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Splinters, Shrapnel and London's 'Honourable Scars'
Steve pointing out the splinter damage on General Wolfe's statue (Sam Dorrington, Surrey Photographer)
For clients taking one of my Blitz walks, the enjoyment and interest comes in many forms. For some, it is the aspect of walking the ground and imagining just what it was like to be in London, or any other town or city when the bombs were falling, whilst for others, it is the wonderment of seeing the 'then and now' perspectives to be gained by comparing the present day view with that of some seventy years ago. One aspect that does seem universally popular however, is when at various points along a given route, the 'props' appear. These period artefacts really help to bring the walks alive and the fact that people can touch and feel something from the period helps them to better understand the subject matter being discussed at that particular 'stand' on the walk.
One set of 'props' in particular always arouse a particular fascination - this is the shrapnel fragments. The fascination is always a mixture of interest in finally handling the stuff that is so often mentioned in personal accounts, in documentaries and books as well as an appalled understanding as to what this stuff that can easily scar solid masonry could actually do to the human body.
With the final bomb sites in London and elsewhere finally now built upon, the splinter and shrapnel scars left on many buildings are perhaps the remaining most tangible reminder of the daily ordeal that London and Londoners, as well as many other towns and cities endured eighty years ago and sometimes from the First World War too.
The author's shrapnel fragments from a British anti-aircraft shell (Author's photo)
Before going any further, perhaps we should examine the derivation of the word 'shrapnel' and how it has passed into everyday usage.
In 1784, Lieutenant General Henry Shrapnel, of the Royal Artillery, perfected what he called "spherical case" ammunition, which was basically a hollow cannon ball, filled with musket balls which was designed to explode in mid-air over concentrations of enemy soldiers. This first anti-personnel weapon was demonstrated in 1787 at Gibraltar and was adopted by the British Army. By 1803, they had evolved into an elongated shell that was christened as the "Shrapnel Shell" and continued to be manufactured with little basic change, until the end of the Great War. The name stuck and by the Second World War, Henry Shrapnel's surname had become the generic description for any bomb or shell fragments.
This writer is lucky enough to possess several such fragments, all of which were discovered on the Thames foreshore in Greenwich by the excellent Nicola White of Tide Line Art and which are invaluable 'props' to my walks.
These pieces take many forms; first we have the shell fragments, which in this case come from the driving bands of British 3.7" anti-aircraft shells. Modern gun barrels are "rifled" with helical grooves that are machined on the interior bore of the gun barrel and at the base of a shell is a brass or copper alloy band with corresponding grooves that engage with those inside the gun barrel, thus causing the shell to rotate upon firing.
People sometimes overlook the fact that apart from the fragments from German bombs, there was a spirited anti-aircraft barrage emanating from London's defences and whilst in 1940, it has to be said that this fire was largely ineffectual, it did help boost the morale of the beleaguered Londoners, who felt that there was at least some opposition being generated to the unseen night time raiders. Of course, the theory of "What goes up, must come down" applied and as well as being peppered with bomb splinters, those who had reason to be out on the streets during a raid had to contend with this added British generated hazard.
Spent British 0.303" bullets (Author's photo)
Another similar item in my possession is a collection of spent bullets. In 1940, the Battle of Britain was raging overhead and some of the Luftwaffe's early daylight raids over London were fiercely contested by the RAF's Hurricanes and Spitfires. Many of the dogfights took place over London itself and whilst most civilians wisely took cover, there were many who watched these deadly duels taking place over their own homes and workplaces. The daylight battle over London culminated on September 15th with the Luftwaffe suffering heavy losses. At the time, the Air Ministry claimed that 185 German aircraft (of 201 bombers and approximately 530 fighters deployed) had been destroyed. The actual figure was 56 destroyed but still represented a major defeat for the Luftwaffe. Combined with earlier heavy losses, the German high command decided to switch their attacks on London and other British cities to night-time area bombing methods.
The bullets that I have are from British 0.303" calibre Browning machine guns, which were the standard armament of the Hurricane and the Spitfire, the versions of these iconic fighters in use during the Battle of Britain each being equipped with eight of these weapons. Nicola also kindly (and unwittingly) gave me two live rounds, which were promptly and safely disposed of!
Neil Bright's bomb splinter (Author's photo)
Then of course, we have the pieces that come from German bombs, more correctly described as splinters rather than shrapnel. Neil Bright, formerly of this parish, is the owner of a fearsome fragment from a German bomb, which is roughly the size of the palm of my hand. The prospect of a fragment of this size striking a person simply does not bear thinking about. There are many similar pieces on display in museums, at home and abroad. The church of St Edmund, King & Martyr is perhaps unique in containing splinters from a bomb that was actually dropped on the building by a German Gotha aircraft in 1917 and which fell through the roof. Not only are pieces of the bomb still on display inside the church but the entry point was converted into a window, located in the roof!
Bomb fragments at St Edmund, King & Martyr Church in the City of London (author's photo)
The entry point of the bomb at St Edmund, King & Martyr (author's photo)
The museum at the Royal Hospital Chelsea goes one better by having a complete bomb on display, in this case a 250 kg HE bomb which was one of three that fell in the grounds of the Infirmary on 16 October 1940, all of which failed to explode.
Unexploded 250 kg bomb on display at Royal Hospital, Chelsea (author's photo)
In Hamburg, two museums in that city display bomb splinters of impressive proportions; the Bunker Museum at Hamm has a substantial fragment of a British 250 lb bomb found in the immediate area when clearing the ground prior to the opening of the museum. The thought of this scything through the air is truly frightening. The museum in the crypt of the Nikolai Kirche also has some large splinters on display, as well as some complete bombs, again of the unexploded variety.
British 250 lb bomb fragment at Hamburg Bunker Museum (author's photo)
Bomb fragments at the Mahnmal St Nikolai, Hamburg (author's photo)
Unexploded RAF 250 lb bomb at the Mahnmal St Nikolai (author's photo)
Today, many buildings in London still display the "Honourable Scars" of their Wartime past, amongst them General Wolfe's statue in Greenwich Park, St Bartholomew's Hospital in the City of London, St Clement Danes Church in The Strand, Lord Clyde's statue in Waterloo Place as well as Edward VII's equestrian statue in the same location. Other buildings still bearing their scars are St Paul's Cathedral and the Victoria & Albert Museum, whose pockmarks are accompanied by a helpful plaque, which explains what these marks are and why they remain unrepaired. The Guards' Memorial also proudly displays splinter damage as do humbler structures such as the abutments of a railway bridge across Blackfriars Road and buildings in London Street, near Paddington Station.
Wartime scars on St Clement Danes Church (Author's photo)
Damage to the base of Lord Clyde's statue in Waterloo Place (author's photo)
All of these, as well as others serve to remind present day civilians here in London and elsewhere what our forebears had to endure during the dark days of the Second World War.
Battle of Britain Day: 15 September 1940 - Dr Alfred Price, Sidgwick & Jackson 1990
The Narrow Margin - Derek Wood with Derek Dempster - Tri Service Press 1990
Posted by Steve at 14:59
Labels: Air Raid Shelter Museum Hamburg, Battle of Britain, Blitz, Bombs, London, London Street, Luftwaffe, shrapnel, splinter damage, St Clement Danes, St Nikolai Memorial, St Pauls, WW2
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Home Family Law Everything You Want to Know About Marriage Registration Laws in India
Everything You Want to Know About Marriage Registration Laws in India
Nikieta Aggarwal
Marriage is considered as a sacred institution in the Indian culture. It is a sacred bond between two people, whereby they agree to spend the rest of their lives together. There are quite a few marriage registration laws in India.
After the marriage is solemnized between the bride and the groom, there are certain requirements that must be fulfilled in order to give it a legal standing, i.e. to make it valid under the laws prevalent in India.
Due to diverse cultures in India, it became difficult for the framers of law in this regard to lay down a due process for registration and solemnization of marriage, keeping in mind the fact that if any law or policy is found adversely affecting any custom of any religion, it is likely to face popular protest.
Uniting diverse cultures: The Hindu Marriage Act & The Special Marriage Act
Currently, there are two legislation framed to solve the challenge of Marriage Registration Laws in diverse cultures, they are –
The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
The Special Marriage Act, 1954
The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 deals with marriage registration in case both husband and wife are Hindus, Buddhists, Jains or Sikhs or, where they have converted into any of these religions.
It is to be noted that Hindu Marriage Act deals with only marriage registration that has already been solemnized.
Whereas, the Special Marriage Act, 1954 lay down the procedure for both solemnization and registration of marriage, where either of the husband or wife or both are not Hindus, Buddhists, Jains or Sikhs.
It is the duty of the judiciary to ensure that the rights of both the husband and wife are protected. In case this union between the husband and wife breaks, it should be determined that if this break-up was a result of actions of any of the parties or not.
Essentials of Marriage Registration
Under the Hindu marriage Act, 1955, certain conditions must be fulfilled in order to give the marriage between the parties a legal standing and make it a valid marriage. These conditions have been specified under Sec. 5 and sec. 7 of the Act. By virtue of section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act 1955, a marriage will be valid only if both the parties to the marriage are Hindus. If one of the parties to the marriage is a Christian or Muslim, the marriage will not be a valid Hindu marriage.[1]
It was held in the case of M. Vijayakumari vs. K. Devabalan[2] that:
A marriage between a Hindu man who converted as Christian and a Christian lady in a Hindu form is not a valid marriage. According to section 5 of the Act marriage can be solemnized between two Hindus.
A marriage may be solemnized between any two Hindus if the following conditions are fulfilled, namely:
Neither party has a spouse living at the time of the marriage,
Neither party is incapable of giving a valid consent to it in consequence of unsoundness of mind,
Though capable of giving a valid consent, neither of them has been suffering from mental disorder of such a kind or to such an extent as to be unfit for marriage and the procreation of children,
Neither of them has been subject to recurrent attacks of insanity or epilepsy.
The bridegroom has completed the age of 21 years and the bride the age of 18 years at the time of marriage,
The parties are not within the degrees of prohibited relationship, unless the custom or usage governing each of them permits of a marriage between the two,
The parties are not sapindas (one is a lineal ascendant of the other) of each other, unless the custom or usage governing each of them permits of a marriage between the two[3].
Degree of prohibited relationship[4]- Two persons are said to be covered under the degrees of prohibited relationship if –
One of them is the lineal ascendant of the other,
If one was the wife or husband of lineal ascendant or descendant of the other,
If one of them was wife of the brother or of the father’s or mother’s brother or of the grandfather’s or grandmother’s brother of the other,
If the two are brother and sister, uncle and niece, aunt and nephew, or children of brother and sister or of two brothers or of two sisters.
Must Read: who’s a lineal ascendant/ descendant?
A marriage falling within the above categories shall be considered void.
Exception: Here the customs play an important role i.e. If there is a valid custom governing the parties, they can marry even if they fall under the degrees of prohibited relationship.
Punishment: A marriage solemnized between the parties within the degrees of prohibited relationship is considered null and void .
The parties of such marriage are liable to be punished with simple imprisonment for a period of one month of fine or Rs. 10000/- or with both[5].
Solemnization in Hindu Marriage
The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 deals with the ceremonies to be followed in a Hindu marriage, by the virtue of Sec. 7. The provision states that a Hindu marriage may be solemnized in accordance with the customary rites and ceremonies of either of the parties.
A Hindu marriage may be solemnized in accordance with the customary rites and ceremonies of either party thereto.
Where such rites and ceremonies include the saptpadi (that is, the taking of seven steps by the bridegroom and the bride jointly before the sacred fire), the marriage becomes complete and binding when the seventh step is taken.
Must Read : 10 Wedding Traditions from around the World
The ceremonies may vary according to the cultures and customs followed by the parties.
In the matter of Kanwal Ram vs. Himachal Pradesh Administration[6] the court declared that a marriage is not proved unless the essential ceremonies required for its solemnization are proved to have been performed.
2. THE SPECIAL MARRIAGE ACT, 1954
The Special Marriage Act, deals with both solemnization and registration of marriage. Under the Special Marriage Act, 1954 certain conditions have been laid down under Sec. 4, which are substantially similar to those laid down under Sec. 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1954.
As per this act, no religious ceremonies are prerequisite for a marriage to be complete.
The Act lays down following conditions for a marriage to be regarded as a lawful one, having legal standing, by the virtue of Sec. 4:
Neither party should have a spouse living at the time of the marriage[7].
The physical and mental capacity of the both the parties should be as per the section requires[8].
The age of the parties i.e. the male has completed the age of twenty one and the female has complete the age of eighteen[9].
The parties are not within the degree of prohibited relationship provided that custom governing one of the parties permits such a marriage between them[10].
A marriage in contravention of any of the above conditions will stand void under the Special Marriage Act, 1954. For the Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs marrying within these four communities, the Special Marriage Act 1954 is an alternative to the Hindu Marriage Act 1955.
The Muslims marrying a Muslim have a choice between their uncodified personal law and the Special Marriage Act[11].
10 Things Every Indian Should Know About Special Marriage Act 1954
PROCEDURE FOR MARRIAGE REGISTRATION
It is essential to carefully understand the procedure to be followed to get your marriage registered as per law.
Who to approach for marriage registration?
For the purpose of registration of marriage[12], one has to approach the office of the Sub Divisional Magistrate under whose jurisdiction the marriage took place or where either of the spouses stayed for at least six months before the marriage.
Documents required for marriage registration
As per the official website of Delhi Government, following documents are required to be submitted after being duly attested by the Gazetted Officer, for obtaining registration of marriage as per Hindu culture:
Application form or Memorandum of marriage duly signed by husband and wife.
Documentary evidence for support of date of birth of both the parties. This age, under both the Hindu Marriage Act and Special Marriage Act, is 21 years for male and 18 years for female. This document can be in the form of matriculation certificate/passport/birth certificate.
Residence proof of husband and wife (Ration Card, Aadhar Card, Election Voter Id, PAN Card, or bills like Electricity Bill etc.)
Two passport size photographs of both the parties and one marriage photograph.
Marriage invitation card, if available.
In case the marriage was solemnized at a religious place, a certificate from the priest is required to solemnize the marriage.
In case of marriage under Hindu Marriage Act Rs. 100, and in case of marriage Special Marriage Act, Rs. 150, is required to be submitted to the cashier of the district and the receipt is to be attached along with the application form.
The parties are required to give affirmation that they are not related and do not fall within the degree of prohibited relationship, as laid down under the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 and the Special Marriage Act, 1955.
Attested copy of divorce decree/order in case of a divorcee and death certificate of spouse in case of widow/widower.
In case one of the parties belong to other than Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Sikh religions, a conversion certificate from the priest who solemnized the marriage(in case of Hindu Marriage Act) is required.
Affidavit by both the parties stating place and date of marriage, date of birth, marital status at the time of marriage and nationality.
In case of Court Marriage – how does registration of marriage take place?
An Affidavit must be attested by Magistrate/S.D.M. or Notary Public with Register Entry No.
Application form in the prescribed format.
Age Proof or any one out of – Voter I- Card, Driving License and Matriculation Certificate.
Residence Proof- Voter I- Card, Driving License, Matriculation Certificate, or Passport.
7 Passport size photographs of the bride & the groom .
PAN Cards and the Residential Proofs of the three witnesses.
In case one of the bride or groom is (are) a divorcee than a Certified copy of Decree of Divorce granted by the Court or
In case of the death of the last spouse of either of the party, a death certificate is required.
If one of the partner is a foreigner then No Impediment Certificate / NOC from concerned Embassy and Valid VISA required.
Criteria for Marriage Registration
. Hindu Marriage Act
For the purpose of concluding the process, after due verification of all the documents submitted by the parties, a day is fixed for registration which is communicated to the parties. Both the parties, along with the Gazetted Officer who attended their marriage, are required to be present on the said day before the Sub-Divisional Magistrate.
After all the process is concluded, and the SDM is satisfied, the certificate is granted on the same day.
2. Special Marriage Act
for initiating the process of marriage registration under this Act, before submitting the above documents, both the parties have to give a 30-day notice to the sub-registrar in whose jurisdiction at least one spouse has resided[13].
Both the parties are required to be present after submission of documents for issuance of public notice inviting objections. One copy of notice is pasted on the notice board of the office and the copy of the notice is sent via registered post to both the parties as per the address given by them.
Registration is done 30 days after the date of notice, after deciding any objection that may have been received during that period by the SDM. Both parties along with three witnesses are required to be present on the date of registration[14].
Marriage between an Indian and a foreigner
There is no law in India that prohibits an Indian marrying with a foreigner in India.
Certainly, both must be legally of sound mind and competent enough to marry. The Special Marriage Act, 1954 is applicable where an Indian and a foreigner intent to marry in India.
On the other hand, when an Indian intends to marry in any other country, the Foreign Marriage Act, 1969 is applicable[15].
Thus, it can be implied that a marriage performed between an Indian and a foreigner is a civil marriage in nature.
In such a case, firstly a No Impediment Certificate/NOC from concerned Embassy and valid VISA is required. All other documents and the procedures to comply with are the same as any other civil marriage performed under the Special Marriage Act, 1954.
Christian Marriages In India
Though the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and the Special Marriage Act, 1954 are the two primary legislation governing the process of solemnization and registration of marriage in India, there are certain other legislation enacted to govern the process of marriage solemnization and marriage registration between certain minority religions in present in India.
For instance, the Christians and the Parsi –
These minority religions which are not covered under either of the two primary legislation are to be given an equal treatment and thus it was very essential for the Indian legislature to frame laws in this regard.
The Christians marriages in India are governed by the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872, which provides for solemnization of marriage either by a minister or by a priest of the church.
The Indian Christian Marriage Act 1872
The Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872, however, says that all Christian marriages shall be solemnized under its own provisions[16]. It further, by the virtue of Sec. 4, lays down that apart from Christian-Christian marriages, the marriage of a Christian with a non-Christian must also be solemnized under this Act.
Deciding a case, the Karnataka High Court held that “Christian marriage – even if one of its parties is a Hindu – cannot be dissolved by a decree of divorce under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act”[17].
Interestingly, Division bench under same High Court-in 1995 – ruled that-
“Marriage performed under the Christian Marriage Act and validly registered under the provisions of Special Marriage Act can be dissolved on the basis of mutual consent under Section 28 of the Special Marriage Act , if the conditions laid down in that Section are fulfilled”.[18]
The general conditions are same as for the other marriages, i.e. the marriage should take place with free consent of the parties, bride and bridegroom should be of 18 and 21 years respectively, and neither party should have a spouse living.
Apart from this, following procedure is to be followed if marriage is performed under this Act:
Notice of intended marriageIf both the parties reside in the same area, either party will have to notify the Minister of Religion of their intention to marry by the way of a notice. In case both the parties reside in different areas, each party will have to make a separate notice in writing to the Marriage Registrar located within their areas of residence.[19]
The notice has certain important details like-
¤ In case any of the party is minor: The father, if living, of any minor, or, if the father is dead, the guardian of the person of such minor, and, in case there is no such guardian, then the mother of such minor, may give consent to the minor’s marriage, and such consent is hereby required for the same marriage, unless no person authorized to give such consent be resident in India[20].
¤ The Minister then issues certificate in pursuance of the notice to solemnize the marriage.
¤ Persons authorized to solemnize: According to Sec. 5 of the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872, following people are competent to solemnize a marriage and a marriage solemnized by any other of these persons will stand void-
♦ Any Clergyman of the Church of Scotland, provided that such marriage be solemnized according to the rules, rites, ceremonies and customs of the Church of Scotland,
♦ Any Minister of Religion licensed under this Act to solemnize marriages,
♦ By or in the presence of, a Marriage Registrar appointed under this Act,
♦ Any person licensed under this Act to grant certificates of marriage between Indian Christians.
Performance of marriage
A Christian Marriage is performed between the parties to the marriage according to the rituals that are regarded as essential and proper as per Minister or Priest performing the marriage. The marriage rituals compulsorily require presence of two witnesses apart from the minister or the priest performing the marriage.
If a marriage has not been performed within the period of two months after the issuance of the certificate of notice, such a marriage cannot be performed after the lapse of the two month period, and a fresh certificate of notice should be applied for in order to solemnize the marriage.
The Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872, under Part IV deals with marriage registration performed under this Act. The parties are required to make an application for marriage registration to the concerned authority in whose Jurisdiction either party has been residing. The Marriage Register is where the Registrar, who was present and performed the marriage of the couple, registers the marriage.
The acknowledgement slip of the registration is signed by both the parties to the marriage along with their witnesses and it is attached to the register as a proof that the marriage was registered. These acknowledgement slips are sent out at the end of the month to the Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
Indian Christian marriages can also be endorsed under a special provision without a prior notice.
Documents Required:
Passport Size Photographs
Marriage Certificate issued by the Minister of Priest who performed the marriage
Proof of Residence and Age of the Parties
Affidavit certifying mental and marital status of both parties.
PARSI MARRIAGES IN INDIA
Marriage under Parsi Marriage Act can be registered in the Office of the District Registrar under whose jurisdiction the marriage takes place. The Act considers the marriage unlawful under certain conditions laid down in Sec. 4, which says-
“No Parsi (whether such Parsi has changed his or her religion or domicile or not) shall contract any marriage under this Act or any other law in the lifetime of his or her wife or husband, whether a Parsi or not, except after his or her lawful divorce from such wife or husband or after his or her marriage with such wife or husband has lawfully been declared null and void or dissolved, and, if the marriage was contracted with such wife or husband under the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1865 or under this Act, except after a divorce, declaration or dissolution as aforesaid under either of the said Acts”.
Any marriage that has been performed in contradiction of this provision stands void[21].
According to this Act:
A Parsi priest solemnizes the marriage.
Signatures of both bride and bridegroom are required along with signatures of three witnesses to issue a certificate of marriage.
Certificate needs to be send to Marriage Officer for registration along with prescribed fee.
The parties must not fall under the ‘Degree of prohibited relationship’ laid down by Sec. 53.
Some Special Laws
Rights to the Second Wife, in case she’s Alive
The marriage registration laws in India witnessed certain recent developments.
With time, a number of issues also developed in the application of laws regarding Rights of Second Wife under a Hindu marriage. In the absence of a legal position of the bigamy relationship under Hindu law or any guidelines in this regard, the situation becomes extremely depressing and stressful for the women.
Additional Read : legal status of 2nd marriage
When both the women feel cheated by the husband-
In such a scenario, it is very essential to know that a second marriage is illegal under the Hindu law if the first spouse is living. But it should also be seen that such a relationship reflects the image of the second wife as a victim who did not have any knowledge of her husband’s actions and thus she should not suffer.
Historically, as a norm, the first wife enjoyed precedence over the other wives and her first born son enjoyed precedence over his other half brothers. There is a possibility that originally, the subsequent wives were considered as merely a superior class of concubines. Later, in the courts of British India, it was a settled law that a Hindu male could without any restriction marry again while his previous marriage subsisted (second marriage) without his wife’s consent and justification[22].
In the matter of Raghveer Kumar vs. Shanmukha Vadivar, that “a custom prevalent amongst Nadars in Udumalapeta Taluk preventing a second marriage, even if established could not have the force of law”[23].
Recently, Bombay High Court pronounced a significant ruling with regard to retirement benefits of the second wives under Hindu law and held that she can claim the retirement benefits of the deceased husband[24].
The Apex Court, in 2010, observed that if a woman married an already married man, she would not be entitled to maintenance and other protections[25].
As per the census data of 2011, there are 6.6 million more married women than men in India[26].
In the matter of Badshah vs. Sou Urmila Badshah Godse[27], the Court opined that a woman who was kept in the dark about a subsisting marriage of her husband could claim maintenance under Section 125, CrPC.
Thus, it can be said that the judiciary has created an exceptional class of women who were deceived into marrying an already married man, excluding women who knowingly did the same.
The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (DV Act), securing all classes of women irrespective of being second or first wife, provides that all women in a “domestic relationship” claim to maintenance[28].
Additional Read : second wife’s right to maintenance in India
To prove the factum of marriage between the husband and the wife, in order to claim maintenance u/s 125 Cr.P.C., reliance is to be made upon the Voter’s Identity Card, wherein she has been referred to as his wife, or the joint bank account, or even the police complaint wherein he has stated that she is his wife , can be used to prove her status as her wife and that she was being treated as a wife by the man in the society.
Children Out of Wedlock
The Madhya Pradesh High Court, in a 1991 case ruled the following regarding the second wives who bear children out of “illegal” wedlock:
Where a husband had married twice with no indication of having no means to maintain himself or his dependents, and if he is able-bodied, it is his legal obligation to maintain even his second-wife from whom he has also an issue”[29].
Guardianship of illegitimate children in India
Rights of a child born out of wedlock
Madras High Court recently pronounced that the second wife has a legal right to pension. The Court held that even though the couple was not married validly, they were living together since 1976 [30].
Read : legal rights of a live-in partner
It conferred legal rights upon the wife and thus the Court directed pension to be paid from the date of death of the husband within a period of 12 weeks. It also directed the authorities to pay monthly pension to the second wife.
Right to Streedhan
The wife has ownership rights to all her streedhan, i.e. the gifts and money given to her before and after marriage.
The ownership rights to streedhan belong to the wife, even if it is placed in the custody of her husband or her in-laws. Supreme Court has stated that women can claim streedhan even after separation from husband[31].
Right to Residence
The wife has the right to reside in her matrimonial household where her husband resides, immaterial of whether it is an ancestral house, a joint family house, a self-acquired house or a rented house.
In Smt. B.P. Achala Anand case[32], the Supreme Court observed that the wife has a right to reside in her matrimonial home under the personal laws.
It was further observed that:
“A wife is entitled to be maintained by her husband. She is entitled to remain under his roof and protection. She is also entitled to separate residence if by reason of the husband’s conduct or by his refusal to maintain her in his own place of residence or for other just cause she is compelled to live apart from him. “
Right to residence is a part and parcel of wife’s right to maintenance. For the purpose of maintenance the term wife’ includes a divorced wife”.
This right and maintenance can be claimed against husband only[33].
Right to Child Maintenance
In case the wife is incapable to earn a living, or has no source to earn bread, she is entitled to receive financial aid from the husband.
If both the parents are financially incapable, then they are free to seek help from the grandparents to maintain the child. A minor child also enjoys the right to seek partition in ancestral property.
What if the marriage is solemnized in the J&K ?
In case the marriage is solemnized in Jammu & Kashmir [ J&k ], the parties to the marriage are considered to be the Indian citizens-domiciled in the territories to which the Special Marriage Act extends-if they have married under the Special Marriage Act, which mostly happens in case of inter-caste marriages.
The marriage officer is bound to display the notice of the intended marriage, by affixing a copy to some conspicuous place in his office.
In case authorities Refuse to solemnize marriage
In case the marriage officer refuses to solemnize the intended marriage between the two parties, then within a period of thirty days of the intended marriage, either party can prefer an appeal to the District Court – within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the marriage officer has his office.
The decision of the District Court, regarding the solemnization of the intended marriage, shall be final and binding.
If two adults wish to marry in a temple
In this case the marriage must be solemnized according to the rituals, customs and practices under Hindu culture.
In other words, pure Indian customs have to be followed in case of a temple marriage. But to prove such a marriage valid or legal in the eyes of law, there must be a certificate, which is issued by the marriage registration office after going through the pictures and the statement of the witness present at the time of the marriage, other than the priest.
Arya Samaj Marriage
If the parties to the marriage are Hindu (or converted to Hinduism), they can also opt to the marriage in the Arya Samaj Mandir.
The marriage is solemnized by the Arya Samaj Mandir following Hindu customs and rituals and religious practices, after checking the required documents affirming the age and consent of the parties.
Even if the marriage is solemnized by the Arya Samaj Mandir authorities, the parties have to get the marriage registered by the Registrar who will check the photographs and documents and the witnesses of the marriage before issuing the certificate.
Arya Samaj certificate is a legal marriage document only in India.
As per the Arya Samaj Marriage Validation Act, 1937, an Arya Samaj Marriage is a valid marriage.
Recently, there have been cases where the marriage is solemnized by the Arya Samaj authorities but there was a mistake in the details in the certificate issued by them.
In such a case, The married couple can approach them to rectify the mistakes but, if they refuse to do so or, as seen in number of cases, demand money to do so –
the first step taken in such a situation is to address a letter to Arya Samaj for correcting the mistake. If even then no action is taken by the Arya Samaj authorities, then a written complaint can be lodged with the person heading Arya Samaj locality.
Marrying NRI
Now a days, there has been a rise in number of both NRI marriages and problems caused by such marriages. Mostly it is the female who suffers in such marriage. Following are some instances of problems faced by women after marrying an NRI:
Female married to an NRI who is abandoned even before being taken by her husband to the foreign country of his residence.
Wife brutally battered, assaulted, abused – both mentally and physically- malnourished, confined and ill treated and forced to flee or was forcibly sent back.
A quick engagement, followed by a massive wedding, a huge dowry and a honeymoon, after which the NRI husband flies out of India while the wife waits for her visa.
Wife reaches the foreign country of her husband’s residence and waits at the international airport there only to find that her husband would not turn at all.
NRI husband is found already married in the other country to another woman.
Husband gives false information on any or all of the following- his job, immigration status, earning, property, marital status and other material particulars, to agree the woman to the marriage.
Aggrieved woman who approached the court, either in India or in the other country, for maintenance or divorce but repeatedly encountered technical legal obstacles related to jurisdiction of courts, service of notices or orders, or enforcement of orders or learnt of the husband commencing simultaneous retaliatory legal proceeding in the other country.
Solutions :
This is a serious concern regarding the subject of marriages. The first precaution has to be taken by the party marrying the NRI.
They must verify the information they are getting from the other party before the marriage.
They should thoroughly verify the status of the spouse as actually represented, especially with regard to the following particulars –
¤ Marital status: Whether single, divorced, separated
¤ Employment details: Qualification and post, salary, address of office, employers and their credentials
¤ Immigration details: Type of visa, eligibility to take spouse to the other country
¤ Financial status – (to be verified with the employer)
¤ Criminal antecedents, if any
¤ Family background
3. The female and her family should check the following documents relating to the spouse and keep a copy of the following with them:
◊ Visa, passport
◊ Social security number
◊ Passport number
◊ Tax returns of the preceding 3 years
◊ Proof of Address in foreign country
Sources of Verification
Friends, relatives and contacts of the spouse
The female’s family can investigate and verify the above matters through their friends, relative and contacts but, if they fail to get information through the network of friends and relatives, they may contact the local Indian associations/ bodies/ NGOs etc. in the country where the NRI/PIO fiancé is residing, to seek help to check his details/background.
In case the husband ill-treats the wife and demands dowry after she had moved with him to the foreign country, she can approach the Indian Embassy/Consulate for assistance/advice, to file a complaint with the local police about harassment, abandonment, ill-treatment, etc.
The Embassy/Consulate can assist in providing contact details of local NGOs, approach the local police, contact your family/friends, etc. who could help you.
The Indian Mission can be contacted for initial legal/financial assistance to file a case against your husband in the foreign country[34].
Wife abandoned by NRI husband
If the NRI husband has abandoned the woman in India, she can immediately file a complaint/ FIR under 498A IPC on grounds of cruelty with the police in the local police station in the area where she was abandoned.
Offences committed outside India would be deemed to have been committed within the territory of India by virtue of Section 188 of the Cr. P.C. Therefore, the aggrieved woman can lodge a complaint for the same in India.
Sikh marriage
In 2012, Indian Parliament passed a law, allowing Sikhs to register their marriage under the Anand Marriage (Amendment) Act, 2012[35]. Although Anand Marriage Act was passed in 1909, there was no provision for registration of marriages which were registered under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. Mostly Gurudwara is chosen for marriage.
A recognized Gurudwara has strict rules wherein the duly notarized affidavits of both parties who should be Sikh by religion are taken before the marriage, even there is demand that parents of both sides should be present for proper Sikh Marriage ceremony also known as Anand Karaj, there are terms and conditions as per rules to be followed.
That’s all about Marriage Registration in India for now. Did you find this post useful? Do Comment Below. And Don’t forget to Share!
[1]http://www.webindia123.com/law/family_law/hindu_law/marriage.htm
[2]M. Vijayakumari vs. K. Devabalan, AIR 2003 Ker 363
[3]Sec. 5, The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
[4]Sec. 5(4), The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
[5]Sec. 18(b), the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
[6]Kanwal Ram vs. Himachal Pradesh Administration, AIR 1966 SC 614
[7] Section 4(a), the Special Marriage Act, 1954
[8] Section 4(b), the Special Marriage Act, 1954
[9] Section 4(c), the Special Marriage Act, 1954
[10] Section 4(d), the Special Marriage Act, 1954
[11]Law Commission of India Report No. 212
[12] delhi.gov.in
[13] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/personal-finance/How-to-register-your-marriage/articleshow/22427756.cms
[15] Law Commission of India Report 212
[16] Sec. 4, The Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872
[17] 1993 MLJ 31
[18] 1995 MLJ 492
[19] Sec. 12, The Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872
[21] Sec. 4(2), The Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936
[22] http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/rfs.htm
[23] Raghveer Kumar vs. Shanmukha Vadivar, AIR 1971 Mad 330
[24] Rights of Second Wives, Economic and Political Weekly (Vol. 51, Issue No. 25), June 18, 2016 (Accessed at: http://www.epw.in/journal/2016/25/commentary/rights-second-wives.html?0=ip_login_no_cache%3D23c06e78b35852134395b478949c062e)
[25] D. Velusamy vs. D. Patchaiammal, (2010) 10 SCC 469
[27] Badshah vs. Sou Urmila Badshah Godse, (2014) 1 SCC 188
[28] Sec. 2(f), The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005
[29] Laxmibai vs. Ayodhya Prasad Alias Ramadhar, AIR 1991 MP 47
[30] S.Suseela @ Mary Margaret vs. The Superintendent Of Police, Writ Petition No.15806 of 2015 and
M.P.No.1 of 2015
[31] Times of India, Nov 15, 2015 (Accessed at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Womencan-claim-stridhan-even-after-separation-from-husband-Supreme-Court/articleshow/49872639.cms)
[32] B.P. Achala Anand vs. S. Appi Reddy & Anr, AIR 2005 SC 986
[33] Times of India, July 29, 2007 (Accessed at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Right-to-residence-maintenance-only-from-husband-Court/articleshow/2241844.cms)
[34] India Centre for Immigration (Accessed at: https://www.mea.gov.in/images/pdf/faq-marraiges-of-indian-women.pdf)
[35] Act VII of 1909
christian marriage in India
Marriage to NRI
marriage-solemnization
registration-of-marriage
rights to second spouse
Solemnization-of-Marriage
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bhavik bhatt December 7, 2019 at 9:19 pm
in the yreas 1985 groom age is 22 yrs but bride age is 17 yrs and 3 month. this marriage is valid or not.
Puja Costa October 21, 2019 at 11:15 am
I stayed 90 days in India and applied for marriage. The documents are ready. But due to visa problem my would-be husband could not come and I have to go back for complying with visa rules. I will come again and my would-be husband would get visa soon. Will it require another application or the earlier application will work?
Samantha Kumar May 15, 2019 at 3:35 pm
Can a Christian widow marry her father in law?
Judy and Manas April 26, 2019 at 6:04 pm
We got married under the Special Marriage Act (5th Schedule, Sec 16) in Bangalore in 2015. We are a German Atheist and an Indian Hindu and went for the form ‘Registration of Marriages Celebrated in Other Forms’. We had various ceremonial elements of our choice in June (German ring ceremony, elements of Hindu ceremony, family unification ceremony, etc) and had the marriage registered in September. The German Governemnt refuses to accept the marriage certificate, since according to them ‘any ceremony celebrated in beforehand of the registration can only take place if both spouses are of the same religion’. Can somebody help us?
Sunny March 10, 2020 at 7:57 pm
Hello mam /sir have get any solution on your problem? ?have solved this thing because I have also same problem? ?can you help me how have you solved this?
Attestation On Time February 25, 2019 at 6:50 pm
Thank you for offering solid advice, explaining the logic behind it and the guidance on how to marriage attestation can get it done. A complete guide of attestation procedures in India!
Amarjit singh January 16, 2019 at 7:42 pm
I got married in 1985 and my wife was less than 18 at that time .Can registrar refuse to register marriage now as I need it for Us green card
Arvind January 16, 2019 at 3:23 pm
If marriage under Hindu marriage act is not registered, how can a certificate stating the “marriage Records not found” be obtained? This certificate is required for Green Card to USA?
ankit sehrawat August 11, 2018 at 12:19 am
kya intercast marrige m ldka 19 or ldki 18 age ho to unki shadi ho skti hai..??
MANISH KUMAR YADAV (ADVOCATE) May 18, 2019 at 1:40 pm
No, boy should be at least 21 years of age.
Aji September 28, 2017 at 6:57 pm
Hi just a question if someone marry under arya samaj but girl if NRI and muslim and they need to get the registration done under special marriage act can they do it? Even they have registered theirs marriage under hindu act?
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Upward trend in total UK tax revenue over past five years, says NAO report
24th November 2016 24th November 2016 McGills Blog
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) raised £536.8billion in the 2015/16 financial year, according to a performance summary carried out by the National Audit Office (NAO).
The NAO’s probe revealed that tax revenue has risen steadily over the past five years, and confirmed that the tax authority secured compliance yield of £26.6bn over a target of £26.3bn in 2015/16.
The report also found that the ‘tax gap’ as a percentage of liabilities had decreased from 8.4 per cent to 6.4 per cent over the period 2005/06 – 2015/16
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The NAO focused strongly on customer service as part of its review, following ongoing criticisms that the Revenue’s customer service standards are diminishing in the wake of the Making Tax Digital (MTD) project – which is expected to cost HMRC approximately £1.8bn.
The report read: “HMRC had maintained or improved customer service until the end of 2013/14, but then released staff before it had made all the changes needed to reduce demand. As a result, HMRC saw the quality of its service to personal taxpayers fall in 2014/15 and the first half of 2015/16.
However, it added: “HMRC restored customer service performance in the second half of 2015/16 to previous levels and has maintained this improvement into 2016/17.
BoE to restore deposit protection limit to £85,000
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Campus Reform | UCSB White Student Union to self-flagellate for Harambe
UCSB White Student Union to self-flagellate for Harambe
The University of California, Santa Barbara’s White Student Union has decided to satirically weigh in on the debate over Harambe the gorilla by publicly abusing themselves.
The unofficial student group says it wantsto protest the “injustice” of killing Harambe to save the human child who had fallen into its enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo by self-flagellating in the ape’s memory.
William Nardi | Content Creator, Knights of Columbus
Saturday, August 27, 2016 9:57 AM
The University of California-Santa Barbara’s White Student Union has decided to satirically weigh in on the debate over Harambe the gorilla by publicly abusing themselves.
The unofficial student group, consisting of 15 conservative student activists who vehemently oppose social justice, announced the event on Facebook, saying its members wish to protest the “injustice” of killing Harambe to save the human child who had fallen into its enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo by self-flagellating in the ape’s memory.
The “protest” will begin in front of UCSB’s Cheadle Hall and will end in front of the University Center, where the students plan to unfurl a large banner of Harambe and present demands to UCSB “to stop being complicit in systems of oppression of the sort that killed Harambe.”
In an uncredited statement describing the event, the group cheekily refers to Harambe as a “person," and laments his death at the hands of "a system of oppression."
"What better way to kick off the new academic year by protesting this obscene injustice by uniting as one and existing unapologetically for a worthy cause?” the statement reads. "We hope that this event allows members of the White Student Union and its allies to come together to remember a great person and to protest against the systems of oppression that have resulted in his death."
Those who wish to attend the event must bring their own flogs, as the group will not be providing them. So far, only 8 people have registered on Facebook to attend the event.
In the past, the group has received national attention for releasing mock demands, imitating those made by leftist protestors at the University of Missouri, according to The Daily Caller.
The demands, designed to support “oppressed” students of European descent, called for whites-only “safe-space” rooms, punishment for those who stereotype white people, and mandatory “white cultural competency training,” among other intentionally outrageous demands.
In addition, the group has hosted events such as “International While Male Thanksgiving Day,” “White History Month,” and “Whites-Only Healing Groups.”
Follow the Author on Twitter: @willthethinker
self-flagellation
White Student Union
William Nardi
Content Creator, Knights of Columbus
Will Nardi is a Content Creator at Knights of Columbus. He is also a journalist with pieces featured in National Review, Vice, and Red Alert Politics. William is a former Virginia Campus Correspondent at Campus Reform.
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A prototype of the Aura Powered Suit, an undergarment designed to assist people with mobility. Designed in 2016 by Superflex, it’s anatomically configured to align with the muscular composition of each wearer. The hexagonal pods form a wearable network of smart technology that adds strength to muscles and joints.
Design with a Difference
The future of design is about function, style, and choice—for all.
Scott McGuire’s mind was razor-sharp, but he was trapped inside a body that was deteriorating every day.
In 1997, the Greater Latrobe Area High School biology teacher was shocked to learn that tremors in his chest and his difficulty lifting weights were early symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. By 2001, the once active outdoorsman couldn’t walk. He eventually couldn’t say a word. He couldn’t even move his fingers to type. His frustration grew as he became physically and mentally abused by a caretaker but couldn’t speak up about it. “I felt more and more alone,” he recalls. “I was just staying alive.”
Then he watched a news segment about a man with a similar condition who used a communication tool—a device with eye-tracking technology. Right away, McGuire knew he had to have one. His neurologist referred him to Tobii Dynavox, a Swedish company with headquarters in Pittsburgh that sells a variety of high-tech speech generating devices, including specialized tablets like the one McGuire saw on TV.
Scott McGuire communicates using an eye-tracking, speech-generating device. He’s pictured here with best friend and caregiver, Maria. Photo: Courtesy Tobii Dynavox
By moving his eyes to focus on different letters, symbols, and phrases on an on-screen keyboard, McGuire has reclaimed his voice. He uses his device to write sentences, which are converted to a deep baritone voice. He also uses it to send text messages, design greeting cards, play poker, and even change the channel on his TV.
“Tobii Dynavox saved my life,” he says, his words delivered through the speakers of the device. “When all you can move is your eyes, it makes the learning curve really short once you are positioned correctly. It’s basically point and shoot. It’s really that easy.”
The hands-free communication aid is on view at Carnegie Museum of Art as part of Access+Ability, an exhibition featuring research and designs developed over the past decade with and by people who span a range of physical, cognitive, and sensory abilities. On display in the Heinz Galleries through September 8, the show was organized by the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City.
“Tobii Dynavox saved my life. When all you can move is your eyes, it makes the learning curve really short once you are positioned correctly. It’s basically point and shoot. It’s really that easy.”
– Scott McGuire
Its central theme: design matters. And it’s not about designing for difference. It’s about function, practicality, style, and choice—for all. From all-terrain wheelchairs, bedazzled hearing aids, and a shirt that enables people who are deaf to feel classical music, the products—low-tech, high-tech, and some still prototypes—represent the future of accessibility design.
“People may be surprised to come into the galleries and see canes and digital communication devices,” says Rachel Delphia, the Alan G. and Jane A. Lehman Curator of Decorative Arts and Design at Carnegie Museum of Art. “What drew me to this exhibition is that, as you dive into each and every object, there is a human story that inspired its creation.”
Seeing With Your Tongue
Artist Emilie Gossiaux used the BrainPort Vision Pro to get back to her passion: drawing. Photo: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Emilie Gossiaux was a 21-year-old artist riding her bike to a New York City studio in 2010 when an 18-wheeler truck struck her. After the catastrophic accident, she was admitted to the intensive care unit in a coma. Initially, the prognosis was so bleak that a nurse approached her mother about organ donation. Over time, she emerged from the coma, but then the family received more news: Gossiaux, who had worn hearing aids since age 6, had lost her vision.
Over the next weeks, her boyfriend devised a way to communicate with her by tracing letters on her palms. Gossiaux responded by speaking. But she still had to learn to navigate her world without eyesight, and for Gossiaux, that meant returning to her lifelong passion for art. “I didn’t think my blindness would stop me from making art,” she says. “I knew it would be different and I would learn different skills.”
Two years later, while Gossiaux was at a rehabilitation center relearning basic skills, she was introduced to the BrainPort Vision Pro. The high-tech glasses are equipped with an outward-facing camera with a remote control attached to a device containing hundreds of electrodes that rests on the tongue. To Gossiaux, the signals felt like fizzy Coke tickling her tongue, but over time she learned to interpret the strength and shape of the bubbling sensations as pictures of her surroundings— like light and dark, shapes of objects, and the outlines of people walking on a sidewalk.
“I didn’t think my blindness would stop me from making art. I knew it would be different and I would learn different skills.”
– Emilie Gossiaux
She used the BrainPort for about a year to get back to drawing and to view sculptures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she led gallery tours. To draw, says Gossiaux, “I would zoom the camera in very close to the pen or marker, follow the line with the camera by moving my head, as if I could see with my eyes, and connect the lines. The sensation of the electrodes lightly shocking my tongue gave the impression of vision; I was seeing the drawing in my mind, or visual cortex. Then I would zoom out to look at the whole drawing and make my final marks.”
Two of her black-and-white drawings—one of a dog and one of palm trees—are on view in Access+Ability alongside the BrainPort.
For the love of a husband—and sneakers
Maura Horton runs her company, MagnaReady, out of her home in North Raleigh, North Carolina. Her next product to include magnetic fasteners is children’s coats. Photo: Chris Seward/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT via Getty Images
Don Horton, an assistant football coach for North Carolina State University, was running late for a game. Having lost his fine motor skills to Parkinson’s disease, he couldn’t button his dress shirt. Fortunately, one of his players in the locker room saw him struggling and discreetly buttoned it for him.
When the beloved coach relayed the experience to his wife, Maura, she could see the humiliation and panic in his eyes. What if it happened again during the next game or during a recruiting trip?
Maura, who used to design girls’ dresses, vowed to come up with a solution. The inspiration came from the magnetic closure of an iPod case: She could hide tiny magnetic closures behind the buttons on a shirt. Her invention, which is part of Access+Ability, gave her husband the dignity of dressing without help, and she knew many others would also benefit.
“My husband wore the prototypes and gave me immediate feedback,” she says. To stave off copycats, Maura applied for patents before launching MagnaReady, a magnetic apparel company, in 2013. Don wore the designs for three years before he died in 2016.
MagnaReady has sold 50,000 shirts, prompting Maura to expand the product line to include pants, which have also been popular. With its tagline of “dress with dignity,” MagnaReady has tapped into the growing adaptive clothing market. Coresight Research, a market research firm for the retail industry, estimated that the potential for adaptive clothing in the United States will reach $47.3 billion in 2019 and grow to $54.8 billion by 2023.
For Maura, the greatest joy of her job is getting letters from customers who have reclaimed a level of independence through use of her clothing.
She recently received a note from the mother of a boy with cerebral palsy who had achieved one of his benchmarks for independent living—putting on his own shirt and pants. “He was super psyched about that,” Maura says. Other letters have come from people suffering from arthritis and other chronic conditions.
The show also includes a pair of sneakers, Nike FlyEase, inspired by a teenage boy with cerebral palsy who wrote to the athletic giant saying he wanted to be able to put on his shoes by himself. The shoes feature a wraparound zipper at the heel, requiring no laces and making them far easier for someone with a movement disorder to put on and take off. The slam dunk: they’re also super stylish.
FlyEase shoes were inspired by Matthew Walzer, a teen with cerebral palsy, who wrote to Nike to help solve the challenge of tying his shoelaces. The result: a shoe with a wraparound zipper system that allows easy entry and exit of the foot from the back rather than from above.
Delphia notes that both inventions are good examples of universal design.
“Each starts with one person’s story and becomes a product that has the potential to reach so many other people,” she says. “When you design for the most challenging case, you end up with a product that is useful for a wider audience.”
Style and Choice
Just as eyeglasses are available in an array of colors and styles, hearing aids can be transformed into a personalized accessory. These 2014 designs, which include Swarovski crystals, are by Elana Langer. Photo: Hanna Agar
Forget medical aids that are clunky and clinical. The wave of the future, Access+Ability shows us, is style and choice. The exhibition showcases products that destigmatize assistive aids by turning them into fashion accessories.
Take compression socks, once only a dull beige or black. They’re now vivid and graphic. After all, they’re used by a wide variety of consumers, including the elderly, travelers, athletes, pregnant women, and runway models. Also newly chic—customized prosthetic leg covers that adorn and add a human silhouette to artificial limbs. Intended as a fashion statement, the goal is to provide amputees with color and pattern options.
Elana Langer, a conceptual artist based in New York City, is known for her glamorous assistive products. The idea started when her beloved grandmother, Ester, refused to go out while using a walker.
“She was a very classy lady,” says Langer. “She told me, ‘I won’t be one of those old ladies.’ Her pride was in how impeccably she presented herself. I saw the pain in her eyes.”
Langer promised her grandmother, “I will make you the most beautiful walker. You will be the talk of the town.”
Ester still refused the walker, no matter how glitzy, but Langer couldn’t let go of the idea. After her grandmother died, she ran with the concept, decorating not only walkers and canes but also hearing aids. The concept went viral after photographer Hanna Agar took photographs of Langer using her products in everyday situations, including one where she’s posing with a glamorous walker in a black bra and garter and stockings.
“I’m making something beautiful out of something you might be ashamed of. We’re looking at the aids as tools of life, and we honor them with beauty,” says Langer, who makes custom designs. Two of her hearing aids bedazzled with Swarovski crystals are on view in Access+Ability.
As Delphia puts it, “We are all growing old. We all get sick, and we all get injured. These objects find their way more and more into the mainstream. This exhibition helps build awareness and empathy about the need to be inclusive.”
Making Pittsburgh—and beyond—more accessible
Chieko Asakawa uses Out Loud, The Warhol’s inclusive audio guide, which employs NavCog technology.
Chieko Asakawa was 11 years old when she hit her left eye on the side of a swimming pool, damaging her optical nerve. By age 14, she was completely blind. The young athlete went from dreaming of participating in the Olympics to suddenly needing assistance with basic tasks. “I couldn’t go anywhere by myself and I really wanted to be independent and freed from relying on other people,” says Asakawa. “When I started out there was no assistive technology. I couldn’t read any information by myself. This led me to technology and, later in life, to innovate.”
Today the computer scientist is one of the world’s leading accessibility researchers. She’s currently based in Pittsburgh, and her pioneering efforts are benefiting local partner institutions, including The Andy Warhol Museum, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), and Pittsburgh International Airport.
“When I started out there was no assistive technology. I couldn’t read any information by myself. This led me to technology and, later in life, to innovate.”
– Chieko Asakawa, accessibility researcher
An IBM Distinguished Service Professor in CMU’s Robotics Institute and an IBM Fellow at IBM Research, Asakawa is best known for developing the Home Page Reader—the first practical voice browser that allowed blind and visually impaired users to navigate the internet. The web-to-speech system debuted in Japan in 1997. By 2003, it was translated into 11 languages and widely used around the world.
Asakawa’s own desire for independence drives her groundbreaking work. Her early projects provided the blind community in her home country of Japan with access to braille books. She also developed a Japanese to braille translation system, as well as a disability simulator that gives sighted web developers the ability to mimic the experience of blind users. More recently, Asakawa and a team of student researchers at CMU debuted NavCog, an open-source smartphone app that helps people with visual impairments navigate their surroundings.
NavCog operates much like the turn-by-turn directions of GPS systems by analyzing signals from Bluetooth beacons and smartphone sensors to help users navigate indoor locations. The technology was piloted in 2016 as part of Out Loud, The Warhol’s inclusive audio guide that gives users perspectives on artwork and information on Andy Warhol as they navigate the museum’s seventh-floor gallery. It’s also in use on CMU’s campus, in a Japanese shopping mall, and at Pittsburgh International Airport.
Eventually, she says, the idea is not to rely on Bluetooth technology but to use cameras for computer-aided vision. Also in the works: the ability for users to identify passersby they may know using facial recognition—and even note if the person seems happy or sad. “The socialization aspect is crucial and a very big challenge,” says Asakawa.
Her latest undertaking with IBM: the “AI suitcase”—a lightweight navigational robot designed to steer a person who is blind through the complex terrain of an airport, providing step-by-step directions as well as information on flight delays, gate changes, and even dinner and shopping options. Still in the prototype stage, the carry-on AI suitcase has a motor embedded so it can move autonomously, an image-recognition camera to detect surroundings, and LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) for measuring distances to objects.
“I want to really enjoy traveling alone,” says Asakawa. “That’s why I’m focusing on the AI suitcase, even if it is going to take a very long time. It’s innovative and practical.”
– Julie Hannon
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487 U.S. 392 (1988), 87-626, Sheridan v. United States
Docket Nº: No. 87-626
Citation: 487 U.S. 392, 108 S.Ct. 2449, 101 L.Ed.2d 352, 56 U.S.L.W. 4761
Party Name: Sheridan v. United States
108 S.Ct. 2449, 101 L.Ed.2d 352, 56 U.S.L.W. 4761
Argued April 26, 1988
CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR
THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
An obviously intoxicated off-duty serviceman (Carr) fired several rifle shots into petitioners' automobile on a public street near the Bethesda Naval Hospital where Carr worked, causing physical injury to one of the petitioners and damage to the car. Petitioners filed suit against the Government under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) in Federal District Court, alleging that their injuries were caused by the Government's negligence in allowing Carr to leave the hospital with a loaded rifle in his possession. The facts, as alleged in the complaint and as supplemented by discovery, were that, after finishing his work shift, Carr consumed a large amount of alcoholic beverages; that naval corpsmen found him in a drunken stupor in a hospital building and attempted to take him to the emergency room; that the corpsmen fled when they saw a rifle in his possession; that the corpsmen neither took further action to subdue Carr nor alerted the appropriate authorities that he was intoxicated and brandishing a weapon; and that he fired the shots into petitioners' car later that evening. The District Court dismissed the action on the ground that the claim was barred by the FTCA's intentional tort exception, 28 U.S.C. § 2680(h), which provides that the Act's provisions subjecting the Government to liability for the negligent or wrongful act or omission of a Government employee while acting within the scope of his employment shall not apply to any claim "arising out of " an assault or battery. The court rejected petitioners' argument that § 2680(h) was not applicable because they were relying, not on the fact that Carr was a Government employee when he assaulted them, but rather on the negligence of other Government employees who failed to prevent his use of the rifle. The Court of Appeals affirmed.
Held: Petitioners' claim is not barred by § 2680(h). Although the words "any claims arising out of " an assault or battery are broad enough to bar all claims based entirely on an assault or battery, in at least some situations, the fact that injury was directly caused by an assault or battery will not preclude liability against the Government for negligently allowing the assault to occur. Cf. United States v. Muniz, 374 U.S. 150. Even assuming that, when an intentional tort is a sine qua non of recovery, the action "arises out of" that tort, nevertheless the § 2680(h) exception does not bar recovery in this case. The intentional tort exception is inapplicable
to torts that fall outside the scope of the FTCA's general waiver of the Government's immunity from liability. Since the FTCA covers actions for personal injuries caused by the negligence or wrongful act or omission of any Government employee "while acting within the scope of his office or employment," if nothing more was involved here than Carr's conduct at the time he shot at petitioners, there would be no basis for imposing liability on the Government. As alleged in this case, however, the negligence of other Government employees who allowed a foreseeable assault and battery to occur may furnish a basis for Government liability that is entirely independent of Carr's employment status. Assuming that petitioners' version of the facts would support recovery under Maryland law on a negligence theory if the naval hospital had been owned and operated by a private person, the mere fact that Carr happened to be an off-duty federal employee would not provide a basis for protecting the Government from liability that would attach if Carr had been a non-Government employed patient or visitor in the hospital. The fact that Carr's behavior is characterized as an intentional assault, rather than a negligent act, is also irrelevant. Pp. 398-403.
823 F.2d 820, reversed and remanded.
STEVENS, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BRENNAN, WHITE, MARSHALL, and BLACKMUN, JJ., joined. WHITE, J., filed a concurring opinion, post, p. 403. KENNEDY, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, post, p. 404. O'CONNOR, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which REHNQUIST, C.J., and SCALIA, J., joined, post, p. 408.
STEVENS, J., lead opinion
JUSTICE STEVENS delivered the opinion of the Court.
On February 6, 1982, an obviously intoxicated off-duty serviceman named Carr fired several rifle shots into an automobile being driven by petitioners on a public street near the
Bethesda Naval Hospital. Petitioners brought suit against the United States, alleging that their injuries were caused by the Government's negligence in allowing Carr to leave the hospital with a loaded rifle in his possession. The District Court dismissed the action -- and the Court of Appeals affirmed -- on the ground that the claim is barred by the intentional tort exception to the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). The question we granted certiorari to decide is whether petitioners' claim is one "arising out of" an assault or battery within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 2680(h).1
When it granted the Government's motion to dismiss, the District Court accepted petitioners' version of the facts as alleged
in their complaint and as supplemented by discovery. That version may be briefly stated. After finishing his shift as a naval medical aide at the hospital, Carr consumed a large quantity of wine, rum, and other alcoholic beverages. He then packed some of his belongings, including a rifle and ammunition, into a uniform bag and left his quarters. Some time later, three naval corpsmen found him lying face down in a drunken stupor on the concrete floor of a hospital building. They attempted to take him to the emergency room, but he broke away, grabbing the bag and revealing the barrel of the rifle. At the sight of the rifle barrel, the corpsmen fled. They neither took further action to subdue Carr nor alerted the appropriate authorities that he was heavily intoxicated and brandishing a weapon. Later that evening, Carr fired the shots that caused physical injury to one of the petitioners and property damage to their car.
The District Court began its legal analysis by noting the general rule that the Government is not liable for the intentional torts of its employees. The petitioners argued that the general rule was inapplicable because they were relying, not on the fact that Carr was a Government employee when he assaulted them, but rather on the negligence of other Government employees who failed to prevent his use of the rifle. The District Court assumed that the alleged negligence would have made the defendant liable under the law of Maryland, and also assumed that the Government would have been liable if Carr had not been a Government employee. Nevertheless, although stating that it was "sympathetic" to petitioners' claim, App. to Pet. for Cert. 26a, it concluded that Fourth Circuit precedents required dismissal because Carr "happens to be a government employee, rather than a private citizen," id. at 23a.
The Court of Appeals affirmed. 823 F.2d 820 (CA4 1987). Like the District Court, it concluded that the Circuit's prior decisions in Hughes v. United States, 662 F.2d 219 (CA4 1981) (per curiam), and Thigpen v. United States, 800 F.2d
393 (CA4 1986),2 foreclosed the following argument advanced by petitioners:
[108 S.Ct. 2453]
The Sheridans also argue that Carr's status as an enlisted naval man and, therefore, a government employee, should [be] irrelevant to the issue of the government's immunity vel non from liability for negligently failing to prevent the injury. They correctly assert that the shooting at the Sheridans' vehicle was not connected with Carr's job responsibility or duties as a government employee. The Sheridans further assert that, if Carr had not been a government employee, a claim would undoubtedly lie against the government and § 2680(h) would be inapplicable. See Rogers v. United States, 397 F.2d 12 (4th Cir.1968) (holding § 2680(h) inapplicable where probationer alleged that negligence by United States marshal allowed nongovernment employee to assault and torture probationer). They contend it is anomalous to deny their claim simply because the corpsmen were negligent in the handling of a government employee
rather than a private citizen.
823 F.2d at 822 (footnotes omitted).
In dissent, Chief Judge Winter argued that cases involving alleged negligence in hiring or supervising Government employees are not applicable to a situation in which the basis for the Government's alleged liability has nothing to do with the assailant's employment status. He wrote:
As the majority opinion concedes, . . . Hughes and Thigpen, as well as the other cases relied upon by the majority . . are all cases where the purported government negligence was premised solely on claims of negligent hiring and/or supervision. The same was true in United States v. Shearer, [473 U.S. 52 (1985)]. Such claims are essentially grounded in the doctrine of respondeat superior. In these cases, the government's liability arises, if at all, only because of the employment relationship. If the assailant were not a federal employee, there would be no independent basis for a suit against the government. It is in this situation that an allegation of government negligence can legitimately be seen as an effort to "circumvent" the § 2680(h) bar; it is just this situation -- where government liability is possible only because of the fortuity that the assailant happens to receive federal paychecks -- that § 2680(h) was designed to preclude. See Shearer, [473 U.S. at 54-57]; Hughes, 514 F.Supp. at 668, 669-70; Panella v. United States, 216 F.2d 622, 624 (2 Cir.1954).
On the...
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Dr. Monti, a licensed clinical psychologist, obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Arizona. She earned a Master of Arts degree in Psychology and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Cognitive Psychology from Loyola University in Chicago. Dr. Monti obtained a second doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology, Argosy University. Dr. Monti was the recipient of a National Research Service Award from the National Institute on Aging. Dr. Monti completed a clinical psychology internship with emphasis in the areas of self-injury and eating disorders.
The focus of her early research involved the structure and function of memory in healthy older adults and in persons with Alzheimer’s disease. She has co-authored peer-reviewed articles in the area of neuropsychology and has presented some of her research findings at national conferences. Dr. Monti has been a co-investigator on grants awarded by the National Institute of Health, the Alzheimer’s Association, and the National Institute on Aging.
In addition to seeing her therapy clients at CDCW, Dr. Monti also completes psychological and neuropsychological assessments. She is Allied Staff at a Behavioral Health Hospital and is a part-time Adjunct Professor at Argosy University in Schaumburg, Illinois. She is a member of the American Psychological Association.
Laura Monti, Ph.D., Psy.D.
© 2017 Counseling and Diagnostic Center of Woodfield, Ltd.
955 N. Plum Grove Rd, Unit C Schaumburg, IL 60173 (847) 884-0210 Fax (847) 884-7349
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Ergenekon trials
Prof Dr Mehmet Altan
ceftus.org Jul 16, 2014
Westminster Debate ‘Ergenekon and the Other Side of the Story’ Prof. Dr. Mehmet Altan is an academic, economist, journalist, and author of over 25 books. Altan holds a BA in economics from Istanbul University (1979) and MA and Ph.D. from…
‘The Politics of Polarisation: Prospects for Democracy and the Rule of Law in the Run-up to Turkish…
ceftus.org May 26, 2014
Register The Centre for Turkey Studies (CEFTUS) is delighted to invite you to a Westminster Debate with Istanbul based writer and analyst Mr Gareth Jenkins and Senior Broadcast Journalist of BBC World Service Mr Guney Yildiz.…
11 March 2014 News Roundup
ceftus.org Mar 11, 2014
PM Erdogan’s wiretappings, reforms into the judiciary, continuation of Gezi protests formed the background of this week’s media coverage. International Women’s Day protests received high level attention, highlighting the dire need…
11 February 2014 News Roundup
ceftus.org Feb 11, 2014
The new internet bill has dominated Turkey’s agenda, as well as the trials of the deaths of Gezi protestors. While the reallocation of judges, prosecutors and policemen continued, Turkish economy’s outlook has been termed “negative” by the…
‘Ergenekon and the Other Side of the Story’
ceftus.org Dec 23, 2013
CENTRE FOR TURKEY STUDIES WESTMINSTER DEBATE ‘Ergenekon and the Other Side of the Story’ 16th December 2013 Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House Speaker: Prof Dr Mehmet Altan, academic,…
CEFTUS Westminster Debate ‘Ergenekon and the Other Side of the Story’
ceftus.org Dec 4, 2013
The Centre for Turkey Studies (CEFTUS) is delighted to invite you to a Westminster Debate on ‘Ergenekon and the Other Side of the Story’ featuring Prof Dr Mehmet Altan of Istanbul University. Prof Dr Altan is an academic,…
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NCLEX: Anesthetics
Posted on January 31, 2017 June 11, 2017 by Anne Caporal
General anesthesia is a reversible state of central nervous system (CNS) depression, causing loss of response to and perception of stimuli. For patients undergoing surgical or medical procedures, anesthesia provides five important benefits:
Sedation and reduced anxiety
Lack of awareness and amnesia
Skeletal muscle relaxation
Suppression of undesirable reflexes
Because no single agent provides all desirable properties, several categories of drugs are combined to produce optimal anesthesia. Preanesthetics help calm patients, relieve pain, and prevent side effects of subsequently administered anesthetics or the procedure itself. Neuromuscular blockers facilitate tracheal intubation and surgery. Potent general anesthetics are delivered via inhalation and/or intravenous (IV) injection. Except for nitrous oxide, inhaled anesthetics are volatile, halogenated hydrocarbons. IV anesthetics consist of several chemically unrelated drug types commonly used to rapidly induce anesthesia.
Anesthetics: PATIENT FACTORS IN SELECTION OF ANESTHESIA
Focus topic: Anesthetics
Drugs are chosen to provide safe and efficient anesthesia based on the type of procedure and patient characteristics such as organ function, medical conditions, and concurrent medications.
A. Status of organ systems
Cardiovascular system: Anesthetic agents suppress cardiovascular function to varying degrees. This is an important consideration in patients with coronary artery disease, heart failure, dysrhythmias, valvular disease, and other cardiovascular disorders. Hypotension may develop during anesthesia, resulting in reduced perfusion pressure and ischemic injury to tissues. Treatment with vasoactive agents may be necessary. Some anesthetics, such as halothane, sensitize the heart to arrhythmogenic effects of sympathomimetic agents.
Respiratory system: Respiratory function must be considered for all anesthetics. Asthma and ventilation or perfusion abnormalities complicate control of inhalation anesthetics. Inhaled agents depress respiration but also act as bronchodilators. IV anesthetics and opioids suppress respiration. These effects may influence the ability to provide adequate ventilation and oxygenation during and after surgery.
Liver and kidney: The liver and kidneys influence long-term distribution and clearance of drugs and are also target organs for toxic effects. Release of fluoride, bromide, and other metabolites of halogenated hydrocarbons can affect these organs, especially if they accumulate with frequently repeated administration of anesthetics.
Nervous system: The presence of neurologic disorders (for example, epilepsy, myasthenia gravis, neuromuscular disease, compromised cerebral circulation) influences the selection of anesthetic.
Pregnancy: Special precautions should be observed when anesthetics and adjunctive agents are administered during pregnancy. Effects on fetal organogenesis are a major concern in early pregnancy. Transient use of nitrous oxide may cause aplastic anemia in the fetus. Oral clefts have occurred in fetuses when mothers received benzodiazepines in early pregnancy. Benzodiazepines should not be used during labor because of resultant temporary hypotonia and altered thermoregulation in the newborn.
B. Concomitant use of drugs
Multiple adjunct agents: Commonly, patients receive one or more of these preanesthetic medications: H2 blockers (famotidine, ranitidine) to reduce gastric acidity; benzodiazepines (midazolam, diazepam) to allay anxiety and facilitate amnesia; nonopioids (acetaminophen, celecoxib) or opioids (fentanyl) for analgesia; antihistamines (diphenhydramine) to prevent allergic reactions; antiemetics (ondansetron) to prevent nausea; and/or anticholinergics (glycopyrrolate) to prevent bradycardia and secretion of fluids into the respiratory tract. Premedications facilitate smooth induction of anesthesia and lower required anesthetic doses. However, they can also enhance undesirable anesthetic effects (hypoventilation) and, when coadministered, may produce negative effects not observed when given individually.
Concomitant use of other drugs: Patients may take medications for underlying diseases or abuse drugs that alter response to anesthetics. For example, alcoholics have elevated levels of liver enzymes that metabolize anesthetics, and drug abusers may be tolerant to opioids.
Anesthetics: STAGES AND DEPTH OF ANESTHESIA
General anesthesia has three stages: induction, maintenance, and recovery. Induction is the time from administration of a potent anesthetic to development of effective anesthesia. Maintenance provides sustained anesthesia. Recovery is the time from discontinuation of anesthetic until consciousness and protective reflexes return. Induction of anesthesia depends on how fast effective concentrations of anesthetic reach the brain. Recovery is essentially the reverse of induction and depends on how fast the anesthetic diffuses from the brain. Depth of anesthesia is the degree to which the CNS is depressed.
A. Induction
General anesthesia in adults is normally induced with an IV agent like propofol, producing unconsciousness in 30 to 40 seconds. Additional inhalation and/or IV drugs may be given to produce the desired depth of anesthesia. [Note: This often includes an IV neuromuscular blocker such as rocuronium, vecuronium, or succinylcholine to facilitate tracheal intubation and muscle relaxation.] For children without IV access, nonpungent agents, such as sevoflurane, are inhaled to induce general anesthesia.
B. Maintenance of anesthesia
After administering the anesthetic, vital signs and response to stimuli are monitored continuously to balance the amount of drug inhaled and/or infused with the depth of anesthesia. Maintenance is commonly provided with volatile anesthetics, which offer good control over the depth of anesthesia. Opioids such as fentanyl are used for analgesia along with inhalation agents, because the latter are not good analgesics. IV infusions of various drugs may be used during the maintenance phase.
C. Recovery
Postoperatively, the anesthetic admixture is withdrawn, and the patient is monitored for return of consciousness. For most anesthetic agents, recovery is the reverse of induction. Redistribution from the site of action (rather than metabolism of the drug) underlies recovery. If neuromuscular blockers have not been fully metabolized, reversal agents may be used. The patient is monitored to assure full recovery, with normal physiologic functions (spontaneous respiration, acceptable blood pressure and heart rate, intact reflexes, and no delayed reactions such as respiratory depression).
D. Depth of anesthesia
The depth of anesthesia has four sequential stages characterized by increasing CNS depression as the anesthetic accumulates in the brain. [Note: These stages were defined for the original anesthetic ether, which produces a slow onset of anesthesia. With modern anesthetics, the stages merge because of the rapid onset of stage III.]
Stage I—Analgesia: Loss of pain sensation results from interference with sensory transmission in the spinothalamic tract. The patient progresses from conscious and conversational to drowsy. Amnesia and reduced awareness of pain occur as stage II is approached.
Stage II—Excitement: The patient displays delirium and possibly combative behavior. A rise and irregularity in blood pressure and respiration occur, as well as a risk of laryngospasm. To shorten or eliminate this stage, rapid-acting IV agents are given before inhalation anesthesia is administered.
Stage III—Surgical anesthesia: There is gradual loss of muscle tone and reflexes as the CNS is further depressed. Regular respiration and relaxation of skeletal muscles with eventual loss of spontaneous movement occur. This is the ideal stage for surgery. Careful monitoring is needed to prevent undesired progression to stage IV.
Stage IV—Medullary paralysis: Severe depression of the respiratory and vasomotor centers occurs. Ventilation and/or circulation must be supported to prevent death.
Anesthetics: INHALATION ANESTHETICS
Inhaled gases are used primarily for maintenance of anesthesia after administration of an IV agent. Depth of anesthesia can be rapidly altered by changing the inhaled concentration. Inhalational agents have very steep dose–response curves and very narrow therapeutic indices,
so the difference in concentrations causing surgical anesthesia and severe cardiac and respiratory depression is small. No antagonists exist. To minimize waste, potent inhaled agents are delivered in a recirculation system containing absorbents that remove carbon dioxide and allow rebreathing of the agent.
A. Common features of inhalation anesthetics
Modern inhalation anesthetics are nonflammable, nonexplosive agents, including nitrous oxide and volatile, halogenated hydrocarbons. These agents decrease cerebrovascular resistance, resulting in increased brain perfusion. They cause bronchodilation but also decrease both spontaneous ventilation and hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction (increased pulmonary vascular resistance in poorly aerated regions of the lungs, redirecting blood flow to more oxygenated regions). Movement of these agents from the lungs to various body compartments depends upon their solubility in blood and tissues, as well as on blood flow. These factors play a role in induction and recovery.
B. Potency
Potency is defined quantitatively as the minimum alveolar concentration (MAC), the end-tidal concentration of inhaled anesthetic needed to eliminate movement in 50% of patients stimulated by a standardized incision. MAC is the median effective dose (ED50) of the anesthetic, expressed as the percentage of gas in a mixture required to achieve that effect. Numerically, MAC is small for potent anesthetics such as sevoflurane and large for less potent agents such as nitrous oxide. The inverse of MAC is, thus, an index of potency. MAC values are used to compare pharmacologic effects of different anesthetics (high MAC equals low potency. Nitrous oxide alone cannot produce complete anesthesia, because an admixture with sufficient oxygen cannot approach its MAC value. The more lipid soluble an anesthetic, the lower the concentration needed to produce anesthesia and, thus, the higher the potency.Factors that can increase MAC (make the patient less sensitive) include hyperthermia, drugs that increase CNS catecholamines, and chronic ethanol abuse. Factors that can decrease MAC (make the patient more sensitive) include increased age, hypothermia, pregnancy, sepsis, acute intoxication, concurrent IV anesthetics, and α2-adrenergic receptor agonists (for example, clonidine, dexmedetomidine).
C. Uptake and distribution of inhalation anesthetics
The principal objective of inhalation anesthesia is a constant and optimal brain partial pressure (Pbr) of inhaled anesthetic (partial pressure equilibrium between alveoli [Palv] and brain [Pbr]). Thus, the alveoli are the “windows to the brain” for inhaled anesthetics. The partial pressure of an anesthetic gas at the origin of the respiratory pathway is the driving force moving the anesthetic into the alveolar space and, thence, into the blood (Pa), which delivers the drug to the brain and other body compartments. Because gases move from one body compartment to another according to partial pressure gradients, steady state is achieved when the partial pressure in each of these compartments is equivalent to that in the inspired mixture. [Note: At equilibrium, Palv = Pa = Pbr.] The time course for attaining this steady state is determined by the following factors:
1. Alveolar wash-in: This refers to replacement of normal lung gases with the inspired anesthetic mixture. The time required for this process is directly proportional to the functional residual capacity of the lung (volume of gas remaining in the lungs at the end of a normal expiration) and inversely proportional to ventilatory rate. It is independent of the physical properties of the gas. As the partial pressure builds within the lung, anesthetic transfer from the lung begins.
2. Anesthetic uptake (removal to peripheral tissues other than the brain): Uptake is the product of gas solubility in the blood, cardiac output (CO), and the gradient between alveolar and blood anesthetic partial pressures.
Solubility in blood: This is determined by a physical property of the anesthetic called the blood/gas partition coefficient (the ratio of the concentration of anesthetic in the blood phase to the concentration of anesthetic in the gas phase when the anesthetic is in equilibrium between the two phases. For inhaled anesthetics, think of the blood as a pharmacologically inactive reservoir. Drugs with low versus high solubility in blood differ in their speed of induction of anesthesia. When an anesthetic gas with low blood solubility such as nitrous oxide diffuses from the alveoli into the circulation, little anesthetic dissolves in the blood. Therefore, equilibrium between inhaled anesthetic and arterial blood occurs rapidly, and relatively few additional molecules of anesthetic are required to raise arterial anesthetic partial pressure. Agents with low solubility in blood, thus, quickly saturate the blood. In contrast, anesthetic gases with high blood solubility, such as halothane, dissolve more completely in the blood, and greater amounts of anesthetic and longer periods of time are required to raise blood partial pressure. This results in increased times of induction and recovery and slower changes in depth of anesthesia in response to changes in the concentration. The solubility in blood is ranked as follows: halothane > isoflurane > sevoflurane > nitrous oxide > desflurane.
Cardiac output: CO affects removal of anesthetic to peripheral tissues, which are not the site of action. For inhaled anesthetics, higher CO removes anesthetic from the alveoli faster (due to increased blood flow through the lungs) and thus slows the rate of rise in alveolar concentration of gas. It therefore takes longer for the gas to reach equilibrium between the alveoli and the site of action in the brain. For inhaled anesthetics, higher CO equals slower induction. Again, for inhaled anesthetics, think of the blood as a pharmacologically inactive reservoir. Low CO (shock) speeds the rate of rise of the alveolar concentration of gas, since there is less removal to peripheral tissues. [Note: See section on Intravenous Anesthetics for effects of CO on IV anesthetics.]
Alveolar-to-venous partial pressure gradient of anesthetic: This is the driving force of anesthetic delivery. For all practical purposes, pulmonary end-capillary anesthetic partial pressure may be considered equal to alveolar anesthetic partial pressure if the patient does not have severe lung diffusion disease. The arterial circulation distributes the anesthetic to various tissues, and the pressure gradient drives free anesthetic gas into tissues. As venous circulation returns blood depleted of anesthetic to the lung, more gas moves into the blood from the lung according to the partial pressure difference. The greater the difference in anesthetic concentration between alveolar (arterial) and venous blood, the higher the uptake and the slower the induction. Over time, the partial pressure in venous blood closely approximates that in the inspired mixture, and no further net anesthetic uptake from the lung occurs.
3. Effect of different tissue types on anesthetic uptake: The time required for a particular tissue to achieve steady state with the partial pressure of an anesthetic gas in the inspired mixture is inversely proportional to the blood flow to that tissue (greater flow results in a more rapidly achieved steady state). It is also directly proportional to the capacity of that tissue to store anesthetic (a larger capacity results in a longer time required to achieve steady state). Capacity, in turn, is directly proportional to the tissue’s volume and the tissue/ blood solubility coefficient of the anesthetic. Four major tissue compartments determine the time course of anesthetic uptake:
Brain, heart, liver, kidney, and endocrine glands: These highly perfused tissues rapidly attain steady state with the partial pressure of anesthetic in the blood.
Skeletal muscles: These are poorly perfused during anesthesia and have a large volume, which prolongs the time required to achieve steady state.
Fat: Fat is also poorly perfused. However, potent volatile anesthetics are very lipid soluble, so fat has a large capacity to store them. Slow delivery to a high-capacity compartment prolongs the time required to achieve steady state in fat tissue.
Bone, ligaments, and cartilage: These are poorly perfused and have a relatively low capacity to store anesthetic. Therefore, these tissues have minimal impact on the time course of anesthetic distribution in the body.
4. Washout: When an inhalation anesthetic is discontinued, the body becomes the “source” that drives the anesthetic back into the alveolar space. The same factors that influence attainment of steady state with an inspired anesthetic determine the time course of its clearance from the body. Thus, nitrous oxide exits the body faster than halothane.
D. Mechanism of action
No specific receptor has been identified as the locus of general anesthetic action. The fact that chemically unrelated compounds produce anesthesia argues against the existence of a single receptor. It appears that a variety of molecular mechanisms may contribute to the activity of general anesthetics. At clinically effective concentrations, general anesthetics increase the sensitivity of the γ-aminobutyric acid (GABAA) receptors to the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA. This increases chloride ion influx and hyperpolarization of neurons. Postsynaptic neuronal excitability and, thus, CNS activity are diminished. Unlike other anesthetics, nitrous oxide and ketamine do not have actions on GABAA receptors. Their effects are likely mediated via inhibition of the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. [Note: The NMDA receptor is a glutamate receptor. Glutamate is the body’s main excitatory neurotransmitter.] Other receptors are also affected by volatile anesthetics. For example, the activity of the inhibitory glycine receptors in the spinal motor neurons is increased. In addition, inhalation anesthetics block excitatory postsynaptic currents of nicotinic receptors. The mechanism by which anesthetics perform these modulatory roles is not fully understood.
E. Halothane
Halothane is the prototype to which newer inhalation anesthetics are compared. When halothane [HAL-oh-thane] was introduced, its rapid induction and quick recovery made it an anesthetic of choice. Due to adverse effects and the availability of other anesthetics with fewer complications, halothane has been replaced in most countries.
Therapeutic uses: Halothane is a potent anesthetic but a relatively weak analgesic. Thus, it is usually coadministered with nitrous oxide, opioids, or local anesthetics. It is a potent bronchodilator. Halothane relaxes both skeletal and uterine muscles and can be used in obstetrics when uterine relaxation is indicated. Halothane is not hepatotoxic in children (unlike its potential effect on adults). Combined with its pleasant odor, it is suitable in pediatrics for inhalation induction, although sevoflurane is now the agent of choice.
Pharmacokinetics: Halothane is oxidatively metabolized in the body to tissue-toxic hydrocarbons (for example, trifluoroethanol) and bromide ion. These substances may be responsible for toxic reactions that some adults (especially females) develop after halothane anesthesia. This begins as a fever, followed by anorexia, nausea, and vomiting, and possibly signs of hepatitis. Although the incidence is low (approximately 1 in 10,000), half of affected patients may die of hepatic necrosis. To avoid this condition, halothane is not administered at intervals of less than 2 to 3 weeks. All halogenated inhalation anesthetics have been associated with hepatitis, but at a much lower incidence than with halothane.
Adverse effects:
a. Cardiac effects: Halogenated hydrocarbons are vagomimetic and may cause atropine-sensitive bradycardia. In addition, halothane has the undesirable property of causing cardiac arrhythmias. [Note: Halothane can sensitize the heart to effects of catecholamines such as norepinephrine.] Halogenated anesthetics produce concentration-dependent hypotension. This is best treated with a direct-acting vasoconstrictor, such as phenylephrine.
b. Malignant hyperthermia: In a very small percentage of susceptible patients, exposure to halogenated hydrocarbon anesthetics or the neuromuscular blocker succinylcholine may induce malignant hyperthermia (MH), a rare life-threatening condition. MH causes a drastic and uncontrolled increase in skeletal muscle oxidative metabolism, overwhelming the body’s capacity to supply oxygen, remove carbon dioxide, and regulate temperature, eventually leading to circulatory collapse and death if not treated immediately. Strong evidence indicates that MH is due to an excitation–contraction coupling defect. Burn victims and individuals with muscular dystrophy, myopathy, myotonia, and osteogenesis imperfecta are susceptible to MH. Susceptibility to MH is often inherited as an autosomal dominant disorder. Should a patient exhibit symptoms of MH, dantrolene is given as the anesthetic mixture is withdrawn, and measures are taken to rapidly cool the patient. Dantrolene [DAN-tro-lean] blocks release of Ca2+ from the sarcoplasmic reticulum of muscle cells, reducing heat production and relaxing muscle tone. It should be available whenever triggering agents are administered. In addition, the patient must be monitored and supported for respiratory, circulatory, and renal problems. Use of dantrolene and avoidance of triggering agents such as halogenated anesthetics in susceptible individuals have markedly reduced mortality from MH.
F. Isoflurane
This agent undergoes little metabolism and is, therefore, not toxic to the liver or kidney. Isoflurane [eye-so-FLOOR-ane] does not induce cardiac arrhythmias or sensitize the heart to catecholamines. However, like other halogenated gases, it produces dose-dependent hypotension. It has a pungent odor and stimulates respiratory reflexes (for example, breath holding, salivation, coughing, laryngospasm) and is therefore not used for inhalation induction. With higher blood solubility than desflurane and sevoflurane, isoflurane is typically used only when cost is a factor.
G. Desflurane
Desflurane [DES-floor-ane] provides very rapid onset and recovery due to low blood solubility. This makes it a popular anesthetic for outpatient procedures. However, it has a low volatility, requiring administration via a special heated vaporizer. Like isoflurane, it decreases vascular resistance and perfuses all major tissues very well. Because it stimulates respiratory reflexes, desflurane is not used for inhalation induction. It is relatively expensive and thus rarely used for maintenance during extended anesthesia. Its degradation is minimal and tissue toxicity is rare.
H. Sevoflurane
Sevoflurane [see-voe-FLOOR-ane] has low pungency, allowing rapid induction without irritating the airways. This makes it suitable for inhalation induction in pediatric patients. It has a rapid onset and recovery due to low blood solubility. Sevoflurane is metabolized by the liver, and compounds formed in the anesthesia circuit may be nephrotoxic if fresh gas flow is too low.
Nitrous oxide [NYE-truss OX-ide] (“laughing gas”) is a nonirritating potent analgesic but a weak general anesthetic. It is frequently used at concentrations of 30 to 50% in combination with oxygen for analgesia, particularly in dentistry. Nitrous oxide alone cannot produce surgical anesthesia, but it is commonly combined with other more potent agents. Nitrous oxide is poorly soluble in blood and other tissues, allowing it to move very rapidly in and out of the body. Within closed body compartments, nitrous oxide can increase the volume (for example, causing a pneumothorax) or pressure (for example, in the sinuses), because it replaces nitrogen in various air spaces faster than the nitrogen leaves. Its speed of movement allows nitrous oxide to retard oxygen uptake during recovery, thereby causing “diffusion hypoxia,” which can be overcome by significant concentrations of inspired oxygen during recovery. Nitrous oxide does not depress respiration and does not produce muscle relaxation. When co-administered with other anesthetics, it has moderate to no effect on the cardiovascular system or on increasing cerebral blood flow, and it is the least hepatotoxic of the inhalation agents. Therefore, it is probably the safest of these anesthetics, provided that sufficient oxygen is administered simultaneously.
Anesthetics: INTRAVENOUS ANESTHETICS
IV anesthetics cause rapid induction often occurring within one “arm–brain circulation time,” or the time it takes to travel from the site of injection (usually the arm) to the brain, where it has its effect. Anesthesia may then be maintained with an inhalation agent. IV anesthetics may be used as sole agents for short procedures or administered as infusions to help maintain anesthesia during longer cases. In lower doses, they may be used for sedation.
After entering the blood, a percentage of drug binds to plasma proteins, and the rest remains unbound or “free.” The degree of protein binding depends upon the physical characteristics of the drug, such as the degree of ionization and lipid solubility. The drug is carried by venous blood to the right side of the heart, through the pulmonary circulation, and via the left heart into the systemic circulation. The majority of CO flows to the brain, liver, and kidney (“vessel-rich organs”). Thus, a high proportion of initial drug bolus is delivered to the cerebral circulation and then passes along a concentration gradient from blood into the brain. The rate of this transfer is dependent on the arterial concentration of the unbound free drug, the lipid solubility of the drug, and the degree of ionization. Unbound, lipid-soluble, nonionized molecules cross into the brain most quickly. Once the drug has penetrated the CNS, it exerts its effects. Like inhalation anesthetics, the exact mode of action of IV anesthetics is unknown.
B. Recovery
Recovery from IV anesthetics is due to redistribution from sites in the CNS. Following initial flooding of the CNS and other vessel-rich tissues with nonionized molecules, the drug diffuses into other tissues with less blood supply. With secondary tissue uptake, predominantly by skeletal muscle, plasma concentration of the drug falls. This allows the drug, to diffuse out of the CNS, down the resulting reverse concentration gradient. This initial redistribution of drug into other tissues leads to the rapid recovery seen after a single IV dose of induction agent. Metabolism and plasma clearance become important only following infusions and repeat doses of a drug. Adipose tissue makes little contribution to the early redistribution of free drug following a bolus, due to its poor blood supply. However, following repeat doses or infusions, equilibration with fat tissue forms a drug reservoir, often leading to delayed recovery.
C. Effect of reduced cardiac output on IV anesthetics
When CO is reduced (for example, in shock, the elderly, cardiac disease), the body compensates by diverting more CO to the cerebral circulation. A greater proportion of the IV anesthetic enters the cerebral circulation under these circumstances. Therefore, the dose of the drug must be reduced. Further, decreased CO causes prolonged circulation time. As global CO is reduced, it takes a longer time for an induction drug to reach the brain and exert its effects. The slow titration of a reduced dose of an IV anesthetic is key to a safe induction in patients with reduced CO.
D. Propofol
Propofol [PRO-puh-fol] is an IV sedative/hypnotic used for induction and/or maintenance of anesthesia. It is widely used and has replaced thiopental as the first choice for induction of general anesthesia and sedation. Because propofol is poorly water soluble, it is supplied as an emulsion containing soybean oil and egg phospholipid, giving it a milk-like appearance.
Onset: Induction is smooth and occurs 30 to 40 seconds after administration. Following an IV bolus, there is rapid equilibration between the plasma and the highly perfused tissue of the brain. Plasma levels decline rapidly as a result of redistribution, followed by a more prolonged period of hepatic metabolism and renal clearance. The initial redistribution half-life is 2 to 4 minutes. The pharmacokinetics of propofol are not altered by moderate hepatic or renal failure.
Actions: Although propofol depresses the CNS, it is occasionally accompanied by excitatory phenomena, such as muscle twitching, spontaneous movement, yawning, and hiccups. Transient pain at the injection site is common. Propofol decreases blood pressure without depressing the myocardium. It also reduces intracranial pressure, mainly due to systemic vasodilation. It has less of a depressant effect than volatile anesthetics on CNSevoked potentials, making it useful for surgeries in which spinal cord function is monitored. It does not provide analgesia, so supplementation with narcotics is required. Propofol is commonly infused in lower doses to provide sedation. The incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting is very low, as this agent has some antiemetic effects.
E. Barbiturates
Thiopental [thigh-oh-PEN-tahl] is an ultra–short-acting barbiturate with high lipid solubility. It is a potent anesthetic but a weak analgesic. Barbiturates require supplementary analgesic administration during anesthesia. When given IV, agents such as thiopental and methohexital [meth-oh-HEX-uh-tall] quickly enter the CNS and depress function, often in less than 1 minute. However, diffusion out of the brain can also occur very rapidly because of redistribution to other tissues. These drugs may remain in the body for relatively long periods, because only about 15% of a dose entering the circulation is metabolized by the liver per hour. Thus, metabolism of thiopental is much slower than its redistribution. Thiopental has minor effects on the normal cardiovascular system, but may contribute to severe hypotension in patients with hypovolemia or shock. All barbiturates can cause apnea, coughing, chest wall spasm, laryngospasm, and bronchospasm (of particular concern for asthmatics). These agents have largely been replaced with newer agents that are better tolerated. Thiopental is no longer available in many countries, including the United States.
F. Benzodiazepines
The benzodiazepines are used in conjunction with anesthetics for sedation. The most commonly used is midazolam [my-DAZ-olam]. Diazepam [dye-AZ-uh-pam] and lorazepam [lore-AZ-uh-pam] are alternatives. All three facilitate amnesia while causing sedation, enhancing the inhibitory effects of various neurotransmitters, particularly GABA. Minimal cardiovascular depressant effects are seen, but all are potential respiratory depressants (especially when administered IV). They are metabolized by the liver with variable elimination half-lives, and erythromycin may prolong their effects.Benzodiazepines can induce a temporary form of anterograde amnesia in which the patient retains memory of past events, but new information is not transferred into long-term memory. Therefore, important treatment information should be repeated to the patient after the effects of the drug have worn off.
G. Opioids
Because of their analgesic property, opioids are commonly combined with other anesthetics. The choice of opioid is based primarily on the duration of action needed. The most commonly used opioids are fentanyl [FEN-ta-nil] and its congeners, sufentanil [SOO-fen-tanil] and remifentanil [REMI-fen-ta-nil], because they induce analgesia more rapidly than morphine. They may be administered intravenously, epidurally, or intrathecally (into the cerebrospinal fluid). Opioids are not good amnesics, and they can all cause hypotension, respiratory depression, and muscle rigidity, as well as postanesthetic nausea and vomiting. Opioid effects can be antagonized by naloxone.
H. Etomidate
Etomidate [ee-TOM-uh-date] is a hypnotic agent used to induce anesthesia, but it lacks analgesic activity. Its water solubility is poor, so it is formulated in a propylene glycol solution. Induction is rapid, and the drug is short-acting. Among its benefits are little to no effect on the heart and circulation. Etomidate is usually only used for patients with coronary artery disease or cardiovascular dysfunction. Its adverse effects include decreased plasma cortisol and aldosterone levels, which can persist up to 8 hours. Etomidate should not be infused for an extended time, because prolonged suppression of these hormones is hazardous. Injection site reaction and involuntary skeletal muscle movements are not uncommon. The latter are managed by administration of benzodiazepines and opioids.
I. Ketamine
Ketamine [KET-uh-meen], a short-acting, nonbarbiturate anesthetic, induces a dissociated state in which the patient is unconscious (but may appear to be awake) and does not feel pain. This dissociative anesthesia provides sedation, amnesia, and immobility. Ketamine stimulates central sympathetic outflow, causing stimulation of the heart with increased blood pressure and CO. It is also a potent bronchodilator. Therefore, it is beneficial in patients with hypovolemic or cardiogenic shock and in asthmatics. Conversely, it is contraindicated in hypertensive or stroke patients. The drug is lipophilic and enters the brain very quickly. Like the barbiturates, it redistributes to other organs and tissues. Ketamine is used mainly in children and elderly adults for short procedures. It is not widely used, because it increases cerebral blood flow and may induce hallucinations, particularly in young adults. Ketamine may be used illicitly, since it causes a dream-like state and hallucinations similar to phencyclidine (PCP).
J. Dexmedetomidine
Dexmedetomidine [dex-med-eh-TOM-uh-deen] is a sedative used in intensive care settings and surgery. It is relatively unique in its ability to provide sedation without respiratory depression. Like clonidine, it is an α2 receptor agonist in certain parts of the brain. Dexmedetomidine has sedative, analgesic, sympatholytic, and anxiolytic effects that blunt many cardiovascular responses. It reduces volatile anesthetic, sedative, and analgesic requirements without causing significant respiratory depression.
Anesthetics: NEUROMUSCULAR BLOCKERS
Neuromuscular blockers are used to abolish reflexes to facilitate tracheal intubation and provide muscle relaxation as needed for surgery. Their mechanism of action is blockade of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the neuromuscular junction.
Anesthetics: LOCAL ANESTHETICS
Local anesthetics block nerve conduction of sensory impulses and, in higher concentrations, motor impulses from the periphery to the CNS. Na+ ion channels are blocked to prevent the transient increase in permeability of the nerve membrane to Na+ that is required for an action potential. When propagation of action potentials is prevented, sensation cannot be transmitted from the source of stimulation to the brain. Delivery techniques include topical administration, infiltration, peripheral nerve blocks, and neuraxial (spinal, epidural, or caudal) blocks. Small, unmyelinated nerve fibers for pain, temperature, and autonomic activity are most sensitive. Structurally, local anesthetics all include a lipophilic group joined by an amide or ester linkage to a carbon chain, which, in turn, is joined to a hydrophilic group. The most widely used local anesthetics are bupivacaine [byoo-PIV-uh-cane], lidocaine [LYE-doecane], mepivacaine [muh-PIV-uh-cane], procaine [PRO-cane], ropivacaine [roe-PIV-uh-cane], and tetracaine [TET-truh-cane]. Bupivacaine is noted for cardiotoxicity if inadvertently injected IV. Bupivacaine liposome injectable suspension may provide postsurgical analgesia lasting 24 hours or longer after injection into the surgical site. [Note: Non-bupivacaine local anesthetics may cause an immediate release of bupivacaine from the liposomal suspension if administered together locally.] Mepivacaine should not be used in obstetric anesthesia due to its increased toxicity to the neonate.
A. Metabolism
Biotransformation of amides occurs primarily in the liver. Prilocaine [PRY-low-cane], a dental anesthetic, is also metabolized in the plasma and kidney, and one of its metabolites may lead to methemoglobinemia. Esters are biotransformed by plasma cholinesterase (pseudocholinesterase). Patients with pseudocholinesterase deficiency may metabolize ester local anesthetics more slowly. At normal doses, this has little clinical effect. Reduced hepatic function predisposes patients to toxic effects, but should not significantly increase the duration of action of local anesthetics.
B. Onset and duration of action
The onset and duration of action of local anesthetics are influenced by several factors including tissue pH, nerve morphology, concentration, pKa, and lipid solubility of the drug. Of these, the pH of the tissue and pKa are most important. At physiologic pH, these compounds are charged. The ionized form interacts with the protein receptor of the Na+ channel to inhibit its function and achieve local anesthesia. The pH may drop in infected sites, causing onset to be delayed or even prevented. Within limits, higher concentration and greater lipid solubility improve onset somewhat. Duration of action depends on the length of time the drug can stay near the nerve to block sodium channels.
C. Actions
Local anesthetics cause vasodilation, leading to rapid diffusion away from the site of action and shorter duration when these drugs are administered alone. By adding the vasoconstrictor epinephrine, the rate of local anesthetic absorption and diffusion is decreased. This minimizes systemic toxicity and increases the duration of action. Hepatic function does not affect the duration of action of local anesthesia, which is determined by redistribution and not biotransformation. Some local anesthetics have other therapeutic uses (for example, lidocaine is an IV antiarrhythmic).
D. Allergic reactions
Patient reports of allergic reactions to local anesthetics are fairly common, but often times reported “allergies” are actually side effects from epinephrine added to the local anesthetic. Psychogenic reactions to injections may be misdiagnosed as allergic reactions and may also mimic them with signs such as urticaria, edema, and bronchospasm. True allergy to an amide local anesthetic is exceedingly rare, whereas the ester procaine is somewhat more allergenic. Allergy to one ester rules out use of another ester, because the allergenic component is the metabolite para-aminobenzoic acid, produced by all esters. In contrast, allergy to one amide does not rule out the use of another amide. A patient may be allergic to other compounds in the local anesthetic, such as preservatives in multidose vials.
E. Administration to children and the elderly
Before administering local anesthetic to a child, the maximum dose based on weight should be calculated to prevent accidental overdose. There are no significant differences in response to local anesthetics between younger and older adults. It is prudent to stay well below maximum recommended doses in elderly patients who often have some compromise in liver function. Because some degree of cardiovascular compromise may be expected in elderly patients, reducing the dose of epinephrine may be prudent. Local anesthetics are safe for patients who are susceptible to MH.
F. Systemic local anesthetic toxicity
Toxic blood levels of the drug may be due to repeated injections or could result from a single inadvertent IV injection. Aspiration before every injection is imperative. The signs, symptoms, and timing of local anesthetic systemic toxicity are unpredictable. One must consider the diagnosis in any patient with altered mental status or cardiovascular instability following injection of local anesthetic. CNS symptoms (either excitation or depression) may be apparent but may also be subtle, nonspecific, or absent. Treatment for systemic local anesthetic toxicity includes airway management, support of breathing and circulation, seizure suppression and, if needed, cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Administering a 20% lipid emulsion infusion (lipid rescue therapy) is a valuable asset.
FURTHER READING/STUDY:
EKG: Atrial/AV Nodal and Junctional Dysrhythmias
NCLEX: Respiratory disorders
EKG: Sinus Node Related Dysrhythmias
NCLEX: Ear, nose, and throat disorders
NCLEX: Eye disorders
NCLEX: Clinical Toxicology
This entry was posted in NCLEX and tagged Inhalation Anesthetics, NCLEX, Patient Factors in Selection of Anesthesia, Stages and Depth of Anesthesia.
Anne Caporal
NCLEX: Drugs for Epilepsy
NCLEX: CNS Stimulants
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Removing Antibodies from Bloodstream May Reduce Chronic Lung Infections in Bronchiectasis
Removing particular antibodies from the bloodstream of patients with bronchiectasis may reduce the negative effects of chronic bacterial infections, the need for days spent in the hospital, and the use of antibiotics, new research shows.
The findings came from a study conducted at the University of Birmingham and Newcastle University, U.K., and may provide a new treatment strategy for antibiotic-resistant bacteria and for infectious diseases, with benefits for both patients and healthcare providers.
The study, titled “The Use of Plasmapheresis in Patients with Bronchiectasis with Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infection and Inhibitory Antibodies,” was published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Bronchiectasis is a long-term condition that affects the airways, which become scarred and inflamed with thick mucus. The airways are widened and cannot clear themselves properly, meaning that the mucus builds up in them, offering an environment prone to infections by pathogens.
Patients suffering from bronchiectasis usually develop lung infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a common and multidrug-resistant bacteria.
Now, researchers examined the effectiveness of a new treatment strategy in two patients with bronchiectasis affected with chronic P. aeruginosa infections resistant to many antibiotics. One patient was a 64-year-old male diagnosed with bronchiectasis at age 15, and the other one a 69-year-old female who had bronchiectasis from childhood.
“These patients had an excess of a particular antibody in the bloodstream. In contrast to the protective effect normally associated with antibody, in these patients the antibody stopped the immune system killing the Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterium and this worsened the patients’ lung disease,” Prof. Ian Henderson, director of the Institute of Microbiology and Infection at the University of Birmingham and the study’s co-author, said in a news release.
“Perhaps counter-intuitively, we decided to remove this antibody from the bloodstream, and the outcomes were wholly positive,” Henderson said.
“We needed a brand new way of tackling this problem,” said Anthony De Soyza, senior lecturer at Newcastle University and the study’s lead author. “Working with kidney and immunology experts, we used a process known as plasmapheresis that is somewhat like kidney dialysis. The plasmapheresis involved the removal, treatment, and return of blood plasma from circulation, and was done five times in a week in order to remove antibody from the patients.
“We then replaced antibodies with those from blood donations. This treatment restored the ability for the patients’ blood to kill their infecting Pseudomonas,” De Soyza added.
When the patients had the specific antibody removed from their bloodstream through the technique plasmapheresis, they both experienced a rapid improvement in disease symptoms and well-being, as well as a greater independence and improved mobility.
“This shows that we can improve patient well-being significantly, by reducing the need for treatment and the numbers of days spent in hospital, which will also help to reduce the reliance on antibiotics,” Henderson said. “The next step is to do longer-term studies to investigate whether an earlier intervention, with slightly less aggressive therapies, could help prevent disease progression in patients.”
This is the first study using plasmapheresis to improve infection-related symptomatology in these patients. The researchers believe that further multicenter studies of the prevalence of inhibitory antibodies in bronchiectasis and other diseases with an infectious component will help them understand if the technique could be applied more widely.
Tagged antibiotic resistant bacteria, Antibodies, bronchiectasis, plasmapheresis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
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Next:How Bronchiectasis Begins
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Gene Mutations Linked to Other Lung Diseases May Contribute to Bronchiectasis, Study Suggests
Mutations in genes linked to other lung diseases, specifically cystic fibrosis and primary ciliary dyskinesia, may also contribute to bronchiectasis, according to researchers from China.
Their study, “Next-generation sequencing for identifying genetic mutations in adults with bronchiectasis,” was published in the Journal of Thoracic Disease.
Bronchiectasis is characterized by the enlargement, damage, and scarring of the bronchi — the breathing structures of the lungs — due to defects in the airway defense mechanisms.
These include increased mucus production and damage to the tiny hairs (cilia) that line the inside of the airways, leading to a buildup of mucus which promotes bacteria growth.
Whether genetic mutations underlie bronchiectasis remains unknown, although early evidence suggests that mutations in certain genes, such as the CFTR gene, may be implicated in the disease. The CFTR gene provides instructions to make a protein that regulates mucus production in the lungs and other organs. Mutations in this gene are the cause of cystic fibrosis.
Genetic mutations related to primary ciliary dyskinesia (defects in promoting cilia movement in the airways and other organs) and defects in the immune system (immunodeficiency) may also promote bronchiectasis.
Researchers used a valuable genomic tool called next-generation sequencing to identify genetic mutations implicated in bronchiectasis. With this technique they can “read” the DNA code with high sensitivity and accuracy many times and detect potential errors (mutations) in genes that may underlie diseases.
They performed a genetic screen in blood samples from 192 bronchiectasis patients and 100 healthy controls. The screening focused on 32 genes that have been linked to cystic fibrosis and other lung diseases and so were likely candidates to have a role in bronchiectasis, too.
The analysis identified 162 genetic alterations (due to their low frequency they are called rare variants) in bronchiectasis patients and 85 in control subjects.
In bronchiectasis patients, 25 rare variants were associated with the cystic fibrosis-causing CFTR gene. Additionally, researchers identified 117 variants associated with another protein channel linked to cystic fibrosis, the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC), and 18 variants associated with primary ciliary dyskinesia.
Researchers then looked closely into the gene variants in the CFTR gene and three other genes linked to cystic fibrosis, called SCNN1A, SCNN1B and SCNN1G.
Forty-three patients with bronchiectasis carried 15 CFTR gene variants, while 25 healthy controls had 13 CFTR gene variants. Mutations in the SCNN1A and SCNN1B genes were detected in six bronchiectasis patients, but only in one control.
A total of 117 rare variants linked to primary ciliary dyskinesia-associated genes were found in 101 bronchiectasis patients.
Bronchiectasis patients with mutations in the two copies of a gene linked to the primary ciliary dyskinesia called DNAH11 had more severe disease. The same pattern of increased severity was detected in patients carrying rare variants affecting the two copies of the DNAH5 and CFTR gene.
Overall, the team concluded that “genetic mutations leading to impaired host defense might [be] implicated in the pathogenesis of bronchiectasis,” namely mutations in both copies of genes associated with CF and primary ciliary dyskinesia.
However, the researchers noted that others causes cannot be excluded. “Our findings cannot address whether other pathways (e.g., immunodeficiency, airway inflammation) are associated with bronchiectasis,” they wrote.
According to the team, “genetic screening may be a useful tool for unraveling the underlying causes of bronchiectasis.”
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Tagged CFTR, Cystic Fibrosis, DNAH11, DNAH5, lung diseases, mutations, primary ciliary dyskinesia, rare variants, sequencing.
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Tag Archives: obscurity
A Continued History
This post looks set to at least begin by following on directly from my last one- that dealt with the story of computers up to Charles Babbage’s difference and analytical engines, whilst this one will try to follow the history along from there until as close to today as I can manage, hopefully getting in a few of the basics of the workings of these strange and wonderful machines.
After Babbage’s death as a relatively unknown and unloved mathematician in 1871, the progress of the science of computing continued to tick over. A Dublin accountant named Percy Ludgate, independently of Babbage’s work, did develop his own programmable, mechanical computer at the turn of the century, but his design fell into a similar degree of obscurity and hardly added anything new to the field. Mechanical calculators had become viable commercial enterprises, getting steadily cheaper and cheaper, and as technological exercises were becoming ever more sophisticated with the invention of the analogue computer. These were, basically a less programmable version of the difference engine- mechanical devices whose various cogs and wheels were so connected up that they would perform one specific mathematical function to a set of data. James Thomson in 1876 built the first, which could solve differential equations by integration (a fairly simple but undoubtedly tedious mathematical task), and later developments were widely used to collect military data and for solving problems concerning numbers too large to solve by human numerical methods. For a long time, analogue computers were considered the future of modern computing, but since they solved and modelled problems using physical phenomena rather than data they were restricted in capability to their original setup.
A perhaps more significant development came in the late 1880s, when an American named Herman Hollerith invented a method of machine-readable data storage in the form of cards punched with holes. These had been around for a while to act rather like programs, such as the holed-paper reels of a pianola or the punched cards used to automate the workings of a loom, but this was the first example of such devices being used to store data (although Babbage had theorised such an idea for the memory systems of his analytical engine). They were cheap, simple, could be both produced and read easily by a machine, and were even simple to dispose of. Hollerith’s team later went on to process the data of the 1890 US census, and would eventually become most of IBM. The pattern of holes on these cards could be ‘read’ by a mechanical device with a set of levers that would go through a hole if there was one present, turning the appropriate cogs to tell the machine to count up one. This system carried on being used right up until the 1980s on IBM systems, and could be argued to be the first programming language.
However, to see the story of the modern computer truly progress we must fast forward to the 1930s. Three interesting people and acheivements came to the fore here: in 1937 George Stibitz, and American working in Bell Labs, built an electromechanical calculator that was the first to process data digitally using on/off binary electrical signals, making it the first digital. In 1936, a bored German engineering student called Konrad Zuse dreamt up a method for processing his tedious design calculations automatically rather than by hand- to this end he devised the Z1, a table-sized calculator that could be programmed to a degree via perforated film and also operated in binary. His parts couldn’t be engineered well enough for it to ever work properly, but he kept at it to eventually build 3 more models and devise the first programming language. However, perhaps the most significant figure of 1930s computing was a young, homosexual, English maths genius called Alan Turing.
Turing’s first contribution to the computing world came in 1936, when he published a revolutionary paper showing that certain computing problems cannot be solved by one general algorithm. A key feature of this paper was his description of a ‘universal computer’, a machine capable of executing programs based on reading and manipulating a set of symbols on a strip of tape. The symbol on the tape currently being read would determine whether the machine would move up or down the strip, how far, and what it would change the symbol to, and Turing proved that one of these machines could replicate the behaviour of any computer algorithm- and since computers are just devices running algorithms, they can replicate any modern computer too. Thus, if a Turing machine (as they are now known) could theoretically solve a problem, then so could a general algorithm, and vice versa if it couldn’t. Not only that, but since modern computers cannot multi-task on the. These machines not only lay the foundations for computability and computation theory, on which nearly all of modern computing is built, but were also revolutionary as they were the first theorised to use the same medium for both data storage and programs, as nearly all modern computers do. This concept is known as a von Neumann architecture, after the man who first pointed out and explained this idea in response to Turing’s work.
Turing machines contributed one further, vital concept to modern computing- that of Turing-completeness. A Turing-complete system was defined as a single Turing machine (known as a Universal Turing machine) capable of replicating the behaviour of any other theoretically possible Turing machine, and thus any possible algorithm or computable sequence. Charles Babbage’s analytical engine would have fallen into that class had it ever been built, in part because it was capable of the ‘if X then do Y’ logical reasoning that characterises a computer rather than a calculator. Ensuring the Turing-completeness of a system is a key part of designing a computer system or programming language to ensure its versatility and that it is capable of performing all the tasks that could be required of it.
Turing’s work had laid the foundations for nearly all the theoretical science of modern computing- now all the world needed was machines capable of performing the practical side of things. However, in 1942 there was a war on, and Turing was being employed by the government’s code breaking unit at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire. They had already cracked the German’s Enigma code, but that had been a comparatively simple task since they knew the structure and internal layout of the Enigma machine. However, they were then faced by a new and more daunting prospect: the Lorenz cipher, encoded by an even more complex machine for which they had no blueprints. Turing’s genius, however, apparently knew no bounds, and his team eventually worked out its logical functioning. From this a method for deciphering it was formulated, but it required an iterative process that took hours of mind-numbing calculation to get a result out. A faster method of processing these messages was needed, and to this end an engineer named Tommy Flowers designed and built Colossus.
Colossus was a landmark of the computing world- the first electronic, digital, and partially programmable computer ever to exist. It’s mathematical operation was not highly sophisticated- it used vacuum tubes containing light emission and sensitive detection systems, all of which were state-of-the-art electronics at the time, to read the pattern of holes on a paper tape containing the encoded messages, and then compared these to another pattern of holes generated internally from a simulation of the Lorenz machine in different configurations. If there were enough similarities (the machine could obviously not get a precise matching since it didn’t know the original message content) it flagged up that setup as a potential one for the message’s encryption, which could then be tested, saving many hundreds of man-hours. But despite its inherent simplicity, its legacy is simply one of proving a point to the world- that electronic, programmable computers were both possible and viable bits of hardware, and paved the way for modern-day computing to develop.
Standard | | Tagged 1880s, 1930s, Alan Turing, algorithm, analogue computer, analytical engine, binary, Bletchley Park, blueprints, Buckinghamshire, census, Charles Babbage, cheap, codebreaking, cogs, Colossus, Colossus computer, commercial enterprise, computability theory, computation theory, computer algorithm, computing, computing problem, cryptography, data, data storage, difference engine, differential equations, digital, electronic, Enigma code, Enigma machine, George Stibitz, hardware, Herman Hollerith, integration, James Thomson, Konrad Zuse, logical reasoning, Lorenz cipher, machine-readable, mechanical calculator, mechanical computer, modern computer, obscurity, partially programmable, Percy Ludgate, programmable, programming language, punched cards, punched holes, replicate, simple, symbol, tape, technological exercise, theoretical science, Tommy Flowers, Turing-complete, universal computer, US census, vacuum tubes, von Neumann architecture, war, wheels, WWII | 1 Comment
Attack of the Blocks
I spend far too much time on the internet. As well as putting many hours of work into trying to keep this blog updated regularly, I while away a fair portion of time on Facebook, follow a large number of video series’ and webcomics, and can often be found wandering through the recesses of YouTube (an interesting and frequently harrowing experience that can tell one an awful lot about the extremes of human nature). But there is one thing that any resident of the web cannot hope to avoid for any great period of time, and quite often doesn’t want to- the strange world of Minecraft.
Since its release as a humble alpha-version indie game in 2009, Minecraft has boomed to become a runaway success and something of a cultural phenomenon. By the end of 2011, before it had even been released in its final release format, Minecraft had registered 4 million purchases and 4 times that many registered users, which isn’t bad for a game that has never advertised itself, spread semi-virally among nerdy gamers for its mere three-year history and was made purely as an interesting project by its creator Markus Persson (aka Notch). Thousands of videos, ranging from gameplay to some quite startlingly good music videos (check out the work of Captain Sparklez if you haven’t already) litter YouTube and many of the games’ features (such as TNT and the exploding mobs known as Creepers) have become memes in their own right to some degree.
So then, why exactly has Minecraft succeeded where hundreds and thousands of games have failed, becoming a revolution in gamer culture? What is it that makes Minecraft both so brilliant, and so special?
Many, upon being asked this question, tend to revert to extolling the virtues of the game’s indie nature. Being created entirely without funding as an experiment in gaming rather than profit-making, Minecraft’s roots are firmly rooted in the humble sphere of independent gaming, and it shows. One obvious feature is the games inherent simplicity- initially solely featuring the ability to wander around, place and destroy blocks, the controls are mainly (although far from entirely) confined to move and ‘use’, whether that latter function be shoot, slash, mine or punch down a tree. The basic, cuboid, ‘blocky’ nature of the game’s graphics, allowing for both simplicity of production and creating an iconic, retro aesthetic that makes it memorable and standout to look at. Whilst the game has frequently been criticised for not including a tutorial (I myself took a good quarter of an hour to find out that you started by punching a tree, and a further ten minutes to work out that you were supposed to hold down the mouse button rather than repeatedly click), this is another common feature of indie gaming, partly because it saves time in development, but mostly because it makes the game feel like it is not pandering to you and thus allowing indie gamers to feel some degree of elitism that they are good enough to work it out by themselves. This also ties in with the very nature of the game- another criticism used to be (and, to an extent, still is, even with the addition of the Enderdragon as a final win objective) that the game appeared to be largely devoid of point, existent only for its own purpose. This is entirely true, whether you view that as a bonus or a detriment being entirely your own opinion, and this idea of an unfamiliar, experimental game structure is another feature common in one form or another to a lot of indie games.
However, to me these do not seem to be entirely worthy of the name ‘answers’ regarding the question of Minecraft’s phenomenal success. The reason I think this way is that they do not adequately explain exactly why Minecraft rose to such prominence whilst other, often similar, indie games have been left in relative obscurity. Limbo, for example, is a side-scrolling platformer and a quite disturbing, yet compelling, in-game experience, with almost as much intrigue and puzzle from a set of game mechanics simpler even than those of Minecraft. It has also received critical acclaim often far in excess of Minecraft (which has received a positive, but not wildly amazed, response from critics), and yet is still known to only an occasional few. Amnesia: The Dark Descent has been often described as the greatest survival horror game in history, as well as incorporating a superb set of graphics, a three-dimensional world view (unlike the 2D view common to most indie games) and the most pants-wettingly terrifying experience anyone who’s ever played it is likely to ever face- but again, it is confined to the indie realm. Hell, Terraria is basically Minecraft in 2D, but has sold around 40 times less than Minecraft itself. All three of these games have received fairly significant acclaim and coverage, and rightly so, but none has become the riotous cultural phenomenon that Minecraft has, and neither have had an Assassin’s Creed mod (first example that sprung to mind).
So… why has Minecraft been so successful. Well, I’m going to be sticking my neck out here, but to my mind it’s because it doesn’t play like an indie game. Whilst most independently produced titled are 2D, confined to fairly limited surroundings and made as simple & basic as possible to save on development (Amnesia can be regarded as an exception), Minecraft takes it own inherent simplicity and blows it up to a grand scale. It is a vast, open world sandbox game, with vague resonances of the Elder Scrolls games and MMORPG’s, taking the freedom, exploration and experimentation that have always been the advantages of this branch of the AAA world, and combined them with the innovative, simplistic gaming experience of its indie roots. In some ways it’s similar to Facebook, in that it takes a simple principle and then applies it to the largest stage possible, and both have enjoyed a similarly explosive rise to fame. The randomly generated worlds provide infinite caverns to explore, endless mobs to slay, all the space imaginable to build the grandest of castles, the largest of cathedrals, or the SS Enterprise if that takes your fancy. There are a thousand different ways to play the game on a million different planes, all based on just a few simple mechanics. Minecraft is the best of indie and AAA blended together, and is all the more awesome for it.
Standard | | Tagged 2D, 3D, AAA, advertising, aesthetic, alpha release, Amnesia, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, answers, Assassin's Creed, awesome, basic, blocks, blocky, blog, Captain Sparklez, castles, cathedrals, Creepers, critical acclaim, criticism, cultural phenomenon, destroy, development, Elder Scrolls, elitism, experimental, experimentation, exploration, facebook, freedom, funding, gameplay videos, gamers, graphics, harrowing, human nature, iconic, independent, indie, indie game, indie nature, interesting, internet, Limbo, Markus Persson, mine, Minecraft, MMORPG's, mobs, mod, move, music videos, nerdy, nerdy gamers, Notch, obscurity, open-world, pandering, place, platformer, point, profit-making, punch, punch a tree, sandbox, shoot, side-scrolling, simplicity, slash, SS Enterprise, structure, success, Terraria, terrifying, time, TNT, tutorial, unfamiliar, update, use, vast, video series, viral, webcomics, Youtube | 0 comments
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Prof. Begins Fellowship
PHIL WHITE
Out of a pool of 50 applicants, only eight were selected to receive the prestigious Jennings Randolph Fellowship from the United States Institute of Peace this year.
UMW history professor Nabil al-Tikriti was one of them.
The D.C.-based fellowship has allowed him to take time off from his teaching this semester to study ethnic conflict and population displacement in Iraq.
“I had known about the fellowship for many years and it’s a great opportunity to engage in policy debates in Washington about Iraq,” al-Tikriti said.
The United States Institute of Peace is “an independent, nonpartisan, national institution established and funded by Congress,” according to its website. Its purpose is to promote the prevention and resolution of violent conflict around the world.
In his fellowship application, al-Tikriti said that his research goal is to trace the history of ethnic conflict and population displacement in twentieth-century Iraq, and to “attempt to construct a model of the common dynamics of these phenomena.“
Al-Tikriti contends that ethnic conflict and population displacement tend to cause more ethnic conflict and population displacement. He also notes that since 2003, the massive population displacement in Iraq has affected the number of professionals able to remain in that war-torn country.
“The loss of such doctors, professors, scientists, and other professional actors will limit the potentiality of societal development until the trend is reversed,” he said.
Al-Tikriti says that he will be traveling to Washington two to three days a week for the duration of the fellowship. So far, he has mostly been involved in introductory work. “It’s a bit like a professional counterpart to freshmen orientation,” said al-Tikriti.
He will be taking two trips to Iraq, where he will interview government officials and refugees to further his research.
At the conclusion of his fellowship, al-Tikriti will write two reports about to his research; one will concentrate on population losses occurring specifically in Iraq after 2003, while the other will address the historical background and general nature of population displacement in Iraq and surrounding countries. He says both reports will address displaced populations currently living in Iraq, and refugees outside of Iraq.
“They’re refugees because of a war we started,” says al-Tikriti, who called the U.S.-led war in the region “a disaster,” and noted that more than 2.5 million Iraqis have been displaced as a result of the war.
“I would hope that U.S. policy vis-a-vis Iraq might change,” he said. “One specific policy is the amount of asylum seekers that are admitted to Iraq each year. In four years, 1,300 people [out of 2.5 million] have reached safety. That’s a policy I’d like to see change.”
al-Tikriti began his academic career as an Ottoman historian, but says that since 2003, “most of my work has been directed towards today’s Iraq.”
“I wanted to be involved in the debates about policy, because a policy made in Washington has effects on people halfway around the world, which I have seen,” he said. “I wanted to engage in the creation of policy from here on out.”
Al-Tikriti will resume his instruction of classes next fall.
Tags: Faculty faculty fellowships Iraq Jennings Randolph Fellowship Nabil al-Tikriti United States Institute of Peace
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WBCN film screenings help Cape Cod area arts, radio groups
By Kathi Scrizzi Driscollkdriscoll@capecodonline.com
The documentary "WBCN and The American Revolution" chronicles how Boston emerged as the “central crossroad of the counterculture and political activism” in the late-1960s and early-1970s.
A movie that tells the story of about a groundbreaking Boston rock radio station will be virtually screened as a fundraiser this week for organizations at both ends of Cape Cod.
"WBCN and The American Revolution" will be available all day Saturday to benefit the Woods Hole Film Festival and MVYRadio, based on Martha’s Vineyard. A virtual Q&A starting at 8 p.m. will feature film director Bill Lichtenstein, former ‘BCN personalities, musician James Montgomery and other special guests.
Longtime WBCN "Big Mattress" program host Charles Laquidara was born in Milford and lived in Cambridge and Dover during his long tenure in Boston.
Alternately, fans can rent the movie through May 31 to help raise funds for Payomet Performing Arts Center in North Truro, Wellfleet Preservation Hall and WOMR-FM community radio in Provincetown.
The documentary about the early days of the legendary underground Boston radio station will be available to rent, according to Lower Cape organizers, as part of “a nationwide campaign to support and highlight the critical work of community radio and arts groups during the pandemic.”
FROM THE ARCHIVES: Jump back on ‘The Big Mattress’ with Charles Laquidara at the Wilbur
Originally slated for inclusion in the Woods Hole Film Festival’s Dinner & A Movie film series, the Upper Cape/Vineyard benefit will now present the film as part of the festival’s shift to hosting virtual screening events in response to the COVID-19 pandemic — including for its annual 10-day festival that starts in July.
Directed by Peabody Award-winner Lichtenstein, who worked at WBCN-FM starting at age 14 in 1970 and was later program director at WBRU-FM, the film follows what’s described as “the radical, free-form radio station” in a story “set against the political, social, and cultural upheaval in Boston and nationally in the late-1960s and early-70s.”
It’s "the incredible, true story,” promoters say, “of how a radio station, politics, and rock and roll changed everything."
The film chronicles how Boston emerged as the “central crossroad of the counterculture and political activism” in the late-1960s and early-1970s through the story about WBCN — which in its early days called itself "The American Revolution" — and the characters who intersected at the radio station.
The film includes first-person accounts from the staff juxtaposed with new and archival material about leading political, social, cultural and musical figures of the day (including Bruce Springsteen in his first radio interview, and Patti Smith, performing in her first live radio broadcast).
The documentary also includes never-before-exhibited film material shot by Andy Warhol and cinema vérité pioneer Ricky Leacock, and images from photojournalists of the era, including Peter Simon, a Vineyard resident who was interviewed for the film before his death in 2018.
Tickets to benefit the Lower Cape groups are $10 and available at payoment.org.
Tickets are $14, $12 for Woods Hole Film Festival members, for the screening and Q&A, available at www.woodsholefilmfestival.org.
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Rescuers in phone contact with workers trapped in China mine
Home 資料庫 | IMPORT 中央社 | CNA News Taiwan warns citizens after 11 sentenced to death in Indonesia
Taiwan warns citizens after 11 sentenced to death in Indonesia
Taiwan's representative to Indonesia warned Taiwan nationals on Monday not to treat legal penalties in Indonesia lightly, emphasizing that 11 Taiwanese have been sentenced to death for drug-related crimes in the country in recent years. (CNA)
JAKARTA (CNA) – Taiwan’s representative to Indonesia warned Taiwan nationals on Monday not to treat legal penalties in Indonesia lightly, emphasizing that 11 Taiwanese have been sentenced to death for drug-related crimes in the country in recent years.
The severity of punishments has also increased as part of a crackdown on drug crimes by Indonesian President Joko Widodo, according to John Chen (陳忠), head of the Taipei Economic and Trade Office in Indonesia.
Chen said Widodo has ordered law enforcement officers to “gun down” drug traffickers if necessary, especially those from foreign countries as part of ongoing efforts to end the narcotics emergency facing the nation.
No one should doubt these instructions, Chen advised, urging Taiwanese people “not for one moment to consider smuggling drugs to Indonesia.”
Since last year, four Taiwanese suspects have been shot and killed while resisting arrest in the country. There are also more than 30 Taiwanese detained in prisons across the nation after being arrested for drug trafficking, according to Indonesian official data.
The data also shows that 11 Taiwanese nationals have currently been sentenced to death for drug convictions, including three already on death row.
The other eight received their sentence from either a district or high court. However, given the imposition of such severe punishments against drug criminals over the past few years, it is widely believed there is little to no chance of the supreme court commuting the sentences of individuals convicted of drug-related crimes.
Statistics from Indonesia’s National Narcotics Agency in a 2015 report indicated that approximately 33 people die of drug overdoses every day in the country and that the narcotics problems resulted in economic losses to the country of US.8 billion in 2014.
In 2016, Indonesia seized 250 metric tons of drugs coming into the country, with China the largest source, according to the agency.
By Jay Chou and Elizabeth Hsu
John Chen
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Published on February 20th, 2014 | by Tina Casey
Fort Drum Ditches Coal For 100% Renewable Biomass
February 20th, 2014 by Tina Casey
With fallout from the Duke Energy coal ash spill in North Carolina heating up to the boiling point, now is a good time to check into the US Army’s ambitious renewable energy program, which necessarily involves taking its facilities off of coal dependency and into more safe, reliable and sustainable sources of energy.
In the latest development, a coal-fired power plant at Fort Drum, New York, has been refitted to burn local biomass, and it will be providing up to 100 percent of the facility’s electricity, 24/7.
Black River biomass plant at Fort Drum (cropped) courtesy of ReEnergy Holdings.
Carbon Neutral Energy And Waste Reclamation
For the record, let’s say that burning stuff to generate electricity, even if it is carbon neutral biomass, seems a little old school compared to solar, wind, and geothermal technology.
However, in the context of the company running this operation, ReEnergy Holdings LLC, carbon emissions are only part of the sustainability equation. The other part is waste reclamation, and that plays a big role here. ReEnergy has facilities that draw fuel in the form of wood waste from local forest industries. Another source of its wood waste is recycled construction debris, also from local and regional sources, and ReEnergy also states that the ash is re-used.
100% Renewable Biomass For Fort Drum
ReEnergy’s Fort Drum facility, Black River, underwent a $34 million makeover to switch from coal to biomass. The plant generates about 422,000 net MWh (megawatt hours) of electricity annually.
The Army Energy Initiatives Task Force, which was formed in 2011 to streamline the Army’s transition to sustainable energy, announced yesterday that it had coordinated with the Defense Logistics Agency Energy to purchase up to 28 MW from the facility under a 20-year power purchase agreement.
Although Fort Drum will still be connected to the grid, according to EITF the Black Water plant is capable of providing all of its electricity, which buffers this important military facility (home of the 10th Mountain Division) from grid disruptions.
This is EITF’s largest project to date, and that’s not the only renewable energy feather in Fort Drum’s cap.
Fort Drum is a leader in geothermal potential on Department of Defense properties, with a series of geothermal heating and cooling projects dating back to 2004. That’s the Bush Administration, for those of you keeping score at home.
The facility also has achieved millions in savings with a series of energy conservation and efficiency improvements in an initiative that also dates back to the Bush Administration.
About That Coal Ash Spill…
When you talk about national security, it’s pretty difficult to keep environmental security out of the conversation in light of the recent series of fossil fuel disasters, including Freedom Industry’s West Virginia coal-washing chemical spill, which more than six weeks after its discovery is still causing problems in the local water supply system, and the aforementioned Duke Energy coal ash spill in North Carolina.
In North Carolina, aside from the potential for significant harm to the Dan River, the possibility of criminal charges has been raised. Here’s a snippet from the WRAL:
The federal inquiry into a spill of toxic coal ash into the Dan River is expanding to other similar ponds throughout the state and to specific state employees, according to federal subpoenas obtained by WRAL News through a public records request.
One subpoena asks for documents that relates to the company’s regulation of 13 other coal ash ponds throughout the state that were not part of the Feb. 2 spill but have been the subject of litigation.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to coal ash disposal issues nationwide, so stay tuned.
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Tags: Army biomass, Army geothermal, EITF, Fort Drum, ReEnergy Holdings
Tina Casey specializes in military and corporate sustainability, advanced technology, emerging materials, biofuels, and water and wastewater issues. Tina’s articles are reposted frequently on Reuters, Scientific American, and many other sites. Views expressed are her own. Follow her on Twitter @TinaMCasey and Google+.
Solar Foundation To Lead US DOE’s Military Personnel Workforce Development →
Department of Defense Goes Big On Wind, Solar, And Biomass →
US Army Blows Away The Renewable Energy Competition →
Sandy Is The Next War, According To Army Sustainability Report →
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NCAA punishes DePaul for basketball recruiting violation
Associated PressJul 23, 2019, 10:20 PM EDT
AP Photo/John Minchillo
CHICAGO — The NCAA suspended DePaul men’s basketball coach Dave Leitao for the first three games of the regular season Tuesday, saying he should have done more to prevent recruiting violations by his staff.
The NCAA also put the Big East program on three years of probation, issued a $5,000 fine and said an undetermined number of games will be vacated because DePaul put an ineligible player on the floor. An unidentified former associate head coach is also facing a three-year show cause order for his role in the violations.
According to an NCAA infractions committee decision, in the Spring of 2016, the associate head coach arranged for the assistant director of basketball operations to live with a prospect to help ensure the player did the work necessary to meet NCAA eligibility requirements. That arrangement violated recruiting rules. At the time, Rick Carter was DePaul’s associate head coach and Baba Diallo was the program’s assistant director of basketball operations.
“The head coach did not promote an atmosphere of compliance because three men’s basketball staff members knew about the arrangement but did not report the violation or question whether it was allowable,” the NCAA said. “Even more troubling to the committee was the director of basketball operations stated he knew the contact was a violation but did not report it because he did not want to be disloyal, cause tension, get in the way of the associate head coach or otherwise hurt his career. … According to the committee, a culture of silence pervaded the program.”
Leitao was hired in 2015 and has pushed to return the Blue Demons to respectability in his second stint as head coach at DePaul. After a pair of nine-win seasons under Leitao, DePaul went 11-20 two years ago before going 19-17 and reaching the College Basketball Invitational championship last season, falling to South Florida in three games.
Leitao is also a former head coach at Virginia and his assistant stops include Connecticut, Missouri and Tulsa.
“The head coach did not monitor his staff when he did not actively look for red flags or ask questions about the assistant director of basketball operations’ two-week absence,” the NCAA said. “The committee recognized the head coach’s efforts to require staff attendance at compliance meetings and communicate with compliance officials, but it said he needed to do more.”
DePaul said it would not challenge the decision, but called it “disappointing.”
“This infraction was an isolated incident directed and then concealed by a former staff member that resulted in, at most, a limited recruiting advantage relative to one former student-athlete,” the university said. “Since our self-report in January 2018, DePaul has cooperated with the NCAA enforcement staff to proactively pursue the resolution of this matter and has reviewed and further strengthened related protocol and practice. … Coach Leitao is a man of character and integrity, who has the support of the administration in leading our men’s basketball program.”
DePaul was among several schools mentioned at a recent federal trial involving corruption in college basketball.
Brian Bowen Sr., father of a top recruit, testified in October that DePaul assistant coach Shane Heirman paid him $2,000 a month to send his son to an Indiana high school where Heirman coached at the time. The school responded by saying it had done its due diligence on the matter and had previously investigated the allegations.
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Rick George Mel Tucker Jack Del Rio Tom Izzo Pat Shurmur Mark Dantonio Antjuan Simmons Nick Saban Luke Fickell Jim Tressel Sports Men's college basketball College basketball Basketball Men's basketball Men's sports School athletics Education Social affairs College sports Coaching School coaching College football Football Sports transactions Sports business NFL football Professional football Sports team management changes
Michigan State Big Ten Colorado Pac-12 Georgia SEC Alabama Michigan
Michigan State rallies to hire Tucker away from Colorado
By LARRY LAGE - Feb. 12, 2020 08:29 PM EST
FILE - In this Nov. 30, 2019, file photo, Colorado head coach Mel Tucker looks on before the start of their NCAA college football game against Utah, in Salt Lake City. A person familiar with the decision says Colorado coach Mel Tucker has agreed to lead Michigan State's football program. The person spoke Wednesday morning, Feb. 12, 2020, to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the hiring had not been announced. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Mel Tucker recalled making $400 a month when he began his career as a graduate assistant at Michigan State, sleeping under his desk hoping to be noticed when coach Nick Saban walked in or out of the building.
Two-plus decades later, Tucker is back to lead the Spartans and he won't have to sleep on the floor.
Tucker signed a six-year deal worth $5.5 million per season, more than doubling the total compensation from his contract at Colorado, to lead Michigan State's football program. He made the jump to the Spartans after a single season leading the Buffaloes, who went 5-7.
“Leaving Colorado was the toughest thing that I’ve ever done in my career, in my life, actually," Tucker said Wednesday night. “But this is the right time for me to be here and that’s really what it comes down to. The commitment is here. The resources are here."
Michigan State landed a leader with extensive experience and ties to the school after appearing to be interested in coaches including Luke Fickell, Robert Saleh and Pat Shurmur.
Tucker said Michigan State showed interest in him late last week and the feeling was mutual. He said there was a time in the process, which was filled with a lot of “great candidates," that he decided to take a step back.
“The search continued and circled back to me," Tucker said.
Tucker replaces Mark Dantonio, who retired two weeks ago after 13 mostly successful seasons.
“Mel brings a championship pedigree, NFL experience, connections to our region, success on the recruiting trail and head coaching experience to our program," athletic director Bill Beekman said.
Colorado hired Tucker in December 2018, and gave him an opportunity to run the Pac-12 program after he was Georgia's defensive coordinator. He was given a five-year, $14.75 million contract to lead the Buffaloes, and they matched their 5-7 record from each of the previous two years.
“We are disappointed to see coach Tucker leave,” Colorado athletic director Rick George said.
Michigan State offered Tucker a huge raise and a chance to work in a more powerful conference in a region he calls home. The 48-year-old Tucker is from Cleveland and was a Big Ten championship-winning defensive back at Wisconsin.
Tucker's departure, though, caught many by surprise, after he and George issued statements Saturday that seemed intended to quell speculation about him going to Michigan State.
Tucker also posted on his Twitter account over the weekend: “While I am flattered to be considered for the head coaching job at Michigan State, I am committed to CU Buffs Football for the build of our program, its great athletes, coaches and supporters.”
Even as recently as Tuesday, Tucker was making the media rounds, pumping up the Buffaloes and their bid to build the program back into a contender. He had also been meeting with alumni and donors to drum up support.
Tucker spoke with his new team, shortly after arriving on a flight from Colorado, and linebacker Antjuan Simmons described the meeting as intense.
“We're ready," Simmons said, looking at Tucker during a news conference. “We're going to play for you.
“The head of the program changes, the expectations for the program don't."
Dantonio retired with a 114-57 record over 13 years. He won three Big Ten titles and had a College Football Playoff appearance over a six-season span from 2010 to 2015.
The Spartans slipped in recent years, going 7-6 records the past two seasons and barely being over .500 in the four seasons following their playoff appearance.
Beekman received input from Dantonio and basketball coach Tom Izzo before recommending the school's governing board hire Tucker.
After being an NFL defensive coordinator in Cleveland, Jacksonville and Chicago, Tucker worked for Saban for a third time at Alabama in 2015. He spent only one season with the Crimson Tide, helping them win a national title. He also was the interim head coach for Jacksonville over the final five games in 2011 after Jack Del Rio was fired.
Tucker was a defensive backs coach at Ohio State when it won a national title under Jim Tressel, whose nephew, Mike Tressel, was Michigan State's interim coach briefly this month.
Beekman appeared to be interested in hiring Fickell, but he chose to stay at Cincinnati. Saleh is a former Michigan State assistant, who is now the defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers and wanted to stay in the NFL. Shurmur, a former Spartans player and assistant, was fired after the season as coach of the New York Giants and expressed loyalty to the Denver Broncos for hiring him to be offensive coordinator.
AP Sports Writers Noah Trister and Pat Graham contributed to this report.
Follow Larry Lage at https://twitter.com/LarryLage
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November 18, 2011 November 18, 2011 Peter A. Martin
Review: 'The Other F Word'
'The Other F Word' (Oscilloscope)
With a tone that wavers between surprise and sympathy, The Other F Word explores the world of punk rock musicians who have become fathers — and discovers that they’re pretty much like all other fathers. Shocker!
The documentary, directed by Andrea Blaugrund Nevins, is certainly engaging, and the interview subjects are gregarious, generally forthcoming, and frequently funny, acknowledging the contradictions in their lives that are obvious to outsiders. Yet it’s hard for me to shake the feeling that I was watching the pilot for a reality TV show. Perhaps I’ve watched too many episodes of The Osbournes.
Punk rock has its roots in the early 70s New York alternative art scene. It became political after New York bands like the Ramones toured England, where economic conditions and the predominance of bloated progressive rock groups inspired the Sex Pistols and a myriad other bands to create their own angry expression of nihilistic rebellion. Los Angeles had its own brand of punk rock by the late 70s, which quickly splintered into tinier sub-genres, which developed their own identities and either flourished or died.
The Other F Word picks up from that era in Southern California, as young men — many with abusive fathers and broken homes — came of age, found solace in a scene that encouraged aggressive expression, and formed their own bands. The “no future” punk rock ethos resonated with them, and influenced how their lived their lives. Unexpectedly, some of them have made a long-term career out of a high-energy scene that initially appeared to have a limited life-span. Of the men who survived into their 30s and 40s, a number now have children, and this is their story.
— From my review at Twitch.
‘The Other F Word’ opens today at the Texas Theatre.
punk rock fathers
texas theatre
Previous Review: 'Happy Feet Two'
Next Review: 'The Descendants'
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Cult of the New
A variety of things that probably only I care about
Prometheus (Movie Review and Discussion)
I strongly disagree with the common consensus about Ridley Scott’s Prometheus. While most people dismissed it as incomplete, illogical, or just a well-meaning mess (that last one would be much better applied to The Dark Knight Rises), it really fulfilled my hopes for an Alien prequel. It was a stunning spectacle that felt like a love letter to the originals without being beholden to the past. I don’t plan on giving a typical review here. Instead, I’ll focus more on the criticism of this movie. Just know that my experience in the theater was a solid A, and it feels like a B or B+ in retrospect. I officially give this an A-.
I really have to wonder what most people were expecting: I’ve challenged friends to name another movie series that provided a more satisfying ret-con after a years-long break, and no one has been able to. Expectations for follow-on movies are always confusing: Remember that Alien and Aliens came out in a very different culture than we have today, partly just because those very movies had yet to make their impact. Making something too different now would disappoint people, but on the other hand, one of the major criticisms of Alien3 and Alien: Resurrection was how closely they copied the first ones.
I should admit that I’m a fan of all four movies. (I haven’t bothered seeing the Alien vs. Predator spin-offs.) While I normally would complain about the repetition in the third and fourth movies, in this case I think they’re vital to the our understanding of the series as a whole. The first two movies portrayed conflicts that seemed winnable, but by the end of the fourth, the struggle feels hopeless and eternal. Ripley can win battles, but human nature and the uncaring universe combine to ensure we never escape this nihilistic cycle. Those last two may not be great, but the context they provide is what turns the first two into masterpieces.
Knowing all this, it’s not surprising that I would like Prometheus. All the key elements of the original mythology were there. But rather than being an Alien 5, the new characters and setting gave the movie an excuse for a slightly different atmosphere. By splitting the difference between the old and the new, I feel like Prometheus opened up fertile ground for a new series.
(There are thematic spoilers for Prometheus from here on.)
The first time I watched Alien, I remember a strong regret that I would never get to experience it the way audiences had when it first came out. It just didn’t seem possible to reproduce the movie’s long, slow build-up. It goes for quite a while before anything bad happens, and even longer before the horror truly becomes apparent. I don’t think many first-time viewers today would sit through the entire opening if they weren’t promised that it would all be worth it. What would it be like, I wondered, to watch Alien in that time of slower movies and more patient viewers? What would it be like to see H.R. Giger’s designs unfold without any idea of what to expect?
Now I know.
The opening of Prometheus isn’t the same as Alien’s, of course. Where the old movie had a spartan aesthetic and action to match, this one’s view of the future is Star Trek-meets-iPad, and there are more characters doing distinct, interesting things. Also, of course, we know what to expect from the Alien stories, so it’s not one giant mystery, but it manages to mix the familiar with intriguing new ideas. Prometheus finally provided me with that slow-building introduction that I’d been missing ever since I first saw Alien, and it does that by deftly adapting the things that worked in 1979 for the sensibilities of 2012. That is a huge part of why I loved it.
(In fact, Prometheus seemed to take even longer than Alien does before the first person gets hurt. While I knew that we’d see some early versions of those monsters, there was honestly a time when I wondered if this would be more about exploration than horror. I love that I could ever wonder that, and be happy with either possibility.)
Of course, the horror does eventually dominate, including the most visceral, memorable scene of any Alien movie. And one of the biggest complaints about this is how stupidly the characters react to it. Once again, I disagree. The issue seems to be that the characters didn’t realize they were in a horror movie, and I’m glad they didn’t. It’s well-established that the space-farers of Alien are blue-collar workers just planning to do a job and cash a check. Once you’ve done the same job a couple hundred times, you start to take shortcuts around all those safety regulations. This is especially true here, since the corporation has to select the sort of people who are willing to spend years in deep sleep while everyone they know dies. Most of the characters’ “stupid” actions make sense for antisocial people, surrounded by strangers, expecting to do yet another survey of a safe, dead planet.
(If you don’t like that logic, you probably shouldn’t bother with the original movies. How will you ever accept that highly-trained Marines would barge in so recklessly on an unfamiliar enemy in unknown territory, or that a space crew would want to break quarantine rules for someone infected with an unknown organism?)
Similarly, I appreciated the information we learn about the ancient Engineer race. Remember, the thing I like about the Alien movies is the way it portrays humans as lost beings in an uncaring universe. Given that, Prometheus once again manages a twist that’s true to the original: We learn about just how irrelevant and purposeless we are in the universe. It’s the perfect direction for Scott to take the story in. And just like ants crawling around someone’s foot, there’s no reason for the characters to learn the whole story from the ruins they find. Presumably the Engineers had political divisions, beliefs we don’t know about, and a culture that changed over time, so it means little that they made conflicting decisions or carried them out ineffectively. While many people complained about how little we learned, my only wish would have been to learn a little less.
There were a few minor things I’d quibble with, but overall Prometheus was everything I would have dared to hope. Maybe I was the perfect audience for it, but I still have trouble believing that it was as bad as a lot of people thought. I hope that time is kind to this movie.
Trackback ( 0 )
A: A future classic. Check it out.
B: Recommended. If this sounds good to you, you're probably right.
C: Eh. Not bad, but not worth the effort.
D: This is bad.
F: Truly awful. I don't know how it got published.
Metablogging
Webcomics Roundup: Trends for 2014
So Much for January
John le Carré – The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (Book Review)
The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug (Movie Review)
Billie Joe Armstrong & Norah Jones – Foreverly (Music Review)
Android: Netrunner Genesis Cycle (Game Review)
Obits – Beds & Bugs
JD Wilkes & The Dirt Daubers – Wild Moon (Music Review)
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Hajj 2020: coronavirus pandemic frustrates Saudi vision for expanded religious tourism
Muslim pilgrims circle round the Kaaba in Mecca in 2019. The numbers will be dramatically reduced in 2020.
Seán McLoughlin, University of Leeds
Saudi Arabia has finally clarified that due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic only very limited numbers of local pilgrims will be allowed to perform Hajj in 2020. During the past decade, the kingdom has typically welcomed between 1.9 to 3.2 million pilgrims per year from across the Muslim world, generating more than US$8 billion in annual revenue for the Saudi economy.
No Hajjis from outside Saudi Arabia will be permitted to travel to Mecca in 2020 due to the high risk of infection. Managing crowds is normally a challenge during the pilgrimage. So, over the five days prescribed in the Islamic lunar calendar – which fall between July 28 and August 2 in 2020 – at most 10,000 Saudis and nationals from other countries resident in Saudi Arabia will perform the rituals. They must follow physical and social distancing protocols.
While the Hajj has been restricted and suspended in the past because of conflict or disease, 2020 is the first time Saudi Arabia – established in 1932 – has so significantly curtailed the pilgrimage.
Meanwhile, given huge drops in the current demand for oil due to the economic crisis provoked by COVID-19, the longer-term impact of the virus could deal a real blow to Saudi Arabia’s ambitions to diversify its economy by expanding pilgrimage-based tourism. It also highlights concerns about governance and regulation of the pilgrimage industry beyond the kingdom, raised in my own research mapping the challenges of the Hajj sector in the UK.
A changing political economy
When the Saudis first took control of the Hijaz area of western Arabia – where Mecca is situated – in the 1920s, Hajj was the most significant source of revenue for the region. This financial dependence on Hajj ended in the years following the discovery of oil in the late 1930s.
As oil prices quintupled during the 1970s and international air travel became the norm, the Saudi rentier state increasingly deployed Hajj as part of its diplomacy beyond the Arab world. The House of Saud also demonstrated its largesse to the “guests of God” by expanding pilgrimage infrastructure as the number of overseas Hajjis expanded from 100,000 per year in the mid-1950s to nearly 1 million, 20 years later.
Into the 1990s, however, global recession began to focus Saudi attention on the benefits of systematically commercialising pilgrimage despite the challenges of rapid modernisation for safety, heritage and the environment.
Hajj: how globalisation transformed the market for pilgrimage to Mecca
A bid for pilgrim-tourists
The Saudi government has sought to offer pilgrims improved transport, accommodation, retail and other pilgrimage-related services by partnering with international private investors. During the past decade US$8.5 billion has been invested in the new King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah and the Haramain high-speed railway, which connects Mecca and Medina to the new airport.
Even so, Vision 2030, launched in 2016 by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, represents a revolution in Saudi Arabia’s plans to open up the kingdom. Extremely ambitious targets were set to more than double current Hajj numbers to around 6 million a year – and Umrah to 30 million annually – by 2030.
In 2019, Umrah numbers reached 20 million with Saudi Arabia launching a new tourist e-visa the same year. Notably, single Muslim women can use this visa to complete the pilgrimage without the usual mahram (male relative). Umrah takes just half a day and it can easily be included in itineraries including the Red Sea coast and the ruins at Al-‘Ula.
Vision 2030 is especially focused on the global Muslim middle-classes with disposable incomes. As my own research showed, costs across the pilgrimage industry have been driven up by marketisation. Between 2013-18 the price of all packages had risen by around 25%. In 2018 even an “economy” Hajj package from the UK cost more than £4,000 (US$5,000).
Hajj tourism regulation
Speaking on a Council of British Hajjis webinar in late June, an imam reminded disappointed pilgrims that Muslims are rewarded even for the religious intention of making Hajj.
But given the unprecedented late cancellation of millions of Hajj packages in 2020, business relations between suppliers and customers along transnational pilgrimage chains will undoubtedly be fraught for months – and possibly years.
Muslims worldwide are now wondering whether the 2021 pilgrimage will go ahead as before if they defer their package by a year. There is also a question about what quota each country will receive, if global demand doubles. And in many cases, travel insurance will not now cover COVID-19-related issues.
Even in Europe, where travellers are due refunds under EU law, cashflow problems mean that some Hajj travel agents are seeking to defer refunds until 2021. In the UK, some agencies have not issued the necessary certificates to pilgrims – which offer protection should providers go out of business – or have fraudulently advertised that they are covered.
The fallout of COVID-19 will magnify challenges that the Muslim pilgrimage industry was already confronting. The lack of professionalism and compliance among some Saudi-licensed Hajj organisers is exacerbated by inconsistent approaches to regulation and enforcement. What’s needed is more effective self-governance by the pilgrimage industry, as well as more transparent and better co-ordinated communication between pilgrims, travel companies as well as the Saudi and other authorities.
Seán McLoughlin, Professor of the Anthropology of Islam, University of Leeds
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Why complacency and lifting restrictions could be driving India’s high COVID-19 numbers
Megha Mogare, a chauffeur in Mumbai, has been out of work since March, when the Indian government introduced one of the world’s strictest lockdowns in reaction to the coronavirus pandemic.
Mogare lives in the poor neighbourhood of Dharavi. Often described as one of Asia’s largest slums, it is a labyrinth of small, cramped lanes and home to one million residents.
Earning just 15,000 rupees ($268 Cdn) a month before the pandemic struck, it was always a struggle for the 56-year-old to make ends meet, let alone build up enough savings to see him through a crisis.
“The situation now is so bad I can’t run my own house,” he said. “I’ve had to take out loans.”
On Tuesday, India added 55,342 COVID-19 cases in 24 hours, bringing its total number of confirmed infections to 7.17 million, according to data from the country’s Ministry of Health.
These daily new infections may be off their recent peaks and were the lowest numbers in almost two months, but India is the second worst-affected country after the United States, and it is set to have the largest caseload in a matter of weeks.
People shop at a market in Mumbai. Physical distancing is often ignored in India and people can often be seen not wearing masks, even though it is mandatory. Medical experts say this complacency is adding to India’s infections. (Manoj Gaikwad/CBC)
India’s high number of new cases is being driven by the ongoing lifting of lockdown restrictions and complacency around following precautions to prevent the spread of the virus, epidemiologists say.
The country’s deaths total 109,856, the data shows, compared to 214,768 deaths in the U.S. and 9,666 deaths in Canada, according to figures from Johns Hopkins.
A downward trend
Authorities are encouraged by the dip in new infections, however. The Health Ministry on Tuesday wrote on Twitter that “India is showing a trend of declining average daily cases over the past five weeks.”
The lockdown in its first phase dictated that people could only leave the house for basic supplies or to carry out essential services, as authorities and medics feared the consequences of the spread of the virus in a country of more than 1.3 billion.
With a weak public health-care system, India needed to slow the spread of the virus by enforcing physical distancing, and the country needed time to prepare.
“This is a necessary step,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his address to the country as he announced the move in March. “The nation will have to certainly pay an economic cost because of this lockdown.”
A worker adds the finishing touches to a COVID-19 facility developed at an exhibition centre in Mumbai, as India added more beds to cope with rising numbers of infections. (Manoj Gaikwad/CBC)
Restrictions have been steadily eased in recent months in an effort to revive livelihoods, but they have yet to be completely lifted, and the economy remains sluggish.
The central government has only this month given the nod for schools to gradually reopen, as well as cinemas — but not all states are permitting them to restart after they were shut in March.
‘Jury is still out’
Meanwhile, critics have raised questions over whether the early lockdown paid off, particularly given that India is now adding more new infections on a daily basis than any other country.
“The jury is still out [on the success of the lockdown],” said Dr. Vispi Jokhi, CEO of Masina Hospital in Mumbai, which has been inundated with COVID-19 patients since the pandemic hit and has a waiting list for admissions.
Doctors in India say relaxed attitudes towards the virus are fuelling numbers. Many people do not wear masks in public, even though it is mandatory. The physical distancing that Modi has long said is paramount is frequently ignored.
“India has eased restrictions because the economy was suffering a lot because of the lockdown, but we haven’t been able to inculcate that kind of discipline which makes people self-regulate to the extent that is required, and as a result the number of cases are increasing,” said Jokhi.
Marine Drive in Mumbai is deserted during India’s countrywide lockdown. (Manoj Gaikwad/CBC)
Some doctors say the relaxed attitudes are partly because people see a low death rate and don’t really feel afraid of the virus, along with general complacency.
Many humanitarian and medical experts agree that the government had little choice but to impose restrictions to try to manage the situation — but they now debate whether India has eased measures too quickly or whether it left them in place for too long.
Reopenings as cases rose
Jokhi said he believes the “restrictions were eased too fast,” as metro rail services and shopping malls reopened as cases continued to soar.
Others disagree.
“I think the lockdown was very timely in the sense it was announced when the virus was beginning to become a threat and there was widespread fear it could go out of control,” said Manu Gupta, the co-founder of SEEDS, a non-governmental organization in India that focuses on helping people cope with disasters.
India’s lockdown was announced by Modi on March 24, just hours before it came into effect, causing widespread chaos and confusion.
Dharavi is often described as one of Asia’s largest slums and is home to one million residents. (Rebecca Bundhun/CBC)
Cities like Mumbai, the country’s financial capital, virtually ground to a standstill.
The price paid by many has been high.
‘Everything got shut down’
Daily wage labourers who live a hand-to-mouth existence were left stranded without work, and some of them resorted to walking hundreds of kilometres to return to their villages. Some of them reportedly died along the way as a result of road accidents or exhaustion.
“Overnight everything got shut down and I couldn’t even leave,” said Deepak Pawar, a migrant worker who relies on odd jobs on building sites in Mumbai to make a living. “There was no transport available.”
Initially, the lockdown was in place for 21 days, but it was later extended, and over the past few months the government has been unlocking sections of the economy in phases.
“With hindsight, what didn’t go well was that it got prolonged,” said Gupta. “This meant that the secondary negative effects started to outweigh the positives achieved in the initial lockdown. Of course, the biggest casualty was the economy.”
Journalists are tested for COVID-19 in Mumbai. Critics have said that India did not conduct enough tests in the early stages of the lockdown. (Manoj Gaikwad/CBC)
As migrant workers fled from cities to the villages, some took the virus with them, he said.
There were, however, some “remarkable” achievements in the first three weeks of the lockdown, Gupta said, such as the government launching a COVID-19 tracking app, which allows citizens to track infections around them and offers health advice.
Economic relief offered
But extended restrictions “created an unprecedented humanitarian crisis across the country … and irreparable damage,” Gupta said.
The government came out with economic relief packages to try to ease the pain, but critics said these did little to put cash in the hands of the poor and the benefits did not reach everyone.
“We didn’t receive any help from the government,” said Ravi Gavli, a labourer. “No sanitizers. No arrangements were made for us. We didn’t have food either.”
Millions of poor people in India are still feeling the brunt of the pandemic-induced lockdown.
Ravi Gavli, a labourer in Mumbai, says he is struggling financially but hasn’t received any benefits from the government during the pandemic. (Rebecca Bundhun/CBC)
Unemployment stood at 28.4 million in September, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, a think-tank
The country’s GDP slumped by 23.9 per cent in the quarter between April and June on the same period a year earlier, official data reveals, and analysts forecast a rare contraction for the financial year to the end of March.
Government defends lockdown
The Indian government has defended the lockdown, saying that numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths would have been far higher had it not done what it did, and it cites the country’s ostensibly high recovery and low fatality rates, with an official recovery rate of 86.8 per cent and a fatality rate of 1.5 per cent.
But medical experts point out that infections are still rising rapidly and that actual numbers are far higher than what is seen in official figures — partly because testing was very low in the early stages.
“I personally do not believe that India did the lockdown very effectively,” said Dr. Swapneil Parikh, a Mumbai-based doctor who has a focus on lifestyle issues and has written a book about the coronavirus.
Parikh said that physical distancing during the lockdown was not strongly enough enforced and once restrictions were relaxed, many people completely ignored the necessary precautions.
A family outside their home in Dharavi. Often in India’s slums, families live in a cramped single room, making physical distancing impossible. (Rebecca Bundhun/CBC)
“Right after, the milder, more persistent form of physical distancing didn’t happen — because let’s be realistic. In India, the ability to physically distance is a privilege for a small minority.”
He said that it was always going to be a challenge to enforce physical distancing in a country where 10 people may share a tiny, single room home in a slum.
More COVID-19 facilities
“I think a lockdown is always meant to be temporary and it’s always meant to be a stop-gap measure to scale your test, trace, isolate, support care — all your health capacities,” Parikh said.
State governments did ramp up infrastructure during the lockdown, with cities including Mumbai and Delhi adding sprawling COVID-19 facilities with hundreds of beds.
Readying for a pandemic in the midst of its spread is no easy task, however.
“I don’t think that it is a reasonable expectation to be able to scale pandemic response in a few short weeks when successive governments have failed to do so over several decades,” said Parikh.
A police officer stands guard to ensure that people observe lockdown restrictions in Dharavi. (Manoj Gaikwad/CBC)
“We started with poor capacity to respond to this. COVID-19 is bringing Western countries to their knees, so this was an expected eventuality in India and it was not one that was adequately prepared for in the last several decades.”
But the worst could be yet to come.
Some medical experts, including Parikh, fear that despite the recent dip in cases in India and some arguing that the curve may be flattening, there could be a surge to new record highs in the coming weeks as the country heads into its festive season, climaxing with the Hindu festival of Diwali next month.
This is a time when people traditionally travel and meet family and friends to celebrate, which could prompt another spike in cases.
Not everyone is in the mood for festivities this year, however.
“I don’t have any hope,” said Mogare. “It doesn’t seem like I will get a job this year.”
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Could new virus variants derail COVID-19 vaccination efforts? Scientists hope not
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Panelists: July 2014
Ten Thousand Hours a 1st TUE Talk
features Steve Murillo, Danette Baker, & Michael Kline
Oeno Wine Bar | July 1st | 7p
Open to the Public | $5 Suggested Donation
* Winners of Down to the Wire will be invited to talk about their experience afterward.
** InTheMiddleOfAmerica.com will be selling a 100 pictures from their site. All proceeds will help raise funds for CreativeRush
Steve Murillo
Steve Murillo is a popular Wichita artist, well know for his wall murals and large public art sculptures. He received his BGA and MFA from Wichita State University, was a graduate teaching fellow at WSU and later taught there for twelve years. He was resident artist at the Michael Karolyi foundation in southern France, served as an artist-in-resident for three years in the state, and was recently awarded an artist residency at Rocky Mountain National Park. Steve maintains an active studio and gallery in Old Town, Wichita, KS. As artist consultant to the City of Wichita, he has been involved in a number of capital improvement projects, including a newly installed Solar Calendar in Central Riverside Park; and a major environmental work at Sedgwick County Park.
For more info on his past professional positions, residencies, various commissions,
projects, and public art projects, read his full biography at Murillo Studios.
Danette Baker
is a Stage Combat Choreographer, Actor, Director and Teaching Artist. Her fight choreography work ranges from comic sword-play (Twelfth Night) to gun play (The Grapes of Wrath) to fisticuffs and catfights (Picnic) to knife fights (Violet) with various other fighting styles in between. Her acting career has taken her to theatres across the country from New York to Idaho appearing in – among others – Bloody Poetry (Aegean Theatre Company, NY), Crash Course (American Globe Theatre, NY), The Rainbow Factor (Director’s Company, NY), Summer & Smoke (Monomoy Theatre, Cape Cod), Romeo and Juliet (Cleveland Playhouse, OH), Arcadia, Macbeth & Blithe Spirit (Wichita Center for the Arts, KS), Hank Williams Lost Highway (Cabaret Oldtown, KS) and The Cherry Orchard (Guild Hall, KS). She is a member of Seven Devils National Playwrigths Conference acting company in McCall, ID, spending two weeks of every summer helping to develop new plays for the American theatre. She is also a frequent director for their new play development for high school playwrights. In the world of academia, Danette holds an adjunct faculty position in theatre at Wichita State University’s School of Performing Arts where she teaches Art of the Theatre, Acting, Stage Combat and Stage Movement. At WSU she also directed The 39 Steps and new play contest winner Freezeframe, which was selected to be performed at the American College Theatre Festival for Region V in 2007. She’s also presented workshops in acting and stage combat at area high schools, colleges, state HS theatre festivals and the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival for Region V.
Danette was born and raised in Wichita, KS and received a BA in Speech/Theatre from Wichita State University in KS where – coincidentally – she also met her future husband Ed. She earned an MFA from Ohio University’s Professional Actor Training Program (Athens, OH) in 1992, married the love of her life, and set off on an exciting 6-year adventure in NYC. As enthralling as the hustle and bustle of NYC was, Danette and Ed missed the vast open plains of Kansas and in 1998 returned home. At the ripe old age of 41 Danette embarked on a new career in the field of stage combat through the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD). She is a recognized Advanced Actor Combatant with the SAFD and holds certificates of proficiency in eight forms of stage fighting: Unarmed, Broadsword, Rapier & Dagger, Smallsword, Sword & Shield, Knife, Single Sword & Quarterstaff, as well as a certificate in Theatrical Firearms Safety. Oh, and she holds a 2rd degree brown belt ranking in Tomiki-Ryu Aikido and is a pretty darn good shot with a .22 semi-automatic.
Danette is a 6 time recipient of the Mary Jane Teall Theatre Award for Outstanding Acting, she and her husband Ed receive the Ruth McCormik Award for Outstanding Theatre Educator in 2012, she has twice been recognized as the Outstanding Female Performer in the Society of American Fight Directors National Advanced Actor Combatant Workshop, she is a member of the Association of Theatre Movement Educators and the Society of American Fight Directors. Danette and her husband Ed reside in Wichita along with their cat Sophie.
Michael Kline
An illustrative contributor to Kids Discover magazine for more than 20 years, Michael Kline also lists such companies as Penguin Publishing, Family Fun magazine, Storey Publishing, and Reader’s Digest among those who receive his hand-addressed (and decorated) invoices. He is the author/illustrator of WordPlay Café, a phonetic romp for the knee-high generation, and recently released his first attempt at left-handed imagery in The Doodles of Sam Dibble (Grosset and Dunlap).
CreativeRush | Panelists: July 2014 | CreativeRush
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Deborah Swift
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Tag: Arthur Wellesley
Blog Featured Seventeenth Century Life
The Intriguing History of Fort St George by David Ebsworth
Post author By Deborah Swift
1 Comment on The Intriguing History of Fort St George by David Ebsworth
Today I welcome David Ebsworth to my blog to tell us about one of the fascinating buildings he came across during his research for his ‘Wicked Mistress Yale’ Series. Over to Dave:
‘I thought it was just coincidence,’ he said. A friend for the past sixty years reading the first part of my Yale Trilogy, The Doubtful Diaries of Wicked Mistress Yale. ‘You set the story in Fort St. George – and guess what? That’s the name of my local.’
We checked it out. Mike’s favourite pub sits on the south bank of the River Cam, Midsummer Common. It’s supposed to be one of the oldest in Cambridge itself and it’s usually just known as the Fort. A footbridge crosses the river there, the Fort St. George Bridge. The place is supposedly named for its resemblance to Fort St. George in old Madras, modern Chennai. But a quick glance at the pub sign hanging outside lends the lie to this.
I know because, for the best part of a year, it felt like I lived at the original Fort St. George, while I was writing The Doubtful Diaries.
Fort St. George in old Madras – the start of the Raj
It had been built in 1639, the very first British fortification in India, constructed by what was then the Honourable English East India Company. Fort St. George therefore stands almost as the prologue in the story of the British Raj, warts and all. And it was built on virtually uninhabited land, bordered by two tiny villages – Madraspatnam on one side, Chennapatnam on the other. The population of the two villages no more than a few hundred souls, on the south-eastern Coromandel Coast of India.
The great thing? Much of it’s still there, the walls intact and many other reminders of those early days remain standing. Of course, it’s now dwarfed by the metropolis that’s grown around it, a present population of over 7 million, and the name changed from Madras to Chennai back in 1996, the capital of Tamil Nadu.
Fort St. George and Catherine Hynmers Yale
But let’s go back to 1670, and the arrival there of nineteen year-old Catherine Hynmers with her older husband, Joseph, a senior official for the East India Company. There, they moved into a substantial house on Middle Gate Street. The gate is still there – and so is the street, though it’s seen better days.
Middle Gate Street
Catherine gave birth to four boys, possibly five, but in 1680, Joseph was taken by a fever. No wonder, for one in every five of the European population of Fort St. George died every year.
Joseph was buried inside an impressive mausoleum, beneath a tall pyramid – and his tomb still stands, complete with an inscription that confirms his status. But Catherine now had a difficult decision to make. Four surviving children, on the far side of the world, and in 1680 the far side of the world was very distant indeed. At least a six-month stinking, cramped and hugely perilous voyage, with only one stop on the way. She chose to look for a second husband, settled on an unlikely choice, a junior clerk called Elihu Yale. They were married at the newly consecrated St. Mary’s Church.
St. Mary’s stands too, in almost pristine condition, and the record of Yale’s marriage to Catherine still viewable in the parish register.
Yale Marriage Record
Yale, of course, gained much of Joseph’s wealth from the marriage, used it to furnish himself with not one mistress, but two – and to set them both up in a specially constructed villa, a “garden house.”
Meanwhile, Catherine had given birth to four more children, three girls and another boy, David Yale, who died while still a baby and was buried in the same mausoleum as Joseph Hynmers. David’s inscription can be seen on the tomb, too.
The tomb of Joseph Hynmers and David Yale at Fort St. George
Fort St. George and the Indian Ocean Slave Trade
Yale himself had now risen to the position of Governor at Fort St. George and, in that position, he supervised the Company’s new and highly profitable trade in slaves – Indian slaves.
How do we know all this? Because, for all their sins, the East India Company kept meticulous records, minutes of every single, daily meeting that took place – the Consultation Books for Fort St. George. And, from those minutes, we see that each vessel bound for the English colony on St. Helena was required to carry ten Indian slaves, for there was then a great demand for slaves in that colony. In one month alone, over 600 Indian slaves are recorded as having been dispatched, either to St. Helena in the west, or to Sumatra in the east.
By 1689, Catherine – a woman of strong Dissenter beliefs – could stand the situation no longer and returned to England with her brood of children, and that’s where the Yale Trilogy leaves Fort St. George and Madraspatnam behind, more or less. Yale would eventually bequeath his name to one of the world’s great universities, though to Catherine he left nothing in his will but the slur of branding her a “wicked wife.”
But that, as they say, is another story and, clearly, it certainly wasn’t the end of the fort’s own saga.
Fort St. George and Later Celebrities
In 1744, another junior clerk arrived there. Robert Clive. Over the following nine years he distinguished himself in the East India Company’s army and, in 1753, married Margaret Maskelyne and they lived together in the fine mansion still known as Clive House. He would distinguish himself still further, of course, at the Battle of Plassey and elsewhere, and he would literally finish the work begun at Fort St. George a hundred years earlier – the establishment of British India and the British Empire.
Clive’s House
Later still, the young Arthur Wellesley had a house in Fort St. George and it was within its walls that Major Stringer Lawrence laid the foundations for the Indian Army.
Apart from the buildings and the fortress walls, the Fort St. George Museum is still a great repository for almost four hundred years of British involvement and history in Madras, with all its contradictions.
The remaining portion of Wellesley House
Fort St. George – the Cambridge Connection
But what is the connection between that original Fort St. George and the pub in Cambridge? I have a favourite theory that it’s all connected to the story of Colonel Sir William Draper, who successfully defended Madras and its fortress, in 1758, against a siege by the French during the Seven Years War. Draper had close connections to Cambridge and, at the end of the conflict, he presented the colours he’d taken – both in India and the Philippines – to his old college, King’s College, Cambridge. The presentations apparently occasioned great celebration and hence, perhaps, Fort St. George itself became celebrated and fêted in the town.
If readers have other theories, or if you’ve visited the Fort – either in Chennai or in Cambridge – it would be great to hear from you.
Thank you to David Ebsworth for this exploration of one of the great historical buildings in India. If you’d like to contact him for more information you can find him on his website
Or you could buy the books
Tags Arthur Wellesley, Catherine Hymners Yale, Chennai, Coromandel Coast, David Ebsworth, East India Company, Elihu Yale, Fort St George, historical fiction, India, Indian Ocean Slave Trade, Madras, Robert Clive, Tamil Nadu, The Raj, Wicked Mistress Yale Series
© Deborah Swift 2020
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Canadian Officers Training Corps fonds
With the outbreak of World War I, the University Council appointed a Committee on Military Instruction which authorized the teaching of military science and tactics. A university corps was organized in the fall semester of the 1914-1915 year with 64 students taking extra classes to qualify as officers. On March 1, 1915, the Canadian Officers Training Corps (C.O.T.C.) of the University of Manitoba was established. Eight companies of 60 men of all ranks were formed with Professor E.P. Fetherstonhaugh as captain and adjutant. In 1915, the Western Universities Battalion was formed with the University of Manitoba contributing one company and one platoon. With the introduction of conscription legislation in 1917, military training was made compulsory for all male students. After the First World War, the C.O.T.C. program was reorganized, in 1920, by Lt. Col. N.B. Maclean, but it continued in relative obscurity for almost twenty years. With the outbreak of World War II, the C.O.T.C. was quickly revitalized and its membership mushroomed, from its peace time level of 150 to 800. The Senate also passed regulations relating to academic credits or bonuses for students who joined the C.O.T.C. By 1942, all male students were once again required to enlist in a compulsory programme of military training. The C.O.T.C. continued the work of military training on a voluntary basis after World War II with new modernized and attractive programmes, but with the return of peace its popularity rapidly declined.
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Home > Libraries > Library Philosophy and Practice - Electronic Journal > 708
Grey Literature Acquisition and Management: Challenges in Academic Libraries in Africa
Odaro Osayande, Covenant UniversityFollow
Christopher O. Ukpebor Mr., University of Benin - NigeriaFollow
The term "grey literature" brings connotations of bleakness, apathy, indifference, and questionable authority to mind (Mason, 2009). Upon investigation, this is far from truth, unless you find research papers from eminent researchers to be boring. Grey literature has some connection to the brain's "grey matter" since so much of it seems highly intellectual and is significant for research and development in many subject areas. Grey literature is used to describe publications not published commercially or indexed by major database vendors. It is occasionally the sole source for specific research questions. This is why it is highly imperative for academic libraries in Africa to acquire these resources against any challenges. Due to the nature of these literature, academic libraries have had challenges with their acquisition as well as making them accessible. Their management is also a source of worry to academic librarians. This is because it may be ephemeral but it continues to have impact in research, teaching and learning, on which the goal of academic libraries revolves
It is difficult also to define grey literature precisely. Organisations which produce grey literature prefer to describe it rather than defining it (Gokhale, 1999). Grey literature is so called because of its semipublished status and can be difficult to locate, which is why researchers refer to it as the "fugitive literature". They are usually regarded as materials which connote bleakness and questionable authority, but this may not be always true. Most grey literature emanate from government departments, academia, trade unions, research establishment, churches, associations, etc. They are not usually published (resulting in lack of International Standard Serial Number/ International Standard book Number) through the conventional mainstream publishers and they are usually in format restricted and limited in scope. Information World Review (1996) calls grey literature ''the unsung hero, the foot soldier, the foundation of the building.''
GreyNet (1999) defines grey literature as "that which is produced on all levels of government, academics, business, and industry in print and electronic formats, but which is not controlled by commercial publications". Also, Debachere (1995) opines that ''collectively, the term covers an extensive range of materials that cannot be found easily through conventional channels such as publishers, but which is frequently original and usually recent''.
Hirtle (1991) also, defines grey literature as ''the quasi-printed reports, unpublished but circulated papers, unpublished proceedings of conferences, printed programmes from conferences, and other non-unique materials which seem to constitute the bulk of our modern manuscript collection''. In general, grey literature publications are non-conventional, fugitive, and sometimes ephemeral publications. They may include, but are not restricted to reports (preprints, preliminary progress, and advanced reports, technical reports, statistical reports, memoranda, state of the art reports, market research reports, etc), theses, conference proceedings, technical specifications and standards, non-commercial translations, bibliographies, technical and commercial documentation, and official documents not published commercially (Alberari, 1990).
From the understanding of various definitions of grey literature, the acquisition and management of grey literature in African academic libraries become an issue the librarian must exploit. These clarifications are important because they provide guidance to acquisition librarians who need to know what kind of information their users want. The key point here is that since grey literature is not well-covered by conventional book trade channels, the acquisition librarian is faced with such difficulties as to: identify, acquire, process and access these literatures than the conventional literatures. Hence, academic libraries in Africa desiring to use grey literature as a source of information, must be prepared to accept challenges and decide on their collection due to the ever dwindling fund allocation to libraries.
Historically, grey literature is not a new phenomenon of the late twentieth century, but something considered a genre since at least the 1920s, particularly in Europe among the scientific circles (Augur, 1989). Grey literature was for many years synonymous with 'reports literature.' At the turn of the century, documents evolving out of research and development, particularly from the aircraft and aeronautics industries were a very important means of communicating the results of research test (Augur, 1989).
However, it was the onslaught of World War Two which had the greatest impact on the report literature, transforming it into a major means of communication. The hallmark of that war was the development of technologicallyadvanced weaponry, from sophisticated tanks to the atomic bomb. These breakthroughs in science made accurate and speedy communications a necessity. The technical report was widely used to disseminate information (White, 1984). The decades that follow saw the continuation of staggering amounts of scientific and technological research, which was amassed to improve both military and communication system. According to Augur (1989)
''one thing that made grey literature so attractive and attained its importance as a separate medium of communication was because of an initial need for security or confidentiality classification which prevents documents being published in the conventional manner''
Presently, grey literature has continued to grow but the acquisition of grey literature is like finding a needle in a haystack, making it a challenge for libraries all over the world.
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The High Five: The YouTube Award Goes To … Pentatonix, A Capella Group With Arlington Roots
by Eric Aasen 7 Nov 2013
Five stories that have North Texas talking: Pentatonix gets a YouTube award, Tony Dorsett has degenerative brain disease, catch up on the president’s trip to Dallas, and more:
CTA TBD
And the YouTube Award goes to … Yes, YouTube has launched its own awards ceremony. Pentatonix, the band with Arlington ties, won the Response of the Year category. The award is for the group’s remix of “Radioactive” with Lindsey Stirling. YouTube describes the category this way: “Based on what you watched, shared and loved over the last 12 months, these nominees are the five best videos that remixed, covered, parodied or responded to an original song on YouTube.” Pentatonix has been getting lots of media love lately. NPR’s Morning Edition explored the group on this morning’s program. “Pentatonix is a five-person singing group that formed to compete in the NBC a cappella competition show “The Sing-Off.” Three of its members were friends from high school, but the full group met for the first time just hours before the show to rehearse. Pentatonix ended up winning the competition.” Bass vocalist Avi Kaplan told NPR: “We try to do it in a way where you don’t think of it as vocal music; you just think of it as music — as just a song that you’re listening to and you don’t miss anything. We’re just a band, and we just happen to use our voices.”
Here’s the “Radioactive” remix that won Response of the Year:
And here’s Pentatonix’s remix of Daft Punk songs. It’s been viewed more than 4 million times (on YouTube, of course) since it was released on Monday.
President Obama visited Dallas on Wednesday evening. The president spent about four hours in Dallas, landing at Love Field around 5 p.m. Catch up on his visit on KERA’s news blog. He spoke at Temple Emanu-El to thank volunteers who are helping people sign up for health care through the Affordable Care Act. He expressed frustration that Healthcare.gov has experienced technical issues, but says the website is improving. Later, Obama appeared at two private fundraisers. KERA’s Lauren Silverman covered the president’s Dallas visit and has more details.
Dallas Cowboys legend Tony Dorsett shows signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain condition that’s reportedly caused by head trauma. It’s also linked to depression and dementia. ESPN reported the news on Wednesday. The former Cowboys running back, now 59, underwent brain scans and clinical evaluations over the past three months at UCLA. ESPN reported: “CTE is indicated by a buildup of tau, an abnormal protein that strangles brain cells in areas that control memory, emotions and other functions. Autopsies of more than 50 ex-NFL players, including Hall of Famer Mike Webster and perennial All-Pro Junior Seau, who committed suicide last year, found such tau concentrations.” Dorsett described to ESPN the various symptoms he’s experienced, including memory loss, depression and thoughts of suicide. “When he took his Oct. 21 flight from Dallas to Los Angeles for testing, he repeatedly struggled to remember why he was aboard the plane and where he was going,” ESPN reported. “Such episodes, he said, are commonplace when he travels.” CTE was explored in an explosive PBS documentary that recently aired on KERA-TV that investigated concussions in the NFL. “It’s enlightening to know what I have, what I’m dealing with,” Dorsett told The Dallas Morning News. “Now it’s time to find out, how can we can come back from it? I actually was told [by researchers] that it can be reversed. I was like, ‘What?’ They said, ‘Yeah, it can be reversed, slowed down, stopped.’”
One Crisis Away: Did you know that one in three North Texans can’t weather a financial storm that lasts 90 days? The problem’s known as asset poverty, and it doesn’t discriminate. A job loss, health emergency, even legal trouble is enough to plunge a third of our friends and neighbors into financial distress. This week, KERA launched a series, One Crisis Away, that explores these issues and is following four families on the financial edge. On Wednesday, “Think” explored the topic, focusing on financial literacy.
Jennifer Staubach Gates is a lifesaver. The Dallas City Council member saved an elderly man’s life by performing CPR on him at a North Dallas restaurant on Monday night. The Dallas Morning News reported that Gates was eating dinner at The Mercury when a waiter came by looking for a medical professional to help a diner who was choking. The man was foaming at the mouth. Gates, a registered nurse and the daughter of Cowboy legend Roger Staubach, started chest compressions before the man threw up and regained consciousness, the News reported. “I thought he was dead,” she told the newspaper. “I thought he was gone.”
And, today, we have a sixth item:
DMN to print the S-T: This would have seemed unimaginable 10 years ago, but The Dallas Morning News will soon print the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. No, the Morning News is not buying the Star-Telegram; they will maintain separate newsrooms and operations. But the Star-Telegram will no longer be printed in southwest Fort Worth; instead it will be printed in Plano. About 75 full-time and 200 part-time Star-Telegram employees will lose their jobs. Across the country, newspapers have consolidated their printing presses to save money. The Morning News already prints a variety of newspapers, including regional editions of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and others.
#hashtag?
The High Five
THROUGH 31DEC 2019
VOLUNTEER: Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary
@ Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary
Volunteers are a vital part of the Heard's success. The Heard is currently s...
Museums & Attractions: Nature & Science
THROUGH 15SEP 2018
Texas Video Showdown
@ Musea
This is a unique, online, ongoing, musical challenge, video event. What is ...
Music: Indie
Passages in Modern Art: 1946 – 1996
@ Dallas Museum of Art
Passages in Modern Art: 1946–1996 brings together objects from the DMA’...
THROUGH 1SEP 2017
Hidden Treasures: Celebrating 75 Years
@ Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
It’s an exhibit unlike any other filled with iconic artifacts from a teach...
Museums & Attractions: History
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Methodist 'discipline' encompassed for John Wesley the ordering of the life of the societies and their members, both in personal and ecclesiastical terms. Personal discipline was strongly enforced by e.g. the General Rules of the United Societies, first published in 1743 and regularly handed out and explained to new members (with stricter rules for the bands). Wesley himself frequently examined the societies and purged the membership lists during his tours. Between his visits, discipline was exercised by the Assistants and other itinerants, whose own itinerancy and stationing were under the authority of Wesley and later of the Conference. The Large Minutes periodically summarised the Conference decisions on such matters. The use of the term 'discipline' to refer to the ordering of church life in its various aspects has continued, from the Form of Discipline of 1797 to the modern Constitutional Practice and Discipline.
Within this broader sense, jurisdiction in 'disciplinary' matters has always been exercised where, upon a charge being brought, misconduct is found to justify the removal of a person from ministerial or lay office or membership. Originally, the Deed of Declaration vested in the Conference the general power to exclude from the ministry, but rules were adopted e.g. in the Plan of Pacification for the procedure to be followed in the trial of such preachers through District Committees. Charges against lay members came to be dealt with by the Leaders' Meeting, with the Local Preachers' Meeting having jurisdiction over local preachers with respect to their exercise of that office. Provisions for appeal were made, including a final appeal to the Conference.The rules relating to the exercise of disciplinary jurisdiction evolved, with variations, in the different branches of Methodism, and have been revised several times since 1932.
Ministerial, diaconal and lay discipline is now dealt with by a connexional discipline committee, with appeal to a connexional appeal committee, in each case containing a mixture of ordained and lay people and chaired by a person with appropriate qualifications or experience. The final appeal in all cases continues to be to the Conference. From 1998, this Conference jurisdiction is exercised, other than in doctrinal cases, by a committee of thirty (from 2011, fifteen) members of the previous Conference acting in its name.
Recent measures have also been introduced to address questions of ministerial and diaconal competence (1996), and to deal with complaints, not necessarily culminating in a disciplinary charge, made against ordained or lay members of the Church (2000). Further emphasis has continued to be placed on attempting to reach an agreed resolution of such issues, with the appointment of district and connexional Reconciliation Groups.
A major report to the Conference on Complaints and Discipline (2007 Agenda, pp. 360-380) set out some theological considerations upon which the system is based, and the overarching principles are to be found in legislative form in Part 11 of CPD, in particular in Standing Orders 1100 and 1102.
History of the Methodist Church in Great Britain 1 (1965) pp.183-209; 4 (1988) pp.59-61
Constitutional Practice and Discipline, Vol 2, Book III, section 04, and Part 11'
Charles Edward White, 'John Wesley's Use of Church Discipline', in Methodist History, 29:2 (January 1991) pp.112-18
Constitutional Practice and Discipline ('CPD')
Deed of Declaration
Large Minutes
Leaders' Meeting
Local Preachers
Plan of Pacification
Society (Methodist)
Entry written by: SRH
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Saturday, 30 March 2019 by admin
In 2018, the Army missed its recruiting objective for the very first time since 2005, a fact caused by a strong economy and also because of a slowdown in conventional recruiting methods, such as cold calls. Currently, the US government is testing out a brand-new technique for signing up military personnel, looking not only on the net, but at people playing games on the internet.
The U.S. Army is looking past the traditional recruiting advertisements as it attempts to pitch itself to a brand-new target market in the for of gamers. We spoke to number of players at a sold-out gaming convention in Los Angeles where a Major General who is head of the military’s recruiting command for the region, claims he’s seeking the future generation of American soldiers.
“Is there something that gamers have today that matches the requirements of the US military?” we asked.
” Yes,” the General responded. “It’s the ability to make decisions quickly, it’s the capacity to take in a great deal of details promptly and also to be able to decide … It has to do with response time, and teamwork.”
To help the Army achieve it’s recruitment goal, it started putting together the first all-Army esports team. With more than 7,000 active service soldiers now competing for 35 full time spots playing video games like League of legends, Call of Duty and Fortnite.
Whilst gamers may not fit the traditional stereotype of what it means to be the “America’s soldier,” they carry alot of the characteristics the Army looks for in it’s soldiers, including competitiveness, team work and strategic thinking. We spoke to the team at Eagle Six Gear (our go to suppliers of patriotic shirts) about the Army’s new recruitment tactics. They had this to say, “There’s always a threat in everything the military do. There is a risk. And I think if we can find more ways to prepare our soldiers for combat, and that includes gaming, then we’re all for it.”
Published in Home page, Uncategorized
7 Tips to Ease Yourself Into Playing League of Legends
Monday, 15 January 2018 by admin
It’s 2018 and League of Legends is still all the rage in multiplayer online battle arena gaming. It just keeps getting better. But with the so many characters (champions) to choose from and a huge and oftentimes critical community, the game can be intimidating for new people to get into. We’re here to change that. Here are 7 tips on how to start playing League of Legends.
1. Know the map – As a beginner, your teammates don’t expect you to formulate a strategy or have a good technique, but they do expect you to know the basics of the map.
Summoner’s Rift is composed of three lanes. You have the top, middle and bottom lanes. On the bottom left and top right corners of the map are the team bases. Your role on the team is determined by the champion you selected and the part of the map you start on:
Top: The Top-laner is usually played by Tanks or Bruisers. These are characters who can take or deal a lot of damage (or both).
Mid: Mid-laners usually have solid Ability Power, or AP for short. Mages and Assassins do well as Mids.
Jungler: Junglers don’t have an assigned lane. They start out clearing the jungle of monsters. Later they drop into any of the three lanes to help their teammates by killing unsuspecting enemies. This is called ganking.
ADC: Assigned to the bottom lane together with the Support, the ADC starts the game by farming minions, leveling up, and buying items that will increase their attack damage.
Support: The Support’s main role is to keep the ADC alive, assist them in killing, and provide visibility for the team.
2. Know your hotkeys – You may think that only pros use the hotkeys all the time, but there’s no going around it: a keystroke is faster than clicking on an icon on the screen. The sooner you learn them the better your game experience will be. The main ones you ought to learn are the following:
Q, W, E, R: Your four main abilities.
Ctrl + Q,W,E,R: Level up that ability (without having to click the little plus sign with your cursor)
Alt + Q,W,E,R: Casts spell/ability on yourself (if possible)
Shift + Q,W,E,R: Casts spell/ability at your cursor (if possible)
F, D: Your two Summoner Spells
S: Stop whatever it is you’re doing. Useful to prevent yourself from auto-attacking minions.
1-6: Your items. You only need to press these if a specific item has an active ability.
Spacebar: Centers the camera on your champion. Very useful during team battles when things get super hectic visually.
G: Send pings to your teammates.
Y: Locks/unlocks camera on champion.
B: Recall (takes you back to base)
P: Opens up shop window (use to check prices on items when you’re away from the base)
Tab: Opens up stats page for current game.
3. Pick one role and get good at it – With so many champions to choose from, coupled with the different roles you can take, it’s easy to just freeze up and not start at all. Just pick a role. Stick to playing that role for several hours, days or even weeks, and you’ll master that role and become a more competitive player.
4. Know the League language – This works in the same fashion as hotkeys.Well, mostly. It’s easier to say or type in “CC” than it is to say or spell out “Crowd Control.” This is also the language of the community so it pays to familiarise yourself with some of the commonly used terms:
CS: “Creep score.” The amount of minions you’ve killed in a game.
CC: Crowd control. Abilities that limit enemy champions’ ability to participate in fights—any move that temporarily stuns, roots, blinds, or disarms a target, for instance.
Drag: Short for dragon or drake, is a powerful monster in Summoner’s Rift. When your team kills a dragon, you receive a bonus base on the dragon killed.
Gank: Technically an abbreviation for “gang kill.” Basically, a gank is a surprise attack that makes the ones doing the ganking suddenly outnumber the opponents who are being ganked. Whenever a jungler jumps into a lane to help the teammates there kill their opponents, they’re performing a gank.
Wave clear: A champion’s ability to kill an entire wave of enemy minions in one fell swoop or very quickly.
Bait: Luring an opponent into a trap, usually by tricking them into thinking you’re weak, isolated, or both.
Kiting: Running away from an opponent while simultaneously dealing damage to them.
OOM: “Out of mana.” A good excuse to fend off accusations such as “Why the hell didn’t you fire your ult?!”
KS: “Kill-steal,” dealing the killing blow, and thus getting credit for a kill that someone else did all the hard work for.
MR: Magic resist.
Leash: A method used to help junglers by attacking monsters in the jungle to chip away at their health and/or distract them while leaving the final kill for the jungler teammate.
For a more exhaustive list, please go here.
5. Control Your Emotions – “Control, control, you must learn control.” These wise words from a green midget may have been spoken a long time ago, but they certainly apply to League of Legends. Letting your emotions get the better of you is counterproductive. It will cloud your judgement, ruin your game, and probably your day as well.
6. Devote time to playing the game – Of course it’s just a game! A really fun and satisfying one if you dedicate ample time to learning it (it’s even a full-time job for some!). As with any activity, serious or otherwise, you don’t get good at playing League of Legends overnight.
A matc h typically takes about an hour or so. During that time make sure you rid yourself of any distractions (your mobile, the tv, etc.) because looking away for even a few seconds can spell the difference between losing and winning the game.
7. Develop a thick skin – You have to understand that people online act way more different than they do face to face. It’s far more easier to say nasty things to someone when he’s hundreds of miles away. Don’t let them get to you. Press mute, or report abusive players.
That’s it, ladies and gents! Practise these seven tips and we can almost guarantee that you’ll be lost in the fun and camaraderie of League of Legends in no time.
For a full, up-to-date beginner’s guide to playing League of Legends, please go here.
Why you Need a Coach in League of Legends
Monday, 13 March 2017 by admin
I still remember the first time I was introduced to League of Legends back in my freshman year of college. This wasn’t too long after the game came out, so I was still pretty new to the game. I was playing a champion who wasn’t meant to be jungler, and I wondered why my teammates complained when I decided to wander into the forest and cross lanes. Without knowing what the hell I was doing, I was hopelessly lost. There weren’t a lot of trustworthy guides sites back then either, so I spent the majority of my time plumbing forum posts, reading guides written by fans on these forums, and asking questions of the community whenever I got the opportunity to do so.
There was a sense of mystery back then that was very charming, and it reminded me of playing console games as a kid without really knowing any of the strategies to take on bosses in platformers. Trial and error was what it was all about, and I had fun with pure experimentation as a kid before I ever contemplated that professional gaming would ever exist. I handled my first months in League in exactly the same way, consulting people directly for advice and finding tips in the most obscure places.
Flash forward to 2016 and players have a limitless amount of resources. There’s really no excuse not to have some knowledge on the game’s mechanics this day and age, even if you’re a casual player. That being said, many people have different learning styles. A lot of us are readers, some of us learn best by writing things down, and other people learn best by doing things directly, watching a video, or being consulted directly by a teacher. For people who learn best from one-on-one teaching, there’s always League of Legends coaching available.
League coaching is a great option for players who learn better when being taught directly by a professional gamer. Our company offers the most comprehensive full-service coaching experience in the industry, and we ensure that you improve your skills with whatever champs you’re interested in improving your skills at. We offer a ton of different customizable options when it comes to learning how to play League. If you’re the type of person that learns best with a traditional teacher-student format, this may be the difference between you remaining a mediocre playing or becoming an exceptional one.
Across the board, whenever you speak to professional gamers who have made a career out of playing League and other games, they all talk about how important it was to have a mentor. Unfortunately, most of us aren’t lucky enough to be in circles where professional gamers hang out—nor would a world-class champion be willing to teach the average person. When I started out in League, I would have been grateful to have mentor. Take a look at our coaching packages to enlist the help of one of the world’s best players for a great price, and we’ll help you learn how to improve your game.
Playing League of Legends with Friends
Sunday, 12 March 2017 by admin
There’s never been a better time to play League of Legends, and if you have family and friends who haven’t yet taken the plunge into serious gaming, it’s a great time to introduce them now. League is a casual enough game that almost anyone can get into playing it—the game is addictive by nature, and almost everyone who gets a hold of it is instantly hooked. There’s something about the simplicity of it that draws new players in and keeps them interested for hundreds or even thousands of hours. It’s a good reason to get your real-life friends in on the fun, or to play with your family members.
There are so many champions available on the free rotation that beginners can really get a hang of. As you might know if you’ve been playing League for a minute, there are a wide selection of different champions all with their own distinctive skill caps. Providing guidance for new players is a rewarding experience, and teaching the ins-and-outs of the game can be really fun, especially if you’re helping out one of your friends or family members. Thankfully, you can get started playing League for free, and since there is no initial investment, it carries no risk.
If you end up turning your friend or family member on to the game and they become a serious player, you’ve got another person to play with in queues. It’s always more fun to play with people you already know, as there’s a pre-existing relationship between you, and that makes the game a lot more laid back. At the same time, I wouldn’t recommend introducing new players to the competitive side of League to begin with, as we all know the community can be a bit toxic. Start small and see if they like it, then go from there and provide guidance as things progress.
You might end up introducing someone to their favorite new hobby. League is played by millions of players, and the community is growing every day. Consider how grateful you’d be, as an active League player, if you hadn’t known about the game and you were suddenly introduced to it by a friend of yours. For some of you, you might have started out playing the game in college or high school after one of your friends introduced you to it, so you know what I’m talking about.
For players who are looking to get the most out of the game, consider a boosting or coaching package to unlock rewards you might not normally be able to get your hands on. What could be nicer than gifting your family member an account that is pre-boosted for them, then teach them how to play at a higher level of skill with the help of one of our professional coaches? Granted, you don’t even need to do this to have fun in League. Start small and work your way up with them, and you’re bound to have a blast introducing them to the excitement of mechanics that you often overlook with your own greater level of experience.
Friday, 03 March 2017 by admin
A lot of players didn’t get the chance to start out with earlier incarnations of MOBA games. MOBAs like League of Legends and DOTA 2 are part of a long legacy of quick, action-oriented strategy games which put the emphasis on a single champion rather than an army of controllable units—but anyone who plays League already knows that. What some younger players might not know is that the modern MOBA genre originated with Defense of the Ancients, a popular map mod for Blizzard Entertainment’s highly-successful RTS, Warcraft 3. DOTA eclipsed the popularity of WC3’s regular multiplayer map modes quickly, reaching cult status in Europe and the United States.
Arguably, if you reach back even further, the starting point really began in 1998 with a map mod for StarCraft, another Blizzard strategy game. The mod known as Aeon of Strife allowed players to control a single hero unit to take down a wave of NPCs attacking from three different lanes. The lanes were connected to the home bases of two different teams, and the ultimate objective of any given match was to destroy the enemy team’s headquarters. Aeon of Strife provided the MOBA genre with the foundation behind its universally recognizable game mechanics—mechanics which emphasize both simplicity and a hidden complexity.
The meta strategy of MOBA games tends to reveal itself after hundreds of hours of play. Mechanics that were overlooked by new players begin to be revealed gradually as experience is accumulated. When you start out playing League of Legends, you’d be forgiven for not understanding how to weigh the best strategic choices and how to utilize your toolkit to the highest level of effectiveness. As you play more and more, the hidden aspects of the game’s strategy overall begin to reveal a far more multifaceted experience.
We’ve come a long way from the days of Defense of the Ancients and Aeon of Strife. League has more champion choices than any previous game in the genre, and this results in a lot of trouble for the developers as they are constantly working hard to ensure the game is as balanced as possible. Keep in mind, attaining perfect balance in a game like League of Legends is a major effort, and if your particular champion feels a little bit anemic after a patch change, try and operate within the new parameters of what is possible with your favorite heroes—better yet, learn to play ones you might not have given the time of day before.
If you’re interested in skipping all of the inconvenience of having to look up guides, learn strategies, and play with players who are dispassionate or toxic, consider enlisting the help of our professional boosters. We can bring you all the way up to diamond, if you desire it. We make sure you get where you need to go faster than any other provider of boosting services in the industry. Otherwise, continue playing the game on your own—but keep us in mind when you’re looking for a boost!
The Origins Of The Boosting Industry
Wednesday, 07 September 2016 by admin
The boosting industry got its start around the same time that League of Legends was released. Although it was nowhere near as large then as it is today, a dedicated few made various account services available to a flourishing community of players who understood that League was a good enough game to one day become as popular as titans like World of Warcraft. MOBA-oriented action has always been addictive, starting with Warcraft III’s original Defense of the Ancients map mod. While people had some inclination that Riot’s highly appealing next-generation MOBA at the time would end up being a hit, almost no one anticipated it eclipse almost every other game in popularity, remaining at the top spot on Twitch.tv consistently for the last few years.
With only CS:GO, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, and Overwatch coming close to League in sheer number of active players, Riot has been going head-to-head with industry titan Blizzard Entertainment for years, which is a little ironic when you think about the origins of the MOBA genre. All in all, they have managed to craft a superior experience to the original WC3-based DOTA format. The broad appeal of LoL is derived from the fact that is simple to learn and difficult to master and offers a way for players of all skill levels to enjoy a quick game or an extended session.
Many of our boosters started playing LoL on day one, and a few of them even started boosting during the game’s first year of being active. Back then, there weren’t a lot of organized providers of boosts outside of China, and most of the websites that offered services for the game were available on video game marketplaces and private trading forums where WoW gold and game currencies were offered; this meant that there was a lot less protection for the consumer, as there were no objective reviews as to which services were actually high quality and which ones were downright dangerous.
We were one of the first LoL boosting sites to sell ELO boosting to the masses, and after we received our first positive reviews on various gaming forums, our service exploded in popularity. As the industry’s authority on high-quality boosts, we remain one of the most widely-used companies today for players in all regions—primarily the United States and Europe, as all of our staff speak fluent English and cater best to western countries.
We’ll be covering the history of DOTA and MOBA games in a future article. If you’d like to learn a bit more about the meta and you enjoy reading articles about boosting and League in general, please check back regularly. We post every other day and keep our blog consistently updated.
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DigitalCollections@ILR
Labor and Employment Law Program
ILR School
Centers, Institutes, Programs
By Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsTypes
The Labor and Employment Law Program at Cornell ILR brings together social scientists and attorneys to inform each other’s work with the goal of addressing contemporary labor and employment law and workplace issues to influence litigation and public policy decisions. The program offers forums, conferences, and workshops on critical and evolving labor and employment law questions, pending legislation and decisional law. Partnering with law firms representing plaintiffs, management and unions, government agencies, and academics from a variety of disciplines, the Labor and Employment Law Program is able to provide unique offerings that analyze issues from multiple perspectives to increase awareness and expand the discussion.
ADAAA (Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act) Case Repository
Consent Decrees
EEOC v. Pape Material Handling, Inc.,
Ishii, Anthony W. (2019-05-13)
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Plaintiff, v. Atlas Electrical Construction, Inc. Defendant.
Gonzales, Kenneth J. (2019-04-26)
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Community Innovations, Inc.
Denver,, James C. III (2019-03-20)
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission vs. The Guidance Charter School
Phillips, Virginia A. (2019-02-27)
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Lucinda Management, LLC, et al.
Du, Miranda M. (2019-02-19)
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Park School of Baltimore, Inc.
Bennett, Richard D. (2019-02-08)
EEOC v. Sherwood Food Distributors, LLC
Nugent, Donald C. (2018-10-15)
State of Washington v. Horning Brothers, LLC
Rice, Thomas O. (2018-09-11)
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Las Trancas of Martinsburg, Inc.
Bailey, John P. (2018-08-08)
Maria Cazorla, et al. v. Koch Foods of Mississippi, LLC
Jordan, Daniel P. III (2018-07-31)
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Corinda State High School
Corinda State High School recognises as its prime obligation, the provision of access to an appropriate educational service for students whose principal place of residence is within the school's catchment area.
Because of enrolment capacity and growth, Corinda State High School may be unable to meet this obligation in the future unless action is taken to manage enrolments. The Principal must restrict the enrolment of out-of-catchment students to ensure in-catchment students can enrol at their local state school without requiring additional facilities.
Corinda State High School has a maximum student enrolment capacity of 1,926 students.
The school's Programs of Excellence are supported through the allocation of a defined number of places. Places in the Programs of Excellence will only be available to out-of-catchment enrolments once the demand for in-catchment enrolment has been met and sufficient student enrolment capacity has been reserved for future in-catchment growth. Currently Corinda State High School has the capacity to enrol:
84 in the Dance Program of Excellence
84 in the Music Program of Excellence
84 in the Visual Arts Program of Excellence
68 in the Design and Built Environment Program of Excellence
144 in the Football Program of Excellence
84 in the English/Humanities Program of Excellence
84 in the Mathematics/Science Program of Excellence.
Corinda State High School operates under an equidistant catchment area.
Out-of-catchment application
Out-of-catchment students applying for enrolment at the school are placed on a waiting list, assessed in order of receipt and prioritised as follows:
For schools with a Program of Excellence
Subject to available student enrolment capacity, places will only be available to out-of-catchment enrolments if they satisfy the school's criteria for placement in that particular Program of Excellence and the defined number of places has not yet been filled by enrolments from within the catchment. Sufficient student enrolment capacity must be reserved for future in-catchment growth. (Please note: The enrolment criteria for the Program of Excellence is available from the school.)
All other out-of-catchment enrolment applications.
This updated version of the School Enrolment Management Plan for Corinda State High School was gazetted on 14 September 2018.
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ROYAL NATIONAL MOD KICKS OFF IN STYLE IN LOCHABER
The Royal National Mòd (Am Mòd Nàiseanta Rìoghail) opened on Friday night as Scotland’s biggest Gaelic cultural festival arrived in Lochaber for the first time in a decade. Running until Saturday 21st of October, the Mòd will bring thousands of people to Lochaber as visitors and competitors make their way from across Scotland, the UK, and even the US.
Friday saw a torchlight procession through the streets of Fort William ahead of the official opening, with hundreds in attendance. At the ceremony, the new President of An Comunn Gàidhealach, Allan Campbell, gave his inaugural president’s address. In his speech, Mr Campbell called for the Royal National Mòd to be acknowledged as a Scottish cultural treasure. The opening ceremony included sensational performances by a former Mòd gold medallist Robert Robertson with Ross Wilson, and Gaelic folk group Na h-Òganaich completing the musical highlights.
On Saturday afternoon, the Mòd played host to the international Colmcille Shinty competition, Scotland played spectacularly, beating Ireland 4-1 in this international Colmcille shinty fixture.
In the Mod Football, Mallaig beat Sleat & Strath of Skye 6-1
The main competitions also kicked off with young Gaels vying for medals in fiddle, piano, accordion, melodeon and bagpipes. In the Fringe, Alexandra Hotel played host to a training session from The National Library of Scotland and Wikipedia – where locals could learn about the Gaelic site and how to edit it. A foraging walk also allowed guests to explore the local area and discover Scotland’s natural larder of edible plants, fungi and berries, before the party kicked off in the evening with the Fiddler’s Rally, with performances from Gold Medallists Eilidh Davis and Alasdair Whyte.
Sunday brings with it a day of rest in Lochaber, with the Royal National Mòd hosting a Gaelic service at Duncansburgh Church, ahead of a Celtic praise – a celebration of praise with music and song from the Church Gospel Band and more.
Over the next six days, the Royal National Mòd will host the highest number of participants in a decade, performing in competitions for Gaelic music, song, drama, highland dancing and literature, with all levels of Gaelic taking part.
John Morrison, Chief Executive of An Comunn Gàidhealach said: “This year’s Royal National Mòd has got off to a flying start and we’re looking forward to welcoming a record number of participants to Lochaber this year. It’s a joy to be back here after ten long years, and we thank the local community for such a warm welcome.
We have already seen some amazing performances, competitions and sport at this year’s festival, and we’re only three days in. The rest of the Mòd promises more exciting contests and performances, especially with the coveted Gold and Traditional Medal finals, and the Lovat and Tullibardine and Margrat Duncan awards later in the week.”
For full event programme and details, visit www.ancomunn.co.uk
Award Winning!
“Whatever Rocks Your Boat” with "Rock Trish" Tune in to http://www.dunooncommunityradio.org/ every Friday from 7pm - 9pm to hear a selection of all genres of classic to modern rock – exclusive interviews and first time plays –New Bands and Old Favorites –New Music and Classic Tunes there is always something to Rock the Boat on a Friday night with Rock Trish.
DUNOON TO HOST THE ROYAL NATIONAL MOD OCTOBER 2018
FINAL DAY AT LOCH ABAR 2017 MOD
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Tag: U.S. Constitution First Amendment
Court Affirms Livestreaming of George Floyd Criminal Trial
On November 5, Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill ordered that the joint criminal trial of the four defendants—Derek Chauvin, J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao–subject to the conditions contained in the order, including livestreaming. Thereafter the State objected to livestreaming while it was supported by the Media Coalition. [1]
On December 18, the Judge affirmed its original order for such coverage of the trial and denied the State’s motion to reconsider that order. [2]
The latest order conceded that the Court’s allowing audio and video coverage exceeds that allowed by Minn. Gen. R. Prac 4.02(d), but pointed out that another provision of these rules (1.02) ‘provides that ‘[a] judge may modify the application of [the General Rules of Practice] in any case to prevent manifest injustice.’
The Court concluded this latest order with this statement. “[T]he State’s suggested procedures to accommodate the Defendants’ Sixth Amendment rights [to a public trial] and the public’s and press’ First Amendment rights to a public trial would be, at best, inadequate, and at worst, mere lip-service to the Defendants’ and the public’s constitutional rights.” (P. 7.)
With this order and the previous order denying the motions for sanctions against the State for alleged deficiencies in discovery, the only pending motions awaiting decision are (i) Lane’s motion to reconsider joinder of the four defendants for one trial; (ii) the State’s objection to evidence of Floyd’s prior incident with the Minneapolis police; and (iii) Chauvin and Lane’s objections to the State’s intent to offer evidence of prior incidents involving Chauvin’s alleged use of excessive force.[3]
[1] Court’s Orders Regarding Criminal Trial of Defendants in George Floyd Killing, dwkcommentaries.com (Nov. 5, 2020)(order for livestreaming); Parties’ Latest Reactions to Issues for Trial in George Floyd Criminal Cases, dwkcommentaries.com (Nov. 18, 2020)(includes State’s objection to livestreaming); Recent Developments in George Floyd Criminal Cases, dwkcommentaries.com(Dec. 12, 2020)(summary of State’s arguments against livestreaming); George Floyd Cases: Media for Livestream; Chauvin Criticizes State’s Disclosures, dwkcommentaries.com (Dec. 15, 2020).
[2] Order Denying Motions To Reconsider and Amend Order Allowing Audio and Video Coverage of Trial, State v. Chauvin, Dist. Ct. File 27-CR-20-12646 (Dec. 18, 2020); Sawyer, Judge upholds decision to livestream trial of officers in George Floyd killing, StarTribune (Dec. 18, 2020).
[3] Parties’ Latest Reactions to Issues for Trial in George Floyd Criminal Cases, dwkcommentaries.com (Nov. 18, 2020).
Posted on December 21, 2020 Categories Law, PoliticsTags Derek Chauvin, George Floyd, Hennepin County District Court (Minnesota), J. Alexander Kueng, Judge Peter Cahill, livestreaming, Media Coalition, State of Minnesota, Thomas Lane, Tou Thao, U.S. Constitution (Sixth Amendment), U.S. Constitution First AmendmentLeave a comment on Court Affirms Livestreaming of George Floyd Criminal Trial
Declining U.S. Rankings in Important International Socio-Political Indices
There are many international rankings of socio-political characteristics of the countries of the world. Here are at least six in which the U.S. ranking is declining.[1]
Freedom of the Press Index. The U.S. ranking has declined from 41 in 2016 to 48 in 2019in this index by Reporters Without Borders. Despite the importance of freedom of press in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. this year is behind all of Europe, Australia, Canada and New Zealand as well as far below Papua New Guinea and right below Romania.
This Index is “determined by pooling the responses of experts to a questionnaire devised by RSF [Reporters Sans Borders]. This qualitative analysis is combined with quantitative data on abuses and acts of violence against journalists during the period evaluated. The criteria evaluated in the questionnaire are pluralism, media independence, media environment and self-censorship, legislative framework, transparency, and the quality of the infrastructure that supports the production of news and information.”
Human Development Index. This index from the U.N. measures life expectancy, education and per capita income. For the most recent year (2018), the U.S. is 13th behind most of our European friends, Australia and Canada.
Level of Corruption Index. Compiled by Transparency International, this Index for 2018 (the most recent year) has the U.S. as 22nd in 2018 with a score of 71/100 versus 18th in 2016. The U.S. is far below Denmark, Sweden, Australia and Canada as well as below Estonia and just a little less corrupt than the United Arab Emirates and Uruguay.
The U.S. along with Brazil and the Czech Republic was listed as a “country to watch” in 2019. According to Transparency International, “With a score of 71, the United States lost four points since last year, dropping out of the top 20 countries on the CPI for the first time since 2011. The low score comes at a time when the US is experiencing threats to its system of checks and balances as well as an erosion of ethical norms at the highest levels of power.”
Income Inequality Index. The Gini Coefficient measures perfect equality as 0 and perfect inequality as 1. In the mid-1970s the U.S. had a coefficient of 0.406 and in the mid-2000s as 0.486. Other reports of this Index by the CIA had the U.S. at 39th with a score of 0.450 (2017) while the World Bank said 59th with 0.410 (2013).
Global Peace Index. This Index is produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) as the world’s leading measure of global peacefulness. This report presents the most comprehensive data-driven analysis to date on peace, its economic value, trends, and how to develop peaceful societies.” From a ranking of 124th in 2018, the U.S. has declined to 128th out of 163 in 2019.
Social Progress Index. This ranks countries by their average score for scores for three broad dimensions: Basic Human Needs, Foundations of Wellbeing, and Opportunity. For 2019 the U.S. had a score of 84.78 for a ranking of 25 out of 146 countries after declining since 2014. All of the G7 countries are ahead of the U.S. in health and education.
These indices are examples of contemporary efforts to reduce complex socio-political phenomena to digital numbers and thereby enable the construction of tables and rankings. Theoretically one could make a detailed analysis of the assumptions and sources of the data used to make these tables and rankings in order to make an informed conclusion about the validity of the indices. But the overall conclusion of these indices that the U.S. is not Number One would be shocking to many Americans.
[1] Kennedy, The U.S. Is Falling, World View (Summer 2019) ;Reporters without Borders, World Press Freedom 2019; UN Development Programme, Human Development Indices and Indicators (2018) Transparency International, Corruption Perceptions Index 2018 ;World Bank, GINI Index (World Bank Estimate)–Country Rankings; CIA, Distribution of Family Income—GINI Index ;Institute for Economic and Peace, Peace Index 2019; Social Progress Imperative, Social Progress Index (2018); Kristof, Keynote Address, American Oxonian (Winter/Spring 2018).
Posted on August 19, 2019 Categories Economics, Other countries, PoliticsTags Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Europe, Freedom of the Press Index, Gini Coefficient, Global Peace Index, Human development Index, Income Inequality Index, Institute for Economics and Peace, Level of corruptin Index, New Zealand, Nicolas Kristof, Reporters Without Borders, Social Progress Imperative, Social Progress Index, Sweden, Transparency International, U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), U.S. Constitution First Amendment, United Arab Emirates, United Nartions, UruguayLeave a comment on Declining U.S. Rankings in Important International Socio-Political Indices
My Vocations
The words and music about vocation at the January 26th and February 9th worship services at Minneapolis’ Westminster Presbyterian Church have inspired my general thoughts about vocation set forth in a prior post. Now I reflect on my own vocations.
Until I was in my early 40’s, I had no religious beliefs after high school and no sense of vocation.
That started to change in 1981 when I joined Westminster and embraced what I now see as my first vocation: serving the church as a ruling elder (1985-1991) and over time as an active member of several of its committees (Spiritual Growth, Communications and Global Partnerships). More recently I joined its Global Choir. After all, a new member covenants to find “a definite place of usefulness” in the church.
For 10 years (2003-2013) I served as chair of Global Partnerships, which supervises the church’s partnerships with churches and other organizations in Cuba, Cameroon, Palestine and for a time in Brazil. This lead to my going on three mission trips to Cuba, one to Cameroon and another to Brazil. As a result, I established personal friendships with people in those countries as part of our collective, and my personal, vocation of being present with our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world and standing in solidarity with them. I also learned about the history, culture and current issues of those countries. This in turn lead to a strong interest in promoting reconciliation between the U.S. and Cuba and Cuban religious freedom, and as a U.S. citizen I have endeavored to do just that.
This sense of religious institutional vocation also encompassed my serving on the Board of Trustees of United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities for another 10-year period (1988-1998). In my small way, I helped nurture future ministers of the church. In the process I got to know interesting members of the faculty, administration and board and about the life of U.S. seminaries.
I, however, initially struggled with how to integrate my newly reclaimed religious beliefs and my life as a practicing lawyer, and over the years found ways to share this struggle with others, especially with my fellow lawyers.
One way I discovered a vocation in the practice of law resulted from experiencing the bitterness and lack of reconciliation between opposing parties in litigation and, too often, as well between their lawyers, including myself. This experience lead in the late 1980’s through the 1990’s to a personal interest in, and writing and speaking about, alternative dispute resolution (ADR), one of whose objectives is resolution of such disputes more amicably, and to my active participation in the ADR Section of the Minnesota State Bar Association.
Another and more powerful vocation involving my professional life emerged when a senior partner of my law firm in the mid-1980’s asked me to provide legal counsel to the firm’s client, the American Lutheran Church (“ALC” and now the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America). The problem: how should the ALC respond to information that the U.S. immigration agency (INS) had sent undercover agents into worship services and Bible-study meetings at ALC and Presbyterian churches in Arizona that provided sanctuary or safe places to Salvadorans and Guatemalans fleeing their civil wars.
The conclusion of this engagement was the ALC and the Presbyterian Church (USA)—my own denomination—jointly suing the U.S. government to challenge the constitutionality of such spying. Eventually the U.S. district court in Arizona held that the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment “free exercise” of religion clause protected churches from unreasonable government investigations.
U.S. immigration law was in the background of this case, but I did not know anything about that law. I, therefore, sought to remedy that deficiency by taking a training course in asylum law from the Minnesota-based Advocates for Human Rights.
I then volunteered to be a pro bono lawyer for a Salvadoran seeking asylum in the U.S. because of his claim to a well-founded fear of persecution in his home country because of his political opinions and actions opposing its government. Again, my initial motivation for this action was to be a better lawyer for the ALC.
I discovered, however, that being a pro bono asylum lawyer was my passionate vocation while I was still practicing law and continued doing so until I retired from the practice in the summer of 2001. In addition to El Salvador, my other clients came from Somalia, Afghanistan, Burma and Colombia. I was able to assist them in obtaining asylum and thereby escape persecution. In the process, I learned more about asylum law and other aspects of immigration law as well as the horrible things that were happening in many parts of the world. I was able to use my experience and gifts in investigating and presenting facts and legal arguments to courts and officials and came to see this as one of the most important and rewarding vocations I have ever had.
In the process of this asylum work, I also learned for the first time about the humbling and courageous ministry and vocation of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was assassinated in March 1980 because he repeatedly spoke out against human rights violations in his country. He now is my personal saint. I also learned about the important and courageous work in that country by the Jesuit priests and professors at the University of Central America, six of whom were murdered in November 1989 for the same reason, and they too have become heroes for me.
Another Salvadoran I met on my first trip to that country enriched my sense of the potential for vocation in practicing law. He was Salvador Ibarra, a lawyer for the Lutheran Church’s human rights office, who spoke about the joy he experienced in his work.
After retiring from the full-time practice of law in 2001, I served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Minnesota Law School (2002 through 2010) to co-teach international human rights law. I thereby hoped to encourage law students to become interested in the field and to include such work in their future professional lives. Thus, this became another vocation with the side benefit of enabling me to learn more about the broader field of international human rights.
I chose another retirement in 2011, this time from part-time teaching, in order to start this blog about law, politics, history and religion. I came to see it as yet another vocation. I think it important to share my religious experiences and beliefs in the midst of active consideration of legal and political issues and demonstrate that it is possible for an educated, intelligent individual to have such beliefs.
In 2011 as a member of the planning committee for my Grinnell College class’ 50th reunion. I thought we should do more to remember our deceased classmates than merely list their names in our reunion booklet. I, therefore, suggested that if each committee member wrote five or six obituaries, we would have written memorials for all of our departed classmates. However, no one else volunteered to participate in this project so I did it all myself except for a few written by spouses. After the reunion, I continued to do this when the need arises.
Although this project required a lot of work, I came to see it as pastoral work and rewarding as I learned about the lives of people, many of whom I had not really known when we were together as students. I drew special satisfaction when I learned that a classmate who had died in his 30’s had two sons who had never seen the College annuals that had a lot of photographs of their father as a physics student and co-captain of the football team, and I managed to find a set of those annuals which were sent to the sons. I thus came to see this as a vocation.
Many of these vocations resulted from invitations from others to do something, which I accepted. Initially the invitations did not seem to be calls for a vocation, and it was only after doing these things and reflecting upon them that I saw them as such.
The concept of vocation often seems like doing something for others without any personal rewards other than feeling good about helping others. I, therefore, am amazed by the many ways I have been enriched by these endeavors. I have learned about different areas of the law, different countries and the lives of interesting people, living and dead.
I feel blessed that I have discovered at least some of the work that God has called me to do, in Frederick Buechner’s words, “the work that I need most to do and that the world most needs to have done.”
Or as Rev. Hart-Andersen said on February 9th, “When Jesus calls we get up and go, stepping forward in the direction of the one calling us. Being a follower of Jesus is not a destination . . . . Being called to follow Jesus is a way of life, a pilgrimage on which we embark together.”
Posted on February 23, 2014 Categories Law, Other countries, Personal, Politics, ReligionTags Advocates for Human Rights, Afghanistan, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), American Lutheran Church (ALC), asylum, Brazil, Burma, Cameroon, Christianity, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Frederick Buechner, Grinnell College, Guatemala, Jesuits, Jesus, Oscar Romero, Palestine, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Rev. Dr. Timothy Hart-Andersen, Salvador Ibarra, Somalia, U.S. Constitution First Amendment, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, University of Central America (UCA), University of Minnesota Law School, vocation, Westminster Presbyterian Church11 Comments on My Vocations
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How I'm Making It Valentine's Day Edition: The Lake & Stars
In honor of Valentine's Day we are bringing you a special How I'm Making It, with Mayaan Zilberman and Nikki Dekker of hit lingerie brand, The Lake & Stars. After winning an Ecco Domani fashion fund award in 201, The Lake & Stars was named as one of the brands in the new CFDA incubator, but turned down the opportunity. They are unquestionably the next big thing in lingerie, and I, for one, couldn't be happier: The brand provides intimates that a woman would actually want to wear, instead of the strange lacy contraptions and clichés that have become the norm. I caught up with Mayaan and Nikki via email since Mayaan had just broken her leg, to chat about their mother and daughter campaign, what they're doing for Valentine's Day, and the video game (!) they are coming out with.
Steff Yotka
In honor of Valentine's Day we are bringing you a special How I'm Making It, with Mayaan Zilberman and Nikki Dekker of hit lingerie brand, The Lake & Stars.
After winning an Ecco Domani fashion fund award in 2011, The Lake & Stars was named as one of the brands in the new CFDA incubator, but turned down the opportunity. They are unquestionably the next big thing in lingerie, and I, for one, couldn't be happier: The brand provides intimates that a woman would actually want to wear, instead of the strange lacy contraptions and clichés that have become the norm.
I caught up with Mayaan and Nikki via email since Mayaan had just broken her leg, to chat about their mother and daughter campaign, what they're doing for Valentine's Day, and the video game (!) they are coming out with.
How did you meet? We met about eight years ago through a mutual friend in New York who thought it would be a hoot to get his two lingerie designer friends together. We soon saw it was a bit of what we call a "Trick Date," and became close friends from then onward.
How did The Lake & Stars come to exist? We started developing the line in 2005, when Nikki and I realized we were always wearing swimsuits as lingerie and wanted bras and underwear that matched this look. Because we both had backgrounds in lingerie, we knew it would be a good idea and that we couldn't be the only ones who wanted this. We spent a year and a half on fit and construction, and making sure it was exactly what we wanted, then launched in Feb 2007. We're coming up on our fifth anniversary!
Where does the name come from? It's a euphemism from a Victorian book for what a woman would give you in bed..."the works in bed." As in "she gave him the lake and stars." We throw the term around a lot.
Do you have any previous design experience? I had a line called Zoe right when I graduated from school, and worked as a consultant for a few other luxury lingerie lines before this one. Nikki designed at Target for a long time before we started the company.
Who is you dream customer? We always love to dress strong-minded women... all ages, all backgrounds. Right now we love Azealia Banks, Marina Abramovic, and the head sewer at our factory (who doesn't take any crap).
What inspired your controversial ad campaign that features mothers and daughters? It's actually a series of portraits of our two friends Johanna and India who live next door. I have known them for over a decade, and have always thought they were so beautiful and interesting. Re-meeting the daughter more recently, and seeing her interact with her mom as an adult, I thought it would be inspiring to other women of our generation to see a healthy and mature mother and daughter relationship. We thought they were a perfect example of the kind of women we like to dress. We were quite surprised by the media's reaction, and saddened that people saw darkness in what was a very lighthearted photo shoot.
What's a typical workday like for you? Being that we have a small staff, our days range anywhere from running around town to fittings and choosing fabrics, to sitting at the computer responding to customer requests and hand-dying fabrics in the bathtub (for photo samples only!) What's great about running the show, however, is that sometimes we go to a movie in the middle of the day!
What's the biggest challenge that you've faced? Keeping up with all the seasons on the Fashion Calendar...it's just so fast.
What's the biggest risk you've taken? Telling women to wear bras as clothing, and in Fall 2010 when we made some "Fetish" pieces... we were worried people wouldnt get the joke, but instead our customers embraced it and they were our bestsellers.
What's the most fulfilling part of your job? When we get notes from customers telling us that wearing our garments changed how they feel about themselves, or improved their sex lives. The best ones are from women who had never worn bras before they purchased from us.
What are your Valentine's Day plans? For Valentine's Day we're celebrating the five year anniversary of launching our line. On this day five years ago we had our first runway show, and its extra special cause we're hosting the party in the original venue. The added fun part is the party theme: Trenchcoats... We do love a dress code that inspires you to wear Lake & Stars!
What's in store in the future for The Lake & Stars? We are developing a line of dresses based on our most popular bra styles, and we also have a video game in the works.... more on this soon!
The Lake & Stars
How I'm Making It: Designer Mandy Coon
Mandy Coon has the innate ability to mix things that are cute (bunnies) and things that are badass (leather) with ease. From diaphanous dresses to body-conscious jumpsuits, Mandy Coon knows what a woman wants. The eloquent and meticulously organized Texan invited me into her studio to get a peek at the behind-the-scenes life of her young fashion brand. Let me tell you, it's quite amazing. What was the inspiration for you to start your own label? I always wanted to do it, but I was unsure of myself for a long time. Growing up in Texas being a fashion designer wasn’t a thing you could be. I went to college for computer science, if that gives you any idea. Then I ended up in the fashion industry and knew I wanted to design, but I was kind of unsure of myself, so I went back to school at FIT and learned everything technical I could possibly learn. Afterwards I started working for Camilla Staerk, and I knew I wanted to start my own thing, but I was being hesitant. Camilla was the one who really pushed me to start. She was like, “You’re ready. You’re going to do this.” Her believing in me that much was what pushed me to actually do it.
By Steff Yotka
How I'm Making It: Deb Polanco of Sanctuary
The perfect pair of pants are hard to come by. This is something Deb Polanco, founder of West Coast-based label Sanctuary, knows all too well. When Polanco launched her label in 1997, in just 12 stores, it was all about the pants. Since then Sanctuary has branched out into easy tees, dresses, and separates, and is now in 800 specialty stores. You read that right: from 12 to 800. Plus the brand just launched e-commerce so you can get that California look without having to leave your New York City couch. Find out how Deb Polanco is "making it" in fashion, and how she makes those great fitting pants, too.
How I'm Making It: Venessa Arizaga
If you're looking for true magpie jewelry that mixes fun accents from every corner of the world, look no further than Venessa Arigaza. The young designer's creations have already caught the eyes of stores like Opening Ceremony and Net-a-porter.com, and can be seen on many a fashion peep's arm. Lucky for us we got to chat with Venessa about the inspirations behind her brand, and how she "makes it" in today's fashion world.
How I'm Making It: SUNO
SUNO, designed by filmmaker Max Osterweis and industry vet Erin Beatty, is one of the buzzier brands to emerge over the past year and a half. Launched as a way for Osterweis to utilize his collection of African textiles, the label has garnered an impressive following, from Vogue to Michelle Williams. But for young brands, demand doesn't always mean dollars. Osterweis and Beatty chatted with me about how they're building SUNO without getting too big, too fast. How did SUNO come to be? Max: The collection started with East African textiles that I had been collecting for years. I started the line because I wanted to start a business in Kenya at the end of 2007, beginning of 2008. For years I had been promising friends that I'd make dresses and skirts out of the fabrics, so I figured that this would be a good way to do that. Erin: We were friends for about a year beforehand, and then Max had the idea and was looking for designers. That's kind of the way it happened. I thought it was a bit crazy at first, but he convinced me.
By Lauren Sherman
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Sofia R6: Game drawn, Topalov leads 3.5:2.5
2/24/2009 – In the sixth game of their eight-game match Topalov played the Caro-Kann as black (no Sicilian yet in this match) and once again produced the novelty – on move eleven. Kamsky was not able to gain or hold a tangible advantage, and so the game became drawish. In the end he gave Topalov a pawn and drew by perpetual. GM commentary by Mihail Marin.
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Realizing an Advantage
In this DVD the author answers how to realize an advantage, considering both the psychological aspects of the realisation of an advantage and the technical methods.
The Kamsky-Topalov FIDE World Championship Qualifier is taking place from February 16th to 28th in the National Palace of Culture in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Match consists of eight games and if necessary tie-breaks. It has a prize find of US $250,000 which will be shared equally by the players. The winner qualifies for a World Championship Match against Viswanathan Anand, scheduled for later this year.
Round six report
Kamsky,G (2725) - Topalov,V (2796) [B12]
World Chess Challenge Sofia BUL (6), 24.02.2009 [Mihail Marin]
1.e4 c6. This is almost as big a surprise as Kamsky's 1...e6 from the previous game. True, Topalov had played the Caro-Kann in a few previous occasion, but this opening never was one of his main weapons. The experience of the second and fourth game must have taught Topalov that his opponent knows how to develop the initiative in the Ruy Lopez (despite his suicidal management of time in the second game!), but it remains a miracle that we have seen no Sicilian yet... Generally speaking, both players seem to have done extensive preparation for this confrontation and one can only regret that the match is so short. 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 c5 6.Be3 cxd4 7.Nxd4
This looks like an improved French for Black, because his potentially bad bishop has been developed outside the pawn chain. There are two elements that cause Black some problems, though. He has lost a tempo with his c-pawn and the bishop is rather exposed on f5. 7...Ne7 8.Nd2 Nbc6 9.N2f3 Bg4. Black is interested in giving up the bishop for a knight, in order to reduce his control over the e5- amnd d4-squares. White would never capture on f5 unless he spoils Black's structure, so Topalov spends another tempo in order to carry out the favourable exchange. 10.0-0 Bxf3 11.Nxf3
11...g6!? An interesting novelty. In previous games, Black moved away with his e7-knight, weakening the control over the d5-square, which may cause some problems after c2-c4. 12.c4?! This move fully justifies Topalov's choice of the opening. Kamsky's instinct for the initiative misguids him in this occasion. He probably wanted to take advantage of the enemy king's prolongued presence in the centre, but with a black knight on e7 the opening of the centre rather favours Black. Soon, White will find himself struggling. He should have continued his development with 12.Qd2 Bg7 13.Bf4 0-0 14.Rfe1 Qc7 (The thematical break 14...f6 leaves the black centre vulnerable after 15.exf6 Bxf6 16.Rad1 , eventually followed by c2-c4.) 15.Bd3 Rac8 16.h4 Black's position remains solid, but he has not quite equalised yet. In the long run, the e5-pawn may contribute to a slow, but powerful kingside attack. 12...Bg7 13.cxd5 Nxd5 14.Bc5
Kamsky probably connected his hopes with this move, which temporarily prevents the black castle, but Topalov continued to play quickly and convincingly. There is little to wonder about that, since computers like the idea of 12.c4, which makes us think that this was one of the main lines he had analysed when preparing the novelty... 14...Bf8 15.Qc1 Rc8! The opposition of the black rook and the white queen will lead to further simplifications. 16.Bxf8 Nd4 17.Qd1 Nxe2+ 18.Qxe2 Kxf8 19.Rac1 Kg7
Black has castled artificially and the dominating position of his knight offers him better chances. White's e5-pawn is mor of a weakness, as are the squares left behind by this pawn. 20.h4. This hardly causes Black any troubles in this concrete position. 20...Qb6 21.g3 h6 22.a3 Rc5 23.Rc2 Rhc8 24.Rfc1 a5 25.Qd2 Rxc2 26.Rxc2 Rc5 27.Qc1 Rxc2 28.Qxc2
This ending is very nice for Black, but during the period before his temporary retreat from chess Kamsky was known for successfully defending much more unpleasant positions. The relative ease with which he drew the present game proves that he has preserved this ability. At the same time, it is understandable that Topalov condinuet playing for a win, because this was the only way to maintain the psychologycal initiative in the match. Leko's systematic mishandling of such situations in the Brissago match is too recent to be forgotten. 28...Ne7 29.Qc3 Nc6 30.b3 Qd8 31.a4 Qd1+ 32.Kg2 Qe2 33.Qe3
33...Qd1. After 33...Qxe3 34.fxe3 the possibility of rapid centralisation of the king compensates him for the structural deffect. 34.Nd2 Nb4 35.Nc4 Nc2 36.Qd2 Qb1 37.Qf4 Ne1+ 38.Kh2 Qxb3
Topalov has managed to win a pawn, but Kamsky has a perpetual check already. 39.Qf6+ Kg8 40.Qd8+ Kh7 41.Qf6 Kg8. 41...Qf3 prevents the perpetual check, but does not avoid a draw after 42.Qxf3 Nxf3+ 43.Kh3 Nd4 44.Nxa5 b5=. 42.Qd8+ Kh7 43.Qf6 Kg8 draw. [Click to replay]
Do you speak Romanian – i.e. are you from Romania or Moldova, or are you for some reason learning the language? I that case you can read Mihail Marin's commentary in Romanian. The chess site "Sah cu Ceausescu" (nothing to do with a distasteful historical figure) is publishing translations of these commentaries, including JavaScript replay. This is naturally taking place with the permission of ChessBase and the author, GM Mihail Marin (photo left by Janis Nisii), who happens to be Romanian. You can find the games here:
Sah cu Ceausescu index page
Annotated games (Romanian)
Game 1 – Game 2
Rtng.
Kamsky, Gata
Topalov, Veselin
Monday February 16: 18:00h Opening
GM Commentary
Tuesday February 17: 15:00h Game 1
Topalov-Kamsky
Wednesday February 18: 15:00h Game 2
Kamsky-Topalov
Thursday February 19 Rest day
Friday February 20: 15:00h Game 3
Saturday February 21: 15:00h Game 4
Sunday February 22 Rest day
February 23: 15:00h Game 5
Wednesday February 25 Rest day
Thursday February 26: 15:00h Game 7
Saturday February 28 Tiebreaks
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WTC Cortlandt station
(Redirected from Cortlandt Street (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line))
New York City Subway station in Manhattan
New York City Subway station in Manhattan, New York
WTC Cortlandt
New York City Subway station (rapid transit)
Station platforms on reopening day, facing north.
Station statistics
180 Greenwich Street,
Financial District, World Trade Center
40°42′40″N 74°00′45″W / 40.7110°N 74.0124°W / 40.7110; -74.0124Coordinates: 40°42′40″N 74°00′45″W / 40.7110°N 74.0124°W / 40.7110; -74.0124
A (IRT)
IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line
1 (all times)
At Chambers Street–World Trade Center/Park Place/Cortlandt Street:
3 (all except late nights)
A (all times)
C (all except late nights)
E (all times)
N (late nights)
R (all except late nights)
W (weekdays only)
PATH: NWK–WTC, HOB–WTC (at World Trade Center)
2 side platforms
July 1, 1918; 102 years ago (1918-07-01)
September 11, 2001; 19 years ago (2001-09-11) (demolished following September 11 attacks)
September 8, 2018; 2 years ago (2018-09-08)[1]
ADA-accessible
Opposite-
Former/other names
Cortlandt Street
4,232,521[4] 239.8%
117 out of 424[4]
Station succession
Next north
Chambers Street: 1
Next south
Rector Street: 1
Show map of New York City Subway
Show map of New York City
Show map of New York
to Chambers St
to Rector St
Station service legend
Stops all times
WTC Cortlandt,[a] additionally signed as World Trade Center on walls and formerly known as Cortlandt Street and Cortlandt Street–World Trade Center, is a station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line of the New York City Subway in Lower Manhattan. The station is located under the intersection of Greenwich Street and Cortlandt Way within the World Trade Center. It is served by the 1 train at all times.
The original Cortlandt Street station was built by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and opened in 1918 as part of the Dual Contracts. The station was renovated in the 1960s when the original World Trade Center was built. Around that time, the portion of Cortlandt Street above the station was demolished to make way for the World Trade Center. The Cortlandt Street station was destroyed on September 11, 2001. Although service on the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line through the area was restored in 2002, the station's reconstruction was delayed until 2015 because the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had to first rebuild the World Trade Center PATH station beneath it. After an extensive reconstruction, the Cortlandt Street station reopened on September 8, 2018, as WTC Cortlandt.
The station contains connections to the PATH at the World Trade Center station, as well as an out-of-system passageway to the Chambers Street–World Trade Center/Park Place/Cortlandt Street and Fulton Street subway complexes via the World Trade Center Transportation Hub.
1.1 Early history
1.2 Station renovation
1.3 September 11, 2001, attacks
1.4 Reconstruction and delays
1.4.1 PANYNJ cleanup
1.4.2 MTA rebuild
2 Station layout
2.1 Exits
2.2 Relation to nearby transit
This mosaic was located in the station until it was removed in 1965 as part of a renovation. It is now located at the New York Transit Museum.
Early history[edit]
The Dual Contracts, which were signed on March 19, 1913, were contracts for the construction and/or rehabilitation and operation of rapid transit lines in the City of New York. The contracts were "dual" in that they were signed between the City and two separate private companies (the Interborough Rapid Transit Company and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company), all working together to make the construction of the Dual Contracts possible. The Dual Contracts promised the construction of several lines in Brooklyn. As part of Contract 4, the IRT agreed to build a branch of the original subway line south down Seventh Avenue, Varick Street, and West Broadway to serve the West Side of Manhattan.[6][7][8]
The construction of this line, in conjunction with the construction of the Lexington Avenue Line, would change the operations of the IRT system. Instead of having trains go via Broadway, turning onto 42nd Street, before finally turning onto Park Avenue, there would be two trunk lines connected by the 42nd Street Shuttle. The system would be changed from looking like a "Z" system on a map to an "H" system. One trunk would run via the new Lexington Avenue Line down Park Avenue, and the other trunk would run via the new Seventh Avenue Line up Broadway. In order for the line to continue down Varick Street and West Broadway, these streets needed to be widened, and two new streets were built, the Seventh Avenue Extension and the Varick Street Extension.[9] It was predicted that the subway extension would lead to the growth of the Lower West Side, and to neighborhoods such as Chelsea and Greenwich Village.[10][11]
Cortlandt Street opened as the line was extended south to South Ferry from 34th Street–Penn Station on July 1, 1918, and was served by a shuttle.[12] The new "H" system was implemented on August 1, 1918, joining the two halves of the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line and sending all West Side trains south from Times Square.[13] An immediate result of the switch was the need to transfer using the 42nd Street Shuttle in order to retrace the original layout. The completion of the "H" system doubled the capacity of the IRT system.[10] The station was built at the intersection of Cortlandt and Greenwich Streets, in a part of Lower Manhattan nicknamed "Radio Row" because of the many electronics dealers on the street.[14] It had a standard two side platform layout with two tracks.[15] There were mosaic decorations by Squire J. Vickers or Herbert Dole depicting ships along each platform's wall.[16] Red i-beam columns ran along the entire length of both platforms at regular intervals with every other column having the standard black station name plate in white lettering; the name plates alternated between "Cortlandt Street" and "World Trade Center".[17]
Station renovation[edit]
On August 9, 1964, the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) announced the letting of a $7.6 million contract to lengthen platforms at stations from Rector Street to 34th Street–Penn Station on the line, including Cortlandt Street, and stations from Central Park North–110th Street to 145th Street on the Lenox Avenue Line to allow express trains to be lengthened from nine-car trains to ten-car trains, and to lengthen locals from eight-car trains to ten-car trains. With the completion of this project, the NYCTA project to lengthen IRT stations to accommodate ten-car trains would be complete.[18] Work on the platform extension project took place in 1965 and 1966.[19][20] During the project, old tiling and mosaics were removed and replaced with the 1970s-style varnished, tan-colored brick tiles.[21] One of the mosaics was preserved in the New York Transit Museum.[16]
In 1965, Cortlandt Street west of Church Street was demolished to create the superblock of the World Trade Center.[22] The station, with entrances at Vesey Street and inside the World Trade Center concourse,[19] was separated from the remaining block of Cortlandt Street.[22]
During the 1980s, when service levels across the subway system were decreased greatly from their heyday in the 1910s, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority installed the system's first train-frequency schedules at the Cortlandt Street station. Older timetables and maps elsewhere had been removed since they had become inaccurate.[23]
Trains bypassed the station in the aftermath of the February 26, 1993, World Trade Center bombing.[24] Soon after, 1 trains were back to Chambers Street.[25] In 2001, just prior to the September 11 attacks, the Cortlandt Street station saw 19,446 riders per day.[26]:8C-3
September 11, 2001, attacks[edit]
Station destruction caused by September 11, 2001, attacks
The station and the surrounding subway tunnels were severely damaged in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks following the collapse of Two World Trade Center, resulting in the closure of the line south of Chambers Street.[27] During the September 11 attacks in 2001, a train operator reported an "explosion" to the MTA's Subway Control Center one minute after the first plane struck the World Trade Center's North Tower at 8:46 a.m. Subway service was halted shortly afterward, and as a result, no one in the subway system died.[28] The steel I-beams of the station were crumpled and the station roof collapsed, as the tunnel had been located 40 feet (12 m) underground, relatively close to ground level.[27]
Soon after the attacks, two options were considered: either the existing line would be repaired, or the tunnel would be diverted westward just to the north of the World Trade Center site before heading to a new terminal at South Ferry.[29] The first option was chosen, and to quickly restore service to Rector Street and South Ferry stations to the south, workers demolished the remainder of the station and built walls where the platforms used to be. 975 feet (297 m) of tunnels and trackage, including 575 feet (175 m) of totally destroyed tunnels and tracks in the vicinity of the station site as it traversed Ground Zero, were entirely rebuilt. However, officials wanted only to reopen Rector and South Ferry stations at the time, and the Cortlandt Street station was to be closed completely, with no replacement.[30]
Eventually, it was decided that the Cortlandt Street station was to be rebuilt as part of the greater World Trade Center reconstruction project; since the station was such a vital one in the area, a permanent closure was infeasible.[30] As part of the project, the East Bathtub was extended under the line to the eastern boundary of the site at Church Street. George Pataki, who was the governor of New York at the time, stated, "This is going to help more than a million people by restoring service, help the recovery of lower Manhattan and sends a powerful message that New York City can't be stopped."[31] The Port Authority's chief engineer and others tried to convince him to temporarily shut down the line while the new transportation hub at the World Trade Center was under construction. The Governor's decision to keep the line open increased the cost of the project because the subway structure had to be underpinned.[32] The line reopened on September 15, 2002, with trains bypassing the site of the Cortlandt Street station.[33]
The northern entrance at Vesey Street was under a staircase to the plaza above. After the World Trade Center collapse on September 11, the staircase still stood and became known as the Survivors' Staircase.[34] The stairs were moved into the National September 11 Museum in July 2008.[35]
Reconstruction and delays[edit]
PANYNJ cleanup[edit]
The ruins of the former Vesey Street entrance (lower right) in 2006
The WTC site in 2008. The concrete structure at top is a subway tunnel that includes the former location of the original station
In 2007, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), in the Environmental Impact Statement for the World Trade Center PATH terminal, expected the Cortlandt Street station to reopen in 2009.[26]:8C-16 In October 2008, the PANYNJ stated in a report that it had come to an agreement with the MTA on reconstructing the Cortlandt Street station. The MTA would pay the Port Authority to rebuild the station as part of the Port Authority's World Trade Center Transportation Hub contract, in order to make the construction process more efficient.[36]:50 The Port Authority was set to complete underpinning and excavation under the tunnel structure by the second quarter of 2010, and start basic construction of the Cortlandt Street station during the 3rd quarter.[36]:50 In the second quarter report for 2010, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey confirmed that excavation under the tunnel structure of the World Trade Center site was nearly complete, and that construction of the Cortlandt Street station would begin during the third quarter of 2010.[37] Station finishes were set to start during the second quarter of 2011,[36]:50 and work began on the station mezzanine and platforms in September 2011.[38]
The tracks were walled off for the protection of the workers while the construction progressed. From 2008[39] to 2011,[38] the 1 train used an enclosed structure for a short distance when passing the site of the station, as a result of the massive excavation in the World Trade Center site.[40] When the site was filled back in, the developers of the new World Trade Center rebuilt Cortlandt Street across the site as one of the primary roads, resulting in the rebuilt Cortlandt Street station again serving its namesake.[22]
Disputes between the PANYNJ and the MTA over who would pay for the renovation had caused the planned opening of the station to be delayed from 2014 to 2018. In 2013, the PANYNJ awarded a contract to rebuild the station. The first phase of the demolition of the original station cost $19 million.[40] The area was still being rebuilt in December 2013,[41] and in February 2015, the PANYNJ and the MTA agreed to finish the station. The part of the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line on which the Cortlandt Street station is located, south of Chambers Street, was intermittently closed between May 2015 and 2018. This allowed construction at the station, which included station finishes, tiles and lighting,[42] to resume.[43]
MTA rebuild[edit]
The WTC Transportation Hub Oculus building
The MTA gained control of the Cortlandt Street station's reconstruction project in 2015.[31] However, in January 2017, an independent engineer for the MTA said that the station's reopening could potentially be pushed back due to disagreements with station contractor Judlau Contracting. At that time, the MTA had spent $800,000 per month on the project, but it would need to spend four times as much money in order to meet the projected August 2018 deadline.[44] The PANYNJ agreed to grant the MTA "full access" to the Cortlandt Street station in June 2017 once the temporary World Trade Center PATH entrance was demolished and the station's foundation was poured.[45] The renovation included new Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant entrances with elevators,[45] track-intrusion systems, fire alarms, Help Points, CCTV cameras, countdown clocks and air conditioning.[46] A $1 million text-based marble mural by Ann Hamilton was installed in the station.[42]
By September 2017, much of the communications, power, and ventilation infrastructure was being installed, but contractor work and Port Authority utility relocation were significantly delayed. According to the MTA's Capital Program Oversight Committee, the contractor had to more than double its productivity to ensure an October 2018 opening, with substantial completion in December 2018.[47] In April 2018, several news sources affirmed the possible reopening date of October 2018.[31][48][49][50] By June, the station wiring was complete, architectural finishes and turnstiles were being installed, and elevators and escalators were being installed.[51] Station name signs with the text "World Trade Center" were being installed along the platform walls by August 2018.[52][53] The reconstruction of the station ultimately cost $181 million,[54][55] up from earlier projections of $158 million[56] and $101 million.[42] At that point, the television station WCBS-TV estimated that over a million trains had passed through the station without stopping.[56]
On September 7, 2018, several news sources reported that the station would reopen the next day in time for the seventeenth anniversary of the attacks.[1][53] The following day, the station indeed reopened with a ceremony.[57][55][54] A new name, "WTC Cortlandt", was chosen for the station because of its location under World Trade Center, in addition to paying homage to its historic name of Cortlandt Street.[58] However, work on the station had yet to be complete. As of September 2018[update], the MTA still had to complete the art on the northbound platform's wall, replace temporary ceilings, floodproof the station, and complete the north end of the station. The MTA projected that the work would be substantially complete by the end of December 2018.[59]:10 As of July 2019[update], the station's reconstruction was 95% complete but some work remained to be done.[60]:122
Panoramic view of the rebuilt station
Station layout[edit]
G Street level Vesey Street, West Broadway, Greenwich Street, September 11 Memorial and Museum
Upper Concourse
Broadway and 7th Avenue Line stations[61] Side platform
Northbound ← toward 71st Avenue (City Hall)
← toward Ditmars Boulevard weekdays (City Hall)
← toward Ditmars Boulevard late nights (City Hall)
Southbound → toward 95th Street (Rector Street) →
→ toward Whitehall Street weekdays (Rector Street)→
→ toward Coney Island late nights (Rector Street) →
Side platform
Balcony Westfield World Trade Center; elevators, escalators, and stairs to lower concourse
Northbound ← toward 242nd Street (Chambers Street)
Southbound → toward South Ferry (Rector Street)→
West Concourse Balcony Shops, passageway to Brookfield Place
Lower Concourse[61] Subway passageway trains at Chambers Street–World Trade Center
trains via Fulton Center
Subway crossunder MetroCard machines, turnstiles and entrance to Broadway Line platforms
Westfield World Trade Center Shops and booths
Subway crossunder MetroCard machines, turnstiles and entrance to 7th Avenue Line platforms
Mezzanine[61] PATH fare control MetroCard/SmartLink machines, access to PATH platforms
West Concourse Shops, passageway to Brookfield Place
PATH platforms[61]
Track 1 ← HOB–WTC rush hours toward Hoboken (Exchange Place)
Island platform (Platform A)
Track 2[b] ← HOB–WTC weekdays toward Hoboken (Exchange Place)
Island platform (Platform B)
Track 3[c] ← HOB–WTC weekdays toward Hoboken (Exchange Place)
Track 4[d] ← NWK–WTC toward Newark (Exchange Place)
Island platform (Platform C)
Track 5[e] ← NWK–WTC toward Newark (Exchange Place)
Side platform (Platform D)
The rebuilt station is located under Greenwich Street, at the same location as the original station.[62][63] It retains the two-track, two-side-platform layout, and is 20 feet (6.1 m) below the ground level.[63][64][38] There are columns between the tracks, except where the station passes over the World Trade Center Transportation Hub toward its north end. There is also a crossunder between the two platforms at the north end of the station, north of the hub.[65] The platforms feature gray i-beam columns with signs reading "WTC Cortlandt" on every other column. "World Trade Center" name signs are installed on the station's walls.[52] The station also contains an air-conditioning system.[58]
The 2018 artwork in this station is CHORUS, a $1 million, 4,350-square-foot (404 m2) weaving-based artwork by Ann Hamilton.[63] This artwork features words from several documents, including from the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and United States Declaration of Independence, embossed onto the station walls.[42][52][58]
Note: The following diagram depicts multiple lines; transfer to or from the WTC Cortlandt station (i.e., 1 service) requires payment of an additional fare.
Fulton St to Cortlandt St subway cross-section
Greenwich St WTC Transportation
Hub (Oculus) /
Westfield Shops Church St Broadway Fulton
Center /
Shops Nassau St William St
1 R / W 4 / 5 J / Z south mezzanine
underpass underpass Dey Street Passageway underpass mezzanine J / Z north mezzanine 2 / 3
mezzanine ← A / C →
Exits[edit]
The rebuilt station is connected to the Chambers Street–World Trade Center/Park Place/Cortlandt Street and World Trade Center PATH stations within the World Trade Center Transportation Hub. The WTC Cortlandt station is located just west to the World Trade Center Hub's head house, which is known as the "Oculus".[64][38][66] There are a total of four entrances from the World Trade Center Transportation Hub.[1] Two mezzanines underneath the tracks, at the north and south ends of the station, give direct access from the subway to the PATH. The northern mezzanine contains access to both platforms, while the southern mezzanine only connects to the southbound platform.[65] There are additional entrances to the uptown platform from the Oculus building's upper balcony, as well as from the South Concourse, which connects to the basement of 3 World Trade Center.[64][65] There is an out-of-system connection to the Fulton Center via the WTC Hub.[38][67]
The southbound platform has two direct exits to the street. The first is an elevator and stair at Vesey Street at the platform's extreme north end, and the second is a pair of staircases to Cortlandt Way at the station's extreme south end.[65] The station is ADA-accessible via the elevator at Vesey Street, as well as existing elevators to the World Trade Center Transportation Hub. Additional elevators lead from each platform to the crossunder beneath the station.[51][65][67]
Prior to 9/11, the station's full-time entrance was located at the north end of the station at Vesey Street and West Broadway, where there was a turnstile bank and one full height turnstile.[68][69] The token booth at this exit was still intact until the last remnants of the station were removed in 2007.[70][71] The entrance to the World Trade Center Concourse[72] consisted of full height turnstiles at the center of each platform[73] and was only open on weekdays between 6:40 a.m. and 10 p.m.[19][f] At the station's southern end, there was an exit to Liberty Street through Four World Trade Center.[75]
Relation to nearby transit[edit]
Lower Manhattan transit
1 Franklin Street
Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall 4 5 ( 6 )
1 2 3 Chambers Street
Chambers Street J Z
A C ( E ) Chambers Street–WTC
City Hall R W
2 3 Park Place
1 WTC Cortlandt
Cortlandt Street R W
( HOB NWK ) World Trade Center
Fulton Street 2 3 4 5 A C J Z
1 Rector Street
Rector Street R W
4 5 Wall Street
Wall Street 2 3
4 5 Bowling Green
Broad Street ( J Z )
R ( 1 W ) South Ferry/Whitehall Street
Whitehall Terminal
South Ferry loops
^ According to an internal MTA document, train conductors are explicitly told to abbreviate the World Trade Center's name as "WTC" when making announcements for the station.[5]
^ Formerly track 1
^ The hours can be seen in the following video at the 0:52 mark on the door.[74]
^ a b c Martinez, Jose (September 7, 2018). "Sources: A long-awaited Manhattan 1 train stop will reopen Saturday". Spectrum News NY1 | New York City. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
^ "Station Developers' Information". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
^ "Facts and Figures: Annual Subway Ridership 2014–2019". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
^ a b "Facts and Figures: Annual Subway Ridership 2014–2019". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
^ "Restored 1 train service to WTC Cortlandt station". Facebook. New York City Transit. September 7, 2018. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
^ "Terms and Conditions of Dual System Contracts". nycsubway.org. Public Service Commission. March 19, 1913. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
^ "The Dual System of Rapid Transit (1912)". nycsubway.org. Public Service Commission. September 1912. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
^ "Most Recent Map of the Dual Subway System Which Shows How Brooklyn Borough Is Favored In New Transit Lines". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. September 9, 1917. p. 37. Retrieved August 23, 2016 – via Brooklyn Public Library; newspapers.com.
^ Engineering News-record. McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. 1916.
^ a b Whitney, Travis H. (March 10, 1918). "The Seventh and Lexington Avenue Subways Will Revive Dormant Sections" (PDF). The New York Times. p. 12. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
^ "Public Service Commission Fixes July 15 For Opening of The New Seventh and Lexington Avenue Subway Lines" (PDF). The New York Times. May 19, 1918. p. 32. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
^ "Open New Subway to Regular Traffic" (PDF). The New York Times. July 2, 1918. p. 11. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
^ "Open New Subway Lines to Traffic; Called a Triumph" (PDF). The New York Times. August 2, 1918. p. 1. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
^ "Lost and Found Sound: The Stories". NPR. February 14, 2002. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
^ Dougherty, Peter (2006) [2002]. Tracks of the New York City Subway 2006 (3rd ed.). Dougherty. OCLC 49777633 – via Google Books.
^ a b "Terra cotta hexagonal plaque and tile border removed from the Cortlandt Street Station in the 1970s". nytm.pastperfectonline.com. 1918. Archived from the original on September 6, 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
^ "IRT Cortlandt St/WTC station looking south along southbound platform". nycsubway.org. New York City Transit. September 28, 2001. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
^ "IRT Riders To Get More Train Room; $8.5 Million Is Allocated for Longer Stations and for 3 New Car Washers". The New York Times. August 10, 1964. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
^ a b c Brennan, Joseph (2002). "Cortlandt St". Abandoned Stations. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
^ Stoffman, H. J. (July 19, 1966). "Cortlandt Street Platform Wall: IRT West Side / Seventh Avenue Line". nytm.pastperfectonline.com. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
^ Levine, Richard (March 30, 1987). "Saving The Subway's Last Mosaics". The New York Times. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
^ a b c Dunlap, David W. (September 27, 2016). "The Resurrection of Greenwich Street". The New York Times. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
^ Levine, Richard (January 5, 1987). "Subway Schedules Coming (Again) To A Station Near You". The New York Times. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
^ Ellis, Elaine A. (February 27, 1993). "Getting Out of Area Posed a Problem for Commuters". The Journal News. White Plains, NY. p. 5. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
^ "Commuters should brace for delays". New York Daily News. February 28, 1993. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
^ a b Permanent WTC PATH Terminal: Environmental Impact Statement. 2007.
^ a b Kennedy, Randy (September 13, 2001). "AFTER THE ATTACKS: TRANSIT; Part of Subway Tunnel May Have Collapsed Under Weight of Debris, Officials Fear". The New York Times. Retrieved April 15, 2018.
^ U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Special Programs Administration, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (April 2002). "Effects of Catastrophic Events on Transportation System Management and Operations: New York City- September 11". Archived from the original on March 5, 2013. Retrieved November 5, 2013. CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Alpert, Lukas I. (November 29, 2001). "Stations damaged in attacks may reopen in 2004". The Post-Star. Glen Falls, New York. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
^ a b Kennedy, Randy (January 4, 2002). "Subway Line In Attack May Reopen Much Earlier". The New York Times. New York City: The New York Times. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
^ a b c Rivoli, Dan (April 22, 2018). "No. 1 line to run again at Cortlandt St. station for first time since 9/11 destruction". New York Daily News. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
^ Sagalyn, Lynne B. (2016). Power at Ground Zero: Politics, Money, and the Remaking of Lower Manhattan. Oxford University Press. pp. 485–486. ISBN 9780190607029.
^ Kennedy, Randy (September 17, 2002). "Tunnel Vision; With Station's Reopening, Even Commuters Smile". The New York Times. New York City: The New York Times. Retrieved October 6, 2007.
^ Pinto, Nick (October 1, 2007). "Last Days Of The Lost Station". The Tribeca Trib. Archived from the original on January 11, 2010.
^ Dunlap, David (July 18, 2008). "A Last Glimpse of the Survivors' Stairway". City Room. New York Times. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
^ a b c "World Trade Center Report: A Roadmap Forward" (PDF). panynj.gov. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. October 2, 2008.
^ "World Trade Center Quarterly Report 2nd Quarter 2010" (PDF). Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. 2010. pp. 9, 11.
^ a b c d e Jennifer Fermino (September 7, 2011). "Cortlandt Street station comes back to life". New York Post. New York City: New York Post. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
^ Dunlap, David W. (May 8, 2008). "Ground Zero's Train in a Box, Above a Forest of Steel". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
^ a b "NYC Subway Station Destroyed on 9/11 to Reopen in 2018". WNBC. New York City: NBC New York. February 23, 2015. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
^ Work at Cortlandt Street station #1 train continues above ground at WTC Transportation Hub
^ a b c d Dunlap, David (April 28, 2015). "At Cortlandt Street Subway Station, Art Woven From Words". The New York Times. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
^ Jose Martinez (February 23, 2015). "Cortlandt Street Station, Destroyed in 9/11, to Get New Life". NY1. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
^ Barone, Vin (March 20, 2017). "Cortlandt Street station reopening could be delayed, again". am New York. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
^ a b "Capital Program Oversight Committee Meeting - March 2016" (PDF). mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. March 21, 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 16, 2016. Retrieved July 5, 2016.
^ "Update on the Cortlandt Street Subway Station". Tribeca Citizen. June 15, 2017. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
^ "Capital Program Oversight Committee Meeting - September 25, 2017" (PDF). mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. September 25, 2017. pp. 60–79. Retrieved September 25, 2017.
^ Barone, Vincent (April 23, 2018). "Cortlandt Street station to reopen in October". am New York. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
^ "Subway station destroyed on 9/11 to re-open in October". ABC7 New York. April 23, 2018. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
^ Rivoli, Dan (April 22, 2018). "No. 1 line to run again at Cortlandt St. station for first time since 9/11 destruction". New York Daily News. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
^ a b "Capital Program Oversight Committee Meeting June 2018" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. June 18, 2018. p. 29. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
^ a b c "Subway station destroyed on 9/11 finally ready to reopen". New York Post. August 24, 2018. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
^ a b Calisi, Joseph M. (September 6, 2018). "Cortlandt St. Station set to reopen with new name". DOWNTOWN EXPRESS. Archived from the original on September 7, 2018. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
^ a b "WTC Cortlandt Subway Station Reopens for 1st Time Since 9/11 Attacks". NBC 4 New York. Associated Press. September 8, 2018. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
^ a b Walker, Ameena (April 23, 2018). "Cortlandt Street subway station, destroyed during 9/11, will finally reopen". Curbed NY. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
^ a b "Cortlandt Street Subway Station Back On Track, Slated To Open This Fall". CBS New York. February 23, 2018. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
^ "Cortlandt Street Station, Damaged on Sept. 11, Reopens 17 Years Later". The New York Times. September 8, 2018. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
^ a b c "NYC subway station at site of 9/11 attack reopens after nearly 2 decades". CBS News. September 8, 2018. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
^ "Capital Program Oversight Committee Meeting - September 2018" (PDF). mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. September 24, 2018. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
^ "Capital Program Oversight Committee Meeting September 2019" (PDF). mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. September 23, 2019. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
^ a b c d Dunlap, David W. (December 16, 2004). "Blocks; At Site of New Tower, a Game of Inches". The New York Times. Retrieved February 19, 2018 (a diagram is available here).
^ "Tracks of the New York City Subway". Tracks of the New York City Subway. Retrieved October 9, 2015.
^ a b c "Press Release - NYC Transit - MTA Opens New 1 Subway Station at World Trade Center". MTA. September 8, 2018. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
^ a b c Alberts, Hana R. (April 30, 2015). "9/11-Shuttered Cortlandt St. Stop Begins Road to Reopening". Curbed NY. Retrieved December 25, 2016.
^ a b c d e Musluoglu, Subutay (October 2018). "MTA New York City Transit Opens WTC Cortlandt Station On The 1" (PDF). Electric Railroaders' Association Bulletin. 61 (10): 1, 7. Retrieved April 10, 2018 – via Issuu.
^ Yee, Vivian (November 9, 2014). "Fulton Center, a Subway Complex, Reopens in Lower Manhattan". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
^ a b "MTA Neighborhood Maps: Lower Manhattan" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York State. September 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 6, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
^ "Vesey St. entrance to Cortlandt St. station". nycsubway.org. New York City Transit. September 28, 2001. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
^ "Vesey Street Turnstile Bank". nycrail.com. September 28, 2001. Archived from the original on April 15, 2002. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
^ Glassman, Carl (July 5, 2017). "Waiting for the #1 Train: WTC Station to Open at End of Next Year". tribecatrib.com. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
^ Anastasio, Joseph (July 13, 2006). "The Abandoned Cortlandt Street station and the 9/11 Line - LTV Squad". ltvsquad.com. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
^ "The Mall at the World Trade Center; New York, New York - Labelscar: The Retail History Blog". Labelscar: The Retail History Blog. September 11, 2006. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
^ Gittrich, Greg; Donohue, Pete (January 16, 2002). "$1M-A-Day Fix For WTC Subway". New York Daily News. pp. 18–19. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
^ NYCSubwaySystem (1997), NYC Subway: Cortlandt Street, World Trade Center, 19 Trains, retrieved September 7, 2018
^ "Lower Manhattan Subways & Buses as of Sun 10/28 3 pm" (PDF). mta.nyc.ny.us. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. October 28, 2001. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 9, 2001. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
Stokey, Lee (1994). Subway Ceramics: A History and Iconography. ISBN 978-0-9635486-1-0.
Video of the station taken in 1997-1998
World Trade Center NYC. The Vesey Street entrance in 1999 can be seen from 3:45 till 3:57
A rare view of Ground Zero on 9-16-01. The same entrance, already destroyed, can be seen from 5:25 till 7:20
Ten Years Later: MTA Reflects on 9/11, Metropolitan Transportation Authority; September 7, 2011; 4:20
External images
Station status in 2002
Construction in 2010
Media related to WTC Cortlandt (IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line) at Wikimedia Commons
nycsubway.org – IRT West Side Line: Cortlandt Street-World Trade Center
Platforms from Google Maps Street View
Greenwich Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
Entrance from WTC Transportation Hub from Google Maps Street View
Stations of the New York City Subway, by service
Seventh Avenue Local
Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street
231st Street
Marble Hill–225th Street
Dyckman Street
137th Street–City College
116th Street–Columbia University
Cathedral Parkway–110th Street
103rd Street
66th Street–Lincoln Center
59th Street–Columbus Circle
Times Square–42nd Street
34th Street–Penn Station
23rd Street
Christopher Street–Sheridan Square
Houston Street
Franklin Street
Chambers Street
Rector Street
Lists by borough (The Bronx
Queens)
Note: Service variations, station closures, and reroutes are not reflected here.
Stations with asterisks have no regular peak, reverse peak, or midday service on that route. See linked articles for more information.
Stations of the New York City Subway, by line (physical trackage)
Seventh Ave. Line
168th Street *
[← to Central Park North–110th Street, Lenox Ave. Line]
South Ferry branch
South Ferry / South Ferry loops
Brooklyn branch
Fulton Street
Clark Street
[to Hoyt Street, Eastern Pkwy. Line →]
Stations and line segments in italics are closed, demolished, or planned (temporary closures are marked with asterisks). Track connections to other lines' terminals are displayed in brackets. Struck through passenger track connections are closed or unused in regular service.
First WTC
Windows on the World
The Bathtub
Bent Propeller
The World Trade Center Tapestry
World Trade Center Plaza Sculpture
Ideogram
Sky Gate, New York
February 13, 1975, fire
February 26, 1993, bombing
January 14, 1998, robbery
September 11, 2001, attacks
Rescue and recovery effort
NIST report on collapse
Deutsche Bank Building
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church
Second WTC
Site, towers,
Vehicular Security Center
Artwork (ONE: Union of the Senses)
PATH stations
New York City Subway stations
Chambers Street–WTC/Park Place/Cortlandt Street (2, 3, A, C, E, N, R, and W trains)
WTC Cortlandt (1 train)
Fulton Street (2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, J, and Z trains)
Corbin Building
Dey Street Passageway
9/11 memorials
9/11 Tribute Museum
National September 11 Memorial & Museum
Memory Foundations
Tribute in Light
America's Response Monument
To the Struggle Against World Terrorism
Postcards memorial
The Rising memorial
Relics from original WTC
Survivors' Staircase
Minoru Yamasaki
Emery Roth & Sons
Austin J. Tobin
Christopher O. Ward
Larry Silverstein
David Childs
Michael Arad
Leslie E. Robertson
Welles Crowther
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Silverstein Properties
Project Rebirth
Take Back The Memorial
9/11-related media
Featuring One WTC
Former: IFC
Former: Twin Towers 2
200 Liberty Street
Winter Garden Atrium
Other nearby structures
Park51
Verizon Building
West Street pedestrian bridges
Manhattan, New York City
West of Broadway/
130 Cedar Street
Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House
American Stock Exchange Building
Bowling Green Offices Building
Castle Clinton
City Pier A
Cunard Building
Downtown Athletic Club
Empire Building
International Mercantile Marine Company Building
James Watson House
New York County Lawyers' Association Building
Old New York Evening Post Building
Robert and Anne Dickey House
St. George's Syrian Catholic Church
St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church
Transportation Building
Trinity and United States Realty Buildings
Trinity Court Building
Whitehall Building
East of Broadway/
1 Hanover Square
1 Wall Street Court
5 Beekman Street
17 State Street
28 Liberty Street
63 Nassau Street
90–94 Maiden Lane
130 William
150 Nassau Street
170–176 John Street
American Bank Note Company Building
American Surety Building
Bennett Building
Broad Exchange Building
Chamber of Commerce Building
Continental Bank Building
Continental Center
Delmonico's
Down Town Association
Equitable Building
Excelsior Power Company Building
Federal Hall National Memorial
Federal Reserve Bank of New York Building
Fraunces Tavern
Home Insurance Plaza
John Street Methodist Church
Keuffel & Esser Company Building
Lee, Higginson & Company Bank Building
Liberty Tower
Morse Building
New York City Police Museum
New York Times Building
Park Row Building
Potter Building
Wall and Hanover Building
Four Continents
Titanic Memorial
Former buildings
Alexander Macomb House
Astor House
Barnum's American Museum
Blair Building
City Investing Building
Equitable Life Building
Gallatin Bank Building
Gillender Building
Howard Hotel
Kemble Building
Manhattan Life Insurance Building
Mills Building
Mortimer Building
New York Produce Exchange
New York Tribune Building
New York World Building
Pearl Street Station
Singer Building
St. Paul Building
Tontine Coffee House
Tower Building
Western Union Telegraph Building
Parks and plazas
Elizabeth H. Berger Plaza
Hudson River Park
Queen Elizabeth II September 11th Garden
High School of Economics and Finance
Leadership and Public Service High School
Léman Manhattan Preparatory School
Pine Street School New York
George Gustav Heye Center
Museum of American Finance
Museum of Jewish Heritage
Skyscraper Museum
Rector St/Greenwich St
Rector St/Trinity Pl
South Ferry/Whitehall St
Wall St/William St
Wall St/Broadway
Battery Maritime Building
Pier 11/Wall Street
Church/Trinity Place
Dey
Marketfield
Theatre Alley
Vesey/Ann
See also: Manhattan Community Board 1
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WTC_Cortlandt_station&oldid=999314097"
Accessible New York City Subway stations
Buildings and structures destroyed in the September 11 attacks
Financial District, Manhattan
IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line stations
New York City Subway stations in Manhattan
New York City Subway stations located underground
Railway stations in the United States opened in 1918
Railway stations closed in 2001
1918 establishments in New York (state)
2001 disestablishments in New York (state)
2018 establishments in New York City
CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list
Use mdy dates from November 2018
Pages using multiple image with auto scaled images
Pages using New York City Subway service templates
Articles containing potentially dated statements from September 2018
Articles containing potentially dated statements from July 2019
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Ben Gwin on Ronald Reagan, Addiction, and Finding Empathy Amidst Political Chaos
written by Sean Lawlor January 24, 2019
Framed as a memoir, Ben Gwin’s debut novel Clean Time: The True Story of Ronald Reagan Middleton chronicles the travails of Ronald Reagan Middleton, a meth-addict become reality TV star on the hit show Clean Time, where addicts compete for public popularity and, in turn, the right to receive treatment. It’s a biting satire of celebrity worship, academia, and the subjugation of the individual beneath the destructive cycles of capitalism. Drawing from (and satirizing) the postmodern tradition, Clean Time presents Ronald Reagan’s story through the perspective of aspiring academic Harold Swanger, who frames RR’s journals alongside letters, memos, and TV screenplays (and drawing absurd parallels to Homer’s The Odyssey along the way) in order to argue for the “new American hero” this ravaged country desperately needs. Amidst the numerous layers of satire, the novel offers an empathetic look into the psyche of an addict whose circumstances and decisions led him down a dark path intertwined with the policies of the President of his namesake.
I spoke with Ben at length about Clean Time, and our conversation meandered through Ronald Reagan’s influence on his work, the significance of reality TV, the nature of addiction, and, ultimately, the importance of finding empathy amidst the political chaos surrounding us in 2018, which may never have arisen without Ronald Reagan.
Sean Lawlor: The book is called Clean Time: The True Story of Ronald Reagan Middleton. I’m curious about the idea of the “true story,” and the notion of truth in general. No one in the book seems to know Ronald Reagan Middleton’s true story. Even the narrator, Harold Swanger, is sort of piecing it together.
Ben Gwin: My idea with that was to play with the idea of truth in fiction, truth in memoir, truth in nonfiction, and how authorial liberties can be taken along those lines. Initially, I was speaking to the Million Little Pieces thing, and how Frey wrote this engaging book, and everyone was like, “Oh, this is so great!” cause they thought it was real, and then when they realized he made some stuff up, everyone suddenly hated it. That’s interesting to me. And it plays into the reality TV angle, and how fake that obviously is. As the story starts, nobody knows what happened to Ronald Reagan.
SL: Might as well get this question out there: Why Ronald Reagan?
BG: Up until very recently, I felt he was the worst president of my lifetime. But people love him. You even have Democrats now saying, “Well, Reagan never would have put up with this!” And really, he probably would have. But politics aside, I thought it was a funny name for the guy, with this background of his parents loving President Reagan. It helps set the satirical tone of the book.
SL: I was raised under the “Ronald Reagan is a saint!” mentality, and I never really asked why. It was more in the last few years that I started hearing the other side of the story, a story of a massive increase in wage gap, a massive privileging of the rich, an increase in prison populations — basically, whole worlds of untold stories of the underprivileged.
BG: Oh yeah. Especially with the crack epidemic then, and the laws put into place that disproportionately affected African Americans. And the big tax cuts for the rich. And also the “Just Say No” thing, and “Hugs Not Drugs.” That’s what I had in mind there, to be ironic with naming this guy Ronald Reagan and his being a meth addict.
SL: Let’s talk a little about reality TV, which is obviously at the heart of your book.
BG: Right. I mean, when I finished writing it in 2011, I hoped reality TV would still be relevant by the time this is published, and not just some kind of fad that comes and goes and just totally dates the book. But that didn’t happen. It’s just all really weird, sort of like staging this event in front of people. I don’t watch a lot of it myself, since Road Rules, which also dates me.
SL: Probably for the best.
BG: Yeah, probably. But at the same time, some of the smartest people I know really enjoy it. It’s really bizarre.
SL: Your book made me think of the famous Double Slit Experiment of Quantum Physics, which showed the act of perceiving alters the object perceived. I was thinking of that in the context of reality TV, because there are parts where Ronald Reagan performs in a particular way to incite a particular response in the audience, but they are perceiving his performance as reality. But the real reality is far beyond anything captured in this makeshift setting, which actually has no true humanity in it.
BG: And that also allowed me to get into addict behavior of scamming people, putting on whatever mask you have to in order to get what you want from somebody, that kind of manipulative behavior of addicts and the performative shit that goes on. Most of the thematic stuff came through revision. I was primarily concerned with writing an engaging story.
SL: It also seemed there was a parallel to the American political process, since this guy’s name is Ronald Reagan. I just kept thinking how Ronald Reagan’s this actor who becomes President. He’s a performer.
BG: Right. That was a big part of it, too, Ronald Reagan being a fucking actor, and then we elected this asshole president. Might as well have been fucking John Wayne, right? It’s also an unfortunate parallel to what’s going on in our country right now. I kind of worried that it would make Ronald Reagan Middleton less sympathetic. I don’t know that he’s a totally sympathetic character as it is, but I wanted to have those things sort of working against him — like even his successes lead to failure. I hope I set it up well enough that the character was still sympathetic, even though he was named Ronald Reagan.
SL: You did. And I’m not giving that enough credit, because I’ve only talked about it as an allegory so far. But it was clear you weren’t just interested in an allegorical satire. You were interested in a character study with allegorical and satirical elements.
BG: That’s what I had hoped to accomplish. It’s hard to write that kind of allegory and to have that parallel and comment on those things when the main character is named Ronald Reagan, and you don’t want him to be the Reagan-esque figure. So that complicated it. But some of it’s pretty direct, where some Clean Time viewers just voted for him due to his name. It was certainly something to have fun with and to try to use to my advantage as an author.
SL: By having the name Ronald Reagan, I didn’t take him as a Ronald Reagan stand-in. I took him more as a guy most heavily affected by the shitty realities that Ronald Reagan the president exacerbated, the cycles of suffering and addiction and criminalization.
BG: Yeah. That was one of the most overt parallels in the book: the deregulation of pharmaceutical companies, and big conglomerates and shit, and the effect that has on the individual representing the effect that has on the country, you know?
SL: Yeah. Cause his father is high up in the pharmaceutical industry and has unlimited access to this new drug, Nedvedol, that’s supposed to cure all addiction, but then Ronald Reagan just gets addicted to that shit.
BG: Right.
SL: So there’s a capitalist critique, too, where you’re profiting off the suffering of people and throwing them into deeper cycles of addiction in order to increase your revenue.
BG: And then literally having them fight each other for your own entertainment.
SL: Because the pharmaceutical company is behind the production of the show Clean Time, right?
BG: It’s the circle of life.
SL: How did you wrestle with the sense of hopelessness? Is there any hope to this dude’s life?
BG: I wanted to leave it as open-ended as I could. I feel like it would have been too easy for him to get clean, and have it like, Well, shit works out! where he’s grinding out a shitty existence, washing dishes and going to meetings. I wanted to have it as dramatically written as possible and still leave the possibility of hope there without the happy ending.
SL: There was just an overwhelming sense of tragedy to the lives of addicts, which is realistic. You’re bringing awareness to someone who’s afflicted with cycles of suffering and addiction that mainstream society, especially Ronald Reagan echelons of wealth and privilege, often completely ignore.
BG: Until it’s their kid, you know? I tried to be as fair as possible and not totally disregard the idea of responsibility and accountability, cause that’s part of it. And I tried to show how there’s many different ways to get clean. How much of that is personal responsibility, of not putting yourself in that situation? And how much is luck? And genetics? And sort of feeling hopeless to begin with and looking for some kind of escape? I wanted to present that in a way that was fair, as honestly as I could, and still be sympathetic and funny. I guess it was ambitious. But I really set out to write a novel about addiction.
SL: The whole novel is ambitious. At a structural level, was it maddening to try to keep that all together?
BG: Yeah. It was awful. I had a really, really great editor. Ryan Rivas at Burrow Press is fantastic. He worked with me to get the story I wanted to tell told as best we could. And he helped keep track of the endnotes. I think the structure fits the content, and I think the narrator, Harold Swanger, would put a book together like that. I think it adds to the satire. It was difficult, but I had a lot of help from my editor making everything consistent. I’m really thrilled with how it turned out, to be honest. It couldn’t have landed at a better place.
SL: The structure also enhanced Ronald Reagan’s isolation. There’s an increasing distance from him, as Swanger’s looks at various lost and found documents and rearranging them to fit his purposes. So, amidst this extra layer of academia, who is Ronald Reagan? Well, no one knows, and no one knows where he is.
BG: I tried to heighten that as much as I could, to have a natural arc to the edifice of it, and how it was put together, and the increasing ridiculousness of some of the endnotes.
SL: And there’s an implicit critique of academia in general that you were going for?
BG: Oh yeah. I think there’s some fantastic pop culture writing, and I think it absolutely merits study, but essentially Swanger put together a 350-page annotated work about a reality television star and made all these wild connections to try and justify it. I tried to take that to the most ridiculous ends I could, just like literary criticism in general, and adding to the idea of this pop culture hero worship that we have for famous people that don’t necessarily deserve any kind of fame. It’s like, this drug addict gets put on television, and he’s trying to do the right thing, but through accident, and opportunity, and privilege, he gets put in that space.
SL: I guess you’re influenced by postmodernism?
BG: For sure.
SL: But it seems you’re aware of what David Foster Wallace called the “traps” of postmodernism, where literature becomes self-referential without any purpose beyond that.
BG: I tried to be as self-aware as possible with it. It’s a satire of postmodernist structure, too. I wanted to make fun of Infinite Jest more than I wanted to emulate it. I think Pale Fire was the biggest influence. I tried to have the reliability of the narrator decrease throughout the work. That was kind of fun.
SL: And then it all ends up bringing truth into question again. You don’t really know how much Swanger is editing, or rearranging, or potentially even writing himself, to create this cohesive structure and narrative.
BG: Yeah, for sure.
SL: And this notion of non-truth, and truth being brought into question — it’s more relevant now than ever before, definitely more so than when you set out to write this book. You finished this when Obama was president, right?
BG: Yeah.
SL: It seems it was destined to come out in conjunction with Drumpf, with all this fake news bullshit. I mean, we literally have a reality TV star as president.
BG: It’s fucking weird, man. Writing it, I just wanted to set it far enough in the future so it would be believable. And then now, it’s Infowars everywhere, and conspiracy shit. Donald Drumpf has absolutely no qualifications to be president. But he was on reality TV, and he was born into money. It’s horrible.
SL: Do you see him as a direct successor to Reagan?
BG: Absolutely. I think he’s more openly racist, but that’s about it. Policy-wise, he’s right in line and doing the same things.
SL: More than ever before, the political system is a reality show. No one knows what the fuck’s going on.
BG: I can’t even keep up. It’s all I can do just to take care of myself and my daughter day to day and not freak out. I mean, I don’t have it nearly as bad as a lot of people. But man, it’s awful.
SL: It just all seems really timely to your book — no one knowing what the truth is, everyone worshipping celebrity and entertainment, click bait, and fake news performing well not because of truth value but because it brings revenue for whoever puts it out there.
BG: And then you spend all your time talking about some crazy-ass accusation like Pizzagate instead of discussing real policy reform that will actually benefit our country. And I don’t know how you take all of it back, either. How do you return to normalcy at this point? I don’t know if that can happen.
SL: And meanwhile, all these people are suffering terrible things and just being ignored amidst the circus.
BG: There’s such a lack of empathy for people who are struggling, such a disconnect between how rich people live in this country, and how most of us do. I’m not talking about finding empathy for anyone who voted us into the current situation either, or thinks our president is making the country great again. Fuck those people.
SL: But your book has so much empathy for poor people, and addicts, and people who are getting shit on and not recognized. There was a very empathetic core, and it’s cliché and shit, but amidst this chaos, it feels like a good core to have.
BG: Yeah. And with Ronald Reagan, it’s not like he’s innocent, but I wanted the reader to care for him as much as possible. And minor characters as well, to give them each their own arc instead of just using them as props for the main narrative. My aim was to create a protagonist who was flawed enough to make decisions that would propel the book without it feeling forced, even though it is of course all forced. It’s hard.
Ben Gwin on Ronald Reagan, Addiction, and Finding Empathy Amidst Political Chaos was last modified: January 22nd, 2019 by Sean Lawlor
Sean Lawlor
Sean Lawlor is a writer and personal trainer living in Fort Collins, CO. His articles, essays, and interviews have appeared in The Rumpus, Rooster Magazine, 303 Magazine, and ROVA. You can follow him on Instagram @seanplawlor.
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Our culture loves music. Too bad our economy doesn’t value it.
The digital world has a downside, too.
By T Bone Burnett December 18, 2015
T Bone Burnett is an award-winning singer, songwriter and producer, whose numerous recognitions include 13 Grammy awards, an Oscar and a Golden Globe. He is a member of the Content Creators Coalition’s Advisory Board.
Music runs through America’s soul and makes us who we are — as individuals, as communities, as a nation.
It fuels all the other creative arts, as I have learned working on music-infused films such as “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” and television shows such as “True Detective.”
And it has driven the incredible boom in digital media that seems destined to define our age. Facts don’t lie — musical artists blanket the lists of “top most followed” on Facebook and Twitter, and “always-with-us” access to music is a big part of why smartphones and mobile broadband are the fastest-spreading technologies in human history.
But this brave new digital world has a dark side, too — and it is the responsibility of everyone who loves and cares about music to acknowledge and deal with this uncomfortable truth.
Too much of the emotional, cultural and economic value that music creates is simply lost now, slipping through the digital cracks in some cases, outright hijacked by bad actors and online parasites in others.
Artists, fans and responsible music and technology businesses alike all know this. When my friend Taylor Swift spoke up for the value of our work and the righteous claim of all artists to be paid for what they do, she was celebrated and applauded — not just by her colleagues, but also by teenagers who care about the people who create the music that means something to them and businesses such as Apple that fundamentally want to do what’s right.
How bad is the problem? Consider this: In 2014, sales from vinyl records made more than all of the ad-supported on-demand streams on services such as YouTube. I’m not running down vinyl — it is still the best-sounding, most durable medium we have for listening to music, by far. But why should a technology most people consider outdated generate more revenue than an Internet service with more than 100 million American users? That’s just wrong.
Just two decades ago, a music superstar was born when her record went gold, selling 500,000 units. Today, experts say it takes 100 million streams to match that kind of success. Even the most relentless year-round touring schedule or advertising licensing deals can’t match the income that a hit record once produced.
For small and up-and-coming artists, the income collapse has been even more severe; copies of one-penny royalty checks are rampant on the Internet. These artists are struggling American small businesses, and the deck is stacked against them.
So what’s causing this gap between the value artists create and the price today’s world puts on their work?
Part of it is that the legal mess of U.S. copyright law has anchored royalties for music creators far below fair market value. In some cases, such as satellite radio, the law actually says they can pay below-market rates for music. In others, such as AM/FM radio, it’s even more absurd — when music is played on traditional radio, artists and their labels get paid nothing at all (songwriters receive AM/FM royalties, but no one else does), even though corporate radio chains earn billions selling ads around our work. That’s a legally sanctioned slap in the face to everyone who ever picked up an instrument or sang into a microphone. It is a corrosive economic dust bowl in which giant corporations grow rich on others’ work while music creators try to survive on scraps.
But the problem runs even deeper than that. In the digital marketplace, everyone seems to have found a way to make a living off music except the creators who actually record the songs. Websites put up illegal copies of music — or turn a blind eye while others do — then sell ads micro-targeted at everyone who comes to listen. Eventually, a site may be forced to pull down the unlicensed (and for the artists and labels, completely unpaid) copy, but in the meantime, its owners have cashed in.
For more legitimate sites, creators are pressured to accept a Hobson’s choice between licensing their music at desperately low royalty rates or wading into the legal quicksand and sending thousands or millions of “takedown” notices under a broken and antiquated law called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Fortunately, creators have begun to band together and speak out — the roster of those demanding reform is a who’s who of the music business, from Elvis Costello to Annie Lennox, from REM to Chuck D, and hundreds more. Congress is reviewing the copyright laws, and this time, we will be heard, and there will be no more backroom deals or giveaways. Powerful new legislation called the Fair Play Fair Pay Act is being championed by leaders in both parties who care about music and the people who make it. That would be a vital step forward — a milestone of progress in a debate that has been running in Congress since Frank Sinatra lobbied Paul McCartney, Ella Fitzgerald, Bruce Springsteen and others to join him in fighting for a radio performance right nearly 30 years ago.
Music is an important part of who we are, an indelible record of what we care about and how we live.
And if we let that slip away — whether through legal gridlock, cultural apathy or technological drift — we will have lost something irreplaceable and fundamental to our lives.
(c) 2015 THE WASHINGTON POST – full article at https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/12/18/our-culture-loves-music-too-bad-our-economy-doesnt-value-it/
Posted in Eric van Aro, Music
Tagged Enonomy, Music, T Bone Burnett, The Washington Post
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Dissenting Opinion: Solidarity as a Weapon
A Critique of the J20 Support Campaign
To wrap up our series on the day of action on January 20, 2017 and the protracted legal struggle that followed it, we present this outside submission from a group including J20 defendants. In May 2018, at the opening of the second J20 trial, a call to action appeared entitled “Freedom for J20 Defendants,” encouraging people to take a more confrontational approach in the solidarity campaign. The following text begins where that one left off, functioning as a reflection, critique, and addendum. While this is not the way that we would put things, we consider it important that various dissenting viewpoints enter the historical record to inform future organizing.
All charges have been dismissed for the J20 defendants. Congratulations to all comrades who fought against this attempt to escalate repression in the US. The prosecutors’ collusion with Project Veritas and their over-reaching approach to the case ultimately backfired.
The dismissal of all remaining charges is a significant victory. This thwarts the state’s attempt to set new precedents in criminalizing association as organizational “conspiracy.” The prosecution wanted to crack down on both black bloc tactics and the politics of those who utilize them, transforming street protests and the forms of repression with which the state targets political ideas. Outside of a few plea deals, there were no convictions. The campaign has clearly demonstrated the value of working together and adhering to principles of collective solidarity. We developed new strategies, such as disrupting the prosecution’s evidential groupings and preferred trial order. We built solidarity initiatives that sustained hundreds of defendants’ trips to court. These efforts helped the defendants resist the pressure to cooperate with the state and the plea offers that the prosecution was banking on people accepting.
We must celebrate our victories. Yet for some of us, this win tastes a bit bitter. Despite all our hard work, it is more the consequence of the errors and limitations of the authorities than of our own strengths. We feel that we did not effectively take advantage of the moment we were in to affirm our stances. Had we actively fought against repression, we would be in a better position for the struggles ahead.
The fervor from Trump’s election, the counter-inaugural protests, the airport blockades—all that initial momentum has tapered off. This is to be expected; in our governed society, it is common for the population to swing between outrage and acceptance. However, we believe that the strategy that we chose in the J20 case has contributed to this inertia. Essentially, we presented ourselves as “innocent liberals” and kept quiet throughout the case, basing our approach in tacit restrictions and disempowerment. We feel this defensive posture has contributed to a collective limitation. This becomes especially clear when we reflect on how we could have used the case as an opportunity to propel ourselves. Instead, our movements and the relationships adjacent to them have been left on the back foot. From this weaker position, we must face today’s problems and try to expand on the revolutionary potential in each moment.
After the inauguration, we failed to continue to declare a break from this world. Instead, we reified it.
Many within this campaign believed that the conservative approach was the best way—or even that it was the only way. The primary aim of this critique will be to challenge that notion, identify its limitations, and propose alternatives.
Posters that appeared around Philadelphia.
A Vision of What Could Have Been
The J20 case directly impacted roughly 200 comrades across the country and exponentially more by proxy. This was a very large environment to play within and we were situated in a society agitated by Trump’s election and fascinated by us.
Imagine a sensational solidarity campaign that made the case known everywhere: a campaign that broke with normalcy and moved forward with a revolutionary affect, building towards a departure from this presidency, presidency itself, global capitalism, white supremacy, rampant misogyny, and the logistics systems that keep them in place—consider the airport blockades against Trump’s Muslim ban. Looking at the international reach of the 2017 Women’s Marches and the longstanding tradition of international days of solidarity among anarchists, a sensational solidarity campaign could have resonated beyond national borders.
Imagine if this case and its two hundred defendants had become a reference point for every disaffection. A voice that echoed across lecture halls, social centers, high schools, television screens, workplaces, in the streets, and everywhere else. A root system that overrode concerns for property or civility, insisting on tenacious power from below—a tear from which the fabric of our society began to fray. Imagine an effort that turned the J20 case into a national crisis for the state. What would it have taken to accomplish this?
Imagine the momentum from a raucous situation demanding the freedom of two hundred comrades flowing into other social potentialities (e.g., anti-ICE occupations, the national prison strike, anti-fascist struggles). We failed to maximize on building new capacities and bonds and radicalizing and including new people.
If our goal is to make governance untenable, we have to strategize expansively. What would increase the longevity of struggle? Along what vectors do struggles coalesce and spread? How do we plan for the next social movement, the next election, the next decade, the next uprising? We exist within a continuum of struggle. Accordingly, we must acknowledge our conditions to make each moment a step towards the next horizon. The question we face after this case’s conclusion is synonymous with the one we face at all times: What now?
The question of possibility here is twofold. First, we have to speak about how to build the capacity to make such a vision possible. Perhaps it wasn’t possible at the time. But still, we believe there were a variety of restrictive dynamics within and around the case that limited what possibilities could have emerged.
There was a fair amount of momentum at that moment. People shut down Milo Yiannopolis’ event at UC Berkeley. The graffiti collective Indecline had put naked Trump statues in every major city. People dug up Trump’s golf course in Californina, as others did at the Trump golf course in Washington, DC on April 1, 2017, at the opening of the first week of action in solidarity with J20 defendants. Were there ways we could have helped this sort of action to proliferate, or spread news of them?
A sticker seen in Washington, DC during the J20 case.
Reflection: What Was
We must contend with how the J20 campaign played into “good” vs. “bad” protester dynamics through silence. We maintain our previous position that the narratives established before the May 14 trial set up those alleged to have engaged in property damage to be thrown under the bus. What good is it to assert liberal narratives like First Amendment rights and innocence if there are not also perspectives and actions that advance militant protest and revolutionary politics? The former alone will not create a bolstered defense—nor do they articulate a vision that could take us beyond the prevailing order.
The jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict. The discovery of the Brady violation was fortuitous, and ultimately led to the prosecution’s defeat. However, there was no guarantee we would discover this violation, nor that the judge would acknowledge it. Effective strategies must seek to counteract our enemy’s intentions while advancing our own. Luck must be factored in, but not made the backbone of a strategy; nor can we rely on the proper operations of the state. In a sense, it was a fluke that the Brady violation unraveled the case. In order for a Brady violation to win, one has first to acknowledge the authority of the court system and second to trust that the court will follow its rules and not create an exception (which is to create and follow a new rule). In this moment, when the state lacked legitimacy, it outmaneuvered us and chose not to protect the prosecutor Jennifer Kerkhoff. This move turned out to be an advantageous but limited outcome for us. The court found that she had violated the defendants’ due process rights to receive all potentially exculpatory evidence through discovery. After the cases were dismissed, the District Attorney’s Office promoted her. By finding a Brady violation occurred, the court minimized the consequences of the state’s mistake, but the DA reasserted its authority, by rewarding the prosecutor, free of compromise.
What would it have looked like to use the court’s determination of a Brady violation to delegitimize the state itself?
We should reflect critically on this. Why did we hand over so much power and legitimacy to the legal apparatus? Why did we indulge so much in the spectacle of the courtroom? Very little within defendant-led organizing was done to challenge our relationship with the law and its courts. Instead, much work narrowly examined the inanity of the case’s conspiratorial allegations, re-legitimizing the concept of innocence. As anarchists, we are against authoritarian and punitive methods that reinforce power imbalances. We are against prisons and the entirety of the legal system—not simply the nuanced absurdities and contradictions therein. We need to have more faith in what we actually believe in and strive for. By choosing to tread lightly, we compromised an attempt to spread our analyses, ceding significant ground to the authorities.
In the sphere of action, things generally remained small. At what point would we have intervened? If things were to turn out negatively in the legal process, it seemed the plan was to “reduce harm” and bid our comrades farewell to prison while hanging onto the coattails of respectability. After the first trial, the state’s strategy seemed to be to isolate the case’s radical elements and drag the broader support efforts into exhaustion. In other words, divide and conquer. This was not a situation in which we were powerless or devoid of options. Within DefendJ20Resistance organizing, refusing to think critically, limiting ourselves, and appealing to civil liberties were dominant habits that went largely unchecked and unchallenged.
While these critiques may seem harsh, we don’t wish to underplay the work that went into fighting the case. Our argument is that in the end, the work was politically unsound, qualitatively deficient, and strategically incomplete. “Going liberal” can be considered the “vanilla” of anti-repression; a fairly plain tried and true approach. But there are many other flavors to choose from.
We want to take a moment to honor the complete re-imagining of “Jury Nullification” that took place in DC during the second trial. A juror read the words “Google Jury Nullification” written on a bathroom stall inside the courthouse. She looked it up and then proceeded to share the information with the rest of the jury. We are impressed. One person’s bathroom doodle accomplished so much—disseminating information about jury nullification to the jurors, creating scandal, revitalizing the case in the eyes of comrades, giving prosecutors yet another headache, and, of course, giving us all a good laugh. Bravo. Seemingly small actions such as these should not be underestimated.
What else could have been done? Where else could we have looked for lessons and inspiration?
Fighting repression should be understood as an opportunity to take the offensive. One does not always have to sacrifice substance for results. Looking back on this case, we’re particularly influenced by a few examples.
During the Asheville 11 case, supporters called for solidarity actions ahead of court hearings. The “Yo Tambien Soy Anarquista” campaign against Operation Pandora in Spain fought the imprisonment of several anarchists using graffiti, speaking events, marches, and uncompromising political narratives. And the “To Libertarians” strategy from 20th century Spain presented a calculated call to action, leading to the release of more than fifty anarchist prisoners.
Through this discussion, we ask that comrades and their respective networks reflect on this. How can we best mobilize support networks? How can we anticipate and combat burnout? How do we encourage each other to participate in the face of gloom? How do we win the support of those who choose to look the other way? How do we draw on historical lessons, generations of wisdom, and a diversity of perspectives? And then—how do we utilize them?
The “Yo también soy anarquista” campaign exerted powerful leverage against a campaign of state repression in Spain.
The Science of Opposition
The case of the Asheville 11 shared some similarities with the J20 case. On the night of May Day 2010, 11 people arrested in the vicinity of a demonstration that involved property destruction were charged with vandalism, rioting, and conspiracy based on scant evidence. After a harrowing ordeal, the prosecution dropped most of the charges and a couple defendants took plea deals for “misdemeanor riot.” Years of stress and repression left the local community fractured and burned out.
The elements we’re most interested in are the confrontational ones: the support crew’s call for solidarity actions ahead of hearings, the actions that accompanied them, and the visibility they produced. The call created a specific kind of power and a new angle of pressure because it asked us to extend our repertoire and kept us engaged.
Comrades from the Asheville support crew pushed a clear narrative: innocent of all charges, police malfeasance, and the aggressive prosecution to suppress radical politics. The call for actions helped keep the case in the public eye. The police corruption, the controversy over the Asheville Police Department’s evidence room and the departure, indictment, and imprisonment of the chief forced the state’s hand in favor of the defendants. The fact that the case stayed public despite years of delay applied pressure to the prosecutor to drop the charges.
The Asheville 11 case can be considered a worst-case scenario: very few people supported or understood the defendants and the state was well-positioned to depict them as mere criminals. Yet even then, solidarity actions did not further endanger the defendants.
To be clear, we believe that it made sense for people to employ a cautious approach at the beginning of the J20 case. But we believe that there should have been elements such as these inside the overall ecology of resistance to the J20 case at later points. The J20 solidarity actions were mostly comprised of banner drops, press releases, fundraisers, and the like but generally failed to extend to more confrontational forms. Remaining conformist in narrative and action deprived the movement of dynamism and growth, consequently failing to keep the campaign’s participants and supporters engaged. A year into the case, energy for support efforts had tapered off—a problem in itself, given that criminal litigation often drags on for years.
Yet it wasn’t just our side feeling the effects of its duration. At that same time, the state had failed in its attempts to convict defendants in the November trial, looking very bad in its pursuit, and had exhausted countless resources, leaving the lead prosecutor visibly worn. By entering into a new phase of solidarity and changing its nature, the campaign could have revitalized itself, taking advantage of its enemies in a fight they were already losing.
At different stages of the case, there should have been shifts. Adaptation is key to survival. A movement that doesn’t develop and leaves its potential unrealized will die. The amount of burnout and fatigue among J20 defendants and supporters both after the first trial and now is indicative of this. The question of adaptation and survival permeates every aspect of our collective existence; we should continually strive to answer it.
Imagine if after the first round of dropped charges, there had been a series of eruptions—widespread disruptions and marches expressing indignation at the remaining charges. A moment encouraging social fissure, a crisis: rabble-rousing at universities and workplaces, marches in the streets, interventions and direct actions everywhere. An effort to get more people behind the remaining J20 defendants without their having to adhere to our exact ideas, a reminder that we are all angry and all long to be free, and, importantly, an effort that brought the participants feelings of joy and power.
But what was nurtured around the case wasn’t conducive to making any sort of effort like this possible, even autonomously. Everyone was paralyzed by the campaign’s physiology in narrative, atmosphere, and action.
Two Accounts
At some point after the first trial, there was a meeting in DC with defendants and supporters. During that meeting, someone proposed the idea of having a march that “went against traffic.” Hearing this, someone who does legal support, with a lot of social capital and movement experience, nervously interrupted, “I think this conversation has gone in a very bad direction.” and rushed out of the room. Everyone (including myself) was then forced to think that the idea was bad. Reflecting on this moment now, I don’t think the idea was. This kind of reaction was common around the case. It made discussion impossible, shut down possibilities, and suppressed the development of our resistance to the case. I saw a tremendous amount of initiative and capacity destroyed by attitudes and paranoia. We missed opportunities such as establishing a long-term collective house in DC for defendants and supporters and discouraged many comrades from wanting to be involved. The conditions around the case caused many people to become alienated or hurt. After a year, dozens of comrades wanted little to do with J20 stuff.
After the majority of charges were dropped, there was a West Coast J20 speaking tour organized. The tour was an opportunity for people working on the case to raise support and reach out to regions who were less likely to be up to date or entangled in the case. There was a lot of opposition to this tour happening. Defendants and supporters who opposed it didn’t offer many reasons beyond insisting it was potentially harmful to defendants who were still facing charges. In my opinion, this was the result of bad faith and problematic power dynamics. The practice of hosting anti-repression events is understood all around the world. Such events are essential to overcoming isolation. The tour was ultimately able to go through but we were forced to eject a defendant who was still facing charges because others weren’t okay with them speaking. I’m sure that the tour would’ve been a source of empowerment and fulfillment for that defendant but it ended up causing them harm instead. I believe all of us who were on the tour regretted making this decision. But at the time, there was little room to breathe because of how unhealthy the atmosphere around the case was. There was a lot of paranoia in the air and the question of accountability was consistently difficult to address with such a wide pool of defendants.
As a movement, we weren’t able to maximize the potential of the calls to action. There was an issue of capacity but there was also an issue of participants feeling dis-engaged, which adversely affected the capacity for actions. In our experiences in many conversations around action, people would severely limit themselves because they weren’t sure what was acceptable. After a year of mostly banner drops and fundraisers, many felt that supporting the J20 case meant dressing nicely and going to court or, at most, helping logistically. When this happens, a few people will stick around but most will turn their attention and energy elsewhere.
Actions inform action. In order for actions to generalize, people have to think them up, carry them out, and publicize them so that they can spread.
Within the J20 solidarity efforts, there were some fiercer actions, but people seemed hesitant to imitate or advocate for them and people doing work around the case were likely to discourage such things. It makes sense that people doing legal support would be tightly wound, but it doesn’t make sense for people to allow that trepidation to influence our politics and our work as revolutionaries. DefendJ20Resistance was mostly comprised of defendants. As political agents of change, we will not always follow in accordance with what would be considered “legally sound.” Isn’t that why we participated in the action on J20? Isn’t our conflict with the law and its courts the reason why so many of us put in support work against the case? Our solidarity efforts need to reflect our values, or else we risk not achieving meaningful enough goals; we risk inertia.
Partisans of more conservative approaches managed to make themselves indispensable. For many defendants and supporters, this was their first bout against repression and they deferred to those with social capital, movement experience, and palatable defensive stances. What would be necessary for us to have other options next time? Folks of more militant inclinations who have just as much experience would have to do the same kind of work. We would have to nurture an environment of solidarity, hospitality, and autonomy.
Radical outlets, such as CrimethInc. and It’s Going Down, co-published calls to action including strong narratives:
“Make it clear that there will be personal consequences for taking the side of oppression.”
“The best defense is a good offense! If there is a powerful movement against Trump and the forces he represents, defendants from the previous clashes will be more likely to receive the support they deserve. Keep organizing new efforts against Trump, police, nationalists, and the pipelines and profiteering from which they draw their power.”
CrimethInc. also published a compelling piece after the conclusion of the first trial critiquing the state as a whole. This type of messaging was generally depreciated by J20 defendants and supporters. During moments of hardship, people can start to believe that revolutionary aims are too idealistic and naïve, and this can become infectious. We ask that people think twice about where those feelings and thoughts come from. There is no ignorance in unapologetically fighting for a freer world. If anything is naïve, it is the idea that liberalism will solve all our problems.
We cannot rely solely on a few radical outlets to disseminate political narratives. We must come up with our own narratives and diffuse them in our efforts wherever we can, or else they are likely to remain limited to our own circles. We must challenge ourselves to advance our struggles. Our efforts should aim to multiply revolutionary possibilities, which means expanding on what’s already in place, not simply replicating existing modes. We need to do a better job of identifying these strengths and weaknesses in order to adjust our approaches accordingly.
A multiplicity of narratives is expected. When have the people who comprise any political body been unanimous in their positions on direct action and resistance? These differences should be encouraged, not stifled. It’s important to create a diverse set of perspectives, complicating the ways in which reactionary forces seek to marginalize revolutionary gestures and their proponents. The J20 case saw some of that but ultimately too little.
No tears indeed.
We Are All Anarchists
Yo Soy Tambien Anarquista. “I am also an anarchist.” In 2014, eleven anarchists in Spain were arrested on terrorism charges in a police action known as Operation Pandora. Seven were imprisoned; the other four were released with charges. After an extensive solidarity campaign and a couple years of court appearances, all of their charges were dropped. The solidarity campaign showed how sensationalized confrontational tactics, a diverse array of actions (e.g., graffiti, speaking events, marches), and savvy uncompromising narratives challenging innocence, guilt, and political targeting can succeed.
Anarchists accurately saw the terrorism charges as a means to create fear and isolate the state’s enemies. The campaign was able to fight this and effectively garner broad support. Anarchists saw the danger of their politics being diluted by receiving such wide support. They created narratives that built broadly while maintaining their political integrity. Articulate and clear positions dignified their movement and politics while antagonizing and discrediting the state:
“I too am an anarchist.”
“Neither innocent nor guilty.”
“The terrorist is the one who condemns us to a life of misery, not the one who rebels against it.”
“Terrorism is not being able to reach the end of the month.”
“The only terrorist is the capitalist state.”
As is common in Spain, constant anarchist graffiti maintained an atmosphere of visibility and hostility around the case. Large marches disrupted the flow of normalcy. There were direct actions including blockades and property damage, speaking events that offered discussion and community building, and small-scale clandestine attacks. All of these applied pressure from different angles.
“The Pandora solidarity campaigns included a large number of solidarity talks that gave information about the case and also talked about the importance of the practices of sabotage and insurrection that the state was trying to punish. And without a doubt, that made us stronger.”
-An anonymous participant in the solidarity campaign against Operation Pandora
If the state’s intention is to repress an action or political body, it can be powerful to bring the very topics it is targeting to light: to say what is happening and explain what you think it means.
Generally, within the J20 solidarity campaign, discussions such as these were few and often very limited in scope. They often focused on Trumpism, the intensity of the charges, and the right to protest. This reactivity came at the cost of gaining qualitative strength. It even seemed to us that many comrades were actually unable to articulate why anyone would break a bank window or torch a limousine. Comrades near the case chose to forego discussion of why people participate in uprisings, allowing the State to keep the discourse about the more confrontational elements in the sphere of “senseless violence” and criminal activity. Whether this was due to inability or unwillingness, it reduced the overall quality of J20 solidarity. Think about Mark Bray explaining anti-fascism on the news or speaking events that discussed the uprisings in DC after Martin Luther King’s assassination and the 1991 Mount Pleasant riots. The final statement made was fine enough, but it was too little too late.
An image from the 1968 Washington, DC riots after Martin Luther King’s assassination—the origin of the charges that were pressed in the J20 case. Lack of discussion of this historical link is an example of a lost opportunity.
Broad support and the ability to work with others were key in the Yo Soy Tambien Anarquista campaign. In the US, however, we do not have the luxury of a strong historical memory of struggle nor the same anarchist movement.
The efforts to connect with the DC Black Lives Matter chapter provide a good example of what it could look like to connect with others and their struggles in the US. At the time, this kind of work would have the most impact in Washington, DC, the main site of struggle for the case. This also offers an example of the kind of work anarchists can be doing right now to be prepared to combat isolation and repression in the future.
An example of how the everyday repression that marginalized communities face connects to the specialized forms of repression that activists face.
The liberal defensive posture taken in the J20 case did garner the case media attention and superficial support from the likes of Democracy Now! But that support was rescinded as soon as “innocent” protesters, medics, and journalists were off trial and alleged breakers were up. Remembering that Democracy Now! participated in the initial media blackout of the case and the events that led up to it, we should have been prepared to shift directions when left-wing populists like them inevitably turned their backs on us.
This type of betrayal is to be expected from the democratic left. It is a reminder to think about the lines we are taking and the directions for us to go at certain junctures. And it is precisely at this type of juncture that we are reminded of a saying: “Words divide—acts unite.”
After the majority of defendants had their charges dropped, most people tuned out. Given the baseness of American public discourse, many of those who were reminded of the case were likely to be on the side of capitalists and their property. Again, this was the state’s strategy: divide and conquer. At this juncture, what good was appealing to notions of innocence or the right to protest? Accusing the government, the prosecution, and the police of injustice only reasserts the concept of innocence within this context.
The authors are split on the issue of innocence. Some of us feel that narratives of innocence are useful for garnering wide support and that they should be complemented by stauncher narratives to broaden the discourse of the issues at hand. The others prefer to bypass the question of guilt or innocence completely, refusing to participate in the logic of the state. The latter position presents an interesting challenge for us on the question of innocence. In what ways can we boldly support those who engage in militant protest? How can we dignify black/brown youth who are accused of stealing cigarettes, fleeing, or resisting in other ways that are used to justify police violence without relying on narratives of innocence? How can we combat using the language of our oppressors to create a more liberatory one?
There wasn’t a cohesive strategy to support alleged breakers at this point. The campaign had largely disassociated from their situation—for example, many people spread the narrative that defendants were being charged for a handful of windows that only a few were responsible for breaking. This narrative puts alleged breakers on the receiving end of perceived guilt; it didn’t help to spread any justification or support for those who did break the windows, nor for any defendant who might be found guilty of doing so.
People acting on their own initiative accomplished some of the best work that came out of the J20 efforts. However, due to confining interpersonal and structural dynamics, much of the initiative that is vital to effective organizing was inhibited. Despite this, the efforts that did make their way through were often celebrated—but only after the fact. Remember, actions inform action.
The common response to repression from the onset of this case was hesitation, often constricting the effort of others. We should consider how to hone our reflexes to such situations and the dilemmas they engender—whether that means working more collaboratively or knowing when to branch off.
To Libertarians
In Spain, in the volatile aftermath of the Franco regime, more than fifty anarchists remained imprisoned while the more reformist elements of the CNT recuperated the movement’s revolutionary gains. These prisoners were not receiving support due to the illicit nature of their accused crimes, which included bank robberies and bombings. Anarchists in the region reached out to Guy Debord in France for help.
Debord drafted the text “To Libertarians,” a militant call to action demanding the release of the prisoners. Fully 25,000 people signed their names to the appeal; the text was widely circulated throughout Spain. At that time, the Spanish government was chiefly concerned with fascist threats, leaving it precariously positioned and unable to engage the anarchists. “To Libertarians” clarified for the state what the cost of continuing to imprison dozens of anarchists would be. Thanks to bellicose words, the threat of mass mobilization, and the thorough distribution of the text, “To Libertarians” pressured the Spanish state into releasing the prisoners. The state released them on the grounds of “insufficient evidence,” despite possessing incriminating evidence against many of them. This serves as a golden example of an anti-repression campaign. It retained political integrity, utilized creative ingenuity, and defended its subjects—even the innocent ones.
Click the image above to access the PDF.
Our aim was to emulate this success. We saw the need to intervene after the defendants’ victory in the first trial and the subsequent dropping of 129 charges. When the prosecution was focusing on defendants accused of more explicit criminality, it was important to defend them outside and against the structures of law and order. We decided to deploy an autonomous strategy.
The “Freedom for J20 Defendants” text was circulated ahead of the May trial. The text detailed our dissatisfaction with the general orientation of defendJ20resistance, our analysis of the situation, and an intense opposition to the case, its employers, and the world they inhabit. In response, we advocated a militant call to action. The strategy did not solely rely on the internet; we acknowledge the limitations of today’s oversaturation of information. We figured it would suffice to release it on radical news outlets such as itsgoingdown.org, where our enemies were sure to look. In addition, we distributed physical copies in DC where the case was taking place. An alternate and more explicit version of the text was distributed inside the courthouse café, which was frequented by lawyers, legal workers, police, security guards, and various others. In addition, copies were scattered outside both of the courthouse’s entrances and the entrances of nearby metros. The text was both emailed and physically mailed to various people including the prosecutor, the lead detective, various members of the DOJ and USAO, the former judge, and local news outlets. The text reached various local venues and was handed out to press at a press conference.
Alongside the text’s circulation, complementary actions took place to apply pressure. These actions took place immediately ahead of the May trial to maximize stress on our enemies, limit their time, and proactively take advantage of any unforeseen favorable developments. Actions that shifted the atmosphere in DC and vandalism created an air of hostility towards the case. A proposal for a series of anti-repression speaking events threatened to raise social consciousness. The events were to connect various social movements, identifying the state’s mechanisms of repression. The first event took an explicitly agitational tone. Another call-in campaign furthered our goal of making the USAO a living hell. Because these actions occurred as a consequence of the J20 case, they imposed a cost for prosecuting it further.
These stickers were seen throughout DC and appeared at all the metro stops near the courthouse before and after trial hearings. Kerkhoff mentioned them at court, provoking only a shrug from the judge. We believe that whoever wrote “Google Jury Nullification” in the courthouse bathroom was inspired by the sight of these stickers throughout the city. The stickers were popular; people mentioned them with joy.
There was also a video. It was to be disseminated diffusely, and was for a short time; until some, upon seeing it, contemplated including it in something more concrete. The lack of a customary place to host this video points to a need for more insurrectionary infrastructure in the US. Comrades abroad utilize platforms like Actforfree and 325.nostate.net, which American comrades today don’t generally use.
Perhaps this video can serve to help demonstrate what it could look like for our movement to mobilize revolutionary solidarity in the future.
If the prosecution had attempted to use these materials against the defendants, it would only have further extended their overreach. At what point do prosecutors begin to feel hopeless about trying to prove an alleged criminal conspiracy? Does a scandal such as this give them strength, or create further difficulty and confusion? We know the process can become the punishment. When do they declare “Enough”? We did not fear adding to their allegations of conspiracy, as the prosecutors already believed in these allegations and were struggling to prove them. The formal DefendJ20Resistance network was well positioned to fight against a text and video coming out of left field. Again, an attempt by the prosecution would mean an extension of their overreach, engendering activity that could bring things to the public eye.
We were anticipating that the materials’ release would create scandal. Some would say “the police obviously made that” and others would surely create distance. A minority may have felt emboldened and at least everyone was healthily challenged in their views. All in all, we were content with making noise and spreading our analysis.
It’s hard to say exactly what kind of effect this strategy had. But we would argue that it did indeed have one. It’s telling that we heard nothing about the article despite knowing it to have reached the opposition’s hands. We’d argue that we have to assume all this activity to have been a factor in their decision-making around the time of the second trial and the acknowledgment of the Brady violation. Like a fly buzzing in the room during a focused staring contest, increasing its volume as the contest endures.
We reveal this strategy because we desire not to have to rely on a bluff. We want to facilitate the construction of a force capable of triggering widespread waves of disruption in response to crisis or repression. We want to improve and expand on the forms of solidarity we can produce and to bring the “To Libertarians” proposal into reality.
Perhaps our first goal should be to arrive at a point at which we can bluff more realistically—for example, by becoming capable of utilizing our collective networks and infrastructure to present a convincing threat of mobilization. From there, the next goal would be pose the same pressure as a reality, not a bluff. (Ideally, we would skip directly to the second goal.) We propose that we need to develop enough movement intelligence and strength to have a shared instinct about when to employ various forms of disruption. This would greatly aide us in fights like the ones against DAPL, against the J20 case, against ICE detention centers and the border—fights in which it is vital to collectively act in such a way as to conjoin our strengths and make such efforts more successful, tapping into tangential possibilities and sustaining a level of uncontrollability. We would love for comrades to critically elaborate and build on this proposal.
James Baldwin offers us an American vision for revolutionary solidarity. When Angela Davis was incarcerated, Baldwin wrote an open letter to her in the New York Review of Books:
“One might have hoped that, by this hour, the very sight of chains on black flesh, or the very sight of chains, would be so intolerable a sight for the American people, and so unbearable a memory, that they would themselves spontaneously rise up and strike off the manacles. But, no, they appear to glory in their chains; now, more than ever, they appear to measure their safety in chains and corpses.”
Revolutionary Solidarity
Our opponents have interests to maintain; they factor these in when they decide how aggressively to pursue convictions in a particular case. There are boundless forces in any given situation and several ways to engage them. Taking an offensive approach means trying to make the pursuit of such cases or the sustained incarceration of the imprisoned no longer worth it. We could call this the practice of price setting: building on fighting capacities and refusing to allow the state to kidnap our comrades without repercussions.
Costs may include many things, such as a prosecutor’s mental health, convenience, the USAO’s functionality (which was disrupted by call-ins), the stability of an individual’s job or even of governance as a whole. The cost of breaking a window isn’t financial but social. As many emphasized, the J20 case was never about broken windows, but political dissent. The function of repression is to suppress. By bringing forth what the state seeks to remove or minimize, we could impose costs on the forces of repression. The state fears the potential that property destruction, both the practice and the meaning behind it, will spread as a social contagion.
Some may denounce the logic of “solidarity means attack.” We disagree, advocating another sense of revolutionary solidarity. It is important to remember that certain actions could adversely affect the outcome of any political trial—so choices must be made intelligently—and it is of utmost importance that political actors exercise caution in their activities. But there is a difference between caution and inaction, and the latter is unacceptable.
This type of solidarity acknowledges that for the exploited, repression is a continuous ongoing process, and that all of our struggles are intimately intertwined. It affirms that there is a connection between targeted repression like the J20 case and everyday racist policing, immigrant detention centers, and the counter-insurgency strategies developed abroad. It understands that capitalism and the state operate in similar ways in very different places.
What methods can we borrow across difference? What instills worry? What creates scandal? What makes the state’s pursuit undesirable? A multitude of things can be done to support the accused and combat repression: street demonstrations, fundraising, public meetings, escalating struggle, attempting to radicalize and connect with current social struggles. We should interweave them all in such a way as to deepen our struggles.
For fear of justifying the repression that was already in progress, we did not take a proper stance against this system. Even small gestures such as defendants rebelling against being misgendered in court or speaking out in the face of explicit racism were discouraged. This was a mistake. Repression is an inevitable consequence of conflict; therefore, it must be incorporated into any winning revolutionary strategy. Whether we’re talking about attacks, disaster relief, or a free breakfast program, repression is sure to result if it threatens the interests of capital and state power. We do not benefit from being too tame.
Furthermore, additional repression isn’t always inherently negative. We should evaluate it in relation to our overall strategy, not in a vacuum. Additional repression can offer new opportunities in the overall fight. For example, an indictment for an incendiary speech could be leveraged to (re)gain popular support.
We have a choice: we can run and hide or fight back. If we give the state an inch, it will certainly take a mile. All our clichés apply here: stand firm, throw down, take up the gauntlet, hold the line—to the barricades! Repression is being meted out precisely because the social situation is becoming more precarious and because the actions for which the defendants were accused threaten the state. This means that solidarity is not simply raising money for legal defense and pleading to the state for leniency. Instead, it is an attack on power, and choosing to attack is not only refusing to bow down, but also contributing to the wider atmosphere of social antagonism. In many countries, a single slogan abounds: solidarity is a weapon. Let’s put it into practice in the US.
Towards a Future
January 20, 2017 saw the ushering in of a new generation of the radical left, a defining moment in a neo-fascist era. In an epoch with few such entry points, we should not understate the significance of this moment. We will not reiterate the importance of fierce resistance at Trump’s inauguration, but choosing not to act was not an option.
We affirm the actions taken that day. Part of what makes these revolutionary days of action effective is how they are followed up. How do we put into perspective the anger and urgency shown that day? How can that moment permeate its way into subsequent moments—to create new ones? What does it mean to understand what occurred from each of our respective localities—and how would it look to externalize these shared perceptions within a larger social framework, creating a subjectivity that can extend beyond activist minorities and radical milieus, beyond protest towards the synthesis of a new world?
Using historically grounded black bloc tactics, the counter-inaugural protests of January 20, 2017 manifested a demandless metropolitan riot with an explicitly anti-fascist, anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian, and abolitionist orientation. The movement itself existed within a broader spectrum of resistance. Therein lies a strength with the capacity to grow relative to its ability to echo and resonate into the future.
Perhaps January 20 can serve as a reference point for revolt in the years to come: an annual day of anarchist activity situated in a collective memory, with an emphasis on building power and expanding our abilities as a movement. In our present context, it feels especially important to intervene from an anti-electoral perspective, combating the next election cycle and the fallacious notion that we only need to get rid of Trump, not the system itself.
Defining conflicts compel people to choose sides. There is strength in drawing lines in the sand and demonstrating that the institutions of misery we are forced to co-exist with are neither neutral nor impervious. Spreading signals of disorder can increase our tactical strength as we hone a practice of vandalism, property destruction, public occupation, and rowdiness. This interrupts the narrative of social peace and makes it indisputably clear that people are opposed to the present system and fighting against it. What better moment was there to do that than Trump’s ascendancy? As the failures of the prevailing order become ever more obvious, perhaps we should continue to force fractures of this kind.
Some may scoff at insurrectionists who cite the Greek anarchist movement, but the situation in Greece is an accelerated version of our own here in the US. Comrades there have described how various sectors of the population took up the confrontational and combative tactics that had been used by anarchists in moments of crisis, such as after the police killing of Alexis Grigoropoulos. The contagion was so intense that even those who had previously decried these tactics joined in. In France, after years of riots in response to austerity measures, police brutality, and attacks on the ZAD, we are seeing disruption spread countrywide. “In opening up spaces free from state control, these ruptures offer an opportunity for liberation: an insurrection.”
From Ferguson, Baltimore, and Standing Rock to J20, it is not a stretch to say we live in an era of increasing conflict in the US, as well. Like it or not, the future will involve social discord and revolution; things will not continue as they are forever. We would argue for agents of change to fight harder and sooner rather than later. Conflict can open up space for new perspectives, discussions, and forms of engagement while playing an important role in defending any revolutionary forms of life we create.
The riot is the focal reemergence of rebellion in our era, when the relevance of the labor movement and the strike along with it has dwindled as global capitalism has expanded and adapted. The riot ascends at a time when our commonality, discontent, and strength aren’t primarily formed by our labor power but by our dispossession. This is a time of destitution, when broad antagonisms will continue to take shape against the state and the police.
We ask that we be bolder in what we disseminate, plan, and do. That we begin to take ourselves and the freedom we aspire to more seriously. While acknowledging its limits, we ask that we start taking disruption more seriously. The disruptions that most prominently define our time are the riot, the blockade, the occupation, and, on the horizon, the commune. The decision to retreat from combative tactics should only come after we have gained significant strength.
“The question of pacifism is serious only for those who have the ability to open fire. In this case, pacifism becomes a sign of power, since it’s only in an extreme position of strength that we are freed from the need to fire.”
-The Invisible Committee
In the past, there have been traditions of solidarity that meant continuing the struggles of those imprisoned or murdered by the state. Let us acknowledge the effects of repression from the J20 case as ongoing and strive to continue with the aims of revolutionary struggle as a practice of solidarity with the case’s defendants and supporters.
For freedom!
-Some comrades (ex-defendants and not)
We Coming for Your Finger Sandwiches
‹ Previous: Another Wave of Arrests and Torture against Russian Anarchists
J20 Postscript: How I Spent January 20, 2017: Next ›
Kill Your Heroes
A Filipino Anarchist Discussion about National Heroes
Uprising, Counterinsurgency, and Civil War
Understanding the Rise of the Paramilitary Right
Cradle the seed, even in the volcano’s mouth.
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ArticlesCommentary
Examining The Democrat Presidential Hopefuls & Who Will Win The Nomination
Tony Elliott March 16, 2019
We have an already crowded field of candidates now, officially running for president in the 2020 elections who hope to gain enough traction to either get nominated at the DNC or have enough support to run as an independent. The only problem here is that most of them do not have a snowball’s chance of rising above the field of contenders and only two, or perhaps three stand a chance of facing president Trump in the 2020 general election.
Most, who are officially running, are a waste of time for many reasons, but primarily because they do not resonate with the people. These include Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Kamala Harris, and Representatives Julian Castro and Tulsi Gabbard. These candidates, with the exception of Julian Castro, do not present themselves as likable people and have a proverbial wall separating them from the voters. Castro, on the other hand, is likable but seems unable to spark very much interest among voters. This is primarily because he doesn’t present a clear picture of just how electing he will improve the country.
Others, like Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren have lousy track records and excessive baggage to contend with. Sanders pretty much had it in the bag, last time around with enough delegates to challenge Hillary Clinton for the nomination at the DNC, but rolled over when Clinton bribed him into quitting by buying him a lakeside vacation home, worth over a half a million dollars. You will not see it in the mainstream media, but if Sanders really wanted to be president, he could have, but instead, he chose to endorse her, after the bribe.
Elizabeth Warren, on the other hand, is a total waste of everyone’s time and money because she is a known liar who was exposed after a DNA test proved she was not Native American as she claimed to be for decades. No one will elect quitters or known liars, so these two are going nowhere.
Other lesser-known candidates in the field will disappear soon, noticed by no one.
Joe Biden, more than likely, will end up running but will be seen as too old and moderate for the new Socialist Left.
Since the beginning, there have been only two people who could get nominated as the Democrat presidential candidate and actually give president Trump a decent run. They are Robert (Beto) O’Rourke and Eric Holder.
O’Rourke has burst on the political arena, after nearly defeating Sen. Ted Cruz for the Senate seat in Texas. Since then, O’Rourke has increased his political presence nationwide by speaking out at rallies and at small gatherings in bars and restaurants. Anywhere he can speak, he does.
A massive pipeline of millions of dollars is open to O’Rourke via George Soros. Thus, this makes him a solid contender against anyone else seeking the Democratic nomination. Simply put, O’Rourke will grossly outspend anyone who opposes him.
The one big problem with O’Rourke is his message. He will not get elected by voters solely based on the issues of climate change and by heralding totally open borders. Even if his supporters agree with him on these two issues, most will want to hear how he intends to improve their lives as POTUS. Thus far, O’Rourke has not come up with any detailed plan on solving problems facing the country.
Eric Holder has not made any announcement that he will run for president. However, if he decides to run, he just may edge out O’Rourke after all the political smoke clears. Holder would be the most dangerous person to run in 2020 because of many reasons. For example, he is not your average white guy like O’Rourke and Biden and would have a great advantage with gaining support from everyone on the Left based on his race.
There is also the moderation factor, where Holder seems more moderate than the Socialists seeking to completely overthrow the government of the United States. This will be in his favor.
Holder would come into the picture with a name for himself after having been Attorney General of the US. Since serving as AG under Obama, he has a lot of negative excess baggage to contend with such as being the first AG in history to be held in Contempt of Congress on both civil and criminal grounds. Aside from this, there is Fast and Furious where he was involved in running guns to Mexican and Central American criminal cartels.
Holder out does O’Rourke in criminal activity with O’Rourke’s drunk driving conviction, burglary, ethics complaint, etc. with high crimes on an international level.
Yet, it is hard to find a Democrat that does not have an extensive criminal resume. Thus, Holder is probably the man for Democratic nomination, if he decides to run, since that seems to be a requirement by the Left for getting the presidential nomination.
It will be either O’Rourke or Holder who wins the DNC nomination for president in 2020.
Previous Thanks to Public Schools, Socialism is On the Rise
Next Self-Proclaimed Pro-Life Republicans Blast Democrats For Opposing Bill To Protect Babies Who Survive Attempted Murder
Tony Elliott
I am an established writer with articles in over 20 publications of differing topics
Political Commentary Columnist for the Cimarron News Press in Cimarron, New Mexico from 2001 to 2003 generating the controversy I was hired for.
I also was a regular writer for several small coastal newspapers in Southern Oregon during the early 1990's.
Aura Visions: The Origin Prophecy,
Enviroclowns: The Climate Change Circus,
Strange Sounds: A Research Report
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/ undefined / Brandstätt, C. “Network Charges for Distribution Systems with High Shares of Distributed Generation”
Brandstätt, C. “Network Charges for Distribution Systems with High Shares of Distributed Generation”
The paper “Network Charges for Distribution Systems with High Shares of Distributed Generation” (Brandstätt, C.) will be presented at the 6th Florence Conference on the Regulation of Infrastructures (16 June 2017).
As a consequence of the liberalization of the electricity sector, more and more users cover their electricity demand fully or partially via own distributed generation, for example, photovoltaics (PV). Due to increasing self-supply overall withdrawals from electricity grids are decreasing. Hence the base for the distribution of increasing network cost is shrinking and individual charges rise. This encourages further self-supply and disadvantages regular network users in systems with high PV shares.
In many European systems, network cost is passed on cascadingly from upper to lower network levels. The rationale is that users at lower levels contribute to the cost of transporting electricity on upper levels. Distributed generation, however, may in times feed power upwards to higher levels and thus reduce intermediate levels’ withdrawals and consequently their network charges. This reduction is then passed on evenly to all subsequent level networks.
Hence, while users in lower level networks with high PV-shares bear the increase in charges tied to self-supply they benefit only disproportionally from the paybacks. A one-directional cascade, downwards from upper to lower levels, is not appropriate in a system where power flows have become bi-directional. To resolve this, the paper proposes a bi-directional charging scheme that assigns network cost to distributed generators and analyses its effects in a simulation model.
The level of contributions from generators to network cost varies significantly throughout Europe. For political reasons, distributed generators are exempted from charges in many countries. Therefore the proposed generation component in network charges (g-component) is designed as a zero sum. Thus in the above-described case of benefits from distributed generation, prosumers can receive payments rather than face charges and in sum distributed generators remain exempted from charges albeit receiving incentives.
The paper is organized as follows: after the introduction, the second section gives a brief overview of current charging schemes for distribution systems and the literature on assigning charges to generators. The third section describes the modelling of network charges. Section four presents the modelling results on distributional effects and the incentives for self-supply, which in the final section allow for conclusions on the suitability of the proposed charging scheme in networks with increasing self-supply.
Christine Brandstätt is a research associate in energy economics at Jacobs University Bremen.
Her main research interest is on regulation and pricing. Currently, she analyses the interactions of different regulatory, market design and policy options in energy systems. She has participated in several research projects on network regulation and pricing, smart grids and the integration of renewable energy sources into the energy system.
Christine holds Master’s degrees from Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, École des Mines in Nantes and Polytechnic University in Madrid as a result of the completion of the Erasmus Mundus joint Master course of Management and Engineering of Environment and Energy.
More on Energy & Climate
Financial Style Regulation in Wholesale Energy: Continuing Complexity
The last ten years have seen a slew of regulation hitting the energy markets. The regulations in question have their…
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Fan Club Game Abyss The Hobbit
1 Wallpapers 2 Images
Many locations were illustrated by an image, based on originals designed by Kent Rees. On the tape version, to save space, each image was stored in a compressed format by storing outline information and then flood filling the enclosed areas on the screen.[6] The slow CPU speed meant that it would take up to several seconds for each scene to draw. The disk-based versions of the game used pre-rendered, higher-quality images. The game had an innovative text-based physics system, developed by Veronika Megler[7][2]. Objects, including the characters in the game, had a calculated size, weight and solidity. Objects could be placed inside other objects, attached together with rope and damaged or broken. If the main character was sitting in a barrel which was then picked up and thrown through a trapdoor, the player went too. Unlike other works of interactive fiction, the game was also in real time - if you left the keyboard for too long, events continued without you by automatically entering the "WAIT" command with the response "You wait - time passes". If you had to leave the keyboard for a short time, there was a "PAUSE" command which would stop all events until a key was pressed. The game had a cast of non-player characters (NPCs) that were entirely independent of the player and bound to precisely the same game rules. They had loyalties, strengths and personalities that affected their behaviour and could not always be predicted. The character of Gandalf, for example, roamed freely around the game world (some fifty locations), picking up objects, getting into fights and being captured. The volatility of the characters, coupled with the rich physics and impossible-to-predict fighting system, meant that the game could be played in many different ways, though it could also lead to problems (such as an important character being killed early on). There were numerous possible solutions and with hindsight the game might be regarded as one of the first examples of 'emergent gaming'. This also resulted, however, in many bugs; for example, during development Megler found that the animal NPCs killed each other before the player arrived. The game's documentation warned that "Due to the immense size and complexity of this game it is impossible to guarantee that it will ever be completely error-free". Melbourne House issued a version 1.1 with some fixes, but with another bug that resulted in the game being unwinnable, forcing it to release version 1.2, and the company never fixed all bugs.[4]
Franchise: The Lord of the Rings
Publisher: Melbourne House
Platforms: Nintendo Game Boy Advance Sony Playstation 2 Sinclair ZX Spectrum Nintendo GameCube Amstrad CPC Apple II Commodore 64 MSX ZX Spectrum Dragon 32/64 PC BBC Micro
Genres: Adventure
Part of the The Lord of the Rings Fan Club
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Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord
Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds
Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom
Wizardry: Bane of the Cosmic Forge
Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge
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Tag Archives: NL Champions.
2014 World Series ….. How Much Did they Make?
2014 World Series Parade
Reposted from ESPN, Tuesday, November 25, 2014. NEW YORK — A full postseason share for the World Series champion Giants was worth a record $388,606, topping the previous mark of $370,873 set by San Francisco two years ago.
San Francisco’s total was up from $307,323 for the Boston Red Sox last year. The players’ pool of $62 million was down from $62.7 million last year and a record $65.4 million in 2012.
The Giants split $22.3 million into 47 full shares, partial shares equivalent to another 9.65 and 17 cash awards, the commissioner’s office said Monday.
A full share on the AL champion Kansas City Royals was worth $230,700, up from $228,300 for the St. Louis Cardinals last year and down from $284,275 for the 2012 AL champion Detroit Tigers.
The players’ pool included 50 percent of the gate receipts from the two wild-card games, and 60 percent from the first three games of each division series and the first four games of each league championship series and the World Series.
Full shares were worth $125,288 for the Baltimore Orioles, $115,481 for St. Louis, $31,544 for Detroit, $31,543 for the Los Angeles Dodgers, $29,845 for the Angels, $29,418 for theWashington Nationals, $16,556 for the Pittsburgh Pirates and $15,266 for the Oakland Athletics.
Copyright 2014 by The Associated Press
Posted in A1 Baseball, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Oakland Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, Washington Nationals
Tagged AL Champions, Associated Press, cash awards, espn, Giants, NL Champions., partial shares, players pool, World Series Pay
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Daisy Johnson Could Become The New Director Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Dorian Parks December 26, 2016 Leave a Comment
By: Dorian Parks
The mid-season finale of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. dropped a few weeks ago, and it was amazing! During the episode, Coulson made a remark that he wanted Daisy Johnson to one day become the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. While Daisy may have blown it off with the comment “maybe in the comic book version”, that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen.
In the recent edition of Entertainment Weekly’s Spoiler Room with Natalie Abrams, a fan asked whether or not we might see Daisy embrace her comic book persona and become the director in the future. Abrams responded with the following quote from executive producer and show-runner Jed Whedon, who teased that it may or may not happen.
“We’ve hinted at it a bit, that Coulson thinks she can play more of a leadership role. We’ll see how it goes, and where the story takes her. She’s been through a lot so that usually turns someone from a rookie into a seasoned veteran, which is what you need to lead. We’ll see if she steps up to the plate.”
Do you think Daisy has what it takes to become the director of Shield or do you think she should remain a field agent? Let us know and make sure to check out the trailer for the L.M.D episodes!
Published by Dorian Parks
Owner/Founder& CO-EIC of Geeks of color. Contact: Dorian@geeksofcolor.co View all posts by Dorian Parks
Agentsofshield, Comics, TV
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The Zen & Art of Brazilian Indie Game “Aftertile”
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Last edited by Taugis
5 edition of introduction to post-colonial theory found in the catalog.
introduction to post-colonial theory
by Peter Childs
Published 1997 by Longman in Harlow .
Colonies.,
Decolonization.,
Postcolonialism.
Statement Peter Childs and R.J. Patrick Williams.
Contributions Williams, Patrick, 1951-
Pagination ix, 240p. ;
Postcolonialism criticizes both the Western domination and the imposition of a global economic system of structural inequality. Thus, postcolonial theory shares many important methods and insights with standpoint feminist epistemological critique. Postcolonialism intersects with the study of the nation-state and emergent nationalism. An Introduction to Post-Colonialism, Post-colonial Theory and. Post-colonial Literature. Where does it come from? Post-colonial literature comes from Britain's former colonies in the Caribbean, Africa and India. Many post-colonial writers write in English and focus on common themes such as the struggle for independence, emigration, national File Size: KB.
In her introduction to Post-Colonial and African American Women's Writing, published in , Gina Wisker notes that the indictment present in many postcolonial texts tends to produce guilt or. Get this from a library! An introduction to post-colonial theory. [Peter Childs; Patrick Williams] -- The first book of its kind in the field, this timely introduction to post-colonial theory offers lucid and accessible summaries of the major work of such key theorists as Frantz Fanon, Edward Said.
in referring to hybridity in contemporary theory. Throughout this book I will work between vocabularies generated in the relationship of Francophone stud-ies to the more general field of (anglophone) postcolonial studies. Part of the reasoning for this is purely circumstantial in . The first book of its kind in the field, this timely introduction to post- colonial theory offers lucid and accessible summaries of the major work of key theorists such as Frantz Fanon, Edward Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak/5(16).
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Introduction to post-colonial theory by Peter Childs Download PDF EPUB FB2
The first book of its kind in the field, this timely introduction to post- colonial theory offers lucid and accessible summaries of the major work of key theorists such as Frantz Fanon, Edward Bhabha and Gayatri by: The first book of its kind in the field, this timely introduction to post- colonial theory offers lucid and accessible summaries of the major work of key theorists such as Frantz Fanon, Edward Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak/5(2).
An Introduction To Post-Colonial Theory Pages pages The first book of its kind in the field, this timely introduction to post- colonial theory offers lucid and accessible summaries of the major work introduction to post-colonial theory book key theorists such as Frantz Fanon, Edward Bhabha and Gayatri by: The first book of its kind in the field, this timely introduction to post- colonial theory offers lucid and accessible summaries of the major work of key theorists such as Frantz Fanon, Edward Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak.
The first book of its kind in the field, this timely introduction to post- colonial theory offers lucid and accessible summaries of the major work of key theorists such as Frantz Fanon, Edward Bhabha and Gayatri : Peter Childs. The first book of its kind in the field, this timely introduction to post- colonial theory offers lucid and accessible summaries of the major work of key theorists such as Frantz Fanon, Edward Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak.
The Guide also Explores the lines of resistance against colonialism an. Postcolonial Theory is a ground-breaking critical introduction to the burgeoing field of postcolonial studies. Leela Gandhi is the first to clearly map out this field in terms of its wider philosophical and intellectual context, drawing important connections between postcolonial theory and poststructuralism, postmodernism, marxism and feminism/5.
Postcolonial Theory Introduction. Imagine this: people come over to your house, while you're still living there, and decide to settle down.
Permanently. They rearrange your furniture, force you to cook for them; they even tell you to say things like "'wicked"' instead of "'hella."'.
An Introduction To Post-Colonial Theory book. An Introduction To Post-Colonial Theory. DOI link for An Introduction To Post-Colonial Theory.
An Introduction To Post-Colonial Theory book. By Peter Childs, Patrick Williams. Edition 1st Edition. First Published eBook Published 6 June Author: Peter Childs, Patrick Williams.
Postcolonial theory became part of the critical toolbox in the s, and many practitioners credit Edward Said’s book Orientalism as being the founding work. Typically, the proponents of the theory examine the ways in which writers from colonized countries attempt to articulate and even celebrate their cultural identities andFile Size: 38KB.
Hook’s book is a very good introduction to the relationship between postcolonial theory and psychology (and psychoanalysis). Drawing on works by Homi Bhabha, Frantz Fanon, and others, Hook analyzes anticolonial, postcolonial, and critical race theory approaches to and critiques of psychology.
In the introduction the author tells us that "Postcolonialism is about turning the world upside down and looking at it from a different perspective, that is, from the perspective of the disenfranchised people, a majority of whom come from the developing world" (2). The author then proceeds to show us the world from "their" by: An Introduction to Post-Colonial Theory Peter Childs, R.
Patrick Williams The first book of its kind in the field, this timely introduction to post- colonial theory offers lucid and accessible summaries of the major work of key theorists such as Frantz Fanon, Edward Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak.
Postcolonial Theory is a ground-breaking critical introduction to the burgeoning field of postcolonial Gandhi is the first to clearly map out this field in terms of its wider. Post-Colonial Studies: The Key Concepts is fully updated and cross-referenced additional further reading this book has everything necessary for students and anyone keen to learn more about this fascinating subject.
Bill Ashcroft teaches at the University of Hong Kong and the University of NSW, Gareth Griffiths at the University. This introduction, from a leading figure in the field, explores a wide range of Anglophone post-colonial writing from Africa, Australia, the Caribbean, India, Ireland and Britain.
Lyn Innes compares the ways in which authors shape communal identities and interrogate the values and representations of peoples in newly independent : C. Innes. (PDF) Introduction to Postcolonial Literature and Literary Theory | Ernest Morrell - As our communities become increasingly ethnically, racially, and linguistically diverse, and as critical literacy becomes more integrally tied to meaningful and humane participation in the global family, it is essential that English integrates.
General Introduction 1 Bernard, Elmarsafy, Murray Introduction: What Postcolonial Theory Doesn’t Say I The chapters that make up the contents of this book first came together as papers presented at a conference, with the same title, at the University of York.
As organizers, we were careful in. An Introduction To Post-Colonial Theory by Peter Childs. The first book of its kind in the field, this timely introduction to post- colonial theory offers lucid and accessible summaries of the major work of key theorists such as Frantz Fanon, Edward Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak.
Introduction To Post-Colonial Theory by Childs, Peter and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at - An Introduction to Post-colonial Theory by Childs, Peter; Williams, Patrick - AbeBooks. the Arab world in It had been originally commissioned as an introduction to postcolonialism at a time when “postcolonial theory” formed an innovative body of thinking that was making waves beyond its own disciplinary location.
That interest was the mark of a new phase within many Western societies in which immigrants.This key new introduction, by one of the leading exponents in the field, explains in clear and accessible language the historical and theoretical origins of post-colonial theory.
Acknowledging that post-colonial theory draws on a wide, often contested, range of theory from different fields, Young analyzes the concepts and issues involved, explains the meaning of key terms, and interprets the.[Leela Gandhi] Postcolonial Theory A Critical Int(Book ZZ org).
certifiedneighborhoodspecialist.com - Introduction to post-colonial theory book © 2020
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Pure Storage’s Scott Dietzen And Sutter Hill’s Mike Speiser To Talk About Building For The Long Term At Disrupt SF
Matt Burns @mjburnsy / 6 years
Pure Storage is upending the enterprise storage industry by fully utilizing flash memory technology into their product. Scott Dietzen, the current CEO of Pure Storage, and Mike Speiser, managing director at Sutter Hill Ventures, are working together to grow Pure Storage into an industry leader in flash-based enterprise data storage and they’ll be joining us onstage at Disrupt SF 2014.
Dietzen and Speiser will talk about what it means to build an enormous, sustainable business in the face of today’s pump-and-dump culture. Especially one that is challenging such enormous, embedded incumbents.
As the bigger companies like EMC, Intel and others struggle to adapt to a changing market built on faster flash-based storage, Pure Storage hopes to seize on what some analysts believe will soon become a $60 billion market.
In April, Pure Storage raised a $225 million series F round at a $3 billion valuation. It will use this funding for R&D, sales, and marketing on its way to hopefully becoming an industry standard.
So far, Pure Storage has been immensely successful at growing the business, with 700 percent year-over-year growth and over 50 percent quarterly growth on a consistent basis. The Series F round came on the heels of August 2013’s Series E round, where the company raised $150 million from T. Rowe Price and others.
The two rounds bring the total Pure Storage has raised to nearly $475 million, and the latest round puts them in a cash-positive position. And it’s cash they’ll need if they’re going to disrupt a market controlled by a handful of incumbents.
Dietzen is a three-time entrepreneur, having helped to build WebLogic, Zimbra and Transarc, and currently serves on the board of Cloudera, an enterprise software company. As the president and CTO of Zimbra, Dietzen helped it to become a pioneer of Web 2.0 and OpenCore paradigms until the company was acquired by Yahoo and VMWare in 2010. He also helped build Weblogic from $61 million in revenues to over $1 billion before it was acquired in 1998.
Speiser is a Managing Director at Sutter Hill Ventures, and counts Pure Storage as one of the companies he directs and advises. Before joining Sutter Hill, Speiser was Yahoo’s VP of Community Products, a role he took on after Yahoo acquired Bix, the company he led as CEO. Before that, Speiser was VP and Technical Adviser to Symantec’s Chairman and CEO, and was VP of Product Marketing and Product Management at Veritas Software. And he also cofounded epinions.com, a consumer reviews platform based in Australia.
Come hear Dietzen and Speiser talk about their vision for Pure Storage’s future at Disrupt SF 2014. Tickets are now on sale, with early-bird pricing now through September 1. If you’re interested in becoming a sponsor, reach out to our sponsorship team for more information.
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Trans*H4CK Founder On Equity In Tech And The Need For Queer Inclusivity
Megan Rose Dickey @meganrosedickey / 5 years
Trans*H4CK, a series of hackathons for transgender and gender non-conforming people, recently launched a Q&A web series featuring trans people in tech. I recently sat down with Trans*H4CK founder Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler to chat about diversity, racism, unconscious bias and more. Below is our conversation, which has been mildly edited for clarity.
Megan Rose Dickey: What is diversity?
Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler: I think it really means difference and celebrating difference. That difference is good. That it’s ok. Not only in the space of tech and business but also as a human being and human growth. I think I try to lead a life that includes diverse perspectives of people, so, that’s what it means to me.
MRD: Why is diversity important in the tech industry?
Ziegler: I personally think diversity is important in the tech industry because it is a space about wealth building and wealth creation, and me, being a black person and being widely aware of social inequity, I think tech is a really great space that allows for some of that inequity to be dissipated in multiple ways. So, if we do have a kind of diverse space and we include different perspectives and give different opportunities to people, I think we have a better way to include people in the wealth building creation that is what I think tech is about.
MRD: Do you see tech companies handling diversity well? If so, what are they?
Ziegler: I think companies like Slack, and I’m in Oakland and Clef is there, and they’re doing a lot of work to really hire people who look like me, and not only just hire people who look like me, but put people who look like me in leadership roles and positions. So I think those are two companies that are doing really awesome things.
MRD: Last time we met, we talked about racism in tech. Correct me if I’m wrong, but you believe there is racism.
Ziegler: I think within the industry people are human beings and they live in the world and they bring their politics and biases into the workplace and that’s just fact. It’s so funny, even Apple, on MLK day they had his face on its website, but two days before, it comes out that they’re like, ‘we don’t want to hire black people,’ pretty much.
MRD: Right, they called it a burden.
Ziegler: Yeah, “it’s a burden.” They use words like that: it’s a burden, it’s too hard. I think that’s definitely racially biased and so, we can call it racism — a form of racism — but I definitely think the idea of racial discrimination needs to be discussed more.
MRD: In last year, tech companies have started offering unconscious bias trainings? Is it unconscious versus conscious?
Ziegler: I think a lot of racism is unconscious. I think it’s all intentional at the same time. I think It’s messy. I think it’s a bunch of that stuff. I think that anything that somebody does to make the world better and to make someone more comfortable is a step in the right direction.
MRD: Speaking of steps in the right direction, what other steps do tech companies need to make to foster diversity and inclusion?
Ziegler: I think tech companies can partner more with non-profits. I think a lot of non-profits that are not tech-based are doing a lot of the work that tech companies are wanting to do right now with their tons of money, but really have no idea what to do. And there are people who have been doing the work with no money for years and years and years. I think there’s a missed opportunity that’s happening, especially in the Bay Area, an area of progressivity. A lot of non-profits are here, but they seem to be so secluded and excluded from tech events and the tech world. I think so much could be done if there were more conversations being held between those two worlds.
MRD: I remember a tweet of yours about how the solution to hiring more blacks in tech is just to hire them.
Ziegler: Someone I follow on twitter, @dtwps, Riley. He has a video about diversity in tech and is like, ‘yeah, if you want to hire black people, just hire them.’ It’s not that difficult. And if it doesn’t work out it just doesn’t work out. I mean, the opportunity is there. I don’t think it’s that difficult to be more inclusive.
MRD: How do you envision the conversation around diversity and inclusion evolving?
Ziegler: I mentioned this to you last time. I really think it’s not as inclusive as it could be of queer people. And not just queer people in general, but me, as a trans person, I don’t really see the conversation that — I think I read something recently that we should move beyond gender. I don’t think we should move beyond gender. I think it’s a rich space to really tackle diversity with gender, and so I would like to see more conversations being held about that. I think it takes a little bit of work for people who want to be inclusive to do the work and include people.
This is part three of a five-part series. Come back tomorrow to check out an interview with Paradigm co-founder and CEO Joelle Emerson. If you’re new to the series, be sure to watch our interviews with Black Girls Code founder Kimberly Bryant and Slack engineer Erica Baker.
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Boldstart Ventures locks down $47 million for fund three
Connie Loizos @Cookie / 4 years
Boldstart Ventures started off with $1 million in 2010 as a kind of experiment. Could a New York-based outfit find enough seed-stage, enterprise-focused, East Coast opportunities to rationalize a bigger fund?
The answer, seemingly, is yes. Boldstart, founded by longtime VC Ed Sim (who’d spent the previous decade-plus an investor with Dawntreader Ventures), just closed its third fund with $47 million.
That’s $30 million more than the $17 million Boldstart had raised for its second fund in 2013, says Sim, who now works alongside general partner Eliot Durbin. The two have also more recently brought in Work Market cofounder Jeff Leventhal as a venture partner.
It’s easy to appreciate the enthusiasm of the firm’s backers, whose new anchor investor is the fund of funds Top Tier Capital Partners. For one thing, six years into Boldstart’s adventure, there aren’t a lot of micro VC firms in New York that are primarily focused on regional enterprise companies — though Sims says there’s no shortage of interesting startups to fund.
Among Boldstart’s newest bets is Kustomer, a year-old, New York-based platform that enables brands to keep track of and increase engagement with their customers. (In September, the company revealed that it has now raised $12.5 million to date.) Boldstart also wrote one of the earliest checks to HYPR, a two-and-half-year-old, New York-based startup that helps companies deploy secure password-less experiences for their employees through fingerprint, voice, face and eye recognition. It announced $3 million in seed funding last month.
Indeed, while most seed-stage firms of the same age are still waiting on their first exits, Boldstart has seen six from that first, very small fund, including the sale of Rapportive to LinkedIn in 2012; Divide’s sale to Google in 2014; GoInstant’s sale to Salesforce in 2012; and Blaze Software’s sale to Akamai in 2012.
Boldstart has another 29 startups in its second fund. None has exited yet, but many have raised substantial follow-on funding, including SecurityScorecard, a three-year-old, New York-based security startup that helps its customers predict and remediate potential security risks and earlier this year raised $20 million in Series B funding led by GV.
We talked with Sim yesterday about the new fund and about emerging shifts that Boldstart is watching. The biggest, he said — boring as it may sound — is simply the early adoption of cloud for enterprises.
“We talk with a lot of buyers who’ve been using the cloud for either developer platforms or new projects but are now exploring how to move their legacy systems. It’s still early, but there’s a groundswell building, and that’s opening up a ton of opportunities around how to better manage and secure data and how to help developers be more productive. ”
We also talked about that elusive $1 billion exit on which the New York startup scene is famously still waiting. Sim’s bet on which company will break that ceiling? MongoDB, the nine-year-old, open-source database technology company, which has long been valued at more than $1 billion by its private investors. “Everyone is hoping they do become that company,” Sims said.
Pictured above, left to right: Leventhal, Sim, and Durbin.
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Can Bitcoin find its practical use case as a currency in Latin America?
Matthew Carpenter-Arévalo 2 years
Matthew Carpenter-Arévalo Contributor
Matthew Carpenter-Arévalo is a former Google and Twitter manager and current CEO of Céntrico Digital, a Latin American-based digital agency.
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Eduardo Gomez started with Bitcoin in 2012, though he didn’t quite understand what he was getting himself into nor how it would change his life.
Back in his home country of Venezuela, the struggling computer science student signed up to manually process thousands of captchas at a time, and he received Bitcoin in return. Little by little, Eduardo became intrigued. He saw bitrapreneurs pop-up all around him as savvy hackers set up mining operations that took advantage of the country’s subsidized though irregular electricity. He started reading more, writing more, and pretty soon he became a recognized authority on all things crypto.
Eventually he would be hired by a company that allows people to purchase things on Amazon using Bitcoin. When Venezuela became unlivable, Eduardo’s company helped him and his support team relocate to Argentina. In a moment of euphoria, Eduardo wrote:
Though Venezuela crumbled around him, Eduardo found a way to opt-out of his government’s mass-imposed misery. He still worries about his family and friends, but he’s grateful to have had a choice. Unlike the Silicon Valley-based techno-libertarians and utopians who claim Bitcoin will save us from inevitable tyrannical government meddling, Eduardo feels Bitcoin actually did save him from tyrannical government meddling. He believes it can do the same for other Latin Americans, as well.
Since its triumphant arrival to mainstream polite conversation, Bitcoin and its underlying technology blockchain have promised to revolutionize everything from commerce to voting.
While blockchain appears to be fulfilling its promise, many wonder if Bitcoin will ever get around to acting as a viable currency rather than just a store of value or speculative asset.
While Bitcoin can be credited with spawning a new industry of cryptocurrency, in 2018 we still seem to be a ways away from purchasing ice cream or hourly parking with Bitcoin — or any other cryptocurrency for that matter.
If Bitcoin is to become a viable means of exchange, Latin America would appear to be the currency’s first point of entry on its journey toward ubiquity. Indeed, the region’s long history of economic mismanagement makes Bitcoin adoption as much a necessity as a luxury.
For example, when you arrive at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Caracas you’ll see an official exchange rate listed above the currency exchange kiosks, and you might be tempted to cash-in your U.S. dollars for whatever the local currency happens to be that month.
Maybe even before you leave the airport someone, possibly a taxi driver, will approach you and offer a completely different and far more beneficial exchange rate. Though the government purports to control the exchange rate across the country of 30 million people, it struggles to control the exchange rate inside the airport.
If you’re dining in Buenos Aires and you offer to pay in U.S. dollars, you’ll be happy to know you’ll receive a favorable exchange rate for your Benjamins. However, once you pull a bill from your pocket, you may find yourself in a seemingly nonsensical discussion with the waiter about the quality of the bill and how the slightly bent edges means a lower rate than the one initially offered.
Finally, if you arrive in Quito, Ecuador as a tourist, you’ll be delighted to see that the country has no currency of its own in circulation: the country has used the greenback since a financial crisis in 1999 destroyed the banking system and the country’s currency. In an act of desperation, the country switched to the U.S. dollar.
Your glee may turn to discomfort after you ask a taxi driver to break a $20 bill and you’ll see him fidget nervously and probably ask you for exact change. Few things are harder in the Andean capital than breaking a $20. Never having the right mix of bills is one of the downsides of not controlling your own money supply.
For your average tourist, these encounters are befuddling. To economists, these incidents are both sad and bemusing: all of the worst-case currency management scenarios first-year economics students study in textbooks seem to come to life in the countries that are fed by the Amazon river and its tributaries — like a twisted Narnia for economists.
To the local populations of the aforementioned countries, managing currencies has turned common people into artisanal forex traders. While annoying, volatile currencies have been around for as long as anyone can remember, and people adjust their behavior in order to survive. If you want to buy an apartment in Buenos Aires, for example, you’ll be expected to arrive with the payment in U.S. dollars in cash. Best to invest in a good briefcase.
Unequal access to technology often means unequal access to the benefits of technology.
As crypto enters its peak or its decent, depending on who you ask, Latin America offers the perfect testing ground for the technology’s practical application. Specifically, Argentines and Venezuelans would appear to be the test group for the use of crypto currencies as an alternative to unstable and unreliable national currencies.
In a parallel world, both Argentina and Venezuela would be the region’s richest countries, were it not for their leaders’ penchants for mismanagement and corruption. With oil reserves greater than those of Saudi Arabia, Venezuela should be thriving. Instead, its experiment with socialism has resulted in more than two million people leaving the country, a wrecked economy and a humanitarian crisis that threatens regional stability.
Argentina’s current crisis is far more complex, and yet also more predictable due to the country’s history of boom and bust.
Despite the initial optimism voiced by foreign investors when a right-leaning pro-market government came to power in 2017, such optimism has not been reflected in support for the peso.
The peso has suffered due to, amongst other factors, a strengthening dollar, dwindling foreign currency reserves and investor mistrust. Inflation caused by past policies of over-printing money to service local debt combined with the current government’s elimination of energy subsidies means that Argentines can’t be sure on Monday what their money will be worth on Friday.
The theatrics of Argentina’s politics also doesn’t inspire confidence, and breaking news can often send the peso on nosedives. Stories of corruption unfold like Emmy-winning soap operas.
For example, the recently discovered notebooks of a government chofer reveal that businesses close to the current president are alleged to have paid bribes to its bitter rivals from the previous government. Regardless of their ideological differences, Latin America’s political class is often united in its penchant for corruption.
The cyclical nature of Argentina’s currency crisis is what gives some hope that the country can become the first to develop a thriving national Bitcoin market. Already a hotbed for blockchain-based companies such as Ripio, Buenos Aires has a higher percentage of businesses that accept Bitcoin than New York. By the end of 2018, Argentina will have more than 100 Bitcoin ATMs, a number expected to increase to 1,600 by the end of 2019.
For Agustina Fainguersch, an Argentine entrepreneur who helps companies, including many in Latin America as managing partner at Wolox, manage digital transformation through the adoption of technologies such as the blockchain, Bitcoin is a practical solution for the average Argentine just trying to make ends meet.
“In Argentina, we exchange pesos into dollars and then back again within the span of a week,” she says. Given that the peso has lost 50 percent of its value against the dollar since the beginning of 2018, most are changing money for the purpose of short-term survival rather than long-term savings. “Many Argentines are often just trying to make sure they have enough money to cover basic expenses.”
According to Fainguersch, the advantage Bitcoin has over other currencies is its increasingly availability, and as such acts as an alternative to the U.S. dollar. Fainguersch has seen how, over the span of a few years, more and more Argentines can access the cryptocurrency and easily exchange pesos. “So long as it’s less volatile than the peso, it’s attractive. Argentine’s have a long history of navigating volatility,” notes Fainguersch.
That volatility, however, is also a risk that places Bitcoin at a disadvantage when compared to the U.S. dollar. Also widely available, the dollar is relatively stable and relatively easy to exchange, though not without burdens and risks, such as falsified bills, hence the extra-value placed on crisp bills.
The future of Bitcoin will depend on which narratives become the meta-narratives.
For Matías Bianchi, the Argentine political scientist and founder of the regional think-tank Asuntos del Sur, the demand for Bitcoin in Argentina follows a familiar pattern: Like much technology that promises to democratize access to something, the benefits of said technology most likely end up helping a wealthy few at the expense of the increasingly hard-luck masses.
In the case of Bitcoin, Bianchi opines that its adoption in Argentina is driven in large part by a wealthy class that has always looked for ways to subvert the country’s institutions to protect its wealth and to benefit from speculative financial activities. “Bitcoin allows the elites to opt-out of the poor decisions made by the government they help install.” After all, unequal access to technology often means unequal access to the benefits of technology.
For Bianchi, talk of an alternative to the national currency is elitist hogwash. Even if a larger and larger percentage of Argentines use Bitcoin, Bianchi argues, 100 percent of Argentines still need to use pesos. As such, opting out of the peso is a luxury for some but not for a viable solution for all. In Bianchi’s view of the world, Bitcoin is more like a modern-day offshore account that removes wealth from the economy and shifts the burden of bad government to the poor. It’s like a Cayman Islands account on your phone, and in countries where corruption is rife and stability is rare, such technology is bound to thrive.
For Venezuelans arriving in Argentina like the aforementioned Eduardo Gomez, their new country’s currency woes are not unfamiliar. As previously mentioned, Eduardo was a student in Venezuela when he first discovered Bitcoin. As the bottom fell out of the Venezuelan economy, Bitcoin mining became a popular activity in a country where everything is subsidized, including energy. Eventually the government caught on and cracked down, but not before a nascent Bitcoin community took form.
Undemocratic Socialist governments tend to replace economic elites with elites who are connected to the sources of power, and, according to Gomez, people with connections in the government eventually took over the Bitcoin mining space. Venezuela even launched its own cryptocurrency, the Petro, whose value is tied to oil production. The Petro has been met with skepticism from both crypto-enthusiasts as well as average Venezuelans who have long lost faith that the government responsible for their problems is capable of solving them.
As previously mentioned, Venezuelans have been leaving their country en masse to escape the entirely man-made crisis that has engulfed their country, and more than 130,000 have settled in Argentina. Gomez sees the parallels between Argentina’s current predicament and the one he left behind in Venezuela, though he feels Argentina’s crisis is tame compared to the complete social breakdown suffered in Venezuela.
Compared to Venezuela, trading Bitcoin in Argentina is much easier: users in both countries use LocalBitCoin.bom to connect with buyers and sellers to facilitate converting money to and from local currencies. The process is somewhat archaic and not without risks. Unlike in Venezuela, in Argentina many money exchangers also offer Bitcoin exchange services. Whereas in Venezuela buyers and sellers run the risk of the government discovering their Bitcoin activities and blocking their bank accounts, in Argentina the government is more concerned about individuals not declaring their income or capital gains.
Both Argentina and Venezuela have offered the ideal conditions for the development of national Bitcoin communities, including the two key ingredients: subsidized energy and unstable national currencies.
As a result, both countries have benefited from the emergence of developer communities focused both on cryptocurrencies as well as blockchain-enabled technologies. Nonetheless, neither country is likely to fulfill the Bitcoin fantasy of replacing their national currencies, nor even overtaking the greenback as an alternative to unstable national currencies.
Bitcoin’s ultimate use cases are more likely to appear along the lines of existing power structures. Wealthy people in Argentina will use Bitcoin to hide their money. Corrupt Venezuelan officials will find a way to enrich themselves at the cost of the struggling masses. Having said that, if Bitcoin becomes as stable as the U.S. greenback, its use as a store of value will continue to increase.
Other innovations will also emerge: as Gomez points point, the launch of Coinbase’s USD coin, a cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar, could make it a lot easier for people to move money between dollars, pesos and bitcoins without the need to carry physical cash. One of Argentina’s leading Bitcoin thinkers, Santiago Siri, has proposed to the country’s Central Bank that it hold 1 percent of its foreign currency reserves in cryptocurrency. Though the plan is unlikely to succeed, Argentina’s desperate circumstances has opened the door for out-of-the-box thinking.
Is it easier for technology to co-opt power than it is for power to co-opt technology?
The emergence of Bitcoin as an alternative to the U.S. dollar will not reduce the need for sound monetary policy, nor will the stability promised by the U.S. dollar become less attractive for the average Argentine or Venezuelan looking to make ends meet rather than speculate away their savings. In either case, Bitcoin does not replace the need for sound institutions.
Of course, if President Trump is successful in gaining control of the U.S. Federal Reserve in order to begin manipulating monetary policy to benefit his short-term political agenda, the U.S. dollar could lose its attractiveness. So far, however, U.S. institutions appear to be fairly resilient in the face of the type of intrusive leadership Latin Americans know all too well.
Though its proponents will continue to tout Bitcoin’s superiority vis-à-vis fiat currencies, Bitcoin’s ultimate challenge is that it is hard to understand and will therefore be defined by stories we tell about it. In other words, the future of Bitcoin will depend on which narratives become the meta-narratives: will Bitcoin be defined by the Eduardo Gomez stories of individuals who escape systems of tyranny thanks to Bitcoin, or the corrupt government officials who receive bribes in their anonymous crypto-wallet, or the drug traffickers who evades detection by shifting from U.S. dollar payments to crypto?
Over 50 years ago Marshall McLuhan wrote, “the new media and technologies by which we amplify and extend ourselves constitute a huge collective surgery carried out on the social body with complete disregard for antiseptics.” Bitcoin is the perfect example of a surgery we are undertaking on the body politic without necessarily understanding the far-reaching consequences. We have to consider that making policy decisions based on the currency’s theoretical promise may not result in a better world.
At the same time, we should also be open to re-thinking how the world operates for the sake of empowering people through technology. The challenge for democratizing technologies is that they must take on and overcome existing power structures. In Latin America institutions are often weak, which is part of the reason why Bitcoin can flourish there: the poison and the antidote spring from the same well. That doesn’t mean, however, that there aren’t powerful and resilient interests filling the voids left by those floundering institutions.
Ultimately the question for Bitcoin in Latin America and elsewhere in the world is following: Is it easier for technology to co-opt power than it is for power to co-opt technology? Argentina and Venezuela are putting that question to the test. The world watches.
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WISER-Water Infrastructure for Schistosomiasis-Endemic Regions
Department Name: Civil & Environmental Engineering
Schistosomiasis, also known as bilharzia or 'snail fever', is a parasitic disease carried by fresh water snails that are infected by one of five varieties of the pararasite Schistosoma. Schistosomiasis is transmitted by human contact with contaminated fresh water that are inhabited by snails carrying the parasite. Larvae, known as cercariae, emerge from the infected snails and swim in the water until they come into contact with an individual and penetrate the skin. The transmission to humans can occur through a range of normal water contact activities such as collection of drinking water, bathing, washing clothes, swimming or fishing. Once inside the body the larvae develop into worms which live in the blood vessels for years. Female worms shed eggs which end up in urine and faeces; if infected individuals urinate or defecate into freshwater bodies, the eggs migrate to snails where they hatch and begin the cycle again. The symptoms of schistosomiasis can include frequent painful and bloody urine, abdominal pain and bloody diarrhoea, inflammation and scarring of the bladder, enlargement of the liver or spleen, and where infection persists, bladder cancer may develop. In children it leads to anemia, malnutrition and learning difficulties, thus dramatically impairing their future quality of life and productivity. It is estimated that 258 million people are infected in 78 countries worldwide, though 90% of the infections occur in Africa. Schistosomiasis kills an estimated 280,000 people annually and ranks second only to malaria as the most common parasitic disease.
Praziquantel is the primary form of treatment, with a single dose of the drug having been shown to reduce the burden of infection and severity of symptoms. However, re-infection will quickly occur when people are re-exposed to contaminated water. Education campaigns about the risks of exposure to contaminated water and improved water supply and sanitation should in theory break the life cycle of the disease. Universal sanitation coverage should prevent the passage of urine and faeces into contaminated water bodies, however there is always a danger of transmission by infected people visiting from elsewhere and urinating or defecating into the water body, or occasional lapses in the usage of sanitation facilities. Mollusciciding has also been suggested as a solution, however there are concerns regarding potential unintended consequences of dosing molluscicides into water bodies and the long-term effectiveness and sustainability of this strategy is questionable, since the snails could return at some point in the future. In some cases there may be alternative water sources (e.g. boreholes) which can be accessed, however often there are no alternative safe water sources available to meet the full water needs of communities in endemic regions. In such cases, therefore, the immediate focus for cutting schistosomiasis transmission must be treating the contaminated freshwater body to provide a safe alternative supply. Unfortunately however, there is very limited and incomplete information available regarding the effectiveness of water treatment processes at removing or inactivating cercariae of different Schistosoma. Also, there are no rapid means for detecting cercariae in water samples and determining their viability, which makes assessing the risk and degree of contamination of a water body and testing the effectiveness of water treatment processes as barriers against cercariae very difficult. This three-year research programme aims to address these gaps in critical knowledge through a collaboration between water engineers, synthetic biologists, parasitologists, and social scientists in the UK, Ethiopia and Tanzania, in the hope of developing invaluable new knowledge to guide the design of sustainable water infrastructure for schistosomiasis-endemic regions.
Planned Impact
In 2013 the World Health Assembly adopted a formal resolution in which it set the goal of eliminating neglected tropical diseases, including schistosomiasis, which has generated a renewed emphasis on the need for more integrated intervention strategies that go beyond simply mass drug administration alone and instead seek to incorporate environmental control strategies such as water supply improvements like the ones that we will focus on here. Our research programme contains objectives which are novel and ambitious scientifically but will also deliver evidence-based recommendations and tools, for impactful application to the goal of schistosomiasis elimination immediately.
Ethiopia and Tanzania, both categorised as being among the Least Developed Countries in the DAC list, are the countries of the partnering institutions in this research, Addis Ababa University and the National Institute for Medical Research, respectively. These countries will directly benefit by the new knowledge arising from the research, which will lead to recommendations for water infrastructure for schistosomiasis-endemic regions of their countries and new biosensor tools for rapid and cheap assessment of contaminated water bodies, as well as capacity-growing through participation in the research and bespoke training workshops and new curriculum development to extend our impact into the future. We will run workshops in both Mwanza and Addis Ababa to disseminate the research aims and findings to as wide an audience as possible and invite relevant in-country and regional stakeholders to contribute to the research. There are many other African countries on the DAC list that have significant schistosomiasis-endemic regions which will also benefit from the knowledge arising from this research. We also want to make sure that the research reaches the poorest of the poor, those afflicted by schistosomiasis, and not just those at the top of decision-making. The inclusion of four low-income case study communities in the research programme will allow opportunities for community members to become aware of the research and directly assist in the research activities.
Schistosomiasis is a disease of extreme poverty and is primarily relevant to the poorest communities in developing countries, many of which lack even basic water supply infrastructure. It is estimated that 258 million people are infected in 78 countries worldwide, though 90% of the infections occur in Africa. Schistosomiasis kills an estimated 280,000 people annually, most of whom live in ODA countries of sub-Saharan Africa, and it ranks second only to malaria as the most common parasitic disease. Overcoming the burden of schistosomiasis would therefore lead to improved health, greater quality of life and increased economic productivity of the afflicted people in these countries. In children, schistosomiasis leads to anemia, malnutrition and learning difficulties, thus limiting economic potential of the countries into the future. While treatment with the drug praziquantel can have immediate beneficial effects, re-infection can occur rapidly if people are re-exposed to contaminated water. The long-term sustainable solution to this challenge ultimately will rely on a combination of drug treatment with provision of safe alternative water supplies to minimise this re-exposure. The proposed research aims to develop the evidence-base necessary to design effective, sustainable water infrastructure to achieve the latter, as well as sensors for assessing risk and monitoring schistosome cercariae contamination levels in freshwater bodies.
The research will contribute to the UK Aid Strategy stated goal of tackling extreme poverty and helping the world's most vulnerable, since schistosomiasis is a disease of extreme poverty, and contribute to Sustainable Development Goals 6 (clean water and sanitation), 3 (good health and wellbeing) and ultimately 1 (no poverty).
May 17 - Apr 21
EPSRC
EP/P028519/1
Michael Richard Templeton
Research Subject:
RCUK Programmes
Research Programme:
GCRF
Michael Richard Templeton (Principal Investigator)
Aidan Emery (Co-Investigator)
Feleke Zewge Beshah (Co-Investigator)
Safari Methusela Kinung'hi (Co-Investigator)
Paul S Freemont (Co-Investigator)
Meseret Dessalegne Zefera (Researcher)
Teshome Emana (Researcher)
Alexander James Webb (Researcher)
Fiona Elizabeth Allan (Researcher Co-Investigator)
Title Publication Date Published
Braun L (2018) The effectiveness of water treatment processes against schistosome cercariae: A systematic review in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
Braun L (2020) Determining the viability of Schistosoma mansoni cercariae using fluorescence assays: An application for water treatment. in PLoS neglected tropical diseases
Hazell L (2019) Ultraviolet sensitivity of WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) -related helminths: A systematic review. in PLoS neglected tropical diseases
Kelwick RJR (2020) Biological Materials: The Next Frontier for Cell-Free Synthetic Biology. in Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology
Impact Summary
Further Funding
Description Our laboratory experiments in the UK and the labs of our Ethiopian and Tanzania partners have determined the chlorine doses, filter characteristics and ultraviolet disinfection doses needed to inactivate or remove the pathogen causing schistosomiasis from water. Furthermore, we have developed new analytical tools for detecting the pathogen in water samples, and we have trialled and assessed the success of novel theatre-based behaviour change and health education interventions to communicate the risks of contact with contaminated water to community members in selected case study communities in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
Exploitation Route The knowledge regarding how to treat water to make it safe from schistosomiasis is invaluable to guide the design and operation of safe alternative water supplies in schistosomiasis-endemic regions. This is the major aspect of ODA relevance of this award, since schistosomiasis is a disease of poverty, with 90% of cases occurring in sub-Saharan African regions lacking access to adequate water and sanitation provision.
Our upcoming dissemination workshops in late March and early April 2020 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Mwanza, Tanzania will communicate this knowledge to government and NGO practitioners, and we have arranged to present our findings to the World Health Organization on 20 April 2020 so that the generated information can potentially be included in their guidelines for drinking water quality and/or recreational water quality, which form the basis of national water regulations globally.
Our dissemination workshops will also report on the success of the behaviour change / health education techniques that we trialled, so that the government and NGO practitioner audiences can potentially adopt this as a tool in relevant settings of their work.
The novel analytical methods / biosensors for measuring schistosome cercariae in water samples has progressed significantly through this award but still needs further testing in the field. We expect this will be taken forward either by our team or others in the near future.
Sectors Environment
Description In late March and early April 2020 we will be hosting dissemination workshops in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Mwanza, Tanzania to communicate our recommended water treatment guidelines to relevant government and NGO practitioner audiences, in terms of how to make water safe for water contact activities in schistosomiasis-endemic regions. We expect this will have an impact on the policies and practices of these audiences when implementing safe water supply systems in these regions. Furthermore, on 20 April 2020 we will be presenting our water treatment findings to the World Health Organization, for potential inclusion in their upcoming revised guidelines for drinking water quality and/or recreational water quality, which form the basis of national water quality regulations in most countries worldwide.
Sector Environment
Impact Types Policy & public services
Description Royal Society - Royal Society of Chemistry International Exchanges Award
Amount £12,000 (GBP)
Organisation The Royal Society
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Start 09/2017
End 09/2019
Description European Researchers' Night at the Natural History Museum
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The event ran from 4-10 pm on 28 September 2018, with hundreds of attendees. WISER project team members from the Natural History Museum (Aidan Emery and Fiona Allan) explained the research to attendees.
Description Nature Live event at the Natural History Museum
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact WISER project team member Aidan Emery and collaborators from Acting for Health spoke to 30 A Level students about the research. This took place on 15 November 2018.
Description Presentation on 26 January 2018 to Year 11 students at London Nautical School by WISER project researchers Laura Braun and Lucinda Hazell as part of the Outreach Ambassadors Scheme, aimed at raising knowledge of and enthusiasm for STEM.
Results and Impact Approximately 30 pupils attended the presentation to Year 11 students at London Nautical School by WISER project researchers Laura Braun and Lucinda Hazell as part of the Outreach Ambassadors Scheme, aimed at raising knowledge of and enthusiasm for STEM. It sparked questions and discussion afterwards and was generally well received.
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Jammin’ in the name of the Lord
Posted on January 20, 2018 by brucehhackett
“This is my message to you: Don’t worry about a thing, ’cause every little thing gonna be all right…” — Bob Marley
Insistent yet gentle offbeat rhythms. Lyrics of overwhelming positivity and confident pursuit of justice. Fiercely defiant, yet warmly exhilarating.
That, in a nutshell, is the essence of reggae music. Or, as any Jamaican bus driver will tell you: “It’s island music, mon.”
Reggae, born in Jamaica in the ’60s, blends a tantalizing hybrid of ska, mento and calypso musical strains with a powerful lyrical message that focuses on social criticism and political consciousness, and the need for positivity, eternal love, joy and peace. It’s most readily distinguished by its rhythmic emphasis on the offbeat, or backbeat (the second and fourth beat), instead of the downbeat (first and third beat), which characterizes most pop music styles.
Much more than many musical genres, reggae also has strong ties to religion, specifically Rastafarianism, a religious and social movement (they prefer “a way of life”) founded by Afro-Jamaicans in 1930s Jamaica primarily as a rejection of British colonialism. Its beliefs include the healing powers of copious cannabis use and hypnotic, rhythmic music “to achieve the spiritual balance necessary for a satisfying existence.”
Hmmm. Not exactly mainstream thinking in America at that time, although fringe audiences in isolated regions around the world took to it enthusiastically — both the music and the message.
Reggae first found favor outside Jamaica in the mid-’70s in England, where West Indian communities in and around London helped expose music lovers to the genre there. Indeed, major British pop stars like Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton developed an interest in the island rhythms from hearing it performed by Jamaican musicians in the clubs of London.
Here in the United States, the acceptance and assimilation of reggae into the popular music market seems to have had a peculiar off-and-on history throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
Its first appearance here, it’s generally agreed, came when an American-born artist — Johnny Nash, a Houston-based pop singer-songwriter — took his version of Jamaica’s indigenous music to #5 on the U.S. charts in 1968 with the catchy “Hold Me Tight.” But if record companies were expecting to then cash in on a flood of reggae songs and bands, it didn’t happen. (At least not yet.)
True, The Beatles, always savvy and forward-looking in their musical development, took a shot at reggae during sessions that same summer for “The White Album.” McCartney explains: “I had a friend named Jimmy who was a Nigerian conga player, and he was a happy happy guy all the time, like a philosopher to me, because he had all these great expressions about life. One of them was ‘obladi, oblada, life goes on, bra…’ I told him I loved it and was going to use it in a fun little song I was writing that used a rhythmic approach I was starting to hear from Jamaican bands in the London clubs at the time. Wonderful vibe, this music called reggae. So that’s what ‘Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da’ was, our rudimentary attempt at reggae. I don’t know if we quite got it, but we had a blast trying.” But it wasn’t a single, just one of 30 album tracks, so it didn’t achieve widespread popularity until nearly a decade later.
So reggae went back into hiding for a few years until the great Paul Simon, always curious about “world music” and intriguing new rhythms, visited Kingston in 1971 to record his new song “Mother and Child Reunion.” He admired reggae artists like Jimmy Cliff and Desmond Dekker and wanted to explore the music further at its source, using Jamaican musicians who instinctively knew the way it should be played. He invited Cliff’s backing group to accompany him on the recording, and the result was also a #5 hit that put reggae back in the public eye.
The attention Cliff gained from that connection helped him later that year when he released “The Harder They Come,” the soundtrack album to the movie of the same name (in which he also starred). The film, a crudely made crime drama, was largely ignored but later became a favorite with the midnight-movie crowd.
Then, in the fall of 1972, a reggae song finally reached #1 on the charts here (and in Canada) when Nash returned with “I Can See Clearly Now,” the most popular song in the U.S. for four straight weeks. A year later, Clapton took the plunge that inadvertently brought reggae to an entirely new level in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Recalled the guitarist, “We were in Miami cutting the album that became ‘461 Ocean Boulevard.’ One day, guitarist George Terry came in with an album called ‘Burnin” by Bob Marley and the Wailers, a band I’d never heard of. When he played it, I was mesmerized. George especially liked the track ‘I Shot the Sheriff’ and kept saying to me, ‘You should cut this, we could make it sound great.’ But it was hard-core reggae and I wasn’t sure we could do it justice. We did a version of it anyway, and although I didn’t say so at the time, I wasn’t that enamored with it. Ska, bluebeat and reggae were familiar to me, but it was still quite new to American musicians, and they weren’t as finicky as I was about the way it should be played — not that I really knew myself how to play it. I just knew we weren’t doing it right.
“When we got to the end of the sessions, and started to collate the songs we had, I told them I didn’t think ‘Sheriff’ should be included, as it didn’t do the Wailers’ version justice. But everyone said, ‘No, no, honestly, this is a hit.’ And sure enough, when the album was released and the record company chose it as a single, to my utter astonishment, it went straight to Number One. Though I didn’t meet Bob Marley until much later, he did call me up when the single came out and seemed pretty happy with it. I tried to ask him what the song was about, but I couldn’t understand much of his reply. I was just relieved that he liked what we had done with it.”
Marley had been a tireless devotee and champion of reggae throughout its early years of development, when his fellow Wailers (including Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer), along with Toots and The Maytals, were the true pioneers of the genre. It was Marley, through his songwriting, singing and relentless performing, who caught the eye and ear of Chris Blackwell, founder of the seminal Island Records and a native Jamaican himself.
In Marley, Blackwell recognised the elements needed to snare the rock audience: “Rock music was always rebel music at heart, and so was reggae. I felt that demonstrating that similarity would really be the way to break Jamaican music in the U.S. But you needed someone who could be that image. When Bob walked in, it was clear to me that he really was that image.”
He signed Marley to a lucrative contract in 1973, let him loose in his studios in the Bahamas and England, and sat back and waited. The debut LP, “Catch a Fire,” marked the first time a reggae band had access to a state-of-the-art studio and were accorded the same care as their rock ‘n’ roll peers. Blackwell, hoping to create “more of a drifting, hypnotic-type feel than a rudimentary reggae rhythm,” restructured Marley’s arrangements and supervised the mixing and overdubbing.
While the album and its immediate follow-up, “Burnin’,” didn’t do much on the charts, the songs were getting better, and the rock critics and savvy listeners (especially in the UK) caught on. When Marley made his debut live appearance in London in 1975 (and the concert was later released as the “Live!” LP), he had become a major sensation there, with his iconic “No Woman, No Cry” climbing to #8 on the UK charts.
Marley had been complimentary of the efforts of Nash and Simon to expose American audiences to the world of reggae, and he publicly endorsed Clapton’s version of “Sheriff,” but he remained determined in the belief that only Jamaicans could play reggae as intended.
He told Britain’s Uncut magazine in 1976, “The real reggae must come from Jamaica. Others can go anywhere and play funk and soul, but reggae — too hard. Must have a bond with it. Reggae has to be inside you.”
By the release of “Rastaman Vibration” later that year, Marley’s music had broken through to the U.S. market. While its single, “Roots, Rock, Reggae,” stalled at #51 on the pop charts, the album soared to #8 and the 1977 followup “Exodus” (with the FM hits “Jammin’,” “Waiting in Vain” and “Three Little Birds”) was a respectable #20.
In the UK, “Exodus” stayed on the charts for an astonishing 56 consecutive weeks. Reggae’s boom there existed concurrently with the burgeoning punk movement, which shared that same rebellious streak. But the message in reggae’s lyrics offered a more lasting form of rebellion — the one-two punch of hope and truth, which ultimately won out over punk’s dead-end nihilism. It’s why reggae’s popularity has grown exponentially in recent decades while punk, frankly, isn’t much more than a glorified footnote (even more so in the U.S.).
The Police evolved from their punk/New Wave beginnings in 1977 to become international superstars in 1983, but reggae definitely played a pivotal role in their repertoire, from hits like “Roxanne” to deeper tracks like “Walking on the Moon” and 1981’s mantra-like “One World (Is Enough For All of Us).” As drummer Stewart Copeland put it, “We plundered reggae mercilessly.”
In America, Motown/funk superstar Stevie Wonder was so taken by reggae in general, and Marley in particular, that he wrote a tribute to him in 1980 called “Master Blaster (Jammin’),” which became a #5 hit in the US and #2 in England. Marley and Wonder even performed several shows together that summer.
While many of Marley’s most cherished songs preach love and serenity, his final efforts — 1979’s “Survival” and 1980’s “Uprising” — adopted far more militant tones, as he felt compelled to speak out more against the social injustices he saw on the rise as the ’80s began. Just glance at the changing mood in the song titles: Instead of “One Love” and “Positive Vibration,” we have “Africa Unite,” “So Much Trouble in the World,” “Zimbabwe,” “Ambush in the Night,” “Real Situation,” “Redemption Song.”
Jamaica was rocked to the core when Marley succumbed to cancer in 1981 at only 36 years old. More than three decades later, Marley is still regarded as a figurehead and near-deity among the Jamaican people, and the spread of reggae worldwide is due in large part to his impact. Several of his 11 children have picked up the Marley mantle since then, most notably Ziggy in the late ’80s (particularly “Tomorrow People” in 1988) and Damien in the ’90s, perpetuating and growing the reach and influence of reggae music as their father intended.
In the Eighties, acts like Blondie kept reggae prominently in the picture with their #1 cover version of The Paragon’s “The Tide is High,” and Culture Club contributed reggae-flavored hits like “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me,” which was more an amalgam of multiple styles that included reggae. As Boy George remarked, “In the the ’70s, we had glam rock, but we also had reggae and ska happening at around the same time. I just took all those influences I had as a kid and threw them together, and somehow it worked.”
Some purists regarded these and other non-Jamaican acts UB40 as “weaker, pastel versions” of true reggae — one critic called it “reggae that wouldn’t frighten white people” — and truth be told, they’re probably right on. And still others never liked reggae to begin with. Morrissey, the iconoclast who served as frontman for The Smiths, one of England’s most popular bands of the ’80s, summarized his feelings this way: “Reggae is vile.”
Me, I enjoy a little reggae now and then, but usually only if I’m sitting by the pool or on the beach. To my ears, it has a certain sameness to it that gets old after a short while. But damn, it’s fun, it’s soothing, it gently gets under your skin, in a good way. Take a listen to the Spotify playlist I’ve assembled below for a healthy cross-section of reggae’s earliest hits and timeless anthems. Or, if you prefer, you certainly can’t go wrong anytime you play Marley’s incredible “Legends” CD compilation, which has now sold more than 30 million copies worldwide.
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Tag Archives: Shahid “Naughty Boy” Khan
Craig David enlists Negin Djafari, TCTS for new collaboration
Craig David has enlisted Negin Djafari and TCTS for a new collaboration.
Besides previously working with the “7 Days” singer on Diztortion-produced tracks for his seventh studio album, “The Time Is Now,” Djafari’s songwriting credits also include Drake’s “Don’t Matter to Me,” James Arthur’s “Can I Be Him,” Rebecca Ferguson’s “Superwoman,” Tove Styrke’s “Vibe,” Fifth Harmony’s “Not That Kind of Girl,” and Snakehips’ “Don’t Leave.”
Meanwhile, TCTS (born Sam O’Neill) is a British DJ and record producer from Manchester. He is signed to Chase & Status’ record label, MTA. TCTS is best known for his 2014 song “Games”, which peaked to number twenty-nine on the UK Dance Chart.
David’s current single “Do You Miss Me Much” – which was co-written by regular collaborators Janee “Jin Jin” Bennett and Fraser T. Smith – is now available via all other digital streaming outlets.
His upcoming eighth studio album reportedly features additional contributions from Dot Ellis, Steel Banglez, M-22, John the Blind, Kingjet, Hit-Boy, Lionchld, Max Wolfgang, Cathy Dennis, Naughty Boy, Ed Drewett, Rachel Furner, Oliver Heldens, Tre Jean-Marie, Grace Barker, ADP, and Banx n Ranx.
Watch the music video for “When You Know What Love Is” below.
Tags: ADP, Amish "ADP" Patel, Amish Patel, Banx n Ranx, Cathy Dennis, Chauncey "Hit-Boy" Hollis, Chauncey Hollis, Craig David, Dot Ellis, Ed Drewett, Fraser T. Smith, Grace Barker, Hit-Boy, Janee "Jin Jin" Bennett, Janee Bennett, Jin Jin, John Ryan, John the Blind, KingJet, Lionchld, M-22, Max McElligott, Max Wolfgang, Naughty Boy, Negin Djafari, Oliver Heldens, Rachel Furner, Sam “TCTS” O’Neill, Sam O’Neill, Shahid "Naughty Boy" Khan, Shahid Khan, Steel Banglez, TCTS, Tre Jean-Marie, Yannick Rastogi, Zacharie Raymond
Craig David releases new single “Do You Miss Me Much”
Craig David has released his new single online.
“Do You Miss Me Much” – which was written by David alongside Janee “Jin Jin” Bennett, Gary Barlow and Fraser T. Smith – is now available via iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon, Google Play, Tidal and all other digital streaming platforms.
David’s upcoming eighth album – featuring previous single “When You Know What Love Is” – is expected to arrive early next year via Sony Music Entertainment UK / Insanity Records.
The follow-up to 2018’s “The Time Is Now” reportedly delivers additional contributions from Hit-Boy, Lionchld, Max Wolfgang, Matt Zara, Cathy Dennis, Naughty Boy, Ed Drewett, Rachel Furner, Oliver Heldens, Tre Jean-Marie, Grace Barker, ADP, Carmen Reece, Alan Sampson, and Banx & Ranx.
Stream the audio clip for “Do You Miss Me Much” below.
Tags: ADP, Alan Sampson, Amish "ADP" Patel, Amish Patel, Banx & Ranx, Carmen Reece, Cathy Dennis, Chauncey "Hit-Boy" Hollis, Chauncey Hollis, Craig David, Ed Drewett, Fraser T. Smith, Gary Barlow, Grace Barker, Hit-Boy, Insanity Records, Janee "Jin Jin" Bennett, Janee Bennett, Jin Jin, Lance Shipp, Lionchld, Matt Zara, Max McElligott, Max Wolfgang, Nathalia Marshal, Naughty Boy, Oliver Heldens, Rachel Furner, Rachel Kennedy, Shahid "Naughty Boy" Khan, Shahid Khan, SME, Sony Music Entertainment, Tre Jean-Marie, Yannick Rastogi, Zacharie Raymond
Craig David confirms details for new single “Do You Miss Me Much”
Craig David has announced the details for his new single.
The British singer/songwriter christened “Do You Miss Me Much” as his next promotional cut and will release it on August 22 via iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon, Google Play, Tidal and all other digital streaming platforms.
The track was co-written by Gary Barlow of Take That alongside Janee “Jin Jin” Bennett (Raye, Jess Glynne) and Fraser T. Smith (Ella Eyre, Sam Smith).
Craig David’s upcoming eighth album – featuring previous single “When You Know What Love Is” – is expected to arrive later this year via Sony Music Entertainment UK / Insanity Records.
Stream the R&B Remix for “When You Know What Love Is” below.
Tamera Foster teams with Fred Cox for new collaboration
Tamera Foster has teamed up with Fred Cox for a new collaboration.
The British record producer and songwriter previously helmed songs for Grace Carter (“Heal Me”), Olivia Nelson (“Back When”), Zak Abel (“Rock Bottom”), Caitlyn Scarlett (“Back When”), Rag’n’Bone Man (“Grace”), Kiah Victoria (“Treat Me”), Tanika (“Fuck Boy”) and Joel Compass (“Back to Me”).
Photo Credit: Heather Chelan
Meanwhile, Tamera is expected to release her upcoming project – which reportedly features further contributions from Parker Ighile, Eyelar, Aston Rudi, Loxe, Dayyon Alexander, XSDTRK, and Maths Time Joy – later this year.
As a songwriter, Tamera co-wrote “Don’t Want You Back” for Bakermat & Kiesza alongside Janee “Jin Jin” Bennett (Yebba, Jess Glynne) and Komi Al Hakam (Sam Smith, Olly Murs). The track is now available via iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon, Google Play, Tidal and all other digital streaming platforms.
Stream Fred Cox’s discography below.
Tags: Aston Rudi, Dayyon Alexander, Eyelar Mirzazadeh, Fancy Hagood, Fred Cox, Loxe, Maths Time Joy, Naughty Boy, Parker Ighile, Rowan "Loxe" Perkinson, Rowan Perkinson, Shahid "Naughty Boy" Khan, Shahid Khan, Tamera Foster, Timothy "Maths Time Joy" Worthington, Timothy Worthington, XSDTRK, Yonatan "XSDTRK" Ayal, Yonatan Ayal
Tamera Foster hits the studio with Maths Time Joy for new collaboration
Tamera Foster has teamed up with Maths Time Joy for a new collaboration.
The British singer, songwriter, and record producer has previously worked with Gallant (“Jupiter”), Mo Jamil (“Evolve”), Bebe Rexha (“Gateway Drug”), Mahalia (“I Wish I Missed My Ex”), Jaz Karis (“Doubt My Love”), Alayna (“High Off You”), Matt Woods (“Craving”) and Joel Baker (“Extraordinary”).
Joy’s current promotional single “Honesty” – featuring guest vocals from Amanda “Ayelle” Lundstedt – is now available via iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon, Google Play, Tidal and all other digital streaming platforms.
Besides co-writing Kiesza’s “Don’t Want You Back” alongside Janee “Jin Jin” Bennett and Komi Al-Hakam, Foster (who was formerly signed to Simon Cowell’s Syco Music) is expected to release her first project later this year.
In addition to Maths Time Joy, Foster has also been in the studio with songwriters and producers including Parker Ighile, Aston Rudi, Loxe, Dayyon Alexander, XSDTRK, Fancy Hagood, Naughty Boy, and Eyelar Mirzazadeh.
Watch the music video for “Don’t Want You Back” below.
Tags: Aston Rudi, Dayyon Alexander, Eyelar Mirzazadeh, Fancy Hagood, Loxe, Maths Time Joy, Naughty Boy, Parker Ighile, Rowan "Loxe" Perkinson, Rowan Perkinson, Shahid "Naughty Boy" Khan, Shahid Khan, Tamera Foster, Timothy "Maths Time Joy" Worthington, Timothy Worthington, XSDTRK, Yonatan "XSDTRK" Ayal, Yonatan Ayal
Kamille teases new collaboration with Pharrell Williams
British singer/songwriter Camille Purcell, known mononymously as Kamille, has teased a new collaboration with Pharrell Williams.
“When @pharrell likes a song u wrote but u never got to tell him thank u,” Kamille posted to Instagram on Monday (March 18, 2019).
Williams’s recent songwriting and production credits include Ariana Grande’s “The Light is Coming,” Travis Scott’s “Skeletons,” Janelle Monae’s “I Got the Juice,” Camila Cabello’s “Sangria Wine,” Justin Timberlake’s “Man of the Woods,” and The Carters’ “Apeshit.”
Meanwhile, Kamille is expected to release her upcoming project and follow-up to 2017’s “My Head’s a Mess” later this year via Virgin EMI Records.
She has also contributed to the next releases by Sam Smith, Tiesto, Lianne La Havas, Dan Caplen, Ellie Goulding, John Newman, Dua Lipa, Mullally, Nick Jonas, Ray BLK, Stormzy, Liam Tomlinson, and Years & Years.
Besides Pharrell Williams, Kamille has also been in the studio with producers Goldfingers, Steve Mac, Fraser T. Smith, Invisible Men, Cass Lowe, Jamie Scott, T-Collar, Nana Rogues, Diztortion, Naughty Boy, Louis Bell, SG Lewis, Al Shux, Levi Lennox, Shama Joseph, and Sons of Sonix.
Stream the audio clip for “Emotional” below.
Tags: Al Shux, Alexander “Al Shux” Shuckburgh, Alexander Shuckburgh, Camille Purcell, Cass Lowe, Diztortion, Frank Nobel, Fraser T. Smith, George Astasio, Goldfingers, Invisible Men, Jamie Scott, Jason Pebworth, Jon Shave, Levi Lennox, Linus Nordstrom, Louis Bell, Michael Akinkunmi, Moses Samuels, Nana Rogues, Naughty Boy, Pharrell Williams, Raoul “Diztortion” Chen, Raoul Chen, SG Lewis, Shahid "Naughty Boy" Khan, Shahid Khan, Shama “Sak Pase” Joseph, Shama Joseph, Sons of Sonix, Steve Mac, Steven "Steve Mac" McCutcheon, Steven McCutcheon, T-Collar, Tinashe “T-Collar” Sibanda, Tinashe Sibanda, UMG, Universal Music Group, Virgin EMI Records
Craig David records new music with Gary Barlow
Craig David has recorded new music with Gary Barlow.
The British singer/songwriter and lead singer of pop group Take That previously wrote songs for Alesha Dixon (“To Love Again”), Blue (“Guilty”), Delta Goodrem (“Not Me, Not I”), Atomic Kitten (“Always Be My Baby”), Robbie Williams (“Shame”), Amy Studt (“Testify”) and Lara Fabian (“No Big Deal”).
Barlow’s last studio collection, 2013’s “Since I Saw You Last,” peaked to number two on the UK Albums Chart and spawned three singles in the shape of “Let Me Go,” “Face to Face” and “Since I Saw You Last.”
Meanwhile, David is expected to release his upcoming eighth album later this year via Sony Music Entertainment/Insanity Records.
The follow-up to 2018’s “The Time is Now” reportedly yields further contributions from Fraser T. Smith, Cathy Dennis, Tre Jean-Marie, Jin Jin, Naughty Boy, Rachel Furner, Ed Drewett, Grace Barker, Oliver Heldens, Carmen Reece, Max Wolfgang, Alan Sampson, and Banx & Ranx.
David’s current promotional single “Come Alive” – taken from “The Greatest Showman Reimagined” original motion soundtrack – is now available via iTunes and all other digital streaming outlets.
Stream the audio clip for “Come Alive” below.
Tags: Alan Sampson, Banx & Ranx, Carmen Reece, Cathy Dennis, Craig David, Ed Drewett, Fraser T. Smith, Garly Barlow, Grace Barker, Helen "Carmen Reece" Culver, Helen Culver, Insanity Records, Janee "Jin Jin" Bennett, Janee Bennett, Jin Jin, Max McElligott, Max Wolfgang, Naughty Boy, Oliver Heldens, Rachel Furner, Shahid "Naughty Boy" Khan, Shahid Khan, SME, Sony Music Entertianment, Tre Jean-Marie, Yannick Rastogi, Zacharie Raymond
Mae Muller taps Naughty Boy for new collaboration
Mae Muller has tapped Naughty Boy for a new collaboration.
The British record producer and songwriter (born Shahid Khan) has previously worked with Emeli Sande (“Heaven”), Leona Lewis (“Trouble”), Rihanna (“Half of Me”), Mary J. Blige (“Pick Me Up”), Marlon Roudette (“Anti Hero”), Tanika Bailey (“Runaway”) and Cheryl Cole (“Craziest Things”).
Meanwhile, Muller’s current singles “Leave It Out” and “Flaws” – which were helmed by Darren Lewis and Tunde Babalola of UK songwriting and production duo Future Cut – are now available via all digital streaming outlets.
Her upcoming project reportedly yields alliances with Two Inch Punch, Jimmy Napes, Caroline Ailin, Ed Thomas, Bastian Langebaek, Jin Jin, Max Wolfgang, Lostboy, Eyelar Mirzazadeh, Joe Rubel, Marlon Roudette, and Invisible Men.
Stream the audio clip for “Leave It Out” below.
Tags: Bastian "Carassius Gold" Langebaek, Bastian Langebaek, Benjamin "Two Inch Punch" Ash, Benjamin Ash, Capitol Records, Carassius Gold, Caroline Ailin, Darren Lewis, Ed Thomas, Eyelar Mirzazadeh, Future Cut, George Astasio, Invisible Men, James "Jimmy Napes" Napier, James Napier, Janee "Jin Jin" Bennett, Janee Bennett, Jason Pebworth, Jimmy Napes, Jin Jin, Joe Rubel, Jonathan Shave, LOSTBOY, Mae Muller, Marlon Roudette, Max McElligott, Max Wolfgang, Naughty Boy, Peter "LOSTBOY" Rycroft, Peter Rycroft, Shahid "Naughty Boy" Khan, Shahid Khan, Tunde Babalola, Two Inch Punch, UMG, Universal Music Group
Craig David enlists Max Wolfgang for new collaboration
Craig David has enlisted Max Wolfgang for a new collaboration.
The British singer/songwriter (born Max McElligot) has previously penned songs for Kygo & John Newman (“Never Let You Go”), Zayn Malik (“Back to Life”), Paloma Faith (“Loyal”), Kylie Minogue (“Your Body”), Chelcee Grimes (“Just Like That”), Jackson Penn (“Streetlights on Mars”) and Rudimental ft. Ed Sheeran (“Lay It All On Me”).
Signed to Universal Music Publishing Group UK, McElligott has also contributed to the next projects by Dan Caplen, Ella Eyre, Kwabs, Zara Larsson, Birdy, Crystal Fighters, Dolapo, John Legend, Lennon Stella, Mae Muller, Olivia Deano, Stephen Puth, and Zak Abel.
Meanwhile, David is reportedly working on his upcoming eighth album with songwriters and producers including Fraser T. Smith, Cathy Dennis, Naughty Boy, Janee “Jin Jin” Bennett, Ed Drewett, Nile Rodgers, Rachel Furner, ADP, Carmen Reece, Oliver Heldens, Grace Barker, Alan Sampson, and Banx & Ranx.
David’s last studio collection “The Time is Now,” which was released earlier this year, peaked to number two on the UK Albums Chart and spawned singles “Heartline,” “I Know You” and “Magic.”
Stream the audio clip for “Brand New” below.
Tags: ADP, Alan Sampson, Amish “ADP” Patel, Amish Patel, Banx & Ranx, Carmen Reece, Cathy Dennis, Craig David, Ed Drewett, Grace Barker, Helen "Carmen Reece" Culver, Helen Culver, Janee "Jin Jin" Bennett, Janee Bennett, Jin Jin, Max McElligott, Max Wolfgang, Naughty Boy, Nile Rodgers, Oliver Heldens, Rachel Furner, Shahid "Naughty Boy" Khan, Shahid Khan, Yannick Rastogi, Zacharie Raymond
Craig David enlists Cathy Dennis for new collaboration
Craig David has enlisted Cathy Dennis for a new collaboration.
The former British recording artist is known for co-writing Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” Britney Spears’s “Toxic,” Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl,” Janet Jackson’s “Island Life,” Rachel Stevens’ “Sweet Dreams My LA Ex,” Livvi Franc’s “Automatik,” and Spice Girls’ “Bumper to Bumper.”
Dennis has also worked with producers including Stargate, Greg Kurstin, Scott Storch, Devonte Hynes, Mark Ronson, Greg Wells, Jack Splash, Rick Nowels, Christopher Braide, Guy Chambers, Harvey Mason Jr., and Future Cut.
Besides regular collaborators Janee “Jin Jin” Bennett and Fraser T. Smith, Craig David has also worked on new music with Naughty Boy, Ed Drewett, Nile Rodgers, Rachel Furner, ADP, Carmen Reece, Oliver Heldens, Grace Barker, Alan Sampson, and Banx & Ranx.
Watch the music video for “Just Another Dream” below.
Tags: ADP, Alan Sampson, Amish “ADP” Patel, Amish Patel, Banx & Ranx, Carmen Reece, Cathy Dennis, Craig David, Ed Drewett, Grace Barker, Helen "Carmen Reece" Culver, Helen Culver, Janee "Jin Jin" Bennett, Janee Bennett, Jin Jin, Naughty Boy, Nile Rodgers, Oliver Heldens, Rachel Furner, Shahid "Naughty Boy" Khan, Shahid Khan, Yannick Rastogi, Zacharie Raymond
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fictionist
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Free Spirt
"BEAUTIFILTHY" - the single word Fictionist used to describe their forthcoming 20-minute album and accompanying 20-minute video. Rewind back to 2014 when Fictionist first introduced their quirky Art-Rock style to the world with the release of their debut album, Fictionist. Their story began in Salt Lake City, Utah, with bassist and vocalist, Stuart Maxfield, meeting guitar-enthusiast, Brandon Kitterman, and guitar-vocalist-synthmaster, Robbie Connolly, during high school. With a mutual love for music and art, the band started playing together with drummer, Aaron Anderson, and never looked back. By 2015, Fictionist had earned the approval from their home state after being awarded ‘Best Band In Utah’ by City Weekly. In 2016, the band released the intelligent and deliciously pounding four-track EP, Free Spirit, and acted in their own satirical music video for the track, “Free Spirit.” In the same year, they toured throughout the US with Neon Trees, Vampire Weekend and Imagine Dragons.
Fictionist returned on May 12, 2017 with their second album, Sleep Machine, along with a 20-minute music video released on the same day. For this latest work, Fictionist adopted a new mindset of letting go of the worries they often have as artists and simply enjoying the process of making a record. The result is a collection of emotional, inventive sounds and innovated songs. The band veered left of center for Sleep Machine by using antique gear, a karaoke machine and even the recording of Brandon sleeping on the front lawn of their house on the song, “You”.
On May 12th and 13th, "Fictionist and Friends" celebrated the Sleep Machine album release at Velour Live Music Gallery in Provo, UT. Joined by members of Neon Trees, New Shack and The Strike, Fictionist played the album front to back, and broadcasted this one-of-a-kind performance via Facebook Live. In June 2017, Fictionist continued the celebrations with a West Coast Headline Tour with stops in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas, where they performed songs from their new album.
Step Rockets
Ed Kowalczyk
Paint The Muse
Sleeperstar
Stacy Clark
James Supercave
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College: Clemson
vs. TEN: #28 vs opposing QB - 21.23 FPA
Bye Week8 Rank5 % Rostered100 % Change- WK 16 Pts26.76 WK 17 Pts25.80
1 @KC
253 1 1 27 1 - - - - - - - 20.82
275 1 1 17 - - - - - - - - 14.70
3 @PIT
264 2 1 5 - - - - - - - - 17.06
300 2 - 9 - - - - - - - - 20.90
5 JAX
6 @TEN
9 @JAX
10 @CLE
11 NE
344 2 - 36 1 - - - - - - - 31.36
12 @DET
318 4 - 24 - - - - - - 1 - 33.12
13 IND
341 - 1 38 1 - - - - - - 1 19.44
14 @CHI
15 @IND
373 2 - 25 - - - - - - - 1 23.42
16 CIN
1 @KC,
253 1 1 27 1 - 20.82
2 BAL,
275 1 1 17 - - 14.70
3 @PIT,
264 2 1 5 - - 17.06
4 MIN,
300 2 - 9 - - 20.90
5 JAX,
6 @TEN,
9 @JAX,
10 @CLE,
11 NE,
344 2 - 36 1 - 31.36
12 @DET,
13 IND,
341 - 1 38 1 1 19.44
14 @CHI,
15 @IND,
373 2 - 25 - 1 23.42
16 CIN,
17 TEN,
Could be done with Texans
There is a belief around the Texans organization that Watson has played his last snap with the team, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.
Analysis: There has been a rift forming between Watson and Texans chairman Cal McNair, which intensified when McNair left Watson out of the hiring process that ultimately landed general manager Nick Caserio. Houston is yet to hire a head coach, but it appears Watson will want out regardless of who ultimately takes that job. The Texans would likely receive a robust trade package in return for Watson should the team opt to go that route, and ESPN's Chris Mortensen believes the Dolphins are the most likely…read more
Published: Sun, Jan 17 at 9:28pm by Rotowire.com
Another big game wasted
Watson completed 28 of 39 passes for 365 yards and three touchdowns with one interception in Sunday's 41-38 loss to the Titans. He added 12 rushing yards on three carries.
Analysis: The fourth-year QB once again put together a heroic effort that ended up going for naught due to Houston's woeful defense. Watson finished his best-yet campaign with career highs in passing yards (4,823), passing TDs (33), completion rate (70.2 percent) and YPA (8.9) plus a career low in INTs (seven). He'll now wait to see who his new head coach and offensive coordinator will be in 2021, and whether the incoming braintrust will be able to assemble a better roster around him.
Published: Sun, Jan 3 at 7:28pm by Rotowire.com
Won't rest Week 17
Interim head coach Romeo Crennel reiterated Friday that he plans to have Watson start the Texans' Week 17 game against the Titans, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle reports. "Yes, I expect him to play. I expect him to play and help us win," Crennel said of Watson. "If we're up by 50 at halftime, then maybe I'll take him out."
Analysis: Though Watson appeared to hurt his arm late in last week's loss to the Bengals, he wasn't listed on the Texans' Week 17 injury report, implying that the team is comfortable with where he stands on the health front. Aside from potentially playing spoiler to a playoff-hopeful divisional rival in the season finale, the 4-11 Texans wouldn't seem to have much on the line, but that apparently won't result in Watson being rested at any point if the game remains reasonably competitive. With that in…read more
Published: Fri, Jan 1 at 12:40pm by Rotowire.com
Avoids injury report
Watson (arm) isn't listed on Wednesday's injury report.
Analysis: Watson appeared to be in pain after taking a sack late during last weekend's loss to the Bengals, but his absence from the injury report implies the Texans have no concerns about his availability for Sunday's season finale versus the Titans. Though the Texans have little at stake in Week 17, Watson appears poised to play the entirety of the contest as the team looks to pull an upset and potentially deny its divisional rival out of the postseason.
Will play if healthy
Houston interim head coach Romeo Crennel said Watson (arm) will play Week 17 against Tennessee if he's healthy, John McClain of the Houston Chronicle reports.
Analysis: Watson uttered a similar sentiment immediately following last Sunday's game, after he was sacked and hit the ground in pain. Now his head coach confirms Watson will play if he has no setbacks over the week.
Published: Tue, Dec 29 at 3:44am by Rotowire.com
Says he'll play Week 17
Watson (arm) said he expects to play Week 17 against the Titans, Jordan Cohn of 97.1 FM The Ticket reports.
Analysis: Watson injured his arm/elbow on a strip sack late in the fourth quarter of Sunday's loss to the Bengals, but he came back out on the field for Houston's final two snaps in the closing seconds. While the quarterback said he'll be fine for Week 17, interim coach Romeo Crennel sounded more cautious, noting that the team's medical staff will need to evaluate Watson before any decisions are made. AJ McCarron has been Houston's backup QB all season, so he'd likely get the nod for Week 17 if Watson…read more
Published: Mon, Dec 28 at 6:31am by Rotowire.com
Banged up in loss
Watson completed 24 of 33 passes for 324 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions in the Texans' 37-31 loss to the Bengals on Sunday. He also rushed five times for 38 yards and committed two fumbles, losing one on a play on which he appeared to suffer an arm injury that he'll have further evaluated, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle reports.
Analysis: Dropping back on a play that started at his own 40-yard line with 1:35 remaining and the Texans down by three, Watson was hit by Sam Hubbard while his arm was still cocked back to throw, leading to a fumble and what appeared to be a potentially serious injury for the Pro Bowl quarterback. However, after the Bengals tacked on a field goal, Watson was able to come back into the contest for Houston's final series, completing passes to Brandin Cooks and Chad Hansen on the final two plays from…read more
Throws for 373 yards
Watson completed 33 of 41 pass attempts for 373 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions in Week 15 against the Colts. He added 25 yards as a rusher.
Analysis: The Texans were able to get very little going on the ground, leaving nearly the entire offensive burden on Watson's shoulders. He delivered nonetheless, finding Chad Hansen and Keke Coutee for touchdowns of 38 and nine yards, respectively. Even while lacking his top receiver for the last three games, Watson has topped 300 yards twice. He faces an exploitable Bengals defense in Week 16 and could be in line for another big effort.
Takes hit on elbow, returns
Watson left Sunday's game for one play after taking a hit on the elbow during a 36-7 loss to the Bears, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle reports.
Analysis: Houston interim head coach Romeo Crennel referred to the injury as being to Watson's "funny bone" and said the quarterback worked it around to get feeling back before returning for the team's next offensive series. Following the game, Watson said he was not injured and was determined to the finish the game. He also dismissed suggestions that he should rest for the remainder of the season since Houston is mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. The Texans' offensive line allowed seven…read more
Subdued performance in loss
Watson completed 21 of 30 passes for 219 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions in the Texans' 36-7 loss to the Bears on Sunday. He also rushed seven times for 38 yards.
Analysis: With the Pro Bowl quarterback down another weapon in Brandin Cooks (neck/foot), Watson found offensive continuity particularly difficult to come by against a Bears defense that was able to hone in on a narrower pool of potential targets. Watson didn't connect with any pass catcher for more than Chad Hansen's 56 yards, and the fact running back Duke Johnson had the second-most receiving yards (53) for Houston on the afternoon was a testament on how effective Chicago was in forcing short passes…read more
Makes critical errors in loss
Watson completed 26 of 38 pass attempts for 341 yards and one interception while carrying seven times for 38 yards along with a touchdown during Sunday's 26-20 loss to the Colts.
Analysis: While Watson threw his first interception in seven games and took a sack for a safety, his largest error came when he fumbled the snap deep in Colts territory in the final moments with a chance to win the game. He was quite adept as a passer, completing 68 percent of his attempts en route to his third-best yardage output of the season, but he finished without a touchdown pass for the first time on the campaign. Watson piled up yardage without the suspended Will Fuller and should be able to do…read more
Published: Sun, Dec 6 at 1:50pm by Rotowire.com
Torches Lions on Thanksgiving
Watson completed 17 of 25 passes for 318 yards and four touchdowns in Thursday's 41-25 win over the Lions.
Analysis: He also added 24 rushing yards on eight carries, and tossed a two-point conversion to Keke Coutee. Watson benefitted from some good field position thanks to turnovers and had plenty of time in the pocket, allowing him to take apart a battered Detroit secondary. Watson has thrown multiple TDs in eight of his last nine starts and gone over 300 passing yards in six of his last eight, but the Texans' schedule gets a lot tougher starting in Week 13 with a home tilt against the Colts.
Bounces back in win over Pats
Watson completed 28 of 37 passes for 344 yards and two touchdowns in Sunday's 27-20 win over New England. He added 36 yards and a touchdown on six rushing attempts.
Analysis: Watson threw a three-yard touchdown pass to Randall Cobb in the first quarter, then barreled over a pair of Patriots defenders for a four-yard touchdown run to give his team a 14-10 lead in the second. He had a would-be highlight reel touchdown to Brandin Cooks wiped out by an ineligible man downfield but connected with Keke Coutee for a six-yard touchdown four plays later to take a 21-10 lead into the locker room. Watson failed to find the end zone in the second half but continued to rack up…read more
Stymied in low-scoring loss
Watson completed 20 of 30 passes for 163 yards and a touchdown in Sunday's 10-7 loss to Cleveland. He added eight carries for 36 yards.
Analysis: There was a half-hour weather delay prior to kickoff, and Watson never really got going once the teams took the field on a windy, rainy afternoon in Cleveland. He failed to lead Houston to any points through three quarters, coming up short on a 4th-and-goal quarterback draw early in the second quarter on the pivotal play in that stretch. Watson finally got his team on the board with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Pharaoh Brown to cap a 90-yard drive with under five minutes remaining, but Cleveland…read more
Dealing with weather Week 10
Watson and the Texans will cope with rain and wind in Sunday's game at Cleveland, John McClain of the Houston Chronicle reports.
Analysis: Watson has been terrific over the past six weeks, never falling below a 109 passer rating, but the downfield passing game will be challenged Sunday. The forecast for the 1:00 ET kickoff in Cleveland predicts winds gusting up to 30-35 MPH with rain likely during the early window. The wind could play an issue in how the Texans plan to attack when throwing the ball. It could result in a shorter passing attack, one that favors tight ends and routes close to the line of scrimmage, as well as a…read more
Published: Sat, Nov 14 at 5:38am by Rotowire.com
Gets it done with arm and legs
Watson completed 19 of 32 pass attempts for 281 yards and two touchdowns in Week 9 against the Jaguars. He also chipped in 10 carries for 50 yards.
Analysis: Watson picked apart the Jaguars' defense for multiple long touchdowns. His performance began with a 57-yard touchdown toss to Brandin Cooks -- most of which came after the catch. His other score came midway through the third quarter, when he connected with Will Fuller deep down the right sideline for a 77-yard completion. In addition to the strong performance with his arm, Watson logged a season-best 50 yards on the ground, his highest mark in a regular-season contest since Week 17 of the 2018…read more
Published: Sun, Nov 8 at 3:01pm by Rotowire.com
Tops 300 yards
Watson completed 29 of 39 pass attempts for 309 yards and two touchdowns in Week 7 against the Packers. He added seven rushes for 38 yards.
Analysis: Watson couldn't keep pace with Aaron Rodgers but managed to reach 300 passing yards for the fourth consecutive game. While he was able to average 7.9 yards per attempt, Watson didn't gash the Packers for many long plays, with the longest gain coming on a dump off to Duke Johnson for 30 yards. He also threw multiple touchdowns for fifth consecutive contest, finding the end zone on passes from three and six yards. Watson and the Texans will draw their bye in Week 8 but will retake the field to…read more
Throws four TDs in OT loss
Watson completed 28 of 37 passes for 335 yards and four touchdowns in Sunday's 42-36 overtime loss to the Titans. He also rushed four times for 26 yards.
Analysis: Watson kept his team in the game with a one-yard touchdown to Darren Fells on fourth down to cut the deficit to 14-7 in the second quarter. That play loomed large after the Houston offense turned it on in the second half, with Watson adding touchdowns to Randall Cobb (four yards), Will Fuller (53 yards) and Brandin Cooks (one yard). Unfortunately for the Texans, Tennessee tied the game up with four seconds left in regulation, then won the coin toss in overtime and ended the game before Watson…read more
Lights up Jaguars in win
Watson completed 25 of 35 pass attempts for 359 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions in Week 5 against the Jaguars. He also added 25 yards on the ground.
Analysis: Watson threw an interception in each half, but he otherwise had little trouble marching the Texans down the field. He accounted for all three of the team's scores, logging touchdown passes of 44, 19 and 28 yards to three different receivers. The effort marks Watson's second consecutive game reaching 300 passing yards, as well as his third consecutive contest with multiple passing scores. Watson will draw a stiffer test in Week 6, as he and the Texans will square off against Tennessee.
Posts 300 yards, drops to 0-4
Watson completed 20 of 33 attempts for 300 passing yards and two touchdowns, adding nine rushing yards on five carries during Sunday's 31-23 loss to the Vikings.
Analysis: The two-time Pro Bowl quarterback blew past his previous season high in passing yardage while also throwing multiple TDs for a second consecutive outing, but Watson's rushing floor has remained low since he accumulated 27 yards and a TD on the ground Week 1. Watson averaged 482 rushing yards and six rushing TDs between 2018 and 2019, but so far this season, that component has been largely absent from his game. Watson has just 31 rushing yards the past three weeks, and he hasn't logged a…read more
Tosses two scores in loss
Watson completed 19 of 27 passes for 264 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in Sunday's 28-21 loss to the Steelers. He also ran once for five yards
Analysis: Watson was quite efficient yet again, spreading the ball out to eight different pass catchers and recording 9.8 yards per attempt. However, the offense stalled out in the second half, as it went three-and-out on three of four drives while Watson attempted just nine passes. Watson now has thrown a pick and been sacked at least four times in each of the first three games, but he's also surpassed the 250-yard mark in each contest as well. The Texans are off to the dreaded 0-3 start and will need…read more
Uneven in Week 2 loss
Watson completed 25 of 36 passes for 275 yards, one touchdown and one interception in Sunday's 33-16 loss to the Ravens. He also rushed five times for 17 yards.
Analysis: Watson's completion percentage was fine, but he missed some crucial throws in the Texans' second loss in two games. The most critical miss came on a fourth-and-one at their own 34 that gave Baltimore a short field for their first touchdown. The Ravens came prepared to shut down running back David Johnson, who gained just 34 yards on 11 carries, so it was up to Watson and the passing offense. He wasn't helped when Ravens linebacker L.J. Fort turned a Keke Coutee fumble into a touchdown. On a…read more
Two scores in season-opening loss
Watson completed 20 of 32 passes for 253 yards with one touchdown and one interception in the Texans' 34-20 loss to the Chiefs on Thursday. He also rushed six times for 27 yards and another score.
Analysis: Watson's final numbers were certainly serviceable from a fantasy perspective, but he didn't enjoy as much real-world success as during his two meetings with the Chiefs last season and postseason. The 24-year-old's pair of scores both came with the game essentially out of reach, as Watson found Jordan Akins for a 19-yard touchdown toss with 7:15 remaining and then added a one-yard end-zone scamper that gave the Texans a glimmer of hope by bringing them to within 31-20 with 2:38 left. Watson did…read more
Published: Thu, Sep 10 at 9:03pm by Rotowire.com
Signs extension
Watson is slated to sign a four-year, $160 million extension with the Texans, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.
Analysis: Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Watson is in line to earn $111M in guarantees, setting the stage for him to remain with the Texans through 2025. With DeAndre Hopkins no longer in the mix, the team's franchise QB will look to reconnect with returnee Will Fuller this season, while building his rapport with newcomers in the pass-catching game such as Brandin Cooks, Randall Cobb and running back David Johnson.
Published: Sat, Sep 5 at 7:42am by Rotowire.com
In good form at scrimmage
Watson displayed mid-season form during Thursday night's scrimmage, John McClain of the Houston Chronicle reports.
Analysis: Aside from a couple of missed throws, Watson was sharp, hitting Kenny Stills for an 18-yard touchdown pass on what may have been his best throw of the scrimmage. He also connected on a deep ball with Will Fuller and later led a long touchdown drive that ended with his own rushing touchdown. That's the entire package Watson brings to a fantasy roster: pinpoint throws, a threat to throw deep and running ability.
Published: Fri, Aug 28 at 5:35am by Rotowire.com
Handles changes in offense
Watson has shown an ability to adapt well to the personnel changes to the Houston offense thus far during training camp, Sarah Barshop of ESPN.com reports.
Analysis: With DeAndre Hopkins no longer around and Carlos Hyde being replaced as the top running back, Watson is the key to Houston qualifying for the postseason and making a deep run. Houston head coach Bill O'Brien said the quarterback has "a really good grasp of our offense" and is "playing at a really high level." Watson, who is in his fourth year with Houston, feels that his prior starting experience has helped with incorporating the new additions to the offense, which now includes veteran weapons…read more
Published: Wed, Aug 26 at 7:28am by Rotowire.com
Fifth-year option picked up
The Texans exercised Watson's fifth-year team option for 2021 on Monday, Field Yates of ESPN reports.
Analysis: Houston's decision to pick up the option was a foregone conclusion, given that Watson has already established himself as one of the league's top signal-callers through his first three seasons. The fifth-year option may just serve as a placeholder until the Texans are able to come to terms with Watson on a long-term deal that will likely make him one of the highest-paid players in NFL history.
Gets reinforcement in Cooks
The Texans acquired another wide receiver (Brandin Cooks) for Watson on Thursday, John McClain of the Houston Chronicle reports.
Analysis: After shipping out DeAndre Hopkins last month, Houston's receiving corps was a bit short-handed, even with the addition of Randall Cobb soon after. Following the trade for Cooks, Watson now has a more well-rounded group, with the oft-injured Will Fuller (sports hernia) and Kenny Stills still on board. Cooks has four 1,000-yard seasons under his belt but also has concerns with concussions, as he suffered the fifth of his career in 2019. Still, the Texans have done OK in their effort to restock…read more
Published: Thu, Apr 9 at 4:37pm by Rotowire.com
Adjusting to life without Hopkins
The trade of DeAndre Hopkins leaves Watson with Will Fuller and Kenny Stills as Houston's top two wide receiver targets, Bill Barnwell of ESPN.com reports.
Analysis: Hopkins had become a crutch for the offense and rarely missed games. He topped the team in terms of catch and target share (29.3 and 28.8 percent, respectively). Watson and Hopkins were an elite combination, one that will be hard to replace. In steps the oft-injured Fuller and also Stills, both considered deep threats that are not near the franchise wideout that Hopkins had become. The Texans could add a wide receiver in what is considered a strong draft class for the position, but Watson has…read more
Published: Sun, Apr 5 at 5:10am by Rotowire.com
Three-TD outing not enough
Watson completed 31 of 52 passes for 388 yards and two touchdowns, while running for 37 yards and an additional TD on six carries during Sunday's 51-31 divisional-round loss to the Chiefs.
Analysis: The third-year signal-caller delivered once again from an individual perspective during Houston's 2019 finale, wrapping up the postseason with 700 combined passing and rushing yards along with five total TDs. Though the ultimate result was disappointing, there's no denying Watson got off to an electrifying start Sunday, going 4-for-4 with a TD on Houston's opening drive while leading the Texans to 21 first-quarter points -- the most ever in 298 regular-season and playoff games in franchise…read more
Leads Texans to comeback win
Watson completed 20 of 25 passes for 247 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 55 yards and a second score on 14 carries in Saturday's 22-19 overtime win over the Bills.
Analysis: He also ran for one two-point conversion and threw a second to DeAndre Hopkins. After being held scoreless in the first half by a Buffalo defense that ended up sacking him seven times in total, Watson got Houston on the board late in the third quarter with a 20-yard TD scamper before leading the team to two more scoring drives in the fourth. The quarterback saved his best efforts for last, making a miraculous escape on another seemingly certain sack in OT to find Taiwan Jones along the sideline…read more
Published: Sun, Jan 5 at 6:53am by Rotowire.com
Remains on bench in finale
Watson dressed but did not play in Sunday's 35-14 loss to the Titans.
Analysis: By the time the Texans kicked off Sunday, they knew their playoff fate, so head coach Bill O'Brien took it easy on several skill position players. Locked in as the No. 4 seed in the AFC, O'Brien started backup quarterback AJ MCarron and let him play the entire game. Watson, who was nursing a back injury while preparing for Week 17, is expected to start Houston's wild-card game Saturday against the Bills, who ranked fourth in passing defense during the regular season.
In uniform, not expected to start
Though Watson (back) is listed as active for Sunday's game against the Titans, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle indicates that backup QB AJ McCarron is "expected to start and/or play extensively."
Analysis: Though the Texans still have a chance to move from the No. 4 AFC playoff seed to No. 3 with a win plus a Kansas City loss, it looks like the team is inclined to proceed cautiously with both Watson and wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins (illness), with its postseason health in mind. Considering that, Watson is too risky to roll with in Week 17 fantasy lineups.
Published: Sun, Dec 29 at 12:28pm by Rotowire.com
Preparing for backup duties Sunday
Watson (back), who is listed as questionable for Sunday's game against the Titans, is expected to serve as the backup to AJ McCarron in the contest, Dianna Russini of ESPN reports.
Analysis: Watson's back injury limited him in practice throughout the week, but he likely would be on track to start if the Texans had something to play for in Week 17. While Houston could move up from the AFC's No. 4 seed to the No. 3 position with a Kansas City loss, the Texans may already be locked into the fourth spot by the time the 4:25 p.m. ET kickoff arrives, as the heavily favored Chiefs take on the Chargers at 1 p.m. ET. With that in mind, the Texans apparently aren't inclined to take any…read more
Questionable for Week 17
Watson (back) is listed as questionable for Sunday's game against the Titans after practicing in a limited fashion this week, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle reports.
Analysis: If Sunday's contest carried major playoff implications, there wouldn't be much doubt about Watson suiting up this weekend. However, Watson's status for Week 17 is muddled with more uncertainty due to the fact that the Texans would be unable to change their playoff seeding in the event the Chiefs defeat the Chargers on Sunday. Since the Chiefs kick off at 1 p.m. ET and the Texans don't play until 4:25 p.m., Houston's seeding may already be decided before it kicks off, which could prompt coach…read more
Listed as limited Thursday
Watson (back) was limited at practice Thursday.
Analysis: We'll have to see if the Texans list their franchise QB as questionable or minus an injury designation for this weekend's game against the Titans. Note that Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle relays that if the Chiefs, who start their Week 17 game at 1:00 ET on Sunday, beat the Chargers, the result of the Texans' regular-season finale (which kicks off at 4:25 ET) wouldn't affect the team's playoff seeding. As a result, there's a possibility that the Texans could elect to rest or limit some…read more
Listed with back issue
Watson (back) was listed as limited on Wednesday's estimated practice report.
Analysis: Watson's status will be revisited when the Texans take the practice field Thursday, but fantasy managers should note that Houston has secured a playoff spot and can't earn a first-round bye. As such, it's possible that the team plays it safe with the star quarterback Sunday against the Titans if he heads into the weekend at less than 100 percent.
Downplays injury
Watson suffered what appeared to be an ankle injury during Saturday's 23-20 win over Tampa Bay in Week 16, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle reports.
Analysis: Watson's shaky outing may have been partially due to the ankle injury, which he downplayed following the game. The injury did not force him to leave the game, but he was examined in the blue tent while backup A.J. McCarron warmed up. "No, I'm just fine," Watson said when asked about his health. "I was able to finish the game and deal with what I had to deal with. I'm all good. I'm definitely going to enjoy it." Watson had a season-low 62.5 passer rating. The Texans, who clinched the AFC South…read more
Shaky in division-clincher
Watson completed 19 of 32 passes for 184 yards and an interception and added 37 yards on seven carries during Saturday's 23-20 win over Tampa Bay. He also fumbled during the contest.
Analysis: From a quarterback-rating standpoint, Saturday was Watson's worst game of the season. He managed to make up for it with his legs, however, scrambling to convert a fourth-and-short and then a third-and-15 during a key third-quarter field-goal drive. Watson has the Texans in the playoffs, but his ball security will be worth watching in Week 17 and the postseason. He's thrown five interceptions in his past three games after throwing just seven in his first 12 contests. The season concludes with a…read more
Two touchdown passes in win
Watson completed 19 of 27 attempts for 243 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in the Texans' 24-21 win over the Titans on Sunday. He also rushed seven times for 32 yards and committed one fumble, which was recovered.
Analysis: Despite the mistakes, Watson turned in an admirable performance in what was a critical late-season road divisional matchup. The third-year quarterback's two touchdown passes somewhat curiously went to Kenny Stills, who was back in the No. 3 receiver role with Will Fuller back from a hamstring injury. Watson has multiple scoring tosses in three of his last four games, the first time he's had such a stretch this season. He now has matched last season's 26:9 TD:INT and will look to keep the Texans…read more
Two rushing scores in loss
Watson completed 28 of 50 passes for 292 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions in Sunday's 38-24 loss to the Broncos. He also rushed six times for 44 yards and two touchdowns.
Analysis: Watson was a non-factor in the first half, but he took his level up a few notches after halftime. He connected with DeAndre Hopkins for a 43-yard touchdown in the third quarter before scoring a highlight-reel rushing touchdown from six yards out, reaching the ball over the plane on a hurdling effort. Watson added a three-yard rushing score in the final minute, but he sandwiched that last touchdown in between a pair of interceptions. He'll remain a dynamic threat as both a passer and runner…read more
Involved on every score
Watson completed 18 of 25 pass attempts for 234 yards and three touchdowns while also catching a six-yard touchdown in Sunday's 28-22 win over the Patriots.
Analysis: Watson recorded his first career reception and receiving touchdown in one go on a triple-option play where he was on the receiving end of a pitch from wideout DeAndre Hopkins. Outside of the unconventional score, it was just another day at the office for the star quarterback despite facing one of the league's top defenses. It was also a marked improvement over Watson's last regular-season meeting with New England back in Week 1 of the 2018 season (174 yards, one touchdown and one interception),…read more
Published: Sun, Dec 1 at 10:52pm by Rotowire.com
Bounces back in Week 12 win
Watson completed 19 of 30 passes for 298 yards with two touchdowns and one interception in the Texans' 20-17 win over the Colts on Thursday. He also rushed three times for 10 yards and had one fumble but recovered it.
Analysis: Following a forgettable sub-200-yard showing against the Ravens just four days prior, Watson came out looking like a completely different quarterback and had his deep ball working particularly well. The third-year signal-caller hit DeAndre Hopkins for beautifully thrown touchdown passes of 35 and 30 yards. He also connected with Will Fuller on throws of 44 and 51 yards, which helped him to come within two yards of his fourth 300-yard effort of the campaign on a relatively modest 19 completions.…read more
Stymied in Week 11 loss
Watson completed 18 of 29 passes for 169 yards with no touchdowns and one interception in the Texans' 41-7 loss to the Ravens on Sunday. He also rushed three times for 12 yards and lost a fumble.
Analysis: Watson and the Texans were as pedestrian as the quarterback's line implies, as the Ravens defense repeatedly short-circuited drives and also notched six sacks. His most reliable connection by far was unsurprisingly with DeAndre Hopkins, whom he hit on seven occasions for 80 yards. However, Watson netted just 89 yards on his 11 other completions, and Sunday marked his first game without a touchdown pass since Week 4. The third-year signal-caller will look to help Houston bounce back at the…read more
Tosses two TDs in win
Watson completed 22 of 28 passes for 201 yards and two touchdowns in Sunday's 26-3 win over the Jaguars. He added 37 rushing yards on seven carries in the victory at Wembley Stadium.
Analysis: Both of Watson's touchdowns were of the 1-yard variety -- he found Daniel Fells in the second quarter and DeAndre Hopkins in the fourth. The quarterback wasn't asked to do too much with his team leading throughout thanks to a dominant performance from the defense, which was likely for the best considering Watson was nursing an eye injury suffered in the latter stages of last week's win over Oakland. With a bye week coming up next, Watson should be all systems go by the time he takes the field…read more
Published: Sun, Nov 3 at 10:07am by Rotowire.com
Practices with visor
Watson wore a visor to protect his eye during the practice week leading up to Week 9 against the Jaguars in London, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle reports.
Analysis: Watson suffered an injury to his eye last week when he was accidentally kicked there by Oakland defensive end Arden Key. Since then, the quarterback has been dealing with swelling and a bloodshot eye. Watson, who wore a visor in high school, college and the offseason since joining the Texans, is contemplating whether or not to wear the visor for Sunday's game. He added there are no issues with his vision.
Published: Sat, Nov 2 at 5:11am by Rotowire.com
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QB #4 HOU | Manager: FA
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Eleanor Dubinsky
Moving Toward Justice Cohort Member
One of NPR Alt.Latino’s four 2018 picks for New Spring Music, Eleanor Dubinsky is a “multilingual musician who can capture the emotions and soul of a community in a song.” (NPR Weekend Edition). A vocalist, guitarist and cellist, Dubinsky writes and performs in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. Her presentation of original songs alongside her multifaceted band is an engaging blend of world-beats, jazz and pop music met with emotionally forthright songwriting. In the words of Tom Pryor (Songlines, Afropop) expect “A joyous, uplifting and deeply generous performance…this is music as medicine for your soul.”
Our Voices, Our Songs
Our Voices, Our Songs (OVOS) will create a 10-song album with 8-10 adolescent novice songwriters, most of whom are recently arrived Unaccompanied Immigrant Children (UIC) from Central America. OVOS participants are clients of project partner Terra Firma (Montefiore Medical Center), a nationally recognized medical-legal partnership providing medical, psychological, and legal services to young immigrants. OVOS aims to amplify participants’ voices via autobiographical songwriting, foregrounding their lived experiences in a new album of their original songs. In an era of increased marginalization of new immigrants, OVOS aims to empower UIC while generating a more informed and inclusive conversation about immigration, to be shared with the public via the release of their album, live performances and outreach activities based in their music.
Photo courtesy of the artist.
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Gina Gibney
Founder, CEO & Artistic Director
Gina Gibney is a choreographer, director, entrepreneur, and the Founder, Artistic Director and CEO of Gibney. She founded Gibney in 1991 as an arts organization dedicated to social action, and today the organization has rapidly emerged as a cultural leader operating 23 studios across two Lower Manhattan facilities. With the mission of tapping into the vast potential of movement, creativity, and performance to effect social change and personal transformation, Gibney works through three interrelated fields of activity—Company, the acclaimed resident dance ensemble; Community, a highly respected and impactful social action programs, and Center, two beautiful spaces at 890 and 280 Broadway.
Gina Gibney’s repertory of works and community outreach programs have received wide acclaim and support. Beyond the stage, Gibney is dedicated to using the transformative power of dance to give a voice to individuals in need. Considered a pioneer in connecting the arts with the broader community, her organization’s work has impacted the lives of thousands of domestic violence survivors. In 2008 she was inducted into the Vanity Fair Hall of Fame for “making art and taking action.”
Gibney is serving her second term as a Trustee of Dance/USA and has received the organization’s Ernie Award, given annually to a changemaker in the field. She is a Founding Member of the Board of Directors of Dance/NYC, serving the organization since 2012. She is a member of The Women’s Forum of New York is an invitation-only organization of more than 500 women representing all professional sectors and spheres of influence in our city.
Gibney was included in Dance Magazine’s 2017 list of The Most Influential People in Dance Today and was named to the Out100 2016 list of influential members of the LGBT community. In 2018, she received the Distinguished Alumni Award from her alma mater Case Western Reserve University. In 2019 she received the Floria Lasky Award from the Jerome Robbins Foundation and the Plus Factor Award from the string quartet ETHEL.
Gibney is a frequent panelist and speaker on topics of dance, entrepreneurship, and arts-community partnerships. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Fine Arts from Case Western Reserve University where she graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.
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You are here: Home Page > Law > History of Law > The Myth of the Cultural Jew
The Myth of the Cultural Jew
Culture and Law in Jewish Tradition
Roberta Rosenthal Kwall
Analyzes the idea that Jews can embrace the cultural components of Judaism without appreciating the legal aspects of the Jewish tradition
Explains that much of Jewish culture has a basis in Jewish law, and that Jewish law produces Jewish culture
Develops and applies a cultural analysis paradigm to the Jewish tradition that departs from the understanding of Jewish law solely as the embodiment of Divine command
Emphasizes the human element of law's composition and the role of existing power dynamics in shaping Jewish law
Explains why both law and culture must matter to those interested in forging meaningful Jewish identity and transmitting the tradition
A myth exists that Jews can embrace the cultural components of Judaism without appreciating the legal aspects of the Jewish tradition. This myth suggests that law and culture are independent of one another. In reality, however, much of Jewish culture has a basis in Jewish law. Similarly, Jewish law produces Jewish culture. A cultural analysis paradigm provides a useful way of understanding the Jewish tradition as the product of both legal precepts and cultural elements. This paradigm sees law and culture as inextricably intertwined and historically specific. This perspective also emphasizes the human element of law's composition and the role of existing power dynamics in shaping Jewish law.
In light of this inevitable intersection between culture and law, The Myth of the Cultural Jew: Culture and Law in Jewish Tradition argues that Jewish culture is shallow unless it is grounded in Jewish law. Roberta Rosenthal Kwall develops and applies a cultural analysis paradigm to the Jewish tradition that departs from the understanding of Jewish law solely as the embodiment of Divine command. Her paradigm explains why both law and culture must matter to those interested in forging meaningful Jewish identity and transmitting the tradition.
Introduction—The Myth of the Cultural Jew
1. Culture, Law, and the Development of Jewish Tradition
2. Origins and Development of Jewish Law: A Top-Down View
3. The Norms of Jewish Law Observance: A Bottom-up View
4. The Birth of Jewish Denominations in Modernity and Their Divergent Views on Jewish Law
5. Foundational Conflicts: "Who is a Jew" and Sabbath Laws
6. Homosexuality
7. Women and Synagogue Ritual
8. The State of Israel's Role in Forging Jewish Law and Culture in the Post-Holocaust Era
9. Jewish Identity in the United States
10.The Lessons of Cultural Analysis
Roberta Rosenthal Kwall, Raymond P. Niro Professor of Law, DePaul University College of Law
Roberta Rosenthal Kwall is the Raymond P. Niro Professor of Law at DePaul University College of Law. Prior to teaching at DePaul, she practiced law at Sidley & Austin in Chicago and served as a judicial clerk for Judge Leonard I. Garth, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit. Kwall earned her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania and received her undergraduate degree from Brown University. Currently she is completing a Master's Degree in Jewish Studies.
Kwall is an internationally renowned scholar and lecturer and has published articles on a wide variety of topics including Jewish law and culture, intellectual property, and property law. Her book, The Soul of Creativity: Forging a Moral Rights Law for the United States, is the seminal work in this area. She has received numerous awards for teaching and scholarship and in 2006, was designated as one of the 10 Best Law Professors in Illinois by Chicago Lawyer magazine.
"A brilliant exploration of the relationship between law and culture in the context of Judaism. Kwall offers a provocative thesis and impressively analyzes a myriad of contemporary topics. This book is a 'must read' not only for all interested in Judaism, but for all who are studying the relationship between law and culture." - Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean and Distinguished Professor of Law, Raymond Pryke Professor of First Amendment Law, University of California, Irvine, School of Law
"The Myth of the Cultural Jew will change the way in which lay people, academics, and Jewish clergy and professionals think about the development of Jewish law. It is the first book to apply to Jewish law the method of cultural analysis used in secular legal studies. This book also has broader implications, for Kwall uses this method to address the critical question for Judaism today" - What kind of Jewish religion and identity will be viable for the future? It is a 'must read' for anyone interested in Judaism or Jewish law.
"The Myth of the Cultural Jew is a fascinating book. It is both scholarly and practical, grappling with the challenges that face all of us in the contemporary world. Roberta Rosenthal Kwall writes a powerful and relevant message for the religious and non-religious alike. This book will lead you to a deeper understanding of who you are as a Jew in the 21st century." - Rabbi Asher Lopatin, President, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School
"Kwall presents a drastic shift in the way we discuss Jewish continuity, calling her new paradigm 'cultural analysis,' a methodology which views law and culture as mutually influential and historically inseparable. Through this analytical lens, Kwall brings a fresh perspective to the questions that for generations have plagued those committed to Jewish survival." - Avidan Halivni, New Voices
"It's a remarkable book, a tour de force all the more remarkable because its author is not a rabbi, not a Judaic scholar in the traditional sense, not a Talmudist at all. She is, however, very insightful, very bright, and full of the wisdom she brings from her own field of scholarly expertise to the domain of Jewish studies. I recommend her book to you all!" - Martin S. Cohen, The Ruminative Rabbi
"The Legal Theory Bookworm recommends The Myth of the Cultural Jew: Culture and Law in Jewish Tradition by Roberta Rosenthal Kwall." - Professor Lawrence Solum, Legal Theory Bookworm, Legal Theory Blog
"Kwall does an excellent job analyzing that history and writing about the way law and tradition play out in today's world. This books starts an interesting and much needed discussion, one that will stimulate readers regardless of whether or not they agree with her." - Rabbi Rachel Esserman, The Reporter Group
"The notion that culture and history can influence changes in halacha is a very slippery and threatening slope. Still, Kwall marshals a great deal of evidence to support her first argument [that Jewish culture produces Jewish law]." - Jay P. Lefkowitz, Commentary Magazine
"Roberta Rosenthal Kwall not only provides a unique framework for gaining a deeper understanding of [the issue of Jewish continuity] ... but also for gaining a deeper understanding of the evolution of halacha (Jewish law). Indeed, Kwall makes a major methodological contribution to the academic study of Jewish law and tradition. [Her] book deserves careful attention as we seek to transmit the beauty and richness of Jewish tradition to the next generation, and to enhance the quality of American Jewish life." - Richard D. Zelin, Jewish News Service
"This informative book ...is a meticulously researched study of how halakhah (Jewish law) and culture are interactional forces both shaping each other. Kwall deftly demonstrates how the use of cultural analysis can shed light on many important Jewish issues, including halakhah and ritual practice. The Myth of the Cultural Jew is a beautifully written book that will interest all readers who want to better understand Jewish religious and cultural practices." - Carol Poll, Jewish Book Council
"The sheer breadth and depth of Jewish law and culture that Kwall comfortably explores as she supports her points are reason enough to read this book. The respect with which Kwall treats each group within Judaism is another hallmark of this book. Indeed in the end, it is that very process of Kwall's analysis that is the tour de force here." - Susan P. Liemer, NoFo: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Law & Justice
"The Myth of the Cultural Jew explores the creative tension of modern Jews with understanding, yet keeps a cool eye on real-world dynamics. Well-written and compelling, the book should be required reading at universities and centers of Jewish learning. It's an invaluable guide to how various forces shape the Jewish psyche." - Fern Siegel, The Huffington Post
"What a fascinating book it is! Guiding us through centuries of Jewish legal development, [Kwall] shows how generation after generation of Jewish sages, scholars, and commentators have been affected by the cultures in which they lived, incorporating ideas and values from non-Jewish cultures. Turning to modern times, she shows how debates over homosexuality, the role of women, and Sabbath observance have been influenced by modern cultural values." - Jack Balkin, Yale Law School
"There is so much brilliance in this book, which takes on, among other complex areas, the various denominations of Judaism in the Diaspora, the role of Israel in Jewish identity, the religiosity (or secularism) of Israeli Jews, the place of feminism in Orthodox practice, and the challenges posed by same-sex relationships." - Sherry Colb, Cornell Law School
"This fascinating book offers, among other things, detailed documentation of the extent to which conceptions of Jewish law and tradition have always been influenced by the broader cultures in which Jews have lived-not just in the modern Reform and Conservative movements, but also in traditionalist and Orthodox communities." - Neil Siegel,
"For those wishing to understand the dynamics of change (or lack thereof) within Jewish law, Kwall's analysis is an excellent resource." - Howard Freedman, JWeekly
"Kwall succeeds in writing an accessible while complex book that establishes her thesis through numerous historical examples from the fluid interplay of Jewish culture, the non-Jewish environments in which it was forged, and Jewish law and legal tradition. After providing a brief introduction to the themes that dominate the cultural analysis approach... Kwall delves into these themes through a fascinating series of critical historical episodes in the continuing debate over Jewish law and tradition." - Marie Failinger, Journal of Law and Religion
"The Myth of the Cultural Jew is an elegant and well-researched book that will be fascinating to Jews and non-Jews alike. First and foremost, Professor Kwall's work adds richness to the reader's knowledge and understanding of Judaism and Jewish law(halakhah), even to those readers who are Jewish." - Leah Grinvald, DePaul Law Review
"[Kwall] brings together her twin passions of legal theory and Judaism. Would that more intelligent, scholarly Jews like Prof. Kwall apply their gifts to thinking seriously about the meaning and the future of Judaism!" - Laurence Edwards, CCAR Journal, The Reform Jewish Quarterly (Winter 2016)
"Kwall's survey of the Jewish past and present through the lens of "cultural analysis law" is enlightening and instructive, and especially the discussion of how the different denominations (and post denominations) of American Judaism have juggled legal and nonlegal considerations in confronting hot-button issues in modernity (who is a Jew, homosexuality, gender equality, etc.)." - Professor Tzvi Novick, Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies
"Roberta Rosenthal Kwall in her very informative book "The Myth of the Cultural Jew" seeks to lay down a comprehensive and cohesive description of what Judaism was, is, and even what it ought to be...." - Joel S. Davidi, The Jewish History Channel
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Home Government Programs 37 Senators Urging Obama to Act on Gay Workplace Rights
President Barack Obama recently talked about using his executive powers to circumvent Congress when it fails to act on demanding matters. Moreover, the President talked about the need to do more to secure the rights of gay and lesbian Americans.
Numerous political experts, activists and those close to the situation are calling for Obama to marry these two initiatives by issuing an executive order that would ban federal contractors from discriminating against gay, lesbian and transgender individuals.
Obama and fellow democrats support the Federal Employment non-Discrimination Act to end workplace discrimination amongst the lesbian, bisexual transgender and gay community. The law, which has been stuck in Congress for a number of years, can be called to action via Obama’s executive order. And although many have demanded this action for several years, Obama has yet to file such an order.
In a sudden move to increase pressure for action, 37 U.S. Senators have sent a letter to President Obama urging him to issue the order. This call to action, which is spearheaded by Senator Jeff Merkley, is signed by the majority of the Democratic leadership including, Dick Durbin, Chuck Schumer and Patty Murray.
The letter opens by saying that Obama can protect millions of American workers by including gender identity and sexual orientation rights for contracted employees in the Discrimination Act. From the Senator’s perspective, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act’s premise is basic: it makes federal law reflect the basic principle that Americans should be evaluated on their abilities and skill-set in the workplace as oppose to irrelevant factors such as gender identity or their sexual orientation.
The group of Senators also argues that issuing an Executive Order that provides discrimination protections on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation would provide a significant boost to eliminate discrimination in the workplace. The group feels that when combined with current workplace protections at the state and federal level, an executive order of this magnitude would create legally binding workplace rights for the majority of working Americans. It must be noted that the Senators are fighting for an executive order that provides workplace protections for those who work for contractors—currently there are no non-discrimination policies that extend to sexual orientation for individuals who work for federal contractors.
Obama has been lauded by gay rights activists and support groups for eliminating “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”; for being the first American President to openly support gay marriage; and for refusing defend the Defense of Marriage Act in Court. The group urging Obama believes the passing of an order–at a point where the Supreme Court is preparing to decide on two landmark cases—would be monumental in sending a message to the nation that the culture is shifting.
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Category Archives: Chinese National People’s Congress
People’s Republic of China President and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Xi Jinping (center right) in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. On August 26, 2020, Xi presented Minister of Public Security (MPS) Zhao Kezhi and Minister of State Security (MSS) Chen Wenqing with the “Police Flag” at a ceremony in which over 300 police officers were present. Xi ordered the security forces to be loyal to the Party, serve the people, be impartial in law enforcement, and maintain strict in discipline. Xi also called on the security forces to uphold the Party’s absolute leadership. Historical evidence shows maintaining two main intelligence and security services with overlapping responsibilities is an odd choice as it usually creates difficulties for senior executives and managers of the respective organizations in sorting out issues over cases, turf, and budgets. At least publicly, MPS and MSS have managed to coexist peaceably.
Among some Western intelligence and counterintelligence services, distracting bureaucratic and operational rivalries have been observed. However, the two main civilian intelligence and counterintelligence services in China, Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Gōng’ānbù (Ministry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China) or MPS and Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Guójiā Ānquán Bù (Ministry for State Security of the People’s Republic of China) or the MSS, have publicly avoided such problems despite inherent parallels in their domestic responsibilities. Except for experienced hands on China policy and the Chinese intelligence services and national security via diplomatic, intelligence, defense, military, or law enforcement work, most in the West have likely never heard of either organization. MPS is an intelligence service under the State Council in charge of the country’s internal and political security and domestic intelligence. MSS, also under the State Council, is an intelligence service responsible for foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, and internal security as well. Their impact stems mainly from providing consumers in Beijing to include the Communist Party of China leadership, the Party’s key organs responsible for foreign and national security policy, and ministers and senior executives of appropriate ministries and organizations of the State Council, as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with data that may shape their decisions. This commentary briefly focuses on the apparent management of a smooth working relationship between MPS and MSS as they share overlapping intelligence responsibilities in the service of Communist Party of China, all powerful in the People’s Republic of China. Concordia res parvae crescent. (Work together to accomplish more.)
These two national intelligence organs are the embodiment of the logic that created the Chinese system’s intimidating, authoritarian–perhaps it could even be called totalitarian–order and for years has choreographed events to accomplish the Communist Party of China’s purposes. To that extent, the Communist Party of China has entrusted the defense of the modern Communist Chinese state to these two complex government organizations. On August 26, 2020, at the ceremony held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, People’s Republic of China President Xi Jinping conferred the “Police Flag” to Minister of Public Security Zhao Kezhi and Minister of State Security Chen Wenqing. Xi ordered China’s security forces to be be loyal to the Party, serve the people and be impartial in law enforcement. Xi also demanded the police force forge iron-like discipline and conduct. In his address at the ceremony, Xi lauded the major contributions made by the Chinese police to safeguarding national security, social stability and people’s interests, He called them a mighty force that can be fully trusted by the Party and the people, and spoke highly of the major contributions made by the Chinese security forces to safeguarding national security, social stability and people’s interests. Xi also called upon the security forces to uphold the Party’s absolute leadership.
Xi has placed considerable focus on police, judges, prosecutors, public security,, and state security officers as part of a new Communist Party of China drive against graft, abuses and disloyalty in their ranks. The campaign is also said to be part of an effort by Xi to bolster domestic discipline as he prepares for a leadership shake-up at the Communist Party Congress in 2022. Reportedly, Xi has been spurred on to push for iron authority down to local police stations as a result of the reaction among Communist Party of China leaders toward near-endless protests in Hong Kong, and their need to be assured of the Party’s total control of the population after that became an issue during China’s coronavirus outbreak. The ministers of the MPS and MSS understand their marching orders. Zhao, the Minister of MPS, was quoted as saying, “Resolutely put absolute loyalty, absolute purity and absolute dependability into action.”
Ubi concordia ibi victoria. (Where there is unity, there is victory.) As already alluded to briefly, historical evidence shows that maintaining two main intelligence and security services with many overlapping responsibilities is an odd choice gor it normally creates difficulties for senior executives and managers of the respective organizations in sorting out issues over over cases, turf, and budgets. However, MPS and MSS have managed to coexist peaceably, at least publicly. The most apparent reason that such high profile parochial struggles over turf and budgets do not exist at least publicly between MPS and MSS, interestingly enough is that they are actually prohibited under the People’s Republic of China National Security Law. Hypothesizing on the matter, purely out of academic interest, if a competitive relationship between MPS and MSS had ever taken flight, it very likely would have been the result of happenstance in the 1980s. During the after its inception in 1983 and the larger part of the 1990s, MSS took on an assignment from the Communist Party of China concerning a burgeoning student movement that was redundant given the matter was covered by MPS.
As that situation stood, the Communist Party of China’s leadership became concerned about the student movement as a threat to social order and its power. In response, there was a call for all hands to mitigate those fears. MSS, newly minted, had the officers and was available. The Communist Party of China insisted that it place its focus on students in both China and abroad after the Tiananmen Square protests. Tiananmen Square, in addition to being embarrassing to the Communist Party of China leaders, caused them to remain greatly concerned over a possible follow-on move by students. That concern was somewhat supported when Chinese authorities announced that some 200 Chinese had been accused of spying for the Soviet Union. One might conclude that due to the counterintelligence aspect of the assignment, it made some sense to pass it the MSS. The MSS as an organization, threw itself into the immediate domestic task set for it by the Communist Party of China.
Inter cetera mala, hoc quoque habet stultitia proprium, semper incipit vivere. (Among other evils, folly has also this special characteristic, it is always beginning to live.) Perchance to further satisfy and impress the Communist Party of China or perhaps in an attempt to redesignate the intelligence service’s purpose wholly, MSS leaders at the time, arguably taking a turn down the wrong path, exploited the situation by deciding to expand and invigorate their organization’s presence in the provinces and municipalities. That expansion occurred in four waves. In the first wave during MSS’ inaugural year, the municipal bureaus or provincial departments of state security for Beijing, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Liaoning, and Shanghai were created. A second wave appeared shortly thereafter between 1985 and 1988, including Chongqing, Gansu, Hainan, Henan, Shaanxi, Tianjin, and Zhejiang. The third wave from 1990 to 1995 completed the expansion of the Ministry across at the provincial levels, bringing in Anguilla, Hunan, Qinghai, and Sichuan provinces. The fourth wave the provincial-level departments expanded vertically, taking over local public security bureaus or established subordinate municipal or County bureaus. The MSS policy of expanding representative offices in most major towns and cities was reversed in 1997. Nevertheless, by then, the MSS was a nationwide security organization at every level. Presumably, having reached that status, it may have been called upon to perform some special tasks for the Communist Party of China’s leadership on occasion.
To add to that situation, in its first two decades, the ranks of the MSS were filled with longtime MPS who transferred over to the office. MSS provincial branches were often staffed with PLA and government retirees. The new MSS was funded in part by the MPS.To help MSS take on its mission, MPS also passed some networks to the new organization. With some uncertainty that existed as to the political nature of MSS, MPS was reportedly reluctant to make such transfers. MSS was declared to be a foreign intelligence organization, but as things stood then, it was doing more of what its rank and file knew how to do best, which was to perform as police.
In the end, though, MPS has remained the dominant service concerning the domestic counterintelligence mission. Moreover, with regard to MPS’s organizational identity, as aforementioned, from its beginnings, has embodied the will of the Communist Party of China, and its leaders insisted upon retaining that grand status. Even today,, MPS leaders are regularly striving to garner praise and the further favor of the Communist Party of China from the flash and bang, bells and whistles, of high profile cases. MSS leaders returned to shaping their organization into a truly effective foreign intelligence organization. The MSS foreign intelligence capability was built up most effectively when intelligence cadres from the Communist Party of China were brought into its ranks. An uptick in both competency and necessity favored a rise MSS influence in foreign policymaking. When direct political power is absent, influence usually relates to merit and necessity. Senior leaders of the Communist Party of China involved in foreign policymaking would eventually want the MSS in the room, contributing to deliberations. Yet, MSS still maintains a very significant domestic operation via provincial and municipal offices throughout China. Presently, the MSS’ thirty-one major provincial and municipal sub-elements. Sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas. (Use what is yours without harming others.)
Placing MPS and MSS alongside the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in a search for parallels, the record indicates their situation was the contrary as considerable conflicts over cases, turf, and budgets once existed between the two US organizations. A growing schism resulted in cooperation between them on intelligence and counterintelligence being mandated by authorities to the chagrin even to date of some case officers and special agents. Notably, the CIA does not independently determine its intelligence collection priorities. The CIA’s intelligence activities are instead conducted in response to intelligence requirements established by the President and the CIA’s other intelligence consumers. Specifically, the Director of National Intelligence approves the National Intelligence Priorities Framework (NIPF), which establishes national intelligence priorities that reflect the guidance of the President and the National Security Advisor with input from Cabinet-level and other senior government officials. The CIA’s duly authorized intelligence activities are conducted in response to the NIPF priorities or other intelligence requirements imposed by the President and other intelligence consumers. Under the framework established by Executive Order 12333, the CIA’s intelligence activities are primarily focused outside the US. The FBI is responsible for coordination of clandestine collection of foreign intelligence through human sources or human-enabled means and counterintelligence activities inside the US. Generally though, the CIA can cooperate with the FBI to collect foreign intelligence within the US, subject to the restrictions imposed by statute, Executive Order 12333, the Attorney General Guidelines, and other legal and policy requirements. Specifically, the National Security Act prohibits the CIA from exercising police or subpoena powers or otherwise engaging in law enforcement or internal security functions, with the exception of the security protective officers who protect CIA facilities within a limited jurisdiction pursuant to the CIA Act. If, for example, the FBI has a cooperative relationship with an individual inside the US who provides foreign intelligence information, the FBI may appropriately consult with the CIA regarding the relationship, and the CIA may continue the relationship for intelligence purposes should the individual travel overseas.
Of course, the situation between the MPS and MSS is also made quite different from that of FBI and CIA particularly due to the nature of the government in which the two intelligence services respectively function. In a country such as China, there is a need among leaders to create some acceptable degree of certainty about their world that is existential. As an expression of need, they tend to find it preferable to have as many ears to the ground as possible, know what comes next, be sure of who can be trusted, understand how to protect their personal interests, be made aware of where the next likely challenge from the inside, and be forewarned of the next threat to the country from the outside, will come from. The role of the security services in satisfying that need is not an ancillary role. Thereby, protecting the interests of the political leadership is really their raison d’être.
The 20th century US philosopher and political theorist, Hannah Arendt, in her seminal work The Origins of Totalitarianism (Schocken, 1951) provides an excellent discussion of why multiple security services exist in totalitarian countries. The history of Chinese intelligence validates what she presents. The most relevant passage, too precious to condense, is presented here in its entirety. Using the situation in the Soviet Union as a yardstick, Arendt explains:
In Russia, the ostensible power of the party bureaucracy as against the real power of the secret police corresponds to the original duplication of the party and State known as Nazi Germany, and the multiplication becomes evident only in the secret police itself, with its extremelycomolicate, widely ramified network of agent, in which one Department is always assigned in the supervising and spying on another. Every enterprise in the Soviet Union has its special Department of the secret police, which spies on party members and ordinary personnel alike. Coexistence with this department is another police division of the party itself, which again watches everybody, including the agents of the NKVD [Narodnyi Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del (People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs)], and whose members are not known to the rival body. Added to these two espionage organizations must be the unions in the factories, which must see to it that the workers fulfill their prescribed quotas. Far more important than these apparatuses, however, is “the special department” of the NKVD which represents “an NKVD within the NKVD,” i.e., a secret police within a secret police. All reports of these competing police agencies ultimately end up in the Moscow Central Committee and the Politburo. Here it is decided which of the reports is decisive and which of the police divisions shall be entitled to carry out the respective police measures. Neither the average inhabitant of the country nor any one of the police departments knows, of course, what decision will be made; today it may be the special division of the NKVD, tomorrow the Party’s network of agents; the day after, it may be the local committees or one of the regional bodies. Among all of the departments there exists no legally rooted hierarchy of power or authority; the only certainty is that eventually one of them will be chosen to embody “the will of the leadership.”
The only rule of which everybody in a totalitarian state may be sure of is that the more visible the government agencies are, the less power they carry, and the less is known of the existence of an institution, the more powerful it will ultimately turn out to be. According to this rule, the Soviets, recognized by a written constitution as the highest authority in the state, have less power than the Bolshevik party; the Bolshevik party, which recruits it members openly and is recognized as the ruling class, has less power than the secret police. Real power begins where secrecy begins. In this respect, the Nazi and Bolshevik states were very much alike; their diffetence lay chiefly in the monopolization and centralization of secret police services in [SS-Reichsführer Heinrich] Himmler on the one hand, and the maze of apparently unrelated and unconnected police activities in Russia on the other.
It must be noted that there remains some debate in a few scholarly circles as to whether China would qualify as a totalitarian state, such as that deliberated on by Arendt. China certainly ticks off most of the boxes that would qualify it as such. Totalitarian countries are those in which the government does not permit its people to partake in political decision making. Instead of giving the people a voice, a totalitarian country is typically ruled either by a single dictator or a group that has not been collectively elected by the people. The ruling leaders, in China’s case, a ruling party, of totalitarian countries do not merely enact laws. Rather, the people or person in charge controls all aspects of both public and private life. There is no limit to what a totalitarian government can control because there are not any checks or balances placed on the leaders of the country. Essentially, totalitarian leaders can do whatever suits their agenda and say anything that comes to mind.
Citizens are stripped of all freedoms in totalitarian countries. Denial of the right of free speech will usually include a ban on freedom of the press. Ideologies, beliefs, and religions may even be highly curtailed or absolutely forbidden in a totalitarian country. The national government has full and total control. Totalitarian leaders often rule through fear because they take advantage of citizens’ emotions in order to keep them from revolting and protesting. When you live in fear, you do not know how to speak out against injustices because you are scared. It becomes a matter of staying silent in order to stay alive, and totalitarian rulers know this. In fact, they thrive off of this natural human instinct. To reinforce the idea that citizens must show complete alliegance and compliance with the government, totalitarian leaders typically have security forces, some secret, that ensure citizens do not fall out of step. In some totalitariam countries, certain religious minorities and political groups by the security forces. Expressing dissent toward government decisions and actions is strictly prohibited in these countries. Although liberal democracies pride themselves with regard to the way people can form and express their own reactions to the government, people who live in totalitarian regimes must agree with everything the government does, says, and enforces. Outward expressions of disagreement are forbidden. By these qualifications, China certainly could be viewed as a totalitarian state. Audi vide, tace, si vis vivere in pace. (Use your ears and eyes, but hold your tongue, if you would live in peace.)
Senior executives and managers of the MPS and MSS are mutually responsible for creating tranquillitas ordinis—the tranquility of order. That is indeed a charitable perception of their work, especially MPS, which has a history using brutal methods in the name of establishing law and order. It would seem that between the two intelligence services, there has been the some successful creation of a figurative cross organizational masonry through which fruitful communication, agreements, and interoperability can be shaped and facilitated. One might imagine establishing that order has rested in efforts such as obliging both MPS and MSS to mutually keep each other informed of developments. One could hardly imagine that one organization steps on the figurative toes of the other by suggesting anything as grand as using an alternative strategy in an ongoing investigation of an individual or group of individuals would occur. At this stage, MPS does not desire to share the anxieties of MSS, and visa-versa. There would appear to be enough for both organizations to do. Further, sources of funding and support for both derive from specified sources, leaving little need to struggle for means. Periclum ex aliis facito tibi quod ex usu siet. (Draw from others the lesson that may profit yourself.)
Posted in #Xi, #XiJinping, 2022 Communist Party of China Congress, Beijing, Central Intelligence Agency, Chen Wenqing, China, Chinese National Party Congress, Chinese National People's Congress, Chinese President Xi Jinping, CIA, Communist Party of China, coronavirus, counterintelligence, COVID-19, FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation, God, God the Father, Great Hall of the People, Hannah Arendt, Mark Edmond Clark, Minister of Public Security of the People's Republic of China Zhao Kezhi, Minister of State Security of the People's Republic of China Chen Wenqing, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Public Security for the People's Republic of China, Ministry of State Security of the People's Republic of China, MPS, MSS, Narodnyi Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del, NKVD, People's Republic of China, People's Republic of China President Xi Jinping, The Origins of Totalitarianism, US, Zhao Kezhi, Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Guójiā Ānquán Bù, Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Gōng'ānbù | Leave a reply
The Headquarters of the Ministry of State Security (above). China’s primary civilian intelligence service engaged in the political warfare struggle against the US is the Ministry of State Security (MSS). Yet, while fully involved in that work, MSS has adhered to its bread and butter mission of stealing national security and diplomatic secrets with specific regard to the US. It has also robustly enhanced another mission of grabbing intellectual property and an array of cutting-edge technologies from the US. This essay provides a few insights from outside the box on the MSS, the tactics, techniques, procedures, and methods, it believes, help to keep China secure and help to improve China’s capabilities and capacity to compete and struggle with the US.
There was a time not so long ago when discussion in US foreign policy circles concerning China centered on issues such as trade, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the South China Sea, North Korean denuclearization, and human rights. Now the primary focus of discussion is the coronavirus. China is where the virus originated and was surely ineptly handled, setting the stage for the current pandemic. How China has responded to the crisis turned pandemic has been a source of curiosity and absolute outrage globally. Despite preening about its own advances in science and medicine, China proved not to be up to the task of handling the outbreak that most experts agree more than likely began disastrously in a Wuhan laboratory. It is difficult to fully comprehend what on Earth went on in the minds of China’s leadership upon learning about their country’s coronavirus epidemic. Shutting down cities and restricting travel was among the means to control the spread among their own citizens but China’s government was quite derelict in ensuring the virus would not break out around the rest of the world. Worse, the Communist Party of China and the National Party Congress were unapologetic and frightfully defensive concerning all discussion of China’s role in what was happening. China very quickly became exercised with the US over the matter. They became particularly warm toward US President Donald Trump. The words of official spokespeople were certainly not seasoned in grace. Although it has found itself in an unpleasant, contentious relationship with the US as a result of its own doing, Beijing has nevertheless effectively doubled-down on the behavior that exacerbated the situation. China’s government spokespeople will most likely continue to assail the global media with waves of distortions. At the same time around the world, the number of people infected by the coronavirus continues to increase, the death toll rises, and the financial loss is being calculated in the trillions. Hopefully, People’s Republic of China President Xi Jinping is well-aware of what is transpiring and has set some type of guidance on just how far this whole cabaret put on by Beijing should go. Numquam enim temeritas cum sapienta commiscetur. (For rashness is never mixed together with wisdom.)
The figurative hammer of the foreign and national security policy apparatus swung by the arm of the Communist Party of China against the US is China’s intelligence services. They are the ones on the front lines of the political warfare struggle. Among those intelligence services, the primary element engaged is the Ministry of State Security (MSS). The Ministry of State Security is the embodiment of the logic that created the Chinese system’s intimidating, authoritarian order and for years has choreographed events to accomplish the Communist Party’s purposes. To that extent, the Communist Party of China has entrusted the defense of “their creation,” the modern Communist Chinese state, to this complex government organization. China has only offered soupçons about the MSS, and even less than that lately. Unless one is engaged in diplomatic, intelligence, defense, military, or law enforcement work, MSS is an elements of the Chinese government with which most outsiders when engaged in their normal business related to China, whether inside the country, in a country near by, or even at home, will have contact, but will often be completely unaware. The ostensible purpose and task of MSS is to defend China against external as well as internal threats. By performing its mission of collecting vital information about China’s friends, allies, competitors and adversaries MSS gives the leadership of the Communist Party of China time to make decisions and space to take action. To that extent, the MSS has adhered to its bread and butter mission of stealing national security and diplomatic secrets with specific regard to the US. However, it has also robustly enhanced another mission of collecting intellectual property and an array of cutting-edge technologies from the US. The Communist Party of China is surely counting upon it to successfully take on China’s adversaries in a large way with a small footprint. Interestingly though, there has been far greater discernment worldwide of MSS political warfare activities than Beijing might have imagined. The immediate implication of that has been the infliction of considerable damage to China’s reputation as a world leader. Veritas nimis saepe laborat; exstinguitur numquam. (The truth too often labors (is too often hard pressed); it is never extinguished.)
This essay does not focus on the political warfare effort by MSS, the nuts and bolts of which are somewhat straight forward, and compressed into summary form in the March 31, 2020 greatcharlie post entitled, “Commentary: Beijing’s Failed Political Warfare Effort Against US: A Manifestation of Its Denial Over Igniting the Coronavirus Pandemic”. It focuses on what the Ministry of State Security (MSS) is and what it does, day-to-day, for China. It is presented in two sections. This section, “Part 1,” provides greatcharlie’s insights from outside the box on the MSS and the tactics, techniques, procedures, and methods it believes both help to keep China secure and help to improve China’s capabilities and capacity to compete and struggle with the US. That discussion is buttressed by a few celebrated and trusted sources. “Part 2” continues that discussion and, without an ax to grind, greatcharlie calls attention to how, over recent years, a number of less-familiar, self-inflicted wounds have hindered the prosecution of a successful campaign by US counterintelligence services against the MSS as well as other Chinese intelligence services. The extent to which those same issues concerning US counterintelligence services have impacted the Trump administration is also touched upon. Without pretension, greatcharlie states that there is no reason for it to believe policymakers and decisionmakers in the White House and among US foreign affairs, defense, and intelligence organizations, would have a professional interest in its meditations on MSS intelligence operations in the US. However, it is greatcharlie’s hope that if given some attention, perhaps in some small way it might assist those who work on matters of gravity in this province improve their approach to defeating and displacing the MSS networks and operations as well as those of its sister organizations in the US. Bonus adiuvate, conservate popular Romanum. (Help the good (men) save (metaphorically in this case) the Roman people.)
People’s Republic of China Chairman Mao Zedong (left) and Kang Sheng (right). After the defeat of Imperial Japanese forces in China and prior to 1949, the Communust Party of China’s main intelligence institution was the Central Department of Socialism Affairs (CDSA). CDSA was placed under the control of Kang Sheng, a longtime political associate of Mao with a linkage from the past to Mao’s wife, Jiang Qing. With the Communist Party’s victory over Chang Kai-shek’s nationalist forces, CDSA became one among a full array of government intelligence organizations that were created to supplement Party-based intelligence services. CDSA would draw information from foreign news agencies and open sources. It was hardly a very rewarding business.
Chinese Intelligence Under the Communist Party: The Beginning
The foundation of the Chinese intelligence services was laid during the revolutionary period in which the Communist Party of China sought to establish its rule. In the early 1930s, two intelligence services existed. One was centered in Shanghai and the Communist Party, the other was based in the Chinese Communist government that existed in Shaanxi where Mao Zedong established his base after the Long March. The later intelligence service proved to be the stronger of the two. By the late 1930s, it was replaced by a newly created Social Affairs Department (SAD) within the Communist Party. Within the years of struggle against Imperial Japanese forces in China, there was the Yan’an Rectification, from 1942 to 1944, in which Mao consolidated his paramount role in the Communist Party of China. Yan’an was also the part of the ten year period in which: Mao established his premier role in the Party; the Party’s Constitution, endorsing Marxist-Leninism and Maoist thought as its guiding ideologies, was adopted (Mao’s formal deviation from the Soviet line and his determination to adapt Communism to Chinese conditions); and, the postwar Civil war between the Communists and the Kuomintang. Prior to 1949, the Communist Party of China’s main intelligence institution was the Central Department of Social Affairs (CDSA). CDSA was placed under the control of Kang Sheng, a longtime political associate of Mao with a linkage from the past to Mao’s wife, Jiang Qing. With the Communist Party’s victory over Chang Kai-shek’s nationalist forces, CDSA became one among a full array of government intelligence organizations were created to supplement Party-based intelligence services. CDSA would draw information from foreign news agencies and open sources. It was hardly a very rewarding business.
The Ministry of Public Security was established as China’s principal intelligence service at the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. It, too, was placed under the leadership of Kang Sheng. CDSA fell into the hands of Li Kenong, a deputy chief of staff to People’s Liberation Army (PLA) chief of staff Chou Enlai and a vice minister for foreign affairs. The main role of the MPS, as with all previous Chinese intelligence services, was to serve the interests of the Communist Party of China. However, as time passed, it was also officially given jurisdiction over counter subversion, counterintelligence, and conducting espionage in Macau, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Overseas during the 1950s, most Chinese diplomatic missions accommodated the MPS with an Investigation and Research Office for intelligence collection staffed by CDSA personnel, with analysis performed by the Eighth Bureau, publicly known in 1978 as the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations. In 1953, CDSA became the Central Investigation Department (CID). In China, the MPS presence was nearly ubiquitous, as it kept a watchful eye on China’s population. It was energetically engaged in monitoring Chinese who returned from abroad. To cope with what it determined to be errant citizens, MPS ran labor reform camps. MPS personnel were known for behaving harshly among its own citizens. That behavior was said to be reflective of the violent mentality of its initial leader, Kang. Despite his alleged romance with Mao’s wife, Kang was far from a charming man. Rather, he was known for being an absolute brute. He would move on to become a member of the Communist Party of China Political Bureau, and Li Kenong moved up to take command there. In 1962, the decision was made to move Ministry of Public Security counterespionage functions over to the CID.
The 1960s were a volatile time for Chinese intelligence services as with all military institutions in China. Li Kenong died in 1962 and in 1966 he was succeeded by Luo Quinchang, who had been adopted by Kang in 1958 and ushered into the MPS. However, the MPS became involved in the power struggles that embroiled the Communist Party during the Cultural Revolution. Mao, feeling his power base was threatened mainly as a result of his failed Great Leap Forward, implemented the “Four Cleans Movement,” with the objective of purifying politics, economics, ideas, and organization of reactionaries, led by a one time ally, Luo Quinchang of MPS. His staff files were seized and mined for candidates for criticism and banishment to the lao jiao prison system.
Kang Sheng (above). The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) was established as China’s principal intelligence service at the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. It, too, was placed under the leadership of Kang Sheng. The main role of the MPS, as with all previous Chinese intelligence services, was to serve the interests of the Communist Party of China. As time passed, it was also officially given jurisdiction over counter subversion, counterintelligence, and conducting espionage in Macau, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. MPS personnel were known for behaving harshly among its own citizens. That behavior was said to be reflective of the mentality of Kang, who was known for being an absolute brute.
Most of the leadership of the CID was sent to the countryside for reeducation and the organization, itself, was abolished for a time. Its activities and assets were absorbed by the Second Department of the PLA’s general staff taking over its duties. The Second Department oversaw human intelligence collection to include military attachés at Chinese embassies overseas clandestine collection agents sent to other countries to collect military information, and the analysis of overt sources of information. Mao turned to Kang to ensure that his ideological and security directives were implemented. Kang, Mao’s wife Jiang, Wang Hongwen, Yao Wenyuan, Zhang Chunqiao, dubbed the “Gang of Four,” worked together in a campaign to renew China’s revolutionary spirit. With the assistance of the Red Guards, a mass student led paramilitary movement mobilized and guided by Mao from 1996 to 1967, the Gang of Four set out to destroy the “Four Olds” of society: old customs, old culture, old habits, old ideas. The Red Guards were particularly disruptive. Apparent moral confusion caused the base student army to rise and nearly wreck China by attacking senior Communist Party leaders such as Deng Xiaoping and by conducting mass executions. There were reports that the Red Guards cadres had engaged in cannibalism, eating students. They destroyed approximately 66 percent of China’s famous temples, shrines, and heritage sites. These included nearly 7,000 priceless works of art in the Temple of Confucius alone. The Red Guards would face resistance in major cities. Often the PLA was forced to violently put down their destructive attacks. The organization having fully flown off the rails, Mao instructed leaders of the Red Guards to end their movement.
Meanwhile, Kang had returned to the intelligence service from on high to assume responsibility for the CID cadres that remained left in limbo. Eventually, a new organization, the Central Case Examination Group, composed of CID cadres under Kang was created. That organization was instrumental in the removal of Deng Xiaoping from power. The CID was reestablished in 1971 following the death of Lin Biao and then again became entangled in another power struggle as Hua Kuo-feng and Deng Xiaoping vied for control of the party. By then, Kang had receded into the distance, viewed as too connected to the untidiness of the Cultural Revolution.
Following Mao’s death in 1976, the new leadership under Hua Guofeng initially tried to return to the pre-Cultural Revolution years and strengthen the CID. When Hua Kuo-feng and Wang Dongxing assumed power in 1977, they tried to enlarge the CID and expand the Communist Party of China intelligence work as part of their more general effort to consolidate their leadership positions. However, their hopes and dreams met their fate. Deng Xiaoping, having steadily ascended within the leadership ranks of the Communist Party of China, was uncertain of CID loyalties and his opinion of it was unfavorable. Circumstances indicated that he should order the shut down of all Investigation Offices in Chinese embassies. Although it remained part of the Chinese intelligence services, the CID was officially downgraded. According to Anne-Marie Brady in Making the Foreign Serve China: Managing Foreigners in the People’s Republic (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2003), the impact of the CID’s downgrade was softened by the fact that its intelligence efforts were being paralleled and to some degree occasionally outmatched by the extraordinarily secret International Liaison Department of the Communist Party of China, which became deeply involved in inciting and assisting international revolution by moving weapons, financial support, and other critical resources to numerous Communist and non-Communist insurgencies worldwide.
The emblem of the Ministry of State Security (above). In 1983, there was considerable frustration in the Communist Party of China with the high volume of secret information being leaked to the West. This was particularly true with regard to information about debates occurring within the Communist Party and reports of poor economic and social conditions within China. In reaction, counterespionage responsibilities were transferred from the MPS to the new Ministry of State Security (MSS). Known as the Guojia Anquanbu or Guoanbu, the MSS was stood up in July 1983 to rectify the deficiencies of the previous iterations of the intelligence function in the Chinese national security apparatus.
The Inception of the Ministry of State Security
The story of the Ministry of State Security (MSS) began thoroughly in July 1983. That year, there was considerable frustration in the Communist Party of China with the high volume of secret information being leaked to the West. This was particularly true with regard to information about debates occurring within the Communist Party and reports of poor economic and social conditions within China. In reaction, counterespionage responsibilities were transferred from the MPS to the MSS. Known as the Guojia Anquanbu or Guoanbu, the MSS was stood up to rectify the deficiencies of the previous iterations of the intelligence function in the Chinese national security apparatus. When the reorganization of the MPS was completed in 1983, it was temporarily left with only traditional police functions. Nevertheless, the change turned out to be quite positive as both organizations were allowed a new beginning so to speak. MSS represented a reimagination of the intelligence collection process abroad and the counterintelligence struggle against outside powers. It eventually bring new dimensions to China’s foreign intelligence scheme. The creation of MSS freed MPS to revamp existing capabilities and explore and adapt a new as well as more technological set of cards to play in the domestic intelligence game so to speak. It represented a reimagination of the intelligence collection process abroad and the counterintelligence struggle against outside powers.
At its nascent stage, the ranks of the MSS were filled with longtime MPS who transferred over to the office. MSS provincial branches were often staffed predominantly with PLA and government retirees. Despite the declaration of its raison d’être as a foreign intelligence organization, the MSS was initially asked to do what its rank and file knew how to do best, which was to perform as police. For that reason, the most important task that it was given after its inception, focusing on students in both China and abroad after the Tiananmen Square protests, was a natural fit. Tiananmen Square, in addition to being frightfully embarrassing to the Communist Party of China leaders, caused them to remain greatly concerned over a possible follow on move by students. That concern was thoroughly evinced when Chinese authorities announced that some 200 Chinese had been accused of spying for the Soviet Union. One might say that the counterintelligence purpose of the assignment made giving it to the MSS plausible. However, MPS had the domestic counterintelligence mission covered. Redundantly taking on the assignment concerning the student–surely MPS was on it–was a turn in a wrong direction. The MSS would eventually develop into an authentic foreign intelligence service, but it would take time. It would be an evolutionary process.
An ocean of student protesters in Tiananmen Square in May 1989 (above). At its nascent stage, the ranks of the MSS were filled with longtime MPS who transferred over to the office. MSS provincial branches were often staffed with People’s Liberation Army and government retirees. Despite the declaration of its raison d’être as a foreign intelligence organization, the MSS was initially asked to do what its rank and file knew how to do best, which was police work. For that reason, the most important task that it was given after its inception, focusing on students in both China and abroad after the Tiananmen Square protests, was a natural fit. The protests, in addition to being frightfully embarrassing to the Communist Party of China leaders, caused them great concern regarding a possible follow-on move by students.
As aforementioned, a paucity of quality information exists publicly from the Chinese government about the present-day MSS in primary or secondary sources. No official Chinese government website exists for the intelligence organization. There have been no press releases distributed or press conferences held by the organization’s public relations department. Access to information from the organization is essentially nonexistent. No significant writings have been published by security scholars in China on the MSS. Precious few defections from MSS have occurred, so little has been provided from an insider’s view. What is best known generally about MSS in the US has been superbly relayed in I.G. Smith’s and Nigel West’s celebrated Historical Dictionary of Chinese Intelligence (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012).
The MSS headquarters is located in Beijing in a large compound in Xiyuan, on Eastern Chiang’an Avenue, close to Tiananmen Square. Within the security perimeter is snowing apartment block, Qian Men, where many of the MSS staff and their families live. The MSS is a civilian intelligence service and operates independently from the People’s Liberation Army General Staff Second and Third Departments, which also conduct military intelligence and counterintelligence operations. Although it has a central headquarters, the MSS actually was not built up as a centralized organization. It is composed of national, provincial, and local branches much as the MPS from which it sprang. Even the initial CDSA and later CID units of the MPS operated domestically under a decentralized and autonomous structure throughout China that was supported by the Communist Party of China. Their structure somewhat resembles that of the erstwhile regional and Soviet republic KGB bureaus. The provincial, and local branches receive directives from headquarters in Beijing and are financed by National Security Special Funds. Yet, only to the extent that provincial and local branches receive “administrative expenses,” could they be considered accountable to headquarters. They are largely autonomous in reality, reportedly acting as essential adjuncts to the local administration. The formal chief of the MSS holds the title Minister of State Security. As of this writing, the minister is Chen Wenqing. However, from the national level to the local levels, the MSS and its subordinate departments and bureaus report to a system of leading small groups, coordinating offices, and commissions to guide security work while lessening the risk of politicization on behalf of Communist Party of China leaders. Initially, the most important of these was the Political-Legal Commission (Zhongyang Guoja Anquan Weiyuanhui). The Political-Legal Commission was chaired by a Politburo member at the Central level with the title Secretary, who serves essentially as China’s security czar. There are Deputy Party Secretaries at the lower levels. The lower-level commissions oversee all state security, public security, prisons, and procuratorate (judicial) elements for their levels. Currently, there is a Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (Zhengfawei) who oversees China’s security apparatus and law enforcement institutions, also with power reaching into the courts, prosecution agencies, police forces, paramilitary forces, and intelligence organs Xi announced the creation of the Central State Security Commission (CSSC) in the Third Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Party Congress in November 2013. The CSSC held its first meeting on April 15, 2014. The purpose of this new commission was twofold. First, it was intended to balance internal political power created by the expansion of the security services and their capabilities in the 2000s. Second, the commission orient’s the MSS and other security forces toward planning and preempting threats to the party-state. At lower levels, provinces, counties, and municipalities have state security leading small groups (Guoja Anquan Lingdao Xiaozu). The political-legal Commissions and State Security leading small groups overlap in personnel but not perfectly. They combine with defense mobilizations committees and 610 offices to create a kind of system of systems that oversees local security and intelligence work. Headquarters is surely kept apprised of what the provincial and local branches are doing. Each level reports to the next MSS level up and the Political-Legal Committee at that level. This florid arrangement of horizontal and vertical relationships often creates bureaucratic competition that encourages pushing decisions upward while hiding information from elements of equal protocol rank.
Intellect, will, and hard earned experience drove MSS leaders forward as they molded the MSS into a truly effective intelligence organization. What compelled the domestic focus of its initial work is further apparent in that process. The first two ministers, Ling Yun and Jia Chunwang, faced the challenge of turning a small Ministry with only a handful of outlying provincial departments into a nationwide security apparatus. The expansion occurred in four waves. In the first wave during MSS’ inaugural year, the municipal bureaus or provincial departments of state security for Beijing, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Liaoning, and Shanghai were created. A second wave appeared shortly thereafter between 1985 and 1988, including Chongqing, Gansu, Hainan, Henan, Shaanxi, Tianjin, and Zhejiang. The third wave from 1990 to 1995 completed the expansion of the Ministry across at the provincial levels, bringing in Anguilla, Hunan, Qinghai, and Sichuan provinces. The fourth wave the provincial-level departments exoanded vertically, taking over local public security bureaus or established subordinate municipal or County bureaus. The MSS policy of expanding representative offices in most major towns and cities was reversed in 1997. Nevertheless, when MSS minister Jia left in 1998 for the MPS, the MSS was a nationwide organization at every level. Presently, the MSS’ thirty-one major provincial and municipal sub-elements. Interestingly, as MSS moved through each growth spurt, it did not ignite efforts to rename the organization, to divide it into pieces and parcel out some of its departments among other Chinese intelligence services, or to disband it altogether in the way CDSA and MPS suffered in the two previous decades. There seemed to be an understanding system wide that the need existed for a solid civilian foreign intelligence as well as counterintelligence capability.
The Wuhan Hubei National Security Office in China, home of the provincial Ministry of State Security Bureau (above). The expansion of MSS provincial departments occurred in four waves. In the first wave, during MSS’ inaugural year, the municipal bureaus or provincial departments of state security for Beijing, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Liaoning, and Shanghai were created. A second wave appeared shortly thereafter between 1985 and 1988, creating the Chongqing, Gansu, Hainan, Henan, Shaanxi, Tianjin, and Zhejiang bureaus. The third wave from 1990 to 1995 completed the expansion of the Ministry across at the provincial levels, bringing in Anguilla, Hunan, Qinghai, and Sichuan provinces. The fourth wave the provincial-level departments expanded vertically, taking over local public security bureaus or established subordinate municipal or County bureaus. Presently, the MSS has thirty-one major provincial and municipal sub-elements.
As relayed previously, MSS was initially staffed with personnel drawn largely from the MPS. Many local MPS officers transitioned overnight from being police to MSS officers. The MSS foreign intelligence capability was built up when intelligence cadres from the Communist Party of China were brought into its ranks. The new MSS was also funded in part by the MPS. The fact that MSS, in a similar way to MPS, established provincial offices, which operated under cover names, such as “Unit 8475,” has been completely uncloaked and was made fairly well-known courtesy of the Historical Dictionary of Chinese Intelligence. To help MSS take on its mission, MPS passed some networks to the new organization. Yet, with some uncertainty that existed as to the political nature of MSS, MPS was reportedly reluctant to make such transfers. Weariness and disappointment was also apparently felt among some of the old MPS professionals who opted to move to the MSS. While there were far greater opportunities for foreign travel, the financial side-benefits of working closely with industry were no longer available to them.
Employment on the MSS staff continues to hold considerable social status and is generally thought of as a desirable career. MSS intelligence officers are usually recruited before or during their university education, and a large proportion are graduates of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), the Beijing Institute of International Relations, the Jiangnan Social University, or the Zhejiang Police College. Those requiring technical skills usually attend the Beijing Electronic Specialist School. These establishments provide training for MSS recruits, who usually come from families with MSS links or otherwise are influential and beneficiaries of guanxi. Nevertheless, however well connected the candidates are, they will have to be dedicated and disciplined although not yet necessarily Party members. Guanxi is often exercised to facilitate entry into the MSS.
Promotions aee endorsed at both the bureau and headquarters levels. Senior branch positions require the approval of the local administration, although, in practice, the will of headquarters usually goes unchallenged. The quality of performance during the information war over the coronavirus pandemic will also likely play a considerable part in future promotion. Interestingly, although thoroughly part of the MSS, branch personnel are regarded as employees of the local government. More than half the MSS staff recruitment takes place in the region’s where the officers will be posted for the breath of their careers and where they have family links. Those family links are quite important. This structure enables the MSS to fulfill the increasingly large responsibility of ensuring social stability, considered a significant operational priority. There is no equivalent to this system in the West. Training takes place in the branches. There are no centralized, formal training academies, and new personnel are expected to learn their profession on the job by reading old and current operational files, by working with mentors, and attending occasional lecturers and conferences. Expectedly in the Communist country, during training, a heavy emphasis is placed on political indoctrination, and although probably less than 15 percent of MSS staff are women, they tend to be almost entirely Communist Party of China members. Internal transfers, and secondments are routine and occur mainly from the law and political departments of local government. There a tacit understanding that one could find a home in the MSS with all of the care and comfort imaginable during and after active service.
Mao (left) and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin (right). Immediately following Mao Zedong’s Communist forces defeat of General Chang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang Nationalist forces, China and the Soviet Union stood as the two prominent Communist countries. Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin saw the victory in terms of Soviet interests, however Mao, saw the Communist Revolution in China as an achievement of the Chinese people. Despite reservations, Mao welcomed assistance from Moscow in the form of physical aid but experts and advisers. Soviet intelligence officers assisted the burgeoning Chinese intelligence service with the intention of creating a capable, parallel organization in a “brother” Socialist country, with hope of exploiting it to the greatest degree possible. However, cooperation that was established between Chinese and Soviet intelligence services ended with the split between Chinese and Soviet leaders.
Residual Impact of Soviet Intelligence Upon Chinese Intelligence?
Naturally, the once significant impact and influence of the Soviet intelligence service on Chinese intelligence has faded more and more with the coming of each new generation into the system. Yet, fragments from that past past still remain. Immediately following Mao Zedong’s Communist forces defeat of General Chang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang Nationalist forces, China and the Soviet Union stood as the two prominent Communist countries. Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin saw the victory in terms of Soviet interests, however Mao, saw the Communist Revolution in China as an achievement of the Chinese people, and to that extent was only interested in formulating the best path to Socialism for China. Mao had held reservations about overlaying China with the Soviet model, but nonetheless welcomed assistance from Moscow in the form of physical aid but experts and advisers. Nevertheless, an agreement was established between Mao and Stalin to have a Soviet advisory mission providing physical aid and significant guidance and advice on nearly all aspects of government. Concerning intelligence, Chinese and Soviet services liaised significantly and comfortably. Soviet advisers used their own service as a model to structure the organization, staffing, training, intelligence operations, and resources of Chinese intelligence services. In the end, Chinese intelligence services mirrored those of the Soviets. It became an effective tool for China’s security. What happened with the Chinese also happened with intelligence services of Eastern Bloc and other Communist governments’ intelligence services in the late 1950s. However, also much as in the Eastern Bloc, Soviet intelligence officers assisted the burgeoning Chinese intelligence service with the intention of creating a capable, parallel organization in a “brother” Socialist country that Soviet intelligence could exploit to the greatest degree possible.
Consequently, for decades after World War II, the Chinese intelligence service, even without Soviet direction, evinced some organizational and operational aspects similar to those of the Soviet intelligence services of the past. To that extent, the KGB has remained a fully useful yardstick from which one could measure, understand, and conceptualize the structure and functions of the Chinese intelligence services as they evolved. Interestingly, the period in which Chinese intelligence services received advice and closely liaised the Soviet counterparts was also a period of evolution of Soviet intelligence. As soon as one intelligence organization was opened for business in the Soviet Union, it was replaced by another with added responsibilities. Those organizations included: Narodnyi Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del (People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs) or NKVD; 1938-1946, Narodnyi Komissariat Gosudarstvennoe Bezopasnosti (People’s Commissariat for State Security) and Narodnyi Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del (People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs) or NKGB-NKVD, placing police and security functions under one chief; and, 1946-1953, Ministerstvo Vnuirennikh Del (Ministry for Internal Affairs) and Ministerstvh Gosudarstvennoe Bezopasnosti (Ministry for State Security) or MVD-MGB. Eventually, in 1954, all of the non-military security functions were organized in what was dubbed the Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (the Committee for State Security) or the KGB. It was under odd circumstances that Soviet intelligence services would identify themselves as models for those of other countries to follow. Interestingly enough, there was a lesson for the Chinese to take away from that period of the growing pains felt by Soviet intelligence services. In effect, the evolution of the Chinese intelligence services was inevitable if it was to meet the evolving needs of the leadership in a changing world. Without wanting to declare or insinuate some causality, or proffering that there was some curious act of imitation, it must be noted that Chinese intelligence services, following the years of close contacts with the Soviet counterparts, went through a similar period of near continuous organizational and name change.
Cooperation that was established between Chinese intelligence services and Soviet intelligence services could not survive the split between Chinese and Soviet leaders. The cause was gaping differences in outlook. Mao’s perception of the right relationship between the Soviet and Chinese Revolutions was influenced by his profound identification with the Chinese national tradition, which led him to reject conceptions and political lines not sufficiently suited to the mentality of the Chinese people and to their originality and creativity. Such were the sensibilities behind the “Great Leap Forward.” Not even quiet liaison through a virtual cross border masonry between field officers of the two intelligence services would have been allowed.
Unlike its sister civilian intelligence service, the MPS, the MSS generally appears to have adhered to the non-politicization of the service. MSS senior executives have evinced an acumen for being clever with politics. Occasionally, they have not been pristine in avoiding any mix up between their true task and purpose and extraneous political matters. Indeed, MSS elements, particularly at local levels, often have provided protection services for the business dealings of Communist Party of China officials or their well-connected friends. The purges of Beijing Party secretary Chen Xitong in 1995 and Shanghai Party secretary Chen Liangyu in 2006 were understood to have involved the ministry. Following the fall of Bo Xilai and Zhou Yongkang, the Beijing State Security Bureau chief Fang Ke and Vice Minister Qiu Jin were ousted in rather widespread purges as a consequence of their use of MSS resources to support certain leaders in their political tussles.
How MSS Is Organized
In terms of operations and functional (administrative) duties, a common understanding has been that MSS is divided into bureaus, each assigned to a division with a broad directive and each bureau is given a specific task. On a Weibo account, reportedly associated with the MSS, a suitable outline of the first 11 bureaus was posted in November 2016. A description of that organizational structure of the MSS is easy enough to find online. The bureaus on that list, along with an additional six bureaus, was discovered on the common yet only moderately reliable source, the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia: Confidential Communication Division: Responsible for the management and administration of confidential communications; International Intelligence Division: Responsible for strategic international intelligence collection; Political and Economic Intelligence Division: Responsible for gathering political, economic, and scientific intelligence from various countries; Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau Division: Responsible for intelligence work in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau; Intelligence Analysis Division: Responsible for analysing and reporting on intelligence and collecting guidance on how to handle intelligence matters; Operational Guidance Division: Responsible for directing and supervising the activities of provincial level MSS offices; Counterintelligence Division: Responsible for gathering counterintelligence information; Counterintelligence Division: Responsible for monitoring, investigating, and potentially detaining foreigners suspected of counterintelligence activities. This Bureau is reported to primarily cover and investigate diplomats, businessmen, and reporters; Internal Security and Anti-Reconnaissance Division: Responsible for protecting the MSS from infiltration by foreign entities by monitoring domestic reactionary organizations and foreign institutions; External Security and Anti-Reconnaissance Division: Responsible for monitoring students and institutions abroad in order to investigate international anti-communist activities; Information and Auditing Division: Responsible for the collection and management of intelligence materials; Social Research Division: Responsible for conducting public opinion polling and surveying the population; Science and Technology Investigative Division: Responsible for managing science and technology projects and conducting research and development; Science and Technology Investigative Division: Responsible for inspecting mail and telecommunications; Comprehensive Intelligence Analysis Division: Responsible for the analysis and interpretation of intelligence materials; Imaging Intelligence Division: Responsible for collecting and interpreting images of political, economic, and military targets in various countries through both traditional practices and through incorporation of satellite imagery technologies; and, Enterprises Division: Responsible for the operation and management of MSS owned front companies, enterprises, and other institutions. (Additionally, In 2009, the MSS was reported by a former official to have a Counterterrorism Bureau.)
Since leaving the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) where he was a highly-regarding analyst on China, Peter Mattis has published a number of superlative essays on Chinese intelligence and counterintelligence. Among a number of issues, Mattis expressed a view compatible with greatcharlie’s here in a 2012 article, “The Analytic Challenge of Understanding Chinese Intelligence Services” Studies in Intelligence Vol. 56, No. 3 (September 2012) 47, that “Protecting the integrity of US intelligence and policy processes is an important task for the US Intelligence Community, but clear understanding of Chinese intelligence serves more than the CI [counterintelligence] mission. At the core, analysis of Beijing’s intelligence institutions is about trying to understand systematically how the Chinese government uses information to inform its policy formulation, guidance to diplomats and security officials, and the execution of its policies.” Along with a former military intelligence officer and diplomat, Matthew Brazil, Mattis published Chinese Communist Espionage: An Intelligence Primer (United States Naval Institute Press, 2019), a book which is nothing less than brilliant. In covering the web of Chinese intelligence services that engage in intelligence operations, Mattis and Brazil present a great deal about the super secret MSS which one can be sure is cutting edge stuff. For many analysts in defense, foreign affairs, and intelligence worldwide, it presents nothing less than a treasure trove and should find a permanent place in syllabi in college and university courses worldwide for years to come. (Regular reference is made to Mattis’ writings in this essay.)
Mattis and Brazil share the view that MSS headquarters is organized into numbered bureaus. They further explain that it is spread across at least four compounds in Beijing. However, in their assessment, they believe MSS is organized a bit differently than in the outline of its departments aforementioned. They state that at the present, the MSS is believed to possess at least eighteen bureaus. Unlike the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) where military unit cover designators offer a way to track units, MSS elements, they explain, are not so readily identified. In Mattis’ and Brazil’s own words, “The following designations are ones in which we possess a modicum of confidence”: First Bureau: “secret line” operations by MSS officers not under covers associated with Chinese government organizations; Second Bureau: “open line” operations by MSS officers using diplomatic, journalistic, or other government-related covers; Third Bureau: unknown; Fourth Bureau: Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau Bureau; Fifth Bureau: Report Analysis and Dissemination Bureau; Sixth Bureau: unknown; Seventh Bureau: Counterespionage Intelligence Bureau, gathers information and develops intelligence on hostile intelligence services inside and outside of China; Eighth Bureau: Counterespionage Investigation, runs investigations to detect and apprehend foreign spies in China; Ninth Bureau: Internal Protection and Reconnaissance bureau, supervises and monitors foreign entities and reactionary organizations in China to prevent espionage; Tenth Bureau: Foreign Security and Reconnaissance Bureau, manages Chinese student organizations and other entities overseas and investigates activities of reactionary organizations abroad; Eleventh Bureau: China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, performs open source research, translation, and analysis. It’s analysts also meet regularly with foreign delegations and spend time abroad as visiting fellows; Twelfth Bureau: Social Affairs or Social Investigation Bureau, handles MSS contributions to the United front work system; Thirteenth Bureau: Network Security and Exploitation (also known as the China Information Technology Evaluations Center (Zhongguo Xinxi Anquan Ceping Zhongxin) may manage the research and development of other investigative equipment; Fourteenth Bureau: Technical Reconnaissance Bureau conducts mail inspection and telecommunications inspection and control; Fifteenth Bureau: Taiwan operations linked to the broader Taiwan Affairs work system. It’s public face in the Institute of Taiwan Studies at the China Academy of Social Sciences; Sixteenth Bureau: unknown; Seventeenth Bureau: unknown; and, Eighteenth Bureau: US Operations Bureau for conducting and managing clandestine intelligence operations against the US.
Chairman Deng Xiaoping (above). Under the Second Chairman of the Communist Party of China, Deng Xiaoping, China began authentic economic reform partially opening China to the global market. China’s economy grew rapidly soon afterwards. In a five-year economic plan 2006-2010, the Communist Party of China outlined that China must maintain fast and stable economic growth and support the building of a harmonious society. However, countries such as India and Vietnam had begun competing with China to offer cheap manufacturing bases for Western companies. Chinese industry needed to retain a competitive edge. Espionage has offered a relatively cheap, quick, and easy method to obtain information that could help Chinese companies remain competitive. Many of China’s largest companies are state owned, or have close linkages to the government. They receive intelligence collected by Chinese intelligence services. They undertake commercial espionage for their own benefit as well.
Intelligence Targets of Today’s MSS
Having created the space and acquiring the flexibility over the past few decades to allow the service to evolve into the elite, very capable intelligence service the Communist Party of China originally wanted it to be, it would seem MSS senior executives and managers have now figuratively declared “game on!” to China’s competitors and adversaries. The mission, as originally intended, has not changed much since 1983. Overall, it is now defined as collecting solid intelligence from the inner workings and the very top of foreign military, diplomatic, political, economic, financial, scientific, educational, media, communications, and social institutions. That is primarily what Beijing wants and that is what MSS is chasing after. Its tactics, techniques, procedures and methods are surely more refined. By conventional wisdom, one would proffer that as a priority, Chinese intelligence services target a broad range of US national security actors, including military forces, defense industrial companies, national security decision makers, and critical infrastructure entities. Infiltration of these operations by an adversary as China would certainly have far-reaching implications for US national security. Although the PLA would most interested in US military equities in its region and elsewhere in and around Asia, the MSS would expectedly support that work by collecting what it could on the instruments that the US uses to make conventional war and nuclear war. The intelligence threat China has posed to US national security further extends overseas, as China’s foreign intelligence service seeks to infiltrate the systems of US allies and partners. This particular aspect is seen as potentially having grave implications for US alliance stability and the security of US national defense information. Lately, the chief feature of the intelligence war between the US and China has been the economic front. Indeed, economic espionage, one might venture to say, holds perhaps a prominent place among the bread and butter activities of the MSS and is best known to industries around the world most of which could easily become one of its victims.
Deng Xiaoping and the Emphasis on Economic Espionage
Under the Second Chairman of the Communist Party of China, Deng Xiaoping, China began authentic economic reform partially opening China to the global market. China’s economy grew rapidly soon afterwards. In a five-year economic plan 2006-2010, the Communist Party of China outlined that China must maintain fast and stable economic growth and support the building of a harmonious society. The Communist Party of China’s aim was to raise the country’s gross domestic product by 7.5% annually for the next five years. In order to achieve such rapid economic growth, However, countries such as India and Vietnam had begun competing with China to offer cheap manufacturing bases for Western companies. Further, the increased demand for raw materials such as oil and iron ore, and new environmental and labor laws led to cost increases, making manufacturing in China more expensive which caused some factories to close. China sought to diversify its economy, for example, through the manufacture of better made high end products. However, that diversification of the economy required the Chinese to increase their knowledge of design and manufacturing processes. Espionage has offered a relatively cheap, quick, and easy method to obtain information that could help Chinese companies remain competitive. Many of China’s largest companies are state owned, or have close linkages to the government, and receive intelligence collected by Chinese intelligence services. Those firms have also proved to be capable of engaging in commercial espionage themselves.
During the administration of US President Barack Obama, economic espionage by Chinese intelligence gained real traction. Startled US government officials began to sound the alarm particularly over the destructive impact of Chinese commercial espionage upon US national security. Intrusions by Chinese actors into US companies and other commercial institutions harm both the individual companies and the overall US economy, to the benefit of China. Indeed, in July 2015, Bill Evanina, who was the National Counterintelligence Executive in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and remains in that position as of this writing, stated point blank, “Economic security is national security.” Nevertheless, the vociferous statements of those tasked with China’s operations had no real effect on the Obama administration’s course and Chinese intelligence activities steadily intensified. The leadership of the Communist Party of China has not concealed the fact that they recognize the link between economic and national security, and its commercial and national security espionage efforts function in tandem to exploit it.
US Attorney General William Barr (above). The present US Attorney General William Barr is both troubled and angered by China’s espionage efforts against the US and he intended to defeat those efforts. Barr insists China is working to supplant the US as the leader in technology in all areas, by literally stealing away the future of the US. He explains that to accomplish that, China has continuously sought, through a variety of clandestine ways, to grab whatever about US technologies, developmental practices, and manufacturing practices. Barr wants the US business community to accept these realities and become part of the answer. In making deals with China, US businesses are often selling out their own long-term viability of us companies sold out for short term gain. As dangerous, China has been able to cultivate relationships with their employees and recruit them for spying.
US Attorney General William Barr, in a June 21, 2020 interview on FOX NEWS “Sunday Morning Futures,” proffered that the US for decades has been a leader in technology. China would like to overcome US dominance in the field. To that end, China has been stealing all us technologies developmental practices, manufacturing practices. Barr stated: “The way I look at is, this is a fundamental challenge to the United States. Since the late 19th century, our opportunity and our growth, our prosperity as a country has come from our technological leadership. We have been the technological leader of the world. In the last decade or so, China has been putting on a great push to supplant us, explicitly. They want to be the leader in all the future technologies that are going to dominate the economy. And so what’s at stake is the economic opportunity of our children and our grandchildren, whether we can continue to be the technological leader of the world. The Chinese have embarked on a very aggressive program during this time of stealing and cheating in order to overtake us. They have stolen our intellectual property. When they steal our secrets about future technology, they’re stealing the future of the American people.”
Barr left no doubt that China was quite some distance from competing fairly. He insisted that it was the intention of the Trump administration to put a halt to China’s very open efforts at robbery. Barr explained: “The Chinese efforts run the gamut from more traditional espionage of recruiting people to work for them, explicitly, to cultivating relationships that they are then able to use. And the people frequently are not completely attuned to the fact that they are being used as essentially stooges for the Chinese. So, it runs the gamut of things. And, sometimes, some of these programs, high-sounding programs, are used to the advantage of the Chinese.” Barr expressed concern over how educational programs have been used by Chinese intelligence services to penetrate US academic institutions and take away the knowledge, training, and research offered for use in China’s efforts to overwhelm the competitive edge the US possesses. Barr explained: “We are clearly cracking down on researchers and others that are sent over here to get involved in our key technological programs. And, by the way, this is not just weapons systems. This is agriculture. This is medicine. This is robotics. This is artificial intelligence and so forth. It’s the whole gamut of important technologies going forward.”
Dimensions of MSS Intelligence Collection
In its intelligence campaign against the US, EU Member States, and other advanced industrialized countries, the MSS has taken a multidimensional approach. Three more apparent dimensions include: illicit technology procurement, technical collection (cyber attacks), and human intelligence collection. Assuredly, the illicit procurement of specific technology by MSS is executed through the use of Chinese front companies. It is a relatively soft approach to intelligence collection, but it has had a devastating impact. According to Mattis in his 2012 article, “The Analytic Challenge of Understanding Chinese Intelligence Services” cited earlier here, FBI analysts reported that over 3,200 such companies had been quietly set up as fronts for intelligence collection purposes. Other relative short-cuts in espionage included tasking scholars, and scientists to purchase information before they travelled to countries that possessed targeted technologies. MSS has also encouraged Chinese firms to buy up entire companies that already possessed the desired technology.
With regard to the cyber attack, it is perhaps the most prolific type of attack against industry in the US, EU, and within other advanced industrialized countries. This dimension of Chinese intelligence collection is perhaps the most aggressive, and hackers locate doors that they can rapidly pass through and grab whatever might be within reach. It is by no means a supplemental or mere attendant method of espionage relative to running human agents. It is a full-fledged dimension of China’s intelligence campaign strategy. If human intelligence were the only focus, constraints on manpower resources would always be a big problem to overcome. Cyber collection complements all other forms of penetration and collection very well.
By far, the most complex and risky dimension of MSS intelligence collection are its human intelligence operations. Least challenging are MSS operations in China. No resource constraints hinder the MSS in terms of both manpower to use against foreigners there. The efforts of foreign counterintelligence services typically face great limitations in terms of ways and resources to stem Chinese efforts against their foreign intelligence colleagues on the ground. The close proximity of other countries in the Far East would appear to make operating in these countries easier, too! Difficulties begin when tries to take a bite out of more advanced industrialized countries in the region. Japan, for example, has historically been a difficult country for Chinese intelligence services to operate within. Against Japanese targets, attempts to cultivate operatives and informants still occur, but a greater reliance is surely placed on technical collection by MSS. Outside of its region, in target rich US, EU Member States, and other advanced industrialized countries, even the Russian Federation, Chinese intelligence services as a whole initially some difficulty figuring out how to go about approaching a target using officers. They would also naturally be concerned over facing considerably stiffer resistance from more adept counterintelligence services such as those of Japan. Interestingly, as time went on, they managed to find a number of sweet spots from which, and methods with which, they could conduct human intelligence collection operations with some degree of success. Lately, it seems to have been easy enough for Chinese intelligence services to establish networks of operatives and informants, and reportedly even sleeper agents, in the US, placing them in locations from which they could do considerable harm.
Collection through Front Companies and Operatives
As mentioned, a very quiet approach to intelligence collection is ubiquitous and pernicious form of inteloigence collection operations in the US. Most US citizen can look direct at the activities of what appear to be benign companies and not observe or discern that it is firm of foreign attack against their country. With little threat of being discovered, Chinese front companies set up where they can best acquire companies, technologies, brain power in the form of students, and even intelligence operatives and informants. Some US firms that have unwittingly linked themselves to seemingly innocuous, but actually nefarious institutions in China, business, academic, scholarly, or otherwise, that are tied to the government, particularly the Chinese intelligence services, may often have Chinese intelligence operatives working out of them, thus providing a convenient cover for their activities. In July 2019, a federal grand jury in Chicago indicted Weiyun “Kelly” Huang, a Chinese citizen, on fraud charges, charging her with providing fake employment verifications. A grand jury indicted her two companies, Findream and Sinocontech, on charges of conspiracy to commit visa fraud. The two companies incorporated by Huang did not exist, except on paper. Federal authorities allege the Findream and Sinocontech were front companies used to provide false employment verification for Chinese students, convincing immigration officials that they were here legally. Huang made use of a website based in China, chineselookingforjob.com, and the China-based “WeChat” platform, as well as Job Hunters of North America, to recruit for her companies. Court records explain that over 2,600 Chinese students declared themselves as employees for either Findream or Sinocontech from September 2013 to April 2019. In a bungling oversight Huang claimed to have employed so many young people that according to a 2017 US Immigration and Customs Enforcement list, Findream and Sincocontech ranked among the top US-based companies that hired students under the federal Optional Practical Training program. Findream ranked number 10, just behind Facebook. Sinocontech ranked number 25, just behind Bank of America. Surely, that served to call some attention from US counterintelligence services to its activities. Tragically, on LinkedIn, it is indicated that great numbers of graduates from schools from around the country wrote in their online biographies that they were employed by either Findream or Sinocontech as data analysts, web developers, consultants and software engineers. Huang compiled approximately $2 million from the alleged fraud scheme. Prosecutors state that the citizen of the Communist China indulged herself lavishly in Neiman Marcus, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Chanel, Hermes, and other luxury retail stores.
In a September 2018 criminal complaint from the US Department of Justice, Ji Chaoqun, a Chinese citizen, was charged with one count of knowingly acting as an agent of a foreign power, China. While Ji was still in school in China, an intelligence officer from the Jiangsu State Security Department, a provincial bureau of the MSS, approached him at a recruitment fair. They recruited Ji and tasked him with gathering biographical information on eight naturalized, ethinc-Chinese, US citizens after he arrived in Chicago to begin his studies. Reportedly, Chinese intelligence wanted to recruit those individuals, most of whom “worked in or were recently retired from a career in the science and technology industry, including several individuals specializing in aerospace fields.” Ji performed the task of collecting the information. After graduating with a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 2015, he remained in the US through a temporary work program known as Optional Practical Training. That program allows international students to stay for up to two extra years if they have earned degrees related to science, technology engineering and mathematics. After Ji graduated with a master’s degree in electrical engineering in 2015, he remained in the US through a temporary work program known as Optional Practical Training. The program allows international students to stay for up to two extra years if they have earned degrees related to science, technology engineering and mathematics. Ji stated that he was employeed as a software engineer for a company called Findream LLC. According to court records, Ji’s responsibilities included writing “well designed, testable, efficient code by using best software development practices.” Although Findream was advertised as a startup technology company based in Mountain View, California, the company did not exist, except on paper. In April and May of 2018, the FBI made clandestine contact with Ji via an undercover agent. During the May meeting, Ji revealed that he was first approached by the MSS. In October 2017, email and MSS messages exchanged between the MSS officer and Ji were uncovered by the FBI.
Technical Intelligence Collection and Cyber Attacks
MSS technical collection can include the use of high-tech tools covering phone calls and all forms of messaging to relatively low level actions against electronic equipment such as mobile phones and computer networks. While technical intelligence collection, cyber attacks by Chinese intelligence services upon targets in the US, have been deplorable, the skill displayed and their list of accomplishments has been impressive. What have essentially been standard targets of cyber attacks from Chinese intelligence services in recent years have been those levelled against US national security decision makers and government organizations, particularly during the Obama administration. The objective of that targeting has been to access any classified information they might possess. Through that information, MSS would surely hope to develop insight into highly sensitive US national security decision making processes. Several instances of such cyber attacks have been made public, among them: in 2010, China reportedly attempted to infiltrate the email accounts of top US national security officials, including then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen and then Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead; in July 2015, the US Office of Personnel Management announced that hackers had extracted personnel records of roughly 22 million US citizens. The hackers were reportedly affiliated with the MSS. Some of the stolen files contained detailed personal information of federal workers and contractors who have applied for security clearances. Among the information extracted were the fingerprints of 5.6 million people, some of which could be used to identify undercover US government agents or to create duplicates of biometric data to obtain access to classified areas; and, in May 2016, the then Director of National Intelligence James Clapper stated there was indicia supporting a concern that foreign actors had targeted the 2016 US Presidential Campaigns with cyber operations. Those foreign actors plausibly included Chinese intelligence services, as well as actors in the Russian Federation and other countries. During the 2008 US Presidential Election, evidence existed that indicated China infiltrated information systems of the campaigns of then Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain. The experience gained and the lessons learned by MSS in those cyber operations primarily against national security and political targets during the Obama administration allowed for a rapid development of the organization’s cyber warfare capabilities and capacity. Rather than figuratively apply the law of lex talionis and a bit more to knock MSS back on its heels, defensive actions and push back by the Obama administration was so slow and so frightfully slight that the MSS was allowed the space and the time to even ratchet up its cyber game. An indictment unsealed in October 2018 revealed that US was made aware of at least a portion of MSS directed cyber operations aimed at swallowing up technologies researched and developed by firms in the US and other advanced industrialized countries.
In October 2018, the US Department of Justice unsealed charges leveled on 10 Chinese nationals, alleging a persistent campaign by Chinese intelligence officers and their recruits to steal aerospace technology from companies in the US and France. In a thoroughly complex operation, from January 2010 to May 2015 a provincial bureau of the MSS, the Jiangsu Province Ministry of State Security (‘JSSD”), headquartered in Nanjing, China, conspired to steal sensitive commercial technological, aviation, and aerospace data by hacking into computers in the US and other advanced industrialized countries. According the indictment, MSS officers managing the operation included Zha Rong, a Division Director in the JSSD, Chai Meng, a JSSD Section Chief, and other MSS officers who were not named. Both Zha and Chai supervised and directed human intelligence and activities by one or more members of the conspiracy aimed at hacking into the computers of targeted firms that were used in and affecting interstate and foreign commerce and communications, and steal information, to includie intellectual property and confidential business data, and to use these companies’ computers to facilitate further computer intrusions into other companies.
As for their computer savvy MSS operatives, Zhang Zhang-Gui, a computer hacker who operated at the direction of the JSSD, tested spear phishing messages and established and maintained infrastructure used in multiple intrusions. Zhang also coordinated hacking activities and shared infrastructure with Liu Chunliang, a fellow computer hacker who operated at the direction of the JSSD, and coordinated the activities of other computer hackers and malware developers, including Gao Hong Kun, Ma Zhiqi, and an identified unindicted co-conspirator (‘UCC-1″). Among his activities, Liu established, maintained and paid for infrastructure used in multiple intrusions, deployed malware, and engaged in domain hijacking in connection with the intrusion of a San Diego-based technology company. The hacker Gao Hong, who operated at the direction of Liu and was an associate of Zhang, engaged in the computer intrusions into Capstone Turblne, a Los Angeles-based gas turbine manufacturer and an Arizona-based aerospace company. Ma Zhiqi, also mentioned, a computer hacker who operated at the direction of LIU, was a personal acquaintance of Liu and UCC-1 as well. Zhuang Xtaowei, a computer hacker and malware developer, who also operated at the direction of Liu, managed malware on an Oregon-based aerospace supplier’s systems and stole the firm’s data from no earlier than September 26, 2014, through May 1, 2015. On February 19, 2013, one or more members of the conspiracy hacked into a second French aerospace company’s server affiliated with Liu, using credentials Liu had provided to Ma on December 14, 20L2. Gu Gen, the Information Technology Infrastructure and Security Manager at the French aerospace manufacturer with an office in Suzhou initially mentioned, provided information to JSSD concerning the firm’s internal investigation into the computer intrusions carried out by members of the conspiracy while under the direction of an identified JSSD intelligence officer. Tjan Xi, an employee of the same French firm who also worked in its Suzhou office as a product manager, unlawfully installed Sakula malware on a computer of the firm at the behest of the same unidentified JSSD Intelligence Officer.
In July 2020, the US Justice Department indicted two Chinese nationals, Li Xiaoyu and Dong Jiazhi (above), for participating in a decade-long cyber espionage campaign that targeted US defense contractors, COVID researchers and hundreds of other victims worldwide. Experience gained and the lessons learned by the MSS in those cyber operations primarily against national security and political targets during the Obama administration allowed for a rapid development of the organization’s cyber warfare capabilities and capacity. Rather than figuratively apply the law of lex talionis and a bit more to knock MSS back on its heels, defensive actions and push back by the Obama administration was so slow and so frightfully slight that the MSS was allowed the space and the time to even ratchet up its cyber game.
In July 2020, the US Justice Department indicted two Chinese nationals, Li Xiaoyu and Dong Jiazhi, for participating in a decade-long cyber espionage campaign that targeted US defense contractors, COVID researchers and hundreds of other victims worldwide, stealing terabytes of weapons designs, pharmaceutical research, software source code, and personal data from targets that included dissidents and Chinese opposition figures. The 27-page indictment alleges that both Li and Dong were contractors for the Guangdong State Security Department of the MSS. Prosecutors also allege that the MSS, prosecutors said, supplied the hackers with information into critical software vulnerabilities to penetrate targets and collect intelligence. The indictment mostly did not name any companies or individual targets, but The indictment indicated that as early as January 2020, the hackers sought to steal highly-valued COVID-19 vaccine research from a Massachusetts biotech firm. Officials said the probe was triggered when the hackers broke into a network belonging to the Hanford Site, a decommissioned US nuclear complex in eastern Washington state, in 2015. US Attorney William Hyslop in public statement on July 21, 2020 emphasized that there were “hundreds and hundreds of victims in the United States and worldwide.” Indeed, their victims were also located in Australia, Belgium, Germany, Japan, Lithuania, Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The MSS has been known to utilize contractors for its cyber espionage operations. Clearly, MSS is not adverse to putting its faith in the young hackers to compromise security and deeply penetrate US systems to steal untold amounts of information. Integrating contractors in its cyber espionage operations allows the MSS access a much desired wider pool of talent. Under China’s National Security Security Law, they obligated to serve the needs of the government of course with some remuneration, a point which will explained later in this essay. To some degree, it provides some plausible deniability of the hackers work against some countries, but as demonstrated by this case it provides MSS a limited shield from US capabilities. Li and Dong both studied computer application technologies at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, in Chengdu. As a modus operandi, Dong would research victims and find potential methods of remotely breaking into computer systems. Li would then compromise the networks and steal the information. The truth is rarely pure and never simple in the intelligence arena, so it remains uclear whether US counterintelligence, following the indentification of these hackers and their activities, has managed to neutralize them and set up satisfactory defenses to prevent further Interference by MSS hackers. Oddly enough, there was some benefit gained by Beijing, perchance unknowningly by the Communist Party of China. To the extent that the hackers are young and ingenious, they are somewhat relatable to contemporaries and even younger people fascinated by Internet technology inside and outside of China. Presumably, Li and Dong still reside safely in China.
MSS Human Intelligence Collection
As human intelligence collection in the field is perhaps the most complex dimension of MSS operations, it is presented here in greater detail than those aforementioned. It has been generally understood in the West for some time that the standard approach to human intelligence collection by MSS has been to co-opt low-profile Chinese nationals or Chinese-American civilians to engage in the acquisition of mid-level technology and data. Travellers businessmen, students, and visiting researchers are often approached to undertake intelligence tasks, and the MSS maintains control of them through inducements and personnel connections (guanxi) and the potential threat of alienation from the homeland. Members of the Chinese diaspora residing in Western countries, especially new émigrés, who possessed the requisite expertise and appropriate positions in a public or private organization and family members remaining in China, would be compelled to perform tasks and to steal information of interest that they came across for the intelligence services. This method of intelligence collection also followed the concept of keeping things simple. It is still being put to use.
In August 2020, Alexander Yuk Ching Ma (above), a 15-year veteran of the CIA and a former Chinese linguist in the FBI’s Honolulu Field Office, was charged with violating US espionage laws. It has been generally understood in the West for some time that the standard approach to human intelligence collection by MSS has been to co-opt low-profile Chinese nationals or Chinese-American civilians to engage in the acquisition of technology and data. This method of intelligence collection also followed the concept of keeping things simple. It is still being put to use.
In August 2020, Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, a 15-year veteran of the CIA and a former Chinese linguist in the FBI’s Honolulu Field Office, was charged with violating US espionage laws. According to court documents, twelve years after he retired from the CIA in 1989, Ma met with at least five MSS officers in a Hong Kong hotel room, where he “disclosed a substantial amount of highly classified national defense information,” including facts about the CIA’s internal organization, methods for communicating covertly, and the identities of CIA officers and human assets. After providing that information to MSS officers in March 2001, Ma and a relative that assisted him, also worked for the CIA, were paid $50,000. Prosecutors were not full aware of how much Ma was paid the MSS following the initial payment. They are aware, however, that Ma returned from one trip to China with $20,000 and a new set of golf clubs. In an effort to gain access additional sensitive information, Ma secured a position in 2004 as a contract Chinese linguist for the FBI. He used his new position and security clearance to copy or photograph classified documents related to guided missile and weapons systems and other US secrets and passed the information to his Chinese intelligence handlers. In 2006, Ma arranged for his wife to travel to Shanghai to meet with his MSS contacts and pass a laptop to them. (Interestingly, Mao’s wife was not named in the criminal complaint.) The FBI eventually saw Ma straight and according to court documents, special agents intercepted Ma using an undercover FBI employee posing an MSS officer conducting an audit of his case. The undercover operative also claimed to be tasked with looking “into how Ma had been treated, including the amount he had been compensated.” In a clandestine video recording a of a meeting with the FBI undercover operative, Ma is seen counting $2,000 in cash the operative gave his supposedly to acknowledge his work on behalf of China. Ma, who was born in Hong Kong, is recorded saying that he “wanted ‘the motherland’ to succeed” and admitted that he provided classified information to the MSS and that he continued to work with some of the same intelligence officers who were at the 2001 meeting. Prosecutors stated that the relative of Ma, who assisted him, is now 85-years-old and suffers from “an advanced an debilitating cognitive disease.” Given that mitigating circumstance, he was not charged.
In February 2019, Zhao Qianli, a 20-year-old Chinese national, pleaded guilty in court for taking photos of the US Naval Air Station Key West in Florida. He received a sentence of one year in prison. Zhao came to the US as an exchange student, however, the record of his activities indicates that the young operative was not in the US to just brush up his English. When Zhao was actually arrested in September 2018, investigators discovered photos and videos of government buildings and an antenna field on his digital camera and smartphone. Eyewitnesses saw Zhao ignore a sign clearly indicating the area was restricted and walk directly toward the antenna field and take photos. Although Zhao had actually studied in a summer exchange program that ended in September 2018, his is visa had already expired when he was arrested. In his defense, Zhao alleged that he was just a tourist who got lost. By successfully denying that he was engaging in espionage, Zhao avoided being expelled from the US, persona non grata, but that did not prevent his prosecution for taking photos in a prohibited place. Court documents indicate none of the photos and videos found on his cell phone and digital cameras were of any tourist attraction sites in Key West. Reportedly, Zhao was in touch with Chinese intelligence officers inside the US before he took photographs at the base. During his interrogation, Zhao told the FBI that he was the son of a high-ranking Chinese military officer and that his mother worked for the Chinese government. The fact that the young spy was tasked to take photographs at an extremely high security location with the great risk of being detained perhaps meant that there was a certain urgency to collect the information. (With so many internal political squabbles remaining largely unknown, it seems odd that the young man would be sent on a near Kamikaze mission into the figurative dragon’s lair, knowing that there was better chance than not that he would be caught, very likely causing some embarrassment for his father and mother.)
In February 2019, Zhao Qianli, a 20-year-old Chinese national, pleaded guilty in court for taking photos of the US Naval Air Station Key West in Florida. He received a sentence of one year in prison. Zhao came to the US as an exchange student. Travellers businessmen, students, and visiting researchers are often approached to undertake intelligence tasks, and the MSS maintains control of them through inducements and personnel connections (guanxi) and the potential threat of alienation from the homeland. Particularly with regard to students, Chinese intelligence agencies often use the “flying swallow” plan, whereby overseas Chinese students who serve as spies work with a single contact in China—just as swallows pick up only one piece of mud at a time to build their nests. The students do not have their personal files inside China’s intelligence system, so if they are caught, there is little information to be revealed.
As this approach has resulted in a reasonable degree of success, and MSS officers could continue to capitalize on a cultural and language affinity, a preconception had actually developed in the minds of interested parties in the US that the MSS would continue to take that course. Support could also found for that view looking at the success of MSS in Taiwan, with its ethnic Chinese population. Most recently, in May 2020, Taiwanese authorities detained Major General Hsieh Chia-kang, and a retired colonel, Hsin Peng-sheng, for allegedly passing classified defense information to China. Hsieh once served as the deputy commander of the Matsu Defense Command and had overseen the Air Defense Command when apprehended. He reportedly had access to the specifications for the US-made Patriot missiles as well as the Taiwanese Tien-kung III and Hsiung-feng 2E cruise missiles. Reported, Chinese intelligence officers recruited Hsieh’s comrade Hsin with all of stops out while he was in China, leading a Taiwanese tour group. Hsin, a former colleague, allegedly first approached Hsieh about working for Chinese intelligence. According to the prosecutors, Hsieh traveled to Malaysia and Thailand to meet his handlers. The indications and implications of Hsieh’s pattern of travel are that he may have been working for Chinese intelligence since 2009 or 2010. In addition to collecting and passing classified materials, both Hsieh and Hsin agreed to assist Chinese intelligence in spotting and recruiting other sources.
In March 2010, Wang Hung-ju, who was arrested because of his connections to an espionage case. Wang was a former official in the Special Service Command Center in the National Security Bureau, and served for a short period as the bodyguard for Taiwanese Vice President Annette Lu before retiring in 2003. The Taiwanese press repeatedly reported that Wang was uncovered as part of the investigation of a Taiwanese businessman, Ho Chih-chiang. MSS intelligence officers, plausibly from the MSS bureau in Tianjin, recruited Ho in 2007 and used him to approach Taiwanese intelligence officials. Ho’s handlers instructed and empowered him to offer money and other inducements to recruit serving officials. Supposedly, Ho was in contact with Wang, which led to his travelling to China where he was recruited by the Tianjin State Security Bureau. Wang reportedly attempted to recruit two friends into his intelligence network, including an officer in the Military Police Command. While the shift to recruiting a broad base of foreign recruits in China was an important step in the evolution of Chinese intelligence, the process still had its limitations. Nearly all foreign-born operatives were recruited within China, rather than their home countries or elsewhere.
Retired Taiwanese Major General Hsieh Chia-kang (center) MSS officers continue to capitalize on a cultural and language affinity in the recruitment of ethnic Chinese worldwide. Most recently, in May 2020, Taiwanese authorities detained Major General Hsieh Chia-kang, and a retired colonel, Hsin Peng-sheng, for allegedly passing classified defense information to China. Hsieh once served as the deputy commander of the Matsu Defense Command and had overseen the Air Defense Command when apprehended. He reportedly had access to the specifications for the US-made Patriot missiles as well as the Taiwanese Tien-kung III and Hsiung-feng 2E cruise missiles.
However, while ostensibly being a satisfactory solution, MSS found itself simply working on the margins targeting ethnic Chinese as a priority. It proved too reserved, too limiting. Not wanting to confine themselves to a small set of targets for recruitment, the logical next step was to attempt the recruitment of operatives and agents from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. According to William C. Hannas, James Mulvenon, and Anna B. Puglisi in Chinese Industrial Espionage: Technology Acquisition and Military Modernization (Routledge, 2013), cases at the time of the book’s writing suggested that was exactly what Chinese intelligence services did as a whole. Tradecraft was observably broadened to include the recruitment non-ethnic-Chinese assets as well. MSS still uses this method. One can better estimate how active and well MSS officers and operatives are performing by who has been recently caught among their recruits and what they have been discovered doing.
In April 2020, Candace Claiborne, a former US Department of State employee, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the US. The criminal complaint against her alleges that Claiborne, having served in a number of posts overseas including China and having held a top-secret security clearance, failed to report contacts with suspected intelligence officers from a bureau of the MSS. Claiborne’s MSS handler used the cover of operating an import-export company with a spa and restaurant on the side. The MSS tasked with collecting and passing information on US economy policy deliberations and internal State Department reactions to talks with China. They more specifically told Clairborne that her reporting on US economic policy was “useful but it is also on the Internet. What they are looking for is what they cannot find on the Internet.” In accord with her instructions, prosecutors claim Claiborne provided copies of State Department documents and analysis. In return, Claiborne and a co-conspirator received “tens of thousands of dollars in gifts and benefits,” including New Year’s gifts, international travel and vacations, fashion-school tuition, rent, and cash payments.
In May 2019, Kevin Mallory was charged under the Espionage Act with selling US secrets to China and convicted by a jury last spring. In May 2020, sentenced to 20 years in prison; his lawyers plan to appeal the conviction. Mallory’s troubles began in 2017 when his consulting business was failing and he was struggling financially. In early 2017, prosecutors said, he received a message on LinkedIn, where he had more than 500 connections. It had come from a Chinese recruiter with whom Mallory had five mutual connections. That recruiter, Michael Yang, according to the LinkedIn message, worked for a think tank in China, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and was interested in Mallory’s foreign-policy expertise. Mallory was deployed to China for part of his career and was fluent Mandarin. The message led to a phone call which led to Mallory boarding a plane for Shanghai to meet Yang. Mallory would later tell the FBI he suspected that Yang was not a think-tank employee, but a Chinese intelligence officer, which apparently was okay by him. Yang was an MSS intelligence officer. Mallory’s visit to China initiated an espionage relationship with the MSS by which he received $25,000 over two months in exchange for handing over government secrets. Reportedly, the FBI eventually caught him with a digital memory card containing eight secret and top-secret documents that held details of a still-classified spying operation.
Kevin Mallory (above). Mallory was charged in May 2019 under the Espionage Act with selling US secrets to China. In targeting ethnic-Chinese for recruitment, MSS found itself simply working on the margins. The method was too reserved, too limiting. Not wanting to confine themselves to a small set of targets for recruitment, the logical next step was to attempt the recruitment of operatives and agents from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. Tradecraft was observably broadened to include the recruitment non-ethnic-Chinese assets as well. In early 2017, prosecutors said, Mallory received a message on Linkedin from a Chinese recruiter, who allegedly worked for the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and was interested in Mallory’s foreign-policy expertise. He was actually an MSS intelligence officer. Other communications led to Mallory’s visit to China and the creation of an espionage relationship with MSS. When the FBI eventually caught him, he possessed a digital memory card containing eight secret and top-secret documents with details of a still-classified spying operation.
In the wild kingdom, ambush predation, a behavior displayed by MSS officers in the instances just presented, works well instinctively for many animals, but it requires possessing an innate patience. The prey must enter a well-set trap of some kind. The haul of victories will be determined by how target rich the environment in which the trap set is with the prey the predator wants. Increasing the number of those targets would mean becoming proactive, going out a hunting that desired prey down. Thus, in the third and most recent step in the evolution of Chinese intelligence, MSS officers have become willing to recruit agents while abroad. The risk was greater, but the potential fruits would be greater, too! According to Mattis, the new approach was first identified by Sweden in 2008, when its intelligence services and law enforcement determined Chinese intelligence officers operating out of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Stockholm, had recruited a Uyghur émigré to spy on fellow émigrés inside as well as outside of Europe. German intelligence and counterintelligence services identified a second instance in 2009, alleging the existence of a spy ring controlled by a Chinese intelligence officer operating out of the Consulate of the People’s Republic of China in Munich.
Once determined to go after even a broader pool, MSS naturally thought strongly about collecting intelligence with might and main throughout the US. A smattering of examples MSS operations a decade later uncovered by US intelligence and counterintelligence services and law enforcement provides an ample sense of that. Fast forward three years and one will discover how successful Chinese human intelligence penetration has been at some of the finest academic institutions in the US: in January 2020, the chair of Harvard’s Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Charles Lieber, was alleged to have violated federal law by failing to disclose his involvement in China’s Thousand Talents Plan to Harvard administrators, who allegedly then passed along false information to the federal government. Lieber was reportedly paid more than $1 million by China in exchange for agreeing to publish articles, organize international conferences and apply for patents on behalf of a Chinese university; in December 2019, a Chinese Harvard-affiliated cancer researcher was caught with 21 vials of cells stolen from a laboratory at a Boston hospital; in August 2019, a Chinese professor conducting sensitive research at the University of Kansas was indicted on charges he cloaked his links to a university in China; and, in June 2019, a Chinese scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles was convicted of shipping banned missile technology to China. The National Counterintelligence Executive, Evanina, has explained, “A lot of our ideas, technology, research, innovation is incubated on those university campuses.” He further stated, “That’s where the science and technology originates–and that’s why it’s the most prime place to steal.” However, MSS does not limit itself to seeking big things from big places such as Harvard. Desired information on national security matters can be found just about anywhere in the US. Consider, in April 2016, a Florida woman was charged by the US Department of Justice, in an 18-count indictment for conspiracy to illegally export systems, components, and documents on un-manned underwater vehicles, remotely operated vehicles, and autonomous underwater vehicles to China.
Selecting Prospective Recruits
Visits to China by foreigners may be viewed by Ministry of Tourism as opportunity to display China’s cultural richness and advancements in all areas. The MSS would only characterize those visits by foreigners as intrusions into China. The foreigner, to them and their sister intelligence, counterintelligence and law enforcement organizations, will always represent a potential threat. MSS could only imagine exploiting the situation by seeing opportunities to recruit new operatives. Commonly acknowledged among experts in this province is that domestically, the MSS exercises responsibility for the surveillance and recruitment of foreign businessmen, researchers, and officials visiting from abroad. The MSS Investigation Department surveillance of dissidents and foreign journalists is often quite obvious. It is supported by more clandestine measures taken by state ministries, academic institutions, and the military industrial complex. The various Chinese intelligence services can identify foreigners of interest in China through a number of means such as trade fairs, exhibitions, and business visas. Once identified, an intelligence officer using a cover may try to develop a friendship or business friendship often using lavish hospitality and flattery. The Chinese intelligence services have also been known to exploit relationships such as sexual relationships and illegal activities to pressure individuals to cooperate with them. Sometimes efforts will be made via social media to spot potential recruits. A variety of ploys will be used to get to the target to travel to China where the meat and potatoes of the recruitment process will get underway.
In the current environment, US citizens especially will be closely investigated by a provincial MSS office. That kind of investigation would not be conducted with a view to recruit immediately. For the MSS, it was important to construct a psychological profile of a person, his political orientation, his attitude towards his home country and towards the country he was visiting for some reason. What is very clear about the recruitment of foreign operatives and informants by the MSS in China is that rigor is used in the selection process. The ostenibly way MSS to determine whether a foreign official should be targeted would be to investigate whether they ticked certain boxes through evaluating their actions and other information available. Among those boxes were likely the following examples: standing and influence within his organization, access to required information; standing and influence own people given position; standing and influence among specific people given position and access to decision making process and required information; and, the ability to provide secure access to information for MSS officers.
The likes and dislikes of the target and observed particular appetites of the target that may have left the door open to manipulation by seduction or blackmail are vigorously investogated. If a file secreted from the target organization can be collected by MSS agents in a position to grab it. It would be copied or stolen and included in the target’s file. A background that included an exceptional interest in China, left-leaning sympathies, and even affiliation with Socialist or Communist groups would make the target even more attractive for MSS to recruit for China’s case and the Communist Revolution. Particularly useless are observations and “insights” that merely verify generalizations, derivative, or even bigoted preconceived ideas about the target. After accumulating a sizable amount of material using plain observation, clandestine contacts and conversations, and use of a suite of technical tools for audio- and video-surveillance of the places of residence, all the information is analyzed and conclusions are reached on it. A decision is then made about transforming the investigation into a recruitment. The MSS officer who attempts the recruitment in China will exploit whatever has been collected about the target. Information acquired while the recruitment is underway will also be made available to the officer and his manager. The MSS officer will appeal to the target’s discretion. Ideally, the target wil be led to voluntarily agree to work for MSS. However, under exigent circumstances, compromising materials might be used, however, in this day and age it is hard to determine what behavior is recorded would qualify as compromising–”Goodness knows, anything goes!.”
The same rigorous selection process of operatives and informants would be used overseas as in China. By the time of their recruitment of a target, MSS would be fully aware of their recruits’ particulars. Productive operatives are a true sign of a successful recruitment. Sometimes, the prospective recruit will be asked to travel to another country where MSS officers will more formally bring in the target and introduce him or her to the world of espionage. Additionally as in China, the objective of an overseas recruitment may not always be collection. The goal can also be to educate a foreigner, conveying a favorable image of China and how it represents the best future for the world.
Within the Chinese intelligence services, the belief is that foreigners lack the strength of connection, patriotism, that Chinese have for their country is dogma. With ethnic Chinese émigrés, the belief is that the strength of their connection to China can be exploited. For decades the line emanating from Beijing has been that the people of the West for that matter are rich, sick, and filthy. With specific regard to the US, world’s chief superppwer, a guiding idea in China’s geopolitical and geostrategic struggle with it has been that the US is terminal empire. The belief that the US is collapsing from within flourishes despite the country’s decades long record of economic success and steady ascent. In current times, Beijing’s line has become nuanced to express the view that the US is spiraling downward under the weight of racism endemic to all institutions and neo-fascism. To that extent, the liberal democracy is suffocating on its own self-aggrandizement. China sees its quest for dominance over the US further aided by the fact that the US citizen, in the face of an ever encroaching China, would prefer to enjoy an easy life, a lazy existence, and would hardly be concerned with providing any resistence. So far, MSS has been able to add one successful recruitment after another to its tally.
The Minister of State Security, Chen Wenqing (above). The male MSS officer deployed from Beijing Headquarters or a provincial bureau who one might encounter in the US will not appear as a run of the mill joe. He or she will be well-spoken, well-mannered, well-minded, well-built, well-dressed, well-groomed, and well-knowledged, certainly leaving a target well-impressed. Their comportment resembles that of the MSS Minister Chen Wenqing, seen above. All of that is done to have an added impact among targets that they are dealing with someone special, becoming part of something special, and doing something special. However, shrewd MSS managers are aware that taking a “one size fits all” approach to doling out assignments to recruit and run agents in the field would be self-defeating. Managers, when resources are available will consider which officer on the team would best be able to recruit the target and complete the task at hand. While one target may respond well to the gun barrel straight male MSS officer with a commanding presence, another target may be assessed to be likely more responsive to a female officer with a lighter touch.
Some Specifics on How It Is Done: The MSS Officer on the Beat in the US
Based on information gleaned from defectors, MSS personnel are usually assigned overseas for up to six years, with a few remaining in post for 10 years if required. In most countries, the local MSS officers are accommodated by the embassy. In the US, there are seven permanent Chinese diplomatic missions staffed with intelligence personnel. Having stated that, it is also very likely that far greater numbers of MSS officers as well as officers from the PLA and Communist Party of China intelligence units are operating without official cover throughout the West. Instead of embassies and consulates, they operate out of nongovernmental, decentralized stations. More often than not, they operate out of front companies created solely for intelligence missions or out of “friendly” companies overseas run by Chinese nationals, “cut outs“, who are willing to be more heavily involved with the work of MSS and other Chinese intelligence services than most Chinese citizens would ever want to be. This approach may be a residual effect of pollination with Soviet intelligence in the past. There is a common misunderstanding about the Soviet KGB Rezidentura. While it is generally believed that all intelligence activity by KGB in another country was centralized through the Rezidentura in the embassy or consulate, under a Rezident with an official cover, as fully explained by former KGB Major General Oleg Kalugin in his memoir, The First Directorate: My 32 Years in Intelligence and Espionage against the West (St. Martin’s Press, 1994), there were also nonofficial Rezidenturas that operated away from Soviet diplomatic centers. Those nonofficial Rezidenturas had their own Rezident or chief of station, chain of command, missions, and lines of communication to Moscow. One might suppose that when the relationship during the Cold War was still congenial, had doubtlessly demonstrated to the Chinese, the benefits of operating two types of Rezidentura overseas, official and nonofficial.
Possunt quia posse videntur. (They are able because they appear able.) The MSS officer deployed from Beijing Headquarters or a provincial bureau who one might encounter in the US will not appear as a run of the mill joe. He or she will be well-spoken, well-mannered, well-minded, well-built, well-dressed, well-groomed, and well-knowledged, certainly leaving a target well-impressed. All of that is done to have an added impact among targets that they are dealing with someone special, becoming part of something special, and doing something special. MSS is results oriented, and that is always foremost in the minds of good managers. Actions taken will never be perfunctory, and situations should not be forced. In the field, operating against an opponent, nothing can be thought of as too trivial to disregard. After being read-in on reports, must let nothing escape a manager’s consideration. Every target for recruitment is unique, requiring some nuance. Thus, shrewd managers in MSS are aware that taking a “one size fits all” approach to doling out assignments to recruit and run agents in the field would be self-defeating and counterintuitive. Managers, when resources are available will consider which officer on the team would best be able to recruit the target and complete the task at hand. While one target may respond well to the gun barrel straight male MSS officer with a commanding presence, another target may be assessed to be likely more responsive to a female officer with a lighter touch. That might make the target more comfortable and easier to handle once the collection process begins. This is not any reference to sexual enticement or manipulation. Rather, the touch of a female officer may prove more effective. For some operatives, the female officer may be able to effectively take a “motherly approach,” comforting them and making them more responsive. Having stated that about female officers, in some cases, it may be discovered after the initial approach that a woman may prove to be, for a variety of reasons, too intimidating for a target and make the interaction difficult and likely unsuccessful. The target may simply hold a bias against women, and perhaps may find working for a woman disagreeable. Such are the realities of human interactions.
Among scientists, technicians and engineers, it may be the case that the target would be best approached by a more compatible, “bookwormish,” reserved and understanding officer, who can connect with the target not only on a professional level, being able to discuss technical details of information sought and the work in which the target may be engaged, but on a social level, perhaps having many of the same interests as the target. In every case though, the main pitch to the target would include something along the lines that Just as humanity has no nation, science has no nation. The line that would soon follow is how China would be the dominant power and be the country to lead humanity to excellence and so on.
As mentioned earlier, possessing a diverse team of male and female officers for operations is not likely to be the case for most MSS managers operating under either official cover or non-official cover. For this reason, it has become necessary for MSS to seek to the cooperation of scientists, technicians and engineers from other government branches or civilian enterprises who would be directed to attend lectures, conferences, conventions trade shows and the like, and make contact with targets and establish an interaction that could lead to passing the target of to an MSS officer or actually engaging in the tradecraft necessary to recruit the target and manage the target’s activities, use tradecraft to collect information procured and provide requirements collection and solutions to problems.
For an intelligence officer recruiting agents, speech is everything. Word choices must build confidence, create trust, console, assure, inspire, and comfort. To create compliant agents, the right word choice must be made every time. Some submission of operatives and informants to the words of the officer must take place, causing the operatives and informants to put aside what they may know or imagine and accept the new knowledge the officer puts before them. While of course in reality, all operatives and informants are being manipulated and corrupted by their foreign intelligence officer handlers, a relationship akin to a teacher and student or mentor and mentee is established in optimal cases. As in those sort of relationships, the operative or informant becomes the responsibility of the officer. Further, as in such relationships, it should be the hope of the officer that the operative or informant perfirms superbly and exceeds all expectations.
The less certain the recruit is about the objective truth, the more likely the individual will be drawn to a false reality. Many who are successfully recruited ultimately would believe that their actions were humanitarian contributions to peace. It is very unlikely that the operative will ever know the degree to which that furtive bit of information he or she is stealing will support any nefarious plans the officer and his country may have cooked up for the US or another country. That is always thrown into the bargain. The MSS officer’s relationship with the operative is only professional. Friendship is established due to necessity. All appearances will be false. Intriguingly, the intellects of the majority of recruits are unable to confound insincerity. Targets of MSS recruitment indeed often fail to realize that if it were not for the officer’s need to collect information from, or pass the Communist Party of China-line to, the operative, the officer would hardly have anything to do with anyone of such character that they would willingly betray their own homeland. The only reality for the recruit is that they are being molded, groomed to do nothing more than committing treason at the behest of a hostile intelligence service of a foreign country. It is all certainly not some childish parlor game. Quid est turplus quam ab aliquo illcieli? (What can be more shameful than to be deceived by someone?)
In a number of cases in the US in which economic espionage has occurred identified as having a Chinese nexus, indications were that nontraditional actors have been used in Chinese intelligence operations for quite some time. Just how many nontraditional actors are in a position and willing to serve the interests of the Chinese intelligence services could only be known based on intercepted information, informants working for US intelligence and counterintelligence and after they may be activated to collect information or materials. A conversation on the margins of a professional gathering that begins with innocuous banter. There could be a clandestine contact, an email or letter, sent to the target requesting to discuss a matter in the target’s field to assist with the writing of an article or book, to assist with academic or other scholarly research, or to discuss a grant or prize from an overseas nongovernmental organization of some type. The next contact, if any, might include leading comments or questions on technical matters or one’s work, might appear odd. That would be an almost sure sign that the inquisitive interlocutor, if not simply socially inept, was probing. If the target had even the slightest awareness of the efforts of Chinese intelligence services to recruit spies, it is at that point the individual should realize that he ir she is in a bad situatupion and break that contact immediately. If the MSS officer notices that the target realizes his or her the questions were compelled by more than a thirst for knowledge and does not run, the officer knows he may have hooked his fish.
As part of their tradecraft, MSS officers would prefer hole-in-corner meetings with prospective recruits in small, quiet locations such as cozy, dimly lit establishments, conversing over coffee or tea, perhaps a dash of brandy or even a bite to eat. It would be far better site for a furtive discussion than some crowded establishment or a spot nearby some busy thoroughfare. Other sites usually selected are hotel rooms, gardens, and parks. The MSS will also want to have an unobstructed view of passersby and other patrons to at least determine whether observable surveillance activity is being directed upon the meeting. The MSS officer will want to eliminate as many distractions as possible as he or she will want to focus wholly of communicating with the prospective recruit and have reciprocate with the same level of attention. The officer will want to analyze the individual close-up and personal and every response to his or her remarks. If a full-on recruitment effort is not made right away, everything will be done to establish a close association for the moment with the target. The figurative “contracted specialist,” will engage in similar activities, and much as the MSS officer, would also try to become a close associate of the prospective recruit. Much as an intelligence officer would be, the contracted agent would doubtlessly be placed under the close supervision of an MSS manager most likely operating under non-official cover, but potentially under officer cover. If a prospective “contracted specialist” left no doubt in the minds of MSS officer that he or she would be unable to perform the more hands-on job of recruiting operatives and informants, they might be called into service to “spot” experts at professional gatherings or even at their workplaces who MSS desires or to collect information from available databases and files there.
The Tianjin State Security Bureau (above). The thirty-one major provincial and municipal sub-elements of the MSS more than likely possess most of the officers, operatives, and informants and conduct the lion’s share of the operations, taking into account that they perform mostly surveillance and domestic intelligence work. These provincial and municipal state security departments and bureaus are now essentially small-sized foreign intelligence services. They are given considerable leeway to pursue sources. In Mattis’ view, that independence accounts for variation across the MSS in terms of the quality of individual intelligence officers and operations.
Overseas Espionage by the Provincial Bureaus: A Dimension within the Human Intelligence Dimension
It is important point out that although the bureaucratic center of gravity may reside in its Beijing headquarters, in a July 9, 2017 National Review article entitled “Everything We Know about China’s Secretive State Security Bureau”, Mattis explains that the MSS’ thirty-one major provincial and municipal sub-elements of MSS more than likely possess most of the officers, operatives, and informants and conduct the lion’s share of the operations, taking into account that they perform mostly surveillance and domestic intelligence work. These provincial state security departments and municipal state security bureaus are now essentially small-sized foreign intelligence services. They are given considerable leeway to pursue sources. In Mattis’ view, that independence accounts for variation across the MSS in terms of the quality of individual intelligence officers and operations. He further explains that unless specific units are referenced, reality will contradict general assessments. The indication and implication of this is that defeating MSS efforts in the US will require a broad-based strategy that accounts for the scale of the intelligence organization and compartmentation.
The Shanghai State Security Bureau (SSSB) has surfaced in several US espionage cases. The record its uncloaked operations leaves no doubt that SSSB is constantly looking for opportunities to collect foreign intelligence. It was actually SSSB intelligence officers that approached Clairborne and requested that she provide information on US economy policy deliberations and internal State Department reactions to talks with China. It was SSSB that recruited Mallory. It was SSSB that approached a freelance journalist focused on Asian affairs received SSSB requests for short, interview-based papers related to US policy in Burma, US contacts with North Korea, and US talks with Cambodia related to the South China Sea. Away from the US, in a case involving South Korean diplomats in Shanghai, a Chinese woman, in exchange for sex, requested and received telephone and contact information for senior South Korean government officials. Beyond government documents, the woman also used her influence to help Chinese citizens acquire expedited visa approvals to South Korea. SSSB reportedly blackmailed a Japanese code clerk working in the Japanese Consulate in Shanghai in 2003 and 2004 over his relationship with a prostitute. Allegedly, the illicit relationship began at a karaoke parlor that may have been owned by the SSSB and that catered to Japanese diplomats and businesspeople. Once the code clerk in the grips of the SSSB, its intelligence officers demanded background information on Japanese diplomats posted to the consulate and the schedule for diplomatic pouches going back to Tokyo. Counterintelligence plays a key role in SSSB efforts, too! When the SSSB blackmailed the Japanese code clerk, the organization reportedly asked him to name all of the Chinese contacts of the Japanese consulate in Shanghai.
Other evidence available indicates the SSSB is responsive to the global needs of the MSS and China’s central decision makers. A job announcement errantly circulated publicly around Shanghai universities in 2015, encouraged students who spoke English, Japanese, German, French, Russian, Taiwanese, or the languages of China’s recognized minorities to apply to the SSSB. Mattis proffers that the request for those specific language skills are suggestive of foreign-intelligence targets, counterintelligence coverage of foreigners inside China, and domestic intelligence work for monitoring the party-state’s internal enemies. The job announcement also emphasized that skills in information security, computer software programming and telecommunications as being desirable. In its recruitment efforts, SSSB benefits from a local pool that includes some of the best universities in China, including Fudan and Shanghai Jiao Tong. Shanghai’s universities, think tanks, businesses, and modern infrastructure draw a large, high-quality pool of foreigners from which the SSSB can recruit operatives. Shanghai Jiaotong University, one of China’s most prestigious universities, has been linked to military thefts in cyberspace, leaving open the possibility that such students also might seek work with state security. Admittedly, the job announcement did not describe whether such skills were required in technical support or operational positions. A recently-passed intelligence law prescribes “[combining] open work and secret work” in intelligence operations. Thus, SSSB capabilities very likely exceed human-intelligence operations to include computer network operations.
As the Historical Dictionary of Chinese Intelligence revealed it to be the pattern within the provincial departments and municipal bureaus, the SSSB leadership appears to come from within the bureau or at least the MSS. The current bureau director is Dong Weimin, who has run the organization since 2015. Unlike the Beijing State Security Bureau’s leadership, service in the SSSB unlikely provides for upward mobility to other parts of the MSS. The directors of the Beijing State Security Bureau regularly move into the MSS party committee and become vice ministers. The most notable among these are Qiu Jin and Ma Jian. The only example of an SSSB director promoted upward in recent memory seemingly is Cai Xumin. He led the SSSB from 2000 to 2004, when he was promoted to MSS vice minister. Cai would return to Shanghai to serve as the city’s deputy procurator in late 2006.
Away from the economic espionage and technology theft in particular, MSS officers regularly have operatives engage in something akin to a Hollywood depictions of “secret agent spying” by taking photographs of restricted areas, gaining entry into restricted areas, and collecting documents, materials, and other property from a restricted area. Those types of activities are perhaps more commonplace that most ordinary citizens might believe. It is only after an MSS officer is captured, or officer of another Chinese foreign intelligence service such as the Second Department of the PLA, that they are made aware that such activity is taking place. Greater awareness that is occurring is the only chance of thwarting suspicious activity when it occurs. When Chinese nationals engaged in such activity are occasionally captured, usually found in their possession is a cache of surveillance equipment. There is typically so much that it evinces the agent believed, with a high degree of confidence that he or she would be able to act without relative impunity in or around a targeted restricted area. It may also very well have been the precedence of previous success spying on the site that helped fashion that notion. Despite the regularity of such activity, the use of MSS officers to recruit agents to do the dirty work of spying has been a fruitful approach.
MSS Informants: Motivations
Attendant to any discussion of the use of actual research scientists across the spectrum of advanced technologies as operatives, as surrogates for MSS officers in the field, would be the discussion of civilian informants and responsibilities of Chinese citizens under China’s National Security law. In the West there usually would be a variety of motivations for citizens to more than likely violate their own Constitution to engage in surveillance and higher levels of activity on behalf of US intelligence and counterintelligence services and law enforcement. Against a foreigner, they might see it as a Patriotic duty. To surveil another citizen might cause pangs of dismay anxiety for there would be the real possibility of violating the 1st Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights of a fellow citizen under the US Constitution. Sadly the motivations of money ideology, conspiracy, and excitement, as well as a healthy dose of indifference will often cure any anxieties or nervousness about another citizens Constitutional rights. Different from Western democracies, however, for the Chinese citizen, such motivations do not factor in such a decision to come to call of their country’s intelligence services. The law requires them to do so. If any motivations at all could be said to factor in a Chinese citizen’s decision to obey the direction of the intelligence service, expectedly the Communist Party of China would list faith and adherence to the ideals of the Communist Revolution, the Communist Party of China, patriotism, the homeland. Supposedly, revolutionary zeal drives the heart of China as one beating heart so to speak.
The National Security Law of the People’s Republic of China, as adopted at the 15th session of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People’s Congress declares under Article 9 that in maintenance of national security, priority shall be given to prevention, equal attention shall be paid to temporary and permanent solutions, specialized tasks shall be combined with reliance on the masses, the functions of specialized authorities and other relevant authorities in maintaining national security shall be maximized, and citizens and organizations shall be extensively mobilized to prevent, frustrate, and legally punish any conduct that compromises national security. Article 11 decrees that there will be no tolerance shown for the failure to meet one’s obligation to maintain national security. The article states: “All citizens of the People’s Republic of China, state authorities, armed forces, political parties, people’s groups, enterprises, public institutions, and other social organizations shall have the responsibility and obligation to maintain national security.” Authorities in China understand that extraordinary powers are entrusted in the hands of many, such as MSS officers, who work on national security matters. Contractors, and even informants, who might work on their behalf are placed under the same scrutiny. Those who have attempted to cross the Chinese government have faced stiff reprisals. The shadow of sudden death can hang over the head of any individual arrested for such betrayal. As stated under Article 13: “Whoever as an employee of a state authority abuses power, neglects duty, practices favoritism, or makes falsification in national security work or any activity involving national security shall be held liable in accordance with the law.” The article further declares: “Any individual or organization that fails to fulfill the obligation of maintaining national security or conducts any activity compromising national security in violation of this Law or any relevant law shall be held liable in accordance with the law.” The furtive work of Chinese citizens at home and abroad under the direction of the MSS does not need to be without guerdon. As explained under Article 12: “The state shall commend and reward individuals and organizations that have made prominent contributions to maintaining national security.”
On MSS Informants Overseas
The immediate impression created when one learns that China regularly makes full use of Chinese nationals to support the intelligence collection process is the mind boggling prospect of a multitude of adults from China’s population, which according to the World Population Review as of this writing is put at nearly 1,439,239,000. While there may very well be several Chinese national informants moving around Western countries on a given day, that number is certainly not in the millions. Certainly, not every adult in China will be directly asked to be an informant overseas. Seasoned members of the service have decades of experience approaching young Chinese travelers. Usually prospective informants are approached just before travelling overseas for busuness or tourism or early in their overseas education or career. The younger the informant more time they might have in place and more likely they might be responsive to an MSS officer’s entreaties to take on the job. It is not a matter of taking anyone who comes along. MSS officers are looking for a safe pair of hands; those with cool heads, who can comfortably kick around foreign parts. They must be the very soul of discretion and not easily rattled.
Glenn Duffie Shriver (above). Often in the recruitment of US operatives, as well as those of other countries, prospective targets will be approached who may not at the present time have much by way of an access but potentially could establish that access in time. The recruitment is conducted quietly and low-key to successfully avoid raising suspicion or pose concerns to anyone. The relationship between the MSS officer or contractor and the recruit, seemingly having no importance, will evolve gradually on a schedule set by observant, diligent, and patient MSS managers. A number of cases that conform to this type of recruitment have been made public. In a notable one, Glenn Duffie Shriver after graduating college decided to live in China after a short period of study there from 2002–2003. MSS officers convinced him to assist their efforts in the US for pay. Shriver reportedly received more than $70,000 from the Chinese intelligence to apply to the US Foreign Service and the CIA’s National Clandestine Service. In October 2010, pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide US national defense information to the MSS.
Recruiting Spies for the Long-Run: MSS Style
Often in the recruitment of US operatives, as well as those of other countries, prospective targets will be approached who may not at the present time have much by way of an access but potentially could establish that access in time. This was also a method that Soviet intelligence was famous for. To that extent, the recruitment process is conducted quietly and low-key to successfully avoid raising suspicion or pose concerns to anyone. The relationship between the MSS officer or contractor and the recruit, seemingly having no importance, will evolve gradually on a schedule set by observant, diligent, and patient MSS managers. As for the recruit, the motivation is typically emotional, somewhat ideological. For example, from the moment of contact with the MSS, they may sense that they are able to shape the fate of the world through their furtive activities. If the recruitment takes long enough, the target will even be passed on to another officer for development. When the recruit “matures” to the point of getting into position in a business, think tank, government organization, academic institution, or some other targeted location, the MSS officer handling the individual will begin full-fledged tasking. All forms of espionage and active measures will get under way full throttle. All in all, the speed differential with other forms of recruitment is not as critical as the depth of penetration by the recruit. What MSS gets from the effort is a highly prepared mole buried deep within the US foreign and national security policy apparatus.
A number of cases that conform to this type of recruitment have made public. In a notable one, in October 2010, Glenn Duffie Shriver pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide US national defense information to SSSB intelligence officer. Shriver, a recent US college graduate decided to live in China after a short period of study there from 2002–2003. Apparently finding Shriver to be a viable target, Chinese intelligence officers successfully pitched him the idea of assisting their efforts in the US for pay. Shriver reportedly received more than $70,000 from the Chinese intelligence to apply to the US Foreign Service and the CIA’s National Clandestine Service. If he managed to be hired by either, he would have been obligated to communicate classified US national defense information to their organization. The apparent intent of the SSSB’s was to collect a stream of reporting on US foreign policy. It was seemingly inconsequential that only some of a portion of it would have been directly related to Asia and particularly China.
Honey Traps
As noted in the discussion on the overseas intelligence operations of MSS provincial bureaus, Chinese human Intelligence officers have also been known to exploit relationships such as sexual relationships and illegal activities to pressure individuals to cooperate with them. Indeed, a bog-standard method of snagging traveling businessmen is the honeytrap. As defined more specifically in Henry S. A. Becket, The Dictionary of Espionage: Spookspeak into English (Stein & Day, 1986), a honey trap is a method of sexual entrapment for intelligence purposes, usually to put a target [such as Kalugin] into a compromising position so that he or she can be blackmailed. The approach would be made once MSS intelligence or counterintelligence managers believed enough had collected enough about the target and the target’s activities, that they understood how the foreign national thought, and whether he would respond favorably to an effort to make that sort of clandestine contact with him, the approach is made by a selected female or make operative.
According to Kalugin in First Directorate, to further the KGB’s mission, he loosed those alluring qualities his personal appearance and attributes and those of other handsome males and females as weapons very effectively against Western officials and especially secretaries working in key offices in the US foreign and national security policy apparatus when he believed something considerable could be gained by doing so. If lucky, the target may already have become in contact with a woman from a house of elegant pleasure, and the recruitment of the prostitute is what is required. However, there are cases in which the prostitute may not have the background to engage the target in a way that is best for the MSS to establish appropriate level of contact to move forward toward effectual recruitment.
Prospective MSS intelligence officers?: Freshmen of Nanjing Campus of China Communications University in military training in 2015 (above). The MSS has been known to exploit relationships such as sexual relationships and illegal activities to pressure individuals to cooperate with them. It is a bog-standard method known as the honeytrap. While prostitutes and “contractors” are often used for this purpose, female officers may be put in a position to take on a honey trap role. Insisting that female officers surrender themselves to act as lures for potential targets for recruitment is surely not in line with that goal. MSS officers, particularly to young female officers, have been forced to choose whether to engage in such behavior to support the MSS mission. The question is posed, “Which comes first, love of self and honor or love of country and dedication to the Communist Revolution?”
The true humanist by the Marxist definition, seeks to understand human nature with the notion that all can be brought into an ideal Communist World. Insisting that female officers surrender themselves to act as lures for potential targets for recruitnent is surely not in line with that goal. Nevertheless, when MSS officers, particularly to young female officers, are forced to choose whether to engage in such behavior to support the MSS mission, the question is posed, “Which comes first, love of self and honor or love of country and dedication to the Communist Revolution?” The female officer would certainly need to consider what her family would say and what her community would say about her taking on such an assignment. The final answer would be founded on the officer’s own self-respect, dignity, self-worth, conscience. In a system where the desires of the individual must be subordinated to the needs of the state, the only answer is to give primacy to love of country and support the Communist Revolution. That being the case, for the majority of female officers, engaging such work would still be simply outside the realm of possibility. Ad turpia virum bonum nulla spies invitat. (No expectation can allure a good man to the commission of evil.)
Discussion will be extended in Part 2, to be published later
Posted in #Trump, #Xi, #Xi Jinping, #XiJinping, 2016 Presidential Election, 2016 US Presidential Campaign, 2016 US Presidential Election, Beijing, Central Case Examination Group, Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Central Department of Social Affairs, Central Intelligence Agency, Central Investigation Department, Central Politburo of the Communist Party of China, Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, Central Secretariat of the Communist Party of China, Central State Security Commission, Chairman Mao Zedong, Chen Wenqing, China, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chinese National People's Congress, Chinese President Xi Jinping, CIA, Communist Party of China, Communist Party of China Political Bureau, coronavirus, counterespionage, counterintelligence, Coupe en deux pieces, Defense Intelligence Agency, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, DIA, Donald Trump, EU, European Union, FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Four Cleans Movement, Four Olds, France, French Emperor Napolean Bonaparte, Gang of Four, Geng Shuang, God, God the Father, Guangdong State Security Department, guanxi, Guoanbu, Guoja Anquan Lingdao Xiaozu, Guojia Anquanbu, Historical Dictionary of Chinese Intelligence, Hong Kong, Hua Chunying, Hua Kuo-feng, Joseph Stalin, Kang Sheng, KGB, Li Kenong, Luo Quinchang, Mark Edmond Clark, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of State Security, MPS, MSS, National People's Congress, North Korea, Oleg Danilovich Kalugin, Oleg Kalugin, People's Republic of China, People's Republic of China Chairman Mao Zedong, People's Republic of China Ministry of Foreign Affairs, People's Republic of China President Xi Jinping, persona non grata, Peter Mattis, Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China, Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, political warfare, Political-Legal Committee of the Communist Party of China, Russia, Russian Federation, Social Affairs Department of the Communist Party of China, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet Union, SVR, Taiwan, Tianjin State Security Department, Trump, United Kingdom, United States, US, US President Barack Obama, US President Donald Trump, Zhengfawei, Zhongyang Guoja Anquan Weiyuanhui | Tagged Ministry of Public Security, MSS | Leave a reply
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You are at: Planned Giving > For Advisors > Washington News
IRS Distributes 100 Million Economic Impact Payments
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reports that it has made over 100 million Economic Impact Payments (EIPs), as required by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. On December 30, 2020, the IRS started mailing checks for $600 to individuals, $1,200 to married couples and an additional $600 per qualified minor child.
The payments have proceeded smoothly, with the exception of taxpayers who may have incorrect direct deposit information on file with the IRS. The IRS acknowledged that there is a problem because direct deposits were not able to be sent to some accounts. It is attempting to remedy the problem. The IRS issued a press release and stated, "The IRS and tax industry partners are taking immediate steps to redirect stimulus payments to the correct account for those affected."
The IRS asks individuals to use the Get My Payment tool on IRS.gov to monitor their payments. However, individuals with incorrect direct deposit information may not be able to track their payment until the IRS and industry partners have corrected the problem.
When the first stimulus payments were made in April of 2020, the IRS used direct deposit for most taxpayers, but sent paper checks to taxpayers who had authorized payments from accounts rather than directed refunds to their accounts. The new stimulus payments are being made through direct deposits to all bank accounts where the IRS has appropriate records.
Under the stimulus bill, the payments are to be distributed by January 15, 2021. The IRS will send Notice 1444 or Notice 1444-B to all stimulus check recipients. Taxpayers should retain the IRS Notice with their tax records. If the stimulus payment is not made, the taxpayer may claim a Refund Recovery Credit on his or her 2020 tax return.
If only one spouse has a Social Security Number, that person may receive an EIP and also receive $600 payments for each qualified child. The EIPs may be retained for deceased taxpayers who passed away after January 1, 2020. Incarcerated individuals are also eligible for stimulus payments.
Summary of the January EIPs
Direct Deposits – Individuals should monitor their bank accounts for a direct deposit. The Get My Payment tool should reflect the direct deposit. The individual does not need to take any action to receive the stimulus payment through this method.
Payments by U.S. Mail – If the IRS does not have bank account information, it will send either a paper check or a debit card by U.S. Mail. Individuals should monitor their mail for the stimulus payment.
Tax Return for 2020 – Individuals who have not received a payment through direct deposit or mail may be qualified to claim a Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2020 tax returns.
Second Round of PPP Loans Will Save Millions of Small Businesses
The second round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loans is now available. Many banks and financial institutions have updated their software to enable small businesses to apply for a PPP Loan. The new loans are essential for many businesses and nonprofits due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. Small businesses in the food service, travel, retail and other similar industries are especially hard-hit by the pandemic.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced that a second Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) opened on January 11, 2021. The December stimulus bill authorized $284 billion for the new loans. These loans are intended to cover obligations up until March 31, 2021.
Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin stated, "The Paycheck Protection Program has successfully provided 5.2 million loans worth $525 billion to America's small businesses, supporting more than 51 million jobs. This updated guidance enhances the PPP's targeted relief to small businesses most impacted by COVID-19. We are committed to implementing this round of PPP quickly to continue supporting American small businesses and their workers."
SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza was pleased with the new PPP Loans. She stated, "The historically successful Paycheck Protection Program served as an economic lifeline to millions of small businesses and their employees when they needed it most. Today's guidance builds on the success of the program and adapts to the changing needs of small business owners by providing targeted relief and a simpler forgiveness process to ensure their path to recovery."
Under the new PPP guidance issued by the SBA, small businesses or nonprofits may use a covered period from 8 to 24 weeks. In addition to payroll and most facilities costs, the loan may cover operations expenditures, property damage costs, supplier costs and worker protection expenditures. The loan categories are expanded to include Section 501(c)(6), housing and destination marketing organizations.
Many small businesses and nonprofits received a PPP Loan in April or May of 2020. If they have 300 or fewer employees and can demonstrate a 25% reduction in gross receipts between comparable quarters of 2019 and 2020, they may receive a new forgivable PPP Loan.
The SBA has additional guidance available at SBA.gov/PPP. This SBA guidance explains how to obtain a loan for minority, underserved, veteran or women-owned businesses.
Exempt Organization 21% Excise Tax Final Regulations
On January 11, 2021, the IRS published T.D. 9938 and clarified the regulations that apply to the 21% excise tax under Section 4960. This provision was enacted in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and creates a 21% excise tax on compensation over $1 million paid to a covered employee of an applicable tax-exempt organization (ATEO). It also includes any excess parachute payments in the formula.
Covered employees are generally the five highest-compensated employees for the ATEO for the current tax year or any year beginning after December 31, 2016. The determination of whether an employee is covered is based upon the remuneration paid by all related organizations, not of each separate organization. A covered employee could be involved in more than one ATEO.
The American Bar Association Section of Taxation had proposed that the payments by related organizations would be treated separately, rather than aggregated as specified in the proposed regulations. However, the IRS preamble to the final regulations stated that due to "the highly factual nature of this analysis and the potential for differing conclusions on one or more of these issues," the separate compensation rule would not be sufficiently predictable and could be an inducement to abusive mischaracterization of the nature of the services and compensation provided. Therefore, the aggregation rule is continued in the final regulations. All remuneration paid by related organizations will be applicable.
There is a volunteer exception for individuals who do not receive remuneration from the ATEO. Some corporate executives provide volunteer services to their company foundations and sought an exception. The volunteer exception applies if the executive is not remunerated by the ATEO and his or her hours are either a maximum of 10% of total working hours or 100 hours per year.
The final regulations continue to provide an exception for a licensed medical professional who provides medical services. The ATEO must use a "reasonable, good-faith method" to allocate remuneration between medical and other services.
The proposed rules on excess parachute payments continue to apply. The final regulations apply to tax years beginning after December 31, 2021 (the 2022 calendar year).
Editor's Note: The compensation packages of the top employees of large organizations are complex. These final regulations under Section 4960 reflect that complexity. There will be significant challenges for CPAs determining the exact amount of compensation that applies for purposes of determining the 21% excise tax.
Applicable Federal Rate of 0.6% for January -- Rev. Rul. 2021-1; 2021-2 IRB 1 (16 December 2020)
The IRS has announced the Applicable Federal Rate (AFR) for January of 2021. The AFR under Section 7520 for the month of January is 0.6%. The rates for December of 0.6% or November of 0.4% also may be used. The highest AFR is beneficial for charitable deductions of remainder interests. The lowest AFR is best for lead trusts and life estate reserved agreements. With a gift annuity, if the annuitant desires greater tax-free payments the lowest AFR is preferable. During 2021, pooled income funds in existence less than three tax years must use a 2.2% deemed rate of return.
IRS FAQ on Economic Impact Payments
Stimulus Payments in January
COVID Stimulus Checks Expected Next Week
Plan for Online Tax Filing
Time to Prepare for Tax Filing
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| Location: Home > 0005.275.00061C |
ARTIST NAME: Esler, John K.
ACCESSION NUMBER: 0005.275.00061C
TITLE: WIND SPIRIT
DIMENSIONS: Image: 22.5 x 30 cm (8 7/8 x 11 13/16 in.) Sheet: 30 x 40 cm (11 13/16 x 15 3/4 in.)
COLLECTION: Government House Juried Collection
OTHER HOLDINGS: Esler, John K.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: John (K) Esler was born in 1933 in Pilot Mound, Manitoba and attended the School of Art at the University of Manitoba, graduating in 1960. He continued studies there, receiving a Bachelor of Education degree in 1962, and in 1964, after a period of travel in Europe, took a teaching position at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary. He joined the faculty of the University of Calgary in 1968 where he taught intaglio printmaking, staying there until his retirement in the 1980s. Esler was well-known in the Calgary arts community, and did much to raise the profile of printmaking in the province. He played a major role in the expansion of the printmaking department at the Alberta College of Art and Design and at the University of Calgary and in partnership with artist Ken Webb, established Trojan Press to provide a facility for local printmakers to develop their skills. Esler's works were exhibited widely throughout Canada and abroad and he is represented in many public and private collections. His awards included the C.W. Jefferys' Award from the Canadian Society of Graphic Arts and the G.A. Reid Memorial Award from the Canadian Painter-Etchers and Engravers. John Esler had an irreverent, somewhat Dadaist sensibility which he expressed in his art and in his teaching methods. He encouraged his students to experiment, to make art with a mind open to unexpected possibilities. A series of artworks that offered a typical example of his approach were called “Relics of the Twentieth Century” and involved the use of cast-off garbage and refuse that he ran through the press to create relief prints. Objects that became fodder for the creative process for this series ranged from a squashed lunch box to the flattened chassis of a television set.
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NEH Names Political Scientist Harvey Mansfield 2007 Jefferson Lecturer
Political scientist Harvey Mansfield will deliver the 2007 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced this week. The annual NEH-sponsored Jefferson Lecture is considered the most prestigious honor the federal government bestows for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities.
“With a distinguished career of thoughtful, and thought-provoking, discourse on political theory and higher education, Harvey Mansfield has captivated his readers and students with the strength of his convictions and the depth of his courage,” said NEH Chairman Bruce Cole when announcing the selection. “This prolific author and engaging teacher offers a truly distinctive perspective on political thought and practice.”
Mansfield, the William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Government at Harvard, will present the 36th Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities on Tuesday, May 8, at 7:30 p.m. at the Warner Theater in Washington, D.C., on “How to Understand Politics: What the Humanities Can Say to Science.” Attendance at the lecture is by invitation and free. Those interested in receiving an invitation should call (202) 606-8400 or e-mail info@neh.gov
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IMLS & Library of Congress FY 11 Proposed Budgets
On February 1, President Obama transmitted to Congress a fiscal year (FY) 2011 budget request of $265.8 million for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The president’s request is the same as the FY 2010 enacted levels for the Institute’s programs and administration.
The President requested $213.5 million for the nation’s 123,000 libraries. Of that amount, approximately 80 percent ($172.5 million) is distributed through the Grants to States program to the State Library Administrative Agencies (SLAAs) in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and freely associated states, according to a population-based formula.
The President requested $35.2 million for programs that support over 17,500 museums nationwide. Museums for America, the Institute’s largest grant program for museums, would receive $19.1 million.
The Library of Congress would receive a $22 million increase for salaries and expenses in FY 11, up to a level of $461 million.
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‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Release Postponed Again
Hollywood analysts are watching the box office grosses of Tenet very closely. If Tenet becomes a hit despite the pandemic, more theatrical movies will follow. If audiences are slow returning to theaters, studios will almost certainly hold back their biggest titles until consumer confidence returned.
Many box-office reporters expected Tenet’s second weekend to effectively determine whether Warner Bros. would move ahead with its next top-tier title, Wonder Woman 1984. But according to The Wall Street Journal, the decision’s already been made and the DC Comics’ sequel will not come out as planned on October 2. According to “a person familiar with the matter ... the studio, part of AT&T Inc., is moving Wonder Woman 1984 to a date later in the year.” They did not offer a specific time frame, but according to Variety the movie will now open on Christmas.
Thus far, Tenet has earned about $20.2 million in American theaters. That ranks among the absolute lowest openings of Christopher Nolan’s entire career; even Nolan’s Insomnia, made before he became famous for steering the Batman franchise, had a bigger opening weekend 20 years ago. Tenet has fared better overseas in places where the coronavirus is not as widespread, but its foreign grosses bring it to just $152 million worldwide to date.
Those numbers are okay for Tenet, a brainy thriller based on an original concept released in the middle of a pandemic. But those kinds of grosses would be disastrous for Wonder Woman, a mega-franchise based on a popular DC property. The first Wonder Woman made more than $820 million worldwide. It could be a while before we see it — or any comic book movies. At present, Marvel’s Black Widow is still officially scheduled for a release on November 6.
Gallery — Every DC Comics Movie, Ranked From Worst to Best:
Source: ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Release Postponed Again
Filed Under: DC Comics, Gal Gadot, Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman
Categories: Entertainment, Newsletter KKLS
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Hugh Reynolds Blog
Veteran Journalist of The Hudson Valley
About Hugh
Letters To Hugh
Hugh’s Hotline
Tag: Marc Rider
Executive Snoozer
Democratic faithful were treated to this year’s version of “me-too” as three candidates for county executive took turns agreeing with each other at a meet the candidate session at Kingston City Hall on Sunday afternoon. For a minute there, I thought I was at another of those boring congressional primary face-offs from last year.
It’s not that Pat Ryan, Patrice Courtney Strong and Marc Rider were boring. Actually, they’re quite engaging in small gatherings or one on one. It’s just that they all stand for the same progressive Democratic principles, more jobs, more diversity, social justice, expansion of services, blah, blah and blah. I heard a lot of slogans, few solutions.
The Kingston City Committee sponsored the event, which drew a good crowd of around 150, mostly Democrats. Communication between candidates and audience was challenged as organizers couldn’t figure out the PA system. Here, the 6’3” Ryan, with towering presence and booming voice, had more of an advantage.
Candidates were clearly wary of stepping on the tender toes of departing executive Mike Hein, who had about nine hours left on his 10-year term as candidates took the floor just after 2 p.m. But it’s tricky talking about new programs that could have been instituted five years ago without raising questions about the outgoing administration. Consolidating county bus service with the city and expanding the operation to far reaches of the county – the former under discussion for almost four years now – was but one example.
Rider, one of Hein’s deputies, was understandably his soon-to-be ex-boss’s more vigorous defenders, but Ryan and Strong weren’t far behind. Were there a Republican in the race, we might get some differences there, not so with an all-Democratic finale.
Speaking of potential competition, freshman legislator Heidi Haynes of Marbletown says she plans to run for a second term this fall and has no interest in executive. Veteran Republican legislator Jim Maloney of Ulster has been mentioned, or was it Joe Maloney of Saugerties? It is a very, very shallow pool, the GOP these days.
I thought one of the more interesting – and revealing – questions asked of the candidates was about regrets, specifically, “what past mistake challenges your current candidacy?”
Rider, 40, has never sought public office. Strong, 63, ran for the senate last year. Ryan, 37, ran for congress last year and was the first to respond.
Ryan spoke to anonymous accusations about the way he operated the computer business he and two others founded after he left the army, something about spying on liberals. “The charges weren’t true,” he said. “I didn’t respond well. I went into defensive mode. I learned that I need to stand up and be transparent in situations like that.”
Rider stirred the audience when he admitted to being charged with DWI “back in ’06.” He blew an .08, he said, “after a few beers.” The charges were dropped, he said. The lesson: he “doesn’t drink in public.”
Strong, who tends to over-think, offered the audience a torturous tale of attempting to set up a business taxing district in Kingston to promote economic development but in failing learned much about communication and interaction.
Democrats will nominate a candidate for a special election – if there is one – at convention at the Best Western Plus in Kingston on Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. Republicans, it appears, will still be beating the bushes for some somebody – anybody! – to run or they might just be waiting to see who Democrats put up before getting on with the November elections.
HReynolds Original Pieces February 12, 2019 February 12, 2019 2 Minutes
Freedom's just another word
Catskill Mountain News
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Study reveals how bacteria communicate in groups to avoid antibiotics
Author: Brandi Klingerman
In a new study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC), researchers from the University of Notre Dame and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have found that the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a pathogen that causes pneumonia, sepsis and other infections, communicates distress signals within a group of bacteria in response to certain antibiotics. This communication was found to vary across the colony and suggests that this bacterium may develop protective behaviors that contribute to its ability to tolerate some antibiotics.
Nydia Morales-Soto
“There is a general lack of understanding about how communities of bacteria, like the opportunistic pathogen P. aeruginosa, respond to antibiotics,” said Nydia Morales-Soto, senior research scientist in civil and environmental engineering and earth sciences (CEEES) at the University of Notre Dame and lead author of the paper. “Most of what we know is from studies about stationary biofilm communities, whereas less is known about the process beforehand when bacteria are colonizing, spreading and growing. In this study, our research team specifically reviewed the behavior of bacteria during this period and what that may mean for antibiotic resistance.”
The reported behavior was caused by tobramycin, an antibiotic commonly used in clinical settings, and resulted in a dual signal response. As this antibiotic was applied to a colony of P. aeruginosa, the bacteria produced a signal to a localized area of the colony — a Pseudomonas quinolone signal (PQS) that is known to occur — as well as a second, community-wide response, known as the alkyl hydroxyquinoline (AQNO).
The team mapped production of each response spatially, and determined that P. aeruginosa is capable of producing PQS in small pockets at significantly higher concentrations than previously recorded. These findings helped secure the paper’s selection as a JBC “Editor’s Pick,” a recognition only given to the top 2 percent of manuscripts published in the journal for a given year.
The study showed that PQS and AQNO are independently regulated responses that are intentionally communicating different messages. Additionally, this means the bacteria type may have some capability to protect the colony from some external toxins while the bacteria are still in a colonizing phase.
Joshua Shrout
“Although the AQNO response identified in the paper is a stress-dependent behavior, it is such a new chemical message that it has not yet been definitively labeled as a signal. Although, based on our findings, we believe it is,” said Joshua Shrout, associate professor of CEEES and concurrent associate professor of biological sciences at the University of Notre Dame and co-author of the paper. “Regardless, this work opens a new window into understanding P. aeruginosa behavior and potentially how this bacterium promotes tolerance to antibiotics.”
The study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, was able to identify a unique bacterial behavioral response because of the team’s distinctive research method. The group utilized both Raman spectroscopy and mass spectrometry to complete a deliberate analysis, pixel by pixel, from hundreds of thousands of pixels in their chemical images. This detailed process is what allowed the researchers to identify the two distinct chemical responses of the bacteria to tobramycin, which can be otherwise easily missed. The method is also a unique process developed by this specific team of researchers.
Morales-Soto and Shrout are both affiliates of the Eck Institute for Global Health. Co-authors of the study Paul Bohn, Arthur J. Schmitt Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and director of Advanced Diagnostics and Therapeutics at Notre Dame; Nameera F. Baig, postdoctoral researcher at E. & J. Gallo Winery and former graduate research assistant; Chinedu S. Madukoma, graduate student, also at Notre Dame; and Sage J. B. Dunham, Joseph F. Ellis and Jonathan V. Sweedler at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Originally published by Brandi Klingerman at news.nd.edu on April 27, 2018.
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hollandazed-thoughts-ideas-and-miscellany
FROM THE ARCHIVES: REINFORCEMENTS (by Tom Russell)
Jan 15, 2019 Mary Russell
Tags game design, reinforcements, Tom Russell, wargame
Blucher at Waterloo, the French at Inkerman, the Eagles at the Black Gate: nothing turns the tide quite so dramatically as the timely arrival of reinforcements. There are some battles (and, depending on the decisiveness of the battle, some wars) that would have went very differently if said reinforcements arrived later, or sooner, or not at all.
But reinforcements can pose a problem when it comes time to simulate those battles with cardboard squares and a paper map. If, for example, so-and-so arrived at such-and-such a time, which in game terms corresponds to Turn 6, then I know and you know that on Turn 6 so-and-so is going to arrive. What's more, we probably know where they are going to arrive, too. If I know that, as the friendly player I might take some risks in Turn 5 since I know my back-up is one Administrative Phase away. The enemy player knows not to push too far too near to the arrival hex, or conversely they know that they can block the entry hex. There's nothing quite like watching a huge chunk of the enemy army moving along an empty road that's nowhere near their actual military objectives to block the arrival of reinforcements. If only Napoleon had had the foresight to move his right wing toward hex 3838, all of European history could have been very different.
It feels kind of weird saying "perfect information, ugh", because I have no problem with knowing exactly where your stack is and who's in it, or knowing what your victory hexes are. I've never been one for the old "you are taking on the roles of the actual commanders" formulation, much preferring "the players are interested, informed historians playing with their paper time machine". So, perfect information, in general, doesn't bug me at all, and I generally prefer it, but perfect information with regards to reinforcements bugs me like crazy.
I think the reason why is that, while knowing what you're trying to do and what forces you have at your disposal to do it can lead to some "gaminess", it's usually limited, and doesn't result in actively aberrant behavior. Whereas a fixed schedule of reinforcements is practically a recipe for that kind of nonsense. Of course, I'm nowhere near the first person to say this. Gamers and designers alike have been grappling with this problem since the dawn of hobby history. So, let's look at a few different solutions, and also at a case where fixed reinforcements work like gangbusters.
Roll for Reinforcements
One of the simplest ways to introduce some suspense as to if and when the reinforcements will arrive is to roll for their arrival: so-and-so arrives when you roll a 5 or a 6. If you don't roll a 5 or a 6, roll again next turn.
Within this method, there's a lot of room for additional nuance to ensure that the game still operates within historical bounds. For example, if the cavalry came charging to the rescue around Turn 6, you can start rolling on Turn 4. On Turn 4, you need to roll a "6", on Turn 5 a "5" or a "6", on Turn 6 and every turn after, a three-plus. The result is that there's a slight chance they're going to arrive early, and a very good chance they'll arrive at the same time they did historically, or perhaps a little bit later.
In testing my upcoming-ish design Seven Pines; or Fair Oaks, I needed some way to represent Sedgwick's crossing of a bridge on the verge of collapse, and how that delayed his arrival. I wanted it to be very unlikely that he'd arrive early in the battle, but more likely that he'd arrive in the middle or late in the game. So, I used a rolling method: every turn, the Union Player rolls two dice, and if the total is equal to or less than the current game turn, he gets moving. The 2D6 bell curve being what it is, he's more likely to cross on Turns 6-8, finally arriving on the battlefield in the last few turns, and hopefully saving the day as he did historically.
Chit Pull Reinforcements
Another randomizing method is to have reinforcement chits in a cup. When the chit is pulled, the reinforcements arrive. This has its pluses and its minuses. It can be more random than the rolling method, in that it's not more likely, statistically speaking, for certain dudes to show up by a certain turn; there's generally going to be an equal chance of any of them showing up at any time. This increases the uncertainty and suspense for both players, which is great. But this can also lead to a heavier sense of historical distortion than some folks are comfortable with.
As such, it's a method that works best for games that cover either a very short or very long period of time. If a game represents a couple hours' worth of fighting, then it doesn't really matter if the Second Division arrives a half-hour early and the Third Division forty-five minutes late. If a game covers a period of some years, with each turn representing a month, of necessity it's going to be less granular, and therefore less concerned with exactly who arrived when and where. Anything in-between those two extremes, though, and you can end up with some very odd distortions.
VP for Reinforcements
Every time a reinforcement comes on, your opponent earns VP. This method turns the arrival of new guys into a decision. If you're turning your nose up at it because it's giving you too much control and predictability, think of it less as willing your relief force to appear on the horizon, and more as requesting or committing additional resources and assets from one area to another. It's a command decision.
What's great about this method is that it can introduce a lovely tension in the game. Can I achieve my goals without calling in the reinforcements? If I do call in the reinforcements, will I be able to make up the lost VP in time? In some games, there's a timing element involved as well: bring in these guys on Turn 2, and you're looking at a 5 VP deficit, but bring 'em in on Turn 5, and it's only costing you 1. This adds to that tension, because you're incentivized to bring them in as late as possible, but of course you don't want to bring them in too late.
I used a sort of variant of this method in Supply Lines of the American Revolution. The Crown Player can request additional troops and increased supplies at the beginning of a turn, but every time they do so, it's going to increase the number of Victory Cities they need to win the game. (Parliament's going to send you what you're asking for, sure, but if they do, they expect results!) There's also a sort of timing element here, but it's more situational: requesting troops will nudge the Patriot Support Marker further along its track, as the rebellious colonials are emboldened by your implicit admission of failure.
The Blocking Problem
What none of these methods address is "the blocking problem". I might not know when your guys are going to arrive, but if I have a pretty good idea of where they're going to show up, I can sit my guys on those hexes, blocking them indefinitely. (Of course this only works when relief forces are doing some kind of flanking maneuver; if your reinforcements only arrive on your map edge, and I've so thoroughly broken your line as to be in a position to block them, you probably have more serious problems.) There was one particular game I made the unfortunate decision to purchase in which one player started on the map, and the enemies entered from every direction along eight or nine different roads. But on Turn 1, that first player could move all his units to block the enemy units from entering, thus ensuring he'd win the game. Now, that's not something that I would do - I'm here to push cardboard and count hexes, not to congratulate myself on how clever I think I am - but it's still a problem. Why do I think this is a problem, while I didn't think "stack everything on Mount Doom" is such a big deal? I think stuff like that is more about goofballs exploiting edge cases, whereas blocking reinforcements is obvious enough and prevalent enough to not really be an edge case.
One solution is "units belonging to X side can't come within so many hexes of this hex until reinforcements arrive", but I'm not really crazy about that myself. It just feels too fiddly and restricting, especially as there might be legitimate reasons in the game why you'd need to move toward those hexes, and so now you need exceptions for that, and now someone on BGG is asking about this other exception you didn't think of, and it's all a lot of work to stop someone from blocking an entry hex. I used this one myself early in my career, but I didn't really dig it then and I don't really dig it now.
A better solution is "if entry hex A is blocked, units use entry hex B or C", but then you have the edge case of "what if A, B, and C are all blocked?" It doesn't really discourage jerks from being jerks so much as it encourages them to be jerkier.
My preferred solution is "if entry hex A is blocked by an enemy, reinforcements enter from any hex within a given range". So long as that range is reasonable, your units are still going to behave in a roughly historical fashion, at least arriving from the right direction if not the right road. And when the range isn't reasonable, you've just introduced the possibility of your enemy being flanked from any direction, which should be suitably terrifying to act as a deterrent against "ha-ha, I'm in this one hex and so now half your army can't come to help you".
When Scheduled Reinforcements Work
Now, there are games where fixed schedule reinforcements work. Usually it's going to be when there is a steady stream of units trickling in. Chadwick's Beda Fomm is a good example of this, as you have a constant stream of Italian reinforcements coming in on practically every turn for a good eighteen turns or so. It makes sense for that specific situation as well, as the whole thing for the Italians is to get guys from point A to point B, and the whole thing for the British is to stop those guys.
One feature of Beda Fomm that I like a lot is that at the start of the game, the Italian Player has to create nine "convoy groups" consisting of two transport and one personnel battalions. As these battalions have different factors and capabilities - the machine guns, for example, can only defend and cannot attack - the Italian Player has some latitude here and can sketch out a strategy. (Whether that plan will survive contact with the enemy or not is another story.) I'd actually like to see this kind of thing more often, personally, and in a more robust, extended form - both players secretly committing their reinforcements in ad-hoc groups, including turns of arrival, at the start of the game. Of course, the historical situation would need to warrant that approach.
Really, though, that's true across the board. Whatever the solution to these problems, and even whether or not it even is a problem, is going to depend on the situation being simulated, and also on how the designer is choosing to simulate it - what features they want to emphasize and what they want to abstract away.
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Monday, Jan 13, 2014
The Auditor-General didn't want a pay rise - but got one anyway
David Washington @davidwashingto2
Premier Jay Weatherill: a government spokesperson says he didn't know the Auditor-General had requested an unchanged salary.
South Australia’s Auditor-General Simon O’Neill specifically asked for no more money but he’s been given a pay rise anyway, taking his salary over the $300,000 mark.
While O’Neill didn’t want a larger salary, Premier and Treasurer Jay Weatherill asked the Remuneration Tribunal to adjust the salaries of O’Neill and other statutory office holders in line with any increase to public sector executive salaries.
The South Australian Remuneration Tribunal agreed with Weatherill and handed out a 2.5 per cent increase, against O’Neill’s wishes.
O’Neill has been regarded as a tenacious watchdog of taxpayers’ funds, most notably through his scathing assessments of financial management in the Health Department.
In its determination reported in last week’s Government Gazette, the Remuneration Tribunal said O’Neill had wanted no change to his salary.
“The Auditor-General conveyed his view of ‘the need for continuation of the exercise of salary constraint due to the tight budgetary conditions being experienced by the South Australian public sector and its workforce’.
“The Auditor-General concluded that ‘there should be no alteration to my remuneration’.”
A State Government spokesperson said the Government wasn’t aware of any individual submissions to the tribunal by any of the five statutory officers.
“The Government’s submission was for a rise that had regard to the movement of salaries for public service executives, consistent with past practices,” the spokesperson said.
The tribunal reports that the Premier made a submission that it should consider several factors in setting the statutory officers’ salaries, including:
The economic indices published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the South Australian Labour Price Index (which indicated that wages and salary costs for employees had increased by 3.3% in the year to 30 June 2013) and the Consumer Price Index for Adelaide (which showed an increase of 2.0% for the year to 30 September 2013);
The underlying inflation rate for September 2013, which showed the measure of ‘underlying’ inflation in Australia at an annual growth of 2.3%;
The national and global economic climate of uncertainty and its impact on South Australia’s finances;
Enterprise bargaining salary increases provided in the current public sector enterprise agreements in 2012 and 2013 averaging 3% per annum.
“The Premier submitted that it is in the public interest that the increases in salaries for the relevant statutory office holders have regard to, and not significantly differ from increases applicable to other public sector positions.”
Then, the tribunal noted that “on 16 December 2013, the Government granted a 2.5% adjustment to members of the South Australian Executive Service with effect from 1 July 2013”.
In conclusion, the tribunal said: “Having noted recent salary adjustments in the public sector, recent trends in the level of remuneration adjustments both nationally and within the state,comments and submissions from the statutory office holders and the Premier, the Tribunal has determined that a salary increase of 2.5% is appropriate.”
The determination means that the Auditor-General’s salary increased from $296,558 to $303,972.
The same percentage increase was granted to the Electoral Commissioner (new total salary $190,457), the Deputy Electoral Commissioner ($138,514), the Employee Ombudsman ($143,381) and the Health and Community Services Complaints Commissioner ($224,009).
The new salaries will be backdated to 1 July 2013, in line with the Government’s pay rise to executive level bureaucrats.
O’Neill didn’t respond to InDaily’s request for further comment.
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SPONSORED CONTENT Friday, Feb 7, 2014
Flinders actor plays a serious role in patient care
This article is sponsored by Flinders University
Charles Gent / Flinders University @flinders
Friday February 07, 2014 Comments
An actor’s ability to simulate strong emotions is usually displayed on stage or screen – for Veronica Porcaro, it’s a skill she uses to help health professionals learn to deal sensitively with patients in distress.
After graduating in drama at Flinders in 1992, Ms Porcaro (pictured) went on to appear in numerous stage and television roles, but in the past decade her focus has moved to medical role-playing.
Ms Porcaro is one of a handful of actors in Australia who regularly perform the role of cancer patients in training workshops, imitating emotions from anxiety and depression to anger so that student doctors, nurses and allied health professionals – and practising clinicians – can improve their communication skills and responses.
Until comparatively recently, training in undergraduate settings for emotional and communication skills was scarce, Ms Porcaro said.
“When I started this work 11 years ago, there was not a lot of it around, but since then demand has increased strongly in the professional world, and it’s gaining momentum in the universities as well,” she said.
“I think we’re heading that way in society – it’s no longer good enough just to have the skills of the profession you’re in, but it’s really important to be good interpersonally with people, and especially in really distressing situations such as a life-threatening illness or any conditions that involve suffering.
“And there is plenty of research that shows that if patients’ psycho-social and emotional needs are addressed, then their treatment outcomes are likely to be better: they’re more likely to adhere to their treatment and they’re more likely to find it bearable.”
Benefits flow on to the health professionals as well.
“It helps the clinicians feel more comfortable and relieves the anxiety and stress they feel around discussing these things, which can contribute to work burn-out,” Ms Porcaro said.
The role-playing scenarios are part of workshops that are run for clients that include hospitals, community health centres, universities and research institutes.
Participants can nominate the emotions they want to tackle, giving them the opportunity to test their responses in a safe and confidential setting. Feedback comes from the workshop facilitators, peers and from the actors.
While announcing a diagnosis of cancer is perhaps the most difficult task for a health professional, Ms Porcaro said that role-playing also covers topics such as cancer and sexuality, and the transition to death and dying.
“Through training and providing resources, the Cancer Council of Victoria has been instrumental in helping me develop appropriate skills on top of the acting skills I already have. I’ve also had the opportunity to speak to patients, to get an understanding of their experience.”
In performing their roles, the actors respond to a detailed, comprehensive brief, but rely heavily on improvisation.
“We have to be very spontaneous in the moment, depending on the skill level of the clinician we’re dealing with. If the skill level of the participant is advanced, we know that the role-play has to be quite intense to give them some kind of challenge so that they can learn,” Ms Porcaro said.
She said that the job is a human parallel to the many forms of high-tech simulation devices which enable medical trainees to learn difficult and dangerous procedures without endangering real-life patients.
“Role-play enables the participants to practise their interactions, and if their dialogue initially lacks empathy it doesn’t have the repercussions it would with a real patient.”
Ms Porcaro said she is very passionate and motivated in her work.
“It may not be for every actor, but it’s very rewarding for me.”
Ms Porcaro is currently in Adelaide working with the Royal Adelaide Hospital radiation therapists for a research project run by Curtain University called RT Prepare, sponsored by Beyondblue and Cancer Australia.
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Home National News Vice President addresses 19th sessions of the SCO Council of Heads of...
Vice President addresses 19th sessions of the SCO Council of Heads of Government
New Delhi: The Vice President of India, Shri M Venkaiah Naidu today expressed his concern about States that leverage terrorism as an instrument of State policy and called upon Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Member States to enforce internationally recognized legal statutes to comprehensively eradicate safe havens, infrastructure and financial networks supporting terrorism.
Virtually addressing the 19th session of the SCO Council of Heads of Government, hosted by India, the Vice President said India condemns terrorism in all its manifestations. “We remain concerned about threats emerging from ungoverned spaces and are particularly concerned about States that leverage terrorism as an instrument of state policy. Such an approach is entirely against the spirit and ideals and the Charter of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization”, he pointed out.
Stressing that peace was an essential prerequisite for progress, Shri Naidu told the dignitaries participating in the meeting that the most important challenge faced by the region was terrorism, particularly cross-border terrorism. “Terrorism is truly the enemy of humanity. It is a scourge we need to collectively combat”, he added.
He said “elimination of this threat will help us realize our shared potential and create conditions for stable and secure economic growth and sustainable development”.
Observing that the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic has slowed down the economic trajectory of all Member States, Shri Naidu said India has fought it bravely and has shown remarkable resilience in fighting the virus as well as in ensuring economic stability. He said that a people-empowered and people-driven approach has enabled India to keep its COVID-19 death rate at one of the lowest levels in the world.
Stating that more than 60 percent of the vaccines for global immunization programs are being manufactured in India, he said “Thanks to its world-class pharmaceutical industry, India has demonstrated itself as a ‘pharmacy to the world’ during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.”
The Vice President informed the dignitaries that when the whole country was under lock-down, India supplied medicines and equipment to more than 150 countries, including to the Member States of the SCO.
While expressing India’s readiness to share its experience with the SCO Member States in the fight against the pandemic, Shri Naidu said the sociopolitical impact of COVID-19 has exposed the weakness of global institutions.
Emphasizing that this was the time to bring in much-needed reforms to our global institutions, including WHO, and rework our development strategies to face a post-COVID-19 world, the Vice President said: “ For this, we need a Reformed Multilateralism that reflects today’s realities, gives voice to all stakeholders, addresses contemporary challenges and puts human beings at the center of our thought and policies”.
He said India was emerging as an economic force at the global level and the country’s GDP was expected to reach $ 5 trillion by 2025. To ensure stable economic growth, he said India has launched a new economic strategy: Atmanirbhar Bharat or Self-reliant India. “It prioritizes building the national economic strength, resilience and enhanced capacities to be a trusted partner and a responsible global player”, he added.
Underscoring the importance of collective efforts to overcome the ongoing crisis which has exposed the world to vulnerabilities, the Vice President said “Our hope is pinned on trade and investment as an engine of reviving growth and driver of economic recovery. For trade to play its part in the recovery process, all the partners must be trustworthy and transparent”, he pointed out and added and that nations must demonstrate their compliance with multilateral rules of trade.
He also congratulated SCO Trade Ministers for approving the Action Plan for the implementation of the Program of Multilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation for the period 2021-2025.
The Vice President asserted that India was committed to taking its cooperation within SCO to new heights by playing a proactive, positive and constructive role in the organization.
He said that India has proposed to create a Special Working Group on Startups and Innovation. It will lay the foundation for multilateral cooperation among the SCO Member States to develop and hone their startup ecosystems through knowledge-sharing workshops, training young entrepreneurs, enabling access to investors, and exchanging best practices. He said that since the launch of Startup India initiative, India has more than 38,000 recognized startups across 590 districts that have created nearly 400,000 jobs.
India offers to annually host the Special Working Group on Startups and Innovation and also the SCO Startup Forum, he added.
Referring to India’s second proposal to create an Expert Group on Traditional Medicine, he referred to the limitations of modern medical system, which is under tremendous pressure due to the unprecedented global spread of COVID-19 pandemic. “In such a scenario, traditional medicine systems have played an important supporting role in providing effective and low cost alternative to save the lives of millions in the region”, he pointed out.
The Vice President said the creation of an Expert Working Group in Traditional Medicine would effectively help to synergize our efforts in creating a holistic approach to health-care in the Eurasian region.
Observing that Ayurveda and Yoga were playing a crucial role in improving the quality of life of people, he said that India’s Ministry of AYUSH was ready to annually host the Expert Working Group on Traditional Medicine in India under the mechanism of SCO Health Ministers Meeting.
Touching upon the importance of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector in the economic growth of all countries, Shri Naidu said that India, on its part, was ready to share its best practices in this sector. MSMEs not only play a crucial role in providing large scale employment opportunities, but also help in industrialization of rural and backward areas, thereby, reducing regional imbalances, and assuring a more equitable distribution of national income and wealth, Shri Naidu stressed.
He said India’s National Chapter in the SCO Business Council Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) has proposed to organize an annual SCO MSME Bazaar and to establish a digital SCO MSME Center.
India’s Minister of External Affairs, Dr S. Jaishankar, Secretary to the Vice President of India, Shri I.V. Subbarao, Secretary (West) at India’s Ministry of External Affairs, Shri Vikas Swarup and other senior officials from MEA participated in the event. From other countries, H.E Mr. Askar Mamin, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, H.E. Li Keqiang, Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, H.E. Artem Eduardovich Novikov, Acting Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic, H.E. Andleeb Abbas, Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Pakistan, H.E. Mikhail Mishustin, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, H.E. Mr. Qohir Rasulzoda, Prime Minister of the Republic of Tajikistan, H.E. Abdulla Nigmatovich Aripov, Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, H.E. Amrullah Saleh, 1 st Vice President of Afghanistan, H.E. Golovchenko Roman, Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus, H.E. Eshaq Jahangiri, First Vice President of Iran, H.E. SODBAATAR Yangug (Sc. Dr) Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia, H.E. Mr. Rashid Meredov, Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers, Minister of Foreign Affairs Turkmenistan, SCO Secretary-General- H.E. Mr. Vladimir Norov, Director of the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) – H.E. Mr. Jumakhon Giyosov, Chairman of the SCO Business Council – Mr. Sergey Katyrin, Chairman SCO Interbank Association- Mr. Igor Shuvalov were among the dignitaries who attended the virtual summit.
Following is the full text of the Vice President’s opening address –
Dobree Den ! (Good day!)
Dama ee gaspada (Ladies and gentlemen),
Darageey druzeyaa(Dear friends)
Yaa raad vaas veedit ! (I am glad to see you)!
It gives me an immense pleasure to welcome you all to the 19th Council of Heads of Government Summit.
I extend a warm welcome to Honourable Prime Ministers of SCO Member States and Honourable Ministers/representatives of Observer States, and our Special guest from Turkmenistan. I would also like to welcome SCO Secretary General, the Executive Director of SCO RATS, Chairman of the SCO Business Council, and Chairman of the SCO Interbank Association.
We were very much looking forward to welcoming you in India and to meet you in person this year. Unfortunately, the continuing impact of COVID-19 pandemic did not allow for such a meeting. I do hope that we can host you sometime in future.
India and the SCO region share ancient historical, cultural and civilizational linkages. We share a common geographical space, which has facilitated continuous exchange through the millennia of people, ideas and goods in both directions and left indelible imprints on our customs, traditions and languages. In fact, barring the last few centuries, relations between India and SCO region have flourished uninterrupted for thousands of years.
India today is an emerging economic force at the global level. In 2019 Indian economy has reached around 2.8 trillion dollars. In PPP terms we are the third largest economy in the world. By 2025, India’s GDP is expected to reach $5 trillion and it will be the youngest nation with average age of 29 yrs. With more than 1 billion mobile subscribers and over 600 million internet users, India has the potential to emerge as one of the largest digital ecosystems in the world.
However, the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic has slowed down the economic trajectory of all Member States. India has bravely fought the global pandemic and has shown remarkable resilience in fighting the virus as well as in ensuring economic stability.
Thanks to a people-empowered and people-driven approach, India has kept its COVID-19 death rate at one of the lowest levels in the world. India has one of the highest recovery rate of over 93%. India’s outstanding efforts in managing COVID-19 crisis has found global recognition, including from the WHO.
India has also been at the forefront of producing quality medicines and vaccines at low cost. More than 60 percent of the vaccines for global immunization programs are being manufactured in India and this global vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used to help all countries in fighting this crisis. More than 30 indigenous vaccines are currently being developed in our country, three of them are in an advanced stage. Thanks to its world-class pharmaceutical industry, India has demonstrated itself as a ‘pharmacy to the world’ during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Excellencies, even when the whole country was under lock-down, we have supplied medicines and equipment to more than 150 countries, including to the Member States of the SCO. We are ready to share our experience with you in the fight against this common menace.
However, the sociopolitical impact of COVID-19 has been more acute and has exposed the weakness of global institutions. This is the time to bring in much needed reforms to our global institutions, including WHO, and rework our development strategies to face a post-COVID-19 world. For this, we need a Reformed Multilateralism that reflects today’s realities, gives voice to all stakeholders, addresses contemporary challenges and puts human beings at the center of our thought and policies.
To ensure stable economic growth, we have launched a new economic strategy: Atmanirbhar Bharat or Self-reliant India. It prioritizes building the national economic strength, resilience and enhanced capacities to be a trusted partner and a responsible global player. It recognizes the importance of reciprocity, transparency and fairness in the context of trade. It is gratifying that the Indian economy is steadily moving on the path of recovery.
While undertaking individual efforts, we must underscore the importance of collective efforts to overcome this situation. The ongoing crisis has exposed the world to vulnerabilities, forcing us to explore ways to support each other. Our hope is pinned on trade and investment as an engine of reviving growth and driver of economic recovery. For trade to play its part in the recovery process, all the partners must be trustworthy and transparent. It is trust and transparency that determine the sustainability of global trade and nations must demonstrate their compliance with multilateral rules of trade to remain a part of this system.
However, economic growth and trade can only operate in an environment of peace and security.
Peace is the essential prerequisite for progress. The most important challenge faced by us in the region is terrorism, particularly cross-border terrorism. Terrorism is truly the enemy of humanity. It is a scourge we need to collectively combat.
India condemns terrorism in all its manifestations. We remain concerned about threats emerging from ungoverned spaces and are particularly concerned about States that leverage terrorism as an instrument of state policy. Such an approach is entirely against the spirit and ideals and the Charter of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Elimination of this threat will help us realize our shared potential and create conditions for stable and secure economic growth and sustainable development.
We consider the SCO as an important regional group to promote cooperation in various fields based on universally recognized international norms, good governance, rule of law, openness, transparency and equality. It is unfortunate to note that there have been attempts to deliberately bring bilateral issues into SCO and blatantly violate the well-established principles and norms of SCO Charter safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of SCO Member States. Such acts are counterproductive to the spirit of consensus and cooperation that define the SCO as an organization.
India is committed to take our cooperation within SCO to new heights by playing a proactive, positive and constructive role in the organization.
During our Chairmanship in this year, we have proposed to create a Special Working Group on Startups and Innovation. As you are aware, India has the 3rd largest startup ecosystem in the world and has created a robust and dynamic environment for startups and innovators to thrive. Since the launch of Startup India initiative, India has more than 38,000 recognized startups across 590 districts that have created nearly 400,000 jobs.
India offers to annually host the Special Working Group on Startups and Innovation and also the SCO Startup Forum.
Our second proposal is to create an Expert Group on Traditional Medicine under the annual SCO Health Ministers meeting. We have witnessed the limitations of modern medical system, which is under tremendous pressure due to the unprecedented global spread of COVID-19 pandemic. In such a scenario, traditional medicine systems have played an important supporting role in providing effective and low cost alternative to save the lives of millions in the region.
India’s Ministry of AYUSH is ready toannually host the Expert Working Group on Traditional Medicine in India under the mechanism of SCO Health Ministers Meeting. We look forward to cooperating with all SCO Member States in this field.
In the past five decades, the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector has emerged as a vibrant and dynamic sector, in the economic growth of all countries. MSMEs not only play a crucial role in providing large scale employment opportunities, but also help in industrialization of rural and backward areas, thereby, reducing regional imbalances, and assuring a more equitable distribution of national income and wealth.
India, on its part, is ready to share its best practices in this sector. On 23 November, we have hosted the SCO Business Conclave in B2B format with special emphasis on MSMEs to achieve these objectives. Our National Chapter in the SCO Business Council Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI)has proposed to organize an annual SCO MSME Bazaar and to establish a digital SCO MSME Center.
I also congratulate SCO Member States for participating in the first ever Consortium of SCO Economic Think Tanks hosted by India. The Delhi Action Plan developed by the Consortium provides an excellent road-map for future economic cooperation.
I am also happy to note that the National Service Scheme (NSS) from India has formally joined the SCO Youth Council. Their exemplary work in nation-building through our youth, will bring a new vibrancy to our engagement with SCO.
Science has remained central to the progress of mankind. Every generation faces unique challenges, and it is through scientific breakthroughs in the past that we have been able to overcome these challenges.
I believe that we should nurture and encourage our young scientists to come up with imaginative solutions to the problems of livelihood and sustainable growth.
I congratulate the Member States for successfully participating in the first-ever SCOYoung Scientists Conclave, which was hosted by India in this month. In order to continue our collaboration in this field, Indian side would like to host this forum on a biannual basis.
The strength of our ties is based on our strong cultural and historical roots. Our way of life was shaped by goods and ideas that crisscrossed our nations.
The trade routes of the past were also the path that carried Buddha’s eternal message of peace and coexistence of all countries in our region. To celebrate our civilizational linkages and our shared cultural heritage, we are today inaugurating the Exhibition on Shared Buddhist Heritage of SCO Member States in virtual format, hosted by the National Museum of India.
I hope you will agree that deeper knowledge about our culture and diversity will be useful to better understand each other. With this in mind, 10 Books of regional Indian literature were translated into Russian and Chinese to encourage a wider interest in India’s rich literary traditions.
As a part of the activities to commemorate the 20th anniversary of SCO in 2021 India would also be hosting a SCO Food Festival in Delhi. I would like to extend invitations to all Member States to participate in this event.
Through India’s initiatives during our chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of Government in 2020, we have aspired to cooperate and contribute substantively to the trade, economic and cultural agenda of the SCO.
Our mantra is simple:Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas. India is committed to constructive participation in the SCO growth story.
In fact, Indian tradition views the whole world as a single united family and considers its welfare of utmost importance. Incidentally, we, in India, are celebrating today the 551stbirth anniversary of Guru Nanak, one of India’s greatest saint philosophers who gave the world a timeless message of peace, charity, co-operation and mutual respect. These are the quintessential Indian values that also underpin SCO’s vision of peace and progress.
I would also like to extend my warm felicitation to Kazakhstan which will now take over the Chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of Government in 2021. We assure the new Chair of our total support.
Spasiba! (Thank you!)”
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Board index ‹ Philosophy Forums ‹ Philosophy
Delueze Study:
This is the main board for discussing philosophy - formal, informal and in between.
285 posts • Page 11 of 12 • 1 ... 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Re: Delueze Study:
by d63 » Sat Feb 13, 2016 8:29 pm
“From the very beginning of this study, we have maintained both that social-production and desiring-production are one and the same, and that they have differing regimes, with the result that a social form of production exercises an essential repression of desiring-production, and also that desiring-production - "real" desire - is potentially capable of demolishing the social form. (116/138)” -Holland, Eugene W. (2002-01-04). Deleuze and Guattari's Anti-Oedipus: Introduction to Schizoanalysis (p. 56). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.
I would first point out that this is a quote from Anti-Oedipus extracted from Holland’s book.
That formality dealt with, this brings to mind a quote from Picasso (a connection that suggests (call it confirmation bias if you will (what I’ve always said about Deleuze: that the creative act is never that far from his mind. Anyway, Picasso said:
“Taste is the enemy of art.”
But I would humbly propose that this warrants revision. Picasso was a visual artist which commits him to feel over meaning. What Archibald MacLeish said about the poem:
“A poem should not mean but be.”
:holds even more true for the work of art. A work of art, much like a dream, gets most of its meaning from the discourse that goes on around it via the very network of desiring and social production that D & G describe. But Picasso being a visual artist, we can assume him to not be one to clearly define his terms. Philosophy, however, is defined by the attempt to do so –even if it is an often failed one or one, such as that of Derrida’s, that defies meaning for the sake of making meaning.
I would start with the term ‘art’. I would argue that art is, by definition, a social phenomenon defined by publically shared taste. This was, for instance, what Duchamp (as well the dada movement as a whole (was getting at when he hung a urinal in an art gallery to suggest that it became art by receiving the validation of the authority of the gallery or museum.
What I actually think Picasso was referring to was the creative act which is childlike, instinctive, and spontaneously private in nature. One only need experience the process by which the private act of improvisation (bricolage (becomes a work of art in order to get this. Therefore, I believe we can twist Picasso’s statement (in a strangely ironic way (to:
“Art is the enemy of the creative act.”
Unfortunately, in terms of D & G’s model of machinic production, this shows itself to be little more than a momentary stay against confusion: an arborescent calcification in the vast rhizomatic flux they ask us to immerse ourselves in. By their model, we can see, rather, a feedback-loop between the private and the public. While the creative act must begin in an act that any child could engage in and return to it frequently, it still has to engage in the discourse of the public: look what I’ve done, Mom!!!. And it is this discourse with the public that can lead to the blocks in the flows of energy that can deflect those flows into nomadic trajectories. Once again:
“From the very beginning of this study, we have maintained both that social-production and desiring-production are one and the same, and that they have differing regimes, with the result that a social form of production exercises an essential repression of desiring-production, and also that desiring-production - "real" desire - is potentially capable of demolishing the social form. (116/138)”
Humble yourself or the world will do it for you -it was either Russell or Whitehead. I can't remember which.
When I was young, I use to think the world was a messed up place so i was pissed off a lot. But now that I'm older, I know it is. So I just don't worry about it. -John Lydon (AKA Johnny Rotten).
Anarchy through Capitalism -on a flyer thrown out during a Kottonmouth Kings concert.
First we read, then we write. -Emerson.
All poets are damned. But they are not blind. They see with the eyes of angels. -William Carlos Williams: in the introduction to Ginsberg's Howl.
You gotta love that moment when the work is done and all that is left to do is drink your beer and sip your jager and enjoy what you've done. It's why I do and love it.
I refuse to be taken seriously.
Once again: take care of your process and others will take care of theirs. No one needs a guru. Just someone to jam with.
:me
by d63 » Tue Feb 16, 2016 5:53 am
“What the Oedipal family-machine produces is just enough: obedient ascetic subjects programmed to accept the mediation of capital between their productive life-activity and their own enjoyment of it, who will work for an internalized prohibitive authority and defer gratification until the day they die, the day after retiring.” -Holland, Eugene W. (2002-01-04). Deleuze and Guattari's Anti-Oedipus: Introduction to Schizoanalysis (p. 55). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.
Here we run into the kind of conflicts and contradictions that can occur in the general flux of desiring and social production in the context of D & G’s points about debt. What I’m mainly thinking about here is the paradox of thrift which notes that, on one hand, thrift and saving is encouraged as the way to get ahead or be blessed by the religion of Capitalism. At the same time, living in a debt based economy as we do, if everyone were thrifty and saved until they got too old to actually enjoy it, our economy would implode. The odious aspect of it is that once the individual (in support of our expansion based economy (goes into debt to the point of no longer being able to dig themselves out, they find themselves subject to the Calvinistic finger wag of some kind of moral failure on their part, that referred to as the pathetic fallacy in sociological circles. In other words, our system gives praise (and can only give praise (to the ascetic lifestyle because so few people engage in it as to not present the very real threat it actually presents if practiced universally –a threat Capitalism is perfectly aware is there.
This can be seen in the workings of Alan Greenspan who, being an inflation hawk, always recommended raising the interest rate when the economy got too hot then, upon seeing the effect of this on his country-club buddies, turned to the import of expanding credit.
We can see a similar dynamic in Capitalism’s claim to an intimate and exclusive relationship to freedom in terms of the automaton. On the production side of the equation, the automaton would be perfectly suitable. The problem is that, on the consumption side of the equation, automatons don’t need much: nourishment, shelter, sleep, little more. They are the perfect ascetics. And we can see it all over the semiotics of advertising as well as media in general. On one hand, it offers these paths to freedom which we can buy our way into; while on the other hand, it is always describing to us the perimeters we must stay within in order to have that freedom. Lately, according to most beer commercials, it’s been the hipsters. And to see the most extreme aspect of this dynamic, all you need to look at is an infomercial that happens to have an audience. It’s surreal: an audience cheering at the product the host is selling. We see something similar on game shows.
And we see as much in the world presented in the shows that corporate owned media presents us with (Seinfeld for instance: a world in which no one has to ask what they can afford, but what product to buy. We see a similar dynamic in Modern Family as well –that is as much as I like the show.
Basically what we’re looking at through media is the creation of consumer bots. The scary thing is that most of us (at least the intellectually curious who inhabit these boards (know better. The problem is that we can’t be sure our politicians do. We can’t help but feel that most policy is based on what they see on media.
As D&G point out: Capitalism should, in theory, deterritorialize, yet, always seems work back to reterritorializations.
by d63 » Thu Feb 18, 2016 8:21 pm
First of all, an update for my fellow Deleuzians: this will likely be my last rhizome from this particular immersion for several weeks until I return to the actual text of Anti-Oedipus. So breath a sigh of relief and keep doing what you do until I get back. Anyway:
“More significantly, the infant may pull away from the breast for other reasons, without any ultimate physiological satisfaction having been achieved. Perhaps a smile catches its eye, and it suspends the mouth-breast connection to pursue an eye-face connection instead - and then maybe looks away and brings a finger into connection with a lock of hair: in each case the disjunctive energy of anti-production functions to suspend one organ-machine connection, but only for the sake of another, in an open-ended series: either mouth-breast, or eye-smile, or finger-hair, or whatever.” -Holland, Eugene W. (2002-01-04). Deleuze and Guattari's Anti-Oedipus: Introduction to Schizoanalysis (p. 32). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.
This gets at my understanding of D & G’s almost metaphysical system of desiring and social production –especially in the context of the right-wing in America. It’s about the micro(molecular(molar flows of energy that can, due to conflicting trajectories, result in blockages of those flows. We need only think here of resistance as defined by physical law: that which also requires energy to exist. And what can result from these blockages is a kind calcification that can, at best, redirect the flows of energies that go on around it.
For instance, we tend to think of sexuality as historically being repressed. But as Foucault points out, this has never been the case. It has, rather, always been channeled to the needs of the given power structure. And we see this to this day in the semiotics of advertising which is notorious for exploiting our sexuality for the sake of getting us to buy a given product and sell possibility which is what Capitalism is best at selling, thereby, selling itself: Who wants to be a Millionaire! Take, for instance, the recent onslaught of Viagra commercials that show utterly hot middle aged women who assure us that it is normal and alright for middle aged men to suffer from E.D.. Now note the environments they are always moving in: ones that are clearly above most of our pay-grades. It is as if to say that the only men who need apply are those who work in the 6 figure range.
That said, we can see the D & G metaphysics in the brown shirt activities of the right: a clear expression of hysteria. What they represent is blockages of the flows of energy that have calcified into paranoid/fascist centers. The problem is that they cannot stop (being as finite as they are (all flows of energy: all acts of desiring and social production. Therefore, those flows get directed into expressions of hysteria. And this redirection takes expression in every cheap tactic they resort to. Take, for instance, the goonish (brown shirt (nature of the voter ID laws that must have been cause for a lot of triumphant chuckling among the tea party as they attempted to ram them through. They, of course, threw up their hands and argued they were just trying to maintain the integrity of the voting process -that is when it was never really in question.
Still, I am fully aware that schizoanalysis takes up no one cause. And in this sense, I would point out the similarity of it to the ultimate deconstructive rebellion of Christ: the fact that he belonged to everyone while belonging to no one at the same time. It’s basically what got him killed.
by d63 » Thu Mar 03, 2016 8:46 pm
One of the first things I’m noting about Spinoza (that is as I scratch the surface of The Ethics (is how he seems to be using arguments similar to Anselm’s ontological proof of God, but towards clearly different ends. I mean even on a first run through (on the audio book even (you get a sense of what it was that got him in so much trouble. The most notable is his argument that God, as substance, by careful reasoning, cannot possess free will which must have seemed quite offensive to those who held a more conventional view of God.
And I can tell already, given how my filters are working, that this particular immersion will be primarily focused on the relationship between Deleuze and Spinoza and may well lead to a following immersion in Deleuze’s book on Spinoza –that is: just to see what happens. For instance:
“Proof.— If several distinct substances be granted, they must be distinguished one from the other, either by the difference of their attributes, or by the difference of their modifications (Prop. iv.). If only by the difference of their attributes, it will be granted that there cannot be more than one with an identical attribute. If by the difference of their modifications— as substance is naturally prior to its modifications (Prop. i.),— it follows that setting the modifications aside, and considering substance in itself, that is truly, (Deff. iii. and vi.), there cannot be conceived one substance different from another,— that is (by Prop. iv.), there cannot be granted several substances, but one substance only. Q.E.D.” -Baruch Spinoza (2013-09-01). Ethics (Kindle Locations 44-49). Heraklion Press. Kindle Edition.
(Now first of all, I’m hoping someone here (perhaps my German jam-mate, Harald (can help me on what “Q.E.D.” means as it is sprinkled throughout the book.)
That said, I can’t help but read the BwO into this. If I am getting Spinoza right, it is as if Substance is like a plane upon which various intensities (attributes and modes (can break into their various and individual nomadic flights (expansion (while still being attached to the BwO of Substance: contraction.
And I’m starting to see the connection between the BwO as described above and Deleuze and Guatarri’s sense of desiring production or the rhizomatic network of it –at least within Spinoza’s emphasis on the infinite as compared to the finite. And I would also note the possible foundation of Deleuze’s materialism in:
“That thing is called free, which exists solely by the necessity of its own nature, and of which the action is determined by itself alone. On the other hand, that thing is necessary, or rather constrained, which is determined by something external to itself to a fixed and definite method of existence or action.” -Ibid
And I, once again, have to approach this with the same provisional materialism I approach Deleuze with(as well as Rorty (for the sake of a workable model –that is in a pragmatic spirit. And I do so with full acknowledgement that this is the very same argument that hardcore materialists have been throwing at me over the years.
This, of course, has been wide swipes and the fumbling around of someone out their comfort zone. But as Deleuze tells us: we write at the edge of what we know. And we do that to hopefully zero in on the particulars. May I not waste my time and yours.
by d63 » Sat Mar 05, 2016 9:29 pm
“I do not doubt, that many will scout this idea as absurd, and will refuse to give their minds up to contemplating it, simply because they are accustomed to assign to God a freedom very different from that which we (Def. vii.) have deduced. They assign to him, in short, absolute free will.” -Baruch Spinoza (2013-09-01). Ethics (Kindle Locations 440-442). Heraklion Press. Kindle Edition.
In a sense, it is as if Spinoza is exploring the same territory of as Deleuze and Rorty in reaction to the folly that results from Cartesian dualism. The difference is that Deleuze and Rorty do so in terms of human behavior and our cultural history while Spinoza works in an analytic style focused on the contradiction at work in the notion of a perfect God and that god having Free Will. And his argument is interesting and compelling in that context.
“But, it is said, supposing that God had made a different universe, or had ordained other decrees from all eternity concerning nature and her order, we could not therefore conclude any imperfection in God.” –ibid (different page
Now to the best of my ability to explain it, the idea is that if God had free will, it would open Him up to the possibility of making other choices than what he has. In other words, this opens Him up to the possibility of making better choices than what he already has. And this is a direct contradiction to the notion of a perfect god. In other words, a perfect god could not possibly make any choices other than those it makes in order to be perfect. This can, according to Spinoza, only mean that God (that is as substance (can only act according to a fixed and determined nature.
(Once again: it’s no wonder he got his ass in the sling he did.)
And we can see this as a variation of Leibniz’s best of all possible worlds. The thing that is interesting to me is how Spinoza (given his description of God as substance (still refers to it as Him as compared to It. My guess would be that it is the result of a lag in the multiplicity of our cultural evolution. And we can see this in the masculine/feminine scheme implied in:
“But, it is said, supposing that God had made a different universe, or had ordained other decrees from all eternity concerning nature and her order, we could not therefore conclude any imperfection in God.”
What we see here is the patriarchal vision of nature as feminine while God hovers above it all decreeing the laws by which nature must work. And why couldn’t those laws be feminine? But then I am prone to the kind of “loose thinking” that Spinoza condemns when he says:
“No doubt it will be difficult for those who think about things loosely…. “ -Ibid (different page
Guilty as charged. But there is a method to the madness in that I think loosely to work my way to clearer thought: my hermeneutic. But that is an issue for a future rhizome.
by d63 » Tue Mar 08, 2016 3:52 am
“PROP. VII. The order and connection of ideas is the same as the order and connection of things.” -Baruch Spinoza (2013-09-01). Ethics (Kindle Locations 664-665). Heraklion Press. Kindle Edition.
This, of course, reads like representation. So it seems kind of strange that Deleuze would have taken to Spinoza like he did. But this is easily attributable to same thing any student of philosophy (or intellectual inquiry in general (has to do when approaching a more established practitioner: steal what they can use.
That said, I think I might have found a couple of quotes that point towards the univocity of Being that Claire Colebrook connects between Deleuze and Spinoza in her Routledge Guide to Deleuze. But I’m finding it in a weird roundabout way:
“This truth seems to have been dimly recognized by those Jews who maintained that God, God’s intellect, and the things understood by God are identical. For instance, a circle existing in nature, and the idea of a circle existing, which is also in God, are one and the same thing displayed through different attributes.” –Ibid (different page
Given that, in terms of substance, mind and body are just two sides of the same thing, what we find ourselves approaching here is something similar to Berkley’s Idealism in which he argues that given that everything exists in the perception of it, the only thing that could be keeping our individual perceptions of the world consistent with other individual perceptions is our sharing in the mind of God. Spinoza then goes on to say:
“PROP. VIII. The ideas of particular things, or of modes, that do not exist, must be comprehended in the infinite idea of God, in the same way as the formal essences of particular things or modes are contained in the attributes of God.”
What I’m getting at here is the univocity of Being comes out of the fact that reality for us can only come out of how it registers in the mind. Therefore, its very existence is not so much conditional on existing in the mind as its participation in a vast exchange of energy between minds and their objects. And the univocity of Being makes perfect sense since, logically, a thing either is or isn’t. Because of this, it makes little sense to talk about (as Rorty points out (ontological status since, once again, a thing either exists or it doesn’t. Being, unlike everything else in reality, is a is or is not situation.
Think, for instance, of a unicorn. Now while all evidence points to the probability that unicorns don’t exist, we still have to admit that the concept of one does and that the concept has as much being as a real one standing before our very eyes. The idea, in conclusion, is to recognize that our perceptions of and interactions with the world , our emotional responses, our passions (in short: our subjective experiences, have the same ontological status (Being (as the rock that stubs your toe: the so-called objective.
And we might consider here the implications this would have for Deleuze and Guatarri’s model of desiring production as well as Deleuze’s Transcendental Empiricism.
by d63 » Wed Mar 09, 2016 4:05 am
As it stands, the latter part of Spinoza’s The Ethics strikes me as common sense explained in elaborate logical language that, at times, seems to obscure the issues involved. It seems almost too mundane to add to the philosophical process of anyone who might read it –including Deleuze. At the same time, I thought the same thing about Rawls’ Laws of the Peoples while now finding myself recognizing some value in it. So I defer judgment.
On the other hand, as I find myself going back (in my study points (to Part 1 on the nature of God as Substance, I’m starting to see that one of Deleuze’s main attraction to him may have lain in the mind-bending logic of it, that which Deleuze revised by translating substance to a more secular understanding. For instance:
“PROP. V. There cannot exist in the universe two or more substances having the same nature or attribute. Proof.— If several distinct substances be granted, they must be distinguished one from the other, either by the difference of their attributes, or by the difference of their modifications (Prop. iv.).
“If only by the difference of their attributes, it will be granted that there cannot be more than one with an identical attribute. If by the difference of their modifications— as substance is naturally prior to its modifications (Prop. i.),— it follows that setting the modifications aside, and considering substance in itself, that is truly, (Deff. iii. and vi.), there cannot be conceived one substance different from another,— that is (by Prop. iv.), there cannot be granted several substances, but one substance only. Q.E.D.” -Baruch Spinoza (2013-09-01). Ethics (Kindle Locations 43-49). Heraklion Press. Kindle Edition.
I would start my fumblings by pointing out that Substance (being an uncaused cause (would precede all attributions (that which knows the essence: that which without it could not be what it is: of a thing (and modifications. This creates a kind of paradox in that we have to ask how substance can precede the attribute and still be defined by an attribute. What we’re basically looking at here is a set of all sets type situation.
At the same time, I can’t help but agree with Spinoza’s conclusion that there can only be one substance in that (perhaps because of it being an uncaused cause (since attributions and modifications are somehow separate from substance, there could not be any attributions and moderations to separate one substance from the other. At least to me that seems to be the more blue collar to approach Spinoza’s point.
We could also see this as how Substance, Attributes, and Modifications are intimately intertwined (while Substance is given privilege (and the source of Deleuze’s notorious obscurity and the headache I’m experiencing while writing this, a headache that the beer and Jager is doing little to appease. And I can’t help but throw this out there in the hope it will make a solid connection:
I can’t help but feel this mish-mash is the source of Deleuze’s explorations in Difference and Repetition. All one would have to do is translate Spinoza’s god into Being and you stand a chance of getting it if the headache doesn’t kill you.
by d63 » Wed Apr 26, 2017 8:39 pm
“Deleuze gives us new concepts to account for what exists and for reality, in particular, in his definition of reality as both the virtual and the actual. For example, a coconut is both an actual coconut and the intensities or pure becomings it expresses in the encounter with the sensations of individuals (to become hard, to become grainy, to become hairy, to quench, to nourish).” -Williams, James. Gilles Deleuze's Difference and Repetition: A Critical Introduction and Guide (pp. 7-8). Edinburgh University Press. Kindle Edition.
What Williams seems to be referencing here is the Doctrine of the Faculties as described by Joe Hughes in his secondary text on Difference and Repetition. And I can’t help but see an overlap (or hangover (with my recent immersion in Stanley Fish. I can’t help but see that the temporal changes everything and is what distinguishes contemporary thought from the modern.
As Fish pointed out to me, the static notion of text acts as if the text is just there waiting to be understood in a static kind of way –as if the meaning is just there waiting to be discovered. But as Fish’s opposition to the intentional fallacy suggests, the writer’s intention tends to change with the text they are writing. I have experienced this myself. Therefore, because of the temporal shared by all parties involved (writer, reader, text (the causal chains tend to spread into kind of plane of immanence as Deleuze described it. Deleuze basically describes this same dynamic through the doctrine of the faculties in which the object becomes the text continually becoming through the mind’s temporal process of recognizing.
And in both cases, it is like imagining this simple linear causal chain occurring between subject and object and, in terms of temporality, smearing it across the canvas until it all blends into an abstract whole that is beyond simple interpretation.
by d63 » Thu Apr 27, 2017 7:22 pm
Today was a kind of Sartre day. To quote an entry from Nausea:
Today: nothing: existed
I mean it: I got nothing from today’s study point at the library. Fortunately, my process allows for a few fallbacks. I can (and will), for instance, go back through some of my previous notes on this particular book (James William’s guide to Difference and Repetition). There is always, everyday that space to fill. And it is not coincidental that I bring Sartre into the mix. So let’s roll the dice:
“At this point, the extent of the ambitions and revolutionary aims of Difference and Repetition come into view. It is not only a book on ‘how a life is lived best’, rather, it is a book that claims that pure differences are the other face of all actual things – there is no such thing as a well-defined actual life.” -Williams, James. Gilles Deleuze's Difference and Repetition: A Critical Introduction and Guide (p. 13). Edinburgh University Press. Kindle Edition.
What I want to explore here is the influence of Sartre on Deleuze in that what Deleuze is confronting and opposing here is a kind of Sartrean Bad Faith: that which seeks to fix the precarious nature of reality. The main difference lies in Deleuze’s prescription of “connect and forget” whereas Sartre was attempting to be descriptive in the ontological model of the relationship between being-for-itself and being-in-itself. Whereas Sartre was mainly submitting to a kind of existential forward flight (as it had been described by his critics), Deleuze was basically egging it on.
And the reason (as I see it (that Deleuze did so has to do with his inclusion of Leibniz’s description of an seascape in which the individual enjoys a composite effect that could be broke down to an infinite series of individual events –that is if one had the resources. The problem for him was the subject always working in a finite space attempting to broach the infinite. So his solution was a kind of intellectual attention deficit disorder in which the subject bounced around the rhizomatic matrixes (he had yet to develop (in order to broach (or “traverse” as he liked to say (a sense of the whole. Hence the manifesto of “connect and forget” that puts the individual at any given point in the matrix while anchoring them (in a very loose sense (through the residual effects of previous points in the matrix the individual is wandering. And to Deleuze, clinging to those previous points can only weigh the flight down.
Now the important thing to note here is how this escalated (w/Guatarri (into the too-accelerated process encouraged by The Anti-Oedipus. As D & G saw: too many people with a taste for chaos were using it as a justification for self destruction. This is why they had to back down in A Thousand Plateaus.
by d63 » Sat Apr 29, 2017 7:57 pm
“Contrary to appearances, his work has little to do with empirical methods of contemporary cultural criticism or empirical sociology or psychology.” -Williams, James. Gilles Deleuze's Difference and Repetition: A Critical Introduction and Guide (p. 28). Edinburgh University Press. Kindle Edition.
Now as I have said repeatedly: the main flaw with and weakness in the continental approach lies not with and in its practitioners, but rather its detractors in that it is not meant to be taken literally. Living in the Midwest and working among more “down to earth and day to day” type of guys as I do, I often (in the stream of consciousness that flows through my brain (come up against the question of how I would answer the question that might come from any of them: why philosophy? What does it do?
And the answer I imagine giving them is that it is a form of poetic speculation or a poetic way of engaging with reality. Of course, we have to be careful here in that such a description gives license (especially among younger practitioners (to new age romanticism: becoming one with the universe and all that. As William’s says after:
“Are we not on the verge of the worst kind of mysticism when we begin to speak of real but not actual differences?” -ibid
And we are broaching mysticism with Deleuze. Take, for instance, the notion of all subject/object relationships being a process that goes from the initial sensible encounter to understanding and recognition. We deduce this from the temporal, much as all mystical assertions are basically deduced. But how do we know that those encounters aren’t more immediate? We assume the temporal due to our temporal position in space. Still, we can’t totally dismiss it given its deductive power. And that is the power (the resonance and seduction (of Deleuze.
And excuse the “dear diary” moment, but it is the poetry of Deleuze (as well as philosophy (that makes it hard for me to go back to poetry as it is commonly defined –that is even though I know good and well that I should in order to get back to the day to day matters of the human condition.
by d63 » Sun Apr 30, 2017 6:57 pm
Been considering doing this for some time now, but have been holding back out of intimidation. But sometimes it’s like skydiving: you step through the threshold and gravity does the rest. I want to attempt a rough (and necessarily incomplete (sketch of what Williams describes as lying at the core of Difference and Repetition.
It starts with Deleuze’s slant on Kant’s model of how we come to know reality via the sensible, imagination, and apprehension. Deleuze’s model or Doctrine of the Faculties (according to Hughes’ secondary text (runs from the sensible to imagination onto memory and, finally, into thought. In terms of the first three points, we are looking at passive syntheses. It is not until we reach thought in Deleuze’s model (or Apprehension in Kant’s (that we start to move into active synthesis.
Now, returning to Williams, what this results in (and here we have to think of the individual as a space in which thoughts take place (is the subject’s engagement with reality or an object (or even an experience (as not an “all at once thing” thing, but rather a process of becoming. Whatever we are looking at or analyzing, we are always doing so in a shifting context: the virtual as compared to the actual. And the rest of the book is pretty much an analysis of the relationship between the virtual and the actual and its implications –that is if I am understanding it right.
And here again, we return to the import of the temporal in post-structuralist/modern thought that leads to the kind of postmodern smear that is so attractive (that which seduces and resonates with (to so many of its practitioners. Here we see the genealogical root of why it was Deleuze & Guatarri had to “tone it down” for A Thousand Plateaus after seeing how self destructive people (for instance: drug addicts (adapted many of the ideas and concepts of The Anti-Oedipus to their own ends: how they embraced the speed smear of the constant acceleration that Deleuze saw our full potential in.
by d63 » Wed May 03, 2017 4:56 am
One of the things that comes up in James Williams secondary text on Difference and Repetition is Deleuze’s concept of the block. And if I’m reading it right, it has to do with the subject’s (the place where thoughts take place (finite capabilities in the face of the infinite. It comes down to the limited capacity of concepts to include the infinite multiplicities of causality contributing to any given event.
And if you think about it in a genealogical sense, this may well be at the bottom of Deleuze and Guatarri’s distinction between the molar and the molecular. The molar, as Brian Massumi describes it, is a kind of blur effect of the molecular that allows us to actually comprehend what is before us. And the best way to describe it, as Massumi did, is through its negative effects. If you look at how minorities have come to be accepted (especially in the case of TV ads (it has generally been in terms of their being legitimate producer/consumers: basically molarizations defined by white heterosexual males.
Take, for instance, the TV series Will and Grace which made homosexuality more acceptable. Let’s take a look at how it made it work: taking an attractive male that happened to be homosexual and presenting him as someone who was perfectly as capable of producing and consuming as anyone else. In other words, he was made acceptable by presenting him within the perimeters of producer/consumer Capitalism and the tyranny of the functional. He was molarized: blocked from the infinite. And the same goes for minorities you see in TV ads who often come off as yuppies or hipsters who happen to have dark skin.
And none of it, of course, gets to the molecular aspects of reality: the actual complexity of the players involved. But given our finite position in the scheme of things, how could any of us actually contain, in our heads, the infinite?
And this is where the molar steps in and proves useful –even heroic. We as the intellectually curious TRY to capture the infinite only to find our efforts frustrated. Still, we have to try. Now imagine a comedian trying to do the same thing: saying something funny about the other then backtracking with: but on the other hand. Comedy is about the war rally: that which confirms unity among those with common belief systems. Think Bill Maher, John Oliver, and Samantha Bee here.
But then this may well have been why Deleuze made the distinction between humor and satire.
by d63 » Mon May 08, 2017 11:16 pm
“There are of course, many other important works that have appeared in recent years, but I will focus on these because they take Difference and Repetition as one of their principal sources. Each of these studies takes the book in different directions to mine, demonstrating the limitations of my selections and the promise of others.” -Williams, James. Gilles Deleuze's Difference and Repetition: A Critical Introduction and Guide (p. 229). Edinburgh University Press. Kindle Edition.
And I would also add:
“In each case, I will study passages from the conclusion of Deleuze's book, adding insights from interpretations of Deleuze's work that have appeared since the first edition of my book in important studies by Anne Sauvagnargues, Daniel W. Smith, Miguel de Beistegui, Levi Bryant, Joe Hughes and Henry Somers-Hall (Every order is a selection with its dark precursors and emergent illusions.).”
:then note that I have both Hughes’ and Levi Bryant’s book, have read both all the way through and done so several times with Hughes’. And as concerns Hughes’ book: you know you’re up against something deep and obscure when you have to read the secondary text several times only to find yourself still confused.
That said (and speaking of osmosis), the quote pretty much backs up my initial instincts as concerns the secondary text on Difference and Repetition: that it’s like reading several different readings of the same text. And this, of course, is exactly what Deleuze wanted: various individuations of the series and events involved in Deleuze’s text.
Furthermore (and thank you osmosis), Williams, towards the end of his book, confirms my metaphor: that of a beautiful Mademoiselle that will lead you to believe that you can have her, yet slip away when you approach her. Hence the not altogether explainable (sometimes frustrating), yet compelling attraction I feel towards Difference and Repetition. I hate myself for wanting to go forward with it; yet can’t walk away.
by d63 » Thu May 11, 2017 11:50 pm
Difference, Repetition, Ball Joints, and Other Drivers:
“Thus we make things the same, even the most simple things, against the background that they could be very different (I can't believe the bolt failed . . .). So each bolt, each simple same thing, matters because it carries with it the possibility that it could be different.” -Williams, James. Gilles Deleuze's Difference and Repetition: A Critical Introduction and Guide (p. 35). Edinburgh University Press. Kindle Edition.
Just to offer a personal analogy (as a steppingstone and not to fix what Deleuze was talking about), I would turn the issue of repetition and difference to the issue of driving. I, myself, tend to drive like most of your grandparents: slow. I will even take the slower routes on regular streets as compared to the faster routes of interstates. And this may well be (perhaps because of Deleuze or perhaps other reasons (because my faith in repetition has decreased while my faith in difference has increased. And the same dynamic might be at work in my increasing fear of heights in the overlap between the potentially self destructive forward flight (connect and forget (of Deleuze (that which was fully expressed in The Anti-Oedipus) and Sartre’s Vertigo of the Possible (and I am paraphrasing here from memory) :
“The Vertigo of the Possible, then, is not so much a fear of falling into the abyss as throwing one’s self in.”
My children, however, have tended to drive like their full faith was in repetition. They assumed, given the repeated environments they were driving in, all variables involved would repeat their selves: that all other drivers would act in expected ways and the mechanics of their automobiles would continue to repeat what they had always done. My son, however, discovered difference when his ball joints broke twice on him: once on the interstate and another time in the neighborhood. I have, personally, experienced difference in other drivers when my first Spark got totaled by a young man who was paying more attention to his senorita than the red light in front of him.
Luckily, no one has gotten hurt so far. But, in a blue-collarized way (and I think Deleuze would agree with me here), it does give you a sense of the danger of an over-exaggerated faith in repetition. At the same time, I’m equally sure that Deleuze would see my recognition of difference and concerns about it as a kind of neurosis and prelude to a paranoid/fascist center.
I mean thank god (whatever it is (I stake my faith in the difference described above.
by gustaave » Fri May 12, 2017 5:25 am
d63 wrote: Thanks for contributing, guys.
nope lol
gustaave
by URUZ » Tue May 23, 2017 9:09 pm
"Hence one is correct in speaking of a profound dissimulation of the dualism of these two forms of money, payment and financing–––the two aspects of banking practice. But this dissimulation does not depend on a faulty understanding so much as it expresses the capitalist field of immanence, the apparent objective moment where the lower or subordinate form is no less necessary than the other (it is necessary for money to play on both boards), and where no integration of the dominated classes could occur without the shadow of this unapplied principle of convertibility–––which is enough, however, to ensure that the Desire of the most disadvantaged creature will invest with all its strength, irrespective of any economic understanding or lack of it, the capitalist social field as a whole. Flows, who doesn't desire flows, and relationships between flows, and breaks in flows?–––all of which capitalism was able to mobilize and break under these hitherto unknown conditions of money. While it is true that capitalism is industrial in its essence or mode of production, it functions only as merchant capitalism. While it is true that it is filiative industrial capital in its essence, it functions only through its alliance with commercial and financial capital. In a sense, it is the bank that controls the whole system and the investment of desire."
--Deleuze and Guattari, Anti-Oedipus, pp. 229-230
EIHWAZ PERTHO NAUTHIZ
Location: The topoi
by d63 » Fri May 26, 2017 5:59 pm
Void_X_Zero wrote: "Hence one is correct in speaking of a profound dissimulation of the dualism of these two forms of money, payment and financing–––the two aspects of banking practice. But this dissimulation does not depend on a faulty understanding so much as it expresses the capitalist field of immanence, the apparent objective moment where the lower or subordinate form is no less necessary than the other (it is necessary for money to play on both boards), and where no integration of the dominated classes could occur without the shadow of this unapplied principle of convertibility–––which is enough, however, to ensure that the Desire of the most disadvantaged creature will invest with all its strength, irrespective of any economic understanding or lack of it, the capitalist social field as a whole. Flows, who doesn't desire flows, and relationships between flows, and breaks in flows?–––all of which capitalism was able to mobilize and break under these hitherto unknown conditions of money. While it is true that capitalism is industrial in its essence or mode of production, it functions only as merchant capitalism. While it is true that it is filiative industrial capital in its essence, it functions only through its alliance with commercial and financial capital. In a sense, it is the bank that controls the whole system and the investment of desire."
Makes me wish I was presently doing an immersion in the Anti-Oedipus, Void. Good quote.
by d63 » Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:24 pm
"Last but not least, the major enemy, the strategic adversary is fascism (whereas Anti-Oedipus' to the others is more of a tactical engagement). And not only historical fascism, the fascism of Hitler and Mussolini -which was able to mobilize and use the desire of the masses so effectively- but also the fascism in us all, in our heads and in our everyday behavior, the fascism that causes us to love power, to desire the very thing that dominates and exploits us." -from Michel Foucault's preface to The Anti-Oedipus
Approaching Deleuze and Guatarri’s Anti-Oedipus for the nth time (via the book itself and Buchanan’s reader guide), it suddenly strikes me how relevant the book is to the present political climate –especially in America as concerns our present president. What makes it especially relevant is how D & G stress that fascistic experiments are not the result of who happens to obtain power, but rather a social environment that is conducive to it. And let’s face it: Trump is not the cause of the problem; he is a symptom. He is, rather, little more than a node in a vast rhizomatic network of machinic production. And we cannot stress the import of this enough since addressing Trump alone (through impeachment or whatever other means (will not solve the problem.
For instance, while it is Trump who publically turns to Gordian Knot solutions, it was private citizens looking for those kind of solutions that got him in. In fact, it is this basic human need for simplicity that lies behind the whole alt-right movement and their propensity towards such solutions. And this leaves us with a vicious feedback loop (a snowball effect (that starts with Trumps simple answer to a sluggish economy: deregulation and the withdrawal from the Paris Treaty. But as most scientists note, the first effects of global warming will lie heavily on third world countries close to the equator. So what do we think is going to happen when those areas become so uninhabitable that its occupants are forced to migrate north? What it will likely do is legitimize the alt-right position (the fascism (through excessive illegal immigration. And don’t think of it as some thought-out conspiracy. Think it, rather, as ignorance propping itself up through a kind of accidental Orwellian staged event.
On the uptick, though, Trump may well end up renewing interest in the work of Deleuze and Guatarri –especially the Anti-Oedipus. It may well result in the Deleuzian century that Foucault joked about.
by d63 » Sat Aug 19, 2017 8:15 pm
"To be anti-oedipal is to be anti-ego as well as anti-homo, willfully attacking all reductive psychoanalytic and political analyses that remain caught within the sphere of totality and unity, in order to free the multiplicity of desire from the deadly neurotic and Oedipal yoke. For Oedipus is not a mere psychoanalytic construct, Deleuze and Guattari explain. Oedipus is the figurehead of imperialism, "colonization pursued by other means, it is the interior colony, and we shall see that even here at home... it is our intimate colonial education."" -from Mark Seem's intro to The Anti-Oedipus
"Depression and Oedipus are agencies of the State, agencies of paranoia, agencies of power, long before being delegated to the family. Oedipus is the figure of power as such, just as neurosis is the result of power on individuals. Oedipus is everywhere.
"For anti-oedipalists the ego, like Oedipus, is "part of those things we must dismantle through the united through the united assault of analytical and political forces." Oedipus is belief injected into the unconscious, it is what gives us faith as it robs us of power, it is what teaches us to desire our own repression." -ibid
First of all, I gotta say it again: while the e-book technology is cool in how you can easily copy and paste quotes from the book, there is still something to be said for having to physically write out a quote from another writer. You just seem to assimilate the content as well as the style all that much more.
Secondly, I want to (in this window (frame these quotes in terms of a recent article I wrote for Philosophy Now (publication pending or, more likely, not gonna happen): In Defense of the Nihilism and the Nihilistic Perspective: https://trollersandtyrants.blogspot.com ... &type=POST
It seems to me that Seem is getting at the spiritual aspect of nihilism in terms of the Anti-Oedipus. We basically broach the possibility of a Zen Nihilism when we say things like:
"To be anti-oedipal is to be anti-ego as well as anti-homo, willfully attacking all reductive psychoanalytic and political analyses that remain caught within the sphere of totality and unity, in order to free the multiplicity of desire from the deadly neurotic and Oedipal yoke.”
It’s basically what we do when we begin to tap into the underlying nothingness of things. I mean isn’t that what Zen is about? Dissolving the ego? And what would the ego dissolve into but nothingness? And in this sense, D & G work explicitly in the psychotic mode I describe in the article:
“The psychotic mode is a strategy of retreat. The individual, having no real criteria by which to judge action, recedes into their own semiotic bubble with its own vocabulary and systemic constructs –think the rules of grammar here. At its most extreme, it recedes to a point where the Symbolic Order is incapable of interacting with it while it is incapable of interacting with the Symbolic Order. The most obvious example, of course, is the schizophrenic walking down the street engaged in their own discourse, either with their self or some imaginary other. But it also takes on more watered down and socially understandable (if not acceptable) forms. Drug addicts and alcoholics, for instance, also recede into their own bubbles with their own systems of meaning (vocabulary) and rules of interaction (rules of construct). They too create their own semiotic systems that seem alien to the general Symbolic Order. We also see this at work in the more socially acceptable and productive form of the avant garde, that which addresses various conventions and power discourses and seeks to change flaws and injustices in the Symbolic Order.”
What D & G seem to be getting at (via their materialistic model (is an egoless state in which we see ourselves as nodes (not individuals with egos that might try to take control (in a de-centered system of exchange. And they do so in relation to the Symbolic Order as defined by Lacan. Once again:
“We also see this at work in the more socially acceptable and productive form of the avant garde, that which addresses various conventions and power discourses and seeks to change flaws and injustices in the Symbolic Order.”
This, of course, points to the very problem Rorty saw in the subject/object dichotomy: as long we maintain it, we continue to see ourselves as some kind of lord over the object, authorized to pass judgment on it. But by Rorty and D & G’s model, we rid ourselves of such erroneous models, and see ourselves as systems with various subsystems interacting with other systems with their various subsystems.
by d63 » Sun Aug 20, 2017 7:22 pm
"It is at work everywhere, functioning smoothly at times, at other times in fits and starts. It breaths, it heats, it eats. It shits and fucks. What a mistake to have ever said the id. Everywhere it is machines -real ones, not figurative ones: machines driving other machines, machines being driven by other machines, with all the necessary couplings and connections. An organ-machine is plugged into an energy-source-machine: the one produces a flow that the other interrupts. The breast is a machine that produces milk, and the mouth a machine coupled to it. The mouth of the anorexic wavers between several functions: its possessor is uncertain as to whether it is an eating-machine, an anal machine, a talking-machine, or a breathing-machine (asthma attacks). Hence we are all handymen: each with his little machines. For every organ-machine, an energy machine: all the time, flows and interruptions. Judge Schreber has sunbeams in his ass. A solar anus. Judge Schreber feels something, produces something, and is capable of explaining the process theoretically. Something is produced: the effects of a machine, not mere metaphors." -from the Anti-Oedipus
Today I want to speak from a position I am most comfortable with: that as a guy trying to be a good writer who also enjoys the philosophical process of going from empathy to outright sympathy. I’ve always kind of “gotten” the Anti-Oedipus. It’s why I’ve returned to it as well as Deleuze. (Perhaps it’s the challenge or something. And I mean it: damn the French and their weird obscure philosophies anyway!) But having approached this book for the nth time, I am starting to see how truly beautiful the writing is in this book. I would note, for instance, the disjunctive effect of:
“For every organ-machine, an energy machine: all the time, flows and interruptions. Judge Schreber has sunbeams in his ass. A solar anus.”
Here we get a dissonant effect similar to a Stravinsky or Schoenberg piece. This, to me, creates a kind of Jouissance (that kind of push/pull effect (that defines true greatness. Depth, intensity, and lightness of touch. I would also note how D & G manage a subtle humor by looping back to previous points:
“Not man as the king of creation, but rather as the being who is in intimate contact with the profound life of all forms or all types of beings, who is responsible for even the stars and animal life, and who ceaselessly plugs an organ-machine into an energy-machine, a tree into his body, a breast into his mouth, the sun into his asshole: the eternal custodian of the machines of the universe."
I would especially focus in on “the sun into his asshole” which refers back to “Judge Schreber has sunbeams in his ass. A solar anus.” We can also see this in “a breast into his mouth” which not only refers to the breast machine connecting with the mouth machine, but the complex sexuality involved as well.
The main thing to understand for now is that in order to get at the expositional aspect of the book, you first have to understand the aesthetic aspect of it. You have to turn content into form via form.
by d63 » Tue Aug 22, 2017 1:42 am
"When Claude Levi-Strauss defines bricolage, he does so in terms of a set of closely related characteristics: the possession of a stock of materials or of rules of thumb that are fairly extensive, though more or less a hodgepodge -multiple and at the same time limited; the ability to rearrange fragments continually in new and different patterns or configurations ; and as a consequence, an indifference toward the act of producing and toward the product, toward the set of instruments to be used and toward the over-all result to be achieved."
"Hence the coupling that takes place within the partial object-flow connective synthesis also has another form: product/producing. Producing is always something "grafted onto" the product; and for that reason desiring production is production of production, just as every machine is a machine connected to another machine." –both from D & G’s Anti-Oedipus
Of course, my method of operation (or method of madness –take your pick) is becoming more obvious here. I mean the way my trajectory is going, it may come to randomly picking a paragraph out of whatever book I’m reading and just bouncing off of it with my own thoughts. But it seems appropriate in terms of my relationship to philosophy: not as a philosopher (I simply don’t have the training), but as someone trying to be a good writer who happens to like the philosophical process: that of turning empathy into sympathy, thereby assimilating theory to the point you can play with it. In that spirit, I would ask the reader to consider everything I write (especially on these boards (as a journal entry describing a philosophical process.
I mainly bring this up because what I am about to do is relate what I get out of these quotes to articles (unpublished articles (as well as articles I want to write. This may come off as self-promoting. But that is not my intention –that is despite the fact that I will also include links to articles I have written. It is merely to point out (in a dear diary kind of way (that I am finding some support for my instincts. My appeal to authority (and that is exactly what it is), however, is not meant to confirm my conceptual play as the final word. I consider it a form of play. And that is all I ever want it to be. Anyway:
"Hence the coupling that takes place within the partial object-flow connective synthesis also has another form: product/producing. Producing is always something "grafted onto" the product; and for that reason desiring production is production of production, just as every machine is a machine connected to another machine."
I would first reference the reader towards my concept of Efficiency: http://moretha.blogspot.com/2017/08/eff ... ticle.html
Then I would point out that one of the main reasons Efficiency has stuck with me is that along the way is that it has found some confirmation and articulation (as well as expansion (through two of my holy triad: Deleuze and Rorty. I see it as a synthesis of the two as Deleuze (as well as Guattari (provide the de-centered, rhizomatic network in which Efficiency works while Rorty’s pragmatism (I consider myself drawn to French theory while being equally drawn to the Anglo-American style of exposition (provides a more accessible approach to it.
But the main reason I bring this quote into it is that it points to one of the main points I want to make about Efficiency: that the idea is to produce output that can produce output down the line: to produce production. This is the very point of minimizing the differential between the resources put into an act and those gotten out: to put off heat death as long as possible. There is only so much energy in the universe. So it makes perfect sense to engage in every act in a way that will ensure further acts.
This one is dear to me because of an article I want to write on my next output phase:
Bricolage: the Ultimate Epistemology
This is Deleuze as the philosopher for which the creative act is never that far from his mind. (And let us not leave out Guattari as anyone knows who has read The Anti-Oedipus Papers.) And as Deleuze argues (via Bergson: nature, as a whole, is creative. Bricolage is the very process (by using what is at hand (by which all things change –including a creative process. As I will point out in the article, we only need look at dreams which have been scientifically pointed out to play an important role in brain plasticity. Think about it: the brain does a random inventory of its contents and randomly juxtaposes one mental element on another until it finds patterns that resonate with and seduces it. Then it stores those patterns as an element it can juxtapose with other random elements.
And let us note here the important role that chancing (as described in Deleuze’s Logic of Sense ( seems to be playing here.
"Just as a part of the libido as energy of production was transformed into energy of recording (Numen), a part of this energy of recording is transformed into energy of consummation (Voluptas). It is this residual energy that is the motive force behind the third synthesis of the unconscious: the conjunctive synthesis "so it's...," or the production of consumption." -from the Anti-Oedipus
I want to return to this with different intentions than yesterday. But before I do, I want to show a little integrity in pointing out I was, to some extent, wrong when I said:
“First of all, I would thank Mr. (or is it Professor? (Dr. perhaps? (Buchanan for doing the footwork of extracting and giving me (for the mere price of a book: his reader’s guide to the Anti-Oedipus (the three syntheses of Anti-Oedipus: the connective, the disjunctive, and the conjunctive. As dialectic of the unconscious, it’s been useful to me. And it’s not like D & G make an effort to lay them out in any organized manner. They just kind of fold it all into their aesthetic approach to exposition.”
I was right to thank Buchanan for pointing out the triad to me. Without doing so, it might have passed by me yet again. Where I went wrong was:
“And it’s not like D & G make an effort to lay them out in any organized manner. They just kind of fold it all into their aesthetic approach to exposition.”
One could almost believe in a higher power in the way fate seeks to make a fool of you. And as fate would have it, I came across 4 sections: 3 of which are dedicated to each individual synthesis and one at the end to sum them up. Yes, I’m a little slow on the uptake; but at least I’m getting there.
That confession out of the way, I want to get at the element of Lacanian Jouissance involved in the three syntheses: connection, disjunction, and conjunction. But I first have to explain my understanding of Jouissance as I got it from a graphic guide: Lacan for Beginners. And thumb down your nose if you will. But I have found the concept very useful, not just in my own thought, but in the way I interpret the work of not only D & G, but Slavoj Zizek as well.
Jouissance, as many of you might know, is about sexual ecstasy: the experience of pleasure. But Lacan makes it a little more complex than that. He first points out that in the act of sex, we experience pleasure at a conscious level while experiencing discomfort at a subconscious level. The example he gives is that of engaging in sex then, right when the male is about to climax, pulling out the penis and clamping down on it. This, of course, would create discomfort –not to mention blue-balls. Then he goes on to reverse this and point out that many psychological symptoms (since they tend to be repeated (are a matter of experiencing discomfort at a conscious level while experiencing pleasure at a subconscious one. And it makes perfect sense since people with such maladies tend to repeat behaviors that give them discomfort. Why else would they?
But it goes even deeper, and more subtle, than that. If you think about it, sex is a process of working towards a thresh-hold that will take you out of a place you are really enjoying at the time. It’s like you’re going in two directions at the same time. And this can lead to a kind of push/pull experience that underlies much of what we experience, including D & G’s dialectic of the three syntheses: connection, disjunction, and conjunction. I mainly see it in the latter two. Disjunction speaks for itself. Conjunction expresses it through consumption and “consummation” –both of which feel like orgasm. As was pointed out in a footnote:
"The word consommation has a number of meanings in French, among them consummation (as of a marriage); an ultimate fulfillment or perfection; and consumption (as of raw material, fuel, or products).”
And I hope to elaborate on this. But my window is closing. Before I go, I would also note the feel of Jouissance in:
"Delirium and hallucination are secondary in relation to the really primary emotion, which in the beginning only experiences intensities, becomings, transitions. Where do these pure intensities come from? They come from the two preceding forces, repulsion and attraction, and from the opposition of these two forces."
And it is from the opposition of repulsion and attraction that we experience Jouissance.
"How can people possibly reach the point of shouting: "More taxes! Less bread!" As Reich remarks, the astonishing thing is not that some people steal or that others occasionally go out on strike, but rather that all those who are starving do not steal as a regular practice, and all those who are exploited are not continually out on strike: after centuries of exploitation, why do people still tolerate being humiliated and enslaved, to such a point, indeed, that they actually want humiliation and slavery not only for others but for themselves? Reich is as a thinker at his profoundest when he refuses to accept ignorance or illusion on the part of the masses as an explanation of fascism, and demands an explanation that will take their desires into account, an explanation formulated in terms of desire: no, the masses were not innocent dupes; at a certain point, under a certain set of conditions, they wanted fascism, and it is this perversion of the desire of the masses that needs to be accounted for." -From D & G's Anti-Oedipus (pg. 29)
To be honest, while this has always been a section of the Anti-Oedipus that I have assimilated the most (through both original and secondary text (in fact, one my favorite quotes (and I have quoted it often (has been and remains:
“As Reich remarks, the astonishing thing is not that some people steal or that others occasionally go out on strike, but rather that all those who are starving do not steal as a regular practice, and all those who are exploited are not continually out on strike….”
(I now have mixed feelings about it. It is, of course, a concern we all share –that is because people do seem to seek their own oppression. And I cannot speak for people in other advanced nations. But there is a lot here that does not jive with the American experience of emergent fascism –especially as it is coming to a head under Trump. It becomes immediately suspect with:
"How can people possibly reach the point of shouting: "More taxes! Less bread!"”
This is by no means the call of the right. In fact, it is the opposite. And I do, without qualification, attribute the American propensity for fascism with the right. While there are fascist impulses in the left (I’ve experienced them in myself as well as others), the left simply does not have the pull with the Capitalistic regime to be as dangerous.
For the right in America, it is more about empowerment through more money in their pocket. It is more about how they could be doing great if it wasn’t for the undesirables: immigrants, welfare mothers, tax and spend liberals, etc., etc... In this sense (and at the risk of making the same mistake as Bill Maher), I would argue that Malcolm X’s house-slave dynamic actually works better in that no tyrant works in a vacuum. What they must do, rather (much as Trump is doing with the military), is create a cushion between themselves and those who will suffer with well compensated acolytes. And this worked as well for Stalin as it did Hitler. I would also note:
“….after centuries of exploitation, why do people still tolerate being humiliated and enslaved, to such a point, indeed, that they actually want humiliation and slavery not only for others but for themselves?”
The problem is that, in America, anyone who has watched the TV show COPS can see that humiliation and slavery are mainly aimed at the undesirable other: in this case, white trash and minorities –or rather non-producer/consumers. We see this at work, as well, in a guy who stood outside a Trump rally and waxed wishfully about the day he could go to the Mexican border, buy a 25$ permit and get 50$ per confirmed kill.
At the same time, I would not totally dismiss D&G’s, as well as Reich’s, deeper and more desire based understanding. It would be hard to maintain that self-interest is purely to blame when you have food stamp recipients in Louisiana expressing nothing but hate for the federal government. But couldn’t we blame that on ignorance and illusion?
The point is not to dismiss D & G’s model of social production and the folly it can lead to. I have every intention of pursuing it further myself. All I am saying is that we have to be a little wary of theoretical overreach and recognize that simpler and more accessible models (such as Malcolm X’s house slave dynamic (are as worthy of consideration, that simply because a conceptual model is more subtle and complex (the radical purely for the sake of the radical (we must accept it as the right explanation.
by d63 » Fri Dec 15, 2017 9:26 pm
One of the things I’m starting to get from Eugene Holland’s reader guide to the Anti-Oedipus is the inherent opposition between desiring production and anti-production via the former’s inherent tension with social production –that is even though both are basically the same thing. On the other hand, it might be better to say that anti-production is opposed to desiring production while naturally emerging from social production. Let me explain and hope I don’t fuck it up, hope I make more sense to you than it might be making to me.
I would start by pointing out that desiring production works at a subconscious level. It works in the pings, grunts, and silences in the meat of the brain. That is the language of the brain. But evolutionary mandates require that those pings, grunts, and silences connect with other bodies -the brain basically being the ambassador of the body. It is at this point that desiring production translates into social production. But at this point, desiring production comes up against the hard reality of other bodies with their own matrixes of desiring production. Hence: anti-production –and furthermore: the disjunctive syntheses that Deleuze and Guatarri include in the triad of connection, disjunction, and conjunction.
The best analogy I can offer is a point made by Picasso: that taste is the enemy of art. But Picasso was an artist and not a man to clearly define his terms. I would argue that what he was getting at was that taste was rather a hindrance to the creative act, that which any child could engage in, and is also a form of desiring production. Art, on the other hand, is a form of social production in that it is always about group taste while the creative act still remains a form of social production in that it is desiring- production made public. Therefore, from D & G’s perspective, Art becomes a form of anti-production in the way it filters “bad art” from “good art”. From this perspective, it would have been better for Picasso to say that Art (social and anti-production (is the enemy of the creative act: desiring production.
As I have always said: the creative act never seems that far from Deleuze’s mind. Perhaps this is why I have managed to get myself trapped in the web of that goddamn Frenchman.
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Negrini hands £150,000 job to former Waltham Forest exec
Posted on October 13, 2016 by insidecroydon
Croydon Council appears to have found the perfect replacement for Jo Negrini for the six-figure salaried job of executive director of planning and regeneration: someone who left their previous permanent role on a London council with a hefty pay-off just a few months after controversy over unchecked transfers of public money to a failing private business project.
Shifa Mustafa: £150,000 per year salary in her first permanent job for two years
The announcement came out of Fisher’s Folly yesterday that Shifa Mustafa is to be Croydon’s executive director of a department pompously entitled “Place”.
It puts Mustafa in direct control of the council’s £30 million Fairfield Halls redevelopment and with an overview of the planning process for the stalled £1.4 billion Hammersfield regeneration scheme, as well as the council’s private house builders, Brick by Brick.
The vacancy arose after Negrini was promoted to chief executive in July.
“Shifa’s appointment completes a strong, new senior leadership team at the council and I’m confident they are the right people to deliver our ambitious plans for Croydon and its residents,” said Tony Newman, the Labour council leader.
The choice of Mustafa is unusual in respect that she has not worked alongside Negrini in the past at other local authorities. Colm Lacey, Negrini’s hand-picked deputy in the Place department, had been expected to make the step up.
Instead, he has a new line manager, with Mustafa getting her first permanent job for more than two years, where she is expected to be on a salary of £150,000.
Most recently, Mustafa has been working at Kingston as an interim manager on environmental services, including some shared work with neighbouring Sutton. For six years until September 2014, Mustafa worked at Waltham Forest in east London. Mustafa was the most senior casualty in a round of what was supposed to be cost-cutting redundancies, although that did not prevent her picking up a £140,000 pay-off on her way out of the organisation.
The departure from her role as deputy chief executive in charge of regeneration was coincidentally just six months after Waltham Forest council published a highly critical report on the E11 BID, a business improvement scheme, which was on the brink of collapse with serious accounting issues, unpaid VAT and tens of thousands of pounds of debt.
This happened on Mustafa’s watch, and after she had maintained that council payments to E11 “were monitored to ensure that the services agreed to were delivered”, although Waltham Forest council was subsequently unable to produce a single document or other piece of written material which substantiated that claim.
Other regeneration projects in Waltham Forest, with costs running into tens of millions of pounds for local Council Tax-payers, also failed to be completed on time, if at all.
“I am thrilled to be able to welcome Shifa to Croydon council; she has extensive experience leading on a variety of environment and regeneration services and a proven track record of successfully delivering the services that matter most to residents,” was Negrini’s version of reality yesterday.
“Shifa brings with her a wealth of knowledge and skills that will be instrumental to the delivery of our exciting plans for Croydon. She is an outstanding candidate who will keep the borough’s residents at the heart of her decisions and I’m sure she will be a real asset to Croydon,” according to self-proclaimed “regeneration practitioner” Negrini.
This entry was posted in Brick by Brick, Business, Colm Lacey, Croydon BID, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Shifa Mustafa, Tony Newman and tagged Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Shifa Mustafa, Tony Newman. Bookmark the permalink.
1 Response to Negrini hands £150,000 job to former Waltham Forest exec
Looks like Shifa has extensive experience of failure that will come in useful with Croydon. Isn’t it amazing that the smaller Local Government gets the Senior Managers incomes get even more proportionately bigger.
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The Institute of Evangelism
Every Church an Evangelizing Community!
On Evangelism
Resource People
by John Bowen. November 5, 2008
The simplest definition of evangelism I ever heard is: “preaching the Gospel.” But that of course begs the question: What exactly is the Gospel?
A few years ago, I was leading a workshop on evangelism, and said something about “the Gospel.” An elderly gentleman in the front row spoke up and said, “I’ve been in church all of my life, and I can’t say I have ever heard anything I would call ‘the Gospel’.” Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), his priest was sitting beside him, and turned to him open-mouthed: “But you hear it every Sunday!” he gasped.
So who was right? In a way, both of them were. Certainly there are many references in our prayer books (both BCP and BAS) to “the Gospel” and we always have a “Gospel” reading-so the priest was right. But Gospel means “good news”-and somehow that parishioner had never heard anything in church that struck him as really, really Good News.
So what is the Gospel? There are many ways to describe it, but I believe most of them, while true, are not big enough:
The Gospel is that through the death of Jesus our sins can be forgiven, and the gates of eternal life are open to us. That is great news, of course, and we celebrate it every time we say confession and are absolved. But it’s only a piece of the truth.
The Gospel is that through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we are offered reconciliation with God, and as a result, a peace and a purpose that comes from knowing our Creator. That’s wonderful news-and many people long for such peace and purpose-but it’s more than that.
The Gospel is that by following Jesus, we become the people God designed us to be. The Holy Spirit shapes us, drawing out our gifts, helping us deal with our failings, so we can become more like Jesus. That is truly good news-far better to be God’s person than to be “my own person”-but it’s still not the whole story.
So what is the whole story?
I was born after the Second World War, and I remember my parents talking about the effects of that victory. My father came home, put aside his army uniform, and entered university. I was conceived and, in due time, born. Windows no longer had to be blacked out at night. Food rationing came to an end (though not as soon as people hoped). Every single change that peace brought was good news to someone. Every aspect of “normal life” that was restored brought joy to people.
But none of these single changes was the biggest good news of all. All were the trickle-down effect of what was truly the best good news: that the war was over.
Something similar is true of the examples I gave of the Gospel above. They are some of the authentic ways the Gospel impacts us as individuals. They are real and they bring joy. But what then is the overarching truth, the equivalent of “the war is over”?
I can’t do better than to quote Jesus’ words at the beginning of his ministry: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1:14-15)
The good news is that God, the God of Israel, Creator of the cosmos, is doing something new in the world, and we are invited to be a part of it. That “something new” Jesus called “the Kingdom.” That “something” hinges on Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. That “something” is at work in the world at this moment, bringing life and hope and healing everywhere it goes. And that “something” will ultimately bring about the renewal of the whole of God’s world, such that it can be called “a new heaven and a new earth.” That’s the really big good news, that’s the equivalent of “the war is finished.”
And our response to the Gospel? According to Jesus, “Repent and believe.” Too bad “repent” and “believe” have become such exclusively religious (and often negative) words. They’re not meant that way. “Repent” means basically to change our minds. Jesus is saying, “Give up your petty ambitions and plans: they’re not big enough. Don’t you know the amazing adventure God is inviting you to?” And “believe” means to commit ourselves to that adventure -to throw our lot in with Jesus and with the new thing God is up to in our world.
Isn’t that good news?
First printed in The Anglican, Newspaper of the Diocese of Toronto, October 2008
John Bowen
John Bowen was Professor of Evangelism and Director of the Institute of Evangelism at Wycliffe College from 1997 till 2013, and then Director of Wycliffe Serves! until 2016. Now retired, he is happily engaged in preaching, teaching, mentoring and writing. John is married to Deborah, an English professor. They have two adult children and four grandchildren.
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Instituting The Past
The inner mechanics of the PMI Victorian History Library
Tag: Mem Fox
Australian Children’s Book Illustration
September 8, 2020 September 8, 2020 by institutingthepast ♥ 0 Leave a Comment
The work of our favourite children’s illustrators stay with us indelibly. Everyone will have favourite illustrators, even if they don’t realise it. It might be May Gibbs with her adorable gum nuts (I was always afraid of the banksia men) or my personal favourite Alison Lester (I’m currently drinking tea out of a mug with illustrations from Magic Beach). These books and their illustrations will always be cornerstones of our childhood.
Children’s book illustrations have a long history in Australia, and this post is not going to go into immense detail. We have two excellent books on the subject and, when the library opens again, I highly recommend borrowing them if you’d like to know more.
I’m going to go through some of the history of the origins of Australian children’s illustration, and then I’ll have a look at some of my favourites.
I want to begin by saying that Australia already had a rich tradition and history of storytelling before the colonisation. Indigenous Australians were the original storytellers, well before children’s stories began to be written in books. I believe it is worth remembering that tradition as the bedrock on which Australian storytelling is based.
Western children’s illustrations depicting Australia began early, before Australia was colonised. The expeditions of early explorers such as Cook were made into stories for children. As Australia was ‘discovered’ by Europeans, children’s books began to be set here, usually written and illustrated by people who has never set foot in the country. This led to illustrations that bore little resemblance to any real Australian landscape. The first children’s book set entirely in Australia was Alfred Dudley published anonymously in London in 1830 and telling the story of a father and his highly intelligent son settling in Australia. There were 8 copperplate engravings; none of which greatly resemble Australia at all.
Adventure stories set in Australia were very popular in the UK by the mid to late 1800s. Like the early illustrations these tended to be overly romanticised and have very little to do with a real Australian landscape. You can see the Adventures of Ned Nimble in the image below.
Eventually, though, books illustrated by people who had actually been to Australia, or in fact lived in Australia began to emerge. Some of the early works include the Australian Christmas Story Book published in Melbourne in 1871 and the Australian Picture Pleasure Book published in Sydney in 1857. Both had actual Australian animals, looking vaguely like Australian animals. Interestingly, one of the first books for children published in Australia that really took off was Cole’s Funny Picture Book– the first edition of which was published in 1879. It was still in print 112 years later when I received a copy of a reprinted edition in 1991. You can see my copy and the PMI’s copy in the photo below. It wasn’t a narrative illustrated book, but more of a compendium pulling together scraps from all over the place.
We have just received a new book about EW Cole, so I’m going to write a post about him and his book arcade in the next couple of weeks.
As more books began to be written in Australia the ‘bush’ became an almost mythical place and was the setting for the majority of stories. Probably the best known from the late 1800s and early 1900s are the illustrations of Frank Mahoney in Ethel Pedley’s Dot and the Kangaroo in 1899, May Gibbs’ Gum Nut Babies in 1916 and Dorothy Wall’s Blinky Bill in 1933. You can see all three in the images below. They continue to have a longevity through to today, with TV series and in the case of May Gibbs a whole plethora of things, from mugs to tea towels.
Dot and the Kangaroo was actually published the year after Edith Pedley’s death, the story she created was one of an almost mythical Australian bush, Dot gets lost in the bush and finds the kangaroo which guides her home. It is reminiscent of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland which had been published less than forty years before and left an indelible mark on western children’s literature. Frank Mahoney’s illustrations were realistic depictions of the Australian bush, without the European bent that many earlier books depicted.
You can find out more about Dot and the Kangaroo here
May Gibbs first wrote and illustrated stories about a little girl called Marmie amongst the chimney pots of London. During the war years in Sydney she produced bookmarks, calendars and pictures and created postcards featuring gum nut characters for Australian families and the Red Cross to send to Australian soldiers. But it was when she published Gum-Nut Babies and Gum Blossom Babies that her career really took off, and her illustrations remain some of the most recognisable today. You might have seen one of her Spanish Flu illustrations making the rounds recently on social media.
When she died in 1969, Gibbs left the copyright of all her works to the NSW Society for Crippled Children (which is now known as Northcott) and the Spastic Centre of NSW (now known as Cerebral Palsy Alliance). You can find out more about May Gibbs here
Blinky Bill wasn’t Dorothy Wall’s first book. She started out with Tommy Bear and the Zookies, which was published in 1920. Tommy is the beginnings of Blinky Bill, with some of his cheekiness and rapscallion nature. She went on to illustrate a collection of stories examining the origin and characteristics of some specific Australian plants and animals. She wrote and illustrated other books as well, including several fairy stories, but it was with Blinky Bill that she really made a connection. He first appeared as a side character in her illustrations for Brooke Nicholl’s Jacko the Broadcasting Kookaburra in 1933, but came out with his own adventures later in the same year. Subsequent stories followed over the years and Blinky became embedded in the Australian psyche. I think I can still sing most of the theme song of the 1990s television show. You can find out more about Dorothy Wall here
These books, and ones like them, began to feature Australian creatures and Australian landscapes with increasing accuracy (anthropomorphic animals and vegetation aside), and the foundation of Australian children’s book illustrations was formed.
This is a brief overview of the antecedents of children’s book illustrations in Australia. Now I want to have a look at a few of my favourites.
I’m starting with Mem Fox and Julie Vivas because their book Possum Magic, is probably the best selling Australian children’s book with more than 5 million copies sold. You can see my copy in the photo below.
For anyone who doesn’t know, Possum Magic tells the story of Grandma Poss and Hush, two possums. Grandma Poss has made Hush invisible to keep her safe, but Hush decides she wants to be visible again and together they travel all over Australia to find the foods that will break the magic spell. It’s a delightful tour through Australia with a plethora of Australian food, such as “they ate Anzac biscuits in Adelaide, mornay and Minties in Melbourne, steak and salad in Sydney and pumpkin scones in Brisbane.”
In the end it’s a Vegemite sandwich, a piece of pavlova and a lamington that does the trick. It was originally written as a university assignment about mice who travelled the world to make Hush visible, but Omnibus requested a rewrite with possums and and Australia. The result was illustrated by Julie Vivas and published in 1983 and the rest, as they say, is history.
You can find out more about Mem Fox here
Alison Lester has been writing and illustrating children’s books since 1979. I’m including her in this discussion purely because she is my favourite Australian children’s book author and illustrator. I can still recite large parts of Magic Beach from memory. You can see my copy in the photo below
Alison has written and illustrated more than 40 books for children. Most are set in Australia, and often have a strong emphasis on landscape. Magic Beach was first published in 1990 and tells the story of a group of children and their imaginative explorations of a beach. The beach is actually real, and you can find it at Walkerville near Wilson’s Promontory in eastern Victoria. You can listen to an interview with Alison about the ‘magic beach’ below.
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/blueprintforliving/features/sense-of-place/sense-of-place:-alison-lester/7156686
You can find out more about Alison here
Bob Graham is another Illustrator and author who has made an enduring mark on the Australian illustrated children’s book scene. He actually studied as an artist first, at the Julian Ashton School of Art, and then travelled to the UK, but he returned to Australia in 1969 and began writing and illustrating children’s books. He’s won the CBCA Picture Book of The Year Award an astounding six times and his book A Bus Called Heaven has been endorsed by Amnesty International. My favourite of his books is The Red Woollen Blanket.
It tells the story of a little girl called Julie and the red blanket she is given when she was born. As she gets older she takes the blanket everywhere; until it is little more than a scrap, which she loses at school and then discovers that she’s grown up so she no longer needs it. You can find out more about Bob Graham here.
So that brings me to the end of my exploration of Australian children’s illustrated books. I’d love to go into more detail about the many fabulous books you can buy now, and which have shaped the minds and imaginations of Australian children over the decades, but that would be a book rather than a blog post. I’d love to know what your favourites are, so leave a comment and we can hopefully highlight some more of our fabulous children’s authors and illustrators.
Bottersnikes and Other Lost Things: A celebration of Australian illustrated children’s books by Juliet O’Conor
A History of Australian Children’s Book Illustrations by Marcie Muir
The Red Blanket by Bob Graham 1987
Possum Magic by Mem Fox 1990
Magic Beach by Alison Lester 1990
The Complete Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie by May Gibbs 1990
Cole’s Funny Picture Book No.4 1991
Cole’s Funny Picture Book No.1 72nd edition
The Complete Adventures of Blinky Bill by Dorothy Wall 1956
All about Mem – too much information?
https://www.walkerbooks.com.au/Authors_and_Illustrators/Bob-Graham
https://alisonlester.com/
About May Gibbs – Australian Children’s Author and Illustrator
https://www.naa.gov.au/learn/learning-resources/learning-resource-themes/health-and-welfare/epidemics-and-quarantine/may-gibbs-illustrations-public-health-poster
The Story Of Dorothy Wall, Creator Of Australia’s Blinky Bill
The photos are all mine except for the images from Alfred Dudley and Ned Nimble which come from A History of Australian Children’s Book Illustrations by Marcie Muir and the May Gibbs Spanish Flu image which comes from here
Alison LesterBlinky BillBob Grahambook illustrationCollection SpotlightDorothy WallDot and the kangarooEW ColeMay GiibsMem FoxSnugglepot and Cuddlepie
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May 12, 2011, 2:58 pm 0 Edit
OK, pop quiz:
Question: Who was Osama bin Laden?
If you said something like the worst genocidal criminal since Adolf Hitler, the man personally responsible for the 9/11 attacks, which killed some 3,000 innocent people, not to mention other heinous terrorist attacks around the world, you’re correct.
Question: Who was Sheikh Ahmed Yassin?
If you said the founder and spiritual head of the terrorist group Hamas, the man responsible for countless suicide attacks and marketplace bombings against civilian targets, killing Jews and non-Jews regardless of the passports they held, you are again correct.
But while much of the world (certainly not all), celebrated the elimination of bin Laden last week by a team of specially trained U.S. Seals, news of Yassin’s death on March 22, 2004 — he was killed in an Israeli air force assault — was not met with the same enthusiasm. In fact, it was just the opposite. World leaders excoriated Israel for what they repeatedly referred to as a “targeted assassination.”
Kudos to The Israel Project for bringing this outrageous double standard to light.
Here are a few stark examples.
• Following bin Laden’s death, United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon lauded the attack as a turning point in the world’s struggle against terrorism. Yet after Yassin’s death, Ban’s predecessor, Kofi Annan, condemned the Israeli attack, saying, “such actions are not only contrary to international law, but they do not help the search for a peaceful solution.”
• European Union High Representative Catherine Ashton “congratulated” the United States following President Obama’s announcement of bin Laden’s death. She said the attack “reduc[ed] the threat posed by terrorists.” But following Yassin’s death, the E.U. took aim at Israel, saying “it is not … entitled to carry out extra-judicial killings.”
• While the Vatican did not “rejoice” at news of bin Laden’s death, as its spokesman said, he noted that the al-Qaida leader’s end is a reminder of “each person’s responsibility before God and men.” After Yassin’s death, however, the Vatican said it “unites with the international community in deploring this act of violence that cannot be justified in any state of law.”
There are several other examples, but you get the point.
Both men were terrorists with blood on their hands; both preached jihad; both were taken out in targeted assassinations.
So what’s the difference between bin Laden and Yassin? Al-Qaida and Hamas?
Hamas, led by Yassin, targeted Israel; al-Qaida, led by bin Laden, targeted the rest of the Western world.
Yassin’s attacks were generally confined to Tel Aviv discos, Galilee bus stops and Jerusalem pizza shops. Bin Laden went after skyscrapers in New York, subway stations in London, resorts in Bali, embassies in Africa.
We don’t criticize world leaders for supporting the bin Laden attack. They were right to do so.
But they were categorically wrong for vilifying Israel for taking out Yassin — the real villain in that case. By supporting targeted assassinations now, only because their countries are now targeted, too, their hypocrisy is on full display.
Yes, Yassin was a blind, wheelchair-bound cleric, but those disabilities had nothing to do with his real power. Like bin Laden, he preached intolerance and murder, commanding thousands of followers. Like bin laden, he was responsible for crimes against humanity. Like bin Laden, he deserved to be brought to justice, and he was.
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New film tells story of MLB catcher, CIA spy Moe Berg
Moe BergQuirky player exemplified heroicism to documentarian
Documentarian Aviva Kempner explores player's mysteries.
By Adam Reinherz August 7, 2019, 12:24 pm 0 Edit
Moe Berg in Switzerland. Photo courtesy of Linda McCarthy
The subject of Aviva Kempner’s new film may have been a spy, but Kempner is all about spilling his secrets. With reliance upon interviews and archival footage, Kempner, a Washington D.C.-based filmmaker, relates the story of Morris “Moe” Berg, a Jewish baseball player who, aside from suiting up for the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Washington Nationals and Boston Red Sox, joined the Office of Strategic Services to spy on German activities during World War II.
“The Spy Behind Home Plate” — much like Kempner’s 1986 documentary debut, “Partisans of Vilna” — features the untold story of an inspiring figure. The 101-minute work, which opens Aug. 9 at Squirrel Hill’s Manor Theatre, utilizes 44 original interviews and 18 additional exchanges conducted between 1987 and 1991 by filmmakers Jerry Feldman and Neil Goldstein for “The Best Gloveman in the Leagues,” an unfinished film. As a collective endeavor, the project afforded Kempner greater insight into one of baseball’s more curious catchers.
Born on March 2, 1902, to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, Berg went to Princeton University and Columbia University School of Law. But his passion was baseball, and he played professionally during baseball’s golden era — when Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Earle Combs created century-spanning memories — and participated in a 1934 all-star team that toured Japan. Over the course of 15 years, Berg batted .243 with six home runs and recorded 206 runs batted in. Years before those tallies were complete, though, MLB scout Mike González presciently said of Berg, “Good field, no hit.”
Dave Harris, Berg’s roommate on the Washington Senators, supposedly said something similar about Berg: “He can speak seven languages but he can’t hit in any of them.”
Like his at-bats, Berg’s quirks and intellectual prowess are well-recorded. At Princeton, he studied Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, German and Sanskrit. He supposedly read 10 newspapers a day.
“He would not let anyone touch his newspapers until he had read them,” noted Ralph Berger for the Society for American Baseball Research. “If anyone did touch them, Berg considered them dead and would go out and buy the papers again. Even in a snowstorm Berg would go out to buy papers if someone had touched them before he did.”
Beginning in 1939, Berg appeared on the radio quiz show “Information, Please” three times. He penned a classic piece on the psychology of pitchers and hitters for The Atlantic in 1941. During World War II, Berg clandestinely followed physicists around Europe and determined Germany’s chances of acquiring a nuclear bomb. After the war, Berg supposedly declined the Medal of Merit, the highest-ranking civilian honor of its time.
Berg never married and spent his later years living with his brother Samuel and sister Ethel. When he died, Berg’s ashes were initially buried in a New Jersey cemetery then transported to Israel, though it’s not clear where on Mt. Scopus his remains are. Berg’s baseball cards are reportedly the only ones held in the CIA Museum’s collection.
All of this has contributed to Berg’s considerable mystique.
“Little about Moe Berg adds up,” wrote Berger.
“He was a linguist who became a major league baseball player, a nuclear spy who spent most of the last two decades of his life practically homeless,” echoed Mark F. Bernstein of Princeton Alumni Weekly. Even as the subject of two biographies, “he remains an enigma.”
Nicholas Dawidoff tackled the case in his 1995 book, “The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg.” Paul Rudd later played Berg in a 2018 feature film adaptation of Dawidoff’s work.
“We as Americans Jews are very much a part of the fabric of America, and our heroes are also part of baseball history,” said Kempner, who also made the film “The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg.” Her documentaries, she said, always serve a “dual purpose”: to chronicle singular American lives and to inspire others. She herself has been inspired by film, especially classic war movies; “The Bridge on the River Kwai” and “Casablanca” are among her favorites. She is not a fan of the violence she sees in today’s films.
“I think what Hollywood has developed is this whole genre of shooting and killing to get things done. To me, it doesn’t have to be a lot of gun fighting and violence to present heroes. To me, my heroes are more intellectual to begin with,” said Kempner. Whether it is the actions demonstrated in the Vilna Ghetto, the efforts of the partisans during the Holocaust or Berg’s “careful sleuthing” to determine the locations of foreign nuclear scientists and how best to stymie their work, “I think my heroes are very different.”
Whether featuring Gertrude Berg, who won the first Emmy Award for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, or Julius Rosenwald, a Chicago philanthropist who partnered with Booker T. Washington to build schools in segregated black communities in the early 1900s, Kempner tries to convey personal narratives in ways that resonate with an audience. With her new film, she sheds light on Moe Berg’s peculiarities. Even though his athletic career was largely belittled by baseball statisticians, Berg knew his worth.
“Maybe I’m not in the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame like so many of my baseball buddies, but I’m happy I had the chance to play pro ball and am especially proud of my contributions to my country,” he said in 1972, according to the CIA. “Perhaps I could not hit like Babe Ruth, but I spoke more languages than he did.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
Aviva Kempner
Manor Theatre
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In this Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019, photo, Takakito Usui, a transgender man, cries while speaking during a press conference after Japan's Supreme Court handed down in Okayama, western Japan. Japan’s top court has upheld a law requiring sterilization for transgender people to get their gender changed on official documents but acknowledged the law is increasingly becoming out of step with the international standard. (Kyodo News via AP)
Japan court upholds sterilization to register gender change
TOKYO (AP) — Human rights and LGBT activists on Friday denounced a ruling by Japan's Supreme Court upholding a law that effectively requires transgender people to be sterilized before they can have their gender changed on official documents.
The court said the law is constitutional because it was meant to reduce confusion in families and society. But it acknowledged that it restricts freedom and could become out of step with changing social values.
The 2004 law states that people wishing to register a gender change must have their original reproductive organs, including testes or ovaries, removed and have a body that "appears to have parts that resemble the genital organs" of the gender they want to register.
More than 7,800 Japanese have had their genders officially changed, according to Justice Ministry statistics cited by public broadcaster NHK.
The unanimous decision by a four-judge panel, published Thursday, rejected an appeal by Takakito Usui, a transgender man who said forced sterilization violates the right to self-determination and is unconstitutional.
Usui, 45, appealed to the top court after he unsuccessfully requested that lower courts grant him legal recognition as male without having his female reproductive glands surgically removed.
Despite the unanimous decision, presiding justice Mamoru Miura joined another justice in saying that while the law may not violate the constitution, "doubts are undeniably emerging," according to Usui's lawyer, Tomoyasu Oyama.
The two judges proposed regular reviews of the law and appropriate measures "from the viewpoint of respect for personality and individuality," according to Japanese media reports.
Japan is one of many countries with a sterilization requirement. In 2017, the European Court of Human Rights said 22 of the countries under its jurisdiction still required sterilization as part of a legal gender change, and it ordered them to end the practice.
Maria Sjodin, deputy executive director of OutRight Action International, which monitors LGBT rights issues worldwide, said she was unsure if all 22 of those countries have fully implemented the court's order. She noted that Sweden, which did away with the requirement in 2013, later became the first country to pay damages to anyone forced to undergo sterilization as a requirement for gender change.
The Japanese Supreme Court decision ends Usui's legal battle, but he and his lawyer said the opinions in the ruling left them with hope.
"I think the ruling could lead to a next step," Usui told a news conference.
Human Rights Watch said the Supreme Court ruling was "incompatible with international human rights standards, goes against the times and deviates far from best global practices." The New York-based group said the ruling tolerates grave human rights violations against transgender people.
The ruling was also criticized by Japan's LGBT community.
A transgender activist and writer, Tomato Hatakeno, tweeted that the decision shows that society's interests still come before an individual's right to freedom regarding one's body.
"The ruling suggests that reproductive health is not recognized as a basic human right," she said.
There is a growing awareness of sexual diversity in Japan, but it is often superficial and generally limited to the entertainment industry. In a country where pressure for conformity is strong, many gay people hide their sexuality even from their families because of a fear of prejudice at home, school or work. Obstacles remain high for transgender people.
Japan does not legally recognize same-sex marriages. As LGBT rights awareness has gradually grown in recent years, some municipalities have begun issuing partnership certificates to ease problems in renting apartments and other areas, but they are not legally binding.
Lawmakers in the conservative ruling party have repeatedly come under fire for making discriminatory remarks about LGBT people. Earlier this year, Katsuei Hirasawa, a veteran lawmaker, was widely criticized for saying that "a nation would collapse" if everyone became LGBT. Last year, another ruling party lawmaker, Mio Sugita, was condemned after saying in a magazine that the government shouldn't use tax money for LGBT rights because same-sex couples aren't "productive."
Separately, more than a dozen people with disabilities have filed lawsuits against Japan's government for having been sterilized against their will under a 1948 Eugenics Protection Law that was in effect until 1996.
At least 16,500 people were sterilized without consent under the law, which allowed doctors to sterilize people with disabilities and was designed to "prevent the birth of poor-quality descendants." Some orphans were also sterilized.
The government has maintained the sterilizations were legal.
AP National Writer David Crary in New York contributed to this report.
Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi
Gays and lesbians
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Home > National > People
Vagina-inspired art goes on the block for charity
In Korea’s conservative culture, artworks inspired by the vagina are not something you expect to see when you walk into an art auction. But such artworks are going under the hammer tonight to raise funds for and remove the stigma against unwed mothers.
The silent auction is organized by V-Day Seoul, a nonprofit movement which seeks to end violence against women. Publicity coordinator Zachary Garfinkel said that the vagina was chosen as the theme because it is “representative of women.”
“It is also an interesting reference point for artists to create from,” he said. “In Korea, even the word ‘vagina’ is a bit taboo, so bringing the image, and even the word, forward brings attention to the importance of V-Day and stopping violence against women.”
The auction will feature works by local and international artists, including Lauren Bedard, Vincent Sung, Hellen Choo and Dann Gaymer. It is the first time V-Day Seoul has held an auction, and it was a collaborative effort between the organizers and artists.
“There is such a vibrant art scene in Seoul, and we saw a lot of potential to get artists from all different media involved,” Garfinkel said.
Along with the auction, there will be live music, music by DJ Jeff Rands, raffles and performances. The organization hopes to raise 1 million won ($822), and the proceeds will go to the Korean Unwed Mothers & Families Association. V-Day Seoul wanted to help erase the social stigma attached to unwed mothers, a group that is “basically shunned by society.”
“There is a complete lack of empathy for these women and their families, so we thought V-Day had the responsibility to bring light to the situation,” Garfinkel said.
V-Day is a growing international movement that aims to stop violence against women and girls by tapping into community creativity. Founded 10 years ago, it has organized artistic events to raise more than $30 million for antiviolence organizations.
The campaign has branched out to over 81 countries, including in Seoul in 2007. And what started as a tiny bud within the foreign community has blossomed into a diverse and successful organization. Garfinkel is particularly proud of the increased involvement of Koreans, including artists who have donated their work for the auction. “This year really feels special,” he said. “We have a very strong interest from the Korean community.”
In April, six Korean actresses will participate in a bilingual performance of “The Vagina Monologues,” a play by Eve Ensler exploring women’s sexuality and the stigma surrounding abuse and rape, which provided the catalyst for the V-Day movement.
Violence against women is still a taboo subject in Korea. According to a 2010 survey by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, 15.8 percent of female respondents said they were beaten by their husbands, a rate five times higher than in Britain or Japan.
“As someone who feels incredibly sheltered, and even somewhat here, I was personally unaware of the prevalence of violence against women in Korea,” said Garfinkel, who moved to Korea a year ago.
But while the violence may occur behind closed doors, Garfinkel explained that “women simply do not have the same rights as men, especially within a domestic relationship.”
“I have heard horror stories from friends about screaming matches in the middle of the night, and physical altercations between men and women,” he said. “It is definitely a problem that is not really addressed or recognized in Seoul and all over Korea.”
V-Art is today from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. at The Alley in Itaewon, behind McDonald’s. Visit http://vdayseoul.com for details.
By Philip Chan Intern reporter [enational@joongang.co.kr]
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[Sponsored Report] Lotte shines in rankings of world’s best stores
A night view of the flagship Lotte Department Store in Seoul.
Lotte Shopping (CEO: Lee Chul-woo) has been ranked sixth among department store chains represented in Forbes magazine’s “The Global 2000.”
This ranking by the leading U.S. economic magazine came shortly after Lotte Department Store, a Lotte Shopping subsidiary, declared its “2018 Vision, Global Top 10” during its 30th year foundation anniversary celebration, held in November 2009, and then raised its sights to aim for the ‘Global Top 5’ in April 2011. Lotte Department Store has 34 branches, including ones in Moscow and Beijing.
The new goal of cracking the global top five will be advanced by opening 40 overseas branches by 2018, including stores in Vietnam, Russia, Indonesia and China, and increasing the contribution of overseas sales to 25 percent of total sales.
Forbes has been ranking “The Global 2000” annually since 2003, grading companies based on sales, profits, assets and market value.
In addition to the honors for Lotte Shopping among its retail competitors, the company jumped 46 places in the overall “The Global 2000” rankings, to 586th from last year’s 632nd.
According to Forbes’ valuation, Lotte Shopping had $21.1 billion in assets, $13.7 billion in sales, $614.1 million in net profit and $11 billion in market capitalization.
Among the top 2000 firms according to Forbes, 19 famous department stores are listed. The top three were PPR, Kohl’s and Macy’s, in that order. Lotte Shopping was the only Korean retail company on the list, and shared its sixth-place ranking with Falabella of Chile.
In separate honors, Lotte Shopping also shone in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, which evaluate companies based on financial results, environmental management and social contributions. Companies are cited on the basis of expectations that they will show continuous sustainable management, and the indexes have become a global standard.
Lotte Shopping was the only logistics company in Korea that was chosen in the World sector, and it has been listed as a “Supersector Leader” in the retail sector for two years in a row. Dow Jones looks at 19 sectors, including finance, retail and food and beverages; in the retail sector, Lotte Shopping received the highest marks.
BMW (automobiles and parts) and Nokia (technology) were named as supersector leaders in addition to Lotte Shopping.
Lee Chul-woo, the CEO of Lotte Shopping, commented, “Lotte Shopping is growing into a great company by firming its inside and outside, stepping up into a global company exceeding a local company and also fulfilling its social responsibility at the same time. Even in the future all of our employees will continue our efforts to challenge so that we can become a world-famous company.”
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Setting aside Japan pact, minister heads to Asean
Having at least temporarily patched up controversy over Korea’s planned signing of a military intelligence-sharing deal with Japan, Seoul’s minister of foreign affairs and trade, Kim Sung-hwan, will be able to attend regional security talks in Cambodia hosted by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations later this week.
Until Friday afternoon, there was a high possibility that Kim would not be able to attend the three-day Asean Regional Forum in Phnom Penh as he would be called upon to testify at the National Assembly about the mishandling of the General Security of Military Information Agreement with Japan.
Government offices, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense and the presidential office, were accused of rushing the agreement through a cabinet meeting on June 26, and lawmakers have argued that the government tried to push the deal forward without properly considering public sentiment toward Japan, Korea’s colonial ruler from 1910 to 1945.
But a government probe, which concluded that officials at the Blue House and the Foreign Ministry made misjudgments, paved the way for a series of resignations that shifted the spotlight from Kim.
Kim Tae-hyo, one of President Lee Myung-bak’s key foreign policy aides, resigned to take responsibility for the scandal. Cho Sei-young, director of the Foreign Ministry’s Northeast Asian bureau who played a working-level role in pursuing the pact, was also replaced.
Given the developments, the Foreign Ministry confirmed on Friday evening that Kim Sung-hwan will be able to join the talks on Thursday, when 27 foreign ministers from Asia-Pacific nations, including North Korea, are scheduled to meet.
This year’s annual forum will be the first time that high-level diplomats from the two Koreas could have face-to-face meetings since Kim Jong-il’s death in December last year. The communist regime’s foreign minister, Park Ui-chun, is scheduled to arrive in Phnom Penh tomorrow, according to Seoul officials.
The Seoul Foreign Ministry, however, has said the minister has no plans to hold a bilateral meeting with North Korea during the forum, but that inter-Korean contacts through “unofficial channels” might still be possible. The ARF statement, to be adopted on Thursday, is expected to call for a resumption of the six-party talks.
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Key patent in Apple suit invalidated
The U.S. government-run patent office Wednesday rejected 21 claims about Apple’s “pinch to zoom” patent, which the iPhone maker is suing Samsung for stealing.
As a result, patent No. 7,844,915 was tentatively invalidated by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office after a re-examination based on claims from other patent holders, including one from the U.S. and one from Japan.
The preliminary decision was publicly revealed after Samsung pointed it out in a filing to U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh Wednesday, claiming the technology was not “original enough to merit a patent.”
The patent is one of six key Apple patents that a jury in Koh’s California court ruled in August that Samsung violated. The jury awarded Apple a fine of $1.05 billion, which can be adjusted up or down by Koh.
The patent covers technology that is able to distinguish between whether a user is scrolling with one finger or whether he or she is using several touch points at a time for an action dubbed pinch-to-zoom.
Samsung hopes the Wednesday court filing will bolster its argument for a fresh trial or to have the amount of damages reduced.
Earlier this week, Koh shot down Apple’s request for an injunction against 26 Samsung smartphones and tablet PCs, rivals of the iPhone and iPad.
Separately, Samsung Electronics said yesterday it will invest $3.9 billion in its plant in Austin, Texas, to meet growing demand for 12-inch semiconductors used in mobile devices.
“Our local unit, Samsung Austin Semiconductor, has completed a consultation on expanding its production line with the state authorities,” said Samsung in a regulatory filing.
It said the expansion is aimed at dealing with robust demand for smartphones and tablet PCs which need the high-tech systems on chips to operate.
System semiconductors refer to integrating all components of a computer or other electronic system onto a single integrated circuit.
By Seo Ji-eun, Yonhap [spring@joongang.co.kr]
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DUP: What do we really stand for?
An identity crisis flared inside the largest opposition party yesterday as it unveiled proposed changes to its platform that are deemed ?too far to the right for the party’s liberal footing.
The Democratic United Party yesterday held ?talks to review its plan to revise the party’s platform. Following its bitter presidential defeat to the conservative Saenuri Party last year, the DUP has worked to ?redefine itself.
The party will have a national convention on May 4 to elect its new leadership and endorse the proposed changes. The purpose of yesterday’s discussion was to collect Democrats’ opinions on the planned revisions.
Major changes were seen in the party’s more conservative approaches toward North Korea, the free trade agreement with the United States and welfare promises.
According to the draft of the changes, the platform will call ?North Korea’s nuclear tests a security threat. It will also state that the party will put forth efforts to improve the human rights situation in the North. Also, the party will work to establish peace on the peninsula based on strong national security, the revision said.
The largest liberal party has been criticized by the nation’s conservatives for having failed to address human rights abuses in the North. The DUP protested the National Assembly’s efforts to establish the North Korea human rights act for nearly 10 years.
“Even the leftists are talking about the human rights situation in the North,” a lawmaker who worked on the draft told the JoongAng Ilbo earlier this month. “Korea is a human rights advocate, and it is hard for the largest opposition party to turn a blind eye to North Korea’s rights abuses.”
According to the proposed revision, the party will push forward a balanced diplomacy while seeking a future-oriented development of the Korea-U.S. alliance.
On the issue of economy and welfare, the DUP would remove its pledge to renegotiate the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement from the platform. Instead, the revised platform will say the party will make national interests the top priority in all trade policies, including free trade agreements.
The DUP also planned to change its goal of building a welfare-strong nation by providing universal welfare benefits to a goal of promoting growth in line with offering welfare programs.
The current party platform says the DUP upholds the public sentiment expressed through the candlelight protests against the Lee Myung-bak administration, but that part would be deleted. Instead, the platform will say that the DUP will uphold the achievements of the past liberal governments while looking back on their shortcomings.
In the current platform, the DUP identified itself as a political party for 99 percent of the people, including the working class and the middle class, but the revision draft showed that the party will be identified as a political party serving the public, mainly the working class and middle class population.
Not all Democrats, however, were supportive of the proposed changes.
“I cannot agree with the view that the DUP lost the presidential election because of its progressive policies,” said Representative Woo Sang-ho. “Why are we watering down the policies desperately needed by our main supporters, while adding the parts that are attractive to the political independents?”
Representative Jin Sung-joon also said it was inappropriate for the draft to remove all key policies of the DUP such as free medical care and free child care.
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Military to expand health checks for soldiers
The Korean military will improve its medical services system for soldiers, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
The announcement follows the sudden death of a newly conscripted soldier last month who died from diabetes complications after receiving inadequate treatment.
The focus of the reforms, the ministry said, will be on strengthening health checks for conscripted soldiers before they enter the Army to identify those with pre-existing conditions or chronic diseases.
Currently, all men eligible for compulsory military service in Korea must go through five medical checks, which test for Hepatitis types B and C, syphilis, HIV, as well as liver function.
The new system will require all Army recruits to undergo and pass 16 health checks. Those examinations will include tests to check liver health, kidney function, blood sugar levels and total cholesterol levels. Recruits will also have blood and urine tests.
The measures come after a 20-year-old soldier, surnamed Lee, who had just entered the Army, died from acute diabetes complications.
Lee, a university student, started basic training on Dec. 7 for the 50th Infantry Division. His training was scheduled to end on Jan. 23, after which he would have officially begun his service.
However, during training on Jan. 15, Lee suddenly collapsed during breakfast and was transported to a nearby hospital in Daegu, North Gyeongsang. Four days later, he died of respiratory failure, part of the complications from diabetes.
According to the military, two days before he collapsed, Lee went for a medical checkup at a military hospital in Daegu.
At the time, an Army doctor suspected Lee could have diabetes and recommended he undergo further testing. However, for reasons unknown, Lee returned to training without receiving additional medical care.
“We feel very sorry for the bereaved family,” Park Dae-seop, an official from the Defense Ministry, said at a briefing. “We are currently investigating the Army doctor in the Daegu hospital and already sent Lee’s senior officers to the disciplinary committee.”
As part of extended medical reforms for new soldiers, the military will also increase the number of Army doctors in charge of physical exams at its recruit training center from two to four.
The results of recruits’ checkups will be shared with senior Army officers so that they can closely monitor soldiers with chronic conditions.
BY KIM HEE-JIN [heejin@joongang.co.kr]
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Regional leaders gather at forum
Thirty leaders gather yesterday for a forum widely known as the “Korea-China-Japan Group of 30” at Shangri-La Hotel in Yangzhou, China. By Oh Jong-taek
YANGZHOU, China - Former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda yesterday criticized a move by a group of Japanese politicians to re-examine and modify the 1995 Murayama Statement, which acknowledged the country’s wartime atrocities, and the 1993 Kono Statement, which effectively apologized for the Imperial Japanese Army’s conscription of Korean women and girls into sexual slavery during World War II.
During a keynote speech at an annual forum of a group of 30 political, business and cultural leaders from Korea, China and Japan, the former prime minister, who served between 2007 and 2008, said the Japanese lawmakers attempting to amend its historical atonement “should be refrained.”
Fukuda added that the Japanese should be humble in looking back on their history and re-evaluating their friendships in a true sense with Korea and China.
The former politician, 78, was referring to two separate apologies. In the 1995 Murayama Statement on the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama apologized for the carnage carried out by Japan during the war.
In 1993 in the Kono statement, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono apologized for the Japanese Imperial Army’s forcible recruitment of women into military brothels.
It is extremely unusual for a politician from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to publicly criticize the Shinzo Abe administration.
He went so far as to confess that the biggest barrier to collaboration between Korea, China and Japan is the “history issue, to be honest as a former Japanese prime minister.”
Nearly 150 lawmakers visited the Yasukuni Shrine yesterday in Tokyo, a site that honors Japan’s war criminals, and a day earlier, Abe sent a ritual offering to the site in return for not joining the group.
The group of 146 included 117 lawmakers from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Korea and China instantly rebuked the move, and Japan’s English daily Japan Times said it “could be perceived as provocative by China, South Korea - and even the United States.”
Korea’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement on Monday that Abe’s offering is “an anachronistic act that hurts regional stability as well as good neighbor policies within the region.” China also lodged a protest with Japan shortly after Abe sent the offering.
“The Japanese leader’s presentation of an offering to the Yasukuni shrine and visits by Japanese cabinet ministers to the Yasukuni shrine reflect the erroneous attitude toward history adopted by Japan’s incumbent cabinet,” said China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang.
The gathering of 30 figures, widely dubbed “Korea-China-Japan Group of 30,” was launched in 2006 by three leading media groups of each country to seek solidarity and mutual growth in Northeast Asia.
The media companies are the JoongAng Ilbo, Xinhua and Nihon Keizai. Lee Hong-koo, former prime minister and adviser to the JoongAng Ilbo, leads the Korean members and Fukuda is head of the Japanese members.
The three countries take turns hosting the annual meeting and 40 percent of the proposals made by the group have been reflected in policies.
The 30 also exchanged ideas on how to cope with disasters, such as the Sewol ferry sinking, and agreed that signing a trilateral free trade agreement as soon as possible would spur economic cooperation in Northeast Asia.
On the last day of the two-day forum yesterday, the group came to the consensus that creating an amicable environment is crucial to facilitate a meeting among the leaders of the three nations.
BY SPECIAL REPORTING TEAM [spring@joongang.co.kr]
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Korea second in survey on foreign investment
Korea ranked No. 2 among seven Asian countries in terms of its investment attractiveness to foreign companies, a survey from the state-funded Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (Kotra) showed.
Kotra said yesterday that the country received 7.03 out of 10 points on the survey, the second-highest behind Singapore. The agency surveyed 243 companies across 21 countries in 28 categories, which included questions on the countries’ tax systems, labor costs and safety measures, among others.
Hong Kong took No. 3 in terms of investment appeal, followed by Japan, Taiwan, China and Malaysia.
Korea was No. 1 in social infrastructure and No. 2 in terms of its market, including market size, growth potential and accessibility to other countries. It also ranked second in terms of R&D and innovation, a section that focused on government support, technology levels and patent protection.
“We should recognize that foreign companies have rated us highly in our accessibility to China and Japan, and also our free trade agreement network,” Kotra said in a statement.
However, foreign companies felt that Korea is below average in financing, government administration and social and political stability, the survey showed.
The top scorer, Singapore, led in terms of its living environment, political and geographical factors and government administration. Hong Kong was No. 1 in financing and taxes while Japan had the best scores in R&D and innovation, the survey showed.
China led in market size, growth potential and labor resources but was the lowest in R&D, administration, financing and political and geographical factors, indicating that foreign companies think the country lacks the “software” needed to do business there, according to Kotra.
“When we talk with foreign investors, they generally measure between two and three Asian countries as their target, so competition to bring investment is intense,” said Commissioner Han Ki-won, who heads Kotra’s Invest Korea organization. “We will monitor competing Asian countries’ investment environments and try to use factors Korea is better at than others.”
Among the companies Kotra surveyed, 113 were based in Asia while 89 were European.
BY JOO KYUNG-DON [kjoo@joongang.co.kr]
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Dress codes an insight into jobs
The late Steve Jobs left more than iMacs and iPhones behind as his legacy. He also created Apple’s corporate image with his own sense of style: a black turtleneck, jeans and a pair of New Balance sneakers. It was simple and minimalistic, just like Apple’s products.
Jobs made all of his public appearances and attended every product launch in this dress code, which was much different from other CEOs. His style struck people across the world, showing that executives can represent their businesses through their fashion choices.
“It is often the case that symbols [that pop up in consumers’ minds] substitute the actual corporate image,” said Kim Geun-bae, a business administration professor at Soongsil University. “What people actually see is a man in jeans, but the people have associated that image with innovation.”
Jobs built Apple’s image as modern, classy and friendly, and many Korean CEOs have tried to do the same.
Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee showed up in a pink jacket at a Samsung Electronics management meeting in 2006 to announce the conglomerate’s new motto: innovation and creative management.
LG Electronics President Cho Sung-jin also wore a pink jacket at a launch event for the company’s new premium home appliance line.
Following their CEOs’ personal choices, more and more Korean companies are changing their office dress code to boost the corporate image on a daily basis.
John T. Molloy, author of the book “New Dress for Success,” wrote that successful businesses have a dress code that corresponds to their philosophy. He added that employers can use the dress code to send a message about the way they do business.
As the autumn hiring season has started and most conglomerates are taking applications, the JoongAng Ilbo studied male dress codes at 13 major Korean companies in a variety of industries. The study aims to give a sense of the atmosphere at each company and the company’s goals.
Each business had a distinct dress code that reflected their corporate motto, which differed noticeably depending on the area of business.
Hyundai Card employees have to stay formal and wear suits. Short-sleeve shirts are banned even during summer to emphasize the company’s professionalism.
KB and Shinhan Financial Groups both also want to look professional and reliable, but they show their intentions in different ways.
This summer, both KB and Shinhan tightened their dress codes to permit only short-sleeve button-down shirts, rather than allowing short-sleeve T-shirts as they did in the summer of 2013. The two finance companies tried to regain their customer’s trust by dressing formally after both suffered damage to their corporate image due to customer information leaks earlier this year.
“Once consumers get a bad impression of the company, they tend to think that products and services provided by the company are also bad,” said Beom Sang-kyu, a business administration professor at Konkuk University. “So it is effective when CEOs … have employees follow a more friendly dress code.”
Naver, the nation’s largest web portal, has no fixed dress code and respects its employees’ preferences, like many other IT companies. SK Telecom, the nation’s largest telecom carrier, has a similar dress policy.
However, the nation’s largest public enterprise, Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco), requires its employees to dress business casual, with well-ironed cotton pants or suit slacks with a belt.
Hyundai Motor and Hyundai E&C were the only two companies surveyed that require their employees to wear ties. The automaker’s spokesperson explained that the Hyundai affiliates “have a corporate culture with hierarchy that is stronger than other companies, and at the manufacturers, most of the workers are men.”
But there have been indications of change at companies with a conservative corporate culture as they try to live up to the demand for creativity in the business world.
Hyundai Motor’s Namyang Research Institute, the company’s main R&D center, decided to get rid of its signature blue uniform in September last year on the recommendation of Chairman Chung Mong-koo. He said the company should relax the dress code to encourage employees in a business environment where creativity is a key factor in determining a company’s fate.
“In the past, Korean companies grew based on their manufacturing businesses and boosting cooperation among employees,” said Yang Yoon, a psychology professor at Ewha Womans University. “But now, generating creative ideas has become more important to them.”
Samsung Electronics has many high-level executives who are fashion leaders themselves. Yoon Boo-keun, president of the company’s consumer electronics division, is an exemplary case of a fashionista CEO. Influenced by Yoon, other executives are also choosing to wear slim-fit pants rather than sticking to old-fashioned wide-leg trousers.
“I met this Samsung Electronics executive in his 50s who was wearing a denim shirt, a pair of narrow trousers and sneakers,” said Lee Ji-hyun, a business administration professor at Sejong University. “I used to think that Samsung was strictly bound to a sense of formality. But after meeting him, I felt that Samsung’s internal atmosphere has changed a lot compared to the past.”
Lee explained that the change in corporate dress policy comes from a company’s desire to be the top competitor in its field.
“The employers don’t simply demand employees to dress neatly. They want you to dress well,” she continued. “Dressing well means that one is up to date on social trends.”
BY YOON KYUNG-HEE [jiyoon.kim@joongang.co.kr]
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FSS will phase out biannual visits
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), the private financial watchdog, will phase out regular examinations of financial institutions every two years to give them more autonomy and room for innovation.
FSS Gov. Zhin Woong-seob, who took office late last year after his predecessor stepped down because of criticism for failing to supervise financial institutions, came up with a package of plans to make the agency fairer and more trusted, and promote growth of the country’s financial industry.
“The FSS will seek innovation of supervisory practices in order to help financial institutions maximize their capabilities, while securing management soundness,” Zhin said at a press briefing Tuesday. “The agency will emerge from the past practice of intervening in the everyday issues of those institutions and get involved only when necessary.”
The focus of the latest overhaul is to minimize FSS interference in financial institutions, the organization said. It is the first time the agency has eliminated regular scrutiny.
In 2014, after the nation’s largest-ever leak of personal information from the three major credit card companies due to poor management, the FSS conducted several investigations into the companies that expanded to include related banks and other institutions. During the investigations, the regulator found ethical scams, too, and launched further investigations.
As a result, the FSS was buried by both routine checks on institutions and special probes of those with particular problems last year. Several hundred employees and executives were penalized by the FSS.
In a scandal involving KB Financial Group’s top management last year, the FSS was blamed for getting involved in a minor internal affair. The former group chairman and its bank president were at odds over changing the bank’s main computer system. At the request of the president, the FSS investigated and only made the situation worse, ousting both the chairman and president. As a result, former FSS Gov. Choi Soo-hyun resigned due to implicit pressure from both the industry and government.
Due in part to the agency’s regrettable handling of the KB case, the FSS under Zhin plans to end its every-other-year examinations of all financial institutions by 2017.
In the past three years, as many as 39 regular investigations took place annually. This year, the agency plans to decrease the number of investigations to 21 and to 10 in 2016.
The FSS also will scale back the number of spot investigations into institutions that often damage companies’ efficiency and ease regulations on dividends, interest rates, missions and the launch of new products. For some healthy financial institutions, more regulations will be loosened.
The FSS will provide only guidelines based on international standards, said Seo Tae-jong, senior deputy governor of the FSS. It also will make clear what is accepted and what is not to help institutions make autonomous management decisions.
Rather than comprehensive investigations into overall management, the FSS will start looking into specific operations, such as sales and consumer protection.
The FSS will allow more autonomy and step in only when there are problems, Zhin said. Violators will face stricter penalties, including business suspensions and dismissal of top management officials
The watchdog will run its business assessment test programs and strengthen its surveillance role to prevent any financial crisis, the governor said. It will give incentives to companies that receive high scores on the assessment test and support their overseas businesses.
BY SONG SU-HYUN [ssh@joongang.co.kr]
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Gov’t lowers loan program rate
The government will lower interest rates for government-backed mortgage programs for low-income households to help ease financial burdens, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said on Monday.
The ministry’s announcement followed growing complaints from the low-income households that were excluded from the popular Anshim Jeonhwan Daechul refinancing program designed by the Financial Services Commission (FSC), which helped as many as 345,000 households with expensive mortgages switch to cheaper loans at a time when the benchmark interest rate was at a record-low of 1.75 percent.
The Land Ministry said it will cut the interest rate of Beotimmok Loan, a ministry-designed program for housing deposits, from the current range between 1.7 percent and 3.3 percent to 1.5 percent and 3.1 percent from April 27.
The interest rate of the Didimdol Loan, a program for purchasing houses, will be lowered from between 2.6 and 3.4 percent to between 2.3 and 3.1 percent. The rate of the Wolse Loan for monthly rents will be slashed by 2 percent to 1.5 percent.
The government loans are confined to households whose combined annual incomes do not exceed 40 million won ($36,800) a year and who do not own a home.
“While the real estate sale market is showing some signs of recovery, the lease market is still showing uncertainties due to an imbalance between supply and demand, and rising jeonse [long-term deposit] prices,” said a Land Ministry official. “Amid the low interest rate, the latest plan will help working-class people reduce the burdens of borrowing for housing.”
Separately, the FSC is preparing to announce a tailored mortgage program for people with lower annual incomes and credit levels. While the Land Ministry is devising comprehensive plans to help people reduce living costs, the financial authority is in charge of micro financial policies such as the Anshim Jeonhwan Daechul.
A total of 345,000 applications were filed for the newest program, which includes 33.9 trillion won worth of mortgages at fixed interest rates between 2.55 and 2.6 percent, in the first and second rounds over the past two weeks. There has been a high demand for mortgage refinancing from people who borrowed to buy properties from so-called secondary financial institutions, such as savings banks and credit companies, which have higher interest rates.
According to a JoongAng Ilbo exclusive story on Monday, the financial regulator is planning to expand the existing government loan for deposits on public apartments built by state-run Land & Housing (LH) Corporation from the current ceiling of 10 million won to 20 million won in response to the high demand from the working class.
The government’s financial arm is also considering lowering the interest rates of its loan programs created for low-income households by two percentage points.
Another possible measure considered by the commission is to force private credit companies known as “loan sharks” to slash interest rates from the current maximum of 34.9 percent to below 30 percent.
The FSC denied the details of the story that haven’t been confirmed.
Earlier, Ahn Jong-beom, senior presidential secretary for economic affairs, said on April 1 that the government will seek measures to expand existing programs for the excluded households, or even design new ones.
“The FSC will announce micro-level measures in a comprehensive policy package soon,” the secretary said.
The newspaper said one of primary measures is to increase the government’s support for loans that are currently being issued to those considered to be in the low-income bracket or with credit levels below seven. They now receive 10 million won in loans that will be used for deposits of leased public housing units at an interest rate of 2.5 percent. The FSC is considering expanding the amount to 20 million won as a possible measure to help the working class. At present, the loans are given to residents of LH Corporation-built apartments only, but the financial regulator is also reviewing a plan to expand eligible borrowers to those who live in public apartments built by SH Corporation, a public housing provider run by the Seoul City government.
Data from the Land Ministry shows that 91,000 households are living in public apartments constructed by SH as of late 2013.
The FSC is also reviewing interest rates for the loan programs created by the commission such as the Haetsal Loan and Bakkuadeurim Loan, which also convert higher rates to lower fixed rates, from the current 8 to 12 percent to 6 to 10 percent.
BY SONG SU-HYUN [song.suhyun@joongang.co.kr]
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Appliances help clean polluted air and make it healthier
As the battle against air pollution has become a year-round problem for many Koreans, electronics makers are rolling out a wide range of products designed to filter fine airborne dust that could have serious health effects.
Among them are air purifiers that adopt multi-layered filters, as top electronics manufacturers such as Samsung and LG vie for consumers concerned about potentially harmful dust.
Samsung’s Blue Sky air purifier is the latest release. The tech giant’s product features a five-step filtration system to eliminate dust, pollutants and allergens.
For convenience, the machine can be controlled by a smartphone app, allowing users to remotely manage the air flow and each filter.
The unit is also equipped with a sensor that shows indoor fine-particle levels.
“With enhanced functions for fine particles, we will target markets both at home and abroad,” said Park Jae-soon, head of the marketing strategy division at Samsung Electronics, citing China as a target country.
Rival LG Electronics’ product utilizes a sophisticated filter system.
PuriCare, an air purifier brand launched by LG Electronics in October last year, is the nation’s first purifier installed with a PM (particulate matter) sensor that detects fine dust with less than 1 micrometer diameter. PM, a mixture of solids and liquid droplets floating in the air with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 2.5 or 1 micrometer is referred to as PM2.5 and PM1.0, respectively.
The density of the fine dust by each PM category is measured by the sensor and displayed on the purifier. It also has a lamp that changes colors according to air conditions.
The lamp changes from red to blue in four stages as air gets cleaner, allowing the customers to check if the air is being purified. The brand’s flagship model (AS110WAW) filters out particles as small as 0.02 and eliminates bacteria in the air with its ionizer.
LG had strong sales of its product, especially during the periods when dust watches and warnings were in effect.
According to LG Electronics, its sales of air purifiers in November last year grew 2.5 times year on year. A micro dust warning was issued by the government 62 times in October last year, according to data compiled by the Korea Environment Corporation.
A total of 22 warnings were issued in November, followed by 45 in December. Warnings are issued when hourly average density of fine dust in a certain area exceeds between 90 micrometers and 150 micrometers per cubic meter for more than two hours, depending on the size of the particle.
Exposure to fine particles can aggravate heart and lung diseases and even lead to premature death, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
People with heart or lung diseases, older adults and children may be particularly susceptible to particle pollution. The particles also weaken visibility, disturb plants’ metabolism and cause erosion on buildings and statues.
In response to the growing demand for air purifiers, smaller manufacturers such as Coway and Winix offer air purifiers.
Coway’s IoCare specializes in displaying air conditions of different types, including carbon dioxide, fine particles, temperature and humidity.
With a mobile app, users are able to control the air purifier.
“We tried to adopt the concept of Internet of Things to the air purifier lineup,” said Park Yong-joo, marketing director at Coway.
BY PARK EUN-JEE, KIM JEE-HEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]
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Ferrari’s fast, yet family-friendly GTC4Lusso T
A Ferrari GTC4Lusso T, released in Korea in February, out on a test drive at Inje Speedium, a race track in Inje, Gangwon. The new four-seater offers a family-friendly driving experience, while living up to the sports car’s old reputation. [FORZA MOTORS KOREA]
A sports car on the road near Gangnam station, southern Seoul, with a loud exhaust system may leave passersby in awe but driving the vehicle is less than practical in a congested and heavily populated city such as Seoul.
After all, how can a high-end supercar show what it is made of when drivers cannot speed on open roads?
That might be the case for most supercars but not for the new Ferrari GTC4Lusso T, the latest addition to the Italian sports car maker’s local lineup and a model fit for everyday driving. When the Korea JoongAng Daily took it for a spin at Inje Speedium, a race circuit in Inje, Gangwon, a reporter discovered that the GTC4Lusso T covers a wide spectrum of driving experiences - family-oriented while not lacking in the components necessary to live up to the reputation of the Ferrari brand.
Most Koreans think of two-seater models such as the 488GTB when they picture the Ferrari. But the GTC4Lusso T, which landed in Korea in February, is a four-seater coupe and can accommodate a family of four comfortably, a trait common for other brands but not among Ferraris.
To be fair, Ferrari has been making 2+2s since the 1960s. However, they never got as much attention as two-seaters.
When GTC4Lusso, the older brother of GTC4Lusso T, first showed its face in March 2016 during the Geneva Motor Show, the new four-seat grand tourer has been revamped from its predecessor FF enough to gain a new name.
For instance, the new V12 engine could generate 680 horsepower, up 29 compared to FF and comes with an improved four-wheel steering system. A few months later came the GTCLusso T, showcased during the Paris Motor Show. It was downsized as the first Ferrari four-seater with a V8 engine.
It is about 50 kilograms (110 pounds) lighter than its older sibling and with less power at 610 horsepower, meaning it is that much more agile. The sound of the engine also differs drastically while in high and low RPM - much quieter at low speeds, traits ideal for everyday driving in urban settings with children in the back.
After experiencing a supercar for the first time with California T on a windy day, this reporter stepped inside the GTC4Lusso while still feeling a rush of adrenaline.
The first thing noticeable was that both front and rear seats were bucket seats, which meant rear seats also guaranteed more stability in extreme driving conditions. Along with rear seats that sit higher than the front, the panoramic glass rooftop guaranteed passengers in the back a wider view of their surroundings, another aspect of the vehicle that Forza Motors Korea, Ferrari’s local dealer, didn’t fail to emphasize during the briefing.
“Such details make it a family-friendly car and multipurpose vehicle fit for everyday usage,” said a technician from FMK.
Taking the driver’s seat, it didn’t take long to notice the differences from the California T.
It was difficult to maneuver the California in near-90-degree corners following the homestretch, which forced the speed down from near 200 kilometers (124 miles) per hour to less than 100. But with GTC4Lusso T, topped with “rear-wheel-steering system,” a system that calibrates the back wheels in line with the front wheels on a corner, driving through the turn was easier. “When at low speeds, four-wheel steering allows immediate response in cornering but at high speeds, [rear-wheel-steering system] allows faster and more controlled entering and exiting of corners,” the FMK technician explained.
Variable boost management system of the new T also made speeding and slowing down more accommodating for an amateur driver. With the help of these systems topped inside the car, the reporter was able to maneuver the vehicle closer to the near side of the track while turning the corners compared to the California.
Still, while Ferrari promotes the new GTC4Lusso T as a family-friendly and everyday vehicle, it comes with a hefty price tag that starts at 350 million won ($309,000) in Korea, which means it can go well above 400 million won with various options.
BY CHOI HYUNG-JO [choi.hyungjo@joongang.co.kr]
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Beijing investigates chipmakers for collusion
The Chinese government launched a probe into the three largest memory chip producers in the world including Korea’s Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix for allegedly colluding on price hikes, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Monday.
Officials from the Chinese bureau visited each of the three chip producers in Korea and the United States on May 31 for a probe. The bureau, which plays the same role as Korea’s Fair Trade Commission, was launched in March. All three producers said they would sincerely cooperate with the probe.
The move by China’s Anti-Monopoly Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce, an antitrust regulator, signals a warning sign against leading chipmakers not to raise prices further as the country struggle to step up its chip-making capacity.
Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Micron together account for 96 percent of the global memory chip market, and should they be found to have conferred on prices, the penalty for each producer is estimated to range between $400 million and $4.4 billion, depending on their sales in China last year, according to Chinese media reports.
But chip industry insiders say for each chipmaker to have conspired to raise memory chip prices is “impossible.”
The two Korean producers have a history of being slapped fines for price fixing twice. They were fined a combined $280.4 million by European Union in 2010 for forming a cartel for DRAM price fixing for four years with seven other chipmakers. Back in 2005, they paid a combined $485 million fine for participating in a global conspiracy to fix prices in the United States.
Ever since then, the two rivals have remained cautious about any type of communication that could potentially cause any problem, they say.
“It’s just that exploding demand for chips in China pushed the prices,” said a spokesman with one of the two chipmakers.
Chinese tech firms - from smartphone producers such as Huawei and Xiaomi to computer manufacturers such as Lenovo - still rely heavily on the top three producers. Demand for chips from giant internet service providers such as Alibaba, TenCent and Baidu have been enormous as they build their own data centers.
“A memory chip price hike is the result of strong demand for servers and mobile DRAMs in China and low yields from new facilities,” said Kim Dong-won, an analyst at KB Securities. “In this respect, the Chinese government will find it challenging to find substantial evidence of price fixing.”
The world’s second-largest economy set a goal in 2015 to drag up the portion of semiconductors supplied by Chinese producers from just 15 percent as of 2015 to as much as 70 percent by 2025 under its technology push initiative.
But China has yet to become a global semiconductor powerhouse. Its self-supply ratio of chips in China remains at 25 percent and the country imported even more semiconductors last year. Shipments of foreign chips into China shot up nearly 40 percent year on year to $88.92 billion.
BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun@joongang.co.kr]
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North conducts ‘very important’ test at launch site
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center, cuts a ribbon at a ceremony celebrating the completion of the Yangdok spa resort in South Pyongan Province in an undated photo released by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Sunday. On the same day, Pyongyang announced that it had carried out a very important test at its Tongchang-ri missile engine test site in North Pyongan Province on Saturday. [YONHAP]
North Korea announced Sunday it conducted a “very important” test from a missile station Saturday that it claimed will change the country’s strategic position “in the near future.”
The test, announced by a spokesman for the North’s Academy of National Defense Science, the institution responsible for its missile program, may involve the motor for a long-range missile, possibly an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
For days, South Korean and American officials and experts had warned of possible missile-related activities at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground at Tongchang-ri, North Pyongan Province, citing an increase in the movement of vehicles in the area.
The North has a history of testing the thrust power of an engine prior to a long-range missile test. In March 2017, the regime conducted a rocket motor test before test launching its first ICBM - the Hwasong-14 - in July that year. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un personally supervised that test.
According to the spokesman, the Academy of National Defense Science reported the “successful result” of Saturday’s test to the Central Committee of the North’s Workers’ Party, which is scheduled to hold a plenary meeting later this month.
“The results of the recent important test will have an important effect on changing the strategic position of the DPRK once again in the near future,” the statement read, using the acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
No further details on the test were provided.
While Pyongyang had declared for weeks it would take drastic action if its year-end deadline for denuclearization negotiations was not met - with a Foreign Ministry official ominously claiming a “Christmas gift” was in store for U.S. President Donald Trump - the test at Sohae could represent a major escalation that may see the regime conducting an ICBM test later this month.
On Saturday, North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations Kim Song said denuclearization was off the negotiation table and that lengthy talks were no longer necessary with the United States.
Accusing Washington of using bilateral dialogue as a “time-saving trick” to exploit the negotiations for domestic political purposes, Kim Song’s statement to the foreign press appeared to be the strongest message to come out of Pyongyang yet, signaling that the regime may abandon talks altogether if the United States does not back down from its sanctions.
The reference to a domestic political agenda in Kim Song’s statement is believed to refer to Trump’s presidential re-election bid for 2020, an event that Pyongyang has been trying to exploit to gain leverage in nuclear negotiations.
At the White House on Saturday, Trump acknowledged the North’s interest in the election but appeared to downplay tensions in the relationship, saying he would “be surprised if North Korea acted hostilely.”
“[Kim] knows I have an election coming up,” Trump said. “But I really don’t think he wants to interfere with the election. I think he’d like to see something happen. The relationship is very good, but you know, there is certain hostility, there’s no question about it.”
These remarks from a president known for emotional charges against opponents were notably tame, even after the North turned up the aggression in its rhetoric against Trump last week.
In response to Trump’s use of the term “Rocket Man” to refer to Kim, Pyongyang’s Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui warned that to bring back the figures of speech used when tensions were at a high between the two countries in 2017 represented “a grave challenge” and “the relapse of the dotage of a dotard.”
By announcing its test at the Sohae launch site, North Korea may be suggesting it intends to back up its threats by reneging on its self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests - the “new path” that Kim had warned his regime may take if diplomacy fails.
North Korea last year publicly dismantled a rocket launch stand at the Sohae Satellite Launching Station to underscore its commitment to denuclearization but began reconstruction following the collapse of the second U.S.-North Korea summit at Hanoi, Vietnam, in February.
According to Prof. Kim Dong-yub, a professor of North Korean studies at Kyungnam University’s Institute of Far Eastern Studies in South Korea, Saturday’s test may have been part of an effort by the North to upgrade the motors of its Hwasong-14 and 15 ICBM rockets from liquid to solid-fuel propulsion systems.
“Given that the Academy of National Defense Science said the test will have an important effect to change the country’s strategic position, [the test] likely was the first test of a solid-fuel engine for an ICBM,” he said.
Solid-fuel propellants are lighter and less detectable than liquid-fuel variants and therefore have been a key target in North Korea’s ambitions to build an ICBM capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. The solid-fuel engines the regime has successfully developed so far are believed to only be capable of flying 2,000 to 3,000 kilometers (1,243 to 1,864 miles), but many experts say the regime’s already advanced missile program shows it is very close to developing solid propellants for ICBMs.
BY SHIM KYU-SEOK [shim.kyuseok@joongang.co.kr]
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Legal Casino
Legal Online Roulette in AustraliaLegit Roulette Site in 2020
Arguably the most popular casino game around, roulette is a luck-based game that was invented in France and is a mainstay in casinos around the world. The simple rules and the big wins, combined with the fact that it can be played by many people at once, makes roulette a big hit with gamblers, whilst the sizeable house edge ensures it is just as popular with the casinos.
Just because the house wins most of the time doesn’t mean they need to win all of the time. There is no simple way of beating this game, no way to beat the hardware or manipulate the bets. However, there are strategies that can give you slightly more of an edge, and it also pays to understand the rules, the etiquette and the betting, all of which will be discussed in this article.
How to Play and Types of Games
There are several different types of roulette and these can differ greatly, so don’t believe the casino when they tell you that they’re all the same. In fact, this is an area where online casinos have the edge over offline ones. In a land-based casino you will find a handful of roulette tables at the most, all using the same rules. However, if you visit a good online casino, you can find a number of different roulette games, following everything from American and European rules, to French rules. On casinos like Royal Vegas Casino, there are half a dozen roulette variants, including Multi-table Roulette.
As far as your odds of winning are concerned, the best variant is French Roulette. This has fewer zeros and it also returns half stakes and refunds where other variants would record losses. This is why the house edge on French Roulette can be half of that of other variations.
Roulette is typically not a game you will find outside of the casino, so if you’re playing it then you’re probably in a casino, which means it’s legality is assured. In Australia there are casinos in all states and all major cities — even those with tight restrictions on gambling such as Western Australia — and you will find roulette wheels in all of these. Roulette is also common on online casinos which in turn are available to Australian players. Royal Vegas Casino for instance, mentioned above as being one of the better places to find online roulette, has a large number of Australian members even though the casino is based and regulated in Europe.
Tips and Strategy
There is no concrete way to beat the house in a game of roulette. However, there are things you can do to increase your chances, limit your losses and guarantee safe play. The first thing you should do is ensure you have a bankroll in place and that you stick to it. You should also aim for roulette games with low house edges, including French roulette. This is not going to make any difference when it comes to striking lucky on single numbers, but over the course of a long session it can make a huge difference.
The roulette options at Guts and Royal Vegas are both great and both casinos offer welcome packages that are among some of the highest in the industry. We suggest taking a look at other casino games that you might be interested in to see if another casino matches your personal preferences more, otherwise we suggest Royal Vegas if we had to choose one due to its fast signups and cash outs.
Background/History
There are many different theories concerning the invention of roulette, but the most believable, and the one commonly referred to by proponents of this game, is that it was invented by a French scientist in the middle of the 17th century. It was then moved to a casino in the heart of Paris where it stayed, attracting gamblers from across the city. From there roulette spread around the world in the centuries that followed, receiving a significant boost when it landed on the shores of the United States and was embraced by the state of Nevada — and by Reno and Las Vegas in particular — as the casino game of choice.
Other theories suggest that it was invented by French monks as a way to pass the time and alleviate the boredom of monastic life. But whatever the origins, we can be certain that by the 18th century roulette had become a popular gambling game in France, and that in the proceeding years it spread around the world.
© 2021 Legal Casino.
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Legends of Sport
LOS Podcast
Today in Sports History
Fantasy Teams
Legendary Teams
About Legends Of Sport
Andrew D. Bernstein Photo Inc.
Today in Sports History: January 24
Written by Michael Romanelli
By Jonah Sharf
On January 25, 1986, the Washington Bullets’ Manute Bol recorded the second most blocks in a game in NBA history, blocking 15 shots against the Atlanta Hawks. The performance is two blocks behind the record of 17 set by the Lakers’ Elmore Smith, and was tied by Shaq a few seasons later. Bol was known as one of the greatest shot blockers in NBA history, and he was tied for the tallest player ever in the NBA at 7 feet and 7 inches. Despite playing only 12 seasons, a career that was relatively short compared to other NBA legends, Bol is number 15 on the all-time blocked shot leaders list. He is also the only player in NBA history to block more shots than he scored points in his career, and is second in terms of blocked shots per game — he averaged 2.6 points and 3.3 blocks per game over his career. During his rookie season, when he blocked 15 shots against Atlanta, he averaged 5 blocks per game and recorded the second most total blocks in a season in NBA history.
Today in Sports History: January 24 Previous
Today in Sports History: January 26 Next
NHL Legend Yvan Cournoyer Shares his Hockey Memories
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Take An Exclusive Peek At The Most Anticipated Scifi Imprint In Years
SAGA, the new science fiction and fantasy imprint from Simon & Schuster, debuts next spring with an exciting slate of books—including the first novel from Hugo, Nebula, and many other awards-winning writer Ken Liu. Here’s our exclusive reveal of the covers for SAGA’s first set of books.
City of Savages by Lee Kelly
It’s been nearly two decades since the Red Allies first attacked New York, and Manhattan is now a prisoner-of-war camp, ruled by Rolladin and her brutal, impulsive warlords. For Skyler Miller, Manhattan is a cage that keeps her from the world beyond the city’s borders. But for Sky’s younger sister, Phee, the POW camp is a dangerous playground of possibility, and the only home she’d ever want.
When Sky and Phee discover their mom’s hidden journal from the war’s outbreak, they both realize there’s more to Manhattan—and their mother—than either of them had ever imagined. And after a group of strangers arrives at the annual POW census, the girls begin to uncover the island’s long-kept secrets. The strangers hail from England, a country supposedly destroyed by the Red Allies, and Rolladin’s lies about Manhattan’s captivity begin to unravel.
Hungry for the truth, the sisters set a series of events in motion that end in the death of one of Rolladin’s guards. Now they’re outlaws, forced to join the strange Englishmen on an escape mission through Manhattan. Their flight takes them into subways haunted by cannibals, into the arms of a sadistic cult in the city’s Meatpacking District and, through the pages of their mom’s old journal, into the island’s dark and shocking past.
Persona by Genevieve Valentine
To be released 3/10/15.
When Suyana, Face of the United Amazonia Rainforest Confederation, secretly meets Ethan of the United States for a date that can solidify a relationship for the struggling UARC, the last thing she expects is an assassination attempt. Daniel, a teen runaway-turned-paparazzi out for his big break, witnesses the first shot hit Suyana, and before he can think about it, he jumps into the fray, telling himself it’s not altruism, it’s the scoop. Just like that, Suyana and Daniel are now in the game of Faces. And if they lose, they’ll die.
Genevieve Valentine is the author of Persona and of the critically acclaimed debut novel Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, which won the Crawford Award for Best Novel, as well as a nomination for the Nebula Award and the Romantic Times Best Fantasy of the Year. Her short fiction has been nominated for a World Fantasy Award and the Shirley Jackson Award. She lives in New York City. Visit her at GenevieveValentine.com.
The Darkside War by Zachary Brown
People used to wonder if we were alone in the universe. Well, we’re not. Not by a long shot. Aliens come in all shapes and sizes, and even the good guys are likely to haunt your nightmares. And oh, you’ll have nightmares, even after you leave the service. If you leave the service.
Devin is a reluctant conscript to an alien-run army: when the Accordance conquered Earth, they said it was to prepare against the incoming alien Conglomeration forces. But as Devin travels to the dark side of the moon for boot camp and better acquaints himself with his so-called allies, his loyalties are increasingly tested. Because the enemy of the enemy is not always a friend. Sometimes they’re a far, far worse threat.
Zachary Brown is pseudonym. Brown is a New York Times bestselling author as well as a Nebula and World Fantasy Award finalist.
The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu
To be released 4/7/15.
Wily, charming Kuni Garu, a bandit, and stern, fearless Mata Zyndu, the son of a deposed duke, seem like polar opposites. Yet, in the uprising against the emperor, the two quickly become the best of friends after a series of adventures fighting against vast conscripted armies, silk-draped airships, soaring battle kites, conspiring goddesses, underwater boats, magical books, as a streetfighter-cum-general who takes her place as the greatest tactitian of the age. Once the emperor has been overthrown, however, they each find themselves the leader of separate factions—two sides with very different ideas about how the world should be run and the meaning of justice.
Fans of intrigue, intimate plots, and vast battles will find a new series to embrace in the Dandelion Dynasty.
Ken Liu’s fiction has appeared in F&SF, Asimov’s, Analog, Strange Horizons, Lightspeed, and Clarkesworld, among other places. He has won a Nebula, two Hugos, a World Fantasy Award, a Science Fiction & Fantasy Translation Award, and been nominated for the Sturgeon and the Locus Awards. His wife, Lisa Tang Liu, is an artist. The Grace of Kings is set in a universe they created together. He lives near Boston with his family.
Reissues:
The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
These are the secrets I have kept. So starts the diary of Will Henry, orphan and assistant to a doctor with a most unusual specialty: monster hunting. In the short time he has lived with the doctor in nineteenth-century New England, Will has grown accustomed to his late-night callers and dangerous business. But when one visitor comes with the body of a young girl and the monster that was eating her, Will’s world changes forever. The doctor has discovered a baby Anthropophagus—a headless monster that feeds through a mouth in its chest—and it signals a growing number of Anthropophagi. Will and the doctor must face the horror threatening to overtake and consume the world…before it is too late.
The Monstrumologist is the first stunning gothic adventure in a series that combines the terror of HP Lovecraft with the spirit of Arthur Conan Doyle.
Rick Yancey is the author of The Monstrumologist, The Curse of the Wendigo, The Isle of Blood, and The Final Descent. He is also the author of The Fifth Wave series. Rick lives with his wife Sandy and two sons in Gainesville, Florida. Visit him at RickYancey.com.
Curse of the Wendigo by Rick Yancey
While Dr. Warthrop is attempting to disprove that Homo vampiris, the vampire, could exist, his former fiancée asks him to save her husband, who has been captured by a Wendigo—a creature that starves even as it gorges itself on human flesh. Although Dr. Warthrop considers the Wendigo to be fictitious, he relents and performs the rescue—but is he right to doubt the Wendigo’s existence? Can the doctor and Will Henry hunt down the ultimate predator, who, like the legendary vampire, is neither living nor dead, and whose hunger for human flesh is never satisfied?
This second book in The Monstrumologist series explores the line between myth and reality, love and hate, genius and madness.
Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey
Every two hundred years or so, on the planet colony of Pern, shimmering Threads fall from space, raining death. Yet the great dragons of Pern, mounted by the stalwart dragonriders, scour the skies with fire to destroy the deadly Threads and save the planet.
But it was not Threadfall that made young Menolly unhappy. It was her father who betrayed her ambition to be a harper, who thwarted her love of music, because she was a woman. Menolly had no choice but to run away. When she came upon a group of fire lizards—wild and smaller relatives of the fire-breathing dragons—she let her music swirl around them. She taught nine of them to sing. And suddenly Menolly was no longer alone—she was Mistress of Music, and Ward of the dazzling fire dragons.
Anne Inez McCaffrey (April 1, 1926–November 21, 2011) was an American-born Irish writer, best known for the Dragonriders of Pern science fiction series. Early in McCaffrey’s forty-six-year career as a writer, she became the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction and the first to win a Nebula Award. Her 1978 novel The White Dragon became one of the first science fiction books to appear on the New York Times bestseller list. In 1999 she was the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award, honoring her lifetime contribution to writing for teens. In 2005 the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America named McCaffrey its twenty-second Grand Master, an annual award to living writers of fantasy and science fiction. She was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2006.
Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey
Pursuing her dream to be a Harper of Pern, Menolly studies under the Masterharper and quickly learns that more is required than a facility with music and a clever way with words. The Masterharper gives her a difficult time simply because she is a young woman, and she manages to alienate more of her fellow harpers than she makes friends. Menolly must rise up and prove that a woman is just as capable as any of her male fellow students—and if she can, she will shape the future of Pern.
Dragondrums by Anne McCaffrey
As Menolly navigates her way as the first journeywoman Harper in the history of Pern, fellow student Piemur is asked to leave Harper Hall. Secretly, Piemur is drafted by Masterharper Robinton to become a dragonrider—and he will soon embark on a dangerous mission to the Southern Hold.
So these re-issues of McCaffrey's books from the 80s: Are there going to be anything to these to make people want to pick up these editions? A new intro, perhaps? Something beyond just new covers now that S&S got reprint rights after Doubleday let them go?
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A third of football fans set to spend more on beautiful game despite impacts of COVID-19
A third of football fans set to spend more on beautiful game
Impacts of COVID-19 doesn't stop fans consuming all things football.
Insight & Research
New research from the IPA and Rare: Consulting has found that almost a third of fans intend to spend more on football during the upcoming season, despite the impacts of COVID-19.
The Match Day Report, based on a sample size of 948 people, shows how 32% of fans predict that they will spend more money on football in the future than they did in previous seasons. This is despite 38% of them predicting that they will need to cut back on expenses as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic and 32% having concerns for their job security.
These figures compare with 16% who will spend less money on the game, 40% who will spend the same and 11% who don’t know. Noticeably, this desire to increase spending is particularly strong among younger fans with nearly half (45%) of Generation Z planning on spending more, while many older fans expect to spend less, including 18% of those aged over 55.
The study also highlights the ways in which fans have diversified their consumption of football during Project Restart (the name given to the Premier League’s attempts to resume the season that was interrupted by the Coronavirus pandemic on 13 March), as well as the opportunities and barriers facing clubs in the 2020/21 season.
Additional key findings include:
35% of fans expect that they will read, talk and watch more football than they did before lockdown, while only 12% of fans will consume less football and 53% of people who will don’t expect to see any change.
16% of fans intend to buy more season tickets for the upcoming season, while 21% say they will buy fewer.
Only 18% of fans plan to watch more live games in stadium. This is higher among women (20%) than in men (17%).
45% of fans see concerns for their own health or that of someone they are close to as barriers to return to games in the future.
Exclusive and behind the scenes content is the most popular way of engaging in the sport other than watching live games, with 30% of all fans looking to engage in this more. This is particularly popular among superfans, 48% of whom have viewed one hour or more behind the scenes content since lockdown began.
There are also significant differences in the ways that fans from different age groups and genders interact with football content, which will be explored in detail in future editions of the Match Day Report later this year.
Says Damian Lord, Head of Insight, IPA: “The Coronavirus lockdown severely impacted the sporting landscape this year. Schedules were ripped up, the sporting economy was rocked and the way that fans were able to engage with the sports they love were disrupted. But with passion for sport as high as ever, there is an incredible opportunity to reset and revaluate the way that we interact with fans moving forward.
Our Match Day Report hopes to shine a light on the way that fans engaged with football during Project Restart - what they liked and didn’t like, and what their hopes and fears are for the upcoming season – in order to provide a blueprint for NBGs, brands and clubs, to engage with their fans moving forward.
Damian Lord, Head of Insight, IPA
Ben Pask, Managing Director of Rare: Consulting and Founder of Rare: Group, commented: “The research adds further light into the changing landscape for brands, post covid-19. Overall it shows fans want more of what they love, and for many, they are finding new ways to experience sport in the absence of being able to go to see it at first hand. There are clear opportunities for brands that pay attention to these evolving changes in attitude and behavioural norms. We are delighted to bring this series of reports out with the IPA.”
Download the first, free Match Day Report.
The second Match Day Report, exploring what female football fans are looking forward to and how their experience of content differs from that of male fans, is due to be published in October
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Michael Kindred Knight – Deep End
Home Events Michael Kindred Knight – Deep End
likeyou, June 3, 2017 May 26, 2017 , Exhibitions, 0
in Los Angeles, CA / United States
03.06.2017 - 08.07.2017 10:00 - 18:00
Michael Kindred Knight: Deep End, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 41 x 41 in
Luis De Jesus Los Angeles is very pleased to present “Michael Kindred Knight: Deep End”, the artist’s third solo exhibition at the gallery.
In his paintings, Knight continues to work with rectilinear marks and shapes that simultaneously operate as form, structure, gesture and field. Marks of differing width, length and transparency slant and bend across the canvas generating a sense of buoyancy and rhythm, and allow the works to continually slip out of the grasp of predictable or singular interpretation. In the interview that follows Michael shares insight into his thoughts and process.
Luis De Jesus: It’s been three years since your last exhibition. What can you tell us about this new body of work?
Michael Kindred Knight: I basically started from scratch and spent a lot of time doing works on paper. I took an “anything goes” attitude, taking a lot of chances and being willing to fail. The process was very generative and it freed me up from the old work, which was all about structure. I was looking to be surprised.
LDJ: What do you mean surprised?
MKK: It’s what I enjoy most about painting. Each piece has its own life. I try to challenge myself to push the work in different directions as a way to explore, and focus on how each decision is operating, looking for opportunities to empty out or complicate what was there before. It’s easy to pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself when you hit on something that looks good and feels good, but that’s not what I’m interested in. Actually, it’s a red flag. I end up destroying it or working through it.
LDJ: You mentioned “empty out” and I assume that it’s in reference to content and influences. It seems that in abstract painting these things can sometimes feel like a distraction, a way of making abstraction more interesting or relevant. What was your inspiration for these new paintings?
MKK: Architecture is still a big inspiration. I’m interested in the presence and interaction of light on architecture. Driving around LA everyday, I notice the incredible shifts of color and long shadows created by buildings, and the physical presence of color as it seems to push out beyond its edges. In my work I focus a lot of attention on how each shape and color leads your eye around. I also focus on surface and transparency, and how they effect the movement of color and light, shifting and pushing against each other.
I’m also interested in different modes of painting, and that history informs what I do, but I have never bought into the legacy of abstraction. That history is not the complete story. I’m interested in the other half that’s not been told yet…
LDJ: …And you’re forced to deal with it in the studio. You seem to relish the studio-heavy experience and the extended engagement with your work.
MKK: I do. I work on multiple pieces at once and over a long period of time. As I work, the paintings inform each other. I take a lot of in-progress photos and refer back to them. I borrow solutions between pieces. Each move can take a piece down a different road, ultimately leading to an accumulation that I couldn’t have planned for or predicted. It is not to say that I don’t think a few moves ahead or don’t have “big ideas”. But I don’t settle easily – the whole is expendable as each painting progresses.
It’s also important to me that the work remains open, interpretatively. One person may look at one of my paintings and say emphatically that it’s a landscape or interior. Another may say it’s clearly geometric abstraction. They’re both talking about the work in relationship to history, but they see it differently. I’m happy as long as they keep looking.
LDJ: What about your titles? They’re all one or two-word titles.
MKK: I keep a pile of notes with the names of places where I’ve lived or have visited that evoke different sensations and memories. Some of them are verbs, descriptive of motion or convey a particular attitude.
LDJ: Thanks, Michael. We really look forward to your exhibition!
Michael Kindred Knight was born 1977, Portland, Oregon, and received an MFA from Claremont Graduate University (2010) and BA from Western Washington University (2004). Recent exhibitions include “Abstraction in the Singular”, Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, AZ; “Abstract Miniatures”, Fine Arts Center, Tempe, AZ; “Younger Than George”, George Lawson Gallery, San Francisco, CA; “Impromptu”, Luis De Jesus Los Angeles; “LA n CV 2”, Coachella Valley Art Center, Indio, CA; “Scorch”, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA. His work has been reviewed and featured in The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, New American Paintings, and The Huffington Post among other publications. Knight is the recipient of the Claremont Graduate University’s President’s Art Award, the Karl and Beverly Benjamin Fellowship in Art, and the Walker/Parker Memorial Fellowship. He lives and works in Los Angeles.
Gallery hours Tues-Sat 10 am – 6 pm, and by appointment
www.luisdejesus.com
2685 S La Cienega Boulevard
90034 Los Angeles, CA
Tags: Bentley Gallery Phoenix AZ, Coachella Valley Art Center Indio CA, Fine Arts Center Tempe AZ, George Lawson Gallery San Francisco CA, Luis De Jesus Los Angeles, Michael Kindred Knight, New American Paintings, Page Bond Gallery Richmond VA, The Huffington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Western Washington University
Opening: The White HeatOpening: Michael Kindred Knight - Deep End
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