fans through than normal.
Nov 19th 2013... Never much to report in an international week for us but the big news has to be Kris Boyd’s recall to the Scotland team after a three year break. It has to be said that he has been a stand out for us this year and without him we would have struggled even more, there is no telling what he could achieve if the rest of the squad was up to scratch, but we are just not firing on all cylinders at the moment. Sammy Clingan also received international recognition but the strangest one of all is Gabriel Reuben’s call up for Nigeria to face Italy, he can get a place on the bench for a game like that and has not had a sniff of first team action with us. There is something distinctly not right there, the whole scenario involving the two Nigerians that followed Rabiu Ibrahim to the club warrants an explanation at this year’s AGM if not before. Our cup game against Dundee United has been brought forward to the Friday night and is not on television, normally I would be in favour of Friday night matches but not when the two teams are situated so far apart and not at such short notice, the travelling crowd could be seriously affected as a result. The Community Ownership Group working party meet again this Friday, we hope to hear from the Kilmarnock Futures Consortium as to the state of play with their bid for the club
Nov 26th 2013... I was going to write about our return to action after the international break but I think that would be a bit of a misnomer. There was not much action and that which counted most was the back of our net rippling twice as we lost yet another league game. No one could ever say that watching Killie was for the fainthearted but it is particularly grim viewing at the moment and even the normally optimistic captain Pascali is saying that if we don’t buck up our ideas then we could end up going down. Barr has been one of AJ’s best signings and we struggle when he is out, O’Hara is a smashing prospect but he is being done no favours played at centre back when his strengths lie further up the field. On a more positive note it was good to see Slater given a chance and by all accounts he did as well if not better than his peers. We have a string of young players who Kenny Shiels was championing that are worthy of first team football but it looks doubtful whether we will have the breathing space to give them a shot this year, at least half a dozen I could name off the top of my head and I can’t remember the last time I could do that. I hope we don’t start losing them to other clubs that will afford them playing time, youth development should be at the heart of everything we do at the club, it is what will help us survive.
Dec 4th 2013... Our season is officially over then, well as far as winning anything goes at least. Our Friday night fixture in Dundee saw United take the lead but we managed to level the game and indeed go one ahead with a decent 20 minute spell that gave the travelling fans some hope...but it was all to be in vain. The Arabs upped their game and we ended up conceding the five many predicted we would before the match. It was never going to be an easy tie, United are doing really well and were the home team, but it is a sad day when you could literally put your mortgage on us getting easily beat by a club that we should be on par with. The fans, already up in arms about the chairman and his failures, are now turning against Alan Johnston and Sandy Clark and to be brutally honest, not without good reason. Maybe he took the job on too early in his career, maybe he was always going to be up against it with such upheaval off the park, whatever the case things have to improve and soon or we will not just be looking to dump someone else in the playoff spot but scrambling to keep clear of Hearts who started 15 points behind us. The KF Consortium are still in talks with Johnston who is still putting his own needs before those of the club, the longer this rumbles on the harder it is going to be to get fans back on board, he needs to go now.
Dec 10th 2013... If we had to pick our games to win it would definitely be Hearts and Ross County and the team delivered three points in a difficult fixture at Dingwall on Saturday so we have to be happy at that. The defence still appears to be a bit shaky and if Alan Johnston is going to strengthen the team during the next transfer window then this is the area he needs to concentrate on...although to be fair Barr has been one of his best signings and Bouzid looked promising before falling foul of injury. Kris Boyd continues to be our beacon of hope and scored a cracker worthy of any highlights show. He was ably assisted by young guns Johnston, also on the score sheet, and Slater who seems adept at picking out passes. It was great to see young Lee Ashcroft getting match time as well, hopefully with some more first team experience he could do a job that will save the gaffer having to spend too much money on defenders. Off the park the saga rumbles on and there is still no sign of the AGM being announced. The chairman appears to be trying to talk the bank into some sort of deal that will see debt reduction happen but as ever, we get told nothing, and we will have to wait and see exactly what it entails for the club and what is in it for the chairman himself. It would be great if the bank could do something for the club, but no individuals should financially benefit from a deal such as this.
Dec 17th 2013... Dundee United turned us over again at the weekend, but to be fair it could have been very different if we’d managed to keep eleven players on the park. I don’t think that there was anything malicious in what Gabriel did but he certainly seemed like a man on a mission, as did most of our players, and it was probably not wise given our past history with the referee. That’s not to say the result is down to the man in black, you reap what you sow and we were slack at the back, but we should not have given him the opportunity to be over officious and we paid with all three points in the end. Kudos to the young lads again, Slater especially was by all accounts outstanding, and congratulations to the battle hardened Boomer Boyd who claimed yet another record with his consolation goal for us. We really need to tie him to a longer contract. If he can keep hitting the back of the net and help Muirhead develop then he could be invaluable to us, and we could have another goal machine on our hands with the youngster. If you have not done so already please make sure you take the Trust’s fan survey which will end this Friday (the 20th) and be collated by an independent source...no random 36% statistics from us, we’ll get someone independent to give us an analysis of the results.
Dec 24th 2013... There comes a time when match results are more important than how you play and I think to be fair we are pretty much finding ourselves in that very situation now. Three points at home to Partick was just what we needed ahead of a double header in Edinburgh over the festive season, and that we had to ‘win ugly’ to do it does not really matter. It was apparent to everyone that the Jags put on a better footballing performance than the home side but, as their own fans will tell you, if you don’t convert that into goals then you will struggle to get results. It was inevitable that Doolan would score for the Glasgow side with his in-laws being huge Killie fans and himself being rejected by Ayrshire’s finest as a lad, fortunately our current lad Messi hit the onion bag prior to that and a goal from an Irvine/Boyd combination sealed the victory. Probably not one for the purists but equally not as bad as some made out, sometimes an end to end game can be just as good to watch as a team spreading the ball around like Barcelona. That of course is easier to say when you have come out of it with all three points. Another three, as we normally get, at Tynecastle would be most welcome, we may soon even reach the 19 points in 19 games that Magic said was unacceptable. The deadline for the online survey has been extended over the holidays, don’t forget to do it and have a good Christmas everyone.
Dec 31st 2013... It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...but it was only the tale of one city, Edinburgh. Our festive fixtures got off to a fantastic start as we trounced Hearts at Tynecastle for the sixth time in a row, almost certainly meaning that we will finish above them and avoid the relegation spot this season. We were even looking above us in the table for a few days, until of course we were brought back down to earth with a bump a few days later at Easter Road. That said, I think the score line was pretty harsh, we didn’t deserve to win, far from it, but Hibs were never three goals better than us. I think one of the problems was our failure to change the starting line up to suit the team we were playing. It’s all very well to stick by a winning team, but Butcher obviously watched our Hearts victory and has always been tactically astute...so it was inevitable that he would make sure the two youngsters playing wide were closed down which cut off the supply to our main threat, Boyd. That left their forwards free to concentrate on breaking down our defence which was never going to be much of a problem given the inconsistency of our full backs. Some sterling stuff from Pasca and Ashcroft at times but they were all too often left exposed and struggled to cope as a result. I’m glad the 19 points in 19 games thing is over now, AJ failed to equal the standard he set himself, but things are better than they were a few months back and we have to hope this is just a steep learning curve on his part.
Jan 7th 2014... Exactly like the Christmas period the New Year has so far been a mixed bag with a win at home to St Mirren and a defeat at the hands of Aberdeen. We seem to be able to take points from the teams hovering around the foot of the league table but not so much the ones which are higher ranked. It has to be said, at least we are winning a few now and then and in general terms our all round play has improved, I have still not given up hope that one Johnston at the club may not be an abject failure (not counting wee Messi of course)! If you were in the vicinity of East Ayrshire on Monday you may have heard a cacophony of loud noises as thousands of Killie fans learned that Jackson Irvine’s loan deal was being extended and slapped their own heads in frustration. Normally I will refrain from targeting individuals for criticism but I cannot for the life of me understand what the player offers the team that we do not already have. I mean he’s not rubbish in Tallon’esque proportions; he has got potential...but if we are going to field promising youngsters then why not just field more of our own? Other players released so far include the two Nigerian internationals, I seriously doubt we will ever hear the truth behind the signings of Idris and Gabriel, it would be far too embarrassing for the plum who jumped into the deal with two feet in the first place. All those wages down the tubes, it’s a good job he has roped someone into bailing him out in the interim.
Jan 14th 2014... We had a winter break whether we wanted one or not as it appears that the new SPFL rules are that you can do what you want if you have somewhere else you would rather be playing. Why even pretend it’s a break when you are actually away playing matches in sunnier climes? Not that anyone was bothered of course, we have had one win in the East End of Glasgow since the 1950’s and the form of the two teams does not inspire me to think that we would be taking much from Parkhead in the match that was postponed. There has been a lot of transfer talk doing the rounds with the window now open and we have to cross our fingers and toes that Nottingham Forest do not decide to come in for Kris Boyd. Losing him at this stage of the season would be devastating and even if we had managed to get Losa back I think we would have struggled without Boomer. AJ is still looking at Blackburn’s defender Yan Songo’o as a potential loan move but nothing has been agreed as yet. Everything seems to have gone rather quiet off the pitch as well at the moment with no announcements from any of the major players. The community ownership working party has a meeting scheduled for the end of this week so hopefully we will get some news emanating from that.
Jan 21st 2014... The Shortlees Thunderbolt chalked up his first goal for the first team in the dying minutes of Saturday’s grudge match in Maryhill. Young Robbie Muirhead, prolific in his rise the youth ranks, pounced on Boomer’s rebounded penalty kick to earn us a point in a game that didn’t exactly live up to the ‘Firhill for Thrills’ tag until the surprise equaliser. The team lines before the match certainly had a few supporters scratching their heads with the exclusion of right back Clohessey. It was assumed that we were trying something new with three at the back but it turned out that Jackson Irvine was selected to try and counter the runs of Higginbotham who had run us ragged in our last encounter. That must have seemed like a good idea for all of three minutes. On the whole it was not a great game of football, but there have been worse and there are some positives to take from it, mostly the inclusion of so many youngsters who have given the team a boost after such a bad start. Ashcroft is improving with every game and contained his man totally throughout the game; we also had Slater, McKenzie, Gros, Johnston and the aforementioned Muirhead not looking out of place or out of their depth. Kudos to Alan Johnston for electing to put Greg Kiltie on as a substitute on his 17th birthday, he looks another great prospect, it is such a shame that post match the manager chose to rip into our fans for not supporting the boys when it was blatantly clear that it was the chairman (as usual) and more so the management duo (and Jackson Irvine) who were actually getting the ear bashing.
Jan 28th 2014... Alan Johnston stuck by the majority of the his team that had taken a point at Firhill, with the increasingly impressive Greg Kiltie given the nod ahead of Chris Johnston as the only change to the starting line-up. We were only a quarter of an hour into the game when Sammy Clingan delivered a dangerous free kick into the box and young centre half Ashcroft popped up out of nowhere to direct the ball into the back of the net with a powerful header. There was just as much excitement at half time when Alexei Eremenko was welcomed back to the Theatre of Pies to do the half time draw; he’s trained with us for a few days and we are indeed trying to re-sign the Finnish international. If the two Johnstons can persuade Losa to come back at a wage we can afford then I’ll certainly be giving credit where it’s due because he is one of the best midfielders I have ever seen don the blue and white stripes. The second half saw Inverness up their game but there’s just not stopping Boomer Boyd at the moment and a lovely through ball by the Shortlees Thunderbolt opened up the Thistle defence and big Kris welcomed the chance to keep his scoring streak alive. He did miss a sitter shortly after but he was probably more disappointed with himself than we were. It was another welcome win and will give the team and the manager some much needed confidence going into Wednesday’s difficult match at Celtic Park.
Feb 4th 2014... Sadly for Killie I do not get to write this often, but well done Michael Johnston. I said last week there would be credit where it was due if we managed to secure the return of Eremenko and true to my word I am praising our much maligned chairman for not only bagging Losa until the end of the season, but for hanging on to goal machine Boyd which could be even more important in the long run. The Seattle Seahawks stunned the world (well, North America) last week by crushing Superbowl favourites Denver Broncos thanks to a defensive master class by their ‘Legion of Boom’; well our own legion of Boom gave Ross County an attacking master class on Saturday and rescued a point for us at a water logged Theatre of Pies. We must not be allowed to operate our sub-air under soil system during games because although it is rubbish at keeping the pitch frost free at any temperature below -4, it is meant to be the best at sucking water from the park in the SPF...and lord knows we’ve sucked plenty at the start of the season. We were well on top of the game for the first half hour and then the Staggies popped up from nowhere with two goals in a six minute spell that left us reeling. After the break we came out all guns blazing and Boyd (who was rested midweek at Parkhead in a 4’0 thrashing) got us back in the game almost immediately. It was tough going as the turf cut up badly though and even the mighty Eremenko struggled when he came on as a substitute for Kiltie in the 68th minute. Nah, of course he never, you can still see he has the touches and it was no surprise when Boomer netted the equaliser...these two in the same team can only mean good things for Ayrshire’s finest.
Feb 11th 2014... While there was nothing happening on the field last week in Killie World due to our early cup exit, there was definitely stuff happening off it. The Kilmarnock Futures consortium officially withdrew their bid for the club citing they had been close to doing a deal but giving a variety of reasons their withdrawal, the most obvious being an inability to find middle ground with our chairman. While it appears they will no longer exist as a consortium, I do not think we have heard the last of the high net worth individuals because if the desire to play a part in the future of the club is still there then they can stay involved with the Community Ownership Group Working Party which by now should have announced that they have also engaged with Michael Johnston and presented him with a letter of intent to purchase his majority share holding; the offer would be contingent on a fair valuation of the company and the completion of a satisfactory due diligence process’’ in other words, biting the bullet and paying the going rate. Formal efforts to raise the money will be launched in the coming weeks and it is hoped that the business community, both private and public, as well as community groups and supporters will get behind the COG working party and their aims. It’s time we got our club back, it’s time to get everyone pulling in the same direction and its time that we got some solid plans in place to make the club sustainable and stop living on a wing and a prayer.
Feb 18th 2013... It was a decent trip through to Dundee on Saturday, well for most of us anyway with the Burns’ bus being stopped no less than four times to ensure they were complying with the antiquated ban on alcohol brought about by some eejits who couldn’t hold their drink in the 1980’s. If there is a way to knock any of the fun out of the whole football experience, we are guaranteed to find it. Now I’m not saying that a few beers is necessary to enjoy yourself, but we are big enough and ugly enough to decide for ourselves what we imbibe pre-match, after all, there were thousands of fans in Dundee partaking of a drink or two in the hours up to kick off, but its fine as long as you are not on one of those dangerous bus things! The match itself was a pretty decent affair, Eremenko started in place of Kiltie, and as much as I rate Kiltie as a player and want to see him progress, it is Eremenko and I’m sure the lad will still get game time, he did suffer a knock after scoring in the Scotland Under 17 match at the Theatre of Pies. Dundee Utd took the lead against the run of play, in my opinion, after a slip by Irvine, but we got back into it with a long range strike from Losa. It was miles offside as it turns out but we got away with it. An audacious Boyd effort lobbed high into the air over the oncoming keepers head was turned into the net by either McKenzie or the Dundee Utd defender as it bounced on the line...but it’s been given quite rightly to Boomer. Slack defending on the flanks cost us another two goals and the chance of any points which on the whole seemed a bit unfair as I thought we were worth at least a point; good game though.
Feb 25th 2013... It was the proverbial game of two halves on Saturday with Killie dominating the first forty five minutes and Hibs coming back into the game after the break. Hit man Boyd turned provider with a sublime pass through to Rory McKenzie for the opening goal but both sides struggled to produce much on a very heavy pitch. Manager Johnston brought Kiltie on for Muirhead at half time but it was Butcher’s Hibees that struck next with an equaliser from loanee Haynes. The players we loaned in during the transfer window, Maksimenko and Karlsson, failed to make an appearance yet again, with the Sunderland winger not even making the bench. It is unclear whether there is a fitness or an injury issue but you have to wonder what the point of bringing them in was if they are not getting played. The heavily marked Losa ran out of steam in the 65th minute and was replaced by Gardyne who livened things up for the home side, but there was no further scoring and both teams must have been content with a point. The word on the street is that Chairman Johnston is ready to appoint two new directors prior to the upcoming AGM, the date of which has still not been announced. The club also seems to be trying to set up a ‘Community Involvement Board’ with local politicians and some handpicked fans, as an alternative to proper community ownership. The more cynical among us are thinking it is just window dressing, lip service to those demanding change...and nothing more than another management committee which, among other things, had the serious job of deciding what flavour of soup should be served in the chairman’s club. Community involvement is fine...but there has to be road map in place for something more substantial…whether it be in five months or in five years. If the chairman is serious about engaging with the community then he has to ensure that his exit strategy involves leaving the club in the hands of the only people who care...the fans.
Mar 4th 2013... Over 1,000 Killie fans made the trip to Paisley on Saturday, which is a few hundred down on the norm but still pretty decent, what a shame that the match was such poor fare. The less said about the first half the better, if the TV wallahs manage to get ‘highlights’ from that I will be truly amazed! We lost Clingan to injury and he was replaced with fans whipping boy Jackson Irvine, Eremenko was being crowded out of the game as well and never appeared for the second half. You have to feel for poor Slater who struggled bravely to hold the midfield together on his own. I honestly thought that things started looking a bit brighter in the second half, especially when Karlsson was brought on and looked promising down the right...but some really slack defensive play in midfield for Saints opener soon put the mockers on that. It was all downhill from there apart from a couple of decent efforts from Muirhead and Boyd, in fact the stats tell us we had two shots on target the whole game, not exactly exiting stuff that will get the fans scrambling for tickets for Saturday’s re-arranged game against already doomed Hearts. It looks like the club’s AGM, normally held in December, will be even later this year. Some documents have been lodged at Companies House, which will allow the accounts, due to be lodged by 28th February, to be delayed until 24th May. This alleged debt-busting deal must really be worth waiting for.
Mar 11th 2014... We used to joke on the bus to away games all the time about us being a second half team and it is starting to appear like a self-fulfilling prophecy! A lacklustre first half performance saw us take the lead courtesy of an own goal and lose it again before the pie stalls went into overdrive. A poor showing by all accounts but two goals in two minutes at the start of the second half from Boomer all but settled things. Granted Hearts pulled one back in the last twenty minutes but a Gardyne strike a few minutes later made sure of all three points against the doomed Edinburgh side, and we certainly need them after last week. It all appears to be happening off the park as well with a couple of English gentlemen posing with the chairman for pictures before the match, rumoured to be new investors to the tune of £50k each. It also looks like we are finally about to hear what has been agreed with the bank in terms of debt restructuring and possibly the introduction of the new community engagement board, which shall henceforth be referred to as the new management committee. Huge thanks go to all the Killie and Hearts fans that donated generously to the ‘Ellie and Laurie Fund’ bucket collection; the proceeds will be independently counted on Thursday and donated to the charity along with the £1k being front funded by the Killie Trust members.
Mar 18th 2014... The bookies were not far wrong making Celtic odds on favourites to win last Friday night’s league match at the Theatre of Pies and a second half hat-trick from Commons proved them right. There is no point in reflecting on a match which was for the most part a foregone conclusion, especially when some of the biggest news in the club’s recent history happened before it even kicked off. The club released a statement that covered several points, the crux of which was the sale of the hotel, four new directors being appointed and Billy Bowie taking over the remainder of our debt and converting that into equity in the form of unallocated shares...taking Michael Johnston’s overall share holding, who is standing down as chairman at the end of the season, to less than 50%. There is a lot to take in there and on the face of things being ‘debt free’ sounds like a great deal for the club, but the sceptic in me dictates a cautious response for now, I’ll be a lot happier when we know for sure who owns what and how we are going to cope with the loss of the cash flow from the hotel that the chairman has been telling us has kept the club afloat for many years. Less income, but of course no interest payments, so if we run the club well from here on in then Johnston, and even more so Billy Bowie, will deserve plaudits for negotiating this deal with the bank. Regardless of how it all went down the deal is done and we have to assess our situation from this point forward, there is no point in dwelling too much in the past. The most positive aspect for me is the introduction of the new directors who have reached out to the fans organisations already about trying to forge stronger ties between the club and the disenfranchised support. The prospect of Community Ownership seems to be even more viable now and what a difference it would be if we could work on a long term plan alongside the new board to find a solution that suits all parties concerned. It is great to have some real lifelong Killie fans that care about the club involved at that level again and I hope that all of us who were campaigning for regime change can see this as at least a starting point and get back to supporting the team who will need our backing as the season end draws nearer. See ya’ll in Aberdeen.
Mar 25th 2014... Aberdeen were still pumped up from their cup win last week, congratulations to them for that, so were always going to be a difficult prospect; that’s why it was a really pleasant surprise to take the lead at Pittodrie. Give the ball to Boydie anywhere within a 25 yard radius of the opposition net and nine times out of ten you end up with a goal. It may seem a simple concept but I am pretty sure that’s how we’ve managed to keep just ahead in our mini league of four battling to stay out of the play-off spot. I dread to think where we would be without him and I hope that the new board is already planning how to keep him at the Theatre of Pies for at least another season. I’m sick of the unimaginative media hacks linking him with a drop to a Championship side already! Our lead only lasted six minutes and it was eachy peachy for a while, but Aberdeen always looked the stronger side and inevitably scored with just over a quarter of an hour of the match left to secure all three points. Fortunately everyone else at the wrong end of the table did as well as us on the day. I have always been an advocate of giving Alan Johnston some time to get things right but the fans on the whole seem to have lost patience, with 76% in the latest Internet poll wanting change. Personally I think we should at least see the season out and reassess the situation then, there is no guarantee that bringing in someone new will make a difference, then again to be fair there is equally no guarantee that it would not. To reiterate what both the Trust and KFCSA statements said last week...let’s all get right behind the team for the remaining fixtures.
Apr 1st 2014... Missing home games was an extreme but legitimate tactic to try and force regime change; no one wanted to do it and those who did felt it was forced upon them as a last throw of the dice as all other avenues appeared closed. I cannot think of any other reason, other than a family event, that I would choose not to go and watch my team, which is why I find it hard to understand some now saying they are not going back because we are rubbish. I’ve watch Killie for over a quarter of a century now and I think it is fair to say that for a large part of that we have not exactly been knocking on the door to get into the Champion’s League. You would think the majority of our fans would be pretty used to humdrum and below average performances for the most part. I have been lucky enough to see us lift two national trophies in my lifetime and while those days will always rank as some of my finest memories as a Killie fan, I do not think that the prospect of a repeat is what keeps me going. Take Saturday for instance; the first half was pretty grim and not much of a spectacle from our perspective. The dying seconds saw us go a goal down and there were a few choice shouts from our end as the teams left the field. Fair enough, at least they came to the game so if they felt we were under performing then it is surely their prerogative to let the players know. Not so good doing it during play in my opinion, but you’re always going to get that as well. The game turned for me when Barbour was brought on for Clohessey, which may seem a bit strange considering he is a full back, but he seemed to instil a sense of urgency into our play and the others responded. A great through ball by Irvine saw McKenzie score a quality equaliser and Losa had us all off our seats with an audacious chip that skimmed the bar...but just when we thought it was all over and had settled for a well-deserved draw, Slater took on the Motherwell defence himself and rattled in a 95th minute winner which had the away support in raptures. You see, its moments like that which make it all worthwhile, that few seconds of elation which touches every supporter and makes all the effort and all the other disappointment fade into obscurity. Watching the players go mental like it actually means as much to them as it does to you. Its moments like that which define us and sets us apart from those content with watching the EPL on the telly in the pub and cheering halfheartedly when some bloke on £300k a week manages to score from the half way line. There is no substitute for the real thing, win lose or draw you can’t beat a super Killie away day.
Apr 8th 2014... The closing weekend of pre-split fixtures saw Killie deservedly lose to St Johnstone and St Mirren’s victory ensures there is a five team battle for the dreaded play-off spot. Following a fine away win at Motherwell the home fans were looking for a repeat performance and initially that looked quite possible. However once the Perth side equalised they dominated proceedings and the poor Killie performance was a harsh reality check that there is a load of work still to be done. In previous years there has been very little separating up to nine or ten teams in the Premiership but that is not the case this time around. The top six are clearly better than the bottom six and results throughout the season back that up. St Johnstone passed the ball better, had better movement off the ball and apart from the opening minutes they dictated the whole proceedings. The anger of the Killie fans appears now to be aimed towards the management team and it’s hard to make a case for them at present. The team lacks shape, motivation and there is little confidence around the stands. The financial consequences of dropping a league are unthinkable so let’s hope we can grab a few wins that will help us retain our top league status. Next season is the 50th anniversary of our famous league win and it would be a catastrophe if we didn’t celebrate the club’s finest achievement in the top division, We have a free weekend coming up but the first post-split fixture is at home to Partick a week later, hopefully a big crowd will turn up for what is a massive game.
Apr 15th 2014... You would think that my biggest problem last weekend would be how to avoid some rubbish Saturday afternoon activity in favour of spending some time with J.R. Tennent, Jeff Stelling and friends, but no, I had two games to choose from. Hurlford were playing the Meadow in Irvine in the first leg of the Junior Cup semi-final and Killie Under 19’s were facing off against Hearts in the Scottish Youth Cup semi-final at Tynecastle. To cut a long story short the youth tie won out in the end as there was always the chance of catching the second leg of the Junior game (or so I thought at the time as it appears to be scheduled for the same time as our league game against Partick). The club ran a bus up to Edinburgh but our lot opted to head through in the car and go for some refreshments pre kick off...there was after all some numpty game on the telly. It was a glorious day for football and both sides looked well up for it, but a very young Killie side struggled to cope with their more experienced counterparts who seem to have benefited from plenty of first team action this season. We had Slater, Johnston and O’Hara in the starting line-up, but unluckily Slates was carried off injured, although we have since heard it is not too serious. It proved to be a blow to a side that was already minus the talents of the injured youth internationals Kiltie and the Shortlees Thunderbolt Robbie Muirhead, both of whom have been outstanding this year. To be fair the better side won through to the final in the end although 3’0 possibly flattered the home side. It was no disgrace and the boys did well to reach the semis for the second year on the bounce...one of these days we’ll get a home tie! Everybody and their granny get to the Theatre of Pies next week for the Partick game, let’s get behind the team and get some points in the bag.
Apr 22nd 2014... Saturday turned out to be a great day for football, unfortunately not a great day of football. The first half of the game was dire and hardly worth mentioning other than to say we were lucky to come out of it with no casualties, in the crowd that is, dying of boredom. Both teams upped the tempo in the second half however and the game at least proved a bit better to watch, a bit may be an exaggeration. I did not have any fears about ending up in the playoff spot until I watched this game, now I am not so sure. We played like a team whose confidence is gone, like individuals unable to link up as a cohesive unit. Jackson Irvine seemed to be the only player with a sense of urgency about him (apart from possibly Eremenko) but he had been selected to play wide on the left and kept getting drawn inside to the extent that we had no outlet on that side and to be fair, little on the right either. Eremenko struggled to find anyone to pass the ball to when in possession and that resulted in a lot of high balls being aimed at Boydie...and I doubt he won the ball in the air all day. We are not playing to our strengths and not utilising our biggest assets properly, tactically we seem to be all over the place and Partick took advantage of that and all three points, deservedly. Our substitutes were brought on far too late to have an effect, and when is it going to sink in that Muirhead is a striker, not a left winger! We are now in the territory of every game being a cup final, clichéd but true. We need to get the fans behind the team and be that twelfth man, I’m sure those of us heading to Dingwall will be in good voice.
Apr 29th 2014... As ever it proved to be a great away day to Dingwall on Saturday, ruined only by an abysmal ninety minutes of football right in the middle of proceedings. Individually we have as many, if not more, talented players in the squad as any other team (with the exception of moneybags Celtic) but at the moment they are not playing as a team and they certainly don’t seem to be playing for the manager. It can’t just be the tactics, or lack of them; and I have given up to a certain extent trying to figure out what formation we are playing. I also cannot for the life of me understand why we have a natural left winger in Chris Johnston sitting on the bench and absolutely no on field presence in the left wing at all. Boomer must be heartily sick of the lack of service he is getting, the one chance he had on Saturday he stuck away as expected. The central midfield is virtually static and while we could afford to stick by a quality player like Eremenko, it’s pointless having him in there when there is no pace around him and no one making themselves available for the ball...Pasca may be fearless but by his own admission his midfield days are gone. The only real outlet we had that I could see was by virtue of Rory McKenzie out on the right, and we failed time and time again to utilise him to our advantage. I’ve stuck up for AJ in the past as I believe that everyone should be at least given a chance to make an impact on the team but it is looking like the only impact has been a negative one and we are now literally in prime position for a play-off spot having gained even less points than lowly Hearts had they not received a points deduction. The Jambos did us a favour on Sunday beating Hibs, let’s hope they do us another this week by having an off day, as they have so often in recent history, when we turn up at Tynecastle next week. Is it time up for ‘Magic’ and his assistant Clark? An easy decision for the fans I think, but a more difficult one for the new board, I hope they make the right choice; all we can do is turn up and back the team and hope that we forge ahead of the rest of the pack.
May 6th 2014... So much for the Jambos having an off day, our team failed to turn up at all! The law of averages was always against a seventh straight win at Tynecastle, but even our biggest critics could never have predicted such a cave in. After the Dingwall game I was starting to get nervous, now I have to say I am bricking it as with two games to go we still have no shape whatsoever and the majority of our players look as if they don’t know what they are meant to be doing. Still, Michael Johnston gave his namesake a resounding vote of confidence at the AGM on Monday and was happy to be quoted as saying ‘keep calm and carry on’ despite AJ admitting that with only two games go he still does not know his best XI. Killie fans, I totally understand your frustration but barracking the management can now achieve nothing, let’s get right behind the players in the last two games.
May 13th 2014... I think it is fair to say from a fans perspective that we had a glorious finish (two 1’0 victories over the Buddies & the Hibees) to an inglorious season. I do not think that anyone is going to be waxing lyrical about our ninth place finish this season, but the scenes of joy in the Killie end at Easter Road were unbridled, brought about mainly by a sense of relief...and of course a goal from Boomer. When they are working out what to offer him (Boyd) for next season they should throw the keys to the town into the mix. We could also do a lot worse than figure out how to keep a hold of Losa (Eremenko) now that he’s fit and starting to fire on all cylinders again. It was not a nice position to be in but for us at least it ended well. If Hibs do go down what price would I get on an expanded Premier League being touted next year? Well done to our team!
May 20th 2014... It has not been so much of a roller coaster season, more of a death slide with the odd bump and a soft landing. The highlights were threefold, boxing day at Tynecastle, the aforementioned soft landing at Easter Road and the introduction of new directors so we no longer have a one man board...which results in a season ticket for me again (on sale now folks). The low-lights are too numerous to catalogue but include 90% of our results, dreadful managerial decisions and that fact that fans were forced to take matters into their own hands to effect change, which caused all sorts of ill feeling. The manager’s report card does not make for good reading, two out of ten from me, one for Tynecastle and one for the last two league games. He’s been given the green light for next year so we can but hope that his signings are vastly better than last year and as a result we get some improvement on the pitch. My player of the season is Kris ‘Boomer’ Boyd; I can’t see anyone arguing with that. My expectations for next season depend entirely on whom we manage to sign in the next few months. If we keep Boyd and Eremenko and continue to give our young guns a chance...clear out the dead wood and bring in some quality...then we should in reality be able to make top six. More of what we had this year though and I fear the worst, especially with no Hearts as a get out of jail free card. My priority signings, after Boyd and Losa, would be a left back who can defend and a solid centre back to play alongside Ashcroft...I could go on. This whole campaign has been dogged by negativity and it has been difficult not to get dragged down by it, a whole load of fans had just had enough of how the club was being run and things went rapidly downhill from there, which was not helped by poor performances on the park. I won’t be the only person who will be glad to see the back of 2013/14, but here’s hoping that it was a low point we’d reached that had to happen before we could start to turn things around, much like when we got relegated (1988’89) to the Second Division and Fleeting came in, only let’s be thankful we didn’t have to go that far this time. There is a chink of light at the end of the tunnel with new blood coming into the boardroom, let’s try and make that count. If the new board are astute enough to work with the Killie Trust and the KFCSA to re-engage with the fan base then we could have a bright future to look forward to after all...but be patient, these things do take time and there are many rivers still to be crossed.
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Intelsat / EchoStar
Orbital location
121° West
8 August 2003, 3:31am GMT[1]
Launch Place
Odyssey (Sea Launch)
C-band payload
24 x 36 MHz
Amp type
SSPA, 20 watts
Amp Redundancy
50 State, Canada, Mexico
3700.5 MHz (H)
4199.5 MHz (V)
Galaxy 23 is the name given to the C-band service of the Galaxy 23/EchoStar 9 communications satellite jointly owned by Intelsat and EchoStar located at 121° W longitude, serving the North American market. It was built by Space Systems/Loral, as part of its FS-1300 line. Galaxy 23 was formerly known as Intelsat Americas 13. The "Galaxy 23" portion of the service provides transponders in the C band. The "EchoStar 9" portion broadcasts Ku band, and Ka band transponders.[2]
While the satellite itself is jointly owned through a partnership between Intelsat and Echostar, the Ku band payload is owned and operated by Echostar for international television programming and local television channels. That service is intended for Dish Network customers using a SuperDish system. The C-band payload is owned and operated by Intelsat. The Ka band payload is owned and operated by Echostar for as-yet-undisclosed purposes.
Current clients for Galaxy 23/EchoStar 9 include Dish Network, Direct TV, Genesis Networks, and Playboy.[3]
^ Sea Launch press release for EchoStar IX/Telstar 13 (Galaxy 23) Launch
^ Gunter's Space Page - information on Galaxy 23[permanent dead link]
^ Lyngsat.com list of channels carried on Galaxy 23/EchoStar 9
Echostar 9 Ku-band North America Beam footprint(s) at SatBeams
Galaxy 23 C-band North America Beam footprint(s) at SatBeams
Galaxy 23 on IMS
EchoStar satellites
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It’s time to fight back against death threats by Islamic extremists
By Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Daniel Huff
Earlier this year, after Comedy Central altered an episode of “South Park” that had prompted threats because of the way it depicted Islam’s prophet Muhammad, Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris proposed an “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day.” The idea was, as she put it, to stand up for the 1st Amendment and “water down the pool of targets” for extremists.
The proposal got Norris targeted for assassination by radical Yemeni American cleric Anwar Awlaki, who has been linked to the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight and also to several of the 9/11 hijackers. This month, after warnings from the FBI, Norris went into hiding. The Seattle Weekly said that Norris was “moving, changing her name, and essentially wiping away her identity.”
It’s time for free-speech advocates to take a page from the abortion rights movement’s playbook. In the 1990s, abortion providers faced the same sort of intimidation tactics and did not succumb. Instead, they lobbied for a federal law making it a crime to threaten people exercising reproductive rights and permitting victims to sue for damages. The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE, passed in 1994 by solid bipartisan margins. A similar act is needed to cover threats against free-speech rights.
A federal law would do two things. First, it would deter violent tactics, by focusing national attention on the problem and invoking the formidable enforcement apparatus of the federal government. Second, its civil damages provision would empower victims of intimidation to act as private attorneys general to defend their rights.
Such an act is overdue. Across media and geographies, Islamic extremists are increasingly using intimidation to stifle free expression.
In 2004, Theo van Gogh was butchered on an Amsterdam street in broad daylight for his film criticizing Islam’s treatment of women. By 2006, it was reported that “dozens of people” across Europe were “in hiding or under police protection because of threats from Muslim extremists.”
Some targets, including the coauthor of this Op-Ed, fled to the United States, where it seemed safer -- and so it is, for now. However, the stark truth is the United States was never immune and the situation is deteriorating.
In 1989, two American bookstores carrying Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses” were firebombed. Spooked major chains took it off display. And there have been many more threats that received less publicity. Few have heard, for example, about Oklahoma atheist Sabri Husibi, who received death threats after writing a 2009 article critical of his former faith. His aged mother in Syria was warned she would never see him again. “Clearly shaken,” he requested the paper that published his article clarify that he is critical of all faiths.
These kinds of threats have had a formidable chilling effect. Mindful of the retaliation others faced, Yale University Press, the Met, the director of the disaster epic “2012" and countless others have decided to preemptively censor themselves.
The kind of legislation we propose is essential if we are to win the war of ideas against extremists, who use threats to drive the moderate message out of public discourse.
Existing state laws prohibiting intimidation are inadequate. On the criminal side, the heightened standard of proof deters prosecutors from investing scarce resources. Explicit grounds for a civil action do not always exist, and damages can be difficult to quantify. By contrast, the FACE Act, which provides the model for the proposed legislation, lets victims opt for preset damages.
The “South Park” incident neatly illustrates the benefits. On April 15, following the first of a two-part episode mocking Jesus, Buddha and Muhammad, RevolutionMuslim.com announced that "[w]e have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh.” The “warning” included the names, photos and work address of “South Park’s” creators, a graphic image of Van Gogh’s mutilated body and pictures of other targets of Muslim extremists. Overlaying this was audio of Awlaki preaching about assassinating anyone who defamed the prophet. Panicked, Comedy Central heavily censored the episode.
This rather obvious threat could not be prosecuted. New York Police Department officials explained it did not rise to a crime. Were the FACE Act applicable here, a civil suit would have been available, and precedent suggests it would have been successful.
In 2002, on very similar facts, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a civil award to abortion doctors who sued using the FACE Act. A fringe antiabortion group, ACLA, had in various public venues displayed “Wanted"-style posters bearing the names, photos and addresses of doctors who performed abortions. Their names were also posted on the Internet alongside a list of wounded and murdered doctors whose names were struck through. The 9th Circuit held that ACLA’s activities constituted true threats unprotected by the 1st Amendment.
If we leave our artists, activists and thinkers alone to weather the assault, they will succumb and we will all suffer the consequences.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a former member of the Dutch parliament, is a resident scholar with the American Enterprise Institute and the author of “Nomad: From Islam to America.” Daniel Huff is director of the Middle East Forum’s Legal Project.
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Creative is Native: “The Irish Industry Has Decided That the World’s Stage Is Fair Game”
Trends and Insight 352 Add to collection
Jen Speirs, ECD at Rothco on what drew her from Australia to Ireland and why she believes Irish creativity should be celebrated on a global scale
IAPI is the official Irish representative for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, and in February (right before lockdown!) we called upon executive creative director Jen Speirs, Rothco | Accenture Interactive, to share her experience as a Cannes Lion winner and Cannes Lions judge. Lucky for us Jen accepted and was not only encouraging and entertaining, but impressively forthright in giving advice to the attendees.
Jen is also a serious role model for female creatives in Ireland. The IAPI census report last year highlighted the massive issue of gender imbalance in creative departments, with only a handful of women in creative director roles. Thankfully, the advertising industry is making progress, albeit ever so slightly, but it’s because of people like Jen, who push the boundaries and prove just how vital this progression is.
LBB> As an Australian coming to work in Ireland, how do you view the Irish market?
Jen Speirs> It feels like the Irish industry has decided that the world’s stage is fair game – and they’re going all in. There’s a sense of urgency over here that I love. And I believe great work can come from this. I know the Irish industry is well established, but it still feels like there’s a bit of a pioneer spirit, that doesn’t hold itself back – and there’s bravery in the work that comes from that.
In Australia, we often look to New Zealand with a bit of a jealous side-eye, because the work doesn’t seem to be constrained or reserved. Like some of the work out of this market, which – sure, is a small one, but that’s irrelevant because the ambition is massive. And it’s an ambition that’s not contained in the agencies, I’ve worked with a lot of clients here who are amazingly passionate about doing great work, famous work, work that engages the world. That’s absolutely refreshing.
LBB> And how would you describe Irish culture and their approach to creativity?
Jen> Creativity seems innate in Ireland. I definitely feel that there’s something a little bit special here. But it’s so inclusive at the same time. The arts or creative world can sometimes keep people at arms length, and feel a bit elitist – but here, it really feels like you’re encouraged to be and do whatever you want, and that’s really inspiring. People aren’t afraid to try new things and push themselves creatively.
Even where I live, there seems to be a bit of a creative hub. You know, as lockdown began – neighbours were blocking streets off to put sheets up on a wall for movie screenings, having musicians play, photography exhibitions. Creativity was what brought the community together – and it was awesome.
LBB> Rothco, part of Accenture Interactive, was one of the first in Ireland to show at Cannes and push for global work. A lot of people in Ireland look up to you - do you feel that pressure to constantly keep on top?
Jen> What Rothco does really well is look forward and aim high. We’re an ambitious bunch – and we push to create and maintain a culture that inspires everyone to realise that ambition. As an agency, it doesn’t matter whether we’re on top, middle, bottom – if we focus on other agencies instead of the work, we’re focusing on the wrong thing. There is pressure, but it’s pressure to do the work that we know we can.
For me personally, I feel as long as I believe the best is yet to come – I’m going to love what I do, and be ok when shit goes wrong. And believe me, shit goes wrong. As an agency, when it does, we have to use that to fire us up and head towards whatever’s next. And when things go well, it’s like “Brilliant. Celebrate it. Now, what’s next?”
LBB> What was it that drew you to the Executive Creative Director role in Dublin on the other side of the world?
Jen> Well, to be honest – it really had not much at all to do with Dublin. Don’t get me wrong, I really like the place – but what drew me here was the work coming out of Rothco. Whether it was the JFK work for The Times, Dublin Bus Proud Dads or Sleeping Flags, this work is up there with the best in the world. And there was no real formula, or predictability to the range of work either. It seemed to play in the intersection of creativity, tech, data and media, which is exciting. That, coupled with the persuasive, dulcet tones of our CCO, Al Kelly – just made it too good to not jump on board.
The other thing about Rothco, is it seems to trust its instincts. And I felt that’s what I was doing when I made the move - after a couple of emails, and two or possibly three phone calls – I was sitting at the airport with a one way ticket to Dublin. It just felt like the right fit.
LBB> Has your approach or style of working evolved in any way since coming to work in Ireland? What has the Irish industry taught you?
Jen> I’ve always believed that the best way to the best work, is a great culture. A place where people feel inspired to do and believe they will do, the best work of their lives. As a creative, pretty much the only thing you can control is the amount of effort you put into something. It’s my job to make the team want to give a shit, and put in that effort. And that absolutely hasn’t changed since being in Ireland. Obviously it’s different doing that when we’re not allowed in the building together – but keeping people connected to the bigger picture, the wider agency, and reminding everyone what we’re here to do, is more important now than ever.
The thing I’ve found is that people here are, and with all due respect to myself and fellow Australians, much more polite. Which is lovely and all, but when it comes to the work, it’s ok to be hard on it. So I want us to get better at challenging things. Saying it’s not right. Asking for something different. That’s not being an arsehole, it’s not personal, it’s making the work better. And ultimately, doing great work is what we’re all at Rothco to do.
LBB> Your campaign ‘Don’t Cook Yourself’ for the Marie Keating Foundation was an extremely creative way of approaching a serious topic. How has this been received in Ireland and how did you design the campaign to deliver the most impact?
Jen> I think it’s a mistake to think that a serious message needs to always be delivered in a serious way. Getting it right for the audience is what matters, never more so when it’s a life or death issue. I guess, the first part in designing this campaign was actually to design the right gang. We had strategists, connections, production, media, PR, creatives – as well as the client – and it was that collective that established a really creative jumping off point by connecting men, meat and melanoma.
The Don’t Cook Yourself idea then came to life in PR, social, through retail partnerships, with influencers and the BBQ For Life sun cream product itself. The majority of this was done in-house, including media – which gave us a whole new level of agility. It was seriously impressive to see this gang band together to pull this off, especially during COVID. And while there has been loads of national and international news coverage, this creative gave the message the best possible chance to be heard by the Irish people, which may just save lives. It was never a case of being creative for creativity's sake – the goal of this campaign was to work. And work hard. I lost my 27 year old brother to melanoma some years ago – so I know just how devastating it can be, and just how important it is we do whatever it takes to prevent it.
LBB> What are some other great pieces of Irish work you’ve loved this year?
Jen> One of the most impressive things I’ve seen is not so much a piece of work, but a movement that kicked off because of the pandemic… CREATIVES AGAINST COVID. It really made everyone feel like they could actually do something, in a situation that otherwise made us all feel a little helpless. And that 'something' was to create. There was SOON messaging in my social feed, team conversations, even in chats with people from Aus, and I loved that.
The very real, very harrowing StillHere domestic violence ad was brilliant, and hopefully very effective in getting help for the people who needed it. I thought it was so well done – and such a relevant message and execution for the time. Even watching it back again now gives me the chills.
Staying in the 'real and harrowing' space, is a Swim Ireland radio ad. It actually made me feel really anxious and helpless. Which is what happens when the craft of something isn’t compromised. It’s a very simple idea, executed in a way that makes it impossible to ignore.
And while it seems like a lifetime ago now, I loved when Guinness and An Post teamed up to turn beer mats into Christmas postcards. It felt like a really genuine demonstration of both brands’ commitment to community.
LBB> What are you passionate about achieving within the industry right now?
Jen> Very soon after starting at Rothco, I realised I was working with some amazing creative thinkers – but what COVID has done is reminded me of just how amazing they are, and how bloody lucky I am. Seriously, over the last few months the ideas, the insights, the work made, tech built – has blown my mind. Like the entire world, we had to create our way out of this situation, and really quickly. Being creative – across the entire agency – was the only answer. So as an industry, this is absolutely our time to make the most of. Think differently, work differently, hire differently. Creativity is the only thing that we know for sure. That is equal parts absolutely daunting, and seriously bloody exciting. I’m all in.
LBB> How are you hoping to see the Irish creative landscape develop over the next few years?
Jen> When I see work that I love, actually – let’s be real – when I see bloody amazing work that I wish like hell I’d done, I think about why it’s so good (yep, I am THAT nerd). And it’s the same things… it starts with a ridiculously real human insight, you know the sort of thing that seems so obvious – but that has taken some very smart strategic heads to craft. Then brilliant connections thinking, data input, technology to hit the exact right people, at the exact right time. And of course, with the exact creative idea that you could never have predicted or expected, have never thought of before, but now just can’t stop thinking about.
All of these, I guess, ingredients – I’ve seen by the bucket-load in my time here. Add to that some of the most ambitious clients I’ve ever worked with, and to me – that makes Ireland the perfect place in the world, to do the best work in the world. And that’s what I’d like to see more of. Irish work, ideally a huge chunk of it Rothco’s, influencing culture and getting talked about and celebrated around the world. The sort of work that gets people gagging to come and work here, because they see so much work that they wish like hell they’d done.
The Institute Of Advertising Practitioners In Ireland, Tue, 08 Sep 2020 09:02:13 GMT
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News from The Institute Of Advertising Practitioners In Ireland
IAPI Announces Latest Creative to Feature on Ireland: Where Creative is Native
Creative Is Native: “The Landscape Is Being Fuelled by This International Ambition"
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“There Is a New Generation of Marketers Coming through in Ireland Who Realise the Value of Absolutely Brilliant Creativity”
Work from The Institute Of Advertising Practitioners In Ireland
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New Mexico panel OKs plan to spend $100M to fix state dams
Russell Contreras
SANTA FE - A plan to spend $100 million to fix dams throughout New Mexico — a state with the highest percentage of high-hazard dams in the country — passed its first test Tuesday amid an urgent call to upgrade the facilities over worries about the loss of life.
The New Mexico Senate Conservation Committee voted 9-0 to move along a measure that would add funding to address the state’s dam infrastructure that advocates say is in dire need of repairs.
Sen. Pete Campos, D-Las Vegas, said the state had no choice but to get started soon on fixing dams or risk a tragedy in the future.
“This issue continues to come forward as an urgent matter,” Campos said. “We don’t want a loss of life and property.”
Campos said the $100 million request would only cover around a third of the cost of fixing the state’s dams.
Sen. Bill Soules, D-Las Cruces, said the state should spend the money to fix is dams while it has revenue from an oil and gas windfall. “We may not have the money later,” Soules said.
A more than two-year investigation by The Associated Press recently revealed that New Mexico leads the nation with the highest percentage of high-hazard dams that are in either poor or unsatisfactory condition. Some are decades-old and on the list because they lack design and construction documents that would provide more certainty about their ability to handle runoff from a historic storm. Many also lack emergency action plans in case of a failure.
$12.7M dam project aimed at protecting Hatch
Target practice near Doña Ana Mountains a safety concern
Rock mosaics along Tortugas Dam vandalized
Doña Ana County is home to one-third of the 97 dams in New Mexico that are considered high hazard because of the potential for loss of life if they failed and have been determined to be in poor or unsatisfactory condition.
According to the Office of the State Engineer, its Dam Safety Bureau regulates 298 dams in the state. Around 150 of those dams are publicly owned and have the potential to cause loss of life in the event of a dam failure, the agency said.
Nearly 70 of these publicly-owned dams have known deficiencies, with a total estimated rehabilitation cost of more than $300 million.
Follow Russell Contreras on Twitter at http://twitter.com/russcontreras
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NMSU to host activist stars of 'Bitter Brown Femmes' podcast
LAS CRUCES - March is ‘Women’s History Month,’ a time to honor the many contributions women have made in history and society. As a way to celebrate the month and raise awareness of the current climate across the nation facing women, New Mexico State University will host a talk/live recording by the stars of the podcast, “Bitter Brown Femmes,” Ruben and Cassandra, at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 10 at O’Donnell Hall, Room 111. The event is free and open to the public.
The podcast, which started in 2018, tackles social, political, emotional and community issues. With more than 30 episodes available online and 175 thousand followers on Instagram combined, Ruben and Cassandra use their platforms to speak up against systems of oppression. Ana Lopez, a doctoral candidate in the Special Education Department and an avid listener of the podcast suggested they visit NMSU.
“I personally have learned so much from them, from dissecting the impact of Latinidad and its many complexities, privileges, and more,” Lopez said, “I am so excited for them to come to campus and share a little about their important work.”
For Judith Flores Carmona, an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education and the Honors College, planned the event along with Lopez.
“I knew that the targeted audience, borderlands peoples and millennials were all right here,” said Carmona. “They will talk about the issues — transphobia, xenophobia, what does it mean to exist in the borderlands region. Students need to hear.
“Critical awareness is necessary for these spaces, for the populations we serve. We are a Hispanic Serving Institution. They need to see themselves reflected. What does it look like to be resilient, to speak up, to speak out, to talk back to systems of oppression and to have the courage to do that? They will get to see themselves reflected in Ruben and Cassandra.”
Carmona and Lopez hope this event is the first of many and that soon more courses will be offered covering topics like transphobia, xenophobia, toxic masculinity and more, so raising awareness isn’t just left to International Women’s Day.
More:Weekend family fun: Arts Fair, Harlem Globetrotters and Film Fest
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St. Louis Post-Dispatch
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Homepage
William Corbin Burke Sr.
Burke, William Corbin, Sr.
88, of Jefferson City, passed away November 21, 2020.
He was born on July 17, 1932, in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of the late William Willard Burke and Dorothy May Williams Burke.
He was married on November 17, 1962, in St. Louis to Lynne Shelton Bland who preceded him in death on June 14, 2007.
A graduate of John Burroughs High School, Mr. Burke received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Colgate University, Hamilton, New York; a Master of Arts degree from American University, Washington, D.C.; and a Master of Hospital Administration degree from Washington University, St. Louis.
Bill worked in healthcare administration for thirty-five years in McAllen, Texas, St. Louis, Missouri, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and Santa Maria, California.
He was a U.S. Army veteran of the Korean Conflict.
Survivors include four children, Catherine (Gary) Harbison, Jefferson City; Rebecca (Christopher) Dillman, Encinitas, California; William (Leslie) Burke, Jr., Sacramento, California; Terry (Holly) Burke, Redding, California; and ten grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by one brother, Richard Williams Burke.
Services: Private family services will be held at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials to the Lynne Bland Burke Memorial Scholarship fund at Allan Hancock College, 800 S. College Dr., Santa Maria, CA 93455 or at https://www.hancockcollege.edu/foundation/give.php.
Dulle-Trimble Funeral Home, 3210 N. Ten Mile Drive, Jefferson City, MO 65109 (573-893-5251) is in charge of arrangements.
Those wishing to send condolences to the family may do so at the www.dulletrimble.com website.
Published by St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Nov. 26, 2020.
Dulle-Trimble Funeral Home
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MacPokerOnline.com » Gus Hansen
Gus Hansen
Gus Hansen, aka “The Great Dane,” was born on February 13, 1974 in Copenhagen, Denmark, and is proficient at many more games than just poker. Gus Hansen was also a world class backgammon player and a youth tennis champion. Gus Hansen also enjoys playing golf, squash, and soccer.
Gus Hansen started playing poker in 1993 when he was an exchange student at the University of California Santa Cruz. Gus Hansen quickly became one of the most unique players in poker, known widely for his aggressive play and winning antics.
Gus Hansen is most well-known for his World Poker Tour victories, having won an unprecedented four World Poker Tour titles. He won the inaugural World Poker Tour event in 2003, the $10000 No Limit Holdem tournament at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic. Later in 2003, Gus Hansen won the $10000 No Limit Holdem Championship at the World Poker Tour’s LA Poker Classic. Gus Hansen won the invitation-only Bad Boys of Poker WPT event in the WPT’s second season. He also won his fourth WPT title in 2004 at the Caribbean Adventure tournament. He has made it to four more World Poker Tour final tables, but has not yet won a fifth title. Gus’ exploits at the WPT earned him a first year induction into the WPT’s Walk of Fame.
Gus Hansen hasn’t had much success at the World Series of Poker, but he has done well in several other poker tournaments. In 2006, he won the inaugural European Poker Masters event, The London All-Star Challenge. He has also won the inaugural Poker Superstars Invitational. In early 2007, Gus Hansen won the Aussie Millions tournament held in Melbourne, Australia, winning AUD $1.5 million. As of 2013, Gus Hansen has won over $9,440,928 playing poker.
Gus Hansen lives in Copenhagen,Denmark and enjoys spending time with his one-year old niece, Sally, who he says will be his first poker protégé. Gus Hansen also helped professional poker player Phil Laak in his poker career by giving him a hoodie and a pair of sunglasses to wear while he played.
(The Great Dane)
http://gushansen.me
About Gus Hansen
@GusHansen
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June 11, 2014 Reviews and tributes antarctica, chance, climbing fatalities, conrad anker, edmund hillary, everest, first ascents, george lowe, george mallory, himalayan trust, leo houlding, mountain films, mountain talks, nepal, rebecca stephens, rock climbing, sandy irvine, sherpas, ulvetanna 6 Comments
I was tapping away on my keyboard last Thursday when a friend reminded me that one of Britain’s premier rock climbers was doing a lecture at the Royal Geographical Society in London that evening. Rock climbing isn’t generally my thing unless there’s a fixed rope to haul myself up on, but this particular lecture had an Everest theme, as it was being sponsored by the Himalayan Trust, the charity Sir Edmund Hillary set up to build schools and hospitals in the Khumbu region of Nepal, and one of the aims of the evening was to raise money for the families of the Sherpas who died in the 18 April avalanche in the Khumbu Icefall. Leo Houlding had flown in from a climbing trip to Colorado especially to give the talk. So this week I’m going to be making a rare foray into the world of big wall rock climbing, an activity that frankly terrifies me, and not any less so after hearing this lecture.
Leo Houlding’s lecture at the Royal Geographical Society had an Everest theme
We probably weren’t Leo’s usual audience of young and thrusting hardcore rock climbing enthusiasts, being mostly older friends of Nepal. Apart from Leo himself (who turned up dressed in a pair of knee length shorts) I appeared to be one of the youngest people there, and it was far from being the sell out you might expect for such a high profile and charismatic speaker. He started by asking how many people in the audience were rock climbers, and whether we understood terms like E5 and off width. A few hands went up, but I expect he concluded he would need to talk in plain English.
He talked about two of his most heavily publicised climbs, both of which were made into films. In 2007 he travelled to the north side of Everest with the American climber Conrad Anker as part of the team making the film The Wildest Dream about George Mallory and Sandy Irvine’s disappearance in 1924. They wanted to find out whether it was possible for the pair to have free climbed the Second Step, and the idea was the more experienced Conrad would play Mallory with the younger Leo playing the climbing greenhorn Irvine. It was a nice idea in theory, but it had a basic flaw in that before he went to Everest the only climbing Irvine had done was a spot of pootling in Spitsbergen. By contrast, although Leo was a newcomer to extreme altitude in 2007 he was already one of the world’s leading rock climbers and was capable of dancing up the Second Step in the style of a tango. He started his presentation by showing us the official trailer for the film, which very conveniently happens to be available on YouTube, so here it is.
“I love the quote at the end of that film,” said Leo. “There’s no dream that mustn’t be dared. That’s from Mallory’s diary, and it’s a quote I’ll be coming back to later.” And so he did, though personally I think it’s a bit of a silly quote.
Conrad and Leo were also hoping to summit Everest using the same equipment and clothing Mallory and Irvine used in 1924, and Leo showed us various photos of them in outlandish period costume. He explained their layering system. There were seven layers in total, with a silk and merino wool base layer (which he pointed out people have since returned to), Shetland wool somewhere in between, and an outer layer of gabardine made by the posh clothing manufacturer Burberry, making them possibly the only two living mountaineers to have ever worn that particular brand.
Leo Houlding and Conrad Anker in their period clothing
The film was shot in the giant IMAX format, which meant they had 75kg of camera equipment to lug to the summit with them, consisting of a 25kg camera, 25kg of batteries, and a 25kg tripod to steady it all. Everything was going well until they were struck by a storm on the North Ridge. The cameramen were fine wrapped up in their nice warm down suits and mitts, but Leo and Conrad weren’t doing quite so well in their Burberry trench coats and leather boots. They returned to advanced base camp shivering with cold and close to being frostbitten, where Leo plunged his hands and feet into hot water to defrost.
“Sod that. I wasn’t going to lose fingers for the film,” Leo told us.
Everyone agreed that the specially designed period clothing was all very nice in the 1920s, but it wasn’t worth two elite climbers risking their careers just to prove a point, and from then on they wore modern clothing just like everyone else. They did have better luck when they reached the Second Step, the most difficult feature during Mallory and Irvine’s summit day on the Northeast Ridge. Leo showed us a photo of people climbing it, and explained that it’s 90 feet high but the only really difficult bit is the last 15 feet of sheer rock (which is all very well for Leo to say, but I struggled to get my leg over a large sloping slab towards the bottom when I climbed it). Although Mallory’s team mate Noel Odell swore he saw them climbing a feature on the ridge that in all probability was either the Second Step or higher Third Step (see my post about it) many people believe it would not have been possible for them to have climbed it using 1920s techniques or equipment. All climbers since 1975 have overcome this section using an aluminium ladder left there by a Chinese expedition, so Leo’s team untied the ladder while they had a go at free climbing a crack on the left hand side of it.
Leo Houlding rates the Second Step an HVS grade and doesn’t believe George Mallory climbed it
“I would rate it as HVS,” said Leo, “or Hard Very Severe,” (which he presumably said for the benefit of any gynaecologists in the audience who thought it stood for High Vaginal Swab). “I’ve done most of Mallory’s climbs in the Alps, and most of them were HVS too, so he was definitely capable of climbing it, but it’s a different story at that altitude. Do I think Mallory climbed the Second Step? I would say it’s extremely unlikely. I didn’t want to be the person to say it on the film, but that’s what I believe simply because of those last 15 feet.”
Interestingly one technique they did have in the 1920s that Leo didn’t talk about was one seldom used these days: standing on your partner’s shoulders. This was how the Chinese team who made the first accepted ascent via the North Ridge in 1960 overcame the Second Step (I wrote a post about that too). One of the photos Leo showed us, of Conrad Anker standing at the bottom of the final section, demonstrates that it might have been possible by this method, since Irvine was quite a big chap.
The second part of Leo’s talk covered a far bolder and more innovative climb, his first ascent of the northeast ridge of Ulvetanna last year, an enormous piece of rock in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica whose name translates in Norwegian as The Wolf’s Tooth. This ascent was also made into a film called The Last Great Climb, a strange title given that it almost certainly isn’t (or indeed, wasn’t). Again he started by showing us the trailer for the film, and again I’ve managed to dredge it off YouTube.
As you can see, it’s quite a scary rock climb and I was in danger of soiling my underpants just watching the trailer, which given I was sitting on the balcony and there were people below me would not have been cool. Leo helpfully explained that the face whose ridge they climbed was 1500m high, which is the height of five Shard buildings. He even showed us a photo of the mountain with five images of the Shard superimposed one on top of each other. IMHO, life would be so much simpler if everyone measured heights of mountains in Shards and it would save a good deal of mental effort converting altitudes into feet for the benefit of any Americans.
After being dropped off in the frozen Antarctic wastes by a giant Ilyushin cargo aircraft, the team set up their base camp on the plateau a short distance from the ridge they intended climbing. Within days of arriving they received a spot of bad news when they heard over the radio that a cyclone was on the way and 80 knot winds could be expected. This was some way off the top end of the Beaufort Scale and could be expected to uproot trees if there were any to hand (which, of course, there weren’t). The team responded in the only way they could under the circumstances: build a few snow walls around their tents, pile into the sturdiest looking one and take down all the others. Happily the hurricane ended up missing them, or their expedition could have been over more quickly than this year’s Everest season.
Ulvetanna in Antarctica is the height of five Shard buildings, seen here
Leo explained they had three priorities for the expedition: (1) to not die, and to return with all their fingers and toes, (2) to complete the route, and (3) to make a good film of the climb. He said that (2) and (3) were of equal priority. Their first few days of climbing appeared to be quite enjoyable, if you’re into that sort of thing (I have to confess I would rather spend a month’s holiday indoors watching TV programmes about cookery than indulge in that sort of extreme vertical rock climbing). They raced up a slanting 45 degree ridge of rock just a metre wide which they christened the Dinosaur’s Spine and established a camp in portaledge tents emblazoned with the logos of their principal sponsors Berghaus just beneath the main vertical section of the climb. Leo explained that they were having to climb every section twice in order to film and take photographs of climbers who appeared to be leading a difficult pitch.
They were making good progress when suddenly the weather turned bad. He showed us footage of him edging painfully up a harder section with the wind whistling across him. His hands were gloveless and he explained that he was being filmed in temperatures of -20°C. The previous day they had been climbing in -5°C, which was on the edge of sensible for gloveless hands. -20°C meant certain frostbite, and it also meant a change of tactics. Instead of free climbing with bare hands and rock shoes (using technical equipment for safety only, and not to assist with climbing) they would have to don big mitts and plastic boots and resort to aid climbing.
They descended to their ledge in a storm and realised they had just six days left to complete the ascent and descend again before the aircraft was due to come and pick them up. This realisation helped to focus the mind, and thereafter they made good progress up the ridge, although they were now doing it in cold weather and poor visibility. The glossy magazine photographs were over, but now they had footage of epic climbing in stormy conditions. Their summit video could have been shot on top of any Scottish mountain, but for what had gone before, the rack of climbing hardware they wore, and the joy and relief on their faces. Leo shot the video as he asked each of the other three summiteers how they were feeling on that great occasion.
“Manly,” one of them exclaimed.
Their ascent of Ulvetanna involved climbing each section twice, once for real and once for the camera
Then he swung the camera around to reveal their cameraman and film maker Alastair Lee had actually made it to the summit with them.
Leo’s talk had a poignant postscript. One of the summiteers, Sean ‘Stanley’ Leary died in a BASE jumping accident two months ago and his wife was due to give birth that very day. Although they had fulfilled their number one priority of returning home safely, this sad ending did highlight the stark reality that those who indulge in climbing and extreme sports at such an elite level have an alarmingly high mortality rate. The flip side is they are all supermen, and I am in awe of what they did.
Which led onto the final part of the evening, and its main purpose, the fundraising. Master of ceremonies Rebecca Stephens, who was the first British woman to climb Everest in 1993 and is now Chairman of the Himalayan Trust UK, showed us a film of the late Sir Edmund Hillary and his friend and Everest team mate George Lowe, who died last year, visiting schools in the Khumbu region of Nepal which have been built and funded by the charity.
“Hillary, Hillary” the kids were chanting as they arrived.
“It’s not the mountains but the people who keep us coming back here,” George Lowe said to his friend as they walked along a trail.
He is not alone in that feeling. Hundreds of trekkers and climbers visit the Everest region every year. They return home retaining a huge amount of goodwill for the Sherpas who have helped them to achieve their dreams, and they resolve to help out by donating to charities like the Himalayan Trust.
Rebecca then introduced us to Ang Jangbu Sherpa, an inspirational figure who attended one of Sir Edmund Hillary’s schools as a child but dreamed of becoming a helicopter pilot. While working in the trekking industry as a young man he was lucky to have caught the attention of a wealthy trekker who took him under his wing and sponsored him to visit the United States and train to be a pilot. He graduated with flying colours (literally) and is now a commercial airline pilot who flies Boeing 747s.
Many Sherpa children have been educated in schools funded and built by the Himalayan Trust, the charity set up by Sir Edmund Hillary after his ascent of Everest in 1953 (Photo: Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand)
He shuffled onto the stage and quietly explained that he’s not used to public speaking in front of so many people but agreed to talk because the 18 April avalanche in the Khumbu Icefall left many families back home bereaved and deprived of their main bread winner. He explained that Sherpas in the Khumbu region are familiar with death in climbing accidents, and while they knew such events couldn’t be prevented on Everest, after the avalanche the Sherpas got together and demanded better insurance cover so that families of the victims could be provided for. He explained that they were not striking for better wages, but for greater security.
While this may be true, it occurred to me that I was perhaps the only person in the audience who had lost some of my goodwill for the Sherpas following the avalanche and its aftermath instead of gained it, having observed Sherpa militancy first hand. I was invited to the lecture by a friend of mine Angus, who has recently become a trustee of the Himalayan Trust UK. As a trustee of a charity operating in Nepal myself I was intrigued how he came to be involved in such a prestigious one as this, and had a chat with him about it before the lecture. Outside the entrance they were selling tickets for a raffle for the victims’ families. Angus appeared to be embarrassed when I put my hand in my pocket and produced a fiver.
“No, honestly Mark, don’t feel you have to donate. You’ve spent enough already,” he said.
Angus was right in a way: I invested the best part of $20,000 in the Khumbu region this year to pay for my expedition to Lhotse which was cut short by the Sherpa strike, but another £5 wasn’t going to break the bank if it goes to someone who needs it more than me. I admitted that when people have asked me which of the many charities raising funds for the avalanche victims they should donate to, I have directed them to the Himalayan Trust because of their long history of building schools and hospitals for the Sherpas. You can ensure that money you donate to them will be spent wisely.
But I believe it’s also important to put things in perspective. Since the avalanche Sherpas have been presented as an exploited underclass who have been treated poorly by uncaring westerners in pursuit of Everest glory. This is a grotesque distortion of the true picture by people who are unaware of Sherpa history, and how closely their increasing prosperity over the last hundred years has been inextricably linked to mountaineering expeditions. The Sherpas of this generation may be Everest guides, but their children are the doctors, teachers and airline pilots of tomorrow. Much of this is due to the schools and hospitals organisations like the Himalayan Trust have built, and because of the generosity of westerners such as the one who paid for Ang Jangbu’s flying lessons, but most of all it is because of income generated by the tourism industry. The trekking industry has grown out of the mountaineering expeditions that first visited Nepal. Many Sherpas are now tea house owners or have their own trekking and climbing agencies. Climbing Sherpas are paid comparatively generous salaries which enable them to send their children to good schools.
Organisations like the Himalayan Trust, and the Sherpa community themselves, should be wary of the militant tendency that emerged this year and hope that it doesn’t spread into trekking and other parts of the tourist industry. If this happens then in future it’s likely I won’t be the only person in the audience watching the romantic and heart-warming speeches with one eyebrow raised. However small the problem may be now, there is certainly a new generation of Sherpas emerging who are in danger of eroding the goodwill and generosity of westerners who care about Nepal by being more combative (for example, I saw one Sherpa complain on his Facebook page that he didn’t receive his summit bonus this year). In many ways the direction of movement is positive. You could say the Himalayan Trust are building schools for people who are rapidly taking control of their own destiny, and the most successful charities are those who become obsolete because the people they support are no longer dependent. But this greater control needs to be used constructively. Ang Jangbu didn’t of course mention the Sherpas who threatened to break the legs of other Sherpas if they didn’t go on strike.
16 Sherpas died in the Khumbu Icefall avalanche on 18 April. 400 other Nepalis are believed to have died building stadiums for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Another important point to raise is that a disproportionate amount of charity goes to the Khumbu region and Sherpas who are comparatively wealthy beside people in other parts of Nepal. A great deal, in excess of $700,000, has been raised for Sherpa families already, as I highlighted in a previous post. Many newspaper and magazine reports have described how dangerous the work of a climbing Sherpa is compared with other jobs, but 16 deaths this year in a freak act of nature does not even remotely compare to the 400 Nepalis who have been reported to have died in Qatar building stadiums for the 2022 World Cup. Climbing Sherpas can earn as much as $5000 in the two month period they work on Everest. This may not sound much to westerners living in an expensive city like London, but it goes a long way in a country where the gross national income per capita is believed to be around $700. Most Nepalis don’t have the option of becoming climbing Sherpas. Thousands travel to the Middle East to work in the construction industry and send money back to their families. There are plenty of horror stories and the Qatar World Cup is merely the most high profile one; many are tricked into going by loan sharks who ask them for an extortionate sum to fly out to the Gulf with the promise of a high salary when they arrive. They are effectively sold into slavery, and often their families never hear from them again.
Climbing Sherpas have to contend with some risk, as indeed do all Everest climbers, but they earn a good wage for their country and many of their children have much greater opportunities. I would certainly encourage you to donate to organisations like the Himalayan Trust which support the Sherpas. I owe a great many happy memories to them. Having watched the avalanche come down with my own eyes as I made my way into the Icefall that morning, and then seen the bodies air lifted out on long lines, I can’t help thinking about the sacrifice those innocent people made and the great void left behind for their friends and family. But please do also consider donating to charities such as the one I myself am a trustee of, CHANCE, which provides educational opportunities in less developed parts of Nepal (I’m still taking donations on the MyDonate page for my Lhotse climb).
Anyway I’m conscious that, like the puja for the dead at Everest Base Camp this year that was hijacked by militant Sherpas and turned into a political rally, I’ve hijacked this post about a lecture by Leo Houlding in support of the Himalayan Trust, and turned it into a rant of my own. It remains for me to tell you about the raffle. There were some great prizes, including a print signed by not only Sir Edmund Hillary but Tenzing Norgay as well (how on earth they managed this when he died in 1986 heaven only knows), a book signed by Sir Edmund Hillary, and a DVD signed by Leo Houlding.
“It’s a bit crap compared with the other prizes,” Leo said with an embarrassed chuckle as this was read out.
I would happily have won Leo’s DVD, but whatever, it had been an enjoyable and successful evening, well worth the price of my entrance fee and raffle tickets.
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6 thoughts on “Leo Houlding does his bit for the Sherpas”
Hi Mark, thanks for writing another great article. I’ll refrain from using the words ‘post’ or ‘blog’ because I think that devalues the time, effort and research you clearly put in.
Whilst it’s great that Leo Houlding is doing his bit to help the Sherpas affected by the tradgedy, the whole ‘Everest in tweeds’ theme seems very familiar. Didn’t Ed Viesturs and friend do something identical a few years ago? And they also concluded (after a very short time in similar attire) that they didn’t want to lose their most important digits due to the extreme conditions! I recall that they also removed the ladder to free climb the 2nd step as well, before knocking off the summit in the latest hi-tech clothing.
I don’t suppose we will ever know if Mallory & Irvine made it to the top, but what we do know is that they never made it back. It’s clear that the equipment and clothing at the time was woefully inadequate for the undertaking, even if they did have the technical ability to succeed. I believe that the intrigue surrounding them exists because of the mystery and if we ever found out the truth, one way or the other, it would probably be lost – just like the Turin Shroud.
It’s great that Leo has done something positive for a worthy course, but I feel that this kind of stunt just adds to the media circus that already surrounds the big one. ‘Let’s think of another interesting angle from which we can climb Everest – and maybe get some sponsorship’. What next? Climbing scientists looking for evidence of extra-terrestrial life from a meteorite, that oh, coincidentally landed just below the summit of Everest. Let’s organise a climbing expedition there immediately, all in the name of science of course!
It’s pie in the sky, but the best thing that could happen to Everest would be the construction of an Eiger-style railway, built through the mountain to the summit. The cost wouldn’t be as huge as you might imagine due to the labour costs in Nepal and it would keep Nepali’s employed for years. Tourists would flock to Nepal, not in their thousands, but in their millions for the experience. Climbers would still be able to make a traditional ascent to the summit with the added bonus of easy descent, if they so wished 😀
It all makes perfect sense! Just writing a postcard to the Nepali government…
Heehee, thanks Matt, you must remind me the name of that Australian wine you drink. 😉
You mean the Turin Shroud’s not real?
I too am sceptical that the Mallory & Irvine story will ever be “solved” (if that word applies.
The best that could be done is eliminating a number of possibilities and what’s left the best indication.
I was interested to read Leo Houlding’s impressions on the Mallory & Irvine route, especially the 2nd step dynamics.
I’ve no opinion on that myself, but one is reminded of the many and disparate impressions of the severity of the last 15 feet up the crux section, that said Leo’s impressions are most welcome on this matter.
Related to this topic, last year I wrote up a scenario that I devised some years ago that could potentially explain the Odell sighting of Mallory and Irvine’s ‘alacrity’ up the presumed 2nd step crux.
http://www.everest1953.co.uk/sighting-by-odell.html
In summary, it questions the context and the assumption that Odell saw Mallory & Irvine “beginning” the 2nd step attempt when he observed the parting clouds and then perhaps surprisingly climbing rapidly up the step “blind”.
Instead I suggest that in truth we really have no evidence that this 12.50pm sighting was when Mallory and Irvine initially arrived at the step and then just proceeded to climb it “blind”.
Alternatively, I propose it could be argued that what if the Englishmen arrived at the step before Odell saw them at 12.50pm?.
That while still obscured, the pair took some time to study the step and perhaps Mallory alone or even helped to an extent by Irvine, in their own time, climbed the step and managed to affix a rope to a number of identified and usable boulders above the step and then like the “Chinese ladder” once affixed and tested, Mallory descended the fixed rope to fetch the oxygen and Irvine, so that after a rest they then proceeded to climb the step with their oxygen, but now aided by the fixed rope installed earlier and so by 12.50, Odell did see the pair climbing up the step and their “alacrity” is explained by this “pre-installed” fixed rope which acted like the ladder since 1975, aiding their ascent.
The theory may nicely explain Odell’s surprising observation just by questioning the “context” of the assumptions implicit in the sighting.
All a lot of fun to write, but I’m still open minded about the matter still and it wouldn’t surprise me that in their haste and en route to the 2nd step one above the 1st step, they could see the likely route up the 2nd step on the approach and so by the time they reached its base they already had worked out a plan to climb it “blind” and just proceeded up the route regardless as time was of the essence by near 1.00pm and little time for dilly dallying.
That’s for airing this Leo Houlding account Mark.
Watch out for falling rocks,
Jochen Hemmleb
Quote: “All climbers since 1975 have overcome this section using an aluminium ladder left there by a Chinese expedition”
Please note that the first free-climb of the Second Step already occurred in 1985 by Catalan climber Oscar Cadiach, who free-climbed the pitch on lead under monsoon conditions, using a sling tied around one of the Chinese ladder’s rungs as a runner. He rated the 15-feet crux UIAA V+, which is just about British HVS or USA 5.8. The hevy monsoon snow, not existant during Mallory & Irvine’s attempt, might have shortenend the crux somewhat, but the downside was that the pitch was capped by a cornice, which Cadiach had to cut through with his ice-axe. Cadiach’s report is available in Spanish at http://www.sge.org/sge07/07/oscar_cadiach.asp
Thanks, Jochen, interesting stuff. I hadn’t heard the story before. And a night at 8600m as well. There’s lots of Himalayan history we miss out on because it’s never been translated into English. Thanks for pointing it out.
Incidentally, it looks like the page has moved, but I managed to find the new location. Here’s a shortlink to the Google translated version, a little hard to follow at times but I could just about make sense of it.
http://hoz.me.uk/1jApHyx
Further to Jochen’s point, interested readers may find it edifying to consult his website
http://www.jochenhemmleb.com/german/mundi/index.php
Indeed from section 4.3, there is useful details about the other known free climbs of the 2nd step in the public arena ranging from Oscar Cadiach in 1985, Theo Fritsche in 2001, Nickolay Totmjanin in 2003 and Conrad Anker/Leo Houlding in 2007.
Leo Houlding has described his latest thinking this year, but in summary Cadiach rated the crux headwall as ULAA V+ (5.7-5.8), Fritsche about IV+ and V- (5.6) with the last moves in the V+ (5.7-5.8) range, Anker 5.8 – 5.10 (V+-VI+) and now Leo Houlding describes his 2014 thinking above.
This is useful information, but speaking for myself now, I would argue that these assessments are just vignettes in a much longer story for Mallory and Irvine toward the summit.
Specifically, what if they had of climbed up the 1st step not via the open gully of the right flank of the 1st step which is taken by most people, but in that unknown environment for the first time, they opted for surety in the gloomy mists and adhered to the ridge crest, leading to the ascent up the frontal “snout” of the 1st step (past the later Chinese Camp VII upper) and then climbed up the top “dome” of the 1st step to its apex.
If they went that way (hypothetically), then that too is a nasty climb and seldom done these days.
My point being if they went this way and suceeded in climbing the upper dome of the 1st step that way (with a lot of vertical climbing), then by the time the 2nd step was reached, they may well have thought it to be just another similar climb that they had already negotiated lower on the 1st step.
Indeed, the 2nd step may even be less difficult than the frontal upper dome of the 1st step?.
Context is important where I suggest its important not to fixate on the 2nd step.
In conclusion, what if Mallory & Irvine actually found the 2nd step less of a bother than the 1st step earlier?.
I tend to analyse their total climb rather than a subset of the 2nd step.
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Video Audio Bio
Visual Ministry Choir
The Visual Ministry Choir (or VMC for short) has been drawn together from some of today's leading vocalists and musicians found within the British gospel music scene, in order to sustain its ranks of unbridled talent and ability. The choir appeared on the video of top boy band Westlife's No. 1 hit single Flying Without Wings, and secured a place in musical history when they appeared on Perfect Day, a song that sold over 1.7 million copies in aid of Children In Need.
...singing and performance was beautiful and very uplifting...
Chelsea Christmas Party 2010
Watch more Visual Ministry Choir
Listen to Visual Ministry Choir
Visual Ministry Choir's Bio
The Visual Ministry Choir (or VMC for short) has been drawn together from some of today’s leading vocalists and musicians found within the British gospel music scene, in order to sustain its ranks of unbridled talent and ability. The choir appeared on the video of top boy band Westlife’s No. 1 hit single Flying Without Wings, and secured a place in musical history when they appeared on Perfect Day, a song that sold over 1.7 million copies in aid of Children In Need.
Originally formed in 1996, the VMC has since forged a reputation for creating its own unique brand of gospel music which has done much to increase the growing popularity of the British gospel sound.
On stage, their unique vocal ability has become an asset by comparison with other choirs of the same genre. Evidence of this fact can be seen from a list of accomplishments which continues to grow with credibility and respect, including an abundance of television appearances such as: The Michael Barrymore Show, The Big Breakfast, Sky 1’s The Dream Team, The Lee Evans Show, The Generation Game, The Eleventh Hour, Saturday Night Live, The Mag, London Tonight, The Jonathan Ross Show, Top of the Pops, Songs of Praise, Sunday Morning Programme for Anglia TV, Channel 5’s Alpha Zone, EMMA Awards, Wogan and The Lottery Show.
The VMC has also supported a variety of recording artists, both in the recording studio and on stage, as well as in front of the television cameras, including: Carlene Anderson (Children in Need), Sarah Brightman & Duran Duran (New Years Live Show, BBC), Terry Callier, Mariah Carey (Top of the Pops), Dina Caroll, Cleopatra (Cleopatra in the House), Coolio (Top of the Pops), Gloria Estefan (1996 theme song for the Olympics), Jools Holland (Tonight with Jools Holland) and Westlife.
In the field of national events, corporate entertainment and hospitality, the VMC has endorsed its presence with Cadbury’s, Coca Cola, The Natural History Museum, Carlton Television Launch, Saatchi & Saatchi, Harrods, British Telecom, Ministry Of Defence, Gap, Debenhams, DH Evans, Orange Mobile, The Hogmanay Festival (Edinburgh), and appeared at Wembley Stadium prior to an England football match, and over nine days leading up to Christmas at Selfridges in Oxford Street, London.
The VMC has performed in front of Her Majesty the Queen on two separate occasions to celebrate Commonwealth Day along with Prime Ministers John Major and Tony Blair respectively. Also, alongside Chaka Khan, Roger Daltrey, Jeffrey Osbourne and Gladys Knight at the Royal Dublin Society in Ireland, in front of the President of Ireland, in an exciting and spectacular reworking of Handel’s Messiah; for Dr Maya Angelou’s 75th Birthday Celebration; on John Paul II Day (Polish Prime Minister and his Officials); for the Stephen Lawrence 10th Anniversary Memorial Service; at the 2004 Olympic Torch Relay and undertaken many more high profile events.
However, in spite of the above plaudits, the VMC ensured its place in musical history when they appeared on Perfect Day, a song that sold over 1.7 million copies in aid of Children In Need and featured such prominent artists as Joan Armatrading, Bono, David Bowie, Boyzone, Elton John and Tom Jones. Their stirring melody, featured at the end of the song, typifies in depth their sublime quality and professionalism.
In 1998, the VMC released their debut album entitled Visually Speaking. Here, the VMC has become the embodiment of what it stands for as a Gospel Choir, and the album received critical acclaim and support throughout the Christian music industry here in the UK, and also in Europe after the choir conducted successful tours of Switzerland and Poland.
Furthermore, the diversity of talent and style possessed in depth by the VMC means that their ability to sing in a moving traditional style, or in line with today’s growing trend for a more contemporary sound, will not prove a hindrance to anyone seeking to use the sounds of a gospel choir, whatever the purpose or occasion. Needless to say, the result will always prove to be the same… outstanding!
“Hi Frank and Caroline,
Just a note further to my chat with Caroline to say thanks so much to Visual Ministry for being fantastic this weekend. The guys were really great – very accommodating, and easy to work with. The logistics of the event were quite tricky in the end, and the choir’s flexibility really helped with the smooth running of the event – to top it off the actual singing and performance was beautiful and very uplifting.
Please pass my thanks into Junior and the rest of the choir and here’s to successful future collaborations
Very best wishes,
Nicky Denson, Shining Wit Ltd re the Chelsea Christmas Party 2010
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The multi-talented Matt Hoverman writes witty comedies for television (Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program), the theatre (FringeNYC Award for Outstanding Playwriting) and film. He is also a professional actor, voice-over artist and teacher.
Plays include IN TRANSIT (FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award for Outstanding Playwriting), THE AUDIENCE (co-author, Drama Desk nomination for Best New Musical), THE STUDENT (winner, Samuel French OOB Short Play Festival), THE GLINT (Broadway reading starring Beau Bridges, Jean Smart, Michael McKean and SNL's Cecily Strong), THRILLSVILLE (George Street Playhouse reading starring Edie Falco, Richard Kind, Grant Shaud and Adriane Lenox), WHO YOU SEE HERE (La Jolla Playhouse workshop, directed by Christopher Ashley), CHRISTMAS SHORTS (published by Samuel French), SEARCHING FOR GOD IN SUBURBIA (Huntington Theatre Breaking Ground Festival) and more. Five of his short plays have been finalists for the Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Heideman Award. He has been in residence at the Ojai Playwrights Conference, the Edward Albee Foundation, and the Berkshire Playwrights Lab. His plays have been produced or developed by (among others) the La Jolla Playhouse, Naked Angels, the Pasadena Playhouse, the Barrow Group, the Huntington Theatre, The Acting Company, the Lark, Penguin Rep, the SoHo Playhouse, the Transport Group, Iama Theatre Co. (CA), City Theatre (FL), Maples Rep (MO), Axial Theatre Company, Bricks Theatre (WI), Phoenix Theatre (IN), Las Vegas Little Theatre (NV), Modjeska Playhouse (CA), Guild Hall, Blessed Unrest, Miranda Theatre Company, Algonquin Productions and Vital Theatre Company.
As a TV writer, Matt won the 2014 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program and the 2015 Humanitas Prize for Children's Animation for his work on the long-running PBS Kids TV show Arthur, and his Sofia the First script introducing Disney's first disabled princess won the 2018 Norman Lear Center Sentinel Award. He has written for Arthur (PBS), Curious George (NBC/Universal), Sofia the First (Disney Jr.), Goldie & Bear (Disney Jr.) and is currently on the staff of Fancy Nancy (Disney Jr.). He co-wrote the screenplay for Any Day Now by Garage Films/Albert Uria; this short film has won 4 awards and is an official selection of over 30 film festivals and counting.
Also a classically trained actor, Matt has worked with some of the industry’s top directors (Joseph Chaikin, John Rando, Anne Bogart, etc.), on national tours (The Acting Company), off-B’way (Women’s Project), in major regional theatres (Yale Rep, La Jolla Playhouse), on TV (Late Night w/Conan O’Brien) and in many commercials. He also provides the voices for lots of cartoon characters on such Saturday morning hits as YU-GI-OH! and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
A widely respected teacher, Matt has midwived the creation of over 200 solo shows in his popular GO-SOLO workshops, including winners of the 2005, 2009, 2010, 2012 & 2013 FringeNYC Best Solo Show Awards. His teaching is the subject of a NY Times feature article and the documentary SOLO by Shannon Romines. For more about Matt's classes, visit GO-SOLO.org
Raised in West Redding, Connecticut by two transplanted Iowans, Matt studied playwriting at Brown University in Paula Vogel's graduate workshop as an undergrad (BA in Theatre) and acting at the University of California, San Diego (MFA in Acting). He currently travels between LA and NYC with his wife, the fabulously talented actress/playwright Katie Atcheson.
Member: SAG-AFTRA, AEA, ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild.
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"FUNNY AND HEARTWARMING"
Isthmus Daily Page
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Français I English
Bien-être et habitat
Bien-être et hypersensibilité
Tomorrow's world is collaborative. The competitive world is already over.
"Man, by his selfishness, which is too short-sighted for his own interests, by his inclination to enjoy all that is at his disposal, in a word by his carelessness for the future and for his fellow men, seems to be working towards the annihilation of his means of conservation and the very destruction of his own species."
Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck
Tomorrow's world is already today's world. A world where collaboration takes precedence over competition.
Transformation, evolution
On 18 December 1829, Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck died in Paris at the age of 85. This brilliant naturalist had just spent some difficult years. As he was already the laughing stock of his colleagues, he had to face the contempt of Darwin and the vexations of Napoleon I. In fact, although he had a comfortable income and accommodation at the Museum due to a recognised scientific career and a colossal working life, he was abandoned by all. However, in addition to having founded biology, Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck was the first naturalist to propose a theory of evolution, as early as the beginning of the 19th century. He gave it a name: transformism. In contrast to the Darwinian theory, which describes a world where struggle - and adaptation through natural selection (1) - is the primary function of survival, Lamarck describes a world where the key to the survival of species is collaboration.
For Lamarck, the living world and its survival are based on dynamic and symbiotic collaboration.
To put the matter in its historical context, the two men are pursuing two different objectives - two different scientific projects: Lamarck is looking for a physical explanation of the living being. He wants to understand how living beings differ from inanimate elements, which are the objects of study in the physical sciences. As a rationalist scientist, Lamarck, although he studied with the Jesuits, considers that God - here taken in the religious sense of the term - is not the power that created the world as we see it today.
Lamarck's materialist theory describes on the one hand the necessity of evolution in living beings (it is necessary to explain the presence of complex and diverse living beings) and on the other hand defines evolution as a process of cooperation between organisms and their environment. For Lamarck, the living world and its survival are based on a dynamic and symbiotic collaboration: evolution is a contributory solution to restore harmony and balance so that organisms remain in tune with their environment.
Evolution is a contributory solution to restore harmony and balance so that organisms remain in tune with their environment.
As a visionary, he believes in the transmission of acquired traits (2), that is, in response to the challenges of its environment, an organism acquires characteristics during its life that it transmits to its descendants, thereby helping the survival of the species.
For Darwin, the evolution of species is due to random mutations in the genetic heritage and natural selection is due to chance.
Darwin, for his part, is not concerned with knowing what a living being is but pursues a very precise objective: to refute the creationism that he was taught at Cambridge during his studies, the divine intervention in the production of species.
Unlike Lamarck, whose work emphasizes the links and collaboration between living beings, he takes up the idea that the living being is like a machine and replaces divine intention with the non-intentional and non-personal mechanism of natural selection.
His work will mark the beginning of the so-called "evolutionist" current still in force today, in part because of the importance it gives to genetic chance. For Darwin, in fact, mutations in a species are due to chance -. It should be noted that even today, the theoretical necessity of evolution put forward by Lamarck is still unknown to the majority of evolutionists and that Lamarck's vision is contrary to the evolutionary synthesis still accepted today - known as "neo-Darwinian" -.
A theory in vogue until the 2000s, neo-Darwinism, a synthesis generally adopted by the scientific community since the 1930s and 1940s, integrates various theories, including that of Darwin and those of the botanist monk Gregor Mendel on the mechanisms of heredity, whose work dates back to the 19th century. In short, it postulates that the evolution of species is due to random mutations in the genetic heritage and that natural selection is due to chance.
The first contributory stone of both theories (Lamarck's transformism, the true theory of evolution, and Darwin's evolutionism, the adaptive transformation of species) is the fact of having brought irremediable counter-arguments to fixism, which defined both the universe and species - animal and plant - as "fixed" and without transformation.
The two men also have in common that they have carried out a titanic and methodical work of species observation and transcription.
Over time, Darwin's active and intelligent communication, taken up by the whole scientific community against the creationist wave which had been very much in vogue in the United States since the beginning of the 20th century (3), definitively discarded Lamarckian theories. Scientists then made "The Origin of Species" their new Gospel.
But one fact remained unsolved: neither of the two theories had really been proven by experience, except, for the evolutionist theory, a draft, called "proof by accumulation of facts" or "puzzle effect".
Discoveries in the field of epigenetics show that if Lamarck had not exactly described evolution as it was taking shape, his perspective is ultimately radically closer to that of Darwin.
By a curious coincidence that life has in store for us, the first serious rehabilitation of Lamarck in the 1970s, based on research conducted since the 1940s, came from Cambridge (the site of Darwin's studies).
Conrad Waddington, a British biologist, paleontologist and geneticist described at that time the concept of genetic assimilation, i.e. the assimilation of a response to environmental stress directly into the genome. He thus shows that Lamarck's hypothesis on the principle of heredity of acquired traits can intervene in developmental biology. He then uses the term "epigenetics" (literally "above the gene" (4)) to highlight the fact that this influence, this environmental stress, seems to occur outside the gene itself while impacting the development of the living being whose response (evolution) becomes part of its inheritance: the changes, the acquired characteristics are assimilated by the following generations of the species.
The discoveries in the field of epigenetics in the following decades will show that if Lamarck had not exactly described evolution as it was taking shape, his perspective is in the end radically closer than that of Darwin.
What if Darwin was wrong?
If, at the time, Waddington had to suffer the wrath of many of his colleagues (who accused him of being "neo-Lamarckian" - a supreme insult), we know that epigenetics has since undergone a meteoric development in terms of knowledge and discoveries. These epigenetic means of adapting a species to its environment even constitute, according to the French scientist Joël de Rosnay in 2011, "the great revolution in biology of the last 5 years (5)" because it shows that in some cases, our behaviour acts on the expression of our genes.
But it is Professor Didier Raoult, a researcher in microbiology, director of the research unit in emerging infectious and tropical diseases at the Marseille Faculty of Medicine and discoverer of giant viruses, who in 2011 is throwing a paving stone into the pond by suggesting "what if Darwin had been wrong? "in his seminal book, Surpassing Darwin.
For him, Darwinian dogma is simply shattering.
On the one hand, the latest discoveries - in 2010 - show that humans are descended not only from Homosapiens but also from Neanderthal man (from whom 1 to 4% of our genes come), so the family tree of the human species, the famous "Darwinian tree", is no longer valid. For Professor Raoult, "the idea of a common trunk with species that diverge like branches" is even "nonsense" (6).
Then, while for Darwin each new species appears through the adaptation of existing species, it turns out that nature continues to invent species. This aspect has also been demonstrated by two Princeton scientists, Rosemary and Peter Grant, in a study conducted over a period of 40 years which leads to the conclusion that we can follow the emergence of new species in nature. It is mainly the dogma of evolutionism that is being pointed at here.
The idea here is obviously not to discredit Darwin's work but to question the fact that it may have been established as an immutable dogma, which is moreover completely contrary to the primary spirit of science, (...) in perpetual movement of knowledge sweeping each other away. The advances in epigenetics show today that it was Lamarck, and not Darwin, who had the right vision on at least one point: the development of a living being depends on its links and exchanges with the outside world (the environment) and not exclusively on its genetic code.
One could imagine that the fact that Lamarck became blind at the end of his life could be a metaphor for the blindness of his contemporaries to his discoveries more than the result of a life spent with his eye glued to a microscope.
(1) The evolution and complexification of living beings is the product of chance, variation and natural selection and has no theoretical necessity.
(2) Darwin refers to the transmission of acquired characteristics in "The Variation of Animals and Plants under the Effect of Domestication", published in 1868, without pronouncing on its reality.
(3) Numerous famous trials opposing evolutionists and creationists have taken place throughout the 20th century in the United States. The antagonism remains very strong at the beginning of the 21st century.
(4) The term "epigenesis" - from epi-, "above", and genesis, "generation" - is due to Aristotle, the absolute precursor, around 350 BC.
(5) Issue "A heredity of acquired characters? "On the shoulders of Darwin, radio France inter, September 13, 2014.
(6) Interview in the French weekly magazine Le Point, 12/12/2011.
#rationalism #scientific #basics
Point zero, in that perspective: where scientific discoveries meet ancestral knowledge.
Vibration, vibratory art
Remote viewing: would esotericism be the science of tomorrow?
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Republic of Lithuania (1991-)
Lithuanian Armed Forces Medal for Distinguished Service
Product version - Lithuanian Armed Forces Medal for Distinguished Service
SKU: 02.LTU.0134.101.01.000
Image courtesy of Republic of Lithuania
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The Medal image is attributed to the Republic of Lithuania and is used in the public domain according to the Republic of Lithuania Law on Copyright and Related Rights that was passed on May 18, 1999, and amended in 2010. It was sourced from the English version of the website of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. See the following page for more information: http://kariuomene.kam.lt/en/military_insignia/decorations.html.
The Lithuanian Armed Forces Medal for Distinguished Service is awarded to Lithuanian military personnel, active reserve soldiers, civilians and foreigners for excellent command and performance in operations, for the protection of lives and state property, and distinguished service on international missions.
If this Medal is awarded more than once to the same recipient, a bronze, silvered, or gilt Gediminas columns clasp may be awarded and worn on the ribbon.
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Dr Nicola Broughton joins Mercia as Investment Director and Head of Technology Transfer. She will provide early stage support to Mercia's university spin-outs.
Mercia Fund Management (MFM), one of the leading technology investors in the UK, announces that Dr Nicola Broughton, a Leeds-based consultant specialising in the commercialisation of Intellectual Property, has joined the team as an Investment Director and Head of Technology Transfer.
Nicola will be growing a team to help support Mercia’s university partners in their areas of geographical focus – the Midlands, North and Scotland.
Nicola has already worked closely with several MFM investee companies within the Life Sciences sector, As well as Mercia’s university partners in the Midlands. She will be liaising with university technology spin-outs and University Technology Transfer Offices to offer them support and advice on developing their work into a profitable, marketable business.
Nicola has a wealth of experience in both Life Sciences and University Commercialisation. In April 2013, she founded her own IP Commercialisation company, for which she worked as a Transfer and Licensing Advisor to many universities across the UK. Nicola helped clients attain a viable route to market by advising them on a variety of issues, including Proof of Concept and business development strategies.
Alongside this, Nicola worked at Medipex Limited where, as a Business Development Consultant, Nicola helped to connect NHS organisations across the Yorkshire & Humber and East Midlands regions with industry and academia on both a national and global scale.
Previously, Nicola was at a University of Leeds spin-out. During her ten years there, Nicola acted as Commercial Director, supporting the company in fund raising, due diligence, IP management, contract management, business development, licencing and strategy. Nicola raised £12 million in Venture Capital as well as public money from grants.
Nicola holds a Ph. D. in Biochemistry from the Imperial Cancer Research Fund and King’s College London. She also has an MBA, a BA in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford, and a Diploma in Law.
CEO Mark Payton said:
“We are delighted to welcome Nicola to our team, especially as our number of university links continues to grow.
“MFM has an enviable pipeline of spin-out investment opportunities from universities based in the Midlands, North and Scotland, including the Universities of Warwick and Birmingham.
“With the appointment of Nicola as Head of Technology Transfer, we will be able to provide further support and guidance and, through our unique investment model, we will then be able to fund these spin-outs through to growth and potential exit.
“We look forward to working with Nicola as we begin a new round of investments and continue to expand our university partnerships.”
Nicola Broughton said:
“The combined model of MFM’s third party funds coupled with the direct investments made into ‘emerging stars’ by Mercia Technologies PLC is an inspired way of reducing the use of 10 year funds, which simply struggle to cope with the long timelines that university spin-outs require.
“I am looking forward to implementing this model and working with an exceptionally talented team to deliver our investment model to university partners across our geographic regions of the Midlands, North and Scotland.”
Sign up to our e-newsletter for all the latest news and updates from Medipex.
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MN Baseball Hub
Section Playoffs 2018
2018 x Regular Season Section Playoffs
Seasons Regular Season Regular Season Section Playoffs Regular Season Section Playoffs Regular Season Section Playoffs Regular Season Section Playoffs Regular Season Section Playoffs Regular Season Section Playoffs Regular Season Section Playoffs Regular Season Section Playoffs Regular Season Section Playoffs
Class AAAA
Section 1AAAA
Class AAA
Class AA
Lakeville North
Lakeville South
Rochester John Marshall
Rochester Mayo
11 Mikey Fredrickson 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 .500 .667 .000 0.667 0 0 0
29 Brock Mogensen 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 .667 .000 0.667 0 0 0
10 Trevor Brettin 1 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 .333 .000 0.333 0 0 0
30 Devin Peterson 1 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .333 .333 .000 0.333 0 0 0
24 Hunter Conrad 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0.000 0 0 0
4 Adam Weed 18 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0.000 0 0 0
8 Trevor Wright 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0.000 0 0 0
22 Brady Bean 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .333 .000 0.333 0 0 0
2 Jackson McLain 18 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0.000 0 0 0
35 Gavin Renwick 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0.000 0 0 0
16 Zach Jakubowsky 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 2 2 3.50 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 1.25
5 Nick Savisik 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0.00
This website is powered by SportsEngine's Sports Relationship Management (SRM) software, but is owned by and subject to the MN Baseball Hub | High School Boys' Baseball News, Scores & Standings privacy policy. ©2021 SportsEngine, Inc.
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Pianist Noah Waddell to perform at benefit dinner showcase for The Music Foundation on January 22
FORT MYERS, Fla. – Jan. 7, 2019. The 2019 Annual Benefit Dinner for The Music Foundation of Southwest Florida is scheduled for Tuesday, January 22, at The Helm Club at The Landings Yacht, Golf, and Tennis Club in Fort Myers. The fundraising celebration will be held from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and will include a social hour and silent auction followed by dinner. The Music Foundation’s high school scholarship recipients and featured artist, award winning professional young pianist Noah Waddell, will perform.
The annual dinner is the main source of funding for the programs that The Music Foundation sponsors. The nonprofit’s mission is to offer programs that reach out to the young people in Southwest Florida, including the Summer Music & Arts Camps, Fifth Grade Travelling Instrument Program, Double Reed & Music Festivals, and High School Summer Music Camp Scholarships. Each year The Music Foundation benefits more than 4,000 students with its programs and awards $10,000 to $15,000 each year to disadvantaged and deserving students.
Waddell is a local musical prodigy who started playing the piano at 7 years old. He has won numerous competitions and performed with The Southwest Florida Symphony and the Tampa Bay Symphony. He performs weekly at Lee Health’s HealthPark Medical Center and has appeared on the nationally syndicated radio program From the Top with Christopher O’Riley. Waddell recorded his debut album at age 12.
Several of the award-winning high school scholarship students will perform at the showcase dinner. These include Grace Anderson, voice; Gus Bahruth, alto sax; Kassandra Cooper, cello; Carly Fulcher, cello; Jonathan Gardella, viola; Daniel Holmes, piano; Danyel Lawston, alto sax; Gwen Morris, oboe; and Victoria O’Donnell, violin.
This year The Music Foundation will also announce winners of the new Professional Development Program that supports local music teachers with continuing education opportunities
Tickets to the Annual Benefit Dinner are $50 each and can be purchased online at https://www.music-foundation.org. For those unable to attend, tax deductible donations to support The Music Foundation can also be given online. For more information about the High School Summer Program Scholarship auditions and the Summer Music & Arts Camps call Ruth Christman at (239) 275-0057. The Helm Club at The Landings Yacht, Golf, and Tennis Club is located at 4420 Flagship Drive in Fort Myers.
ABOUT THE MUSIC FOUNDATION
The Music Foundation of SW Florida was established in 1991 to enrich and transform the lives of young people by igniting and nurturing the lifelong joy of making music. The 501 (C)(3) nonprofit organization is dedicated to encouraging and supporting interest in the musical arts among youth in Southwest Florida through programs that include the Summer Music & Arts Camps, the Fifth Grade Traveling Instrument Program, Double Reed & Music Festivals and High School Summer Music Camp Scholarships. The Foundation has established a Professional Development Program that supports local music teachers with continuing education opportunities. Each year the Music Foundation awards approximately $10,000 to $15,000 to deserving music students from our community. https://www.music-foundation.org/
#TheMusicFoundationofSouthwestFlorida #NoahWaddell #RuthChristman #musiccamp #highschoolmusiccampscholarship #SummerMusicArtsCamp #nonprofit #FifthGradeTravellingInstrumentProgram
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The Inaugural Aspire Awards Gala
UPDATED 6/18/2019 - The Inaugural ASPIRE Awards Gala was Huge Success! Thank you all for your participation and support!
The Inaugural ASPIRE Awards Gala is a celebration of excellence in Asian American representation and philanthropy. The gala is being presented by the National Asian American Community Foundation – a ground-breaking national initiative to unify Asian American philanthropists and increase their collective impact.
Renee & Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall
600 Town Center Drive
POST-EVENT PRESS RELEASE
NAACF Featured in The Coast Magazine – Game Changers
#GoldOpen Premiere of MS. PURPLE
ASPIRE Awards Gala Featured in Modern Luxury Magazine
Sign up to stay up to date with new events and announcements
We seek to build an inclusive and unified community of Asian American philanthropists who empower communities across the country by harnessing the power of collective philanthropy.
© 2019 National Asian American Community Foundation
Nithin Jilla, Founding Board Member
Executive Director, Dreams for Schools
Nithin has an interest in technology, education and enjoys working collectively with leaders to bring about positive impact. He aspires to build models and systems that are sustainable and empower the next generation of youth to become leaders in their local community. He is a passionate educator and social entrepreneur who champions educating and empowering the next generation of innovators. He serves as the Executive Director of Dreams for Schools, whose mission is to make STEM approachable and accessible for all. Empowering Students & Cultivating Curiosity by providing the right tools and experience, Dreams for Schools helps kids program the future training them to be STEM literate with hard and soft skills needed to become the critical thinkers, creative leaders and technologists of tomorrow.
In addition, Nithin is also a community leader and serves as a member on several non-profit and advisory boards which include Harbor Day School in Corona Del Mar, UC Irvine Young Alumni Council, and OC Grantmakers. Nithin obtained his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine.
Johanna Kim, Founding Board Member
Managing Partner, Kerymen LLC
Johanna Lee Kim started her career as a real estate attorney out of UCLA Law School and transitioned into an entrepreneur, business owner, and investor. The five companies she has started have had numerous successful exits to private equity. She is currently the founder and managing director of Kerymen, LLC, a company specializing in commercial real estate and investing in opportunistic and alternative investments in Southern California.
Her philanthropic focus has been on addressing issues of racial inequity, fostering youth, and promoting women’s issues. She has served on the boards of the Boys and Girls Club of Anaheim and the Orange County board of the Asian Americans Advancing Justice. She is currently serving on the Newport Beach Library Foundation Board and is a founding advisory board member of the NAACF.
Joanna Kong, Founding Board Member
Director of Programs, The Sun Family Foundation
Joanna Kong is the Director of Programs for the Sun Family Foundation, a private nonprofit organization that supports education for disadvantaged youth and other charitable endeavors.
Prior to this role, she worked as a corporate attorney at various law firms, including Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. As a lawyer, she specialized in counseling business owners from formation through various stages of corporate growth, including exits. Joanna received her J.D. from UCLA School of Law and B.A. in Criminology, Law and Society from the University of California, Irvine.
Susan Lew, Founding Board Member
Officer, Hsu Hwa Chao Foundation
Susan Lew, MS, is an Officer of the Hsu Hwa Chao Foundation, which has a 25-year history in Orange County philanthropy. She is also a public health professional, health and science writer, musician, and community activist. Her writing has appeared in Brown Medicine Magazine, the Journal of RiskResearch, and the publications of many for-profit and non-profit healthcare organizations. Susan has a BA from Brown University and a MS from Harvard School of Public Health, where she specialized in social determinants of health, behavior change, and health communication. She served on the board of Pacific Symphony Youth Ensembles from 2010-2018 and has been a singer in Pacific Chorale since 2010. Susan currently serves on the board of Planned Parenthood Community Action Fund of Orange and San Bernardino Counties, and was a member of the planning committees for the Orange County Women’s March 2018 and 2019.
Dr. Linda Vo, Founding Board Member
Dr. Linda Trinh Vo is a professor and former chair of the Dept of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Irvine. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, San Diego and was a UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow and UC Irvine Chancellor’s Fellow. She was an equity advisor for the UCI School of Humanities focusing on equal opportunity and equity practices in hiring, mentoring, and retention. Dr. Vo is the author of Mobilizing an Asian American Community, co-author of Vietnamese in Orange County, and co-editor of Keywords for Asian American Studies; Labor Versus Empire: Race, Gender, and Migration; Asian American Women: The “Frontiers” Reader; and Contemporary Asian American Communities: Intersections and Divergences. She also co-authored the report, Transforming Orange County: Assets and Needs of Asian Americans & Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. She was president of the national Association for Asian American Studies and series editor for the Asian American History and Culture series at Temple University Press. She is director of Viet Stories: Vietnamese American Oral History Project and an ambassador for the UCI Libraries Southeast Asian Archive at UCI. She served on advisory boards for Asian Americans Advancing Justice-OC; Orange County Asian & Pacific Islander Community Alliance; Project MotiVATe; Viet Film Fest; Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association, and South Coast Repertory. She received the Public Image Award from Asian Americans Advancing Justice-LA and from her campus was given the Pedagogical Innovation: Civic Engagement Teaching Award and the Community Service Award. She was also selected as “Most Influential” by the Orange County Register; 20 Women To Watch” in OC Metro Business Magazine; and “25 to Watch” in Diverse: Issues in Higher Education Magazine.
Ginger Sun, Founding Board Member
Ginger Sun is an active community leader who currently serves on the Advisory Board of the National Asian American Community Foundation. In the past, Ginger has also served on the Advisory Board and Inaugural Gala Committee of Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Orange County, the Parent Association Boards of St Mary’s School and Sage Hill School. She and her husband, Arthur Ong, are active supporters of the Wooden Floor, a dance-based, youth development not-for-profit that is transforming the lives of young people in low-income communities.
Ginger was born in Hong Kong and moved to the United States at the age of 3 but retains a strong Chinese cultural identity. She has always believed in being a liaison between newer immigrants and community institutions. In expressing why she stays so active in the community, Ginger states “It took me a long time to realize how important it is for Asian Americans to have a stronger voice in our society. I want to give back to our community and make sure future generations know they have a voice and can make a difference.
Jack Toan, Founding Board Member & Past Chair
Jack Toan is Vice President and Community Relations Manager for Wells Fargo. He joined Wells Fargo 2002.
As part of Wells Fargo’s Corporate Responsibility team, Jack is responsible for managing over $7 MM of the company’s charitable giving and volunteerism programs in the Southern California Region including Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Imperial counties. He previously led the company’s Military Affairs program for the West Region.
Jack is a dedicated leader who is committed to responsible philanthropic and reputation management practices. Having worked in the field for the last 15 years, he has a proven background in community development and corporate philanthropy. He speaks at various forums and conferences on the topics of philanthropy, volunteerism, branding and cause marketing.
Jack believes in creating social changes through action. His commitment to the community includes serving on the Board of Directors of the Illumination Foundation, Union of Pan Asian Communities and OC Human Relations Council Community Partners among others. He is the past Chairman of the OC Grantmakers, member of Southern California Grantmakers, San Diego Grantmakers, Association of Corporate Contributions Professionals and advisory member of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-OC. He also volunteers weekly to teach martial arts to underserved children in Santa Ana.
Jack holds an MBA from the UCI Paul Merage School of Business and is a graduate of the Southern California Leadership Network. Most importantly, he is a proud father of four beautiful children!
Vivian Long, Founding Board Member
Vivian Long is the Executive Director for the Long Family Foundation (LFF), an intergenerational, private nonprofit organization that funds religious, educational, cultural, and research endeavors. Prior to her current role, she led domestic policy and advocacy efforts at the Joyful Heart Foundation, where she worked to address the national issue of untested sexual assault evidence kits and assisted in the passage of rape kit reform legislation in over 15 states. Vivian received her MPA from NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service and graduated with a BA in International Human Rights from New York University with honors. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for China Institute, NAACF, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles and is a past Trustee for the Pi Beta Phi Foundation.
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Chin Refugee Education Project
How I Became a Refugee
Metta Blog
Humans of Mettamorphosis
"What drives us is simple – the belief that the right to feel safe and the right to education is a fundamental human right for every child, especially stateless children.”
Keeping Dreams Alive
Mettamorphosis is excited to announce we raised a total of $4,152.32 for our first ever crowdfunding project in 2018. The money raised will go directly to two schools educating refugee children in Kuala Lumpur, who fled from the Chin State in Burma due to religious persecution. Without basic rights to education in Malaysia, these funds will ensure refugee children continue to grow and learn. Thank you for your support!
“We are hoping to raise enough money for at least 12 Chin refugee children to be enrolled in school for a whole year as well as to keep the two schools we support running. Every child has a dream and for refugee and stateless children, having access to education is so important because it keeps their dreams alive.”
Co-founder Marilyn Metta
Supporting stateless people and refugees
Mettamorphosis Inc. was founded in 2013 as a not-for-profit humanitarian organisation working towards alleviation of the personal, social, institutional and educational adversity faced by refugees worldwide.
Our aim is to support the needs of displaced children
We undertake work at the grassroots level, through local cross-cultural education programs in Australia and direct provision of funding and resources for stateless Chin refugee children living in Malaysia
We believe that every child has the right to feel safe and to receive an education
The Chin Story
The Chin community faces ongoing religious persecution from the military government in Myanmar forcing hundreds to flee their homeland each year. Despite escaping these atrocities, they face tremendous new challenges as stateless citizens in neighbouring countries such as finding employment, housing and the education for their children.
‘How I Became A Refugee’
‘How I Became A Refugee’ is an educational documentary produced by Marilyn Metta and Chris Gosfield which is available to the public as part of an awareness-raising project for Mettamorphosis
2017 Mettamorphosis | Designed by Braveapps
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Midtown Guitar Company
April 17th, 2018 - Steve Morse interview at Midtown Guitar Company, occurring hours before his epic performance at The Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz, CA.
Colin Gailey
Colin has over 15 years of experience performing, recording, and teaching music. He studied at the world famous Musicians Institute in Hollywood, CA where he majored in Guitar Performance and Recording Engineering. After graduating, Colin worked as a teacher at Musicians Institute and a session guitar player working with a vast array of artists in the recording industry. In November 2012 Colin was chosen as a winner in the Guitar Center "Master Satriani Contest". In this national competition, Colin competed against thousands of other guitarists and ultimately was handpicked by legendary guitar virtuoso, Joe Satriani himself.
Currently, Colin works as a composer for T.V. and film. Recent credits include Fox Sports and ESPN. Colin also performs his unique blend of progressive funk rock with local Santa Cruz band “Jive Machine”, and teaches music to up-and-coming musicians. He has a knack for making complex musical ideas relatable and easy to understand. Equally at home with beginners or advanced players, Colin prides himself on thinking outside the box, always coming up with new and exciting ways to take a musicians skills to the highest level.
Buy or stream Colin's solo album "Lucid Dream" on CD Baby
Colin Gailey on Spotify
Listen to Colin's original music here: www.colingailey.com
For information on taking lessons from Colin, click here
Travis Cruse
Travis Cruse, former teacher of Aptos Guitar Company currently teaching in Watsonville, is a local musician, and composer for film and television.
Travis on Reverbnation
guthrie govan
Guthrie Govan, is an English guitarist who has played for the bands The Aristocrats, Asia, GPS, The Young Punks and The Fellowship, and his solo project Erotic Cakes. He is well-known for recording incredible guitar solos in just one take, as he did for Steven Wilson’s “Regret #9” and “Drive Home” in just one take.
More on Guthrie
Tuesday- Friday 11AM-6PM
sunday 10am to 2 pm
357 Hiway 101
yachats, oregon
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MINAH SONG
PAPER CONSERVATION STUDIO
Haunting memories: “Bloodlines” by Zhang Xiaogang
(WR)
It is not unusual to come across an artwork is so pessimistic or unusual that at first glance it can be difficult to appreciate. The same artwork can be so powerful that a viewer feels compelled to spend some time carefully studying it, researching its context, backgro...
"Scottsboro Alabama: A Story in Linoleum Cuts" and the beginnings of alternative graphic novel
(Marlow)
A group of linocut prints from the early graphic novel “Scottsboro Alabama: A Story in Linoleum Cuts by Lin Shi Khan and Tony Perez”, 1935 edition, has recently arrived at the studio.
The Scottsboro Case
The Scottsboro Case, of 1931-1937, was at the tim...
Why does a beautiful sketch please us more than a beautiful painting…?
… It’s because there is more life and less form. The more form one introduces, the more life disappears
Denis Diderot, about 1767 Paris Salon.
In summer 2016, during the “Defining British Art Evening Sale” auction at Christie’s, John Constable’s full-size sketch “View o...
Year of the Fire Rooster
On January 28th the Asian Year of the Fire Rooster started. The ancient Chinese calendar, now used only for some festivals, 250 years ago gave impulse to an important development in Japanese ukiyoe prints, an artistic genre popular until today.
According to Japanese tra...
Afterimages of the past
In 1960, while working at the Institut Français in Hamburg, Michel Foucault completed his Docteur d'État thesis, Folie et déraison: Histoire de la folie à l'âge classique (Madness and Insanity: History of Madness in the Classical Age). His extensive, thorough study, co...
Jacob Lawrence and the dynamic cubism
September 7th, 1917, marks the birthday of Jacob Lawrence, one of the most important American figurative artists of the 20th century. In 1937, at the age of 20, Lawrence received a scholarship to attend the American Artists School in New York and the same year disting...
Banksy in Rome
"The primary goal of conservation professionals, individuals with extensive training and special expertise, is the preservation of cultural property. Cultural property consists of individual objects, structures, or aggregate collections. It is material which has signif...
Sparkling Cyanotype
Rosemary Barton died from cyanide poisoning, nearly a year ago...
Agatha Christie, Sparkling Cyanide, 1945.
Contrary to its name, cyanotype has nothing to do with actual cyanide, and it was not the suspect in the case of Rosmary Barton's murder (solved brilliantly by...
Why would you cook paper mulberry?
In Asian papermaking, cooking process affects visual specifications, strength and permanence of paper. If fibers are not sufficiently cooked, beating fibres becomes difficult and well beaten fibres are critical for good sheet formation.
Typically, unbuffered pap...
© Minah Song Art Services LLC, 2015 -2020; all rights reserved
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SciFi Superstar William Gibson’s New Book Imagines a Trump-Free Alternate Reality
The novelist sat down with Mother Jones Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery for a live recording of the Mother Jones Podcast
Molly Schwartz
Digital Media FellowBio
Ulf Andersen/Zuma/Mother Jones illustration
There are many alternate futures. But what if there were also… alternate pasts?
That’s the premise of William Gibson’s latest novel, Agency. Gibson is the pioneering science fiction writer who coined the word “cyberspace” and whose 1984 debut novel, The Neuromancer, inspired The Matrix.
In, Agency, the second novel in Gibson’s Peripheral trilogy, we’ve arrived back in 2017, at a fork of the past, called a “stub,” in which Trump was never elected and Brexit never happened. In this stub of 2017, an app-whisperer named Verity Jane is testing a beta super AI named Eunice, and crisis communication expert named Wilf Netherton has teamed up with a cop named Ainsley Lowbeer to try to avert a nuclear war. In other words, it’s a novel that looks unflinchingly at the importance of choice and the complex decision trees that could precipitate, or prevent, the end of the world as we know it.
Mother Jones Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery sat down for a conversation with Gibson at Public Works in San Francisco last January to talk about his new book. They discuss how politics has influenced his writing, and how the real-life climate crisis intersects with his fictional imaginings of the end times.
Read an edited transcript below, or listen to a recording of their conversation on this bonus episode of the Mother Jones Podcast.
Listen to the latest episode of the Mother Jones Podcast: Subscribe using Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app.
There’s so many cool concepts in both of these books. But was there a particular one that got you on this path that you really took ahold of when you started the process?
I had been working for about two years on the beginning of a completely different book. I had described the book to my publisher as a satiric romp through contemporary Silicon Valley. Another time I described it to them as like Thelma and Louise, but really upbeat. That got me some really weird looks. Then one day I was on Twitter and I saw the video of Trump coming down the escalator to announce his campaign. Oh yeah! And all of my bad scenario gears stirred uneasily, but, you know, I’m not going to worry about that. Then one day I woke up to see that the Brexit referendum had passed in the UK and I thought, “Holy shit, if the UK can do that, and that’s all so stupid, the United States might actually be able to elect Trump.” And I thought, “No, it can’t happen.”
And then I woke up after November 6th and looked at my manuscript and it was set in a zeitgeist of 2017 that I knew was never going to exist. It had been made obsolete by the outcome of the presidential election, in this shatteringly absolute way. It really messed me up for about three months. I really felt like I had a head trauma or something. Seriously. I found myself, for the very first time in my life, questioning the reality of what I was experiencing. I was kind of going on like, how the hell could that be really happening? And I thought, what if it’s not? And then I happened to look over at my open laptop where the manuscript for my dead novel was. So I thought, okay, it’s a sequel. It’s a sequel to The Peripheral. After that it was just like years of work and missing hard deadlines and having the most patient man in publishing my publishing company. And then finally it’s here.
The book never names Hillary or Trump. And I was going to say that in some ways it feels like a lament, but maybe it was just denial for you? I mean, was this how you processed your grief and worry by…
No, it wasn’t. I don’t know. It was some sort of decision, but it was an organic decision. I mean, from the evidence of the text, it can be nobody but Clinton and Trump. There’s his behavior on stage with her during the debate… it’s him.
There’s a piece of graffiti that says, “lock her up.”
Yeah, it’s him. And everything that’s said about her, you know, it’s her. It felt to me like I would break some sort of spell, maybe just for me, if I named him. It felt to me that if I named him somehow it made it too on the nose. I don’t know, but I don’t think I would’ve been able to do it if I had to see his name over and over. Or even her name over and over.
You’ve said that as a child of the 50s, and same as a child of the 70s, we kind of went through early childhood really believing that the world could end at any time, and that that sense of imminent nuclear annihilation ebbed after the Cold War ended—or whatever it did. But now it’s back. And I’ve seen on Twitter that people are kind of constantly asking you, are we in “the Jackpot”? Which is that apocalypse that moves very slowly. So, are we?
I don’t think this is the beginning of the Jackpot. But some people are asking, quite unrelated to my book, the equivalent question: did climate change began 100 years ago, 200 years ago? We know when it began to change, but when did the trends in human behavior start to become set in certain ways? If it’s really coming down, we’re not going to be around for the end of it. It’s going to take about 300 years. It doesn’t make any cultural sense to us. The apocalypse is like, “bang.” We have this thing that we’ve been doing for so long. For at least 100 years, maybe 200 years. Some people are dating it to the emergent technology of agriculture. That’s when it began. This is a tragedy of unrecognized consequences, of actions we take for granted, and that we’ve regarded as wholly good things.
You’ve always had an uncanny ability to write about technology that doesn’t exist or certainly isn’t widely known, but that then comes to the fore. Do you study cutting edge research or are you just a time traveler come to warn us like Wilf?
No, I’m lazier than that. I just walk around. And when I’m my normal human self, and not actually sitting at a computer writing fiction, I walk around with sort of an eye peeled and looking for little bits of new stuff, or sometimes old stuff that we’ve sort of forgotten about, but that could, if it got into sufficient circulation, really change things. I see that as often how technological change happens. It’s never the stuff that the people who invent the technology or develop the technology think is going to happen. That’s never the stuff that causes the big change. It’s stuff that nobody anticipates.
I think most people, or at least popular culture, present all powerful AI, generally, as a completely ominous thing that’s probably gonna, you know, kill us. The Terminator and The Matrix, movies like that have really trained us to think about things that way. So Eunice offers a different view of what that could be. How did you start imagining it differently?
I was always deeply unimpressed with the way AI was presented. It’s either like godlike benevolence, godlike totally pragmatic uncaring, or godlike pure evil. And I go, no, forget the “godlike.” The first time I read about or heard about the theory of the singularity. I was immediately totally uninterested in the idea of the pure singularity. I thought, what about a half-assed singularity? Some kind of half-cocked shit, but it’s so powerful. And that really turned me on. I don’t know what it is. It’s just the way my mind works. I also like to think about pissing readers off who would just hate the idea of the first sentient, really, really powerful AI being a black woman.
You are such a tactile writer. You have such an eye for fashion and style and detail and just closely observed things. So I’m wondering when you’re writing, what part of it is distilled observation versus pure imagination? How does that synthesize for you?
I suspect it’s more observation than pure imagination. One thing I’ve found really fun about The Peripheral was that, in the 22nd century thread, I got to imagine these totally off-the-wall science fictional things. Like the thing that comes to kill Daedra or her sister or whoever it kills… I’m losing it. I’ve already lost the plot line to that one. But it comes like flipping it’s way up the side of the skyscraper, and it’s just not like anything that’s ever existed, except it does look kind of like a particular kind of egg sack I used to see as a kid on the beach in South Carolina.
There’s a very good New Yorker profile that came out recently about you, and there’s this amazing detail of how a bomber jacket variant that you describe in Pattern Recognition started to be demanded from fans to make that jacket. It was not sufficiently authentic to the 1940’s thing. But then they made it anyway and, with your help, now you see it everywhere, especially in tech circles. I’m imagining a few people are probably wearing it here tonight. But then another marketer called K-HOLE turned the fashion philosophy of your protagonists into the sort of beginnings of the notions of “normcore.” So says the New Yorker. But essentially, you sort of recoded fashion. And that’s not too far off from what the klept are doing in the stubs.
Well, that’s true. That’s true. But in both cases I had no intention of so doing. Like it wasn’t as though one day I was sitting at my computer and I thought, you know, I’m going to take the MA-1 bomber jacket, which is one of the most iconic pieces of American military clothing of the 20th century, and I’m going to make it even more iconic and popular. It would have been crazy. But through this sort of odd course of events, I think, I’m not positive, but I think I may have contributed to an increase in popularity of copying that pattern. But to deliberately do it, I don’t know. I’m not even sure it could be done. If somebody could go, okay, I’m going to do this now, it would be really scary.
We’re in San Francisco. You set much of the Bridge trilogy here, which had a sad forecasting of the explosion of homeless shantytowns that we see now. Agency is largely set here. What is it about this city? I know you’re fascinated with London and Tokyo, but what is it about this city that you’ve wanted to explore?
I think it’s because I’m an American who’s lived in Vancouver all my adult life. And that’s probably one of the reasons that in Neuromancer you can’t prove from the text that the United States still exists. The cities are still there, but from what the text says, they might be like independent city states or something, owned by multinational corporations. The United States is never mentioned as an entity. At that time I was covering my ass because I didn’t know the United States. When I started selling books and I started touring, San Francisco was the place that made the sort of impression that allowed me to write about it. Like my imagination works differently here. Or when I’m writing an imaginary San Francisco, I’m just sort of able to do it. I’m comfortable with it, and in some way and I don’t think there’s really much much else to it.
Can you unpack, say Verity Jane’s name? I’m curious about the meaning behind some of the names. They seem to be multilayered, like I’m in inception going down through that name.
I don’t know where Verity Jane’s name came from. I don’t remember. And that’s not atypical of my process. I have no idea why Flynne Fisher in The Peripheral is called Flynne Fisher. I know that Henry Dorsett Case is named that because… I forget where the Henry came from, but the Case is from an iconic brand of the 19th century, and still surviving, American pocket knife. And Dorsett was the surname of a dear friend of mine, who’s now been dead for 20 years. Richard Dorsett, who is a sort of running mate of the Austin cyberpunks, and just a really smart creative guy who didn’t have to bother with writing fiction. Cayce Pollard… I don’t remember where the Pollard came from, but I named Cayce after Edgar Cayce. But I didn’t know that Edgar Cayce’s name was pronounced Casey. All my life I’d been saying Edgar Case in my mind, and I never had cause to talk about it with anyone. It’s more the way they sound than any any meaning they might have. But if they seem to have potential to cause a reader to scratch her head, that’s sort of viewed as a plus too.
We’re in the middle of a real timeline where hackers helped elect a kleptocratic president who acts on behalf of oligarchs and is running a scheme to dupe the public aided by malevolent media forces, ignoring runaway inequality and a clear and present danger to the world’s ecology. When can we expect the next book? And do you think you need to know the results of this election to finish it, or maybe even to start it?
There are a lot of little ways in which Agency is shaped, and a lot of little moving parts in Agency’s structure that a reader probably wouldn’t notice. Particularly because you wouldn’t notice them until it would be necessary to turn the thing. It’s like I was creating a kind of universal joint. And the joint is there to avoid disruption by current events. Like a nuclear war would take it out. Because I think we would know if there had been a nuclear war in the history of Wilf world.
How big a nuclear war are we talking, really? You know maybe a little small nuclear war could be part of the jackpot…. I’m just kidding.
Today I was reading about shutting down another city in China to try to contain that coronavirus. And I’m remembering Netherton’s wife says, she’s talking about this 2017 stub and says, “it’s not too bad there.” It’s before the pandemics anyway. And that kind of thing. Like I’ve got the pandemics covered. I’ve got all kinds of stuff covered, up until the election of President Gonzalez. Actually, if there’s a female president elected this year, it’ll blow my universal joint. And, okay, I would welcome it still.
The Mother Jones Podcast
I Just Wish Coronavirus Had Never Happened
Ben Dreyfuss
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Script to Screen, Trailers
7 Films We’re Excited About Playing at Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) starts tonight, and the slate is packed with enticing projects. An Elmore Leonard adaptation (the last of his illustrious career, Life of Crime, based on his 1978 crime novel “The Switch”), Spike Jonze’s intriguing Her, and the hotly anticipated return to the director’s chair for Alfonso Cuaron in his space-disaster epic Gravity.
TIFF’s movie schedule is dense with films we’re really excited about, so we’ve compiled our short list with accompanying trailers.
Based on the true story of a man’s fight for freedom in a pre-Civil War United States, director Steve McQueen’s film has an incredible cast and astonishing source material. It also features McQueen’s own unique gifts, which he’s bought to bear on past films like Hunger and Shame. With Chiwetel Ejiofor in the lead role, surrounded by Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Alfre Woodard and Paul Giamatti, this is a film we’re extremely excited to see.
Two family’s worst nightmare becomes a reality when their daughters, out playing before dinner, go missing. Hugh Jackman and Terrence Howard play the fathers of the missing girls, with Jake Gyllenhall as the detective on the case to find their daughters. It’s when Jackman’s small town carpenter takes matters into his own hands that things go from very bad to much, much worse.
Alfonso Cuarón’s upcoming Gravity has a trailer that hints at one of Cuarón’s favorite cinematic flourishes—the long, uninterrupted shot. Debris from a satellite crashes into the space shuttle Explorer, stranding two astronauts (George Clooney and Sandra Bullock) in space with a limited air supply and no connection to Earth. Cuarón tops his masterful long shot in Children of Men by opening Gravity with an unbroken 17-minute shot.
Bill Condon’s thriller about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, played by a (at least from the trailer) perfectly cast (and oddly similar looking) Benedict Cumberbatch has already been bemoaned by…Julian Asssange. A source involved with the film told The Hollywood Reporter that considering Wikileaks has 2 million Twitter followers, the attention on the film isn’t necessarily a bad problem to have. The movie already looks compelling on its own merits, this bit of additional intrigue only adds to the excitement.
It’s very, very sad to see James Gandolfini’s last leading role in a film. But one can also feel some happiness because this film looks fantastic—first, you’ve got Gandolfini and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (sort of a dream pairing that we never dreamed of), a super solid supporting cast (Catherine Keener, anyone?), and finally, Nicole Holofcener as your writer/director. We’ve got nothing but love for this movie.
Jason Reitman’s latest (Up in the Air, Juno) centers on 13-year-old Henry (Gattlin Griffith) while he deals with trying to grow up and, at the same time, care for his mother (Kate Winslet). When the pair encounter Frank, (Josh Brolin), an odd ball in all ways, they end up taking them into their home, and lives. A long weekend changes their lives for ever. Reitman has a great track record, and this cast can’t hurt his chances to continue delivering quality films.
Ron Howard’s Formula 1 epic about the rivalry between the French champion driver Niki Lauda and the British James Hunt looks plenty exciting and plenty sexy (Olivia Wilde doesn’t hurt). Howard’s no stranger to grand scales—but this film appears to be more hot under the collar than his usual effort. That’s good news.
Featured Image: James Gandolfini as “Albert” and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as “Eva” in ENOUGH SAID. Courtesy Fox Searchlight Pictures
TAGSAlfonso Cuaron Article Gravity Ron Howard Toronto International Film Festival
Netflix Releases Ravishing First Trailer For Their Animated Musical Over The Moon
No Time to Die Super Bowl Spot Promises Everything is About to Change
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Editor, Interviews, Movies
Best of Summer 2019: Ready or Not’s Editor on Cutting This Devilish Delight
By Daron James
*As summer draws to a close, we’re looking back at some of our favorite interviews and stories.
Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet’s Ready or Not has been getting rave reviews. They’ve taken a simple childhood game and turned it on its head, to devilishly delightful results.
Samara Weaving plays Grace, a young woman enjoying her wedding day. She joins her husband Alex (Mark O’Brien), whose wealthy family built their empire on board games. Grace must take part in a tradition for newcomers: playing a family game. Drawing from a deck of cards, she chooses hide and seek which, unbeknownst to her, is a game where the family has to hunt her down and kill her. To piece together the film’s puzzle-like structure, the directors looked to editor Terel Gibson.
“The script was unlike anything I read before,” Gibson says. “The tone was so unique and it encapsulated everything I enjoy…dark humor, pace, something unexpected. Not knowing if something is going to work or not excites me more than a traditional movie where you can tell where it’s going in the first ten pages.”
Attaching to adept storytelling has been the mantra for Gibson, who climbed the editorial ladder the old school way, starting out as a production assistant running film back and forth from Philadelphia to New York on Beloved (1998) from director Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs) before sliding into second and first assistant roles on Little Miss Sunshine, Pride and Glory and The Fighter, among others.
He gives credit to early mentors Andy Keir, Carol Littleton, Suzanne Spangler and Pamela Martin, who took the time to “teach a kid who never worked in editorial before.” When Martin received an Oscar nomination for The Fighter, Gibson decided to take the leap towards lead editor. “I thought if not now, when?” Since that leap of faith, Gibson has cut dozens of films, including Boots Riley’s excellent, surreal Sorry to Bother You.
The challenge for Ready or Not was detailing characters the audience would care about while avoiding the pitfalls of constant action. “We didn’t want the story to feel like it was shot out of canon where you never see the dust settle,” notes Gibson. “It could have worked different ways but we wanted to clue you in on what’s happening to the characters on an emotional level. It’s the idiosyncrasies that elevate the material and gives you something special.”
(L to R) Kristian Bruun, Melanie Scrofano, Andie MacDowell, Henry Czerny, Nicky Guadagni, Adam Brody, and Elyse Levesque in the film READY OR NOT. Photo by Eric Zachanowich. © 2019 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved
The character clues start to unravel during its tightly-paced cold open where a camera follows two boys running through the hallways of a sprawling home. It establishes multiple characters’ backstories, including Daniel played by Adam Brody, the brother of Alex. The scene also establishes the mood, tone, and texture to the looming dread. “Cold opens can be tricky. You don’t want to set up the audience with false expectations or give them something that can throw them off balance by the time it ends and the movie starts,” Gibson says.
Besides backstory, the editor navigated character themes, balanced plot points within a large ensemble cast, and as one might expect from the genre, created gripping moments to bring you to the edge of your seat.
One instance, in particular, is when Grace realizes this isn’t a fun game of hide-n-seek but that this family is out to kill her. Grace and Alex are tucked behind a bed inches away from the family standing over a dead body that was mistakenly shot thinking it was Grace. As the family discusses how to remove it so Grace doesn’t see it, we’re immersed in the growing feeling of terror in Grace’s eyes as she covers her mouth trying not to scream. “We spent the most time on that scene and cut it a number of ways,” Gibson says. “What occurred to us was that you really want to be with Grace and her subjective point of view. It’s our closest thing to a Hitchcock moment where you’re with the character and you’re seeing how it’s affecting her rather than imaging it.”
Mark O’Brien and Samara Weaving in the film READY OR NOT. Photo by Eric Zachanowich. © 2019 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved
The film’s character themes were intertwined to plot points – one being self-reflection. Grace starts off as a seemingly shy and happily married bride before turning into a gun-wielding badass in survival mode. The moment is pinned when she finds herself looking into a mirror. “It’s almost like you’re breaking the fourth wall but you’re not,” mentions the editor. “When we see Grace walk up to the mirror holding a gun and her wedding dress is ripped to shreds she’s thinking exactly what you’re thinking… ‘holy shit, how did I get here?’”
Samara Weaving in the film READY OR NOT. Photo by Eric Zachanowich. © 2019 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved
It was also important to the editor that the audience learned exposition organically and “to get info across so it didn’t feel like medicine.” He did so by harnessing the unexpected moments in the story.
For the film’s bloody fun, Gibson treated it as something inevitable and left breadcrumbs to lead you to it. “Tone management was a big topic of discussion during the edit,” he says. “There is violence in the film but it’s not over the top in a grotesque or gory way. What helps us sell it too is the incompetence of the family who doesn’t want to be doing what they are doing. They’re not good people but they’re not reveling in the violence. They are just self-involved and do what’s best for them – even if that means being psychopaths.”
Ready or Not hits theaters on August 21, 2019.
Featured image: Samara Weaving in the film READY OR NOT. Photo by Eric Zachanowich. © 2019 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved
TAGSEditor Interviews Ready or Not Walt Disney Studios
Daron James
Daron is a veteran journalist, who has been writing about the film and television industry for over a decade.
Is Chris Evans Really Returning as Captain America?
Featured Story, Movies
“WandaVision” Reviews Are In: Charming, Unnerving, & Very Different
Featured Story, Television
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Lancia Thema is imported from Detroit
Feb 23, 2011 at 7:47pm ET
Described as a genuine alternative to other rear-wheel drive luxury cars, the Thema is a Chrysler 300 in Lancia drag.
As part of the company's rebirth, Lancia has just unveiled the new Thema flagship.
Described as a "genuine alternative" to other rear-wheel drive luxury cars, the Thema is essentially a rebadged Chrysler 300. Putting the obvious aside, the car features sinister styling with a prominent grille, LED-infused headlights, and a chrome-plated dual exhaust system.
Inside, the cabin is elegantly appointed with chrome accents, Sapphire Blue ambient lighting, and a Uconnect Touch infotainment system with an 8.4-inch display. Should that fail to impress you, options include heated Nappa leather seats, wood trim, a Poltrona Frau leather-wrapped dashboard, GPS navigation, and a premium audio system.
In the tech department, the Thema offers a vast array of safety gadgets. Highlights include Adaptive Cruise Control, Blind Spot Detection, Cross Path Detection, and a rear view camera.
Under the hood, two engines are available. The 3.0-liter V6 diesel can be had with 190 hp (142 kW / 193 PS) or 224 hp (167 kW / 227 PS) and 550 Nm (406 lb-ft) of torque. If you prefer petrol, the Chrysler-sourced 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 is good for 292 hp (218 kW / 296 PS) and 353 Nm (260 lb-ft) of torque. It is connected to an eight-speed automatic transmission which allows the car to accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 7.2 seconds, before hitting a top speed of 230 km/h (143 mph).
The Lancia Thema will start arriving at European dealerships in October, so start preparing for an American invasion.
Gallery: Lancia Thema is imported from Detroit
2011 geneva motor show chrysler 300 300 2012 lancia thema lancia thema thema
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Home > Books & Publications > Books by Title A-Z >
Meditations of a Buddhist Skeptic: A Manifesto for the Mind Sciences and Contemplative Practice (HC)
By: B. Alan Wallace
Author: B. Alan Wallace
Publication Date: Nov. 2011
Description About the author Contents
Renowned Buddhist philosopher B. Alan Wallace reasserts the power of shamatha and vipashyana, traditional Buddhist meditations, to clarify the mind's role in the natural world. Raising profound questions about human nature, free will, and experience versus dogma, Wallace challenges the claim that consciousness is no more than an emergent property of the brain with little relation to universal events. Rather, he maintains that the observer is essential to measuring quantum systems and that mental phenomena (however conceived) influence brain function and behavior.
Wallace embarks on a two-part mission: to restore and then transcend human nature. Part I explains the value of skepticism in Buddhism and science and the difficulty of merging their experiential methods of inquiry. Yet Wallace emphasizes that Buddhist views on human nature and the possibility of free will free us from the metaphysical constraints of scientific materialism. He then explores the radical empiricism inspired by William James and applies it to the four schools of Indian Buddhist philosophy and the Great Perfection school of Buddhism. Since Buddhism begins with the assertion that ignorance lies at the root of all suffering and the path to freedom is reached through knowledge, Buddhist practice can be viewed as a progression from agnosticism (not knowing) to gnosticism (knowing), acquired through exceptional mental health, mindfulness, and introspection. Wallace discusses these topics in detail, identifying similarities and differences between scientific and Buddhist understanding, and concludes with an explanation of shamatha and vipashyana and their potential for fathoming the nature, origins, and potentials of consciousness.
B. Alan Wallace spent fourteen years as a Buddhist monk, ordained by H. H. the Dalai Lama. He then earned his undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, in physics and the philosophy of science at Amherst College, and his doctorate in religious studies from Stanford University. His Columbia University Press books are Mind in the Balance: Meditation in Science, Buddhism, and Christianity; Hidden Dimensions: The Unification of Physics and Consciousness; Contemplative Science: Where Buddhism and Neuroscience Converge; and Buddhism and Science: Breaking New Ground. A prolific writer and translator of numerous Tibetan Buddhist texts, he is the founder and president of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies (http://www.sbinstitute.com).
Part I: Restoring Our Human Nature
1. Toward a Revolution in the Mind Sciences
2. Buddhism and Science: Confrontation and Collaboration
3. Buddhism and the Mind Sciences
4. A Three-Dimensional Science of Mind
5. Restoring Meaning to the Universe
6. What Makes Us Human? Scientific and Buddhist Views
7. Achieving Free Will
Part II: Transcending Our Human Nature
8. Buddhist Radical Empiricism
9. From Agnosticism to Gnosticism
10. A Buddhist Model of Optimal Mental Health
11. Mindfulness in the Mind Sciences and in Buddhism
12. Shamatha and Vipashyana in the Indian Buddhist Tradition
13. Shamatha and Vipashyana in the Dzogchen Tradition
Epilogue: The Many Worlds of Buddhism and Science
Books & Publications > Books by Subject > Books on Meditation
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The apostle Peter was one of the closest of the twelve to Christ. Called Simon, he was given the name Peter (meaning a rock) after Jesus had described him as the rock upon which the Church would be built.
Peter, like his brother and fellow apostle Andrew, was a fisherman. He accompanied Christ during his ministry and, after Christ's death, led the Apostles. Later, according to some early accounts, he went to Rome where he set up the first Christian community, and was crucified by the Emperor Nero.
The Popes are seen by the Catholic Church as the successors of Peter. The church of St Peter's in Rome, the heart of the Catholic faith, is thought to be built over his tomb. He is often represented holding the keys to heaven and hell, which represent the powers of absolution and excommunication. It is a device also used by the Papacy.
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Wash. House passes domestic partnership bill
April 11, 2007, 1:14 AM UTC / Source: The Associated Press
The Washington state House has passed a bill that would create domestic partnerships for same-sex couples, and the measure now heads to Gov. Chris Gregoire, who is expected to sign it into law.
The bill, which passed the Senate last month, passed the House Tuesday on a 63-35 vote.
Supporters said the measure was needed to "provide some relief, some remedy, some humanity" to couples in need.
"I wish we were here to talk about marriage," said Rep. Joe McDermott, D-Seattle and one of five openly gay lawmakers in the Legislature. "Unfortunately we are not. Married couples receive over 400 rights, responsibilities and privileges, but same-sex couples are prohibited from doing this."
Opponents argued it was a "marriage light" bill that would dilute traditional marriage.
"For the first time, we're providing an alternative to marriage for a man and woman," said Rep. Mark Miloscia, D-Federal Way. "Heterosexual marriage is in trouble, people, and it's getting worse. What are we saying to our next generation, our children? We're saying marriage doesn't mean anything."
The bill would create a domestic partnership registry with the state, and would provide enhanced rights for same-sex couples, including hospital visitation right, the ability to authorize autopsies and organ donations and inheritance rights when there is no will.
To be registered, couples would have to share a home, not be married or in a domestic relationship with someone else, and be at least 18.
Also applies to heterosexual seniors
Similar to California law, unmarried, heterosexual senior couples would also be eligible for domestic partnerships if one partner were at least 62. Lawmakers said that provision was included to help seniors who are at risk of losing pension rights and Social Security benefits if they remarry.
A handful of amendments failed, including one that would have required a vote of the people, and another that would have included all people who care for others, including grandparents and siblings.
The domestic partnership measure is Senate Bill 5336.
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Interview from The Globalization of China's Life Science Sector
A Chinese Perspective on National Life Science Innovation and Leadership
Effectiveness vs. Efficiency
NBR’s research project on the Globalization of China’s Life Science Sector examines the impact of Chinese government support for the life sciences on international scientific competition and innovation, as well as on U.S.-China political and economic relations. In this expert interview, Yiwu He (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) compares and contrasts the environments for innovation in the life sciences in the United States and China. He argues that China’s life science sector is likely to benefit over the long term from significant financial investments from the government and private funds that allow for R&D failures over the short term. This approach, he notes, helped the United States’ life science sector rise to global prominence over the past several decades but is now quite rare in the West. He also argues that an increasing emphasis on short-term results and profits in U.S.-led companies will ultimately diminish the country’s leadership role as a life science innovator.
What does the international community need to understand about how China is implementing its national health and life science strategies domestically?
There is a misperception that China’s life science industry works under one directive from the central government. While the central government certainly sets the overall direction and strategy for the country’s domestic life science industry, the provincial governments have significant authority and distinct resources for implementing and interpreting central government policies and directives. In fact, provincial governments have almost total authority to set the parameters and funding for implementation.
In other words, the central government sets the overall tone and national strategy, but local governments are responsible for execution. For example, in 2008 when the central government announced that research in life sciences and medicine would be a strategic economic focus for the country, local governments in many provinces began to build life science research parks. Today, there are major life science technology research parks in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, and Anhui, as well as in nearly every other major city in China. However, because each provincial government acts independently, there can sometimes be parallel or even competing efforts.
Recently, many private Chinese funds and companies are also playing critical investment roles in the domestic life science sector. These funds sometimes work closely with venture capitalists from the United States to take advantage of their existing expertise or to pool resources.
Do foreign life science companies operating in China appreciate these nuances?
Multinational companies (MNC), such as AstraZeneca, Merck, Novartis, and Pfizer, are doing well in China, where they tend to focus on research and development (R&D) to help their marketing and sales. Such companies have several advantages. First, they have extensive resources that they can leverage to help them understand and appropriately navigate the landscape of life sciences in China. Second, they typically employ returnees to lead their China operations—native Chinese who are educated abroad and then return to China. These executives know China as well as the culture and operating practices of other countries.
By contrast, the struggling foreign companies tend to be small- and medium-sized U.S. biotechnology companies that do more service-oriented work in life sciences, supporting rather than leading the R&D process. These companies generally do not have much experience operating in China and do not really understand the business practices there. They also lack the financial and human resources to master Chinese practices.
How has the presence of multinational companies benefitted China?
Multinational pharmaceutical companies that establish R&D facilities in China have done the Chinese government a great favor. These companies play a very important leadership role in the industry in China while also providing the expertise and financial resources to help the sector evolve. Essentially, these companies plant the seeds for native (rather than imported) innovation by joining their capacity, experience, and resources with the best of the best in China.
However, while most MNCs are doing well in China, they tend to be too focused on the priorities of their foreign headquarters, and not focused enough, in my opinion, on local healthcare priorities, which hinders their ability to tap fully into the resources China could offer them. If foreign MNCs focused more on research and drug development in their China businesses on diseases that are local priorities, such as hepatitis B or drug-resistant tuberculosis, for example, they could gain more positive attention and support from the government, as well broader access to the local market and talent. As it stands, I would argue that China is benefiting more from these companies’ operations domestically than the companies themselves, owing to what I see as short-sighted MNC strategies.
Do you see China shifting from being a global manufacturing hub to being a potential leader in life science innovation?
Absolutely. China has done very well producing low-cost manufactured goods, but manufacturing growth has slowed and in some cases lower-cost locations outside the country are drawing new factory investments away. China is becoming very expensive as a global manufacturing center as wages rise, the complexity of value chains increases, and consumers demand more. Indeed, “made in China” is no longer synonymous with low costs. The Chinese government understands that the country must move up the value chain to maintain its competitive edge. To do that, China needs to promote innovation domestically, which represents a shift from the past “copy and reproduce” mindset to a new “create and build” mindset. As a result, the Chinese government is promoting innovative research across many industries, including IT, aerospace, automobiles, and the life sciences. National investment in these areas is tremendous. China’s “973 Program,” or National Basic Research Program, aims to give the country a strategic edge in various science and technology fields. China already ranks second only to the United States in the number of scientific papers published and patents filed.
The central government has indicated that biotechnology is one of the country’s seven emerging strategic industries and is putting hundreds of millions of dollars into basic and translational research, along with the improvement of drug manufacturing technologies that are in compliance with standards for international good manufacturing practices (GMP). In keeping with this strategy, the central government is establishing national key labs for stem cell research, medical devices, biologics, major infectious diseases, and drug development. One of many examples is government funding in late 2014 of one billion yuan (approximately $160 million) for developing a translational science center in Shanghai, and five additional national centers in China focused on other technical and scientific areas. These centers demonstrate the government’s willingness to invest a huge amount of money in research, and to take big risks with that money. It is also important to note that these centers are drawing top research talent from the United States and European Union, who are finding China’s environment for basic research increasingly attractive. Money is certainly an important incentive, but so is a certain comfort level with risk and failure over the short-term given the tremendous potential for gains over the long-term. I think this current approach in China makes innovative science easier than it is in the West.
The returnees I mentioned who tend to lead the Chinese operations of pharmaceutical MNCs will also certainly play a key role in China’s shift from being a low-cost manufacturing hub to an innovation center. Their experience and expertise in both the foreign and domestic pharmaceutical context give them the ideal platform from which to one day launch their own companies or to support new innovation efforts at long-established Chinese companies that have thus far primarily been manufacturers but which are now increasingly investing in homegrown R&D. Additionally, because these returnees serve as human bridges between cultures, I think they are making collaborations between MNCs and local companies easier as well as facilitating cross-border licensing and acquisition agreements.
Soon China may become the front runner in a full range of areas, such the auto industry, basic research in the life sciences, and diagnostics. While I appreciate the very significant hurdles surrounding regulatory opaqueness and patent protection, the country’s overall potential is probably still underestimated. For example, in the pharmaceutical industry, many major drugs (such as Pfizer’s Viagra and Lipitor) have already or are soon going off patent, and Chinese companies are putting an enormous amount of money into manufacturing generics. In the very near future, significant generic drug supplies in the United States could come from China. In fact, there are a few companies in China that are already producing all of the active pharmaceutical ingredients for cancer drugs in the United States and such production is set to expand. I predict that in the next five to ten years, a large percentage of over-the-counter drugs in the United States will be made in China. Very legitimate concerns about quality and safety exist regarding Chinese-made drugs, and I can say from direct experience that the Chinese government has ramped up its enforcement of the new GMP for drugs in strict ways to achieve alignment with international standards.
Tell us more about why you see China as an attractive environment for innovative research.
As I mentioned, China is providing very significant financial incentives that draw life science researchers from all over the world to its state-of-the-art domestic research parks. Incentives are important, but that does not mean the money is being used efficiently—certainly not by international pharmaceutical standards. In fact, an enormous amount of money is probably being wasted. Nevertheless, I would argue that China’s approach to investing such enormous resources is effective. With more than $4 trillion in its foreign currency surplus account, China has resources to spare. If just 20% of government investment creates some kind of positive result, that would represent an astronomical return on investment.
This translates into a willingness to risk and fail big in the short-term. The hope, of course, is for major wins and positive returns over the long-term. These risks and short-term setbacks are appreciated in China as the “tuition” required for learning and eventual success. And when big risks and failures are considered a part of the process, that indicates a certain kind of freedom in the environment.
Researchers in China are often surprised by the freedom they have in their R&D pursuits, given that China is generally not perceived to be very politically open. For the most part, entrepreneurs and researchers engaged in life science R&D are given freedom to pursue their work because the Chinese government does not see it as touching on politically sensitive issues. The government also sees that such research benefits China’s economic future. If a life science entrepreneur or researcher wants to become a politician, however, that is a different story.
There is tremendous opportunity for academics and students to conduct innovative R&D in China, which I see firsthand as an adjunct professor with the University of Science and Technology of China. The leaders in the biotech industry and in life science research are like celebrities. In the United States, you probably do not see a Nobel Prize winner in the life sciences receive much attention on TV or frequently be recognized on the street. But in China, anyone who has excelled in producing innovative research obtains national recognition and becomes a widely recognized celebrity, such as research scientists Xiaodong Wang (of the Beijing Institute of Biological Sciences) and Yigong Shi (of Tsinghua University). These individuals can mobilize resources and meet with top government officials to influence life science policy and strategy in ways that will positively impact research. Additionally, professors are encouraged to commercialize their research outcomes, and patents are usually owned by individual professors in China. Those kinds of incentives are helping to fuel the creativity and entrepreneurship boom in China.
Finally, a group called BayHelix—a highly recognized and well-resourced club of senior executives in China’s life science industry—is regularly consulted by the Chinese government when it sets a new strategy or budget for life science R&D. It also has a more flexible structure and less emphasis on regulation than comparable U.S. or European organizations representing the biotech or pharmaceutical industries. How do issues of pharmaceutical quality, safety, and a lack of intellectual property (IP) protection in China affect the country’s potential role as a life science innovator? For many outside China, IP protection is a major concern and rightly so. But I would argue that the Chinese government is realizing more and more that reliable and enforced IP protection will actually help its economy develop over the long term. Additionally, I appreciate that China has had problems related to the quality and safety of certain pharmaceutical products, and many complain of regulatory opaqueness; I think this is where we will see major positive shifts in the coming years. The government is paying significant attention to this issue, and safety enforcement is the highest priority of the top leadership. This message is also very clear and well-received by China’s pharmaceutical industry. Returnees in executive roles are very supportive of this. They generally have a strong understanding of the global standards in this field, were trained to respect the law, and recognize that the best way to compete globally is to produce high-quality, highly effective, and safe pharmaceutical products.
Tell us more about the difference between effective and inefficient investment in life sciences, the implications for innovation, and how China’s approach compares with those of current life science innovation leaders like the United States and European Union.
China’s economy is still advancing, and that is greatly influencing the government’s push for people to conduct innovative research domestically. As I mentioned earlier, the government is willing to allow companies and researchers to take big risks with their research and sometimes fail. Failure in this context can mean hundreds of millions of dollars of losses. The Chinese government—and I would argue the domestic life science sector as a whole—sees such failure as almost necessary. After all, the standard international “cost” of creating a new drug—from discovery through development—is measured in decades and hundreds of millions of dollars. Life science innovation is a new space in China, and as I mentioned significant short-term losses without short-term gains are considered the cost of learning or “tuition payment” as the Chinese expression goes. The assumption is that such learning (while inefficient and even loss-generating in the short term) will lead to greater effectiveness and efficiency in the long term.
By contrast, in the United States that kind of failure can cost a person’s company and career. The United States tends to emphasize efficiency and satisfying investors’ immediate needs over long-term effectiveness. Venture capitalists and investors want the highest rate of return, which means that U.S. biotech companies focus on the best idea with the lowest risk of failure. This is a sound business approach for an individual company, but it also limits the potential for major breakthroughs and innovative research in the industry as a whole. I would argue that the increasing U.S. focus on short-term efficiency, the rise of lawyers as pharmaceutical decision-makers, and the emphasis on merging and consolidating to save money will hinder the country’s life science industry and overall edge in the long term.
This comes back to my earlier point about efficiency versus effectiveness. In China, the government understands that life science research in the country is not very advanced and takes time. Investors in China are willing to receive a lower return on investment in the short term, whereas in the United States they would expect much higher returns far more quickly. At the same time, China is flush with money and so is less in a hurry for immediate results. Researchers in China can thus afford to be less efficient in the short term in exchange for being more effective and innovative in the long term. This is how the United States used to be known: a place where researchers could experiment and fail. Not anymore. In my opinion, China now plays this role.
Is China now the “Wild West” in terms of life science innovation?
China has been tremendously influenced by how the United States has wisely funded R&D innovation in the past. The returnees I mentioned who were educated and trained in the United States learned a lot there about risk-taking and how to think outside the box. They are implementing this in China, as is the government, and are doing very well by allowing room for some research to fail and minimizing expectations of high returns at the early stages of R&D. Thirty years ago, the European Union had the strongest pharmaceutical industry (shown by the European origins of most pharmaceutical companies, including MNC giants GSK, Novartis, and AstraZeneca), but reduced risk-taking and an increasing unwillingness to invest in truly new ideas stifled innovation, and allowed the United States to become the land of opportunity for pharmaceutical innovation. Today this role is shifting to China.
The confidence you have in China’s rise as a life science innovator seems to be weighted in equal measure with the clouds you seem to see looming over U.S. leadership in life science innovation. Why?
I am very concerned about the life sciences in the United States, particularly the pharmaceutical industry, where R&D innovation requires a tremendous investment of time and financial resources and can really only happen over the long term. There cannot only be a focus on quarterly, short-term returns yet I see the short term being prioritized repeatedly in U.S. firms.
The United States has long been known for producing high-quality researchers and innovative breakthroughs. In the IT space, companies such as Facebook, Google, and Apple have thrived and been hugely profitable because they are innovative. These companies expended astounding amounts of money in their earliest days to build a base and capacity that will serve them in the long term. By contrast, I no longer see that happening in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. Fewer new ideas are emerging, and pharmaceutical executives are increasingly less innovative in their promotion of great scientific ideas. The U.S. pharmaceutical industry is also not engaging as much as previously in the basic early-stage research that will allow it to be innovative later on; instead, companies are in-licensing drug candidates from biotech companies and relying on the government to fund early-stage research. At the same time, while China is increasing its government investment in basic research, U.S. government funding is has pretty much remained flat over the years. This trend does not foster an innovative culture.
One key to supporting innovation within the life science industry—whether in the United States, China, or elsewhere—is to connect with and support research coming out of universities, which is often funded by national institutes of health. I mentioned incentives for professors in China earlier, and I’d like to expand on that. I had a conversation recently with the president of a major university in China who told me that if a professor in his university started a company, he or she could have major—even sole—ownership. There is probably a spectrum in China of how liberal universities are in such cases, but for the most part I would say that Chinese universities are much more liberal than U.S. universities in this regard. This may be because the industry is relatively young in China, and policies that deal with innovation ownership surrounding professors and academic institutions simply have not yet been put into place as widely.
In the United States, however, if a professor creates a patent, it belongs to the university. The professor can start a company but he or she would need to negotiate with the university’s technology transfer office to determine the shares of the ownership. Typically, the university will get a royalty on sales from the company, or an ownership stake. There is a huge spectrum in the United States in terms of which universities best foster innovation and entrepreneurship. In the 1980s and 1990s many university professors in the United States started hugely successful biotech companies: for example, Amgen, BioGene, Genetech, and Vertex. But nowadays I see U.S. university-bred entrepreneurship waning and have a hard time naming a single major biotech company launched by an academic in the past couple of years.
What do you see as the next steps for Chinese and multinational pharmaceutical companies in the life science field?
Collaboration between multinational pharmaceutical companies and Chinese ones (including private companies) is critical. In a sense, that collaboration is already strong, but the key question is how to structure and grow future collaboration to enable win-win outcomes for both sides. The goal from the Chinese side would be to see the multinational pharmaceutical firms as partners—in the truest sense of the word—in helping address critical healthcare issues rather than seeing them through a lens of mistrust and competition. Ideally, greater levels of collaboration could fuel real health breakthroughs.
How does such collaboration grow? MNCs could begin by paying more attention to innovation in Chinese universities, hospitals, and research institutes, and by being more open to partnering with the scientists producing innovative work. As I mentioned earlier, the top echelon of Chinese scientists tends to have a great deal of domestic influence. Such partnerships could help MNCs streamline their regulatory journey in China as well as better understand China’s healthcare needs and where solutions may come from within China.
Yiwu He, PhD, MBA, is Senior Program Officer for Discovery and Translational Sciences at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he oversees the Biomarker Program and manages some of the foundation’s R&D partnerships in China. He is the Founder of three U.S.-based biotech companies and serves on the boards of the International Society of Vaccines and P4 Medicine Institute. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Science and Technology of China. Previously, he served in numerous roles at GlaxoSmithKline, most recently as Global Head and Senior Director of Human Biomarker Centers.
The content in this interview represents the personal views and perspectives of Yiwu He and does not reflect the views, strategies, or positions of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation or the National Bureau of Asian Research.
This interview was conducted by Claire Topal, a Senior Advisor for International Health at NBR.
The Globalization of China's Life Science Sector
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Paper from the Pacific Energy Summit
Taking Renewable Energy to Scale in Asia
by Letha Tawney
This working paper by Letha Tawney (World Resources Institute) was commissioned for the 2012 Pacific Energy Summit on “Innovation Generation: Powering a Prosperous Asia.”
The paper argues that the renewable energy sector is significant and growing quickly, and that seizing the benefits and opportunities in this trend for economic development will require developing strategies that harness innovation to compete. The Executive Summary is also available in Vietnamese.
Electricity from renewable sources is becoming a mainstream option in the Asia-Pacific for many reasons, ranging from a tremendous growth in energy demand to concerns about energy security, improvements in renewable technologies, and efforts to limit pollution. Although this trend presents opportunities for economic growth, in this fast-moving sector developing and maintaining an internationally competitive domestic industry will require a strong capacity for innovation.
Successful innovations and market changes are converging in ways that both enhance the economic and environmental benefits of integrating renewables into the grid while lowering the costs of doing so. Moreover, it is now widely expected that solar photovoltaic projects and onshore wind projects will be competitive with fossil-fuel power around the globe by 2016, making the sector increasingly competitive with other traditional fuel sources.
Efforts to seize the benefits of this growing sector can be assisted by building a market for renewables, which can be done through a mix of support for renewables demand, such as through mandates or feed-in-tariffs, and through promoting fossil-fuel subsidy reform or internalizing the cost of pollution damage in fossil-fuel prices.
For those seeking to maximize potential gains from entering the renewables sector, even if a country can create a very large domestic market, international markets are still larger. Thus, building an internationally competitive sector is crucial to making the most of economic opportunities.
Policymakers should focus on developing a renewables industry through building innovative capacity in the segments of the value chain they can compete for rather than through supporting local-content requirements and other infant industry protections. The latter risk creating a domestic sector that cannot compete for the international market and may keep domestic costs high. Building innovative capacity requires creating a healthy innovation system that improves the innovators’ chances of success. That system should do the following: create and share new knowledge, build competence, create collaborative networks, develop infrastructure, provide finance, establish governance and regulatory frameworks, and create markets.
Letha Tawney is a Senior Associate at The World Resources Institute and works on innovation-led economic development in clean technologies.
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Ian Anderson, President and CEO of Trans Mountain, speaks during an event to mark the start of right-of-way construction for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project, in Acheson, Alta., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
Trans Mountain pipeline will be the ‘best darn pipeline in the world,’ says CEO
Pipeline expansion is expected to take 30 to 36 months to build
The CEO of Trans Mountain says he’s “a little greyer” than he was 10 years ago when planning began for an expansion of the Edmonton-to-Burnaby oil pipeline but he’s still proud to oversee the official launch of Alberta construction.
Ian Anderson, who switched employers when the pipeline and its proposed expansion were sold to the federal government in 2018 for $4.5 billion, repeated a vow Tuesday to have expansion project pipe in the ground before Christmas.
Speaking in a frosty field west of Edmonton, he said the project has been steadily improved as it was repeatedly delayed over the years and is now set to be the “best darn pipeline in the world” with enhanced leak detection and thicker pipe in key segments.
He said the pipeline will take 30 to 36 months to build, which means it could be completed in the second half of 2022, but he declined to update the last cost estimate of $7.4 billion because the schedule is not yet confirmed.
Federal Minister of Natural Resources Seamus O’Regan said the event and the opening of the Canadian part of Enbridge Inc.’s Line 3 export pipeline last weekend make it a “good week” for Canada.
Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage said it’s “crucial” the Trans Mountain project not be subject to any further delays after it had to be approved twice by the federal government because of court challenges.
The expansion will nearly triple the 300,000-barrel-a-day capacity of the existing Trans Mountain pipeline, which carries crude oil and refined products from Edmonton to a terminal in Burnaby, B.C.
READ MORE: Trans Mountain received $320M in government subsidies in first half 2019: report
READ MORE: B.C. First Nations drop out of court challenge, sign deals with Trans Mountain
READ MORE: Feds won’t explain claim pipeline expansion will raise $500M in tax revenue
Motherhood, social norms behind gender wage gap in Canada: federal docs
Trump’s ‘serious misconduct’ takes centre stage at hearing
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Home › Act V: Hymns With The Devil In Confessional Exclusive 2 LP
Act V: Hymns With The Devil In Confessional Exclusive 2 LP
Limited to: 5 Per Customer
A Newbury Comics exclusive color vinyl pressing with an album booket signed by Casey Crescenzo.
The Dear Hunter and multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter Casey Crescenzo have announced their new album, Act V: Hymns With The Devil In Confessional. The release of Act V comes a year after Act IV: Rebirth In Reprise. In a statement from Crescenzo about the latest installment he says, “these two albums, Act IV and V, were written and recorded much in the same time frame – though each album retains its own unique identity, tone, and experience.” Crescenzo goes on to share, “Act V, however, will be the final ‘rock’ record in the Act series. This may read as though I am abandoning the project, one record early – but the truth is simply that in knowing what Act VI means to the series, and what its story has to say – presenting it in the same form as Acts I-V would be short selling the creative opportunity it presents.”
The Act series is The Dear Hunter’s six album concept series chronicling the story of a boy at the turn of the century, only referred to as “The Dear Hunter.” From the beginning, it was a high-concept project: Crescenzo mapped out multi-page treatments for a six-album story arc about the birth, life, and abrupt death of a boy, set at the dawn of the 20th century. Act I: The Lake South, The River North, Act II: The Meaning of, and All Things Regarding Ms. Leading and the third installment, Act III: Life and Death were released between 2006 and 2009 and Act IV: Rebirth In Reprise was released last year. Like Act IV, Act V features Bay Area musicians the Awesöme Orchestra with orchestration written by Crescenzo.
Album includes a digital download.
Limited edition of: 300
Label: Equal Vision
Mono/Stereo: Stereo
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The late Perrance Shiri
Don’t Associate Perrance Shiri With Gukurahundi – Mliswa
23rd September 2020 News Headlines
By Anna Chibamu
CONTROVERSIAL Norton independent MP Temba Mliswa Tuesday urged other legislators to speak good about the late former Agriculture Minister Perrance Shiri as it was inhuman to talk evil of someone who cannot defend themselves.
Shiri, who once served as an army commander during the Gukurahundi atrocities, died on 29 July due to Covid-19 complications.
His name features prominently when ever there is talk on the subject of killings on over 20 000 people during the Matabeleland and Midlands massacres by the Zimbabwe military in the early 1980s.
However, Mliswa described Shiri as a liberation struggle icon and urged other MPs to speak glowingly about the late politician.
“Mr. Speaker Sir, may this be an opportunity for my colleagues Honourable Members of Parliament to talk about the good that this man did. It will be totally inhuman to talk about what a man did when he cannot defend himself when he is no more,” said Mliswa Tuesday.
“I hasten to say do not associate him with Gukurahundi. He was just a commander when there were other commanders. If we decide to talk about people being killed let us bring every soldier who has been to war before the courts and ask them why they killed. He was never the commander of the army and he was never part of the commander of the Air Force (of Zimbabwe),” Mliswa said.
“There is a commander-in-chief who they take instructions from. So, he must never be tainted with something which other people gave orders to. Unfortunately, the true story of Gukurahundi will never come out because the commander-in-chief at the time was the former late President R. G. Mugabe. He was there and nobody had the chance to ask him and when you are in that position, no one else can speak for you but yourself.”
Mliswa said parliament failed to exercise its oversight role and invite Mugabe to give his side of the story.
“We invited him (Mugabe) to come because we wanted to understand. The various committees had an opportunity to invite him to also find out about Gukurahundi since he was the commander-in-chief and he was the President at the time.
“For us to talk about who was in charge of Gukurahundi when the principal is no more, I think you are opening old wounds; may the souls of those people who passed away rest in peace. May we never again have such an experience as a people. May we have a leadership which forgives and asks for forgiveness,” said Mliswa.
He continued, “In that spirit, we are able to move as one nation and we are able to safeguard the pain, joy, and interest of the people who sacrificed for this country, the late Joshua Nkomo, the late Josiah Tongogara, the late Nikita Mangena, the late Herbert Chitepo, the late Ziyapapa (Moyo) all those that we know about can only be happy when we are in unity and we are tolerant of each other.
“They could tolerate the white men at the time when the white men had an agenda to totally kill people, but today why can we not be tolerant of each other? May we learn the tolerance of Gudoguru the late retired Air Chief Marshall Shiri in that he could talk to anyone because he was Zimbabwean and he put Zimbabwe first?”
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Format: Remove This Item Printed Book/DVD(s)
Price: Remove This Item $0.00 - $99.99
Since 1974, Nido Qubein has given more than 5,000 presentations, has received every award in professional speaking, and is represented by the best speaker bureaus. He is considered both a motivational speaker and a business speaker, with a range of topics covering everything from time management to branding.
Nido came to the United States in 1966, learned the English language, completed graduate university studies, and then went on to become living proof that this is still the land of opportunity. His life has been an amazing success story and a fitting example of what a multitalented individual can accomplish. As a marketing and management consultant, Nido brings outstanding business acumen and sales savvy to his assignments with such top companies as General Electric, AT&T, and many more. As a professional speaker, he addresses more than 200 groups worldwide annually.
As an author, he has written more than 30 books on communication, sales, and personal development.Nido invests one-third of his life in earning, one-third in learning, and one-third in serving. His bio clearly illustrates the life of a person who cares. He is chairman-emeritus of the National Speakers Association Foundation and is a former trustee on the national YMCA board of directors. Over the years, he has served on more than 30 voluntary boards, including the High Point Community Foundation and the National Board of American Humanics. He is the recipient of the Cavett Robert Award for speaking, has been inducted into the International Speakers Hall of Fame, and has served as board chairman of the National Speakers Association.
He has many other distinguished awards and honors to his credit, such as The Ellis Island Medal of Honor, Citizen of the Year, Distinguished Alumnus, The Golden Gavel, Master of Influence, Business Leader of the Year, High Point Citizen of the Year, Horatio Alger Award for Distinguished Americans, The Order of the Long Leaf Pine (North Carolina's highest civilian honor), and dozens more.
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Statement on the centenary of the Armenian genocide
During the centenary year of the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Empire, the executive committee of the WCC is meeting in this country on 8-13 June 2015, hosted by the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, to honour the martyrs and victims of the genocide.
Armenian massacres, 1915-1923
Etchmiadzin, Armenia
Doc. No. 27 rev
During the centenary year of the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Empire, the executive committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) is meeting in this country on 8-13 June 2015, hosted by the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, to honour the martyrs and victims of the genocide. We visit the genocide memorial to remember them and to pray in the name of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. And we celebrate the life of the Armenian nation and the witness of the Armenian church.
The executive committee recalls the Minute on the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide adopted by the WCC 10th Assembly in 2013 in Busan. This important action by the 10th Assembly followed many other occasions on which the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) had called for recognition of the Armenian genocide by the United Nations (UN) and by member states, dating back to the 1979 session of the UN Human Rights Commission. The WCC has played a key role over many years in accompanying the Armenian church in speaking out and working for recognition of the genocide, and for appropriate responses to the genocide’s continuing impacts on the Armenian people.
A minute adopted at the 6th Assembly of the WCC held in 1983 in Vancouver acknowledged that “The silence of the world community and deliberate efforts to deny even historical facts have been consistent sources of anguish and growing despair to the Armenian people, the Armenian churches and many others.” While some continue their efforts to deny or minimize these historical events, the executive committee is greatly encouraged by His Holiness Pope Francis’ public recognition on 12 April 2015 of the mass killing of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians as genocide. We stress that there is a duty on the international community to remember the victims of genocide, in order to heal these historical wounds and to guard against similar atrocities in the future.
The WCC, with its many member churches, has participated in several events marking the centenary, including the official commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and canonization of the martyrs in Yerevan, Armenia, on 21-25 April. The WCC and its member churches will continue to participate in the ongoing centennial commemorations this year by the Armenian diaspora, including with the Armenian Church Holy See of Cilicia in Antelias, Lebanon, on 18-19 July. The Executive Committee thanks the many member churches and ecumenical partners around the world that have observed or will observe this ongoing centenary in their own contexts, and that have spoken in recognition of the genocide and in commemoration of its victims. Through these commemorations, we acknowledge that these tragic events occurred, and that they must be named by their right name.
The Armenian genocide was accompanied in the same historical and political context by genocidal acts against other – mostly Christian – communities of Aramean, Chaldean, Syrian, Assyrian and Greek descent, which have blighted history at the beginning of the 20th century.
Denial, impunity and the failure to remember such events encourage their repetition. Those who deny or attack the life and dignity of a sister or brother undermine and destroy the humanity of both the victim and themselves. These centennial commemorations should mark the passing of the time when governments remain reluctant to name what occurred one hundred years ago as genocide. We urge all governments to abandon this reluctance.
In this centenary year, we call the international community, the WCC’s member churches and all people of faith and good will to remembrance, and to re-commit to the prevention of genocide and all crimes against humanity.
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:11-12)
Greetings for Holy Muron ceremony
The witnesses to life
"Our life and our death are with our neighbour”: Commemorating a genocide, affirming our common humanity
ECtHR judgment in case of Perinçek v. Switzerland
Minute on 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
Message for the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day
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Olympic Movement celebrates International Day of Sport with messages of peace and unity
Development through sport, IOC News, Olympic News, Peace
Showcasing the power of sport to unite people and help build a peaceful and better world, Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Ambassadors, International Federations, National Olympic Committees (NOCs), other organisations and athletes around the world joined the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the United Nations (UN) in marking the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace (IDSDP) on 6 April.
Recognising sport’s universality and its power to drive social change and promote a culture of peace, the IDSDP saw a mobilisation both via virtual channels and on the ground at local, national and international level.
Countries from across the five continents voiced their support for the IDSDP. Activities included conferences and seminars; sports demonstrations and events; cultural and educational activities; and digital campaigns and promotions of existing sport for development and peace programmes.
In PyeongChang, host city to next year’s Olympic Winter Games, the Organising Committee celebrated peace through sport with a historic ice hockey match between the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The match between the two neighbours was part of the Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship Division II and was “a strong symbol of peace and the Olympic spirit” ahead of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.
In Papua New Guinea, a series of events emphasising the value of sport and the benefits of staying active were organised by the country’s NOC. In the nation’s capital, children took part in fun sporting activities alongside Team PNG athletes. There was also a colourful rally in Bangladesh; a large-scale sporting and cultural event in Georgia, which featured an exhibition of children’s art work around the topic of sport for development and peace; and a documentary on how sport is helping young people overcome trauma in Gabon, produced by the NOC and broadcast nationally in a bid to encourage those who are visually impaired or who suffer from a disability or trauma to practise a physical activity.
International Sports Federations also got involved and showcased how their sports are making a positive contribution to society. For instance, World Rugby announced the five organisations that have been selected to join its Spirit of Rugby programme – a programme which uses rugby to tackle key issues such as health and gender equality. All five are using rugby for societal development, be it on a local or international scale, with activities in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America (read the full story). The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA)’s Foundation in turn launched digital campaigns to raise awareness about the role of sport in social development and peace building, and to call on their fans to show, respectively, how they play together and how sport has an impact on their lives (learn more here).
YOG Ambassadors acting as change-makers in their communities
Several YOG Ambassadors from previous editions of the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore, Nanjing and Lillehammer also found creative ways to engage with their communities via projects on the ground, by collaborating with their NOCs, or via social media, supporting the #sport4betterworld campaign.
Guatemalan Gabriela Matus promoted her “United Play Project” which, having begun in April and running until the end of the year, sets out to help children in vulnerable communities in her country overcome social challenges by providing them with skills and opportunities using sporting activities. Read the full story here. Brazilian Krishna Memére supported a social judo project in Rio, which encourages social integration among children from different social and economic backgrounds.
Throughout the last 12 months, there have been many opportunities to highlight the power of sport and to promote solidarity and tolerance, not only among participants and fans at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, but also among people throughout the year beyond the Games.
For this year’s IDSDP, the IOC celebrated the Refugee Olympic Team which, as the first of its kind, made history at last year’s Olympic Games Rio 2016. Acting as a symbol of hope and peace for refugees across the globe, these refugee Olympic athletes have since become true ambassadors for the values of sport and inspired the world with the strength of their human spirit. Read the full story.
It’s never too late to join the movement #sport4betterworld!
Learn more about the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace at: www.olympic.org/idsdp.
Tags Development through sport , IOC News , Olympic News , Peace
Refugee Olympic Team a symbol of unifying power of sport on International Day of Sport for Development and Peace
Bringing the spirit of the Youth Olympic Games and #sport4betterworld to Guatemala’s communities
YOG Ambassador using sport as a tool of empowerment ahead of 6 April!
Olympic News
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Our address is: Northern Stage, Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RH
Northern Stage is located at the north end of Newcastle City Centre, two minutes from the main shopping street, Northumberland Street, behind the new Newcastle University building (King’s Gate).
Contact our box office with any queries: 0191 230 5151 | [email protected]
The best way to reach the theatre is by Metro. The theatre is 2 minutes walk from Haymarket Metro Station and the route is fully accessible.
The theatre is also within easy reach of Haymarket Bus Station, please contact your local bus provider for further information.
If you are driving from outside Newcastle the A1(M) runs from the North to the South and passes close by the city centre. Northern Stage is in the North East of the city, a few minutes drive from St James' Park. For route planning assistance you could try the AA or the RAC.
If you are travelling to Newcastle by train it takes 2hrs 50mins from London, 1hr from York and 1hr 20mins from Edinburgh. If you are arriving at Central Station it is a ten-to-fifteen minute walk to Haymarket, or two stops on the Metro.
Northern Stage does not have its own car park. The nearest car park is on Claremont Road (near the main entrance to Exhibition Park) or the Civic Centre car park after 6pm (entrance via Sandyford Road). Some City Centre car parks are now free after 5pm. Visit www.get-into-newcastle.co.uk for further details of these.
Northern Stage does not have any disabled parking but if you have a Blue Badge, you can contact the Newcastle University parking team directly on 0191 208 7171 or 0191 222 6000 and ask if they have a Blue Badge space available.
Alternatively, you can drop off patrons at the Stage 2 end of the building on Kings Road, before parking in one of the nearby Public Carparks mentioned above.
Updated: 30th December, 2019
Create a new Wonderland character and win a family ticket to Alice in Wonderland.
It's competition time! Draw, write, act, model or record a brand new Wonderland character and enter it into our competition to bring your family to see our bonkers production of Alice in Wonderland this January!
Information about access performances and physical accessibility to the theatre building
School and Group Bookings
Bring a group of 10+ to Northern Stage and save money on your tickets.
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North Korean Missile Tests, 1st Quarter 2017
If you've turned on the news recently there is no doubt you've seen or heard about the ballistic missile tests conducted recently by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) throughout the last few weeks. The concept of the North Korean government rattling the saber by testing a new missile system is nothing new. The notion of a nuclear armed North Korea is no longer simply a notion as it is no doubt fact. Despite the fact that even the Chinese, who fought alongside the North Koreans against the United States, have condemned their missile tests, I would anticipate that more tests will be conducted and development on a true intercontinental ballistic missile system will continue. To understand these tests, we must first look back at the North Korean missile tests of previous years.
The DPRK missile program began with tests of the Nodong-1 (also Rodong) missile system in 1993. The performance of the Nodong-1 is nothing to write home about, as the missile is essentially a DPRK produced and scaled up version of the SS-1d Scud-C. Development of the system began in 1988 and the first test in 1990 was unsuccessful, with the missile blowing up on the launch pad. In May 1993, the Nodong-1 missile was successfully fired. This missile has a range or between 1000-1500km.
On 5 July 2006, the DPRK test fired their Taepodong-2 long range missile for the first time. This particular test resulted in the missile losing control after 42 seconds of flight and crashing in the Sea of Japan. The Taepodong-2 Missile is not believed by some sources to be "missile" (in the "weapon" sense) technology but rather as "space launch vehicle" technology. This analyst would submit to the reader that most early space launch vehicle systems were intended to be missile systems first and were used for space launches... As such, it is this analyst's belief that the reverse can be equally true. I hold the R-7 Semyorka, the LGM-25C Titan II, the SM-65 Atlas, and the PGM-11 Redstone missiles all used later as space launch vehicles as evidence that space technology and missile technology are always unilateral developments. To my knowledge, the Taepondong-2 has not been successfully tested. In the event it is later tested, the advertised range is between 4000-6000km which puts Alaska EASILY within striking range.
On 22 June 2016, the DPRK successfully test fired their Hwasong-10 "Musudan" missile system. This missile has a range of 2500-4000km and is launched from mobile Transporter-Erector-Launcher systems. These missiles are still liquid fueled which means the mobile TEL's must remain static for some period of time while the hypergolic fuels are loaded onto the missile. The road mobile nature of the TEL makes these missile systems remarkably difficult to track, however the use of a liquid fueled system, particularly hypergolic liquid fuels that require extreme caution in handling, nullifies this advantage to some extent as the missile must remain static while it is fueled which allows government ISR assets to find, fix, and ready activate first-strike, second strike, TACAMO, and missile defense assets before the missiles can be fueled, let alone fired.
We also see the KN-08 long range missile, similar in design and function to the Russian Topol-M ICBM, under development. This missile has a suspected range, if it is ever brought into production, of 1500-12,000km. This would easily enable the North Koreans to strike Washington, D.C. which is just over 11,000km from Seoul. Should DPRK forces utilize their missile base at Nodong, for example, a missile shot most anywhere on the east coast should be within range, as Nodong is closer to the Eastern Seaboard than Seoul (RoK). Again, this missile has not yet been successfully tested.
Closer to the current tests is the Pukguksong-1 Submarine launched ballistic missile. This SLBM system has been tested at Sinpo Shipyard off their vertical test stand, submersible barge, and a Sinpo class Diesel Electric Ballistic Missile Submarine. The submarine is visible on Google Maps at Lat/Long (40.025426, 128.165595). Just 207 feet Northeast of the sub is the submersible test barge at Lat/Long (40.025880, 128.166033). The vertical test stand is at (40.018128, 128.156585). Again, these are all open source visible on Google Maps at the preceding coordinates. The missile has a range between 500-2000km. This missile is solid fueled. The Sinpo class submarine that these missiles have been tested from is similar to, but smaller than, the old Soviet Golf class of submarines that were modified to launch Scud type missiles. Further, 10 Golf class submarines were purchased from Russia by DPRK for scrap and it is the belief of some in the intelligence field that the North Koreans are attempting to get these boats back into service. Considering the DPRK refinement of the Scud with their Nodong missile systems, I would be willing to bet that they are entertaining the idea if not outwardly working on such a project. The Sinpo class submarine has a maximum range of 1500km and does not have air independent propulsion. It is unknown to this analyst if the boat has a Snorkel device which would allow it to run on diesels while at periscope depth or the boat must fully service to run the diesel engines that charge the batteries. This surfacing makes boats of this type highly susceptible to air and surface warfare assets although when submerged and running on electric motors this type of boat is fairly quiet. Some analysts have stated that this is built off one of the "scrap" Golf class boats but that is, based on the boats dimensions, quite difficult for this particular analyst to believe. A modified hull doesn't become 20 meters shorter and 2 meters narrower, at least not when pressure hulls are involved.
The first missile of recent testing was an updated Pukguksong-2 missile. Unlike other systems, this land based, road mobile TEL launched missile. The new Pukguksong-2 is solid fueled and utilizes a cold launch (rocket motor ignites after missile leaves launch tube) system which is far less likely to damage the TEL than a hot launch (motor ignites inside launch tube) system. This missile has a suspected range of 1200-3000km. The new TEL is tracked as opposed to wheeled. The biggest change for this missile from previous DPRK missile systems is the use of solid fuel rocket engines to propel the missile. With solid fuel, there is no fueling time (with the exception of the rare split fuel systems which use a solid fuel and a liquid oxidizer or vice versa) and thereby far less time for ISR assets to detect the missile being prepared for launch.
Yesterday, 6 March 2017, 4 ballistic missiles were fired by the North Koreans simultaneously. I have found no open source intelligence that indicates what type of missile was fired. I do not attempt to be some kind of expert on this but if I had to venture a guess, I would say that odds are the missiles fired were either addition Pukguksong-2's or Hwasong-10 Musudan's. I say that based on the missiles' flight distance. If I had to pick between the two, I'd bet more on the Pukguksong system as the solid fuel system would be far safer to fire and far less likely to be detected (and thereby rattle the cages of foreign intelligence agencies that much more) by foreign assets than a liquid fueled system.
This situation is highly fluid. Rest assured that Centurion ASG's Intelligence Department will keep well advised of this situation and prepare as detailed and frequent of reports as possible based on open source intelligence. We'll do the gathering and analysis (read: the hard part) for you.
Check back here and on our weekly Intelligence Summary (IntSum) page frequently for continuing coverage.
Prepared by CASG Intelligence Analyst; 1623HRS EST 07MARCH2017
Multiple Contributors.
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Earl Leonard Wagner
Year of birth: 1945
Origin: Huron County
Nominated by: Hensall District Co-operative Inc., Sylvite
Specialty: Agri-business, Co-operatives, Crops, Organizations
Earl Wagner joined the Hensall District Co-operative Inc. (HDC) in 1964 as a sales clerk. Since 1979, when he took over as General Manager, HDC has grown and diversified steadily until today it owns 2 gas bar locations, 4 feed mills, 9 crop retail and elevator units, 16 commercial elevators in Ontario, 2 receiving locations in Michigan and Manitoba and a food grade business which ships products to over 35 countries.
HDC is a major employer in Ontario with over 500 employees at its various locations. Over 2000 farmers are contracted to grow 100,000 acres of dry beans and 100,000 acres of Identity Preserved (IP) beans annually, and all of these producers have access to the latest agronomic services and products to maintain a strong yield advantage. Earl put Ontario on the global edible bean stage and he did so with integrity, sound management and a dedication to growing a customer-focused, farmer-owned agri-business with 5000 members and sales in excess of $650,000,000 last year. This represents a 240% growth over the past ten years and $17,400,000 in dividends paid to the farmer-owners! HDC’s investment in growth included $62,000,000 in plant, building and equipment in 2013/14 alone. Plans for 2015 include a larger soybean processing plant in Hensall, new storage silos with receiving and cleaning facilities, a 500 kilowatt Solar Panel project, and a new distribution warehouse in Exeter.
Earl is well-known for working to ensure a sustainable future for Ontario agriculture and is committed to research and development to reduce impacts on the environment and to educate growers on the benefits of sustainability by reducing greenhouse gases and power consumption, soil conservation, water conservation and biodiversity. Quality assurance, food safety and traceability are paramount and HDC has developed an on-line grower recording system called Field Trace to facilitate this. In 2013, Earl introduced “Precision Agriculture” to keep the business abreast of changing trends and technologies in agriculture.
In addition to the long hours Earl Wagner has spent on the ongoing growth of Hensall District Co-operative, he was also a member and a past Chair of The Fertilizer Institute of Ontario from 1988-99. During that time, he strongly supported the development of the Certified Crop Advisor program which became a key to agriculture now and in the future by training crop advisors in the knowledge of the environment as well as the agronomic effects of their recommendations.
Earl Wagner has dedicated 50 hard-working years to the amazing development of the Hensall District Cooperative and is a very deserving recipient of induction into the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame.
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Sumi’s hostel serves female students
Farhana Naznin
Suzana Sumi founded a ladies hostel in the city in a bid to help the female student who would come for study purpose in the capital. In addition there are also some female who come to search job and some come to do job. So they need to live without family in a secure environment.
Sumi said, "My exclusive ladies hostel is at Dhanmondi. We started its journey on a small scale in 2005, now it has all the facilities and tight security including accommodation for 300 students."
"I started this institution thinking about the accommodation and security of the single girls and university students who suddenly came to Dhaka, because I am a woman myself. This is not my business, I have set up this organization to provide maximum service and security to women" she added.
She also described the facilities that the hostel is giving. "It has safe accommodation and a pleasant environment for reading and listening. The hostel provides healthy meals according to the students' choice, like three meals a day and it's a tough completely safe, clean-tidy home environment."
She went on to say, "Each room is well arranged with all the furniture including bed, chair, table, wardrobe, fridge, Wi-Fi, electronic water filter. There are CCTV cameras at every entrance and there is kitchen, washing machine and AC room with 24 hour security guard."
"It's always supervised by Hostel Super. If you want to cook and eat something yourself, there is a maid in every room. There is a waiting room for the guardian to sit. It has its own skilled electrician to solve electrical problems."
Meanwhile the hostel also has car parking. Girls who come to Dhaka suddenly even for a short time as guests can stay here safely.
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Michael K Miller (2010)
For his pioneering research in atom probe field-ion microscopy and atom probe tomography, most recently to understand the unprecedented properties and behaviors of nanostructured ferritic steels.
Bennett Richard Bass (2008)
For outstanding scientific, programmatic, and institutional contributions to ORNL in advanced computational structural mechanics and nuclear safety technologies.
Stephen E Nagler (2007)
For his pioneering contributions to the study of nonequilibrium systems, quantum magnetism, and excitations in condensed matter.
Richard J Norby (2007)
For his research on the effects of elevated levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide on terrestrial ecosystems.
James R Beene (2004)
For innovative research in nuclear structure physics, particularly in areas leading to a quantitative understanding of the excitation and decay of the elementary collective modes of nuclei, and for vision and scientific and technical leadership in building the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility into a forefront laboratory for nuclear science.
Virginia H Dale (2002)
For pioneering research in disturbance and landscape ecology and in modeling of land-use change with its implications for global changes, which have influenced environmental decision making on a worldwide scale.
Al Geist (2002)
For internationally recognized contributions in distributed and cluster computing, including the development of the Parallel Virtual Machine and the Message Passing Interface standard now widely used in science to solve computational problems in biology, physics, chemistry, and materials science.
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Skip to the main content of the page
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PROTECTING CARES ACT RECOVERY REBATE PAYMENTS FROM GARNISHMENTS, SO THOSE FUNDS CAN BE USED FOR ESSENTIAL NEEDS
On February 28, 2020, I appointed the State of Oregon's Coronavirus Response Team.
On February 29, 2020, the Department of Human Services issued strict guidelines, restricting visitation at congregated care facilities, including nursing homes.
On March 2, 2020, the State of Oregon Emergency Coordination Center was activated.
On March 8, 2020, I declared an emergency under ORS 401.165 et seq. due to the public health threat posed by the novel infectious coronavirus (COVID-19).
On March 12, 2020, I prohibited gatherings of250 or more people, and announced a statewide closure of Oregon K-12 schools from March 16, 2020, through March 31, 2020.
On March 13, 2020, the President of the United States declared the COVID-19 outbreak a national emergency.
On March 17, 2020, I prohibited gatherings of 25 or more people, banned on-site consumption of food and drink at food establishments statewide, and extended school closures until April 28, 2020. I also encouraged all businesses not subject to the prohibitions to implement social distancing protocols.
On March 18, 2020, I suspended in-person instructional activities at higher education institutions through April 28, 2020.
On March 22, 2020, I imposed a temporary moratorium on residential evictions for nonpayment, prohibiting law enforcement from serving, delivering, or acting on any notice, order or writ of termination of tenancy, relating to residential evictions for nonpayment.
On March 23, 2020, I ordered Oregonians to "Stay Home, Save Lives," directing individuals to stay home to the greatest extent possible, ordering the closure of specified retail businesses, requiring social distancing measures for other public and private facilities, and imposing requirements for outdoor areas and licensed childcare facilities.
On April 1, 2020, I imposed a temporary moratorium on the termination of residential and nonresidential rental agreements and evictions for nonpayment, to ensure that individuals can stay at home to the greatest extent possible, and to ensure the provision of necessary goods and services during this emergency.
On April 8, 2020, I announced that school closures and the suspension of in-person instructional activities at higher education institutions would be extended through the end of the current academic term and school year.
COVID-19 may cause respiratory disease leading to serious illness or death. The World Health Organization considers COVID-19 to be a global pandemic. COVID-19 spreads person-to-person through coughing, sneezing, and close personal contact, including touching a surface with the virus on it and then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes.
State and local public health officials advise that the virus is circulating in the community and expect the number of cases to increase. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that COVID-19 is most contagious when the individual is most symptomatic, but may also spread before symptoms appear. CDC recommends measures to limit spread of the disease in the community, including limitations on events and gatherings.
The number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise in Oregon. On March 8, 2020, at the time I declared an emergency, there were 14 presumptive or confirmed cases in Oregon. As of today, there are at least 1,785 confirmed cases and 70 deaths.
In a short time, COVID-19 has spread rapidly. To slow the spread of COVID-19 in Oregon, and to protect the health and lives of Oregonians, particularly those at highest risk, I find that immediate implementation of additional measures is necessary to protect the health, safety, and the financial stability of all Oregonians.
The COVID-19 emergency has resulted in the loss of employment and economic suffering for many Oregonians.
Eligible Oregonians will soon be receiving CARES Act Recovery Rebate payments. These payments are needed by vulnerable Oregonians to help pay for their housing, food, medical and other essential needs. This Executive Order is necessary to ensure that these payments may be used to pay for their current needs.
NOW THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY DIRECTED AND ORDERED THAT:
Pursuant to ORS 433.441, ORS 401.168, ORS 401.175, ORS 401.188, and ORS 401.192, I am issuing the following directives, which are intended to protect the CARES Act Recovery Rebate payments to individuals from most garnishments. This is being done so that Oregonians may use these payments to pay for their housing, food, medical and other essential needs during the COVID-19 emergency period.
1. Definitions.
a. "COVID-19 emergency period" means the period during which the COVID-19 state of emergency declared by Executive Order 20-03 is in effect, including any extensions of that state of emergency.
b. "Financial institution" has the same meaning as defined in ORS 18.600(7).
c. "CARES Act" refers to the "Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act" (H.R. 748) passed by the United States Congress and signed by the President of the United States on March 27, 2020.
d. "Recovery Rebates" means the payments made to eligible individuals by the United States Government in an amount not to exceed $1,200 per individual (or $2,400 in the case of individuals filing a joint return), plus $500 per qualifying child, pursuant to Sec. 2201(a) of the CARES Act.
2. Garnishment of CARES Act Recovery Rebates Prohibited. During the COVID-19 emergency period:
a. All CARES Act Recovery Rebates to individuals shall be exempt from "garnishment" as that term is described in ORS 18.602 and used in ORS Chapter 18, unless otherwise provided by this Executive Order or guidance issued pursuant to this Executive Order.
b. All CARES Act Recovery Rebates exempt from garnishment pursuant to this Executive Order and related guidance shall remain exempt when deposited into an account in a financial institution, in the same manner as other funds described in ORS 18.348(3).
c. Upon receipt of a Notice or Writ of Garnishment, financial institutions shall treat all CARES Act Recovery Rebates in the same manner as federal benefit payments for purposes of complying with their obligations under ORS 18.784, unless the garnishment contains the following statement: "This Garnishment Has Been Issued to Collect a Criminal Money Judgment that Awards Restitution or a Civil Judgment Based on a Criminal Offense." When responding to a garnishment containing this statement, the financial institution shall treat any Recovery Rebate as being subject to garnishment.
3. Guidance. The Attorney General and the Oregon Department of Justice shall provide further guidance regarding the directives set forth in this Executive Order, as necessary.
4. Exceptions. Notwithstanding paragraph 2 of this Executive Order:
a. CARES Act Recovery Rebates shall remain subject to any garnishment issued to collect: (a) a judgment in a criminal action that requires the defendant to pay restitution; or (b) a civil judgment against someone who has been convicted of a criminal offense, provided that the civil judgment is based upon the same underlying facts as the conviction.
b. Garnishments issued pursuant to paragraph 4(a) of this Executive Order shall contain the following statement: "This Garnishment Has Been Issued to Collect a Criminal Money Judgment that Awards Restitution or a Civil Judgment Based on a Criminal Offense."
c. In addition to the judgments set forth in paragraph 4(a) of this Executive Order, the Attorney General may specify other judgments that may be collected by garnishment of CARES Act Recovery Rebates, through guidance issued pursuant to paragraph 3 of this Executive Order.
This Executive Order is issued under the authority conferred to the Governor by ORS 401.165 to 401.236. Pursuant to ORS 401.192(1), the directives set forth in this Executive Order shall have the full force and effect of law, and any existing laws, ordinances, rules and orders shall be inoperative to the extent they are inconsistent with this exercise of the Governor's emergency powers.
This Executive Order is effective immediately, and remains in effect until terminated by the Governor.
Done at Salem, Oregon, this 17th day of April, 2020.
ATTEST:
Bev Clarno
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ORGAN GRIND
food travel arts @#?!
Taking the pulse of Guadalajara's jazz scene at an urban park on Sunday
At first it seemed like butterflies might end up outnumbering human spectators at this past Sunday’s concert celebrating International Jazz Day.
But it was only 2 p.m. The event, organized by the city and consisting of a single stage set up on a short, brood flight of steps below the giant spherical cage that is Toktli, a local band fusing jazz with Son Jarocho
Parque Agua Azul’s butterfly conservatory, eventually drew a healthy crowd - by jazz standards, at least. That the four more conventional of the six groups making up the bill attracted the biggest crowds is to be expected; that the two most left-field, progressive groups managed to command and retain the sparser audience’s speaks well for Guadalajara’s jazz scene as a whole.
In 2011, April 30 was named International Jazz Day by UNESCO, a U.N. organization whose mission is the protection and preservation of cultural patrimony around the world. According to Susana Chavez, director of the cultural ministry that helped organize Sunday’s event, UNESCO’s aim in doing so was to help “disseminate the music that helped stimulate the civil rights movement in the Unites States and that inspires cultural interchanges all over the world, exalting concepts like equality, unity and peace.”
But what is jazz? Is there any one definition and if so, who gets to be its arbiter? Sara Valenzuela, a festival organizer, seemed to think that jazz is, in part, best defined in terms of the way in which it becomes transformed by interaction with different cultural traditions.
“It’s important to celebrate this day, but through the local scene, giving space to bands that are making relevant, interesting music,” said Valenzuela. She went on to describe the difficulty of picking six bands she and her fellow organizers felt represented the breadth of the scene in Guadalajara. “It was hard to curate because there are a million bands out there, but it’s a meaningful, accurate portrait of what’s happening in Guadalajara right now.”
Asked to share his opinions about Mexico City’s jazz scene versus Guadalajara’s, Chen Quintero, saxophonist and leader of festival opener Cienfuegos, evinced a mixture self-effacement and sly defiance, a typical Second City attitude. He had only just walked off the stage after an hour set, his eyes glowing with post-performance euphoria.
“We make new music. Mexico City players are technically better, but they don’t play new music.” Thoughtfully jangling the change in his pocket, Quintero added, “We tend to form bands.”
Chen Quintero of Cienfuegos
Jazz can be split into two camps: one which consists mainly in constructing improvised variations upon a standard repertoire of songs – many of which come from the musical comedies of early-20th Century America – and one in which new music is composed (and improvised) by one or more members of a group. Furthermore, there are bands formed in large part as a vehicle for a star soloist, and others which are cohesive units whose group dynamic is as important, if not more so, than any one of its constituent’s sonic peacocking. It was clear both from Quintero’s comments and from the music itself that Cienfuegos belongs to the camp that prizes collectivity and original music.
Toktli, the festival’s sophomore act, while just as collective-minded as its predecessor, is shot through with an entirely different genetic code, one informed by the complex but danceable rhythms of Son Jarocho, a folk music from the Mexican state of Vera Cruz.
“Son is our blues.” That is how Vico Diaz, bandleader and leona player for Toktli, summed up Son Jarocho’s contribution to his group’s sound; that is, not unlike the 12-bar blues in American, it provides a rhythmic and harmonic template upon which to spin any number of musical variations.
Diaz, when asked for his own thoughts on Guadalajara’s jazz scene versus that of its hulking rival to the southeast, opined that “the scene here is more fusion-oriented.” That is, the musicians are not content to continue playing the same few hundred battered old hymns in the prayer book of jazz, attempting instead the creation of something new by the marrying of different forms. To this end, Toktli (“sprouted from the earth” in Nahuatl) features a less-typical instrumentation: in addition to the afore-mentioned leona, a bass guitar-like instrument with a deep, resonant sound, there is the jarana, a small stringed instrument that, in addition to sounding out chords, provides the infectious, heavily syncopated 6/8 rhythm characteristic of Son Jarocho. Tenor sax, trumpet and drums combine with these two non-traditional (in a jazz context) traditional instruments for a sound with few if any peers.
The rest of Sunday’s entertainment was provided by a roster of bands staffed by a lot of very capable musicians playing in genres as diverse as big band jazz, latin, funk and soul jazz. However, Cienfuegos and Totlki, two scrappy underdogs working in an already marginalized genre, stood out from the pack with their capacity for surprise and their irreverence. If UNESCO’s well-meaning preservation efforts are to have any meaning in the context of jazz, a protean art form which rejects efforts at categorization, then these two ensembles should continue to find solid footing on jazz’s ever-shifting landscape.
For more information regarding the music of Cienfuegos and Totlki, visit their band pages on Facebook. To view the article on The Reporter's website, click here.
#TheGuadalajaraReporter #MattFInk #Guadalajarajazz #Guadalajara #Mexico #Totkli #Cienfuegos #jazz #parqueaguaazul
Guadalajara Reporter
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Miramonte Drama Department presents "Heathers The Musical"
Catch a rising star at an upcoming performance of "Heathers The Musical" by Miramonte's fabulous Drama Department.
Tickets available for purchase on the Miramonte Webstore (Adults $15 and Students $10; Tickets at door will cost $5 more).
Fri March 9 (7pm) & Sat March 10 (7pm)
Fri March 16 (7pm) & Sat March 17 (4pm)
*Please note: This production is not suitable for younger audiences.
"Heathers The Musical", is a production about a high school student who befriends the wrong people in order to fit in. Based on the 1988 movie starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, "Heathers" debuted off Broadway in 2015. The storyline highlights many challenging themes, including popularity, bullying, mental illness, attempted sexual assault, and suicide. While the Miramonte production follows the school edition which has been edited for some language and content, the themes remain difficult ones and have been treated delicately. In preparation, the cast, crew, and directors participated in full-day retreat focused on how to address these sensitive topics and what they hoped the audience would take away from their performance. Following the opening night show, there will be an open discussion between actors, directors and audience members.
The Miramonte Drama department has approached their performances with great preparation and thoughtfulness. Although these issues are difficult and disturbing, theatre can be a powerful place to engage in dialogue about the society in which we live.
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Hacker Claims SQL Bug on Symantec Site
By Robert McMillan
IDG News Service |
A Romanian hacker who has spent the past few weeks exposing a common, but dangerous, Web programming error on security vendors Web sites says he's found a SQL injection flaw on Symantec's Web site. But Symantec says it's not a security issue.
Still, Symantec was forced to pull down a section of the company's Web site Thursday after a Romanian hacker, going by the name Unu, claimed that he'd found the bug in Symantec's Document Download Center, a password-protected part of the company's site where channel partners can download sales materials for the company's products.
The site hosts marketing materials and Symantec said that no company or customer information was exposed.
"Symantec immediately took the site down, conducted comprehensive testing and determined that the issue is not a security vulnerability," the company said in a statement Thursday. "It appears that the individual who reported it based the report on an error message."
Symantec representatives were unable to comment in detail on the matter, but at worst, the issue is an embarrassment for Symantec, the world's best-known computer security vendor. "The irony of the situation is that it's done on ... a page that promotes security products like Norton AntiVirus 2009 and Norton Internet SECURITY," Unu wrote in his note describing the problem. "What can I say: nice advertising."
In a SQL injection attack, the hacker takes advantage of bugs in Web programs that query SQL databases. The point is to find a way to run commands within the databases and access information that would normally be protected.
These flaws have been used in widespread Web attacks, that have allowed criminals to place malicious code on thousands of Web sites over the past year.
Based on Unu's description of the matter, it's unclear whether he found a legitimate SQL injection flaw, said Robert Hansen, CEO of SecTheory, a Web security consultancy. "He could be absolutely right. This could be SQL injection, but so what," he said. "Maybe [sales materials are] really valuable to an attacker, but I doubt it."
Just over a week ago, Unu found a similar problem in Kaspersky Lab's site, as well as in a partner site for security vendor BitDefender, and in the F-Secure Web site.
The attacks have exposed data that the vendors had wanted to protect such as customer e-mail addresses, product activation codes and research data, but not financial information.
"While the attack is something we must learn from and points at things we need to improve, it's not the end of the world," wrote F-Secure in a blog posting, commenting on the matter. In the F-Secure attack, the hacker was able to get access to statistics the company keeps on malicious software.
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Google's Standalone Daydream VR and VPS fight the clutter and clumsiness of virtual reality
Shedding VR's cables and navigating better indoors both sound like great ideas.
By Mark Hachman
Senior Editor, PCWorld |
Google said it has solved key problems with both augmented reality and its cousin, virtual reality, with a new standalone virtual reality headset and a way to navigate indoors using visual reference points as a sort of indoor GPS, called VPS.
Google said it was working with both HTC and Lenovo to deliver the first standalone VR devices later this year, based on the Google Daydream technology. Google is working with Qualcomm on the new standalone Daydream headsets, and they'll use Qualcomm chips inside them. Meanwhile, Google said consumers should expect the Asus Zenfone AR, a second-generation phone that uses Google’s Project Tango technology, to go on sale this summer.
Most manufacturers now see virtual reality and augmented reality as a spectrum of capabilities, and the lines between the two are beginning to blur even as the devices remain separate. One of the big challenges, however, has been to give virtual reality users, whose vision is occluded by a headset that’s physically tethered to a PC, some freedom of movement.
Clay Bavor, Google’s vice president of virtual reality, claimed the new Standalone VR devices would drastically improve the current-generation experience (though it’s still not clear how). “The idea is that you have everything you need for VR built right into the headset itself,” he said. “There’s no cables, no phone, and certainly no big PC.”
Google plans to help develop standalone VR with Qualcomm, Lenovo, and HTC.
Bavor claimed the Standalone VR devices had displays and other components optimized for virtual reality activity. The devices will also use what Bavor called “precise tracking.” This is apparently a form of the inside-out tracking used by Microsoft’s HoloLens, which does not depend on external sensors to position the headset in the real world.
What’s unclear is whether these standalone VR devices will be self-contained, like the HoloLens, processing everything on the device. Both Intel and AMD have talked about a future where the PC remains the rendering engine, communicating data via high-throughput, short-range wireless link. While Google’s approach eliminates the PC, it’s not clear whether the Google cloud will be tapped for the same purpose—Google simply didn’t say.
If a standalone VR device offers some degree of movement, augmented reality is considered to be a truly mobile technology. Google developed Google Glass, an augmented-reality headset, then gave it up in favor of mobile phones. Its next game-changing technology in AR, it hopes, will be what its calls the Visual Positioning Service, or VPS.
Google's VPS uses visual points to establish location indoors.
Like GPS, VPS is a mapping technology. GPS uses satellites to position a phone outside, helping it navigate to the mall. Inside the mall, though, mobile devices have a far tougher time orienting themselves, relying on anything from Bluetooth beacons to simply guessing where the device is.
VPS uses a series of visual points—the end of an aisle, a light, objects on shelves—to establish a lock on where the user is. It’s a simple proposition: Once you’re in a store or a museum, you might want to know the location of the potato chips, or the paint department, or the Lincoln exhibit. By intelligently using the phone’s camera to “see” your location, VPS promises to guide you to your destination.
When VPS will roll out, though, is anyone’s guess. It’s also not clear whether Google will have to spend time mapping the interior of stores, as it has already done for big chunks of our exterior world.
The new Zenfone AR phone will roll out this summer.
Finally, Google showed off a new AR capability for Expeditions, its geographic app for schools. Expeditions already facilitates trips through the real world, and augmented reality will add yet another dimension. It will roll out later this year, Google said.
This story was updated at 3:23 PM with additional details.
As PCWorld's senior editor, Mark focuses on Microsoft news and chip technology, among other beats.
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Home News Briefs Alaris Royalty commits $70 mln to Texas-based DNT Construction
Alaris Royalty commits $70 mln to Texas-based DNT Construction
Canadian alternative equity firm Alaris Royalty Corp has made a US$70 million contribution to DNT Construction LLC, a U.S. specialist in turnkey civil construction services to residential, commercial and municipal end markets. The investment entitles Alaris to an annualized full-year distribution of US$10.5 million, which will result in an 18 percent increase in the firm’s annualized revenue. DNT, which is based in Austin, Texas, said the proceeds of the deal will allow it to serve existing clients and to explore new markets. Earlier in 2015, Alaris earned a substantial return on its repurchase of equity in Killick Aerospace Group.
Alaris Royalty Corp. Announces A US$70 Million Contribution to A New Partner, A 4% Dividend Increase and Increased Borrowing Capacity
CALGARY, ALBERTA–(Marketwired – June 1, 2015) –
Alaris Royalty Corp (TSX:AD) (“Alaris” or the “Corporation”) is pleased to announce a US$70,000,000 contribution (the “DNT Contribution”) to DNT Construction, LLC (“DNT” or the “Company”) in exchange for an annualized first full year distribution of $10,500,000 (the “DNT Distribution”), resulting in an 18% increase in Alaris’ annualized revenue. The Corporation is also pleased to announce its ninth consecutive dividend increase since April 2010 with a $0.06 per share dividend increase (the “Dividend Increase”) resulting in an annualized dividend of $1.56 per share ($0.13 per month). In addition, Alaris is pleased to announce it has received approval from its syndicate of lenders to have its revolving credit facility (the “Facility”) temporarily increased to $150,000,000 from $90,000,000. This Temporary Increase is subject to finalizing the amendments to existing credit agreements, which we expect to be finalized in the near future. Prior to the DNT Contribution Alaris was undrawn on its $90,000,000 Facility. Following the funding of the DNT Contribution Alaris has a balance outstanding of approximately $85,000,000, leaving approximately $65,000,000 of capacity to fund Alaris’ active deal pipeline as well as for general working capital purposes.
New Partner – US$70 million Contribution
Alaris entered into a subscription agreement with DNT pursuant to which Alaris contributed US$70,000,000 to DNT for both permanent preferred units (the “Permanent Units”) and redeemable preferred units (the “Redeemable Units”)(collectively the “DNT Units”). The DNT Contribution in its entirety entitles Alaris to receive the annualized first full year US$10,500,000 DNT Distribution following the closing of the DNT Contribution. The Permanent Units were issued to Alaris in exchange for contributing US$40,000,000. The Permanent Units entitle Alaris to an annualized first full year distribution of US$6,000,000 (the “Permanent Unit Distribution”). The Redeemable Units were issued to Alaris in exchange for contributing US$30,000,000. The Redeemable Units entitle Alaris to an annualized first full year distribution of US$4,500,000 (the “Redeemable Unit Distribution”). Both sets of DNT Units carry a 15% yield, reset for the first time on January 1, 2017 based on the percentage change in gross revenue and will be subject to a 6% collar.
The Permanent Units will have similar characteristics as Alaris’ past investments and will not be subject to a repurchase right until after the third anniversary of the DNT Contribution. The Redeemable Units are identical in terms to the Permanent Units except that they may be repurchased by DNT at any time following the closing of the DNT Contribution, up to fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 at par value, following which any outstanding Redeemable Units will be redeemable at the same price as the Permanent Units.
The utilization of the combination of the Permanent Units and Redeemable Units was desirable for both Alaris and DNT management and the rationale was twofold. First, no additional capital was needed from parties other than Alaris to complete the transaction. This allowed both sides to have more control over the process as well as to keep DNT’s high quality balance sheet free of amortizing debt. The second rationale was to reduce the obligation to Alaris on the Redeemable Unit portion over a five year period to strengthen free cash flow available to cover the Permanent Unit Distribution as time passes thus creating a larger cash flow buffer on the distributions to Alaris. Both Alaris and DNT anticipate the redemption on the Redeemable Units to occur in small increments over the next five year period.
The Permanent Unit Distribution adds approximately $0.12 per share to Alaris’ annualized net cash from operating activities and places Alaris’ annualized payout ratio at approximately 78% following the Dividend Increase. The Redeemable Unit Distribution adds approximately $0.08 per share of net cash from operating activities and reduces the annualized payout ratio to approximately 75% following the Dividend Increase. Alaris is conservatively basing the Dividend Increase, as well as its future payout ratio on the Permanent Units alone in order to account for anticipated future redemptions on the Redeemable Units.
DNT specializes in turnkey civil construction services to residential, commercial and municipal end markets including excavation, the installation of wet and dry utilities such as electrical, gas, sewage and water as well as paving and the building of retaining walls. DNT has strong functional capabilities and believes it is the only company in its core markets capable of providing these turnkey infrastructure solutions to its customers. With its head office in Austin, Texas, DNT employs over 650 people during peak season and is one of the largest service providers of its kind in the Austin market while also holding significant market share in San Antonio. These markets are attractive, fast growing and have diverse economies with major industry employers including healthcare, government, technology and education. Both Austin and San Antonio have strong employment rates and significant job growth at rates above the National average. These, among other factors, have placed both markets as amongst the most desirable for commercial and residential development. Sagent Advisors, LLC acted as the exclusive financial advisor to DNT and placement agent in connection with the transaction.
“We are extremely pleased to add DNT to Alaris’ growing list of partners. DNT’s management team has a wealth of experience in their industry and have developed a platform for success in all economic conditions including the fact that a majority of their cost structure is variable in nature and that their balance sheet is free of term debt. We believe that empowering management to take control of their company makes for an excellent alignment of interests going forward. DNT management has shown their belief in their business by rolling in their entire equity stake and choosing Alaris and our unique less-dilutive equity as their long term partner,” said Steve King, President and Chief Executive Officer, Alaris Royalty Corp.
“DNT is thrilled to be teamed up with the great group of professionals at Alaris. Their non-controlling financial structure will allow us to continue to serve our clients in current markets while allowing us the ability to explore new markets,” said Dean Tomme, Chief Executive Officer, DNT.
The US$70,000,000 DNT Contribution equated to CAD$87,136,000 and the US$10,500,000 DNT Distribution equates to CAD$13,070,400 at an exchange rate of USDCAD$1.2448. Alaris used cash on hand as well as CAD$85,000,000 of funds drawn from its Facility to fund the DNT Contribution.
Dividend Increase
As a result of the DNT Contribution, the continuing strength of performance across our aggregate revenue streams and our continued efforts to resolve KMH Cardiology LP’s cash flow constraints, Alaris’ board of directors has approved the Dividend Increase of $0.06 per share to Alaris’ monthly dividend taking the annualized dividend to $1.56 ($0.13 per month) from $1.50. The first $0.13 per share dividend relating to the Dividend Increase will be paid in July 2015 for the June dividend payable once declared later in June as per Alaris’ dividend policy. Alaris management estimates its annualized payout ratio to be 75% following the DNT Contribution and the Dividend Increase. There are 32,175,921 basic shares currently outstanding.
About the Corporation:
Alaris provides alternative financing to the Partners in exchange for distributions with the principal objective of generating stable and predictable cash flows for dividend payments to its shareholders. Distributions from the Partners are structured as a percentage of a “top line” financial performance measure such as gross margin and same-store sales and rank in priority to the owners’ common equity position.
Non-IFRS Measures
The term Annualized Payout Ratio is a financial measures used in this news release that is not a standard measure under International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”). The Corporation’s method of calculating its Annualized Payout Ratio may differ from the methods used by other issuers. Therefore, the Corporation’s Annualized Payout Ratio may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers.
Annualized Payout Ratio: The term “annualized payout ratio” is a financial measure used in this press release that is not a standard measure under International Financial Reporting Standards. Annualized Payout Ratio means Alaris’ total annualized dividend per share expected to be paid over the next twelve months divided by the net cash from operating activities per share Alaris expects to generate over the same twelve month period (after giving effect to the impact of all information disclosed to date).
This news release contains forward-looking statements as defined under applicable securities laws. Statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this news release may be forward-looking statements under applicable securities legislation, including, without limitation, management’s expectations, intentions and beliefs concerning: the return to Alaris on the DNT Contribution; the impact of the DNT Contribution and Dividend Increase on Alaris’ annualized payout ratio, net cash from operating activities and annualized revenues over the next 12 months; the timing and amount of the Dividend Increase; Alaris’ operating expenses; the redemption of the Redeemable Units; the finalization of the Temporary Increase; and indebtedness under the Facility. Many of these statements can be identified by looking for words such as “believe”, “expects”, “will”, “intends”, “projects”, “anticipates”, “estimates”, “continues” or similar words or the negative thereof. To the extent any forward-looking statements herein constitute a financial outlook, including, without limitation, estimates regarding, operating expenses, annualized revenues and payout ratio, they were approved by management as of the date hereof and have been included to provide an understanding with respect to Alaris’ financial performance and are subject to the same risks and assumptions disclosed herein. There can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which these forward looking statements are based will occur.
By their nature, forward-looking statements require Alaris to make assumptions and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. Assumptions about the performance of the Canadian and U.S. economies over the next 24 months and how that will affect Alaris’ business and that of its Partners are material factors considered by Alaris management when setting the outlook for Alaris. Key assumptions include, but are not limited to, assumptions that the Canadian and U.S. economies will grow moderately over the next 12 months, that interest rates will not rise in a material way over the next 12 to 24 months, that the Partners will continue to make distributions to Alaris as and when required, that the businesses of the Partners will continue to grow, what the Corporation expects to experience regarding resets to its annual royalties and distributions from its Partners upon the reset dates for each Partner, and that Alaris will have the ability to raise required equity and/or debt financing on acceptable terms. Management of Alaris has also assumed that capital markets will remain stable and that the Canadian dollar will remain in a range of approximately plus or minus 10% relative to the U.S. dollar over a 12 month period. In determining expectations for economic growth, management of Alaris primarily considers historical economic data provided by the Canadian and U.S. governments and their agencies.
There can be no assurance that the assumptions, plans, intentions or expectations upon which these forward looking statements are based will occur. Forward looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions and should not be read as guarantees or assurances of future performance. The actual results of the Corporation and the Private Company Partners could materially differ from those anticipated in the forward looking statements contained herein as a result of certain risk factors, including, but not limited to, the following: the dependence of Alaris on the Private Company Partners; reliance on key personnel; general economic conditions; failure to complete or realize the anticipated benefit of Alaris’ financing arrangements with the Private Company Partners; a failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the DNT Contribution; a failure to obtain required regulatory approvals on a timely basis or at all; changes in legislation and regulations and the interpretations thereof; a material adjustment to the unaudited financial information of a Private Company Partner provided to Alaris; and risks relating to the Private Company Partners and their businesses, including, without limitation, a material change in the operations of a Private Company Partner or the industries they operate in and a change in the ability of the Private Company Partners to continue to pay Alaris’ preferred distributions. Additional risks that may cause actual results to vary from those indicated are discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in the Corporation’s Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2014, which is filed under the Corporation’s profile at www.sedar.com.
Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information contained in this news release as a number of factors could cause actual future results, conditions, actions or events to differ materially from the targets, expectations, estimates or intentions expressed in the forward-looking statements. Statements containing forward-looking information reflect management’s current beliefs and assumptions based on information in its possession on the date of this news release. Although management believes that the assumptions reflected in the forward-looking statements contained herein are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct.
The forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements included in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and Alaris does not undertake or assume any obligation to update or revise such statements to reflect new events or circumstances except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation.
Neither the TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Alaris Royalty Corp.
Curtis Krawetz
Vice President, Investments and Investor Relations
www.alarisroyalty.com
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Home News Briefs J.C. Flowers & Co to sell 6.5 pct stake in UK’s OneSavings...
J.C. Flowers & Co to sell 6.5 pct stake in UK’s OneSavings Bank-Reuters
Reuters News
(Reuters) Funds managed by J.C. Flowers & Co LLC will sell about 15.7 million shares in Britain’s OneSavings Bank Plc, representing about 6.5 percent of the shares outstanding, Barclays Bank Plc said on Monday.
A bookbuilding process is expected to close on May 12, Barclays, which will make the offering through its investment bank, said in a statement.
After the sale, J.C. Flowers will own 50.1 percent of OneSavings Bank.
In parallel with the bookbuild, a number of existing shares in OneSavings Bank held on behalf of J.C. Flowers & Co funds and equal to about 19.4 percent to be sold under the bookbuild will be distributed to certain investors in J.C. Flowers Funds.
Barclays is sole bookrunner. N.M.Rothschild & Sons Ltd is acting as financial adviser to J.C.Flowers & Co.
Shares in OneSavings closed up 1.6 percent at 311 pence on the London Stock Exchange.
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Home News Briefs Teachers-backed Alliance Laundry completes $400 mln finance facility
Teachers-backed Alliance Laundry completes $400 mln finance facility
Alliance Laundry Holdings LLC, a portfolio company of Teachers’ Private Capital, has completed a new US$400 million asset-backed finance facility. President and CEO Mike Schoeb said the facility will allow the company to build on its existing North American market share and expand its operations in Europe. Based in Ripon, Wisconsin, Alliance Laundry is a designer, manufacturer and marketer of commercial laundry equipment. Teachers, the private investment arm of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, bought it for US$450 million in 2005.
Alliance Laundry Completes New $400 Million Asset-Backed Finance Facility
RIPON, Wis., June 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Alliance Laundry Holdings LLC (“Alliance Laundry”) today announced it has completed a new $400 million asset-backed finance facility supporting its business operations in North America and select European markets.
Mike Schoeb, Alliance Laundry president and CEO stated, “Financing is a key component of maintaining and growing our leading market share, specifically within our vended laundry segment in North America. This new facility will allow us to expand those services to the European market.”
Alliance Laundry is an indirect subsidiary of ALH Holding Inc., a portfolio company of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan managed by its private investment arm, Teachers’ Private Capital.
This is the sixth issuance completed by Alliance Laundry since 1998. This facility is backed by a pool of equipment loans, leases and trade receivables for the purchase of commercial laundry equipment. Alliance Laundry has originated more than $2 billion in equipment loans since the inception of its captive finance business supporting its extensive distributor and customer network.
Bruce Rounds, Alliance Laundry CFO stated, “We have a long track record of success financing within the commercial laundry industry. This starts with building the highest quality product in the market which gives us the confidence to invest in the financing business. When you look at market leading manufacturers with distribution networks most have captive finance businesses supporting their equipment sales. Alliance Laundry, as a market leader, continues to utilize this approach as part of our customer one strategy. We look forward to expanding our capability to support our distributors and customers with this new facility.”
About Alliance Laundry Holdings LLC
Alliance Laundry Holdings LLC is the parent company of Alliance Laundry Systems, a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of commercial laundry equipment used in laundromats, multi-housing laundries and on-premise laundries. Under the well-known brand names of Speed Queen®, UniMac®, Huebsch®, IPSO®, Primus® and Deli®, Alliance produces a full line of commercial washing machines, dryers and ironers with load capacities ranging from 12 to 400 pounds. Certain brands of our commercial products are also sold in the consumer laundry marketplace. Alliance Laundry’s worldwide employment was 2,730 at the end of December 2014. With 2014 net revenues of $726.3 million, Alliance Laundry is the world’s leading manufacturer of commercial laundry equipment. For more information, visit www.alliancelaundry.com.
About Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
With C$154.5 billion in net assets as of December 31, 2014, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is the largest single-profession pension plan in Canada. An independent organization, it invests the pension fund’s assets and administers the pensions of 311,000 active and retired teachers in Ontario. For more information, visit www.otpp.com.
SOURCE Alliance Laundry Holdings LLC
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exploring the genre of ‘eco-poetry’ and climate change with Kathrin Seitz
Weston, Caponigro to share poems of fire, ice during Poets Corner reading
Meg Weston. (Photo courtesy The Poets Corner)
John Paul Caponigro. (Photo courtesy The Poets Corner)
Meg Weston and John Paul Caponigro will share their obsessions with fire and ice in poems and images with a reading and lively discussion on The Poets Corner, Dec. 13, 2020, from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Meg Weston has been obsessed with volcanoes since the eruption of Surtsey off the coast of Iceland in 1963. Throughout her life she has traveled, photographed, and written about this connection with the places where Earth reveals its inner core in processes of destruction, creation, and transformation. In her poetry, she explores her connection to the earth, memory, landscape, and perspectives of time.
John Paul Caponigro is a pioneer among visual artists working with digital media whose art has been exhibited and collected internationally. His life’s work is both a call to connection with nature and a call for conscientious creative interaction with the environment during a time of rapid change.
“Caponigro’s poetry takes us to the most remote landscapes on earth — the Arctic and the Antarctic — to hear his urgent message of understanding the impact on the earth and the call to consciousness,” said Poet Corner, in a news release.
With discussion moderated by Kathrin Seitz, Caponigro and Weston will respond to each other’s images and poems, discuss their similar and different approaches to writing about connection to the earth, and explore the genre of “eco-poetry” and the issues of climate change.
The Poets Corner is a platform created to foster community among writers and readers of poetry and short prose. Founded by former Maine Media Workshops + College president Meg Weston and author/writing coach Kathrin Seitz, The Poets Corner is based in Midcoast Maine, and hosts virtual readings on the second Sunday of each month.
To register for the event and more information: www.ThePoetsCorner.org/events
Upcoming readings on The Poets Corner:
January 10 – Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down the Bones, will read along with a group of accomplished writers who have worked with her: Dorotea Mendoza, Dara Kalima Marsh, Aomawa Shields, Carolyn Antonio, and Armely Matas.
http://www.ThePoetsCorner.org/event...
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sign a PPK contract GAMMA funds
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Termination of Microsoft support as regards Windows XP - make sure you are secured using account on the Internet
According to information provided on the website belonging to Microsoft, Windows XP will continue to operate after ceasing to provide technical support on the 8th of April 2014. Nevertheless, computers may be more vulnerable to malicious software and cybercriminal attacks - read more. Despite the latest versions of antivirus and firewall software in case of computers equipped with Windows XP operating system there is significantly higher likelihood of the aforementioned attacks. These attacks can result in theft of access data (such as logins and passwords) in reference to transaction websites or for example, somebody can take over your computer.
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Staying in Compliance
Staying in Compliance While Doing Business in Poway
It is in your best interest to check with the Planning Division before entering into a lease in order to verify whether the business you are planning to open is an allowed land use for that location. Some types of businesses require a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) prior to opening. If you are proposing exterior changes, a planning and/or building permit may be required. Also, keep in mind that certain businesses have increased parking demands and the City may not be able to issue permits, including a Business Certificate, for your proposed business. If you have zoning questions, please call (858) 668-4600 or visit the City's Planning Division.
If you are a tenant and are considering constructing any improvements in your leased space, a building permit may be required. Please check with the Building Division at (858) 668-4644 prior to starting any work. Furthermore, you should be aware that a change in use of the tenant space may also require building improvements even if no other work is being considered.
Any entity doing business in a commercial building in the City of Poway must obtain a Business Certificate. Contractors who are based in another city and are performing work in the City of Poway, are also required to obtain a business certificate. If your business is operated out of a residence in Poway, you are required to obtain a Home Occupation Permit. The City's municipal code requires that the business must be secondary to the primary use of the home as a residence. For more information about business certificates or home occupation permits, please contact the Customer Services Division at (858) 668-4401.
A Temporary Sign Permit (TSP) (PDF) is required for temporary signs, except flag banners and human sign-twirlers. Temporary banners can only be displayed for 75 days per calendar year. Sign size and mounting are specific to the building's frontage and location.
Flag banners are portable, tall and narrow banners, which are mounted vertically to a single pole. Flag banners are allowed in addition to building-mounted banners but can only be displayed Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and City recognized holidays. They cannot be higher than 15 feet and no larger than 30 square-feet and must be at least 5 feet from walkways and driveways. Only one flag banner is allowed for every 40 lineal feet of street frontage, up to a maximum of 3 per property or center. You may obtain a Temporary Sign Permit from the Planning Division at (858) 668-4600.
Permanent Signs
Permanent signs require sign and building permits, prior to being installed. Many centers have a comprehensive sign program which has specific requirements in regards to design, color, size, location, etc. You may obtain a Sign Permit from the Planning Division at (858) 668-4600. A building permit for a wall sign is issued at the same time.
Outdoor display of merchandise requires an Outdoor Display Permit and is limited with respect to content, location, amount and safety implications such as traffic or pedestrian obstructions. Café-type table and chairs do not require an Outdoor Display Permit, but a 48-inch pedestrian passage is necessary for ADA requirements. You may obtain an Outdoor Display Permit from the Planning Division at (858) 668-4600.
Placement of shopping cart corrals must be approved by the Planning Division. Although it is not mandated, contracting with a shopping cart retrieval company is recommended to keep carts from accumulating off-site. Carts that obstruct pedestrian or fire lane access can be cited. You may inquire about shopping cart expectations from the Code Compliance Division at (858) 668-4663 or 668-4664.
Temporary Use Permits
Special events being held in your business parking lot require a Temporary Use Permit (TUP). This permit assures there is minimal impact on neighboring businesses, public access and parking, and the environment. A TUP application should be submitted at least 15 days prior to the event since it is reviewed by several departments within the City. You may obtain a TUP application and more information from the Planning Division at (858) 668-4600.
Seatainer Use
A permit is required in order to keep a "seatainer" on a commercial property. The type of permit required is relative to the use and time frame the container will be utilized. Please note: a "seatainer" lasting longer than 90 days requires a Minor Development Review Application. If longer than six months, a Minor Conditional Use Permit is necessary. You may obtain more information from the Planning Division at (858) 668-4600.
The City of Poway has a requirement to remove graffiti as soon as possible, but no longer than 10 days after the event. Some graffiti may be removed with a graffiti removal product, others must be pressure washed or painted over. Please report all graffiti immediately to your property management company and the City of Poway Code Compliance Division at (858) 668-4663 or 668-4664.
Items and equipment are not allowed to be stored or accumulated at the back of a suite. Most alley-ways are fire lanes as well and must remain clear at all times.
Trash and recycling must be properly disposed of and not accumulated outside the dumpster, behind the suite or elsewhere. Recycling is mandated in the City of Poway. Dumpster areas must be clean (by sweeping, not washing into storm drain) and dumpster lids closed at all times.
Annual Vegetation Management Program
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Smart Grid T&D
Why we need to rethink component design for electric vehicles
The global effort to reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality is increasing pressure on car manufacturers to transform their portfolios.
Swedish manufacturer Volvo became the first major automaker to announce a move to an all-electric range by 2019, which has since been followed by Mercedes-Benz and the Volkswagen group.
EV sales reached over 750,000 worldwide in 2016 and, as new legislation is introduced to limit the types of vehicles that are allowed into major cities, this figure is forecasted to increase. For example, France, Germany and the UK have all announced plans to ban the sale of diesel and petrol vehicles from 2040 because of concerns with the rising levels of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions and the resulting risk to public health.
While EVs pose substantial benefits to the environment in comparison to internal combustion vehicles, one of the biggest challenges for EVs is the design of the individual components.
According to Toyota, the average car is made up of 30,000 parts and each component must be able to withstand repeated bouts of acceleration and braking. This is in addition to being able to perform in varying weather conditions and low and high-speed driving over smooth and rough terrain.
With so many electrical and electronic components working in such close proximity to each other, EVs run a greater risk of experiencing power quality issues. The reason for this is that, while EV components provide a much more efficient way of transferring energy, the process of power conversion used by these electronics can result in electromagnetic interference (EMI).
EVs are designed so that the same lines that deliver power to the vehicle are also used to provide information like the charge status, temperature and voltage to the battery management control system. EMI issues, if left unaddressed, can result in efficiency losses, the vehicle overheating and interference with the vehicle’s data communication systems, jeopardising the accuracy of the data.
The components used in EVs can be both inductive and resistive, such as radio frequency interference (RFI) filters, chokes and dynamic braking resistors. Together, these components ensure that drive energy is stored, delivered and regenerated to provide the highest efficiency.
At REO, we have used our experience of dealing with these types of components in railway traction applications to develop and integrate cutting-edge EV technology into production vehicles for some leading German automakers. To put the components through their paces, we even have our own employee e-cars and e-station.
The REO PFC Choke (CHI 412), for example, has been designed to limit the mains harmonic currents that are generated by non-linear AC power supplies, while the REO common mode choke (CHI 131) features a high performance impulse filter, which eliminates noise in the inverter that occurs due to high frequency switching.
As EVs become increasingly mainstream, it’s important that design engineers and automotive companies understand the importance of assembling their latest models with components that address power quality issues.
The components used in internal combustion vehicles have undergone a century and a half of design refinement. It is only when we have resolved the issues concerning component design that EVs will be positioned as a more sustainable alternative to petrol and diesel cars.
Steve Hughes is managing director of power quality specialist REO UK.
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Non-Destructive Detection of Air Traces Inside UHT Milk Package by Using Ultrasonic Through Transmission Method
El Houssaine Ouacha(1*), Bouazza Faiz(2), Ali Moudden(3), Idris Aboudaoud(4), Hicham Banouni(5), Mustapha Boutaib(6)
(1) Ibn Zohr University, Faculty of Sciences, Dept of Physics, Metrology and Information Processing Laboratory, Morocco
(3) Ibn Zohr University, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Physics, Metrology and Information Processing Laboratory, Morocco
(*) Corresponding author
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15866/ireme.v9i6.7798
In this work, we have exploited the ultrasonic through transmission technique to assess the quality of UHT milk within its package in a non-destructive manner. This control is based on the monitoring of the evolution of ultrasonic parameters, namely the peak to peak amplitude, flight time, velocity and attenuation in different temperatures of incubation. To check the reliability of this technique, we compared the evolution of these parameters in the following both special cases: package of sterilized UHT milk (without air infiltration) and package of unsterilized UHT milk (with air infiltration). By analyzing the results from this experimental study, we demonstrated the ability of this method to detect the presence of air traces inside the package. This is confirmed by the detection of a particular time where the separation starts between the sterilized and unsterilized traces for each ultrasonic parameter. Furthermore, this study showed that 35°C is the most suitable temperature for bacterial growth in UHT milk because in this one where we found an early contamination of UHT milk in comparison with other temperatures. We also found that the flight time is the most sensitive ultrasonic parameter for microbial contamination compared with other studied ultrasonic parameters.
Copyright © 2015 Praise Worthy Prize - All rights reserved.
Flight Time; Non-Destructive Testing; UHT Milk Contamination; Ultrasonic Waves
W. H. Nelsson, Physicl methods for microorganisme detection (CRC Press, 1991).
M. Lu, Y. Shiau, J. Wong, R. Lin, H. Kravis, T. Blackmon, T. Pakzad, T. Jen, A. Cheng, J. Chang, E. Ong, N. Sarfaraz, N. S. Wang, Milk Spoilage: Methods and Practices of Detecting Milk Quality, Food and Nutrition Sciences, Vol. 4, n. 7A, pp. 113-123, 2013.
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M. L. Tortorello, Encyclopedia of food microbiology, (2nd Edition, Academic Press, 2014).
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P. Dostálek, T. Brányik, Prospects for Rapid Bioluminescent Detection Methods in the Food Industry – a Review Czech Journal of Food Sciences, Vol. 23, n.3, pp.85-92, 2005.
V. Mohammadi, M. Ghasemi-Varnamkhasti, R. Ebrahimi, M. Abbasvali, Ultrasonic Techniques for the Milk Production Industry, Measurement, vol.58, pp. 93-102, 2014.
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P. Pallav, D. A. Hutchins, T. Gan, Air-coupled ultrasonic evaluation of food materials, Ultrasonics, Vol. 49, n.2, pp. 244-253, 2009.
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E. Heaggstrom, M. Luukkala, Ultrasound detection and identification of foreign bodies in food products, Food Control, Vol. 12, n.1, pp. 37-45, 2001.
A. A. Lopez, M. Corredig, M. Alexander, Diffusing wave and ultrasonic spectroscopy of rennet-induced gelation of milk in the presence of high-methoxyl pectin, Food Biophysics, Vol. 4, n.4, pp. 249-259, 2009.
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B. K. Cho, J. Irudayaraj, A noncontact ultrasound approach for mechanical property determination of cheeses Journal of Food Science, Vol. 68, n.7, pp. 2243-2247, 2003.
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G. Nassar, F. Lefbvre, A. Skaf, J. Carlier, B. Nongaillard, Y. Noêl, Ultrasonic and acoustic investigation of cheese matrix at the beginning and the end of ripening period, Journal of Food Engineering, Vol. 96, n.1, pp. 1-13, 2010.
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A. P. Singh, D. J. McClements and A. Marangoni, Solid fat content determination by ultrasonic velocimetry, Food Research International, Vol. 37, n.6, pp. 545-555, 2004.
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N. Taifi, F. Bakkali, B. Faiz, A. Moudden, G. Maze, D. Decultot, Characterization of the syneresis and firmness of the milk gel using an ultrasonic technique, Measurement Science and Technology, Vol. 17, n.2, pp. 281-287, 2006.
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F. Bakkali, A. Moudden, B. Faiz, A. Amghar, G. Maze, F. Montero de Espinosa, M. Akhnak, Ultrasonic measurement of milk coagulation time, Measurement Science and Technology, Vol. 12, n. 12, pp. 2154-2159, 2001.
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J. Benedito, J. A. Carcel, R. Gonzalez and A. Mulet, Application of low intensity ultrasonics to cheese manufacturing Ultrasonics, Vol. 40, n. 1-8, pp. 19-23, 2002.
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R. R. B. Singh, A. P. Ruhil, D. K. Jain, A. A. Patel, G. R. Patil, Prediction of sensory quality of UHT milk – A comparison of kinetic and neural network approaches Journal of Food Engineering, Vol. 92, n.2, pp.146–151, 2009.
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G. Wirtanen, R. Ahvenainen, T. Mattila-Sandholm, Non-destructive detection of spoilage of aseptically-packed milk products: effect of frequency and imaging parameters on the sensitivity of ultrasound imaging, Lebensmittel.-Wissenschaft & Technologie,Vol. 25, n. 2, pp. 126-132, 1992.
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Birthday of The Capitalist Lawyer - 2nd Edition: Some Reflections on Legal Thoughts
Today is my 28th birthday and I guess it would be nice to start a-once-in-a-year reflection in my blog (started it in 2009, but completely forgot to follow up in 2010, typical). I will not make any reflection about my life (nothing to reflect, it's a damn good life anyway), so for this year, I'll reflect the development of my own legal thoughts.
I started my formal legal education in 2001 without knowing a thing about the law, I didn't know whether I will be interested with it or what I will do after I graduated. My primary reasons at that time? Just following my intuition plus chasing my dream of being admitted at the University of Indonesia (my second choice was UI's Political Science, don't ask me why I picked that, cause I can't answer that even until today). So yes, it's more about getting into UI rather than picking a subject that I really like. Fortunately, I was lucky. By the second semester I knew for sure that I love this subject!
At first, my primary choice of specialization was constitutional law. 2001 was the time where many constitutional law professors secured high positions within Indonesian government. It was a transition era in the Republic and constitutional scholars were needed to guide the process. However, a fated encounter with a really weird lecturer caused me to change my mind entirely. It was so bad that I said to myself, "all the good professors are in the government now and we're stuck with these buffoons. Like hell I will take constitutional laws." So I decided to specialize in other fields: procedural and business laws. Again, I am a lucky guy. Turns out it's a correct decision, as now I work as a corporate lawyer, a profession that I literally enjoy not only professionally, but also academically.
But those things only affect my professional skills. What really affects and shapes my legal thoughts is a whole different subject of law that I accidentally learned during my law school days, i.e. Islamic legal theory. It started with a challenge from my best friend, saying that I will never master Islamic law, because I can't differentiate the type of waters that you could use to purify yourself (wudhu). Of course, knowing how predictable I am, I took that challenge and soon I regularly went to UI's mosque's library. Although I planned to start with the library's classical Islamic law books collection, I ended up with Islamic legal theories first. And I was impressed, by the 9th century, Islamic legal scholars have already developed a concise legal theory that will put common law and civil law scholars at that time to shame.
Granted, the current development of Islamic legal theory is pretty much gloomy (no new development), but I learned something from my personal study, the existence of a theory called Istislah or Maslahah Mursalah, which basically states that legal scholars, in the absence of clear legal rules, should take the welfare maximization of the society as a prime concern in deciding cases. The concept is simple, but the insight is very deep. Such insight helped me to think for the first time about what constitutes a good law.
During my early years, I got an impression that my faculty only taught its students to become technical masters of law. We know the laws, we can easily apply them into concrete cases, and we are proud with that. The famous motto in my faculty, "If you're a law student, always talk with a legal basis." It's nice, but something is missing here. Being a technical master means that you are only acting as a spokesman of the law. You don't care whether it's good or not, heck, that's not even important. This is what I call as an abuse to Hans Kelsen's Pure Theory of Law (See my discussion on Kelsen at here, here, and here).
So for me, this is non sense. This kind of education reduces the profession of lawyers into simple craftsmanship. Lawyers should be able to do more than that, they should be able to work as policy makers, they should analyze the quality of laws and propose a better version if they think that the current ones suck. Istislah theory helped me to see that error earlier and I am thankful for that.
Now, when we're eventually getting into the question of what constitutes a good law, there are various methods to determine the standards. I started with the believe that a good law should reflect the society's sense of justice, local wisdom. But that belief didn't last long. Why? I come to realize that there is no standard for reflecting the society's sense of justice. In the end, it will always be a matter of preference. Suppose the society deems honor killing as a part of their justice system, would we still agree to enforce it in the name of local wisdom?
Logically, I move forward to a standard which seems to be universal and applicable in every situation and condition. So I turned out to legal principles established by religious belief, i.e. Islamic law. Yet, it didn't satisfy me. Years of researches show that other than the agreement among Islamic scholars on the mandatory prayer, fasting, zakat and hajj, there is no unity of opinion in Islamic laws. Cultures or 'urf have a great impact on how scholars interpret the laws and there is a never ending debate on what standards that are deemed applicable for eternity and that are subject to changes. As a result, there isn't any production of worthy new ideas within Islamic law, it's just a repetition of the old ideas and debates that ended in the 15th century. Thus, I concluded that similar to the notion of society's sense of justice, Islamic law is not that reliable for providing a clear standard on what constitutes a good law. FYI, the use of Istislah itself is still controversial within Islamic legal scholars, so that could explain why its development has been halted for a very long time.
Finally, I end up with the law and economics movement. It's ideas of welfare maximization and promotion of efficiency as guidelines for determining a good law really captivate me. First, I see law and economics as the modern interpretation of Istislah theory, its spiritual successor. Second, since it is a combination with economics, it is easier to assess the standards to determine whether they really work or not (empirical research is very encouraged in this field and I think it is very helpful). Furthermore, economics is a science that can be applied to almost every aspect of human life, so applying such science into legal conceptions prove to be an eye opening of things that we have already taken as granted. The notion that incentives matters still amaze me on how we can use different incentives to structure a law that will work efficiently and to explain the behavior of the people in facing the law and legal enforcement.
When I choose law and economics as my primary tool for assessing the quality of laws, I don't close the opportunity of using other helpful methods. No tool is perfect, and maybe in the future, we will develop an even better method for analyzing the law. But until that day comes, I'll stick for a while with law and economics.
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26 Wooster Street
Press Release Exhibitions Artists
Opening reception: Friday, November 19, 6-8 pm
Friedrich Petzel Gallery is pleased to announce a one-person exhibition of new work by Sarah Morris.
Morris's new paintings continue her recent interest in the way we de-code and therefore begin to understand the built world around us. She is interested in our intuitive relationship to the architectural statements that surround us every day.
Images of buildings, electronic signage and constructed facades are translated into paintings. Each work highlights a fragment of these structures towards the creation of a new abstract language thoroughly in tune with our constantly changing attitude to the way our cities are put together.
The paintings are precise and designed yet leave space for glamour, tension, power and ambiguity. Morris pulls in her sources, reworks and translates them into a self-sustaining series of parallel architectures. Those moments, when we get a glimpse of a place in its most extreme form, are captured, locked and re-worked on canvas leaving us with an open matrix of ideas, images and expressions of ideology normally repressed in straight documentation of our surroundings.
Sarah Morris is currently working on major solo exhibition projects for the Galerie für Zeitgenoessiche Kunst in Leipzig and the Kunsthalle Zurich for 2000. She has also recently completed her second short film titled "am/pm" which was shot on location in Las Vegas.
The film "am pm" will be premiered at a special screening on Tuesday, November 23 at 7pm. For further information, please contact the gallery at info@petzel.com, or call (212) 680-9467.
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Prince George — Peace River — Northern Rockies
About your MP
Canada’s Conservatives Demand Accountability on Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752
Ottawa, ON – The Hon. Erin O’Toole, Conservative Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, James Bezan, Shadow Minister for National Defence, Pierre Paul-Hus, Shadow Minister for Public Safety, and Todd Doherty, Shadow Minister for Transport, issued the following statement calling on the Trudeau Liberals to take immediate action regarding the developing situation in Iran:
“Last night, the Iranian regime took responsibility for shooting down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752. As a result, 176 people including 57 Canadians lost their lives and their friends and families are hurting and reeling from the loss.
“Justin Trudeau and the Liberals must take immediate action to ensure those responsible are held accountable for this terrible atrocity.
“Canada’s Conservatives call on the Trudeau Liberals to take the following measures:
1. Immediately implement the Conservative motion passed by Parliament in 2018 to list Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.
2. Demand Iran compensate all victims of the crash, repatriate their remains, and hold the perpetrators of this atrocity accountable.
3. Be prepared to impose Magnitsky Sanctions on Iran if they don’t fully cooperate with the international investigation.
“The fact that 57 Canadians lost their lives due to an Iranian missile requires action by the Trudeau Liberals. The status quo is unacceptable. The actions listed above represent a measured response to ensure that the families of the victims receive justice.
“The Iranian regime must not get a free pass after killing 57 Canadians. Canada’s Conservatives will continue to advocate for the appropriate and measured response necessary to ensure that Iran is held accountable and the families of the victims receive the justice they deserve.”
Bob Zimmer
Copyright © Prince George — Peace River — Northern Rockies Conservative Association. Some rights reserved. Authorized by the Registered Agent for Prince George — Peace River — Northern Rockies Conservative Association. Powered by NationBuilder.
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Philadelphia travels to Miami for series against Marlins
Patrick Gordon, Managing Editor Monday, July 17, 2017 Phillies
By Patrick Gordon, Managing Editor , Monday, July 17, 2017 Labels: Phillies No comments
Fresh of salvaging the final contest of a three-game set in Milwaukee, the Philadelphia Phillies travel to division rival Miami and open a three-game series at Marlins Park on Monday.
Rookie right fielder Nick Williams hit a go-ahead grand slam in the sixth inning to lead the Phillies to just their 30th win of the season on Sunday.
"Any win is a good win for us to get," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said.
"He’s been playing very aggressively," Mackanin added when asked about Williams. "He swings the bat aggressively. He has some things he has to change with his swing. He has some holes like everybody else does. You have to like the way he’s playing. I like the way he’s swinging the bat. I’m happy with him so far."
Jerad Eickhoff will start for the Phillies in the series opener, making just his second appearance since coming off the disabled list with a back injury. He pitched five scoreless innings, striking out eight batters, in his most recent start, July 9 against the San Diego Padres.
"I felt great out there," Eickhoff said. "It was good to get out there and pitch. I had a feel for the ball and felt my command was good. It's something to build off of, for sure."
The Marlins will start right-hander Tom Koehler on Monday. For his career against the Phillies he is 4-4 with a 3.43 ERA.
Deadline Two Weeks Away
The looming trade deadline is just 14 days away. Several Phillies, including Pat Neshek, Jeremy Hellickson, Daniel Nava, and Tommy Joseph are prime candidates to be shipped elsewhere.
A Second No-No
Left-hander Nick Fanti tossed his second no-hitter of the season Monday afternoon for single-A Lakewood. He struck out 12 batters, allowing just one baserunner on the afternoon via a walk. He is the first Lakewood pitcher to throw a nine-inning no-hitter in a winning effort. Gavin Floyd pitched a no-hitter in 2002, but the BlueClaws lost, 1-0.
Fanti recorded 26 outs earlier this year in a combined no-hitter on May 6.
The 20-year-old has a 2.54 ERA through 15 starts this season.
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The Neo Conundrum and the Cost of a Perfect Game Ending
Kris Ligman
Books and movies are not usually about how well you read or watch them. But many games change dramatically depending on how well you play them.
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Rated: Mature
Developer: Lionhead Studios
I take back what I said last week about Fable III. It is indeed entirely possible to achieve the best ending with no sacrifice to one's morals, but it came at the expense of something even more valuable: my belief in the system.
Unless you're a computer programmer, the logarithms of modern video games are infinitely more complex than most players can understand under short exposure to them. For that reason, mastering a game is only one part being trained by the system; the other part is the search for the programming's underlying logic. In fact, in a lot of cases to remain immersed and fooled by the game's hidden mechanics, the player has to willfully ignore the same tools needed to become fully proficient with it.
To start with something fundamental, consider enemy respawn. An experienced gamer knows that if he comes back to an area again after a given amount of time, enemies will reappear. He'll also observe where the hotspots are, what the enemy party will be comprised of, what weapon works best against which class of enemy. But a player who disregards studying the finer details might be surprised every time or will keep using the same weapon. It might take until the latter player has heard lines being repeated that he'll get a sense of just how pre-scripted and limited the entire encounter is. Once he does, the mystique is gone, and the latter player starts to resemble the former.
Nothing could be more tired in games discourse than a Matrix analogy, but bear with me, as I'm going to use one anyway. It's a little like becoming Neo. Once the player starts that transformation -- in fact, as soon as the player even becomes aware of the possibility -- his relationship to the game irrevocably changes. The mere thought that the player is inside a system that can be bent to accommodate less than obvious solutions begins to lend power to the act of play.
Recognizing the patterns in simplistic AI programming is one example of how a changeover can occur, but there are many that we could list. Reductive binaries, false choices which don't really bisect the plot, gaps in logic, and so on. There can at times be only a fine line between elegant simplicity and an exploitable, dumbed down system, and until a game is put through its paces, it's hard to tell on what side it might come down.
Like the Fable III morality scale.
Though it's far from the game's only flaw, there is something fundamentally broken about a game in which one can joyously lead a life of crime and exploitation, up to and including the murder of 68 royal guards, only to be immediately absolved the moment 12.2 million in ill gotten gold is deposited into the nation's treasury. Did no one notice that I'd swept in, bought up every residential and commercial property in the country, and jacked up the rent? Did no one care about the dead civilians? For god's sake, what about the orphanage that I turned into a brothel?
The game's ending confirmed how little my misdeeds weighed upon the result. By acting like a good King (generally, excluding the brothel), maintaining alliances and protecting lakes, the NPCs praised me for "doing the impossible." That is, I managed to come out of the final fight without a single civilian casualty, with high approval ratings, and a budget surplus. Yet the game was right. It should have been impossible. It was only thanks to the limitations of the system, which, having revealed themselves to me, broke all semblance of realism -- or even an acceptable line of causality.
And I couldn't have been more pleased with myself. Building off the knowledge of my first campaign and adapting quickly once I saw the holes in the morality scale, I bent the thing to my will and mastered it in short order. Unlike my first game, in which I was legitimately swept up in the emergent story, now it was not a story at all. It was simply a process of exploiting gaps by whatever means necessary . . . Including the time that I worked off the bounty for those 68 murdered guards by making meat pies for about 45 seconds.
At that point, the game had ceased to be anything except the gleeful abuse of a system that was clearly unprepared for aggressive extremes. The game was no longer a fight for Albion or differentiating myself from my sibling but was now a battle against what I saw to be an unfair binary, in which I could be a savior or a humanitarian, but not both. So with endless enthusiasm I turned the game in on itself, flaws and all, and beat it. Utterly. But was that worth completely objectifying its components, shattering the illusion of a living world?
And yet, games are frequently about those impossible accomplishments, which by their nature break with the same logic that gives rise to them as problems. Thus, the dichotomy. Why design games to be fluid, seamless, and immersive if breaking that immersion is needed to be good at them? It isn't enough to simply fight my way through an onslaught of bodies in God of War; I need to adapt to the delay between command and action, memorize combos and Rock Paper Scissors-like rules of what works best, look for any amount of give or slipperiness that the mechanics will allow. In Assassin's Creed, I must rely on the terrible attention span of the city's populace to practice and perfect my skills in the first place. Realism takes flight the first chance it gets.
This is what Espen Aarseth talks about when he calls games anti-narratives. In their fundamental form, the way in which mastery of play supersedes mastery of story means that we, ourselves, are the only real story happening in a game. All else is artifice disguised as narrative, responding to action, but not genuinely reacting to it. It does not have to be this way, but until game stories can be designed to unfold as "things which are," not a series of direct consequences of limited iterations affixed with value judgments, being Neo is the only way to game. It's just a matter of when we stop being Mr. Anderson.
fable iii lionhead studios Miss Anthropy
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How, then, shall we Hype?
L.B. Jeffries
L.B. grumbles about hype for a while and then...wait for it...picks out some games to hype.
When the New York Times takes the time to comment on E3 being dull, you know it’s going to be a slow year. A bunch of games we already knew were coming, a couple of games anyone could’ve predicted were coming, and Microsoft having a very bizarre ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ interface for Xbox. So…what upcoming games should we get hyped about? Hype is an integral part of the video game world, even if it has proven to be a bit problematic. Beyond the odd effect it can have on fans, hype can even be blinding to the actual critics involved. Mitch Krpata points out that critics can be so dead set on a game being good that they’ll list off dozens of flaws yet give a high score anyways. To give you an example of how ridiculous this can get, whether you loved or hated GTA IV, I can’t think of many players who would seriously consider comparing it to ’The Wire’. But it can’t be denied that hype can do a lot of good by getting the word out. So how do we pick we pick what games to hype?
William Gibson coined the term ‘cool-hunter’ in his book Pattern Recognition and it’s a very apt description of what a game critic needs to do when selecting which game to hype. You need a developed sixth sense that allows you to stare at a sea of clothes, movies, music, and advertising and detect the one that’s working. Gibson compares it to watching the snow on a television and being able to see an image in it. It’s a good term because it recognizes that there is a certain mystical element to spotting a cool game before it exists, something that is never going to be possible to put into words. Acknowledging then that some games are definitely going to be awesomely kickass and it can be predicted, it stands to reason that we should get out there and support it. The developer and producer need to sell as many copies as possible as quickly as possible, before shelf-space demands pushes the game into the bargain bin. We want to reward creativity and boldness in games, right? Even looking past the desire to economically help your favorite game, there is still something to be said for hype being fun. Over at Brainy Gamer, there’s an interesting post about enjoying hype as a kind of celebration. Soon enough video games will be the mega industry the analysts are predicting and everything will be a sea of jaded “It’s good but not great” reviews. We’ll all just be comparing them to old classics and not even caring about new releases anymore.
So what are some games that should be hyped? We’re entering the realm of subjectivity here but I’ll explain what makes these such stand-out games. I found The Nameless Game at Steve Gaynor’s blog and must admit the pitch is fascinating. They basically took the idea of ‘The Ring’ and applied it to a video game. What if there was a haunted cartridge game and whoever played it would find themselves horribly cursed? I’m basing this purely off the two trailers and Gaynor’s observations, but little touches like the 8-bit game within a game being buggy and glitchy are just the tip of the iceberg. One of the themes in both trailers is the cross-over of games into reality. In the first trailer, you pick-up a DS. The trailer comes to an abrupt end there, the fourth wall being shattered as the person playing a game is now confronting that very fact. In the second, there is a transition from incessant 8-bit music to the humming of a real person in the same tune. It’s this transition of the virtual into the real that both horrifies and fascinates us that the game is capitalizing on. What if our entertainment, our escape, became real? Sure, the graphics look fine, there may be some pacing issues and the puzzles may be dull. But this is a game that no matter what flaws there may be, it is still a very interesting concept.
Another game that has several interesting things going to for it is Red Fly Studio’s Mushroom Men. A studio comprised almost entirely of artists, one look at the game will convince you that it’s totally unlike anything else aesthetically. It also explores the mostly uncharted landscape of being a tiny person in a 3-D human landscape. Levels include a trailer, shed, and the underground world of the mushroom people as they face off against everyday creatures like rabbits, spiders, and moles. Sounds good, right? Here’s the kicker: Les Claypool of Primus is making the soundtrack. It’s extremely unusual for the selling point of a video game to be its soundtrack and yet the time seems ripe for it to happen. An interview with game composer Richard Jacques outlines the culture of game soundtracks today. The once level-based themes that composers knew would be heard countless times have been replaced by long epic scores that support narrative and tension. Games are just now entering a phase where they are moving past that orchestral phase and are looking for new ways to incorporate music into games. It’s safe to say Les Claypool is your man for that kind of job. Again, no matter what problems this game may have, it’s trying to do something new and it’s doing it with a whole lot of style.
The first piece of hype I ever read was for the game Monkey Island. It was a sprawling six page spread, with screenshots that showed snippets from every part of the game. Fighting the swordmaster, digging for treasure, and Monkey Island itself were all featured and captioned. It completely fascinated me, this world they were describing and the experiences I would have there. My obsession with the game was rewarded heartily when I finally managed to play it some months later, but looking back I can still remember that hype article very clearly. I’d played a lot of interactive fiction games before and I’ve played a lot since, but I think what made it so special was that I’d never played anything that was about pirates in the Caribbean. With so much unexplored territory still left for video games, it seems like the best thing we can do now is support the people who are doing the real exploring.
Banana Pepper Martinis
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Built for both single-player campaigns and up to four player co-op missions, Helldivers for PS3 is a top-down shooter set in a satirical and dystopian future where mankind is ruled by a managed democracy.
As part of the elite unit called the Helldivers, you choose your deployment zone and dive into battle on procedurally-generated battlefields. Once there, utilize overpowered weapons and Stratagems to defeat the enemies of mankind. Working together as a team will be vital, whether calling in strikes or placing weapons, each action must be totally synchronized to achieve objectives. As with all Arrowhead games, friendly fire is a key part of the game, and if you’re not careful with the Helldivers explosive firepower, you’ll lose the mission and a few friends along the way.
US March 3, 2015
EU March 4, 2015
Developer: Arrowhead Game Studios
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Shoot 'em up Action
More from Arrowhead Game St...
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This program is not active.
Psychotherapy Networker Symposium: Future View: Charting Psychotherapy’s New Horizon with Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., Daniel Siegel, M.D. & Barbara Fredrickson Ph.D.
$59.95 - Standard
Features three addresses on critical questions shaping psychotherapy’s future. You’ll get a high energy snapshot of the latest developments in three critical frontiers of psychotherapy–trauma treatment, love research, and brain science–in back-to-back, 20-minute presentations from leaders in the field. Dive into workshops with any one of these presenters, getting not only the buzz of brief talks and varied perspectives, but also the spontaneity and robust learning that comes with continued conversation.
Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.: The Frontiers of Trauma Treatment
In this Future View Address, van der Kolk will explore the most recent treatment advances in using yoga and somatic practices to help trauma survivors transform their disconnected relationship with their bodies and learn to feel safe, powerful, and effective.
One of the world’s leading experts on trauma, Bessel van der Kolk has pioneered the study of an eclectic group of body-mind approaches—including yoga, mindfulness, EMDR, neurofeedback, sensorimotor therapy, martial arts, and theater—to help trauma survivors live fully in the present, rather than stay trapped in the past.
A past president of International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and professor of psychiatry at Boston University Medical School, he’s the author of Psychological Trauma, the first integrative text on trauma, and editor of Traumatic Stress: The Effects of Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body, and Society. His latest book, The Body Keeps the Score, will be published by Viking Press in early 2014.
Barbara Frederickson, Ph.D.: What if Everything You Know about Love Is Wrong?
In this Future View Address, Fredrickson will discuss the implications of her findings about love as well as practical, straightforward ways for bringing these insights into psychotherapy.
University of North Carolina psychology professor Barbara Fredrickson is a leader in researching the impact of positive emotion in transforming our mind, body, and ability to bounce back from hard times. Her national bestseller Positivity documented the evidence showing how positive emotions enhance creativity, inventiveness, and big-picture perceptual focus.
Her new book, Love 2.0: How Our Supreme Emotion Affects Everything We Feel, Think, Do, and Become, challenges our limiting notions of love as defined by romance and marriage. The premise of her book is that even the most fleeting everyday moments of positive emotion set off a chain reaction of biological events that can have a critical impact on our overall emotional and physical health.
Daniel Siegel, M.D.: Brainstorm: Lessons Adults Can Learn from the Teenage Brain
In this Future View Address, Siegel will challenge many of the myths commonly held about the teenage brain and highlight how understanding it can make all of us more creative and self-aware.
Over the past two decades, Daniel Siegel has devoted himself to making the complexities of neuroscience mainstream in the therapy community, creating the synergistic discipline of interpersonal neurobiology, and weaving together into one system the interlocking influences of brain science, childhood development, attachment theory, traditional spiritual practices, and psychology.
His influential books—including The Developing Mind, The Whole Brain Child, Parenting from the Inside Out, The Mindful Brain, The Mindful Therapist, Mindsight, and Brainstorm—show how understanding the complex interactions of mind, body, relationship, and social structures can illuminate everything from childrearing and education to our capacities to tackle the global issues that challenge our very survival.
Bessel van der Kolk, M.D. | Daniel J. Siegel, M.D.
NOS047045
Continuing Professional Development Certificates - PESI Australia, in collaboration with PESI in the USA, offers quality online continuing professional development events from the leaders in the field at a standard recognized by professional associations including psychology, social work, occupational therapy, alcohol and drug professionals, counselling and psychotherapy. On completion of the training, a Professional Development Certificate is issued after the individual has answered and submitted a quiz and course evaluation. This online program is worth 2.0 hours CPD.
Bessel van der Kolk, M.D. Related seminars and products: 52
Bessel A. van der Kolk, M.D., is a clinician, researcher and teacher in the area of post-traumatic stress. His work integrates developmental, neurobiological, psychodynamic and interpersonal aspects of the impact of trauma and its treatment.
Dr. van der Kolk and his various collaborators have published extensively on the impact of trauma on development, such as dissociative problems, borderline personality and self-mutilation, cognitive development, memory, and the psychobiology of trauma. He has published over 150 peer reviewed scientific articles on such diverse topics as neuroimaging, self-injury, memory, neurofeedback, Developmental Trauma, yoga, theater, and EMDR.
He is founder of the Trauma Center in Brookline, Massachusetts, and President of the Trauma Research Foundation, which promotes clinical, scientific, and educational projects.
His 2014 #1 New York Times best seller, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Treatment of Trauma, transforms our understanding of traumatic stress, revealing how it literally rearranges the brain’s wiring – specifically areas dedicated to pleasure, engagement, control, and trust. He shows how these areas can be reactivated through innovative treatments including neurofeedback, somatically based therapies, EMDR, psychodrama, play, yoga, and other therapies.
Dr. van der Kolk is the past president of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, and professor of psychiatry at Boston University Medical School. He regularly teaches at conferences, universities, and hospitals around the world.
Financial: Bessel van der Kolk is a professor of psychiatry at the Boston University School of Medicine. He receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc.
Non-financial: Bessel van der Kolk has no relevant non-financial relationship to disclose.
Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. Related seminars and products: 32
Mindsight Institute
Dr. Siegel is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and the founding co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA. He is also the Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute which focuses on the development of mindsight, which teaches insight, empathy, and integration in individuals, families and communities.
Dr. Siegel received his medical degree from Harvard University and completed his postgraduate medical education at UCLA. He served as a National Institute of Mental Health Research Fellow at UCLA. Dr. Siegel serves as the founding editor for the Norton Professional Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology which contains over seventy textbooks. He has also authored several books, five of which are New York Times bestsellers: Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence, Mind: A Journey to the Heart of Being Human, Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain, and two with Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D: The Whole-Brain Child and No-Drama Discipline.
Dr. Siegel’s ability to make complicated concepts exciting as well as easy to understand has led him to be invited to address local, national and international organizations where he speaks to groups of educators, parents, public administrators, healthcare providers, policy-makers, clergy and neuroscientists. He has been invited to lecture for the King of Thailand, Pope John Paul II, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Google University, and TEDx. For more information about his educational programs and resources, please visit: www.DrDanSiegel.com
Financial: Dr. Daniel J. Siegel is the executive director of the Mindsight Institute. He is an author for W.W. Norton publishing and receives royalties. He is an author for Bantam publishing and receives royalties. He is an author for Guilford Press and receives royalties. He is an author for Tarcher/Penguin and receives royalties. He is an author for Random House and receives royalties. He receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc.
Non-financial: Dr. Daniel J Siegel is a clinical professor at UCLA School of Medicine. He does not receive compensation.
Access for Self-Study (Non-Interactive)
Access never expires for this product.
Explore the most recent treatment advances in using yoga and somatic practices to help trauma survivors transform their disconnected relationship with their bodies and learn to feel safe, powerful, and effective.
Discuss the implications of her findings about love as well as practical, straightforward ways for bringing these insights into psychotherapy.
Challenge many of the myths commonly held about the teenage brain and highlight how understanding it can make all of us more creative and self-aware.
Psychologists, Counselors, Social Workers, Addiction Counselors, Marriage & Family Therapists, Nurses and other Mental Health Professionals
Additional Participant CE must be purchased for each additional viewer. These viewers will watch the video with the main registrant, but will have individual access to course handouts and certification. The standard price of this program includes certification for main viewer.
Your satisfaction is our goal and our guarantee. Concerns should be addressed to: PO Box 1000, Eau Claire, WI 54702-1000 or email info@pesi.com.au.
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In/Half
Jasmin B. Frelih, trans. from the Slovenian by Jason Blake. Oneworld, $26.95 (336p) ISBN 978-1-78607-390-7
Three long-separated friends find their lives becoming fairy tales in Frelih’s disorienting debut, set in a world that is both just around the corner and as distant as a dream. Evan, trying to direct a troubled play in a future Tokyo, is sidetracked by his drug habit and ditches his robot “minder” to travel Alice-like through a hallucinatory sector of the city, one that requires a gas mask to enter. Meanwhile, Kras, ex-Slovenian minister for war, tries to celebrate his 50th birthday with family but is driven, like the Big Bad Wolf, to take an axe to the tree in which his father seeks sanctuary when he finds pornography in it. Zoja, a censored poet, stands naked, as in a nightmare, before her Brooklyn audience at the performance planned in her honor—before she is attacked by a man who is stalking her. The book culminates with the three characters all sharing the same taxi ride and each seeking closure to the estranged intimacies that haunt them. This story of trauma, family, and ambition sustains its ghostly, ethereal tone and will be appreciated by readers looking for a mind-bending puzzle. (Nov.)
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Industry Development and Knowledge Transfer
Road to Technology Transfer
Home Media CenterDIFI Discusses ‘Gender-Responsive Social Protection’ at United Nations
DIFI Discusses ‘Gender-Responsive Social Protection’ at United Nations
The Doha International Family Institute (DIFI), a member of Qatar Foundation (QF), has hosted a panel titled ‘Gender-Responsive Social Protection for Adolescent Girls to Enable Aspirations and Reach the SDGs in the Arab Region’ on the sidelines of the 63rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women, which is currently taking place at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York.
The panel – held in partnership with the Qatar Permanent Mission at the UN, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), and the Arab Institute for Women at the Lebanese American University – was a continuation of DIFI’s study on ‘Family Sensitive Social Protection (FSSP)’ and DIFI’s expert meeting held in Doha last year.
It aimed to further the discussion on current models of welfare and protection systems in the Arab region with specific focus on adolescent girls, shedding light on protection systems in terms of the extent to which they respond to adolescent girls’ practical and strategic needs and tackle issues related limited autonomy, lack of voice, and agency.
Dr. Sharifa Noaman Al-Emadi, Executive Director, DIFI, said: “Evidence shows that social protection programs can strengthen the capacity of families to care for their adolescent girls in an optimal manner if provided with the needed means and resources. Therefore, fostering knowledge on Arab families and advancing family policies and programs through evidence-based policies, research, and advocacy are the main objectives of DIFI.
“Social protection systems are at the heart of our work at DIFI. The UN side-event continues this discussion through focusing on adolescent girls and the challenges they confront during this vital phase of their life, exploring how social protection systems can support them in reaching their potential and realizing their aspirations.
“I am very optimistic that the themes and issues addressed by this session will be the start of greater projects and initiatives that will assist us in creating recommendations for the problems faced by adolescent girls in the Arab region.”
Mr. Arthur van Diesen, UNICEF Regional Social Policy Adviser for MENA, said: “UNICEF is actively supporting governments in the MENA region to reform their social protection systems, to make them more responsive to children’s needs. Much more needs to be done to ensure that social protection systems support adolescent girls to have a good education, protect them from harmful practices, and prepare them for entry into the labor market.
“We are excited about the opportunity offered by this side event to discuss good practices from the region and beyond that may unlock the reforms that are needed in MENA.”
The opening of the event included introductory remarks from Her Excellency Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani, Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations, and Mr. Omar Abdi, Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF. Panelists included Mr. Atif Khurshid, Policy Specialist, Social Protection, Social Policy and Inclusion, UNICEF; Dr. Lina Abirafeh, Executive Director, the Arab Institute for Women, Lebanese American University; and Dr. Hala Al Ahmadi, Senior Policy Analyst, DIFI.
Dr. Abirafeh said: “Addressing social protection focusing on adolescent girls is a critical undertaking and one that the Arab Institute for Women addresses. This collaboration is critical because it ensures that we build a common base of understanding among key partners in order to provide the best possible support to adolescent girls in the region.”
DIFI’s side-event focused on the role of protection systems in advancing adolescent girls’ education and promoting the psychosocial health of adolescent girls in a changing world and environments. It also proposed a model of gender responsive protection policies and programs to empower adolescent girls, as well as recommendations for a social protection system.
DIFI is a global policy and advocacy institute working to advance knowledge on Arab families through research and promote evidence-based polices at a national, regional, and international level. The institute has special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
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