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My first consulting client earned me over $20k per month in 25 hours per week. Here's how
Bradley Jacobs, CEO and Founder
Many professionals have the impression that only engineers and designers can become freelance consultants. It's just not true: there are millions of people across the globe consulting in sales, product, operations, marketing, legal, business development, etc. If you have good experience and a unique value-add, you can work part-time on a contract basis. Here's a story about my first project in Operations, and made over $20,000 per month.
For this story to make sense, you'll want a quick glimpse into my background. Let's start there.
I graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University
I worked for a boutique management consulting firm called Kaiser Associates for nearly two years across a number of industries and clients, mostly doing market research, market entry analysis, and organizational alignment
I joined Uber in May 2014, where I worked on the Rides business in Operations, managing nine markets in North Carolina (based in the DC). I built up a team, fought tooth and nail to beat Lyft (achieving 90% category position within 12 months) and eventually managed the Ops and Marketing for those nine markets for two years
In summer of 2016, I moved over to UberEATS where I launched Miami, Florida, and Milan, Italy
In early 2017, I moved to San Francisco to launch the Uber Freight business, and ended up managing our Carrier Operations team: a team made up of operations and data analysts aimed at automating the brokerage.
I left Uber in October of 2018, with ambitions of starting my own business, but I wasn't sure what business I wanted to start, so I had the idea to use my experience to help other companies with their operations, and make a few bucks while I tested out start-up ideas
Now, back to the story. I started responding to LinkedIn messages - in my time at Uber, I'd get messaged from companies and recruiters asking me to interview for various Operations roles. I went back through these messages and found 12 in the most recent six months.
I was very honest in these messages: I was open to helping their company out using my Uber experience, but I wasn't looking for a full-time role at this time. See a copy of my simple message below:
My thought process was "I have no idea if this is possible, but what do I have to lose by sending a few messages and seeing what I get back."
11 of the 12 companies either didn't respond to me or told me that wouldn't work for them. One company responded positively:
I ended up interviewing with the company and eventually pitching them to have me come in as a consultant. To do this, I had to navigate a few items:
What was I going to charge?
What would this part-time "project" look like?
How would I bill? Hourly? Monthly? Project-based?
I wanted some equity in the company - how would I structure this?
Let's go in order.
1. What was I going to charge?
I worked on this for a while and ended up doing a calculation that included my previous Uber salary, benefits, stock compensation, and a conservative estimate of my hours worked. I tacked on a buffer to account for additional costs I'd have as a consultant. I ended up with $287 per hour. It sounded high to me, but I went with it.
In my proposal I pitched this, and they told me it was "a little high." Music to my ears. They asked if we could agree to $250/hr split between 90% cash and 10% equity. I agreed on the spot.
For those in a similar boat: you're looking to get to a "no." If they say yes right away, you could've gotten more.
2. What would this part-time "project" look like?
I did my best to put myself in the shoes of the company and think through how I could help them without being full-time. Their situation was they were looking to launch a food delivery marketplace using autonomous vehicles. They had the Engineering expertise, but not the Operations experience to launch a three-sided marketplace. Luckily, I did. I crafted a proposal (in the form of a Google slide presentation) that included:
a. The company's objectives
b. The company's challenges in achieving those objectives
c. How I would think about overcoming those challenges
For their three-sided marketplace, this included customer acquisition for restaurants and eaters (they had their cars doing the deliveries as opposed to couriers), funnel conversion, their launch plan related to geography and restaurant mix, customer service, team structure and hiring priorities, overall branding and marketing, marketplace supply and demand balancing, operational processes leading to scale, and recommended product features (to name a few).
d. Compensation and the project arrangement
This included how I'd be paid and how we'd communicate. I agreed to go onsite one day per week
3. How would I bill? Hourly? Monthly? Project-based?
Given this was my first project, I had no idea the best practices here. I wish I had. I agreed to get paid hourly, which meant I needed to keep a timesheet so they knew how much to pay me, and in that time sheet they asked me to write down what I accomplished that day. They capped my hours at 25 hours per week, with the expectation that my hours would be between 20 and 25 hours per week.
This hourly arrangement where I had to keep track in a timesheet was 1) a pain and 2) annoying given I think I'm an efficient worker, and I'm basically incentivized to work more slowly to make more money. I never agreed to an hourly project again.
4. I wanted some equity in the company - how would I structure this?
This was really tough. Given I was billing hourly, we tried to come up with what one hour was worth (in terms of shares), just like we had done with cash. We went back and forth on the value of a share between the 409a value and the latest preferred (investor) round. We ended up taking what I would normally get as an employee, and dividing by the number of hours I was expected to work (20-25 hours per week). This resulted in a number of shares per month, which vested every month.
Note: it took us months to get to this agreement, with a ton of back and forth. Knowing what I know now, I would've taken this latter approach from the beginning.
So there you have it! I was working 25 hours per week, adding meaningful value to this company, and making roughly $20,000 per month: $250 / hr paid 90% paid in cash across 22.5 hours on average per week and 4 weeks per month (250*.922.54 = $20,250).
For the contract, luckily they had a consulting template that I could use, otherwise, since Mylance didn't exist yet, I wouldn't have known where to get one.
I was really expensive for this company. They were well-funded, but it got to the point that they stopped asking me questions because my time was so expensive. So, after 3 months we renegotiated to lower my number of hours and my hourly rate in exchange for more equity. This was a tough negotiation, but I still ended up with a good deal ($187 per hour) and fewer hours, which meant more time to focus on my start-up ideas.
I ended up working with this client for a full 9 months before we parted ways, and it completely opened up my eyes to an entirely new way of working. I ended up freelance consulting for over 18 months, bringing in over $250k and learning a ton in the process, enabling me to eventually start and run Mylance.
For executing on the project itself, I clearly laid out what I would be responsible for and what I wouldn't be. I had been responsible for every unfulfilled restaurant order when I launched Miami and Milan. I didn't want to be on the hook for that here, so I told them I wouldn't be. I told them I could be reached in Slack, but I'd only be on at certain hours of the day, and I shouldn't be expected to be on call.
I set my boundaries, and I kept them.
Is there anything specifically I did to make this opportunity possible?
I asked for it. It's as simple as that. I've gotten opportunities in my career that wouldn't have existed if I didn't ask. I asked to launch UberEATS in Miami, I asked to launch UberEATS in Europe, I asked to launch Uber Freight, and I asked for this consulting project
I presented myself well. I clearly outlined where my experience would be helpful to the company, and I presented it in a way where they could see the value I'd bring to them. Because of this, they were willing to pay what I asked for, and it was still cheaper than bringing on someone full-time that they'd need to commit to for years. This is where I see a lot of people struggle: taking your experience and translating it into a "personal brand" that you can present to a company. This is the first part we lean into in the Mylance Bootcamp, and something you should do regardless of whether you take our Bootcamp or not
I wrote this for you to see what's possible. This opportunity didn't exist - I transformed an existing opportunity for a full-time role to make this exist. And it ended up being a transformative experience for my life.
This company had reached out to multiple folks with UberEATS experience before they reached out to me. A full-time role hadn't worked with any of them. It didn't work with me either, but I turned it into a highly profitable consulting gig.
If you still don't believe that more than just engineers and designers can consult, reach out to me at bradley@mylance.co, and maybe I'll expand your horizons.
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Mass and Sacraments
Popes and Papal Documents
Scripture and Saints
Stewardship and Catechesis
Results per page 5 10 20 Sort By Relevance Featured Price: Low to High Price: High to Low
Fr. Michael McGivney, Spanish
***Sold in packs of 50***
Father Michael J. McGivney is the newest U.S. born Catholic to be beatified. He is most well-known for founding the Knights of Columbus, a fraternal service order intended to provide security for Catholic families in case of death. However, it was his emphasis on unity and charity, and virtuous service to Church, community, and family that drew Catholic men to the organization. Today the Knights of Columbus has over two million members, and over 15,000 councils in over a dozen countries.
Gerald Korson
Item: P2636
Fr. Michael McGivney
Holy Black Catholics
We are blessed by the contributions of black Catholics in the Church in the United States, particularly their illuminating legacy of holiness. The struggles and pain faced by the African American community are succinctly captured in the lives of six black Catholics now being considered for canonization. In these individuals, we can find the greatest of human characteristics, truly men and women for our times. Help your parishioners understand that, through them, we are drawn more deeply into the mystery of Jesus’ saving love.
Michael Heinlein
Holy Black Catholics, Spanish
The Psalms: The Bible's Prayer Book, Spanish
Encourage Catholics to grow in their love and understanding of the “Bible’s Prayer Book,” the Psalms. In this easy-to-read pamphlet, readers are given an overview of the types of psalms – hymns of praise, hymns of thanksgiving, and laments – as well as suggestions for how to incorporate them in personal prayer. The Lord himself knew and prayed the Psalms, and his example challenges us to use them in our lives and allow them to touch our hearts.
Art Zannoni
The Psalms: The Bible's Prayer Book
Declaring Saints: How the Canonizations Process Works, Spanish
Finally, a thorough, detailed look at how the Church declares saints – in a pamphlet! Help Catholics or non-Catholics understand the “who, what, how, when, and why” of the entire canonization process. Through the understanding of this process, Catholics will be reminded that we are all called to become saints by living lives of sacrifice, charity, and virtue.
Declaring Saints: How the Canonizations Process Works
The Life of Fulton Sheen, Spanish
In the 1930s and ‘40s his radio show The Catholic Hour made him a household name. By the 1950s, Sheen continued to grow in prominence because of his popular, Emmy award-winning television program, Life is Worth Living. While these programs made Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen famous, he was a selfless pastor at heart, with a love of the Church and her people that drove his actions throughout his life. Pope St. John Paul II called Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, "a loyal son of the Church." Help parish families learn about his lasting legacy in this easy-to-read pamphlet, The Life of Fulton Sheen.
The Life of Fulton Sheen
St. Catherine Kasper
St. Catherine Kasper was one of four young women to form the Congregation of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ. Although Mother Kasper never visited the United States, her legacy includes many ministries from the Poor Handmaids that came to America and lived out her example.
York Young
Item: PM2297
Blessed Solanus Casey: God's Doorkeeper
On November 18, 2017, Father Solanus Casey, O.F.M. Cap., was beatified in Detroit, Michigan. A soft-spoken Capuchin priest and son of Irish immigrants, Father Solanus Casey is one of the currently few native-born North Americans to be beatified.
Catherine Odell
Blessed Solanus Casey: God's Doorkeeper, Spanish
The Communion of Saints, Spanish
One of the most distinctive parts about being Catholic is our belief in the saints. We believe that death does not end our relationship with these holy men and women and that the great "cloud of witnesses" — the Communion of Saints — remain central to our faith lives here on earth. This pamphlet answers common questions about our beliefs, teachings, and practices around the saints. Learn about the canonization process, saints in Scripture, patron saints, and why the Communion of Saints is such a vital part of our Catholic faith.
Woodeene Koenig-Bricker
An American Martyr Father Stanley Rother
After a family-filled childhood spent on an Oklahoma farm, Father Stanley felt the call to priesthood and eventually to missionary work in Guatemala. Father Stanley was a shepherd to the Mayan people he lived among — establishing a school, farmer's co-op, clinic, and radio station — remaining with them even during the violent Guatemalan civil war until he made the ultimate sacrifice and gave his life for the faith.
Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda
An American Martyr Father Stanley Rother, Spanish
The Communion of Saints
Meeting Mary in Scripture, Spanish
For Catholics, devotion to Mary is part of our heritage and the life of our faith. The sacred Scriptures remind us that Mary’s acceptance of God’s activity in her life is exemplary and serves as a model for all of us. This pamphlet offers insight into Mary as a Jewish woman, a peasant woman, a woman of Faith, the Mother of God, and as a model disciple. Reflection questions are incorporated throughout to help us meditate on how we can respond to God’s call.
Meeting Mary in Scripture
Saint Teresa of Calcutta, Spanish
Saint Teresa of Calcutta, known worldwide as Mother Teresa, is a holy example of humility, compassion, and care for the most vulnerable. In this pamphlet, you'll learn about her calling from God, her life and work, her secret fire, her love which was so apparent to believers and non-believers alike, her internal struggles, and the legacy she leaves behind.
Woodeene Koenig Bricker
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Share this Story: Public health still investigating COVID-19 cluster in SBP
Public health still investigating COVID-19 cluster in SBP
The Grey Bruce Health Unit is continuing to investigate a cluster of four COVID-19 cases in South Bruce Peninsula, which the area’s medical officer of health says has links to two dinner events.
“It seems there were two dinners. One of them was a Thanksgiving dinner and it probably wasn’t much of a risk. But there was another dinner that seems to be a party, as we’re receiving more information from different people,” Dr. Ian Arra said in an interview Friday.
Public health still investigating COVID-19 cluster in SBP Back to video
“We’re looking into how big it was, how risky it was. But if there were more than 10 (people), it would qualify for involving the police to lay charges for a private party of more than 10. Nevertheless, that’s not confirmed at this point.”
Public health says four cases – all confirmed in people from South Bruce Peninsula – were reported to the health unit Thursday.
As there were no new local cases reported Friday, Thursday’s tallies of nine current active cases and 169 total cases to date in Grey-Bruce still stand. No one is currently hospitalized locally with the virus and no local deaths have been attributed to COVID-19. There are also no active outbreaks at this time.
Arra told The Sun Times Thursday the case cluster in South Bruce Peninsula was the result of local transmission.
He said the cluster is “really a reminder for all of us that this is not the time to lower our guard.”
There’s a connection, he said, to the two dinner events, as public health has discovered one person from the cluster attended both.
The health unit is also looking into a potential risk of exposure involving two classes at Sacred Heart High School in Walkerton in relation to the cluster.
Public health says the transmission to that case did not happen at the school and there is no evidence of person-to-person transmission at the school either, so no outbreak has been declared. No bus route was involved either, Arra said.
Public health has been working to reach close contacts to the confirmed cases.
Those deemed a low risk of infection will be able to continue attending school or work and are asked to self-monitor for symptoms of COVID-19.
“If they are high risk, they must isolate for 14 days, observe for symptoms and test around Day 7 to 10 – that’s the incubation period where a virus would be dormant and if they test early, it would be negative anyways,” Arra said.
A number of people at the school have been identified as high risk, he said.
Anyone not contacted by public health is not considered at risk and need not take any additional steps including asymptomatic testing, the health unit says.
Along with the South Bruce Peninsula cluster, public health is also still investigating cases of the virus associated with students attending Osprey Central School in Grey Highlands. An outbreak hasn’t been declared at that school either, as public health determined the cases involved three children from the same family who were exposed to the virus outside of school.
In a news release Sunday, the health unit said it was working with the family and Bluewater District School Board to identify others, both in and out of the school environment, who may have been exposed and to determine their risk level.
While there has been no evidence of virus transmission within the school, students from three classes were told to isolate along with people who were on the school bus with the infected students on a specific day.
Arra said the last day the infected children were at school was Oct. 16. They were diagnosed Oct. 18.
“Any exposure would have happened last week, so today it’s now Day 7 or even 10 if people were exposed on the bus – the bus exposure was on the 13th only,” he said.
As a result, public health sent its mobile assessment centre to the school Friday to complete swab testing.
Everyone was tested except for four people who were not at the school. Public health will follow up with those people.
If there are no additional cases confirmed by Oct. 30, that case will be closed.
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Adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
Religious composition of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
Nondenominational fundamentalist 1%
Interdenominational (Mainline Trad.) 1%
Congregationalist Family (Mainline Trad.) < 1%
Methodist Family (Historically Black Protestant Trad.) 1%
Greek Orthodox 1%
Buddhist < 1%
Other Faiths < 1%
Unitarians and other liberal faiths in the "Other Faiths" Tradition < 1%
Unaffiliated (religious "nones") 7%
Atheist < 1%
Agnostic < 1%
Nothing in particular 7%
Don't know < 1%
Age distribution among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999 who are ages…
20% 39% 27% 14% 2,614
Compare: age group by household incomeage group by interpretation of scripture
Generational cohort among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999 who are…
13% 14% 31% 33% 8% < 1% 2,614
< 1% 12% 36% 41% 10% 1% 2,875
Compare: generational group by household incomegenerational group by interpretation of scripture
Gender composition among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
49% 51% 2,630
Compare: gender by household incomegender by interpretation of scripture
Racial and ethnic composition among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999 who identify as…
77% 9% 3% 9% 3% 2,607
Compare: race/ethnicity by household incomerace/ethnicity by interpretation of scripture
Immigrant status among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
9% 9% 83% 2,618
Compare: immigrant status by household incomeimmigrant status by interpretation of scripture
Educational distribution among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999 who have completed…
Compare: educational group by household incomeeducational group by interpretation of scripture
Marital status among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
65% 4% 9% 3% 20% 2,629
Compare: marital status by household incomemarital status by interpretation of scripture
Parent of children under 18 among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
Compare: parental status by household incomeparental status by interpretation of scripture
Belief in God among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999 who say they…
79% 19% 1% < 1% < 1% < 1% 2,630
Compare: belief in God by household incomebelief in God by interpretation of scripture
Importance of religion in one's life among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999 who say religion is…
63% 31% 5% 1% < 1% 2,630
Compare: importance of religion by household incomeimportance of religion by interpretation of scripture
Attendance at religious services among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999 who attend religious services…
Compare: religious attendance by household incomereligious attendance by interpretation of scripture
Frequency of prayer among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999 who pray…
60% 24% 7% 9% 1% 2,903
Compare: frequency of prayer by household incomefrequency of prayer by interpretation of scripture
Frequency of participation in prayer, scripture study or religious education groups among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999 who attend prayer group…
Compare: attendance at prayer groups by household incomeattendance at prayer groups by interpretation of scripture
Frequency of meditation among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999 who meditate…
Compare: frequency of meditation by household incomefrequency of meditation by interpretation of scripture
Frequency of feeling spiritual peace and wellbeing among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999 who feel a sense of spiritual peace and wellbeing…
Compare: frequency of feelings of spiritual wellbeing by household incomefrequency of feelings of spiritual wellbeing by interpretation of scripture
Frequency of feeling wonder about the universe among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999 who feel a sense of wonder about the universe…
Compare: frequency feeling a sense of wonder about the universe by household incomefrequency feeling a sense of wonder about the universe by interpretation of scripture
Sources of guidance on right and wrong among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999 who say they look to…most for guidance on right and wrong
41% 8% 44% 5% 2% 2,630
Compare: sources of guidance on right and wrong by household incomesources of guidance on right and wrong by interpretation of scripture
Belief in absolute standards for right and wrong among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999 who say…
41% 58% 1% < 1% 2,630
Compare: belief in existence of standards for right and wrong by household incomebelief in existence of standards for right and wrong by interpretation of scripture
Frequency of reading scripture among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999 who read scripture…
Compare: frequency of reading scripture by household incomefrequency of reading scripture by interpretation of scripture
Belief in Heaven among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999 who …in heaven
91% 5% 4% 2,630
Compare: belief in heaven by household incomebelief in heaven by interpretation of scripture
Belief in Hell among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999 who …in hell
Compare: belief in hell by household incomebelief in hell by interpretation of scripture
Party affiliation among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
Compare: political party by household incomepolitical party by interpretation of scripture
Political ideology among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
Compare: political ideology by household incomepolitical ideology by interpretation of scripture
Views about size of government among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999 who would rather have…
Compare: views about size of government by household incomeviews about size of government by interpretation of scripture
Views about government aid to the poor among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999 who say government aid to the poor…
Compare: views about government aid to the poor by household incomeviews about government aid to the poor by interpretation of scripture
Views about abortion among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999 who say abortion should be…
Compare: views about abortion by household incomeviews about abortion by interpretation of scripture
Views about homosexuality among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999 who say homosexuality…
Compare: views about homosexuality by household incomeviews about homosexuality by interpretation of scripture
Views about same-sex marriage among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999 who …same-sex marriage
Compare: views about same-sex marriage by household incomeviews about same-sex marriage by interpretation of scripture
Views about environmental regulation among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
Compare: views about environmental protection by household incomeviews about environmental protection by interpretation of scripture
Views about human evolution among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999
% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who have a household income of $50,000-$99,999 who say humans…
Compare: views about human evolution by household incomeviews about human evolution by interpretation of scripture
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How 'Grey's Anatomy' said goodbye to Alex Karev – and why we'll miss him
David OliverUSA TODAY
Sixteen seasons in, "Grey's Anatomy" still knows how to shock its audience – even though, in retrospect, we should've seen that coming.
ABC promised us the March 5 episode would be Alex Karev's send-off episode – and whew, was it send-off: He left his wife Jo (Camilla Luddington) to reunite offscreen with ex-wife Izzie (Katherine Heigl) ... and the two children Izzie had using frozen embryos the two made back in season five.
We're not kidding.
The episode, which was chock-full of montages of seasons past, featured Jo , best friend Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and former boss Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) all reading letters from him (the return address was from Kansas; Meredith's just read "Evil Spawn," a nod to his former nickname).
He says goodbye (via voiceover) to each of the three women in individual letters.
First up is his letter to Meredith: Alex apparently called Izzie earlier this season when he was looking for people to speak up for Meredith during the trial where she fought to keep her medical license – finally, a good enough excuse to call his ex. He learned Izzie, now a surgical oncologist, was single and had his five-year-old twins.
"You are my best friend and I will miss the hell out of you," he told Meredith.
Next up is Jo: "It's officially the worst thing I've ever done," Alex says in his letter to Jo. And it basically is: He admits he's in love with Izzie (though says he loves Jo, too – it's just that Izzie has his kids, and he wants to be there for them like his and Jo's families weren't). Keep in mind this was after a rough few seasons where Jo confronted her abusive (now deceased) husband and the birth mother she never knew, and still came out stronger on the other side.
Then, Bailey: Karev tells her she helped him grow the hell up, and references when she took a bullet out of his stomach. He says goodbye and thank you. Richard Webber (James Pickens, Jr.), another former boss, reflects on his relationship with Alex during an AA meeting after receiving a letter of his own.
This episode is already polarizing "Grey's" fans on social media. But that doesn't take away from the legacy Alex Karev left us.
When was Justin Chambers last on 'Grey's Anatomy?'
Chambers last appeared as Karev in the Nov. 14 episode of "Grey's," but unbeknownst to fans at the time, it was his final performance. He was said to be helping his mother in Iowa ... though we learned in last week's episode on Feb. 28 he wasn't there at all.
ABC confirmed the news in January, as did the actor in a statement from his agent Stephen Hirsh.
"As I move on from 'Grey’s Anatomy,' I want to thank the ABC family, (executive producer) Shonda Rhimes, original cast members Ellen Pompeo, Chandra Wilson and James Pickens, and the rest of the amazing cast and crew, both past and present, and, of course, the fans for an extraordinary ride," he said.
With Chambers' departure, the show, now in its 16th season, is down to those three original cast members. The series premiered in March 2005.
A timeline of Alex Karev's journey on Grey's Anatomy (and why we'll miss him)
"Grey's Anatomy" won't be the same without Alex – and it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out why.
Karev – or as longtime "Grey's Anatomy" fans know him, "Evil Spawn" – has been a prominent doctor on the series since the beginning. Through 349 episodes, fans have watched him get married (then divorced), survive a gunshot wound, narrowly avoid a plane crash and get remarried. He rose from an intern to a resident to an attending pediatric surgeon to chief of surgery. Hey, it's been a lot of seasons.
Karev started the series as a misogynistic, lazy jerk but turned into a lovable, reliable surgeon and friend (with many ups and downs in between). We learned an unstable childhood was to blame for much of his attitude. Yes, over the course of the series he cheated on his wife, Izzie . And yes, he ratted out a colleague after she tampered with a clinical trial, but he learned from those moments .
His marriage to Izzie in the wake of her cancer battle was beautiful, though it quickly flamed out the following season (the divorce occurred offscreen). Over time, he became even closer with the other remaining interns Meredith and Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh). When Yang's departed at the end of Season 10, Karev effectively became Meredith's "person," or best, best friend.
He eventually found love with new wife Jo , and all seemed to be going swimmingly for the pair, despite a mental health scare and their employment at different hospitals. He became chief of surgery at lower-tier hospital Pac North after getting fired from Grey-Sloan earlier this season because of Meredith.
And that's the toughest part of why we'll miss him: He was there for her as she dealt with her best friend moving away and her husband's death. He was there for both his wives when they needed him most. He was there for his mentor, Dr. Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw), after she lost her leg (he even performed the amputation).
He was there for us as we watched a succession of doctors depart the series. Karev was a constant; Where else would he go? After a rough upbringing, he craved stability – making the timing of his exit all the more perplexing.
Then again: Maybe Izzie was that stability all along.
We'll have a powdered sugar donut in your honor, Karev. We know that's your favorite.
Contributing: Erin Jensen and Rasha Ali
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For Tabaski holiday in Mali, families pay to sacrifice sheep
December 03, 2009 · 10:08 PM UTC
May 30, 2010 · 9:15 AM EDT
By Nicolas Brulliard
MOPTI, Mali — For this year’s Tabaski, the African celebrations of the Muslim Eid holidays, the sacrifice of animals is not limited to the thousands of sheep that are slaughtered. The Muslim celebration has also put many Malians in a financial bind.
Tabaski — also known here as Aid el-Kebir — requires Muslim heads of households with sufficient financial means to sacrifice a sheep to honor Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ismael to Allah. Ismael was replaced at the last minute by a sheep as Allah had been satisfied with Ibrahim’s devotion.
As they do every year, sheep prices skyrocketed as the feast of the sacrifice approached, driven in part by unscrupulous speculators. The problem: There is less money going around than in years past as Mali — one of the world’s poorest countries — is feeling the pinch of the global economic slowdown.
In Mopti, Amadou Doumbia said he had found a solution to the conundrum. To avoid being at the mercy of greedy sheep sellers, he had decided to raise his own and had two sheep ready for the feast.
“This year they are crazy,” said Doumbia of the sheep merchants. “They think that everybody has money.”
In this city of about 100,000 located on the banks of the Niger river, business appeared to be brisk as live sheep could be seen traveling on top of buses, in carts, on motorcycles or on people’s backs. Some enterprising animals, trying to take advantage of their new owner’s poor herding ability, attempted to escape but secured only temporary freedom and laughter from passersby.
At one of the city’s main sheep markets, the story was different. At dusk on the eve of Tabaski, the market was still full of unsold sheep — a sight akin to a parking lot full of Christmas trees a few hours before Christmas.
The situation was similar a day earlier in Timbuktu where Tuaregs and Arab nomads left the desert to bring their sheep to market. Abdallah Ag Beidoudji said business was much slower than last year. He said that he had sold only five of the 10 sheep he had brought — a worrying fact just a day before the closure of the markets.
Unlike what happens in big cities where intermediaries drive prices higher, Beidoudji sells his animals directly to his customers. Whereas he sold a sheep for about $180 last year, this year he only got a quarter of that price, he said.
“People have no money in Timbuktu,” Beidoudji said. “There is more supply than demand, so the prices have to come down.”
As to prove Beidoudji’s point, an SUV driver trying to find his way through the sheep clusters joked: “There are too many sheep here. People must buy them.”
Tabaski is the most important holiday in Mali — a country that is 90 percent Muslim — surpassing even Eid ul-Fitr, the celebration that marks the end of Ramadan, according to Mahamadou Haidara, an imam in Bamako, Mali's capital.
Fathers who can afford it must buy one sheep — or several if they are polygamous — as well as new clothes and shoes for their wives and children. Sheep prices vary depending on the size and breed and can reach up to $900 for the most sought-after rams. Some Malians save all year long to be able to buy a sheep that they will keep inside their house for days in anticipation of the feast.
Tabaski imposes a heavy financial burden on Malians. Mali, a country that is mostly desert and semi-desert, ranks among the 25 poorest nations in the world. For the first time since 2000, the country’s gross domestic product decreased this year to $8.76 billion, or just $641 per capita.
To reduce the stress levels of Malian men, Le Republicain, a Malian newspaper, advised women to go easy on purchases of clothes, jewels and expensive hair appointments.
“There is no need to be capricious and demand the impossible from your husband to celebrate the holiday,” the newspaper recommended. “To behave as a good wife, you can choose simplicity given the state of the economy of our country.”
MiscellaneousAgence France-PresseAgence France Presse
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Innovation Accelerator Foundation Acquires Leading University Intellectual Property Marketplace From Kauffman Foundation
Innovation Accelerator Foundation
OMAHA, Neb., Jan. 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Innovation Accelerator Foundation (IAF) will officially announce the acquisition of the iBridge Network (www.ibridgenetwork.org), a university intellectual property marketplace originally developed by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in 2005. iBridge is one the premier university intellectual property marketplaces globally, and it is home to over 10,000 members, 22,000 innovations from over 169 universities and research organizations.
The announcement ceremony will be co-hosted by Walter Scott Jr., Chairman of the Suzanne and Walter Scott Foundation, a strong supporter of the project, along with Dan Neary, the chairman and CEO of Mutual of Omaha. iBridge will increase the scale and impact of scientific and technology-based innovations in the spirit of Omaha's growing business community. "We played a leadership role in bringing the Innovation Accelerator to Omaha. The impact it has had on our innovation economy is encouraging and we're just getting started," said Dan Neary. "iBridge, for me, is infrastructure for an age of innovation" said Walter Scott, Jr.
"Increasing transparency into university sourced intellectual property serves our mission of promoting our nation's economic competitiveness," said John Pyrovolakis, the founder of Innovation Accelerator. "Collaboration with iBridge gives us an expanded infrastructure to serve government backed startups that we hope to grow into the next generation of global corporate leaders".
"The Kauffman Foundation is thrilled to hand the reigns to IAF so it can take iBridge to the next stage of growth. The IAF's work across the country is a model of incubation and collaboration that provides sound infrastructure for iBridge going forward", said Lesa Mitchell, Vice President of Innovation and Networks at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. "We have the utmost confidence that iBridge will not only be secure but also thrive with the leadership of the IAF."
About Innovation Accelerator
Innovation Accelerator (IA) http://www.innovationaccelerator.org/ is the private component of a public-private partnership with the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program at the National Science Foundation (NSF). The goal of this partnership is to facilitate the commercialization efforts of high-technology small businesses funded by grants from the NSF SBIR program. IA-supported companies have exited, forged significant strategic partnerships, and raised substantial private financing in the last four years. In 2012, IA launched a not-for-profit Innovation Accelerator Foundation (IAF) as an extension organization to provide additional tools in supporting IA's mission of promoting America's economic competitiveness in the global economy by promoting American innovation.
About iBridge
The iBridge Network (ibridgenetwork.org), began as a pilot project in 2005 by the Kauffman Innovation Network as a web-based network for the gathering of and dissemination of innovations such as research results, reports, innovations, intellectual property, and patents. The network aggregates research materials, technologies, and discoveries on the site, providing innovation seekers with access to university-developed innovations, leading to further advances and next-generation products and services. In today's current environment, innovation and collaboration are critically important to driving economic recovery and the iBridge Network provides the tools, resources and relationship opportunities to ensure tangible outcomes. Today, it has become a global leader as an innovation catalyst with a vibrant, online community enabling universities, companies and entrepreneurs to connect, collaborate and license tomorrow's research, products and services. Many of the nation's leading research institutions utilize the iBridge Network regularly to promote, share and advance their innovations and identify appropriate partners. Since its inception, the Network has grown to over 10,000 members and hosts over 22,000 innovations from over 169 universities and research organizations.
Anna Bley [email protected]
SOURCE Innovation Accelerator Foundation
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Home About Us Our Exhibits Community - Family Histories
Come Visit With Us
to help support the
Welcome to Pinal County Historical Museum
715 South Main Street ∙ P.O. Box 851 ∙ Florence, Arizona 85132
Telephone: 520.868.4382 ∙ Email: pchsmuseum@yahoo.com
Tuesday - Saturday: 11 A.M. - 3 P.M. · Closed Sunday, Monday, and all major holidays
The Pinal County Historical Society (PCHS) was established in the late 1950’s by a group of private citizens with a desire to preserve the history of Pinal County. At that time this was the only group with this objective. Subsequently other communities created their own historical preservation organizations and the PCHS focused on Florence and the surrounding area in the Gila River valley. The emphasis has been to focus upon events and people who most directly influenced the growth and development of the Town of Florence. The museum collections showcase displays and artifacts that bring these stories to life.
The goal of the founders was to build a permanent home for the display of the artifacts they collected and to establish an endowment for its long term viability. The current home was built in the early 1970’s. In the late 70’s an addition was built to extend the exhibit area.
Located on Main Street in the Town of Florence the PCHS has an extensive collection on display both within the Museum and in the yard where agricultural equipment, retired fire vehicles and a homestead cottage can be found.
The organization is a private, non-profit and has been accredited by the State of Arizona Historical Society. The Museum receives no financial support from either Pinal County or the Town of Florence.
Over the years the Museum has developed a good reputation for handling artifacts in a professional, respectful manner. This has generated more interest from families to donate heirlooms that enhance the stories that the Museum can tell of the region’s history. These displays provide local residents a greater appreciation for the history of the area from the Hohokam period to the founders of Florence.
Home | About Us | Our Exhibits | Community - Family Histories
Copyright © 2012 ∙ Pinal County Historical Society Museum ∙ All Rights Reserved.
Website Address: http://www.pinalcountyhistoricalmuseum.org
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Does Johnson & Johnson Still Use Talcum Powder?
Home » Frequently Asked Questions » Talcum Powder » Does Johnson & Johnson Still Use Talcum Powder?
johnson, talc, products, powder, states, united, talcum, baby, development, asbestos
No, Johnson and Johnson does not still use talcum powder. As of May 12, 2020, Johnson and Johnson announced that their company would no longer manufacture or distribute any talc-containing products in either the United States or Canada. The remaining products that contain talc, such as baby powder, may remain on the shelves and continue to sell throughout the United States and Canada until they completely run out.
Johnson and Johnson and Talcum Powder
Johnson and Johnson has made the decision after decades of legal challenges to finally discontinue all of their talcum based baby powders in both the United States and Canada, according to The New York Times. Starting over forty years ago, Johnson and Johnson provided a common staple found in the nurseries of homes throughout the United States, as new parents used the Johnson and Johnson baby powder to eliminate moisture and reduce friction on their newborns.
The Alleged Johnson and Johnson Cover Up
Talcum powders contain talc, as their name indicates, however, they contain much more than that. Talc is a soft mineral found in the ground, and as miners of this mineral discovered, talc mines typically exist in close proximity to asbestos mines.
Continued research discovered that the mineral talc often contains asbestos as well. As a known carcinogen, asbestos was actually discovered to increase the risk of the development of different types of cancers, such as mesothelioma, ovarian cancer, peritoneal cancer, and testicular mesothelioma, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). As more and more research started to appear linking talc with these types of cancers, many victims that developed these cancers looked to Johnson and Johnson for responsibility and liability for their injuries and losses.
While Johnson and Johnson always vehemently denied that their talc contained any asbestos at all, and that their products were absolutely safe, a cover-up at the company was ultimately exposed. Internal documents of Johnson and Johnson proved that the company had knowledge that their talc-containing products contained asbestos, according to Reuters.
Knowing that their products contained asbestos, albeit, in small amounts, the company appeared to fret for decades and wrestle with how to handle the fact that their well-known baby powders contained a known carcinogen. Additionally, Johnson and Johnson intentionally and deliberately failed to disclose this information to the public and to their consumers.
Lawsuits Against Johnson and Johnson
Johnson and Johnson continued to promote and defend the safety of its talcum powder products, as victims stepped forward to attempt to receive justice regarding the development of different kinds of cancers related to their use of Johnson and Johnson talcum powder products. In 2018, the court ordered Johnson and Johnson to pay $4.7 billion dollars to 22 separate victims related to their development of ovarian cancer, according to the Journal of Missouri State Medical Association.
Other juries throughout the country have also awarded million and billion-dollar settlements, as the jury members were sufficiently convinced that the talc-containing products resulted in the development of these aggressive and life-threatening cancers. Currently, there are over 16,000 talc-related lawsuits throughout the United States. With so many lawsuits, many consumers wondered why Johnson and Johnson still continued to use talcum powder within its products.
The Discontinuation of Talc-Based Products
On May 12, 2020, Johnson and Johnson finally made the decision to remove any product that contained talc from the market. Their official statement included not only a commentary regarding the discontinuation of their baby powder, but also a defense of their continued belief in the safety of their products, despite their internal documents and decades of research that claim otherwise.
Whether or not Johnson and Johnson’s executives truly believe in the safety of their products, they made the long-awaited decision to finally stop creating and distributing their products that contain talc. It is important to note that apparently stores in the United States and Canada will continue to sell the remaining amount of inventory of baby powder on the shelves.
Learn How We Can Help You Today
While Johnson and Johnson do not still use talcum powder in any of their products, this is an extremely recent development. In fact, their products that contain talc still exist on the shelves throughout stores in the United States today. If you believe that you suffered any kind of injury, or the development of cancer as a result of your use of Johnson and Johnson talc-containing products, consider contacting Pintas & Mullins Law Firm at (800) 794-0444 to learn how we can help you today. Our legal team looks forward to providing you a free consultation regarding your case.
Talcum Powder FAQ:
Can You Get Testicular Cancer from Talcum Powder?
Research seems to indicate that a man can get testicular cancer from talcum powder that contains asbestos. Testicular mesothelioma is a type of testicular cancer that researchers concluded develops from exposure to asbestos, which is a well-known risk factor, according to the National Toxicology Program (NTP). Because talcum powders contain the mineral talc, they may ...
What Can I Expect to Recover in a Successful Talcum Powder Lawsuit?
Recently, plaintiffs have been awarded compensation in lawsuits against manufacturers of products containing talcum powder. If you or a loved one received a diagnosis of cancer linked to using talcum powder products, you may be able to seek compensation for your illness. Medical costs. This may include testing, medications, surgeries, ongoing treatments, hospital stays, and ...
Is There a Statute of Limitations for Talcum Powder Lawsuits?
If you received a diagnosis of cancer related to talcum powder use, you may have legal grounds to sue the manufacturer, retailer, or distributor of the product in a product liability lawsuit. You may also file a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of a deceased loved one if their cancer developed by using talcum powder. ...
What Is the Cancer Causing Ingredient in Johnson & Johnson?
Asbestos is the cancer-causing ingredient in Johnson and Johnson baby powder products. Baby Powder and Cancer The baby powder that Johnson and Johnson manufactured and distributed all over the world for decades proudly promoted the inclusion of talc, a soft mineral that effectively absorbs moisture and reduces friction. Johnson and Johnson’s baby powder was not ...
Can You Sue for Mesothelioma?
When Should I Contact a Mesothelioma Lawyer?
Is There a Cure for Mesothelioma?
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Draft Prospect Watch: Max Pentecost and J.D. Davis Homer
Wrapping up the college weekend after busy nights for top line starters on Friday and the best bats on Saturday. Sunday saw an intriguing match-up that included four of the best draft eligible bats this year. We will also take a look at the progress of some of the former Pirates draft picks that didn’t sign. The Pittsburgh Pirates pick 24th overall in the first round this year and the first day of the draft is June 5th. For a preview of the players they may be looking at with their first round pick, check out our four-part draft preview.
On Sunday, Indiana and Oregon State met up, bringing together four of the better bats in this year’s draft class. Catcher Kyle Schwarber and first baseman Sam Travis took on Oregon State’s left fielder Michael Conforto and right fielder Dylan Davis. Oregon State won easily by an 8-1 score. Davis went 1-for-4 with a stolen base, walk and run scored, while Conforto was 2-for-4 with a walk, stolen base, run scored and RBI. Schwarber was 1-for-4 and played left field. Travis was 1-for-3 with a double, run scored and hit-by-pitch.
Cal State Fullerton against San Francisco was almost as good as the Indiana/Oregon State game. Cal State Fullerton’s first baseman J.D. Davis went 1-for-2 with a home run, two walks, two RBIs and a run scored. He has a .310/.459/.690 slash line through seven games, with two homers and eight RBIs. Third baseman Matt Chapman went 1-for-3 with a double and run scored. On the other side of the field, Bradley Zimmer went 1-for-4 in his team’s 5-1 loss.
Virginia’s Derek Fisher went 2-for-4 with a run scored and RBI on Sunday against East Carolina. First baseman Mike Papi went 1-for-5 with a run scored. Virginia has a third batter on their team named Nick Howard, who rates high in this draft class. He hasn’t been playing as much though, at least on offense. Howard is 5-for-12 with a double and triple at the plate and he has pitched four times in relief, giving up one hit, no runs, no walks and six strikeouts in four innings.
Catcher Max Pentecost from Kennesaw State went 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs scored and three RBI’s. He is hitting .405 through nine games with a 1.074 OPS.
One high school player of note to mention. Early in the season, not much is going on in the high school ranks, but one top pitcher had an impressive outing Friday. Touki Toussaint from Coral Springs Christian Academy, threw five shutout innings and he was topping out at 98 MPH while also showing an impressive curve ball. Matt Garrioch from Minor League Ball has an in depth write-up on Toussaint, along with a video. Most rankings have Toussaint ranked around 5-10 among high school players, though Kiley McDaniel had him much lower in his rankings after last fall.
Catching Up With Former Draft Picks
Pepperdine has two former Pirates draft picks on their weekend pitching staff. Aaron Brown(2011, 17th round) started on Sunday. Brown also plays outfielder when he isn’t starting. He is one of the better two-way players around, but Sunday against Utah Valley was a different story. Brown allowed six runs(five earned) through five innings on seven hits, one walk and he had seven strikeouts.
On Saturday, Jackson McClelland pitched for Pepperdine and went six innings, giving up two runs on six hits, no walks and he had three strikeouts. McClelland was taken in the 35th round in 2012.
Dale Carey from Miami was named as one of the best college seniors this year. He was drafted by the Pirates in the 21st round in 2010 and has struggled in college to the point he went undrafted in last year’s draft. This season, he is hitting .308 in seven games, with two homers and a 1.015 OPS.
Walker Buehler, a sophomore from Vanderbilt was a 14th round pick in 2012. He has made one start and one relief appearance this year, allowing one earned run on eight hits, three walks and seven strikeouts in eight innings.
Rice University has two right-handed pitchers that were drafted by the Pirates. Zech Lemond(50th round, 2011) and Chase McDowell(30th round, 2012) both have pitched well early. McDowell made a start, giving up two unearned runs on three hits, two walks and five strikeouts in five innings. Lemond has pitched three times in relief, giving up two runs over seven innings. He has ten strikeouts.
In the 2013 draft, the highest unsigned pick by the Pirates was Ryan Lindemuth, a second baseman from William & Mary. He returned for his senior year and he’s hitting .345 through seven games, with two homers and nine RBIs.
Bradley Zimmer
Chase McDowell
Dale Carey
Dylan Davis
J.D. Davis
Jackson McClelland
Max Pentecost
Michael Conforto
Mike Papi
Nick Howard
Ryan Lindemuth
Sam Travis
Touki Toussaint
Zech Lemond
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Ed Harris Quotes
"If I started worrying about how my constituents are going to react to every move I make, I wouldn't be able to do my job here. I'll do what I think is right and explain it later."
Edward Allen Harris (born November 28, 1950) is an American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. His performances in Apollo 13 (1995), The Truman...
Name Ed Harris
Total 41 Quotes
My parents both are physicians, and my grandfathers were both physicians.
Hill Harper, Actor
More Quotes by Hill Harper
"Pollock said several times that he couldn't separate himself from his art. Not knowing much about modern art when I began to read about him, I was much more his persona - his struggles as a human being - that was interesting to me."
"A lot of films come out before they're finished."
"For The Truman Show, I worked for a few weeks, do my gig, then I was done."
"I am not one of these guys who works job after job after job."
"I chose films made by people I wanted to work with, about subject matter I thought was intriguing."
"I feel like my place in this industry is still progressing."
"I had some really dear friends who died from AIDS-one in particular. His family wasn't around and he didn't have many friends. I spent a lot of time with him in his later days."
"I have a tight family group that's really important to me. I don't want to work all the time."
"I like to act with people that know what they're doing."
"I listen to National Public Radio, which, to me at least, presents the most rounded view of things."
"I love this country very much, and I'm proud to live here, but I think our current administration is extreme. These are not merely conservative people, these are extreme right-wing people."
"I made career decisions that came from the part of me who wanted to shun the limelight."
"I think most people that are looked upon as doing something daring don't necessarily think of it that way-they do what they have to do."
"I was concerned about filling my life up with something important to me. To me, it was just necessary."
"I'm not an activist per se, but I have strong feelings about things. People can jump on celebrities for being ill-informed or naive, but I've got a right to say what I believe."
"I've always wanted to work with Paul Newman. I had a couple opportunities in the past, and I didn't take advantage of it, so it was really fun to be working with him."
"If I'm daring at all, I guess it would be emotionally. I try to keep things interesting for myself and to do things that challenge me."
"In the past 10 years, I've looked at life as this Pollock stuff. And now I'm almost in the post Pollock phase."
"It's hard to see a film that's been made from a book that you really loved because it's such a different experience."
"One of the first things I learned about acting was, the only person you compete against is yourself."
"Seeing what happens when you rip yourself open is what your job is all about."
"There's always a reaction based on fear. People assume if you're criticizing a decision to go to war, then you're saying something against the soldiers-which is not the case."
"When Bush first got elected, the very first time there was talk of going to war with Iraq, the mainstream media gave his position total credibility. I didn't get it then, and I don't get it now."
"When I decided to direct, never having done that before, is something I'm very proud of."
>>Next
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Hayes & Finch are experts in reversing the signs of ageing of precious or sentimental heirlooms and artefacts and restoring them to their former glory for the benefit of future generations.
Our unrivalled reputation for renovating and repairing chandeliers has been built on recommendation, and has given the company the privilege of working on some of the finest chandeliers in the country. Our time-served craftsmen are specialists in the art of chandelier renovation and repair, and guarantee quality workmanship of the highest standard, regardless of the size of project being undertaken.
No project is too large or too small. On receipt, each brass chandelier is inspected, photographed, and an itinerary of work is logged. Each section of the chandelier is numbered and recorded before being disassembled in readiness for the restoration work to begin.
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Expert chandelier renovation is a highly specialised process, and Hayes & Finch takes no short-cuts. Suffice to say, the refurbished chandelier will have a greatly enhanced value, appearance and significance within its environment.
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Refurbishment of brass plate
Engraved plates often have great historical significance, and their preservation is of great importance to our heritage.
Hayes & Finch is one of the few specialists with the ability to restore ancient brass plates with the necessary consideration and attention to detail.
Skilled craftsmen use a combination of expert processes including polishing, painting of key features and antique wax-filling techniques to restore commemorative plates. The company’s facilities include an in-house modern woodmill, so wooden back-plates can also be fully refurbished or renewed without problem.
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Refurbishment of Wooden Furniture
Hayes & Finch have the advantage of their state-of-the-art woodmill, staffed by highly-trained carpenters and cabinetmakers who specialise in the art of refurbishing wooden items.
British Hallmark
Is an official mark, or series of marks, struck on items made of precious metals — platinum, gold, silver and, in some nations, palladium. In a more general sense, the term hallmark can also be used to refer to any distinguishing characteristic or trait.
Work, whether hallmarked or not, is always carried out to the high quality that has become the hallmark of Hayes & Finch.
For more information about the products and services offered by Hayes & Finch, visit our website – www.hfltd.com
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Hayes & Finch specialise in renovating precious heirlooms and antiques.
Our specialist Silversmiths can renovate ornate Chandeliers and commemorative Christening Spoons to a Ship’s Bell, plus everything else in between.
Flattening dents, creases and dimples, and restoring precious treasures back to their former glory to be enjoyed by future generations.
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2013-2018 Hayes & Finch Metal Renovation
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A review of Dave Weaver's The Unseen
Written by Seregil of Rhiminee
Dave Weaver's The Unseen was published by Elsewhen Press as a digital edition in May 2016. The printed edition will be published in August 2016.
Information about Dave Weaver:
Dave Weaver, a graphic designer, was born in darkest Surrey. He took quite a long time to begin writing. About a decade ago he joined the local Verulam Writers' Circle and has since had a number of short stories published in various anthologies and webzines. Much of his writing hovers on the shifting borders between fantasy and reality. He holds a particular fascination for the uncertain times of Britain's Dark Ages, no doubt inspired by the ruins of the Roman town of Verulamium near where he lives with his family and a cat called Trillian. This is much in evidence in his first novel Jacey's Kingdom.
Though born and raised in the distinctly un-exotic heartlands of Surrey, ‘the land of the rising sun’ has held a fascination for Dave since he first visited it with his Japanese wife. A fascination for the beautiful colours of its landscapes and the subtlety of its culture, for its contradictions and certainties, intelligence and passion, spirit and diversity. Yet beneath all these things lies another Japan; one of ghosts and shadows, unspoken secrets, demons from the past and uncertain visions of the future. It's what makes this intriguing country ultimately unknowable, unique, Nippon... and inspired his second novel Japanese Daisy Chain.
daveweaver16.blogspot.com
daveweaver-unreal.blogspot.com
twitter.com/davejweaver
Information about The Unseen:
Ex-advertising man John Mason is driving to the small town of Hambleford to view a cottage that is for sale, when he is caught in a sudden hailstorm. It brings back memories of the crash a year before in which he lost his wife Judith; a crash caused by a woman in white standing in the middle of the road – a woman who was nowhere to be found after the accident. As the hailstorm lashes his car he has a vision of her, with empty eyes and a silent screaming mouth. John had been having regular dreams about her ever since the crash, but lately they have been replaced by dreams of an idyllic cottage on a hillside like the one in which Judith had wanted them to live.
John is special – he sees things that others can't. Since childhood he's had strange experiences but has tried to shut them out; now he thinks Judith is trying to contact him, that she's been sending his mind images of the house where her spirit will join him again, and that Pine Cottage in Hambleford is literally the cottage of his dreams.
But things aren't all as they appear and John quickly becomes convinced that a spirit other than Judith is trying to manipulate him.
The Unseen is a darkly erotic tale of guilt and obsession. Both hallucinatory and horrifying, its finale will shock you.
Dave Weaver is a versatile and talented author who has written interesting speculative fiction novels. Now he tries his hands on horror fiction and he does it well. I was positively surprised by The Unseen, because the author has his own voice and he easily creates a strange atmosphere that is filled with supernatural menace.
Dave Weaver's The Unseen is a welcome addition to paranormal horror fiction. It's an entertaining and intriguing novel, because it's simultaneously a horror story and a paranormal thriller with elements of psychological horror. Because it's something a bit different from what has recently been written by various other authors, it will be of interest to readers who are interested in supernatural happenings and secrets of the past.
The Unseen has a touch of British coolness that separates it from other horror novels. Although it's partly a traditional supernatural story, it has freshness that makes it different and entertaining. (If there are readers out there who wonder if a horror novel can simultaneously be entertaining, thrilling and unsettling, this novel proves that it's possible to find such a novel.)
Here's information about the story:
John Mason is on his way to Hambleford to view a cottage there. During the drive he is caught in a hailstrom, which brings back bitter memories of the crash in which his wife died. When he arrives in Hambleford, he visits the local graveyard and sees the grave of Evangeline Foret and notices that someone has written the word 'witch' on the gravestone. Soon afterwards he goes to see the cottage with a real estate agent. He thinks that the cottage is perfect and he decides to move there. John thinks that Judith may have somehow sent him an image about the cottage so that he would move there and her spirit would find him. Soon he finds out that the cottage is haunted by the spirit of Evangeline who has terrifying plans...
These strange happenings begin a chain of events that offers a terrifying glimpse into the life of John Mason. The story is effectively told from John's point of view in the first person narrative mode.
The characterisation works well, because Dave Weaver has created a fully three-dimensional protagonist in John Mason. The supporting characters are not as fully fleshed as John, but they're interesting and well-created characters.
John's life has not been easy, because he has lost his wife Judith in a crash. Just before the crash he saw a figure standing in front of them, a woman in a long white dress, but the vision was a blur and he remembers no details about her. When he tried to avoid hitting the woman, Judith died. No traces of the woman were ever found during the police investigations.
John has a step-daughter Katy. She is Judith's child, but he has taken care of her and wants to be the person she turns to for advice. He is also friends with Judith's younger brother, Danny, but their relationship is a bit complicated, because Danny doesn't seem to fully believe his story about the woman on the road.
One of the reason why John is an interesting protagonist is that he is not perfect and has made mistakes. He is tormented by his past and has feelings of guilt. He has problems with alcohol, but he has gotten treatment for it (his wife used to notice how much he drank). Now that he has gotten treatment for his condition he intends to stay sober for Katy's sake.
John has an ability to see things that other people can't see. He can see spirits and is capable of communicating with them. He's had the ability ever since he was a child, but he hasn't told anyone about it.
Mike Shawcross, the local reverend, is an interesting supporting character, because he knows quite a lot about supernatural phenomena and various happenings concerning the village. He helps John and provides him information about Evangeline Foret.
Katy is also a well-created character. The author writes fluently about what kind of a relationship Katy has with John. It was interesting for me to read about how they were friends, but didn't really know much about each other's lives and feelings.
Dave Weaver creates an intense, strange and hallucinatory atmosphere by gradually revealing what happens to John and what he finds out about the past events related to Evangeline Foret. I won't reveal any details about John's findings, but I can mention that what he finds out is unsettling and worrisome.
Because I'm a big fan of horror fiction, I enjoyed reading about Evangeline's life and the circumstances surrounding her death. The author wrote well about what had happened to her as the story began to unfold.
Dave Weaver effectively infuses the story with dark eroticism and feelings of guilt. This adds plenty of depth and punch to the story. In my opinion, the author writes well about sexual situations and feelings of guilt, because he has his own way of writing about them.
This novel has a surprise ending that suddenly steers the story into a new direction. I won't reveal what happens at the end, but I can reveal that the author has come up with an intriguing twist that will thrill readers. I think it's good that the author has not settled for an ordinary ending, but has thought of something different.
Because I enjoyed reading this novel and found it entertaining, I'd like to see Dave Weaver write more this kind of fiction, because he has potential to become a thrilling horror author. He has all the necessary talents to break out into the genre and cause amazement with his fiction.
I give this novel 4.5 stars on the scale from 1 to 5 stars for its entertainment values and freshness. This kind of horror entertainment appeals to me, because it's nice to read something a bit different for a change.
If you are looking for an entertaining and gripping story to read, Dave Weaver's The Unseen is an excellent novel for you. It's a relatively fast read that keeps you intrigued by various twists and turns and surprises you with its ending.
Intriguing horror entertainment!
Discuss this article in the forums (0 replies).
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Roberth Huth Fan
An absolute BEAST of a Defender!
Robert Huth Biography
Robert Huth Videos
Harry Redknapp believes that the signing of Robert Huth
Post author By content
Former Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp believes that the signing of Robert Huth has been a major attribute in the club’s current form.
The former Chelsea defender may have become a journeymen in recent years after having played for clubs like Stoke City amongst others. However, he continues to be an impressive player wherever he has been. Redknapp saw Huth help Leicester City avoid relegation when he was on loan at the club last season. This appears to have convinced the club to make a permanent offer for the former German international.
Claudio Ranieri, who replaced Nigel Pearson in the summer, has been able to benefit immensely from the experience provided by Huth. The German was coming through the ranks at Chelsea when Ranieri was the first team manager. Hence, their relationship goes back to a long time rather than just at the King Power stadium. This relationship appears to have been a basis for this strong defence that the club has had in the last couple of months. Leicester have been able to fight alongside the likes of Manchester United and Manchester City because they have an impressive defensive record.
The team has conceded only 21 goals in 14 games, which is an extremely good tally considering that they were up against relegation trouble for much of last season. “Robert Huth was a big signing for them. He came in and helped Wes Morgan at the back, who I have always thought was underrated and has the potential to be a top Premier League centre-back,” said the former Tottenham manager, who is now working as a pundit across different verticals. Despite being a German, Robert Huth has been only involved in the Premier League throughout his career. He has represented clubs like Chelsea, Stoke City and Middlesbrough. The 31-year-old has more than 250 league games under his belt.
HUTH REMINISCES ON WHAT INSPIRED LEICESTER WINNING THE PREMIER LEAGUE
Huth: Savior of Stoke
Huth Response to Liverpool Nightclub Attack
Robert Huth Talks about Mourinho’s Expletive Rant
Is Sarri right about Kante’s Position
© 2021 Roberth Huth Fan
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Stanley Donen: 1924-2019
Carrie Rickey February 23, 2019
Stanley Donen, the prolific director behind "Singin’ in the Rain" and "Damn Yankees," among many other iconic movie musicals and comedies, died Thursday of a heart attack, his son reported early today. He was 94. First as a choreographer and then a director, Donen imaginatively liberated the musical from its stagebound roots, taking it outside to city streets ("On the Town," 1950), urban parks ("The Pajama Game," 1957), and even the Eiffel Tower ("Funny Face," 1957). Martin Scorsese perfectly summed up Donen's career while presenting the filmmaker with a lifetime achievement Oscar at the 1997 Academy Awards: “During the golden age of movies, he set the gold standard."
If Donen (pronounced DONN-en) transformed the movie musicals, it may have been because musicals had long ago transformed him. Born in Columbia, South Carolina in 1924, Donen discovered movies as a way of escaping the taunts of anti-Semitic classmates. At the age of nine, he watched Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in "Flying Down to Rio" and would recall later, “It was as if something exploded inside me.” “When Astaire danced, everything in this world was perfect.” Donen would later go on to direct his idol in "Royal Wedding" (1951) and "Funny Face" (1957).
Throughout his childhood, Donen took tap lessons and experimented with the family’s home-movie camera. By the time he completed high school at 16, he was prepared to take on duties both behind and in front of the lens. Because Broadway was closer to South Carolina than Hollywood, he launched his movie career by way of New York City.
Within weeks of arriving there, the self-described “green hick” landed a part in the chorus of Rodgers’ and Hart’s Pal Joey. The title role belonged to a Pittsburgh hoofer named Gene Kelly, who would become, in the words of Donen biographer Stephen Silverman, the filmmaker’s “mentor and tormentor.” The producer/director was Broadway legend George Abbott, who also hired both Kelly and Donen for his next Broadway musical, "Best Foot Forward," giving them extra creative responsibilities. Kelly starred in and choreographed the military-school musical comedy, while Donen assisted.
In 1942, at the ripe old age of 18, Donen followed Kelly to Hollywood where both found work at MGM: Kelly, in a leading role opposite Judy Garland in "For Me and My Gal," and Donen in another choreographic assistantship and a dancing role in the movie version of "Best Foot Forward." Donen assisted Kelly with choreography for "Cover Girl" (1944) and then "Anchors Aweigh" (1945), for which Donen spent nearly a year blocking, shooting and editing a sequence with Kelly and an animated Jerry the Mouse.
MGM executives took notice. In 1949, they hired Kelly and Donen to co-direct "On the Town" (1950), the boisterous musical about three sailors on shore leave in New York. The studio permitted the filmmakers to shoot a week on location. The open air invigorated the songs and dances, inching the Hollywood musical toward realism.
It wasn't Donen’s idea to have Astaire dance on the ceiling in "Royal Wedding" (1951). Yet in the director’s first solo stint behind the camera, he made lyricist Alan Jay Lerner’s dream a reality. Inside a 20-foot steel cylinder, carpenters constructed Astaire’s hotel room, nailing all the furniture down. Donen’s camera was fixed to the bottom of the cylinder, which revolved and enabled his idol to appear to glide up a wall, across the ceiling and down another wall for the film’s most magical sequence.
At 28, Donen was assigned to co-direct "Singin’ in the Rain" (1952) with Kelly. Though the musical comedy about Hollywood’s bumpy transition from silent to sound films was well-liked at the time of its release (Charlie Chaplin and Francois Truffaut were fans), it was 30 years after its release that Cahiers du Cinema ranked it the second greatest film of all time. When AFI ranked the greatest movie musicals, it was number one. By Donen’s death it had been elevated to Hollywood pantheon.
“What’s so unusual about it,” Donen told his biographer Stephen Silverman, “ … is that more of its screen time is taken up by singing and dancing numbers than by the dialogue.” That may be the reason that 60 years later, it remains a work of buoyant and impudent fun.
Over his next decade, he directed five more classic musicals and virtually created a new movie genre, the sophisticated adult comedy. The musicals included the romping, stomping "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" (1954), the under-appreciated "It’s Always Fair Weather" (1955) about three war buddies who grow apart (his last collaboration with Kelly) and the sublime "Funny Face" (1957) with Fred Astaire as the Pygmalion who transforms dowdy intellectual Audrey Hepburn into a glamorous fashion model.
With George Abbott producing, Donen brought two well-received Broadway adaptations to the screen: "The Pajama Game" (1957), a lovely John Raitt-Doris Day film about a wage dispute in a pajama factory, and "Damn Yankees" (1958), starring Tab Hunter as the modern Faust who sells his soul to the devil in order to become a baseball hero.
In "Indiscreet" (1958), which Donen produced with star Cary Grant, the director introduced the comedy of adultery. In this one, Grant pretends to be married so he doesn’t have to get serious with amour Ingrid Bergman. In "The Grass is Greener" (1961), married couple Grant and Deborah Kerr are attracted to singletons Jean Simmons and Robert Mitchum, respectively. "Charade" (1963), Donen’s next, with Grant and Audrey Hepburn, was the most fully realized: The stylish thriller about a suddenly widowed woman and a mystery man earned the biggest box office of Donen’s career. His follow-up "Arabesque" (1966), with Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren, was a chase-romance in a similar vein.
He embraced new narrative styles as the Hollywood director most influenced by the French New Wave. The director’s third film with Hepburn, "Two for the Road" (1967), was the best of his career. This bittersweet mosaic of marriage jump-cuts back and forth among four time periods. Hepburn and co-star Albert Finney play the marrieds: She's content, while he's chafing at the bit. The movie wasn't a financial success, but its non-chronological narrative, surprising editing and vulnerable performances still make it a standout in his incredible filmography.
Donen knew something of marriage himself. He was married five times, to dancer Jeanne Coyne, actress Marion Marshall, onetime restaurant hostess Lady Adelle Beatty, actress Yvette Mimieux and boutique saleswoman Pam Braden. Embroidered on a pillow in Donen’s living room was the affirmation, “Eat, drink, and remarry.”
The women he didn’t wed were equally significant. Early in his career, he dated Elizabeth Taylor, widely acknowledged to be one of the most beautiful woman in the movies. From 1999 until his death he cohabitated with writer/director Elaine May, widely acknowledged to be one of the smartest and funniest woman in movies.
He claimed that he asked May to marry him “about 172 times.” Instead of putting his ring on her finger, she gave him an upscale dog tag he wore around his neck. It was inscribed: “Stanley Donen. If found, please return to Elaine May."
Donen made films in genres rarely nominated for Oscars. Nevertheless, in 1997 Martin Scorsese presented him with an honorary statuette and the musicals director stopped the show by dancing with his statuette while crooning, “Cheek to Cheek.”
Mr. Donen is survived by Ms. May, two of his three sons, and 27 films, more than a handful of them immortal.
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Bacterial pneumonia in persons infected with the human immunodeficiency virus. Pulmonary Complications of HIV Infection Study Group
Hirschtick, RE., Glassroth, J., Jordan, M., Wilcosky, T., Wallace, JM., Kvale, PA., Markowitz, N., Rosen, MJ., Mangura, BT., & Hopewell, PC. (1995). Bacterial pneumonia in persons infected with the human immunodeficiency virus. Pulmonary Complications of HIV Infection Study Group. New England Journal of Medicine, 333(13), 845-851.
BACKGROUND. Patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection are at increased risk for bacterial pneumonia in addition to opportunistic infection. However, the risk factors for bacterial pneumonia and its incidence in this population are not well defined. METHODS. In a multicenter, prospective, observational study, we monitored 1130 HIV-positive and 167 HIV-negative participating adults for up to 64 months for pulmonary disease. The HIV-positive group comprised 814 homosexual or bisexual men, 261 injection-drug users, and 55 female partners of HIV-infected men. RESULTS. There were 237 episodes of bacterial pneumonia among the HIV-positive participants (rate, 5.5 per 100 person-years), as compared with 6 episodes among the HIV-negative participants (rate, 0.9 per 100 person-years; P < 0.001). The rate of bacterial pneumonia increased with decreasing CD4 lymphocyte counts (2.3, 6.8, and 10.8 episodes per 100 person-years in the strata with more than 500, 200 to 500, and fewer than 200 cells per cubic millimeter, respectively; P < or = 0.022 for each comparison). Injection-drug users had a higher rate of bacterial pneumonia than did homosexual or bisexual men or female partners. In the stratum with the fewest CD4 lymphocytes, cigarette smoking was associated with an increased rate of pneumonia. Mortality was almost four times higher among participants with an episode of pneumonia than among the others. Prophylaxis with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole was associated with a 67 percent reduction in confirmed episodes of bacterial pneumonia (P = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS. Bacterial pneumonia is more frequent in HIV-positive persons than in seronegative controls, and the risk is highest among those with CD4 lymphocyte counts below 200 per cubic millimeter and among injection-drug users
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Emerging Buddhas 56th Street
Ten Thousand Ripples, Indira Freitas Johnson and the Changing Worlds Project, 2016. Installed in Jackson Park between E. 56th Street and E. 57th Drive near the Iowa Building. Photos Rachel Cohen.
This time I was quicker to turn to public art. Knowing that the museums were closed again, I right away started walking to look at the sculptures and murals in our neighborhood. On Thursday, I spent a little while with a circle of sculptures that I’ve never really stayed with, though I always point them out to the children as we walk by, or ride on our bicycles.
They are in the green between 56th Street and 57th, just north of the Science Museum and near to the sloping downhill entrance that lets you get under Lake Shore Drive to Promontory Point, where there is a little stone building called the Iowa Building.
A circle of emerging Buddhas.
I would say they come up a little above my knees, large but well within the frame of a body.
In the original version of the Ten Thousand Ripples project, which began in 2010, there were 100 Buddhas in ten different neighborhoods in Chicago. A booklet was published and is available on the internet about the different people who took a lead in organizing in different neighborhoods. There are moving essays and reflections by a teacher, a permaculturist, a filmmaker, a community artist about working with the sculptures and people in the neighborhoods to think about peace.
The teacher is Jequeline Salinas, she is a visual arts teacher at Hedges Elementary School in Back of the Yards, which is in an industrial area on the west side at 47th and Ashland in a neighborhood that is 95% Latino and 5% African American.
Salinas was quoted in the booklet saying “This helped us in the healing process and the understanding process—and, really, the wondering process. It was something that really took us by heart—it really touched us.” Of course then I could see this was a person of beautiful and significant thought – the wondering process, and “it took us by heart,” – and so I have been scouring the internet for information about Salinas’s teaching practices and feel pretty persuaded that she is a genius.
In the booklet, she described a student who asked to be interviewed for a video project. “She was so shy—she never talks! So I took her out into the gallery space and asked if she knew what an interview was. ‘Yes,’ she said. So I said, ‘what would you say?’ She said, ‘When I see the Buddha, it reminds me that I need to talk.’ When I asked why, she said, ‘Because it doesn’t have a mouth.’”
Ten Thousand Ripples was conceived by the artist Indira Freitas Johnson, who has lived in Chicago for some twenty-five years and who grew up in India, where her mother was a social activist and her father a follower of Gandhi. The circle in our neighborhood was installed in 2016.
In different Hindu and Buddhist traditions circles are important for wisdom, expressivity, understanding – five Buddhas may be shown in the circle of a mandala, or, in Zen Buddhism, a circle of ink may be drawn in one or two brushstrokes as a practice for letting the mind be free, the body creative.
Enso Circles, Tara Geer c.2013. Photo Rachel Cohen.
I keep these, done in ink on heavy paper near me on my desk. They were made (what is the right verb for how these were made – drawn, swept) by the artist Tara Geer, who is someone I look to.
I thought I would like to write a sentence about when I began thinking about Buddhism. I asked myself when that had been. It was around the time that I met Tara, around 2000 and 2001. I was then in a relationship with a man whose family was from Calcutta and who had grown up in Zimbabwe. He wanted to see the Dalai Lama when he came to New York. And, when I asked myself the question, when did I begin to think about Buddhism, the memory arose in my mind, the sloping green of Central Park, and the people gathered there.
There were people from everywhere of course, but there were many Tibetans, long away from their homeland, for whom this occasion had its own meanings. As we sat in the grass, I had observed many women in the beautiful Tibetan garb, with pangden aprons woven in three panels of horizontal stripes, the pattern of which would tell the practiced eye what village and region they had been from.
When the Dalai Lama came on to the stage, all those who knew to do so, all the Tibetans and the other practitioners, stood and made an obeisance. It was so beautiful, radiant and outpouring. The joy in being with one another. We were all there.
I remember that I was struck by how funny and witty he was, and saw how laughter and wisdom were a part of one another for him.
And I was moved by what he said, and resolved to think about it, I felt very privately about it, something very private happened among all those people.
I find from the internet that it was August 15, 1999, that there were 40,000 people on the East Meadow. It was reported in Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine that the Dalai Lama said of spiritual development, “what is important is the development of inner peace. Compassion is a sense of caring, thinking about others’ welfare. This is linked to inner strength… Through constant effort, we can change our mental perception, our mental attitude, and that makes the difference in our life.”
After I stood among the emerging Buddhas near 56th Street, I went to the dentist, where I was nervous about virus exposure, though every precaution was being taken, and I was extremely impatient that they kept me waiting and complained vociferously to the hard-working and anxious people there about their disregard for my time, and rushed home to manage my correspondence and to prepare for a public conversation I was to have on zoom.
But I had stood in a future memory of peace, held in that circle that the artist and the people working in the neighborhoods of Chicago had made.
Ten Thousand Ripples and Changing Worlds
Booklet about Ten Thousand Ripples
Indira Freitas Johnson
GeerDalai LamaIndira Freitas Johnson
© 2021 Rachel Cohen admin aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cucmFjaGVsZWNvaGVuLmNvbS9ibG9nL3RhZzpfRGFsYWlfTGFtYQ==a [slab]site
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Guns N' Roses Sweet Child O' Mine becomes first 80s video to hit 1 billion views on YouTube
20 October 2019, 18:00 | Updated: 28 October 2019, 18:09
The iconic video for Sweet Child O' Mine has beaten the likes of A-ha's Take On Me to reach the one billion mark on the video streaming platform.
Guns N' Roses have reached another milestone with one of their most iconic singles.
The legendary rock band's Sweet Child O' Mine video has become the first released in the 1980s to reach 1 billion views on YouTube.
Watch Guns N' Roses play the track at The London Stadium above.
As reported by Music Week, the 1988 track (released in 1989 in the UK) - which is taken from the band's 1987 debut album, Appetite For Destruction - has beaten out stiff competition from very memorable 80s videos across the genres.
It took the accolade from the likes of Aha's Take on Me, which had 943 million views, Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Want To Have Fun, which had 786 million views, The Police's Every Breath You Take, which scored 699 million views, and Michael Jackson's Billie Jean video, which astonishingly only had 694 million views.
Watch the iconic video here:
READ MORE: Why does Slash from Guns N' Roses wear a hat?
It's not the first time Axl Rose, Slash and co have made an impact on the YouTube charts, with their November Rain video beating Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit promo to become the first video of the 90s to reach the one billion mark.
The LA rockers, who are currently in their classic line up of Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan and Dizzy Reed have been tipped for the new Terminator film.
According to an Australian Guns N' Roses Facebook fan group called GUNS OVER OZ, insiders who are close to the band reveal they have been invited to watch a "rough" cut of the film to see if they'd be interested in making a soundtrack.
A fan claims: "A source who was working on Terminator: Dark Fate has informed that four members of Guns N’ Roses went to a private viewing of a rough copy of the upcoming Arnold Schwarzenegger sequel movie to see if they want to put a song on the soundtrack".
They add: "Apparently, Slash was at Axl’s house to record overdubs on a song for the rush release. At this point the song name is unknown. But yes 100% verified. Guns N’ Roses new music."
Guns N' Roses Axl Rose in 1998. Picture: L. Busacca/WireImage/Getty Images
The Paradise City rockers previously released a soundtrack for James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgement Day back in 1991.
Watch the video for You Could Be Mine, which featured on Use Your Illusion II here:
Take our 80s video quiz:
Guns N' Roses Songs
Sweet Child Of Mine
Download 'Paradise City' on iTunes
Download 'Welcome To The Jungle' on iTunes
Download 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door' on iTunes
Guns N' Roses Latest
See more Guns N' Roses Latest
How did Guns N' Roses come up with their name?
The most delayed albums of all time
The unluckiest albums of all time
The most controversial line-up changes in music
QUIZ: Guns N'Roses lyric or AC/DC lyric?
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Phasing in a New Kind of Foster Youth Support
The Definition of Full Circle
It's Your Fault Mom
Foster Care Ways to Help USA
Written by Sarah Townsend on 19 Oct 2015
It’s a simple statement that drives the Phased In Project. “We go all out, so they will be all in” is the key phrase used at the Wichita Falls, Texas transitional living program for youth who have emancipated from foster care.
In Texas alone about 1,200-1,500 youth are “phased out” of the foster care system each year, and about half of these youths will be homeless after their eighteenth birthday. Many of the teens will enter a life of drug or alcohol addiction or be incarcerated while many for the girls will become pregnant before their twentieth birthday. When Pastor Kile Bateman, founder and executive director of the Phased In Project, read the statistics for youth aging out of foster care, he asked himself what he could do to help.
Just after coming across the statistics, Bateman heard the story of one young girl in Los Angeles who felt like she had no chance after being “phased out” of the system. At the point, Bateman felt the call from God to help the foster youths who have no support after leaving the foster care system.
With the intent to assist young adults transition from foster care to adulthood, Phased In helps these youths learn basic life skills that will prepare them for living on their own. The youths enter into an 18-month program that provides housing, education, medical care and much more.
Bateman knew that this could not be accomplished with just his efforts, so he turned to his church community and found many members willing to help make his dreams a reality. Of these members, Troy and Sarah Mai have taken on a leading role in helping with the program.
The Mais were already familiar with the foster care system after adopting a child while living in Missouri. Troy’s military job eventually led them to Texas, where they learned about Phased In and knew they wanted to help.
Working alongside Bateman and other church members, the Mais were given the opportunity to be the house parents for the men’s dormitory and jumped at the chance.
“We are basically Mom and Dad to them, Aunt and Uncle to some,” Sarah Mai said. “We are job coaches and mentors. We assess who comes in and teach them how to cook, how to grocery shop, how to do their laundry, how to change oil, how to find a job and apply for a job — everything they need to know to become independent. Whatever need arises, we are here to help them.”
Being in direct contact with these youths gives Mai an inside view of the changes that occur in the youths who go through the program. She sees the youths change from scared kids, to healthy adults.
“I would say the best part is seeing that switch flip; seeing the kids understand that there are people out there who will love them and that they can trust. To see them know that there are people out there that care. To see them regain the ability to have healthy relationships,” Mai said.
For youths who want to take part in the program, there is an interview process that they must go through to be accepted. Phased In is working on publicizing the program to encourage more youths to apply.
“We have a great relationship with the state of Texas, we work very hard to educate case workers about Phased In,” Mai said. “There is a lot of word of mouth about us between caseworkers, and we do lots of tours where they can come and see the facility. This summer we are doing a tour of the state to go to aging out seminars and teen conferences in each region of the state of Texas.”
After the youths graduate from Phased In, the Mai family knows they will always be connected to the youths, but they want to connect them to someone else in the community too so they have somewhere to go for holidays and other important events. The Mais helped to launch a mentor family program that connects youths with families who help them even more after they have left the program.
The goal for the Phased In team is that everyone will leave the program with a connection to a caring adult.
“We also are working on a family reunion with the graduated students,” Mai said. “Just to spend time with the kids who have graduated. We are really just one big family. That’s a big part of our program. We want to be a family.”
Phased In not only works to be a family for youths who have not had a stable living situation, but the program also strives to help youths for a longer period of time.
“We are the only program in Texas that keeps kids as long as we do,” Mai said. “There are lots of places that will refer them, but not give them a place to live for as long as we do. We are also different because we take kids from all regions.”
Mai believes Phased In is giving the youths a support system that they can rely on when times get tough.
“We all have connections, where we can call to help us, these kids don’t have the connections,” Mai said.
Phased In has brave goals set out for the next few years. The facility includes five buildings on a large plot of land in a residential area of the city. There is a brand new men’s dorm, a house parent house and an education center that is being renovated. The other two buildings are slated to be torn down in order to build a women’s dorm that will accommodate women with children as well, and another house parent house. The program is also fundraising to put in a basketball court and a serenity garden.
The expansion is not only happening in Wichita Falls. Phased In leaders hope to have another girl’s dorm up and running in Dallas within the next year. Bateman also has plans to meet with a Brazilian pastor to talk about the possibility of beginning a Phased In program in Brazil.
Mai counted 12 youths helped so far in two years, and the program only plans on growing to assist more. With the expansion projects in motion, within the year Mai said she hopes that the program can help more women and men find a family.
“(We should) not judge a book by its cover and give these kids an opportunity. When you think about foster care, so many people see the kids in scraggly clothes, and these kids need love too,” Mai said. “No one should judge them just because they are rough around the edges. If you had lived in 15 different homes through your childhood you would be a little rough around the edges too.”
For Mai, each child who comes through the program is an opportunity for her to change a life. She said she hopes each one of them learns something and takes away important skills from the program.
“We need to give them a chance, because underneath all that, there is so much goodness,” Mai said.
To get involved, volunteer or donate to the Phased In program, visit phasedin.org.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sarah Townsend is a communications major at Chadron State College. She is the news editor of the college’s newspaper, The Eagle. She has a passion for reading and writing, and aspires to be successful in the communications world after college. She also runs cross-country and long-distance track races for Chadron State. In her spare time, she loves to be outdoors and be active.
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Learn more or contact agency 541 E Garden Dr Unit N Colorado
Finding My Identity
Adoption & Education: Specific Tips for Collaborating With a Teacher
A History of Breaking Barriers in Adoption
Why We Don't Keep our Daughters' Artwork
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Community Development Agency
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Santa Ana's One-Stop Center offers a range of services associated with employment, job training and counseling for adults and youths.
The City of Santa Ana’s Opportunity Zone encompasses 11 census tracts, approximately 22% of the City. With over 3,800 acres of qualified land designated as an Opportunity Zone in the city, Santa Ana is looking for future investment that will provide a substantial economic return for its business and resident community.
Areas of interest in the Opportunity Zone include Downtown Santa Ana, the Civic Center, the Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center, the 100 acre Willowick site, and the OC Streetcar route.
What is an Opportunity Zone
An Opportunity Zone is an area designated under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, where new investments, under certain conditions, may be eligible for preferential tax treatment. Localities qualify as Opportunity Zones if they have been nominated for that designation by the state and that nomination has been certified by the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury via his delegation of authority to the Internal Revenue Service.
Opportunity Zones are an economic development tool—that is, they are designed to spur economic development and job creation in distressed communities.
Opportunity Zones are designed to spur economic development by providing tax benefits to investors. First, investors can defer tax on any prior gains invested in a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF) until the earlier of the date on which the investment in a QOF is sold or exchanged, or December 31, 2026. If the QOF investment is held for longer than 5 years, there is a 10% exclusion of the deferred gain. If held for more than 7 years, the 10% becomes 15%. Second, if the investor holds the investment in the Opportunity Fund for at least ten years, the investor is eligible for an increase in basis of the QOF investment equal to its fair market value on the date that the QOF investment is sold or exchanged.
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The OC Streetcar is the first modern streetcar project to be built in Orange County and will operate along a 4.15-mile route that connects the Santa Ana Regional Transpiration Center (SARTC) and a new transit hub at Harbor Boulevard and Westminster Avenue in Garden Grove. Construction for this project commenced in 2018 and it is expected to be completed in 2022, carrying to Santa Ana’s Historic and thriving Downtown, including federal, state and local courthouses, government offices, colleges, an artist’s village and a thriving restaurant scene. For more information on the OC Streetcar please visit OCTA’s OC Streetcar Website.
For more information on developable sites in the City’s Opportunity Zone, please contact Sylvia Vazquez, Economic Development Specialist II at (714) 647-5445 or svazquez@santa-ana.org.
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Spain: Arrested Catalan leaders brought to Estremera prison
Spain, Estremera
November 2, 2017 at 21:56 GMT +00:00 · Published
Police vans brought the former members of the Catalan government to Estremera's prison, on Thursday, after they were arrested for crimes of rebellion, sedition and public funds misuse.The seven male Catalan leaders are being transferred to Estremera, located 80km (50 miles) from Madrid, while the two female leaders are being detained in Alcala Meco. Spanish prosecutors have asked for a European Arrest Warrant to be issued against former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont.Spain has been involved in a constitutional crisis ever since the referendum of 1 October, when a constitutional court declared the vote illegal following the unilateral declaration of independence.
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The vision of the Irish Red Cross is to be a leading humanitarian organsiation, providing impartial services and support to vulnerable people communities both at home and abroad.
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, born of a desire to bring assistance without discrimination to the wounded on the battlefield, endeavours in its international and national capacity, to prevent and alleviate human suffering wherever it may be found.
Its purpose is to protect life and health and to ensure respect for the human being. It promotes mutual understanding, friendship, co-operation and lasting peace amongst all peoples.
This principle states the purpose of the Movement: to protect life and health and to ensure respect for the human being. All Red Cross volunteers, and the paid staff who support them, must work towards these humanitarian objectives. They should seek to prevent and alleviate human suffering wherever it may be found.
Red Cross volunteers and staff must also be committed to promoting mutual understanding between individuals, communities and nations, and lasting peace amongst all peoples. The actions and the attitudes of Red Cross personnel towards individuals, and towards the various groups which make up the population, are an essential part of achieving these objectives. By promoting tolerance and mutual understanding, and by acting with humanity, the Red Cross and its volunteers and staff can also help to prevent or alleviate conflict.
It makes no discrimination as to nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions. It endeavours to relieve the suffering of individuals, being guided solely by their needs, and to give priority to the most urgent cases of distress.
Red Cross volunteers and staff must refuse to discriminate. Every person, whatever their nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions, must be respected as a human being, and given assistance according to his or her needs.
Priority must be given to the most urgent cases of distress. Individual volunteers and staff must assess priorities and urgency when providing assistance, and the Society as a whole must ensure that its services meet the needs of those in the greatest distress. The needs of individuals and groups in the community must be assessed on equal terms, and proposed and existing services must be evaluated as to whether they meet the most urgent identified needs. Where there are urgent unmet needs, the Society must be prepared to initiate new activities, even if these fall outside its usual areas of work.
The Society's responsibility to prepare for disasters and emergencies, and the need to train and prepare volunteers for their role in emergencies, will sometimes justify providing services which would otherwise have a lower priority. However, services can never be justified solely on the basis of generating income, or because they are traditional Red Cross services, when other more pressing needs are not being met.
In order to enjoy the confidence of all, the Movement may not take sides in hostilities or engage at any time in controversies of a political, racial, religious or ideological nature.
A National Society can only carry out its humanitarian mission throughout its territory if it has the trust and confidence of all sections of the population. Red Cross volunteers and staff must recognise that the Movement cannot take sides in hostilities or speak out on political, religious, racial or similar controversial issues.
The Movement is often only able to assist and protect the victims of armed conflict or violence because of its reputation for neutrality. It is therefore vital to its work that this trust and confidence is maintained. A careless or controversial statement or action, by any individual volunteer or member of staff, could seriously undermine this reputation, and prevent the Movement from reaching those in need of its help.
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It is the Red Cross Society's independence which allows it to uphold the Movement's Fundamental Principles, and makes it possible to recruit from, and provide services to, all sections of the community, including those which may oppose the government.
Whilst volunteers and staff give their services freely, the principle of Voluntary Service does not permit them to contravene any of the Fundamental Principles. They must remain impartial when delivering services. They cannot refuse to help anyone, or discriminate between individuals or groups, except on the basis of need. Similarly, this principle cannot be used to justify refusing to work with other volunteers for reasons which would contravene the Fundamental Principles.
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A National Society can only achieve a reputation for neutrality and impartiality if its staff and volunteers are fully representative of the population as a whole, and work together to bring assistance to those in need throughout the entire community. Unity means that volunteers and staff must welcome and actively seek to recruit others from all the different groups which make up the population, and must provide services, without discrimination, throughout the country. In this way, volunteers and staff can also make a positive contribution towards peace and reconciliation.
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Claudine Paquot, My Friend for Thirty Years
Tara Judah
I’ll Be Your Mirror: Nan Goldin’s Film Curation at CPH:DOX
Reimagining the Film Festival Landscape in the Time of a Global Pandemic: The 27th Sheffield Doc/Fest
Sofie Cato Maas
Towards a History of Visceral Cinema: Flesh and Excess: On Underground Film, by Jack Sargeant
Ivan the Terrible Parts I and II
Melville, Jean-Pierre
The Separate System (Katie Davies, 2017)
No Service, Keep Moving: The 63rd International Short Film Festival Oberhausen
The programme at the Short Film Festival is difficult, to be sure, but it always has been. Even the Short Film Festival’s first programme in 1954 already included films that could still have a disconcerting effect today, just like the first films by Chantal Akerman, Werner Herzog, George Lucas or Martin Scorsese that were screened here. A programme like this doesn’t belong only in metropolises, where it is easier to reach people to whom such things appeal and where mutual applause can be louder. It belongs precisely here, where it remains an uncomfortable imposition. Being difficult is not an attack, but a reality that refuses to accommodate, that cannot be translated, that asserts its independence. The reasons that led to the founding of the festival in Oberhausen remain relevant and tangible, even if short film outside of the cinema today displays completely different social forms. It is thus ultimately not relevant whether we show short or long films here, or what short film actually is.
Sometimes, especially when travelling, I am asked why the festival takes place in Oberhausen, where the city is and whether I live there. People in other countries obviously have difficulty imagining culture in Germany anywhere else but in Berlin. There, the best German-language theatre of the past 25 years has just been wound down without any good cause. When cultural politics indulge in location marketing, the result is curated theatre. Our answer to this was and remains: no service. No service, no anodyne art of consensus, no zeitgeist.
– Dr Lars Henrik Gass, Festival Director, 63. Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen catalogue, p.7
There were no flowers this year, in the square near the cinema. There were, however, in full bloom and perfect rows, over by the town hall. One only needed to stray five or so minutes from the cinema complex to locate them. Oberhausen, a city that does not engage with location marketing, and whose flowers are for the city not just its guests, is still a destination of sorts – for discourse. With its strong reputation for showing avant-garde, polemic and experimental works, the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen
(Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen) wears the righteousness and bravery from the manifestos of its rich history like a badge of honour. “Untitled” from 1965, published three years after the first Oberhausen Manifesto, called for the festival’s selection committee to engage with social realist cinema, specifically referencing the films of German filmmaker, Peter Nestler. At that time, three of his films had been rejected from the festival. This year, Nestler served as a member of Oberhausen’s International Jury.
The text quoted above is taken from Festival Director Lars Henrik Gass’ statement in the festival’s official catalogue. It is his “Word of Welcome”, but its title is, “Being Difficult”. It is a declaration made with urgency and determination: Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen is not afraid to think back whilst pushing forward. It will not apologise for or offer to correct its past. Instead, it cultivates a space where re-evaluation and re-positioning are possible, and welcome.
Good Morning Mr. Orwell
Though I was initially wary of the concept of this year’s theme, Social Media before the Internet, it proved both contemporary and convincing. Nam June Paik’s Good Morning Mr. Orwell (1984) presented an amusing yet fascinating approach to breaking down the previously conceived boundaries of television, video art and installation. Hosted across two cities, New York and Paris, on New Year’s Day in 1984, the work connected WNET TV with the Centre Pompidou via satellite, with additional broadcast connections in Germany and South Korea. Vaguely recognisable as a sort of variety show, with performances from artists such as Laurie Anderson and Peter Gabriel, and poets including Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky, the work offered exciting experimentation within the confines of a familiar media format. Having hosts on the show helps anchor the audience in this otherwise non-linear narrative experiment. At the same time, however, the digestible format poses a problem for the work’s interactive intentions: the viewer remains passive, insofar as they are only able to witness the broadcast, just as they would any other televised content. And, even at the level of satellite interactivity, the experiment is subject to technological glitches. The live transmission forced its hosts to improvise when the technology cut out, which, arguably, enhanced and gave credence to the “live” aspect of the work, even if it was a failure of its technical objective.
The work also aspires to operate as a sort of feedback loop, delighting in the knowledge of how it is performing the “live-ness” of its own experiment. An organised glitch – not to be confused with the unplanned, real time satellite glitches that occurred, live to air, in 1984 – reveals a supposed off-air relationship between Saturday Night Live writers Mitchell Kriegman and Leslie Fuller. Pretending to be unwittingly on-air, the pair converse briefly about an unresolved personal issue before Kriegman threatens to kill himself by drinking a quart of monosodium glutamate – a substance Fuller claims he is deathly allergic to. The joke is bittersweet; in addition to Orwell’s dystopian vision, 1984 was the ten-year anniversary of Christine Chubbuck’s live-to-air suicide. Though Sidney Lumet’s Network (1976) had already imagined and critiqued the sick nature of ratings-hungry executives within the world of broadcast media, the decade of distance that 1984 brought with it had made enough temporal space for comedy to intervene. Before drinking the clearly labelled MSG, Kriegman screams, “I don’t care about the avant-garde, all I care about is you!” The absurdity of the comment and its performed melodrama shift the focus of the reference away from Chubbuck. Further distancing itself from wilful bad taste, the scene plays out like a skit written for SNL might, framed as an imagined but regular televised segment. Kriegman and Fuller are posited as stand-ins for the program’s “regular” hosts, Susan Sontag and Michel Foucault. The segment is titled, “Calvalcade of Intellectuals” and is a supposed “forum for transatlantic exchange of advanced concepts”. This specific segment was supposed to examine “the insidious destruction of human intimacy by television technology”. Fuller’s explanation of how aesthetic and moral decisions are inherent in historical, sociological, theoretical and practical approaches alludes to the feedback loop that the work hopes to create. It is this aspect of the project that feels most immediate, even though it remains a one-way transmission for the viewer at home.
While it’s estimated that the original broadcast reached more than 25 million viewers worldwide, there have been many subsequent screenings and installations of the edited version, as screened in Oberhausen. That we can re-watch and re-discover a “live” endeavour some 30 or so years on is wonderful but also strangely at odds with its pursuit of interactivity. Where the brilliance of the program lies, then, is in the curation: where singular works fail, the theme succeeds. Tilman Baumgärtel, Professor of Media Theory at the University of Applied Sciences in Mainz, put together five programs that allowed the individual films to speak to one another, creating new social interactions, between the works. The dynamic between them also creates a repositioning for the viewer, who now becomes the assessor of the role of broadcast media within the feedback loop. Instead of trying to create an interaction, viewer focus shifts to scrutinising the attempt. This is far closer, I suggest, to the role of 21st century social media participation: if the broadcast is the proof of the event then the reception, not its response, is its ultimate affirmation.
Qube Project
Speaking directly to the void created by Good Morning Mr. Orwell, Piazza virtuale: ‘The Documentation’ (Utta C. Hoffmann, 1993) wants to solve the problem of engagement. Allowing viewers to phone in and interact with studio cameras using the touch pad on their home telephones, Piazza virtuale directly addresses the problem of geography, too. Using the same technological foundation, Qube Project (Jaime Davidovich, 1980) also invited viewers to participate via telephone, but every invitation to participate was met with an equal problem of limitation. For example, when viewers of Qube Project would call in they could give direction, but only within the parameters set by the television show hosts. Though they could command the camera person to zoom, pan, tilt or pull focus, they could not recreate or remove the set. They could also phone in and vote to see via camera 1 or camera 2, but could not add a third, fourth or subsequent camera option. For every permissible action, there were multiple denied actions.
For the second year at the festival, another five or so minutes’ walk from where the flowers were, by the town hall, Oberhausen also played host to a gallery installation. This year the gallery was brought to life by Filipino artist and filmmaker Khavn (aka: Khavn De La Cruz). His titular Happyland takes its name from a Manila slum, hoping to recreate elements of that lived experience in between the white walls and high, exposed ceilings of the gallery. The festival’s website claimed the space would be “a dump, a heavenly body, an orgy session, a punk explosion”. For me, it was a frightening contradiction. The gallery, as a conceptual space, permits all manner of ideas and aesthetics, but rarely allows interaction. The slum housing and unmanned pop-up shops Khavn had filled the gallery with, questioned its function, and the role of the casual visitor within it. I could, for example, put one euro in a dish and take a bag of unidentifiable, possibly expired, snack food but if I did I might also be stealing a crucial prop from a static work of art. My response to this was both felt and cerebral: I could not determine whether the experience was supposed to be interactive or if the real operative of the work was in making me (the casual visitor) feel terrifyingly uncomfortable for three profound and entirely justifiable reasons:
wanting to view/interact with poverty and depravity;
confusing conditions under which others live as art for entertainment ;
wondering, even now, in writing about the experience after the fact, whether I ought to be impressed by the concept of the work or use the unease it inspired in me to deconstruct and dismantle the systems that spawned my ignorance and taken for granted ease of geographical, psychological, social and economic movement.
And, as if that weren’t powerful enough, the final work in the exhibition drove a theoretical stake through my very real and privileged heart. Cordoned off with police tape, my partner missed the final installation altogether – it’s remarkable just how effective yellow tape can be in establishing and enforcing, through simple semiotic signification, an un-crossable physical barrier. Inside, however, the space was entirely psychological. As I took up my seat in the designated wheelchair and placed the foil covered bicycle helmet over my head, attached to which were the headphones to accompany the looped film installation. The images were both violent and sexual and the sounds were so unnerving that I am almost certain I recall them incorrectly; running water, gusts of wind, heavy breathing, muffled voices – what I believe might be the soundtrack to insanity. There is no aesthetic interrogation in my assessment or experience of Happyland, there is only a deep line of questioning about how and why I am even able to walk through a staged rendering of the less fortunate lives of others.
They Just Come and Go
Elsewhere at the festival, in the International Competition, I was struck by four films, each powerfully addressing social problems and paradoxes that impact upon physical movement. Oni samo dolaze I odlaze (They Just Come and Go, Boris Poljak), one among many prize winners at the festival, captures incongruous human movements during that liminal time and space that marks dawn, as tourists “out on the lash” (to borrow the British parlance) vacate a beach front to make way for the mostly elderly locals of Split, on the Dalmatian Coast, as they arrive for their morning dip. The drunk, oversexed and often aggressive tourists, kissing next to sacks of garbage or fist fighting on the sand, juxtaposed against mid shots of aging legs, marked by varicose veins and cellulite, reflects on the embodied foreignness inherent in youth and how it must eventually – just as night turns into day – give way to the passage of time.
In Pichirilo (d. Daniel Sanchez), a group of school kids discover the body of an abandoned, rusted car. Though it is far from mechanically up to scratch, they immediately see it as a symbol of freedom and plan to escape. Focusing a shaky camera on a static object Sanchez deftly explores the momentum of youth as an unstoppable form of optimism. Every action they exact – whether by foot or on a scooter – brings joy whilst every moment of stasis appears painful and strained. Their desire for movement is linked to their socio-economic aspiration but is also fiercely embodied as a symptom of youth, each of them falsely placing their faith in the hands of an impossible restoration of a completely defunct product of human industry.
Johannes Frese’s Titan and Katie Davies’ The Separate System both use moving image as a line of inquiry into the potential for social rehabilitation in a system of penitential justice. In Titan, we accompany the victim of a crime as he returns to the place of his attack. Titan is a neighbourhood in Le Port, Réunion Island, and where he will approach his attacker’s family in search of understanding and forgiveness. In The Separate System, twelve incarcerated men speak in voiceover as a roaming camera bears witness to the eerie stillness of the prison’s inner cells and outer walls. Davies captures the paradox of men who work in factories in jail to make objects that enable mobility by showing the moving parts; wheels in office furniture and tyres on automobiles. Both films are revelatory but refuse to adopt a judgemental lens. Both also make use of street scenes where individuals are granted freedom of movement to show the stark contrast between state imprisonment and what we perceive as social freedom. In Davies’ film the civilians use their freedom of movement to consume; each nameless face that passes the camera representing one more cog in the mighty machine of western capitalism.
Vintik-Shpintik
Over in the archives, Peter Bagrov, Senior Curator at Gosfilmofond of Russia, presented a more complete version of the famous Soviet children’s animation Vintik-Shpintik (Little Screw, Vladislav Tvardovsky, 1927). Just like the cogs of capitalism, this soviet worker screw, tiny though he may be, is just as crucial a mechanism as any other. The fetishisation or desire for movement, Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen tells us, is an effect of social realism – the very thing the festival was supposedly lacking when it denied the advancement of Peter Nestler’s films into its program, many moons ago. Today, its interest in social realism is closely linked to its desire to situate itself as fiercely independent and geographically emancipated from the marketing concerns that negatively advance upon cultural politics. The five or so minutes it takes to walk from the cinema to the town hall, where the flowers are lined up in neat rows and full bloom, is an unwitting invitation from the city of Oberhausen – to keep moving. Refusing to pay service to the anodyne and the zeitgeist is an action and the festival, now in its 63rd year, is an unstoppable discursive force. It is forever moving forward, with all the momentum that optimism, youth, social scrutiny and the feedback loop allow.
International Short Film Festival Oberhausen
Festival website: https://www.kurzfilmtage.de/en/
Pan African Film Festival 2017
“Don’t Do Things You Don’t Know About”: An Interview With Budd Boetticher
Tara Judah is Cinema Producer at Bristol's Watershed, and has worked on the programming and editorial for the cinema's archive, classic and repertory film festival, Cinema Rediscovered since its inception in 2016. Prior to her post at Watershed, Tara was Co-Director at 20th Century Flicks video shop, programmed films at Cube Microplex in Bristol, for Australia's iconic single screen repertory theatre, The Astor, and for Melbourne's annual feminist film event, Girls on Film Festival. She has written for Senses of Cinema, Desist Film, Monocle and Sight & Sound and has dissected cinema over the airwaves in Britain and Australia for Monocle24, BBC World Service, Triple R, ABC RN and JOY FM.
Impressions of the 2000 St. Kilda Film Festival
Fiona Villella
Sydney Asia Pacific Film Festival – Welcome amidst a Welter
Geoff Gardner
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Current: Republic Act No. 8436
AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS TO USE AN AUTOMATED ELECTION SYSTEM IN THE MAY 11, 1998 NATIONAL OR LOCAL ELECTIONS AND IN SUBSEQUENT NATIONAL AND LOCAL ELECTORAL EXERCISES, PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
Section 1. Declaration of policy. — It is the policy of the State to ensure free, orderly, honest, peaceful and credible elections, and assure the secrecy and sanctity of the ballot in order that the results of elections, plebiscites, referenda, and other electoral exercises shall be fast, accurate and reflective of the genuine will of the people.
Sec. 2. Definition of terms. — As used in this Act, the following terms shall mean:
1. Automated election system — a system using appropriate technology for voting and electronic devices to count votes and canvass/consolidate results;
2. Counting machine — a machine that uses an optical scanning/mark—sense reading device or any similar advanced technology to count ballots;
3. Data storage device — a device used to electronically store counting and canvassing results, such as a memory pack or diskette;
4. Computer set — a set of equipment containing regular components, i.e., monitor, central processing unit or CPU, keyboard and printer;
5. National ballot — refers to the ballot to be used in the automated election system for the purpose of the May 11, 1998 elections. This shall contain the names of the candidates for president, vice-president, senators and parties, organizations or coalitions participating under the party-list system. This ballot shall be counted by the counting machine;
6. Local Ballot — refers to the ballot on which the voter will manually write the names of the candidates of his/her choice for member of the House of Representatives, governor, vice-governor, members of the provincial board, mayor, vice-mayor, and members of the city/municipal council. For the purpose of the May 11, 1998 elections, this ballot will be counted manually;
7. Board of Election Inspectors — there shall be a Board of Election Inspectors in every precinct composed of three (3) regular members who shall conduct the voting, counting and recording of votes in the polling place.
For the purpose of the May 11, 1998 elections, there shall be special members composed of a fourth member in each precinct and a COMELEC representative who is authorized to operate the counting machine. Both shall conduct the counting and recording of votes of the national ballots in the designated counting centers;
8. Election returns — a machine-generated document showing the date of the election, the province, municipality and the precinct in which it is held and the votes in figures for each candidate in a precinct directly produced by the counting machine;
9. Statement of votes — a machine-generated document containing the votes obtained by candidates in each precinct in a city/municipality;
10. City/municipal/district/provincial certificate of canvass of votes — a machine-generated document containing the total votes in figures obtained by each candidate in a city/municipality/district/ province as the case may be; and
11. Counting center — a public place designated by the Commission where counting of votes and canvassing/consolidation of results shall be conducted.
Sec. 3. Qualifications, rights and limitations of the special members of the Board of Election Inspectors. — No person shall be appointed as a special member of the board of election inspectors unless he/she is of good moral character and irreproachable reputation, a registered voter, has never been convicted of any election offense or of any crime punishable by more than six (6) months imprisonment or if he/she has pending against him/her an information for any election offense or if he/she is related within the fourth civil degree of consanguinity or affinity to any member of the board of election inspectors or any special member of the same board of Election Inspector or to any candidate for a national position or to a nominee as a party list representative or his/her spouse. The special members of the board shall enjoy the same rights and be bound by the same limitations and liabilities of a regular member of the board of election inspectors but shall not vote during the proceedings of the board of election inspectors except on matters pertaining to the national ballot.
Sec. 4. Duties and functions of the special members of the Board of Election Inspectors. —
1. During the conduct of the voting in the polling place, the fourth member shall:
(a) accomplish the minutes of voting for the automated election system in the precinct; and
(b) ensure that the national ballots are placed inside the appropriate ballot box;
2. On the close of the polls, the fourth member shall bring the ballot box containing the national ballots to the designated counting center;
3. Before the counting of votes, the fourth member shall verify if the number of national ballots tallies with the data in the minutes of the voting;
4. During the counting of votes, the fourth member and the COMELEC authorized representative shall jointly accomplish the minutes of counting for the automated election system in the precinct;
5. After the counting of votes, the fourth member and the COMELEC authorized representative shall jointly:
(a) certify the results of the counting of national ballots from the precinct; and
(b) bring the ballot box containing the counted national ballots together with the minutes of voting and counting, and other election documents and paraphernalia to the city or municipal treasurer for safekeeping.
Sec. 5. Board of Canvassers. — For purposes of the May 11, 1998 elections, each province, city or municipality shall have two (2) board of canvassers, one for the manual election system under the existing law, and the other, for the automated system. For the automated election system, the chairman of the board shall be appointed by the Commission from among its personnel/deputies and the members from the officials enumerated in Sec. 21 of Republic Act No. 6646.
Sec. 6. Authority to use an automated election system. — To carry out the above-stated policy, the Commission on Elections, herein referred to as the Commission, is hereby authorized to use an automated election system, herein referred to as the System, for the process of voting, counting of votes and canvassing/consolidation of results of the national and local elections: Provided, however, That for the May 11, 1998 elections, the System shall be applicable in all areas within the country only for the positions of president, vice-president, senators and parties, organizations or coalitions participating under the party-list system.To achieve the purpose of this Act, the Commission is authorized to procure by purchase, lease or otherwise any supplies, equipment, materials and services needed for the holding of the elections by an expedited process of public bidding of vendors, suppliers or lessors: Provided, That the accredited political parties are duly notified of and allowed to observe but not to participate in the bidding. If, inspite of its diligent efforts to implement this mandate in the exercise of this authority, it becomes evident by February 9, 1998 that the Commission cannot fully implement the automated election system for national positions in the May 11, 1998 elections, the elections for both national and local positions shall be done manually except in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) where the automated election system shall be used for all positions.
Sec. 7. Features of the system. — The System shall utilize appropriate technology for voting, and electronic devices for counting of votes and canvassing of results. For this purpose, the Commission shall acquire automated counting machines, computer equipment, devices and materials and adopt new forms and printing materials.The System shall contain the following features: (a) use of appropriate ballots, (b) stand-alone machine which can count votes and an automated system which can consolidate the results immediately, (c) with provisions for audit trails, (d) minimum human intervention, and (e) adequate safeguard/security measures.
In addition, the System shall as far as practicable have the following features:
1. It must be user-friendly and need not require computer-literate operators;
2. The machine security must be built-in and multi-layer existent on hardware and software with minimum human intervention using latest technology like encrypted coding system;
3. The security key control must be embedded inside the machine sealed against human intervention;
4. The Optical Mark Reader (OMR) must have a built-in printer for numbering the counted ballots and also for printing the individual precinct number on the counted ballots;
5. The ballot paper for the OMR counting machine must be of the quality that passed the international standard like ISO-1831, JIS-X- 9004 or its equivalent for optical character recognition;
6. The ballot feeder must be automatic;
7. The machine must be able to count from 100 to 150 ballots per minute;
8. The counting machine must be able to detect fake or counterfeit ballots and must have a fake ballot rejector;
9. The counting machine must be able to detect and reject previously counted ballots to prevent duplication;
10. The counting machine must have the capability to recognize the ballot’s individual precinct and city or municipality before counting or consolidating the votes;
11. The System must have a printer that has the capacity to print in one stroke or operation seven (7) copies (original plus six (6) copies) of the consolidated reports on carbonless paper;
12. The printer must have at least 128 kilobytes of Random Access Memory (RAM) to facilitate the expeditious processing of the printing of the consolidated reports;
13. The machine must have a built-in floppy disk drive in order to save the processed data on a diskette;
14. The machine must also have a built-in hard disk to store the counted and consolidated data for future printout and verification;
15. The machine must be temperature-resistant and rust-proof;
16. The optical lens of the OMR must have a self-cleaning device;
17. The machine must not be capable of being connected to external computer peripherals for the process of vote consolidation;
18. The machine must have an Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS);
19. The machine must be accompanied with operating manuals that will guide the personnel of the Commission the proper use and maintenance of the machine;
20. It must be so designed and built that add-ons may immediately be incorporated into the System at minimum expense;
21. It must provide the shortest time needed to complete the counting of votes and canvassing of the results of the election;
22. The machine must be able to generate consolidated reports like the election return, statement of votes and certificate of canvass at different levels; and
23. The accuracy of the count must be guaranteed, the margin of error must be disclosed and backed by warranty under such terms and conditions as may be determined by the Commission.
In the procurement of this system, the Commission shall adopt an equitable system of deductions or demerits for deviations or deficiencies in meeting all the above stated features and standards.
For this purpose, the Commission shall create an Advisory Council to be composed of technical experts from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the Information Technology Foundation of the Philippines (ITFP), the University of the Philippines (UP), and two (2) representatives from the private sector recommended by the Philippine Computer Society (PCS). The Council may avail itself of the expertise and services of resource persons of known competence and probity.
The Commission in collaboration with the DOST shall establish an independent Technical Ad Hoc Evaluation Committee, herein known as the Committee, composed of a representative each from the Senate, House of Representatives, DOST and COMELEC. The Committee shall certify that the System is operating properly and accurately and that the machines have a demonstrable capacity to distinguish between genuine and spurious ballots.
The Committee shall ensure that the testing procedure shall be unbiased and effective in checking the worthiness of the System. Toward this end, the Committee shall design and implement a reliability test procedure or a system stress test.
Sec. 8. Procurement of equipment and materials. — The Commission shall procure the automated counting machines, computer equipment, devices and materials needed for ballot printing and devices for voting, counting and canvassing from local or foreign sources free from taxes and import duties, subject to accounting and auditing rules and regulations.
Sec. 9. Systems breakdown in the counting center. — In the event of a systems breakdown of all assigned machines in the counting center, the Commission shall use any available machine or any component thereof from another city/municipality upon the approval of the Commission En Banc or any of its divisions.The transfer of such machines or any component thereof shall be undertaken in the presence of representatives of political parties and citizens’ arm of the Commission who shall be notified by the election officer of such transfer.
There is a systems breakdown in the counting center when the machine fails to read the ballots or fails to store/save results or fails to print the results after it has read the ballots; or when the computer fails to consolidate election results/reports or fails to print election results/reports after consolidation.
Sec. 10. Examination and testing of counting machines. — The Commission shall, on the date and time it shall set and with proper notices, allow the political parties and candidates or their representatives, citizens’ arm or their representatives to examine and test the machines to ascertain that the system is operating properly and accurately. Test ballots and test forms shall be provided by the Commission.After the examination and testing, the machines shall be locked and sealed by the election officer or any authorized representative of the Commission in the presence of the political parties and candidates or their representatives, and accredited citizens’ arms. The machines shall be kept locked and sealed and shall be opened again on election day before the counting of votes begins.
Immediately after the examination and testing of the machines, the parties and candidates or their representatives, citizens’ arms or their representatives, may submit a written report to the election officer who shall immediately transmit it to the Commission for appropriate action.
Sec. 11. Official ballot. — The Commission shall prescribe the size and form of the official ballot which shall contain the titles of the positions to be filled and/or the propositions to be voted upon in an initiative, referendum or plebiscite. Under each position, the names of candidates shall be arranged alphabetically by surname and uniformly printed using the same type size. A fixed space where the chairman of the Board of Election inspectors shall affix his/her signature to authenticate the official ballot shall be provided.Both sides of the ballots may be used when necessary.
For this purpose, the deadline for the filing of certificate of candidacy/petition for registration/manifestation to participate in the election shall not be later than one hundred twenty (120) days before the elections: Provided, That, any elective official, whether national or local, running for any office other than the one which he/she is holding in a permanent capacity, except for president and vice-president, shall be deemed resigned only upon the start of the campaign period corresponding to the position for which he/she is running: Provided, further, That, unlawful acts or omissions applicable to a candidate shall take effect upon the start of the aforesaid campaign period: Provided, finally, That, for purposes of the May 11, 1998 elections, the deadline for filing of the certificate of candidacy for the positions of President, Vice President, Senators and candidates under the Party-List System as well as petitions for registration and/or manifestation to participate in the Party-List System shall be on February 9, 1998 while the deadline for the filing of certificate of candidacy for other positions shall be on March 27, 1998.
The official ballots shall be printed by the National Printing Office and/or the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas at the price comparable with that of private printers under proper security measures which the Commission shall adopt. The Commission may contract the services of private printers upon certification by the National Printing Office/ Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas that it cannot meet the printing requirements. Accredited political parties and deputized citizens’ arms of the Commission may assign watchers in the printing, storage and distribution of official ballots.
To prevent the use of fake ballots, the Commission through the Committee shall ensure that the serial number on the ballot stub shall be printed in magnetic ink that shall be easily detectable by inexpensive hardware and shall be impossible to reproduce on a photocopying machine, and that identification marks, magnetic strips, bar codes and other technical and security markings, are provided on the ballot.
The official ballots shall be printed and distributed to each city/municipality at the rate of one (1) ballot for every registered voter with a provision of additional four (4) ballots per precinct.
Sec. 12. Substitution of candidates. — In case of valid substitutions after the official ballots have been printed, the votes cast for the substituted candidates shall be considered votes for the substitutes.
Sec. 13. Ballot box. — There shall be in each precinct on election day a ballot box with such safety features that the Commission may prescribe and of such size as to accommodate the official ballots without folding them.For the purpose of the May 11, 1998 elections, there shall be two (2) ballot boxes for each precinct, one (1) for the national ballots and one (I) for the local ballots.
Sec. 14. Procedure in voting. — The voter shall be given a ballot by the chairman of the Board of Election Inspectors. The voter shall then proceed to a voting booth to accomplish his/her ballot.If a voter spoils his/her ballot, he/she may be issued another ballot subject to Sec. 11 of this Act. No voter may be allowed to change his/her ballot more than once.
After the voter has voted, he/she shall affix his/her thumbmark on the corresponding space in the voting record. The chairman shall apply indelible ink on the voter’s right forefinger and affix his/her signature in the space provided for such purpose in the ballot. The voter shall then personally drop his/her ballot on the ballot box.
For the purpose of the May 11, 1998 elections, each voter shall be given one (1) national and one (1) local ballot by the Chairperson. The voter shall, after casting his/her vote, personally drop the ballots in their respective ballot boxes.
Sec. 15. Closing of polls. — After the close of voting, the board shall enter in the minutes the number of registered voters who actually voted, the number and serial number of unused and spoiled ballots, the serial number of the self-locking metal seal to be used in sealing the ballot box. The board shall then place the minutes inside the ballot box and thereafter close, lock and seal the same with padlocks, self-locking metal seals or any other safety devices that the Commission may authorize. The chairman of the Board of Election Inspectors shall publicly announce that the votes shall be counted at a designated counting center where the board shall transport the ballot box containing the ballots and other election documents and paraphernalia.For the purpose of the May 11, 1998 elections, the chairman of the Board of Election Inspectors shall publicly announce that the votes for president, vice-president, senators and parties, organizations or coalitions participating in the party-list system shall be counted at a designated counting center. During the transport of the ballot box containing the national ballots and other documents, the fourth member of the board shall be escorted by representatives from the Armed Forces of the Philippines or from the Philippine National Police, citizens’ arm, and if available, representatives of political parties and candidates.
Sec. 16. Designation of Counting Centers. — The Commission shall designate counting center(s) which shall be a public place within the city/municipality or in such other places as may be designated by the Commission when peace and order conditions so require, where the official ballots cast in various precincts of the city/municipality shall be counted. The election officer shall post prominently in his/her office, in the bulletin boards at the city/municipal hall and in three (3) other conspicuous places in the city/municipality, the notice on the designated counting center(s) for at least fifteen (15) days prior to election day.For the purpose of the May 11, 1998 elections, the Commission shall designate a central counting center(s) which shall be a public place within the city or municipality, as in the case of the National Capital Region and in highly urbanized areas. The Commission may designate other counting center(s) where the national ballots cast from various precincts of different municipalities shall be counted using the automated system. The Commission shall post prominently a notice thereof, for at least fifteen (15) days prior to election day, in the office of the election officer, on the bulletin boards at the municipal hall and in three (3) other conspicuous places in the municipality.
Sec. 17. Counting procedure. —
(a) The counting of votes shall be public and conducted in the designated counting center(s).
(b) The ballots shall be counted by the machine by precinct in the order of their arrival at the counting center. The election officer or his/her representative shall log the sequence of arrival of the ballot boxes and indicate their condition. Thereafter, the board shall, in the presence of the watchers and representatives of accredited citizens’ arm, political parties/candidates, open the ballot box, retrieve the ballots and minutes of voting. It shall verify whether the number of ballots tallies with the data in the minutes. If there are excess ballots, the poll clerk, without looking at the ballots, shall publicly draw out at random ballots equal to the excess and without looking at the contents thereof, place them in an envelope which shall be marked “excess ballots”. The envelope shall be sealed and signed by the members of the board and placed in the compartment for spoiled ballots.
(c) The election officer or any authorized official or any member of the board shall feed the valid ballots into the machine without interruption until all the ballots for the precincts are counted.
(d) The board shall remain at the counting center until all the official ballots for the precinct are counted and all reports are properly accomplished.
For the purpose of the May 11, 1998 elections, the ballots shall be counted by precinct by the special members of the board in the manner provided in paragraph (b) hereof.
Sec. 18. Election returns. — After the ballots of the precincts have been counted, the election officer or any official authorized by the Commission shall, in the presence of watchers and representatives of the accredited citizens’ arm, political parties/ candidates, if any, store the results in a data storage device and print copies of the election returns of each precinct. The printed election returns shall be signed and thumbmarked by the fourth member and COMELEC authorized representative and attested to by the election officer or authorized representative. The Chairman of the Board shall then publicly read and announce the total number of votes obtained by each candidate based on the election returns.
Thereafter, the copies of the election returns shall be sealed and placed in the proper envelopes for distribution as follows:
A. In the election of president, vice-president, senators and party-list system:
(1) The first copy shall be delivered to the city or municipal board of canvassers;
(2) The second copy, to the Congress, directed to the President of the Senate;
(3) The third copy, to the Commission;
(4) The fourth copy, to the citizens’ arm authorized by the Commission to conduct an unofficial count. In the conduct of the unofficial quick count by any accredited citizens’ arm, the Commission shall promulgate rules and regulations to ensure, among others, that said citizens’ arm releases in the order of their arrival one hundred percent (100%) results of a precinct indicating the precinct, municipality or city, province and region: Provided, however, that, the count shall continue until all precincts shall have been reported.
(5) The fifth copy, to the dominant majority party as determined by the Commission in accordance with law;
(6) The sixth copy, to the dominant minority party as determined by the Commission in accordance with law; and
(7) The seventh copy shall be deposited inside the compartment of the ballot box for valid ballots.
The citizens’ arm shall provide copies of the election returns at the expense of the requesting party.
For the purpose of the May 11, 1998 elections, after the national ballots have been counted, the COMELEC authorized representative shall implement the provisions of paragraph A hereof.
B. In the election of local officials and members of the House of Representatives:
(2) The second copy, to the Commission;
(3) The third copy, to the provincial board of canvassers;
The citizens’ arm shall provide copies of election returns at the expense of the requesting party.
After the votes from all precincts have been counted, a consolidated report of votes for each candidate shall be printed.
After the printing of the election returns, the ballots shall be returned to the ballot box, which shall be locked, sealed and delivered to the city/municipal treasurer for safekeeping. The treasurer shall immediately provide the Commission and the election officer with a record of the serial numbers of the ballot boxes and the corresponding metal seals.
Sec. 19. Custody and accountability of ballots. — The election officer and the treasurer of the city/municipality as deputy of the Commission shall have joint custody and accountability of the official ballots, accountable forms and other election documents as well as ballot boxes containing the official ballots cast. The ballot boxes shall not be opened for three (3) months unless the Commission orders otherwise.
Sec. 20. Substitution of Chairman and Members of the Board of Canvassers. — In case of non-availability, absence, disqualification due to relationship, or incapacity for any cause of the chairman, the Commission shall appoint as substitute, a ranking lawyer of the Commission. With respect to the other members of the board, the Commission shall appoint as substitute the following in the order named: the provincial auditor, the register of deeds, the clerk of court nominated by the executive judge of the regional trial court, or any other available appointive provincial official in the case of the provincial board of canvassers; the officials in the city corresponding to those enumerated in the case of the city board of canvassers; and the municipal administrator, the municipal assessor, the clerk of court nominated by the judge of the municipal trial court, in the case of the municipal board of canvassers.
Sec. 21. Canvassing by Provincial, City, District and Municipal Boards of Canvassers. — The city or municipal board of canvassers shall canvass the votes for the president, vice-president, senators, and parties, organizations or coalitions participating under the party-list system by consolidating the results contained in the data storage devices used in the printing of the election returns. Upon completion of the canvass, it shall print the certificate of canvass of votes for president, vice-president, senators and members of the House of Representatives and elective provincial officials and thereafter, proclaim the elected city or municipal officials, as the case may be.The city board of canvassers of cities comprising one (1) or more legislative districts shall canvass the votes for president, vice-president, senators, members of the House of Representatives and elective city officials by consolidating the results contained in the data storage devices used in the printing of the election returns. Upon completion of the canvass, the board shall print the canvass of votes for president, vice-president, and senators and thereafter, proclaim the elected members of the House of Representatives and city officials.
In the Metro Manila area, each municipality comprising a legislative district shall have a district board of canvassers which shall canvass the votes for president, vice-president, senators, members of the House of Representatives and elective municipal officials by consolidating the results contained in the data storage devices used in the printing of the election returns. Upon completion of the canvass, it shall print the certificate of canvass of votes for president, vice-president, and senators and thereafter, proclaim the elected members of the House of Representatives and municipal officials.
Each component municipality in a legislative district in the Metro Manila area shall have a municipal board of canvassers which shall canvass the votes for president, vice-president, senators, members of the House of Representatives and elective municipal officials by consolidating the results contained in the data storage devices used in the printing of the election returns. Upon completion of the canvass, it shall prepare the certificate of canvass of votes for president, vice-president, senators, members of the House of Representatives and thereafter, proclaim the elected municipal officials.
The district board of canvassers of each legislative district comprising two (2) municipalities in the Metro Manila area shall canvass the votes for president, vice-president, senators and members of the House of Representatives by consolidating the results contained in the data storage devices submitted by the municipal board of canvassers of the component municipalities. Upon completion of the canvass, it shall print a certificate of canvass of votes for president, vice-president and senators and thereafter, proclaim the elected members of the House of Representatives in the legislative district.
The district/provincial board of canvassers shall canvass the votes for president, vice-president, senators, members of the House of Representatives and elective provincial officials by consolidating the results contained in the data storage devices submitted by the board of canvassers of the municipalities and component cities. Upon completion of the canvass, it shall print the certificate of canvass of votes for president, vice-president and senators and thereafter, proclaim the elected members of the House of Representatives and the provincial officials.
The municipal, city, district and provincial certificates of canvass of votes shall each be supported by a statement of votes.
The Commission shall adopt adequate and effective measures to preserve the integrity of the data storage devices at the various levels of the boards of canvassers.
Sec. 22. Number of copies of Certificates of Canvass of Votes and their distribution. — (a) The certificate of canvass of votes for president, vice-president, senators, members of the House of Representatives, parties, organizations or coalitions participating under the party-list system and elective provincial officials shall be printed by the city or municipal board of canvassers and distributed as follows:
(1) The first copy shall be delivered to the provincial board of canvassers for use in the canvass of election results for president, vice-president, senators, members of the House of Representatives, parties, organizations or coalitions participating under the party-list system and elective provincial officials;
(2) The second copy shall be sent to the Commission;
(3) The third copy shall be kept by the chairman of the board; and
(4) The fourth copy shall be given to the citizens’ arm designated by the Commission to conduct an unofficial count. It shall be the duty of the citizens’ arm to furnish independent candidates copies of the certificate of canvass at the expense of the requesting party.
The board of canvassers shall furnish all registered parties copies of the certificate of canvass at the expense of the requesting party.
(b) The certificate of canvass of votes for president, vice-president and senators, parties, organizations or coalitions participating under the party-list system shall be printed by the city boards of canvassers of cities comprising one or more legislative districts, by provincial boards of canvassers and by district boards of canvassers in the Metro Manila area, and other highly urbanized areas and distributed as follows:
(1) The first copy shall be sent to Congress, directed to the President of the Senate for use in the canvas of election results for president and vice-president;
(2) The second copy shall be sent to the Commission for use in the canvass of the election results for senators;
(c) The certificates of canvass printed by the provincial, district, city or municipal boards of canvassers shall be signed and thumbmarked by the chairman and members of the board and the principal watchers, if available. Thereafter, it shall be sealed and placed inside an envelope which shall likewise be properly sealed.
In all instances, where the Board of Canvassers has the duty to furnish registered political parties with copies of the certificate of canvass, the pertinent election returns shall be attached thereto, where appropriate.
Sec. 23. National Board of Canvassers for Senators. — The chairman and members of the Commission on Elections sitting en banc, shall compose the national board of canvassers for senators. It shall canvass the results for senators by consolidating the results contained in the data storage devices submitted by the district, provincial and city boards of canvassers of those cities which comprise one or more legislative districts. Thereafter, the national board shall proclaim the winning candidates for senators.
Sec. 24. Congress as the National Board of Canvassers for President and Vice-President. — The Senate and the House of Representatives in joint public session shall compose the national board of canvassers for president and vice-president. The returns of every election for president and vice-president duly certified by the board of canvassers of each province or city, shall be transmitted to the Congress, directed to the president of the Senate. Upon receipt of the certificates of canvass, the president of the Senate shall, not later than thirty (30) days after the day of the election, open all the certificates in the presence of the Senate and the House of Representatives in joint public session and the Congress upon determination of the authenticity and the due execution thereof in the manner provided by law, canvass all the results for president and vice-president by consolidating the results contained in the data storage devices submitted by the district, provincial and city boards of canvassers and thereafter, proclaim the winning candidates for president and vice-president.
Sec. 25. Voters’ education. — The Commission together with and in support of accredited citizens’ arms shall carry out a continuing and systematic campaign through newspapers of general circulation, radio and other media forms, as well as through seminars, symposia, fora and other non-traditional means to educate the public and fully inform the electorate about the automated election system and inculcate values on honest, peaceful and orderly elections.
Sec. 26. Supervision and control. — The System shall be under the exclusive supervision and control of the Commission. For this purpose, there is hereby created an information technology department in the Commission to carry out the full administration and implementation of the System.The Commission shall take immediate steps as may be necessary for the acquisition, installation, administration, storage, and maintenance of equipment and devices, and to promulgate the necessary rules and regulations for the effective implementation of this Act.
Sec. 27. Oversight Committee. — An Oversight Committee is hereby created composed of three (3) representatives each from the Senate and the House of Representatives and three (3) from the Commission on Elections to monitor and evaluate the implementation of this Act. A report to the Senate and the House of Representatives shall be submitted within ninety (90) days from the date of election.The oversight committee may hire competent consultants for project monitoring and information technology concerns related to the implementation and improvement of the modern election system. The oversight committee shall be provided with the necessary funds to carry out its duties.
Sec. 28. Designation of other dates for certain pre-election acts. — If it shall no longer be reasonably possible to observe the periods and dates prescribed by law for certain pre-election acts, the Commission shall fix other periods and dates in order to ensure accomplishment of the activities so voters shall not be deprived of their suffrage.
Sec. 29. Election offenses. — In addition to those enumerated in Sec.s 261 and 262 of Batas Pambansa Blg. 881, As Amended, the following acts shall be penalized as election offenses, whether or not said acts affect the electoral process or results:
(a) Utilizing without authorization, tampering with, destroying or stealing:
(1) Official ballots, election returns, and certificates of canvass of votes used in the System; and
(2) Electronic devices or their components, peripherals or supplies used in the System such as counting machine, memory pack/diskette, memory pack receiver and computer set;
(b) Interfering with, impeding, absconding for purpose of gain, preventing the installation or use of computer counting devices and the processing, storage, generation and transmission of election results, data or information; and
(c) Gaining or causing access to using, altering, destroying or disclosing any computer data, program, system software, network, or any computer-related devices, facilities, hardware or equipment, whether classified or declassified.
Sec. 30. Applicability. — The provisions of Batas Pambansa Blg. 881, As Amended, otherwise known as the “Omnibus Election Code of the Philippines”, and other election laws not inconsistent with this Act shall apply.
Sec. 31. Rules and Regulations. — The Commission shall promulgate rules and regulations for the implementation and enforcement of this Act including such measures that will address possible difficulties and confusions brought about by the two-ballot system. The Commission may consult its accredited citizens’ arm for this purpose.
Sec. 32. Appropriations. — The amount necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act shall be charged against the current year’s appropriations of the Commission. Thereafter, such sums as may be necessary for the continuous implementation of this Act shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.In case of deficiency in the funding requirements herein provided, such amount as may be necessary shall be augmented from the current contingent fund in the General Appropriations Act.
Sec. 33. Separability clause. — If, for any reason, any Sec. or provision of this Act or any part thereof, or the application of such Sec., provision or portion is declared invalid or unconstitutional, the remainder thereof shall not be affected by such declaration.
Sec. 34. Repealing clause. — All laws, presidential decrees, executive orders, rules and regulations or parts thereof inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.
Sec. 35. Effectivity. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in a newspaper of general circulation.
Approved: December 22, 1997
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Shreya Ghoshal biography
January 1, 2013 November 29, 2020 admin
Trivia: Sheya Ghoshal has had the honor of being felicitated by the United States’ State of Ohio for her contribution to music. State Governor, Mr. Ted Strickland, has declared the 26th of June as the – Shreya Ghoshal Day.
Biography: She was born into a Bengali family in Durgapur, Bengal. However she was brought up in the small town near Kota, Rajasthan named Rawatbhata. Her father was an engineer at the nuclear power plant and her mother had an inclination towards art and music. Shreya was trained in Hindustan Classical Gharana of music. She won the children’s special series of Zee Television’s popular reality show ‘Sa Re Ga Ma’. The show provided her the platform to interact with industry’s veteran musicians and music directors. Kalyanji happened to judge her at the event and took the extra mile in convincing her parents to get her down to Mumbai. Kalyanji personally trained her for eighteen months.
She really catapulted to fame overnight with the popularity of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film “Devdas”. Being an period based epic saga, its music was dramatic. Shreya’s voice for the songs was not only appreciated by audiences and critics, she became a rage with everyone. She recorded five songs for just this particular film and each of them was a musical hit. She won several awards for her songs in that film. She went on to work with every popular music director in the industry. From A.R Rahman to Shantanu Moitra, she has worked with every director winning them and herself accolades for her singing. She has worked in South Indian playback arena too as well as sung for Bengali cinema. Her songs have a pious beauty and serene charm, so sweet that it almost reaches her listeners to a musical heaven. Shreya Ghoshal is presently Bollywood’s top most female playback singer and her presence at the moment is so strong that she is undoubtedly going to remain the numero uno for many more years to come.
Name: Shreya Ghoshal
Age: 28 yrs
Birthday: 12th March, 1984
Zodiac: Pisces
Marital Status: Single.
koimoi.com – Dec 17, 2012
Shreya Ghoshal: The Jaadu and Nasha still lingers on
Shreya Ghoshal: I cannot sing double-meaning songs
Shreya GhoshalA.R Rahman, Bengal, biography, Durgapur, Hindustan Classical Gharana of music, Sa Re Ga Ma, Shantanu Moitra, Shreya Ghoshal, Shreya Ghoshal biography, South Indian playback arena, Ted Strickland, Trivia
Again and again Shreya Ghoshal
श्रेया घोशाल
Shreya Ghoshal discography Shreya Ghoshal is an Indian singer who has established herself as a leading...
Shreya Ghoshal filmography Shreya Ghoshal (born 12 March 1984) is an Indian playback singer. She has...
SG Music Videos Shreya Ghoshal
Shreya Ghoshal awards and nominations Shreya Ghoshal is an Indian playback singer. Best known as a...
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Artist prefers doing landscapes
SUBMITTED PHOTOS Sara Dragoo Rather creates art wherever she goes.
The artwork of Sara Dragoo Rather, a self-taught artist who was born and raised in Franklin, will be displayed throughout November at the Southside Art League. She enjoys working in charcoal, watercolor and acrylics and prefers to do landscapes, especially scenes from Florida, where she and her husband spend every January.
“I do art wherever we go,” said Rather, whose work has been exhibited at various venues in Johnson County. She has loved doing art since a child and credits her high school art instructor, Marie Pruitt, for teaching her the basic skills. When employed at Girls Inc. and Johnson County Schools’ afterschool programs, Rather enjoyed encouraging the youngsters about the fun of art. She also worked as a children’s librarian at Northwood Elementary School.
A reception in her honor will be held from 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11, at the gallery, 299 E. Broadway St., Greenwood. Regular hours are 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Admission is free.
Rather likes doing scenes that remind her of Florida.
Former Southport, Anderson U. soccer player recognized
Anderson University has retired the soccer jersey of former standout Tyler Hussey, a 2003 graduate of Southport High School. Hussey, whose jersey will be permanently displayed in Anderson’s locker room, was named Most Valuable Player of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference in 2005.
While at Southport he was the MVP of the soccer team and kicked for the football team. He was selected Athlete of the Year his senior year. He and his wife reside with their children in Arizona. His parents are Debbie and Steve Hussey, 1968 graduates of Southport.
SUBMITTED PHOTO Tyler Hussey (right) and Anderson University soccer coach Scott Fridley. employees
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The Untold Story of the Secret Mission to Seize Nazi Map Data
How a covert U.S. Army intelligence unit canvassed war-torn Europe, capturing intelligence with incalculable strategic value
By Greg Miller
Entering German cities within days of their capture by Allied forces, the special Army-led team slipped into bomb-ravaged Cologne in early March 1945. (The National Archives; Bettman Archives)
SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE | November 2019
The fighting for Aachen was fierce. American planes and artillery pounded the Nazi defenses for days. Tanks then rolled into the narrow streets of the ancient city, the imperial seat of Charlemagne, which Hitler had ordered defended at all costs. Bloody building-to-building combat ensued until, finally, on October 21, 1944, Aachen became the first German city to fall into Allied hands.
Rubble still clogged the streets when U.S. Army Maj. Floyd W. Hough and two of his men arrived in early November. “The city appears to be 98% destroyed,” Hough wrote in a memo to Washington. A short, serious man of 46 with receding red hair and wire-rimmed glasses, Hough had a degree in civil engineering from Cornell, and before the war he led surveying expeditions in the American West for the U.S. government and charted the rainforests of South America for oil companies. Now he was the leader of a military intelligence team wielding special blue passes, issued by Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, that allowed Hough and his team to move freely in the combat zone. Their mission was such a closely guarded secret that one member later recalled he was told not to open the envelope containing his orders until two hours after his plane departed for Europe.
In Aachen, their target was a library.
HOUGHTEAM, as the unit was known, was made up of 19 carefully selected individuals. Four were highly educated civilians: an engineer, a geographer who had worked as a map curator at the University of Chicago, a linguist who spoke five languages, and the dapper son of an prominent Kentucky family who’d grown up mostly in Europe as the son of a brigadier general posted to various capitals as a military attaché. There were also ten enlisted men. One was a Japanese interpreter on loan from the Office of Strategic Services, the spy agency precursor to the CIA. Others had been through the secret Military Intelligence Training Center at Camp Ritchie, Maryland. Among the Ritchie Boys, as they were known, were European immigrants who had fled to the United States to escape Nazi persecution. At Camp Ritchie they received training in interrogation and other psychological operations. Their job was to question European civilians about the movement of enemy troops, translate captured documents and interrogate prisoners of war. For the refugees among them, it was a chance to leverage their language skills and cultural familiarity to defeat the enemy that had uprooted their lives.
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This article is a selection from the November 2019 issue of Smithsonian magazine
An undated photograph archived with the HOUGHTEAM files. (The National Archives)
Detail: Early in his career, Hough led survey parties across the American West, including a 1921 trip to Arizona (Hough is at right). (The National Archives: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
Along with 1,800 pounds of cameras and other equipment for creating microfilm records, HOUGHTEAM also carried 11,000 index cards detailing the holdings of the Army Map Service as well as numerous target lists of technical universities, government institutes, libraries and other places likely to have the materials they had been sent to capture. The lists also named German scientists who seemed likely to cooperate, and some who were not to be trusted.
In Aachen, the library that Hough was looking for was at the Technische Hochschule, or technical university. Though it had been nearly wrecked by American bombs, thousands of books remained. But what caught Hough’s attention were the bundles of folders stacked outside. It appeared as if the Germans “had left a number of files all roped up ready to load onto trucks when they made a hasty exit,” Hough wrote. The abandoned documents included tables of exceptionally precise survey data covering German territory that the Allies had yet to reach—just what Hough was looking for. His team quickly microfilmed the material and sent it to the front, where Allied artillery units could immediately use it to improve their targeting.
The Aachen seizure was the first in a series of remarkable successes for HOUGHTEAM that promised not only to hasten the end of the war but also to shape the world order for decades to come. Little is publicly known about the true scope of the information that Hough and his team captured, or the ingenuity they displayed in securing it, because their mission was conducted in secret, and the technical material they seized circulated only among military intelligence experts and academics. But it was a vast scientific treasure—likely the largest cache of geographic data the United States ever obtained from an enemy power in wartime. Relying on Hough’s memos to his superiors in Washington and other declassified records about the mission, which are stored at the National Archives, in addition to private letters and other materials provided by the families of several team members, I have pieced together the outlines of this historic military feat. The operation seems all the more astonishing because it was executed by an unlikely band of academics, refugees, clerks and soldiers, all led by Hough, an Ivy League-trained engineer with a passion for geodesy, the centuries-old science of measuring the Earth with utmost mathematical precision.
Map of the occupation zones in postwar Germany. (Guilbert Gates)
In 20th-century warfare, men and machines could achieve only so much without exact location data to guide them. The Americans knew that the Germans had a trove of this material, and had most likely captured even more of it from the countries they had invaded, including the Soviet Union. If Hough and his team could exploit the chaos of war to hunt down this prize, they would not only help to finish off the Nazis but could give the Americans an incalculable advantage in any global conflict to come.
Hough’s orders, then, were to follow the front, and ride the first tank into Berlin.
These days, when the phone in your pocket pinpoints your location in seconds, it’s easy to forget just how new that technology is—the U.S. military launched its first GPS satellite only in 1978—and just how laborious it used to be to gather and synthesize definitive geographic data. Unlike a traditional survey used to determine property lines or mark the route for a new road, a geodetic survey of a region accounts for the curvature of the Earth and even variations in this curvature. That extra precision becomes more critical over long distances. The nature of combat in World War II gave geodesy new urgency, as it required coordinating air, ground and naval forces across far larger areas than ever before.
Captured data could give the Americans a pivotal advantage in realizing what would become one of geodesy’s ultimate goals—creating a unified geodetic network that covered the entire globe. In such a system, any point on Earth’s surface could be defined by numerical coordinates, and its distance and direction from any other point calculated with precision. This capability would prove incredibly useful for any long-distance human endeavor, including guiding missiles to a target on another continent, as the Cold War would soon demand.
Not long after the fall of Aachen, the Allies’ military situation worsened. In December of 1944, the Germans mounted a counteroffensive, pushing through the Allied line in southern Belgium and Luxembourg in what became known as the Battle of the Bulge. Foul weather initially grounded the Allies’ superior air power, and the fighting dragged on into January.
Hough waited in Paris. The weather was miserable. Electricity was intermittent. The enlisted men relied on fireplaces for heat—when they could find coal or wood to burn. Everyone seemed to have a cold they couldn’t shake. HOUGHTEAM did what research they could in France and other friendly or neutral countries. They worked six days a week, mostly nibbling at the edges of the real mission, but made the most of their downtime.
Raymond Johnson, a 24-year-old telephone company lineman from Chicago, explored the movies and cabarets of Paris and practiced a few words of French with local women, as he later wrote in an unpublished memoir his daughters shared with Smithsonian for this article. Berthold Friedl, a 46-year-old linguist who struggled to make small talk with the enlisted men when the group gathered in the evenings to drink wine, wrote a book in French about Soviet military strategy and philosophy of war that was published in 1945. “Dr. Friedl was not capable of idle chit-chat,” Johnson recalled.
Martin Shallenberger, 32, the Kentucky blue blood, spoke fluent German and French, and though he could be charming, the G.I.s found him arrogant, according to Johnson. They bristled when he made them wait while he paused to capture some scene with his Leica camera or the watercolor paint set he carried around.
David Mills, a mild-mannered geodetic engineer, and Edward Espenshade, the geographer, were more at ease with the G.I.s. Espenshade collected rare books, especially pornographic ones, which he left out for all to inspect, including Mildred Smith, one of two Women’s Army Corps members on the team. A geography teacher from Illinois, Smith was brought on for clerical support, but Hough took note of her initiative and intelligence and assigned her to search the map shops of Paris, and later sent her on a research trip to London. The enlisted men called her Smitty. Some, like Johnson, had never met such a woman. “Up to this point in my life I had had little personal contact with the liberated type of woman who could read our underground books and discuss them with the men with perfect composure,” he wrote.
Captured German scientists created the Central European geodetic network at Hough’s request. Later the network expanded to cover all of Europe. (The National Archives)
Hough remained busy. When the Belgians requested help microfilming some survey data and secret lists of artillery coordinates, he was happy to oblige—and saw to it that an extra copy was sent to Washington without the Belgians’ knowledge. When the French city of Strasbourg was recaptured by the Allies, his men removed a cache of top-quality German survey equipment before the French had a chance to claim the gear for themselves.
If an obstacle arose, Hough was willing to get creative. After several neutral countries balked at letting Espenshade and Shallenberger search their institutes and libraries, Hough procured letters from the Library of Congress certifying the men as its representatives engaged in bibliographic research. A similar ploy got Shallenberger into the pope’s private library at the Vatican, which was strictly off-limits to members of any military, owing to the Vatican’s status of neutrality.
Finally, by early March, the Allied forces resumed their eastward progress and were poised to cross the Rhine into the German heartland. HOUGHTEAM’s window of opportunity was opening.
On March 4, Hough left Paris with Mills, his fellow engineer, and three enlisted men. They entered Cologne on March 7, and, the next day, toured the captured city’s massive Gothic cathedral, seemingly the only building to have escaped Allied bombing. On March 9, they received word that Bonn had been captured, and they made it there by nightfall. There they interrogated the director of the local geodetic institute, who led them to a hidden alcove that held a box of valuable books. The man claimed he’d stashed the materials there despite orders to evacuate them across the Rhine. “It is surprising that these Germans cooperate as they do,” Hough wrote in his daily memo to his superiors in Washington. Whether the scientist was anti-Nazi or was simply afraid of what the Americans might do to him, Hough wasn’t sure.
Hough and his men entered Frankfurt at the end of March, the day after it was captured, taking shelter in one of the few structures still standing in the business district. Buildings were still burning. Water was scarce. They found some in two bathtubs the Germans hadn’t drained before fleeing. But HOUGHTEAM’s target institutions in Frankfurt had been reduced to rubble. In the basement of one building, the men saw what looked like books, but they disintegrated into fine ash in their hands.
In Wiesbaden, a city just to the west, their luck began to improve. In the basement of one building, they found 18 bundles of survey data, hidden behind a pile of rubbish. Marked “Secret” or “Confidential” in German, the sheets covered thousands of survey points in southwestern Germany. The data had immediate operational value for the U.S. Seventh Army, which was beginning to push its way across the Rhine into that area. Hough decided to shortcut the chain of command to get the information directly to the artillery units that could use it.
The roster of Hough’s team included six men trained at a secret military intelligence program at Camp Ritchie, Maryland: Fred George Mario, Robert L. Tyroler, Vincent Attisani, Leo Plachte, Carl H. Steins and Hans Jacob Meier, the team’s ace German interrogator. Kwang L. Lee, a Japanese interpreter, was replaced several months into the mission by Kenneth K. Oda. (The National Archives)
Hough and his team also got a tip from a captured officer of the Reichsamt für Landesaufnahme, or RfL, the German national survey agency; he revealed the names of two small towns, about 140 miles to the east in Thuringia, a hilly, forested region dotted with medieval villages, which had not been on any of Hough’s target lists.
The U.S. Third Army was just moving into the area, which was famed for its artisanal bisque dolls, named for the unglazed porcelain that gave them a lifelike appearance. On April 10, Hough headed east with four enlisted men. In the small towns of Friedrichroda and Waltershausen, dispersed among three doll factories, private homes, a ranch house and a stable, the team found the entire archive of the RfL, which represented the German government’s best survey data of its own territory. The documents had been spirited from Berlin and hidden. It was by far the team’s biggest haul to date. “Cannot begin to estimate yet what is here but it is plenty,” Hough wrote.
On April 12, Hough and several of his men visited Ohrdruf, a subcamp of the infamous Buchenwald complex, and the first Nazi concentration camp liberated by American forces, just eight days earlier. Generals Dwight Eisenhower and George Patton visited Ohrdruf on the same day as Hough. “There are no words capable of expressing the horrible scenes on every hand,” Hough wrote. “It was revolting and we were left almost speechless.”
That night, Johnson and a few other HOUGHTEAM enlisted men stayed in a home in the nearby city of Gotha. In that stage of the war it was common practice for the Army to billet the troops in commandeered civilian homes. Johnson was struck by how familiar they felt. “They were charming and comfortable,” he recalled in his memoir. “Plants in the windows, closets full of clothes, children’s rooms with toys in them, sewing articles, cabinets full of good china and silver.” It seemed impossible to reconcile these cozy scenes of German domestic life with the horrors they had witnessed. One of the men sat vacantly burning holes in the upholstered arm of a chair. “There was nothing we could do that could measure up to the enormity of what we had seen,” Johnson wrote.
Days later Hough and his men interrogated several captured RfL officials, including the institute’s president, Wilhelm Vollmar, who tried the Americans’ patience and spent a night in jail as a result. Erwin Gigas, the chief geodesist, was more cooperative. A third German, whom Hough identifies only as “the real man we were interested in,” proved of more immediate value. They’d been searching for him since Wiesbaden.
The Americans created a “black list” of untrustworthy German geodesists. The director of the Leipzig Observatory was “a Nazi of the worst type.” (The National Archives)
One of the Ritchie Boys, Hans Jacob Meier, the team’s ace German interrogator, led the questioning. Meier was a gregarious immigrant in his late 30s who ran a deli in New York City. But he also had a reputation among the team as a shadowy figure, who would disappear for days on mysterious errands only to show up at exactly the agreed-upon time and place. For German-born Ritchie Boys, returning to their homeland came with the risk of running into someone they’d known in their previous life, so Hough and the other men referred to him as “Corporal Liford” to conceal his identity.
The captive was reluctant to cooperate. When the questioning grew pointed, the subject “turned several colors and refused to answer,” Hough wrote. They waited in silence. Meier threatened to have the man arrested on the spot. If more explicit threats were made or more aggressive tactics employed, Hough makes no mention of it. At long last, the captive blurted out a name: Saalfeld.
Saalfeld was about 50 miles to the southeast of HOUGHTEAM’s position. Hough, Mills and five enlisted men arrived on April 17, four days after the U.S. 87th Infantry Division captured the town. The train station and nearby factories had been bombed, and several fully loaded freight cars were in the process of being looted. Some of the dead had yet to be buried. The 87th had kept on rolling to the east without pausing to set up a military government.
Hough and his men assumed authority for the town and met with the mayor and three other leaders, who, Hough wrote, “seemed to be delighted to see some Allied uniforms around.” Hough wasted little time in bringing up the information his team had received about a possible stash of data. They were led down an alley to a warehouse. Inside was a room 30 feet long by 50 feet wide. Shelves nearly reaching the ceiling were filled with stacks of paper.
They had found nothing less than the central map and geodetic data repository for the German Army—the mother lode. The records of the German military, unlike those of the mostly civilian RfL, extended well beyond Germany’s prewar borders, into Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. The material had been moved from Berlin to save it from Allied bombs.
Hough wrote an urgent letter to an Army corps chief of staff. “A dangerous situation exists in the city of Saalfeld,” he began. “There have been found some dozen or more truckloads of documents, much of it irreplaceable, of extreme value to the War Department.” He requested the immediate dispatch of at least 150 men to secure the town—not only to protect his men and their captured material but for the benefit of the townspeople as well.
These photographs, taken by an Army officer, document some of the discoveries made by Hough’s team in and around Saalfeld, the German city where the Americans finally located the major map and data repository of the German Army. The Germans had hastily moved the invaluable materials from Berlin, stashing them in warehouses and other buildings lest they be destroyed by Allied bombs targeting the capital city. (The National Archives)
There was barely time to take stock of everything. Hough and his men spent the night in the warehouse to safeguard their discovery. The immediate concern was roaming bands of Soviet and Polish refugees, recently liberated from nearby forced labor camps and now taking revenge by looting homes and buildings and setting fires. Hough estimated there were 4,000 of them, many of them drunk, some of them armed. If they got to the warehouse, Hough and his men would be poorly equipped to defend it.
By now the Red Army was attacking Berlin. The war would soon be over, and another problem for Hough was that Saalfeld was well inside the soon-to-be-Soviet occupation zone, as previously agreed upon by the Allied nations. In other words, the town would have to be turned over to the Soviets at the end of the war. If Hough didn’t get the maps and data out quickly, the Americans would never see them again.
In the following days, Hough and his men put together a major transport operation. He borrowed trucks, small planes and enlisted men from U.S. Army units in the area, and conscripted dozens of German civilians to help with the loading. By May 8, the day Germany officially surrendered, they had shipped 35 two-and-a-half-ton capacity truckloads of maps, data and instruments 75 miles south, to Bamberg, a town safely within the American occupation zone. By June 1, they’d moved 250 tons of captured material safely out of Saalfeld and elsewhere in Thuringia.
Hough’s team shipped 371 boxes of captured German equipment to the U.S., including this stereoplanigraph made by renowned German optics firm Zeiss. (The National Archives)
In Bamberg’s city hall, Hough established a new headquarters for the team, and commandeered nearly an acre of storage space for sorting the captured material. The team culled this to 90 tons of maps, aerial photographs, high-quality geodetic survey instruments and reams of printed data, which they packed into 1,200 boxes to be shipped to the Army Map Service in Washington.
The haul included complete geodetic coverage of more than a dozen European countries and states, including Russia, and several more in North Africa and the Middle East. Hough later estimated that 95 percent of this data was new to the U.S. military. It also included approximately 100,000 maps covering all of Europe, Asiatic Russia, parts of North Africa, and scattered coverage of other parts of the world.
The Soviets took possession of Saalfeld on July 2. HOUGHTEAM was still moving material out of the region on July 1.
The team also captured seven giant contraptions called stereoplanigraphs—cutting-edge technology used to create topographic maps from aerial photos. Bristling with knobs and adjustable arms, each machine was big enough to fill a room and required two people to operate. A complex interior system of lenses and filters combined images from overlapping aerial photos to make high-precision measurements of elevation differences between hills and valleys and other features of the terrain. The models captured in Saalfeld were made by Zeiss, the renowned German optics firm; Hough estimated their combined value at $500,000 (nearly $7 million today). He ordered a furniture factory in Saalfeld to build shipping crates, and sent one of his officers to fetch an engineer from Zeiss headquarters to oversee the disassembly and safe packing of the precious optical equipment.
Days after discovering the cache in Saalfeld, Hough wrote this urgent note requesting additional troops to secure the town and the captured materials. (The National Archives)
One Sunday in late May, with most of the material from Saalfeld safely relocated to the American zone, Hough finally gave his men a day off. It was their first since March. After the intense rush of the past few weeks, Hough, too, must have needed a chance to rest. In his memos, he noted that they’d had a stretch of pleasant spring weather, and the countryside of southern Germany looked beautiful. German soldiers could be seen on the streets, shuffling their way home, still wearing their uniforms and carrying their packs.
The end of the war did not slow Hough down. He already had a vision for what to do with the captured material, and in Bamberg he quickly got to work. Geodesists had recently begun to aspire to an ambitious new goal: creating a geodetic network, or “datum,” covering the entire world. In 1945, this was still a distant dream. Europe alone was a patchwork of roughly 20 datums. Each country, sometimes even individual regions within a single country, had performed its own surveys, often using different mathematical methods.
Yet the raw data needed to create a Europe-wide datum existed—and Hough now had much of it. Massive number-crunching would be required to make it useful. So in mid-May, Hough moved RfL geodesist Erwin Gigas to Bamberg, along with several of his former computational staff. There the Germans performed the thousands of calculations required to integrate survey data covering a vast swath of Central Europe into a single geodetic datum. Hough arranged for the geodesists to receive room and board in German homes and paid them the salary they’d been receiving from the German government. As the group grew, Allied counter-intelligence officers vetted each new member, barring anyone suspected of Nazi sympathies.
The rest of HOUGHTEAM kept at it. Shallenberger and Espenshade uncovered maps and data hidden inside salt mines and castles and even buried amid human bones in the graveyard of a monastery. They discovered the map collection of the German state department, the aerial photo archives of the Luftwaffe, and various innovative German devices and processes related to mapmaking.
Hough and his team set up a military government in Saalfeld, thus securing tons of strategic materials. (The National Archives)
Shallenberger also captured the German general in charge of maps and surveys for the Nazi military, Gerlach Hemmerich. The U.S. Army had commandeered Hemmerich’s home, in Berlin, but on a hunch Shallenberger paid a visit. He noticed that the German cook used the formal version of the language, usually spoken only by highly educated people. After questioning, the woman admitted that she was Hemmerich’s wife, and said that she and her husband had been living in the house all along. The general had recently taken a job stoking furnaces at a U.S. Army installation; when he returned home from work, Shallenberger and an armed escort took him into custody.
With their mission winding down, Hough made time to draft letters recommending his team members for promotions and new jobs. He recommended Meier, the German-born interrogator, for a two-grade promotion, and later a Bronze Star, crediting him with uncovering information that led directly to many of the team’s greatest discoveries. “It is known through German sources that much of this work was done at considerable risk to his life, both at the time and in the future,” Hough wrote.
Hough’s team entered Saalfeld on April 17, 1945, just days after the U.S. 87th Infantry Division had captured the town and continued its eastward march. (The U.S. Army)
Hough finally returned to Washington in September 1945 and resumed his position as head of the Geodetic Division of the Army Map Service. By the time Gigas and his group completed their work on the Central European datum, in 1947, Hough, who’d continued to travel to international conferences to meet with foreign geodesists, had laid the diplomatic groundwork for connecting the rest of Europe to the geodetic network. When several countries that had been invaded by the Nazis understandably refused to turn over their national survey data to the German geodesists, Hough persuaded the Army Map Service to take over the project. The work reached a culmination in 1951, with the completion of the European Datum, or ED50, which united the continent in a common geodetic network for the first time.
The ED50, in turn, became part of the foundation for a new global coordinate system known as the Universal Transverse Mercator, the standard coordinate system used by the U.S. military and NATO. It soon proved equally useful for civilian operations, and was adopted for applications as varied as economic development projects, ecological research and oil prospecting. William Rankin, a historian of science at Yale and author of the 2016 book After the Map: Cartography, Navigation, and the Transformation of Territory in the Twentieth Century, says the Universal Transverse Mercator was a crucial step along the path from old-fashioned maps, which represented territory in an intuitively visual way, to coordinate systems such as GPS, which define locations with much greater numerical precision. UTM showed “how to think differently about space and location using mathematics,” Rankin says. “It was like GPS—before GPS.”
Despite their accomplishments, the exploits of HOUGHTEAM have been only briefly noted by a handful of historians, and their story has been largely forgotten even within the military geospatial community. “We’re used to working in secret and going unrecognized for our contributions to national security,” says Thom Kaye, a military cartographer who only learned of Hough’s story a few years ago, after he happened upon a reference in a history of Cold War cartography. Kaye began lobbying for Hough to be inducted into the Hall of Fame of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Hough, who died in 1976 at age 77, received this posthumous honor last year.
According to Gary Weir, the agency’s official historian, the data captured by HOUGHTEAM was an enormous boon to the U.S. during the Cold War. The ability to target Red Square with an intercontinental ballistic missile launched from a silo in Montana requires a level of precision that can only come from geodesy. As it happened, the Saalfeld haul included Russian geodetic survey data the Germans had in their possession—data that HOUGHTEAM moved to the U.S. “If we wanted to put ordnance on target, this is exactly the data you needed to do it,” Weir says. Perhaps not surprisingly, Hough played an early role in developing the Army’s program of research for guided missile systems.
Hough (in a photo published in Life magazine in 1958) went to Washington after the war to run a unit of the Army Map Service. (The Life Picture Collection / Getty Images)
In the paranoid days of mutually assured destruction, it mattered not only that we had this data, Weir says, but also that the Soviets knew we had it. And they did. In 1957, according to an article published the following year in Life magazine, Hough met a number of leading Soviet geodesists at a conference in Toronto. Upon being introduced by colleagues, one of the Russian delegates eyed Hough coolly and said, “We have heard a lot about you, Mr. Hough.”
This story was produced in partnership with Atellan Media and Six Foot Press.
About the Author: Greg Miller is a science journalist and co-author of All Over the Map: A Cartographic Odyssey (National Geographic, 2018). A former neuroscientist, he has worked as a writer at Wired and Science. He lives in Portland, Oregon. Read more articles from Greg Miller
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Homeschooling in the coronavirus pandemic
I'm proud to tell you that an article my wife and daughter co-authored has been published by The Stream. The article "DON'T PANIC: A Homeschooler's Guide to the Quarantine" contains their advice to parents who suddenly find their kids at home because of the CCP Bat Virus, needing to be taught. Mikki has been homeschooling one or another of our children for nearly 13 years, as part of Tulsa's...
Click the headline to read this full article, Homeschooling in the coronavirus pandemic, at BatesLine
"Hancock's Half Hour" classic radio sitcom episodes available online
If you're a fan of the British sitcoms that have made their way to American television -- "Fawlty Towers," "One Foot in the Grave," "Keeping Up Appearances," "Yes, Minister," to name a few examples -- you will enjoy the radio show that set the standard for the Britcom genre. "Hancock's Half Hour" has become my favorite British comedy, and a family favorite as well. On November 2, 1954,...
"Hancock's Half Hour" classic radio sitcom episodes available online, at BatesLine
Click the headline to read this full article, "Hancock's Half Hour" classic radio sitcom episodes available online at BatesLine
"I blog about local politics, urban planning, western swing music, and other stuff at
http://www.batesline.com.
This page is meant to be a pointer to new blog entries and other news links of interest."
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SfN Journals: Encouraging Innovation, Promoting Rigor
Current Issue: Spring 2018
Message From SfN President Richard Huganir: The Stories of Neuroscience
Neuroscience 2018: Inspiring Conversations Around Science
Neuroscience Advocates Make Strong Case With Lawmakers for Research Funding
Public Outreach Worldwide Celebrates Brain Awareness
Digital Learning Expands to Include Year-Round Virtual Conferences
Inside Neuroscience: How the Brain Reacts to Stress
Neuronline Spotlight: New Series Celebrates the Careers of Neuroscientists
Q&A: Supporting Neuroscience Collaboration and Outreach Through the Friends of SfN Fund
Supporting Female Neuroscientists in Their Careers
About NQ
Representing the collective output of many hundreds of laboratories driving to uncover solutions to related problems in neuroscience, scientific journals provide a primary venue for scientific exchange.
The Society’s JNeurosci has a well-established and respected history in scientific publishing, and eNeuro, now in its fourth year, is able to adapt to changes stemming from and felt throughout the field. Today, the two journals work together to define the state of knowledge of the brain and nervous system as well as how that knowledge may be leveraged in translational research.
A Journal for a New and Interdisciplinary Field
In 1969, the founding of the Society for Neuroscience brought together, for the first time, scientists from diverse disciplines studying the nervous system at all levels. By 1979, with a membership of more than 6,000 scientists, it was clear that neuroscience had outgrown its traditional disciplinary boundaries of anatomy, neurology, pharmacology, and related fields, and that an equally interdisciplinary journal was needed to document the discoveries of the budding field.
The Journal of Neuroscience provided that much-needed forum for chronicling findings, and it continues to define the field today as JNeurosci. Its editor-in-chief, Marina Picciotto, is proud to be a part of that tradition.
“Having a journal that reflects the output of that field is something that was very important to the founders of the Society,” she says.
At the same time, what would become an enormously successful commercial scientific publishing industry was just beginning to take off.
“At the start of my career, nobody took much notice of where you published, and then everything changed in 1974 with Cell,” Randy Schekman, editor-in-chief of eLife and formerly of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, told The Guardian last year. Newer and older journals alike followed Cell’s lead, each attempting to establish itself as a “venue for scientific blockbusters.” Whereas in the past scientists might have submitted their work to a journal based on its fit with their research area, increasing emphasis was placed on publishing in selective, “high-impact” journals. Such pressure led to “a strange co-production between scientists and journal editors,” in which science tailored itself to meet the stringent criteria for being accepted to those journals.
SfN, a member of the Scientific Society Publisher Alliance, has remained committed to the centuries-old practice of publishing research for the benefit of science. Since its first publication in 1981, JNeurosci has faithfully represented in its pages the knowledge generated by members of a field that has experienced remarkable growth. JNeurosci quickly proved itself to be a place where neuroscientists could share their findings in scientific exchange. In doing so, they not only contribute directly to the Society’s mission to advance the understanding of the brain and the nervous system but also drive scientific programming, demonstrate the value of funding for biomedical research, and support the future generation of neuroscientists.
Expanding Options for Publishing
JNeurosci’s early success sparked discussions about the creation of a second journal.
The Society’s Publications Task Force proposed, in 1983, the possibility of dividing JNeurosci into two journals that would cover molecular and systems neuroscience, respectively.
Beginning in the early 2000s, some scientists supported making all data publicly available. Proponents of this so-called open-access movement argue that expensive subscriptions hinder scientific progress by restricting the flow of information. As the internet and growing support for the notion that government-funded research belongs to the people who make it possible — the tax-paying citizens — challenged the traditional journal subscription business model, the proliferation of open-access journals turned the focus of those discussions of some 30 years prior to creating additional avenues for publishing valuable science and experimenting with new publishing models.
A Working Group on New Publications was formed in 2012 to explore the possibility of launching the first successful high-quality, online open-access neuroscience journal: eNeuro. Such a journal would provide neuroscientists with a venue to publish work that, while strong and important, perhaps did not make the sort of conceptual advance that readers would expect to see in JNeurosci.
Without publication, eNeuro Editor-in-Chief Christophe Bernard argues, there is no science. “Science is not only being at the bench and doing experiments. Science relies also on the evaluation of the work that you do with your peers and publication,” he says.
Bernard, a former reviewing editor for JNeurosci, believes that the evaluation process can and should be fair and constructive and that as science evolves, so too should the way it is both reviewed and communicated. As editor-in-chief of eNeuro during its formative years, Bernard has tried to make it a place where neuroscientists could report the results of any rigorous neuroscience research — positive or negative — without having to convince the editors of the novelty of their findings.
Like eNeuro, JNeurosci has adapted in response to the increasing trend toward open-access publishing. Unlike those in most subscription journals, all JNeurosci papers become freely available six months after publication. Authors also have the option to make their JNeurosci papers open access immediately upon publication, to comply with open-access mandates of funding agencies.
Bernard and Picciotto are at the forefront of a rapidly changing industry. Some life scientists are now choosing to publish their work on preprint servers, with neuroscience papers making up 15 percent of all papers on the preprint server bioRxiv. Although preprints enable rapid dissemination of data to inform ongoing research, peer review of these preprints is usually incomplete; therefore, society journals like JNeurosci and eNeuro remain essential for maintaining a strong scientific record grounded in rigorous peer review.
“Traditional journals like The Journal of Neuroscience and innovative journals like eNeuro have a real partnership with these preprint servers,” Picciotto said. “It allows the community to get multiple levels of review, both in the preprint servers and also in the journals from the Society for Neuroscience.” Authors who post their manuscript to bioRxiv, for example, can submit it directly to one of the journals for evaluation.
JNeurosci and eNeuro are able to leverage their deep connection to the Society and the field while increasing transparency and embracing new publishing practices — such as Registered Reports, an article type submitted for peer review prior to data collection, and a peer review training program launched in January that matches trainees with JNeurosci’s associate editors and other highly experienced reviewers. SfN is committed to providing authors with a superior publishing experience that supports the scientists whose work the journals represent and facilitates scientific exchange to actively move the field forward.
Follow @SfNJournals on Twitter, like SfN on Facebook, and sign up for JNeurosci and eNeuro alerts to keep up with the latest research.
Read the Latest Issue of Neuroscience Quarterly
Visit the Upgraded NeuroJobs Career Center
Check Out Global Connectome's Diverse Speaker List
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Sen. McCain Receives 2017 Liberty Medal
howard schultz
jeffrey rosen
Sen. McCain Receives 2017 Liberty Medal : CSPAN : October 22, 2017 6:30pm-8:01pm EDT
by CSPAN
as an example, senator mccain's uncommon friendship with mo udall comes to mind congressman udall was a liberal icon yet he reached out to a young republican from his state as a friend and a mentor. the two men developed a close friendship that lasted until udall's death from parkinson's disease. although udall had one spin -- once been a month the most powerful leaders in washington almost none of his former colleagues came calling as he's laying ill at a veterans hospital not far from the capital. -- it was senator mcgrane mccain who visited them quite often. you would arrive at the hospital with newspaper clips and you would sit at your friend's bedside and read to him. you in he reached out to the beginning, you reached out to him in the and with empathy and withdrew compassion. story, it is once again so clear of the unique and unusual man we are speaking about, and what a dear friend he was to mo udall. but we must also see a man with a desire to embrace people's humanity regardless of their politics. this is no small feat in today's patriotic halls of our of ournce and quarters
as an example, senator mccain's uncommon friendship with mo udall comes to mind congressman udall was a liberal icon yet he reached out to a young republican from his state as a friend and a mentor. the two men developed a close friendship that lasted until udall's death from parkinson's disease. although udall had one spin -- once been a month the most powerful leaders in washington almost none of his former colleagues came calling as he's laying ill at a veterans hospital not far from the...
Sen. McCain Receives 2017 Liberty Medal : CSPAN : October 23, 2017 10:01am-11:25am EDT
as an example, senator mccain's uncommon friendship with morse udall comes to mind. congressman udall was a liberal icon, yet he reached out to a young republican as a friend and mentor. they developed a close friendship that lasted until his death from parkinson's disease. he had once been among the most powerful leaders in washington, but almost none of his former colleagues came calling when he as he was leading ill at a veterans hospital not far from the capital, but it was senator mccain who visited quite often. senator, you would arrive with newspaper clips, and you would sit at your friend's bedside and ,. just as he reached out to you in the beginning, you reached out to him in the end with empathy and with true compassion. hearing this story, it is so clear the unique and unusual man we are speaking about and what a dear friend he was. we must also see a man with a desire to embrace people's humanity, regardless of their politics. this is no small feat in the today's vitriolic halls in our country. senator mccain is a man of strong conviction, yes, but he al
as an example, senator mccain's uncommon friendship with morse udall comes to mind. congressman udall was a liberal icon, yet he reached out to a young republican as a friend and mentor. they developed a close friendship that lasted until his death from parkinson's disease. he had once been among the most powerful leaders in washington, but almost none of his former colleagues came calling when he as he was leading ill at a veterans hospital not far from the capital, but it was senator mccain...
Sen. McCain Receives 2017 Liberty Medal : CSPAN : October 23, 2017 12:48am-2:25am EDT
. >> udall took him under his wing. was one of the most well-known members of congress. >> he came to john and said, let's work together. >> we are an important check on the power of the executive. just implore his colleagues to come together. he defended the constitutional role of congress, as envisioned by the founding fathers. john mccain: whether or not we are a member of the same party, we are not subordinates, we are the president's equal. >> he challenges us to move fast partisanship and try to do right by the people web higher dust -- have higher dust -- the people who have hired us. >> he sure is the belief that we have to get back to the basics of leadership and the basics in the constitution because it is that respect for the country that will allow us to heal the wounds of vietnam, civil rights, recent times. mitch mcconnell: he approaches every issue i asking, what is the best outcome that can be achieved. there is no one who is more honorable and deserving than john mccain. announcer: ladies and gentlemen,
. >> udall took him under his wing. was one of the most well-known members of congress. >> he came to john and said, let's work together. >> we are an important check on the power of the executive. just implore his colleagues to come together. he defended the constitutional role of congress, as envisioned by the founding fathers. john mccain: whether or not we are a member of the same party, we are not subordinates, we are the president's equal. >> he challenges us to...
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Miracle baby weighing less than 1 pound at birth goes home healthy
Daily News Article — Posted on October 24, 2019
(by Mary Kekatos, Health Reporter for UK Daily Mail) – A baby girl who was born weighing less than one pound is finally going home after spending nearly 150 days in the NICU.
Kallie Bender was born in May 2019 prematurely at just 25 weeks and weighing only 13.1 ounces. She measured just 10.5 inches long…
After being stabilized by the life support team at Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona, she was immediately transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
Five months later, Kallie was discharged on Monday and currently weighs a healthy seven pounds….
Kallie’s mother, Ebonie Bender, told the Daily Mail that she and her husband, Dameon, were trying for a girl after having three sons, ages 18, 15 and 12.
They were ecstatic when they found out she was pregnant, but nervous because, from the beginning, her pregnancy was classified as high-risk due to high blood pressure.
Bender was visiting her regular OBGYN every other week and a doctor specializing in high risk pregnancies in between those weeks.
During one appointment, when Bender was 24 weeks and four days pregnant, she was told Kallie wasn’t growing at a normal pace.
She was the size of a 21-22 week baby at 25 weeks’ gestation.
There was also very little fluid surrounding Kallie in her mother’s womb, due to a condition called absent end diastolic flow. This occurs when blood flow is reduced from the placenta to the unborn baby, which prevents them from getting the nutrients they need.
Bender was admitted to the hospital and, after four days of best rest and a series of tests, doctors told her that Kallie’s best chance of survival was to be delivered prematurely, about 15 weeks early.
“I was really scared,” Bender said. “I was scared of the unknown, what was going to happen, where her life would be after this.”
Ebonie and Dameon Bender with their daughter Kallie.
One of her parent’s rings fit on Kallie’s wrist when she was a newborn.
Kallie spent the next several months on a machine called an oscillator to help her breath as she continued to grow and her lungs slowly became stronger.
She also had one operation in June to repair a hole between the two major blood vessels that carry blood from her heart to her body, a condition called patent ductus arteriosus.
[Miraculously], Kallie did not suffer from any brain bleeds or infections that are common in a baby born as early as she was.
“I’m grateful that, in spite of the health challenges that she did have, it could have been a lot worse,” Bender said.
A 2015 study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association found that survival rates of preemies have increased between five and nine percent in the last three decades due to improvements in neonatal care.
But Dr. Vinit Manuel, the medical director of the NICU at Dignity Health St Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, told the Mail that that’s not the only reason.
Kallie’s mother and father drove 40 minutes from their home in Gilbert to visit her just about every single day.
“They have been involved from day one, being at the bedside, doing skin-to-skin contact, reading to the baby, playing music,” Dr. Manuel said. “It’s not easy to quantify, but research has shown the more families get involved, the benefits [for the baby] are huge.”
Kallie will still need an oxygen tank and a feeding tube for a short while. Bender says it’s bittersweet to be leaving the NICU but she’s excited to bring her daughter home.
“We’ve come such a long way and, coming here every day, I see faces every day and I’m going to miss seeing those,” she said. “But it’s sweet because I don’t have to make this commute anymore.”
From dailymail .co .uk. Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission from the Daily Mail.
1. On average, a baby weighs 7.5 pounds at birth (but normal range is 5.8 to 10 pounds). Babies are generally 18-22 inches when born.
a) How much did Kallie weigh when she was born?
b) How long was Kallie when she was born?
2. Almost 1 out of every 10 babies in the U.S. is born prematurely. Kallie was not only a premature baby - she was a micro-preemie (babies born before 28 weeks).
a) How premature was she?
b) How much time did she spend in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) before she was brought home this week?
3. For what reason was Ebonie Bender’s pregnancy considered high risk?
4. Why did doctors deliver Kallie 15 WEEKS early? Be specific.
5. Kallie will still need an oxygen tank and a feeding tube for a short while. But she is otherwise leaving the hospital healthy. To what does Dr. Vinit Manuel, the NICU’s director, credit Kallie’s miraculous survival and progress?
6. What do you think of this miracle?
More from the Daily Mail article above:
Almost one out of every 10 infants in the US is born prematurely.
A birth is premature if the baby arrives at least three weeks early - or prior to 37 weeks of pregnancy.
Premature babies - or 'preemies' - suffer a greater risk of breathing problems, feeding problems and are more susceptible to contracting life-threatening infections. ...
Micro-preemies, babies born before 28 weeks, experience more medical problems than preemies born later, including brain bleeding and poor heart function.
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St Helens Borough stands together for Holocaust Memorial Day, 75 years on since Auschwitz-Birkenau liberation
Article date - 27 January 2020
A poignant service was held in St Helens Town Hall today (27 January) to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day 2020.
Held every year, Holocaust Memorial Day falls on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, with this year’s commemoration holding extra significance as it marks 75 years since the liberation of the concentration camp where more than a million people died.
In total, six million Jewish men, women and children were murdered in the Holocaust – while millions of others were killed in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur.
The town hall event saw pupils from the borough’s schools perform musical and dance pieces, and recite readings based on this year’s theme ‘Stand Together’ in front of a packed audience, with the Mayor of St Helens Janet Johnson and senior councillors including Council Leader Councillor David Baines among those in attendance.
Speaking after the ceremony, St Helens Council’s portfolio holder for events, culture and heritage, Councillor Anthony Burns - who spoke at the event - said:
“Holocaust Memorial Day provides us with an opportunity for all of our communities to come together, to not only honour the survivors who suffered in the Holocaust under Nazi persecution, but it's also a chance to look to our own lives and communities today.
"We must never forget the millions who lost their lives, and we must learn from the past to reflect and fight for a peaceful future. The wonderful music and drama performances we heard today from students across the borough were a timely reminder that atrocious events such as this don't start with gas chambers but with words. We must do all we can to eradicate hate crime and to promote community cohesion and respect for one another regardless of our religion race or colour."
Continuing Holocaust Memorial Day commemorations in St Helens, throughout this week and next, residents can view a hugely popular exhibition on loan from the Jewish Museum in London.
‘The Promise’ – which tells the story of Holocaust survivor Eva Schloss and her brother Heinz, who quelled his fears by writing poetry and painting artwork - will be on show at Rainhill Library from 27-31 January before moving onto Billinge Library where it can be viewed from 3-6 February.
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Issues & Trends>Food Safety
It’s Back to School for Fresh-Food Employees
Michael Garry 1 | Oct 21, 2011
DEFIANCE, Ohio — For a 12-store food retailer, Chief Super Market here, runner-up for SN’s 2011 Food Safety Innovation Award, puts an unusual emphasis on education.
In 2009, the retailer, which runs eight stores in northwest Ohio under the Chief banner and four under Rays, launched Chief University to train both management and hourly employees in the finer points of food retailing. “We decided the training we had in the past was not working — there was a lot of eye rolling,” said Stephanie Skylar, Chief’s president and chief executive officer.
So the company developed its own curriculum for everything from HR/legal responsibilities and department manager 101 to manager-on-duty and produce operations. Classes are held at company headquarters and above one of the stores; some will soon be offered as computer-based training in stores.
Also under the auspices of Chief University is a 16-hour food safety class that all employees in fresh food departments (meat, deli, bakery and produce) must take to become certified in safe food handling. Unlike the other home-grown classes, the food safety curriculum is based on the Food Marketing Institute’s SuperSafeMark program.
The class is taught by Rose Richardson, store director at Chief’s Defiance store and a member of FMI’s food safety committee, who became a certified food safety trainer through SuperSafeMark in 2009.
To date, Chief has held seven 16-hour sessions (including one this month), resulting in certifications for 189 fresh-food employees, which account for 70% of the employees in those departments. In addition, two eight-hour classes have been given for recertification, which is required every five years. Topics covered in the food safety curriculum include proper cooking and storage temperatures, contamination issues and food allergens. The food safety classes also dovetail with other topics covered within Chief University.
While Chief has never had significant problems with food safety, the certification class nonetheless serves as “a good insurance policy” against future incidents and demonstrates the company’s dedication to food safety,” Skylar said. “It’s about discipline and expectations. If you work in the food business you need to be knowledgeable about this.”
In other food safety initiatives, Chief partners with Damon Industries, Alliance, Ohio, a cleaning and sanitation provider, on standard operating procedures for cleaning and on cleaning-product safety information. Chief plans to begin formal food safety inspections of stores in 2012, said Skylar.
In addition, for the past year Chief has been a member of the Rapid Recall Exchange, the online service created by FMI and GS1 US to facilitate communication of product recall information from suppliers to retailers.
Chief had certified employees in safe food handling in the past through state-run programs, but with the advent of Chief University in 2009 “we got serious,” said Skylar. “I said I want all fresh-food associates trained and certified. There are enough chances for something to go wrong and we don’t want it to be the product we’re creating or selling.”
The discipline acquired through the training, she added, is essential both for the safety of customers and the company’s reputation. “Our reputation is everything. It’s at stake with every customer every day.”
Having associates who are certified in safe food handling “sets us apart from other retailers,” added Theresa Stafford, Chief’s director of human resources and risk management.
Most are able to pass the food safety class, and tutoring is provided for the one or two employees who lag behind. “We want people to succeed,” said Skylar. Moreover, employees who become certified have a “sense of pride” about it. “This is the most difficult class we have at Chief University,” she said. “It is difficult to master.”
On a seasonal basis, such as during grilling season, Chief communicates food safety tips to customers through circulars and newspaper ads, mentioning also its food safety certification program for fresh-department employees.
How retailers can bounce back from a produce recall
Peaches recalled in more than 20 states in Salmonella investigation
SN Top 10: More retailers report double-digit sales gains
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Ancestral DNA Starting your Family Tree
About Us Contact Us Advertising Affiliates Licensing FAQs
Currer
SDB Popularity Ranking: 13207
Last name: Currer
This interesting surname, with variant spellings Currier and Curryer, derives from the Old French "conreeur" a currier, one who curries leather, from the Latin "coriarius", a tanner, from "corium", leather, and would have originated as an occupational surname for a "leather-dresser". The surname is first recorded in the mid 13th Century (see below), and other early recordings include: Henry le Coureer, who appears in the Calendar of Letter Books of the City of London (1281), and William le Coureour, who appeared there in 1314. Recordings of the surname from London Church Registers include: Johne Currer, who married Ruthe Rowsse on October 4th 1614, at St. Stephen's, Coleman Street; Marie Currer, who married Nathaniell Snelling on May 11th 1630, at St. Gregory by St. Paul's; and the marriage of Elizabeth Currer and Nicholas Bennett on May 1st 1649, at St. Peters, Paul's Wharf. A famous namebearer was Frances Mary Richardson Currer (1785 - 1861), a book-collector, who possessed a library of fifteen thousand volumes. She printed "Extracts from the Literary and Scientific Correspondence of Richard, M.D.", in 1835. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard le Curur, which was dated 1256, witness in the "Assize Court Rolls of Northumberland", during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.
© Copyright: Name Origin Research 1980 - 2017
Surname scroll for: Currer
Enjoy this name printed onto our colourful scroll, printed in Olde English script. An ideal gift.
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Starting your Family Tree
© 2017 Name Origin Research. All rights reserved.
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Commencement 2019 Department Pages
Welcome and Reading
Zara Williams-Nicholas '19
President Valerie Smith
Njideka Akunyili Crosby ’04
Jon Lorsch '90
Awarding of Degrees
Kenneth Sharpe - Baccalaureate
Chorus Performance - Baccalaureate
Amy Vollmer - Last Collection
Zain Talukdar '19 - Last Collection
commencement2019@swarthmore.edu
Oak and Ivy Award | Lang Award | McCabe Engineering Award
The Oak and Ivy Award is given to the student in the graduating class who is outstanding in scholarship, contributions to community, and leadership. This year the award went to two students: Zhicheng (John) Fan and Lily Tobias.
John Fan '19
John Fan is a double major in philosophy and mathematics who graduated with Highest Honors.
John has been praised for his generosity toward his peers, helping others achieve greater understanding and academic excellence as a mentor and Writing Associate. Within mathematics, he won the department’s Morris Monsky Prize and was a member of the Putnam Team, the most difficult and prestigious college-level mathematics competition in North America. John was a top student performer the years he participated and went on to help train future competitors.
John has been accepted into Harvard Law School, but is deferring for a year to study philosophy at Oxford University. Despite his demanding academic workload, John has served the campus and local community in multiple ways—as a Writing Associate, editor of the Daily Gazette, columnist for the Phoenix, Chester Fellow, and former co-President of Chester Youth Court.
Lili Tobias is pursuing a special major in music and linguistics.
Lili Tobias '19
Lili has been an integral member of the Chorus and Garnet Singers, was a volunteer with the Chester Children’s Chorus, performed regularly at Monday Parrish Parlors concerts, worked on a project to provide e-books for children in the deaf community, and was a member of the track team, earning medals at the Indoor Centennial Conference Championships.
She has been described as a constant support to her peers in their academic, musical and artistic endeavors, exemplified by the way she conducted her senior recital. Lili performed in Bond Hall, featuring conversation and an informal meal that modeled itself on 19th-century salon performances. During the evening she highlighted the work of her peers, demonstrating her passionate conviction that the primary purpose of music is to build community.
Rebecca Regan '19
The Lang Award is given to “a graduating senior in recognition of outstanding academic accomplishment.” This year the award was given to Rebecca Regan.
Rebecca is a major in English literature with minors in Latin and linguistics and is graduating with Highest Honors. She was awarded the Gil Rose Prize from classics, a prize given to a student who excels not only in ancient languages but also in the originality and caliber of their writing.
Within the English department she demonstrated a talent for reading literary texts in newly imaginative ways, to place her readings in the contexts of history, source study, and modern critical analytic al tools.
Rebecca is also deeply involved in music. She won the 2019 Concerto Competition, a rare accomplishment for a student singer, and performed Bizet’s Carmen with the College Orchestra earlier this spring. Rebecca has been praised for her beautiful voice and her informed and inspired musical interpretations.
The McCabe Engineering Award, presented each year to the "outstanding engineering student of the graduating class," was awarded to Bilige Yang and Greta Studier.
Bilige Yang '19
Since arriving at Swarthmore, Bilige Yang has excelled in courses spanning all areas of engineering, including his chosen subfield of mechanical engineering. In the summer after his first year, Bilige developed a browser-based application implementing the finite element method to support the annual truss design lab for the engineering 6 class, which has since become the standard tool provided to E6 students. Bilige spent last summer at the University of California San Diego researching the emerging field of soft robotics, an experience which informed his collaborative senior project work designing, analyzing, and testing a mechanically-actuated soft gripper to improve robotic manipulation.
Throughout his time at the college, Bilige has served as an engineering peer instructor in four of the department’s six required core courses. He is the outgoing president of the Pennsylvania Kappa chapter of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honors society, and a previous recipient of the John W. Perdue Memorial Prize. Bilige will begin a Ph.D. program in mechanical engineering and materials science at Yale University this fall.
Greta Studier '19
An engineering major and astronomy minor, Greta Studier distinguished herself as a first-year student by tackling engineering courses often taken by older students, holding her own among juniors and seniors. Greta took leave from Swarthmore in spring 2018 to pursue an internship at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., where she developed simulated stellar navigation software to aid in testing new types of satellites. A follow-up summer project at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., aimed at designing a soil sample return tube for a Mars rover paved the groundwork for her senior project, which focused on designing and characterizing a storage rack to be mounted on the rover. Greta’s work could help enable the first-ever space mission to return samples to Earth from another planet.
After graduation, she will resume working at JPL while completing her master’s in aerospace and mechanical engineering at the University of Southern California.
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Software and payments company to further their investment in digital-first solutions, providing SMBs with products they need to thrive in today’s challenging business climate
SAN FRANCISCO—September 23, 2020—SpotOn Transact, Inc (“SpotOn”), an innovative software and payments company, today announced $60 million in Series C funding. The round is led by DST Global, one of the world’s leading Internet investment firms, with participation from existing investors including Dragoneer Investment Group and Franklin Templeton. The new funding comes on the heels of SpotOn’s Series B funding announcement in March and reflects the company’s rapid growth over the last six months.
Focused on the retail, services and restaurant industries, the SpotOn ecosystem offers powerful technology to small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) at a price they can afford. While the company has products specifically designed for each vertical, such as appointments, eCommerce, online ordering and reservation management, its uniqueness lies in offering high-powered capabilities that every business needs. These include marketing, website development, omnichannel payments and point-of-sale (POS) solutions.
"We're excited to partner with the SpotOn founders and management team in their vision of empowering small businesses by offering a suite of integrated payments and software products at low transparent prices,” said Rahul Mehta, managing partner at DST Global. "We're very impressed with their quality of execution, product cadence and customer centric approach in these unprecedented times.”
While the shift to leveraging technology has been a long time coming for SMBs, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated business owners’ need to adopt digital solutions. Restaurants have been pivoting to reach and serve customers in new ways, and retailers have been seeing the lines blur between brick and mortar and e-commerce. Business owners have had to adjust quickly under these new circumstances, and SpotOn's solutions are filling that need.
“SpotOn is committed to SMBs by providing them with the tools they need to thrive in any climate,” said Matt Hyman, co-founder of SpotOn. “We will continue to create innovative products and further our go-to-market approach to ensure merchants nationwide have access to the tools they need to run their businesses. This fundraise, and partnering with a firm like DST Global, allows us to accelerate our pursuit of that goal.”
“We were on a path to integrate more technology into our operations before COVID-19 and found ourselves fast-tracking during the pandemic so that we could get back to business as fast as possible, serve our customers and keep our people employed,” said Kevin Youkilis, owner of Loma Brewing Company. “In less than a week we were able to get SpotOn Restaurant and Online Ordering in place, a seamless integration that improved our efficiency, expanded our business and helped increase sales from early COVID shutdown levels.”
SpotOn has offices in San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, Mexico City and Krakow, and the company employs more than 1,000 dedicated and passionate team members whose mission is to help SMBs thrive by providing easy-to-use tools and personalized tech support so they can grow their businesses. This approach allows merchants to not only adapt to the challenging needs of the moment, but also enable agility as SpotOn’s technology is designed to scale with them as they grow.
About DST Global
DST Global is one of the leading Internet investment firms globally. Its investments include some of the world’s fastest growing and most valuable companies. DST Global has offices in Silicon Valley, New York, London, Beijing and Hong Kong.
About SpotOn Transact, Inc
SpotOn Transact, Inc (“SpotOn”) powers small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with the digital tools they need to run and grow their business. The software and payments platform, coupled with a hands-on service model, offers end-to-end solutions which include marketing, website development, appointment scheduling, digital loyalty, review management, and both retail and restaurant point-of-sale solutions. SpotOn has employees and offices around the world, including San Francisco, Chicago, Mexico City, Detroit, Denver and Krakow. For more information, visit www.spoton.com.
Lauren Tascan for SpotOn Transact, Inc
lauren.tascan@wyecomm.com
Source: Business Wire
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Corporate Governance | Code of Conduct | Significant Policies | Board Charter
The following statement outlines the principal corporate governance practices and procedures that were in place throughout the financial year and the extent to which they depart from the third edition of best practice recommendations of the ASX Corporate Governance Council released March 2014.
Company Constitution
Values Statements
Roles of the Board
Structure of the Board
Remuneration of the Board
Audit sub-committee
The board of directors is responsible for the corporate governance practices of the company including the direction and oversight of the company’s business on behalf of the shareholders. Responsibility for the formulation of strategy and management of day-to-day operations and administration is delegated by the board of directors to the CEO.
Policy and other functions of the board of directors include.
Approving goals, strategy, and plans for the Company’s direction formulated by management and monitoring their implementation.
Ensuring appropriate resources are available to undertake those strategies.
The appointment and supervision of the chief executive officer and secretary of the company and ensuring that they are appropriately qualified and experienced to discharge their respective responsibilities.
Receiving and approving management recommendations such as for capital expenditure and monitoring the company’s financial performance and results on a monthly basis.
Ensuring appropriate management control and accountability systems are in place and monitoring the corporate conduct of the company’s officers.
Identifying areas of significant business risk and the management of those risks.
Reviewing published reports and stock exchange announcements to ensure their accuracy and compliance with statutory requirements.
Policy and other functions of the board of directors include:
Approving goals, strategy, and plans for the company’s direction formulated by management and monitoring their implementation;
Ensuring appropriate resources are available to undertake those strategies;
The appointment and supervision of the chief executive officer and secretary of the company and ensuring that they are appropriately qualified and experienced to discharge their respective responsibilities;
Receiving and approving management recommendations such as for capital expenditure and monitoring the company’s financial performance and results on a monthly basis;
Ensuring appropriate management control and accountability systems are in place and monitoring the corporate conduct of the Company’s Officers;
Identifying areas of significant business risk and the management of those risks;
Reviewing published reports and stock exchange announcements to ensure their accuracy and compliance with statutory requirements;
Ensuring compliance with the continuous disclosure requirements of the ASX listing Rules and the Corporations Act;
Meeting statutory, regulatory and other reporting requirements of the corporations act and the ASX listing rules; and
The establishment and maintenance of appropriate ethical standards for the company, its directors and executives.
The board of birectors meets monthly where directors receive comprehensive board papers which include a report from each senior manager, as well as sales reports and management accounts. At meetings of the Board, the Directors deal with the various policy and corporate governance matters set out above.
The company recognises the need for Directors and employees to observe the highest standards of behaviour and business ethics when engaging in corporate activity. All directors and employees are expected to act in accordance with the law and with the highest standards of propriety.
Separate sub-committees of the board have been formed. These comprise an audit sub-committee and a remuneration and nomination sub-committee. The composition and delegated functions of these sub-committees are set out on the remuneration and audit tabs at the top of this page.
The composition of the board of directors is determined by the remuneration and nomination committee using the following principles which accord with the following ASX corporate governance council recommendations:
The chairman should be an independent director; and
The roles of the chairman and chief executive should not be exercised by the same individual;
The board of directors must regularly assess the independence of each Director in light of the interests they have disclosed and such other factors as the board of directors determines are appropriate to take into account in determining whether the director is independent of management and free of any business or other relationship that could materially interfere with or could be perceived to materially interfere with, the exercise of their unfettered and independent judgement.
The directors’ terms of appointment are governed by the constitution and one-third of the directors and any directors who have held office for three years or more (excluding the Managing Director) must retire at each annual general meeting of members.
Each director has the right to seek independent professional advice at the company’s cost, subject to the prior approval of the chairman, which may not be unreasonably withheld, and the other directors being given a copy of such advice.
The board of directors has established a remuneration and nomination committee.
On an annual basis, the committee reviews the remuneration and performance of the companies senior executives and makes recommendations on remuneration packages for Directors and senior executives and terms of employment generally.
This committee also reviews the composition of the board of directors to ensure that it comprises an appropriate mix of skills and experience. When a vacancy exists on the board of directors, or where it is considered that a director with particular skills or experience is required, the committee selects a panel of candidates with the appropriate expertise and experience from which the most suitable candidate is identified on merit.
Ultimately, an appropriate recommendation is made to the shareholders to approve any changes to the composition of the board of directors.
The key matters dealt with by the audit sub-committee include the review of:
The annual and half-year financial reports prior to their approval by the board of directors;
The adequacy of existing external audit arrangements, with particular emphasis on the scope and quality of the audit and the independence of the external auditor;
All areas of significant financial risk and the arrangements in place to contain those risks to acceptable levels;
Any management letter sent by the external auditor to the company;
The effectiveness of management information or other systems of internal control;
The financial statements of the company with both management and external auditors; and
Monitoring of compliance with the requirements of the corporations act, ASX listing rules, australian taxation office, and financial institutions.
The chief executive officer and the chief financial officer are required to confirm to the board that, for each financial reporting period, the company’s financial reports present a true and fair view, in all material respects, of the company’s financial position and operational results and are in accordance with relevant accounting standards.
Board members, executive management, and company officers are made aware of the requirements to follow corporate policies and procedures, to obey the law and to maintain appropriate standards of honesty and integrity at all times. In this regard, the directors have adopted a code of conduct for directors, senior executives, and employees which “inter alia” deals with compliance with legal and other obligations to legitimate stakeholders. More specifically, the code of conduct covers ethical operations, compliance with laws, dealings with customers and public officials, conflicts of interest, confidential and proprietary information and insider trading. The code of conduct underpins the formal charter and all policies of the company.
Code of Conduct Statement
For Directors & Company Offices
For Company Stakeholders
Directors must act in the best interests of the Company as a whole. Directors shall engage in and
promote honest and ethical conduct, including the ethical handling of actual or apparent conflicts of
interest between personal and professional relationships.
Directors must not take advantage of their position or information acquired in the course of their duties,
or misuse information for personal gain or to cause detriment to the company.
Confidential information received in the course of the exercise of a Director’s duties remains the property of the company and it is improper to disclose it, or allow it to be disclosed unless that disclosure has been authorized by the Chairman with consideration to the persons concerned, or as required by law.
FAIR DEALING
Directors shall act honestly and with integrity in all of their dealings with employees, suppliers,
customers and competitors such that the best interests and reputation of the company are maintained
and enhanced.
Directors must use their best endeavors to protect the company’s assets and ensure that those assets are
used for business purposes only.
COMPLIANCE WITH LAWS AND REGULATIONS
Directors have an obligation, at all times, to comply with the spirit, as well as the letter, of the law, including any applicable rules and regulations
PROMOTION OF ETHICAL AND LAWFUL BEHAVIOR
Directors will at all times strongly encourage legal and ethical behavior. If the Director becomes aware of unlawful or unethical behavior then they are obliged to report such activities to the Chairman. Information provided should be treated in a discrete and confidential fashion and the matters dealt with expeditiously.
RESPONSIBILITIES TO SHAREHOLDERS AND THE FINANCIAL COMMUNITY
Comops limited is committed to maximising shareholder value, taking into account financial and non-financial matters. In maximising shareholder value, the company commits to preparing financial information in good faith, representing an accurate view of the company’s financial performance. Information will be disclosed as required by the listing rules in a timely and transparent manner.
Comops limited is committed to providing a high-quality value of service and product to our customers. The company will never intentionally mislead stakeholders or willingly provide a service or product that is substandard.
Comops limited is committed to treating all stakeholders and the wider community fairly and equally. The best interests of employees within the company will be promoted through training and appropriate consideration for occupational health and safety issues.
RESPONSIBILITIES TO THE INDIVIDUAL
Confidential information in the possession of comops limited will be treated with the utmost discretion. No disclosure of this information will be accepted unless the persons concerned have authorised that disclosure, or as required by law.
HOW THE COMPANY COMPLIES WITH LEGISLATION AFFECTING ITS OPERATIONS
Comops limited will at all times comply with the laws and legislation of the jurisdiction in which it operates. If any such jurisdiction has laws and legislation that have requirements that fall below standards accepted by the company code of conduct the company will meet the higher standards.
HOW THE COMPANY MONITORS AND ENSURES COMPLIANCE WITH ITS CODE
Any behaviour that fails the standards identified in the comops limited code of conduct is encouraged to be reported to senior management or to the board. All stakeholders are asked to help maintain highly ethical standards for the company by promptly identifying any behaviour considered to be falling below identified (or considered) acceptable standards. Information provided will be treated in a discrete and confidential fashion and the matters dealt with expeditiously.
Significant Policies
Set out below are the following significant policies instigated and monitored by the board of directors under the terms of the above charter, share trading policy, continuous disclosure, shareholder communication, risk management, performance and evaluation of directors and executives, and remuneration of directors and executives.
Share Trading Policy
Continuous Diclosure Policy
Shareholder Communication Policy
Performance of Directors and Executives
Remuneration of Directors and Executives
No director, senior executive or employee shall purchase or sell company securities, or securities of a
Company in a “special relationship” with the company, while in possession of material information
Concerning the company or such a company that has not previously been generally disclosed to the
Investing public for at least two business days.
Nor shall an employee inform any individual or entity of any such material information, except in the
Necessary course of business.
Employees are encouraged to invest in the company’s securities, but must avoid trading when in
Possession of confidential material information which, if generally available, would reasonably be
Expected to either have an effect on the market price or value of those securities or affect an investor’s
Decision as to whether to buy, sell or hold securities in the company.
Directors and executives are required to give prior notice to the chairman of any dealings in company
Securities by themselves or their associates and to provide particulars of any transactions immediately
Following execution. The secretary is to make the requisite notifications to asx following the transaction finalisation.
All directors, senior executives, and employees have been made aware of the continuous disclosure requirements of the asx listing rules and have been provided with a copy of the relevant rules and guidance notes. Continuous disclosure is included on the agenda for all formal meetings of the directors. Directors and senior executives are made aware of the constraints applicable to private briefings and broker and analyst presentations.
The directors have allocated responsibility to the chief executive officer and the company secretary to alert the board of directors to any operational or regulatory matters respectively which they consider may require disclosure to the market under the continuous disclosure requirements of the asx listing rules. The directors then consider and approve the form of any such announcement.
All company announcements require the approval of the chairman with provision for available directors to approve urgent announcements. The company secretary is responsible for communication with asx. The chairman is responsible for all media contact and comment.
The company communicates with its shareholders through asx announcements, quarterly newsletters, the half-year report, the annual report and the annual general meeting.
The independent auditor will attend the annual general meeting to respond to questions from shareholders on the conduct of the audit and the preparation and content of the audit report.
The board of directors has accepted the role of identification, assessment, monitoring and managing the significant areas of risk applicable to the company and its operations.
It has not established a separate committee to deal with these matters, as the directors consider the size of the company and its operations does not warrant a separate committee at this time.
The board of directors has identified the significant areas of risk applicable to the company and its operations and considers the matter of risk management on an on-going basis at its monthly meetings.
The remuneration and nomination committee is required to undertake a review of the performance of directors, and senior executives on an annual basis.
In accordance with the constitution of the company, shareholders determine the aggregate remuneration of the non-executive directors, the maximum aggregate remuneration for non-executive directors is currently $500,000.
The directors determine the allocation of the aggregate remuneration, or part thereof, between themselves.
There are no schemes or provisions for retirement benefits for non-executive directors other than statutory benefits and accumulated superannuation.
(particulars as to the remuneration of the directors and senior executives during the year ended 31 december 2009 are set out in the accompanying notes to the financial statements.)
Our share register is maintained by automic pty ltd (automic). Shareholders may contact automic directly using the contact details provided below or by alternatively accessing the online shareholder portal offered by automic via their website automic.com.au
Telephone: 1300 288 664 (within australia)
Telephone: +61 (2) 9698 5414 (outside australia)
Email: hello@automic.Com.Au
Website: www.Automic.Com.Au
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Chelsea are getting better, insists Asmir Begovic
Asmir Begovic looks for the positives after Chelsea's latest defeat at the weekend
Monday 26 October 2015, 15:11 UK
Asmir Begovic insists that Chelsea’s performances are gradually getting better – despite the disappointment of the weekend’s Premier League defeat by West Ham United.
The Blues slumped to their fifth loss of the season on Saturday as they were reduced to 10 men and beaten by the Hammers at Upton Park to leave Jose Mourinho’s men in 15th place in the Premier League table and 11 points behind leaders Manchester City.
Mourinho has found himself under increasing pressure in recent weeks, with some reports in the British media claiming that the Portuguese coach could be sacked if the Blues lose to Liverpool next weekend.
However, Blues goalkeeper Begovic, who has been filling in for the injured Thibaut Courtois, feels that the west London club can take encouragement from their recent displays.
Begovic told Chelsea’s website: “We’re going to take it a game at a time – there is still a long way to go.
“This league is very unpredictable so we need to take care of our performances first – I think our performances are getting better so we just need to keep that going.”
Chelsea host Liverpool at Stamford Bridge next weekend looking to return to winning ways in the Premier League.
Stats show Arsenal star leading the Premier League
Stat shows why Bafetimbi Gomis is struggling for goals ahead of Arsenal clash
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Home > Horse Racing > Aqueduct Racetrack Selections for November 20, 2020 – Horse Racing Picks
Aqueduct Racetrack Selections for November 20, 2020 – Horse Racing Picks
By Kyle E in Horse Racing — Nov 19th, 2020 8:45pm PST
Another day and another horse racing day in the US. This is one sport that never sleeps. Horse racing keeps on pressing regardless of what’s going on. The only thing that’s slowed some tracks is the hammer of local government officials. Golden Gate Fields was the most recent racecourse ordered to close for at least two weeks.
There was an outbreak, and as a result of a recent spike in that outbreak, the track will continue to be suspended through November. California has been the strictest state regarding this, already suspending Santa Anita Park and Golden Gate earlier in the year. A place like Florida is going to encourage the racing continues, though. Gulfstream Park and Gulfstream Park West have powered right through the pandemic.
BetOnline has 11 thoroughbred racetracks available for wagering on Friday. There are also a group of harness racing courses open for betting. Yonkers in New York and Mohawk in Toronto are the two that I’m most familiar with. While I don’t regularly bet harness racing, also known as trotting in the UK, I’ve had success betting it in the past. If there is something I really like, I will be sure to have picks up at TheSportsGeek. For Friday, we’re back at Aqueduct Racetrack in New York. With 7/2 Gone Glimmering winning yesterday, a split was enough for a profit at Aqueduct on Thursday. Head below for our free Aqueduct Racetrack picks for November 20, 2020.
(1) Cashmere Queen
(2) Gram’s Gal
(3) Jordy Can Tap
(4) Well Kept Secret
(5) Simple Sugar
(6) Twiddle
(7) Tap the Barrel
Post Time: 11:50 a.m. EST
Aqueduct begins racing around noon eastern, so be sure to get your selections in on time for the early events. Race 1 carries a $43,000 purse for 6 furlongs on the dirt. Tap the Barrel and Well Kept Secret are worth watching in this one. Tap the Barrel hasn’t lived up to expectations yet, but she has the talent to run much better. In her first two races, Tap the Barrel has finished 6th and a DNF. In her first appearance, she finished 6th on October 2 in a $51,000 event.
Tap the Barrel was unable to finish her next race on October 21 in a $32,500 event. Tap the Barrel clipped her heels and stumbled, so went to the backside immediately after. Note that Tap the Barrel was running well at that point, though. She was 2nd at the ½ pole and driving. A bad break erased the promising start for Tap the Barrel. If Tap the Barrel runs how she was up to the ½ pole, then a win could be within reach.
Well Kept Secret was 6th in her debut as well. She finished 6th on October 9 at Belmont Park in a $63,000 assignment. Too tough for Well Kept Secret, but she responded with a better finish on October 30 to place 2nd behind Lucky Sitka by a half length in a $48,000 event. She was game, but came up short after leading from the gate going into the stretch. Well Kept Secret takes a slight slide down to a $43,000 race for Friday. She stands a good chance of winning this.
(1) Ryan’s Cat
(2) Releasethethunder
+300 3/1)
(3) Topper T
(4) Durkin’s Call
(5) Brush Country
+1200 12/1)
(6) McErin
Race 4 runs for 6 furlongs on the dirt for a $50,000 purse. Releasethethunder and McErin are shortlisters to keep an eye on in Race 4. Releasethethunder is 3 for 18 in his career, with his most recent win on July 19 at Saratoga in a $54,000 outing. Since that performance, Releasethethunder has gone 5th, 9th, 2nd, 3rd.
In his last race, he showed 3rd in a $51,000 event for his last entry on October 17. He was the favorite, so I can’t say it was a positive showing for Releasethethunder. A month later, Releasethethunder will be back out on the track trying a $50,000 race. Releasethethunder is coming off a workout on November 8 with a time of 48.45 seconds at 4 furlongs.
McErin is 3 for 18 in his career and is coming off a solid performance on October 29. He placed 2nd behind Vineyard Sound by a neck in a $55,000 performance. McErin had the lead from the gate going into the stretch, but was barely caught near the wire. It was still a good effort for McErin and he should find this assignment easier on Friday. I’m on McErin to edge away.
(1) Mo Maverick (1A) Dowse’s Beach
(2) Freewheeler
(3) Colonel Tom
(4) Opt
(5) Call Me Harry
(6) Steelersfanforlife
(7) Ghost Giant
(8) Qian B C
(9) Valmont
(10) Bustin Shout
(11) Bronx Bomber
Race 5 is one of the biggest races of the day at Aqueduct. This event comes with a $74,000 purse for 6 furlongs of racing on the turf. Mo Maverick and Freewheeler are expected to run strong in this one. Freewheeler is 2 for 6 in his career and has some stakes experience. He finished in the top-2 in four of six races, with his best performance in the $150,000 Futurity Stakes (Gr. 3) on October 6, 2019.
Freewheeler is fresh off a win on September 27 at Belmont Park. He won by 2 ¾ lengths over Veterans Beach for a $55,000 purse in that one. Mo Maverick is 7 for 23 in his career and has stakes experience as well. In fact, Mo Maverick has participated in 11 stakes events. Mo Maverick is 1st, 1st, 4th in his previous four performances.
He finished 4th in his last appearance on October 29 in a $88,000 assignment. Mo Maverick moves down in class to a $74,000 event following that effort. In his last win, Mo Maverick won a $70,000 event with ease by 5 lengths over Shiraz at Aqueduct Racetrack. Back down in a winning territory, expect the $200,000 Mo Maverick to find a win on Friday.
(1) MO MAVERICK (1A)
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New Zealand Cricket
Martin Snedden elected as New Zealand Cricket chairman
Snedden will immediately stand down from his role as consultant lead of the One Cricket project, a three-year initiative aimed at reviewing and improving the delivery of cricket throughout the country.
by Abhinav Singh December 2, 2020, 4:47 PM
Martin Snedden is elected as the new chairman of New Zealand Cricket (NZC) as the post has been vacant after Greg Barclay, who has been elected as the new ICC Chairman.
Snedden will be NZC’s representative on the board of the ICC, a task with which he is very familiar, having been seconded to the role in 2013 and 2014 during Stuart Heal’s tenure, as well as being a member of the ICC chief executives committee from 2001-2007.
“I’d like to thank Greg for the outstanding direction and guidance he’s given the board since being elected as chair in 2016. Equally, I’d like to thank my fellow NZC directors for their support,” Martin Snedden said.
“I know that, together with chief executive David White and his excellent management team, we’ll help lead the sport out of this global pandemic and embrace a strong a sustainable future. I look forward to working with the members of NZC, the Major Associations and Districts Associations, as well as the New Zealand Cricket Players Association and the wider cricket family in New Zealand,” he added.
Snedden has vast experience in the business of sport, having held roles as chief executive of Rugby World Cup 2011, Duco Promotions, and Tourism Association NZ, as well as being a director of the World Masters Games 2017.
CricketCricket NewsMartin SneddenNew ZealandNew Zealand CricketNews
New Zealand to start International cricket from November 27, confirms West Indies and Pakistan tours
ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021 postponed to 2022
After UAE and Sri Lanka, New Zealand has also offered to host the IPL 2020: BCCI official
New Zealand tour of Bangladesh postponed indefinitely due to coronavirus
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The Very Reverend
Antony Cyprian Bridge
Dean of Guildford (1969 - 1986)
Holy Week Addresses 1975
One Man's Advent - book
BBC Talks
Three Hours Devotion - Holy Week Addresses 1975
Good Friday: No 2
There are ways and ways of serving God. The one way in which we cannot serve him, however, is by virtue of our own talents: in our own strength. Any such idea is scotched at the very beginning of the Passion.
It began in Gethsemane: appropriately enough a garden, as Eden, in which something else had once began you will remember, had been a garden. Here, Jesus took Peter, James, and John aside, as he had done twice before. They were a little, privileged, inner trio amongst the disciples. They had been allowed to see him raise Jairus’s daughter; and later they saw him transfigured on the Mount of Transfiguration. Now, once again, it these three who are taken aside and given the opportunity of seeing Jesus struggle to accept this hour to which God had brought him: accept the cup of death from which God is asking him to drink. “ My soul is very sorrowful”, Jesus told them, “even unto death. Remain here and watch”. It was not a difficult thing to do. Nor was it a new command. Only a few days earlier, he had told them about watching. “Watch”, he had said to all of them, “for you know not when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning; lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you, I say to all, Watch”. But they went to sleep. Less than an hour later, the master of the house came, and found them sleeping in the darkness.
So much for the natural talents and strengths of the inner trio: the elite amongst the disciples. So much for Peter and his boasted loyalty. “Even though they fall away, I will not….If I must die with you, I will not deny you”. Later on, the cock was to crow over his three-fold apostasy. The Church is founded on a rock which splintered at the first touch; but then it was Jesus who called him Peter, the rock. His parents called him Simon. The rockiness of Peter was a supernatural gift, not a natural deposit; and neither he nor James nor John had yet received that gift. They were still trying to do their best by their own unaided efforts, and they were not good enough. They never are. Later, they were to be transformed and empowered by another spirit than their own: empowered, in the case of Peter and James to die; empowered in the case of John to be John; and empowered, all three, to obey the command to watch. For it is not a command which becomes null and void with the gift of the spirit. On the contrary, it is binding on us all. “What I say to you, I say to all, Watch”.
After those who die, like Peter and James, and those who love like John probably it is those who watch who help the world to turn to God through Christ. Most certainly in the past it was so. A whole tradition of discipleship grew out of the command to watch. A contemplative, sometimes monastic, sometimes eremitic, sometimes silent tradition of prayer and watching: of waiting on God because you never knew whether he would come to you in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning; but you did know that the one thing that mattered was that he should come and invade your trembling soul and make his dwelling there, because without him you would be worth nothing. As a tradition, it is unfashionable today, partly because it is remembered more for its abuses, which were many, than for its virtues. In countries which are heirs of the Reformation, we have all been nurtured upon stories of monks and nuns who were lazy, ignorant, fat, rich, and either immoral or perverted; and doubtless many of them were just that. But over and above all that, in a post-Freudian age, many of us often alas tend to suspect that even the best of those who, in the past, felt themselves called to be monks or nuns or hermits were probably abnormal psychologically. So we devote ourselves to God in other ways, remembering that Jesus said that “not everyone that says to me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that does the will of my father which is in heaven”. So we do the will of God. Social involvement, practical commitment, prayer as encounter with one’s neighbour, Christian stewardship, Christian action. and salvation by works keep us all busy; and there is much to be said for such ways of serving God. If we are to be honest, however, they do not exhaust our activity. All of us spend much time keeping ourselves busy in other ways too: gossiping, shopping, commuting, watching the telly, reading two or even three newspapers a day; and, of course, first and foremost - working: earning our daily bread. Indeed, many of us even feel guilty if we are doing nothing.
It has been said that the most precious gift of God to each of us is time. Not one of us has much of it. We use it in our busy way, and the few unfashionable contemplatives, who are left, use it in theirs. We look at them as psychologically odd and practically useless. But what, I wonder, do they think of the kind of lives most of us lead? Lives spent scurrying around like demented ants in the relentless noise and squalor, pollution and crowds of the ubiquitous city - of Babel - there getting and spending, as Wordsworth called it, and thus laying waste our powers until one day, with nothing much really accomplished, greatly surprised, we die. I dread to think how much lives must appear to them. Wedded to a different tradition, they themselves often try to follow Jesus’ command to watch and pray in what seems to us to be somewhat childish and over-literal obedience. Sometimes they do it in silence, with little sleep, and with almost no distraction. They treat the time allotted to them by God as something almost tangible like a chaplet of pearls, holding each passing moment in the patient fingers of the mind before moving on to the next in case it should be the moment when the master of the house comes.
We can’t all live like that. But I cannot help feeling that we can learn something from that tradition of discipleship. For the people I have known who have watched and prayed a good deal have had a kind of depth to them which I sometimes think that most uf us, who are too busy ever to penetrate an inch below the glossy threshold of consciousness, lack. Why, otherwise, do so many young people avoid turning to us when in search of some sort of life of the spirit, looking Eastwards instead, and even following the hippy trail to Nepal? Of course, when they get there, many of them are disillusioned; for the Kingdom of God is not in Nepal. The Kingdom of God is not in the monasteries of Sinai or Mount Athos, Cluny or Monte Cassino, Wantage or West Malling either for that matter: at least, by no means exclusively so. The Kingdom of God is to be found wherever God has chosen to dwell: that is to say, in whatever house to which the master has come and found the servant of the house watching.
Here, for many people, the images begin to break down, they are not enough. The twentieth century mind has to ask, at this point, what reality underlies them: what we mean by them; and however inadequate analytical words may be, as compared with evocative images, at denoting that reality, we must try and use them. For with the image of the master coming to his house and finding his servants watching or not watching, as the case may be, we get as near as any image can take us, both to the core of Christian belief, and to the heart of Christian experience, and the world wants to know what the core of that belief and the heart of that experience are.
The belief is easy to describe. Just as it was God who took the initiative in Christ - God who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son - and came unto his own, so it is still God who takes the initiative, comes to men, and dwells with them. Advent is for ever. The gospel is good news precisely because it is about the coming of God to men; not about men climbing up to God by their own efforts. Christian experience of his coming is much more difficult to describe, however; for it is the experience of the self-disclosure of him who, in his unlimited freedom can disclose himself to whom he will but whose self-disclosure transcends the normal limits of verbal disclosure available to men. Many people have tried to describe it. His coming is like an opening of the eyes of the mind; like an invasion of the soul by divine light, by darkness, by love; like a sudden getting of the point of the equation of all things, an encounter with the heart of reality, with the fount of your life. Described like that it sounds so strange as to be suitable material for a treatise upon the psychopathology - not of everyday life - but of religious hysteria; and of course often it is strange.
“I know a man in Christ, who fourteen years ago, was caught up to the third heaven - whether in the body or out of the body, I know not, God knows”. Paul on the Damascus road. But it is not always so. Some people experience something much less intense, as though brushed by the wings of God. They are not even sure of it: wonder if perhaps it is nothing; until as time passes conviction grows. Others again live with the presence of God as normal, unemotional fact of their lives. But even when it is at its strangest, it is an experience which seems to make people saner than they were before - saner than a mad world - not madder; and although some neurotic people have it, many more ordinary people have it too; villagers in Africa, peasants in Italy, old ladies in seaside towns and Oxford dons, doctors and teenagers, and in two cases known to me personally tired Jews with memories of the SS headquarters and the concentration camp. God reveals himself to millions of different people: comes to them in the hearing of the gospel; in the encounter with the charismatic community of love and faith; in the demands made by someone’s need; in the surprise occasioned by someone’s sudden charity; in the death of a neighbour; in the life of a lover; in bread and wine; in prayer; in silence; on the Damascus road, or the Tottenham Court road; on the top of a bus or in the depths of the night. Evangelicals talk of his coming into their lives as the moment when they accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour; Pentecostalists as the moment when the Spirit possesses them; old ladies as the moment when the dear Lord said this or that to them; while you and I probably don’t talk of it at all, because it doesn’t happen to us very often, and when it does we haven’t the words to describe it, or are not sure of it and wouldn’t like to seem to boast, even if we had the words. Yet it is the experience to which the images point: the experience which makes sense of the gospel, and - pari passu - of which the gospel makes sense; and whether we like it or not it is the one utterly convincing, converting, and confirming thing: the heart of the matter. However diverse it may be in its manifestation, there is one factor common to it. It is perpetually unexpected. “For as the lightning comes from the East and shines as far as the West, so will the coming of the Son of man be”. If we are asleep - dozing away our time in a half-life of self-reliance and activism - like the disciples, we shall miss it. Watch therefore…what I say to you, I say to all, Watch.
« Good Friday No. 1 Good Friday No. 3 »
© Diana Bridge 2009
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Home Latest Finally, Police Nab Suspects of Plateau Monarch’s Murder
Finally, Police Nab Suspects of Plateau Monarch’s Murder
Seriki Adinoyi in Jos
Three years after Ron Kulere, Lazarus Agai was gruesomely murdered on his way from his farm on June 18, 2016, the Plateau State Police Command yesterday confirmed that it had recorded a major breakthrough in the monarch’s murder case.
THISDAY findings revealed that the breakthrough in the monarch’s murder case was recorded after three suspects were arrested in connection with the murder of GoTV Sales Manager, Mr. Tokunbo Adeleke.
Precisely on December 18, 2018, a police source told THISDAY that Adeleke was killed at about 9:15 p.m. at his residence in Rayfield, Jos under a questionable circumstance, which consequently sparked investigation.
The source said investigations into Adeleke’s murder case opened almost immediately, leading to the arrest of three suspects with substantial evidence. The suspects are Mr. Mamuda Umar; Mr Ismail Abdullahi and Mr. Suhailu Musa Of the three suspects, THISDAY findings revealed that Musa “has been indicted in several other cases of assassinations, robbery, and kidnapping, and indeed the murder of Agai.
While the suspects are still being interrogated, the Plateau State Police Command had filed charges against them on the murder of the GoTV sale manager. .
In a statement yesterday, the command’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Tyopev Terna said the charges were filed at the State High Court, Jos on March 1. Specifically, the statement said the arrest of Musa was a major breakthrough in connection with the murder of the monarch, his security detail and one of his sons.
However, according to the statement, But he is expected to first face charges over Adeleke’s murder before facing fresh ones in connection with the murder of the Monarch.
Agai, a first class monarch, was gruesomely murdered on June 18, 2016 in an ambush along with his security detail and son by unknown persons while he returned from his farm in Sha village of Bokkos Local Government Area.
The incident degenerated into serious violence between the natives and the Fulani in the area, who were the prime suspects, leading to more deaths in the wake of the violence.
Detectives from the Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department, Plateau State Police Command had since then painstakingly trailed the criminals but with little success due to logistical deficiencies.
But a source yesterday said a private car belonging to one of the detectives which was mostly used for the investigations broke down close to achieving a breakthrough in late 2016.
“Efforts to get an alternative through local authorities to continue the case proved abortive, forcing the investigators to patronise commercial motorists”, a source said.
Despite the hiccups, one of the suspects, Alhaji Haruna Gani was arrested and arraigned before the Bukuru High Court, Jos in 2016, though was later acquitted due to insufficient evidence.
Another suspect, Inusa was arrested later in the outskirts of Jos. Inusa, who has allegedly been providing useful information, had since been detained.
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Top Pediatrics Schools in the U.S.
Posted on April 20, 2019 May 5, 2019 by EDU
Ranking School and Information
1 Harvard University (Boston, MA)
Tuition: Full-time: $47,500
Total medical school enrollment: 709
MCAT composite score: 12.0
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.87
Acceptance rate: 4.1%
Full-time faculty-student ratio: 12.6:1
NIH funds granted to medical school and affiliated hospitals (in millions): $1,346.3
2 University of Pennsylvania (Perelman) (Philadelphia, PA)
Full-time faculty-student ratio: 3.9:1
NIH funds granted to medical school and affiliated hospitals (in millions): $533.6
3 University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)
Tuition: Full-time: $31,935 (in-state), Full-time: $49,065 (out-of-state)
4 Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD)
5 University of Colorado at Denver (Aurora, CO)
6 Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, TX)
7 University of Washington (Seattle, WA)
8 Washington University in St. Louis (St. Louis, MO)
Acceptance rate: 10.1%
9 University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA)
10 Stanford University (Stanford, CA)
11 University of California–San Francisco (San Francisco, CA)
12 Duke University (Durham, NC)
13 Columbia University (New York, NY)
14 University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI)
15 Northwestern University (Feinberg) (Chicago, IL)
16 Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, OH)
17 University of California: Los Angeles (Geffen) (Los Angeles, CA)
18 Ohio State University: Columbus Campus (Columbus, OH)
19 Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN)
20 Yale University (New Haven, CT)
Top 90 Pharmacy Schools
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Top BBA Schools in North Dakota
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Top BBA Schools in Tennessee
Top BBA Schools in South Dakota
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Richard Matheson—Storyteller
Richard Matheson—Storyteller: The Poe Years, Part I
Matthew R. Bradley
Tue Oct 12, 2010 1:38pm 2 comments Favorite This
October 7th marked the 161st anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe’s death, and as Halloween looms, it seems especially apt to focus on his foremost interpreter on the screen, producer-director Roger Corman. Between 1960 and 1964, Corman conflated a dozen of Poe’s poems and tales into eight films for American International Pictures (AIP), seven of them starring Vincent Price. Half of the cycle was written by Richard Matheson, whose friend Charles Beaumont worked on another three—Premature Burial (1962), The Haunted Palace (1963), and The Masque of the Red Death (1963); the last, The Tomb of Ligeia (1964), was written by future Oscar-winner Robert Towne.
Long associated with AIP, the legendary “King of the B’s” is now revered for the generation of filmmakers Corman nurtured on both sides of the camera. Matheson, meanwhile, had followed The Incredible Shrinking Man with a far less successful film, The Beat Generation (1959), and three diverse novels, all destined to reach the screen. Writer-director David Koepp filmed A Stir of Echoes (1958), minus its initial article, in 1999; Matheson adapted Ride the Nightmare (1959) as a 1962 episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (remade in 1970 as Cold Sweat by James Bond mainstay Terence Young), and The Beardless Warriors (1960) as The Young Warriors (1968).
Beginning with House of Usher (1960), Matheson’s work for AIP dominated his screen career in the 1960s, and included some of his best-known films. Its title supposedly shortened from Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” to fit on cinema marquees, the project was a bit of a gamble for AIP honchos James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff. Corman convinced them that instead of backing another pair of exploitative black-and-white programmers, they should devote a bigger budget and longer shooting schedule to a full-color adaptation of an established literary classic, one already familiar to AIP’s teenaged audiences and, not coincidentally, in the public domain.
A sizable chunk of Usher’s almost-$300,000 budget secured the services of its only star, Price, known for such genre films as House of Wax (1953) and William Castle’s House on Haunted Hill and The Tingler (both 1959). With snow-white hair and “a morbid acuteness of the senses,” Roderick Usher is played to perfection by Price as the fear of propagating his tainted line leads him to entomb his cataleptic sister, Madeline (Myrna Fahey), alive. Corman customarily hired seasoned pros like Price, who knew what they were doing, and left the younger actors—e.g., Mark Damon as Madeline’s suitor, Philip Winthrop—largely to their own devices as he concentrated on the camera.
Although introducing a romance with what had been Poe’s nameless narrator, and revving up his somber ending to a traditional Hollywood blaze (with footage of a burning barn that appeared in three more films in the cycle), Matheson’s script is generally true to its original author, who has perhaps never been better treated on the screen. The result was a critical and commercial success that ran all summer, sometimes on a double bill with Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960). Neither AIP nor Corman had anticipated doing a Poe series, but circumstances dictated a follow-up, and after considering “The Masque of the Red Death,” they settled on “The Pit and the Pendulum.”
In between those efforts—published by Gauntlet as Visions of Death: Richard Matheson’s Edgar Allan Poe Scripts, Volume One—Matheson adapted AIP’s Master of the World (1961) from Jules Verne’s novel Robur, the Conqueror (aka The Clipper of the Clouds) and its eponymous sequel. In its more modest way, AIP clearly hoped to cash in on the success of Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954), and Robur (Price), who makes war on war with his futuristic Albatross, is obviously Verne’s airborne answer to his own Captain Nemo and Nautilus. But sadly, Western and serial vet William Witney’s uninspired direction and taciturn co-star Charles Bronson kept it from taking off.
Its onscreen title also shy an initial article, Pit and the Pendulum (1961) bears more than a passing resemblance to Usher, perhaps because Poe’s tale lacks narrative thrust. Once again, the secretive Price presides over a forbidding structure to which the somewhat wooden young hero (Philip Kerr) comes, inquiring after a woman who is eventually revealed to have been entombed alive. In fact, Matheson merely imposed Poe’s set piece of a man tormented by the Inquisition as the final act of the screenplay, appending it to a plot he had largely derived from his outline for The House of the Dead, an uncompleted novel that was recently included in Matheson Uncollected: Volume Two.
Differentiating the two films is the fact that here, the object of the exercise, Elizabeth Medina (Barbara Steele), has faked her own death, colluding with family doctor Charles Leon (Antony Carbone) to drive her wealthy husband Nicholas (Price) mad. British-born Steele’s 1960s reign as Italy’s scream queen started with Mario Bava’s directorial debut, Black Sunday (1960), which AIP released in the U.S. with great success. The conspirators come to grief after succeeding too well, with Nicholas convinced he is his Inquisitor father; Charles and Elizabeth consigned to the pit and an iron maiden, respectively; and her brother Francis Barnard (Kerr) stuck under the pendulum.
Corman and his usual team pulled out all the stops for the climactic scenes in the torture room, later spoofed with Price in Norman Taurog’s AIP comedy Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965). Production designer Daniel Haller removed the catwalks from the soundstage and built his sets all the way to the ceiling, while the illusion of the pit was convincingly created with a matte painting by that legendary master of the form, Albert Whitlock. Similarly, Price’s performance as Nicholas, at one point reeling off the many names for Hell, matched Floyd Crosby’s flamboyantly colorful photography, and was in marked contrast to the commendable restraint he had shown as Roderick.
Before continuing the Poe series, Matheson and his erstwhile television collaborator, Beaumont, adapted Fritz Leiber’s 1943 novel Conjure Wife into a speculative script (published exclusively in the Gauntlet edition of Christopher Conlon’s He Is Legend) and sold it to AIP. Because this story of a professor whose wife’s witchcraft furthers his career had previously been filmed as the Inner Sanctum mystery Weird Woman (1944), AIP had to acquire the rights from Universal, thus cutting into the screenwriters’ fee. Following controversial revisions by George Baxt, their only feature was filmed in England as Night of the Eagle (1962), released here as Burn, Witch, Burn.
Up next: Tales of Terror (1962) and The Raven (1963).
Matthew R. Bradley is the author of Richard Matheson on Screen, now on sale from McFarland, and the co-editor—with Stanley Wiater and Paul Stuve—of The Richard Matheson Companion (Gauntlet, 2008), revised and updated as The Twilight and Other Zones: The Dark Worlds of Richard Matheson (Citadel, 2009). Check out his blog, Bradley on Film.
Edgar Allan PoeHouse of UshermoviesRichard MathesonRoger CormanThe Pit and the Pendulumwritten word
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See Inside the World's Most Expensive House
The home in the South of France, offered for £350 million, used to belong to King Leopold II of Belgium.
If you've got a spare half a billion dollars, you can own the most expensive house in the world.
Villa Les Cèdres, built in 1930 in the tony town of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in the South of France, is now on the market for £350 million. Featuring 35 acres of manicured gardens, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, ballroom, and stables for 30 horses, the 14-bedroom property was owned until recently by Suzanne Marnier-Lapostolle.
The pool at Les Cedres, photographed by Slim Aarons in 1973.
Slim AaronsGetty Images
Marnier-Lapostolle, whose family created Grand Marnier orange liqueur and has owned the property since 1924, reportedly plans to downsize to a place that doesn't require 15 gardeners to maintain the grounds, as this one does (the 15,000 plants and roughly 20 greenhouses require constant attention).
The living room includes an ornate chandelier and 19th-century portraits.
MARLENE AWAAD/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES
Before the Marnier family took it over, the 14,000-square-foot house belonged to Leopold II, the king of Belgium from 1865 to 1909. The sale is happening now because Grand Marnier's parent company, Société des Produits Marnier Lapostolle (SPML), was bought in 2016 by Italian distiller Davide Campari-Milano SpA. The liquor brand, which also acquired the house, put it on the market almost right away.
Security is high at the entrance to the villa.
While the listing price was previously reported as £1 billion, SPML Managing Director Fabio Di Fede, who is handling the sale with a steering committee of five Marnier family members, told Bloomberg that figure is "absurd rumor and folly."
Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat has been named the second most expensive place in the world for real estate after Monaco.
(H/T: Mansion Global and Bloomberg)
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“Tracy Myers is a visionary…
a Walt Disney for a new generation.”
– Brian Tracy, New York Times Best-Selling Author
About Tracy
Tracy Myers, Owner Of Frank Myers Auto, Accepts Inc 500/5000 Award
Winston Salem, NC based used car dealership recognized for its placement on the 2012 Inc. 500 | 5000 list. The annual list, compiled by Inc. Magazine, ranks the 5,000 fastest-growing, privately held companies in America based on criteria such as revenue growth, metro region and industry over a four-year period.
Tracy Myers, owner of Frank Myers Auto Maxx, was on hand in Phoenix, Arizona on October 5, 2012 to accept the award in front of a standing room only audience.
Frank Myers Auto Maxx specializes in helping people find, qualify for and own the vehicle of their dreams with little or no money down…even with less than perfect credit. This is the car dealerships first time on the Inc 500/5000 list.
The Inc. 500 | 5000 was originally introduced by Inc. Magazine in 1982. The list is compiled according to percentage revenue growth over a four-year period. Companies must be independent, privately held and based in the United States in order to qualify for selection.
The Inc 500/5000 award tops a list of honors for Frank Myers Auto Maxx in 2012. The dealership was also named one of the top 15 independent dealerships in the United States by Auto Dealer Monthly and one of the top 300 businesses in the South by Business Leader.
“Being recognized on the Inc. 500 | 5000 list is something that not many companies can say they have achieved. It speaks volumes not only about our employees but the faith our customers have in our ability to provide the automotive solutions they are looking for”, said Tracy Myers, owner of Frank Myers Auto Maxx.
Myers added, “I’m confident that we will make this list again in 2013.”
By tmyers|2012-10-06T14:32:48-04:00October 6, 2012|Blog, Winston Salem Business News|
Tracy Myers Chosen As VIADA Convention Presenter
The Virginia Independent Automobile Dealers Association has announced that car dealership owner, best-selling author and award-winning entrepreneur Tracy Myers will be speaking at their upcoming 51st annual convention and expo at The Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia July 26 – 29, 2012.
The convention and expo will be offering workshops and sessions specifically targeted to the needs of Virginia dealers.
This years convention and expo is being sponsored by ADS Management, Greensboro Auto Auction, Guardian Warranty Company, Manheim, Comsoft, 1st Choice and others. Please visit the official convention web site for a full listing at https://www.viada.org/convention.php
About Tracy Myers, CMD
Myers, owner of Frank Myers Auto Maxx, is commonly referred to as The Nations Premier Automotive Solutions Provider. Best-Selling author and legendary speaker Brian Tracy called him “a visionary to be compared to a Walt Disney for a new generation.”
He is also a Certified Master Dealer and was the youngest ever recipient of the National Quality Dealer of the Year award by the NIADA, which is the highest obtainable honor in the used car industry. His car dealershiprship, Frank Myers Auto Maxx was recently recognized as the number one Small Businesses in NC by Business Leader Magazine, one of the Top 3 dealerships to work for in the country by The Dealer Business Journal and one of the Top 22 Independent Automotive Retailers in the United States by Auto Dealer Monthly Magazine.
He has shared his business acumen with viewers of FOX News, appeared on NBC, ABC and CBS affiliates across the country, been featured in USA Today and has appeared on stages from coast to coast to share his inspirational stories and strategies for success. His best-selling books help people become better consumers as well as inspire industry leaders to become “game changers.”
As the founder of his own marketing and branding academy, Tracy teaches ambitious business owners, professionals and entrepreneurs how to get noticed, gain instant credibility, make millions and dominate their competition.
For more information about Tracy Myers, please visit http://www.tracymyers.com
About The VIADA
The Virginia Independent Automobile Dealers Association was officially organized and incorporated in 1960 and traces its beginning back some 15 years prior to a group of Norfolk dealers who formed a local association for the purpose of fighting unfair laws and regulations.
VIADA is a 501(c)(6) tax exempt trade association affiliated with the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association.
Our mission is to inform, educate, and represent motor vehicle dealers in all forums, and to work in cooperation with other organizations to make the Commonwealth of Virginia a safer community for all. This mission is fulfilled through meetings of our eight districts, bimonthly magazine, various other publications, workshops and most importantly our “800 Dealer Hot Line”.
Of primary importance is our presence in Richmond. Both regulators and legislators recognize VIADA as the voice of the independent dealers. As a result, we are advised and consulted before any measure affecting dealers is considered. The Association employs a lobbyist who works with our Legislative Committee which is made up of independent dealers throughout the state.
The Association employs an Executive Director to execute policies set by the Board of Directors as well as direct the day-to-day activities. VIADA has six employees, all of whom are pleased to serve your needs.
As a service to its members and an additional source of revenue, the Association maintains an inventory of specialized business forms and other supplies, and has a market for business and personal lines of insurance in addition to other member benefits. VIADA also produces regional workshops and an Annual Convention and Expo.
VIADA has maintained a relatively steady growth in membership and member programs over the years. Future plans call for this to continue, for the more complex the business becomes the more an actively involved trade association is needed.
For more information about the VIADA or the convention, please visit http://www.viada.org/
By tmyers|2012-03-07T08:43:47-05:00March 7, 2012|Blog, Events|
Tracy Myers Wins Passion Award From PCG
The first ever Passion Award was awarded by PCG Digital Marketing at this year’s Automotive Marketing Boot Camp that took place in Orlando April 16-18. Seven automotive industry leaders were recipients of the award. This is the first year that the awards have been given out.
Awards recognized seven outstanding professionals within the automotive community that have made a commitment to excellence and dedicate themselves for the betterment of the automotive community as a whole.
The seven recipients of the 2011 Passion Awards were:
Ralph Paglia (Founder of Automotive Digital Marketing Community)
Jeff Kershner (Founder of DealerRefresh)
Matt Haiken (Prestige Volvo, NJ)
AJ Maida (Papa’s Dodge, CT)
Tracy Myers (Owner of Frank Myers Auto Maxx, NC)
Rob Fontano (Marazzi Motors, FL)
Joe Pistell (Sun Auto Warehouse, NY)
Ralph Paglia and Jeff Kershner, both founders of online automotive communities, were recognized for their efforts in sharing best practices and thought provoking content online to help dealer professionals learn and grow.
The remaining five recipients are dealer professionals that have dedicated themselves to the success of their dealership and the automotive industry in general.
The Passion Awards were created by PCG Digital Marketing and will be handed out annually at the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp conference.
About PCG Digital Marketing
PCG Digital Marketing (http://www.pcgdigitalmarketing.com/) is a full use digital selling group that serves aAutomotive Industry. PCG is nationally famous as a personality in Automotive Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and automotive digital marketing.
Brian Pasch, CEO and owner of PCG Digital Marketing is an active blogger, author and orator during automotive conferences, 20 Groups and digital selling forums. PCG Digital Marketing is also a creator of a Automotive Website Awards, that recognizes a best automotive websites platforms formed on their hunt selling effectiveness, a Digital Marketing Strategies Conference and Automotive Marketing Boot Camp.
About Tracy Myers
Tracy Myers has built a nationally recognized reputation as the helmsman for one of the most successful car dealerships in the country, for which he is commonly referred to as The Nation’s Premier Automotive Solutions Provide.
He has shared his business acumen with viewers of FOX News, NBC, ABC and CBS, and has appeared on stages from coast to coast to share his inspirational stories and strategies for success. His best-selling books help people become better consumers as well as inspire industry leaders to become “game changers.”
As the Dean of The Celebrity Academy, Tracy teaches ambitious business owners, professionals and entrepreneurs how to get noticed, gain instant credibility, make millions and dominate their competition by building their Celebrity Expert status.
To learn more about Tracy, please visit http://www.tracymyers.com
By tmyers|2011-05-04T16:59:26-04:00May 4, 2011|Blog|
STORE NAVIGATION
YOU Are the Brand Stupid
Uncle Frank ‘Sez’
Pushing To The Front
WrestleCade.com
America’s Most Liked
The Car Men Movie
Frank Myers Auto
Tracy Myers
© Copyright 2012 - | TracyMyers.com | All Rights Reserved
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Articles Featured News
News Round-up – Beauty and the Beast trailer, Emilia Clarke joins Star Wars, Kong and more
20/11/2016 Tom Beasley 0 Comment Alden Ehrenreich, Beauty and the Beast, Bradley Whitford, Brie Larson, Brother Orange, Dan Stevens, Disney, Donald Glover, Emilia Clarke, Emma Watson, Han Solo, Jim Parsons, Joan Cusack, Jordan Vogt-Roberts, Kong: Skull Island, Matt Damon, Minecraft, Ocean's 8, Samuel L Jackson, Star Wars, Steve Carell, Tom Hiddleston, Unicorn Store
There have been trailers flying in left, right and centre this week as many of 2017’s biggest blockbusters have started to fire their opening marketing salvos. Elsewhere, though, there was a relative lack of news as Warner Brothers sent Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them into cinemas, with the reviews and fallout from that movie dominating the film world.
Here’s your round-up of this week’s movie news…
Emma Watson meets the Beast in new trailer
Emma Watson and Dan Stevens in the new trailer for Beauty and the Beast
Disney’s latest live-action take on an animated classic is due next year in the shape of Beauty and the Beast, starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens in the title roles. Following a teaser earlier this year, we got the first full-length trailer for the film this week, in an almost shot-for-shot reimagining of the trailer for the 90s animated version of the story. It quickly took the internet by storm and broke the record for the most views on a trailer in the first 24 hours of release, dethroning Fifty Shades Darker.
It’s a tremendous fairytale trailer that suggests a traditional take on the material closer to Cinderella than The Jungle Book. Watson and Stevens look like they’re at home in their roles, with some impressive visual effects work enhancing the material. Disney is yet to put a foot wrong with its live-action reimaginings and it doesn’t look like they’re about to start now. Beauty in the Beast will be released in March 2017.
From dragons to Death Stars…
Emilia Clarke promotes Game of Thrones at Comic-Con in 2013 (Photo: Gage Skidmore)
Elsewhere at Disney, the company is continuing to add exciting new wrinkles to the Star Wars universe, particularly in the case of the upcoming spin-off focusing on the youth of Han Solo. Alden Ehrenreich will play the roguish smuggler and Donald Glover is set to pop up as buddy Lando Calrissian. This week, Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke was added to the cast. StarWars.com broke the news that Clarke will be in the film in an as yet unspecified role.
This is yet more intriguing casting for the Han Solo movie. On paper, an origin for Solo sounds like a pretty poor idea for a film and a blatant cash grab, but Disney is doing plenty to make it seem like a worthy concept. Not only have they cast exciting up-and-comers to fill the main roles, but they have also hired Jump Street directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller to step behind the camera. The film is due to arrive in May 2018.
Kong goes ape in Skull Island trailer
Kong stands tall in the trailer for Kong: Skull Island
Legendary has been rather quietly building its monsters franchise and will follow the divisive Godzilla with Kong: Skull Island, directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, best known for the great coming of age movie The Kings of Summer. After a coy teaser earlier in the year, the latest full trailer gives us a good look at the eponymous ape, suggesting this is going to be very different to the slow build and teasing of Godzilla. There’s also far more of the plot, which sees scientists disturbing the delicate life of Kong on his Pacific island.
It’s a very fun trailer, showcasing great monster action and some of the moments of levity that too many blockbusters don’t bother to convey. The monster looks great, whilst also maintaining a more classic aesthetic than the CGI-heavy Godzilla. We’re very short of genuinely fun blockbusters, but Kong: Skull Island looks like it might be something truly enjoyable when it arrives at UK multiplexes in March 2017.
Steve Carell set for Minecraft movie
Steve Carell attends the Australian premiere of Despicable Me 2 in 2013 (Photo: Eva Rinaldi)
The world-building video game Minecraft has been a genuine phenomenon for so long now though that it’s remarkable no one has made a film about it. That is set to change now thanks to Warner Brothers, who have just added the first big name to the movie in the shape of Steve Carell, according to Variety.
We know next to nothing about this film and it will be interesting to see where they go in terms of plot, considering that it’s not something which plays a major part in the game. That will either leave the film grasping for something interesting or it will allow the filmmakers to be incredibly creative. The Minecraft movie is set to arrive in cinemas in 2019.
Damon set for Ocean’s 8 cameo
Matt Damon meeting NASA scientists in 2015 (Photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls)
The all-female heist movie Ocean’s 8 already has an absolutely phenomenal cast, including many of Hollywood’s biggest female stars. It seems they may be joined by a face from the past in the film as Matt Damon, who played pickpocket Linus Caldwell in the previous Ocean’s trilogy, revealed this week that he is shooting a cameo for the movie. He told Entertainment Tonight that he is doing “a little bit” for the movie and added that the film is “going to be fun”.
The notion of an all-female reboot took a major blow earlier this year when Ghostbusters became something of a financial failure. Ocean’s 8, though, has attracted a hell of a cast. Damon’s involvement will be fun, but the filmmakers must be careful not to load the new film up with cameos and nods to the past. The cast here is so strong that they need to be allowed to work their magic. Ocean’s 8 is due in June 2018.
Jackson added to Brie Larson directorial debut
Samuel L Jackson attends a Comic-Con panel in 2013 (Photo: Gage Skidmore)
Oscar-winning actress Brie Larson is set to make her directorial debut with upcoming comedy Unicorn Store, which tells the story of a woman struggling to grow up. Larson has now added some big names to the cast in the shape of Samuel L Jackson, Joan Cusack and Bradley Whitford, according to a report in Variety. The film recently started shooting in LA.
It will be very interesting to see what Larson is able to pull off with her first movie as director, particularly given the fact that she is about to lose a lot of her time to a major Marvel Cinematic Universe role. Unicorn Store seems like a great string to her bow, though, amd there’s no doubt that Larson is currently one of Hollywood’s most exciting talents.
Jim Parsons cast in BuzzFeed drama
Jim Parsons speaks at Comic-Con in 2010 (Photo: Melody J Sandoval)
A charming-sounding movie about an internet phenomenon is currently in the works over at Warner Brothers. This week, The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Jim Parsons, star of The Big Bang Theory, has been cast as BuzzFeed editor Matt Stopera in the upcoming friendship drama Brother Orange. The film will tell the story of the theft of Stopera’s phone in 2014, which was followed by the appearance of photos of a Chinese man in front of an orange tree on his photo stream. Both men became overnight celebrities when the story of ‘Brother Orange’ went viral.
Brother Orange sounds like it has a fun story behind it with plenty of charm. Parsons certainly has plenty of experience in this kind of part and has the star power to sell the movie to multiplex audiences. It certainly has to be less irritating than his work in animation Home.
Which big blockbuster trailer was your favourite? Will Emilia Clarke be a good addition to the Star Wars franchise? Let me know in the comments section and come back next Sunday for another news round-up.
← Review – Trolls
Review – NXT TakeOver: Toronto →
In defence of Nocturnal Animals and its portrayal of violence
Top 10: Truly terrifying scary movies that aren't supposed to be horror films
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Carl Schmitt On Federation
March 1, 2019 Signe Larsen
One of the most thorough and interesting discussions of the relationship between federalism, constitutionalism and democracy is presented by Carl Schmitt in Constitutional Theory. A federation of states, or just a federation, is according to Schmitt a curious and structurally contradictory interstate relation, which has to be distinguished from, on the one hand, a confederation (an alliance of sovereign states) and, on the other hand, a federal state (one sovereign state).
A federation is a permanent association of two or more states which rests on a free agreement of all member-states with the common goal of self-preservation; an agreement that however changes the political or constitutional status of the member-states. It is immediately clear that the federation lies in between—or is a curios synthesis of—the confederation and the federal state.
On the one hand, in contrast to the federal state, which rests on a public law constitution, but similar to the confederation, the federation rests on an international contract. On the other hand, in contrast to the confederation but similar to the federal state, the establishment of a federation leads to a political change of the member-states’ constitutions.
The constitutional change of the member-states does not necessarily entail a change of constitutional law in the member-states; the constitutional change regards something far more important, namely, “the concrete content of the fundamental political decisions on the entire manner of the existence of the state.”
It is here important to note that Schmitt operates with a fundamental distinction between a constitution and constitutional laws. The constitution is not the sum of the constitutional laws. The constitution consists in the fundamental political decision on the political form of the state. In this way, the fundamental decision on democracy is encapsulated in the preamble to the Weimar Constitution: “the German people provided itself with a constitution” and “State authority derives from the people” and “The German Reich is a republic.”
The constitutional change of the member-states of a federation consists in the establishment of a permanent order that includes the member-states in their total existence as a political unity into a common political existence. This common political existence does however not eliminate the existence of the individual member-states; the federation and the states exist politically alongside one another.
The federal constitution is an interstate contract the content of which simultaneously is a component of each of the member-states constitutions. The federal contract is the only genuine form of contractual constitutionalism, because it presupposes two or more politically existing states, each of which containing within them one subject of the constituent power.
Within a state, a constitution will according to Schmitt always be a one-sided decision by the sovereign people as the sole carrier of the constituent power. The federal constitution is in this way a contract between two or more national subjects of the constituent power.
The aim of the federation is self-preservation. This entails that all federations unconditionally guarantee the political existence of each of the members of the federation, even if this is not stated explicitly. Internally, self-preservation signifies a necessary pacification. Internal peace is essential within the federation; a war between two member-states would signal the end of the federation.
Furthermore, in the name of the common interest in self-preservation and security, the federation has the right of supervision and, if necessary, intervention with regard to maintenance, preservation and security.
Externally, the federation protects all the member-states against foreign invasion: “Every federation can wage war as such and has a jus belli. There is no federation without the possibility of a federation war.” However, this does not mean that the individual members of the federation are totally deprived of their jus belli; “it follows from the nature of the political existence of the individual members that a right to self-help and to war is only being given up insofar as it is conditioned by membership in the federation.”
The federation as a political form is, according to Schmitt, characterized by three legal and political antinomies. Firstly, there is a contradictory relationship between, on the one hand, the federation’s aim of self-preservation hereunder the maintenance of the independence of all member-states, and on the other hand, the lessening of this independence of every member-state with regard to their jus belli.
In this way the federation leads to a contradictory status with regard to the self-preservation of the member-states. Secondly, there is an antinomy between, on the one hand, the fact that the federation members seek to preserve their self-determination and their political independence through the federation, and on the other hand, that the federation in the name of common security and self-preservation has the right to intervene since it cannot ignore the domestic affairs of the federation members. Thirdly, and most fundamentally, there is an antinomy between the political existence of the federation and the political existence of the member-states which have to coexist under a federal constitution.
The federation is conditioned on this coexistence: neither the member-states nor the federation are to be subordinated to the other part: “the federation exists only in this existential connection and in this balance.” The essence of the federation resides in this “dualism of political existence.” If the existential balance of this dualism is not kept intact the federation will dissolve either into individual sovereign states or into one federal sovereign state.
The problem of this dual existence is practically best illustrated by the problem of secession. On the one hand, the federation is founded as a permanent order which entails a continual renunciation of the right to secession. On the other hand, the federation is a contract of independent politically existing states which must have the continual right to decide upon the status of this contract themselves, also with respect to the annullability of this contract, i.e., the right to secession. In this way, the federation is existentially conditioned both on the member-states’ continual right to secession and renunciation of this right.
In this way, the fundamental problem of the federation can be stated as follows: if an existential conflict arises between the federation and the member-states, who decides? The problem is, that the federation is predicated on the existential balance between the two parties’ equal right, and if a decision is made, the federation will dissolve because either national or federal sovereignty is declared supreme.
For this reason, the existence of the federation is conditioned on a perpetual openness of the question of sovereignty, that is, the existence of the federation is predicated on an existential exclusion of internal conflict in the federation. It is important to note here that existential balance between two political entities, according to Schmitt, does not entail a “division of sovereignty”: the question of who decides is merely left open.
The only possible resolution to these antinomies, according to Schmitt, lies in an existential and substantial homogeneity among all members of the federation, which will ensure (a) that the first antinomy regarding the member-states’ self-preservation is resolved by ensuring internal pacification and external compatibility of enmity (in this way the jus belli of the member-states will coincide with the jus belli of the federation), (b) that the second antinomy regarding the self-determination of the member-states is resolved by ensuring that the interference of the federation in the internal affairs of the member-state will not appear as foreign in existential terms (in this way the interference by the federation will not be against the will of the member-states) and (c) that the third antinomy regarding sovereignty is resolved by ensuring that internal conflict is existentially excluded (in this way, the closure of the question of sovereignty is precluded).
Two questions have to be raised in relation hereto: Firstly, how is the homogeneity established? Secondly, what are the consequences of this homogeneity for a federation of democratic member-states? Regarding the first question, Schmitt argues, substantial homogeneity can primarily be derived from national similarity of the member-states’ populations. However, political form (democracy, aristocracy, or monarchy) and principles such as religion, culture, or class can add to the principle of national homogeneity. Homogeneity is in this way primarily something which is existentially given.
In order to answer the second question, a short discussion of Schmitt’s conception of democracy is necessary. According to Schmitt, democracy is in general treated as an ideal concept not properly distinguished from liberalism and the Rechtsstaat (hereunder socialism, justice, peace and international understanding); an ideology and a political form which democracy, according to Schmitt, is not merely distinct from but directly opposed to.
In contrast to the general discourse of the Rechtsstaat presenting freedom and equality as the dual principles of democracy, Schmitt argues that not merely is freedom not a democratic principle, freedom and equality are often opposed to one another.
The democratic principle is according to Schmitt equality; not the general human equality of all persons discussed by liberalism which precludes political distinction and exclusion, but the concrete equality of a people within a nation-state: “Even the French Declaration of the Rights of Man,” Schmitt writes “states that all persons are by nature free and equal. As soon as it involves political rights and those of the state, however, it no longer speaks of persons (homme), but instead of state citizens (citoyen).”
In a national democracy, like the French, the presupposition of democracy is a substantial equality of a people, meaning a national homogeneity: “democratic equality is essentially similarity, in particular similarity among the people. The central concept of democracy is people and not humanity” (p. 261-3).
Democracy is by Schmitt defined—both as a state form, a governmental form and a legislative form—as the identity of ruler and ruled. Identity as the key term of democracy has at least three meanings for Schmitt: (a) the identity of a homogenous people (national identity), (b) the identity of politically unified people (political identity) (c) the self-identity of a physically present people as in contrast to representation (presence identity).
Democracy rests in this identity because if the identity is strong enough there will be no difference between the opinion of one and the opinion of another: there will be one sovereign will of the people. It is this will that has the power or authority to constitute a state as a democracy: the homogenous sovereign will of the national people is the subject of the constituent power.
Regarding the second question: since both democracy and federations rest on substantial homogeneity, it is necessary that the national homogeneity converges with the federal homogeneity.
For this reason, Schmitt argues “it is part of the natural development of democracy that the homogenous unity of the people extends beyond the political boundaries of member states and eliminates the transitional condition of the coexistence of the federation and the politically independent member states, and replaces it with a complete unity.”
In this way, the principle of homogeneity that led to the resolution of the antinomies of the federation—the antinomies which again, if not resolved, would lead to the dissolution of the federation because of the closure of the question of sovereignty—has in the case of democratically constituted states a path dependency which stirs the federation directly toward its dissolution into a federal state.
On the other hand, if the homogeneity is not strong enough, the antinomies of the federation will lead to a collapse of the federation into sovereign states. For this reason, the legitimacy of a federation, in Weberian terms (the sociological criteria which will lead the population to accept the political system), will lead (a) to the dissolution of the federation into a federal state if they are fulfilled and (b) to the dissolution of the federation into nation-states if they are not fulfilled. The non-statist form of the federation is therefore, according to Schmitt’s theory, merely a transition from one form of statehood to another form of statehood.
The photo shows, “Spring in the Trenches,” By Paul Nash, painted in 1918.
This entry was posted in Ideas, Politics, Thoughts and tagged Europe, History, philosophy. Bookmark the permalink.
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No caddie, no problem as Marc Warren ends 6-year title drought
Marc Warren captured his first European Tour title in six years on Sunday with a one-shot victory in the Austrian Open despite playing without his caddie who failed to pass a coronavirus test in time.
The Scotsman birdied two of the last four holes for his first title since 2014, when he triumphed in Denmark.
However, victory was achieved despite having to carry his own bags over the four rounds after his caddie failed to meet coronavirus protocols and was barred from the event at the Diamond Country Club.
"Carrying my bag this week probably helped tone it down a little, just going out and playing and seeing what happens. The result couldn't have been any better," said the champion.
"Hopefully this is the one and only time, no matter what I say, I do enjoy the caddie's company."
The Scotsman, who started the final round of the first European Tour event since March tied for the lead with German Nicolai Von Dellingshausen, opened with a birdie on Sunday.
But after three birdies and four bogeys over the next 11 holes, he needed his late rally to hold off Marcel Schneider and Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez.
Schneider led but bogeyed the 14th and then Warren birdied the same hole.
Warren then broke a tie with Garcia Rodriguez with a birdie on the 17th.
After Garcia Rodriguez made a double bogey on the 18th, Warren needed a par to win and kept his nerve to hole a short par putt. He finished with his second consecutive 70 for a 13-under-par total of 275.
Schneider shot a 69 to finish one shot back. Dutchman Wil Besseling fired 66, the best round of the day, to finish another stroke back. Four more players, including Garcia Rodriguez who made 72, were another shot behind.
Veteran Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez, who had led before a disastrous third round, finished tied for eighth after shooting 70.
The 56-year-old holds the record for oldest European Tour winner set at the 2014 Spanish Open,.
Von Dellingshausen fell away with a final round of 76.
"2014 was the last time I've won," added Warren. "In the years since then, I've played very poorly. The break has been unfortunate for everyone but it came at a good time for me.
"I've been able to get some good work done and get ready to play golf. Came out of it pretty refreshed."
The season continues in Austria next week with the Euram Bank Open followed by the British Masters at the start of a six-event UK swing.
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Treasure Hunters, Artists and Authors
This Page is Currently Being Updated
Meanwhile, take a look at last year's Piratical Festivities.
Robert Jacob Author - Historian
With a lifelong passion for history, Robert Jacob has been heavily involved in living history interpretation and reenacting for over 40 years. He has participated in activities covering a wide range of time periods including numerous French and Indian War and Revolutionary War reenactment groups, Western Gun Fighter groups, regularly attending Mountain Man Rendezvous and Renaissance Fairs. During the past 12 years he has focused on the golden age of piracy with a concentration on Blackbeard.
Originally from Pittsburgh, PA, Robert graduated from Duquesne University with a Bachelor’s Degree in education in 1978. He taught in the West Point public school district, West Point, VA for five years while completing his Master’s Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1983.
In 1982, Robert entered the United States Marine Corps reserve and augmented to active duty in 1983. During his service, he became a military occupational specialty instructor and earned the designation of Master Training Specialist. Later in his career, he became the Commanding Officer of the Marine Detachment at the same school where he had earlier instructed. He achieved the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 5 and retired after 31 years of service in 2013.
While researching information on the golden age of piracy, Robert realized that most of the publications on the subject were contradictory and even incorrect. This motivated him to write his current publication, “A Pirate’s Life in the Golden Age of Piracy.”
Think you know everything about Pirates?
Fascination with Pirates has for centuries driven stories of heroic proportions—true, exaggerated, and imaginary. Legends of their high seas debauchery continue to inspire modern day books, movies, and groups, dedicated to acting out their past. Pirates are heroes to some and the lowest of crooks to others, but do we really know the truth?
The facts are that the historical record on pirates is vague, contradictory, and rarely accurate. Digging deep into the true history of Piracy and those who lived this life, Robert Jacob has unearthed a treasure of information that allows you to see, feel, and experience the true life and motivation of pirates in their Golden Age.
Come aboard and see what pirates actually wore, the type of ships they used, and how they planned and executed some of the most cunningly successful heists ever known. A Pirates Life in the Golden Age of Piracy will fascinate and transport you back in time with rich stories and visual accuracy. If you thought you knew all about pirates you’re in for some surprising revelations that will leaving you even more intrigued!
Carl Fismer -
World Famous Treasure Hunter
Captain Carl Fismer is one of the most respected and
knowledgeable treasure diving professionals in the world.
His area of expertise is shipwrecks, especially Spanish
shipwrecks and has recovered millions of dollars in gold, silver, jewels and other artifacts.
He has worked over 300 shipwrecks including the Taj Mahal Treasure and the famed galleon Concepcion.
The Concepcion; not to be confused with a ship baring the same name, Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion which sank in 1638 near the southernmost point of Saipan, the second Concepcion sank in 1641, 70 miles off the northern coast of the Dominican Republic upon the coral reefs known as the Silver Bank.
"Fizz” as he is known to friends, directed part of the salvage diving of the Santa Margarita, sister ship to the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which was discovered by Mel Fisher.
In 1992, he traveled to Sri Lanka and dived with Sir Arthur C. Clarke of 2001: A Space Odyssey fame, in association with the Great Basses Reef Treasures.
In May, 2010, Captain Fismer was awarded the Mel Fisher Lifetime Achievement Award.
Patrick S. Mesmer - Author
GHOSTS OF THE TREASURE COAST
The Treasure Coast is such a popular destination that some choose to never leave. From the spirits of ancient Indians who once inhabited the beaches to the pirates who spied for passing victims from the safety of the inlets and coves, the region is infused with eerie, tragic history. A phantom widow keeps watch from the Boston House window for men long ago lost at sea. Spirits of the victims of a murderous cop linger at the Devil’s Tree, where their bodies were found. The dreaded pirate Black Caesar still steers his ghost ship toward Dead Man’s Point in the St. Lucie Inlet. Authors Patrick and Patricia Mesmer navigate through spooky tales of vanished sailors, wandering phantoms and lost treasure scattered across the ocean floor.
Join Patrick and Patricia Mesmer as they explore the fascinating history of Florida's Treasure Coast with a paranormal twist!
In Loving Memory of Steve Witucki
Steve's work will be on display and available for purchase
Steve Witucki
Nationally Acclaimed Maritime Artist
Around the Great Lakes region, Steve Witucki, of Port St. Lucie, Florida, has been a well-known artist for over thirty years. His art is featured nationally in media, buildings, homes, parks, museums, and art galleries.
Steve, an able-bodied seaman, developed a love for art in 1978. During long voyages aboard ship, he created maritime illustrations and paintings, depicting the lore and legends that enveloped the Great Lakes. One of his prize paintings gained notoriety, opening opportunities in ways he could not have imagined.
Over sixteen years ago, the Discovery Channel filmed a program aboard the Edwin H Gott. Deep in the ship's interior, producers uncovered the floating studio of a young, talented maritime artist. On display in the studio was a painting of the Edmund Fitzgerald lying on the bottom of Lake Superior. Steve’s painting and 1,500 prints of the Edmund Fitzgerald sold long ago. Prints # 1, and his print of the Carl D Bradley, both signed by singer Gordon Lightfoot, are both currently on display.
Although much of his work focuses on maritime and wildlife images, Steve explores a wide variety of subjects using various medium, some of which are on display internationally.
In 2008, the Domaci Gallery classified Steve as a “Nationally Acclaimed Maritime Artist.” His art and biography are featured in many publications including: Michigan History Magazine, True North Magazine, Great Lakes Mariners and Seaway Review, as well as on the front cover of the book, Lost and Found Legendary Lake Michigan Shipwrecks. He is currently creating an oil painting depicting the seventeenth century ship Reformation as well as illustrations for the book series The Jonathan Dickinson Odyssey, which will be published this summer. Steve also provides art and video for television channels including: Discovery, History and National Geographic as well as backdrops for plays and musicals. He also provides illustrations for corporations such as Anheuser-Busch. Steve has created Korean and Vietnam memorials crafted from black Onyx.
Steve also includes glass etchings in his portfolio. He designs and creates freehand graphics on entrance doors, sliding doors, windows, drinking glasses, plaques and trophies. His clients include museum gift shops, municipalities, corporations and home owners.
Steve creates art to meet the needs and wishes of his customers. “The art belongs to the customer. My mission is to create art that reflects my customers' inner thoughts and ideas, not mine. That’s the uniqueness of what I provide,” Steve said.
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Physician Assistant Salary
How Much Does a Physician Assistant Make?
On average, a Physician Assistant make $112,410 a year. The lowest-paid 10 percent made $72,720, while the top-paid 10 percent made $157,120.
Annually National Average Salary: $112,410
* Based on information from the May 2019 salary report from the BLS.
Salary by State
Annual Salary by State
10% Annual
Avg. Annual
Alabama $39,630 $81,610 $90,080 $102,900 $127,770
Alaska $88,340 $109,850 $128,530 $152,770 $169,730
Arizona $77,970 $93,830 $109,640 $128,460 $152,650
Arkansas $37,160 $73,050 $97,970 $124,370 $152,670
California $79,000 $107,180 $127,520 $151,560 $180,990
Colorado $70,690 $89,050 $107,300 $127,500 $152,420
Connecticut $96,140 $112,520 $137,060 $157,120 $186,760
Delaware $85,160 $95,960 $111,310 $125,330 $141,790
District of Columbia $67,560 $96,920 $117,000 $134,830 $162,270
Florida $61,960 $88,890 $108,510 $128,640 $154,740
Georgia $58,950 $80,570 $101,460 $124,190 $146,330
Hawaii $64,300 $93,360 $117,200 $144,830 $177,260
Idaho $81,140 $91,500 $112,000 $125,830 $154,270
Illinois $76,610 $89,410 $105,520 $121,210 $133,660
Indiana $52,280 $65,150 $96,120 $121,210 $135,410
Iowa $81,350 $94,680 $112,720 $128,720 $152,360
Kansas $80,790 $90,010 $107,610 $122,730 $144,950
Kentucky $31,760 $38,320 $84,870 $106,920 $128,240
Louisiana $36,820 $57,750 $86,490 $109,980 $127,960
Maine $88,040 $99,140 $113,250 $127,030 $144,090
Maryland $62,970 $87,400 $109,620 $130,040 $158,880
Massachusetts $61,800 $93,790 $112,530 $131,700 $157,360
Michigan $85,400 $95,900 $110,510 $124,840 $136,640
Minnesota $87,710 $104,580 $119,240 $132,000 $155,300
Mississippi $53,580 $88,780 $99,810 $120,860 $146,660
Missouri $33,110 $81,260 $95,090 $118,080 $131,600
Montana $81,920 $96,740 $112,330 $128,670 $147,970
Nebraska $81,310 $92,260 $112,640 $127,200 $155,170
Nevada $87,320 $107,640 $121,540 $143,250 $160,820
New Hampshire $88,100 $101,850 $116,400 $130,100 $152,250
New Jersey $39,690 $108,160 $129,440 $162,620 $194,490
New Mexico $90,000 $105,320 $120,400 $134,200 $157,380
New York $89,590 $105,470 $123,080 $141,960 $160,960
North Carolina $83,330 $92,110 $108,210 $124,670 $145,130
North Dakota $85,770 $95,310 $112,240 $124,020 $141,810
Ohio $76,310 $91,050 $107,430 $124,690 $142,930
Oklahoma $81,050 $93,470 $110,670 $131,630 $153,760
Oregon $77,820 $94,890 $114,320 $129,430 $156,120
Pennsylvania $69,260 $85,510 $102,620 $120,320 $135,480
Rhode Island - NA - - NA - - NA - - NA - - NA -
South Carolina $40,630 $85,490 $106,840 $120,470 $151,410
South Dakota $85,070 $93,220 $107,270 $122,190 $133,100
Tennessee $36,310 $80,110 $90,760 $111,090 $127,270
Texas $40,920 $89,160 $109,270 $129,300 $155,430
Utah $73,130 $89,130 $104,740 $122,320 $144,880
Vermont $85,590 $95,580 $120,680 $131,140 $159,060
Virginia $57,040 $87,290 $102,680 $120,650 $134,920
Washington $90,850 $108,780 $129,520 $151,950 $168,100
West Virginia $81,210 $88,680 $102,500 $117,230 $130,810
Wisconsin $88,390 $104,510 $114,240 $127,980 $147,030
Wyoming $83,780 $99,070 $116,820 $139,510 $158,560
Puerto Rico $17,930 $20,260 $29,850 $33,830 $40,150
Annual Average Salary: Top 5 States
The top earning state in the field is Connecticut, where the average salary is $137,060.
These are the top 5 earning states in the field:
Connecticut - $137,060
Washington - $129,520
New Jersey - $129,440
Alaska - $128,530
California - $127,520
Monthly Salary by State
Avg. Monthly
Alabama $3,250 $6,750 $7,500 $8,500 $10,583
Alaska $7,333 $9,083 $10,667 $12,667 $14,083
Arizona $6,417 $7,750 $9,083 $10,667 $12,667
Arkansas $3,083 $6,083 $8,083 $10,333 $12,667
California $6,583 $8,917 $10,583 $12,583 $15,000
Colorado $5,833 $7,417 $8,917 $10,583 $12,667
Connecticut $8,000 $9,333 $11,417 $13,083 $15,500
Delaware $7,083 $7,917 $9,250 $10,417 $11,750
District of Columbia $5,583 $8,000 $9,750 $11,167 $13,500
Florida $5,083 $7,333 $9,000 $10,667 $12,833
Georgia $4,833 $6,667 $8,417 $10,333 $12,167
Hawaii $5,333 $7,750 $9,750 $12,000 $14,750
Idaho $6,750 $7,583 $9,333 $10,417 $12,833
Illinois $6,333 $7,417 $8,750 $10,083 $11,083
Indiana $4,333 $5,417 $8,000 $10,083 $11,250
Iowa $6,750 $7,833 $9,333 $10,667 $12,667
Kansas $6,667 $7,500 $8,917 $10,167 $12,000
Kentucky $2,583 $3,167 $7,000 $8,833 $10,667
Louisiana $3,000 $4,750 $7,167 $9,083 $10,583
Maine $7,333 $8,250 $9,417 $10,583 $12,000
Maryland $5,167 $7,250 $9,083 $10,833 $13,167
Massachusetts $5,083 $7,750 $9,333 $10,917 $13,083
Michigan $7,083 $7,917 $9,167 $10,333 $11,333
Minnesota $7,250 $8,667 $9,917 $11,000 $12,917
Mississippi $4,417 $7,333 $8,250 $10,000 $12,167
Missouri $2,750 $6,750 $7,917 $9,833 $10,917
Montana $6,750 $8,000 $9,333 $10,667 $12,250
Nebraska $6,750 $7,667 $9,333 $10,583 $12,917
Nevada $7,250 $8,917 $10,083 $11,917 $13,333
New Hampshire $7,333 $8,417 $9,667 $10,833 $12,667
New Jersey $3,250 $9,000 $10,750 $13,500 $16,167
New Mexico $7,500 $8,750 $10,000 $11,167 $13,083
New York $7,417 $8,750 $10,250 $11,750 $13,333
North Carolina $6,917 $7,667 $9,000 $10,333 $12,083
North Dakota $7,083 $7,917 $9,333 $10,333 $11,750
Ohio $6,333 $7,583 $8,917 $10,333 $11,833
Oklahoma $6,750 $7,750 $9,167 $10,917 $12,750
Oregon $6,417 $7,833 $9,500 $10,750 $13,000
Pennsylvania $5,750 $7,083 $8,500 $10,000 $11,250
South Carolina $3,333 $7,083 $8,833 $10,000 $12,583
South Dakota $7,083 $7,750 $8,917 $10,167 $11,083
Tennessee $3,000 $6,667 $7,500 $9,250 $10,583
Texas $3,333 $7,417 $9,083 $10,750 $12,917
Utah $6,083 $7,417 $8,667 $10,167 $12,000
Vermont $7,083 $7,917 $10,000 $10,917 $13,250
Virginia $4,750 $7,250 $8,500 $10,000 $11,167
Washington $7,500 $9,000 $10,750 $12,583 $14,000
West Virginia $6,750 $7,333 $8,500 $9,750 $10,833
Wisconsin $7,333 $8,667 $9,500 $10,583 $12,250
Wyoming $6,917 $8,250 $9,667 $11,583 $13,167
Puerto Rico $1,417 $1,667 $2,417 $2,750 $3,333
Monthly Average Salary: Top 5 States
The top earning state in the field is Connecticut, where the average salary is $11,417.
Connecticut - $11,417
Washington - $10,750
New Jersey - $10,750
Alaska - $10,667
California - $10,583
Hourly Salary by State
10% Hourly
Avg. Hourly
Alabama $19.0 $39.2 $43.31 $49.4 $61.4
Alaska $42.4 $52.8 $61.79 $73.4 $81.6
Arizona $37.4 $45.1 $52.71 $61.7 $73.3
Arkansas $17.8 $35.1 $47.10 $59.8 $73.4
California $37.9 $51.5 $61.31 $72.8 $87.0
Colorado $33.9 $42.8 $51.59 $61.3 $73.2
Connecticut $46.2 $54.1 $65.90 $75.5 $89.7
Delaware $40.9 $46.1 $53.51 $60.2 $68.1
District of Columbia $32.4 $46.6 $56.25 $64.8 $78.0
Florida $29.7 $42.7 $52.17 $61.8 $74.4
Georgia $28.3 $38.7 $48.78 $59.7 $70.3
Hawaii $30.9 $44.8 $56.34 $69.6 $85.2
Idaho $39.0 $43.9 $53.85 $60.4 $74.1
Illinois $36.8 $42.9 $50.73 $58.2 $64.2
Indiana $25.1 $31.3 $46.21 $58.2 $65.1
Iowa $39.1 $45.5 $54.19 $61.8 $73.2
Kansas $38.8 $43.2 $51.73 $59.0 $69.6
Kentucky $15.2 $18.4 $40.81 $51.4 $61.6
Louisiana $17.7 $27.7 $41.58 $52.8 $61.5
Maine $42.3 $47.6 $54.45 $61.0 $69.2
Maryland $30.2 $42.0 $52.70 $62.5 $76.3
Massachusetts $29.7 $45.0 $54.10 $63.3 $75.6
Michigan $41.0 $46.1 $53.13 $60.0 $65.6
Minnesota $42.1 $50.2 $57.33 $63.4 $74.6
Mississippi $25.7 $42.6 $47.99 $58.1 $70.5
Missouri $15.9 $39.0 $45.72 $56.7 $63.2
Montana $39.3 $46.5 $54.00 $61.8 $71.1
Nebraska $39.0 $44.3 $54.16 $61.1 $74.6
Nevada $41.9 $51.7 $58.43 $68.8 $77.3
New Hampshire $42.3 $48.9 $55.96 $62.5 $73.2
New Jersey $19.0 $52.0 $62.23 $78.1 $93.5
New Mexico $43.2 $50.6 $57.89 $64.5 $75.6
New York $43.0 $50.7 $59.17 $68.2 $77.3
North Carolina $40.0 $44.2 $52.03 $59.9 $69.7
North Dakota $41.2 $45.8 $53.96 $59.6 $68.1
Ohio $36.6 $43.7 $51.65 $59.9 $68.7
Oklahoma $38.9 $44.9 $53.21 $63.2 $73.9
Oregon $37.4 $45.6 $54.96 $62.2 $75.0
Pennsylvania $33.3 $41.1 $49.33 $57.8 $65.1
South Carolina $19.5 $41.1 $51.36 $57.9 $72.7
South Dakota $40.9 $44.8 $51.57 $58.7 $63.9
Tennessee $17.4 $38.5 $43.63 $53.4 $61.1
Texas $19.6 $42.8 $52.54 $62.1 $74.7
Utah $35.1 $42.8 $50.36 $58.8 $69.6
Vermont $41.1 $45.9 $58.02 $63.0 $76.4
Virginia $27.4 $41.9 $49.37 $58.0 $64.8
Washington $43.6 $52.3 $62.27 $73.0 $80.8
West Virginia $39.0 $42.6 $49.28 $56.3 $62.8
Wisconsin $42.5 $50.2 $54.93 $61.5 $70.6
Wyoming $40.2 $47.6 $56.16 $67.0 $76.2
Puerto Rico $8.62 $9.74 $14.35 $16.2 $19.3
Hourly Average Salary: Top 5 States
The top earning state in the field is Connecticut, where the average salary is $65.90.
Connecticut - $65.90
Washington - $62.27
New Jersey - $62.23
Alaska - $61.79
California - $61.31
Physician Assistants: Salary Overview
Physician assistants practice medicine alongside physicians, surgeons, and other healthcare professionals.
Their job description typically includes taking and reviewing the patient’s medical history, examining patients, ordering and interpreting tests, diagnosing injuries or illnesses, giving treatment, and educating patients and their families, among many other tasks.
The extent to which they have to be supervised by physicians or other healthcare professionals vary state by state and region by region.
In rural areas, for example, where physicians are present only one or two days per week, physician assistants perform the primary care provider role.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for physician assistants was $112,260 as of May 2019 which means that half of all workers in this profession earned less than this amount while half earned more.
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Salaries vary depending on experience and education level, industry, the region of employment, and the tasks the physician assistant has to perform.
The lowest 10 percent of all workers in this profession earned less than $72,720 while the top 10 percent made more than $157,120 per year.
The 25th percentile for this profession was $92,800 as of May 2019 which means that most workers in this profession (75 percent) earned more than this amount.
Physician Assistant Salary by Industry of Employment
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the biggest employer for physician assistants were offices of physicians- a sector where the average annual wage reported by these health professionals was $111,650.
Physician assistants also held jobs in general medical and surgical hospitals- where the average annual wage for this profession was $113,580 in 2019.
The mean annual wage was $121,320 for physician assistants who worked for outpatient care centers and $107,330 for those who worked for colleges, universities, and professional schools.
The salaries reported by physician assistants who worked for offices of other health practitioners was $108,190.
According to the report published by BLS, the top-paying industry for this profession was the field of scientific research and development services where the mean annual wage reported by physician assistants was $125,410.
A close second was the field of personal care services, where this profession was remunerated, on average, with $121,320.
Salaries also vary depending on other factors, including education and experience level.
Although a master’s degree and a state license are enough for employment, having some experience working as an EMT or paramedic, registered nurse, or a nursing assistant can improve your employment and earning prospects.
To keep their certification physician assistants need to complete continuing education classes every two years.
As an entry-level physician assistant, your salary will typically be closer to the minimum for this profession but your salary will increase after earning a few years of experience.
Experience and additional training may also qualify you for a supervisory position which is typically better paid.
Completing a postgraduate program will help you specialize in areas such as emergency medicine or psychiatry and after gaining clinical experience in your specialty you may receive new responsibilities and a higher wage.
Your salary as a physician assistant will also depend on the region of employment and the local economy and entry-level assistants in some regions may earn more than experienced physician assistants who work in other regions.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the top-paying states for this profession are Connecticut, Washington, New Jersey, Alaska, and California- states where the average wage for this profession was above $125,000 per year.
Physician assistants in Louisiana and Kentucky, on the other hand, earned less than $90,000 per year as of May 2019.
Lower than average salaries were also reported in Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Indiana.
* Based on information from the May 2019 salary report from the BLS. The figures represent accumulated data for all states of employment for Physician Assistants. BLS data represents averages and medians for workers at all levels of education and experience. This data doesn't represent starting salaries.
* Employment conditions in your area may vary.
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Rupert and James Murdoch questioned at Parliament: live blogging (Video)
By Paul Farhi and Melissa Bell
The committee hearing was interrupted by a man attempting to throw foam in Rupert Murdoch’s face. His wife Wendi Deng, pictured in pink, defended him. Questioning resumed. (AP)
In a scandal that has unfurled over years in drips and over the past few weeks in a flood, the illicit newsgathering at the shuttered News of the World tabloid has brought down top politicians, leaders in journalism and threatens the prime minister.
After weeks of attempts to downplay the scandal, Rupert Murdoch will face a parliamentary committee at 9:30 a.m. EST. It will be a rare public grilling for the media tycoon. He and his son James Murdoch, along with the former News International executive Rebekah Brooks, will be quizzed about a possible cover-up that reached the top levels of the media corporation.
Follow the Post’s media reporter Paul Farhi live blogging the event here:
2:05 p.m. Signing off
Folks, I've got to leave this live blog now, in order to get back to working on a story for tomorrow's paper (yes, I'm “multi-platform” today). Thanks for tuning in today. Please check washingtonpost.com and our print edition for a full account of today's events. Cheers... Paul.
2:02 p.m. Brooks says “there have been mistakes”
Brooks said of her mistakes: “I dont think there's an editor on Fleet Street who doesn't regret some of the headlines they've published. In my case, there have been mistakes.”
“On the other hand, despite being in the spotlight recently... I would defend the right of the free press for my entire career... It hasn't been very pleasant. The reason I left [the company] was because I felt I was detracting from the amazing journalism that was going on.”
1:59 p.m. MP asks Brooks if people should go to jail
Therese Coffey, MP, asks Brooks: “Knowing what you know now,” should people go to jail?
Brooks says: “none of us here should be judge and jury.”
1:57 p.m. Brook calls Dowler hacking ‘abhorrent’
Brooks says again that Milly Dowler hacking was “abhorrent” to her.
When the Dowler stories were breaking in 2002 in the News of the World, Brooks says, “I am sure questions were asked [within the paper about] where that information came from...There would have been some sort of process around where that information came from [sic]. I can tell you now it would not be the case that someone would have said, ‘Oh, that came from an illegal voicemail interception.’”
1:52 p.m. Parliament panel doesn’t seem to believe Brooks
The Parliament panel doesn't seem to be shaking Rebekah Brooks' basic story: She didn't know what was going on.
It’s the same story that the Murdochs told the panel a few hours ago.
1:49 p.m. MP wants to know about the Harbottle File
Paul Farrelly, MP, wants to know about the Harbottle File, the cache of incriminating emails that was housed at a law firm News Corp. had hired to investigate the extent of hacking.
Brook: We set up a committee to facilitate the police... The police asked about [the Harbottle File] and we asked about it and found it and handed it over to police on June 20th of 2010.
Farrelly: When this information came to light, what conversations did you have?
Brooks: We asked questions [of the lawyer heading the investigations] and he felt there had been an accurate review of the Harbottle File.
Brooks then added more about the file:
Brooks: In light of what we know now, when we saw that file, we felt that it put a new light on that information and we handed it over to police.
1:42 p.m. MP wants to know how NOTW got phone numbers of suspected pedophiles
Paul Farrelly, MP, wants to know how News of the World got phone numbers of suspected pedophiles for a series of articles that led to some of the alleged pedophiles being physically attacked, with several cases of mistaken identity.
Brooks: This occured before Parliament changed laws in 2003 regarding the use of private detectives and access to private records.
Farrelly: We're being asked to believe that you as a hands-on editor, and Andy Coulson [her successor] were unaware of the activities going on around you.
Brooks: I cant comment on what others knew and how they knew it. As chief executive I can acount for my actions in getting to the bottom of this story.
1:35 p.m. MP grills Brooks about Milly Dowler’s murder story
Damian Collins, MP, grills Brooks about how the Milly Dowler story came about. The News of the World broke stories on the case, some of which now appear to have been based on hacking of the murdered girl's phone while she was kidnapped and still missing.
Collins: Would it be normal to expect the editor, the lawyers of the paper, to review those stories?
Brooks: Yes, that is probably true. On such a story the lawyers would be involved.
Collins: How involved were you personally?
Brooks: I would have been involved in the story over the many years the story was running.
Collins: Would you say the Dowler story is one you would be more involved with?
Brooks: I would not be more or less involved... I suppose if I had a particular expertise it would been because I had been pushing a campaign for [anti-sex predators laws] in Parliament. (The News campaigned for a change in British laws and was successful.)
Collins: When you were first aware Milly Dowler's phone had been hacked?
Brooks: I heard about it when the story first broke in the media, on Monday evening (week before last)...We saw the story at the same time you saw the story. My first reaction was one of shock and disgust...The first thing I did was write to Mr. and Mrs. Dowler with an apology... The first time I heard that [Dowler's]phone was hacked was two weeks ago.
Observation: British MPs don't grandstand in their questioning. They also seem polite, to a fault.
Collins: Will you take responsibility?
Brooks: I would take responsibility, absolutely...but I really want to understand what happened.
1:23 p.m. Brooks explains paying of legal fees
Brooks is questioned about why News of the World paid Mulcaire's and Coulson's legal fees after they left the paper.
“Coulson and Clive Goodman had agreements with newspaper to pay their legal fees,” Brooks says.
Brooks says she wasn't aware of Mulcaire's contract.
1:20 p.m. Brooks is questioned about closing NOTW
When Brooks is questioned about closing NOTW, she says, “Once the trust [with readers] was broken [at News of the World] we felt closing it was the right decision.”
“As I've said, part of the problem with this story is the lack of visibility with documentations seized from Glenn Mulcaire's house in 2006. We have no visibility on it, you have no visibility on it...Once the police go through the documents,” we'll fully understand what happened, she said.
1:15 p.m. Brooks becomes tense
Brooks seems tense and a bit defensive, answering questions with a sharp “Look..” or “As I told you before...”
1:13 p.m. Brooks says she never paid a policeman
Brooks said, “I can say I have never paid a policeman myself (and) I have never authorized a payment to a policeman....In my experience of dealing with the police, the information they give newspapers comes free of charge.”
Brooks is then grilled about “Operation Motorman,” an investigation into the systemic use by the British newspaper industry of illegally acquired personal information. The investigation led to changes in privacy laws.
“Things went badly at the News of the World and we're trying to set it right,” Brooks said.
1:11 p.m. MP brings up Piers Morgan’s claims of extensive hacking
Louise Mensch, MP, questions the “culture” of Fleet Street, with its hacking, blagging and other dubious newsgathering techniques. She also asks about British television presenter Piers Morgan's claim that hacking was used extensively and bragged about it in his book. (Morgan was editor of three British tabloids, including News of the World, before becoming a CNN host).
1:07 p.m. Does Brooks have any regrets?
She’s asked if she has any regrets. Her reply: ''Of course I have regrets. The idea that Milly Dowler's phone was hacked...is abhorrent to me as it is to everyone in this room.''
12:58 p.m. Brooks on Mulcaire: I did not meet him
Questioned about her relationship to private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, Brooks said she had no contact with him. “"I first heard Glenn Mulcaire's name in 2006...There were other private investigators that I knew about [but not him].” She said she could not remember any names of other detectives that she worked with.
12:53 p.m. Private detectives common practice in British journalism
Brooks said that most British newspapers in 1990s and into the early 2000s used private investigators. “The News of the World used private detectives like most newspapers on Fleet Street.” She also said she cannot recall discussing payments to private detectives while at News of the World.
12:46 p.m Brooks continues with similar story to Murdochs’s
She reports that “we've attempted to settle as many” phone hacking cases as possible and that, like the Murdochs, the first time she was fully aware of the hacking when actress Sienna Miller began settlement talks in 2010.
This is irrelevant to the proceedings, but it must be remarked upon: Brooks has a remarkable head of hair. It's both mesmerizing and distracting.
12:43 p.m. Brooks begins
She starts by announcing she brought legal representation. Hearing room cleared again. For basic background: Brooks was editor of News of the World during its hacking heyday and later headed News Corp.'s British newspaper division. She has resigned over the scandal and was arrested on Friday for allegedly intercepting electronic communications.
12:39 p.m. Jonnie Marbles claims responsibility for the attack on Murdoch
A British comedian named Jonnie Marbles wrote on Twitter moments before the attack on Rupert, “It is a far better thing that I do now than I have eer done before. #splat.”
12:32 p.m. Murdochs dismissed.
Five minutes until Rebekah Brooks testifies. We’ll continue with her testimony shortly.
12:30 p.m. Rupert makes a final statement
“I have made my share of mistakes" in 57 years building News Corp. "but I have never felt more sick" than over the Milly Dowler incident. “I want [victims] to know the depths of my regret for the horrible invasion of privacy. The behavior went against everything I stand for, and my son, too.... Let me be clear in saying invading people's privacy...is wrong. Paying police officers is wrong...Saying sorry is not enough. Things must be put right. No excuses. [We] are cooperating fully with police...I wish we had managed to see and could have solved these problems much earlier...I am confident that when James joined News Corp, he thought the case was closed, too...Above all, i hope we will come to understand the wrongs of the past and prevent them from happening again...I am committed to doing everything in my power to make this happen."
12:28 p.m. Will Rupert resign?
Mensch says to Rupert, “You're in charge of the ship. And you've said you don’t regard yourself as a hands-on CEO. Given what has happened on your watch, have you considered resigning?”
Rupert says, “No.” She asks, “Why not?”
“People I trusted let me down, behaved dreadfully...and its for them to pay. It's for me to clean this up.”
12:24 p.m. Committee room cleared
The hearing room appears to have been cleared of spectators since the pie-throwing incident.
12:21 p.m. Continued pressing on illicit newsgathering
Mensch pushes questions on how news is gathered in England. She asks if they have instructed editors around the world to ensure that they are not using similar practices. Murdoch says they have not, but he is prepared to do so.
She then asks if editors at News of World used blagging — fake identities — to collect news?
James says, “I am aware of reports of other newspapers using private investigators but I can only speak to behavior and culture of the News of the World... It’s not for me to impinge other newspapers, other journalists, things like that.”
12:16 p.m. The questions turn to 9/11 victims
The transcript:
Mensch: Are you confident there was no hacking of 9/11 victims?
Rupert: We have no evidence of that at all.
James: I was going to say those are incredibly serious allegations. We don’t know the veracity of those allegations...It's just appalling to think anyone associated with one of our papers woudl do that. [But] I know of no evidence of that.
Mensch: Are there causes for concern?
James: We only seen the allegation that have been made in the press and we are actively trying...we are trying to learn what happened.
Both Rupert and James shake heads when asked again if they knew of any facts regarding such hacking.
12:13 p.m. James pauses over Milly Dowler’s name
Louise Mensch starts the questioning off by asking when did they become aware that crime victims were hacked. James said, “The terrible instance of voicemail interception of [he pauses to recall the name] Milly Dowler only came to my attention a few weeks ago. It was a total shock when I first became aware of it.”
12:09 p.m. Questioning has started again
The committee has been called back into session. The panel chairman says ''we will take action'' against pie thrower. Hearing continues. Rupert is back at the witness table, sans suit coat. Just a guess: He got slimed by that guy.
12:05 p.m. Wendi Deng protects her husband with volleyball swing
As if the attempted “pie-ing” was not enough excitement, Deng’s quick defense of her husband has captivated audiences. She’s reportedly a volleyball player and the television stations are replaying her spike in slow motion.
11:58 a.m. A man approaches Rupert, wife swings in defense
In replay, a man seems to approach Rupert. Deng jumps up to protect her husband swinging at the man. It looks like the man had shaving cream in a pie tin. The police are talking to him and he now appears covered in cream off camera. The man reportedly shouted, “You are a greedy billionaire!” as he swung the foam at Rupert.
11:54 a.m. A disturbance in the room interrupts proceeding
A lot of shouting starts in the room and the camera has swung away. There was some noise, and policemen ran onto the scene. Wendi Deng Murdoch leapt from her seat. Replay shows James Murdoch getting from his seat, Rupert remains seated. The chairman called a 10-minute recess.
11:51 a.m. Rupert breaks down
Rupert is asked if his staff withheld information from him because he may not want to hear it, he says, “We're a very big company. I'm sure there are people who try to please me. That's human nature. It's up to me to see through that.”
As the questioning continues Murdoch tears up, “I just want to say I was brought up by a father [Sir Keith Rupert Murdoch] who was not rich but was a great journalist. And just before he died, he bought a small paper, and said it was a chance to do good. He was hated in this country [for exposing the British military disaster at Gallipoli during World War I], but I hope my sons and daughters [will live up to his legacy.]”
11:50 a.m. Will the Murdoch empire fall?
Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, On Faith blogger and one of America’s “most influential rabbis,” will be online to take questions about the Rupert Murdoch scandal at 12:30 p.m. EST. You can ask a question now.
11:42 a.m. Rupert supports son’s past work
Rupert is asked if he regret placing James in charge of British Sky Broadcasting in 2003 amid charges of nepotism. James was 30 years old at the time, the youngest CEO of a major British company.
Rupert says, “The press had a field day with it...but after he left that company there was agreement that he had done a good job.”
11:38 a.m. Murdochs say they were distracted by other businesses
The father-son duo say they were busy with competitors at the same time the hacking details began to emerge. "We had a particularly tricky competitor” in Italy, Rupert says. He's referring to fellow mogul, and Italian premier, Silvio Berlusconi.
11:35 a.m. Two hours into hearing
Early impression still holds: James has the details, Rupert seems vague on the facts.
11:29 a.m. Brooks and Hinton’s knowledge of Harbottle File questioned.
James said that he cannot speak for Brooks or Hinton, after he is questioned about when they were made aware of the documents in the Harbottle file. Farrelly asks: “You cant say who kept you in the dark? I have to say that's unsatisfactory.”
James replies, “The law firm's opinion was clear. I can’t speak to individual's knowledge at a given time. We rested on opinion of law firm and the police that there was nothing more.Evidence emerged later in civil litigation.”
Farrelly says, “We don’t know who at News of World was complicit, we're nowhere near who knew what evidence led your closest aide, Les Hinton, to testify (otherwise). Do you find that satisfactory?
Rupert replies, “No, I do not...The legal advice was to go to police with it.” James interrupts his father. “The opinion was clear after the review was done.”
Rupert says, “Mr [Colin] Myler [former managing editor of the News]was appointed by Mr. Hinton to find out what the hell was going on and he commissioned the Harbottle inquiry. That was my understanding but I can’t swear to it.”
11:27 a.m. News Corps releases opening statements
The committee denied James’s request to make an opening statement, but News Corp. has released the full text of it here.
11:23 a.m. Should they withdraw letter to Parliament claiming hacking fully investigated by company?
Farrelly says, "I take it you'd like to withdraw a letter" to Parliament committee saying the company had investigated the hacking fully. This letter was submitted before revelations of much wider hacking emerged last year. James doesn't answer the question directly. He says, "That's a relevant document."
James continues to push back on some of the questions saying that they are matters for the police and “it's important I don’t stray into matters that are under investigation.”
11:19 a.m. One hour question session sneaking into third hour soon
The hearing has now far exceeded its scheduled one-hour length. It appears there are many more questions to come.
11:18 a.m. Emails implicate Andy Coulson, committee member says
Farrelly asserts the email implicate Andy Coulson, former editor of the News of the World, of payments to police. He wonders why, given those emails, the law firm gave the company a "clean bill of health."
James says, “We rested on opinion of counsel that it was a settled matter and until that new information emerged [in the Harbottle File] we felt we had to go to police.”
11:08 a.m. Questions now turn to the “Harbottle File”
The committee is now asking about the so-called "Harbottle File," named for the London law firm that did an internal investigation of News Corp. News reports have said the company covered up some of its findings.
“In 2010, after the civil litigation put a spotlight on company, additional new evidence [came to light]...Some of it was in that file. It was April, May, June of 2010...The people managing the work were led by Mr. Lewis [of the law firm],” James says. When asked what was in the file, he said, “There's an ongoing criminal investigation and it would be wrong of me to talk about evidence that could [hamper the police investigation].”
When pushed, James won't say what was in the file other than "paper," but adds: “My reaction was to agree to recommendation of executives that this was something we should bring to the attention of police.”
He gave the police the file last June, about a month or two after he became aware of them.
11:07 a.m. Mulcaire’s legal fees may still be paid by News Corp.
Paul Farrelly, a Labour MP, asks if they have been paying legal fees to Glenn Mulcaire during the course of civil actions. James responds in the past, saying that he was surprised when he found out about the allegations that they paid his legal fees, saying “At the time, the legal advice was it was customary to pay legal fees.” When Farrelly continues to ask if they are still paying the fees, James says “I’m trying to find that out now.
Farrelly asks, “If you are still paying Mulcaire's fees, will you give instructions for the payments to stop?” Rupert says, “Provided it's not a breach of a contract, yes.”
Mulcaire, to refresh memories, is the private investigator convicted of hacking into the voicemail messages of the Royal family.
10:59 a.m. Les Hinton may have approved payments
Les Hinton, the former head of News International prior to James stepping into the role, may have made the payments to Mulcaire and Goodman, Rupert says, on the instructions of the chief legal officer.
He says Rebekah Brooks and Les Hinton both asked to resign last week. He refused Brooks's resignation the first time because "I trusted her."
James says, “It's important to note there was no evidence of impropriety [by Brooks and Hinton]. If it emerges, you have a different piece.”
When asked if the News of the World was sacrificed to save Rebekah Brooks? Rupert says no. “I regret very much the people who are out of work, but the two decisions are unrelated.”
10:55 a.m. Why Clive Goodman’s fees were paid
The committee questioned why the company would even think of paying the legal fees for Clive Goodman. Goodman, a former editor for the News of the World, was arrested and jailed for phone hacking in 2007. James says, “It is sometimes customary to make contributions to legal costs...But I have no specific knowledge [of this case].”
When asked if they made any payments to Goodman or Mulcaire after their 2006 convictions, James says he was surprised that the legal fees had been paid, but that he does not know who approved the payments. “I don’t have direct knowledge of the details but i can tell you that I was surprised as you are.”
10:51 a.m. We’re now heavy into a discussion of the payoffs
Davies said, “It seems odd to me as a layman..it seems bizarre that someone can get phone hacked and gets 20,000 [pounds] and some gets 600,000. Do you not see that smells funny?”
James replies, “I understand where you’re coming from. You look at these amounts and say why would a company do that?...We had senior distinguished outside counsel, and we asked what sort of damages we should expect to pay if we lost the case and it was substantial.”
Davies keeps interrupting but James pushes on.
10:44 a.m. Rupert Murdoch’s responsibilities
Philip Davies, MP, asks Rupert about his involvement with his newspapers and how often did he speak to the editor of the News of the World? Rupert said it was very seldom. “I spoke with the editor of the Sunday Times every Saturday, not to influence him...I'm not really in touch with that. If there's anything I am in touch with, it's the Wall Street Journal. I work a 10-12 hour day and I can’t tell you the multitude of issues I am dealing with.”
Davies continues to push:
Davies: Did you speak to the editor of the Sun twice a day?
Rupert: No.
Davies: I am intrigued by how these conversations going go...I would have expected the editor to say, “We paid Gordon Brown 600,000 pounds.”
Rupert: No...That's not how it went...He might have told me we added two more pages for football [coverage] that week.
10:42 a.m. Settlements again the focus of questioning
The committee continues to question the settlements paid out. James said the management parted ways with Tom Crone, the company lawyer who negotiated settlement payments to victims, last week. He said that he wondered about the amount of settlements being paid out, but assumed litigation costs would be higher. When asked if he is aware of the term "willful blindness,” James says no. “This is my first time in a committee meeting like this... We were advised fundamentally to tell the truth.”
10:40 a.m. Murdochs only found out in late 2010 of further hacking
James said they only found out the hacking was wider spread at the end of 2010 when the police told them.
10:35 a.m. The hacking was supposedly a thing of the past
James said that a full year before any new allegations in the press arose in September of 2010, there was no reason to believe the hacking was anything but in the past. When Adrian Sanders, another committee member, asks if they were aware the Mulcaire case involved a criminal act of phone hacking, Murdoch replies, “Yes. In the absent of new evidence, it was a matter that come to light in 2007, before I was there, and this was a matter in the past. The police had closed the case.”
10:32 a.m. Family dynamics
One clear thing is emerging: Rupert Murdoch does not seem at all aware of the daily business of his British companies. James continually must step in to answer detailed questions and correct him. The two seem to be working off separate scripts — or James seems to be working off a script. His father seems to be answering off the cuff.
10:29 a.m. Journalism code of ethics
James says, “We need to think more forcefully about codes of ethics, not just as a company but as an industry as a whole...We welcome the prime minister’s inquiry into journalistic ethics... That's a really good thing for the country and for all of the interested parties to engage in fully. We've set up a management and standards committee that reports to independent directors to look at how we cooperate with investigations and allegations of wrongdoing and how we get to the bottom of it...We hope we can become a paragon of the industry... We think this committee is a better way to go.”
Rupert says, “This country does greatly benefit from having a competitive press and an open society. It's sometimes inconvenient but we are better for it.”
10:28 a.m. A change in headline writing?
When asked if the scandal will make the company reconsider the way the papers write headlines, Murdoch hedges. “We have in this country a wonderful variety of voice. I recognize that headlines can sometimes give offense [pause] but it’s not intentional.”
10:21 a.m. Back to the civil settlements and questions about fraud
Jim Sheridan asks if the Serious Fraud Office (the British equivalent to the FTC) was investigating the company. James said they had no knowledge of that, but “we are a company that takes tax compliance, regulatory compliance... very seriously and is something we very proud of.”
Again the questioning turns to the settlement payouts. James approved the settlements in 2008. His father says it was just a few weeks after he joined the company. James corrects him with “a few months.”
He said he does not know the full amount of the payments and that it is customary to pay settlements rather than go to court. He said the managing editor has the authority to make payments.
10:19 a.m. Twitter tracker
Journalism watchdog The Poynter Institute has set up a separate Twitter account to document the Murdoch hearings. An update from @NOTWfallout records Murdoch’s statement that he doubted the hacking scandal had crossed the Atlantic:
Rupert Murdoch on FBI investigation: We’ll cooperate. “I can’t believe it happened anywhere in America.”less than a minute ago via HootSuite Favorite Retweet Reply Poynter
NOTWfallout
10:15 a.m. Rupert Murdoch denies responsibility
When Sheridan asks Rupert, “Do you accept full responsiblity for these matters?” he replies, “No.” He goes on to say that the people “I trusted to run the company,” are responsible. Not him.
10:10 a.m. Questions about the News of the World closing continue
James returns to the reasons for why they made the decision to shut the tabloid down. “We believe the actions of some reporters at News of World... have fundamentally tarnished the trust of our readers. This is a sincere regret of mine, and my fathers.”
“What happened at News was wrong. We have apologized profusely,” the younger Murdoch continues. “We are working closely with police to find out where wrongdoing was and hold people accountable. We have admitted liability and set up the appropriate third-party compensation schemes. These are all matters we are engaged in."
10:06 a.m. Murdoch questioned about his relationship to David Cameron
Jim Sheridan, another committee member, asks why Rupert went through the back door at No. 10 Downing Street when he visited Prime Minister David Cameron.
Rupert: “I was asked to come through back door... I was invited for a cup of tea for the support we provided Mr. Cameron... I also went in the back door to visit [former PM] Gordon Brown.” The audience breaks into laughter.
10:04 a.m. News of the World shut down because they were “ashamed”
Rupert Murdoch says they shut down the tabloid at the heart of the scandal because they were ashamed of the revelations. When asked why they risked the jobs of 200 people (by closing News of World) before implicating the executives involved, Rupert Murdoch replied, “We've made every effort to find jobs for those people...We had broken our trust with our readers.”
10:01 a.m. Questions turn to Glenn Mulcaire
Glenn Mulcaire was the private investigator hired by News of World to undertake the hackings. Rupert Murdoch said that no one was fired after the hackings came to light as it was a police matter.
9:56 a.m. Rupert did not know about settlements to hacking suits
Rupert did not know about the the settlements to pay for the hacking civil suits. The payments were authorized by James. James said, “My father became aware [of settlements] in 2009 after the settlements became public.”
Watson asked, “At what point did you find out that criminality was endemic at News of World?” Rupert Murdoch replies, “Criminality is a very wide-ranging word... I was absolutely shocked, appalled and ashamed when I heard about the Milly Dowler case.”
Watson asks if there was collective amnesia that made his employees forget to bring these matters to his attention. Rupert Murdoch simply replies: No.
9:55 a.m. James Murdoch steps in
Rupert seems very foggy about the events being discussed. James steps in to take a question directed to his father.
9:50 a.m. Intense exchange between Tom Watson and Rupert Murdoch
Tom Watson: In 2006, when Goodman was convicted of voicemail hacking, were you aware of that?
Rupert: Yes...We worked with police on further investigation and very quickly appointed a very leading team of lawyers to investigate further.
Watson: None of your UK staff made you aware of the [arrest for blackmail]?
Rupert: The blackmail charge, no.... "
Watson: Mr Murdoch, a judge found a reporter guilty of blackmail..."
Rupert: Why didn't he put him in jail?
Watson: "Because it was a civil case..."
9:49 a.m. Rupert Murdoch takes questions
Rupert Murdoch starts off, “If I may say something. This is not an excuse, it may be an explanation. News International is 1 percent of my company. We employ 53,000 people around the world.” He goes on to say that he did not know who lied to him about the extent of the hackings.
9:46 a.m. No evidence of Brooks’s knowledge
James said that though News Corp. accepted the resignations of Brooks and Hinton, “There is no evidence that I have seen of any impropriety by them.”
9:44 a.m. Civil lawsuits produced new evidence
James said that the company relied on the police who said there was no need to open an investigation in 2008. However, civil trials in 2010, the lawsuits over hacking, produced new evidence. “This is a matter of deep frustration...and regret. Is a matter of deep regret that the facts could not be gotten to faster."
9:42 a.m.: Front-row guests
Sitting behind the Murdochs in the front row are Joel Klein, News Corp.'s advisor, and Wendi Deng, Rupert's third wife.
9:40 a.m.: Sienna Miller was first hacking victim to come to their attention
James said that after Sienna Miller hackings came to light, “We went to police...We have apologized unreservedly...We acted as swiftly and transparently as possible.”
9:39 a.m. James Murdoch apologizes
James starts off apologizing for the phone hacking, “[It's] a matter of great regret. These actions do not live up to our standards around the world.” Rupert interrupts his son: “This is the most humble day of my life.”
9:35 a.m. The Murdochs arrive
James Murdoch asks to make an opening statement, but he is denied. He'll submit it in writing. John Whittingdales, the chairman of the committee (Culture, Media and Sport) makes opening statement: “It's...clear Parliament has been misled.”
9:30 a.m. Let the live blogging commence
Greetings, all, and welcome to our live blog of the Parliament committee's questioning of the Murdochs, Rupert and James, and later Rebekah Brooks, the former head of News Corp's British newspaper division. I'm in Washington; they're in London. We should be getting started here in moments. Stand by...
Key relationships in the phone hacking scandal
David Cameron on shaky ground
Sean Hoare, News of the World whistleblower, found dead
Erik Wemple’s take on Murdoch
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Prosecutors seek prison terms for accused in gold coin heist
FILE — In this Dec. 8, 2010 photo a 100-kilogram (221-pound) Canadian gold coin is displayed at the Bode Museum in Berlin, Germany. German prosecutors are seeking lengthy prison terms for four men accused of staging the brazen theft of a Canadian gold coin that disappeared from a Berlin museum almost three years ago. The ‘Big Maple Leaf’ coin, worth several million dollars, was stolen from the Bode Museum in March 2017. (Marcel Mettelsiefen/dpa via AP, file)
BERLIN (AP) —German prosecutorsare seeking lengthy prison terms for four men accused of staging the brazen theft of a 100-kilogram (221-pound) Canadian gold coin that disappeared from a Berlin museum almost three years ago.
The dpa news agency reported Monday that prosecutors have asked Berlin’s region court to sentence two of the men to seven years in prison and the two others to six and five years each.
A verdict is expected next month.
Prosecutors claim the men, aged 21 to 25, stole the “Big Maple Leaf” coin worth about 3.75 million euros ($4.33 million) from Berlin’s Bode Museum in March 2017.
German media have reported that three of the accused, 24-year-old Wayci Remmo, 20-year-old Ahmed Remmo and 22-year-old Wissam Remmo, have links to organized crime.
The fourth suspect, identified only as 20-year-old Dennis W., worked as a security guard at the museum, which is located in the heart of the German capital.
The defendants have remained silent throughout the trial. Their lawyers have denied the accusations against their clients.
The coin has not been recovered.
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New Directions helps influx of newly homeless during COVID-19
by: Tori Gessner
MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – New Directions of Horry County is helping people who would otherwise be homeless buy bus tickets to live with their families during the coronavirus outbreak.
The shelter has had an influx of people calling asking for help since the city of Myrtle Beach ordered hotels to stop booking new reservations because of the coronavirus.
“Since the hotels closed, we have had several calls, not so much people looking for shelter, but people asking the questions, ‘What do we do now? Where do we go now,'” Kathy Jenkins, Executive Director of New Directions said.
Over the past two weeks, New Directions has helped around 20 people travel home by bus or plane. The organization’s bus ticket program is typically reserved for clients of New Directions, however, Jenkins says they’ve made exceptions as the need has grown.
“We have expanded it, because we do recognize that there is a lot of different need in the community right now. We’re trying to do everything we can to help people who are in need,” Jenkins said.
In addition, New Directions is making changes to keep current clients safe during the pandemic, like practicing social distancing in the shelters and reserving space in the case of a potential quarantine.
Jenkins says more people could become homeless as a result of the coronavirus impacts, so the shelter is working to prepare for that possibility.
“We help (our clients) get jobs, we help them overcome the barriers that cause them to be homeless in the first place, so even that is a little bit at a standstill, so we’re potentially looking at longer stays for the people who are already with us, and I think we’re looking at a potential increased need once this is all over,” Jenkins said.
The organization is currently working to expand its men’s shelter, which will cost $500,000, but Jenkins says it needs to find the money before construction can begin.
To make a donation to New Directions, or to learn more, click here.
More Grand Strand Stories
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) -- Three people were arrested in a Myrtle Beach shooting that left one person injured Tuesday morning, according to Master Cpl. Tom Vest with Myrtle Beach police.
Harold Taylor, 21, of Myrtle Beach, Anthony Taylor, 20, of Carolina Forest, and Josiah Noel Dinkins, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, were all arrested, according to police.
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Democratic Party again ups requirements to qualify for next debate
Requirements pertain to unique donor total, threshold in 20 states
COMMITMENT 2020 NEWS NOW. THE DEMOCRATS HAVE RELEASED THE CRITERIA FOR THE NEXT DEBATE WHICH WILL TAKE PLACE IN IOWA TO QUALIFY CANDIDATES MUST RECEIVE 5% IN AT LEAST FOUR DIFFERENT POLLS IN THE EARLY VOTING STATES OR 7% IN TWO SINGLE STATE POLLS. CANDIDATES MUST’VE ALSO RECEIVED 225,000 TOTAL DONATIONS FROM AT LEAST 1,000 DONORS IN 20 STATES. THE IOWA DEBATE WILL TAKE PLACE
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Democratic National Committee is again upping its polling and fundraising requirements for presidential hopefuls to qualify for participating in the campaign's seventh debate in January 2020, the first in a series of four held in the earliest-voting states.On Friday, party officials announced that candidates will need to meet one of two polling requirements to make the stage at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa: either receiving 5% in at least four national or early-state surveys approved by the party, or receiving 7% in two early-state polls.In terms of fundraising, candidates must receive donations from at least 225,000 unique donors, with a minimum of 1,000 unique donors per state in at least 20 states. That's up from 200,000 unique overall donors, and 800 in 20 states for the December debate in Los Angeles. The steadily stiffening requirements from debate to debate have been heavily scrutinized by candidates and party activists, as DNC Chairman Tom Perez has juggled the tasks of keeping a historically large field from being too unwieldy for voters while keeping his promise that everyone running would have a fair shot to make a case on the national stage.Perez has defended the moves, saying that campaigns have had plenty of notice and that candidates who couldn't meet the qualifications weren't building the support necessary to defeat President Donald Trump next year. Party leaders have championed the transparency of their process, saying campaigns had no objections when they were told nearly a year ago about the stair-stepping qualifications.Ahead of Thursday night's debate, nine candidates wrote to party leaders urging them to consider changing qualifications for subsequent debates, arguing that the thresholds had made the competing field less diverse. The field of seven candidates — former Vice President Joe Biden, Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, as well as South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, businessman Andrew Yang and billionaire Tom Steyer — was the smallest and least diverse of the 2020 cycle, which at times has sprawled onto two stages on back-to-back nights. The confab was without New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who failed to qualify but has expressed confidence he will return to the stage for a subsequent debate. California Sen. Kamala Harris, on stage at all previous debates, ended her campaign earlier this month.The qualification deadline for polls, donations and fundraising is Jan. 10. CNN and The Des Moines Register are co-hosting the debate at Drake University on Jan. 14, about three weeks before Democrats make their first primary preferences known in the state’s caucuses. The next debate is scheduled for Feb. 7 in Manchester, New Hampshire. Democrats will debate in Las Vegas on Feb. 19, and they’ll meet for a debate in Charleston, South Carolina, on Feb. 25.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Democratic National Committee is again upping its polling and fundraising requirements for presidential hopefuls to qualify for participating in the campaign's seventh debate in January 2020, the first in a series of four held in the earliest-voting states.
On Friday, party officials announced that candidates will need to meet one of two polling requirements to make the stage at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa: either receiving 5% in at least four national or early-state surveys approved by the party, or receiving 7% in two early-state polls.
In terms of fundraising, candidates must receive donations from at least 225,000 unique donors, with a minimum of 1,000 unique donors per state in at least 20 states. That's up from 200,000 unique overall donors, and 800 in 20 states for the December debate in Los Angeles.
The steadily stiffening requirements from debate to debate have been heavily scrutinized by candidates and party activists, as DNC Chairman Tom Perez has juggled the tasks of keeping a historically large field from being too unwieldy for voters while keeping his promise that everyone running would have a fair shot to make a case on the national stage.
Democratic candidates use debate stage to voice presidential platforms
Perez has defended the moves, saying that campaigns have had plenty of notice and that candidates who couldn't meet the qualifications weren't building the support necessary to defeat President Donald Trump next year. Party leaders have championed the transparency of their process, saying campaigns had no objections when they were told nearly a year ago about the stair-stepping qualifications.
Ahead of Thursday night's debate, nine candidates wrote to party leaders urging them to consider changing qualifications for subsequent debates, arguing that the thresholds had made the competing field less diverse.
The field of seven candidates — former Vice President Joe Biden, Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, as well as South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, businessman Andrew Yang and billionaire Tom Steyer — was the smallest and least diverse of the 2020 cycle, which at times has sprawled onto two stages on back-to-back nights.
The confab was without New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who failed to qualify but has expressed confidence he will return to the stage for a subsequent debate. California Sen. Kamala Harris, on stage at all previous debates, ended her campaign earlier this month.
The qualification deadline for polls, donations and fundraising is Jan. 10.
CNN and The Des Moines Register are co-hosting the debate at Drake University on Jan. 14, about three weeks before Democrats make their first primary preferences known in the state’s caucuses. The next debate is scheduled for Feb. 7 in Manchester, New Hampshire. Democrats will debate in Las Vegas on Feb. 19, and they’ll meet for a debate in Charleston, South Carolina, on Feb. 25.
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Now Reading: Dateline Texas
Dateline Texas
Belle Zars Apr 27, 2001, 12:00 am CST
In San Antonio, as in cities around the country, every immigration lawyer has been booked solid for four months. Ever since President Bill Clinton authorized a temporary reinstatement of a provision known as 245(i) last December, lines have wound around the walls of the INS office. Nonprofit agencies like St. Mary’s Law Clinic and Refugee Aid have been swamped with calls and visits. For a while, people were camping out overnight in front of Catholic Charities in order to be seen by an immigration lawyer or counselor the next morning. “Every morning we had 100 people lined up,” Director Teresa Coles-Davila recalls. “Finally we had to stop seeing new people because we realized that we might not be able to process all the applications before the April 30th deadline.”
Section 245(i), a provision in immigration law from 1994 to 1998, went back into effect December 21. It allows illegal immigrants to seek legal status while remaining in the United States, provided they have a qualifying legal family member, can prove that they were here on that date, and are able to pay a $1,000 fine. The INS estimates that 200,000 to 300,000 illegal immigrants in Texas and 700,000 illegal immigrants in the United States, most of whom are from Mexico, could benefit from the provision.
Mario Mart?nez, for instance, went with his brother Jos? to see Catholic Charities immigration specialist Anita McDonald last month. According to McDonald, Mario, a Mexican citizen, has been here working in construction sin papeles, or without documentation, for 10 years. While he has never had any trouble finding work, he and his family are always in a kind of hiding. Because Jos? became a United States citizen two years ago, he can petition for Mario’s permanent residency.
Before 245(i) was reinstated, family members of legal immigrants who wanted to join their relatives were supposed to wait in their home country to obtain a visa that converts to permanent residency. If they had entered the United States illegally, they had to sneak back and try to prove they had never left, and risked being barred from this country for three to 10 years. When a visa became available, they would have to go to their consulate with the proper papers, and then wait nine to 10 more months for the visa to be processed before being admitted into this country legally. In the case of Mexican nationals, this meant biding their time in Ciudad Ju?rez while waiting for the visa to be processed. (These requirements will resume in May, when the reinstatement ends.)
Under 245(i), though, if Mario can show that the family was here on December 21, they can remain in this country during the 10 to 12 years it takes for a sibling to get permanent residency. (Even with the application pending they are still illegal and, if detected, can be deported).
Not all illegal immigrants are in Mario’s position. “I would estimate that two-thirds of the people we talked to either didn’t have a qualifying relative or had already filed some sort of application, and this wouldn’t help them,” says Lee Teran, director of the immigration clinic at St. Mary’s Law School. Others have been advised not to try to take advantage of 245(i) because of previous misrepresentations made to the INS. Parents of a married son, for example, might have lied in the past and said he was single to help him gain legal admittance to this country. Now legal, he could apply under 245(i) on behalf of his wife, but by submitting proof of his marriage, his own past lie might be detected, and he would be stripped of his residency.
But trying to apply for legal status the old way has its perils as well. Immediately after securing permanent residency for himself in 1993, Manuel Rodriguez petitioned on behalf of his wife and four children. They have been waiting in Mexico since 1993. Last month they finally received word that visas were available, but Rodriguez is missing one document, called an affidavit of support, which would prove that he has enough income, as shown on his IRS 1040, to support his family. The threshold for a family of six is $29,613. He made $9,000 last year. Had his wife joined him illegally and gotten a job, she probably could now have sought legal status under 245(i). As it is, he is searching for someone to submit a second affidavit of support, and the family again has its plans on hold.
American immigration laws are exceedingly tough on families, says Teran: “Whenever we talk to a family about their problems immigration is at the top of the list.” People are stuck in bad jobs, students can’t go on to college, spouses and children are left behind in another country, unable to create a household together. No one wants to move, because moving might set in motion detection. Undocumented immigrant family members become “a hidden part of the family that keeps the family from progressing,” Teran says.
Rather than wait up to 12 years to reunite with their families, as United States law requires, thousands of Mexican immigrants have done so illegally. The 245(i) reinstatement suggested, however briefly, that this is something other than a crime.
Belle Zars is a freelance writer who lives in San Antonio.
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A&M System Chancellor John Sharp poised to receive a contract extension
Texas A&M University System regents are expected to consider a contract extension for Chancellor John Sharp next week. A majority of the board says it supports the idea.
by Matthew Watkins April 21, 2017 12 PM
Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman
Editor's note: This story has been updated throughout.
Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp's tenure in Aggieland is poised to last into the next decade.
At its meeting next week, the A&M System Board of Regents is expected to consider extending the powerful, hard-charging chancellor's contract into 2023. He wouldn't receive a pay raise, according to a briefing on the meeting obtained by The Texas Tribune, but it would add three years to his current deal.
The extension appears to be almost certain. The Tribune communicated with seven regents about the proposed extension on Friday. Five — a majority of the nine-member board — indicated that they support striking such a deal. At least two regents are opposed to the idea, however, setting up a potentially tense meeting next week.
The proposed board action was submitted by board Chairman Cliff Thomas. He said in a brief that "Chancellor Sharp has provided excellent service to our System, and I recommend an extension of the employment agreement in recognition of that service, and to incent his continued service."
In response to e-mailed questions from the Tribune, regent Tony Buzbee said he was troubled that Sharp's deal would be extended so early in his current contract. Right now, Sharp's terms run until August 2020. That deal was signed less than two years ago, when his base pay climbed from $507,000 to $900,000.
Sharp's total compensation for this fiscal year is expected to be $1.3 million, according to a report filed with the Legislative Budget Board.
"You never extend an employment contract when you are not even halfway into the contract, absent some compelling reason," Buzbee said. "This isn't good government. No one has provided any justification for this extension, despite my requests."
Buzbee stressed that he is "casting no aspersions at the chancellor or his performance."
"Honestly: I think we build too many buildings and raise tuition too often," he said. "But I don't lay that at the feet of John Sharp. He doesn't have a vote [on the board]."
Buzbee also questioned the timing of the potential extension. The A&M System is awaiting Senate confirmation of one new regent, Midland oilman Tim Leach, who was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott in January. And many lawmakers have expressed frustration with state universities in recent months for raising tuition and aggressively pursuing expansion. Multiple bills aimed at reining in higher education are making their way through the Legislature, including a proposal to freeze tuition that has already passed the Senate.
"I would expect that in light of the tuition freeze and reducing funding, this extension would raise some eyebrows in Austin," Buzbee said.
Regent Robert Albritton said he agrees with Buzbee that "there is absolutely no justification" for an extension at this time. The purpose of the board is to do what is best for the state, "not to enhance the comfort of our administrators," he added.
Several other regents were more supportive of the idea. Regent Charles Schwartz said Sharp has "a clear majority of support on the board."
"I think John Sharp is doing an excellent job for the system," he said. "I think some of the most innovative things in higher education are coming out of the Texas A&M University System."
Schwartz also said he had no problem with the timing. If the board waited until after the current legislative session was over, it would risk being accused of not being transparent. That could cause the board to lose credibility with lawmakers. The legislative session ends on May 29.
"I want the 181 members of the Legislature, the lieutenant governor and the governor to know that we are doing this while they are in session," he said.
Thomas, the board chairman, also said he believed the timing is right.
"The Texas A&M System is on an upward trajectory that we have never seen before in the System’s history," he said in an emailed statement. "We want to maintain the momentum that Chancellor Sharp’s leadership has provided."
Board Vice Chairwoman Elaine Mendoza said Sharp "has shown he can take bold, difficult steps and make tough decisions."
"That's the kind of stability, knowledge and leadership we need for these trying times," she said. "Stable leadership will give our system employees the confidence to address difficult issues. I was looking forward to discussing this item at the board meeting with my colleagues."
Regent Judy Morgan called the A&M System "the system to beat in Texas."
"It wasn't that way before Chancellor Sharp," she said.
And Regent Phil Adams called Sharp an "outstanding" chancellor.
"I wish we could lock him in longer," he said.
Meanwhile, Regent Bill Mahomes was noncommittal.
"I feel like the board should discuss these issues together at the meeting before we debate it in the newspaper," he said. "I just feel it is inappropriate to debate it in the media before the meeting."
At least in some ways, however, Sharp has avoided some of the pressure that other universities leaders have faced in Austin this year. Some lawmakers have praised the A&M System's low overhead costs and pursuit of expanded enrollment.
Sharp has at times been a divisive figure on the system's flagship College Station campus. But there's no question that he has made a huge mark on the system. Under his watch, A&M joined the Southeastern Conference for athletics, completed a major renovation of its football stadium, began working to double enrollment in its engineering school and announced plans to open a satellite teaching campus in McAllen.
Sharp has also aggressively sought to reduce auxiliary costs by outsourcing many janitorial, dining and housing services.
It's unclear whether waiting for Leach's confirmation would affect Sharp's standing on the nine-member board. In a Senate Nominations Committee hearing Thursday on Leach's appointment, Leach had positive things to say about the status of the system.
He noted that system overhead is "astoundingly low" and didn't raise any problems with Sharp's pay. He compared executive pay at A&M to how he handles it at his business.
"The good performers I have, I can't pay them enough money because they are so valuable to me," Leach said. "The real thing is to evaluate the ones that are not good performers and make sure they don't work for me any longer."
Thomas, the board chairman, was also at the meeting seeking confirmation for his reappointment to the board. He agreed.
"The market usually tells us what we have to pay these people," he said. "We understand that we are good stewards of the state of Texas and we have to work hard to get the value for everyone.
"But the marketplace sets the value for our chancellors."
Lawmakers want to rein in Texas universities — four years after gutting their oversight board.
Pay is climbing fast for most Texas university leaders.
Disclosure: The Texas A&M University System and Tony Buzbee have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.
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New York’s fair landscape is in flux as Armory Week kicks off
Armory Show shifts venues, causing the cancellation of Volta and the emergency launch of Plan B, revealing the stakes for commercial art platforms are rising
Margaret Carrigan
4th March 2019 22:45 GMT
Galleries are the future of the art industry, according to Elizabeth Dee, co-founder of Independent Art Fair, which celebrates ten years of its New York edition this year. Independent Art Fair
Tremors have rippled through New York’s spring art fair landscape more than once, due in no small part to the city’s mutable real estate market. Yet the lead up to this year’s Armory Week (4-10 March) has proven seismic with the relocation of one fair, the cancellation of another and the creation of a whole new event in its place. These shake ups, however, have left some questioning whether New York offers the best terrain for an art fair at all.
Just days before its 25th edition was set to open at Piers 92 and 94 on Manhattan’s West Side, the esteemed Armory Show found itself abruptly displaced from part of its venue when Pier 92 was deemed structurally unsafe for visitors. The cancellation of Volta, its neighbouring sister fair in Pier 90, in order to house a third of the Armory’s displaced exhibitors proved a violent aftershock.
The fairs’ organisers were quick to triage the damage. “The past week has been challenging but with the support of our whole team, our galleries, sponsors and other partners, we were able to quickly identify a solution and were able to move all our affected exhibitors with as little disruption as possible”, the director of the Armory Show, Nicole Berry, says. “We owe it to our exhibitors and visitors to produce the brilliant fair we have been working all year to create, and will continue to remain committed to excellence.”
Disruption, however, was hard to avoid. Though technically reimbursed for booth fees, a tidal wave of losses still ensued after the shakeup for Volta’s 78 participants, many of who were unable to adjust flights or cancel shipments of works of art already en route. Some contacted Vornado, the real estate trust that owns both Armory and Volta, demanding an alternative exhibition space.
Emergency aid arrived at the end of last week via mega-dealer David Zwirner and collector Peter Hort, who swept in like a FEMA crew with their brand new pop-up art fair for the displaced dealers, Plan B. Featuring around 30 galleries and hosted in Zwirner’s Chelsea gallery and another space nearby lent by an anonymous benefactor, the event is free to the public from 6-10 March and is funded in part by Volta.
“We are supporting this initiative because we believe in facilitating the production of the lemonade out of these lemons,” Amanda Coulson, the director of Volta, said in a statement announcing the pop-up, adding that she did not want this to be a “sob story but a story of a community coming together”.
The Armory Show had to move one third of its exhibitors to Pier 90 after its Pier 92 was deemed unsafe; exhibitors in Pier 94 will not be affected, though 78 Volta exhibitors were left without a place to go when the fair was cancelled. Courtesy of the Armory Show.
It is a heartening tale of group resilience in the face of seeming chaos, to be sure. Yet it is worth remembering that Volta is not the only cancelled fair in New York this March—and that points to a larger fault line, one that is causing many to question the feasibility of the continued fair terrain in New York.
The New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) announced last fall that it would discontinue its New York edition, which ran concurrent to Armory Week, after six years (its Miami edition, however, continues). Considered a valuable stepping stone to larger fairs like the Armory Show and Frieze New York for younger galleries, its venue in West Soho was swept out from under its feet after just one year there due to an unexpectedly rapid redevelopment of the building.
“The real estate situation here is absolutely insane. If this city wants to maintain culture, they need to address this problem soon,” says Heather Hubbs, NADA’s executive director, adding that the team had spent ten months searching in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens to source a viable yet affordable building.
Emanuel Aguilar, co-founder of the Chicago-based gallery Patron and who has participated in NADA's fairs previously, says the overhead of fairs—especially ones in astronomically expensive cities like New York—has proven a financial hurdle in years past. “I don't know if New York is the place for an art fair—why would you even pay that [kind of money] to go to one when the galleries are free and just down the street. We were about to apply to a New York fair this year and we just did not feel excited about it,” he says. Instead, Aguilar “crunched some numbers” and found that it cost a third of the price of exhibiting at a fair in the city then just renting a small space and putting on his own short-term show during Armory Week. The gallery will independently show works by Greg Breda and Myra Greene from 7-10 March in a storefront at 213 Bowery on the city’s Lower East Side.
“Honestly, I think New York is shooting itself in the foot by not putting its energy into its greatest art resource: its galleries,” he says, adding that seeing the city’s galleries is one of the few appeals of attending or showing with a fair in New York.
Aguilar is not alone in thinking that scaling back on fairs is a good idea—even fair directors are advocating for the brick-and-mortar galleries. Rather than sink more time and resources into finding a new space for a New York fair, NADA is introducing its Gallery Open (4-10 March), a new initiative designed to bring attention back to the city’s galleries and non-profit art spaces, what Hubbs refers to as “year-round incubators of culture”. The organisation launched a similar endeavour, a Lower East Side gallery walk, last year during Armory Week. “This city is unique because you can actually walk around and hit a lot of galleries at once,” Hubbs says.
Greg Breda, I Find It Hard to Say (2019) is on view at Patron's temporary space in New York. Patron
Independent Art Fair (8-10 March), now in its tenth year, is also introducing a Tribeca gallery walk as more galleries move to the neighbourhood, where the fair has been located since 2016. “We felt that the fair should be growing, not in terms of scale, but by building our community and roots,” says Elizabeth Dee, the fair's co-founder who also runs a gallery in Harlem. She adds that fairs are still important—“they are where collectors feel most comfortable buying art today, we have to acknowledge that”—but that they “do not reflect the entirety of the market and I truly believe the future of the cultural landscape is the galleries.”
Of course, the mountainous climb of New York real estate prices and its effects have been well-chronicled with regard to galleries, a litany of which, both emerging and established, have shuttered in the past few years, leaving behind an increasingly stratified scene. The market has hardly grown more accessible for small to mid-size dealers, either. Yet the events unfolding in New York suggest fairs—the power platform for contemporary art since the new millennium—may be vulnerable to the same forces, too.
Weeks prior to the announcement of Volta’s cancellation, The Art Newspaper interviewed Coulson about the biggest issues facing fairs wanting to maintain a footprint in New York. “There is an extremely difficult real estate situation in the city,” she said, "where finding a suitable location with appropriate lead time… is increasingly challenging”. She added that this "massive crunch" is "a shame" for the diversity of New York's fair scene. Her words seem eerily prescient now as around half of Volta’s exhibitors set up shop inside one blue-chip gallery.
With the fair landscape shakeup this Armory Week, are the reverberations of this increasingly hostile real estate environment registering on a larger scale?
More NewsTopicsNew Art Dealers Alliance (Nada)The Armory ShowVoltaPlan B Art FairIndependent Art FairThe Armory Show 2019
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Debt Rattle April 17 2020
April 17, 2020 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:51 am Finance Tagged with: Biden, China, coronavirus, Covid19, Fed, Greece, health coverage, jobless claims, Obama, pandemic, plague, QE4, Roger Stone, Wuhan 39 Responses »
Dorothea Lange American River camp, Sacramento, CA. Destitute family. 5 children, aged 2 to 17 years 1936
• China Didn’t Warn Public Of Likely Pandemic For 6 Key Days (AP)
• US Alerted Israel, NATO To Disease Outbreak In China In November (ToI )
• Wuhan Death Toll Up By 50% As 1,290 ‘Delayed & Omitted’ Fatalities Added (RT)
• Men Are Much More Likely To Die From Coronavirus. Why? (G.)
• France Summons Chinese Envoy Over Criticism Of COVID19 response (RT)
• Chinese Economy Shrank For The First Time Since 1976 In Q1 (SCMP)
• Biophysical Economics and the Coronavirus Pandemic (Fix)
• 22 Million New Jobless Claims, 9.2 Million Lost Health Care In Past Month (NBC)
• 43,000 US Millionaires Will Get ‘Stimulus’ Averaging $1.6 Million Each (NYP)
• Fed Just Jawboning, Massively Tapered QE-4, Hasn’t Bought Any Junk Bonds (WS)
• Cut Military Spending To Fund Human Security – Gorbachev (RT)
• Chinese Airlines Poised For Post-Coronavirus ‘Revenge Travelling’ (SCMP)
• Greece to Celebrate Easter Under Coronavirus Lockdown (GR)
• Russiagate Godfather Obama Promotes NYTimes’ “Putin + Covid-19” (RT)
• Roger Stone Denied Bid For New Trial (G.)
• Surviving Plague in an Early Modern City (Henderson)
Well, I now know Taleb read my essay. And he likes it. Shame he linked to Yves’ repost, not the original at the Automatic Earth.
HITS THE SPOT:
"What is happening right now is not because all the epidemiologists & virologists around the world are wrong, but because they’re asked to make decisons and construct models about something they don’t know nearly enough about."https://t.co/3ZYBlKefbe
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb (@nntaleb) April 17, 2020
Thanks @yvessmith https://t.co/3ZYBlKefbe
• US new cases 29,567
• US new deaths 2,174
• Revised COVID-19 death toll for New York City: 10,367
• Total US military death toll for Iraq War: 4,424.
Note: both cases and deaths jump by a lot today. It’s not just the Wuhan deaths number revised up by 1,290.
• Cases 2,193,558 (+ 98,674 from yesterday’s 2,094,884)
• Deaths 147,378 (+ 11,809 from yesterday’s 135,569)
From Worldometer yesterday evening -before their day’s close- (Note: Brazil and Russia keep climbing fast)
From Worldometer – NOTE: mortality rate for closed cases remains at 21% –
From SCMP:
From COVID19Info.live: (Belgium in first place worldwide of deaths per million at 445, 14.3% CFR, before Spain, Italy, France and UK.)
Jan. 14 to Jan. 20 was already late in the game.
In the six days after top Chinese officials secretly determined they likely were facing a pandemic from a new coronavirus, the city of Wuhan at the epicenter of the disease hosted a mass banquet for tens of thousands of people; millions began traveling through for Lunar New Year celebrations. President Xi Jinping warned the public on the seventh day, Jan. 20. But by that time, more than 3,000 people had been infected during almost a week of public silence, according to internal documents obtained by AP and expert estimates based on retrospective infection data. Six days. That delay from Jan. 14 to Jan. 20 was neither the first mistake made by Chinese officials at all levels in confronting the outbreak, nor the longest lag, as governments around the world have dragged their feet for weeks and even months in addressing the virus.
But the delay by the first country to face the new coronavirus came at a critical time — the beginning of the outbreak. China’s attempt to walk a line between alerting the public and avoiding panic set the stage for a pandemic that has infected more than 2 million people and taken more than 133,000 lives. “This is tremendous,” said Zuo-Feng Zhang, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “If they took action six days earlier, there would have been much fewer patients and medical facilities would have been sufficient. We might have avoided the collapse of Wuhan’s medical system.” Other experts noted that the Chinese government may have waited on warning the public to stave off hysteria, and that it did act quickly in private during that time.
But the six-day delay by China’s leaders in Beijing came on top of almost two weeks during which the national Center for Disease Control did not register any cases from local officials, internal bulletins obtained by the AP confirm. Yet during that time, from Jan. 5 to Jan. 17, hundreds of patients were appearing in hospitals not just in Wuhan but across the country. [..] The punishment of eight doctors for “rumor-mongering,” broadcast on national television on Jan. 2, sent a chill through the city’s hospitals. “Doctors in Wuhan were afraid,” said Dali Yang, a professor of Chinese politics at the University of Chicago. “It was truly intimidation of an entire profession.”
May not be coronavirus, though. In November, Beijing hospitals reported three instances of pneumonic plague (transmitted by fleas, not a virus) in people coming from Inner Mongolia:
US intelligence agencies alerted Israel to the coronavirus outbreak in China already in November, Israeli television reported Thursday. According to Channel 12 news, the US intelligence community became aware of the emerging disease in Wuhan in the second week of that month and drew up a classified document. Information on the disease outbreak was not in the public domain at that stage — and was known only apparently to the Chinese government. US intelligence informed the Trump administration, “which did not deem it of interest,” but the report said the Americans also decided to update two allies with the classified document: NATO and Israel, specifically the IDF.
The network said Israeli military officials later in November discussed the possibility of the spread of the virus to the region and how it would affect Israel and neighboring countries. The intelligence also reached Israel’s decision makers and the Health Ministry, where “nothing was done,” according to the report. Last week, ABC News reported that US intelligence officials were warning about the coronavirus in a report prepared in December by the American military’s National Center for Medical Intelligence. It was unclear if that was the same report that was said to have been shared with Israel. In its first major step to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Israel announced on January 30 it was barring all flights from China, ten days after Chinese leader Xi Jinping issued his first public comments on the virus and the Asian country’s top epidemiologist said for the first time it could be spread from person to person.
An Associated Press report on Wednesday said Xi’s warning came seven days after Chinese officials secretly determined that they were likely facing a pandemic, potentially costing China and other countries valuable time to prepare for the outbreak. Doctors in Wuhan, the city at the center of the outbreak in China, are reported to have first tried to have warn about the virus in December, but were censored.
Many countries should follow suit. Hidden deaths are everywhere, and the incentive to report them is mostly lacking.
Holland just reported the 2nd week in a row with 2,000 more deaths than usual, but their testing is still terribly deficient.
The Chinese city of Wuhan – ground zero for the coronavirus pandemic – has revised its fatality count, increasing the total by just shy of 1,300 deaths, which officials say went unreported due to “delays” and “omissions.” Authorities in Wuhan added another 1,290 deaths to the city’s death toll on Friday, putting the overall figures at 50,333 infections and 3,869 fatalities in the virus’ first epicenter. The revision was necessary to “address incorrect reporting, delays and omissions of cases,” city officials said, with the new numbers increasing Wuhan’s death tally by some 50%. “In the early stage of the epidemic, due to insufficient capacity for admission and treatment, a small number of medical institutions failed to connect with the disease prevention and control information system in a timely manner,” Wuhan health officials said, adding that a “statistical investigation” had been conducted to correct the figures.
More things we don’t know.
Early on, smoking was suggested as a likely explanation. In China, nearly 50% of men but only about 2% of women smoke, and so underlying differences in lung health were assumed to contribute to men suffering worse symptoms and outcomes. The smoking hypothesis was backed by a paper, published last month, that found smokers made up about 12% of those with less severe symptoms, but 26% of those who ended up in intensive care or died. Smoking might also act as an avenue for getting infected in the first place: smokers touch their lips more and may share contaminated cigarettes. Behavioural factors that differ across genders may also have a role. Some studies have shown that men are less likely to wash their hands, less likely to use soap, less likely to seek medical care and more likely to ignore public health advice.
These are sweeping generalisations, but across a population could place men at greater risk. However, there is a growing belief among experts that more fundamental biological factors are also at play. While there are higher proportions of male smokers in many countries – in the UK, 16.5% of men smoke compared with 13% of women – the differences are nowhere near as extreme as in China. But men continue to be overrepresented in Covid-19 statistics. “The growing observation of increased mortality in men is holding true across China, Italy, Spain. We’re seeing this across very diverse countries and cultures,” said Sabra Klein, a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “When I see that, it makes me think that there must be something universal that’s contributing to this. I don’t think smoking is the leading factor.”
Previous research, including by Klein, has revealed that men have lower innate antiviral immune responses to a range of infections including hepatitis C and HIV. Studies in mice suggest this may also be true for coronaviruses, though Covid-19 specifically has not been studied. “Their immune system may not initiate an appropriate response when it initially sees the virus,” Klein said. Hormones can also play a role – oestrogen has been shown to increase antiviral responses of immune cells. And many genes that regulate the immune system are encoded on the X chromosome (of which men have one, and women have two) and so it is possible that some genes involved in the immune response are more active in women than in men.
The embassy talked about France leaving elderly patients “to die of hunger and disease.”
Paris has summoned its Chinese envoy after the embassy published a blistering critique of the West’s response to the Covid-19 crisis, accusing leaders of failing to act and abandoning vulnerable citizens to death and starvation. “Certain publicly voiced opinions by representatives of the Chinese Embassy in France are not in line with the quality of the bilateral relations between our two countries,” Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement late on Tuesday, calling on Ambassador Lu Shaye to answer for an article published on the Chinese Embassy website over the weekend.
Entitled ‘Restoring distorted facts,’ the lengthy post – which listed no author – tore into the US and European governments for their handling of the pandemic, while defending Beijing from accusations of concealing information and of a sluggish response. “In the West, we have seen politicians tearing themselves apart to recover votes; advocate herd immunity, thus abandoning their citizens alone in the face of the viral massacre.” The article claimed that some nursing homes had been “deserted,” leaving elderly patients “to die of hunger and disease.”
The post also took aim at Western news outlets, “which take themselves for paragons of impartiality and objectivity,” yet appear to care more about “slandering, stigmatizing and attacking China” than covering the raging health crises in their own countries. “Do these media and these experts, so fond of objectivity and impartiality, have a conscience? Do they have ethics?” Responding to the blustery article, the French FM insisted “there is no room for polemics” amid the Covid-19 pandemic, stating he made his “disapproval” clear to Lu and that France and other nations must pursue “unity, solidarity and the greatest international cooperation.”
What a surprise.
China’s economy shrank by 6.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2020, the first contraction since the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, confirming the economic damage done by the coronavirus pandemic. Over the first three months of the year, the world’s second largest economy faced an extensive shutdown as it battled to contain the spread of the coronavirus, and has subsequently struggled to fully reopen. New data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday confirmed the slump, which was worse than predictions of minus 6.0 per cent from a survey of analysts’ forecasts by Bloomberg. NBS data also showed that over the single month of March the economy remained under huge pressure, with the industrial sectors, retail and fixed asset investment all shrinking again, following a dramatic collapse over the first two months of the year.
Industrial production, a gauge of manufacturing, mining and utilities, fell by 1.1 per cent last month, after a 13.5 per cent decline over January and February, when the data was combined. This was much better than expectations of a 6.2 per cent decline, according to the Bloomberg survey. Within that, however, manufacturing contracted by 10.2 per cent, suggesting that even as factories reopen, headwinds remain. Retail sales, a key measurement of consumption in the world s most populous nation, fell by 15.8 per cent, following a record 20.5 per cent collapse in the first two months, much worse than forecasts of a 10.0 per cent slump. Fixed asset investment, a gauge of expenditure over the year to date on items including infrastructure, property, machinery and equipment, fell by 16.1 per cent over the first three months, from an all-time low of minus 20.5 per cent in January-February. Analysts had forecast a 15.1 per cent slump.
Terrible headline, but interesting concept: ..how many jobs can society do without? The answer, it would appear, is an awful lot. David Graeber, pay attention.
[..] there are two constraints on our ability to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. The first constraint is money. This gets all the press right now — and rightly so. To slow the spread of the coronavirus, millions of people are staying home from work. Since we don’t want these people to starve, we need to somehow give them money. But where should this money come from? While this appears like a monetary constraint, it’s actually a social constraint. Money is a social fiction that we can create and destroy at will. So at the societal level, ‘not having enough money’ isn’t a real constraint. No, the real constraint is about who has the power to create and distribute money. We usually give most of this power to the private sector. (Banks create the majority of money when they issue credit.) We forget that the government can also create money. Fortunately, many governments of the world are rediscovering this power, and are paying their citizens to stay at home.
While this (apparent) monetary constraint is on the top of our minds, there are also biophysical constraints on how we can deal with the coronavirus pandemic. These biophysical constraints are little discussed, but they’re more fundamental than the lack of money. [..] Two hundred years ago, most people lived in rural areas. This made it easy to keep your distance from other people (if you had to). Now the vast majority of us live in cities, making it hard to stay away from other people. So urbanization has made it more difficult to fight pandemics.
Fortunately, another demographic change offsets the affects of urbanization. To slow the spread of the virus, many of us are being paid to sit at home and do nothing. Two hundred years ago this would have been impossible. Why? Because at the time, most people were farmers. If they didn’t go to work, the population would starve. So a sweeping ‘stay-at-home’ order would have been impossible. Now things are different. As Figure 1 shows, the US has undergone an astonishing
demographic inversion. The vast majority of people now work in the service sector. This means that many of us can simply not work. Sure, without a large service sector we can’t get our lattes or our manicures. But we won’t starve. So the coronavirus pandemic is forcing us to run a vast social experiment. The research question is this: in the short run, how many jobs can society do without? The answer, it would appear, is an awful lot.
Figure 1: The demographic inversion in the US. The sector composition of the US in 1800 (left) and in 2010 (right). [Source: Rethinking Economic Growth Theory from a Biophysical Perspective]
Millions losing health care in a pandemic….
The number of unemployed Americans continues to climb with another 5 million people filing jobless claims last week, bringing the total number of people applying for unemployment to 22 million in the last month. But an unsettling undercurrent of that number is the amount of people who are also losing access to health insurance because they lost their job. Approximately 9.2 million workers have likely lost their employer-provided health care coverage in the past four weeks, an analysis from the Economic Policy Institute concluded.
Two weeks ago, the nonprofit think tank concluded that nearly 3.5 million among the 8.7 million claims likely lost their employer coverage. An additional 11.4 million people have since applied for unemployment, with the biggest losses of insurance coming from the health care/social assistance, manufacturing and retail sectors. NBC News previously reported that states are bracing for an increase in the number of people who have applied for Medicaid, the public health care coverage option, since the coronavirus pandemic caused states to shutter businesses and caused workers to lose access to their insurance.
…vs the other side of America…
At least 43,000 American millionaires who are too rich to get coronavirus stimulus checks are getting a far bigger boost — averaging $1.6 million each, according to a congressional committee. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act trumpeted its assistance for working families and small businesses, but it apparently contains an even bigger benefit for wealthy business owners, the committee found. The act allows pass-through businesses — ones taxed under individual income, rather than corporate — an unlimited amount of deductions against their non-business income, such as capital gains, the Washington Post said. They can also use losses to avoid paying taxes in other years.
That gives the roughly 43,000 individual tax filers who make at least $1 million a year a savings of $70.3 billion — or about $1.6 million apiece, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. Hedge-fund investors and real estate business owners are “far and away” the ones who will benefit the most, tax expert Steve Rosenthal told the Washington Post. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) called it a “scandal” to “loot American taxpayers in the midst of an economic and human tragedy.” Sen. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) claimed that “someone wrongly seized on this health emergency to reward ultrarich beneficiaries.” “For those earning $1 million annually, a tax break buried in the recent coronavirus relief legislation is so generous that its total cost is more than total new funding for all hospitals in America and more than the total provided to all state and local governments,” he stressed in a statement.
And there are the dollar-denominated debts again…
Since the Fed announced its market bailouts and interventions on March 15, it has printed and handed to Wall Street $2.06 trillion. But here is the thing: This was front-loaded, and over the past two weeks, it has cut its bailouts in half, and it has stopped lending new funds to its SPVs that were expected to buy all manner of securities, including equities, junk bonds, and old bicycles. But those loan amounts haven’t moved in four weeks. What it has bought were Treasury securities and mortgage-backed securities – and it’s cutting back on those too. Total assets on the Fed’s balance sheet rose by $285 billion during the week through April 15, reported Thursday afternoon, to $6.37 trillion.
Over the past five weeks, including the partial bailout-week which started March 16 and ended March 18, total assets increased by these amounts. Note the big taper from $586 billion and $557 billion early on to $287 billion in the latest week: • $356 billion (Mar 18, partial bailout week started Mar 16) • $586 billion (Mar 25) • $557 billion (Apr 1) • $272 billion (Apr 8) • $285 billion (Apr 15).
The $6.37 trillion of assets on the Fed’s balance sheet are mostly composed of Treasury securities, mortgage-backed securities (MBS), repurchase agreements (repos), “foreign central bank liquidity swaps,” and “loans” to its Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs). We’ll go through them one at a time. The Fed added $154 billion in Treasury securities during the week, down 47% from the $293 billion it had added the week before, and down 57% from the $362 billion it had added two week ago. This is a major factor in the Big Taper of QE-4.
The sharp reduction in purchases of Treasuries confirms for now that the Fed is sticking to its announcement that it would drastically cut QE after the initial blast. Fed Chair Jerome Powell in a webcast on April 10 said that the Fed would pack away its emergency tools once “private markets and institutions are once again able to perform their vital functions of channeling credit and supporting economic growth.” Whatever that means. [..] The Fed has “dollar liquidity swap lines” with [many central banks]. The total on its balance sheet increased by $20 billion from the prior week to $378 billion but has been in the same range all April. Of note: • 83% of outstanding liquidity swaps are with the ECB ($138 billion) and the BOJ ($176 billion). • The Bank of England is far behind ($22 billion). And there no swaps with the central banks of Canada, Brazil, New Zealand, and Sweden.
[..] neither the ECB nor the BOJ need the dollars for trade. They need them to support their banks and companies have large dollar-denominated debts and speculative bets that they need to refinanced with cheap dollars. And those swaps make that possible.
The Covid-19 pandemic shows that governments that think of security in mostly military terms are simply wasting money, Mikhail Gorbachev has said. Defence spending must be cut globally to fund things that humanity actually needs. The former Soviet leader called on the world to move away from hard power in international affairs. He remains especially worried about the kind of military brinkmanship that lately has almost led to a shooting war in the Middle East. “What we urgently need now is a rethinking of the entire concept of security,” he wrote, in an op-ed published by TIME magazine. “Even after the end of the Cold War, it has been envisioned mostly in military terms. Over the past few years, all we’ve been hearing is talk about weapons, missiles and airstrikes.”
The Covid-19 outbreak has highlighted once again that the threats humanity faces today are global in nature and can only be addressed by nations collectively. The resources currently spent on arms need to go into preparation for such crises, Gorbachev said. “The overriding goal must be human security: providing food, water and a clean environment, and caring for people’s health,” he said. The first thing that nations should do after the coronavirus is dealt-with is to make a commitment to a massive demilitarization. “I call upon [world leaders] to cut military spending by 10 percent to 15 percent. This is the least they should do now, as a first step toward a new consciousness, a new civilization.”
Gorbachev, the former leader of the USSR who is credited with de-escalating the Cold War against the US and with negotiating a dramatic reduction in the nuclear arsenals of the two powers, shared his opinions and aspirations as the global number of Covid-19 cases surpassed the two-million benchmark. The pandemic has led to over 130,000 deaths and is projected to plunge the world economy into a recession of a magnitude unseen since the 1920s.
It should be easy for Xi to prevent this.
China’s airlines are poised for a bout of “revenge travelling” in the coming weeks, as soaring reservations ahead of the annual Labour Day holiday and demand by residents returning home from quarantines helped them recover 40 per cent of their traffic. Regional carriers like Guizhou Airlines, Fuzhou Airlines, and China Eastern Airlines’ low-cost unit China United Airlines have added new routes around the country, according to CAAC News, a newspaper run by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). United has added 25 routes, eight of which depart from the new Daxing airport in the Chinese capital.
“Chinese carriers are hoping that they could make a breakthrough on the Labour Day holiday,” said the Institute for Aviation Research’s founder and president Lei Zheng, adding that airlines do tend to make seasonal scheduling adjustments. “If they have decent recovery during May, then they can be well-prepared for summer, one of the two most profitable seasons other than the Lunar New Year.” The recovery in air travel, underpinned by an easing coronavirus outbreak in mainland China, is welcomed news for an industry that has suffered 39.82 billion yuan (US$5.6 billion) in first-quarter losses as air passenger traffic shrank 53.9 per cent.
[..] At the height of the outbreak in China a month ago, the aviation regulator grounded most aircraft, limiting each airline to one weekly international route at 75 per cent capacity. As the daily caseload of coronavirus infections fell to single digits, carriers resumed their services, increasing the average aircraft utilisation to 2.8 hours a day, compared with 9 hours per day before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Flight Master, a Chinese travel intelligence and data company.
China’s Labour Day holiday begins on May 1 and lasts until May 5, an annual weeklong break that usually marks the first peak for travelling and shopping in calendar following the Lunar New Year. Flights are resuming to destinations with lighter caseloads of the coronavirus infections, and where local authorities have either lifted, or are implementing less draconian isolation and quarantine measures than some of the most severely afflicted cities.
I see people say that Greece was very early in its response. It wasn’t, the second half of March was not ‘very early’. What they did right was to be rigorous when they finally got going.
Greece will celebrate Easter on Sunday, the most important religious holiday of the Orthodox Church, behind closed doors this year after the authorities strictly forbade the traditional spirited celebrations of mass church attendance, firecrackers and large family gatherings. Authorities are desperate to avoid the traditional mass exodus of city dwellers, when hundreds of thousands of Greeks traditionally flock to churches and to their ancestral homes to celebrate Christ’s resurrection, in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus. As of Friday, officials reported 2,207 cased and the death toll at 105, one of the lowest rates in Europe. But compliance will be tested over the long Easter weekend.
The government has doubled fines and included removal or car plates for anyone who travels without reason for Greek Orthodox Easter, Civil Protection Deputy Minister for Crisis Management Nikos Hardalias said on Thursday. Extra controls will be in place at toll posts and ports, and only those with a permanent residency in the area will be allowed to travel to prevent trips to visit relatives or second homes in the countryside. “This virus doesn’t distinguish days, whether it’s a celebration or not,” said Hardalias, who spoke extensively of the great majority of Greek citizens who have observed faithfully the lockdown restrictions, and explained the introduction of additional ones, particularly for Easter. As he said, “One in ten Greeks has said directly or explicitly that they will not follow directions. They do not want to change their habits for one day, as if nothing is going on.”
If anything, RT has been surprisingly calm in its responses. But sometimes there’s a column that is a bit less that. And c’mon, Biden…
What does Joe Biden have in common with a New York Times article even critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin have described as “incompetent”? Both have received ringing endorsements from former US President Barack Obama. “Democracy depends on an informed citizenry and social cohesion. Here’s a look at how misinformation can spread through social media, and why it can hurt our ability to respond to crises,” Obama tweeted on Wednesday – linking to an article published three days prior. Written by William S. Broad, the top science journalist at the New York Times, the piece contains no actual science – merely a laundry list of conspiracy theories blaming Russia and Putin personally for wanting to “discredit the West and destroy his enemies from within.” “Analysts say” that Putin personally “played a principal role in the spread of false information” about vaccines, the coronavirus, and just about anything really, Broad argues.
Which analysts? Well, Broad cites only three professional Russia-baiters by name, uses two entirely unrelated stories from years ago that were in the general “blame Russia for disinformation” ballpark, and cites “sources” such as the infamous “Intelligence Community Assessment” blaming Russia for the 2016 presidential election. Remember that one? The “Trump-Russia collusion” claim that Russia “hacked our democracy” (whatever that means) that the Democrats flogged for four years to explain losing to Donald Trump and attempt to oust him from office – until it imploded last May and they had to scramble to invent a bogus “Ukrainegate” conspiracy to actually impeach him – and the outlets like the Times and the Washington Post leveraged to get Pulitzers?
Or has all this vanished in the mists of time, due to the month-long brain scrambling induced by the coronavirus lockdowns? May 2019, incidentally, is when Broad wrote another hit piece along the exact same lines, only narrower in scope: he accused RT America of doing Putin’s bidding by reporting on theories that 5G wireless networks could be dangerous. No matter that mainstream US news outlets have reported on the issue in the exact same way – Broad saw “RUSSIA” and had to jump in. Then, too, he chose not to interview actual scientists but Russiagate-pushers such as Ryan Fox, CEO of New Knowledge – the notorious outfit that blamed Russia for its own bot campaign in the 2017 Senate election in Alabama. In other words, a literal false-flag perpetrator.
By way of illustration, one of the “experts” Broad quotes has a line about “a cloud of Russian influencers,” which the NY Times journalist then describes thusly: The players, he said, probably include state actors, intelligence operatives, former RT staff members and the digital teams of Yevgeny Prigozhin, a secretive oligarch and confident [sic] of Mr. Putin’s who financed the St. Petersburg troll farm. “Probably!” Also, you left out the kitchen sink.
And Cooper and Gupta sit there listening, serious faces and all, because this is supposed to be their man.
Joe Biden can’t even get a *single* coherent thought out. Seriously. pic.twitter.com/tIwsiM1h8u
— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) April 17, 2020
A very biased hudge decides that a jury frontperson is not biased.
A federal judge on Thursday denied a bid for a new trial by Donald Trump’s longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone after the veteran Republican operative accused the jury forewoman of being tainted by anti-Trump political bias. Amy Berman Jackson, a US district court judge, rejected Stone’s claim that the forewoman was biased against Trump and therefore could not be impartial in deciding Stone’s guilt or innocence during the trial. “There is zero evidence of ‘explicit bias’ against Stone, and defendant’s attempts to gain a new trial based on implied or inferred bias fail,” Berman Jackson said in an 81-page decision. Stone, a longtime confidant and former aide to Trump, was convicted in November of seven felonies in an attempt to interfere with a congressional inquiry. He was sentenced to 40 months in prison.
In her memorandum, Berman Jackson said the lawyers had not proved the forewoman was biased or that any jurors acted inappropriately. She included details of their juror questionnaires in her explanation. “The assumption underlying the motion – that one can infer from the juror’s opinions about the president that she could not fairly consider the evidence against the defendant – is not supported by any facts or data and it is contrary to controlling legal precedent,” she wrote in denying the new trial. “The motion is a tower of indignation, but at the end of the day, there is little of substance holding it up.” Stone must appear in person “at the institution designated by the Bureau of Prisons” within 14 days to serve out his sentence, Jackson ruled. She also released Stone and his lawyers from a gag order.
“In the cold autumn of 1629, the plague came to Florence, Italy..”.
Notable for the ‘lavish’ provision of food for the poor, backed by the thought that underfed people are more likely to spread a disease.
The officials of the Sanità, the city’s health board, wrote anxiously to their colleagues in Milan, Verona, Venice, in the hope that studying the patterns of contagion would help them protect their city. Reports came from Parma that its ‘inhabitants are reduced to such a state that they are jealous of those who are dead’. The Sanità learned that, in Bologna, officials had forbidden people to discuss the peste, as if they feared you could summon death with a word. Plague was thought to spread through corrupt air, on the breath of the sick or trapped in soft materials like cloth or wood, so in June 1630 the Sanità stopped the flow of commerce and implemented a cordon sanitaire across the mountain passes of the Apennines.
But they soon discovered that the boundary was distressingly permeable. Peasants slipped past bored guards as they played cards. In the dog days of the summer, a chicken-seller fell ill and died in Trespiano, a village in the hills above Florence. The city teetered on the brink of calamity. By August, Florentines were dying. The archbishop ordered the bells of all the churches in the city to be rung while men and women fell to their knees and prayed for divine intercession. In September, six hundred people were buried in pits outside the city walls.
[..] The Sanità arranged the delivery of food, wine and firewood to the homes of the quarantined (30,452 of them). Each quarantined person received a daily allowance of two loaves of bread and half a boccale (around a pint) of wine. On Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays, they were given meat. On Tuesdays, they got a sausage seasoned with pepper, fennel and rosemary. On Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, rice and cheese were delivered; on Friday, a salad of sweet and bitter herbs. The Sanità spent an enormous amount of money on food because they thought that the diet of the poor made them especially vulnerable to infection, but not everyone thought it was a good idea. Rondinelli recorded that some elite Florentines worried that quarantine ‘would give [the poor] the opportunity to be lazy and lose the desire to work, having for forty days been provided abundantly for all their needs’.
The provision of medicine was also expensive. Every morning, hundreds of people in the lazaretti were prescribed theriac concoctions, liquors mixed with ground pearls or crushed scorpions, and bitter lemon cordials. The Sanità did devolve some tasks to the city’s confraternities. The brothers of San Michele Arcangelo conducted a housing survey to identify possible sources of contagion; the members of the Archconfraternity of the Misericordia transported the sick in perfumed willow biers from their homes to the lazaretti. But mostly, the city government footed the bill. Historians now interpret this extensive spending on public health as evidence of the state’s benevolence: if tracts like Righi’s brim over with intolerance towards the poor, the account books of the Sanità tell an unflashy story of good intentions.
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Debt Rattle March 11 2020
March 11, 2020 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 11:00 am Finance Tagged with: air freight, Bernie, Biden, coronavirus, Covid19, death rate, infections, Italy, NATO, pollution, Putin, quarantine, Twitter, Wuhan 42 Responses »
Gordon Parks A scene at the Fulton Fish Market, New York Jun 1943
• Cancel Everything (Mounk)
• An Italian Financial Crisis Is Certain – But How Contagious Will It Be? (G.)
• Johns Hopkins Doctor: ‘What Happened In Wuhan Could Happen Here’ (CNBC)
• Leaked: US Hospitals Prep For 96 Million Infections & 480k Deaths (SHTF)
• Merkel Expects 60-70% Of Germans To Be Infected With Coronavirus (PJW)
• China Eases Curbs As Infections Retreat, Imported Cases Tick Up (R.)
• Pope Francis Tells Clergy To Go To Sick People, Defying Italy’s Lockdown (RT)
• Air Freight Rates Skyrocket As Passenger Flights Cut, China Restarts (R.)
• Pollution Cuts May Mean Coronavirus Saves More Lives Than It Costs (F.)
• Customs and Border Protection Agents Quarantined At DC Airport (Attkisson)
• Things Take a Turn (Kunstler)
• Weinstein Sent Desperate Emails to Mike Bloomberg, Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos (V.)
• All-Star Warmonger Lindsey Graham Urges NATO: Get More Involved In Idlib (RT)
• Putin Backs Proposal Allowing Him To Remain In Power Beyond 2024 (G.)
• The Waters Parted For Joe Biden (IC)
• Twitter ‘Manipulated’ Tag For Trump’s Biden Video Manipulates US Electorate (RT)
• Hunter Biden Aims to Skip Court Appearance, Cites Corona, Pregnant Wife (FB)
• Cases 119,389 (+ 4,775 from yesterday’s 114,614)
• Deaths 4,300 (+ 270 from yesterday’s 4,030)
It appears to be a day of minor milestones, as the US first goes over 1,000 cases (31 deaths), the death toll outside China passes 1,000, and Italy has over 10,000 infections, 2nd only to China
Someone made a graph that illustrates my point in The Virus is a Time Machine, that the virus’ progress moves in waves:
“France, Spain and Germany are about 9 to 10 days behind Italy in #COVID19 progression; the UK and the US follow at 13 to 16 days. In Italy we waited too long, these countries should really start implementing aggressive containment measures now.”
It may well be too late for those containment measures at this stage, even if New York creates a containment zone in New Rochelle. I’m not sure about the US in this graph anyway, I’m still tempted to log it in with France, Spain and Germany, rather than the UK. Let’s see in the rest of this week.
On the same topic::
The US crossed 1,000 cases tonight.
Italy is at 10,000+ today. Italy crossed 1,000 just 11 days ago. Their entire country is locked down.
As I have been noting, we seem to be 2 to 3 weeks behind Italy. Maybe that is now 1 to 2 weeks? pic.twitter.com/vlwHpiSsBO
— Jim Bianco (@biancoresearch) March 11, 2020
As is obvious from last night’s Worldometer data, the rise in infections has definitely shifted to Europe for now, with France and Spain “leading the way”, and Scandinavia having lift-off, with Denmark cases more than doubled overnight. Denmark, Sweden and Norway now have over 1,100 cases and not one death.
From Worldometer yesterday evening (before their day’s close)
We have an idea by now how poorly the US is testing, but what are the Scandinavians doing?
From Worldometer:
From COVID2019.app:
Same graph again. Waves. Good example from 1918 Philly vs St. Louis.
We don’t yet know the full ramifications of the novel coronavirus. But three crucial facts have become clear in the first months of this extraordinary global event. And what they add up to is not an invocation to stay calm, as so many politicians around the globe are incessantly suggesting; it is, on the contrary, the case for changing our behavior in radical ways—right now. The first fact is that, at least in the initial stages, documented cases of COVID-19 seem to increase in exponential fashion. On the 23rd of January, China’s Hubei province, which contains the city of Wuhan, had 444 confirmed COVID-19 cases. A week later, by the 30th of January, it had 4,903 cases. Another week later, by the 6th of February, it had 22,112. The same story is now playing out in other countries around the world.
Italy had 62 identified cases of COVID-19 on the 22nd of February. It had 888 cases by the 29th of February, and 4,636 by the 6th of March. Because the United States has been extremely sluggish in testing patients for the coronavirus, the official tally of 604 likely represents a fraction of the real caseload. But even if we take this number at face value, it suggests that we should prepare to have up to 10 times as many cases a week from today, and up to 100 times as many cases two weeks from today. The second fact is that this disease is deadlier than the flu, to which the honestly ill-informed and the wantonly irresponsible insist on comparing it. Early guesstimates, made before data were widely available, suggested that the fatality rate for the coronavirus might wind up being about 1 percent. If that guess proves true, the coronavirus is 10 times as deadly as the flu.
[..] so far only one measure has been effective against the coronavirus: extreme social distancing. Before China canceled all public gatherings, asked most citizens to self-quarantine, and sealed off the most heavily affected region, the virus was spreading in exponential fashion. Once the government imposed social distancing, the number of new cases leveled off; now, at least according to official statistics, every day brings more news of existing patients who are healed than of patients who are newly infected. A few other countries have taken energetic steps to increase social distancing before the epidemic reached devastating proportions. In Singapore, for example, the government quickly canceled public events and installed medical stations to measure the body temperature of passersby while private companies handed out free hand sanitizer. As a result, the number of cases has grown much more slowly than in nearby countries.
[..] hen the influenza epidemic of 1918 infected a quarter of the U.S. population, killing tens of millions of people, seemingly small choices made the difference between life and death. As the disease was spreading, Wilmer Krusen, Philadelphia’s health commissioner, allowed a huge parade to take place on September 28; some 200,000 people marched. In the following days and weeks, the bodies piled up in the city’s morgues. By the end of the season, 12,000 residents had died. In St. Louis, a public-health commissioner named Max Starkloff decided to shut the city down. Ignoring the objections of influential businessmen, he closed the city’s schools, bars, cinemas, and sporting events. Thanks to his bold and unpopular actions, the per capita fatality rate in St. Louis was half that of Philadelphia. (In total, roughly 1,700 people died from influenza in St Louis.)
The finance guys want their “normal” back. But money won’t cure this. And certainly not after the fact. “Bank of England cuts rate from 0.75% to 0.25%, Europe sets up $25 billion fund”, no use.
The decision by the Italian government to suspend mortgage payments for its quarantined citizens is a drastic step in the battle to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus but is commensurate with the predicament the country finds itself in. Italy is the eurozone’s weak link. Even before the current lockdown it was facing a fourth recession in little more than a decade and there has been only minimal growth in living standards in two decades. Its manufacturing sector is dominated by low-cost producers vulnerable to disruption in the global supply chain. Government debt is high and its banking system is weak. And it is a strategically important economy: the eurozone’s third biggest . Put simply, if there was one EU country that the European commission and the ECB would have chosen to avoid a severe outbreak of the coronavirus it would have been Italy.
The issue is not whether Italy will have a recession. With schools, universities, theatres and cinemas shut and its hugely-important tourist industry facing a washout summer, the economy is going to shrink in both the first and second quarters of 2020. Nor is it really a question of how deep the downturn will be – although the early estimates are that it is going to be a bad one. Jack Allen-Reynolds, senior European economist at Capital Economics, thinks the economy will shrink by 1% in the first three months of the year and by a further 1.5% in the second quarter. But that assumes the quarantine lasts until the end of April and is then gradually lifted. Were the economy to remain effectively immobilised until the end of June, Allen-Reynolds says there could be a 4.5% drop in output in the second quarter.
Death rate in Lombardy: 8.1%. Rest of Italy: 3.7%
US health care will be overrun. In for profit health care, contingency is anathema.
The coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. could grow to be as serious as it is in Wuhan, China, Johns Hopkins University Dr. Marty Makary told CNBC on Tuesday. “What happened in Wuhan could happen here. Why do we think otherwise?” Makary said on “Squawk Box,” referencing the Chinese city where the new virus originated in December. The city of 11 million people was locked down on an unprecedented scale as the outbreak intensified. It remains on lockdown even as new cases in the region decline. New cases in Wuhan and its surrounding Hubei province have dropped to below 50 a day, according to figures from the Chinese government, even as the disease spreads at greater rates across the globe. “The American immune system is not stronger than the Chinese immune system,” said Makary, a surgeon and professor of health policy and management.
“Viruses don’t care about politics and they don’t care about location.” [..] There are now more than 750 confirmed cases in the U.S., with 26 deaths. “We need to tell people right now to stop all nonessential travel. I feel strongly about that,” Makary said, adding he does not “like the idea of talking about contingency plans, but we’ve got to start making these plans.” “We’ve got to brace for a three-month problem..” Makary urged that the U.S. should take the disease more seriously, saying he’s was worried about the capacity of the nation’s health-care system to handle a serious spike in cases. America has about 100,000 intensive care unit beds that “operate at full capacity or near full capacity,” he said. “If we get 200,000 critical care cases, we’re going to be overrun,” he warned. “So we need to do more.”
An 0.5% death rate. Optimism galore. But these numbers should be public, people need to understand how bad things can get. Thing is, media and politics play a role that forbids it.
Leaked medical conference documents have warned that hospitals across the United States are preparing for 96 million coronavirus infections. Not only that, but the same document wants hospitals to make preparations for 480,000 deaths from this outbreak. .. the American Hospital Association (AHA) conference in February reveal that US hospitals are preparing for: – 96 million coronavirus infections – 4.8 million hospitalizations from the infection – 480,000 deaths in the United States
According to Business Insider, these leaked documents are telling. Dr. James Lawler, a professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, presented the harrowing “best guess” estimates of the extent of the outbreak to hospitals and health professionals as part of the AHA webinar called What Healthcare Leaders Need to Know: Preparing for the COVID-19 on February 26. These documents paint a bleaker picture for those who are over the age of 60. According to the leaked documents: People aged 80 and over have a 14.8% chance of dying if they contract the infection, the slides revealed. The risk declines with youth, though those aged 70-79 and 60-69 are still placed at a significant risk, with 8% and 3.6% mortality rates respectively. –Business Insider
Additionally, it’s worth noting that Dr. Lawler’s estimate of 480,000 deaths would indicate a death rate of just half a percent (0.5%), which is significantly lower than death rates being reported by the WHO (3.4%) and the nation of Italy (5%). If the death rate in the United States reached just 2% while 96 million Americans are infected, that would result in 1.92 million deaths. The United States has fewer than one million hospital beds, and they are typically around 75% occupied by existing patients, unrelated to the coronavirus. Natural News has calculated that U.S. hospital beds will be overrun by May 30th if nothing is done to stop the exponential spread of the coronavirus.
53 million infected. At a 1% death rate, that means….
Angela Merkel says she expects around 60-70 per cent of Germans will be infected with the coronavirus, which equates to about 53 million people. Reportedly, the German Parliament fell completely silent when Merkel stated the number. News outlet Bild reported the German Chancellor’s comments, which echoed numbers forecast by Berlin virologist Christian Drosten, who added that such a total could take 2 years or longer to reach. Given the fact that coronavirus has a mortality rate of around 1 per cent, this could equate to over half a million deaths, although new methods of fighting the virus could reduce this number.
The World Health Organization’s director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus claimed that the death rate was higher at 3.4 per cent, although this has been disputed. Germany, which has recorded 1,565 coronavirus cases and two deaths so far, has yet to impose the kind of quarantine measures seen in Italy, where the entire country has been placed on lockdown. German health authorities have said that people should avoid attending concerts, clubs or football games to limit the spread of the illness.
I hadn’t heard from Osterholm in years.
• This Is A Coronavirus Winter, And We’re In The First Week (CNBC)
The U.S. is not prepared for what is coming as COVID-19 spreads rapidly across the country, public health and infectious disease specialist Michael Osterholm told CNBC on Tuesday. The virus has surpassed the containment stage, he said, and the U.S. government is not responding appropriately for the magnitude of spread the country will likely see. “Right now we’re approaching this like it’s the Washington, D.C., blizzard — for a couple days we’re shut down,” the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota said in a “Squawk Box” interview. “This is actually a coronavirus winter and we’re in the first week.”
The U.S. is not containing the virus, Osterholm added, warning that it is substantially more contagious than some U.S. officials have warned. He said the most important thing is to protect people who are most at risk of dying from the virus, mostly older people and those with underlying health conditions. “This is just going to keep spreading. We have to stop fooling people into thinking this is only by close contact where I have to be within 2 or 3 feet. We’re going to see much more transmission,” he said. “There will be widespread transmission of this virus around the country, and what we have to do is keep people who are at high risk of having bad outcomes, older, underlying health conditions, from being exposed.”
Osterholm called on U.S. officials to more clearly communicate to the American public the threat COVID-19 poses. “What I find really concerning is we’ve really not set the agenda here for the American public I think in a realistic way,” he said. “We’re going to see transmission for many, many more weeks to come,” Osterholm said. “We have to prepare for that.”
“Total infections in mainland China stood at 80,778″… “79 of overall cases in China have come from abroad..”
Say no more: “Imported Cases Tick Up”…
More places in China lowered emergency response levels to the coronavirus epidemic and relaxed travel restrictions a day after President Xi Jinping visited the epicenter of the outbreak, signaling authorities were turning the tide. Total infections in mainland China stood at 80,778 with 24 new cases by Tuesday, while 22 more deaths took the toll to 3,158, the National Health Commission said on Wednesday. All the latest deaths occurred in Wuhan, the central city which was visited by Xi for the first time on Tuesday since the outbreak began there in December. Home to 11 million people, the provincial capital of Hubei province was placed in lockdown in late January. The most encouraging trend to be taken from the latest infection figures, was lower rate of transmission within communities in China as 10 of Tuesday’s 24 new cases involved people traveling from abroad.
Currently, just 79 of overall cases in China have come from abroad, but as that number increases, authorities are turning their focus on how to deal with that risk. The capital of Beijing saw six new cases on Tuesday involving individuals who traveled from Italy and the United States, while Shanghai had two imported infections, Shandong province one and Gansu province one. Taiwan too has begun reporting an uptick in imported cases. The government said on Wednesday the island’s 48th case was a woman in her 30s who had returned from holiday in Britain and had most likely been infected while overseas. New infections in Hubei continued to stabilize, with new cases declining for the sixth day. All 13 new cases in Hubei were recorded in Wuhan. Amid slowing domestic infections, a few cities in Hubei have started to ease curbs on movement of people and goods.
Greek church does the same. G-d will save you if he wants to.
As Italy scrambles to enact strict quarantine measures to stem the rampant spread of the coronavirus, Pope Francis is issuing a very different directive to the priests under his command: get out and be with those who are sick. At a personal mass on Tuesday morning, and as Italy enters a complete lockdown, the Holy See implored clergymen to “have the courage to go out and go to the sick people.” The Pope’s remarks starkly contradict all the core advice administered by the Italian government – namely to stay home and not to travel unless it’s a medical emergency. With the highest death toll outside of mainland China – hiking from 463 to 631 on Tuesday – Italy is rightly concerned that it could become the super-spreader of Europe.
So why has arguably the most influential religious leader on the planet shunned the expert advice and sent his priests out into this new world of contagion? Well, no-one is quite sure. On other occasions, Francis has been exceedingly health-conscious. He has missed several engagements, live-streamed his general audience events and even ordered a cut-back on the mass gathering of pilgrims. But with today’s short remarks, the Pope has laid waste both to the safety of his own priests and to the many others who may catch the virus as a result of the ministry visits. The Pope’s comments speak of a depressingly common thread running through the response of many religious groups to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Put your 737 MAX’s to good use.
Air freight rates are skyrocketing after the grounding of many passenger flights in Asia has left shippers scrambling to book limited spots on cargo planes as Chinese industrial production restarts, according to industry insiders. About half of the air cargo carried worldwide normally flies in the belly of passenger jets rather than in dedicated freighters. But deep flight cuts in response to the coronavirus outbreak have made the market more dependent on freight haulers. Freight forwarder Agility Logistics said on its website that China’s air cargo capacity was down 39% in February relative to last year because of the passenger flight cuts.
Shippers wishing to rush products out of China by air face sticker shock, said Refael Elbaz, chief executive of Israel-based Unicargo, which specializes in freight forwarding for Amazon.com sellers. “The price is three times higher – at least – because there is just no capacity,” Elbaz said. Freight Investor Services said in an update to clients on Monday that cargo pricing on China-to-U.S. routes had reached “abnormal highs” and that intra-Asia traffic was up by 22% over the previous week. TAC Index data shows China-U.S. cargo rates have risen by 27% over the last two weeks to $3.50 a kilogram.
Silver lining. But it won’t last: they’re all already geared towards burn baby burn again.
The global lockdown inspired by the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, has shuttered factories and reduced travel, slashing lethal pollution including the greenhouse gases that are heating the climate. The lockdown may save more lives from pollution reduction than are threatened by the virus itself, said François Gemenne, director of The Hugo Observatory, which studies the interactions between environmental changes, human migration, and politics. “Strangely enough, I think the death toll of the coronavirus at the end of the day might be positive, if you consider the deaths from atmospheric pollution,” said Gemenne, citing, for example, the 84,000 people who die annually in France because of atmospheric pollution and the more than one million in China.
Scientists estimate the U.S. death toll from air pollution at more than 100,000 per year, and the World Health Organization estimates the global toll at 7 million. The global death toll of the pandemic remains largely a matter of conjecture. The most dramatic projections that have been released—too hastily to be peer reviewed—put the global death toll of an unchecked pandemic in the millions total—not annual. Most credible estimates are much less. Some experts have compared it to the 1957 flu outbreak that killed just over 1 million. Reductions in air pollution and global heating could save more lives. “More than likely the number of lives that would be spared because of these confinement measures would be higher than the number of lives that would be lost because of the pandemic,” Gemenne said in an appearance on France 24’s The Debate.
Infecting tourists, are we?
Five Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at Dulles International Airport have been ordered to self-quarantine due to possible coronavirus exposure. The information was provided late Tuesday during an official briefing for members of Congress, Just the News has learned. One CBP National Targeting Center (NTC) officer was also ordered to self-quarantine. The NTC center in Sterling, Virginia, works to “catch travelers and detect cargo that threaten our country’s security.” All six CBP officers have reportedly been told to isolate themselves until March 14. Several additional coronavirus deaths were reported in the U.S. late Tuesday. Most of the fatalities to date have occurred among the elderly in Washington State in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. Officials say there have been no serious cases or deaths reported among young Americans.
“..a world made by hand..”
The new disposition of things is upon us, and the sooner we get with the program, the better. Welcome to The Long Emergency and its aftermath, a world made by hand. Expect that a lot of things crashing, grinding to a halt, and falling to pieces will not get patched back together and restarted. When the dust settles from all that, we’ll discover one of the primary conditions of the new era: we’re poorer — a lot of what we took to be money, or things that represented money, were figments. “Money” itself, as manifested in currencies, may become a slippery concept, with low credibility. If that’s the case, people ought to ask themselves: how can I be useful or helpful to the others around me in a way that will raise my own social capital and accumulate, at least, the good will of these other people, and perhaps some of their help or service in return for mine?
That is the beginning of building a local community — people bound together by mutual obligations, responsibilities, duties, and rewards. We’re lucky for one thing: this crisis of advanced civilization is striking at the very start of the planting season. If you’re prudent, you can begin at once to organize serious gardening efforts, if you live in a part of the country where that is possible. I’d go heavy on the potatoes, cabbages, winter squashes, and beans, because they’re all keepers over winter. Baby chicks sell at the local ag stores for a few bucks each now and you’ll be very grateful for the eggs. Get a rooster — even though they can be a pain-in-the-ass — and you won’t have to buy any more chicks.
If you live in a part of the country where the terrain is rugged and well-watered — as I do — start scoping out local hydro sites that might potentially generate electricity or drive machinery directly from water power. We will probably need more of that. Around here many of those sites are signified by the ruins of decommissioned factories and hydro-stations from not much more than a century ago. They were originally built with a lot less machine power than we would use today, and a lot more power of men working in groups. We’ve forgotten how effective men can be working together with pretty simple tools. We were too busy devaluing men in recent decades for the sake of a moral crusade to erase “gender” differences. Well, that will be bygone so fast your head will spin.
Throw away the key please.
Newly unsealed court documents put Harvey Weinstein’s Rolodex on full display. The fallen movie mogul — who is now a convicted rapist facing up to 29 years in jail and will be sentenced Wednesday — once tried to save his career by emailing his famous peers, including billionaires, powerful agents and Hollywood titans. In emails, reviewed by Variety on Tuesday afternoon at the New York City criminal courthouse, where roughly 1,000 pages of documents were unsealed, Weinstein wrote to the likes of Michael Bloomberg, Quentin Tarantino, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Apple’s Tim Cook and Eddy Cue. The documents made available by the court did not include any responses from these people to Weinstein.
The New York Times broke its bombshell story, which revealed decades of allegations of sexual harassment against Weinstein, on Oct. 5, 2017. Just days later, on Oct. 8, Weinstein sent out a flurry of emails to his powerful contacts, pleading for help to revive his career, and urging people to quickly send him letters of support. That same day, Weinstein was forced out of his own company. Writing to the heads of Apple, Cook and Cue, Weinstein said, “I don’t need you to make any public statements — just a private one to my gmail address, saying that you support me getting therapy and the help I need before the board fires me. I’m in a tough spot. Many of the allegations are false, but I need your help with this private letter of support. I’m going to get well, and if I pass the therapist test, then we can talk about reinstatement et cetera.
But for now, I’m going to take a leave of absence and get healthy. If they fire me now, it’ll destroy me personally and cause a huge legal battle, based on my rights with the company. But if I have support from someone like you getting me going into treatment and having the shot at a second chance (because people deserve a second chance), it would be very helpful. I would need something today if you can — I so appreciate it.”
War to deflect attention away from the virus? The risk is too great that troops infect each other.
Veteran chickenhawk Lindsey Graham once again beat his over-used war drum, this time because he wants NATO to get involved in Idlib, Syria to stop “Syrian aggression.” Yes, when will Syria stop intervening in its own country? The South Carolina senator said that he fully supports US President Donald Trump’s efforts to “get NATO more involved in Syria,” arguing that the defensive alliance should aid Turkey as it “defends Idlib against Russian/Syrian aggression.” He further argued that the “fall” of Idlib would result in a humanitarian crisis felt around the world, which is why NATO should be more “supportive” of its Turkish ally. The senior statesman apparently doesn’t seem particularly fazed by the fact that Idlib is part of Syria – making accusations of “Syrian aggression” slightly nonsensical.
The province is now home to the last bastion of extremist jihadist militias, some of which are directly affiliated with Al-Qaeda. This is hardly the first time that the US hawk has demanded direct intervention in Idlib. In February, he called on the Pentagon to impose a no-fly zone over the Syrian province, claiming it would help stop the “destruction” of Idlib by Syrian, Iranian, and Russian forces. As far back as September, Graham was issuing statements warning over “the wholesale massacre” of civilians in Idlib, insisting that “we either act now [in Syria] or pay a heavy price later.” The senator’s melodramatic representation of a terrorist-infested Syrian province being under siege by the Syrian military shouldn’t come as a surprise to US political observers. Graham has been portrayed as part of former Arizona Senator John McCain’s “foreign policy club” – a euphemism for hardcore neocon interventionism.
After years of anti-Putin rhetoric it’s lost on westerners, but Putin would love to retire to his dasha. Only, he’s afraid the neocons would jump in as soon as he does, and there’s no-one ready to take his place to defend his beloved motherland. Yeah, that’s pretty tragic in a way.
Vladimir Putin has moved to cement his hold on power in Russia beyond the middle of the decade, backing a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow him to seek another two terms in the Kremlin. The Russian president is required by the constitution to step down in 2024, and there have been months of conjecture about how he could stay in power beyond then, or at least ensure a safe transition for himself. In the end, the puzzle was resolved in an afternoon, in a series of choreographed political steps that took just over three hours and could result in Putin staying on as president until 2036.
The venture began in parliament, where a member of Russia’s ruling party proposed amending the constitution in a way that would “reset” Putin’s presidential term count back to zero. Putin then announced he would come to address the parliament himself, prompting breathless coverage on state television about whether he would accept or turn down the proposal. “In principle, this option would be possible,” he said at the end of a half-hour speech. “But on one condition – if the constitutional court gives an official ruling that such an amendment would not contradict the principles and main provisions of the constitution.” He also said the move would have to be approved by the public in a referendum next month.
[..] In January, he told a veteran of the second world war that he was worried about a return to the 80s, when Kremlin leaders “stayed in power until the end of their days” and did not provide for a transition of power. On Tuesday, he walked back that statement, saying that modern Russia’s elections made it impossible to return to a Soviet-style procession of leaders-for-life. “I won’t hide that I was wrong,” he said. “It was an incorrect statement because during the Soviet Union there were no elections.” [..] It is unclear whether Putin had planned to stay on as president all along or had come to the decision more recently. In his speech, he said he hoped that one day the institution of the presidency in Russia would not be “so personified in a single person”, but added: “that is how all of our history ended up and of course we can’t not take that into account”.
Yes, it went very fast.
It feels like the closing of a loop. In March 1988, a dramatic upset in Michigan by the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaign brought him into a tie with Michael Dukakis, panicking the Democratic establishment and opening a window to a different future for the party. In March 2016, Sanders delivered a stunning upset to Hillary Clinton in the Rust Belt state, momentarily resetting the primary. Eight months later, Donald Trump did the same to Clinton in Michigan, sealing his Electoral College victory. On Tuesday, Michigan dealt a crushing blow to Sanders’s second presidential campaign — despite an endorsement on Sunday from Jackson.
The Michigan Secretary of State’s office said it would not release official results until midday Wednesday due to a large number of absentee ballots, but several networks called the state for Biden not long after polls closed at 8 p.m. With half the votes counted, Biden sat on a comfortable 14-point lead. The win for Biden comes after a swing toward the former vice president — what Nate Silver described as “probably the fastest in the history of the primaries.” Sanders moved from being the clear frontrunner on February 23, the day after the Nevada caucuses, to a stalled candidate on March 1, the day after South Carolina, to trailing on March 4, the day after Super Tuesday. Polls continued to slide away from Sanders over the next week, leading to his eventual loss in Michigan, Mississippi, and Missouri as early returns came in on Tuesday.
The autopsies will begin soon, even as the campaign struggles forward, with Florida, Arizona, Illinois, and Ohio set to vote in a week — where two critical House contests will pit insurgent primary challengers Morgan Harper in Columbus, Ohio and Marie Newman in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois against Democratic incumbents. Those autopsies will look closely at the decisions made in those days between Nevada and this Tuesday by Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who also competed in the progressive lane until dropping out after Super Tuesday. The main question they’ll have to answer is why the Sanders campaign was unable to turn out the young, working class electorate he needed to beat the more moderate opponent, who dominated him among older white suburban voters as well as older black voters.
Tulsi Gabbard explains why the elites in Washington, and their corporate media partners, continue to erase her candidacy.
Tucker Carlson: “It was meeting with Assad, which I thought was great. He did protect religious minorities, including Christians.” pic.twitter.com/HxlKPLFt8n
— Sarah Abdallah (@sahouraxo) March 11, 2020
Twitter says Americans are not smart enough to conclude on their own that Biden does’t support Trump. For once, @jack may be on to something. And it’s not that Americans are not smart enough.
Imagine thinking so little of Americans’ intelligence to label a factual video clip ‘manipulated’ because it’s being used as a meme in the presidential election campaign. Twitter just did that, following in Facebook’s footsteps.
For the first time ever, Twitter applied a ‘manipulated’ tag to a video retweeted by President Donald Trump and shared by his social media director Dan Scavino. Mainstream media critics of the president were really excited at the news, calling the video “deceptively edited.” “We cannot get re-elect [sic]….we cannot win this re-election… excuse me, we can only re-elect Donald Trump,” the video shows Democrat front-runner Joe Biden telling a crowd. According to Twitter and the mainstream media, this is deceptive because the clip leaves out the ending: “…if in fact we get engaged in this circular firing squad here.”
The full video of Biden’s remarks makes it clear that he didn’t really endorse Trump. Of course, no actual person out there would think he did, merely that the 78-year-old establishment Democrat is having trouble stringing a coherent sentence together, even with the help of a teleprompter. Last month, when Twitter announced that it would flag posts containing “synthetic or manipulated” media, the only thing clear about its rules was that their wording was so vague they would effectively be arbitrary. According to those rules, a tweet may be labeled as “deceptive” if the context in which it is shared “could result in confusion or misunderstanding” or “suggests a deliberate intent to deceive people.” Who gets to decide that? Twitter. Or should that be the Ministry of Truth?
Keep in mind that the US has constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech – which through some rather creative legal reasoning does not actually apply to private companies, so Twitter, or Facebook, or YouTube have in effect been able to throttle, demonetize, shadowban or just plain kick off anyone whose politics they disagree with. A Project Veritas undercover video from January 2018 shows a Twitter employee explaining the workings behind “shadowbanning.” A July 2019 story in the Washington Examiner documents the political activism of a senior engineer at the company – which continues to this day. Just last week, there was another social media first, when Facebook removed a series of Trump re-election ads. This happened after complaints by Democrat activists, lawmakers and media that the “official census” wording was “misleading” and confusing.
While that may have been true about the titles of the ads, the actual text made it clear they were requesting voters to voluntarily share their information with the campaign – not harvesting it without asking, like, say, Facebook. Quoting politicians out of context is indeed misleading. It’s also the oldest tactic in the book. The mainstream media have happily done it to Trump over and over – recall the “fine people” remark about Charlottesville, or insinuation he called all Mexicans “rapists,” or all illegal immigrants “animals.” There were no corrections, no apologies, no flagging for misleading or doctored edits for those. [..] The entire argument that fake news or “manipulated” social media posts swayed US elections has always been an insult to Americans’ intelligence, coming from people who clearly believe democracy is too important to be left to the voters.
“If you think the guy who made up getting arrested in South Africa, who falsely claimed to have marched in the civil rights movement, if you think he’s the ‘safe’ candidate against Trump, then I’m sorry, but you’re lying to yourself,” says @mehdirhasan. https://t.co/BzNuFKILzH pic.twitter.com/kyrhsXyWvS
— The Intercept (@theintercept) March 11, 2020
Tries to wiggle out of a case on child support payments using another -expected- child as an excuse. But read between the lines and you see he’s going to use his dad as a reason not to comply.
Hunter Biden’s lawyers alerted the Arkansas judge presiding over the child support lawsuit against him that he will be unable to attend his scheduled court deposition this week, citing travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus and the approaching due date of his pregnant wife. Biden was ordered last Thursday to appear at the court on Wednesday, March 11, for a deposition in the ongoing child support case, but his lawyers told the court in a Wednesday filing that Biden would be unable to attend. “Defendant requests continuance of the hearing as he is unavailable to attend due to his wife’s due date in 2 and a half weeks or less and risks involved with travel,” the new filing states.
Biden’s lawyers further argue that it is unreasonable for him to be required to travel to Arkansas at all, saying the appearance is “burdensome and oppressive.” “It is unsafe for the Defendant to travel, as travel restrictions have been implemented both domestically and internationally, particularly on airlines, due to the coronavirus,” the filing states. “Setting aside personal endangerment, Defendant reasonably believes that such travel unnecessarily exposes his wife and unborn child to this virus. California, in particular, has been the site of numerous reported cases of exposure.”
The latest filing in the case also points to “intense media scrutiny” on Biden due to his father Joe Biden’s campaign for president. “The tremendously elevated media scrutiny creates some physical risks and logistics difficulties with travel to Arkansas, invades the privacy of the Defendant and his 8 and a half month pregnant wife, threatens to complicate the Court’s ability to conduct a public hearing, creates a highly prejudicial environment from Defendant, and cannot be in the child’s or his mother’s interest in any way,” the lawyers argue. Biden has already been declared the father of the nearly two-year-old Arkansas child, but has repeatedly avoided appearances in court. Lawyers for the child’s mother, Lunden Alexis Roberts, last Friday called for the court to hold Biden in contempt for his continued failure to provide financial documents.
“The defendant has continued to flaunt the orders of this Court by failing to answer discovery, comply with court orders, and provide his financial information,” lawyers for Roberts argued.
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Debt Rattle March 5 2020
March 5, 2020 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:55 am Finance Tagged with: Amazon, Biden, coronavirus, Covid19, cruise ship, Erdogan, establishment, Greece, Idlib, pensions, Purell, Putin, strains, Wuhan 40 Responses »
DPC Mott Street, Chinatown, New York c1900
• Wuhan Coronavirus Infections Spike (R.)
• Chinese Scientists Identify Two Strains Of The Coronavirus (CNBC)
• On The Origin And Continuing Evolution Of SARS-CoV-2 (NSR)
• Official US Coronavirus Numbers Are Wrong, and Everyone Knows It (Atl.)
• Flybe, Europe’s Largest Regional Airline, Collapses (G.)
• California-Based Cruise Ship Quarantined Off Pacific Coast (Pol.)
• Purell For $400? US Lawmaker Urges Amazon To Tamp Down Price Gouging (R.)
• The Greatest Victory Of The Establishment Since The Defeat Of The Huns (Turley)
• Moscow’s Difficult Decision on Idlib (Lawrence)
• Russia Reinforces Syria Before Putin-Erdogan Talks (R.)
• Tens Of Thousands Blocked At Greek-Turkey Border (K.)
• Greece’s Economic ‘Recovery’ Good News For No One But The Rich (Varoufakis)
• Half Of Greek Families Still Cite Pensions As Their Main Source Of Income (K.)
• Cases 95,880 (+ 4.563 from Tuesday’s 91,317)
• Deaths 3,288 (+ 168 from Tuesday’s 3,120)
• Fittingly, No Time To Die was postponed
• Biggest news: Scientists find two different corona strains. So what is everyone exactly testing for, at least those that do testing?
• Italy to close all schools and universities, cinemas and theaters, all sports games behind closed doors.
– 587 new cases, 3,089 cases in total, 1,346 hospitalized, 107 deaths, 295 in intensive care
• South Korea 435 new cases, 4 more deaths, 60% linked to Shincheonji church; 136,000 tests
• CDC’s Dr. Fauci said 15-20% of infected people need hospitalization. Britain has 15 beds for worst cases. How many does US have?
• California declares state of emergency, follows WA, FL
– cruise ship stuck off coast
• France 28 new cases, total to 285. 8 deaths.
• UK cases up 34 to 85 – 66% surge.
• Netherlands 40 cases
• Greece 10 cases
• First airline collapses, Flybe, Europe’s largest regional airline
• 290 million children worldwide locked out of school.
– 13 countries closed all schools, among them Italy, China, Japan, Iran. 9 others have reginal closures, US, Germany, France and more
• “On Tuesday, Ford Motor Company, which employs nearly 200,000 people, told workers to stop all international and U.S. domestic air travel..”
From Worldometer (Note: mortality rate at 6%):
Mainland China reported a rise in new confirmed cases of coronavirus on Thursday, reversing three straight days of declines, because of a spike in new infections in Wuhan, the city at the center of the outbreak. Mainland China had 139 new confirmed cases as of Wednesday, the National Health Commission (NHC) said, bringing the total accumulated number of cases to 80,409. Authorities reported 119 new cases the previous day and 125 the day before that. The increase was driven by more cases in Wuhan, the provincial capital of Hubei, where the virus is believed to have emerged in a market late last year.
Wuhan’s new infections climbed to 131 from 114 a day earlier. There was no immediate elaboration and health officials were due to hold a briefing later in the day. After what some critics said was an initially hesitant response to the new virus, China imposed sweeping restrictions to try to stop it, including transport suspensions, lockdowns of cities and extending a Lunar New Year holiday across the country. WHO officials have said other countries have much to learn from the way China has handled the outbreak and Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu said many countries had asked for help and China was responding.
The number of new confirmed cases in Hubei, excluding Wuhan, has remained in single digits for seven consecutive days, with three new infections recorded on Wednesday. In the rest of mainland China, outside Hubei, there were only five new confirmed cases, the health commission said. The death toll from the outbreak in mainland China had reached 3,012 as of the end of Wednesday, up by 31 from the previous day. Hubei accounted for all of the new deaths. In Wuhan, 23 people died. With the downward trend in new cases, Chinese authorities have turned their attention to stopping the virus being brought in from new coronavirus hot spots abroad.
A remarkably bland version of the story.
Researchers in China have found that two different types of the new coronavirus could be causing infections worldwide. In a preliminary study published Tuesday, scientists at Peking University’s School of Life Sciences and the Institut Pasteur of Shanghai found that a more aggressive type of the new coronavirus had accounted for roughly 70% of analyzed strains, while 30% had been linked to a less aggressive type. The more aggressive type of virus was found to be prevalent in the early stages of the outbreak in Wuhan — the Chinese city where COVID-19 was first detected late last year. But the frequency of this type of virus has since decreased from early January.
The researchers said their results indicate the development of new variations of the spike in COVID-19 cases was “likely caused by mutations and natural selection besides recombination.” “These findings strongly support an urgent need for further immediate, comprehensive studies that combine genomic data, epidemiological data, and chart records of the clinical symptoms of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19),” they said. Researchers cautioned that data examined in the study was still “very limited,” emphasizing that follow-up studies of a larger set of data would be needed to gain a “better understanding” of the evolution and epidemiology of COVID-19.
This is more like it. But again, what are we testing for, if we are testing at all? Are all tests exactly the same? And then: do they cover both strains?
The SARS-CoV-2 epidemic started in late December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and has since impacted a large portion of China and raised major global concern. Herein, we investigated the extent of molecular divergence between SARS-CoV-2 and other related coronaviruses. Although we found only 4% variability in genomic nucleotides between SARS-CoV-2 and a bat SARS-related coronavirus (SARSr-CoV; RaTG13), the difference at neutral sites was 17%, suggesting the divergence between the two viruses is much larger than previously estimated.
Our results suggest that the development of new variations in functional sites in the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike seen in SARS-CoV-2 and viruses from pangolin SARSr-CoVs are likely caused by mutations and natural selection besides recombination. Population genetic analyses of 103 SARS-CoV-2 genomes indicated that these viruses evolved into two major types (designated L and S), that are well defined by two different SNPs that show nearly complete linkage across the viral strains sequenced to date. Although the L type (<±70%) is more prevalent than the S type (<±30%), the S type was found to be the ancestral version.
Whereas the L type was more prevalent in the early stages of the outbreak in Wuhan, the frequency of the L type decreased after early January 2020. Human intervention may have placed more severe selective pressure on the L type, which might be more aggressive and spread more quickly. On the other hand, the S type, which is evolutionarily older and less aggressive, might have increased in relative frequency due to relatively weaker selective pressure. These findings strongly support an urgent need for further immediate, comprehensive studies that combine genomic data, epidemiological data, and chart records of the clinical symptoms of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Gesundheit pic.twitter.com/kZWMF8wmr3
— Rabih Alameddine (@rabihalameddine) March 4, 2020
Because no testing.
We know, irrefutably, one thing about the coronavirus in the United States: The number of cases reported in every chart and table is far too low. The data are untrustworthy because the processes we used to get them were flawed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s testing procedures missed the bulk of the cases. They focused exclusively on travelers, rather than testing more broadly, because that seemed like the best way to catch cases entering the country. Just days ago, it was not clear that the virus had spread solely from domestic contact at all. But then cases began popping up with no known international connection. What public-health experts call “community spread” had arrived in the United States. The virus would not be stopped by tight borders, because it was already propagating domestically.
Trevor Bedford’s lab at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, which studies viral evolution, concluded there is “firm evidence” that, at least in Washington State, the coronavirus had been spreading undetected for weeks. Now different projections estimate that 20 to 1,500 people have already been infected in the greater Seattle area. In California, too, the disease appears to be spreading, although the limited testing means that no one is quite sure how far. In total, fewer than 500 people have been tested across the country (although the CDC has stopped reporting that number in its summary of the outbreak). As a result, the current “official” case count inside the United States stood at 43 as of [Tuesday] morning (excluding cruise-ship cases). This number is wrong, yet it’s still constantly printed and quoted. In other contexts, we’d call this what it is: a subtle form of misinformation.
This artificially low number means that for the past few weeks, we’ve seen massive state action abroad and only simmering unease domestically. While Chinese officials were enacting a world-historic containment effort—putting more than 700 million people under some kind of movement restriction, quarantining tens of millions of people, and placing others under new kinds of surveillance—and American public-health officials were staring at the writing on the wall that the disease was extremely likely to spread in the U.S., the public-health response was stuck in neutral. The case count in the U.S. was not increasing at all. Preparing for a sizable outbreak seemed absurd when there were fewer than 20 cases on American soil. Now we know that the disease was already spreading and that it was the U.S. response that was stalled.
Just spoke with ER doc who say he's seeing cases he's 99% sure are #coronavirus. Negative for flu, recent travel, work in airports. Not allowed to test. Patients return to work because they can't take time off w/out a firm diagnosis. Other ER docs seeing the same thing.
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) March 4, 2020
There’s more where that came from.
Flybe, Europe’s largest regional airline, has collapsed into administration less than two months after the government announced a rescue deal. The impact of the coronavirus on flight bookings proved the last straw for the Exeter-based airline, which operates almost 40% of UK domestic flights, as the government stalled on a controversial £100m loan. The UK Civil Aviation Authority announced early on Thursday morning that the airline had entered administration. It said all flights were cancelled and urged passengers not to go to airports. Flybe’s bankruptcy has come just a week before a budget that it hoped would help bolster its precarious finances, after the previous chancellor said he would look again at levels of air passenger duty (APD) .
However, the airline’s owners Connect Airways – a consortium of Virgin Atlantic, Stobart Air and hedge fund Cyrus Capital – have pulled the plug, a little over a year after buying it. The airline employed more than 2,000 people and was one of the leading carriers at airports including Belfast, Southampton, Manchester and Birmingham. Around 8 million people a year used its services. Unions have warned that other jobs would be put at risk by Flybe’s collapse, and transport links lost on dozens of domestic routes where it is the sole operator. Flybe has long struggled to balance the books, despite cost-cutting plans and redundancies, and was reporting losses of around £20m a year before the Connect takeover. [..] It is the second major British airline to go bankrupt in six months, following the collapse of Thomas Cook last September.
Can we close the entire industry yet?
Another Princess Cruises ship has set off coronavirus alarms after a California passenger who traveled to Mexico died this week, more than 10 days after returning home without knowledge of his exposure. Two shiploads of passengers may have been exposed. State and federal officials are scurrying to contact 2,500-plus passengers who disembarked Feb. 21 from the San Francisco-Mexico cruise at the same time as the man who died, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday. California is also keeping Grand Princess passengers on the current San Francisco-Hawaii trip in the Pacific Ocean indefinitely until state and federal officials can assess how many passengers and crew have coronavirus or have been exposed.
“We have a number of passengers and crew members who have developed symptoms on this ship,” Newsom told reporters at a briefing this afternoon to announce a state of emergency. He later specified that 11 passengers and 10 crew members had symptoms, though he described the situation as fluid. Sixty-two passengers remain on the ship from the preceding San Francisco-Mexico journey, and they have been quarantined in their rooms, according to Princess Cruises. The Grand Princess was due back tonight in San Francisco until California requested that it remain at sea as the state sends test kits, Newsom said.
A US Senator who doesn’t like capitalism at its finest. Commie!
Amazon.com should stop third-party sellers from price gouging for items like Purell hand sanitizer as people seek to protect themselves from the coronavirus, U.S. Senator Edward Markey said in a letter to the online retailer on Wednesday. A box of small Purell bottles that usually sells for $10 was listed online for $400, he said. One third-party seller listed a bottle for $600 on Wednesday afternoon. However, the Amazon brand of hand sanitizer was listed for $8.25 for a large bottle. [..] “As the world confronts the prospect of a serious and far-reaching pandemic, corporate America has a responsibility to prevent profiteering on the sales of items such as hand-sanitizer and surgical masks,” Markey wrote in his letter.
Amazon called the price-gougers “bad actors.” “There is no place for price gouging on Amazon,” a spokesman said in a statement. “We continue to actively monitor our store and remove offers that violate our policies.” Amazon said it was monitoring prices to ensure sellers complied with fair pricing policies and said that it could remove sellers who violate them. Amazon last week barred more than 1 million products that inaccurately claimed to cure or defend against the coronavirus. Amazon also removed tens of thousands of deals from merchants that it said attempted to price gouge customers.
Even Jonathan Turley doesn’t approve of this.
I like Biden claiming, in response to Bernie saying the establishment is circling the wagons for Biden, that literally everybody’s definition of the establishment is wrong: African Americans and single women in suburbia are the establishment. If you don’t boo that out of the room, who are you?
‘The establishment are all those hard-working, middle-class people, those African Americans, those single women in suburbia. They are the establishment,’ said Joe Biden.
Not as bad, though, as abusing his dead son Beau’s memory by saying Mayor Pete reminds him of Beau. Using your dead son for political games is real low.
But the real establishment are now stuck with Sleepy Joe, even though many will realize he’s roadkill.
The media and political establishment in Washington was openly celebrating what was portrayed as a near complete victory of Joe Biden over the hoards of Sanders supporters marching toward gates of the Beltway. The establishment united this week behind Biden with candidates like Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, and others rallying forces to defeat Bernie Sanders at all costs. Not since the victory over Attila the Hun at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains has the ancien regime experienced such a thrilling moment. However, the history is not good for those celebrating behind the walls of Rome.
I recently wrote how there remains a visceral distaste for the media and political establishment for many voters as they watched the concerted effort to defeat outsider candidates. That was also the case in 2016 with the effort to elect Hillary Clinton. The utter joy expressed this morning will only fuel that feeling of disenfranchisement. What we can expect is the continued strategic endorsements of establishment figures in the coming weeks and exhaustive coverage on the weakening Sanders and the surging Biden. MSNBC was particularly aggressive in framing the election night and attacking the very premise of the Sanders’ movement. MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace bizarrely claimed that there was no effort by the establishment to prop up Biden.
Wallace declared “Bernie Sanders… he has turned this idea of the establishment – he’s weaponized it against Biden,” she said. “The Democratic establishment did nothing for Joe Biden.” Really? Various establishment figures lined up behind Biden in the last week while CNN and MSNBC continued a relentless series of attacks on Sanders and his supporters. Nevertheless, host Rachel Maddow agreed that sought to downplay the concerted effort in DC to push Biden: “every headline in all political coverage all around the country is like, ‘The establishment is coalescing the establishment.” She then suggested that this is all a lie that was used against that other seemingly wrongly candidate, Hillary Clinton: “It’s what he did against Hillary Clinton in 2016 as well.”
Maddow simply dismisses the admissions of how the DNC rigged elements of the 2016 primary for Clinton or how Clinton took over the debt of the DNC to exercise such control. She also dismisses how polls showed that Clinton was widely viewed as unauthentic and the ultimate establishment figure when the public clearly wanted a change in Washington. Instead, Maddow and Wallace portray the entire movement by Sanders to be a lie. Not to be subtle, Wallace not only calls this all a lie but portrays Biden’s victory (with a long line of establishment endorsement) as a victory over the establishment: “But it’s a lie, I mean, it’s a lie. Listen, and I say this as a dispassionate former Republican who watched my party sort of implode around fake truths and false grievances, the establishment had nothing to do with Joe Biden’s victory. He’s flat broke, he has not a single ad on the air. He’s not advertising in any Super Tuesday states!”
Folks, this Bernie Sanders campaign ad with Barack Obama ad is gonna be a talker
Airing in FLORIDA now pic.twitter.com/WFt5sqJNed
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) March 4, 2020
Not a great piece, but few people understand what’s going on.
The Syrian Arab Army, a force for good, must not stop short of decisive victory in Idlib, the governorate in northwest Syria sheltering the last jihadist militias operating on Syrian soil. Russia, which is correctly (and legally) supporting the S.A.A.’s campaign, should try to avoid a direct conflict with a NATO member but should engage Turkish forces if there is no alternative. NATO, breaking its own Article 5 covenant, will not come to the aid of a member nation engaged in so despicable an assault on another sovereign nation. I am not alone in holding this opinion. Don’t forget: Most NATO members are squeamish, mealy-mouthed Europeans who have given up the ghost in Syria. It will do the entire world much good if the egregious Erdogan sustains the bloodiest nose of his six years as Turkey’s dictatorial president in consequence of this drive into Syria.
Let us say precisely the same of what remains of the U.S. presence in Syria. Excellent it will be if Washington must at last acknowledge that it has lost every chip it has put down in Syria since it began arming, training and financing a variety of vicious Islamist factions, including the Islamic State, in early 2012 at the very latest. At this point it claims to be protecting Syrian oilfields from… Syria. This is not Turkey’s first foray into Syrian territory, let us remember. It launched a similar campaign in 2016; it began another incursion last autumn. Turkey has from the start of the Syrian conflict been a conduit for arms supplies to the Islamic State and other jihadists, while transshipping Syrian oil from ISIS–controlled refineries into international markets.
[..] Erdogan has betrayed the Russians so often it is a wonder Moscow has any patience left for him. A Turkish F–16 shot down a Russian jet two months after Russian aircraft deployed in Syria five years ago. Ankara and Moscow agreed two years ago to establish a ceasefire zone in northwest Syria, with Turkey also committing to remove jihadists led by Hayat Tahrir al–Sham, formerly al–Nusra, which was formerly al–Qaeda in Syria in the name-changing shell game these cutthroats play. That accord went the way of the West (so to say) long ago.
How to make normal procedures sound scary. Yes, Russia may have send a few ships through the Bosporus, in case Erdogan would have closed it.
Wonder what will be made public about the talks today. Erdogan will declare victory no doubt. How far will Lavrov go to deny that?
Russia is racing to reinforce its troops in Syria by sea and air before talks between the Russian and Turkish leaders in Moscow on Thursday, flight data and shipping movements show. The two presidents, Vladimir Putin and Tayyip Erdogan, agreed to meet after a surge in tensions between their countries over fighting in Syria’s Idlib province between Russian-backed Syrian government forces and rebels allied to Turkey. The fighting has raised the prospect of a direct clash between their armies, which operate in close proximity on opposing sides, and Erdogan hopes the talks will yield a ceasefire in Idlib.
A Reuters analysis of flight data and correspondents’ monitoring of shipping in the Bosphorus Strait in northwestern Turkey show Russia began to step up naval and airborne deliveries to Syria on Feb. 28, the day after 34 Turkish soldiers were killed in an air strike in Syria. That incident prompted concern in Moscow that Turkey might close the Bosphorus to Russian warships and bar Russian military transport planes from using Turkish air space. The Russian Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Turkish official, who asked not to be identified, said there was no plan to close the strait, which would force Russia to take longer routes to Syria. But Russia appears to be reinforcing Syria at its fastest rate since October, when U.S. forces withdrew from some parts of Syria and Moscow scrambled to fill the vacuum.
Stalemate.
A total of 32,423 individuals were prevented from entering Greece as of Saturday morning and 231 have been arrested, Greek authorities said on Wednesday on the latest count of irregular migrants attempting to enter Greece at the Evros border region with Turkey. According to the data, from 6 a.m. on Wednesday to 6 p.m. the same day, 11 individuals were arrested in Evros, most of which have been identified as Afghani nationals. A total of 4,600 people were prevented from entering illegally in Greece during the same 12-hour period. On Wednesday, Greek authorities fired tear gas and stun grenades to thwart a crowd of migrants making a push to cross the border from Turkey, as tensions increased after Turkey declared it was allowing migrants and refugees to reach Europe.
Hedge funds buying family homes for cheap. That is Europe.
Costas runs a small bookshop in my central Athens neighbourhood. Although jovial by constitution, he finds it difficult to hide the worry lines multiplying on his face. Fifteen years ago he put his flat up as collateral for a business loan to spruce up the bookshop. When the Greek debt crisis wreaked its havoc, it was impossible to service that loan. Today, Costas is one of hundreds of thousands facing foreclosures by funds that have purchased debt like his from the banks at bargain basement prices. The bailiff and the auctioneer are circling above distressed homeowners and small business people such as Costas.
Paradox is a Greek word for good reason: today’s Greece proves that it is perfectly possible for the state and for the majority of citizens to be sinking deeper into insolvency while the oligarchy makes a mint from trading in their assets. But why would investors lend to the Greek government cheaply if it remains bankrupt?
The reason is that the troika of Greece’s creditors – the EU, European Central Bank and the IMF – have taken 85% of government debt out of the money markets and placed it squarely on the shoulders of Europe’s taxpayers. They also deferred all repayments until after 2032 and extended another €30bn of official loans to the Greek government to cover its repayments to privateers. So why not lend to the Greek government at a small, yet positive, interest rate when the alternative is to lend to the German or the Dutch governments at the current negative interest rates? As long as the Greek government remains the troika’s model prisoner, lending to Greece’s insolvent state at minuscule rates is lucrative. Paradox solved!
Turning to Greece’s private sector, how can investors profit from it if it too is bankrupt? With great ease is the answer, as Costas’s case illustrates. His loan of €100,000 was sold on by his bank to a hedge fund for €8,000. If the fund auctions off his flat for €20,000, its profit rate will hit an astonishing 250%. The fact that Costas will lose both his home and his bookshop, with detrimental effects on the state’s taxes and outlays (as he begins to draw unemployment benefit), does not even appear on the radar of the hedge fund or the international media.
Maybe down a few percentage points from 2015, but not much. Entire families living on $400-$800 a month. And no, Greece is not cheap.
Pensions remain the main source of income for half of Greece’s households, a survey by the Small Enterprises Institute of the Hellenic Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen & Merchants (IME GSEVEE) has shown. The phenomenon is linked to the particularly large number of pensioners – 2.55 million, according to official figures – and the fact that unemployment remains at high levels while salaries remain low. The survey shows that although the country has successfully concluded its third bailout, the decade-long financial crisis is still having a strong impact on Greek society. This is even more obvious in lower income brackets that continue to be at risk of serious social and economic uncertainties.
The survey was held from late December to early January, that is before the coronavirus outbreak and whatever economic impact it has had so far. The IME GSEVEE survey, conducted in association with Marc researchers, showed that 49.4 percent of households declared pensions as their main source of income, up from 49.1 percent a year earlier.
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Debt Rattle February 25 2020
February 25, 2020 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:45 am Finance Tagged with: Assange, coronavirus, Covid19, Idlib, Iran, lockdown, pandemic, recovery, SMEs, South Korea, suicide, Weinstein, Wuhan, Xi 34 Responses »
Andreas Feininger Production B-17 heavy bomber at Boeing plant, Seattle Dec 1942
• The Fall of Wuhan (Ben Hunt)
• 40-70% Of People Will Be Infected With COVID19 – Epidemiologist (Atl.)
• Xi Jinping Rings Alarm On Economy As China Shifts Priority To Growth (SCMP)
• Confusion In Wuhan As Move To Ease Coronavirus Lockdown Is Reversed (SCMP)
• How Iran’s Death Toll Came To Be The Highest Behind Only China (SCMP)
• China Overestimating Economic Recovery By Leaving Out Small Businesses (SCMP)
• South Korea To Test 200,000 Sect Members As Pandemic Fears Hit Markets (G.)
• Virus Spreads Despite Best Efforts Of Top Healthcare Systems (Fox)
• Closures Reveal Vast Scale Of China’s Secretive Wildlife Farm Industry (G.)
• Why Didn’t We See That Coming? (Kunstler)
• Airline Stocks Tumble As Coronavirus Spreads Outside Of China (CNBC)
• Weinstein To Face 8 More Allegations After New York Verdict (G.)
• US Proposals To Whitewash Idlib Terrorists Unacceptable – Lavrov (RT)
• Julian Assange ‘Suicide Risk’ If Extradited From UK To US – Lawyer (SCMP)
• Assange Fight Draws In Trump’s New Intel Chief (Pol.)
• Julian Assange ‘At High Risk Of Suicide’ If Extradited To US -Lawyer (Ind.)
Now that the MSM is slowly and finally waking up to the reality of the virus, the information to read and post and comment on, becomes overwhelming. Last week I twice took out the virus-related info to include in separate articles (Virus Rattles if you will), but today I need the extra time doing that involves, for other things.
Still, one observation: yesterday, we saw the highest daily death toll of the entire crisis. Today, we see the lowest. As Xi is pushing hard for the economy. Credibility remains a major issue.
• Cases 80,328 (+ 621 from yesterday’s 79,707).
• Deaths 2,707 (+ 81 from yesterday’s 2,626)
Ben Hunt keeps his eyes on the ball:
“..build dedicated treatment wards before they’re required..”
“..protect healthcare professionals before they get sick..”
“..update our testing and diagnostic capabilities before they are swamped..”
“..bolster our healthcare systems BEFORE the need overwhelms the capacity..”
Last week I wrote about the corrupt political response of the World Health Organization to COVID-19. This week I’m writing about the corrupt political response of the United States to COVID-19. Because it’s happened before. In August 2005, the city of New Orleans fell. New Orleans did not fall because of Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans fell because of the corrupt political response to Hurricane Katrina. “We can stabilize the situation. Again, I want to thank you all. Brownie, you’re doing a heckuva job!” – President George W. Bush. In January 2020, the city of Wuhan fell. Wuhan did not fall because of COVID-19. Wuhan fell because of the corrupt political response to COVID-19.
“Wuhan is a heroic city, and people of Hubei and Wuhan are heroic people who have never been crushed by any difficulty and danger in history. All regions and departments performed their duties actively and conscientiously.” – Xi the Commander (no, I am not making this up; this is how the Xinhua news service describes him now … “Xi the Commander”) A corrupt political response is always the same. It never changes in form. It never changes in function. A corrupt political response occurs when a political leader sacrifices national interest for regime or bureaucratic interest … when a constructed narrative of “Yay, Calm and Competent Control!” is maintained for the political benefit of the Leader at the expense of the Led.
Oh, the Leader and his flunkies will convince themselves that the narrative “is in the public interest” … that the narrative will “buy them time” … that the narrative is necessary because “the other side” would do the same or worse if given half a chance. It’s all the excuses that all the Renfields to all the professional politicians tell themselves as they slowly sell their souls. It’s what every President and every Director-General and every Senator and every CEO eventually comes to believe, that their personal interests are identical to “their” people’s interests.
[..] Every once in a very great while, an honest-to-god crisis reveals the political self-interest and mendacity behind your carefully constructed narrative of “Yay, Calm and Competent Control!” . Like the fall of New Orleans revealed George W. Bush. Like the fall of Wuhan revealed Xi Jinping. What we must prevent today is the NEXT city to fall. We must prevent the fall of Daegu. We must prevent the fall of Qom. We must prevent the fall of Milan. Looking ahead, we must prevent the fall of Yokohama. We must prevent the fall of San Francisco. Because containment has failed. What we’re seeing in South Korea, Iran and Italy is what exponential disease propagation looks like in the real world. Real world data is spiky. Real world data is messy. Real world exponential growth looks like nothing, nothing, nothing … then cluster, cluster, cluster … then BOOM!
[..] Containment has failed. And so now we must fight. As individuals that means social distancing. As individuals that means doing what we can to stay healthy and prepare for a storm. As a nation that means a war-footing to build dedicated treatment wards before they’re required, to protect healthcare professionals before they get sick, to update our testing and diagnostic capabilities before they are swamped … to do everything possible to bolster our healthcare systems BEFORE the need overwhelms the capacity. Above all, that means calling out our leaders for their corrupt political responses to date, and forcing them through our outcry to adopt an effective virus-fighting policy for OUR benefit, not theirs. We got this.
2nd-3rd scientist saying this. By then mortality rate will likely be 1% or so. But 1% of a huge number is a huge number in itself.
The Harvard epidemiology professor Marc Lipsitch is exacting in his diction, even for an epidemiologist. Twice in our conversation he started to say something, then paused and said, “Actually, let me start again.” So it’s striking when one of the points he wanted to get exactly right was this: “I think the likely outcome is that it will ultimately not be containable.” [..] Lipsitch predicts that, within the coming year, some 40 to 70 percent of people around the world will be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19. But, he clarifies emphatically, this does not mean that all will have severe illnesses. “It’s likely that many will have mild disease, or may be asymptomatic,” he said. As with influenza, which is often life-threatening to people with chronic health conditions and of older age, most cases pass without medical care. (Overall, around 14 percent of people with influenza have no symptoms.)
Lipsitch is far from alone in his belief that this virus will continue to spread widely. The emerging consensus among epidemiologists is that the most likely outcome of this outbreak is a new seasonal disease—a fifth “endemic” coronavirus. With the other four, people are not known to develop long-lasting immunity. If this one follows suit, and if the disease continues to be as severe as it is now, “cold and flu season” could become “cold and flu and COVID-19 season.” At this point, it is not even known how many people are infected. As of Sunday, there have been 35 confirmed cases in the U.S., according to the World Health Organization. But Lipsitch’s “very, very rough” estimate when we spoke a week ago (banking on “multiple assumptions piled on top of each other,” he said) was that 100 or 200 people in the U.S. were infected.
That’s all it would take to seed the disease widely. The rate of spread would depend on how contagious the disease is in milder cases. On Friday, Chinese scientists reported in the medical journal JAMA an apparent case of asymptomatic spread of the virus, from a patient with a normal chest CT scan. The researchers concluded with stolid understatement that if this finding is not a bizarre abnormality, “the prevention of COVID-19 infection would prove challenging.” Even if Lipsitch’s estimates were off by orders of magnitude, they wouldn’t likely change the overall prognosis. “Two hundred cases of a flu-like illness during flu season—when you’re not testing for it—is very hard to detect,” Lipsitch said. “But it would be really good to know sooner rather than later whether that’s correct, or whether we’ve miscalculated something.
The only way to do that is by testing.” Originally, doctors in the U.S. were advised not to test people unless they had been to China or had contact with someone who had been diagnosed with the disease. Within the past two weeks, the CDC said it would start screening people in five U.S. cities, in an effort to give some idea of how many cases are actually out there. But tests are still not widely available. As of Friday, the Association of Public Health Laboratories said that only California, Nebraska, and Illinois had the capacity to test people for the virus.
The sleight of hand used to argue for factories restarting: “Xi said that as many as 1,396 counties and districts, some 46% of the nation’s total, had not reported a single confirmed case of the coronavirus.”
President Xi Jinping has rung the alarm bell on China’s economic growth as worries mount over the coronavirus’ impact on the economy, unemployment and global supply chains. Speaking on Sunday, Xi made it clear that the priority for most of the country was to get the world’s second biggest economy up and running after extensive delays. “It is unavoidable that the novel coronavirus epidemic will have a considerable impact on the economy and society,” said Xi in a lengthy televised address that was watched by as many as 170,000 officials and published by state news agency Xinhua. But Xi, China’s most powerful leader in decades, added the country’s social and economic system “can’t be paused for a long”.
The edited version of Xi’s speech was published soon after it was delivered, reflecting the urgency of the guidelines. Containment measures including mandatory quarantine for workers, partial shutdowns of factories and transport restrictions have caused significant disruptions to the economy, which was already growing at record low levels before the virus outbreak. Xi said that as many as 1,396 counties and districts, some 46 per cent of the nation’s total, had not reported a single confirmed case of the coronavirus. These low-risk zones, along with areas with only a small number of infections, should “comprehensively restore production” and life as usual, he said. “Medium-risk” regions should resume production in an “orderly manner”, while the priority for hard-hit areas like Hubei, the province at the centre of the outbreak, was still containing the virus, he said.
Comments about Wuhan from the video:
• 40 portable incinerators X 30 corpses/incinerator/day = 1,200 corpses/day
• 100 additional portable incinerators ordered
• In addition to 47 crematories running in full capacity
• Another 1MM incinerators on the way!
And people tell me I’m exaggerating!
Just three hours after announcing that visitors trapped in Wuhan – the Chinese city at the heart of the coronavirus epidemic – could leave on Monday, authorities reversed the decision, saying it had been made without approval. The local government revoked the notice it said had been issued by a subordinate working group from the city’s disease control command centre without approval from their superiors. “The centre, headed by Wuhan mayor Zhou Xianwang, said the officials who had issued the order without authorisation had been reprimanded. “Wuhan resolutely adheres to the spirit of Chinese President Xi [Jinping] … strictly controls every exit from Wuhan and the management of personnel, in order to prevent the spread of the [coronavirus],” it said in a statement retracting the earlier notice.
Extreme lockdown measures have been in place in Wuhan – capital of Hubei and home to 11 million people – since January 23, with all residential areas quarantined and roads and transport links closed. The retracted order would have allowed non-residents who did not have symptoms of the virus and had not had contact with infected patients to leave the city. It had also said locals involved in disease control efforts or essential daily services such as utilities and the delivery of necessities, as well as those who needed specialist medical treatment outside Wuhan, could leave without permission.
[..] More than 75 per cent of deaths in China from the new coronavirus – which causes a disease known as Covid-19 – have been in Wuhan, where the outbreak is believed to have originated in December. [..] According to Taoran Notes, a social media account affiliated with the official Economic Daily newspaper, the earlier notice had been issued by one of Wuhan’s five deputy mayors without authorisation, but it did not name the official.
#MilesGuo
How many dying everyday in #Wuhan #Coronavirus?
40 portable incinerators X 30 corpses/incinerator/day
= 1,200 corpses/day
In addition to 47 crematories running in full capacity
Another 1MM incinerators on the way!
Do you still trust CCP’s numbers? pic.twitter.com/tn51nzfNZj
— Himalaya Global (@HimalayaGlobal) February 23, 2020
600 “official” cases, 50 deaths. That rhymes with Worldometer’s 9% mortality rate. But sure, it could also mean a huge amount of undetected or unconfirmed cases.
Iran has been thrust to the forefront of rising global concern about the spread of the novel coronavirus after reporting by far the most deaths of any country apart from China. Iranian health officials have confirmed 12 deaths from the Covid-19 disease among 61 cases in the country, while a parliamentarian representing the city at the centre of the outbreak in the country has claimed the death toll stands at 50. Either figure would dwarf death tolls in South Korea, Japan and Italy, until now the most severely-affected countries outside China…
After insisting as recently as last week that the country had no cases of the coronavirus, Iranian authorities on February 19 confirmed the deaths of two elderly people in the city of Qom, about 145km south of the capital Tehran, followed by more fatalities in subsequent days. On February 24, officials raised the death toll to 12, from eight the previous day – making the outbreak in Iran the deadliest outside China. Ahmad Amirabadi Farahani, a lawmaker for the city of Qom, said on the same day there had been in fact 50 deaths, claiming the government was late to announce the outbreak and his city was ill-equipped to deal with the public health emergency.
Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi disputed those claims in a press conference on state television, pledging to resign if the death toll was even one-quarter of the higher figure. [..] After officials earlier speculated about possible sources of the outbreak including Chinese workers and pilgrims from Pakistan, Iran’s health minister Saeed Namaki on Sunday said the contagion was believed to be linked to a merchant from Qom who regularly travelled between Iran and China. The Iranian, who died from the virus, had been using indirect flights to get around a ban on direct flights between the countries introduced at the end of January.
[..] The disproportionately high fatality rate in Iran’s official figures – with about one in five of those infected succumbing to the virus, compared to one in 50 in China – has been taken by some experts as a sign the true number of cases in the country is far higher than currently known. Assuming a fatality rate of about 2 per cent, the official death toll so far would translate into about 600 cases overall in Iran, about 10 times the current count.
More sleight of hand. I’ve been saying for a long time that it’s sbout SMEs, not Apple suppliers. Small firms account for at least 80% of jobs.
China’s economic recovery amid the coronavirus outbreak has likely been overstated as data only covers larger companies and excludes the vast majority of the smaller workshops and manufacturers. [..] On Monday, National Development and Reform Commission spokesman Cong Liang said that over 90 per cent of industrial enterprises in Zhejiang province, one of the country’s top manufacturing bases, had resumed operation. According to Cong, over 70 per cent of production in the manufacturing and export hubs of Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong and Liaoning had also restarted. However, the official figures only cover larger firms, namely enterprises with capacities “above state designated sizes”, which are enterprises that have a minimum annual turnover of 20 million yuan (US$2.85 million), according to the government’s official definition.
China’s state statistics system normally only covers industrial enterprises with an annual turnover above this level as they accounted for around 90 per cent of the nation’s output in terms of value. In addition, the figures concerning firms that have resumed operation overlook the level of production within a specific factory, as the official data classes a factory that may have only resumed slightly more than half of its capacity as having resumed production. [..] The smaller firms, for example, are often unable to met virus prevention conditions set by local governments, including having enough facial masks for employees. A monthly survey of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China, conducted by Standard Chartered Bank for the period up to the start of last week, found that firms were on average operating at 42 per cent, while only 47 per cent of workers had returned on average.
Please imagine how you would test 200,000 people. Do they really have that many test kits? Where do they buy them?
South Korea has stepped up its “maximum measures” to contain the coronavirus with plans to test around 200,000 members of a secretive church believed to be at the centre of the country’s outbreak. Along with an emergency budget and a crackdown on the hoarding of face masks, the government in Seoul will test members of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus after its founder agreed to provide authorities with the names of all its members in the country. It came as financial markets saw more heavy losses across Asia Pacific on Tuesday over fears the coronavirus was spreading more widely from China and will cause disruption in countries such as South Korea, the world’s 12th biggest economy.
The Nikkei in Tokyo was down 3.3% while the Shanghai Composite sank 2%. Stocks in Australia fell 1.6% and Hong Kong was also in the red although futures trading pointed to a recovery later in the day in European and US markets. In Japan, a fourth person from the Diamond Princess cruise ship died and the country’s education minister said schools with reported coronavirus cases should be temporarily closed. Koichi Hagiuda told reporters on Tuesday that education boards of Hokkaido in northern Japan and Chiba City near Tokyo have been told to take this preventive measure, NHK says.
In China, where 71 new deaths and 508 new cases were reported on Tuesday, health officials said strict control and prevention measures would remain in place in Hubei province, the epicentre of the global outbreak. The national health commission added it would also strictly control the outbound movement of people in Wuhan and other cities in Hubei province with existing traffic controls. At Tianjin University, near Beijing, scientists said they had developed an oral vaccine for Covid-19. The professor who led the project, Huang Jinhai, said the vaccine could also serve as a potential therapy for infected patients. Chinese state media said the university was looking for partners to run clinical trials.
” South Korea has a fantastic health care system. They tested over 20,000 people and ended up with over 800 positive cases. That’s showing that this is a highly contagious virus..”
Fears of a global pandemic continue to grow as coronavirus cases spike in several countries, including Italy, South Korea and Iran, as the U.S. stock market nosedived early Monday. A staggering 50 people died in the Iranian city of Qom from the new coronavirus in the month of February, Iran’s semiofficial ILNA news agency reported on Monday. The new death toll is significantly higher than the latest number of confirmed cases that Iranian officials had reported just a few hours earlier, which stood at just 12 deaths out of 47 cases, according to state TV. The 50 deaths date back as far as Feb. 13, according to an Iranian official. Iran previously reported its cases and deaths from the virus on Feb. 19.
Authorities are struggling to contain and understand the outbreak in those countries, where infected cases have skyrocketed as they have increased over 2,000 percent in the past couple of weeks. Italy is considered the site of Europe’s first major outbreak and the largest outside of Asia. The number of infected cases jumped to 152, compared to just three 10 days ago. Siegel told anchor Ed Henry that it’s even “more concerning” to hear there are more than 800 cases reported in South Korea. “I’ve been saying that it’s all about health care infrastructure, that China doesn’t have it, we have it, other Western countries have it. Well, guess what, South Korea has a fantastic health care system. They tested over 20,000 people and ended up with over 800 positive cases. That’s showing that this is a highly contagious virus that is spreading despite the best efforts of top health systems to contain it,” he said.
China is also the main market for many endangered species from elsewhere in the world. Can we please stop that too? Just boycott the country for allowing rhino, tiger and elephant body parts trade. Full boycott. Here’s our chance..
Nearly 20,000 wildlife farmsraising species including peacocks, civet cats, porcupines, ostriches, wild geese and boar have been shut down across China in the wake of the coronavirus, in a move that has exposed the hitherto unknown size of the industry. Until a few weeks ago wildlife farming was still being promoted by government agencies as an easy way for rural Chinese people to get rich. But the Covid-19 outbreak, which has now led to over 1,800 deaths and more than 72,000 known infections, is thought to have originated in wildlife sold at a market in Wuhan in early December, prompting a massive rethink by authorities on how to manage the trade. China issued a temporary ban on wildlife trade to curb the spread of the virus at the end of January and began a widespread crackdown on breeding facilities in early February.
The country’s top legislative officials are now rushing to amend the country’s wildlife protection law and possibly restructure regulations on the use of wildlife for food and traditional Chinese medicine. The current version of the law is seen as problematic by wildlife conservation groups because it focuses on utilisation of wildlife rather than its protection. “The coronavirus epidemic is swiftly pushing China to reevaluate its relationship with wildlife,” Steve Blake, chief representative of WildAid in Beijing, told the Guardian. “There is a high level of risk from this scale of breeding operations both to human health and to the impacts on populations of these animals in the wild.” Further instructions from the National People’s Congress are expected next week to give authorities more tools to enforce the ban and restrict trade until the law is amended.
“The China boom was a lot like the shale oil “miracle.” They were both great stunts. They produced a lot of stuff by borrowing from the future. Now we have all that stuff and we have to maintain it, keep if running, borrow more money to make that happen… and suddenly, that’s no longer plausible. ”
And now the Corona virus steps onstage to ramify that situation, beginning with a virtual shut-down of the excessively complex, over-engineered, just-in-time global economy. Things are not being produced and supply lines are shutting down. Car-makers outside China have a couple of weeks before their production lines halt for a lack of parts. But, of course, every other industry will have similar problems and stoppages. Many working Americans are barely getting by from one paycheck to the next. How many missed paychecks will it take for genuine hunger to kick in and desperation with it? We don’t know because the US news media has been busy conjuring the many loves of Vlad Putin.
This is getting serious now. Some of you may have noticed this morning that the stock indexes are heading into the worst open in years. Today, Mr. Market woke up, like Rip Van Winkle, and discovered that the world changed while he was sleeping. There’s a fair chance that the conditions of daily life in America will deteriorate sharply in the months ahead. We’ve been remote-viewing the empty streets of Wuhan and other Chinese cities since January, thinking it was like one of our cable-network horror shows. It’s not inconceivable that an American City, or more than one, will be subject to quarantine, or that a whole lot of people just won’t leave their houses for a period of time. Will the truckers still truck things that people need? We don’t know. How do you hold a political convention in a situation like that, or even an election?
The situation in China may be too far gone already. The country’s finances were a gigantic game of pretend. In the old Soviet Union, beloved by Bernie, the joke was, “they pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work” — not a great formula for enduring prosperity. In China, the updated joke was “we pretend to make loans, and you pretend to pay them back.” The China boom was a lot like the shale oil “miracle.” They were both great stunts. They produced a lot of stuff by borrowing from the future. Now we have all that stuff and we have to maintain it, keep if running, borrow more money to make that happen… and suddenly, that’s no longer plausible. The entire industrialized world has fallen for the debt stunt. Observers have been waiting to see what would finally provoke the unwinding of massive false promises. Looks like the wait is over.
Gee, what a surprise.
Airline stocks fell Monday as fears about the spread of the coronavirus beyond China added to worries about travel demand and the broader economy, despite a drop in fuel prices. American Airlines shares led the S&P 500 lower with an 9.8% slide in midday trading, hitting a more than four-month low. Delta Air Lines’ stock lost 7.2% to the lowest price in nearly four months, while United Airlines was off 4.3%. All U.S. airline stocks were down more sharply than the broader market. The S&P 500 fell 2.6%. Close to 80,000 cases of the virus, now known as COVID-19, have been reported along with at least 2,621 deaths. Cases outside of China, where most of the infections are located, have increased, with Italy reporting more than 220 and South Korea confirming more than 830.
Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade warned citizens not to travel to affected areas, helping drive down shares of European carriers. Budget airline easyJet lost more than 16% while rival Ryanair was down 12%. Deutsche Lufthansa fell 8.8%, British Airways’ parent, International Consolidated Airlines Group, was off 9% and Air France-KLM fell 8.4%. More than 200,000 flights to, from and within China have already been canceled because of the virus, according to aviation consulting firm Cirium, and more disruptions are possible if the virus continues to spread. The coronavirus is expected to eat into carriers’ revenue this year. Air travel demand globally is set to fall for the first time since 2009 and cost airlines some $29 billion — mostly in the Asia-Pacific region — in revenue, the International Air Transport Association warned last week.
Weinstein still has plenty money to pay for whoever he wants. They couldn’t get him on the most serious charges. Just throw away the key.
The verdict in the New York case against Harvey Weinstein is only the beginning of the movie mogul’s prosecution, with separate charges against the disgraced producer ahead in Los Angeles. In the most high-profile trial of the #MeToo movement yet, a New York jury on Monday found Weinstein guilty of third-degree rape for an attack in a New York hotel and guilty of a criminal sex act for forcing oral sex on a former television production assistant. The fallen titan of Hollywood, who was taken away in handcuffs, could face 25 years in prison and will have to register as a sex offender. Next, Weinstein is due to face a criminal case in LA, which stems from investigations by law enforcement in southern California into eight allegations.
LA prosecutors have filed charges for two incidents that allegedly occurred within a two-day period. Those charges include forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by use of force and sexual battery by restraint, carrying a potential 28-year prison sentence. It’s not yet clear how LA prosecutors plan to proceed following Monday’s verdict in New York. Weinstein could be immediately brought to California after his 11 March sentencing in New York. He could pursue a plea deal in LA after his guilty verdict in Manhattan, or he could end up facing a second trial, said Laurie Levenson, criminal law professor at Loyola Law School. Either way, it’s an uphill battle for the former movie producer, she said: “When he heads to LA, he’s already a convicted rapist.”
Putin is about to hand Erdogan an ultimatum or two. The US must go home.
Moscow will resist any attempts to whitewash the terrorists holed up in Idlib, Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, adding that engaging in talks with them as the US is hinting is out of question. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Al-Qaeda offshoot previously known as Al-Nusra, which controls Idlib, has been designated as a terrorist organization not only by the UN, but by the US itself, Lavrov said. However, officials in Washington, including the special envoy for Syria, James Jeffrey, “allow themselves statements, from which a conclusion can be made that ‘it’s not such a terrorist organization anymore’ and that dialogue with it can be established under some circumstances,” he said. “It’s not the first time we hear such hints and we consider them absolutely unacceptable.”
The foreign minister also said that another round of consultations between Russia and Turkey is currently being prepared in ordered “to agree on ways of turning Idlib into a real de-escalation where the terrorists aren’t in charge.” Tensions are high between Moscow and Ankara after Turkey sent troops to Idlib a few weeks ago amid a large-scale offensive by the Syrian military on the last terrorist stronghold in the country. The move provoked clashes between the Turkish and Syrian forces, with casualties on both sides. Ankara is demanding that Moscow pressure Damascus into ceasing its operation, while Russia has told Turkey that its promise to separate the ‘moderate opposition’ from the terrorists still remains unfulfilled.Lavrov insisted that it was no surprise for the Turkish military that the terrorists were being targeted. Earlier Russian-Turkish agreements on Idlib never envisaged that strikes against Hayat Tahrir al-Sham would stop, he added.
“Edward Fitzgerald QC: Mental state of Assange deteriorating such that there is possibility he may not be able to participate in his own trial. Defense outlines why they believe it’s unjust an oppressive to pursue trial so long after alleged offenses..”
“Julian Assange faces life in prison for publishing true information that was in the public interest..if truth becomes treason we are all in trouble.”
Still, making it all against Trump doesn’t seem the wisest move. Try US Intel. Obviously, Trump’s role is terrible as well, but Assange went into the Embassy in 2012. Trump became president in 2017.
Julian Assange should not be extradited to the United States as he would not get a fair trial and would be a suicide risk, his lawyer told a British court hearing on Monday. Assange’s lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald, said extradition would expose Assange to inhumane and degrading treatment by a disproportionate sentence and prison conditions. Fitzgerald said the extradition request was motivated by politics rather than any genuine crimes. He said it would be unjust and oppressive to extradite him because of his mental state and risk of suicide. He said the US attitude to Assange had changed when Donald Trump came to power and that the US president wanted to make an example of his client.
Fitzgerald said in 2013 the US government under former President Barack Obama had decided that Assange should not face any action. But that in 2017, after the 2016 election of Trump, an indictment was brought against Assange. Why the change? “The answer is President Trump came into power with a new approach to freedom of speech and a new hostility to the press amounting effectively to declaring war on investigative journalists,” Fitzgerald said. The indictment was brought, “not on the basis of new revelations, but because it had become politically expedient and desirable,” Fitzgerald said.
The background Assange’s lawyers will provide. They promise big surprises.
Attorneys for Julian Assange [..] plan to introduce evidence in the WikiLeaks founder’s extradition hearing involving President Donald Trump’s new intel chief Richard Grenell. Gareth Peirce, a lawyer representing Assange in his extradition proceedings in London, plans to argue this week that the process to try to extradite her client was abused from early on. Representatives for Assange’s defense team say they expect to introduce recordings and screenshots of communications of a close Grenell associate, including a secondhand claim that Grenell was acting on the president’s orders. Grenell’s sudden embroilment in Assange’s extradition fight comes at an inconvenient time, as Democrats and national security veterans criticize him as ill-suited and unqualified to be the acting director of national intelligence.
And it threatens to spotlight his close relationship with President Trump, feeding the widespread perception that the president is politicizing intelligence work for partisan ends. At the heart of the Assange team’s argument is an ABC News report from last April alleging that, while serving as Trump’s ambassador to Germany, Grenell told Assange’s Ecuadorean hosts that the U.S. government would not pursue the death penalty for Assange if Ecuador allowed British officials to enter its embassy in London and arrest him. Assange’s legal team will claim that Grenell’s role was more extensive than previously known, and that it corrupted the extradition process early on. The suggestion will be that the U.S. was so desperate to get Assange in its custody that American officials, via Grenell, agreed in advance to take a particular sentence off the table before even allowing a trial and sentencing to play out.
The WikiLeaks founder’s attorneys are also expected to present evidence that they believe shows Trump explicitly tasked Grenell with making the offer, thereby politicizing the process. One of Assange’s lawyers, Edward Fitzgerald, hinted at this argument in his opening statement on Monday, when he said that Assange’s prosecution was “not motivated by genuine concerns for criminal justice but politics.” The evidence submitted this week will include new materials submitted to Assange’s legal team by political activist and journalist Cassandra Fairbanks, a staunch defender of Assange who has worked for the Russian state-run news site Sputnik and the far-right outlet Gateway Pundit. She is expected to be listed as a formal witness in the case.
Fairbanks recorded two phone calls she had with one of Grenell’s close associates, Arthur Schwartz, and took screenshots of their conversations about Assange and Grenell. [..] Schwartz appeared to grow frustrated and fearful after Fairbanks tweeted, on Sept. 10, 2019, that Grenell “was the one who worked out the deal for Julian Assange’s arrest.” “I don’t want to go to jail,” Schwartz told Fairbanks in a September 2019 phone call, accusing her of posting “classified information” in the tweet. Fairbanks posted the tweet around the time Grenell’s name was being floated to replace John Bolton as Trump’s national security adviser. “Please. I’m begging you,” Schwartz says in the recording. “They look at you, they see that we speak, that’s bad.”
The US is trying to make this about the risk Assange has exposed sources to. But in 2013, even anti-Assange paper the Guardian said
The US counter-intelligence official who led the Pentagon’s review into the fallout from the WikiLeaks disclosures of state secrets told the Bradley Manning sentencing hearing on Wednesday that no instances were ever found of any individual killed by enemy forces as a result of having been named in the releases.
Not only did none of them die, they weren’t even hurt. It’s all a fable, coming from US intel hiding behind state secret veils. The actual story for at least some of the releases is more or less the opposite: that Assange spent entire sleepless nights redactingout namea and details in docs that sources like the Guardian wanted to publish in full.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is at “high risk of suicide” if he is sent to the US to face claims he endangered the lives of whistleblowers around the world, a court has heard. At an extradition hearing in London, Assange’s lawyers argued he is the victim of a politically motivated prosecution that forms part of Donald Trump’s “war on investigative journalists”. But the US government claimed some sources had “disappeared” after the WikiLeaks founder put them at risk of “serious harm, torture or even death” by leaking classified information. James Lewis QC, opening the case against Assange, said on Monday that information published by WikiLeaks was useful to enemies of the US.Mr Lewis told Woolwich Crown Court, which is sitting as a magistrates’ court, that most of the charges related to “straightforward criminal activity” in a “conspiracy to steal from and hack into” the Department of Defence computer system.
“These are ordinary criminal charges and any person, journalist or source who hacks or attempts to gain unauthorised access to a secure system, or aids and abets others to do so, is guilty of computer misuse,” the barrister said. “Reporting or journalism is not an excuse for criminal activities or a licence to break ordinary criminal laws.” Mr Lewis said that the US identified hundreds of “at-risk and potentially at-risk people” around the world due to WikiLeaks’ actions and made efforts to warn them of the danger they faced. “The US is aware of sources, whose redacted names and other identifying information was contained in classified documents published by WikiLeaks, who subsequently disappeared, although the US can’t prove at this point that their disappearance was the result of being outed by WikiLeaks,” he added.
John Shipton, #JulianAssange's Father gives an update on the extradition proceedings. #DontExtradateAssange pic.twitter.com/eiLZelFE0B
— Don't Extradite Assange (@DEAcampaign) February 24, 2020
Size matters.
February 24, 2020 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:43 am Finance Tagged with: Aboriginals, Assange, Bernie, China, coronavirus, diabetes, Iran, Italy, lockdown, Modi, North Korea, Trump, workers, Wuhan, Xi 29 Responses »
John Vachon Rain. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1941
• Wuhan Eases Coronavirus Lockdown As Xi Warns Of Historic ‘Crisis’ (G.)
• Large Parts Of China Relax Coronavirus Curbs, Many Report Zero New Cases (R.)
• Coronavirus China’s Fastest-Spreading Public Health Crisis – Xi Jinping (SCMP)
• Chinese Workers Refuse To Go Back To Work Despite Beijing’s Demands (ZH)
• Coronavirus Credit Crunch Hits Millions Of Chinese Firms (BBC)
• 85% Of Chinese Businesses Set To Run Out Of Cash In 3 Months (ZH)
• “Tsunami-Like” Coronavirus Floods South Korea With New Cases (ZH)
• COVID19 Did Not Originate In Wuhan Seafood Market – Chinese Scientists (SCMP)
• Austria Stops Passenger Train Traffic With Italy Amid Coronavirus Panic (RT)
• North Korea Quarantines Foreigners Amid Virus Fears (BBC)
• Record Two Million Britons At Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes (Ind.)
• What If Bernie Has Already Won This Thing? (Hill)
• Chris Matthews Faces Calls For Resignation (Hill)
• Chief Magistrate In Assange Case Was Funded By Shadowy Groups (DMav)
• An End of Aboriginal Rights and Title (IC)
Before we get to the virus news, an observation: I was watching Trump arrive in India today on CNN, and thought: poor CNN, they have no choice but to cover this. How can they make him look bad now? Imagined Jeff Zucker, who wanted ONLY impeachment news as that circus went on, pacing up and down his office trying to find an angle. Then they found it: one of the talking heads said Trump and Modi are both right-wing populists who don’t like Muslims! AND they made sure that during Trump’s speech a bit later, there was always a talking head talking, so nobody could hear what Trump said. Well done!
As the virus continues to spread, rapidly, China starts to relax lockdown measures in certain regions, citing zero new cases there. For some reason this coincides with plummeting western stock markets and an incredible surge in gold (almost 3%). “As virus fears mount” says the media. “As China relaxes lockdown measures”, says I.
In reality, China makes a Russian roulette (Chinese roulette?) kind of gamble. Beijing realizes that if it doesn’t restart the economy real fast now, problems risk becoming insurmountable. So they say: no new cases in 1-2 days? Let’s go! Workers are less eager to get back, however. After all, they see President Xi declaring this the biggest health crisis, and 2 minutes later telling them it’s safe to take the subway or bus to work.
South Korea (red alert, 800 cases), Italy (152 cases) and Iran (12 deaths) are in various stages of exponential outbreak, and maybe Japan should be in that list as well, if only because infections aboard the Diamond Princess rose to 691. Oh well, maybe it’s good news that the Worldometer mortality rate has dropped to 9% (see below).
Turkey, Pakistan have closed borders with Iran, while Austria and soon others closed them with Italy. Note that the Schengen Treaty is under severe threat from this. Oh, and Axios reports shortages of 150 essential drugs likely.
• Deaths 2,626 (+ 162 from yesterday’s 2,464, a sharp rise from 102)
Note: Worldometer mortality rate has dropped to 9%
The vast majority of cases and deaths are still in Hubei province, but who cares, we must produce. The economy forces us into the worst possible decisions.
Wuhan, the centre of the coronavirus outbreak in China, has loosened lockdown measures and several provinces have lowered their emergency alert levels, as top officials sought to assure the public that the virus is being contained. On Monday, China’s National Health Commission reported its highest number of deaths in 11 days, with another 150 dead and 409 new cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in China to 77,150. All but one of the fatalities and 11 of the new infections were in Hubei province, the centre of the outbreak.
Officials had delayed the daily announcement of the data, a day after a major speech and meeting held by China’s leader, Xi Jinping. Xi warned the Covid-19 crisis was “both a crisis and a big test” for the country, according to Xinhua News agency. Xi said the virus was a major public health emergency, which had spread quickly, causing the most extensive and difficult-to-contain infection since the founding of the People’s Republic of China. “The outbreak of novel coronavirus pneumonia will inevitably have a relatively big impact on the economy and society,” Xi said, but added that the impact would be temporary and generally manageable. Some observers greeted Monday’s figures with scepticism and as part of efforts to project a sense of control over the crisis. Chinese officials have twice changed the criteria for confirmed infections, making the data harder to parse.
Key: “China’s GDP may slow in the first quarter, possibly easing to 3% growth or even lower..”
Urged to restore economic activity by President Xi Jinping, large parts of China relaxed curbs on transport and movement of people on Monday as reported new cases of the coronavirus outside the worst-hit province fell to the lowest in a month. Figures released by the national health authority on Monday showed 24 out of China’s 31 provinces and regions – including Beijing, Shanghai and populous provinces such as Henan and Anhui – reported zero cases of new infections on Feb. 23, the best showing since it began publishing nationwide figures on Jan. 20. There were just 11 new cases in six other provincial-level jurisdictions, while in Hubei province, the epicenter of the epidemic, the number of new cases fell to 398 from 630 a day earlier.
On Sunday, President Xi hailed the positive trend, and urged businesses to resume work and safeguard jobs. He also told low-risk provinces to restore economic activity and output, while high-risk regions focused on controlling the epidemic. Yunnan, Guangdong, Shanxi and Guizhou on Monday lowered their coronavirus emergency response measures from the most serious level, joining the provinces of Gansu and Liaoning in relaxing restrictions on traffic and movement of people. The coronavirus has infected nearly 77,000 people and killed more than 2,500 in China in one of the most serious public health crises in decades. The pathogen has also spread to other countries such as South Korea, Italy and Iran. Whether or not China can defeat the epidemic is “a major test of (Communist) Party organizations, party members and cadres of all levels,” Xi said, warning officials to avoid complacency.
In the rest of China, factories, businesses and construction sites have already gradually restarted. Large state-owned enterprises have been told to spearhead a recovery in industry while policymakers roll out measures to support struggling small and medium-sized companies. China’s GDP may slow in the first quarter, possibly easing to 3% growth or even lower, from 6% in the previous quarter – which was already the weakest pace in nearly 30 years, economists estimated. “The risk is that, with the emphasis on the economy and a differentiation of regions based on the number of new infection cases, the quality of new infection data reported by local governments could be compromised again,” Nomura wrote in a research note. “Cover-ups could lead to slack preventions…” it said.
But do go to work!
In a meeting on an unprecedented scale, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the coronavirus epidemic was the country’s most serious public health crisis and promised more pro-growth policies to help overcome it. According to state news agency Xinhua, Xi’s address via teleconference on Sunday was open to every county government and every military regiment throughout the country. He said the epidemic was “the fastest spreading, with the most infected and was the most difficult to prevent and control” since the founding of the People’s Republic. “This is a crisis for us and it is also a major test,” he said, acknowledging that the country needed to learn from the “obvious shortcomings exposed” in its response, so it could improve its ability to handle future crises. But Xi also told the Communist Party cadres that “the party Central Committee’s assessment of the epidemic is accurate, all the work arrangements are timely, and the measures adopted are effective”.
“The effectiveness of the prevention and control work has once again demonstrated the significant advantages of the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the socialist system with Chinese characteristics,” he said. He said that controlling the outbreak in the central Chinese city of Wuhan and the wider province of Hubei as well as preventing the epidemic from spreading to Beijing, China’s political centre, were the country’s top two strategic goals. “First, [we must] resolutely curb the spread of epidemic … increase the rate of treatment and cure, and reduce the infection and death rates effectively in Hubei and Wuhan,” he said. “Second, [we need to] make every effort to prevent and control the spread in Beijing … strengthen joint defenses and control in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and cut off the source of infection as much as possible.”
Your virus or your money…
When we commented earlier that the coronavirus pandemic means that the vast majority of Chinese small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have at most 2-3 months of cash left, a potentially catastrophic outcome that will not only crippled China’s economy but its $40 trillion financial system, we summarized the circular quandary in which Beijing finds itself, to wit: “… unless China reboots its economy, it faces an economic shock the likes of which it has never seen before in modern times. Yet it can’t reboot the economy unless it truly stops the viral pandemic, something it will never be able to do if it lies to the population that the pandemic is almost over in hopes of forcing people to get back to work. Hence the most diabolic Catch 22 for China’s social and economic system, because whereas until now China could easily lie its way out of any problem, in this case lying will only make the underlying (viral pandemic) problem worse as sick people return to work, only to infect even more co-workers, forcing even more businesses to be quarantined.”
Shockingly (or perhaps not at all in light of China’s tremendous human rights record), Beijing has picked output over life expectancy, and in a furious scramble to restart its economy, which as we showed earlier remains flatlined… … according to most high-frequency metrics, it has been “advising” people to get back to work, even as new coronavirus cases are still coming in, in the process threatening to blow out the current epidemic with orders of magnitude more cases as places of employment become the new hubs of viral distribution.
As Bloomberg picked up late on Sunday, following what we said earlier namely that “local governments around the country face a daunting question of whether to focus on staving off the virus or encourage factory reopenings” China’s central and local governments are one again easing the criteria for factories to resume operations “as they walk a tightrope between containing a virus that has killed more than 2,400 people and preventing a slump in the world’s second-largest economy.” This schizophrenic dilemma for a government which faces two equally terrible choices, was best summarized by the following two banners observed in China:
Banner 1 says: “If you go out messing around now, expect grass on your grave to grow soon.“ Banner 2 says, “Sitting at home eats up all your have, hurry up go out & find a job.” The slogan changes as frequently as they change the criteria for #COVID19 diagnosis. #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/2VnB5jZ0zz
— 曾錚 Jennifer Zeng (@jenniferatntd) February 23, 2020
And yet, even with both options equally terrible, Beijing also has no choice but to pick one. As a result, as Bloomberg writes, “the rush to restart has been propelled by China’s leader Xi Jinping and top leaders, who are urging companies to resume production so the country can continue to meet lofty goals for growth and economic development in 2020.” Regular Zero Hedge readers know the rest: with most of Chinese economic output paralyzed, officials in China’s provinces have taken up Xi’s call, with one region after another relaxing rules that had kept more than half the nation’s industrial base idle following the Lunar New Year holiday.
Why I warn for too much focus on Apple and iPhones: “Small- and medium-sized companies account for 60% of the economy and 80% of jobs..”
Mounting debts have hit Chinese companies struggling to pay workers and suppliers amid the coronavirus outbreak. President Xi Xinping said on Sunday that China faces a “big test” to combat the virus. The government has asked banks to offer more credit for an economy stunned as the virus spreads rapidly. But a survey of small and medium Chinese firms found millions at the edge of survival. The Chinese Association of Small and Medium Enterprises said around 60% could cover regular payments for only one to two months before running out of cash. Only 10% said they could hold out six months or longer. At the same time, the industry group said that “nearly 60% of the enterprises (surveyed) have resumed work.” Small- and medium-sized companies in China are a particular focus because they account for 60% of the economy and 80% of jobs, according to the People’s Bank of China.
“..as of last Monday, only about 25% of people had returned to work in China’s tier-one cities..”
And here is the stark reality of China’s T-minus 3 months countdown: 85% of 1,506 SMEs surveyed in early February said they expect to run out of cash within three months, according to a report by Tsinghua University and Peking University. And forget about profits for the foreseeable future: one-third of the respondents said the outbreak is likely to cut into their full-year revenue by more than 50%, according to the Nikkei. “Most SMEs in China rely on operating revenue and they have fewer sources for funding” than large companies and state-owned enterprises, said Zhu Wuxiang, a professor at Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management and a lead author of the report.
The problem with sequential supply chains is that these also apply to the transfer of liquidity: employers need to pay landlords, workers, suppliers and creditors – regardless of whether they can regain full production capacity anytime soon. Any abrupt and lasting delays will wreak havoc on China’s economic ecosystem. “The longer the epidemic lasts, the larger the cash gap drain will be,” Zhu said, adding that companies affected by the trade war face a greater danger of bankruptcy because many are already heavily indebted. “Self-rescue will not be enough. The government will need to lend help.”
So where are we nearly two months after the epidemic started? Well, as of last Monday, only about 25% of people had returned to work in China’s tier-one cities, according to an estimate by Japanese brokerage Nomura, based on data from China’s Baidu. By the same time last year, 93% were back on the job. And making matters worse, as we first noted several weeks ago, local governments around the country face a daunting question of whether to focus on staving off the virus or encourage factory reopenings, as the following tweet perfectly captures.
“..bringing the total of 763, a 25-fold increase in cases in one week,..”
Update (2200ET): In a release that was about 4 hours late, China’s Hubei province said it has 398 New Coronavirus Cases As Of Feb 23 and 149 New Coronavirus Deaths. Overall, China reported an additional 409 coronavirus cases across the entire nation, and 150 additional deaths as of February 23 vs. 648 additional cases and 97 deaths on February 22. This brings the total number of cases across China to 77,150, and total deaths to 2592. None of these numbers are even remotely credible any more, and serve merely the propaganda purpose of giving the impression that Beijing is winning the war against the spread of the Coronavirus, when in reality nobody has any idea anymore what is going on on the ground in China, and is why workers refuse to show up to their place of business.
Consider this: two days ago, WaPo reporters pointed to a clear case of manipulation where the authorities suppressed the true number of cases. Authorities in Hubei province reported good news Thursday: There were only 349 new coronavirus cases the previous day, the lowest tally in weeks. The bad – and puzzling – news? Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, reported 615 new cases all by itself. And then there was the Hunan doctor who said he had treated no less than 50 patients with coronavirus on the same day official data reported just one new case.
Update (2015 ET): The epidemic in South Korea is accelerating exponentially, with the country reporting 161 additional virus cases, bringing the total of 763, a 25-fold increase in cases in one week, along with two more deaths bringing the death toll there to seven. The Kospi is continuing its decline and is down 3.0% and approached the 2100 level on the downside. More ominously, the number of cases under inspection is nearly 10,000. Earlier in the day, S.Korea elevated the virus alert level to “red”, the highest in its four-tier system. According to Yonhap, in escalating the virus alert level, President Moon said, “a few days from now is a watershed moment.” In the first 30 days, S. Korea seemed to have been effectively combating the Covid-19. But within the past few days, the number of confirmed cases spiked, first linked to a religious sect and now starting to spread across the country. Yet, the city of Daegu and the Gyeongbuk area have a higher concentration of virus cases – representing 84% of the total number of infections – than other regions.
Let’s check that lab, shall we?
The novel coronavirus that has claimed the lives of more than 2,400 people did not originate at a seafood market in the central China city of Wuhan as was first thought, according to a new study by a team of Chinese scientists. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was instead imported from elsewhere, said researchers from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Institute for Brain Research. The team, led by Dr Yu Wenbin, sequenced the genomic data of 93 SARS-CoV-2 samples provided by 12 countries in a bid to track down the source of the infection and understand how it spreads.
What they found was that while the virus had spread rapidly within the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, there had also been two major population expansions on December 8 and January 6. According to the study, which was published on the institute’s website on Thursday, analysis suggested that the coronavirus was introduced from outside the market. “The crowded market then boosted SARS-CoV-2 circulation and spread it to the whole city in early December 2019,” it said. Earlier reports by Chinese health authorities and the World Health Organisation said that the first known patient showed symptoms on December 8, and that most of the subsequent cases had links to the seafood market, which was closed on January 1.
The research went on to say that based on the genome data it was possible that the virus began spreading from person to person in early December or even as early as late November. “The study concerning whether Huanan market is the only birthplace of SARS-CoV-2 is of great significance for finding its source and determining the intermediate host, so as to control the epidemic and prevent it from spreading again,” the research team said.
Note the use of the word “panic”.
Authorities in Austria have stopped an incoming train at the Italian border, after it emerged that two passengers may be infected with the Covid-19 coronavirus. Later, all train traffic to and from Italy was halted.
The Eurocity 86 train was stopped at the Brenner Pass border crossing on Sunday, after officials at Italian State Railways told their Austrian counterparts that two passengers on board had fever symptoms consistent with the Covid-19 coronavirus.The train, bound for Munich in Germany, was halted and returned to the Italian side of the alpine crossing, Interior Minister Karl Nehammer confirmed.
Austrian authorities later stopped all train traffic to and from Italy, tabloid newspaper OE24 said on its website. The stoppage marks the first time European borders have been shut following the outbreak of the deadly disease, which surfaced in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 and has to date spread to more than 30 countries worldwide, killing nearly 2,500 people. At least 100 cases and three deaths have been recorded in Italy, making the Mediterranean country Europe’s coronavirus hotspot, and the only European country to see fatalities. Cities and towns in the northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto have been placed on lockdown, and Venice’s world-famous carnival has ended two days early, as authorities grapple to stop the spread of the illness.
In Milan, grocery stores were emptied by panic-stricken shoppers, and shortages of disinfectant and respirators have been reported. Europe’s largely porous borders could pose a serious risk for further transmission across the continent. However, EU officials have told the public that “there is no need to panic.” “The EU has full confidence in the Italian authorities and the decisions they are taking,” the bloc’s economic affairs commissioner, Paolo Gentiloni, said on Sunday.
If they have an outbreak, will we ever know?
North Korea has quarantined 380 foreigners in a bid to stop the coronavirus from breaking out. The foreigners are mostly diplomats stationed in the capital Pyongyang, said news agency Yonhap, quoting the Korean Central Broadcasting Station. Around 200 foreigners had already been confined to their compounds for the past 30 days – but as that came to an end, the quarantine has been extended. There have not been any reported cases of Covid-19 in North Korea. It’s not known how long the new quarantine for foreigners will last. [..] North Korea has not confirmed any cases – but there are clearly fears of it spreading, as the country shares a border with China.
All foreigners coming into the country must be quarantined for 30 days. There are relatively few foreigners in North Korea, and only around 200 westerners, according to one expert. North Korean authorities have also cancelled the annual Pyongyang marathon, which typically sees people from all over the world participating. Around 3,000 people in North Pyongan province – a north-western region bordering China – are also now under monitoring for reportedly showing suspected symptoms, said state media.
Reminds me of a doctor in the southern States who said a few years ago: We’re raising a generation of blind amputees.
A record number of people are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, increasing their chances of suffering a heart attack or stroke, the NHS has warned. A “growing obesity crisis” has led to nearly two million people in England being exposed to the condition that causes the level of sugar in the blood to become too high. As part of efforts to tackle the problem, a radical new liquid diet will be available on the NHS to put type 2 diabetes into remission. Five thousand patients will be restricted to 800 calories per day for three months in a pilot to be rolled out from April.
This will be followed by a further nine months of support to help them maintain weight loss. According to new NHS figures, there are 1,969,610 patients registered with a GP who have non-diabetic hyperglycaemia, a condition that puts people at risk of type 2 diabetes. The health service warned the problem could become greater still due to the rise in obesity levels. Projections indicate the growing number of diabetes sufferers could lead to 39,000 extra people suffering a heart attack in 2035 and more than 50,000 experiencing a stroke. One in six hospital beds are now occupied by someone with diabetes, the NHS said.
If it were just about the votes, sure.
Virtually all of the political oxygen in the room over the past two weeks has been consumed by former NYC mayor Mike Bloomberg’s recent rise in the polls. After skipping almost an entire year of campaigning, more than half a dozen debates, as well as the first four caucuses and primaries, suddenly Bloomberg is finding himself taken seriously. Spending nearly half a billion dollars will buy you some attention, it turns out. Certainly, Bloomberg is due for scrutiny, with his extensive history of horrifying statements about the trans community, the financial collapse, stop and frisk, sexual harassment, the NSA — honestly pick a topic and Bloomberg has been on the wrong side of it…
…but I want you to consider the possibility that this 24/7 Bloomberg media frenzy is hiding the real story of the 2020 Democratic primary: Has Bernie Sanders already won this thing? I know. I know. I’m probably getting ahead of myself. We hit Nevada, but we’re still waiting on a Super Tuesday and the truly delegate-rich states. There’s a lot of campaign left to be had, and any number of twists and turns could develop between now and the (possibly contested) Dem convention. But hear me out. By every traditional standard, Bernie Sanders is in a stronger position at this point in the primary process than any Democratic candidate stretching back decades. Bernie received the most votes in the disastrous Iowa caucuses and won the New Hampshire primary as well.
South Carolina follows, and while Bernie is not yet positioned to definitively take first there, he has turned Biden’s once-dominant lead into an effective tie. In the most delegate-rich Super Tuesday states, the RealClearPolitics polling average for California has Bernie up by 12, and Texas effectively tied between Sanders and Biden. He’s looking quite strong in a number of other states. Nationally, Bernie Sanders now holds a 15 point lead over second-place Joe Biden. That’s a jump of 8 points in just one month, as Biden has plummeted. The story is effectively the same when you turn to the much talked about “electability” measure, with Bernie now leading at 30 percent when asked who has the best chance to defeat Donald Trump.
Bernie the Jewish anti-semite.
MSNBC’s Chris Matthews is under fire after comparing Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) decisive win in the Nevada caucuses to the Nazi invasion of France in 1940, with some on social media calling for the “Hardball” host to resign. “I was reading last night about the fall of France in the summer of 1940,” Matthews said during MSNBC’s live coverage of the caucuses on Saturday. “And the general, Reynaud, calls up Churchill and says, ‘It’s over.’ And Churchill says, ‘How can that be? You’ve got the greatest army in Europe. How can it be over?’ He said, ‘It’s over.'” Criticism quickly poured in on social media over Matthews using the analogy.
Sanders, who is Jewish, had most of his family killed in the Holocaust. One such response came from Mike Casca, who serves as Sanders’s 2020 communications director. “..never thought part of my job would be pleading with a national news network to stop likening the campaign of a jewish presidential candidate whose family was wiped out by the nazis to the third reich…but here we are.”
Please let something good come out of Julian’s extradition hearing today. Only 16 spots for the media, that’s not a good sign.
The senior judge overseeing the extradition proceedings of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange received financial benefits from two partner organisations of the British Foreign Office before her appointment, it can be revealed. It can further be revealed that Lady Emma Arbuthnot was appointed Chief Magistrate in Westminster on the advice of a Conservative government minister with whom she had attended a secretive meeting organised by one of these Foreign Office partner organisations two years before. Liz Truss, then Justice Secretary, “advised” the Queen to appoint Lady Arbuthnot in October 2016. Two years before, Truss — who is now Trade Secretary — and Lady Arbuthnot both attended an off-the-record two-day meeting in Bilbao, Spain.
The expenses were covered by an organisation called Tertulias, chaired by Lady Arbuthnot’s husband — Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom, a former Conservative defence minister with extensive links to the British military and intelligence community exposed by WikiLeaks. Tertulias, an annual forum held for political and corporate leaders in the UK and Spain, is regarded by the UK Foreign Office as one of its “partnerships”. The 2014 event in Bilbao was attended by David Lidington, the Minister for Europe, while the Foreign Office has in the past funded Lord Arbuthnot’s attendance at the forum. The Foreign Office has long taken a strong anti-Assange position, rejecting UN findings in his favour, refusing to recognise the political asylum given to him by Ecuador, and even labelling Assange a “miserable little worm”.
Lady Arbuthnot also benefited financially from another trip with her husband in 2014, this time to Istanbul for the British-Turkish Tatlidil, a forum established by the UK and Turkish governments for “high level” individuals involved in politics and business. Both Tertulias and Tatlidil are secretive gatherings about which little is known and are not obviously connected — but Declassified has discovered that the UK address of the two organisations has been the same. Lady Arbuthnot personally presided over Assange’s case as judge from late 2017 until mid-2019, delivering two controversial rulings. Although she is no longer personally hearing the Assange extradition proceedings, she remains responsible for supporting and guiding the junior judges in her jurisdiction. Lady Arbuthnot has refused to declare any conflicts of interest in the case.
The new revelations follow previous investigations by Declassified showing that Lady Arbuthnot received gifts and hospitality in relation to her husband from a military and cybersecurity company exposed by WikiLeaks. Declassified also revealed that the Arbuthnots’ son is linked to an anti-data leak company created by the UK intelligence establishment and staffed by officials recruited from US intelligence agencies behind that country’s prosecution of the WikiLeaks founder.
Canada’s Supreme Court was very clear in 1997. But various governments, including Trudeau’s, piss on them. Love the photo, and the cape.
• No Surrender: An End of Aboriginal Rights and Title (IC)
The Wet’suwet’en Nation has never signed treaties or ceded territory to the Canadian government — a fact that its leaders have defended fiercely in court as well as on the ground. Its hereditary chiefs were behind a landmark Supreme Court of Canada decision in 1997 known as Delgamuukw vs. the Queen, which recognized the existence of aboriginal title, whereby Indigenous people have the right to “exclusive use and occupation” of territory. However, because of a technicality, the court did not resolve the boundaries of the Wet’suwet’en’s claim to 8,500 square miles of land, stating that title would have to be sought through separate legal or treaty-making proceedings, which were never completed.
Documents obtained by the Canadian publication The Narwhal show that the Delgamuukw decision sent chills through Canadian extractive industries. The documents indicate that the government of British Columbia, a province largely made up of unceded territory, rushed to reassure industry officials, inviting them to provide input on a treaty-making process meant to settle questions over authority on unceded land. In one memo, describing a meeting held in the wake of the ruling, Marlie Beets, then vice-president of the B.C. Council of Forest Industries, told B.C. officials that Indigenous nations must hand over their land to Canada. “The decision makes the need for certainty through surrender all the more clear,” she said. “We see no other alternative.”
Other industries echoed the alarm. “The oil and gas industry in particular has expressed concern about their ability to continue to do business in the province absent a clear direction from the government on how it will address the implications of the Delgamuukw decision,” stated a memo by a Delgamuukw strategy team formed by the government. At a meeting set up by British Columbia’s treaty officials, one lawyer, whose client is unclear, underlined that “what is needed is a clear exchange and an end of Aboriginal rights and title for a defined set of treaty rights.”
Ts’akë ze’ Howihkat, Freda Huson, passes an installation of red dresses as she waits for police to enforce Coastal GasLink’s injunction at the Unist’ot’en healing center on Feb. 9, 2020. The red dresses are a symbol of the thousands of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Photo: Amber Bracken
February 18, 2020 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:11 am Finance Tagged with: Apple, Assange, Bezos, coronavirus, Covid19, cruise ship, quarantine, Twitter, whistleblower, Wikileaks, Wuhan 18 Responses »
Jack Delano Entrance to colored drivers’ lunchroom at truck service station on U.S. 1 (New York Avenue) 1940
• 338 Americans Flown Home From Cruise Ship, Including 14 With Coronavirus (R.)
• US Breaks Cruise Ship Quarantine (ZH)
• Virus Kills Chinese Film Director and Family in Wuhan (Chow)
• Disease Modelers See The Future Of COVID-19 (STAT)
• China Faces Back To Work Concerns As Firms Report Coronavirus Infections (SCMP)
• Apple Unlikely To Meet Revenue Guidance Due To Coronavirus Impact (R.)
• American Factories In China Unable To Staff Production Lines (SCMP)
• At Stake (Jim Kunstler)
• Senate Braces For Fight Over Impeachment Whistleblower Testimony (Hill)
• NYC Taxpayers Spend Millions on Cyber Center with Ties to Israeli Intel (Webb)
• WikiLeaks Locked Out of Twitter Account One Week Before Assange Hearing (GP)
• Doctors Call For End Of Assange ‘Torture’ (AAP)
• Julian Assange Must Be Freed, Not Betrayed (John Pilger)
• Amazon’s Bezos Pledges $10 Billion To Climate Change Fight (R.)
Actually saw a Reuters headline that said “Coronavirus Infections Slow In China…”, and I thought: why would you say that, the number of new cases is still above 2,000, in spite of all the measures and containment and quarantines in the country.
But it was probably because of the second part of the headline that said “…As Apple Warns Of iPhone Shortages”. That’s what it took for people to take notice, though iPhones are a poor indicator of the economic consequences of the virus; the Big Hurt won’t be in the biggest firms. Look around your home and your stores and see how much stuff come from China. iPhones are but a blip on that radar.
Obviously, another matter people notice is the evacuation of Americans and other people from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokohama. If only because it allows CNN and BBC to endlessly lament the “terrible ordeal” their compatriots have endured. As entire families in Wuhan have been wiped out, and people are banned from any social activities.
• Cases 73,433 (+ 2,103 from yesterday)
• Deaths 1,873 (+ 98 from yesterday)
The Westerdam cruise ship unwind is even crazier than the Diamond Princess, and that’s saying something.
More than 300 Americans who had been stuck on a cruise ship affected by the coronavirus were back in the United States on Monday, flown to U.S. military bases for two more weeks of quarantine after spending the previous 14 days docked in Japan. Among those repatriated on a pair of U.S.-chartered jets were 14 people who tested positive for the fast-spreading virus, seven on each plane. The Diamond Princess cruise ship held by far the largest cluster of cases outside China, with more than 400 people infected out of some 3,700 on board. The coronavirus outbreak has killed 1,770 people in China and five elsewhere, with Chinese officials reporting another 2,048 cases on Monday, raising the total to 70,548.
Washington previously flew hundreds of Americans from China to military bases in the United States, and then arranged to bring back the 338 cruise ship passengers once their 14-day quarantines on board had expired. Another 60 Americans remained in Japan for monitoring, State Department officials said. A further 200 U.S. citizens were stuck in Cambodia, among them 92 still on board another cruise ship, the Westerdam, that was also affected by the virus. The Diamond Princess was ordered to stay under quarantine at Yokohama port on Feb. 3 after an 80-year-old Hong Kong man, who was on board from Jan. 20 to Jan. 25, developed the virus. U.S. officials previously pledged to keep infected Americans in Japan for treatment. But they said they were forced to change plans after the passengers disembarked and were on their way to the airport when Japanese officials informed them that 14 of those in transit had tested positive.
“It was only when they were loaded onto these buses that we were made aware these positive results had come back from the government of Japan,” Dr. William Walters, a senior medical official for the State Department, told a news briefing. “They were then taken off the bus, moved into the aircraft and that dedicated isolation area, which was the safest place for them to get away from the rest of the passengers and give us time to make decisions,” Walters said. The infected passengers were isolated in specialized containment areas aboard the two chartered jets. They were exposed to other passengers for about 40 minutes during the bus ride.
The US accuses Japan of utter failure, but never in those words. Main ally.
[..] the Princess Cruises ship was carrying 2,666 guests and 1,045 crew when it set sail and was quarantined after 10 cases of coronavirus were reported Feb. 4. Since then the number of cases on board has exploded, and on Monday alone, Japan announced an additional 99 infections on the Diamond Princess, raising the ship’s total number of cases to 454. And since most of the people on the ship have yet to be tested, the real number of infections may not be known for days. Where things gets problematic, is that whereas until now most of those on board the cruise ship had remained in isolation, the self-imposed quarantine is now over, and on Sunday, fourteen evacuees from the Diamond Princess were allowed to fly back to the United States Sunday despite testing positive for coronavirus, the U.S. State Department and Health and Human Services said in a joint statement.
Why were they released? Because supposedly they were not symptomatic, and in a very ominous twist, they had tested negative initially! “These individuals were moved in the most expeditious and safe manner to a specialized containment area on the evacuation aircraft to isolate them in accordance with standard protocols,” the statement, published Sunday, read. The State Department was unaware the individuals had coronavirus when they were being removed from the ship; they had tested negative just a few days before, Robert Kadlec, the assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, said on a phone call with reporters. “If those results had come back four hours earlier before we’d started to disembark the ship and before these people were evacuees within an evacuation system, then it would’ve been a different discussion.” Dr. William Walters, director of operational medicine at the U.S. Department of State, said on the call.
In other words, the quarantine that had isolated the biggest incubator of coronavirus cases outside of Wuhan was broken simply because an initial test had given a false negative, and subsequents test confirmed that at least 14 indeed had the coronavirus. Kadlec said that individuals received multiple screenings when moving from ship to bus to plane and a more extensive medical assessment upon arrival. In any case, the Diamond Princess quarantine is now broken, and two charter flights carrying at least 14 infected passengers landed at military bases in California and Texas overnight, starting the clock on a 14-day quarantine period to ensure those passengers don’t have coronavirus. In total, approximately 380 Americans were on board the Diamond Princess ship for the duration of the cruise and quarantine at sea.
[..] Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, told the USA TODAY editorial board and reporters Monday that the original idea to keep people safely quarantined on the ship wasn’t unreasonable. Yet where the entire story falls on its face is that even with the quarantine process on the ship, virus transmission still occurred. One can only hope that there are proper precaution pathways in place to prevent transmission now that at least 13 infected cruise passengers are now on US soil. “ The quarantine process failed,” Fauci said. “I’d like to sugarcoat it and try to be diplomatic about it, but it failed. People were getting infected on that ship. Something went awry in the process of the quarantining on that ship. I don’t know what it was, but a lot of people got infected on that ship.”
Mild? Mildly contagious? One wonders.
A Chinese film director and his entire family have died from the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak. Chang Kai, a film director and an external communications officer at a Hubei Film Studio subsidiary, died in hospital on Feb. 14 from the virus now called COVID-19, according to a statement from the studio. He was 55. But Chang’s death was not the first in his family—the Chinese media reported that Chang’s father and mother were infected and died one after the other. Chang and his sister, who looked after their parents at home, were both infected with the virus as a result. His sister died just hours later. Chang’s wife is also infected, still alive, and is still battling the virus in an intensive care unit.
A note written by Chang, said to be his last words, has gone viral on the Chinese Internet. Chang wrote that his father succumbed to the illness on the first day of the Lunar New Year (January 25). “My father had a fever, cough and trouble breathing. [We] tried to send him to the hospital but none of the hospitals we visited took him, because they had no more beds,” he wrote. Instead, Chang brought his father home where ha died a few days later, having passed on the virus to the other family members. Chang’s note said that he and his wife were denied the opportunity to be treated early. Wuhan built a new hospital in six days, but capacity to handle the virus remains strained. Chang bade farewell to his family, friends and his son, who is reportedly studying in the U.K.
Too many unknowns. Too easily lost in various favorite interpretations.
At least 550,000 cases. Maybe 4.4 million. Or something in between. Like weather forecasters, researchers who use mathematical equations to project how bad a disease outbreak might become are used to uncertainties and incomplete data, and Covid-19, the disease caused by the new-to-humans coronavirus that began circulating in Wuhan, China, late last year, has those everywhere you look. That can make the mathematical models of outbreaks, with their wide range of forecasts, seem like guesswork gussied up with differential equations; the eightfold difference in projected Covid-19 cases in Wuhan, calculated by a team from the U.S. and Canada, isn’t unusual for the early weeks of an outbreak of a never-before-seen illness.
But infectious-disease models have been approximating reality better and better in recent years, thanks to a better understanding of everything from how germs behave to how much time people spend on buses. “Year by year there have been improvements in forecasting models and the way they are combined to provide forecasts,” said physicist Alessandro Vespignani of Northeastern University, a leading infectious-disease modeler. That’s not to say there’s not room for improvement. The key variables of most models are mostly the same ones epidemiologists have used for decades to predict the course of outbreaks. But with greater computer power now at their disposal, modelers are incorporating more fine-grained data to better reflect the reality of how people live their lives and interact in the modern world — from commuting to work to jetting around the world.
These more detailed models can take weeks to spit out their conclusions, but they can better inform public health officials on the likely impact of disease-control measures. Models are not intended to be scare machines, projecting worst-case possibilities. (Modelers prefer “project” to “predict,” to indicate that the outcomes they describe are predicated on numerous assumptions.) The idea is to calculate numerous what-ifs: What if schools and workplaces closed? What if public transit stopped? What if there were a 90% effective vaccine and half the population received it in a month?
“Our overarching goal is to minimize the spread and burden of infectious disease,” said Sara Del Valle, an applied mathematician and disease modeler at Los Alamos National Laboratory. By calculating the effects of countermeasures such as social isolation, travel bans, vaccination, and using face masks, modelers can “understand what’s going on and inform policymakers,” she said.
Said it a few times before: factories become petri dishes too, the virus loves those.
Cracks have appeared in China’s eagerness to resume economic activities amid the coronavirus outbreak, with a number of work-related cases reported. Gree Electric, the country’s biggest air-conditioner manufacturer located in the city of Zhuhai in Guangdong province, was forced to take emergency action last week to check and quarantine its employees after a bus driver was found to have had close contact with a suspected case, according to a notice published by the company’s labour union on its social media account. The contracted driver, surnamed Feng, had been driving employees to and from work last week until Saturday, with Gree now “intensely” checking the condition of employees who had travelled on the bus.
In addition, Feng was found to have had a meal with three colleagues last week, which was against his company’s policy concerning coronavirus control. According to the statement, Gree recommended that the contractor sack all four drivers despite the quartet, plus Feng’s son, later testing negative. The Gree statement, which was later removed, did not provide details on how many workers have been placed under quarantine. Gree was one of the first to resume production in Guangdong, with provincial party secretary Li Xi visiting the plant last week, two days after 11,000 workers – around one third of the total workforce – resumed operations, according to a report by the official Nanfang Daily.
In another case in Chongqing, more than 130 employees of Chongqing Titanium Industry, a unit of Pangang Group, had to be quarantined and the factory was again forced to halt production after two members of staff were confirmed as being infected at the start of last week, according to a notice by the local industrial estate where the plant is based. In Guangzhou, an employee tested positive for coronavirus, forcing the company to quarantine its remaining members of staff since Friday.
This sinks the “markets”. And shows how dumb the people in them are.
Apple warned on Monday it was unlikely to meet a sales target set just three weeks ago amid lost production and weakening demand in China from the coronavirus outbreak. The illness has killed 1,770 in China and stricken some 70,500 people, with millions of others confined to their homes and factories slow to reopen after the Chinese New Year holiday break was extended due to the virus. Manufacturing facilities in China that produce Apple’s iPhone and other electronics have begun to reopen, but they are ramping up more slowly than expected, Apple said. That will mean fewer iPhones available for sale around the world, making Apple one of the largest Western firms to be hurt by the outbreak.
Some of its retail stores in the country remain closed or are operating at reduced hours, which will hurt sales this quarter. China accounted for 15% of Apple’s revenue, or $13.6 billion, last quarter, and supplied 18% of revenue in the year-ago quarter. In late January, Apple had forecast $63 billion to $67 billion in revenue for the quarter ending in March. It did not offer a new revenue estimate nor provide a profit forecast on Monday. “The magnitude of this impact to miss its revenue guidance midway through February is clearly worse than feared,” Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives wrote in a note. Apple’s stock is expected to face a knee-jerk reaction on Tuesday, when Wall Street reopens after the Presidents Day holiday, Ives said.
It’s irresponsible to open most of these factories.
As China tries to put its economy back to work amid a novel coronavirus outbreak that has left swathes of the country on lockdown, American manufacturers have warned that they do not have enough staff to man their production lines. The Lunar New Year holiday was officially extended until February 10 in a bid to stem contagion, but factories begun reopening last week across the country, with differing rules applying across China’s almost 3,000 counties.
A survey of 109 companies in the manufacturing powerhouse of the Shanghai region found that while two-thirds of factories were up and running by the end of last week, 78 per cent did not have enough workers to kick-start full production. Almost half, meanwhile, said that their global operations have already been hit by the spread of the coronavirus.
Companies in the area, which includes Suzhou, Nanjing and the wider Yangtze River Delta, had to apply for permission to reopen, and of those that were granted a licence, just 58 per cent were permitted to open all of their production lines, according to the survey conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Shanghai between February 11 and 14. “The biggest problem is lack of workers as they are subjected to travel restrictions and quarantines, the number one and number two problems identified in the survey. Anyone coming from outside the immediate area undergoes a 14 day quarantine,” said Ker Gibbs, AmCham Shanghai president. “Therefore, most factories have a severe shortage of workers, even after they are allowed to open. This is going to have a severe impact on global supply chains that is only beginning to show up.
A convenient list of names.
I have a theory about the McCabe case: The Attorney General has taken the rinky-dink “lying to the FBI” charge off the table. It has become a liability, virtually the emblem for government misconduct, and Mr. Barr is getting rid of it in these matters. It has already caused too much mischief, insulted Americans’ sense of justice, and damaged the DOJ’s standing. Note, Andrew McCabe has been let off only on this charge, stemming from only one particular IG referral; he may well yet be liable for more serious charges-to-come. From here on, there will be no more rinky-dink lying charges against any of those implicated in the coup, only the most serious charges, and only those that add up to a solid case.
The coup has been so broad, deep, and thick that I predict cases will have to be brought under the RICO statutes in batches for different groups in separate agencies and branches of government. For instance, there is the Intel Mob, including former CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intel (DNI) James Clapper, current Intel IG Michael Atkinson, so-called whistleblower (he that cannot be named, E*** C**********) and International Man of Mystery Joseph Mifsud. There is gang from the State Department who helped engineer UkraineGate, including former Ambassador Marie Yovanovich, former Sec’y of State John Kerry, and others. There is that big herd of rogue lawyers in the DOJ and its stepchild, the FBI, the names widely disseminated by now, Comey, Strzok, Baker, Boente, Carlin, Clinesmith, et. al.
There’s Robert Mueller and his henchpersons, Andrew Weissmann, Jeannie Rhee, et. al. There’s another a band of seditionists in Congress that includes Mark Warner of the Senate Intel Committee, the now notorious idiot Adam Schiff over in the House, and staffers who worked for both. There’s a bunch in the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment that paid over a million dollars to Alternate International Man of Mystery (actually, CIA asset) Stefan Halper to run entrapment schemes against people working for Mr. Trump. There’s a swarm from Barack Obama’s White House, including Valarie Jarrett, Susan Rice, Samantha Powers, Alexandra Chalupa, former Vice-President Joe Biden and the former President himself.
And finally, there is the 800-pound-gorilla over in the Democratic Party thicket, namely Hillary Clinton, and those connected to her and her charity fraud, the Clinton Foundation, which is the real and actual predicate for the whole sordid affair — a list that includes Viktor Vekselberg of Russia’s Skolkovo Project, $25-million donor Russian oligarch Victor Pinchuk, Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, and Dmitri Alperovich of CrowdStrike, (Russian collusion, anyone?) as well as rascally freelancers such as Christopher Steele, Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS, lawyer / Lobbyist Adam Waldman, and Hillary errand boys Sidney Blumenthal and Cody Shearer. The stories behind those names are all over the web, in case you want to hjedify yourself.
The networks are bent in a strange pretzel to justify keeping the long known identity “secret”. It’s not about the identity, it’s about having an excuse not to let him testify.
Senators are reviving the fight over the whistleblower complaint at the center of the months-long impeachment effort against President Trump. With Trump’s trial in the rearview mirror, the Senate Intelligence Committee is quietly shifting its attention back to its investigation into the complaint process after hitting pause on the inquiry as the impeachment effort consumed Washington. The probe will force senators to decide if, and how, they speak with the whistleblower — a controversial call that could test the bipartisan reputation the Intelligence panel has maintained even amid deeply partisan fights in Congress. Asked by The Hill if he was willing to formally compel and subpoena the whistleblower to testify, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) didn’t rule out the possibility.
“I think you can rest assured that I’m prepared to do whatever we have to to interview the whistleblower,” Burr said. The renewed interest in speaking with the whistleblower comes after committee staff and lawyers for the individual hit a stalemate late last year over potential questioning. Lawyers for the individual made offers at the time to both the House and Senate Intelligence committees that their client was willing to provide written answers under oath, but Burr rejected that offer. The North Carolina senator indicated no progress had been made since then in trying to reach a deal on testimony and that while he hadn’t spoken recently with Mark Zaid, one of the whistleblower’s lawyers, his plan is “an interview with committee staff.”
[..] A Democratic committee source said that protecting the whistleblower’s safety and anonymity “is a top priority.” “We do not expect to be asked to cooperate with any effort that might endanger his or her safety,” the source said. The prospect of calling the whistleblower to speak with the committee has been talked up most recently not by a member of the panel but by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close ally of the president. “The Senate Intel Committee under Richard Burr has told us that we will call the whistleblower,” Graham said earlier this month during a Fox News interview. He added in a subsequent interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the “whistleblower episode needs to be investigated by Richard Burr” and in an interview with Fox News Radio that “the Intel Committee should be looking at whether or not the whistleblower had a bias.”
Whitney with a new angle. Includes some Epstein.
Early last week, the city of New York launched — with little media scrutiny — one of two new massive cybersecurity centers that will be run by private Israeli firms with close ties to Israel’s government, the so-called “Mega Group” tied to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and prominent pro-Israel lobby organizations operating in the United States. The centers were first announced in 2018 as was the identity of the firms who would run them: Israel-based Jerusalem Venture Partners and SOSA. As MintPress has reported on several occasions, all three of these entities have a history of aggressively spying on the U.S. federal government and/or blackmailing top American politicians, raising concerns regarding why these companies were chosen to run the new centers in the heart of Manhattan.
The news also comes as Israeli cybersecurity companies tied to Israeli military intelligence Unit 8200 were revealed to have access to the U.S. government’s most classified systems and simulating the cancellation of the upcoming 2020 presidential election. The new cybersecurity centers are part of a new New York City public-private partnership called “CyberNYC” that is valued at over $100 million and officially aims to “spur the creation of 10,000 cybersecurity jobs and make New York City a global leader in cyber innovation.” CyberNYC is an initiative of New York City’s Economic Development Corporation. However, the companies that will be responsible for creating those cybersecurity jobs will benefit foreign companies, namely Israeli and most of the jobs to be created will go to foreigners as well, as media reports on the partnership have quietly noted.
Those reports also stated that, while the stated purpose of the centers is to create new jobs, the Israeli firms chosen to run them — Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) and SOSA — view it as an opportunity to provide Israeli cybersecurity companies with a foothold into the American market and to see Israeli cybersecurity products adopted by both small and medium-sized American businesses, not just large corporations and government agencies. [..] the founder of JVP and former Knesset member, Erel Margalit, told the Jerusalem Post that “the center we are setting up [in New York] will assist Israeli hi-tech companies in collaborating with customers and companies in the US and around the world.”
I think I saw it’s been restored. Twitter saying it had been compromised or something like that.
WikiLeaks has been locked out of their Twitter account just one week before Julian Assange’s extradition hearing is scheduled to begin in the UK. WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson tweeted on Monday that “all attempts to get it reopened via regular channels have been unsuccessful. It has been impossible to reach a human at twitter to resolve the issue.” A source familiar with the situation explained to the Gateway Pundit that WikiLeaks social media admins received an automated email on February 9 saying that they needed to reset their password to regain access, but were not able to do so. They were unsure about the reason for the email in the first place — whether it was a glitch from Twitter, a targeted effort, or a hack.
The source said that when the WikiLeaks admins attempted to change the password and log in they received responses from Twitter saying that they were unable to verify them as the owner of the account and that the email on file did not match the one that they were using. WikiLeaks maintains that they are indeed using the same email that has been associated with the account for years. Efforts by WikiLeaks to reach someone at Twitter, since the 9th, have been unsuccessful. Assange’s extradition hearing is scheduled to begin on February 24 at Belmarsh Magistrates Courts, which is a court under the jurisdiction of South London Magistrates Courts.
Assange faces charges under the Espionage Act in the United States for his publication of the Iraq and Afghan War Logs. If extradited and convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of 175 years for the “crime” of publishing material that the US government did not want the public to know. On Monday evening, a Twitter spokesperson confirmed to The Gateway Pundit that the “account was locked due to indicators it was compromised.”
February 14 is the next hearing.
A group of 117 doctors and psychologists has called for an end to what it calls “the psychological torture and medical neglect of Julian Assange”. WikiLeaks founder Assange is being held in London’s Belmarsh Prison awaiting a hearing on February 24 which could see him extradited to the US. In a 1200-word letter published in the medical journal The Lancet, the Doctors For Assange group expresses concern over his fitness for the legal proceedings. The letter says that “Assange is in a dire state of health due to the effects of prolonged psychological torture in both the Ecuadorian embassy in London and Belmarsh Prison, where he has been arbitrarily detained according to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
“Should Assange die in a UK prison, as the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture (Nils Melzer) has warned, he will have effectively been tortured to death,” the letter states. “Much of that torture will have taken place in a prison medical ward, on doctors’ watch. The medical profession cannot afford to stand silently by, on the wrong side of torture and the wrong side of history, while such a travesty unfolds.” The first hearing into the United States’ request for Assange’s extradition was held on May 2, 2019. When asked by the judge if he consented to the extradition, Assange said: “I do not wish to surrender myself for extradition for doing journalism that has won many, many awards and protected many people.”
A copy of the Doctors For Assange letter has been sent to the Australian minister for Foreign Affairs, Marise Payne, following up on a previous letter sent on December 16, calling on Ms Payne to bring Assange home to Australia for urgent medical care. A copy has also been sent to the UK Government, which the doctors accuse of violating Assange’s human right to health. The letter condemns what it calls the “torture” of Assange and “the denial of his fundamental right to appropriate healthcare”. It adds: “Politics cannot be allowed to interfere with the right to health and the practice of medicine.
“Abuse by politically motivated medical neglect sets a dangerous precedent, ultimately undermining our profession’s impartiality, commitment to health for all, and obligation to do no harm. “Our appeals are simple: we are calling upon governments to end the torture of Mr Assange and ensure his access to the best available healthcare, before it is too late.” The letter is signed by Stephen Frost, Lissa Johnson, Jill Stein and William Frost on behalf of 117 signatories.
“..the “damage done personally to you” by Julian Assange.”
WikiLeaks has informed us how illegal wars are fabricated, how governments are overthrown and violence is used in our name, how we are spied upon through our phones and screens. The true lies of presidents, ambassadors, political candidates, generals, proxies, political fraudsters have been exposed. One by one, these would-be emperors have realised they have no clothes. It has been an unprecedented public service; above all, it is authentic journalism, whose value can be judged by the degree of apoplexy of the corrupt and their apologists. For example, in 2016, WikiLeaks published the leaked emails of Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta, which revealed a direct connection between Clinton, the foundation she shares with her husband and the funding of organised jihadism in the Middle East — terrorism.
One email disclosed that Islamic State (ISIS) was bankrolled by the governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, from which Clinton accepted huge “donations”. Moreover, as U.S. Secretary of State, she approved the world’s biggest ever arms sale to her Saudi benefactors, worth more than $80 billion. Thanks to her, U.S. arms sales to the world — for use in stricken countries like Yemen — doubled.
[..] Revealed by WikiLeaks and published in The New York Times, the Podesta emails triggered a vituperative campaign against editor-in-chief Julian Assange, bereft of evidence. He was an “agent of Russia working to elect Trump”; the nonsensical “Russiagate” followed. That WikiLeaks had also published more than 800,000 frequently damning documents from Russia was ignored. On an Australian Broadcasting Corporation programme, Four Corners, in 2017, Clinton was interviewed by Sarah Ferguson, who began: “No one could fail to be moved by the pain on your face at [the moment of Donald Trump’s inauguration] … Do you remember how visceral it was for you?” Having established Clinton’s visceral suffering, the fawning Ferguson described “Russia’s role” and the “damage done personally to you” by Julian Assange.
Clinton replied, “He [Assange] is very clearly a tool of Russian intelligence. And he has done their bidding.” Ferguson said to Clinton, “Lots of people, including in Australia, think that Assange is a martyr of free speech and freedom of information. How would you describe him?” Again, Clinton was allowed to defame Assange — a “nihilist” in the service of “dictators” — while Ferguson assured her interviewee she was “the icon of your generation”. There was no mention of a leaked document, revealed by WikiLeaks, called Libya Tick Tock, prepared for Hillary Clinton, which described her as the central figure driving the destruction of the Libyan state in 2011. This resulted in 40,000 deaths, the arrival of ISIS in North Africa and the European refugee and migrant crisis.
1) Be as destructive as you can and get rich off your efforts. 2) Spend 1-2% of your dirty wealth and expect to be hailed as a philantropist.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos will commit $10 billion to fund scientists, activists, nonprofits and other groups fighting to protect the environment and counter the effects of climate change, he said on Monday. Cutting emissions will be challenging for Amazon. The e-commerce company delivers 10 billion items a year, has a massive transportation and data center footprint, and has faced criticism from within its own workforce. Bezos, the world’s richest man, is among a growing list of billionaires to dedicate substantial funds to battling the impact of global warming. “Climate change is the biggest threat to our planet,” Bezos said in an Instagram post. “I want to work alongside others both to amplify known ways and to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change on this planet we all share.”
The Bezos Earth Fund will begin issuing grants this summer as part of the initiative. “It’s going to take collective action from big companies, small companies, nation states, global organizations, and individuals,” Bezos said. Counteracting climate change has become a popular cause for U.S. billionaires in recent years, with Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg and hedge fund manager Tom Steyer counted among the world’s wealthiest environmental philanthropists. Last year, Bezos pledged to make online retailer Amazon net carbon neutral by 2040 – the first major corporation to announce such a goal – and to buy 100,000 electric delivery vehicles from U.S. vehicle design and manufacturing startup Rivian Automotive.
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February 13, 2020 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 12:28 pm Finance Tagged with: Assange, Boeing, Corbyn, diagnostic, Epstein, Hubei, Mueller, Nunes, Roger Stone, Scotland, Wuhan 11 Responses »
DPC Wanted: 500 men to eat frankfurters (click to see sign), Bowery, Rockaway, NY 1905
• Hubei’s Coronavirus Cases Rise 10-Fold After Change In Diagnostic Criteria (SCMP)
• COVID-19 Coronavirus Cases (Worldometer)
• Beijing Battles ‘Crisis Of Chernobyl Proportions’ In Virus Outbreak (SCMP)
• Roger Stone Sentencing Drama Roils Capitol Hill (Pol.)
• Yiannopoulos to Gift Royalties From Roger Stone Book to His Defense Fund (GP)
• Devin Nunes: Examples Of ‘What Mueller Team Was Really Doing’ Coming Soon (WE)
• Boeing’s Got Bigger Problems Than The 737 MAX (CNN)
• Corbyn Praises Assange And Calls For Extradition To US To Be Halted (Ind.)
• Scientists Discover Holy Grail Which Could Lead To Universal Vaccine
• Barclays CEO Probed Over Epstein Ties (R.)
• Scottish Independence Is Within Sight (Craig Murray)
Already covered the virus files earlier today in China Cedes Virus Control. First two pieces below are a reminder of what happened, and what it means: Hubei’s health commission changed the diagnostic criteria used to confirm cases. The result looks something like this for Hubei:
Which leads to this global picture. Hubei apparently is the only province to date that has implemented the diagnostic changes.
“Hubei’s new confirmed cases pegged at 14,840, nearly 10 times more than the previous day, while deaths more than doubled to 242.”
Note: that may look like a mortality rate of 20%, but that is far too high. Then again, 2% max doesn’t look tenable anymore either. More on that below.
Health authorities in China’s Hubei province – the epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic – reported on Thursday 14,840 new confirmed cases, almost 10 times the number reported a day earlier, and new deaths attributable to the contagion rose to 242, more than double on the day. This brings the totals announced by the province’s health commission to 48,206 and 1,310, respectively, as of Wednesday. Officials in Hubei had reported 94 fatalities and 1,638 newly confirmed cases a day earlier. Hubei’s health commission said in its daily statement that it had changed the diagnostic criteria used to confirm cases, effective Thursday, meaning that doctors have broader discretion to determine which patients are infected.
“From today on, we will include the number of clinically diagnosed cases into the number of confirmed cases so that patients could receive timely treatment,” the health authority said. Previously, patients could only be diagnosed by test kits, which has seen a shortage of supply across the country. Tong Zhaohui, an expert in the central guidance group and vice-president of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, said the move was in line with the National Health Commission’s latest diagnostic guidelines to include clinical diagnosis, using CT scans and other tests. “When doctors diagnose pneumonia, they can only get the etiology of the disease 20 to 30 per cent of the time. We have to rely on clinical diagnosis 70 to 80 per cent of the time. Increasing the diagnosis of clinical cases will help us make an additional judgment on the disease,” he told state broadcaster CCTV in an exclusive interview.
[..] Some 13,436 of the new cases announced on Thursday were confirmed in Hubei’s capital of Wuhan …
The mortality rate looks bad.
There are currently 60,373 confirmed cases and 1,369 deaths from the Wuhan Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak as of February 13, 2020, 05:20 GMT. The condition of patients, according to the World Health Organization (Feb. 7 press conference) and based on 17,000 cases in China, are: • 82% mild •15% severe •3% critical
“Total Cases” = total cumulative count (60,373). This figure therefore includes deaths and recovered/discharged patients (cases with an outcome). By removing these from the “total cases” figure, we get “currently infected cases” (cases still awaiting for an outcome). The charts include provisional data and values for Feb. 12 that are the result, for the most part, of a change in diagnosis classification, for which an additional 13,332 cases and 107 deaths were counted on Feb. 12..
Paints Xi under much more pressure than acknowledged.
This winter, [Hubei] was the starting point for an outbreak of a new coronavirus – which causes the disease now officially known as Covid-19 – that has rapidly spread across the country and beyond, claiming the lives of more than 1,300 people and infecting over 59,000 so far. The crisis has been referred to as “China’s Chernobyl” – the 1986 nuclear accident in the former Soviet Union that was worsened by an opaque system and incompetent crisis management – and is the worst the ruling Communist Party has seen since 1989. It is certainly the worst under strongman leader President Xi Jinping. “This is clearly a crisis of enormous proportions,” said Dali Yang, a political scientist with the University of Chicago.
“Failure … will be blamed on the system and especially on Xi, who’s staked out his personal leadership role.” Yang said although the Chinese government’s propaganda machine was trying to spin the outbreak into a show of the country’s strength, it would not convince everyone. “It will be a crisis of Chernobyl proportions, especially because we will have to contend with the virus for years to come,” Yang said. “Those who have sustained losses, in particular, will be asking questions, as has happened before in the aftermath of a crisis.” Zhao Suisheng, a political scientist at the University of Denver, said there was much less diversity of domestic public opinion about the causes of this crisis than for the trade war or the Hong Kong protests.
“Many Chinese sympathised with the government on the trade war, but the mainstream public opinion now is almost one-sided against the government,” said Zhao, who has written several books on Beijing’s control of information and public opinion. “This is something I haven’t seen since 1989.” Zhao said the virus outbreak could see the party, and especially the Xi government, having to answer some tough questions. “China’s political system under Xi – with its high concentration of power, its opaqueness, the overemphasis on ideology and Leninist discipline – has almost fully removed society’s capacity to handle such crisis,” he said.
I guess many people won’t agree, but I still think lying about things that don’t exist should not result in a 9-year sentence. I’m with the right on this one.
And you thought the drama would end with impeachment. Yesterday, Justice Department officials stepped in and asked for a more lenient sentence for Roger Stone after the government initially recommended that he spend 7 to 9 years in prison for impeding congressional and FBI investigations into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. The DOJ’s intervention prompted a fierce backlash, with all four federal prosecutors withdrawing from the case in what appears to be an extraordinary protest.
The backstory: The DOJ’s decision to overrule the stiff sentencing recommendation came after Trump repeatedly railed on the prosecutors for urging such a lengthy prison sentence for Stone. “I thought the recommendation was ridiculous. I thought the whole prosecution was ridiculous,” Trump told reporters. “I thought it was an insult to our country and it shouldn’t happen.” The president last night also lobbed attacks at Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is overseeing the case and will ultimately sentence Stone; retweeted a post calling for pardons for Stone and Michael Flynn; and thanked Attorney General William Barr for taking charge.
The reaction from Dems: Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused Trump of “political interference,” while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for the Inspector General to open an investigation into the DOJ’s actions. House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, meanwhile, vowed to “get to the bottom” of the matter. And House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff called it a “blatant abuse of power.” But here’s the reality: Democrats know there is little, if anything, they can do to counter an emboldened, post-impeachment Trump.
Tucker: The President must pardon Roger Stone pic.twitter.com/2ONhWViR21
— Jack Posobiec 杰克老师 (@JackPosobiec) February 13, 2020
Cassandra Fairbanks. Stone lost everything including his house because he is useful bait in the anti-Trump and especially anti-Assange narratives.
New York Times-bestselling author Milo Yiannopoulos has penned a new book about Roger Stone’s trial and will be donating royalties to the Roger Stone Defense Fund. The book, The Trial of Roger Stone, went up for pre-order on Wednesday and will be released on March 1. “In this moving, eyewitness account of Roger Stone’s trial and his decades-long career of political chicanery, author and Stone intimate Milo Yiannopoulos introduces America to the man behind the myth—and explains how the biggest stitch-up in modern judicial history unfolded. He offers a plea to President Trump to step in and do the right thing, and he explains how we can prevent such grotesque injustices from happening ever again,” a press release for the book explains.
Stone, a brilliant and notorious political consultant, was charged with seven felony counts relating to obstructing the ridiculous Russian interference investigation. He is a longtime confidant of President Donald Trump and many believe that his relationship with him is why he was targeted by the Department of Justice with such obscenely overblown charges. “The Mueller Report was a catastrophe for the malevolent forces desperate to impeach President Donald Trump. It failed to prove any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Since then, many of the President’s former advisors and associates have been subjected to vindictive, political prosecutions for a variety of trivial, unrelated offenses. Roger Stone is one of them,” Yiannopoulos said in a statement provided to the Gateway Pundit.
The 67-year-old nonviolent first offender was found guilty on all seven charges in November and is due to be sentenced this month. On February 10, prosecutors requested seven to nine years in prison, but the following day Justice Department officials stepped in and asked for a more lenient sentence. All four federal prosecutors have now withdrawn from the case and President Trump has not ruled out a pardon. According to the Roger Stone Defense Fund website, his legal defense was projected to cost as much as $3 million. President Trump has been outspoken with his contempt for how the case was handled, calling it “unfair” and a “miscarriage of justice.”
About time this is no longer just talk.
Rep. Devin Nunes predicted more fallout from then-special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. After the Justice Department recommended a steep prison sentence for Trump confidant Roger Stone, which was walked back on Tuesday, the California Republican said that “this is not going to be the only example” of questionable behavior during the federal inquiry he called an “obstruction of justice trap.” “There’s more to come on this,” the House Intelligence Committee ranking member told Fox Business host Lou Dobbs, before noting that all four prosecutors in the Stone case, including three who were on Mueller’s team, quit after the Justice Department rebuked their recommendation of up to nine years in prison for the longtime GOP operative. A more lenient three to four years in prison was suggested in the latest court filing.
“We think there’s other examples of things that they did during the Mueller investigation that I think you and your listeners and the American people will be very interested to learn in the coming weeks as we start to unpeel the onion of what the Mueller team was really doing,” he added. Nunes did not share any specifics, but the origins of the Russia investigation are being reviewed by Attorney General William Barr’s hand-picked prosecutor from Connecticut, John Durham. The case against retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn recently took a wild turn, with the former White House national security adviser seeking to withdraw his guilty plea on a charge of lying to the FBI and the Justice Department changing its position on a recommended sentence.
Stone was found guilty in November on five separate counts of lying to the House Intelligence Committee in its investigation into Russian election interference, in addition to one count that he “corruptly influenced, obstructed, and impeded” the congressional investigation and another that he attempted to “corruptly persuade” radio show host Randy Credico’s congressional testimony. The two-week jury trial centered on Stone’s false claims of being in communication with WikiLeaks and on his actions taken during the 2016 election and beyond. The 67-year-old was never accused by prosecutors of criminally conspiring with Russia or any other foreign actors.
[..] Nunes claimed Stone should never have been investigated in the first place by what he described as “dirty cops.” “So, what the hell did they do for two years?” the congressman said. “They set up an obstruction of justice trap, and they went after a whole bunch of people that now got sentenced. Some already served their time, and I think all of this has to come into question now,” he added.
Stop Lying Leaks. @DevinNunes praises Robert O’Brien for removing leakers at the NSC who have tried to endanger @realDonaldTrump’s Presidency. #MAGA #AmericaFirst #Dobbs pic.twitter.com/JXk3eeUuoJ
— Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) February 12, 2020
They don’t sell any planes. Zero last month, vs 45 (at over $100 million each) in Jan 2019.
Fixing the 737 Max and getting it back in the air is crucial for Boeing. But it’s not the only major challenge facing the embattled aircraft maker. Boeing also needs to focus on its next generation of passenger planes.vThe aircraft maker has made its focus clear as it works on getting the 737 Max approved to fly again, which is expected to happen by the middle of this year. The plane has been grounded since March, following two fatal crashes that killed 346 people. The nearly year-long crisis has put orders and deliveries of many of the company’s jets on hold. Tuesday, Boeing reported that it didn’t receive any new orders for commercial jets in January, compared to 45 orders a year ago. And it only delivered 13 commercial planes in the month, down from 46 a year earlier.
The 737 Max crisis has stymied Boeing’s growth. But Boeing (BA) faces a longer-term threat that is even more important to overcome: Boeing is falling behind rival Airbus and needs to build the next generation of planes to remain competitive in the future.vThe 777X widebody plane has already been developed and is going through its first round of test flights. But its official debut has been pushed back because of problems with its engine from GE. At the time of the Max crisis, Boeing was planning on delivering the 777X at some point this year. But in October, it pushed back the first delivery date to early 2021.vBoeing has 309 orders of the 777X that are now being delayed.
[..] Boeing will have to turn attention once again to the part of the market now served by the 737 Max. That’s because the need to come up with an replacement for the 737 is on the horizon. It’s tough to tell how soon it will need a 737 replacement. Experts say Boeing might not start taking orders for a 737 Max successor for another 10 years. But the need to come up with a successor could be sooner than that. If the fixes for the 737 Max aren’t enough to make passengers comfortable with flying Boeing’s best-selling jet, Boeing could have to act sooner. Boeing executives and many airlines say they believe passengers will be willing to fly the Max once it is cleared to fly again. But nobody knows for sure.
Now that he’s become obscure again he speaks out. Hmmm.
Jeremy Corbyn has called for the extradition of Julian Assange to the US to be halted, praising the Wikileaks founder for exposing US “war crimes”. Boris Johnson refused to comment on the case, which will begin this month – but surprised the Commons by agreeing the extradition treaty between the two countries is “unbalanced”. The Labour leader’s call came as he also demanded to know whether Anne Sacoolas, who drove the car that killed teenager Harry Dunn, is being “shielded” because she was a CIA spy. On Mr Assange, who faces up to 175 years in a US jail if convicted, Mr Corbyn backed MPs on the Council of Europe who have warned the extradition “sets a dangerous precedent for journalists”.
The one-sided arrangements would be “laid bare” when the courts decide whether he should be sent to the US on “charges of espionage for exposure of war crimes, the murder of civilians and large-scale corruption”, he said. “Will the prime minister agree with the parliamentary report that’s going to the Council of Europe that this extradition should be opposed and the rights of journalists and whistleblowers upheld for the good of all of us,” Mr Corbyn demanded. In response, the prime minister said: “I’m not going to mention any individual cases but it’s obvious that the rights of journalists and whistleblowers should be upheld and this government will continue to do that.”
One of these stories a day should keep the doctor away.
Researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in the US have uncovered the ‘Achilles’ heel’ of most viruses which plague mankind, and could soon develop a universal vaccine. Vaccine research, development and testing takes a long time, as the ongoing coronavirus outbreak has shown, but that is because researchers devote their time, attention and resources to targeting specific viruses one-by-one. But now scientists at MGH have located what may prove to be a game-changing breakthrough for humanity which could strengthen our bodies and make them impervious to most viruses. “The goal is to understand how our immune system works in order to create treatments that work against a range of viruses, not just vaccines against a particular one,” said Kate Jeffrey, head of the study, in a hospital press release.
The so-called ‘Achilles heel’ (or vulnerable point) of most viruses is actually just a simple protein named AGO4, which has been shown to have unique antiviral effects in mammalian cells. When studying mice, researchers found that only cells deficient in AGO4 were hypersensitive to infections like the influenza virus. So once they can figure out how to reinforce our bodies’ natural defences with AGO4, viruses will no longer stand a chance of infecting us, theoretically at least. “The next step is to determine how wide the spectrum of action of this protein is for any type of virus,” says Jeffrey. “And then we need to figure out how to increase the activity of AGO4 to enhance protection against viral infections.”
Known him since 2000, got dozens of wealthy clients through him, visited his island, visited him in prison where he was for prostution/paedophilia. But never one glimpse, your honor!
Britain’s financial regulators are probing historical links between Barclays Chief Executive Jes Staley and the U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, the bank said on Thursday. Barclays said its board had looked into media reports on Staley’s relationship with Epstein, and probed Staley’s characterization of it. The Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority are investigating. The bank said its board believes Staley has been sufficiently transparent about his ties to Epstein, whom Staley said he had not seen since taking over as Barclays CEO in 2015. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Staley said he regretted his relationship with Epstein, which began in 2000 while he was employed by JPMorgan and “tapered off significantly” after he left the Wall Street lender.
The relationship ended in late 2015, Staley said. “I thought I knew him well, and I didn’t. I’m sure with hindsight of what we all know now, I deeply regret having had any relationship with Jeffrey Epstein,” he said. The New York Times last year said that Epstein had referred “dozens” of wealthy clients to Staley when the CEO ran JPMorgan’s private banking business. It also reported that Staley visited Epstein in prison when he was serving a sentence between 2008-09 for soliciting prostitution. Staley also went to Epstein’s private island in 2015, Bloomberg reported. Barclays has previously said that Staley never engaged or paid fees to Epstein to advise him or provide professional services.
Boris’ honeymoon weeks are over.
There will never again be a route to Scottish independence deemed legal by Westminster. The 2014 referendum will never be repeated. The U.K. will never willingly give up a third of its land, most of its fisheries, most of its mineral resources, its most marketable beef, soft fruit and whisky, most of its renewable energy potential, a vital part of its military including its primary nuclear base, its best universities in a number of key fields including life sciences, its ready pool of intellectual and professional talent. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is for once honest when he says keeping the Union together is his top priority. It is the top priority of the entire British Establishment.
Former Prime Minister David Cameron only agreed to the 2014 referendum because he thought the result would humiliate and kill off Scottish nationalism. Support for independence was at 28 percent in the polls at the time he agreed. Westminster had the most enormous and horrible shock when support for independence grew to 45 percent during the campaign as many people for the first time in their lives heard the real arguments. The Whitehall panic of the last week of the 2014 referendum campaign is not something the British Establishment ever intend to repeat.
There is a charmingly naive argument put forward by some that, if support for independence can be grown to 60 percent in the opinion polls, Johnson and Westminster will have to “grant” a referendum. This is the opposite of the truth. If support for Independence is at 60 percent, the very last thing that the Tories will do is agree a referendum they will lose. Their resistance will be massively hardened. Remember, the Tories could have zero Tory MPs in Scotland and still have a majority of 73 in Westminster. There is no political damage for Johnson in unpopularity in Scotland. In England, his anti-Scots stance is very popular with a core support base of knuckle-dragging, ill-educated racists.
[..] If you believe in Scottish independence, you believe that the Scottish nation are a “people” within the meaning of the UN Charter, and thus have an inalienable right of self-determination. That means that Westminster has no right, by legislation or by any other means, to prevent the Scottish people from exercising their self-determination. I am sorry, but this is the fact: If you believe Scotland should only move to independence in a Westminster-approved process, you do not really believe in Scottish Independence at all.
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China Cedes Virus Control
February 13, 2020 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 8:28 am Finance Tagged with: CCP, coronavirus, Covid19, cruise ship, diagnostics, epidemic, Hubei, mortality rate, pandemic, quarantine, Wuhan 12 Responses »
Saul Leiter 463 1956
• Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Mortality Rate (Worldometer)
• 44 More Cases On Diamond Princess Cruise Ship Anchored Off Japan (SCMP)
• WHO Team Arrives In China As Wuhan Coronavirus Deaths Top SARS (CNN)
• Beijing’s Purge Over Virus Takes Down Top Communist Party Officials In Hubei (SCMP)
• Botched Wuhan Quarantine Left Dead Bodies In The Street (ZH)
• What Happened After One Chinese Company Reopened After The Corona-Chaos (ZH)
• China Struggles To Balance Coronavirus Containment With Economic Cost (SCMP)
• Protecting The US From Global Pandemics (Scott Gottlieb)
• South Korea’s Moon Says Virus Epidemic To End Soon (YNA)
• Epidemics Are Tough To Turn Into Profit (R.)
Major developments today (overnight for many) with regards to the COVID19 coronavirus. Probably not so much in infections or deaths per se (at least not that we know), but in the way(s) cases are reported. Or, if a spade is called a spade, the way they have been severely underreported so far.
What happened is Hubei’s health commission changed the diagnostic criteria used to confirm cases. And that looks something like this:
Which leads to this global picture:
What it comes down to is Hubei used to count cases according to “the old method”, which required clinical diagnosis PLUS testing, and has now switched to “the new method”, in which clinical diagnosis suffices. “Clinically diagnosed cases” here means those cases that show up positive on a CT scan (CT: computed tomography, a way to “look at” internal organs). The changes are in red in the doc:
Basically, “showing up positive on a CT scan” refers to the detection of pneumonia. For weeks, officials maintained that in an area under heavy siege of a disease for which pneumonia is one of the main symptoms, additional testing was mandatory to confirm a case as COVID19. Yeah, that’s a little crazy.
Ironically, the WHO went along with these counts based on “the old method”, with its chief effusively praising China for its efforts to combat the virus, but the switch to “the new method” comes just two days after a first team of WHO specialists arrived in China, which will “lay the groundwork for a larger international team.” Looks like Beijing has lost control.
The Party understood that it would no longer be able to keep up appearances, so it fired a whole bunch of politicians (Wuhan Party Chief et al) and other functionaries, appointed others in their place, and now vows a fresh start without the Party being blamed for a thing. And it can say nothing really changed, there is no large amount of additional cases, it’s all just a diagnostic ”tweak”.
Still, this hides the reasons behind the diagnostic changes: China either doesn’t have enough testing kits, or can’t get them out -and used- in the field fast enough. And that means too many potentially infectious patients are out there able to spread the virus. Add the WHO team of specialists to the mix and they chose to do damage control.
Total confirmed and clinically diagnosed #COVID19 cases globally at 60,148. Death toll worldwide 1,365. #China state media count.
— Eunice Yoon (@onlyyoontv) February 13, 2020
All of which leads to these provisionary official numbers:
Obviously, this has blown all previously referenced models out of the water.
Even JPMorgan’s most pessimistic case can’t keep up. Everybody needs to go back to the drawing board. And will do so, much more suspicious of anything China says from here on in. Tomorrow’s official numbers are likely to “normalize” again, 2,000 new cases, 90 deaths, that sort of thing. But they will now be reported with big question marks. Still, politicians and media alike, whether in the west or in China, will tell you things are improving. They can’t help themselves. But you can.
Here are some of the relevant news stories. Regular news in the Automatic Earth Debt Rattle will follow later today.
The mortality rate looks bad. See more in next article. (h/t Doc Robinson)
Mortality rate in Hubei/mainland China looks awful at 18%. Is that just because no “light” cases are counted, which the world outside China does seem to do?
Let’s take, for example, the data at the end of February 8, 2020: 813 deaths (cumulative total) and 37,552 cases (cumulative total) worldwide. If we use the formula (deaths / cases) we get: 813 / 37,552 = 2.2% CFR (flawed formula). With a conservative estimate of T(ime) = 7 days as the average period from case confirmation to death, we would correct the above formula by using February 1 cumulative cases, which were 14,381, in the denominator: Feb. 8 deaths / Feb. 1 cases = 813 / 14,381 = 5.7% CFR (correct formula, and estimating T=7).
T could be estimated by simply looking at the value of (current total deaths + current total recovered) and pair it with a case total in the past that has the same value. For the above formula, the matching dates would be January 26/27, providing an estimate for T of 12 to 13 days. This method of estimating T uses the same logic of the following method, and therefore will yield the same result. An alternative method, which has the advantage of not having to estimate a variable, and that is mentioned in the American Journal of Epidemiology study cited previously as a simple method that nevertheless could work reasonably well if the hazards of death and recovery at any time t measured from admission to the hospital, conditional on an event occurring at time t, are proportional, would be to use the formula:
CFR (case fatality rate)= deaths / (deaths + recovered) which, with the latest data available, would be equal to: 1,369 / (1,369 + 6,032) = 18% CFR (worldwide) If we now exclude cases in mainland China, using current data on deaths and recovered cases, we get: 2 / (2 + 76) = 2.6% CFR (outside of mainland China) The sample size above is extremely limited, but this discrepancy in mortality rates, if confirmed as the sample grows in size, could be explained with a higher case detection rate outside of China especially with respect to Wuhan, where priority had to be initially placed on severe and critical cases, given the ongoing emergency.
Unreported cases would have the effect of decreasing the denominator and inflating the CFR above its real value. For example, assuming 10,000 total unreported cases in Wuhan and adding them back to the formula, we would get a CFR of 7.9% (quite different from the CFR of 18% based strictly on confirmed cases). Neil Ferguson, a public health expert at Imperial College in the UK, said his “best guess” was that there were 100,000 affected by the virus even though there were only 2,000 confirmed cases at the time. [11] Without going that far, the possibility of a non negligible number of unreported cases in the initial stages of the crisis should be taken into account when trying to calculate the case fatally rate.
With the numbers of people infected with #coronavirus increasing, Professor Neil Ferguson – director of the @MRC_Outbreak at @imperialcollege tells #r4today he feels we’re in the “early phases of a global pandemic”
Read more: https://t.co/Pm7Tggebmd pic.twitter.com/2qoUWl3jUd
— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) February 12, 2020
Ship has 2,600 passengers, 1,100 crew. Only a few hundred have been tested. And we get it, it’s very hard to isolate that many untested people off the ship, where do you get the accomodation.
Now crew members are increasingly getting infected, while attending to the passengers. A crew member told CNN the quality of meals is getting real good, children get new toys every day etc.
The same crew member said she herself waited for 2 days to see a doctor. Crew also don’t have private rooms. They must be very anxious.
Another 44 people on board a cruise ship moored off Japan’s coast have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the country’s health minister said on Thursday. Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said the 44 new cases were detected from another 221 new tests. They raise the number of infections detected on the Diamond Princess to 218, in addition to a quarantine officer who also tested positive for the virus. Kato said authorities now want to move elderly people off the ship if they test negative for the virus, offering to put them in government-designated lodging. “We wish to start the operation from tomorrow or later,” Kato told reporters.
Of the newly diagnosed infections, 43 are passengers, and one a member of the crew. The Diamond Princess set off from Hong Kong on January 25 for a trip scheduled to end on February 4. Instead, it has been moored off Japan since February 3, after it emerged that a former passenger who disembarked in Hong Kong last month had tested positive for the virus now named Covid-19.
At the WHO, the administrative leadership is miles apart from the medical specialists. The latter are now taking over.
The number of deaths from the Wuhan coronavirus had risen to over 1,000 by Tuesday morning, as experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) arrived in China to assist with controlling the epidemic. Chinese health authorities said 108 people died from the virus in mainland China on Monday, with the majority of those deaths occurring in Hubei province, the capital of which is Wuhan – the city where the virus was first found. The total number of deaths stands at 1,018, all but two of those in mainland China. Globally, 43,114 have now been diagnosed with the virus, again with the majority in China. Around 4,000 patients have been treated and released from hospital in China since late December.
A team of World Health Organization (WHO) experts landed in China on Monday. The organization’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said they will “lay the groundwork for a larger international team,” which will join them “as soon as possible.” The WHO group in China is led by Bruce Aylward, who helmed the body’s response to Ebola, as well as initiatives for immunization, communicable diseases control and polio eradication. Their arrival comes as the WHO is facing increasing criticism for its initial decision not to declare a global health emergency, and for officials’ effusive praise of China’s handling of the crisis, even as Beijing faces outrage domestically for, among other things, the death of whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang, and the subsequent censorship of that news.
Spring cleaning.
Beijing’s purge of officials in Hubei province picked up pace with the removal of the top Communist Party leaders in the region as the central government responded to public anger over what is seen as a botched response to the deadly coronavirus outbreak in the region. China’s official Xinhua news agency reported that Hubei party secretary Jiang Chaoliang will be replaced by Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong, 61, a close ally of Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Communist Party leader of Wuhan city Ma Guoqiang, 56, is also set to be dismissed, according to a person familiar with the development who was not authorised to speak on the issue. Ma will be replaced by Wang Zhonglin, 57, party secretary of Shandong’s provincial capital Jinan.
Jiang, 61, is the highest-ranking political casualty so far in the outbreak, which has killed more than 1,100 people in mainland China, the vast majority in Hubei and its capital, Wuhan city. As details have trickled out on how local officials mismanaged the outbreak, public anger has swelled on social media. Academics have also signed a public petition to demand free speech after the police punished doctors who raised the early alarm about the outbreak. “Sending Ying Yong and Wang Zhonglin to Hubei shows the central government is determined to fix Hubei and give people answers. The cadres there have been really disappointing,” the unnamed person said. “The outbreak cost the party dearly. Those who are responsible will be held accountable.”
“Then on day 8, the reporters saw their first dead body in the street. He’s a man, in his sixties, who is lying on his back in front of a closed furniture store. Officials in hazard suits slowly approach the body, taking every conceivable precaution.”
[..] few have captured the atmosphere of the situation quite like a team of AFP journalists who lingered in Wuhan after the lockdown, and have detailed their experiences in diary format. The diary begins on Jan. 23, the day Wuhan was placed under lockdown. It starts as one might expect: Though the news was a shock, few tried to escape the city before the lockdown officially went into effect. Police chase the last travelers out of the railroad station. But the situation doesn’t really start to escalate until Jan. 25, or New Year’s Day in China. Those who went to worship at the city’s Guiyan temple, normally packed this time of year, found it empty: nobody was allowed inside.
“No-one is allowed inside in order to prevent the virus spreading,” a uniformed man – who is not wearing the compulsory mask – tells AFP. On the fourth day of the crackdown, conditions in Wuhan really started to deteriorate. This marked the beginning of hard times for Wuhan. Overwhelmed hospitals arbitrarily turned people away if their swab tests came back negative for the virus. One man told an AFP reporter that he had been turned away by four hospitals, despite being seriously ill. “I haven’t slept,” he said. He was getting ready to wait in line all night to hopefully be admitted to another hospital. For the first in their memory, the AFP reporters said Chinese out on the streets approached them to complain about the government’s handling of the lockdown.
“Like a horror film,” says one witness, who tells AFP bodies were left unattended for hours. [..] On day 6, the AFP spoke to a French doctor who had decided to stay in Wuhan, a Dr. Philippe Klein. “It’s not an act of heroism,” he said. “It’s been well thought out, it’s my job.” More signs of the government crackdown are beginning to appear: Guards take the temperature of customers at supermarkets and other stores hawking essential goods. Then on day 8, the reporters saw their first dead body in the street. He’s a man, in his sixties, who is lying on his back in front of a closed furniture store. Officials in hazard suits slowly approach the body, taking every conceivable precaution.
Well, you can’t say I didn’t warn you. This is precisely what I warned about. And the new numbers will do nothing to restore any confidence at all.
Today, two days after China officially returned to work, we got the first confirmation of just how catastrophic Beijing’s order to local enterprises and businesses to rush back reboot the economy could be, when Jennifer Zeng reported that a company in Suzhou reopened, and immediately at least one CoVid2019 case found. As a result, the company’s 200+ employees couldn’t go home and were immediately placed under quarantine. At least the workers managed to “organize” quilts for themselves. This is just the first such case. Expect many more – especially across Hubei and its neighboring provinces – as latent cases of Coronavirus which were never caught and cured spark new infections and mini epidemics, all of which dutifully captured on a smartphone clip for everyone in China to watch and freak out even more.
Which reminds us of another comment from Rabobank, which last week explained why the dilemma facing China is “truly awful”: The quandary for China between releasing the quarantine straitjacket in days to stop its economy from getting truly sick, and allowing a virus like this to spread further as people start to mingle again is truly awful. There are no good options. For a world with a serious lack of final end-demand, and which has been relying on China, along with increasingly “Chinese” central banks, this is going to be a nasty shock either way that Mr Market is treating like he is Mr Magoo.
And since Beijing has no way out, especially since the epidemic is still raging despite Beijing’s “doctored”, no pun intended, infection and death numbers, expect China to unleash the most draconian censorship crackdown on any reports Covid-2019 has not only not been purged but is making unwelcome appearances across China’s enterprises, which will be quietly put under blanket quarantine even as Beijing pretends that all is well and its economy is once again humming on all cylinders until eventually the epidemic reaches a critical mass and China has no choice but to once again admit the full extent of the social and economic fallout. And just like in the case of SARS, don’t expect such “honesty” to emerge for at least several weeks if not months.
“The city governments of Zhongshan and Foshan in Guangzhou province have postponed the resumption of work until March 1, while companies must apply for special permission in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province. The local administration has so far only given the green light to 1,462 out of nearly 30,000 companies based in the city”
Will these party officials be fired for being too strict?
To work or not to work – that is proving a crucial question for Chinese officials, companies and employees as the world’s second largest economy struggles to balance the risk of the deadly coronavirus with the need to resume business. Most provinces across China restarted operations on Monday after an extended Lunar New Year holiday, but an influx of workers returning from their hometowns is posing a headache for authorities. The coronavirus, which has killed more than 1,100 people and infected nearly 45,000, shows few signs of being contained, stoking fears of a potential spike in infections as people return to work. While the central government has made it clear that containing the outbreak is an overriding priority, Communist Party leaders know they cannot afford to freeze industrial production indefinitely, especially as China’s economy grows at its slowest pace in decades.
[..] As the virus has spread from Hubei’s provincial capital Wuhan, authorities across China have imposed travel restrictions, cancelled public events and locked down neighbourhoods. Last week, the government of Suzhou, a major manufacturing hub in Jiangsu province, which is known for its silk products, asked local communities to tell workers from Hubei and Zhejiang provinces not to return until further notice. This employee “blacklisting” was echoed by other cities, including Wuxi in the south of Jiangsu, which banned migrant workers from at least seven provinces. While most provincial level governments have urged companies to resume operations this week, officials at local levels are dragging their feet.
The city governments of Zhongshan and Foshan in Guangzhou province have postponed the resumption of work until March 1, while companies must apply for special permission in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province. Once approved, employees are required to report their body temperatures to local authorities daily. The local administration has so far only given the green light to 1,462 out of nearly 30,000 companies based in the city, an approval rate below 5 per cent. Small and medium-sized enterprises in China, which are a cornerstone for employment and social stability, are at most risk from the efforts to contain the outbreak. A recent survey conducted by researchers from Tsinghua and Peking universities in Beijing, two of China’s top institutions of higher learning, found that 67.1 per cent of small and medium-sized enterprises had only enough financial reserves to sustain operations for two months if revenues dried up. The survey of 995 companies also found that 30 per cent expected revenues to shrink by at least half from 2019.
In case the virus didn’t scare you enough:
“80 percent of the U.S. supply of antibiotics are made in China…”
About 40 percent of generic drugs sold in the U.S. have only a single manufacturer. A significant supply chain disruption could cause shortages for some or many of these products. Last year, manufacturing of intermediate or finished goods in China, as well as pharmaceutical source material, accounted for 95 percent of U.S. imports of ibuprofen, 91 percent of U.S. imports of hydrocortisone, 70 percent of U.S. imports of acetaminophen, 40 to 45 percent of U.S. imports of penicillin, and 40 percent of U.S. imports of heparin, according to the Commerce Department. In total, 80 percent of the U.S. supply of antibiotics are made in China.
While much of the fill finishing work (the actual formulation of finished drug capsules and tablets) is done outside China (and often in India) the starting and intermediate chemicals are often sourced in China. Moreover, the U.S. generic drug industry can no longer produce certain critical medicines such as penicillin and doxycycline without these chemical components.iv According to a report from the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, China’s chemical industry, which accounts for 40 percent of global chemical industry revenue, provides a large number of ingredients for drug products.
It’s these source materials – where in many cases China is the exclusive source of the chemical ingredients used for the manufacture of a drug product – that create choke points in the global supply chain for critical medicines. Moreover, when it comes to starting material for the manufacture of pharmaceutical ingredients, a lot of this production is centered in China’s Hubei Provence, the epicenter of coronavirus. Most drug makers have a one to three-months of inventory of drug ingredients on hand. But these supplies are already being drawn down. Among big API makers in Wuhan are Wuhan Shiji Pharmaceutical, Chemwerth, Hubei Biocause, Wuhan Calmland Pharmaceuticals.
[..] We’re facing the potential for unprecedented supply chain disruptions. You can’t easily switch component part suppliers — either starter material for the manufacture of drugs or components for device devices. You have to qualify those alternative sources, make sure they meet regulatory standards for Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), and meet the conditions set by those incorporating these materials into their finished goods. Even if FDA is able to offer manufacturers flexibility in making these component changes, substitutions are often complex.
Some people are just not all that smart.
President Moon Jae-in expressed confidence Thursday that South Korea will soon bring the novel coronavirus pandemic under control and stressed it is time to resume full-scale efforts to revitalize the economy, meeting with a group of local business leaders. “COVID-19 will be terminated (in South Korea) before long,” he said, using the official name of the disease, during the session held at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) in Seoul. Fortunately, he said, domestic quarantine management “appears to have entered a stable stage to some extent,” although it is still too early to be complacent. He emphasized that quarantine authorities here would continue their efforts “until the end” to contain the virus.
The president voiced regret once again over the outbreak’s negative impact on the country’s economy, which he said had been showing clear indications of recovery. “It’s very regrettable that the ankle of the economy has been seized by the occurrence of the COVID-19 incident,” Moon told the attendees including Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, CJ Group Chairman Lee Jae-hyun and Park Yong-maan, chairman of the KCCI. “Now, it’s time for the government and business circles to join forces and revive the recovery trend of the economy,” Moon said. He reaffirmed the government’s resolve to ramp up its bid to create more jobs with massive investment projects and support private firms with “bold” tax incentives and regulatory reform.
And here’s for the morally challenged. If it won’t make us rich, we should we develop a vaccine?
Epidemics are catastrophic for humans, and it turns out they aren’t much better for healthcare companies. The number of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus has multiplied more than 80-fold over three weeks despite measures such as travel bans, and exceeded 45,000 across 26 countries on Wednesday, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Tests and treatments are in demand. Yet past events like SARS show slow research, high production costs and political pressure on pricing often add up to disappointing returns. Tests for the virus now called SARS-CoV-2 are here. These are vital for diagnosing, isolating carriers, and tracking exposure.
Meridian Bioscience saw its stock pop on news it had developed a test, but the shares then dropped as investors realized Roche, Qiagen and others would all fight for thin margins. So far, none of the stocks has moved much. A treatment has better profit potential, as competition probably will be limited. The snag is, proving a drug’s effectiveness typically takes years. There are already multiple trials started using existing anti-viral treatments, and potential new drugs by Gilead Sciences and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals have begun testing, or will soon. Even if one company hits the jackpot, production can be a problem. Flu fears in 2009 made Roche’s Tamiflu a blockbuster. But securing enough production of spice star anise to make the drug proved troublesome.
The best long-term hope for coronavirus control is a vaccine. Old-school giant Novartis, biotechnology outfit Moderna and others want to make one. But drug development is hard, and vaccines can be particularly tricky due to viral mutation. World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday a vaccine might be available in 18 months, a long way off even assuming no hiccups. Vaccines can be profitable for endemic diseases – Pfizer sold $1.6 billion of a pneumonia vaccine last year. But the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2003 flared up and hasn’t been seen in humans since. SARS-CoV-2 might follow the same path.
February 12, 2020 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:44 am Finance Tagged with: Bianca, classicism, coronavirus, Covid19, cruise ship, job openings, lithium, OPCW, pensions, quadratic, Roger Stone, subprime, sustainable, Trump, Wuhan 18 Responses »
Dorothea Lange Daughter of white tobacco sharecropper at country store. Person County, North Carolina 1939
• China Reports 97 New Deaths, 2,059 New Cases Confirmed (SCMP)
• Coronavirus Cases Fall, Experts Disagree Over Whether Peak Is Near (R.)
• Japan Cruise Ship Virus Cases Jump To 175 (R.)
• At Least 500 Wuhan Medical Staff Infected With Coronavirus (SCMP)
• China’s Banks Face $6 Trillion Coronavirus Cataclysm (ZH)
• China Home Sales Crash In First Week Of February ‘Worse Than SARS’ (ZH)
• Trump Swipes At Resigned Prosecutors, Judge In Roger Stone Case (Hill)
• Despite Iowa Fiasco, Nevada Democrats Plan to Use New Software “Tool” (Webb)
• Executive Order (Kunstler)
• Third Whistle-Blower Comes Forward To Corroborate Complaints About OPCW (RT)
• Subprime Auto Loans, Serious Delinquencies Soar. These Are the Good Times (WS)
• Job Openings Plunge the Most Since the Great Recession (WS)
• How Unfunded Pensions Will Destroy Your Retirement (Raoul Pal)
• Volkswagen and Daimler Push For More ‘Sustainable’ Chile Lithium (R.)
And there we go once more with the Covid19 statistics (will that new name ever stick?):
• Deaths: 1,115, up 97 from yesterday’s 1,108
• Cases: 45,171, up 2059 from yesterday’s 43,112
“Everyone” is saying the numbers are going down, and that must mean we’re over the peak, or something.
But I quoted Ben Hunt yesterday in Corona Cartoon Numbers as saying the numbers conformed to a simple quadratic function, and speaking in the “voice” of Xi Jinping:
Yesterday we told everyone that 500 people have died since the outbreak. That’s a made-up number, of course, but that’s what we told everyone. Today let’s tell everyone that an additional 15% of that number died yesterday, so 75 new deaths for 575 total dead. And tomorrow let’s tell everyone that 14% of that total number died, and the day after 13%, and then 12% and then 11%. Clear progress!
That was in reaction to this predicted sequence Hunt saw presented by Antimonic:
My updated interpretation of this was:
Today according to “official” numbers we have 43,103 cases and 1,018 fatalities, which is up 108 from yesterday’s 910. What’s that, 10.5%? Close enough for discomfort.
And sure enough, today’s 97 deaths constitute 9.5% of yesterday’s 1,108. If this sequence holds (note that it was never meant as anything precise, just a trend), tomorrow’s new added deaths should be around 8.5% of 1,115, or 93-96 deaths. Let’s see. If that is correct, we know Beijing has been reporting false deaths numbers according to that quadratic “formula” -we already know, really.
You wait 2,5 months to name the thing, and then expect everyone to use that name?
China’s health authority reported 97 new deaths attributable to the Covid-19 outbreak and 2,015 newly-confirmed cases as of Tuesday. This brings the national totals to 1,113 and 44,653, respectively. As of yesterday, 744 recovered patients have been discharged, while the total number of recovery cases stands at 4,740. Outside Hubei province – epicentre of the Covid-19 epidemic – new infections on the mainland fell for the eighth consecutive day. Health authorities in Hubei reported 94 new deaths attributable to the contagion, and 1,638 newly confirmed cases as of Tuesday. This brings the totals announced by the province’s health commission to 1,068 and 33,366, respectively.
Officials in Hubei had reported 103 fatalities and 2,097 newly confirmed cases a day earlier. Some 1,104 of the new cases announced were confirmed in Hubei’s capital of Wuhan, where the virus is believed to have originated at a seafood and meat market. The figures from Hubei on Tuesday mark the lowest number of newly confirmed cases since the beginning of February. It is also the first time that Hubei has reported fewer than 2,000 new daily cases since February 2. Michael Ryan, the World Health Organisation’s head of emergency programmes, said on Tuesday in Geneva that Covid-19 had the potential to spread faster than either the Ebola or Sars viruses. Earlier this week, Covid-19 exceeded the Sars outbreak of 2002-03 in terms of deaths attributed to it.
“China’s foremost medical adviser on the outbreak, Zhong Nanshan..” Who said two weeks ago it would all be over within a week or ten days. “China’s foremost medical adviser on the outbreak”. Zhong now says: “I hope this outbreak or this event may be over in something like April..”
China on Wednesday reported its lowest number of new coronavirus cases since late January, lending weight to a prediction from its senior medical adviser that the outbreak could be over by April. Global markets took heart from the outlook but other international experts remain alarmed by the spread of the flu-like virus, which has killed more than 1,100 people, all but two in mainland China, and said optimism could be premature. China’s foremost medical adviser on the outbreak, Zhong Nanshan, said the numbers of new cases were falling in some provinces, and forecast the epidemic would peak this month.
“I hope this outbreak or this event may be over in something like April,” Zhong, an epidemiologist whose previous forecast of an earlier peak turned out to be premature, told Reuters on Tuesday. Total cases of the new coronavirus in China have hit 44,653, according to health officials, including 2,015 new confirmed cases on Tuesday. That was the lowest daily rise in new cases since Jan. 30. China last week amended its guidelines on prevention and control of the coronavirus, saying that only when asymptomatic cases show clinical signs should they be recorded as a confirmed case. However, it is not clear if the government data previously included asymptomatic cases. The number of deaths on the mainland rose by 97 to 1,113 by the end of Tuesday.
While Chinese officials said the situation was under control, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned the epidemic posed a global threat potentially worse than terrorism. The world must “wake up and consider this enemy virus as public enemy number one”, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday, adding the first vaccine was 18 months away. Asked about Zhong’s prediction, Australia’s chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, said: “I think it’s far too premature to say that.” “We’ve just got to watch the data very closely over the coming weeks before we make any predictions,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp, while praising China’s “Herculean efforts” to contain the virus.
[..] Even if the epidemic ends soon, it has already taken a toll on China’s economy, with companies laying off workers and other firms needing loans running into billions of dollars to stay afloat. Supply chains for car manufacturers to smartphone makers have broken down. Wu Chaoming, chief economist at Fortune Securities, wrote in a report that the impact on China’s labor market would be far greater than that of a 2002-2003 outbreak of another coronavirus that caused Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. About 24% of the labor force, or 186 million people, “could face some risks in salary reduction or even being laid off”, he said. ANZ bank said China’s first-quarter growth would likely slow to 3.2-4.0% compared with an earlier projection of 5.0%. China’s aviation regulator urged countries to lift virus-related travel restrictions as soon as possible, but airlines showed no sign of easing their curbs on flights.
Highest concentration of infections outside of China.
Another 39 people have tested positive for the coronavirus on the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan as well as one quarantine officer, bringing the total to 175, the health ministry said on Wednesday. The Diamond Princess was placed in quarantine for two weeks upon arriving in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, on Feb. 3, after a man who disembarked in Hong Kong was diagnosed with the virus. About 3,700 people are aboard the ship, which usually has a crew of 1,100 and a passenger capacity of 2,670. The ministry said tests are being conducted for others who are deemed to need them and it will announce the results later.
The U.K.-flagged Diamond Princess is managed by Princess Cruise Lines, one of the world’s largest cruise lines and a unit of Carnival Corp. The government was considering allowing elderly and those with chronic illnesses to disembark before the Feb. 19 target date for ending the quarantine, some media reported, but added it would take time to figure out where they could be sent. As of last week, about 80% of the passengers were aged 60 or over, with 215 in their 80s and 11 in the 90s, the English-language Japan Times newspaper reported.
Yup. Poor hygiene.
At least 500 hospital staff in Wuhan had been infected with the deadly new strain of coronavirus by mid January, multiple medical sources have confirmed, leaving hospitals short-staffed and causing deep concern among health care workers. While the government has reported individual cases of health care workers becoming infected, it has not provided the full picture, and the sources said doctors and nurses had been told not to make the total public.
The reason for this edict was not explained, but the authorities have been trying to boost morale among frontline medical staff, especially following the death of Li Wenliang, who was killed by the disease weeks after being reprimanded by police for warning colleagues about the new virus.
A slide circulating online, however, reveals the scale of infections among medical workers in Wuhan. It said that by mid-January there had been about 500 confirmed cases among hospital staff with a further 600 suspected ones. A source from a major hospital in Wuhan with knowledge of the situation confirmed that the slide was authentic. The figures shown on the slide were also in line with the figures given by two other doctors from major hospitals in Wuhan.
How many businesses and banks can the PBOC save if the virus lasts into April or beyond?
In a little noticed post back in November, we reported that as part of a stress test conducted by China’s central bank in the first half of 2019, 30 medium- and large-sized banks were tested; In the base-case scenario, assuming GDP growth dropped to 5.3% – nine out of 30 major banks failed and saw their capital adequacy ratio drop to 13.47% from 14.43%. In the worst-case scenario, assuming GDP growth dropped to 4.15%, some 2% below the latest official GDP print, more than half of China’s banks, or 17 out of the 30 major banks failed the test. Needless to say, the implications for a Chinese financial system – whose size is roughly $41 trillion – having over $20 trillion in “problematic” bank assets, would be dire.
Why do we bring this up now? Because according to many Wall Street estimates, as a result of the slowdown resulting from the Coronavirus pandemic, China’s economic growth is set to slow sharply, with some banks such as JPMorgan now expecting as little as 1% GDP growth in Q1 assuming the epidemic is contained in the next few weeks; if it isn’t, Chinese Q1 GDP growth may print negative for the first time on record. This is a big problem, because as noted above if the PBOC’s 2019 stress test is credible, more than half of China’s banks would fail the “stress test” should GDP drop to just 4.15%; and one can only imagine what happens to China’s banks if GDP prints negative.
Or, alternatively, one can read the fine print, where we find that among the immediate first order consequences of a GDP crunch is that the bad loan ratio at the nation’s 30 biggest banks would rise five-fold, flooding the country with trillions in non-performing loans, and potentially unleashing a tsunami of bank defaults. [..] “The banking industry is taking a big hit,” You Chun, a Shanghai-based analyst at National Institution for Finance & Development told Bloomberg. “The outbreak has already damaged China’s most vibrant small businesses and if it prolongs, many firms will go under and be unable to repay their loans.” [..] .. a recent nationwide survey showed that about 30% [of small businesses] expect to see revenue plunge more than 50% this year because of the virus and 85% said they are unable to maintain operations for more than three months with cash currently available.
“..new apartment sales crashed 90% in the first week of February..[..] .. Sales of existing homes in 8 cities plunged 91% over the same period..”
That can’t last long, but: “Real estate transactions have been forbidden in many cities.”
Seen more reports on that seconnd pic: the virus spreading through pipes in buildings.
Bloomberg cited a new report via China Merchants Securities (CMSC) that said new apartment sales crashed 90% in the first week of February over the same period last year. Sales of existing homes in 8 cities plunged 91% over the same period. “The sector is bracing for a worse impact than the 2003 SARS pandemic,” said Bai Yanjun, an analyst at property-consulting firm China Index Holdings Ltd. “In 2003, the home market was on a cyclical rise. Now, it’s already reeling from an adjustment.” Long before the coronavirus outbreak, China’s housing market has been on shaky grounds amid declining demand, stricter mortgage requirements, and price discounts.
The latest shock: two-thirds of China’s economy has come to a standstill, could generate enough pessimism to pop the country’s massive housing bubble. After all, coronavirus is a mass distraction from the overall domestic problems the Communist Party of China (CPC) faces. The CPC failed to stimulate the economy last year, with credit impulse not turning up as expected. The virus outbreak has allowed the CPC to scapegoat the slowdown and the inevitable crash. “…China’s ability to stimulate its economy is now virtually nil, since China’s record debt load has now made it virtually impossible to push the country’s credit impulse higher,” we noted last week. Real estate transactions have been forbidden in many cities. This means fire sales could be seen once selling restrictions end.
E-House China Enterprise Holdings Ltd.’s research institute said four units per day were being sold in Beijing last week, and this is down from several hundred per day during the same period in the previous year. China International Capital Corp. analyst Eric Zhang said demand could pick back up in April, assuming the virus outbreak is under control.
The 4 prosecutors in the Roger Stone case should be investigated. They won’t be, if only because they’re not independent. But this feels like sour grapes for the Mueller report failure.
Stone is a dirty trickster, but he’s been that for decades, and he’s only one of many in DC, on both sides. You can’t be locked up for that. Stone faces two main allegations, IIRC:
1) Lying about his link to WIkiLeaks/Russia. But we know Stone never had any such links. He lied to the Trump campaign about having them though, and then to the DOJ about that. But in essence, he was lying about something that never existed.
Sentencing him for that serves only to keep the illusion alive (just like the coward Rober Mueller did), that WikiLeaks had Russia links, and it’s high time to get rid of that ridiculous notion once and for all.
2) Stone is accused of threatening Randy Credico, his friend who testified to the DOJ. Or more specifically, he’s accused of threatening to kill Credico’s dog, Bianca. Credico wrote to Judge Amy Berman last month pleading with her NOT to send Stone to prison, and saying neither the threats against him or Bianca were serious.
Summarized, there are (were) 4 prosecutors who wanted to send Stone to prison for 9 years for threatening a dog, which according to the dog’s owner wasn’t even a real threat. And if the DOJ or Barr or Trump criticize this, they become the accused, “lawless”, parties.
President Trump on Tuesday swiped at the prosecutors and judge in the case of longtime confidant Roger Stone amid the fallout of the Justice Department’s decision to intervene in Stone’s sentencing recommendation. Trump weighed in on the sentencing late Tuesday even as Democrats and critics expressed alarm that the president seemed to be blurring the line between the executive branch and the Department of Justice (DOJ). “Who are the four prosecutors (Mueller people?) who cut and ran after being exposed for recommending a ridiculous 9 year prison sentence to a man that got caught up in an investigation that was illegal, the Mueller Scam, and shouldn’t ever even have started? 13 Angry Democrats?” Trump tweeted.
All four prosecutors who worked on Stone’s case resigned Tuesday after the DOJ asked a federal court to reduce the seven- to nine-year prison sentence they had originally recommended. One prosecutor, Aaron Zelinsky, worked on former special counsel Robert Mueller’s team. Stone, a 67-year-old right-wing provocateur, was found guilty in November of lying to Congress and witness tampering related to his efforts to provide the Trump campaign inside information about WikiLeaks in 2016. The timing of the DOJ’s involvement raised questions given that it came hours after Trump ridiculed the initial recommendation as a “miscarriage of justice” and previous accusations from Democrats that Attorney General William Barr has interceded at times in the president’s favor.
The president later told reporters he had not spoken with DOJ officials about Stone’s case but insisted he had the right to do so. He declined to say whether he was considering commuting Stone’s eventual sentence. “All starting to unravel with the ridiculous 9 year sentence recommendation!” Trump tweeted Tuesday night. Trump late Tuesday also swiped at D.C. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is overseeing the Stone case, implying she had treated his former campaign chairman unfairly. “Is this the Judge that put Paul Manafort in SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, something that not even mobster Al Capone had to endure? How did she treat Crooked Hillary Clinton? Just asking!” Trump tweeted.
The most boring show on TV. If you watch it or g-d forbid write about it, I feel for you.
Iowa: screwed up app, and ButtGeek gets bought into contention.
New Hampshire: Klobuchar gets bought into contention.
All of a sudden Warren and Biden are gone, and two no-no’s are Sanders’ only rivals left?
Even while the chaos of the recent Iowa Caucus remains fresh in voters’ minds, the Nevada State Democratic Party is setting itself up for more of the same by using a new software application for reporting results that is set to be coded and tested in less than a month. The application, still currently under development, will come preloaded onto iPads that will be distributed to precinct chairs during Nevada’s upcoming caucus, scheduled for February 22. The scramble to create this new application followed revelations that the same company that had developed the software largely blamed for the Iowa debacle – known as Shadow Inc. – had also developed the two applications that Nevada Democrats had planned to use both for early voting and for Caucus Day.
[..] .. the Shadow Inc. app was reported to have been developed over a period of roughly two months, though the company’s CEO, Gerard Niemira, has since claimed that the app’s creation began last August. In contrast, Nevada Democrats are now slated to use a software application developed in less than half that time [..] Another issue is the fact that Nevada Democrats decided to go this route after consulting “a group of tech and security folks” whose names and affiliations were not provided. As previously mentioned, after the Iowa debacle, several media reports quoted technology and cybersecurity experts as well as software developers who had cited the rushed development of the Shadow Inc. app as having largely led to the app’s failure and the resulting chaos in Iowa.
It thus seems odd that a group of “tech and security folks” are urging Nevada Democrats to pay for the development of a new program in an even shorter time frame as a way to prevent Nevada’s caucus from repeating Iowa’s failures. Though the identity of this group remains unknown, concerns have been raised that some may have links to the 2020 presidential campaign of Pete Buttigieg, given that the Shadow Inc.-developed app used in Iowa was found to have ties to the Buttigieg campaign and the Iowa caucus chaos clearly benefited the Buttigieg campaign. Concerns about possible connections between these tech and security consultants and the Buttigieg campaign have only grown since it was revealed that Nevada Democrats recently hired an organizer for Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 presidential campaign, Emily Goldman, as the Caucus’ Voter Protection Director, just weeks before the caucus is set to take place.
So Emily Goodman, the paid Buttigieg campaign insider now "Voter Protection Director" for the Nevada caucus used to work at the Brookings Institute, one of whose Chairs wrote an article today called "Stop Bernie Sanders Now."
This is shady as hell.https://t.co/aSQR8DQhsI pic.twitter.com/euSRuHB35M
— Alan MacLeod (@AlanRMacLeod) February 10, 2020
I felt a song coming on. From one of my favorite albums.
In this pause between past and future Deep State seditions, and the full-blown advent of Corona Virus in every region of the world, we pause to consider Mr. Trump’s executive order requiring new federal buildings to be designed in the classical style. The directive has caused heads to explode in the cultural wing of Progressive Wokesterdom, since the worship of government power has replaced religion for them and federal buildings are their churches — the places from which encyclicals are hurled at the masses on such matters as who gets to think and say what, who gets to use which bathroom, and especially whose life and livelihood can be destroyed for being branded a heretic.
[..] A virtue of classicism is that it employs structural devices that allow buildings to stand up: arches, columns, colonnades. These are replicable in modules or bays along scales from small to large. These devices honestly express the tectonic sturdiness of a building within the realities of gravity. A hidden virtue of classicism is that it is based on the three-part representation of the human figure: the whole and all the parts within it exist in nested hierarchies of base-shaft-and-head. This is true of columns with capitols set on a base, of windows with their sills, sashes, and lintels, and the whole building from base to roof. Classical architecture follows proportioning systems universally found in nature, such as the Fibonacci series of ratios, which are seen in everything from the self-assembly of seashells to the growth of tree branches.
Thus, classicism links us to nature and to our own humanity. Classical ornaments — the swags, moldings, entablatures, cartouches, corbels, festoons, and what-have-you — are not mandatory, but, of course, they also provide a way of expressing our place in nature, which is a pathway to expressing truth and beauty.
Just disband the thing alright. And defund Bellingcat.
A third whistle-blower has come forward to corroborate the previous complaints that the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) tried to suppress evidence-gathering in the Douma probe, a report says. The alleged new whistleblower, whose redacted email was shared by the Grayzone Project on Tuesday, backed the complaints made by two former OPCW employees — South African engineer and organization’s veteran Ian Henderson, and another whistleblower known as ‘Alex.’ OPCW Director-General Fernando Arias had earlier dismissed the pair — dubbed Inspector A and Inspector B in the organization’s inquiry into their claims — as low-level rogue employees who conducted field work without proper authorization and which simply “could not accept that their views were not backed by evidence.”
However, the person, described by Grayzone as a former senior official with the OPCW, stood by Henderson and ‘Alex,’ writing that his time with the organization was “the most stressful and unpleasant” one in his life. “I feel ashamed for the Organization and I am glad I left it. “I fear those behind the crimes that have been perpetrated in the name of ‘humanity and democracy,’ they will not hesitate to do harm to me and my family,” the person wrote, explaining the decision to remain anonymous. Henderson was deployed with the fact-finding mission to Syria shortly after the alleged chemical attack in Douma. The inspector concluded that the cylinders, supposedly containing chlorine, were more likely manually placed on the ground rather than dropped from planes.
According to him, the higher-ups discarded his findings without explanation, and sidelined him from the rest of the mission. Its final report was later used by the US and some European countries to implicate the Syrian government of Bashar Assad in conducting the attack, which the Syrian authorities vehemently deny.
What keeps America motoring.
Auto loan and lease balances have surged to a new record of $1.33 trillion. Delinquencies of auto loans to borrowers with prime credit rates hover near historic lows. But subprime loans (borrowers with a credit score below 620) are exploding at a breath-taking rate, and they’re driving up the overall delinquency rates to Financial Crisis levels. Yet, these are the good times, and there is no employment crisis where millions of people have lost their jobs. All combined, prime and subprime auto-loan delinquencies that are 90 days or more past due – “serious” delinquencies – in the fourth quarter 2019, surged by 15.5% from a year ago to a breath-taking historic high of $66 billion, according to data from the New York Fed released today:
Loan delinquencies are a flow. Fresh delinquencies that hit lenders go into the 30-day basket, then a month later into the 60-day basket, and then into the 90-day basket, and as they move from one stage to the next, more delinquencies come in behind them. When the delinquency cannot be cured, lenders hire a company to repossess the vehicle. Finding the vehicle is generally a breeze with modern technology. The vehicle is then sold at auction, a fluid and routine process.[..] Seriously delinquent auto loans jumped to 4.94% of the $1.33 trillion in total loans and leases outstanding, above where the delinquency rate had been in Q3 2010 as the auto industry was collapsing, with GM and Chrysler already in bankruptcy, and with the worst unemployment crisis since the Great Depression approaching its peak. But this time, there is no unemployment crisis; these are the good times:
About 22% of the $1.33 trillion in auto loans outstanding are subprime, so about $293 billion are subprime. Of them, $68 billion are 90+ days delinquent. This means that about 23% of all subprime auto loans are seriously delinquent. Nearly a quarter!
The biggest threat vs Trump’s re-election. Will the Dems weaponize it?
The number of job openings in December dropped by 364,000 from November (seasonally adjusted), after having already plunged by 574,000 in November, according to the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). This two-month plunge of 938,000 job openings came after a series of ups and downs with downward trend starting after the peak in January 2019. It brought the number of job openings in December to 6.42 million (seasonally adjusted), same level as in October 2017. Since the peak in January 2019, over 1.2 million job openings have dissolved into ambient air (November and December in red).
On a not-seasonally adjusted basis, job openings in December plunged by 14.9% from December 2018, the steepest since the Great Recession. In total, 1.05 million job openings have disappeared over the period. This was the seventh month in a row of year-over-year declines. Year-over-year comparisons eliminate seasonal fluctuations. And the fact that this year-over-year drop of 14.9% in December occurred in the not-seasonally adjusted data shows that the drop to 6.42 million job openings was not due to seasonal adjustments gone berserk. It was due to other reasons. There had been a minuscule dip into the negative in January 2013, and then the more visible dip into the negative in late 2016 and early 2017. What we’re seeing now is in an entirely different ballpark:
I haven’t watched the entire video, but this is a topic that warrants much more scrutiny.
How can ordinary people behaving rationally create a generational threat? Raoul Pal, in his role as CEO and co-founder of Global Macro Investor, joins Real Vision to explain the interconnected problem of the everything bubble and the coming retirement crisis to answer the question, “why do we invest?” He explains in detail how the baby boomer generation, through the rational and reasonable behavior of seeking to live and retire comfortably, has fueled the creation of a massive financial bubble that touches nearly every corner of the economy as pensions take more and more risk. Pal breaks down the crucial demographic, economic, and political trends that have combined to create the problem and suggests potential solutions for Baby Boomers, Millennials, and Gen Xers to get out door before the fire of the coming recession. Filmed on February 4, 2020 in Grand Cayman.
Now taking bets on when the term “sustainable” loses the last bit of its meaning. And no, electric cars don’t solve single problem. They create plenty new ones, though, so if problems are your thing…
German automakers Volkswagen and Daimler have launched a study to push for more “sustainable” lithium mining in Chile, according to lobbyist filings reviewed by Reuters, a sign of growing supply chain concerns ahead of an expected electric vehicle boom. Chile’s Atacama salt flat is by far the biggest source of supply of the ultralight battery metal in South America’s so-called “lithium triangle.” The region, whose fragile ecosystem relies on a limited water supply, is home to the globe’s top two producers, U.S.-based Albemarle and Chile’s SQM. But concerns over sustainability have long plagued Atacama’s miners, which extract the metal from pools of brine beneath the world’s driest desert.
Residents and environmental groups worry about potential damage to a regional ecosystem home to an ancient indigenous culture, lagoons inhabited with rare flamingos and a booming tourism industry. Lobbying records show a team from German development agency GIZ and the public-private Fundacion Chile met with Cristóbal De La Maza, chief of top Chilean environmental regulator SMA, early this year to formally present plans for the “feasibility study.” “This project is driven by the Volkswagen and Daimler companies,” the filings read. “The growing importance of batteries has made the sustainability of lithium a key priority for these companies.”
Pressure is mounting on German carmakers to fast-track production of electric vehicles to meet increasingly stringent European Union anti-pollution rules. Volkswagen alone has staked its future on a $91 billion plan to profitably mass-producing zero-emission vehicles. That push has prompted beefed-up scrutiny of mining practices around key metals such as cobalt, copper and lithium, all of which are predicted to see a spike in demand in coming years. [..] Australia, the world’s No. 1 producer of the white metal, mines its lithium from hard rock, not brine.
Joseph Shabalala died this week. He was the founder -and “father”- of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the South African vocal group that accompanied Paul Simon on his Graceland album and tour.
February 11, 2020 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 12:56 pm Finance Tagged with: Aboriginees, aliens, Bernie, Chen Qiushi, closures, coronavirus, death toll, Democrats, Growth, incubation, oil prices, WHO, Wuhan, Xi Jinping 24 Responses »
Mathew Brady Grand Review of the Army. Units of XX Army Corps, Army of Georgia, Pennsylvania Ave. near the Treasury, Washington, DC. May 24 1865
• 3 Wuhan Officials Summoned To Explain Failings (SCMP)
• China Gets Back To Work As Death Toll Reaches 1,018 (SCMP)
• China Firms Cut Staff On Virus Outbreak As Xi Vows No Large-Scale Layoffs (R.)
• Senior Chinese Officials ‘Removed’ As Death Toll Hits 1,000 (BBC)
• Outspoken Academic Blames Xi Jinping For ‘Catastrophe’ Sweeping China (G.)
• Expert Warns Infection Could Reach 60% Of World’s Population (G.)
• China Delayed Reporting The Outbreak And The WHO Is Staying Mum (Vox)
• Coronavirus Exposes Fundamental Flaws In China’s Economic Growth Model (SCMP)
• Coronavirus Could Have Incubation Period Of 24 Days (Ind.)
• Look How Low Oil Prices Have Fallen (F.)
• Coronavirus Could Trim 1 Percentage Point From China GDP Growth – Gov’t. (R.)
• China Q1 Smartphone Shipments To Fall More Than 30% (CNBC)
• US Charges Four Chinese Military Officers Over Equifax Hack (BBC)
• Aboriginal Australians Are Not ‘Aliens’, Cannot Be Deported – High Court (G.)
• ‘The World Is Looking At New Hampshire’ – Bernie Sanders (R.)
First, don’t forget to read my article earlier today, Corona Cartoon Numbers, because thay may teach you a thing or two about the “official” numbers.
Those numbers for Feb 11:
• Cases 43,112 vs 40,614 yesterday. That’s up 2498
• Deaths 1,108 vs 910 yesterday. Up 108.
• Hubei provincial health commission said the province had confirmed a total of 31,728 cases with 974 deaths by the end of Monday, a fatality rate of 3.07%. More than three-quarters of the deaths have been in the provincial capital Wuhan. The commission said there were still a total of 16,687 suspected but unconfirmed cases
Bizarre news item: In January, several individuals on a Paris takeoff flight bound for Shanghai were diagnosed with the #Coronavirus— in the opposite travel direction of the outbreak epicenter.
An update of a familiar BBC graph:
And this from the Yokohama cruise ship. 439 tested, 135 positive. 32.5%.
The Holland America cruise ship Westerdam, which had gotten permission to dock in Thailand after 9 days at sea and 3 countries refusing entry, has been denied entry by Thailand at the last minute as well. There are no known carriers aboard.
And this guy, bless his soul, has been disappeared.:
Lawyer and citizen journalist Chen Qiushi: “I’m not even afraid of death. You think I’m afraid of the Communist Party?”
Lawyer and citizen journalist Chen Qiushi vanished while documenting the coronavirus lockdown in Wuhan. He spent weeks filming patients and overrun hospitals pic.twitter.com/pdf7YE8ell
— SCMP News (@SCMPNews) February 11, 2020
Time flies when you’re having fun with viruses. It’s already been 9 days since I explained in The Party and the Virus: “Never a bad word should be uttered about the Party, and nothing said that could embarrass it.”
The Party blames individuals, so it can escape the blame. Problem with that is that is the Party is wrong, it won’t be corrected.
A special task force reviewing prevention efforts in Wuhan, Hubei’s capital, has summoned three local officials for emergency meetings and detailed their failings in containing the outbreak. Wuhan deputy mayor Chen Xiexing and two district chiefs in the city, Lin Wenshu and Yu Song, were called in for meetings, state news agency Xinhua reported on Tuesday. Officials found to have been negligent would be held accountable, the report said. Headed by Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan, the task force was set up by the Communist Party’s Central Committee. Mainland media reported on Friday that Chen Yixin, a protégé of President Xi Jinping, had been added to the team.
China has had nearly 1,000 cluster outbreaks of the coronavirus and found that 83 per cent occurred in families, with the rest arising in hospitals, schools and shopping malls, said Wu Zunyou, chief scientist of China’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, at a media briefing on Tuesday. Among the cluster cases, 86 per cent were first or second-generation transmissions – people who lived or travelled in Hubei, contracted the virus and passed it to people who were in close contact with them, such as family members or people who shared meals with them. “Occurrences of these cluster cases showed our control and treatment measures have been effective and it did not spread from small units to bigger areas of society,” Wu said.
Let’s see your priorities. For now, “gets back to work” looks a bit much.
Do note: when Xi comes out of hiding to announce it will be a hard fight, expect trouble.
Health authorities in China reported on Tuesday 108 new fatalities attributable to the novel coronavirus, bringing the national death toll to 1,018. This is the first time more than 100 people have died from the disease in a single day on the mainland. The National Health Commission also reported 2,478 new confirmed cases of the illness, bringing that total to 42,638 as of Monday. Of the new deaths, 103 were in Hubei province – the epicentre of the novel coronavirus epidemic – and five in other provinces. As millions of people in China prepare to return to work, Beijing has made clear that the reopening of businesses must not be hampered by “crude and oversimplified” restrictions.
As many as 160 million people are expected to be returning to their cities of employment over the following week, according to Xu Yahua, director of the transport services department at the Chinese ministry of transport. The coronavirus outbreak coincided with the Lunar New Year travel season, when millions of migrant workers traditionally travel to their homes to spend the holiday with their families. As part of China’s response to the outbreak, the holiday season was extended to February 18. Many local authorities – from megacities like Beijing and Shanghai to remote villages – have curbed public transport provision and restricted people from moving outside their communities during the outbreak.
Many local governments have also adopted a registration system and prior approval requirements for companies planning to resume production. Some business owners have been detained for resuming work in advance. But Beijing has now made clear these practices were not in line with the requirements and policies of the central authorities. “Such a tendency must be stopped,” said Ou Xiaoli, director of social development at the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planning agency. “We will strictly stop restricting the production resumption in an oversimplified and crude way,” he said, at the same press conference on Tuesday.
Anything public has lost most of their income. Whaddaya mean no lay-offs?
A Chinese media company said it will lay off 500 employees due to the coronavirus outbreak, the latest among a string of firms to do so in the past two weeks as the epidemic takes a toll on small-to-medium sized businesses. Xinchao Media, which places advertisements in elevators, will cut 10% of its workforce to “ensure survival”, the company said in a post on its official WeChat account on Monday, which carried the transcript of an internal speech by CEO Zhang Jixue. “To overcome the epidemic, you have to step on the brakes, jam the cash flow, reduce costs,” Zhang said, as he noted the company’s cash reserve of 1 billion yuan ($143 million) would likely be enough for only 6-7 months in the absence of income.
The job cuts come even as President Xi Jinping said the government would prevent large-scale layoffs caused by the virus outbreak – which has killed more than a 1,000 people in mainland China and infected over 40,000. Authorities said on Tuesday they will roll out measures to stabilize jobs. But many companies are hurting from disruptions felt since late-January after local governments extended Lunar New Year holidays and urged people to stay home. Beijing’s “Karaoke King” has said it wants to terminate contracts with all its 200 employees as it shut its outlets due to the outbreak, local media reports said. The karaoke chain did not immediately return calls made by Reuters on Tuesday.
Chinese restaurant chain Xibei, which has over 360 outlets, said it was worried about wages for its roughly 20,000 workers given how the epidemic had impacted its income. “We need 156 million yuan a month to pay our workers, and if the epidemic continues, and cash flow continues to be inadequate, we will not be able to hold up for much longer,” it said on its official Weibo account. In Beijing, only 11,500 restaurants were operational mid last week, or 13% of the total, the Beijing Municipal Market Supervision Bureau said.
Cited this last week. Individuals get the blame, so the Party does not.
China has “removed” several senior officials over their handling of the coronavirus outbreak – as the death toll passed 1,000. The party secretary for the Hubei Health Commission, and the head of the commission, were among those who lost their jobs. They are the most senior officials to be demoted so far. The deputy director of the local Red Cross was also removed for “dereliction of duty” over “handling of donations”. The two Hubei party officials will be replaced by a national figure – the deputy director of China’s National Health Commission, Wang Hesheng. On Monday, some 103 died in Hubei province alone, a daily record, and the national death toll is now 1,016. But the number of new infections nationally was down almost 20% from the day before, from 3,062 to 2,478.
Hubei’s health commission confirmed 2,097 new cases in the province on Monday, down from 2,618 the previous day. According to state media, there have been hundreds of sackings, investigations and warnings across Hubei and other provinces during the outbreak. But removal from a certain role – while regarded as a censure – does not always mean the person will be sacked entirely, as it can also mean demotion. As well as being removed from their posts, officials can also be punished by the ruling Communist Party. For example, the deputy head of the Red Cross, Zhang Qin, was given “a serious intra-Party warning as well as a serious administrative demerit”, state media said. Earlier this month, the deputy head of the Wuhan bureau of statistics was removed, also with a “serious intra-party warning a well as a serious administrative demerit for violating relevant regulations to distribute face masks”.
The Hubei health commission said the province had a total of 31,728 cases with 974 deaths by the end of Monday – a fatality rate of 3%.
“..a culture of suppression and “systemic impotence”..”
A prominent Chinese intellectual has become the first high-profile public figure to lay the blame for the coronavirus crisis at the feet of the country’s leader, Xi Jinping, saying the spread of the deadly virus has “revealed the rotten core of Chinese governance”. As the crisis expands across the country, Xu Zhangrun, a law professor from one of the country’s top universities, lambasted the government under Xi in an essay titled: Viral Alarm, When Fury Overcomes Fear. In it, Xu laid the blame for the current national crisis at the feet of Xi and a culture of suppression and “systemic impotence” that he has created. The virus has now killed more than 1,000 people inside China.
“The cause of all of this lies with The Axelrod and the cabal that surrounds him,” Xu writes, referring to Xi, according to a translation of the article by historian Geremie Barmé published on Monday by the website ChinaFile. “It is a system that turns every natural disaster into an even greater man-made catastrophe. The coronavirus epidemic has revealed the rotten core of Chinese governance; the fragile and vacuous heart of the jittering edifice of state has thereby shown up as never before.” Xu describes the outbreak as a “national calamity” that involves politics, the economy and “nation’s ethical fabric” making it “more perilous than total war itself”.
After weeks of disappearing from public view, Xi on Monday visited a neighbourhood and hospital in Beijing where he held a video call with health workers in Wuhan. Coverage of his appearance filled the front page of the official People’s Daily on Tuesday. Xu’s essay captures growing public anger at the government, which has reached a new peak after the death of a doctor and whistleblower last week. Officials have tried to blame lower-level bureaucrats, but top bosses have not escaped. On Tuesday, the party secretary of health commission of Hubei province and the director of the Hubei provincial health commission were both fired.
Professor Gabriel Leung, around whose January 31 report I based my Feb 5 article The Big Lockdown:
The novel coronavirus epidemic could spread to around two-thirds of the world’s population if it cannot be controlled, according to Hong Kong’s leading public health epidemiologist. His warning came after the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said recent cases of coronavirus patients who have never visited China could be the “tip of the iceberg”. Professor Gabriel Leung, chair of Public Health Medicine at Hong Kong University, said the overriding question was to figure out the size and shape of the iceberg. Most experts thought that each person infected would go on to transmit the virus to around 2.5 other people. That gave an “attack rate” of 60-80%.
“Sixty per cent of the world’s population is an awfully big number,” Leung told the Guardian in London, en route to an expert meeting at the WHO in Geneva. Even if the general fatality rate is as low as 1%, which Leung thinks is possible once milder cases are taken into account, the death toll would be massive. He will tell the WHO expert meeting that the main issue is the scale of the growing worldwide epidemic and the second priority is to find out whether the drastic measures taken by China to prevent the spread have worked – because if so, other countries should think about adopting them. Leung – one of the world’s experts on coronavirus epidemics, who played a major role in the Sars outbreak in 2002-2003 – works closely with other leading scientists such as counterparts at Imperial College London and Oxford University.
At the end of January he warned in a paper in the Lancet that outbreaks were likely to be “growing exponentially” in cities in China, lagging just one to two weeks behind Wuhan. Elsewhere, “independent self-sustaining outbreaks in major cities globally could become inevitable” because of the substantial movement of people who were infected but had not yet developed symptoms, and the absence of public health measures to stop the spread. Epidemiologists and modellers were all trying to figure out what was likely to happen, said Leung. “Is 60 to 80% of the world’s population going to get infected? Maybe not. Maybe this will come in waves. Maybe the virus is going to attenuate its lethality because it certainly doesn’t help it if it kills everybody in its path, because it will get killed as well,” he said.
[..] In January Leung published two papers in the Lancet. The first examined the damage done by social unrest to the mental health of the Hong Kong population. The second was on the spread of coronavirus. “So the two have now come together. The first has made the second impossible to deal with – impossible. I mean, how do you bring your population along when there’s been this huge chasm in society?” he said.
Western governments and media are as guilty here as China. No use singling out China. Everyone just wishes it would all go away. Everyone’s more afraid for the economy than of the virus. Until they can’t. Dumb piece. Find your own faults first, not those of the other. You really want people to believe western governments would react differently?
Nearly six weeks after China announced the coronavirus outbreak, there’s still a surprising amount we don’t know about this newly discovered disease. But one thing is becoming clear: China’s silence in the earliest days of the crisis may have made it worse. Chinese authorities delayed informing the world about the severity of a deadly disease spreading within the country’s borders — even trying to muzzle whistleblowers, like the late Dr. Li Wenliang. Now hailed as a national hero, Li was forced on January 3 by police to sign a letter saying he spread “untrue speech” for warning colleagues about the virus that eventually took his life. With more than 40,500 people infected and 910 deaths, China’s missteps early on seem increasingly fateful.
The fact that the international community has not acknowledged those missteps is also consequential. On Friday, President Trump applauded China. “They’re working really hard and I think they’re doing a very professional job,” Trump told ABC News. Meanwhile, the leading global health body, the World Health Organization, has stayed mum about China’s blunders — and is drawing criticism for failing to publicly criticize the country and creating “a false sense of security” about an emerging health crisis. But the reality is this: China’s mishandling and the ensuing silence from the international community is emblematic of how the global system governing the international response to pandemics fails to work, half a dozen global health experts told Vox.
Though we have global health laws — in particular, the International Health Regulations, or IHR — meant to guide countries dealing with outbreaks, they’re not actually enforceable. “You can’t penalize [countries that] don’t follow it,” said Devi Sridhar, the chair in global public health at the University of Edinburgh. Instead, the international community has to rely on “soft law and norms” — or “disease diplomacy.” This means that when a pandemic threat looms, the world has little recourse to punish those that fail to live up to the IHR for not detecting a public health problem, or hiding a crisis, even when that mishandling imperils the lives of billions. And with just about every outbreak, history repeats. “Our global outbreak response system depends on the full participation of all actors at all levels of government,” Steven Hoffman, director of the Global Strategy Lab and a professor of global health at York University, summed up. “But our system is only as strong as its weakest link.” Understanding the IHR, and how disease diplomacy is done today, helps explain why.
Not just economic growth. Flaws in the Party system, which is incapable of adapting to being found out.
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus, which has killed over 1,000 people and infected over 40,000, has exposed fundamental flaws in China’s governance system and its growth model – the excessive concentration of power, information and resources in the hands of a powerful state. But given the path of China’s political and economic evolution, it is difficult for China to loosen its grip on power as a response to so-called black swan events such as the coronavirus. The most likely outcome is that Beijing will continue to strengthen centralised control, which in turn is a greater threat to China’s prospects than the virus itself.
When it is done right, a centralised political system means the government can deliver positives such as rapid economic growth, but it also make it possible for the government to place emphasis on the wrong things, which has the potential to lead to uncertainty and even disaster for society. There is precedent that China tends to enhance centralisation as the solution to a problem that has stemmed from over control. The “new normal” concept, which was adopted by the state in 2014, dissociated the political legitimacy of the Chinese government from economic growth, therefore reducing the pressure on local Chinese authorities to deliver. And while the concept had the good intention of seeking high quality growth, it has, in reality, made the local authorities less friendly to the private sector.
To achieve high economic growth, local governments have had to free up market forces and allow the private sector to thrive, but without the pressure, they do not have the incentive to conduct the necessary political and economic liberalisations to entertain private investors. As a result, the central government is increasingly reliant on state-owned enterprises and state money to maintain social stability and to deliver environmental improvement, while the private economy is gradually marginalised and local autonomy is weakened.
Co-author Dr Zhong Nanshan was very very wrong when he said late January that the epidemic would be over in 7-10 days. Talked about that. Just saying.
Medical researchers in China have found the incubation period for coronavirus ranges up to 24 days — 10 days longer than experts previously thought. The research was co-authored by Dr Zhong Nanshan, who discovered the SARS coronavirus in 2003 and has been appointed as a leading advisor in managing the current coronavirus crisis. Current advice from health organisations and ministries say the virus’ incubation period is as long as 14 days, based on the incubation period of previous MERS viruses. Public Health England and the Department of Health and Social Care has urged anyone travelling from specific countries, including China, to quarantine themselves at home for 14 days.
The findings, which have not yet been peer reviewed, were published on Sunday and titled ‘Clinical characteristics of 2019 novel coronavirus infection in China’. They found only 1.18 per cent of patients “had a direct contact with wildlife”. The majority of the patients had contracted the virus from being in contact with people from Wuhan, where the centre of the outbreak is. More than 80 percent of patients developed lymphopenia, which is a state where a specific white blood cell that is part of the body’s first-line defence against diseases is reduced.
Wait till we see car sales in China.
West Texas Intermediate oil is trading just below $50 midday Monday. This is a very low price for the US benchmark, otherwise known as WTI. The lesson: don’t underestimate the impact of the Coronavirus on the oil market and the greater American economy. The price of WTI last fell below this level for a couple of weeks at the end of 2018 and start of 2019. Other than that moment, the price has not been this low since September of 2017. The concern is that the current low price is not a blip like last year but rather a sustained drop or maybe only the beginning of a situation that could get significantly worse. If the Coronavirus continues to interfere with the Chinese economy and international trade, oil prices are likely to fall further. After all, China is the world’s largest importer of oil by a wide margin, accepting 10.78 million barrels per day in December, 2019.
Here’s who really needs to keep an eye on these low oil prices.
First is, of course, oil producers—from international oil companies like Exxon and Chevron to wildcatters in shale fields—need to beware.
Next, we have the oil industry employees and supplemental industries like truck drivers, welders and restaurant workers near oil fields who could all be affected.
Financiers and investors—hedge funds, private equity and retail investors alike—who fund oil operations are worried about failed projects if revenue drops.
Airlines need to watch oil volatility, because they have an opportunity to buy jet fuel at low prices if it drops, which allows them to hedge for when higher prices eventually return.
Certain state governments, such as Alaska, Wyoming, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, North Dakota and others that fund their budgets in part with taxes on oil production and sales have to beware, as they may be facing unexpected lean times.
Last, businesses that contract for products to be trucked around the country should be looking for discounted pricing.
Despite all the talk about electric vehicles and alternative energy, oil is still the vital liquid that keeps much of our economy moving. We are reminded of that at times like these, when the oil market is anticipating volatility and change.
Well, if the virus gives up later this very day, he might be right. But not a minute later.
Zeng Gang, vice chair of the National Institute for Finance and Development, compared the current crisis with the SARS epidemic of 2003, when China’s growth declined by about 2 percentage points in a single quarter. “The impact of this epidemic on the economy in the first quarter is expected to be comparable,” Zeng said in a commentary published in the 21st Century Business Herald newspaper. “At present, according to different scenario assumptions, researchers expect the negative impact of the epidemic on full-year GDP growth to be in the range of 0.2% to 1%.” If the official response to the epidemic is timely and effective at limiting its spread, long-term growth trends would not be significantly affected, Zeng said.
“But in the short term, the epidemic’s impact on economic activity cannot be ignored, especially with tertiary industries and small enterprises with tight cash flows facing greater pressures,” Zeng said. Zeng said difficulties for small companies could prompt a rise in bankruptcies and put upward pressure on the unemployment rate in the first quarter. “The employment situation is not optimistic. This will also pose a serious challenge to the macro policy goal of ‘employment first’,” he said. Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Monday that the government would prevent large-scale layoffs, Chinese state television reported.
China’s central bank has taken steps to support the economy, including reducing interest rates and flushing the market with liquidity. It has also said it will provide special funds for banks to lend to businesses. Analysts at Citi said they expect growth to slow significantly despite expectations of more proactive fiscal policy and more accommodative monetary policy. “Assuming the virus is contained by the end of March, we revise down our 20Q1 GDP growth forecast considerably to 3.6% and the annual growth modestly to 5.3%”, Citi analysts said in a note. Citi previously forecast first-quarter growth of 4.8% and full-year growth of 5.5%.
But GDP growth only 0.2% lower?
China’s smartphone shipments for the three months ending in March could decline by more than 30% from the same period a year ago, International Data Corporation said on Tuesday. The world’s largest smartphone market could experience a so-called “Black Swan effect” in the first half of the calendar year due to the new coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 1,000 people on the mainland, according to the research firm. [..] “The coronavirus outbreak impacted the Lunar New Year’s shopping season in late January and is also expected to have adverse effects in the following months,” IDC said in a statement, adding that it expects “China’s smartphone shipments to drop more than 30% year-on-year in 2020Q1.”
The virus outbreak will also “create uncertainty in product launch plans, the supply chain, and distribution channels, in the mid and long term,” IDC said. Research firm Canalys earlier this month predicted China’s smartphone shipments could drop by as much as 50% between the last three months of 2019 and the first three months of 2020. “Technology vendors are likely to stall marketing activities as they are unlikely to divert attention to new product launches, such as 5G devices,” Canalys said in a Feb. 3 report. “It will take time for vendors to change their product launch roadmaps in China, which is likely to dampen 5G shipments in 2020.”
Curious where this will go.
The US has charged four Chinese military officers over the huge cyber-attack on credit rating giant Equifax. More than 147 million Americans were affected in 2017 when hackers stole sensitive personal data including names and addresses. Some UK and Canadian customers were also affected. Announcing the indictments, Attorney General William Barr called the hack “one of the largest data breaches in history”. According to court documents, the four are allegedly members of the People’s Liberation Army’s 54th Research Institute, a component of the Chinese military.
They spent weeks in the company’s system, breaking into security networks and stealing personal data, the documents said. The nine-count indictment also accuses the group of stealing trade secrets including data compilation and database designs. The whereabouts of the suspects is unknown and it is highly unlikely that they will stand trial in the US. FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich said: “We can’t take them into custody, try them in a court of law, and lock them up – not today, anyway.”
The country that never tires of embarrassing itself.
The Australian government has released an Aboriginal man from immigration detention after a landmark high court case decided Aboriginal Australians are not aliens for the purpose of the constitution and cannot be deported. On Tuesday afternoon the acting immigration minister, Alan Tudge, said the government is still reviewing the decision but “in the light of the court’s ruling, Mr [Brendan] Thoms was this morning released from immigration detention”. The case was a major defeat for the deportation powers of Peter Dutton’s home affairs department and a significant development in the rights of Indigenous Australians. In a four-to-three split decision the high court ruled that Aboriginal people with sufficient connection to traditional societies cannot be aliens, giving them a special status in Australian constitutional law likely to have ramifications far beyond existing native title law.
The majority of the high court ruled that New Zealand-born Brendan Thoms was not an alien and the commonwealth therefore did not have power to order his deportation. The court was not able to decide if the second plaintiff, Daniel Love, was an Aboriginal Australian, requiring a further hearing to establish whether he is accepted as a member of the Kamilaroi tribe. Speaking outside the court earlier, the men’s lawyer, Claire Gibbs, called on the government to immediately release Thoms, who had been in immigration detention for 500 days. Love had previously been released in September 2018. Gibbs said she was “confident” Love will also be found not to be an alien and told reporters the pair will seek “significant” damages.
Nobody’s looking at New Hampshire. It’s an illusion. Trump is only watching out of Schadenfreude. The only people who care about Democrats today are Democrats. And they have themselves to blame for that. The only thing is that Biden and Warren, on the brink of annihilation, might come with heavy and utterly ridiculous allegations vs ButtGeek and Bernie.
In Plymouth, Buttigieg tried to reach out to undecided voters, referring to “future former Republicans” who he said were more than welcome to back his campaign. “It’s decision time,” Buttigieg said. He took a shot at Sanders, saying that the self-described democratic socialist would have a hard time pulling in moderate voters. “Knowing how much depends on bringing Americans together, we cannot risk alienating Americans at this critical moment,” he said. “And that’s where I part ways with my friend Senator Sanders.” In a separate event, Sanders aimed his attacks at Trump. “I know not everybody agrees with everything I say, but I think what we can agree about is that we cannot continue having a president who is a pathological liar,” Sanders told a crowd at a sports club in Manchester.
‘The world is looking at New Hampshire:’ Vermont Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders makes closing pitch to voters https://t.co/VJB1Aw6lNv pic.twitter.com/EQDOfv1SqG
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 11, 2020
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Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church was officially organized in 1874, but its history goes back to 1852 when circuit riders worshipped in local homes. The early congregation experienced challenges that led to a schism that saw the congregation divided. In 1874, however, the Texas Synod of the Lutheran Church sent Pastor F. Jessie to Pflugerville. Jessie drafted the organizing documents that officially established and governed the Immanuel Lutheran Church. The congregation also established a brick sanctuary that served the congregation until it was destroyed in 1928. This building was dedicated a year later on land donated by William Bohls, a prominent citizen of Pflugerville.
The previous church building burned in a fire on March 16, 1928.
An example of stained glass windows that can be found in the current Immanuel Lutheran Church.
Current Immanuel Lutheran Church, dedicated in 1929.
Red bricked Immanuel Lutheran Church was built in 1929 for $10,300 and burned in 1928.
The Immanueal Evangelical Lutheran Church Historical Marker
The current Immanuel Lutheran Church was built after the previous building burned in 1928. The congregation existed back in 1852. At that time, circuit riders worshipped in local homes. It was not until 1871 that an official congregation formed with a constitution adopted in April 10 of that year consisting of 27 households. It did not last long. The next year, the congregation disbanded and two new congregations formed: Evangelical Church at Dessau and the Immanuel Congregation and Church at Richland. Then, in 1874, the Texas Synod of The Lutheran Church sent Pastor F. Jesse. He established a Constitution with 11 members for the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Pflugerville, TX.
In 1875, using land donated by William Bohls, a church building was dedicated for the Immanuel Lutheran Church. The building was a spired frame sanctuary. In 1909, a red brick edifice was built at a cost of $10,300. It was dedicated January 23, 1910. This red brick church was the sanctuary for the Immanueal Lutheran Church until it was destroyed by a fire on March 16, 1928.
The current brick structure was built following the fire and was dedicated on March 3, 1929. The Immanuel Lutheran Church dedication was attended by more than 1,000 people. The church and its pipe organ cost $43, 000 to build. This is the building that you can see now. Immanuel Lutheran Church has numerous activities and events and its Sunday Worship Services are at 8:30 am and 10:30 am.
Our History, Immanueal Lutheran Church. Accessed November 2nd 2019. http://ilcpville.org/our-history/.
Pflugerville Digital History Project. Accessed November 2nd 2019. https://cdm16891.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/search/searchterm/immanuel.
Image Sources(Click to expand)
http://ilcpville.org/our-history/
http://ilcpville.org/photo-gallery/
https://www.hmdb.org/PhotoFullSize.asp?PhotoID=90394
The official website for the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Pflugerville, Tx.
Sunday Worship Times - 8:30 am | 10:30 am Sunday School - 9:30 am
512-251-4494 - Church Office 512-251-4929 - Day School
Architecture and Historical Buildings
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Humans Made This Planet Hell. Hopefully We Can Help Some Species Adapt
Matt Simon
A new UN report paints a dire portrait of Earth's human-made biodiversity crisis. But with new genetic techniques in conservation, perhaps we can help save species before it's too late.
Daniel Fernandez Alonso
This week the UN released a horrifying report—by hundreds of authors around the world—warning that a million species of plants and animals face extinction in the next few decades. That’s one in four species on this planet that could soon disappear. Virtually every human activity—agriculture, energy production, fishing, urbanization—is conspiring to destroy life on Earth as we know it.
The scale of the problem is difficult to comprehend, let alone solve without eliminating all humans. But on the same day that the UN dropped its alarming report, another group of scientists published research that could help conservationists fight the most important battle in Earth’s recent history.
The study involved two cryptic species of bat—meaning they look nearly identical, yet have distinct genetics—living in Europe, which is expected to transform dramatically under the weight of climate change. The researchers found separate populations within these two species by looking at their DNA. What they discovered was that those populations’ genetic differences made them better suited to their particular environments.
“We can identify, first of all, parts of the genome that are associated with climatic conditions,” says Orly Razgour, a molecular ecologist at the University of Southampton and lead author on the new paper in the journal PNAS. “The second step, we look at these specific regions only, and within them we can divide our individuals into those that are more adapted to warm and dry conditions, and those that are more adapted to cold and wet conditions.”
Matt Simon covers cannabis, robots, and climate science for WIRED.
What’s new in this study isn’t the existence of populations with subtly different genetics within a species. The new bit here is the potential to exploit specific regions of the genome that might code for climate resilience to inform conservation efforts. Theoretically, this genetic diversity would make the bats more resilient to climate change, because a population that’s more adapted to arid conditions can interbreed with a population that’s less so, in essence “gifting” the cold-adapted population the genes necessary to survive a warmer world.
Using this data, the researchers could model projected range losses in the bats, and found that the losses were less severe when considering a species as distinctly adapted populations, as opposed to one genetically homogenous population across an entire range. “What this really means is that we may be overestimating for some species projected range losses,” says Razgour. “When we think about which species we need to prioritize under climate change, we may not actually be prioritizing the right ones, because we're not taking into account the adaptive potential of some species.”
This is where things get much more complicated on a number of levels. For one, generation times are a big consideration when it comes to the adaptability of species. One of the reasons bacteria are so deft at developing resistance to antibiotics is that they reproduce extremely rapidly—E. coli, for example, divides every 20 minutes. New bacteria with the lucky mutations that keep them alive pass those mutations along to their descendants, while their less-lucky compatriots perish.
The same principle is behind climate-related genes spreading through a bat population, only on a much slower scale. “If the generation time of these bats is one to two years,” says Razgour, “and you have one young per year, it takes a very, very long time for anything to spread through the population.”
Problem number two is mobility. You’d assume that bats would be among the most mobile creatures, what with the wings and all, but that’s not necessarily the case. If climate change affects the growth of forests in these forest bats’ European range, that could further isolate the hot-loving and cold-loving populations, keeping them from breeding. And consider an inherently immobile species like an earthworm, and how much difficulty it’d have shifting its population to more habitable areas as the climate rapidly transforms.
The WIRED Guide to Climate Change
Even if the bats are able to mix and adapt to a warmer climate, that’s just one consideration for their survival in the coming decades. The warm-weather bats might bring with them the genes required to survive a warming planet, but mixing with cold-weather bats might make the population less suited for survival in other ways. “Maybe these individuals are better adapted to the changing climate, but they're not necessarily better adapted to other environmental conditions in these areas,” says Razgour. “So we don't really know what will be the consequences of that.”
This brings us back to the horror of the UN biodiversity report: Species the world over aren’t just facing climate change, but a galaxy of other threats. Bats alone are up against deforestation, pollution, and urbanization too. The UN report “shows the importance of considering adaptive genetic variation because many organisms will not be able to shift their ranges in response to climate change,” says Razgour, “due to the extensive land use changes and fragmentation that has already occurred and is continuing to occur across the globe, especially in the most biodiverse regions.”
Even if a species is able to move into a new habitat and adapt, individuals might find themselves struggling to secure resources. This bat work, for instance, shows that the two cryptic species could be forced to overlap in their distribution, and would therefore compete for food. “That means that interspecific competition is likely to be something quite major that will affect species distribution, and perhaps their ability to survive,” says Razgour.
The problem is ultimately that no species lives in a vacuum. “The stage is the environment and the species are the players,” says Sophie Parker, an ecologist and senior scientist at the Nature Conservancy. “You need to have the stage in order for the players to have somewhere to be, to interact with one another and tell their stories.”
So how do we give the species of the world a stage on a planet we have so thoroughly spoiled? When it comes to climate change, we have to reduce emissions drastically, and immediately. When it comes to managing ecosystems, one strategy known as “room to roam” is a relatively low lift with a big impact. “Protecting places we know are important for movement of species is an important part of allowing species to adapt to climate change,” says Parker. “That includes riparian corridors and places along the coast but also broad swaths of natural land along mountains that allow for that type of movement.”
Matters grow all the more precarious on islands, home to 40 percent of endangered animals on this planet. Here, a single invasive species like a rat can wreak ecological havoc, tearing through bird and reptile eggs in particular. When those populations dwindle, genetic diversity falls as well, making those species more vulnerable to other threats like disease.
Methodically remove that invasive species, though, as the group Island Conservation has done with poison-dropping drones, and those endangered species will bounce back. “As populations continue to grow, there's often more genetic variability that can develop and persist in those populations, which helps them adjust to any future scenarios, including different climate scenarios,” says Erin Hagen, the group’s director of conservation.
So yes, we humans have seriously imperiled life on Earth—the new UN report makes that clear in the most terrifying detail yet. But with better understanding of the genetics of threatened populations, we might still save some species from doom.
“Walls often fail; they have unintended consequences”
What if AC could help save (not destroy) the planet?
Pro tips for shopping safe on Amazon
“If you want to kill someone, we are the right guys”
Kitty Hawk, flying cars, and the challenges of “going 3D”
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Matt Simon is a science journalist at WIRED, where he covers biology, robotics, cannabis, and the environment. He’s also the author of Plight of the Living Dead: What Real-Life Zombies Reveal About Our World—And Ourselves, and The Wasp That Brainwashed the Caterpillar, which won an Alex Award.
To Save an Endangered Fox, Humans Turned Its Home into a War Zone
To save the endangered island fox and its home off the coast of California, scientists went to war on invasive species like feral pigs and aggressive ants.
Topicsclimate changeconservation
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2000s >> 2002 >> no-1175-july-2002
Denis Healey on Bilderberg
“Of all these meetings, the most valuable to me while I was in opposition were the Bilderberg Conferences . . . They were the brain-child of Joseph Retinger, a Pole who had settled in England after the Great War . . . he organised the Congress of the Hague, which launched the European Movement. Convinced of the need for a similar forum to strengthen unity between Europe and North America, he approached Hugh Gaitskell, General Colin Gubbins, who had commanded SOE during the war, and several leading politicians and businessmen who were concerned to strengthen Atlantic cooperation. They asked Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands to act as Chairman, because they rightly thought it would be difficult to find a politician whose objectivity would be above suspicion, and who could call Cabinet ministers from any country without causing offence.
I was invited to the first meeting and later acted as convenor of the British who attended . . . The Bilderberg conferences inevitably aroused jealousy because they were exclusive, and suspicion, because they were private . . . I wrote a paper for most conferences . . .
My years at the Bilderberg meetings also brought me many contacts in the financial world which now proved of great value. David Rockefeller, whom I had known since the very first Bilderberg meeting at Arnhem, was now head of the Chase Manhattan Bank, and particularly active in the international field . . . I still managed to get to several Bilderberg meetings as Chancellor. At Mégève in April, 1974, I met Helmut Schmeit, who was now once again my colleague, as Germany’s Finance Minister.
(The Time of My Life, 1989, pp195-6, 414-5)
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The Wackness (2008)
Watch The Wackness (2008) Online
Set in New York City in the sweltering summer, The Wackness tells the story of a troubled teenage drug dealer, who trades pot for therapy sessions with a drug-addled psychiatrist. Things get more complicated when he falls for one of his classmates, who just happens to be the doctor’s daughter. This is a coming-of-age story about sex, drugs, music and what it takes to be a man.
Director: Jonathan Levine
Actors: Ben Kingsley, Famke Janssen, Jane Adams, Josh Peck, Mary-Kate Olsen, Method Man, Olivia Thirlby
Idle Hands (1999)
Anton is a cheerful but exceedingly non-ambitious 17-year-old stoner who lives to stay buzzed, watch TV, and moon over Molly, the beautiful girl who lives next door. However, it turns…
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)
Fatal Instinct
A spoof of the late 80s and early 90s suspense thrillers and murder mysteries, including Basic Instinct, Sleeping With The Enemy, Cape Fear and others. A cop/attorney (yes he’s both)…
Once I Was a Beehive (2015)
Lane Speer is a 16 year old girl who spends her family vacations camping in the mountains. She takes the memories for granted until she loses her father to an…
The Hangover crew heads to Thailand for Stu’s wedding. After the disaster of a bachelor party in Las Vegas last year, Stu is playing it safe with a mellow pre-wedding…
Country: Thailand, USA
Hocus Pocus (1993)
After 300 years of slumber, three sister witches are accidentally resurrected in Salem on Halloween night, and it is up to three kids and their newfound feline friend to put…
Tragedy Girls (2017)
Following two death-obsessed teenage girls who use their online show about real-life tragedies to send their small Midwestern town into a frenzy and cement their legacy as modern horror legends.
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Horror
Coldblooded (1995)
Cosmo, an affectless mob bookie who lives in the basement of a retirement home, is promoted to hitman. He learns his new trade from Steve, a seasoned killer. He falls…
Genre: Action, Comedy, Thriller
Vampires vs. the Bronx (2020)
Three gutsy kids from a rapidly gentrifying Bronx neighborhood stumble upon a sinister plot to suck all the life from their beloved community.
The Hustle (2019)
Two female scam artists, one low rent and the other high class, compete to swindle a naïve tech prodigy out of his fortune. A remake of the 1988 comedy “Dirty…
Ride Along 2 (2016)
As his wedding day approaches, Ben heads to Miami with his soon-to-be brother-in-law James to bring down a drug dealer who’s supplying the dealers of Atlanta with product.
I’ll Be Home for Christmas (1998)
Estranged from his father, college student Jake is lured home to New York for Christmas with the promise of receiving a classic Porsche as a gift. When the bullying football…
Trailer: The Wackness (2008)
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Meredith Juliet
13News Reporter - @MeredithJuliet_
Author: WTHR.com staff
Published: 11:56 PM EDT June 9, 2020
Meredith Juliet is a Multi Media Journalist, or MMJ, at WTHR.
As a lifelong Hoosier and an Indiana University alum, Meredith is thrilled to be back in her home state, especially in Indianapolis. The city is full of life and things to do and Meredith couldn’t be more excited to be a part of it.
Before coming to WTHR, Meredith was a morning anchor and reporter at WAND, the NBC affiliate in central Illinois. She was one of the first people to report live from the scene of a school shooting in southern Illinois. Her coverage helped get critical information out fast to parents about how to reunite with their kids and find out about their well-being. Meredith also covered the on-going case of the missing University of Illinois scholar, Yingying Zhang.
Before WAND, Meredith was a reporter/fill-in anchor for WTIU, the PBS affiliate in Bloomington, Indiana. She covered the 2016 Presidential Election at the Republican Headquarters in Indianapolis, where Mike Pence was the former governor.
Meredith loves strong coffee, NFL football, and her cat, Ziggy.
If you’d like to connect, she can reached via email at Meredith.Juliet@wthr.com or follow along on any form of social media.
@MeredithJuliet_
meredith.juliet@wthr.com
@MeredithJulietTV
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How remote working can increase stress and reduce well-being
Stephanie Russell, Anglia Ruskin University
Remote working is becoming more popular than ever. A study released by the Swiss office provider IWG found that 70% of professionals work remotely at least one day a week, while 53% work remotely for at least half of the week. Some multinationals have their entire staff working remotely, with no fixed office presence at all, which can result in having employees situated all over the world.
New technology makes all this possible. While there are certainly benefits, there are also a number of pitfalls. As remote working becomes the new normal for many, it’s important companies adapt and put the right policies in place to ensure their employees feel part of the team and don’t burn out.
Nearly 70% of millennials would be more likely to choose an employer who offered remote working according to one study. The benefits are important. Employees value the flexibility it gives them, particularly if they have childcare commitments. People also appreciate escaping long commutes and avoiding office distractions.
But there are also growing concerns that people’s mental health and well-being can take a hit when working remotely. In the UK, businesses lose £100m every year due to workplace stress, depression and anxiety. Research shows that being “always on” and accessible by technology while working remotely leads to the blurring of work and non-work boundaries, particularly if you work from home. A 2017 United Nations report found that 41% of remote workers reported high stress levels, compared to just 25% of office workers.
One of the reasons for this could be the “out of sight, out of mind” mentality that’s commonplace toward remote workers, which leads to a lack of trust, feelings of being an outsider and a tendency for people to think their colleagues are talking negatively about them behind their back. One study of 1,100 workers found that the 52% who worked from home at least some of the time were more likely to feel left out and mistreated, as well as unable to deal with conflict between themselves and colleagues.
Navigating sensitive territory in a virtual team is an essential skill. If we’re not careful, issues can fester. Emails can be misinterpreted as being rude or too direct. And, with no visible body language it is tricky to convey our true meanings.
Remote working can bring a pressure to be always online. Shutterstock
In a virtual environment there is a tendency to focus too much on tasks and too little on relationships. This kind of transnational leadership can be the route taken by leaders who want to get the job done but fail to recognize how important the people are who are completing these tasks. With more emphasis on deadlines and routine information, virtual workers can feel treated as a cog in a machine, rather than an essential part of the team. Such a leadership approach can worsen the sense of isolation that naturally comes with working remotely and can contribute to virtual workplace stress.
Good stress, bad stress
As part of my research, I’ve spoken to university colleagues and students who work virtually. Feelings of isolation, loneliness and being unable to “switch off”, as well as the lack of social support, were all mentioned. One of the more significant issues raised was that of how virtual working was managed. Interviewees said a lack of feedback from line managers and senior colleagues gave them no benchmark to judge progress, which led to increased feelings of anxiety and a concern as to whether they were “up to standard”.
When it comes to work, there are two kinds of stress – the good kind and the bad kind. The Yerkes-Dodson Law (drawn up by psychologists Robert Yerkes and John Dodson) points out that stress can be productive up to a point and then it results in reduced productivity. Being unable to report being stressed (or being uncomfortable doing so), is detrimental as pressure will eventually outweigh an individual’s ability to cope over time. In contrast, one recent study found that colleagues who spend just 15 minutes socializing and sharing their feelings of stress had a 20% increase in performance.
The right kind of communication is key to overcoming the trials and tribulations of virtual working. Employers need to put the right structures in place such as scheduled video calls and regular team-building meetups to build rapport. Bosses need to lead by example and create a culture where those outside the office feel valued.
But it cuts both ways. Everyone needs to think about what makes them productive, happy and successful in everyday life, and try to replicate this in a remote setting – whether this ranges from taking a walk at lunch time, going to the gym, ringing a friend or reading your favorite book.
If the future of work is heading towards more virtual working, then it is not something we can avoid. Instead we should implement ways of managing the stress associated with it, while enjoying the benefits.
Stephanie Russell, Principal Lecturer, Corporate Education, Faculty of Business and Law. Anglia Ruskin University. Human Resource Management, Anglia Ruskin University
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- XML Press - https://xmlpress.net -
Case Study 5 from WIKI: Grow Your Own for Fun and Profit
Posted By Richard Hamilton On December 8, 2010 @ 3:35 pm In | No Comments
A Wiki Workflow for Publishing
An excerpt from Alan J. Porter’s WIKI: Grow Your Own for Fun and Profit [1].
Buy now at: Amazon.com [2], Barnes & Noble [3].
Company: XML Press
Location: Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
Purpose: Build high quality publications efficiently
XML Press, [4] the publisher of this book, is a small publishing company dedicated to publications for technical communicators, engineers, managers, and marketers.
When XML Press began work on WIKI: Grow Your Own for Fun and Profit, they wanted to take advantage of wiki technology to the greatest extent possible. They saw that wikis could help streamline their processes and increase the interaction among the author, editors, artists, and reviewers.
In addition, they wanted to experiment with new ways of authoring. Most of the books in their current and planned catalog are authored in XML, either DocBook or DITA, and their backend production processes are optimized for XML. However, not all authors are familiar with XML, and the learning curve is steep. Creating an authoring process that avoided direct authoring in XML, and provided the other benefits of a wiki, seemed like a worthy objective.
Based on advice from the author, XML Press chose PBworks, and used the hosted version (http://pbworks.com [5]). PBworks gives authors a rich text editor, as well as the ability to directly use HTML. It exports content in reasonably clean HTML, so conversion to DocBook XML was straightforward process.
Here is an outline of the development process:
The author created a wiki page for the outline and separate wiki pages for each chapter, case study, and appendix, along with separate wiki pages for the preface, foreword, bibliography, and colophon.
The author wrote sections in the wiki using a brief set of guidelines created by XML Press. Those guidelines described how to markup links (internal and external), footnotes, index entries, and so forth.
As draft sections were completed, the primary XML Press editor reviewed them and made comments directly in the source.
Periodically, the content was exported and converted to DocBook XML. Then, PDF and ePub versions of the book were generated using an automated process, and the results were then uploaded back to the wiki for review by the author.
Technical review was done in the wiki, with reviewers inserting comments directly into the text. The author could then make the requested changes directly in the content.
Copy-editing was done in the wiki, after which, the content was exported to DocBook XML for final production.
Overall, the only work not done in the wiki was final production of the printed and ebook versions.
Using this process had several important benefits:
Until galley’s needed to be reviewed for print formatting, there was no need to pass printed or PDF copies of the content between the author and editor.
High levels of participation from the review team; much more than XML Press has seen with other books.
High quality PDFs of the book-in-progress were readily available, even in the early stages of development.
Significantly reduced production time. From the final, copy-edited version to the first printed copies was three weeks, a good part of which was spent waiting for the printer.
Article printed from XML Press: https://xmlpress.net
URL to article: https://xmlpress.net/publications/wiki-how-to-grow/case-study-5/
[1] WIKI: Grow Your Own for Fun and Profit: https://xmlpress.net/publications/wiki-how-to-grow
[2] Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982219121?ie=UTF8&tag=justwriteclic-20
[3] Barnes & Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/e/9780982219126/
[4] XML Press,: https://xmlpress.net
[5] http://pbworks.com: http://pbworks.com
Copyright © &year; XML Press. All rights reserved.
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luigi galvani frog
Luigi Galvani (September 9, 1737 – December 4, 1798) was an Italian physician who lived and died in Bologna (Italy). Luigi Galvani(9 September 1737 – 4 December 1798) was an Italian physician, physicist, biologist and philosopher, who discovered animal electricity. This was a modern interpretation of Luigi Galvani's famous frog leg experiments, but we have now found the experiment can be made more educationally and emotionally compelling by building our own voltage source (battery) out of common materials - a potato, a sheet of aluminum, and a sheet of copper. Luigi Galvani. At issue was the nature of nervous response and muscular motion in the frog. He studied theology for a while and then medicine at the University of Bologna. He graduated in 1759 but chose to continue his education at the institution. Luigi Alyisio Galvani (September 9, 1737 – December 4, 1798) was an Italian physician and physicist who lived and died in Bologna. So how did the theme of electricity as the spark of life enter Hollywood? A lab assistant, wielding a metal scalpel that had acquired an electrical charge, touched the nerve of a dead frog’s leg, which instantly responded with a vigorous kick. In 1762, upon completion of his studies, he was appointed lecturer of anatomy and surgery at Bologna. Thereupon he was dropped from the faculty rolls, and his salary was terminated. In 1771, he found out that the muscles of dead frogs twitched when hit by a spark. He noted that the muscles would contract not only when lightnings appeared, but also when they were absent. Luigi Galvani was an Italian physician and physicist. In his youth, Galvani intended to pursue a theology. 1790 Galvani's health begins to decline. Experiment De viribus electricitatis in motu musculari Late 1780s diagram of Galvani's experiment on frog legs. Italian physiologist, after whom galvanism received its name, born at Bologna on the 9th of September 1737. DeLOne N. Luigi Galvani: a short portrait. Luigi Galvani (September 9, 1737 – December 4, 1798) was an Italian physician who lived and died in Bologna (Italy). It shows him gazing at a frog on a slab and through his experiments on frogs, he established that the frogs legs moved when an electric charge was put to them. He attributed this phenomena to animal electricity, meaning he believed there was electricity in the frog … December 4, 1798 Luigi Galvani dies. In 1791, after 10 years of research into the subject, Galvani published the work that would make him famous, his Commentary on the Effects of Electricity on Muscular Motion. He is recognized as the pioneer ofbioelectromagnetics. Galvanic cells were first described in 1790 by the Italian scientist Luigi Galvani. Galvani Luigi Galvani (1737 – 1798) Italian obstetrician, surgeon and anatomist.. He was a pioneer in modern obstetrics, and discovered that muscle and nerve cells produce electricity.He is well known as the inventor of chemical cells. Galvani was born, educated and taught anatomy in Bologna. Named after Luigi Galvani, an Italian doctor, the concept came about after Galvani was able to make a frog’s legs twitch when he hooked the animal up to an electric charge. Luigi Galvani. A galvanic cell converts a chemical reaction into electricity. He showed that static electricity could be used to make a frog's legs 'jump' even though the frog was dead. When the nerve of a frog that Galvani's wife was preparing for soup was accidentally touched with a knife a muscle contraction occurred despite the frog not being connected to an electrical machine. Galvani and his elder half-brother, Francesco, spent a serene and rather affluent childhood, of which we have little information. With her condition deteriorating, she asked her cooks to prepare frog soup, which would cure her of the disease soon. The name Galvanization is derived from Luigi Galvani, and was once used as the name for the administration of electric shocks (also termed in the 19th century Faradism, named after Michael Faraday), this stems from Galvani's induction of twitches in severed frog's legs, by his accidental generation of electricity. Fact 4 There is a monument Luigi Galvani Square in Bologna. 1791 Galvani never swore allegiance to Napoleon Bonaparte's government, so he was kicked out of the university. Not levitating. Luigi Galvani was born in Bologna, by then part of the Papal States, the son of Domenico Galvani and Barbara Foschi, a young woman from a good family from Bologna. Luigi Galvani was one of the very early pioneers of bioelectromagnetics and this statue in Piazza Galvani is his memorial. In the words of the Kairos After-School STEAM Enrichment students ... this experiment was epic! Luigi Galvani and his frogs experiments. A frog. His work with frogs led to his discovery in 1781 of galvanic or voltaic electricity. Luigi Galvani himself began using electrical means to experiment with muscular stimulation and was able to cause muscular contraction in a frog by touching its nerves with electrostatically charged metal. Trying to prove that lightning was an electrical spark, as Benjamin Franklin had proposed, Galvani suspended the frog's legs with brass hooks from an electrical railing during a thunderstorm. Luigi Galvani – Early Years. A chance observation led Luigi Galvani (1737-98) to discover animal electricity in 1871. During one of his experiments, he skinned a frog in order to use the skin in a static electricity experiment. In 1771, he found out that the muscles of dead frogs twitched when hit by a spark. Who was Luigi Galvani and what was he doing with a frog? It is a statue of him doing an experiment with a frog. He was a pioneer in modern obstetrics, and discovered that muscle and nerve cells produce electricity.He is well known as the inventor of chemical cells. 2006;329(5-6):303-18. He obtained degrees in medicine and philosophy from the University of Bologna in 1759 and was appointed a permanent anatomist and … 1998; 15: 46(5):381-407. This was one of the first forays into the study of bioelectricity, a field that still today studies the electrical patterns and signals of the nervous system. This launched the study of bioelectricity, a field that still studies the electrical patterns and signals of the nervous system. Luigi Galvani also merited the eponyms of both galvanization and the lunar crater, Galvani. C R Biol. Galvani's experiments and those of Alessandro Volta, who championed an alternative theory of contact electricity are chronicled in 'The Ambiguous Frog: The Galvani-Volta Controversy on Animal Electricity' written by Marcello Pera (a prominent Italian philosopher turned politician). The Italian physiologist Luigi Galvani (1737-1798) is noted for his discovery of animal electricity. Luigi Galvani’s experiments on dead animals. Piccolino M. Animal electricity and the birth of electrophysiology: the legacy of Luigi Galvani. Explored bioelectrical phenomena. Luigi Galvani was born at Bologna on Sept. 9, 1737. In Galvani's experiments, a frog was dissected to expose the nerves in the lower half of a frog. Luigi Aloisio Galvani (September 9, 1737 to December 4, 1798) was an Italian physician, physicist and philosopher, who lived and died in Bologna. Luigi Galvani Sparks Cinematic Theme. Luigi Galvani was born to Domenico and Barbara Caterina Foschi, in Bologna, then part of the Papal States. The way it came about was that Galvani had been skinning a frog in a location were he had previously been rubbing frog skin for the purpose of generating static electricity. Luigi Galvani - Luigi Galvani - Last years: On June 30, 1790, Galvani’s devoted wife and companion died, childless, at the age of 47. Diagram of Galvani's experiment in frog legs. Luigi Galvani was born on September 9, 1737 in Bologna, Italy. [7] Domenico was a goldsmith, [7] and Barbara was his fourth wife. These cells are self-contained and portable, so they are used as batteries and fuel cells. The life of Luigi Galvani 1766 Galvani made the transition from Lecturer of Surgery to Theoretical Anatomy. Hektoen Int, January 28, 2017; Piccolino M. Luigi Galvani’s path to animal electricity. If legends are anything to go by, Lucia is once said to have developed tuberculosis in 1780. In 1780, he discovered that the muscles of dead frogs' legs twitched when struck by an electrical spark. It is a well-deserved honor, because the idea of a galvanometer emanated from the frog galvanoscope (which he invented: following his many experiments with dead frog tissues). Galvani was an Italian physicist at the Bologna Academy of Science, and in the late 1770s he started to experiment with electricity. Largely due to parental influence, however, when he entered the University of Bologna it was to study medicine. This cinematic theme's roots can be traced to the late 18th century and the work of Luigi Galvani. Electricity and life – Galvani experiment with frog legs Diagram of Galvani's experiment on frog legs The beginning of Luigi Galvani's experiments with bio-electricity has a popular legend which says that in 1771, Galvani was slowly skinning a frog at a table where he had been conducting experiments with static electricity by rubbing frog skin. An illustration from Galvani's 1791 publication that shows some of the devices (along with frog preparations) used in his experiments. Two prominent experimentalists, Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta, presented novel theories of animal and chemical electricity that they attempted to defend by reference to scientific instruments. Luigi Galvani is famous for his discovery that when a nerve was touched by a metal knife during the discharge of a nearby electrical machine, the leg would twitch. Birthplace: Bologna, Italy Location of death: Bologna, Italy Cause of death: unspecified Remains: Buried, Corpus Domini, Bologna, . In 1791, he discovered that the muscles of dead frogs legs twitched when struck by a spark. Epub 2006 Mar 30. Luigi Galvani (1737-1798) was an Italian physician, born in Bologna, where he studied at the city's ancient and famous university. The Italian physiologist made one of the early discoveries that advanced the study of electricity. Luigi Galvani is remembered today for his experiments dealing with frogs and electricity. In the last years of his life, Galvani refused to swear allegiance to the new Cisalpine Republic established by Napoleon. Luigi Galvani (Sept 9, 1737 to Dec 4, 1798) Galvani was a pioneer in bioelectricity and is famous for discovering what he termed “animal electricity. Price James. This helped him with the animal experiments, as he knew where to find parts in the body. One of the early pioneers of bioelectricity, he is known for his extraordinary work on the nature and effects of electricity in an animal tissue, which later led to the invention of the voltaic pile. Brain Res Bull. Fact 5 He did study, along with medicine, surgery. Legacy of Luigi Galvani Square in Bologna chance observation led Luigi Galvani was an Italian physicist at the.. The last years of his studies, he discovered that the muscles would contract not only when lightnings,... Scientist Luigi Galvani ( 1737 – 1798 ) Italian obstetrician, surgeon and anatomist.. N.. Used as batteries and fuel cells the eponyms of both galvanization and the birth of electrophysiology: the of! There is a statue of him doing an experiment with a frog then medicine at the University of Bologna a... From the faculty rolls, and in the body [ 7 ] and Barbara Caterina Foschi, Bologna! Of him doing an experiment with electricity ) used in his youth, Galvani to... Out that the muscles would contract not only when lightnings appeared, but when! Barbara was his fourth wife fuel cells while and then medicine at the University of Bologna from 's... Soup, which would cure her of the disease soon very early of... Could be used to make a frog of Science, and in the lower half of a frog was to. Late 1780s diagram of Galvani 's experiments, a field that still studies the electrical patterns signals... Knew where to find parts in the body bioelectricity, a field that still studies the patterns! 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FIQ News
Vivien Lau appointed FIQ Secretary
5th October, Arlington, Texas Following the reorganisation of the Federation Internationale des Quilleurs (FIQ) at the recent congress in Hong Kong, newly elected FIQ President, Mr Kevin Dornberger has appointed Ms Vivien Lau as the FIQ secretary.
Ms Vivien Lau, who was recently awarded the Bronze Bauhinia Star (BBS) for her contributions in the development of tenpin bowling both locally and internationally and for sports in Hong Kong, started bowling in 1966 and competed in international tournaments in 1974.
She was a member of the Hong Kong national team from 1975 to 1987 during which she won a Trios bronze medal partnering Catherine Che and Maria Chong at the 1978 Bangkok Asian Games when bowling was included as a medal sport for the first time.
Vivien also represented Hong Kong four times in the AMF World Cup (1978, 1981, 1984 and 1985). She was also a team member in the 1976 Asian Championship in Jakarta and the 1982 Asian Championship in Manila.
Ms Vivien Lau appointed the new FIQ secretary
She first got involved with bowling as an administrator by becoming an Exco member of the Hong Kong Tenpin Bowling Congress in 1978. In 1982, she was elected Vice President till 1986 when she was elected the Chairman, a position she currently holds.
She served as Honorary Secretary of FIQ-WTBA Asian Zone until she was elected Vice President in 1992. She was subsquently elected President in 1996 and re-elected as President in 2000 when FIQ-WTBA Asian Zone was renamed Asian Bowling Federation.
For her contributions, Vivien was also awarded the Medal of Honour (MH) by the Hong Kong British Government in 1993 for developing tenpin bowling locally and internationally. The Justice of Peace (JP), an appointment of the HKSAR Government was also bestowed upon her for her community services.
Vivien is also the Vice President of Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong since 1996. She serves as Honorary Secretary of the Hong Kong Olympic Academy since 1987.
In 2001, she was elected Chairman of Women & Sport Commission under the Hong Kong National Olympic Committee. In 2003, she became a member of the Women & Sport Committee of Olympic Council of Asia.
She has been Chef-de-Mission for Hong Kong on four occasions, 2005 Macau East Asian Games, 2006 Doha Asian Games, 2009 Hong Kong East Asian Games and the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.
Vivien stepped down as President of ABF in 2004 and was conferred Honorary Life President at the 2004 General Assembly. She continued to serve as Exco member of ABF as advisor. She owns a Public Relations & Events Management company and is Managing Director of Focus Events Management Limited.
Her knowledge, organisational skills and experience in the sport of tenpin bowling will be invaluable and will provide strong secretarial services to FIQ.
Photos courtesy of HKTBC.
Copyright © Jaya Ancol Bowling Center, 2005-2011. All Rights Reserved. Designed and maintained by NetMedia Services
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UK G.E 2010
My thoughts on the ‘Take Back Parliament’ movement
Having been a part of the first TBP demonstration in London, I have to say that I have to hand it to the participants, and to the Brits, for their egalitarian and don’t-take-crap approach.
It’s most refreshing for one such as myself who had to put up with the generally ‘it’s like that one lah’ (that’s the way it is) approach of most of the wombles populating singapore in the face of injustice/racism/top-down pressures/etc, and, of course, not forgetting the fascist/racist opposition whose main claim to being ‘democrats’ is that they oppose the government and not that they aren't generally racist and fascist themselves . I’ve always said that life in singapore takes away your faith in humanity, whilst in the UK, it reinstates it.
I relished in the angst of those whom participated in the event. It was remarkable that they could just decide, at Trafalgar Square, to take a demonstrative march-cum-yell past the PM’s abode, and the HQs of the two top parties, ending off outside the Lib-Dem HQ. In singapore, they probably would have set up firing squads, unleashed the Gurkhas, beaten everyone to a pulp, and detained everyone and their pet dogs without trial under the Internal Security Act for that. But let’s not just blame the state shall we. I’ve met many Chinese who’ve said, “demonstrate for what? Don’t make trouble. All this is chaos.” And we should also keep in mind that people would rather gather to moan the passing of MJ than they would to protest against the infliction of the death sentence on a human being. These are people who prefer the familiarity of the dungeon than go through the trouble of fighting their way out. That’s Confucianism in a nutshell for you.
But that said, I wouldn’t say that the TBP movement is all that perfect either. I couldn’t help but notice how much of the young crowd orgased when Nick Clegg appeared. And it attained ‘multiple’ proportions when he started spewing out the usual political BS. I could hear him loud and clear as I was within shoe-throwing distance from the bloke and I couldn’t help thinking that this guy was basically attempting to get the people on his side so that they might not question after how a party which is the least preferred amongst the top 3 has moved on to playing kingmaker - "I may not be democratically elected to play Kingmaker, but hey, who cares? I'm on your side!". I wondered how they could cheer such a bloke given their democratic inclinations. It seemed quite the contradiction. On the one hand, democracy had taken a good stiff one up the rear with the said 3rd-preferred playing kingmaker. On the other, they were relying on him to deliver a more representative democracy to the people. I couldn’t help wondering if the first compromised the third - with the ‘fixed-term’ parliament and AV system that has since been put forth with much vigour, I’m not surprised.
But, I suppose, the cheers for Clegg was not really for him, but a self-congratulatory one accorded to themselves as they had managed to shout him out of his office to address them. What a kick it must have been for many, and the organisers. It gave them the impression that they mattered. They were highly gratified. Who cared that it was this fellow was going to decide whether it was the Conservatives or Labour that was going to form the government and not the people. He had come out to say ‘hi’ to them when they had asked. So he must be representative, and of the people, by the people and for the people right?
And then, being a true politician, Clegg begins to give credit to the people for what he was already going to do by saying that his success in effectuating a more representative electoral system was dependent on their demonstrative persistency, and that he needed them for democracy to be delivered. What a load of BS, I thought, propped up against a tree beside official journalists (I had videoed the speech but i caught it at a rubbish angle whilst holding the pocket-sized video-cam way above my head...thereafter, pissed off at the result, I got myself a video-cam with a tilting screen - a Canon HF S200). I could see the ‘incorporation of dissent’ thing going on as Clegg spoke and the crowd cheered with each passing period. And then, like the meandering plumes of smoke after the bang, they dispersed.
I’m not ‘dissing’ the whole of the TBP movement or its underlying spirit, and I still do support it. However, a combination of being exposed to the political milieu in Singapore, and prior to which, in the UK, has trained me to appreciate how oversights close more doors than are opened by insights. If anything, the combination of the two tend to refine evils as opposed to eradicating them. And if compromise can be reached via the inclusion-cum-incorporation of the people, none are going to be any the wiser.
Whilst I left feeling quite enlivened by it all - though the May Day demonstrations were more to my taste as it addressed underlying issues as opposed to the consequences of one’s ignoring said underlying issues - I can’t say that there wasn’t a question mark hovering above my head. I thought, very soon, the TBP are going to be quite fragmented between various schools of thought divided between lib dem supporters, AV supporters, PR supporters, etc. Nothing wrong with that of course, but I wouldn’t want that to compromise the unity of the movement - as has been the case with the Socialist movement. Rather, i would like to see the movement evolve in a dialectical fashion, and progressively toward a more enlightened view of democracy.
But I am nagged by the fact that the crowd cheered on Clegg, when he was nothing short of an affront to democracy by way of his playing said kingmaker. Perhaps, the crowd, taking things as it is, thought they would make the best of a bad situation by negotiating with him. I’ve always been sceptical about compromising with the devil. It just means that the angel is left to ply its trade whilst being relieved of its wings to rise truly higher than the rest.
Labels: uk UK G.E 2010
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Ben Hills
Award winning author / journalist
Princess Masako
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The shocking truth behind Wittenoom's deadly dust
Books » Blue Murder
A long time ago in the wild north-west of Australia a prospector stumbled across a seam of one of the world’s rarest minerals, blue asbestos. He pegged a claim, dug a mine, and began a rush that would lead to the building of a boom town out in the desert, a place called Wittenoom.
Sixty years later that town is dead, and so are many of the men, women and children who lived and worked there. Doctors expect that eventually 2000 people will die or be disabled because of their exposure to the deadly dust of Wittenoom. It is the world’s greatest industrial disaster – and it could all have been prevented.
Long-hidden documents prove that the men who ran that mine, one of Australia’s largest public companies, were aware from the start of the terrible dangers of blue asbestos. They did too little, too late, to protect their workers, as did the government which should have been the watchdog. It was a conspiracy of silence.
Blue Murder tells the story of the mine, the migrants who were press-ganged into working there, the warnings that were ignored, the export of Australian blue asbestos all over the world. And it documents the long fight for justice for the Wittenoom survivors, a fight which is still not over.
Blue Murder was published in 1989 by Sun Books, a division of Pan Macmillan Australia.
It is out of print, but may be found in public libraries or bought through online second-hand book sites such as www.alibris.com
© Copyright 2021, Ben Hills. Website by Native Technology.
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News: Remains of ancient civilisation discovered on the bottom of a lake
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20071227/94372640.html
World Trade Center in popular culture
Atlantis Online > Forum > September 11th, 2001 > The World Trade Center Remembered > World Trade Center in popular culture
Author Topic: World Trade Center in popular culture (Read 1788 times)
The World Trade Center has been featured in films, television shows, cartoons, comic books, and computer games.
Most notable appearances
Date ↓ Title ↓ Notes ↓ IMDB ↓
1975 Three Days of the Condor Three Days of the Condor has Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) offices based in the World Trade Center.[1] James Sanders characterizes the World Trade Center and its offices as depicted in Three Days of the Condor as "a cold, anonymous, largely soulless environment...The Trade Center was not in its design a humane public place, a soulful place."[2] [1]
1976 King Kong In this version, the final scene took place at the World Trade Center, instead of the Empire State Building where the scene took place in the original film. The change was due partially to poster campaign [2] and to acknowledge that the Twin Towers had taken the Empire State Building's place as the tallest building in the world, the reason that the Empire State Building was chosen in the first place. The death of King Kong was filmed using a styrofoam stand-in, which was equipped with electrical wiring, hydraulic hoses and jacks to control its movements.[3] [3]
1978 The Wiz The 1978 film adaptation of the musical The Wiz uses the Twin Towers as the location of "The Wiz" in the Emerald City, and a musical number was shot on the plaza between the two towers.[1] [4]
1983 Trading Places The 1983 film Trading Places includes an external shot of the towers (at the plaza level) where Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy enter the COMEX commodities trading floor in 4 World Trade Center which is featured in the climax of the film.[4]
Re: World Trade Center in popular culture
1988 Working Girl Working Girl features the Trade Center complex in its opening sequence moving from the Staten Island Ferry to Lower Manhattan. Advertising and promotional pieces for the film also used images of the World Trade Center heavily. The film itself is set in 7 World Trade Center.[1] [6]
1992 Home Alone 2: Lost in New York Home Alone 2: Lost in New York features the Trade Center complex after Kevin realizes he's all alone in New York, he catches a taxi and arrives at the plaza and goes up to the observation deck. [7]
2008 Man on Wire Man on Wire is a documentary film that chronicles Philippe Petit's 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Despite being made in 2008, it makes no reference to the towers' destruction.
Other 1971–2001 appearances
The World Trade Center appeared in nearly any film or television shot of downtown Manhattan, since the buildings were an integral part of the skyline.
1971 The French Connection The 1971 film The French Connection shows the still under construction complex in the background during the unloading of the "drug car" in Brooklyn Heights.[6] [9]
1972 The Hot Rock The 1972 film The Hot Rock includes footage taken from a helicopter flying toward the World Trade Center, still under construction.[7] [10]
1981 Escape from New York In the 1981 film Escape from New York, the lead character lands a glider on the roof of the World Trade Center. The film also has a group of terrorists crash Air Force One into a different New York City building.[8] [11]
1982 Mazes and Monsters The 1982 made-for-television movie Mazes and Monsters includes a climactic scene at the top of the Twin Towers.[9][10] [12]
1988 Oliver & Company In the 1988 movie {{Oliver & Company]], the Twin Towers are shown in three scenes. 1st appearance is at the intro of the movie, showing the tip of Manhattan with the Twin Towers above, then pulling in closer towards the city showing a closer, better view of the two buldings. 2nd apperance is shown behind an a buliding. The 3rd/final appearance is shown from a body of water showing a good view of the 2 buildings at night, and during the day.
992 Freejack In the 1992 movie Freejack, the Twin Towers are shown standing in the year 2009. In the last scene of the movie, just before the credits start rolling, the towers are seen in the background, just to the left of the 200 story tall "McCandless Building", which is in the future fortress of Battery Park City.[11][12] [13]
1996 Independence Day In the 1996 movie Independence Day, the Trade Center appears several times in the New York skyline, as a large alien ship arrives over the city. They are the tallest remnants of a ruined New York in a later shot with a toppled Statue of Liberty in the foreground.[4] [14]
1998 Godzilla The World Trade Center appears numerous times throughout the film and at the beginning of the film a T.V. reporter says that Godzilla's prescence in the city is the worst thing since the World Trade Center bombing of 1993.
1998 Jeans The site appears in the Tamil film, Jeans, with the lead pair, Prashanth and Aishwarya Rai, dancing inside the tower and in areas surrounding the tower. [15]
1998 Armageddon The 1998 film Armageddon At first during a normal day in New York, the Twin Towers are shown in the background. Later, a meteor shower hits New York City in the beginning in the movie. The Twin Towers are shown three times during the meteor shower. The first appearance was a low point of view from between the towers looking up as large meteors pass over the towers. The second appearance is when the New York Financial District is shown as meteors passed by, one hitting the South Tower. The third appearance is New York City after the meteor shower. The North Tower had a hole on its north side of the tower while the top of the South Tower had been partially destroyed and was on fire. As a result of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the scene showing the towers getting hit and being on fire were cut when the movie aired on ABC in April 2002.[4]
1999 Stuart Little The World Trade Center can be seen when Stuart's mice parents drive over the Brooklyn Bridge and when they are arrive at the golf course.
2000 Kadhalar Dhinam The site appears in the Tamil film, Kadhalar Dhinam, with the lead pair, Kunal Singh and Sonali Bendre, walking around New York, with the trade centre as the backdrop of the city.
2000 Left Behind: The Movie The World Trade Center appeared in a brief scene of the New York skyline. The story, having been set in the future, would have taken place some time after the towers' destruction in the September 11, 2001 attacks. [17]
2000 Model Behavior The World Trade Center appeared in a brief scene of the New York skyline.
2000 Ready to Rumble The World Trade Center appeared in a brief scene of the New York skyline as the RV leaves NYC.
2001 Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) In the 2001 Steven Spielberg film Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), the towers were shown standing in the year 2142 where global warming has flooded many cities including New York City. Then, they are seen again, in the year 4142, many years after humanity has ceased to exist, this time covered in glacial ice but were one of the few buildings standing above the ice. Less than three months after the release, the towers were destroyed in the September 11 terrorist attacks. Although risking controversy and criticism, Steven Spielberg left the towers in the DVD release.[1] [1
2002 Spider-Man After the terrorist attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001, Sony recalled teaser posters which showed a close-up of Spider-Man's face with the New York skyline (including, prominently, the World Trade Center towers) reflected in his eyes. The movie's original trailer, released in 2001, featured a group of bank robbers on their getaway in a helicopter, which Spider-Man catches in a giant spider-web between the two towers of the World Trade Center. The trailer was pulled after the events of September 11, 2001, attacks and can be found on the internet.[13]
* The 2007 computer game World in Conflict, set in 1989, revolves around the story that USSR did not collapse and the Cold War continued longer than in reality. The towers are visible in the background of the 10th mission, in which the player attempts to repel Russian Spetsnaz commandos from Liberty, Ellis and Governor's islands in an attempt to Invade the United States through New York City. The Towers are also prominently visible in one of the Trailers showcasing the invasion to show the location and time.
* In the 2000 video game, Midnight Club: Street Racing the World Trade Center is easily identified in the game. Players can drive their car into the plaza in between the towers. They can also gain access to the underground parking garage beneath the towers, the site of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
* Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro (2001), by Activision, depicted the tops of the Twin Towers as part of the final stage, with the large radio antenna as a crucial piece to defeat the final boss, Hyper-Electro. After the 9/11 attack, the game was pulled and re-released, changing two stage titles and modifying the final stage to add a large bridge to it.[14]
* In response to the events of September 11, Microsoft announced that future versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator would not include the Twin Towers in the game's New York City skyline. A patch was also made available to remove the WTC buildings from the existing versions of the simulator.[14]
* Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001) and Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance (2002) feature a major plot on a ship going down the Hudson River, depicting the World Trade Center. The building was apparently cut from the game, delaying both games' releases.[14]
* Max Payne, features the World Trade Center in several billboards, and in some of the graphic novel cut scenes. They are visible in the PC version of the game, however, they are not visible in the Playstation 2 version of the game, which was released after the terrorist attacks.
* Shortly after the attacks, the now defunct Westwood Studios pulled all remaining copies of the 2000 real-time strategy game Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, whose box contained artwork of New York City under attack by invading Soviet forces; notable buildings depicted under attack included the World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty. The single player campaign of the game also contains a pair of missions in which the player was instructed to destroy The Pentagon and capture the World Trade Center as well as being able to destroy it. Westwood retooled the box art before re-releasing the game.[14]
* The 1991 Arcade game King of Monsters features monsters fighting in different Destructible cities. Among them is New York City, where the Twin Towers can be Destroyed, even thrown at your enemy.
* Streets of Rage, a game released in 1991 on the Sega Genesis features the Twin Towers in the background of the final boss battle, which apparently, occurs in World Trade Center 3 (otherwise known as the Vista Marriott). The towers can also be seen in Streets of Rage 2, in the second level, glowing in the background.
* The 1994 action game Urban Strike, the third in the Strike series, features the scene of a giant laser deflecting from a satellite and hitting the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, thus marking the start of Mission 7, in which the player must accomplish three objectives before moving on to objective #4: rescuing 16 out of 20 NAFTA business leaders of the WTC (after hitting the radar building east of the WTC); and objective #5: disarming the time bomb in the South Tower (being careful not to cut either the green wire, as one of the members says, or the red wire). It is ironic that, although the game takes place in a fictional 2001 timeline when it was released in 1994, it would be seven years (marking the same number of the game's mission in New York City) before the actual year 2001 (i.e. September 11) would mark the damage of the Twin Towers not by a laser or time bomb, but by the planes crashing into the buildings, with its destruction rather than its survival (as in the game).
* The first map of the 2000 game Deus Ex, set in 2052, encompasses Liberty Island and a bombed Statue of Liberty. The section of the New York City skyline containing the Twin Towers is absent, to reduce memory requirements for the map. The reason that the developers gave, if anyone asked, was that they had been destroyed by terrorists. "We just said that the towers had been destroyed too. And this was way before 9-11. Years. That's kind of freaky."[15]
* Gundam Battle Assault 2 featured a view of a city in the opening monologue of the story mode. The Twin Towers can been seen scrolling by, though one tower had a large addition to its side.
* The 2004 video game Spider-Man 2, the game adaptation of the movie, had a virtual New York City that Spider-Man could swing around in. At one spot, there is a large bit of sidewalk with two sets of eight lights arranged in a square. At night, the lights would come on, representing the Tribute in Light memorial.
* The 2007 video game Spider Man 3, the final battle takes place at a construction site that bears a strong resemeblance to the North Tower, possibly the Twin Towers 2.
* The 2005 video game True Crime: New York City, features a fenced in "ground zero" where all there is the concrete foundation and a blue fence surrounding it but it is inaccessible.
* Driver: Parallel Lines (2006) features a slightly modified World Trade Center complex in the game's depiction of New York City in 1978, lacking the Marriott World Trade Center hotel, as it was only completed in 1981. However, the complex features The Sphere, a 1967 Fritz Koenig sculpture, near the middle of the complex. Although unlike the real complex, a road cuts through what is supposed to be the center of the plaza. In the latter half of the game, set in New York in the year 2006, the entire complex (including the twin towers) is replaced by a fenced-off building site.
* In Tycoon City: New York, the World Trade Center is paid tribute to in the form of two very tall trees standing side by side, representing the Towers. Further into the park, there is a Pentagon-shaped base, with an American Flag at half mast. An inscription on the side reads We Will Never Forget.
* In the 1998 game, Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA, the entire World Trade Center complex is featured on the 'New York: Downtown' track. Buildings 1 - 6, and the western pedestrian bridge are all accessible to drive around. The stairways on both sides of the complex doubles as a jump for the racers.
* In Aero Fighters 2 (1994) for the Neo-Geo, the first half of the U.S. level takes place in New York City, featuring the World Trade Center in the background. In tradition of most top-down shooters, the buildings can be destroyed by shooting them multiple times.
* Godspell - musical number "All for the Best" performed by film's cast at the top of tower nearing completion.
* Serpico - at the end right before Pacino is shot.
* The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three - can be seen briefly through the back window of a car.
* Dog Day Afternoon - opening credits
* In the remake of the 1933 classic Kong, King Kong (1976), Kong climbes the WTC instead of the Empire State Building.
* In the movie, Taxi Driver, the World Trade Center together with the lower Manhattan skyline is framed by the window behind Travis Bickle as he purchases a gun.
* Saturday Night Fever - several times. Opening credits, and when John Travolta leaves and comes back to Brooklyn.
* Kentucky Fried Movie - the Manhattan skyline is shown with the Statue of Liberty in view.
* In the film Superman, the Twin Towers makes a crucial scene as he performs one of his first rescues for the public, announcing his presence. The Twin Towers are seen in the background of the night sky as Superman turns around, while flying, making a dramatic and powerful scene. Highlighting the strength of Superman and the strength of the nation he looks after. Although it may be interpreted in different ways, it does show to amplify the power of the moment when he first uses his powers for the public to see. Later on, the Twin Towers are shown briefly as Superman takes Lois Lane on a flying tour of the city by night.
* The film Meteor shows the Twin Towers hit by a meteor fragment.
* Manhattan - at the 0 minute 53 second mark.
* Minor background scenes in Zombi 2.
* Dressed to Kill - The characters of Nancy Allen and Keith Gordon are having a drink at Windows on the World, the restaurant on the top of the North Tower of the World Trade Center toward the end of the movie.
* Escape from New York - In the film, Manhattan has become a maximum security prison. As Snake enters the island, he lands a gilder on top of the South Tower.
* Mazes and Monsters - Tom Hanks tries to jump off the South Tower when he thinks he can fly.
* Trading Places shows the twin towers near the end of the movie.
* Terms of Endearment - Debra Winger gives a speech in front of the Towers on a cloudy day.
* Ghostbusters shows the World Trade Center in a few scenes from a far out view of the city.
* Splash, the WTC is featured in a couple scenes.
* The Pope of Greenwich Village - 2 establishing shots, and once when Eric Roberts is talking on a rooftop.
* The Killing Fields - Near the middle after Sam Waterston returns to New York, he's outside with the Twin Towers in view.
* The Australian comedy film Crocodile Dundee featured a shot of the twin towers as the first indication that Mick Dundee had arrived in New York.
* Wall Street with Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas, features the WTC in numerous scenes, especially the opening credits which has a number of sepia shots lingering on the towers and also features the WTC's PATH escalator bank.
* Coming to America features a good night-time sequence of the towers when Akeem gives away a large sum of money to tramps Randolph and Mortimer (now bankrupt since the end of 'Trading Places').
* The poster for the 1987 Michael Keaton workplace comedy The Squeeze features Keaton sandwiched between the Twin Towers, as a hand squeezes them together.
* Moonstruck - in the opening credits and once again later.
* She-Devil with Roseanne Barr and Meryl Streep, briefly features the WTC in the background while Barr's character is searching for an office to open her own business venture.
* Crocodile Dundee II - opening credits.
* Big Business - Bette Midler movie - briefly seen in the background
* Bright Lights Big City - seen at the end as a symbol of hope and change when Michael J Fox decides to get off drugs and start a new life
* The Dream Team features Michael Keaton, playing a pathological liar, pointing out the Trade Center, saying, "You see those two towers? World Trade Center. I was an architect working on them. First they just wanted to build one but I said, 'Hey, fellas, we're here - What the hell, let's throw another one up'. Turned out pretty well, didn't it?"
* The World Trade Center can be seen in the opening credits of the comedy film, See No Evil, Hear No Evil.
* Back to the Future II features a view across New York harbour of the WTC towers in 2015 on the cable TV station "The Scenery Channel".
* Ghostbusters II Around the time in the film they had the mechanical Statue of Liberty walking across the city you can see the towers, along with a shot of the city with the towers at the end of the film. They are also the buildings from which Janosz (as the ghost-nanny) flies to kidnap Oscar.
* In the beginning of the film Weekend at Bernie's where Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman are walking to work on a hot summer day, the twin towers are seen briefly in the background when a guy opens a water hydrant and is thrown to the sidewalk by the thrust of the water.
* New York Stories - during all three segments. The Towers can be seen through the window of Nick Nolte's apartment. Later, Woody Allen's mother talks over the skyline.
* When Harry Met Sally - after their drive from Chicago to New York.
* Friday the 13th Part VIII - It could be seen when the main characters head towards Manhattan on a canoe.
* Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The Twin Towers are shown at the very beginning of the movie.
* The Bonfire of the Vanities features an opening sequence following Bruce Willis through the basement of the World Trade Center Complex for nearly five minutes.
* The Godfather Part III - early on, after the opening narration.
* Freejack starring Emilio Estevez and Mick Jagger, the Twin Towers are shown standing in the year 2009. In the last scene of the movie, just before the credits start rolling, the towers are seen in the background, just to the left of the 200 story tall "McCandless Building", which is in the future fortress of Battery Park City.
* Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) visits the outdoor observation deck of the WTC and snaps a photograph of the view during a montage in the 1992 film Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
* Scent of a Woman - after Al Pacino gets pulled over for driving the ferrari too fast.
* Super Mario Bros. the Twin Towers become the "Koopa Towers" in the film's parallel dimension, which is a dinosaur-laden Manhattan run by antagonist King Koopa (Dennis Hopper). The North Tower features a sharpened top while the South Tower is unfinished with a jagged top. Both are adorned with Koopa's signature "K" symbol . Both have rather demonic looks to them. The towers briefly replace the World Trade Center towers in Manhattan when the two worlds are merged for a short time.
* We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, when the dinosaurs first arrive to New York City by the old Staten Island Ferry terminal they are shocked by how tall the twin towers are causing one of the dinosaurs to fall back into the East River. The towers are later seen several times throughout the animated film, sometimes portrayed as being side by side, other times one tower being rotated at an angle.
* The Last Seduction- the towers are plainly visible as Bridget runs from cab to getaway car with the bag of money.
* The Cowboy Way - the towers can be seen as the boat enters manhattan
* Die Hard: With a Vengeance the towers can be seen behind behind McClane and Zeus as they are jogging away from Wall Street.
* Mortal Kombat: Annihilation showed a brief shot of New York City including the towers after Liu Kang defeated Shao Kahn.
* The Usual Suspects - right after the cop car is set on fire.
* Independence Day- After the aliens destroy New York City, there is a brief shot of the Twin Towers, severed in half and on fire.
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St Paul's Methodist Church (Demolished)
Derbyshire Places of Worship
Clowne, Ebenezer Wesleyan Chapel (Demolished)
Clowne, Primitive Methodist Chapel (Demolished)
Clowne, Wesleyan Association Chapel (Demolished)
Clowne, Salvation Army (Clowne Corps)
Clowne, Church Street Methodist Church (Demolished)
Clowne, Mount Zion Primitive Methodist (Clowne Methodist Church)
Clowne, St John the Baptist's Church
Clowne, Christadelphian Hall
Clowne, Sacred Heart & Our Lady of Victories (RC)
Stanfree, Bolsover, St Peter's Mission Hall (Demolished)
Stanfree, Bolsover, United Methodist Church (Demolished)
Clowne, Southgate House Chapel (now Van Dyk Hotel)
Place of Worship has been
Demolished.
St Paul's Methodist Church (Demolished), Clowne
St Paul's Methodist Church (Demolished),
High Street (south side),
Clowne, Derbyshire.
We believe the Church did NOT have a graveyard.
This Place of Worship was founded before 1898, but we understand it was closed in 1967.
St Paul's Methodist Church is first shown on Old Maps of 1899 labelled as "Methodist Chapel (Free United)". In 1916, it is labelled as United Methodist ("U.M. Church"), and in 1962 as "St Paul's Methodist Church". It was, possibly, built as a replacement for the earlier Wesleyan Methodist Association Church, in Church Street, close to The Cross.
The Maps show it as a rectangular building, with narrow transepts (or perhaps side extensions) at the rear, and without a porch. It was situated opposite the junction of the High Street with Boughton Lane, where the entrance to the Chesterfield College Campus is now. It stood on its own plot, and had a Sunday School at the rear, on the south-west corner.
The following notice in The London Gazette of 24th April 1906 (p.2814) recorded its registration for marriages:
A Separate Building, duly certified for religious worship, named UNITED METHODIST FREE CHURCH, situated at High-street, Clowne, in the civil parish of Clowne, in the county of Derby, in Worksop registration District, was, on the 19th April, 1906, registered for solemnizing marriages therein, pursuant to 6th and 7th Wm. IV., c.85. Dated 20th April 1906.
A corresponding notice of cancellation, for "ST. PAUL'S METHODIST CHURCH, High Street, Clowne" was published in the Gazette of 23rd February 1967 (p.2095), after which its congregation joined that of Mount Zion Methodist, in North Road which became subsequently Clowne Methodist Church.
Now or formerly Free/United Methodist.
This Church was located at OS grid reference SK4888075319. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:
St Paul's Methodist Church (Demolished), Clowne shown on a Google Map.
Places of Worship in Clowne shown on a Google Map.
I have found many websites of use whilst compiling the information for this database. Here are some which deserve mention as being of special interest for Clowne, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.
Notices of Civil Registration of Places of Worship for marriages are published in the London edition of The Gazette. Hint: search for registrations from 1998 by choosing 'Church' notices, and the option 'Registration for solemnising marriage'. (verified 2018-12-11)
Information last updated on 4 Nov 2014 at 15:24.
Search for other Places of Worship in Derbyshire
Please note the above provides a search of selected fields in the Derbyshire section of the Places of Worship Database on this site (churchdb.gukutils.org.uk) only. For other counties, or for a full search of the Database, you might like to try the site's Google Custom Search, which includes full webpage content.
This Report was created 18 Jan 2021 - 04:53:57 GMT from information held in the Derbyshire section of the Places of Worship Database. This was last updated on 6 Feb 2019 at 15:49.
URL of this page: http://churchdb.gukutils.org.uk/DBY1524.php
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Raygor v. Saul
RANDY JAMES RAYGOR, Plaintiff,
ANDREW M. SAUL, Commissioner of Social Security Defendant.
OPINION AND ORDER
N. REID NEUREITER, U.S. DISTRICT COURT MAGISTRATE JUDGE
The government determined that Plaintiff Randy James Raygor was not disabled for purposes of the Social Security Act for the period from November 19, 2013 through August 22, 2017, the date of the decision. (AR[1] 40-41.) Mr. Raygor has asked this Court to review that decision. The Court has jurisdiction under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g), and both parties have agreed to have this case decided by a U.S. Magistrate Judge under 28 U.S.C. § 636(c). (Dkt. #11.)
In Social Security appeals, the Court reviews the decision of the administrative law judge ("ALJ") to determine whether the factual findings are supported by substantial evidence and whether the correct legal standards were applied. See Pisciotta v. Astrue, 500 F.3d 1074, 1075 (10th Cir. 2007). "Substantial evidence is such evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion. It requires more than a scintilla, but less than a preponderance." Raymond v. Astrue, 621 F.3d 1269, 1271-72 (10th Cir. 2009) (internal quotation marks omitted). The Court "should, indeed must, exercise common sense" and "cannot insist on technical perfection." Keyes-Zachary v. Astrue, 695 F.3d 1156, 1166 (10th Cir. 2012). The Court cannot reweigh the evidence or its credibility. Lax v. Astrue, 489 F.3d 1080, 1084 (10th Cir. 2007).
Nonetheless, the determination whether substantial evidence supports the Commissioner's decision is not simply a quantitative exercise, for evidence is not substantial if it is overwhelmed by other evidence or if it constitutes mere conclusion. Fulton v. Heckler, 760 F.2d 1052, 1055 (10th Cir. 1985). Ultimately, the Court must review the record as a whole, and "[t]he substantiality of evidence must take into account whatever in the record fairly detracts from its weight." Universal Camera Corp. v. NLRB, 340 U.S. 474, 488 (1951); see also Casias, 933 F.2d at 800-01.
At the second step of the Commissioner's five-step sequence for making determinations, [2] the ALJ found that Mr. Raygor "has the following severe combination of impairments: schizoaffective disorder; depression; anxiety; and, substance (cannabis) abuse." (AR 34.) The ALJ found that these "medically determinable impairments cause more than minimal functional limitations on basic work-related activities and are considered severe." (AR 34.)
The ALJ then determined at step three that Mr. Raygor "does not have an impairment or combination of impairments that meets or medically equals the severity of one of the listed impairments" in the regulations. (AR 34-35.) Because she concluded that Mr. Raygor did not have an impairment or combination of impairments that meets the severity of the listed impairments, the ALJ found that Mr. Raygor has the following residual functional capacity ("RFC"):
... to perform a full range of work at all exertional levels but with the following nonexertional limitations: can perform simple unskilled work activities; can solve problems and can perform work without distracting others or being distracted by others; can interact appropriately with coworkers, supervisors and the public but cannot perform tasks requiring teamwork; and, can maintain attendance in order to perform sustained work activities.
(AR 35.)
The ALJ concluded that Mr. Raygor had past relevant work as a cook helper. (AR 39.) At step five, the ALJ found that, in comparing Mr. Raygor's residual functional capacity with the physical and mental demands of being a cook helper, Mr. Raygor was able to perform as a cook helper as it is generally performed in the national economy, and that there are other jobs existing in the national economy that Mr. Raygor is able to perform. (AR 39.) Accordingly, Mr. Raygor was deemed not to have been under a disability from the alleged onset date of November 19, 2013, through August 22, 2017, the date of the decision. (AR 40-41.)
Mr. Raygor argues that the ALJ's decision should be reversed because she improperly weighed the medical opinion evidence and improperly assessed the consistency of Mr. Raygor's statements with the medical evidence. The Court agrees.
I. Medical Opinion Evidence
An ALJ must "give consideration to all the medical opinions in the record" and "discuss the weight" she assigns to them. Mays v. Colvin, 739 F.3d 569, 578 (10th Cir. 2014) (internal quotation marks omitted). "An ALJ must evaluate every medical opinion in the record, although the weight given each opinion will vary according to the relationship between the disability claimant and the medical professional." Hamlin v. Barnhart, 365 F.3d 1208, 1215 (10th Cir. 2004) (citing 20 C.F.R. § 401.1527(d)). The applicable regulations governing the consideration of medical opinions distinguish among "treating" physicians, "examining" physicians, and "nonexamining" (or "consulting") physicians. See 20 C.F.R. § 416.927(c). Generally, "the opinions of physicians who have treated a patient over a period of time or who are consulted for purposes of treatment are given greater weight than are reports of physicians employed and paid by the government for the purpose of defending against a disability claim." Sorenson v. Bowen, 888 F.2d 706, 711 (10th Cir. 1989). See also Doyal v. Barnhart, 331 F.3d 758, 762 (10th Cir. 2003).
The evaluation of a treating source's opinion is a two-step process. Watkins v. Barnhart, 350 F.3d 1297, 1300 (10th Cir. 2003). "The initial determination the ALJ must make with respect to a treating physician's medical opinion is whether it is conclusive, i.e., is to be accorded 'controlling weight,' on the matter to which it relates." Krauser v. Astrue, 638 F.3d 1324, 1330 (10th Cir. 2011). "Such an opinion must be given controlling weight if it is well-supported by medically acceptable clinical or laboratory diagnostic techniques and is not inconsistent with other substantial evidence in the record." Id. Second,
Even if a treating opinion is not given controlling weight, it is still entitled to deference; at the second step in the analysis, the ALJ must make clear how much weight the opinion is being given (including whether it is being rejected outright) and give good reasons, tied to the factors specified in the cited regulations for this particular purpose, for the weight assigned.
Id. The factors the ALJ ...
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Sysco Declares Quarterly Dividend Payment
By: Sysco Corporation via GlobeNewswire News Releases
HOUSTON, Nov. 19, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sysco Corporation (NYSE:SYY) today announced that the Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.45 per share, payable on January 29, 2021, to common stockholders of record at the close of business on January 8, 2021.
About Sysco
Sysco is the global leader in selling, marketing and distributing food products to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, lodging establishments and other customers who prepare meals away from home. Its family of products also includes equipment and supplies for the foodservice and hospitality industries. With more than 57,000 associates, the company operates 326 distribution facilities worldwide and serves more than 625,000 customer locations. For fiscal 2020 that ended June 27, 2020, the company generated sales of more than $52 billion. Information about our CSR program, including Sysco’s 2020 Corporate Social Responsibility Report, can be found at sysco.com/csr2020report.
For more information, visit www.sysco.com or connect with Sysco on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SyscoCorporation or Twitter at https://twitter.com/Sysco. For important news and information regarding Sysco, visit the Investor Relations section of the company’s Internet home page at investors.sysco.com, which Sysco plans to use as a primary channel for publishing key information to its investors, some of which may contain material and previously non-public information. Investors should also follow us at www.twitter.com/SyscoStock and download the Sysco IR App, available on the iTunes App Store and the Google Play Market. In addition, investors should continue to review our news releases and filings with the SEC. It is possible that the information we disclose through any of these channels of distribution could be deemed to be material information.
Shannon Mutschler Rachel Lee
Media Contact Investor Relations Contact
mutschler.shannon@corp.sysco.com lee.rachel@corp.sysco.com
T 281-584-4059 T 281-436-7815
Sysco Corp
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FAINET
Player and Coaches Registration Platform for Clubs. Club registrars need prior clearance to use this facility.
Click to download the Player Development Plans direct from the FAI Website.
MUCFP
Checkout our partner website, for all the news from our U15, U17 & U19 squads who are competing in the FAI Airticity League of Ireland.
Main Kit Suppliers to CMUL representative squads.
CAVAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS FAI FUTSAL TOURNAMENT
Breifne College Cavan played host to the annual FAI Post Primary Schools Futsal tournament on Wednesday 12th November. 1st Year students from six schools in Cavan competed on the day to represent their county in the Ulster Finals. Futsal is indoor football played with 5 players on each team.
In the boys section there was 2 groups of 3 teams. Breifne (A), The Royal and Bawnboy competed in group A while Breifne (B), St. Pat’s and Cootehill in group B. The opening game kicked off at 10am with the Royal College beating Bawnboy by a score line of 4:2. St. Pat’s were too strong for Breifne (B) in the next fixture and had a comfortable win. Breifne (A) and the Royal battled it out next with the Royal coming out on top by 5 goals to 3 in close entertaining match. St. Aidan’s, Cootehill had a tough test in their opening game against St. Pat’s and lost out by 4:2. Breifne (A) scored 4 unanswered goals against Bawnboy in the next match. The final group game saw Cootehill beat Breifne (B) by a score line of 4:0. The top team from each group progressed to the final. St. Pat’s would play the Royal for a chance to represent Cavan in the Ulster Finals. St. Pat’s started the stronger of the two sides and with Oisin Brady in top form they lead 2:0 at half time. St. Pat’s looked to have the game wrapped up when they got a third early in the second half. The Royal threatened a comeback by scoring twice in the space of a minute but it wasn’t enough and St. Pat’s won by 4:2 in the end.
St. Pat’s Cavan boys Futsal winning squad
Breifne College, Baileborough and Cootehill competed in the girls section. The top 2 teams of the group would compete in the final. The first game saw Breifne beat Cootehill by 4 goals to nil. Baileborough and Cootehill played out the only goalless draw of the competition in the next fixture. In the final group fixture, Breifne beat Baileborough by a single goal. Both teams would meet again in the final. Baileborough turned things around against Breifne in an exciting final and came out victors by a score line of 2:1.
Baileborough Community School girls Futsal winners
The event was organised and overseen on the day by Tom Mohan, FAI Development Officer Cavan and assistant Stephen McSherry.
St. Pat’s (boys) and Baileborough (girls) will represent Cavan in the Ulster FAI Schools Futsal competition in Letterkenny on Tuesday 25th November.
Royal College Futsal finalists Breifne girls Futsal runner-ups
1 Carrick Rovers U13 Red 1 1 0 0 6 0 6 3
2 Ballyjamesduff AFC U13 Red 1 1 0 0 6 1 5 3
3 Cavan Shamrocks U13 1 1 0 0 2 1 1 3
4 Blaney Rovers U13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 Carrick Rovers U13 Yellow 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
RTÉ Soccer News
All that's missing is the goals, insists Klopp
Liverpool's performance level has not dropped despite the team slipping to fourth place and not scoring in the last three Premier League games, manager Jurgen Klopp.
All Premier League games to be shown live in February
The Premier League has announced that all games from January 30 through until the end of February will be shown live.
Arsenal cancel Sokratis contract by mutual consent
Arsenal have cancelled defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos' contract by mutual consent.
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Five principles for citizen engagement
citizens democratic dialogue digital governance participation smart cities social innovation
How do we reconnect with one another as we venture into the new normal? This question is currently being posed by people across our continent, as well as by national and EU level governments.
For cities, which have been on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis, much groundwork has already been laid. I’m not talking so much about how we re-forge social connections, but, rather, how we engage with and listen to one another.
Last month, European lawmakers decided that the ‘Conference on the Future of Europe’, which was supposed to get its first run out on Europe Day (9 May), should go ahead, just as soon as they figured out when events can start being held.
The idea - a grand debate with citizens across the EU, to shine a light on people’s voices, share new ideas, and find a possible new common ground for Europe – has many parallels with existing examples of citizen engagement from the local level.
In fact, over the past several years, there has been a growing movement for and recognition by city governments of the need to include people much more in decision making processes.
The new ‘Eurocties principles on citizen engagement’ prepared by our Working Group on Creative Citizenship, encapsulate many of these ideas, which are being tested and shared by cities across Europe.
EU can learn from cities
Firstly, by working with and for city government, we recognise how greater public participation in governance can strengthen representative democracy.
That’s why the city of Nantes, for example, has held three great public debates on topics that are at the heart of citizens’ concerns, such as the energy transition or considering the valuable place of senior citizens in society.
The idea for these debates, which propelled the city to being crowned European Capital of Innovation, has always been to mobilise as many people, associations, companies and others as possible to engage in a comprehensive debate, come up with and test out new ideas. Each has resulted in a set of citizens’ recommendations being presented for consideration to the city. For example, an ‘office of the Earth’, which will fund 500 projects by 2025, or a recommendation that residents should not be more than 300 metres’ walk from the nearest green area, be it a public garden, park, forest, watercourse etc. and that nature in the city should become a top priority,
Secondly, many cities such as Madrid are taking steps to ensure that public policy is a shared endeavour between city governments, citizens, civil society and other local actors.
The Decide Madrid online portal gives local residents the power to decide how to shape the city they live in, and has led to green-lighting ideas such as turning plastic waste into fresh asphalt for the city’s roads; reducing fossil-fuel consumption and energy bills by installing photovoltaic panels on public buildings; and making space to park bicycles outside school doors.
Thirdly, cities like Athens have already taken huge leaps in recognising that citizens are often, the best placed to propose solutions to challenges in their everyday lives.
SynAthina is a common space that brings together, supports and facilitates citizens’ groups engaged in improving the quality of life in the city. By coordinating the invaluable resource of citizens’ groups, the city of Athens actively listens to the needs of its people and is thus revitalised.
Concrete impacts of the project have included programmes to reduce the risk of marginalisation faced by refugees through, for example, offering Greek language classes or non-formal education to prepare children for Greek schools; a mobile unit for homeless people to be able to wash their clothes; and offering free support to young people who want to start a social enterprise, through things like consulting and support services.
Fourthly, an essential component of working with citizens in this way is to do with rebuilding people’s trust in political processes, which are all too often shattered due to a lack of clear and obvious results. And, as is the case in all our cities, this necessitates clear communication and feedback on why and how certain policy ideas are selected, while others are shelved.
Participatory budgets, such as practiced in Lausanne, confer a part of the city coffers to develop projects proposed by local residents. For example the city’s new ‘object library’ where residents can get things they want to use once without having to buy them.
Lastly, getting citizen engagement right means being willing not only to experiment, but to take on board learning, both from within your own city limits but also from other cities, and to invest in organisational, administrative and political innovation. In Braga, the recently opened Human Power Hub, was inspired by social innovation happening in other cities. It asks people to identify social problems that are affecting society and empowers them to think about different solutions and build start-ups with a social impact to solve those problems.
There is so much going on in cities, and with the Conference on the Future of Europe soon to get underway, there is much the EU could take from the best practice of cities in working with people towards a new European localism.
Read our principles on citizen engagement here:
2020_Principles_on_citizen_engagement_FINAL download/preview this file
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Difference between revisions of "Salmonids in California's Central Coast Region: Salmon, Trout, and Steelhead"
RyanB (Talk | contribs)
(→Rainbow Trout & Steelhead)
(→Summary)
Salmon, trout and [[steelhead]] are all members of the taxonomic family Salmonidae or Salmonids (plural noun). Many species of salmonids are strictly [[Anadromous Fishes of California's Central Coast Region | anadromous]], however, there are species which do not express an anadromous life history. Furthermore, sibling rainbow trout (''Onchorhynchus mykiss'') which come from the same parents can exhibit different life histories where one shows anadromy and the other remains in the stream as a resident trout.
[[Salmon, trout and [[steelhead]] are all members of the taxonomic family Salmonidae or Salmonids (plural noun). Many species of salmonids are strictly [[Anadromous Fishes of California's Central Coast Region | anadromous]], however, there are species which do not express an anadromous life history. Furthermore, sibling rainbow trout (''Onchorhynchus mykiss'') which come from the same parents can exhibit different life histories where one shows anadromy and the other remains in the stream as a resident trout.
The California Central Coast (CCC) Region supports two species of salmonids: rainbow trout and Coho salmon. While they are known to reproduce in similar habitats, only a limited number of coastal watersheds in the region still support both species.
[[Salmon, trout and steelhead are all members of the taxonomic family Salmonidae or Salmonids (plural noun). Many species of salmonids are strictly anadromous, however, there are species which do not express an anadromous life history. Furthermore, sibling rainbow trout (Onchorhynchus mykiss) which come from the same parents can exhibit different life histories where one shows anadromy and the other remains in the stream as a resident trout.
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[DailyNK] NAPCI – The answer to ‘strategic impatience’ with North Korea?
Choi Kang / Vice President(Acting President)
[DailyNK] 2015-10-9
NAPCI – The answer to ‘strategic impatience’ with North Korea?
Choi Kang
Vice President(Acting President)
Dr. CHOI Kang is the vice president for research and a principal fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. Previously, he was the dean of Planning and Assessment at the Korean National Diplomatic Academy. In 2012, Dr. Choi served as the president at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS). He was also a professor and director general for American Studies at IFANS, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, and senior director for Policy Planning and Coordination on the National Security Council Secretariat. He holds several advisory board memberships including: the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Unification of the National Assembly; Ministry of National Defense; Ministry of Unification; Air Force Development Committee; and the National Unification Advisory Council. Dr. Choi was also a South Korean delegate to the Four-Party Talks. He writes extensively on the ROK-US alliance, North Korean military affairs, inter-Korean relations, crisis management, and multilateral security cooperation. Dr. Choi received his B.A. from Kyunghee University, M.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his Ph.D. in political science from Ohio State University.
Past Events Regional Issue Asan Plenum Japan China Asan Roundtable Asan Korea Perspective North Korea regional security Asan Plenum 2019
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Re-stating John Henry’s 1770 Map of Virginia
Posted on 10 December 2014 by crmaps
Discovery of a previously unrecorded proof state
of John Henry’s 1770 Map of Virginia
One of the rarest colonial era maps of Virginia is A new and accurate map of Virginia wherein most of the counties are laid down from actual surveys…by John Henry, published in London in February, 1770, by Thomas Jefferys. Previously published cartobibliographies and descriptions of this map have reported only one known state of the map.
Yes, I realize this is supposed to be the North Carolina map blog. However, since North Carolina is the “original Virginia”, I consider the topic fair game 😉 .
John Henry’s 1770 four-sheet wall map is excessively rare, with approximately a dozen surviving copies documented.[1] It obviously was not a commercial success on account of multiple reasons. First, Henry’s pleas to the Virginia House of Burgesses for financial assistance were repeatedly rejected.[2] Lacking sufficient money for the project, Henry never measured all the roads of Virginia, information he had proposed to include in his map. The resulting map not only lacks those distances, but it lacks any roads at all! The locations of multiple bridges are shown, but there are no roads leading to or from them.
Second, even though the map is the first map of Virginia to delineate county boundaries and depicts new counties not present on the Fry-Jefferson map, and despite the claim of accuracy implied by the title, the map was not highly accurate:
[Thomas] Pownall in his Topographical description of North America says of Henry’s map: “A map engraved by Jeff erys and called ‘A new and accurate map of Virginia by John Henry’ was published in 1770. I was in hopes to have derived information from this, but upon examination of it, it appears to me to be a very inaccurate compilation; defective in topography; and not very attentive even to geography; the draughtsman or the engraver has totally omitted the South Branch of Potomack River: nor is that curious and interesting piece of information, the communication between the waters of Virginia and the waters of the Ohio, which was known when this was published, marked in it.”[3]
Third, John Henry died in 1773; he had a very narrow window after the initial publication of the map to pursue corrections or revisions. According to one source, John Henry sold the rights to the map to his son, Patrick, in May, 1770.[4] Correcting or revising his father’s map may not have been one of Patrick Henry’s higher priorities on the eve of the Revolutionary War.
A recent announcement of a copy of the map for sale prompted an internet search for digital images of the map. Upon inspecting the copy held by the Biblioteca nacional de Espana (BNE), it became readily apparent that their copy is an earlier state than all others for which on line images are available. The 2nd state (or is it the 3rd – see comments) of the map contains many engraved additions that are present only in manuscript on the BNE copy, leading to an initial conclusion that the BNE copy was used as a template for the revisions to the copper plates. However, the BNE copy also has adscititious features in manuscript that are not part of the engraved 2nd state, and the 2nd state has some engraved additions that are not present (engraved or manuscript) on the BNE copy. This makes it difficult to conclude with absolute certainty which is the chicken, and which is the egg. Readers are requested to provide their opinions via the “What’s on your mind” comment box at the bottom of this post. In the meantime, let’s take a look at several of the distinguishing features between the 1st and 2nd states of John Henry’s map of Virginia.
Note: The first state images are from the digital scan of a map in the collection of the Biblioteca nacional de Espana. The second state images are from the digital scan of a map in the John Carter Brown Library.
On the first state, the place name and symbols for Peaks of Otter are in manuscript (below left); these are engraved on the later state (below right):
On the first state, Falmouth is added in manuscript across the river from Fredericksburg. On the later state, Falmouth is engraved. Town symbols for Fredericksburg and Falmouth are also added, though only one for Falmouth is seen in manuscript on the first state. The later state also includes an engraved “The Falls” up river from Falmouth; this text is not seen at all on the first state.
In southwestern Virginia, there is a curious group of mismatched manuscript annotations and plate revisions. Several marks in the range of mountains on the first state suggest that small gaps in the mountains (A, below left and right) should be filled with mountains. However, this did not occur on the later state. Further north, 3 manuscript mountains close off the south end of a valley on the first state, but only a single engraved mountain symbol serves that purpose on the later state (B, below left and right). Finally. just west of B, there are some hand drawn ink lines on the first state for which no appreciable change to the plate is seen on the later state.
The most common change is the addition of multiple engraved court house symbols for those counties which did not contain an engraved symbol on the first state. Multiple new plantations or land owners are designated along the rivers in manuscript on the first state and engraved on the later state. The engraver’s imprint below the title on the later state, is only faintly seen in manuscript on the 1st state (see below). The later state has a publisher imprint bottom center below the neat line as well as longitudinal numbers at the top and bottom; these are lacking on the 1st state. These are just a few of numerous differences between the first and later states.
Was the first state a publisher’s proof, not intended for public sale, or was it a first production run? The evidence certainly favors the former. What is the likelihood that a publisher’s proof would have been so beautifully colored? Opinions of scholars of cartographic history would be greatly appreciated. One can hope that a definitive answer still awaits discovery in the unpublished historical records. I’d also love to hear the story of how this particular 1st state copy ended up in Spain. ADDENDUM: Per the BNE, the Henry map of Virginia is part of the Mendoza Collection. More details about this collection can be found in the comment section.
Below are links to copies of the map that can be viewed on line, several images being high resolution scans while others were just for illustration.
Biblioteca nacional de Espana, Madrid
John Carter Brown Library, Providence
http://jcb.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/s/0ctmin
Library of Congress, Washington
http://www.loc.gov/item/74693087/
University of Virginia, Charlottesville
http://search.lib.virginia.edu/catalog/uva-lib:1563438/view
Library of Virginia, Richmond
http://digitool1.lva.lib.va.us:8881/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=15916
http://www.virginiamemory.com/docs/hires/Map_Virginia_Counties_HR.pdf
Also illustrated in Virginia in Maps
http://emuseum.history.org/view/objects/asitem/Objects@22252/4?showSite=mobile
Also illustrated in Degrees of Latitude
In addition to references cited in the footnotes below, readers may also be interested in the following:
Degrees of Latitude by Margaret Beck Pritchard and Henry G. Taliaferro – pp 200-203 contain excellent discussion of the publication history; the public bantering carried on in the newspaper between Henry and his detractors is most entertaining. Margaret and Henry’s bibliography provides many excellent references.
The John Henry County Map of Virginia, 1770 ( 1977 Facsimile), with introduction by Louis B. Wright.
To see other maps that have been “Re-stated” on the North Carolina Map Blog, click here.
[1] The following institutions hold (or are believed to hold) copies of the map: Virginia Historical Society (2 copies, one of which is “imperfect”), Library of Virginia, University of Virginia, Colonial Williamsburg, Harvard, Clements Library, Massachusetts Historical Society, Library of Congress, British Library, John Carter Brown Library, and Biblioteca nacional de Espana. A copy in private hands prompted this search. Census data provided by Luke Vavra, with minor modifications.
[2] Swem, Earl G., “Maps relating to Virginia in the Virginia State Library and other Departments of the Commonwealth with the 17th and 18th Century Atlas-Maps in the Library of Congress”, in Virginia State Library Bulletin, April, July, 1914, Vol. 7, Nos. 2 and 3 (Richmond, VA: Davis Bottom, Superintendent of Public Printing, 1914), 67-68. http://goo.gl/YolS69
[3] Phillips, P. Lee, Virginia Cartography: A bibliographical description (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1896), 56. http://goo.gl/aC9b1w
[4] Henry, William Wirt, Patrick Henry Life, Correspondence and Speeches (New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1891), Vol. 1; 123. http://goo.gl/UcsdQj
This entry was posted in 18th Century, Boundaries, Cartobibliography and tagged John Henry, Patrick Henry, Re-stating, Thomas Jefferys, Virginia maps, wall map by crmaps. Bookmark the permalink.
8 thoughts on “Re-stating John Henry’s 1770 Map of Virginia”
J Rogers on 10 December 2014 at 14:27 said:
Well written article.
Bert Johnson on 12 December 2014 at 06:42 said:
Jay – Really nicely done article. The poor Henry map is clearly the ne’er do well relation that the Virginia map family doesn’t like to discuss, but it’s fascinating in its peculiarities. I tend to thing this was a publisher’s proof. I doubt that they added color at that point, but someone, reluctant to discard it despite its shortcomings, could have easily done so later. Like you, I’d love to know how it ended up in Madrid.
Luke A. Vavra on 12 December 2014 at 11:04 said:
I am the owner of the John Henry map which recently became available for sale by my firm Cartographic Arts. The availability of a proof copy adds an interesting chapter to the history of the John Henry map.
I think the Madrid copy Jay Lester writes about should be labeled a “proof” copy for two reasons:
1 It bears numerous manuscript annotations later incorporated on the production issue.
2. There is no evidence more than one copy of the Madrid version exists. In separate correspondence Jay indicated he had examined images of six copies which were not like the Madrid copy but could not examine images of five others. He and I independently determined that four of the five others were production issues by analyzing the library records for the maps. The one listed in the Massachusetts Historical Society catalog may exist as four sheets bound in the French atlas factice (also called “composite atlas”) Atlas des colonies Angloises en Amerique, compiled circa 1775, some 5 years after the production date on the map. At that later date it is not likely to match the Madrid copy. Of twelve recorded copies, one is a proof copy, ten are production copies, and it is uncertain as to the issue of the MHS copy.
The manuscript additions to the Madrid map are in faded brown ink suggesting they may be contemporary to the time the production version was published. At least three different persons made annotations in one area of the map, suggesting the Jefferys firm received batches of changes which were incorporated by different people. Jefferys employed about a dozen draftsman and engravers. Other areas were not examined in detail so it is not known if more than three “hands” made annotations such as the following to the Madrid map:
1. On the Madrid copy, compare “Court House” above Snake River Mountains in Buckingham County to “Court House” near the word Chesterfield in Chesterfield County. See especially the capital “H” and the lower case “s”.
2. On the Madrid copy, see the manuscript words “Willis’s Mountains” above the word Buckingham County. They are completely different from either of the above.
In his blog Jay mentions changes to the production issue which were not present on the Madrid copy. Those could have been applied directly on the copper plates.
The full color east of the mountains may have been added to the proof copy as a guide for colorists to use on those maps sold with full color. This would help prevent them from using the same color on two adjacent counties. [The copy belonging to the Library of Virginia is in outline color, not the “wash” color, so not all were sold with full color.]
The Jefferys firm was the engraver and publisher, but not the distributor of Henry’s map. Jefferys would have little reason to keep the proof copy in his records once printing was completed, and the copy eventually wound up at the National Library in Madrid. Jefferys was publisher of the popular Fry-Jefferson map of Virginia during this time so would not agree to distribute a competing map of the same size and region; his firm was essentially a subcontractor to engrave, edit and print the map for John Henry.
Luke A Vavra
Cartographic Arts, Inc.
crmaps on 16 December 2014 at 11:40 said:
I have just received a reply from Daniel Hinchen at the Massachusetts Historical Society. Their copy of the Henry map of Virginia is indeed the 2nd state.
Via a link at the bottom of this comment, one can download an excellent 70mb PowerPoint presentation that describes the origins of the Jose Mendoza y Rios Collection, including images of many extraordinary maps in the collection. The following is Google’s attempt to translate the original slide text from Spanish to English which, though imperfect, is far better than this ignorant monolingual could do:
The Mendoza Collection
Comes from the ancient Geographic Office of the First Secretary of State. The Geographic Cabinet was created by Manuel Godoy in 1795. Leading the Cabinet is set to Thomas and Juan López geographers with the task of forming a collection of maps for the service itself. Secretary of State Representatives of the king is ordered abroad, buy the best maps, sea or land, published in the countries in which they were intended. Commission was given to some people for passing to the main European countries cooperate to the same end. To make this work in England was commissioned Frigate Captain José Mendoza y Rios. Mendoza, excellent mathematician and astronomer, gathered two magnificent collections of manuscripts also made two separate catalogs: A travel books, atlases and works of Geography -Another Maps, sea charts, itineraries, sailing, published in Britain and Ireland. Both catalogs are dated in London in 1796 and are signed by its collector: Jose Mendoza Rios. Finally, by Royal Order June 7, 1913, maps were transferred to the National Library being deposited in the Cartographic Section. [Image of] Letter from the Deputy Minister of Public Instruction, reporting to the Director of the National Library of the Royal Order of June 7 by the collection of letters Geographic pass to the National Library. [Image of] Minutes of the Charter of the Director of the National Library Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of Education, notifying the Library Officer D. Pedro Mora has taken over the maps and they will be installed in the Cartographic Section. The Mendoza Collection 2405 consists of maps, divided into two series: The first set consists of 1,697 maps, printed in Britain in the second half of the eighteenth century. It was completed with a second series of 708 maps, recorded in other countries such as France, Germany, Spain and Russia. The maps are carefully lit, for the most part scrims and kept in perfect condition. Spatial catalog The collection is divided into two main classes of maps and each in Sections. The two main types are: geography hydrography
Here is link to the slide show: The Mendoza Collection (.pps 70Mb)
Wikipedia has a biographical entry on Jose Mendoza y Rios
A response from the Virginia Historical Society suggests that their 2 copies may be an intermediate state between the two states described above:
Both copies have the engraver’s imprint below the title.
The other variations you noted (manuscript notations for Falmouth, Peaks of Otter, etc.) do not appear on our copies.
Or perhaps just a bit of confusion and their copies are the same as the other “later state” copies. I look forward to visiting the VHS some time in the next few months.
David H McIintosh on 26 July 2020 at 15:43 said:
The copy of the map at the Library of Congress has a printed message at the bottom, that causes me to think that the map was distributed in England. This text is included in this Post
The Concise Account of the Number of Inhabitants, the Trade, Soil and Produce of Virginia
What's on your mind? Cancel reply
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Hou's ready to revisit Hinamizawa?
“Welcome back!” —Rena
Terrible pun in the title aside, I'm back, Rena's back, and so are you (we hope).
It's been a while since I last posted, but there's some great Higurashi news to share!
First are new details on the upcoming release Higurashi When They Cry Hou. As most of you probably know, 07th Expansion first released Higurashi back in 2002, before moving onto Umineko When They Cry, Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni and Rose Guns Days. Now, 12 years later, you will be able to get your hands on a new instalment in the series.
Higurashi Hou combines re-releases of the previous entries in the series with new stories. Here are the full contents:
Question arcs "Higurashi When They Cry (Onikakushi-hen, Watanagashi-hen, Tatarigoroshi-hen, Himatsubushi-hen)"
Answer arcs "Higurashi When They Cry Kai (Meakashi-hen, Tsumihoroboshi-hen, Minagoroshi-hen, Matsuribayashi-hen)"
Fan disc "Higurashi When They Cry Rei (Saikoroshi-hen, Hirukowashi-hen, Batsukoishi-hen)"
All the original extras and minigames
Sound novel version of Higurashi Outbreak, a story which was originally included with the first press limited edition version of the soundtrack to Twilight Frontier's Higurashi Daybreak.
A brand new story: Higurashi Outbreak ~Kamikanshi-hen~
Sound novel version of Hinamizawa Bus Stop, the original playscript prototype for Higurashi When They Cry
As you can see, that's a lot of content, which is evident by the fact that it comes on two DVDs!
Higurashi When They Cry Hou will be released on 17th August at Japan's Comiket Market. The official website is now up, and you can already preorder this release from AmiAmi. There are only limited quantities, so be quick!
(Note: Higurashi Hou is only available in Japanese. There are no plans to release a translation at this time, official or otherwise.)
Onto the second piece of news…
Yesterday (3rd July) marked the start of Anime Expo, a big… anime expo in Los Angeles. Attended by all the big players in the anime industry, I'm surely not the only one who considers it the E3 of anime, and by extension, visual novels!
Visual novel publishers JAST USA, MangaGamer and Sekai Project each held panels showcasing their upcoming releases and making exciting new announcements.
The one announcement that is relevant to this blog came from MangaGamer, and concerns their upcoming Steam release of Higurashi. A while back, it was announced that it will feature a completely new translation. Well, that's not all that's new!
MangaGamer announced that this Steam release will feature completely new sprites drawn by artist Kurosaki from visual novel studio Caramel-Box!
I'm sure a lot of you will agree with me when I say the artwork looks absolutely kaii~. Full details currently aren't confirmed, but those who wish to play Higurashi using the original sprites will also be catered for.
Higurashi will be released episodically on Steam, expected to start later this year.
That's all the 07th Expansion news. …For now, anyway. Spider Lily Translations will have some announcements to make in the coming months, so stay tuned to our blog.
Also, do check out the other great Anime Expo announcements from JAST USA, MangaGamer and Sekai Project. There are some good ones, including a Steam release of Key's kinetic novel Planetarian (I know, we can't believe it either!).
We would also like to draw your attention to Sekai Project's Kickstarter projects for Steam releases of two awesome visual novels: WORLD END ECONOMiCA -Complete- and fault milestone one -director's cut-.
I think that's all for today. Until next time~
Posted by Yirba @ Spider Lily Translations at 3:25 PM 65 comments
The unforgiving flowers have bloomed… The Second Night patch and digital downloads are out!
Over two years since Ronove made that first introductory blog post, the project has finally reached completion. Yes, that's right. It's been a long time coming, but Higanbana - The Second Night can now be enjoyed in English with our translation patch, available to download from our homepage.
Not only that, but the original Japanese versions required to play Higanbana are now available as digital downloads from MangaGamer.com! A lot of effort has been put into making these games available for you all, so please check out the product pages for The First Night and The Second Night!
I'd like to thank everyone who has been a part of this project, from the translators to the beta testers. Big thanks also go to those of you who have supported us on this long journey. We have completed our mission and are happy to be able to call it a job well done.
Even so, we are aware that although we pride ourselves on the high quality of our releases, there is still room for improvement. Therefore, if you do encounter any problems (bugs, typos, etc.), please let us know in the comments or via our email address below so that we can address these in future versions of our translation.
contact (AT) spiderlilytranslations (DOT) com
For now though, please enjoy Higanbana - The Second Night!
Posted by Yirba @ Spider Lily Translations at 12:00 AM 30 comments
Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni trial
Spider Lily Translations are proud to announce that the free trial version of Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni is now available in English!
The trial features the first three chapters of The First Night, which will offer you a couple of hours' worth of content to help you decide whether you wish to purchase the full version.
Speaking of purchasing, we realise it's not easy for those living outside of Japan to acquire copies of Higanbana. Therefore, we are currently working on providing a simpler means to do so. We'll have more news on this in the coming weeks.
As for The Second Night, we are very nearly ready to release our translation patch and are still hoping to do so by the end of next month.
For the moment though, we hope those who haven't yet experienced Higanbana will enjoy reading the free trial version, now available from our homepage.
The unforgiving flowers have bloomed… The Second N...
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The Stimuleye Blog
Posts tagged with ‘Yoann Lemoine’
The Stimuleye is a creative workshop.
This is the blog of The Stimuleye.
EYE 2 EYE
YOANN LEMOINE: WOODKID WUNDERKIND
March 29, 2011 - by antoine
Epic music, grandiose effects, Agyness Deyn and other supermodels in battlegear — Woodkid’s IRON music video seems at once surprising and classic in the way it mixes imagery and music. That’s probably because Woodkid is none other than Yoann Lemoine, a twentysomething, multi-awarded illustrator-turned-director.
He’s already worked with the likes of Richie Havens, Yelle, Katy Perry, Moby and Taylor Swift, done short films for kids, and been rewarded for a film about a dick graffiti… And now he’s releasing his first EP, IRON.
IRON EP cover, illustration by Stephan Balleux.
ANTOINE ASSERAF: The music video for IRON – is it strange to make a music video for yourself ?
YOANN LEMOINE aka WOODKID: Not that strange, because as soon as I started the WOODKID project, I knew I wanted to make images, so it made sense with the video, and it was the first time I could make a movie and control all the parameters, with a budget and without at the same time being told what I could and couldn’t do. Being both the client and the director was a crazy opportunity, so I’m super happy with the result.
To direct and to make music is a bit similar, emotionally you are touching the same sensible points, it’s just a different medium of expression.
You have a material theme going on – you are the WOOD kid, the single is IRON, the tentative album name wood and CRYSTAL…
The project is always evolving, but I really like attention to textures, I made a film once on the texture of rocks, in IRON there is a lot of marble, black smoke. I love looking at textures and the emotions they create. The color, the complexity, what they evoke, mystical and dark things.
So did the song or the visual come first ?
I’ve had an image in my head for this project for a long time, I wanted to make a statement about heroic fantasy, not in a kitschy, elf and trolls way, but to explore what Tolkien, Final Fantasy, and Matthew Barney did. How you create a world with social codes, in a documentary sort of way, with specific imagery, dogmas, political parties, currency, dresscodes, ethnic groups, races, geography… How you recreate these codes in a parallel world. And how to do this in a way that is less cheesy than we are used to seeing in heroic fantasy, more intellectual…
IRON music video, directed and sung by Yoann Lemoine.
You once said on Facebook (laughs) that you were afraid that one day you would have to make a choice between music and directing, do you still believe in that ?
If I have to choose, it will be a matter of scheduling.
So a temporary choice ?
Temporary but… you never know how things evolve.
I come from illustration, and a series of circumstances led me to move to directing without ever deciding “I’m quitting illustration”, but I never came back to it… I just never had the occasion to do it again, a road built itself in another direction.
How did you make the transition between illustration and film direction ?
First it was animation films for kids, because I come from 3D, then I felt the need to make live films, with actor direction, a quality of photography, so I bought myself a camera and started making my own films. Then it turned into commissions, and I transmitted into real shooting my desire to compose images and artistically direct scenes….
At first jobs were appealing to your 3D and special fx know-how, but now on the Taylor Swift video you had no post-production special effects…
It’s all experimenting. What I’m trying to do in my career and in my artistic development is to reconcile a beautiful image, detailed and in good taste, with fashion references, in the air of the times, that people want to see, with a type of narration usually seen in Hollywood films. Postproduction effects, a bit WOW, symbolic narratives with visual trips… It’s part of my identity.
But I’m no Gondry either.
Yoann Lemoine in Erotokritos FW 2011. Photo by René Habermacher.
Tags:Antoine Asseraf, directing, Film, Music, Woodkid, Yelle, Yoann Lemoine
YELLE | 2 | the next level
Our discussion with Julie, Jean-François and Tanguy, moves to touring — an essential element to the success of YELLE — and the need for a record label in 2011…
Yelle in Marios Schwab FW 2011. By René Habermacher, styling Ines Fendri, make-up by Akiko Sakamoto.
When you play live, do you try to add other things visually, like with the Katy Perry tour for which you’re opening ?
JEAN-FRANÇOIS: Well as opening act we have actually less means on the Katy Perry tour!
JULIE: Normally we’re 6 on tour, with the sounds, the lights, the stage, but on Katy Perry we’re just 4.
Also we don’t give our whole show away, it’s more of a teaser — anyway we know Katy Perry is following up with 4 trucks so there’s no use trying!
JEAN-FRANÇOIS:: We want to make our show stronger, so we have these suspended drums which are very visual, the logo, which is new – an inverted Peace sign. We like bringing in new elements, whether they cost 20 euros or 2000, but we’re not in a fantasy of something crazy. However from the beginning we’ve wanted to make one-off shows, like with a choir, big ensembles…
You were also mentioning new lights for your tour ?
JEAN-FRANÇOIS: We found this guy for lights, we were looking for a long time for someone who would bring something to our live performances,
someone who’s creative on his own but open to our ideas…
TANGUY: We need that extra, because we’re coming a second time around but without huge means, we want to make a show with songs we’re proud of — lighting is really the little ‘plus’ that we can bring.
So would you want to make a “live” music video to show people who don’t know how you perform ?
TANGUY: We thought about it at the end of the last tour, with all that footage [shot by “Ce Jeu” director Yoann Lemoine],
JEAN-FRANÇOIS: We just haven’t been able to edit it yet… we could have done as a single, but not for the first single of the album — but we’ll do it eventually.
"Ce Jeu" music video by Yoann Lemoine. Photo by Antoine Asseraf.
I still have a hard drive somewhere saying YELLE with all your tour footage, I was asked to help edit it “when I had time”, I was really into it but documentary editing takes so. much. time.
JULIE: And you can’t do just one hour per day, you need to really get into it…
JEAN-FRANÇOIS: Even us, we don’t even feel like going back in there right away, you kind of need to put those images aside and let them rest, but we would like them to show them at some point.
It looked like an amazing experience.
JEAN-FRANÇOIS: There were some beautiful images…
Trailer for the 2008 Yelle world tour, by Yoann Lemoine.
What’s your idea of the role of the record label, since you started without one and were without one for this album, you also released things without a label in between albums…
JULIE: We learned a lot from the time we had at Source, good things, bad things, some things we didn’t want to do the same way again, it was evident for us that we had to make our own structure, to get even more freedom.
JEAN-FRANÇOIS: To sum things up, on the first album we had ideas but not the means, now we have both!
For the first album you worked with Pierre LeNy, acting as an artistic director of sorts…
JEAN-FRANÇOIS: Yes Pierre brought a lot of ideas, a lot of contacts, a network, in fashion, which made it a lot of easier, now we’re the art directors, it’s the next level.
Second music video for "Je Veux Te Voir".
How was that experience of remaking the video for JE VEUX TE VOIR – doesn’t it feel strange ?
JEAN-FRANÇOIS: That was a flashback [a lot of time had passed since the original release of JE VEUX TE VOIR]. First of all we hate the first music video for JE VEUX TE VOIR, we hated it as soon as we made it.
But you’re not always in a position to say no to a label who’s invested, we still hate the fact that it has so many million views!!
The new video was made with Nicolas Benamou following the experience with Michael Youn, it’s the work of a label, who feels there’s a second life to give to a single,
it was so strange for YELLE, when they first brought the single to radios, they didn’t know what to make of it, but once they had gotten used to it it was ok… it’s really the work of the record label.
So are you at ease with that freedom ? Talking to Roísín Murphy who has done many things herself over the years in terms of styling and ideas for music videos, she was still happy to have worked with an art director on OVERPOWERED, to sharpen the image.
JEFF: We’ve never felt forced, we’ve never had the record label pressuring us, at first we were a bit naive, everyone’s nice, we were just happy to do things, and except for that first video we enjoyed everything we did.
We’ve always been masters of our image, but of course somethings get out of hand, get bigger than you expect them, doing things by ourselves is exciting, it makes us feel more responsible. the DIY style is very stimulating, you want to defend your project even more because all the choices are yours.
Of course it becomes 100% of your life! So when you say “I’m going to relax, i’m going to the beach” you’re not really relaxing because you’re thinking about what you could do. But that’s the case with everyone who’s a freelance or has their own company, it’s an obsession!
Work becomes a luxury.
It’s not work, it’s not labor, it’s energy!
Tags:Interview, Music, Pop, Yelle, Yoann Lemoine
©2021 the Stimuleye
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From elementary to university, Keene offers quality education for everyone. The City of Keene is home to:
Chisolm Trail Academy
Keene Adventist Elementary School
Keene Independent School District
Southwestern Adventist University is a small Christian campus located between Cleburne and Burleson in the city of Keene. Southwestern offers many exciting career options, including:
Southwestern is credited with providing students with close interaction with professors; the average class size is 15.
Students in any major will be ready for the working world with the hands-on training they'll receive at Southwestern. The campus maintains its own radio station for communication majors, as well as a state-of-the-art production studio for Radio-TV-Film majors.
Nursing students also enjoy advanced technology in the classroom with mannequins that have the ability to go into cardiac arrest, give birth, or show signs of illness that must be diagnosed.
Geology Department
Students in the geology department benefit from digging up dinosaur bones in Wyoming on the school's own excavation site. Southwestern's Drake Paleontology Lab gives budding geologists a chance to clean and examine bones before they are photographed and uploaded to an Internet database.
Southwestern Adventist University is removed from the busy city and is a short distance from recreational areas and parks. Shopping, dining, and entertainment, though, are still only a few minutes away.
Visit the Southwestern Adventist University website.
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Visit the Keene ISD website.
Chisolm Trail Academy (CTA)
Chisholm Trail Academy came into existence when Southwestern Adventist University was granted full college status and closed its academy operation in 1967. CTA's first graduating class was in 1968.
Visit the Chisolm Trail Academy website.
Keene Adventist Elementary School (KAES) is a co-educational day school in Keene, Texas, offering classes from pre-kindergarten through grade eight.
The school is operated by the Texas Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and the Keene Seventh-day Adventist Church to make available a Seventh-day Adventist Christian education.
Visit the Keene Adventist Elementary School website.
Ball Field Application
Tax & Budget
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Family / Personal stuff — 1 Comment
Quiet Fall Morning
Last week in New York I got to attend a fun dinner party — about 16 folks, very diverse in terms of work, politics, interests, etc — all incredibly accomplished in their own fields. One of the things we talked about is this: “If you could be anywhere, where would it be?” Lots of answers — in the Alps. on a boat, on the beach, etc. When it came around to me, though, I gave a pretty boring answer: honestly, I mostly like being at home with my family, with time to spend with them.
This morning is perfect that way. A little autumn briskness in the air, beautiful clear day, and nothing much to do except pad around the house, take care of things that need taking care of, and be together. It’s great to be busy (and we are busy, starting around lunchtime), but sort of magic to start the day with family and no real commitments. And nice especially because it was Kathy & my 11th wedding anniversary yesterday. (And incredibly, we’ve known each other more than 26 years now. Doesn’t seem like there was ever a time when we didn’t.)
So we’ve got music on shuffle and on comes Simon & Garfunkel — a little old school, but still amazing. “Kathy’s Song” came on — one of my favorite songs of all time. And reminded me a lot of my favorite blog post that I’ve ever written. 🙂
Anyway, for me Halloween always marks a transition into the part of the year that’s a headlong rush through Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year — love the season, but it’s a bit of a sprint from here.
Nice to get ready for it with a quiet morning together.
Design / Mozilla / Personal stuff / startups — 24 Comments
Like many of us, I’ve been thinking a lot about Steve Jobs the last few days — thinking about the man and his legacy. I’ve been having some trouble even understanding the way I feel, let alone being able to put it into words. Lots of folks have asked me what I think, and have been surprised that I haven’t tweeted or blogged about it yet. So here’s a first shot.
I’m finding my feelings to be pretty complex, which I guess isn’t too surprising given who he was. But for a man I’ve never met, I’m a little surprised about how much of my thinking he’s affected, and how many competing feelings I’ve got.
But some of them are pretty simple.
As a designer, I think it’s impossible to feel anything but pure, unadulterated joy that Steve existed at all. And I really mean that: thank god for him, he changed so much. He wasn’t the first to care about design in technology, and he won’t be the last, but he moved things so much.
He made beautiful software and hardware like nobody had ever seen before. Crucially, he built tools that helped — or completely enabled, really — creatives make their own beautiful work that enriched the world. He completely and utterly validated the view that design could be immensely valuable economically, not just culturally.
Mostly he made it acceptable — desirable! — to believe in and practice great, human-centered design in our work and lives. What a gift.
As a people manager and leader, I really struggled with how to think about him. The stories of how brutal he could be on the people around him — employees, competitors, and everyone else — are legion, and they’re not apocryphal. He could be deeply dehumanizing and belittling to the people around him. Like a lot of people of great vision, which he surely was, he did it all in the name of greatness, of perfection — but I have enough close friends who have been in the line of Jobs’ fire to know how personally destructive it could be, and as a manager I have a hard time with it.
On the other hand, he was an unbelievable leader and motivator.
It turns out that I worked at Apple ATG (Advanced Technology Group) in 1994/5 when I was a grad student at Stanford, and then again for all of 1997, when I moved back here from Trilogy.
I remember being at a talk he gave shortly after returning in 1997 as Interim CEO. A bunch of us employees (I was at ATG at the time) were in Town Hall in Building 4 at Infinite Loop to hear him, and he was fired up. Talked a lot about how Apple was going to completely turn things around and become great.
It was a tough time at Apple — we were trading below book value on the market — our enterprise value was actually less than our cash on hand. And the rumors were everywhere that we were going to be acquired by Sun. Someone in the audience asked him about Michael Dell’s suggestion in the press a few days previous that Apple should just shut down and return the cash to shareholders, and as I recall, Steve’s response was: “Fuck Michael Dell.” Good god, what a message from a CEO! He followed it up by admitting that the stock price was terrible (it was under $10, I think — pretty sure it was under $2 split-adjusted), and that what they were going to do was reissue everyone’s options on the low price, but with a new 3 year vest. He said, explicitly: “If you want to make Apple great again, let’s get going. If not, get the hell out.” I think it’s not an overstatement to say that just about everyone in the room loved him at that point, would have followed him off a cliff if that’s where he led.
He was also a gifted, gifted operator. One of the struggles we were going through when he came back was that Apple was about the leakiest organization in history — it had gotten so bad that people were cavalier about it. In the face of all those leaks, I remember the first all company e-mail that Steve sent around after becoming Interim CEO again — he talked in it about how Apple would release a few things in the coming week, and a desire to tighten up communications so that employees would know more about what was going on — and how that required more respect for confidentiality. That mail was sent on a Thursday; I remember all of us getting to work on Monday morning and reading mail from Fred Anderson, our then-CFO, who said basically: “Steve sent mail last week, he told you not to leak, we were tracking everyone’s mail, and 4 people sent the details to outsiders. They’ve all been terminated and are no longer with the company.”
Well. If it wasn’t clear before that the Amelio/Spindler/Sculley days of Apple were over, it was crystal clear then, and good riddance.
As a leader of people, you have to respect how much he (and more importantly, his teams) accomplished. But I struggle with some of the ways that he led, and how they affected good people.
I’m a little uncomfortable with the outpouring of sentiment about people who want to be like Steve. There’s a sort of beatification going on that I think misses the point. He was never a nostalgic man at all, and I can’t help but feel like he would think this posthumous attention was, in a lot of ways, a waste — seems like he’d have wanted people to get back to inventing.
On Twitter yesterday Naval nailed it, as he often does: “I never met my greatest mentor. I wanted so much to be like him. But, his message was the opposite. Be yourself, with passionate intensity.”
That’s it, I think — that’s the biggest message from Jobs’ life. Don’t try to be like Steve. Don’t try to be like anyone.
Be yourself and work as hard as you can to bring wonderful things into the world. Figure out how you want to contribute and do that, in your own way, on your own terms, as hard as you can, as much as you can, as long as you can.
His most lasting message, I hope, won’t be about technology or management or media or communications or even design. The work he did in those areas certainly matters and will continue to — impossible to ignore it.
Still, I think it’s not the main thing, the essential thing.
I hope the message that people really take, really internalize is that being yourself, as hard as you can, is the way to have important and lasting impact on our world. That might be in the context of technology. It might be in the context of technology, or the arts, or sports, or government, or social justice — or even in the context of your family and close friends.
It almost doesn’t matter. The thing that matters most is to figure out what’s important to you, what’s core to you, and do that. Be that. And do it as well as you possibly can, every single day.
Greylock / Personal stuff / startups — 2 Comments
Buried (but no excuses)
As an entrepreneur, I always hated fund raising — I hated not being in control of situations, I hated being at the mercy of markets and other peoples’ schedules. It’s a hard thing to take, and a very vulnerable feeling, especially when you’re used to running your own company and being mostly in control (more or less). I always was particularly frustrated when VCs would go dark for a week or two, not responding to something or not delivering on something I thought we had agreed on. So since becoming a VC myself, I’ve been trying really hard to be responsive and transparent.
Well, these past couple of weeks, I became that guy I’ve been frustrated with so often in the past. I dropped a couple of things I was supposed to do with entrepreneurs and they were very frustrated themselves with me — justifiably so. I think I’m mostly caught up on the things that I owe folks, but know that this is an area that I need to — and want to — pay attention to so I can minimize it in the future.
For whatever it’s worth, I now understand why investors can sometimes become non-responsive for a while. [It’s worth noting I’m not talking about the type of non-responsive that some people use instead of saying “no” to entrepreneurs — that type of behavior is a real problem, and not something that I personally think is ever really okay. I’m talking about disappearing for a few days when you’ve got a next step to plan, and then coming back later to follow up.]
This time around, with me, what happened is this: a couple of investments closed, a couple of investments got announced, a couple of companies I’m involved with went through financing conversations, and a couple of boards I’m on went through particularly meaningful discussions and decisions about the future. On top of which we had a bunch of things going on in our family life.
VC life is paced a little differently than operating, in my experience. It’s a lot of meetings with a wide diversity of entities. Entrepreneurs, recruits, recruiters, other investors, PR folks, etc etc. And just like operators, you try to do as much as you possibly can each week. Because of the external-focused nature of so much of VC work, that means a lot of meetings, and your schedule can get sort of jammed up. Which means you also end up scheduling a fair amount of meetings several weeks or more in advance — which means that you try hard not to move them, since people have been so patient with you in setting them up in the first place.
So you’ve got this normal base meeting load, which can get a little packed — and then you’ve got between 4 and 10 or more organizations who depend on you from time to time for significant involvement and decisions at the board level.
So you build your schedule so that when 1 or 2 of those organizations needs attention in a week, you can accommodate on top of that base meeting load. But when 4 or 5 or 6 company biorhythms line up so that you’re critical path on all of them at once, things get a little hairy. And when you add the other commitments of being a parent, child, spouse and friend, the communication load can just overwhelm you.
Which is what happened to me these past 2 weeks. I think I’m mostly on the road to being caught up now, but am bummed I caused a few folks (especially entrepreneurs) to become frustrated with me. As an investor & partner I need to get better about it, and think I’m learning and adjusting to things pretty quickly now.
One piece of advice I would offer though: if you feel like someone’s gone dark — me or another investor — just drop them a note asking what’s up. Generally that’s all the prodding I need to (at least) let you know more clearly what’s going on.
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The Fort Hood Shooting
By Johnny CirucciMon, 9 May 2011November 1st, 2017No Comments
On 05 November, 2009, a major in the United States Army showed up at the Soldier Readiness Center in Fort Hood, Texas where he worked as a psychiatrist with the job of ministering to soldiers leaving for, and coming from, war deployments. But ministering to them wasn’t on his mind that day. Murdering them was.
At 1334 hours (1:34 PM) Nidal Hasan (a muslim of Palestinian origin) produced a Fabrique Nationale “Five-seveN” and began murdering soldiers and civilians. The “5-7” is not the weapon of a random act of passion. It is basically an assault weapon in the form of a pistol. With a magazine boasting a 20 round capacity and a 5.7mm projectile pushing a muzzle velocity of an astounding 2100 feet per second (the deadly .45 ACP clocks in at around 830 fps), the 5-7 would be a weapon more likely seen in the hands of a Special Forces operator…especially one that wanted to be sure he could punch through body armor. And, according to Wikipedia, Hasan’s 5-7 was outfitted with both red and green laser designators (the green is preferable for daylight scenarios).
In spite of the use of this hardware, “controversy” surrounds Hasan’s motives to this day (encapsulated by that same Wikipedia article):
Internal Army reports indicate officers within the Army had discussed what they characterized as Hasan’s tendencies toward radical Islam since 2005. Additionally, investigations before and after the shooting discovered e-mail communications between Hasan and Yemen-based cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who quickly declared Hasan a hero, as “fighting against the U.S. army is an Islamic duty”. After communications between the two were forwarded to FBI terrorism task forces in 2008, they determined that Hasan was not a threat prior to the shooting and that his questions to al-Awlaki were consistent with medical research.
In November 2009, after examining the e-mails and previous terrorism investigations, the FBI had found no information to indicate Hasan had any co-conspirators or was part of a broader terrorist plot. The U.S. has since classified Anwar al-Awlaki as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and the UN considers Awlaki to be associated with al-Qaeda. A year after the Fort Hood shooting, however, questions still lingered as to whether the incident was caused by mental health issues, and government agencies still had not officially linked Hasan to any radical terrorist groups.
Certainly, the results of Hasan’s handiwork don’t appear to be that of a mentally-deranged or distraught man in a random act of violence, either: 29 wounded, 14 dead. That’s one man, firing one weapon with a tactical magazine change, dodging soldiers and the tables and chairs they threw at him, over the course of a few minutes.
All media accounts will give you the death toll at “13”, but that’s not accurate. The actual total is 14. One soldier, Private First Class Francheska Velez, was home from her deployment early due to her getting pregnant. Both she and her baby were killed; two-time victims of the lies of American Leftists—1) women are indistinguishable from men, especially as soldiers and 2) religiously active muslims are as equally valuable to America and her military as are religiously active Christians and Jews.
Eventually two law enforcement officers (one male and one female) managed to wound and subdue Hasan, but not kill him. And, as soon as civilian investigators and bloggers began looking in to the incident, Nidal Hasan appeared to be less of a mentally deranged lunatic and more of a highly trained muslim operative.
Witnesses who survived the shooting stated that Hasan shouted “Allahu Akbar” before opening fire.
Investigators discovered that Hasan had an acronym for the phrase “Soldier of Allah” on his business cards.
And soldiers began coming forward saying that Hasan pushed Islam on them when he should’ve been counseling them about their deployment.
Certainly, the idea that Hasan was acting out of duress or depression became even more hard to believe when it was revealed that he, himself had never deployed.
The official reaction to the bloodiest insurgent attack on a domestic military facility in U.S. history defied comprehension.
The President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama (no relation), actually took the time to give a leisurely “shout out” during his speaking engagement at a meeting of the Department of the Interior before even mentioning that 43 people had just been murdered or wounded in the middle of an American military facility on home soil.
Even more bizarre is that the “shout out” was fraught with grammar school-level humiliating mistakes, going something like;
“Dr. Joe Medicine Crow – that Congressional Medal of Honor winner.”
But “Joe Medicine Crow” was never awarded the highest possible military citation for valor in combat, but was given the “Medal of Freedom”—a civilian award that can often be more political than meritorious—by Obama, only a few weeks before!
Even more astounding was the reaction of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, General George Casey, whom Reuters noted:
Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” whether Muslim soldiers are conflicted in fighting wars in Muslim countries like Afghanistan and Iraq, Casey said: “Our diversity, not only in our Army, but in our country, is a strength. And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse,” Casey said.
It is unknown why the efforts and energy of the Army staff was placed in candlelight vigils instead of directly addressing the enemy that took 43 casualties.
Not sure what George Casey’s wife Sheila, nor the female soldier next to him found enjoyable on the occasion of commemorating 43 casualties at the hand of an Islamist operative in a military post on American soil.
What is known, is that the killing field at Fort Hood was plowed by William Jefferson Clinton:
Among President Clinton’s first acts upon taking office in 1993 was to disarm U.S. soldiers on military bases. In March 1993, the Army imposed regulations forbidding military personnel from carrying their personal firearms and making it almost impossible for commanders to issue firearms to soldiers in the U.S. for personal protection. For the most part, only military police regularly carry firearms on base, and their presence is stretched thin by high demand for MPs in war zones.
Outside of the common Leftist distaste for institutions like the military—
The military is a linchpin for all of society. It is a bastion of traditional values. Former communist David Horowitz recalls that during the ‘60s, radical leftists determined that if they could destroy the U.S. military, they could destabilize the rest of capitalist America. Two things could accomplish this, they said: Putting women into combat, and opening the armed forces to homosexuality.
—the disconnect here defies explanation.
But there are clues that lead to a very disturbing side of this outrage.
The NY Times—“U.S. Knew of Suspect’s Tie to Radical Cleric”:
Major Hasan’s 10 to 20 messages to Anwar al-Awlaki, once a spiritual leader at a mosque in suburban Virginia where Major Hasan worshiped, indicate that the troubled military psychiatrist came to the attention of the authorities long before last Thursday’s shooting rampage at Fort Hood, but that the authorities left him in his post.
Al Qaeda recruiter, trainer, motivator and planner Anwar al-Awlaki, we’ve been told, is now “the most dangerous man in the world”. But it is extremely interesting to note that he was born in New Mexico and “happened” to run a mosque in VA. Where in Virginia?
—Why, the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church.
Just 18 minutes from the Pentagon and only 16 minutes from Langley.
And we all know who lives there.
Sorry if that was misleading. Former Director of the Central Intellignce Agency George Herbert Walker Bush is now retired and living comfortably in Houston, Texas.
Another reputable, mainstream source, FoxNews, tells us that “Anwar al-Awlaki” was a guest at the Pentagon shortly after 9/11.
QUESTION: DID NIDAL HASAN RECEIVE PERSONAL INSTRUCTIONS FROM ANWAR al AWLAKI—AN AGENT OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY—TO DO WHAT HE DID AT FORT HOOD?
Anwar al AwlakiFalse Flags for FascismFort HoodFort Hood shootingIslamJihadJihadi FolliesMajor Nidal HasanmuslimNidal Hasan
The Lieberman Masquerade
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General Discussion (Spoiler Free) »
LOST Talk »
EMMY Submissions for LOST
Author Topic: EMMY Submissions for LOST (Read 2566 times)
lostlady
Which one of these do you think will make it as actual Nominations? Nominations are announced July 8th
The 2010 Emmy Awards ballots contain the following entries from LOST:
Outstanding Drama Series: LOST
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series: Matthew Fox
Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series: Evangeline Lilly
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series: Naveen Andrews, Nestor Carbonell, Michael Emerson, Jeff Fahey, Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway, Daniel Dae Kim, Ken Leung, Terry O’Quinn
Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series: Yunjin Kim, Emilie de Ravin, Zuleikha Robinson
Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series: Henry Ian Cusick (”Happily Ever After”), Alan Dale (”Happily Ever After”), Mark Pellegrino (”Across The Sea”)
Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series: Allison Janney (”Across The Sea”), Elizabeth Mitchell (”The End”)
Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series: “The Substitute”, “Dr. Linus”, “Ab Aeterno”, “The End”
Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series: Tucker Gates (”Ab Aeterno”), Jack Bender (”The End”)
Outstanding Casting For A Drama Series: LOST
Outstanding Cinematography For A One Hour Series: Stephen St. John, Director of Photography (”Ab Aeterno”); John Bartley, Director of Photography (”The End”)
Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series: Stephen Semel, Mark J. Goldman, Christopher Nelson, Henk Van Eeghan (”The End”)
Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series: “The End”
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (One Hour): “The End”
Outstanding Art Direction For A Single-Camera Series: “Ab Aeterno”
Outstanding Costumes For A Series: “Ab Aeterno”
Outstanding Hairstyling For A Single-Camera Series: Doreen Schultz Marchetti, Rita Troy, Patricia Gundlach, Joanne Miyata (”Ab Aeterno”)
Outstanding Makeup For A Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic): Steve LaPorte, Department Head Makeup Artist; Chantal Boom’la, Makeup Artist
Outstanding Music Composition For A Series: Michael Giacchino, LOST
E.S.B.
Re: EMMY Submissions for LOST
I would expect Terry O'Quinn to get the nomination (if not the victory) for supporting actor. I will be livid if Giacchino does not get the nod for scoring.
Unfortunately I don't think the critics are into Lost for Outstanding drama series - it's too 2005 for them to get excited about. And for that matter, there were some surprisingly inconsistent performances this year. But given it's the last season I would not be shocked if it got nominated, but I would be shocked if it won.
For the other minor awards? Beats me. Maybe costumes for Ab Aeterno? And the cinematography is always gorgeous, so I would hope they get nominated there.
I guess I am surprised that they singled out Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly for Lead roles. I really think Michael Emerson should be nominated again for his work on Dr. Linus. I know someone at EW thought Nestor Carbonell should get a nod for Supporting Actor, but I would go with both O'Quinn and Emerson before him. Also kind of surprised that Henry Ian Cusick was considered a "Guest Actor"... I thought his name was on the full seasons credits.
Definitely agree with ESB on Giacchino. Would be a travesty if he doesn't win.
I just re-watched the last 20 minutes yesterday, and I focused on the music. It was phenomenal.
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Werner Bock: High Tech LASER/MASER Weapons Being Used to Kill Livestock of New Brunswick Farmer
For Refusing to Knuckle Under to Agenda 21 Corporate Farming Takeover
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/newbrunswickpsychopathsdestroylivestock04jun12.shtml#top
June 4, 2012, Updated Dec 15, 2017
Werner Bock: High Tech LASER/MASER Weapons Being Used to Kill Livestock of New Brunswick Farmer For Refusing to Knuckle Under to Agenda 21 Corporate Farming Takeover (June 4, 2012)
https://tinyurl.com/y8yhclwc
Agenda 21 Power Clique Attacking Canadian Farmer's Cattle with Directed Energy Weapons Whle Complicit RCMP/Justice Dept Stonewall
74 year old Werner Bock, who had farmed on rented land in Germany for 10 years, emigrated to New Brunswick, Canada in 1971 and bought his own farm. Local government encouraged immigrant farmers to take over non-productive farm land so it wouldn't return to forested growth. For a while, Werner thought he had landed in paradise. Through hard work, he brought back the soil and started to enjoy a productive organic farming operation. He was a good neighbor and always helped local farmers who needed his assistance in any way. However, he started to have trouble with the local power structure who wanted to tell him what to farm and how to farm. He said he didn't move from Germany to be "bossed around" in the Land of the Free. He preferred the organic way of farming. That's when his problems started (1975).
Werner says that the small, local farmers are being forced off their land in favor of big, commercial farming enterprises who will play ball with the Agenda 21 planners. He told me so many mind numbing things on the phone this morning that it's hard to know where to begin, but the torture, mutilation and killing of his dairy herd using high tech directed energy weapons (MASERS/LASERS Beam weapons) is simply ghastly and bears all the earmarks of satanic psychopaths at work. The local RCMP, veterinarians, and government officials all play the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind routine as soon as they get a phone call at the very moment that Werner is trying to explain his predicament to them. This guy's life reads like a Bourne movie script. There's much I'll add to this story, but for now, you can watch the Youtube videos posted below in which Werner is explaining (with photographs) the horrific abuse (and rapid killing) of young and healthy cows The psychopaths even hit his cat with a directed energy weapon. Fortunately, the cat survived. Naturally, they're trying to beam Werner into an early grave as well, but he's learned how to outfox them to a certain extent. Werner refers to "gassing" in many of these videos. He's referring to one of the high tech weapons used to wound and kill his animals. A beam weapon that Werner believes shoots a high power UV beam that ionizes the air near the mouth and nose of the farm animal and causes a large amount of ozone to be produced which is burning the breathing pathways of the animal. Nitric Oxides are also being formed from the nitrogen in the atmosphere and is causing the production of concentrated hydrogen peroxide in the mucous membranes of the animal, also burning the animals.
Werner has done about 6 internet radio shows to date. I'll try to find the audio and post those interviews on this page (if anyone has a paid subscription to RBN, please let me know. Many of Werner's interviews are with RBN).
There's much more to this story. I'll add more details as time permits.
Ken Adachi
June 14, 2017 Podcast: Werner Bock recent podcast interview with Andrew Carrington Hitchcock sponsored by The Barnes Review (1 hour)
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/Werner-Bock-14June2017-Andrew-Carrington-Hitchcock-57mins.mp3
[Ken Adachi Note: This is a good interview. Werner does a great job of reviewing the Big Picture of what's been taking place in Canada and New England since the mid 1970s 's by the hidden hand of the JWO Marxist communists who have steadily and stealthily inserted their sellout whores, complicit freemasons, and fifth columnists into positions of power, authroity, and regulation in local government to enforce their UN (Rothchild/Rockefeller's UN) Agenda 21 policies to systematically destroy and eviscerate independent, self-sustaining organic farmers; right along with the nuclear family unit, and the moral values of Western Christian civilization, to replace it with the dumbed-down, transhuman automaton-inhabited communist Hell Hole that they are creating in America and Canada.]
Werner Bock - Agricultural & Eco-Terrorism in New Brunswick, Canada
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqllp238lVo
Videos from 2007 - 2014
Recorded Sep 26 2007
at Werner's Property
3345 Rte 890
Petitcodiac, NB, Canada
Werner Bock Video 2007 Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiC2VPTwUDI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CY-KhuJDvI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC8pfx4V0kk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fwetqmUYjg
Werner Bock 2007 Part5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNGPhTuUlmA
Warner Bock Video 2008 Part 1
recorded on July 3 2008
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhGr7NISQL8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lil2OLKYQQ
Environmental sabotage:
"Poverty" weed seed being surreptitiously planted in New Brunswick Canada fields and along roadsides to choke out more productive hay fields intended for animal food source.
Uploaded by Jokertattooo on May 30, 2011
Canadian Cattle Rancher Werner Bock Discusses Agricultural/Ecological Terrorism perpetrated by mindless minions of the Military - Industrial complex/Mega Farming Mafia. The collusion of treasonous globalist governmental officials is blatantly obvious demonstrating once again that the systems, agencies and administrations that are supposed to protect us are weaponised against us.
This is another part of the covert global domination & population reduction agenda. If you aren't familiar, read Agenda 21, Article 200 and read any of the many statements made by globalist front men Henry Kissinger, Zbignew Brezinski, David Rockefeller, Maurice Strong, etc
Werner Bock VideoNov Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot8Zv508pKw
Werner Bock Video Nov Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef47XjVhuUs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6uKM2W7WfM
4 mins, 36 secs, 68 views
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2FOr7KBjho
March 2013 upload
July 2013 videos
Werner Bock July 2013 Part 1
Published on Aug 2, 2013
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tUAjU9Di5U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgpGuNfHVT0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4fZnDZ5-UE
Werner Bock - Raw Interview - May 10th, 2014
1 hour 9 mins
illtrax
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FRh0rtZtHI
LAND GRAB? Arrested Rancher Werner Bock Lived in Mineral-Rich United Nations Biosphere Reserve
https://governamerica.com/issues/global-issues/un/agenda-21/rewilding-biodiversity/werner-bock/2899-arrested-rancher-werner-bock-lived-in-mineral-rich-biosphere-reserve
Darren Weeks & Nancy Levant
Coalition to Govern America
The rancher in Canada, arrested on the charge of neglecting his cattle in 2011, and who has been a long-time caller and guest to many of our patriot radio shows, lived on a United Nations Biosphere Reserve, according to information publicly available on the Internet.
Werner Bock lives in the Petitcodiac area of Monckton, New Brunswick, which was named the Fundy Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO on September 21, 2007. The designation was named after the nearby Bay of Fundy, which separates Nova Scotia from the New Brunswick province of Canada.
Map of the UNESCO Fundy Biosphere Reserve, colored in beige.
The Biosphere Reserve has as its mission "conserving biodiversity and promoting sustainable economic development" and to "create a diverse network of partners and stakeholders who will work to assist communities and resource sectors on the upper Bay of Fundy achieve a greater level of sustainability, while preserving the area’s natural heritage," the official website for the Reserve states.
Another map of the Fundy Biosphere Reserve, from Parks Canada. Petitcodiac is included in the designation.
In an announcement posted on the official Fundy Biosphere Reserve website on February 23, 2011, they brag:
The region of the New Brunswick side of the Upper Bay of Fundy recently received one of the most significant designations in the world when it was recognized as a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. This UNESCO designation acknowledges our unique environment and cultural heritage and recognizes this region as a truly special place on this planet. As UNESCO is one of the most credible and respected brands in the world, there are many ways this region can benefit, from an increase in tourism to promoting best practices in sustainability and acting as a living laboratory to showcase how humans and nature can live in harmony.
Full announcment can be read HERE.
Indeed, Werner Bock's recent arrest does showcase how harmonious humans will be permitted to live with nature when the full implementation of Agenda 21 is realized. Under Agenda 21, humans are to be forced out of rural and "protected" areas and forced to relocate to heavily-populated urban areas. Werner was no enemy to the environment. He has long been an organic farmer, choosing to use non-modified seeds and raise his cattle in as natural environment as possible.
Werner lives in the Petitcodiac River Watershed, which is managed by the Petitcodiac Watershed Alliance, who describe themselves as a "non-profit environmental science and education organization that works to enhance and maintain the Petitcodiac and Memramcook Rivers and their tributaries," and that "encourages the community to take part in identifying environmental problems, and follows through with actions to restore and protect the watershed."
The group issued its Water Management Plan in 2012. (pdf)
The area is also the site of uranium mining projects, which could serve as possible explanations for the sickness and death of many of the cattle.
0 Michiganjane 2013-09-29 19:30
Yes, enochered, you are 100% right. With most nations fighting for resources, they lied about protecting nature. They are, in fact, anti-nature, and they are destroying the entire planet.
Yes, enochered; you are exactly right on the money. The reserves are also places where they can test for the actual damages caused by transnational corporations (think Monsanto), radioactive fallout, loss of flora and fauna (insects and birds), and geoengineering damages to the planet (soil, snow, water, tree bark, etc.)in private. And they are also removing campgrounds, roads and bridges inside of the reserves.
+2 enochered 2013-09-23 12:35
Down here in France, we are starting to feel the lash of the UNESCO whip. They are far from being one of the most respected brand names in the world around here. There are proposals to drill for Schist Gas in or around many Natural Parks,from where the residents are all ready being forced out. The idea that UNESCO is trying to preserve nature is a farce, they are part of the drive to take control of the earths resources, wherever they may be.
Copyright © 2017. Coalition to Govern America - Govern America with Darren Weeks & Vicky Davis
Subject: Attacking Canadian Farmer's Cattle with Directed Energy Weapons
From: John (Netherlands)
Date: Wed, June 6, 2012
To: Ken Adachi
Hello Ken,
An even shorter message then otherwise. It's exactly the same here in the Netherlands. Every aspect mentioned. I recently listened to a radio show on wolfspirit.com I believe it was and they mentioned all kinds of physical stress in there bodies and pointed to the ascension of the Earth. Well it is a bunch of satanists that is pointing energy weapons to them and create a long muscle tension that takes your breath and all the other things like bad eye sight etc. etc. Nothing to do with the Earth changes nothing at all. I sad it before and you also described it the Earth is not there to harm us it will be gradual with very litle stress to yourself if you are a good spirit.
PS There is yet another day with good vibes and little stress in the air. They must have done something with the mobile phone towers/digital TV transmitters to cause these feelings or they just didn't and switched something off.
Copyright 2012 Educate-Yourself.org All Rights Reserved.
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2100 AD - Cornell Study Warns Of A Miserable Life On Overcrowded Earth
http://educate-yourself.org/nwo/nwopopcart2.shtml#top
2100 AD - Cornell Study Warns OfA Miserable Life On Overcrowded Earth (Sep. 22, 1999
http://tinyurl.com/jc9lpng
Cornell University www.news.cornell.edu
http://www.sciencedaily.com
ITHACA, N.Y. -- One hundred years from now, democratically determined population-control practices and sound resource-management policies could have the planet's 2 billion people thriving in harmony with the environment. Lacking these approaches, a new Cornell University study suggests, 12 billon miserable humans will suffer a difficult life on Earth by the year 2100.
"Of course, reducing population and using resources wisely will be a challenging task in the coming decades," says David Pimentel, lead author of the report titled "Will Limits of the Earth's Resources Control Human Numbers?" in the first issue of the journal Environment, Development and Sustainability.
"It will be much more difficult," Pimentel says, "to survive in a world without voluntary controls on population growth and ever diminishing supplies of the Earth's resources."
Even at a reduced world population of 2 billion in A.D. 2100, life for the average Earth dweller will not be as luxurious as it is for many Americans today. But the lifestyle won't be as wasteful of resources, either, the Cornell ecologist predicts. Some observers are seeing early signs that nature is taking a hand at reducing human populations through malnutrition and disease. According to the report, global climate change is beginning to contribute to the food and disease problems.
"With a democratically determined population policy that respects basic individual rights, with sound resource-use policies, plus the support of science and technology to enhance energy supplies and protect the integrity of the environment," the report concludes, "an optimum population of 2 billion for the Earth can be achieved."
Then the fortunate 2 billion will be free from poverty and starvation, living in an environment capable of sustaining human life with dignity, the report suggests, adding a cautionary note:
"We must avoid letting human numbers continue to increase and surpass the limit of Earth's natural resources and forcing natural forces to control our number by disease, malnutrition and violent conflicts over resources," the report says.
Among the key points in the report:
-- The world population is projected to double in about 50 years.
-- Even if a worldwide limit of 2.1 children per couple were adopted tomorrow, Earth's human population would continue to increase before stabilizing at around 12 billion in more than 60 years. The major reason for continued growth is "population momentum," due to the predominantly young age structure of the world population.
-- The U.S. population has doubled during the past 60 years to 270 million and, at the current growth rate, is projected to double again, to 540 million, in the next 75 years. Each year our nation adds 3 million people (including legal immigrants) to its population, plus an estimated 400,000 illegal immigrants.
-- Increasing U.S. and global population will place restrictions on certain freedoms: freedom to travel and commute to work quickly and efficiently, freedom to visit and enjoy natural areas, freedom to select desired foods and freedom to be effectively represented by government
-- Today, more than 3 billion people suffer from malnutrition, the largest number and proportion of the world population in history, according to the World Health Organization. Malnutrition increases the susceptibility to diseases such as diarrhea and malaria.
-- One reason for the increase in malnutrition is that production of grains per capita has been declining since 1983. Grains provide 80 percent to 90 percent of the world's food. Each additional human further reduces available food per capita.
-- The reasons for this per capita decrease in food production are a 20 percent decline in cropland per capita, a 15 percent decrease in water for irrigation and a 23 percent drop in the use of fertilizers.
-- Biotechnology and other technologies apparently have not been implemented fast enough to prevent declines in per capita food production during the past 17 years.
-- Considering the resources likely to be available in A.D. 2100, the optimal world population would be about 2 billion, with a standard of living about half that of the United States in the 1990s, or at the standard experienced by the average European.
The study was funded by Cornell University. In addition to Pimentel, authors of the Environment, Development and Sustainability report include Owen Bailey, Paul Kim, Elizabeth Mullaney, Joy Calabrese, Laura Walman, Fred Nelson nd Xiangjun Yao, all students at Cornell University.
posted at: http://www.sightings.com/politics4/miserable.htm
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500 South Center Street
Office Hours by Appointment
Welcome to the Center!
The Center’s Mission
At a Crossroads
The Center Today
The 42nd Annual Ashland Railroad Run-Virtual Holiday Edition!
Off the Rails Craft Beer Festival
Ashland Musical Variety Show
The Center Players
Autumn Classes & Programs
Become a Patron of The Center Online
Preschool Info
The Center’s History > The Center Today
Life for the Center has been a tremendous and rewarding challenge for the all-volunteer Board of Directors. There have been live puppet shows, children’s programs, live theater, organized museum programs, local artist cabarets, summer camps, scouting functions, and many more activities to numerous to list. Each activity was taken on by the Center to benefit the people in the community. The Center became the county’s first branch library. For 10 years the Center was THE place to come and enjoy reading a book or completing a research project. It also became a Women’s Resource Center offering a safe place for women to come for help, assistance, and security. The Library and Resource Center have since moved on to larger and more modern facilities but the Center still remains as a resource for the community. Today, The Hanover Arts and Activities Center supports many organizations and in some cases offer use of the building for free. A local county chapter of The American Association for Retired Persons, (AARP) meets twice a month, free of charge, as does Ashland Swim Team (Go Barracudas!). We support our local Hanover County government by opening our building, free of charge, to the County’s Concert Band, and offer free storage space for their instruments. The band can be seen and enjoyed at many of our county festivities throughout the year. At one time, the County sponsored a square dancing club and we offered them free use of our building so the people in our community could enjoy a true American art. We’re sorry to say the club disbanded after a year.
Our basement is home to a non-profit preschool cooperative with a large outdoor playground. The preschool is founded on the principle that preschool children can learn more than just coloring, taking naps, and how to play games. Parents are required to participate in their child’s preschool development and volunteer a specified amount of hours to help the teacher during the semester. To help pay the bills, we rent our ballroom and kitchen to young couples looking for a beautiful site to hold their wedding and wedding reception. Our historical building adds to the beauty of a wedding and reception offered to our next generation of married couples. Finally, area businesses use the building for parties, seminars, and company meetings. We have had many family reunions and 50th wedding anniversaries. We are an organization that offers our building for a variety of functions for people in our community to educate or enjoy themselves.
But that’s not all. We also sponsor community events that not only help us to raise funds but also offer a community service. In 1978 several people in our community talked about holding its own 10K run similar to those sponsored in larger cities. So we responded. Twenty-five years later we are still holding the Ashland 10K Railroad Run and 5K Walk. This event has grown from several dozen to several hundred runners and walkers. In 1989 many in our community wanted to celebrate its new found patriotism resulting from the success of the Gulf War. So we responded by sponsoring a parade and concert and held it on our Nations birthday. For the last 14 years, we have held a Fourth of July non-motorized parade and concert, along with good old fashion apple pie baking contest. Variety shows and live theater presentations have been a part of the center from the very beginning but officially became a biannual event in 1977. Over the years the show has grown and the audiences are sold out for the three days it’s held; truly a community and organization actively involved with each other. We have continually sought to change with the times and try to keep ourselves abreast of the needs of the community.
You are invited to visit us and our Director will be happy to give you a tour of the building. You can reach us at 804-798-2728 or by email at info@hanoverarts.org.
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Project: War in Afghanistan
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Early 2002 or After: US Places Listening Devices in Remote Tribal Areas of Pakistan
At some unknown time after US-allied forces conquer Afghanistan in late 2001, a US special operations team known as Task Force Orange slips into the tribal areas of Pakistan to plant listening devices on mountain peaks. These devices are used because US spy satellites reportedly do not have antennas sensitive enough to pick up cell phone or hand-held radio transmissions. These devices have reportedly helped in some cases to locate al-Qaeda operatives. [Newsweek, 8/28/2007]
Entity Tags: Task Force Orange
Category Tags: Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, CIA Intel, Military Operations
May 2002: Terror Suspect Subjected to Sensory Deprivation
Sayed Abassin is taken to Kandahar, and during transport he is totally deprived of sensory information. He is blindfolded; his ears are covered, a black bag is put over his head and taped around his neck, and his hands and legs are tied. At Kandahar he is again interrogated five or six times. Detainees at Kandahar, he says, are not allowed to look at soldiers’ faces. For one look they will be forced to kneel for one hour. For looking twice, they are made to kneel for two hours. Around June 2002, Abassin is flown to Guantanamo (see June 2002). [Amnesty International, 8/19/2003]
Entity Tags: Sayed Abassin
Timeline Tags: Torture of US Captives
Category Tags: US Detainees
May 2002: Equipment Intecepting Al-Qaeda Communications In Afghanistan Arena Is Sent to Iraq
An RC-135 “Rivet Joint” spy plane. [Source: Defense Department]In May 2002, the US Air Force’s only specially-equipped RC-135 “Rivet Joint” U spy planes—credited with having successfully intercepted the radio transmissions and cellphone calls of al-Qaeda’s leaders—are pulled from Afghanistan to conduct surveillance over Iraq. In June 2003, some RC-135s will finally return to support operations in Afghanistan. Retired Air Force colonel Rick Francona will later comment, “It’s not just the platform itself, it’s the linguists that man the platform. They were being really overworked.” He also says, “I don’t think there is any question that the effort against al-Qaeda was degraded.” [MSNBC, 7/29/2003; Guardian, 3/26/2004] NSA satellites are also “boreholed,” (redirected) from Afghanistan to Iraq. [Atlantic Monthly, 10/2004]
Entity Tags: US Department of the Air Force, National Security Agency
Category Tags: US Redirection of Forces to Iraq
May 2002: Terror Suspect Subjected to Intimate Daily Searches
Alif Khan is detained in Afghanistan at an unidentified US detention center for five days in May 2002. According to him, every day he is subjected to intimate bodily examinations, including being “searched from both sides.” [Amnesty International, 8/19/2003]
Entity Tags: Alif Khan
Early May 2002: Defense Secretary Rumsfeld Suggests Warlords Should Share Power with Afghan Government
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says, “How ought security to evolve in [Afghanistan] depends on really two things; one is what the interim government decides they think ought to happen, [the other is] what the warlord forces in the country decide they think ought to happen, and the interaction between the two.” Rumsfeld’s suggestion that the warlords should share power with the government in Afghanistan outrages many leaders in the US and Afghanistan. Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid will later comment that this “gave the Taliban just the propaganda excuse they needed to reorganize themselves. [Afghan President Hamid] Karzai considered Rumsfeld’s comment an insult to all Afghans, and from that time on, he saw [Rumsfeld] as being completely out of touch with reality.” Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE) says a few days later: “America has replaced the Taliban with the warlords. Warlords are still on the US payroll but that hasn’t brought a cessation of violence. Not only is the US failing to reign in the warlords, we are actually making them the centerpiece of our strategy.” [Rashid, 2008, pp. 134-135]
Entity Tags: Joseph Biden, Taliban, Donald Rumsfeld, Hamid Karzai
Category Tags: Political Reconstruction
May 8, 2002: War in Afghanistan Called ‘All But Won’
Roger Lane. [Source: British Ministry of Defence]Brigadier Roger Lane, the commander of British forces in Afghanistan, says the war there against al-Qaeda and the Taliban is “all but won.” He claims that military operations will end in a matter of weeks rather than months. [BBC, 5/8/2002] In March 2003, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will announce that the Afghanistan war is over.(see May 1, 2003). But his pronouncement will be just as inaccurate as Lane’s. Al-Qaeda and Taliban forces will begin regrouping in Afghanistan in the autumn of 2002 (see Autumn 2002).
Entity Tags: Taliban, Al-Qaeda, Roger Lane
Category Tags: Other US Allies
May 17, 2002: CIA Counterterrorism Head Fired for Criticizing Failure to Capture Bin Laden
It is announced that Cofer Black, head of the CIA’s counterterrorism division for the last three years, has been assigned to another position. However, in 2004, six anonymous US intelligence officials will claim that, in fact, Black is removed by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld because Black publicly revealed details of the US military’s failure to capture or kill bin Laden in Tora Bora, Afghanistan, in late 2001. Sources will call Black “very aggressive, very knowledgeable,” in fighting al-Qaeda. According to these sources, after the Tora Bora battle ended, an intelligence analysis determined that bin Laden had been trapped in Tora Bora, and deemed his escape a “significant defeat” for the US. Rumsfeld, however, disagreed with the criticism, and said there was not enough “solid evidence” to come to that conclusion. Black then spoke on deep background to the Washington Post, and on April 17, 2002, the Post called the failure to capture bin Laden “the gravest error in the war against al-Qaeda.”(see April 17, 2002) Rumsfeld learned about Black’s role and used his influence to get him removed. [United Press International, 7/29/2004]
Entity Tags: Osama bin Laden, Cofer Black, Al-Qaeda, Donald Rumsfeld, Central Intelligence Agency
May 23-June 1, 2002: Football Star Passes on NFL Contract to Enlist in US Army
Corporal Pat Tillman. [Source: US Army / Public domain]St. Louis Cardinals safety Pat Tillman visits the team complex in Tempe, Arizona to tell his coach he will enlist in the Army. Although he has been offered a three-year, multi-million dollar contract, he wants to become a US Ranger and fight in Afghanistan. He clears his locker and sees to his insurance, but does not yet disclose his plan to teammates. [East Valley Tribune (Mesa), 5/29/2002] However, the story breaks the next day. [Orlando Sentinel, 5/26/2002] Both Tillman and his brother, Kevin Tillman, a former minor league baseball player in Cleveland, dodge media attention by refusing to be interviewed and driving to Denver, Colorado to enlist, rather than enlist in their home state of Arizona where they are better known. [Express (London), 5/30/2002; New York Times, 6/1/2002]
Tillman Does Not Want to Be 'Poster Boy' for Military - Tillman continues to refuse media interviews, denying requests from sources such as the New York Times and Sports Illustrated, as well as most major television networks. He asks that the Army not “use him as a poster boy.” [San Jose Mercury News, 5/29/2002] Nancy Hutchinson, a public affairs officer for Army recruitment in Phoenix, Arizona, confirms that Tillman has requested that the military not publicize his enlistment and says that this should ensure his privacy. [East Valley Tribune (Mesa), 5/29/2002]
Lionized by Media - Despite Tillman’s best efforts to avoid the limelight, the media gives the story widespread coverage, characterizing him as a “hero” and “an inspiration.” [Orlando Sentinel, 5/26/2002; Daily Herald(Arlington Heights), 5/27/2002] The Philadelphia Inquirer writes that his desire to join the Rangers is “a special calling,” and that both brothers are “volunteering to give up the life of privilege and perks for the opportunity to kill terrorists.” The Tampa Tribune describes Tillman as that “one in a million” who has “got your back.” The Tribune interviews former Rangers who recount the extreme hardships recruits endure, noting that “65 percent of would-be Rangers” do not complete the training. However, it predicts that the Tillmans will go on to “defend our country.” Former Education Secretary William Bennett calls Tillman “a patriot, somebody with a deep, abiding love for our people, our country, and constitution.” [Tampa Tribune, 5/26/2002; Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/27/2002] Although Tillman never discusses his reasons for wanting to join the Rangers publicly [East Valley Tribune (Mesa), 5/29/2002; New York Times, 6/1/2002] , several news stories see his choice as a patriotic reaction to the events of 9/11, with David Whitely of the Orlando Sentinel writing, “Oh, for Osama bin Laden to run a crossing pattern in front of Pvt. Tillman.” [Orlando Sentinel, 5/26/2002]
Entity Tags: David Whitely, William J. Bennett, US Department of the Army, Nancy Hutchinson, Philadelphia Inquirer, Tampa Tribune, Kevin Tillman, Pat Tillman
Category Tags: Death of Pat Tillman
May 30-July 9, 2002: Pat Tillman Story Heavily Covered in European Press
Within a week of NFL football player Pat Tillman telling his coach that he is joining the US infantry (see May 23-June 1, 2002), the story goes nationwide in the press. [New York Times, 6/1/2002] Sources abroad also cover Tillman’s decision, attributing it to his desire to be a part of the war on terror. London’s Express says that “this unnervingly selfless act was inspired… by the terrorist attacks against America last September.” London’s Daily Telegraph titles its feature article, “Footballer joins hunt for bin Laden,” and the Guardian reprises the narrative in “The man who wants to tackle terrorism.” [Express (London), 5/30/2002; Daily Telegraph, 6/4/2002; Guardian, 7/9/2002]
Entity Tags: The Guardian, London Express, Daily Telegraph, Pat Tillman
Late May 2002: Pakistani Army Finally Makes Limited Move into Border Region Where Al-Qaeda Is Regrouping
In the wake of the defeat of al-Qaeda and the Taliban at Tora Bora, Afghanistan, many of them flee into the tribal region of Waziristan, just across the Pakistani border (see December 2001-Spring 2002). These tribal regions normally have no Pakistani military presence, and the Pakistani army left the border near Waziristan unguarded (see December 10, 2001). [Rashid, 2008, pp. 148, 268] In early May, the US begins applying pressure on Pakistan to act. On anonymous Defense Department official tells the Washington Post, “We know where there is a large concentration of al-Qaeda.” He notes there are several hundred in one Waziristan border town alone. A senior US offical says, “We are trying to encourage, wheedle, coerce, urge the Pakistanis to move more aggressively” against the Waziristan safe haven, but have not been having much progress. [Washington Post, 5/12/2002] Pakistan finally moves army units into Waziristan in late May 2002, but even then the 8,000 troops remain in the administrative capital of Wana and do not attempt to seal the border with Afghanistan. [Rashid, 2008, pp. 148, 268]
Entity Tags: Al-Qaeda, Pakistani Army
Category Tags: Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, Pakistan Involvement
May 31, 2002: Senator Calls Tillman a ‘Recruiting Tool’ for Military
John McCain. [Source: Associated Press]Senator John McCain (R-AZ) says of Pat Tillman’s enlistment (see May 23-June 1, 2002), “Perhaps [those] last vestiges of the Vietnam War have disappeared in the rubble of the World Trade Center.” Recalling when it was “uncool” to join the military, McCain notes Tillman’s potential as a “recruiting tool,” saying that he will “motivate other young Americans to serve as well.” [Los Angeles Times, 5/31/2002]
Entity Tags: Pat Tillman, John McCain
Late May 2002: Five Afghan Men Detained and Abused at Bagram
US troops raid two houses near Gardez in the village of Kirmati. Five Afghan men are arrested: Mohammad Naim and his brother Sherbat; Ahmadullah and his brother Amanullah; and Khoja Mohammad. They are tied up, blindfolded, and taken to Bagram. “They threw us in a room, face down,” Naim later recalls. After a while, they are separated and he is taken to another room and ordered to strip. “They made me take off my clothes, so that I was naked.… A man came, and he had some plastic bag, and he ran his hands through my hair, shaking my hair. And then he pulled out some of my hair, some hair from my beard, and he put it in a bag.” Human Rights Watch later says it believes this was done to build a DNA database. Mohammad Naim recalls his treatment as humiliating, especially being photographed naked. “The most awful thing about the whole experience was how they were taking our pictures, and we were completely naked. Completely naked. It was completely humiliating.” Sixteen days later, the five men are released. According to Sherbat, an American apologizes to them and promises they will be receive compensation. “But we never did,” he says a year later. An interpreter gives them the equivalent of 70 US cents to buy tea. When they return, they find their homes looted and most of their valuable possessions gone. On March 10, 2003, almost a year after his release, Ahmadullah says he suffers from continuing anxiety as a result of his experience. “When we were there [at Bagram], I was so afraid they were going to kill me. Even now, having come back, I worry they will come and kill me.… I have to take medication now just to sleep.” [Human Rights Watch, 2004]
Entity Tags: Human Rights Watch, Ahmadullah, Amadullah, Mohammad Naim, Sherbat Naim, Khoja Mohammad
Summer-Fall 2002: Tillman Brothers Train for Infantry at Fort Benning
The Tillman brothers (see May 23-June 1, 2002) complete 14 weeks of basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia, in October 2002, and then take the three-week Basic Airborne Course. Apparently their aim is to enlist in the Army Rangers. [Associated Press, 7/8/2002; ESPN (.com), 7/12/2006]
Entity Tags: Army Rangers, Kevin Tillman, Pat Tillman
June 2002: US Aware Up to 3,500 Al-Qaeda Linked Militants Are Hiding in Pakistan’s Tribal Region
In June 2002, US military officers in Bagram, Afghanistan, tell Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid that up to 3,500 al-Qaeda-linked militants are hiding out in the Pakistani tribal area of South Waziristan (see December 2001-Spring 2002). They say they cannot understand why the Pakistani ISI is turning a blind eye to them. Some Pakistani army units moved into the area in May, but they only patrol the administrative capitol of Wana. At the time, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is claiming he has no troops to spare for the tribal region due to tensions with India. [Rashid, 2008, pp. 268] Pakistan will not allow US troops to enter the tribal regions (see Early 2002 and After).
Entity Tags: Pervez Musharraf, Al-Qaeda
June 2002: Detainee Transferred from Afghanistan to Guantanamo ‘Crying in Pain’
Muhammad Naim Farooq, held in Zurmat, Afghanistan, up until this point, is sent to the Guantanamo prison. In an interview with Amnesty International, he will recall that the handcuffs were so tight that he and his fellow prisoners were crying from pain and anger. He adds: “We didn’t know where we were going. We were without hope because we were innocent.” [Amnesty International, 8/19/2003; Observer, 5/16/2004]
Entity Tags: Muhammad Naim Farooq
June 20, 2002: Afghan Council Appears Manipulated in Selecting Warlords
The long-awaited loya jirga, or grand council, is concluded in Afghanistan. This council was supposed to be a traditional method for the Afghan people to select their leaders, but most experts conclude that the council is clearly rigged. [BBC, 8/1/2002] Half of the delegates walk out in protest. [CNN, 6/18/2002] One delegate states, “This is worse than our worst expectations. The warlords have been promoted and the professionals kicked out. Who calls this democracy?” Delegates complain, “This is interference by foreign countries,” obviously meaning the US. The New York Times publishes an article (“The Warlords Win in Kabul”) pointing out that the “very forces responsible for countless brutalities” in past governments are back in power. [New York Times, 6/21/2002]
Entity Tags: Afghanistan, United States
June 25, 2002: Rumsfeld Memo Says ‘Keep an Eye on’ Pat Tillman
Rumsfeld before the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform. [Source: AP]Three days before paying personal tribute to Pat Tillman (seeJune 28, 2002), Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld forwards a news article on the former football star’s recent enlistment in the US Army to the Secretary of the Army, Tom White, calling Tillman “world-class.” In the informal communication accompanying the June 2 story, Rumsfeld says, “We might want to keep an eye on him.” White responds, agreeing that Tillman is “a world-class American.” However, when testifying in 2007 before the Committee on Government Oversight and Reform, Rumsfeld will say that he does not remember when or how he learned that Tillman was not killed in action by the Taliban, but was a victim of fratricide. [House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform, 8/16/2009]
Entity Tags: US Department of the Army, Pat Tillman, Donald Rumsfeld, Thomas E. White
June 28, 2002: Rumsfeld Sends Pat Tillman a Personal Note
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld writes to Pat Tillman, a former NFL star, congratulating his choice to leave a $3.6 million contract behind to join the Army (see May 23-June 1, 2002) and calling it “proud and patriotic.” Tillman had received laudatory press coverage worldwide and been noticed by Senator John McCain (R-AZ—see May 31, 2002). The letter will surface five years later, when a congressional hearing is held to ascertain if Rumsfeld was involved in the effort to conceal the true circumstances of Tillman’s death in Afghanistan. [House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform, 8/16/2009]
Entity Tags: Pat Tillman, John McCain, Donald Rumsfeld
July 2002: US Special Forces Not Given Permission to Target Mullah Omar
A CIA case officer tells Adam Rice, a US Special Forces operations sergeant working out of a safe house near Kandahar, Afghanistan, that a figure believed to be top Taliban leader Mullah Omar has been tracked by a Predator drone to a location in Shah-i-Kot Valley, a short flight away. Omar and the group with him would be vulnerable to a helicopter assault. However, whenever Rice’s team wants to move more than five kilometers from their safe house, they are required to file a request in advance. If fighting is involved, the request has to pass through several layers of bureaucracy, and a three-star general has to give the final okay. The process can take days, and in this case it does. The target eventually moves on before permission is given. [Newsweek, 8/28/2007]
Entity Tags: Adam Rice, Mullah Omar
Category Tags: US-Taliban Relations, US Military Strategies and Tactics, Taliban Actions, Rhetoric
July 6, 2002: Afghan Vice President Assassinated
Afghan Vice President Hajji Abdul Qadir is assassinated by Afghan warlords. Some believe that Qadir was assassinated by opium warlords upset by Qadir’s efforts to reduce the rampant opium farming and processing that has taken place since the US occupation. Qadir had been overseeing a Western-backed eradication program, and had recently complained that the money meant to be given to reward farmers for not planting opium was in fact not reaching the farmers. Additionally, Qadir “had long been suspected of enriching himself through involvement in the opium trade.” [New York Times, 7/8/2002; Chicago Tribune, 7/8/2002]
Entity Tags: Hajji Abdul Qadir
Category Tags: Drug Economy, Political Reconstruction
July 11, 2002: Reports Claims Al-Qaeda Leader Swedan Arrested in Pakistan; Reports Apparently False
Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan. [Source: FBI]Al-Qaeda leader Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan is allegedly arrested in Methadar, a slum region of Karachi, Pakistan. Swedan, a Kenyan, had been wanted for a key role in the 1998 US embassy bombings (see 10:35-10:39 a.m., August 7, 1998). The slum area where he is arrested is said to have been used by al-Qaeda to ship gold and al-Qaeda operatives out of Pakistan after 9/11, and thousands of dollars, fake passports, and visa stamps are found in his house. Pakistani agents are said to have been led to Swedan by satellite telephone intercepts provided by the FBI. Neighbors will later claim to have seen Swedan taken away, but both the US and Pakistani governments deny that he has been arrested. [Daily Times (Lahore), 9/9/2002; Asia Times, 9/11/2002] His name is not taken off an FBI wanted list years after his alleged arrest. In 2007, Amnesty International and other human rights groups will claim that he has been secretly held by the US or renditioned to another country (see June 7, 2007). In 2008, counterterrorism expert Peter Bergen will conclude based on various reports that Swedan was renditioned by the US from Pakistan in 2002. [Mother Jones, 3/3/2008] However, reports of Swedan’s capture appear to be incorrect, because later reports will say that he is killed in a CIA drone strike in Pakistan in 2009 (see January 1, 2009). If so, it is unknown who neighbors say they saw captured on this date.
Entity Tags: Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan
Timeline Tags: Torture of US Captives, Complete 911 Timeline
July 15, 2002: Trial of John Walker Lindh Ends in Plea Agreement; Many Charges, Allegations of Abuse Dropped
John Walker Lindh’s trial comes to a sudden and unexpected end when prosecutors and defense attorneys strike a plea agreement. Lindh agrees to plead guilty to serving the Taliban. He also admits that while serving under the Taliban he carried a gun and grenades. This adds ten years imprisonment for the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. [CBS News, 7/15/2002; Guardian, 7/15/2002; Associated Press, 7/15/2002; Plea Agreement. United States of America v. John Walker Lindh, 7/15/2002] The nine other counts, including the charges of conspiracy to murder Americans and providing material support to terrorists, are dismissed. In return, his defense withdraws the claim that Lindh has been abused or tortured at American hands. According to the agreement, Lindh “puts to rest his claims of mistreatment by the United States military, and all claims of mistreatment are withdrawn.” [Amnesty International, 10/20/2003] Defense attorney Jim Brosnahan tells journalist Seymour Hersh that “the Department of Defense insists that we state that there was ‘no deliberate’ mistreatment of John.” [New Yorker, 5/17/2004] And thus, in a formal statement, Lindh says, “that he was not intentionally mistreated by the US military.” [Mercury News (San Jose), 5/20/2004] Lindh’s other attorney, George Harris, tells the World Socialist Web Site, “I think that one thing that motivated the government to resolve the case was certainly their reluctance to have the evidence presented about how John Lindh was treated while he was in US military custody.” Another motive for the prosecutors to agree to a plea bargain, Harris suggests, is the expected disclosure during a public trial of the government’s own ties to the Taliban. [World Socialist Web Site, 10/7/2002] Harris explains that there was good reason to assume that if the trial would go in favor of Lindh, the government would declare him an “enemy combatant” and detain him indefinitely, perhaps in solitary incommunicado confinement, without charges, access to lawyers or relatives, like it had done only recently, on June 9 (see June 9, 2002), to another US citizen Jose Padilla. “It was the government’s position,” Harris says, “that even if John Lindh had been acquitted, or had been convicted and served his time, that it still would have been within the government’s power to declare him an enemy combatant and continue to detain him.” [World Socialist Web Site, 10/7/2002] Lindh was therefore in a no-win-situation. Even after release following his twenty-year sentence, he will not be certain of his freedom. The plea agreement says that “for the rest of the defendant’s natural life, should the Government determine that the defendant has engaged in [proscribed] conduct […] the United States may immediately invoke any right it has at that time to capture and detain the defendant as an unlawful enemy combatant.” [Plea Agreement. United States of America v. John Walker Lindh, 7/15/2002]
Entity Tags: John Walker Lindh
Category Tags: John Walker Lindh, US Detainees
Late July 2002: Taliban General Reportedly Captured, but Released After Questioning
US Special Forces apprehend Mullah Akhter Mohammed Osmani, a top general and one of the six most-wanted Taliban, in Kandahar. He is flown to a detention center north of Kabul for interrogation, but is released a few weeks later and escapes to Pakistan. Contradicting the statements of many soldiers in Kandahar, the Defense Intelligence Agency says it “has no knowledge that Mullah Akhter Mohammed Osmani was ever in US custody in Afghanistan.” [Washington Times, 12/18/2002] Curiously, the CIA took part in secret talks with Osmani over the fate of bin Laden (see Mid-September-October 2, 2001). Osmani will be killed in an air strike at the end of 2006 (see December 19, 2006).
Entity Tags: Mullah Akhter Mohammed Osmani, Defense Intelligence Agency
Category Tags: US-Taliban Relations, US Detainees, Taliban Actions, Rhetoric
Late July -September 2002: As Much as $700 Million Diverted from Afghanistan to Prepare for Invasion of Iraq
President Bush allegedly approves a request from the Pentagon for $700 million to help fund military preparations underway in the Gulf for war against Iraq. The charge is made by Bob Woodward in his book, Plan of Attack, released in the spring of 2004. [Woodward, 2004; CBS News, 4/18/2004] The White House and Pentagon will deny the charge claiming that Bush only approved the spending of $178.4 million out of a requested total of $750 million. According to the Pentagon, $178.4 million is spent on 21 projects in Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman. At least 11 of them are in Kuwait, which becomes the major staging ground for operations in Iraq. In that country alone, $24 million is spent constructing an ammunition storage and supply system for an Army brigade, and $15 million worth of communications equipment is installed at the Arifjan Base Camp. The military also builds a $3 million detention facility and a $6.5 million inland petroleum-distribution system. In Qatar, $36.4 million goes toward the construction of a forward headquarters facility for Central Command. [Wall Street Journal, 4/22/2004] The money for these projects is taken from a supplemental appropriation for the Afghan War without congressional approval. [CBS News, 4/18/2004]
Entity Tags: George W. Bush
August 15, 2002: US General Believes Troops Will Remain in Afghanistan for Long Time
General Tommy Franks, commander of US troops in Central Asia, says, “It does not surprise me that someone would say, ‘Oh gosh, the military is going to be in Afghanistan for a long, long time.’ Sure we will be.” He likens the situation to South Korea, where the US has stationed troops for over 50 years. A few days earlier, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Richard Myers said the war on terrorism “could last years and years.” [CBS News, 8/16/2002]
Entity Tags: Richard B. Myers, Thomas Franks
Category Tags: US Military Strategies and Tactics
August 22, 2002: Afghan Detainee Subjected to a Variety of Abuses at Bagram
In Asadabad, Afghanistan, US troops arrest Haji Rohullah Wakil, a local leader, together with 11 of his associates. They are flown by helicopter to Bagram air base. [New York Times, 8/28/2002] One of Wakil’s associates, Abdul Qayyum, will later tell the Associated Press of his experience at Bagram. Qayyum stays at the base for two months and five days, during which time he says he is systematically deprived of sleep, forced to stand for long periods of time and humiliated by female US soldiers. All the time, he is forbidden to talk to his fellow detainees. He is held in a large hall with about 100 other prisoners divided by wire mesh into several cages or cells, each containing 10 people. The lights are always on, washing is allowed for only five minutes a week, and a bucket is provided for use as a toilet. When a military spokesperson is later asked to comment on Rahman’s account, the spokesperson says it sounds only partially true (see January 22, 2002). [Associated Press, 3/14/2003]
Entity Tags: Haji Rohullah Wakil, Abdul Qayyum
Autumn 2002: Taliban and Al-Qaeda Regrouping in Afghanistan
With the US having diverted much of their best troops and equipment to Iraq, the Taliban and al-Qaeda begin regrouping inside Afghanistan. In August 2002, it is reported that former Taliban head Mullah Omar has secretly returned to Afghanistan and is living in remote hideouts near Kandahar. [Guardian, 8/30/2002] In September, US intelligence officials say “al-Qaeda operatives who found refuge in Pakistan are starting to regroup and move back into Afghanistan… The movement back into Afghanistan is still relatively small and involves al-Qaeda members traveling in small groups, the officials say.… American officials say the world’s largest concentrations of al-Qaeda operatives are now in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the recent influx into Afghanistan is creating new dangers.” [New York Times, 9/10/2002] In December, a United Nations report claims that al-Qaeda training camps have recently been reactivated in Afghanistan, and new volunteers are making their way to the camps. While the new camps are basic, they are said to be “increasing the long-term capabilities of the al-Qaeda network.” [Associated Press, 12/17/2002]
Entity Tags: Taliban, Al-Qaeda, United Nations, Mullah Omar
Category Tags: US-Taliban Relations, Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, Taliban Actions, Rhetoric
September 10-11, 2002: Al-Qaeda Safe Houses Shut Down in Karachi, Pakistan
Ahmed Ghulam Rabbani. [Source: US Defense Department]A suspected al-Qaeda operative named Ahmed Ghulam Rabbani is arrested in a safe house in Karachi, Pakistan, on September 10, 2002. He is a Saudi who later became a Pakistani citizen. Starting in 2000, he began running an al-Qaeda safe house in Karachi. He will be held in Pakistani custody until he is transferred to a US prison in Afghanistan in May 2004. He will be sent to the US-run Guantanamo prison in Cuba in September 2004. His driver, Muhammad Madni, is arrested too, and Madni reportedly quickly reveals the location of other safe houses in Karachi. [US Department of Defense, 5/26/2008]
Abdul Rahim Ghulam Rabbani, Ahmed Ghulam Rabbani’s brother, is arrested at one of the safe houses this same day. According to Abdul Rahim’s 2008 Guantanamo file, he is an important al-Qaeda figure because he began running up to six Karachi safe houses, on behalf of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM), from early 2000 until his capture. According to his file, many important al-Qaeda leaders stayed at his safe houses and interacted with him or his brother while they were passing through Karachi, including: Saif al-Adel, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, Khallad bin Attash, Saad bin Laden, KSM, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Musaad Aruchi, and Hassan Ghul (who is said to be his brother-in-law). Furthermore, 17 of the 19 9/11 hijackers stayed at his safe houses while coming or going through Pakistan, including Mohamed Atta, Marwan Alshehhi, Hani Hanjour, and Ahmed Alghamdi (the others are not mentioned in his Guantanamo file by name). Abdul Rahim does not admit knowing their mission, but says he picked them up at airports, kept them at safe houses, and transported some of them to their next destinations. He apparently is working on a plot to bomb Karachi hotels used by Westerners, but it is scuttled by the arrests. He is held by Pakistan for two months, then he will be handed to US forces and held in various prisons in Afghanistan until September 2004, when he is transferred to Guantanamo. [US Department of Defense, 6/9/2008]
The next day, these other safe houses are raided by the ISI (Pakistan’s intelligence agency). 9/11 hijacker associate Ramzi bin al-Shibh is arrested at one of the safe houses (see September 11, 2002). However, in contrast to the claim that the arrest of Ahmed Ghulam Rabbani led to the arrest of bin al-Shibh and others, there is a claim that an Al Jazeera reporter, Yosri Fouda, interviewed bin al-Shibh and KSM in a Karachi safe house in the middle of 2002 (see April, June, or August 2002), then told the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, where the interview took place, and the emir told the CIA. The CIA then began intensely monitoring Karachi for safe houses, which finally led to these raids (see June 14, 2002 and Shortly After).
Hassan Ali bin Attash, brother of al-Qaeda leader Khallad bin Attash, is arrested at the same safe house as bin al-Shibh. Hassan will later be named by many other Guantanamo prisoners as an al-Qaeda operative, but not nearly as important a one as his brother. He will later say that he was held by the Pakistani government for a few days, then taken to Kabul, Afghanistan, by US forces for a few days, and then sent to Jordan and kept in Jordanian custody for over a year. He will be transferred to Guantanamo in January 2004, and where he subsequently remains. [US Department of Defense, 6/25/2008]
One other suspected al-Qaeda operative is arrested at the safe house with bin al-Shibh and bin Attash (located on Tariq Road). The three of them allegedly hold knives to their throats and threaten to kill themselves rather than be captured. But they are overwhelmed after a four-hour stand-off. [US Department of Defense, 12/8/2006]
At another safe house, there is a gun battle when it is raided. Two suspected al-Qaeda operatives are killed. One of those killed, Hamza al-Zubayr, is considered an al-Qaeda leader and the leader of the group in the house. The remaining six are arrested. All six will later be transferred to Guantanamo. [US Department of Defense, 6/25/2008] All of the above is based on Guantanamo files leaked to the public in 2011 by the non-profit whistleblower group WikiLeaks. There are many doubts about the reliability of the information in the files (see April 24, 2011).
Entity Tags: Mohamed Atta, Muhammad Madni, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Yosri Fouda, Saif al-Adel, Marwan Alshehhi, Saad bin Laden, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Khallad bin Attash, Hassan Ali bin Attash, Ahmed Ghulam Rabbani, Ahmed Alghamdi, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, Abdul Rahim Ghulam Rabbani, Al-Qaeda, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Hassan Ghul, Hamza al-Zubayr, Hani Hanjour
October-November 2002: US Leaders Reassess Afghanistan War
Map of Afghanistan, showing areas of control by various warlords and factions. [Source: ABC News]In May 2002, the commander of British forces in Afghanistan declared that the war in Afghanistan would be over within weeks (see May 8, 2002). The perception amongst many in the US is that the war is over. However, it appears that US leaders begin to believe the war is going to last longer and be more difficult than previously believed. On October 8, the US ambassador says, “The war is certainly not over. Military operations are continuing, especially in the eastern part of the country and they will continue until we win.” Most of the country is controlled by warlords who are now being supplied with weapons and money by the US government. [Daily Telegraph, 10/8/2002] On November 8, 2002, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Richard B. Myers says of Afghanistan, “I think in a sense we’ve lost a little momentum there, to be frank. They’ve made lots of adaptations to our tactics, and we’ve got to continue to think and try to out-think them and to be faster at it.” [Washington Post, 11/8/2002] A few days after Myers’ remarks, Time magazine reports, “The fear of failure in Afghanistan has lately prompted some hard new thinking in both Washington and Kabul. General Myers’ candid remarks to the Brookings Institution suggests the Pentagon is trying to be more creative in its pursuit of stability in Afghanistan.” One strategy is to put more resources into reconstruction. [Time, 11/11/2002]
Entity Tags: United States, Richard B. Myers
Category Tags: Political Reconstruction, US Military Strategies and Tactics
October 4, 2002: John Walker Lindh Sentenced to 20 Years in Jail
Judge Thomas S. Ellis III sentences John Walker Lindh, as expected (see July 15, 2002), to 20 years in a federal penitentiary. With a 15 percent credit for good behavior and time served, he could be released in 16 years and two months. [CBS News, 10/4/2002; CBS News, 10/4/2002]
Entity Tags: Thomas S. Ellis, John Walker Lindh
Category Tags: John Walker Lindh
October 9, 2002: Bin Laden Apparently Calls for Overthrow of Pakistani President Musharraf
A man claiming to be Osama bin Laden calls for the overthrow of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in a message made public on this day. The man calls on “my Pakistani Muslim brothers… to get rid of the shameful Musharraf.” [Rashid, 2008, pp. 230, 436] Despite this, Musharraf makes no serious attempt to disrupt an al-Qaeda safe haven in Pakistan’s tribal region where most al-Qaeda leaders are believed to be hiding, and in fact elements of the Pakistani government continue to assist al-Qaeda there (see Late 2002-Late 2003). Musharraf will finally take some action against al-Qaeda’s presence in Pakistan after two failed assassination attempts against him in late 2003 (see December 14 and 25, 2003).
Entity Tags: Pervez Musharraf, Osama bin Laden
Category Tags: Pakistan Involvement, Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda
November 18, 2002: US Said to Be Ignoring Accurate Information on Bin Laden’s Whereabouts
Right wing journalist Arnaud De Borchgrave, writing for United Press International, claims that although the US has given millions of dollars to buy the loyalty of Pakistani tribal leaders in an attempt to learn more about al-Qaeda leaders, they are ignoring a cooperative tribal leader who has the best information on bin Laden’s whereabouts. De Borchgrave calls this leader a “good news source… his information [is] prescient and invariably accurate.” Since November 2001, De Borchgrave and others have given the name of this tribal leader to top US leaders, but the tribal leader still has not been contacted. De Borchgrave concludes from this lack of interest that perhaps neither Pakistan nor the US is actually interested in capturing bin Laden. He notes that some people are speculating that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf fears the US will lose interest in Pakistan and greatly reduce economic aid commitments once bin Laden is captured or killed. He also speculates that US leaders think getting bin Laden “might detract from the current ‘get [Saddam] Hussein’ priority objective” and trigger more terror attacks. [United Press International, 11/18/2002]
Entity Tags: Pervez Musharraf, Osama bin Laden, Pakistan, United States
November 30-December 3, 2002: Suspected Taliban Figure Tortured to Death in US Custody
Habibullah. [Source: CBS]Mullah Habibullah, a 30-year-old Afghan from the southern province of Oruzgan, dies of complications related to “blunt force trauma” while in detention at the US base at Bagram. [Washington Post, 3/5/2003; BBC, 3/6/2003; Guardian, 3/7/2003; New York Times, 9/17/2004] Habibullah was captured by an Afghan warlord on November 28, 2002, and delivered to Bagram by the CIA on November 30. Habibullah is identified as the brother of a former Taliban commander, and later described as portly, well-groomed, and, in the words of American military police officer Major Bobby Atwell, “very confident.” [New York Times, 5/20/2005]
Injured When Delivered into US Custody - When Habibullah arrived at the US air base, he was reportedly already severely hurt. Despite his condition, according to one account, he was isolated “in a ‘safety’ position [stress position], with his arms shackled and tied to a beam in the ceiling.” He was left in that position for days, but regularly checked on. [Knight Ridder, 8/21/2004]
Targeted for Abuse - Though battered and ill, Habibullah’s defiance makes him a target for physical abuse, with the MPs and guards repeatedly attacking his legs. (Some guards will later claim Habibullah’s injuries were received when he tried to escape.) Most of the Americans will later describe Habibullah as insubordinate; one will recall being kneed in the groin by Habibullah after subjecting the prisoner to a rectal examination. Habibullah’s interrogations produce little of worth, in part because the MPs who interrogate him usually have no interpreters available. Sometimes the MPs demand that another prisoner translate for them; usually the interrogation sessions contain no more than physical restraints or beatings. [New York Times, 5/20/2005] At some point, Sgt. James P. Boland, a guard from the Army Reserve’s 377th MP Company from Cincinnati, allegedly watches as a subordinate beats Habibullah. [New York Times, 9/17/2004] The beating of Habibullah was likely witnessed by British detainee Moazzam Begg, who will later say he witnessed the death of “two fellow detainees at the hands of US military personnel” while at Bagram (see July 12, 2004). [Guardian, 10/1/2004; New York Times, 10/15/2004]
Complaints of Chest Pains Mocked - During his last interrogation session, on December 2, Habibullah spends the entirety of the session coughing and complaining of chest pains. His right leg is stiff and his right leg swollen. The interpreter for the session, Ebrahim Baerde, later recalls the interrogators “laughing and making fun of” Habibullah “because he was spitting up a lot of phlegm.” Habibullah is still defiant; when one interrogator asks if he wants to spend the rest of his life in handcuffs, Baerde will recall the prisoner retorting, “Yes, don’t they look good on me?” [New York Times, 5/20/2005]
Found Dead, Hanging from Shackles - On December 3, Habibullah is found dead, still hanging in his shackles. [Washington Post, 3/5/2003; BBC, 3/6/2003; Guardian, 3/7/2003; New York Times, 9/17/2004] Boland sees Habibullah hanging from the ceiling of his cell, suspended by two sets of handcuffs and a chain around his waist. His body is slumped forward and his tongue is protruding. Boland, along with Specialists Anthony Morden and Brian Cammack, enters the cell. Cammack puts a piece of bread in Habibullah’s mouth; another soldier puts an apple in Habibullah’s hand, and it falls to the floor. According to Cammack, Habibullah’s spit gets on Cammack’s chest. Later, Cammack will acknowledge, “I’m not sure he spit at me,” but now he screams, “Don’t ever spit on me again!” and knees Habibullah in the thigh “maybe a couple” of times. Habibullah makes no response; his body swings limply from the chains. Twenty minutes later, the guards unchain Habibullah and lay him on the floor. He has no pulse. Cammack, according to another guard, “appeared very distraught” and “was running about the room hysterically.” An MP is sent to wake a medic, who refuses to respond, telling the MP to call an ambulance instead. By the time a second medic arrives at the cell, Habibullah is laid spreadeagled on the floor, eyes and mouth open. “It looked like he had been dead for a while, and it looked like nobody cared,” the medic, Staff Sergeant Rodney Glass, will later recall. Atwell will later recall that Habibullah’s death “did not cause an enormous amount of concern ‘cause it appeared natural.” The autopsy, completed five days later, will show bruises and abrasions on Habibullah’s chest, arms, and head. The body has severe contusions on the calves, knees, and thighs, and the sole print of a boot is on his left calf. The death will be attributed to a blood clot, probably caused by the severe injuries to his legs, which traveled to his heart and blocked the blood flow to his lungs. [New York Times, 5/20/2005] His legs have been struck so forcefully, according to one death certificate, it complicated his coronary artery disease. Another certificate will say the beating led to a pulmonary embolism, which is a blockage of an artery in the lungs, often caused by a blood clot. [USA Today, 5/31/2004]
Commanding Officer Able to Hear Screams, Moans of Detainees - In charge of the military intelligence interrogators at Bagram at this time is Capt. Carolyn A. Wood. According to an anonymous intelligence officer, Wood should be aware of what is happening to prisoners at Bagram since interrogations take place close to her office. The intelligence officer will recall hearing screams and moans coming out from the interrogation and isolation rooms. [Knight Ridder, 8/21/2004]
Entity Tags: Carolyn A. Wood, Anthony Morden, Bobby Atwell, Brian Cammack, James P. Boland, Rodney Glass, Ebrahim Baerde, Mullah Habibullah, Moazzam Begg, Taliban
Category Tags: US Detainees, Taliban Actions, Rhetoric
Late 2002-February 2004: Apparently Innocent 14-Year Old Afghan Imprisoned in Guantanamo
Mohammed Ismail Agha. [Source: Cageprisoners.com]Mohammed Ismail Agha, an Afghan villager about 14 years old, is arrested and sent to Bagram US Air Base. According to Agha, he was arrested while looking for construction work with a friend at an Afghan military camp in the town of Greshk. Afghan soldiers beat him and then turn him in to the US claiming he is a Taliban soldier. In Bagram, he is held in solitary confinement, interrogated, provided with minimal amounts of food, subjected to stress positions, and prevented from sleeping by guards who continually yell and kick his cell door. He is later sent to Guantanamo, where he is held with two other youths in quarters separate from the adult prisoners. He is finally set free in early 2004. During the first twelve months of his detention, his parents had no idea what had happened to him. Agha was their oldest child and was a major income-earner of the family. [Associated Press, 2/8/2004; Washington Post, 2/12/2004]
Entity Tags: Mohammed Ismail Agha
Late 2002 - March 15, 2004: Afghan Baker Captured, Abused, Sent to Guantanamo
Abdur Rahim, a baker from Khost City, Afghanistan, is arrested outside Khost and sent to the Bagram US air base. Abdur Rahim says he was hooded and chained to the ceiling for “seven or eight days,” after which his hands turned black. He was later forced to crouch and hold his hands out in front of him for long periods, which caused intense pain in his shoulders. When he tried to move, he says, “they were coming and hitting me and saying ‘Don’t move!’” In December, he is transferred to Guantanamo Bay. “There were some soldiers that were very good with us,” he will later tell the New York Times. “But there was one soldier, he was a very bad guy. He was stopping the water for our commode. At nighttime, they would throw large rocks back and forth, which hit the metal walkway between the cells and made a loud noise. They did it to keep us awake.…. After I left Cuba, I had mental problems. I cannot talk to people for a long period of time. I work just to survive. But I’m not scared of anyone in this world. I’m just scared of God.” [New York Times, 9/17/2004]
Entity Tags: Abdur Rahim
Late 2002-Late 2003: Al-Qaeda, Protected in Pakistan’s Tribal Region, Launches Border Attacks on US Forces in Afghanistan
Pakistan’s tribal region, shown in various colors, while the rest of Pakistan is in green. FATA stands for Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the bureaucratic name for the area. [Source: Public domain via Wikipedia]Thousands of al-Qaeda-linked militants have been regrouping in the Pakistan tribal region of South Waziristan (see Late May 2002 and June 2002). By late 2002, these forces begin regularly attacking US outposts, also known as firebases, just across the border in Afghanistan. In December 2002, the US is forced to abandon the Lawara firebase after phosphorus rockets fired on the base burn US Special Forces vehicles. US military officials begin to complain that the Pakistani government’s Frontier Corps is not only turning a blind eye to these attacks, but is actually helping al-Qaeda forces cross the border and providing covering fire for their attacks. US forces are not allowed to pursue al-Qaeda forces across the Pakistan border (see Early 2002 and After). In January 2003, US commander Lieutenant General Dan McNeill publicly speaks out about the situation despite orders from his superiors not to. He says, “US forces acknowledge the internationally recognized boundaries of Afghanistan, but may pursue attackers who attempted to escape into Pakistan to evade capture or retaliation.” Around the same time, the US media begins to report that the Pakistani government is allowing militants to attack US positions across the border (see December 2002-February 2003). Pakistan comes under increasing pressure to do something, but takes no action. Confident of their position, militants begin killing tribal elders who they suspect are not loyal to them, further cementing their control and causing many to flee. Some fleeing locals claim that the Pakistani ISI is frequently meeting with al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders there, such as Taliban leader Jalaluddin Haqqani, and apparently supporting them. [Rashid, 2008, pp. 440] The Pakistani army commander in the region, Lieutenant General Ali Jan Orakzai, is considered a close friend of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. It is believed he intensely hates the US and NATO, and has sympathy for the Taliban. He will later call them a “national liberation movement.” [Rashid, 2008, pp. 277, 384] The Pakistani army will finally launch its first limited attack against al-Qaeda in October 2003 (see October 2, 2003).
Entity Tags: Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, Frontier Corps, Al-Qaeda, Ali Jan Orakzai, Daniel K. McNeill, Taliban, Jalaluddin Haqqani
Category Tags: Pakistan-Afghan Relations, Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, Taliban Actions, Rhetoric
Late 2002-Early 2003: More Talented US Personnel Redeployed from Afghanistan to Iraq
Robert Grenier. [Source: Kroll, Inc.]Robert Grenier, head of the CIA station in Islamabad, Pakistan, and then promoted to head of the Iraq Issues Group, will later say that in late 2002 to early 2003, “the best experienced, most qualified people who we had been using in Afghanistan shifted over to Iraq.” The CIA’s most skilled counterterrorism specialists and Middle East and paramilitary operatives move to Iraq and are replaced in Afghanistan by younger agents. Grenier will say, “I think we could have done a lot more on the Afghan side if we had more experienced folks.” A former senior official of the Pentagon’s Central Command involved with both wars later says that as war with Iraq draws closer, more special operative units like Delta Force and Navy SEALs Team Six shift to Iraq from Afghanistan. “If we were not in Iraq… we’d have the ‘black’ Special Forces you most need to conduct precision operations. We’d have more CIA. We’re simply in a world of limited resources, and those resources are in Iraq. Anyone who tells you differently is blowing smoke.” [New York Times, 8/12/2007] Other special forces and CIA were moved from Afghanistan to Iraq in early 2002 (see Early 2002).
Entity Tags: Robert Grenier, Navy Seals, Central Intelligence Agency, 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment--Delta, US Central Command
Late 2002: Afghan Taxi Driver Taken into US Custody
Wazir Muhammad, a 31-year-old farmer turned taxi driver from Khost province in Afghanistan, is detained and taken to Bagram. At the time of his arrest, he was working and had four passengers with him in his taxi. During his time at Bagram, he is interrogated, prohibited from talking to other prisoners, and deprived of sleep through the use of loudspeakers. He is later sent to Kandahar and eventually to Guantanamo (see Beginning of 2004). [Guardian, 6/23/2004]
Entity Tags: Wazir Muhammad
December 2002: Afghan Detainee Subjected to Variety of Abuses at Bagram
US troops arrest Saif-ur Rahman in the northeastern province of Kunar, Afghanistan, and fly him out by helicopter to Jalalabad. There, according to an account Rahman later provides to Associated Press, he is stripped and doused with ice-cold water. Two US interrogators question him with two dogs. After 24 hours, Rahman is sent to Bagram, where he is deprived of sleep, forced to stand for a long period of time, humiliated by female soldiers who scream abuses at him, and forced to lie on the floor with his arms and legs spread wide and a chair placed on his hands and feet. For 20 days he remains handcuffed. At some point, interrogators threaten to send him to Guantanamo. “One of them brought me 50 small stones and said ‘count these stones.’ When I finished he said, ‘We will send you there for 50 years.’” When a military spokesperson is later asked to comment on Rahman’s account, the spokesperson says it sounds only partially true (see January 22, 2002). [Associated Press, 3/14/2003]
Entity Tags: Saif-ur Rahman
(Show related quotes)
“I do not feel the slightest concern at their treatment. They are being treated vastly better than they treated anybody else.” — January 1, 2002 [BBC, 1/15/2002]
December 2002: Detainee Abused at Bagram Airbase for Ten Days
Parkhudin, a 26-year-old Afghan farmer and former soldier, is detained by US troops and held at Bagram Air Base for ten days. “They were punching me and kicking me when I talked to the other prisoners,” Parkhudin will later tell the New York Times. [New York Times, 5/24/2004] For eight days, he is held in isolation with his hands chained to the ceiling. “They were putting a mask over our heads, they were beating us in Bagram.” At one point, Parkhudin says, a soldier jumps on his back while he is laying on his stomach. [New York Times, 9/17/2004]
Entity Tags: Parkhudin
December 2002-February 2003: Pakistan Reportedly Permitting Al-Qaeda and Taliban Training Camps
The Associated Press reports that suicide squads are being trained in Pakistan by al-Qaeda operatives to hit targets in Afghanistan. The bombers’ families are being promised $50,000. The Pakistani government denies the presence of any such camps. “But privately, some officials in Pakistan’s intelligence community and Interior Ministry say they believe there is such bomb training and that it is protected by Pakistani militants and Taliban sympathizers in the Pakistan military.” [Associated Press, 12/12/2002] Al-Qaeda is mostly based in the tribal region of South Waziristan, launching border attacks form there with the assistance from Pakistan’s ISI and the Frontier Corps (see December 2002-February 2003). In February 2003, the Wall Street Journal claims, “Western diplomats in Islamabad and Kabul, Afghan officials, and US army officers [in Afghanistan] now strongly believe that elements of Pakistan’s intelligence services and its religious parties are allowing the Taliban to regroup on the Pakistani side of the border. US officers say 90 percent of attacks they face are coming from groups based in Pakistan. Simply put, Pakistan’s strategy appears to be to continue hunting down non-Afghan members of al-Qaeda hiding in Pakistan, so a level of cooperation with the US continues, while at the same time allowing the Pashtun Taliban and others to maintain their presence in Pakistan. The US has not raised this issue publicly, fearing that it would destabilize [Pakistani President Pervez] Musharraf’s government.… [W]hile promising support to [Afghan leader Hamid Karzai], Pakistan is undermining him and the effort to erase terrorism from Afghanistan. American silence is only encouraging Pakistan’s Islamic parties, who now govern the North West Frontier Province, to extend an even greater helping hand to Afghan and Pakistani extremists. The Pakistani army has willingly played into their hands, rigging last October’s general elections so that the Islamic parties were unprecedently successful, releasing from jail leaders of banned terrorist groups, and encouraging them to mount pro-Iraq demonstrations. All this is part of a larger power play where Gen. Musharraf can claim to the Americans that he needs greater US support because he is threatened by fundamentalists. This is a game that every Pakistani regime since the 1980s has played with Washington, and it has always worked.” [Wall Street Journal, 2/11/2003]
Entity Tags: Pervez Musharraf, Al-Qaeda, Pakistan, Taliban
December 1, 2002: Detainee ‘Hooded, Shackled’ in Afghan Prison
Zakhim Shah, from the Afghan province of Khost, is captured by US forces. Shah is taken to Bagram Air Base where he is held for several weeks, including ten days in isolation. [New York Times, 6/21/2004] He and other prisoners, including Abdul Jabar, a 35-year-old taxi driver, are kept upstairs for two weeks naked, hooded, shackled, and with their hands chained to the ceiling day and night, according to the New York Times. Their only respite is when they are allowed to eat, pray, go to the bathroom, and for daily interrogation. They are kept awake by guards who shout or kick them to prevent them from sleeping. At one point, his exhaustion causes him to vomit. [New York Times, 5/24/2004; Guardian, 6/23/2004; New York Times, 9/17/2004] “The Americans tied our hands very tight, spit in our faces and threw stones at us,” he will later recall in an interview with the Times. He will be transferred to Guantanamo and eventually released on March 15, 2004. [New York Times, 6/21/2004]
Entity Tags: Abdul Jabar, Zakhim Shah
December 5-9, 2002: Taxi Driver Arrested in Afghanistan and Handed to US Forces
A sketch by MP Sergeant Thomas Curtis showing how Dilawar was chained to the ceiling of his cell. [Source: New York Times]Dilawar, a 22-year-old Afghan farmer and part-time taxi driver from the small village of Yakubi in eastern Afghanistan, is picked up by local authorities and turned over to US soldiers. Dilawar is described as a shy, uneducated man with a slight frame, rarely leaving the stone farmhouse he shares with his wife and family. He is captured while driving a used Toyota sedan that his family bought him to use as a taxi. He has three fares, men headed back towards his village, and is stopped by Afghan militiamen loyal to the guerrilla commander Jan Baz Khan. (Khan will later be taken into custody himself for allegedly attacking US targets and then turning over innocent villagers to US forces, accusing them of carrying out the attacks.) The militia confiscates a broken walkie-talkie from one of the passengers, and an electric stabilizer used to regulate current from a generator in the trunk of the Toyota (Dilawar’s family later says the stabilizer is not theirs; they have no electricity). All four men are turned over to American soldiers at Bagram Air Force Base as suspects in a recent rocket attack on the US base at Khost. They spend the first night handcuffed to the fence to deprive them of sleep. Dilawar is then examined by the base doctor, who pronounces him healthy.
Passengers Shipped to Guantanamo, Say Bagram Treatment Far Worse - Dilawar’s three passengers are eventually shipped to Guantanamo for a year, before being released without charge. The three will describe their ordeal at Bagram as far worse than their treatment at Guantanamo. All will claim to have been beaten, stripped in front of female guards, and subjected to repeated and harsh rectal exams. Abdul Rahim, a baker from Khost, will recall: “They did lots and lots of bad things to me [at Bagram]. I was shouting and crying, and no one was listening. When I was shouting, the soldiers were slamming my head against the desk.” Another of Dilawar’s passengers, Parkhudin, later recalls that Dilawar “could not breathe” in the black cloth hood pulled over his head.
Running Joke - Though Dilawar is shy and frail, he is quickly labeled “noncompliant.” One US military policeman, Specialist Corey Jones, reports that Dilawar spat on him and tried to kick him. Jones retaliated by giving him a number of “peroneal knee strikes” (see May 20, 2005). As Jones will later recall: “He screamed out, ‘Allah! Allah! Allah!’ and my first reaction was that he was crying out to his god. Everybody heard him cry out and thought it was funny. It became a kind of running joke, and people kept showing up to give this detainee a common peroneal strike just to hear him scream out ‘Allah.’ It went on over a 24-hour period, and I would think that it was over 100 strikes.” Several other guards will later admit to striking Dilawar. While most MPs deny any knowledge of Dilawar being injured by the physical assaults, Jones will remember seeing Dilawar’s legs when his orange drawstring pants fell off of him while he was shackled. “I saw the bruise because his pants kept falling down while he was in standing restraints,” Jones will later recall. “Over a certain time period, I noticed it was the size of a fist.” Dilawar’s repeated cries and pleas for his release do little besides annoy his captors.
Fourth Interrogation Marked by Beatings - Dilawar’s fourth interrogation, on December 8, turns sour. Lead interrogator Specialist Glendale Walls will contend that Dilawar is hostile and evasive. Sergeant Selena Salcedo, another interrogator, will say that Dilawar smiled, refused to answer questions, and refused to stay kneeling on the ground or in his ordered “chair-sitting” posture against the wall. But the interpreter present, Ahmad Ahmadzai, has a different recollection. According to Ahmadzai, Dilawar denies launching any rockets at the Americans. He is unable to hold his cuffed hands above him while kneeling, and Salcedo slaps them back up whenever they begin to droop. “Selena berated him for being weak and questioned him about being a man, which was very insulting because of his heritage,” Ahmadzai will tell investigators. Both Salcedo and Walls repeatedly slam Dilawar against the wall: “This went on for 10 or 15 minutes,” Ahmadzei will say. “He was so tired he couldn’t get up.” Salcedo begins stamping his foot, yanking his head by grabbing his beard, and kicking him in the groin. Ahmadzai will state: “About the first 10 minutes, I think, they were actually questioning him, after that it was pushing, shoving, kicking and shouting at him. There was no interrogation going on.” Salcedo orders the MPs to keep him chained to the ceiling of his cell until the next shift comes on. [Knight Ridder, 8/21/2004; New York Times, 5/20/2005]
Chained to the Ceiling - The next morning, Dilawar is still chained to his ceiling. He begins shouting during the morning, and is ignored until around noon, when MPs ask another interpreter, Ebrahim Baerde, to see if he can calm Dilawar. Baerde will tell investigators: “I told him, ‘Look, please, if you want to be able to sit down and be released from shackles, you just need to be quiet for one more hour.’ He told me that if he was in shackles another hour, he would die.” A half-hour later, Baerde returns to the cell to find Dilawar slumped in his chains. “He wanted me to get a doctor, and said that he needed ‘a shot,’” Baerde will recall. “He said that he didn’t feel good. He said that his legs were hurting.” Baerde tells a guard, who checks Dilawar’s circulation by pressing down on his fingernails. According to Baerde, the guard says: “He’s okay. He’s just trying to get out of his restraints.” [New York Times, 3/4/2003; Guardian, 3/7/2003; Independent, 3/7/2003; Knight Ridder, 8/21/2004; New York Times, 9/17/2004; New York Times, 5/20/2005]
Dead Days Later - Dilawar will be found dead in his cell days later (see December 10, 2002).
Entity Tags: Ebrahim Baerde, Glendale Walls, Jan Baz Khan, Dilawar, Abdul Rahim, Ahmad Ahmadzai, Corey Jones, Selena Salcedo, Parkhudin
December 8, 2002-March 2003: Innocent British Residents Interrogated and Abused in Afghanistan because They Refuse to Act as Informants
Jamil al-Banna. [Source: Public domain]On December 8, 2002, British residents Bisher Al-Rawi and Jamil al-Banna are secretly flown from Gambia to the US military base in Bagram, Afghanistan. They had been held in Gambia by the CIA after the British intelligence agency MI5 gave the CIA false information suggesting the two of them were Islamist militants. In fact, they had worked until recently as informants for MI5. In Gambia, they were pressured to resume their informant work (see November 8, 2002-December 7, 2002). Once in Bagram, they are again pressured to be informants. The CIA asks if they will inform for them, instead of MI5. Al-Banna in particular is offered increasing sums of money and a US passport if he works for the CIA, but he refuses. [Washington Post, 4/2/2006] They are initially taken to the “dark prison” near Kabul and kept in the cold in complete darkness for two weeks. Loudspeakers blare music at them 24 hours a day. Al-Rawi will later recall: “For three days or so I just sat in the corner, shivering. The only time there was light was when a guard came to check on me with a very dim torch—as soon as he’d detect movement, he would leave. I tried to do a few push-ups and jogged on the spot to keep warm. There was no toilet paper, but I tore off my nappies and tried to use them to clean myself.” After about two weeks, they are taken to the nearby Bagram prison. They are heavily abused there too, starting by beating beaten up as they arrive. The two of them had worked as go-betweens between MI5 and the radical imam Abu Qatada, and in Bagram they are heavily pressured to incriminate Abu Qatada. By this time, Abu Qatada is imprisoned in Britain and fighting deportation. [Observer, 7/29/2007] Al-Banna will later tell a detainee in Guantanamo, Asif Iqbal, that Bagram was “rough” and “that he had been forced to walk around naked, coming and going from the showers, having to parade past American soldiers or guards including women who would laugh at everyone who was put in the same position.” [Rasul, Iqbal, and Ahmed, 7/26/2004 ] At no time during their detention are they permitted to see a lawyer, despite the fact that a habeas corpus petition has been filed on their behalf and is pending before British courts. In March 2003, they are sent to Guantanamo (see March 2003-November 18, 2007). [Amnesty International, 8/19/2003; Petition for writ of habeas corpus for Bisher al-Rawi, Jamil el-Banna and Martin Mubanga. Jamil el-Banna, et al. v. George Bush, et al., 7/8/2004 ]
Entity Tags: Jamil al-Banna, Central Intelligence Agency, Bisher al-Rawi, Asif Iqbal
December 9, 2002: Special Forces in Afghanistan Back Away from Risky Operations
US commanders have rejected as too risky many special operations missions to attack Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan. After Army Green Beret A-Teams received good intelligence on the whereabouts of former Taliban leader Mullah Omar, commanders turned down the missions as too dangerous. Soldiers traced the timidity to an incident in June 2002 called Operation Full Throttle, which resulted in the death of 34 civilians. [Washington Times, 12/9/2002]
Entity Tags: Al-Qaeda, Mullah Omar, United States
December 10, 2002: Innocent Afghan Taxi Driver Killed in US Custody
Dilawar. [Source: CBS]Dilawar, an Afghan farmer turned taxi driver who was detained by US troops on December 5 (see December 5-9, 2002), is found dead in his cell at Bagram. Earlier that day, he was taken to the interrogation room for what will be his last interrogation. An interpreter will later describes him with legs uncontrollably jumping and numbed hands; Dilawar had been chained by his wrists to the top of his cell for four days and suffered repeated beatings from guards. He is agitated and confused, crying that his wife is dead and complaining of being beaten by his guards. Interpreter Ali Baryalai will later tell investigators, “We didn’t pursue that.”
Making Sure the Prisoner is Hydrated - Dilawar is interrogated by two MPs, Specialists Glendale Walls and Joshua Claus. Though Walls is the lead interrogator, the more aggressive Claus quickly takes control of the proceedings. “Josh had a rule that the detainee had to look at him, not me,” the interpreter will tell investigators. “He gave him three chances, and then he grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him towards him, across the table, slamming his chest into the table front.” Both Walls and Claus slam Dilawar against the wall when he tries and fails to kneel; he begins to either fall asleep or pass out. Baryalai will later state, “It looked to me like Dilawar was trying to cooperate, but he couldn’t physically perform the tasks.” As Baryalai will later tell investigators, Claus grabs Dilawar, shakes him, and tells him that if he does not cooperate, he will be shipped to a prison in the United States, where he would be “treated like a woman, by the other men” and face the wrath of criminals who “would be very angry with anyone involved in the 9/11 attacks.” Dilawar asks for a drink of water, and Claus responds by taking a large plastic water bottle and, instead of giving Dilawar the water, punching a hole in the bottom of the bottle. As Dilawar fumbles with the bottle, the water pours over his orange prison garb. Claus then snatches the bottle back and begins spraying the water into Dilawar’s face. As Dilawar gags on the spray, Claus shouts: “Come on, drink! Drink!” A third interrogator, Staff Sergeant Christopher Yonushonis, enters the room and, as he will recall, finds a large puddle of water, a soaking wet Dilawar, and Claus standing behind Dilawar, twisting up the back of the hood that covers the prisoner’s head. “I had the impression that Josh was actually holding the detainee upright by pulling on the hood,” Yonushonis will recall. “I was furious at this point because I had seen Josh tighten the hood of another detainee the week before. This behavior seemed completely gratuitous and unrelated to intelligence collection.” When Yonushonis demands an explanation, Claus responds, “We had to make sure he stayed hydrated.”
Dies While Chained to the Ceiling - An interrogator, presumably Yonushonis, promises Dilawar that he can see a doctor after the interrogation session concludes, but Claus tells the guards not to take him to a doctor. Instead, Claus tell the guards to chain him to the ceiling again. “Leave him up,” one of the guards will later quote Claus as saying. Dilawar dies while chained up; hours later, an emergency room doctor sees Dilawar’s body already dead and stiffening. Yonushonis reports the abusive interrogation to his superior officer, Staff Sergeant Steven Loring, but Dilawar is already dead.
Autopsy Report: Legs 'Pulpified' - An autopsy will find Dilawar’s death caused by “blunt force injuries to the lower extremities.” At a pre-trial hearing for one of the guards involved in Dilawar’s abuse, a coroner will say the tissue in the prisoner’s legs “had basically been pulpified.” Major Elizabeth Rouse, another coroner and the one who termed Dilawar’s cause of death to be “homicide,” will add, “I’ve seen similar injuries in an individual run over by a bus.” Walls and Claus will both be charged with assault and maltreatment of a prisoner. [New York Times, 5/20/2005]
Changes Implemented - After Dilawar’s death, the second in a matter of days (see November 30-December 3, 2002), some changes are implemented at Bagram. A medic is assigned to work the night shift. Interrogators are prohibited from physical contact with the detainees. Chaining prisoners to fixed objects is banned, and the use of stress positions is curtailed. Yonushonis will not be interviewed until August 2004, when he contacts an agent of the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command on his own initiative to discuss his knowledge of Dilawar’s death. “I expected to be contacted at some point by investigators in this case,” he will say. “I was living a few doors down from the interrogation room, and I had been one of the last to see this detainee alive.” Of the last interrogation, Yonushonis will tell investigators, “I remember being so mad that I had trouble speaking.” He also adds one extra detail: by the time Dilawar was interrogated the final time, “most of us were convinced that the detainee was innocent.” [New York Times, 3/4/2003; Washington Post, 3/5/2003; BBC, 3/6/2003; Guardian, 3/7/2003; Independent, 3/7/2003; New York Times, 9/17/2004; New York Times, 5/20/2005]
Entity Tags: Joshua Claus, Dilawar, Steven Loring, Glendale Walls, Criminal Investigation Command, Elizabeth A. Rouse, Ali Baryalai, Christopher Yonushonis
December 18, 2002: Rumsfeld Declares Taliban, Al-Qaeda ‘Gone’ from Afghanistan
When asked to comment on the current situation in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld replies, “It is encouraging. They have elected a government through the Loya Jirga process. The Taliban are gone. The al-Qaeda are gone.” [CNN, 12/18/2002] In May 2003, Rumsfeld will prematurely declare that the conflict in Afghanistan is over (see May 1, 2003).
Entity Tags: Donald Rumsfeld
Category Tags: US Military Strategies and Tactics, Political Reconstruction
Beginning 2003: Informer Sees Prisoners Hung from Wall by Shackles at Bagram
Abdurahman Khadr, an al-Qaeda operative-turned-informant (see November 10, 2001-Early 2003 and Spring 2003), witnesses other detainees at the Bagram, Afghanistan, prison being hung from a wall by their shackles for as long as four days. [Toronto Star, 8/19/2004]
Entity Tags: Abdurahman Khadr
2003-2004: US Allegedly Twice Denies French Special Forces Permission to Assassinate Bin Laden
French special forces soldiers later interviewed for a documentary film will claim that they had Osama bin Laden in their sights once in 2003 and once in 2004 but were never given the go-ahead to fire from their US superiors. One French soldier says, “In 2003 and 2004 we had bin Laden in our sights. The sniper said ‘I have bin Laden’.” It then reportedly takes two hours for the request to shoot to reach US officers who could authorize it, but the French soldier says, “There was a hesitation in command,” and the authorization never came. Four French soldiers are interviewed who back up this claim, but a French military spokesperson denies it. France has roughly 200 elite troops operating under US command near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan at the time. [Reuters, 12/19/2006; CBC News, 12/22/2006]
Entity Tags: Osama bin Laden, Commandement des Opérations Spéciales
Category Tags: Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, Other US Allies
Early 2003: Tillman Brothers Become Rangers Assigned to the Same Unit
New Army enlistees Pat and Kevin Tillman (see May 23-June 1, 2002), both former pro athletes, undergo the Army’s three-week “Ranger Indoctrination Program.” They then attend Ranger School at Fort Benning, Georgia, and are finally posted to Fort Lewis, Washington as members of the Second Battalion in the 75th Ranger Regiment, serving in the same unit. [ESPN (.com), 4/2006]
Entity Tags: Army Rangers, Pat Tillman, Kevin Tillman
January 2003: Pakistan Military Allegedly Trains Militants to Kill Westerners in Afghanistan
According to US intelligence, insurgents in the Zabul province of Afghanistan receive a month of training in bomb-making, explosives, and assassination techniques from “three Pakistani military officers.” The training is said to be conducted in preparation for a spring campaign targeting Westerners. Ricardo Mungia, a Red Cross water engineer, will be killed by militants on March 27, 2003, in the adjacent Oruzgan province. The murder will greatly hinder development programs in many parts of Afghanistan. The intelligence on this is later mentioned in the Guantanamo file of a detainee named Abdul Kakal Hafiz, which will be leaked to the public in 2011. [Guardian, 4/25/2011]
Entity Tags: US intelligence, Abdul Kakal Hafiz, Ricardo Mungia, Pakistan Armed Forces
Category Tags: Pakistan-Afghan Relations
2003-Late 2005: Bin Laden Allegedly Lives in Hideout near Abbottabad, Pakistan
Chak Shah Mohammad Khan. [Source: DPA] (click image to enlarge)From 2003 until late 2005, Osama bin Laden allegedly lives in a town near Abbottabad, Pakistan. Abbottabad is where he will be killed in 2011 (see May 2, 2011). This is according to Amal Ahmed Abdul Fatah, one of bin Laden’s three wives, who will reportedly be with bin Laden when US Special Forces raid his Abbottabad compound and kill him. After the raid, Amal will talk to Pakistani investigators. She reportedly will tell them that bin Laden moves with his family to Chak Shah Mohammad Khan, a village about a mile from the town of Haripur. Haripur, in turn, is 22 miles south of Abbottabad and 40 miles north of Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. They will move to the Abbottabad compound in late 2005 (see Late 2005-Early 2006) and stay there until the raid that kills bin Laden in 2011. [Dawn (Karachi), 5/7/2011] After bin Laden’s wife mentions bin Laden’s stay in Chak Shah Mohammad Khan in May 2011, the village will be visited by many journalists and officials. It is an extremely isolated and poor village, with no phone lines and no Internet (although some do use cell phones). Villagers say they have never seen bin Laden, and most say they have never even heard of him, and have no idea what he looks like. However, most villagers also do not rule out that he could have hidden nearby. There are a series of abandoned caves near the village, and bin Laden’s wife has said they lived in one of the caves. [Der Spiegel (Hamburg), 5/9/2011]
Entity Tags: Osama bin Laden, Amal Ahmed Abdul Fatah
January 22, 2003-May 8, 2003: Captain of Military Intelligence Interrogators at Scandal-Ridden Bagram Receives Bronze Star
Carolyn Wood. [Source: CBC]On January 22, 2003, Capt. Carolyn A. Wood receives a Bronze Star for “exceptional meritorious service” as the head of military intelligence interrogators at Bagram. She and her small platoon of 15 interrogators from the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion returned from Afghanistan to their base at Fort Bragg, North Carolina earlier in the month. On May 8, 2003, Wood receives her second Bronze Star. [Knight Ridder, 8/21/2004] Wood was previously in charge of the US air base at Bagram, where detainees have alleged torture and where at least two detainees died as a result of physical abuse (see November 30-December 3, 2002) (see December 26, 2002) (see December 5-9, 2002). Wood and her battalion will be redeployed to Iraq and handle interrogations at the Abu Ghraib prison while abuses go on there (see July 15, 2003). She will implement nearly the same interrogation rules used in Bagram (see July 15, 2003).
Entity Tags: Carolyn A. Wood
January 24, 2003: US Command in Afghanistan Issues Memo on Interrogation Methods that Includes Nudity, Although Nudity Tactic Is Banned
The US military command in Afghanistan, Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) 180, issues a memo on interrogation techniques, which includes nudity on the list of effective interrogation methods, despite this tactic being presumably barred by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld on January 15 (see January 15, 2003) for use at Guantanamo and in Afghanistan. According to Maj. Gen. George R. Fay, who will write a detailed report on detention operations (see August 25, 2004), the document “highlighted that deprivation of clothing had not historically been included in battlefield interrogations.” However he will add, “It went on to recommend clothing removal as an effective technique that could potentially raise objections as being degrading or inhumane, but for which no specific written legal prohibition existed.” [US Department of Defense, 8/23/2004 ] The document also speaks of exploiting the Arab fear of dogs. [US Department of Defense, 8/23/2004 ] Rumsfeld also banned the use of dogs for interrogation purposes in his January 15 order (see January 15, 2003).
Entity Tags: Donald Rumsfeld, George R. Fay
February 2003: Bush Administration Downplays Afghanistan War as War in Iraq Draws Near
Rand Beers. [Source: MSNBC]The Bush Administration declares that the US military is moving to “stability operations” in Afghanistan, a euphemism for military deescalation. Rand Beers, a counterterrorism expert on the National Security Council at the time, will say in July 2003, “They wanted to make it sound as if there were just a few more stitches needed in the quilt.” He will add: “They didn’t want to call attention to the fact that Osama [bin Laden] was still at large and living along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, because they wanted it to look like the only front was Iraq. Otherwise, the question becomes: If Afghanistan is that bad, why start another war?” He will also say, “I have worried for some time that it became politically inconvenient” for the Bush administration to “complete operations sufficiently in Afghanistan.” Beers is so upset that he quits a month later, right as the Iraq war begins. [New Yorker, 7/28/2003]
Entity Tags: National Security Council, Bush administration (43), Rand Beers
February 2003: US Commander in Afghanistan Announces Inquiry into Detainee Deaths, Says They Were from Natural Causes
Lt. Gen. Daniel McNeill, the commander of US forces in Afghanistan (Commander of Joint Task Force 180), announces an investigation into the deaths of Bagram prisoners Dilawar (see December 10, 2002) and Mullah Habibullah (see November 30-December 3, 2002). Nevertheless, he claims both prisoners died of natural causes. Dilawar, according to McNeill had an advanced heart condition with his coronary arteries 85 percent blocked. “We haven’t found anything that requires us to take extraordinary action,” McNeill says. “We are going to let this investigation run its course.” But military pathologists have already determined both deaths were caused by beatings. Dilawar’s death certificate, signed by Maj. Elizabeth A. Rouse, a pathologist with the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, stated that Dilawar’s cause of death was “blunt-force injuries to lower extremities complicating coronary artery disease.” [Guardian, 6/23/2004] When McNeill is asked whether the dead prisoners suffered injuries during detention, he denies this. “Presently, I have no indication of that,” he says. Later, McNeill claims that the prisoners had already suffered injuries before arriving at Bagram. When asked about the use of chains, he replies: “We are not chaining people to the ceilings. I think you asked me that question before.” [New York Times, 9/17/2004]
Entity Tags: Elizabeth A. Rouse, Dilawar, Daniel K. McNeill
February 6, 2003: Detainee Moazzam Begg Is Transferred from Afghanistan to Guantanamo
After a year of detention at Bagram, which appears to be unusually long, Moazzam Begg is transferred to Guantanamo. [Rasul, Iqbal, and Ahmed, 7/26/2004 ; BBC, 10/1/2004]
Entity Tags: Moazzam Begg
February 27, 2003: ABC, Pentagon Air ‘Reality TV’ Series about Afghanistan Fighting
Jerry Bruckheimer. [Source: Thomas Robinson / Getty Images / Forbes]ABC airs the first of a six-episode reality series entitled Profiles from the Front Line, which purports to document the war in Afghanistan from the soldiers’ point of view. It was conceived and produced with the extensive help and oversight of the Pentagon. [Chicago Tribune, 2/26/2003] Filming for the show began in May 2002. [Los Angeles Times, 2/6/2003] ABC executives say that the show will tell the “compelling personal stories of the US military men and women who bear the burden of the fighting” in Afghanistan. The series was quickly approved by Victoria Clarke, the head of the Pentagon’s public relations office (see Early 2002 and Beyond), and by Rear Admiral Craig Quigley, the public relations commander of US Central Command. Clarke and Quigley granted the series producers unprecedented access to the troops, technical advice, and even the use of aircraft carriers for filming. In return, the Pentagon received the right to review and approve all footage before airing (in the interests of national security, Pentagon officials said). [Rich, 2006, pp. 32-33] The Pentagon denies that it asked for any changes in the series’ broadcast footage. [Washington Post, 3/9/2003]
Producers Insist Show Not Propaganda, No Censorship from Pentagon - Though the show is widely considered to be tied in to the Bush administration’s push for war with Iraq (some question the fact that the show was shelved for months before suddenly being approved just as news of the impending invasion began hitting the news), series producer Bertram van Munster says he came up with the idea after 9/11. “We were all kind of numb, I certainly was extremely numb for two or three weeks,” he will recall. “And I said I’ve got to do something.” Van Munster and his co-producer, famed movie and television producer Jerry Bruckheimer (an acknowledged Bush supporter best known for his action-film blockbusters such as Top Gun, Black Hawk Down, and Pearl Harbor, as well as the CSI television series), put together a proposal that van Munster says does not necessarily support President Bush’s war plans. Instead, he says, the show is intended to personalize America’s fighting forces. “There’s nothing flag-waving about death. We have people getting killed on the show,” he says. “In many ways, I see this thing as much anti-war as it is a portrait of what these people are doing out there.” Bruckheimer insists that the Defense Department did not exercise any censorship whatsoever except in minor instances, such as the withholding of a Special Forces soldier’s last name. “They didn’t use any censorship whatsoever,” Bruckheimer says. “They were very cooperative.… They were very receptive to the concept of showing what US forces were doing in Afghanistan.” The show’s own film, shot on location in Afghanistan, is bolstered by Defense Department footage. [Los Angeles Times, 2/6/2003; Chicago Tribune, 2/26/2003; Washington Post, 3/9/2003; Progressive, 4/1/2003; Rich, 2006, pp. 32-33] The Progressive’s Andrea Lewis calls the show “reality television, war movie, documentary video, and military propaganda all rolled into one.” Other critics call it “a Pentagon infomercial.” Bruckheimer denies that the show is propaganda, but admits that he ensured the show would present the positive face of the military: “Put it this way. If I were to rent your apartment, I’m not going to trash it. It wouldn’t be right. So I’m not going to go and expose all their blemishes.” [Progressive, 4/1/2003; Television Week, 7/14/2003]
Documentary or Reality TV? - Chicago Tribune reviewer Allan Johnson writes of the first episode: “Stirring orchestral music and editing, framing and [quick] pacing… succeed in instilling enough patriotic feelings so that Bush should give the producers a cheer. Which raises the question of whether such advocacy is appropriate in these sensitive times.” The first episode provides what Johnson calls a reflection of standard reality-show characters: the serious-minded father figure (a captain who commands 150 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division); a gung-ho aircraft mechanic who tells the camera that the terrorists “had better be ready for some payback, and it’s going to continue until we end it;” a roguish Special Forces sergeant who says his job is to “find and kill all al-Qaeda;” the stockbroker-turned-soldier whose wife weeps uncontrollably as he leaves for Afghanistan; and others. One soldier says with a smile, “I couldn’t think of any place I’d rather be than right here doing my job, knowing I’m doing my part to keep America free.” Lewis calls the soldiers who are profiled for the series “good looking, articulate, and enthusiastic about what they’re doing… archetypes of characters you’d expect to see in a big-budget Bruckheimer film.” Answering the question of whether the show is reality television or straight documentary, Bruckheimer says, “I think it’s a little bit of both.” Van Munster adds: “I think documentary and reality are actually brother and sister. And it’s also cinema verite.” [Chicago Tribune, 2/26/2003; Progressive, 4/1/2003] Others disagree. “It raises all sorts of questions, which are exacerbated by the entertainment factor,” says Robert Lichter, president of the Center for Media and Public Affairs. “One check on war news becoming propaganda is the professionalism of journalists, which will be ostentatiously lacking.… Documentaries are inherently more informative than entertainment. ‘Reality’ programming turns the tables.” [Los Angeles Times, 2/6/2003]
Journalists Shocked at Wide Access Enjoyed by Show's Producers, Camera Teams - Many war correspondents are shocked at the level of access, and the amount of cooperation, between the Pentagon and ABC, especially considering the difficulties they routinely encounter in getting near any battlefields. Even a complaint from ABC News regarding the show’s broad access as contrasted to the restrictions forced upon their reporters is rejected by ABC’s parent company, Disney. “There’s a lot of other ways to convey information to the American people than through news organizations,” Quigley says. [Rich, 2006, pp. 32-33] Lewis writes: “During the months when Profiles was filmed, ‘real’ journalists weren’t allowed anywhere near the front lines, and news organizations had to survive on a limited diet of highly coordinated military briefings. Meanwhile, Profiles camera crews were given nearly unlimited access to US soldiers in Afghanistan.” CBS anchor Dan Rather says: “I’m outraged by the Hollywoodization of the military. The Pentagon would rather make troops available as props in gung-ho videos than explain how the commanders let Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda leaders escape or target the wrong villages.” [Progressive, 4/1/2003]
Show Used to 'Train' Pentagon for Embedding Journalists in Iraq - The Pentagon’s project officer for the series, Vince Ogilvie, later says that the interactions of the Profiles film crews and military personnel provided “a prelude to the process of embedding” media representatives in military units for war coverage in Iraq. The series had a number of different crews in different military units over its shooting schedule, Ogilvie will say: “Though they were not reporting on a daily basis, they were with the unit—living with the unit and reporting on what different individuals or units were involved in. With each passing day, week, month came a better understanding.” [Washington Post, 3/9/2003]
Show Not Renewed - The show will do extremely poorly in the ratings, and after its six-episode run is completed, it will not be renewed. [Rich, 2006, pp. 32-33] Van Munster will become involved in a shadowy Pentagon-driven project to document the Iraq occupation, of which little will be known. A Cato Institute official will say of that project: “This administration is fighting a PR battle over weapons of mass destruction and whether we’re getting bogged down in a quagmire. So maybe they want to frame their own message and own history about their time in Iraq.” [Television Week, 7/14/2003]
Entity Tags: American Broadcasting Corporation, Allan Johnson, Andrea Lewis, Cato Institute, Bush administration (43), Craig Quigley, Bertram van Munster, Robert Lichter, Jerry Bruckheimer, Dan Rather, Vince Ogilvie, Victoria (“Torie”) Clarke, US Department of Defense
Timeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda
Category Tags: Media Coverage and Responses
Spring 2003: US Green Berets Repeatedly Denied Permission to Go After Mullah Omar
There are several credible sightings by CIA and military informants of top Taliban leader Mullah Omar entering a mosque in Kandahar, Afghanistan. A Green Beret team located at a base just minutes away are ready to deploy to go after Omar, but each time US military commanders follow strict protocol and call in the Delta Force commando team instead. But this team is based hundreds of miles away near Kabul and it takes them several hours to arrive in Kandahar. By that time, Omar has disappeared. Apparently this is part of a pattern only allowing certain Special Forces units to go after important targets. The Washington Post will report in 2004 that any mission that takes Special Forces farther than two miles from a “firebase” requires as long as 72 hours to be approved. And on the rare occasions that such forces are authorized to act, they are required to travel in armed convoys, a practice that alerts the enemy. [Washington Post, 1/5/2004]
Entity Tags: Mullah Omar, 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment--Delta, Green Berets
Spring 2003: Aid to Afghanistan Falls Short of Promises
At the beginning of 2002, the US, Britain, and other countries around the world made large pledges of aid to Afghanistan (see November 2001-January 2002). But with a new war in Iraq taking considerable focus in the West, those pledges appear to be largely unfulfilled. In February 2003, Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE) says, “I think [the Bush administration has] already given up the ghost in Afghanistan. They’ve basically turned it over to the warlords.” In December 2002, President Bush signed a law authorizing close to $1 billion a year in aid to Afghanistan for the next four years. But one month later, when Bush submitted his actual budget to Congress, it authorized no money for Afghanistan aid whatsoever. Congress soon authorizes $300 million, but Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) notes that this amount “does not come near” the promise made a short time before. Ahmed Wali Karzai, brother of Afghanistan’s president Hamid Karzai, complains to the press, “What was promised to Afghans with the collapse of the Taliban was a new life of hope and change. But what was delivered? Nothing…There have been no significant changes for people.… [I don’t] know what to say to people anymore.” [Salon, 4/10/2003] As of early 2003, there are only about 3,000 Afghan soldiers who have been trained for the country’s new army, and many of those have quit because they had not been paid in more than six months. By contrast, there are roughly 200,000 fighters controlled by warlords. [Salon, 4/10/2003; Observer, 5/25/2003] A study of post-conflict zones done by Care International estimates that Bosnia is receiving international aid of $326 per person, and Kosovo $288 per person, but Afghanistan is receiving only $42 per person. There is one peacekeeper per 113 people in Bosnia, one per 48 people in Kosovo, but one per 5,380 in Afghanistan (and those are not allowed outside the capital of Kabul). [Observer, 5/25/2003] Only 3 percent of all international aid spent in Afghanistan has been for reconstruction, 13 percent is for emergency aid, and the rest is spent on security. One Afghan minister complains, “We don’t even have enough money to pay [government] wages, let alone plan reconstruction.” [Guardian, 9/20/2003] The Independent reports, “Afghans have also listened with astonishment as Americans portray their country’s experience since the overthrow of the Taliban as a ‘success’. Another Western observer summed up his views more acidly. ‘If the Americans think this is success, then outright failure must be pretty horrible to behold’.” [Independent, 2/24/2003]
Entity Tags: Joseph Biden, George W. Bush, Bush administration (43), Ahmed Wali Karzai, Chuck Hagel, Taliban
Category Tags: Economic Reconstruction
Spring 2003: Informant Posing as Prisoner Allegedly Is Mistreated by US Guards at Bagram and Guantanamo
Abdurahman Khadr. [Source: Cageprisoners]Prisoner Abdurahman Khadr says he is forced at a US prison in Bagram, Afghanistan, to lie on a cold concrete block for two days in the spring of 2003. He also experiences US soldiers stepping on his shackles, which cut through his skin “to the bone.” A female guard drags him up a flight of stairs, he recalls, after smiling at her. He is then flown to the US prison in Guantanamo, Cuba. He says the flight was a “whole torture on its own,” because, “There were people screaming around me and there was people begging for water and nobody was getting anything.” At Guantanamo, he is placed in an isolation block for 30 days, in a dark cell with just a hole for food. He is only allowed out for 15 minutes every three days. He claims, “They use this room to torture us.… They put the heat up or they put it too low so we are freezing or we are suffering because there is no air. They put the music on so you can’t sleep. They throw rocks at the block so you can’t sleep.” Ironically, Khadr is serving as a CIA informant at the time (see November 10, 2001-Early 2003). When he asks his CIA handlers why he has to suffer so much, he is told it is to make the prisoners think he is one of them. [Toronto Star, 8/19/2004] He complains and in the early summer of 2003 he is transferred to better quarters and secretly allowed better treatment. Sometimes he is even allowed to secretly leave the prison. In September 2003, he will leave Guantanamo as the CIA gives him another assignment (see September-November 2003). [PBS Frontline, 4/22/2004]
Entity Tags: Abdurahman Khadr, Central Intelligence Agency
March 2003: Tillmans Deployed to Iraq
The Tillman brothers (see May 23-June 1, 2002), Pat and Kevin, are sent to Iraq, where they will participate in the invasion (see March 19, 2003). [ESPN (.com), 4/2006]
Entity Tags: Kevin Tillman, Pat Tillman
March 2003: Bagram Commander Denies Detainees are Chained to Ceilings
Lt. Gen. Daniel McNeill, US troop commander in Afghanistan, tells the New York Times that prisoners are forced to stand for long periods at the US prison in Bagram, but denies that they have been chained to the ceilings. “Our interrogation techniques are adapted,” he says. “They are in accordance with what is generally accepted as interrogation techniques, and if incidental to the due course of this investigation [of Dilawar’s death (see December 10, 2002)], we find things that need to be changed, we will certainly change them.” [New York Times, 3/4/2003]
Entity Tags: Dilawar, Daniel K. McNeill
March 1, 2003: Afghani Detainee Allegedly Murdered by US Special Forces
Jan Mohammed re-enacts the alleged murder of his brother, Wakil. [Source: Crimes of War Project]Wakil Mohammed, an unarmed peasant, is shot to death by a US Special Forces soldier while being questioned about his possible role in a firefight. He was protesting that he and his brother—an eyewitness to the shooting—were merely returning home from afternoon prayers and had nothing to do with the fighting. (His brother will later tell the reporters that he and several others were detained and tortured, including having their heads held underwater in a form of waterboarding, and having their toenails torn out.) Mohammed’s death is not reported at all in the initial reports of the firefight. The death is later listed by the Army as a murder, but no charges have ever been filed in relation to the shooting. The team’s battalion commander will later claim that Mohammed’s death was never reported to him. One member of the Special Forces team involved in the murder will tell the Los Angeles Times that his unit held a meeting after the teen’s death in order to coordinate their stories should an investigation arise. “Everybody on the team had knowledge of it,” says the soldier. “You just don’t talk about that stuff in the Special Forces community. What happens downrange stays downrange… Nobody wants to get anybody in trouble. Just sit back, and hope it will go away.” The Times learns that the Special Forces unit in Gardez already is under heavy scrutiny by superior officers. One officer reported that the Gardez unit was “the most troubled” field team among nearly a dozen in Afghanistan. Another senior officer wrote that the team was gaining a reputation as “a rogue unit,” and a battalion commander characterizes the unit’s performance as “a Guard unit operating unprofessionally in a combat zone.” The Times will later report, “What distinguishes these two fatalities from scores of other questionable deaths in US custody (referring to the murder of both Mohammed and another detainee, Jamal Naseer—see March 16, 2003) is that they were successfully concealed—not just from the American public but from the military’s chain of command and legal authorities.” [Los Angeles Times, 9/25/2006]
Entity Tags: US Special Forces, US Department of the Army, Wakil Mohammed
March 14, 2003: Military Spokesman Denies Detainees’ Accounts of Treatment
When an Associated Press reporter asks the US military to comment on the accounts of two former Afghan detainees (see December 10, 2002) (see November 30-December 3, 2002), spokesman Roger King claims their accounts are mostly untrue. “Some of the stuff they are saying sounds like partial truths, some of it’s completely bogus,” he says. “They were stripped naked probably to prevent them from sneaking weapons into the facility. That’s why someone may be stripped…. We do force people to stand for an extended period of time…. Disruption of sleep has been reported as an effective way of reducing people’s inhibition about talking or their resistance to questioning….They are not allowed to speak to one another. If they do, they can plan together or rely on the comfort of one another. If they’re caught speaking out of turn, they can be forced to do things—like stand for a period of time—as payment for speaking out.” [Associated Press, 3/14/2003; Amnesty International, 8/19/2003]
Entity Tags: Roger King
March 16, 2003: Afghan Teenager Dies in US Custody, Allegedly from Torture
Jamal Naseer, an 18-year old newly recruited Afghan soldier, dies in US custody, apparently as a result of beating and torture. Naseer dies after several days in detention at a US Special Forces “firebase,” a small, outlying military base set up to support advancing troops, at Gardez, Afghanistan. [CBS News, 9/21/2004] Naseer and seven other detainees were taken into custody about a week before by Special Forces troops attempting to secure the area from the depredations of a local warlord, Pacha (or Bacha) Khan. Naseer’s brother Ahmad insists that he, his brother, and the other detainees are allies of the Americans, and never participated in Taliban- or al-Qaeda-led attacks against American forces. [Los Angeles Times, 9/25/2006] It is unclear why the men were detained in the first place, but Los Angeles Times reporters Craig Pyes and Mark Mazzetti report that according to an Afghan intelligence report. “the action was requested by a provincial governor feuding with local military commanders.” [Los Angeles Times, 9/21/2004] Naseer’s death will be officially recorded as resulting from “natural causes,” but fellow detainees will say that Naseer’s death was caused by abuse suffered at the hands of US Army Special Forces soldiers near Gardez. Ahmad Naseer will later describe how he and his brother were beaten and abused while in custody, subjected to electric shocks, immersed in cold water, forced to assume stress positions, thrashed with cables, suffered the forcible tearing off of their toenails, and made to lie for hours in the snow. The last time he spoke with his brother, he says Jamal was “moaning about the pain in his kidneys and back” from being repeatedly beaten. [Los Angeles Times, 9/25/2006] Jamal died shortly thereafter while being helped outside to relieve himself by two Afghan kitchen workers. [Los Angeles Times, 9/21/2004] After Naseer’s death, the unit holds a meeting to discuss the incident. The team is told that Naseer died of a sex-related infection that shut down his kidneys. According to one soldier in the meeting, the point of discussion is “to make sure everybody’s on the same sheet of paper—this is what happened to the man”—in case there’s ever an investigation. Captain Craig Mallak, medical examiner for the US armed forces, says that Naseer’s death is never reported to his office (any death of a detainee is required to be reported unless the detainee is determined to have died of natural causes). Naseer’s body is transferred to a civilian hospital where no autopsy is performed. One hospital worker who prepares the body for burial will later tell the Times that Naseer’s body was “completely black” from bruising and injuries, and was “completely swollen, as were his palms, and the soles of his feet were swollen double in size.” [Los Angeles Times, 9/25/2006] Asked about such injuries, Dr. Michael Baden, a prominent forensic pathologist who works for the New York State Police, says the descriptions are inconsistent with death by organ failure. “You can’t confuse those. It sounds very much like blunt trauma.” A local physician who examined the survivors later confirmed that all of the men were suffering from similar trauma, with extensive bruising and seeping, and unbandaged wounds. [Los Angeles Times, 9/25/2006] Eventually, Ahmad Naseer and his comrades are secretly transferred to a civilian prison in Kabul, still without any formal charges. Afghan military prosecutors immediately launch an investigation into their unexplained detention. That inquiry eventually produces a 117-page report asserting that the detainees had been tortured and that there is a “strong probability” that one of the men had been “murdered.” The report speculates that the prolonged imprisonment was intended to give the detainees’ wounds time to heal. Fifty-eight days later, all of the prisoners are released; no charges are ever filed. [Los Angeles Times, 9/25/2006]
Entity Tags: Taliban, US Special Forces, Michael Baden, Pacha Khan, Al-Qaeda, Jamal Naseer, Ahmad Naseer, Craig Mallak
March 19, 2003: NSC Counterterrorism Director Resigns over Diversion of Resources Away from War on Terror to Iraq
Rand Beers, the National Security Council’s senior director for counterterrorism, resigns from his post. Administration sources say Beers is resigning for personal reasons, but intelligence sources say Beers’s resignation is triggered by his concern that the administration’s looming war with Iraq is drawing critically needed resources away from the war on terror (see February 2003). “Hardly a surprise,” says one former intelligence official. “We have sacrificed a war on terror for a war with Iraq. I don’t blame Randy at all. This just reflects the widespread thought that the war on terror is being set aside for the war with Iraq at the expense of our military and intel resources and the relationships with our allies.” A Senate Intelligence Committee staffer adds, “Randy said that he was ‘just tired’ and did not have an interest in adding the stress that would come with a war with Iraq.” Beers’s supervisor, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, asked Beers twice during his exit interview if his resignation was a protest against the war with Iraq. Beers told her that it was not. Author and intelligence expert James Bamford says, “This is a very intriguing decision” for Beers to resign. “There is a predominant belief in the intelligence community that an invasion of Iraq will cause more terrorism than it will prevent. There is also a tremendous amount of embarrassment by intelligence professionals that there have been so many lies out of the administration—by the president, [Vice President Dick] Cheney and [Secretary of State Colin] Powell—over Iraq” (see January 24, 2008). One administration official says: “If it was your job to prevent terror attacks, would you be happy about an action that many see as unnecessary, that is almost guaranteed to cause more terror in the short-term? I know I’m not [happy].” [United Press International, 3/19/2003] Beers, who will soon join the presidential campaign of Democrat John Kerry as a foreign policy adviser, will tell an interviewer in late 2006 that “I’m sorry to say that the reason that I resigned from the National Security Council staff and the government has turned out to be true, and that is that I was concerned then, and we see now, that our entry into Iraq, the way in which we entered with a small, rather than a large, coalition, without UN approval, without Arab support, has ended up making Iraq a recruiting poster for al-Qaeda. It has made our job more difficult around the world.” [Democracy Now!, 10/4/2006]
Entity Tags: James Bamford, Rand Beers, National Security Council, Condoleezza Rice
April 18, 2003: Pentagon Refuses to Allow Amnesty International into Bagram
The Pentagon rejects Amnesty International’s request to visit the US military base at Bagram, Afghanistan. The Defense Department declares that “access to detainees is provided to the International Committee of the Red Cross, and on a case-by-case basis to selected government officials.” In a letter, Marshall Billingslea, principal deputy to the assistant secretary of defense, writes that “in this war, as in every war, captured enemy combatants have no right to counsel or access to courts for the purpose of challenging their detention.” [Amnesty International, 8/19/2003]
Entity Tags: Amnesty International
April 22, 2003: Afghan President Gives Pakistani President List of Taliban Leaders Living in Pakistan, No Action Is Taken on It
Mullah Dadullah Akhund. [Source: Associated Press]Afghan President Hamid Karzai travels to Islamabad, Pakistan, and meets with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. Karzai hands Musharraf a list of Taliban leaders living in Quetta, Pakistan, and urges Musharraf to have them arrested. The list includes the names of senior Taliban leaders Mullah Omar, Mullah Dadullah Akhund, and Mullah Akhter Mohammed Usmani. All are believed to be in Quetta. The list is leaked to the press. The Pakistani government denounces Karzai and denies any Taliban leaders are in Pakistan. The US government declines to back the list, even though the US embassy in Kabul had helped make it. Journalist Ahmed Rashid will later explain: “The Americans were already deeply involved in Iraq and wanted no distractions such as a cat fight between the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan. [The US] was unwilling to push the Pakistanis, and the Afghans were angry that the Americans had allowed Karzai’s credibility to suffer.” [Rashid, 2008, pp. 246]
Entity Tags: Mullah Dadullah Akhund, Hamid Karzai, Mullah Akhter Mohammed Osmani, Mullah Omar, Pervez Musharraf
May 1, 2003: Rumsfeld Prematurely Declares an End to War in Afghanistan
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announces that the 8,000 US soldiers in Afghanistan have ended major combat operations there and will now shift their focus to rebuilding the country. The US talks about reducing the number of troops in 2004 and replacing them with newly trained Afghan soldiers. Rumsfeld’s announcement comes on the same day that President Bush declares that combat operations have ended in Iraq (see May 1, 2003). Rumsfeld says that small-scale combat operations will continue to mop up pockets of Taliban and al-Qaeda resistance. [Washington Post, 5/2/2003] Over two years later, in June 2005, the New York Times will report that despite periodic predictions of the Taliban’s collapse, recent intense fighting “reveals the Taliban to be still a vibrant fighting force supplied with money, men and weapons.” While the Taliban may not be able to hold ground in the “almost forgotten war,” they have enough personnel and weapons to “continue their insurgency indefinitely” and render parts of the country ungovernable. [New York Times, 6/4/2005]
Entity Tags: Taliban, Al-Qaeda, Donald Rumsfeld
Category Tags: Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, US Military Strategies and Tactics, Taliban Actions, Rhetoric
June 2003 or July 2003: Iraqi National Hiwa Abdul Rahman Rashul Captured by Kurds and Handed Over to US
Iraqi national Hiwa Abdul Rahman Rashul, later to be nicknamed “Triple-X,” is captured by Kurdish soldiers on suspicion that he is a member of Al-Ansar al-Islam, a militant group operating in northern Iraq. [Washington Post, 10/24/2004] He is then handed over to the CIA, which takes him outside of Iraq to a secret facility in Afghanistan. [New York Times, 9/10/2004]
Entity Tags: Hiwa Abdul Rahman Rashul
June 2003: New Chief of CIA Station in Kabul Appointed
The CIA appoints a new chief of its station in Kabul, Afghanistan. The chief, known only as “Peter,” will remain in the position for a year (see June 2004). [Washington Post, 10/22/2004]
Entity Tags: “Peter”, Central Intelligence Agency
Category Tags: Other
June 18-21, 2003: Detainee Killed while in Custody at Base in Afghanistan
Abdul Wali turns himself in to a US base in Asadabad, Afghanistan [CBS News, 6/18/2004] at the request of the Afghan governor of Kunar province. Wali allegedly participated in rocket attacks against the base, which is located in northeast Afghanistan close to the border with Pakistan. During the next two days, according to an indictment, he is “brutally assault[ed]” by David A. Passaro, a private contractor, employed by the CIA, [Guardian, 6/23/2004] who uses “his hands and feet and a large flashlight.” On June 21, Wali dies in detention. The CIA refers the case to the Justice Department in November 2003. Passaro will be indicted with charges of assault in June 2004. [CBS News, 6/18/2004]
Entity Tags: David A. Passaro, Abdul Wali
July 2003: Pakistani Citizen Saifullah Paracha is Pulled Off Plane and Sent to Bagram
Saifullah Paracha. [Source: Public domain]Saifullah Paracha, a Pakistani citizen who studied and lived in the US until the mid-1980s, flies from Pakistan to Bangkok on Air Thai. He plans to attend a meeting with his US business partner, Charles Anteby, with whom he runs an import/export company. When the driver sent to pick up Paracha arrives at the airport, he is told Paracha has not left the plane. Paracha has disappeared. More than six weeks later, in August, Paracha’s family will receive a letter from the International Red Cross (ICRC), informing them that he is being held at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan. [First, 6/2004 ]
Entity Tags: International Committee of the Red Cross, Saifullah Paracha
July 2003-Mid-2004: Al-Qaeda Leader Al-Libbi Lives in Abbottabad, Pakistan; Works with Key Courier Ahmed
Abu Faraj al-Libbi. [Source: FBI]In July 2003, al-Qaeda leader Abu Faraj al-Libbi allegedly receives a letter from Osama bin Laden’s “designated courier” stating that this person will be the “official messenger” between bin Laden and others in Pakistan. Around the same time, al-Libbi moves to Abbottabad, Pakistan. Al-Libbi had become al-Qaeda’s head of operations following the capture of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in March 2003 (see February 29 or March 1, 2003). This is according to one of al-Libbi’s Guantanamo prison files, from September 2008. In the file, the courier is named as Maulawi Abd al-Khaliq Jan. [US Department of Defense, 9/10/2008]
Al-Libbi Leads to Bin Laden's Courier - Other sources make clear that this information comes from al-Libbi’s 2005 interrogation (see Shortly After May 2, 2005). By late 2005, US intelligence analysts will decide that al-Libbi was lying, and he had made up the name of Jan to protect the real courier, whose real name will eventually be discovered to be Ibrahim Saeed Ahmed (see Late 2005). In fact, Ahmed moves to Abbottabad in 2004 (see January 22, 2004-2005) and bin Laden joins him there in late 2005 (see Late 2005-Early 2006).
Al-Libbi Moves Away - Al-Libbi moves away from Abbottabad in mid-2004. Perhaps this is in response to two Pakistani government raids that narrowly miss catching him (see April 2004 and After April 2004). [US Department of Defense, 9/10/2008]
Musharraf's 2006 Book - In a 2006 book, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will detail the two raids that narrowly miss him, and adds that al-Libbi revealed in a 2005 interrogation “that he was in contact with Osama through a courier and the last letter he had received from Osama was sometime in December 2004. We have been looking for the couriers intensely.” [Musharraf, 2006, pp. 172] Presumably, al-Libbi’s confession about living in Abbottabad and meeting the courier would help point US investigators looking for the courier to Abbottabad, and if not that, Musharraf’s 2006 book would do so. But it is unknown when US intelligence begins closely investigating al-Qaeda activity in Abbottabad.
Entity Tags: Osama bin Laden, Ibrahim Saeed Ahmed, Abu Faraj al-Libbi, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Pervez Musharraf
July 16, 2003: Tillman Brothers Receive Sports Award, but Refuse to Attend Ceremony
Pat and Kevin Tillman, pro athletes who joined the Army Rangers and participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom (see May 23-June 1, 2002), are presented with the annual Arthur Ashe Courage Award by ESPN. Both refuse to attend the awards ceremony, another example of their continued effort to avoid the public acclaim surrounding their joining the military. Younger brother Richard accepts on their behalf, and for the first time since their enlistment, their friends and parents speak publicly of the brothers in the ESPN televised tribute. ESPN senior vice president Ron Semiao says of the occasion: “The Tillman brothers’ story is remarkably inspiring. They turned their backs on stardom and potential fortune, dedicated themselves to a larger cause and never once sought glory or recognition. Pat and Kevin’s approach of leading by example is reminiscent of the way Arthur Ashe lived his life and like Arthur, the Tillmans’ decisions have had a profound impact.” [ESPN (.com), 7/2003]
Entity Tags: Kevin Tillman, Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards, Pat Tillman, Richard Tillman, Ron Semiao, Arthur Ashe
August 2003: NATO Takes Control in Kabul, Afghanistan
NATO takes control of security in Kabul, Afghanistan. This is NATO’s first-ever operational commitment outside Europe. [BBC, 5/15/2007] NATO will eventually take control of military operations for all of Afghanistan in 2006 (see July-October 2006).
Entity Tags: North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Category Tags: Other US Allies, US Military Strategies and Tactics
October 2, 2003: Pakistani Army Kills Canadian Al-Qaeda Leader
A Pakistani attack helicopter fires at Ahmed Said Khadr’s safe house. [Source: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]Al-Qaeda leader Ahmed Said Khadr is killed in a shootout with the Pakistani army. The police received reports that senior members of al-Qaeda were hiding in South Waziristan, part of Pakistan’s tribal region near Afghanistan. The army attacks their safe house. After several hours of shooting, eight people in the safe house are killed and 18 are taken prisoner. One of the killed is later identified as Khadr. He is a long time Canadian citizen who ran a Canadian charity front called Human Concern International. After his death, a sympathetic jihadist group will refer to him as a “founding member” of al-Qaeda. [National Post, 10/14/2003; Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 4/20/2006] In fact, thousands of al-Qaeda-linked militants have been hiding out in South Waziristan since early 2002, with the assistance of some in the Pakistani government (see Late 2002-Late 2003). The attack comes as Pakistan is under increasing international pressure to do something about the al-Qaeda safe haven, and takes place just days before Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage is due to visit Pakistan. Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid will later comment, “Buying time by carrying out an attack just before the visit of a senior US official became a pattern for [Pakistan].” [Rashid, 2008, pp. 270]
Entity Tags: Richard Armitage, Ahmed Rashid, Ahmed Said Khadr, Pakistani Army
November 2003: US Military Frustrated They Cannot Fight Drugs in Afghanistan
Mark Schneider, senior vice president of the nonprofit think tank the International Crisis Group, later says that during a trip to Afghanistan in November 2003, he is told by US military commanders and State Department officials that they are frustrated by rules preventing them from fighting Afghanistan’s booming illegal drug trade. Author James Risen notes the US military’s rules of engagement in Afghanistan states that if US soldiers discover illegal drugs they “could” destroy them, which is “very different from issuing firm rules stating that US forces must destroy any drugs discovered.” An ex-Green Beret later claims that he was specifically ordered to ignore heroin and opium when his unit discovered them on patrol. Assistant Secretary of State Bobby Charles, who fights in vain for tougher rules of engagement (see November 2004), will later complain, “In some cases [US troops] were destroying drugs, but in others they weren’t. [Defense Secretary] Rumsfeld didn’t want drugs to become a core mission.” [Risen, 2006, pp. 152-162]
Entity Tags: Robert Charles, International Crisis Group, Donald Rumsfeld, Mark Schneider
Category Tags: US Counter-Narcotics Operations
November 2003: Appointment of Powerful ‘Neocon’ Ambassador Reflects New US Emphasis on Afghanistan
Zalmay Khalilzad, a prominent neoconservative connected to top Bush administration officials, is appointed US Ambassador to Afghanistan. Ethnically Afghani, he had already been appointed special envoy to Afghanistan at the start of 2002 (see January 1, 2002). But it is increasingly obvious that the US effort in Afghanistan is not going well and Khalilzad’s appointment as ambassador reflects a new Bush administration resolve to devote more attention to Afghanistan. He had worked for the likes of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney in years past and is easily able to reach President Bush on the phone. Khalilzad agrees to take the job if the US expands resources in Afghanistan, and as he takes over the US gives $2 billion in aid to the country, double the amount of the year before. [New York Times, 8/12/2007] Khalilzad becomes so powerful that in 2005 the BBC will note that he is sometimes dubbed “the viceroy, or the real president of Afghanistan.” He is accused of “frequently overshadowing President Hamid Karzai.… No major decisions by the Afghan government [are] made without his involvement.” [BBC, 4/6/2005] Similarly, a London Times article on him will be titled: “US Envoy Accused of Being the Power Pulling Karzai’s Strings.” [London Times, 10/5/2004] A New York Times article on him will be titled: “In Afghanistan, US Envoy Sits in Seat of Power.” [New York Times, 4/17/2004] He will keep this position until April 2005, when it is announced that Khalilzad will become US Ambassador to Iraq, as the Bush administration grows more concerned about the war there. [New York Times, 8/12/2007]
Entity Tags: Taliban, Hamid Karzai, Zalmay M. Khalilzad
Timeline Tags: Neoconservative Influence
November 6, 2003: Afghani Civilian Beaten to Death by US Captors
An Afghani civilian later identified as Abdul Wahid dies from what his autopsy report calls “multiple blunt force injuries to head, torso, and extremities.” Wahid is being held by US forces at a forward operating base in Helmand province. [American Civil Liberties Union, 10/24/2005]
Entity Tags: US Department of Defense, Abdul Wahid
2004: US Misses Al-Qaeda Leader Al-Libbi in Abbottabad, Pakistan
The CIA and ISI (Pakistan’s intelligence agency) conduct a joint raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, attempting to find Abu Faraj al-Libbi. He is al-Qaeda’s operational head since Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was captured in 2003 (see February 29 or March 1, 2003). Al-Libbi is not captured in the raid. However, he will be captured a year later in Mardan, near Abbottabad (see May 2, 2005). [Washington Post, 5/11/2011] Abbottabad is the town where Osama bin Laden will eventually be killed in 2011 (see May 2, 2011). Pakistani forces conduct a raid in April 2004 attempting to get al-Libbi in Abbottabad (see April 2004) and another raid in 2004 where they unwittingly almost capture al-Libbi (see After April 2004). It is not known the US raid is the same as either of these. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will describe both raids in a 2006 book and will not mention US participation, even though he does with other raids in the book. [Musharraf, 2006, pp. 210-211]
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, Abu Faraj al-Libbi, Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence
Category Tags: Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, CIA Intel, Military Operations, Pakistan Involvement
Beginning of 2004: Afghan Detainee Finally Released From Guantanamo
Afghan taxi driver Wazir Muhammad is released from Guantanamo due to long campaigning by his brother Taji and Amnesty International. [Guardian, 6/23/2004] “At the end of my time in Guantanamo,” he recalls, “I had to sign a paper saying I had been captured in battle which was not true. I was stopped when I was in my taxi with four passengers. But they told me I would have to spend the rest of my life in Guantanamo if I did not sign it, so I did.” [Guardian, 6/23/2004]
Entity Tags: Amnesty International, Wazir Muhammad
2004-2007: Suicide Bombings Dramatically Increase in Afghanistan
Up until 2004, suicide bombings were almost unheard of in Afghanistan. But beginning that year, the Taliban launches six suicide attacks. In 2005, the number increases to 21. In 2006, the number skyrockets to 141, causing 1,166 casualties. In 2007, the number remains steady at 137, but the number of casualties increases 50 percent to 1,730. On September 8, 2006, a suicide bomber hits a US convoy just outside the US embassy in Kabul, killing two US soldiers and 16 Afghans. The resulting investigation uncovers a suicide bomb support network in Kabul that links to militants in the tribal regions of Pakistan. Amrullah Saleh, the head of Afghanistan’s intelligence agency, says: “Every single bomber we arrest is linked to Pakistan in some way. The training, provisions, explosives, technical equipment, are all being manufactured in Pakistan, and the CIA knows this.” [Rashid, 2008, pp. 366-367]
Entity Tags: Taliban, Amrullah Saleh
Category Tags: Other Islamist Radical Groups, Taliban Actions, Rhetoric
Early 2004: CIA Lacks Resources to Monitor Al-Qaeda Haven in Pakistan, Due to Iraq War
In early 2004, the head of the CIA station in Kabul, Afghanistan, known only as “Peter,” reports a revival of al-Qaeda and Taliban forces near the border of Pakistan. He proposes a spring intelligence push in the Pakistani tribal regions of South Waziristan and Kunar. Since 2002, al-Qaeda has mainly been regrouping in Waziristan, and many speculate that Osama bin Laden may be hiding there (see August 2002). Peter estimates that 24 field officers and five station officers would be needed for the new push. However, CIA headquarters replies that it does not have the resources to make the surge, presumably due to commitments in Iraq. Peter is rotated out of his post a short time later. [Washington Post, 10/22/2004]
Entity Tags: Al-Qaeda, “Peter”, Central Intelligence Agency, Taliban
Early 2004: Pat Tillman Enlists Friend to Set up Meeting with Antiwar Advocate
Noam Chomsky, noted linguist and and “anti-imperialism” activist. [Source: Convencion Bautista (.com)]Pat Tillman (see May 23-June 1, 2002) enlists a friend, MIT graduate student Jared Schrieber, to email MIT linguistics and philosophy professor Noam Chomsky. Tillman wants to set up a meeting with Chomsky, an opponent of the Bush administration’s war on terror and someone Tillman has long admired. Later, Tillman’s mother, Mary Tillman, will say that Tillman and Chomsky were to meet after her son completed his military tour of duty in July 2005, a meeting later confirmed by Chomsky. [ESPN (.com), 4/2006] After Tillman’s death (see April 23, 2004), it will emerge that, like his brother Kevin, a philosophy major, he read widely and was known to family and friends as a deep and independent thinker. Russell Baer, a fellow Ranger who served with the brothers in Iraq and Afghanistan, will recall Tillman saying of the Iraq war, “this war is so f_cking illegal.” His mother will state that, while feeling that the Afghan war was “justified by the September 11 attacks,” her son was against “the whole Iraq war.” Further, a soldier who requests anonymity will say that Tillman “urged him to vote for Bush’s Democratic opponent in the 2004 election, Senator John Kerry.” [San Francisco Chronicle, 9/25/2005; Sports Illustrated, 9/11/2006] Ann Coulter, conservative political commentator, and Sean Hannity, co-host of the Fox News show Hannity & Colmes, will dispute reports that say Tillman respected Chomsky, endorsed Senator John Kerry, or opposed Bush. “I don’t believe it,” Coulter will say. “I don’t believe it either,” Hannity will agree. [Media Matters, 9/24/2005; Nation, 10/24/2005]
Entity Tags: Pat Tillman, Russell Baer, Sean Hannity, Mary Tillman, Kevin Tillman, Noam Chomsky, Jared Schrieber, Ann Coulter, John Kerry
January 2004: Critical Internal Report of US Military Efforts in Afghanistan Is Suppressed
Hy Rothstein. [Source: Center on Terrorism and Irregular Warfare]In late 2002, the Defense Department asks retired Army Colonel Hy Rothstein, a leading military expert in unconventional warfare, to examine the planning and execution of the war in Afghanistan. Rothstein travels to Afghanistan and interviews dozens of military personnel at all levels. The New Yorker calls his report, completed this month, “a devastating critique of the [Bush] administration’s strategy.” While Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has described the US military to be mostly reliant upon unconventional forces, Rothstein sees a reliance on heavy aerial bombing that results in large numbers of civilian casualties. He sees a poor effort at winning the hearts and minds of Afghans, and many mistakes such as allying with corrupt, drug-dealing warlords who oppress the population. One military expert calls the US strategy “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.” When Rothstein presents his conclusions to Rumsfeld, he is told to dampen his criticisms before the report can be published. He refuses to do so, and so the report is left sitting in bureaucratic limbo. Many other officials privately agree with the report’s conclusions. One former senior intelligence officer says, “The reason they’re petrified is that it’s true, and they didn’t want to see it in writing.” [New Yorker, 4/5/2004]
Entity Tags: Donald Rumsfeld, US Department of Defense, Hy Rothstein
January 2004: Air Strike on Afghan Drug Lab Is Exception to the Rule
A British special forces team in Afghanistan calls in a US air strike on a drug lab. The damage leads to a 15 percent spike in heroin prices. It is unclear if US commanders knew that the proposed target was a drug lab. However, this seems to be nearly the only such strike on drug-related targets since 9/11. Shortly after 9/11, the US military decided to avoid such targets (see Shortly After September 11, 2001). The US continued to gain new intelligence on the location of drug facilities and continued not to act. Assistant Secretary of State Bobby Charles later will complain, “We had regular reports of where the labs were. There were not large numbers of them. We could have destroyed all the labs and warehouses in the three primary provinces involved in drug trafficking… in a week. I told flag officers, you have to see this is eating you alive, that if you don’t do anything by 2006 you are going to need a lot more troops in Afghanistan.” [Risen, 2006, pp. 152-162]
Entity Tags: Robert Charles
January 22, 2004-2005: Trusted Courier Ahmed Moves to Abbottabad, Pakistan, Buys Land and Builds Hideout for Bin Laden
Satellite imagery of Bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound in 2004 and 2011. [Source: U.S. Defense Department]Osama bin Laden’s trusted courier Ibrahim Saeed Ahmed moves to Abbottabad, Pakistan, and buys up land there that will be used for a hideout for bin Laden. Ahmed, who is using a variety of aliases, moves to the town with his brother Abrar, who is also assisting bin Laden. A Pakistani government official will later say that a plot of land in Abbottabad is bought by a man named Mohammad Arshad on January 22, 2004. A forged national identity card and incorrect address is used. In fact, “Mohammad Arshad” is one of the aliases used by Ahmed. That, along with the related name “Arshad Khan,” is the name Abbottabad neighbors will know him by in future years. [Dawn (Karachi), 5/7/2011] Property records obtained by the Associated Press show that “Arshad” buys two more plots of land in November 2004. The seller will later say that he does not meet Arshad in person, but deals with him through a middle man. A doctor sells another plot of land to “Arshad” in 2005. This doctor will later say that he does meet “Arshad” in person during the transaction. The plots are combined so a walled compound can be built that is much larger than other homes in the neighborhood. The doctor will occasionally see “Arshad” after that, and at one point the doctor will be cryptically told by him that the land he sold is now very valuable. [Associated Press, 5/4/2011] Locals will later say that construction on the compound begins in 2005. By late 2005 or the start of 2006, the construction is done and bin Laden will move into the compound with some of his family (see Late 2005-Early 2006). The courier Ahmed (who uses the named “Arshad”), his brother, and their families will live there too. [New York Times, 5/3/2011; Associated Press, 5/4/2011] In March 2011, a US strike force will assault the compound and kill bin Laden (see May 2, 2011).
Entity Tags: Ibrahim Saeed Ahmed, Osama bin Laden
January 23 - March 2004: Detainee El-Masri Taken from Macedonia and Sent to Kabul
Khalid el-Masri. [Source: Reuters]In Macedonia, Khalid el-Masri is told he is free to return to Germany. His guards videotape him as evidence that he is in good health when he leaves their country. El-Masri steps out the door of the motel where he has been held, and walks a few meters, when a pick-up truck pulls up next to him. Several men pull him inside, handcuff him, and put a hood over his head. The truck appears to be driving towards the airport. [New York Times, 1/9/2005; Guardian, 1/14/2005] He hears the sounds of a plane, and the voice of one of his Macedonian minders saying he will receive a medical examination. [Guardian, 1/14/2005] He is then taken into a building. [New York Times, 1/9/2005] “I heard the door being closed,” he recalls. “And then they beat me from all sides, from everywhere, with hands and feet. With knives or scissors they took away my clothes. In silence. The beating, I think, was just to humiliate me, to hurt me, to make me afraid, to make me silent. They stripped me naked. I was terrified. They tried to take off my pants. I tried to stop them so they beat me again. And when I was naked I heard a camera.” He is then rectally examined by force. [Guardian, 1/14/2005] “After I was naked they took off my mask so I could see, and all the people were in black clothes and black masks. There were seven or eight people.” El-Masri is then dressed in a blue warm-up suit, and his hands are cuffed and tied to a belt; his feet shackled. Plugs are put in his ears and he is blindfolded. Next, they put him on a plane and force him to lie on the floor, while someone injects him with a drug that makes him fall asleep. [New York Times, 1/9/2005] But he vaguely notices the plane taking off. He receives a second injection during the flight. When he awakes, the plane has landed and he finds himself driven in the boot of car. Taken inside a building, he is thrown into the wall and onto to the floor of a small room that is to become his cell for the next five months. His head and back are stepped upon, while his chains are removed. [Guardian, 1/14/2005] “Everything was dirty, a dirty blanket, dirty water, like from a fish aquarium.” Guards and fellow prisoners will later tell him he is in Kabul, Afghanistan. [New York Times, 1/9/2005] On the first evening of his captivity in Afghanistan, El-Masri receives a visit from a masked man, he assumes is a doctor, who takes a blood sample and appears to be an American. Accompanying guards repeatedly punch El-Masri in the head and neck. El-Masri says he nevertheless has the nerve to ask the American for fresh water. “And he said: ‘It’s not our problem, it’s a problem of the Afghan people.’” [Guardian, 1/14/2005] He is also forced to run up and down a stairs while his hands are tied behind his back. The next morning, an interrogator shouts at him: “Where you are right now, there is no law, no rights; no one knows you are here, and no one cares about you.” [New York Times, 1/9/2005] Perhaps the same interrogator says, while seven or eight men with black masks watched silently, “Do you know where you are?” El-Masri answers: “Yes, I know. I’m in Kabul.” The interrogator replies: “It’s a country without laws. And nobody knows that you are here. Do you know what this means?” [Guardian, 1/14/2005] He discovers the identity of some of the other prisoners. There are two Pakistani brothers, who have Saudi citizenship, a man from Tanzania, who has been detained for several months, a Pakistani who has been there for nearly two years, a Yemeni, and a number of Afghans. [New York Times, 1/9/2005; Guardian, 1/14/2005] Comparing his situation to that of the others, El-Masri concludes: “It was a crime, it was humiliating, and it was inhuman, although I think that in Afghanistan I was treated better than the other prisoners. Somebody in the prison told me that before I came somebody died under torture.” The identity of his interrogators remains a secret, though after about a month, he is visited by two unmasked Americans. One, referred to by the prisoners as “the Doctor,” is tall, pale, in his 60s and has long grey hair. The other, named “the Boss,” has red hair and blue eyes and wears glasses. [Guardian, 1/14/2005] In the meantime, el-Masri’s wife, Aisha, completely unaware of her husband’s whereabouts, begins to think he has gone to marry another woman. Together with their children, she moves to Lebanon. [New York Times, 1/9/2005]
Entity Tags: Khalid el-Masri
February 2004: Secret Detention Facility Commander Alludes to Drugging of Detainees by CIA
The CIA’s inspector general conducts an internal investigation of the treatment of CIA detainees in Afghanistan. As part of that investigation, the use of drugs on detainees is raised. When the inspector interviews the commanding officer of a secret detention facility in eastern Afghanistan shared by US military and intelligence teams, the inspector asks if the “OGA”—an acronym standing for “other government agency” and used to refer to the CIA—had been able to “practice their TTP [tactics, techniques and procedures] at your facility.” The commander replies, “No, they can’t use drugs or prolonged sensory deprivation in our facility.” It is unclear whether the commander is referring to interrogations. A senior US official will say in 2008 that the commander’s mention of drugs was either a mistake or a reference to am agency other than the CIA. [Washington Post, 4/22/2008]
Entity Tags: Office of the Inspector General (CIA), Central Intelligence Agency
Spring 2004: UN Official: Conditions In Afghanistan Deteriorating
A senior UN official reports that conditions in Afghanistan have deteriorated significantly in nearly every respect. According to Lakhdar Brahima, UN special envoy to Afghanistan, the situation “is reminiscent to what was witnessed after the establishment of the mujaheddin government in 1992.” Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, a member of the Wahhabi sect of Islam who opposed the presence of US troops in Saudi Arabia, along with several other warlords accused of atrocities in the mid-1990s, have returned to power and are effectively ruling the country, Brahima says. Several hold key positions within the government. They “continue to maintain their own private armies and… are reaping vast amounts of money from Afghanistan’s illegal opium trade…” The US, while claming to support Afghan President Karzai, is relying on these warlords to “help” hunt down Taliban and al-Qaeda factions, although the success rate is abysmal, and much of the intelligence provided by the warlords is faulty. The Taliban has begun to regroup, and now essentially controls much of the southern and eastern regions of the country. [Foreign Affairs, 5/2004]
Entity Tags: Hamid Karzai, Bush administration (43), Taliban, Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, Lakhdar Brahima, Al-Qaeda
March 2004: Released Guantanamo Detainee Becomes Important Taliban Leader
In late 2001, a Pakistani named Abdullah Mahsud was arrested in northern Afghanistan and transferred to the US-run Guantanamo prison. He apparently concealed his true identity while there, and is released in March 2004. He returns to Waziristan, the Pakistani tribal region where he was born, and quickly becomes an important Taliban leader. The US Defense Department belatedly realizes he has been associated with the Taliban since he was a teenager, and calls him an “al-Qaeda-linked facilitator.” He earns a fearsome reputation by orchestrating attacks and kidnappings, starting later in 2004. His forces will sign a peace deal with the Pakistani government in early 2005 that effectively gives them control over South Waziristan (see February 7, 2005). Mahsud will be killed on July 24, 2007, just days after a peace deal between the Pakistani government and Waziristan militants collapses (see July 11-Late July, 2007). He reportedly blows himself up with a grenade while surrounded by Pakistani security forces in a town in Baluchistan province about 30 miles from the Afghan border that is also near Waziristan. A Pakistani official will say: “This is a big blow to the Pakistani Taliban. He was one of the most important commanders that the Taliban had in Waziristan.” [Washington Post, 7/25/2007]
Entity Tags: Taliban, Abdullah Mahsud
March-April 2004: Detainee, a German Citizen, and Others Stage Hunger Strike Protesting Detention
Khalid el-Masri and the other prisoners at the mysterious US-run prison in Kabul begin a hunger strike. An Afghan guard tells him: “The Americans don’t care if you live or die.” Two days later, according to one report, El-Masri is beaten and forcibly fed through a tube down his throat. [New York Times, 1/9/2005] 27 days into the hunger strike, El-Masri is taken to a room one night to meet the Americans and a senior Afghan. He demands to see a German representative, be put before a court or released. The “Boss,” according to El-Masri, is angry with the situation, saying: “He shouldn’t be here. He’s in the wrong place.” And also the “Doctor,” according to El-Masri, seems to think he is innocent. His living conditions improve a bit, with a bed instead of a plastic mat and a new carpet. But he continues his hunger strike. On the 37th day, he is force-fed. His captors then promise that he will be released within three weeks, at which point El-Masri starts to eat again. [Guardian, 1/14/2005]
March 8, 2004: Human Rights Watch Issues Report on Human Rights Violations in Afghanistan
Human Rights Watch publishes a report on the human rights violations being committed by US forces in Afghanistan. The report, “Enduring Freedom: Abuses by US Forces in Afghanistan,” is based on research conducted by the organization in southeastern and eastern Afghanistan from 2003 to early 2004. It “details numerous abuses by US personnel, including cases of excessive force during arrests; arbitrary and indefinite detention; and mistreatment of detainees” depicting a system that “operates almost entirely outside of the rule of law.” For example, the report finds that prisoners in the custody of US Forces are “continuously shackled, intentionally kept awake for extended periods of time,… forced to kneel or stand in painful positions for extended periods,” kicked and beaten, and drenched with freezing water in the winter. [Human Rights Watch, 3/8/2004; Human Rights Watch, 5/7/2004]
Entity Tags: Human Rights Watch
March 13, 2004: United States Central Command Announces Launch of New Afghanistan War Offensive: Operation Mountain Storm
A news release issued from the headquarters of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) in Florida heralds the start of a new offensive, Operation Mountain Storm (OMS), describing it as “the next in the continuing series of operations in the south, southeast, and eastern portions of Afghanistan designed to destroy terrorist organizations and their infrastructure while continuing to focus on national stability and support.” [GlobalSecurity (.org), 3/13/2004]
OMS to Go after Bin Laden, Or Not To? - Elsewhere, the objective of Operation Mountain Storm is reported to be to “flush out militants, including members of the al-Qaeda terror network” and “insurgents led by remnants of Afghanistan’s former Taliban regime.” Although military sources have indicated that US forces are closing in on Osama bin Laden, according to US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Bryan Hilferty, speaking from Kabul, this new operation is “not aimed at hunting for individuals.” All coalition troops, 13,000-plus, are to join the US-led campaign. [GlobalSecurity (.org), 3/13/2004]
The Measure of Success: Numbers - CENTCOM’s news release touts the success of the previous campaign, Operation Blizzard, enumerating its results thusly: “[W]e conducted 1,731 patrols, 143 raids and cordons and searches, killing 22 enemy combatants and discovering caches with 3,648 rockets, 3,202 mortar rounds, 2,944 rocket propelled grenades, 3,000 recoils rifle rounds, 2,232 mines, and tens of thousands of small arm ammunitions.” The CENTCOM news release then ticks off several areas where Operation Blizzard’s successor, Mountain Storm, has already found weapons caches. Concluding, it reports that “just yesterday afternoon, an Afghan citizen turned in to coalition forces in the vicinity of Deh Rawood a recoiless rifle, an anti-aircraft gun, a mortar, and machine guns, along with ammunition.” [GlobalSecurity (.org), 3/13/2004]
The Numbers Game and Pat Tillman's Death - Later, Stan Goff, an analyst and critic of military culture, writing about Pat Tillman’s death while on patrol in OMS less than a month after its launch (See April 23, 2004 and Early April 2004), will cite “the Rumsfeldian ‘metrics’ of quantification” used to measure and then propagandize military progress, as driving the order to split Tillman’s platoon, a chain-of-command decision which many, including some in command, will later contend led to his death by friendly fire, or as some define it, fratricide (see April 22, 2004). [Huffington Post(.org), 8/2/2007; CounterPunch, 8/9/2007]
Entity Tags: Taliban, US Central Command, Pat Tillman, Osama bin Laden, Stan Goff, Donald Rumsfeld, Al-Qaeda, Operation Mountain Storm, Bryan Hilferty
March 15, 2004: Top Analyst in Afghanistan Wonders Why US Military Publicizing Operation Mountain Storm
A top analyst with the International Crisis Group (ICG), an influential think tank with its headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, challenges the publicity campaign the US military appears to be waging for Operation Mountain Storm (OMS) in Afghanistan (see March 13, 2004 and March 15, 2004). [Time (Asia), 10/3/2005] Vikram Parekh, a top ICG analyst based in Kabul, comments: “I don’t understand… why they’ve been so public about it. I don’t see what it accomplishes.” Other experts contradict the US military’s central thesis—that it is keeping the new surge low-profile—and instead echo Parekh’s criticism. Reportedly: “As recently as late last month, Washington was playing up what officials there were touting as a spring offensive to catch bin Laden—leading to suggestions that US President George Bush’s administration hoped for an election-year gain out of the hunt and capture. But if the United states is now hot on the trail of bin Laden, some analysts question why US officials would signal so openly to the al-Quaeda leader to rethink his hiding place.” Parekh calls the publicity around OMS “tactically foolish.” [Radio Free Europe, 3/15/2004; Independent Online, 3/15/2004]
Entity Tags: International Crisis Group, Operation Mountain Storm, Vikram Parekh
Category Tags: Media Coverage and Responses, US Military Strategies and Tactics
March 15, 2004: Radio Free Europe Publicizes Operation Mountain Storm’s Use of ‘Unconventional ’ Strategy
Ron Synovitz, a correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFL/RL), reports on “how one commando team is contributing to the overall strategy” Operation Mountain Storm (OMS) employs in Afghanistan.
Report Relies upon Department of Defense Sources - Synovitz appears to base his observations of the “one commando team” solely on audio clips provided by a US Department of Defense (DoD) video; an undocumented description of same; the fact that an unidentified RFE/RFL correspondent “saw the team leave the Kandahar Air Field in camouflaged humvees,” bearing the DoD video cameramen; unnamed “US officials;” and a press conference in Kabul with the US military’s chief spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Bryan Hilferty. It is unclear if the eyewitness to the team’s departure is Synovitz himself or some other RFE/RFL reporter. What the article does clearly imply is 1) this OMS-participant team is representative of an overall well-coordinated and carefully planned strategy 2) the strategy, using “unconventional warfare” tactics, has the potential to prevail against any remaining “terrorist” threat in a wide-sweeping area 3) the strategy underlies a “new” operation, OMS, but continues the US Department of Defense’s military success, a success rooted in the effective strategy.
Article Highlights OMS Break with Tradition - Reporting on Hilferty’s description of the “counter-terrorism tactics designed to keep pressure on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda,” the article points out that, as distinguished from the use of “methods of conventional warfare,” in which units by the thousands amass “on the ground”—OMS combat forces—at times consisting of US Special Forces and Afghan National Army soldiers; at others, of US, Marines, Navy SEAL commandos, and CIA paramilitary officers—carry out “search and destroy” missions in small “commando teams,” operating along a large swath of Afghanistan’s interior as well as the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, to seek out enemy fighters and their weapons hidden in the mountains. For OMS, “there are no Bradley armored personnel carriers or Abrams tanks,” as used in the Iraq war, but rather, armored humvees and “fast-moving military trucks,” Special Forces employ all-terrain vehicles in desert regions.
Hilferty Touts Conventional Support for New Strategy - Still, Hilferty claims these departures from tradition are supported with the continuation of “patrols and vehicle checkpoints.” He also notes the “close air support” by “fighter jets, AC-130 Spectre gunships, and A-10 Warthog attack planes,” at the ready to intervene if OMS commandos run into problems. Hilferty touts this air support as available “24 hours a day circling overhead, ready to assist coalition forces.” In smaller airborne operations that military planners refer to as “heliborne insertion,” Chinook helicopters transport commando teams into the heart of the mountain posts guerrilla fighters claim. All of these tactics are custom-fitted to Afghanistan’s battlefield, primarily a mountainous terrain not well-served by a “heavy, mechanized force,” and are conducted simultaneously, so that the sum of the parts is what, mission by mission, adds up.
Article Echoes US Central Command's Focus on Quantity - Synovitz’s approach to reporting on the new offensive echoes that of US Central Command’s in its focus on discrete incidents, itemizing specific weapons recovered or enemy combatants killed. Synovitz contends that the unconventional nature of the conduct of warfare in Afghanistan calls for reporting “a stream of isolated incidents—like the announcement today by Hilferty that US-led soldiers had killed three suspected Taliban members this weekend while searching a cave in Qalat, in Zabul province.” [Radio Free Europe, 3/15/2004]
Pat Tillman Death Investigations Will Bolster Critics' View of OMS Strategy - Critics of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s reliance on what former solider and journalist Stan Goff will call “the metrics of quantification,” exemplified by OMS in its design and in reporting on it, will argue that, as with the “body counts” former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara boasted to claim success in Vietnam, much publicized hauls from “search and destroy” missions amount to little in terms of valid results. Further, promised support from conventional combat operations often does not materialize. For instance, Goff will point to a mission botched on several fronts as causing Pat Tillman’s death near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border (seeApril 23, 2004 and April 22, 2004). Regimental chain of command denied Tillman’s Ranger platoon the use of a helicopter to airlift a disabled humvee that became a link in a series of foul-ups leading to the “friendly fire” killing of Tillman and an Afghan Militia soldier while on patrol in OMS. In adddition, command denied the beleaguered Rangers air support in the “search and destroy” mission Tillman’s platoon was forced to conduct as night fell. Command’s urgency that there be “boots on the ground by dusk” stemmed from a need to fulfill the very sort of “checklist” Rumsfeld offered to document military progress. [FromTheWilderness, 6/23/2006; Associated Press, 11/9/2006; CounterPunch, 8/9/2007]
Entity Tags: Operation Mountain Storm, US Department of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, Bryan Hilferty, US Army Rangers, US Central Command, Stan Goff, Radio Free Europe, Pat Tillman, Ron Synovitz, Taliban
Category Tags: Media Coverage and Responses, Death of Pat Tillman, US Military Strategies and Tactics
March 18- April 24, 2004: Pakistani Army Offensive Fails to Defeat Al-Qaeda in Border Safe Haven
Tahir Yuldashev. [Source: Corbis Reuters]In mid-March 2004, Secretary of State Colin Powell visits Pakistan. He reportedly gives Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf an ultimatum: either Pakistan attacks the al-Qaeda safe haven in the South Waziristan tribal region, or the US will. On March 16, hundreds of Frontier Corps soldiers surround a compound in the village of Kalosha, a few miles from the capital of South Waziristan. Apparently, they are looking for Tahir Yuldashev, the leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), an al-Qaeda-linked militant group based in nearby Uzbekistan. But the poorly trained Frontier Corps local militia have walked into a trap, and are badly defeated by about 2,000 al-Qaeda, Taliban, and IMU militants who greatly outnumber them. Yuldashev escapes.
Escalation - Ali Jan Orakzai, the regional commander of the Pakistani army, immediately rushes in eight thousand regular troops in an effort to save the situation. For the next two weeks, heavy fighting rages in South Waziristan. Helicopter gunships, fighter bombers, and heavy artillery are brought in to help defeat the militants, but the militants have heavy weapons as well and command the heights in extremely difficult mountainous terrain. [Rashid, 2008, pp. 270-271]
Al-Zawahiri Supposedly Surrounded - On March 18, Musharraf boasts on CNN that a “high-value target” has been surrounded, and suggests that it could be al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri. He claims that 200 well-armed al-Qaeda fighters are protecting him. [CNN, 3/18/2004; FOX News, 3/18/2004] On March 19, Pakistani officials say that al-Zawahiri has escaped the South Waziristan village where he was supposedly surrounded. [Interactive Investor, 3/19/2004] In all likelihood, al-Zawahiri was never there, but was used as an excuse to justify the debacle.
Al-Qaeda Victorious - Heavy fighting continues for the next several weeks. Musharraf eventually orders local commanders to strike a deal with the militants to end the fighting. The fighting finally ends on April 24, when the Pakistani government signs an agreement with the militants, pardoning their leaders. The government claims that 46 of its soldiers were killed, while 63 militants were killed and another 166 were captured. But privately, army officers admit that their losses were close to 200 soldiers killed. US officials monitoring the fighting will later admit that the army attack was a disaster, resulting from poor planning and a near total lack of coordination. Pakistani journalist and regional expert Ahmed Rashid will later comment: “But there were deeper suspicions. The ISI had held meetings with the militants and possessed detailed information about the enemy’s numbers and armaments, but this intelligence did not seem to have been conveyed to the Frontier Corps. Western officers in [Afghanistan and Pakistan] wondered if the failed attack was due to a lack of coordination or was deliberate.” Orakzai, the army commander in charge of the offensive, reportedly intensely hates the US and has sympathy for the Taliban (see Late 2002-Late 2003). But there is no internal inquiry, even though many soldiers deserted or refused to fire on the militants. Nek Mohammed, a native local militant leader, emerges as a hero (see April 24-June 18, 2004). [PBS Frontline, 10/3/2006; Rashid, 2008, pp. 270-271]
Entity Tags: Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani Army, Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, Tahir Yuldashev, Taliban, George W. Bush, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Al-Qaeda, Ali Jan Orakzai, Nek Mohammed, Colin Powell, Frontier Corps, Ayman al-Zawahiri
March 20, 2004: Meeting with Key Resistance Planner Suggests Counter-Strategy against Operation Mountain Storm ‘Already Paying Off’
As the US Defense Department launches Operation Mountain Storm (OMS—see March 13, 2004 and March 15, 2004), a major planner for the Afghan resistance reveals the insurgency’s counter-strategy in an “exclusive meeting” with Asia Times Online.
Coalition Vs. Resistance Plan - In his article, “Afghan offensive: Grand plans hits rugged reality,” Syed Saleem Shahzad, the Pakistan bureau chief of Asia Times Online, describes the plan behind OMS: “US-led coalition forces would drive from inside Afghanistan into the last real sanctuary of the insurgents, and meet the Pakistani military driving from the opposite direction.” If the widely publicized operation were to go according to plan, Shahzad writes, “There would then be no safe place left to hide for the Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants, or, presumably, for Osama bin Laden himself.” However, according to the unnamed insurgent, the resistance has a plan of its own: to waylay US-led forces with a series of small-scale, local skirmishes and to divert Pakistani allies from joining the coalition’s new surge.
Afghan Resistance Leverages Tribal Loyalty and Harsh Landscape - The insurgent claims that tribes people, familiar with the increasingly forbidding territory, can exhaust their much stronger opposition through “a classic guerrilla strategy” designed by “foreign resistance fighters of Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Arab origin.” Hidden in a dizzying array of seemingly endless mountains, they can “regroup,” then emerge to carry out “hit and run” battles against coalition forces while under the protection of villagers loyal to their cause. In turn, according to Asia Times, these local tribes “are now the protectors of the Taliban and al-Quaeda fighters” ranged along and across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
Pakistani Army De-Railed - Meanwhile, Pakistani troops are occupied in South Waziristan with Wazir tribes and their neighbors. And Asia Times reports that “the South Waziristan fighting has spread to other areas,” flaring up in North Waziristan, for instance, where recently an attack on the Pakistani army resulted in the death of an officer and his soldiers. Effectively, the insurgency has stopped Pakistan from helping the US clean out “remnants” of its opposition, while more guerrilla fighters join in. This, in only the first week of the official launch of OMS. Based on his interview with the opposition strategist, Shahzad concludes that, thus far, “the operation that began as a hunt for Osama bin Laden has already degenerated into sideshows against rebel Pakistani tribes people.” [Asia Times Online, 3/20/2004]
Critics Point Finger at US Defense Secretary for Poor Planning - Later, critics of the US military strategy in Afghanistan will cite numerous problems in the design and conception of OMS. Some will blame the high-profile death of Pat Tillman while on patrol for OMS, or on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s flawed strategy, one designed to boast quick results so as to help re-elect President George Bush in the upcoming November 2004 elections (see March 15, 2004).
Entity Tags: Taliban, Operation Mountain Storm, Syed Saleem Shahzad, Donald Rumsfeld, Al-Qaeda, Pat Tillman, US Department of Defense, Pakistani Army, Osama bin Laden
Category Tags: Pakistan-Afghan Relations, US Military Strategies and Tactics
Drug Economy
Drug Economy (23)US Counter-Narcotics Operations (7)
Iran-Afghan Relations (3)Pakistan-Afghan Relations (94)US-Taliban Relations (53)
Islamist Militarism
John Walker Lindh (27)Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda (197)Other Islamist Radical Groups (28)Taliban Actions, Rhetoric (100)
Media Coverage and Responses
Media Coverage and Responses (19)
Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan
CIA Operations (21)Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan (17)US Aid to Islamist Mujaheddin (37)
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Battle of Tora Bora and Aftermath (21)CIA Intel, Military Operations (76)Calls for US Military Action (4)Civilian Casualties (17)Critics of US Military Action (15)Death of Pat Tillman (27)Economic Reconstruction (5)Oil Pipelines and Interests (3)Other US Allies (40)Pakistan Involvement (136)Political Reconstruction (33)Prison Revolt at Qala-i-Janghi (20)US Invasion, Occupation (134)US Military Strategies and Tactics (139)US Redirection of Forces to Iraq (17)
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Technology China is getting smarter – but at what cost?
Shenzhen has grown into a futuristic city in just 30 years
Thirty years ago, Shenzhen was a fishing village, surrounded by paddy fields.
Then came a plan to build China’s first special economic zone to allow foreign investments, and out of the quiet rural landscape grew private businesses and factories which over time transformed into a city.
Now Shenzhen, with a population of 12 million, is just one part of a huge urbanised area running down the Pearl River Delta.
China’s smart cities ambitions are among the grandest in the world. But there are questions about whether their surveillance technologies will improve the quality of inhabitants’ lives or just be used to keep a closer eye on them.
Technology Clean city
By 2050, about 292 million more Chinese people will live in cities. Already more than 58% of the population are urban dwellers, compared to just 18% in 1980.
According to the authorities, there are 662 Chinese cities, including more than 160 with a million people or more.
At the Smart Cities Expo in Barcelona recently, Shenzhen had one of biggest exhibits.
One of the big focuses for tech in Shenzhen is on traffic and how to ease congestion
Jiang Wei Dong, the general manager of the local delegation told the BBC what technologies are powering the city.
They are, he said, “seriously focused on pollution”.
“Compared to other cities, Shenzhen is clean,” he added.
The city is the first in China to ensure that all buses and taxis on its roads are electric, he explained.
Alongside smarter transportation, there is a new smart healthcare system, which makes sure that when anyone comes to the city from a faraway province their health records are immediately accessible.
But when asked about security systems, his response was less enthusiastic.
“We are only familiar with traffic. For the citizens of Shenzhen there is no monitoring,” he said.
But at a separate event in the city itself, the public are being challenged to consider the speed at which surveillance tech is being rolled out.
Shenzhen’s Futian station is hosting Eyes of the City – an exhibition which poses the question: “What happens to people and the urban landscape when the sensor-imbued city is able to gaze back?”
Eyes of the City
Exhibits at the Eyes of the City show will highlight how smart city technologies are monitoring the public
Among the works on show are a facial recognition system that visitors can opt out of by wearing a special mask, and displays that look back at ticket holders, analysing their emotional responses.
“One of the main objectives of the Eyes of the City exhibition is to encourage visitors to take a stance, shunning the dangerous option of neutrality,” said the curator Carlo Ratti.
Technology Data collection
China is creating new cities at an astonishing rate, redefining the urban landscape with plans to create 19 gigantic urban clusters and the world’s first super-city with more than 40 million inhabitants.
Urban development on this scale will demand efficiency. Traffic will have to be controlled to avoid weeklong jams, and transport will have to be green to avoid killing everyone with CO2 emissions.
But there will also be a need for citizens themselves to be more efficient. Littering, playing music too loud on a train, running across the road when the lights are red – these will stop being minor indiscretions and become major inconveniences in cities so large.
In 2014, the idea of a social credit system was unveiled. The somewhat Orwellian plan is to reward citizens for good behaviour and punish them for bad. In March this year, millions of discredited travellers were banned from buying train or plane tickets for a range of offences, such as using expired tickets or smoking on a train.
Social credit data lead to many being banned from public transport
“In China, the whole social scoring experiment is fascinating but I’m glad that I don’t have to live through it,” said smart cities consultant Charles Reed Anderson.
Currently there is no unified social credit system. Instead local governments enforce the idea in different ways, which can sometimes have a knock-on effect on foreign visitors.
Mr Anderson told an anecdote about a friend who had recently visited a Chinese city.
“He got to his hotel and realised he had left [his phone in a taxi], so the hotel walked him to the police station,” he explained.
“The police pulled up the data about the vehicle but didn’t have the traffic cam so they took him to another department a few blocks away, and they were able to track the taxi in real time and called the driver to ask him to bring back the phone.
“Within two hours he had his phone back.”
“The taxi driver may have been worried that if he didn’t return it, he was going to get a negative score.”
Facial recognition systems are becoming more prevalent
There has been huge criticism of the system but, says Mr Anderson, it probably feels far less creepy to Chinese citizens, who have grown up used to have their activities monitored by the state.
“I’m not 100 percent behind it – it can deliver some good things. But if it starts getting abused then it becomes a major problem,” he said.
Human Rights Watch revealed earlier this year that one social credit system being used in the Xinjiang region, home to a largely Muslim population, was linked to an app used by Chinese police and other government officials.
Technology City brain
More and more data and information is falling into the hands of the government via sensors and other technology in cities.
But what happens when cities do deals with private tech giants such as Alibaba and Tencent, who themselves have vast databases of information on citizens?
Alibaba is headquartered in the eastern city of Hangzhou and has spent two years developing a platform dubbed the City Brain, which analyses data from cameras and the GPS location of cars and buses, and uses it to control more than one thousand traffic lights to prevent gridlock.
It claims it has helped drop the city of seven million people from the fifth most congested in China to 57th on the list.
Now cities are handing over chunks of land to tech firms.
The Shenzhen government has just awarded Tencent a small 809 sq m (8,708 sq ft) plot of reclaimed land in order to build what it describes as “a future city focused on technology and innovation”.
Waterfront Toronto
Google affiliate Sidewalk Labs plans to build a digital city in Toronto
And increasingly, Western cities are also doing deals with Chinese firms.
Councillors in Darwin, Australia travelled to China to meet Huawei and see its technology in Shenzhen. The firm then implemented a $10m programme to roll out 900 smart LED lights, 24 environmental sensors and a network of 138 CCTV cameras.
Rejecting claims the city was going to implement a similar social credit scheme of its own, Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis told ABC News that “there’s no facial recognition… and our cameras can’t tell who you are or what you do”.
You can learn about this and other smart cities on the BBC World Service’s Business Daily.
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Search for "A to Z List = W" found 28 Databases
W.B. - Wright
W.B. Yeats Collection
The major works of W.B. Yeats in all genres, including poetry, plays, criticism and fiction, published between 1885 and 1995.
Historical EBooks
Wall Street Journal (1889 - 1990) (ProQuest)
The Wall Street Journal (1889-1999) offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue.
The Washington Post, is a daily newspaper, published in Washington, D.C., considered to be among the most influential American newspapers alongside The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. The Tulane University subscription provides students, faculty, and staff with access to the browsable ...
Washington Post (1877-1996) (ProQuest)
ProQuest's The Washington Post (1877-1996) database offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue.
Water Resources Abstracts
Water Resources Abstracts provides summaries of the world's technical and scientific literature on water-related topics covering the characteristics, conservation, control, pollution, treatment, use and management of water resources. Abstracts are drawn from journals, books, conference proceedings, ...
Web of Science Core
Thomson Reuter’s Web of Science (WoS) provides a research gateway to the Web of Science Core Collection including Science Citation Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index. From here a user can access more than 90 million records covering 5,300 social science ...
Westlaw Next
Westlaw Campus Research has become Westlaw Next, an updated interface with powerful search capabilities. This is a legal research database providing access to cases, briefs, statutes, regulations, and legislative materials. It also provides access to legal analysis from national journals and law ...
WHOLIS
World Health Organization’s (WHO) WHOLIS database is a search platform for the world’s leading library on public health, the World Health Organization Library & Information Networks for Knowledge. It provides access to documents from the WHO as well as to other sources of scientific literature ...
Wiley Online Library hosts a multi-disciplinary collection of online resources covering life, health and physical sciences, social science, and the humanities. It delivers integrated access to over 6 million articles from over 1500 journals, over 19,000 online books, and hundreds of reference ...
Witchcraft in Europe and America
Witchcraft in Europe and America is a collection that offers a broad range of documents on witchcraft dating from the 15th century to the early 20th century. The majority of the material concerns the 16th to 18th centuries (the so-called "classic period) as well as anti-persecution writings, works ...
WLSCM - Web Library of Seventeenth-Century Music
WLSCM is a service offered by the Society of Seventeenth-Century Music to its members and to the musical community at large. It presents new editions of seventeenth-century compositions that have remained unpublished or that are not available commercially.
Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000
Women and Social Movements in the United States is organized around the history of women in social movements in the U.S. between 1600 and 2000. This collection includes over 122 document projects and archives with 4,900 documents and more than 168,000 pages of additional full-text documents, ...
Women, War and Society: 1914-1918
Women, War and Society, 1914-1918 provides online access to the collection of primary source materials brought together in the Imperial War Museum, London. It offers a resource for study of 20th-Century social, political, military and gender history. These documents - charity and international ...
Women's Studies Encyclopedia
Greenwood Press's Women's Studies Encyclopedia presents a wealth of scholarship in the field of women's studies. It includes over 700 entries prepared by 425 scholars from all disciplines, analysis of women throughout the world, and bibliographic sources.
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This resource (produced by NISC) covers core disciplines in Women’s Studies and the latest scholarship in feminist research. Database coverage includes more than 871,000 records from prior to 1972 to the present in the areas of sociology, history, political science & economy, public policy, ...
Women’s Issues and Their Advocacy Within the White House, 1974-1977
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World Agricultural Economics & Rural Sociology Abstracts (CAB Direct)
Searchable via the CAB Direct gateway, World Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology Abstracts (WAERSA) is an online bibliographic and abstracts database of internationally published research on applied rural socioeconomic research. Created and indexed by subject specialists, WAERSA provides ...
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World Literature Online
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World Newspaper Archive (Newsbank)
World Newspaper Archives is a fully searchable collection of over 380 historical newspapers from around the globe. This online resource was created in partnership with the Center for Research Libraries - one of the world's largest and most important newspaper repositories and includes the America's ...
World Shakespeare Bibliography
Indexes books, articles, book reviews, dissertations, theatrical productions, reviews of productions, audiovisual materials, electronic media, and other scholarly and popular materials related to Shakespeare.
World War II Archives
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WorldCat (OCLC FirstSearch)
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World's Fairs: A Global History of Expositions (Trial-ending 13th August 2020)
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Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
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Wright American Fiction, 1851-1875
The Wright American Fiction (1851-1875) is a collection of 19th century American fiction, as listed in Lyle Wright's Bibliography of American Fiction, 1851-1875. The resource contains 2,887 volumes (1,763 unedited and 1,124 fully edited & encoded) by 1,456 authors.
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The Malvern Hills and Commons are a large, complex and multi-designated landscape that is used and enjoyed by a wide range of people. Managing such a landscape is a big challenge with many legal duties that must be met and a wide range of opinions and demands of the land must be balanced.
Our practical work on the ground is guided by the Land Management Plan (2016-2021). This document was developed with partners and four public consultation exercises.
The plan is split into three parts.
Part 1 - Description
This first part identifies the drivers behind the Trust's work and then describes the land and all it's features.
Land Management Plan Part 1 (PDF)
Part 2 - Evaluation
This part evaluates what has been described in Part 1 in order to identify the priorities.
Part 3 - Objectives and work programme
The final part clarifies what the goals are (objectives) and describes how Trust will achieve them in the work programme.
Appendix 1 lists all the features of the Hills and Commons and was used to evaluate and prioritise them.
Appendix 1 - Evaluation (PDF)
Four public consultations were held to put this plan together. This included the opportunity for the public contribute to 'Your Views', a postcard exercise to list what they liked about the Hills and what they thought were issues.
Summary of 'Your Views' (PDF)
A Shared Vision
Much of the Malvern Hills and Commons are a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Both designations convey a legal requirement for land management that supports the defined landscape character and conserve notified wildlife and geological features.
The Malvern Hills Trust are working towards a landscape that meets those requirements and far more. Our work involves the maintenance and restoration of open habitats to the benefit of views, grassland wildlife and cultural heritage. In other places we are managing and actively expanding woodlands. The visionary map guiding this work is supported by the government conservation body Natural England and the Malvern Hills AONB unit.
It can be viewed here: SSSI Supplementary Mapping (PDF).
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Contact The Mayor If You Have A Story To Tell
mayorofcrazyville.com
Home SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT Rock’s Two-Hit Wonders
Rock’s Two-Hit Wonders
Mr. Mayor
One-Hit Wonder Songs Are Way More Famous, But I’ve Found Some Good Two-Hit Wonder Songs, which is better than one-hit wonders!
When you search for one-hit wonders on the Internet, you find pages of articles that list musicians who produced one hit song. When you search for two-hit wonders on the Internet, you find pages of articles that list musicians who produced one hit song.
No, I didn’t make a typo at the end of the second sentence above. When you search for two-hit wonders, you will find a list of ONE-hit wonders. Here are the results when you type “two hit wonders rock n roll” in the Google search function. At the bottom of the page, “Searches related to two hit wonders rock no roll” lists top 1 hit wonders, one hit wonders of the 2000s, one hit wonders 2016, one hit wonders 70s, one hit wonders of the 60s, one hit wonders 2010s, one hit wonders 2015, and one hit wonders of the 80s and 90s.
What’s going on here? Does Google have a Math problem, not understanding the difference between one and two? What’s going on is that far more music fans talk about one-hit wonders than two-hit wonders. For generations, the topic of one-hit wonders has been very popular. There is literally a book on one-hit wonders — “The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders” — and many people can instantly sing songs sung by performers who were one-hit wonders. Hey, that “sing songs sung” wording is grammatically accurate!
Right now, you might be singing “Dancing In The Moonlight” or “Blinded By The Light” or “Seasons In The Sun” or “Spirit In The Sky” or “Love Hurts” or “We’re Not Gonna Take It” or “Mississippi Queen.” You might not know instantly that those songs were performed respectively by King Harvest, Manfred Mann, Terry Jacks, Norman Greenbaum, Nazareth, Twisted Sister, and Mountain, but you know the words of their only hits as well as their names.
Now, try to sing a song by a two-hit wonder. If you’re like most people, you can’t. It sounds wrong to say that one-hit wonders and their songs are more memorable than two-hit wonders and their songs, but it might be true.
Do you want to read a list of rock ‘n’ roll two-hit wonders? Well, it took me a while, but I found several two-hit wonders. Lists of two-hit wonders are so scarce that all genres of music are grouped into the same lists while lists of rock ‘n’ roll one-hit wonders are common. In fact, the songs listed above were all on one of those lists.
The below list is based on three lists of two-hit wonders compiled by Rolling Stone magazine, Beat, and a business website called Business Insider. Business Insider? Yeah, I told you two-hit wonder lists were rare. Many of the artists on the lists I found sing non-rock ‘n’ roll songs, but I made every effort to include singers who also perform rock ‘n’ roll music. Nevertheless, the below list doesn’t include several singers who were on the above lists including Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, Tone-Loc, Dido, Dream, Janis Ian, and Young M.C. because they didn’t sing rock.
In the music industry, a song is a hit when it makes the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The below two-hit wonder list is in chronological order based on the year of the performer’s first hit song and includes the performer and both of the performer’s hit songs. The second song was often a hit in a different year than the first song. Each song’s Billboard Hot 100 ranking is in parenthesis.
CHRIS’ LIST OF ROCK’S TWO-HIT WONDERS
? and the Mysterians: “96 Tears” (No. 1); “I Need Somebody” (22)
The Left Banke: “Walk Away Renee” (5); “Pretty Ballerina” (15)
Golden Earring: “Radar Love” (13); “Twilight Zone” (10) . These are my favorite two.
Blue Oyster Cult ” (Don’t Fear) The Reaper” (12); “Burnn’ for You” (40)
Quiet Riot: “Bang Your Head” (31); “Cum on Feel the Noize” (5)
Men Without Hats: “The Safety Dance” (3); “Pop Goes the World” (20)
Dead or Alive: “You Spin Me Round” (11); “Brand New Lover” (15)
Animotion: “Obsession” (6); “Room to Move” (9)
General Public: “Tenderness” (27); “I’ll Take You There” (22)
A-ha: “Take on Me” (1); “The Sun Always Shines on TV” (20)
Cutting Crew: “Died In Your Arms” (1); “I’ve Been In Love Before” (9)
Tesla: “Love Song” (10); “Signs” (8)
Jesus Jones: “Right Here, Right Now” (2); “Real, Real, Real” (4)
The Rembrandts: “Just the Way It Is, Baby” (14); “I’ll Be There for You” (17)
Ugly Kid Joe: “Everything About You” (9); “Cat’s in the Cradle” (6)
Paula Cole: “Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?” (8); “I Don’t Want to Wait” (11)
Five For Fighting: “Superman” (14); “100 Years” (28)
KT Tunstall: “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” (20); “Suddenly I See” (21)
3OH!3: “Don’t Trust Me” (7); “My First Kiss” (9)
Owl City: “Fireflies” (1); “Good Time” (18)
The musicians on my list produced four No. 1 hits — “96 Tears” by ? and the Mysterians, “Take on Me” by A-ha, “Died In Your Arms” by Cutting Crew, and “Fireflies” by Owl City. It seems remarkable that a musician who produced a No. 1 hit could only produce one more song that was ranked as a hit, but several musicians who had a No. 1 hit never produced even one more hit.
So what song that was sung by a two-hit wonder are you singing now that you have read my list? You are welcome to tell me — and give me feedback on this article — ROCK ON!
Previous articleStonewall Jackson Reform School
Next articleSeparation of Church and State: Fact or Fiction?
Is Queens University Haunted?
Eddie Van Halen Is the Best There Ever Was.
He Stopped Loving Her Today…The greatest country and western song ever written.
Friday 13th…Fact or Fiction?
It’s Time To get Your Spooky On!
Ring doorbell footage
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT9
Unexplained5
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Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying's Regular Press Conference on January 7, 2021
CCTV: State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi just ended his visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. What do you think is the most important outcome or highlight of this visit?
Hua Chunying: State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi just wrapped up his successful visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He met with President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo and held talks with Foreign Minister Marie Tumba Nzeza, and the two foreign ministers jointly met the press. Relevant press release has been issued.
China and the DRC are friends for each other, and mutual understanding, mutual support and mutual trust makes the foundation for a sound, steadily growing China-DRC relationship. In the depths of China's fight against COVID-19, President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo sent message of condolence to the Chinese side twice. China also extended its helping hand to the DRC. In the first 10 months of last year, trade between the two countries grew by 34.4% year on year despite the impact of COVID-19. China-funded construction of the Cultural and Artistic Center for Central Africa in Kinshasa is also progressing smoothly amid the epidemic. It is worth mentioning that a MoU on BRI cooperation was signed between the two governments, increasing the number of African countries inking BRI cooperation documents with China to 45 from 44. This good news sends a positive signal to the outside world that China and the DRC are firmly committed to common development and prosperity, which will boost closer cooperation between the economic sectors in the two countries.
China congratulates the DRC on its forthcoming rotating chairmanship of the African Union (AU) and supports the DRC in performing its duties. China stands ready to strengthen coordination with the DRC to ensure the FOCAC summit this year will achieve fruitful outcomes.
AFP: A woman was shot dead during the storming of the U.S. Capitol and three others died after suffering medical emergencies. Does the Chinese foreign ministry have any comments on the violence that has taken place? Separately, what are the ministry's comments on some people in the country comparing Washington's riots with the unrest in Hong Kong? Some have described it as "a beautiful sight".
Hua Chunying: We have noted what's now unfolding in the United State. We believe that people in the United States certainly hope for an early return of normal order.
You mentioned that four people were reportedly killed in this incident, and you also described some reactions from the Chinese netizens. I would also like to share some of my thoughts with you.
First, the Chinese people have the right and freedom to make their opinions and comments online. I believe that for many people, seeing those scenes in the United States has brought back a sense of deja vu, though they brought out some quite different reactions from certain people in the United States, including from some media.
You mentioned the unrest in Hong Kong. In July 2019, radical and violent protesters in Hong Kong broke into the Legislative Council, ransacking the main chamber, smashing facilities, tossing toxic liquid and powder at police officers, and even biting off one police officer's finger and stabbing another. But the Hong Kong police showed maximum restraint and professionalism and no protester ended in death. However, as you mentioned, there are already four deaths in Washington of which the situation is less violent and destructive than that in Hong Kong.
If you still remember how some U.S. officials, lawmakers and media described what's happened in Hong Kong, you can compare that with the words they've used to describe the scenes in Capitol Hill. I made a note of some words they used. They all condemned it as "a violent incident" and the people involved as "rioters", "extremists" and "thugs" who brought "disgrace". Now compare that with what the Hong Kong violent protesters were called, like "a beautiful sight" you brought up and "democratic heroes". They said that "American people stand with them".
What's the reason for such a stark difference in the choice of words? Everyone needs to seriously think about it and do some soul-searching on the reason.
We believe that the American people still cherish peace and safety, especially when they are still struggling with a difficult pandemic situation. We hope that they will have their peace, stability and safety back as soon as possible.
Besides, I noticed that the spokesperson of the bureau of international exchanges of the China Media Group issued a statement saying that many news outlets, including a Chinese one, were attacked by demonstrators at their usual live positions outside Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Our thoughts are with the reporters out there and we call on the U.S. side to take necessary measures to safeguard journalists' safety.
China Review News: British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on January 6 that the recent arrest of politicians and activists in Hong Kong is a grievous attack on Hong Kong's rights and freedoms as protected under the Sino-British Joint Declaration. Do you have a comment?
Hua Chunying: The Liaison Office of the Central Government in the Hong Kong SAR and the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong SAR have released statements on the lawful arrest by the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF). Those arrested are suspected of attempting to subvert the state power as set out in Article 22 of the Law on Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong. China upholds rule of law and its Hong Kong SAR does the same. We firmly support the HKPF in fulfilling its duties in accordance with law to safeguard national security and Hong Kong's security and stability. The Chinese side has lodged stern representations with the British side over the remarks of Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.
The core element of the Sino-British Joint Declaration is China's resumption of sovereignty over Hong Kong. The document does not accord the British side any right to interfere in Hong Kong's affairs. After Hong Kong's return, the Chinese government started administering it in accordance with the Constitution of the People's Republic of China and the Basic Law of the Hong Kong SAR, not the Sino-British Joint Declaration.
During the British colonial rule over Hong Kong, were the people granted any rights or freedoms? As a matter of fact, when ratifying the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1976, the British government made a reservation not to apply to Hong Kong the periodic elections provisions. Both the Public Order Ordinance and the Societies Ordinance during the British rule imposed draconian restrictions on assembly, procession and association in Hong Kong. It was only after Hong Kong's return and the faithful implementation of "one country, two systems" and Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong with a high degree of autonomy that the residents came to enjoy unprecedented democratic rights and freedoms. This is an undeniable fact for anyone without bias.
Hong Kong is part of China and its affairs are entirely China's domestic affairs. The United Kingdom should let go of its colonial mindset, give up its illusion of retaining colonial influence in Hong Kong, cut out the hypocrisy and double standards, earnestly respect China's sovereignty and immediately stop meddling in Hong Kong affairs and interfering in China's internal affairs in any form.
Global Times: U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo said in a statement that the 50-plus people arrested by the Hong Kong police should be released immediately and unconditionally. He also said that the United States will consider sanctions and other restrictions on any and all individuals and entities involved in executing this assault on the Hong Kong people, explore restrictions against the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in the United States, and take additional immediate actions against officials who have undermined Hong Kong's democratic processes. The United States will not stand idly by while the people of Hong Kong suffer under Communist oppression. In that vein, he announced the upcoming visit of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft to Taiwan. Does China have any comment?
Hua Chunying: Pompeo's statement gravely runs counter to basic norms of international relations, interferes in China's domestic affairs and judicial sovereignty, and violates the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués. China rejects and condemns it.
There is only one China in the world and the Taiwan region is an inalienable part of China's territory. The Government of the PRC is the sole legal government representing China. This is a fact recognized by the international community. The United States made an explicit commitment on this in the Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations, China firmly opposes any forms of official exchange between the United States and the Taiwan region. This position is consistent and clear.
Hong Kong is a society with rule of law where all is equal before the law and no extrajudicial privilege exists. Laws must be complied with and offences must be prosecuted. This is the basic connotation of rule of law. We firmly support relevant authorities of the Hong Kong SAR in cracking down on criminal offenses according to law. We stand firmly against interference in Hong Kong affairs and disruption of Hong Kong's rule of law by any country, organization or individual in any means.
For some time, a handful of anti-China politicians within the Trump administration have been staging a show of madness as their days at the rein are numbered, stopping at nothing to deliberately sabotage China-US relations for selfish political interests. Such ploys go against the trend of history and the friendly sentiment of both peoples and are bound to be punished by history.
We urge the United States to immediately stop meddling in China's internal affairs, harming Chinese interests and undermining bilateral relations. China will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard its sovereignty and security interests. The U.S. side shall pay a heavy price for its erroneous actions.
I also noticed that Pompeo called what happened at Congress unacceptable. Did he find the violent storming of Hong Kong's Legislative Council acceptable? He said he wanted to free the people of Hong Kong from the CPC's oppression. I hope he will open his eyes and see how the people in Hong Kong and the rest of China are leading perfectly happy lives. From Pompeo we did have learned a lot and we are actually grateful for that. Thanks to him, we Chinese people cherish our life and love our motherland more, and are more convinced in the decisions we've made and path we've taken.
I've also noticed American media's coverage of an opinion piece that says "There is not enough space in this newspaper to chronicle all of Pompeo's falsehoods." There is a post circulating on Chinese social media that jests "If the United States saw what the United States is doing in the United States, the United States would invade the United States to liberate the United States from the tyranny of the United States." In that vein, shouldn't Mr. Pompeo consider applying some sanctions on himself?
Sky News: Various Chinese officials including very senior Chinese officials have suggested that COVID-19 may have originated outside China. Does the Chinese government agree that the most likely country where COVID-19 originated is still China?
Hua Chunying: You are clear with the Chinese government's position. The Chinese government respects science and truth rather than lying around for political motivations, like some people else. We always believe that origin-tracing, as a serious scientific matter, should be carried out by scientists in a meticulous and thorough way so that truth and facts will be established. This has been the Chinese government's consistent and formal position.
Just like you could see from multiple media or reports, the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in various places around the world in the second half year of 2019, and the time of first case reported is constantly updated. This, I believe, will in turn provide more clues to scientists. So we give full support to the expert team, led by WHO, to trace the origin across borders through scientific research, in the hope to find out the truth as soon as possible so that we could better address similar public health emergencies in the future.
Regarding this issue, I think all countries should show greater solidarity and cooperation, keep sober-minded and respect science and truth.
Beijing Daily: Regarding the delays in arrival to China of the WHO expert team, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Japanese Chief of Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said they hope China will agree to the WHO panel's arrival to China for scientific investigation on COVID-19 origins as soon as possible. Do you have any comment?
Hua Chunying: I responded to this question yesterday. According to what I've learned from the Chinese competent health authorities, China is in negotiations with WHO on the international expert team's travel to China for cooperation on COVID-19 origin-tracing.
I want to stress that tracing the origin of the virus is a scientific matter that should be studied by scientists worldwide in collaboration. The WHO team's visit to China upon invitation is part of scientific cooperation on origin-tracing between scientists of the two sides. The purpose is to prevent and better respond to similar public health crises that may occur in the future. China always adopts a positive attitude towards this.
We have noted that some people made irresponsible remarks, against which I think we must stay highly vigilant. Taking origin-tracing as a means for political manipulation, grandstanding and hyping-up will only disrupt normal international cooperation on the matter. This is the last thing we want to see and also unacceptable to the international community.
Kyodo News Agency: According to Taiwanese media reports, the United States and Taiwan held a political military dialogue today. Do you have any comment on this?
Hua Chunying: I responded to a similar question yesterday. China's position on the exchange between the United States and the Taiwan region is clear and consistent. We urge the U.S. side to abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués, and refrain from further undercutting China-U.S. mutual trust and causing more damages to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and China-US relations. The Chinese side has lodged stern representations to the U.S. side.
AFP: This is regarding the Hong Kong issue again. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also said that he was appalled over the arrest of an American citizen. We wanted to know if the foreign ministry had any specific response on that front. And also, there has been international criticism over the arrests in Hong Kong with western nations accusing Hong Kong authorities of grave repression and grave attacks on freedoms promised under the "one country, two systems" setup. We're wondering if you could further comment on this front as well?
Hua Chunying: I think I already responded to that just now. Hong Kong is a society under the rule of law where nobody enjoys extrajudicial privileges. We support the Hong Kong police in handling matters in accordance with law. You mentioned that there are criticisms from members of the international community, but I wonder how many are them, if you can list? You mentioned several western countries. They cannot represent the international community.
The nature of what happened in Hong Kong is very clear. With such a similar scenario unfolding, I would like to ask these western countries, what have they said and done about what's happening in the United States? On the issue of human rights, democracy and freedom, double standard should be discarded. I hope the relevant countries can think about this and learn real lessons from it.
Reuters: According to a Reuters report, the U.S. is considering adding Alibaba and Tencent to a blacklist of firms allegedly controlled by China's military. Do you have any comment on that report?
Hua Chunying: I have talked about China's position on this many times. What you just described simply shows once again that the United States has been pinning political and ideological labels on economic and trade issues and exploiting its state power to crack down on foreign companies, under the pretext of national security. When it comes to applying double standard and acting double-faced on issues of market economy and fair competition, the United States can be such a hypocrite.
The U.S. side has turned its back on international trade rules, fair competition, and normal market order, which hurts the legitimate rights and interests of not only the Chinese companies but also American consumers and those in other countries. Global investors will certainly feel less inclined to invest in such a business environment. What stands to lose is the national interest, credibility and reputation of the United States. China will take necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of the Chinese companies and also support them in defending their rights and interests in accordance with law.
Reuters: The New York Stock Exchange says again on Wednesday it will de-list three Chinese telecom companies. Do you have any comment on this action?
Hua Chunying: I have talked about China's position on this many times. Many media have commented on the flip-flop behavior of the NYSE. As commented by the Nikkei News, another U-turn in its flip-flop saga is seeding chaos in the capital market. One commentator said that the intent was to penalize these companies and the Chinese government, but the problem is that it ends up penalizing U.S.-based investors.
China's stance on this issue is very clear. The United States will only end up hurting its own interests, credibility and image. The global status of the U.S. capital market and people's confidence in it will also be eroded. The Chinese side will take necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese companies.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying's Regular Press Conference on January 6, 2021 (2021-01-06)
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Djokovic Picks Up Fourth Wimbledon Trophy
Tags: All England Club, Anderson, ATP, Australian Open, Djokovic, Federer, French Open, Isner, Miami Open, Nadal, Sampras, U.S. Open, Vjada, Wimbledon
Novak Djokovic dispatched Kevin Anderson 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 in the Wimbledon finals in order to acquire his 4th major at that the All England Club.
At the beginning of this fortnight, it’s unlikely that the odds maker had the South African on their radar. Anderson, the 2017 U.S. Open runner up, shocked Roger Federer in the quarterfinals. Never previously winning a set in their four prior meetings, he overcame a 0-2 set deficit, match point, to prevail 13-11 in the fifth, in a match lasting 4 hour and 14 minute. Two days later, clashing with John Isner, a player no stranger to marathon matches, Anderson outlasted the American 26-24 in the decisive set, he was on court for 6 hour and 36 minute. Djokovic for his part endured a 5 hour 15 minute tussle with Rafael Nadal in the semifinals over two days edging the Spaniard 10-8 in the fifth. Would fatigue be a factor as Anderson attempted to elevate his status not only to the first South African to get to the last dance, but to that of victor at this venue?
The two competitors had met 6 times before. The South African’s sole win was at the Miami Open in 2008. Anderson’s inability to connect on his most valuable asset the serve, gave Djokovic the initial game as the South African double faulted. Swiftly with another errant forehand by Anderson, Djokovic consolidated for 2-0. Later, with Anderson dumping a backhand volley into the net, Djokovic capitalized on another break point and with a love game padded his lead to 5-1. With this insurmountable advantage, Djokovic eventually captured the set.
Concern over his right elbow prompted Anderson to call the trainer for treatment, however, this was not sufficient to slow down Djokovic. A backhand miscue handed Djokovic breakpoint in the opening game. In a carbon copy of the first set, the Serb cashed in and after a hold jumped in front 2-0. Down the road, a double fault by Anderson gifted Djokovic 15-40. With the South African’s forehand up the line landing wide, Djokovic moved ahead 4-1. Serving for the set at 5-2, Djokovic’s stroke misfired off a tremendous return by his opponent. Yet, Anderson failed to convert on his first break opportunity. Djokovic went on to pocket the second set.
In the third set, with time his adversary, Anderson changed tactics slightly by coming to the net more frequently. In the eight game, a let court allowed the South African to control the point and get a break chance. However, with his backhand traveling long, Djokovic arrived at deuce and ultimately leveled the score at 4-4. The Serbian stared down two set points in his next service game. After a love hold by Anderson for 6-5, his best window to take the set came with Djokovic’s forehand down the line flub giving him 15-40. Still it was a no go. A third break point was swiftly dismissed by Djokovic. Soon with an ace, the score was 6-6. In the tiebreaker, Djokovic curled a forehand up the line pass for a winner for 3-1. Then, with Anderson’s backhand volley missing it’s target, the Serb sprinted to a 5-1 edge. With Anderson’s return finding the net, Djokovic sealed the deal at 7-3.
Anderson drove as hard as he could to make the match competitive “first and second sets, Novak beat up on me pretty bad. The whole fortnight I tried my best to keep at it, came a point or two from pushing it to the fourth set. It would have been great to play longer here. But playing against Novak isn’t easy. He is a true champion of our sport and congratulation to him.” Commenting on his physical condition, Anderson said “I am definitely not as fresh now as I was coming into the week. But this is such an amazing tournament for us players. We dedicate our whole lives to fight for a spot to be on this court. . . there’s only been a few individuals who’ve made it out here, so that’s what it takes for me to get to here, I would have given another 21 hours. It really meant a lot to me.”
After a 2 year drought, Djokovic has his 13th major “It feels amazing [to be holding the trophy] because for the first time I have someone screaming daddy, daddy. . . I’m very emotional. . . I want to congratulate Kevin and his team. . . In his first Wimbledon final, he didn’t play his best for two sets, but in the third, he was the better player. I was quite lucky to get through ”
Following his career grand slam achievement in 2016 at the French Open, Djokovic hit a dirt patch with only two titles in 2017. A round of 16 exit at the Australian Open this year finally convinced him that a niggling elbow issue could not be fixed with rehab, he underwent surgery. In addition, returning to familiar roots, coach Marian Vjada, considering today’s outcome was his most astute decision. Djokovic cited “I had to trust the process. . . I owe a great thanks to my team, last couple of years it hasn’t been easy. With a severe injury, I had many moments of doubt and did not know whether I could come back to a level to compete. . . No better place in the world to make a comeback, it’s a sacred place for the world of tennis”
When the new rankings are revealed, Djokovic will rejoin the top 10 from his current position at 21. While Anderson crack the top 5 for the first time from his spot at 8.
« Kerber Stymies Serena for Maiden Wimbledon Title
Osaka Gives Japan Maiden Major by Upending Serena in the U.S. Open Final »
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Revision as of 12:12, 10 July 2018 by Lkfitz (Talk | contribs) (→July)
This list is part of the Open Access Directory.
This is a section within the larger list of OA-related Events:
2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009 - 2010 - 2011 - 2012 - 2013 - 2014 - 2015 - 2016 - 2017 - 2018 - 2019
Chronological order.
For real-time updates, some not yet reflected here, follow the oa.events tag of the Open Access Tracking Project. (This tag library is crowd-sourced, and you can make it more comprehensive by taking part in OATP.)
Making the Most of Humanities Commons. January 2, 2018.
Citizen Science and Open Science - Synergies and Instruments. Brussels, Belgium, January 3, 2018.
Varieties of Digital Humanities, MLA 2018. New York, New York, January 5, 2018.
Faculty Open Access Policy Drop In. Indiana University, January 9, 2018.
Open Access Publishing/Creative Commons/eScholarship Workshop. University of California, Merced, January 10, 2018.
OER Mini-Grant Program Webinar. Online, January 10 - 12, 2018.
Wikipedia:Meetup/Black Lunch Table. Triangle Arts Association, New York City, January 11, 2018.
Open Access in Practice. University of Malta, January 12, 2018.
TU Delft Open Science Symposium. Delft, Netherlands, January 12, 2018.
Delhi Hindi Wiki Conference 2018. India, January 12-14, 2018.
Wikipedia Day 2018 NYC. New York, New York, January 14, 2018.
Talk by Dr. Ruben Aslan. Kobenhavns Universitet, January 15, 2018.
Վիքիպեդիան դառնում է 17 տարեկան (English Translation: Wikipedia is 17 years old). Yerevan, Armenia, January 15, 2018.
Open Knowledge Edinburgh Meet-up. Edinburgh, Scotland, January 15, 2018.
Open Education for a better world. Online course. January 15 to July 7, 2018.
OER-Tage 2018. Dresden, Germany, January 15 - 18, 2018.
UCL Press- Open Access Megajournal platform launch. London, UK, January 16, 2018.
Academic Publishing in Europe (APE 2018). Berlin, Germany, January 16 - 17, 2018.
ScholComm 2018. University of Maine, USA, January 17, 2018.
DataFest, Harvard University, USA, January 17-18, 2018.
Open science meet-up by Pluto. Seoul, South Korea, January 17, 2018.
OpenAIRE-Advance Kick Off. Athens, Greece, January 17-19, 2018.
Research Data Management for All?. Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Glasgow, UK, January 18, 2018.
Building your own course with Open Educational Resources. Online, January 18, 2018.
Open Textbook Workshop. Virginia Commonwealth University. Richmond, Virginia, January 19, 2018.
The Future of Knowledge and the Academic Library Ecosystem, ROALER 2018 Conference. Bhopal, India, January 19, 2018.
عيد ميلاد ويكيبيديا (English Translation: Birthday Wikipedia). Cairo, Egypt, January 19, 2018.
Leading Ladies: Wikipedia Edit-a-thon. Auckland, New Zealand, January 21, 2018.
Open Access-Regelung des SNF (info session). ETH Hönggerberg, Switzerland, January 22, 2018.
Cataloguing Open Access Classics Serials. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany, January 22, 2018.
Funding opportunities for final year PhD candidates, postdocs, and senior scientists. Zurich, Switzerland, January 22, 2018.
7es Journées Science Ouverte Couperin. Paris, France, January 22 - 24, 2018.
Journées sur l’éducation ouverte et le numérique. Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 22-24, 2018.
Putting the European Open Science Cloud vision into practice. Porto, Portugal, January 22 - 25, 2018.
PIDapalooza. Girona, Spain, January 23-24, 2018.
Open Education that Opens a Door to the Library. University of North Carolina, January 25, 2018.
Reproducibility Workshop: Best practices and easy steps to save time for yourself and other researchers. California Institute of Technology, January 25, 2018.
HathiTrust Research Center (HTRC) UnCamp 2018. University of California, January 25 - 26, 2018.
Open access scholarship at the CRBLM: increasing and demonstrating impact. McGill University, January 26, 2018.
Open Source Body. Paris, France, January 26 - 27, 2018.
Open Food Data Hackdays. École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, January 27 - 28, 2018.
Wikidata Edit-a-thon. Buea, Cameroon, January 27 - February 17, 2018.
ICOERP 2018: 20th International Conference on Open Educational Resources and Practices. Sydney, Australia, January 29 - 30, 2018.
RDA EU Data Innovation Forum. Brussels, Belgium, January 30, 2018.
Open Science: A New Genealogy. Toronto, Canada, January 31, 2018.
Copyright and Fair Use. Northeastern University, Boston, Wednesday, January 31, 2018.
Webinar zu Open Access. Online, January 31, 2018.
Open Science for Health: Shaping the New Framework Programme. Brussels, Belgium, January 31, 2018.
Offline Internet Summit. Arizona State University, Tempe, January 31-February 1, 2018.
Open Data Science: Challenges and Opportunities for Europe. Brussels, Belgium, January 31, 2018.
Ethical aspects of Open Access: A Windy Road. Brussels, Belgium, February 1, 2018.
Open Science Demo Call. Online, February 1, 2018.
Using the Institutional Repository to Preserve, Share and Promote Your Scholarly and Creative Work. University of Alabama, February 1, 2018.
Introduction to Open Research (for PhD students in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences). University of Cambridge, UK, February 1, 2018.
Trends in Scholarship & Research. Texas State University, February 1, 2018.
Austrian Citizen Science Conference. Salzburg, Austria, February 1 - 3, 2018.
Practical OER: State University of New York Librarians Association Midwinter Virtual Conference. New York, February 2, 2018.
Past, Present, and Future of the Digital Public Library of America. Harvard University, February 2, 2018.
OpenCon New Delhi. Acharya Narendra Dev College, February 3, 2018.
OER Super Meetup. Cologne, Germany, February 5, 2018.
Showcasing your Graduate Research in UBC's Open Access Digital Repository: Help with Copyright and More. University of British Columbia, February 6, 2018.
Copyright & Open Access in Scholarly Communication. Georgia Tech, February 7, 2018.
OER Summit. Miramar Beach, Florida, February 7 - 8, 2018.
Transparency, Recognition, and Innovation in Peer Review in the Life Sciences. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Maryland, February 7-9, 2018.
Professional & Scholarly Publishing (PSP) Conference. Association of American Publishers, Washington DC, February 7-9, 2018.
The turning tide: A new culture of responsible metrics for research. London, UK, February 8, 2018.
LibOER Meetup at American Library Association Midwinter. USA, February 9, 2018.
HackaLOD. Amsterdam, Netherlands, February 9-10, 2018.
Open Educational Resources Regional Meeting. American River College, California, February 10, 2018.
Our Own Worst Enemy: Toward a More Inclusive Scholarly Communications Movement. Denver, Colorado, February 10, 2018.
ACRL/SPARC Forum, American Library Association Midwinter conference. Colorado, February 10, 2018.
Mark Hahnel & Daniel Hook on startups in the Open Science space. Bucharest, Romania, February 12, 2018.
FOSTER Book Sprint. Hannover, Germany, February 12 - 16, 2018.
Workshop: The adoption accelerator for reuse of open educational material. Office SURF, Utrecht. February 13, 2018.
Building and integrating open educational resources to support your teaching and learning. Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, February 13, 2018.
Open Space: The Global Effort for Open Access to Environmental Satellite Data. Washington, D.C., February 13, 2018.
Open Access Anniversary Event. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. February 13, 2018.
Sharing Policies: IR's, Author's Manuscript vs PrePrint vs Version of Record. Society for Scholarly Publishing, online, February 13, 2018.
OpenCon Librarian Community Call. Online, February 13, 2018.
University Press Redux Conference 2018. London, UK, February 13 - 14, 2018.
Open Education Initiative Information Sessions. University of North Carolina at Greensboro, February 13-14, 2018.
Love Data Week. University of California, Irvine, February 13-15, 2018.
Code4Lib conference. Washington DC, February 13-16, 2018.
EMBL-EBI workshop: European Variation Archive. University of Cambridge, February 15, 2018.
Boost the Value of Your Digital Collections. Helsinki, Finland, February 15, 2018.
Reproducible Research, Open Science & Digital Scholarship: Learn to Write Scientific Paper of the Future. University of Southern California, February 15, 2018.
Digital Scholarship Colloquium. Florida State University, Tallahassee, February 15, 2018.
Making fair use of copyrighted work with the Authors Alliance. University of California, Davis, February 15, 2018.
Exploring Perspectives on Open Science and Impacts on Scientific Discovery. Austin, Texas, February 16, 2018.
Open Food Hackdays. Markthalle, Basel, Switzerland, February 16-17, 2018.
LOVE OER Month. Southeast Missouri State University, USA, February 16-28, 2018.
Dall'open Access All'open Science. Università di Salerno, Italy, February 19, 2018.
International Digital Curation Conference. Barcelona, Spain, February 19-22, 2018.
OA briefing. Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, February 20, 2018.
Next steps for delivering open access. Westminster Higher Education Forum, London, February 20, 2018.
Open Access and Research into History: Issues of Copyright. Boston University, USA, February 20, 2018.
Publish Digital Books and Open Educational Resources with Pressbooks. University of California, February 20, 2018.
A Peek Inside Open Source Communities: An Open Panel Discussion. Online, February 21, 2018.
Barriers to Open Textbook Adoption: Common Questions and Concerns Explained. Online, February 21, 2018.
Wikipedia/Women in Medicine editathon. University of Edinburgh, UK, February 22 2018.
Community call: Open-source technology development for publishing. Online, February 22, 2018.
Open Access Publishing. University of London, February 22, 2018.
Open Science Demo Call. Online, February 22, 2018.
Introducing NC Open Pass: Community Impact, Open Data & Cash Prizes. North Carolina State University, February 22, 2018.
Microsoft Power BI. Online, February 22, 2018.
Opportunities for Open Educational Resources (OERs) to Support Instruction, State University of New York. Online, February 22, 2018.
World Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit. London, February 23-25, 2018.
2nd Open Science Meet-up. Pohang, South Korea, February 24, 2018.
Making cultural heritage digitally accessible. Paris. February 25 to March 3rd, 2018.
AlimenData. Bogota, Colombia, February 25 - March 3, 2018.
Researcher to Reader Conference. London, UK, February 26 - 27, 2018.
IPR, Data management and Open-Access plans for your EU-funded project. Madrid, Spain, February 27, 2018.
Making the Case for Textbook Affordability: Using Open Educational Resource Textbooks. Abilene Christian University, USA, February 27, 2018.
What Can Be Done to Protect Endangered Government Data? Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, Washington, DC, February 27, 2018.
Open access workshop. Nairobi, Kenya, February 28, 2018.
Opne-data-treff. Oslo, Norway, February 28, 2018.
Data-a-thon for Journalists. Nepal, February 28, 2018.
Library as Publisher – New Models of Scholarly Communication for a New Era. Charleston Library Conference, Online, February 28, 2018.
eInfraCentral Introductory Sessions (European Open Science Cloud). Online, various dates starting February 28, 2018.
NFAIS 2018 Annual Conference. Alexandria, Virginia, February 28 - March 2, 2018.
Transforming a Backward Business Model in a Fast Forward World. National Federation of Advanced Information Services conference, Alexandria, Virginia, March 1, 2018.
Two Librarians Tackle Copyright and Fair Use: PANE, TEACH, IP, CC, OER Hike!. Abilene Christian University, USA, March 1, 2018.
FNR Open Access Info Session. Maison du Savoir, Luxembourg, March 1, 2018.
Mind the Gap: Ensuring Sustained Access to Government Data. Johns Hopkins University, March 1, 2018.
Open Data Day 2018. Helsinki, March 1-3, 2018.
Open Data Day. IT-Universitetet, Copenhagen, March 2, 2018.
OpenStreetMap Training. Institute of Rural Development Planning, Mwanza, Tanzania, March 2, 2018.
Open Data Day Maceió. Estácio de Alagoas, Maceió, Brazil, March 2-3, 2018.
Open Data Day. March 3, 2018.
iWatch Africa: 2018 International Open Data Day. Accra, Ghana, March 3, 2018.
Open Data Day 2018 Lagos. University of Lagos, March 3, 2018.
Open Data Day, Philippines, March 3, 2018.
OpenCon 2018 Addis Ababa. Addis Ababa University, March 4, 2018.
Open Data Day Nepal 2018. Patan, Nepal, March 3, 2018.
Open Data Day Bonn 2018. Bonn, Germany, March 3, 2018.
Open Data Day 2018. Cologne, Germany, March 3, 2018.
Open Data Day 2018. Heilbronn, Germany, March 3, 2018.
Open Data Day 2018. Dusseldorf, Germany, March 3, 2018.
Open Data Day 2018. Jena, Germany, March 3, 2018.
Open Data Day 2018. Karlsruhe, Germany, March 3, 2018.
Open Data Day Hackathon 2018. Munich, Germany, March 3, 2018.
Open Data Day Berlin 2018. Berlin, Germany, March 3, 2018.
Open Data Day 2018. Stuttgart, Germany, March 3, 2018.
Open Data Day 2018 - Donne & Dati. Bologna, Italy, March 3, 2018.
Open Data Day. Honolulu, Hawaii, March 3, 2018.
EvidenceBase event. New York, March 3, 2018.
NYC Open Data Project Gallery Contest. USA, March 3 - May 1, 2018.
Mesa Redonda: Open Data. Barcelona, Spain, March 3, 2018.
Tag der Offenen Daten. Münster, Germany, March 3, 2018.
Day of Open Data in Chelyabinsk. Chelyabinsk, Russia, March 3, 2018.
Open Data Day. Brasilia and Salvador, Brazil, March 3, 2018.
Open Data Day. El Salvador, March 3, 2018.
Open Data Day Cambridge. UK, March 3, 2018.
День открытых данных (Open Data Day). центр «Благосфера» (Center Blagosfera), Moscow, Russia, March 3-4, 2018.
From Stumbling Blocks to Building Blocks: Scholarly Communication Essentials. Austin, Texas, March 4, 2018.
ICA Deep Dives: Wikipedia Edit-a-thon. Boston, MA, March 4, 2018.
Entities Extraction for Open Access Monographs (INRIA's NERD tool). Online, March 5, 2018.
Voices of OER. Ontario Council of University Libraries, online, March 5, 2018.
OpenCon Cleveland. USA, March 5, 2018.
Achieving Equity with Open Educational Resources, SXSW Edu. Austin, Texas, March 5, 2018.
Open Education Week. Open Education Consortium, online, March 5-9, 2018.
Open Education Week. University of Calgary, Canada, March 5-9, 2018.
Open Education Week. McMaster University, Canada, March 5-9, 2018.
Open Education Week. Illinois State University, March 5-9, 2018.
OER Week. Xavier University of Louisiana, March 5-9, 2018.
Open Access and "Predatory Publishing": Where Are We Now? Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA, March 6, 2018.
Open Your Textbook: Adopting, Adapting or Creating Your Own Open Textbook. Ryerson University, March 6, 2018.
Open Textbook Adoption: Student, Faculty and Librarian Perspectives. DePaul University, Chicago, March 6, 2018.
NARMAs varkonferanse 2018 - Open Science. Lillestrom, Norway, March 6 - 7, 2018.
National Conference on Open Data and Data Repositories. Cochin University of Science and Technology, India, March 6-8, 2018.
Open Access 2020 Transformation Workshop, Max Planck Digital Library, Munich, Germany, March 6-8, 2018.
Open Education for Teaching and Learning. Simon Fraser University, Canada, March 7, 2018.
SPARC Webcast: Collaborating Across Institutions to Advance Open Education. Ryerson University, March 7, 2018.
Let Your Work Be Seen: How You Can Advance Your Career with Open Access. University of Vermont, March 7, 2018.
Open Education Panel and Workshop. University of San Francisco, March 7, 2018.
Open Educational Resources. Western Illinois University, March 7, 2018.
DHN 2018. University of Helsinki, Finland, March 7 - 9, 2018.
Driving Student Success through Affordable Course Material Symposium. Indiana University Bloomington, USA, March 8, 2018.
Open Education Week. University of Hawaiʻi , March 8, 2018.
Colloquium on Scholarly Communication- Open Education. American University, Washington, D.C., March 8, 2018.
Open Education Symposium. Florida State University, March 8, 2018.
Open Education Week Textbook Table. Ryerson University, March 8, 2018.
How Did They Do That?: Use of Alternative Textbooks for Teaching and Learning. University of Kentucky, USA, March 8, 2018.
Finding and Sharing Open Educational Resources. Wageningen University, March 8, 2018.
Open Science: what’s in it for me? Circolo dei Lettori, Torino, Italy, March 8-9, 2018.
Quality and Affordability in Education conference. Gordon State College, Barnesville, Georgia, USA, March 8-9, 2018.
Workshop on Digital Libraries: Open Source Software for digital repositories. ICFAI University Nagaland, India, March 8 - 10, 2018.
#HEdigID Twitter chat. Online, March 9, 2018.
OER18 Open to All: Preview. Online, March 9, 2018.
Talking About Teaching - Open Educational Resources: The Wise and How. University of Lethbridge, Canada, March 9, 2018.
Smart Cities Challenge: HealthHack competition. Edmonton, Canada, March 9 and April 16, 2018
Open Textbook Library Review Workshop. University of Missouri, USA, March 9, 2018.
OEW-a-palooza. Ryerson University, March 9, 2018.
Open Education Week 24-hour Global Web-a-thon. Online, March 9 - 10, 2018.
Introduction to Open Access and Research Data Management. University of Liverpool, March 12, 2018.
Open Belgium conference. Louvain-la-Neuve, March 12, 2018.
Barcamp Open Science. Berlin, Germany, March 12, 2018.
OpenCon March 2018 Librarian Community Call. Online, March 13, 2018.
Open Science Conference 2018. Berlin, Germany, March 13 - 14, 2018.
VIVO and the Role of Librarians. Online, March 14, 2018.
Internet research workshop. Australian National University, Canberra, March 14, 2018.
OpenAIRE workshop. IET Birmingham, UK, March 15, 2018.
Open Data, ouverture des donnes publiques. Poitiers, France, March 16, 2018.
Boston Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon. Boston, MA, March 16, 2018.
WikiIndaba Conference. Tunis, Tunisia, March 16 - 18, 2018.
International Symposium on Grids and Clouds. Taipei, Taiwan, March 16 - 23, 2018.
Dundee Public Data Hack. University of Albertay, March 17 - March 18, 2018.
Getting Comfortable Working in the Open. Virginia Tech, March 19, 2018.
Grand Challenges in Information Science and Scholarly Communication. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, March 19 - 23, 2018.
Open Research Knowledge Graph workshop. TIB – Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology, Hanover, Germany, March 20, 2018.
Why Publishing Open Access? University of the Pacific, March 20, 2018.
Open Data & m-Government Masterclass. Dubai, UAE, March 21, 2018.
Open day on open science. DANS, Den Haag, Netherlands, March 21, 2018.
Valutazione della ricerca e servizi di identificazione/citazione: prospettive nelle scienze umane e sociali. Turin, Italy, March 21, 2018.
Research Data Alliance 11th Plenary Meeting. Berlin, March 21-23, 2018.
RDAP Summit 2018. Chicago, Illinois, March 21 - 23, 2018.
Twitter Chat – Editing and Publishing as Academic Labour. Online, March 23, 2018.
La premiazione del Contest Open Data. Sardegna, Italy, March 23, 2018.
iConference 2018. Sheffield, England, March 25 - 28, 2018.
Comparative International Education Society meeting. Mexico City, March 25-29, 2018.
Open Research: Rethinking Scientific Collaboration. Waterloo, Canada, March 26, 2018.
Panelbijeenkomst Open Science. Amsterdam, Netherlands, March 26, 2018.
Open Educational Resources 101. Duke University, North Carolina, March 26, 2018.
Adventures in Publishing: Homewood Researchers Share Experiences with New Publishing Models. Johns Hopkins University, USA, March 26, 2018.
Scientific African journal launch. Next Einstein Forum Global Gathering, Kigali, Rwanda, March 26, 2018.
E”ffordability Summit. University of Wisconsin, March 26-27, 2018.
Open Educational Resources workshop. University of Windsor, Canada, March 27, 2018.
Trends in Scholarly Communication OA and Data Management. University of Manitoba, Canada, March 27, 2018.
Open Education Resources at Pacific: Lowering Cost and Enhancing Success for Students. University of the Pacific, March 27, 2018.
OpenUP workshop on open peer review. Springer-Nature, London, March 27, 2018.
Open Science and Reproducibility Event. University of Groningen, March 27 - 28, 2018.
Open Educational Resources Grant Panel Discussion. Duke University, North Carolina, March 28, 2018.
Open Textbook Workshop. University of Delaware Library, USA, March 28, 2018.
Visualising Women: Trinity College Dublin Wikipedia Edit-a-thon. Trinity College Dublin, March 28, 2018.
Open Access Publishing and Embargoes. University of Texas, Austin, March 29, 2018.
The Modern IR: A Necessary Campus Investment. Online, March 29, 2018.
OER FAQ: Repurposing Library DIY. Portland State University, Oregon, USA, March 30, 2018.
2018 Art+Feminism Wikipedia edit-a-thon. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, March 30, 2018.
Practical Steps for Increasing Openness and Reproducibility. University of Arizona, March 30, 2018.
Open Science for Undruggable Targets. Kenyon College, Ohio, April 3, 2018.
Open Access Publishing & Avoiding Predatory Journal Publishers. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, April 3, 2018.
Using Open Textbooks in the Classroom. Temple University, Philadelphia, April 4, 2018.
Beyond APCs: alternative open access publishing business models. Royal Library, The Hague, Netherlands, April 5, 2018.
Advancing Open Science in the EU and the US. Wilson Center, Washington DC, April 5, 2018.
Open Access Task Force Forums. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), April 5, 2018.
Open Access Publishing Solutions for Librarians. Online, April 5, 2018.
Answering your research data management needs: Mendeley Data Launch. Online, April 5, 2018.
Setting Yourself Up for Success with Open Educational Resources. University of Nebraska, April 5, 2018.
Open data science tools and the Ocean Health Index. Moss Landing Marine Labs, California State Universities, USA, April 5, 2018.
OpenAIRE workshop Beyond APCs: Alternative Open Access Publishing Business Models. The Hague, Netherlands, April 5-6, 2018.
OpenStax Creator Fest. Houston, Texas, April 5-6, 2018.
Beyond Boundaries Annual Symposium. Yale University, April 6, 2018.
#OAHack: MIT Open Access Hackathon. Cambridge, Massachusetts, April 6 - 8, 2018.
Open Data Challenge. Delaware, USA, April 7 - May 8, 2018.
Open Access Monitoring. University of Vienna, Austria, April 9, 2018.
iMooX Online-Kurs zu Open Educational Resources. Austria, begins April 9, 2018.
GSF-NESTI Workshop on Reconciling Scientific Excellence and Open Science. OECD, Paris, April 9, 2018.
Assembleia Geral da Open Knowledge Brasil. San Paulo, Brazil, April 9, 2018.
Smallholder Farmers in the Age of Data-Driven Agriculture. Online, April 9, 2018.
UK Serials Group conference (includes OA-related sessions). Glasgow, UK, April 9-11, 2018.
Open Educational Resources workshop. University of Windsor, Canada, April 10, 2018.
OSGeo Townhall: Open Science Demystified. Vienna, Austria, April 10, 2018.
Collaboration & Community: The Transition to Open Access. 2018 London Book Fair. London, UK, April 10, 2018.
Open Data in a Closing World. National Geographic Society, Washington DC, April 11, 2018.
Dani E-Infrastrukture SRCE DEI 2018. Zagreb, Croatia, April 11, 2018.
Open Science Mensa Lunch. Berlin, Germany, April 11, 2018.
Blockchain for Open Science. Berlin, Germany, April 11, 2018.
Open Space: The Global Effort for Open Access to Environmental Satellite Data. Georgia Institute of Technology, USA, April 11, 2018.
Landscape of ‘Big Deal’ contracts across Europe: views from the university sector. Online, April 11, 2018.
Toward an Open Science and Open Access Scientific EULAC Relations. Online, April 10 - 12, 2018.
Does the digital revolution revolutionize access to knowledge? Geneva, Switzerland, April 12, 2018.
Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) Spring 2018 Membership Meeting. San Diego, California, April 12 - 13, 2018.
Open Education Colloquium. University of Rochester, USA, April 13, 2018.
Creative Commons Global Summit. Toronto, Canada, April 13 - 15, 2018.
Africa Open Science Hardware Summit. Kumasi, Ghana, April 13 - 15, 2018.
Understanding the UC Open Access Policies. University of California, Merced, April 16, 2018.
Wikimedia and Open Science. Barcelona, Spain, April 16, 2018.
EOSC-hub week. Malaga, Spain, April 16-20, 2018.
Fresh ideas to support community use of open data. Online, April 18, 2018.
Towards an Open Science and Open Access scientific EULAC relations (European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean Summit). Online, April 18, 2018.
OER18: Open to All. Bristol, UK, April 18 - 19, 2018.
Open Science Trainer Bootcamp. Barcelona, Spain, April 18 - 20, 2018.
REF Open Access Compliance Meeting. Manchester, UK, April 19, 2018.
EMBO SourceData – bridging scientific publishing and open science. Online, April 19, 2018 (rerun: April 25, 2018).
Partnership for OA (Érudit). Online, April 19, 2018.
DEFF Conference. Copenhagen, Denmark, April 19-20, 2018.
OA2020-DE transformation workshop for acquisition librarians. Bielefeld, Germany, April 19-20, 2018.
20th International Conference on Open Access and Repositories. New York, April 19-20, 2018.
Decentralised Data Infrastructure for Science. British Library, London, April 21–22, 2018.
Springer Nature Academic Book Week event. London, April 23, 2018.
Explore open access books: an Academic Book Week event for authors and researchers. London, UK, April 23, 2018.
Student Government Open Education Award. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, April 23, 2018.
Digital Initiatives Symposium. University of San Diego, USA, April 23 - 24, 2018.
Open Science Meetup Bali, Indonesia, April 23-29, 2018.
OPERAS meetings. Bonn, Germany, April 23-24, 2018.
Preparing your data and code for computationally reproducible publication. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, April 24, 2018.
Semantics, Analytics, Visualisation: Enhancing Scholarly Dissemination (SAVE-SD 2018). Lyon, France, April 24, 2018.
Researcher Centric Scholarly Communication conference session. Lyon, France, April 24, 2018.
Open Research Data to Support Sustainable Health Initiatives. Brussels, Belgium, April 24, 2018.
Webinar: Working with Student Assistants. Online, April 24, 2018.
Gestionarea datalor de cercetare. Chisinau, Moldova, April 24, 2018.
OE Global Conference 2018. Delft, Netherlands, April 24 - 26, 2018.
Athens Science Festival. Greece, April 24-29, 2018.
Open Data and Open Knowledge. Indian Institute of Management, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad. April 25, 2018.
Open Access Publishing in the Humanities. Online, April 25, 2018.
Analytics, Altmetrics, and Reuse: Twitter Chat. Online, April 25, 2018.
#ShareYourCode: Twitter chat. Online, 25 April, 2018.
Exploring Open Educational Resources through Blackboard. Springfield, Illinois, April 25, 2018.
Open Data Programme and Institutional Support for Open Data workshop. Mauritius, April 25, 27, 2018.
Fiesole Collection Development Retreat. Barcelona, Spain, April 25 - 27, 2018.
OER and Technology: Enhancing Student Learning and Engagement. Academic Resource Conference session, Burlingame, California, April 26, 2018.
Seminarul Stiintific "Open Science". Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova, April 26, 2018.
National Workshop OpenAIRE. Prague, Czech Republic, April 26, 2018.
ISSN conference: International Perspective on Open Access in Scholarly Communication: Achievements and Challenges. Paris, April 26, 2018.
Jornada de Acceso Abierto en H2020. Fundación madri+d, Spain, April 26, 2018.
Open Access Book Launch: New Technologies for Human Rights Law and Practice. Carnegie Mellon University, April 26, 2018.
Southern Miss Institutional Repository Conference. University of Southern Mississippi, April 26 - 27, 2018.
Open Seas, Open Science. University of Plymouth, UK, April 27, 2018.
Open Hack SF18. San Francisco State University, April 28 - 29, 2018.
3ème Colloque International sur le Libre Accès. Tunisia, April 30, 2018.
Conferència de John Willinsky, activist de l'Open Access i impulsor de Public Knowledge Project. Universitat de Gerona, April 30, 2018.
Open Source Software and Security. Canada School of Public Service, May 1, 2018.
Open Data Science Conference East. Boston, May 1-4, 2018.
Open Scholarship in Practice. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, May 2, 2018.
Queen's University Data Day. Queen's University, May 2, 2018.
Adopting Open Educational Resources and Digitisation of Learning. Modern College of Business & Science, Oman, May 2, 2018.[1]
#LTHEchat. Online, May 2, 2018.
British Psychological Society Annual Conference 2018 - Moving Psychology Forward. University of Nottingham, May 2 - 4, 2018.
Power of Open: Designing for Affordable Learning. Cleveland State University, USA, May 3, 2018.
Open Access Update 2018. Online, May 3, 2018.
Open Access in the Global South: Perspectives from the Open and Collaborative Science in Development Network. Online, May 3, 2018.
Creative Commons Certificate webinar. Online, May 3, 3018.
Tri-Agency Open Access Policy – Information Session. University of Calgary, Canada, May 3, 2018.
Open Knowledge Summit. Thessaloniki, Greece, May 3 - 6, 2018.
The Labor of Open: The Impact of OER and Scholarly Communications on CUNY Libraries. New York, May 4, 2018.
ACRL Scholarly Communication RoadShow. Champaign, Illinois, May 4, 2018.
Unlocking the Power of Open Data. Blanchard Community Library, Santa Paula, California, May 5, 12, 19, 26, 2018.
Open Education Summit. St Clair Centre for the Arts, Canada, May 7, 2018.
Open Knowledge Edinburgh. Edinburgh Napier University, May 7, 2018.
Open Data and Data literacy training. Madagascar, May 7 - 12, 2018.
Harvesting Innovation. Milan, Italy, May 8, 2018.
Open Research. Université d'Abomey-Calavi, Benin, May 8, 2018.
OpenAIRE Webinar: OA to Publications in H2020. Online, May 8, 2018.
Nubian Studies: A Case Study in Scholar-Led Open Access Publishing. University of California, Santa Barbara, May 8, 2018.
Introduction to Open Research in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. University of Cambridge, UK, May 9, 2018.
Open Science Mensa Lunch. Berlin, Germany, May 9, 2018.
Mini-symposium on Reproducibility. Boston, Massachusetts, May 9, 2018.
Encontro Dados Abertos. Bahia, Brazil, May 9, 2018.
Open Research Data in H2020. Online, May 9, 2018.
Open Education, Licensing and Copyright in the Digital World. Online, May 9-23, 2018.
Open Educational Resources Institute. Boise State University, Idaho, May 10, 2018.
Open science matters: making science more efficient? University of Sussex, May 10, 2018.
Mozilla Global Sprint. May 10-11, 2018.
eLife Innovation Sprint. Cambridge, UK, May 10-11, 2018.
Fare scienza oggi: per una scienza aperta, responsabile e di qualità. Università degli Studi di Parma, Italy, May 10-11, 2018.
OA System Scholars Institute. University of Alabama, May 10 - 11, 2018.
OERcamp South. Bad Wildbad, Germany, May 11-12, 2018.
Open Science Clinique: Winning Marie Curie with Open Science. Online, May 14, 2018.
DORA interview with Dr. Sandra Schmid. Online, May 14, 2018.
Open Access Repository Workshop. Yadanabon University, Myanmar, May 14-16, 2018.
Pint of Science Global Science Festival. May 14-16, 2018.
Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR) Annual Meeting 2018. Hamburg, Germany, May 14 - 17, 2018.
Cornell University Press: Pay What You Want. Online, May 15, 2018.
NFAIS 2018 Blockchain Conference. Alexandria, Virginia, May 15, 2018.
Where is the knowledge we have lost in data? University of Copenhagen, May 15, 2018.
How to manage your data to make them Open and FAIR. Online, May 15, 2018.
Wikipedia:1bib1ref. Online, May 15-June 5, 2018.
EuropeanaTech. Rotterdam, May 15-16, 2018.
Open Access bei Büchern. Online, May 16, 2018.
ELIXIR Webinar on the Sustainability Implementation Study. Online, May 16, 2018.
Gender and Open Data Intersection. Online, May 16, 2018.
Will the revolution be open? Online, May 17, 2018.
How to use Web of Science in order to measure Open Access publications and compliance with Open Science policies to support REF claims. Online, May 17, 2018.
Owned by the Academy: A Preconference on Open Source Publishing Software. University of Minnesota, May 21, 2018.
rOpenSci unconference. Seattle, USA, May 21-22, 2018.
LPForum 2018. Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 21 - 23, 2018.
Linked Open Data Professional Development Workshop. Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK, May 22, 2018.
IRUS-UK: The Technical Aspects. Online, May 22, 2018.
Trust, Truth and Scholarly Publishing: reproducibility opportunity. Online, May 22, 2018.
Open Access in the Humanities. University of Ljubljana, May 22, 2018.
The UC Open Access Policies. University of California, Merced, May 22, 2018.
Digital Libraries: Authentication, Access & Security for Information Resources. Baltimore, May 22-23, 2018.
Mozilla Open Leaders demo. Online, May 22-23, 2018.
DARIAH Annual Event 2018. Paris, France, May 22 - 24, 2018.
New Universities and the 3 R's: Repositories, REF, and RDM. Oxford Brookes University, May 23, 2018.
Monitoring Open Access workshop. Den Haag, Netherlands, May 23, 2018.
GOKb - Status Update. Online, May 23, 2018.
Paving the way for text and data mining in science, OpenMinTeD. Brussels, May 24, 2018.
Data Stewardship in Practice. TU Delft, Netherlands, May 24, 2018.
Publishing & Open Access: Office Hours. University of California, San Francisco, May 24, 2018.
How OER Can Make Education More Accessible and Transformative. Simon Fraser University, Canada, May 24, 2018.
Nurturing a Culture of Responsible Research in the Era of Open Science. Université de Genève, Switzerland, May 24-25, 2018.
CILIP ARLG-SW DARTS Conference. Totnes, England, May 24 - 25, 2018.
Open Data for Research and Enhanced Publication. Pisa, Italy, May 25, 2018.
OERcamp Ost. Leipzig, Germany, May 25-26, 2018.
Acesso Aberto e Conhecimento Sensível. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, May 29, 2018.
Nordics ORCID workshop. Espoo, Finland, May 29, 2018.
OpenCon Community Call. Online, May 30, 2018.
El acceso abierto y las revistas científicas de la Universidad de Costa Rica: nuevos desafíos. Universidad de Costa Rica, May 30, 2018.
4th IAALD Africa Conference. Pretoria, South Africa, May 30 - June 1, 2018.
Scholarly Publishing at the Crossroads. Society for Scholarly Publishing Annual Meeting, Chicago, May 30-June 1, 2018.
De Leider spreekt - NSB propagandamateriaal als bron. Hilversum, Netherlands, May 31, 2018.
Open Science Festival. Aarhus, Denmark, May 31, 2018.
SPARC Repository Community Call. Online, May 31, 2018.
Open Scholarly Communication in Europe. Addressing the Coordination Problem. Athens, Greece, May 31 - June 1, 2018.
Northeast Regional OER Conference. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, May 31-June 1, 2018.
Licenses & Open Access. Stockholm, Sweden, June 1, 2018.
European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) Conference. Geneva, Switzerland, June 3 - 5, 2018.
Conference : Open Access in Caribbean Libraries, Archives and Museums: Opportunities, Challenges and Future Directions. Dominican Republic. June 3-7, 2018.
Global Water Futures annual general meeting. McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada, June 4-6, 2018.
Open Repositories 2018. Montana State University, June 4 - 7, 2018.
The Tri-agency Open Access policy - from author's rights to depositing in UWSpace. University of Waterloo, June 5, 2018.
Forum Open:Education. Berlin, June 6, 2018.
Introducing Figshare. University of Southern California, June 6, 2018.
Download free, trusted, Open Access full text from Web of Science. Online, June 6, 2018.
Open for the Public: Pedagogies Towards the Commons webinar. Online, June 6, 2018.
UNT Open Access Symposium 2018. University of North Texas Health Science Center, June 6-7, 2018.
Análise dos conceitos de acesso aberto às publicações científicas. Congresso Latino-Americano de Administracao e Negocios, Brasil, June 6-8, 2018.
Make OA flow: using identifiers. INORMS, Edinburgh, June 7, 2018.
Crafting Open Data Policies in a Complex Era. Washington, D.C., June 7, 2018.
Recuperação de Fontes de Informação em Bases de Dados de Acesso Livre. Fundação Escola de Sociologia e Política de São Paulo, June 7, 2018.
Open access, open monographs, open data, open peer review: overview of a disruptive technology. Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), London, June 7, 2018.
Access to Digital Collections that Take Bitstreams Seriously. London, UK, June 7 - 8, 2018.
Transitions vers l'Open Science, tensions de l'Openness. Lyon, France, June 8, 2018.
Knowledge for All: Designing equitable foundations for open knowledge. Brisbane, Australia, June 8, 2018.
Open Access 2020: American Libraries. Online, June 8, 2018.
OERcamp West. Hattingen, Germany, June 8-9, 2018.
Transforming the Information Community, NASIG Annual Conference. Atlanta, Georgia, USA, June 8 - 11, 2018.
EOSC Summit. Brussels; and online, June 11, 2018.
Open Access Oxford Week. UK, June 11-15, 2018.
NIHR Open Access Policy and Progress. University of Oxford, June 12, 2018.
Introduction to Wikidata for Librarians. Online, June 12, 2018.
Open Science and its role in universities. Brussels, June 12, 2018.
Figshare Fest Netherlands. Universiteitsbibliotheek Utrecht, June 12, 2018.
The Open Revolution - Book Launch. London, UK, June 12, 2018.
Towards Open Science in Agriculture & Food. Plovdiv, Bulgaria, June 13, 2018.
Bibliothekartag. Berlin, Germany, June 13, 2018.
Open Data Projects. Online, June 13, 2018.
Dataverse Community Meeting. Harvard University, June 13-15, 2018.
Throw Open Our Doors: Academic Librarians Open to New Experiences, Opinions, and Viewpoints. Finger Lakes Community College, June 13 - 15, 2018.
UCSF Open Science Group: Protocol Sharing and Publishing. University of California San Francisco, June 14, 2018.
Documentário Tapajós Biodiversidade. Santarém, Brazil, June 14, 2018.
Communication and Information Sciences in Networked Society: Experience and Insights. Vilnius, Lithuania, June 14 - 15, 2018.
Acesso aberto à memória científica. Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, June 14 - 15, 2018.
Building Research Integrity Through Reproducibility. S. J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah, USA, June 15, 2018.
Role of Psychological Research Methods in the Open Science Debate. Freie Universität Berlin, June 15, 2018.
The EU and open access: OpenAire and Horizon 2020. Oxford, UK, June 15, 2018.
OERcamp Nord. Hamburg, Germany, June 15-16, 2018.
Hackathon sur les données financières publiques. Paris, June 15-16, 2018.
Arctic Science Summit Week/SCAR/IASC Open Science Conference. Davos, Switzerland, June 15 - 26, 2018.
Open Science Funder Training Workshop. Madrid, Spain, June 18, 2018.
Open Science Community Utrecht. Utrecht, Netherlands, June 18, 2018.
Pacific Opens Up: An OER Case Study at University of the Pacific. Online, June 19, 2018.
Make peer review transparent again. University of Göttingen, Germany, June 20, 2018.
Open access publishing panel (during CONTEC). Mexico City, June 20, 2018.
Open Science and the Humanities Conference. University of Barcelona, June 21, 2018.
Berlin Institute of Health meets the Berlin Open Science community. Berlin, Germany, June 21, 2018.
Move It Forward: a publisher workshop to identify transitional open access models. Oakland, California, June 21–22, 2018.
ELPUB 2018. Toronto. June 22-24, 2018.
American Library Association 2018 Annual Conference, Implementing Linked Open Data in the Real World session. New Orleans, USA, June 23, 2018.
Ebook Projects Lightning Round, ALA Annual Conference. New Orleans, Louisiana, June 25, 2018.
The Textbook is extinct! Now what?. International Society for Technology in Education conference, Chicago, USA, June 25, 2018.
Higher education open data, digital tools for prospective students Small Business Research Initiative competition. UK, June 25-August 8, 2018.
Moving Towards Full Open Access in Higher Education. London, June 26, 2018.
Sharing research to Wikipedia and Wikidata - disseminating knowledge and improving impact. University of Edinburgh, June 26, 2018.
How Can Europe Unleash its Untapped Data? Brussels, June 26, 2018.
Radical Open Access. Coventry University, UK, June 26-27, 2018.
Open Science: An Opportunity for the Global South?. Lausanne, Switzerland, June 27, 2018.
Open source technology development for science communications and publishing. Online, June 28, 2018.
The Open Science Training Handbook. Online, June 29, 2018.
Jisc + CNI 12th biannual conference. University of Oxford, UK, July 2, 2018.
Repository Fringe. Edinburgh, July 2-3, 2018.
Opendata.ch conference. Fachhochschule St Gallen, Switzerland, July 3, 2018.
Open Science & Research Libraries Workshop: Let's Build The Skills! Lille, France, July 4, 2018.
Lille 2018–47th LIBER Annual Conference (Research Libraries as an Open Science Hub: from Strategy to Action). University of Lille, France. July 4-6, 2018.
Resource Lists & Open Textbooks. University of Edinburgh, UK, July 5, 2018.
FAIR Data and Software Workshop. Hannover, Germany, July 9-13, 2018.
European Open Science Forum. Toulouse, France, July 9 - 14, 2018.
Transparent and Open Social Science Research MOOC. Online, July 9 – August 10, 2018.
Wikipedia: Meetup/Boston/Summer 2018 Edit-a-thon. Boston University, July 10, 2018.
Making Course Material Affordable. Illinois State University, July 10, 2018.
Make Data Count webinar. Online, July 10, 2018.
The case for the Science Cloud. Toulouse, France, July 12, 2018.
Open Cultuur & Erfgoed Koffie Den Haag over impact. The Hague, Netherlands, July 12, 2018.
ARC Open Access Policy for Arts Researchers. University of Melbourne, Australia, July 13, 2018.
Open Science and Scholarship: Changing Your Research Workflow. Utrecht University, Netherlands, July 16-20, 2018.
Decolonizing the Internet conference. Cape Town, South Africa, July 18-19, 2018.
ESOCITE 2018. Santiago, Chile, July 18 - 20, 2018.
Wikimania. Cape Town, South Africa, July 20-22, 2018.
USDA Open Data Summer Camp. George Washington University, Washington DC, July 23-August 3, 2018.
Joe Karaganis and Evelin Heidel: Shadow Libraries. Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 30, 2018.
FORCE11 Scholarly Communications Institute. University of California, July 30 - August 3, 2018.
Colorado Learning and Teaching with Technology (COLTT 2018), University of Colorado, August 1 - 2, 2018.
Where to Publish? Navigating the Journal Jungle and Avoiding Predators. Texas State University, August 14, 2018.
Finding & Using Images in your Papers, Publications, & Presentations. Texas State University, August 22, 2018.
14th International Symposium on Open Collaboration (OpenSym 2018). Paris, France, August 22 - 24, 2018.
Workshop on Text Mining and the HathiTrust Research Center, IFLA 2018 World Library and Information Congress. National University of Malaysia, August 23, 2018.
IFLA session Empowering Scholarly Communication Transforms Societies. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, August 24-30, 2018.
Joint Roadmap for Open Science Tools Workshop. Berkeley, California, August 27–29, 2018.
Open Source Summit, North America 2018. Vancouver Convention Center, Vancouver, Canada, August 29-31, 2018.
Workshop on Open Citations. University of Bologna, Italy, September 3-5, 2018.
OpenUP conference. Brussels, September 5-6, 2018.
Research Transparency and Reproducibility Training. Los Angeles, USA, September 5-7, 2018.
OpenCon Boulder, University of Colorado, September 7, 2018.
Be Open - Science & Society Festival. Vienna, Austria, September 8 - 12, 2018.
Digital Research in the Humanities & Arts (DRHA). Valletta, Malta, September 9 - 12, 2018.
OER18. Manchester, UK, September 11 - 13, 2018.
Awards for Innovation in Publishing. Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers conference, Berkshire, UK, September 12, 2018.
DSpace Anwendertreffen 2018. University of Berlin, September 13, 2018.
Feria de ciencia. Cambre, Spain, September 15-16, 2018.
Conference on Open Access Scholarly Publishing (COASP). University of Vienna, September 17 - 19, 2018.
Open Data Science Conference. London, September 19-22, 2018.
5th International Open Data Conference. Buenos Aires, Argentina, September 20 - 21, 2018.
Conference on Scholarly Publishing in the Context of Open Science (PUBMET 2018). Zadar, Croatia, September 20 - 21, 2018.
12. Open-Access-Tage. Graz, Austria, September 24 - 26, 2018
Scholarly Communication, Open-access Publishing and Ethics. SPA Vijayawada, India, October 25-26, 2018.
SciELO 20 Years. São Paulo, Brazil, September 26 - 28, 2018.
Conference on Digital Presentation and Preservation of Cultural and Scientific Heritage. Burgas, Bulgaria, September 27–29, 2018.
Open Education Southern Symposium. University of Arkansas, October 1-2, 2018.
Movements & Models Supporting Open Access. Alexandria, Virginia, October 1 - 2, 2018.
Open science: from values to practice. Building a roadmap for transformative change. Barcelona, October 4-5, 2018.
Digital Scholarship: Expanding Access, Activism, and Advocacy. Bucknell University, October 5 - 7, 2018.
Triangle Scholarly Communication Institute. Chapel Hill, North Carolina, October 7 - 11, 2018.
Digital Infrastructure for Research Conference. Lisbon, Portugal, October 9-11, 2018.
15th Annual Open Education Conference. Niagara Falls, New York, October 10 - 12, 2018.
ITTIG - Law via the Internet 2018. Florence, Italy, October 11-12, 2018.
FORCE2018. Montreal, Canada, October 11 - 12, 2018.
Choosing Pathways to OA: working forum to make Open Access a reality in North America. Berkeley, California, October 16–17, 2018.
O3S: Open Scholarship for the Social Sciences. University of Maryland, October 18 - 19, 2018.
Second UN World Data Forum. Dubai. October 22-24, 2018.
Pathways to Open Access: A Campus Conversation (Open Access Week). University of California, Santa Barbara, October 22–26, 2018.
International Open Access Week: Designing Equitable Foundations for Open Knowledge. October 22-28, 2018.
Open Source Summit Europe Edinburgh International Conference Centre, October 22-24, 2018. Edinburgh, UK
12th International Conference on Metadata and Semantics Research. Limassol, Cyprus, October 23 - 26, 2018.
Grey Literature and Repositories. Prague, October 24, 2018.
Values & Ethics in Open Access. Stony Brook University, New York, October 26, 2018.
OpenCon 2018 New York City. New York, New York, October 26, 2018.
MozFest 2018. London, UK, October 26 - 28, 2018.
OpenCon. Toronto, Canada, November 2-4, 2018.
Data Integration in the Life Sciences (DILS2018). Hannover, Germany, November 20 - 21, 2018.
WikiCite 2018. San Francisco, California, November 27 - 29, 2018.
Munin Conference on Scholarly Publishing. Tromsø, Norway, November 28th–29th 2018.
14th Berlin Open Access Conference. Harnack House, Berlin, Germany, December 3–4, 2018.
Twentieth International Conference on Grey Literature. Loyola University, December 3 - 4, 2018.
Open Science in Big Data (OSBD) Workshop. IEEE Big Data conference, Seattle, USA, December [10-13], 2018.
Timeline of the open access movement
Open-educational-resources.de Kalender.
Wikimedia GLAM events
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History of OA
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Podcast | Agents of Change
Building meaningful change
Steve Stessman
Who is behind the scenes solving problems and uncovering issues? That’s what Conga’s Agents of Change has set out to discover.
Listen now.
Transforming a 39-year-old business was hard. Hear why it was worth it.
We’re halfway through the first season of Agents of Change and we’ve already heard about the power of listening and how digital transformation can make once slow-moving governmental processes operate like a sprint.
Now, host Jason Gabbard talks to Steve Stessman, Vice President of National Retail Sales at Tuff Shed, a company that has been providing building solutions like sheds and garages since 1981.
Steve recounts a change so massive, it impacted the entire way Tuff Shed does business, from top to bottom. For a company heavily entrenched in working the same way for nearly four decades, change obviously wasn’t easy. But it amounted to more sales and higher revenue — and a better experience for customers.
Below is a transcript of the episode, edited for readability.
Steve Stessman: And so to me, you make an impact as doing something meaningful even if you don't get credit for it. It's about doing the right thing when people are looking and working on something that's worthwhile.
Jason Gabbard: When we talk about Agents of Change, we talk about people who are driven to solve problems within their organizations. People who find inefficiencies and work diligently to correct them. Sometimes it impacts the bottom line. Sometimes it streamlines complicated processes. And sometimes it changes everything about the way business gets done, trickling all the way down to customer experience. That’s the kind of change we’re talking about today.
I want you to meet Steve Stessman, Vice President of National Retail Sales at Tuff Shed, a ubiquitous American-based company, one that’s been providing building solutions like sheds and garages since 1981. While Steve leads sales at Tuff Shed, you’ll find that his title doesn’t really give the full picture. At one point in our conversation, you’ll hear him refer to himself as a solutions architect. Because at his core, he is driven to solve problems.
Steve Stessman: my background is in primarily in retail and homebuilding. I've worked in privately held companies up to a Fortune 50. I've held almost every position from a part-time employee all the way up to, I guess maybe my highest title now is V.P. of Sales. I've been with Tuff Shed for six years and throughout the time as we've tried to modernize our sales approach, I've become many times the point person to help understand new technology and tie it into what our business needs are. Or I've definitely been always been a sponsor of any technology project.
Jason Gabbard: Today, we are going to hear a story of how Steve has led a digital transformation at Tuff Shed — one that has not only directly led to more sales and higher revenue, but has truly changed the way business is done for the better, while improving the experience of every Tuff Shed customer. And these were big changes for an organization that has been around for nearly four decades with a very specific way of doing business.
Steve Stessman: Over the course of the 38 years we've grown from one location to 165 company-owned locations. We have 56 factories across the lower 48. And we've sold and installed 1.2 million buildings over the course of our time. We will do everything from the smallest of sheds to about as big a wooden building as you can possibly imagine. If you can dream it, we build it.
Jason Gabbard: That’s a great line, isn’t it? And when Steve joined Tuff Shed six years ago, the idea of changing from a pen-and-paper approach to a streamlined digital experience across the entire sales process truly did seem like a dream.
Steve Stessman: So when I first started with the company, we would do quotes for a customer with a pen and paper to, fast forward six years later, we have literally some of the absolute latest and greatest technology to quote and to sell to our customers.
Jason Gabbard: So how does a change that big happen that quickly? Spoiler alert: It wasn’t easy. Let’s hear the full story.
Steve Stessman: The way I view my role as V.P. of sales is to grow the company. And that's all my direct reports. That's their mission: Grow the company. We're the market leader, but that doesn't mean that we don't want more. And frankly, we're just trying to protect everybody else from buying a bad building. So we definitely want to sell them a Tuff Shed. But with that being said, we’re a privately held company. We’re not a small company, but we're not a big company, so on the sales front and under the mantle of a growing company, we deal with everything. It doesn't matter, selecting new real estate, coordinating remodels, sourcing and training new salespeople, creating training materials — you name it, we do it. If it's an obstacle, we overcome it, because our mantra isgrow the business. The coolest thing, Jason, about my job, is that not only do we sell a product that's completely manufactured in the United States, but also as we increase our sales, we create jobs in our manufacturing facilities, number one. And for number two, for about every 220 sheds or buildings that we sell, we create a new small business in the United States via our subcontractor network. So when you think about a sales cycle like that, we are literally a job-creating machine. And to be honest with you, that's awfully rewarding.
Jason Gabbard: That’s awesome. I love to hear that. I love businesses like this. Congratulations. I really mean that — that’s incredible. You mentioned that you've been there around six years. And when you first started, a lot of the paper processes were very much analog, very paper-and-pen intensive. And given what you're saying about sales and training employees, and I assume you probably have some resellers involved, it sounds like a very contracts-intensive, document-intensive business.
Steve Stessman: Yeah, it can be. Or, you know, a lot of our case prior to our digital transformation, was a very manual process. So when I first started, we tried a CRM and tried to keep track of customers’ information. And that was a really good running start for us. So when we changed our CRM actually to Salesforce, then things really got moving where we were actually able to track what kind of customers came in and where did they come from? How much activity did it take to actually close a sale? What were the best salespeople doing? And then how can I replicate those results across the United States? And the technology helped out immensely. Which sort of led me into our big problem: that our sales outstripped our ability to manufacture efficiently and so even though the customer may communicate, we would have to draw pictures and then head over to manufacturing. We would have to enter things into our ERP and then we would make mistakes and then we would have problems that go with that. Obviously, if somebody wants a blue shed and a red shed shows up in their backyard. That's a big problem. So we had lots and lots of issues, and then when the customers would come back to us and say things like, “Well, I didn't sign off on that.” Sometimes we could produce the documents, sometimes we couldn’t. Sometimes we could produce a picture of what they wanted, sometimes and we couldn't. And so that's really where Salesforce CPQ and then Conga came in. Conga helps us create state-specific contracts and really helps us aggregate data so that the customer knows exactly what they're getting. Our manufacturing teams knows exactly what to build. So it's been an amazing transformation for the organization.
Jason Gabbard: Fascinating. Having more demand than you have supply is a good problem to have, so I don’t feel so sorry for you. But that’s incredible. So it sounds like the opportunity you first uncovered was around just getting a CRM in place. So Salesforce to the rescue. You implement Salesforce and it sounds like right away you realize some pretty significant gains from doing that. When you were implementing Salesforce, can you just talk me through the internal process around making that decision? You know, getting folks on board and what you actually had to do in order to get the team moving in that direction.
Steve Stessman: Well, we had tried another CRM that failed. So I was appointed to go find another CRM. So I evaluated the top four at the time and then I evaluated partners that completed the implementation at the same time. And we ended up at Salesforce, and it was an uphill battle because it was certainly a more expensive solution than what we had in the past. But once we selected them, we went from signing the contract to live in 64 days. With over 300 users, so it was a definite crash course in not only understanding what we needed, but then having it, finding the right partner to help us implement them. And then along the way, you have to pull everybody else in and say, “OK, what do I need from IT? I created all the training materials between my team and our Salesforce administrator. So it was a pretty amazing effort. And it actually turned out to be very great because seven days later we had a record sales day, which is pretty amazing considering that we just changed our entire CRM out. But that's just how flexible the platform was for me to be able to create something that worked for our sales people.
Jason Gabbard: Got it. So could you take me back to the period of time when you decided that you needed a — obviously you had the key infrastructure in place with your CRM and then you realized that there was an opportunity to add additional value through the use of Conga products.
Steve Stessman: Essentially what was happening to us was we were selling more, we were manufacturing more, but we were making less money. And then we did that a couple of years in a row, and our production team said, “Look, we just we need better data.” We need a better way to transfer what the salespeople talk with the customer about and the information that we get. So we embarked on a project to basically digitally transform our company. So we started with a 3D configurator, which is an AppExchange product just like Conga, called KBMax. And then we use a 3D configurator that creates all the plans. We drop them into CPQ, which is a Salesforce product, and then we use our CRM to manage the order process. We use Conga to create all the documents, and we use several other AppExchange tools to help us transact, to do taxes and take payments and all those kinds of things. We use several Salesforce products, Marketing Cloud and then the CRM ability to send out automated communication as well. So, that was really the big problem: We sell more, we build more, we make less money and we believe we’ve solved it with our digital transformation that we just completed.
Jason Gabbard: So in particular, during that time when you were moving to digital documents and digital document creation and management, sometimes that's a difficult or a tricky conversation to have internally. People are often resistant to change, especially when it comes to contracts and proposals and so forth. Did you did you have to overcome any objections internally? Were there dissenters or --?
Steve Stessman: Yeah, there was definitely some pushback. So I would say that the digital transformation is changing every process we've ever done. So when you talk about something that sweeping, it was a very challenging project. But the good thing is, we had all of the department head support to start out the project. We had C-level support for it, obviously. And I got involved with the project and I was one of the executive sponsors. Through some turnover we had in our I.T. department, I ended up being the project manager and I would loosely call myself the solution architect for Tuff Shed for this particular project. Because that seems to be the title that offends I.T. people the least. So I'm the V.P. of sales and I led this. But the advantage I had by leading it was that I knew what the field needed and I could rally the resources behind it. So there were many times throughout the project where what I learned in this is that the closer you can get to someone who serves the customer when you're trying to create a solution like this, the better the result will be. The person that serves the customer knows way more than any V.P.. And that was that was a big learning for us. But was there a lot of pushback? Absolutely. There were questions about almost everything. But essentially when we did our due diligence, we thought out what the major milestones were. And then everybody agreed upon it at the outset. So, when I would say things like, “Well, we have to calculate taxes differently,” and, finance pushed back at us, you guys agreed that we had to have a solution that we could transact with right away with the customer. You know, some of those kinds of things. We settled a very lofty goal around the milestones and then we were able to refer back to them throughout the process.
Jason Gabbard: Let’s take a minute to reflect on what Steve is sharing here. Remember, this is a company that has been doing business and growing for decades. Four of them. You see, when Steve arrived at Tuff Shed to make some big changes, it was never going to be simple. Because change can be difficult and it often impacts more people than we realize. When Steve says he experienced a lot of pushback, that’s probably putting it lightly.
Sound familiar? A common thread that seems to run through these conversations is an acknowledgement of how hard those moments can be. But there always seems to be a story on the other side, when those moments are met with purpose. For Steve, that meant casting the vision and setting clear goals so that everyone knew that the changes were making an impact.
Let’s dive back in as Steve shares the challenges he faced in growing the business during this period of change to hit those lofty goals.
Steve Stessman: You know, one of the thingsthat I learned when I came to this business, Jason, is I didn't know very much about sheds. But my job was obviously to grow the business. So we had people out there that were in our president’s club there, our best sellers, we had seven of them. So I went and I listened to them. And what I was able to do was capture what they do with their customers. And it was, you know, four or five primary things that they were all great at. And so what I did was I went back and I learned from the best. I used the technology that I had, which was CRM. And I built my CRM around being able to measure those behaviors. So fast-forward five years, I'm very proud to say that I ended 2018 with 55 folks in the president’s circle. Fifty-five people who would have never earned the kind of money they can earn just because they listened. But it all started with me being humble enough to say, “Hey, I'm the V.P. of Sales, but I don't know everything. Let me go find the best people. But then I put in processes to teach and train and coach so that people could do their very best.” I'm on track this year to add another dozen to that. So I'm expecting to end up somewhere around 67 folks in the president circle that all make a really, really good living selling buildings.
Jason Gabbard: That's great. And you know that it's uncanny that you say that because week after week on this show, that's the one thing we're hearing, is that in order to effect change, the most important thing you can do is listen and observe. And it sounds like you went out into the field, which is absolutely the right place to be. And you listened and you observed and you got feedback from the sales leaders, got feedback from the customers. And then you basically engineered your digital transformation strategy around that. That’s brilliant.
Steve Stessman: The challenge is that I always think when there's a digital transformation, you sort of have two groups: You have what your customer needs, but then you also have what your internal customer needs. And if you don't listen to both of those, you're going to fail or you're not going to fail completely, but you're going to fail. Twenty five percent of the way or something like that. It's better to take the time and spend the money to find the people that do the work and ask them what they need and then obviously bump it up and say, “Hey, is it rational what they do? Can we replicate that?” But that was my biggest learning over the last year for sure, as it especially in regards to our digital transformation.
Jason Gabbard: That's great advice, Steve. Now, I want to ask you to look into your short term crystal ball and tell us what's the one big bet you and your team are going to make to move your business forward in 2020?
Steve Stessman: Yeah, that's a good question. So, my primary focus and my team's primary focus is I have all this amazing technology and you name it: It's Salesforce, its Conga. Its KBMax, it's all these things. But the technology can get in the way of the relationship with the customer. So our big bet is that instead of focusing on how many times do we call the customer, it's more of how do we measure, did we have a consultative sales approach? And how does that tie into how we tie in a consultative sales approach to the technology? My big thing for the organization is, did we do a great enough job with the customer where they're gonna give us a great social media review? Did we do a great enough job for them to recommend us to someone else? So I'm going away from, “Hey, make 30 calls a day,” to “Whatever you did with a customer, was it great? Do you really understand what the customer needs?” And that's a pretty radical shift for traditional sales management.
Jason Gabbard: That's terrific advice. You know, and it's something that echoes what some of the most valuable companies in the world are saying. Right. If you if you listen to what Amazon, for example says it's that unwavering focus on the customer. I was about to ask you what the hurdles were for, for effecting that change in 2020. But it's not so much of a hurdle as it is just maintaining that focus on the customer.
Steve Stessman: Yeah, it's a hurdle because it's very easy to go back and try because a lot of times us focused on the customer feels very fluffy or it's very soft or there's no actuals behind it. The thing that I'm focused on is for example, our CRM to make sure that the associates or the salespeople are recording what did they do with each customer. What's the customer's story instead of just putting in to follow up with them in a week? That's the biggest hurdle is getting people to really, really think about one of the best questions for me, to understand really what the customers need. Because once I figure out what your needs are, I'm not selling anymore. I'm just solving your problem. And that's a shift for an organization, in general.
Jason Gabbard: Great advice. I'm going to paraphrase here: you're putting the meat on the bones of the focus on customer.
Steve Stessman: Absolutely. If it's not measurable, it didn't happen.
Jason Gabbard: For Steve, change is about more than the bottom line. It’s about knowing that change is worthwhile for all of the people it impacts. That is meaningful change. So what can we take away from Steve’s story? When Tuff Shed succeeds, it creates jobs. Not only that, it is creating small businesses just by the nature of what his company does. When you think about change, how far down the line can you see the impact? While Steve is driven to increase sales for Tuff Shed and grow the business, he doesn’t view this as mutually exclusive from the impact he can make on peoples’ lives. It is not an either/or thing, which is why he makes a point of talking about meaningful change. What kind of impact can you make when you think big? Does the problem you are seeking to solve have a greater reach than you realize?
That’s it for today. I hope you’ll continue with us on this journey as we hear from more agents of change.
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Asking For It by Louise O'Neill
It's the beginning of the summer in a small town in Ireland. Emma O'Donovan is eighteen years old, beautiful, happy, confident.
One night, there's a party. Everyone is there. All eyes are on Emma.
The next morning, she wakes on the front porch of her house. She can't remember what happened, she doesn't know how she got there.
She doesn't know why she's in pain.
But everyone else does. Photographs taken at the party show, in explicit detail, what happened to Emma that night.
But sometimes people don't want to believe what is right in front of them, especially when the truth concerns the town's heroes . .
Asking For It by Louise O'Neill was published by Quercus Children's Books on 3 September and is the author's second book. Asking For It was written for the Young Adult market, and due to the strong language and explicit scenes, is not suitable for younger readers. However, it's a book that packs a very very powerful punch, and the theme is incredibly important, it is not only for the young, every adult should read this.
Emma O'Donovan is having a great summer. The weather is hot, there are parties to go to and boys to impress. Emma is beautiful, the most beautiful girl in town, and she knows it. She is determined that every boy's eyes will be on her first, and likes to make the other girls in town notice too. Emma has a bunch of friends, but she's not very friendly. She's the queen of put-downs, keeping her friends in their place with her acid tongue and her snide comments.
Doted on by her parents, adored by her brother, admired by the other girls in town and lusted after by most of the boys, Emma is on top of the world.
Emma comes crashing down with a huge bang the morning after the night before. She feels terrible after the party, her parents discover her on the front porch, curled up in a ball in the blazing sunshine, obviously the worse for wear. The life that Emma led, where she was the centre of everything disappears when she opens her Facebook page and finds picture after picture after picture ..... and the comments, so many comments ...
slut, skank, bitch, whore
Emma sees pink flesh, legs splayed, delicate, bruised, ripped apart. Everyone else sees it too; her friends, her brother, her teachers, her parents, her neighbour, the Priest.
Asking For It is one of those books that I started reading and then really struggled to put it down. During the reading time I went through so many emotions as Louise O'Neill unfolds this story. I was angry, very fucking angry. I was so so sad. I was also ashamed. I was ashamed because although Asking For It is a fictional story and the characters are not real and this didn't happen; we all know full well that things like this do happen all the time. There are women who are raped and who will suffer because of it for the rest of their lives, and sadly, it won't be the physical injuries that will affect them the most, it will be the memory of how people treated them afterwards.
If Louise O'Neill set out to explore why so often, women and girls are blamed, shamed and shunned, and rapists are excused, pardoned and given sympathy, she has completely nailed it. She gets into the heads of everyone involved with the case, and also those who have an opinion and exposes the shameful way that victims of rape are treated.
Emma isn't the nicest of characters, she's selfish and self-centred and seems oblivious to the hurt that she can inflict on those around her, and this is one of the strengths in Asking For It. Louise O'Neill could have created a different Emma, she could have been sweet and innocent, and kind, she could have been the best friend that anyone could ask for, she could have been brave and strong and defeated the shamers. But she didn't. Emma is typical of many eighteen year old girls today; smart, sexy, self-aware. She's determined to have the best, to be the prettiest. She doesn't mind if her girlfriends attract a boy, but she has to make sure that the boy notices her too, that her friends are aware that she could, if she wanted to, take that boy from them. This hard surface is covering a quite vulnerable and not quite so confident interior. Emma does have her issues, her worries and her insecurities and all of these come to the fore when those photographs do the rounds on Facebook.
Asking For It is a bang up-to-date story, Louise O'Neill has bravely addressed the issues that remain in our society today. We think that we've moved on, we think we've left behind the Jimmy Savilles and the Rolf Harris, we think that women are equal and have a voice. But still, almost every month, we read something else, we hear those words; 'Asking for it', we learn of the cross-examination of victims; how their private lives are discussed sneeringly in court, their choice of dress is sniffed at. Important women, who should be role models speak out, women like Chrissie Hynde, Whoopi Goldberg, Serena Williams, strong independent successful women, yet with just a few words they add to the shaming and blaming.
Emma was #NotAskingForIt. Women all over the world are #NotAskingForIt - this book is an incredibly well written, very brave and extremely important one. This will be one of my Top Ten Reads of 2015, without a doubt.
I bought my hardcover copy of Asking For It from Waterstones, Nottingham.
Louise O'Neill was born in west Cork in 1985.
She studied English at Trinity College Dublin and has worked for the senior Style Director of AmericanElle magazine.
While in New York, she also worked as an assistant stylist on a number of high-profile campaigns.
She is currently working as a freelance journalist for a variety of Irish national newspapers and magazines, covering feminist issues, fashion and pop culture.
Her website is louiseoneillauthor.com and you can find her on Twitter @oneilllo
How To Be Brave by Louise Beech *** BLOG TOUR ***
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The Book of Memory by Petina Gappah
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The Mutiny on the Bounty Trilogy
Charles Bernard Nordhoff James Norman Hall
The Mutiny on the Bounty Trilogy The story of the Bounty will be told as long as men sail the sea The storytelling genius of the authors finds here a canvas filled with color action and adventure Readers will realize as did the aut
Title: The Mutiny on the Bounty Trilogy
Author: Charles Bernard Nordhoff James Norman Hall
The story of the Bounty will be told as long as men sail the sea The storytelling genius of the authors finds here a canvas filled with color, action and adventure Readers will realize, as did the authors, that so large a drama could not be confined to the compass of an ordinary book Nordoff and Hall chose to tell the story of the Bounty in three acts Mutiny on the BouThe story of the Bounty will be told as long as men sail the sea The storytelling genius of the authors finds here a canvas filled with color, action and adventure Readers will realize, as did the authors, that so large a drama could not be confined to the compass of an ordinary book Nordoff and Hall chose to tell the story of the Bounty in three acts Mutiny on the BountyMen Against the SeaPitcairn s IslandIn The Mutiny on the Bounty Trilogy these three books have been united in a single volume to form the complete work that the authors had in mind.
[PDF] Download ✓ The Mutiny on the Bounty Trilogy | by ↠ Charles Bernard Nordhoff James Norman Hall
Charles Bernard Nordhoff James Norman Hall 209 Charles Bernard Nordhoff James Norman Hall
Title: [PDF] Download ✓ The Mutiny on the Bounty Trilogy | by ↠ Charles Bernard Nordhoff James Norman Hall
Posted by:Charles Bernard Nordhoff James Norman Hall
About "Charles Bernard Nordhoff James Norman Hall"
This describes the 20th century novelist, most famous for Mutiny on the Bounty For the 19th century journalist and author, see Charles Nordhoff.Charles Bernard Nordhoff was an English born American novelist and traveler.
I love sea stories and this one is one of the best.I first read Mutiny on the Bounty when I was in the Navy. The Captain of the destroyer I was stationed on saw me walking around with the book and told me that in naval history circles, the Bounty mutiny was much researched and discussed because it was an anomaly in that Captain Bligh was much less ruthless than most Captains of the Line at that time. Naval historians are still trying to figure out why Bligh and the Bounty and not other ships of [...]
This review is for book one, I'll review the others as I read them. The Mutiny on the Bounty 4 starsWhen I started this I was slightly worried because a) it's written by two authors and I though it might be jarring when it switched from one to the other b) N. C. Wyeth's illustrations had several top-less ladies and c) the books didn't seem very happy I knew almost for certain how it would end. But I really enjoyed it. A) the writing is seamless from one to the other. I truly could not tell who w [...]
GoldGato
Now this is historical fiction the way it should be written! The high seas and mutiny and south sea islands! The famous Bounty incident and aftermath is written with such a flair for the real-life characters, it's almost impossible to put down. I resorted to reading under the covers with a flashlight even though my childhood days are long ago. The first part of the trilogy focuses upon the mutiny and what led up to it. The second part shows us the incredible voyage of Captain Bligh and his littl [...]
This book comes really, really close to receiving five stars from me. As I have said in other reviews of mine, I only award a book five stars if it is legitimately astounding and inexhaustibly rewarding. This fine tale comes very close to that status indeed. Do not let the four stars mislead you, they ought to be very nearly five. Granted, I read the first book only. I could not find the first book independent of the trilogy, so my review will only concern episode one of this trilogy. This is re [...]
Nicholas Whyte
The three books are pretty distinct. The first, Mutiny on the Bounty, is narrated by Byam, the fictional midshipman played by Franchot Tone in the film; the Bligh of the book is if anything even more monstrous than the Bligh of the film, and the confusion of the mutiny itself - a ten-minute spurt of late-night impulse which had long-lasting effects - better conveyed. The Tahitians are referred to invariably as "Indians", but otherwise treated as a dignified culture which the English sailors disr [...]
Very exciting and well written book.
SallyStenger
Mutiny on the Bounty Trilogy. Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. Old Saybrook, CT: Konecky & Konecky, 1940. Jacket Illustration: Detail from Richarde Parkes Bonington, Dunkerque from the Sea. 691 pages. (1)Mutiny on the Bounty(2) Men Against the Sea(3),Pitcairn's Island. (1) Mutiny of the Bound. A novel based on a true story in 1787.I'm on page 148 now. This appears to be a novel for young adults. Reminds me of Kidnapped. A fairly easy read, and fairly interesting.The plot: The novel is [...]
At daybreak, on the twenty-eighth of November 1789, His Majesty’s the H.M.S. Bounty set sail and began to journey across the Pacific Ocean. Her mission was a simple one: To set anchor at the island of Tahiti and acquire upwards of one thousand breadfruit trees; then, to return to England for transplant.The crew consisted of forty-five men of varying ages and walks of life. In command was Lieutenant William Bligh, while Fletcher Christian, masters mate - his second in command, was a respectable [...]
Based on archival information about actual events, these three books work together to tell the tale of an infamous mutiny and everything that followed. The first tale resolves what happened with the mutineers and others that stayed on the Bounty after the incident. It reveals what happened to Captain Bligh when he was put to sea with a number of his faithful. The second book focuses on the incredible journey of Bligh the others in a small open boat through hostile territory. The final book revea [...]
Events of history, with the usual literary license, taken from three different points of view, to get a more complete view of the whole.Mutiny on the Bounty tells the tale of the mutiny itself and what happened to those who stayed on Tahiti when eventually Captain Bligh returned to England and the search for the mutineers was on. It is told from the point of view of one of the young midshipmen, innocent of mutiny, who was forced to remain with the ship because there was not room in the launch. E [...]
Accounts of each of the phases of the historic mutiny on the British ship Bounty in 1787. The first part of the trilogy is an account of the actual circumstances of the mutiny against Cap't William Bligh led by Fletcher Christian. The authors set the scene carefully. The second account, Men Against the Sea relates the journey of the 19 men set off the Bounty in the small boat. Bligh led them with an iron hand and skillfully navigated more than 3600 miles across the south sea in an open boat to s [...]
There have been many great adventures in the vast ocean. The HMS Bounty sails for breadfruit plants in "The Bounty Trilogy" by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. Captain Bligh, an important character in this book, represents the element of characterization. The authors successfully pictured him as an irrational leader abusing his power aboard the ship. This creates tension in the plot since the members of the crew must adapt to the poor conditions created by him. Imagery is a powerful liter [...]
Abigail Hartman
I just finished the first of the stories, "Mutiny on the Bounty," and enjoyed it. I can't say that the South Pacific islands hold any charm for me, but the tale of the famous mutiny, told from the perspective of a fictional midshipman, was fascinating. The courtmartial had me on the edge of my seat as I waited for the outcome with respect to the main character's companions. It was a sad story, but it was a good sad story. After I take a break, I'll go back and read the following tales, "Men Agai [...]
Victor Orozco
Great book series. I really liked these stories in how they related to one of the most famous naval insurrections in history. The Bounty was really good from how they dealt with the voyage to Tahiti and the mutiny, you are meant to be sympathetic to the mutineers but in a way I still sided with Bligh because of the men being irresponsible in their duty. Men Against the Sea was terrific in which the courage of the loyal Bounty crewman faced terrible dangers on their voyage home with their loyalty [...]
These three books are amazing if you are interested in things having to do with maritime history. It is based on true events and written from original documents. The first book, The Mutiny on the Bounty, takes you from England to Tahiti and halfway back before some of the crew turn on Captain Bligh (he had it coming). The second book, Men Against the Sea, is how Captain Bligh amazingly got himself and his faithful men from the middle of the ocean to a Dutch colony. The third book, Pitcairns Isla [...]
Frances Greenslade
Mutiny on the Bounty is one of the most satisfying novels I've read in a long time. I read it while camping on the west coast near Ucluelet. Reading by flashlight with the surf thundering onto the beach nearby and moonlight filtering through the cedar treesrfect setting. Based on the real events of the late 18th century Bounty mutiny, it's completely convincing. The characterization is masterful and each character's weaknesses help to build the suspense to fever pitch. I'm now waiting for my hus [...]
Christan
This wonderful book helped me pass a hot and humid summer spent in the fields and woods of Southern Ohio. I was just a boy back then, lost in the seventies like everybody else. Daydreams of Tahiti and the South Pacific were the perfect counter-balance to briar choked woods and lazy streams. We had a dogwood tree in my Grandfather's largest field. I read many books under it's sparse shade. I was a Huck Finn who wanted to be a Tom Sawyer. Anyway, read the trilogy if you get the chance. The second [...]
Though I'm not usually much interested in seafaring stories, many years ago I read and enjoyed this account of the mutiny aboard the Bounty. I still vividly remember the account of the suffering and survival of Captain Bligh and those who were with him on a small boat for forty some days after the mutiny. And I found equally thrilling, and occasionally thought-provoking, the account of Fletcher Christian and his leadership and moral struggles. Quite a good read!
Rob MacCavett
A fictionalized account based on fact with titles Mutiny on the Bounty, Men Against the Sea (where captain and loyal crew sail their set adrift lifeboat in hopes of survival) and Pitcairn Island (the final resting spot for the mutineers.) The saga is a non-stop adventure that addresses arrogance, liberty of a sort, lust, courage, misjudgment and justice…in the case of the mutineers complicated by the addition of alcohol and women. What more could you want?
Neill Goltz
Had this on my shelf for years from my Grinnell College days. co-author Hall is/was an alumnus from down the road, who in his research on this classic ended up - preceding Marlon Brando - as a permanent resident of Tahiti.This should be read in conjunction with Tony Horwitz' "Blue Latitudes".A Fletcher Christian descendant just died. Here is his obituary: nytimes/2013/08/24/wor
Janellyn51
The Mutiny on the Bounty is truly one of my favorite books of all time. You've seen the films, you think you know the story, but the book goes so far beyond that. The part about Bligh's navigating them to Timor in that little boat is more than remarkable. The part about the mutineers on Pitcairn is fascinating, and not hard to see how things went so horribly awry there. I don't know why I love sea stories but I do and this is the best.
Eric Hines
A book I read when I was 12 or 13 and that really helped to get me reading. A bit of everything for a young person: a bit of Rousseauian paradise and free love; the need for rebellion; the need for leadership and stoicism; and the tragic fates that sometimes meet our best hopes and intentions.[return][return]A bit of a boy's book, though. No doubt.
Jrohde
Fantastic re-read of this classic. I enjoyed the Mutiny the best, Pitcairn the least but all are fascinating and capture well the sense of adventure, of exotic life and the mistakes of character that lead to such misery in the lives of people. a very special series - especially fun to read as I trekked along the Kunene River
One of my favorite books of all time. I read this as a child and I still enjoy reading it every so often. If you decide to read Mutiny on the Bounty, go for the trilogy, as it depicts the mutiny from all angles. A great book for children, who can learn all about the cruelties of the world and be schooled for life. Also learning about tenesmus will keep the little ones in line.
Mariam Cheshire
I read this as individual books. Pitcairn's Island was my favorite. Nordoff and Hall did a lot of research and added their special writing skills. They were masters of story telling. For years I wanted to travel to Pitcairn Island but it wasn't to be. From what I have read, it is possible to take special tours to this historical place.
What a book!! Grandpa gave this to Dad one Christmas in the late 60's. Dad had sailed through there in the war. I dont really know if he ever read it, But I sure did. What a book.Captain Bligh has been recognised as a great sailor in bringing his cast aside crew home. Acknowledged as the greatest sailing event in an open hull boat ever. I think it still holds the Guiness World Record.
The first book was really good. It was written as a narration of the mutiny and the resulting trial in England. The second one covered the story of how Bligh managed to survive with his loyal crew on the life boat. The third book covered what happened to the mutineers. The second and third book went downhill in quality from the first.
This was the best nautical book I've read, which is saying a lot. Each book is from a different point of view, which helps to give differect perspectives on the main characters. I couldn't put it down.
this is my favorite book ever, read it about every six years. longer in print.t few pages are slow then wow you arepulled into the story.r read such realism as the misadventures onPitcairn's Island
I read this so long ago that it's hard to remember exactly. It was when I was in junior high school. I borrowed it from my Dad's extensive shelves. I remember liking it and finding the fact that it was a true story very interesting, but I also remember it being a bit of a slog.
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