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MILEY CYRUS + DUA LIPA “PRISONER”
Artist and trailblazer Miley Cyrus teamed up with global pop superstar Dua Lipa for “Prisoner,” the highly anticipated second single from Miley’s seventh studio album, Plastic Hearts, out November 27th via RCA Records.
The dynamic duo joins forces for a shamelessly, campy rock video directed by Alana Oherlihy and Miley. In a true testament to girl power, these three women celebrate music in a way we have all been missing, inviting fans to join them in a 2020 “Runaways” style reunion.
Last week Miley revealed the track list for Plastic Hearts, which also included collaborations with Billy Idol and Joan Jett – see the full track list:
Earlier this month Miley unveiled “Edge of Midnight (Midnight Sky Remix)” feat. Stevie Nicks to rave reviews. Listen here
Pre order Plastic Hearts here now and receive five instant grat tracks, including “Edge of Midnight (Midnight Sky Remix)” feat. Stevie Nicks, “Prisoner” ft. Dua Lipa, Miley's summer hit, "Midnight Sky," and her critically acclaimed live covers of Blondie's "Heart of Glass" and The Cranberries' "Zombie," which are being referred to as the dawn of Miley Cyrus' best era, with her voice being hailed as perfectly suited for Rock & Roll. These raw and raucous renditions of classic hits that Miley has made her own are a taste of what is to come with her seventh studio album, Plastic Hearts, that includes 12 original songs.
Listen to “Prisoner” here
Glasgow artist releases Stephen Hawking-inspired: 'Stars'
Fife Artist Channels Bruce Lee in Music Video
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Rediff.com » News » Bhopal: 'It was homicide not amounting to murder'
Bhopal: 'It was homicide not amounting to murder'
By Shobha Warrier
Last updated on: June 11, 2010 22:00 IST
M R Sivaraman, a retired Indian Administrative Service officer was the finance and planning secretary of the Madhya Pradesh government when the Bhopal gas tragedy occurred on the night of December 2-3, 1984.
In this exclusive interview to Shobha Warrier, he recounts what happened on that fateful night.
"I was in the bungalow of the finance secretary when I heard a noise. I came out of the house, and it was around 12.45 am or 1 am. I could see people running here and there in panic and shouting, gas leak ho gaya.
I went to the hospital that is very close to my house around 3.30-4 am, and found a lot of people there. When I spoke to the doctors, I was told that many people had taken ill and some were frothing in the mouth and some were complaining of pain in the eyes.
More and more people started coming in with complaints. I went and asked my wife to collect blankets in case the patients needed them, and was back in the hospital. None of us, not even my children had any complaints as we stayed quite far away from the factory.
When I went back to the hospital, I found the doctors in panic as people started dying. A man might be talking in one moment but would fall dead the next moment. As I was in charge of the entire policy requirements of the government, I rushed to the main hospital, and there also, people had started dying in large numbers.
By 8 am, I rushed to the secretariat but found the place completely empty. Within a few minutes, N R Krishnan, the then secretary to the chief minister came in. The entire city was in panic but the collectors, the superintendent of police, doctors and civil surgeons were in the field carrying out their duties diligently.
Somebody had to take charge of the secretariat. The chief secretary had gone to the chief minister. So, on my own, I took a personal decision and told Krishnan that I was withdrawing Rs 1 crore from the State Bank of India. I called the State Bank and told him that I wanted Rs 1 crore in cash. Then I called 15-20 young IAS officers and told them to carry Rs 5 lakhs into various wards and distribute the money to people who were injured and suffering, and take a signature from them. I took full responsibility. The poor youngsters, including a lady IAS officer who was eight months pregnant, went around and distributed money to the needy as some had to bury people, some had to cremate their near ones, some had to buy rations, medicines, etc... There was no agitation in the city and there was peace as people got money.
I would say the city was under utter confusion in those three-four days. People were injured, people were dying, cremation and burial grounds were full. It was a chaotic. I felt at least when people had money in their hands, they would feel less insecure.
The chief minister and the finance secretary told me, you do whatever you want and the government will fully stand by you. Then, I and Krishnan took charge and we started compiling the number of people died. The next two days co-ordination took place from my room. One officer was put in charge of the cremation, another officer went around breaking open houses that were closed. Lakshminarayan (who retired as the secretary to the government of India) who went to open the houses found people dead in locked houses; he took ill at the sight of the dead bodies.
In the hospitals, the doctors and nurses were on their feet continuously for 72 hours. They were standing without eating or drinking taking care of the ill. It was a marvellous display of commitment to a tragedy. You talk of what (New York Mayor) Rudy Guiliani did in the US after the September 11 attacks but he did nothing compared to what the doctors, nurses and the young officers did in Bhopal. There were thousands of people dying in Bhopal.
I recorded 1,400 deaths in four days. The photographs of all the dead were in my room, as also of those who were not identified. Things stabilised in four days but people were dying. A large number of people died. Maybe a few thousands died in the next one year. But people started suffering from all sorts of diseases. This has to be seen as something that resulted in prolonged illness. Unlike the September 11 tragedy in the US or a tsunami or a tidal wave, here was a grave human tragedy where people were dying slowly.
What troubled me when we started giving compensation was that those who lived far away from the factory started claiming compensation. But I and Krishnan were very strict about that.
What I can say as the number two or number three in the government is, the kind of efforts put in by the government officers, doctors was unparalleled. I have gone to several countries in the world but never seen this kind of dedication and commitment. Unfortunately, all these NGOs thrive on condemning what people have done on those days.
After a month, I told the chief minister, we must give one month's salary to all those who worked so hard but when I offered it, they refused. They said, we worked when there was a tragedy and we will not accept anything for our work. It was our duty. It was that kind of spirit with which the government servants worked that day.
Those who were talking about the tragedy later and today never spoke to me, the person who first went there. Nobody ever asked N R Krishnan. All sorts of false stories were going around. Dominque Lapiere wrote a book full of lies but never ever spoke to me. From where did all these people get the information? We were the people who were in the field. I and Krishnan were the two officers who were in the secretariat then. One day, when I write my autobiography, I will write what exactly happened that day.
Now that the verdict is out, I feel very sad because here is a case of total negligence of the factory managers, members of the board of directors, and because of the negligence, thousands of people died and yet they got away with it. It was homicide not amounting to murder. It was criminal neglect.
Nowhere in the world would such a case take 26 years to come out with a verdict. People have died and gone. I felt extremely sad on June 7 (the day of the verdict) as I had seen people dying in front of me."
Shobha Warrier
Related News: R Krishnan, State Bank of India, Indian Administrative Service, R Sivaraman, Shobha Warrier
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Bhopal gas tragedy should be minutely documented
Is the Bhopal catastrophe like a traffic crime?
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East Anglia:
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Red Lion Chambers has an illustrious history. It began in January 1950 when Fred Lawton set up our first home at 5 King’s Bench Walk.
He was subsequently joined by Barry Hudson, who later became a distinguished defence silk. At about the same time, Chambers was joined by a junior clerk, Stanley Hopkins, who carried the bags for Norman Birkett QC in his famous trials. Stanley, eventually became one of the old style Temple impresarios, a formidable and powerful figure.
Norman Birkett lent his name to the new set and headed the board outside number 5 until his death in February 1962. Chambers was soon joined by Michael Havers, who later in life became Law Officer and Lord Chancellor, and Sir Harold Cassel, a renowned silk and circuit judge.
Our Early Years under Lawton
Fred Lawton subsequently built up a highly successful common law practice. Some of his well-known pupils included a young Margaret Thatcher and Robin, later Sir Robin Day. Down to earth and with a fiercely analytical mind, he went on the bench and was knighted in 1961, ending his career as a Lord Justice of Appeal.
When he retired, Lord Lane, adopting the words of the collect for Whit Sunday, said he had “a right judgement in all things”. By then Michael Havers had built a large practice in crime and general common law, and it was principally through him that the present day Chambers acquired its East Anglian connection leading to its Chelmsford annex.
Davies and Havers Era
Alun Talfan Davies QC was invited to become the new head of Chambers after Fred Lawton was made a judge in 1961. Alun Davies appeared with other members in the legendary case of Griffiths, the lime fraud case (Regina v Griffiths and others; CCA 1965). This was one of the first cases that altered the complexion of serious criminal trials making them considerably longer than any which occurred during the Norman Birkett and Marshall Hall era.
After deciding to return to South Wales, Alun Davies resigned in 1980. He was succeeded by Michael Havers, who having served as Solicitor General from 1972-1974, became Attorney General in Margaret Thatcher’s government from 1979-1987. He gave crucial advice in the Falklands conflict in 1982 and earned the Prime Minister’s gratitude for his unflappable role behind the scenes.
In 1987 he was appointed Lord Chancellor as Baron Havers of St Edmundsbury and David Cocks QC, a leading silk, took over, serving for 10 years until 1997.
David Cocks oversaw a policy of expansion during the 1990s. The Chelmsford annexe was acquired in 1996 and our membership expanded to 37. Kenneth Darvil was appointed Chief Clerk in November 1993 with Mark Bennett (Practice Director) his deputy. Between them they ran a highly efficient and trustworthy administration.
Chambers then moved to 18 Red Lion Court, originally the home of William Hawkins (serjeant-at-law), who in 1716 had published the first text book on criminal procedure, ‘Hawkins’ Pleas of the Crown’.
Chambers constitution was revised so that the Headship of Chambers ran for a fixed term on a revolving basis. Anthony Arlidge QC, a renowned silk and thespian took over as head. He was succeeded respectively by Peter Rook QC, now a judge of the Central Criminal Court; David Etherington QC; and Max Hill QC.
Members of Chambers have appeared in many leading cases over the last seventy years, with appointments as circuit judges including the recent Recorder of London, HHJ Peter Beaumont QC., and the current chief coroner, HHJ Mark Lucraft QC.
Many of our members have gone on to take judicial appointments such as the Director of the Serious Fraud Office, David Green QC (until 2018) General Counsel to the Serious Fraud Office, Sara Lawson QC and Director of Public Prosecutions Max Hill QC. Michael Havers’ ex-pupil, Derek Spencer, continued the Law Officer connection by serving as Solicitor General from 1992-1997. Members have also chaired the Criminal Bar Association comprising of David Cocks QC; Peter Rook QC; Linda Dobbs QC; Max Hill QC; and Angela Rafferty QC.
Gillian Jones QC was appointed joint Head of Chambers, alongside Tony Shaw QC, in 2018 after her predecessor and Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation Max Hill QC was appointed Director of Public Prosecutions for the CPS. Gillian is both the first woman and the youngest person to become Head of Chambers in its 70-year history.
Our commitment to equality is reflected by the growing number of female members at Chambers. A third of our silks are female and nearly 40% of female members within Chambers overall.
Linda Stern, later a silk and circuit judge, became our first female tenant in 1972. Dame Linda Penelope Dobbs, DBE, was the first black person to become a High Court judge when she was elevated alongside John Blofeld QC. Today, Dame Linda leads a team of senior and highly respected professionals in a new initiative RLConsulting, which launched September 2020; providing consulting services to law firms, governments, NGOs, corporations and institutions.
We are proud of our history and the values we have inherited from our predecessors. To date, we boast over 100 barristers, who everyday demonstrate their skill and dedication, inspired by the past members who made Red Lion Chambers what it is today.
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Musk nears $346 million payday as Tesla market value soars
By Noel Randewich
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk is coming close to earning the first $346 million tranche of options in a record-breaking pay package, after the electric vehicle maker’s stock more than doubled in the last three months.
Shares of Tesla surged 9% to a record high on Monday. They need to rise another 6% to put Tesla’s stock market value at $100 billion and then be sustained at that level for both a one-month and six-month average in order to trigger the vesting of the first of 12 tranches of options granted to Musk to buy Tesla stock.
Musk has already hit an operational target that is also necessary for the options to vest.
For Musk’s subsequent tranches to vest under the terms of the 2018 package, the company’s market cap would have to continue to sustainably rise by $50 billion increments over the agreement’s 10-year period, with the billionaire earning the full package if Tesla’s market capitalization reaches $650 billion and the electric car maker achieves several revenue and profit targets.
A full payoff for Musk, who is also the majority owner and CEO of the SpaceX rocket maker, would surpass anything previously granted to U.S. executives, according Institutional Shareholder Services, a proxy advisor that recommended investors reject the pay package deal at the time.
Musk receives no salary or cash bonus, only options that vest based on Tesla’s market cap and milestones for growth.
“This is the very definition of pay for performance,” said Ian Keas, senior director at Longnecker & Associates, an executive compensation consulting firm. “But is he the only individual that could serve in that seat as CEO and deliver that value to shareholders? That’s the billion dollar question.”
FILE PHOTO: Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk dances onstage during a delivery event for Tesla China-made Model 3 cars in Shanghai, China January 7, 2020. REUTERS/Aly Song - RC2WAE9ZIWMO/File Photo
Musk’s potential payout compares to the $638 million received by Snap Inc founder Evan Spiegel in 2017 after the social network company’s initial public offering. In 2018, Walt Disney CEO Robert Iger earned stock grants worth as much as $149.6 million, including awards related to Disney’s purchase of film and television assets from Twenty-First Century Fox.
GRAPHIC: Tesla's rising market cap -
Musk has transformed Tesla from a niche car maker with production problems into the global leader in electric vehicles, with U.S. and Chinese factories. So far it has stayed ahead of more established rivals including BMW and Volkswagen.
Last week, Tesla’s stock market value hit nearly $89 billion, eclipsing the sum of General Motors’ and Ford’s for the first time, fueled by a surprise third-quarter profit, progress at a new factory in China and better-than-expected car deliveries in the fourth quarter.
Many investors remain skeptical that Tesla can consistently deliver profit, cash flow and growth, however. More Wall Street analysts rate Tesla “sell” than “buy,” and the company’s stock has been one of the most shorted on Wall Street.
Tesla was valued at about $53 billion when shareholders approved the pay package in January 2018 and faced a cash crunch, production delays and increasing competition from rivals. It was viewed as massively ambitious because it implied the company’s value could grow as much as ten-fold in 10 years.
Last year, Musk hit two operational milestones, pulling in revenue above $20 billion and adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of $1.5 billion over four straight quarters. Tesla’s “adjusted” EBITDA excludes stock-based compensation, which in the first nine months of 2019 reached $617 million.
Musk currently owns about 34 million Tesla shares, equivalent to 19% of the company. His compensation package would let him buy another 20.3 million shares if all of his options vest.
When Tesla first unveiled Musk’s package in 2018, it said Musk could in theory reap as much as $55.8 billion if no new shares were issued. Tesla has since awarded stock to employees and last year sold $2.7 billion in shares and convertible bonds.
Reporting by Noel Randewich, editing by Peter Henderson and Sonya Hepinstall
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Are You Watching, Valve? - GOG's Money Back Guarantee
10th December 2013 / 9:00AM
Back in my day, getting a refund was as easy as strolling down to the local barbershop and pointing out that your trusty neighborhood mane groomer lopped off your ear instead of your hair. He/she would hand you your money, you’d hop in an ambulance, and everything would be squaresies. But times have changed. The Internet has made many of the goods and services we sacrifice our hard-earned paychecks to much less, er, tangible, and some of them can’t even properly be returned. Refunds, then, are tricky business. Steam, for instance, has pretty much just blanket-stated, “NO,” except in special, infrequent cases. GOG, however, is taking a firm stance in the opposite direction.
Here’s the full policy, straight from GOG. It comes in two flavors: 1) In the event that a game simply won’t function as advertised and 2) if you change your mind about a purchase.
“Game doesn’t work for you? Contact our support (http://www.gog.com/support) and tell us to fix it! But what if they cannot find a solution? If such a rare event should occur, we’ll give you your money back. Simple as that. If you buy a game on GOG.com and find that it doesn’t work properly on your system, and our support cannot fix the problem, you get a full refund. It’s a worldwide guarantee, and you have whole 30 days after the purchase date, to contact us about the refund.”
“There’s even more! If you bought a game by mistake, or simply changed your mind about a purchase, you can get a full refund within 14 days, as long as the game wasn’t downloaded.”
The 30-day guarantee applies to “technical problems or game-breaking bugs that prevent you from finishing your game,” so there are still some questions surrounding relative severity. What if, for instance, a glitch is game-breaking in my book, but not by GOG’s standards? Will I still get a refund? Or will GOG just tell me to glue my ear back on and deal with it?
Given, however, that GOG is DRM-free, many aspects of this program will run on the honor system. You could, for instance, simply claim your game continues to crash and burn even when it’s purring like a kitten strapped to a motorboat that happens to be directly in the crosshairs of a purrrfect sunbeam. You could claim exactly that – using those words – and no one would ever take you seriously again. But also, GOG would probably, in the end, give you your money back. However, it’s also well aware that abuse can and will happen, and it’s addressed that in an FAQ:
“If you’re being a bad person who’s abusing our trust of you and asking for a whole lot of your games to be refunded and we can’t resolve your problems, we’ll have to stop offering you refunds. So don’t be that guy. No one likes that guy.”
There’s no hard number on that darker side of the policy, but if it seems like you’re taking advantage of GOG’s kindness, the company will notify you directly.
All in all, it sounds like a step up from most digital storefronts’ return policies, especially given some older games’ propensities to stick their tongues out at newer hardware like children (or, I suppose more fittingly in this overwrought simile, extremely elderly individuals) who refuse to slurp down their mashed vegetables. It’ll be interesting to see how customers interact with the service and – in turn – how GOG chooses to shape it further down the line.
I hope other e-tailers – especially Steam – are watching. Earlier this year, Origin instated its own less restrictive (but also less helpful) 24-hour return policy, but otherwise this subject hasn’t been broached very much in the Big Leagues. That’s not to say Steam has never offered refunds (see: Dark Matter, Ashes Cricket 2013, The War Z, etc), but that’s the exception, not the rule. This needs to change now more than ever. Steam is exceedingly forward-thinking in many other areas, but its priorities are rather questionable sometimes (see also: fixing its long-troublesome offline mode).
For now, though, props to GOG for taking a big step in the right direction. Here’s hoping others follow suit sooner rather than later.
Tagged with gog, money.
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ROEGT
Tax and Fee Hikes Totaling 4.7 Billion Coming Soon for Illinoisans
by Adam Schuster, Illinois Policy
Illinois residents will soon be facing new or higher taxes and fees on gas, vehicle registrations, parking, marijuana, gambling, online shopping and more following actions at the Statehouse. In total, 21 new ways to extract money are estimated to raise $4.7 billion to pay for infrastructure and the state’s fiscal year 2020 operating budget – which despite the new money may still be as much as $1.3 billion in the red.
The changes span three different bills – SB 690, SB 689, and SB 1939 – and total 2,029 pages. All three bills were passed in a single weekend, meaning neither taxpayers nor lawmakers had time to fully read them.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed SB 689 on June 5 and is expected to sign the remaining two bills. The biggest tax hike proposed by Pritzker – scrapping Illinois’ constitutionally guaranteed flat tax and replacing it with a progressive income tax – would require voter approval on the November 2020 ballot to be enacted. Senate Democrats have estimated the rates signed by the governor would raise just over $3 billion.
While Pritzker has claimed his progressive tax plan would lower or at least not raise taxes on 97% of Illinoisans, just two of the revenue changes enacted this spring – doubling the motor fuel tax and increasing vehicle registration fees – more than wipe out any tax relief the governor promised. In fact, a typical Illinois family with two vehicles will end up $105 in the hole. And that’s assuming lawmakers don’t target the middle class for more revenue by changing the progressive income tax rates they passed.
Notably, the General Assembly passed and Pritzker signed a state budget that members of both parties claimed was balanced. The truth is it is out of balance by as much as $1.3 billion, despite significant new revenue.
Although Pritzker originally proposed 19 new or higher taxes and fees worth $6.9 billion, not all of his proposals were enacted and some new measures were passed that had not been previously discussed in public. Taxes Pritzker proposed but the General Assembly did not pass include the following:
Reducing the tax credit available to retailers for collecting sales taxes on behalf of the state ($75 million)
A new 5-cent statewide tax on plastic bags ($19 million to $23 million)
A statewide $1-per-ride fee on ridesharing ($214 million)
A 7% tax on streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify ($150 million)
Increased taxes on beer, wine and liquor ($120 million)
New tax and fee hikes not previously proposed include:
A $100 increase in vehicle registration fees for large trucks
Increased sales taxes on remote online retailers
New sales tax for online marketplaces
New progressive tax schedule for gambling proceeds that imposes lower taxes on table games than slot machines
Prior to the changes enacted this spring, Illinois residents already faced one of the highest total state and local tax burdens in the nation.
New revenue to balance general revenue budget ($1.7 billion)
Analysis from the Illinois Policy Institute has found the fiscal year 2020 spending plan is out of balance by up to $1.3 billion. This is despite more than $1 billion in new revenue for the first year. Several revenue sources proposed are one-time sources, while others will be lower in the first year but increase in subsequent years.
Recreational cannabis tax ($500 million)
Lawmakers have publicly stated they expect $57 million in tax revenue from the first six months of taxing recreational marijuana which will increase to $500 million annually after five years.
New tax on managed care health insurance organizations ($390 million)
Managed health care organizations, a type of health insurance company intended to control costs, will be hit with a new assessment fee based on the number of members they have and whether they are private or part of the state’s Medicaid program.
As explained by the Civic Federation, the plan will free up $390 million in general revenues through a combination of increased federal reimbursements and shoring up Medicaid accounts that are not part of the general operating budget.
Increase in sales tax for online remote retailers ($260 million)
Following the Supreme Court decision last year making it easier for states to require online retailers to collect sales taxes, lawmakers required companies such as Amazon to collect the state’s 6.25% tax on all transactions as of Oct. 1. Now, remote online retailers will also be required to collect the local portion of sales tax for online purchases based on where packages are being delivered. Combined state and local sales taxes average 8.74% across Illinois and range as high as 10.25% in Chicago.
Expanded tax amnesty program ($175 million)
Taxpayers who have failed to pay all income taxes owed to Illinois will have a chance to clear their liabilities without penalty from Oct. 1 to Nov. 15. This tax amnesty program will accelerate collections that would likely have been made through enforcement activity at some point, making this a one-time revenue source that will somewhat reduce future revenue collections.
Recreational cannabis licenses ($170 million)
The governor’s proposed budget counted on $170 million in revenue from license sales to recreational marijuana dispensaries. This is likely to be a mostly one-time source of revenue with significantly lower collections in subsequent years.
Expansion of online sales tax to marketplace facilitators ($160 million)
Online marketplaces that facilitate transactions between third parties, such as Etsy and Ebay, will now be required to collect the state’s 6.25% portion of the sales tax.
Decoupling from federal tax code treatment for foreign derived income ($94 million)
The federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act created a credit for businesses that export goods and services internationally, intended to encourage this income to be brought back to the United States. Because of interactions between Illinois’ corporate income tax code and the Internal Revenue Code, this would have reduced the effective state tax rate to 5.9% from the regular 9.5% corporate income tax (which includes the 2.5% personal property replacement tax).
This change eliminates that credit, imposing higher taxes on foreign-derived corporate income.
New revenue to finance “horizontal” capital spending on roads and bridges ($1.8 billion)
Pritzker campaigned on a new capital plan for Illinois, originally proposing $41.5 billion for his “Rebuild Illinois” plan. The plan passed by the General Assembly spends even more, at $45 billion over six years, including $10 billion in expected federal matching grants.
Senate Democrats have said $33.2 billion of the total new spending will go to transportation infrastructure, such as roads and bridges. Lawmakers refer to those projects as “horizontal” infrastructure spending.
The Illinois Policy Institute released an alternative no-tax-hike capital plan that would have enabled state and local governments to invest $10 billion more in repairing existing infrastructure, not including federal matching dollars. It emphasized transportation project need rather than the age-old practice of rewarding political loyalty with shiny new projects.
The horizontal infrastructure proposal Pritzker plans to sign is financed by a number of increased taxes and fees on Illinois drivers. Even with these taxes and fees, the proposals do not raise enough revenue to pay for all new spending. The plan also relies on over $20 billion in new bond debt.
Double state’s motor fuel tax ($1.3 billion)
Illinois’ motor fuel tax will increase from 19 cents to 38 cents per gallon, effective July 1.
This makes Illinois’ total gas tax burden the second-highest in the nation and possibly the highest when accounting for additional local authority to raise fuel taxes. Chicago will be able to add an additional 3 cents to its current 5 cents per gallon tax. Lake County and Will County will be able to impose a new 8 cent per gallon tax and the remaining collar counties of DuPage, Kane, and McHenry will be able to increase their per gallon taxes from 4 cents to 8 cents.
The state’s motor fuel tax will also automatically increase every year on July 1 going forward because it has been pegged to inflation. Drivers will be notified on June 1 of the size of the increase, which cannot exceed one penny per year. The total increase will hit nearly 25 cents by 2025, based on current inflation projections.
An analysis produced by Local 150 of the Operating Engineers, a union that does infrastructure work for the state, estimates the changes will raise more than $1.3 billion in total.
$50 increase in vehicle registration for regular passenger vehicles ($441 million)
Most drivers will see their vehicle registration fee increase from $101 to $151. The plan differs from Pritzker’s proposal to implement a tiered registration fee based on the age of a vehicle, which would have gone as high as $199 per year. Illinois’ vehicle registration fee was just $79 as recently as 2009.
$100 increase in registration fees for large vehicles ($49 million)
Large vehicles such as buses, trailers and semi-trucks will see a $100 increase in their respective vehicle registration fees.
15-fold increase in electric vehicle registration fee ($4 million)
The registration fee for electric vehicles would rise to $250 per year from $35 every other year. Previous proposals would’ve increased the fee as high as $1,000 per year, but the enacted increase matches the Pritzker plan to raise $4 million annually.
New revenue to finance “vertical” capital spending on buildings ($1.2 billion)
In addition to the state’s new transportation infrastructure spending, the Rebuild Illinois plan allocates billions of dollars for new spending on buildings such as state facilities and public universities. The bulk of funding comes from expanding gambling in the state.
Illinois’ last major capital plan in 2009 also relied extensively on revenue from gambling. A ProPublica investigation found revenues over the course of the plan were about $1.1 billion less than lawmakers projected.
New casino licenses ($300 million)
The bill authorizes new casinos in Chicago, Waukegan, the south suburbs of Chicago, Walker’s Bluff, Rockford and Danville. Additionally, horse racing tracks, truck stops and airports will have expanded authority to operate video gambling machines.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that combined revenue from sports betting licenses and casino licenses will be about $500 million. This suggests about $300 million will come from expanded traditional gambling licenses.
Licenses for legalized sports betting ($212 million)
Sports betting will now be legal in Illinois. Initially, only existing gambling interests such as sports venues, racetracks and casinos will be eligible for licenses. Online sports betting companies such as FanDuel and DraftKings will have to wait 18 months before they can apply.
The governor’s proposed budget counted on $212 million in revenue from the sale of these licenses.
$1 per pack increase in cigarette taxes ($156 million)
Chicago already imposes the highest cigarette tax in the nation, at $7.17 per pack as of 2016. Illinois charges the fourth-highest cigarette tax in the Midwest at $1.98. The capital plan hikes this tax by $1 per pack.
According to the Illinois Department of Revenue, tax dollars generated by cigarette sales have declined every year since fiscal year 2015. Cigarette taxes are highly volatile, as shown in the Tax Foundation’s recent analysis of cigarette tax revenues from 1955 to 2018 across all 50 states. This can be attributed in part to a general decline in smoking, as well as the ability of smokers in high-tax states to buy tobacco from bordering low-tax states.
Increased tax on video gaming machines ($150 million)
The tax rate for proceeds from video gambling machines will increase to 33% from 30%, with an additional 1% increase in the rate the following year.
Sports betting taxation ($136 million)
The governor’s proposed budget predicted tax revenue from legalized sports betting could raise $77 million to $136 million per year.
Tripled real estate transfer tax for nonresidential property ($68 million)
The real estate transfer tax for nonresidential, or commercial, property in Illinois will triple from 50 cents to $1.50 per $500 of value sold. For the sale of a $300,000 parcel of property, this represents an extra $600 in transfer taxes.
Parking garage tax ($60 million)
Parking garage users would see an increase in their taxes starting Jan. 1, 2020. For hourly or daily parking garages, taxes would go up by 6%. Monthly or annual parking spaces would be slapped with a new 9% tax.
Cap on sales tax exemption for traded-in property ($60 million)
Trade-ins for property similar to the purchase, such as trading in a used vehicle during the purchase of a new vehicle at a car dealership, have traditionally been exempt from sales tax. SB690 caps that exemption at $10,000 of value, meaning amounts above that will now be subject to sales tax.
E-cigarette tax increase ($10 million)
Electronic cigarettes and vaporizers will see a new tax of 15% on wholesale value. Although a summary of the operating budget released by the governor’s office claims the new revenue will be used to fill holes in the operating budget, the text of the bill indicates the new revenue will be dedicated to vertical capital projects along with the tax hike on regular cigarettes:
“(c) Beginning on July 1, 2019, all of the moneys from the additional taxes imposed by this amendatory Act of the 101st General Assembly received by the Department of Revenue pursuant to this Act and the Cigarette Use Tax Act shall be distributed each month into the Capital Projects Fund.”
Graduated tax schedule differentiating between table games and slots (insufficient information for revenue estimate)
The gambling bill creates a new tax schedule which imposes higher taxes on slot machines – topping out at 50% for proceeds of over $200 million – compared with table games, which would see a maximum rate of 20% on earnings over $25 million. For both table games and slots, the tax rates get progressively higher with higher gambling proceeds.
While no revenue estimate exists for this change in isolation, total new revenue from gambling expansion is predicted to be about $700 million, according to ABC 7 Chicago.
Add up all 21, and Illinoisans’ new tax and fee bill is $4.7 billion
Springfield’s solution to every problem seems to be taking more money from taxpayers. Whether the goal is balancing a budget or investing in infrastructure, Illinoisans deserve better.
While it’s too late to stop many of the new taxes and fees imposed this year, lawmakers should make a small gesture of respect toward taxpayers and show a willingness to challenge the status quo by repealing automatic increases in the motor fuel tax. At the very least, they should be accountable for votes to hike taxes.
Taxpayers can also take matters into their own hands by rejecting a progressive income tax on the ballot in November 2020. Only when lawmakers are sent a clear message that more tax hikes are unacceptable can Illinois begin to deal with the structural overspending at the root of the state’s fiscal crisis.
Sample Ballot 2020
Annual ROEGT Flag Day Giveaway Event!
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Cubism > Painting > William McCloy
Let’s Skip It
William McCloy
American (1913–2001)
Mixed Media Collage on Masonite, signed
Size: 60 x 48 in. (152.4 x 121.92 cm)
about Let’s Skip It
A collage of geometric cubist abstracted objects and figures set in brown, gold and blue tones.
The text on the upper left reads No, No, No!
About The Artist: William McCloy
William Ashby McCloy lived in Nanking and Shanghai, China until the age of thirteen, returning to the United States in 1926. He received his first training in art at the State University of Iowa in 1930 and graduated with a B.A. in Art. He spent one-year at Yale School of Fine Arts before returning to Iowa for graduate study in the Psychology of Art receiving a M.A. in 1936. At Yale, he studied painting with Eugene Savage and back at Iowa...
About The Medium: Collage
A technique of composing a work of art by gluing or pasting on a single surface various usually paper materials.
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Dannenfelser Reacts to Republican Presidential Debate
Following tonight’s 5 PM Republican presidential debate Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser offered the following comment concerning the winner of the debate:
“It was encouraging to see that Carly Fiorina, who has strongly promoted her pro-life views on the campaign trail, clearly stood out among the candidates. She is being hailed as the winner by pundits from George Will to Kirsten Powers. There could not be a bigger contrast between Carly Fiorina and Hillary Clinton, who continues to defend Planned Parenthood despite mounting evidence of their callousness and brutality.”
On the evolution of the pro-life issue within the Republican Party:
“The pro-life issue is playing a vastly different role in this campaign than any previous election cycle. Tonight for the first time, Gov. George Pataki, who called abortion a ‘distraction’ in a New Hampshire ad this spring, gave a passionate endorsement of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. This reasonable legislation to stop abortion after five months is supported by a majority of Americans, women in higher number than men.”
“Republican candidates can no longer just call themselves ‘pro-life,’ they must, at a minimum, support this common sense legislative proposal to remove the United States off the list of only seven nations to allow abortion on demand after five months.”
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Home /Let's Talk About / 2016 / September / The Smiler rollercoaster crash
Nobody’s smiling: Bitter lessons from the Alton Towers accident
Imagine. It’s late spring, and you’ve gone for a day out with friends at one of the nation’s best known and well loved theme parks. The sun is shining, the air saturated with the fug of fast food and the shrill cries of excited visitors. Overhead, high-tech rollercoaster cars hurtle and swoop, seeming to defy the laws of physics. You join the snaking queue for The Smiler – the park’s newest and most heavily publicised ride to date – and eventually take your seat along with fifteen other thrill seekers. Your heart is racing, your adrenaline spiked. With more loops than any other rollercoaster in the world, it promises to be a gut-churning experience. Nevertheless, like all theme park attractions, it also promises to be safe. You will not come to any harm. The countdown begins and the ride lurches into life. But moments later something goes terribly, terribly wrong...
On June 2, 2015, a horrifying accident took place on The Smiler rollercoaster at Alton Towers theme park in Staffordshire, UK. A carriage carrying 16 riders slammed into an empty, stationary train, trapping the terrified riders 20ft in the air. When the victims were eventually cut down, 11 of them required medical treatment and five, aged 17, 18, 20, 27 and 49, were seriously injured. Two women subsequently required partial leg amputations in the weeks following the incident.
For the theme park, and its owners Merlin Attractions Operation Ltd, the accident was a PR disaster. Pictures of the incident were splashed across the front page of newspapers around the world. Visitor numbers and revenue dropped significantly, contributing up to 190 staff redundancies. The company admitted health and safety failings over the crash, and today (September 27) were fined £5m.
For the victims of course, the impact was even graver, as the HSE explained following the firms guilty plea: "The incident was profoundly distressing for everyone involved, both physically and mentally. It left some with life changing injuries." It is a trauma that no amount of compensation will ever allow them to forget.
Perhaps most distressing for everyone connected with this case, is that it was an accident that didn’t have to happen.
No room for complacency
Investigations into the crash revealed that there were no technical or mechanical problems with the ride itself. Rather, the incident was the result of ‘a human error involving the manual override of the ride safety control systems’.
Despite major leaps in occupational safety over the last few decades, human error remains a factor in many accidents. While Alton Towers has introduced a welcome series of new safety measures across all its multi-car rollercoasters since the accident, it is worth noting that there is more to managing human failure in complex systems than simply considering the actions of individual operators, as the HSE explains:
When assessing the role of people in carrying out a task, be careful that you do not:
Treat operators as if they are superhuman, able to intervene heroically in emergencies.
Assume that an operator will always be present, detect a problem and immediately take appropriate action.
Assume that people will always follow procedures.
Rely on operators being well-trained, when it is not clear how the training provided relates to accident prevention or control.
Rely on training to effectively tackle slips/lapses.
State that operators are highly motivated and thus not prone to unintentional failures or deliberate violations.
Ignore the human component completely and failing to discuss human performance at all in risk assessments.
Inappropriately apply techniques, such as detailing every task on site and therefore losing sight of targeting resources where they will be most effective.
In quantitative risk assessment, provide precise probabilities of human failure (usually indicating very low chance of failure) without documenting assumptions/data sources.
The awful tragedy of the Smiler crash contains lessons for us all. What should have been a routine ride ended in disaster. What should have been a fun day out ended in tragedy. Lives were changed forever, reputations were wrecked. Yet for all of the complexities of this awful incident, the important thing for us to remember is that this accident wasn’t simply a case of bad luck, a ‘bolt from the blue’. It was, according to Judge Michael Chambers QC, “a needless and avoidable accident”.
Under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, employers are required to protect the health, safety and welfare of both their employees and the general public. While Merlin Attractions Operation Ltd clearly failed in their duty on this occasion, this accident offers a stark reminder to businesses everywhere just how high the stakes are. Now courts are able to hand out tougher sentences that are consummate to the level of health and safety breach.
Karen McDonnell, RoSPA's occupational safety and health policy adviser
Posted: 9/27/2016 11:58:39 AM 0 comments
Guest blogger Karen Whitlock on the life-saving skills her children developed after enrolling them into baby swimming lessons
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Mark McGovern
VP Product Management, CA
All Contributions
Mark McGovern is a respected security expert and VP, Product Management for CA Technologies. Mark joined CA in April 2016 when they acquired Mobile System 7, a leading user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) company that Mark led as CEO and founder. Previously Mark was VP of Technology at In-Q-Tel where he led security investments for the U.S. Intelligence Community and was Director of Technology for Cigital Inc. where he led Cigital’s Software Security Group supporting a Fortune 100 clientele. Earlier in his career, Mark worked as an engineer for the Central Intelligence Agency building covert and clandestine communication systems. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an M.S. in Systems Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
Oct 19, at 1:00 PM
Can the Internet of Insecure Things Be Saved?
Analytics vs. Bacon: which would you choose? (CA Technologies)
By Mark McGovern on Feb 14, 2017
« View all experts
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Scott County School District 2 » About Scott 2 » News » JES teacher's passion for teaching, building relationships helps inspire students
Since she was a junior in high school, Angela Schindler knew what she wanted to do with her life.
“I took a class called social justice,” Schindler said. “We were able to go out into the community and serve in a lower socioeconomic environment in which we were contributing to society in some way. I volunteered in a preschool setting at BridgePointe in Clarksville.”
While at BridgePointe, she would help the teachers and work with the children doing crafts, during recess, and helping them learn letters and numbers.
“It was here that I began my idealistic dream of being about to make a difference and help others,” Schindler said.
In order to make a difference, Schindler decided to become a teacher. After graduating high school, she attended Indiana University Southeast while working up to two part-time jobs as a full-time student. The jobs she took while at IUS worked right into her life goal: teaching.
“I held jobs that would provide teaching experiences. I taught gymnastics classes at a gym in the evenings. I taught computer classes at preschools in the area for a company called Computer 4 Kids, Inc.,” Schindler said. “I would teach the preschool children to use the computer programs that were installed on the computer, which at the time were very simple programs, of course, back, in 1996.”
With her love of teaching and helping children, Schindler earned her elementary education degree with endorsements in Kindergarten and Early Childhood Development in 1997. After graduation at IUS, she took a teaching position in a half-day kindergarten program until she found a full-time position at a Catholic school in Louisville, Ky.
“This experience was quite a rewarding one,” Schindler said about teaching sixth-grade students. “It broadened my view of the world around me and my place in it. It taught me perspective.”
It was at that middle school that she learned about cultures all around the world.
“The St. John Vianney student population was very multicultural. I taught students that had recently immigrated from countries, such as Vietnam, Bosnia, Rwanda, and the Congo in Africa. They told stories of their homeland and living in areas where they would play chase with monkeys!”, Schindler said.
While they told stories of growing up in different biomes and different environments, the students also told stories of heartbreak.
“They also told stories of civil war ripping apart families,” Schindler said.
Five years after Schindler began teaching at the middle school, the Catholic Archdiocese System closed the school due to financial problems. Schindler went to work in Nashville, Tenn., until she learned about Scott County School District 2 from a friend, who she made while attending IUS.
“After this school closed, I spent some time out of the classroom and missed it so much. Then, when telling a friend of mine from college this, she told me about the school system she was working in and loved, Scott County School District 2, and that they may be hiring,” Schindler said.
She filled out an application and was hired to work at Vienna-Finley Elementary School.
“I spent my first 11 years in SCSD2 at Vienna-Finley Elementary School, and I can’t count the number of times I received help from others. I was able to work with a great group of professionals and families,” Schindler said. “We shared ideas and collaborated about what is best for students daily. I really developed some excellent relationships and had some great successes and experiences at Vienna-Finley Elementary School that I will never forget.”
After 11 years at VFES, Schindler moved to Johnson Elementary School this school year. JES is closer to her home and is a place where both her children, Paxten, 6, and Bella, 4, can attend.
“I feel very blessed to have this opportunity this year. The school is close to my home, which is very convenient. The school has a fabulous preschool program, which is directed by Pam Akemon, [and is where] my 4-year-old attends. It is a real asset for the school to have a preschool program. It prepares the students for what the school’s expectations are in the coming years, kindergarten especially,” Schindler said. “I love having my children at the school I am teaching. And, they love it too.”
Throughout her career, Schindler has been able to rely on JES principal, Doris Marcum.
“She has a great outlook towards life in general; is a positive influence to work around; expects the best of all students, parents, and teachers; and I have the privilege of working for her this year,” Schindler said.
While working at SCSD2, Schindler had a chance meeting at Walmart that lead into a reunion with her students from more than a decade ago. She ran into her former middle school student, and the student recognized her. The two caught up in the shopping market aisle.
“Then, the next day, she friend requested me on Facebook. Then, a number of other former students friend requested me within the day. It was amazing how fast that happened with social media! Then, within a month, the first reunion that class has ever had, was planned,” Schindler said. “The reunion happens each year — so far — now. Other former students are in careers, such as the military, physical therapy, landscaping, dental hygiene, and one student was on America’s Got Talent as a comedian and lives in New York, and travels doing comedian shows now. They are getting engaged, married, and having children.”
Because of Schindler’s passion for her job, she helped inspire many children to reach their dreams.
“My passion for teaching today is directly related to what interested me in the career in the first place. When a student shows tremendous growth or masters a skill that was difficult and smiles a big smile or is proud of an accomplishment, those are the days I walk away knowing I have done what I set out to do all those years ago when I decided to become a teacher,” Schindler said. “I want to make a positive difference, inspire others to meet their highest potential, believe in themselves, and achieve their dreams.”
To Schindler, relationships matter. Because of her passion for teaching and her willingness to follow her dreams from early on, she has inspired many children to follow their dreams and reach their goals. At Scott County School District 2, Schindler’s story is our story. Your story matters. You matter.
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The countries whose citizens were killed when Iran accidentally shot down a Ukrainian jetliner said Friday they want Iran “to deliver justice and make sure Iran makes full reparations to the families of the victims and affected countries.”
In a joint statement marking the one-year anniversary of the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crash, Ukraine, Canada, Britain, Afghanistan and Sweden said they want Tehran “to provide a complete and thorough explanation of the events and decisions that led to this appalling plane crash.”
Sweden earlier had said that Iran had agreed to compensate the families’ of the foreign victims.
The shootdown by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard happened the same night Iran launched a ballistic missile attack targeting U.S. soldiers in Iraq, its response to the American drone strike that killed Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad on Jan. 3.
The plane was en route to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. The victims included 57 Canadian citizens as well as 11 Ukrainians, 17 people from Sweden, four Afghans and four British citizens. Those from Sweden included both Swedish nationals and people with staying permits in the Scandinavian country.
At first, Iran had denied its involvement in the plane crash but then announced that its military had mistakenly and unintentionally shot down the Ukrainian jetliner.
The statement was signed by ministers of Afghanistan, Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and United Kingdom.
Flight 752 crash in Iran
Suspect in roadside stabbing near Creston found dead, police confirm
Summerland construction was busy in 2020, despite pandemic
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Is Wearing Makeup and Jewelry Allowed in Islam?
Women in Islam makeup in Islam fashion in Islam lifestyle in islam salamislam
The way we look is usually considered as an expression of our character. That’s why it concerns us very much –maybe just a little too much these days. As a Muslim who tries to lead an Islamic life, it might pop into our heads if we are allowed to wear makeup in Islam, use jewelry, perfume, etc. or not.
This question concerns both men and women, naturally a bit more women though. Here, we would like to address the issue in a more general sense; what Islam says about wearing makeup in different situations. And to give a general preliminary answer, as our opening, yes, Islam allows us to wear makeup and jewelry as long as modesty is preserved.
But let us now have a more detailed look at some specific places where the question has been specially brought up and talked of in Islamic traditions:
Makeup in Islam
1. When Praying!
It might surprise you to find out that Islam particularly recommends us –though not as an obligation– to be in good shape, wear our best clothes, brush our teeth, wear perfume, and in short, to wear makeup when we stand to pray.
And so did Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) prepared himself for every prayer (Salat) since “God is beautiful and loves beauty,” [1] and conforming to this verse of the Quran:
“O Children of Adam! Put on your adornment on every occasion of prayer… Say, ‘Who has forbidden the adornment of Allah which He has brought forth for His servants, and the good things of [His] provision?’…” (7:31,32)
2. Wearing Makeup in Islam For One’s Spouse
Maybe this is where wearing makeup in Islam is most stressed on. Both men and women are time and again required to appear in the way that looks pleasantest to their better half, especially in their solitary moments.
It is considered a great merit for a woman to put on her make-up, wear jewelry and perfume to charm her husband [2], and as great a merit for a man always to look neat, well-groomed, perfumed, and dressed up in the way that gratifies his wife, even though it takes a little trouble, and even though it’s not the kind of outfit he likes best [3].
A man or a woman should never have the impression that their spouse is more concerned with how he or she looks to others than to them!
3. In the Public
Here, actually, Islamic Interpretations are varied. On the one hand, all Muslims are repeatedly recommended to look neat and groomed in public [4]. On the other hand, red lines have been drawn where an important Islamic principle is at risk: modesty.
Men are generally allowed to wear jewelry, such as rings or necklace (though necklaces are more commonly used by women in some Muslim countries), but they are forbidden from wearing any golden ornaments, maybe because Islam always wants there to be a certain line between men and women’s appearance, in the same way as Muslim men are required to wear a beard.
Women, too, are allowed to wear make-up, jewelry, or perfume in public as long as it doesn't make them appear sexually attractive. And of course, the bottom line for sexual attraction could be different from culture to culture. Several verses of the holy Quran ask women to keep a modest look in the public:
“… [tell the faithful women] not to display their charms, beyond what is [acceptably] visible… And let them not thump their feet to make known their hidden ornaments.” (24:31)
This verse mentions an example of immodesty at the time and culture of early Islam. But the rule applies to any kind of appearance or manner which is intended or is very likely, to provoke sexual interest in anybody other than one’s spouse.
According to what we said, therefore, Muslims are very much suggested to, so to say, wear makeup in Islam for praying and for one’s spouse. They are also advised to do so in the public sphere so far as one’s appearance is not in a way that could excite unlawful (Haram) sexual temptations.
[1] Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 83, p. 169
[2] Al-Kafi, vol. 11, p. 165 , Al-Kafi, vol. 11, p. 168
[3] Makarim al-Akhlaq, p. 80
salamislam.com/node/1280
Hijab in Islam: the Real Meaning
Salam Islam
Women in Islam, Hijab in Islam, salamislam
When talking about Hijab in Islam, the first impression that comes to mind is a cloth covering certain parts of women’s body. But is this the real meaning of Hijab? Is that all Islam intended by ordering to wear Hijab; covering women’s body? This is surely one of the functions but is not the whole thing.
Hijab in Islam concerns men as much as women. Indeed, by introducing Hijab, Islam aims to set out a framework on how we dress, how we look and how we interact in the society. This also originates from a superior objective: limiting the human desires towards the opposite gender to one’s private life in the form of a legal marriage and letting the society focus on work and productivity [1].
The Islamic Dress Codes
Islam requires both women and men to dress simply, modestly and with dignity. Simply said, one should not dress in a way to draw the attention of the others to their physical features. Islam has forbidden wearing the clothing that attracts the attention of the general public, making its wearer known for it because of the type of the fabric, its color, model or because of being worn and unclean [1]; and this applies to women and men both.
According to the Holy Quran, covering and Hijab of body dates back to the time of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden: “So when they tasted of the tree, their nakedness became exposed to them, and they began to stitch over themselves with the leaves of paradise.” (7:22). This demonstrates that following the standards of modesty is innate in all human beings, and so do the Islamic dress codes.
Since modesty as the reason to wear the Hijab in Islam is a subjective term, the Quran and Sunnah [i] have laid out the bare minimum to prevent any confusion. The absolute minimum covering in Islam set for men is loose and unrevealing clothing from his navel to his knee [1]. Men are not allowed to wear gold jewelry, silk clothing, or adornments that are considered feminine [1].
Muslim women, like men, are not permitted to wear tight and revealing clothing; especially the ones showing the details of their body. The clothing should cover their hair and body, but covering the face and the hands, from the wrist to the fingers, is not mandated [2]. It is also forbidden for women to wear strong perfume, heavy make-up or such jewelry that makes a jingle noise with movement and attracts the attention of others, especially strange men. They should not reveal their ornament either. These all let the Muslim women to be recognized in the society by the content of their character rather than by their physical appearance and do force men to cease objectifying women.
It should be noted that besides these dress codes, Islam has mandated us to wear beautiful and clean clothes; especially when dealing with others and during prayers: “O Children of Adam! Put on your adornment on every occasion of prayer” (7:31). This also should be considered as much as the clothing rules.
Controlling the Glance as A Part of Hijab in Islam
Islamic precept has introduced a particular way of decency by presenting the concept of controlling the gaze. It is stated in the Quran that: “Tell the faithful men to cast down their looks” (24:30); and: “And tell the faithful women to cast down their looks” (24:31). It means that women and men are both required to keep their gazes downcast unless permitted [ii].
Imam Sadiq (AS) said: “A glance is a poisoned arrow from the arrows of Satan. He who refrains from it [glancing] for the sake of Allah and nothing other than Him, Allah will grant him a faith, the taste of which he will experience.” [3].
Keeping the glance downcast prevents men from lustful thoughts when looking at any woman other than their wife and allows women to protect themselves and guard their modesty. If one truly believes that God is present everywhere and at every second, He sees all he does [iii], and “He knows the treachery of the eyes, and what the breasts hide.” (40:19), he controls his glance in public and in private.
Limits to Talking to the Opposite Gender
As the society is composed of women and men, their social interactions and communications are inevitable. Emphasizing the concept of decency, Islam has special guidelines for the interactions between members of the opposite sex. Islam, as the religion of moderation [iv] [4], does not allow a free relation, neither severely restricts this interaction, but allows women and men to communicate in good intention [5]. This means that the speech should be direct and both sides should consider the human identity of the other person, not the gender.
Allah says in the Quran: “wives of the Prophet! You are not like other women: if you are wary [of Allah], do not be complaisant in your speech, lest he in whose heart is a sickness should aspire; speak honorable words.” (33:32).
Although this verse of the Quran addresses the wives of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who were mostly at the old age, it also applies to all other women especially young ones [6]. This requires Muslims, specifically women, to use a serious tone of voice and expression when talking to the opposite gender. Otherwise, their sweet words might seduce the person whose heart might be diseased with lust.
[i] The lifestyle and sayings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
[ii] e.g., in the case that a witness looks at the face of a non-mahram to recognize him/her.
[iii] “does he not know that Allah sees [him]?” (96:14)
[iv] “Thus We have made you a middle nation that you may be witnesses to the people” (2:143)
[1] http://www.hawzah.net/
[2] A. Aroussi Howayzi, "Tafsir Noor al-Thaqalayn", vol. 3/589, T. 105.
[3] M. B. Majlesi, "Bihar al-Anwar", vol. 101, p. 40.
[4] N. Makarem Shirazi, "Tafsir Nemooneh", vol. 1, p. 483.
[5] http://www.maarefquran.org
[6] M. Qara'ati, "Tafsir Surah al Ahzab."
Are women allowed to have a career according to Islam?
Women in Islam, Muslim women, muslim women working, salamislam
When facing this question, I start thinking what makes people have such a question in mind, while there are millions of Muslim women working all over the world in different positions. Are all these Muslim women doing something forbidden (Haram), or are there other points that bring such questions to one’s mind?
Some points that may make the issue of “women’s employment” a challenge for people may be as follows:
Women have to observe the Islamic dress code (Hijab)
Women should keep their modesty and chastity in front of the opposite sex
Women should not be in a place with the opposite sex, where no one else can enter.
The issue of Islamic Dress Code (Hijab)
All the above-mentioned issues are equal for men and women, except the issue of Islamic dress code (Hijab); it is not that men should not observe the Islamic dress code (Hijab), but it is the limits of this dress code that differs in men and women.
The limits of Hijab and modesty and the etiquette of looking for both men and women are clarified in the Holy Quran: “Tell the faithful men to cast down their looks and to guard their private parts. That is more decent for them. Allah is indeed well aware of what they do. And tell the faithful women to cast down their looks and to guard their private parts, and not to display their charms, beyond what is [acceptably] visible, and let them draw their scarfs over their bosoms …” (24: 30-31).
As you can see, the difference appears in covering, where women should cover their beauties that are attractive to men. Displaying these beauties will have a negative impact in the atmosphere of the workplace, as well as negative consequences for women.
Therefore, Islamic rules about the Islamic dress code (Hijab) are not there to separate men and women, but to make their relationship harmless and therefore the society a safe place for all.
Should Muslim Women Stay at Home?
Another verse that some jurists use to explain that women should not work outside the house is: “Stay in your houses and do not flaunt your finery like the former [days of pagan] ignorance…” (33:33). The most important point about this verse is that it was revealed to the household of the prophet (PBUH), and not all Muslim women.
While at the same time the main point of this verse is not that women are prisoners at home, but it is emphasizing the value of women as humans who have the same material and spiritual talents as men. But women naturally enjoy looking beautiful, and the exhibition of their beauties is far more than men.
Considering other verses that guide women on how to appear in the society, we can conclude that Allah is guiding women to reach their main goal of life, rather than spending time on worthless tasks such as beautifying themselves and displaying it in the society; something that has been a culture at the time of pagans, and that we can still see these days in the society.
All the investments and advertisements on products that are beauty related and make men and women consume so much money and time using these products are meant to make them busy with worthless material things and keep them away from reaching their main goal of life.
Fourteen centuries ago, Islam entitled women to some of the rights that feminists have been fighting for in ages. Rights such as: Having an assertion or defense in the court as a claimant or defendant by using legal ways, equivalence before the law, a fair judgment, immunity of property, preservation of honor, the right to marry and establish a family, privacy and immunity of life, guarantee of livelihood, etc.
There is even a verse in the holy Quran that shows the importance of women’s financial independence: “To men belongs a share of what they have earned and to women a share of what they have earned…” (4:32)
Role models for Muslim women
In Chapter (Surah) al-Qassas it is nicely described how prophet Shuaib’s daughters had to work, as their father was an old man. Their etiquette and modesty while working with a group of men could be a great example for all women [i].
Business and Commerce for Muslim Women
At the time of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), there were many women who used to work in the market to earn money for their living. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) not only encouraged them for their job but also taught them the right Islamic rules of business and commerce.
The most significant example is the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) himself who used to trade for Lady Khadijah (AS).
Vital Roles in Society
In Islamic jurisprudence, it is said that women should preferably go to classes with female teachers. They should be visited by a female doctor in case of an illness. How possibly could this happen if women do not work outside as teachers, doctors, nurses, dentists, etc.?
Should Muslim Women Work in the Society or Not?
Putting aside all the concepts that justify working is not forbidden (Haram) for women, it is good to keep in mind that “Allah does not task any soul beyond its capacity…” (2:286).
It is narrated from Imam Ali (AS) “Do not give a woman responsibilities that are over her tolerance, this is better for her condition, as the woman is a fragrant flower, not a chambermaid” [1].
Women should keep in mind that if there is no necessity (either financial, social or spiritual) for them to work outside the house, their first and most important task is to nurture their children and manage the house in a way that it becomes a place of comfort and long-term benefit for all family members.
But if for any reasons a woman finds it a duty on herself to work outside the house, then she must ensure that her home and children are properly cared for. She may ask for her husband’s assistance in this case.
The Islamic viewpoint about women’s employment and working outside the house is not negative. Women have never been forbidden to work outside the house or choose the career that they enjoy in life.
The point of Islam about women’s career is that it should not interfere the tasks that men are not capable of fulfilling; like giving abundant love and affection to their husband and children. Also, according to Islam, women are not responsible for all the housework; rather they are free to do the tasks they are talented or interested in as well as the household chores. In fact, Multitasking is a female skill!
Many women have husband and children, but they keep achieving social success! “Social success” is a poison in our era. We should be wary of the negative impacts of this term and find the true definition of success in the eyes of God. Islam asks everyone to find their priorities and act accordingly logically.
[i] (28: 23- 28)
[1] Usul al-Kafi, vol. 5, p. 510
What Are Different Aspects of Hijab in Islam?
Hijab in Islam, Women in Islam, convert to Islam, salamislam
The word "Hijab"—which literally means screening or, better said, protecting something from the view of others—refers, in the Islamic context, to a kind of attire or a piece of clothing that covers a woman's body and hair.
Hijab Elevated the Status of Women
Not long before the advent of Islam were women regarded as objects of men's lust; female children were buried alive. To be brief, women were subject to physical exploitation and degradation. Islam, however, elevated women's status in society and granted them equitable treatment.
This idea is underscored many times in the Quran: “And whoever does righteous deeds, whether male or female, should he be faithful such shall enter paradise and they will not be wronged] so much as [the speck on a date-stone” (4: 124); or, “Whoever commits a misdeed shall not be requited except with its like, but whoever acts righteously, whether male or female, should he be faithful such shall enter paradise, provided therein without any reckoning” (40: 40). There are copious other examples in this regard.
Hijab Includes Men as Well
The fact that Hijab (in Islam) is not exclusively for women is equally important and worthy of attention; men also should be heedful of their clothing and their behavior. As a matter of fact, the Holy Quran first speaks of the word 'Hijab' about men and then women: “[Prophet], Tell the faithful men to cast down their looks and to guard their private parts. That is more decent for them. Allah is indeed well aware of what they do. And tell the faithful women to cast down their looks and to guard their private parts, and not to display their charms, except for what is outward, and let them draw their scarfs over their bosoms, and not display their charms except to their husbands, or their fathers, or their husband's fathers, or their sons, or their husband's sons, or their brothers, or their brothers" sons, or their sisters" sons, or their women, or their slave girls, or male dependants lacking [sexual] desire, or children uninitiated to women's parts. And let them not thump their feet to make known their hidden ornaments. Rally to Allah in repentance, O faithful, so that you may be felicitous” (24: 30-31).
Hijab Secures the Marriage
One out of many benefits of Hijab is to preserve and secure the stability of marriage, but how? Dressing modestly reduces extramarital sexual tensions between men and women.
Hijab, in essence, obliterates the ill thoughts of the sick minds. In social interactions also Hijab does urge men and women to focus on the personality of each other, to build their relationship upon respect, virtue, and decency. In this way, they protect and propagate chastity and morality in society.
There are many great examples of chaste and pious women in the history of Islam who have tremendously contributed to the advancement of Islam and humanity in general.
Hijab Makes You Stronger
As a key Islamic value, Hijab is consistent with human nature. Men and women are by nature in favor of maintaining their dignity and self-esteem, and Hijab paves this way; it gives them an inner strength and empowers them to tell the world their decency and virtue cannot be compromised. The result is inner peace.
Hijab and Society
Therefore, from the teachings of the Quran, we come to realize that Hijab is the best principle (or code of conduct, if you will) that guarantees a better condition for male-female interactions in society because it keeps rampant desires on a tight leash. At a larger scale, observation of Hijab prevents the society from falling into corruption and degeneracy.
We also realized that Hijab is not merely limited to the physical covering of the head and body; in fact, physical Hijab must be accompanied by the Hijab of the heart and the mind.
Amidst the hustle and bustle of everyday life—with its common pitfalls and concealed traps—Hijab is truly a liberation beyond measure; it frees us from the slavish imitation of pseudo-liberal fashions that appear by day and vanish by night. It is a shield that protects our honor and helps us focus more and more on our superior goals.
Can Women in Islam Work as Fashion Models?
Women in Islam, Salam Islam, fashion in Islam, fashion modelling
Well, one way to answer this question is to consider it by itself and regardless of any side issues. One may thus say that Muslim women –together with the rest of the world– need clothes! women in Islam, too, deserve to wear beautiful and stylish outfits! Muslim women, too, can have a job! And if all that is acceptable, there could be no fault found with designing such clothes or presenting them as a model.
As you know, though, Islam generally gives us the liberty to do all that is sensible, necessary, and harmless but always draws our attention to certain limits and red lines as well. Our answer to such questions, therefore, is usually like; “No problem provided that…”
So, let’s now have a look at those conditions for women in Islam that might concern fashion designing and modeling?
1. Cover End
As you know, Islam has set a certain limit on women’s covering. This certain limit addresses women’s natural charm and attractions for men, and their understandable desire to expose them.
So, the big idea for setting such specific measures may be that women do not make a pledge of a special extent of covering for themselves which they would never break. Since, it will end up in what we can see today, where women’s bare body is so widely used as a tool to win men’s attention and pleasure. That’s why Islam has issued special rulings for women (and of course men’s) covering.
2. Modesty for Women in Islam
The second thing, which is even more repeated and stressed on in Islam, is modesty [1]. But what is modesty all about? Cambridge dictionary defines it [with regards to clothes and behavior] as “a quality, in women, of dressing or behaving in a way that is intended to avoid attracting sexual interest” [i].
Of course, modesty is not exclusively for women in Islam. Men, too, are bid not to dress up or behave in a way that may attract sexual interest. What’s more, the same term is also metaphorically used to imply protecting all parts of the body from trespasses, such as modesty of the eyes, modesty of the tongue, or modesty of the heart. So, in a broad sense, modesty is the quality of protecting oneself against wrong desires. And that’s exactly what we need in fashion modeling.
Now, modesty is somehow different from covering obligations. It means a person (or a woman, as concerns this article) might be well covered following the Islamic principles of covering, but her type of clothes or her manners may still leave room for provoking sexual interest.
Moreover, the realization of modesty can be culturally variable. What is considered as an acceptable level of modesty in a cultural background may not be so in another. But in every culture, I guess, women know pretty well what kind of outfit or behavior could attract sexual attention. And that will do!
To Come to an End…
Finally, I should say that Islam is not opposed to men and women looking neat, good-looking, fashionable, or even attractive. If a woman is especially kind looking, for example, she looks particularly attractive to everybody.
Does it mean that she shouldn’t look like that? No way! What Islam tries to avoid is looking SEXUALLY attractive –in the same way that Islam asks men time after time to take care of their sight and never look at any woman –other than one’s spouse- sexually. Because Islam wants all sexual pleasure and satisfaction to be concentrated within wedlock and intended for its strength and persistence, rather than its disruption!
So, yes, fashion designing and modeling are acceptable for women in Islam [ii]. And yes, Muslim fashion designers or models are not the same as others who usually intend to be seductive in their manners and their type and extent of covering. Muslim designers and models are required to cover their body (except for the face, hands, and feet) and to look modest. In Muslim countries, therefore, fashion shows are held in segregated places when the kinds of clothes being presented do not go along with Islamic rulings on covering and modesty in public.
[i] dictionary.cambridge.org
[ii] You can read more about whether Muslim women can have a job here.
[1] Al-kafi, vol. 3, p. 714 , Knaz al-‘Ummal, vol. 3, p. 126
Choose a Spouse in Islam
Why do Muslim Women Cover Their Hair?
Islamic marriage
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Our Alumni Achievement Awards are presented to former students who have achieved distinction in their profession. We love to hear about graduates who have provided exemplary service to the University or the wider community, as well as those who have achieved greatness in the arts, charities or business sectors. We also know that not all achievements are made at work. If you know of a Salford graduate who has overcome the odds in their personal life, or has made an humanitarian contribution, please let us know.
Each year we also present Rising Star Awards, to celebrate our upcoming alumni talent – those who have achieved amazing things in the short time since they graduated and whom we believe are on their way to reaching ever greater success.
The awards are open to all alumni from the University of Salford and all of our predecessor institutions. We particularly welcome female applicants and those from an ethnic minority, as in the past they have been under-represented.
ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2020
Nominations are now closed. Thank you to all who nominated. We will be in touch in due course regarding your nomination.
Should you have any queries about the awards, please contact the alumni team via alumni@salford.ac.uk or on +44 (0)161 295 4265.
Read about our exceptional Alumni Achievement Award Winners and Rising Stars from 2019.
Alexandra Hoskyn
MA SOCIAL WORK, 2015
Alexandra has been awarded in recognition of her social innovation in developing the ‘Chatty Café’ scheme – encouraging cafés to dedicate a table where customers can sit if they are happy to chat to other people. The scheme aims to tackle loneliness by bringing people of all ages together for a chat over a cuppa.
Since launching in 2017 nearly 1,000 cafés have signed up across the UK, including branches of Sainsburys and Costa Coffee, and even reaching as far as Gibraltar, Australia and Florida. Impressively, the scheme recently won the national Innovating for Ageing award - beating 75 entrants and four finalists to the £7,500 prize.
In support of Alex’s scheme, the University’s catering provider, Salfood has also joined the other Chatty Cafés with their first ‘Chatter and Natter’ table opening in the Allerton café this Autumn.
The achievement she is most proud of:
“At 30 I returned from living in Australia to study a masters in social work– I had dreamed of doing this for years, but it had never seemed the right time. But while studying I found out I was pregnant, putting my social work career on hold – and I had to watch all my friends go and get jobs. Now I am absolutely over the moon to say I have just been offered a permanent social work position. So, my greatest achievement is that considering the chaos of my twenties - worrying I would never have a career – I now have a job I love and am very proud to do.”
Ria Meera Munshi
BA PERFORMING ARTS, 2010
Ria’s award recognises her work in breaking down social barriers through dance. Having founded Ri Ri’s Dance Academy shortly after graduating from Salford in 2011, today the Academy works with charities and disadvantaged groups – as well as offering a professional platform to newly emerging artists.
Ria also mentors women who are hoping to pursue a career in the arts, and over 90% of dancers recruited at the Academy are women from diverse backgrounds.
The achievement she is most proud of: “Breaking the Bollywood Guinness World Record for the most people dancing to Bollywood songs simultaneously. I choreographed the routine, taught this live and Ri Ri’s Dance Academy’s dancers also performed on stage with me.”
Craig Easton
BSC PHYSICS, 1989
Craig was nominated for his work as an internationally renowned and award-winning photographer – and specifically for his work on the ‘SIXTEEN’ project, giving a voice to a group of sixteen-year-old participants through exploring their dreams, ambitions, hopes and fears for their future.
Best known for his dramatic landscape work and his intimate portraits of real lives, Craig’s early career was defined by his work as a photographer for the Independent newspaper in London and he has since gone on to win numerous awards for both his commissioned work and personal projects.
Recent awards include: Winner of FC Barcelona Photo Award 2017; Sony World Photography Awards 2017; Winner of Landscape Portfolio Award at World Travel Photographer of the Year 2016; Winner of Cutty Sark Award for World Travel Photographer of the Year 2012.
Proudest achievement: “Career wise, by far the most gratifying is when I get feedback from people about how my pictures have changed perceptions or have shone a bit of light on something important. The SIXTEEN project is part of that – a nationwide project that listens to young people and examines notions of social mobility and meritocracy.”
Tricia Williams
BA GEOGRAPHY, 1991
Tricia has been awarded in recognition of her extraordinary career and dedication to supporting inclusivity and equal opportunities in the workplace – as well as her continued support of Salford, and to current students.
As Chief Operating Officer for Manchester Airport, Tricia is responsible for the operational performance of the airport - the third largest airport in the UK and the global gateway in the North.
She is hugely motivated by people, with gender balance and inclusivity being incredibly important to her, both personally and professionally. As a major employer, Tricia feels that it is important for the business to use their position and influence to push for equality and diversity, contributing to the acceleration of gender diversity across all industries and businesses.
Proudest achievement: “Being named on the Northern Power Women List 2019 as I believe it recognises my career achievements, but also acknowledges that I’m a female leader with three sons and a home life to balance! My three sons and 25-year marriage are hard not to say are my proudest achievements!”
Jim Sumner
BENG ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING, 1989
Jim’s award recognises his extraordinary achievements in the field of transport, and his outstanding contribution to the development of innovative and environmentally friendly solutions.
After graduating from Salford in 1989 with a first-class degree in electrical & electronic engineering, Jim went on to transform Leyland Trucks as the youngest Managing Director in the organisation’s history - saving 1000’s of jobs at the challenged British manufacturer and turning the business into the long-term success story it remains today. His work was recognised in 2009 when he won the Queen’s Award for export in 2009.
In the same year, Jim also personally launched the government’s Green Bus initiative on the steps of Downing Street – later winning a prestigious innovation award for the UK’s first operational battery-powered electric bus which has subsequently transformed the industry.
Throughout his career, Jim has also remained hugely passionate about people, tirelessly working for the benefit of his employees and creating and protecting well over 10,000 jobs in the process.
Proudest achievement: “I would probably say advising the government during the 2008 financial crisis as the lead representative of the commercial vehicle industry - at the time I was Managing Director of Leyland Trucks.”
Temitope Ogunsemo
MSC INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT, 2015
Temitope has been nominated for his entrepreneurial spirit, courage and innovation in developing a business which truly focuses on the future – as well as his work to mentor the next generation of young entrepreneurs.
Having graduated from Salford with a master’s in information systems, Temitope is now Managing Director of Krystal Digital Network Solutions Limited in Nigeria, a fast-growing ed-tech company specialising in the development, research, deployment and creation of bespoke and service-oriented software applications.
He was listed by Forbes in April 2018 as one of the 30 Most Promising Young Entrepreneurs in Africa and recognised by the Confederation of African Youth as one of the 100 Most Influential Young People in West Africa.
Proudest achievement: “My greatest achievement so far centres on the ability to change the narrative by solving basic IT skills deficiency and leading the revolution in Nigeria’s education sector. I am happy to be a beacon of change in the education sector in Nigeria.”
Rising Star Awards 2019
Celebrating our upcoming alumni talent – those who have achieved amazing things since graduating and whom we believe are on their way to reaching ever greater success.
BSC EXERCISE, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY & HEALTH, 2015
Ben founded Empower You, a business devoted to creating spaces and communities in which disabled people can be physically active.
Proudest achievement: “There’s been a few. Winning Salford’s Citizen of the Year for doing something I love was a real highlight. Also gaining funding to develop Empower You and the business being nationally recognised and shortlisted for multiple innovation and health awards.”
Greg Walker
BA FILM STUDIES, 2014
Greg Walker is Founder and Director of Pilot Light TV Festival, a Manchester based television and film extravaganza. Now in its fourth year, the festival is dedicated to producing an inclusive, communal experience where fans and industry can come together to celebrate the past, present and future of television.
Greg has achieved fantastic things since graduating, working with Christopher Eccleston, Matt Berry, Sue Johnston OBE – and creating partnerships with HBO, CBBC, ITV, Channel 4, UKTV and HOME.
Lanfia Cisse
BSC (HONS) BUSINESS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, 2011
Lanfia is CEO of Etacell, a Liberian telecommunication and wireless broadband company. After graduating from Salford, he started the company in 2014 with just £30.
Lanifa’s advice to future graduates: “You have just started an endless journey of career development and professional maturity. It is endless because to be on top of your game, you have to continue to learn and build on your skills. This is the only way you continue to stand out.”
BSC WILDLIFE & PRACTICAL CONSERVATION, 2015
Tom is a Project Director at Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand. The core of his day-to-day work is overseeing the rescue, rehabilitation and release of wild animals that have been rescued. His work on illegal wildlife trade investigations, particularly the trade in tigers, sees him working on undercover operations alongside Thai authorities to catch illegal wildlife traders.
Tom said: “My advice for recent graduates would be, if you want it work at it you will succeed. I graduated at the age of 29 so a little older than the average student on my course. Build your network of fellow wildlife conservationists, volunteer in the field that inspires you the most and never give up on the dream. I loved my time at Salford University, and owe a lot of my success to the guidance of my teachers.”
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Oscar foreign language nominees fight for style
By DERRIK J. LANG - AP Entertainment Writer, 28/02/2016
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Ciro Gueera always knew he wanted to shoot his film "Embrace of the Serpent" in black and white and on 35mm film, a now-scarce resource in today's digital world.
"We were in the blind," the Colombian filmmaker said during an event Saturday celebrating the Academy Awards' foreign language nominees. "That's so exciting. We had two takes. Everything you see in the film is either take one or take two."
"Embrace of the Serpent" is among the five films that will be vying for the foreign language Oscar at Sunday's 88th annual ceremony. It's the first Colombian film up for the honor.
Gueera told the crowd at the motion picture academy's headquarters that because of the time involved processing 35mm film, he wasn't able to see the first images from his movie about an ill German explorer lost in the Amazon until about three weeks into production.
"It reminded me when people took pictures of their families on reels, when images meant something," said Gueera. "Now, people take 17,000 images when they're on vacation and never look at them again."
Laszlo Nemes similarly fought for the stark vision of his nominated film "Son of Saul," which was also shot on 35mm film and is presented in an old-school, box-like aspect ratio instead of the now-prevalent widescreen format.
"Son of Saul" depicts a harrowing day within a crematorium at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Nemes said he and cinematographer Matya Erdely wanted to bring the horrors of the Holocaust to life on film.
"I felt I had this mission to talk to today's audiences, when their impression of the Holocaust is kind of static, as if it were in a history book or something taking place on another planet," said the Hungarian filmmaker. "What if this took place in our civilization? This feeling of hell on earth has never been communicated."
"A War" writer-director Tobias Lindholm took a very different approach to crafting his modern-day movie about a Danish military commander during the war in Afghanistan. He treated the digitally shot film like a documentary, especially when filming amateur Middle Eastern actors portraying refugees.
"If I came with a script and wanted to prove their version of reality, it would be a white man's version of something," said the Danish filmmaker. "I'm heterosexual. I'm tall. I'm blonde. I'm Scandinavian. That's pretty privileged in this world."
The other nominees competing for the foreign language Oscar are the French film "Mustang," which centers on five Turkish sisters facing prearranged marriage, and the Jordanian film "Theeb," about a Bedouin boy and his brother escorting a British officer across the desert.
"At some point, we said we don't need anyone's permission," said "Theeb" writer-director Naji Abu Nowar when asked about the difficulties of financing his movie, the film Jordanian film up for an Academy Award.
The filmmakers in this year's foreign language film category are the youngest in recent history. They're all under 40 and three are nominated for their first-ever feature film.
"Every year, I look at our five foreign nominated films and I say they're so much better than the ones that are nominated in that other category," joked Mark Johnson, chairman of the academy's foreign language film award executive committee.
AP source: Yankees reach deals with Kluber, LeMahieu
By RONALD BLUM 16/01/2021
By MARK KENNEDY 16/01/2021
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You are here: Home > About the Smokefree Devon Alliance > Alliance membership
The Smokefree Devon Alliance consists of:-
Steering Group – The Smokfree Devon Alliance Steering Group meets three times a year and is chaired by Dr Phil Norrey, Chief Executive of Devon County Council. The Vice Chair is Dr Virginia Pearson, Director of Public Health, Devon County Council.
General Members. Anyone who has an interest in reducing smoking prevalence may join as a general member and will receive updates and newsletters on tobacco control in Devon.
If you would like to join the Alliance as a member, please contact Public Health on 01392 383000 or email publichealth-mailbox@devon.gov.uk If you would like to be kept informed of updates about the work of the Alliance, you can request to receive the regular e-newsletter. Your contact information will not be published on this website.
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SMSFA welcomes improved financial advice standards
13 February 2017 — 1 minute read
The SMSF Association has welcomed the Senate’s approval of government legislation aimed at improving financial advisers’ educational and ethical standards.
The Corporations Amendment (Professional Standards of Financial Advisers) Bill 2016 was passed by the Senate on 9 February 2017, with the new education and ethical standards to come into effect from 1 January 2019.
From this date, new advisers will be required to hold a relevant degree before they are eligible to start the supervision year and sit the exam. Existing advisers will have two years, until 1 January 2021, to pass the exam and five years, until 1 January 2024, to reach a standard equivalent to a degree.
SMSF Association managing director and CEO Andrea Slattery said SMSFA has “long advocated the lifting of educational and professional standards in the financial advice sector” and the bill is “a critical step” to ensure consumers have access to the best financial advice.
“Higher educational standards are essential to nurture a respected financial advice profession and give consumers confidence in the advice they are receiving,” Mr Slattery said.
The SMSF Association also commended the government for adopting a co-regulatory approach to improve professional standards in the industry.
“The establishment of a statutory standard-setting body to govern the professional standing of the financial advice sector is an excellent step,” Ms Slattery said.
“A key priority will be to ensure that the new education standards recognise the importance of specialist advice areas, such as SMSF advice, which is critically important as about 1.1 million Australians have $636 billion in retirement savings invested through the SMSF sector.”
She also welcomed the transitional time frames to allow current advisers to meet the new educational standards.
"Advice professionals should not be complacent and remember their professional duty to clients to keep improving their knowledge and skills”, she said.
Last Updated: 10 February 2017 Published: 13 February 2017
Written by Reporter
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BOLTON AND KRAMER RE-SIGNED BY THE RHINOS
Rhinos Soccer.com
Penfield's Josh Bolton and Danny Kramer have both signed one year deals to return to the Rhinos for their sophomore pro seasons.
Bolton looks to be in the mix for the defensive midfielder spot that ended up going to Greg Howes. However, Howes has talked about retiring from the outdoor game, so the competition for playing time in that crucial role could be wide open again in 2007.
Kramer will once again be looking to grab as much playing time at outside midfield as he can possibly get.
Palguta makes a big impression during conditioning drills with Real Salt Lake
Deseret Morning News.com
During the first day of Real Salt Lake training camp, Rhinos defender Scott Palguta finished in the top four of conditioning drills and made an impression on Salt Lake head coach John Ellinger.
It appears that Scott didn't employ Soccer Sam as his personal trainer and nutritionist during the offseason.
Real Salt Lake Stadium funding battle takes another twist
Senate GOP split on Real funding - Deseret Morning News.com
Rocky's stadium offer increases to $12.5 million - Deseret Morning News.com
Senate President John Valentine was optimistic that a deal would get done over the weekend. But, as it sometimes happens in politics, things don't always work out the way people think that they will once everyone gets in a room together.
Dave Checketts is supposedly on his way to St. Louis to listen to an offer to buy a club by a group that already has it's eye on a variety of locations for a potential stadium in suburban St. Louis.
I've never understood why MLS isn't in St. Louis. So, I wouldn't shed too many tears if Real Salt Lake were to relocate there.
Liverpool board recommends American takeover bid
SI.com
Liverpool is poised to become the third English Premier League club to be owned by American investors. George Gillett Jr., the owner of the Montreal Canadiens, and Tom Hicks, the owner of the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars, have joined together in a bid to acquire one of the most storied clubs in English soccer.
Liverpool would join Manchester United and Aston Villa as EPL clubs that are owned by Americans.
It will also bring the number of foreign owned EPL clubs to seven. Chelsea, Fulham, Portsmouth, and West Ham United have all been acquired by foreign owners, as well.
MLS turns down $2 million offer for Shalrie Joseph
Scottish giants Glasgow Celtic had their initial offer of $1 million for New England Revolution midfielder turned down in the midst of the 2006 MLS season. Celtic then doubled their offer for the Jamaican International midfielder near the end of the January transfer period. But, yet again, MLS took a pass on the offer.
With the Revolution already losing US international Clint Dempsey to Fulham, you can see why they would be hesitant to lose another starter off their 2006 MLS Cup runners up. However, it will be interesting to see how this news sits with Joseph and whether it causes any issues with his attitude. Especially if MLS is unwilling to give Joseph a raise to stay in New England.
Jurgen Klinsmann is taking Spanish lessons
Could the talks to make Klinsmann the next US Men's National Team head man get started back up again in 2007............................
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TikTok Launches Legal Action Against Pending App Store Ban
While all parties have agreed, in principle, to the proposed Oracle/Walmart lead takeover of TikTok, which seemingly meets both the US and Chinese Government's requirements for the deal to proceed, the actual details are still being worked out, with some disagreement over what, exactly, will be included in the sell-off of the app.
Which now leads to the next potential problem for the app.
Originally, TikTok had until September 20th - last Sunday - to arrange a separation deal, or it would face removal from the US app store. That came close to happening, until the Oracle/Walmart deal was seemingly on track for approval, and as such, the US Department of Commerce agreed to give TikTok an extra seven days to finalize the new arrangement.
Which means that the app's deadline is now this Sunday, and if the takeover deal is not signed off by then, TikTok will indeed be removed from US app stores, meaning that while current users will still be able to use the app, no one else will be able to get it until the deal gets the final go-ahead.
TikTok is still adding new users at a solid rate, and as such, it's fairly keen to avoid an app store ban - and now, as a sort insurance policy in case the Oracle deal drags on, TikTok has requested an injunction against its pending app store ban, citing a lack of evidence and just cause in the White House executive order.
And it may well get it - late last week, a US Magistrate ruled that the same ban on WeChat, which was also named in the original White House Executive Order, could not go ahead due to lack of evidence in relation to the concern that the app is a threat to national security.
As per Judge Laurel Beeler:
"While the general evidence about the threat to national security related to China (regarding technology and mobile technology) is considerable, the specific evidence about WeChat is modest".
TikTok could argue the same. In fact, it's already stated that case in its commentary on the proposed US Government ban, in a post entitled 'Why we are suing the Administration' published last month.
As per TikTok:
"The Executive Order issued by the Administration on August 6th, 2020 has the potential to strip the rights of [our] community without any evidence to justify such an extreme action, and without any due process. We strongly disagree with the Administration's position that TikTok is a national security threat and we have articulated these objections previously."
Indeed, while various concerns have been raised about TikTok's potential links to the Chinese Government, and while the app has been banned for use on US, UK and Australian military-issued devices, the actual evidence of TikTok or parent company ByteDance sharing data with the Chinese regime seems very thin - or at least it's not available publicly.
TikTok's parent company ByteDance, which, as a Chinese company, is beholden to China's strict cybersecurity laws, which require businesses to share their user data on request, would seemingly have to share such, if the CCP requested it. But we have no evidence that any such demand has been tendered, nor will be any time in future.
Speculation also exists around TikTok's algorithms and its potential to amplify pro-China messaging, but again, the actual evidence is limited in TikTok's specific case. Moderation guidelines used by employees of the Chinese version of the app, 'Douyin', were leaked to the press late last year, and they clearly showed that its moderators had been advised to censor anti-China content. But Douyin and TikTok are not the same, and TikTok has explained these specific guidelines were never applied in its app.
So while the concerns are valid, and there is some basis to the considerations, the evidence for enforcement may not hold up in court. At least, it didn't in WeChat's case.
That could mean that TikTok will be able to avoid an app store ban, if a takeover deal is not reached, which would definitely not look good for the Trump administration and its stated intention to restrict the app.
That could, once again, put TikTok in the spotlight, and make the US Government even more determined to force a full sell-off of the app to US-based ownership.
Basically, the TikTok takeover saga is not over yet, and while it still seems likely that the parties will come to some form of agreement to let TikTok continue operating in the US, that's still not a given, and it could face removal from app stores in just a few more days.
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New – but familiar – restaurants coming to town
Locations: News By Megan Tackett Published Jun. 6, 2018
It’s been months since Town’s closing, yet passersby still peer into the window and even check the door. Pavel Osiak takes it as a good omen.
“I get a good feeling about that,” he said with a grin.
Osiak is a partner in the enthusiastic trio that moved into the space to open Roosters, a locally sourced, rotisserie-centric, relaxed dining experience in Carbondalians’ near future. When Osiak and his two partners, Mladen Todorovic and Kyle Raymond, discuss their plans, their excitement is contagious — they often finish each other’s sentences.
“The produce that we can get in the summer in Colorado is amazing,” said Raymond, who built his culinary career cheffing in Aspen since 2007 (most recently at the Grey Lady).
“Top shelf!” Todorovic chimed in.
“Top shelf,” Raymond concurred. “We want to accentuate that.”
Following the example set by Town, Roosters will serve breakfast in the cafe space near the entrance — which makes sense, given Todorovic’s experience. He was the proprietor of Over Easy, an Aspen breakfast staple until Hillstone Restaurant Group bought the building his restaurant shared with Aspen Brewery and pushed both businesses out in October last year.
At the time, Todorovic was devastated. Now, he’s downright giddy at the opportunity to open at 348 Main St. in Carbondale.
“I am very fortunate,” he said. “With a lot of knowledge and hard work and experience, we can make this town proud and this place proud.”
By “this place,” he means the space still remembered as Town.
“We have an expectation here because of how well Town was received,” Raymond said. “We want to meet that expectation and exceed it in the ways that we can.”
If everything goes to plan — “which never happens,” Todorovic acknowledged — the gentlemen hope to open their doors in early July. They’ll start with breakfast. Then, once their liquor license is approved, they’ll move into dinner, hopefully a few weeks later.
“We’re going to make it a little more Over Easy oriented: we’re talking crepes and eggs benedicts,” he said.
“Fresh-baked pastries, fresh-squeezed juices,” Raymond added. “Even if we get overflow from Smithy, we’re going to have business!”
“We’re going to serve different stuff than they do, but I mean it’s still breakfast,” Todorovic laughed. But he’s not worried. “Competition only helps everybody. It’s not a fight for every seat.”
Both Raymond and Osiak are particularly excited about dinner possibilities.
“We can have a really good time with the rotisserie itself, from having our classics and basics to expanding out into some unconventional ideas as well,” Raymond said. “Stick the landing right off the bat…”
“Then we can start playing — a lot,” Osiak finished. “I think we can clash some cool ideas.”
Osiak has been been on the opening teams for both Base Camp and Sake in Snowmass Village. Now, he’s looking forward to his newest project. “Time for a new puppy: time for Roosters,” he said.
But in addition to the restaurant, all three men are thrilled to be in Carbondale. Todorovic, once a committed Aspenite, is looking for housing options in town. He daydreams about buying a plot of land where he can “maybe build a yurt.”
Above all, they want to steep in the community, they emphasized. That means being open to feedback and creating partnerships — for instance, Todorovic recently spoke with YouthEntity about creating opportunities for its culinary students at Roosters.
“I think this is going to be a great place for somebody to learn something about the food and wine,” he said. “The idea is running this really like a family kind of operation.”
Raymond echoed the sentiment.
“This is community based, rather than strictly a ski town where tourism is your baseline,” he said of Carbondale. “We want to be a community-based restaurant. We are Roosters, and we’re here to roost.”
Longtime locals still recount the days of Russets. In the next few weeks, the 225 Main St. location will reopen as Kenichi Izakaya — and while the longtime Aspen restaurant serves high-end sushi and sashimi, the Carbondale iteration will focus much more on curries, risottos and other one-bowl meals, according to owner Brent Reed.
An izakaya is essentially a Japanese pub, he explained, and he wants his new restaurant to stay true to that concept.
“You know when you get home at the end of the day sometimes, and there’s nobody around to tell someone how your day was? You can always go to [an] izakaya and tell everyone how your day was,” he said with a laugh.
His inspiration for opening Kenichi Izakaya largely came from master chef, Kiyomi Sano. Sano, who has raised his two children in the Valley, makes a habit of cooking after-shift, family-style dinners for staff.
“He starts making some doshi stock and putting a bunch of scraps in it with a little wild rice, and he’ll make a little bowl for everyone who’s working that night,” Reed said. “‘Wait a sec, this is really, really good. This is probably better than anything I had tonight, and it’s not even on our menu!’” he continued about his initial reaction to Sano’s improvisations.
Reed is as passionate about the cuisine as he is the izakaya concept itself.
“Some of the izakayas in Japan were liquor stores,” he said of the history. “Then all the men went away to World War II, and the women couldn’t carry the sake kegs up the stairs. So they just started tapping the kegs and making food.”
That more casual atmosphere, coupled with Sano’s authentic family-style creations, seemed like a perfect fit for Carbondale, he explained, adding that it was a perfect fit personally, as well.
“Some of my staff lives down there; I live down there in the summer,” he said via phone from Aspen. “It seemed like a natural extension: fine dining in Aspen and izakaya in Carbondale. I think the food’s going to be better in Carbondale.”
While he’s confident about his new project, he’s also taking his time, aiming for a late June or early July soft opening.
“I’m all nervous. Once that door opens, it’s going to be open for 30 years plus,” he said, adding “we’ve been open in Aspen for 27 years.”
When Reed talks about time in business and his goals for the future, he quickly switches from measuring in years to generations. “My nephew’s an apprentice sushi chef up here; my other nephew is a server. Then I’ve got another niece, she’s been helping,” he said, adding that he’s actively hiring service staff for Kenichi Izakaya. “It’s trying to create something that hopefully really can go beyond my generation.”
Other summer openings
The Carbondale rumor mill has been swirling about the future of 689 Main St. What we can confirm is that Denver restaurateur Kade Gianinetti is returning to his roots to pair up with Silo proprietor Lacy Hughes and chef Flip Wise to reopen the space as a restaurant and event space.
“I can’t tell you the name right now; it’s not completely finalized,” he said.
“All I can really say is we’re going to try to use as many local farmers as possible. Our goal is to be really approachable for the community, [to be] a restaurant that serves not just one demographic in Carbondale but everybody.”
They’re aiming to open sometime later in the summer, once their remodel — which includes two hotel suites upstairs— is complete. “The back area will be for events and community gathering space, but the existing footprint of the 689 building is going to be the restaurant,” Gianinetti said. “We’re just trying to get all our ducks in a row so we are able to get in the space and maybe use it for a couple of private events before we really open.”
Additionally, The Beat is feverishly working to open its expanded, fully vegetarian restaurant at 968 Main St., hopefully by the end of July. They’ll start with lunch and ease into dinner service, according to the website.
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AD Holdings Inc.
1990 Main Street Suite 750, Sarasota, FL 34243A, United States of America (USA)
Contact AD Holdings Inc.
About AD Holdings Inc.
One of the first companies to embrace the concept of video over IP, AD's interests now include CCTV systems for aircraft, transport, smoke detection, together with camera technology and digital video recorders and multiplexers. The Group is firmly committed to the implementation of effective CCTV standards and its senior personnel play an active role in key industry bodies.
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Sweeping statements are inaccurate and misleading
September 27th, 2020 8:00 PM
By Southern Star Team
SIR – Mr Storey’s sweeping statements (Jews’ equal claim to the land is preposterous, letters August 27th) and in a previous week, ‘Zionist venture being an assault on an indigenous population,’ are inaccurate and misleading
It was the Arab propaganda machine which invented the idea that Jews displaced the indigenous population who had been there from time immemorial. It seems Bob may have swallowed all this ‘hook line and sinker’ and his sweeping statement that all this is supported by ‘historical’ records etc is simply unfounded.
On the contrary, the records (including the Ottoman population census) show that in the mid 19th century, when Jews began returning to their ancestral land, the land was empty and barren. It was Jewish enterprise which attracted populations from surrounding countries, into the land, in search of jobs and opportunities.
Then, as tensions developed between the Arabs and Jews – mainly stirred by the Grand Mufti - Haj Amin al Husseini (an ally of Hitler and a fugitive from British justice), the Peel commission (1937) and the UN (1947) offered to create two states with predominantly Jewish areas to become a Jewish state and those which were predominantly Arab to become a Palestinian Arab state.
Accepting vaccine for common good
This the Palestinian Arabs refused and chose to go to war (together with five Arab armies) against the tiny Jewish state, on the day of its birth – a war they have waged ever since and in every forum. This has always been their maximalist approach: they would rather have nothing than allow Israel anything. They are more interesting in annihilating Israel than in creating their own state
If, as Mr Storeys says, it is the Palestinians who are suffering it is because they are the aggressors – refusing to abandon their dream of and attempts at crushing the Jewish state. The Palestinians do not need Mr Storey’s support. It is all in their hands (as it has always been): if they just abandoned their hatred and belligerence, they would long have had a state, peace and prosperity
Is that asking too much?
Joshua Rowe,
Manchester.
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Search STASL
Southern Tier Adult Soccer League
STASL
STASL Gets New Look
04/13/2016, 5:15pm EDT
The STASL is proud to introduce a new logo and overall look for the league. Looks are important, but the STASL is also introducing a brand new website that will contain all of the up-to-date information you need to follow and participate in the league. Coming soon, this website will provide an easy and streamlined approach that will allow players and coaches to do all registration directly through the website.
STASL can now be found on Twitter and Facebook. These social media platforms will allow the STASL to keep in touch with all of its players and coaches as well as providing the latest information on the league. Please follow the links on this page to follow on Facebook and Twitter.
Tag(s): STASL
©2020 SportsEngine, Inc. This website is powered by the SportsEngine platform, but is owned by and subject to the Southern Tier Adult Soccer League privacy policy.
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Superstars who Became a Journeyman
Franchise build their team that superstars. Until they become a contender and a household name. Teams paid them huge money to keep them in the building. The front office doing everything to keep them satisfied. But there are superstars who underachiever after their breakout season. Maybe because of injuries, lack of work ethic and many factors that made them a journeyman.
Players who are still now in the NBA but their career was played on a different franchise. Here are they that we taught will stay on one franchise.
It’s truly amazing what kind of longevity he had in his career. He is the only player who will play in four different decades. Carter was a fan favorite in Toronto for his dunks and he led the team in many playoff battles. They are a shot away to the Finals in 2001. Looks like they can build with him and makes the Raptors a contender for the rest of his career. Until Carter demanded a trade. First, he made a name as a Net in New Jersey. Then joined the Magic, Suns, Mavs, Grizzlies, Kings and the Hawks.
A young superstar who helps the Nuggets reach the West Finals in 2010. Until he wants stardom and wants to be in a big market in New York. He played most of his career as a Knick. Then when the three-point shot evolution developed. His midrange and one on one games look like out of dates. He was traded to the Thunder and after a season to the Hawks and got waived. He played few games with the Rockets and now still unemployed.
Two seasons after losing to the Finals he was traded. Howard a Defensive Player of the Year for three straight years with the Magic. With the feud with his coach, he went to the Lakers. Things didn’t work out with Kobe and him. The next summer he played with the Rockets. Howard and Harden again a failure. So, the big man sign with the Hawks. Traded to the Hornets, again to the Wizard and finally to the Memphis. Now he signed with the Lakers a none guaranteed contract.
The youngest MVP that suffer a devastating injury in 2011 playoffs. Fans expecting him to be a savior after Michael Jordan retirement tow decades ago. But Rose never back to his potential after the meltdown. He was traded to the Knicks, then sign with the Cavs. Again traded to the Wolves and made a little come back last season. Last free agency he was signed with the Pistons.
Honorable mention of Chris Paul who will be likely getting waive by the Thunder. The team not planning to compete now and taking a lot of picks in return.
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Neuroendocrine Tumors
Diagnosis of Neuroendocrine Tumors
What to Expect Before and After Your Appointment
Most neuroendocrine tumors are diagnosed by biomarker testing. Imaging and endoscopic modalities can localize the original site of the tumors and their metastasis. A wide range of diagnostic tools are available at the Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center Neuroendocrine Tumor Program to support our effort to make an accurate diagnosis.
Computed Tomography (CT-scan): Triple phase helical CT-scan images are recommended for localization and staging of neuroendocrine tumors. Neuroendocrine tumors are generally vascular tumors that enhance intensely with intravenous contrast injection during the arterial phase imaging with washout during the delayed portal venous phase. This is also available at our Kirby Glen location.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI): Is preferred over CT for patients with a history of allergy to iodine contrast. In addition to a closed MRI, St. Luke's is taking imaging to new heights, offering Houston's first site for a new panoramic, wide-open, high-field MRI. This is also available at our Kirby Glen location. We provide:
Exceptional image quality
More space, more comfort
Unlimited joint positioning
Imaging for any patient, large or claustrophobicescan??): Provides a useful tool to detect metastatic disease in unsuspected sites. This technique utilizes a radio-labeled contrast agent (Indium 111-labeled somatostatin analog) administered intravenously prior to scintigraphy with a special large field gamma camera. The overall sensitivity is about 80percent to 90 percent.
131- IodineMetaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) Scintigraphy: Useful for identifying pheochromocytoma.
Positron Emission Tomography (PET-scan) using 18-flurodeoxyglucose (FDG) Imaging: Useful in detecting high grade neuroendocrine tumors as a result of their high proliferative activity.
Biochemical Assessment
Plasma Chromogranin A: Most useful tumor marker for neuroendocrine tumor. The blood level is elevated in more than 90 percent of patients with neuroendocrine tumors. The level is correlated with tumor burden and may have prognostic significance. It can be used to monitor disease progression, as suggested by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines. The levels are independent of hormone secretion.
Serum Serotonin and Urinary 5-Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid (5-HIAA): Useful tool to detect neuroendocrine tumors with liver metastasis in patients with carcinoid syndrome.
Other biomarkers such as Intact Parathyroid Hormone (PTH), PTH-related Protein, Calcitonin Level, Substance-P, Vasointestinal Polypeptide (VIP), Serum Insulin Level, and Serum Proinsulin Level are available at St. Luke's Medical Center to diagnose functional neuroendocrine tumors.
Pancreatic Polypeptide and Neuron Specific Enolase: Useful markers for follow-up in patients with known diagnosis of neuroendocrine tumors.
Endoscopic Techniques
Flexible Endoscopy: Useful in detecting neuroendocrine tumors in the upper and lower GI tract. Endoscopy is a way of looking inside the body using a flexible tube that has a small camera on the end of it. This instrument is called an endoscope. An endoscope is passed through a natural body opening or small cut.
Endoscopic Ultrasound: A gastrointestinal endoscope may be inserted through the mouth or anus. An ultrasound probe can be added to a gastrointestinal endoscope. Depending on the area of interest, this device can also be passed through the mouth or anus. When used in combination with fine needle-aspiration, it can distinguish between neuroendocrine tumors and adenocarcinoma. In addition, it may help in staging by detecting any lymph node involvement.
Diagnosis of Neuroendocrine Tumors Locations
Institutes & Specialty Clinics
Temple Cancer Center - Lufkin, TX
1201 West Frank Avenue, Lufkin, TX 75904
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St Peter's Pastoral Area
Buckie, Fochabers, Tynet & Preshome
Pastoral Area
St Peter’s, Buckie
History of St Peter’s
St Mary’s, Fochabers
History of St Mary’s
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History of St Ninian’s
St Gregory’s, Preshome
History of St Gregory’s
Children’s Liturgy
Men of Great Faith!
27/06/2020 St Peter's Pastoral Area
13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A.
Acts 12:1-11 – 2 Timothy 4:6-8 – Matthew 16:13-19.
Today we celebrate the foundational figures of the Church, both of whom were martyred in Rome. St. Peter was a fisherman who was called to ‘come and see’ Jesus by his brother, Andrew (Jn 1:41). After God revealed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, to Peter, Peter was identified by Christ Himself (Mt 16:17) as the ‘Rock’ on which the Church is firmly established. Peter, always listed first in accounts of the Apostles, was instructed by Jesus to “strengthen his brethren” (Lk 22:31ff) which he did from Jerusalem (Acts chs. 1-2, 10-11 & 15). Taken in chains to Rome around AD 64, he was martyred by inverted crucifixion because he didn’t consider himself worthy to die in the same manner as His Lord. Saul, later St. Paul, was a zealous Pharisee, an educated Jew and a Roman citizen, who persecuted the early Church with a passion. He was present at the martyrdom of St. Stephen and looked on approvingly (Acts 22:20). He was converted by Christ Himself on the road to Damascus when he literally ‘saw the light’ (Acts 22:6). Paul undertook multiple missionary journeys and was the “Apostle to the Gentiles” (Gal 1:15-16) and because he envisioned a New Covenant embracing both Jews and non-Jews (Rom 15:19ff). He was martyred by being beheaded in Rome around AD 67. Both Peter and Paul witnessed to Christ with their lives. They are the two great Apostles of mission, Peter to Jewish communities, and Paul to the Gentile world of the Near East and Rome. In their spiritual journeys with the Lord, both experienced His gratuitous compassion and forgiveness. Although Peter denied the Lord three times (Lk 22:57-61 he was forgiven when he asked for pardon, and was instructed three times to feed the Lord’s lambs and sheep (Jn 21:15ff). Although Paul persecuted the early Christian community, he was called, converted and forgiven. Both St. Peter and St. Paul are fathers in the Faith.
Both Apostles experienced divine deliverance in their ministries. In the Second Reading, St. Paul spoke of his having been fulfilled: he had fought the good fight of faith (2 Tim 4:7), preached to the nations, converted many and established churches across the Near East. He wrote that, ‘the Lord stood by me and gave me strength to proclaim the word fully…I was rescued from the lion’s mouth’. In the First Reading, St. Peter wrote of his deliverance from prison: ‘Now, I am sure that the Lord has rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting’. The situation was that Peter was going to be degraded and killed in order to massage Herod’s political popularity. However, Herod’s evil plans were thwarted. As Herod made plans to make an example of Peter to boost his popularity, the plan of God was to up-end the situation to give Peter an opportunity to give glory to God. While Peter was in prison, Christians were praying earnestly for his deliverance. And what was the result? The Lord intervened! Peter was divinely rescued. The prayers of Christian communities then and now are capable of invoking great wonders from God.
Now, to go back a bit, Herod had noticed that his popularity was boosted when he had St. James, the brother of St. John, killed (Acts 12:2). The murder pleased the Jews, whose political allegiance he needed. In his desire for yet more popular acclaim, he had Peter arrested and thrown in jail prior to execution. Do you see how Herod was using the life of another human being as bait for power and vainglory? In our personal ambitions in life, we have all made the mistake at one time or another of going for an end product, a reward, without necessarily thinking of the morality of the means by which we get it. Putting the cart before the horse, as it were, we become so entranced by the end product, the reward, that we don’t care whether we get it by fair means or foul. Indeed, it is a great temptation to look only at getting what we want without considering the morality of how we get it. Of course, Herod’s behaviour was over-the-top, and we wouldn’t go as far at that ourselves. But isn’t it true that sometimes we make the same sort of error, for instance when we place our own aims and ambitions above our duty to love others in society for the sake of Christ? When our desire to get what we want causes us to knock everybody else out of the way? When we are guilty of pride of vainglory because we believe ourselves to be better than anybody else and more worthy of getting what we want? Now do you see the danger of moral dislocation?
Saints Peter and Paul teach us by their lives that saints do not start out as saints. They are all flawed human being like ourselves. What saints do differently from the mainstream of humanity is that they completely embrace the divine calling to conversion. They really go for it. They tap into the immensity of God’s mercy while striving relentlessly to grow in grace. Saints are those who, recognizing with sorrow their weaknesses and frailties, draw great strength from the abundant mercy of God. They do all they can to maintain that strength throughout their lives. They never give up, they never become discouraged even when they fail and fall, because like St. Paul they trust that when they are weak, they are strong (2 Cor 12:11). It was Peter who was divinely inspired to be the first to announce to the world who the God-Man was: ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Mt 16:16). In confessing Jesus as the Messiah, Peter’s name was changed from Simon to ‘Cephas’- the “Rock”, for ‘Peter’ or ‘Petros’ was to become the Rock upon which the foundation of the Church rests, the Rock symbolising the oneness, the unity and the power of God invested in Her.
Finally, the lives of Saints Peter and Paul evidenced the unshakeable belief and trust they both developed in the Christ they professed. They are worthy of emulation. Each of them, one with a stable, localised mission to the Jews, and the other with a mission that took him across multiple countries in his passion to spread the word to the Gentiles, fought the good fight. In them, we too can find ways to wrestle with problems arising in the Church today. The Church and the World both contain contrasting elements that bring extroverted people up against introverted people, sensory people up against intuitive people, people quick to judge against laid-back personalities, and logical thinkers up against those who prioritise human warmth. One part of the Church conservatively seeks to preserve what has been thrashed out over 2000 years, while the other excitedly reaches out across many boundaries. One part of the Church seeks a hermeneutic of continuity, while the other has little time for the old and seeks ‘fresh woods and pastures new’. One part of the Church is looking to take responsibility for previous actions, while the other is dreaming new dreams. My hope is that these two lines need not necessarily be an excuse for disunity and split the Church. Variety is the spice of life and can be modelled as sources of strength. Our differences should be harnessed to make us strong. May we be encouraged by the examples of Saints Peter and Paul, and may the Lord help us to recognize the good side in each and every one of us Amen. God bless you.
Posted in: A Reflection by Fr. Peter
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Sergius Kodera (Universität Wien)
Fellow in Research Area 2: "Travelling Matters"
October – December 2019
Giordano Bruno and Matteo Ricci. 16th Century Arts of Memory between Paris and Beijing
Sergius Kordera’s research project at EXC 2020 compares two different texts on the art of memory, both written and published towards the end of the 16th century, albeit in very different parts of the world: in 1582, Giordano Bruno (1548–1600), a runaway Dominican priest from Naples, dedicated his book On the Shadows of Ideas to Henry III, King of France; in 1596, Matteo Ricci (1552–1610), the first Jesuit missionary to enter Ming China, presented his Xiguo Jifa (The Western Method of Learning) to the court of Ming Emperor Wanli in Beijing. The art of memory is a site where fundamental questions on the role of mental images in our intellectual and emotional lives can be negotiated. In different ways, both Bruno and Ricci address this challenge: Ricci, because he is translating the art of memory into classical Chinese, a scripture which is itself ideographic; Bruno, because he is convinced that we are fundamentally dependent on (emotionally charged) images. Despite their fundamentally different approaches, the project will also consider potential similarities in outlook in both texts. This might at first sight seem unlikely, with Bruno being burnt at the stake for heresy and Ricci a missionary dedicated to propagating the cause of Catholicism. Yet upon closer scrutiny, the contexts are in fact quite similar: the Jesuit missionaries were supervised not only by their own Collegium in Rome – they also had to face censorship and critique at the hands of the Dominican order; both Bruno and Ricci were born and brought up on the Italian Peninsula; both wrote in exile; both tried to win the favour of sovereigns whose power was in decline – from 1600 on, Wanli virtually retired from office, and Henry III was struggling not to lose control over the religious factionalism that would soon ravage France; both authors sought to promote their persons and their causes; both were deeply steeped in Thomist theology.
Sergius Kodera teaches Early Modern and Renaissance Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Vienna. He is senior research fellow at New Design University, St. Pölten, Austria, where he served as Dean of the Faculty of Design from October 2012 to March 2019. Previous fellowships have taken him to London (Warburg Institute), Vienna (IFK) and New York (Columbia). Kodera has published on and/or translated Renaissance authors such as Marsilio Ficino, Fernando de Rojas, Machiavelli, Leone Ebreo, Girolamo Cardano, Giovan Battista Della Porta and Giordano Bruno. He is currently working on a book-length study on Della Porta in English. His main fields of interest are the history of the body and sexuality, magic and media.
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Like White on Rice
On Sunday, Mike Cernovich proved that Trump’s wiretapping allegations are true. In a piece he wrote for Medium he told the world that “Susan Rice, who served as the National Security Adviser under President Obama, has been identified as the official who requested unmasking of incoming Trump officials.” What followed was a hyperbolic shitstorm from the left, which has become mainstream-media-speak for “This is true.” On Tucker Carlson Tonight, Mark Steyn said, “They”re annoyed, in a sense, that someone has managed to outfake their own fake news.” He was referring to the left’s obsession with Russia and how this leak proves Trump wasn”t colluding. If there were ANY evidence that anyone remotely near Trump was working with Russia to influence the election, Susan Rice’s people would have been screaming it from the highest mountain within minutes. They”re calling this scoop a distraction, but it’s really a shocking true story that detracts from their boring fake story about Russia. The media is calling it “Spygate.”
Cernovich alleges many knew this story but refused to report on it because they didn”t want Obama to look bad. Mike lambasted reporters such as The New York Times“ Maggie Haberman for sitting on it (she’s described by DNC insiders as a “friendly journalist“). Bloomberg’s Eli Lake also did not disclose what he knew, and the way Cernovich proved this was by using what he calls “3-D chess.” I spoke to Mike on Tuesday night and he said, “Basically, I accused Bloomberg [Lake] of plagiarism. I said he stole my story. This forced him to defend himself and say, “Oh, no, I”ve been working on this story for over a week.” Boom. Checkmate. I just got him to admit he was sitting on the story. That’s how you do it.”
“It’s a really exciting time to be on the right.”
The left’s reaction to this has been a sight to behold. Over at CBS News, Margaret Brennan assured us, “There was nothing improper or political going on.” ThinkProgress called Cernovich a Pizzagate conspiracy theorist (their site was founded by John Podesta, the center of the Pizzagate controversy). They shrieked at how many news sites have picked it up, including “Breitbart News, the Daily Caller, the Washington Times, the Washington Examiner, the New York Post, and Gateway Pundit.” Don Lemon said, “There is no evidence that backs up the president’s original claim,” and Rachel Maddow said Rice did “nothing illegal.” In another ThinkProgress story on how we shouldn”t be talking about this story they said, “Rice’s unmasking “does not vindicate Trump’s own tweets from March 4 in which he accused Obama of illegally tapping Trump Tower.””
Er, Trump never said it was illegal. He said, “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my “wires tapped” in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!” and he was right. That’s exactly why she lied about it. She knew it was wrong. There’s your story, media! Who cares if it’s technically legal? That’s not the issue here. Virtually everything is legal when you get that high up. We”re talking about behavior that is clearly beyond “normal codes and conventions” as Steyn said on Tucker. Normally, when our government surveils people, they leave the names as something like “American Person #3″ to maintain their privacy. When it came to Trump people, this courtesy was ignored and we got to know everything about everyone around Trump. Cernovich told me he knows for a fact he was part of that group. He says I likely was too. This fits in perfectly with the Obama administration’s mandate to abuse power and harass the opposition. Obama said the idea of the IRS targeting conservatives was “outrageous.” Then the IRS admitted they were doing exactly that.
Remember, Susan Rice is the lackey he had go on a morning talk show tour to tell America (specifically the women who voted for Obama) that Benghazi had nothing to do with negligence on the part of him and Hillary but was really about a trailer for a Muhammad video. “That was a flat-out lie,” said the NY Post, reporting on Rice’s long list of transgressions before adding, “She also brazenly insisted in 2014 that Bowe Bergdahl…”served with honor and distinction.”” I don”t see her as this maniacal villain with the world at her fingertips. I see her as a henchman who carried out an incompetent president’s dirty work.
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Charming one day, insecure the next: the José Mourinho I knew at Chelsea
Eni Aluko
Mourinho’s Jekyll and Hyde behaviour can be entertaining but also damaging and tedious. He must show at Manchester United that he can withstand a storm
José Mourinho can be ‘a completely different person’ when the pressure is on. Photograph: Robbie Stephenson/JMP/Rex/Shutterstock
Thu 6 Sep 2018 07.27 EDT
Last modified on Mon 31 Dec 2018 05.35 EST
Football is full of different characters but there are perhaps none who have a split personality quite like José Mourinho, as I can testify from personal experience. The mind goes back to the 2014-15 season, when Chelsea won the Premier League title during Mourinho’s second spell there. I had just written a column for the BBC praising José for bringing a spark back to the club and, as our paths crossed at the training ground at Cobham, he gave me a big hug and thanked me for the kind words. There was a smile on the manager’s face and a twinkle in his eye.
More talent, fewer minutes: English players suffering in Premier League
Fast forward to the following season and around the time the Eva Carneiro affair was taking hold. Once again José and I crossed paths at Cobham; he was leaving the media room as I was entering it to do some media for Chelsea TV. “Hi boss,” I said as we met. Mourinho practically blanked me. No words this time, no pleasantries, and the type of look that screamed: “What are you doing here?”
In my view, when things are going well for José and people are saying nice things about him he becomes the most likable guy in the room. But when the pressure is on and things are starting to go badly a completely different person comes across – an edge takes over and, as we are seeing currently, he resorts to reminding everyone of his past success in a bid to deflect from current failures. Or perhaps, to put it more accurately, to remind everyone how great he once was.
Mourinho in this moment seems insecure and during his time as a manager that insecurity has led to some real Jekyll and Hyde behaviour. Now it’s the turn of those at Manchester United to experience it. It can be entertaining but also damaging, for Mourinho as much as anybody because by constantly banging on about what he achieved in the past he is bringing into sharp focus the fact he is not doing it now. Imagine if every time Manchester City lost a game Pep Guardiola went on about what he won at Barcelona? It would get very tedious very quickly, and that is what is happening with Mourinho at United.
José Mourinho demands reporters show him 'respect' after Manchester United defeat – video
Saying that, I think the club should stick with him and Mourinho can show, for perhaps the first time in his career, he is the type of manager who can withstand a stormy period. The next few weeks are going to be interesting, especially if the pressure around the manager does not subside. That can happen in two ways – if the team keep winning and he calms down. For United’s sake, both of those things need to take place as quickly as possible.
At most clubs the manager determines the long-term stability of the players but at Chelsea it seems the other way round
Thinking back to how it fell apart for Mourinho at Chelsea, I do have some sympathy for him. At most clubs it is the manager who determines the long-term stability of the players but at Chelsea it seems very much the other way round.
On the whole the players are good guys - humble, keen to succeed – but they are also sensitive to managerial styles and when one gets stale, or simply no longer suits, there develops a real agitation for change.
Take, for example, the way Eden Hazard told Mourinho he was injured and had to come off in the defeat at Leicester in December 2015 that led to the manager being sacked, or the way the same player made clear last season he was not happy with Antonio Conte deploying him as a striker against Manchester City. The big players historically hold a lot of influence at Chelsea and while I would never doubt their attempts to win matches for the club, their levels undoubtedly change depending on how they feel about a manager at the time. They’re either having him or they’re not, and once they’re not it spells borrowed time for the guy in charge.
History suggests the willingness of Eden Hazard and others to buy into Maurizio Sarri’s plans will go a long way to determining the Chelsea manager’s success. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA
That’s why I’m reluctant to form firm conclusions on how successful Maurizio Sarri will be at Chelsea. He’s had a great start, with four wins in four games, and there are clear signs of him imposing his fantastic, forward-brand of football at the club, but in part it’s working because the likes of Hazard and David Luiz are buying into what he is trying to do. They had problems with Conte and have now decided, with a new man and a new way of playing, to go again. How long that will last is hard to say.
Being a former Chelsea player I wish them all the best for the season. On a broader level I hope someone provides Manchester City with a fight for the title. Frankly, it was embarrassing to see how much better they were compared with the other teams in the division last year.
Liverpool were the only club to ruffle City’s feathers last season, and have started this one well, so I can definitely see them challenging for the title. Their front three were phenomenal for last parts of last season and it will be interesting to see whether Mohamed Salah can go again and reproduce 30-plus goals.
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I’d also like to see Tottenham be serious contenders but I have my doubts they can be. Spurs have an amazing team, a world-class striker in Harry Kane and an amazing manager, but they appear to be a club associated with winning games but never winning any trophies.
Regardless, I’ll be watching on with interest from Turin, where I’m continuing to adjust to a new life in a new city. The experience has so far been great. Turin is as Italian as it can get but the language continues to be a challenge. Picking up words is one thing but constructing sentences is a whole other difficulty. But I’m determined to improve and fully embrace this new chapter in my life.
It’s great being part of Juventus. As expected, there’s a real family feel to the club, alongside a big desire to win as often as possible. I feel very much at home, having developed a good camaraderie with my teammates already. Training is also fascinating – I’m learning things on a technical level that I have never learned before. Aged 31, I feel like a kid again.
Unfortunately, I am yet to bump into Cristiano Ronaldo. Saying that, I have seen Cristiano Jr, his son, who plays for the youth team. They train at Vinovo, where we train, so … you never know.
• Eni Aluko’s column will appear weekly
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Jurgen Klopp was every Liverpool fan on night league title finally returned to Anfield
Joanna Durkan
Relief and an unexpected outburst of tears came Jurgen Klopp‘s way on the day he saw his side officially reach the summit of a long and arduous climb.
Even now, 45 days after it became official it can be hard to find words for the range of emotions which come with Liverpool being crowned Premier League champions.
It was a day 30 years in the making, one which saw seven different managers and countless players have their shot with a few near misses along the way.
The pressure and desire to end the run grew year by year, the holy grail seemingly always out of reach until one German walked through the doors at Anfield and changed everything.
“History is the base for us. It’s not allowed to take the history in the backpack,” Klopp said on his first day in the job having recognised the weight of expectation and the pressure of finally reuniting the club with the trophy everyone craved.
And while always eager to stress to his players and the fans that they should not let the weight of responsibility dictate present day, it was not until the trophy was finally Liverpool’s that Klopp realised he had unknowingly carried all the pressure on his shoulders.
The amount of tears shed led him to that realisation as a wave of relief washed over him when Chelsea toppled Man City and the entire Liverpool team and support staff watched on at Formby Hall, as seen in the club’s new documentary ‘Golden Sky: Klopp’s Champions’.
“Counting the minutes, it was just incredible and absolutely one of the best football moments I’ve ever had in my life with not being in a stadium,” Klopp said.
“Because we were there together you could see each face. Players were sitting there, some couldn’t really watch it and stuff like this. We were all like this and it was absolutely exceptional.
“You have no idea how it will feel before it happens. It was pure joy! Massive relief in the next second and then I started crying. So I went and called Ulla [his wife].
“I called my family 10 seconds before the end of the game so they watched it together. I said, ‘OK, I love you all’ and I put the phone down on the table. I said, ‘Leave your phone on so you can see what happens here!’
“Then I wanted to speak to Ulla and couldn’t. I had her on the phone but I just was crying. I didn’t know why it happened. I had no idea. I was proud of and I was worried about [it], but I couldn’t stop. I have never in my life had a situation when I just couldn’t stop crying.
“I didn’t know exactly why, so I just went for a few minutes in my room because I didn’t want to show everybody when I was stood around there and couldn’t stop crying,” he continued.
“Then I realised step-by-step and step-by-step obviously there was some pressure! Which I don’t really feel when I’m in the situation but being manager of this club is a big honour – I see it as pure luck – but it was some responsibility, let me say it like this.
“And obviously that fell off my shoulders in that moment and that must have been the reason for it. It was very strange, very good, very emotional, [a] very special moment in my life.”
Very special, indeed. Thank you, Jurgen.
Tags Champions 2020, Jurgen Klopp
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Effective Jan. 1, 2017, Kyle Williams, associate athletic director of development, will be the interim AD for a year.
"There's always a twinge of hesitation when you leave something you love, but it's exciting to know that this program will be in the hands of a caring president, some amazing coaches and a wonderful staff," Carr said. "Having Kyle Williams in place is particularly satisfying, because it ensures our coaches and student athletes will continue in a program that represents the class and integrity that has been synonymous with Midwestern State athletics.
"I've been blessed with a great president and friend in Jesse Rogers. Dr. Suzanne Shipley became a second blessing with an amazing gift of vision and support that will allow this program to continue to flourish."
Carr took over the program in October of 2007 after 12 years as a senior associate athletics director at Florida State and the Mustangs enjoyed a great deal of athletic success during his tenure, with 28 conference championships as well as sending 60 teams to the NCAA postseason. The success on the field include three Elite Eight showings from men's basketball, two final four showings for men's soccer, a national semifinalist trip for softball and an individual national championship by Brenna Moore in women's golf.
“We are grateful to Charlie for his strong leadership of the Department of Athletics," Shipley said. "The competitive advantage enjoyed by our teams and student-athletes on the field and in the classroom is due in great measure to his effective leadership."
"I am both humbled and honored to have the opportunity to continue with the great legacy that Midwestern State University stands for," Williams said. "I am very grateful to Dr. Shipley and Charlie Carr for the confidence and support they have shown in me. I look forward to working with our MSU coaches, the MSU faculty and staff and certainly our 330 student-athletes both on the field and in the classroom.
Prior to joining MSU, Williams was a prominent member of the Wichita Falls broadcast television market first with FOX-18 before serving as general manager at KAUZ TV-6. He also worked in commercial lending with First National Bank of Wichita Falls between TV stints. Williams becomes the 10th AD at Midwestern since it became a four-year university.
Carr said some of his more memorable moments as AD included hosting and winning the men's basketball South Central Regionals; the men's soccer Final Four in Gulf Shores; and the women's basketball team winning the LSC title and advancing to the South Central Regional finals in 2013.
He also was proud of helping establish the Life Skills program for MSU athletes.
"My thanks to Hollis Sullivan for a Life Skills gift that continues to allow us to financially put our student athletes first outside of the playing field," he said. "No less important are some wonderful people like Al Guinn, Dan Shine, Kay Dillard, Mike Haggerty, Kenny Bryant, Jim McCoy, Bud Francis, Bob Gunn, Marie Morgan, Carroll Laing, Reno Gustafson and so many more that have kept our budget competitive and translate into success on the fields and courts."
Asked how he wanted to be remembered, Carr was quick with his answer.
"Somebody that stood in the back of the room and watched our coaches and players do some great things. I always thought an AD was best when he was less seen and less heard. The kids should be in the spotlight."
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Why Championship Football Games are Called “Bowls”
February 4, 2011 Daven Hiskey 4 comments
Today I found out why championship football games are called “bowls”.
In 1901, the Roses Association sponsored a college Tournament East-West football game between Michigan and Stanford. In this game, Stanford quit in the third quarter, being down 49-0. For the next 15 years, this annual event stopped featuring football, rather featured other events such as chariot racing. However, in 1916, the Roses Association decided to sponsor a football tournament once again, this time between WSU (then called The State College of Washington) and Brown. This game was held at Tournament Park in Pasadena, as were subsequent annual matches. Fast-forward five years and they had need of a stadium to play the game at, with attendance for this tournament having swelled massively.
Myron Hunt was commissioned to design a stadium for this purpose which was completed two years later and named Rose Bowl. Like many other college football stadiums after, Rose Bowl was modeled after the design of Yale’s stadium, Yale Bowl, which got its name from the fact that it resembled a bowl, much like Rose Bowl. This tournament sponsored by the Roses Association then was named the “Rose Bowl”, after the stadium.
Gradually other cities and universities with football teams saw the money making opportunities and promotional value of these tournament games and began creating their own “bowl” games, even though many of these games were not played in bowl shaped stadiums.
The NFL eventually borrowed this terminology when they created the Pro Bowl in 1951. In 1970, the AFL and NFL merged and they created a championship game called the “AFL-NFL World Championship Game”. This game was called such for two years while the final details of the merger were being worked out. Upon the third “AFL-NFL World Championship Game” the merger was complete and this championship game was re-branded the “Super Bowl”, after the college naming convention. This third match-up, being called “Super Bowl III”, also set the tradition of using Roman numerals for the Super Bowl, rather than the year of the game.
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The Super Bowl is not “viewed by over a billion people in over 225 countries” every year. In fact, that number is typically more like around 100 million people with around 97% of that number residing in the United States. For more on this and other Super Bowl facts, click here.
Lamar Hunt, who owned the Kansas City Chiefs and was also was the co-founder of the AFL, was the one who supposedly came up with the name “Super Bowl” rather than the “AFL-NFL World Championship Game”. In 2006, he stated he thought of it after watching his kids play with a Super Ball. However, there are numerous references to the game being unofficially called the “Super Bowl” before Hunt suggested that it be made the official name of the tournament game. So it is unlikely the “Super Ball” anecdote he told was true, but he was the one who championed making it the official name. Though, he stated that he only suggested it as a temporary name for the event while something better was thought up, but the name stuck.
“NFL”, “Super Bowl” and “Super Sunday” are all trademarked by the NFL. As a result of this, any advertisement, event, promotion, etc. that wants to refer to any of these things has to come up with some colloquialism or be granted rights to do so by the NFL, which rarely happens. For the Super Bowl, the most popular colloquialism is “The Big Game”. As a result of this, the NFL tried, unsuccessfully, to trademark “The Big Game”.
It is illegal, according to the NFL, to show the Super Bowl on any screen larger than 55 inches. They also do not allow the Super Bowl to be shown at any venue that wouldn’t normally show sporting events, such as churches or the like.
The Rose Bowl has been host to the Super Bowl five times to date.
Other suggested names for Rose Bowl stadium were “Tournament of Roses Stadium” and “Tournament of Roses Bowl”.
The Rose Bowl has been played at the stadium with the same name every year except 1942 when it was moved to Duke University due to concerns over security thanks to the attack on Pearl Harbor.
“Stadium” originally meant “a foot race” or “an ancient measure of length”, which was about a furlong or 1/8 of a Roman mile. The name was also affixed to any track that was one stadium in length. This eventually became any running track and, finally, as we use it today to refer to any large structure used for sporting events.
Expand for References:
Etymology of Stadium
A Billion People Can Be Wrong
Rose Bowl (stadium)
Rose Bowl (game)
tagged with etymology football bowl, football bowl facts
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Written by msbreviews on July 8, 2019
If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free reviews, please follow my blog :)
First of all, this is a spoiler-free review of Far From Home, but NOT of Avengers: Endgame! So, if you still didn’t watch the latter or heard what happens in it (by some inexplicable reason), this is a SPOILER WARNING for the events of that era-ending film. Moving on to the web-slinger, this sequel is everything it should be and a bit more. It beautifully encapsulates how everyone’s feeling about the central death of Endgame, especially Peter Parker. I wished Jon Watts would put a lot of focus into Spider-Man’s grief and I hoped that a big part of the plot would be him just having to deal with the fact that his mentor/father figure is gone. He can’t continue to just be the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. He needs to grow up and become what everyone expects of him: to be the best of them all.
Watts does all of it. There are so many emotionally powerful dialogues featuring Nick Fury or Happy (Jon Favreau) or even just moments with Tom Holland just standing alone and having to breathe through the pain of losing someone you love. The pressure that everyone is putting on his shoulders is immense, maybe too much for a simple teenager, but he’s everything but simple. I love every single bit of story dedicated to Peter and Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) relationship. Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers wrote a wonderful screenplay, and Jon Watts executed it seamlessly. However, the reason why all of this works is due to Tom Holland’s performance.
He said in an interview he would play Spider-Man until he can and until producers let him. I hope he stays around for years without end. He’s not only my favorite on-screen Spider-Man but my favorite on-screen Peter Parker as well. I love how he spends most of the movie holding on to his feelings, and in the last act, he just lashes out because he can’t take it anymore. He left my eyes close to tearing up in probably the best dialogue of the film with Happy. As a superhero, he perfectly embodies what Spidey is all about, and Holland has the plus of doing most of his action stunts. As a teenager, he’s incredibly funny, innocent, and he still doesn’t know how to deal with falling in love or having a crush, which leads me to the second of the three main storylines of this movie: his relationship with MJ.
Zendaya did get some criticism from fans who, well, don’t like the fact that MJ is not the same one as in Sam Raimi’s original trilogy (physically and psychologically). Same for Holland and the fact that this Spider-Man has a lot more “gadgets” than Tobey Maguire’s. For those people, I only have one advice: understand that this is a distinct universe with different takes on characters we know and with other stories to tell which are, in fact, the closest we had to the comics so far. The sooner you accept this, the easier will be for you to enjoy these films. Having that in mind, MJ didn’t have much to do in Homecoming. Actually, she was even played as a post-credits twist so that the sequel could focus more on her … and it did.
Their relationship gradually evolves throughout the movie smoothly and realistically. They’re teenagers! Having their first crush, trying to come up with a good time and place to tell the other they like them, being nervous when they’re together and being anxious when they’re separated … Watts handled this subplot very well. It didn’t feel forced (rom-coms should take some tips), Zendaya and Holland’s chemistry is palpable, and I love this new MJ. Most of the superhero’s lovers are the cliche damsel in distress, always needing saving and making dumb decisions. Zendaya’s MJ not only can handle herself, but she has an unique personality that makes her stand out.
Finally, the third and last storyline relies on Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal). I can’t really get in-depth about this character because he has a massive impact on the narrative, but I can guarantee that Gyllenhaal makes this character work. I like how they approached Mysterio, but if it wasn’t for the outstanding actor that Gyllenhaal is, Far From Home would have suffered a bit. The relationship between him and Spider-Man is well-developed, but the character of Mysterio lacked better treatment. There’s an exposition dump midway through the runtime that’s just horrible. Really, really bad. However, the film moves on and gets better until it reaches the last 45 minutes, which are unbelievable.
I will always prefer a slow start and a fantastic finish than the other way around. Far From Home struggles with the first two acts’ pacing, but the last one compensates that with some of the best action a Spider-Man movie ever had! There are so many sequences where our superheroes are just going at it, flying and swinging across buildings, bridges, and rivers like we’ve seen before, only better. The CGI looked like it could be excessive in the trailers, but instead, it’s some of the best Marvel has shown us. Nevertheless, the jaw-dropping scenes are some that involve illusions, very much like Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) had in his origin flick. Spider-Man has two memorable sequences (the VFX here are mind-blowing), one of which incorporates a certain superpower not seen in the MCU so far (officially, at least). The kid in me was smiling with pure joy, let’s write that.
It’s on par with Homecoming. One is better than the other in various areas, but they’re extremely different, so comparing them might be unfair. The first had the goal of introducing a “new” character to the MCU, so the focus relied solely on Peter Parker having to deal with his powers and being the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. This sequel is set so far away from the origin story and so much happened between these two that if people chose to watch them back-to-back, they wouldn’t understand much of what’s going on. Nevertheless, Far From Home still has its own issues.
Like I wrote above, the first two acts struggle with its pacing. While it’s refreshing to watch Spider-Man in other cities besides New York, the transitions between them are ridiculously fast, especially one that takes Peter Parker to another country in such an illogical way. The film tries to play off these less rational moments with comedy bits quite often and sometimes it just doesn’t work, affecting both the tone and pacing. I liked Ned in Homecoming, and I also enjoyed his presence here, but this time he almost felt like just a comic relief guy instead of that essential “sidekick” to Spider-Man. Michael Giacchino’s score is good, but for some reason, I couldn’t really connect with it, which I think it’s the first time I don’t exactly love Giacchino’s themes. Finally, the comedy skits could be better, they don’t land that many times and the one supposedly funny scene I remember is the absolute worst.
All in all, I still had a blast! I think I prefer Far From Home to Homecoming since the latter deals with a much more complex and emotionally compelling story than the origin flick. The action is some of the MCU’s best and definitely as great as Spider-Man’s action ever was, featuring some mind-bending, astonishing sequences. The cast is brilliant, especially Tom Holland who cements his spot as the best on-screen web-slinger ever. Zendaya and Jon Favreau are also amazing, but I have to praise Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance because he’s just awesome every single time. It’s the movie the MCU needed after the tragic events of Endgame. It works because we feel what Peter Parker’s feeling and we can deal with our grief with the help of Spider-Man’s journey in this film. Aside from some minor problems with pacing, comedy, and exposition, the last act plus the two post-credits scenes, which have a tremendous impact on the movie and on what’s to come on Phase Four, are more than enough for you to go see this film at the theater. Don’t miss it!
Rating: B+
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The thoughts and opinions expressed in these reviews are those solely of the user.
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Man jailed for early hours’ assault on ex-partner
Man attacked ex-partner and caused damage to her home
Kieron Hutton, given 18-month prison sentence for attack on former partner and damaging her home
A MAN turned up in drink and in an argumentative mood at his ex-partner’s home in the early hours of the morning, a court heard.
Kieron James Hutton entered the premises after a brief altercation and went on to carry out a sustained assault on the woman, before leaving, having also smashed several items of property.
Durham Crown Court was told his ex-partner asked him to leave, upon his arrival at her Spennymoor home at 2.30am on Saturday December 5.
Following the minor doorstep dispute he refused to go away and grabbed her by the hair, pulling her to the floor, before kicking and punching her to the head and face up to ten times.
Nigel Soppitt, prosecuting, said Hutton then began to damage property, but his former partner felt powerless to prevent him as she cowered on the settee.
Hutton grabbed her foot and bit her toe, breaking the skin, then dragged her by her hair across the floor and kicked her in the head once more.
Mr Soppitt said Hutton eventually left, smashing a window as a parting shot.
During the attack he was said to have a dog chain wrapped round his fist, increasing the severity of injuries inflicted.
His victim suffered injuries to her face, nose and mouth, which was left swollen, bruising and abrasions to her back, tenderness to her head, as well as the bite cut to her toe.
Mr Soppitt said she estimated the ordeal lasted 20 minutes, with damage caused to several household furnishings, including the tv set and doors, adding that Hutton appeared worse the wear for drink at the time.
When arrested he claimed he acted in self-defence at the time, claiming her had been allowed in by his ex-partner.
But, appearing at a plea hearing at the court, he admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and criminal damage.
The 27-year-old defendant, of Cromarty, in Ouston, was said to have a number of offences for violence on his record, in recent years.
Tony Davis, in mitigation, said: “Hving had time to reflect on his behaviour, the defendant has no desire to rekindle this relationship.
“He said he would never have lost his temper if not for the goading he received from the complainant, but he accepts he went over the top.”
But Mr Davis said Hutton plans to move in with relatives 40 miles away to work as a farm labourer.
Imposing an 18-month prison sentence, Judge James Adkin said he would recommend that a feature of Hutton’s licence conditions on release would be a prohibition from contacting his former partner.
As no restraining order was requested by the Crown, that condition would rest with Home Secretary, Priti Patel.
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Opposite Outcomes for Majors Basketball Teams
by Megan Murray
The men and women’s basketball teams took to the Hanger Dome Tuesday night for midweek matchups against LeTourneau. The night held opposite fates for the Majors as the women’s team prevailed, 71-65, and the men’s team lost 77-70.
Comeback was the word of the night for the Millsaps women’s basketball team as the ladies rallied from first and second quarter deficits to record their second-straight win of the season. Junior Kim Klunk drained a three-pointer with 31 seconds left in the third to give the Majors their first lead in nearly three quarters of play.
photo courtesy of Millsaps Sports Information
Freshman Braxton Thomas says, “We were able to come back because we started playing together. Kelli Randle also brought a lot of energy, which helped everyone else get fired up.”
The Millsaps bench was one of the stars of the night, outscoring LeTourneau’s bench 38-15. Senior Miah Brooks tallied 14 points from the bench, while Katie Conner and Randle were right behind her with 13 and nine points respectively.
Perhaps the biggest star of the night was freshman Thomas as she led the Majors with 15 points. But, ”I actually haven’t thought a lot about leading the team with points,” Thomas says. “I was just focused on us winning.”
With the 2-0 record heading into the team’s first road games, Thomas says, “We are feeling good. We will continue to stay humble. This is only the beginning. We have a long way to go and a lot to work on.”
The winning streak came to a close over the weekend as the Majors women’s basketball team lost its first two road games against Centenary College and Austin College by final scores of 54-46 and 76-68 respectively. The Majors will look to rebound after Thanksgiving when they take on Rust College on the road Dec. 1.
The midweek game was not as successful for the Millsaps men’s basketball team; the loss dropped the team to 0-2 in the still early season. The Majors played strong in the first half as they carried a 20-13 with eight minutes left in the first. But the Yellow Jackets rallied back and took a 30-28 lead heading into halftime. Even though the Majors attempted a comeback in the second half, the Yellow Jackets held the lead for the remainder of the game.
Senior Alex Gerchow led the Majors with 13 points on the night, but ended up disappointed about the outcome of the game. “We have a lot of guys that are playing significant minutes that have had little or no collegiate experience, so the team chemistry is not where most teams’ chemistry is at this point,” Gerchow says. “The positive about this issue is that it can easily fix itself with time.”
The Majors looked to change the momentum as the team traveled to Shreveport last weekend to face Centenary College on Saturday and Austin College on Sunday. Gerchow approached the weekend games with positivity saying at the time, “The 0-2 start is an issue that we have to wash away from our memories and move onto the third game as if we are 0-0, competing for our first win. We have to go into this weekend road trip with a mindset that we are the better team and settle for nothing less than a win.”
The losing streak did, however, continue for the Majors as they lost the pair of weekend road games 88-55 and 66-63. The Majors will look to pick up its first win Tuesday as they face hometown rival Belhaven at home. Tip-off is set for 7:30 in the Hanger Dome.
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Canada named top country brand in the world - again
By Jim ByersTravel Reporter
Thu., Nov. 10, 2011timer1 min. read
It’s official. We rock.
For the second year in a row, Canada today was named the world’s most powerful country brand by Future Brand, an international brand and design consultants group.
The news was announced at the 32nd annual World Travel Market in London, England.
FutureBrand announced that Canada keeps the top spot in its 2011 Country Brand Index (CBI), the most comprehensive global study of how travellers perceive countries around the world. The rankings are based on a global sample of online interviews of savvy leisure and business travellers.
FutureBrand’s 2010 study looked at 110 countries through online interviews with 3,400 travellers from 13 countries and Canada came out on top for the second year running.
Second in the world was Switzerland, followed by New Zealand, Japan, Australia and the USA. Rounding out the top 10 were Sweden, Finland, France and Italy.
Australia fell from the number two spot last year, while the USA dropped from number four. Despite the Royal Wedding and next year’s Summer Olympic Games in London, the UK fell from a number nine ranking in 2010 to a relatively dismal 13th spot in the rankings released today.
According to the CBI, the most important factors that truly differentiate a nation’s brand are its associations and attributes: the qualities that people think of when they hear a country’s name, read or see images of a location, or plan abusiness or leisure trip.
It’s been a tough year for tourism around the world, and Canadian officials hope this will provide a needed boost.
“Canada’s continued rating at the top of FutureBrand’s Country Brand Index is a testament to our country’s global appeal,” said Maxime Bernier, Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism. “We have a wealth of compelling experiences for travellers, and our government is committed to sustaining this momentum by promoting Canada in innovative ways on the international stage. Through our recently launched Federal Tourism Strategy, we are continuing to position Canada’s tourism sector as an economic driver of jobs and growth.”
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Racism in the UK is a problem for us all
25 June 2020, The Tablet
Rid us of this evil
Rooting out corruption
Last year’s police raid on the offices of the Vatican Secretary of State, leading to computers and documents being taken away for further examination, was conducted by the Vatican’s own police force at the instigation of the Vatican’s own public prosecutor. Earlier this month an Italian at the centre of the corruption allegations was arrested, after appearing before Vatican magistrates.
The Holy See has evidently run out of patience with those inside and outside who have long exploited the Vatican’s activities in banking and finance for their own corrupt purposes. The most notorious was the case of Roberto Calvi, found hanging beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London in 1982. Known as “God’s Banker”, he was thought to be the victim of an organised crime racket connected to the Vatican Bank.
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And This is Supposed to Dispel the Notion that Marriage is a Rich Gays’ Issue…How?
February 28, 2011 · Kat
And so we now have…
A $363,000 Tax Bill to Widow Led to Obama Shift in Defense of Marriage Act
Edith Windsor and Thea Spyer had a 40-year engagement and a two-year marriage, starting with a wedding in Canada recognized under the laws of New York, where they lived, and ending when Spyer died two years ago.
Her death triggered a $363,053 federal tax bill from which her widow would have been exempt had she been married to a man, because the federal Defense of Marriage Act bars the U.S. government from recognizing same-sex unions.
Both women in the New York case were professionals, with homes in Manhattan and Long Island. The Amsterdam-born Spyer was a clinical psychologist. Windsor, born in Philadelphia, earned a master’s degree in mathematics from New York University and built a career as a manager for International Business Machines Corp., according to a complaint filed in her case.
Now, contrary to the impression that Laurel “Lurleen Blogovitch” Ramseyer’s scriverner at the Seattle Santorum wants the that paper’s readers (and the blogosphere at large) to come away with, neither I nor just about any trans activist is against same-sex marriage (those who claim that we are should pay daily tribute to New York Times v. Sullivan but should also keep in mind that eventually someone is going to convince a version of the U.S. Supreme Court that bullshit per se should be actionable.) We are, however, simply against the obscene over-prioritization of it as an issue in general and the disingenuous rhetorical corollary which holds that, somehow, same-sex marriage helps trans people more than anti-discrimination protections do.
Does anyone – trans, LGB or merely in the land of functioning brains – who is against the obscene over-prioritization of gay marriage as an issue in general and the disingenuous rhetorical corollary which holds that, somehow, same-sex marriage helps trans people more than anti-discrimination protections do not think that what is happening to Edith Windsor is at least unjust and, in all likelihood, unconstitutional?
Yet, plenty of those who actively engage in the obscene over-prioritization of gay marriage as an issue in general and who disseminate the disingenuous rhetorical corollary which holds that, somehow, same-sex marriage helps trans people more than anti-discrimination protections do either don’t get – or don’t care – that no DOMA repeal bill and no anti-DOMA decision from the U.S. Supreme Court would benefit 2011 counterparts to Windsor and Spyer if their employers decided that they didn’t want to employ lesbians.
And I won’t even mention how neither would be of any use whatsoever to the career aspirations of any trans person.
So, my question – a question that gay organizations refuse to even make an attempt to offer a stright (pun intended) answer to and which, while not forbidden, if shunted off to oblivion on InsidersOut blogs – is this: How did it become more of an ‘LGB(T) community’ priority to protect the estates of LGB people who managed to earn a living with and/or without anti-discrimination protections than to enable LGBs and, of course, Ts to actually compete in the marketplace for the opportunity to earn money and create an estate in the first place?
If the answer is not ‘pure, unadulterated greed (with or without a transphobia chaser), then please enlighten me as to what it is.’
Straight answers from gays, only.
[Cross-posted at ENDABlog]
In categories:Katrina Rose Politics
Too Exposed to Expose?
So... Why did I re-run that 12 1/2-year-old piece about Judge Frye and her dogs over at ENDABlog? Because of this: Ramseyer wasn't using internet anonymity in order to be mean. Its connection to my 1998 Frye piece will become a bit…
(LGBT Issues = Same-Sex Marriage) = The New Transgendercide Agenda
From Queer Channel Media: Support for same-sex marriage tops the list for what LGBT rights supporters want to hear from President Obama next week during his State of the Union address. No. It tops the list of what the 'all…
Johns Hopkins Resumes Trans Care
Johns Hopkins was an early pioneer in American trans care until anti-LGBT activist Paul McHugh began working at the hospital. In 1979, McHugh was able to end trans care at Johns Hopkins and later wrote that it was his goal to force the…
‘Don’t Call Us, and We Won’t Call You’ – Law Enforcement and the Trans Community
A couple of years ago, I attended a community forum in Denver that was set up so that trans people could meet with local police and discuss our community’s concerns. The police representatives present were from a newly formed “diversity”-type…
Opponent of Gainesville's "Bathroom Bill" Arrested For Bathroom Voyeurism
From the Gainesville Sun: The CVS Pharmacy manager who allegedly admitted Friday to filming women in his store's bathroom was an active participant in the 2008 charter amendment to "keep men out of women's restrooms." Jonathan Matheny, 27, was charged…
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The essential engineering component
Tr1dan Campaign
Tridan News
Tridan Engineering News
Tridan Engineering helps commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI
Colchester Institute unveiled a special commemorative structure, adorned with red metal poppies, at their Centenary event to mark the end of the First World War. The event, which was attended by several important guests, was held at the College’s Colchester campus on 7th November.
Tridan Engineering supplied some of the materials for this complex structure, which was designed as a symbol of thanks to all those who died for our country and helped give us the freedom we are blessed with today. The structure was created in part by the College’s engineering and manufacturing students, who spent many hours working on its concept and construction, learning crucial welding and fabrication skills in the process.
The guests that witnessed the unveiling included HM Lord Lieutenant of Essex, Jennifer Tolhurst, Bryan Burrough Esq, the High Sheriff of Essex, Lieutenant Colonel Steve Caldwell, Will Quince MP and the Mayor of Colchester, Councillor Peter Chillingworth. Also in attendance were many military officials and sponsors of the structure, our company included.
After the unveiling, some individuals placed red metal poppies onto the structure as a sign of respect. The ceremony continued with a reading of “In Flanders Fields” by one of the College’s students. A bugler then played to mark the beginning and end of 100 seconds of silence.
The structure is an excellent example of community collaboration, with several local businesses supporting the College’s staff and students to achieve what was described by Lieutenant Colonel David Lord as a “very complicated piece of engineering”.
The poppies will remain in place for a couple of weeks, before being removed so that the structure can be used in the future to mark other significant occasions.
Another successful exhibition at DSEI 2019
We are ready! Day 1 at DSEI 2019
Just over 6 weeks to go until DSEI...
Tridan Engineering Ltd was established in 1968 and provides a total outsource partnership and machining service to companies in the UK, Europe and USA, many of these leaders in their respective fields. The company currently employs 70 + staff.
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info@tridan.co.uk
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Legislative Process Glossary
ACT—A public law enacted by the Texas Legislature. A bill that has been passed by both houses of the legislature and presented to the governor becomes law if it is signed by the governor, if it is not signed by the governor within a specified period of time, or if the governor vetoes the bill and the veto is overridden by a two-thirds vote in each house.
ACTION—A description of a step that a bill undergoes as it moves through the legislative process.
ADJOURNMENT—The termination of a meeting. Adjournment occurs at the close of each legislative day upon completion of business, with the hour and day of the next meeting set before adjournment. (See RECESS.)
ADJOURNMENT SINE DIE—See SINE DIE.
ADOPTION—Approval or acceptance; usually applied to amendments or resolutions.
ADVICE AND CONSENT—Procedure by which the senate gives approval or confirms appointments made by the governor to state offices.
AMENDMENT—Any proposed alteration to a bill or resolution as it moves through the legislative process. Amendments to a measure may be proposed by members in their assigned committees or by any member of a chamber during that chamber’s second reading or third eading consideration of the measure.
APPORTIONMENT—The proportionate distribution of elected representation in the U.S. Congress among the states.
APPROPRIATION—An authorization by the legislature for the expenditure of money for a public purpose. In most instances, money cannot be withdrawn from the state treasury except through a specific appropriation.
AUTHOR—The legislator who files a bill and guides it through the legislative process.
BICAMERAL—Used to refer to a legislature consisting of two houses, such as the house of representatives and the senate.
BIENNIAL—Occurring every two years; a term applied to the scheduled regular session of the legislature.
BILL—A type of legislative measure that requires passage by both chambers of the legislature and action by the governor. A bill is the primary means used to create and change the laws of the state. The term “bill” also is used generically in TLIS on the legislative intranet and in TLO on the Internet to refer to the various types of legislative measures that may be introduced during a legislative session. Bill types include: senate and house bills, senate and house joint resolutions, senate and house concurrent resolutions, and senate and house resolutions.
BILL ANALYSIS—A document prepared for all bills reported out of committee that explains in nonlegal language what a bill will do. A bill analysis may include background information on the measure, a statement of purpose, and a detailed analysis of the content of the measure.
BIPARTISAN—A term used to refer to an effort endorsed by both political parties or a group composed of members of both political parties.
CALENDAR—A list of bills or resolutions that is scheduled or eligible to be taken up for consideration on a specified date by the members of a chamber.
CALENDAR DAY—A day of the year on which the legislature may be in session.
CALLED SESSION—See SESSION.
CAPTION—A statement that gives the legislature and public reasonable notice of the subject of a bill or resolution. For bills and joint resolutions, the first sentence of the text that summarizes the contents of the bill or resolution. For other types of resolutions, a brief description of the contents of the resolution.
CHAIR—A legislator appointed to preside over a legislative committee. A traditional designation for the member currently presiding over a house of the legislature or one of its committees.
CHAMBER—The place in which the senate or house of representatives meets. Also a generic way to refer to a house of the legislature.
CHIEF CLERK—The chief administrative officer of the house of representatives, who supervises the legislative departments of the house. The chief clerk is the custodian of all bills and resolutions in the possession of the house and is responsible for keeping a complete record of their introduction and all subsequent house actions taken on them throughout the legislative process.
COAUTHOR—A legislator authorized by the primary author to join in the authorship of a bill or resolution. A coauthor must be a member of the chamber in which the bill was filed.
COMMITTEE—A group of legislators, appointed by the presiding officer of the house or the senate, to which proposed legislation is referred or a specific task is assigned.
COMMITTEE REPORT—The text of a bill or resolution and its required attachments that is prepared when the measure is reported from a committee for further consideration by the members of the chamber. The committee report includes the recommendations of the committee regarding action on the measure by the full house or senate and generally is necessary before a measure can proceed through the legislative process.
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE—A complete, new bill or resolution recommended by a committee in lieu of the original measure. A committee will report a committee substitute rather than a bill with a large number of individual amendments when the committee wishes to make a substantial number of changes to the original measure. The committee substitute must contain the same subject matter as the original measure.
COMPANION BILL—A bill filed in one chamber that is identical or very similar to a bill filed in the opposite chamber. Companion bills are used to expedite passage as they provide a means for committee consideration of a measure to occur in both houses simultaneously. A companion bill that has passed one house then can be substituted for the companion bill in the second house.
CONCURRENCE—When the originating chamber votes to accept, or concur in, the amendments made by the opposite chamber.
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION—A type of legislative measure that requires passage by both chambers of the legislature and generally requires action by the governor. A concurrent resolution is used to convey the sentiment of the legislature and may offer a commendation, a memorial, a statement of congratulations, a welcome, or a request for action by another governmental entity. (Concurrent resolutions are used also for administrative matters that require the concurrence of both chambers such as providing for adjournment or a joint session. These types of concurrent resolutions do not require action by the governor.)
CONFERENCE COMMITTEE—A committee composed of five members from each house appointed by the respective presiding officers to resolve the differences between the house and senate versions of a measure when the originating chamber refuses to concur in the changes made by the opposite chamber. Upon reaching an agreement, the conferees issue a report that then is considered for approval by both houses.
CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REPORT—The text of a bill and its required attachments that is issued when a conference committee has completed its work in resolving the differences between the house and senate versions of a measure.
CONGRATULATORY AND MEMORIAL CALENDAR—A list of congratulatory and memorial resolutions scheduled by the House Committee on Rules and Resolutions for consideration by the house that must be distributed to the members 24 hours before the house convenes.
CONSTITUENT—A citizen residing within the district of an elected representative.
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT—A change to the state constitution. A constitutional amendment may be proposed by the legislature in the form of a joint resolution that must be adopted by both houses of the legislature by a two-thirds vote and be approved by a majority of the voters to become effective.
CONVENE—To assemble or call to order the members of a legislative body.
COSPONSOR—A legislator who joins with the primary sponsor to guide a bill or resolution through the legislative process in the opposite chamber. A cosponsor must be a member of the opposite chamber from the one in which the bill was filed.
COUNCIL DOCUMENT NUMBER—The unique number assigned to a bill or resolution draft prepared by the Texas Legislative Council. If a filed bill or resolution has been prepared by the council, the number will appear in the lower left-hand corner of the document.
DAILY HOUSE CALENDAR—A list of new bills and resolutions scheduled by the House Committee on Calendars for consideration by the house that must be distributed to the members 36 hours before the house convenes during regular sessions and 24 hours before the house convenes during special or called sessions.
DISTRICT (representative)—A geographic division of the state made on the basis of population and in accordance with conditions dictated by state and federal law for the purpose of equitable representation of the people in a legislative or other body.
DIVISION VOTE—A vote by any method other than voice vote that will give the presiding officer an indication of the members' preference without calling the roll. Traditional methods were show of hands, standing, or moving to opposite sides of the room.
DUPLICATE BILL—A bill that is identical to a bill filed in the same chamber.
ELECTION—The process of choosing government officials by a vote of the citizens.
ENACT—To pass a law.
ENACTING CLAUSE—A clause required by the Texas Constitution to precede the body of each bill. The enacting clause follows the caption and must read as follows: “Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas:”.
ENGROSSED—The stage in a bill’s legislative progress when it has been passed by the chamber in which it was filed and all amendments to the bill have been incorporated into the text of the bill, which is then forwarded to the second house for consideration.
ENROLLED—The stage in a bill’s legislative progress when it has been passed by both chambers of the legislature in identical form and is prepared for signature by the presiding officers of both houses. If the bill is not passed in identical form by both houses, any changes made by the opposite chamber must be accepted by the originating chamber or a conference committee report must be adopted by both chambers before the bill may be enrolled.
EX OFFICIO—Used to refer to a member of a governmental body who holds his or her position on that body as the result of holding another governmental position.
FILED—The stage in a bill’s legislative progress when it is given a bill number and introduced into the legislative process. Members of the house of representatives file bills with the chief clerk of the house. Senators file bills with the secretary of the senate.
FIRST READING—See READING.
FISCAL NOTE—An estimate, prepared by the Legislative Budget Board, of the probable costs that will be incurred as an effect of a bill or joint resolution.
FISCAL YEAR—A 12-month period at the end of which accounts are reconciled. The fiscal year for state agencies in Texas begins on September 1 of each year and ends on August 31 of the following year.
FLOOR—A traditional term for the meeting chamber of either house.
FLOOR ACTION—Action taken by either house on a bill reported by a committee. Subject to rules adopted by the respective house, its members may propose amendments, enter debate, seek to promote or prevent a bill’s passage, and vote on its final passage in that house.
FORMAL MEETING—A meeting of a house committee or subcommittee during which official action may be taken on any measure or matter before the committee or subcommittee.
GERRYMANDER—To divide a state, county, or other political subdivision into election districts in an unnatural manner to give a political party or ethnic group advantage over its opponents.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES—The lower house of the Texas Legislature, consisting of 150 members elected from districts of roughly equal population, all of whom are elected every two years for two-year terms.
INTENT CALENDAR—A list of bills and resolutions for which senators have filed with the secretary of the senate written notice to suspend the regular order of business for consideration. Normally, a bill may not be brought up for consideration by the full senate unless it is listed on the Intent Calendar.
INTERIM—The period between regular legislative sessions.
INTERIM COMMITTEE—A group of legislators appointed by the presiding officer of the house or senate when the legislature is not in session that studies a particular issue or group of issues for the purpose of making recommendations to the next legislature.
INTRODUCED—Used to refer to the version of a bill or resolution as it was filed in the house or the senate.
JOINT COMMITTEE—A committee composed of members from each house appointed by the respective presiding officers. Joint committees normally are created by special proclamation issued by the speaker and lieutenant governor for the purpose of studying a particular issue or group of issues when the legislature is not in session. Joint committees rarely, if ever, are created during a session, and house and senate rules do not permit bills and resolutions to be referred to a joint committee.
JOINT RESOLUTION—A type of legislative measure that requires passage by both chambers of the legislature but does not require action by the governor. A joint resolution is used to propose amendments to the Texas Constitution, to ratify amendments to the U.S. Constitution, or to request a convention to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Before becoming effective, the provisions of joint resolutions proposing amendments to the Texas Constitution must be approved by the voters of Texas.
JOURNAL—The official publication that records the legislative proceedings of each chamber, including record vote information. The journal of each house is printed daily in pamphlet form and subsequently compiled and indexed for publication in bound volumes after the conclusion of a regular or special session of the legislature.
LAME DUCK—An elected official who has been defeated for re-election or who has chosen not to run for re-election but whose current term has not yet expired.
LAST ACTION—The description of the most recent step a bill has gone through in the legislative process.
LEGISLATIVE DAY—That period from convening after an adjournment until the next adjournment. The house or the senate may convene for a daily session in the morning, recess for lunch, and adjourn that same evening, completing a legislative day on the same calendar day. However, if a chamber recesses at the end of the day, that particular legislative day continues until the next time the chamber adjourns.
LEGISLATURE—The lawmaking body of the State of Texas. It consists of two chambers, the house of representatives and the senate. The Texas Legislature convenes in regular session at noon on the second Tuesday in January of each odd-numbered year for no more than 140 days.
LIST OF ITEMS ELIGIBLE FOR CONSIDERATION—Prepared by the chief clerk of the house, upon request of the speaker, when the volume of legislation warrants (normally during the last few weeks of a regular session). The list must be distributed six hours before it may be considered and contains: (1) house bills with senate amendments eligible to be considered; (2) senate bills for which the senate has requested the appointment of a conference committee; and (3) conference committee reports eligible to be considered.
LOBBY—The act of a person or group of persons (lobbyists) seeking to present their views on an issue to the members of the legislature and its committees and working for the passage or defeat of proposed legislation.
LOCAL AND UNCONTESTED CALENDAR—A list of local or noncontroversial bills scheduled by the Senate Committee on Administration for consideration by the senate that must be distributed to the senators by noon of the day preceding the day the calendar is to be considered.
LOCAL, CONSENT, AND RESOLUTIONS CALENDAR—A list of local or noncontroversial bills scheduled by the House Committee on Local and Consent Calendars for consideration by the house that must be distributed to the members 48 hours before the house convenes.
MAJORITY—A number of members that is greater than half of the total membership of a group and that has the power to make decisions binding on the whole. There are two types of majorities that may be required for legislative approval of bills and other actions—a simple majority and an absolute majority. A simple majority consists of more than half of those members present and voting. An absolute majority consists of more than half of those members entitled to vote, whether present or absent.
MOTION—A formal suggestion presented to a legislative body for action by one of its members while the body is meeting.
NONPARTISAN—Free from party domination.
OMNIBUS BILL—A bill regarding a single subject that combines many different aspects of that subject.
OVERRIDE—To set aside or annul, as to override a veto.
PAIRING—A procedure for voting whereby, under a formal agreement between two members, a member who will be present for a vote agrees with a member who will be absent for a vote that the member who is present will not vote but will be “present, not voting.” When two members are paired, the journal reflects how each member would have voted. Two members may be paired only if one would have voted “aye” and one would have voted “nay” on a particular measure or motion.
PASSAGE—Approval of a measure by the full body.
POINT OF ORDER—A motion calling attention to a breach of the procedural rules.
PREFILING—Filing of bills and other proposed legislation prior to the convening of a session of the legislature.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE—The presiding officer of the senate. The state constitution provides that the lieutenant governor serves as the president of the senate.
PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR—Permission to view the proceedings from the floor of the chamber rather than from the public gallery.
PRO TEMPORE OR PRO TEM—Temporarily; literally, for the time. The term is used particularly to apply to a temporary presiding officer of either the house or the senate.
PUBLIC HEARING—A meeting of a house or senate committee or subcommittee during which public testimony may be heard and formal action may be taken on any measure or matter before the committee or subcommittee.
QUORUM—The number of members required to conduct business. Two-thirds of the elected members constitute a quorum in each house. A majority of the appointed members of a committee forms a quorum for the purpose of conducting committee business.
READING—The presentation of a bill before either house by the recital of the caption of the bill. The Texas Constitution requires that every bill be read in each house on three separate days. Until a bill is finally passed, it will be in the process of a first, second, or third reading. The first reading of a bill is the point in the process when the bill is referred to committee by the appropriate presiding officer. The second reading of a bill is the first point in the process when the entire membership of a chamber has the opportunity to debate the bill and amend it by majority vote. The third reading of a bill is the next point in the process when the entire membership of a chamber may debate a bill and the final opportunity the members of a chamber have to offer amendments to the bill.
RECESS—A temporary termination of a meeting. Recesses are called for short breaks (e.g., for lunch or dinner) or occasionally at the close of a daily session to allow the legislative day to continue into the next calendar day. (See ADJOURNMENT.)
RECONSIDERATION—A procedure by which the house, senate, or one of its committees may, after approval by majority vote, repeat the vote on an action previously taken to either annul or reaffirm the action.
RECORD VOTE—A listing of the individual vote of each member of a committee or the full house or senate on a particular motion or measure.
REDISTRICTING—A geographical division of the state into congressional, state representative, senatorial, or other legislative districts on the basis of the relative distribution of the state’s total population. District boundaries are redrawn every 10 years following the publication of the U.S. census to ensure an appropriate number of districts of approximately equal population.
REGULAR SESSION—See SESSION.
RESOLUTION—A formal expression of opinion or decision, other than a proposed law, that may be offered for approval to one or both houses of the legislature by a member of the house or senate.
SECOND READING—See READING.
SECRETARY OF THE SENATE—The chief administrative officer of the senate, responsible for the day-to-day operations of the senate and its departments.
SENATE—The upper house of the Texas Legislature, consisting of 31 members elected from districts of roughly equal population, one-half of whom are elected every two years for four-year terms.
SENATE AGENDA—The document prepared daily for the senators and the public that contains the following information: (1) the Intent Calendar; (2) a list of senate bills returned from the house with amendments; (3) the status of bills in conference committee; (4) the Local and Uncontested Calendar; (5) gubernatorial appointments reported favorably from the Committee on Nominations and awaiting confirmation by the senate; (6) committee hearings scheduled, with a list of measures to be considered by the committees; (7) the regular order of business, listing bills that have been reported favorably from committee; (8) miscellaneous announcements; (9) senate floor action from the previous day; (10) senate committee action from the previous day; and (11) morning call items of business.
SERGEANT-AT-ARMS—An officer of the house or senate charged with maintaining order and carrying out the directives of the presiding officers and the members.
SESSION—The period during which the legislature meets. There are two types of sessions. The regular session convenes every two years and may last no more than 140 days. A called session, commonly referred to as a special session, is so designated because it must be called by the governor. A called or special session may last no more than 30 days.
SINE DIE—Literally, "without day." The term is used to signify the final adjournment of a session of a legislative body. The body adjourns sine die when it adjourns without appointing a day on which to appear or assemble again.
SIMPLE RESOLUTION—The type of legislative measure that is considered only within the chamber in which it is filed. It can offer a commendation, a memorial, a statement of congratulations, a welcome, or another statement of legislative sentiment.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE—The presiding officer of the house of representatives elected from and by the membership of the house at the beginning of each regular session.
SPECIAL SESSION—See SESSION.
SPONSOR—The legislator who guides the bill through the legislative process after the bill has passed the originating chamber. The sponsor must be a member of the opposite chamber of the one in which the bill was filed.
STANDING COMMITTEE—A committee created in the rules of either house that meets during the legislative session or an interim to consider and report on measures referred or tasks assigned to it by the respective presiding officers.
SUBCOMMITTEE—A group of committee members, appointed by the chair of a committee of the house or the senate, to which proposed legislation is referred or a specific task is assigned.
SUPPLEMENTAL HOUSE CALENDAR—The primary agenda followed by the house during its deliberations. It is prepared by the House Committee on Calendars and is required to be distributed two hours before the house convenes. The Supplemental House Calendar contains: (1) measures passed to third reading on the previous day; (2) measures on the Daily House Calendar for a previous day that were not reached for consideration; (3) measures on the Daily House Calendar for the current day; and (4) postponed business from a previous day.
THIRD READING—See READING.
VETO—The rejection of an enrolled bill by the governor.
VOICE VOTE—A vote during which the presiding officer will request the members who are voting in favor of a measure or motion to respond collectively by saying “aye” and those who are voting against the measure or motion to respond collectively by saying “nay.”
WORK SESSION—A meeting of a house committee or subcommittee during which the members may only discuss measures or matters before the committee or subcommittee. Public testimony cannot be heard and formal action cannot be taken during a work session.
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Scott Rigsby
Scott Rigsby is a double–leg amputee, an athlete, and a professional speaker whose message is "Do the unthinkable." His mission is to encourage people to do more than they thought possible in pursuit of big goals. He has completed more than 20 triathlons, and in 2007, he became the world's first double–amputee to complete the Ford World Championship Ironman competition in Kona–Kailua, Hawaii. Scott grew up in Georgia, where he still makes his home today. He is the founder of The Scott Rigsby Foundation, a Georgia–based nonprofit organization that exists to inspire and support challenged athletes. Scott has delivered keynote speeches for civic organizations, Fortune 1000 companies and schools across the country, and in 2008 was named World Vision's Advocate for Children with Disabilities. His story has been chronicled in Runner's World, Sports Illustrated, and on FOX, CNN and NBC news.
All Products From Scott Rigsby
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THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE BOOK
TYPICAL ERRORS IN ENGLISH
Cartoony Universe
Quizzes and exercises
Not4grammarbores
Ask Doctor Dot Fullstop
Blogspot index
Typical errors and misprunts
Updates 2020
Compliants department
Collins Word of the Year 2019 shortlist
On Thursday, 7 November 2019, Collins Dictionaries announced their shortlist for words of the year.
Many of these words have even entered the lexicon of many other European languages. Apart from French, of course, as they've probably insisted on having their own, well, 'French' versions of these words.
So I'm pretty sure you know what several of them mean, but just to check, I've given you THREE possible meanings of these words.
So can you choose the best meanings?
1. climate strike
a) When the weather itself is simply not the type of weather that is expected for the time of year. There's no snow this winter, so it seems the weather's on climate strike.
b) A form of protest in which people choose not to go to school or work so they can join demonstrations demanding action to counter climate change. I'm not going to school on Fridays as I'm on climate strike.
c) A method of artificial 'striking' rainclouds in order to force rain. We need to proceed with a climate strike on that weather front to get more water to those low-lying areas.
2. bopo
a) Also spelt BoPo. A movement advocating the view that people should be proud of the appearance of their bodies, or any aspect of this, especially size. Hey, chill out! You just need to show a bit more bopo!
b) A kind of movement that promotes the idea of big bottoms (Bo) and posteriors (Po), which is a more formal version of 'bottoms'. You shouldn't be ashamed of your weight; a lot of people have no problem with bopos.
c) Also known as BOPO, a BiOdegradable Petrol Oil that is 90 per cent more efficient than standard petrol. Formula 1 cars are expected to switch to BOPO for the 2022 season.
3. cancel
a) To no longer accept or acknowledge a person or organization, particularly on social media, in order to express how unhappy they are of this person's or organisation's activities or opinions. After those comments, I'm cancelling you, you troll.
b) To decide to have no more to do with the day, and to do nothing else. This day's been so awful I'm cancelling it.
c) A very minor form of cancer. We've done the scan and we've found up some cancels on your liver, so we can operate on those before it becomes full-blown cancer.
4. deepfake
a) To use heavy cosmetics in order to give the impression of someone being more beautiful than they really are. She's not that pretty, it's all because of all that deepfake.
b) An individual who regularly tricks older people into giving them money by pretending to be someone they are not. She's lost thousands of zlotys being caught out by all those deepfakes from that radio station.
c) A digital video that can be changed to give the appearance of an unedited video, and so to trick the viewer into believing the video is real. Boris Johnson looks like he's saying those things, but he's a deepfake; even the voice is wrong. But it's a clever video.
5. double down
a) An extra thick quilt for the bed. A normal eiderdown is no good for this weather; you'll need a double down to cover your bed.
b) A business term to describe the very quick speed of a business losing money. The company was struggling for profit last year, but this quarter losses are heading for double down.
c) To make your commitment to an idea stronger even if there is risk or even people against it. Despite what we were saying, he just double downed on it.
6. entryist
a) Someone who is accepted into a social group and made to feel welcome by them. She and other business start-up managers are now entryists into the city's cultivated society.
b) A person who joins an existing political party and wants to change its principles and policies. Thanks to their policies on Brexit, there were a lot of Conservative party entryists.
c) An alternative to the idiom 'to make an entrance' as a noun in the meaning 'someone who knows how to enter something in an impressive way'. Well, with a performance like that, you can't say he wasn't an entryist.
7. hopepunk
a) An individual with plans to join a movement that advocates radical change in the way we live, but lacks the ideals. The Green Party is filled with hopepunks.
b) A literary and artistic movement that celebrates the pursuit of positive aims in the face of adversity. We need a lot of hopepunk television these days.
c) A book genre that describes scenes set in a society set in a quasi-Victorian setting, but with late 20th century attitudes. The modern-day Sherlock TV series had an episode set in Victorian times but with a hopepunk attitude.
8. influencer
a) A person who uses social media to promote lifestyle choices, commercial products, etc to his or her followers. He's got a website on teaching English, but this influencer keeps pushing the haircream he uses.
b) A business term for a person that works in company recruitment, often using their influence to get what they want. Mr. Henson's quite an influencer when it comes to the type of people we need
c) An advisor to a political party, often following a belief that what they are doing is right and everybody else is wrong. Dominic Cummings was a heavy influencer on Boris Johnson and the conservative party.
9. nonbinary (or non-binary)
a) Relating to a gender or sexual identity that is neither male or female, heterosexual or homosexual. He has declared himself nonbinary.
b) Not digital, but analogue. I much prefer the good-old-fashioned nonbinary radios, which used to be called wirelesses.
c) Using a mathematical formula that is unrelated to using simply zeroes or ones. Can't we do these calculations in a non-binary way?
10. rewilding
a) The practice of restoring captured animals and returning them to the wild. The process of rewilding has begun for these injured tiger cubs.
b) A regression in the state of someone's education, seen as a derogatory term for introducing old-fashioned and outdated ideas into the educational system. They're just simply rewilding the kids so they can be more easily influenced by these politicians in the future.
c) The practice of returning areas of land to a wild state, including the reintroduction of animal species that are no longer naturally found there. The results of rewilding can be clearly seen in Pripyat, a Ukrainian city that was abandoned over thirty years ago thanks to Chernobyl.
And the answers (in bold)...
Quizzes and exercises Home
All media on this website is © Roger Hartopp/Tertium publishing group 2020, except where noted that they are copyright of a contributor.
Please do not copy without permission. If you do decide to use one of my cartoons for demonstration purposes, or create a link directly to one of my cartoons held on this site, then do please credit where you got it from. Me. Those are the rules, I'm afraid...
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Chairman’s Note: COVID Vaccine Deliveries & Business Aviation – We’re Here to Help!
In the early months of the pandemic, the world needed PPE, masks and tests. Now our world needs Vaccines!!!
Like our industry always does when there’s a humanitarian crisis, business aviation answered the call for help and stepped up to meet the need. At that time Universal was extremely proud to donate our services in support of many of those humanitarian missions.
The focus has now transitioned with the exciting and encouraging news that several COVID-19 vaccines have been approved, and our industry will once again undoubtedly play an important role in helping deliver them where they are needed most.
I’m now proud to announce that once again, Universal will be donating feasibility and consulting services to general aviation operators wanting to use their aircraft to support humanitarian missions delivering COVID-19 vaccines.
We’ve learned a lot about COVID restrictions and best practices over the last year, and we want to use our expertise in global aviation restrictions and logistics to help ensure these life-saving missions can happen and are a success.
Through at least June 30, 2021, Universal Trip Support will be waiving its fees on trip feasibility assessments, research, and consultation services for any private aircraft mission classified as a humanitarian COVID-19 vaccine delivery flight – even if the trip ends up not being able to happen.
Our trip support experts will perform scenario-specific research and consulting to help private operators understand things like mission feasibility, what the current operating restrictions are and the best options to navigate through them, documentation requirements, crew/pax requirements, what to expect on arrival, the questions authorities will ask, and local health and safety requirements—at no cost.
If you or your flight department is planning on attempting a humanitarian flight delivering COVID-19 vaccines I’d love to hear from you. You can also contact your Trip Support Team or Account Manager, or you can request support online.
Also don’t forget we are continuing to deliver no-cost operating information via our COVID-19 website, which is updated frequently regarding the latest global operating restrictions.
It’s been a rough year, but there are reasons for optimism on the horizon!
In the face of the unprecedented challenges, our business aviation community has made a tremendous difference already. Now we have a chance to make history by playing our role in helping to end this pandemic.
I look forward to hearing from you, and to having Universal support your missions, now and in the New Year!
Tagscoroncovid vaccineCOVID-19vaccine
C. Gregory Evans is Chairman of the Board for Universal Weather and Aviation, Inc. and a vocal and active advocate for business aviation. Mr. Evans has been with Universal since 1978 and currently serves as a member of the National Business Aviation Association’s Associate Member Advisory Council. Prior to serving as Chairman, Mr. Evans served as flight supervisor for two years and Vice President, Operations Officer for 18 years. Mr. Evans earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Business and Marketing from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. He is also extremely active in the community, supporting organizations such as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and donating the usage of Universal’s business jet to assist non-profit organizations, including the Corporate Angel Network, Impact a Hero and Operation Mend.
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Speakers are in the process of being confirmed so stay tuned for more updates!
In late 2003, weary of the overall failure of the US media to accurately report on the realities of the war in Iraq for the Iraqi people, Dahr Jamail went to the Middle East to report on the war himself, where he has spent more than one year in Iraq as one of only a few independent US journalists in the country. Dahr has also reported from Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan. He has also reported extensively on veterans' resistance against US foreign policy, and is now focusing on anthropogenic climate disruption and the environment.
Dahr's stories have been published with Truthout, Inter Press Service, Tom Dispatch, The Sunday Herald in Scotland, The Guardian, Foreign Policy in Focus, Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, The Huffington Post, The Nation, The Independent, and Al Jazeera, among others. Dahr is currently and has been a feature writer for Truthout.org for five years, and his climate feature page there is titled 'Climate Disruption Dispatches'.
His writing has been translated into French, Polish, German, Dutch, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic and Turkish. On radio as well as television, Dahr has reported for Democracy Now! and Al-Jazeera, and has appeared on the BBC, NPR, and numerous other stations around the globe.
Dahr's reporting has earned him numerous awards, including the 2008 Martha Gellhorn Award for Journalism, The Lannan Foundation Writing Residency Fellowship, the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism, the Joe A. Callaway Award for Civic Courage, and five Project Censored awards.
Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Izzy Award, in 2018 the Park Center for Independent Media (PCIM) at Ithaca College awarded Dahr an Izzy for his "path-breaking and in-depth reporting in 2017" exposing "environmental hazards and militarism." The Izzy Award, presented for outstanding achievement in independent media, is named in memory of I.F. "Izzy" Stone, the dissident journalist who launched I.F. Stone's Weekly in 1953 and challenged McCarthyism, racism, war and government deceit.
See Dahr Jamail's website
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Aged care comes under the spotlight in Canberra
Aged care comes under the…
AT the same time as the shortage of aged care beds is making headlines in Cairns, Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch has again highlighted the region’s aged care crisis in Canberra.
On Thursday, Mr Entsch led a round-table with officials from the Department of Social Services and senior advisers to Senator Mitch Fifield, the Assistant Minister for Social Services.
He handed over a 1400-strong petition organised by local resident Joy Watson, which calls on the government to give Glenmead Village Aged Care Facility greater assistance to restore its numbers of residents.
“Bluecare is in a very difficult position they have been handed over a facility which has incredibly high running costs due to its layout and this is impacting on their ability to take on more residents,” Mr Entsch commented.
“Nevertheless, the fact that this petition has gathered so much support is a clear indication that our community is incredibly concerned about aged care, and people want to see the issues resolved.”
With Cairns Base Hospital attributing this week’s incidents of ‘ramping’ to a shortage of room at the hospital – with elderly people reportedly occupying up to 70 beds – Mr Entsch said he wanted a full audit of vacant places at aged care facilities around the region.
“I’m getting conflicting information from different sources as to how many beds are actually available, but at the end of the day, there is no good reason for an aged care facility to have empty beds while the hospital is overflowing,” he stated.
“It’s also staggering to hear that 15 per cent of current hospital bed stock in the whole region is occupied by people who should be either at home or in an aged care facility, and that in Innisfail it’s as high as 30 per cent.”
Mr Entsch said he was frequently contacted by people from around Australia who have elderly family members in Cairns Base Hospital, who know they shouldn’t be there.
“But when they are told that in order for their relative to get a bed they will have to transfer to Babinda or Atherton, it’s just not reasonable particularly if they have an aged partner who’ll find it very difficult to visit regularly.
“The other issue is that some older people in hospital want to go home, rather than to a nursing home. Unfortunately, they may not have the level of care and support available to them there that they need, so the hospital is reluctant to discharge them due to duty of care.
“It’s a very complex situation.”
Mr Entsch confirmed with the Department that around 330 new beds are due to come online in the next 12 months, including 120 in Cairns by July 2015 and 90 at White Rock by January 2015. The others are at the regional centres of Cardwell, Atherton and Gordonvale.
During the meeting, Mr Entsch also raised the issue of the proposed Mossman District Nursing Home, which is in the process of submitting a third application for ACAR funding.
He emphasised that the unique and growing needs of the aged in the Douglas Shire would be better catered for with a nursing home, as opposed to being cared for at the Mossman Multi-Purpose Health Centre.
The Department also provided an update on the review of aged care provision at the Star of the Sea Nursing Home on Thursday Island, which is due to report by the end of September.
“I’ve kept a close eye on the star of the Sea since highlighting the terrible state of some of the facilities there in 2011,” Mr Entsch said.
“Bluecare has done a fabulous job of turning the place around with their incredibly dedicated staff but there are still significant infrastructure issues.
“I was pleased to hear that the mayors of the Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula Area are now taking a keen interest in the future of this facility, and that the Department is looking to not only remedy short-term issues but implement a 20-year Master Plan for the facility.”
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Catch 'em while you can
← return to National Pastime
By Jay LeBlanc The Washington Times - August 9, 2008, 12:03AM
By JAY LeBLANC
Thousands of baseball fans make the trek to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., each year to celebrate the game’s history and look back fondly on the careers of its greatest stars. But while it’s certainly worthwhile to peruse plaques, watch classic footage of Babe Ruth and check out old game-worn jerseys, it’s important to remember that there are quite a few baseball legends who have yet to call it a career.
By my count, there are 20 active players who would more than likely someday be enshrined in Cooperstown even if their careers were to end tomorrow - nearly enough to fill out a big league roster. Some of them are on their last legs, while some still have plenty left in the tank, but all of them deserve your attention and your respect while they’re still applying their trade at stadiums throughout the country.
Ivan Rodriguez, New York Yankees
“Pudge,” the 1999 American League MVP, is arguably the best defensive backstop of all-time. He’s won a whopping 13 Gold Gloves - three more than Reds great Johnny Bench, who widely considered the best defensive catcher ever before Rodriguez came along. Even at 36, Rodriguez’ skills behind the dish haven’t eroded much, as evidenced by the fact that he’s won Gold Gloves the past two seasons. Rodriguez, who was recently acquired by the Yankees from the Tigers for the stretch run, is no slouch with the bat, either. He’s a .302 career hitter with seven Silver Slugger awards - second only to Mike Piazza among catchers - under his belt, and his 294 career home runs are the seventh-most ever for his position, behind six Hall of Famers and another pretty good player, eight-time All-Star Lance Parrish.
Jim Thome, Chicago White Sox
Okay, so Thome probably doesn’t even know where his first baseman’s mitt is at this point. First base was his home for about a decade after he moved over from the hot corner, but regardless, it’s his bat that has punched his ticket to Cooperstown. Thome currently ranks 16th all-time with 529 career home runs, and has the fourth best at bat-to-home run ratio ever, behind only Mark McGwire, Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds. The slugger’s at bats are often all-or-nothing affairs, however; in addition to his lofty home run totals, he’s also 15th all-time in walks and third in strikeouts. Thome will be 38 later this month, but the 22 longballs he’s hit so far this season show there’s definitely still some pop left in his bat.
Carlos Delgado, New York Mets
It’s possible Delgado wouldn’t get into Cooperstown if his career ended today, but he’s a borderline Hall of Famer now with enough left in the tank to eliminate “borderline” from the equation. He’s currently 32nd on the all-time home run list with 454 and at age 36, he has a very good shot at getting to 500, which would pretty much make him an automatic inductee. Delgado is more than just a slugger, however. His .279 career average is fairly high for someone with so many career homers and he hit .344 in 2000, and he’s 18th among active players with a .384 on-base percentage. Many were saying Delgado was finished after a down year in 2007, he’s showed he’s still got something left by hitting .264 with 23 home runs so far for the contending Mets.
SECOND BASE
Jeff Kent, Los Angeles Dodgers
You don’t hear Kent mentioned as a future Hall of Famer all that often, which is odd considering that his 375 career home runs are by far the most ever for a second baseman. The five-time All-Star, 2000 National League MVP and four-time Silver Slugger award winner isn’t known for his defense, but he’s been adequate in the field over the course of his career and his bat has more than made up for any deficiencies. Kent is 40 years old now and very much on the downside of his career, but he’s a gamer and can still play a major role for the Dodgers as they make a run at the N.L. West crown.
Chipper Jones, Atlanta Braves
Nagging injuries and advanced age have thus far failed to slow Jones down. Despite his injury woes, the 36-year-old Braves stalwart is leads the National League in batting average (.369) and on-base percentage (.466) and topped the 400-home run mark earlier this season. Jones got a World Series ring early in his career as a member of the 1995 Braves and was the National League MVP in 1999, when he slugged a career-high 45 home runs. He’s also a five-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger award winner at third base. Jones has a shot at 500 career home runs, provided his body doesn’t break down sooner rather than later.
Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees
It says something about Rodriguez’ greatness that he could retire today, at age 33, and still be a slam-dunk, first-ballot Hall of Famer. He already has three MVP awards to his credit and has climbed to 13th on the all-time home run list, with 542. He’s also a much better defender than people realize, having won a pair of Gold Glove awards at shortstop before making the switch to the hot corner upon joining the Yankees. Fortunately for A-Rod and his fans, he’s still right-smack in the middle of his prime and has Bonds’ all-time home run mark in his sights as long as he can stay healthy for a couple more years. The only thing he needs to do to join the ranks of the all-time greats is experience some postseason success.
Derek Jeter, New York Yankees
Jeter, 34, is the only player of comparable age who comes close to matching Rodriguez’ Hall of Fame resume. The Yankees captain kicked off his career by winning the 1995 American League Rookie of the Year award and hasn’t slowed down since. He has eight All-Star appearances, two Gold Gloves and two Silver Slugger awards to his credit, and finished second in A.L. MVP voting in 2006 and third in 1998. That all sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? Well, here’s the best part: Jeter is a .309 career hitter in the postseason and has four World Series rings, and was the MVP of the 2000 World Series. He’s closing in on 2,500 career hits and since it appears he’s got at least a few good years left, he’s a good bet to join the 3,000 hit club on his way to Cooperstown.
Omar Vizquel, San Francisco Giants
Vizquel has never really gotten his due as one of the better shortstops of all-time, in part because his timing was off. He’s the closest thing to Ozzie Smith since Ozzie Smith, but Smith was still active for the first eight years of Vizquel’s career, stealing his thunder a bit. Vizquel also came along at a time when shortstop was evolving from a defense-oriented position to a position that featured offensive standouts like Cal Ripken, Rodriguez and Jeter. Vizquel isn’t a bad hitter himself - he’s accumulated 2,631 career hits to go along with a respectable .272 career average - but it’s his defense that will get him a plaque in Cooperstown. His 11 Gold Gloves rank second only to Smith at the shortstop position, and two ahead of Luis Aparicio, a strikingly similar player who is in the Hall of Fame. At age 41, Vizquel is truly on his last legs, hitting just .179 this season while being relegated to part-time duty, so enjoy his defensive wizardry while you still can.
Ken Griffey Jr., Chicago White Sox
“Junior” is truly one of the all-time greats. He topped the 600-home run mark earlier this season, and who knows what kind of power numbers he could have put up if he hadn’t been derailed by injuries the past several years? The 1999 American League Rookie of the Year, 1997 A.L. MVP, 13-time All-Star and seven-time Silver Slugger winner has topped 40 home runs in a season seven times and 50 twice, and unlike many other 1990s sluggers, nobody has ever claimed that his numbers were inflated by performance-enhancing drugs. Griffey was also one of the best defensive outfielders of his era, picking up 10 straight Gold Gloves from 1990 to 1999. He’s only appeared in three postseason series, but has made the most of them by hitting .305 with six home runs in 59 at bats. Perhaps he’ll get a shot to add a World Series ring to his resume now that he’s been traded to the contending White Sox.
Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners
Ichiro’s success has added a sense of legitimacy to the Japanese League, which will likely help him when his name appears on the Hall of Fame ballot. When you add his Japanese totals to his 1,700-plus major league hits, he’s already over 3,000 for his career at age 34. Even if you completely disregard his accomplishments in Japan, Ichiro would deserve consideration anyway. He’s never hit less than .303, stroked fewer than 206 hits, scored fewer than 101 runs, stolen fewer than 31 bases or failed to win a Gold Glove award in any of his seven big league seasons, and he’s on pace to match all of those totals once again in 2008. He’s also made the All-Star team every year and took both MVP and Rookie of the Year honors in 2001, joining Fred Lynn as the only players to win both awards in the same season. Ichiro definitely still has some good years left, but unfortunately his Mariners are headed in the wrong direction, so the one thing missing on his resume - a World Series ring - may elude him if he doesn’t change teams at some point.
Manny Ramirez, Los Angeles Dodgers
Manny’s not a huge fan of Beantown right now, but chances are he’ll someday look back on his Red Sox days fondly. After all, Manny punched his ticket to the Hall of Fame by slugging his way into the 500-home run club and winning a pair of World Series rings - and the 2004 World Series MVP award - in a Red Sox uniform. Of course, he was a superstar in Cleveland as well, winning the 1994 A.L. Rookie of the Year award, topping 40 home runs twice and knocking in more than 150 runs twice with the Tribe. Ramirez has never been much of a defender, but he’s had his share of highlight-film catches. He’s slowing down a bit at age 36, but chances are there’s enough mighty swings left in his bat to propel him into the ultra-exclusive 600-home run club.
Vladimir Guerrero, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Vlad is still only 32 years old, but he’s already managed to put up numbers that have him knocking on Cooperstown’s door. He’s slugged more than 30 home runs in a season eight times and more than 40 twice, and is up to 385 for his career with a good amount of gas apparently left in his tank. He won the 2004 A.L. MVP award and has finished in the top five on four other occasions, and he’s played in eight All-Star games and won seven Silver Slugger awards to boot. The only thing missing from Vlad’s resume is a World Series ring, and he hasn’t had much individual success in the postseason either, hitting .183 with a single home run in 60 at bats. Luckily for Guerrero, the Angels look like they’ll be in it to win it every year as long as Arte Moreno’s in charge.
Greg Maddux, San Diego Padres
The results aren’t what they once were, but the 42-year-old Maddux still goes out there every fifth day and attacks hitters the same way he did during his prime, and he’s still getting the job done. The four-time Cy Young award winner, eight-time All-Star and 17-time Gold Glove winner’s unimposing, professor-like appearance belies his status as one of the all-time greats. He’s the active leader with 352 wins, which ranks ninth all-time, and given his pitching style - change speeds, hit spots - he could probably pitch for a few more years and make a win at 400 wins. Five years after he hangs them up, he’ll be a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee with one of the highest percentages of the vote ever.
Tom Glavine, Atlanta Braves
It’s ironic that Glavine and Maddux were teammates for so many years with the Braves, because Glavine is as close to a left-handed version of Maddux as you can get. Like Maddux, Glavine is 42 but still effective, as evidenced by the 30 wins he’s collected since turning 40. The two-time Cy Young award winner and 10-time All-Star joined the 300-win club last season, and again like Maddux, pitches in a way that could allow him to add to his career win total for a couple more seasons as long as he can stay healthy - which he’s had some trouble doing this year. After that, maybe he could have a career as an American League DH; his four Silver Slugger awards are the second-most ever for a pitcher.
Randy Johnson, Arizona Diamondbacks
As a 6’ 11” fireballer who has remained effective into his mid-40’s (he’ll turn 45 in September), the Big Unit is truly one of a kind. He’s also unique among Hall of Fame-caliber pitchers in that he was fairly average until his age-29 season, never posting more than more than 14 wins, fewer than 10 losses or an ERA below 3.65 in any full season beforehand. Since everything clicked for Johnson in 1993 - he went 19-8 with a 3.24 ERA and finished second in the A.L. Cy Young balloting that season - he’s been one of the most dominant pitchers in the history of the game, winning five Cy Young awards and finishing second three times. He’s up to second on the all-time strikeout list with 4,730 and is just seven wins shy of 300 in his illustrious career. Injuries have caught up to Johnson and he probably won’t be around too much longer, so as the title of this column suggests, catch him while you can.
Pedro Martinez, New York Mets
The Dodgers traded Martinez to the Expos prior to the 1994 season because they thought his small frame would cause him to break down, and they were right - it just took more than a decade for that to happen. From 1996, his first All-Star season, to 2005, the last season in which he managed to stay healthy, Martinez was arguably the most dominant pitcher in the game. He won three Cy Young awards, finished second twice, third once and fourth once, and was a key member of the 2004 Red Sox team that ended an 86-year drought by winning the World Series title. He peaked in 1999-2000, going 41-10 with a 1.90 ERA and 597 K’s in 430 1/3 innings en route to his second and third Cy Young awards. At age 36, however, Martinez has truly hit the wall, with just six wins under his belt since the beginning of the 2007 season.
Mike Mussina, New York Yankees
Mussina has never won a Cy Young award or 20 games in a single season, and he might have trouble getting into the Hall because some will argue that his was not a great career, merely a very good one that lasted a long time; this is backed up by his career 3.68 ERA, which would be among the highest for a Hall of Fame starting pitcher. However, 2008 marks the 17th consecutive season in which Mussina has reached double-digits in wins, and he’s up to 265 victories for his career. Like Maddux and Glavine, he isn’t overpowering but rather relies on hitting his spots and changing speeds, suggesting he could get to 300 wins and beyond as long as he stays healthy. Mussina will turn 40 in the offseason, but given his 15-7 record and 3.27 ERA this season, it’s clear he’s still got some gas left in the tank. A couple more above-average seasons could once and for all erase any questions about his Hall of Fame worthiness.
John Smoltz, Atlanta Braves
Smoltz’ career is reminiscent of Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley‘s in that he has dominated hitters as both a starter and a closer. And while Eckersley’s 197 career wins helped push him over the closer hurdle and into the Hall, the 154 saves Smoltz notched from 2001 to 2004 will certainly help bolster the already-strong case for Cooperstown that his 210 wins, 3.26 career ERA, 1996 N.L. Cy Young award and four other top-10 finishes in the Cy Young voting provide. Smoltz will also be helped by his postseason dominance - he has a 2.65 career ERA in the playoffs - and the fact that he’s played his entire career with the Braves, winning a World Series title with them in 1995. Hopefully we haven’t seen the last of Smoltz; he’s yet to retire, but will miss the rest of this season with a shoulder injury, putting his career in jeopardy since he’s already 41.
RELIEF PITCHERS
Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees
Rivera is the most dominant closer in baseball history - end of story. His 471 saves rank third all-time, and with 28 saves in as many opportunities in 2008, he’s still just as automatic at age 38 as he’s ever been. He’s an eight-time All-Star and has finished in the top three in A.L. Cy Young voting four times, but what takes Rivera to another level altogether is his postseason success. In 76 career appearances, he’s posted an incredible 0.77 ERA while saving 34 games and winning eight others, and his Yankees teams have won four World Series with the Sandman anchoring their bullpen. The mild-mannered Panamanian makes closing games out look so easy, but all it takes is watching others try their hand at it to make you truly appreciate his greatness.
Trevor Hoffman, San Diego Padres
Hoffman made the conversion from shortstop to pitcher in the minor leagues, and almost 20 years later, it’s still looking like a sound career move. Hoffman has used a devastating changeup to amass more saves - 548 - than any other pitcher in the game’s history, and while he’s not as dominant at age 40 as he had been in his younger years, his 24 saves in 27 opportunities this season prove he can still get the job done. The six-time All-Star has finished in the top three in N.L. Cy Young voting three times during his illustrious career, including a pair of second-place finishes, and will be a slam-dunk, first-ballot Hall of Famer when he finally decides to hang ‘em up.
Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
This column was all about identifying players whose current accomplishments would likely put them in the Hall of Fame, and to date, no batter who has played just seven-plus big league seasons, no matter how dominant, has been enshrined in Cooperstown, excluding Negro League players who finished up their careers in the bigs (I believe Ichiro would make the cut if he were to retire today because of his accomplishments in Japan, but that’s beside the point). That said, very few players in the history of the game can match Pujols’ accomplishments during his first seven-plus years with the Cardinals. He already has a World Series title, an MVP award, five other top-five finishes in the MVP voting, six All-Star nods, a Gold Glove and three Silver Slugger awards to his credit at age 28. On top of that, he’s a .333 career hitter with 305 career home runs under his belt, and he’s never hit fewer than 32 home runs or knocked in fewer than 103 runs in any season. Two or three more “average” years by Pujols’ standards, and he’ll not only be knocking on Cooperstown’s door - he’ll be kicking it in.
Johan Santana, New York Mets
At age 29 and with only roughly five seasons as a starting pitcher under his belt, Santana has already put together a compelling case for Cooperstown. He’s won a pair of Cy Young awards, finished in the top five in the voting on two other occasions and compiled the 12th best winning percentage - .667 - in baseball history. But like Pujols, Santana needs to sustain his greatness for at least a couple more years before he can truly be considered Hall of Fame material. While the winning percentage is impressive, he still has just 102 career wins to his credit. Now that he’s playing for the big-market Mets, Santana should get good run support and some chances to shine in the postseason.
All photos by The Associated Press
Jay LeBlanc is an assistant news editor at The Washington Times and mayor of the National Pastime web community. He can be reached at jleblanc@washingtontimes.com.
Jay LeBlanc
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ISO and OHSAS certifications renewed
Wiser Group’s certification for ISO 14001 (environmental management system), ISO 9001 (quality management system) and OHSAS 18001 (occupational health & safety management systems) have been renewed until 2019 after the group passed its external audits this month.
The group was extensively audited by ISOQAR to retain the UKAS accredited standards. Over the three day audit, ISOQAR reviewed and audited a variety of procedures, processes and records of the Wiser Group’s Integrated Management System and interviewed staff to ensure that the group is working in line with procedures, is legally compliant and has identified the environmental and health & safety impacts of its operations.
The Wiser Group has held certifications for ISO 14001, 9001 and OHSAS 18001 since 2010. Our certificate number is 10989.
In 2016, the Group will start working towards the new 2015 standards for ISO 14001 and 9001 which were announced in September 2015. Those holding earlier certifications are required to migrate these to the new standards by September 2018.
For assistance with gaining ISO certifications and migrating these to the new standards, please contact Wiser Recycling’s sister company, Wiser Environment on 01480 462 232.
Home » ISO and OHSAS certifications renewed
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World shares gain on upbeat comment on China-US trade talks
Posted: Oct 21, 2019 / 01:53 AM EDT / Updated: Oct 21, 2019 / 07:37 AM EDT
In this Oct. 11, 2019, photo, a man walks past an electronic stock board showing Japan’s Nikkei 225 index and other Asian market index at a securities firm in Tokyo. Asian shares were mixed Monday, Oct. 21, amid uncertainties about Britain’s exit from the European Union and the ongoing trade conflict (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
TOKYO (AP) — Global shares rose after China’s top trade negotiator said over the weekend that Beijing and Washington were making progress in trade talks.
China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that Vice Premier Liu He told a conference in the southern city of Nanchang that the most recent trade talks with the U.S. made “substantial progress.”
The negotiations were “building a foundation for signing a phased agreement,” it said.
U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, agreed to hold off for now on imposing new tariffs while a deal is under discussion. Trump has said he hopes to sign a “Phase 1” agreement with Xi when the two meet at a summit next month in Chile.
Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.1% to 7,160 as uncertainties remain over the U.K.’s exit from the European Union. France’s CAC 40 rose 0.2% in early trading to 5,646, while Germany’s DAX gained 0.7% to 12,725.
U.S. shares were set for gains, with the Dow future contract up 0.1% at 26,780. S&P 500 futures added 0.2% to 2,995.
In Asian trading, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained nearly 0.3% to finish at 22,548.90. South Korea’s Kospi picked up 0.2% to 2,064.84, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was nearly unchanged at 26,725.68. The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia inched up less than 0.1% to 6,652.50, while the Shanghai Composite also added less than 0.1% to 2,939.62.
Japan reported that its exports fell 5.2% from a year earlier in September while imports slipped 1.5%. The resulting deficit of 123 billion yen ($1.1 billion) reflected weak exports to China, South Korea and other Asian countries, customs data showed.
“Repercussions from U.S.-China trade tensions are likely to persist, and weak investment and consumer spending of the two major trading partners of Japan — could continue to weigh on exports of ordinary machinery and autos, Japan’s major export products,” SungHa Park of IHS Markit said in a commentary.
U.S. investors are looking ahead to more corporate earnings reports and awaiting data on housing and a report on durable goods orders later in the week.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to push for a vote on his European Union divorce deal as Parliament prepares for a week of guerrilla warfare over Brexit.
Johnson’s office said he plans to kick things off by asking for a “straight up-and-down vote” on the EU divorce agreement on Monday, two days after lawmakers voted to delay approving the deal.
ENERGY: Benchmark crude oil fell 40 cents to $53.38 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell 15 cents to $53.78 a barrel on Friday. Brent crude oil, the international standard, lost 58 cents to $58.84 a barrel.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 108.56 Japanese yen from 108.38 yen on Friday. The euro slipped to $1.1167 from $1.1174.
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At-all-costs Marxists
By Henry Lamb
Published October 9, 2010 at 12:00am
Editor's note: Listen to this column online.
The recent gathering at the Lincoln Memorial was nothing less than an enormous, nationally televised coming-out party for closet Marxists. Washington watchers have long known about the love affair between the Marxists in America and other major political forces. Here are a few of the organizations that are marching, lock-step, in support of the Democratic majority that is advancing a Marxist agenda:
Communist Party USA (CPUSA)
Committee of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism
Rainbow PUSH Coalition
UAW, International Union
SEIU: Service Employees International Union
AFGE: American Federation of Government Employees
(And more than 300 other organizations)
The Democrats and their coalition of Marxist organizations say the Reid-Pelosi Marxist majority must be returned to Congress because the Republicans will return to the "failed policies of the past" and run the "economy into the ditch" again.
Who's getting richer under the Obama regime? Find out in "Obamanomics: How Barack Obama Is Bankrupting You and Enriching His Wall Street Friends, Corporate Lobbyists, and Union Bosses"
Any honest analysis of why the economy ran into the ditch has to begin with the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, promoted by the Carter administration and many of the organizations that "came out" last weekend. The purpose of the law was to make it easier for low-income families to get mortgages.
Marxists, of course, believe that adequate housing is a right, and that government has the responsibility to see that every person has adequate housing. The Clinton administration, goaded on by many of the organizations that "came out" last weekend, lowered the credit requirements to the point that NINJNAs (No Job, No Income, No Assets) were buying upscale houses all over the country with what were called "subprime" mortgages. To his credit, George W. Bush tried in vain to tighten the regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but Democrats Charles Schumer and Barney Frank led the charge to defeat tighter controls.
It was clearly the failed policies of the Democrats and their Marxist buddies who ran the economy into the ditch, not eight years of the Bush administration.
Speaker after speaker last week railed against corporations that out-sourced jobs to foreign countries. They fail to recognize that it is their failed policies that force corporations to find less expensive production costs.
Environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity and hundreds of others constantly force production costs upwards by lobbying for ever-stronger environmental regulations that virtually stop land use and require reams of scientific and technical reviews to meet Environmental Impact Statement requirements. These regulatory costs rarely improve the environment, and since they are not required in other countries, corporations are drawn away from America.
Labor unions drive wage and benefit costs up year after year, without concern for the financial impacts or whether there are sufficient sales to cover the costs. This is what killed the U.S. auto industry. This, along with excessive environmental and social regulatory costs, is what has killed the entire American manufacturing industry. These are the failed policies that are dragging the American economy into the ditch, not eight years of the Bush administration. This ever-increasing cost of production doesn't exist in other countries; these Marxist policies force industry to leave the U.S.
Marxists claim they believe in non-discrimination, equality for everyone. That is, everyone but the rich.
Marxists believe in discrimination against the rich. Marxists believe that the rich should be penalized and forced to pay a higher tax rate than everyone else.
Marxists believe that the government should provide to the poor adequate housing, health care, education and a job that pays a decent wage. They believe the rich should be forced to pay the costs, whatever the costs may be.
It is morally wrong to tax one segment of the population at a higher rate than another segment of the population. Progressive income tax is nothing more than legalized theft. Marxists also believe that the end justifies the means. Therefore, to Marxists, nothing is immoral if it achieves the desired outcome. The only thing that is immoral to a Marxist is failure to achieve the desired outcome.
Marxists influenced the direction of government excessively during the Wilson administration, the Roosevelt administration and since the Clinton administration. Obama and his cadre of Marxists czars, along with the Democratic majority in Congress, have turned up the heat on advancing his Marxist agenda. The Democrats and the Marxist organizations gathered at the Lincoln Memorial last week will do whatever is necessary to prevail in every election they can, and then enact every Marxist scheme they can during the lame-duck session of Congress.
Never have the Marxists been this close to completely "transforming the United States of America," as Obama so proudly predicted. Never has it been so important to turn out the Democrats in Congress and replace them with candidates who honor and respect the U.S. Constitution, free markets, private property and individual freedom.
Henry Lamb
Henry Lamb is the author of "The Rise of Global Governance," chairman of Sovereignty International and founder of the Environmental Conservation Organization and Freedom21 Inc.
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Front Page Politics U.S.ELECTION 2016
Trump details plan 'to make America great again'
'We need a government that is committed to winning'
By Jerome R. Corsi
Published November 2, 2015 at 5:32pm
NEW YORK – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has released a new book with a wide range of policy recommendations that emphasizes his theme of "winning."
“We need a government that is committed to winning and has experience in winning,” Trump writes in “Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again.” “This book is about how we do that.”
Trump speaks to a nation of voters clearly disillusioned with career politicians and a partisan establishment media, railing against “politicians who talk a great game in campaigns – and play like total losers when they actually try to govern.”
He targets members of the media “who are so lost when it comes to being fair that they have no concept of the difference between ‘fact’ and ‘opinion.’” He also goes after lobbyists and special interests “with their hands in our pockets on behalf of their clients.”
He clearly is not afraid of a cover photo of him scowling.
“In this book we’re talking about Crippled America,” he explains in the preface. “Unfortunately, there’s very little nice about that. So I wanted a picture that reflected the anger and unhappiness I feel rather than the joy.”
Donald Trump's “Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again” is available now at the WND Superstore!
He writes that America needs leadership "that can deal with our mess and begin to apply practical solutions to our problems.”
“My goal is not to design hundreds of pages of government regulations and red tape like others propose," Trump said. "We need to outline commonsense policies and then knock some heads together if necessary to make them work.”
Trump insists he's not bragging when he calls himself a winner.
"I’m a practical businessman who has learned that when you believe in something, you never stop, you never quit, and if you get knocked down, you climb right back up and keep fighting until you win," he writes. "That’s been my strategy all my life, and I’ve been very successful following it.”
Iran: 'Worst deal I have ever seen'
Trump makes it clear he plans to pull no punches criticizing President Obama.
“The deal President Obama negotiated with Iran was the worst I have ever seen,” Trump writes. “We couldn’t have done worse.”
He says he would have increased the sanctions "until the conditions were so terrible that the Iranian leaders were begging for a deal.”
He contends that "the principle strategy of negotiating should be that the side needing the deal the most should be the one that should walk away with the least."
“I would have laid down certain conditions that had to be agreed to, starting with the release of our four prisoners,” he says. “I wouldn’t have settled for less than a complete dismantling of all their nuclear facilities, destruction of all their centrifuges, and on-site inspections anytime, anywhere.”
Trump concludes the Obama administration settled for a losing deal in which the possibility of Iran defying the world and developing a nuclear weapon “is still very real.” If the Iranians decide to prevent the International Atomic Energy Agency from inspecting their nuclear facilities, he warns, “there isn’t too much that we can do about it other than take military action.”
The bedrock of U.S. foreign policy, Trump argues, is to return to a strong military.
“We will have the strongest military in our history, and our people will be trained with the best weaponry and protection available,” he writes.
“This means the best missile systems, the best cyber-warfare training and equipment, and the best-trained soldiers,” he continues. “And when they come home after a war, battered and bruised, our troops won’t have to wait months for treatment.”
Education: 'A failing grade'
On the domestic front, Trump pounds public schools for their inability to teach the fundamental skills American children need to compete in a world economy, hindered by an increasingly political correct environment dominated by the power of teachers unions determined to keep even the jobs of the worst teachers at all costs.
“We’ve dumbed down the curriculum to the lowest common denominator,” Trump argues. “In many schools, we’ve eliminated grading entirely and diplomas have been practically devalued into certificates of attendance.”
He rails against the federal programs Common Core, No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, which “allow progressives in the Department of Education to indoctrinate, not educate, our kids.”
He argues for returning control over education to local school boards and putting a spirit of competition back into education by promoting charter schools, restoring discipline of students in the classroom and firing teachers that are incapable of imparting skills to their students.
“In the end, we have no choice,” he writes. “We have to change the way we educate our children. We should return the basic control of our schools to the states and local communities. They need to set standards for their teachers that reward competitive quality and education.”
Energy: 'Bust the guts of the OPEC cartel'
When it comes to energy policy, Trump contends the first priorities need to be to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline and “start to drill everywhere oil is accessible.”
He rejects the Obama administration push for renewable energy, because he believes it's being driven by a mistaken belief that global climate change is being caused by carbon emissions. He also has concluded that renewable energy projects have proven to be non-competitive, economic failures, driven only by government subsidies.
“The most popular source of green energy is solar panels,” Trump notes. “They work, but they don’t make economic sense. They don’t provide enough savings to cover the cost of installing them and using them. They are the most highly subsidized form of green energy in America.”
America needs to drill its own oil, he said, and should not rely on the current drop in the price of oil.
“The excess of oil on the market, which has caused a great drop in prices, has made it seem less vital today, but eventually, the world will need that oil, and we will need the good jobs that it creates,” Trump writes.
Throughout the book, Trump focuses on jobs, castigating the free-trade administrations of Democrats and Republicans alike for signing international deals that push the price of labor to the lowest cost available. He proposes, instead, negotiating with countries like China to insist the regime stop devaluing its currency “because doing so makes it even harder for the rest of the world to compete.”
“There is only one thing that every single one of my many different businesses have in common: They all help provide jobs for people,” Trump notes.
He points to his hiring of minorities, including Hispanics, as evidence establishment media have distorted his image. Trump emphasizes his opposition is only to illegal immigration that allow borders to remain open to criminals, drug dealers and terrorists.
New York: 'Where everyone is a Democrat'
Trump explains his current positioning as a conservative Republican.
“I grew up and worked in New York, where virtually everyone is a Democrat,” he writes. “You know who else was a Democrat? Ronald Reagan. He switched, and I switched years ago, when I began to see what liberal Democrats were doing to our country. Now I’m a conservative Republican with a big heart. I didn’t decide to become a Republican. That’s who I have always been.”
Whether Trump is arguing why Obamacare needs to be repealed and the tax code simplified to encourage business growth and stop penalizing success, or he is explaining why the federal government is incapable of maintaining infrastructure, Trump consistently argues the competitive advantage remains with private enterprise.
“In Washington, D.C., I’m converting the Old Post Office Building on Pennsylvania Avenue into one of the world’s greatest hotels,” he points out.
“My home in Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago, was once the greatest mansion in the country, but its previous owner, the United States government had let it deteriorate,” he writes. “Nobody had the vision to see what it could be. I restored it, rebuilt it, and now – go online and see what I’ve accomplished there. We brought the property back to the greatness it once was – and then made it better!”
'Making America Great Again'
Trump insists that making America great again means restoring law and order, “both on the street and in our courtrooms,” by supporting law enforcement with the equipment and training needed “to protect themselves and our honest, hardworking citizens” and by putting judges on the bench who understand the Constitution leaves lawmaking up to the legislators.
“Crippled America” reminds citizens that the strongest middle class in the history of the world has been built not by relying on government handouts but by unleashing the creative intelligence and determined ingenuity of the people.
“Making America Great Again begins at home,” Trump concludes. “It means restoring a sense of dignity to the White House, and to our country in general.
“The president of the United States is the most powerful person in the world,” he writes. “The president is the spokesperson for democracy and liberty. Isn’t it time we brought back the pomp and circumstance, and the sense of awe for that office that we all once held?”
Jerome R. Corsi, a Harvard Ph.D., is a WND senior staff writer. He has authored many books, including No. 1 N.Y. Times best-sellers "The Obama Nation" and "Unfit for Command." Corsi's latest book is "Partners in Crime."
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American Minute Diversions Education Faith Front PageAMERICAN MINUTE
What's the logic behind 'So help me God'?
Bill Federer recounts how 'irreverence weakened the effectiveness of oaths'
By Bill Federer
Published December 7, 2017 at 10:38pm
Why has the tradition in America been for oaths to end with "So help me God"?
The military's oath of enlistment ended with "So help me God"
The commissioned officers' oath ended with "So help me God"
President's oath of office ended with "So help me God"
Congressmen and Senators' oath ended with "So help me God"
Witnesses in Court swore to tell the truth, "So help me God"
Even an oath proposed by Lincoln for individuals wanting to be U.S. citizens ended with "So help me God"
Lincoln announced his plan, Dec. 8, 1863, to let back into the Union those who had been in the Confederacy, proposing: "Whereas it is now desired by some persons heretofore engaged in said rebellion to resume their allegiance to the United States. ... Therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do proclaim, declare, and make known to all persons who have, directly or by implication, participated in the existing rebellion ... that a full pardon is hereby granted to them ... with restoration of all rights of property ... upon the condition that every such person shall take and subscribe an oath ... to wit: 'I, ______, do solemnly swear, in the presence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Union of the States thereunder, and that I will in like manner abide by and faithfully support all acts of Congress passed during the existing rebellion with reference to slaves ... and that I will in like manner abide by and faithfully support all proclamations of the President made during the existing rebellion having reference to slaves. ... So help me God.'"
A similar situation was faced by Justice Samuel Chase, who was the chief justice of Maryland's Supreme Court in 1791, and then appointed by George Washington as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, 1796-1811. In 1799, a dispute arose over whether an Irish immigrant named Thomas M'Creery had in fact become a naturalized U.S. citizen and thereby able to leave an estate to a relative in Ireland.
The court decided in M'Creery's favor based on a certificate executed before Justice Samuel Chase, which stated: "I, Samuel Chase, Chief Judge of the State of Maryland, do hereby certify all whom it may concern, that ... personally appeared before me Thomas M'Creery, and did repeat and subscribe a declaration of his belief in the Christian Religion, and take the oath required by the Act of Assembly of this State, entitled, An Act for Naturalization."
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An oath was meant to call a Higher Power to hold one accountable to perform what they promised.
Webster's 1812 Dictionary defined "oath": "A solemn affirmation or declaration, made with an appeal to God for the truth of what is affirmed. The appeal to God in an oath implies that the person imprecates his vengeance and renounces his favor if the declaration is false, or if the declaration is a promise, the person invokes the vengeance of God if he should fail to fulfill it."
Another perspective on taking an oath was mentioned by Bill Clinton at the national prayer breakfast, Feb. 4, 1993: "Just two weeks and a day ago, I took the oath of office as president. You know the last four words, for those who choose to say it in this way, are 'So help me God.' ... Deep down inside I wanted to say it the way I was thinking it, which was, 'So, help me, God.'"
Courts of Justice thought oaths would lose their effectiveness if the public at large lost their fear of the God of the Bible who gave the commandment "Thou shalt not bear false witness."
New York Supreme Court Chief Justice Chancellor Kent noted in People v. Ruggles, 1811, that irreverence weakened the effectiveness of oaths: "Christianity was parcel of the law, and to cast contumelious (insulting) reproaches upon it, tended to weaken the foundation of moral obligation, and the efficacy (effectiveness) of oaths."
George Washington warned of this in his farewell address, 1796: "Let it simply be asked where is the security for prosperity, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in the Courts of Justice?"
In August of 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville observed a court case: "While I was in America, a witness, who happened to be called at the assizes of the county of Chester (state of New York), declared that he did not believe in the existence of God or in the immortality of the soul. The judge refused to admit his evidence, on the ground that the witness had destroyed beforehand all confidence of the court in what he was about to say. The newspapers related the fact without any further comment. ... The New York Spectator of August 23d, 1831, relates the fact in the following terms: 'The court of common pleas of Chester county (New York), a few days since rejected a witness who declared his disbelief in the existence of God. The presiding judge remarked, that he had not before been aware that there was a man living who did not believe in the existence of God; that this belief constituted the sanction (validity) of all testimony in a court of justice: and that he knew of no case in a Christian country, where a witness had been permitted to testify without such belief.'"
President Dwight Eisenhower addressed the American Legion Back-to-God Program, Feb. 20, 1955: "Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first – the most basic – expression of Americanism."
Oaths to hold office had similar acknowledgments:
The Constitution of Mississippi, 1817, stated: "No person who denies the being of God or a future state of rewards and punishments shall hold any office in the civil department of the state."
The Constitution of Tennessee, 1870, article IX, Section 2, stated: "No person who denies the being of God, or a future state of rewards and punishments, shall hold any office in the civil department of this state."
The Constitution of Maryland, 1851, required office holders make: "A declaration of belief in the Christian religion; and if the party shall profess to be a Jew the declaration shall be of his belief in a future state of rewards and punishments."
In 1864, the Constitution of Maryland, required office holders to make: "A declaration of belief in the Christian religion, or of the existence of God, and in a future state of rewards and punishments."
The Constitution of Pennsylvania, 1776, chapter 2, section 10, stated: "Each member, before he takes his seat, shall make and subscribe the following declaration, viz: 'I do believe in one God, the Creator and Governor of the Universe, the Rewarder of the good and Punisher of the wicked, and I do acknowledge the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine Inspiration.'"
The Constitution of South Carolina, 1778, article 12, stated: "Every ... person, who acknowledges the being of a God, and believes in the future state of rewards and punishments ... (is eligible to vote)."
The Constitution of South Carolina, 1790, article 38, stated: "That all persons and religious societies, who acknowledge that there is one God, and a future state of rewards and punishments, and that God is publicly to be worshiped, shall be freely tolerated."
Pennsylvania's Supreme Court stated in Commonwealth v. Wolf (3 Serg. & R. 48, 50, 1817: "Laws cannot be administered in any civilized government unless the people are taught to revere the sanctity of an oath, and look to a future state of rewards and punishments for the deeds of this life."
It was understood that persons in positions of power would have opportunities to do corrupt backroom deals for their own benefit. But if that person believed that:
God was watching,
that He wanted them to be honest, and
that He would hold them accountable in the future
– then that person would hesitate, thinking "even if I get away with this my whole life, I will still be accountable to God in the next." This is what is called "a conscience."
But if that person did not believe in God and in a future state of rewards and punishments, when presented with the same temptation – with no ultimate accountability – they would yield to it. In fact, if there is no God and this life is all there is, a person would be a fool not to.
William Linn, unanimously elected the first U.S. House chaplain, stated May 1, 1789: "Let my neighbor once persuade himself that there is no God, and he will soon pick my pocket, and break not only my leg but my neck. If there be no God, there is no law, no future account; government then is the ordinance of man only, and we cannot be subject for conscience sake."
President Reagan stated in 1984: "Without God there is no virtue because there is no prompting of the conscience."
Sir William Blackstone, one of the most quoted authors by America's founders, wrote in "Commentaries on the Laws of England, 1765-1770": "The belief of a future state of rewards and punishments, the entertaining just ideas of the main attributes of the Supreme Being, and a firm persuasion that He superintends and will finally compensate every action in human life (all which are revealed in the doctrines of our Savior, Christ), these are the grand foundations of all judicial oaths, which call God to witness the truth of those facts which perhaps may be only known to Him and the party attesting."
When Secretary of State Daniel Webster was asked what the greatest thought was that ever passed through his mind, he replied "My accountability to God."
Benjamin Franklin wrote to Yale President Ezra Stiles, March 9, 1790: "The soul of Man is immortal, and will be treated with Justice in another Life respecting its conduct in this."
Benjamin Franklin also wrote: "That there is one God, Father of the Universe. ... That He loves such of His creatures as love and do good to others: and will reward them either in this world or hereafter, That men's minds do not die with their bodies, but are made more happy or miserable after this life according to their actions."
John Adams wrote to Judge F.A. Van der Kemp, Jan. 13, 1815: "My religion is founded on the love of God and my neighbor; in the hope of pardon for my offenses; upon contrition. ... In the duty of doing no wrong, but all the good I can, to the creation, of which I am but an infinitesimal part. I believe, too, in a future state of rewards and punishments."
John Adams wrote again to Judge F.A. Van de Kemp, Dec. 27, 1816: "Let it once be revealed or demonstrated that there is no future state, and my advice to every man, woman, and child, would be, as our existence would be in our own power, to take opium. For, I am certain there is nothing in this world worth living for but hope, and every hope will fail us, if the last hope, that of a future state, is extinguished."
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), remembered by his line "God is dead," exposed the hypocrisy of atheists claiming to be moral ("Twilight of the Idols," The Portable Nietzsche, ed., trans. Walter Kaufman, NY: Penguin Books, 1976, p. 515-6): "When one gives up the Christian faith, one pulls the right to Christian morality out from under one's feet. This morality is by no means self-evident: this point has to be exhibited again and again, despite the English flatheads. Christianity is a system, a whole view of things thought out together. By breaking one main concept out of it, the faith in God, one breaks the whole: nothing necessary remains in one's hands. Christianity presupposes that man does not know, cannot know, what is good for him, what evil: he believes in God, who alone knows it. Christian morality is a command; its origin is transcendent; it is beyond all criticism, all right to criticism; it has truth only if God has truth – it stands or falls with faith in God. ..."
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Nietzsche criticized English atheist Mary Ann Evans, who used the pen name "George Elliot": "G. Elliot: They are rid of the Christian God and now believe all the more firmly that they must cling to Christian morality. This is an English inconsistency: we do not wish to hold it against little moralistic females à la Eliot. In England one must rehabilitate oneself after ever little emancipation from theology by showing in a veritably awe-inspiring manner what a moral fanatic one is. That is the penance they pay there. ... When the English actually believe that they know 'intuitively' what is good and evil, when they therefore suppose that they no longer require Christianity as the guarantee of morality, we merely witness the effects of the dominion of the Christian value judgment and an expression of the strength and depth of this dominion: such that the origin of English morality has been forgotten, such that the very conditional character of its right to existence is no longer felt. For the English, morality is not yet a problem."
John Adams warned Oct. 11, 1798, in his address to the 1st Brigade, 3rd Division of Massachusetts' Militia: "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. ... Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
Noah Webster wrote in "A Collection of Papers on Political, Literary and Moral Subjects" (New York, 1843): "The virtue which is necessary to ... render a government stable, is Christian virtue, which consists in the uniform practice of moral and religious duties, in conformity with the laws of both of God and man."
John Adams wrote in a proclamation of humiliation, fasting, and prayer, March 6, 1799: "No truth is more clearly taught in the Volume of Inspiration ... than ... acknowledgment of ... a Supreme Being and of the accountableness of men to Him as the searcher of hearts and righteous distributor of rewards and punishments."
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Sometimes even pastors must go to war
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What happens when people lose their virtue
The amazing legacy of Daniel Boone
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Cruise news / Your Ultimate Guide to Tokyo
Your Ultimate Guide to Tokyo
Japan’s capital, Tokyo, is like nowhere else on earth – so follow our guide and you don’t get lost in translation
Japan’s spectacular capital is more than a destination; it’s a time-warp. Much of the city lives in a future that the rest of us have yet to experience, while the remainder is a throwback to a culture that endured for thousands of years in virtual isolation.
Home to more than 37 million citizens, Tokyo is the world’s most heavily populated metropolitan area, and a single day will hardly even scratch the surface.
With so much to see it’s vital to plan your itinerary in advance, so start by checking which cruise terminal you’ll arrive at. Smaller vessels, which can fit under the Rainbow Bridge, dock at Harumi Passenger Terminal in Tokyo Port.
Passengers on larger ships arrive at Yokohama and will need to factor in the 45-minute rail journey to central Tokyo.
08:30 – The best way to explore Tokyo is by train or metro, so buy a one-day pass that covers both systems (available from stations, newsagents or convenience stores). Rather like London’s Oyster card, this allows you to travel more or less anywhere within the city – but do remember to tap out when you leave the station.
Morning rush hour is not for the faint-hearted but it is a signature Tokyo experience (exquisitely uniformed officials push yet more passengers into the already overfilled carriages). Avoid or enjoy the spectacle, according to taste.
09:30 – Head for central Tokyo, the area to the north and west of the Sumida River. This has been the heart of the city since Edu (Tokyo’s former name) replaced Kyoto as the military capital of a unified Japan in 1590.
One sight you simply mustn’t miss is the Imperial Palace (rebuilt after the city was destroyed in the Second World War, but still spectacular). Admission is allowed only on New Year’s Day and the Emperor’s birthday, so it’s unlikely you’ll be able to enter, but walk round the vast moat, marvel at the incredible bridges and gates, spend time in the public gardens and you’ll get an understanding of Japan’s enduring imperial majesty.
11:00 – Ginza, Tokyo’s equivalent of Bond Street or Fifth Avenue, is a 15-minute stroll from the Imperial Palace, but history buffs will prefer Hinode Pier (closest station Hamamatsucho).
Like so many world-class cities, Tokyo came to prominence because it was situated at the point where a major river entered a harbour. A 30-minute boat tour to Asakusa (with English commentary) explains how it grew from a simple fishing village to one of the world’s mightiest cities, with a population exceeding one million even in the eighteenth century.
Noon – Tokyo has more high-rise viewing platforms than almost any other city. The Eiffel-like Tokyo Tower is still one of the most famous but the Tokyo Skytree (opened in 2012 and, at 634 metres, the tallest such structure on earth), provides an unforgettable 360 degree panorama and is within walking distance of Asakusa’s ferry terminal.
13:30 – It’s time for lunch, so return to ground level and head for Senso-ji Temple (also known as Asakusa Kannon). But before you explore the temple itself – or its unforgettable shopping street, crammed with everything traditionally Japanese – duck into one of the superb restaurants that surround it. Many have English-language or pictorial menus so you can simply point to what you’d like (pork noodles washed down with local beer will cost you around £15).
15:00 – Tokyo is so richly endowed with Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines that it’s almost impossible to count them. Senso-ji is far from the most peaceful but it’s Japan’s Buddhist equivalent of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, so if you’re only going to see one, this should be it (according to legend it was founded to enshrine a golden statue, pulled from the river by two fishermen).
16:30 – The urge to splurge has been restrained for long enough and now it’s time to hit the bright lights of Ginza (served by metro stations on the Hibiya and Yurakucho lines). But Japan’s most famous shopping sector specialises in high-end international brands, so if it’s local authenticity you’re after, make like Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson in Lost in Translation and check out Ginza’s countless cocktail bars. Happy Hour beckons!
✤ Rail/metro pass: jreast.co.jp
✤ Water bus routes: gotokyo.org
✤ Imperial Palace: japan-guide.com
✤ Tokyo Skytree: tokyo-skytreetown.jp
✤ Senso-ji temple: japan-guide.com
BEEN THERE? GO HERE!
1) Museums – As you’d expect, Tokyo is fabulous for culture vultures. Tokyo National Museum is a must, with its 90,000 exquisite treasures (ceramics, lacquerwork, textiles, paintings, weapons, armour and sculptures) from every period of Japanese culture. The museum is located in Ueno Park, one of Tokyo’s largest and most beautiful public spaces. Ueno was part of Kaneiji Temple during the Edo period, and the Edo-Tokyo Museum, dedicated to the history of that era, reopens this April after a major renovation.
If you’re interested in Japanese art, head for the Sumida Hokusai Museum, opened in 2016. The great Katsushika Hokusai lived in poverty for most of his life (a display shows him working – almost blind – in his 80s in the hovel he shared with his daughter). Yet his beautifully precise woodblock prints – including The Great Wave off Kanagawa and Red Fuji – had a huge influence on the Western art in the 20th century.
2) Mountains – On clear days you can see iconic Mount Fuji from the city, but the best view is from another mountain, less than an hour from Ginza and easily reached by public transport. A funicular railway (Japan’s steepest) will whisk you up Mount Takao, where you’ll find restaurants, cafes, souvenir shops and food stalls selling bizarre Japanese delicacies. From here it’s a relatively gentle stroll up to Takao-san Yakuoin temple, one of the oldest Buddhist places of worship in Japan, guarded by its long-nosed Tengu superheroes. If you’re up for an adventure, climb the multiple stairs to the original Shinto shrine and the summit beyond.
3) Moments – Shinjuku is best explored after 6pm (unless you’re a shopper). This is Tokyo’s commercial heart, and some two million commuters pass through its railway station – the world’s busiest – each day. Most are heading for the government and financial offices to the west, or to the department stores and boutique outlets to the east. But come sunset, Shinjuku is party town.
If you’re a Westerner, you’ll probably never understand the Japanese fascination with pachinko (a slot machine gambling game involving ball bearings), but it’s worth popping your head into a pachinko parlour just for the experience. Then there’s the seedy nightclub district known as The Golden Gai – Tokyo’s version of London’s Soho.
For a more authentic experience, ask for directions to Omoide Yokocho (otherwise known as “Yakitori Alley”). It’s a rabbit warren of wooden passageways, crowded with tiny but packed fast food outlets that specialise in meat, fish and vegetables, grilled in front of you over charcoal.
✤ Tokyo National Museum: tnm.jp
✤ Edo-Tokyo Museum: tnm.jp
✤ Sumida Hokusai Museum: hokusai-museum.jp
✤ Mount Takao: jnto.org.au
✤ Shinjuku: gotokyo.org
1) Tokyo DisneyLand
The first Disney resort outside the US (it opened in 1983) is now the second most visited theme park in the world, after Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando. There are seven sections: World Bazaar, Adventureland, Westernland, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, Critter Country and Mickey’s Toontown. With 18 million visitors every year you should prepare for queues, but you can expect to see all the familiar Disney characters and – of course – Cinderella’s castle.
If your children are slightly older (8-14), you might prefer Disneyland’s newer sister attraction, Tokyo DisneySea, which opened in 2001 and now draws 14 million visitors a year. Those much-loved characters are still in evidence, but with sections including Mediterranean Harbour, American Waterfront, Lost River Delta and Arabian Coast, it offers a far more educational experience.
2) LegoLand Discovery Centre
Tokyo can be rainy, especially in summer, so it makes sense to have an undercover outing lined up. Lego-loving children will find more than three million bricks to play with (we’ll take the company’s word for that) at the Legoland Discovery Centre. Reopening on 9 March after a lengthy renovation, it’s packed with attractions including a 4D cinema, Kingdom Quest and Merlin’s Apprentice thrill rides, and a chance for budding engineers to build their own miniature cars and test them against the clock on a race track.
3) Tsukiji Fish Market
It’s a slightly left-field choice but if you want older children to see the “real Japan”, take them to the world’s largest and busiest fish market. And don’t delay, because Tsukiji is due to close in October and move to its new site in the Tokosu district in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Seasoned travellers recommend rising around 2.30am to visit the famous tuna auction. You might prefer to see it on YouTube and head there at a sensible hour – though the earlier you arrive, the better the produce and the more drama you’ll witness, so don’t leave it later than about 9.30am.
Guided tours are available but there’s little reason why you can’t do it independently as a family group (though beware of the beeping forklift trucks).
There’s more diversity of sealife here than you’ll ever find outside a David Attenborough documentary – and the best part is, you get to sample it. For an eye-opening experience, take the children for breakfast to any one of the numerous counters and stalls that cater for hungry market workers. Is this fresh sushi, or what?
✤ Tokyo Disneyland: tokyodisneyresort.jp
✤ Legoland Discovery Centre: tokyo.legolanddiscoverycenter.jp
✤ Tsukiji fish market guided tours: tsukijitour.com
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welcome to worlds-end.org.uk
about world's end • about the site • residents association • leaseholders group • clubroom bookings • home
Security Consultation Underway
The TMO have just begun the consultation process for the proposed security works for the World's End Estate. All residents will receive a leaflet explaining how the proposed security system is supposed to work and how it will affect their day-to-day lives.
In addition, the TMO have organised a door-to-door consultation during which the scheme will be explained at length and any questions residents may have with the proposed scheme will be answered. Residents will also be asked whether they support the proposals, as described, and want the security works to proceed.
All residents are encouraged to read the leaflet carefully and make use of the door-to-door consultation to ensure that they fully understand the security scheme proposals. It is vitally important that all residents understand the implications of the scheme and then indicate whether they support the proposals or not.
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NewsLocal NewsCoronavirus
In-person learning increases concerns of teacher shortage
By: Jessica Peres, Scripps National Correspondent
Posted at 5:34 PM, Jul 27, 2020
School districts across the country are being tasked with opening their campuses safely. Social distancing is a big part of that, but limited spacing at schools and a lack of available teachers is making that difficult.
"We are also having our students wear masks, as well, to keep our students and our staff healthy. I worked with superintendents across the state to compare plans and what they're following. Most of us are trying to keep that three foot distancing facing forward when possible and six foot distancing when we can, as well," said Jonathon Cooper, the Superintendent of Mason City Schools in Ohio.
Cooper said each level of his district's plan aligns with the levels of coronavirus cases in their community. For example, if COVID-19 levels rise to a certain level, the district will move to having students in class only a couple days a week.
"The way that it is structured, is it’s every other day and so it creates consistency for our families and it allows our teachers to have 50% of the class in person that they can concentrate on, get them set up for the next day while the other 50% of their class comes in. It allows them to spread out in their classroom," Cooper explained.
Many public school districts say they're dealing with reduced budgets, so hiring new teachers to ensure smaller class sizes is not a possibility. Plus, a lot of educators say even if they could hire teachers right now, there are not enough qualified candidates.
"This COVID-19 health crisis has really exposed inequities in many of our public institutions and definitely in our education system and it shows the reason why we don’t have that pool of new up and coming educators," said Manuel Bonilla, the president of the Fresno Teachers Association in California.
"We see it in all the documents from federal to state to local, that physical distancing is one of the things that needs to take place and we just don’t have the manpower to do so with teacher shortage," Bonilla said.
He adds that many of the roughly 4,000 teachers in his city don't even feel comfortable taking on face-to-face learning in the classroom this fall.
"When you just take a look at the CDC guidelines, the state guidelines and the local guidelines as to what you need in order to return safely in a classroom, physical setting, we know that by the start of school date we just can't do that," Bonilla said.
And if teachers get sick, it may be hard or unsafe to find replacements. Bonilla is concerned with the availability and willingness of substitute teachers during this time.
"See and that’s one of the points in regards to substitute teachers and the physical reopening of schools. When you take a look at the qualifications of quarantine and the subs moving from place to place and it's by the nature of their position they might be in different areas or causing that unsafe atmosphere just because there will be different contact points," says Bonilla.
Districts are also worried that any lack of protections for teachers could further impact a teacher shortage.
Back in Ohio, Cooper said, "We're also losing funding really quickly from our state. We’ve lost $4.2 million in the last four months. So when you’re losing money, you’re doing these amazingly new strategies to keep everybody safe and things we’ve never done before so we’re writing the script as we go,"
The superintendent adds that many education administrators nationwide are leaning on each other now more than ever to make the right decisions when it comes to reopening schools this fall.
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30 years after the Berlin Wall: An African perspective
Three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, reporters from DW’s Africa department set out to discover what has changed in eastern Germany. Join Asumpta Lattus on her voyage to better understand Germany.
“Be curious. Ask stupid questions. I know that there are no stupid questions … Make your own observations and compare it to the situation in Africa,” we were told by Claus Stäcker, head of DW’s Africa service, as he sent us off from Bonn on a trip that would take us 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles) from the south-east to the north-east of Germany, to the territory of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). “But why send Africans to do a job meant for Germans?” I asked Stäcker. He laughed and said: “Germans have been telling about the day when the Berlin wall came down for 30 years now. It will be interesting to hear new perspectives.”
Before leaving Bonn, I read a lot of articles and watched several features on the fall of the Berlin Wall. I knew that many eastern Germans were happy when it happened 30 years ago, because they won back their freedom to travel and to speak out without fear of government reprisal. I was touched by the pictures from November 9, 1989, showing elated Germans dancing on the Berlin Wall.
So we were sent on a trip to discover Germany, one of the most respected countries in Europe. It is also a country that spends millions of euros to fight injustice, bad governance, corruption and human rights abuses in developing countries.
Reacting in defiance
In Bischofferode, a town in the federal state of Thuringia, we visited the former Thomas Müntzer potash mine. It was closed down in 1993, against a backdrop of protests and hunger strikes by the miners. The government went ahead nonetheless, arguing that the mine wasn’t productive enough.
Willibad Nebel was among those who protested at the time. He is still angry and disappointed today. What he told us about the impact of the closing of the mine sent chills down my spine and made me forget where I was. Was I still in Germany or somewhere else? Mining was the source of livelihood for him and more than 700 other miners.
Trying hard to control the trembling in his voice, Nebel explained why many people in this town would not vote for Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Party (CDU) today. “Voters are reacting in defiance. The CDU and similar parties haven’t done anything positive for many years,” Nebel said.
Driving down the streets of Bischofferode we understood what Nebel meant. Most election posters hanging on lamp posts were from the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) and a couple from for the socialist Left Party (Die Linke). There were no CDU posters. Two weeks after our tour, I was not surprised to learn that the AfD got more than 20% of the vote in Thuringia, even if the Left Party won the election. Although he wouldn’t vote for the AFD, Nebel blamed Germany’s ruling party for the results, because of the injustices inflicted on eastern Germans after the wall. First among them was the performance by the Treuhand, a public agency which facilitated the privatization of eastern companies, including the one in Bischofferode. At the time, all laid-off workers were promised compensation.
The agency gave the miners about 7,500 marks (about €4,000 in today’s money or $4,450). Workers in other federal states were given up to 70.000 marks, Nebel said. He added that the paltry sum was an attempt to silence them. “We had to sign a paper to promise that we were not going to sue the state. Otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten the money,” Nebel told DW.
He added that they were lucky that lawyer Bodo Ramelow, who is now the leftist head of government of Thuringia, 30 years ago took up the fight for the people of Bischofferode. “Else we wouldn’t even have gotten that money,” Nebel said. For its part, the CDU government promised thousands of jobs. “Seventy jobs were provided, that was all,” Nebel said.
All the same, he feels that “the migration of voters from the CDU to the AfD is very unfortunate.” The AfD is connoted with extremist rightist views. But he sees this as the result of empty promises made by the CDU government 30 years ago. “People here are angry not at individuals but at what politics did to them,” he said.
Thousands of people moved away from Bischofferode to look for jobsstay elsewhere. This turned many places in the east into ghost towns. Younger generations moved away and are still moving to the west. Only the elderly .
30 years later: No meaningful changes
From our conversations with people in the east I understood all the complaints we are hearing now have been voiced before often. Every year, when the country commemorates the fall of the wall or German reunification, journalists arrive in droves in Bischofferode and similar places. They all want to talk to the locals about their plight and learn the differences in their lives before and after the wall. At the beginning, the locals were happy about the interest and willingly shared their stories.
They talked openly and told the media everything they wanted to hear, hoping that something would soon change. Today, most are over 70 years of age and don’t like to speak to journalists anymore. They are tired of being asked the same questions over and over again, said Gerhard Fiedler, a tour guide in Mödlareuth, in the south-east of Germany.
Known as “Little Berlin” when there was still an inner-German border, Mödlareuth has a history of being a divided hamlet since 1810, when it was part of the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Duchy of Reus. Many thus saw it as a symbol for Germany’s division. With the founding of the GDR in 1949, one side fell to the Federal Republic of Germany and the other to the socialist republic. On October 3, 1990, after reunification, a part of the village was included in the federal state of Bavaria, while the other was placed under Thuringian administration. Even today, with just 47 residents – 16 live in Bavaria and 31 in Thuringia, Mödlareuth has two mayors, two car number plates, two postal codes and two postmen.
The wall is gone but mistrust is not
The wall in Mödlareuth didn’t have a checkpoint. It was built to keep people from the east to mingle with or even say hello to people in the west. Here I was reminded that the 1,400 kilometers wall had been real. The experiences of eastern Germans at a time when they had no freedom of expression and couldn’t trust even their neighbors for fear of being spied on are deeply ingrained in their minds.
People who travelled to Mödlareuth to see the remains of the wall were friendly to the African journalists from Bonn, but not always easy to talk to. When we tried to ask Astrid Eicheler from eastern Berlin some questions, she said: “Before I talk to you, I would like to see your identity cards.”
I thought she was joking, because I was holding a microphone with the DW brand. So I went ahead anyway with my first question, but she insisted: “I need to see your IDs.” I have been living in Germany for a decade and I have never been asked for identification on the street, not even by the police. It took me a couple of days to understand why this happened.
Things got clearer when we visited the Marienborn border checkpoint. There we were told that in the former GDR, people had bad experiences with the permanent state surveillance by the government, which planted spies everywhere. Many people were driven to self-censorship and also learned to mistrust strangers, we were told.
The wall was not built in 1961
I was surprised by the warmth by which we were received by our tour guide at Marienborn, where we arrived two hours late. Angelika Maedick said she didn’t mind waiting, because the majority of people visiting Marienborn, – the largest and most important border checkpoint of the GDR – are Korean. “We don’t get many Africans,” she said. The historian has worked here for more than a decade. Her three-hour tour on a site as long as 50 football fields was chock-full of history. I wouldn’t have learned so much by reading up on articles to prepare this story.
Maedick explained that the history of the border wall goes back to 1945, when the four victors of World War II, the United States, France, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, divided Germany into four occupation zones. In 1947, Moscow decreed a shoot-to-kill policy at the border, which the GDR later kept up. It was responsible for the killing of hundreds of East Germans who tried to cross the border until the day the wall came down. I was surprised to learn that the wall was first built in Hötensleben as early as 1952, and expanded south and north from there. No one was allowed to speak about it until the wall was officially built in Berlin overnight in 1961. I had always thought that the wall was only built that year.
Looking back many people we talked to were happy about the peaceful revolution of 1989, which brought about the reunification of Germany. Astrid Eicheler said it was a gift from God. “I can’t express it any other way. And reunification is a big task. It will take time for it to be completed,” she said.
Many East Germans felt relief when the wall came down
Tour guide Angelika Maedick, who personally knows some former guards at the border, told us that many are happy knowing that they and their children don’t have to do that anymore. “Some told me that they used to be happy at the end of a shift if they didn’t see a fugitive. It was unusual for them to shoot at their own people,” she said.
In some villages like Eckerthal, in the Harz region, people are happily preparing for the celebration of the fall of the wall in their town on November 11, two days later than Berlin. “At the time, we could see that in Berlin everyone was dancing on the wall. But here border controls were taking place as usual,” said Peter Röhling. Together with other young people he went to see the officers and made them open up the wall. While there were two Germanys, Röhling’s father lived in the west and he lived in the east. Special permissions were needed all around for everybody to visit with each other,
The former miners in Bischofferode want to convey a message to Germany’s chancellor: “Mrs. Merkel, please do not only support big enterprises. Remember also the companies in the former GDR and its citizens. You yourself were also a GDR citizen.”
This trip was only the beginning of my journey to better understand this country, its politics and its people. For me, one thing became very clear: Germany’s reunification is going to take some more time.
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One mask good, two masks better: Nearly a year into the pandemic, is advocating double masking really the way to reassure people?
US media continues to try to link Trump to Kremlin, but in reality American Republicans have more in common with Putin’s opponents
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Q&A with Felicity Carter, Meininger's Wine Business International
As editor of Meininger’s Wine Business International, the only international wine trade magazine, Felicity Carter manages the content that gets under the eyes of the world’s industry decision makers. She reveals how she keeps her finger on the pulse of developments across the wine world and why the topic of women in the industry needs to be covered carefully.
Having started your writing career covering everything from oil and gas to fashion, what led you to settle in the world of wine?
My current job! I had always wanted to work in Europe and one day I was sent a job ad for an English speaking journalist who knew something about wine, who was prepared to move to Germany. My application went out that night.
What are your key sources of inspiration for the magazine’s content and how do you keep it relevant for a global audience?
There is no substitute for people on the ground, and we’re lucky enough to have a widespread network of correspondents. They keep me up to speed with what’s going on around the world. I also spend a lot of time reading business research from other sectors, because other industries are grappling with similar issues, and seeing how they solve problems is always enlightening.
We pursue a "reader first" policy, where I spend a lot of time thinking about what will interest our subscribers. They are very active and give a lot of feedback, which helps.
Felicity Carter speaking at MUST Wine Summit in 2017. Credit: observador.pt
Having participated in panels on the empowerment of women in wine, what do you think have been the hindrances on women’s prominence in the industry? Have you noticed an improvement in gender equality in recent years?
This is a complicated and fraught subject. I’m known for refusing to publish "women in wine" pieces, because I don’t think someone’s gender is what makes them an interesting winemaker or sommelier or whatever. Likewise, if we’re interviewing executives, I strike out questions related to "how do you manage child care as well as your job?," as I think they’re deeply sexist. As a result, I’ve met people who think I’m not interested in the position of women, when nothing could be further from the truth.
Because the wine trade is so international, it’s difficult to make any general statement about the realities of women working in wine. The British wine trade has women that are some of the most talented, notable and powerful wine people in the world. California, Australia and New Zealand have plenty of notable women winemakers. Europe has many wineries owned by women. So on the one hand, the situation looks pretty good.
But that’s not the whole story. We ran an international survey on working conditions for women in wine and after it was published, my inbox was flooded with emails from women working in Europe, who wrote hair raising and disturbing stories about the egregious sexual harassment and discrimination they experienced. One woman wrote to me that she wasn’t allowed in the winery for fear she would spoil the wine if it was a particular time of the month.
Another time, I was in a car travelling through Italy discussing the issue with the driver, and she nearly crashed the car because she was so upset about what was happening in her own company. “I will never get paid as much as the men, no matter how good a job I do,” she said.
What has really helped to improve things, though, is the realisation that women are significant wine consumers. Companies who take the market seriously now have to think a lot about women’s preferences, and so they’re deliberately employing more women to help them do that. The companies that take women consumers seriously will win – and that means not thinking of "women" as a category at all. It means thinking about fine wine drinkers, supermarket drinkers, younger consumers and older consumers with more money. Fortunately, it’s happening.
I also spend a lot of time reading business research from other sectors, because other industries are grappling with similar issues...
As an international wine judge traveling to established and developing wine regions, do you find your WSET education helps you assess wines objectively?
The WSET Systematic Approach to Tasting was a revelation to me and I embraced it wholeheartedly. Up until I did the systematic training, I had this belief that there were people who could taste and people who couldn’t. Now I know that the very best and most reliable tasters aren’t necessarily the ones with the most innate talent, but the ones who practice the most.
Read the latest wine industry articles at Meininger's Wine Business International's website. Learn more about Felicity on her personal website or follow her on Twitter.
Q and A Writer
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Peruvian president authorizes military to use lethal force to enforce the national quarantine
Cesar Uco, Don Knowland
On the weekend, Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra pushed through a “Military and Police Protection Law” that exempts the armed forces and national police from any criminal liability for injury or death if they act “in compliance with their constitutional function and in the regulatory use of their weapons or other means of defense.”
Moreover, under this law, the “principle of proportionality,” which requires that the degree of force correspond to the level of resistance offered and the danger presented by the person being seized or the situation being controlled, is suspended.
The law shows that the ruling oligarchy, in anticipation of widespread unrest arising from the spread of the coronavirus and deepening economic crises, is prepared to employ repressive measures unencumbered by any legal restrictions or basic democratic rights.
On Monday, Vizcarra announced that more than 4,000 people were detained in police stations on Saturday March 28, and that 2,909 more were arrested on Sunday, March 29, for violating the compulsory social immobilization measures. These measures were adopted under the state of emergency that was put in place on March 16 in response to the coronavirus outbreak and extended last week to April 12.
Because of these large numbers, Vicarra said he was extending the current national curfew from 6 p.m to 5 a.m., and from as early as 4 p.m. in Tumbes, Piura, Lambayeque, La Libertad and Loret.
The brutality of what is anticipated was made clear in a video prepared by the Peruvian armed forces that was released on the weekend and made available on WhatsApp under the hashtag #YoMe Quedo en Casa” (I remain in my house).
The video begins with a figure of a fully armed soldier wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying an automatic rifle. The soldier proceeds to loudly bark commands as he narrates five scenes, each one ending with the threatening words of “if he resists the authority, the armed forces’ patrols will proceed to vigorously subdue, handcuff and throw ‘the suspect’ onto the ground, place their boot on his neck and take him to the nearest police unit.”
The five scenarios in the video involve a youth passively “resisting” military detention, four youths playing soccer, a small party of young adults dancing and drinking, young adults breaking into a commercial store to steal a few boxes of merchandise and an attempted attack on soldiers by a lone suspect.
None of what is shown in the video is likely to occur in wealthy or upper-middle-class neighborhoods.
Bloomberg reported Monday that Peru is undertaking a record fiscal stimulus and, as announced by central bank President Julio Velarde, will seek a contingency line of up to $18 billion from the International Monetary Fund to contain the economic freefall arising from the coronavirus pandemic.
Velarde also announced that the Finance Ministry plans to draw down an existing $2.1 billion contingency line from the World Bank.
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The Central Bank had already cut its benchmark lending rate by 1 percentage point to 1.25 percent in March, but that had little measurable effect.
Although Peru had been held up as a paragon of financial and fiscal rectitude, since the arrival of the coronavirus in early March its bonds have been battered, and its currency fell to its weakest in 18 years this month.
According to Bloomberg, the package of economic measures the government is now proposing totaling 90 billion soles ($26 billion), includes some health care spending, but consists largely of tax breaks and loan guarantees for businesses, to revive an economy that has ground to a virtual halt after the government ordered a nationwide lockdown on March 16.
The stimulus package will equal 12 percent of gross domestic product, Finance Minister Maria Antonieta Alva said on Monday, a percentage exceeding that of the rescue package passed on Friday by the American Congress.
The stimulus package will include “short-term” measures such as cash handouts, including up to 30 billion soles in government-backed loans to small and medium-sized businesses, and “longer-term measures” to “rebuild” some decimated industries such as tourism.
The cash handouts contemplated are short-term because the Peruvian ruling class sees that as an insurance sop to quell mass unrest. The latest dictatorial measures show that what the Peruvian state is really preparing for: a prolonged period of military repression.
Peru deploys army in the streets to enforce COVID-19 curfew
The coronavirus pandemicPeruLatin America and the CaribbeanDemocratic rightsWorld News
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European theaters mostly wait-and-see on Domingo accusations
by: COLLEEN BARRY, Associated Press
Posted: Aug 14, 2019 / 02:06 PM EDT / Updated: Aug 15, 2019 / 02:06 AM EDT
FILE – In this Aug. 26, 2014, file photo, Placido Domingo speaks at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. On Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2019, the LA Opera said it will hire outside counsel to investigate allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior by the opera legend. Domingo has denied the accusations, but noted: “Still, it is painful to hear that I may have upset anyone or made them feel uncomfortable.” (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
MILAN (AP) — While two U.S. opera houses immediately canceled performances by famed tenor Placido Domingo following sexual harassment allegations, European opera houses are taking stances ranging from supportive to wait-and-see.
The Philadelphia Orchestra and San Francisco Opera immediately announced they would cancel upcoming performances featuring the star and the Los Angeles Opera opened an investigation following an Associated Press story in which numerous women accused the opera legend of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior spanning decades.
In Europe, there were no immediate cancellations of the 78-year-old Domingo’s performances and even some words of support for the star. Opera world officials noted that no charges had been brought against Domingo and no formal judicial investigations were underway that might provide legal underpinning to cancel any contractual obligations.
The stark differences in the levels of urgency in the responses underline the differences in the footing of the #MeToo movement on both sides of the Atlantic.
Opera houses in the United States might consider the possibility of damaging protests outside their venues if they maintained the scheduled performances. But, in Europe Domingo’s status as one of the most popular and influential figures in the opera world could trigger a backlash against venues if performances were canceled without due process, said one opera official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of lack of authorization to discuss personnel matters.
“Some attitudes, seen in hindsight, risk being misunderstood,” cultural journalist Leonetta Bentivoglio wrote Wednesday in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. “That he was a Don Juan was something everyone knew, and in the promiscuous theater world he is not alone. We must add that his charm has always attracted a crowd of women, and often it was he who had to defend himself.”
Bentivoglio recalled an incident at a Paris hotel during Domingo’s “Three Tenors” heyday with Luciano Pavarotti and Jose Carreras, when he asked journalists to pretend to accompany him in the elevator “to escape to his room without being followed by some beautiful young women,” who were in pursuit.
“These are difficult stories to tell in the slippery era of #MeToo,” she wrote.
Nineteen of the singer’s 24 engagements through November 2020 are on European stages, according to his website.Upcoming performances in Salzburg, Milan, London, Zurich, Cologne, Hamburg and Geneva were still on but some venues said they would monitor the investigation in Los Angeles, where Domingo has been general director since 2003 and previously was artistic director. Other venues postponed comment, citing the summer holiday.
Domingo received support from the Salzburg Festival in Austria, his next scheduled performance on Aug. 31, as well as from some singers who have shared the stage with him.
Salzburg Festival president Helga Rabl-Stadler, who said she has known Domingo for 25 years and has long appreciated both his “artistic competence” and “appreciative treatment of all festival employees,” said “it would be factually wrong and morally irresponsible to make irreversible judgments at this point.”
The Hamburg opera house in Germany also said Domingo’s Nov. 27 appearance there was still on, citing the lack of any legal action against the tenor.
“As a public institution we neither tolerate nor trivialize sexual assaults, but we are also bound by the principles of the rule of law in our actions. Valid contracts with the concert promoter exist for the appearance of Plácido Domingo,” the opera house said in a statement. “Subject to further developments, the concert will therefore take place as planned.”
Domingo did not respond to detailed questions from the AP about specific incidents, but issued a statement calling the allegations “deeply troubling, and as presented, inaccurate.”
“I believed that all of my interactions and relationships were always welcomed and consensual. People who know me or who have worked with me know that I am not someone who would intentionally harm, offend, or embarrass anyone,” the statement said. “However, I recognize that the rules and standards by which we are —and should be — measured against today are very different than they were in the past. I am blessed and privileged to have had a more than 50-year career in opera and will hold myself to the highest standards.”
Domingo has a reputation for making the rounds of offices when he arrives at theaters to greet employees and workers at every level — a characteristic that has helped make him beloved in a world full of demanding divas and divos. He also founded the Operalia world opera contest, an event attracting 1,000 applicants each year that has helped launch careers for the last 26 years.
Three Spanish sopranos have come to his defense, saying that they have never experienced the sort of behavior described in the AP story, which included accusations that he put his hand down one woman’s skirt and forced wet kisses on three others. All of the allegations were related to incidents in the United States, spanning two decades beginning in the late 1980s.
Spain’s Europa Press news agency on Wednesday quoted Spanish soprano Davinia Rodriguez as saying she “never felt the least indication of what they accuse the maestro of,” adding that Domingo had always shown her and theater workers “the maximum of respect, with the humbleness and generosity that characterizes him.”
Fellow Spanish soprano Pilar Jurado said that Domingo had always behaved “as a perfect gentleman” with her and Spanish soprano Ainhoa Arteta expressed shock at the allegations, saying she considered Domingo and his wife to be family.
“I have no idea if he might have flirted and scored. That sort of thing went on before and still does now, but I know he is not a harasser, I’d put my hand in the fire on it,” Arteta told the Spanish daily El Pais.
Associated Press writers Ciaran Giles in Madrid, David Rising in Berlin, Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.
No. 4 West Liberty Sprints Past Bobcats
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Club teams up with transformationdelivery.com
Wanderers’ new change shirt for the 2016/17 season will bear the name of transformationdelivery.com, who have come on board as a rear of shirt sponsor.
Owned by club and Trust director Mark Burrell, transformationdelivery.com assist businesses during periods of business and IT change, helping clients to understand how they should respond to a complex challenge and work with them to ensure that their complex change is delivered successfully.
The consultancy first entered into a partnership with the club last season, signing up to a pitchside advertising package and sponsoring striker Garry Thompson.
Wanderers’ Head of Commercial Activities Damian Irvine said: “Mark – both as an individual and through his company – has been a fantastic supporter of the club and has applied his vast experience expertly over recent years to the club as finance director. It is testament to the club's growth and stronger corporate governance that Mark has chosen to align his business brand with us by sponsoring the rear of our new change shirt, which will be worn up and down the country at matches next season.”
Mark Burrell said: “It is both a challenge and real privilege to be a director of the club I support, transforming the business to make us financially stable and sustainable. I’m delighted to also play my part as a sponsor through transformationdelivery.com. I’ve seen first-hand the progress that is being made to strengthen the club’s commercial appeal and it’ll be a proud moment to see the team walking out in a shirt carrying my company’s logo.”
The club's new kits - supplied by O'Neills - will be unveiled on Sunday and available to purchase from 1.30pm in the club shop at Adams Park during a season launch event, which is open to all and free to attend.
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Home > Artists > Vincent Van Gogh > Vincent Van Gogh’s Irises (1889) – Facts, Details & Best Reproduction
November 23, 2020 October 26, 2020 by Zack Bachman
Best Source For Irises Reproduction
5 Facts About This Painting
It’s Worth And Location
The Irises is the first piece Van Gogh painted during his stay in the asylum in St. Remy called Saint-Paulde-Mausole, where he sought treatment for his condition after several instances of unstable and violent behavior, resulting in the severing of his own ear. Irises is actually a still shot from the natural views of the asylum’s own garden. It shows a profusion of bright blue flowers with colors so vibrant and details unique to each flower, with tamed, balanced and symmetrical elements that make this a light and easy painting to look at, as some of his flower paintings appear a bit dark, which could be representative of his mental state while painting.
Van Gogh has always shown a strong appreciation for nature and the outdoors, which may have been a result of growing up in a beautiful Dutch countryside, he was also very fond of Japanese woodprints, which is also evident in Irises. He was able to paint a total of more or less 130 paintings in isolation at St. Remy.
Our recommended source to get reproduction of Irises
If you want to get replica of Van Gogh Irises for your home, work space or a gift, this is our recommended site:
5 facts about Irises
“Irises” held the record for the most expensive artwork in 1987 when it sold for $53.9 million at Sotheby’s in New York.
Each flower in the “Irises” painting is unique, featuring different kinds of shading, shapes, sizes and movement. You can check the painting yourself and see that no flower is identical, even when rotated in any direction.
Vincent Van Gogh himself did not consider this painting a masterpiece. To him, it was merely a study. However, his younger brother Theo, who was an art dealer by profession saw potential from the beginning, saying the painting “strikes him from a far” and that “it is a beautiful study full of air and life”. Theo himself submitted the original piece to Salon des Indépendants in September 1889.
Van Gogh expressed what painting truly meant to him during his stay in St. Remy, saying that it was the “lightning conductor” for his illness. When he paints, he is convinced that he may not really be crazy, and that painting alone might save him. Sadly, he lost his fight with mental illness by ending his own life about a year after he painted Irises.
This last fact is not quite a fact, but an image of the actual outdoor area in St. Remy Asylum where Van Gogh made the most progress painting while he was seeking treatment in isolation. It’s not hard to see the lonely, dull and lifeless color of the asylum structure, which in this picture can represent the darker side of Van Gogh that needs treating. The Van Gogh who when not spending a day outside painting nature would have constant psychotic episodes and outbursts. This photo, in our unbiased opinion, may be a great representation of his duality and states of mind.
How much is this piece worth and where is it now?
Irises had around 12 owners and currently resides with the latest owner, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu, California. The museum refuses to disclose the painting’s worth, given its non-disclosure policy. But if it was sold at $53 million in the ’80s, it’s safe to assume its worth now to be over $100 million.
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ZV Beauty of the Week: Florence Nightingale
This week's ZV beauty is Miss Florence Nightingale.
Born May 12th 1820, she is best known as the founder of modern nursing. Florence was an icon of Victorian culture, especially in the persona of "The Lady with the Lamp" making rounds of wounded soldiers at night but she was so much more! Florence was a social reformer who fought for women’s rights, a statistician who pioneered graphical statistics, and a prolific author. She wrote extensively about her medical knowledge in a way that was easy for even the undereducated of the day to understand. Posthumously, much of her musing about mysticism and religion have been published adding to her mystique!
You'll never be forgotten for all the contributions you made to improve the world around you!
ZV Beauty of the Week: Belva Lockwood
This week, we find it apropo to feature Belva Lockwood.
Belva was born in October 24, 1830 in New York. She became the first woman to argue a case before the Supreme Court. Since the law prohibited women from voting, not from getting votes, and so she took it upon herself to run for president... twice, starting in 1884.
The Eternal Question
What Should I Wash My Face With?
For a flawless complexion, it's hard to decide on the best product to use. Do I have dry skin? Combination skin? Do I use this during the day or at night? WHAT are all these ingredients?! Take a deep breath... we know it's overwhelming!
ZV Beauty of the Week: Nellie Bly
This week's inspirational beauty is Nellie Bly.Born in 1864, Nellie was an American journalist, writer, industrialist, inventor, and a charity worker.
She was widely known for her record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days. This was an exposé in which she faked insanity to study a mental institution from within. She was a pioneer in her field, and launched a new kind of investigative journalism.
Cheers to you, Nellie! We'll make sure your memory lives on.
ZV Beauty of the Week: Ina Claire
This week's beauty is Ina Claire!
Ina was born is 1893 and began her career in vaudeville in 1909. She made her film debut in Cecil B DeMille's "The Wild Goose Chase in 1915. By the 1930's she played the lead in several S.N. Behrman comedies and became one of the most celebrated performers of high comedy. Ina's stage presence was described as "encompassing" and "possessing a great deal of magnetism". Her sophisticated style influenced a generation of comediennes.
Here's to you, Ina.
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Home » Our Story
History of Yatco Energy
The story of Yatco Energy and the Yatim Brothers did not start with nice suits, did not start with a bank asking for a small business loan, and did not start in America. The story of Yatco started in Sierra Leone, Africa. It started with four young boys helping out their father in his general store. Two brothers were born in Lebanon, and two in Africa. They had a strong tie to their culture identity and traditions.
The Yatim Brothers lived in an upstairs apartment above their store. Their father, Mohamed Yatim, owned a modest business called “Mohamed Yatim’s General Store.” They sold almost everything you could need: tires, rice, coffee, household goods, flour, and a plethora of goods for all your village needs. After finishing up a hard day at school, the boys would come home and tidy up the store, restock shelves, and when deliveries of 100lb. flour and rice bags came in, they would team up to help carry them into the store. Their father taught them the importance of good work ethic, loyalty to customers and family, and to know that in time you can grow anything to be successful. This is where Tarek, Hassan, and Khalil were first introduced to business. Their first experience was with their father being his own boss and having family around to help him run his store. This idea would stay in their minds for many years to come.
In the early 1980s Hassan and his older brother Fouad moved to the United States to attend Suffolk University. Hassan had the hope of running his own business like his father one day, he studied business. He also drove a taxi to help support his brothers that soon would be joining him. During that time Tarek and Khalil stayed back to continue helping with the family store. Their father started taking them into the city to meet vendors and teach them the ins and outs of the convenience store trade. A few years passed by and unfortunately, Mohamed Yatim passed away, leaving his sons Tarek and Khalil and wife Naziha, the family business in Africa. Tarek was 18 at the time and Khalil was only 15. The family decided it was best that Tarek take over the business, while in the fall Khalil moved to the U.S. to join his other brothers and attended college. Tarek never wanted to go to college; he had his mind set on growing the family business to be even more successful than is was at the time.
In the late 1980s, Khalil traveled to the United States with nothing but his old pleather suitcase that needed to be duct taped together and the words “To America” written in Sharpie on the side. He decided to attend the same university as his brothers, Suffolk, and studied Biochemistry. It was always his dream to be a scientist and work in a laboratory. As for Tarek, he stayed in Africa, and at age 21 married his wife Khadijeh. They had two boys. Tarek worked hard using the tools and lessons that his father taught him and had the two most successful years of the general store. But in 1992 war over the blood diamonds erupted and he, his wife, two sons, and mother came to the U.S. to join his brothers.
Despite the business’s success in Africa, the brothers were stuggling financially, having left everything behind to start again in America. Tarek and his family, along with their mother, Khalil, Fouad, eight people in all—lived in a small two bedroom apartment in Roslindale, Massachusetts. They knew they had to find a way to make more money to support their family and working multiple part-time, minimum wage jobs was not the answer. So why gas stations? Part of it had to do with the influence of other people in their home country. Many Lebanese were seeing an opportunity to run gas stations and convenience stores and they wanted to jump in on the business. The brothers also remembered the oil and petroleum shortages in Africa. They remembered how their father would wait long hours, sometimes even the entire day, to get just five gallons of gas for their car. They saw this as an opportunity to become very successful in the land of rags to riches. So after long discussions and a meeting one night in the small Roslindale apartment, Hassan and Tarek decided to drop everything and open the first station.
As simple as it may sound, it did not start with just the turn of a key. They traveled to Texas to attend Exxon Corporation’s training program. Their first location was an Exxon Station on Lincoln Street – Worcester, MA. The only staff was themselves. They would work 17 hour shifts a day running the cash register and making the calls to get gas in on time, doing what was normally the job of five or six people. Dinner was eaten sitting on milk crates behind the register because there wasn’t the time or luxury to eat dinner at home. They were smart with their money, saving it and spending it wisely so that they would have the chance to grow if the opportunity presented itself. They never took their own merchandise for free because they knew it could set them back and that it was not in the best interest of growing their Company.
Their business did grow. In just one year, they had so much success at their first station that Exxon granted them the rights to buy and open up another station on Park Avenue. in Worcester. Hassan adopted this as his location, and Tarek stayed on Lincoln Street. Within another year their success continued to grow. At this time Khalil had been working in a laboratory and applying for a doctoral program at Texas University when Exxon offered them another station. Tarek and Hassan knew they could easily hire someone with experience to help them with running the third station, but they also remembered their past. Family business and loyalty to your family was something that stuck with them, so they went to their younger brother Khalil and asked him to take over the newly acquired Marlboro location. Dreams of being a scientist were faced with reality. Khalil wanted what would be best for his family in the future, and he saw and knew the success that he and his brothers could have if they joined in on this venture. So he packed his bags for Texas, not for the university but for the training program, and despite being allergic to gasoline, joined his brothers.
From that point on Yatco was like an oak tree: growing slowly but strongly, with each year a new acquisition made their business more secure, more profitable, and more representable. The Yatim brothers grew their business so large that in 2012 they were approached by Gulf Oil Co.—they had switched most of their stations over to Gulf at this time— and asked if they would start the distribution of Gulf branded gasoline so that they could control the flow of product to their own stations. Being the smart and savvy entrepreneurs they had been since high school, they saw this as an opportunity to grow even more. This is when Yatco Energy opened their distribution side of their business, delivering branded and unbranded gasoline to not only their stations but to many other stations in the New England area.
Yatco Energy’s distribution business was a huge success, offering their customers the lowest prices and the best service for all their gasoline distribution needs. In 2016, they decided to partner with Questron Lubricants so that they could provide motor oil and other automobile fluids to their customers.
As of today, the Yatim Brothers have 20 stations in the lower New England area and are planning to open more. They currently distribute gasoline throughout New England, with more locations in the future.
Yatco Energy has, and still is, a successful family run business providing the best service and product to their customers for the past 25 years. They were built on trust, loyalty, and family and everyday they work to keep those ideals alive in the work that they do.
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Margaret "Mot" Liss
Mrs. Margaret "Mot" Liss, age 75 of Berry, passed away Sat. Jan. 24, 2009 at Northwest Medical Center in Winfield. Funeral service will be Mon. Jan. 26 at 11:00 a.m. at New Life Fellowship Church. The body will lie in state at the church from 10:00 until 11:00. Burial will be in the Gibson Hill Cemetery. The family will receive friends Sunday evening from 6:00 until 8:00 p.m. at Norwood Chapel.
Dollie Lee Aultman
Mrs. Dollie Lee Aultman, age 73 of Cottondale, formerly of Bankston, passed away Fri. afternoon Jan. 23, 2009 at Hospice of West AL. Graveside service will be Sunday Jan. 25, 2009 at Oak Grove Cemetery with Norwood Chapel of Fayette directing.
Johnnie C. Abbott
Mrs. Johnnie C. Abbott, age 98 of Fayette, passed away Fri. morning Jan. 23, 2009 at Fayette Long Term Care Center. Funeral service will be Mon. Jan. 26, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. at Norwood Chapel. Burial will be in the Mt. Vernon Methodist Cemetery. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at Norwood Chapel.
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More for you |
Hyundai reveals prices for ix20Hyundai iX20Hyundai ix20 to cost from 11,400Hyundai to unveil its ix20 at Paris showWhat are my rights regarding my faulty Audi A3?
Shouldn't Hyundai replace my leaky ix20?
A reader's new car developed a leak after just three months, but he's been told it's up to the dealer to decide if it should be replaced...
I bought a brand new Hyundai ix20 last April, and three months and just 1100 miles later I discovered it had a leak that was draining into the driver’s footwell, leaving the carpet sodden.
I informed the supplying dealer straight away and opened a case with Hyundai UK’s customer services department. The dealer, Murley of Stratford-upon-Avon, took the car in for repair and replaced the driver’s door seal. I got the impression this was a shot in the dark.
It rained heavily the night I got the car back and the driver’s footwell was saturated again in the morning. I decided to reject the car and returned it to the dealer with both sets of keys and the logbook. I sent an email to the dealer, Hyundai UK and the finance company stating that the car was not of satisfactory quality and that the repair had failed. I also suggested that an appropriate resolution would be for me to receive a like-for-like replacement vehicle.
I was initially given the impression that Hyundai UK was minded to replace the car. However, nearly a month after my rejection, the customer services team called me to state that although the car had a manufacturing defect, Hyundai UK couldn’t accept my rejection and the matter was the dealer’s responsibility. The reason I was given for this is that I’d accepted the dealer’s offer of a repair. However, I only did this on the advice of customer services.
I believe that under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, I was justified in exercising my right to reject the car when the repair failed. Moreover, it seems to me that Hyundai UK has a strong moral obligation to replace the car, because it has a manufacturing defect and the reason it has given for sidestepping responsibility suggests it’s penalising me for taking its advice.
I also feel I’m owed some goodwill as a loyal customer; this is the fifth Hyundai that I’ve purchased from main dealers in the past 10 years and the third new ix20 I’ve bought from Murley. I’ve also used Murley exclusively for all servicing and repairs for the past decade.
What Car? says…
We looked into Chris’s case and agreed with his belief that he had the right to reject the car and get a like-for-like replacement. So, we contacted Hyundai UK to ask it to reconsider its decision.
We heard back straight away with good news. A spokesperson said: “I’ve looked into Mr Kennedy’s case and have been informed that it’s standard practice for the responsibility to lie with the dealer if they have carried out a repair that hasn’t been successful. However, Hyundai UK has decided that it will look to swap Mr Kennedy’s car for a replacement vehicle. The team is currently looking into whether there is a suitable car in stock.”
Soon afterwards, Chris got back in touch to say he’d been offered the choice of a new white ix20 or a nearly new one in the same black as his previous car. He went for the new option.
Best used MPVs for less than £10,000
It may have been comprehensively trounced in the sales charts by that rapscallion newcomer the SUV, but the good old MPV still has plenty of life in it. Choosing the best used one isn’t the matter of a moment, though. Consideration must be given, not just to the engine and specification that best suits your needs, but also whether you’re going to need five seats or seven – and indeed, how big you want your MPV to be.
Fortunately, a £10,000 budget gives you plenty of options. Smaller MPVs provide a great balance between family space and manoeuvrability, while larger options offer enough room for anything you might wish to throw at them.
And buying an MPV these days doesn’t have to mean giving up a little slice of your soul, either. Many modern people-carriers are enjoyable to drive and good to look at, while the extra practicality they offer will widen your smile still further. Without further ado, then, here’s our round-up of the very best MPVs £10,000 will buy you.
10. Peugeot 5008
The Peugeot 5008 is easily one of the company’s best offerings in recent years (the latest one is even better, although it's now an SUV not an MPV), and as with most Peugeots, heavy depreciation makes it a great used buy. You get all the things we like about the 5008 – a roomy, versatile interior with seating for seven; a tactile, stylish dashboard; a comfortable ride with good handling and low noise levels – but at a bargain price. Avoid the jerky automatic and go for a manual; also keep an eye out for electrical niggles, which aren’t unknown.
We found: 2016 5008 1.6 HDi Allure, 24,000 miles, £9995
Read the full Peugeot 5008 review
9. Kia Carens
The second-generation Kia Carens fits into our budget here, and it’s worth looking at simply because of its seven-year warranty. A 2015 car will still have three of four years of this left, as long as the car hasn’t gone over 100,000 miles – and that’s a huge bonus. You’ll hopefully never need it, mind you, as the reports suggest the Carens is a pretty reliable thing. It’s ordinary to drive, and the rear-most seats of the seven on offer are rather tricky to get into. But it is at least comfortable, well-appointed and, in 1.7-litre diesel form, just about powerful enough too.
We found: 2015 1.7 CRDi 2, 33,000 miles, £9995
Read the full Kia Carens review
8. BMW 2 Series Active Tourer
The 2 Series Active Tourer was based on the Mini's front-wheel-drive platform, and was a bit of a break from tradition for a modern-day BMW. It's the five-seat version only we can get for our money - the seven-seat Gran Tourer is just a fraction over the £10k limit we've set here. However, what you'll get is good family transport and a car that's better to drive than some of its contemporaries. To that end, BMW has put a lot of effort into the usability of the available space. You may not like the look of the raised roofline, but it does help when putting children into their safety seats in the back, and the rear seats split 40:20:40, which helps if you need to carry both longer loads and passengers. Look for a 2015 car with the popular 1.5-litre diesel unit.
We found: 2015 1.5 216d SE Nav, 53,000 miles, £9995
Read the full BMW 2 Series Active Tourer review
Rejecting a faulty car
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International Electrotechnical Vocabulary
The International Electrotechnical Vocabulary (IEV) serves to promote the global unification of terminology in the field of electrotechnology, electronics and telecommunications. It is developed by IEC Technical Committee 1 (Terminology), and published as both the IEC 60050 series of standards and online as the Electropedia. The Electropedia database contains English and French definitions for more than 20 000 concepts, and provides terms in up to 16 other languages.
IEV
www.electropedia.org
International Electrotechnical Vocabulary – IEV – Electropedia
History of the IEV
At the first meeting of the Council of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in October 1908, Mr. A. J. Balfour (later Lord Balfour) referred to the great value of the work the IEC was going to undertake on the unification of electrotechnical terminology. By 1914, the IEC had issued a first list of terms and definitions covering electrical machinery and apparatus, a list of international letter symbols for quantities and signs for names of units, a list of definitions in connection with hydraulic turbines, and a number of definitions and recommendations relating to rotating machines and transformers. Four technical committees had been formed to deal with Nomenclature, Symbols, Rating of Electrical Machinery, and Prime Movers.[1]
First edition of the IEV
In 1927 agreement was reached on the system of classification into groups and sections, the system of numbering the terms and definitions, the approximate extent of the IEV and other important items. The first edition of the IEV was published in 1938 with 2000 terms and definitions in English and French, and terms in German, Italian, Spanish and Esperanto.[2] It was the outcome of patient work over 28 years.[1]
The IEV grows and goes online: Electropedia
Since 1938, although the aim of the IEV remains unchanged – to provide precise, brief and correct definitions of internationally accepted concepts in the field of electrotechnology, electronics and telecommunications – the scope of the IEV has expanded in line with the expansion of the electrotechnical industry.
The number of IEC technical committees is now more than 90, with almost as many subcommittees,[3] and there are more than 20000 entries in the IEV, covering more than 80 subject areas.[4] The terms and definitions are provided in English and French, and equivalent terms[5] are provided in Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Finnish, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk), Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish (coverage varies by subject area). Traditionally the IEV was developed and published as a series of International Standards, initially under the reference number IEC 50 and later renumbered as IEC 60050, with each part of the standard covering a given subject, such as circuit theory, live working and electrobiology. The online version of the IEV, known as Electropedia,[6] was launched on 2 April 2007.
Electropedia becomes a database standard
As a collection of items managed in a database, the IEV is an ideal international standard to be managed under IEC’s database procedure.[7] Through the use of a web-accessible database and electronic communication a validation team comprising experts appointed by and acting as delegates on behalf of their National Committees evaluate and validate requests to change the database. The change can comprise an addition or deletion, a revision (editorial or technical revision) or a simple correction, and can apply to one or many items in the database. The database procedure encompasses the comment gathering and validation stages of the traditional standards development process and allows for both a rapid procedure as well as the traditional procedure.
The IEC Technical Committee 1, Terminology,[8] is currently considering whether there is interest in the IEC community to evolve the vocabulary towards an electrotechnology ontology covering electrical, electronic and related technologies.
"IEC - About the IEC > History > IEC General secretaries". Iec.ch. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
Sample page in the review "Esperanto" Oct. 1935, p. 135.
"IEC TC/SCs - List of IEC Technical Committees and Subcommittees". Iec.ch. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
Kernan, Aedan. "Electropedia: A Shared Understanding". Leonardo ENERGY. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
"The Electropedia, by the International Electrotechnical Commission | The Jensen Localization Blog". Blog.jensen-localization.com. 2012-08-16. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
"IEC 60050 - International Electrotechnical Vocabulary - Welcome". Electropedia.org. Archived from the original on 2015-04-27. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
ISO/IEC Directives: Procedures specific to IEC, Edition 9.0, IEC: Geneva, Switzerland, 2015-06, Supplement Figure SL.1 – Overview of the procedures, p. 58
"IEC - TC 1 Dashboard > Scope". Iec.ch. 2015-01-12. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
IEC Home Page
Electropedia - Free online multilingual dictionary of 20 000 electrical and electronic terms
IEC TC 25
ISO/IEC JTC 1
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 17
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SWG-A
Technical reports
ISO/IEC TR 12182
Information Technology Task Force
List of International Electrotechnical Commission standards
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Academy Award® Nominee Taraji P. Henson is Kicking Butt on Digital March 27 and Blu-ray™ & DVD April 10
CULVER CITAcademy Award® Nominee Taraji P. Henson is Kicking Butt on Digital March 27 and Blu-ray™ & DVD April 10, Includes Three Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes
Fans will see Academy Award® nominee (Best Supporting Actress, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, 2008) and three-time Emmy® Award nominee (“Empire”) Taraji P. Henson as she’s never been seen before in the action-packed gritty crime thriller PROUD MARY. Henson explodes in the title role, playing a hit woman working for an organized crime family in Boston, whose life is completely turned around when she meets a young boy whose path she crosses during a professional hit. Billy Brown (“How to Get Away with Murder”), Jahi Di’Allo Winston (The Upside), Danny Glover (Shooter, Lethal Weapon) and Neal McDonough (“Legends of Tomorrow”) also star in the film that blasts onto digital March 27 and Blu-ray™ and DVD April 10 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
The digital, Blu-ray and DVD releases of PROUD MARY include three behind-the-scene featurettes. “Mary’s World” unlocks some of the mystery behind all things “Mary,” with the cast and filmmakers weighing in on Taraji P. Henson’s kick-ass turn as the assassin nobody sees coming and shows some of the tools of her trade that let everyone know this is one woman you don’t want to accidentally cross. “The Beginning of The End” dives deep into the film’s final set piece with interviews on Mary’s signature battle to sever her ties from her former life once and for all. Lastly, not only is Mary about the best there is in the world of hit people … she looks good doing it. “If Looks Could Kill” explores Mary’s signature look and killer style, from her Maserati to the clothes and wigs that become her metaphorical armor.
Taraji P. Henson is Mary, a hit woman working for an organized crime family in Boston, whose life is completely turned around when she meets a young boy whose path she crosses during a professional hit.
Directed by Babak Najafi with a screenplay by John Stuart Newman & Christian Swegal and Steven Antin and a story by John Stuart Newman & Christian Swegal, PROUD MARY was produced by Paul Schiff and Tai Duncan, with Glenn S. Gainor and Taraji P. Henson as
executive producers.
Digital, Blu-ray & DVD Bonus Materials Include:
Three Featurettes:
“Mary’s World”
“If Looks Could Kill”
PROUD MARY has a run time of approximately 89 minutes and is rated R for violence.
A FANTASTIC WOMAN debuts on Blu-ray™ And Digital May 22
A QUIET PLACE – Final Trailer
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Academia Anesthesiologica International
Advertisements Policy
Manuscript Instructions
Editorial-Peer Review Process
Vol 5 No 2 (2020): July-December 2020 /
Hemodynamic Profile of Laryngeal Mask Airway Insertion Compared to Laryngoscopy and Tracheal Intubation
Hemodynamic Profile of Laryngeal Mask Airway Insertion
Ram Nandan Prasad Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesia, Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Sevagram, Wardha, Maharashtra, India
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21276/aan.2020.5.2.15
Keywords: Endotracheal Intubation, Heart rate, Laryngoscopy, Laryngeal Mask
Background: Endotracheal intubation by laryngoscopy is one of the most famous and frequent methods for securing the airway. This study compares the modifications in hemodynamic parameters in hypertensive patients following laryngoscopic endotracheal intubation or laryngeal mask airway insertion. Subjects and Methods : Fifty patients between the ages of 35-70 years of either gender with a history of Hypertension of ASA grade II planned for elective surgery were selected. They were separated into 2 groups: group LMA and group ET. LMA insertion or tracheal intubation was executed following the induction of anesthesia with Propofol and succinylcholine. The heart rate, mean arterial pressure and rate pressure product were calculated after induction and instantly following insertion /intubation and then after 1, 3, 5 minutes. Results: The heart rate was augmented after induction and continued to be high for more than 3 minutes after LMA insertion and tracheal intubation. The increase in Heart rate was more in the ET group than the LMA group. The values remained high for 5 minutes in Group ET and only for 3 minutes in Group LMA. Group LMA had lower values at all times when compared to Group ET. Conclusion: Our study concludes that the insertion of the laryngeal mask airway grounds a lesser hemodynamic reaction than tracheal intubation in hypertensive patients.
Prasad, R. N. (2020). Hemodynamic Profile of Laryngeal Mask Airway Insertion Compared to Laryngoscopy and Tracheal Intubation. Academia Anesthesiologica International, 5(2), 71-74. https://doi.org/10.21276/aan.2020.5.2.15
Vol 5 No 2 (2020): July-December 2020
Copyright (c) 2020 Author
ICV (2018) = 85.46
For International Authors
For National Authors
Published by : Society for Health Care & Research Development.[Online] &
Dr. Sanket Dadarao Hiware, Assistant Professor, College of Medicine and health sciences, DireDawa University
City: DireDawa, Country: Ethiopia
Email: [email protected] [Print]
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Home › Actuality › THE CITY OF TERUEL WORKS TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NEW COUNCIL OF CITIZEN PARTICIPATION
THE CITY OF TERUEL WORKS TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NEW COUNCIL OF CITIZEN PARTICIPATION
18/07/2015.-the city of Teruel, through the Department of open Government, works to the establishment of the new Council of citizen participation of the city. Municipal citizen participation regulation regulates the implementation underway this organ of citizen participation.
The city of Teruel is working to be able to constitute the new Council of citizen participation as soon as possible. From the associate Department of open Government, whose responsible is Rocio Vargas happy, it is working on the adaptation of the catalogue of the different types of existing in the municipality associations to subsequently organize the process of election of its members. In the last legislature modified the municipal regulation of citizen participation, which regulates the implementation of this body, after the development of a participatory process that called the associative fabric Teruel.
For this renovation, according to the procedure regulated in the aforementioned regulation of citizen participation, are currently a series of consultations about 300 associations contained in the municipal register. Both aiming to update their data as reclassify some of them depending on the type of activities, as agreed with the previous Council of citizen participation. It's debugging data that have associations and reporting in appropriate cases the change of allegiance by typology of the Association. This is the case, for example, of associations of parents of pupils that it was decided to include under the type of cultural associations. After all, and once finished the procedure of hearing will start preparations for the election of representatives of the Council.
In the current catalogue include 21 associations of neighbors, 79 sporting, cultural 106, 11 recreational and youth and social 76. Each of these groups of associations shall have one representative, with the exception of the neighborhood which will have 2. This is one of the differences with respect to the preceding Council, derived from the modification of the regulation as a result of the participatory process. In addition, also must choose a representative professional associations, which is another new feature. In total, the number of representatives of the associations would become 7, which should add more elected two in representation of the Adviser sector of childhood and adolescence, and the local development Council. Other innovations for the establishment of the new Council include the fact that each political group municipal will also have a representative (6) and that the districts of the city through two of their pedaneos mayors will be represented. To be elected, previously elections in the districts will be held to determine who will be their pedaneos mayors during this parliamentary term.
The commitment acquired in the development of the participatory process, and exhibited at the meeting of return of the same, was that the majority of the Council representatives would come from associations against the set of political representatives in the same organ. And indeed, the forecasts are that the next Council of participation of Teruel is composed by: 9 representatives of associations, 7 of every typology of associations and 2 sectoral Councils, in addition to eight members belonging to different political groups with municipal representation.
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The Bahamas Press Club - News & Events
BPC President in Brussels at the first ACP Press Clubs Federation Meeting
BPC President Anthony Newbold (right) and other members of the
ACP Press Clubs Federation
BRUSSELS, Belgium - Executives of the newly formed African Caribbean & Pacific (ACP) Press Clubs Federation took a conscious decision on Wednesday night (November 30, 2016) to encourage more involvement from journalists in member states, especially the Caribbean and Pacific, as it moves to establish an identity for the new organization.
Representing the Caribbean Region are The Bahamas Press Club President Anthony Newbold and Jewel Forde, Asst. Secretary General, Association of Caribbean Media Workers.
Meeting at ACP House on the Avenue Georges-Henri in Brussels for the first time since being appointed in Kigali in October, executives of the Federation pledged to do all within their power to ensure the presence of the ACP and the Federation in all member states is evident.
“The first recommendation to the president for action was my suggestion to mount a competition for the design of the Federation’s Logo,” says Bahamas Press Club President Anthony Newbold. “Graphic artists from news organization, who are hopefully members of the areas press clubs would be asked to submit samples for consideration.”
Leading the discussions was Mr. Albert Rudatsimburwa from Kigali, who represented ACPC Federation President Gaspard Safari who could not attend because of health reasons.
“It is important that we agree a vision for this organization,” he said. “Because we must move quickly to establish the ACP Press Clubs Federation as a vibrant and relevant force in our member states in raising the cause of press freedom.”
The vision for the ACP PCF as articulated by the executive council: “To strengthen and sustain media associations in ACP countries to be a catalyst for development, by bolstering transparency in public affairs, rising public awareness on important issues as well as facilitating open debate and the dynamic exchange of information and ideas.”
The ACP PCF will initially be directed from Brussels which will allow the Federation to lean on the support of the ACP Group Secretariat, which in the initial stages will provide the funding necessary for the operations of the organization.
ACP PCF Interim President, Gaspard Safari is expected to soon release the agenda for the next meeting of the Council which is scheduled for February 2017 in Kigali, Rwanda ahead of the World Congress of Press Clubs.
The ACP Press Clubs Federation was established at a special meeting in Kigali in October 2016, with the primary objective being “to foster dialogue, cooperation and an exchange of practical experience and ideas between ACP-PCF members.”
An interim Executive Council was appointed comprising 12 members, two from each region represented: West Africa, Central Africa, Southern Africa, Eastern Africa, the Pacific Islands and the Caribbean Region.
Posted by The Bahamas Press Club at 16:40 No comments:
“A RESPONSIBLE PRESS”
KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY
THE MOST HON. P. J. PATTERSON, ON, OCC,PC,QC
AT, THE BAHAMAS PRESS CLUB MEDIA
BRITISH COLONIAL HILTON
PLEASE SEE ENTIRE SPEECH BELOW:
Always a pleasure to be in The Commonwealth of The Bahamas.
Your kind invitation gives me good reason to be here.
There was that time in life when we needed no excuse – invitation or no invitation. We came and did not always leave when expected.
Learn to say no – advice from a former Prime Ministerial colleague.
Those who believe you should be quick to say yes – and give thanks at every invitation to show you are still alive and have not been forgotten.
For an active politician, this could be like Daniel entering the Lion’s Den.
The prophet kept them at bay –
You will have to make a speech.
SPEECH AT BANQUET
Delivering a speech at a banquet on the night of his arrival in a large city, a visiting minister told several anecdotes he intended to repeat at meetings the next day. Because he wanted to use the jokes again, he requested the reporters to omit them from any accounts they might turn in to their newspapers. A cub reporter, in commenting on the speech, ended his piece with the following: “The minister told a number of stories that cannot be published.”
Food was the earliest subject of communication between Homo Sapiens:
(i) Cave Paintings, which gave advice on plants, and animals that were safe for eating.
Other forms emerged soon after.
(ii) Then came Drumming: In African tradition, drumming has played an important role in every aspect of life. Today, African hand drums are still played to communicate, celebrate, mourn and inspire. They’re played in times of peace and war, planting and harvesting, birth and death.
(iii) Smoke signals were used by many cultures, including Native American to communicate over long distances.
(iv) In Medieval England, town cries were the chief means of news communication with the townspeople, where many of the folk were illiterate in a period before the moveable type was invented. Royal proclamations, local bylaws, market days; even selling loaves of bread were all proclaimed by a bellman or crier.
Centuries ago, Sophocles wrote: “No one loves the messenger who brings bad news”.
Shakespeare expressed this same sentiment in Anthony and Cleopatra. Cleopatra when told by a messenger that Anthony had married another, threatens to treat the messenger’s eyes as balls, eliciting the response “Gracious madam, I that bring the news made not the match.”
I am sure that many of you members of the media here have experienced equally aggressive responses when you are forced to report bad news or unfavourable stories.
But it is your job to give the news, good or bad and the right to receive as well as disseminate accurate and timely information. Freedom of expression is the cornerstone of your craft.
Those who write the headlines must master that peculiar skill which attract just attention – but they can often be misleading, confusing or pedantic.
1. Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
2. Miners refuse to Work after Death
3. War Dims Hope for Peace
4. Red Tape holds Up New Bridges
5. Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft
6. Kids Make Nutritious Snacks.
PROUD RECORD
Before proceeding further, let me warmly congratulate the government and people of the Bahamas on your first-rate telecommunications infrastructure that makes up-to-date information accessible to your population across the archipelago.
The Bahamas has a proud record of press freedom and deserves our highest commendation in that regard.
Public discourse, vigorous and open discussion are essential to the preservation of your thriving democracy.
It is well established that the Press, the Fourth Estate, plays a unique role in the promotion of human rights, our fundamental freedoms and is essential to engender good governance, public accountability and transparency.
To perform this Task, it is entitled to ready access – not as a favour, but as a right. Without this, it is prone to leaks (often unreliable and self-centred) or speculation, which could prove harmful to the national interest.
It is for this reason that my Administration enacted a new Freedom of Information Act, which spawned a new culture of openness. That represented a quantum leap from the notion of secrecy under which the Official Secrets Act engendered.
MEDIA LANDSCAPE IN THE BAHAMAS
The great number and range of Bahamian media outlets that provide citizens with news, information and entertainment is truly impressive: The Nassau Guardian newspaper has been in existence since 1844, the Tribune, Freeport News, the Bahama Journal, the tabloid Punch, all contribute to your vibrant print media sector.
Many of your media entities have digital components where audiences access media content from anywhere in the world. In one form or another, Bahamian media, including digital media, reach all Bahamian households and engage with audiences across the globe with stories and messages that inform, educate and entertain.
This is an impressive achievement on which you must build in a global society that is increasingly knowledge-based.
But that’s not all. Some of the stories, written and produced by the persons whom you honour tonight have played a role in the final outputs which have helped to shape public discourse and managed to influence public policy and sound governance.
These accomplishments are necessary and important media requisites in an enduring democracy.
SOCIAL MEDIA PHENOMENON
A significant number of citizens, especially our youth, are active social media participants who create, share and consume a wide array of information among themselves and across the entire world via the Internet.
Over 50% of the world’s population is less than 30 years old.
Almost all millennials have joined social networks. Online news sources, social networking websites, You Tube videos and blogs have joined television and other traditional media as the main sources of public information and are connecting citizens who share similar views. These citizens are influencing each other directly, bypassing traditional media and other intermediaries. More than half of mobile non-voice traffic in the Caribbean is for Facebook. Twitter now impacts all aspects of life including cultures and national elections.
Advancements in technology are expanding the reach and influence of traditional media among all audiences and increasing the power of social media. These have facilitated a move away from a world in which few institutions and individuals create media content to one in which everyone can produce content that influences and creates a stake in our culture and future.
But all social media or all media content are not equal. All attractively packaged and effectively distributed, shared information are not of equal value or equal worth.
Some are problematic and dangerous. As a result, some technological changes employed by social media, have major implications for the historical roles and responsibilities of traditional media.
“THE EDITOR" JOKE
The editor of a small weekly newspaper, in a rage over several government bills that had recently been passed, ran a scathing editorial under the headline: “HALF OF OUR LEGISLATORS ARE CROOKS.” Many prominent politicians were outraged, and tremendous pressure was exerted on him to retract the statement. He finally succumbed to the pressure and ran an apology with the headline: “HALF OF OUR LEGISLATORS ARE NOT CROOKS.”
IMPACT ON POLITICS
A decade ago political candidates largely depended on traditional media to tell their stories, to sell their candidacies. This is no longer the case. Political candidates are exploiting New Media, which have rallied some of the largest populist movements the world has ever seen, including the so-called Arab Spring. In the world’s largest and most robust market of America, we witness a fundamental shift in content creation and media consumption.
Eight years ago Barack Obama’s ‘Yes We Can’ campaign used social media platforms to rapidly stimulate political activity and community activism. More recently, Donald Trump used social media to rally a populist movement that challenged established terms of political engagement and stoked controversy.
Technological Advancements Implications
New communications technologies empower individuals and groups to do democratic things. They provide platforms for the rapid distribution of material that can undermine democracy and yield problematic outcomes. They rapidly and frequently disseminate falsehoods, slander, intolerant views and hostile ideologies. Communities, nations and the world have become more connected yet more complicated, more social yet more individualistic.
While technology creates the vehicle through which people assemble ideas, the need remains for the audience to be engaged, to be influenced, to be persuaded, and convinced.
In this age when everyone with a computer can create and publish news stories, parade as journalists, you as professionals have to clearly demonstrate that you offer something of lasting value; something that differentiates your outputs from the false pretenders.
(i) to identify what makes sense amidst an avalanche of information that absolutely makes no sense, making a distinction between what is important and what is trivial and superficial.
(ii) You have a compelling duty to ferret out and tell the truth and prove that to skeptical audiences.
(iii) To inform public debate so that citizens can make educated choices to help empower citizens to act in ways that serve the greatest good.
(iv) Journalists must observe the profession’s ethical mandates: respect privacy, embrace public accountability; give voice to the voiceless and protect the vulnerable.
Why should professional journalists take these ethical mandates seriously when others are not constrained by such old-fashioned notions?
In the highly competitive media industry, speed to publish and speed to hit the send button are often perceived as the only goals, so why concern oneself with other objectives that appear archaic?
Why bother to be accurate when sensationalism sells? When trivia trumps analysis and investigative stories prove more costly?
Being right and being credible to warrant trust are more important attributes than being first.
Amid the noise of information overload, the triple goals of credibility, accuracy, trustworthiness, still constitute the mandate for a free press in a democracy.
Professional journalistic courage and telling the truth as you celebrate this evening are values that have withstood the test of time.
SUPPORTING MEDIA LITERACY
The amount of time that young people now spend online consuming media and other content has increased substantially. Yet our young people need help in developing the requisite media literacy skills to analyze and understand the vast array of media messages and formats they consume from disparate sources.
Traditional media practitioners need to more effectively help develop the critical thinking and analytical skills that youth and other citizens need to successfully navigate media-soaked and social media-immersed environments.
Responsible media can help consumers discern fact from fiction; truth from falsehoods; valid arguments from those that are fundamentally flawed. Responsible media must help citizens develop the ability to bring critical thinking skills to bear on all media – from social media content to musical lyrics and videos.
In doing so traditional media would have helped our citizens to ask the right questions: From whose perspective is this story told? Whose voices are heard, and whose are excluded? What strategies does this message use to get attention and to influence? Whose interests are served by this story? And to persistently ask, why, why, why?
THE FOURTH ESTATE
The original progenitors of the Bahamian Media and even some of the most senior among you would be bewildered by the face of the new media landscape.
But even in the light of the cataclysmic changes you can never relinquish the duties of the Fourth Estate to inform and educate.
While others pander to narrow interests and cater to personal tastes, yours must be that broader vision which reflects the panoramic view.
It must promote the national ethos and yet global in perspective.
The main issues may not be sexy – but they are of critical importance to the future of mankind.
- human conflicts and the spread of terrorism
- the reality and immense global warming – climate change which poses particular threat to The Bahamas.
- Our region is confronted with severe challenges
The imbalances, which are created in the name of globalization and consequences to countries, like The Bahamas with the imposition of rules and systems which would deny fair competition in niche areas of international financial transactions.
- How to fuel the spread of the creative industries within our regional space to encourage and expand our gifts of nature, the talents of our people in order to build the unique civilization.
In seeking to spread the gospel, do not sacrifice your integrity or compromise your standards.
Tonight, I urge you to insist on the training for those who seek to enter your noble profession so that the ethics are observed to permit the heightening of the consciousness and the expansion of the horizons for those who are called into your service.
This has truly been a delightful evening. The Bahamas Press Club deserves full praise for arranging an occasion where partners (not friends and foes) share the ambience we have so well enjoyed tonight.
All of us welcome and appreciate recognition – but none is more precious than that which is extended by our peers.
So tonight’s deserving Awardees will always treasure the special accolades they receive tonight. It should propel them, as responsible Journalists, to even higher levels of excellence while together we continue the onward march on the journey to peace, freedom, justice and prosperity for the people we serve.
Bahamas Press Club Holds Black Tie Awards Event Honouring Best in Media
NASSAU, The Bahamas - The best in Bahamian media were awarded during The Bahamas Press Club Second Annual Media Awards held at the British Colonial Hilton on Saturday, November 20, 2016.
It was held under the distinguished Patronage of Her Excellency Dame Marguerite Pindling, Governor General of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.
The Black Tie event was held in the Governor’s Ballroom, at which The Most Honourable P J Patterson, former Prime Minister of Jamaica delivered the Keynote Address.
Mr. Patterson addressed “A Responsible Press” and noted the hallmarks of journalism including ethics, accountability, integrity and not only getting the news first, but getting it right.
He also congratulated The Bahamas Press Club for organizing such an event honouring media professionals in the country.
Also in attendance was the Hon Fred Mitchell, Minister of Foreign Affairs who introduced keynote speaker Patterson.
President of The Bahamas Press Club Anthony Newbold congratulated the winners for their hard work and also encouraged other members of the media, in the country, to “get involved” in building the organization.
Nine awards were handed out during the ceremony hosted by journalist, lawyer and talk show host Jeffrey Lloyd.
The Etienne Dupuch Lifetime Achievement Award went to His Excellency Calsey Johnson, Bahamas High Commissioner to Canada; former broadcast journalist, the Broadcasting Corporation of the Bahamas (ZNS).
Also receiving awards were:
• The Leon Turnquest Award for Sports Print Journalism – Nassau Guardian Sports Editor, Sheldon Longley for his story:” Dive For Gold" - The Shaunae Miller Olympic Gold Medal Win in the Women’s 400m.
• Website of the Year - Tribune242.com
• The Kenneth Nathaniel Francis Award for Newspaper Design and Composition - The Tribune: "Diving For Gold"
• The Leslie Higgs Feature Writer of the Year Award – Journalist/writer Tosheena Robinson-Blair "The Life and Times of a Master Hotelier".
• The Award for Best Television News Story –News Reporter, Clint Watson "Life Lost During Storm" – Hurricane Matthew
• The Bursell Bradshaw Press Photograph of the Year Award - Photographer, Ahvia Campbell, photojournalist, The Nassau Guardian "After The Storm" – Hurricane Matthew
• The Best television Documentary – Karissma Robinson & Andrew Burrows, ZNS - "The Underneath: Transgenders in The Bahamas".
• The Cyril Stevenson Award for Outstanding Political Journalism- Lamech Johnson, Reporter, The Tribune – “$150,000 fine for Jerome Fitzgerald in Save The Bays email row”.
ADDRESS BY ANTHONY A NEWBOLD, PRESIDENT, THE BAHAMAS PRESS CLUB THE BAHAMAS PRESS CLUB MEDIA AWARDS
ADDRESS BY ANTHONY A NEWBOLD,
PRESIDENT, THE BAHAMAS PRESS CLUB
THE BAHAMAS PRESS CLUB MEDIA AWARDS
GOVERNOR’S BALLROOM
The Bahamas Press Club President Anthony Newbold
President Antony Newbold calls for media professionals to get involved in The Bahamas Press Club.
Here is his speech delivered at The Media Awards Banquet held Saturday, November 19, 2016 at the British Colonial Hilton:
The Hon Fred Mitchell, Minister of Foreign Affairs, The Most Hon P J Patterson, Nominees, Invited Guests,Good evening!
Again and welcome to the first of what will be an annual recognition and celebration of you who report and produce the news. Thank you all for coming.
My congratulations to all Nominees, especially the Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient, His Excellency Calsey Johnson.
You make us all proud!
Unfortunately there are some awards that will not be presented this year because we had no nominees. The Harcourt Rusty Bethel Award for Broadcast Journalism or The P Anthony White Award for Best Columnist for example.
There will also not be an award for Best Talk Show as the system did not work as we intended and so hopefully next year we get to present those awards and others that we will add.
The technical ones, for example, that the technical people have complained to me about, even though I have yet to see one cameraman or editor at a Bahamas Press Club Meeting. Go figure.
There was a Bahamian superstar entertainer from The Valley. People knew him as "Dr. Off". His name was Tyrone Fitzgerald & he had several hit songs, one of them was titled, “Get Involved”.
That is my theme for tonight.
Let me say to you members of the media tonight, we’ve truly only just begun. And as is the case in most beginnings, not as many of you participate, as you should in the business of The Bahamas Press Club. But there is room and desire for all of you to participate.
You’ve got to get involved! You can first begin by telling me what you would like to see from The Press Club. What it is that would cause you to be active. Early in the New Year, I will take some of my executives to Grand Bahama to find out how they would like to participate.
Last month, during my visit to Africa at the invitation of the African, Caribbean & Pacific Group of States, Kigali, Rwanda to be more specific, the ACP Federation of Press Clubs was formed to create a network across the three regions, and they were so excited to hear about the activities of The Bahamas Press Club. You should be too! And when I go to Brussels for the first executive council meeting (your president was the first person nominated for the 12 member executive council), they will be more excited when I report on tonight’s activities.
Yes, fellow journalists, The Bahamas Press Club is branching out to the world, and we want to take you with us. But you’ve got to get involved!
Speaking of involvement, I’ve been most pleased to see Crystal Darling and Don Sargent from the University of The Bahamas. Yes, we want them as young as they are because my team, and me we are part of the old guard, and while I enjoy this as much as the next fellow, I am only leading the way. I have no intention or desire to stay as president of the Bahamas Press Club for life!
Listen, as your leader, I am known across The Bahamas, in New York and California. In China and in Africa. In the Caribbean and in the Pacific. I want you all to be too. And I’m not just talking about a byline. I want you all to be in a position where you pick up the telephone and speak with someone you really know. But you gotta get involved!
I know that everyone wants to know what is in it for him or her? Well, after my trip to Africa, I received an email from Ernest Sagaga, head of Human Rights and Safety for the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) One of the issues raised was the plight of some journalists after they retire.
Too many of us fall on hard times. Well Ernest said to me, listen, IFJ has a safety fund. So if you know of a journalist who needs help with medical costs, legal costs, family support or educating their children, let me know and we will provide some help. That is what is potentially there for you. But you’ve got to get involved.
Another issue raised was funding and where do we get it. Some countries said they get funding from their government. Here, we would think that is heresy. No, they received funding with the understanding that it was all part of contributing to the common good and that the government should not expect any special treatment.
I say you will get objective treatment from a well-trained and duly qualified press corps. That is what you will get if you give us your support! By the way, Prime Minister, I want the old Gaming Board Building on Goodman’s Bay for the Press Club.
We will clean up the mold and do whatever is required to get it in a condition to be occupied, for a nominal fee of $10. Think about it.
Why is this night important? We must recognize good work, especially the work of journalists. Recognizing journalists for their work is not high on anyone’s list of priorities. Maybe after we die.
Well, The Press Club decided to change that and we are doing so tonight. Just beginning, but we are making a start! Speaking of good journalists, we’ve just lost a good one. Gwen Ifill of PBS. You can’t say enough about her! One of the most respected Black journalists in America. Here at home we lost Antoine Ferrier. A gentleman and a professional! Lets observe a minute of silence in their memory please! May they both Rest In Peace.
So lets recognize another good journalist. Deandre Williamson; the newest member of The Bahamas Press Club. Deandre won the Walter Cronkite Bust, first place finisher in the conference paper competition at the 3rd Annual Walter Cronkite Conference on Media Ethics and Integrity held recently in Missouri. Take a bow Deandre. First international winner and first person of color.
So those of us who bring credit to our profession must be recognized, because there are still too many whose actions, speaking of ethics and integrity, in fact, whose very presence in our profession, hold us up to ridicule, public odium and disrepute.
We know them. Their names are associated more with their nefarious undertakings than with good journalism, and we won’t give them the privilege of further sullying our time-honored profession tonight, by calling their names.
When we speak about credit to our profession, let me recognize my core team of executives whose efforts cannot be overstated and I cannot praise them enough. Lindsay Thompson, Vincent Vaughan, Anthony Capron, and other team members, Kermit Taylor, Charles Sawyer, Franklyn Ferguson, Rogan Smith and Ed fields. Couldn’t do it without them!
Mr. Capron co-coordinated the gorgeous souvenir magazine you see before you. For our advertisers and you who wonder about the reach of The Bahamas Press Club, last year’s booklet is in Rwanda, it is in Sierra Leone, it is in Brussels and in Poland.
The sky is truly the limit if you would only get involved. Let me apologize for Prime Minister Christie who could not be here. He has had a hectic schedule over the past two days. (Former) Prime Minister Patterson, thank you from the bottom of my heart from agreeing to speak to us tonight. We truly appreciate it.
Thanks to our MC, Jeffrey Lloyd, who was chosen before he was nominated!
A special thank you to Cable 12 for taking the lead in recording this for broadcast. That is the kind of partnership we need from our broadcast colleagues. I want to pay special tribute to Alexia Coakley who led this effort. Much appreciation!
Enjoy yourselves and congratulations to all of you who, and specifically the winners in this our first effort to give you your roses.
Bahamas Press Club Member Deandre Williamson Awarded Walter Cronkite Bust
Bahamian journalist and BPC member Deandre Williamson
was awarded a Walter Cronkite Bust.
NASSAU, The Bahamas - The Bahamas Press Club 2014 congratulates its member Deandre Williamson upon receiving the prestigious Walter Cronkite Bust for a First Place Finish in the conference paper competition.
Ms Williamson, an editor /journalist, was also invited to address the 3rd Annual Walter Cronkite Conference on Media Ethics and Integrity, held at the Missouri Western State University, November 3 to 5, 2016. She returned home November 9.
She also became the first international journalist to be awarded the Walter Cronkite Bust for coming first in the conference paper competition.
President of The Bahamas Press Club Anthony Newbold had this to say about such an outstanding achievement.
“Deandre has proven once again that Bahamians can compete at the highest levels in the world in any discipline and we are happy that she is a member of our profession. The Press Club is especially pleased that she chose to address the topic of media ethics and integrity, because they are both areas we feel strongly should be the north star for all of us as practicing journalists.”
The Walter Cronkite Conference on Media Ethics and Integrity is noted as both a celebration of the legacy of Walter Cronkite and a discussion of the future of journalism. The conference is two days of intimate sessions featuring journalism professionals and students who will discuss how ethics have affected their practices.
Ms Williamson a presented on the topic 'Ethical Challenges in Bahamian Journalism: The Case for a Code of Ethics.'
“This is a research study I did for my master's thesis as a student at Point Park University. I'm proud of my work in journalism research, which took me two years to complete,” she says.
The study explores the ethical challenges of Bahamian journalists and presents the case for a code of ethics. The findings for the study were taken from a survey among professional Bahamian journalists and a series of in-depth interviews among veteran Bahamian journalists. The study also presents a series of real-life case studies demonstrating the ethical dilemmas of Bahamian journalists.
“This study is significant to the field of media ethics because it suggest ways to improve media ethics in The Bahamas, which includes drafting a nation-specific code of ethics. This study is also worthwhile and significant to the development of journalism in The Bahamas,” Ms Williamson says.
Ms Williamson found out about the conference through her professor at Point Park University, Dr. Timothy Hudson. He also served as her thesis chair.
She said she was excited to have been chosen to present at the international conference.
After the conference, Ms Williamson visited KQTV, a local television station in Missouri. While there, she shadowed KQTV's reporters and assisted with their coverage of the United States Presidential Election.
Ms Williamson is a former editor and reporter at The Bahama Journal. She received her Master’s Degree from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA in 2014; and a Bachelor’s Degree from Georgia State University, Atlanta in 2009. Ms Williamson received her Associates Degree from the then College of the Bahamas in 2007 (Now University of The Bahamas).
She was a Student Speaker at Point Park at the Graduate Hooding Ceremony in 2014. She also received Academic Excellence Award in Journalism and Mass Communication at Point Part in 2014.
Ms Williamson interned at KDKA-TV, Pittsburgh and at CNN Headline News in Atlanta.
BPC President appointed to the Executive Council of ACP Press Clubs Federation
Anthony Newbold, Bahamas Press Club President
KIGALI, Rwanda - Anthony Newbold, President of The Bahamas Press Club 2014, has been appointed to the Executive Council of the newly formed African Caribbean & Pacific (APC)- Press Clubs Federation at the founding Congress convened in the Ubumwe Grande Hotel, Kigali, Rwanda on October 20 to 21, 2016.
“It was an amazing and priceless experience,” said Mr. Newbold. “The opportunity to network with fellow journalists from the African continent and the Pacific Islands, as well as establish the name of The Bahamas and The Bahamas Press Club in a world class setting cannot be overstated. There is no limit to the potential benefits from this association!”
Addressing the assembly, Mr. Newbold noted the young and robust press corps in The Bahamas and their efforts to continually deliver on their mandate to inform and educate the public by holding the government to account for its actions, publicizing issues that need attention, educating the public and bringing people together.
At that General Assembly, a charter was adopted for the formation of the Federation as an umbrella organization, to build a platform for ACP press clubs, international press centres and press associations to exchange useful information, collaborate on joint projects, share expertise and build an international platform for communication initiatives.
The 12 member Executive Council is comprised of press club heads from six regions: West Africa, Eastern Africa, Southern Africa, Central Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands and is headed by Mr. Gaspard Safari, President of the Kigali Press Foundation.
The Council will support the work of the General Assembly and monitor the implementation of decisions taken by the General Assembly.
Mr. Newbold is joined on the Executive Council by Ms. Jewel Forde, President of Barbados Association of Journalists.
The Federation is expected to serve as a platform to not only raise awareness of ACP issues, but also to enhance the visibility of the ACP Group of countries.
The first official meeting of the council is expected to take place at the end of February in Kigali, when more concrete plans will be discussed and agreed to be pursued, leading up to the first official General Assembly of the Federation in late 2018.
Recognizing the need to establish a network
of media associations across the member states, the ACP Secretariat signed an MOU with the European Press Clubs Federation in September 2013, chaired at
the time by Belgium (Brussels EU Press Club), to explore the establishment of a federation of ACP Press Clubs.
Efforts under this partnership resulted in the European Commission funding the first regional congress of ACP Press Clubs in Cotonou, Benin in July 2014, attended by the ACP Secretary General and opened by Benin’s Minister of Information and Communication.
Since 2015, the Brussels EU Press Club and the ACP Secretariat have continued to work closely to advance this project. The Brussels EU Press Club is currently in discussions with relevant officials on the anticipated bid by Rwanda to host the General Assembly of the International Association of Press clubs in 2017, which will be the first for the African continent and the ACP as a whole.
The Bahamas Press Club
The Bahamas Press Club 2014 seeks to foster a culture of excellence and integrity in the profession of Journalism and Mass Communications.
BPC President in Brussels at the first ACP Press C...
Bahamas Press Club Holds Black Tie Awards Event Ho...
ADDRESS BY ANTHONY A NEWBOLD, PRESIDENT, THE BAHAM...
Bahamas Press Club Member Deandre Williamson Award...
BPC President appointed to the Executive Council o...
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Evolution of Cloud Contact Centres
Posted by Marketing | 2 May 2020 | Cloud, Outsourcing, Technology | 0 |
The Evolution of Cloud Contact Centres : CCaaS Round Table
What’s next in the Contact-Centre-as-a-Service (CCaaS) environment? Views from Genesys, 8×8, NICE-inContact, Content Guru
The cloud contact centre is growing at an amazing pace.
As more companies continue to recognise the value of having their customer contact solutions ready-to-scale in the cloud, we’re seeing the arrival of endless new technology and opportunities. Already, things like artificial intelligence and IoT are changing the way that companies deliver service.
According to Gartner’s recent Magic Quadrant for the CCaaS landscape, by 2022, CCaaS will be the preferred model of adoption for 50% of all contact centres. That’s an increase from around 10% just in 2019. On top of that, the sector should be worth around $28.6 billion by 2025 too!
To get a better insight into how the CCaaS environment is changing, we caught up with some of the market leaders from the industry. Here’s what we learned when talking to representatives from Genesys, 8×8, ContentGuru, and NiceinContact.
What do you believe is driving this demand for CCaaS?
The demand for CCaaS is greater than ever. Even larger contact centres that previously didn’t have the opportunity to leave legacy equipment behind, are taking their first steps into the cloud. All over the world, the industry is evolving, with some locations like the US and UK moving faster than others.
One of the key trends driving the need for CCaaS is the need for a more flexible and unique method of delivering personalised experiences to customers. But what else is leading the way? Here’s what our experts had to say.
According to Director of Commercial Sales at Genesys, Mark Armstrong, one of the many reasons that organisations are now looking at CCaaS, is to manage the rapid changes in customer service and support. A lot of brands are still using legacy systems, hybrid environments, and mixed systems for customer engagement that don’t match today’s requirements.
Armstrong told us that businesses need to be available where their customers are.
“CCaaS enables companies to connect with customers on any channel while also delivering the highly personalised experiences today’s consumers expect”
“The cloud provides brands with tools to ensure they maximise the value of data and leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse customer history and behaviour in real-time.”
CCaaS offerings are flexible and scalable solutions, designed to adapt to what the customer base needs right now. CCaaS is built on modular, easy-to-customise architecture that takes days to update, not months.
Chris Marron, the 8×8 Director of Competitive and Market Intelligence agrees with the idea that better customer service is essential. He notes that custom support for clients is now a business-critical concept.
“You only have to look at the number of companies whose adverts now include TrustPilot ratings to see that there is a real need for businesses to exhibit the highest levels of customer service.”
Marron told us that businesses today need to be agile, flexible, and based in the cloud, so that they can respond quickly to the changing demands of the modern customer. Businesses need to deliver a services that matches the exact preferences and communication styles of various generations, from baby boomer to Gen Z.
“CCaaS is a key piece of what enterprises need to allow companies to deliver this excellent service while also giving businesses the flexibility to keep up with both consumer and contact centres’ needs”
The Senior Director of Product Marketing at NICE inContact, Laura Basset said that confidence in the viability and security of CCaaS has increased. Now, the question isn’t “if” you should move to cloud, but how and when you should begin the migration.
One major factor leading the transition to cloud, according to Laura, is customer behaviour.
“Consumers are increasingly digital-first and want seamless interactions regardless of channel”
“CCaaS provides the agility to build and maintain contact centre solutions alongside consumer preferences rapidly.”
Another concept to consider is flexibility; companies need more elasticity with their contact centres, and appreciate the lower costs and reduced barriers to entry with CCaaS. Workforce flexibility allows unmatched capabilities for at-home agents, better disaster recovery, and more.
Basset also said that value is a factor too. “The unrivaled speed of innovation and the ability for contact centres to reap the benefits of enhancements and features in a seamless, no-hassle fashion continuously, ensures they are always on the latest and greatest.”
Deputy CEO and Co-Founder of ContentGuru, Martin Taylor, says that as customer experience becomes more essential to businesses, the demand for a modern contact centre is higher than ever.
“The traditional view that the contact centre is a place to make savings is being blown out of the water.” “Instead, the contact centre has the potential to be a hugely rewarding value centre for organisations”
According to Taylor, the demand for CCaaS is being driven by a widespread investment from countless C-level executives keen to improve customer experience and engagement. In the next two years, there’s likely to be an increasing number of companies shifting from on-premise into a cloud-based omni-channel infrastructure.
What Customer Experience trends did you see developing in 2019?
Since customer experience is at the heart of the demand for CCaaS for a lot of businesses, the trends that are changing the CX landscape are crucial to companies investing in new contact centre tools.
For some time now, we’ve seen the potential that the cloud can bring to the contact centre environment. However, the arrival of new technology, ranging all the way from AI to sentiment analysis, is changing the way that we can address customer needs. Here’s what our experts had to say about the customer experience trends that developed over the last year.
Mark Armstrong believes that one of the major trends will focus on predictive customer engagement strategies, and how companies can serve clients before they come to them. Businesses already have a lot of information about their customers, but the historical data available might not be used to its fullest potential when figuring out when to engage customers and make suggestions that are relevant to their needs.
“Here is where technologies such as AI can help brands in determining when to engage with the customer, with the right resource or offer and help to determine the next best course of action.”
Armstrong also acknowledged that while cloud might have been a crucial trend in the IT industry for a long time now, organisations haven’t been as quick to move their contact centres fully into the cloud. Now, we’re reaching a nexus of change in the industry. “Today, we are at a point where it is no longer a question of if businesses will move their contact centres to the cloud but when.”
Chris Marron of 8×8 said that the industry is beginning to see more businesses recognizing that while the contact centre is crucial to good customer interactions, exceptional experiences require more coordinated solutions from the entire business. Creating these opportunities requires close teamwork and collaboration across sectors.
“As businesses recognise that a siloed approach to customer service is ineffective they are also identifying that a siloed approach to business systems is equally ineffective. My prediction is that we will see considerable consolidation in the space as vendors scramble to deliver a combined UCaaS and CCaaS offering to meet the enhanced requirements of modern businesses.”
Laura Basset for NICE inContact told us that the trends of personalisation and specialisation are particularly significant in the current landscape. “For 2020+, each of these will only grow in necessity and intensity as we head towards hyper-personal, hyper-specialised experiences where real time AI helps augment humans in the process.”
According to Laura, we’re also seeing an increased demand for more all-in-one products with unified interfaces for everything, including CRM technology. Organisations don’t want to just manage bolt-on applications or panic about cross-vendor dynamics. They want a solution that gives them everything that they need in one place.
Digital transformation is also becoming the new normal, as multiple companies start to pivot to address changes in customer behavior. In 2019, we saw a rising demand for seamless omni-channel solutions and increased adoption of digital channels. Additionally, “during 2019, we saw a lot of buzz around “AI” and “Bots.” Many organisations don’t really know how they would implement it, but they are looking to CCaaS providers to help them blaze the trail.”
Martin Taylor said that the idea that chatbots might be able to deliver the secret sauce solution to all customer problems has only recently be debunked. Over the last year, many companies have realised that while chatbots are useful, they’re better suited to act as one part of an entire omni-channel portfolio of customer service offerings.
There has been a massive resurgence in voice-based interactions. In part, this has been driven by the arrival of home assistants like Amazon Alexa, and the fact that human beings generally still prefer to speak to other people for important conversations. It’s this that’s ushering a new “golden age of voice”, according to ContentGuru.
Taylor also said that during 2019, NLP (Natural Language Processing) started to step out of the Proof of Concept stage and become more of a mainstream solution in the unified communication space. Over the past year, the NLP solution has become a tool that can deliver unprecedented insight into voice data and customer journey analytics.
What is going to be the next big thing in Customer Experience/ CCaaS?
It’s never easy to see into the future in any part of the communication landscape. As soon as we believe we have a grasp on where the industry is heading, a new trend comes along to shake everything up. The good news is that we know there’s a lot of value in the contact centre landscape to be tapped into. The global market for contact centre solutions should grow to a value of $50 billion by 2025.
What’s more, with only 36% of call centres now using cloud technology, there’s still a lot of opportunity here for vendors to capture a large share of the market. Here’s what our experts believe will be coming next for the CCaaS and CX spaces.
According to Mark Armstrong, most brands are struggling to differentiate on price or product alone. That means that the best way to stand out is to deliver an impeccable service.
“The next big thing in customer experience will be about businesses being able to deliver a higher level of personalisation at scale for every customer. It is important to note that we are beyond talking about targeting personas or market segments. Today’s consumer is more discerning and expects more services tailor made just for them.”
Mark also told us that while brands are getting better in this area, a lot of them are still facing the challenge of trying to connect the full journey of their customers and employees across various systems and locations. This discontinuity is happening because the technologies behind interactions aren’t always connected. “This results in a fragmented customer and employee experience and can lead to loss in brand reputation, lost sales opportunities, unhappy customers and a high employee churn.”
8×8’s Chris Marron told us that initially, the artificial intelligence solutions in the contact centre were often focused on automation and call detection. However, companies are beginning to look beyond these options, now that we’ve seen the potential AI automation has to increase the barrier between the business and customer.
“Now, we are seeing the emergence of a more potent form of AI, focused on enhancing the capabilities of agents during calls and enabling them to better serve customers in real time.”
By leveraging the ability to extract intent from discussions, AI can make real-time recommendations and assist agents in delivering more personalized customer experiences. These recommendations include everything from personal and relevant information, to appropriate responses and best actions to take. AI solutions can even advise the best person for a customer to talk to in a business if they need extra information.
“By enhancing the capabilities of individual agents, AI is able to not only increase the efficiency of the contact centre but also to improve the customer experience provided.”
Laura Basset believes that the next big thing in CX won’t be limited to just a single idea. Instead, she feels that the future of contact centres is going to revolve around the expanded adoption and capabilities of native AI. These tools have the potential to bring additional efficiency to agents, and better support to customers.
Basset cited a number of potential applications that may arrive in the contact centre, including AI and bots that can become more incorporated into how work is done. “Anything that can be efficiently and accurately automated, will be… even Agent experiences beyond the desk like notifications to ensure on time arrival, or scheduling a parking spot upon arrival.”
Expansion and the embedding of new digital channels will also be a consideration according to Laura. Additionally, companies will need to think about how they’re managing those channels with advancements in real-time monitoring, supervisor alerts, and digital channel takeover.
“AI/ ML are only at their beginning in the brave evolving world of CX. Brands have a fantastic opportunity to improve CX through true omni-channel and to predict and match the service requirements of consumers in a way that enhances loyalty and profitability.”
Martin Taylor believes that massive advances in the CCaaS environment in 2020 will be achieved by developments in sentiment analysis, which represents the next chapter in the NLP journey.
“This is where a sophisticated mix of keywords, tone of voice, and volume create a much deeper picture of the caller and their needs for the agent. With this information, businesses can ensure that each caller is routed to the agent or department best equipped to deal with their enquiry.”
Taylor noted that if sentiment analysis finds that a client may be upset, the call can then be routed to an agent who’s experienced in handling these forms of conversation. This streamlines processes and ensures customers are always better-served by the most suitable agents.
What’s the appetite like for video like in today’s contact centres?
It’s not just demand for AI and sentiment analysis that’s increasing in the contact centre environment. As customers continue to search for more effective ways of having contextual face-to-face conversations with companies, the request for video is increasing too.
In today’s contact centres, we’re seeing an evolution in the use of video collaboration and conferencing tools alike. Here’s what our thought-leaders had to say on the topic of video in the CC environment.
Genesys’ Mark Armstrong said that video still has a crucial place as a channel in the wider eco-system for customer experience. It can be very useful in industries like finance, where some banks can connect to mortgage advisers and other experts from the comfort of their own home.
“However, beyond the financial industry, we are seeing that most organisations are primarily interested in using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies.”
According to Armstrong, Genesys has conducted research on the preferred methods for customer service in the UK. The company discovered that the large majority of customers said that they would prefer to use phone or self-service automation to resolve queries before video. “Where video was something that made UK consumers feel uncomfortable, it wasn’t their least preferred method of contact. If shoppers had the choice between contacting a brand via social media or video, they would opt to use video.”
According to Chris Marron from 8×8, there’s a common misconception when it comes to talking about video that we’re going to see a lot of customers suddenly chatting with agents face-to-face using a screen. However, research indicates that people don’t really want this kind of interaction.
While video may have a role to play in the future, Marron believes that the impact it has will be different. “The key will be to use video when it is of genuine benefit to the customer and adds value compared to a phone call. For example, doctors using video to help diagnose a patient’s symptoms, or during an insurance claim, showing the damage to a car. In these scenarios, video will speed up the results to the customer and provide a true added value and convenience.”
Some contact centres are already investing in this strategy, and we may see demand grow in the next few years according to 8×8.
According to Basset from NICE inContact, improvements in the quality of mobile networks and a rising popularity in consumer video chat services like WhatsApp and Facetime has made video calling almost as natural as using phone or text. Customers are expecting the same experience in B2B and B2C industries too.
“Video is still in its infancy in the contact centre space for several reasons – customer familiarity with the method, the ability to handle and skill video calls, and agent training for a video call environment. However, we do see increased interest for certain industries; Healthcare (nurse video consult), Tech product support (setting up a new cable modem).”
According to Laura, in some scenarios, escalating a conversation to a video-enabled agent could deliver huge benefits. Large financial institutions in the UK have already reported that the NPS (Net Promoter Score) of video channels is 44% higher than telephony channels. “While this is a technology that is mostly used in high value transactions, the business impact of adding video to a contact centre can offer great potential.”
ContentGuru’s Martin Taylor told us that consumer apps are making video chat into a typical part of our personal lives. Because of this, it’s only a matter of time before consumers expect to see the same from customer service experiences.
“Video chat has been the ‘next big thing’ in the contact centre for a good number of years. However, recent global health scares may accelerate the integration of video chat into a wider omni-channel portfolio, as more and more customers choose to interact online rather than in-person.”
Taylor notes that for now, contact centres are focusing on integrating things like AI technology, NLP and sentiment analysis. “But as we move forward, this Golden Age of Voice we are in may be followed by the Golden Age of Video. After all, nothing compares to face-to-face customer service.”
Written by ROB SCOTT at UCToday.com
Having spent a majority of my career working with and supporting the Corporate CIO Function, I now seek to provide a forum whereby CIOs or IT Directors can learn from the experience of others to address burning Change or Transformation challenges.
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Don't Tread On Liberty
States' Rights Advocates Eye Convention to Bypass Congress, Amend Constitution
Posted on Tuesday, Mar 29th, 2016
What if a supermajority of states could override a federal law or Supreme Court ruling?
That’s just one idea being proposed by advocates of a “convention of states” to amend the U.S. Constitution.
"The American people are mad and they’re looking for a way to say, ‘No more,’” said Brooke Rollins, president and CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank. “Our founders, in their brilliance, gave us a tool to do that. And it’s Article V.”
Article V of the Constitution allows a minimum of two-thirds of the states to call for a convention to propose amendments, in turn going around Congress.
The push to do so has proceeded in fits and starts over the last several years, driven by a desire for states to debate a range of constitutional changes dealing with everything from campaign finance reform to balanced budgets. So far, six states have signed on — Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Florida, Indiana and Tennessee. Indiana was the latest to sign on, approving a resolution endorsing the effort earlier this month.
But organizers would need another 28 to bring their plan to fruition, and call the convention. If they reach that level of support, states would be entering uncharted territory.
Read full story: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/03/29/states-rights-advocates-eye-c...
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Boxer Vitali Klitschko is an opposing force in his Ukraine homeland
Klitschko is helping to lead protesters in Kiev seeking to oust the ruling government. The longtime heavyweight champion has long felt the tug of politics, and now he is mired in the 'powder keg.'
By Bill Dwyre
People’s champion: Vitali Klitschko leads a protest rally in Kiev Photo: Getty Images
Vitali Klitschko may have characterized several of his matches in the boxing ring as life-and-death struggles. Now, he knows the real thing.
Perhaps you have made the connection between the longtime heavyweight champion of the world and the videos and the pictures this week documenting violence on the streets of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.
By midweek, fighting between government forces and opposition groups intensified. At one point, to keep the riot police away, opposition forces set on fire part of the city center, an area fittingly known as Independence Square.
On Friday, protest leaders and Ukraine's beleaguered President Viktor Yanukovych agreed to form a new government and hold elections by December. Parliament also voted to free Yanukovych's rival, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, from prison. The agreement comes after protests left scores dead and hundreds wounded. However, some protesters, angry over police violence, said they were determined to stand their ground until Yanukovych steps down.
In the midst of all this is the 42-year-old Klitschko, 6 feet 7 and 250 pounds, with a boxing record of 45-2 that includes 41 knockouts. He officially retired from the ring in December and still carries the title of World Boxing Council heavyweight champion emeritus.
His is a strange juxtaposition.
If you are a boxing fan, he might be your hero. If you live in Bel-Air, he might be your neighbor. If you think you are being oppressed and bullied by pro-Russian elements, he might be your savior.
This week, pictures showed Klitschko in a heavy winter jacket, in the midst of opposition forces, gesturing, leading, speaking on a microphone.
Other photos had him in coat and tie, sitting at a table across from the Ukrainian president his opposition party wants to oust. That was when negotiations were the order of the day, not fires, rock-throwing and bullets. Another picture a few weeks ago showed him smiling and shaking hands with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a meeting when German help was sought in resolving this crisis.
Last month, Klitschko was quoted as telling the opposition's faithful to let the negotiations play out. Tuesday, when people on both sides were dying and opposition forces set the fire to keep the police away, he was quoted as saying, "This is an island of freedom, and we intend to defend it."
With all this in mind, it is hard to forget that August day in 2009, when Klitschko came to The Times to promote an upcoming fight and sat down with several editors and this typist. The discussion quickly went from boxing to politics and the tug he felt from both. At one point, he actually characterized what was going on in his home city of Kiev as a "powder keg." He said he needed to help fix it, that he badly wanted to.
Now, almost five years later, the match has been lit and he is in the middle of that powder keg. He is an elected member of his parliament's opposition party and his cause is a desire to make his country part of the European Union, not an adjunct to Russia.
Klitschko, center, is attacked and sprayed with a fire extinguisher as he tries to stop clashes. Photograph: Efrem Lukatsky/AP
To follow this developing international story, it might be helpful to know more about Vitali Klitschko. Suffice to say, this is no punch-drunk fighter.
Klitschko speaks four languages. He has a doctorate degree in sports science, as does his younger brother, Wladimir, who still holds all the world heavyweight titles except the WBC recently vacated by his brother.
For years, Vitali had three homes, one in Kiev, one in Germany and one in Bel-Air. He recently ended his residency in Germany in an attempt to comply with Ukrainian rules for an eventual run for president.
His three children were all born in California so they would be United States citizens. His youngest son, Max, now 9, was named after Klitschko's hero, the late heavyweight champion Max Schmeling, who was from Germany.
Klitschko's father, Wladimir Rodionovich, was a high-ranking officer in the Soviet military. When the nuclear accident took place in Chernobyl in 1986, his father was sent to help direct the cleanup and soon called his family, just 100 miles away in Kiev, and warned them to stay inside and wash their hands often.
The accident was April 26, and Klitschko remembers the Soviet May Day march (May 1) going on as planned, with thousands of people outside as the radiation from Chernobyl drifted everywhere. He remembers friends who marched that day dying young of cancer.
Wladimir Rodionovich Klitschko died July 13, 2011. He was 64 and was one of the last survivors of the group sent in to do the cleanup. The cause of death was cancer.
Vitali Klitschko fought just six times in the United States, three of them at Staples Center. One was his famous 2003 battle with then-champion Lennox Lewis, who opened a horrifying gash over Klitschko's eye that eventually led to the fight being stopped. Lewis was declared the winner, but Klitschko was ahead on all three judges' cards.
Klitschko's only other defeat was similar. He retired with an injured shoulder while ahead on all the cards against Chris Byrd on April 1, 2000.
On Oct. 2, 2011, Vitali and Wladimir appeared at a Beverly Hills screening of a documentary about their lives. For years, the question had been why the Klitschkos wouldn't fight each other, despite the huge money-maker it would be.
Both always said they had promised their mother, Nadezhda Ulyanovna, who is still alive, that her only two sons would never get in the ring together. That night, Vitali was more specific.
"When I was 6 and Wladimir was 1," he said, "my parents asked me to take care of my brother, and they never told me to stop."
For Vitali Klitschko, the care taking has now expanded from one brother to an entire country.
bill.dwyre@latimes.com
Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-klitschko-dwyre-20140222,0,4200061.column#ixzz2u3IF0UKq
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/21/ukraine-vitali-klitschko-street-protests-corruption-interview
Labels: Russia/Soviet Union, Sports
Ukrainian Lexicon
By Anne Applebaum, Published: February 20, 2014
Opposition leader and former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko speaks with protesters. (Sergei Chuzavkov/AP)
For those who are new to the subject — indeed, for those who have been following it for many years — the Ukrainian crisis can seem murky. The Ukrainians have a president,Viktor Yanukovych, who granted himself dictatorial powers and then repealed some of them; announced a truce and then broke it; claims to enforce the law but employs thugs who haul journalists out of cars and shoot them. The Ukrainian opposition, meanwhile, has three separate leaders who may or may not actually control the Ukrainian protest movement at any given moment.
The opacity helps to explain why Ukraine, after years of stability, has suddenly becomeviolent and unpredictable. It also helps to explain why so many inside and outside the country use historical cliches to describe the situation. Often, those cliches are intended to serve the interests of those who use them. Sometimes they are just bad simplifications. Either way, what follows is a handy guide to the terms, words and phrases to treat with deep skepticism:
Fraternal assistance — This is a Soviet expression, once used to justify the Soviet invasions of Prague in 1968 and Afghanistan in 1979. “Fraternal assistance” was intended to prevent Soviet puppet states from being overthrown, whether violently or peacefully. In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin called Ukraine a “fraternal” country, hinting that he sees it as a puppet state. This week, a senior Russian parliamentarian declared that he and his colleagues are “prepared to give all the necessary assistance should the fraternal Ukrainian people ask for it.” This may well be the cue for pro-Russian organizations inside Ukraine to ask for intervention.
Anti-terrorist operation — This is a Putin-era expression, used to justify the Russian invasion of Chechnya in 1999. An “anti-terrorist operation,” in this particular context, means that anything is permitted: The term granted Russian soldiers carte blanche to destroy Grozny, the Chechen capital. This is why so many reacted with horror earlier this week when the Ukrainian defense ministry warned that the army “might be used in anti-terrorist operations on the territory of Ukraine.”
Coup d’etat — This more universal expression has been used since November by both the Ukrainian government and Russian commentators to describe street protests in Kiev and elsewhere. It can mean anything from “peaceful protests that we don’t like” to “protesters using violence against police,” but either way, it is a term being used to justify the deployment of an “anti-terrorist operation,” and not necessarily to describe an actual coup d’etat.
Nazi or fascist — These loaded historical terms have been used by both Russian and Ukrainian officials for many months to describe a wide range of opposition leaders and groups. Fake photographs of nonexistent Hitler posters in Kiev have been circulating online; recently the Russian foreign minister lectured his German colleagues for, he said, supporting people who salute Hitler. Of course there is a Ukrainian far right, though it is much smaller than the far right in France, Austria or Holland, and its members have indeed become more violent under the pressure of police clubs, bullets and attacks.
At the same time, those who throw these terms around should remember that the strongest anti-Semitic, homophobic and xenophobic rhetoric in this region is not coming from the Ukrainian far right but from the Russian press, and ultimately the Russian regime. As historian Tim Snyder has written, “the Ukrainian government is telling itself that its opponents are Jews and us that its opponents are Nazis.” The smears stick. Romano Prodi, the former president of the European Commission, just wrote an otherwise anodyne article ticking off Ukrainian “far-right nationalist groups” as if they were the main problem, proving that even Western statesmen aren’t immune.
Ethno-linguistic divisions or Yugoslav situation — These are more loaded terms, used in both the West and Russia to show that the conflict in Ukraine is atavistic, inexplicable, born of deep ethnic hatred. In fact, this is not an ethnic conflict at all. It is a political conflict and — despite the current opacity — at base not that hard to understand. It pits Ukrainians (both Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking) who want to live in a “European” democracy with human rights and the rule of law, against Ukrainians (also both Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking) — who support an undemocratic, oligarchic capitalist regime that is politically and economically dependent on Russia. Some of the regime’s supporters may well believe they are fighting fascists and militant European homosexuals; others may simply fear that deep reforms will cost them their paychecks.
Either way, this is not a fight over which language to speak or which church to attend. It is a deep, fundamental disagreement about the nature of the state, the country’s international allegiances, its legal system, its economy, its future. Given how much Ukrainians have at stake, the least we outsiders can do is avoid foolish stereotypes when discussing their fate.
Read more from Anne Applebaum’s archive, follow her on Twitter or subscribe to her updates on Facebook.
Anne Applebaum: Can Ukraine and India go beyond slogans?
George F. Will: Is Ukraine the Cold War’s final episode?
David J. Kramer: Ukraine’s future in peril under President Yanukovych
The Post’s View: Violence in Ukraine shows need for negotiated settlement
Labels: Russia/Soviet Union
New Obama Promise: If You Like Your Life You Can Keep It
Liberals are winning wild praise for their candor in admitting problems with Obamacare. It shows you the level of honesty people have come to expect of our liberal friends. Now, liberals are applauded for not lying through their teeth about something.
What are they supposed to say? This Obamacare website is fantastic! And really, haven't you already read all the magazines in your current doctor's office anyway?
The New York Times has described Obama's repeated claim that you could keep your insurance plan and keep your doctor under Obamacare as a mere slip of the tongue: "Mr. Obama clearly misspoke when he said that."
Misspoke? How exactly does one misspeak, word for word, dozens of times, over and over again?
That wasn't misspeaking -- it was a deliberate, necessary lie. Even Democrats couldn't have voted for Obamacare if Americans had known the truth. It was absolutely vital for Obama to lie about people being able to keep their insurance and their doctors.
Of course, it was difficult for voters to know the truth because every time Republicans would try to tell them, the White House and the media would rush in and call the critics liars.
The White House posted a specific refutation of the "disinformation" about not being able to keep your doctor or insurance plan. That claim, the website said, was being disseminated by Republicans "to scare people."
Their proof consisted of a video of Obama clearly stating, "If you have insurance that you like, then you will be able to keep that insurance. If you've got a doctor that you like, you will be able to keep your doctor."
A video of someone asserting the very fact in dispute does not rise to the level of "evidence," but it was more than enough for MSNBC.
Even when pretending to be critical of Obamacare, liberals lie about the real problems. They tell us they're worried about the percentage of young people signing up for Obamacare. The mix of young and old people in Obamacare is completely irrelevant. It won't help if a lot of young people sign up because their premiums are negligible.
To keep the system afloat, what Obamacare really needs is lots of healthy people, preferably healthy older people. Their premiums are astronomical -- and they won't need much medical treatment.
Premiums are set by your age, not your health. It doesn't matter if you never go to the doctor. Obamacare punishes you for having a healthy lifestyle. The Obamacare tax is a massively regressive poll tax on the middle-aged and the middle class.
Apart from those who are subsidized, everyone pays the exact same amount in penalties or insurance premiums for his age group. It doesn't matter if you don't make as much money as Bill Gates. Any 58-year-old male who doesn't qualify for a subsidy will pay the same Obamacare tax as Gates.
When Margaret Thatcher tried to impose the same tax per person, as a "community charge," there were riots in the street.
Our extremely progressive tax system, where nearly half the country pays no income tax at all, and the other half pays about 40 percent of their income, may not be fair. But most people also don't think it's fair to tax a guy making $80,000 a year the identical amount as one making $80 million a year. That's exactly what Obamacare does.
With Obamacare, the Democratic Party has foisted the most regressive tax possible on America. This ruthless assault on the middle class is all so we can have a health care system more like every other country has.
Until now, the United States has had the highest survival rates in the world for heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Cancer comparisons are the most useful because all Western countries keep careful records for this disease.
For all types of cancers, European men have only a 47.3 percent five-year survival rate, compared to a 66.3 percent survival rate for American men.
European women have only a 55.8 percent chance of being alive five years after being diagnosed with any type of cancer, compared to 62.9 percent of American women.
American survival rates for breast, prostate, thyroid and skin cancer are higher than 90 percent. Europeans do not have a 90 percent survival rate for one of those cancers.
The European rates are even worse than they sound because many cancers are not discovered until the victim's death -- twice as many as in the U.S. All those cancers were excluded from the study.
Canadian cancer survival rates aren't much better than the European rates -- and they've been able to sneak into to the U.S. for treatment! Women in the U.S. have a 61 percent survival rate for all cancers, compared to a 58 percent survival rate in Canada. Men in the U.S. have a 57 percent survival rate compared to 53 percent in Canada.
That's why your insurance premiums have to go through the roof and your Obamacare tax is the same as Bill Gates'. So across the world, we'll all be equal, dying of cancer, heart disease and diabetes as often as everyone else.
It's not that Obama doesn't believe in American exceptionalism; it's that he wants to end it.
Labels: Ann Coulter, Health Care
Interview: C.J. Box
Man in a Black Hat
If you see a ruggedly handsome man in a black cowboy hat looking a little out of place in Telfair Square this weekend, it may be award-winning author and Wyoming native C.J. Box. Christina Kelly sidles up and shares a chat with the bestselling mystery writer.
http://www.savannahmagazine.com/2014/02/13/man-black-hat/
C.J. Box isn’t your average mystery writer. He’s the New York Times best-selling author of seventeen novels, including thirteen in the critically acclaimed Joe Pickett series. Box’s writing appeals to such a wide and loyal audience because of his memorable characters and riveting plots. Also, he’s not afraid to include real-life controversies in his fiction, undertaking such diverse topics as wind farms, animal rights, and the zero-footprint theme.
As a testament to his craft, he’s won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel in 2009 for Blue Heaven, among other prizes. His books have been translated into 25 languages and both Blue Heaven and Nowhere to Run have been optioned for films.
Fortunately, his fans don’t have long to wait for more from C.J. Box. The fourteenth novel in the Joe Pickett series,Stone Cold, will be published in March and his first short-story collection, Shots Fired, will appear this summer. As well, his Joe Pickett novels are being pitched as a television series by executive producer Robert Redford. Not bad for this outdoorsman who’s as comfortable on a trout river as he is on a best-seller list.
Savannah magazine: If somebody walked in on you writing, what would they see?
C.J. Box: I’d either be at my desk in my basement office in Cheyenne or at a desk at my cabin on a trout river two and a half hours away from Cheyenne. In both cases, it would be a boring sight. I write best when I can’t look out a window and have the fewest possible distractions. I can’t have one of those idyllic light-filled rooms Ernest Hemingway used to brag about. If I could see outside (especially at my cabin) I’d see that trout were rising and I’d have to go catch them. At home, my view right now is of a snow-filled window well. There are rifles and other things on the walls, but if somebody walked in on me writing they’d walk away and say, “What a dull guy.”
SM: What were your favorite books as a child? Do you have a favorite character or hero from those books?
C.J. Box: Very early on, I was a big fan of the Encyclopedia Brown series. I graduated from that to books like A.B. Guthrie’s The Big Sky and I read all of the James Bond novels. My favorite novel is still Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 and my favorite writer is Thomas McGuane. Favorite hero? Probably Philip Marlowe from the Raymond Chandler novels.
Savannah magazine: Joe Pickett is your most well-known character. Are there any parts of him that are based on yourself?
C.J. Box: I think for every writer there is a piece of them in every character he/she creates. With some, it’s more than others. Like Joe Pickett, I have daughters and I love my wife. I’m also an outdoorsman. But I’ve never been a game warden or worked in law enforcement, and I don’t seek danger in practically every situation. Also, I’m a better shot.
Savannah magazine: You’re often shown wearing a black cowboy hat which is most commonly associated with villains. Are you more a villain or a hero?
C.J. Box: This is where I can reveal to you a little about the culture in the West! Black hats vs. white hats is an old western movie thing. In real life, men wear black hats in the winter months and straw hats in the summer months. There are a few men who wear silver-belly Stetsons (I’ve got one) but black is the preferred color and it has nothing to do with the color of one’s heart.
Savannah magazine: Have your three adult daughters read your books?
C.J. Box: They’ve read all of the books. In fact, they help me out with first drafts and make suggestions and sometimes offer better ideas. Because they’ve read all the books they sometimes have a better overall perspective of the series than I do. My wife, Laurie, is my first reader and she’s an excellent editor.
Savannah magazine: You’ve written about federal government workers, long-haul truckers, serial killers, and some rather shady characters, so how do you research your books?
C.J. Box: I enjoy the research part of each book and I try to get it right. I’ve accompanied cross-country long-haul truckers, climbed to the top of wind turbines, fired the largest handgun in the world, and traveled to interview the locals in places where I’m setting a novel. I find it very rewarding to hear from readers that I got the details right.
Savannah magazine: What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
C.J. Box: As goofy as it sounds, I’m always astonished to learn from (some) aspiring writers that they don’t read much or read widely. I guess they like the sound of their own voice too much. Readers may not. Writers should read both critically and for entertainment to figure out how successful authors do it in regard to craft, characterization, motivation, point of view, etc. It’s right there on the page.
Savannah magazine: You’ve published 17 novels in 13 years. How do you keep up this pace? What gives you inspiration?
C.J. Box: If I was waiting for inspiration I’d be working on Book Two. I write because it’s my job. Plumbers can’t take a day off because they have plumber’s block. I just go to work every day like everyone else. But I also love it and I think I’ve got the best job in the world. I’m just happy so many readers all over the world like the books.
Savannah magazine: Much of your writing is based in Wyoming, where you live. Perhaps it’s time to introduce your characters to Savannah. Possible?
C.J. Box: One never knows. I was invited to give a talk this year in Wilson, N.C. and now Wilson is a location for the book I’m writing at the moment. I’m kind of a location predator.
Labels: Books and Things
The myth of ‘settled science’
By Charles Krauthammer, Published: February 20, 2014
President Obama addresses the seriousness of the drought as he speaks to the media with Gov. Jerry Brown (left) and farmers Joe and Maria Del Bosque in Los Banos (Merced County). Photo: Wally Skalij, Associated Press
I repeat: I’m not a global warming believer. I’m not a global warming denier. I’ve long believed that it cannot be good for humanity to be spewing tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. I also believe that those scientists who pretend to know exactly what this will cause in 20, 30 or 50 years are white-coated propagandists.
“The debate is settled,” asserted propagandist in chief Barack Obama in his latest State of the Union address. “Climate change is a fact.” Really? There is nothing more anti-scientific than the very idea that science is settled, static, impervious to challenge. Take a non-climate example. It was long assumed that mammograms help reduce breast cancer deaths. This fact was so settled that Obamacare requires every insurance plan to offer mammograms (for free, no less) or be subject to termination.
Now we learn from a massive randomized study — 90,000 women followed for 25 years — that mammograms may have no effect on breast cancer deaths. Indeed, one out of five of those diagnosed by mammogram receives unnecessary radiation, chemo or surgery.
So much for settledness. And climate is less well understood than breast cancer. If climate science is settled, why do its predictions keep changing? And how is it that the great physicist Freeman Dyson, who did some climate research in the late 1970s, thinks today’s climate-change Cassandras are hopelessly mistaken?
They deal with the fluid dynamics of the atmosphere and oceans, argues Dyson, ignoring the effect of biology, i.e., vegetation and topsoil. Further, their predictions rest on models they fall in love with: “You sit in front of a computer screen for 10 years and you start to think of your model as being real.” Not surprisingly, these models have been “consistently and spectacularly wrong” in their predictions, write atmospheric scientists Richard McNider and John Christy — and always, amazingly, in the same direction.
Settled? Even Britain’s national weather service concedes there’s been no change — delicately called a “pause” — in global temperature in 15 years. If even the raw data is recalcitrant, let alone the assumptions and underlying models, how settled is the science?
But even worse than the pretense of settledness is the cynical attribution of any politically convenient natural disaster to climate change, a clever term that allows you to attribute anything — warming and cooling, drought and flood — to man’s sinful carbon burning.
Accordingly, Obama ostentatiously visited drought-stricken California last Friday. Surprise! He blamed climate change. Here even the New York Times gagged, pointing out that far from being supported by the evidence, “the most recent computer projections suggest that as the world warms, California should get wetter, not drier, in the winter.”
How inconvenient. But we’ve been here before. Hurricane Sandy was made the poster child for the alleged increased frequency and strength of “extreme weather events” like hurricanes.
Nonsense. Sandy wasn’t even a hurricanewhen it hit the United States. Indeed, in all of 2012, only a single hurricane made U.S. landfall . And 2013 saw the fewest Atlantic hurricanes in 30 years. In fact, in the last half-century, one-third fewer major hurricanes have hit the United States than in the previous half-century.
Similarly tornadoes. Every time one hits, the climate-change commentary begins. Yet last year saw the fewest in a quarter-century. And the last 30 years — of presumed global warming — has seen a 30 percent decrease in extreme tornado activity (F3 and above) versus the previous 30 years.
None of this is dispositive. It doesn’t settle the issue. But that’s the point. It mocks the very notion of settled science, which is nothing but a crude attempt to silence critics and delegitimize debate. As does the term “denier” — an echo of Holocaust denial, contemptibly suggesting the malevolent rejection of an established historical truth.
Climate-change proponents have made their cause a matter of fealty and faith. For folks who pretend to be brave carriers of the scientific ethic, there’s more than a tinge of religion in their jeremiads. If you whore after other gods, the Bible tells us, “the Lord’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit” (Deuteronomy 11).
Sounds like California. Except that today there’s a new god, the Earth Mother. And a new set of sins — burning coal and driving a fully equipped F-150.
But whoring is whoring, and the gods must be appeased. So if California burns, you send your high priest (in carbon -belching Air Force One, but never mind) to the bone-dry land to offer up, on behalf of the repentant congregation, a $1 billion burnt offering called a “climate resilience fund.”
Ah, settled science in action.
Read more from Charles Krauthammer’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
Charles Krauthammer: Climate chastity
The Post’s View: How to make a global climate change deal
Kofi Annan: A united call for action on climate change
Jeffrey D. Sachs: A few more storms like Typhoon Haiyan may finally make our leaders act on climate change
Labels: Charles Krauthammer, Climate Change
Iran Has the Bomb
By Peter Vincent Pry
http://americanthinker.com/
Inspection: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits the Natanz Uranium Enrichment Facility in April 2008
For several years now, myself and others have been warning that Iran probably already has the bomb. Contrary to Obama Administration promises that they will know when Iran crosses "the red line" to build the bomb, we have warned that such claims are false.
U.S. intelligence is not good enough to so precisely and with such high confidence monitor and verify the status of Iran's nuclear weapons program.
Defense Science Board Report
A recently published Defense Department study "Assessment of Nuclear Monitoring and Verification Technologies" (January 2014), by the blue ribbon Defense Science Board, concludes the following:
"Closing the nation's global nuclear monitoring gaps should be a national priority. It will require, however, a level of commitment and sustainment we don't normally do well without a crisis. ...monitoring for proliferation... presents challenges for which current solutions are either inadequate, or more often, do not exist. Among these challenges are... Small inventories of weapons and materials.... Small nuclear enterprises designed to produce, store, and deploy only a small number of weapons...Undeclared facilities and/or covert operations, such as testing below detection thresholds, or acquisition of materials or weapons through theft or purchase... Use of non‐traditional technologies..."
These intelligence blind-spots align perfectly with U.S. monitoring gaps against Iran's nuclear weapons program. The Defense Science Board Report is tantamount to an admission that Iran probably already has the bomb.
Clandestine Nuclear Weapons Program
Like the North Korean nuclear weapons program, Iran's nuclear weapons program is clandestine, mostly underground, mostly inaccessible to international inspections, and impenetrable to U.S. national technical means. Most of what we know about Iran's nuclear program has been disclosed voluntarily by Tehran to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The U.S. did not even suspect Iran was working on the bomb until 2002, after the program was in operation for some 15 years.
We should know from our own experience that Iran probably already has the bomb. During its World War II Manhattan Project, when nuclear weapons were only a theoretical possibility, and working with 1940s era technology, the U.S. built two atomic bombs of radically different design that both worked perfectly -- in a mere three years.
Iran, with access to copious unclassified information on nuclear weapon designs, working with 21st Century technology, helped by the A.Q. Khan network, North Korea, Russia, and China, supposedly has been unable to build the bomb -- after thirty years of trying. This is an implausibly optimistic assessment.
North Korea developed its first nuclear weapons in no more than 8 years.
Unreported by the mainstream media are warnings that Iran might already have the bomb by such experts as former Director of Central Intelligence R. James Woolsey; former Chairman of the National Intelligence Council Fritz Ermarth; President Reagan's Science Advisor Dr. William R. Graham; former Director of the Defense Nuclear Agency Vice Admiral Robert Monroe; former Director of the Strategic Defense Initiative Ambassador Henry Cooper; and Israeli intelligence officers, the latter going public in the Israeli newspaper Maariv in September 2013.
Historically, the U.S. intelligence community has underestimated and been surprised by foreign nuclear weapon programs. They were surprised by the first Soviet A-bomb test in 1949, by the Soviet H-bomb test in 1955, by China's first nuclear test in 1964, by discovery after the 1991 Persian Gulf War that Iraq under Saddam Hussein was within 6 months of developing an atomic bomb, by Pakistan and India's nuclear tests in 1998, and by North Korea's nuclear test in 2006.
Nuclear Testing Not Necessary
Nuclear testing is not necessary to develop a nuclear weapon deliverable by aircraft or missile. The U.S. Hiroshima bomb (a "gun-type" uranium bomb) was not tested before use -- Hiroshima was the test. Israel, South Africa, and North Korea all developed nuclear weapons without nuclear testing.
North Korea developed its first nuclear weapon by 1993, according to a declassified CIA report and Senate testimony by then Director of Central Intelligence R. James Woolsey. North Korea's first nuclear test years later, in 2006, was probably for political purposes -- nuclear blackmail of the U.S. and its allies -- and to develop more sophisticated nuclear weapons.
Iran and North Korea are strategic partners and by treaty and in practice share science and technology. North Korean scientists are present in Iran helping its missile and nuclear programs. Iranian scientists reportedly have been present at all three North Korean nuclear tests.
A prudent U.S. foreign and defense policy would assume that Iran's nuclear weapons program is probably on a par with North Korea's.
America has a bigger problem with its intelligence community than the inadequacy of national technical means to monitor rogue state and terrorist nuclear weapon programs.
Intelligence community leaders General James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, and Michael Morrell, until recently the Deputy Director of CIA, are proven liars, willing to lie to Congress and the American people to cover up the failures and transgressions of the Obama Administration.
Clapper lied about National Security Agency spying on the American people. He lied again in covering for President Obama's false assertion that North Korea does not have nuclear missiles -- during the crisis over North Korea's threatened nuclear missile strikes in 2013 -- belittling the Defense Intelligence Agency's accurate assessment that Pyongyang does, in fact, have nuclear armed missiles.
Morrell lied when he altered CIA talking points on Benghazi to protect then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Obama Administration.
Clapper and Morrell are clear indicators that the Obama Administration has corrupted -- the technical word is "politicized" -- the intelligence community. How can Congress and the American people trust their intelligence leaders to tell the truth about anything that reflects badly on this White House? The fish rots from the head down.
The biggest liar is in the White House.
The Obama Administration's Geneva interim agreement with Iran is probably calculated to kick the can down the road so some future administration will get blamed if Iran eventually does a nuclear test. The model is the Clinton Administration's Agreed Framework with North Korea, which never had any realistic chance of denuclearizing North Korea, but kicked the can to the Bush Administration, so they got blamed for the North Korean bomb when Pyongyang tested in 2006.
Nuclear Surprise
If Iran already has the bomb, why have they not yet tested?
Fritz Ermarth thinks Iran is following the example of North Korea, and probably wants to clandestinely build such robust capabilities so that its nuclear status will become irreversible.
Israel and South Africa never tested because they elected to pursue a policy of deliberate ambiguity, to reap the deterrence benefits of being known nuclear weapon states while avoiding the international opprobrium of making their nuclear status official by testing.
However, most of my colleagues and I conclude from analysis of Iranian and Jihadi statements and writings that Tehran is not interested in the bomb for status or deterrence. The word "deterrence" does not even appear in their military writings about the bomb. It is all about nuclear use, in particular a nuclear electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack that would cause a protracted national blackout, potentially killing millions of Americans through starvation and societal collapse.
For example: "If the world's industrial countries fail to devise effective ways to defend themselves against dangerous electronic assaults, then they will disintegrate within a few years.... American soldiers would not be able to find food to eat nor would they be able to fire a single shot." (Tehran, Nashriyeh-e Siasi Nezami)
The mullahs who run Iran want the bomb for reasons of religious eschatology having to do with the Shiite version of Apocalypse, the return of their 12th Imam, and the ultimate triumph of Islam in the secular and spiritual universe. In this vision, the Jews and Infidels (that's us) must convert or die.
The Islamic Bomb has nothing to do with deterrence theory or geostrategic calculations familiar to Western nuclear strategists. The Mullahs have their own timetable for the Apocalypse. They hold a "12th Imam Conference" in Tehran every year to study signs and portents. Their development of nuclear weapons, and the failure of the West to stop them, is itself interpreted as one of the "miracles" indicating the Apocalypse is nigh.
The possibility of nuclear EMP attack is another "miracle" as it destroys the high-tech society and weaponry that is the source of U.S. strength. In this view, Western materialism and worship of the False God that is Technology becomes our downfall.
A Nuclear EMP attack would cause us to destroy ourselves by means of the corrupt lifestyles of an anti-spiritual civilization wholly focused and dependent upon high-tech materialism. We would die for our sins in the perfect act of divine retribution:
"In the context of the final battle... all of the planes and satellites will fall, computers will fail, other equipment will be made useless and... the Earth will be shaken ... by nuclear war," prophesy Abdallah and Shayk Muhammed an-Naqshbandi, "Technology will stop or turn against the Americans."
The Congressional EMP Commission warned that Iran has several times detonated its Shahab III missile at high altitudes, apparently simulating a nuclear EMP attack. Iran has also demonstrated the capability to launch a ballistic missile from a freighter and make a nuclear EMP strike anonymously, and so perhaps escape retaliation. Iran has also orbited several satellites on trajectories consistent with practicing a surprise nuclear EMP attack against the United States.
Iran has not conducted a nuclear test because its theocracy is not interested in diplomatic "signaling" or Western theories of nuclear deterrence and arms control bargaining. When the mullahs are ready, they will make a surprise nuclear attack. The vaporization of New York City and an EMP attack that crashes American society will be their nuclear tests.
The bottom line is that Iran is a nuclear truck bomb headed our way.
Dr. Peter Vincent Pry served in the CIA, the House Armed Services Committee, the Congressional Strategic Posture Commission, the Congressional EMP Commission, and is the author of Electric Armageddon and Apocalypse Unknown both books available through CreateSpace.com and Amazon.com.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/02/iran_has_the_bomb.html#ixzz2trqIsq1K
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Labels: Iran, Middle East
Today's Tune: Bruce Springsteen - Don't Change (Live 2014)
Is Ukraine the Cold War’s final episode?
By George F. Will, Published: February 19, 2014
SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
An Orthodox priest steps in front of an armed riot police officer in Kiev on January 22, 2014.
One hundred years ago this coming Aug. 4, the day Britain declared war on Germany,socialists in the German Reichstag voted for credits to finance the war. Marxists — including Lenin, who that day was in what now is Poland — were scandalized. Marx had preached that the proletariat has no fatherland, only a transnational class loyalty to proletarians everywhere. “In 1918,” wrote Louis Fischer, Lenin’s best biographer, “patriotism and nationalism, born of the ‘subjectivism’ Lenin so disliked, were ideological crimes in Soviet Russia.”
These are history-shaping virtues in Ukraine today. Because the nation-state is the necessary framework for durable political liberty, nationalism is a necessary, although insufficient, impulse sustaining liberty. Marx, whose prophesies were perversely predictive because they were almost invariably wrong, predicted the end of nationalism. Economic forces, he said, determine political, cultural and psychological realities. So capitalism, with its borders-leaping cosmopolitanism, would dilute to the point of disappearance all emotional attachments to nations. Ukraine’s ferment is an emphatic, albeit redundant, refutation of Marxism.
The political elites who cobbled together the European Union hoped that the pooling of national sovereignties would extinguish the nationalism that, they think, ruined Europe’s 20th century. They considered the resulting “democracy deficit” — the transfer of national parliaments’ prerogatives to Brussels bureaucrats — a price well worth paying for tranquillity.
Now comes turbulent Ukraine, incandescent with nationalism and eager to preserve its sovereignty by a closer relationship with the European Union.
Ukraine’s president, Viktor Yanukovych, is resisting the popular desire for constitutionally limited government and for a national existence more independent of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s presence. Yanukovych wants to trade Ukraine’s aspirations for Putin’s billions.
Russia is ruled by a little, strutting Mussolini — the Duce, like Putin, enjoyed being photographed with his chest bare and his biceps flexed. Putin is unreconciled to the “tragedy,” as he calls it, of the Soviet Union’s demise. It was within the Soviet apparatus of oppression that he honed the skills by which he governs — censorship, corruption, brutality, oppression, assassination.
Remember when President George W. Bush peered into Putin’s eyes and got “a sense of his soul” as someone “very straightforward and trustworthy”? Remember when Putin fed the world the fable about rushing naked from his burning dacha — the fire started when Putin was in a sauna — before the rescue of his cherished crucifix, which had belonged to his sainted mother? Ukrainians, whose hard history has immunized them against the folly of wishful thinking, see in Putin’s ferret face the cold eyes of a prison warden.
Ukraine, whose population (46 million) and size are approximately those of Spain, is a potential economic power. Russia remains what the Soviet Union was, a third-world country with first-world military technologies. Its hunter-gatherer economy — name a Russian consumer good other than vodka and caviar you might want — is based on extraction industries (oil, gas, minerals).
Putin’s contempt for Barack Obama is palpable. Russia’s robust support of Bashar al-Assad is one reason Assad has, according to the Obama administration’s director of intelligence, “strengthened” his position in the period since Obama said Assad should “step aside.” Russia has been less than helpful regarding U.S. attempts to halt Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Where, exactly, has Obama’s much-advertised but never defined “reset” of relations with Russia been fruitful?
Yet Obama seems so fixated on it that he will not risk annoying Putin by voicing full-throated support for the Ukrainian protesters. Obama participated in waging seven months of war against Libya, a nation not threatening or otherwise important to the United States. Yet Joe Biden’s Tuesday phone call to Yanukovych is, as of this writing, Obama’s strongest response to the Ukraine crisis, which matters to the political trajectory of the European continent.
Europe, which for many centuries was a cockpit for many fighting faiths, is now politically vanilla. And as a military or diplomatic power, “Europe” remains more a geographical than a political term. Still, the pull of European political culture has not lost its power. And if Europe’s historical amnesia is not complete, it should hear echoes of 1848 and 1989 in the voices of Ukrainians today.
The Soviet Union — “one of modern history’s pivotal experiments,” in the weasel words of NBC’s Olympics coverage — existed for seven miserable decades. Ukraine’s agony is a reverberation of the protracted process of cleaning up after the “experiment.” So, this is perhaps the final episode of the Cold War. Does America’s unusually loquacious 44th president remember how the words of the 40th — “Tear down this wall!” — helped to win it?
The Post’s View: The West must break Ukraine free from Mr. Putin’s grasp
Labels: George Will, Russia/Soviet Union
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Nonsense about terrorism's 'root causes'
By Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst
http://www.cnn.com/
(CNN) The Obama administration this week hosted a three-day conference on "Countering Violent Extremism," which is a government euphemism for how best to deal with Islamist terrorism.
Already a predictable tsunami of nonsense has washed over us about the "root causes" of terrorism. We have heard from Obama administration officials and even the President himself that terrorism has something to do with lack of opportunities and poverty. Obama said on Wednesday that "we have to address grievances terrorists exploit, including economic grievances."
He said, "when millions of people -- especially youth -- are impoverished and have no hope for the future, when corruption inflicts daily humiliations on people, when there are no outlets by which people can express their concerns, resentments fester. The risk of instability and extremism grow. Where young people have no education, they are more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and radical ideas..."
The President did acknowledge that terrorists can be rich like Osama bin Laden, who was the son of a Saudi construction magnate who attended the top high school and the best university in Saudi Arabia. It's hard to imagine someone with more opportunities. Think the Trump family Saudi-style, minus the bling, and throw in a deep admiration for the Taliban.
But in fact Osama bin Laden is more the rule than the exception. Take Mohamed Atta, the son of an Egyptian lawyer, who had worked on a doctorate in, of all things, urban preservation at a German university and who led the 9/11 attacks. Or the present leader of al Qaeda, Ayman al Zawahiri, a surgeon who comes from a leading Egyptian family that counts ambassadors, politicians and prominent clerics amongst its ranks.
Nearer to home we can also point to the Fort Hood shooter, Maj. Nidal Hasan, who was not only an officer in the U.S. Army and a psychiatrist, but is also from a comfortably middle-class family in Virginia.
Let's also add to the mix Faisal Shahzad, who tried to blow up a bomb-laden SUV in Times Square on May 1, 2010. He had obtained an MBA in the United States and had worked as a financial analyst for the Elizabeth Arden cosmetics company. His father was one of the top officers in the Pakistani military.
These are not the dispossessed. They are the empowered.
"Who becomes a terrorist?" turns out, in many cases, to be much like asking, "Who owns a Volvo?"
Indeed, New America has studied the backgrounds of some 250 U.S.-based militants since 9/11 who have been indicted in or convicted of some kind of jihadist terrorist crime. They are on average middle class, reasonably well-educated family men with kids. They are, in short, ordinary Americans.
Similarly, in his important 2004 book "Understanding Terror Networks," psychiatrist Marc Sageman, a former CIA case officer, examined the backgrounds of 172 militants who were part of al Qaeda or a similar group. Just under half were professionals; two-thirds were either middle or upper class and had gone to college; indeed, several had doctorates.
In a 2006 study, Swati Pandey and this author examined the educational background of 79 terrorists responsible for five of the worst anti-Western terrorist attacks of the modern era -- the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998, the 9/11 attacks, the Bali nightclub bombings in 2002, and the London bombings on July 7, 2005.
We found that more than half of the terrorists had attended college, making them as well-educated as the average American. Two of our sample had doctoral degrees, and two others had begun working toward their doctorates.
None of them had attended a madrassa.
Of course, large-scale insurgent groups such as ISIS and the Taliban recruit foot soldiers who join the cause to get a paycheck. But the people running these organizations are in it for ideological reasons.
An optimistic view
The diagnosis that poverty, lack of education or lack of opportunities have much to do with terrorism requires a fundamentally optimistic view of human nature. This diagnosis leads to the prognosis that all we need to do to solve the terrorism problem is to create societies that are less poor, better educated and have more opportunities.
The fact is, working stiffs with few opportunities and scant education are generally too busy getting by to engage in revolutionary projects to remake society. And history, in fact, shows us that terrorism is generally a bourgeois endeavor. This was just as true of the Russian anarchists of the late 19th century as it was of the German Marxists of the Baader-Meinhof gang of the 1970s and of the Japanese terrorist group Aum Shinrikyo in the 1990s.
Post-9/11 research demonstrating that Islamist terrorism is mostly a pursuit of the middle class echoed an important study about Egyptian militants that was undertaken by the French academic Gilles Kepel during the mid-1980s.
Kepel researched the 300 Islamist militants who were tried in the wake of the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. Around one in five were professionals such as engineers, a quarter worked as government employees, just under half were artisans or merchants, one in 10 were in the military or police, and only one in 10 were farmers or were unemployed. Of those who were students, around a third were studying in the elite fields of medicine and engineering.
Similarly, the Library of Congress issued a study two years before the 9/11 attacks that asked the question: "Who Becomes a Terrorist and Why?" The conclusion, based on a survey of all the published literature, was that therewere only a few "major exceptions to the middle- and upper-class origins of terrorist groups."
There are, of course any number of exceptions to the prototypical middle-class terrorist. The terrorists who attacked Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris last month and the Copenhagen café that was hosting the Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks this past weekend were from the margins of society.
But for every example of poverty or lack of opportunities as a purported rationale for terrorism, it's easy to supply important counterexamples. The "underwear bomber" Umar Abdulmuttalab, who tried to set off a bomb on a U.S. passenger jet flying over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009, is the son of one of the richest men in Africa and attended University College London, which routinely rates among the best universities in the world.
Anwar al-Awlaki, the late leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, who tasked the underwear bomber to blow up an American plane over an American city, was studying for his Ph.D. at George Washington University before he took up arms with al Qaeda. Awlaki's father was a Cabinet minister in Yemen.
What drives terrorism?
So if it's clearly not deprivation that is driving much Islamist terrorism, what is?
For that we must turn to ideology, specifically religious ideology. And this is where the Obama administration has to perform some pretzel logic. It is careful to explain that the war on ISIS is not a war on Islam and that ISIS' ideology is a perversion of the religion. Fair enough. But the administration seems uncomfortable with making the connection between Islamist terrorism and ultra-fundamentalist forms of Islam that are intolerant of other religions and of other Muslims who don't share their views to the letter.
ISIS may be a perversion of Islam, but Islamic it is, just as Christian beliefs about the sanctity of the unborn child explain why some Christian fundamentalists attack abortion clinics and doctors. But, of course, murderous Christian fundamentalists are not killing many thousands of civilians a year. More than 80% of the world's terrorist attacks take place in five Muslim-majority countries -- Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria -- and are largely carried out by groups with Islamist beliefs.
This week the United Nations released a report showing that civilian casualtiesin Afghanistan were at the highest level since the organization started counting them six years ago. The Taliban were responsible for three-quarters of these deaths.
The Taliban and other Islamist terrorist groups are not, of course, secular organizations. To treat them as if they were springs from some combination of wishful thinking, PC gone crazy and a failure to accept, in an increasingly secularized era, that some will kill in the name of their god, an all-too-common phenomenon across human history.
Indeed, while ISIS and like-minded groups and their fellow travelers are not representative of the vast majority of the world's Muslims, their ideology is rooted in Salafist ultra-fundamentalist interpretations of Islam, and indeed they can point to verses in the Quran that can be interpreted to support their worldview.
A well-known verse in the Quran commands Muslims to "fight and slay the nonbelievers wherever you find them, seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem [of war]." When bin Laden made a formal declaration of war against "the Jews and the Crusaders" in 1998, he cited this Quranic verse at the beginning of his declaration.
ISIS' distinctive black flags are a reference to a supposed saying of the Prophet Mohammed that "If you see the black banners coming from the direction of Khorasan then go to them, even if you have to crawl, because among them will be Allah's Caliph the Mahdi." In other words, coming out of Khorasan, an area that now encompasses Afghanistan, will come an army that includes the Mahdi, the Islamic savior of the world. The parent organization of ISIS was al Qaeda, which, of course, was headquartered in Afghanistan at the time of the 9/11 attacks.
Last year, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi named himself caliph, which means that in his own mind and in the eyes of his followers he is not only the leader of ISIS but the overall leader of Muslims everywhere. These beliefs may seem like a crazy delusion to most of us, but it's important to understand that they are theological in nature, and this theology is rooted in ultra-fundamentalist Islam.
ISIS sees itself as the vanguard army that is bringing back true Islam to the world. This project is of such cosmic importance that they will break any number of eggs to make this omelet, which accounts for their murderous campaign against every ethnic group, religious group and nationality that they perceive as standing in their way. ISIS recruits also believe that we are in the end times, and they are best understood as members of an Islamist apocalyptic death cult.
What does that mean for policy makers? It means that the only truly effective challenges to this reasoning must come from Islamic leaders and scholars who can make the theological case that ISIS is an aberration. This, too, is an Islamic project; it is not a jobs project.
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Labels: ISIS, Islam and Terrorism
'Leviathan' director Andrei Zvyagintsev: ‘Living in Russia is like being in a minefield’
Oscar contender Leviathan is a frank portrayal of a corrupt Russia. In a rare interview, its director talks about his country’s ‘eternal curse’ and why voting there would be a ‘completely pointless step’
Shaun Walker
http://www.theguardian.com/
Andrei Zvyagintsev
Andrei Zvyagintsev has a reputation for being polite but tight-lipped. Understandably. At Cannes this year, he won an award for the most searing attack on the current Russian political system ever shot. Yet, he said at the time, his aim was “certainly not to confront power”. Yes, Leviathan shows ordinary Russians crushed beneath a fiendishly corrupt bureaucracy. But it was inspired by a case in the US, he said, and is intended as a universal parable.
I arrive on a chilly autumn afternoon at the sleek Moscow offices of his producer, expecting more of the same mild-mannered obfuscation. An expression of faint alarm greets me as I’m introduced as the Guardian’s Moscow correspondent.
“Oh, so you mainly write about politics?” he asks, somewhat nervously.
But as soon as we start to speak, it’s as if a dam has broken. Carefully measured allegory is swapped for blunt straight-talking. He pauses only once in 90 minutes – to take a phone call from a friend whose wife is ill. He uses an iPhone 4, which, by the standards of the Moscow beau monde, is the equivalent of packing an old Nokia brick.
In the days before our meeting, the Russian film board had – to widespread amazement – nominated Leviathan as the national entry for the foreign language Oscar, despite its manifestly not promoting a patriotic agenda, as per government policy. Was he surprised by the move? A soliloquy follows about the difficulty of building a career in modern-day Russia. He speaks quietly, with consideration – and unmistakable anger.
“It’s like being in a minefield, this is the feeling you live with here. It’s very hard to build any kind of prospects – in life, in your profession, in your career – if you are not plugged in to the values of the system. It’s a stupid construction of society, and unfortunately the eternal curse of our territory. The ideas of the rule of law, of equal rights are hardly discussed here. There is discussion in society, but it’s pointless. I have a feeling of the absolute futility of pretending to the right to have a say in any situation. I’ve turned 50 and I’ve never voted in my life. Because I’m absolutely certain that in our system it’s a completely pointless step.”
He takes a breath. “So to answer your question: yes, I was pleasantly surprised.”
Leviathan is about what an individual can do faced with the might of a monstrous state. Aleksei Serebryakov is Nikolai, a rugged chap who looks like Stuart Pearce after 600 consecutive nights on the vodka. For generations, his family has lived in the same cottage overlooking the sea. The land on which it sits is coveted by the local mayor, an obese, spirits-sodden bandit who, Nikolai suspects, wants to build a luxury mansion on the spot. Using his influence with the local police and courts, the mayor obtains an eviction order and pitifully small compensation payout.
The film opens as Nikolai’s appeal is overruled by a judge reading her lengthy verdict in a mindless rapid monotone, a Kafkaesque ritual familiar to anyone who’s spent time in a Russian courtroom. He enlists the help of an old Moscow friend, now a hotshot lawyer, and so begins an epic battle in which nobody’s motivation turns out to be 100% pure.
The film, which many reckoned to be the best at Cannes this year, is Zvyagintsev’s fourth. He spent most of his first 40 years determined to become an actor. Schooldays in Novosibirsk, a Siberian city right in the middle of Russia’s vast landmass, were spent “dreaming of theatre, obsessed with it”. First came conscription in the Red Army theatre troupe, then he arrived in Moscow in 1986, aged 22, just as Soviet society was on the cusp of enormous change.
Work did not flood in. He spent years cleaning, sweeping leaves and shovelling snow as a dvornik – quintessential Moscow work now largely done by low-paid migrants from Central Asia – devouring books and films in his spare time. “I’d seen Al Pacino in Bobby Deerfield, and I went bonkers. In Russia it was shown in black and white; when I saw the colour version it was a completely different effect. But I saw how he acted and was amazed, I couldn’t understand how he was able to do it.”
He began to pick up small parts in adverts or trashy soaps. A friend suggested he helped out with directing; his first film was a cheap ad for a furniture salon.
By the early 2000s, Zvyagintsev was still front of camera, but also more accomplished behind it. He cut his teeth shooting half-hour detective stories for a serial; a producer spotted his talent and in 2001 suggested he make a film.
The Return (2003), his debut feature, won Zvyagintsev the Golden Lion in Venice, international acclaim and inevitable comparisons to Andrei Tarkovsky, whose allegorical and enigmatic epics his work echoes. Then came The Banishment (2007), his only film not to be received ecstatically, then return-to-form Elena (2011), a brooding family drama set in contemporary Moscow, where both the haves and the have-nots make equally unappealing moral choices. The film shows Moscow as a soulless, interminable dystopia; the city has rarely looked so disgusting.
Yet with Elena, the case could plausibly be made that it is simply a film about the human condition that happens to take place in Russia. Surely he can’t really claim the same for Leviathan?
“The ideas at the heart of it are relevant everywhere,” he smiles. “But of course it’s a film about Russia. It’s a very Russian film.”
Indeed. Leviathan could not be more forthrightly Russian if a bear were to waltz through its opening credits playing a balalaika. Everything from the courtrooms to the churches to the traffic cops are distinctively, quintessentially Russian. And lest we be in any doubt that this is the real, tangible Russia rather than some imaginary, parallel Russia, there are references to Pussy Riot and a portrait of Vladimir Putin hangs on the wall of the corrupt mayor’s office.
That picture was there when the crew arrived; they shot in a real government building in a remote northern backwater. Nothing at all needed to be confected or changed. “We live in a feudal system when everything is in the hands of one person, and everyone else is in a vertical of subordination,” says Zvyagintsev, explaining the power structure of modern Russia that defines the film, where kissing upwards and kicking downwards are the main modes of operation.
The film’s greatest rage is reserved for those who deal in empty moralising. I ask about the recent law banning blasphemy in cinemas and theatres, which has led to Leviathan requiring heavy cuts to remove the copious swearing in order to secure release. “I think it’s a stupid, idiotic rule that has not been thought through,” he says. “As are many other rules. Over recent times, the parliament has surprised us a lot with its initiatives. They call themselves ‘fighters for morality’. Maybe they really are morally pure and want to make us just like them. But they don’t seem to understand that their task is to make people live better, not make them live more ethically.”
Yet it is perhaps the church that comes in for Leviathan’s most sledgehammer satire. “We are reawakening the soul of the Russian people,” intones the film’s imperious bishop, voice shaking with righteous anger as he reels off a list of enemies who would undermine Russia. It is a voice that could come from the daily evening news bulletins on state-controlled television. This bishop, with his gold and mahogany office, contrasts with a local bedraggled priest who gives the distraught Nikolai an impromptu sermon on the tests that God might have in store. Zvyagintsev describes himself as secular, but a believer. When he was 28, he says, he decided he wanted to be christened, only to find out that his grandparents had done this secretly when he was two years old.
Leviathan’s portrayal of a venal, organised church, along with a sickeningly corrupt political system and a sloshed, atomised society, could not be further from the Russia that the authorities want to portray.
Leviathan even received partial funding from the Ministry of Culture, but new regulations imply that only patriotic films will do so in the future. “Nobody is against propaganda films that would support the foundations of the state. But they also have to take care of all the others, or there will simply be a catastrophe. People will live like in North Korea, where they are hostages, and are certain that their path is the only correct one.”
Zvyagintsev swims resolutely against the tide. One remark by Russia’s culture minister, Vladimir Medinsky, who, earlier this year, said openly that he did not like Leviathan, seems especially to irritate.
“He said: ‘Let all the flowers grow, but we will only water the ones we like.’ After these words he should have been fired, because this is a direct violation of the constitution, a direct violation of human expression. You cannot impose rules on art. Everybody should be equal. Government help, without which art cannot function, should be equally spread between all participants.”
Leviathan dramatises one man’s dilemma of whether to try to stand up to the monster of the state. So what does Zvyagintsev, the despairing, firebrand non-voter, think?
“A lot of people think that you have to abide by the theory of small actions; that you should do whatever you can from your position. My position is that of a cinema director. I’m not politically active. But I can’t not react to what is happening around me.”
• Leviathan is on release in the UK now
Labels: Film Reviews and Features, Russia/Soviet Union
Secure the Border! Saudi Arabia Building 600-Mile ‘Great Wall’ to Keep Out ISIS
Posted By Raymond Ibrahim On February 16, 2015 @ 10:48 pm In Middle East,Politics,Religion | 31 Comments
In a move reminiscent of “ancient history,” Saudi Arabia is building a 600-mile-long “Great Wall” – a combined fence and ditch – to separate itself [1] from the Islamic State to the north in Iraq:
Plans for the 600-mile wall and ditch Saudi Arabia will build with Iraq in an effort to insulate itself from the chaos engulfing its neighbors.
Much of the area on the Iraqi side is now controlled by Isil [the Islamic State], which regards the ultimate capture of Saudi Arabia, home to the “Two Holy Mosques” of Mecca and Medina, as a key goal….
The irony here is that those Muslims that Saudi Arabia is trying to keep out are the very same Muslims most nurtured and influenced by a Saudi — or “Wahabbi,” or “Salafi” — worldview.
Put differently, Saudi Arabia is again appreciating how jihad is a volatile instrument of war that can easily backfire on those who support it. “Holy war” is hardly limited to fighting and subjugating “infidels” — whether the West in general, Israel in particular, or the millions of non-Muslim minorities under Islam — but also justifies fighting “apostates,” that is, Muslims accused of not being Islamic enough.
Indeed, the first grand jihad was against Muslim “apostates” — the Ridda [“apostasy”] Wars. After Muhammad died in 632, many Arab tribes were willing to remain Muslim but without paying zakat [2] (“charity”) money to the first caliph, Abu Bakr. That was enough to declare jihad on them as apostates [3]; tens of thousands of Arabs were burned, beheaded, dismembered, or crucified, according to Islamic history.
Accordingly, the Islamic State justifies burning people alive [4], such as the Jordanian pilot, precisely because the first caliph and his Muslim lieutenants burned apostates alive [5], and is even on record saying that “false Muslims” are its first target, then Israel [6].
This is the problem all Muslim nations and rulers risk: no one — not even Sharia-advocating Islamist leaders — are immune to the all-accusing sword tip of the jihad. If non-Muslims are, as “infidels,” de facto enemies, any Muslim can be accused of “apostasy,” instantly becoming an enemy of Allah and his prophet.
A saying attributed to the Muslim prophet Muhammad validates this perspective: “This umma [Islamic nation] of mine will split into seventy-three sects; one will be in paradise and seventy-two will be in hell.” When asked which sect was the true one, the prophet replied, “al-jama‘a,” that is, the group which most literally follows the example or “sunna” of Muhammad.
This saying perfectly sums up the history of Islam: to be deemed legitimate, authorities must uphold the teachings of Islam — including jihad; but it is never long before another claimant accuses existing leadership of not being “Islamic enough.”
Enter the Saudi/Islamic State relationship. From the start [7], the Arabian kingdom has been a supporter of the Islamic State [8]. It was not long, however, before IS made clear that Saudi Arabia was one of its primary targets, calling on its allies and supporters in the kingdom to kill and drive out the Saud tribe [9].
Nor is this the first time the Saudis see those whom they nurtured — ideologically and logistically — turn on them. Back in the 1980s, the Saudis were chief supporters of the jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan and helped create al-Qaeda.
But once the “distant” infidel was subdued, al-Qaeda and its Saudi-born leader Osama bin Laden came home to roost, doing the inevitable: pointing the accusatory finger at the Saudi monarchy for not being Islamic enough, including for its reliance on the great American infidel during the First Gulf War.
Moreover, Saudi Arabia is not only a chief disseminator and supporter of the Salafi ideology most associated with jihad, but the Arabian kingdom itself was forged in large measure by articulating and calling for holy war in the 19th and -20th centuries, including against Turks and fellow Arab tribes (both Muslim).
The Saudi argument then was the very same argument now being made by the Islamic State — that the rulers of Islam’s holiest mosques in Mecca and Medina (in this case, the Ottoman Turks) were not “Islamic” enough.
Such is the double-edged sword of jihad. All Islamic governments, regimes, and kingdoms must always try to direct this potent instrument of war against enemies or neutral targets — preferably ones far away from their borders (Afghanistan, America, etc.). For they know that the longer the jihad waxes in strength and goes uncontained, the more it becomes like an all-consuming fire indiscriminately scorching all in its path.
And this explains why Saudi Arabia is a chief funder and supporter of external jihads: to send its own zealots out of its borders to fight distant infidels (a “better them than me” mentality). It also explains why nations like Saudi Arabia, which were forged by the jihad, continually find themselves threatened by the jihad — or, to paraphrase a young Jewish rabbi: “Those who live by the sword will die by the sword.”
(Artwork created using multiple Shutterstock.com [10] images.)
Article printed from PJ Media: http://pjmedia.com
URL to article: http://pjmedia.com/blog/isis-and-saudi-arabia/
[1] separate itself: http://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabia-is-building-a-600-mile-great-wall-to-shield-from-isis-2015-1
[2] zakat: http://www.raymondibrahim.com/islam/the-dark-side-of-zakat/
[3] declare jihad on them as apostates: http://www.raymondibrahim.com/islam/allahs-sword-of-terror/
[4] Islamic State justifies burning people alive: http://www.raymondibrahim.com/from-the-arab-world/fatwa-islamic-state-justifies-burning-pilot-alive/
[5] precisely because the first caliph and his Muslim lieutenants burned apostates alive: http://www.raymondibrahim.com/from-the-arab-world/qatar-published-fatwa-in-2006-permitting-burning-people-removes-it-after-is-burns-pilot/
[6] “false Muslims” are its first target, then Israel: http://www.raymondibrahim.com/from-the-arab-world/new-islamic-caliphate-declares-jihad-on-muslims/
[7] From the start: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/09/us-iraq-saudi-qatar-idUSBREA2806S20140309
[8] supporter of the Islamic State: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/14/america-s-allies-are-funding-isis.html
[9] to kill and drive out the Saud tribe: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/13/us-mideast-crisis-baghdadi-idUSKCN0IX1Y120141113
[10] Shutterstock.com: http://www.shutterstock.com
Labels: ISIS, Islam and Terrorism, Middle East
Today's Tune: Arcade Fire - Keep the Car Running (Live 2007)
The Swedes and the Clash of Civilizations
Posted By Roger Kimball On February 15, 2015 @ 4:21 am In Uncategorized | 55 Comments
The indispensable Gatestone Institute reports [1] on some very disturbing news out of Sweden.
In 1975, the Swedish parliament unanimously decided to change the former homogeneous Sweden into a multicultural country. Forty years later the dramatic consequences of this experiment emerge: violent crime has increased [2] by 300%.
If one looks at the number of rapes, however, the increase is even worse. In 1975, 421 rapes were reported to the police; in 2014, it was 6,620 [3]. That is an increase of 1,472%.
That makes Sweden the rape capital of the West, second globally to only Lesotho in Southern Africa in the number of rapes it suffers. Politically correct academics in the U.S. are sounding the alarm bells about a “rape culture” on U.S. campuses. In fact, the groves of academe across the fruited plain are among the safest, most coddled environments in the world. If the “mattress girl” at Columbia [4] wants to find a hostile environment for women, she need look no further than Sweden.
What happened? Samuel Huntington, whose book The Clash of Civilizations [5] (1996) looks ever more prescient, warned that Islam and the West were on a collision course. What we have come to call “multiculturalism” was a recipe not for comity and progressive enlightenment but for increasing conflict. That the huge influx of Somalis, Iraqis, and Syrians into Sweden has led to this expanding rape culture would not have surprised him.
For their part, Swedish bureaucrats prefer to explain the expanding rape culture by denying it. The Gatestone Institute cites some of their excuses (none rises to the level of an explanation):
▪ Swedes have become more prone to report crime.
▪ The law has been changed so that more sexual offenses are now classified as rape.
▪ Swedish men cannot handle increased equality between the sexes and react with violence against women (perhaps the most fanciful excuse).
Note that conspicuous by its absence is any mention of who it is who is committing the rapes.
Gatestone quotes Michael Hess [6], a local politician from the Sweden Democrat Party: “When will you journalists realize that it is deeply rooted in Islam’s culture to rape and brutalize women who refuse to comply with Islamic teachings. There is a strong connection between rapes in Sweden and the number of immigrants from MENA-countries [Middle East and North Africa].”
For that bit of plain speaking, Hess was handed a fine and a suspended jail sentence by a Swedish court. Was what he said untrue? Truth was not something the court cared about: “The Court [Tingsrätten] notes [7]that the question of whether or not Michael Hess’s pronouncement is true, or appeared to be true to Michael Hess, has no bearing on the case. Michael Hess’s statement must be judged based on its timing and context.”
For those whose chief concern is not towing the politically correct line but in the truth, the evidence Hess has assembled tells a disturbing and unequivocal story: “Twenty-one research reports,” Gatestone reports, “from the 1960s until today are unanimous in their conclusions:
Whether or not they measured by the number of convicted rapists or men suspected of rape, men of foreign extraction were represented far more than Swedes. And this greater representation of persons with a foreign background keeps increasing:
▪ 1960-1970s – 1.2 to 2.6 times as often as Swedes
▪ 1980s – 2.1 to 4.7 times as often as Swedes
▪ 2000s – 2.1 to 19.5 times as often as Swedes
Even when adjusted for variables such as age, sex, class and place of residence, the huge discrepancy [6] between immigrants and Swedes remains.
Just how huge is suggested by these statistics:
It emerged that in 2002, 85% of those sentenced to at least two years in prison for rape in Svea Hovrätt, a court of appeals, were foreign born or second-generation immigrants.
A 1996 report [8] by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention reached the conclusion that immigrants from North Africa (Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia) were 23 times as likely to commit rape as Swedish men. The figures for men from Iraq, Bulgaria and Romania were, respectively, 20, 18 and 18.
Et cetera.
It gets worse. For not only is rape epidemic in Sweden, also very much on the upswing is gang rape, which has increased “spectacularly” between 1995 and 2006. Courts have tended to be lenient with the perpetrators, handing out light sentences or acquitting them outright.
You know how the Western media prays, just prays, that when a violent crime is committed in the U.S. the perpetrator be a white Christian male? The Swedes suffer from a kindred disease. Earlier this month, all the Swedish media reported on a brutal gang rape that took place on a ferry running between Stockholm and Åbo in Finland. At last, they seemed to have their Swedish rapist:
▪ “Several Swedish Men Suspected of Rape on the Finland Ferry” (Dagens Nyheter).
▪ “Six Swedish Men Raped Woman in Cabin” (Aftonbladet).
▪ “Six Swedes Arrested for Rape on Ferry” (Expressen).
▪ “Eight Swedes Suspected of Rape on Ferry” (TT – the Swedish News Agency).
But as Gatestone reports, a look behind the headlines reveals a very different reality. “It turned out that seven of the eight suspects were Somalis and one was Iraqi. None of them had Swedish citizenship.” Oops.
George Orwell once observed that the only way to challenge totalitarianism was by having the courage to call things by their real names. Political correctness is so dangerous because it is based on a lie and it promulgates itself by enforcing a lie on the rest of us. The reality of Islamic influence in Sweden is brutal and dehumanizing. It won’t get better by pretending that Sweden is a multicultural paradise. Sweden is lucky to have truth-tellers like Michael Hess. We are lucky to have outlets like the Gatestone Institute. Will we listen?
URL to article: http://pjmedia.com/rogerkimball/2015/02/15/the-swedes-and-the-clash-of-civilizations/
[1] reports: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5195/sweden-rape
[2] violent crime has increased: http://www.d-intl.com/2013/11/08/multicultural-sweden-explodes-in-violence/?lang=en
[3] in 2014, it was 6,620: http://www.bra.se/bra/brott-och-statistik/valdtakt-och-sexualbrott.html
[4] “mattress girl” at Columbia: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/03/columbia-student-i-didn-t-rape-her.html
[5] The Clash of Civilizations: http://www.amazon.com/Clash-Civilizations-Remaking-World-Order/dp/1451628978
[6] Michael Hess: http://www.d-intl.com/2014/04/24/aklagaren-kraver-hoga-boter-for-michael-hess/
[7] Court [Tingsrätten] notes: http://www.d-intl.com/2014/05/08/hets-mot-folkgrupp-aven-om-det-ar-sant/
[8] report: http://www.pdf-archive.com/2011/05/08/br-1996-2-invandrares-och-invandrares-barns-brottslighet-1/
Labels: Crime and Punishment, Islam and The West
What ISIS Really Wants
The Islamic State is no mere collection of psychopaths. It is a religious group with carefully considered beliefs, among them that it is a key agent of the coming apocalypse. Here’s what that means for its strategy—and for how to stop it.
by Graeme Wood
http://www.theatlantic.com/
This image made from video posted on a militant website Saturday, July 5, 2014, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, purports to show the leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, delivering a sermon at a mosque in Iraq.
What is the Islamic State?
Where did it come from, and what are its intentions? The simplicity of these questions can be deceiving, and few Western leaders seem to know the answers. In December, The New York Times published confidential comments by Major General Michael K. Nagata, the Special Operations commander for the United States in the Middle East, admitting that he had hardly begun figuring out the Islamic State’s appeal. “We have not defeated the idea,” he said. “We do not even understand the idea.” In the past year, President Obama has referred to the Islamic State, variously, as “not Islamic” and as al-Qaeda’s “jayvee team,” statements that reflected confusion about the group, and may have contributed to significant strategic errors.
The group seized Mosul, Iraq, last June, and already rules an area larger than the United Kingdom. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been its leader since May 2010, but until last summer, his most recent known appearance on film was a grainy mug shot from a stay in U.S. captivity at Camp Bucca during the occupation of Iraq. Then, on July 5 of last year, he stepped into the pulpit of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul, to deliver a Ramadan sermon as the first caliph in generations—upgrading his resolution from grainy to high-definition, and his position from hunted guerrilla to commander of all Muslims. The inflow of jihadists that followed, from around the world, was unprecedented in its pace and volume, and is continuing.
Our ignorance of the Islamic State is in some ways understandable: It is a hermit kingdom; few have gone there and returned. Baghdadi has spoken on camera only once. But his address, and the Islamic State’s countless other propaganda videos and encyclicals, are online, and the caliphate’s supporters have toiled mightily to make their project knowable. We can gather that their state rejects peace as a matter of principle; that it hungers for genocide; that its religious views make it constitutionally incapable of certain types of change, even if that change might ensure its survival; and that it considers itself a harbinger of—and headline player in—the imminent end of the world.
The Islamic State, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), follows a distinctive variety of Islam whose beliefs about the path to the Day of Judgment matter to its strategy, and can help the West know its enemy and predict its behavior. Its rise to power is less like the triumph of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (a group whose leaders the Islamic State considers apostates) than like the realization of a dystopian alternate reality in which David Koresh or Jim Jones survived to wield absolute power over not just a few hundred people, but some 8 million.
We have misunderstood the nature of the Islamic State in at least two ways. First, we tend to see jihadism as monolithic, and to apply the logic of al‑Qaeda to an organization that has decisively eclipsed it. The Islamic State supporters I spoke with still refer to Osama bin Laden as “Sheikh Osama,” a title of honor. But jihadism has evolved since al-Qaeda’s heyday, from about 1998 to 2003, and many jihadists disdain the group’s priorities and current leadership.
Bin Laden viewed his terrorism as a prologue to a caliphate he did not expect to see in his lifetime. His organization was flexible, operating as a geographically diffuse network of autonomous cells. The Islamic State, by contrast, requires territory to remain legitimate, and a top-down structure to rule it. (Its bureaucracy is divided into civil and military arms, and its territory into provinces.)
We are misled in a second way, by a well-intentioned but dishonest campaign to deny the Islamic State’s medieval religious nature. Peter Bergen, who produced the first interview with bin Laden in 1997, titled his first book Holy War, Inc. in part to acknowledge bin Laden as a creature of the modern secular world. Bin Laden corporatized terror and franchised it out. He requested specific political concessions, such as the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Saudi Arabia. His foot soldiers navigated the modern world confidently. On Mohammad Atta’s last full day of life, he shopped at Walmart and ate dinner at Pizza Hut.
There is a temptation to rehearse this observation—that jihadists are modern secular people, with modern political concerns, wearing medieval religious disguise—and make it fit the Islamic State. In fact, much of what the group does looks nonsensical except in light of a sincere, carefully considered commitment to returning civilization to a seventh-century legal environment, and ultimately to bringing about the apocalypse.
The most-articulate spokesmen for that position are the Islamic State’s officials and supporters themselves. They refer derisively to “moderns.” In conversation, they insist that they will not—cannot—waver from governing precepts that were embedded in Islam by the Prophet Muhammad and his earliest followers. They often speak in codes and allusions that sound odd or old-fashioned to non-Muslims, but refer to specific traditions and texts of early Islam.
To take one example: In September, Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, the Islamic State’s chief spokesman, called on Muslims in Western countries such as France and Canada to find an infidel and “smash his head with a rock,” poison him, run him over with a car, or “destroy his crops.” To Western ears, the biblical-sounding punishments—the stoning and crop destruction—juxtaposed strangely with his more modern-sounding call to vehicular homicide. (As if to show that he could terrorize by imagery alone, Adnani also referred to Secretary of State John Kerry as an “uncircumcised geezer.”)
But Adnani was not merely talking trash. His speech was laced with theological and legal discussion, and his exhortation to attack crops directly echoed orders from Muhammad to leave well water and crops alone—unless the armies of Islam were in a defensive position, in which case Muslims in the lands of kuffar, or infidels, should be unmerciful, and poison away.
The reality is that the Islamic State is Islamic. Very Islamic. Yes, it has attracted psychopaths and adventure seekers, drawn largely from the disaffected populations of the Middle East and Europe. But the religion preached by its most ardent followers derives from coherent and even learned interpretations of Islam.
Virtually every major decision and law promulgated by the Islamic State adheres to what it calls, in its press and pronouncements, and on its billboards, license plates, stationery, and coins, “the Prophetic methodology,” which means following the prophecy and example of Muhammad, in punctilious detail. Muslims can reject the Islamic State; nearly all do. But pretending that it isn’t actually a religious, millenarian group, with theology that must be understood to be combatted, has already led the United States to underestimate it and back foolish schemes to counter it. We’ll need to get acquainted with the Islamic State’s intellectual genealogy if we are to react in a way that will not strengthen it, but instead help it self-immolate in its own excessive zeal.
I. Devotion
In November, the Islamic State released an infomercial-like video tracing its origins to bin Laden. It acknowledged Abu Musa’b al Zarqawi, the brutal head of al‑Qaeda in Iraq from roughly 2003 until his killing in 2006, as a more immediate progenitor, followed sequentially by two other guerrilla leaders before Baghdadi, the caliph. Notably unmentioned: bin Laden’s successor, Ayman al Zawahiri, the owlish Egyptian eye surgeon who currently heads al‑Qaeda. Zawahiri has not pledged allegiance to Baghdadi, and he is increasingly hated by his fellow jihadists. His isolation is not helped by his lack of charisma; in videos he comes across as squinty and annoyed. But the split between al-Qaeda and the Islamic State has been long in the making, and begins to explain, at least in part, the outsize bloodlust of the latter.
Zawahiri’s companion in isolation is a Jordanian cleric named Abu Muhammad al Maqdisi, 55, who has a fair claim to being al-Qaeda’s intellectual architect and the most important jihadist unknown to the average American newspaper reader. On most matters of doctrine, Maqdisi and the Islamic State agree. Both are closely identified with the jihadist wing of a branch of Sunnism called Salafism, after the Arabic al salaf al salih, the “pious forefathers.” These forefathers are the Prophet himself and his earliest adherents, whom Salafis honor and emulate as the models for all behavior, including warfare, couture, family life, even dentistry.
Maqdisi taught Zarqawi, who went to war in Iraq with the older man’s advice in mind. In time, though, Zarqawi surpassed his mentor in fanaticism, and eventually earned his rebuke. At issue was Zarqawi’s penchant for bloody spectacle—and, as a matter of doctrine, his hatred of other Muslims, to the point of excommunicating and killing them. In Islam, the practice of takfir, or excommunication, is theologically perilous. “If a man says to his brother, ‘You are an infidel,’ ” the Prophet said, “then one of them is right.” If the accuser is wrong, he himself has committed apostasy by making a false accusation. The punishment for apostasy is death. And yet Zarqawi heedlessly expanded the range of behavior that could make Muslims infidels.
Maqdisi wrote to his former pupil that he needed to exercise caution and “not issue sweeping proclamations of takfir” or “proclaim people to be apostates because of their sins.” The distinction between apostate and sinner may appear subtle, but it is a key point of contention between al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
Denying the holiness of the Koran or the prophecies of Muhammad is straightforward apostasy. But Zarqawi and the state he spawned take the position that many other acts can remove a Muslim from Islam. These include, in certain cases, selling alcohol or drugs, wearing Western clothes or shaving one’s beard, voting in an election—even for a Muslim candidate—and being lax about calling other people apostates. Being a Shiite, as most Iraqi Arabs are, meets the standard as well, because the Islamic State regards Shiism as innovation, and to innovate on the Koran is to deny its initial perfection. (The Islamic State claims that common Shiite practices, such as worship at the graves of imams and public self-flagellation, have no basis in the Koran or in the example of the Prophet.) That means roughly 200 million Shia are marked for death. So too are the heads of state of every Muslim country, who have elevated man-made law above Sharia by running for office or enforcing laws not made by God.
Following takfiri doctrine, the Islamic State is committed to purifying the world by killing vast numbers of people. The lack of objective reporting from its territory makes the true extent of the slaughter unknowable, but social-media posts from the region suggest that individual executions happen more or less continually, and mass executions every few weeks. Muslim “apostates” are the most common victims. Exempted from automatic execution, it appears, are Christians who do not resist their new government. Baghdadi permits them to live, as long as they pay a special tax, known as the jizya, and acknowledge their subjugation. The Koranic authority for this practice is not in dispute.
Centuries have passed since the wars of religion ceased in Europe, and since men stopped dying in large numbers because of arcane theological disputes. Hence, perhaps, the incredulity and denial with which Westerners have greeted news of the theology and practices of the Islamic State. Many refuse to believe that this group is as devout as it claims to be, or as backward-looking or apocalyptic as its actions and statements suggest.
Their skepticism is comprehensible. In the past, Westerners who accused Muslims of blindly following ancient scriptures came to deserved grief from academics—notably the late Edward Said—who pointed out that calling Muslims “ancient” was usually just another way to denigrate them. Look instead, these scholars urged, to the conditions in which these ideologies arose—the bad governance, the shifting social mores, the humiliation of living in lands valued only for their oil.
Without acknowledgment of these factors, no explanation of the rise of the Islamic State could be complete. But focusing on them to the exclusion of ideology reflects another kind of Western bias: that if religious ideology doesn’t matter much in Washington or Berlin, surely it must be equally irrelevant in Raqqa or Mosul. When a masked executioner says Allahu akbar while beheading an apostate, sometimes he’s doing so for religious reasons.
Many mainstream Muslim organizations have gone so far as to say the Islamic State is, in fact, un-Islamic. It is, of course, reassuring to know that the vast majority of Muslims have zero interest in replacing Hollywood movies with public executions as evening entertainment. But Muslims who call the Islamic State un-Islamic are typically, as the Princeton scholar Bernard Haykel, the leading expert on the group’s theology, told me, “embarrassed and politically correct, with a cotton-candy view of their own religion” that neglects “what their religion has historically and legally required.” Many denials of the Islamic State’s religious nature, he said, are rooted in an “interfaith-Christian-nonsense tradition.”
Every academic I asked about the Islamic State’s ideology sent me to Haykel. Of partial Lebanese descent, Haykel grew up in Lebanon and the United States, and when he talks through his Mephistophelian goatee, there is a hint of an unplaceable foreign accent.
According to Haykel, the ranks of the Islamic State are deeply infused with religious vigor. Koranic quotations are ubiquitous. “Even the foot soldiers spout this stuff constantly,” Haykel said. “They mug for their cameras and repeat their basic doctrines in formulaic fashion, and they do it all the time.” He regards the claim that the Islamic State has distorted the texts of Islam as preposterous, sustainable only through willful ignorance. “People want to absolve Islam,” he said. “It’s this ‘Islam is a religion of peace’ mantra. As if there is such a thing as ‘Islam’! It’s what Muslims do, and how they interpret their texts.” Those texts are shared by all Sunni Muslims, not just the Islamic State. “And these guys have just as much legitimacy as anyone else.”
All Muslims acknowledge that Muhammad’s earliest conquests were not tidy affairs, and that the laws of war passed down in the Koran and in the narrations of the Prophet’s rule were calibrated to fit a turbulent and violent time. In Haykel’s estimation, the fighters of the Islamic State are authentic throwbacks to early Islam and are faithfully reproducing its norms of war. This behavior includes a number of practices that modern Muslims tend to prefer not to acknowledge as integral to their sacred texts. “Slavery, crucifixion, and beheadings are not something that freakish [jihadists] are cherry-picking from the medieval tradition,” Haykel said. Islamic State fighters “are smack in the middle of the medieval tradition and are bringing it wholesale into the present day.”
The Koran specifies crucifixion as one of the only punishments permitted for enemies of Islam. The tax on Christians finds clear endorsement in the Surah Al-Tawba, the Koran’s ninth chapter, which instructs Muslims to fight Christians and Jews “until they pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” The Prophet, whom all Muslims consider exemplary, imposed these rules and owned slaves.
Leaders of the Islamic State have taken emulation of Muhammad as strict duty, and have revived traditions that have been dormant for hundreds of years. “What’s striking about them is not just the literalism, but also the seriousness with which they read these texts,” Haykel said. “There is an assiduous, obsessive seriousness that Muslims don’t normally have.”
Before the rise of the Islamic State, no group in the past few centuries had attempted more-radical fidelity to the Prophetic model than the Wahhabis of 18th‑century Arabia. They conquered most of what is now Saudi Arabia, and their strict practices survive in a diluted version of Sharia there. Haykel sees an important distinction between the groups, though: “The Wahhabis were not wanton in their violence.” They were surrounded by Muslims, and they conquered lands that were already Islamic; this stayed their hand. “ISIS, by contrast, is really reliving the early period.” Early Muslims were surrounded by non-Muslims, and the Islamic State, because of its takfiritendencies, considers itself to be in the same situation.
If al-Qaeda wanted to revive slavery, it never said so. And why would it? Silence on slavery probably reflected strategic thinking, with public sympathies in mind: when the Islamic State began enslaving people, even some of its supporters balked. Nonetheless, the caliphate has continued to embrace slavery and crucifixion without apology. “We will conquer your Rome, break your crosses, and enslave your women,” Adnani, the spokesman, promised in one of his periodic valentines to the West. “If we do not reach that time, then our children and grandchildren will reach it, and they will sell your sons as slaves at the slave market.”
In October, Dabiq, the magazine of the Islamic State, published “The Revival of Slavery Before the Hour,” an article that took up the question of whether Yazidis (the members of an ancient Kurdish sect that borrows elements of Islam, and had come under attack from Islamic State forces in northern Iraq) are lapsed Muslims, and therefore marked for death, or merely pagans and therefore fair game for enslavement. A study group of Islamic State scholars had convened, on government orders, to resolve this issue. If they are pagans, the article’s anonymous author wrote,
Yazidi women and children [are to be] divided according to the Shariah amongst the fighters of the Islamic State who participated in the Sinjar operations [in northern Iraq] … Enslaving the families of the kuffar [infidels] and taking their women as concubines is a firmly established aspect of the Shariah that if one were to deny or mock, he would be denying or mocking the verses of the Koran and the narrations of the Prophet … and thereby apostatizing from Islam.
II. Territory
Tens of thousands of foreign Muslims are thought to have immigrated to the Islamic State. Recruits hail from France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Australia, Indonesia, the United States, and many other places. Many have come to fight, and many intend to die.
Peter R. Neumann, a professor at King’s College London, told me that online voices have been essential to spreading propaganda and ensuring that newcomers know what to believe. Online recruitment has also widened the demographics of the jihadist community, by allowing conservative Muslim women—physically isolated in their homes—to reach out to recruiters, radicalize, and arrange passage to Syria. Through its appeals to both genders, the Islamic State hopes to build a complete society.
In November, I traveled to Australia to meet Musa Cerantonio, a 30-year-old man whom Neumann and other researchers had identified as one of the two most important “new spiritual authorities” guiding foreigners to join the Islamic State. For three years he was a televangelist on Iqraa TV in Cairo, but he left after the station objected to his frequent calls to establish a caliphate. Now he preaches on Facebook and Twitter.
Cerantonio—a big, friendly man with a bookish demeanor—told me he blanches at beheading videos. He hates seeing the violence, even though supporters of the Islamic State are required to endorse it. (He speaks out, controversially among jihadists, against suicide bombing, on the grounds that God forbids suicide; he differs from the Islamic State on a few other points as well.) He has the kind of unkempt facial hair one sees on certain overgrown fans of The Lord of the Rings, and his obsession with Islamic apocalypticism felt familiar. He seemed to be living out a drama that looks, from an outsider’s perspective, like a medieval fantasy novel, only with real blood.
Last June, Cerantonio and his wife tried to emigrate—he wouldn’t say to where (“It’s illegal to go to Syria,” he said cagily)—but they were caught en route, in the Philippines, and he was deported back to Australia for overstaying his visa. Australia has criminalized attempts to join or travel to the Islamic State, and has confiscated Cerantonio’s passport. He is stuck in Melbourne, where he is well known to the local constabulary. If Cerantonio were caught facilitating the movement of individuals to the Islamic State, he would be imprisoned. So far, though, he is free—a technically unaffiliated ideologue who nonetheless speaks with what other jihadists have taken to be a reliable voice on matters of the Islamic State’s doctrine.
We met for lunch in Footscray, a dense, multicultural Melbourne suburb that’s home to Lonely Planet, the travel-guide publisher. Cerantonio grew up there in a half-Irish, half-Calabrian family. On a typical street one can find African restaurants, Vietnamese shops, and young Arabs walking around in the Salafi uniform of scraggly beard, long shirt, and trousers ending halfway down the calves.
Cerantonio explained the joy he felt when Baghdadi was declared the caliph on June 29—and the sudden, magnetic attraction that Mesopotamia began to exert on him and his friends. “I was in a hotel [in the Philippines], and I saw the declaration on television,” he told me. “And I was just amazed, and I’m like, Why am I stuck here in this bloody room?”
The last caliphate was the Ottoman empire, which reached its peak in the 16th century and then experienced a long decline, until the founder of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, euthanized it in 1924. But Cerantonio, like many supporters of the Islamic State, doesn’t acknowledge that caliphate as legitimate, because it didn’t fully enforce Islamic law, which requires stonings and slavery and amputations, and because its caliphs were not descended from the tribe of the Prophet, the Quraysh.
Baghdadi spoke at length of the importance of the caliphate in his Mosul sermon. He said that to revive the institution of the caliphate—which had not functioned except in name for about 1,000 years—was a communal obligation. He and his loyalists had “hastened to declare the caliphate and place an imam” at its head, he said. “This is a duty upon the Muslims—a duty that has been lost for centuries … The Muslims sin by losing it, and they must always seek to establish it.” Like bin Laden before him, Baghdadi spoke floridly, with frequent scriptural allusion and command of classical rhetoric. Unlike bin Laden, and unlike those false caliphs of the Ottoman empire, he is Qurayshi.
The caliphate, Cerantonio told me, is not just a political entity but also a vehicle for salvation. Islamic State propaganda regularly reports the pledges of baya’a (allegiance) rolling in from jihadist groups across the Muslim world. Cerantonio quoted a Prophetic saying, that to die without pledging allegiance is to die jahil (ignorant) and therefore die a “death of disbelief.” Consider how Muslims (or, for that matter, Christians) imagine God deals with the souls of people who die without learning about the one true religion. They are neither obviously saved nor definitively condemned. Similarly, Cerantonio said, the Muslim who acknowledges one omnipotent god and prays, but who dies without pledging himself to a valid caliph and incurring the obligations of that oath, has failed to live a fully Islamic life. I pointed out that this means the vast majority of Muslims in history, and all who passed away between 1924 and 2014, died a death of disbelief. Cerantonio nodded gravely. “I would go so far as to say that Islam has been reestablished” by the caliphate.
I asked him about his own baya’a, and he quickly corrected me: “I didn’t say that I’d pledged allegiance.” Under Australian law, he reminded me, giving baya’a to the Islamic State was illegal. “But I agree that [Baghdadi] fulfills the requirements,” he continued. “I’m just going to wink at you, and you take that to mean whatever you want.”
To be the caliph, one must meet conditions outlined in Sunni law—being a Muslim adult man of Quraysh descent; exhibiting moral probity and physical and mental integrity; and having ’amr, or authority. This last criterion, Cerantonio said, is the hardest to fulfill, and requires that the caliph have territory in which he can enforce Islamic law. Baghdadi’s Islamic State achieved that long before June 29, Cerantonio said, and as soon as it did, a Western convert within the group’s ranks—Cerantonio described him as “something of a leader”—began murmuring about the religious obligation to declare a caliphate. He and others spoke quietly to those in power and told them that further delay would be sinful.
Cerantonio said a faction arose that was prepared to make war on Baghdadi’s group if it delayed any further. They prepared a letter to various powerful members of ISIS, airing their displeasure at the failure to appoint a caliph, but were pacified by Adnani, the spokesman, who let them in on a secret—that a caliphate had already been declared, long before the public announcement. They had their legitimate caliph, and at that point there was only one option. “If he’s legitimate,” Cerantonio said, “you must give him the baya’a.”
After Baghdadi’s July sermon, a stream of jihadists began flowing daily into Syria with renewed motivation. Jürgen Todenhöfer, a German author and former politician who visited the Islamic State in December, reported the arrival of 100 fighters at one Turkish-border recruitment station in just two days. His report, among others, suggests a still-steady inflow of foreigners, ready to give up everything at home for a shot at paradise in the worst place on Earth.
In London, a week before my meal with Cerantonio, I met with three ex-members of a banned Islamist group called Al Muhajiroun (The Emigrants): Anjem Choudary, Abu Baraa, and Abdul Muhid. They all expressed desire to emigrate to the Islamic State, as many of their colleagues already had, but the authorities had confiscated their passports. Like Cerantonio, they regarded the caliphate as the only righteous government on Earth, though none would confess having pledged allegiance. Their principal goal in meeting me was to explain what the Islamic State stands for, and how its policies reflect God’s law.
Choudary, 48, is the group’s former leader. He frequently appears on cable news, as one of the few people producers can book who will defend the Islamic State vociferously, until his mike is cut. He has a reputation in the United Kingdom as a loathsome blowhard, but he and his disciples sincerely believe in the Islamic State and, on matters of doctrine, speak in its voice. Choudary and the others feature prominently in the Twitter feeds of Islamic State residents, and Abu Baraa maintains a YouTube channel to answer questions about Sharia.
Since September, authorities have been investigating the three men on suspicion of supporting terrorism. Because of this investigation, they had to meet me separately: communication among them would have violated the terms of their bail. But speaking with them felt like speaking with the same person wearing different masks. Choudary met me in a candy shop in the East London suburb of Ilford. He was dressed smartly, in a crisp blue tunic reaching nearly to his ankles, and sipped a Red Bull while we talked.
Before the caliphate, “maybe 85 percent of the Sharia was absent from our lives,” Choudary told me. “These laws are in abeyance until we have khilafa”—a caliphate—“and now we have one.” Without a caliphate, for example, individual vigilantes are not obliged to amputate the hands of thieves they catch in the act. But create a caliphate, and this law, along with a huge body of other jurisprudence, suddenly awakens. In theory, all Muslims are obliged to immigrate to the territory where the caliph is applying these laws. One of Choudary’s prize students, a convert from Hinduism named Abu Rumaysah, evaded police to bring his family of five from London to Syria in November. On the day I met Choudary, Abu Rumaysah tweeted out a picture of himself with a Kalashnikov in one arm and his newborn son in the other. Hashtag: #GenerationKhilafah.
The caliph is required to implement Sharia. Any deviation will compel those who have pledged allegiance to inform the caliph in private of his error and, in extreme cases, to excommunicate and replace him if he persists. (“I have been plagued with this great matter, plagued with this responsibility, and it is a heavy responsibility,” Baghdadi said in his sermon.) In return, the caliph commands obedience—and those who persist in supporting non-Muslim governments, after being duly warned and educated about their sin, are considered apostates.
Choudary said Sharia has been misunderstood because of its incomplete application by regimes such as Saudi Arabia, which does behead murderers and cut off thieves’ hands. “The problem,” he explained, “is that when places like Saudi Arabia just implement the penal code, and don’t provide the social and economic justice of the Sharia—the whole package—they simply engender hatred toward the Sharia.” That whole package, he said, would include free housing, food, and clothing for all, though of course anyone who wished to enrich himself with work could do so.
Abdul Muhid, 32, continued along these lines. He was dressed in mujahideen chic when I met him at a local restaurant: scruffy beard, Afghan cap, and a wallet outside of his clothes, attached with what looked like a shoulder holster. When we sat down, he was eager to discuss welfare. The Islamic State may have medieval-style punishments for moral crimes (lashes for boozing or fornication, stoning for adultery), but its social-welfare program is, at least in some aspects, progressive to a degree that would please an MSNBC pundit. Health care, he said, is free. (“Isn’t it free in Britain, too?,” I asked. “Not really,” he said. “Some procedures aren’t covered, such as vision.”) This provision of social welfare was not, he said, a policy choice of the Islamic State, but a policy obligation inherent in God’s law.
III. The Apocalypse
All Muslims acknowledge that God is the only one who knows the future. But they also agree that he has offered us a peek at it, in the Koran and in narrations of the Prophet. The Islamic State differs from nearly every other current jihadist movement in believing that it is written into God’s script as a central character. It is in this casting that the Islamic State is most boldly distinctive from its predecessors, and clearest in the religious nature of its mission.
In broad strokes, al-Qaeda acts like an underground political movement, with worldly goals in sight at all times—the expulsion of non-Muslims from the Arabian peninsula, the abolishment of the state of Israel, the end of support for dictatorships in Muslim lands. The Islamic State has its share of worldly concerns (including, in the places it controls, collecting garbage and keeping the water running), but the End of Days is a leitmotif of its propaganda. Bin Laden rarely mentioned the apocalypse, and when he did, he seemed to presume that he would be long dead when the glorious moment of divine comeuppance finally arrived. “Bin Laden and Zawahiri are from elite Sunni families who look down on this kind of speculation and think it’s something the masses engage in,” says Will McCants of the Brookings Institution, who is writing a book about the Islamic State’s apocalyptic thought.
During the last years of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, the Islamic State’s immediate founding fathers, by contrast, saw signs of the end times everywhere. They were anticipating, within a year, the arrival of the Mahdi—a messianic figure destined to lead the Muslims to victory before the end of the world. McCants says a prominent Islamist in Iraq approached bin Laden in 2008 to warn him that the group was being led by millenarians who were “talking all the time about the Mahdi and making strategic decisions” based on when they thought the Mahdi was going to arrive. “Al-Qaeda had to write to [these leaders] to say ‘Cut it out.’ ”
For certain true believers—the kind who long for epic good-versus-evil battles—visions of apocalyptic bloodbaths fulfill a deep psychological need. Of the Islamic State supporters I met, Musa Cerantonio, the Australian, expressed the deepest interest in the apocalypse and how the remaining days of the Islamic State—and the world—might look. Parts of that prediction are original to him, and do not yet have the status of doctrine. But other parts are based on mainstream Sunni sources and appear all over the Islamic State’s propaganda. These include the belief that there will be only 12 legitimate caliphs, and Baghdadi is the eighth; that the armies of Rome will mass to meet the armies of Islam in northern Syria; and that Islam’s final showdown with an anti-Messiah will occur in Jerusalem after a period of renewed Islamic conquest.
The Islamic State has attached great importance to the Syrian city of Dabiq, near Aleppo. It named its propaganda magazine after the town, and celebrated madly when (at great cost) it conquered Dabiq’s strategically unimportant plains. It is here, the Prophet reportedly said, that the armies of Rome will set up their camp. The armies of Islam will meet them, and Dabiq will be Rome’s Waterloo or its Antietam.
“Dabiq is basically all farmland,” one Islamic State supporter recently tweeted. “You could imagine large battles taking place there.” The Islamic State’s propagandists drool with anticipation of this event, and constantly imply that it will come soon. The state’s magazine quotes Zarqawi as saying, “The spark has been lit here in Iraq, and its heat will continue to intensify … until it burns the crusader armies in Dabiq.” A recent propaganda video shows clips from Hollywood war movies set in medieval times—perhaps because many of the prophecies specify that the armies will be on horseback or carrying ancient weapons.
Now that it has taken Dabiq, the Islamic State awaits the arrival of an enemy army there, whose defeat will initiate the countdown to the apocalypse. Western media frequently miss references to Dabiq in the Islamic State’s videos, and focus instead on lurid scenes of beheading. “Here we are, burying the first American crusader in Dabiq, eagerly waiting for the remainder of your armies to arrive,” said a masked executioner in a November video, showing the severed head of Peter (Abdul Rahman) Kassig, the aid worker who’d been held captive for more than a year. During fighting in Iraq in December, after mujahideen (perhaps inaccurately) reported having seen American soldiers in battle, Islamic State Twitter accounts erupted in spasms of pleasure, like overenthusiastic hosts or hostesses upon the arrival of the first guests at a party.
The Prophetic narration that foretells the Dabiq battle refers to the enemy as Rome. Who “Rome” is, now that the pope has no army, remains a matter of debate. But Cerantonio makes a case that Rome meant the Eastern Roman empire, which had its capital in what is now Istanbul. We should think of Rome as the Republic of Turkey—the same republic that ended the last self-identified caliphate, 90 years ago. Other Islamic State sources suggest that Rome might mean any infidel army, and the Americans will do nicely.
After its battle in Dabiq, Cerantonio said, the caliphate will expand and sack Istanbul. Some believe it will then cover the entire Earth, but Cerantonio suggested its tide may never reach beyond the Bosporus. An anti-Messiah, known in Muslim apocalyptic literature as Dajjal, will come from the Khorasan region of eastern Iran and kill a vast number of the caliphate’s fighters, until just 5,000 remain, cornered in Jerusalem. Just as Dajjal prepares to finish them off, Jesus—the second-most-revered prophet in Islam—will return to Earth, spear Dajjal, and lead the Muslims to victory.
“Only God knows” whether the Islamic State’s armies are the ones foretold, Cerantonio said. But he is hopeful. “The Prophet said that one sign of the imminent arrival of the End of Days is that people will for a long while stop talking about the End of Days,” he said. “If you go to the mosques now, you’ll find the preachers are silent about this subject.” On this theory, even setbacks dealt to the Islamic State mean nothing, since God has preordained the near-destruction of his people anyway. The Islamic State has its best and worst days ahead of it.
IV. The Fight
The ideological purity of the Islamic State has one compensating virtue: it allows us to predict some of the group’s actions. Osama bin Laden was seldom predictable. He ended his first television interview cryptically. CNN’s Peter Arnett asked him, “What are your future plans?” Bin Laden replied, “You’ll see them and hear about them in the media, God willing.” By contrast, the Islamic State boasts openly about its plans—not all of them, but enough so that by listening carefully, we can deduce how it intends to govern and expand.
In London, Choudary and his students provided detailed descriptions of how the Islamic State must conduct its foreign policy, now that it is a caliphate. It has already taken up what Islamic law refers to as “offensive jihad,” the forcible expansion into countries that are ruled by non-Muslims. “Hitherto, we were just defending ourselves,” Choudary said; without a caliphate, offensive jihad is an inapplicable concept. But the waging of war to expand the caliphate is an essential duty of the caliph.
Choudary took pains to present the laws of war under which the Islamic State operates as policies of mercy rather than of brutality. He told me the state has an obligation to terrorize its enemies—a holy order to scare the shit out of them with beheadings and crucifixions and enslavement of women and children, because doing so hastens victory and avoids prolonged conflict.
Choudary’s colleague Abu Baraa explained that Islamic law permits only temporary peace treaties, lasting no longer than a decade. Similarly, accepting any border is anathema, as stated by the Prophet and echoed in the Islamic State’s propaganda videos. If the caliph consents to a longer-term peace or permanent border, he will be in error. Temporary peace treaties are renewable, but may not be applied to all enemies at once: the caliph must wage jihad at least once a year. He may not rest, or he will fall into a state of sin.
One comparison to the Islamic State is the Khmer Rouge, which killed about a third of the population of Cambodia. But the Khmer Rouge occupied Cambodia’s seat at the United Nations. “This is not permitted,” Abu Baraa said. “To send an ambassador to the UN is to recognize an authority other than God’s.” This form of diplomacy is shirk, or polytheism, he argued, and would be immediate cause to hereticize and replace Baghdadi. Even to hasten the arrival of a caliphate by democratic means—for example by voting for political candidates who favor a caliphate—is shirk.
It’s hard to overstate how hamstrung the Islamic State will be by its radicalism. The modern international system, born of the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, relies on each state’s willingness to recognize borders, however grudgingly. For the Islamic State, that recognition is ideological suicide. Other Islamist groups, such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, have succumbed to the blandishments of democracy and the potential for an invitation to the community of nations, complete with a UN seat. Negotiation and accommodation have worked, at times, for the Taliban as well. (Under Taliban rule, Afghanistan exchanged ambassadors with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates, an act that invalidated the Taliban’s authority in the Islamic State’s eyes.) To the Islamic State these are not options, but acts of apostasy.
The United States and its allies have reacted to the Islamic State belatedly and in an apparent daze. The group’s ambitions and rough strategic blueprints were evident in its pronouncements and in social-media chatter as far back as 2011, when it was just one of many terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq and hadn’t yet committed mass atrocities. Adnani, the spokesman, told followers then that the group’s ambition was to “restore the Islamic caliphate,” and he evoked the apocalypse, saying, “There are but a few days left.” Baghdadi had already styled himself “commander of the faithful,” a title ordinarily reserved for caliphs, in 2011. In April 2013, Adnani declared the movement “ready to redraw the world upon the Prophetic methodology of the caliphate.” In August 2013, he said, “Our goal is to establish an Islamic state that doesn’t recognize borders, on the Prophetic methodology.” By then, the group had taken Raqqa, a Syrian provincial capital of perhaps 500,000 people, and was drawing in substantial numbers of foreign fighters who’d heard its message.
If we had identified the Islamic State’s intentions early, and realized that the vacuum in Syria and Iraq would give it ample space to carry them out, we might, at a minimum, have pushed Iraq to harden its border with Syria and preemptively make deals with its Sunnis. That would at least have avoided the electrifying propaganda effect created by the declaration of a caliphate just after the conquest of Iraq’s third-largest city. Yet, just over a year ago, Obama told The New Yorker that he considered ISIS to be al-Qaeda’s weaker partner. “If a jayvee team puts on Lakers uniforms that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant,” the president said.
Our failure to appreciate the split between the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, and the essential differences between the two, has led to dangerous decisions. Last fall, to take one example, the U.S. government consented to a desperate plan to save Peter Kassig’s life. The plan facilitated—indeed, required—the interaction of some of the founding figures of the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, and could hardly have looked more hastily improvised.
It entailed the enlistment of Abu Muhammad al Maqdisi, the Zarqawi mentor and al-Qaeda grandee, to approach Turki al-Binali, the Islamic State’s chief ideologue and a former student of Maqdisi’s, even though the two men had fallen out due to Maqdisi’s criticism of the Islamic State. Maqdisi had already called for the state to extend mercy to Alan Henning, the British cabbie who had entered Syria to deliver aid to children. In December, The Guardian reported that the U.S. government, through an intermediary, had asked Maqdisi to intercede with the Islamic State on Kassig’s behalf.
Maqdisi was living freely in Jordan, but had been banned from communicating with terrorists abroad, and was being monitored closely. After Jordan granted the United States permission to reintroduce Maqdisi to Binali, Maqdisi bought a phone with American money and was allowed to correspond merrily with his former student for a few days, before the Jordanian government stopped the chats and used them as a pretext to jail Maqdisi. Kassig’s severed head appeared in the Dabiq video a few days later.
Maqdisi gets mocked roundly on Twitter by the Islamic State’s fans, and al‑Qaeda is held in great contempt for refusing to acknowledge the caliphate. Cole Bunzel, a scholar who studies Islamic State ideology, read Maqdisi’s opinion on Henning’s status and thought it would hasten his and other captives’ death. “If I were held captive by the Islamic State and Maqdisi said I shouldn’t be killed,” he told me, “I’d kiss my ass goodbye.”
Kassig’s death was a tragedy, but the plan’s success would have been a bigger one. A reconciliation between Maqdisi and Binali would have begun to heal the main rift between the world’s two largest jihadist organizations. It’s possible that the government wanted only to draw out Binali for intelligence purposes or assassination. (Multiple attempts to elicit comment from the FBI were unsuccessful.) Regardless, the decision to play matchmaker for America’s two main terrorist antagonists reveals astonishingly poor judgment.
Chastened by our earlier indifference, we are now meeting the Islamic State via Kurdish and Iraqi proxy on the battlefield, and with regular air assaults. Those strategies haven’t dislodged the Islamic State from any of its major territorial possessions, although they’ve kept it from directly assaulting Baghdad and Erbil and slaughtering Shia and Kurds there.
Some observers have called for escalation, including several predictable voices from the interventionist right (Max Boot, Frederick Kagan), who have urged the deployment of tens of thousands of American soldiers. These calls should not be dismissed too quickly: an avowedly genocidal organization is on its potential victims’ front lawn, and it is committing daily atrocities in the territory it already controls.
One way to un-cast the Islamic State’s spell over its adherents would be to overpower it militarily and occupy the parts of Syria and Iraq now under caliphate rule. Al‑Qaeda is ineradicable because it can survive, cockroach-like, by going underground. The Islamic State cannot. If it loses its grip on its territory in Syria and Iraq, it will cease to be a caliphate.
Caliphates cannot exist as underground movements, because territorial authority is a requirement: take away its command of territory, and all those oaths of allegiance are no longer binding. Former pledges could of course continue to attack the West and behead their enemies, as freelancers. But the propaganda value of the caliphate would disappear, and with it the supposed religious duty to immigrate and serve it. If the United States were to invade, the Islamic State’s obsession with battle at Dabiq suggests that it might send vast resources there, as if in a conventional battle. If the state musters at Dabiq in full force, only to be routed, it might never recover.
And yet the risks of escalation are enormous. The biggest proponent of an American invasion is the Islamic State itself. The provocative videos, in which a black-hooded executioner addresses President Obama by name, are clearly made to draw America into the fight. An invasion would be a huge propaganda victory for jihadists worldwide: irrespective of whether they have given baya’a to the caliph, they all believe that the United States wants to embark on a modern-day Crusade and kill Muslims. Yet another invasion and occupation would confirm that suspicion, and bolster recruitment. Add the incompetence of our previous efforts as occupiers, and we have reason for reluctance. The rise of ISIS, after all, happened only because our previous occupation created space for Zarqawi and his followers. Who knows the consequences of another botched job?
Given everything we know about the Islamic State, continuing to slowly bleed it, through air strikes and proxy warfare, appears the best of bad military options. Neither the Kurds nor the Shia will ever subdue and control the whole Sunni heartland of Syria and Iraq—they are hated there, and have no appetite for such an adventure anyway. But they can keep the Islamic State from fulfilling its duty to expand. And with every month that it fails to expand, it resembles less the conquering state of the Prophet Muhammad than yet another Middle Eastern government failing to bring prosperity to its people.
The humanitarian cost of the Islamic State’s existence is high. But its threat to the United States is smaller than its all too frequent conflation with al-Qaeda would suggest. Al-Qaeda’s core is rare among jihadist groups for its focus on the “far enemy” (the West); most jihadist groups’ main concerns lie closer to home. That’s especially true of the Islamic State, precisely because of its ideology. It sees enemies everywhere around it, and while its leadership wishes ill on the United States, the application of Sharia in the caliphate and the expansion to contiguous lands are paramount. Baghdadi has said as much directly: in November he told his Saudi agents to “deal with the rafida [Shia] first … then al-Sulul [Sunni supporters of the Saudi monarchy] … before the crusaders and their bases.”
The foreign fighters (and their wives and children) have been traveling to the caliphate on one-way tickets: they want to live under true Sharia, and many want martyrdom. Doctrine, recall, requires believers to reside in the caliphate if it is at all possible for them to do so. One of the Islamic State’s less bloody videos shows a group of jihadists burning their French, British, and Australian passports. This would be an eccentric act for someone intending to return to blow himself up in line at the Louvre or to hold another chocolate shop hostage in Sydney.
A few “lone wolf” supporters of the Islamic State have attacked Western targets, and more attacks will come. But most of the attackers have been frustrated amateurs, unable to immigrate to the caliphate because of confiscated passports or other problems. Even if the Islamic State cheers these attacks—and it does in its propaganda—it hasn’t yet planned and financed one. (The Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris in January was principally an al‑Qaeda operation.) During his visit to Mosul in December, Jürgen Todenhöfer interviewed a portly German jihadist and asked whether any of his comrades had returned to Europe to carry out attacks. The jihadist seemed to regard returnees not as soldiers but as dropouts. “The fact is that the returnees from the Islamic State should repent from their return,” he said. “I hope they review their religion.”
Properly contained, the Islamic State is likely to be its own undoing. No country is its ally, and its ideology ensures that this will remain the case. The land it controls, while expansive, is mostly uninhabited and poor. As it stagnates or slowly shrinks, its claim that it is the engine of God’s will and the agent of apocalypse will weaken, and fewer believers will arrive. And as more reports of misery within it leak out, radical Islamist movements elsewhere will be discredited: No one has tried harder to implement strict Sharia by violence. This is what it looks like.
Even so, the death of the Islamic State is unlikely to be quick, and things could still go badly wrong: if the Islamic State obtained the allegiance of al‑Qaeda—increasing, in one swoop, the unity of its base—it could wax into a worse foe than we’ve yet seen. The rift between the Islamic State and al-Qaeda has, if anything, grown in the past few months; the December issue of Dabiq featured a long account of an al‑Qaeda defector who described his old group as corrupt and ineffectual, and Zawahiri as a distant and unfit leader. But we should watch carefully for a rapprochement.
Without a catastrophe such as this, however, or perhaps the threat of the Islamic State’s storming Erbil, a vast ground invasion would certainly make the situation worse.
V. Dissuasion
It would be facile, even exculpatory, to call the problem of the Islamic State “a problem with Islam.” The religion allows many interpretations, and Islamic State supporters are morally on the hook for the one they choose. And yet simply denouncing the Islamic State as un-Islamic can be counterproductive, especially if those who hear the message have read the holy texts and seen the endorsement of many of the caliphate’s practices written plainly within them.
Muslims can say that slavery is not legitimate now, and that crucifixion is wrong at this historical juncture. Many say precisely this. But they cannot condemn slavery or crucifixion outright without contradicting the Koran and the example of the Prophet. “The only principled ground that the Islamic State’s opponents could take is to say that certain core texts and traditional teachings of Islam are no longer valid,” Bernard Haykel says. That really would be an act of apostasy.
The Islamic State’s ideology exerts powerful sway over a certain subset of the population. Life’s hypocrisies and inconsistencies vanish in its face. Musa Cerantonio and the Salafis I met in London are unstumpable: no question I posed left them stuttering. They lectured me garrulously and, if one accepts their premises, convincingly. To call them un-Islamic appears, to me, to invite them into an argument that they would win. If they had been froth-spewing maniacs, I might be able to predict that their movement would burn out as the psychopaths detonated themselves or became drone-splats, one by one. But these men spoke with an academic precision that put me in mind of a good graduate seminar. I even enjoyed their company, and that frightened me as much as anything else.
non-muslims cannot tell Muslims how to practice their religion properly. But Muslims have long since begun this debate within their own ranks. “You have to have standards,” Anjem Choudary told me. “Somebody could claim to be a Muslim, but if he believes in homosexuality or drinking alcohol, then he is not a Muslim. There is no such thing as a nonpracticing vegetarian.”
There is, however, another strand of Islam that offers a hard-line alternative to the Islamic State—just as uncompromising, but with opposite conclusions. This strand has proved appealing to many Muslims cursed or blessed with a psychological longing to see every jot and tittle of the holy texts implemented as they were in the earliest days of Islam. Islamic State supporters know how to react to Muslims who ignore parts of the Koran: with takfir and ridicule. But they also know that some other Muslims read the Koran as assiduously as they do, and pose a real ideological threat.
Baghdadi is Salafi. The term Salafi has been villainized, in part because authentic villains have ridden into battle waving the Salafi banner. But most Salafis are not jihadists, and most adhere to sects that reject the Islamic State. They are, as Haykel notes, committed to expanding Dar al-Islam, the land of Islam, even, perhaps, with the implementation of monstrous practices such as slavery and amputation—but at some future point. Their first priority is personal purification and religious observance, and they believe anything that thwarts those goals—such as causing war or unrest that would disrupt lives and prayer and scholarship—is forbidden.
They live among us. Last fall, I visited the Philadelphia mosque of Breton Pocius, 28, a Salafi imam who goes by the name Abdullah. His mosque is on the border between the crime-ridden Northern Liberties neighborhood and a gentrifying area that one might call Dar al-Hipster; his beard allows him to pass in the latter zone almost unnoticed.
Pocius converted 15 years ago after a Polish Catholic upbringing in Chicago. Like Cerantonio, he talks like an old soul, exhibiting deep familiarity with ancient texts, and a commitment to them motivated by curiosity and scholarship, and by a conviction that they are the only way to escape hellfire. When I met him at a local coffee shop, he carried a work of Koranic scholarship in Arabic and a book for teaching himself Japanese. He was preparing a sermon on the obligations of fatherhood for the 150 or so worshipers in his Friday congregation.
Pocius said his main goal is to encourage a halal life for worshipers in his mosque. But the rise of the Islamic State has forced him to consider political questions that are usually very far from the minds of Salafis. “Most of what they’ll say about how to pray and how to dress is exactly what I’ll say in my masjid [mosque]. But when they get to questions about social upheaval, they sound like Che Guevara.”
When Baghdadi showed up, Pocius adopted the slogan “Not my khalifa.” “The times of the Prophet were a time of great bloodshed,” he told me, “and he knew that the worst possible condition for all people was chaos, especially within the umma [Muslim community].” Accordingly, Pocius said, the correct attitude for Salafis is not to sow discord by factionalizing and declaring fellow Muslims apostates.
Instead, Pocius—like a majority of Salafis—believes that Muslims should remove themselves from politics. These quietist Salafis, as they are known, agree with the Islamic State that God’s law is the only law, and they eschew practices like voting and the creation of political parties. But they interpret the Koran’s hatred of discord and chaos as requiring them to fall into line with just about any leader, including some manifestly sinful ones. “The Prophet said: as long as the ruler does not enter into clear kufr [disbelief], give him general obedience,” Pocius told me, and the classic “books of creed” all warn against causing social upheaval.
Quietist Salafis are strictly forbidden from dividing Muslims from one another—for example, by mass excommunication. Living without baya’a, Pocius said, does indeed make one ignorant, or benighted. But baya’a need not mean direct allegiance to a caliph, and certainly not to Abu Bakr al‑Baghdadi. It can mean, more broadly, allegiance to a religious social contract and commitment to a society of Muslims, whether ruled by a caliph or not.
Quietist Salafis believe that Muslims should direct their energies toward perfecting their personal life, including prayer, ritual, and hygiene. Much in the same way ultra-Orthodox Jews debate whether it’s kosher to tear off squares of toilet paper on the Sabbath (does that count as “rending cloth”?), they spend an inordinate amount of time ensuring that their trousers are not too long, that their beards are trimmed in some areas and shaggy in others.
Through this fastidious observance, they believe, God will favor them with strength and numbers, and perhaps a caliphate will arise. At that moment, Muslims will take vengeance and, yes, achieve glorious victory at Dabiq. But Pocius cites a slew of modern Salafi theologians who argue that a caliphate cannot come into being in a righteous way except through the unmistakable will of God.
The Islamic State, of course, would agree, and say that God has anointed Baghdadi. Pocius’s retort amounts to a call to humility. He cites Abdullah Ibn Abbas, one of the Prophet’s companions, who sat down with dissenters and asked them how they had the gall, as a minority, to tell the majority that it was wrong. Dissent itself, to the point of bloodshed or splitting theumma, was forbidden. Even the manner of the establishment of Baghdadi’s caliphate runs contrary to expectation, he said. “The khilafa is something that Allah is going to establish,” he told me, “and it will involve a consensus of scholars from Mecca and Medina. That is not what happened. ISIS came out of nowhere.”
The Islamic State loathes this talk, and its fanboys tweet derisively about quietist Salafis. They mock them as “Salafis of menstruation,” for their obscure judgments about when women are and aren’t clean, and other low-priority aspects of life. “What we need now is fatwa about how it’s haram [forbidden] to ride a bike on Jupiter,” one tweeted drily. “That’s what scholars should focus on. More pressing than state of Ummah.” Anjem Choudary, for his part, says that no sin merits more vigorous opposition than the usurpation of God’s law, and that extremism in defense of monotheism is no vice.
Pocius doesn’t court any kind of official support from the United States, as a counterweight to jihadism. Indeed, official support would tend to discredit him, and in any case he is bitter toward America for treating him, in his words, as “less than a citizen.” (He alleges that the government paid spies to infiltrate his mosque and harassed his mother at work with questions about his being a potential terrorist.)
Still, his quietist Salafism offers an Islamic antidote to Baghdadi-style jihadism. The people who arrive at the faith spoiling for a fight cannot all be stopped from jihadism, but those whose main motivation is to find an ultraconservative, uncompromising version of Islam have an alternative here. It is not moderate Islam; most Muslims would consider it extreme. It is, however, a form of Islam that the literal-minded would not instantly find hypocritical, or blasphemously purged of its inconveniences. Hypocrisy is not a sin that ideologically minded young men tolerate well.
Western officials would probably do best to refrain from weighing in on matters of Islamic theological debate altogether. Barack Obama himself drifted into takfiri waters when he claimed that the Islamic State was “not Islamic”—the irony being that he, as the non-Muslim son of a Muslim, may himself be classified as an apostate, and yet is now practicing takfir against Muslims. Non-Muslims’ practicing takfir elicits chuckles from jihadists (“Like a pig covered in feces giving hygiene advice to others,” one tweeted).
I suspect that most Muslims appreciated Obama’s sentiment: the president was standing with them against both Baghdadi and non-Muslim chauvinists trying to implicate them in crimes. But most Muslims aren’t susceptible to joining jihad. The ones who are susceptible will only have had their suspicions confirmed: the United States lies about religion to serve its purposes.
within the narrow bounds of its theology, the Islamic State hums with energy, even creativity. Outside those bounds, it could hardly be more arid and silent: a vision of life as obedience, order, and destiny. Musa Cerantonio and Anjem Choudary could mentally shift from contemplating mass death and eternal torture to discussing the virtues of Vietnamese coffee or treacly pastry, with apparent delight in each, yet to me it seemed that to embrace their views would be to see all the flavors of this world grow insipid compared with the vivid grotesqueries of the hereafter.
I could enjoy their company, as a guilty intellectual exercise, up to a point. In reviewing Mein Kampf in March 1940, George Orwell confessed that he had “never been able to dislike Hitler”; something about the man projected an underdog quality, even when his goals were cowardly or loathsome. “If he were killing a mouse he would know how to make it seem like a dragon.” The Islamic State’s partisans have much the same allure. They believe that they are personally involved in struggles beyond their own lives, and that merely to be swept up in the drama, on the side of righteousness, is a privilege and a pleasure—especially when it is also a burden.
Fascism, Orwell continued, is
psychologically far sounder than any hedonistic conception of life … Whereas Socialism, and even capitalism in a more grudging way, have said to people “I offer you a good time,” Hitler has said to them, “I offer you struggle, danger, and death,” and as a result a whole nation flings itself at his feet … We ought not to underrate its emotional appeal.
Nor, in the case of the Islamic State, its religious or intellectual appeal. That the Islamic State holds the imminent fulfillment of prophecy as a matter of dogma at least tells us the mettle of our opponent. It is ready to cheer its own near-obliteration, and to remain confident, even when surrounded, that it will receive divine succor if it stays true to the Prophetic model. Ideological tools may convince some potential converts that the group’s message is false, and military tools can limit its horrors. But for an organization as impervious to persuasion as the Islamic State, few measures short of these will matter, and the war may be a long one, even if it doesn’t last until the end of time.
Graeme Wood is a contributing editor at The Atlantic. His personal site is gcaw.net.
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It would hardly surprise anyone there are more international students who study in the United States than in any other country around the world. The number of Indian students in the United States has doubled since 2012-13, the 2018 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange shows. As of 2017-18, there were 1,96,271 Indian students in the US, up 5.4 per cent from last year, and more than twice the 96,734 in 2012-13.
Top universities in the USA
US universities dominate the QS World University Rankings, with 157 institutions ranked in total (QS Rankings, 2019), including 11 in the top 20. The top 4 universities in the world, in fact, are in the US.
Here are the top universities in the USA:
One of the world’s most reputed institutions in the sphere of science, engineering, and technology, is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT. For the seventh-year in a row, the institution has stood at the top of QS World Rankings for Universities.
Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the University has over 11000 undergraduate and postgraduate students, including an impressive ration of international student, studying at its sprawling campus comprising five schools (architecture and planning; engineering; humanities, arts, and social sciences; management; science).
Based in the start-up hub of the world – Silicon Valley in California – it is no surprise that alumni from the Stanford University have gone on to be founders of some of the world’s biggest companies like Netflix, YouTube, WhatsApp and Google. Stanford is renowned for its entrepreneurial spirit and business courses and has been nicknamed the “billionaire factory” for its credentials. It has been rated as the second-best university in the United States, as well as the world.
One of the oldest universities in the world, as well as one of the most prestigious, Harvard University, is renowned for its world-class courses in a range of subjects – from law and medicine to business and social sciences. Over 21,000 students, including over 2,000 international students, study at Harvard, one of the three top universities in the world.
US University, USA Colleges, USA University, US Educational Institutions, United States University, United States of America College
Over one million international students are studying in the universities of the United States, making it the world’s leading study destination for international students. Image source: gettyimages.in
California Institute of Technology (CalTech)
California Institute of Technology, or CalTech, is a leading tech school, located in the city of Pasadena, California. The university offers excellent research facilities and produces very high research output each year. Devoted entirely to the technical arts and applied sciences, the University has a very competitive admission process, ensuring that only the brightest candidates get to study here.
Established in 1890, the University of Chicago is well-known for its strong focus on research, and its reputed professional schools for medicine (Pritzker), business (Booth), and public policy studies (Harris). It is one of the most reputed universities in the USA, outside the Ivy league schools.
Founded in 1746, Princeton is one of the oldest universities in the US. It is well-renowned for its arts and humanities faculties. Spread across 500 acres, Princeton’s main campus in New Jersey is home to over 10000 students, with over 12 per cent international students, and is considered one of the most beautiful college campuses in the United States.
Based in Ithaca, New York, Cornell University is a co-educational, non-sectarian institution where admission is not restricted by religion or race – one of the principles it has stood by since being set up in 1865. It has an excellent program in veterinary medicine, ranked the second-best in the world, and was, in fact, the first university in the US to award a veterinary medicine degree.
An Ivy League University, situated in New Haven, Connecticut, Yale University was founded in 1701. It is a private research university and awarded the first PhD in the US in 1861. It is also renowned for its prestigious law school, one of the toughest law courses to get admission to.
Columbia was established in 1754 and has produced many notable alumni, including the former American President, Barrack Obama. A private Ivy League research university, Columbia is situated in Upper Manhattan, New York City, and has one of the lowest acceptance rates in the world for its undergraduate programs.
One of the top 20 universities in the world, the University of Pennsylvania also belongs to the Ivy League. The university was founded by one of the founding fathers of the USA, Benjamin Franklin. The school is known for its focus on diversity, as can be seen in its student population, 46 per cent of which is Black, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American, and an unprecedented 54 per cent of which are women.
The curriculum in the United States universities is divided into semesters. The varsities here have 4 periods of admission when students can join the university. These are spring (January/February), fall (August/September), summer (April/May), and winter (December). Most universities have their intake in the Fall Semester, while many are also open for spring. A few universities take in students during winter and summer sessions too.
Considering the stringent eligibility criteria, the tomes of documentation and applications to be filed, competitive exams to be taken, and the time required to gather your finances, it is usually advisable to start the application process at least a year in advance.
As a feature of it being the most popular destination for studies, the US is also the most expensive in terms of education, especially for international students. Here’s what you can expect to spend on your studies in the USA:
Tuition is usually quite steep for the top universities and courses and can go upwards of $50,000 for a year. There is a lot of variation, obviously, depending upon the university, state, city, and course. Be prepared to shell out an average tuition of $30000 per year though. The good news? Many universities offer bursaries or financial aid depending on the need of international students, reducing the tuition as per the financial capabilities of the students.
Expenses can vary depending on your city and location. In general, states in the US Midwest region are less expensive to live in than those in the East and North East. Off-campus accommodation can range from $500 a month for an apartment in a rural area, to up to $3,000 a month for an apartment in the cities. On-campus accommodation is typically in dormitories with shared bathrooms and sleeping arrangements. On average, university accommodation can cost you around $10,000 for a year.
Apart from accommodation, also be prepared to foot the bill for utilities (if you’re living off-campus). Electricity can be about $50-100 per month, while depending on the area you are staying in, you may also require central heating ($100-200 per month). The cost of groceries can vary depending on your diet but generally stand at around $20-60 per week. A meal at a restaurant can be from $10 (at a McDonald’s) up to $50. Do not forget to tip, either, if you eat at a restaurant. You would also be expected to spend up to $1500 per year on college supplies and textbooks.
With such high costs for studying in USA, it is extremely important for students to receive funding from other sources such as scholarships. Thankfully, the admission department at the university you get into can help with scholarships available at the university, including need-based financial aid. There are many other scholarship opportunities that Indian students can apply for.
Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowships
Particulars: For highly motivated graduates and post-graduates from India who wish to pursue their post-graduate studies in the United States must demonstrate leadership skills and a track record of community service, along with a good command over the English language.
Eligibility: Graduation
Award: Tuition, visa, airfare, living costs, insurance
Inlaks Scholarships
Particulars: Especially for Indian citizens seeking to study abroad in the US or Europe, must have secured an admission at a US university and be less than 30 years of age at the time of applying.
Eligibility: Good first degree
Award: Full US Scholarship and covers the entire tuition fees, travelling and living expenses (up to $100000)
Narotam Sekhsaria Scholarship
Particulars: Especially for Indian students looking to pursue a postgraduate degree from a reputable and prestigious institution in India or abroad, must be below 30 years of age, be pursuing their postgraduate studies in the fields of Pure Sciences, Applied Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities, Law, Architecture or Management.
Eligibility: Graduates
Award: Rs 20 lakh
KC Mahindra scholarships for Post-Graduate Studies abroad
Particulars: To students in India who wish to pursue their post-graduation overseas in any field.
Eligibility: Graduates with admission in a US University
Award: Interest free loans of up to Rs 8 lakh to the top 3 selected scholars, and up to Rs 4 lakh for the remaining scholars
JN Tata Endowment Fund
Particulars: Indian students who are below the age of 45, willing to pursue full-time Postgraduate/Ph.D./Postdoctoral studies abroad in any field.
Award: Loan of Rs 10 lakh at a nominal interest rate of 2 per cent, which can also be waived off if the student repays the loan timely.
Tata Scholarship-Cornell University
Particulars: Offered by the Tata Education and Development Trust to Indian class 12 passed students, admitted to Cornell University.
Eligibility: Admitted to Cornell undergraduation program
Award: Full Scholarship for the undergraduate program
Stanford Reliance Dhirubhai fellowship
Particulars: For Indian nationals residing in India who have been admitted to the MBA program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Eligibility: Admitted to Stanford MBA
Award: 80 per cent of tuition and associated fees
Chicago Booth MBA scholarships
Particulars: Three scholarships especially for Indians (Akhtarali H. Tobaccowala Fellowship, Ramakrishnan Family Scholarship, Indian Trust Fellowship) that offer tuition fee support to Indians for the full-time MBA course.
Eligibility: Admitted to Chicago Booth full-time MBA programme
Award: Variable – from $10,000 to full tuition
National Overseas scholarship
Particulars: Set up by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment caters exclusively to SC/ST students- Meritorious graduate and post graduate students from India belonging to the scheduled castes or tribes – pursuing a post graduate or PhD degree in the United States.
Eligibility: Graduates and Post Graduates, belonging to SC/ST
Award: Tuition Fee, Insurance Premium, Visa, Maintenance Allowance
AAUW International fellowship
Particulars: The American Association of University Women (AAUW) international fellowship exclusively for women studying in the US who are non-citizens or permanent residents.
Eligibility: Indian women graduates
Award: Master’s course or a first professional degree = $18000, doctoral studies = $20000, post-doctoral studies = $30000
Lady Meherbai D Tata Education scholarship
Particulars: Tata Education Trust – exclusively for Indian women pursuing higher education in the US, UK, or Europe – must be admitted to a course in one of the fields of study included under the program, namely, social work, social sciences, education, gender studies, child health, public health, rural development work, communication of development.
Award: Financial support
Available Student Visa for US
For all international students who wish to study in the USA, obtaining a student visa is compulsory. Applying for a US student visa can be quite complicated, as it is with most immigration processes, and requires you to prepare well in advance – at least three to five months before your course is due to start.
Types of US Student Visas
The most common student visa for international students is the F1 Visa, which is mandatory for all full-time students for an academic course. Students with F-1 visas can work on-campus for 20 hours a week or less.
This visa is applicable for international exchange visitors participating in programs in the US. Exchange students, research fellows, and working professionals visiting the US for short courses or programs fall under this category.
M1 Visa
The M1 visa is a type of student visa reserved for vocational and technical schools. M-1 students are admitted to the US for a fixed time period – the length of their training program plus any Optional Practical Training. They must not stay in the US for longer than one year except in the case of extensions due to medical reasons and are not allowed to work in the US.
– With inputs from Buddy4Study.com
Education Of Aboroad
Study in Canada: Top universities, academic cycle
Study in UK : List of top colleges and
Study In UK: Scholarship Options For Students
Study Abroad: Application Invited For 2019
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Goal 1: No Poverty
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Goal 4: Quality Education
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Using Machine Learning on Satellite Images to Map Poverty
A machine-learning algorithm can be trained to detect specific features in satellite images, such as roofing material, in order to map the spatial distribution of poverty. Photo credit: ADB.
A study examines the feasibility of applying computer vision techniques to satellite data of the Philippines and Thailand to produce poverty maps.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) comprise 169 specific, time-bound, and measurable targets for 2030 to leave no one behind. The SDGs carry forward and extend global efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for attaining socioeconomic development, with disaggregation by different dimensions, such as age, sex, geographic areas, and income. Collecting and compiling these indicators translate to enormous work for national statistical systems (NSSs) across different nations.
Moreover, financial resources from bilateral grants and multi-donor trust funds for supporting statistical programs are limited and sparse (PARIS21, 2017). National governments may also not have enough budget to finance statistical development programs for various reasons. In view of scarce resources, many NSSs resort to alternative methods to meet the growing demand for SDG data along with other emerging data requirements for development planning.
In countries in Asia and the Pacific, geographic disaggregation is available for a number of SDG indicators. However, data disaggregation is limited for some SDG indicators by sex, and it is also hardly available for other marginalized groups, such as persons with disabilities and indigenous people. This is based on the results of a survey of national statistical offices (NSOs) conducted in 2017 by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). The survey further reveals that NSOs recognize that the possible solution to addressing the data granularity of the SDGs is the use of innovative data sources and techniques, particularly big data, to augment conventional data collection vehicles and methodologies. Findings from the 2017 ADB/UNESCAP survey also confirm that more than half of responding NSOs from ADB member countries are using small area estimation techniques to generate more granular statistics, particularly on poverty and to some extent, on population.
Conventional small area estimation methods, particularly those used in poverty mapping, combine data from household surveys with census. Statistical models are estimated by regressing the main characteristic of interest (e.g., income or consumption for poverty mapping) that is available from a survey with explanatory variables that are both available from both the survey and census data. After model estimation, out-of-sample prediction is undertaken using the values from the census data to produce imputed values for each record in the census data. The resulting imputed values facilitate data granularity. Complexities arise when the survey and census data have reference periods that are distant from each other. Furthermore, timeliness also becomes an issue when the required surveys and census data are not collected frequently.
A knowledge initiative called Data for Development is exploring the integration of traditional and innovative data sources and the application of artificial intelligence to enhance the granularity of poverty statistics. The ongoing initiative is being managed by the Asian Development Bank’s Statistics and Data Innovation Unit, in collaboration with World Data Lab, the Philippine Statistics Authority, and National Statistics Office of Thailand.
An Alternative Method Using Earth Observation Data
Earth observations from satellite platforms are an excellent example of a data source, which NSOs do not typically use to compile official poverty statistics. Other types of innovative data sources can also facilitate enhanced poverty statistics compilation; however, satellite imagery’s main advantage over them is that it is easier to access and less prone to geographic selection bias as it presumably covers even remote areas.
To extract meaningful information from satellite imagery, we can capitalize on three fields of artificial intelligence: machine learning, deep learning, and computer vision.
Machine learning is a term used to describe algorithms that are designed to automatically learn from data and make responsive decisions, rather than using preprogrammed rules.
Deep learning is attributed to those machine-learning algorithms that follow a logical sequence inspired by how a human brain would make decisions.
Computer vision is an element of machine learning that deals with how computers develop high-level understanding of patterns depicted in digital images.
The images in the figure below illustrate what a machine-learning algorithm can do in a task based on computer vision. In this instance, the computer vision is a digital scan of a numeric character, which may have been written down by a person. Humans can easily recognize the image as the number “7.” A computer, on the other hand, sees the image simply as an area comprising different abstract patterns or “features.” To make the image meaningful to a computer, we need to train the computer to spot specific features and assign them to a particular category. In the second image, the machine-learning algorithm filters horizontal edges, while in the third, it filters vertical edges. These simple geometric filters constitute the initial steps or layers of a deep-learning algorithm. Progressively, as the algorithm’s learning process deepens, it can eventually filter more complicated features in an image. Rather than edges or simple shapes, the more advanced layers of the algorithm can filter more sophisticated patterns until the algorithm is able to classify them into their appropriate categories.
Figure 1 : Illustration of a Computer Vision Task
Source: Graphics generated by study team.
To successfully recognize specific features and identify what is featured in an image and hence its classification, a deep-learning algorithm needs volumes and volumes of “labelled” images to train on. A labelled image is one in which we already know its classification. In the context of poverty estimation, labelled images at granular levels are limited as most poverty statistics compiled by NSOs are available at national, regional, or provincial levels and are insufficient to train an algorithm to successfully predict poverty.
To address this issue, Stanford researchers proposed a transfer learning approach in which, instead of training an algorithm to predict poverty outright from daytime satellite imagery, an algorithm is first trained to predict the intensity of night lights.[1] Using data on night lights as a proxy for economic development is arguably valid if it is assumed that places that are brighter at night are generally more economically developed than those places that are less well lit. The advantage of training an algorithm to predict intensity of night lights is that sources of data, particularly satellite imagery, are readily accessible and can cost-effectively provide large volumes of labelled images on which to train an algorithm. The result is significantly more granular data than those available through conventional poverty estimates. Without explicitly instructing the computer what to look for, a deep-learning algorithm can learn to pick out many features that are easily recognizable to the human eye—such as roads or bridges, buildings, cars, or agricultural land—which are correlated with the intensity of night lights. Once the algorithm has learned to associate specific features of an image with different levels of intensity of night lights, the knowledge can be transferred to predict poverty.
[1] There are studies that use information about night lights to predict poverty. Others use specific image features, such as roofing material, to predict poverty. The method described here is more comprehensive as it uses more features of daytime imagery to map the spatial distribution of poverty. Results from our analytical exercise suggest that the latter yields better predictive performance.
To examine the feasibility of applying this method in the context of the Philippines and Thailand, we used publicly available satellite images as we think such an approach may be attractive to NSOs that are just beginning to explore these innovative data sources and methods, and hence, greatly increases the applicability of the approach to other areas where NSOs are working on.
The results are generally encouraging. In the first step, we find that our adopted computer vision technique, i.e., Convolutional Neural Network (ConvNet), is able to infer satisfactorily from features of daytime imagery the intensity of night lights (see table below).
Table 1: Prediction Accuracy of Convolutional Neural Network
Thailand Philippines
0.85785 0.85219 0.94150 0.93500
However, as explained earlier, prediction of night lights intensity is just an intermediate step to address the lack of poverty data, which we can use to train a computer vision algorithm. As a second step, we extracted the features within the satellite images that were used in predicting the night light intensity. This was a fairly straightforward process as these features were viewed numerically by the ConvNet as complex mathematical functions. We aggregated these data by taking the average values of these mathematical functions at the same level where our poverty data are available. Then, we regressed the poverty data on the aggregated image data using ridge regression. The resulting predictions were generally aligned with the government-published poverty estimates after calibration.
There are aspects in our adopted method that could be further improved. For instance, we note that the resolution of the input imagery has an effect on the quality of the outputs, and higher-resolution imagery is associated with better predictive performance. Hence, scaling up from exploratory studies to more rigorous poverty mapping initiatives can potentially benefit from high resolution imagery that are commercially available, as well as from more sophisticated computing tools.
Another key consideration is the granularity of input data used in training the algorithm. In this study, we showed that for periods when small area poverty estimates are available, the predictive performance is satisfactory. However, there are indications that the algorithm’s predictive performance is lower if more updated, albeit less granular, poverty data from only household income and expenditure surveys are used,. This is probably because of the relatively small sample sizes of these surveys. This is an important caveat for future research, especially when only household survey data are available as input data for training an algorithm.
Asian Development Bank (ADB). 2020. Mapping Poverty Through Data Integration and Artificial Intelligence—Special Supplement to Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific. Manila.
ADB. 2020. Introduction to Small Area Estimation Techniques—A Practical Guide for National Statistics Offices. Manila.
I. Goodfellow, Y. Bengio, and A. Courville. 2016. Deep Learning. MIT Press.
N. Jean et al. 2016. Combining Satellite Imagery and Machine Learning to Predict Poverty. Science, 353(6301): 790–794.
Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century. 2017. Partner Report on Support to Statistics Press 2017. Paris.
United Nations. 2020. Global Indicator Framework for the Sustainable Development Goals and Targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Arturo Martinez, Jr.
Statistician, Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department, Asian Development Bank
Art Martinez works on Sustainable Development Goals indicator compilation, particularly poverty statistics and big data analytics. Prior to joining ADB, he was a research fellow at the University of Queensland where he also got his doctorate in Social Statistics.
Asian Development Bank (ADB)
The Asian Development Bank is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region. Its main instruments for helping its developing member countries are policy dialogue, loans, equity investments, guarantees, grants, and technical assistance.
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Health, News
Lagos to adopt one health model to tackle biological threats
Posted on May 14, 2019 by Encomium
The Commissioner for Health in Lagos State, Dr. Jide Idris has disclosed that the State Government is developing a Bio-banking capacity and a Bio-security framework along the lines of the One Health model and the Global Health Security Agenda for optimal health outcomes.
Idris, who made the disclosure today at a conference on Biosecurity and One Health at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Ikeja, explained that the global approach in the preparedness and response to emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases involves the implementation of One Health model as part of the Biosecurity agenda of the State.
He stated that One Health recognises the interconnection between people, animals, plants and their shared environment, adding that it also documents that six out of every 10 infectious diseases in humans are transmitted from animals.
“One Health recognises that the health of the people is connected to the health of animals and the environment. It is a collaborative, multi-sectoral, trans-disciplinary approach operating at the Local, State, National and Global levels with the goal of achieving optimal health outcomes”, he said.
The Commissioner observed that Lagos being a fast-growing megacity, the likelihood of proliferation of biological agents that could threaten the wellbeing of the inhabitants would greatly impact on its stability economically, socially and even politically.
“It becomes mandatory for the State Government to design and implement an urgent health care agenda, policy and legal framework to establish its biosecurity and research capability, without which the State will not be able to mount an effective prevention and containment response to biosecurity threats”, he stated.
He hinted that lessons learnt from the Ebola outbreak in 2014, led to the inauguration of the State Ebola Virus Disease Research Initiative (SEVDRI) Committee with the mandate to conduct research for the development of prevention, control and management measures to mitigate against a future outbreak of the disease.
Idris revealed that one of the recommendations of the Committee was the establishment of a Biosafety Level 3 Laboratory which, according to him, led ultimately to the collaboration with Global Partnership Programme (GPP), Canada.
The collaboration, the Commissioner explained, resulted in the establishment and commissioning of the Lagos State Biobank, a facility that would provide a safe storage of biological and environmental samples, enhance prompt diagnosis of infectious diseases, and act as a research centre for cutting edge researches for researchers within and outside Nigeria for improvement of global public health.
The Commissioner emphasised the need for collaborative efforts with Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC), Nigerian Institute of Medical Research as well as other relevant stakeholders to achieve overall success.
He assured that Lagos, as a responsible government with a vision, would continue to build capacities of health workers, engage the community and do other things which are very necessary to bolster the health of the citizenry regardless of age, gender, religious, ethnic or political affiliation.
Earlier, in her remarks, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr. Titilayo Goncalves reiterated the commitment of the State Government to continuously put in place proactive strategic planning to improve the health of Lagosians. She urged participants to be crusaders of preparedness for action during an epidemic emergency.
Highlights of the conference were presentations by Professor Akin Abayomi on Biothreat management; Professor Nusirat Elelu on Diagnosis, One Health and Epidemics while Professor Akin Osibogun conducted the Interactive and Panel Sessions with focus on Role of Lagos State Biobanking and Biosecurity Governance Council, One Health and Disease Prevention, Parameters for funding, research, access, innovation, commercialisation and return of results as well as implications of the 4IR on Biobanking and Biosecurity.
Present at the one-day conference were the representatives of the World Health Organisation, Dr Sam Yenyi; the United States Centre for Disease Control team led by Daniel Duvall; Clinton Health Advocacy Initiative (CHAI); MAMAYE, UNICEF, Directors from the State Public Service, Biosecurity experts, traditional rulers and Community Development Associations amongst others.
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Home » Arts and Literature » Literature » Narrative Fiction » Ellen Tarry
Alabama Literature
This Goodly Land: Alabama's Literary Landscape
Ellen Tarry
James C. Hall, University of Alabama
Author Ellen Tarry (1906-2008) was born and raised in Birmingham, and got her start as a writer working for the Birmingham Truth, an African American newspaper, in the late 1920s. Later a minor figure in the Harlem Renaissance, Tarry authored children's books and also had a rich and varied career as a social worker and a social service administrator and was a founder of Friendship House in Chicago. Most assessments of her writing career argue that her most important work was her autobiography, The Third Door: The Autobiography of an American Negro Woman, published in 1955. Though marginal in most accounts of the history of African American literature, she maintained important friendships with many major figures in that field, including Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, James Weldon Johnson, and most notably poet Claude McKay.
Ellen Tarry was born September 26, 1906, and raised in a middle-class family in the African American Sixth Avenue neighborhood. Her father, John Tarry, was a prosperous barber and a deacon at First Congregational Church, and her mother, Eula Meadows Tarry, was a seamstress; she had two sisters. Tarry's father planned often to move the family to Chicago to find increased economic and social opportunities, but he died before any such plans could come to fruition. In Birmingham, Tarry graduated from Slater School and spent a year at Industrial High School. She left Alabama in 1921 after her father's death to study at St. Francis de Sales, a Catholic boarding school in Rock Castle, Virginia. This time outside segregated Birmingham was crucial to Tarry, a young woman imagining rich horizons for herself and a life that exceeded the traditional limits placed upon black women in the first half of the twentieth century. The experience at St. Francis also began a process in which she converted to Roman Catholicism in 1922, embracing its social mission but breaking a promise to her father that she would not become Catholic.
Tarry graduated from the school in 1923 and returned to Alabama. She then studied at the State Normal School for Negroes (present-day Alabama State University) in Montgomery, hoping to enter the teaching profession. Between 1925 and 1929, Tarry held a variety of substitute and full-time teaching positions in Birmingham schools for African Americans, including the Slater School. The closing of that institution and a new unsatisfactory teaching appointment prompted Tarry to focus on becoming a writer. Tarry shared some sketches she had written for her students with Guillermo Tallifero, the editor of The Birmingham Truth, and he gave her the opportunity for which she had been waiting. In 1929, she began to write a regular column known as "Negroes of Note," in which she celebrated key figures in African American history but also criticized racial segregation and discrimination.
Tarry moved to New York City in 1929 with the goal of entering Columbia University's journalism school. The early years of the Great Depression, however, made it impossible for her to enroll in classes, and she made ends meet by working as a waitress, elevator operator, and nanny. Being a light-skinned African American, she would later describe her internal conflicts about "passing" as a white but informing potential employers of her race despite badly needing work. At the same time, she slowly became a fixture among the group of African American intellectuals who belonged to what scholars have termed the Harlem Renaissance. She developed important relationships with journalist Roi Ottley and poet Claude McKay, became a member of the Negro Writers' Guild, and wrote for the Amsterdam News, a well-known African American weekly. The relationship with McKay led to a children's literature fellowship with progressive education reformer Lucy Sprague Mitchell, and allowed her to mingle in progressive education circles and begin work on her first book. During this time, she also became active in Roman Catholic intellectual and social action groups in Harlem, most importantly with Catherine de Hueck and her Friendship House missionary project. Tarry lectured informally at Friendship House and was eventually invited to launch a Chicago branch. After overseeing the launch of the Chicago Friendship House, she returned to New York toward the end of World War II and worked for the National Catholic Community Service—United Service Organizations, or USO. Sometime in the mid-1940s, Tarry was secretly and briefly married, a union that produced a daughter in November 1944. Throughout the decade, she became increasingly involved in Roman Catholic race relations and was an important broker in helping the U.S. church modernize and prepare for desegregation in later decades.
By the end of the 1940s, Tarry had completed three children's books (Janie Belle, Hezekiah Horton, and My Dog Rinty) that were well received and would assure her of a lasting place in the American children's literature canon. At this time, she began also to write a memoir in which she acknowledged the specific and real limitations of racial prejudice while also affirming the idea that individual acts could create new circumstances. It is an important autobiography that documented her rich life experiences in Alabama, Chicago, and New York. Compared to other African American autobiographies written at mid-century, The Third Door, published in 1955 after the 1954 Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education decision, was distinctly optimistic and hopeful in its outlook. Its rich summation suggested that there was a new, deeply spiritual pathway opening up for Americans in a post-racial society. In the afterword to the 1966 edition, however, she expresses some dismay that her fairly utopian vision had remained unfulfilled.
During the 1960s, Tarry participated in two iconic civil rights events, the 1963 March on Washington and the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery. She also wrote three religious biographies: Martin de Porres: Saint of the New World (1963); The Other Toussaint: A Modern Biography of Pierre Toussaint, a Post-Revolutionary Black (1981); and Pierre Toussaint: Apostle of Old New York (1998), while continuing to write children's literature late into her life. While in New York, she also worked for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's regional office. Tarry died at the age of 101 in New York City on September 23, 2008.
Tarry has remained a unique figure in the literary tradition of Alabama because of the many ways in which she bridged and connected diverse experiences. Prior to her death, she had been honored by the National Black Arts Festival as a "Living Legend" for her positive portrayal of African Americans in childrens' books and also by the Catholic Church for her work on behalf of that institution.
Works by Ellen Tarry
Janie Belle (1940)
Hezekiah Horton (1942)
My Dog Rinty (1946)
The Runaway Elephant (1950)
The Third Door: The Autobiography of an American Negro Woman (1955)
Katharine Drexel: Friend of the Neglected (1958) later revised as Saint Katharine Drexel
Martin de Porres: Saint of the New World (1963)
Young Jim: The Early Years of James Weldon Johnson (1967)
The Other Toussaint: A Modern Biography of Pierre Toussaint, a Post-Revolutionary Black (1981)
Pierre Toussaint: Apostle of Old New York (1998)
Friend of the Oppressed (2000)
Brown, Stephanie. "Bourgeois Blackness and Autobiographical Authenticity in Ellen Tarry's The Third Door." African American Review 41 (Fall 2007): 557-70.
Capshaw Smith, Katherine. "From Bank Street to Harlem: A Conversation with Ellen Tarry." The Lion and the Unicorn 23 (April 1999): 271-285.
Published: November 22, 2010 |  Last updated: August 14, 2013
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First-ever Agro Technology Park at Hungama
The first-ever Agro Technology Park in Sri Lanka set up at Bata Atha, Hungama in the Hambantota district, trains paddy farmers on modern technological farming methods, which cover machine paddy plant transplanting, parachute method of paddy cultivation, hand transplanting and also traditional methods of transplanting.
The facility was established on the initiative of the then minister of agriculture, Chamal Rajapaksa and hence, it was named ‘Chamal Rajapaksa AgroTechnology Park’. It was set up by the information and communication center of the department of agriculture as a tribute to the farming community.
The assistant director of agriculture, K. R. W. Keerthi, the OIC of the park, said that the idea behind the setting up this agro technological complex was to provide knowledge and new technological techniques to the farming community and also to make tvisiting tourists aware of the traditional methods of farming.
He said that an orchard has been set up to grow under utilized fruit such as Veralu, Uguressa, Madan, Hibatu, Galsiyabala, Anoda and Nelli. In addition, papaya, mango, pineapple and rambutan are also grown.
The assistant director said that a model traditional chena has been created, where maize, cowpea and kurakkan are cultivated throughout the year. In the garden, there is a variety of wet and dry zone flowers. At the commercial vegetable cultivation unit, dry and wet zone vegetables are cultivated successfully despite the dry weather conditions in Hambantota district by using a sprinkler water system. A traditional home garden is also being maintained.
This agro technology park has proved to be a boon to the farming community not only in Hambantota district but also to those in neighboring districts, Keerthi explained.
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EVR Asbestos Removal
Books On Asbestos
Asbestos and Mesothelioma in the Future
The main cause of the deadly cancer mesothelioma is asbestos exposure. But it’s not just mesothelioma that asbestos causes, but many other diseases as well. Even though most of the world powers, and many other countries have banned asbestos, it is still in use by much of the world. Almost fifty countries banned asbestos use in the 1970s; but still, millions of tons of asbestos are used every year.
Asbestos does have a lot of great qualities. It is heat and fire resistant, great at insulation, and soft. Along with all this, it is a very cheap building material. Sounds great, doesn’t it? That’s why it was used so much, and was even called a “miracle mineral” at one point. But it has been found to cause many deadly diseases, and because of this, its use was mostly stopped. The military also used it a lot while it was common, and now military families have to bear a disproportionate burden of asbestos related disease.
In the United States, the use of asbestos is allowed in many ways, but must be limited to the general public. Because of this, the way asbestos is used in office buildings and homes has changed a lot. Many laws have been made around the world to ban the use of asbestos in new developments. Since the time when asbestos use was at its highest, alternatives for asbestos have been found.
One alternative to asbestos is flour fillers. One of the prized qualities of asbestos was its insulating properties. Flour fillers are becoming an important substitute for asbestos. It can fill cracks and crevices and form a sort of natural insulation. Wheat and shell flour as well as rice hull ash are just a few of the types of fillers that may be used in the buildings of the next fifty years. The fact that flour is a green building material makes it even more attractive.
There are a lot of new mesothelioma patients every year. It is alarming how many there are. Even more people are expected to get mesothelioma in the next couple decades, because mesothelioma has an extremely long latency period of up to fifty years.
Not enough has been done to remove asbestos from existing homes and buildings. When asbestos fibers are disturbed, they can be breathed in. When they are breathed in, they can cause mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is caused when sharp asbestos fibers get stuck in the cells of the lungs. Then the lung cells can grow tumors and cause mesothelioma. Many families don’t know if they have asbestos in their home. And then, when they start a big renovation project, asbestos is released into the air, causing harm to many people in the long run.
Even though many modern nations have banned asbestos, and in most cases this happened almost fifty years ago, many people still don’t know about its dangers or its connection to mesothelioma. But asbestos awareness is growing. The rate of asbestos removal from existing materials and the use of alternative materials for asbestos in new buildings is expected to go up.
We are an asbestos testing and removal company, and we remove asbestos from both homes and buildings. Do you want to know more about asbestos? Or do you want to get asbestos in your home removed, or for your home to be tested for asbestos? There is no time like the present! Call us today at 630-884-5181 to ask us anything related to asbestos.
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Imam Converts To Christianity
How pathetic. Burial Services. Ganduje makes clarification as video of Governor trying to convert young Christian girl to Islam emerges; Group threatens to 'drag' Ganduje over alleged forceful conversion of Christian girls to lslam. The reason for this name being given to the Imam was that the Abbasid Caliph wanted to impress the Imam with his military strength, and he arranged an army parade. Imam Mehdi is not going to speak about Christianity, Judaism or Hinduism. "pledge allegiance" Searches for the whole phrase instead of individual words Wildcards e. Undivided A Muslim Daughter, Her Christian Mother, Their Path to Peace. Being young he chose to sit at the far end of the gathering, and from there watched the people coming and going; and heard their questions and the answers given by the Imam Jaffar as Sadiq (AS). The Qur'an is the central religious text, or scripture, of Islam. After being questioned by someone as to who Jesus was, he intently studied the Quran and developed a curiosity as to who Jesus was. Christianity Former Muslim Imam Converts to Christianity After Finding Jesus In the Quran. Tribute to Imam Hussain (AS) a British born pickle manufacturer who converted to Islam wrote: “Of that gallant band, male and female knew that the enemy forces around were implacable, and. The proposed online image converter enables you to easily convert images into icons and many other image formats. As you have seen, to convert a vector or variable with the character class to numeric is no problem. You can condemn their actions and forgive them if they repent (and reports indicate he repented of his actions and called the police to turn himself in). I attended college and graduate school in Texas, and I’ve lived and worked in America for many years. Policy issues and trends. A charity set up for "the advancement of the Muslim religion" that ran a mosque in Stoke-on-Trent and used an imam who encouraged support for Islamic State has been dissolved. He is from Arians, Arabs, Jews and Roman Christians. In fact, it was precisely the Koran that brought him to an encounter with Jesus Christ and with the truth of the Catholic faith. Ex imam convert to Catholicism almost killed. '" Musa ibn Ja'far Baghdadi said, "I hear from the Imam Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn Ali [the eleventh Imam] who said, 'I see that after me differences will appear among you concerning the Imam after me. Why is this happening? because of the fact God loves us. com & [email protected] Now compare that with the filthy contention sprouting forth from a fake convert from britain pretending to be a Muslim “scholar” – that the various ahadiith of the Islamic tradition as interpreted by many theologians state that Prophet Muhammad’s ﷺ intercession will also apply to christians, jews, and other peoples too, that they too. From what I have heard from reliable sources, six million may be too low. "pledge allegiance" Searches for the whole phrase instead of individual words Wildcards e. " Abu Saqer said the pope and the Christian world are. Ganduje makes clarification as video of Governor trying to convert young Christian girl to Islam emerges; Group threatens to 'drag' Ganduje over alleged forceful conversion of Christian girls to lslam. The Qur’an says that Abraham was not a Jew or a Christian, but a Muslim , and depicts Jesus denying his own divinity — and this, of course, is the Imam’s frame of reference. Imam Mehdi is not going to speak about Christianity, Judaism or Hinduism. It denotes one who leads worship and offers advice within a community in the Sunni sect. const converter = require('hex2dec'). ) was born on 10 Rabi As-Sani 232 AH in Samarra, Iraq. See photos and updates from friends in News Feed. Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid is 61-years-old, Afro-American, a convert, active in interreligious dialogue, and an energetic blogger. I used to be Catholic and belonged to a missionary organisation. No, it’s not the start of a cheesy joke, rather the way quite an interesting day began… Just to give a bit of background, a few months ago I attended a course run by the British Humanist Association designed to train humanists to assist schools with a revised religious education curriculum that requires teachers to include secular points of view as well as those of the mainstream religions. Mario Joseph is a former Imam, educated as a young teen, who found Jesus through his own study of the Quran. Imam Ahmdad's relatives too were identified for example his sister Fardusa was the wife of chieftain of Mattan who was known as from Somali unlike her. This natural decrease in Europe's aging Christian population was unique compared with Christians in other parts of the world and other religious groups. Christianity is not responsible for this, the lawless are. Imam Shadeed Muhammad, Former Christian, USA Rating: Description: In this video Imam Shadeed shares his story of how he went from hating and cursing God to loving Islam in which he submitted to God. Churches, usually built of wood, were built in Saxon villages all over Britain. But his conversion did not come without difficulties, and because of it, he has undergone grave persecution. Zia's Quran Recitation* [external link] [Downloads: 38982 x]. Now compare that with the filthy contention sprouting forth from a fake convert from britain pretending to be a Muslim “scholar” – that the various ahadiith of the Islamic tradition as interpreted by many theologians state that Prophet Muhammad’s ﷺ intercession will also apply to christians, jews, and other peoples too, that they too. The despairing incident took place in the Salt Lake City. " Abu Saqer said the pope and the Christian world are. In the bible (Christianity), Mary the mother of Jesus is not Aaron’s sister, but another Mary, the sister of Moses, is Aaron’s sister. The project to. It denotes one who leads worship and offers advice within a community in the Sunni sect. “It was a great disgrace to the communities to have a leader of a mosque turn to Christ,” the ministry director said. The traditional Muslim invocation to worship was. Christian theologians developed the doctrine that humankind is born with this sin of their first parents still on their souls, based upon this reading of the story. Islam is a total violent ideology (religion, violence and government) with forced conversion; Christianity is a spiritual religion of voluntary conversion separate from the state. Join Imam Jamal Rahman at his next Sunday Worship at Interfaith Community Sanctuary on Sunday October 18th at 10:00AM (Pacific time). An instant convert. Edwin Shukr is Iraqi and Jewish, speaks fluent Arabic, and lives in London. ) and save Khalid from him. Information on Submission to God (Islam in Arabic) based on the Quran. World Watch Monitor recently released the video testimony of a man who once was taught to persecute Christians as a Muslim and is now facing persecution himself as he preaches the gospel. On January 3, Ilhan Omar was sworn in as one of the new members of the 116th US Congress. The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, visited by Pope John Paul II, had been a Christian church before being converted to a mosque. ) In less than a century practically all England was Christianised. Converts “are the most vulnerable because they do not yet fully understand Islam,” said Jamal Ahjjaj, an imam at As-Soennah Mosque in The Hague, where Betsy’s parents say she occasionally. Pope Tawadros II had planned to spend last week on retreat in a monastery near Alexandria. Christians believe that Jesus Christ came to redeem humans from this original sin so that humankind can return to God at the end of time. ) life style. ADVERTISEMENT. But he is also aware that he inherits a mosque with critics who accuse it of radical affiliations. for Muslim women marrying Christian or Jewish men without requiring the non-Muslim partners to first convert. While others are clamoring over what to do when someone draws a cartoon or a picture of one of the prophets of Almighty God, (peace be upon them all), we decided it was time to show the "Real Picture of Mohammed". Lola Alao Thanks The Imam Who Converted Her To Islam, Says She Was Born Into A Muslim Home The Nollywood actress took to the social media yesterday to defend her sudden conversion to Islam. “We are all brothers in humanity before brothers in faith,” Tawhidi said in a television interview. “We will not let them hunt the Hindus,” he said. Imam Hussain S. Hours before Pope Francis called for the abolition of capital punishment on Friday, he warmly embraced Grand Imam Al-Tayeb, who has expressed his desire that Muslims who convert to Christianity should be executed. Islam and Christianity stand for peace, harmony and human development, says Imam December 31, 2015 / CCME Blaming religion for the actions of terrorists has to be contested, one of Ireland’s leading Muslim voices has said. Convert text into hexadecimal format. Former Iman converts to Christianity after finding differences between JESUS and Muhammad in the Quran. The title invokes lithium salts, a key drug in treating the disorder. The pontiff will visit Morocco from March 30 to 31 in the wake of his visit to the United Arab Emirates where he signed a declaration of fraternity with Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar, calling for peace and dialogue between Muslims and Christians. Many people are unaware of this fact, says Sarwar. Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Pinterest. Since 9/11, only seven imams have given the opening prayer in the House of Representatives. DALLAS — The minister and the imam had known each other barely a year. Visiting the official website of the Holy See one can browse: the Magisterium of the Supreme Pontiffs (from Pope Leo XIII to Pope Francis); the fundamental texts of Catholicism in various languages (the Sacred Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the documents of the Second Vatican Council. “I knew Muslims’ life-styles and conduct through communicating with them in Michigan, Lebanon, and Senegal. They include a wide array of people including Ivanka Trump, Snoop Dog, Brad Pitt, Madonna, President George W. The second part of the confession affirms that the primary communication from Allah to mankind is through Mohammad—thus, Jesus and the Bible are relegated to a lower status. ADVERTISEMENT. 2020 by telir. He is a descendant of Prophet Mohammad pbuh&hp, Simona and Shahrbanoo, the diaughter of Yazdgerd, the Sassanian King of Persia. According to Capital. Al-Azhar’s Imam calls on Muslims in the Middle East to ’embrace’ Christians. He converted to Islam when he was 20 after becoming. In an interview with Premier Christian Radio, Sheikh Dr Muhammad Al-Hussaini, founder of Scripture Reasoning and Lecturer in Islamic Studies at Leo Beck Rabbinical College, has said that the ‘church hierarchy’ in the UK is to blame for Christian persecution around the world because it ‘simply doesn’t care’ and only offers a ‘whimper’ in response to incidents:. 09/29/2020 Uganda (International Christian Concern) – According to Morning Star News, Sulaiman Pulisi, a former Imam in eastern Uganda, became a Christian in 2017 and led his two young children to Christ. Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, the imam of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, is accusing 'extremist' Jewish organizations of waging a legal battle aimed at achieving Israeli sovereignty in the Al-Aqsa Mosque. He left the church for a time of reflection and spent 6 years in South Africa working to end Apartheid. Testimony - MusIim Imam in India converts to Christianity! #Testimonies #DoctrineApologeticsTestimonies. He has close to 2,300 Twitter followers, more than 800,000 likes on Facebook, 12,000 fans. He is the imam of the Grand Mosque of Mecca and the president of the General Presidency for the affairs of the Two Holy Mosques. Christian Inspiration is on Facebook. Imam Fedu, a Muslim scholar and teacher in Bangladesh, recently placed his faith in Christ after receiving a Christian tract and hearing the gospel from a Christian worker. Here, you can convert any dates to each other instantly. -In the 15th century the brotherhood became more militarily aggressive, and waged a jihad (Islamic holy war) against parts of what are now modern Turkey and Georgia. You can condemn their actions and forgive them if they repent (and reports indicate he repented of his actions and called the police to turn himself in). El-Tayeb affirmed on his television show during the 2016 Ramadan celebration, “ Contemporary apostasy presents itself in the guise of crimes, assaults, and grand treason, so we deal with it now as a crime that must be opposed and punished…. 10/31/2018 Washington D. Convert all images files format online for free in one click. Tags: a refutation of the Yemeni perennialist caller-to-christianity's "smart" comment that if we are not allowed to "love" christians and jews then what answer do we have for the Islamic permission to marr, Ahkam Al-Quran of Abu Bakr Al-Jassas, bad enough effects in Muslim lands exponentially worse effects in kafir lands, Ibn 'Umar says that. A former Muslim cleric who converted to Christianity after meeting Jesus in a dream was abandoned by his family and brutally beaten. But his conversion did not come without difficulties, and because of it, he has undergone grave persecution. Sheikh Abu Saqer, leader of Gaza's Jihadia Salafiya Islamic outreach movement, which seeks to make secular Muslims more religious, called the pope a "puppet" for "that Crusader George Bush. The symbols include 0-9 and a-f (sometimes A-F). 1- Christian and Jew Accept Islam 2- Hindu to Muslim 3- Convert to Islam 4- German boy converts to islam 5- Sister Converts to Islam Most downloaded 1- Taraweeh Prayers from Makkah [VCD] [01 of 19] [Downloads: 53352 x] 2- Mawlay Album [Downloads: 41882 x] 3- *Imam M. org/en From Darkness to Light As a Muslim imam, Mario Joseph was well-versed in the Koran and in the teachings of the Islamic religion. This announcement came after a High Court ruling overturning the 1934…. Imam Ali (a. Source: AL-FA WA’ID: A Collection of Wise Syaings – Imam Ibn al Qayyim Al Bayaan Translation Services Share this, Baarakallaah Feekum: [“One who guides to something good has a reward similar to that of its doer” - Saheeh Muslim vol. A Bulgarian court has "sentenced radical imam Ahmed Mussa and 13 other Bulgarians for propagating religious hatred and incitement to war in their support for the Islamic State militant group. The Key in the Dark Self and Soul Transformation in the Sufi Tradition. Here is a powerful and compelling video testimony of a former Muslim Imam named Mario. There was a huge crowd in the house of the Imam Jaffar as Sadiq (AS). In 2009 he was baptized. how to convert to Islam, Stories of why Christian and catholic convert to islam, This website is dedicated to helping those wishing to convert to Islam. “A former imam from Pakistan who migrated to Germany and converted to Christianity now claims that he faces death threats in his native country from many including members of his own family. Ahmed el-Tayeb was interviewed in 2016 where he spoke out against Western values, homosexuality and leaving Islam. The Imam's racist contention that"white christian men" used the beard ban to keep blacks and others from joining the police force appears to be more then a lame victimisation ploy - it looks like what's really riling Abdulmateen is that the police chief is not Islamist enough (and the beards not long long enough) for to suit his fundamentalist. This is a complete online text version of The Meaning of The Holy Qur'an by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, a widely respected English translation. Through the social media, the popular Kaduna State Imam, Ibrahim Kazim declared his conversion from Islam to Christianity. were actually Christians all along. Miami Imam Dr. He is the imam of the Grand Mosque of Mecca and the president of the General Presidency for the affairs of the Two Holy Mosques. NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – An imam who threatened a convert from Islam in eastern Uganda has been arrested in connection with the killing of the 28-year-old Christian, sources said. During a recent sermon, New York Imam Abul Baraa Muhammad Abdullah Amreeki warned that collaborating with Jews and Christians is strictly forbidden. The month of Muharram marks the beginning of the Islamic liturgical year. After his intentions to convert were made clear, he was imprisoned and tortured by his own family. imam divorces wife converted to christianity news lagos state news naija news today 270618 nairaland news nigeria metro news rabiu olayiwola news Jun 26, 2018 #1. Webb, who converted to Islam at age 20, said he comes to Boston eager to introduce his big tent philosophy to an ethnically diverse community in a city with a history rich in interfaith work. Nigerian Imam Converts To Christianity After Hearing the Voice of Jesus - Religion - Nairaland. On Friday last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan formally announced the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a Mosque. ABU DHABI (Reuters) – Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar mosque and university, called on Muslims in the Middle East to “embrace” local Christian communities. A popular Imam has been converted to Christianity after the 2020 Sallah celebration, I changed over from Islam to Christianity simply considering the way that Islam gives no attestation of salvation. S are among the lucky ones, free to choose or leave a religion as they please. 03/08/2020 Admin Christianity, Imam, Popular Muslim Imam Converts To Christian. In the video, the imam recites in Arabic the verse: "O Muslim, O servant of Allah, O Muslim, O servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Consider the following statement made in Ayatollah Ibrahim Amini’s Al-Imam Al-Mahdi: The Just Leader of Humanity. The reason I choose to put the word "convert" in brackets is because the understanding as taught by the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, is that all children are born in a state of "Islam" (surrender, submission and obedience to Almighty God) and it is their parents who raise them up as Jews, Christians, Fire Worshippers. He became an imam when he was just 13 years old because of the influence exerted by his great uncle who was a co-founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. The host of an important Christian program reaching Muslims told CBN News, "Islam is going to collapse. Burial Services. His wife became a Christian one week later. So, we need to gather Shia' converts there and help them in opening centres and in propagation of Islam there. Read more: Silence is Consent | “Muslims Have The RIGHT To Take The Property Of FILTHY Christians And Jews†Says U. ‘IT’S ALLAH’S WILL’: SCANDINAVIAN WOMEN DECAPITATED ON VIDEO+VIDEO-Mom Beats Down Car Thief+Video-Leftist Books For Brainwashing Kids+ Pat Boone Asks for Prayer for Wife’s Failing Health-‘We Are Expecting Miracles’+ IMAM-Eliminating jihad from Quran like ‘removing sweetness from honey’+ FUNDRAISER FOR LADDERS COUNTERS BORDER-WALL CAMPAIGN+ FAKE NEWS ON STEROIDS: CNN. Christian Inspiration is on Facebook. Miller (R-Manassas) was sitting in his seat with his head bowed in prayer when the imam was delivering the prayer. I was taught that Islam was “it,” and everyone else was either to be converted or to be seen as almost subhuman—this, despite the fact that Fiji Muslims are regarded as very moderate. In Islam, the penalty for changing to Christianity is demise. Download ZIP. The Key in the Dark Self and Soul Transformation in the Sufi Tradition. The color images in skimage and OpenCV have 3 dimensions: width, height and color. Former Muslim imam says the Qur’an is the reason he converted to Christianity Published by Dean Smith [by Dean Smith] Mario Joseph is a Catholic teacher/evangelist living and ministering in India. " Mussa is "a former Christian of Roma origin who converted to Islam in 2000 while working in Vienna. (RNS) — In 2009, federal agents shot Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah during a warehouse raid. Likewise Islam isn't all about Muhammad even though some Muslims make it seem that way. I attended college and graduate school in Texas, and I’ve lived and worked in America for many years. You Christians are causes of chaos in the country. But the sounds coming from the mosque never affected me in any way. Saudi Imam Abdulwahab Al-Omari said, in a Friday sermon, that Allah turned the Jews into apes and pigs, and that on Judgment Day, they would be the soldiers of the Antichrist. Song, who had voluntarily served at Brixton Prison for 20 years, was kicked out by a Muslim imam who had taken over as head chaplain and disapproved of the pastor’s. In addition, he serves as vice- president for the Global Center for Guidance and Renewal, which was founded and is currently presided over by Abdallah bin Bayyah. The Slaughter of Christians Italy : On September 15, an illegal Muslim migrant repeatedly stabbed a Catholic priest with a butcher’s knife, finally killing him with a stab to the neck. Yahya Snow In the name of Allah (God), I have decided to dedicate sincere and honest endeavour in helping to establish the Truth by helping to defend the good name of the last Prophet (pbuh) of Allah as well as refuting many other lies and misconceptions that are being disseminated by the insincere, wicked, deceptive, intellectually and morally bankrupted individuals as well as the ignorant. Muslims, says Shell, offered "a cradle-to-the-grave range of social services. ” Getting a real Bible into an Iranian prison was impossible, but the imam had an idea. 09/29/2020 Uganda (International Christian Concern) – According to Morning Star News, Sulaiman Pulisi, a former Imam in eastern Uganda, became a Christian in 2017 and led his two young children to Christ. Nigerian Imam Converts To Christianity After Hearing the Voice of Jesus - Religion (2) - Nairaland. Policy issues and trends. He is the imam of the Grand Mosque of Mecca and the president of the General Presidency for the affairs of the Two Holy Mosques. The introduction of Christianity gave a strong. Shia folks have described the reason for this title and its historical roots: A hunter wanted to hunt a deer in a desert. Muslim Imam Converts to Christianity after Studying the Quran. Com is dedicated to helping people convert to Islam. Join Imam Jamal Rahman at his next Sunday Worship at Interfaith Community Sanctuary on Sunday October 18th at 10:00AM (Pacific time). Read latest news today on Sports, Business. Reliable accounts say that one hundred thousand Africans convert to Christianity per day, though not all of them come from Islam. Satan, of course, is Muslim, and everybody "good" is converted to Christianity. ) In less than a century practically all England was Christianised. So what about the major world religions? Is there anything in them that might give our lives greater depth and direction?. 4665] [This website protects the copyrights of the authors/publishers. After his intentions to convert were made clear, he was imprisoned and tortured by his own family. Convert between major world cities, countries and timezones in both directions. At the event, he was convicted of his sins and placed his trust in Christ. Starting as an Iberian Christian, convert all of Iberia to Christianity. Imam converts after reading about JESUS IN THE QURAN. But after nine years of harassment, imprisonment, and torture. the Battle of Karbala. “[What’s] most disturbing is a joint Christian-Muslim ‘service,’ which includes readings from the Bible and Quran. she lived a life of a caged butterfly struggling to get out, for about 10 years, her dad constantly abused her in the dark cellar of their home. The imam managed to keep his faith in Christ a secret for a short time. When I converted to Islam, I heard a lot about Imam Ali’s (A. It was fewer than 1 million in 2004, before a large. (The Celts had been converted to Christianity during the Roman occupation of Britain. Top Muslim Ally of Pope Francis Reaffirms that Muslim Converts to Christianity Should be Killed Cheek to Sheik Two months ago, Pope Francis welcomed Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb , - the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, and the highest scholarly authority in Sunni Islam - to the Vatican. -In the 15th century the brotherhood became more militarily aggressive, and waged a jihad (Islamic holy war) against parts of what are now modern Turkey and Georgia. The employees of the Public Relations Department welcomed and accompanied her. In addition to the mosque imam, Alfaro is also a member of the Board Direkur CCIV since 2005. How to share your pictures online with others? Those are all changes Free HEIC Converter can make for you. Being young he chose to sit at the far end of the gathering, and from there watched the people coming and going; and heard their questions and the answers given by the Imam Jaffar as Sadiq (AS). Through the social media, the popular Kaduna State Imam, Ibrahim Kazim declared his conversion from Islam to Christianity. Saladin Group who provoked the Byzantine request for European aid that led to the Crusades. This document is a result for a long research in evaluating every Hadeeth (true or false). Jesus will come with Him and will convert the world to Islam while persecuting Jews and Christians who will be hiding behind rocks in Jerusalem. Convert decimal to hex in JavaScript. When I was 12, our fledgling Muslim community in Australia bought a Church and converted it into a Mosque. That Imam is a better Christian than most pastors I've come across in the American South. “Ever since these Paris attacks, people have been tweeting at me with all these verses in the Qur'an saying to conquer land, expand borders, force everyone to convert or pay. , Judaism and Christianity,” he said. Next up we will show how both the Antichrist and the Mahdi will change the calender and implement new laws. He converted to Islam when he was 20 after becoming. The Turkish scholar of Islam and intellectual, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi was once arrested for violating secularist laws; in other words, thinking as a Muslim and teaching Islam. Al-Azhar’s Imam calls on Muslims in the Middle East to ’embrace’ Christians. See more ideas about Islamic quotes, Islam, Imam shafi quotes. In Cyprus , “In the span of three decades under Turkish control, more than 530 churches and monasteries have been pillaged, vandalized, or destroyed in the. Imam Converts to Christianity by Reading the Quran. Accurate date conversion for 175 years. she lived a life of a caged butterfly struggling to get out, for about 10 years, her dad constantly abused her in the dark cellar of their home. " This statement was made on Radio Sweden recently when an Imam from Rinkeby (Stockholm) was allowed to speak about how people should act against Somalis who convert to Christianity. So Mr Fake Ex-Imam convert to Christ, you sadly converted to a religion that has Cursed Jesus Christ. (Originally published at AmericasCivilWarRising. Play Video. So what about the major world religions? Is there anything in them that might give our lives greater depth and direction?. Read more: Silence is Consent | “Muslims Have The RIGHT To Take The Property Of FILTHY Christians And Jews†Says U. As a result, the grateful citizens abandoned their traditional paganism and converted to Christianity. First tribes converted to Christianity on the territory of Great Britain were A) the Celts Это правильный ответ. 03/08/2020 Admin Christianity, Imam, Popular Muslim Imam Converts To Christian. I was taught that Islam was “it,” and everyone else was either to be converted or to be seen as almost subhuman—this, despite the fact that Fiji Muslims are regarded as very moderate. CK3 Conversion. Imam Mehdi is not going to speak about Christianity, Judaism or Hinduism. The converter on this page converts timestamps in seconds (10-digit), milliseconds (13-digit) and microseconds (16-digit) to readable dates. However, Wabwire, a primary school teacher and imam at a village mosque near Mombasa, was not found guilty of […]. Comparisons (1) and (2) return false because undefined gets converted to NaN and NaN is a special numeric value which returns false for all comparisons. The Slaughter of Christians Italy : On September 15, an illegal Muslim migrant repeatedly stabbed a Catholic priest with a butcher’s knife, finally killing him with a stab to the neck. ” Well, he just went on television to warn Christians and jews of what will happen to them if they do not convert. Correction: Del. Imam protests. Good luck and start learning Urdu. Suddenly, I kid you not, Jesus and Satan appear. Not only Christians are converted, but also their holy sites. A convert since 1996, Parada is fluent in Arabic and was educated in Muslim theology in Saudi Arabia. Deprecated: Function eregi() is deprecated in /home/jdstone0/public_html/clergygonewild. But after nine years of harassment, imprisonment, and torture. Learn more about clone URLs. After being questioned by someone as to who Jesus was, he intently studied the Quran and developed a curiosity as to who Jesus was. Hex or base 16 or hexadecimal is a numeral system that uses 16 symbols. But the sounds coming from the mosque never affected me in any way. Muharram (1 Muharram): The Islamic New Year. The first part of the Shahada confession affirms that Allah is one—thus, polytheism and the Christian doctrine of the Trinity are denied. Note: Strict moderation of comments will continue to be employed in this issue. The visit in Denmark is by invitation of the Danish National Council of Churches, who say that Ghana's top imam is coming to Denmark at the head of a nine-member delegation. His Christian father converted to Islam, but lived a liberal Muslim life. Imam Muhammad Musri, who oversees seven mosques from the Islamic Society of Central Florida, believes that Arab Christians claiming to have converted from Islam “are lying and. Since 9/11, only seven imams have given the opening prayer in the House of Representatives. 2020; 27; No Comments; For God or Empire Sayyid Fadl and the Indian Ocean World. The Imam cried hard, then said, 'Verily after Hasan his son is the awaited Imam who is "al-qa'im bi'l-haqq" (He who is supported by the Truth). Tags: a refutation of the Yemeni perennialist caller-to-christianity's "smart" comment that if we are not allowed to "love" christians and jews then what answer do we have for the Islamic permission to marr, Ahkam Al-Quran of Abu Bakr Al-Jassas, bad enough effects in Muslim lands exponentially worse effects in kafir lands, Ibn 'Umar says that. Ahmed el-Tayeb was interviewed in 2016 where he spoke out against Western values, homosexuality and leaving Islam. Muslim leader first becomes Presbyterian abroad. 1- Christian and Jew Accept Islam 2- Hindu to Muslim 3- Convert to Islam 4- German boy converts to islam 5- Sister Converts to Islam Most downloaded 1- Taraweeh Prayers from Makkah [VCD] [01 of 19] [Downloads: 53352 x] 2- Mawlay Album [Downloads: 41882 x] 3- *Imam M. How I Encountered Jesus Christ in The Koran: Muslim Cleric Converts To Christianity Please watch this video, it is worth 35 minutes of your time. How does this comport with the "protection" of Christians in the region? Or perhaps the Pope, in his rejection of "proselytism," does not believe that Christian converts are worthy of protection, or should not be placed in the category of "Christians. July 16, 622). ) In less than a century practically all England was Christianised. As his execution date approached, Ray, who converted to Islam while in prison, demanded the right to be escorted to the death chamber by an imam. In Cyprus , “In the span of three decades under Turkish control, more than 530 churches and monasteries have been pillaged, vandalized, or destroyed in the. St Alban, a recent convert to Christianity changed places with The Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and made Christianity legal throughout the Roman Empire. Magdi-Allam. The Life of Prophet Muhammad [PBUH] Seerah of Prophet Muhammad [PBUH]. In 1972 he immigrated to Italy and studied at a university in Rome. For questions, write to: [email protected] ” Just recently, Hadhi publicly said that Christians and Jews are the “filthy,” “impure,”and basically no different than “feces” and “urine. The color images in skimage and OpenCV have 3 dimensions: width, height and color. “I knew Muslims’ life-styles and conduct through communicating with them in Michigan, Lebanon, and Senegal. Correction: Del. These numbers are very large indeed. were actually Christians all along. In the 4th century the Germanic tribes of the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes came to the British Isles. (The Celts had been converted to Christianity during the Roman occupation of Britain. She visited the Holy Shrine of Imam Ali (PBUH) in Najaf, Iraq. And now our court system is being enriched by this alleged abuser. It starts, oddly enough, because of question asked in a mosque where he was teaching. Rise from the Ashes. The End Of Judaism Islam & Christianity (The Opening Of The Seven Seals/Books Book 6) Post date 28. But his conversion did not come without difficulties; as a consequence, he has undergone grave persecution. JIM BECKEL/The Oklahoman. Ever year, 6 million Muslims convert to Christianity. The strict unified organisation of the church proved a major factor in the centralisation of the country. Instant free online tool for degree to radian conversion or vice versa. Interview - In an interview with the Deputy Chief of Mission, United States Embassy, Abuja, David Young, Abdullahi Abubakar, an imam who helped save scores of Christians from being killed during. However, in many situations it is better to convert only character columns to numeric (i. As a Muslim imam, Mario Joseph was well-versed in the Koran and in the teachings of the Islamic religion. On January 3, Ilhan Omar was sworn in as one of the new members of the 116th US Congress. Christians believe that Jesus Christ came to redeem humans from this original sin so that humankind can return to God at the end of time. Created by Zarqa Nawaz. So Mr Fake Ex-Imam convert to Christ, you sadly converted to a religion that has Cursed Jesus Christ. Daisy Kahn is happy because she didn’t back down from the Muslim haters. are using "Islamic deception" to fool Christians into believing misconceptions about the religion. ” Shia Muslims believe this Islamic messiah will come at the End of Days to destroy Judeo-Christian civilization as we have known it, force infidels to convert or be executed, and will set up a one-world Islamic government known as the “caliphate. In fact, it was precisely the Koran that brought him to an encounter with Jesus Christ and with the truth of the Catholic faith. Converting BGR to RGB or vice versa¶. ) In less than a century practically all England was Christianised. ” I still can’t figure out how they got Cat Stevens to convert, what he wrote in his music is 180 degrees from Islam. The symbols include 0-9 and a-f (sometimes A-F). An instant convert. Also, explore tools to convert degree or radian to other angle units or learn more about angle conversions. But then Mohammed bin Salman, on a three-day visit to Egypt, asked to see him. ” And not just in Pakistan, but also from his coreligionists in Germany. It was originally converted into. s) was born in Mecca on the 13 th of Rajab 610 A. Soon he found out Jesus was superior than Muhammad. And now our court system is being enriched by this alleged abuser. “We are all brothers in humanity before brothers in faith,” Tawhidi said in a television interview. ‘IT’S ALLAH’S WILL’: SCANDINAVIAN WOMEN DECAPITATED ON VIDEO+VIDEO-Mom Beats Down Car Thief+Video-Leftist Books For Brainwashing Kids+ Pat Boone Asks for Prayer for Wife’s Failing Health-‘We Are Expecting Miracles’+ IMAM-Eliminating jihad from Quran like ‘removing sweetness from honey’+ FUNDRAISER FOR LADDERS COUNTERS BORDER-WALL CAMPAIGN+ FAKE NEWS ON STEROIDS: CNN. Lola Alao Thanks The Imam Who Converted Her To Islam, Says She Was Born Into A Muslim Home The Nollywood actress took to the social media yesterday to defend her sudden conversion to Islam. ” I was scrubbing all night. As a Muslim imam, Mario Joseph was well-versed in the Koran and in the teachings of the Islamic religion. Mosab Hassan Yousef was a Hamas leader, and converted to Christianity after a British missionary shared the Gospel in 1999. A 23-year-old Alica Englert was arrested on the suspicion of attempted murder. Former Iman converts to Christianity after finding differences between JESUS and Muhammad in the Quran. " CBC independently verified the speech and its translation. Restore the Roman Empire. A Muslim imam in a mosque across the street saw what was happening and alerted the police. A theologians journey from Seventh-day Adventism to. 2 million in 2011 (59% of population) Source: Pew Research Centre, United Nations, 2011 UK Census Islam's apologist: Why I believe. ) life style. " Abu Saqer said the pope and the Christian world are. On Monday Pope Francis visited the Middle East where he embraced Sunni Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb. are using “Islamic deception” to fool Christians into believing misconceptions about the religion. And growing up Christian helped Ali when he decided to. Update: About a dozen delegates, most Republicans, were not in the House chamber at the time of Imam Johari Abdul-Malik's prayer. Portion of Imam Abudalah Ali’s statement disowning his daughter for conversion to Christ. A popular Kaduna State Imam, Ibrahim Kazim, has reportedly denounced his faith as a Muslim cleric In Rome. As Álmos Árpád, form Hungary and convert to Christianity. Christian women have been raped and sold into slavery, children have been beheaded simply for coming from Christian families. When I converted to Islam, I heard a lot about Imam Ali’s (A. Imam Karim Abuzaid is the imam of Colorado Muslim Society (CMS). 2018, Christian convert Fatemeh Mohammadi released a letter detailing the sexually abusive interrogation she had undergone when she was arrested and detained in Evin Prison in Tehran. " This statement was made on Radio Sweden recently when an Imam from Rinkeby (Stockholm) was allowed to speak about how people should act against Somalis who convert to Christianity. And in Vietnam is Buddhist tradition somewhat partly destructed by Communism, so people are in religious vacuum, as they don't want to return to Buddhism, so they are chosing new religions - for example Christianity. ” I still can’t figure out how they got Cat Stevens to convert, what he wrote in his music is 180 degrees from Islam. ADVERTISEMENT. Download the converted JPG file to your computer or save it directly to your cloud storage service. The symbols include 0-9 and a-f (sometimes A-F). He speaks to me passionately of his love for his native Iraq, and the pain he feels at the destruction of Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003. ) In less than a century practically all England was Christianised. You Christians are causes of chaos in the country. The publication of authorized Farman books containing 69 Farmans made between 2011 and 2018 has brought immense joy to the Jamat. ABU DHABI (Reuters) – Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar mosque and university, called on Muslims in the Middle East to “embrace” local Christian communities. Through the social media, the popular Kaduna State Imam, Ibrahim Kazim declared his conversion from Islam to Christianity. He won’t condemn terrorism, for example. Ahmed el-Tayeb was interviewed in 2016 where he spoke out against Western values, homosexuality and leaving Islam. When I converted to Islam, I heard a lot about Imam Ali’s (A. are using "Islamic deception" to fool Christians into believing misconceptions about the religion. Song, who had voluntarily served at Brixton Prison for 20 years, was kicked out by a Muslim imam who had taken over as head chaplain and disapproved of the pastor’s. the Imam Mahdi, Qasem Soleimani, will revive a Muslim Caliphate. Undivided A Muslim Daughter, Her Christian Mother, Their Path to Peace. In fact, it was precisely the Koran that brought him to an encounter with Jesus Christ and with the truth of the Catholic faith. Convert All Characters of a Data Frame to Numeric. Jun 28, 2016 - Explore Rabia Wahab's board "Imam Shafi" on Pinterest. Remember to write down the remainder in hex, not decimal. Not only Christians are converted, but also their holy sites. HAGIA SOPHIA IMAM DEFENDS SWORD SERMON: Islam’s message is of conversion and conquest by Jules Gomes • August 12, 2020 ISTANBUL ( ChurchMilitant. NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – An imam who threatened a convert from Islam in eastern Uganda has been arrested in connection with the killing of the 28-year-old Christian, sources said. You can also use the Demand Conversion interaction on the character screen. After his intentions to convert were made clear, he was imprisoned and tortured by his own family. H e’s seen the light. Converts “are the most vulnerable because they do not yet fully understand Islam,” said Jamal Ahjjaj, an imam at As-Soennah Mosque in The Hague, where Betsy’s parents say she occasionally. Imam Shaafi’ee was once accused of supporting Shiite rebels in Yemen and was arrested and taken to Baghdad in chains. Then a statement is made that many will find far more problematic. The imam managed to keep his faith in Christ a secret for a short time. As the bombs, described as "highly complex and explosive," were being disarmed by explosive experts, one of them detonated --accidentally killing an officer by the name of Mustafa Abid. Imam Abdurrahman Sykes Hailing from North Carolina, Imam Sykes was a lay speaker preparing for a life of Christian ministry. The Anglo-Saxon tribes weren't united until the 7th century, and each tribe had it's own identity and traditions. The prophet had said, “I have been commanded to fight the people until they” convert to Islam. So among his violent pursuits, the Mahdi will also target his attempt to convert Christian and Jews by using gentle persuasion after allegedly proving the Judeo-Christian texts to be corrupt. Nigerian Imam Converts To Christianity After Hearing the Voice of Jesus - Religion (2) - Nairaland. The Chief Imam is Yoruba, by the name Imam Yekini Shittu. In fact, the Caliph ordered that the estate of the Imam be kept under trust for two years to see if any of the bond women of the Imam would file a claim for heir ship for her offspring. According to Sunni belief, Imam Ali served as the fourth and final. The degree [°] to radian [rad] conversion table and conversion steps are also listed. Muslims, says Shell, offered "a cradle-to-the-grave range of social services. They were pagans, and most of British Christians were either put to death. While their Imam is going forward to lead the people in the morning prayer, Isa (Jesus) son of Mary will descend. A Muslim convert may face a number of challenges. In fact, it was precisely the Koran that brought him to an encounter with Jesus Christ and with the truth of the Catholic faith. The Emperor Diocletian ordered that all Christians should be persecuted. A New York preacher claimed the Quran forbids Muslims from cooperating with “allies’”from the Jewish or Christian faiths. According to the ex-Muslim convert to Christianity Nonie Darwish, in an article "If You Convert You Die" (August 03, 2009) written for Front Page Magazine, the Egyptian feminist Nagla Al Imam has converted from Islam to Christianity:. Satan, of course, is Muslim, and everybody "good" is converted to Christianity. Connect and Share over what matters to you. Remember to write down the remainder in hex, not decimal. When teenagers, even many. They later converted to Christianity. (Originally published at AmericasCivilWarRising. Ibrahim Kazim revealed this yesterday on social media saying “I have found new life with God and his son Jesus”. Suddenly, I kid you not, Jesus and Satan appear. Sunni Islam’s highest authority, Ahmed el-Tayeb, believes that Christian converts should be “killed” and has said so on several occasions. Christianity isn't purely about Jesus that's Jesusism if it was which is considered something else. Update: About a dozen delegates, most Republicans, were not in the House chamber at the time of Imam Johari Abdul-Malik's prayer. Most converts from Islam belong to the underground Protestant house-church movement. Christian, who converted from Islam to Christianity. How I Encountered Jesus Christ in The Koran: Muslim Cleric Converts To Christianity Please watch this video, it is worth 35 minutes of your time. After meeting a Catholic woman, he marries her and converts to her religion. Finally, many American converts to Islam think Christianity sanctions slavery whereas Islam has always been against it. Christian theologians developed the doctrine that humankind is born with this sin of their first parents still on their souls, based upon this reading of the story. El-Tayeb affirmed on his television show during the 2016 Ramadan celebration, “ Contemporary apostasy presents itself in the guise of crimes, assaults, and grand treason, so we deal with it now as a crime that must be opposed and punished…. During a sermon at Boston’s Masjid Alhamdulillah, also known as the Mosque for the Praising of Allah, Imam Abdullah Faaruuq said that those who are waiting for Jesus to save them or who believe in Bush, Obama, Hillary Clinton, or Trump are “fools,” because these politicians do not follow an Islamic system. The color images in skimage and OpenCV have 3 dimensions: width, height and color. While their Imam is going forward to lead the people in the morning prayer, Isa (Jesus) son of Mary will descend. 4 House church networks and the targeting of converts to Christianity For nearly a decade, Persian Christians, who are generally converts. Edwin Shukr is Iraqi and Jewish, speaks fluent Arabic, and lives in London. During the meeting, an imam demonstrated Muslim chants and meditation to the group. How to Convert Hexadecimal to Decimal? Java Program to convert from decimal to hexadecimal. A Muslim preacher urged Christian groups on Friday to refrain from proselytizing among Maranao evacuees because this could result in more harm than good. Posted on 25. His powerful story and testimony may move you to tears, as it did me. This document is a result for a long research in evaluating every Hadeeth (true or false). she lived a life of a caged butterfly struggling to get out, for about 10 years, her dad constantly abused her in the dark cellar of their home. Jun 28, 2016 - Explore Rabia Wahab's board "Imam Shafi" on Pinterest. Collected by Lambert Dolphin. He was enslaved in the middle of the way and sold to a man from Banu Qurayza in Medina. He is from Arians, Arabs, Jews and Roman Christians. Imam Ali (a. S are among the lucky ones, free to choose or leave a religion as they please. Assam Police has registered a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against Sharjeel Imam, said to be one of the organisers of the anti-citizenship law protest at Shaheen Bagh, after. -In the 15th century the brotherhood became more militarily aggressive, and waged a jihad (Islamic holy war) against parts of what are now modern Turkey and Georgia. As a Muslim imam, Mario Joseph was well-versed in the Koran and in the teachings of the Islamic religion. Rauf’s replacement, Imam Abdallah Adhami, who has been active in New York’s Muslim community, will now handle religious programming for the project, known as Park51. A charity set up for "the advancement of the Muslim religion" that ran a mosque in Stoke-on-Trent and used an imam who encouraged support for Islamic State has been dissolved. Correction: Del. English news paper, todays newspaper - www. s) son of Abu Talib (a. Imam protests. were actually Christians all along. It started one person asked about who Jesus was. Kaduna State Imam, Ibrahim Kazim Converts To Christianity (Photos) March 19, 2018 / Alonge Michael / Flames From The Web / Add Comment » Report has it that a popular Kaduna state Imam, Ibrahim Kazim has been converted to Christianity, during his visit to Vatican. "Jesus is the Savior," Fedu said. Play Video. -The Safavid Empire dates from the rule of Shah Ismail (ruled 1501-1524). Pastor Paul Song, a former prison chaplain, last year warned that non-Muslim prisoners are being forced to convert to Islam in exchange for protection from violent gangs. not column X3, since this column should be kept as factor). The strict unified organisation of the church proved a major factor in the centralisation of the country. The Imam’s desire to kill Christian converts came as recently as 2016. Magdi-Allam. You cannot judge anyone else, because you know not what went into their decisions or their walk. The 32-year-old has moved house 45 times to escape detection. com since 1996 to provide quick reliable and free units conversion service for everyone to use. His wife became a Christian one week later. The group accuses him of promoting Christianity and discourages Muslims from attending the big-budget movie, which is expected to be released in early July, according to a report posted on the website. isn’t doing enough to stop it. Together with their religion early Christians brought the Latin language, the official language of the Church all over Europe. Reliable accounts say that one hundred thousand Africans convert to Christianity per day, though not all of them come from Islam. You were wrong for putting wrong picture and wrong caption. He is a descendant of Prophet Mohammad pbuh&hp, Simona and Shahrbanoo, the diaughter of Yazdgerd, the Sassanian King of Persia. In an interview with Premier Christian Radio, Sheikh Dr Muhammad Al-Hussaini, founder of Scripture Reasoning and Lecturer in Islamic Studies at Leo Beck Rabbinical College, has said that the ‘church hierarchy’ in the UK is to blame for Christian persecution around the world because it ‘simply doesn’t care’ and only offers a ‘whimper’ in response to incidents:. The Imam cried hard, then said, 'Verily after Hasan his son is the awaited Imam who is "al-qa'im bi'l-haqq" (He who is supported by the Truth). Convert To Islam. How to Convert Hexadecimal to Decimal? Java Program to convert from decimal to hexadecimal. Share Achievement list. However, in many situations it is better to convert only character columns to numeric (i. Jesus will come with Him and will convert the world to Islam while persecuting Jews and Christians who will be hiding behind rocks in Jerusalem. A mob of Muslim activists sacked and set fire to a Christian church in Niger this weekend to protest the arrest of an influential imam. duna; Posted on 28. Muslims in Michigan and around the country say they still have more questions than answers about the. ) continued, “Let me present an example: Once,there was a man whose neighbour was a Christian. Muslims, says Shell, offered "a cradle-to-the-grave range of social services. Update: About a dozen delegates, most Republicans, were not in the House chamber at the time of Imam Johari Abdul-Malik's prayer. A Greek imam reacts to Turkey's decision to convert the ancient Basilica Hagia Sofia into a mosque and to the fact that Athens is the only European Christians and Muslims live together. org) Muhammadans in America — akin to their brothers and sisters worldwide — are not far off from feeling empowered enough to openly broadcast similarly depicted death calls. Starting as Daurama Daura, have your line reform an African faith, and convert all of Africa to it. imam divorces wife converted to christianity news lagos state news naija news today 270618 nairaland news nigeria metro news rabiu olayiwola news Jun 26, 2018 #1. Conversion tables for both commonly used and very exotic units. Muslim Imam Converts to Christianity after Studying the Quran. H e’s seen the light. After my conversion, I sat on the board of a Muslim converts' organisation and specialised in da'wah programmes, convert management, interfaith issues and apostasy cases. In Manawatu the local Muslim Association Chair, Zulfiqar Buton, has met six converts and has heard of many more. Computers store text as numbers, and with hex you display the numbers not as a decimal number, but in base 16. The Holy Savior in Chora was a medieval Byzantine church decorated with 14th-century frescoes of the Last Judgement that remain treasured in the Christian world. Imam calls for radical reforms to end extremism and safeguard Eastern Christians Share February 21, 2018 By World Watch Monitor International Al-Nusra Front , Al-Qaeda , Al-Shabaab , Ansar al-Sharia , Ansar Dine , Boko Haram , France , Islamic extremism , Islamic State , Paris , Yazidis. The Imam will step back, to let Jesus lead the people in prayer, but Jesus will place his hand between the man's shoulders and say, 'Go forward and lead the prayer, for the Iqamah was made for you. Posted on 29. Imam Khadra was expert at playing a role for the media. He is a PhD candidate in Islamic Studies with the American Open University of Alexandria, VA. I think it is hight time Muslims start taking you guys serious and start filling lawsuit against you people. After practicing Christianity for over 25 years, the 45-year-old man, now known as Alfa Abubakar Afolabi, is convinced that Islam is “the only religion that leads to heaven. A New York preacher claimed the Quran forbids Muslims from cooperating with “allies’”from the Jewish or Christian faiths. The man invited him to Islam and the Christian agreed and converted to a Muslim. In 2007, Mohamed Hegazy became the first Egyptian to seek to change the religion on his identification card from Muslim to Christian. He became an imam when he was just 13 years old because of the influence exerted by his great uncle who was a co-founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. Irish man converts to Islam in Imam Reza Holy Shrine TEHRAN, Dec. Being young he chose to sit at the far end of the gathering, and from there watched the people coming and going; and heard their questions and the answers given by the Imam Jaffar as Sadiq (AS). " He "had preached surrounded by the Islamic. Imam Mehdi’s job is to connect an individual to God, regardless of his religion. Progressive Pope Warmly Embraces Imam Who Said Christian Converts Should be ‘Killed The Imam’s name is Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, and he’s a radical, hateful, and. However, Wabwire, a primary school teacher and imam at a village mosque near Mombasa, was not found guilty of […]. Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, converted Wales to Christianity and established the Welsh church. He was described in a 2011 New York Times Magazine essay as “one of the most influential conservative clerics in American Islam. const converter = require('hex2dec'). Vicente Mota Alfaro became the first converts in Spain who holds the position of imam at the mosque the Islamic Cultural Center of Valencia (CCIV) and lead the congregational prayers at the mosque. Security forces also raided the home of arrested Christian actor Shahram. Convert to PDF. Yasir Hadh, a prominent American Imam and college professor was described in a 2011 New York Times Magazine essay as “one of the most influential conservative clerics in American Islam. Convert decimal to hex in JavaScript. On January 3, Ilhan Omar was sworn in as one of the new members of the 116th US Congress. The Muslim Lifestyle Network. His powerful story and testimony may move you to tears, as it did me. The second part of the confession affirms that the primary communication from Allah to mankind is through Mohammad—thus, Jesus and the Bible are relegated to a lower status. I was an Imam by then and led about 50 grown men in prayer. July 16, 622). Jun 28, 2016 - Explore Rabia Wahab's board "Imam Shafi" on Pinterest. Related Questions & Answers. You can condemn their actions and forgive them if they repent (and reports indicate he repented of his actions and called the police to turn himself in). "Lithium" is a perfect description of manic depression, where every line is both happy and sad, up and down, while having references to God recalling when Kurt lived with a devout Christian family. How to share your pictures online with others? Those are all changes Free HEIC Converter can make for you. 3 million in 2001 to 33. In addition, he serves as vice- president for the Global Center for Guidance and Renewal, which was founded and is currently presided over by Abdallah bin Bayyah. In 2009 he was baptized. A New York preacher claimed the Quran forbids Muslims from cooperating with “allies’”from the Jewish or Christian faiths. Deprecated: Function eregi() is deprecated in /home/jdstone0/public_html/clergygonewild. Since 9/11, only seven imams have given the opening prayer in the House of Representatives. A few minutes after 12 noon, one of the agents sicced a K9 dog on Imam Luqman Abdullah, the 53-year-old Muslim leader who headed a nearby mosque on Detroit's westside. ‘IT’S ALLAH’S WILL’: SCANDINAVIAN WOMEN DECAPITATED ON VIDEO+VIDEO-Mom Beats Down Car Thief+Video-Leftist Books For Brainwashing Kids+ Pat Boone Asks for Prayer for Wife’s Failing Health-‘We Are Expecting Miracles’+ IMAM-Eliminating jihad from Quran like ‘removing sweetness from honey’+ FUNDRAISER FOR LADDERS COUNTERS BORDER-WALL CAMPAIGN+ FAKE NEWS ON STEROIDS: CNN. When teenagers, even many. You can also use the Demand Conversion interaction on the character screen. He tried to find Jesus in the Quran and compared Jesus to Muhammad. Restore the Roman Empire. Imam converts after reading about JESUS IN THE QURAN. " "But give glad tidings to those who believe and work righteousness, that their portion is gardens, beneath which rivers flow" (2:25). But his conversion did not come without difficulties, and because of it, he has undergone grave persecution. Their conversion to Christianity, the imam added, had caused Muslims in a nearby village to come and beat them, as well as destroy some of their properties. The prophet had said, “I have been commanded to fight the people until they” convert to Islam. Unfortunately Christianity spread pretty much the same way. Vicente Mota Alfaro became the first converts in Spain who holds the position of imam at the mosque the Islamic Cultural Center of Valencia (CCIV) and lead the congregational prayers at the mosque. Imam Abdurrahman Sykes Hailing from North Carolina, Imam Sykes was a lay speaker preparing for a life of Christian ministry. Imam Converts To Christianity. However, in many situations it is better to convert only character columns to numeric (i. World Watch Monitor recently released the video testimony of a man who once was taught to persecute Christians as a Muslim and is now facing persecution himself as he preaches the gospel. D) they were forced to leave their lands because of invasions. In Etah, Singh reiterated his stand, saying he wouldn’t let Muslims and Christians convert the Hindus. Amreeki was born and raised Christian in Jamaica, Queens, NY. ) and save Khalid from him. The first part of the Shahada confession affirms that Allah is one—thus, polytheism and the Christian doctrine of the Trinity are denied. Muslims, says Shell, offered "a cradle-to-the-grave range of social services. After being questioned by someone as to who Jesus was, he intently studied the Quran and developed a curiosity as to who Jesus was. A Muslim Convert Once More, Christians, Friday prayers, Imam, Islam, Jews, masjid, Mosque, Muslim, sembahyang, solat, Ustaz This is a video, from the 6th January 2017, of the imam at Jami’ Chulia Mosque cursing Christians and Jews. Abu Bakr turned towards Umar ibn al-Khattab and said, “This all because of your wretched plans, go call Abbas so that he requests Ali to let Khalid go. Roberto Malgesini, 51. The Holy Savior in Chora was a medieval Byzantine church decorated with 14th-century frescoes of the Last Judgement that remain treasured in the Christian world. Well there you have it, straight from the horse’s mouth and this guy is a teaching professor at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee and you wonder why I have such a negative reaction towards people like this who are doing everything in their. We run convert-me. 23 famous Americans who have converted to Christianity and seven who de-converted. Magdi-Allam. “[What’s] most disturbing is a joint Christian-Muslim ‘service,’ which includes readings from the Bible and Quran. Salim Mohamed Wabwire, who converted from Christianity to Islam, taught children that Christians should be killed,. But the Rajputs are rising again. JIM BECKEL/The Oklahoman. Top Muslim Ally of Pope Francis Reaffirms that Muslim Converts to Christianity Should be Killed Cheek to Sheik Two months ago, Pope Francis welcomed Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb , - the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, and the highest scholarly authority in Sunni Islam - to the Vatican. 7, after a near- death experience and reading the Qur'an, he converted to Islam from Christianity. com ) – Turkey’s top religious official has defended brandishing a “sword of conquest” while delivering his first sermon from Hagia Sophia’s marble pulpit after its conversion into a mosque. The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom reported that. This song also relates to when. Gloucester Cathedral has removed a video of a Muslim Imam conducting prayer from the internet after it sparked outrage among some Christians. After practicing Christianity for over 25 years, the 45-year-old man, now known as Alfa Abubakar Afolabi, is convinced that Islam is “the only religion that leads to heaven. As soon as his campaign advisers told him that he needed the Muslim vote, Biden heard the call of 72 Houris in Heaven. As a human-being, I like him very much. -based Syrian Imam Abdullah Khadra became known through the Middle East Media Research Institute, which posted the taped sermon. Pervaiz told the court his supervisor made the accusation only after he had refused to convert to Islam, Saif-ul-Malook said. By Dan Simon, CNN. Although the news had leaked out about the birth of a son to Imam Hasan Askari (as), no one could find clues to prove it. ” Well, he just went on television to warn Christians and jews of what will happen to them if they do not convert. It started one person asked about who Jesus was. Virtually all of the converts were Prize Negroes or slaves. Com is dedicated to helping people convert to Islam. Document rationalization of Jihad in Egypt and the world–Imam. Then a statement is made that many will find far more problematic. Imam Muhammad Musri, who oversees seven mosques from the Islamic Society of Central Florida, believes that Arab Christians claiming to have converted from Islam “are lying and.
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Educating Young Entrepreneurs in America
Founder Deborah June Simpson brings 30 years business experience to EYE. A serial entrepreneur and accomplished professional, she finds great joy in inspiring students to unmask their true potential.
Ms. Simpson traces her lineage to Roger Sherman, a signatory to the Declaration of Independence. Her family came to America in the 1600s and she consistently seeks to share her sense of optimism and “can-do” attitude that made this nation great.
Deborah Simpson
Deborah Mahoney
Dan Lynch is a private investor. Mr. Lynch founded Interop a multi-million dollar technology conference which highlights the technology of the Internet. He is a co-founder of CyberCash, Inc, which developed some of the early technology now used in PayPal. As a member of ACM and ISOC, Lynch is active in computer networking.
He was Director of Computing Facilities at SRI International in the mid to late 70's. He formerly served as manager of the computing laboratory for the Artificial Intelligence Center at SRI, which conducts research in robotics, vision, speech understanding, automatic theorem proving and distributed databases. While at SRI he performed initial development of the TCP/IP protocols in conjunction with Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN). As Director of Information Processing Division for the Information Sciences Institute in Marina del Rey (USC-ISI) Lynch led the Arpanet team that made the transition from the original NCP protocols to the current TCP/IP based protocols. He directed this effort from 1980 until 1983.
Lynch received a BA/BS in mathematics and philosophy from Loyola Marymount University and obtained a Master's Degree in mathematics from UCLA. Dan now lives full time in St. Helena, California where he is enjoying the life of a retired gentleman farmer. He devotes much of his time serving on boards of non-profits such as Clinic Ole, CorStone, Santa Fe Institute and SAPTA.
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You are here: Home / Local News / Bell County Deputy drowns while fishing
Bell County Deputy drowns while fishing Reviewed by G Edds on Jul 17, 2016 .
Harker Heights Evening Star The body of Deputy Stephen K. Foster, 35 was recovered at approximately 8 a.m. on July 4, as the Game Warden helicopter did a fly over in the second day of searching for Foster, who had fallen overboard at Lake Belton on Sunday. About 1:30 a.m., Bell County Sheriff’s Department received […]
Bell County Deputy drowns while fishing
Jul 17, 2016 / By G Edds
Harker Heights Evening Star
The body of Deputy Stephen K. Foster, 35 was recovered at approximately 8 a.m. on July 4, as the Game Warden helicopter did a fly over in the second day of searching for Foster, who had fallen overboard at Lake Belton on Sunday.
About 1:30 a.m., Bell County Sheriff’s Department received a 911 call about a man overboard at Lake Belton. Upon arriving at the scene, officers realized that it was one of their own.
Foster, along with two other Deputies and several friends, were fishing tandem in two boats on the lake.
Bell County Sheriff’s Department called out dive teams, used sonar equipment and the local Game Warden helicopter, They searched the area begininng at daybreak of July 3. The search teams continued until it was too dark to continue and resumed the following morning at daybreak.
Foster’s body was found a little after 8 a.m. and was pronounced at 8:07 a.m. on July 4 by Judge Bill Cooke. An autopsy was ordered.
Foster was a graduate of Texas A&M University and became a Bell County Jailer in September of 2013. In 2015, Foster was promoted to Deputy.
Funeral arrangements are currently being determined.
About G Edds
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You are here: Home Online Books About Historical Background Old Testament History Old Testament History - 6.11 - Naaman, Elisha, Gehazi
Published on Monday, 23 April 2007 19:32
Illustration and Confirmation of Biblical History from the Assyrian Monuments - The Deliverance of Syria through Naaman - Naaman's Leprosy and Journey to Samaria - Elisha's Message to Joram and to Naaman - Naaman's Healing and Twofold Request - Gehazi's Deceit and Conviction - Gehazi is struck with the Leprosy of Naaman.
(2 Kings 5.)
FROM the more private ministry of the prophet the Biblical narrative next passes to an account of his public activity.* Very significantly, it was the means of bringing Israel once more into direct contact with their great enemy, Syria - this time, not in war, but in peace. And the bloodless victory which was achieved might have taught king and people how easily the LORD could turn the hearts of their adversaries, and by the manifestation of His goodness make them fellow-believers and fellow-worshippers with Israel. In this respect, the present history, as others in this section, is specially prefigurative of New Testament times.
* This, with the exception of 2 Kings 6:1-7. But that narrative is altogether so exceptional in several respects, that we feel as if we were not in possession of all the details of it.
As the narrative proceeds on the supposition of close relations between Israel and Syria - not otherwise mentioned in the Bible - and involves, at least indirectly, certain points of general interest, this seems a fitting opportunity for a brief summary of what recent discoveries of ancient monuments has taught us, not only confirmatory, but illustrative and explanatory of this period of Biblical history.*
* We have here availed ourselves of the classical work of Professor Schrader (Die Keilinschriften und d. A1te Testament. Second Edition. Giessen, 1885), and also of that able and most useful tractate by Professor Sayce: Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments. (London: Religious Tract Society).
But in so doing we must keep some considerations in view by way of caution. For first, our knowledge of what may be called monumental history is as yet initial and fragmentary. Secondly, in any seeming discrepancy or slight divergence in details between the inscriptions on the monuments and the records of Jewish history, it seems neither reasonable nor safe to give absolute preference to the former. Jewish writers must have known their own history best, while, in their slight differences from the records on the monuments, we fail to discover any adequate motives on the part of the Jewish historians that could account for their falsifying facts. And, we need scarcely add, the same facts will assume different aspects when viewed from opposite sides. Again, it is admitted on all hands that there are manifest errors on the Assyrian monuments, and this on points where error is difficult, to account for. Thus, to mention one instance - on the Assyrian monuments, Jehu is designated as "the son of Omri," and that by the very monarch to whom he is both represented and described as bringing tribute. Further, we have to bear in mind that our knowledge of Jewish history is also fragmentary. The Old Testament does not profess to be a handbook of Jewish history. It furnishes prophetic or sacred history, which does not recount all events as they happened, nor yet always in their exact succession of time, but presents them in their bearing on the kingdom of God, of which it tells the history. Hence it records or emphasizes only that which is of importance in connection with it. Lastly, we must remember that the chronology of the Bible is in some parts involved in considerable difficulties, partly for the reasons just stated, partly from the different modes of calculating time, and partly also from errors of transcription which would easily creep into the copying of Hebrew numerals, which are marked by letters. Keeping in view these cautions, the neglect of which has led to many false inferences, we have no hesitation in saying, that hitherto all modern historical discoveries have only tended to confirm the Scripture narrative.
Turning to these extraneous sources for information on the earlier history of Judah and Israel under the Kings, we have here, first, the Egyptian monuments, especially those on the walls of the Temple of Karnak, which record the invasion of Judah and Jerusalem by Shishak, described in 1 Kings 14:25, 26, and 2 Chronicles 12. Pictorial representations of this campaign are accompanied by mention of the very names of the conquered Jewish cities.*
* Full details of this are given in Vol. 5. of this History.
But with the death of Shishak, the power of Egypt for a time decayed. In its stead that of Assyria reasserted itself. From that time onwards its monuments more or less continuously cast light on the history of Israel. Just as in the Biblical narrative, so in the Assyrian records of that time, Syria occupies a most important place. It will be remembered that that country had recovered its independence in the reign of Solomon, having been wrested by Rezon from the sovereignty of Judah (1 Kings 11:23-25). Thus far we perceive a general parallelism in the outlines of this history. But the Assyrian record leaves a strange impression on the mind, as we recall the importance of Omri, as having been the second if not the real founder of the Israelitish kingdom, the builder of its capital, and the monarch who gave its permanent direction alike to the political and the religious history of Israel. For the common designation for the land of Israel is "the land of Omri," "the land Omri," or "the land of the house of Omri." We regard it as a further indication of the political importance attached to that king when Jehu is designated as "the son of Omri." This could not have been from ignorance of the actual history, since the name of Ahab occurs on the monuments of Assyria, although (if correctly read) in a connection which does not quite agree with our ordinary chronology. Further illustration comes to us from the Assyrian monuments, both of certain phases in the Biblical history of Ahab, and of the explanatory words with which the account of Naaman's healing is introduced: "Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him Jehovah had given deliverance unto Syria" (2 Kings 5:1).
Each of these statements requires some further explanation. As regards the history of Ahab, we note incidentally that the name Ethbaal (1 Kings 16:31) as that of a Sidonian king, occurs also on the Assyrian monuments, just as does Sarepta (1 Kings 17:9, 10), as being a Phoenician town, situate between Tyre and Sidon. But of greatest interest is it to learn from these monuments the political motives which prompted the strange and sudden alliance proposed by Ahab to Ben-hadad (a name amply confirmed by the monuments), after the battle of Aphek (1 Kings 20:26-34). In passing we may notice that in a fragmentary inscription of Asarhaddon, this Aphek, situated east of the lake of Galilee, and a little aside from the great road between Damascus and Samaria, is named as the border-city of Samaria.
Similarly, the mention of thirty-two kings allied with Ben-hadad in his campaign against Israel (1 Kings 20:1), is so far borne out by the Assyrian monuments, that in the campaigns of Assyria against Syria Ben-hadad is always described as fighting in conjunction with a number of allied Syrian princes.*
* In one inscription 12, in another 11 of these are specially mentioned. A similar discrepancy also obtains in regard to the number of troops employed, and in that of the slain in battle. But, as Schrader rightly remarks, the Assyrians, no doubt, mention only the more important of Ben-hadad's allies - not all of them. (See Keilinschr. u. d. A. Test., p. 204.)
From these inscriptions we also learn that the growing power of Assyria threatened to overwhelm - as it afterwards did - both Syria and the smaller principalities connected with it. A politician like Ahab must have felt the danger threatening his kingdom of Samaria from the advancing power of Assyria. If Ben-hadad had endeavored to strengthen himself by the subjugation of Samaria, Ahab, in the hour of his triumph, desired, by an alliance with the now humbled Ben-hadad, to place Syria as a kind of bulwark between himself and the king of Assyria. This explains the motive of Ahab, who had no real trust in the might and deliverance of Jehovah, but looked to political combinations for safety, in allowing to go out of his hand the man whom Jehovah "appointed to utter destruction" (1 Kings 20:42).
Another circumstance connected with the treaty of Aphek, not recorded in the Bible, and only known from the Assyrian monuments, casts light on this prophetic announcement of judgment to Ahab: "Therefore thy life shall be for his life, and thy people for his people." From the monuments we learn, in illustration of the alliance between Ben-hadad and Ahab, and of the punishment threatened upon it, that in the battle of Karkar, or Aroer, in which the Assyrian monarch Shalmaneser II. so completely defeated Syria, the forces of Ahab, to the number of not fewer than 2000 chariots and 10,000 men, had fought on the side of Ben-hadad. As we read of 14,000 or, in another inscription,* of 20,500 of the allies as having been slain in this battle,** we perceive the fulfillment of the Divine threatening upon that alliance (1 Kings 20:42).
* There is a manifest discrepancy between these two numbers - the one recorded is an inscription of Shalmaneser, discovered on the banks of the Tigris, the other on an obelisk at Nimrud, in which that monarch describes the acts of his reign.
** The large number of the slain, and of the forces led on either side to battle, throws light on what are sometimes described as the "exaggerated" figures introduced in the accounts of wars and battles in the Old Testament.
At the same time we may also learn that many things mentioned in Scripture which, with our present means of knowledge, seem strange and inexplicable, may become plain, and be fully confirmed, by further information derived from independent sources.
The battle of Karkar was not the only engagement in which the forces of Syria met, and were defeated by, those of Assyria. It was fought in the sixth year of the reign of Shalmaneser. Another successful campaign is chronicled as having been undertaken in the eleventh year of the same reign, when Shalmaneser records that for the ninth time he crossed the Euphrates; and yet another, in the fourteenth year of his reign, when at the head of 120,000 men he crossed the river at its high flood. Two inferences may, for our present purpose, be made from these notices. The defeat of Ahab's forces, when fighting in conjunction with Ben-hadad, will account for the cessation of the alliance entered into after the battle of Aphek. Again, the repeated defeat of Ben-hadad by Assyria will explain how Ahab took heart of grace, and in company with Jehoshaphat undertook that fatal expedition against Ramoth-Gilead (1 Kings 22), in which literally the "life" of Ahab went for that of him whom, from short-sighted political motives, he had spared (1 Kings 20:42). Lastly, these repeated wars between Assyria and Syria, of which the Assyrian monarch would naturally only record the successful engagements, help us to understand the phrase by which Naaman, captain* of the host of Syria, is introduced as he "by whom the LORD had given deliverance [perhaps "victory"] unto Syria"** (2 Kings 5:1).
* This, rather than "the" captain, as in the A.V.
** For, evidently, the conquest of Syria could not have been either permanent or even complete, since Shalmaneser required again and again to undertake fresh expeditions. Besides, Syria was evidently free when Shalmaneser's successor ascended the throne.
The expression just quoted seems to forbid the application of the words to the victory of Ben-hadad over Ahab,* although the Rabbis imagine that the fatal arrow by which Ahab was smitten came from the bow of Naaman.
* So most commentators.
Accordingly we cannot (as most commentators do) mark this antithesis: that the conqueror of Israel had to come to Israel for healing. But the fact is in itself sufficiently remarkable, especially when we think of it in connection with his disease, which would have placed even an Israelite, so to speak, outside the pale of Israel. In striking contrast to the mention of the strength and bravery of Naaman, and of his exalted position, Scripture abruptly, without pause or copula of conjunction, records the fact: "a leper."*
* It will be noted that the words "but he was" in our A.V. are in italics, i.e., they have no equivalent in the Hebrew.
We need not pause to consider the moral of this contrast, with all of teaching which it should convey to us. Quite another lesson comes to us from an opposite direction. For we also learn from this history how, when our need is greatest, help may be nearest, and that, in proportion as we feel the hopelessness of our case, God may prepare a way for our deliverance. It was certainly so in this instance. Once more we mark the wonder-working Providence of God, Who, without any abrupt or even visibly direct interference, brings about results which, if viewed by themselves, must seem absolutely miraculous. And this, by means which at the time may have appeared most unpromising.
It must have been a crushing sorrow that came upon that Israelitish household, when the Syrian bands carried from it the little maiden whom we find afterwards waiting on Naaman's wife. Yet this was the first link in the chain of events which not only brought healing of body and soul to the Syrian captain, but anew proved alike to Jew and Gentile that there was a living God in Israel, who had placed there His accredited representative. Assuredly the most devoted affection could not have desired for a child a place of greater honor or usefulness than that which this Jewish maiden occupied in the household of the Syrian captain. What follows is told with utmost simplicity, and bears the impress of truth. For, it was only natural that this child should tell her mistress of the prophet in Samaria, or express the full confidence in his ability to recover her master of his leprosy.* Similarly, it was only what we should have expected when her mistress repeated to her husband what the child had said, and perhaps equally natural on the part of Naaman to repeat this to his king,** alike to obtain his leave for going to Samaria, and in such a manner as would be most likely to secure the desired result.
* Assuredly no legend would have been so conceived. There would have been miracles or visions to bring a Naaman to Elisha, not a poor little slave, naively telling the story of her country and her faith.
** The proper rendering of verse 4 is: "And he [viz. Naaman] went in and told his lord" [viz. the king of Syria].
As heathens, and especially as Syrians, neither Naaman nor Ben-hadad would see anything strange in the possession of such magical powers by a prophet of Israel. Similarly, it was quite in accordance with heathen notions to expect that the king of Israel could obtain from his own prophet any result which he might desire. A heathen king was always the religious as well as the political chief of his people, and to command the services and obedience of his own prophet would seem almost a matter of course. It was for this reason that Ben-hadad furnished Naaman with a letter to the king of Israel. Hence also, imperious as the tone of the letter seems, it scarcely warranted the interpretation which the king of Israel - probably Joram - put upon it. What is reported of it in the sacred text (2 King 5:6) must, of necessity be regarded as only forming a part of the letter, stating its main object. On the other hand, we can quite understand that, from the Jewish point of view, Joram would speak of what he regarded as a demand that he himself should heal Naaman of his leprosy, as equivalent to requiring of him what God alone could do. His only it was to kill or to make alive (Deuteronomy 32:39; 1 Samuel 2:6), and leprosy was considered a living death (Numbers 12:12). As he communicated this strange behest to his attendants and advisers - presumably not in the presence of Naaman - it was not unnatural that Joram should regard it as a desire to find occasion of quarrel. The craven king of Israel rent his clothes, in token of deepest mourning - as if he had already seen his own and his people's destruction.
Some of the lessons suggested by the conduct of Joram may be of practical use. We mark first the cowardice of the man who gives way to despair before any danger has actually arisen. Yet there are not a few who tremble not before that which is real, but before fears which, after all, prove wholly groundless. It need scarcely be said how much good work, whether on the part of individuals or of the Church, has been hindered by apprehensions of this kind. The source of all lies, perhaps, not so much in disbelief as in non-belief, which is by far the commonest form of unbelief. Joram knew better and believed worse than the king of Syria - just as is sometimes the case with the children of God and the men of the world. He knew, as the Syrian did not, that God alone could give help; but he did not look for Divine help, as the Syrian, although in mistaken manner, had done. He had religion, but it stood him in no good stead; it was laid aside precisely when it was needed. He did not call to mind that there was a prophet in Israel, but in helpless terror rent his clothes. So we also, instead of immediately and almost instinctively resorting to God, too often forget Him till every other means has been exhausted, when we apply to Him rather from despair than from faith.
Reverently speaking, it would have been impossible for Elisha as "the man of God" to have been silent on this occasion. His message of reproof to the king: "Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes?" and of confidence: "Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel," is not one of self-assertion, but of assertion of God. It was a testimony and, let us add, a test alike for Israel and for the heathen world* of the presence of the living and true God. Yet while viewing it in this grander application, we ought not to forget what confirmation it gave to the simple faith of that "little one" in the service of Naaman's wife. For God's dealings are most wide-reaching: they extend up to heaven, and yet embrace also the poorest of His people upon earth.
* The bearing of the mission of Elijah and of Elisha on the heathen world is both distinctive and most important. It also casts light on the peculiarity of the ministry of these two prophets.
In accordance with the direction of the king, Naaman now betook himself "with his horses and his chariot" to the humble dwelling of Elisha, which, as we infer from verse 3, was in Samaria. Greater or more instructive contrast could scarcely be imagined. We know that Naaman had come to Samaria not only armed with a royal letter, almost imperious in its tone, and at the head of a great retinue, but bringing with him, as princely gifts for his expected healing, a sum of not less than ten talents of silver (computed at from 3000 pounds to about 3750 pounds), and six thousand pieces of gold (computed at from about 7500 pounds to about 9000 pounds), together with "ten changes of raiment," that is, of those festive suits which were so costly and so much valued in the East. Between this display and pomp and the humble waiting outside the lowly home of the prophet there was sufficient contrast. But it was unspeakably intensified when the prophet, without even seeing the Syrian captain, sent him this message: "Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee,* and thou shalt be clean." We may at once say that the conduct of Elisha was not prompted by fear of defilement by leprosy, nor by a desire to mark the more clearly the miracle about to be performed, least of all by spiritual pride.**
* In leprosy the flesh was supposed to be consumed - hence its healing would be the coming again of the flesh.
** These views have been taken by some commentators.
The spiritual pride of a Jew would have found other expression, and, in general, those who cherish spiritual pride are scarcely proof against such visits as this of Naaman. We cannot doubt that the bearing of Elisha was Divinely directed. One has said that it was dictated by the inner state of Naaman, as evinced by the manner in which he received the prophet's direction (ver. 11). Perhaps we should add (with another old writer), that Elisha would thus teach Naaman that neither his pomp nor his wealth was the cause of his healing, and also that help did not come from the prophet, as if such power were inherent in the prophet. The latter, indeed, would seem of chief importance in the teaching required by a heathen.
We can readily perceive how alike the manner and the matter of Elisha's direction would stir the indignation of Naaman. As Syria's captain he would naturally expect a different reception from the Israelitish prophet, and as a heathen, that Elisha would have used some magical means, such as to "move his hand up and down over the place,"* calling the while upon the name of Jehovah** his God, and so heal him of his leprosy. And Naaman spoke both as a heathen and as a Syrian when he contemptuously compared the limpid waters of "Abana and Pharpar,"*** a which transformed the wilderness around Damascus into a very paradise of beauty and riches, with the turbid flood of Jordan, if, indeed, healing were to be obtained by such means.
* So literally, as in the margin.
** The name Jehovah as that of the God of Israel occurs on the Moabite Stone. It was, therefore, known to the neighboring nations.
*** The "Abana" is, no doubt, the modern Barada or Barady, "the cold river" which divides into seven arms, and flows through the city of Damascus. The Pharpar is probably the modern Awaaj, to the south of Damascus.
"So he turned, and went away in a rage." The reasoning by which Naaman had so nearly deprived himself of a benefit which would be to him as life from the dead, is substantially the same as that which leads so many to turn from the one remedy to which God directs them. The simple command of the Gospel to "Wash, and be clean," like the words of the prophet which had prefigured it, is still to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness. The difficulty felt by Naaman is the same as that of so many in our days: the need of humiliation, and of faith in a remedy which seems so inadequate to the end. If washing be required, let it be in the Abana and Pharpar of our own waters, not in the turbid stream of Israel! But it is ever this humiliation of heart and simple faith in God's provision which are required for our healing.
"Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3). And so Naaman had to learn it. It was well that the relation between himself and his servants was so simple and affectionate ("my father"), that they could address him in terms of respectful expostulation, and so turn him from his rash purpose. For, often those around can see the true bearing of things far better than we. At the same time, we may also learn from the relation between Naaman and his servants how the faithful performance of ordinary duties may prepare the way for the reception of a higher blessing.*
* Comp. here also some instructive lessons from the history of Cornelius, Acts 10:7-27.
So it came to pass that instead of returning "in a rage" to Damascus, a leper, Naaman went down to Jordan. And as, obedient to "the saying of the man of God," he "dipped himself seven times in Jordan," "his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean." We can scarcely be mistaken in regarding the number seven as symbolic of the covenant (comp. also 1 Kings 18:43), and as also implying a trial of faith, since presumably the healing did not come till after the seventh washing. And now it appeared, by the effect produced, that Elisha had throughout sought the restoration not only of bodily health, but also the spiritual recovery of Naaman. Although not so bidden by the prophet, yet following the promptings of a renewed heart, like the grateful Samaritan in the Gospel (Luke 17:15), he returned to Elisha, and made such full acknowledgment of God - both negatively and positively - that it might have been said of it at that time: "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel" (Matthew 8:10).* And he also showed, in such manner as he could, the evangelical fruits of gratitude, and of a new life direction. Of the first he gave evidence in his desire to offer a gift;** of the second, in his request for "two mules' burden of earth." This, for the purpose of constructing an altar to Jehovah, as we infer from the expression of his resolve henceforth only to bring offerings unto the LORD.
* For instances of similar confession see Daniel 2:47; 3:29; 6:26, 27. Those who object to what they call "sudden conversions" might here learn how rapid, and often more decided and thorough-going is the change of feeling and of life in those who have had no previous religious preparation.
** "A blessing" in the sense of a gift. Comp. Genesis 33:10, 11; Judges 1:15; 1 Samuel 25:27; 30:26, and other passages. We may remark how much more suitable in such circumstances seems the Biblical expression, "a blessing," than the modern Western, "a gift."
Only very brief explanation seems necessary of Elisha's refusal to accept any gift from Naaman. For the prophets seem not unfrequently to have accepted such offerings (1 Samuel 9:7, 8; 1 Kings 14:3), and Elisha himself had only lately done so (2 Kings 4:42). But in the present instance it was of the utmost importance to show - in contradistinction to heathen soothsayers - that, as the prophet of God did not work miracles in his own power, nor by his own will, so he did it not for reward, and that the gift of God could not be purchased with money. Indeed, we can scarcely exaggerate the impression which the refusal of Elisha must have made both on the followers of Naaman and generally in Israel. One of the Fathers has here marked in the prophet's conduct the same principle which underlay the direction of our LORD when He sent out His disciples with this injunction: "Freely ye have received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8). Nor could Elisha be in doubt about the other request of Naaman. If in making his altar of earth according to the Divine direction* (Exodus 20:24), he wished to use that of the land of Israel, it could not have been with the thought that the God of Israel could only be worshipped on Israelitish soil.
* This, we can scarcely doubt, in contradistinction to the heathen altars, which were of stone, and the rites of which, among the nations inhabiting Palestine and the neighboring countries, represented and embodied all that was most vile.
Any idea of Jehovah as a national Deity, bound to the soil of Israel, would have been in contradiction to his expressed conviction that there was "no God in all the earth but in Israel:" no national deities, but the One living and true God, Whose knowledge and manifestation were only in Israel. Nor would Elisha have given his sanction to what rested on so serious a mistake. But we can easily understand the feelings which prompted a desire to rear an Israelitish altar, not only in loving remembrance* of the benefit received, but as congruous to the worship of Israel, to which his new faith had led him. It would be an outward expression of his inward faith, and would at the same time constantly proclaim throughout Syria that there was no other God than He of Israel, and no other worship than His.
* Somewhat similar feelings prompted the construction (according to the account of Benjamin of Tudela) of the synagogue at Nahardea of stones and earth brought from Palestine; and they may explain the campo santo of Pisa, where the dead are buried in Palestinian earth.
And yet wider thoughts come to us. The Old Testament dispensation seems to enlarge as it has touch of the heathen world: it seems to break through its temporary bounds; it becomes universal in its application, and in its wide-hearted toleration loses its exclusiveness. Thus this incident also is prefigurative of New Testament times. For the implied sanction of Naaman's sacrifices - though probably only burnt and thank-offerings,* - seems to carry us beyond the preparatory dispensation. On the other hand, it is evidence of this toleration when Elisha does not return a negative answer to the plea of Naaman - in which, however, an important alteration in the reading should be noted: "When my master goeth into the house of Rimmon** to bow down there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon when he*** boweth down in the house of Rimmon - oh, let Jehovah forgive thy servant in this matter."
* This seems implied in the terms used. The argument is, however, only one of inference. We infer from the mention of sacrifices which follows, and from the circumstance that the request is addressed to Elisha, that Naaman asked the two burdens of Israelitish earth for an altar, which in turn could only have been intended for sacrifices. If so, this would exactly represent an adaptation of the religion of Israel to the circumstances of pious Gentiles. It is strange that this point is not discussed either in the Talmud or by Jewish commentators, although the latter regard the two mules' burden of earth as destined for an altar. The Talmud regards Naaman as a proselyte, though not in the complete sense of one who had become a Jew by circumcision, baptism, and sacrifice (Gitt. 57 b, line 18 from top).
** Rimmon - or rather Raman and Rammanu - occurs on the Assyrian monuments as the name of the god of thunder, lightning, and flood (see also the cuneiform account of the Flood, col. ii., line 42, apud Schrader p. 62, and the note on p. 72, also pp. 205, 206). The Assyrians regarded Rimmon as identical with Hadad, the god of the sky. But the introduction of Rimmon in the worship of Damascus casts light on the historical relations between Syria and Assyria formerly referred to.
*** The alteration in the text implied in this reading only changes a [?] into a w . The amended reading is that of the LXX.
It will be noticed that according to this reading a sharp distinction is drawn - even although the terms used are the same - between the "bowing down" of Naaman, simply because his royal master leant on his arm, and the "bowing down" of the king of Syria for the purpose of worship. The very mention of this scruple by Naaman proved not only the tenderness of his enlightened conscience, but that he was not in any danger of conformity to heathen worship. And so, without specially entering on the matter, Elisha could bid him "go in peace."*
* We cannot sympathize with the views of those commentators who either blame Elisha's compliance, or regard him as not referring to Naaman's words, - in fact, ignoring them - when he bade him "go in peace." On the other hand, we are keenly alive to the dangers which may beset an indiscriminate application of what we have called the principle of wide-hearted toleration. The character and limits of it must be learned from Holy Scripture (see especially Romans 14:1; 15:7; 1 Corinthians 8; 9:20-23; Philippians 3:15). And this seems a safe practical principle, that we cannot be too strict as regards our own conduct, nor yet too charitable (consistently with truth) in interpreting the motives and actions of others.
But there was yet another and a sad sequel to this history. We have already had repeated occasion to notice the essential difference in spirit between the prophet and his servant. It now appeared in such manner as, if left unpunished, to have marred the work of Elisha. It seems difficult to understand how, with full knowledge of the great work just wrought, and of all that had passed, Gehazi could have taken up a position so different from that of his master. But, alas, there have been too many similar instances to make it appear quite strange. The character of Gehazi was in every respect the exact opposite of Elisha's. He was covetous, selfish, and narrow-minded. There is a striking contrast between the "As Jehovah liveth," with which Elisha prefaced his persistent refusal to receive aught of Naaman (ver. 16), and the same phrase in the mouth of Gehazi, as he resolved to "take somewhat" of "this Syrian" (ver. 20). To Gehazi it seemed that his master "had spared this Syrian" very needlessly and very foolishly, "in not receiving at his hands that which he brought." He could not see in what had passed anything higher than a transaction between man and man. It had been an act of romantic generosity, an unpractical display of mistaken principle, where every consideration - even nationality and religion - pointed in the other direction. At any rate, there was no reason why he should not act differently.
Naaman had pursued his journey a little distance, when he saw the servant of the prophet hastening after him. Showing to the servant honor similar to that which he would have paid to his master, the Syrian captain descended from his chariot to meet him. In answer to Naaman's anxious inquiry, Gehazi pretended a message from Elisha to the effect that two of the sons of the prophets had just come to him from Mount Ephraim, on which both Bethel and Gilgal were situated, and that he requested for them a talent of silver and two changes of garments. Probably we are to understand that these imaginary "sons of the prophets" were represented as having come in name of their respective communities, to crave help from Elisha. This would explain why Naaman should have urged Gehazi to "be pleased" - to "consent" - to take two talents (each from 300 pounds to 375 pounds). But for the hardening effect of sin, especially of lying and covetousness, Gehazi must have been touched by the evident simplicity of Naaman, and by that respectful courtesy which now would not allow the servant of the prophet, who had come on such a charitable errand, to be burdened with carrying the silver, but detailed two of his attendants for the purpose. Gehazi allowed them to come as far as "the hill,"* and then dismissed them, to prevent possible detection.
* This, and not "tower" as in the A.V. (ver. 24). Probably the hill on which Samaria was built, and not a hill on which, as some have supposed, the house of Elisha stood.
Having secreted the money in the house, Gehazi made his appearance before his master. To what he might have felt as a searching inquiry, "Whence, Gehazi?" he replied by a bold denial of having been absent from the house. Evidently Gehazi did not realize that the Jehovah Whom he had erst invoked, and before Whom Elisha stood, was the living and the true God. Taking up the very words of Gehazi, "Thy servant did not go," Elisha put it, "Did not my heart go?"* and then set before him the whole scene as it had been present to his inward spiritual vision.
* Except that "mine heart" (ver. 26) stands for "thy servant" (cf. ver. 25), the words in the Hebrew are exactly the same.
Then, setting forth the incongruity of such mean lying and self-seeking on such an occasion - when the glory of God should have been the sole thought and aim of a true Israelite, he pronounced upon him what must be felt a sentence of meet retribution. The Syrian had become an Israelite in heart and spirit, and he was healed of his leprosy in Israel's waters. The Israelite had become heathen in heart and spirit, and he and his were struck with the leprosy of the Syrian, whose money he had coveted for himself and his family. What each had sown, that did he reap. And this also was not only for just judgment, but for a testimony to God and to His servant.*
* It affords painful evidence of the absence of spiritual understanding, when the Talmud (Sot. 47 a) blames the conduct of Elisha towards Gehazi, as it does the destruction of the young men at Bethel by the she-bears. Another point which it selects for blame is Elisha's bearing towards Joram 2 Kings 3:13-16 (Pes. 66 b, line 15 from bottom). According to the Talmud, Elisha was visited by sickness, on account of the two first mentioned occurrences. The same authority would also have us believe that when Elisha went to Damascus (2 Kings 8:7), it was to lead Gehazi to repentance, but that this was not effected, according to the principle that no such return is offered to those whose sin has a general or public effect. If these references disclose the unspiritual character of the study of Scripture by the Talmudists, we must in fairness quote this beautiful saying of theirs, which occurs in the same connection: "Ever let the left hand repel [the sinner], and the right hand bring him near" (Sot. u.s.).
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lyricist, musician, metal
Neil Ellwood Peart
Virgo ♍ - the Virgin - people born August 22 through September 23
Last name pronounced PEERT. Main Lyricist and drummer. Member of band Rush. Songs Tom Sawyer, Limelight, The Spirit of Radio. Awarded Officer of the Order of Canada 1996.
Canada's Walk of Fame 1999.
Canadian Music Hall of Fame 1994.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2013.
Canada's Walk of Fame 1999 as a member of group Rush.
Canadian Music Hall of Fame 1994 as a member of group Rush.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2013 as a member of group Rush.
Hollywood Walk of Fame A star at 6752 Hollywood Boulevard for contributions to the recording industry25 June 2010 as a member of group Rush.
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Jewish World Review April 10, 2008 / 5 Nissan 5768
Republicans and Blacks
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | If Senator John McCain needed to prove that he is a real Republican, he did it when he continued an old Republican tradition of utterly inept attempts to appeal to black voters.
Senator McCain was booed at a recent memorial on the anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. In typical Republican fashion, he tried to apologize but the audience was not buying it and let him know it.
Why would Senator McCain choose a venue where his rejection was virtually guaranteed? Not only did he not get his message out, the message that came out through the media is that this black audience rejected him, which is readily portrayed as if blacks in general rejected him.
The Republican strategy for making inroads into the black vote has failed consistently for more than a quarter of a century. Yet it never seems to occur to them to change their approach.
The first thing that they do that is foredoomed to failure is trying to reach blacks through the civil rights organizations and other institutions of the black establishment. The second proven loser is trying to appeal to blacks by offering the same kinds of things that Democrats offer— token honors, politically correct rhetoric and welfare state benefits.
Blacks who want those things know that they can already get them from the Democrats. Why should they listen to Republicans who act like imitation Democrats?'
These are not the blacks whose votes Republicans have any realistic hope of getting. Nor do the Republicans need the votes of all blacks. If just 20 percent of blacks begin voting Republican, the Democrats are lost.
The question then is how to have a shot at getting the votes of those blacks who are not in thrall to the current black "leaders" and who on many issues may be conservative.
First of all, you don't get their votes by approaching them from the left, when that is neither their orientation nor yours. Issuing stamps honoring Paul Robeson and Kwanzaa are not the way to reach those blacks whom Republicans have any realistic chance of reaching.
Trying to reach blacks through civil rights organizations that are totally hostile to your message is like a quarterback trying to throw a pass to a receiver surrounded by opposing defenders. That just leads to a lot of interceptions and touchdowns for the other team.
That is essentially what has been happening to the Republicans, as far as the black vote is concerned, for decades on end. Someone once said that a method which fails repeatedly may possibly be wrong.
The truth is something that can attract people's attention, if only for its novelty in politics. There is no need for Republicans to try to pose as saviors of blacks. Democrats do that and they have more experience doing it.
A sober presentation of the facts— "straight talk," if you will— gives Senator McCain and Republicans their best shot at a larger share of the votes of blacks. There is plenty to talk straight about, including all the things that the Democrats are committed to that work to the disadvantage of blacks, beginning with Democrats' adamant support of teachers' unions in their opposition to parental choice through vouchers.
The teachers' unions are just one of the sacred cow constituencies of the Democratic Party whose agendas are very harmful to blacks.
Black voters also need to be told about the tens of thousands of blacks who have been forced out of a number of liberal Democratic California counties by skyrocketing housing prices, brought on by Democratic environmentalists' severe restrictions on the building of homes or apartments.
The black population of San Francisco, for example, has been cut in half since 1970— and San Francisco is the very model of a community of liberal Democrats, including green zealots who are heedless of the consequences of their actions on others.
Then there are the effects of tort lawyers in raising prices, liberal judges turning criminals loose and other influential Democratic Party constituencies whose effects on blacks are strictly negative.
Where should these and other messages be delivered to blacks, if not through the existing black organizations?
That message can be delivered as part of televised speeches addressing other major issues facing the country. It can be delivered as part of advertisements in the general media and separately in advertisements in newspapers, magazines and television programs with a black audience.
Logistics are not the problem. Insistence on following a repeatedly failed game plan is.
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Amir should have focussed on his form and performances: Misbah
When Mohammad Amir retired from international cricket, he alleged 'mental torture' from the current coaching set up for his decision. Head coach Misbah-ul-Haq has now clarified that Amir was dropped from the side because of his declining form and the team could no longer just bank on the past performances.
"I never said that I would not play ODIs and T20Is for Pakistan just because of T20 leagues, these members of PCB management kept on saying that I left Tests for T20 leagues and this proved crucial in destroying my image and people started talking about it," Amir told on his YouTube channel.
"I am not weak, if I was I would have never been able to make a comeback after 2010. I do not have issues with Wasim Khan and Ehsan Mani, I just have a problem with the current PCB management who is dealing with the players,."
While Amir felt he wasn't valued by the coaching setup, Misbah has stressed the pacer didn't put in encouraging performances to be included in the side that toured New Zealand. "Mohammad Amir has his own opinions. I've always respected players. I was captain when he came back to international cricket in 2016. I kept everything aside and supported him. As a coach also I've supported him," Misbah pointed out.
"I remember before England tour he had a personal problem. I tried everything to convince him. He didn't travel to England but messaged me later. We recalled him because we needed senior bowlers. He got injured and his form went down as well. We wanted to play youngsters against Zimbabwe. He came back from injury and when he played his performance wasn't good. He wasn't at his best. He wasn't able to get into the Northern side. The other bowlers were performing well there."
Incidentally, Amir retired from Test cricket in July 2019 in order to focus on white-ball cricket, a decision that was subsequently slammed by then Pakistan head coach Waqar Younis who felt his team was shortchanged on the tour of Australia by Amir's decision. The left-arm pacer, who enjoyed a productive World Cup campaign, then dwindled in the shorter formats as per the team's coaching staff.
"Waqar and I spoke to him. We expect him to go full throttle for four overs in T20Is. If you can't do that, with your pace which has come down from 87-88 mph to 80-81 mph, it will be difficult for the team to perform. Shaheen, Naseem and Hasnain are performing and you have to compete against them. It can't be like just because you are senior bowler, you get performance. Amir hasn't reached his peak form. Nothing personal.
"Waqar never had anything to do with his exclusion. There were six people - the selectors, the captain - no one wanted to support him. We've always respected him and he should have gone and focussed on his form and performances."
Since January 2019, Amir played just nine T20Is and had picked seven wickets at an average of 32. In the last two seasons of Pakistan Super League, the pacer has bagged 23 wickets from 20 matches. Once he was dropped from the side, Amir decided to head to Lanka Premier League where he picked 11 wickets from ten matches. However, after the tournament he decided to end his international career. Amir also alleged he was penalised for playing T20 Leagues.
"When you dropped me for the New Zealand tour, I wanted to showcase my skills so Lanka Premier League was around the corner and I took the opportunity to play for Galle Gladiators," he had said then. "Haris Rauf came into the Pakistan team through Big Bash League. So as a player, this is what we can do, we can perform and make a comeback. In the current system, I get to know through social media that I have been dropped from the squad. You could have told me why you are dropping me, but you are sitting back and talking about Test cricket."
Misbah, however, clarified Amir would still be welcome in the Pakistan side if he can improve his performances and is willing to come out of retirement. "We weren't playing ODI cricket. Your previous performances matter but also your current form. If we go by previous performances, no player will go out of the team," he said.
"The other bowlers were performing better. Amir played in the same tournament and yet Haris and Shaheen were on top of the table. I am not disrespecting him. He's a quality bowler. I'll welcome him back if he wants to come back. I've always respected his decision. It's his personal decision. As a senior player, you have to lead the team. You can't be in surviving mode."
Amir ended his career having played 30 Tests, 61 ODIs, and 50 T20Is in his international career, picking up a total of 259 international wickets. His last appearance for Pakistan came in the T20I series against England in August last year.
Lovello title sponsor of Bangabandhu BD-WI series
Sports Reporter :Lovello Ice Cream is the title sponsor of the Bangabandhu Bangladesh-West Indies series. The series will be powered by Walton. Matra will act for branding the title
Australia frustrated as rain dampens decider Test against India
Agency :A heavy downpour frustrated Australia on day two of the fourth Test decider in Brisbane on Saturday, with play abandoned after tea and India spared from resuming on
BCB announces 18-member ODI squad
Sports Reporter :The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced on Saturday the 18-member ODI squad of Bangladesh for the upcoming West Indies three-match One Day International (ODI) series. The series
Tamim, Shakib hit form just ahead of WI ODIsTamim XI's Saifuddin bowls during their second practice match against Mahmudullah XI at Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan (BKSP) on Saturday.
BSS, Dhaka :Bangladesh ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal and ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan hit form just ahead of the upcoming three-match ODI series against West Indies as they struck
Caribbean leg spinner Walsh tests corona positive, to miss ODIs
Sports Reporter :Caribbean leg spinner Hayden Walsh has tested positive for coronavirus. The officials of West Indies Cricket team informed this matter on Thursday saying he will miss upcoming
Labuschagne ton puts Australia on top against spirited India
Agency :Marnus Labuschagne rode his luck to score a century and give Australia the upper hand against a depleted Indian attack on Day One of the fourth and final
Windies out to execute 'specific plan' against tiger spinners
BSS, Dhaka :The visiting West Indies vowed to execute their plan well against Bangladeshi spinners, who tormented them in the last series here in 2018.A four-pronged spin attack-consisted with
Lyon eyes twin milestones in Brisbane - 400 wickets in 100th Test
AFP, Brisbane :Australia's Nathan Lyon is eyeing twin milestones in the fourth Test at Brisbane this week - 400 wickets in his 100th appearance - and promised Wednesday he was
Langer suggests IPL to blame for injury-wracked Test series
AFP, Brisbane :Australia coach Justin Langer suggested Wednesday the delayed Indian Premier League (IPL) was to blame for so many injuries marring Australia's blockbuster series' with India.The short-form extravaganza normally
Sri Lanka's Mathews returns for England Tests
AFP, Galle :Former Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews has recovered from injury and was named Wednesday in a 22-player squad to face England in two Tests in Galle.But the injured
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Reading Classes
My Child Has Just Been Diagnosed With Dyslexia. Now What Should I Do?
Parent/ Guardian Testimonials
Leabhair Power
Covid-19 School Info
Holy Family SNS
Ms. Clifford
Ms. Finn
Mr. McGuinn
Ms. Parker
Ms. Walsh
Ms. Byrne
Mr. Gormly
Ms. Kennedy
Mr. Lynch
Mr. McCann
Ms. McDonagh
Mr. Byrne
Mr. Duffy
Ms. Flynn
Ms. Hanley
Mr. O’Connor
Ms. O’Connor
Ms. Rose-Nel
Ms. Donnelly
Ms. Halpin
Mr. Maher
Mr. McDonald
Ms. Nash
Ms. O’Donnell
Ms. Ralph
Reading Class
Ms. Kearney
Peace Proms
The following are some extracts from parents and guardians who kindly volunteered to submit a testimonial about their experiences with The Reading Class. If any more current or past parents of children who have attended the class would like to send in a testimonial we would love to hear from you. Thanks!
…”When we first heard the words she was dyslexic I wanted to wrap her up in cotton wool and protect her but at the same time give her the best chance possible. I was initially very worried with the thought of my daughter leaving a school of 100 pupils where everyone knows everyone to a school with just over 600 pupils.
Well, I needn’t have worried, she settled in from day one and never looked back. Her confidence went from strength to strength and her reading and spelling improved ten fold.
She finishes her two year program in June a totally different person to the child that started two years previous. That’s down to the dedication of the Principal, Teachers and SNAs of Holy Family Senior National School and I will be forever grateful. I would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending the school to any other parent.”…
…”I hadn’t realised how difficult it was for my son at school. After a few months in The Reading Class everything got much easier because of the small class numbers and the one to one help. He is now much more capable, confident and everything has improved. I feel that the dedication of the learning support staff over the years and his reading class teacher has given him a great foundation for secondary school.”…
…”My son loves sport and is quite creative. When we sat down to speak to him last year about joining the school one of the things we talked to him about were all the clubs and school teams that were available. This really appealed to him…. He has a big interest in history and really enjoyed the 1916 day meeting the soldier in uniform and learning all about The Rising. Its great that he can join a mainstream 4th class for other subjects.”…
…”One of the biggest things I feel has helped my daughter is the assistive technology. Her teacher was very helpful and showed us a couple of sites and programmes to try at home. It was also great for me too as it inspired me improve my computer skills!”…
…”Before she went into the Reading Class she was very shy, quiet and did not communicate with many people but within a few weeks, with the help of the teacher and all the work she has done over the two years, my child has come on and up in the areas of speech, language and comprehension.”
…”I cannot praise the work of the Reading Class and the teachers enough for the progress that my child has made and to where she is today.”……”The taxi service has proved invaluable as we live a good bit away from the school. Without it we wouldn’t have been able to send my son and he would have missed out on a great opportunity. The breakfast club is a great idea because some mornings we can be rushing out the door. When he goes off to school I know he’ll have a good breakfast before going into class.”…
“My daughter has attended the Reading Class in Holy Family National School since 2014 completing third and fourth class. During her time in the class she has made significant progress both academically and socially.”…
…”The support and guidance she has been given has been tailored to her individual needs. The methods used by the teachers were based on her learning style and this has helped her achieve a level of success.”…
…”I feel that any child with similar learning needs as my daughters would greatly benefit from attending the Reading Class in Holy Family Senior National School.”…
…”Another major advantage of The Reading Class is the small class size. This provides more opportunities for the learning needs of each child to be fully supported and also allows the teacher to concentrate on specific areas of difficulty for each child, which I found very beneficial in my own child’s case.”…
…”My daughter has significantly grown in confidence since she has attended the Reading Class. I now feel she has a greater sense of confidence both in herself, her academic abilities and in interacting with other children and adults. I owe this to the tremendous work carried out in The Reading Class.”…
…”We are delighted with the improvements that our son is making. He’s reading and writing with more confidence than before he joined the class. In his last school, socially he found things difficult but the small group has helped him hugely. He is now more willing to try new things and is more outgoing. He’s improving all the time and is relaxed and a lot happier. You can see that in him.”…
…”From the moment I walked into the school on a visit any concerns or doubts I had disappeared.”…
Copyright © 2020. All Rights Reserved | Holy Family Senior National School
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MAPS Conflict Minerals Statement & Policy
Poster : 관리자 Date : 17-11-28 10:42 Hit : 12833
MAPS is a company with a strong commitment to social responsibility. We believe that as a sustainable company, we need our suppliers and contractors to join us in this commitment, based on a share set of values and principles.
There has been increased awareness of violence and human rights violations in the mining of certain minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and surrounding countries. MAPS shares the deep concern about sources of minerals from these conflict zones and is therefore committed to make its products DRC conflict-free and obtain full transparency throughout its supply chain.
MAPS supports the goals and objectives of Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which aims to prevent the use of conflict minerals that directly or indirectly finance or benefit armed groups in The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) or an adjoining country as defined in the Act (Conflict Region). Conflict minerals included; columbite-tantalite (coltan) (i.e., tantalum), cassiterite (i.e., tin), gold, wolframite (i.e., tungsten) or their derivatives and could expand to include any other mineral or their derivative determined by the U.S. Secretary of State to be financing the DRC conflict. The Act requires companies to perform due diligence with respect to the sourcing of conflict minerals and to file annual reports relating to use of conflict minerals. MAPS comply with the conflict minerals diligence and reporting obligations required under the Act.
MAPS suppliers, including contractors and external manufacturers, shall have a policy to reasonably commit that the tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold in the products they manufacture do not directly or indirectly finance or benefit armed groups that are perpetrators of serious human right abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or an adjoining country. MAPS suppliers shall exercise due diligence on the source and chain of custody of these minerals and shall make their due diligence measures available to MAPS upon MAPS’ request.
MAPS has either obtained, or is in the process of obtaining, information from suppliers concerning the origin of the metals that are used in the manufacture of MAPS Inc.’ products. Based upon information provided by our suppliers, MAPS does not knowingly use metals derived from the Conflict Region that directly or indirectly benefit armed groups that are perpetrators of serious human rights abuses. If such sources are identified, MAPS will take actions to remove them from its supply chain.
MAPS, Inc.
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Democratizing Defense Network
The movement to bring home the National Guard is growing. State representatives and senators in Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island have joined Vermonters in drafting and introducing legislation to keep their state Guard units where they belong. With the latest news out of Iraq and Washington D.C. -- that the troop escalation has failed to end the violence and that the Bush administration will attempt to issue additional call up orders for Guard units this summer and fall -- the time is ripe for state action to keep the Guard in the United States.
This campaign began earliest in Vermont, and it is in Vermont that the effort has made the most progress. The Vermont Senate held hearings on the legislation last month. The Vermont public is debating the issue. Media outlets from the Topeka Capital Journal to CBS national news to the Houston Chronicle have covered the debate. For the first time, Americans are becoming aware of the illegality of National Guard deployments to Iraq. The Vermont debate is educating all of us; we are learning that:
The President may only call the Guard into National Service after Congress has granted him/her that authority; otherwise, the Guard remain under the command of state officials.
The 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force in Iraq (2002 AUMF) was the act of Congress under which National Guard call ups for deployment to Iraq have occurred until now.
The 2002 AUMF set a clear mission for the invasion of Iraq, and that mission is over. Saddam Hussein and Iraq are no long a threat to the United States or the region (if they ever were), and the UN Security Council resolutions on which the 2002 AUMF was based are no longer relevant.
Some state elected officials are willing to stand up and defend the constitutional guarantee of a federal government of limited and enumerated powers, a military designed for national defense and not empire, and a government of laws and not of men!
All of this is already coming to light with a simple legislative push that doesn't even challenge the unconstitutionality of the war itself, or challenge the deployment of the Guard for purposes other than those spelled out in the Constitution. All this legislation says is, "Federal government, we're not even telling you that your laws are unconstitutional, we're just insisting that you to obey your own laws." Is that such a radical thing to ask? Let's find out.
The Vermont legislation is important precisely because it opens a new debate over the war in Iraq. It gives Americans an opportunity to go the government closest to them -- their local and state government -- and to insist that the states hold the federal government to account.
The Vermont sponsors need to hear from you that you support their efforts. Please contact Vermont Senator Peter Shumlin today and let him know that you support the Vermont Guard legislation and that time is of the essence:
Peter Shumlin
Senate President Pro Tem
Vermont State House
senprespt@leg.state.vt.us
Please spread the word, especially to friends and family in Vermont, but also far and wide. The Guard will be that much closer to coming home if you act now.
For background information, please check out Liberty Tree's extensive National Guard resource page at http://www.libertytreefdr.org/guard.php
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John Kerry on Roe v. Wade
Senator John Kerry on the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade:
“Thirty five years ago today, the Supreme Court affirmed the right to privacy in the landmark Roe v. Wade decision,” said Kerry. “Ever since that day, the modern conservative movement has spared no resources or energy to try and roll back a fundamental freedom and put personal and private decisions in the hands of politicians not women, families, doctors, and clergy. We’ve seen the right wing pack the courts and pass backdoor legislative efforts at the local, state, and federal level to chip away at or even undermine Roe v Wade entirely.”
“Now more than ever, we need to protect the right to privacy. We must rededicate ourselves to the fight to make it clear that a 35 year old statement of a constitutional right must not be overturned. From the struggle to repeal a global gag rule, to the battle against extreme judicial nominees, to filibusters of conscience against President Bush’s most dangerous choices for the bench all the way to the Supreme Court, we have fought for principle, and that fight must continue until we have a voice in the White House who will stand up for a woman’s right to privacy rather than work to erode it.”
And another Kerry quote on another topic which is worth repeating in light of the manner in which the Clintons have resorted to Swift Boat tactics:
“I support Barack Obama because he doesn’t seek to perfect the politics of Swiftboating — he seeks to end it.”
Posted in Barack Obama, In The News, John Kerry, Social Issues. Tags: Barack Obama, John Kerry. No Comments »
Bloomberg Dismisses Economic Stimulus Package
While a third party candidate has little chance, as a consequence of the poor choices offered by the major parties Michael Bloomberg has moved up to second in my rankings of potential 2008 candidates (with this subject to change between now and November). Bloomberg has dismissed the proposed economic stimulus package being considered with this criticism:
“There’s just one problem: It’s not going to make much of a difference because we’ve already been running huge deficits,” Bloomberg said. “If we spend all the money right now, and there is no recovery because of it, then we don’t have a second hand to play.”
Bloomberg has offered these suggestions:
Bloomberg argued that the government’s first goal should be to stop the bleeding in the housing sector. “What good is a rebate going to do for a family who’s about to lose the place that they sleep in?” he said. Keeping people in their homes, he added, “is more important than giving everyone a check.”
Instead, the mayor argued, the government should:
_ Adopt a capital budget to oversee long-term infrastructure spending, instead of the current year-to-year spending.
_ Offer financial counseling, modified loans and, in some cases, subsidized loans to homeowners who find themselves unable to afford their mortgages.
_Overhaul immigration laws to bring more workers in, not keep workers out.
“Illegal immigration has become the pandering politician’s best friend,” he said. “We have to stop turning away people that our economy needs.”
Posted in Economy, Michael Bloomberg. Tags: Michael Bloomberg. 4 Comments »
Freedom in Retreat
Freedom House has released their annual report finding, ” The year 2007 was marked by a notable setback for global freedom.”
The decline in freedom, as reported in Freedom in the World 2008, an annual survey of political rights and civil liberties worldwide, was reflected in reversals in one-fifth of the world’s countries. Most pronounced in South Asia, it also reached significant levels in the former Soviet Union, the Middle East and North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa. A substantial number of politically important countries whose declines have broad regional and global implications—including Russia, Pakistan, Kenya, Egypt, Nigeria, and Venezuela—were affected.
Complete survey results reflect global events during 2007. A package of charts and graphs and an explanatory essay are available online.
“This year’s results show a profoundly disturbing deterioration of freedom worldwide,” said Arch Puddington, director of research at Freedom House. “A number of countries that had previously shown progress toward democracy have regressed, while none of the most influential Not Free states showed signs of improvement. As the second consecutive year that the survey has registered a global decline in political rights and civil liberties, friends of freedom worldwide have real cause for concern.”
Posted in Civil Liberties, International. Tags: Civil Liberties, Russia. No Comments »
Obama and Romney on Faith-Based Programs
Earlier today I looked at Obama’s views on faith-based programs. Obama discusses this further in an interview in Christianity Today. In the past I’ve criticized Mitt Romney’s views on religion and government. The Washington Independent shows that as governor Romney actually acted along the guide lines discussed by Obama:
During Mitt Romney’s time as governor of Massachusetts, he took only a few steps to help faith-based groups increase their access to public contracts to provide social services.
But the governor made one high-profile move that showed his commitment to the issue: Romney appointed his wife, Ann, in 2005 as an unpaid liaison to religious and community groups in the state. Her job was to help them compete for federal funding.
“I work with inner city at-risk youth,” she told ABC News last year, “and we find that a lot of the black churches in the inner city have been very, very helpful in being there on the ground, helping these kids, really making a difference in their lives. I’m very supportive of that, of trying to find anyone that’s helping, give them a hand, as well.”
Romney, a Mormon, has faced difficult questions about the role his religion might play in his public life. While he said some faith-based groups do a better job at helping poor families than some government social service agencies, he made clear that his support for such groups is limited to their secular work. “Helping them in a religious role… would be unacceptable,” he said in the same ABC interview, appearing with his wife in the early stages of his presidential campaign.
It is good to see that, at least in this case, at least one Republican candidate is showing some respect for separation of church and state.
Posted in Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, Religion, Separation of Church and State. Tags: Religion. No Comments »
Kerry Defends Obama From Clinton Smear Campaign
Earlier I expressed hope that Democratic leaders would stand up to oppose the type of dishonest campaign that the Clintons are running. After all, I’ve often criticized Republicans for accepting the same type of dishonesty from the Bush administration, and we cannot accept this regardless of which party it comes from. One senior Democrat has repeatedly stood up to defend candidates from “swiftboating.” The Guardian reports:
John Kerry, the Democratic candidate in the 2004 presidential election, today made an extraordinary intervention on behalf of Barack Obama, accusing his opponents of stooping to “Swiftboat” smear tactics to destroy the black senator’s presidential ambitions.
Kerry, whose presidential bid was wrecked by innuendo and lies about his Vietnam service as a Swiftboat officer on the Mekong river, did not name the Clintons, but they appeared to be the main target of his outburst.
“The fight is just heating up. We won’t let them steal this election with lies and distortions,” he said.
His comments came amid signs of a backlash in the Democratic party, especially among African-Americans, at the way that Hillary and Bill Clinton have gone about taking Obama apart during the past fortnight…
Kerry, a senator from Massachusetts, endorsed Obama last month, despite his long friendship with Bill Clinton. It was an important endorsement, giving heart to other members of Congress who had been dithering about supporting Obama for fear of antagonising the Clinton machine.
But it is a big jump for Kerry to go from endorsement to criticism of the former president and his spouse, even if indirectly. He described as “disgusting lies” allegations on the internet about Obama’s religion and record of public service.
“I support Barack Obama because he doesn’t seek to perfect the politics of Swiftboating – he seeks to end it,” he said. “This is personal for me, and for a whole lot of Americans who lived through the 2004 election.”
One other Democrat is also mentioned:
Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader and Obama supporter, denounced Bill Clinton’s conduct as “not keeping with the image of a former president”.
“I think it destroys the party. Ultimately it’s going to divide us, and it’s going to have a lasting effect down the road,” Daschle said.
Posted in Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, In The News, John Kerry, Politics. Tags: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, John Kerry, Religion, Republicans. 2 Comments »
Gore Backs Same Sex Marriage
Al Gore has released a video supporting legalization of same sex marriage. The Politico reports:
“Gay men and women ought to have the same rights as heterosexual men and women — to make contracts, to have hospital visiting rights, to join together in marriage, and I don’t understand why it is considered by some people to be a threat to heterosexual marriage,” he says on the video, which appears on his Current TV network. “Shouldn’t we be promoting the kind of faithfulness and loyalty to ones partner regardless of sexual orientation?”
Gore’s words come after the leading presidential candidates have tiptoed up to, but not crossed, the line of support for same-sex marriage. All three support equal substantive rights for gay and lesbians couples, and they’ve sought to woo gay voters in other ways: Elizabeth Edwards has voiced her support for same-sex marriage, for instance, and Barack Obama recently scolded the black church for homophobia, in a speech to an African-American congregation.
Will Gore have as much influence on public perception of this issue as he has with global warming?
Posted in Al Gore, Social Issues. Tags: Al Gore, Barack Obama, Same-Sex Marriage. No Comments »
Hillary Clinton, The Republican Democrat
Paul Waldman has a must read article in The American Prospect on how Hillary Clinton is applying Karl Rove style tactics in her campaign against Barack Obama. He writes:
Three weeks ago, I wrote that Clinton was working to make voters uneasy, utilizing just enough fear to encourage them to stick with the known quantity in the race. But in the time since, her campaign has begun to appear more and more as though it’s being run by Karl Rove or Lee Atwater. Pick your tired metaphor — take-no-prisoners, brass knuckles, no-holds-barred, playing for keeps — however you describe it, the Clinton campaign is not only not going easy on Obama, they’re doing so in awfully familiar ways. So many of the ingredients of a typical GOP campaign are there, in addition to fear. We have the efforts to make it harder for the opponent’s voters to get to the polls (the Nevada lawsuit seeking to shut down at-large caucus sites in Las Vegas, to which the Clinton campaign gave its tacit support). We have, depending on how you interpret the events of the last couple of weeks, the exploitation of racial divisions and suspicions (including multiple Clinton surrogates criticizing Obama for his admitted teenage drug use). And most of all, we have an utterly shameless dishonesty.
On some of these points, Clinton hasn’t yet reached GOP levels of underhandedness. But on the simple question of honestly characterizing their opponent, the Clintons are giving any Republican campaign in memory a run for its money.
The latest example is the Clinton camp’s extremely effective effort to twist some remarks Obama made about Ronald Reagan and the years since his presidency beyond all recognition, which came up in their debate Monday night. In an interview with the editorial board of the Reno Gazette-Journal, Obama had said that Reagan had successfully “changed the trajectory of America, in a way that Richard Nixon did not, and in a way that Bill Clinton did not,” a claim few people of any ideological stripe would dispute. He also said, “I think it’s fair to say the Republicans were the party of ideas for a pretty long chunk of time over the last 10 or 15 years, in the sense that they were challenging conventional wisdom.”
For those of you who don’t know, the “party of ideas” is a concept that people have been throwing around for quite some time in Washington, and it is almost always used in a value-neutral way, meaning the party that at a particular time appears to the public like the one offering something new and grand, and that seems to have political momentum behind its ideological thrust. Both parties want to claim the “party of ideas” mantle, but you can acknowledge that at one time or another your opponents have successfully grabbed it without saying their ideas are actually right. But Hillary Clinton responded this way:
“I have to say, you know, my leading opponent the other day said that he thought the Republicans had better ideas than Democrats the last ten to fifteen years. That’s not the way I remember the last ten to fifteen years. I don’t think it’s a better idea to privatize Social Security. I don’t think it’s a better idea to try to eliminate the minimum wage. I don’t think it’s a better idea to undercut health benefits and to give drug companies the right to make billions of dollars by providing prescription drugs to Medicare recipients. I don’t think it’s a better idea to shut down the government, to drive us into debt.”And if you listen to the tape, the italics are right there in her voice. Bill then chimed in, taking the distortion to an even higher level: “Her principal opponent,” he claimed, “said that since 1992, the Republicans have had all the good ideas.”
Waldman also discusses other dishonest attacks from Clinton such as the distortion of Obama’s positions on Iraq and Social Security. He turns to the big question:
The question this raises is how we really feel about ethically questionable campaign tactics. The fact is that we’re very quick to forgive a politician we support for hitting below the belt, if the belt in question is around the waist of another politician we dislike. We might ask ourselves, however, whether our readiness to do so is different in kind from the Republican willingness to tolerate torture, so long as it’s done to “bad guys” (OK, so many of them won’t just “tolerate” it, they’ll applaud it enthusiastically). Try to imagine that it’s nine months from now, Mitt Romney is the Republican nominee, and flyers begin appearing in mailboxes charging that as an elder of the Mormon church, Romney participated in bizarre, cult-like rituals that may or may not have involved slaughtering puppies. Would you say that the attack was beyond the pale, but crack a secret smile when Romney was forced to deny that he was a puppy-killer?
My answer is no, I would not be happy to see Hillary Clinton win by using such tactics. This type of behavior is dangerous to our public discourse and dangerous to democracy. We have all known for years that the Clintons have no difficulty with lying, but lies such as this are far more damaging to democracy than many of their previous lies. We knew about Bill Clinton’s sexual conduct before he was elected and nobody should have been surprised he’d lie about that if caught. Basing a campaign on lying about the opponent is a far more serious matter.
One of the reasons I have voted Democratic in recent years has been because of the manner in which Republicans have distorted public debate. For a democracy to work effectively the voters must know what they are voting for. The Orwellian propaganda efforts of the GOP which are based upon distorting the facts have led to our current situation of having an incompetent and dishonest president who has done immeasurable harm to our nation. We must not allow the only alternative to such a party in a two party system become a mirror image.
I hope that party leaders step in to put an end to such dishonest tactics. I hope that the news media does its job in reporting the truth whenever Clinton or any other candidate spreads lies. Ultimately this responsibility to police our public officials falls to the voters. Democrats should make it clear to Hillary Clinton that we already have one Republican Party, and if she wishes to imitate them we are not going to vote for her, whether in a primary or a general election.
Posted in Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Politics, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan. Tags: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Democrats, Hillary Clinton, Iraq, Karl Rove, Medicare, Mitt Romney, Polls, Republicans, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Torture. 3 Comments »
There She Goes Again (Hillary Clinton vs. the Truth)
Talking Points Memo reports that Hillary Clinton is running an ad repeating the same type of lies she has been saying about Barack Obama’s recent statements. Again she quotes Obama out of context referring to the Republicans as the party of ideas, suggesting that Obama supported those Republican ideas.
I’ve already had multiple posts on this topic. Factcheck.org calls this attack “flatly false.” Eriz Zorn says the Clintons are lying. Obama has made his opposition to Reagan’s ideas quite clear when his actual statements are reviewed.
Seeing how easily Hillary and Bill Clinton are able to lie allows the Republicans to claim the final victory in their battles against the Clintons. While they overreacted with impeachment, they were certainly right about the Clintons. Bill Clinton lied about having sex with that woman. Both Bill and Hillary are lying about what Obama said.
Seeing this blatant dishonesty will make it very difficult to consider voting for Hillary Clinton should she win the nomination. I must add that this is destroying the claims of many on the left to be a part of the “reality based community.” For example, Talk Left claims “The ad properly points out that Obama did not express any criticism of the GOP ideas. That is the problem. Obama’s failure to speak out against these ideas.” There is simply no way to make such a ridiculous claim without either intentionally ignoring everything Obama has actually said since this controversy erupted or to outright lie (as Clinton’s even more shrill supporters like Taylor Marsh have done repeatedly).
Differences of opinion are one thing and I’d have no problem with either Clinton or pro-Clinton bloggers arguing over real disagreements with Obama. However, when one side repeatedly resorts to outright lying about what the opposing candidate has said in order to oppose him, I have zero respect for them and there’s little chance I’d vote for a candidate who resorts to such swift boating in the general election. Besides, the Clinton record sure is not very good with regards to either their own favorable statements about Ronald Reagan or their policies of triangulation to promote Republican policies. To attack Obama for not being sufficiently critical of Republican ideas, just like attacking him on his position on the war, are classic examples of the Karl Rove strategy of attacking a candidate on their strongest points. We hardly need another term of a Rove-style politician in the White House.
Update: Obama responds with an ad of his own. In contrast to the Clinton ad, it is totally free of lies:
It was Hillary Clinton, in an interview with Tom Brokaw, who quote “paid tribute” to Ronald Reagan’s economic and foreign policy.
She championed NAFTA – even though it has cost South Carolina thousands of jobs.
And worst of all, it was Hillary Clinton who voted for George Bush’s war in Iraq.
Hillary Clinton. She’ll say anything, and change nothing.
It’s time to turn the page.
Posted in Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Blogs & Social Media, Hillary Clinton, Politics, Ronald Reagan. Tags: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Iraq, Karl Rove, Republicans, Ronald Reagan. 10 Comments »
Obama on Faith-Based Programs and Separation of Church and State
I’ve often both expressed some displeasure with the frequency with which religion plays a part in Obama’s campaign but have also accepted this in light of his strong support for separation of church and state. I would prefer a time when politicians could dismiss questions of religion as easily as Arnold Vinick, the fictional Republican candidate from The West Wing, does in this clip. Unfortunately this is not realistic in the current political climate, and Obama has an added need to remind voters of his Christian religion in response to the Muslim smears being spread. Another example of Obama’s thought on religion is seen in this exchange in an interview at Beliefnet:
You wrote in “The Audacity of Hope” about the role that faith and faith-based programs could play in confronting social ills. Isn’t your view on that similar to George W. Bush’s?
No, I don’t think so, because I am much more concerned with maintaining the line between church and state. And I believe that, for the most part, we can facilitate the excellent work that’s done by faith-based institutions when it comes to substance abuse treatment or prison ministries…. I think much of this work can be done in a way that doesn’t conflict with church and state. I think George Bush is less concerned about that.
My general criteria is that if a congregation or a church or synagogue or a mosque or a temple wants to provide social services and use government funds, then they should be able to structure it in a way that all people are able to access those services and that we’re not seeing government dollars used to proselytize.
That, by the way, is a view based not just on my concern about the state or the apparatus of the state being captured by a particular religious faith, but it’s also because I want the church protected from the state. And I don’t think that we promote the incredible richness of our religious life and our religious institutions when the government starts getting too deeply entangled in their business. That’s part of the reason why you don’t have as rich a set of religious institutions and faith life in Europe. Part of that has to do with the fact that, traditionally, it was an extension of the state. And so there is less experimentation, less vitality, less responsiveness to the yearnings of people. It became a rigid institution that no longer served people’s needs. Religious freedom in this country, I think, is precisely what makes religion so vital.
Steve Benen considers this a good answer:
The problem with Bush’s faith-based initiative wasn’t that the government would subsidize social-service work from religious groups. The truth is, that’s been going on for years — Catholic Charities, for example, was contracting with the government for taxpayer-financed projects for years, long before Bush came onto the scene.
Rather, the problem with Bush’s approach is that he identified safeguards in the system, and eliminated them. It led to an initiative in which made it easy for religious groups to proselytize with public funds.
Obama’s approach — which I’d like to hear him emphasize a little more often — would seem to return to the model that was in place before Bush took office: faith-based groups are eligible to compete for government contracts, as they have been for years, but only while “maintaining” the separation of church and state, and while preventing ministries from proselytizing while performing a state-sponsored public service.
And in the bigger picture, Obama’s general approach to religious liberty was very much in line with what I wanted to hear. Indeed, he characterized church-state separation in a way that might appeal more to religious conservatives — arguing that the constitutional principle isn’t hostile towards the faithful, but rather, helps maintain the integrity of religious institutions by leaving them free of government interference. (Mark Kleiman had a good item about this a while back.)
Posted in Barack Obama, George Bush, Religion, Separation of Church and State. Tags: Conservatives, George Bush, Religion. 2 Comments »
Bush Lied, People Died
That’s what this study shows.
A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The study concluded that the statements “were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses.”
The study was posted Tuesday on the Web site of the Center for Public Integrity, which worked with the Fund for Independence in Journalism.
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel did not comment on the merits of the study Tuesday night but reiterated the administration’s position that the world community viewed Iraq’s leader, Saddam Hussein, as a threat.
“The actions taken in 2003 were based on the collective judgment of intelligence agencies around the world,” Stanzel said.
The study counted 935 false statements in the two-year period. It found that in speeches, briefings, interviews and other venues, Bush and administration officials stated unequivocally on at least 532 occasions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to produce or obtain them or had links to al-Qaida or both.
“It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to al-Qaida,” according to Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith of the Fund for Independence in Journalism staff members, writing an overview of the study. “In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003.”
Named in the study along with Bush were top officials of the administration during the period studied: Vice President Dick Cheney, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan.
Bush led with 259 false statements, 231 about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 28 about Iraq’s links to al-Qaida, the study found. That was second only to Powell’s 244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 10 about Iraq and al-Qaida.
Posted in George Bush, Iraq, Terrorism. Tags: Dick Cheney, Iraq, Saddam Hussein, Scott McClellan, Weapons of Mass Destruction. 5 Comments »
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Obama on Faith-Based Programs and Separation of Church and State »
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Stretchy Optical Fibers Implanting Body
Stretchy optical fibers for implanting in the body
Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office Oct. 16, 2016
Researchers from MIT and Harvard Medical School have developed a biocompatible and highly stretchable optical fiber made from hydrogel — an elastic, rubbery material composed mostly of water. The fiber, which is as bendable as a rope of licorice, may one day be implanted in the body to deliver therapeutic pulses of light or light up at the first sign of disease.
The researchers say the fiber may serve as a long-lasting implant that would bend and twist with the body without breaking down. The team has published its results online in the journal Advanced Materials.
mit-stretchy-optics-1024.jpg
Zhao has developed a stretchy optical fiber in which they have injected multiple organic dyes (yellow, blue, and green regions). In addition to lighting up, the dyes act as a strain sensor, enabling researchers to quantify where and by how much a fiber has been stretched. Photo courtesy of researchers
Using light to activate cells, and particularly neurons in the brain, is a highly active field known as optogenetics, in which researchers deliver short pulses of light to targeted tissues using needle-like fibers, through which they shine light from an LED source.
“But the brain is like a bowl of Jell-O, whereas these fibers are like glass — very rigid, which can possibly damage brain tissues,” says Xuanhe Zhao, the Robert N. Noyce Career Development Associate Professor in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. “If these fibers could match the flexibility and softness of the brain, they could provide long-term more effective stimulation and therapy.”
Getting to the core of it
Zhao’s group at MIT, including graduate students Xinyue Liu and Hyunwoo Yuk, specializes in tuning the mechanical properties of hydrogels. The researchers have devised multiple recipes for making tough yet pliable hydrogels out of various biopolymers. The team has also come up with ways to bond hydrogels with various surfaces such as metallic sensors and LEDs, to create stretchable electronics.
The researchers only thought to explore hydrogel’s use in optical fibers after conversations with the bio-optics group at Harvard Medical School, led by Associate Professor Seok-Hyun (Andy) Yun. Yun’s group had previously fabricated an optical fiber from hydrogel material that successfully transmitted light through the fiber. However, the material broke apart when bent or slightly stretched. Zhao’s hydrogels, in contrast, could stretch and bend like taffy. The two groups joined efforts and looked for ways to incorporate Zhao’s hydrogel into Yun’s optical fiber design.
Yun’s design consists of a core material encased in an outer cladding. To transmit the maximum amount of light through the core of the fiber, the core and the cladding should be made of materials with very different refractive indices, or degrees to which they can bend light.
“If these two things are too similar, whatever light source flows through the fiber will just fade away,” Yuk explains. “In optical fibers, people want to have a much higher refractive index in the core, versus cladding, so that when light goes through the core, it bounces off the interface of the cladding and stays within the core.”
Happily, they found that Zhao’s hydrogel material was highly transparent and possessed a refractive index that was ideal as a core material. But when they tried to coat the hydrogel with a cladding polymer solution, the two materials tended to peel apart when the fiber was stretched or bent.
To bond the two materials together, the researchers added conjugation chemicals to the cladding solution, which, when coated over the hydrogel core, generated chemical links between the outer surfaces of both materials.
“It clicks together the carboxyl groups in the cladding, and the amine groups in the core material, like molecular-level glue,” Yuk says.
Sensing strain
The researchers tested the optical fibers’ ability to propagate light by shining a laser through fibers of various lengths. Each fiber transmitted light without significant attenuation, or fading. They also found that fibers could be stretched over seven times their original length without breaking.
Now that they had developed a highly flexible and robust optical fiber, made from a hydrogel material that was also biocompatible, the researchers began to play with the fiber’s optical properties, to see if they could design a fiber that could sense when and where it was being stretched.
They first loaded a fiber with red, green, and blue organic dyes, placed at specific spots along the fiber’s length. Next, they shone a laser through the fiber and stretched, for instance, the red region. They measured the spectrum of light that made it all the way through the fiber, and noted the intensity of the red light. They reasoned that this intensity relates directly to the amount of light absorbed by the red dye, as a result of that region being stretched.
In other words, by measuring the amount of light at the far end of the fiber, the researchers can quantitatively determine where and by how much a fiber was stretched.
“When you stretch a certain portion of the fiber, the dimensions of that part of the fiber changes, along with the amount of light that region absorbs and scatters, so in this way, the fiber can serve as a sensor of strain,” Liu explains.
“This is like a multistrain sensor through a single fiber,” Yuk adds. “So it can be an implantable or wearable strain gauge.”
The researchers imagine that such stretchable, strain-sensing optical fibers could be implanted or fitted along the length of a patient’s arm or leg, to monitor for signs of improving mobility.
Zhao envisions the fibers may also serve as sensors, lighting up in response to signs of disease.
“We may be able to use optical fibers for long-term diagnostics, to optically monitor tumors or inflammation,” he says. “The applications can be impactful.”
“Hydrogel fibers are very interesting and provide a compelling direction for embedding light within the human body,” says Fiorenzo Omenetto, a professor of biological engineering at Tufts University, who was not involved in the work. “These efforts in optimizing and managing the physical and mechanical properties of fibers are necessary and important next steps that will enable practical applications of medical relevance.”
This research was supported, in part, by the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Defense.
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Home » Research » Tritrichomonas muris increases risk of colitis: Researchers
Tritrichomonas muris increases risk of colitis: Researchers
Researchers from the University of Toronto have discovered that mice infected with the common gut parasite Tritrichomonas muris are at an increased risk of developing inflammatory colitis. Their findings, which have been published online in The Journal of Experimental Medicine, expand the type of gut-resident microorganism that can affect the health of their host and suggest that related parasites may cause gastrointestinal disease in humans.
Researchers have discovered that the intestinal parasite Tritrichomonas muris (pictured) increases the susceptibility of its host to colitis.
Image/Escalante et al., 2016
In recent years, researchers have discovered that the trillions of bacteria that reside in the gastrointestinal tract have an enormous impact on human health and disease. But the effects of other types of microorganisms that live in the gut, such as the unicellular eukaryotes known as protozoans, are less well understood. Though some protozoan species, which are part of the protist kingdom of life, cause diseases like malaria and leishmaniasis, the protozoa that commonly live in the gut are generally thought to be harmless.
While studying the inflammatory mechanisms underlying colitis in rodents, a team of researchers led by Dana Philpott and Thierry Mallevaey realized that their laboratory mice were more susceptible to developing the disease if their intestines were already infected with the protozoan Tritrichomonas muris. This parasite is commonly found in the intestines of mice, and the researchers observed that its presence raised the levels of pro-inflammatory T cells and cytokines in the host animal’s gut. These inflammatory factors may “prime” the intestinal tissue to become inflamed, leaving it more susceptible to colitis.
A recent study published in Cell revealed that, while the related parasite Tritrichomonas musculis makes the intestine susceptible to both colitis and colorectal cancer, it induces an immune response that protects mice against Salmonella infection. This may be why host animals tolerate protozoans such as T. muris living in their intestines. Several species of protozoa reside in the human gut, and some of them are prevalent in patients with gastrointestinal disease, suggesting that similar host-parasite interactions could affect human health. “Our findings highlight the need for a better understanding of cross-kingdom interactions between host and protozoa within the gastrointestinal tract,” says Philpott.
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Beneath the Blue
Life below and above the water in the Maldives
The entire boat is tense, ready to spring into action. As we drive up and down the house reef, the crew scans the water for telltale white spots that mark the whale shark, the planet’s largest living fish species, “We might only have one shot. Don’t forget that these are wild animals,” warns marine biologist Mark McMillan, using a plushie to demonstrate how the boat will try to drop us in the path of the shark. “Otherwise, if you’re behind him, you’ll have no chance.”
Marine biologist Mark McMillan
All of a sudden, the boat revs its engine and makes for a point in the distance where a handful of other boats have congregated. “Go, go, go!” is the urgent call as we waddle across the deck, clumsy fins and a surge of adrenaline working at odds with each other. In the water, it’s a melee of arms and legs and churning bubbles. I orient myself and look down to where the guide is frantically pointing but see only a wall of dark blue. It’s crazy to think that I can’t spot a 6-meter-long shark until one suddenly emerges from the depths towards the surface. We all momentarily freeze as the behemoth effortlessly swims by, mouth agape, looking colossal. Then, with a flick of its crescent tail, it’s gone again.
Back on board, we’re breathless and giddy, rehashing our brief but magical experience with various forms of “Did you see it?” and “Yeah, it was AWESOME!” Not everyone joins in the celebration, though. One greenfaced couple dry heave over the side of the boat, overcome by exhaustion and seasickness, while a glum gentleman sits in the corner having lost his mask in the harried dive overboard, his dream of swimming with a whale shark ending before it even began. It seems every Eden, even one as extraordinarily beautiful as the Maldives, comes with a few bitter apples.
Image provided by LUX* South Ari Atoll
Back at LUX* South Ari Atoll, Mark sinks his toes into the sandy floor of his office as the resort’s resident marine biologist. “This area is so rich in marine life,” he says, recalling a day last year where he spotted three whale sharks and eight manta rays on a single snorkeling trip. “One of the best parts of my job is being able to show guests this side of the Maldives. We do so much more than throw guests in the water to see a shark. The tours are designed to be educational, to set the example on how to interact with the wildlife for both the safety and welfare of people and animals.”
While South Ari Atoll is one of the best places in the Maldives for spotting whale sharks year round, the rest of the sealocked island nation is no less blessed with incredibly diverse marine life, including sharks, eels, rays, dolphins, whales, and turtles.
Comprised of nearly 1,200 coral islands spread across roughly 90,000 square kilometers, the Maldivian islands began as coral reefs which formed around volcanic islands. Over millions of years, the volcanoes sank to the sea floor, leaving behind circular lagoons surrounded by reefs upon which waves and wind deposited sand and other materials, turning them into low-lying islands.
“Everywhere else in the world, the continental shelf is very progressive, but here in the Maldives, you get this unique combination of very deep water that suddenly becomes shallow,” explains Amandine Vuylstekeat, marine biologist with Pullman Maldives Maamutaa. In addition to creating those gorgeous rings of turquoise water surrounded by deeper blue that the Maldives are known for, it also leads to a habitat where species which normally live in deeper water coexist with those in shallower water.
Pullman Maamutaa Resort
“It’s also why sharks use the reefs as nurseries where they can feed and find protection for their young as the largest predators around,” she adds, her eyes sparkling with excitement as she talks about sharks, her area of expertise. “I call them the Architects of the Sea,” she continues as we snorkel around the Gaafu Alifu Atoll, home to one of the region’s largest and deepest lagoons. “Not only do they eat sick and injured fish, they influence fish behavior—why they come to the reef, how long they stay.”
I’m admittedly not quite as enthusiastic as she is, keeping a close eye on the many black-tip reef sharks that dart around us, their perfectly compact yet muscled bodies showing remarkable agility. I feel hopelessly clumsy, my mind wondering what else might be conveniently torpedoing out of the deep and into the shallows of the reef, where we are. However, snorkeling with a marine biologist by your side has a way of calming the nerves. So far, we’ve seen a sleeping leopard shark, been adopted by a school of bat fish, and observed lots of hawksbill and green turtles.
“The Great Barrier Reef is slowly diverse, but here you have such great diversity where the reef can be different from one side of the channel to the other,” she says.
However, the conditions that contribute towards the Maldives’ exceptional underwater life don’t translate as well to land. “It’s a hostile environment for plants,” says Amandine as we take a nature walk back at the resort. At 18 hectares, it’s one of the larger private resort islands, with surprisingly dense foliage. “The blue part of the Maldives, everyone expects. The green part, not so much. Plants here have to deal with seawater spray and growing on sand. They’re hardcore,” she says as little lizards scurry across the path. “When I first came here, I saw bats flying out to sea and I was like: ‘Where are you going? There’s nothing out there!’ But it turns out, they can fly up to 60 kilometers, and they are pollinators which is important because there aren’t that many insects in the middle of the ocean.
While the sandy islands of the Maldives support very few cultivated crops other than cucumbers and tomatoes, coconuts are abundant. “Plants here either come from the birds or the sea,” explains Amandine. “Seeds come from the poo or the feathers of birds, while a coconut can survive up to six months on the sea. When it reaches the shores of a new island, it sprouts into a tree.”
In addition to coconuts, the Maldives has an abundance of tuna, mostly skipjack (consumed locally) and yellowfin, the majority of which gets exported to Europe. “We eat tuna for breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” laughs Kokko, a guide with Secret Paradise Tours. There’s even a dish called mas huni which combines the Maldives’ two most abundant resources, tuna and coconut, into a finely chopped spread eaten with chapati flatbread. “Yeah, our brains are mercury excess,” adds fellow guide Archie as we walk through the Fish Market on Malé, the island capital, where freshly caught tuna costs less than chicken.
Malé Fish Market
Other than tuna and coconuts, practically everything else has to be imported, with the nearest countries of Sri Lanka and the southern tip of India more than 1,000 kilometers away.
“If you run out of something, it’s not like you can go to the market and buy some,” notes Chef Philippe Wagenfuhrer, Director of Culinary at the Pullman Maldives Maamutaa. “We have to order things 20 days ahead of time and it then takes 10 days to be delivered to Malé and another two days to get to us.” However, such a sparse national pantry does have its benefits. “Because of that, it’s an amazing environment where we can import everything we need – cornfed chicken from Europe, excellent meat from Australia…”
With sustainability in mind, Chef Wagenfuhrer is experimenting with growing organic produce for Phat Chameleon, his ‘vegetarian restaurant for non-vegetarians’. Over a divine smoked tofu brick with fig jam, Chef Wagenfuhrer explains the impetus behind his ambitious project. “I don’t want to be one of those people who sees the world being destroyed and does nothing about it. While greens don’t grow very well here,” he says, pointing at the lush gardens growing on sandy soil mixed with enriched earth around the restaurant, “we do grow some amazing tomatoes and aubergine, along with butternut squash, zucchini, cucumbers, and okra.”
It’s representative of life in the Maldives, a fragile balancing act of transformation, development, and protection in search of the perfect idyll.
“When I first arrived in 2016, there was a strong bleaching event,” recalls Mark McMillan of the year which saw worldwide coral bleaching due to high sea surface temperatures. A study undertaken at the nearby North Ari Atoll found between 60-90% of coral colonies bleached. “We’ve been keeping track and in the last 2.5 years, the temperatures have been relatively stable. In general, the reef is recovering. But the effects are very clear. If you see temperatures of above 30ºC for more than a few days, you can see the change. It’s a real worry.”
One afternoon, we take the ferry from Malé to the nearby island of Villimalé, home to an organization called Save the Beach. Founded in 2007, Save the Beach started as a youth movement to clean up the island’s natural beaches, a popular getaway for the nearly 150,000 people who live on Malé. “At our first clean up, we collected three tons of trash,” remembers co-founder Hassan Ahmed, better known as Beybe. “Most of the islands don’t have very good education. As a result, the people are not very aware of the environment, even though Nature touches them every day. So people would just throw all their trash into the sea.” The problem is compounded by the 1.5 million annual visitors to the Maldives, each generating 3.5 kg of trash per day. “We also saw destruction of the beaches, vegetation, and the surrounding reef due to development – the building of the harbor and land reclamation.”
Beybe of Save the Beach
With land a scarce commodity in the Maldives, which is 99% covered by water, the government practices land reclamation, a process whereby sand is pumped from surrounding atolls and deposited onto shallow reefs. Some argue that land reclamation is needed – to shore up low-lying islands against rising sea levels, to repair coastal erosion, or to create land where none existed before as in the case of Hulhumalé. The Maldives’ best known example of land reclamation, the artificial island was created to ease the overcrowding of Malé where a third of the country’s population resides on less than 10 square kilometers, making it seven times more densely populated than Ho Chi Minh City.
However, the practice isn’t without its detractors. “When you do land reclamation and create manmade harbors, it disrupts natural cycles,” explains Beybe. “The sand cannot move around the island and erosion starts.” Another effect is that dredging stirs up the sand, blocking out the light while some sand deposited onto the reefs also finds its way onto the coral polyps which become stressed and die.
Organizations like Save the Beach are expanding their efforts to educate the people as well as keep an eye on environmental policies. “So far, we’ve stopped twelve lagoons from being reclaimed, and after this year, the government won’t lease out any more lagoons to be reclaimed,” says Beybe. As we walk the quiet, shady lanes of Villimalé lined by pretty pastel houses, Beybe points out one of the beaches where his organization has installed rubbish bins and signage. “The last time we did a clean-up, there was only 6 kgs of garbage,” he says proudly.
View of Male from Villimale
Ever since tourism came to the Maldives in the 1970s, it’s also been a balancing act to preserve the nation’s strict culture where 100% of the population is Sunni Muslim and no other religions are openly practiced. “There were guest houses at one point on two islands, but they were closed because the government didn’t want the integration,” says Ruth Franklin of Secret Paradise Tours. “Tourists were allowed to visit during the day but not stay overnight. With a change in government came a change in the law.”
Since 2008, some of the 200 or so inhabited islands of the Maldives were re-opened to local tourism, with familyrun guesthouses providing an alternative to the high-end resorts occupying their own islands where rules prohibiting alcoholic beverages, pork products, and bikini bathing are relaxed.
“Local tourism is good because where properties are owned and managed by local people, the money is going to them. The revenue doesn’t leave the country as with foreign-invested resorts,” says Ruth, who first came to the Maldives as a scuba diver but returned to live in 2012.
“The local islands have some form of individualist identity. Particularly if someone is coming for a once in a lifetime visit, it’s a shame if they never get to see the real Maldives.”
“Some people think the Maldives are just expensive resorts,” adds Archie, as he chews on a betel nut with a dash of cinnamon and cardamom powder. “Others think we’re part of India. But we’re run by our own government. We have our own culture, our own dialects. Maldivians are nice, kind people.”
On one of my final evenings in the Maldives, I find myself just north of the equator on a fishing boat piloted by an affable captain named Ismail. I ask him if he’d ever heard of Moby Dick as he steers the boat towards a flock of seabirds circling over a school of little fish leaping out of the water, a sign that tuna are about. We let out our lines, but nothing’s biting. Suddenly, I feel a hard tug and quickly start reeling it in.
I want to say that what I caught was this big. (You can’t see me, but I’m holding my hands out as far as they can go.) In the end, it’s only a baby shark, abundant in the shallow reefs. The little bugger doesn’t know that sharks are protected in the Maldives and we would have had to let him go anyway. He thrashes and fights as if his life depended on it, a flash of white underbelly catching the fading light. Just then, the line snaps and he swims away. In that moment, I know how he feels because if I lived in the Maldives, I’d fight like hell to never leave as well.
Images by James Pham
Secret Paradise (www.secretparadise.mv) specializes in daily adventure and cultural tours from Hulhumalé and Malé, as well as multi-day local island hopping tours throughout the Maldives. Ruth and her team took excellent care of us from touchdown to takeoff, organizing a hotel in Hulhumalé so we could spend a day touring Malé as well as a second day trip to the nearby island of Gulhi for a glimpse into local life before our evening flight out. Secret Paradise employs local guides who are able to uncover the real Maldives and promotes responsible and sustainable tourism, in part by introducing guests to projects and organizations which give back, like Save the Beach.
Located in the south of the Maldives with pristine beaches and marine life, the all-inclusive Pullman Maldives Maamutaa is set amidst 18 hectares of lush tropical flora and fauna on the Gaafu Alifu Atoll. Just opened at the end of September 2019, the resort boasts 122 decadent villas, including two exclusive Aqua Villas featuring underwater bedrooms. The resort offers one of the most generous all-inclusive stays in the Maldives, complete with a variety of culinary delights available at six outlets across the island, all with a-la-carte options. For more, visit www.pullmanhotels.com
A 25-minute seaplane flight from Malé, the picture-perfect island of Dhidhoofinolhu is home to LUX* South Ari Atoll where 193 private villas dot the water’s edge along 4 kilometers of powder fine beaches or perched on stilts above a crystal clear lagoon. Year-round resident whale sharks make the resort a nirvana for divers and snorkelers while on land, LUX* South Ari Atoll offers two infinity pools, floodlit tennis courts, a Technogym fitness center and the LUX* Me Spa with 11 garden and 4 over-water treatment villas to go along with eight eateries and five bars. For more, visit www.luxresorts.com
By James Pham
Destination, Travel
James Pham
Having visited nearly 70 countries as a travel writer and copywriter, James Pham documents his adventures on Instagram at fly.icarus.fly
1 thought on “Beneath the Blue”
Chú Bách
How lucky you are! Nearer to home and almost as paradisiac is the Small Perenthian island off the northeastern coast of Malaysia.
Dressed to Impress in Hoi An
Hoi An is arguably Vietnam’s most photogenic town, with its artfully peeling ochre-colored walls, colorful silk lanterns, and centuries of history starting out as a bustling seaport on the Silk Maritime Route. As if that weren’t enough for epic photos, in summer 2020, friends Leo and Van opened up Viet Phuc, a costume rental shop
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Resources/Insurance
16 Schuman Road
Millwood NY 10546
info@newcastlept.net
Matthew Marucci
Laura Marucci
Angela Matos
Caron DuBois
Brian Kiger
The Front Desk
Matthew Marucci, PT, MSPT, OCS, CSCS
Matt Marucci is a licensed Physical Therapist with a board certification in Orthopedics from the American Physical Therapy Association. He received his undergraduate degree in Neuroscience from Colgate University and a Master’s in Physical Therapy from Boston University. Matt is also a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association.
Matt has spent the last 15 years in outpatient orthopedics and has spent hundreds of hours in continuing education classes, achieving the distinction of Advanced Hip Clinician with the Hospital for Special Surgery in 2010. His clinical experience includes time at Healthsouth Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation in Birmingham, Alabama where he had the opportunity to work alongside some of the top orthopedic surgeons and physical therapists in the country. He also completed an affiliation at the Kessler Institute of Rehabilitation, where he worked with a wide variety of neurological patients. His areas of clinical interest include orthopedic and sports medicine, personal training, and wellness programs for neurological patients.
In addition to his time in the clinic, Matt spends considerable time representing and advancing the profession of physical therapy. He served as the Chair of the Hudson Valley District of the New York Physical Therapy Association from 2010-2016 and Vice Chair from 2016-2018.
Matt grew up locally and attended Valhalla High School, where he played varsity baseball, basketball and soccer. In his spare time he enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters, exercising, mountain biking, and rooting for the Yanks and Giants.
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A. N. Sevchenko Institute of Applied Physical Problems
of Belarusian State University
About IAPP
Research units of the Institute
IAPP of BSU
A. N. Sevchenko Institute of Applied Physical Problems of Belarusian State University is the base of the Belarusian State University for scientific research, training and qualification of the teaching staff in physics, computer science, scientific instrumentation, electronics, acoustics and chemical technology.
Annually more than 50 students, and graduate students of Belarusian State University and other universities involved to the research work, writing term papers and dissertations, practices. More than 40 employees of the institute participate in the educational process.
During the work of the Institute, more then 40 years, staff of the Institute has completed more than 40 doctoral and 240 master's theses, received more than 1,300 certificates for inventions and patents, published 110 monographs, reference books, textbooks and more than 14,000 articles. Also during this time, employees have received the following awards: the USSR State Prize in 1991; the BSSR State Prize in 1974, 1983 and 1986; State Prize of the Republic of Belarus in 1992, 1994 and 1998; the premium of the USSR Council of Ministers in 1984, the award BSSR Council of Ministers in 1990 and Prize of the Council of Ministers in 1991; 3 Komsomol Prize.
The Institute carries out joint research work with universities and organizations in Russia, Ukraine, Austria, Germany, USA, Denmark, Poland, China, Serbia, Italy, Libya and other countries near and far abroad. More than 20 employees of the Institute annually go to foreign missions for scientific work on scientific training, to participate in international conferences, etc.
Scientific and intellectual potential and modern equipmentof the Institute allow the Institute staff at a high scientific and technical level to solve actual scientific and technical tasks to be optimistic about the future.
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From Nomadwiki.org
Revision as of 16:01, 25 March 2019 by Subaculture (talk | contribs) (→B)
The Nomadic lifestyle is a learning process, and you may hear words or phrases that you don't understand. Words like drifter, wanderer, derelict, hobo, itinerant, nomad, rolling stone, tramp, transient, vagabond, vagrant and gypsy.
Given they may be part of a discussion, blogs and books, why not get a heads up by reading this glossary.
A-Camp - Traditionally, it been the one place at rainbow gathering where drinking is tolerated. Primarily, this camp is tolerated in the United States.
Ashram-Hindi (Sanskrit ashrama or ashramam) - a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions.
Anam Cara - Irish/Gaelic for Soul Friend. Linked to a book by John O'Donohue.
The Academy of Free Travel (Russian: Академия Вольных Путешествий), known by its Russian-language initials AVP, is a travel club based in Russia.
Abgefahren e.V. - is the German Hitchhiking association.
Asceticism - is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals.
Babylon - Often used to describe mainstream society. It is a term from the Christian New Testament. It connect with Rainbow participants widely held belief that modern lifestyles and systems of government are unhealthy, unsustainable, exploitative and out of harmony with the natural systems of the planet.
Burner - Someone who attends 'Burning Man' - a week-long annual event that takes place at the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada, in the United States. The event begins on the last Monday in August, and ends on the first Monday in September. It also may entail belief in the 10 Burner principles of Radical inclusion, Gifting, Decommodification, Radical self-reliance, Radical self-expression, Communal effort, Civic responsibility, Leaving No Trace, Participation and Immediacy.
Beachcomber - A nomad/hobo/vagrant who makes some money or a living by searching beaches for articles of value and selling them.
Bum - When a nomad looses / sells his gear, and takes to alcohol. When nothing is left, except the clothes on his/her back.
Burners without Borders - AKA BWB is a grassroots, socially innovative, community leadership program whose goal is to unlock the creativity of local communities to solve problems.
Black Rock City Nevada is an ephemeral town that exists for only one week each year, during Burning Man.
Burnout - worn out by travel/work; it is often code for being wounded, depleted, and frayed: “I’m fucking burning.
Bugging In - Staying at your location until it is safer to bug out.
Bugging Out - Leaving your current position and moving to a safer location.
Bug Out Bag (Bob) - A bag that contains all the necessities needed to survive after a catastrophe.
Boondocking — nomad vernacular for free or low-cost camping (USA).
Black Bear Ranch is an 80-acre intentional community located in Siskiyou County, California, about 25 miles from Forks of Salmon.
Bikepacking - a self-supported style of lightly-loaded bicycle touring. Bikepackers typically ride on dirt roads in remote places. There is a difference between bikepacking and bicycle touring.
C.A.L.M. - the Center for Alternative Living Medicine, is the primary group of doctors at Rainbow Gatherings who assist people with health and wellness and take responsibility for medical emergencies and sanitation of those who attend these large gatherings.
Chumps - Normal Prople United States.
Circular Economy - An alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose) in which we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each service life. Can be applied to nomad events rainwater, renewable energy and recycling could be used to create a small-scale circular economypic. See more from the Guardian.
Camps - There are many different types of 'nomadic' camps. From Protest Camp, Counterhegemonic spaces, No Border Camp, Peace Camp, Anarchist Camp, Wild Camp, Urban Camp and RV Camp, you might find a place for interaction, sleep, run, comradship and new knowledge.
Counter-Tourist - A phrase or approach to signify ways or a person who seeks to ompletely transform their experience of the tourism industry and its many sites. See also Countertourism.
Crusty - aka crustypunks. Crusies are part of the New Age Traveller Scene in the United Kingdom or can be fans of the genre of punk rock/hardcore music called crustcore, crust punk or simply crust. Some obvious looks link to crusties are black cloths, dread locks and punk rock hair styles, canine animal companions. Some popular crustpunk bands include Dystopia, Amebix, Antiscism, Mankind?, Doom, and Hiatus.
Crew Change Guide (CCG) - an underground document passed on from hobo to hobo with information about jumping freight trains in the United States.
Communal garden - often used in the plural as communal gardens) is a normally formal garden for shared use by a number of local residents, typically in an urban setting.
Cravanserai - a roadside inn where travelers could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information and people across the network of trade routes covering Asia, North Africa and Southeast Europe, especially along the Silk Road.
Rainbow Crystal Land (RCL) envisions a global self-sufficient network of open and ownerless lands housing sustainable communities of free and equal individuals living in peace and harmony with the earth.
Dirty Kid’s Corner - Location, at Rainbow Gatherings, where alternative young people gather. They prefer heavy metal to psychedelic rock and reggae, and their tee shirts are almost always black.
Dumpster diving is the the act of retrieving food or other goods from a garbage dumpster.
Dirtbag - from Urban Dictionary: “A person who is committed to a given (usually extreme) lifestyle to the point of abandoning employment and other societal norms in order to pursue said lifestyle. Originated from US climbing to describe nomadic climbers, who gave their whole live to the activity by hitchiking to mouuntains etc, giving up their jobs. Also related to "Dirtbagging." The term is now used in the United States to describe anyone who gives themselves over to a particular lifestyle, and losing any conventional life elements (i.e. full time home, job), so as to pursue that activity i.e. rail hopping. Those in their teens are usuall ycalled Dirty Kids.
Drainbows — individuals who are perceived to not give sufficiently of their labor or other resources for the common good, but rather are only consuming the social benefits a Rainbow gathering offers.
Downcycling - a recycling practice that involves breaking an item down into its component elements or materials. Once the constituent elements or materials are recovered, they are reused if possible but usually as a lower-value product.
Doof or bush doof - a type of outdoor dance party generally held in a remote country area, or outside a large city in surrounding bush or rain forest. Used in a Australian context.
Deutsche Trampsport Gemeinschaft or DTSG is the German Sport Hitchhiking Association.
Expediting - A job which provides you with a vehicle to make deliveries. Can be used to make/save Money.
Fauxbeaux – A nomads who has a line of credit and a stable income, but travels in a nomadic way. However, they always have a safety net, and can always pay for a hot meal and a room, and then take a plane or bus home. Associated with phrases such as summer squatter, yuppie and weekend hippie. If you feel these labels might apply to you, do not worry. Wear it like a badge.
Focalizers - A focalizer is someone who takes on the job of focusing a group's energy on a certain task. For instance, you can focalize a kitchen, group decisions. In theory, focalizers do not direct others; they just help the process along. In a sense they are managers without decision-making power.
Flying a Sign - A fly-signer is someone who uses a sign to beg for money. They can hit traffic at traffic lights, or sit on a street. See Begging for for details.
The Freight Train Riders of America (FTRA) - a supposed group of Americans who move about by freight hopping ("Catching Out") in railroad cars, particularly in the northwestern United States and southwestern Canada. Active in the 80s, and pre 9/11, but probably defunct.
Frisco circle - AKA magic hat or "kicking down (or kicking in) on a Frisco." An American phrase from old tramp tradition and it comes from the generally communist, socialist or anarchist tramps from San Francisco who rode the old Frisco Line from West Oakland to Chicago in the 1930's who sough communal meals.
Freetekno - a cultural movement that is present in Europe, Australia and North America. Freetekno sound systems or tribes form in loose collectives, frequently with anarchist philosophies. These sound systems join together to hold parties wherever a viable space can be found.
A flogger is an online storyteller who chronicles the adventures of themselves and/or others. Floggers are not reporters or journalists, they are story tellers. Their work is to create a reality based storyline that is both more compelling than current soap operas and more interactive.
Gaia - The name of the ancient Greek goddess of the Earth, and as a name it was recently revived to refer to the hypothesis formed by James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis, who postulate that the whole biosphere may be alive in that the Earth’s life forms are themselves responsible for regulating the conditions that make life on the planet possible.
Gutter Punks (aka Scum Fucks) - Facial tattoos, nihilistic, not caring about anything besides where their next beer is coming from.
Gurus - is a Sanskrit term that connotes someone who is a "teacher, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field.
Hare Krishnas or the "Hare Krishna movement, or the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
Home Bum - a common term in the United States for a homeless person who, instead of travelling, typically sits in the same places every day and has a predictable routine.
Homeguard - A term used to describe someone who uses the resources provided by a city for it's homeless population, but who is not homeless and are not currently travelling. They could be an ex-hobo/tramp.
Hot-Rail - A phrase used to denote a train coming down the tracks.
Hobocore - describes a person who picks the nomad life (hitchhikes, rides freight trains, squats etc.).
Hipsters - If someone self-labels as a hipster, they probably think they are better than you!
Hermit - a person living in solitude as a spiritual/ religious discipline.
Hitchwiki - is a collaborative website for gathering information about hitchhiking and other ways of extremely cheap transport.
Hobo - is an itinerant worker, a career which sprang up during the depression. Unlike a bum, a hobo is more than willing to work, but mostly for a short duration, as their main impetus is travel, the love of the journey above the actual destination.
Hobo Aristocrat - term used now and again is the USA/UK to describe a well dressed/behaved hobo. See Fox, Charles Elmer. (1989). Tales of an American Hobo Singular Lives. Fox describes Bobby uwho "sed to stay dressed up most of the time. He usually wore a suit, dress oxfords and spats and always a stiff kady hat and a dress shirt and tie" as a Hobo Aristocrat .
Jungle (- AKA Hobo Jungle) - the area where homeless/nomads people live and sleep
Jungle buzzard - a hobo who preys on their own by stealing possessions from other hobos (1930's slang, but some current usage). .
Kali - who embodies shakti - feminine energy, creativity and fertility - is an incarnation of Parvati, wife of the great Hindu god Shiva.
Leather Tramps - A leather tramp has no vehicle, and travels on foot, shoes often being made of leather. A rubber tramp is more able to decide destination than one who relies on hitchhiking -- and an unofficial status. Also see hitchiker.
Ligging - A 'ligger' (UK) is an individual who attends parties, openings, social gatherings and events such as launches and celebrity events with the sole intention of obtaining free food and drink. Sometimes called a blagger (US) or a 'pique-assiette'(France)or someone 'who picks from others,’ plates. Others on the scene prefer the term eventing'. Find detail on how to lig at Other Food.
Lightfoot Post & Mail / Nomad Letter / Hitch Post / Snail mail - letters/missives/verbal messages passed onto nomads or hitchhikers to deliever by hand/face to face. Very slow speed delivery. Might also refer to a letter given to a nomad to post in the country in which it will be delievered; wherein the letter is carried by conventional postal delivery services. This is because of lower cost.
Los Algodones - AKA Slab City, in California’s Badlands.
Liftershalte - official spots for hitchhikers in the Netherlands, also called Liftersplaats, exist in most university cities.
A magic hat, is a term that emerged from Rainbow Gatherings, and is the fund-raising in-strument for any Rainbow event. It is used in many nomadic eventsto fundraise for the supplies needed to keep everyone well-fed.
Mythogeography - A kind of walking without purpose. For more read this Starter Pack.
Monkeywrenching - nonviolent disobedience and sabotage carried out by environmental activists against those whom they perceive to be ecological exploiters. The term came into use after the publication of author Edward Abbey’s novel The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975), which described the activities of a group of “environmental warriors” in Utah and Arizona.
Maker movement - social movement with an artisan spirit in which the methods of digital fabrication—previously the exclusive domain of institutions—have become accessible at a personal scale.
New Age Travellers are nomadic people in the United Kingdom. They also refer to themselves as 'travellers' or 'vehicle-dweller's', or 'new traveller's.' Some call them NATS.
Nerother Wandervogel - is one of the last existing German [1] migrant fraternities, which have their roots in the historical youth movement. Their travel is primarily by hitchhiking
Overnighter - bicyclists who drive out to nature and stay over night.
Oogles - A derogatory way to refer to someone who often acts like a fake or clearly has no idea what they are doing in a given situation. used in the USA.
Off-the-grid or (OTG) refers to living in a self-sufficient manner without reliance on one or more public utilities.
Peace Camps are a form of physical protest camp that is focused on anti-war activity. They are set up outside military bases by members of the peace movement who oppose either the existence of the military bases themselves, the armaments held there, or the politics of those who control the bases.
Psychogeography links to the Situationist International. Psychogeography was defined in 1955 by Guy Debord as "the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals."
Platform cooperative, or platform co-op - a website, mobile app, or other kind of online platform that is structured as a cooperative, owned democratically by its employees, customers, users, or other key stakeholders.
Packrafting: travel with small, portable yet functional and tough backpacking boats.
Pandhandling - beg in the street or beg for something from (someone) in the street.
Preppers - from the "prepper" movement, which focuses on stockpiling weapons and resources in anticipation of the breakdown of society. Prepper - An individual who prepares for a catastrophic event.
Road Dog - A person going with you during your travels. Sometimes, it might be meant literally, as a actual Dog. A Road Dog is a person who is consistently "on the road", on the go.
Rail Tramp - Tramp, Hobo or Road Dog, who hops trains.
Rainbow gathering - The Rainbow Family Of Living Light is a group of people that organize Rainbow gatherings. They have their own Glossary.
Road Burn - A state of mind one slips into after being "on the road" too long, e.g., exhausted and wanting to settle down for a spell.
Route 66 became one of the most famous roads in America, and is central to Jack Kerouac's "On The Road."
Rubber Tramps - A rubber tramp has a car or other wheeled vehicle, and travels on the rubber tires. Rubber tramps are sometimes seen as "less valid" than leather tramps because their vehicle is viewed as a luxury item.
Right to Roam or Freedom to Roam. Also called "right to access" and /or "Every Man's Right" Basically, it means the general public's right to access certain public or privately owned land for recreation and exercise. Based on allowing what is not forbidden, it does not give permission to break any laws or regulations.
Radical Samba - Often political in nature, radical samba often seams a collection of people with drums, engaging the public during political events.
Recreational Vehicle - A recreational vehicle (RV), often called a "caravan", "camper van" and "motorhome", is, in North America. A great Vehicle to get about.
Romany Gypsies - said to have their roots in India and came to Europe in the 13th century.
RTR- Rubber Tramp Rendezvous - is a event started in 2010 in the United States for Rubber Tramps.
Roadtrek's - s Class of Motorhome in North America.
Red Point Campaign - was founded in Germany in the late sixties because many cities had highly increased the ticket prices for public transport. A simple red point was predestined for the logo and was handed out to car drivers. They should put it on their windscreen to declare their solidarity with hitchhikers and to show willingness to give people a ride. Soon, the initiative got supported by wide ranges of the public. The campaign lives on.
Squatter or Squatting occupy houses, land etc. The yare called such as okupas in Spain, Chile or Argentina (from the verb ocupar meaning "to occupy"), or paracaidistas in Mexico (meaning "parachuters", because they "parachute" themselves at unoccupied land).
Squat candle is an improvised stove/lamp which is very simple and remarkably effective for cooking, lighting and heating.
Sal Paradise is a fictional narrator in the novel On the Road (1957) by Jack Kerouac.
Summer Squatter - inspired by an 1996 Ant-Flag song, which is critical of summer only punks/sqautters, who return to Mom/Dad when weather gets cold and money runs out etc.
Six-Up - A signal among modern day hippies (USA) that law enforcement was near. Named for the six lights that sat atop most old cop cars.
Snowbird - A person who moves from higher latitudes and colder climates of winter to warmer locales or elsewhere along the Sun Belt.
Slacklining - the activity or sport of balancing on a rope or strip of webbing that is fixed high above the ground but not stretched so as to be taut. Something you might learn at Circus Schools to earn on the road.
Skillsurfers - is (/was) a project in the context of the “travelling school of life” network. Name which was giving to a group of people, who were doing an experiment about self-organised learning while travelling in a group.
Safe Space- making an explicit political decision to prioritise the voices of people who are experiencing oppression at the hands of another person so that they feel empowered to participate and feel supported by a radical community.
Sadhu - also spelled saddhu, is a religious ascetic, mendicant (monk) or any holy person in Hinduism and Jainism who has renounced the worldly life.
Spange - To ask for spare change from a stranger on the fly. "Spange" (spare+ change = spange). Another related term is "crack spange", which insinuates that it is being done spontaneous. Often done in the case of needing money for something immediately. "I am ten cents short for a bottle of beer, so Im gonna go crack spange on the way to the shop". used in USA and Australia. See Begging.
Scrilla - Money, Dosh, Bread, Dough, Cash.
Seasteading - the concept of creating permanent dwellings at sea, called seasteads, outside the territory claimed by any government.
Streamliner - Someone who travels without their own gear, their own supplies and own food & water. They tend to borrow, steal the supplies of others.
Shanti Sena - AKA "Peace army." Used at Rainbow gatherings to solve issue and conflict. Non-Violent. Original used to describe Gandhi's non-violent followers in India.
Skipping, skip diving or skip salvage, is a popular for names (Europe) for Dumpster Diving.
Sojourner - a person who resides temporarily in a place.
Squat party - a party that takes place either in a disused building (broken into and secured for the party) or in an already existing squat. Also see Free Party.
Skoolies - school buses that have been turned into houses on wheels (USA). See also #vanlife.
Swami - an ascetic or yogi who has been initiated into a religious monastic order (Hinduism).
Talking circles are a Rainbow gathering way that many decisions are made and information is passed along. Groups of people (from a handful to over a hundred) sit around in a circle. Typically, a focalizer calls the meeting (circle) to order. They are often used in gatherings of all types.
Thru-hiking - Hiking a long-distance trail end-to-end within one hiking season. United States.
Travel Hacking - Activating mechanisms of countering business and institutional forces who seek to control and nudge us into certain behaviour (where they can exploit our data; nudge us to spend money on resources that should be free to all). Travel hacking seeks to disrupt rules, systems and rhythms. Like hacking, can be seen as a form of resistance.
Travel House - Travel Club was/is an experiment in free housing, that moves from region t region/ country-to-country each year.
Technogypsy - combines arts and sciences in their lifestyle.
Traveller - Irish Traveller - are a traditionally itinerant ethnic group in Ireland, the UK and the US who maintain a set of traditions.
Tramp - The definition of a tramp is a homeless vagabond who wanders from place to place.
Teknival - large free parties which take place worldwide.
Turnkey (-aka - “plug and play”) camps - Basically, describe camps (Burning Man, but also outside the festival) where paid teams set up infrastructure before other camp members arrive. Usually that means, attendees pay and might expect a vacation-type experiences. There is no no expectation or commitment by campers to contribute to the larger community. Such camps/ experiences are frowned upon by nomads/burners, who like to contribute to the camp they attend.
Upcycling - known as creative reuse, is the process of transforming by-products, waste materials, useless, or unwanted products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value. Upcycling is the opposite of downcycling, which is the other half of the recycling process.
Vanlife - A current trend, with the hashtag #vanlife increasingly visible. Vanlife means nomadic travel whilst living in a van. There might be some conflict between new #vanlife adherents and older RV people. RVers are often full time, and often forced onto the road (because of the economy etc), while #vanlife people often temporary, and accused of being hipsters (e.g. doing yoga, surfing and seeking sponsorship. while posting on instagram).
Vagabonding - wander about as or like a vagabond, a person with no fixed/settled home.
Waif - A waif (from the Old French guaif, "stray beast") is a living creature removed, by hardship, loss or other helpless circumstance, from its original surroundings. The most common usage of the word is to designate a homeless person or someone who looks homeless (used in UK).
Wing Nut - Ideological extremist from either side of the political spectrum who unquestioningly repeats any and all propaganda and/or conspiracy theories propagated by their side of the political spectrum (USA).
Retrieved from "http://nomadwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Glossary&oldid=7309"
Nomadism
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Political Jason
Trump’s refusal to concede amps up pressure on GOP
November 9, 2020 PJGAdmin
President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden is splitting the GOP — and increasingly putting congressional Republicans in a bind.
GOP lawmakers offered dueling sentiments on Sunday, a day after Biden secured the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House and as Trump continued to make unsubstantiated allegations of widespread voter fraud.
And some top Republicans like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have notably declined to weigh in since Biden was declared the winner — neither bolstering Trump’s claims nor pressuring him publicly to concede. But such a stance may not be tenable for long, and how McConnell and other leaders in the party approach the matter will undoubtedly shape the transition of power in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, Trump’s steadfast allies are urging him to continue fighting, as his campaign mounts several long-shot legal challenges to various vote totals in key battleground states.
“Don’t accept the media’s declaration,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday. “Don’t concede, Mr. President. Fight hard.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), also on Fox News, agreed that it was premature to call the presidential contest for Biden.
“What we need in the presidential race is to make sure every legal vote is counted, every recount is completed, and every legal challenge should be heard,” McCarthy said. “Then, and only then, America will decide who won the race.”
Other Republicans said they were not surprised that the president would challenge the results, given his nature. But they acknowledged that in the end, Biden will almost certainly remain the winner of the presidential contest, even after recounts and re-canvassing efforts are completed in several states.
“It’s time for the president’s lawyers to present the facts and then it’s time for those facts to speak for themselves,” Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a member of GOP leadership, said on ABC’s This Week. But, he added, it “seems unlikely that any changes could be big enough to make a difference.”
“The reality is, given the fact that the statisticians have come to a conclusion at this stage, I think we get behind the new president,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who opposed Trump’s reelection and was the only Republican who voted to convict him in the Senate’s impeachment trial, said on CNN’s State of the Union.
Biden on Saturday declared victory, urging the nation in a primetime address to “put the anger and harsh rhetoric behind us.” His campaign also is beginning the presidential transition process, and Biden is expected to name a group of advisers on Monday that will guide his decision-making on the coronavirus pandemic.
In addition, several foreign leaders have already congratulated Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on winning the election, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. Early Sunday morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined in — a notable statement given his support for the president and his policies toward Israel.
Former President George W. Bush, a longtime member of the GOP establishment, also said on Sunday that he had spoken with both Biden and Harris to congratulate them on their victory.
But it’s McConnell who remains perhaps the most important figure in terms of an ability to influence the process of Trump’s concession or departure.
The Kentucky Republican tweeted Friday that “every legal vote should be counted,” but refused to go beyond his statement at a news conference that day. Asked if he had spoken to the president recently, he noted only that they talk frequently. His office declined to comment on Sunday.
The two men have become allies over a chaotic four years despite their sharply different personalities, and McConnell has largely avoided crossing the president publicly. But McConnell may not want a national crisis on his hands, and he is far better positioned to hold on to power after Senate Republicans won key Senate races even as Trump went down.
Still, McConnell, like most Republicans, is unlikely to want to draw the ire of the president, who is set to maintain a firm grip on the GOP in the years to come — and could even mount a presidential bid in 2024.
That’s particularly true of many of the GOP’s rising stars and potential 2024 presidential contenders, like South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who said it was “premature” to declare Biden the winner.
“We should give President Trump his day in court,” Noem said on ABC’s This Week. “If Joe Biden really wants to unify this country, he would wait and make sure that we can prove we had a fair election.”
Romney noted Trump has every right to pursue legal challenges, especially given how close the race was in several of the battleground states. But he expressed concern that the president has gone further, falsely declaring himself the winner of the election on Twitter and characterizing the contest as “rigged” and “stolen.”
“I think one has to be careful in the choice of words. I think when you say that the election was corrupt or stolen or rigged, that that’s unfortunately rhetoric that gets picked up by authoritarians around the world,” Romney added on NBC’s Meet the Press. “And I think it also discourages confidence in our democratic process here at home.”
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), appearing on CBS’ Face the Nation, said the Trump campaign’s allegations should be “adjudicated” but declined to adopt the more aggressive posture of the president’s allies.
And ultimately, few Republicans expressed concern that Trump would refuse to leave the White House after Inauguration Day. Romney said he expects that the president will eventually concede. And Blunt, who suggested the result was inevitable, said: “I look forward to the president dealing with this however he needs to deal with it.”
Political, Politico
What a Biden victory will mean for the American workforce
Trump faces divided family and friends as calls mount for a concession
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The World's Burning, and Rae Spoon's 'bodiesofwater' Aims to Put Out the Fire
Photo: Dave Todon
By Laura Stanley
The world is on fire — literally and figuratively. We witness it every day, both in the breakdown of the Earth's climate that's making conditions less and less liveable, and in the fresh hell that is contemporary political discourse.
That soft glow of the burning world provides the background of Rae Spoon's ninth album bodiesofwater, a collection of songs well suited for a civilization feeling perpetually on the brink of self-destruction: Spoon collects water and dried food as the end of the world comes bearing down on "It's Getting Close"; the end itself takes the form of a natural disaster on "Bioluminescent"; and Spoon serves a scathing takedown of the misguided Liberal government and their pipeline policies on the sludgy, synth-filled "You Don't Do Anything."
"I think it's always been the end of the world for someone. As long as globalization has been happening there has been people dying from it and environments being destroyed," Spoon tells Exclaim! "It's just that it's actually finally coming into the land where rich people live. Everyone thinks a global catastrophe is at hand, but interestingly enough, politicians are not doing anything about it."
bodiesofwater emerged from a concept Spoon had for a song cycle about their relationship with the ocean that surrounds their Vancouver Island home, and the commonalities between the government's control of waterways and bodies. They planned to perform the song cycle to an audience submerged in a swimming pool. The album came together before the performance, but Spoon is organizing a 2019 tour with this live setting. The shows will also present a rearranged version of the album that uses ocean and water samples turned into percussive sounds — an interesting juxtaposition, given the fiery hellscape life on Earth is quickly becoming.
Spoon points to the fractured relationship between humans and the land as the core of the album and feels a responsibility to engage in the dialogue surrounding these issues.
"I think to live [in Canada] and not be a part of that conversation would be cowardice in some way," Spoon notes, but they feel hopeful that this relationship will heal: "I think we can change everything."
This optimism is woven into bodiesofwater. the upbeat folk-rock and electronic soundscapes of the majority of the record highlight this. By album closer "Beach of Bones," Spoon celebrates their connection with the Earth and calls on the power of community to mend humanity's relationship with the earth. "Put it back together," Spoon cries.
"I think that the earth is going to change from whatever happens, but there's space now to be talking about these things," they say.
Of course, there are other conversations to be had, and Spoon addresses them here; bodiesofwater includes tracks about self-care and sexual assault within the music industry. It's all in sync with their career's tradition of addressing the world's issues, bad and good: Colonialism, Xenophobia and gender identity among them. This honest approach to songwriting is one that Spoon considers to be critical in fostering an authentic and enduring relationship with listeners.
"Early on in my life I made choices about, was I going to be out as queer, was I going to be out as trans, was I going to be out as non-binary. I think every time I had to make one of those choices, it didn't make any sense to me to cultivate this artistic relationship with an audience without just being myself," says Spoon.
"There's ups and downs with success, and I really have been trying to weed out that capitalist part of the music industry. It's not that I don't want to make money, but weed out that greed for attention or that star culture stuff. I think it's better to not think of yourself as different than your audiences — it actually hurts people's shows I think. I'm in for the long haul, so I've just been trying to find a very chill way of doing things and keeping a lot of control."
Rae Spoon's bodiesofwater is out September 7, courtesy of Coax Records.
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Rae Spoon Mental Health
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Rae Spoon Readies New Album 'Mental Health'
After releasing full-length album bodiesofwater last year, Rae Spoon has detailed a follow-up effort. Titled Mental Health, the album is...
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Crystal Rain
From: Dayton, OH, USA
The Crystal Rain were a short-lived band from Dayton, OH. Members included Bill Moan (drums, vocals), Ralph Wilson (bass, vocals), Jerry Scott (keyboards, vocals), and Chuck Hodell (guitar, vocals). The band released two singles in 1969. The first was “Hey Ma Ma” which is a very catchy and hypnotic song written by Moan and engineered by Bob Tauber. Their next single features “You And Me” on it’s B-side, which was also written by Moan. “You And Me” is even more psychedelic that the first with it’s great use of phasing and tempo changes.
Artist Info: Fuzz, Acid & Flowers by Vernon Joynson
From the 1969 single “Hey Ma Ma”
Hey Ma Ma
From the 1969 single “World On Fire”
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