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HomeBe BetterPrinciples of Good HealthHolistic
Although current medical practice has started to recognise some connections between mental, emotional and physical conditions, the dominant approach is to break the whole down into parts with separate diagnostic labels and to treat those parts individually.
In conventional medicine it is common for numerous different drugs to be prescribed for seemingly unrelated symptoms. The traditional linear approach includes diagnostic tests and scans to identify something which is ‘wrong’ with the body and the application of drugs, surgery or physiotherapy to ‘correct’ the problem. However, this approach has not always been successful, particularly in chronic illness, where patients often return for different or more powerful medication. In addition, most medications have side effects which add to the burden on the body and contribute further to ill health. To counteract these side effects even more drugs may be given, and the chances of the patient ever becoming drug-free rapidly decline. With this approach suffering is ultimately not decreased at all, but actually increased.
Natural medicine looks at all facets of illness, taking physical, psychological, emotional and social aspects into account. It recognises that the whole is more than the sum of its parts; seeking to obtain an overview and to understand the disease making process in its entirety. Individual symptoms are understood to be expressions of the ‘whole’ person – it is from here that we get the word holistic (wholistic).
This approach has been successfully used for centuries by natural therapists, but was not popular in conventional medicine due to lack of scientific explanation. In recent years, however, neuroscientists, healthcare practitioners and physicians are starting to understand that disease is more complex than a person’s biology, and interest has grown in the biopsychosocial model of disease which incorporates a person’s psychology and social framework. This helps to explain why two people with similar biology can suffer a similar injury but experience it in very different ways, and why giving the same drug to two people with similar symptoms does not always produce the same results.
Thus when someone presents to us with disease, we must take all factors into consideration when deciding on a treatment path.
Treated as a whole person and not your named disease.
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"They had an athlete to match every one of ours. We couldn't get off the field on defense in the second half, and West St. John converted six fourth downs in the second, including a couple of long ones.
The Lions finish the season 9-3, the first time Plain Dealing won nine games since 1981 and the first quarterfinals appearance since 1997, according to Brotherton.
"We want to thank this class of seniors, seven of which played all four years," Brotherton said. "They graduate with 30 wins in their four years, the most of any class.
"I told the kids that we love them and appreciate everything they did for us. They built this foundation, and this is what we expect now."
Many 28, St. James 14: At St. James, the Tigers remained undefeated in beating St. James to advance to the semifinals of the Class 2A playoffs.
James Carhee and Kentrell Maxie combined for 227 yards and two touchdowns. Carhee led all ball carriers with 120 yards on 20 carries. No run was bigger than his 3-yard touchdown run to put the Tigers up 20-14 with 2:51 left in the fourth quarter. Maxie provided some tough running between the tackles and added 107 yards.
Tiger coach Jess Curtis said his team remained focues despite the distractions and the big stage.
"All week people kept saying that my team had not played anyone and it really motivated the boys", said Curtis. "My hat goes off to coach Jenkins because they have done a remarkable job here. This atmosphere is amazing and tough to play in. I think my kids responded the way they should and fought hard. We knew it wasn't going to be easy, but we kept doing what we do best and that run the football.
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Remember those of the parish lost to war
Chris Davies of our Verger team has researched the names on the First World War Memorial, which is by the font at the back of the church. At this time of remembrance we list them here (they are below the fold - follow the 'read more' link)
Listed here are the names of the men of the Parish of St James Piccadilly who gave their lives in the Great War 1914-18
The memorial which can be found on the west wall of the church, in the south-west corner, contains the names of 31 soldiers of which 17 were officers and 14 were N.C.O’s or other ranks. The list also includes 5 members of the nobility.
Many of the names included won medals or citations for their actions. Here is a list of the medals mentioned:
Distinguished Service Order (DSO) – awarded for distinguished services during active operations against the enemy
Military Medal (MM) – awarded for acts of gallantry and devotion to duty under fire
Military Cross (MC) - awarded for gallantry during active operations against the enemy
Mention in Dispatches (MiD) - official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which is described the soldier's gallant or meritorious action in the face of the enemy.
THE MEN OF ST JAMES'S
Edward William Bailey – Sergeant, Otago Regiment, New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Killed in action 5th August 1917 aged 29. Son of Thomas and Jessie Bailey of Jermyn Street
John Pengelley Bibby – Lieutenant, 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards. Killed in action 12th October 1917 aged 27. Son of Herbert and Julia Bibby of 7 Hyde Park St, London W2
George Biggerstaff – Private, Lancashire Fusiliers. Details unknown.
Charles James Bird - Private, 15th Battalion London Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Own Civil Service Rifles). A member of the numerous volunteer and territorial units used by the British Army during the first world war, Charles died of wounds received in action on 22nd October 1916 aged 21 he was the son of James and Mary Bird of Hammersmith, West London
Eric Leon Boiling – Private, 8th Battalion East Kent Regiment (The Buffs). Killed in action on 26th September 1915, on the second day of the Battle of Loos, age unknown. One of 20,610 officers and men killed in the area during and around the time of the Battle of Loos who have no known grave
The Hon. George Edward Boscawen - Major, 116th Battery, Royal Field Artillery, recipient of the Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O) killed in Action on 7th June 1918 aged 29. Son of Major-General Evelyn Edward Thomas Boscawen, 7th Viscount Falmouth and Viscountess Falmouth of Connaught Square, London
His younger brother: The Hon. Vere Douglas Boscawen – Lieutenant, 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards. Killed in Action on 29th October 1914 at the age of 24. Vere’s body was never identified and he is commemorated on the Menin Gate, Ypres in Belgium along with 54,896 officers and men of the British and Commonwealth armies who lost their lives in the Ypres Salient and have no known graves
Lord Alfred Eden Browne – Lt. Colonel, Officer Commanding 186th Brigade Royal Field Artillery. Recipient of the Distinguished Service Order. Killed in action on 27th August 1918, aged 39. Killed whilst in command of his Brigade and supporting a Canadian advance near Vis-en Artois. Youngest of 10 children of Henry Ulick Browne, 5th Marquess of Sligo, and Catherine Henrietta Dicken.
Horace Jerden Cook – Private, Royal Marine Light Infantry. Details Unknown.
Ernest William Coster – Captain, 1St/2nd Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers. Recipient of the Military Cross for gallantry. Killed in action 26th September 1917 age unknown. He is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, near Paschendaele, along with 11,954 other soldiers who have no known grave
John Deal – Private, 19th Battalion, London Regiment. Killed in action 15th September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme, aged 19. He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in Northern France dedicated to the 72,195 men killed on the Somme whose grave is unknown. His parents were G. W. And Kate Deal of St John’s Terrace, Kingston Vale, London.
Frederick Joseph Dilley – 2nd Air Mechanic, Royal Flying Corps. Drowned at sea 30th December 1917 when the SS Aragon was torpedoed outside Alexandria Harbour by the German submarine and minelayer UC-34. She was carrying 2,700 troops of British and Commonwealth Forces bound for conflicts in Palestine. She had arrived in a convoy but had anchored 10 miles offshore awaiting an escort. After being torpedoed the ship sank quickly with the loss of 610 lives
Albert Edward Drury – Company Sergeant Major, 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment. Recipient of the Military Medal, killed in action on 15th November 1916 aged 36. His award, along with any others won by non-officers, is not shown on the memorial in St James’s.
William Curry Godson – Lieutenant, 46th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. Killed in Action 1st May 1917 aged 25, son of Mr R.J. and Mrs J.A. Godson, of 47 Duke Street, St James, London
Arthur Frederick Gray – 2nd Lieutenant, Suffolk Yeomanry. On 10th October 1918 he drowned on board RMS Leinster when, en-route to Holyhead, she was torpedoed in the Irish Sea by German submarine UB-123. Of 694 passengers and 77 crew on board, 501 perished
Leonard Alloway Groves – Lieutenant, 11th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment. Killed in action on 3rd September 1916
Charles Herbert Hazell – Gunner, 106th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery. Killed in Action 23rd October 1916 aged 20, son of Mr G.W. Hazell, a widower, of 72 Campbell Buildings, Westminster Bridge Road, London
Paul Holman – Private, 1st Battalion, Honourable Artillery Company. Killed 15th February 1915 aged 22, son of Herbert and Sophia Hawkes Holman of 4, Whitehall Court, London
Albert Heyward Jackson – Lieutenant, 10th Battalion Australian Infantry (Australian Imperial Force). Awarded the Military Medal. Killed in Action on 24th April 1918 aged 26. Son of Mrs Ida Mary Jackson, a widow, of 6 St Alban’s Place Haymarket. Albert is one of 106 men by the name of Albert Jackson commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
His older brother Henry Medland Jackson – 2nd Lieutenant, Army Service Corps. Attached to 1st/10 Battalion London Regiment. Died of wounds in Palestine on 19th September 1918 aged 30. Henry was the second of Ida Jackson’s sons to be killed in less than six months. He is buried along with 3501 other casualties in the Ramleh War Cemetery in Israel/Palestine
The Hon. Arthur Middleton Kinnaird – Lieutenant 1st Battalion Scots Guards. Awarded the Military Cross. Killed in Action on 27th November 1917 aged 32
His older brother Hon Douglas Arthur Master of Kinnaird – Captain 1st Battalion Scots Guard. Killed in action on 24th October 1914 aged 35. Both were the sons of Arthur Fitzgerald 11th Baron of Kinnaird from Perthshire a Scottish nobleman and President of the Football Association
James Virtue McEntire – 2nd Lieutenant, 14th Battalion, London Regiment (London Scottish). Killed on 3rd August 1915 aged 36. Son of James and Charlotte McEntire of 47, Inverna Court, Kensington. McEntire was a veteran of the Boer War who had served with the elite cavalry unit “Paget’s Horse” who made up the 19th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry. Paget’s Horse troopers were public-school educated young men who were recruited through advertisements in gentlemen’s clubs
Albert Ernest Oldring – Rifleman, 8th Battalion Rifle Brigade. Age unknown, killed in action on 15th September 1916, commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial dedicated to the 72,195 men killed on the Somme whose grave is unknown
Edward Pinnock – Private, 1st Battalion, East Kent Regiment (The Buffs). Killed on 24th June 1917 aged 30. Husband of Mabel Jane Pinnock of 5 York Street, St James’s Square, London. One of 20,616 casualties identified on the Loos Memorial in the Pas-De-Calais, Northern France
Harry Robert Sauve Pulman – Captain, 3rd Battalion, City of London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers). Captain Pulman was a member of Westminster City Council and was Mentioned in Dispatches for his actions. He was killed on 10th February 1915 at the age of 47 leaving his wife Rosa a widow
Herbert Benjamin Pratley - Private, 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards. Killed in action on 28th March 1918 aged 28. One of 34,774 names on the Arras Memorial to men from the UK, New Zealand and South Africa killed in the Arras Sector between spring 1916 and 7th August 1918 who have no known grave. His parents lived in Oxfordshire
John William Stancer – 2nd Lieutenant, 23rd (Tyneside Scottish) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. The son of J.H. Stancer of 11, Claremont Grove, Woodford Green, Essex. John Died on 17th April 1918 aged 24.
Arthur Edward Stehn – Captain, Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Killed in Action 8Th November 1918 aged 24 twice mentioned in dispatches.
M E Toms – Private, 15th Battalion (1st Central Ontario Regt.) Canadian Expeditionary Force (Inc. Gordon Highlanders) IDENTITY UNCERTAIN. A Canadian national, Toms was killed on 21st May 1915 and is commemorated on the Vimy Ridge Memorial in near Arras in Northern France which is dedicated to the memory of the Canadian Expeditionary Force members killed in the First World War.
Stanley Muir Toms – Lieutenant 2nd/18th Battalion London Regiment (London Irish Rifles). Killed in Palestine on 8th December 1917 age unknown. His Widow was Mrs Dorothy Toms of Chiswick. Lieutenant Toms is buried in the Jerusalem War Cemetery at the north end of the Mount of Olives 4.5KM from the walled city of Jerusalem. The 2,515 British and Commonwealth casualties buried there were brought from a number of battlefields from the holy land including Bethlehem, Jericho, Jerusalem and Ram Allah
I am the Museum Development Manager of the Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum in North Wales and have an ongoing project to seek out all the RWF who were in WW1. I am presently typing up all the names of the Fallen into a separate Powerpoint for each month of each year and am on March 1918 at the moment.
Each man has his own page and at the centenary of the month we put the relevant presentation on a loop at the Museum. I found your excellent site while searching for images of the men. I have quite a task as over 10,000 RWF died in WW1. I wondered if you had any images of RWF at all? Can you help us?
You can contact me either at rwfmuseum1@btconnect.com
RWF Museum
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PCC meeting report - 26 September 2016
Jane Preest, our Safeguarding Officer and Jane Gray, our HR Advisor and Project Assistant provided an update regarding Safeguarding matters and the progress against action plan arising from the last Safeguarding audit, including safeguarding training for PCC members and St James’s pastoral visitors, and completion of DBS checks for volunteers as appropriate.
Policy Reviews
The PCC reviewed and approved updated Staff Appraisal Guidelines and the Staff Eye Care Policy. Additionally, the PCC reviewed and approved an updated Procurement Policy which included, in particular, guidelines on St James’s ethical approach to procurement. Deborah Colvin, in her capacity as St James’s Sustainability Champion, would be providing staff training on implementation of the updated policy.
An update was provided in relation to St James’s’ apprenticeship. Westminster Kingsway College had been selected as the training provider for the new apprentice in view of its expertise in this field. Interviews for the role had been scheduled.
Malcom Stern and Venetia David, Trustees and Directors of Alternatives, which is an independent organisation but seen by many as a prominent aspect of St James’s identity, attended the meeting to provide an update on the activities of Alternatives, as part of an ongoing dialogue on their relationship with St James’s.
The PCC received a briefing on the process for setting the budget for 2017, a first draft of which would be presented to the November PCC meeting. It was hoped that, with appropriate management and due diligence, a balanced budget could be set. In order to ensure good governance, prior to approval by the PCC, this would receive oversight from St James’s Audit Committee, which is chaired by an external independent member.
Traidcraft
Steps to carry forward St James’s Traidcraft activities were agreed, including organisation of a rota for the Traidcraft stall in the market in the weeks running up to Christmas (co-ordinated by Penelope Douglas), and practical arrangements such as on-site storage of stock. It was also agreed that a speaker would be arranged for Fairtrade week in February 2017
Soho Parish School Foundation Governors
The PCC noted that Lindsay Meader and Fiona Notman had been St James’s two Foundation Governors of Soho Parish School, with which a strong relationship is held, for the past five years, but that Fiona had now stepped down. The PCC unanimously agreed to appoint Deborah Colvin to the role, given her extensive school experience and that she has recently stood down from full-time teaching.
Refugee Response International Group
An update was provided on plans to hold a welcome and a place of sanctuary and regular weekly breakfast/brunch for people with no recourse to public funds/benefits. It was the intention to commence this initiative during the next couple of months.
Plans for Harvest Sunday (2nd October) were noted, including plans for an Eco Fun Palace (as part of St James’s’ Eco Church initiative) and a Forest Church style liturgy.
Plans were also noted for the PCC away-day to be held on 15th October, to include a review of progress in relation to St James’s current Strategic Plan and discussion on progress with the Wren project.
The PCC received a report from Paul Little on his liaison role with Vagabonds.
The PCC approved resolutions as required to support the process of letting the Wren flat, and also renewing the current lease with Caffé Nero until August 2017.
The PCC received for information copy of the resource pack produced for Churches Together in Westminster programme, noting that eleven members of St James’s congregation were now participating in this project. Reflection and prayers for people affected by prisons are scheduled for inclusion in the Sunday service on 16th October.
The PCC received for information the minutes of the Staff meetings of 2nd August 2016.
The PCC received and noted the minutes of the Health & Safety Committee meetings of 28th July 2016 and 18th August 2016, noting in particular steps that had been taken to liaise with the police and raise awareness amongst staff in relation to site security matters. Additionally, Fiona Notman had agreed to take on the role of Interim Chair of the Committee.
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Senator Mensch Recognizes Local Eagle Scout Evan Romano for Eagle Court of Honor Ceremony
Mental Health Resources Available to Pennsylvanians
Two Farms Inc., Planning to Close Route 29 in Collegeville
My Essential Family Caregivers Legislation
Senate Passes Package of Bills to Support Veterans, Military Families
Additional Funding Approved to Help Schools Meet Health and Safety Needs
Senate Votes to Protect Insurance Coverage for Mental Health Issues, Substance Use Disorder
Applications for Community Violence Prevention Grants Due November 10
Energy Efficiency Grants Available for Farmers, Small Businesses
I recently recognized a local Eagle Scout for his Eagle Court of Honor Ceremony. Evan Romano, of Collegeville, is a member of Troop 105 in Schwenksville, PA.
Evan’s Eagle Scout Ceremony took place on Saturday, September 26. He has served as the Troop’s bugler, was a Patrol Leader for two years, and is currently an Assistant Senior Patrol Leader.
Read more about Evan and his great accomplishments here.
This week, I met with Dr. Dale Adair, Office of Mental Health & Substance Abuse Services Chief Medical Officer/ Chief Psychiatrist and Kristen Houser, Deputy Secretary of the OMHSAS, to discuss what mental health resources are available to those in Pennsylvania.
Mental Health Resources can be found here: https://www.pa.gov/guides/mental-health/
The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) has launched a statewide Support & Referral Helpline. It’s staffed by skilled and compassionate caseworkers who will be available 24/7 to counsel Pennsylvanians struggling with anxiety and other challenging emotions due to the COVID-19 emergency and refer them to community-based resources that can further help to meet individual needs.
Call is 1-855-284-2494. For TTY, dial 724-631-5600.
Two Farms Inc., is planning to close Route 29 (First Avenue) in Collegeville Borough, Montgomery County, on Friday, October 30, through Saturday, November 14, for roadway realignment, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) announced today.
The work locations are:
Route 29 (First Avenue) will be closed to motorists between East Main Street and Route 113 (Bridge Road). Motorists will be directed to use East Main Street and Route 113 (Bridge Road); and
Route 29 (First Avenue) will be closed to trucks between East Main Street and Ott Road. Trucks will be directed to use Ott Road, Township Line Road and East Main Street.
Local access will be maintained up to the construction zone. Motorists are advised to allow extra time when traveling near the work areas because backups and delays will occur. The schedule is weather dependent.
Two Farms Inc., will complete this project under a PennDOT Highway Occupancy Permit. For a complete list of construction projects impacting state-owned highways in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties, visit our District 6 Traffic Bulletin at www.penndot.gov/District6TrafficBulletin
My Senate Bill 1279, also known as ‘Essential Family Caregivers,’ would require long-term care facilities to designate at least one essential family caregiver per resident that would be permitted to visit and care for a loved one during a disaster emergency. Many Pennsylvania families faced COVID-19 restrictions that prevented them from visiting loved ones for months – even when all safety protocols could have been following.
This bill represents the best effort to allow families to see their loved ones, while still allowing facilities the flexibility to manage any potential outbreaks.
Throughout our nation’s history, Pennsylvania’s military veterans and their families have been called on to make extraordinary sacrifices on behalf of a grateful nation. I supported a package of bills last week designed to boost support for veterans and military families and honor their incredible efforts to protect their fellow citizens.
The package includes bills that would permanently establish the Military Family Relief Assistance Program in state law; update the Veterans’ Preference Law to ensure veterans receive proper credit for their skills and experience; create Veterans Courts to provide mentorship and treatment for underlying problems; help more veterans qualify for prescription drug assistance; and ensure the POW/MIA flag is flown on any ground or building owned by the Commonwealth and at all roadside rest stops and welcome centers operated by PennDOT, as well as PA Turnpike service plazas.
All of the bills were sent to the governor’s desk to be signed into law in advance of Veterans Day on November 11.
Local schools will be able to apply soon for additional grant funding to protect the health and safety of students, teachers and school employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. The grants were approved as part of the $200 million COVID-19 Disaster Emergency School Health and Safety Grant program created by lawmakers in May as part of Act 30 of 2020.
Eligible uses of the funding include:
The purchase of cleaning and sanitizing products.
Training and professional development of staff on sanitation and infection prevention.
Equipment purchases.
Modifying school facilities to support appropriate social distancing of students and staff.
Mental health services and supports.
Educational technology for distance learning.
Other health and safety programs, items or services.
The grant program is expected to open no later than Monday, November 2. Grant applications can be submitted on the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency’s Egrants website.
Millions of Pennsylvanians struggle with mental health issues and substance use disorder, and many state residents report challenges in receiving the care they need. The Senate approved two bills last week to ensure mental health and substance use disorder receive the same level of insurance coverage as other health issues.
The bills will strengthen enforcement of a federal law that mandates equal access to care and coverage for these health issues. House Bill 1696 and House Bill 1439 would require insurers to annually attest the steps they have taken to comply with this law.
Local municipalities, counties, colleges and community groups are encouraged to apply for grants to boost community safety and reduce the risk of violence. Applications for the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency’s Community Violence Prevention/Reduction Initiative must be completed and returned by November 10.
The program was created by lawmakers two years ago as part of a broad package of reforms to make our schools and communities safer. Eligible uses for the grants include mentoring services and other intervention services for at-risk children and families; promoting communication between school entities and law enforcement; linking the community with local trauma support and behavioral health systems; and other programs designed to reduce community violence.
Farmers and other small business owners can apply now for grants to support energy efficiency and pollution prevention projects. Applications for the Small Business Advantage Grant program are available now, and grants will be considered on a first-come, first-served basis through April 12, 2021.
The program covers up to 50 percent of the project costs up to $7,000. Grants are available to small businesses with 100 or fewer full-time employees who undertake projects that would save the business 25 percent ($500 minimum) on energy costs annually.
Harrisburg Office
Senate Box 203024
Red Hill Office
56 West Fourth Street, Floor 2
Red Hill, PA 18076
9-4:30 pm
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One Vine Street, Suite 202
Lansdale, PA 19446
2021 © Senate of Pennsylvania | https://www.senatormensch.com | Privacy Policy
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Colt's Official Police Revolver
January 03, 2011 By Paul Scarlata
Paul says no Colt personified the law enforcement handgun better than the Official Police Revolver
By Paul Scarlata
The Official Police was a rugged, no-frills revolver designed for hard duty.
Unless you are a complete newbie to firearms, or have been living on top of a mountain in Tibet for the last century, you are aware that from the 1870s until the middle of the 20th century the terms "Colt" and "revolver" were synonymous in the police world. Colt revolvers were the most popular law enforcement sidearms in the world, and no Colt product personified the law enforcement handgun better than the Official Police Revolver.
Colt's first swing-out cylinder, double-action revolver, the Model of 1889, was adopted by the U.S. Navy, followed by the Army three years later. The cylinder was locked in position by a sliding latch on the left side of the frame, which was connected to a pin that entered a recess in the center of a rotating ratchet at the rear of the cylinder, locking it securely in place. The cylinder was mounted on a crane so it could be swung out to the left where pushing on the ejector rod activated a star-shaped extractor, extracting the spent cartridge cases simultaneously.
The Model 1889 was sold commercially as the New Army & Navy Model Revolver and proved to be quite popular. In 1899 S&W introduced its .38 Hand Ejector Military & Police revolver, which would be Colt's main competition in the law enforcement market for the next 70 years. But just as important was the new .38 S&W Special cartridge introduced at the same time, which pushed its 158-grain lead bullet to a rated 850 fps producing 200 ft-lbs of muzzle energy and was significantly more powerful than the .38 Long Colt.
Since the 1870s American police forces had generally used .32-caliber revolvers. With the dawning of the new century, however, the trend began to turn towards larger calibers. By the second decade of the 20th century, .38-caliber revolvers were outselling .32-caliber revolvers among police by a considerable margin, and Colt products were the best sellers.
In 1908 Colt introduced the Police Positive revolver chambered for the ".38 Colt Special," which was nothing more than the .38 S&W Special cartridge with a different headstamp. The Police Positive was very popular, and it and a short-barreled version called the Detective Special remained in production until the 1980s.
According to Paul, Colt's Official Police was the first choice of American police agencies for one-third of a century.
Also in 1908 Colt introduced its New Army revolver, which was a redesign of the New Army & Navy. The frame and trigger guard were reshaped to make it more comfortable and attractive. Cylinder rotation direction was changed to clockwise, and lockup was improved with a single peripheral recess for each chamber engaged by a bolt at the rear of the cylinder. Also, the fixed firing pin on the face of the hammer was replaced with a pivoting unit.
While the Police Positive Special and New Army were both chambered for the .38 Special, the latter revolver was based upon Colt's larger I-Frame and weighed approximately 10 ounces more. Whether the customer needed a holster-sized revolver or a lighter, more compact model, Colt's pair of roundguns soon captured the lion's share of the American police market.
With the U.S. Army's adoption of the 1911 pistol, military sales of Colt revolvers dried up, so in 1927 the New Army received a facelift and was renamed the Colt Official Police Revolver. Cosmetic changes included a rounded, checkered cylinder latch; wider rear sight groove; matted topstrap; checkered trigger; and a better quality finish. Options included barrel lengths of 4, 5, and 6 inches and a choice of blue or nickel finish. While most of the revolvers were chambered for the .38 Special, Colt also offered it in .22 LR, .32-20, and .41 Long Colt. Also standard was the Colt Positive Lock, which prevented accidental firing by interposing a steel bar between the hammer and frame that stopped the firing pin from reaching a primer unless the trigger was pulled through a complete stroke. Unlike the Smith & Wesson M&P revolver, Colt claimed that the Official Police was strong enough to be used with the powerful .38-44 High Velocity load.
The Official Police's cylinder swung out by first pulling the cylinder latch to the rear. Pushing in on the ejector rod simultaneously extracted all six spent cases.
The Official Police was a big seller, and the 1933 catalog bragged that the revolver had been adopted by the police departments of New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Kansas City, St. Louis, Portland, and Los Angeles, in addition to the state police of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and Connecticut. Sales of the Official Police on the police and civilian markets boomed, and a few years later the FBI adopted it as the agency's standard-issue sidearm.
The U.S. Army purchased small numbers of Official Police .38-caliber revolvers during the 1930s, but most of these were transferred to other Federal agencies (e.g., Post Office, Treasury Department, and Coast Guard). They were also popular south of the Rio Grande, and Colt sold large numbers to the armies and police forces of Mexico and other Latin American countries.
When World War II erupted, Colt, like most U.S. arms makers, was swamped with government orders. As manufacture of the Model 1911A1 pistol and other guns took priority, revolver production became secondary. Small numbers of the Official Police were produced early in the war years, and in 1942 a special version, the Colt Commando, was introduced. To cut production time and costs, the Commando came with a dull Parkerized finish, smooth trigger and hammer, plastic grips, and 2- or 4-inch barrel. Of the approximately 54,000 Official Police and Commando revolvers purchased by the U.S. government between 1941 and 1945, very few saw combat. Most were supplied to defense plant guards and government security agencies. Some of the 2-inch Commandos were issued to undercover Army personnel and high-ranking officers. Most Commando revolvers remaining in government service after the war were retrofitted with 2-inch barrels.
After the war Colt again began producing guns with the famous deep blue finish but continued to fit the Official Police with plastic grips until 1954 when it resumed using checkered wood with the Colt
medallions.
In those postwar years S&W began to overtake Colt as the world's premier revolver maker. By the 1960s its M&P revolvers were outselling the Official Police by a significant margin. With total production topping 400,000 units by 1970, however, the Official Police ranks as one of the most popular U.S.-produced handguns in history.
The Official Police's rear sight was a wide square groove in the topstrap, which
had a matte finish to reduce glare.
Several other Colts were based on the I-Frame, including the deluxe Officer's Model target series and the .357 Magnum revolvers, which were basically the Official Police with heavier barrels, adjustable sights, and more substantial grips.
Economic, labor, and market forces pushed Colt into a period of decline, and little by little all of its fixed-sight, service-style revolvers were dropped. Production of the Official Police ended in 1969, although the name was briefly resurrected and attached to a revolver that used the much-simplified Mk. III mechanism, but sales were disappointing and manufacture ceased after only three years.
Shooting The Official Police
I borrowed fellow collector John Rasalov's Colt Official Police for the shooting portion of this report. His Official Police has a 4-inch barrel and checkered wood grips. Its serial number indicates that it was manufactured around 1929. The revolver shows a bit of holster wear, but considering its age, the overall condition is very good. Cylinder lock up is nice and tight, and it is graced with a very practical set of sights and the typical Colt double-action trigger pull with a distinct hesitation at the end of the stroke.
The 76-year-old Official Police revolver that Paul test-fired shot to point of aim and produced some very nice groups.
I thought test-firing should be performed with the type of ammunition that was most commonly used during this revolver's career. Accordingly, Federal supplied a quantity of its American Eagle .38 Special loaded with traditional 158-grain LRN bullets, and Black Hills provided some 148-grain LWC target loads. When fired from a rest at 15 yards, the Official Police printed dead-on to point of aim and produced some very respectable five-shot groups.
SHOOTING COLT'S POLICE .38 SPECIAL
FACTORY LOAD
15-YARD ACCURACY (inches)
Black Hill 148-gr. LWC
Federal 158-gr. LRN
NOTES: Accuracy is the average of thee five-shot groups fired at 15 yards from a benchrest. Velocity is the average of five rounds measured 15 feet from gun's muzzle
To evaluate its offhand shooting capabilities, I set a USPSA target out at seven yards and proceeded to send 158-grain lead bullets downrange, firing the Official Police both one-handed and supported. I found the grips a bit too small for my hands, so I installed an aluminum grip adapter during this stage of my evaluation. The shooting resulted in a properly ventilated target. Thanks to the Colt's weight, recoil from the sedate .38 Special loads was very mild and fast follow-up shots were easy to make.
To my way of thinking, Colt's Official Police personifies the fixed-sight, service revolver. Despite lacking the "bells and whistles" demanded by today's shooters, it was a breed that for over a century showed itself capable of performing just about any task demanded of a defensive-type handgun. And did it darn well in the process.
Thanks go to John Rasalov, Charles Pate, Federal Cartridge and Black Hills Ammunition for providing materials used to prepare this report.
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Book Review ♦ Poet of the Wrong Generation by Lonnie Ostrow
“It’s not that I don’t love you, and my tears are yet to dry. But you can’t go back and forth forever and we’ve already said goodbye.”
Through these words, a young poet unearths his musical soul while severing ties with the woman he loves after her stunning betrayal. Unknowingly, in writing this ballad of liberation, he will soon evolve as one of the fastest rising stars on the pop music landscape.
The year is 1991; the place, New York City. Here we meet Johnny Elias, a college student from Brooklyn with boundless adoration for two things in life: timeless popular music, and the heart of a sweet, complicated young woman who is clearly out of his league.
Megan Price not only is the object of Johnny’s affection, but also the only daughter of New York’s most powerful PR woman: the indomitable Katherine Price.
Projecting that her daughter’s boyfriend will never live up to the family standard, Katherine cleverly perpetrates a series of duplicitous schemes to rid Johnny from her high-class world. But in her callous disregard, she inadvertently sets him on a determined course to his improbable musical destiny - while sending her own daughter spiraling down a path of devastation.
Poet of the Wrong Generation tells the symmetrical story of a lovable underdog and his meteoric rise to stardom, his humiliating downfall and his unprecedented attempt to reclaim his place as the unlikely musical spokesman for his generation. At the heart of Poet is a tale of star-crossed lovers and their struggle with unforeseen success and disillusionment, in an attempt to rediscover lasting harmony.
Uniquely integrating a variety of original song compositions, Poet projects the epic clash between true contentment and the fable of stardom’s rewards; a nostalgic journey through the major events of the 1990s, with a cherished cast of characters and a stunningly unpredictable conclusion.
Click the "Read More" for my review...
Poet Of The Wrong Generation by Lonnie Ostrow
This is not the only rages to riches, super cool rock star romance I've ever read, but it's the best one out there.
Meet, Johnny Elias, a guy in love with beautiful Megan Price.
They both share their love but like Romeo and Juliet--family gets involved. And so, family crushes Johnny's hopes and dreams. Crushes...like...
Destroyed and left with nothing, Johnny pours everything in the songs he writes. Hate, love, despair, agony. Everything. And these songs are all written for Megan.
Now, you won't find me spoiling the rest, I only have pure respect for the story that made me stay up all night, hoping for our two lovers success while watching how stardom and fame is still a job. An exciting job, but there's compelling background to the world of records and songs this story boldly and beautifully tells.
If you want entertainment and a worthy telling of a rock star story that's really how it is, this amazing, clean love story is for you!
Heck, this story is for everyone.
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Sydney Leroux's summer plans change
by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Jan 26, 2016
Less than two weeks after she was traded to two-time NWSL champion FC Kansas City, U.S. world champion Sydney Leroux announced she is expecting her first child with husband Dom Dwyer in September and will miss the 2016 season. She's the second FC Kansas City forward on the U.S. national team after Amy Rodriguez who announced she'll be unavailable for the Olympics because she is pregnant.
Leroux played four games for the USA at the 2015 Women's World Cup but did not score a goal. She was limited to 11 games (four starts) in 2015 because of an ankle surgery.
On the eve of the 2016 NWSL College Draft, three-team deal sent the 25-year-old Leroux to FC Kansas City, allowing her to reunited with Dwyer, who plays for Sporting Kansas City, and join her fourth club in four seasons. She had been vocal about her displeasure last year when a deal sent her from Seattle to Western New York. She played the first NWSL season with Boston.
“Although we are disappointed that Syd will not be playing for us this season, we are thrilled and excited for her and Dom,” FCKC general manager Huw Williams said in a statement. “Dealing with matters such as these is part of our business. All of us at FC Kansas City are ‘family first’ type of people so we see this as an exciting and joyous occasion.”
Surprise! My plans have changed for this summer. @Ddwyer14 and I are so excited to announce... pic.twitter.com/99knKtCvTO
— Sydney Leroux Dwyer (@sydneyleroux) January 26, 2016
Rodriguez had her first child in 2013 and missed the inaugural NWSL season with Seattle. She was traded to FC Kansas City and helped it win back-to-back titles. Her absence from the 2016 season while pregnant with her second child was confirmed when she was not included in the U.S. roster for the January camp.
Defender Nikki Phillips (née Krzysik) sat out of the 2015 FC Kansas City season because she was pregnant and will sit out again in 2016.
The absence of Leroux and Rodriguez and retirement of Abby Wambach leave the once-deep U.S. frontline with only Alex Morgan and Christen Press returning from the Women's World Cup championship team.
Leroux's announcement increases the chances that 17-year-old Mallory Pugh could be picked for the 20-player roster for Olympic qualifying in February. The other possibility is Stephanie McCaffrey, who is coming off her rookie season with the Boston Breakers. Crystal Dunn, the 2015 NWSL MVP with Washington Spirit, is listed as a forward on the U.S. roster but has been starting in midfield with Megan Rapinoe sidelined with a knee injury.
nwsl, olympics, women's national team, women's world cup
4 comments about "Sydney Leroux's summer plans change".
James e Chandler, January 26, 2016 at 9:10 a.m.
Congrats you two. Any scholarship offers yet?
Carl Hudson, January 26, 2016 at 9:35 a.m.
Thank goodness! Now if Morgan Brian and Tobin Heath could do the same, we could have the makings of an improved roster.
Raymond Weigand replied, January 26, 2016 at 4:35 p.m.
Wow !! (that's mom - upside down) ... the team would miss Tobin - she is an exceptional player with and without the ball. Clever decisions on defense as she closes space and she also distributes all over the place in transition to her teammates on offense. Gotta love the gal who knows what she is doing to make her teammates look good.
R2 Dad, January 27, 2016 at 11:40 a.m.
Great news for the Leroux/Dwyer family. So how does this work, soccer-wise? Does the pregnant player still train with the team until a certain time before delivery? Do they take the entire season off, paid or unpaid? Does the coaching staff expect the player to be present but not playing? They just don't have this issue on the men's side (duh).
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Connecticut 1975 Social Security Numbers
Social Security Numbers issued to Connecticut in 1975 fall between 040-26-xxxx and 049-66-xxxx.
Use the SSN Search Tool to check individual Social Security Numbers.
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Connecticut SSNs issued in 1975
Within the 040-26-xxxx to 049-66-xxxx range, the 4th and 5th digits indicate when a number was issued.
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040-36-#### 1961 unknown 64 to 76 yrs Valid
040-56-#### 1972 1977 56 to 65 yrs Valid
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ICT Shared Service Centre
PhD candidates at Leiden University must be admitted to one of its Graduate Schools. The admission procedure varies between Graduate Schools. The Graduate Schools are responsible for the training and supervision of PhD candidates.
Graduate School of Archaeology
The Graduate School of Archaeology offers a range of PhD programmes on the excavation, analysis and interpretation of material remains from the human past.
Graduate School for Humanities
The Graduate School of Humanities is responsible for all PhD programmes at the Faculty of Humanities.
Graduate School of Legal Studies
The Graduate School of Legal Studies is part of the Meijers Research Institute and is responsible for all PhD programmes at the Faculty of Law.
Graduate School of Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC)
Medical and biomedical PhD candidates study at the Graduate School of LUMC. The PhD programmes at this Graduate School are jointly developed by Leiden University and LUMC.
Graduate School of Science
The Graduate School of Science offers eight different PhD programmes in the field of mathematics and science.
Graduate School Social and Behavioural Sciences
The Graduate School of Social and Behavioural Sciences is responsible for all PhD programmes at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences.
Graduate School of Governance and Global Affairs
The Graduate School of Governance and Global Affairs is responsible for all PhD programmes at the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs.
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Between January 17, 2008 and January 17, 2021, John Wolford has the most rushing yards per attempt when averaging 53.0+ rushing yards per game, with 9.3 per attempt.
Interpreted as:
highest yards per carry by a player in last 13 years minimum 53 rushing yards per game
See Trending NFL Searches
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Search for people or events
Categories Blog Home Advocacy Facts News Research Do What You Want Fundraising Tips Head-Shaving Why I Give Families Kids with Cancer Survivors Teens & Young Adults
How a Pediatric Oncologist and 10-Time Shavee Is Fighting Childhood Cancers
by St. Baldrick's Foundation
Pediatric oncologist Dr. Tom McLean of Wake Forest Baptist Health has been awarded one of 29 new 2018 Infrastructure Grants from the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.
For more than a decade, Dr. McLean has been participating in head-shaving events with the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. That’s right – not only does Dr. McLean help fight cancer at Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston-Salem, N.C., he’s also one of many researchers who help raise money for childhood cancer research by having his own head shaved clean.
It’s a fact the friendly doctor laughs off by pointing out he doesn’t have a lot of hair to shave away in the first place.
“The first time I shaved my head, I was nervous,” Dr. McLean joked. “But then I did it, and I quickly realized, you know, it’s not that big of a deal – my hair is pretty short anyways.”
Dr. Tom McLean, winner of a 2018 Infrastructure Grant, has shaved his head for St. Baldrick’s 10 times.
Raising Money for Life-Saving Clinical Trials
Most of Dr. McLean’s head-shaving experiences have taken place at Finnigan’s Wake, an Irish pub in downtown Winston-Salem and a short drive from Wake Forest Baptist Health, where Dr. McLean has worked for 20 years. This year, the St. Baldrick’s Finnigan’s Wake fundraiser, held in late September, raised almost $50,000 for childhood cancer research.
“It’s really a fun time,” Dr. McLean said. “People laugh and joke and there’s music … and I’m always humbled by how generous people are.”
Clinical Trials a Vital Part of Advancing Cancer Research
For much of his time in pediatric oncology, Dr. McLean has enjoyed the support of St. Baldrick’s – including a 2018 Infrastructure Grant that will help Wake Forest carry out new clinical trials testing a variety of childhood cancer treatments. Almost all the clinical trials in pediatric oncology at Wake Forest are from the Children’s Oncology Group (COG).
“We’re very close, we’re working for the same purpose,” Dr. McLean said of his relationship with St. Baldrick’s. “We want to cure childhood cancer.”
These clinical trials play a huge role in helping researchers find new and more effective treatments for a variety of childhood cancers. At Wake Forest, Dr. McLean has helped oversee many of these trials, which involve comparing established and experimental treatments. Should a clinical trial show that a new treatment – such as a new drug – is more effective than an established one, it may become the new standard.
Overall, clinical trials represent a steady progression in the long and arduous fight against childhood cancers. “Little by little, we’re getting there,” Dr. McLean said.
“Smart Bomb for Cancer” a Major Advancement
When asked what’s changed the most about clinical trials since he started in oncology a couple decades ago, Dr. McLean pointed to the emergence of “targeted therapy,” or what he likes to call a “smart bomb for cancer.” This means cancer treatments have become more precise than they used to be, with oncologists and their teams being able to focus their attack on cancer cells, leaving healthy cells less affected. Harvesting the body’s immune system to fight cancer is a form of targeted therapy and is producing positive, exciting results.
It’s a step forward that’s particularly important for children, whose bodies are still developing and, therefore, more likely to experience major side effects associated with intensive cancer treatments, like chemotherapy.
In any case, Dr. McLean credits St. Baldrick’s for helping push childhood cancer research in the right direction.
“Without St. Baldrick’s, there’s no question we would not be where we are today,” Dr. McLean said.
Childhood cancer cures start with you. Fund lifesaving research today.
childhood cancer research immunotherapy infrastructure grant research grant
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Respecting The Greater Flow Of Life
I've come to learn that there are often two paths of action we can take in any given moment.
The first path is to act based on our reaction to an outside event.
Someone says something we don't like, and so we get angry and tell them off. Shortly after, we receive a compliment from a stranger, and suddenly we feel the need to chase after them for more admiration.
In either case, we acted based on our inner reaction to the outside world. Instead of letting the event happen and then moving on, we got involved in its energy.
This is rarely the most productive action we can take.
The second path involves a more subtle force that guides our actions.
That force is what I would call the greater flow of life.
It's not based on our personal reaction, but rather an unbiased involvement with whatever life is calling for at the moment.
Let's say you get in a fight with your significant other. Naturally, this is an emotionally charged situation in which you're both tense and defensive. In this scenario, acting based on your reaction will look something like, "How dare you! You always do this! You never listen to me!"
In other words, it'll be about proving why you're right and they're wrong. But this is because you're in pain. And so are they. You're both hurting, and so you're expressing the hurt through nasty language directed at the other person.
Seeing as you're both in pain, there is a higher path of action, and one that harmonizes with the greater flow of life.
That path would be one of compassion, one of recognizing the other's pain without having to direct more pain their way.
It might look something like a warm hug, a sincere apology, a calm presence. That's it. Nothing more.
Because that's typically what the situation calls for when another person is in pain.
Just like you'd bring medical attention to a child bleeding in a playground, in this case you attend to a hurting partner with your presence.
But you see, this is hard for us. It's hard to respect the greater flow of life when the forces of our reactions are so commanding of our attention.
As human beings we're so wired to react to just about everything that happens in our immediate surroundings. Furthermore, our reactions to what happens are heavily influenced by our previous reactions to things that happened in the past.
It's not long before we're so far removed from reality that we're living through the experiences, judgements, and preconceptions of our individual past. This is what it means to be out of touch with reality.
The only way out of this is to first recognize when we're doing it.
We have to notice that when something happens, we have a tendency to react a certain way. If we're not aware of this tendency, then we just react, and that's that. There's no awareness of reaction - just reaction.
Once we become aware, we must remember that there's a higher way to live, which involves connecting with the greater flow of life.
True harmony with life is when we respect and participate with that greater flow without any resistance.
If you listen closely, in any moment there's a subtler voice guiding you.
P.S. I'm working on something special!
In addition to publishing two new blog posts every week, I'm working on a guide to help you stop getting so bothered by everything that happens.
The less time we spend on being bothered, the more time we spend on being our true, loving, joyful selves. At the end of the day, this is what we all want.
If you're interested in getting your hands on this free guide, leave a comment below saying, "I want it!" or "I want the guide!"
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BERNHARD PETERS & MIKE FORDE
St. Louis CITY SC is wasting no time in building a best-in-class sporting department.
Hot off the heels of introducing German soccer legend Lutz Pfannenstiel as our Sporting Director, it became Lutz’s turn to make HIS first announcement – that he is tapping two top international executives, Bernhard Peters and Mike Forde, to help him build the team’s on-field operations and put St. Louis on the international soccer map.
Peters is widely recognized as one of the most successful youth academy architects in the world. He and Lutz previously worked together for many years when Lutz was head of international relations and scouting at TSG Hoffenheim. Peters will assist Pfannenstiel with the development of the club’s youth academy. He has a storied history with the famed Bundesliga, previously serving as Sporting Director for Hamburger SV and Director of high performance for TSG Hoffenheim. As a senior consultant to the club, Peters will work alongside Lutz to develop the organization’s youth academy, which will be part of the recently announced MLS elite player development platform and the official MLS youth academy in the St. Louis region.
Forde will consult with the club to establish and maintain a model for high-performance and sustained culture. Forde has over 20 years of experience working with teams across the United States and Europe, including the English Premier League, to create cutting-edge performance models that deliver winning results.
Forde is the Executive Chairman of Sportsology, a strategic consultancy that helps sports teams lay the foundations for success by transforming organizational systems and behaviors. Delivering advisory services and digital solutions to support the definition of strategy, codification of culture, and enhancement of talent identification, Sportsology works with sports organizations across all major US leagues and European soccer.
By hiring Peters and Forde, we are bringing in two well-respected international sports executives with decades of experience in professional soccer and a deep knowledge of the game. They will assist in Lutz’s efforts to develop homegrown talent and identify and pursue international players to build a club that is diverse, highly competitive and proudly represents the St. Louis region.
We are excited to have Mike and Bernhard as members of our CITY.
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Bangkok blast: Thailand's police say they consider case solved, receive cash awards again
Thai national police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang holding up a reward before a news conference about the Bangkok blast which killed 20 people, including foreigners, at the Royal Thai Police headquarters in central Bangkok, Thailand, on Sept 28, 2015. The reward of fat wads of cash in front of journalists was the second time ‘’award’’ money has been given to police teams working on the case.PHOTO: REUTERS
Thai national police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang gesturing during a news conference about the Bangkok blast which killed 20 people, including foreigners, as a screen shows the different looks of a suspect, who has been referred to both as Bilal Mohammed and Adem Karadag, the name on a Turkish passport he holds, at the Royal Thai Police headquarters in central Bangkok, Thailand, on Sept 28, 2015.PHOTO: REUTERS
Nirmal Ghosh
US Bureau Chief
Thailand's police have said they consider the Erawan Shrine blast case solved, as they awarded themselves with cash, but will continue to investigate a potential domestic political angle to the bomb blast that killed 20 people on Aug 17 at the popular shrine in Bangkok.
At a press conference in Bangkok on Monday (Sept 28), Thai police chief Somyot Poompunmuang, who is serving his last days in office before retiring, reiterated that the bomb attack was revenge by a gang that was smuggling ethnic Uighurs out of China and had been damaged by a police crackdown.
But he said one of two Thai suspects in the case had also been involved in a bomb blast at an apartment in Nontahaburi on the outskirts of Bangkok in 2010.
"We have yet to establish these (political) links. It might have been a contract crime. A group might have hired another already bent on taking revenge to commit the crime, so both got what they wanted," he said.
The police have also again been awarded fat wads of cash in front of journalists for their efforts.
The 3 million baht (S$118,410) reward comprised donations from private businessmen as well as Gen Somyot's personal money, the chief said.
It was the second time "award" money has been given to police teams working on the case.
The Aug 17 rush-hour blast at the heart of downtown Bangkok was the deadliest in memory in Thailand, killing 20 people, including 12 foreigners.
The police have issued at least 17 arrest warrants, including for Chinese and Pakistani nationals, and have two people in custody.
Over the weekend, they said one of them, a foreigner whose nationality is still unclear but whose name has been given as Adem Karadag or Bilal Mohammed, had confessed to actually planting the bomb at the Erawan Shrine.
The blast at the apartment in Nonthaburi in October 2010 killed four people, including a man called Samai Wongsuwan, probably while he was assembling a bomb, the police said at the time.
Last year, the police arrested a Thai woman allegedly linked to the Nonthaburi case.
At the time, the government blamed the Nonthaburi blast on the "red shirts" who earlier that year, after months of protests against the government of then Premier Abhisit Vejjajiva, had been cowed by an army crackdown.
The red shirts, of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship, were aligned with former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who had been kicked out of of office by the military in 2006 on the back of royalist street protests against his rule.
The violence of the summer of 2010, which saw red shirts battling troops across central Bangkok, left over 90 dead - mostly civilian protesters.
nirmal@sph.com.sg
BOMBINGS/EXPLOSIONS
BANGKOK BLAST
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In surprise move, China cooperates with U.S.
Cartoon by Ben Garrison
(by Veronica Stracqualursi, ABC News) – President Donald Trump [announced] on Thursday that China, North Korea’s principal trading partner, has ordered its banks to stop doing business with the rogue regime.
“I’m very proud to tell you that, as you may have just heard moments ago, China, their central bank has told their other banks — that’s a massive banking system — to immediately stop doing business with North Korea,” he said at the United Nations alongside South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The president went on, “Again, I want to just say and thank President Xi [Jinping] of China for the very bold move he made today. That was a somewhat unexpected move, and we appreciate it.”
[China is North Korea’s main trading partner which allows the regime to launder drug and illegal arms money.] The president spoke after signing an executive order aimed at companies and financial institutions that do business with North Korea.
“Foreign banks will face a clear choice to do business with the United States or facilitate trade with the lawless regime in North Korea,” he said.
President Trump [said] that his order will “cut off sources of revenue that fund North Korea’s efforts to develop the deadliest weapons known to humankind.” Early this month, North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test yet, and [soon after that] the country fired a missile over Japanese airspace. Prime Minister Abe welcomed the new sanctions* enforced by the United States. [*sanctions are actions that are taken to force a country to obey international laws by limiting or stopping trade with that country, by not allowing economic aid for that country, etc.]
President Trump [said] the U.S. Treasury Department will begin identifying new industries that it can target with strong sanctions, like manufacturing, fishing and textiles.
“For much too long, North Korea has been allowed to abuse the international financial system to facilitate funding for nuclear weapons and missile programs,” said Trump.
He said the U.S. seeks a “complete denuclearization of North Korea.”
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin…[told] reporters on Thursday, “No bank in any country should be used to facilitate Kim Jong Un’s destructive behavior. [Foreign financial institutions are on notice going forward. They can do business with the United States or North Korea, but not both.]”
The Secretary emphasized that “the action is directed at everyone” and not specifically China. [He added, “The objective is for North Korea to stop their missile tests and give up their nuclear weapons.”]
The new sanctions from the Trump administration come two days after he told the United Nations General Assembly that the U.S. would “totally destroy” North Korea if its leader, Kim Jong Un does harm to the U.S. or its allies.
“The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea,” President Trump said Tuesday in his first address to the United Nations General Assembly.
“Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime,” President Trump said, using an epithet he has recently adopted to refer to Kim. [Watch a video clip from the UN speech under “Resources” below.]
…During their meeting earlier on Thursday, Presient Moon praised Trump’s UN speech as “strong” and said he believes it will “help contain North Korea.”
“North Korea has continued to make provocations, and this is extremely deplorable, and this has angered me and our people,” Moon said. “The United States has responded firmly and in a very good way.”
“I’m happy you used the word ‘deplorable,'” Trump said, getting some laughs from the room. “I promise, I did not tell them to use that word.” …
[These latest developments follow a phone call President Trump had with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two agreed on “maximizing pressure” on the rogue regime over its escalating weapons program…through vigorous enforcement of United Nations Security Council resolutions,” according to a White House statement.
On September 11th, the 15-member UN Security Council agreed unanimously to impose sanctions against North Korea in retaliation for successfully detonating a nuclear device earlier this month and for its recent launch of two intercontinental ballistic missiles. The penalties, which China and Russia supported, place severe restrictions on President Kim Jong Un’s government to import oil and textiles.]
Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission from ABCNews. Visit the website at abcnews .com.
1. a) What announcement did President Trump make on Thursday while meeting with the president of South Korea and Prime Minister of Japan during UN week? Be specific.
b) Why is this good news?
2. a) What are sanctions?
b) What new U.S. sanctions did President Trump implement in an executive order prior to the move by China’s bank?
c) What did President Trump say would be the result of his executive order?
3. a) What other industries will the Treasury Department target with sanctions, according to President Trump?
b) What is the goal of the new sanctions imposed by the Trump administration?
4. a) What did US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin say about banks doing business with North Korea?
b) What is the objective of these sanctions, according to Secretary Mnuchin?
5. In 1994, then-President Bill Clinton made a nuclear deal with North Korea. (Watch the video under “Resources” below.) President Clinton said it was a good deal that would prevent North Korea from obtaining nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, it did not work out as hoped. Through the two terms of President George W. Bush and then two terms of President Barack Obama the U.S. tried negotiating with North Korea through various types of diplomacy, agreements and sanctions. Yet North Korea’s nuclear program progressed.
Watch President Trump’s statements to the UN about North Korea under “Resources” below. He talks in a much more direct manner than previous presidents and has succeeded in getting China to order their banks to stop doing business with North Korea.
a) Do you think President Trump will succeed in stopping North Korea before they are able to use nuclear weapons against the U.S. or our allies? Explain your answer.
b) Ask a parent or a grandparent the same question. (Remember, they have lived through this recent history and will be able to offer you a perspective you don’t have.) Discuss your answers.
6. In February 2016, CNN reported: “According to multiple experts, North Korea has at least a dozen and perhaps as many as 100 nuclear weapons, though at present it lacks sophisticated delivery mechanisms.” In a September 2016 Reuters article, ‘Maniacal recklessness’, the reporters characterize the U.S., South Korea, Japan, the UN… as “powerless to contain” North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. They quote a Japanese professor as saying the sanctions aimed to put pressure on North Korea “have reached their limits.” Ask a parent:
Do you think the U.S. and the UN are powerless to contain North Korea’s nuclear program? Can the Trump administration succeed where previous presidents have failed – or is he naive and should just either leave it up to the UN or resign the world to the prospect of a nuclear North Korea? Please explain your answers.
Watch a clip from President Bill Clinton’s Oct. 1994 “Remarks on the Nuclear Agreement With North Korea.” :
http://www.studentnewsdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Bill-Clinton-on-North-Korea-History-Repeats-Itself.mp4
Watch a clip from President Trump talking about North Korea in his address to the UN General Assembly last week (9/19/17):
http://www.studentnewsdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Donald-Trump_UN-General-Assembly_North-Korea.mp4
Read the most recent Executive Order imposing additional sanctions on North Korea
The U.S. led the UN Security Council to implement sanctions against North Korea in August and added more in September. Read the text from the UNSC. September 11 sanctions and August 5, 2017 sanctions
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Youngsters urged to keep safe by staying out of the water during the school holidays
With the school holidays starting, Severn Trent is reminding everyone to stay safe and keep out of the water across all its visitor sites.
The company has 12 visitor sites across its patch, all of which have a variety of attractions for visitors, from walking and cycle paths to fishing and picnic facilities.
All also have reservoirs as a backdrop which may be attractive to young people who are now on holiday.
Dan Taberner, Visitor Experience Manager at Severn Trent, said: “We want everyone to enjoy this lovely weather we’re having, which is why it’s so important for people to keep safe and stay out of the water at our visitor sites.
“Although our reservoirs look tempting and the ideal way to cool down, the fact is they’re extremely dangerous. On the surface they look calm and steady but, underneath, the water is extremely deep with incredibly strong currents that even the most experienced swimmer would struggle with.
“On top of that, we don’t have lifeguards or safe swimming areas so we really do need everyone to keep out of the water.
”Severn Trent say all its reservoirs are built with the sole purpose of supplying water to its customers across its entire region, and not for swimming.
“Not only are our reservoirs really deep, they’re also extremely cold,” said Dan.
“If you go into any of our reservoirs, you might end up in serious trouble, and, unlike beaches and swimming pools, there are no lifeguards to help you, so please don’t take the risk.”
More details about Severn Trent’s visitor sites are available at https://www.stwater.co.uk/wonderful-on-tap/our-visitor-sites/come-visit-us/.
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Swarthmore Student Organizing for Nonviolence in Schools
For Immediate Release: March 14, 2006
Contact: Marsha Mullan
Peace Week Scheduled at Swarthmore and Other Campuses March 31-April 7
Brandon Lee Wolff was tired of hearing news about school shootings and other youth violence. So Wolff, then a 14-year-old student at Council Rock High School in Bucks County, Pa., decided to take action.
Five years later, Wolff's SAVE R US (Students Against Violence Everywhere Are Us) is a growing national organization on high school and college campuses, with its annual Peace Week scheduled to run March 31-April 7 at Swarthmore College, where Wolff is now a sophomore. Peace Week is also taking place the same week at Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges as well as at high schools across Bucks County.
"I was first inspired to get involved as a result of the tragedy at Columbine High School," Wolff recalls. "Then in the spring of 2001, when there was a string of school shootings across America, when each day of the week seemed to bring news of another shooting at another school in another state, I knew I had to take action. I could not believe that kids my age were taking the lives of other kids my age, and I wanted to do something proactive to prevent the violence from happening in my school and community."
Thus began Wolff's efforts to form SAVE R US and to organize a two-day Peace Festival that took place at Council Rock High School in the fall of 2001. The Peace Festival grew into Peace Week as Wolff continued to develop and expand his anti-violence campaign over the rest of his high school career. The project's growth has continued since Wolff's enrollment at Swarthmore in the fall of 2004.
In addition to the annual Peace Week, SAVE R US runs a "Peacemakers" program that sends trained high school students into elementary schools to conduct programs aimed at fostering diversity and working against bullying and violence. Wolff's organization also offers "Unity Cafes," which bring together students to hear guest speakers and undertake hands-on projects such as painting peace murals.
SAVE R US has recently established programs at five Philadelphia-area high schools, and efforts are underway to bring Peacemakers to schools in Chester, Pa. Wolff's work has also taken on an international dimension since his participation in the World Youth Centre in Toronto in 2004. There, he became the only American out of 15 participants to have his social change project chosen to receive backing, primarily in the form of mentoring from experts in the field, for international expansion. Since then, Wolff has been working to found the group's first international chapter, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
"Both on the college and high school campuses, the aim of Peace Week is to promote awareness about issues of bullying and violence," says Wolff, who plans to major in political science and sociology/anthropology. "Through Peace Week and the other programs, we hope to educate the youth of today so that we will have a less violent society in the future."
At Swarthmore this year, Peace Week will consist of speakers, a jamboree featuring student music and dance groups, panels on topics ranging from nonviolent resistance to meditation, and a peace walk. For more details, see the SAVE R US web site at www.saverusinternational.org.
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THE NOT-SO-SILENT KEVIN SMITH
Writer/director/actor/comic and movie geek Kevin Smith comes to Spokane on Wednesday showing the latest installment of his “View Askewniverse” film series and taking questions from the audience.
If it’s been too long since you last re-watched Smith’s movies — or if you donated your VHS copies to Goodwill or something and you’re too cheap for Netflix — here’s a recap of Smith’s interlocking comedy+romantic+geekfest movie series:
SMITH’S ‘VIEW ASKEW’ MOVIES
Two not-really-competent clerks — one works at a convenience store and one at the video rental joint next door — discuss movies, their love lives and just about everything else — anything is better than waiting on those annoying customers.
Brian O’Halloran and Jeff Anderson as the clerks and Jason Mewes and Smith himself as a couple of pot dealers who hang out in front of the store.
Smith actually was a clerk in that very convenience store. They’d shoot all night and then Smith would work all day. They filmed in black-and-white because Smith couldn’t afford to have his film properly color-corrected.
The F-bomb is dropped 91 times in this film.
Dumped by their girlfriends on the same day, a couple of besties console each other by — what else? — hanging out at the mall, where they run across all their strange friends.
Jason Lee, Jeremy London, Claire Forlani, Shannen Doherty, Ben Affleck — and, of course, Mewes and Smith.
Smith’s “View Askewniverse” films famously take place in Jersey. But this one was filmed at Eden Prairie Center Mall, southwest of Minneapolis.
The studio wasn’t sold on Mewes reprising his role as Jay so they brought in Seth Green to audition for the part.
Making a cameo appearance in which he offers romantic advice to one of the stars: Legendary Marvel comics creator Stan Lee.
Two comic book creators create a successful comic based on their lovable loser pals, Jay and Silent Bob. But the artist falls in love with another comic book artist, who happens to be a lesbian.
Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, Jason Lee, Dwight Ewell, Mewes and Smith.
Smith was dating Adams at the time and based the story on his experiences with her.
Early in the film, Affleck’s character, Banky, is accused by a comics fan of being a “tracer.” That fan was played by Casey Affleck, Ben’s brother.
Smith wrote three issues of the “Bluntman and Chronic” comic book shown in the film. And they were actually released by Image Comics.
When two fallen angels plan to use a loophole to re-enter heaven and destroy all of creation, it’s up to the last scion, the 13th disciple and two prophets — yes, those would be Jay and Silent Bob — to stop them.
Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Salma Hayek, Jason Lee, Chris Rock, Mewes and Smith.
Making a cameo appearance as God: singer/songwriter Alanis Morissette. Seriously.
Catholics turned out in droves to protest theaters that played the movie. Smith was so amused that he hopped out of his car one evening, picked up a spare sign and joined them. A local TV crew recognized him and interviewed him for the 11 o’clock news, but were kind enough to not out him in front of the mob.
When Jay and Silent Bob find out they’re making a movie about Bluntman and Chronic — the comic book characters that are based on them — they take a road trip to Hollywood to demand their cut.
Ben Affleck, Eliza Dushku, Shannon Elizabeth, Will Ferrell, Jason Lee, Mewes and Smith.
Ferrell plays a federal wildlife marshal named Willenholly ... think “Will and Holly,” from the 1970s Saturday morning TV show “Land of the Lost.”
Making a cameo as an actor playing a comic book villain: Mark Hamill. Making a cameo as a nun: Carrie Fisher.
The F-bomb is dropped 148 times in this film.
Dante and Randal move on from their dead-end jobs as convenience store clerks and get new dead-end jobs at a popular fast-food joint.
Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Rosario Dawson and guess who? Mewes and Smith.
The Mooby’s burger joint was actually a closed-down Burger King in Buena Park, Calif., not far from Knott’s Berry Farm.
By this point, Smith was able to feed on himself for material. For example, Randal’s rant about the “Lord of the Rings” movies is taken nearly word-for-word from a rant Smith made onstage that appeared on “An Evening with Kevin Smith 2.”
JAY AND SILENT BOB REBOOT
After Jay and Silent Bob are arrested for growing marijuana in the old video store, they discover there will be a rebooted “Bluntman and Chronic” movie. Naturally, they set off again for Hollywood.
Everyone, say it along with me this time: Mewes! And Smith!
Originally, Stan Lee was to play a pivotal role near the climax of the movie. Smith had to rewrite after Lee’s death.
Smith and Affleck had a falling out and barely spoke to each other for about 10 years. After a reporter asked Smith if Affleck would appear in this film, he added a part for him and filmed it at the last minute. Affleck called the cameo role “magical.”
PLUS, TWO OTHERS
In 1994, Smith and his associates made an animated series for ABC-TV based on his original “Clerks” movie.
They made six episodes. ABC canceled the show after two were broadcast. The entire series would be released on DVD in 2001.
In 2013, Smith would try animation again, with an hour long movie: “Jay & Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie!”
Smith took the movie on the road, pairing it with Q&A sessions. It saw limited DVD release in 2015 and is now reportedly streaming on Netflix.
SEE SMITH AND MEWES
Capitol Theater
olympiafilmsociety.org
Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox
foxtheaterspokane.org
SMITH’S OTHER VENTURES
Smith wrote and directed “Jersey Girl” starring Affleck, Liv Tyler and George Carlin in 2004 and directed “Cop Out” starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan in 2010.
In 2006, Smith was hired to write the script for a Superman movie — “Superman Lives,” to star Nicolas Cage — but the project fell apart.
Smith has written a number of comic books: Most notably a six-issue Spider-Man/Black Cat team up, “The Evil That Men Do” and a six-issue Batman series, “The Widening Gyre.”
Smith has appeared on reality TV shows, hosted a movie review show and has directed episodes of “The Goldbergs,” “The Flash” and “Supergirl.”
Smith owns a comic book store — Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash — in his hometown of Red Bank, NJ.
Sources: Internet Movie Database, FilmReference.com, SilentBobSpeaks.com, “Tough Sh*t: Life Advice from a Fat, Lazy Slob Who Did Good” by Kevin Smith
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The Top 10 Left Handed Scorers in NBA History
Golden State Warriors v Houston Rockets - Game Three
Trent Bixby
Ranking the Top 10 left-handed shooters in NBA History, from top to bottom.
James Harden, who recently surpassed David Robinson for most left-handed points all time, tops our list.
A nice, smooth, left-handed jump shot is one of the most visually pleasing things in the NBA. There is something so effortless about a left-hander's shooting motion that simply makes you stop and admire. There have been many left-hand dominant players to make their pass through the league, but this one is dedicated to those who stood above all the rest.
The Top 10 Left-Handed Scorers in NBA history
10 - Artis Gilmore
15,579 career points
59.9% career field goal percentage
Artis Gilmore spent 13 years in the NBA and even spent 5 seasons in the ABA before the 1976 merger of the two leagues. The left-handed Gilmore was a 6-time NBA All-Star, and while he was the star of the 1975 ABA Champion Kentucky Colonels, he never won an NBA Championship.
2020 NBA All-Star - Naismith Hall Of Fame Announcement
9 - Nate "Tiny" Archibald
Nate "Tiny" Archibald earned his nickname due to his 6'1", 150-pound stature, but earned the respect of his peers through his performance on the court. Archibald was a threat to score every time his left hand touched the ball, averaging 32 points on 48.8% shooting in his breakout 1971-72 season. Archibald was a six-time NBA All-Star and was a part of the 1981 NBA Champion Boston Celtics.
Happy B-Day, Tiny Archibald: The ONLY player in @NBAHistory to lead the @NBA in scoring & assists in the SAME season pic.twitter.com/j0bageGbSP
— NBA History (@NBAHistory) September 2, 2016
8 - Chris Bosh
Chris Bosh put together quite the NBA career. Most known for his time as part of the Miami Heat's "Big Three", Bosh won back-to-back NBA Championships alongside Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. Bosh was a threat from deep, but mostly did damage from the mid-range. His left-handed jump shot took him to 11 NBA All-Star games and the All-Rookie team in 2004.
Miami Heat v Washington Wizards
7 - Lenny Wilkens
Lenny Wilkens had an amazing 15-year tenure in the NBA, dating from 1960-1975. Wilkens spent time with the St. Louis Hawks, Seattle Supersonics, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Portland Trailblazers. The left-hander was voted an NBA All-Star nine times and won the 1971 All-Star Game MVP.
Miami Heat v Dallas Mavericks - Game Three
6 - Chris Mullin
51% career field goal percentage
Chris Mullin was a three-point sharpshooter with a beautiful left-handed jump shot. Mullin is one of just 29 NBA players to have ever recorded a season average of 25 points, 5 assists, and 5 rebounds. Though the lefty won two Olympic gold medals with Team USA Basketball, Mullin never won an NBA championship.
One of the best to ever shoot the rock with the left.
Chris Mullin || #LeftHandersDay pic.twitter.com/S3qFIcUPDI
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) August 13, 2020
5 - Zach Randolph
Zach Randolph spent an incredible 18 years in the NBA, most notable playing with the Memphis Grizzlies and Portland Trail Blazers. Randolph, though only spending 8 seasons in Memphis, ranks among the top of the Grizzlies' all-time scorers. Randolph was a 2-time All-Star and made his living as a tough, hard-nosed left-handed shooter.
Golden State Warriors v Memphis Grizzlies - Game Three
4 - Gail Goodrich
Gail Goodrich is one of the most accomplished basketball players to have ever walked the earth. His speed and agility mixed with a pretty left-hand shot made him a huge weapon on one of the greatest teams of all time, the 1972 NBA Champion LA Lakers. Here are some of the awards Goodrich earned from his time with the UCLA Bruins to a great career in the NBA:
College (UCLA) - 2X NCAA National Champion, NCAA Player Of Year (1965), NCAA Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee
NBA (Lakers, Suns, Jazz) - NBA Champion (1972), 5X NBA All-Star, #25 Retired by Lakers, 1996 NBA Hall of Fame Inductee
The 1972 Lakers were one of the greatest teams in NBA history.
Still hold the record with the longest win streak: 33 in a row
Their leading scorer? Wilt? The Logo?
Nope. Hall of famer Gail Goodrich pic.twitter.com/NBsEqaBwwr
— Josh Toussaint (@josh2saint) February 15, 2020
3 - Bob Lanier
Bob Lanier, while an all-time great scorer, was also known for something outside of the court: the biggest feet in NBA history. Lanier's size 22 shoes had to be specially made for him by a company called Allen Edmonds. Lanier stood 6'11", weighed just over 250 pounds, and his physical play-style let defenders know he outsized them. Lanier was named to 8 All-Star teams and was the 1974 All-Star Game MVP.
8x #NBAAllStar Bob Lanier in action to celebrate his 72nd birthday! #NBAVault #NBABDAY pic.twitter.com/9ES4re83Ur
— NBA History (@NBAHistory) September 10, 2020
2 - David "The Admiral" Robinson
David Robinson earned his nickname "The Admiral" because of his decision to serve his country in the Navy before starting his basketball career. At 7'1", Robinson dominated the NBA as a center for the San Antonio Spurs, being named to 10 All-Star teams and winning two NBA Titles (1999, 2003). Robinson had an incredible 13-year career, and would likely still hold the left-hander's scoring title if he hadn't enlisted in the Navy, but then "The Admiral" wouldn't be "The Admiral".
David Robinson turns 54 today 🎈
The Admiral is one of five players to post a quadruple double in NBA history. pic.twitter.com/nIzKqDk1c0
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) August 6, 2019
1 - James Harden
James Harden, A.K.A. "The Beard", is one of the best players of his generation. He has eliminated any debate with proven results. Harden has been a prolific scorer since he entered the NBA and has not slowed down at all. Harden averaged a ridiculous 34 points per game for the Rockets in the 2019-20 season and has led the entire league in scoring for the past three seasons. Harden is already atop the best left-handed scorers, and only recently seems to have hit his prime. James Harden will likely go down as one of the best shooters in NBA history.
Houston Rockets San Antonio Spurs Chris Bosh James Harden NBA Players
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Terry McDonell with THE ACCIDENTAL LIFE
Tuesday, September 20, 2016 - 5:00pm
Terry McDonell has top-edited some of the most influential publications in American journalism. His new book pulls back the curtain on his four-decade career as an editor, journalist, and media entrepreneur, with stops at more than a dozen magazines: from the launch of Outside through tenures at Rolling Stone, Newsweek, Esquire, Sports Illustrated, and, most recently, cofounding the literary website LitHub.
A lot of writers and readers would love to get inside the head of the former editor-in-chief or managing editor of (among others) Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, and Esquire, and get insight into the minds of many of the writers and friends who this person he has published, including Hunter S. Thompson, Tom McGuane, Edward Abbey, James Salter, Kurt Vonnegut, and Jim Harrison. Meet Terry McDonell in his Accidental Life, an enlightening, fascinating and fun book—and you may do so in person when he comes to Off Square Books on September 20th at 5pm. -- RH
The Accidental Life: An Editor's Notes on Writing and Writers (Hardcover)
By Terry Mcdonell
Availability: Special Order -- Email or Call for Availability
Published: Knopf - August 2nd, 2016
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February 2014 - January 2017
Training Empathy and Compassion through Engagement with Fictional Worlds
Thalia Goldstein
The goal of this funding proposal is to develop a new and innovative means of fostering empathy and compassion in young children. Teaching empathy and compassion is critical to social and societal success, and the younger the age these skills can be targeted, the more likely prosocial behaviors will develop. There have been numerous previous attempts to strengthen empathy and compassion, but these attempts have ignored the most potentially potent route: through role playing in a fictional world. Children are natural and prolific pretenders. Role play could increase empathy and compassion by exposing children to taking on multiple perspectives in a first person and playful manner.
The three main activities that constitute the proposed project are: 1) the development of an intervention that increases empathy and compassion by inviting children to adopt multiple perspectives in the course of pretend play, 2) a test of the intervention’s effectiveness against other interventions, and 3) the convening of a lecture series and small conference to engage scholars working in empathy and compassion research.
Concrete outputs include at least two peer-reviewed articles on the development of the intervention and its effectiveness, a script and video guide for a guided pretend play engagement that increases empathy and compassion, and an edited special issue of a journal arising from a small conference.
Through this project we hope not only to develop the intervention but also to engage the community of scholars and their students currently working on issues surrounding increasing empathy, compassion, and prosocial behaviors. This research will lead to a new way to develop empathy and compassion in young children, a new way to think about using children’s role play and pretend play, and has the potential to provide a play-based intervention that parents, teachers or anyone who works with children can use regularly to strengthen children's prosocial skills.
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Home Tech News There’s Something Fishy Going on with Australia’s Piracy Numbers * TorrentFreak
There’s Something Fishy Going on with Australia’s Piracy Numbers * TorrentFreak
The Australian Government recently reported that local piracy rates had been slashed in half over a period of 12 months. While this impressive drop was music to the ears of copyright holders, a closer inspection of the data shows that something is not quite right, or potentially, very wrong.
Australia’s latest online copyright infringement report, released by the Department of Communications in December, suggested that piracy is falling.
The data pointed out that there’s been a steady decrease in the number of people who consume music, movies, and TV shows illegally. This follows a trend that was revealed in earlier reports.
According to the Government, a mere 16% of the population can be classified as pirates. This is a drastic drop compared to last year when a similar study found that 32% obtained content illegally. In 2015, when the first survey was taken, the number was even higher at 43%.
Like many other news outlets, we reported the numbers as they were presented. However, something didn’t feel right. This prompted us to step back and take a closer look at the reported data to see how this unprecedented drop took place.
Specifically, we want to see where this drop comes from and how it can be so massive.
The bar chart below provides a good starting point. It shows what percentage of a particular category of digital content is consumed 100% legally, 100% illegally, or a mix of both. The chart also shows the same data for “any of the four” content categories.
As reported, the bar on the far right shows that, across all categories, only 16% of the respondents consumed content unlawfully in any of the four categories. That is exactly as reported, so that’s good news.
The problem is, however, that this percentage doesn’t make much sense when we look at the individual categories.
Based on the reported sample numbers, the 16% across all categories translates to 314 respondents. In other words, 314 people pirated something from any of the four categories which includes music, games, movies and TV.
However, when we look at the movies category on its own we see that 25% of the respondents consumed movies illegally. Based on the sample size for that category, that translates to 316 respondents.
How can it be that more people consume movies illegally than in the four categories combined, which also includes movies, and thus the same respondents?
Technically this can be chalked up as rounding variance. But even when that’s the case, it seems implausible that every person who pirated something also pirated movies.
That explanation is even more implausible when we look at the exact same data from the year before. That year 32% of the people consumed content from any of the four categories unlawfully (555 respondents). However, less than half of these were also movie pirates (240 respondents).
It seems very unlikely that when in 2018 less than 50% of the self-proclaimed pirates consumed illegal movies, this suddenly went up to 100% in 2019.
We shared our findings with the Australian Government’s Department of Communications and the Arts. Despite several back and forths, they were not able to explain these findings.
In previous years the report also included the raw numbers for all the categories, which could provide more insight. However, the most recent report no longer includes these and the Government informed us that it does not have permission to share the data.
And it doesn’t stop there. The further we delve into the numbers the weirder things get.
For example, there is a similar chart to the one shown earlier but in this instance detailing the consumption of “free” content (e.g. downloading from torrent sites).
As shown above, this indicates that 46% of all respondents who consumed free content in any of the four categories did so unlawfully.
This translates to roughly 678 respondents, which is much more than the number cited for all content consumers (paid and free), which presumably includes the same people.
There are many other examples to give but the above clearly illustrates that there’s something fishy with these numbers. According to the Government, the entire pirate population was slashed in half last year, but we doubt that this is really the case.
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Glow-in-the-dark paper as a rapid test for infectious diseases
Dutch researchers have developed a practicable and reliable way to test for infectious diseases.
The test shows the presence of infectious diseases by searching for certain antibodies in the blood that your body makes in response to, for example, viruses and bacteria. The development of handy tests for the detection of antibodies is in the spotlight as a practicable and quick alternative to expensive, time-consuming laboratory measurements in hospitals. Doctors are also increasingly using antibodies as medicines, for example in the case of cancer or rheumatism. So this simple test is also suitable for regularly monitoring the dose of such medicines to be able to take corrective measures in good time.
Paper gives light
The use of the paper strip developed by the Dutch and Japanese researchers is a piece of cake. Apply a drop of blood to the appropriate place on the paper, wait twenty minutes and turn it over. “A biochemical reaction causes the underside of paper to emit blue-green light,” says Eindhoven University of Technology professor and research leader Maarten Merkx. “The bluer the color, the higher the concentration of antibodies.” A digital camera, for example from a mobile phone, is sufficient to determine the exact color and thus the result.
Sensor protein
The color is created thanks to the secret ingredient of the paper strip: a so-called luminous sensor protein developed at TU/e. After a droplet of blood comes onto the paper, this protein triggers a reaction in which blue light is produced (known asbioluminescence). An enzyme that also illuminates fireflies and certain fish, for example, plays a role in this. In a second step, the blue light is converted into green light. But here comes the clue: if an antibody binds to the sensor protein, it blocks the second step. A lot of green means few antibodies and, vice versa, less green means more antibodies.
Market launch within a few years
The ratio of blue and green light can be used to derive the concentration of antibodies. “So not only do you know whether the antibody is in the blood, but also how much,” says Merkx. By measuring the ratio precisely, they suffer less from problems that other biosensors often have, such as the signal becoming weaker over time. In their prototype, they successfully tested three antibodies simultaneously, for HIV, flu and dengue fever. Merkx expects the test to be commercially available within a few years.
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Lebanese State Will Now Punish Hiring Illegal Foreign Workers
Desi S.·
· June 3, 2019
The Lebanese Ministry of Labor announced Monday that it has developed a new plan to enforce laws against undocumented foreign workers, starting next week.
Minister of Labor Camille Abousleiman laid out the main points of the plan in a press conference on Monday, which will begin to be carried out starting on Monday, June 10th.
Based on the press conference, the plan consists of 13 new procedures to carry out laws surrounding the work of unauthorized individuals, which, as stated by the minister, has pressured Lebanese citizens to decide between “unemployment or migration.” He primarily emphasized the effects of the influx of Syrian refugees who have been working without permits in Lebanon.
Minister Abousleiman stated that the latest numbers declared at the Ministry of Labor indicate that there are only about 1,733 legal Syrian workers, which is a “drop in the ocean” compared to the real number of working Syrians.
Via Al-Fanar Media
According to the new policies, employers will have a month as of June 10th to obtain permits for any undocumented workers. Otherwise, they will be faced with a fine of 5 million LBP, or $3,300, for any illegal hires. Parties have been designated by the Ministry to carry out inspections to ensure that no undocumented workers are hired, and Abousleiman added that they will be following up on said inspections.
Moreover, the plan entails shutting down any shops that are run by non-Lebanese nationals who have not obtained a permit to operate a business in Lebanon. In order for non-Lebanese to own and operate in the country, they not only need a permit, but they also need to hire a 75 percent Lebanese staff, as well as provide proof of a start-up capital of 100 million LBP ($66,000).
Abousleiman has rejected the notion that these new measures have any racist implications, and that, on the contrary, will “safeguard the rights of foreign workers.” Logically, in our opinion, that will primarily protect the rights of Lebanese citizens to secure work in their own country.
“Our priority is to provide jobs for the Lebanese workers,” Abousleiman said Monday via Asharq Al-Awsat. “There are workers who violate Lebanese law and work illegally, and they are considered an illegal competitor to the Lebanese labor force in many sectors where they are not allowed to hold jobs.”
This new enforcement by the Ministry of Labor was preceded last week by new measures from the Economy Ministry to crack down on Syrian-run shops in areas like Zouk Mosbeh in Kessrwan, where security forces entered businesses and demanded to see documentation permitting business ownership and/or work.
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What Kids Are Really Learning About Slavery
A new report finds that the topic is mistaught and often sentimentalized—and students are alarmingly misinformed as a result.
Melinda D. Anderson
The Lincoln Emancipation Statue, paid for by former enslaved people and erected in Washington, D.C., in 1876, has been criticized for representing the history of slavery from a paternalistic perspective.Andrew Lichtenstein / Getty
A class of middle-schoolers in Charlotte, North Carolina, was asked to cite “four reasons why Africans made good slaves.” Nine third-grade teachers in suburban Atlanta assigned math word problems about slavery and beatings. A high school in the Los Angeles-area reenacted a slave ship—with students’ lying on the dark classroom floor, wrists taped, as staff play the role of slave ship captains. And for a lesson on Colonial America, fifth-graders at a school in northern New Jersey had to create posters advertising slave auctions.
School assignments on slavery routinely draw national headlines and scorn. Yet beyond the outraged parents and school-district apologies lies a complex and entrenched set of education challenges. A new report released by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance project points to the widespread failure to accurately teach the hard, and nuanced, history of American slavery and enslaved people. Collectively, the report finds that slavery is mistaught, mischaracterized, sanitized, and sentimentalized—leaving students poorly educated, and contemporary issues of race and racism misunderstood.
In what it describes as the first analysis of its kind, Teaching Tolerance conducted online surveys of 1,000 American high-school seniors and more than 1,700 social-studies teachers across the country. The group also reviewed 10 commonly used U.S.-history textbooks, and examined 15 sets of state standards to assess what students know, what educators teach, what publishers include, and what standards require vis-à-vis slavery.
History Class and the Fictions About Race in America
Alia Wong
How to Teach American History in a Divided Country
Kristina Rizga
Working for Racial Justice as a White Teacher
Among 12th-graders, only 8 percent could identify slavery as the cause of the Civil War. Fewer than one-third (32 percent) correctly named the 13th Amendment as the formal end of U.S. slavery, with a slightly higher share (35 percent) choosing the Emancipation Proclamation. And fewer than half (46 percent) identified the “Middle Passage” as the transport of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to North America.
Maureen Costello, the director of Teaching Tolerance, said the research, conducted in 2017, revealed the urgent need for schools to do a better job of teaching slavery. “Students are being deprived of the truth about our history [and] the materials that teachers have are not particularly good,” she said. “I would hope that students would look at this and realize that they deserve to know better … and teachers need to know there are better ways to teach this [topic].”
The student results, which the report labels “dismal,” extend beyond factual errors to a failure to grasp key concepts underpinning the nature and legacy of slavery. Fewer than one-quarter (22 percent) of participating high-school seniors knew that “protections for slavery were embedded in [America’s] founding documents”—that rather than a “peculiar institution” of the South, slavery was a Constitutionally enshrined right. And fewer than four in 10 students surveyed (39 percent) understood how slavery “shaped the fundamental beliefs of Americans about race and whiteness.”
Examining the teachers’ survey results might help explain why students struggled to answer questions on American enslavement: Educators are struggling themselves. While teachers overwhelmingly (92 percent) claim they are “comfortable discussing slavery” in their classroom, their teaching practices reveal profound lapses. Only slightly more than half (52 percent) teach their students about slavery’s legal roots in the nation’s founding documents, while just 53 percent emphasize the extent of slavery outside of the antebellum South. And 54 percent teach the continuing legacy of slavery in today’s society.
Additionally, dozens of teachers rely on “simulations”—role-playing and games—to teach slavery, a method that Teaching Tolerance has warned against on the grounds that it can lead to stereotypes and oversimplification. Meanwhile, a large majority—73 percent—use “slaves” when talking about slavery in the classroom instead of “enslaved persons” (49 percent), the latter term of which has gained favor for emphasizing the humanity of those forced into bondage.
The overwhelming majority of teachers who participated in the survey (90 percent) are somehow affiliated with Teaching Tolerance and its learning materials. Costello said this indicates the problems revealed in the survey results could be much more pervasive than the findings suggest. “If anything, I think [this collection of survey respondents] is a group that’s more sensitive to issues of race, more likely to confront them in classrooms” compared to the broader teacher workforce, she explained, adding that the findings are “a silhouette of the problem.” Similarly, many of those surveyed were elementary-school teachers, which Costello said was noteworthy considering the ability of slavery education in the early grades to form the narrative—the “fake history”—that students carry through high school.
Ursula Wolfe-Rocca, a high-school U.S.-history teacher in Lake Oswego, Oregon, a Portland suburb, has encountered students’ common misconceptions—such as the belief that Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves, and that the Civil War was really about states’ rights. Her straightforward solution is assigning original documents: “Read Lincoln’s first inaugural address and you do not find a fiery abolitionist, but someone promising to enforce the fugitive slave clause; read the articles of secession, and you find striking declarations from slave states that their actions are rooted in a desire to protect [slavery].”
Still, Wolfe-Rocca echoed the report’s teacher respondents in stressing the inherent challenges in tackling the subject well. As a white teacher, she admittedly struggles with presenting an unsanitized version of slavery that doesn’t desensitize her students at Lake Oswego High School to the violence and black pain. “Kids walk into my class ‘knowing’ about slavery. But their recitation of this knowledge is dull, lifeless, and bored,” she said. “It has the feel of something memorized [and] rote, rather than internalized and meaningful.” She uses personal narratives of enslaved people to teach the ugliness and injustice of the past while being “careful to keep the rape and whipping to a minimum.”
Wolfe-Rocca aims to strike a delicate balance, but she wonders whether she’s whitewashing history: “How do we surface the realities of slavery without resorting to spectacle?” Like teachers cited in the report, she finds that exploring the true costs of slavery is difficult but essential.
Further compounding teachers’ difficulties is the quality of textbooks and state content standards. Teaching Tolerance found that textbooks generally lacked comprehensive coverage of slavery and enslaved people—the best textbook earned a score of 70 on the project’s rubric of essential elements for bringing slavery into the classroom—and state standards were generally “timid,” focused more on abolitionists than on the everyday experiences of slavery.
Taken together, the study exposes a number of unsettling facts about slavery education in U.S. classrooms: Slavery is taught without context, prioritizing “feel good” stories over harsh realities; slavery is taught as an exclusively southern institution, masking the complicity of northern institutions and citizens in America’s slave-based economy; slavery is rarely connected to white supremacy—the ideology that justified its perpetuation; and slavery is seldom connected to the present, drawing the arc from enslavement to Jim Crow, the civil-rights movement, and the persistence of structural racism.
LaGarrett King, an assistant professor of social-studies education at the University of Missouri, served on the Teaching Tolerance advisory board that developed a framework for teaching American slavery—basically, the concepts that every graduating high-school senior should know—as part of the report’s recommendations. As a teacher educator, he said the study fills a significant void.
Students training to be teachers, especially those being educated to teach in elementary schools, know little about the history of slavery, he stated, noting that “much curriculum and teaching around racially and ethnically diverse [people] features a fun—foods and festival—approach to learning.” By contrast, King said, the framework provides a guide to delve into topics such as slavery and black history with a thorough and academically sound approach, versus teaching slavery in reductive and superficial ways.
“Can you teach slavery without it being psychologically violent to the children? The answer is no, violence will occur and is expected,” he said. “The key is the recognition of white supremacy and [of] the humanity of black people that helps aid in the complexity of the subject.”
Relatedly, the study also drew attention to teachers who struggle to have open and honest conversations in mixed-race classrooms about the atrocities of slavery. Antoinette Dempsey-Waters, a black social-studies educator at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia, said she relies on autobiographies to give a vivid picture of enslavement that helps all students in her highly diverse school “walk away with the knowledge of the evil of slavery,” as they come to “understand and respect … the fight for freedom” waged by enslaved people.
Notably, Teaching Tolerance recommends using primary sources and original historical materials to improve instruction, and making textbooks better to reflect a more accurate and inclusive view of slavery.
“It’s clear that the United States is still struggling with how to talk about the history of slavery and its aftermath,” the report concludes. “The front lines of this struggle are in schools, as teachers do the hard work of explaining this country’s history and helping students to understand how the present relates to the past.”
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Live CoverageThe Editors January 19, 2017
Senate Confirmation Hearings: Week 2
Lawmakers will question Rick Perry, the nominee for energy secretary, and Steven Mnuchin, the nominee for treasury secretary.
Rick Perry, the nominee for energy secretary, will testify before a Senate panel on Thursday. Kathy Willens / AP
Senate confirmation hearings continue on Thursday, as Donald Trump’s inauguration is just one day away.
On the docket are Rick Perry, Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Energy, and Steven Mnuchin, the nominee for treasury secretary. Perry will testify before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and the Senate Finance Committee will hear from Mnuchin.
We’ll bring you the latest updates from Capitol Hill as events unfold. Also see our continuing coverage:
Russell Berman with a guide to the business tycoons, generals, and conservative politicians Donald Trump wants to run his government.
Emily DeRuy on what education-secretary nominee Betsy DeVos did (and didn’t) reveal about her priorities during her Senate hearing.
Vann R. Newkirk II on the health-care agenda of Tom Price, the nominee for health and human services.
Alexia Fernández Campbell on Steven Mnuchin’s bank being reprimanded by the Treasury Department.
No new updates
Alexia Fernández Campbell Jan. 19, 2017, 4:06 p.m.
Mnuchin Explains the Border Tax
President-elect Donald Trump has famously admonished companies on Twitter for their plans to move factories to Mexico, prompting a number of companies to tout their plans to invest in U.S. operations. The president-elect has even threatened to hit companies with a 35 percent “border tax” if they try to make products abroad and then import them for American consumers.
His aggressive strategy has left many wondering who, exactly, will get hit with that tax, considering that dozens of American companies have been doing it for decades. Senator Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, wanted to know if working-class Americans can expect to pay more for shoes, clothes, and appliances that are made in Mexico. “Could you tell the American people what products would be subject to this tax?” Wyden asked.
Mnuchin bristled, and denied that Trump’s plan is actually a border tax. “What he has suggested is that, for certain companies that move jobs, there may be repercussions to that. He's not suggesting in any way an across-the-board 35 percent border tax.”
So what products won’t be taxed? Wyden wanted to know.
“Again, I think when he's referred to a border tax, he's referred to a small number of companies that have moved their jobs or are moving their jobs, putting products back into the United States and taxing them. So he's in no way contemplating a broad 35 percent border tax. That couldn't be further from anything that he'd possibly consider,” Mnuchin said.
Mnuchin Wavers on Questions Involving Trump's Foreign Debt
Several hours into his confirmation hearing, treasury secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin appeared willing to work with Republicans and Democrats in Congress on nearly every one of their concerns. Lowering the corporate tax rate: absolutely. Tax breaks for middle-income Americans: definitely. Punishing countries that manipulate their currencies: yes. Making sure the IRS is well funded: of course.
His eagerness to please wavered only a few times, such as the moment Senator Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri, began to question him about President-elect Donald Trump’s business interests abroad, and more particularly, the unknown amount of debt he has with foreign lenders.
“Isn't it true that a lot of [Trump’s] debt is held by foreign interests?” McCaskill asked.
“I don't know, I have read it in the papers,” he answered.
“Do you think you should know that, as someone who runs the Committee on Foreign Investments, if we are talking about the commander-in-chief? As secretary of the treasury, should you know what percentage of his debt—I'm told by people familiar with his business that it is a huge percentage of his debt—that is held by foreign interests?” McCaskill asked.
“As I said—if I am confirmed—I assure you, I will make sure the requirements of the constitution are upheld,” he said. “I think you have a valid point about foreign debt and understanding foreign things. If I'm confirmed, I will research that and get back to you.”
But McCaskill wanted more from him.
“What I want is to get a commitment from you today that you will report to this committee what percentage of the debt against the Trump enterprise is held by foreign interests. That is your job as the secretary of treasury. I want your commitment that you will report to this committee as soon as you are able to get that information from the new president.”
Mnuchin wouldn’t give her that.
“I am not making the commitment today to report to the committee on anything. What I am willing to do is—to the extent I am confirmed—I am willing to speak to the [committee] chairman and make sure that whatever the committee thinks it needs, I will discuss with the president.”
“In your job as treasury secretary, when determining national security interests based on foreign investment, the American people need to know how much debt is owed by the Trump business to foreign entities, and if that could have a direct impact on our national security,” McCaskill said.
“I think you have asked some interesting questions on which I will follow-up,” Mnuchin replied, before moving to the next line of questioning.
Mnuchin Supports Raising the Debt Ceiling
Paying off America’s $13 trillion in debt has been a big issue for President-elect Donald Trump. Last year, he suggested he would try to renegotiate with creditors, instead of raising the debt ceiling to pass a budget. His remarks prompted confusion and alarm over how creditors would react, and whether that meant there would be another government shutdown if lawmakers can’t agree on raising the debt ceiling.
Senator Michael Bennet expressed concern about how Steven Mnuchin would advise Trump if he is confirmed as treasury secretary. He listed the impacts from the 2011 government shutdown: a ratings agency downgraded the nation's deficit for the first time in history, and the stock market fell and did not recover for almost a year. “It was completely a self-inflicted wound on the American economy. It hurt retirement savings and dealt a blow to job growth and job creation,” Bennet said during Mnuchin’s confirmation hearing. He then asked Mnuchin if he agreed with Trump’s view that the president can renegotiate the country’s debt and avoid a default because the Treasury Department can print more money.
“The president-elect has made it perfectly clear that honoring the U.S. debt is the most important thing. I hope that when we get to the point—if I am confirmed—that we will not go through another one of these issues because there are certain things that I would have the power to postpone,” Mnuchin said.
“Can you then commit to working with Congress to pass a clean debt ceiling?” Bennet asked.
“I will commit to absolutely work with the Congress, the House, and the Senate so we do not get to the last minute and run out of money,” Mnuchin answered.
“Is that a yes? We will pass a clean debt ceiling?” Bennet asked.
“I do not know your technical issue of what is ‘a clean debt ceiling.’” Mnuchin said.
“The debt ceiling.” Bennet said.
“Let me be clear, I would like us to raise the debt ceiling sooner rather than later,” Mnuchin said.
“That’s good enough for me,” Bennet replied.
The government is currently funded through April.
Andrew McGill Jan. 19, 2017, 1:23 p.m.
Perry Will Consider Iran Deal Once He's Had a Confidential Briefing
Carolyn Kaster/AP
Donald Trump has called the Iran nuclear deal “the worst deal ever negotiated.” Plenty of Democrats disagree with that position, including Minnesota Senator Al Franken, who asked Rick Perry Thursday to make the case to Trump for preserving the pact, should he be confirmed as secretary of the Department of Energy.
“I would urge you to advise the president-elect to not get out of this deal—I think that would be bad for our country,” he said. “As energy secretary, you’ll be having the president’s ear.”
Whether the U.S. should back out of the agreement may be more of a concern for secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson, though current Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, a nuclear physicist, was a key negotiator. But the Department of Energy is charged with monitoring Iran’s adherence to the deal, so Perry would have some oversight.
Perry said he didn’t feel comfortable commenting until after he’s had a confidential briefing on the agreement, but that he’d take his thoughts to Trump once he does. “Message delivered, sir,” he told Franken.
Andrew McGill Jan. 19, 2017, 12:45 p.m.
Sanders Hits Again on Climate, This Time With Perry
Bernie Sanders on Wednesday. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)
Yesterday, Senator Bernie Sanders laid into Scott Pruitt, the Trump administration’s’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, over his views on climate change. On Thursday, he asked Rick Perry a similar line of questions.
“We are in danger of spending god knows how many billions of dollars to repair the damage done by climate change,” Sanders said. “I’m asking you if you agree with the scientific community that climate change is a crisis.”
Perry, who has emphasized his desire to balance climate reforms with the economic concerns of business, didn’t bite. He instead cited environmental gains made in Texas during his terms as governor. “Having an academic discussion, whether it’s with scientists or with you, is an interesting exercise,” he said. “But do I have a record of affecting the climate and the world? And the answer is yes.
“Don’t you think that is a good thing?” he asked Sanders.
“I think what would be a better thing is for you to say, right now, that you recognize we have a global crisis,” Sanders replied. But he moved on.
Alexia Fernández Campbell Jan. 19, 2017, 12:28 p.m.
Mnuchin Says He Didn't Avoid Paying Taxes, Promises to Close Loopholes
Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee grilled Steven Mnuchin, the nominee for treasury secretary, about whether or not he would work to close tax loopholes that currently allow wealthy Americans to shelter their money in offshore accounts without paying taxes.
It was an awkward conversation, given The New York Times report on Thursday that Mnuchin had failed to disclose $100 million in assets to the committee, and didn’t mention his role as director of an investment fund located in a tax haven, the Cayman Islands.
“Did you use the Cayman Islands corporation to avoid paying taxes and do you support closing tax loopholes that very wealthy people have consistently used in the Cayman Islands to avoid paying taxes?” asked Senator Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat from Michigan.
“Let me be clear, I did not use a Cayman Islands entity in any way to avoid taxes for myself. I’ve paid U.S. taxes on all that income, okay? There was no benefit in the entity for me, it was set up to accommodate nonprofits and pension funds that want to invest through offshore and a certain number...” Mnuchin said before Stabenow cut him off.
“You help others avoid taxes,” she said.
Mnuchin defended his actions, saying that the organizations and companies he worked with followed the law. Then he criticized companies who move their headquarters to tax havens like the Cayman Islands, while still doing most of their business in the United States, which is known as a corporate inversion.
“They are perfectly legal and hurt the American workers here in the hedge-fund world, these are set up to make the accountants rich and I would like to work with the IRS to close these tax issues that make no sense to make sure we are collecting the proper amount of taxes,” he said.
“Would you support closing the loopholes?” Stabenow asked.
“I would support changing the tax laws to make sure they are simpler and more effective,” he answered.
When pressed again by another senator, Bill Nelson of Florida, Mnuchin responded: “The short answer is, yes. As I said before, I think I would work with the IRS and with Congress. As I have said, it makes no sense that we have all these requirements to set up these offshore entities, which did not benefit me, but did benefit certain nonprofits and pensions. We should address the issues for nonprofits and pensions and understand why they need to invest through these offshore funds...but I commit to work with your office, senator, to make sure we fix the system.”
Rick Perry's 'Saturday Night Live' Sound Bite
There was a moment of levity just now between Rick Perry and Senator Al Franken, who Perry hoped would be “as much fun on that dais as you were on your couch” during their previous meeting. (While watching this clip, it’s worth remembering that years before he was ever elected to the Senate, the Minnesota lawmaker was a writer and performer on NBC’s Saturday Night Live.)
Lawmakers Question Perry on Reported Budget Cuts
Carlos Barria/Reuters
On Thursday morning, The Hill reported that the incoming administration has planned deep cuts across the federal bureaucracy. Some of these affect the Department of Energy:
[The plan] would roll back funding for nuclear physics and advanced scientific computing research to 2008 levels, eliminate the Office of Electricity, eliminate the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and scrap the Office of Fossil Energy, which focuses on technologies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
During Rick Perry’s confirmation hearing, multiple senators voiced concern that Trump’s plans would gut the agency’s ability to pursue new technology. “The cuts are devastating, and they go to the heart of what we’re talking about today,” said Maine Senator Angus King. “This is absolutely nuts in terms of the future of energy of this country.”
Perry looked uncomfortable. “I have a rather interesting background of defending budgets,” he said. “Both from those who are in the know, and sometimes people…” King cut him off. “It’s hard for me to believe that the people making these cuts are in any kind of ‘know,’” he said.
“I’ll allow your statement to stand,” Perry said.
Andrew McGill Jan. 19, 2017, 11:46 a.m.
Perry Can't Commit on Keeping Leaders in Place at Nuclear Stockpile Agency
National Nuclear Security Administration Director Frank Klotz. (Susan Montoya Bryan/AP)
There’s been some confusion about who is going to lead the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Department of Energy division charged with managing the U.S.’s nuclear weapon stockpile. It appears the Trump administration has not asked the existing leadership, headed by director Frank Klotz, to stay on the job until their replacements are confirmed by the Senate, as is customary. Critics say this could result in a dangerous discontinuity in the transfer of power for a vital security agency.
Rick Perry couldn’t give an answer one way or another to concerned senators, saying the decision on NNSA leadership is Trump’s to make. “That position is obviously one that has presidential nomination oversight,” he said. “I have sent the message that it would certainly be my desire to have that continuity. It is in the president-elect’s office now, and hopefully we will see that type of continuity.”
Alexia Fernández Campbell Jan. 19, 2017, 11:36 a.m.
Republicans and Democrats Spar Over Mnuchin's Confirmation
The confirmation hearing for Steven Mnuchin, the nominee for treasury secretary, got off to a rough start as Republicans accused Democrats of trying to obstruct his nomination with “stupid arguments” and Democrats firing back that they are merely taking part in a normal vetting process.
Before Mnuchin got a chance to deliver his opening remarks, Senator Pat Roberts jokingly offered a valium to Senator Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, who had just accused Mnuchin (among many other things) of “churning out foreclosures like Chinese factories churned out Trump suits and ties.”
The nomination of Mnuchin, a former Goldman-Sachs partner, has faced intense opposition from Democrats in Congress for his role as CEO of OneWest Bank, where he oversaw tens of thousand of foreclosures at the height of the financial crisis. At the time, Treasury Department regulators believed his bank was mishandling the foreclosures, and required him to fix the problems.
In his opening remarks, Mnuchin pushed back on accusations that he ran a “foreclosure machine,” saying that he turned around the failed IndyMac bank and saved thousands of jobs and mortgage loans. “Since I was first nominated to serve as treasury secretary, I have been maligned as taking advantage of others’ hardship in order to earn a buck. Nothing could be further from the truth. During the summer of 2008, I saw the devastation caused by the housing crisis when I watched people line up to get their life savings out of IndyMac bank. It was the middle of the financial crisis, and despite the global panic, I saw a way to save the bank,” he said, adding that his bank modified loans for more than 100,000 homeowners who risked foreclosures. If confirmed, the former Wall Street banker will oversee a department that supervises banks and enforces tax and finance laws.
In 2012, Treasury Department regulators believed that employees at Mnuchin’s bank were using “unsafe or unsound” methods in handling foreclosures, and they ordered bank executives to address the issue. The regulators said bank employees lied in foreclosure paperwork filed in state and federal courts about information related to the ownership of many home loans, money due on the loans, and the fees chargeable to the borrower, among other things. OneWest complied with the order, and ended up paying roughly $8.5 million in remediation to more than 10,000 customers for “errors that resulted in financial harm.” Now Mnuchin is preparing to take over the same department that had reprimanded him for his banking practices.
Perry on Climate Change Survey Sent to Energy Scientists: 'I Don't Approve Of It'
In the early days following Donald Trump’s election, his transition team sent a 74-question survey to Department of Energy employees. Some points were innocuous enough, but many focused on climate change science, asking which programs were essential to President Obama’s Climate Action Plan and requesting the names of employees who participated in conferences on global warming.
Democrats denounced the questionnaire. Trump’s team quickly backed away from the survey, and on Thursday, Rick Perry followed suit when asked about the questionnaire by Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington state. “That questionnaire you reference went out before I was ever selected as the nominee,” he said. “I didn’t approve it. I don’t approve of it. I don’t need that information. I don’t want that information. That is not how I manage.”
Cantwell pushed further—would Perry commit to allowing climate scientists to do their jobs? “I’m going to protect all of the scientists, whether it’s related to climate or the other aspects of what we’re going to be doing,” he replied.
Perry acknowledged in his opening statement that the climate is changing, though he stuck to his long-held position that combatting rising temperatures shouldn’t come at the cost of economic growth.
Rick Perry Prepares to Defend His Experience
As the governor of Texas, Rick Perry presided over the United State’s largest energy-producing state. When Donald Trump first pitched him on leading the Department of Energy, Perry reportedly thought he’d be able to lean on that experience to serve as America’s energy envoy to the world.
But the Department of Energy’s primary mandate is nuclear security. Two-thirds of the agency’s budget is directly related to the security and safety of America’s nuclear stockpile, as well as research activities. Much of Perry’s job will center on protecting the nation’s nuclear weapons, and figuring out how to keep other countries from getting them. (The Daily Caller has pushed back on reports Perry didn’t know what he was getting into.)
In his opening remarks, Perry emphasized his managerial experience in Texas, noting that while he once recommended eliminating the Department of Energy, he now understands its importance. “My past statements made over five years ago about abolishing the Department of Energy do not reflect my current thinking,” he said. “In fact, after being briefed on so many of the vital functions of the Department of Energy, I regret recommending its elimination.”
Perry also gave top billing to the importance of maintaining America’s nuclear arsenal, citing his military experience: “As a former Air Force pilot during the days of the Cold War, I understand the deterrent value of our nuclear weapons systems, and the vital role they play in keeping the peace.”
Robinson Meyer Jan. 18, 2017, 5:31 p.m.
Sanders Slams EPA Nominee for His Stance on Climate Change
During his Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday, Democratic senators repeatedly questioned Scott Pruitt about his thoughts on global warming. Pruitt is the current attorney general of Oklahoma and Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. The most incisive line of questioning came from Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
“Why is the climate changing?” Sanders asked.
“Senator, in response to the CO2 issue, the EPA administrator is constrained by statutes—” Pruitt started to reply.
“I’m asking you your personal opinion,” Sanders interrupted.
“My personal opinion is immaterial to the job,” Pruitt said.
“Really?” Sanders asked. “You are going to be the head of the agency to protect the environment, and your personal feelings about whether climate change is caused by human activity is immaterial?”
Pruitt reiterated his frequently stated view that carbon emissions “impact” the climate system. Sanders balked at the verb impact, asserting correctly that climate scientists identify human greenhouse-gas emissions as the cause of climate change. (The UN’s consensus language is that human industrial activity is “extremely likely to have been the dominant cause” of global warming since the mid-20th century.)
Sanders then moved on to Pruitt’s record on earthquakes. During his time as state attorney general, Oklahoma has seen an unprecedented rise in the number of medium-magnitude quakes. The quakes are caused by wastewater injection from fracking operations. Pruitt was not in charge of regulating fracking in the state, but the earthquake epidemic opened several legal questions on which he did not act or comment. (I wrote about them earlier today.)
Sanders asked Pruitt to point to any enforcement actions he took, or public comments he made, about the quakes. Pruitt replied that enforcement wasn’t his job. If that’s Pruitt’s approach to environmental enforcement, Sanders said, Pruitt doesn’t have his vote.
Vann R. Newkirk II Jan. 18, 2017, 2:30 p.m.
Senate Committee Explores Tom Price's Commitment to Minority Health
Late in the Senate confirmation hearing for Tom Price as secretary of health and human services, senators from both parties asked Price about his commitment to erasing the stubborn racial health disparities that still exist for just about every health outcome in the United States.
Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine opened the line of questioning, asking Price if he would commit to maintaining HHS’s Office of Minority Health if the Affordable Care Act—which reauthorizes and funds that and several other federal offices for minority health—is repealed. Neither Price’s replacement plan nor the Republican ACA repeal plan from 2015 mentions the office. Price dodged the question, stating that he would “forward to making certain that we use the resources available to us.”
But when pushed by Kaine on how he would address racial health disparities, Price cited the need for more information and reporting on racial health outcomes, as well as greater understanding of individual patient experiences. Notably, the Office of Minority Health is charged in the ACA with collecting information and reporting on racial health disparities. Later, in an exchange with committee Ranking Member Patty Murray, Price confirmed that he would not commit now to continuing the office.
Republican Senator Tim Scott also questioned Price on his plans for addressing health disparities. Explaining that most of his home state of South Carolina is defined as “medically underserved,” Scott asked Price about his stance on rural health centers and community health centers, two types of federally funded clinics that often provide the last line of care for minorities in underserved areas. Price expressed his support for federal health centers, though his repeal plan would eliminate billions of funding authorized in the ACA to expand the number of such centers and the services they provide. Despite acknowledging the wide extent of health disparities, Price did not outline support for any program or initiative designed specifically to eliminate them.
Russell Berman Jan. 18, 2017, 1:52 p.m.
Price Clashes With Warren Over Stock Trade
Tom Price got into a tense exchange with Senator Elizabeth Warren over his trading in medical-company stocks, with the nominee for health and human services secretary at one point telling Warren he was “offended” at her insinuation that he sought to profit off legislation he had introduced in Congress.
Warren, the liberal Democrat from Massachusetts, grilled Price over his purchase of stock in a medical-device firm, Zimmer Biomet, just a week before he proposed legislation that could have benefited the company. Price said his broker purchased the stock without his knowledge, but Warren questioned why he didn’t immediately sell the stock or reprimand his broker once he found out that the investment might be inappropriate.
“I want to understand, when you found out your broker made this trade without your knowledge, did you reprimand her? Did you fire her? Did you sell the stock?” Warren asked the Georgia congressman in rapid-fire questions, often giving him no time to respond.
“What I did was comply with the rules of the House in an ethical and legal manner and in a transparent way,” Price replied.
Warren pointed out that Price was notified of the trade in early April 2016. “Did you take additional actions after that to advance your plans for the company that you now own stock?” she shot back.
“I am offended by the insinuation, senator,” Price said. A former spokeswoman for Price, Ellen Carmichael, wrote on Twitter that she had “never seen him as disgusted as he is at Sen. Warren.”
Price’s defense has rested in part on the fact that it is not uncommon for members of Congress to rely on stock brokers who may make investments on their behalf without their knowledge, including in industries that could be affected by legislation they are working on. Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia defended Price after his exchange with Warren, pointing out that another Price critic, Senator Al Franken, had invested in a mutual fund that included shares of tobacco firms. Franken had just finished calling out Price for purchasing tobacco stocks through his broker.
“This is different than a mutual fund,” Franken interjected. Mutual funds are protected from conflict-of-interests laws because individual investors have no say in their composition of stocks.
Democrats have clashed with Price throughout the nearly four-hour-long hearing, and most if not all are expected to oppose his nomination.
Ross Evades Questions About Reporting Trump’s Potential Conflicts of Interest
Wilbur Ross, Donald Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, avoided giving a direct answer to questions about whether he will report potential conflicts of interest involving the Trump Organization that could arise in trade deals he would help negotiate.
During Ross’s confirmation hearing Wednesday, Senator Tom Udall, a Democrat from New Mexico, expressed concern that the president-elect has an unknown number of business interests around the world that may be impacted during trade talks with other countries. Trump said last week that he will not relinquish ownership of his businesses, though he said he’d give complete control to his sons. Udall wanted to know if Ross would tell Congress if another country offered incentives to the Trump Organization or threatened action against the company while he’s serving as commerce secretary.
“Well, anything that interferes with my job is something that I will have very little tolerance for if I’m confirmed, that I can assure you of,” Ross answered. The back-and-forth continued:
“Will you commit to report to this committee—it’s kind of a yes-or-no answer—if another country offers incentives or threatens consequences to the Trump family or the Trump Organization’s assets in the course of doing your job working on trade?” Udall asked.
“Well certainly if they threaten me I would be able to make people aware of it, but the hypothetical you are posing might very well be something I am not aware of, so that would make it very difficult to inform anyone of anything,” Ross answered.
“I’m talking about, within the course of doing your job and working on trade negotiations, somebody comes to you with either a threat or an incentive that involves the Trump Organization, would you let us at this committee know that this was happening?” Udall continued.
“Well, I’ll tell you two things. I know the president-elect quite well, and I think people who threaten him or offer inappropriate things will find that he doesn’t take that very lightly. There will be quite a strong response on his part, quite independently of anything I would do,” Ross said.
The line of questioning ended there, making it unclear how transparent Ross would be about Trump’s potential conflicts of interest. Ross, a billionaire investor, filed financial disclosures Tuesday with the federal Office of Government Ethics, promising to divest 80 assets and investment funds in the next several months and to step down from positions at companies where he has direct business interests. When Udall asked if Trump should make a similar move, Ross said that it’s a “personal decision” that only the president-elect can make.
Price Open to Medicare Drug-Price Negotiations
Republicans have generally opposed efforts by liberal Democrats to force pharmaceutical companies to negotiate lower drug prices with the government for Medicare and Medicaid. So it put Tom Price in an awkward position when President-elect Donald Trump said in a weekend interview that he wanted to do just that.
On Wednesday, Trump’s nominee for health and human services secretary said he would defer to his future boss on the issue, but it was clear he wasn’t enthusiastic about the idea. During his hearing before the Senate health committee, Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin asked Price if he would work with Congress to repeal the prohibition on Medicare drug-price negotiations. If confirmed, Price replied, “the boss that I have will be the president of the United States.”
“Is that a yes or is that a no?” Baldwin replied.
“Well, it depends on that activity,” Price said. “I think we need to find solutions to the challenge of people having access to medication, and it may be that one of those is changing the negotiation.”
Trump made his position known to The Washington Post, telling the paper that the drug companies had been “politically protected, but they’re not anymore.” Price’s lukewarm response contrasted with his much more enthusiastic endorsement of ideas Republican senators floated, including the expansion of health-savings accounts and the return of high-deductible catastrophic-coverage plans.
Vann R. Newkirk II Jan. 18, 2017, 11:58 a.m.
Did Tom Price Violate the STOCK Act?
Tom Price, Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of health and human services, is in the hot seat today. Last week, multiple reports on his financial disclosures found that the Georgia representative and former physician invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock from medical-device makers, pharmaceuticals companies, and biomedical firms—even while sponsoring laws that would actively benefit those companies and that the companies themselves lobbied for. Among those entities are Indiana-based medical-device firm Zimmer Biomet and Australia-based Innate Immunotherapeutics Ltd.
Senate Republicans and the Trump transition team have defended Price’s investments in Zimmer Biomet and pharmaceutical companies by noting that Price’s broker made the decisions to invest without his knowledge, and that the amounts purchased were relatively small. “Zimmer Biomet is a 26-share stock that his broker bought for him,” said Price’s fellow Georgian and close friend, Senator Johnny Isakson, at his confirmation hearing Wednesday.
But the main focus on Price’s investments at the hearing has been his 2016 purchases of stock in Innate Immunotherapeutics, described by The New York Times as “a tiny pharmaceutical company from Australia that has no approved drugs and no backing from flashy venture-capital firms, and trades for just over a dollar a share on the Australian Stock Exchange.” The largest shareholder of that company is Republican Representative Chris Collins, the Trump transition team’s congressional liaison, who owns about 20 percent of the company and sits on its board. Several other prominent Republicans—including some connected to Trump—have investments in Innate Immunotherapeutics, whose stocks have soared since 2016.
Democratic Senator Patty Murray used her time at the hearing to press Price on his investments. Murray noted that last week, Politico reporters overheard Collins bragging about “making millionaires” based on a stock tip he gave them. Murray asked if Price based his purchase of Innate Immunotherapeutics stock on inside information from Collins, which could have been a violation of the STOCK Act, a law designed, in part, to prevent members of Congress from making money based on their inside knowledge of a company. “Do you believe that it is appropriate for a senior member of Congress actively involved in health-care decisions to invest in these companies?” Murray asked.
“What happened was that he talked about the company and the work that they were doing,” Price responded. “I studied the company for a period of time, and felt that it had some significant merit and promise, and purchased the stock on the stock exchange itself.” Price said he received the stock via a private offering, and defended his decision to purchase it. He claimed that he was not aware that the price offered to him was lower than what was offered to the public, and that he “had no access to non-public information.”
Senator Orrin Hatch came to Price’s defense, noting that members of Congress have often held stock in companies and industries for which they also pass regulatory legislation. But the 2012 STOCK Act was specifically intended to curtail the practice of lawmakers using knowledge they acquired at work to make a profit. If it turns out that Price did receive non-public information, preferential stock pricing, or that Collins acted improperly in his millions-making enterprise, provisions of that law could potentially be used against him.
Russell Berman Jan. 18, 2017, 11:52 a.m.
Price: I Haven't Discussed Medicare, Social Security Cuts With Trump
President-elect Donald Trump repeatedly promised on the campaign trail that there would be “no cuts” to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security if he won the White House. That pledge flew in the face of efforts by Republican leaders in Congress to overhaul those programs in ways that would lower benefits for recipients over time.
One of those Republicans was Representative Tom Price, who is now Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. On Wednesday, Senator Bernie Sanders pressed Price on whether Trump would “keep his word” not to cut those entitlement programs.
Price said the two men haven’t talked about it.
“I have not had extensive discussions with them about the comments he made, but I have no reason to believe that he has changed his position,” he replied.
The exchange fit a pattern emerging in his hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee: Democrats sought to get Price to weigh in on comments Trump has made supporting an expansive government role in health care, while Price, who has fought government intrusion into medicine, largely tried to deflect those inquiries.
Sanders later asked Price if he believed healthcare should be a “right” of all Americans—a core liberal tenet of the last 40 years. Again, he did not answer directly. “We are a compassionate society...” Price began. Sanders cut him off. “No, we are not a compassionate society,” the Vermont senator said. “Our record is worse than any country on earth in relation to poor and working people. Half of our older workers have nothing set aside for retirement. Compared to other countries, we are not particularly compassionate.”
Given another chance, Price said he looked forward to working with Sanders to make sure “every single American has access coverage possible, to the highest quality care.” Sanders replied again, pointing out that people who can’t afford high-priced health care do not have “access” to it. “Access to,” he said, “does not mean they are guaranteed health care.”
Price Won't Guarantee 'Insurance for Everybody'
Does Tom Price agree with President-elect Donald Trump that a Republican replacement plan for the Affordable Care Act will guarantee “insurance for everybody”?
In testimony before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, the nominee for secretary of health and human services offered a definition that differed in small but important ways. “I think it is imperative we have a system in place that has patients at the center and allows for every single American to have the opportunity to gain access for the coverage they want,” Price said after Senator Patty Murray of Washington state, the top Democrat on the committee, asked if he agreed with the “insurance for everybody” goal that Trump mentioned in a recent interview with The Washington Post.
There’s a key distinction between guaranteeing insurance for all, which Democrats have sought to do, and simply providing “access” to insurance or affordable healthcare. Republican plans, including those offered by Price in the House, have focused on providing tax credits to help people buy their own insurance, but they have opposed mandates in Obamacare requiring individuals to purchase insurance and employers to provide it. In his answers to Murray, Price signaled strongly that expanding “access,” but not necessarily an insurance guarantee, was the goal.
In other questions on the GOP efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, Price was similarly careful not to make concrete promises. Trump has said that after Price wins Senate confirmation—assuming he does—his administration would send a replacement plan to Capitol Hill. Price has reportedly not been involved in the transition teams discussions on that plan, and he provided few details about what would be in it.
The Georgia congressman did not object, however, to a proposed timeline for legislation offered by Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the chairman of the committee. Alexander said Congress first needs to pass “a rescue plan” this spring to shore up the Obamacare exchanges, which he said were in free fall. Only then would the House and Senate move to fully replacing and repealing the Affordable Care Act. The key, Alexander said, was that the repeal of the current law would not take effect until the replacement was ready.
Price said of the exchanges: “Something is going badly wrong out there.”
He echoed assurances from top Republicans that the Trump administration was “not interested in pulling the rug out from everybody.”
“A lot of people are talking about people losing their insurance,” Price said. “That is not our goal, nor is it our desire, nor is it our plan.”
Trump's Potential Commerce Secretary Vows to Renegotiate NAFTA
Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross says his first priorities—if confirmed as commerce secretary—are to increase U.S. exports and renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
“The president-elect has made no secret that NAFTA is logically the first thing for us to deal with. We ought to solidify relationships the best way we can in our territory before we go off to other jurisdictions,” Ross said Wednesday during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Ross is expected to be a key player in shaping trade policy for the Trump administration, and vowed to end the trade deficit by promoting U.S. exports. During his opening statement at the hearing, Ross said unfair trade deals have been “thwarting” American progress and need to be fixed. “I am not anti-trade. I am pro-trade. But I am pro sensible trade, not trade that is detrimental to the American worker and to the American manufacturing community. I think we should provide access to those countries that play fair and play by the rules.” Ross suggested that the United States will take an aggressive stance toward China and other countries that he believes aren’t playing by the rules. “They should be punished and severely,” he said.
If confirmed, Ross would lead an expansive federal agency that reports on U.S. economic activity, monitors the weather, issues patents and trademark registrations, and conducts the census every 10 years, among other responsibilities.
Ross, 79, is a billionaire investor with no political experience, who made much of his fortune buying troubled manufacturing companies and making them profitable. His supporters tout his business experience as essential to his role in creating jobs as commerce secretary, though his detractors criticize him for laying off thousands of American workers and shipping jobs abroad to turn around his companies. An investigation published this week by Reuters shows that he moved more than 2,000 jobs at failing textile, auto parts, and financial companies offshore. These actions stand in stark contrast to his tough talk against outsourcing, and will likely be a key issue during his hearing.
Ross’s confirmation hearing was initially scheduled to happen last week, but was delayed until he disclosed all his financial interests to the federal Office of Government Ethics. He submitted the paperwork on Tuesday, promising to divest 80 assets and investment funds in the next several months to avoid potential conflicts of interest. The ethics agreement reveals Ross’s complex business interests, including board positions with more than 80 companies and foundations. He has promised to step down from positions at companies where he has direct business interests.
As Ross began answering questions from the committee chairman, Sen. John Thune, on Wednesday, protesters began chanting in the background. “Ross supports TPP! Ross offshores jobs!” they yelled. Security guards escorted them out of the hearing room.
Alia Wong Jan. 17, 2017, 8:48 p.m.
Committee Chairman Rejects Democrats' Demands to Ask More Questions of DeVos
Democrats on the Senate HELP Committee have complained throughout the hearing about Chairman Lamar Alexander’s restrictions on question-and-answer time: five minutes of questioning per committee member, and no opportunity for a second round of queries despite near-universal Democratic calls for the option. This rule, according to Democratic Senator Patty Murray—the committee’s ranking member and one of the few members who got extended questioning time—“really is unprecedented.”
“I don't know what you are hoping Mrs. DeVos—hoping to protect Mrs. [Betsy] DeVos from,” Murray said, citing the time allowed for questions in hearings in the past, including for the secretaries of labor under Presidents Obama and Clinton.
Alexander emphasized that the hearings for the last two education secretaries—John King and Arne Duncan—lasted for just over two hours each. “I am trying to be fair by treating Ms. DeVos in the same way we treated both of President Obama's education nominees,” Alexander said. But Murray suggested that using those two hearings for comparison amounts to “cherry-picking,” particularly because DeVos is the only nominee so far not to have a signed Office of Governmental Ethics agreement in place in advance of a confirmation hearing. Alexander said they will move DeVos’s nomination forward if and once her ethics paperwork is squared away.
Emily DeRuy Jan. 17, 2017, 7:59 p.m.
DeVos Says She Does Not Believe in Conversion Therapy
Yuri Gripas / Reuters
“I have never believed in that.” That was how Donald Trump’s nominee for education secretary, Betsy DeVos, responded during her confirmation hearing to a question about whether she believes in conversion therapy.
LGBT advocacy groups expressed concern in the run-up to DeVos’s hearing that the next administration’s Department of Education will not offer support to LGBT students. Under the Obama administration, the department’s civil-rights office issued guidance to schools about how they can help trans students, and the administration has pushed to end the controversial use of conversion therapy and the bullying of LGBT students. While little was known about DeVos’s personal views, her family has donated to conservative Christian organizations that have anti-LGBT positions.
“First of all, let me say I fully embrace equality, and I believe in … the innate value of every single human being, and that all students, no matter their age, should be able to attend a school and feel safe and be free of discrimination,” she said, in response to a query from Democratic Senator Al Franken of Minnesota. “Let's start there.”
In a later exchange, Tammy Baldwin, the first openly gay person to be elected to the U.S. Senate, said she was heartened by DeVos’s comments on conversation therapy. But the Wisconsin lawmaker said she’d received concerned notes from parents of LGBT students. What would DeVos say to those families? “I embrace equality and I firmly believe in the intrinsic value of each individual,” DeVos said.
DeVos also pushed back on the idea that her extended family’s political contributions to groups with anti-LGBT views might be used against her. “As a mom, I just can’t imagine having a child that would feel discriminated against for any reason and I would want my child in a safe environment,” she said, responding to a question about her family’s donations.
Bennet Questions DeVos's Record on Charter-School Accountability
Democratic Senator Michael Bennet homed in on the experience of Detroit’s charter schools as a means of better understanding how Betsy DeVos might approach charter-school accountability as U.S. education secretary. DeVos has wielded immense influence over Michigan’s charter-school landscape—something that has concerned critics who cite the relatively low performance of charter schools in the state.
As a recent report from Education Trust noted:
A review of Michigan’s 2015 federal charter school grant application by expert external reviewers cited an “unreasonably high” representation of Michigan charters among the state’s “priority” schools list—a designation for the state’s worst performing five percent of public schools.
In response to Bennet, DeVos said she wanted to “correct” some of the assumptions about charter-school quality and accountability in the Motor City and state as a whole. “I believe there is a lot that has gone right in Detroit and Michigan with regard to charter schools,” she said, noting that 122 charter schools have been closed in the state, “and the notion that there hasn't been accountability is just wrong. It is false news. It is not correct at all.”
But Bennet pushed back, emphasizing the existing data on charter-school performance Detroit. “What have you learned about the failures of the Detroit public schools and Detroit charter schools that has informed your decision-making as the secretary of education?” he asked. “What went wrong that is going to go right in cities across America as a result of your philosophy on how we ought to move the country forward?”
Although DeVos stressed her support of legislation aimed at increasing accountability and oversight of charter schools in Michigan, Allie Gross in a recent analysis for The Atlantic found extensive loopholes in that law.
Sanders Grills DeVos on Free College, Childcare
Although Betsy DeVos reiterated her commitment to ensuring all families have the opportunity to give their kids a good education, she dodged questions from Bernie Sanders about programs that would ensure universal access to public colleges and universities—a model that was one of the hallmarks of the Vermont senator’s presidential campaign.
“I think that's a really interesting idea, and it is really great to consider and think about, but I think we also have to consider the fact that there is nothing in life that is truly free,” DeVos responded when Sanders asked her if she agreed with that model. “I think we can work together and work hard on making sure that college or higher education in some form is affordable for all young people that want to pursue it.” She added: “I would look forward to that opportunity.”
DeVos did not offer any detail on how she would approach universal access to childcare, which in many states costs more than a year’s worth of tuition at a public college. Sanders cited a hypothetical single mom making $30,000 or $40,000 a year and having to spend as much as half of that income on childcare—a reality that isn’t unusual in some pockets of the country. Despite her support for comparable programs at the K-12 level, DeVos didn’t say whether she’d support something like childcare vouchers for those mothers: “I would look forward to helping that mom getting quality education for their child or children so they can look forward to a bright and hopeful future,” she said.
At the beginning of his questioning, Sanders sought to highlight the DeVos family’s potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in donations to Republican causes and questioned whether that influenced her nomination as education secretary. “My question is, and I don't mean to be rude, but … do you think that if your family had not made hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions to the Republican Party, that you would be sitting here today?” Sanders asked.
“I do think there would be that possibility,” DeVos responded. “I have been working hard to be a voice for students and to empower parents to make decisions on behalf of their children, primarily low income children.”
DeVos and Murray Spar Over Potential Privatization of Education
Donald Trump’s nominee for education secretary, Betsy DeVos, affirmed that she believes the mission of the Department of Education is to strengthen public education for all students during a tense exchange with Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington who has said she has concerns about the Michigan billionaire’s history of supporting vouchers, which let families use taxpayer money to pay for private school.
DeVos sidestepped a question from Murray about whether she would commit to not supporting the privatization of education. “I’m hopeful we can work together,” DeVos said, adding that she wanted to support policies that would “empower” families to make the right choices for them.
Murray, who did not seem pleased by the answer, also pressed DeVos on her potential conflicts of interest. Critics have questioned the DeVos family’s ties to several companies in the education industry, including SoFi and the company K12, and questioned whether those affiliations would color her actions if she is confirmed. “I will not be conflicted. Period,” DeVos said in response to Murray’s question about her investment situation. DeVos added that she and her husband would not be involved in political contributions if she is confirmed.
In response to a follow-up question from Murray about whether she would provide the committee with three years of tax returns, DeVos said she's provided everything the committee requires. As my colleague Russell Berman noted, DeVos is the first cabinet nominee in at least the last 10 years to sit for a confirmation hearing without having signed an ethics agreement. And while she said she’s committed to resolving any conflicts, a number of senators, Murray included, said they remained concerned as the hearing got underway.
DeVos Hearing Begins Without Ethics Agreement
The confirmation hearing for Betsy DeVos to be secretary of education began with a dispute over ethics and rules.
DeVos, a conservative education activist and Republican donor, is the first Cabinet nominee in at least a decade to receive a committee hearing before signing an agreement through the Office of Government Ethics committing to resolve potential conflicts of interest. DeVos submitted her paperwork to the office more than a month ago, but the relatively small agency is not finished processing it. Republicans on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee went ahead with her hearing anyway.
That omission has alarmed Democrats, and Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the panel, used her opening statement to say she was “extremely disappointed” that the hearing was being held without the completion of the ethics agreement. DeVos’s nomination, she said, had “started off on the wrong track.” Chairman Lamar Alexander of Tennessee said that the committee would not vote on DeVos’s confirmation until it received the agreement from the ethics office. If the agreement is in by Friday, the committee would vote next week. DeVos is married to Dick DeVos, heir to the Amway fortune, and her vast financial holdings, including in education-related companies, has made for a complicated effort to unwind her investments in accordance with federal conflict-of-interest law.
The hearing was originally postponed by a week, and Senate Republicans have delayed other confirmation hearings for Trump Cabinet picks because of the backlog at the ethics office. Murray and other Democrats also complained that Alexander only planned to allow a single, five-minute round of questioning of DeVos, which would be significantly less time than senators have had to grill other Trump nominees like Rex Tillerson and Senator Jeff Sessions. Alexander cited precedents the committee followed for President Obama’s Cabinet nominees. “I’m not going to change the rules in the middle of the game,” the chairman said.
Priscilla Alvarez Jan. 17, 2017, 3:53 p.m.
Zinke on Climate Change: 'I Do Not Believe It's a Hoax'
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders pressed Representative Ryan Zinke about his stance on climate change in his opening remarks, citing President-elect Donald Trump’s assertion that it is a “hoax.”
“I know you are not here to be administrator of the EPA or secretary of energy, but the issue of climate change is very important, an issue that the Department of Interior deals with. Is President-elect Trump right, is climate change a hoax?” Sanders asked.
Zinke replied: “First of all, the climate is changing. That is indisputable.”
Sanders asked again whether Zinke believed climate change was a “hoax.”
“I am not a climate scientist expert, but I can tell you I will become a lot more familiar with it, and it would be on objective science. I do not believe it’s a hoax,” Zinke said. He added later: “I don't know definitively. There is a lot of debate on both sides of the aisle.”
In 2014, Zinke was quoted as saying climate change was "not a hoax, but it’s not proven science either.” Earth scientists agree that the evidence overwhelmingly shows modern-day climate change to be human-caused.
Ryan Zinke Vows to Protect Federal Lands in Opening Statement
Richard Drew / AP
In his opening remarks, Represenative Ryan Zinke, Donald Trump’s nominee for interior secretary, reaffirmed his opposition to the transfer or sale of federal lands.
“Upfront, I am an unapologetic admirer of Teddy Roosevelt and believe he had it right when he placed under federal protection millions of acres of federal lands and set aside much of it as National forests. Today, much of those lands provide American’s the opportunity to hike, fish, camp, recreate and enjoy the great outdoors,” said the two term Montana congressman and former Navy SEAL, who has dubbed himself a “Teddy Roosevelt Republican.”
The Interior Department oversees the federal government’s holdings of public lands. In his opening statement, Zinke expressed his intent to manage “under the Pinchot model of multiple use using best practices, sustainable policies, and objective science.” Gifford Pinchot led the U.S. Forest Service during the Roosevelt administration.
Zinke, who was an early supporter of Donald Trump, was selected to serve as the secretary of the interior in December. Zinke has been criticized for denying the science surrounding climate change. As my colleague Russell Berman notes, however, he’s unlikely to face major opposition from the Democratic Party since a position on Trump’s Cabinet would “remove him as a threat to challenge Senator Jon Tester in 2018.”
Krishnadev Calamur Jan. 17, 2017, 1:46 p.m.
A Rundown of the Week’s Confirmation Hearings
Here’s an updated timetable for some of Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees:
Ryan Zinke: The Republican congressman from Montana is Trump's nominee for interior secretary. He is scheduled to appear before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources at 2:15 p.m. ET on Tuesday, January 17.
Betsy DeVos: The conservative education activist, who is the nominee to head the Department of Education, will appear before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee at 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday, January 17. Her hearing was originally scheduled for Wednesday, January 11, but was delayed amid criticism from Democrats that Republicans were rushing to confirm Trump's nominees without sufficiently vetting them. More on that here.
Wilbur Ross: The billionaire investor is the nominee for commerce secretary. His hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday, January 18. Ross’s nomination hearing was initially set for last week, but was postponed because he hadn’t returned his ethics agreement.
Scott Pruitt: The Oklahoma attorney general is Trump’s nominee to oversee the Environmental Protection Agency. His hearing before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works is scheduled for 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday, January 18.
Nikki Haley: The South Carolina governor is the president-elect’s choice to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Her hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled for 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday, January 18.
Tom Price: The Republican congressman from Georgia is a physician who Trump wants to oversee the Department of Health and Human Services. His hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is set for 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday, January 18.
Rick Perry: The former Texas governor and GOP presidential candidate is Trump’s choice to head the Department of Energy. His hearing before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, January 19.
Steven Mnuchin: The former senior executive at Goldman Sachs is the nominee for treasury secretary. His hearing before the Senate Finance Committee is scheduled for 10 a.m. ET on Thursday, January 19.
Our full list of Trump's Cabinet appointments is here.
Back to Updates
Key moments from the Blog
The Deep Sadness of Marvel’s WandaVision
Shirley Li
So far, the Disney+ show is telling a story not about an epic struggle to save humanity, but about one woman’s efforts to save herself from her grief.
This story contains mild spoilers for the first three episodes of WandaVision.
After 23 films, even a casual Marvel fan knows what it means to be an Avenger: fighting for those who can’t, against any threat, be it corporate greed or the surveillance state or a purple alien. Yet, in the series WandaVision, which premiered yesterday on Disney+, one of these storied Avengers rejects her duty in the second episode. When a mysterious man in a beekeeper outfit clambers out of a sewer and gazes menacingly at Wanda (played by Elizabeth Olsen) and her husband, Vision (Paul Bettany), she doesn’t raise her hands, flick her wrists, and wiggle her fingers to produce her signature red energy. “No,” she says quietly, dismissing the threat. The scene then rewinds to the moments before she and Vision went outside. She changes their dialogue so that they stay indoors. Back to their regularly scheduled programming.
Getty / The Atlantic
QAnon Is Destroying the GOP From Within
Until last week, too many in the Republican Party thought they could preach the Constitution and wink at QAnon. They can’t.
Eugene Goodman is an American hero. At a pivotal moment on January 6, the veteran United States Capitol Police officer single-handedly prevented untold bloodshed. Staring down an angry, advancing mob, he retreated up a marble staircase, calmly wielding his baton to delay his pursuers while calling out their position to his fellow officers. At the top of the steps, still alone and standing just a few yards from the chamber where senators and Vice President Mike Pence had been certifying the Electoral College’s vote, Goodman strategically lured dozens of the mayhem-minded away from an unguarded door to the Senate floor.
The leader of that flank of the mob, later identified by the FBI as Douglas Jensen, wore a T-shirt emblazoned with a red-white-and-blue Q—the insignia of the delusional QAnon conspiracy theory. Its supporters believe that a righteous Donald Trump is leading them in a historic quest to expose the U.S. government’s capture by a global network of cannibalistic pedophiles: not just “deep state” actors in the intelligence community, but Chief Justice John Roberts and a dozen-plus senators, including me. Now Trump’s own vice president is supposedly in on it, too. According to the FBI, Jensen “wanted to have his T-shirt seen on video so that ‘Q’ could ‘get the credit.’”
Mark Wilson / Getty
The vice president has no obvious place in GOP electoral politics.
Updated on January 15, 2021 at 1:52 p.m. ET
Mike Pence publicly defied the president once in four years, and for that solitary show of independence, his own political future could be all but finished.
The vice president’s swift journey from acolyte to outcast was head-spinning. This is someone who would pause after mentioning Donald Trump’s name during an address so that the audience had time to clap—and who would then stand silently at the lectern when it didn’t. Editing Pence’s speeches, aides would cut references to Trump when they didn’t believe there was any reason to mention him. Reviewing the changes, Pence would take his Sharpie and add Trump’s name back in, a former Trump-administration official told me.
Victor J. Blue / Bloomberg / Getty
We’re Just Finding Out How Bad the Riot Really Was
David A. Graham
More than a week after insurrectionists stormed the Capitol, video recordings, news reports, and federal charges are revealing a situation even more dire than it seemed at the time.
As terrifying as it was to watch the attempted coup unfold on January 6, the news that afternoon offered some cause for relief. Although the U.S. Capitol was overrun, few injuries were initially reported. At first, it appeared that only one woman died in the melee. No lawmakers were harmed. The Electoral College certification went forward, despite some delay.
Every day since, as more videos and reporting have emerged, it’s become clear how dangerous the insurrection truly was. As my colleague Elaine Godfrey, who was in the crowd, wrote, “The violence could have been even worse. Some of the rioters clearly wanted it to be.” This was more than a group of people swept up in the emotions of the moment. Within the mob were radicals plotting to kill or kidnap the vice president and members of Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The rioters came within moments of catching up to Vice President Mike Pence.
Erik Carter; Rebecca Cook / Reuters
The Boogaloo Bois Prepare for Civil War
Michael J. Mooney
As the FBI warns of violence, anti-government extremists are ready to get in on the chaos.
Updated at 8:47 a.m. ET on January 15, 2021.
In the menagerie of right-wing populist groups, the boogaloo bois stand out for their fashion, for their great love of memes, and, to put it plainly, for the incoherence of their ideology. Which is saying a lot, considering that the riot at the Capitol last Wednesday featured partisans of the long-gone country of South Vietnam, Falun Gong adherents, end-times Christians, neo-Nazis, QAnon believers, a handful of Orthodox Jews, and Daniel Boone impersonators.
The boogaloos weren’t a huge presence in that mob. But according to federal officials, the attack on the Capitol has galvanized them and could inspire boogaloo violence in D.C. and around the country between now and Inauguration Day. The FBI warned earlier that boogaloos could launch attacks in state capitols this Sunday, January 17.
Vincent Catala / Agence VU / Redux
Why Aren’t We Wearing Better Masks?
Zeynep Tufekci
Jeremy Howard
Cloth masks are better than nothing, but they were supposed to be a stopgap measure.
If you’re like most Americans, there’s a good chance you’re going to wear a cloth mask today. Doing so makes sense. It remains the official recommendation in the United States, and it is something we’ve both advocated since the beginning of the pandemic. Both of us wrote articles as far back as March urging people to wear homemade cloth masks. We’re also the authors (along with 17 other experts) of a paper titled “An Evidence Review of Face Masks Against COVID,” which was just published in peer-reviewed form in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. But it’s past time for better solutions to be available to the public.
We first released the paper as a preprint back in April, and it took nine months to go through peer review. We’re happy that it’s published but, to be honest, we’re also deeply disappointed that it’s still relevant. We’d hoped that by 2021 supply chains would have ramped up enough to ensure that everyone had better masks. Cloth masks, especially homemade ones, were supposed to be a stopgap measure. Why are so many of us still wearing them?
Hannah R. Anderson
Yes, the Pandemic Is Ruining Your Body
Amanda Mull
Quarantine is turning you into a stiff, hunched-over, itchy, sore, headachy husk.
The first time my hips locked up, the reason was at least a little bit glamorous. It was 2018, and I was returning from vacation in Sicily, which was the fanciest thing I’d ever done by several orders of magnitude. As I went through the motions—and, perhaps more important, the lack of motion—of international flight, my gait began to stiffen, and my stride contracted to a fraction of its former self. My body, settling into its mid-30s, rebelled against the hours spent in airplane seats, the nights in unfamiliar beds, the constant, awkward physicality of travel.
The same thing happened a few more times over the next year and a half, always after long-haul flights. I began to think of it as “airplane hip,” and the condition was annoying but temporary; I don’t spend much time on planes, and a yoga move called “pigeon pose” would stretch my stiff waddle back into a walk in a day or two. Usually, the discomfort was worth it—a small musculoskeletal price to pay for the occasional privilege of seeing parts of the world still new to me.
Shutterstock / The Atlantic
So far, cumulative acts of civic virtue have saved the republic. But the constitutional order is still in danger.
The next time an insurgent mob arrives to sack the Capitol, if one happens to try between now and Inauguration Day, mere strength of numbers will not overwhelm the defenses. In the 10 days since the January 6 assault on Congress, the Secret Service has overseen the establishment of an instant “green zone,” fortified by eight-foot steel barriers and patrolled by some 20,000 National Guardsmen. Those are real bullets in the magazines of their Army-issued M-4 assault rifles, not at all the standard gear for maintaining civic order.
A healthy democracy does not need a division-size force to safeguard the incoming president in its capital. Generals and admirals in a thriving republic do not have to enjoin the troops against “violence, sedition and insurrection” or reaffirm that “there’s no role for the U.S. military in determining the outcome of a U.S. election.” A nation secure in the peaceful transfer of power does not require 10 former defense secretaries to remind their successor that he is “bound by oath, law and precedent to facilitate the entry into office of the incoming administration.”
The Coronavirus Is Evolving Before Our Eyes
James Hamblin
The virus is mutating as expected. We can still stop it.
In the final, darkest days of the deadliest year in U.S. history, the world received ominous news of a mutation in the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Scientists in the U.K. had identified a form of the virus that was spreading rapidly throughout the nation. Then, on January 4, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a lockdown that began almost immediately and will last until at least the middle of February. “It’s been both frustrating and alarming to see the speed with which the new variant is spreading,” he said in an address, noting that “our scientists have confirmed this new variant is between 50 and 70 percent more transmissible” than previous strains.
Those figures, based on an early estimate by British government scientists in late December, made for terrifying push alerts and headlines. Though this strain of the virus (officially called “B.1.1.7”) quickly became known as “the U.K. variant,” it has already been found in 45 countries, suggesting that the opportunity to contain it with travel restrictions has passed. On January 8, Australia locked down Brisbane, a city of 2.3 million people, after discovering a single case.
India Has a Fake-Jobs Problem
Snigdha Poonam
Employment fraud in the country is neither new nor small, but its prospects have never looked brighter.
On July 1, a few days after a woman in India registered for an account on the careers site Naukri.com and uploaded a resume, a recruiter called her: One of the country’s leading real-estate companies was hiring for a senior position, and more details would follow soon.
The woman had posted her details on the site, whose name means “job” in Hindi, because she feared losing her current role as a mechanical engineer. The coronavirus pandemic was in full swing, and India’s caseload was increasing fast. A brutal weeks-long lockdown had hammered businesses, throwing huge numbers of people out of work, with data later showing that in the three months immediately preceding the recruiter’s phone call, India’s economy had contracted by 23.9 percent. The national capital, New Delhi, where she lived, had been particularly badly affected.
The Last True Hermit Was Alone for 27 Years
Emily Buder
For nearly three decades, Christopher Knight lived undetected in the dense woods of Maine.
What Was Lost When SXSW Was Canceled
It’s okay to grieve the loss of a big opportunity, even during a pandemic.
The Iguana King
Nicolas Pollock
Brianna Pressey
How iguanas went viral in Florida
data-share-title="" data-share-description="" data-omni-click="r'liveblog',r' ',d,r'fb',r' ',r''">Share
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Posts published by “David Bacon”
The Rebellion of the Young and Part-time (Aug. 13, 1997)
By David Bacon
Oakland, California — John Cortez isn’t a kid anymore. So why is he still trying to survive on the same part-time job that he got…
Beyond Deportation
When President Obama appointed Dollie Gee to the U.S. District Court in 2010, he undoubtedly didn't expect her to mount a frontal challenge to his…
The Legacy Of Spain & The Lincoln Brigade
All my life I've known about Spain. I grew up singing Freiheit and Viva la Quince Brigada and Los Cuatro Generales, and knew the names…
Thousands Of Farm Workers Can’t Make A Living
At the end of the 1970s California farm workers were the highest-paid in the U.S., with the possible exception of Hawaii's long-unionized sugar and pineapple…
What Real Immigration Reform Would Look Like
Oralia Maceda, an immigrant mother from Oaxaca, asked the obvious last weekend in Fresno. At a meeting, talking about the Senate immigration reform bill, she…
Making A Life, But Not A Living
Oxnard — Lucrecia Camacho comes from Oaxaca, and speaks Mixteco, one of the indigenous languages and cultures of Mexico that were hundreds of years old…
Immigrant Raids On The Rise
While the criminalization of undocumented people in Arizona continues to draw headlines, the actual punishment of workers because of their immigration status has become an…
We Need A Better Alternative
Senators Charles Schumer and Lindsey Graham announced Thursday their plan for immigration reform. Unfortunately, it is a retread, recycling the same bad ideas that led to the defeat of reform efforts over the last five years. In some ways, their proposal is even worse.
Immigrants Shouldn’t Be Made High Tech Servants
When Kim Singh left India to become a contract worker in Silicon Valley, he thought he would find a good job in the electronics industry.…
America’s Most Union Town
Anyone who remembers the big casino strike on the Las Vegas strip in 1984 can’t have many doubts about the willingness of workers in the…
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2019: And the records keep tumbling Parts of California breaks a 100-year record with 6ft, (almost 2 metres) of snow in just 24 hours
Photo TransendingSnowBoarding
And the records keep tumbling, yesterday reports came from Queensland that 1 year's rain fell in just 7 days after a month of a record-breaking heatwave.
Today the Weather Channel has reported 6ft, (almost 2 metres) of snow has fallen in just 24 hours in parts of California breaking a 100-year record.
The incredible amounts of snow have fallen throughout parts of the Mountain West since last Friday after a one-two punch from winter storms Kai and Lucian.
The Sierra Nevada, straddling the border between California and Nevada, has been particularly hard-hit, where one ski resort tallied 6 feet of snow in just one day.
Taking that crown is June Mountain, east of Yosemite National Park. June Mountain reported 72 inches of new snow in the 24 hours ending 9 a.m. PST Sunday morning.
The storm-total snowfall at June Mountain from Friday through mid-morning Sunday was measured at 96 inches, according to the National Weather Service in Reno, Nevada.
Yes, that's 8 feet (2.5 metres) of snow in less than three days.
And it was too much for the ski resort to handle; June Mountain was closed on Monday as workers attempted to dig out, the resort.
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Law prof calls for federal intervention against Antifa
A law professor at George Mason University is calling for federal intervention in Portland, Oregon following Antifa thugs’ beating of Andy Ngo put the reporter in the hospital.
F.H. Buckley writes in the New York Post that criminal laws “are supposed to deter criminal behavior,” but when police stand at a distance and do nothing — as they did in the Portland incident — there’s absolutely no accountability.
Masked Antifa goons roam the town at will proclaiming “we own the streets” … and they do, Buckley says, because the city’s mayor, Ted Wheeler, has let them. Even if they’re apprehended, their masks enable them to walk scot free as definite identification is a problem.
“That’s a lesson we should have learned from the Ku Klux Klan,” Buckley says.
Wheeler says he is against violence. But the hooded antifa riots are still tolerated. The Portland police chief wants to ban masks, but fat chance the state will pass such a law, against protests by civil libertarians. And an anti-mask law isn’t necessary. The state already has a perfectly suitable remedy, in its anti-riot law. A person commits the crime of riot if, while participating with at least five other people, he engages in tumultuous and violent conduct and thereby intentionally or recklessly creates a grave risk of causing public alarm.
I can’t think of a better definition of the antifa method of operation.
After Ngo was beaten, the police declared a riot. Next time, the riot should be declared the moment hooded antifa protesters show up. But Wheeler won’t let that happen. That would get in the way of antifa’s free-speech rights, he thinks.
Evidently, it’s time for the federal government to step in — and crack down. It has had to do so in the past, especially during the civil rights era in the South.
There’s a federal law against conspiring to injure or intimidate a person in the free exercise of enjoyment of his rights or privileges, and I should think the elements of the offense are complete the moment the antifa goons show up in Portland.
Read the full piece.
IMAGE: Very Fake News / YouTube
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Stellar cast assembled for From Here to There
The BBC have announced a stellar cast for new three-part drama From There To Here.
Philip Glenister (Life On Mars, Mad Dogs), Bernard Hill (Five Days, Lord Of The Rings), Steven Mackintosh (What Remains, Inside Men), Saskia Reeves (Wallander, Luther), Liz White (Life On Mars, The Woman In Black), Daniel Rigby (Big School, Eric And Ernie) and Morven Christie (Hunted).
The drama begins in June 1996 on the day an IRA bomb destroyed much of Manchester's City Centre - the same summer England was united in optimism for Euro 96'.
From There To Here tells the story of a city, an era, and two families from different sides of the tracks whose lives are brought together in the aftermath of the bomb. The story spans the four years that changed Manchester and the country forever; from ‘Football’s Coming Home’ in 1996, to New Labour sweeping to power in 1997, and finally to the hangover after the Millennium celebrations of 2000.
With an epic sweep, From There To Here charts the tragic and comic misadventures of two families as Manchester is being rebuilt.
Daniel Cotton (Glenister) and his father Samuel (Hill) run a sweet factory and Daniel has the perfect Cheshire family, with his wife Clare (Reeves), son Charlie (Rigby) and daughter Louise (Christie). His rough diamond/street wise brother Robbo (Mackintosh) has a serious rift with his father, and is immersed in the rough urban life of Manchester where he runs a night club.
Daniel, Samuel and Robbo are caught up in the blast alongside hotel cleaner Joanne (White). Their survival of a near death experience provokes changes in their lives that soon spin out of control.
This story is told against the backdrop of a great northern city, which is reinventing itself in the face of adversity and massive socio-economic change. The material damage to the city is echoed in the fault line running through the Cotton family's fractured relations.
Peter Bowker, creator and executive producer, commented: "I wanted to write a love letter to Manchester - warts 'n all - and to do it through a family saga that captured something of the city's pace, life and humour. To attract a cast of this quality and a director of the calibre of James Strong is incredibly exciting and just about compensates for the presence of a City fan as executive producer in the form of fellow Mancunian, Derek Wax."
Speaking about the role, Philip Glenister said: "I'm really excited to be involved in such a terrific new drama written by Peter Bowker. Also to be working alongside such an outstanding cast and crew. And of course to be back filming in my adopted home town of Manc!"
Derek Wax, executive producer at Kudos, said: "I am so excited to be embarking on a new Manchester epic with Pete, so different in every way from our previous Manchester-based collaborations, Occupation and Flesh And Blood. In From There To Here, Pete brings to life a family, city and era with complexity, originality, scale and humour. And I am delighted that the project has attracted such a brilliant cast, as well as the wonderful director James Strong (Broadchurch)."
This 3x60-minute mini-series will begin filming in the Manchester area this month and is produced by Tim Bricknell (The Fear, Eric And Ernie), executive produced by Derek Wax (Occupation, The Hour) and Peter Bowker (Occupation, Eric And Ernie) for Kudos Film & Television and executive produced by Stephen Wright, Head of Drama BBC Northern Ireland.
Remember 'Hidden'? Three of my favorite actors (Glenister, Chancellor, and Thekla Reuten) in a conspiracy thriller...and eh...
I don't remember it either.
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U.K. Conservatives Thinking About Involving Queen in Brexit: Report
BRING BACK THE CROWN
Julia Arciga
Published Jul. 18, 2019 10:11PM ET
Pool/Reuters
Senior figures within the Tory party are seriously considering a scheme to involve Queen Elizabeth II in the Brexit issue out of fear that the new prime minister will “ignore the will of Parliament,” BBC News reports. The Conservatives are mulling over the option of holding a vote in Parliament on a device called a “humble address to the Queen.” If the vote passes, the queen will be allowed to attend the next E.U. summit as the U.K.’s head of state if the new prime minister ignores a vote rejecting a no-deal Brexit. The queen would then request an extension on the Article 50, or withdrawal, process. Though the queen would technically be allowed to attend an E.U. summit without breaking its rules, no European monarch has ever formally represented its country at a summit. Buckingham Palace reportedly declined to comment.
Read it at BBC News
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Trump’s Top Priority for 2018: Infrastructure or Welfare Reform?
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
The White House has yet to finalize its top priorities for 2018, according to reports, but the administration would like to pursue infrastructure, “welfare reform,” or both.
Either path would entail political risks. “What you need for infrastructure is new money, and I don’t see where they’re going to get it,” Sen. Mark Warner said Thursday at an event sponsored by Axios. And conservatives may balk at increased spending.
Welfare or entitlement reform won’t attract Democratic support, and could spark a fervent backlash along the lines seen earlier this year when Republicans sought to repeal and replace Obamacare.
President Trump seemed to indicate Friday that infrastructure could come first. “At some point, and for the good of the country, I predict we will start working with the Democrats in a Bipartisan fashion. Infrastructure would be a perfect place to start. After having foolishly spent $7 trillion in the Middle East, it is time to start rebuilding our country!” Trump tweeted Friday morning.
On entitlement reform, Trump promised during his election campaign that he would not touch Social Security or Medicare, and he has reportedly told multiple Republican members of Congress that entitlements are off the table in his first term. But the White House’s 2018 budget proposed sharp cuts to food stamps, Medicaid payments, Social Security disability benefits and other programs for the poor. A welfare reform push in 2018 would likely focus more narrowly on such efforts rather than pursue the broader changes to the social safety net that House Speaker Paul Ryan has long sought.
McConnell vs. Ryan
Ryan earlier this month said on a radio talk show that “we’re going to have to get back to entitlement reform” in 2018. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell yesterday shot down the idea of tackling welfare and entitlement reform in 2018, telling Axios that he preferred to focus on an issue like infrastructure that could draw Democratic support.
The president will reportedly meet with McConnell and Ryan early next year “to make sure everyone is on the same page.”
McConnell, who will lead a slim 51-seat majority in the Senate starting next year, expanded on his thinking in comments to The Washington Post: “I don’t think, as a practical matter in the Senate, we can do entitlement reform without bipartisan agreement,” he said. “And you can fill in the blanks. I mean, it applies to entitlements in general — Medicare, Social Security, welfare — they’re so doubled down on that, I’m not going to devote floor time to something that has no Democratic support.”
He’s not the only Republican who has concerns about moving on to welfare or entitlement reform. “I think the optics are terrible,” John McKager “Mac” Stipanovich, a GOP consultant, tells the Post. “At least at this point, the Democrats are winning the argument that the tax cuts primarily benefit the wealthy and big business. To come in right behind that and start whacking the poor, the working poor, will not serve Republicans well in 2018.”
Democrats are already gearing up for that fight — and likely relishing the political opportunity it presents. “Compromising programs like Medicare and Social Security – that Americans have paid into and earned through years of hard work – is irresponsible, especially after forcing through legislation that increases the deficit by $1.5 trillion,” Democrats on the House Ways and means Committee tweeted yesterday.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Democrats would fight against changes to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. "Social Security is in reasonable shape until at least 2030-something," she said Thursday. "But nonetheless, we want that to be even longer and these are issues that can be talked about separately. But we will fight to defend them because they are about the health and economic security of America’s working families and we will not use Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security as an ATM machine for the Republicans to give tax breaks to their wealthy friends and corporate America."
The gap between America’s projected infrastructure investment needs and its likely spending on those needs is projected...
Once Again, Infrastructure?
Real interest rates are negative, which means the federal government is essentially getting paid to borrow money right...
Biden Outlines $2 Trillion Green Energy Plan
Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a plan to spend $2 trillion over four years on green energy, transportation and...
As editor in chief, Yuval Rosenberg oversees all aspects of The Fiscal Times' website and email newsletter. His writing has appeared in publications including BusinessWeek, CNBC.com, CNNMoney.com, Fast Company, Fortune, Newsweek, Money and Time.
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Disruptions in long-term foster placements
Home » Policy & Practice » Practice information » Disruptions in long-term foster placements
Not all children who come into care can return to live with their parents. In these cases, the courts will decide the best option to make sure they are safe, stable and can grow throughout their childhood in a ‘permanent’ home. There are several different long-term, permanent options for children in care including permanence orders in Scotland. Unfortunately, on occasions these placements can disrupt prematurely. In fostering, disruption can be described as the unplanned ending of a placement for a child or young person with their long-term foster carer(s). Although this may have been caused by a single unforeseen situation such as the ill health of carers, it is more often the result of a combination of factors.
About disruptions
Children and young people are matched and placed with foster carers across the UK. The child’s care plan will determine how long it is expected that they will be cared for by foster carers. Unlike in adoption, there is no legislation or guidance which governs the disruption of these placements in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Over the years and with learning the lessons from disruptions in adoption, agencies have come to understand that it is good practice to develop their own policies and procedures to both prevent and support a placement at risk of disruption.
Principles of disruptions
The following principles should apply in terms of disruptions in long-term fostering:
Preparation for a long-term match between a child and their carer is key and should be as carefully planned and considered as with any other permanency arrangement. It should include relevant information sharing, a robust assessment of the young person's needs, the carers capacity to meet those needs and a plan of introductions
When planning a long-term match, consideration needs to be taken of research that has already highlighted themes resulting in the disruptions of adoption and special guardianship placements. These include the age of the child when matched; the child’s level of emotional and behavioural needs as a result of their history; the number of previous placements moves; the carers access to support and key information not shared during the matching process. (Selwyn et al 2014 and Harwin et al 2019).
A disruption can have a significant emotional impact on all involved: the child or young person, their birth family, the carer and the carer’s family and professionals around the child. The way this is managed and how those involved are supported, can have future implications for all. Where there are signs that a placeent is becoming unstable and that a disruption could occur, convening a Placement Support Meeting should be considered. This will bring foster carers and professionals together to identify the support needed within the placement. Where appointed, the child or young person’s Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) should be invited to attend the meeting.
Agencies should have a clear protocol to follow so that any concerns regarding the long-term stability of a placement requiring early support by the relevant professionals is identified and provided and planning for a future disruption can be considered.
In planning a disruption meeting, consideration needs to be taken of the timing of the meeting, who will chair it and how will the child or young person and carer be supported in contributing to it. It is beneficial for the Chair to have a level of independence in this role.
The purpose of a disruption meeting is to allow participants to share their views and feelings about what has happened. And as a group identify factors that have led to the disruption, gather information that can be used for future planning for the child or the young person and for reflection on future practice of the professionals around the child.
Disruption meetings are not a place to apportion blame and the Chair has a role in enabling participants to feel safe in sharing their views and feelings in a manner which enhances the outcomes of the meeting. It should provide a sense of closure to the situation and as best as can be allow those involved to move on.
Throughout the process it is vital that the child or young person’s voice and views about what has happened, and future plans are supported to be heard.
We know that relationships are the golden threads that run through children’s lives. A support network of people who know a child will help them to feel loved, develop a strong sense of self and maintain healthy relationships in the future. When in the best interest of the child or young person, the relationship they have built up with the carers should be enabled to continue after a placement has disrupted.
The Fostering Network’s Keep Connected Campaign:
The Fostering Network’s practice information
Long-term fostering in England
The planning for children to be placed with and cared for by their long-term foster carers is subject to varying Regulations and Statutory Guidance across the four nations.
England: Care Planning and Fostering (Miscellaneous Amendments) (England) Regulations 2015
Wales: Statutory Guidance, Fostering Services. This statutory guidance relates to Parts 2 to 16 of The Regulated Fostering Services (Services Providers and Responsible Individuals) (Wales) Regulations 2019
Scotland: The Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009, Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007, and Statutory Guidance.
Northern Ireland: The Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995.
Beyond the Adoption Order: challenges, interventions and adoption disruption 2014, Selwyn et al
Special Guardianship: a review of the English research studies, 2019, Harwin et al
unplanned removal of child
Contact in foster care
Criminal record checks
Day-to-day decision making (delegated authority)
Exemptions in England
Foster carers' charter
Fostering legislation, regulation and inspection
Health and foster care
Fostering Panels
Post-18 living arrangements for children in care
Support networks for foster carers
Supporting safer caring
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Spiritual and healing
On the last night in Pokhara, just before leaving for Kathmandu, I had a terrifying nightmare. I dreamed my own death. Only this was no ordinary nightmare. I call these kinds of dreams, with a very real quality to them 'premonition dreams', as they always manifest in reality the same exact sensation of the dream.
I was blissfully walking to the airport, hand in hand with a man I care about. However when I asked that man for affection, he replied 'no'. I smiled and let it go, and proceeded to the airport. I was waiting for my flight, when several women with burqas started throwing strange metal objects on the ground that made strange noises, and then shooting around with machine guns. I realized those objects were bombs. I started running at the top of my lungs, completely terrified and desperate. I could feel my death arriving. I knew I could not escape the power of those bombs, but I ran as fast as I could, I ran and ran outside the ariport thinking "I can't die today!". I reached a guard and tried to explain to him what was happening, but he seemed careless. Then I woke up. I was shaking, sweating and crying desperately for about half an hour after walking up, just as though everything had happened for real. I threw up.
What is interesting to note is that the previous days I had been re-booking a flight to go to Poland several times: it kept getting cancelled for weird reasons, almost as though my subconscious was trying to prevent me to get on it. This flight had a layover in Muscat, Oman, for 13 hours.
Knowing about the nature of the dream, naturally as soon as I got myself together my first reaction was to book another flight. I found one that same night: since it was early morning I had more than enough time to catch it. As I hopped on the bus to Kathmandu on my way to the airport, I felt calm again: my intuition was telling me that I was taking action to avoid the course of the dream.
Only, the universe had a different plan for me. A land-slide and two accidents on the road stuck as completely for 8 hours, in a kilometers long column of trucks, buses and cars, unable to move or do anything at all. Desperate, I tried to convince passing motorcycles to take me on - finally I was able to hop on a fast car out of the jam that promised me to rush to the airport for a sum of money. Nevertheless we didn't make it: I missed the flight. I was terrified, I could not avoid my destiny.
Having nothing left to do while on a taxi back to town I figured I'd try to get some money back for the missed flight, and miraculously the company reimbursed me entirely, no question asked. That's when I realized something was up: this was no coincidence, it was a set-up: I was not meant to take the flight tonight, I was meant to realize that I could not escape my destiny.
So I surrendered to it. I dwelled into the fear and started asking myself where it came from. A conversation with my sister suggested it might have something to do with cultural shadows in Muslim cultures acting as a point of attraction to my own. But what shadow I didn't know.
Then, as I kept meditating I suddenly had a realization. It became clear to me that I had immersed myself so much in Nepalese culture, and in particular in its frequency of stillness, that not only I had forsaken my dynamicity aspect, but also I had absorbed the shadow side of stillness: stuckness. That's why I attracted the bus experience. .
Why did I immerse myself in that vibration? I remembered that as I came here I really needed stillness because I had been immersed in the opposite vibration, that of dynamicity, for too long, and thus I had began to experience the shadow aspect of dynamicity: escapism.
I had escaped dynamicity to escape its shadow only to run into the shadow of stillness. And in both cases I ended up feeling powerless. In the stuckness case I was powerless to get to the aiport on time or to do things. In the dynamicity case I was powerless to exist without having to do something. How did that happen? Because in both cases I surrendered my own power to an external frequency - I used the external frequency in order to de-responsibilise myself. Powerlessness was also a main vibration of the dream: I mean, few things could make you feel more powerless than a bomb about to explode. So why have I been surrendering my power?
This winter, I was overwhelmed with some problems, and I moved to Taiwan where I got very involved with projects and with a good friend of mine. On one hand the distance made it easier to solve some problems, on the other hand I used the dynamicity of my friend and of being involved with many projects as a form of escapism in order to avoid some problems. What was I avoiding exactly?
The previous year I had worked very hard: I had started my business, wrote a book, helped several people, got involved in sports professionally, and had done a lot of inner work. In spite of that, someone that mattered to me a lot was still disappointed by me, and gave up on me in a very drastic way. I made that mean that I'm not capable, that I cannot rely on my abilities and on my instinct. And yet before his disappointment I was quite confident in myself. Why? Again, because in reality I had unconsciously externalized my own power onto him. I was unconsciously relying on his approval and validation in order to approve and validate myself.
This brought me to remember again the way he broke up with me, the second time. I reacted differently than the first. The first time I was in complete shock from what I saw when he showed his real side. The second time it wasn't exactly shock, because in a way I had already seen it, it was more of a sudden realization that my previous shock was correct. That sensation of shock was exactly the main sensation of the dream.
So had I not processed the shock then? I have to admit that after the first break up, I did not want to believe what had really happened. In a way, I still illuded myself. Even after the second one I did not fully acknowledge what had really happened. Perhaps this is exactly what the dream was trying to show me. I still hadn't processed that shock, I was still in denial. So I decided to do so, and these are the thoughts that came out of me during the process (which took about 2 hours):
"I think I still have not fully digested the fact that such individuals exist, and as a result I don't think I allowed myself to process the shock, and perhaps it's only by allowing myself to fully process it, to fully believe what he really did, that I can move on, rather than bypassing it and trying to think positively about it. I think I need to accept that I wanted to believe a fairy tale, accept that he was just a bad choice, that the wrong thing was him, not the universe, not me. To truly accept that he never did love me, even though it looked so much like it, it's not about him it's about me and I need to just let it go, to realize that there really never was anything there, to fully accept that he really did lie, that he really was just an actor, subconsciouly of course. He is a deeply deeply desperate and hungry person, who is completely blinded by his starvation. I feel sorry for him now, for how far he would lie to get just a bit of his starvation satisfied. It just goes on to show how desperate he is, how much of an actor he is. Also, by letting go of him completely I stop seeing the world as a place full of people like him. I see that it's not my fault that I fell for it, it's due to my shadows unfortunately, I didn't do anything wrong. And he was a mistake that I learned from, and I no longer need to run anywhere, the world is perfect as it is, right now and here, in fact it is a beautiful place to discover. Again I don't need to do anything to earn my existence, which is by the way the thought that makes me preoccupied about work. There is nothing I need to run after."
So why was my dream a premonition dream, and what did it have to do with Muslim culture? Well, powerlessness and being shocked by cruelty are both very strong vibrations for women in Muslim culture. If I hadn't resolved this shadow before hopping on that plane, who knows what sort of things I might have attracted there with my own shadow. But after resolving it, I felt completely calm, and in fact, I felt that I needed to be on that plane. That meant that as I had resolved the shadow aspect of that journey, I was now ready to enjoy the light aspect, and I did!
Nutrition and food (5)
Spiritual and healing (47)
Society and psychology (51)
Artificial intelligence and consciousness (2)
The value of your story, and why not everyone deserves it
Cosa sta accadendo al mondo?
The collective shadow of Taiwan
Piacere, sono il tuo corpo.
Harshness - the shadow of Georgia
Georgia: the country of free spirits
Il mio cammino di vita
The first day that I belonged
© 2016-2020 Valentina Poletti. All Rights Reserved - No. 25, Alley 441, Lane 150, Section 5, Xinyi Road, Taipei City 110
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press - gallery - video
Vassilis Varvaresos
“Varvaresos not only has a natural yet finely honed technique, it springs as one with the wide scope
of profound musicianship. Varvaresos engaged his audience with a performance that sizzled from
start to finish. ”
New York Concert Review
“What I particularly enjoy is the balance he gets between virtuosity and musicality...whatever
Varvaresos plays, it is always really beautiful”
Cyprien Katsaris, BBC Magazine
During the 2020-2021 season, Vassilis Varvaresos collaborates with Christoph Eschenbach, performing Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto with the Athens State Symphony Orchestra and is invited by the Athens Festival to play Prokofiev's 2nd Piano Concerto at the theater of Herod Atticus. He is equally invited to the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, the Festival des Arcs, the Piano Festival of Sainte-Ursanne, the Festival des Correspondences des Arts in Braine, France, the Thessaloniki Piano Festival and the Fukoshima Chamber Music Festival. This season he is also invited to appear at such prestigious halls as Amsterdam's Concertgebouw and the Athens Megaron Hall, while he also records his fourth album devoted to Skalkottas' music with BIS, as well a disc devoted to Beethoven's cello and piano works with acclaimed cellist Ivan Karizna, for Mirare Records.
In previous seasons, Mr. Varvaresos has been invited to play at the Enescu Festival, the Festival des Arcs, the Festival des Musicales du Golfe, the SelLiszt Festival of the Gyorgy Cziffra Foundation, the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, the Bodrum Music Festival and the Istanbul Festival among others. Recent concerto appearances include Chopin's 2nd Piano Concerto with the Orchestre de Normandie, Tchaikovsky's 1st Piano Concerto with the Freiburg Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto with the Thessaloniki State Symphony, Prokofiev's 2nd Piano Concerto with the Bilkent Symphony, and Prokofiev's 4th Piano Concerto with the Saint Petersburg Chamber Orchestra. Previous seasons marked Mr. Varvaresos debut recitals at the Tonhalle of Zurich, the Musikverein of Vienna and Paris' Salle Gaveau. He is equally invited to give recitals and masterclasses in California, Cincinatti, Charleston and New York City
Winner of the coveted First Prize in the 1998 YCA International Auditions at age 14, his recital debuts in New York and Washington were acclaimed. The Washington Post’s headline called Vassilis a “Young Master on the Rise"; Since his American debut, aged 15, Vassilis has performed in virtually all of the US. Major appearances include recitals at Carnegie’s Weill Hall, New York's Morgan Library, Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston, Philadelphia's Kimmel Center and the Kennedy Center in Washington. Following his debut recital at Carnegie's Zankel Hall, Mr. Varvaresos was invited to perform at the White House for President Barrack Obama. Mr. Varvaresos represented Greece at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He has been named “Most Promising Young Greek Artist” by the Critic's Association of Greece and has been a regular soloist in all the major stages of his home country. Vassilis Varvaresos is the laureate of both the 2014 edition George Enescu International Piano Competition, held in Bucarest in September 2014, as well as the Piano Masters Competition held in Monte Carlo in September 2015. An avid chamber musician as well, he has been invited to perform at the Bozar Theater in Brussels, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Diligentia Theater of the Hague, and the Gasteig in Munich. His regular chamber music partners include the leading French musicians as Michel Dalberto, Henri Demarquette and Nicolas Dautricourt, as well as Noé Inui, Ella van
Poucke, and Anastasia Kobekina.
A versatile musician, Vassilis Varvaresos has written music for ten films and several television series and wrote the book “Departure From the Functionality of Syntax”, which was awarded the Scholastic Distinction Award at the Juilliard School. Mr. Varvaresos holds a bachelor, masters and Doctor or Musical Arts degree from the Juilliard School. He is a recent graduate of the prestigious Diplôme d' Artiste-Interprète degree at the Conservatoire Nationale et Superieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris, France, under the tutelage of Michel Dalberto.
Vassilis Varvaresos' new album “V for Valse”, a celebration of the famous dance with works by Liszt, Scriabin, Schumann and Ravel has recently appeared with APARTE Records in France, while he has recorded with NAVIS Classics with violinist Noé Inui and barytone Dimitris Tiliakos.
© 2020 Vassilis Varvaresos | All rights reserved | Design MariS | Impressum
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The Best Coffee Shops in Minneapolis-St. Paul
United States Minnesota Minneapolis-St Paul
Minneapolis-St Paul
All Minneapolis-St Paul
Clara James
Clara James is a St. Paul-based writer with more than 10 years of experience. She covers kid-friendly attractions in Minneapolis and the Twin Cities region.
With dozens of colleges and universities, and more than a million workers in the Twin Cities metro area, caffeine is an important driver of the local economy. After all, a caffeinated population is a productive one. And while anyone can hop over to one of myriad Caribou Coffee and Starbucks locations, there's nothing quite like cozying up in a mom-and-pop coffee shop. Whether you're looking for a place to work, study, or relax with a good cup of joe, here are the best local cafes in and around Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Peace Coffee Shop
Courtesy of Peace Coffee
3262 Minnehaha Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55406, USA
Web Visit website
The Peace Coffee's parent organization, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, launched the socially responsible coffee company back in 1996 before "fair trade" was even a thing in the United States. The organic beans roasted in their Minneapolis roastery are bought directly from farmers at a fair price, so you know what you're getting is responsibly sourced. You can pick up its coffee at any number of coffee shops and natural food markets throughout the country, but the best way to enjoy it is at the company's flagship location on Minnehaha Avenue.
The shop's bright colors and uber-chill atmosphere is a nice bonus to the feel-good business model and flavorful brews. In addition to a selection of coffees, patrons can grab tea, cocoa, and seasonal goodies from area bakeries and shops.
Classes on the art of brewing the perfect cup of java are offered throughout the year at its various locations. You can also tour the company's roastery in Midtown on select dates throughout the year. See the website for details.
Sovereign Grounds
813 E 48th St, Minneapolis, MN 55417-1004, USA
This 48th Street hot spot is one of the best baby-friendly coffee shops in the Minneapolis metro area. A large play space hosts plenty of toys to keep kids of all ages occupied while adults relax with a cup of coffee. In addition to house-roasted brews, Sovereign Grounds also offers an assortment of small sweet and savory bites, including fresh baked goods all day long. If you aren't into coffee, this site has tea blends, too, including a unique and flavorful red tea latte.
Pro tip: Only two parking spaces are available in front of the shop, so plan to find a spot along one of the nearby side streets.
Canteen 3255
Courtesy of Canteen 3255
3255 Bryant Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55408, USA
For those looking for a quiet place to study with plenty of space to hunker down, you can't go wrong with Canteen 3255. The big windows let in a lot of natural light, and the ample tables and low-key vibe make it a nice place to caffeinate and focus. Located within walking distance to Lake Calhoun Park, it's especially great for those living or working in the Uptown or Lyndale areas.
Swing by on the weekends for the shop's Toast Bar Happy Hour. From 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, the shop sets up a veritable toast buffet, complete with artisan bread from nearby bakeries and a wide range of sweet and savory toppings like house-made jams and nut butters, locally-sourced honey, avocados, and feta cheese.
Vicinity Coffee
3350 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55408, USA
As its name would suggest, Vicinity is all about the local love. Syrups and sauces for their specialty drinks are made in-house from locally-sourced ingredients, and their coffee is locally roasted in small batches. The menu features baked goodies from the Minneapolis-based French bakery Patisserie 46 and gluten-free options from Sift. Even their chai tea is made in-house.
Both the Nicollet Avenue and Uptown locations have a great selection of traditional and specialty drinks, as well as tasty bites. But the Uptown location, in particular, is worth a visit. The site offers high-speed wifi and plenty of electrical outlets, making it a great spot for off-site meetings or marathon study sessions.
The Riverview Cafe
Courtesy of Riverview Cafe
3753 42nd Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55406-2816, USA
The Longfellow neighborhood coffee shop has an open door policy when it comes to kids, pets, and laptops — making it a great spot for parents looking to shake up their workspace a little or squeeze in a caffeinated play date. Like Sovereign Grounds, the shop has a children's area with plenty of toys and books for little ones.
In addition to standard coffee brews, the Riverview Cafe has an assortment of specialty concoctions, including an Almond Joy latte that is as delightful as it sounds. The food menu values quality over quantity with a limited selection of tasty bites both big and small, including freshly made sandwiches that can be warmed up on a panini press. Kid-friendly snacks like grapes and juice are always available.
Pro tip: This spot is cozy and best for those who don't mind children running about.
Ginkgo's Coffee Shop, St. Paul
721 Snelling Ave N, St Paul, MN 55104-2864, USA
Ginkgo's has multiple locations throughout St. Paul, but the one to visit is its Snelling Avenue site just a few blocks from Hamline University. The shop features a small play area in the back, and periodically hosts concerts and children's events throughout the month — some of which (but not all!) have a cover charge. If you're in the mood for shopping, a small store full of knick-knacks and greeting cards is right beside the register.
Menu items include a mix of organic and fair trade coffee to choose from, as well as sandwiches, soups, and other entrees that are often made with locally-sourced ingredients — including gluten-free options.
Five Watt Coffee
Photo by Bethany Platter, Courtesy of Five Watt Coffee
3745 Nicollet Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55409, USA
If you like your java with a side of rent-by-the-hour unicorn stables and profanity-laden cross-stitch, Five Watt Coffee is a dream come true. This shop has two locations in Minneapolis — both offering a selection of traditional and non-traditional specialty coffee drinks, including several specialty offerings that push the boundaries between coffee and cocktails. The E. Hennepin location, housed inside the Miller Textile building, is spacious and comfortable, and the Kingfield site has a large garage door that lets in fresh air and springtime breezes when the weather is nice. The food menu also varies by location, with the E. Hennepin shop boasting an impressive made-to-order menu, and the Kingfield site hosting a toast bar every Sunday.
Fireroast Coffee and Wine
3800 37th Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55406, USA
Another Longfellow neighborhood favorite, Fireroast is a combination coffee shop and wine bar with a great patio and decidedly adult vibe. Teas are loose leaf, and all of the coffee is organic, Fair Trade Certified, and comes from local Minneapolis-based roaster Up Coffee Roasters. In addition to house-made scones and muffins, the shop has a food menu that caters to a more sophisticated palate with fancy cheese plates and pesto-slathered flat breads. The cafe also doubles as an art gallery, where many local artists display their photographs, artwork, and crafts for sale with a new artist featured each month.
Bordertown Coffee
Courtesy of Bordertown Coffee
315 16th Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414, USA
As a nonprofit coffeehouse, Bordertown Coffee serves up hot coffee along with some warm fuzzies. All the coffee served here is ethically sourced and grown on small farms across the globe where workers are treated well and paid a fair wage. The shop itself is located within a once-abandoned fraternity house in Dinkytown that took thousands of volunteers and over a year to repair. Its proximity to the University of Minnesota, cool backstory, and cozy environment make it a favorite among students, in particular.
Groups of four or more who want to host a private meeting or just need to spread out can reserve the Library Room for free in the mornings and afternoons (not during lunch hours). You don't technically have to purchase anything to book the space — though with drool-worthy pastries and coffee just steps away, why wouldn't you want to? — but be aware no outside food or drink is allowed.
Pro-tip: The coffee shop is closed on Saturdays and holidays.
The Buzz Coffee and Cafe
411 Burnsville Pkwy, Burnsville, MN 55337, USA
This Burnsville-area coffee shop, located south of Minneapolis, boasts a wide range of drip and espresso coffee drinks, teas, and smoothies, as well as plenty of meal options for breakfast and lunch.
The real draw, however, is the waffle menu — though it might actually be a little unfair to call it a "menu." With over 100 different varieties, the listing is more akin to an epic ode to the waffle iron. Both sweet and savory options are offered, as well as vegan and gluten-free. While you can always opt for a classic fruit-on-top confection, be sure to try one of the impressively creative concoctions like the unicorn (pink with sprinkles), jerk chicken, and the sweet-and-salty "when pigs fly" waffle (bacon, brown sugar cinnamon, and cream cheese frosting).
Robyn Correll edited and contributed to this article.
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Mega-Group & Global Icons The Pussycat Dolls Announce UK tour
The Pussycat Dolls have announced they are reuniting for a U.K. Tour, performing together for the first time in over a decade. The voices of a generation will be taking their Pussycat Dolls 2020
The era defying, chart-topping, button-pushing, mega-group are back! The Pussycat Dolls have announced they are reuniting for a U.K. Tour, performing together for the first time in over a decade. The voices of a generation will be taking their Pussycat Dolls 2020 Tour on the road next year, hitting arenas across the U.K. calling at Dublin, Cardiff, Birmingham, Nottingham, Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester, Leeds and London. Tickets go on sale on Sunday 1 December at 10am at LiveNation.co.uk.
The multi-platinum pop sensations – Nicole Scherzinger, Ashley Roberts, Kimberly Wyatt, Jessica Sutta and Carmit Bachar are bringing back Doll Domination. Having sold more than 54 Million records worldwide and streamed over 1 Billion times, X2 Winners at the MTV VMA and achieved eight U.K. top 10 singles the dolls have Stick Wit Ya throughout the decades.
Nicole Scherzinger says “I love all my girls so much and cannot wait to show you what we’ve got in store for you. It’s been a long time coming but this feels like the perfect time to remind the world what it means to be a Pussycat Doll”.
Robin Antin, founder of The Pussycat Dolls says “I created The Pussycat Dolls back in 1994 and never in my wildest dreams would I have thought it would become one of the most iconic girl groups of our time. I’ve been working on making this reunion happen now for years, so I am very excited that the stars have aligned for THE PCD REUNION! It’s with gratitude to our fans and during this amazing time of female empowerment, to be able to announce the launch of our PCD reunion, celebrating ALL GENDERS, & the brilliant success and talent of the girls that helped influence a movement that was long overdue”.
In their first television performance in ten years, The Pussycat Dolls will return to the X Factor with an exclusive performance on Saturday 30 November which is set to back the PCD sparkle, excitement and anthemic hits.
The Pussycat Dolls will embark on a nine date U.K. wide tour bringing hits such as ‘Don’t Cha’, ‘Stickwitu’, ‘When I Grow Up’, ‘Buttons’ and more fan favorites back to life with their iconic dance routines and showstopping vocals.
The Pussycat Dolls 2020 Tour
05 April 2020 Dublin, IR 3 Arena
06 April 2020 Cardiff, U.K. Motorpoint Arena
08 April 2002 Birmingham, U.K. Arena, Birmingham
09 April 2020 Nottingham, U.K. Motorpoint Arena
11 April 2020 Glasgow, U.K. The SSE Hydro
12 April 2020 Newcastle, U.K. Utilita Arena
14 April 2020 Manchester, U.K. Manchester Arena
15 April 2020 Leeds, U.K. First Direct Arena
17 April 2020 London, U.K. The O2
Tickets for The Pussycat Dolls 2020 tour go on general sale Sunday 1st December 10am at LiveNation.co.uk
Ronnie Wood “Mad Lad’ rocks Manchester
The Overtones about to commence their Christmas tour
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Money & Power
Men's Dept.
Every item on this page was chosen by a Town & Country editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.
Perfect Long Weekend Destinations Just Outside New York City
Whether you want culture, nature, fine dining, or classic R&R, these are our top destinations for a totally charming getaway.
By William Li
Sweater weather is here, and it’s the perfect time to hit the road and take in the beauty of the autumn season. Nowhere is the foliage more spectacular than the Northeast. Whether you're taking in the crisp fall air overlooking the Hudson River, hiking the majestic Berkshires Hills, or strolling the picturesque New England towns of Litchfield County, these three itineraries will send you on your way to the perfect long weekend.
Hudson, New York
Olana State Historic Site, the former home of painter Frederic Edwin Church, is a must-see stop on any visit to the Hudson Valley.
Beth Schneck
Located two hours north of New York City on the Hudson River, Hudson is a one-of-a-kind city known for its galleries, shops, and restaurants, as well as street after street of architectural gems. As a center of creativity with a vibrant community of artists, Hudson is the perfect place for a weekend of discovery and inspiration.
The Maker Hotel, in Hudson, NY.
The Maker Hotel: A new hotel from Lev Glazman and Alina Roytberg, the co-founders of beauty brand Fresh, The Maker is an intimate 11-room property housed in three historical buildings in the heart of Hudson. Glazman and Roytberg have curated an antique-filled sanctuary with a bohemian sensibility fusing design from 19th-century Industrial, La Belle Époque, Art Deco, and Mid-Century periods. Each room is named after a creative archetype (The Architect, The Writer, The Gardener) and no two are the same. Expect a highly personal style of luxury and comfort and surprising touches like a Fragrance Library where guests can sample Glazman’s personal collection of scents collected from around the world, and complimentary full-size Fresh products in each room. Rooms starting at $350.
Backbar, a pan-Asian restaurant in Hudson, NY, is one of the area’s best dining options.
The Maker Hotel's cafe is open for breakfast and lunch offering fresh pastries, viennoiseries, soups and salads in a room right out of Austria. The Restaurant is a grand glass-ceilinged conservatory serving seasonal, contemporary, and delightfully light American fare.
Backbar, renowned chef Zac Pelaccio’s (Fatty Crab, Fish & Game) outdoor restaurant, offers a pan-Asian menu with an emphasis on dishes from Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Must haves include the Black Pepper Wings, the Dan Dan Noodles, and Sweet Potato Curry. Grab a beer, sit under one of the many covered tables, and you will feel transported to a sidewalk restaurant in Bangkok.
Kitty’s, a cheerful new cafe from chef and food stylist Lauren Schaefer, serves excellent egg sandwiches, outrageous rotisserie chicken, and sweet treats such as Sticky Ginger Tea Cake and Chocolate Chip Buckwheat Cookies. A perfect spot for breakfast, lunch, or an afternoon macchiato pick-me-up.
This Nari Ward sculpture is on view at Art Omi, a 300-acre sculpture park near Hudson.
Just 15 mins north of Hudson and situated on 300 acres in the town of Ghent, Art Omi is a sculpture and architecture park offering visitors the opportunity to experience a range of large-scale works in a singular outdoor environment. The fall foliage acts as a perfect backdrop for works from notable artists and architects such as Tony Cragg, Nari Ward, and Steven Holl.
Without a doubt one of the most beautiful buildings in America, Olana was the home of renowned Hudson River School painter Frederick Church. The villa, situated on top of a hill overlooking a wide swath of the river, is a unique blend of Victorian and Middle Eastern architectural motifs. The interiors of the main house look as they did in the 1890s with rooms filled with bronzes, paintings, sculptures and antique and artistic specimens collected by Church from all over the world. The 250-acre naturalistic landscape is considered one of the artist’s greatest works of art, and it exists today as one of the most intact artist-designed landscapes in the United States.
A relatively easy hike to High Falls is the perfect way to experience the autumn splendor. In addition to the fiery foliage, you will be rewarded with views of two waterfalls and glimpses of the area’s many native birds.
Finch, on Hudson’s Warren Street, offers new and vintage pieces for the home.
The eight block stretch of Warren Street is the heart of Hudson and home to antique dealers, galleries, shops, and restaurants. Standouts include Finch, an expertly curated collection of vintage and contemporary items for the home; Artsee, a chic optical boutique/art gallery carrying frames from international eyewear designers; Kasuri, an emporium for avant-garde fashion brands like Yohji Yamamoto, Comme des Garcons, and Rick Owens, and Talbott and Arding, purveyors of fine cheeses, charcuterie and other larder must-haves
The Mount, the former home of Edith Wharton, is a highlight of the Berkshires, an area also known for fine dining, shopping, and natural beauty.
Long known for its cultural offerings, The Berkshires—the Massachusetts county that stretches from Williamstown in the north and Great Barrington in the south—shines brightest in the fall when its eponymous hills are ablaze with autumn color. Situated in between Boston and New York City, the Berkshires offers scenic landscapes, pastoral hikes, and an abundance of culture and art.
The Inn at Kenmore Hall, in Richmond, is a cozy, beautifully designed bed and breakfast, perfect for your weekend away.
The Inn at Kenmore Hall is a stunning country inn in Richmond, Mass., situated on 20 acres of woodlands, orchards, and gardens, with spectacular views of the rolling, green Berkshire Hills. Owned and operated by J.Crew's former head of menswear, Frank Muytjens, and artist/entrepreneur, Scott Edward Cole, the 1792 building has been transformed into a luxurious and stylish oasis with wood burning fireplaces in each room and decoration that artfully blends modernity and antiquity. And in true bed and breakfast style, guests wake up to a scrumptious morning meal in a candlelit dining room with a roaring fire burning. Rooms starting at $450.
A stay at the Granville House, an intimate five-room inn within a historic 1825 house in Great Barrington, Mass., is like visiting your coolest friend’s country home. The innkeepers, Terry and Terri Coughlin, alumni of Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group, have created a deeply personal space with an eclectic mix of period antiques, mid-century modern furnishings, inspiring artwork, and thoughtful personal touches. Guests are treated to a relaxed kind of luxury including a jukebox and pool table in the parlor and rocking chairs on the large wraparound porch. And true to the inn’s commitment to being a good neighbor, Granville House is reinvesting a portion of proceeds to various organizations that support the special needs community in the Berkshire region. Rooms start at $200.
The Prairie Whale in Great Barrington is known for its farm to table fare—and don’t miss out on a T&C favorite, the pancakes.
Amy Inglis
Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud has brought Café Boulud, his beloved Upper East Side institution, to Blantyre in Lenox, Mass. As one of the original 12 Gilded Age mansions in the Berkshires, this Relais and Châteaux property makes the perfect backdrop for the menu of autumnal French-inspired classics with a seasonal focus on ingredients from local farms, vegetable-driven creations, and Asian and Middle Eastern flavors.
Mark Firth left Brooklyn, where he owned the legendary Diner and Marlow & Sons, for Great Barrington, Mass. to open The Prairie Whale, an excellent farm to table restaurant that takes full advantage of the region’s farmers, cheesemakers, and foragers. The extra crunchy fried chicken and the impossibly fluffy pancakes are both best in class. As are the Bloody Marys.
The charming tapas bar Brava in Lenox offers a comprehensive menu of Spanish small plate classics such as Shrimp in Garlic Sauce, Patatas Bravas, and Grilled Lamb Chops in addition to excellent salads and hand-made pizzas. Proprietor and world-class oenophile, Whitney Asher, will happily guide you through the award-winning wine list of over 100 wines, 40 of which are available by the glass.
Located on Main Street in storybook Stockbridge, Mass., The Red Lion Inn has been welcoming guests since 1773. The iconic historic inn is quintessential New England and having a cocktail or a mug of hot cider on its front porch is an absolute must after a day of leaf peeping.
A sculpture by Nairy Baghramian at The Clark in Williamstown.
The Clark, a well-respected museum set on 140 acres of beautiful landscape, is home to an extraordinary collection of European and American paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings, photographs, and decorative arts from the Renaissance to the early 20th century with particular depth in the works of American masters Winslow Homer, George Inness, and John Singer Sargent. In addition to the classical white marble main building from 1955, the campus includes a stunning addition with a reflecting pool from Japanese architect Tadao Ando. Ground/work, the museum’s first outdoor exhibition of site-specific installations, is free to the public, and not to be missed.
Hancock Shaker Village is a must-visit destination of 750 acres, 20 historic Shaker buildings, and over 22,000 Shaker artifacts that demonstrate the history, industry, life, and traditions of the Shakers and their achievements and contributions to the American way of life and design history. Standouts include the magnificent 1826 Round Stone Barn and the 1830 Brick Dwelling.
Edith Wharton’s legendary home, The Mount, is a master class in classical architecture, landscape design, and interior decoration. A tour of the house, gardens, and fifty acre grounds will give visitors a taste of Gilded Age life and also a dramatic view of the Berkshire foliage fireworks.
Rubiner’s, a specialty food store in Great Barrington, is beloved by locals, including T&C’s own Ruth Reichl.
Charles H. Baldwin & Sons, a 133-year old family business, is known for its famous Madagascar Vanilla extract. The historic shop in the charming village of West Stockbridge, Mass., is stocked with other signature items such as their Maple Table Syrup, Bloody Mary Mix, and Worcestershire Sauce, as well as specialty baking items.
McKimmie Co., a home & lifestyle shop in Lenox, Mass. specializing in imported textiles, apparel, and unique home accessories. The colorful and cozy selection of throws and blankets from Scotland, England, and Ireland are perfect for fireside lounging this fall.
Matt Rubiner is a cheesemonger extraordinaire and his Great Barrington shop, Rubiner’s, is beloved by major foodies such as Town & Country contributing editor Ruth Reichl, for its encyclopedic selection of cheeses, charcuterie, and specialty food items from around the world. The shop also features an equally well-rounded offering of natural wines and artisanal beers making it the perfect spot to go if you are looking for a picnic to bring on a hike or a tasty souvenir to take home.
Twigs, a boutique with locations in Lenox and Great Barrington, perfectly captures the laid back vibe of the Berkshires. From flowy Ulla Johnson dresses to the chic classic basics from Nili Lotan, Twigs is a one-stop shop for all your fall weekend wardrobe essentials.
Litchfield County, Connecticut
Milton Market in Litchfield is a great stop for home items, new and vintage kitchen wares, local delicacies, handmade crafts, and fine art.
A favorite of New York’s fashion, media, and finance cognoscenti who prefer low-key quiet chic, Litchfield County in northwest Connecticut is a perfect weekend getaway. With its pristinely preserved colonial towns, majestic landscape, and wide offering of stylish shops and restaurants, this region provides the perfect autumn respite.
The Mayflower Inn in Washington, Conn. recently underwent a renovation under the eye of designer Celerie Kemble.
The venerable Mayflower Inn & Spa set on 58 bucolic acres in Washington, Conn., and now part of the Auberge Resort Collection, has been beautifully transformed by New York designer Celerie Kemble. Known for her sense of whimsy and artful mix, Kemble has redesigned all the rooms and suites and the entirety of the inn’s historic main house, including The Garden Room, Mayflower's new fine dining restaurant. The 20,000 square foot spa is a sanctuary in the woods offering treatments like Reiki and sound therapy in addition to the traditional massages and facials. And the inn’s calendar of activities which include cocktail-making classes and outdoor yoga in the Shakespeare Garden, will make it hard for guests to want to venture off the property.
The Tap Room at The White Hart Inn in Salisbury, Conn., offers a menu of upscale comfort food that we just can't resist.
April Bloomfield is in residence for the fall season at The Garden Room at Mayflower Inn & Spa. Bloomfield’s four-course tasting menu celebrates elegant rusticity, featuring the finest ingredients from local Connecticut farms prepared with an English sensibility. Highlights include her signature steak tartare, a perfectly spiced cauliflower Tikka Masala, a succulent grilled heritage pork loin, and the British favorite, sticky toffee pudding.
Arethusa al tavalo, a fine American dining restaurant in Bantam, Conn., is part of the Arethusa dairy and farm mini-empire founded by George Malkemus, former president of Manolo Blahnik U.S., and Sarah Jessica Parker's partner in her eponymous shoe brand. While the menu can change daily, you can expect the offerings to highlight the farm’s award-winning dairy products and the bounty of the region’s many farms. Save room for dessert because the homemade ice creams, especially the almond and toasted coconut, are out of this world.
Led by acclaimed British chef Annie Wayte, The Tap Room at The White Hart Inn in Salisbury, Conn., offers a menu of comfort food that leans on Wayte’s informal style and dedication to ingredient-driven cuisine. Must haves include the addictive potato chips with sour cream and sea trout Roe, the velvety roasted carrot hummus, the juicy Whippoorwill Burger with Grafton cheddar, and a local cheese plate.
Averill Farm, in Washington Depot, is perfect for apple or pumpkin picking—and don’t forget to take home a pie.
With 238 acres of unspoiled natural beauty consisting of farmland, wetlands, meadows, woodlands, and rocky ridges, Macricostas Preserve in New Preston, Conn., is one of the area’s most majestic natural refuges. For those looking for a gentler hike, there are paths through wildflower fields and a hayfield right out of a Wyeth painting. More ambitious trekkers willing to climb up the 1,250 foot elevation to Waramaug’s Rock will be rewarded with a spectacular overlook providing panoramic views of Lake Waramaug and the surrounding countryside.
The picture-perfect small town of Kent, Conn. is the art center of Litchfield County with a dozen plus galleries to peruse. Notable venues include Kenise Barnes Fine Art, which will be showing a new group of paintings by Brooklyn artist Mary Judge, and Craven Contemporary, which focuses on cutting-edge photography and also features painting and sculpture by artists such as Mickalene Thomas, Jonas Wood, and Alex Katz.
A favorite of in-the-know locals like Alexi and Seth Meyers, Averill Farm—a tenth generation family farm in Washington Depot, Conn.—is the perfect place to partake in good old fashioned autumn fun. You can pick apples and pears in their 260-acre orchard or sample one of their many ciders and fresh baked pies. And while chef Cassandra Purdy and her team at Pizza for the People aren’t serving their famous wood-fired pizzas onsite this year, you can grab a frozen one for the road.
Guy Wolff’s shop in Bantam, Conn. is a destination for gorgeous ceramics and a favorite of regulars like Martha Stewart.
Guy Wolff’s hand-thrown clay flower pots are beloved by famous gardeners like Martha Stewart and Oprah Winfrey. His cozy Guy Wolff Pottery shop in Bantam, Conn. is a two-room farmhouse from 1761 and includes a workshop in the back where you can watch him throwing pots all day.
Housed in a handsome red-brick building in the center of Washington Depot, the Hickory Stick Bookshop has been a fixture in the community for over 60 years. The staff has over a century of experience collectively and can help you explore the titles, many from local authors, in this charming space that reminds you why you love a local book store.
Former New York fashion executive Martha Fish opened Milton Market in Litchfield as an “everyday luxury general store." Housed in a dramatic space that was a former blacksmith, her stylishly curated assortment includes beautiful hand-blown glassware, luxurious blankets from Swans Island in Maine, and work from many local craftsmen and artisans.
William Li Contributing Editor William Li is the co-host of Lucky Chow, a series about food and culture on PBS.
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Anglo-America
Europe Confronts Terror
The popular will to expunge terrorism may give the EU a pretext for taking some dangerous measures.
From The March-April 2001 Philadelphia Trumpet
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The pseudo-marxist terrorist group eta, claiming independence for the Basque region in the north of Spain, has been a festering wound in Spain’s side since the terrorists announced their presence nationally with a bomb which erased the life of top-ranking government minister, General Carrero Blanco, during the latter years of Francisco Franco’s reign. Such was the amount of dynamite packed beneath Carrero’s car that not only did the boom of the explosion rip through the heart of Madrid, but apart from a deep crater left in the road, the vehicle was sent flying over the high walls of a nearby convent into an inner courtyard.
When the claims of Basque separatists came to the fore during the early stages of Franco’s dictatorship, he sought to swiftly eliminate the problem. The method he employed was extreme. Trevor Phillips explains, in his article “A Futile Hope of Freedom,” “On April 26, 1937, Nazi bombers, on Franco’s request, launched the first-ever saturation bombing raid against the town. The aim was to bring the independent-minded Basques to heel. In the ‘pacification’ process that followed, 21,000 died” (Guardian, Oct. 10, 1999).
Well known is Picasso’s famous painting titled Guernica, commemorating that massacre, which hangs on a canvas in a gallery in Madrid. Less well remembered is how much the brutality of the massacre shocked the Spanish people and the whole world.
Public Outcry
Surely it is normal to ask how just a handful of ideologues could even contemplate holding Spain to ransom? The key lies in a by-product of this technological age, a reality with the potential to weasel its way into every corner of this modern world: the power of terror!
One of the eta’s latest acts of terror came on October 30, 2000, when three men were killed and 64 were injured by a car-bomb blast during rush hour in Madrid. That brought to six the number of eta’s terrorist murders in the previous 21 days, and to 19 the people killed by the terrorist organization since the end of the 14-month cease-fire announced the previous December.
To add coals to the fire, the eta shows no shame when announcing its bloody inroads. In fact, it usually admits responsibility for its attacks weeks after the event in declarations made in the pro-independence Basque media.
Spain is putting a brave face on things by taking a phenomenal public stand against terrorists—in this case a small band of brutal assassins called eta, an acronym in the Euskera language meaning “The Basque Region and Liberty.”
Looking at the public outcry against eta, one can begin to perceive the extent of the pain, suffering and bitterness of the victims still living, their families and friends, and the massive public support they command.
By unanimously turning their backs on this separatist terrorist group and its murderous methods, it is as though the Spanish, en masse, have invested their presence in an invisible wall of will against the bloodletting and terror perpetrated by eta. The solidarity of public opposition, up to this point, has been so strong that little ground has been made by eta’s bombs—of which there has been a constant stream since the very first some 32 years ago eliminated the life of a little girl.
Consider, for a moment, the Spanish public protest of eta in 1997—perhaps the world’s greatest public street protest against terrorism, ever.
Rebels had abducted Miguel Angel Blanco, a local politician, in an attempt to blackmail the government with the threat that, unless the order was given to relocate 500 eta prisoners to prisons in the Basque country within 48 hours, they would execute him. The government would not give in to blackmail, and the bright young town councilor from Ermua, Vizcaya, was found mortally wounded from a shot in the nape of the neck shortly after the deadline had passed.
An incredible public outcry resulted. Six million people demonstrated against eta! Six million people out of Spain’s population of 40 million—about 15 percent of the entire population of Spain went out on the streets in protest at the same time. Rarely, if ever, has such a massive public demonstration been made against the evils of terrorism, or any cause! Rarely, if ever, have so many people from one European country come out on the streets simultaneously during peace time to demonstrate for peace and an end to terrorism. So spontaneous was the reaction, with practically no government planning, that the spectacle almost seemed to come together of itself. For a few minutes, at a fixed time in the afternoon, silence was kept throughout the land. Six million people had thronged in droves toward the centers of all the major cities and towns, as well as many of the smaller ones, to stand in silence, with the palms of their hands painted white and held up high, as their way of demonstrating absolute rejection of eta and its brutal acts of terrorist violence.
That night, in concord, the nation’s television channels scanned Spain from one main city square to another, each recording images displaying a similar scene—thousands and sometimes millions of Spaniards packed closely together, palms painted white held skyward, in communal, deeply reflective silence. This historic, momentous display of unparalleled unity in post-Franco Spain reinforced in many an increased faith in the power of the public voice. The sense of solidarity resulting from this moving phenomenon was for some like a shot in the arm, giving hope that Spain could solve its problems by peaceful means. This amazing national response, reassuringly like a family expulsing an undesirable, destructive element from its midst, was for many the unleashing of a deep natural resource from within the Spanish character itself. Amid the euphoria generated by such a powerful and seemingly decisive rejection of eta, sparks were generated and a small fire of hope that terrorism would never win was kindled.
A Short-Lived Victory
The result? So much negative public opinion against eta was extant at the time that the terrorists called a truce in September 1998! It suddenly seemed more propitious to the Basque separatists to try for gains by negotiating through sympathetic Basque political parties.
It was a honeymoon which, unsurprisingly, was only to last until August 1999—enough time for the pendulum to swing back to the opinion shared by all terrorist groups—whether eta, the Irish Republican Army (ira), Hamas or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—that there is eventually more in it for them through the terror of bombs and the like than can be obtained at discussion tables. Terrorists rarely enter debates unless they feel they have their cat by the tail.
The end result of this historic, sincere, public demonstration for Spain has been disappointing—downright frustrating and infuriating, in fact—showing, once again, that terrorists cannot be negotiated with.
Terrorists like eta are prepared to spill great amounts of unsuspecting, innocent blood in search of political leverage. Since they first occupied the front pages of Spanish national newspapers, they have claimed the lives of over 800 innocent victims—financing their bloody deeds mainly through the extortion of their own people by imposing a revolution tax on specifically targeted businesses, under the threat of death!
On one occasion they actually tried to kill King Juan Carlos. Tomorrow it could be anyone—a mother, a son, a daughter! Clearly, that’s the reality many Spaniards, especially those living in the Basque region, face. Anyone who doesn’t think like eta is automatically their enemy. The stark, cruel reality is that at any time mortal danger could be waiting for anyone known to be the enemy of eta—or perhaps just an innocent bystander.
Negotiating With Terrorists
Margaret Thatcher experienced the ira phenomenon and ended up declaring to the world that “one cannot negotiate with terrorists.” Spain’s President Jose Maria Aznar is grappling with eta. His fight is a testimony to the same belief. Just as Mrs. Thatcher’s strength of character bore fruits during her political career, so Mr. Aznar’s tough line against terrorism, underpinned by the assurance that he is “not willing to pay a price for peace” contributed decisively to his being re-elected to office.
Mrs. Thatcher, who was, sadly, incapable of solving the ira problem, and Mr. Aznar, who has done little to ruffle the feathers of eta so far, were right that one cannot negotiate with a terrorist. Still, American-led diplomacy stubbornly and foolishly lays its hopes on compromising at “peace agreements” with men like Yasser Arafat and Gerry Adams. If terrorists are going to listen seriously to anyone, they’re likely to listen to other terrorists first. This, in actual fact, via sophisticated, international networks, through which terrorists exchange ideas and information and buy and sell weapons, goes on all the time.
Gerry Adams, terrorist leader in the northern Ireland “peace” negotiations, has had close ties with eta all along! In fact, Gerry Adams, the president of Sinn Fein, recently felt bold enough to give eta advice at a press meeting on how to best achieve their goals!
Jose Maria Aznar tried to form a political “Pact Against Terrorism,” in which all Spanish parties, regardless of their leanings, were invited to participate. Nevertheless, even this politically powerful, symbolic stand wasn’t enough to flush out the scourge of terrorism from the midst of the Spanish people.
The EU Toughens Its Stance
The EU, following its own agenda, can see that more is needed to defend Europe against the threat of terrorism. The case of eta, which has received a great deal of publicity of late, is serving as an important catalyst to propel the development of a joint European policing system and now a rapid reaction force.
Closer examination of recent events is enough to demonstrate that the question of how to deal with eta is being used as a pretext to increase the powers of policing, as well as the up-and-coming military reach of centralized European government. Recently, events conducive to these ends have slipped by quickly and discreetly—unnoticed by the popular press.
The unstable, international backdrop aiding the propulsion toward a consolidated Euroforce with a fully operational rapid reaction force (rrf) and internally integrated policing system is clearly delineated by the following statements: “George W. Bush and his team of cold-war warriors face a world of increasing conflict, with military experts counting 68 countries facing civil unrest, drug wars and skirmishes” (AP, Dec. 30, 2000); “International terrorism ‘is becoming the most important sphere of cooperation,’ said Russian Minister of Defense Igor Sergeyev during a December 21 meeting with counterparts from six countries from the Commonwealth of Independent States. ‘Not only Russia, but also the world community in general, is worried about this phenomenon of the current and next century and is looking for an effective way to eradicate it,’ he said, according to the itar-tass news agency” (www.stratfor.com, Jan. 2).
Last year India played a leading role in pushing enhanced international cooperation on terrorism issues by signing bilateral agreements with the United States and Israel, initiating a conference call about terrorism with regional leaders in Central Asia and Afghanistan, and signing an agreement with the EU in Paris, in December, to establish a joint working group on terrorism. The Indian government is presently drafting a global convention on terrorism for the United Nations.
In the last few months the EU has taken full advantage of the worldwide climate of instability and the present concern that world leaders are showing about the facelessness, illusiveness and speedy mobility of high-tech terrorism to increase international support for the development of a Euroforce independent of nato.
The curious thing is that while the threat of terrorism came into play with the advent of the cold war, which split East and West, now that the cold war is over East and West are coming together to unite their efforts to fight against terrorism. One result of all this for Europe is that the increasing threat of modern terrorism could act as a catalyst to spur the EU into forming its rapid reaction force faster than anticipated. Watch for that happening!
Within the expanding boundaries of the EU, the threat of terrorism has acted as another springboard furthering the speedy development of EU military and policing capacities. The conditions, both internationally and internally, were ripe for the European Parliament to make up important ground to extend its powers of governance, favored by a series of events which sprang into action in rapid succession.
On December 1, 2000, Amnesty International demanded that eta stop the violence, a motion which was adeptly lauded the following day by the home ministers of the EU, declaring that eta was a threat to the whole of Europe. Then, on December 6, just as nato tried to edge its way into the relay sprint by giving its implicit support to Spain, the baton was snatched from its hands: On December 9 Spanish and German officials met in Germany to exchange information about how to combat terrorism—giving a further slap on the back to the notion that the EU will decide its own policies.
These events cleared the way for the Catholic Church. Two weeks into the new year, Pope John Paul ii sent a message of exhortation from Rome to “Raise your voices in favor of life, security, physical integrity and liberty. There can be no peace,” he said, “without defending these fundamental truths.” So, that Sunday, 50,000 Catholics, including the bishops of Bilbao, San Sebastián, Victoria, Pamplona and Tudela, came together to pray that eta would lay down its arms.
Search and Capture
Herbert W. Armstrong predicted with prophetic accuracy 20 years ago, “You may be sure the West European leaders are conferring hurriedly and secretly about how and how soon they may unite and provide a united European military force so they can defend themselves!” (Plain Truth, April 1980).
In-house problems with terrorist groups like eta will be used as a major excuse to further integrate Europolicing and to speed up the establishment of a rapid reaction force—a state of affairs which would have once been unimaginable to most countries on entering the EU.
While the threat posed by terrorism has been bubbling away in Europe since the erection—and on through the destruction—of the Berlin Wall, never before had the possibility of what follows in this paragraph been openly debated. On January 13, in the wake of the Nice summit—decisive as far as the formation of the European rapid reaction force is concerned—the European Popular Party (favoring the right wing) voted to give unanimous support to the victims of terrorism in Spain, as well as for the creation of an effective mechanism to fight against terrorism on a European level, especially with respect to an EU warrant to search and capture (El País, Jan. 14).
In effect, this means that the governing power of the EU would include the ability to issue warrants (perhaps via the rrf) to search out and capture a usurper, or terrorist. This policy, once law, will be a tremendous addition to the EU’s governing power, but could be seriously abused.
This new judicial power, effective across EU borders, to swoop down on insurgents and terrorists, will be pushed through faster because of in-house terrorists like eta. This will greatly increase the power and mobility of Europe’s policing and its fast-evolving rapid reaction force!
Couple the above with the truly disturbing undertones and overtones inherent in the creation of the rrf. Sir John Weston, Britain’s ambassador to the UN from 1995 to 1998, at a seminar of the EU pressure group, New Europe, said the 60 pages of the treaty signed in December 2000 in Nice, devoted to the defense identity suggested a more ambitious interpretation of EU aims than simply the stated ones of occasional humanitarian, rescue and peacekeeping tasks. He asked, “Why else would one need a separate EU military Staff Committee at Chiefs of Defense level, a fully fledged military staff organization, a strategic planning capability, a satellite center, an institute of security studies and a force catalog currently listed in the documents as 100,000 [soldiers] strong with 400 combat aircraft and 100 vessels?” (Electronic Telegraph, Jan. 11).
While the rrf will benefit from a communications link with nato by sharing sensitive intelligence and military hardware, Sir John believes that the EU defense force could lead to the break up of nato. Many in Europe now foresee this as being inevitable.
Internationally renowned British political and economic analyst Rodney Atkinson, a man with his eyes set toward the future, can see: “[Germany is] the beneficiary. This idea…of Germany, through its secret service, undermining and destroying Yugoslavia—that led to a crisis. Then they say, Okay, we’ve got a crisis; we’ve got to have an army to deal with it. We can’t rely on the Americans to come and help us. And that rapid reaction force is, and is meant to be, an embryo European army.”
That embryo European army is also the embryo of one last resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire, prophesied in your Bible—and predicted by the late Herbert Armstrong when a defeated Germany was in ashes at the end of the Second World War! (See the Trumpet February 2000 issue for clear proof.) The prophecies made by Mr. Armstrong, given now, with further insight, as a powerful, last warning message by Gerald Flurry on the Key of David program and in the Trumpet, are coming startlingly true as you read this article.
What then is the best way to confront the scourge of terrorism? Will the method used only lead to further terror? Can such a dangerous threat to personal security, world peace and stability really ever be counteracted? Could a dictator solve the evils of terrorism? Or is talking the solution?
The Bible clearly states that, humanly speaking, there is no solution to terrorism!
Only Jesus Christ can bring the solution. ii Timothy 3:1-5 outlines with clarity what it will be like at the end of this age just before Christ returns to establish the only world government that can bring lasting peace and joy. Note that terrorism is included here: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded…from such turn away.”
Even in many places in the Old Testament, it is prophesied that unless Israel obeyed God (biblical Israel mainly refers to the English-speaking nations of the world, not the small modern nation of “Israel”—request your free copy of The United states and Britain in Prophecy to prove that for yourself), one of the curses they would reap would be “the sword without, and terror within” (Deut. 32:25).
A European army—a block of ten nations or groups of nations, following the lead of Germany, supported by the Catholic Church—is about to surprise the world with a reign of terror. English-speaking nations and others will be taken into captivity. Due to rebellion and disobedience against God and His perfect law, human life will be brought to the brink of total self-destruction in an unsustainable world of terror. “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved [alive]” (Matt. 24:22).
Permitting the horror of terrorism is all part of God’s great master plan of working with mankind and allowing suffering to the point where humans will have to decide whether or not to accept God’s way of life—which brings fruitful, abundant well-being and happiness. Man will have to see for himself where man’s way eventually leads.
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Copyright © 2021 Philadelphia Church of God, All Rights Reserved
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Get Served by SA's Best Bartenders of 2016
By Michelle Burgess
Published on 11/4/2016 at 12:01 AM
Misael Gonzalez | Courtesy of Paramour
Whether you’re looking to pour your heart out to a sympathetic ear, or are pining for the perfect cocktail, either way, a really great bartender has you covered. In SA, those great bartenders have traditionally been most adept at mixing a mean margarita or popping the cap off an ice-cold Shiner. More and more, however, working behind the bar in the Alamo City means embracing the city’s burgeoning craft cocktail movement, and no one has done it better over the past year than these fine barkeeps.
Misael Gonzalez
Chicago native Misael Gonzalez says his hometown has nothing on SA when it comes to commitment to the cocktail industry. “I’ve gotten to know many people in the industry over the past six years, and they are constantly having roundtable discussions on how to deliver the best new experience to the people of this city,” he says. “I am so happy to be here during this time, and I feel like this city will be setting standards all over the country soon.” As for his own role, Misael says he loves creating classic stirred cocktails -- martinis, Negronis, Manhattans -- and believes that a good bartender mostly needs “an unflinching desire” to make people happy. “If you’re waking up in the middle of the night and thinking about how you could have made an experience better for a guest,” he says, “odds are you’re a good bartender.”
Courtesy of St. Francis Room
Ana-Patrizia Cabrera
St. Francis Room
Ana-Patrizia Cabrera is the epitome of cosmopolitan, as well as being a jack of all trades. In addition to bartending, Ana-Patrizia -- who was born in Spain to Puerto Rican parents -- has managed coffee houses, worked at local breweries, been a home brewer, and worked at the Texas Capitol over two legislative sessions. She was the first employee hired by St. Francis Room as it was preparing to open last winter. She was initially drawn to the restaurant and bar because of its unique location in the former Alamo Methodist Church in Southtown, and claims she was either going to be an employee or a stalker. She prides herself on her commitment to hospitality, and is known for her passion for certain cocktails. “My bar knows that... if a Tiki Bowl is ordered, I’m making it,” she says. “Tiki is an opportunity to share my culture with my guests. Every time I light it up, the bartop becomes a party!”
James Tavera
An SA native who has been in the bar industry for more than 10 years, James Tavera believes that a truly great bartender can be judged by how he creates the classics. “If they rush, an Old Fashioned tastes like sugar water and bourbon,” he says. “If they take their time, you can taste layers of the drink.” He is excited about his post as beverage director at one of SA’s newest bars, where he looks forward to getting to design and invent new cocktails in the biggest little city in the world. His favorite aspect of his job is the social interaction. “Every day is a different day,” he says. “You will meet new people, (face) new situations, and have new opportunities. In the bar world, if you have a strong foundation around you, your co-workers become family.”
Courtesy of Sternewirth
James Santos
Sternewirth
It was a need for his own beer money that drove then-UTSA student James Santos to bartending nearly a decade ago. It was a second job, but soon the bar life was all he wanted. “I fell in love with everything about the bar -- the energy, the ambiance, the lifestyle,” he says, even though he had to work his way up from doorman to barback to bartender. Nine years later, he still loves interacting with customers, excited about how SA’s growth is affecting its bar scene, and especially about being a part of Hotel Emma’s stunning bar. “I try to lead my professional life by the philosophy shared in an article called ‘A Letter to Young Bartenders,’ which is right on point,” he says. “‘I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Courtesy of Jazz, TX
Derik Cortez
Jazz, TX
An on-and-off bartender for more than 16 years, Derik Cortez found his passion for the industry reignited with the advent of the craft cocktail movement. He began reading anything he could get his hands on to bolster his knowledge and become relevant in this niche of the bar business, earning staff spots at George’s Keep and Paramour along the way. “When you work with some of San Antonio’s best bar staff, it’s either you elevate to that level or you quickly realize you’re not as good as you thought,” he says. “Either way, you take something away from the experience.” Now lead bartender at the Pearl’s newest bar, he feels a responsibility to help those who are coming up in the ranks as well.
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Michelle Burgess has too many dogs and a bad Tweet work ethic. Follow her @MishiBurg.
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After LeT’s 26/11 mission, al-Qaida recruited Headley for strike in Delhi
Updated Feb 13, 2016 | 07:15 IST | The Times of India
David Coleman Headley's life as an agent for multiple masters came to the fore on Friday as he revealed that after the "successful completion" of the 26/11 attacks with the Lashkar-e-Taiba, he was recruited by al-Qaida in a bid to strike terror in Delhi. "
Yes, I was working for al-Qaida," he said in response to special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam's question. Deposing before special judge Govind A Sanap via video conferencing for the fourth day, he said the main target for the attack was the National Defence College (NDC) as it was a "high-value target due to the presence of senior officers."
The LeT, Headley said, was kept in the dark about the trip. "I knew they would not let me go. After the Mumbai attacks, media reports made them insecure and they feared I would be apprehended if I travelled to India," Headley said.
The terrorist, now deposing as an approver in the 26/11 case, said al-Qaida member Abdul Rehman Pasha, a retired Pakistani army officer, had reasoned that if the attack on the NDC was successful, they would be able to kill many more brigadiers than in any wars between India and Pakistan. Pasha had defected from the LeT.
Headley said the institute was also high on the target list of the LeT earlier. He revealed that after 26/11, he came back to India from Pakistan on March 7, 2009, on a 10-day trip at the behest of Ilyas Kashmiri, a senior alQaida operative. "Kashmiri mentioned a few places he wanted me to visit and conduct reconnaissance for the purpose of terror attacks. These included the NDC and Chabad house in Delhi and the Chabad houses in Pushkar and Goa," Headley said.
During the trip he had stayed at Holiday Inn and Anand Hotel. "Kashmiri told me to go to the college for defence officers. That was the primary target, Chabad House was second," he said.
Here's the mind-boggling cost of Shilpa Shetty's heels
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Prosecution to Rest Case Against Marine Being Retried
FILE - U.S. Marine Sergeant Lawrence Hutchins III poses for a portrait.
SAN DIEGO - Military prosecutors on Wednesday are expected to give closing arguments in their case against a Marine Corps sergeant being retried on a murder charge in a major Iraq war crimes case involving the 2006 killing of a retired Iraqi policeman.
Defense Attorney Christopher Oprison, representing Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, is also expected to give closing arguments at Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego.
Hutchins is being retried in the killing of the unarmed man in the village of Hamdania after the military's highest court overturned his murder conviction in 2013.
Prosecutors say the squad Hutchins led kidnapped the 52-year-old Iraqi and shot him multiple times and then planted an AK-47 rifle to make it look like he was an insurgent.
Hutchins faces returning to the brig if the jury finds him guilty again of murder.
He served seven years of his 11-year sentence before the court found interrogators had violated his rights when he was detained in Iraq and held in solitary confinement without access to a lawyer for a week.
Five former squad members refused to testify against Hutchins.
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Top US Defense Officials to Join Trump in 'Salute to America'
By Jeff Seldin
Two Bradley Fighting Vehicles flank the stage being prepared in front of the Lincoln Memorial, Wednesday, July 3, 2019, in Washington, ahead of planned Fourth of July festivities with President Donald Trump.
Katherine Gypson, Dora Mekouar and Ken Bredemeier contributed to this report.
Updated: July 4, 2019 04:42 PM.
WASHINGTON — The United States is celebrating its Independence Day holiday Thursday with traditional fireworks displays, gatherings of family and friends in communities across the nation, and an unconventional address by President Donald Trump.
The Fourth of July festivities commemorate America’s declaration of independence from Britain in 1776. In the nation’s capital, Washington, the holiday attracts hundreds of thousands of people to the National Mall for a concert and massive fireworks display.
This year, Trump announced the addition of the “Salute to America” event to highlight U.S. military power, featuring his speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
"It will be the show of a lifetime!" he tweeted Wednesday.
As the country's 243rd celebration of its freedom dawned on Thursday, Trump wished Americans a "HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!"
"People are coming from far and wide to join us today and tonight," he said, "for what is turning out to be one of the biggest celebrations in the history of our Country, SALUTE TO AMERICA, an all day event at the Lincoln Memorial, culminating with large scale flyovers of the most modern and advanced aircraft anywhere in the World."
Not everyone was anxious to celebrate with Trump, but rather against him. The anti-war group Code Pink inflated a blimp depicting Trump as an angry baby in a diaper, a common site on Trump's visits to London. Others carried signs attacking him for bringing tanks to the National Mall on what traditionally has not been a day to showcase American military might.
The Defense Department confirmed Acting Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and the nation’s highest-ranking military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford have accepted the president’s invitation for Thursday’s festivities.
Other top-ranking defense officials, including the acting undersecretary of the Army, the secretary of the Navy, the acting secretary of the Air Force, the deputy commander of the Marine Corps Development Command and the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard will also attend.
In addition, the Defense Department said the White House has provided 5,000 tickets to the event for other military personnel and their families.
Original | 146 MB
WATCH: US Capital Prepares for Trump Independence Day Celebration
Traditionally, U.S. presidents have kept a low profile during the Independence Day celebrations, and Trump’s critics have expressed concern that he will turn the event into a campaign-style rally as he prepares for his re-election campaign.
There have also been questions about the costs of adding the military hardware and troops as part of the celebration.
White House officials have countered that Trump will avoid politics and that the rally will be purely patriotic.
Trump tweeted Wednesday that the cost “will be very little compared to what it is worth.”
People wait for President Donald Trump to speak at an Independence Day celebration in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, July 4, 2019.
Since Trump took office, critics, including Democratic lawmakers in Congress, have denounced the president for using the U.S. military and military venues as political props.
“This spectacle is not a celebration of America and our values, it’s a shoddy ego boost for a national embarrassment of a president,” Rep. Mark Takano, chairman of House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, wrote on Twitter.
“America’s birthday is supposed to be for all Americans and not a partisan event for particular president or particular party, which is what the president’s actions are attempting to turn it into,” said Donald Sherman, deputy director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonprofit monitoring government ethics and accountability.
VOA reached out to Republican lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee for reaction.
Trump to Headline Revamped July 4th Celebrations
President to speak while overseeing expanded fireworks show and militaristic displays
But Anita McBride, who served in previous Republican presidential administrations, said concerns are likely overblown.
“There are more important things that need attention than changing a venue and program for the celebrations,” said McBride, now with American University’s Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies. “I am not opposed to any president changing the location or program for Fourth of July celebrations.”
Democrat Cautions About Trump's July 4th Extravaganza
President Donald Trump's planned July Fourth extravaganza on the National Mall sounds like it could become a giant Trump rally on the taxpayers' dime, a Democratic senator cautioned Wednesday. But Interior Secretary David Bernhardt defended Trump's still-vague Independence Day plans for Washington, D.C., in response to questioning by Sen. Tom Udall, a New Mexico Democrat, at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing. Udall…
Trump, Protesters Gear Up for an Untraditional July Fourth
Sweltering capital hosts traditional July Fourth parade, prelude to Trump's untraditional event at the Lincoln Memorial as storms threaten
Thu, 07/04/2019 - 02:01 PM
US Capitol Prepares for Trump Independence Day Celebration
The celebration of the United States' 243rd birthday looks different this year, as President Trump stages his own military-themed celebration, in addition to the now-traditional ceremony at the U.S. Capitol. VOA's congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson reports on how the capital city, Washington, D.C., is preparing.
By Katherine Gypson
Thu, 07/04/2019 - 06:14 AM
July 4: A Holiday of Fireworks and History
What is July 4?July 4, also known as Independence Day, is the day in 1776 that delegates from the 13 U.S. colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence, announcing the severing of ties with Britain.The day has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1941 and is traditionally a day when Americans celebrate with firework displays, parades, concerts and cookouts.
By VOA News
Tue, 07/03/2018 - 07:42 AM
Jeff Seldin
National Security Correspondent
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Emmy Awards viewership plunges to 6.9 million people
by: DAVID BAUDER, Associated Press
The cast and crew of “Game Of Thrones” accepts the award for outstanding drama series at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
NEW YORK (AP) — The Emmy Awards plunged to a record-low viewership of 6.9 million, illustrating a collective shrug by the public for an annual program that celebrates the best of television and is designed to build excitement for a new season.
The Nielsen company said the audience for Fox’s host-less show on Sunday was down 32% from 2018, which was previously the smallest ever. It’s the first time the Emmy audience has slipped below 10 million people.
Competition from an NFL game between the Los Angeles Rams and Cleveland Browns was blamed for siphoning off some viewers. More likely, it was because of how television has changed and is less and less of a communal experience.
“The Emmys used to matter because it was all the TV you watched, pitted against each other,” tweeted Myles McNutt, a cultural critic and professor at Old Dominion University. “But now, the Emmys are more likely a place where shows regular people had no idea existed compete with shows they have a vague understanding of.”
Television’s most popular scripted show, CBS’ now-retired “The Big Bang Theory,” wasn’t nominated for best comedy. Amazon’s “Fleabag” won that Emmy. It’s not clear how many people have even seen the streamed series.
Of the 132 Emmy Awards handed out this year, only 18 went for work on broadcast networks. Except for two awards for NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” broadcast programs were shut out of Sunday’s telecast.
It wasn’t that long ago, back in 2013, that 17.8 million people watched the Emmy Awards, Nielsen said. The largest Emmy audience in Nielsen’s record book was the 35.8 million people who watched in 1986.
For people who want to follow the awards casually while watching something else, news about winners spreads quickly on social media, further diminishing the incentive to tune in. HBO’s “Game of Thrones” was the biggest winner with 12 Emmys this year, while the HBO limited series “Chernobyl” won 10.
The awards are shown in late September primarily to generate excitement for the broadcast networks’ new season, which begins this week. ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox rotate as the host network.
It’s easy to envision a time when those networks lose interest in the Emmys, given how members of the television academy overlook them. But the broadcast schedule won’t change soon, since the rotation is locked in through 2026.
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IDSA Statement on the House of Representatives State and Foreign Operations and Labor, Health and Human Services FY 2018 funding bills
WEBWIRE – Monday, August 14, 2017
The Infectious Diseases Society of America appreciates that House appropriators recognized several central and urgent public health and research priorities in their funding bills for the coming fiscal year. However, we are awaiting funding details for critical Centers for Disease Control and Prevention programs that receive funding through the Prevention and Public Health Fund, including the CDC’s Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infections Diseases, which supports antimicrobial resistance efforts, and CDC’s immunizations programs. We strongly urge Congress to provide full funding for these priorities. We also note that to ensure robust, sustainable support for all ID/HIV priorities requires a bipartisan budget agreement that increases the spending caps.
Rejecting the White House proposal to deal historic cuts to the National Institutes of Health, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services bill provides a $1.1 billion increase to NIH funding, supporting continued biomedical research to address continuing and emerging global and domestic health challenges at a critical time. We deeply appreciate the subcommittee members’ continued support for the NIH Fogarty International Center, slated for elimination under the Trump administration proposal. Their decision to preserve the Center and include a 1.5 percent increase over fiscal year 2017 funding for its work in the year ahead reflects an understanding of the pivotal role that Fogarty’s collaborative and global reach, as well as its grants to U.S. research entities plays in American scientific leadership of biomedical advances.
The bill also adds necessary resources to confront the growing threats posed by emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, as well as by the need for new medicines for infections resistant to current treatments with an increase of $99 million over FY 2017 funding to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as well as the $33 million increase in funding for the institute’s antimicrobial resistance research. The $8.3 million increase over current funding for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, will further strengthen efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance. Maintained funding for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention HIV/AIDS, STD, TB Hepatitis Center as well as a $45 million increase for the CDC’s Prevention’s Public Health and Preparedness and Response Programs provided in the bill also show the subcommittee’s support and understanding of the ongoing need for strong and effective efforts to protect American’s health.
In addition, we thank subcommittee members for maintaining funding for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Global AIDS program, and rejecting the President’s call to cut the program’s resources in half at a time when continued momentum to ending HIV as a global health threat is essential. The bill also offers continued support for other CDC Center for Global Health programs, with funding consistent with FY 2017 levels.
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations also has chosen to support a path of continued U.S. health leadership by maintaining funding for the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in the face of an administration proposal that would have dealt devastating blows to the work supported by both programs. In this instance too, however, we remain concerned that the bill undermines the effectiveness of the programs it otherwise supports, in this case by supporting damaging policies that further restrict funding for family planning activities under an expanded Mexico City Policy, prohibits funding to the United Nations Population Fund, and caps family planning and reproductive health programs at 2008 funding levels.
We greatly appreciate the support both bills provide for necessary and ongoing work to control the impacts of infectious diseases, protect Americans at home and abroad, and maintain U.S. scientific, humanitarian, and global health security leadership in a difficult budget climate. We hope that as the bills move through the appropriations process, and as the full House and Senate determine funding for the coming fiscal year, these bills can be strengthened. We will continue to monitor developments, and alert appropriators to important issues as they arise.
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What we aim to achieve
Learning & Researching
Gift box – Encouragement
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Sponsor a child- The gift of bright future
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What makes us distinguished
Abandoned Babies, Infants, Newborn risk and opportunities
Published by wedad on September 19, 2020 September 19, 2020
Abandoned Babies, Infants, Newborn or know as Child abandonment has its risks and opportunities and is the practice of relinquishing interests and claims over one’s offspring in an illegal way with the intent of never again resuming or reasserting guardianship over them. Babies, infants, newborn abandonment terminology refers to parents leaving their children younger than 12 months in a public or private place with the intent of terminating their care for the child.
In most cases, child abandonment is classified under a subsection of child abuse statutes and is punishable with a felony. Following felonious charges, one or both guardians give up their parental rights over the child thus severing their relationship with the child. Some countries allow for a reinstatement of parental rights, in which case the parent or parents can have a relationship with the child again. However, it is unlikely that parents can ever regain custody.
Source WiKipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_abandonment
Poverty and homelessness are often causes of child abandonment. People living in countries with poor social welfare systems and who are not financially capable of taking care of a child are more likely to abandon their children because of a lack of resources.
In some cases, the parents already have a child or children but are unable to take care of another child at that time.
In societies where women are looked down upon for being teenage or single mothers, child abandonment is more common.
Children born out of the confines of marriage may be abandoned in a family’s attempt to prevent being shamed by their community.
Physical disability, mental illness, and substance abuse problems that parents are facing can also cause them to abandon their children.
Children who are born with congenital disorders or other health complications may be abandoned if their parents feel unequipped to provide them with the level of care that their condition requires.
In cultures where the sex of the child is of utmost importance, parents are more likely to abandon a baby of the undesired sex. Similarly, people may choose to pursue the often controversial option of sex-selective abortion.
Political conditions, such as war and displacement of a family, are also cause for parents to abandon their children.
Additionally, a parent being incarcerated or deported can result in the involuntary abandonment of a child, even if the parent(s) did not voluntarily relinquish their parental role.
Disownment of a child is a form of abandonment which entails ending contact with, and support for, one’s dependent. Disownment tends to occur later in a child’s life, generally due to a conflict between the parent(s) and the child, but can also occur when children are still young. Reasons include: divorce of parents, discovering the true paternity of a child and a child’s actions bringing shame to a family; most commonly, breaking the law, teenage pregnancy, major religious or ideological differences, and identifying as LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender).
Abandoned Babies | Infants | Newborn risk and opportunities
Effects on survivors
Possibility of experiencing abuse and neglect in institutionalized care
Low self-esteem stemming from feelings of guilt about being at fault for being abandoned
Separation anxiety: feelings of anxiety about being separated from parents or caregivers
Attachment issues: difficulty becoming emotionally attached to and trusting other people, especially caregivers
Abandonment issues, characteristic of abandoned child syndrome, including:
social alienation, guilt, anxiety, clinginess, insomnia and nightmares, eating disorders, anger issues, depression, substance abuse, and traumatic re-enactment through romantic relationships
Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), referred to as post-traumatic stress disorder of abandonment.
Depending upon the severity of their symptoms, children who have developed certain maladjusted tendencies in social interaction may be diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder or disinhibited social engagement disorder.
For children who are abandoned in dangerous places, such as dumpsters, doorsteps, and other public areas, exposure to the elements and physical injury are distinct possibilities.
Societal impact and cost
The impact of the abandoned children if not taken care of in the right manner is huge and affect society negatively by adding more homeless, criminals, drug addicts and increase the probability of children-abuse. In 2015, it cost the United States’ government over $9 billion to support 427,910 children who were in foster care.
Child abandonment laws
Child abandonment is illegal in some countries like the United States, but some others consider it to be a felony offence, while others categorize it as a misdemeanour, so punishments vary according to local law, for example in the united states the punishment range from a $2,000 fine to up to five years in prison and a $125,000 penalty. Also, the punishment varies according to abandoned child status if the child died then the punishment can be more intense.
Sex-education and to family planning resources, like contraception, and abortion (in countries that it is legally allowed under physicians supervision) can help prevent people who cannot take care of, or do not want to raise, children from becoming pregnant in the first place.
Evidence has shown that, when bans on abortion are lifted, the number of abandoned, abused, and neglected children go down in response. However, access is an issue. In the United States, 87% of all counties, and 97% of all rural counties, do not have any access to abortion services.
Governmental assistance can be provided in the form of parental counselling, post-natal services, mental health services, and other community support services for parents who are at a higher risk of abandoning their children because of age, support, physical ability, mental illness, or poverty.
Today, Abandonement of Babies, Infants, Newborn is considered to be a serious crime in many jurisdictions because it can be considered wrong in itself due to the direct harm to the child, and because of welfare concerns (in that the child often becomes a burden upon the society and public FISC).
For example, in the U.S. state of Georgia, it is a misdemeanour to will-fully and voluntarily abandon a child, and a felony to abandon one’s child and leave the state.
In 1981, Georgia’s treatment of abandonment as a felony when the defendant leaves the state was upheld as constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. Adoption is still legal in Arkansas where, in 2015, state legislator Justin Harris made national headlines by re-homing two young adopted children.
Many jurisdictions have exceptions to abandonment laws in the form of safe haven laws, which apply to babies left in designated places such as hospitals.
In the UK abandoning a child under the age of two years is a criminal offence. In 2004 49 babies were abandoned the UK nationwide with slightly more boys than girls being abandoned.
Children abandonment is rife worldwide for example in Malaysia, where between 2005 and 2011, 517 babies were dumped. Of those 517 children, 287 were found dead.
Persons in cultures with poor social welfare systems who are not financially capable of taking care of a child are more likely to abandon them.
Worldwide legislation is needed to protect abandoned children, infants, newborn and keep their right in living and organise adoption process.
Wedad International Foundation (WIF) role
Wedad International Foundation (WIF) a Swiss charity and partners aim to help abandoned infants to enjoy their childhood with a caring and loving family in a nurturing environment, where they have a sense of belonging and to be a responsible citizen.
WIF provides children with immediate alternative temp home till we find the suitable family that comply with all requirement to adopt the child. We don’t stop there; we follow on the wellbeing of the child till the age of 12 years old.
Today, Wedad International Foundation (WIF) and partners operate in 4 countries, and progressing to expanding its aspirations in 12 new countries by 2024. We have a unique methodology in our temp home operation as well as options to breastfeed infant’s prior of adoption.
WIF works internationally according to the legislation in every country through its locally established partners.
Learn More about Wedad Work
Categories: Articles
Tags: abandoned_infantabandoned_infantsabandoned_infants_hopeabandoned_newbornabandonedinfantabandonedinfantsabandonedinfantshopeabandonednewbornsavechildsavechildrensavethechildrenWIF
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Dikgosi must enjoy equal status at Ntlo Ya Dikgosi – Study
By Francinah Baaitse
Members of Ntlo Ya Dikgosi
The National Vision 2016 Council has put the mother tongue issue on its agenda and intends to facilitate development of an overarching national language policy that would probably see the introduction of teaching in the vernacular in local schools and introduction of community radio stations.
In a mission to ensure that Botswana would be a tolerant nation by the year 2016 (next year), the Council has expressed its wish for the government to embrace other local languages in consonance with the ideals of the European Union (EU).
“Botswana is still to introduce teaching in mother tongue or language in the schools. This continues to be seen as some form of intolerance in certain quarters, especially among the minority groups who feel marginalised by government,” a draft report from the council on the matter has revealed.
The report suggests that the council was mandated in a recent workshop with stakeholders to establish incentives for Batswana to speak at least one other local language over and above their mother tongue and therefore the introduction of teaching in local languages in schools would be a step in that direction.
Another mandate was for the Council to lobby for different Languages to be used in local publications.
“In the same way, there is still no room for ethnic languages in both public and private media and still no community radio stations to promote the different ethnic cultures and languages,” the report further reads in part.
The Council comes to a close next year September and by then it hopes to have achieved pillar number six which calls for a moral and tolerant nation.
The general view is that the current regime has been running an exclusive government which discriminates ethnic groups and their languages for close to five decades. The findings were not only made by the Council but another independent body, the Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis (BIDPA) which says the unequal treatment of ethnicities is a creature of the country’s constitution.
According to BIDPA, the reforms to section 77, 78 and 79 of the constitution which were done at the begining of the Millenium did not go far enough. Suggestions were raised that Dikgosi from different ethnic groups must enjoy equal status at Ntlo ya Dikgosi and that other languages must be recognised and be introduced in elementary education.
Sections 77, 78 and 79 of the constitution recognised eight tribes as the major tribes and the rest were not given the similar status and were not even represented at Ntlo ya Dikgosi (House of chiefs). The eight tribes included, Bakgatla, Bakwena, Bangwato, Bangwaketse, Balete, Barolong, Bahurutshe and Batawana.This arrangement was perceived as discriminatory and the constitution was amended during president Festus Mogae’s tenure to do away with the discriminative sections.
The population of Botswana is divided into the main ethnic groups of Tswana people (79%), Kalanga people (11%), and Basarwa (or Bushmen) (3%) and the the remaining 7% consist of other ethnic groups including some speaking the Kgalagadi language, and 1% of non-African people.
In its 2014 report tittled, Elections and the Management of Diversity in Botswana, BIDPA revealed that the general view in the country is that the country constitution is very discriminatory and Batswana in general are not happy with it.
Botswana is a constitutional democracy with the constitution having been adapted from great Britain at independence in 1966. The constitution is generally respected and regarded by all citizens as the supreme law of the country and the country continues to use strictly two official languages, Setswana and English.
On a global basis however the country is generally rated highly in terms of tolerance for diversity and acceptance of differences between people, their religion, language, political affiliation and ethnic background but both BIDPA and the Vision 2016 Council agrees that the issue of language remains and perhaps needs to be discussed further for the nation to reach a consensus.
Tshotego blasts Boatile for supporting Elders
EU seeks UN support to tackle migrant smuggling
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Production Begins on Telemundo Novela 'La Fan'
Telemundo has kicked off productio on its latest telenovela, La Fan, starring Angelica Vale, Juan Pablo Espinosa, Ximena Duque, Jonathan Islas, Scarlet Ortiz and Gabriel Porras. Inspired on an original idea by Vale, La Fan was written by Marcela Citterio. Miguel Varoni, Claudio Callao and Otto Rodríguez co-direct, with Carmen Cecilia Urbaneja, José Gerardo Guillen and David Posada serving as executive producers.
La Fan is the story of a happy-go-lucky woman from a poor background who is a passionate fan of a famous telenovela actor until an unexpected twist of fate drives her headlong right into his life. Her idol may hardly notice at first, but by the time the story ends he won’t be able to imagine his life without her.
Angelica Vale plays the lead, returning to telenovelas after more than 10 years, taking on the role of Valentina Perez, a fun-loving extrovert. A dreamer, Valentina is a bit clumsy and cautious in pursuing her idol, Lucas Duarte (Juan Pablo Espinosa), a famous telenovela actor. Valentina knows full well that she is living in a fantasy and will never meet her heartthrob in real life, so she channels her energies into creating the Lucas Duarte Fan Club, whose members are known as “Las Lucalocas.”
In their first starring roles for Telemundo, Juan Pablo Espinosa and Scarlet Ortiz play Lucas Duarte and Salma Beltran, respectively. As the top telenovelas leading man, Lucas has everything a man could want: he is handsome, loves his job, earns a good living and is world famous, and his beautiful girlfriend makes him the envy of other men. As for Salma, she may play the good girl in the telenovelas – the sweet innocent who suffers for love – but in real life she is a villain. The public adores her, taking her at face value to be the adorable angel they see on screen. The real Salma, however, is a collection of undesirable character traits.
Co-starring in the production is Gabriel Porras as Gabriel Bustamante, the smart and likeable agent who manages Lucas’ career and becomes his best friend. Also starring is Ximena Duque as Adriana Zubizarreta, a young executive and Harvard graduate who is hardworking and intelligent, with a drive to succeed that makes her stand out from the pack. Adriana speaks five languages, has traveled the world, and is as charismatic as she is rational. Jonathan Islas rounds out the lead cast, playing Diego, a handsome and athletic young man with a good heart and noble character. Honest, sincere and direct, he is always ready to lend a helping hand.
La Fan also features a special appearance by veteran actor Miguel Varoni and a supporting cast that includes Omar Germenos, Gloria Peralta, Elsy Reyes, Gabriel Valenzuela, Maritza Bustamante, Pablo Azar, Gabriel Rossi, Begoña Narvaez, Ricardo Kleinbaum, Josette Vidal, Lorena De La Garza, Mario Espitia, Freddy Flores, Fernando Pacanins and Jorge Eduardo Garcia, Silvana Arias, Roberto Plantier, Carlos Gastelum, Adrián Escalona, Georgina Palacios, among others.
La Fan is an original Telemundo production filmed in Los Angeles and Miami.
Categories: La Fan, Telemundo, Telenovelas
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The intelligence coup of the century — II
ZURICH: The German spy agency, the BND, came to believe the risk of exposure was too great and left the operation in the early 1990s. But the CIA bought the Germans’ stake and simply kept going, wringing Crypto for all its espionage worth until 2018, when the agency sold off the company’s assets, according to current and former officials.
The company’s importance to the global security market had fallen by then, squeezed by the spread of online encryption technology. Once the province of governments and major corporations, strong encryption is now as ubiquitous as apps on cellphones.
Even so, the Crypto operation is relevant to modern espionage. Its reach and duration help to explain how the United States developed an insatiable appetite for global surveillance that was exposed in 2013 by Edward Snowden. There are also echoes of Crypto in the suspicions swirling around modern companies with alleged links to foreign governments, including the Russian anti-virus firm Kaspersky, a texting app tied to the United Arab Emirates and the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.
This story is based on the CIA history and a parallel BND account, also obtained by The Post and ZDF, and interviews with current and former Western intelligence officials as well as Crypto employees. Many spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the subject.
It is hard to overstate how extraordinary the CIA and BND histories are. Sensitive intelligence files are periodically declassified and released to the public. But it is exceedingly rare, if not unprecedented, to glimpse authoritative internal histories of an entire covert operation. The Post was able to read all of the documents, but the source of the material insisted that only excerpts be published.
The CIA and the BND declined to comment, though US and German officials did not dispute the authenticity of the documents. The first is a 96-page account of the operation completed in 2004 by the CIA’s Center for the Study of Intelligence, an internal historical branch. The second is an oral history compiled by German intelligence officials in 2008.
The overlapping accounts expose frictions between the two partners over money, control and ethical limits, with the West Germans frequently aghast at the enthusiasm with which U.S. spies often targeted allies.
But both sides describe the operation as successful beyond their wildest projections. At times, including in the 1980s, Crypto accounted for roughly 40 percent of the diplomatic cables and other transmissions by foreign governments that cryptanalysts at the NSA decoded and mined for intelligence, according to the documents.
All the while, Crypto generated millions of dollars in profits that the CIA and BND split and plowed into other operations.
Crypto’s products are still in use in more than a dozen countries around the world, and its orange-and-white sign still looms atop the company’s longtime headquarters building near Zug, Switzerland. But the company was dismembered in 2018, liquidated by shareholders whose identities have been permanently shielded by the byzantine laws of Liechtenstein, a tiny European nation with a Cayman Islands-like reputation for financial secrecy.
Two companies purchased most of Crypto’s assets. The first, CyOne Security, was created as part of a management buyout and now sells security systems exclusively to the Swiss government. The other, Crypto International, took over the former company’s brand and international business.
Each insisted that it has no ongoing connection to any intelligence service, but only one claimed to be unaware of CIA ownership. Their statements were in response to questions from The Post, ZDF and Swiss broadcaster SRF, which also had access to the documents.
CyOne has more substantial links to the now-dissolved Crypto, including that the new company’s chief executive held the same position at Crypto for nearly two decades of CIA ownership.
A CyOne spokesman declined to address any aspect of Crypto AG’s history but said the new firm has “no ties to any foreign intelligence services.”
Andreas Linde, the chairman of the company that now holds the rights to Crypto’s international products and business, said he had no knowledge of the company’s relationship to the CIA and BND before being confronted with the facts in this article.
“We at Crypto International have never had any relationship with the CIA or BND — and please quote me,” he said in an interview. “If what you are saying is true, then absolutely I feel betrayed, and my family feels betrayed, and I feel there will be a lot of employees who will feel betrayed as well as customers.”
The Swiss government announced on Tuesday that it was launching an investigation of Crypto AG’s ties to the CIA and BND. Earlier this month, Swiss officials revoked Crypto International’s export license.
The timing of the Swiss moves was curious. The CIA and BND documents indicate that Swiss officials must have known for decades about Crypto’s ties to the US and German spy services, but intervened only after learning that news organizations were about to expose the arrangement.
The histories, which do not address when or whether the CIA ended its involvement, carry the inevitable biases of documents written from the perspectives of the operation’s architects. They depict Rubicon as a triumph of espionage, one that helped the United States prevail in the Cold War, keep tabs on dozens of authoritarian regimes and protect the interests of the United States and its allies.
The papers largely avoid more unsettling questions, including what the United States knew — and what it did or didn’t do — about countries that used Crypto machines while engaged in assassination plots, ethnic cleansing campaigns and human rights abuses.
The revelations in the documents may provide reason to revisit whether the United States was in position to intervene in, or at least expose, international atrocities, and whether it opted against doing so at times to preserve its access to valuable streams of intelligence.
Nor do the files deal with obvious ethical issues at the core of the operation: the deception and exploitation of adversaries, allies and hundreds of unwitting Crypto employees. Many traveled the world selling or servicing rigged systems with no clue that they were doing so at risk to their own safety.
Armeena Khan Shares A Thought-provoking Note About Fashion
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Home >Camera Enforcement > Red Light Cameras > College Station, Texas Tries to Undermine Anti-Camera Referendum
College Station, Texas Tries to Undermine Anti-Camera Referendum
College Station, Texas may attempt to circumvent a public vote on the future of red light cameras.
The success of citizen initiative petitions to stop photo enforcement have forced local officials to react swiftly. In Heath, Ohio the mayor has begun forgiving recipients of multiple speed camera tickets in a desperate attempt to paint a friendlier face on the program after formal acceptance of the petition that will put the future of the program up for a public vote in November. A similar petition also succeeded in College Station, Texas, but officials are turning to far more hostile tactics. Local resident Jim Ash, who led the charge to gather signatures, now says city officials will attempt to sabotage the ballot initiative later today.
"In a recent radio interview, Mayor Ben White asserted 'the city does not have to take the petition to a vote in November,'" Ash wrote in a letter to City Manager Glenn Brown. "This fact coupled with the city's plans that you disclosed to me in our call today leave me troubled. I believe the city's actions threaten to undermine the foundation of the petition."
According to the text of the petition, the specific powers granted under the city's Automated Traffic Signal Enforcement ordinance would be declared "unenforceable." By taking away these powers in a legislative act of the people, city officials would be unable to resurrect the red light camera program. To get around this, city leaders appear willing to re-write the ballot measure so that it is a simple referendum on a specific ordinance. Doing so would make it easier to bring back the cameras at some later date.
The city's ploy has another flaw. If the public is to vote only to overturn an ordinance, the vote would be immediately invalid because a referendum to overturn an ordinance must be launched twenty days after passage of the ordinance. The city strongly denied that it is attempting to keep the cameras at any cost.
"It is ludicrous to think that anyone from the city of College Station would attempt to sabotage this petition," City Manager Glenn Brown responded in an email to Ash. "The city of College Station has a staff of five professional attorneys, including a city attorney with almost forty years of municipal law experience. The city council and staff take our legal advice from the city's legal department."
Ash does not believe Brown's reply was sincere. He will argue his case before the city council at 7pm today during a public meeting that will begin the process of putting the referendum on the November ballot.
In all cases where such measures have been put on the ballot, photo enforcement has never survived. In 2009, eighty-six percent of Sulphur, Louisiana rejected speed cameras. In 2008, residents in Cincinnati, Ohio rejected red light cameras. Seventy-six percent of Steubenville, Ohio voters rejected photo radar in 2006. In the mid-1990s, speed cameras lost by a two-to-one margin in Peoria, Arizona and Batavia, Illinois. In 1997, voters in Anchorage, Alaska banned cameras even after the local authorities had removed them. In 2003, 64 percent of voters in Arlington, Texas voted down "traffic management cameras" that opponents at the time said could be converted into ticketing cameras.
A copy of Ash's letter and Brown's response is available in a 350k PDF file at the source link below.
Source: Letter and Response (Jim Ash and Glenn Brown, 8/17/2009)
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WSLC is now offering naturalization legal aid
First-of-its-kind program will help legal permanent residents gain citizenship
By SARAH TUCKER
Special to The Stand
YAKIMA (Aug. 6, 2020) — As COVID-19 swept Washington in March and April, agricultural workers in warehouses across Yakima and the Valley walked out of dangerous workplaces, demanding hazard pay, Personal Protective Equipment, protection from retaliation for raising safety concerns, and basic respect on the job. These workers, doing the essential work of feeding Washington, faced an unprecedented level of risk: a largely immigrant workforce, with fewer labor protections than many, already underpaid and overworked, in the midst of a global pandemic. Still, these brave working people walked out.
Many of the striking workers were without the protections of union membership or citizenship, but the risk paid off. Each of the strikes in May ended with employers meeting the safety demands of striking workers and a number of strikes also resulted in hazard pay for workers. In a town where working people are systemically disenfranchised, the pressure caused by a global pandemic has illuminated inequities; it’s also demonstrated how much power working people united hold in a time of crisis.
Against this backdrop, the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO is expanding its programming for building power for working people by launching a one-of-a-kind naturalization legal services program, providing legal aid to union members who are legal permanent residents seeking citizenship.
Dulce Gutiérrez, the WSLC’s Union, Community & Naturalization Organizer, has trained for the past three years to provide these critical legal aid services in the Yakima Valley. She spoke with The Stand about the importance of citizenship work, and the challenges.
Dulce grew up in Yakima, and she has seen firsthand the consequences of citizenship being inaccessible.
“A large segment of the labor force here in Yakima County is made up of immigrants, many of whom are undocumented entirely,” Dulce said. “That causes a ripple effect in a number of areas. First and foremost it’s unlikely and very rare to see laborers in the agricultural industry assert their labor rights. It’s also extremely difficult for workers to report violations of wage theft, or any sort of undercut of pay.”
Citizenship is a labor issue
Helping working people access citizenship is fundamentally a labor issue. As Dulce explained, “When you have different factions within a population that is already vulnerable, then amongst themselves they are not organized. And you eventually have a competition among workers towards the bottom, a race to the bottom: who can work the most for the least amount of money.”
Agricultural workers face dangerous health disparities linked to hazards on the job; respiratory diseases and illnesses are linked to drifting, for example.
“Drifting is when airplanes drop chemicals on fields, and although it is illegal now to do it in a field where workers are at, it’s still not illegal to do it in a field next to where workers are at,” Dulce said. “So on any day where the wind is blowing, you have chemicals and pesticides floating on to the workers next door.”
This practice, likely linked to the cancer and respiratory illness clusters found in agricultural areas across the United States, is clearly unsafe; in the midst of a global pandemic targeting the respiratory system, it’s actively violent. But without the protection of citizenship, it’s extremely difficult for workers to advocate for themselves.
“If [agricultural workers] report labor violations, oftentimes they are never given an opportunity to work in that farm ever again,” Dulce said. “H2A workers will never be invited back to the United States [to work] if they make a complaint. Undocumented people are oftentimes retaliated against and ICE is called on them, so they have little to no ability to organize themselves without having severe retaliatory actions taken against them.”
Dulce has seen this first hand.
“One of the biggest barriers these workers face is their status and their lack of [citizenship],” she said. “Obtaining citizenship is one of the pillars to improving not only their ability to advocate and assert their rights, but also overall improve quality of life.”
The need for naturalization services
Access to citizenship is clearly important, but historically there have been few affordable options for assistance with the naturalization process. In Yakima and surrounding areas, there are organizations doing this crucial work – like the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP), la Casa Hogar, and OneAmerica. But the need surpasses the available resources, and is often urgent; in a global pandemic, ICE continues to separate families, using Yakima airport for deportation flights.
Private attorneys are often prohibitively expensive, and for many legal permanent residents without criminal records there’s no reason that assistance with naturalization should cost so much.
“Ethical attorneys often turn folks [in this situation] away,” said Dulce. “They won’t even accept their money and provide the service because they feel like they should be focusing on immigrants who are already in the detention center or in court proceedings.”
NWIRP has a long waiting list and is 30 miles outside of Yakima in Granger, and while OneAmerica runs citizenship days, there’s only one program in Yakima per year. The only Yakima provider is La Casa Hogar, a non-profit community center that runs citizenship classes and offers naturalization assistance, prioritizing assistance for class attendees.
“What we found is that legal permanent residents were waiting three, four, sometimes up to six months in line to be provided with a consultation and assisted with their naturalization application,” Dulce said. And for many union members who are legal permanent residents, the only barrier to starting the naturalization process is this wait time. “A lot of union members know English, they know some of the educational parts they have to pass for the exam,” said Dulce. “And oftentimes, they have the means to pay for their application, so they’re not waiting for the waiver. They’re ready to go, but they don’t have the service made available to them.”
This is the gap that the WSLC naturalization legal services program seeks to fill. Partnering with a major community center in Yakima County, Nuestra Casa, the WSLC will be offering legal aid to legal permanent residents, prioritizing union siblings seeking citizenship.
“It’s super exciting, providing a brand new avenue for resources and legal aid to union members specifically that they really are not getting anywhere else, and will have immediate access to,” Dulce said.
Securing citizenship for working people offers protection on the job, but the effects of naturalization reach far beyond the jobsite. For Dulce, this work isn’t just a pathway to citizenship; it builds political power for all working people.
“We have the ability to not only help immigrant workers become citizens now, but we then also have the access to help them get registered to vote,” she said.
This is significant, especially in a town like Yakima, where Latinx folks make up half of the population, yet prior to 2015, there were no Latinx elected officials. Political power is predominantly held by ranchers.
“What we’ve seen in Yakima County is that you have ranchers that have the capital power to do things like union busting, or lobby and spend money on trying to create policies that are anti-labor,” Dulce said. With a largely immigrant workforce, it’s difficult, sometimes impossible, for working people to advocate for themselves and their families.
Helping working people access citizenship strengthens our movement. The Economic Policy Institute predicts that the working class will be minority-majority by 2032; naturalization legal aid is part of ensuring that the WSLC represents all working people. For Dulce, there’s tremendous promise in this work.
“Eventually people will end up thinking of unions as another way they are able to become citizens,” she said. “Just like people think of unions as a layer of protection from being exploited by their bosses, I hope working people one day think, ‘unions care about citizenship, so I’m going to go to my union and I’m going to get my citizenship with the union’s help’.”
Dulce Gutierrez is the WSLC Community & Naturalization Organizer based in Yakima, WA. Her work is partially funded by an AFL-CIO Solidarity Grant, recognizing the importance of advocacy for immigrant workers and citizenship for the entire labor movement. Dulce was elected to the Yakima City Council in 2015, one of the first Latinx women to serve on the council. You can read more about the specifics of the WSLC’s Naturalization Legal Services program at the WSLC website, including participation requirements, cost, how to make an appointment, and health & safety guidelines during COVID-19
Sarah Tucker is the WSLC’s Executive Assistant to the Secretary Treasurer.
Posted by David Groves on Aug 6 2020. Filed under W.S.L.C.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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Check Out a Thoughtful Exhibition Pays Homage to the Beloved Notre Dame
The recent fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral served as a reminder of the special place Paris holds in the hearts and minds of people around the world. Even those who haven’t traveled to the City of Light know it as an iconic world center of culture, history, and art. Paris: Notre Dame and Beyond, drawn entirely from the McNay Art Museum’s collection, celebrates Paris’ monuments and marvels.
Join us at McNay Art Museum for a chance to explore this eye-opening exhibition on Tuesday, January 7th! Highlights include eight large-scale color lithographs by Henri Rivière, offering a soaring view of Paris from the heights of Notre-Dame. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc’s much-loved spire—which collapsed in the April fire—is hauntingly visible as it towers over the transept of the cathedral.
Paris: Notre Dame and Beyond is presented as a complement to the McNay’s installation, Mary Cassatt’s Women. While Cassatt’s art focused on an interior, domestic, and familial world, the artists’ work in this unique installation features cityscapes during Belle Époque, the beautiful era in which Cassatt lived and worked in Paris. The exhibit will be available to view until February 23, 2020.
This exhibition is organized for the McNay Art Museum by Lyle W. Williams, Curator of Prints, and Drawings. Lead funding is most generously provided by the Elizabeth Huth Coates Exhibition Endowment and the Arthur and Jane Stieren Fund for Exhibitions.
The McNay Art Museum engages a diverse community in the discovery and enjoyment of the visual arts. Admission prices will vary and are available to view online at www.mcnayart.org.
White Rock Apartment Homes, an extraordinary blend of comfortable and convenient apartments in San Antonio, Texas, would like to remind our friends and neighbors of this event! Make the most out of your free time and check it out before it’s too late.
Event Time/Date:
Tuesday, January 7, 2020—10:00 AM
Event Venue Location:
McNay Art Museum
6000 North New Braunfels Avenue
SanAntonio Exhibition
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Whitestone Gallery
Gallery-topics
Artists-topics
KATSUYOSHI INOKUMA: Cerulean Blue
“I want to return the painting to a pure place of emotions, and therefore I avoid representational subject matter. I want viewers to be able to enter the painting naturally and have a conversation with it.” —— Katsuyoshi INOKUMA
Whitestone Gallery is pleased to present “Cerulean Blue”, an exhibition of paintings by Japanese artist Katsuyoshi INOKUMA. Of all colours, blue has the most significant penetrating power and is diffused the most in the air, resulting in the blue sea and sky that our eyes see. For INOKUMA, blue touches people’s memories by connecting these two elements. This is INNOKUMA’s eighth exhibition with Whitestone and his first solo exhibition in Taiwan. “Cerulean Blue” will showcase over 30 paintings and works on paper that the artist created from 1997 to 2020.
Highly drawn to the self-portraits painted by the Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn, INOKUMA focuses on the construction of light and shadow. His portrait paintings from the early period, such as ’19-Year-old Self-portrait’ (1970) and ‘Dialogue’ (1980), breathe a sense of a surrealist atmosphere. Statue-like figures are placed in the centre of a simplified background, with a dreamlike feeling floats in the air. The artist later met an abstract painter named Masazo KAMATA in 1990. Inspired by KAMATA, he discarded the obligations to the labour of illustrating things, and turned to colourful abstract painting, presenting a feeling of contemplation.
INOKUMA also had a dynamic change in his drawing techniques. In work ‘IN BLUE Nov ’95’, he starts to explore the definition and relationship of Rectangular structure, without his dripping and sharp brushstroke. To bring out the desired depth in the blue, INOKUMA manipulates foundation layers of multiple colours and erases some of the paint after that. “Erasure” is an essential and repetitive process in his paintings.
INOKUMA also mixes coffee grounds to create a random, uneven texture; when light is reflected on it, and even more complex colour surface is produced. INOKUMA grinds pastel up in a mortar to create his pastel works, he then paints with his hands and erases using sandpaper, creating a rough texture in the material. The stage INOKUMA creates full of colours associated with air, water and land, endowing his canvas with an atmosphere of tranquility and spirituality.
Katsuyoshi INOKUMA was born in Fukushima in 1951 and graduated from Yokohama College of Art and Design in 1981. He is also the recipient of the Fukushima Art Association’s Special Selection Award (1980), the Shigeru Aoki Exhibition Award (1996), the Fukushima Prefectural Art Exhibition’s Silver Medal, as well as the Kiyoshi Saito Award (1998). His works have been exhibited in various cities, including Hong Kong, Taipei, and Tokyo. Institutions that have collected the paintings of INOKUMA in their prominent collection include the Fukushima Prefectural Medical College, the Hotel Hamatsu in Koriyama City, and the Shigeru Aoki Memorial Exhibition Committee.
1F, No.1, Jihu Rd., Neihu Dist., Taipei City, 114, Taiwan (R.O.C)
Opening Hours: 11:00 - 19:00
Closed: Monday
All Locations Hong KongTaipeiTokyoKaruizawaGinza New Gallery
HK H Queen’s
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Ginza New Gallery
© 2021 Whitestone Gallery
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Combating the Bermuda Triangle of higher education
COVID-19, the insurance hard market and social injustice have shaken up the financial balance sheets in higher education.
Financial benchmarks and projection models employed for decades by business and accounting professionals engaged by institutions of higher learning to prepare annual budgets, grow surplus accounts and guide investments have suddenly been rendered useless. Within the first few months of the COVID-19 scare, colleges and universities knew they were in financial trouble as revenue dried up while expenses piled on. Rebuilding financial platforms to project a year into the future is going to be difficult with a war waged on three major fronts: 1) COVID-19, 2) the insurance hard market and 3) the unrest surrounding social injustice. Facing one of these challenges would exhaust any business contingency strategy, but combating this “Higher Education Bermuda Triangle” has already sent up white flags at institutions struggling to remain solvent.
University and college powerhouses will make it through to the next stable period, but small to midsize private institutions with weak endowments will struggle. Even before the pandemic hit, a number of colleges were in trouble financially.
Institutions no longer accepting new student applications, such as the San Francisco Institute of Art, is a tell-tale sign the end is potentially near, and closure is looming. Lawrence M. Schall, president of the New England Commission of Higher Education and a former president, inherited a debt-ridden university. In a recent higher education article, Guidance for financially at-risk colleges1, he stated that an institution must meet nine standards to achieve accreditation, and the failure to meet Standard No. 7: Institutional Resources, means the financial resources can no longer support the college’s mission.
The lack of fiscal management in higher education has made preparing for a crisis extremely difficult. Beyond the historic levels of bureaucracy that stymie necessary quick decisions, the industry as a whole is up against misaligned strategic planning and attitude.
Most university and college operations are paid for by revenue from tuition. It has been a relatively stable approach over the years with variations in enrollment riding the peaks and valleys of the U.S. economy. Recruitment strategies adjust to capture the ebb and flow of the number of high school graduates, changing demographics and other past data to predict trends and subsequently establish tuition costs.
Endowment business models follow similar strategic planning steps by keeping pace with successful graduates and legacy donors based on data sources. Another part of the funding track comes from government appropriations and grants. There isn’t much control of this process because it lies at the mercy of elected officials. One variable that often separates an institution from its competition is the ability to build an auxiliary financial pipeline through successful sports programs, third-party partnerships, and extending its institutional academic footprint around the world. Although these resources do fluctuate based on various modifiers, the data and the analysis of how that data is viewed mostly remains constant. The stagnant workforce resulting from hiring those who have only worked in higher education leads to scant room for innovation in the business and operations of the college.
Misaligned strategic plans
The mission of all institutions starts and ends with academics. After all, an institution thrives on attracting and educating students to make them successful enough eventually to enable them to give back by donating money or, better yet, enroll their children in the future. It is a cycle that churns the machine, and it requires hiring the best faculty that can be afforded.
The strategic planning process on a campus is designed to identify the necessary components that will shape and grow the institution. It is a widely accepted process that manifests as a document of goals and objectives for the various leaders to complete in order to uphold the mission of the institution. With academics being the central focus, most strategic plans are naturally weighted in that direction. However, the infrastructure that supports the academic model needs the appropriate attention in the planning document to promote the continuation of the institution’s mission. This is the Achilles heel that leaves a university or college vulnerable during a crisis if not enough attention is given to maintaining the infrastructure. Strategic planning documents are littered with terms like growth, advance, positive outcomes, build, develop, generate, increase, etc. What you find is a how-to guide to spending with little attention toward how to pay for it. Keep in mind that increasing enrollment, which in turn increases tuition income, only financially supports the operations of the college and is not intended to pay for the new academic building or residence hall to house the student expansion. This unfortunately also adds to another budget-draining list...deferred maintenance.
Higher education has always been a “Teflon” industry when it comes to employee downsizing. In the past when the nation’s economy dipped, most institutions shielded their workforce from layoffs electing to simply freeze requests for new hires. Usually, the faculty was considered untouchable and, therefore, hiring restrictions didn’t apply. The power of employee and faculty unions coupled with a leadership fearful of receiving a vote of no-confidence from campus academia protected human capital from being used as a remedy to balance the budget. This past attitude of not studying this major expense line in the institutional budget when the overall economy is in trouble is catastrophic — especially when the biggest slice of a college’s budget is compensation.
Enter mergers and acquisitions
Some institutions of higher learning have already taken to a path of merging, but the experts agree that merging when there is no cash on the balance sheet leaves little to negotiate with.
Thus far in 2020 alone, the following institutions announced merging all or part of their assets:
Pacific Northwest College of Art (OR) to merge with Willamette University (OR)2
Martin Methodist College (TN) to become a part of the University of Tennessee System (TN)3
Emerson College (MA) to procure the majority of Marlboro College’s (VT) assets after that institution already closed in 20194
Wesley College (DE) to be acquired by Delaware State College (DE)5
Boston College (MA) to acquire Pine Manor College (MA)6
Watkins College of Art (TN) to merge with Belmont College (TN)7
The realities of today’s pandemic, the hardship of the insurance market and the social unrest on campus have revealed that the college business model appears to have outlived its time. Many institutions seem to be financially managed like the federal government, piling up debt faster than determining how to pay for it. Lawrence Schall faced this identical situation when taking the reins of a college, according to the trade magazine Inside HigherED™. His approach was simple: align expenses to match actual revenue, make the board responsible and charge the executive leadership with making it work.
The process of merging entire campus cultures into one harmonious system is indeed a pipe-dream due to the imbalance of power. A college merge usually occurs because one campus can’t survive, and the other college has the capital to take on the debt and in essence, therefore, dictates the terms for the future. That merging of relationships usually doesn’t fare too well, as played out this past fall when the president of the Watkins College of Art was subpoenaed to appear in court over the impending merge with Belmont College. According to an Inside Higher Ed article, the courier who attempted to serve the court papers at the home of the president was met with a gun pointed at him by the husband.8 These are not marriages made in heaven.
Another reality working against survival is the geographic locations of many colleges. Some institutions are clustered within a few miles of each other and struggle to promote what makes them different (and better) than a neighboring school. Small to mid-market private colleges are particularly vulnerable to this threat.
So, is merging really the answer, or is it just a way for a larger predator to devour the competition in its backyard? Some would argue it is a question of campus overload; the smaller schools need to go away because they are outdated.
Remember the statement of aligning expenses with anticipated revenue as a process toward financial sustainability? It seems like Budget Management 101, but the biggest expense on the balance sheet is payroll, and leadership can’t simply hack away at jobs to rectify the issues — plus doing so can create bigger problems. Case in point is the Berkeley Social-Injustice Institute that is slated to close. The leadership sites poor financial stewardship and an aged facility close to collapse as the central reasons. Despite assurances from campus decision makers that they’ve been transparent in the matter and will make efforts to find new locations for the programs, Injustice Institute supporters claim racial disparity in the face of one of the nation’s most liberal college systems.9
Collaboration over merging
Consolidation is more of what higher education needs to do to ward off an impending takeover or worse, a total collapse. But in these turbulent times, the emotional element needs to be removed from the decision making so a proper objective analysis of people, processes and programs can be performed. This also includes the reconstruction of benchmarks and financial standards. Running analytics across many disciplines, including cybersecurity, will quickly add to the process of determining what needs to be consolidated or eliminated. Data doesn’t lie, but it can be misinterpreted through improper assessments by those who don’t want change. Outside experts in actuarial science and data analysis can begin to design a path to recovery without an internal hidden agenda that on-campus evaluators may possess.
Throughout the most recent semester, sports programs have been a big target for reduction or elimination, and with that goes jobs and perhaps large donors. Some schools have gone back and changed their decision to cut sports based on negative publicity. Merging, slicing and dicing without the proper analysis of data is not only foolish, it leads to poor decisions and having to confront another challenge: repairing the reputation of the institution.
Building partnerships avoids going it alone
The path toward sustainability requires an institution to consolidate and partner with other institutions where duplication occurs and to generate a business model that supports each other. The use of consortiums in risk management has helped lower insurance premiums and provided better loss control among the members. The sharing of facilities is another way to alleviate expense pressure. In Maryland, Loyola University and Notre Dame University share a library. With one facility serving both institutions, the cost savings can help complement any expansion that may be needed. Health centers and medical services can certainly extend resources and services in a non-partisan way to help neighboring colleges. Athletic facilities and services for student and employee wellness programs can be shared and are a good way for some institutions to mitigate the cost of maintaining facilities, employing staff and assuming unnecessary liability. At the Maryland Institute, College of Art, faculty, staff and students could take advantage of the gym facilities of the University of Baltimore, one city block away. There are also auxiliary services, such as printing operations, mail services and café services to name a few, that can share equipment costs along with talent across the thresholds of many campuses. There are strong inter-institutional arrangements in place for building solutions in focused committees based on topics such as admissions, residential life, facilities and event management, athletics, etc. Revenue splits and expenses may require in-depth analytical and actuary expertise to work out equitable and profitable sharing formulas. Also, managerial responsibility, staffing, transportation schedules, etc. all lend themselves to a strong third-party partnership which can be managed by a consortium. It is this type of collaborative effort that may help struggling institutions turn around and begin to thrive again.
Sadly, when all else fails, for some it will be time to consider the M&A (mergers & acquisitions) process — a term once reserved only for private business — as the phenomenon of the Bermuda Triangle of Higher Education will certainly become more prevalent for years to come. Each decision going forward will be tested from a variety of different perspectives; it is paramount to team with a broker or specialist with the global expertise to assist in bringing the right solutions to the right campus.
The one certainty is hope
With the COVID-19 vaccine on the horizon, the immediate future is still bleak for many institutions that have been fighting financial battles for years. The war for them is lost despite the battle that will be won (eventually) warding off the pandemic. For the remaining universities and colleges attempting to stay afloat financially, the framework of the campus culture will require business to be conducted in a way that mirrors the rest of society. This undoubtedly will equate to far more third-party business relationships being formed to prop up institutions and move the needle back in the right direction for the industry of higher education. The days of taking solutions off the shelf or touting a one-size-fits-all approach have passed. It is a new day, especially when it comes to sustaining the financial balance sheet in higher education; each and every institution must find the right path to take the next step.
Willis Towers Watson hopes you found the general information provided in this publication informative and helpful. The information contained herein is not intended to constitute legal or other professional advice and should not be relied upon in lieu of consultation with your own legal advisors. In the event you would like more information regarding your insurance coverage, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. In North America, Willis Towers Watson offers insurance products through licensed subsidiaries of Willis North America Inc., including Willis Towers Watson Northeast Inc. (in the United States) and Willis Canada, Inc.
1 Schall, L.M. (2020, October 13), A head of a regional accrediting agency offers guidance to institutions potentially at financial risk (opinion), Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com
2 McKenzie, L. (2020, September 18), Willamette Announces Another Merger Deal, Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com.
3 Whitford, E. (2020, September 14). University of Tennessee System to Acquire Martin Methodist College, Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com.
4 Jaschik, L. (2019, November 7), Marlboro to Become Part of Emerson, Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehigher.com.
5 Alamdari, N. (2020, July 9), Delaware State University signs agreement to acquire Wesley College, Delaware Online. https://www.delawareonline.com.
6 Larkin, M. (2020, May 13), Under Financial Stress, Pine Manor College To Join Boston College, wbur. https://www.wbur.com/edify.
7 McKenzie, L. (2020, January 29), Another Art School Merger, Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com
8 Whitford, E. (2020, March 20), Watkins-Belmont Merger Controversy Continues, Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com.
9 Zehneis, M. (2020, October 11), Berkeley Social-Injustice Institute to Be Shuttered, But Not Without a Fight. https://www.chronicle.com.
Public News and Views – Q4 2020
Climate change — The risk, costs and mitigation tools
New mapping reveals hidden flood risks
Update on transgender sex discrimination
Related content tags, list of links Article Public Sector and Education Climate Risk and Resilience
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An Academic Approach to Genealogy and Family History
Family history and genealogical research are gaining popularity, especially in the United States, and have developed a substantial following of hobbyists and lay historians. Unfortunately, the movement has not caught on in the academic world. I believe this is for two reasons: 1) genealogy tends to focus on the raw data (dates and locations) to the detriment of the historical context, and 2) family histories have the added complication of memory, which is often at odds with historical research.
This paper is an experiment in combining genealogy with academic research. The goal is to situate a family history (the Neeley family) within a larger historical trend, theme, or movement. This approach helps fill gaps were the genealogical data is missing and engages memory in a discussion with history, culture, and society. It also helps tie the individuals into the broader historical context and gives deeper meaning to their lives.
This paper was begun during the Spring 2017 semester at Georgia Southern University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Masters of Arts in History degree. The paper is currently being refined and enlarged to more fully tell the story of the Neeley family.
How to Raise a Million Dollars, One Dime at a Time: Basil O'Connor's Anti-Polio Campaign
This research paper analyzes the fundraising strategy of Basil O'Connor, chairman of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (more commonly known as the March of Dimes). I focus on the organization's use of children in its poster campaign and argue that O'Connor visually leveraged the "advantages" of polio in order to out-fund every other disease-based foundation in the US during the 1940s and 1950s. The paper is written from the perspective of cultural history and includes an analysis of the March of Dimes forerunner, the President's Birthday Ball.
This paper was written during the Spring 2017 semester at Georgia Southern University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Masters of Arts in History degree. It is currently being submitted for publication.
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News > British Youth Championship at Leicester Confirmed
The Young Lions Management in association with the promotion at Leicester can now confirm that the 8th and final round of the 2017 British Youth Championship with be held at Leicester on Sunday 17th September.
Young Lions would like to thank the Leicester promotion for their commitment for re-arranging this fixture after being postponed earlier in the season.
This final round will be for the 500 and 250 riders only.
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Business News » World News
Once 'fragile' India gets thumbs up even as rates set to fall
Updated: Fri, Jul 28, 2017
When Fed taper fears jolted emerging markets in 2013, India was one of the worst hit and was forced to raise interest rates to underpin its tumbling markets.
Fast forward to this year, and history has been turned on its head. Not only is the U.S. central bank raising rates, but India is widely expected next week to be the first country in Asia to cut policy rates this year.
And rather than being concerned at India`s falling policy rate premium over the United States, foreign investors are giving the country`s markets the thumbs up.
The rupee is rallying and the country`s bonds are in demand, offering some of the best inflation-adjusted returns in Asia. Inflation, long a thorn in the economy, is at its lowest in five years, economic growth is picking up and the current account deficit is a fraction of its old self.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a national goods and services tax on July 1, India`s biggest tax reform since independence in 1947, raising confidence among investors that other measures to boost the economy would follow.
"The structural story for India remains pretty strong," said David Cornell, chief investment officer of London-based Ocean Dial Asset Management, which argues India and other emerging markets will outperform over the next 12 months.
India operates some capital controls, including on foreign investment. Foreign buyers have almost exhausted their quota in debt with net purchases of $21 billion this year - including record high inflows for a January-June period - after net sales of $6 billion last year.An auction of government and corporate bond quotas for foreign investors, which gives them the right to purchase additional debt, was heavily over-subscribed this week.
They have bought a net $8.8 billion in shares, more than the combined $6.3 billion of the previous two years, helping push indexes to record highs. Long positions in the rupee are the highest among major Asian currencies and almost double those of the second-placed Malaysian ringgit, a Reuters poll shows.
"My view would not change as a result of a rate cut on Aug. 2. Rate cuts are likely to be justified by lower inflation and higher-trend growth rates in India due to reforms," said Jan Dehn, head of research for Ashmore Capital, which has more than $57 billion under management.
At a review on Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to cut its policy rate by 25 basis points to 6 percent, which would be its lowest level in more than six years. It would be the RBI`s first rate cut since October and the first in Asia since the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in December.
Many other central banks have already signalled they are done with the long period of super easy policy that followed the global financial crisis, especially given the prospect of more U.S. rate rises and the potential for the European Central Bank to ease up on its bond purchases.NO LONGER FRAGILE
India no longer resembles the "Fragile Five" country of 2013, when the RBI was forced to raise rates by 75 basis points to arrest foreign investment outflows. Other countries in this group, including Indonesia, Brazil, and South Africa, also took defensive policy measures at the time as their markets came under pressure.
Indian consumer price inflation is now 1.54 percent, boosting the 10-year bond`s real interest rate to 4.9 percent, the highest in Asia and nearly double the rate of Indonesia, another popular emerging market investment destination.
The rupee has rallied 5.6 percent against the dollar this year and volatility in the exchange rate is its lowest since mid-August, a reassuring signal for investors.
The current account deficit has narrowed to just 0.6 percent of GDP from a record 4.8 percent in 2013, while foreign exchange reserves hit a record $389.1 billion as of July 14.
Economic growth is expected to rise to 7.3 percent in the fiscal year to March from 7.1 percent in the previous year, a Reuters poll shows.DOUBTS?
To be sure, a more aggressive monetary policy trajectory by the Fed or ECB would rattle emerging markets and within India a shift towards more populist measures ahead of elections that must be held by 2019 could unsettle foreign investors.
The RBI is also reluctant to raise foreign debt limits to avoid the risk of sudden outflows later, potentially limiting further gains in the rupee.
Indian shares are also relatively expensive, which may limit future gains. The benchmark NSE share index is trading around 21 times its 12-month forward price-to-earnings ratio, compared with a five-year average of 17.91.
These negatives are not enough to outweigh the positives though, said Kenneth Akintewe, a senior investment manager for Aberdeen Asset Management in Singapore, who says India is one of his team`s bigger overweight positions.
"India`s exposure in local currency emerging market funds is extremely low," he said.
"From a risk-adjusted perspective, it has been difficult to actually find another bond asset class that has been able to match the performance of Indian bonds.($1=64.1 rupees)
(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
RBI open to examine proposal on bad banks: Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das
Getting Driving licence made easy! Here is how you can apply for licence in Delhi, UP, MP, Bihar and other states
Bharat Biotech to pay compensation if Covaxin causes side effects
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Michigan governor announces emergency measures as COVID-19 surges throughout the state
Kevin Reed
Responding to the massive surge of the pandemic across the state over the past week, Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced a series of new coronavirus restrictions on Sunday evening that are scheduled to take effect on Wednesday.
Among the new rules are the suspension of in-person classes at high schools and colleges and eat-in dining at restaurants and bars, the cancellation of all organized sports, and the shutdown of nontribal casinos, movie theaters and group exercise classes.
The temporary restrictions are being put in place by Whitmer for three weeks under the authority of the Michigan Public Health Code and are not the same as the executive declarations that had been issued previously such as the stay-at-home orders of last spring. Businesses are asked to allow office workers to work from home if possible.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer announcing new restrictions in response to the surge in COVID-19 cases across the state over the past week. (Photo credit: Governor Whitmer Facebook Page)
The governor’s announcement came after the number of confirmed cases in Michigan increased by 44,019 and 416 people died from COVID-19 in the past seven days. The number of coronavirus cases is now four times greater per day than it was at the height of the pandemic in April. The number of hospitalizations has also spiked, threatening to overrun the capacity of the health care systems across the state.
In her 6:00 p.m. statement, Governor Whitmer said, “Right now, there are thousands of cases a day and hundreds of deaths a week in Michigan, and the number is growing. If we don’t act now, thousands more will die, and our hospitals will continue to be overwhelmed.” She said that there is a very real danger that as many as one thousand people could die per day in the near future if action were not taken “right now to slow the spread of this deadly virus.”
The public health order restricts gatherings inside homes to two households at a time and health officials are strongly urging families to select a single other household to interact with over the next three weeks. The governor specifically mentioned the approaching holiday season and concerns about people gathering in homes during the cold winter months.
Governor Whitmer was accompanied at the Sunday press briefing by Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive and chief deputy for health at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), who said, “If we do not act now, we risk thousands more deaths, and even more people having long-term health consequences. The actions we are taking today are the best opportunity we have to get this virus under control.”
Also speaking was Robert Gordon, director of the MDHHS, who added, “Indoor gatherings are the greatest source of spread, and sharply limiting them is our focus. The order is targeted and temporary, but a terrible loss of life will be forever unless we act. By coming together today, we can save thousands of lives.”
Among the functions being allowed to continue are outdoor gatherings, outdoor and take-out dining. Parks will remain open and professional and college sports can proceed without spectators. Retail shopping, public transit, personal care such as haircuts by appointment and individual exercise at gyms are being permitted.
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Significantly, manufacturing operations will remain open along with construction and health care workplaces. Childcare centers and elementary and middle schools are permitted to continue face-to-face education as long as they continue to require mask-wearing and follow other health guidelines. This is clearly to ensure that working-class parents will continue to report to work.
The announcement by Governor Whitmer on Sunday comes approximately six weeks following the Michigan Supreme Court ruling that struck down as unconstitutional the Emergency Powers of Governor Act of 1945 under which she had made her executive declarations earlier in the year. The reduction in executive authority meant that the Republican-controlled state legislature was able to vote down an extension of the governor’s state of emergency from April enabled by the Emergency Management Act of 1976.
While the Democrats have sought to assign blame for the present resurgence of the pandemic on the lifting of the emergency measures by the Republicans, the fact is that the exponential increase in COVID-19 cases has been building since workers were forced to return to the factories in mid-May. The governor also lifted the stay-at-home order on June 1, Detroit’s three casinos were permitted to reopen on August 5, and movie theaters, bowling alleys and other gathering places were permitted to reopen with some restrictions just five weeks ago.
The original shutdown of the factories that began in March was the result of the independent action of autoworkers and bus drivers who walked off the job and refused to work under the unsafe and deadly conditions of the pandemic.
Workers must stop production to contain coronavirus outbreak at Sterling Heights Assembly Plant!
Metro Detroit hospitalizations rise sharply as second wave of COVID-19 cases surges across Michigan
Flint, Michigan nurse dies from COVID-19
The coronavirus pandemicDetroitUnited StatesNorth America
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Elk hunting to soon return to NC
Fifteen years after elk made their return to western North Carolina, the once overhunted animals will now be targeted for hunting in the state again.News outlets report that the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission voted unanimously at a meeting Thursday in Raleigh to set the stage for a future elk hunting season, but did not specify what year the season would be expected to begin.The newly approved elk-hunting guidelines would have the season running Oct. 1 through Nov. 1. District 9 Commissioner Neal Hanks Jr. says there wouldn't be any permits issued this year.Commissioners also voted to remove elk from the list of species of special concern.Prior to their 2001 reintroduction into Great Smoky Mountains National Park, elk had been missing from the mountains for two centuries.
RALEIGH, N.C. —
Fifteen years after elk made their return to western North Carolina, the once overhunted animals will now be targeted for hunting in the state again.
News outlets report that the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission voted unanimously at a meeting Thursday in Raleigh to set the stage for a future elk hunting season, but did not specify what year the season would be expected to begin.
The newly approved elk-hunting guidelines would have the season running Oct. 1 through Nov. 1. District 9 Commissioner Neal Hanks Jr. says there wouldn't be any permits issued this year.
Commissioners also voted to remove elk from the list of species of special concern.
Prior to their 2001 reintroduction into Great Smoky Mountains National Park, elk had been missing from the mountains for two centuries.
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Category: People History World United States Travel Language Technology Internet Business Education Food Beauty Miscellaneous Industry Science Anatomy Health Crafts Cars Home Finance Medicine Fashion Fitness Art Environment Law Hobbies
Who is William McKinley?
William Mckinley Facts
William Mckinley Presidency
William Mckinley Assassinated
William Mckinley 1896
William Mckinley Election
William Mckinley Shot
Devon Pryor
William McKinley is best known as the 25th President of the United States of America. His service to the country, however, began long before his time in office as president. McKinley was born in Niles, Ohio on 29 January 1843, and like many young men his age, he enlisted in the Civil War in 1861, fighting on the side of the Union Army. After serving in the Civil War, McKinley attended Albany Law School. He practiced law for a while, and became the prosecuting attorney of Sark County, serving from 1869 to 1871. In 1871 William McKinley married Ida Saxton.
Puerto Rico became a possession of the United States during William McKinley's term as president.
William McKinley held a Republican seat in the House of Representatives during two separate periods. His first term lasted from 1877 to 1882. During this term McKinley was Chairman of the Committee on Revision of the Laws. McKinley’s second term in the House of Representatives spanned from 1885 to 1891. For a few of these years he served as Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, which held jurisdiction over taxation, tariffs, and other revenue-creating measures, as well as various government programs such as Social Security, Unemployment benefits, Medicare, and so on. McKinley is particularly known for writing the McKinley Tariff of 1890, which raised tax rates higher than at any previous time in history.
President McKinley set up the first White House press room.
In 1891, McKinley transitioned from his seat in the House of Representatives to serve as governor of Ohio, a post he held for two terms. As governor, William McKinley stayed true to his growing reputation as a tax-hungry watchdog. He imposed excise taxes on corporations, restricted the anti-union practices of employers, and executed safety legislation on behalf of transportation workers.
In 1896 William McKinley left office as Ohio’s governor to chase down nomination as a Republican presidential candidate, and later began his famous “front porch campaign.” In contrast to most of his Republican comrades, McKinley appealed to all classes and ethnic groups by promoting the ideals of industry and pluralistic prosperity. This earned him a solid hold on the coveted votes of ethnic labor groups and urban areas.
In 1896, William McKinley became the 25th President of the United States of America, marking the beginning of the Progressive Era. He was the last veteran of the Civil War to be elected to presidential office. Among his most noted achievements as president were the American success in the Spanish American War, the annexation of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam, and Hawaii, and the implementation of a protectorate over Cuba.
Domestically, McKinley lived up to his promise for prosperity, bringing about a revival of business and agriculture. Understanding the importance of media as a tool in staging political agenda, McKinley set up the first White House press room, and gave reporters his version of events. In foreign affairs William McKinley was equally proactive. He pushed for access to foreign markets, expanding American influence through annexation and through modification of tariffs to garner more freedom in foreign trade.
On 6 September 1901, while in attendance of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, William McKinley was assassinated. He was shot twice by anarchist Leon Frank Czolgosz. McKinley survived for eight days, but eventually succumbed to a gangrene infection caused by the shooting. He died on 14 September 1901.
People History World United States Travel Language Technology Internet Business Education Food Beauty Miscellaneous Industry Science Anatomy Health Crafts Cars Home Finance Medicine Fashion Fitness Art Environment Law Hobbies
How Many United States Presidents Were Governors First?
What are the Requirements to Run for President in the United States?
Who is Abraham Lincoln?
What is the Difference Between a President and a Prime Minister?
wesley91
@googie98: Leon Czolgosz was interested in anarchism for years. He believed that it was not right for one man to have so much service and another man should have none. In other words, he didn’t believe the President shouldn’t have so much power.
He read that the President would be at an Exposition on September 5, 1901, in Buffalo, NY, giving him the idea of shooting the President. President McKinley gave a speech for President’s Day, but Crologsz couldn’t get close enough to him to shoot. The next day, Crologsz stood in a line of people waiting to shake the President’s hand. His hand was wrapped in a handkerchief to hide the gun. When McKinley reached out to shake his “bandaged” hand, he fired twice at McKinley.
President William McKinley passed away on September 14, 1901, due to an infection and gangrene.
Leon Crologsz was sentenced to death on September 26, 1901 and was electrocuted on October 29, 1901.
googie98
Why did Leon Czolgosz assassinate President William McKinley?
5th paragraph should have been In 1896 not 1987 when he became president.
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6 killed in New Jersey gunbattle, including police officer
JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — Six people, including a police officer and three bystanders, were killed in a furious gun battle Tuesday that filled the streets of Jersey City with the sound of heavy fire for hours, authorities said.
The dead included the two gunmen, Jersey City Police Chief Michael Kelly said.
The slain officer, Detective Joseph Seals, 40, was credited by his superiors with having led the department in the number of illegal guns removed from the streets in recent years, and might have been trying to stop an incident involving such weapons when he was cut down by gunfire that erupted near a cemetery, authorities said.
The shooting then continued at a kosher supermarket about a mile away, where five more bodies were found, Kelly said.
“It’s a really tough day for the city of Jersey City,” Mayor Steven Fulop said. Seals “was one of the best officers for getting the most guns off the streets. He was a good cop.”
Two other officers were wounded but were later released from the hospital, authorities said.
The bullets started flying early in the afternoon in the city of about 270,000 people, situated across the Hudson River from New York City. Seals, who worked for a unit called Cease Fire, was shot around 12:30 p.m. The gunmen then drove a stolen rental van to another part of the city and engaged police in a lengthy shootout.
Kelly said when police responded to the area of the kosher store, officers “were immediately engaged by high-power rifle fire.”
A video shot by a witness shows a police officer on the ground by a car, apparently wounded. Another officer goes to him, helps him up and the two run around a corner as gunshots ring out. Seconds later, as a police cruiser pulls up in front of the store, about a dozen shots are heard in rapid succession.
“Our officers were under fire for hours,” the chief said.
Inside the grocery store, police found the bodies of who they believed were the two gunmen and three other people who apparently happened to be there when the assailants rushed in, authorities said. Police said they were confident the bystanders were shot by the gunmen and not by police.
The kosher grocery is a central fixture in a growing community of Orthodox Jews who have been moving to Jersey City in recent years. Authorities were unable to say why the gunmen went there.
Rabbi Moshe Shapiro, who shops at the kosher store and attends a synagogue next door, said he spoke with the store owner, Moishe Ferencz.
“He told me he had just walked out of the store into the synagogue not five feet away just before this happened, and then he couldn’t get back for hours,” Shapiro said. “His wife was inside the store. He said, ‘I hope my wife is safe.’”
The names of the victims inside the store were not immediately released, pending notification of relatives.
City Public Safety Director James Shea said that authorities believe the bloodshed was not an act of terrorism but that it was still under investigation.
The shooting spread fear through the neighborhood, and the nearby Sacred Heart School was put on lockdown as a precaution.
SWAT teams, state police and federal agents converged on the scene, and police blocked off the area, which in addition to the school and supermarket included a hair salon and other shops. Dozens of bystanders pressed against the police barrier to capture the action on their cellphones, some whooping when bursts of fire could be heard.
Video shot by residents recorded loud volleys of gunfire reverberating along one of the city’s main streets and showed a long line of law enforcement officers pointing guns as they advanced, yelling to bystanders, “Clear the street! Get out of the way!”
“ It’s like firecrackers going off,” said Andy Patel, who works at a liquor store about three blocks away. “They were shooting like crazy. … The cops were clearing everyone off the streets.”
Police also removed what they described as a possible “incendiary device” from the rental vehicle and sent it for examination by a bomb squad. The results of that examination were not available Tuesday evening.
Seals had been on the Jersey City Police Department since 2006. In addition to his work with the illegal guns unit, he was cited for heroism in a Christmas Eve 2008 incident in which he and another officer burst through the window of a home and stopped a sexual assault that was being carried out against a 41-year-old woman.
Seventh grader Zamir Butler said his class was coming back inside from the playground at Sacred Heart, which sits across the street from the grocery store, when he heard the shots. At first he thought they were thunder, since it had rained earlier.
“Everybody was running up the stairs to get to safety in the classroom,” he said. “A few of the kids were crying. They told us to stay behind the wall and stay down.”
BREAKING: ‘2 shooters down,’ according to scanner traffic; tactical team entering school near scene – https://t.co/AIGMupF1k7 pic.twitter.com/gCoN5wPJ2M
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) December 10, 2019
SOUND ON: Jersey City sounds like a war zone; ALL schools on lockdown, police tell media to leave the area – https://t.co/AIGMupF1k7 pic.twitter.com/6wvtJYNaYc
Law enforcement gathers near the scene following reports of gunfire on Dec. 10, 2019, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
Police officers arrive at the scene following reports of gunfire, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019, in Jersey City, N.J. AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
In this image taken from video, police officers respond at the scene following reports of gunfire, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Robert Bumsted)
Associated Press writers Wayne Parry in Atlantic City; Deepti Hajela in Jersey City, Michael Catalini in Trenton, Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia and Michael Sisak and Shelley Acoca in New York contributed to this story.
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Trump kicks off British trip with tweet against London mayor
by: JONATHAN LEMIRE and KEVIN FREKING
Posted: Jun 3, 2019 / 09:52 AM EST / Updated: Jun 3, 2019 / 09:52 AM EST
LONDON (AP) — President Donald Trump arrived in Britain on Monday for a largely ceremonial visit meant to strengthen ties between the two nations, but the trip was immediately at risk of being overshadowed by Brexit turmoil and a political feud with London’s mayor.
Even before Air Force One touched down north of London, Trump unleashed a Twitter tirade against London Mayor Sadiq Khan, leader of the world city where Trump will stay for two nights while partaking in a state visit full of pomp and circumstance.
The move came after a newspaper column in which Khan said Trump did not deserve red-carpet treatment in Britain and was “one of the most egregious examples of a growing global threat” from the far-right to liberal democracy.
″@SadiqKhan, who by all accounts has done a terrible job as Mayor of London, has been foolishly “nasty” to the visiting President of the United States, by far the most important ally of the United Kingdom,” Trump wrote just before landing. “He is a stone cold loser who should focus on crime in London, not me.
The president added that Kahn reminded of the “terrible” mayor of his hometown, New York City Mayor Bill de Blaiso though “only half his height.” De Blaiso, a Democrat, is a longshot candidate in the 2020 presidential race. Khan supporters have previously accused Trump of being racist against London’s first Muslim mayor.
The president then added a few warm words for his hosts, tweeting that he was looking forward “to being a great friend to the United Kingdom, and am looking very much forward to my visit.”
The Trumps then boarded Marine One, the presidential helicopter, for the trip from Stansted Airport to the center of Britain’s capital.
The agenda for Trump’s weeklong journey is mostly ceremonial: a state visit and an audience with Queen Elizabeth II in London, D-Day commemoration ceremonies on both sides of the English Channel and his first presidential visit to Ireland, which will include a stay at his coastal golf club.
But the U.S. president will arrive at a precarious moment, as he faces a fresh round of impeachment fervor back home and uncertainty on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. British Prime Minister Theresa May has faced months of political turmoil over Brexit and French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to use the 75th anniversary of the World War II battle that turned the tide on the Western Front to call for strengthening the multinational ties the U.S. president has frayed.
A sense of deja vu quickly spread around London as Trump blasted British leaders.
A year ago, Trump also took aim at his hosts before landing on English soil, blasting May in an interview just hours she hosted him for dinner. Though he has spared May so far this time, he has praised her rival, prime ministerial hopeful Boris Johnson, just days before May steps down as Conservative leader on Friday for failing to secure a Brexit deal.
“I think Boris would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent,” Trump told The Sun. “I like him. I have always liked him. I don’t know that he is going to be chosen, but I think he is a very good guy, a very talented person.”
It was not clear if the Trump endorsement would hurt or help Johnson’s chances of becoming Britain’s next leader.
He also told the Sunday Times that Britain should “walk away” from Brexit talks and refuse to pay a 39 billion pound ($49 billion) divorce bill if it doesn’t get better terms from the European Union. He said he might meet with another pro-Brexit politician, Nigel Farage, and claimed Farage should be given a role in the Brexit negotiations.
After lunch with Queen Elizabeth II, Trump will be honored at extravagant state dinner at Buckingham Palace. Demonstrators are expected, including the possible return of an inflatable balloon depicting the president as a baby.
And even some of the pageantry could have awkward moments. The formal tea hosted by Prince Charles brings together a future king who has warned repeatedly about the perils of climate change with a president who is actively dismantling U.S. policies designed to slow global warming.
In an interview with The Sun, Trump weighed in on the American-born Duchess of Sussex. The former Meghan Markle, who gave birth to a son in May and will not attend the week’s events, was critical of Trump in the past, prompting the president to tell the tabloid, “I didn’t know that she was nasty.”
Trump said later that he thought Markle would be “very good” as a royal and claimed that he only meant her comments were “nasty.”
Trump will also make his first presidential visit to Ireland on Wednesday. Trump will spend two nights at his golf club in Doonbeg, which sits above the Atlantic. After Dublin balked at holding a meeting there, a deal was struck for Trump to meet Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar at Shannon Airport.
The centerpiece of the president’s visit will be two days to mark the 75th anniversary of the June 6, 1944, D-Day anniversary, likely the last significant commemoration most veterans of the battle will see. The anniversary events will begin in Portsmouth, England, where the invasion was launched, and then move to Normandy, France, where Allied forces began to recapture Western Europe from the Nazis.
The day is normally a heartfelt tribute to unity and sacrifice, outweighing any national or political skirmish. But some on both sides of the Atlantic are nervous about Trump, who has shown a willingness to inject partisanship into such moments.
“My greatest hope is this: the president and all the leaders stay focused on the extraordinary heroism of that of D-Day and focusing on what brought allies to that position,” said Heather Conley, senior vice president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Dark clouds are forming once again in Europe, and rather than encourage those forces, we need to find much better tools to defeat them.”
On his most recent European visit, last November in France, Trump was heavily criticized for skipping a ceremony at an American military cemetery to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I when rain grounded his helicopter. European leaders, meanwhile, stood in the rain to honor the dead.
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Neil Young says he's 'not OK' with President Trump playing his music at Mount Rushmore event
I wanted up a loud as it could go without feeding. I want here in the seventies, you wrote. Even Richard Nixon has sold. That's right. You believe that? Would you write a song to know how Donald Trump has got us? No, that couldn't be a song. Are you kidding? That's not a song, E. I don't know anyway. Do what you know. I hope the people vote him out, and I hope there's somebody reasonable to put back in there when they get rid of it. I've seen some good people, you know, I don't want to be a public assed. Politics is not really what I want to do. Um, but it's about it's about, you know, being aware of what's going on. This album is a human album. It's about feelings, you know, and the world that we're living in. And, uh, you know, I don't know the answer to your question. I don't know how the how things were going to change. I only know that I'm just one person, and I have thoughts and ideas, and I put some of them in this record, and I don't have a conclusion other than we really need to get serious about, you know, about changing the way we're living. That sounds great. Thank you.
Video above from 2019: Neil Young says of President Trump, "I hope people vote him out"Musician Neil Young is upset again with President Donald Trump for playing his music on Friday during the White House's Mount Rushmore event celebrating Independence Day."This is NOT ok with me," Young wrote on Twitter Friday, responding to a video of "Rockin' In The Free World" heard blaring at Trump's event.In another video of the event with "Like a Hurricane" playing, Young wrote, "I stand in solidarity with the Lakota Sioux" and reiterated, "this is NOT ok with me."CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.Young previously objected to Trump's use of "Rockin' In The Free World" in 2015 when the song was played during Trump's presidential announcement."Donald Trump was not authorized to use 'Rockin' In The Free World' in his presidential candidacy announcement," Young's management company said then, noting that the singer was a supporter of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2016 campaign.Trump's campaign manager at the time, Corey Lewandowski, told Rolling Stone that the campaign had licensed the song, but would respect Young's wish and not use it again, adding that "Trump is a big fan and likes Neil very much."In February, Young, who became a U.S. citizen this year, penned an open letter to Trump calling him "a disgrace to my country" and that "'Rockin' In The Free World' is not a song you can trot out at one of your rallies."The Canadian native said he began his path to U.S. citizenship because he wanted to vote against Trump in the 2020 election.Young is among a number of other iconic rockers who have an issue with Trump's use of their music.The Rolling Stones last week threatened legal action against Trump's campaign for playing their songs at his campaign rallies, which was first reported by Deadline.Tom Petty's family also issued a cease-and-desist notice to the Trump campaign after "I Won't Back Down" was played at the president's rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last month.Instead of striking a unifying tone, Trump on Friday in South Dakota railed against what he called a "merciless campaign" by his political foes to erase history by removing monuments some say are symbols of racial oppression.The president's backdrop of Mount Rushmore, which features the faces of four American presidents, is carved into the Black Hills of South Dakota, a sacred place of spiritual and cultural significance to the native peoples of the area.The 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty established the Black Hills as part of the Great Sioux Reservation, according to the National Archives, but the lands were systematically taken by the U.S. government after gold was discovered in the area in the 1870s.On Friday, protesters, many holding signs demanding the land be returned to native people, blocked the entrance to Mount Rushmore prior to Trump's event.
MOUNT RUSHMORE UT, S.D. —
Video above from 2019: Neil Young says of President Trump, "I hope people vote him out"
Musician Neil Young is upset again with President Donald Trump for playing his music on Friday during the White House's Mount Rushmore event celebrating Independence Day.
"This is NOT ok with me," Young wrote on Twitter Friday, responding to a video of "Rockin' In The Free World" heard blaring at Trump's event.
In another video of the event with "Like a Hurricane" playing, Young wrote, "I stand in solidarity with the Lakota Sioux" and reiterated, "this is NOT ok with me."
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
Young previously objected to Trump's use of "Rockin' In The Free World" in 2015 when the song was played during Trump's presidential announcement.
"Donald Trump was not authorized to use 'Rockin' In The Free World' in his presidential candidacy announcement," Young's management company said then, noting that the singer was a supporter of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2016 campaign.
President Trump at Rushmore: Jets and fireworks, but masks remain optional
No social distancing planned for President Trump's Mt. Rushmore fireworks event, governor says
Trump's campaign manager at the time, Corey Lewandowski, told Rolling Stone that the campaign had licensed the song, but would respect Young's wish and not use it again, adding that "Trump is a big fan and likes Neil very much."
In February, Young, who became a U.S. citizen this year, penned an open letter to Trump calling him "a disgrace to my country" and that "'Rockin' In The Free World' is not a song you can trot out at one of your rallies."
The Canadian native said he began his path to U.S. citizenship because he wanted to vote against Trump in the 2020 election.
Young is among a number of other iconic rockers who have an issue with Trump's use of their music.
The Rolling Stones last week threatened legal action against Trump's campaign for playing their songs at his campaign rallies, which was first reported by Deadline.
Rolling Stones threaten to sue President Trump over using their songs
Neil Young is finally a US citizen after he says his love of weed delayed application
Tom Petty's family also issued a cease-and-desist notice to the Trump campaign after "I Won't Back Down" was played at the president's rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last month.
Instead of striking a unifying tone, Trump on Friday in South Dakota railed against what he called a "merciless campaign" by his political foes to erase history by removing monuments some say are symbols of racial oppression.
The president's backdrop of Mount Rushmore, which features the faces of four American presidents, is carved into the Black Hills of South Dakota, a sacred place of spiritual and cultural significance to the native peoples of the area.
The 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty established the Black Hills as part of the Great Sioux Reservation, according to the National Archives, but the lands were systematically taken by the U.S. government after gold was discovered in the area in the 1870s.
On Friday, protesters, many holding signs demanding the land be returned to native people, blocked the entrance to Mount Rushmore prior to Trump's event.
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Artists, enthusiasts excited for Covington Photo Expo
Largest Midwest convention begins Friday
Erik Zarnitz
Meteorologist/Reporter
The 2015 Photo Expo is the largest photographic event in the Midwest and fourth largest in the country. Judging began Thursday.
Both professional and amateur photographers from across the Tri-State are about to flock to Covington for a weekend convention.The 2015 Photo Expo is the largest photographic event in the Midwest and fourth largest in the country. Judging began Thursday.Watch this story“We say there are 12 elements to a print, but the No. 1 thing is impact. They turn this table around and when they turn it around, ‘Bang, does it hit you?’” Ralph Romaguera said.Romaguera is from New Orleans and has studied photography for more than 45 years. While he was guiding judges Thursday on what to look for, he said he was far from an expert.“I learn something new every day. There is no such thing as an expert. Momma says if you learn something new every day, just think how smart you'll be at 100,” Romaguera said.Jennifer Pulumbo started going to the convention about 13 years ago. Now she’s a business owner, entrant and co-chair of the print competition.“You get someone else who is a master photographer to tell you what's good about your prints and what you can improve on. Print competition is all about improving your work,” Pulumbo said.The photograph she submitted is of her daughter, who at the age of 13 suffers from alopecia. It’s a picture which truly speaks a thousand words.“I want them to feel like this girl has something to say. Like she has this great strength and that it doesn't matter that she is bald,” Pulumbo said. After judging stacks of photos, those with a grade of 80 or above get a blue ribbon and the highest winners in each category get a crystal trophy.The expo runs through Sunday. Registration for all four days is $169. Single-day prices are around $100 and you can also check out the trade show for $20.
COVINGTON, Ky. —
Both professional and amateur photographers from across the Tri-State are about to flock to Covington for a weekend convention.
“We say there are 12 elements to a print, but the No. 1 thing is impact. They turn this table around and when they turn it around, ‘Bang, does it hit you?’” Ralph Romaguera said.
Romaguera is from New Orleans and has studied photography for more than 45 years. While he was guiding judges Thursday on what to look for, he said he was far from an expert.
“I learn something new every day. There is no such thing as an expert. Momma says if you learn something new every day, just think how smart you'll be at 100,” Romaguera said.
Jennifer Pulumbo started going to the convention about 13 years ago. Now she’s a business owner, entrant and co-chair of the print competition.
“You get someone else who is a master photographer to tell you what's good about your prints and what you can improve on. Print competition is all about improving your work,” Pulumbo said.
The photograph she submitted is of her daughter, who at the age of 13 suffers from alopecia. It’s a picture which truly speaks a thousand words.
“I want them to feel like this girl has something to say. Like she has this great strength and that it doesn't matter that she is bald,” Pulumbo said.
After judging stacks of photos, those with a grade of 80 or above get a blue ribbon and the highest winners in each category get a crystal trophy.
The expo runs through Sunday. Registration for all four days is $169. Single-day prices are around $100 and you can also check out the trade show for $20.
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Voice From the Back
Happy days?
‘Schooldays are the happiest days of your life’, according to the old saw. Like most old saws it is a load of nonsense. Here are two reports from the same newspaper that paint a far from idyllic picture of the schoolroom. “The number of children prescribed antidepressant drugs is rising faster in the UK than anywhere else in the world. Prescriptions rose by almost 70 per cent between 1992 and 2001, according to studies published in Archives of Diseases in Childhood.” “Schools will be given the power to search pupils for knives and other weapons in plans to combat disruptive students announced by the Education Secretary, Charles Clarke. Head teachers could also invite police into schools unannounced” (Times, 23 November). Inside capitalism the nasty, aggressive nature of competition mars even the so-called golden days of youth.
The wasteful society
“Companies around the world invested $334 billion in advertising last year – more than the gross domestic product of Switzerland. Advertisers in the UK spent £10.8 billion for the year ending 30 September” (Observer, 28 November). This $334 billion represents an immense amount of human labour and material. Just imagine what this could accomplish in the fields of human welfare such as medical research, food production and sanitation inside a socialist society, where advertising no longer existed.
In Charles Dickens novels the old workers were condemned to eke out a miserable existence in a workhouse. Today things are much better, the old are allowed to freeze to death at home.” Pensioners in the UK are more likely to die from cold this winter than older people in any other Northern European country, campaigners warned today. Age Concern said that 22,000 pensioners were likely to die from cold-related illness this winter in the UK” (manchester online, manchester news, 2 December)
“Lack of food and education still afflict millions of children around the world, with nearly 10 million youngsters under the age of 5 dying each year from preventable diseases, the UN children’s agency said Sunday. UNICEF chief Carol Bellamy underlined the challenges of improving primary health care for children on a global basis as she opened an international conference in the Pakistani capital to encourage volunteers to help at aid agencies and in government programs. ‘Children under the age of 5 are still dying at a rate of nearly 10 million a year from preventable causes like diarrhoea, measles and acute respiratory infections,’ said Bellamy, who arrived in Islamabad on Sunday for a three day visit” (Yahoo News, 5 December)
All right for some
“The wealth of the super-rich has doubled since Tony Blair came to power, the Office of National Statistics said yesterday in a report on social inequality in Britain. Nearly 600,000 individuals in the top 1% of the UK wealth league owned assets worth £355 billion in 1996, the last full year of Conservative rule. By 2002 that increased to £797 billion, the ONS said” (Guardian, 8 December) We can safely assume that none of these super-rich will be among the 22,000 that freeze to death this winter.
Two recent newspaper reports illustrate what a mad society capitalism has become. “The world’s most expensive weekend getaway is to be launched by an exclusive resort in Baja California, Mexico. The three-day package will cost $8.4 million (ú4.5 million) and promises a “bedside performance” by Sir Elton John and a private jet for whale watching” (Times, 1 December) “A record number of people are working in the global economy but half of them make $2 a day, or less, according to a report published yesterday. The International Labour Organisation’s World Employment report said that about 2.8 billion people were employed globally in 2003. But nearly 1.4 billion, the highest number ever, are living on less than $2 a day, while 550 million are living under the $1 poverty line” (Guardian, 8 December)
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Cooking the Books 2: That’s capitalism
In the February Socialist Standard, in an article on the price of bread (http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/feb08/index.html), we commented on the fact that under capitalism a basic foodstuff such as wheat was “a world commodity traded on world markets and so subject to international speculators betting on its future price going up or down”.
At the end of the month the news broke that a “rogue trader” called Dooley working for a firm called MF Global had lost his employers $141.5 million. Rather foolishly, it might be thought, he bet that the price of wheat would go down. But it went up:
“He had bet on the price of wheat declining by entering into about 4,000 futures contracts, which would require him to deliver about 20 million bushels of wheat at an agreed time and price. The greater the decline in the price between agreeing the contract and delivering the wheat, the cheaper the cost of satisfying the delivery and the larger the profit Mr Dooley stood to make. But instead, the price of wheat kept on rising . . .” (Times, 29 February)
It should not be thought that MF Global is in the business of delivering wheat. It doesn’t run a fleet of ships or trucks. It is a financial institution specialising in speculating on how the price of wheat – and anything else – moves. When the delivery date of, in this case, wheat comes near they pass the contract on to a shipping or delivery firm.
As Marx once pointed out, the capitalist is not interested in any particular product. All they are interested in is profit and they don’t care whether they make it from producing and selling bibles or producing and selling whisky. Firms like MF Global, with no connection with actual production, illustrate this point well.
Wheat is not sold to individual consumers. It is sold to capitalist firms with money invested in milling it into flour, who, in turn, sell this on the other capitalist firms with money invested in baking it into bread. These intermediary firms are not happy with the rise in the price of wheat which has doubled over the past year. The head of one of them, Sir Michael Darrington, lashed out at wheat speculators on the occasion of his retirement as managing director of Greggs, the high street bakers:
“There are stocks of wheat and grain in the world, and crops are growing at the moment but funds are being set up as speculators see an opportunity to make some short-term money and someone has to pay for it. It’s really sad for people in the developing world where food can account for 70 per cent of the family budget. Wheat is predominantly grown in America, Australia, Europe – the wealthier areas – and people in under-developed countries are hurting the most”.
The Times (12 March), reporting this, said he added:
“I suppose that’s just capitalism but it’s jolly disappointing. If society looked down on these funds then perhaps it would make a difference”.
It is indeed a powerful indictment of capitalism that firms like MF Global speculate on the price of wheat while at the same time millions throughout the world are suffering from a lack of food. Proof, as if any more were required, that capitalism is a system geared to profit-making not the satisfaction of human needs.
But would it make any difference if MF Global and other speculative funds were “looked down on”? It is probably true that most people in the world do already look down on them, including a decent-minded capitalist like Sir Michael. But they can’t do anything about it. After all, investing money to make more money is what capitalism is all about. MF Global and the other funds are just applying the profit motive.
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The EU has no time to lose on food waste
Six weeks after the publication of the EU Farm to Fork Strategy, a brand new report out today (Wednesday 1 July) outlines the additional action still needed to put the EU on track to SDG target 12.3 and halve food loss and waste by 2030.
Food waste is estimated to cost the EU economy some €143 billion per year, and is responsible for 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions associated with the food supply chain. A key element of the Farm to Fork Strategy, eliminating food loss and waste to the largest extent possible is an urgent and indispensable step towards more sustainable food in the EU.
Today’s report by WWF and WRAP [1], Halving food loss and waste in the EU by 2030: the major steps needed to accelerate progress, analyses the EU’s progress on Food Loss and Waste (FLW) and sets out clear guidance for governments, industry, researchers and NGOs on how to reach this target. In the last few years, the EU has taken important steps to reduce FLW, and the Commission has announced further work in its Farm to Fork Strategy. But progress is still too slow and a pace change is needed.
This report identifies key interventions with high but still untapped potential to significantly reduce FLW along the whole supply chain. Such action needs to be boosted in the next decade, and accompanied by a more conducive EU policy framework. The main recommendations from the report in this regard are:
MEASUREMENT: Ensure the most consistent and robust measurement of FLW across EU Member States, to establish an accurate and reliable baseline of food waste levels for the Union.
TARGETS: Stimulate action by Member States with the announced setting in 2023 of EU targets for food waste reduction, which must be at least as ambitious as SDG12.3 and aim to halve food loss and waste from farm to fork and from bait to plate by 2030.
BUSINESSES: As part of the initiative to improve the corporate governance framework, establish a requirement for businesses over a certain size to measure and report their company’s food waste figures.
AGRICULTURE: Work closely with Member States and provide them with tailored recommendations so that Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funds are allocated to FLW prevention actions at farm level and early processing stages.
VALORISATION: Provide funding support to research and innovation in FLW, with a specific focus on the safe and efficient valorisation of waste streams into processed food, animal feed, chemicals or other materials.
Ester Asin, Director at WWF European Policy Office, said: “Reducing food waste seems to be a no-brainer, but we continue to put an impossible strain on our seas and land to produce food that never gets eaten. Such a leaky food system will never be sustainable. The EU must use all levers at hand to make sure that every actor in the food chain gets engaged and takes action.”
Richard Swannell, Director at WRAP Global, said:“There is a real opportunity to make food waste reduction one of the key ways we reduce greenhouse gas emissions and put our food system on a trajectory to a more sustainable future. But time is running out – we must all do our bit, and we must act now.
The EU is implementing policies that will help, particularly by putting measurement at the heart of the strategy. The key next step is to support Member States to act quickly so as to hit the goal of halving food waste by 2030. This report outlines approaches that are proven to work and which will deliver rapid progress.”
WRAP is a not for profit organisation founded in 2000 which works with governments, businesses and citizens to create a world in which we source and use resources sustainably. Our impact spans the entire life-cycle of the food we eat, the clothes we wear and the products we buy, from production to consumption and beyond.
Edel Shanahan
Communications Officer for Biodiversity & Agriculture
WWF European Policy Office
WRAP UK
Halving food loss and waste in the EU by 2030: the major steps needed to accelerate progress
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Xconomy Boston
Boston Events
Milestones of Innovation 9: Early Bird On Station
Victor McElheny
Fifty years ago, on June 28, 1965, an exotic device named Early Bird made it possible to transmit an uninterrupted live television show across the Atlantic from Europe to America or vice versa. This event, a landmark on the way to today’s interconnected world, happened less than 40 years after the first radio-telephone conversations between New York and London, less than 10 years after the first sub-ocean telephone cable went into service, and less than eight years after the Russians put up the first orbiting satellite.
Early Bird was a microwave relay station, not on a nearby hillside but instead orbiting 22,300 miles above the Equator. It belonged to a global communications satellite network called Intelsat. The first of Intelsat’s vast network of operational microwave relay stations, it was shaped like a hatbox, weighed 36 pounds, and was covered with power-generating solar cells. Spinning at about 60 revolutions a minute, Early Bird was keeping its antennas pointed stably at antennas below.
Designed by Hughes Aircraft in California, Early Bird had gone up April 6, 1965, on a multi-stage rocket toward its assigned position, about 28 degrees longitude west of Greenwich, between Brazil and Africa. Early Bird appeared to hover there, because, at that altitude, it was orbiting the earth at 1,000 miles an hour—just the speed at which Planet Earth turns eastward on its axis. Early Bird was thus in “geosynchronous” orbit.
Today, dozens of far-bigger, higher-volume geostationary comsats are doing similar duty above the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. For Intelsat and a host of other national and international owners, the craft are relaying fat streams of data to and from numerous big antennas on the ground. They also are sending high-frequency signals directly down to small dishes on millions of homes. Together with a web of optical fiber cables stretched across the oceans’ floors, the satellites assure an incredibly wide river of communications across our planet. New generations of both cables and satellites are put in place frequently, to replace obsolete equipment or boost capacity and reliability.
Like so many marvels of an age of innovation, the descendants of Early Bird exist because somebody once concluded that they were unlikely to be practical. Given human nature, that prediction in the late 1950s promptly drew the combative response: “Sez who?”
Two very creative spirits at Bell Telephone Laboratories, John R. Pierce (who coined the word, “transistor”) and Rudolf Kompfner (a later winner of the U.S. National Medal of Science), invented a device called the traveling wave tube for boosting microwave signals. For a prestigious electronics journal, Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers (March 1959), Pierce speculated about the optimal design for communications relays in space. He knew that one place to put such relays was in geosynchronous orbit. Indeed, back in 1945, in a magazine called Wireless World, the science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke had imagined a geosynchronous weather station manned by humans.
But Pierce not only was concerned that the traveling wave tube would burn out fairly quickly but also doubted that you could stabilize the craft. Repair missions out to 22,300 miles above the equator could get very expensive. So Pierce suggested instead a swarm of more easily replaced satellites in low Earth orbits. Bell Labs was convinced enough by this reasoning that it developed and built the Telstar comsat that was put into orbit on July 10, 1962. Orbiting the earth approximately every two and a half hours, Telstar could relay about 30 minutes of television between big dish antennas in Brittany and Maine. So images of John Kennedy and a singing Yves Montand could leap the Atlantic.
None of this went down well at Hughes Aircraft. This leading innovator in electronics, aviation, and space was losing some lucrative defense contacts, including one for the F-108 interceptor. According to Hughes engineer Harold Rosen (born in 1926), the company needed a significant new product. In a 1973 interview in The New York Times, Rosen recalled, “We were just generally looking for any other way to apply our technology. Among other things, we specialized in lightweight transmitters and relays and antennas.” He read the Pierce article as the shock of Sputnik reshaped American technical thinking, and began talking to others at Hughes. One of them, John Mendel, had worked on heavy versions of the traveling wave tube at Bell Labs. Now, Mendel had an idea for making it so much lighter that it could fit into the 50-pound limit on a payload a rocket could carry out to 22,300 miles.
There was a second weight-related problem. The required small payload couldn’t just let its antennas put out signals in all directions. It had to be pointed precisely down to ground stations. How to do this? Maybe the craft could be kept from wobbling and tumbling by spinning it steadily, with its spin-axis perpendicular to its orbital path. Rosen’s genius associate Don Williams “elegantly” worked out all the orbital mechanics.
The company put up an initial $300,000 in seed money and spent a lot more trying to sell the concept to major agencies in Washington. The Defense Department, with its own synchronous orbit comsat project called Advent, said no at first. But Advent flopped, and so NASA stepped in and hired Hughes to develop a substitute.
Rosen and his colleagues pushed ahead to an experimental model called Syncom in 1963. Syncom 1 blew up as it sped out into space, but, a few months later, Syncom 2 took up a station over the Atlantic and President Kennedy could use it to converse with Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the prime minister of recently independent Nigeria.
Deeply respected, imaginative experts at Bell Labs, perhaps the most fruitful industrial laboratory that ever existed, had said it couldn’t be done. But it could.
[Editor’s Note: This is the ninth of a series of notes about major anniversaries in innovation and what they teach us. You’re invited to suggest other milestones of innovation for the Xconomy Forum. Example: This year will mark the 50th anniversary of the 1965 electricity blackout across the Northeast.]
Victor K. McElheny, New York Times, Aug. 27, 1973
Xconomist and science reporter Victor McElheny of MIT is author of Watson and DNA: Making a Scientific Revolution (2003) and Drawing the Map of Life: Inside the Human Genome Project (2010) Follow @
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Last edited by JoJom
3 edition of Stamboul train. found in the catalog.
Published 1941 by Published for The British Publishers Guild by Heinemann in London .
Originally published, London : Heinemann, 1932.
Series Guild books -- 110
Stamboul Train takes its place among other 20th-century novels in which espionage and wartime secrecy are glimpsed through a lens that obscures motives and renders people uncanny. Set in London during the Blitz, Elizabeth Bowen’s The Heat of the Day () evokes the same strange, haunted atmosphere that surrounds Greene’s Richard novel’s main characters—all involved in.
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Stamboul train. by Graham Greene Download PDF EPUB FB2
Stamboul Train is the story of a number of individuals who are thrown together within the confines of a train journey - a microcosm, in a way - and Stamboul train. book offers us a peek into Stamboul train. book relationships that develop between the characters and the difficulty that each of the individuals has to adapt to the society they form/5.
As the earliest of Greene's great successes, 'Stamboul Train' definitely shows up some of the themes and some of the excellence for which the author became known - but in a slightly less polished version.
The book - covering an Orient Express journey Stamboul train. book Ostende to Istanbul - and several characters including convicted revolutionaries /5(64). Graham Green - Stamboul Train: Was written in haste so not his best literary work but has his usual genius description of the dark side of human misery and guile.
Like many books, it is a /5(64). Stamboul Train (entitled Orient Express in the USA) was written by Stamboul train. book Greene and published in It was his first commercial success, making his name. Stamboul Train: Logline. A chorus line dancer and a business man begin an affair on the Orient Express, but when the Yugoslavian secret police Stamboul train.
book the dancer, the businessman has to decide what he is prepared to sacrifice to save n: The devil looks after his own and in Stamboul train.
book Train] I succeeded in both aims, though the film rights seemed at the time an unlikely dream, for before I had completed the book, Marlene Dietrich had appeared in Shanghai Express, the English had made Rome Express, and even the Russians had produced their railway film, Turksib.3/5(18).
Greene originally filed The Stamboul Train under his ‘entertainments’ and admitted, inthat he wrote it to make a bit of money. “In Stamboul Train for the first and last time in my life I deliberately set out to write a book to please, one which with luck might be made into a film.
The devil looks after his own and I succeeded Stamboul train. book. Stamboul train. book Stamboul Train (Vintage Classics) Centenary Ed by Greene, Graham (ISBN: ) from Amazon's Book Store.
Everyday low prices and free delivery Stamboul train. book eligible orders/5(64). STAMBOUL TRAIN () by Graham Greene and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at The Stamboul Train It was a long time since I had read a Greene and I was looking forward to listening to this on a few long drives in the car.
To Stamboul train. book fair the narrator had an. stamboul train Download Book Stamboul Train in PDF Stamboul train. book. You can Read Online Stamboul Train here in PDF, EPUB, Mobi or Docx formats.
Stamboul Train Author: Graham Greene ISBN: Genre: Fiction File Size: 32 MB. Buy a cheap copy of Stamboul Train book by Graham Greene. Published inthis spy thriller unfolds aboard the Orient Express as it crosses Europe from Ostend to Constantinople. Weaving a web of subterfuge, murder and Free shipping over $Cited by: 2.
Greene in fact wrote three books before this one, but two were unsuccessful and he Stamboul train. book disowned them, The Stamboul train.
book of Action () and Rumour at Nightfall (). Stamboul Train () was Greene's first true success and it was taken on by the Book Society and in adapted as the film Orient Express.
Ex Libris. Seller Inventory # Stamboul Train () is a novel by author Graham on an "Orient Express" train (in fact, the Ostende-Wien-Orient-Express), the book was renamed Orient Express when it was published in the United introduction.
The novel is one of a number of works which the author classed as an "entertainment" so as to distinguish them from his more serious literary works. As the title implies, Stamboul Train is a thriller about a group of travelers aboard the Orient Express which ran across Europe from the English Channel to Istanbul, Turkey.
The descriptions of Istanbul are based upon a visit which Greene once made during a vacation cruise. Short on funds, Greene could not afford to make the full trip aboard the Orient Express but bought a third class ticket Author: Bad Catholic.
Stamboul Train takes its place among other 20th-century novels in which espionage and wartime secrecy are glimpsed through a lens that obscures motives and renders people uncanny.
Set in London during the Blitz, Elizabeth Bowen’s The Heat of the Day () evokes the same strange, haunted atmosphere that surrounds Greene’s Richard novel’s main characters—all. Addeddate Identifier Identifier-ark ark://t14n4nn0r Ocr ABBYY FineReader Ppi Scanner Internet.
Stamboul Train. likes. Stamboul Train is the second significant novel by Graham Greene. Set on an "Orient Express" train, that ran from Ostend.
Stamboul Train by Graham Greene. Publication date Topics BBC Radio Drama, Saturday Play' Thriller Language English. Not to be confused with the Agatha Christie story "Express To Stamboul", this is an adaptation of the Graham Greene thriller - which he later admitted he wrote purely to make money - in which a diverse cast of.
Stamboul Train by Graham Greene,available at Book Depository with free delivery worldwide/5(K). Directed by Paul Martin. With Heather Angel, Norman Foster, Ralph Morgan, Herbert Mundin.
Based on Graham Greene's novel Stamboul Train, the movie focuses on the lives of individuals aboard the Orient Express as it makes a three-day journey from Ostend to Constantinople. The main protagonists are a Jewish businessman, Myatt, a chorus girl, Coral Musker, a Serbian Communist, a /10(21).
Stamboul Train () is a novel by author Graham Greene. A thriller set on an Orient Express train, it was renamed Orient Express when it was published in the United States. When Agatha Christie published Murder on the Orient Express inshe faced a dilemma regarding its title.
Graham Greene had published a novel – what he somewhat dismissively called “an entertainment” – Stamboul Train in which had been published in the United States as Orient Express.A film of Greene’s novel, under its American title, was also released in Stamboul Train: An Entertainment out of 5 based on 0 ratings.
4 reviews. baswood on LibraryThing Some of them will make it to the end of the line and others will not. I found this book much more enjoyable than Greene's more literary novels.
This novel seems to be a precursor of an almost Ian Fleming style of writing and plot/5(4). Originally published in the UK as Stamboul Train inGraham Greene’s “novel has movement, variety, interest; taken on the surface, it is an interesting and entertaining story of adventure, penetrated through and through with the consciousness of the on-rushing train, with that curious sense of the temporary suspension of one’s.
About the Book. Published in as an 'entertainment', Graham Greene's gripping spy thriller unfolds aboard the majestic Orient Express as it crosses Europe from Ostend to Constantinople.
Exploring the many shades of despair and hope, innocence and duplicity, Stamboul Train offers a poignant testimony to Greene's extraordinary powers of.
Stamboul Train is a bit of a letdown after reading Greene's more intense novels. Set on the Orient Express as it churns through Belgium, Germany, Austria, and Yugoslavia until arriving in Istanbul, it lacks the detail, both of characters and locales, that make his works set in tropical climates, for example, so much more vigorous/5(37).
Genre/Form: Detective and mystery stories: Additional Physical Format: Online version: Greene, Graham, Stamboul train. London: Heinemann: Bodley Head, Editions for Orient Express: (Paperback published in ), (Paperback published in ), (Kindle Edition published in ), Cited by: 2.
Stamboul Train by Greene, Graham and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at abebooks The book is perfectly readable and fit for use, although it shows signs of previous ownership.
The spine is likely creased and the cover scuffed or slightly torn. Textbooks will typically have an amount of. As the earliest of Greene's great successes, 'Stamboul Train' definitely shows up some of the themes and some of the excellence for which the author became known - but in a slightly less polished version.
The book - covering an Orient Express journey from Ostende to Istanbul - and several characters including convicted revolutionaries /5(49). Stamboul Train is the second significant novel by Graham Greene. About the Author Graham Greene was an English novelist and author, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century/5(64).
Stamboul Train is the second significant novel by Graham on a train journey from Ostend to Istanbul, the book was renamed Orient Express when it was published in the United States. The novel appeared in and was Greene's first true success.
It was taken on by the Book Society and in adapted as the film Orient Express. Descargar gratis Stamboul Train de Graham Greene.
A gripping spy thriller that unfolds aboard the majestic orient express as it crosses europe from ostend to constantinople.
weaving a web of subterfuge, murder and politics along the way, the novel focuses upon the disturbing relationship between myatt, the pragmatic jew, and naive chorus girl coral. Stamboul Train was also the first of Greene’s many novels to be filmed ().
It was followed by three more entertainments that were equally popular with the reading public: A Gun for Sale (; also published as This Gun for Hire ; films and, as Short Cut to Hell, ), The Confidential Agent (; film ), and The Ministry of. Audiobook Full and Best Audio Books (Book #) Part 2 - Duration: Liane Moritary 1, views.
James Mason reads The Third Man by Graham Greene - Duration: COVID Resources. Reliable information about the coronavirus (COVID) is available from the World Health Organization (current situation, international travel).Numerous and frequently-updated resource results are available from this ’s WebJunction has pulled together information and resources to assist library staff as they consider how to handle coronavirus.
Stamboul Train by Graham Greene,download free ebooks, Download free PDF EPUB ebook. Other articles where Stamboul Train is discussed: Graham Greene: his own with a thriller, Stamboul Train (; also published as Orient Express), which plays off various characters against each other as they ride a train from the English Channel to Istanbul.
This was the first of a string of novels that he termed “entertainments,” works similar to thrillers in. Stamboul Train, though, is ultimately quite light. It’s great fun, it’s brilliantly exciting – people race trains in cars, there are shoot-outs, tense border crossings, interrogations, scamming, seducing, faking, performing, lying, and all of this happening with the.
videos Play all Old-time Radio Mysteries (Inner Sanctum, Suspense, Escape, Lights Out. etc.) Tippersnore CBS Radio Mystery Theater ~ Journey to Somewhere - Duration: ChillySunshine.
Stamboul Train is one of Greene’s more impressive novels, set aboard the Pdf Express – categorised as pdf ‘entertainment‘, a classification that Greene used to distance his more light-hearted work from his serious pursuits of literature, Greene later said that it’s the only book that he’s ever written that was written solely to please the reader.Stamboul Train.
Graham Greene; Formats & editions. EBook. He also wrote download pdf of essays, and film and book reviews. Graham Greene was a member of the Order of Merit and a Companion of Honour.
He died in April Read more. Also by Graham Greene. See all. Related titles. War And Peace. Leo Tolstoy. To Kill A Mockingbird.Stamboul Train by Graham Greene starting at $ Stamboul Train has 6 available editions to buy at Half Price Books Marketplace.
atheizm.com - Stamboul train. book © 2020
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Brock: Over the Top
Brock: Over the Top is a feature length documentary that not only chronicles the extraordinary life of Australia’s greatest racing car driver, Peter Brock, but peels away the surface to reveal the profoundly human story behind the legend. This film is a cinematic, thrilling yet intimately personal portrait of a life lived on the racing track and in the public eye. Using a treasure trove of rare archival material coupled with candid interviews with the key characters in Peter Brock’s life including his family, his partners, and closest colleagues, this film tells the epic story of Brock’s early obsession with cars, his hard won ascension to the top, his incredible record-breaking victories at Bathurst, his various professional and personal controversies, and his ultimate, tragic death on the race track.
Director: Kriv Stenders
Actors: Alan Moffat, Craig Lowndes, Dick Johnson, Peter Brock
Watch Brock: Over the Top Online for Free at GoStream » Best site to watch movies free and TV shows online is CipFlix
Every school day, African-American teenagers William Gates and Arthur Agee travel 90 minutes each way from inner-city Chicago to St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, a predominately white suburban…
Genre: Documentary, Drama, Sport
In 1994 a 13-year-old boy disappeared without a trace from his home in San Antonio, Texas. Three and a half years later he is found alive thousands of miles away…
Genre: Biography, Crime, Documentary, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
In 1990, SEGA, a fledgling arcade company assembled a team of misfits to take on the greatest video game company in the world, Nintendo. It was a once-in-a-lifetime, no-holds-barred conflict…
All In: The Fight for Democracy
Examines the often overlooked, yet insidious issue of voter suppression in the United States in anticipation of the 2020 presidential election. With the perspective and expertise of Stacey Abrams, the…
The story of New Zealander, Bruce McLaren, who founded the McLaren Motor Racing team, showing the world that a man of humble beginnings could take on the elite of motor…
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A semi-fictionalized documentary about a day in the life of Australian musician Nick Cave’s persona.
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No Safe Spaces
Adam Carolla and Dennis Prager examine the reality of life and discourse on college campuses in modern America.
Penthesilea: Queen of the Amazons
Penthesilea, the first of six films made by Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen, traverses thousands of years to look at the image of the Amazonian woman in myth. It asks,…
Genre: Documentary, History
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg now 84, and still inspired by the lawyers who defended free speech during the Red Scare, Ginsburg refuses to relinquish her passionate duty, steadily fighting for…
Genre: Biography, Documentary
A behind-the-scenes documentary about the recording of Aretha Franklin’s best-selling album finally sees the light of day more than four decades after the original footage was shot.
Genre: Documentary, Music
Uncle Tom
In a collection of intimate interviews with some of America’s most provocative black conservative thinkers, Uncle Tom takes a different look at being black in America.
The Great White Silence
Herbert Ponting travelled to Antarctica as part of Captain Scott’s ill-fated South pole expedition and shot the footage that makes up this extraordinary documentary.
Trailer: Brock: Over the Top
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Home » Canadian history • Uncategorized
Reviving the Canadian Hero
August 28, 2012 August 28, 2012 3 Comments on Reviving the Canadian Hero
Portrait, Samuel Benfield Steele, 1891. Bruce Peel Special Collections Library, University of Alberta (2008.1.2.1.6.1.8).
By Lauren Wheeler
Sam Steele was the Forrest Gump of Canadian History. He was involved in some way with the Fenian Raids, the Long March West, the 1870 Riel Uprising, the establishment of the North-West Mounted Police, the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the 1885 Northwest Uprising, the Klondike Gold Rush, the Second Boer War, the First World War, the Spanish Flu epidemic, and the Winnipeg General Strike. None of the first five Prime Ministers could make claims to have experienced that many of the key events of the country’s first fifty years! Today Steele is a relatively unknown figure of Canadian history. Aficionados of RCMP history know of him and there are corners of the country where his life is celebrated – like Fort Steele, BC, Fort Macleod, Alberta, and Dawson City, Yukon. If you walked up to the average person on the street and asked “Who was Sam Steele?” they would probably give you a blank look and respond “Sam who?”
For those who remember the Heritage Minutes of the mid-1990s, Sam Steele is the stern-faced Mountie who responds to an American prospector, pointing a pair of pistols at him, with “In that case I’ll be lenient, we’ll keep this gambling gear and you’ll be back in the United States by sundown.” At the end of the Heritage Minute, the prospector, with two Mounties escorting him back to the US, states “I coulda shot that guy right there. Who was he anyway?” The response: “Superintendent Sam Steele, North-West Mounted Police.”
Steele was a quintessential hero figure and the embodiment of Victorian masculinity at a time when Canada was striving to create a country from sea-to-sea and trying to emerge from the shadow of Great Britain. His life parallels the major events of opening and settlement of the West, and his distinguished career with the NWMP and the military ensure his reputation was well known. It is this reputation that led men from all corners of the country and the US to apply to serve in South Africa under Steele as the first contingent of the Lord Strathcona’s Horse. Of the 2,000 men who applied in 1900, only 500 were accepted for service. Nineteen years later when Steele’s funeral procession wove through the streets of Winnipeg, it brought the Winnipeg General Strike to a halt as workers paused in silent respect of his life and legacy. There are few people whose passing could produce the a similar effect today.
Lord and Lady Strathcona group portrait with Steele (centre) and Officers of Lord Strathcona’s Horse
What is striking about the story of Sam Steele is that he went from national hero to relative obscurity in less than a century. This decline presents an interesting opportunity to revive Steele’s legacy, not as a hero but as a means of conveying the first fifty years of Canadian history to the public. The potential of the repatriated Steele collection to teach Canadian history through an individual is clear in how the University of Alberta Libraries have designed their digital and physical exhibitions of the collection.
The website for the Sam Steele collection breaks Steele’s life and the collection into six sections: the Red River Expedition (1867), the North-West Mounted Police and the March West (1873), Sam and Marie (1890), the Yukon and the Klondike Gold Rush (1898), the Boer War and the South Africa Constabulary (1899), and World War I (1914). Each section corresponds with a notable period in Steele’s professional and private life and, as the titles indicate, each is a significant event in Canadian history. The correlations are reiterated in the 100-foot long timeline that is a central feature of the Sam Steele: Journey of a Canadian Hero exhibit currently on display at the Enterprise Square Gallery in downtown Edmonton, Alberta. The top of the timeline gives the key events of Steele’s life and the bottom gives major events in Canadian history to clearly show when, and how often, these two lines intersect. The rich collection of documents and photographs that is the Sam Steele Collection provides the evidence necessary to connect these two timelines and create a narrative of the past.
Small sample of the Sir Sam Steele Collection
Through these parallel timelines, Steele becomes a tool for telling the story of Canada’s first fifty years in a way that gives it a human face. Because Steele is no longer a well-known figure, when people encounter his life as a means of conveying Canada’s history it is without many of the preconceptions that come with historical figures like Louis Riel or Sir John A Macdonald. This does not remove all political bias from the events – Steele’s advancement in the NWMP was often blocked by virtue of his Conservative political affiliations at times when the Liberals were in power – but it avoids the overt politicization of Canadian history that comes with many of the better-known individuals. I would also challenge Canadian historians to find another person who was involved in as many significant events and has a rich archival collection comparative to Sam Steele.
Superintendent Samuel Steele and Marie Steele in Fort Macleod, 1895. Bruce Peel Special Collections Library, University of Alberta (2008.1.1.5.1.1).
Lauren Wheeler is a public historian working with the Bruce Peel Special Collections Library as Sam Steele Exhibition Coordinator.
Canadian history, Uncategorized Canadian history, Klondike, Lord Strathcona's Horse, Mounties, Sam Steele, UAlberta Libraries, Western Canada
← What Counts as History in Toronto? Digitally Exploring Toronto’s Heritage Plaques History Slam Episode Four with Emily Harrington, “Publishing Guru” →
3 thoughts on “Reviving the Canadian Hero”
Pingback: Reviving a Canadian Hero | Lauren Wheeler, Can Enviro Rock?
Roderick Benns August 29, 2012 at 2:21 pm
Excellent blog post, thank you Lauren. Sam Steele deserves a more meaningful place in our collective memory as Canadians.
Roderick Benns
Reg Jensen September 7, 2012 at 9:48 am
I saw the Same Steele exhibit in Edmonton a week ago and it was VERY WELL done. The wealth of documents that was obtained from the family is mind boggling and includes pieces of Steele’s uniform and family photo albums. The original petition of the Dawson City residents asking that Steele remain in the Yukon is on display. I had the pleasure of seeing the exhibit when the project archivist, Lynn McPherson, (herself a past resident of the Yukon) was on site and she was a wealth of information having read thousands of the letters and diary submissions. I’m sure she would love to attend and speak to any group(s) of members/retired members about the things she read. I highly recommend seeing this exhibit. It MAY go to Calgary and Regina before it goes to Ottawa and the documents need to be returned to England next year.
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Final gross birdies league table 2005 - Congratulations Graham Bilsland
TOTAL ABERDOVEY MORLEY HAYES WHITTINGTON HEATH MOSELEY BEAU DESERT DRAYTON PARK CAVENDISH MAXSTOKE PARK KIRBY MUXLOE KINGS NORTON
POINTS Birdies Eagles Pts Birdies Eagles Pts Birdies Eagles Pts Birdies Eagles Pts Birdies Eagles Pts Birdies Eagles Pts Birdies Eagles Pts Birdies Eagles Pts Birdies Eagles Pts Birdies Eagles Pts
1st Bilsland, Graham 14 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 4 0 4 1 0 1 3 0 3
2nd Lloyd, Steve 14 6 0 6 0 0 0 3 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 0 3
3rd Talboys, Ian 10 3 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 3 0 0 0 3 0 3
4th Smith, Andy 8 4 0 4 0 1 2 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0
5th Craddy, Chris 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 4 0 4 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0
6th Hughes, Karl 7 4 0 4 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 0
7th Shipman, James 7 2 0 2 3 0 3 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
8th Thompson, Adam 6 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 2 0 2 0 0 0
9th Holliday, Howard 5 2 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0
10th Booth, Steve 4 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 1
11th Galloway, Gordon 4 1 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 3
12th Hancock, Bill 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0
13th Heathcote, Ivan 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0
14th Herrmann, Paul 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1
15th Lander, Bob 4 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 2 1 0 1
16th Newton, John 4 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
17th Thacker, Jeff 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 0 2
18th Fox, Mike 3 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
19th Smith, Neil 3 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0
20th Bayliss, John 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 0
21st Black, Graeme 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
22nd Dodwell, Martyn 2 2 0 2 0 0 0
23rd Ho, Bobby 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0
24th Hornby, Brian 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
25th Lander, John 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
26th Marchant, Adrian 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
27th Moore, Jamie 2 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
28th Pells, Derek 2 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
29th Shaw, John 2 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 0
30th Thacker, Tim 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0
31st Campbell, Andy 1 0 0 0 1 0 1
32nd Keates, Brian 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
33rd Lander, Rob 1 1 0 1
34th Meadows, Trevor 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
35th Poultney Les 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
36th Sherwin, Roger 1 1 0 1
37th Sullivan, Gordon 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
38th Summerfield, Rob 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0
39th Thompson, Cliff 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
40th Weston, Paul 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
41st Adams, Graham 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
42nd Barrow, Pete 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
43rd Casey, Paul 0 0 0 0
44th Collins, Nick 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
45th Davies, Vaughan 0
46th Dodwell, Brian 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
47th Hudson, Ken 0 0 0 0
48th Jackson, Anthony 0
49th Jobbins, Paul 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
50th Lander, Steve 0 0 0 0
51st Mahon, Stuart 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
52nd Mansell, John 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
53rd Mustillo, Rick 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
54th O'Brien, John 0 0 0 0
55th Pinches, John 0 0 0 0
56th Rickards, Lee 0
57th Ringer, Colin 0
58th Seager, Carl 0
59th Stevens, Richard 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
60th Summerfield, John 0 0 0 0
61st Surch, Alan 0 0 0 0
62nd Taylor, Roger 0
63rd Thacker, Mike 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
64th Tolley, Alan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
65th Vale, Craig 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
66th Ward, John 0
67th Weston, Darren 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
68th Whiston, Ray 0
69th White, Des 0
70th Whitmore, Barry 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
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Kotter's 8- Step Change Model
From apppm
S134181 (Talk | contribs)
(→Managing Programs)
== Managing Programs ==
A programme can be defined as: “ a temporary, flexible organization created to coordinate, direct and oversee the implementation of a set of related projects and activities in order to deliver outcomes and benefits related to the organization’s strategic objectives. A programme is likely to have a life that spans several years.”<ref name="Managing Successful Programs" />
A programme can be defined as: “ a temporary, flexible organization created to coordinate, direct and oversee the implementation of a set of related projects and activities in order to deliver outcomes and benefits related to the organization’s strategic objectives. A program is likely to have a life that spans several years.”<ref name="Managing Successful Programs"/>
A program manager is to lead the temporary organization through the time it exists till it has reached the program’s strategic objectives and benefits. <ref name="The Standard for Program Management" />
A program manager is to lead the temporary organization through the time it exists till it has reached the program’s strategic objectives and benefits. <ref name="The Standard for Program Management"/>
Leading a program involves being in contact with different stakeholders as each project manager, the project teams, the Program Management Office and the higher management levels and others but a program manager should also have knowledge within program objectives and organizational culture and processes. <ref name="The Standard for Program Management" />
Leading a program involves being in contact with different stakeholders as each project manager, the project teams, the Program Management Office and the higher management levels and others but a program manager should also have knowledge within program objectives and organizational culture and processes. <ref name="The Standard for Program Management"/>
A program is affected by internal and external factors; an example could be a change of strategy from the top management which can mean big changes for a program. (standard s,15) Change is in program management theory mentioned as one of the success factors for a program. <ref name="Managing Successful Programs" />
As a program manager one has to be able to handle changes that can be both minor changes and bigger changes since the many stakeholders, the fast-moving market and the duration of a program make changes inevitable and a program being dynamic. <ref name="Managing Successful Programs" />
As a program manager one has to be able to handle changes that can be both minor changes and bigger changes since the many stakeholders, the fast-moving market and the duration of a program make changes inevitable and a program being dynamic. <ref name="Managing Successful Programs"/>
Since a program manager has to lead many people the program manager has to be able to handle how change affects procedures, costs and other objectives of a program but also how change affects people who are part of a program either as internal or external stakeholders. <ref name="Managing Successful Programs" /> People are an important driver of a program and will, therefore, be affected if changes are made in a program.<ref name="Managing Successful Programs" />
Since a program manager has to lead many people the program manager has to be able to handle how change affects procedures, costs and other objectives of a program but also how change affects people who are part of a program either as internal or external stakeholders. <ref name="Managing Successful Programs" /> People are an important driver of a program and will, therefore, be affected if changes are made in a program.<ref name="Managing Successful Programs"/>
This can affect their work procedures, the meaning of their work and will react if they do not like the changes that have to be made.<ref name = Change Management> John Hayes | 2014 | " The Theory and Practice of Change Management" 4th ed.</ref>
For this reason, the program manager has to know how to lead people when there are changes to the program. <ref name="Managing Successful Programs" />
For this reason, the program manager has to know how to lead people when there are changes to the program. <ref name="Managing Successful Programs"/>
Often the people factor is not in focus when a change process is happening but the focus is more on the technical perspective.<ref name="Change Management" />
1 New title: Kotter's 8-Step Change Model as a tool in Program Management
1.2 Managing Programs
1.3 Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model as a tool for managing change in a program[7]
1.4 Application
1.5.1 The Eight Accelerators
1.7 Annotated bibliography
New title: Kotter's 8-Step Change Model as a tool in Program Management
As a program exists in a dynamic environment it is affected by external as well as internal factors this makes it necessary for a program manager to make changes to the program to adapt to changes from the environment.[1] In the program management literature, one find tools to make the decision of change but not many describe how the change has to be implemented in a program successfully without affecting the people in the program.(siger hvem?) When first the decision about making a change is taken the next step is to implement the changes. John P. Kotter has developed a method to implement changes which consist of eight steps. These steps are described in Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model to guide organizations through change.[2] As programs can be seen as temporary organizations. [3] Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model can be used to implement changes in a program. This article will present The 8-Step Change Model as well as how to implement the model in a program. Since the model was developed it has been criticized for being inflexible because of its linear nature and Kotter has done further research in the area, therefore, Kotter has made an update to the model called; Eight Accelerators of Change. The updated version has other values than the first which makes the models suitable for different programs and situations.
Managing Programs
A programme can be defined as: “ a temporary, flexible organization created to coordinate, direct and oversee the implementation of a set of related projects and activities in order to deliver outcomes and benefits related to the organization’s strategic objectives. A program is likely to have a life that spans several years.”[4] A program manager is to lead the temporary organization through the time it exists till it has reached the program’s strategic objectives and benefits. [5]
Leading a program involves being in contact with different stakeholders as each project manager, the project teams, the Program Management Office and the higher management levels and others but a program manager should also have knowledge within program objectives and organizational culture and processes. [5]
A program is affected by internal and external factors; an example could be a change of strategy from the top management which can mean big changes for a program. (standard s,15) Change is in program management theory mentioned as one of the success factors for a program. [4]
As a program manager one has to be able to handle changes that can be both minor changes and bigger changes since the many stakeholders, the fast-moving market and the duration of a program make changes inevitable and a program being dynamic. [4] Since a program manager has to lead many people the program manager has to be able to handle how change affects procedures, costs and other objectives of a program but also how change affects people who are part of a program either as internal or external stakeholders. [4] People are an important driver of a program and will, therefore, be affected if changes are made in a program.[4] This can affect their work procedures, the meaning of their work and will react if they do not like the changes that have to be made.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many
For this reason, the program manager has to know how to lead people when there are changes to the program. [4]
Often the people factor is not in focus when a change process is happening but the focus is more on the technical perspective.[6]
When looking at literature like The Standard of Program Management and how to handle change in a program, it describes tools that explain how a program manager takes the decision of change but not how the program manager implements changes in the temporary organization. Therefore the following part will describe how the program manager implements major change after the decision of making the change has been taken.
Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model as a tool for managing change in a program[7]
John P. Kotter’s work is seen as some of the most important work within change management building on Kurt Lewin’s three stage change model from 1947.(Organizational Change: A Review of Theory and Research in the 1990s s. 300) Kotter bases his research on studies of around 100 companies (Buchanan 192). Based on his research he developed The 8-Step Change Model which is a model to guide organizations through major change. Since change is an important part of program management (1) the 8-Step Change Model can be useful for program managers to know how to lead people through change. To use Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model in program management one has to look at a program as defined earlier in this article “A programme is defined as a temporary, flexible organization created to coordinate, direct and oversee the implementation of a set of related projects and activities in order to deliver outcomes and benefits related to the organization’s strategic objectives. A programme is likely to have a life that spans several years.” (success) For this reason in this article the term program will be used but is viewed as a temporary organization. The 8-Step Change Model is divided in steps where the program manager starts with the first step and then follows the steps in the model continuous till all steps are developed and ends with the eights step. The steps a program manager has to follow are Establishing a Sense of Urgency, Forming a Powerful Guiding Coalition, Create a Vision, Communicating the Vision, Empowering Others to Act on the Vision, Planning for and Creating Short-Term Wins, Consolidating Improvements and Producing Still More Change, Institutionalizing New Approaches. (1)
The steps are meant to be initiated top-down in the program and thereafter to be followed in a linear process starting at the first step “Etablishing a Sense of Urgency”. (1) Because it is a tool used top-down it is suited for programs having a hierarchical structure and when big changes have to be implemented in the program and not just minor changes since it takes a lot of resources to follow all the steps. (1) Therefor the model should be used when it is the whole program that has to go through a change and not on project level (2)
Establishing a Sense of Urgency
The first step to take in the 8-Step Change Model is to establish a sense of urgency in the program. This means that it should be clear why changes have to be applied now and not in six month. The change has to start from the top and the program manager needs to create urgency for the relevant stakeholders in the program to convince the stakeholders that action has to be taken now since they will be part of the change. (1) Challenges occur in this step if the program manager is not a great leader. Being good at leading people is necessary because it takes a lot of effort to convince people to change. If the Program Manager does not succeed people can be barriers that makes the change difficult to make or even impossible.(1)
Forming a Powerful Guiding Coalition
When the sense of urgency is created a powerful guiding coalition has to be made. This is a group of people who will be the frontrunners in the change of the program. This group should not only be the top of the hierarchy but the people should have some part of power in the form of titles, information, expertise, reputations and relationship(1) The group also have to reach broad in the program so each project has a frontrunner so the whole program will change and not only parts of it.
Create a Vision
The guiding coalition develops a vision for the change together. It is important that this step is done together to make every person in the group feel ownership of the vision to better promote it and not being a barrier.(change management 241) The vision should be clear and possible to explain so the listener understands it and believe in it in five minutes. (1)
Communicating the Vision
When the vision for the change is made it has to be communicated to the stakeholders. If every person affected by the change is not aware of the vision the change can move in different directions and the chance of success decrease. Change is not easy especially not if sacrifices has to be made therefore the vision has to be communicated so the stakeholders believe in it. (1) For further reading on how to communicate as a program manager look in The Standard of Program Management page 140 (standard 140)
Empowering Others to Act on the Vision
If stakeholders still do not believe in the vision for the change they can become obstacles which will prevent the change to be a success. In this step of the model the obstacles have to be handled. This could be making an extra effort to convince a person, relocate the person or fire the person. The obstacles do not have to be people but could also be organizational structures or processes on operational level in the program. (1) In this step it is important the program manager is not only good at the technical perspectives of the program but also a good leader (1 / standard 12)
Planning for and Creating Short-Term Wins
The saying an elephant should be eaten one bite at a time also comply with this situation. The sixth step in the model tells the practitioners to make short-term wins meaning that the final goal could be far in the future so sub-goals should be made. This should be so managers have clearly performance goals (1) to do so the sub-goals have to be different for every project or even on lower levels than that depending on how performance goals are made normally.
Consolidating Improvements and Producing Still More Change
Step seven guides the practitioner not to celebrate too soon but keep being aware of the changes that have to be made. If the front runners celebrate the change too soon the people who have a negative view on the change will be fast to try to stop the change. When victory is declared too soon the reason is often that the first three steps Establishing a Sense of Urgency, Forming a Powerful Guiding Coalition and Create a Vision have not been done in a powerful way and with a clear vision, therefore first steps are important also to succeed in this step. (1, 66)
Institutionalizing New Approaches
When a change becomes a part of the cultures mindset the changes are successful and at this point it is important to make sure if new employees come to the program that they learn the new mindset and not the old one.(1) Read about organizational learning
The process is meant to be followed step by step from the first to the last but the model has been criticized for its linearity.(linking) Each step might not fit in every change process but if not all steps are followed it will not work accordingly. Situations where steps might not be possible to go through is if the change is affected by a time limit and therefore the last steps cannot be evaluated. (kritik 14) A program as a temporary organization can last many years but it still might not be long enough to fully implement changes and evaluate it compared to a traditional organization. Especially the first phases of the program tends to be iterative and cyclical (standard 8) implementing a linear process could cause problems especially because changes happens more in the beginning of a program where it happens more iterative and cyclical (teori) Following all the steps of the change model is time consuming both for the program manager but also for people involved in the process this could make program mangers choose another option than the model. The time needed to succeed in the process makes it impossible to use it for small changes and also when changes occur often it is too time consuming and confusing if stakeholders often have to follow a new vision or more visions at the same time for different change processes. Looking at how fast markets change this model might not be fast enough to follow. (teori) As a program manager trying to follow the model it can be difficult to understand exactly what to do since the model is not very detailed and each step could have many sub processes. (kritik) Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model has many limitations and one would be tempted to use the model just as inspiration and then pick the steps a program manager finds relevant for the program but according to Kotter: “Skipping steps creates only the illusion of speed and never produces a satisfying result” (1) therefor the model is made to be used continuously and are not a guaranty for a successful change process if it is not used in that way.
The Eight Accelerators
Since the development of the 8-Step Change Model Kotter have researched more within the field and developed the model further. The further research within change management has shown a different reality and Kotter has developed a variation of the way an organization can handle change. A lot of companies are becoming less hierarchical and the world is moving even faster,(2) Instead of having a traditional structure of an organization and then using the 8-Step Change Model when big changes have to occur, Kotter suggest an organization to have a dual operating system. This means that besides the formal system that makes an organization work it should have a second operating system meant for design and implementation of strategy. (2) This second operation system is flexible and able to faster adapt to change so the changes can be implemented. Within the second operation system eight accelerators exist instead of eight steps. The eight accelerators are 1. Create a sense of urgency around a single big opportunity 2. Build and maintain a guiding coalition 3. Formulate a strategic vision and develop change initiatives designed to capitalize on the big opportunity 4. Communicate the vision and the strategy to create buy-in and attract a growing “volunteer army” 5. Accelerate movement toward the vision and the opportunity by ensuring that the network removes barriers 6. Celebrate visible significant short-term wins 7. Never let up. Keep learning from experience. Don’t declare victory too soon 8. Institutionalize strategic changes in the culture Since this method is built on Kotter’s first research it still has eight different points and formulated almost in the same way but should be handled different. The new version is called The Eight Accelerators and the accelerators are working in the second system continuously and not only supposed to happen one time during one big change. Besides not being a linear process this method varies from the 8-Step Change Model by having more people involved in the change. According to Kotter as many people should be involved as possible and do it voluntarily in the new model. (2) It also differentiates because it is meant to work within a network more than a hierarchy which is better suited to the constant changes in the environment around a program.
A program is affected by constant change and looking at literature in the field it suggests tools to get changes approved by stakeholders but not how to implement big changes in a program when focusing on the people perspective. For a program manager Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model could be useful to integrate changes. Since the characteristics of the steps of the 8-Step Change Model are that it is a linear process and meant to go from step one to step eight, best suited for hierarchal companies this method could in program management be used when a big change has to occur and the program manager knows where to move from and to. This tool is best suited for programs that have a hierarchical structure. Considering the critique the model might be too linear and time consuming to apply in a program. Thus a program manager could use the model as a guideline although it is against Kotter’s belief. The updated version of the change model; The Eight Accelerators differ by handling ongoing changes and is better suited for a company that are built on networks and do not have a strongly hierarchical structure. This might make The Eight Accelerators more suited for the way a program work in a fast changing environment. Therefore the first model might be better to use in one situation where the second is better to use when the program are not strictly hierarchical but affected by ongoing changes.
↑ Project Management Institute | 2008 | "The Standard for Program Management" 2nd ed.
↑ Kotter, John P.| 1995 |"Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail" Harvard Business Review pp. 59-67
↑ AXELOS, and Cabinet Office | 2011 | "Managing Successful Programmes" 4th ed.
↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Managing_Successful_Programs
↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named The_Standard_for_Program_Management
↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Change_Management
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HomeUncategorizedLee Hughes failure sky sports news
Lee Hughes failure sky sports news
Lee Hughes name receives mixed reactions while speaking of football. His illustrious career continues to be followed closely by sky sports news who were following his career from his days as a semi professional in England C National Football team to his latest position being a striker of Notts County. Lee Hughes began realizing his dream when he became an integral part of the West Bromwich Albion for a record fee of 200,000, the highest ever paid to a non-league player. His career continued its upward stream prior to the car crash which he was involved in and held accountable in the 2003-2004 season.
It may be asserted that it was this crash that changed Hughes life. A passenger, Douglas Graham, in the Renault that his Mercedes hit, died in the crash plus the driver of the Renault was seriously injured. Since Hughes had been drinking that night, he fled from the accident scene to avoid the breath analyzer test. Though he turned himself to the police the following day and was arrested for causing death by drunken driving, he was released on bail which allowed him to finish Albions First Division campaign and subsequently be a part of the Premier League. He went on to becoming the clubs leading goal scorer with 13 goals.
The verdict of the crash was delivered in August 2004 where Hughes was found responsible for the death of Douglas Graham caused by drunken driving as well as fleeing from the crime scene and was sentenced to six years of imprisonment and was also banned from driving for 10 years.
It seemed like the start of his downslide when his contract with West Bromwich Albion was terminated and the appeal for a reduced sentence refused. While in prison he found salvation in Islam, the faith that he changed into. Alongside, he also played for the Staffordshire County Senior League as a part of the prison football team, Featherstone F.C.
Days before his release news surfaced of Hughes signing an agreement with Oldham Athletic. He did sign a two year contract upon his release in August 2007 with them at 1,800 every week, the amount being one tenth of what he earned throughout his stint with Wes Bromwich Albion. However, by the time the season ended, Hughes has reclaimed his position as the highest goal scorer for that club, scoring 8 goals.
It has been on the upswing for Hughes since then. He joined the Championship Club Blackpool on loan and made his first goal against Charlton Athletic. He ended up being signed a two year agreement for League Two team for Notts County and scored a hat-trick in the victory over Bradford City with 5-0.
Though Hughes finds himself climbing to an advaced status of success, he is still haunted by way of the demons from the past. He still seeks to redeem himself by doing community and charity work in the hope that his work in some way can assist prevent another tragedy from happening.
Sky Sports news has got the detailed and updated records of all of Lee Hughes games, scores and transfer history
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Tag: Gord Henniger
Smear campaigns and anonymous groups dominate St. Albert election
37 Comments on Smear campaigns and anonymous groups dominate St. Albert election
Artwork from ‘St. Albert Insight’ attacks Mayor Nolan Crouse. St. Albert Insight is one of the many anonymous websites that have popped up during this month’s municipal election in St. Albert.
A rash of anonymous and semi-anonymous third-party groups have emerged with plans to influence the outcome in the City of St. Albert‘s municipal election.
With a population of more than 60,000, the second largest city in Alberta’s capital region has grown in leaps and bounds as the number of residents has increased by one-third over the past two decades. An affluent bedroom community without a significant business or industrial tax-base, St. Albert depends almost entirely on residential taxation to fill its city coffers.
Although it describes itself as a “grassroots group of concerned citizens”, ‘St. Albert Think-Tank‘ remains completely anonymous. Think-Tank opposes downtown revitalizations plans it claims will “change the St. Albert downtown core to resemble that of a major city such as Toronto or Montreal”, and opposes extension of Light-Rail Transit from Edmonton to St. Albert, flimsily arguing the city needs a population of 500,000 before an LRT line would be feasible.
Think-Tank plans to host an election forum on October 16, yet refuses to give election candidates any advanced notice as to the identity of the group’s leaders, membership or even the moderators at the planned all-candidates forum.
In an October 3rd email sent to Mayor Nolan Crouse and all council candidates, the group’s organizer declared that “the full membership list of the Think Tank is of no consequence,” and, despite continuing to remain completely anonymous, is “providing absolute openness and transparency.” (download a pdf copy of the email)
While the identity of the individual or individuals behind St. Albert Think-Tank remains a secret to the public, the group has purchased large advertisements in the community’s award winning newspaper, the St. Albert Gazette. The Gazette would know the names of the individuals who purchased the advertisement, yet the paper does not yet appear to have reported on the group’s agenda or who is hiding behind the advertisement.
Artwork from the anonymous blog St. Albert Insight attacks Mayor Nolan Crouse and council candidates its author disagrees with.
Striking a real negative tone, two anonymous blogs – Stabnow and St. Albert Insight – have also been attacking the mayor and council candidates who do not fit within the authors narrow and bitterly toned anti-government agenda.
Another group, the Election Action Committee (EAC), remains semi-anonymous. The name of former St. Albert Taxpayers Association president Gord Henniger is listed as a contact and the group’s website appears to exists for the sole purpose of attacking incumbent Mayor Crouse.
The EAC has also purchased ads in the Gazette and loudly voices its opposition to taxes and various projects that any sensible person would think could improve the quality of life of St. Albertans, including LRT expansion and the proposed downtown area revitalization plan (the website also includes a strange daily recap of someone’s vacation in California).
In a recent ad in the St. Albert Gazette, the EAC claims that property taxes have increased by 26.37% since Mayor Crouse was first elected nine years ago. Whether or not that total is true, municipal taxes in St. Albert have only increased an average of 3.23% annually over the past five years. This remains fairly low compared to other cities in Alberta during the same period (4.62% in Red Deer, 4.53% in Strathcona County, 4.46% in Grande Prairie, 7.72% in Calgary and 5.63% in Edmonton).
Very poorly chosen “famous quotes” on the St. Albert Election Action Committee website.
But it is the “Famous Quotes” section of the Election Action Committee website that is most shocking. The page includes quotes from many historical luminaries, including Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler, which I am sure will be of interest to the nine election candidates the EAC has endorsed.
While the two groups demand transparency from their municipal government, neither of these groups are transparent. I have emailed St. Albert Think-Tank and the Election Action Committee requesting information about their financial backers and who is involved in the groups. Neither have responded to my requests at the time this post was published.
Tags Adolf Hitler, Anonymous Groups, Election Action Committee, Gord Henniger, Heinrich Himmler, John Goldsmith, Nolan Crouse, St. Albert Election 2013, St. Albert Think Tank
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Do you really want another referendum? Be careful what you wish for
Many people in my Twitter timeline have been calling for another referendum on Brexit. Since most of the people I follow regard Brexit as an unmitigated disaster, one can see they are desperate to adopt any measure that might stop it.
Things have now got even more interesting with arch-Brexiteer, Nigel Farage, calling yesterday for another referendum. Unless he is playing a particularly complicated game, he presumably also thinks that his side will win – and with an increased majority that will ensure that Brexit is not disrupted.
Let me be clear. I think Brexit is a disaster. But I really do not think another referendum is a good idea. If there's one thing that the last referendum demonstrated, it is that this is a terrible method for making political decisions on complicated issues.
I'm well-educated and well-read, yet at the time of the referendum, I understood very little about how the EU worked. My main information came from newspapers and social media – including articles such as this nuanced and thoughtful speech on the advantages and disadvantages of EU membership by Theresa May. (The contrast between this and her current mindless and robotic pursuit of extreme Brexit is so marked that I do wonder if she has been kidnapped and brainwashed at some point).
I was pretty sure that it would be bad for me as a scientist to lose opportunities to collaborate with European colleagues, and at a personal level I felt deeply European while also proud of the UK as a tolerant and fair-minded society. But I did not understand the complicated financial, legal, and trading arrangements between the UK and Europe, I had no idea of possible implications for Northern Ireland – this topic was pretty much ignored by the media that I got my information from. As far as I remember, debates on the topic on the TV were few and far between, and were couched as slanging matches between opposite sides – with Nigel Farage continually popping up to tell us about the dangers of unfettered immigration. I remember arguing with a Brexiteer group in Oxford Cornmarket who were distributing leaflets about the millions that would flow to the NHS if we left the EU, but who had no evidence to back up this assertion. There were some challenges to these claims on radio and TV, but the voices of impartial experts were seldom heard.
After the referendum, there were some stunning interviews with the populace exploring their reasons for voting. News reporters were despatched to Brexit hotspots, where they interviewed jubilant supporters, many of whom stated that the UK would now be cleansed of foreigners and British sovereignty restored. Some of them also mentioned funding of the NHS: the general impression was that being in the EU meant that an emasculated Britain had to put up with foreigners on British soil while at the same time giving away money to foreigners in Europe. The EU was perceived as a big bully that took from us and never gave back, and where the UK had no voice. The reporters never challenged these views, or asked about other issues, such as financial or other benefits of EU membership.
Of course there were people who supported Brexit for sound, logical reasons, but they seemed to be pretty thin on the ground. A substantial proportion of those voting seemed swayed by arguments about decreasing the number of foreigners in the UK and/or spending money on the NHS rather than 'giving it to Europe'.
Remainers who want another referendum seem to think that, now we've seen the reality of the financial costs of Brexit, and the exodus of talented Europeans from our hospitals, schools, and universities, the populace will see through the deception foisted on them in 2016. I wonder. If Nigel Farage wants a referendum, this could simply mean that he is more confident than ever of his ability to manipulate mainstream and social media to play on people's fears of foreigners. We now know more about sophisticated new propaganda methods that can be used on social media, but that does not mean we have adequate defences against them.
The only thing that would make me feel positive about a referendum would be if you had to demonstrate that you understood what you were voting for. You'd need a handful of simple questions about factual aspects of EU membership – and a person's vote would only be counted if these questions were accurately answered. This would, however, disenfranchise a high proportion of voters, and would be portrayed as an attack on democracy. So that is not going to happen. I think there's a strong risk that if we have another referendum, it will either be too close to call, or give the same result as before, and we'll be no further ahead.
But the most serious objection to another referendum is that it is a flawed method for making political decisions. As noted in this blogpost:
(A referendum requires) a complex, and often emotionally charged issue, to be reduced to a binary yes/no question. When considering a relationship the UK has been in for over 40 years a simple yes/no or “remain/leave” question raises many complex and inter-connected questions that even professional politicians could not fully answer during or after the campaign. The EU referendum required a largely uninformed electorate to make a choice between the status quo and an extremely unpredictable outcome.
Rather than a referendum, I'd like to see decisions about EU membership made by those with considerable expertise in EU affairs who will make an honest judgement about what is in the best interests of the UK. Sadly, that does not seem to be an option offered to us.
Labels: Brexit, EU
Mike Taylor 12 January 2018 at 16:04
"Rather than a referendum, I'd like to see decisions about EU membership made by those with considerable expertise in EU affairs who will make an honest judgement about what is in the best interests of the UK. Sadly, that does not seem to be an option offered to us."
Precisely. That's why a second referendum is the only option on the table to get us to a point where those with expertise can have some influence. Because if they just start making decisions against The Will Of The People, there will be riots. And more importantly, the Conservatives will lose votes, which May will never knowingly sanction. Whatever the cost to the country and indeed the world.
Dominik Lukeš 12 January 2018 at 22:42
"decisions about EU membership made by those with considerable expertise in EU affairs who will make an honest judgement about what is in the best interests of the UK"
Maybe I'm channeling my inner Michael Gove here but it strikes me that this is precisely the sort of sentiment that got us where we are. Didn't we have exactly that sort of mantra in the decades leading up to the banking crisis?
The problem with deferring to expertise for this sort of decision making is that we're looking at a problem that is too complex to be amenable to expertise. There is no external rationality available to us to make independent adjudication on even the question of "best interests", let alone the answer. Expertise is necessary as a part of the conversation but it can never formulate the whole issue. I'd be about as comfortable with relying on that as I am with relying on 'peer review' for judgments of applicability of research results to policy.
The limitation of expertise is not that it is wrong sometimes about its own field but that it is too willing to extend its own narrow epistemological confines to the world at large. Expertise generally operates on areas where a preponderance of evidence can lead to one correct answer. With Brexit, it is possible that there was not a correct answer even if we could construct hypothetical impartial experts. With complex bifucartated issues, there are no right answers or not even any right questions.
I'm not denying that the voice of EU expertise was missing from the pre-referendum debate. However, wasn't that the fault of the experts? I'd never heard about the Ireland issue either. Surely that can't be just because of the media's incompetence and venality (as boundless as those are). It seems to me that the experts on the remain side were simply not focused enough on the real problems and their communication. I saw no slogans saying, a divorce is too complex. Just very generic and unconvincing doom mongering.
And maybe that's why a second referendum is a good idea precisely because enough information was not available before the first one. If the second one lost, we could conclude the electorate is willing to pay the price of Brexit for whatever symbolic (or practical) gain independence is worth. But we could not say that emotion won over rationality.
Maybe that is the solution to all referenda, run them twice. First on the yes or no, and then on the law that would implement the policy with all its implications. That is the only way to mix in enough knowledge into the emotions.
But ultimately, we're still dealing with the intrinsic limitation of democracy on issues where opinion is evenly divided. A slim-margin majority making winner take all decisions for all. Did you know that the UK has not had a government voted for by a clear majority of voters since 1936? http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/uktable.htm
BTW: I speak here as a remainer EU citizen who didn't get to vote.
I suspect the idea for a second referendum springs from the widespread acceptance that the original Brexit campaign was a deeply dishonest one (spearheaded by a man who spent his early career publishing fictitious stories about the EU in The Telegraph). However, I see no reason the same thing would not happen again
Do you really want another referendum? Be careful ...
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HOUSE BILL REPORT
EHB 2095
As Passed House:
Title: An act relating to preliminary work to develop a process for planning for a new Interstate 5 bridge spanning the Columbia river.
Brief Description: Concerning preliminary work to develop a process for planning for a new Interstate 5 bridge spanning the Columbia river.
Sponsors: Representatives Wylie, Stonier, Harris, Vick, Clibborn, Fey, McBride and Macri.
Committee Activity:
Transportation: 2/20/17, 2/22/17 [DP].
Floor Activity:
Passed House: 3/6/17, 60-38.
Brief Summary of Engrossed Bill
Provides an invitation to create a joint Oregon-Washington legislative action committee to address a variety of purposes, including beginning a process towards project development for a new Interstate 5 (I-5) Bridge.
Appropriates $350,000 for the Washington State Department of Transportation to do an inventory of existing planning data related to the construction of a new I-5 Bridge over the Columbia River.
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Majority Report: Do pass. Signed by 14 members: Representatives Clibborn, Chair; Farrell, Vice Chair; Fey, Vice Chair; Wylie, Vice Chair; Chapman, Gregerson, Kloba, Lovick, McBride, Morris, Ortiz-Self, Pellicciotti, Riccelli and Tarleton.
Minority Report: Do not pass. Signed by 10 members: Representatives Orcutt, Ranking Minority Member; Hargrove, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Harmsworth, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Hayes, Irwin, Pike, Shea, Stambaugh, Van Werven and Young.
Staff: David Munnecke (786-7315).
The Interstate 5 (I-5) Bridge crosses the Columbia River and connects Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, with two identical bridge structures. One bridge structure carries traffic northbound to Vancouver, and the other bridge structure carries traffic southbound to Portland. The northbound bridge was built in 1917, and the southbound bridge was built in 1958.
The Columbia River Crossing (CRC) Project, as described in the record of decision, would have replaced the two I-5 bridges, extended light rail to Vancouver, improved closely spaced interchanges, and enhanced pedestrian and bicycle paths. The estimated project costs ranged from $3.1 billion to $3.5 billion. Between 2005 and 2013, $196.6 million was spent on the project, with the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) spending $94.1 million and the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) spending $102.5 million. The project was officially discontinued in the spring of 2014.
In 1997 a process was enacted to expedite the development of industrial projects of statewide significance. To qualify for designation as a project of statewide significance, a project must meet capital investment or job creation requirements. Border-crossing projects, private projects investing in manufacturing or research and development, projects that will provide a net environmental benefit, and a project that will further commercialization of an innovation may all be designated as projects of statewide significance. An application for designation as a project of statewide significance must be submitted to the Department of Commerce. The application must include a letter of approval from jurisdictions where a project is located and must commit to providing the local staff necessary to expedite the completion of a project.
Counties and cities requesting a project's designation as one of statewide significance must ensure the participation of local officials on the public-private team expediting a project's completion. The Office of Regulatory Assistance must provide facilitation and coordination services to expedite completion of industrial projects of statewide significance. The project proponents may provide the funding necessary for the local jurisdiction to hire the staff required to expedite the process.
Summary of Engrossed Bill:
The process for designating a project of statewide significance is modified to allow for legislative designation. Projects of statewide significance that are designated by the Legislature are exempted from the application requirements. An I-5 Bridge that crosses the Columbia River is designated as a project of statewide significance.
An invitation is provided from the Washington Legislature to the Oregon Legislature to participate in a joint legislative action committee regarding the construction of a new I-5 Bridge. The committee is tasked with achieving the following purposes:
work with both states' departments of transportation, transportation commissions, and stakeholders to begin a process toward project development, with the first meeting occurring by December 15, 2017;
review and confirm lead roles related to permitting, construction, operation, and maintenance of a future I-5 Bridge project;
establish a process to seek public comment on the I-5 Bridge project development plan;
work to ensure that there are sufficient resources available to the state departments of transportation to inventory and utilize existing data to allow for nonduplicative and efficient decision-making regarding a new project;
examine all potential mass transit options available for a new I-5 Bridge project;
utilize design-build procurement or better innovative project delivery method and determine the least costly, most efficient project management and best practices tools;
consider the creation of a Columbia River bridge authority to review bridge needs and make recommendations to both states regarding financing, timing of improvements, and operations of the bridges; and
report to the Legislatures of each state the findings and recommendations of the legislative action committee by December 15, 2018.
The joint legislative action committee is comprised of 16 members, eight from each state. The majority leader and minority leader of each Senate must appoint four members, two from each of the two largest caucuses. The Speaker and minority leader of each House of Representatives must appoint four members, two from each of the two largest caucuses. Staff support must be provided by the House Office of Program Research, Senate Committee Services, and the Oregon Legislative Policy and Research Office, and executive branch agencies, including the departments of transportation and the transportation commissions, must cooperate with the committee and provide assistance as reasonably requested. Each meeting of the legislative action committee must allow an opportunity for public comment, and meetings must be scheduled and conducted in accordance with the requirements of each House of Representatives and Senate.
The Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) must conduct a planning inventory to document existing planning data related to the construction of a new I-5 Bridge. The WSDOT must report back to the Legislature on the details of the planning inventory.
Appropriation: The sum of $350,000 from the Motor Vehicle Fund is appropriated to the WSDOT for a planning inventory.
Fiscal Note: Available on original bill.
Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of the session in which the bill is passed.
Staff Summary of Public Testimony:
(In support) The CRC project died in 2014, and over the last year, southwest Washington legislators have worked to develop a process for a replacement project.
To develop a new bridge, you will need a willing partner in Oregon. The closure of the container terminal in Portland and a new casino in Clark County is leading to new traffic.
Everything in this bill has been considered and negotiated. This is a start to a project, and sends a signal that a comprehensive process will be developed.
The population of Ridgefield is now 8,000, which is four times what it was a decade ago. One employer in Ridgefield decided against moving its headquarters to the city because of the traffic on I-5. A new casino nearby will bring up to 15,000 new trips per day to this already impacted corridor. The casino will have 1,000 new employees when it opens, and should have 2,000 employees within five years.
The new project needs to grow off of the previous project experience. There needs to be a replacement for the bridge that is already there before a new corridor can be contemplated.
The bill does not presuppose a solution, and it seeks public input on the replacement. Eight cities in Clark County send people up and down the I-5 corridor, and this issue binds seven of those cities together in a desire to replace the bridge. People flood Vancouver's streets trying to get to the bridge, and accidents on the bridge create gridlock throughout the region.
It would be ideal to build another corridor, as well as resolve the current chokepoint, but if an earthquake occurs there may be only one bridge. Planning is already underway to fix the Rose Quarter issue.
The I-5 Bridge replacement and transit improvements is a priority project of the southwest Washington regional transportation planning organization. House Bill 2095 is consistent with this and a priority.
The top transportation issue in the whole state is I-5 congestion. We need to improve freight mobility, and the problem of I-5 congestion is getting exponentially worse.
The President wants to support infrastructure improvements, and the state should seek that assistance.
Efforts have been made to improve the traffic on the I-5 Bridge since 1979. Workers, businesses, and elected officials all want a fix to the bridge. Oregon wants Washington to step up to do something, and that is what this bill does.
A number of past Presidents have declared the importance of I-5 and replacing this bridge. The bridge is impacting transportation and businesses in the area want the problem solved.
The most important initiative for Clark County businesses is fixing the I-5 corridor and replacing the current bridge. This bill provides a new method for doing so, and a potential example for further bridge expansion.
(Opposed) The problem should be fixed by expanding the scope of the bill. A new I-5 Bridge won't fix the problem. Oregon has no interest in a new bridge without new corridors.
A new bridge can wait. This bill would not fix the traffic and would cause new problems. It also opens the door to bringing light rail to Vancouver.
The I-5 Bridge needs to be fixed or replaced, but 10 lanes across the Columbia does not get people to Portland any faster. Building a new corridor would alleviate both earthquake and traffic concerns.
Persons Testifying: (In support) Representative Wylie, prime sponsor; Ron Onslow, City of Ridgefield; Sean Guard, City of Washougal; Jack Burkman, City of Vancouver; Matt Ransom, Regional Transportation Council; Mike Bomar, Columbia River Economic Development Council; Mike Iyall, Cowlitz Tribal Council; Ed Barnes, Southwest Washington Labor Roundtable; Robert Schaefer, High Tech Council; and Ron Arp, Identity Clark County.
(Opposed) Phil Haggerty; Bill Wagner; and Neil Cahoon.
Persons Signed In To Testify But Not Testifying: None.
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Peace Dinner, by Carlos Latuff
High Court reprimands Interior Minister Ishai: Gush Shalom
Justices Dorit Beinisch, Miriam Naor and Uzi Fogelman this morning (Monday) scolded Adv. Yochi Genessin of the State Prosecution, when it turned out that Interior Minister Eli Yishai did not answer a letter sent to him by Muhammad Abu Tir and three other Palestinian parliamentarians, who had called upon him to revoke the decision to expel them from East Jerusalem. The letter was sent to the minister two and a half months ago.
Yishai was present at the courtroom in earlier stages, but left before the hearing of the appeal by the Palestinian parliamentarians threatened with expulsion.
In their June 27, 2010 letter to the Interior Minister the four – Muhammad Abu Tir, Muhammed Totah, Khaled Abu Arafa, and Ahmed Atoun – noted that they do not regard themselves as representatives of the Hamas movement, but as representatives of the entire Palestinian people, and in particular as representatives of their constituents; the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. They pledged to act only within Israeli law, as well as not to take up any position in the Palestinian Authority if the holding of this position is in contradiction to Israeli law.
Osama Saadi, the four’s attorney, told the judges that the text of this letter was agreed upon in meetings between high-ranking officials in the Palestinian Authority and senior Israeli governmental and security officials.
“The Palestinian Authority had taken a high profile involvement in the issue after the four parliamentarians met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and sought his help,” said Saadi. “Despite all the conflicts and sharp differences of opinion prevailing in the Palestinian system, all factions and parties regard as totally unacceptable the expulsion of Palestinians from anywhere – and all the more so, from Jerusalem in particular; this transcends any disagreements on other issues. At the time we thought that reaching this the formula with the Israeli officials had solved the problem. However, three days after the letter was sent, Jerusalem police arrested Muhammad Abu Tir and began deportation proceedings against him – and he remains in custody up to the present”.
The State Prosecution’s representative argued that the three other parliamentarians, who over the past two months are holding out at the Red Cross headquarters in East Jerusalem, are “holding Israeli Law in contempt” and “challenging the authority of the Israeli courts.” Justice Uzi Fogelman commented, “We have not issued an interim order, so the authorities can take enforcement measures – but this does not mean you must break into the Red Cross Headquarters. There are thousands of other cases of people who failed to adhere to the Interior Ministry’s expulsion orders, and against whom we allowed the authorities to take enforcement measures against them. But this does not mean that you should expect everyone to immediately leave voluntarily.”
At the end of the hearing the court instructed the four parliamentarians’ attorneys to send again send the letter to Interior Minister Yishai, specifying the circumstances which were referred to during the court proceedings. Minister Yishai was told by the judges to respond within 30 days from receipt of this letter, and to convey his response to the court, and the parliamentarians and lawyers will be able to respond within ten days. No date was set for further proceedings, and in the meantime Mohammad Abu Tir will remain in custody at the Jerusalem police.
Among the audience were former Knesset Member Uri Avnery and other Gush Shalom activists, as well as Jerusalemite peace activists who participate in the weekly demonstrations at Sheikh Jarrah. Also present at the hearing was an observer on behalf of the French Lawyers’ Association, who said that he had flown especially from Paris to monitor these proceedings, noting that the case aroused much interest among judicial circles in Europe
According to Uri Avnery, “The Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem have an inalienable right to live in their city. Deportation of Palestinians – of political leaders as of ordinary people – is a heinous and stupid act, which causes all of us an immense damage.” He said that in order to achieve a stable peace, such a peace must include all parts of the Palestinian people, including the very significant part represented by the Hamas movement. “We peace seekers came to the courtroom today in order to cry out against an outrageous act of injustice committed by our government does, and at the same time also to offer the government a sober political advice. These two things converge into one call: Tear up the deportation orders, let these four men return to their homes and their constituents, and invite them and their political associates to fully share in negotiations for peace”.
EDITOR: A picture is better than a thousand words…
Just look at them. This picture tells the whole story of those doomed ‘talks about talks’. Obama, rising above realities, and disconnected from them, in his olympus of pure projections, is decisive and clear – he has his goal worked out – to raise his flagging standing and miserable poll results, but even his own face tells us he knows that he has lost already.
Netanyahu is smiling his furniture-dealer smile – he has got a customer, and a very good customer indeed, one which will buy whatever is on offer, and at a very high price, so he has all the reasons in the world to be smug and self-contented. He has snared another idiot, and he can go back to Jerusalem content in the knowledge that Israel can continue its occupation, settlement building and periodic massacres here, there and everywhere, without being bothered by the lame-duck President!
Abbas is indeed as miserable as he looks, certain in the knowledge that his betrayal of Palestine is going to weigh down on him in the very near future, as it becomes crystal clear that he has sold his people and his country for even less than a Nobel Prize. He hjas indeed all the reasons to be damn worried and depressed, as indeed he clearly is.
And, what’s best, I have only used 216 words to describe this perfect image…
The piss-makers in Washington
Israel, Palestinian militants trade fire at Gaza border: BBC
Israel warplanes struck a series of targets in the Gaza Strip on Thursday
There have been exchanges of fire near the Israel-Gaza border, wounding five Palestinians and damaging property.
Militants in Gaza have fired at least five rockets or mortar rounds into Israel since Monday.
Israel said it struck two Hamas sites in the Gaza Strip late on Thursday, but Palestinian officials said five people were hurt in four separate air raids.
Hours later, on Friday, Gaza militants again fired a rocket into southern Israel, a military spokeswoman said.
The rocket exploded in the southern Shaar Hanegev area close to Gaza’s north-eastern border with Israel. Two days ago, a mortar shell landed near a kindergarten in the same community.
There were no reports of injuries or damage in either attack.
The Hamas government has vowed to try and rein in the firing of rockets from the Gaza Strip following Israel’s assault on Gaza in the winter of 2008.
The latest exchanges come as Israeli and Palestinian leaders prepare to hold direct peace talks in Egypt on Tuesday.
The talks – which kicked off in Washington last week – are the first direct negotiations between the two sides in almost two years.
PA official: Iran has no business interfering with Palestinian cause: Haaretz
Speaking at an Eid el Fitr prayer, Mahmoud Habbash says Palestinians must reject any outside influence on path to achieve statehood.
Iran’s interests run counter to Palestinian statehood, the Palestinians Ma’an news agency quoted a top Palestinian official as saying on Saturday, urging Palestinians to disregard outside interest and focus on the national cause.
Palestinian Authority Minister Mahmoud Habbash made these remarks days after a Palestinian Authority spokesman lashed out at Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for criticizing Palestinian negotiations with Israel, and PA President Mahmoud Abbas in particular.
“The one who does not represent the Iranian people, who falsified election results, who oppressed the Iranian people and stole authority has no right to speak about Palestine, its president or its representatives,” Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh said last week, referring to the Iranian president.
Ahmadinejad addressed a rally last week at Teheran University, where he dismissed the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, saying the fate of Palestine would be decided in Palestine and through resistance and not in Washington.
Responding to Ahmadinejad’s comments, Habbash, speaking at an Eid el Fitr prayer on Friday, said that the PA was “committed to the Palestinian national principals,” adding that Iran, on the other hand, was “against the Palestinian national project.”
Iran, the PA minister said, was not “responsible for the Palestinian case,” adding that Ahmadinejad “will not solve” the Palestinian national struggle and that the PA refused “the right of any other to intervene in the internal issues of Palestine.”
Also addressing the long-standing feud between the West Bank-based PA and the Gaza-ruling Hamas, Habbash said Hamas leaders were “preachers of sedition,” urging the Islamist militant group to take responsibility for the “coup in Gaza three years ago.”
The PA minister was referring to the violent coup staged by Hamas in 2007, during which the Islamist group drove Fatah out of the territory and violently seized control.
The price of peace: Al Ahram Weekly
Key players in place, the region waits to see if anything decisive can emerge from direct Israeli-Palestinian talks this time, Ezzat Ibrahim reports from Washington
In an atmosphere of uncertainty, US President Barack Obama has thrown his whole weight behind re-launching direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians with the hope of reaching a settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict within one year. Standing by him are Egypt and Jordan, with President Hosni Mubarak sending a clear message to Arabs and Egyptians that despair and anger should not again undermine prospects for peace.
President Mubarak, in a lengthy article published in The New York Times, set out his vision for peace and the hurdles to be surpassed before reaching it. On the endpoint of negotiations, Mubarak said: “The broad parameters of a permanent Palestinian-Israeli settlement are already clear: the creation of a Palestinian state in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967 with Jerusalem as a capital for both Israel and Palestine.” Among hurdles, Mubarak underlined the psychological factor between Israel and the Palestinians as the biggest obstacle to success of the peace process, adding that peace between the Palestinians and Israelis is linked to a comprehensive regional settlement.
President Mubarak referred to the Arab Peace Initiative that offers Israel comprehensive peace for its full withdrawal from occupied Arab lands and a just solution to the Palestinian refugee issue. Mubarak emphasised that the complete cessation of Israeli settlement construction is crucial to the success of talks. Settlements and peace are incompatible, Mubarak said, “as they deepen the occupation that Palestinians seek to end”. Recognising Israeli demands for security, Mubarak responded: “Egypt believes that the presence of an international force in the West Bank, to be stationed for a period to be agreed upon by the parties, could give both sides the confidence and security they seek.” “Security, however, cannot be a justification for Israel’s continued occupation of Palestinian land, as it undermines the cardinal principle of land for peace.”
Mubarak also stated that Egypt is ready to resume its efforts to address all issues related to Gaza in order to clear the way for a two state solution. “The Palestinians cannot make peace with a house divided. If Gaza is excluded from the framework of peace, it will remain a source of conflict, undermining any final settlement,” Mubarak said. Egypt has offered to host subsequent rounds of negotiations.
The White House and US State Department have been careful about expressing their expectations of the upcoming talks. Hillary Clinton held a series of bilateral meetings to prepare the stage for the launch of direct negotiations. US State Department Spokesman Philip Crowley said meetings in Washington intend primarily to help the concerned parties understand what is required in order to grasp peace in the designated period. On the possibility of a statement or declaration following the talks today, a US spokesman said that the various parties are still working on the substance of negotiations. He noted that the US sees Egyptian and Jordanian support as necessary for the success of present endeavours. Crowley added that Washington would not simply re-launch negotiations but will stay in close contact with all leaders as well as acting as “a real partner” in the process.
Crowley further said that Washington is focussed in two directions: first, concerned with form and how the negotiations will unfold; second, concerned with substance and the issues at the heart of the process. On the place of regional parties such as Hamas and Iran in a comprehensive peace, the US spokesman said that each party that accepts the Quartet principles could play a role in the Middle East peace process. He added that the US recognises that there are parties in the region that will attempt to reverse steps towards peace, but that Washington is counting on the commitment made by leaders to continue the peace process, calling for a show of political will and creativity in order to overcome the complexities and challenges that impede agreement on solutions to key issues. Above all, concerned parties should realise that they have a common interest in reaching a peace agreement.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit said the Egyptian vision is clear. He said negotiations should last no more than one year, with implementation of an agreement in a year or two years. Abul-Gheit revealed that Egypt has reiterated during talks with the US over recent weeks the importance of a continued Israeli freeze on settlement building as a confidence building measure. He underlined that negotiations should start from where they last left off and acknowledged US intentions as serious and credible, saying that Obama has put improving US relations with the Arab and Islamic worlds as an agenda priority. He said Egypt would continue to play a central role in the Middle East peace process. The foreign minister added that the Palestinian side comes to negotiations on the basis of a statement of the International Quartet affirming the rule of international law; that the basis for a settlement is ending the Israeli occupation that began in 1967 and embracing a two-state solution whereby a Palestinian state can emerge.
Respect the Palestinian-led picket line: The Electronic Intifada
Press release, Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, 9 September 2010
The following open letter was issued by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel on 9 September 2010:
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) warmly salutes the tens of American and British theater, film and TV artists for their recently published statement supporting the spreading cultural boycott of Ariel and the rest of Israel’s colonial settlements illegally built on occupied Palestinian territory (OPT) due to their violation of international law (“Making History: Support for Israeli Artists Who Say NO to Normalizing Settlements”). We also express our gratitude to Jewish Voice for Peace for its crucial role in bringing this statement to the light. We view your courageous collective condemnation of Israel’s settlements and “ugly occupation,” your expression of “hope for a just and lasting peace” in our region, and your endorsement of the logic of boycott to end injustice as a groundbreaking, precedent-setting initiative that will significantly contribute to ending Israel’s impunity and status as a state above the law of nations in the United States, the United Kingdom and far beyond.
PACBI hopes that your position, which reflects a growing sentiment in the Western mainstream, particularly among cultural figures, will be consistently upheld against all institutions in Israel and elsewhere that are in violation of international law or complicit in covering up and whitewashing this violation. We sincerely hope that this step will usher in further, more effective and bolder steps leading to a comprehensive cultural boycott of Israel — and its complicit institutions — similar to that imposed on apartheid South Africa. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, “I have been to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and I have witnessed the racially segregated roads and housing that reminded me so much of the conditions we experienced in South Africa under the racist system of apartheid” (“Divesting From Injustice,” The Huffington Post, 13 April 2010).
We hope that you shall be inspired by the historic moment in 1965 when the American Committee on Africa, following the lead of prominent British arts associations, sponsored a declaration against South African apartheid, signed by more than sixty cultural personalities. It read: “We say no to apartheid. We take this pledge in solemn resolve to refuse any encouragement of, or indeed, any professional association with the present Republic of South Africa, this until the day when all its people shall equally enjoy the educational and cultural advantages of that rich and beautiful land.” A year before that, in 1964, the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement promoted a declaration signed by 28 Irish playwrights that they would not permit their work to be performed before segregated audiences in South Africa.
International artists fighting against apartheid then took their lead from the oppressed majority, not a few voices of dissent among the oppressor community, as crucial as the latter are for ending oppression. In light of this inspiring history, we cannot but ask, why haven’t you taken your taboo-breaking position in response to appeals by the overwhelming majority of Palestinians, including almost all leading artists? Why did you have to wait for a relatively small number of dissenting Israeli artists and academics to initiate a boycott, a peculiarly selective and morally-inconsistent one at that? Do authentic voices of the oppressed, especially those in the besieged Gaza Strip, incarcerated in the world’s largest open-air prison, also count?
The comprehensive and durable peace that you and all people of conscience around the world seek cannot come about except on the foundations of justice, freedom and unmitigated equal rights for all. If justice for the Palestinian people is “the greatest moral issue of our time,” as declared by Nelson Mandela, the great majority in Palestinian civil society has expressed the minimal requirements for justice in the historic call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel as: ending its 1967 occupation and colonization of Palestinian and other Arab territory; ending its system of racial discrimination against its “non-Jewish” citizens; and recognizing the UN-sanctioned right of Palestinian refugees to return to the homes and lands they were ethnically cleansed from in 1948 and ever since.
In the last few years, many international cultural figures have come out in support of the cultural boycott of Israel as a significant contribution to ending its system of colonial rule and apartheid. Responding to an appeal issued by a great majority of prominent Palestinian filmmakers, artists and other cultural workers, a statement calling for a cultural boycott of Israel was authored by John Berger and signed by dozens of international cultural figures, including some celebrities. This last February, five hundred Canadian artists in Montreal issued a statement committing themselves to “fighting against [Israeli] apartheid” and calling upon “all artists and cultural producers across the country and around the world to adopt a similar position in this global struggle” for Palestinian rights. Irish artists raised the bar even further, pioneering the first nation-wide cultural stance in support of the boycott of Israel.
In reaction to Israel’s Freedom Flotilla massacre which led to the murder of nine unarmed Turkish humanitarian relief workers and human rights activists — one with dual Turkish/US citizenship — and to the injury of dozens more from several countries, leading cultural figures and bands reacted swiftly and decisively.
World-renowned British writer Iain Banks wrote in the Guardian that the best way for international artists, writers and academics to “convince Israel of its moral degradation and ethical isolation” is “simply by having nothing more to do with this outlaw state” (“Small step towards a boycott of Israel,” 3 June 2010). This position was later endorsed by Stéphane Hessel, co-author of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Holocaust survivor and former French diplomat (“Gaza Flotilla: Global Citizens Must Respond Where Governments Have Failed,” The Huffington Post, 15 June 2010).
Many British literary and academic figures published a letter in the Independent that said, “We … appeal to British writers and scholars to boycott all literary, cultural and academic visits to Israel sponsored by the Israeli government, including those organized by Israeli cultural foundations and universities” (6 June 2010).
In the world of performing arts, Massive Attack, the Klaxons and Gorillaz Sound System, the Pixies and other prominent bands canceled their scheduled concerts in Israel, reportedly due to its ruthless and illegal attack on the Flotilla. World best-selling writer, the Swedish Henning Mankell, who was on the Flotilla when attacked, called for South Africa-style global sanctions against Israel in response to its brutality (“Gaza aid flotilla: Henning Mankell calls for sanctions on Israel,” Telegraph, 2 June 2010.
The best-selling US author Alice Walker reminded the world of the Rosa Parks-triggered and Martin Luther King-led boycott of a racist bus company in Montgomery, Alabama during the US civil rights movement, calling for wide endorsement of BDS against Israel as a moral duty in solidarity with Palestinians, “to soothe the pain and attend the sorrows of a people wrongly treated for generations.”
In the weeks before the Flotilla attack, artists of the caliber of Elvis Costello, Gil Scott-Heron and Carlos Santana all canceled scheduled performances in Israel after receiving appeals from Palestinian and international BDS groups.
Just as you applaud your Israeli counterparts who “find the strength to refuse to cross that line” of “unbearable” moral compromise, we appeal to you not to cross our boycott picket line, which is the simplest, most effective, nonviolent form of solidarity with the Palestinian people in its struggle for justice and lasting peace.
Abbas thanks Assad for Syria’s support of Palestinians: Haaretz
Phone conversation between leaders comes as report claims French envoy will be arriving at Damascus to try and restart Israel-Syria peace talks.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas briefed his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad on Friday on recently relaunched peace talks with Israel, thanking the Syrian president for what Abbas called his support of the Palestinian people, channel 10 reported.
The phone conversation between the two leaders took place against the backdrop of U.S. efforts to relaunch direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians and subsequent reports of possible efforts to renew negotiations between Israel and Syria as well.
The Lebanese newspaper Al-Safir reported on Friday that French Middle East envoy Jean-Claude Cousseran was scheduled to visit Damascus in the coming days to meet with both Assad and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem in order to discuss the possibility of peace talks between Syria and Israel.
According to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, the Palestinian Authority president called Assad on the occasion of the Muslim Eid el Fitr holiday which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. Abbas thanked Assad for his support during “this important period in our history,” and briefed him on the events of a September 2 summit in Washington, which was attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
On Thursday, Abbas called President Shimon Peres to offer greetings for the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. During the telephone conversation, Peres pleaded with Abbas to “trust Netanyahu.”
Peres urged the Palestinian president “not to abandon the talks before peace is achieved. There is no one more suited than you to achieve peace for your people, and for the entire region.”
Abbas and other senior Palestinian negotiators have threatened to quit the U.S.-backed negotiations if Israel should resume construction in West Bank settlements. Last November, Netanyahu declared a 10-month moratorium on construction in settlements, but the freeze is set to expire at the end of this month, and it is not yet clear whether it will be renewed.
“Even if things don’t appear perfect,” Peres told Abbas, “the path toward peace and an independent Palestinian state is certainly preferable to an ongoing conflict and bloodshed. Even if there will be crises and disagreements, and the road will seem imperfect, I’m sure that new and creative solutions can be achieved.”
Abbas replied that “we’re serious and our goal is to achieve a peace agreement as soon as possible.” To this Peres responded saying “I’m sure Netanyahu is a trustworthy partner.”
Divestment: from the campus to the streets: The Electronic Intifada
Mohammad Talaat, 8 September 2010
Following a sharp increase in divestment efforts across North American college campuses last spring, this academic year promises an even greater number of initiatives. The success and near-success of efforts at several campuses last year, coupled with Israel’s attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla this summer, has inspired new efforts among peace and justice activists to target companies that profit from and abet Israel’s apartheid regime.
Perhaps the largest divestment initiative is taking shape in California. The California Israel Divestment initiative is seeking to put a ballot measure to California voters that requires the state pension funds, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), to divest from companies enabling or profiting from Israeli occupation and systematic violations of Palestinians’ human rights. Although not a university-based effort, it is being led in large part by faculty members and students. Their goal is clear: faced by stonewalling from university administrations, the case is being taken directly to California voters.
Students from the University of California (UC) and California State (CSU) campuses are coordinating a major drive to collect the 440,000 signatures required for the ballot initiative, and the list of volunteers keeps growing. The initiative has already received the support of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, Professor Noam Chomsky, a number of other public and religious figures, and CalPERS and CalSTRS members.
Meanwhile, campus divestment efforts continue to grow in number and scope. University administrators, typically beholden to conventional donors and afraid of the “anti-Semitism label,” have moved to limit the “damage” of the mushrooming boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. Hampshire College, for instance, sold its State Street fund but publicly denied that it was motivated by divestment from Israel. Some other administrations have tried to ignore the issue, wishing it away. However, these attempts have only backfired.
The response of the University of California (UC) administration to campus divestment initiatives is a prominent example of how desperate the status quo forces are, and the shrinking moral and intellectual ground under their feet.
Last spring, student governments at two UC campuses introduced measures calling for divestment from companies profiting from Israel’s occupation and war crimes committed during its winter 2008-09 invasion of Gaza. In response, UC President Mark Yudof, together with the chair and vice-chair of the UC Board of Regents, issued a formal “UC Statement on Divestment” which rejected the singling out of Israel, even though the bills exclusively focused on US companies providing material support to Israel’s illegal occupation and documented war crimes. The statement also referred to the pain the divestment initiatives brought upon the Jewish community, despite the strong support that the bills received from local and international Jewish individuals and organizations. The statement ignored the 41 student organizations, 86 UC faculty members, not to mention five Nobel peace laureates, who publicly supported the resolutions. In addition to attempting to minimize the scope of the divestment initiative’s support on campus by its dismissive language, the statement declared UC opposition to considering any divestment measures to the regents unless the US government declares that the state in question is committing genocide.
However, the notion that an academic institution can follow a socially responsible investment policy only after the US government has made a finding that acts of genocide — no less – are taking place goes against UC’s legacy and the values of citizen-led democracy and activism. It ensures inaction in the name of unspeakable horror and surrenders human conscience and responsibility to the calendar and temperament of American politicians. After all, Washington has yet to make a determination on the Armenian genocide of the First World War!
According to this policy of deference to the US government, UC would have found it unacceptable to divest from companies supporting the Nazi occupation of Europe and the extermination of civilians in death camps prior to the US declaration of war — or even the official recognition of genocide after the war ended. Moreover, had Yudof been UC President in 1986, he would not have voted to divest from companies supporting South Africa’s apartheid regime when the UC Regents memorably did, to ground-breaking success. As an academic and presumed defender of free speech, the UC president should be protesting this policy, not advocating it.
These proclamations by university administrators aim to empty academic conscience and activism of any substance, and to reduce them to empty slogans and colorful parades. The policies they advance are a thinly-veiled effort to incapacitate university campuses from leading any effort to challenge racism and social injustice. As autonomous actors, universities and independent citizens should retain the right to influence the policy of their government. If what is going on in California is any indication, authoritative attempts by campus administrations to muzzle or stonewall the exercise of this right on campus will likely result in their constituency taking their activism to the street! It is this right that faculty and students alike will be exercising this academic year and every year on campus and off campus, until Israeli apartheid is dismantled.
Mohammad Talaat is Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at Cairo University and a UC Berkeley Alum. He currently is on academic leave in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Gideon Levy Interview: Against the Stream: Newleft project
Jamie Stern-Weiner interviews Gideon Levy
For decades Gideon Levy has used the platform provided by the liberal Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz to shine a light on the brutal realities of Israel’s occupation. His journalism, along with that of his colleague Amira Hass, has been an invaluable resource not only for Israeli readers but, through the Ha’aretz website, for international audiences seeking an informed and humane Israeli perspective on the conflict. It would be difficult to overstate how isolated Levy is within his own society, an isolation that increased over the past decade as Israeli public opinion stampeded to the right. He has described elsewhere how Ha’aretz keeps a thick folder of subscription cancellations from readers outraged by his articles. Despite this hostility, his critique of Israeli policies has become more, not less, radical over time.
His recent book, The Punishment of Gaza, is a select compilation of his Ha’aretz columns from 2006, when Hamas’s electoral victory prompted harsh sanctions and violent reprisals from Israel and its international backers, through to the aftermath of last year’s Gaza massacre, which represented a bloody culmination of that same anti-democratic reaction. This chronology is itself something of a novelty – for most journalists, even those critical of the attack, the relevant background to the massacre stretched to the month of Qassam rockets that preceded it, or at most to the year and half since Hamas took control of the Strip. But Gideon Levy is not most journalists, and his critique of Israeli policies and society goes far beyond the weasel words and euphemistic equivocation offered by most of his contemporaries in the media, and those on the ‘Israeli left’. Whereas liberal Zionist intellectuals like Amos Oz and David Grossman supported the attack in principle, if subsequently criticising its excesses, Levy is clear: this wasn’t a “war”, he writes, it was “a wild onslaught upon the most helpless population in the world”, an “aimless, futile, criminal, superfluous offensive”. When ‘Operation Cast Lead’ was launched the Israeli media not only fell into line, it cheered the massacre on with a jingoistic fervour that was almost beyond belief. In this climate, Levy again distinguished himself, condemning the attack from the outset as a “war crime” that crossed “every red line of humaneness, morality, international law and wisdom”.
This rare intellectual courage is also evident in his sharp criticism of those Israeli ‘liberals’ who, when their liberal values clash with their Zionist ones, betray the former every time. One of the most remarkable columns reproduced in the book is a response to prominent liberal Zionist A.B. Yehoshua. Despite being friends on a personal level, Levy did not shy from excoriating the author’s gross apologetics for war crimes in Gaza in the most direct and unsparing manner. “It is as if”, he wrote, “the mighty, including you, have all succumbed to a great and terrible conflagration that has consumed any remnant of a moral backbone.” This integrity was evident again in a column published last week, in which Levy criticised his Ha’aretz colleague and editor Aluf Benn for his blindness to and reflexive complicity in the brutalities of occupation. “You were a complete accomplice to the crime,” he writes of Benn’s service in an IDF that tortured and mistreated Palestinian detainees, “and you don’t even have a guilty conscience.” Reading his columns, it is clear that this is what disturbs Levy the most – not merely that his colleagues and fellow citizens tolerate and commit acts of brutality, but that they feel so good about doing so. His tireless commitment to challenging that complacency and dogged determination to force his readers to confront the consequences of their actions stands as an inspiration to and indictment of the vast majority of his colleagues, and not only in Israel. “This is what we look like,” he insists, relentlessly. “This is our moral portrait.”
I met up with him in London a couple of weeks ago to discuss his book, the Israeli left, the political climate in Israel and the prospects for peace. The full interview follows.
Over the past decade Israeli public opinion seems to have gone over the cliff – the last elections produced the most right-wing and possibly, as your recent columns have suggested, the most racist Knesset in Israel’s history. What is behind this trend?
There were two things happening. One was the failure of the Camp David conference in 2000, when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak comes back and claims there is no ‘Palestinian partner’. This lie was well spread and convinced Israelis from across the political spectrum. And then came the Second Intifada – the exploding buses, the suicide bombers – and the entire so-called ‘Israeli Left’ totally crashed—which makes me think, ‘how solid was it in the first place?’ Because if it was so easy to crash it, then I’m not sure it was very solid before. But in any case, nothing was left of the Israeli Left, except for some small, devoted, courageous groups which are still very active. Unfortunately, they are not very influential.
Why is the Left so weak – is it for those two reasons?
Yeah, because those two developments – the belief that there is no ‘Palestinian partner’ and Palestinian terror – made it very easy for all the leftists to change their minds. Which makes me doubt very much that they were really leftists in the first place.
Do you see much hope for a revival of the Left in the Sheikh Jarrah protests?
The other day I was there, on one of the Friday protests, with an American friend and she told me, “this is exactly the way it was when the anti-war movement in the United States started in ‘60s”. I am more sceptical, more pessimistic. I think that it’s remarkable what’s going on there and I have full appreciation for those people who come Friday after Friday, but I don’t see it becoming influential, no.
Reading Ha’aretz, it seems like democratic forces within Israel are coming increasingly under threat, for instance in academia.
That’s my main concern now, even more than the occupation, because it’s going to destroy Israel from within. I think that Israeli democracy is now facing its biggest challenge ever: a systematic campaign against any kind of alternative voices. So far it hasn’t touched the media, because most of the media is anyhow recruiting itself to collaborate with the occupation project, and those of us – the very few – who go against the stream, until now we were untouched, but this I don’t take for granted. At the same time there are already the new bills and the campaigns against the NGOs, against academia, and it’s deteriorating day after day. It might touch me personally very soon but so far it hasn’t touched me personally or journalists in general.
Israeli media
You close the introduction to your book with a tribute to the courage of Ha’aretz editors in standing by your writings and continuing to publish them in an atmosphere of increasing intolerance and chauvinism. How unique is Ha’aretz in this regard? I notice, for example, that B. Michael appears to have disappeared from Yedioth Ahronoth [Israel’s largest-circulation daily] after his columns criticising ‘Cast Lead’.
He was just fired. He didn’t ‘disappear’, he was just fired. [See here]
So is the Israeli media quite jingoistic in its coverage generally? How unique is Ha’aretz?
It is very clear to make the division between Ha’aretz and all the rest. It’s a very, very clear division – nobody can argue about this. The Israeli so-called democracy would look entirely different if Ha’aretz didn’t exist, while any other newspaper or TV outlet could disappear tomorrow and there would be no change. Ha’aretz is really the last outpost in the Israel media keeping democracy alive. But Ha’aretz, as you know, is a relatively small newspaper, quite elitist, and it doesn’t approach the masses. All the rest are commercial, free, professional, but when it comes to issues like the occupation, all the media, except for Ha’aretz, recruited itself – nobody recruited it, it recruited itself, voluntarily – to collaborate with the occupation, to dehumanise systematically the Palestinians, to demonise and to spread fears that are often totally artificial and exaggerated. The media in Israel is playing a fatal role, mainly in maintaining the occupation and the nationalistic and militaristic emotions and sentiments in the Israeli society. I think it’s a criminal role that the Israeli media as a whole is playing, really except for Ha’aretz – not because I work for Ha’aretz, but Ha’aretz is really the only sane voice around.
Why do you think the rest of the media “recruited itself” to supporting the occupation?
No censorship – no governmental one, no military one, almost nothing, no pressures of that kind. It’s only about trying to please the readers, it’s only about commercial factors – commercial considerations. To please the reader, not to bother him, not to frustrate him, not to make him furious. And this is the most dangerous kind of bias, because there is no resistance against it – it is voluntary, it is not imposed on anyone, everyone is happy. The government is happy, the readers are happy, the publishers are happy, everyone is happy about it, and so there will be no resistance.
Ha’aretz has significant influence outside of Israel. Is it influential within Israel too?
Traditionally, yes. Ha’aretz was always the most influential newspaper in Israel, because the elite reads it and it traditionally had an influence not only on politicians and the economic elite, but also on other media. I think this influence has decreased in a way, but it’s still there – Ha’aretz still plays a role, it’s not being marginalised, not at all. So the influence of Ha’aretz is much wider than its circulation in Israel. And also the fact that it’s being read all over the world through the website, gives Ha’aretz a special position also within Israel, because people are aware that everyone in the world who has an interest in the Middle East is reading it. This gives Ha’aretz a lot of power within Israel, because they understand that it has influence outside. So from this point of view, Ha’aretz still has its influence – but let’s not exaggerate about it.
Dealing with ‘48
I’ve noticed a shift in your own writings, which seem to have become increasingly radical in their criticism. I’m thinking in particular of a recent column in which you argued that “[d]efining Israel as a Jewish state condemns us to living in a racist state”, and urged people to “recognize the racist nature of the state”. Has there been a shift in your writings, do you think, and if so, what’s behind it?
It’s not a shift, it’s a process. My views became more and more radical throughout the years, in contrast to the opposite stream of the entire society – the more Israel becomes nationalistic, the more the government becomes violent and aggressive, like in ‘Cast Lead’, like in the Second Lebanese War, like with the flotilla, all those developments put me in a much more radical position, obviously, because there is much more to protest against. So yes, I am becoming more and more radical, but you can’t put a finger to say one day I became a radical. It’s an ongoing process.
Would you accept the label ‘anti-Zionist’ to characterise your views?
It depends what is ‘Zionism’. Because Zionism is a very fluid concept – who can define what is Zionism? If Zionism means the right of the Jews to have a state, I am a Zionist. If Zionism means occupation, I’m an anti-Zionist. So I never know how to answer this question. If Zionism means to have a Jewish state at the expense of being a democratic state, then I am anti-Zionist, because I truly believe those two definitions are contradictory – ‘Jewish’ and ‘democratic’. For me, Israel should be a democratic state.
So would it be right to say that you support a state for Jews, but not a ‘Jewish state’ in the sense of a state that artificially maintains a Jewish majority?
Absolutely. It should be a state for Jews that will be a just state, a democratic state, and if there will be a Palestinian majority, there will be a Palestinian majority. The idea is that Jews have to have their place, but it can’t be exclusively theirs, because this land is not exclusively theirs.
This brings us nicely to the ‘liberal Zionists’, of whom you’ve been very critical. You have written that “[a] left wing unwilling to dare to deal with 1948 is not a genuine left wing”. Firstly, in terms of the Palestinian refugees – do you have a view about whether they should be permitted to return?
First of all, something must be very clear – the problem must be solved. And as long as their problem will not be solved, nothing will be solved. Those hundreds of thousands of refugees cannot continue, generation after generation, to live in their conditions. They have rights. Now on the other hand, you can’t, and you don’t want, to solve the problem and to create a new problem. Full return means creating new refugees. The place I live in Tel Aviv belonged to a Palestinian village. If the owners of this village will come back, I will have to go somewhere else. All Israel is originally Palestinian – if not its villages then its land, its fields… almost all of it belonged to the Palestinians. So if you do a total return, you create a new problem. And also there are very few precedents in history in which everyone was allowed to return to his original home decades after the war. But it must be solved.
I think there could be a solution, but it requires Israel to have good will – which it doesn’t have. It would involve, first of all, Israel recognising its moral responsibility. That’s the first condition. It’s about time for Israel to take accountability for what happened in ’48 and realise and recognise that there was a kind of ethnic cleansing, and expelling 650,000 people from their lands was not inevitable and was criminal. I think that taking responsibility will be the first step. Second step, Israel has to participate in an international project of rehabilitating the refugees – some of them in the places where they live. The third stage, obviously, is full return to the Palestinian state, if there will be a Palestinian state. And the last stage should be a symbolic, limited return also into Israel. It goes without saying, Israel has absorbed within the last few years one million Russians, and half of them were not Jewish. Why can we absorb half a million non-Jewish Russians and not absorb a few hundred or tens of thousands of Palestinians, who belong to this place, whose families are living in Israel? So that’s the way I see it.
Do you have a preference – two-states against one state? And if you prefer a two-state settlement, what is that preference based on? For example, my ideal outcome would be a bi-national or one-state solution, but I think that for now the most just solution that can be achieved is a two-state settlement. So if you have a preference for a two-state settlement, is that because you think it’s the most just settlement, period, or merely the most just settlement that can realistically be achieved in the foreseeable future?
First of all, I totally agree with the way you phrased it, I couldn’t phrase it better. The ideal, the utopia? One state for Palestinians and Jews, with equal rights, a real democracy, with real equality between the two peoples. The problem is that I don’t see it happening now, and I’m very afraid that a one-state would become an apartheid state. The two communities are very – there is a big gap between them. We have to realise that the Jewish community in Israel is more developed today, more rich, and to immediately mix both societies will create a lot of friction. There is also a lot of bad blood between the two communities. I don’t see it working, and for sure I don’t see it working in equal terms. So the only other solution left is the two-state solution. The problem is that it’s starting to become too late for this, because to evacuate half a million settlers – who will do it? No one. So I’m quite desperate. And the other solution, which I think will be the most probable, will be all kinds of artificial solutions – of half a Palestinian state, on half the land…this will not last, and this will not solve anything.
‘Liberal Zionism’
I’ve just finished reading Yitzhak Laor’s ‘Myths of Liberal Zionism’, which is obviously very critical of the ‘Zionist Left’. What do you think of the politics of people like David Grossman, Amos Oz, A.B. Yehoshua and Meretz? Do they offer a sufficiently radical critique of Israeli policy, and if not, why is their critique so compromised?
First of all, I had Oz and Yehoshua at my home for dinner a few weeks ago, so I have to be very cautious in what I say, but I am very critical about this kind of thinking. You can add [Israeli President] Shimon Peres and Labor to this. This is the typical Israeli hypocrisy, and I in many ways appreciate [Israel’s far-right Foreign Minister Avigdor] Lieberman more than Shimon Peres, because with Lieberman, at least, what you see is what you get. It’s very clear what he stands for. With people like Shimon Peres or Meretz – and I don’t say they are identical – or Oz and Yehoshua and Grossman, they want to eat the cake and leave it complete, as we say in Hebrew. This doesn’t work.
I think they lack courage, some of them. Others, like Shimon Peres, are hypocrites who talk about peace and do the opposite. I think that Oz and Yehoshua and Grossman, who I know very well personally, mean well. But in many ways they are still chained in the Zionistic ideology. They haven’t released themselves from the old Zionistic ideology, which basically hasn’t changed since ’48 – namely, that the Jews have the right to this land, almost the exclusive right. They are trying to find their way to be Zionistic, and to be for peace, and to be for justice. The problem is that Zionism in its present meaning, in its common meaning, is contradictory to human rights, to equality, to democracy, and they don’t recognise it. It’s too hard for them to recognise it, to realise it. And therefore their position is an impossible position, because they want everything: they want Zionism, they want democracy, they want a Jewish state, but they want also rights for the Palestinians… it’s very nice to want everything, but you have to make your choice and they are not courageous enough to make the choice.
Meretz supported Gaza massacre –
And so did Yehoshua! In the book there is an exchange between him and I. So did he.
Why did it support it? Was it public pressure? Has this had implications for the Israeli left?
Meretz lost its way a long time ago and it’s now almost a non-entity. It’s a group of three members of parliament – which is nothing – each of whom has his own interest, nothing to do with the occupation. One is dealing with gay rights, the other is dealing with economical questions, and the occupation is totally forgotten. Meretz right now is in a deep, deep crisis, and they supported ‘Cast Lead’ like they support most of what this government is doing, in a way that is shameful for Meretz. But Meretz is anyhow very, very marginal – three members of parliament – and they are losing all their worlds, because they will never become accepted by the right-wingers, and they lose the left-wingers, because what are they? To support ‘Cast Lead’, I can vote Likud – what do I need Meretz for?
Let’s turn to the occupation directly. Why does Israel choose to occupy the Palestinians? Is the occupation driven by economic interests, or ideology, or…?
I don’t think it’s the economy, because economically I can also draw you a picture in which peace will bring much more prosperity to Israel. The settlement project is one of the most expensive projects that Israel has invested in, so I don’t see… it’s not economical, for sure not.
But even if overall ending the occupation would be a net benefit for the Israeli economy, are there not certain powerful economic interests for whose benefit the occupation is maintained?
I don’t think so. It’s for sure not a major consideration. The occupation is a continuation of the same ideology that established the state – the more, the better; the bigger, the better… it’s still this old ideology that we have to get ‘dunam after dunam’, as we say in Hebrew. It’s about real estate, it’s about having as much real estate as possible. It’s about believing that the bigger we will be the stronger we will be, which is not the case – on the contrary, the bigger we become the weaker we become. But this ideology never changed since ’48.
I recently interviewed Norman Finkelstein and he suggested that it has got to the point where – and he analogised it in this respect to the occupation of Lebanon – Israel refuses to withdraw simply because it’s already there, and others are demanding that it withdraw, and it doesn’t want to withdraw under pressure. Do you think there’s any truth to this?
There is for sure a lot of truth in the fact that Israelis don’t care so much about the territories, but their life is so good, and their interest in and knowledge about the occupied territories is so little, that what reason do they have to go through the hassle of withdrawal? Why to bother? And in a situation in which the majority of the society is indifferent, the only meaningful active group in the society are the settlers, so they can dictate, because all the rest couldn’t care less, and there is not a real, meaningful movement in favour of evacuating the settlements.
Is there any elite opposition to occupation within Israel?
No. I wrote once that the present Knesset is the first in which out of 120 MKs, there is not one single Jewish member for whom fighting against the occupation is his first ticket. None. There are some supporters of anti-occupation movements, but for none of them is opposition to the occupation his first, main flag. This tells everything.
Turning to Gaza – in your book you describe ‘Cast Lead’ as “a war that was no war”, a “wild onslaught upon the most helpless population in the world”. Can you talk a bit about how the massacre was perceived in Israel – both at a popular level and by political and media commentators?
First of all, it’s the same. The way it was described in the media is the way that the people see it – that’s the big influence of the media in Israel. So first, there was the stage in which there were the Qassams – they were described in an exaggerated way. Then came the demand from the media and the people to ‘do something’. Then came the stage of demonising Gaza – reports like ‘arsenal of Iranian weapons are being smuggled in through the tunnels!’, which turned out to be a big lie, because in Gaza there is hardly weapons, except for the primitive Qassams. But it was all about demonising them and exaggerating their power. And then came the demand to ‘do something and go to war’ – calling it a ‘war’, which is also a lie. This was not a ‘war’, because war is usually between two armies, with some kind of resistance – there was hardly resistance, it was just a brutal attack on a civilian population. There was no fighting. Out of the very few Israeli soldiers who were killed in Cast Lead, many of them were killed by friendly fire. So this is not a war. But that’s the way it was perceived.
To read the rest of this interview, use the link above
Tags: Apartheid, Boycott, Bresheeth, Freedom Flotilla, gaza, Hamas, Iran, Israel, Netanyahu, Nuclear arms, Obama, Opposition to occupation, Palestine, Peace talks, Settlements, war crimes
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Medical Bondage: Deirdre Cooper Owens to Give Virtual Talk for Hall Center Summer Series
LAWRENCE — Deirdre Cooper Owens, author of "Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology," will give an online talk as part of the Hall Center for the Humanities Summer Speaker Series at the University of Kansas. The event, a Zoom webinar, will take place at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 28.
Cooper Owens is the Charles and Linda Wilson Professor in the History of Medicine & Director of the Humanities in Medicine Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and director of the Program in African American History at The Library Company of Philadelphia, the country’s oldest cultural institution.
In "Medical Bondage," which was published in 2018, Cooper Owens examined a wide range of historical scientific literature and less formal communications in which gynecologists created and disseminated medical fictions about their patients, such as their belief that Black enslaved women could withstand pain better than white "ladies." Even as they were advancing medicine, these doctors were legitimizing, for decades to come, groundless theories related to gender and the inferiority of other races or nationalities.
"Medical Bondage" moves between southern plantations and northern urban centers to reveal how 19th-century American ideas about race, health and status influenced doctor-patient relationships in sites of healing like slave cabins, medical colleges and hospitals. It also retells the story of Black enslaved women and of Irish immigrant women from the perspective of these exploited groups and restores a picture of their lives.
“'Medical Bondage' details enslaved Black women’s essential role in the history of gynecology and serves as a foundational text for understanding the realities of gendered violence against Black women in the present,” Jill Rowe wrote for the Journal of Health for the Poor and Underserved in a review of Cooper Owen's book.
For more about the Hall Center’s Summer Speaker Series and the full lineup of programming for the coming year, please visit hallcenter.ku.edu.
The program is co-sponsored by Kansas Public Radio.
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Everyone is Soulless
How everyone lost their soul to psychology.
Jonathan Chen, WSS Intern|May 25, 2019
The soul is the transcendental part of us. But how can it be transcendental if every part of the soul is contained in mortal neurons?
People love their souls. They want some eternal, individual force inside them because it gives them eternality and individuality. Without a soul, they become temporary and lose their distinctiveness. They become grounded to the world, without any sort of essence giving them transcendentality. And this prospect is terrifying. But it’s still the truth. Even a terrifying truth is still a truth. The truth is that we have lost our soul.
First, let’s take a look at individuality. In literal terms, ‘individual’ means ‘indivisible’. In fact, this is how the philosopher René Descartes described the soul in the 17th century. The soul was separated from the brain since the brain is mortal and divisible into different sections. Clearly, we cannot have a reality where our own transcendentality is mortal and divisible, so the soul must be a distinct whole separate from the brain. Since the soul embodies the mind and consciousness, it would make sense for the latter two entities to be indivisible as well. An indivisible mind and consciousness are crucial to the concept of a soul, and it’s been a truth for centuries.
However, in 1960, these ideas were shaken to their core. Roger Sperry, a Nobel Prize
laureate, showed that both the mind and the consciousness are divisible, shattering the concept of an indivisible soul. He studied patients with a severed corpus callosum (the highway between the left and right halves of the brain). This severed connection blocked the transfer of sensory, perceptual, motor, and cognitive information. One single half could be trained to do something, but this task wasn’t achievable by the untrained half. Essentially, the two halves worked independently of each other. The severing of the corpus callosum had created two separate consciousnesses and minds. The soul had been divided into two, and Sperry had stripped humanity of half the soul.
But what about the other half? After all, the immortality of the soul is what contributes greatest to its transcendentality. The only way to rid the soul of its immortality is to prove it to be the same as a mortal entity. Here, we look to the greatest mortal entity itself, the one that Descartes himself had used to define the soul: the brain. If the brain is shown to do everything we perceive the soul to do, then the soul becomes useless. If there is nothing left for the soul to do, then our concept of it disappears.
The soul holds emotion and motivation, stores memories, reasons, and takes decisions. As we will see, each of these function is performed by the brain. Let’s consider memories first, which many-including Plato-attributed to the soul. If the soul is a separate immortal entity from the brain, what happens to the brain should not affect memory. Yet damage to the brain can cause memory loss and dementia. So, we see that memory resides in the brain, not a soul.
Emotion, motivation, and reasoning are also controlled by the brain. Chemical manipulation of the brain will alter moods, which affects emotion and consequently motivation and reasoning. For example, by creating a certain chemical imbalance in the brain, it’s possible to induce depression in some people. Since the brain is what we change to change the functions the soul is claimed to perform, then the brain is what actually performs the functions. The soul is defined by what it performs, but that performance has been stolen by the brain. At this point, what is left for the soul to do?
The immortal and indivisible aspects of the soul are two halves of a whole. They define the soul. However, modern neuroscience has long since shown that the ‘soul’ is indeed divisible and can be split into multiple consciousnesses. So, that was one half of the soul lost. Neuroscience has also shown that everything the soul is meant to do is done by the brain, leaving no task for the soul to perform. All the emotions, all the decisions, and all the memories are not a product of the soul. The brain has sapped all purpose of the soul, making what we idealize as the soul into simply one of our vital organs. The soul’s synonymization with the brain strips it of immortality. We’ve lost our soul. Yet we still cling on to it. The soul may be a lie, but it’s still a blissful one. We transcend mortality with the soul, but without it, the wings disappear and humans are grounded to reality. Even a blissful lie is sometimes worth choosing over a terrifying truth.
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Remembering Oswald Russell
Published:Friday | July 6, 2012 | 12:00 AM
Jamaican master pianist Oswald Russell passed away in Geneva, Switzerland recently.
He was the son of Jim Russell, former registrar of births and deaths.
Oswald Russell was a member of the St George's College class of 1948. He distinguished himself internationally as a world-class pianist and composer.
Born in 1933, he made his first public appearance at the age of eight and, while at St George's, played solo in the school's musical plays.
He later won a scholarship to study at The Royal Academy of Music in England, graduating in 1956. He continued his studies in Paris at the famed Juillard School of Music before returning to Jamaica in 1963 as professor of piano at the Jamaica School of Music.
He has won several international piano competitions, including the BBC Mozart competition in London in 1968, and has played in concerts in France, Belgium, Yugoslavia and Russia as soloist, and in chamber music ensembles with symphony orchestras.
In 1989, the city of Geneva commissioned him to compose Caraibes for the Harmonie Nautique, the official wind band of Geneva. He has also composed works for piano, flute solo and cello solo, viola with organ.
Since 1970, Russell held the post of professor of Keyboard Harmony and Improvisation at The Conservatorire Populaire in Geneva, at the Jacones-Dalcroze Institute of Geneva, as well as the Conservatorire de Musique of Geneva, before retiring in 1999.
He was inducted into the Hallowed Hall of Fame of St George's College in 2002.
Russel leaves wife Danielle and daughter Alexandra.
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This content is © 2018 Mathias Kohl | All rights reserved.
© COPYRIGHT 2018 M. Kohl
The default grid system utilizes 12 columns, making for a 890px wide container. Below 800px viewport size, the columns become stacked vertically.
Two Columns with the same width
In graphic design, a grid is a structure made up of a series of intersecting straight (vertical, horizontal, and angular) or curved guide lines used to structure content. The grid serves as an armature on which a designer can organize graphic elements in a rational, easy to absorb manner. A grid can be use to organize graphic elements in relation to a page, in relation to other graphic elements on the page, or relation to other parts of the same graphic element or shape.
Three Columns with the same width
In graphic design, a grid is a structure made up of a series of intersecting straight (vertical, horizontal, and angular) or curved guide lines used to structure content. The grid serves as an armature on which a designer can organize graphic elements in a rational, easy to absorb manner.
Four Columns with the same width
A grid can be use to organize graphic elements in relation to a page, in relation to other graphic elements on the page, or relation to other parts of the same graphic element or shape.
Three Columns Different Sizes (3 + 4 + 5)
A grid can be use to organize graphic elements in relation to a page, in relation to other graphic elements on the page.
A grid can be use to organize graphic elements in relation to a page, in relation to other graphic elements on the page, or relation to other parts of the same graphic element or shape , or relation to other parts of the same graphic element or shape.
The grid system is an aid, not a guarantee. It permits a number of possible uses and each designer can look for a solution appropriate to his personal style. But one must learn how to use the grid; it is an art that requires practice.
Josef Müller-Brockmann
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Complete Philips Recordings
~ Release by Alfred Brendel (see all versions of this release, 1 available)
▶ CD 1
▶ CD 10
▶ CD 100
▼ CD 101
1 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Tema: Vivace / I. Alla marcia maestoso
Alfred Brendel (2001-05)
Royal Festival Hall (Southbank Centre) in London, England, United Kingdom (2001-05)
live recording of:
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Tema. Vivace (2001-05)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1819 – 1823)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. I. Alla marcia maestoso (2001-05)
Ludwig van Beethoven 2:36
2 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation II. Poco allegro
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. II. Poco allegro (2001-05)
3 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation III. L'istesso tempo
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. III. L'istesso tempo (2001-05)
4 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation IV. Un poco più vivace
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. IV. Un poco più vivace (2001-05)
5 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation V. Allegro vivace
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. V. Allegro vivace (2001-05)
6 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation VI. Allegro ma non troppo e serioso
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. VI. Allegro ma non troppo e serioso (2001-05)
7 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation VII. Un poco più allegro
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. VII. Un poco più allegro (2001-05)
8 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation VIII. Poco vivace
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. VIII. Poco vivace (2001-05)
9 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation IX. Allegro pesante e risoluto
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. IX. Allegro pesante e risoluto (2001-05)
10 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation X. Presto
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. X. Presto (2001-05)
11 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation XI. Allegretto
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XI. Allegretto (2001-05)
12 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation XII. Un poco più moto
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XII. Un poco più moto (2001-05)
13 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation XIII. Vivace
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XIII. Vivace (2001-05)
14 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation XIV. Grave e maestoso
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XIV. Grave e maestoso (2001-05)
15 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation XV. Presto scherzando
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XV. Presto scherzando (2001-05)
16 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation XVI. Allegro
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XVI. Allegro (2001-05)
17 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation XVII. Allegro
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XVII. Allegro (2001-05)
18 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation XVIII. Poco moderato
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XVIII. Poco moderato (2001-05)
19 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation XIX. Presto
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XIX. Presto (2001-05)
20 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation XX. Andante
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XX. Andante (2001-05)
21 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation XXI. Allegro con brio - Meno allegro
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXI. Allegro con brio (2001-05)
22 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation XXII. Allegro molto (alla "Notte e giorno faticar" di Mozart)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXII. Allegro molto (2001-05)
23 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation XXIII. Allegro assai
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXIII. Allegro assai (2001-05)
24 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation XXIV. Fughetta: Andante
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXIV. Fughetta. Andante (2001-05)
25 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation XXV. Allegro
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXV. Allegro (2001-05)
26 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation XXVI. Piacevole
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXVI. Piacevole (2001-05)
27 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation XXVII. Vivace
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXVII. Vivace (2001-05)
28 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation XXVIII. Allegro
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXVIII. Allegro (2001-05)
29 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation XXIX. Adagio ma non troppo
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXIX. Adagio ma non troppo (2001-05)
30 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation XXX. Andante sempre cantabile.
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXX. Andante, sempre cantabile (2001-05)
31 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation XXXI. Largo, molto espressivo
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXXI. Largo, molto espressivo (2001-05)
32 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation XXXII. Fuga: Allegro - Poco adagio
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXXII. Fuga. Allegro - Poco adagio (2001-05)
33 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, op. 120: Variation XXXIII. Tempo di minuetto moderato
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXXIII. Tempo di Menuetto moderato (2001-05)
Alfred Brendel (2001-05) (tracks 1–33)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1819 – 1823) (tracks 1, 1–33)
Royal Festival Hall (Southbank Centre) in London, England, United Kingdom (2001-05) (tracks 1–33)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Tema. Vivace (2001-05) (track 1)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. I. Alla marcia maestoso (2001-05) (track 1)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. II. Poco allegro (2001-05) (track 2)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. III. L'istesso tempo (2001-05) (track 3)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. IV. Un poco più vivace (2001-05) (track 4)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. IX. Allegro pesante e risoluto (2001-05) (track 9)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. V. Allegro vivace (2001-05) (track 5)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. VI. Allegro ma non troppo e serioso (2001-05) (track 6)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. VII. Un poco più allegro (2001-05) (track 7)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. VIII. Poco vivace (2001-05) (track 8)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. X. Presto (2001-05) (track 10)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XI. Allegretto (2001-05) (track 11)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XII. Un poco più moto (2001-05) (track 12)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XIII. Vivace (2001-05) (track 13)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XIV. Grave e maestoso (2001-05) (track 14)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XIX. Presto (2001-05) (track 19)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XV. Presto scherzando (2001-05) (track 15)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XVI. Allegro (2001-05) (track 16)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XVII. Allegro (2001-05) (track 17)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XVIII. Poco moderato (2001-05) (track 18)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XX. Andante (2001-05) (track 20)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXI. Allegro con brio (2001-05) (track 21)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXII. Allegro molto (2001-05) (track 22)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXIII. Allegro assai (2001-05) (track 23)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXIV. Fughetta. Andante (2001-05) (track 24)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXIX. Adagio ma non troppo (2001-05) (track 29)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXV. Allegro (2001-05) (track 25)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXVI. Piacevole (2001-05) (track 26)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXVII. Vivace (2001-05) (track 27)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXVIII. Allegro (2001-05) (track 28)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXX. Andante, sempre cantabile (2001-05) (track 30)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXXI. Largo, molto espressivo (2001-05) (track 31)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXXII. Fuga. Allegro - Poco adagio (2001-05) (track 32)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120: Var. XXXIII. Tempo di Menuetto moderato (2001-05) (track 33)
33 Variations for Piano in C major on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120 (tracks 1, 1–33)
US: B014VLVTW6 [info]
discography entry:
http://www.deccaclassics.com/en/cat/4788827 [info]
114×CD
Decca Classics
[Worldwide]
US: B014VLVTW6
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Posts Tagged: book to film
Film Friday: The English Patient
Have you ever been surprised to find out a film was based on a book? Film Friday is a weekly feature that spotlights films that were adapted from books. For today’s Film Friday, I decided to feature one of my favorite films! I adore The English Patient, it’s so full of passion and heartbreak. I haven’t read Michael Ondaatje’s novel and I’m afraid to because I have a feeling it might ruin my love of the film by making me love the book more. Does that make sense? Synopsis:At the close of WWII, a young nurse tends to a badly-burned plane crash victim. His past is shown in flashbacks, revealing an involvement in a fateful love affair. (-IMDB). Almásy: There is no God, but I hope someone watches over you…. Read more »
Film Friday: Doctor Zhivago
Have you ever been surprised to find out a film was based on a book? Film Friday is a weekly feature that spotlights films that were adapted from books. I know there’s a 2002 version of Doctor Zhivago with Keira Knightley as Lara, but I just love the 1965 version with Omar Sharif. Synopsis: The life of a Russian physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a political activist’s wife and experiences hardship during the First World War and then the October Revolution. (-IMDB). Komarovski: There are two kinds of men and only two. And that young man is one kind. He is high-minded. He is pure. He’s the kind of man the world pretends to look up to, and in fact despises. He is… Read more »
Film Friday: The Godfather
Have you ever been surprised to find out a film was based on a book? Film Friday is a weekly feature that spotlights films that were adapted from books. For today’s Film Friday, I decided to showcase The Godfather! Based on Mario Puzo’s novel (of the same name), the film quickly became a box office hit. Marlon Brando would go on to win an Oscar for Best Actor and the film would become Best Picture. Synopsis: The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son (-IMDB). Don Corleone: You talk about vengeance. Is vengeance going to bring your son back to you? Or my boy to me? The Godfather (1972)
Film Friday: David Nicholls’ One Day
Have you ever been surprised to find out a film was based on a book? Film Friday is a weekly feature that spotlights films that were adapted from books. For today’s piece, I picked David Nicholl’s One Day because I just adored the book! The film is a bit of a let down because there’s so much that could have been done to make it better. Though I admit, I liked Jim Sturgess as Dexter. While I adore Romola Garai, I felt she played Sylvie a bit too cold. One Day (2011) Synopsis: After spending the night together on the night of their college graduation Dexter and Em are shown each year on the same date to see where they are in their lives. They are sometimes together, sometimes not,… Read more »
Film Friday: JFK
Have you ever been surprised to find out a film was based on a book? Film Friday is a weekly feature that spotlights films that were adapted from books. Fifty years ago today, the 35th president of the United States was assassinated. I reviewed Killing Kennedy last week and explained that it is a central Oswald production where there is no conspiracy theory. So today, I bring you the other side with Oliver Stone’s JFK. Oliver Stone’s JFK is a political thriller that follows the events leading up to assassination of JFK and New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison’s (played by Kevin Costner) quest to file charges against Clay Shaw (played Tommy Lee Jones) for his alleged participation in the conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy. Jim Garrison: The Warren Commission… Read more »
Film Friday: Jurassic Park
Have you ever been surprised to find out a film was based on a book? Film Friday is a weekly feature that spotlights films that were adapted from books. I had a difficult time deciding which Michael Crichton film to feature since his birthday was earlier this week. I’ve decided to feature Jurassic Park. Universal will be filming a fourth movie for a 2015 release date and Steven Spielberg will return as a producer. A billionaire with the help of scientists clone dinosaurs for a theme park. During a park preview the park suffers a power outage and dinosaurs are let lose. Dr. Alan Grant: T-Rex doesn’t want to be fed. He wants to hunt. Can’t just suppress 65 million years of gut instinct. Jurassic Park (1993)
Film Friday: The Importance of Being Earnest
Have you ever been surprised to find out a film was based on a book? Film Friday is a weekly feature that spotlights films that were adapted from books. I just adore Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. I love the play more than the film and highly recommend seeing it on stage if you ever get a chance. Since Wilde’s birthday was earlier this week and the actors I adored in the stage version were not filmed, I opted for the 2002 film version. Two men in the same social circle both have an alter ego named Ernest, a comedy of mistaken identities soon erupts. Cecily: You must not laugh at me, darling, but it has always been a girlish dream of mine to love a man named… Read more »
Film Friday: The Hunt for Red October
Have you ever been surprised to find out a film was based on a book? Film Friday is a weekly feature that spotlights films that were adapted from books. Author Tom Clancy died earlier this week and I’ve decided to feature The Hunt for Red October. Clancy sold the manuscript to the Naval Institute Press for just $5,000. President Regan raved about the book and Clancy based the book on a real life event: the 1975 mutiny aboard a Soviet missile frigate. The book went on to sell more than 5 million copies. It also features Jack Ryan, Clancy’s most famous character. In 1984, the USSR’s best submarine captain in their newest sub violates orders and heads for the USA. Is he trying to defect, or to start a war?… Read more »
Film Friday: Lady Chatterley
Have you ever been surprised to find out a film was based on a book? Film Friday is a weekly feature that spotlights films that were adapted from books. Earlier this week it was DH Lawrence’s birthday and what better way to honor the memory of a great British author, than to feature his novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Constance, Lady Chatterley, is an upper-class woman and married. Her husband, Clifford, is very handsome, but has been paralyzed from the waist down due to a war injury. Due to his injury he refuses any physical contact and becomes emotional neglectful of Constance forcing a distance between them. Her sexual frustration leads her into the arms with the gamekeeper, Oliver Mellors, where they embark on a passionate affair. There are several adaptations,… Read more »
Film Friday: Summer in February
Have you ever been surprised to find out a film was based on a book? Film Friday is a weekly feature that spotlights films that were adapted from books. Dan Stevens left Downton Abbey to focus on film projects and one of them was actually Summer in February. It’s based on Jonathan Smith’s book and Smith adapted his novel (which bears the same name as the film) into the screenplay. Based on a true story it stars Dominic Cooper, Emily Browning, Dan Stevens and Hattie Morahan and focuses on the early 20th century love triangle between British artist Alfred Munnings, his friend Gilbert Evans and Florence Carter-Wood. Summer in February (2013)
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Former Senior Aide To Pat Buchanan Spoke At Holocaust-Deniers’ Meeting
December 16, 2004 Wyman Institute News Release Comments Off on Former Senior Aide To Pat Buchanan Spoke At Holocaust-Deniers’ Meeting
A former senior aide to talk show host and one-time presidential candidate Pat Buchanan spoke at a meeting of Holocaust-deniers earlier this year, according to this year’s annual report on Holocaust-denial activity around the world.
The year-end report, Holocaust Denial: A Global Survey – 2004, has been issued by The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, which is located on the campus of Gratz College, near Philadelphia. The report’s co-authors are Holocaust scholars Dr. Alex Grobman (author of a recent book on Holocaust denial) and Dr. Rafael Medoff (director of the Wyman Institute).
The complete text of the Wyman Institute’s report may be viewed on the Wyman Institute’s web site, www.WymanInstitute.org
The report notes that Peter Gemma, a senior staff member of Pat Buchanan’s 2000 presidential campaign, spoke at a February 19, 2004 meeting in Virginia of the Institute for Historical Review, the leading Holocaust-denial organization in the United States. Gemma introduced the evening’s keynote speaker, IHR director Mark Weber.
The association of a former Buchanan aide with Holocaust-deniers is particularly noteworthy in view of Buchanan’s own troubling positions concerning Hitler and the Holocaust. He has written that 850,000 Jews could not have been gassed in Treblinka because “diesel engines do not emit enough carbon dioxide to kill anybody”; he spoke out on behalf of accused Nazi war criminals Karl Linnas and Arthur Rudolph; he wrote columns defending Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk; he described Hitler as “an individual of great courage”; and he mocked Holocaust survivors’ memories as “group fantasies of martyrdom and heroics.” (The New Republic, Oct. 15 and Oct. 22, 1990) In his 1999 book, A Republic, Not an Empire, Buchanan argued that the U.S. should not have gone to war against Nazi Germany.
Other highlights of this year’s report:
* Holocaust-deniers in the United States continued their efforts to gain a measure of respectability in 2004, and benefitted from the willingness of several individuals of prominence to associate with them. In addition to the aforementioned Peter Gemma, a newsletter edited by pundit Alexander Cockburn defended imprisoned Holocaust-denier Ernst Zundel. Also, Hutton Gibson again publicly denied the Holocaust, while his son, actor Mel Gibson, declined to clearly dissociate himself from his father’s views.
* Some Arab governments continued to actively promote Holocaust-denial in 2004, and a Holocaust-denier emerged as the leading candidate for chairmanship of the Palestinian Authority.
* A number of Western governments and other institutions took important steps against Holocaust-deniers. The Canadian government sought to deport Ernst Zundel; the government of New Zealand denied entry to David Irving; the French government brought charges against Bruno Gollnisch; Harvard University returned a gift from an Arab leader who promoted Holocaust-denial; and The Nation magazine said it would no longer accept advertisements from Holocaust-deniers. Most notably, U.S. intervention brought about the first-ever public disavowal of Holocaust-denial by an Egyptian government official.
annual report on Holocaust-denial activityHitler and the HolocaustInstitute for Historical ReviewNazi death camp guard John DemjanjukNazi war criminals Karl Linnas and Arthur RudolphPeter Gemmapresidential candidate Pat Buchananthe leading Holocaust-denial organization in the United StatesTreblinka
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Crime Stoppers of The Midlands
Unsolved Crimes
Tip Follow-Up
If you have any information about these crimes or any person(s) involved, you are urged to submit a Web Tip by clicking on the Submit a Tip button beside each case, submit a tip using the P3 Tips app or call Midlands Crimestoppers.
If you are a law enforcement agency within the Midlands and have an Unsolved Case to display, please contact your Crimestoppers Coordinator.
Triple Murder - Dibble/Rail St, Bowman, SC
The S.C. Law Enforcement Division and Midlands Crimestoppers need your help solving a triple murder that occurred on May 26, 2020. The shooting took place amid a social gathering during the Memorial Day weekend near the intersection of Dibble Street and Rail Street in Bowman, SC. Austin Lee Benjamin, 17 years old, Altonio Jaquan Smith, 19 years old, and Malik Kevon Glover, 24 years old, were all killed during the shooting. Several other victims were also injured during the incident.
It is believed that people in the community have information about this incident, but are hesitant to come forward due to fear of reprisal. Law enforcement strongly encourages anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers to ensure their identity is protected. Anonymity is always guaranteed for those who contact Crime Stoppers.
Anyone with information about these murders, no matter how insignificant it may seem, is encouraged to contact Midlands Crimestoppers. A cash reward up to a $1,000 is being offered for any tip that leads to an arrest.
Murder - Corley Ave, Barnwell, SC
The S.C. Law Enforcement Division, Barnwell Police Department, and Midlands Crimestoppers need your help solving the murder of Isiah Lynwood Thomas. The victim’s body was discovered on his birthday April 13, 2020 in the wood line off Corley Avenue in Barnwell, SC. Thomas was shot multiple times and believed to have been killed on April 10, 2020 three days prior to his 21st birthday. The motive for the murder is currently unknown.
The family of Thomas filed a missing person report on April 12, 2020 after being unable to reach him. Three days prior, a family member dropped Thomas off on Corley Avenue to meet an acquaintance. The victim’s girlfriend and mother of his three children last spoke with him via telephone during the early morning hours of April 10, 2020.
Anyone with information about this murder, no matter how insignificant it may seem, is encouraged to contact Midlands Crimestoppers. Anonymity is always guaranteed. A cash reward up to a $1,000 is being offered for any tip that leads to an arrest.
Officials Seek Information in Murder of Barnwell Man
Murder - York St, Chester, SC
CHESTER, S.C. (WBTV) - A man was killed Friday after being shot at a Chester apartment complex.
The incident occurred on the 200 block of York Street. Officers arrived to find 43-year-old Christopher Mayfield dead at the scene.
Police haven’t made an arrest, and are asking the public for help in their investigation.
UPDATE: Vangereil Miller (b/m) turned himself in and Kevin Feaster has also been arrested.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Chester Police at 803-377-2100 or Crimestoppers. Click on Submit a Tip.
Man killed in Chester shooting
Murder - Brown Chapel Cir, Newberry, SC
The Newberry County Sheriff’s Office and Midlands Crimestoppers need your help solving the homicide of 35 year old, black male, Michael McKinsey Mathis who was shot and killed on January 18, 2020. The incident occurred while he was visiting his friends on Brown Chapel Circle located in the Helena Community of Newberry County. Anyone with information or knowledge of this homicide is asked to contact Midlands Crimestoppers. You can provide information anonymously. A CASH REWARD of up to $1,000 is being offered for any information that leads to an arrest in this case.
Brown Chapel Rd Shooting Victim Identified
Murder - Hartford Community Center, Newberry, SC
The Newberry County Sheriff’s Office and Midlands Crimestoppers need your help solving the homicide of 38 year old, black male, Jared Darnell Singley. He was shot and killed outside the Hartford Community Center located at 6771 SC Hwy 395 in Newberry County. The shooting occurred as a Halloween birthday party was ending during the early morning hours of October 27, 2019. Anyone with information or knowledge of this homicide is asked to contact Midlands
Crimestoppers. You can provide information anonymously. A CASH REWARD of up to $1,000 is being offered for any information that leads to an arrest in this case.
Fight In Newberry Leaves One Dead
Double Murder - Batesburg-Leesville, SC
By Laurel Mallory | October 14, 2019 at 1:02 PM EDT - Updated October 14 at 5:51 PM
BATESBURG-LEESVILLE, S.C. (WIS) - Two men died in a shooting Friday night in Batesburg-Leesville, police confirmed.
It happened around 9:15 p.m. at a home. Police did not share the part of town in which the shooting happened.
When officers arrived, they found two men with gunshot wounds.
Richard DeQuincy Broadwater, 26, and Daniel Nathanial Robinson, 33, died at the scene, the coroner’s office confirmed.
The coroner report states both men died from multiple gunshot wounds to the head and chest.
No arrests have been made.
Men Killed in Double Homicide Batesburg-Leesville Identified
Murder - Hook Rd, Winnsboro, SC
The Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office is seeking information about the death of Thelma Alejandra Villegas Rios. The Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office located the body of Ms. Villegas Rios, a 21 year old Hispanic female, on the morning of Wednesday, July 24, 2019 at approximately 8:40 A.M. Ms. Villegas Rios was reported missing by her family the following day to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department on the morning of Thursday July 25, 2019. Her body was located off of Hook Road in Winnsboro, S. C. near the intersection of Interstate 77 and SC Hwy 200 (Exit 48) and has been ruled a Homicide. The Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office is investigating this homicide in conjunction with Charlotte Mecklenburg-Police Department. If you have any information about this incident you are urged to contact the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office at (803) 635-4141 or to remain anonymous please contact Midlands Crimestoppers.
Shooting - Old Skool Bar & Grill, Lancaster, SC
The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a shooting incident that occurred at Old Skool Sports Bar & Grill, 1384 Old Charlotte Road in the Twin Pines area of Lancaster, about 2:45 this morning, Saturday, September 21, 2019. Ten people were shot. Two of them, both adult males, are deceased. Four others were airlifted to medical facilities for treatment. Their conditions are unknown. The remaining four are being treated at a local medical facility for non-critical injuries. A eleventh victim was treated and released at a local medical facility for injuries received in a fall as that victim fled the club. The victims’ identities will not be released at this time.
The club was occupied by a large number of people. Shots were fired inside and outside the club. Investigators do not yet know whether more than one person fired a weapon. Officers of the Lancaster Police Department and the sheriff’s office responded. Many patrons left the scene before and as officers arrived. Patrol deputies, criminal investigators, and crime scene investigators are at the scene. Search warrants were obtained for the premises and vehicles on the premises. Investigators have interviewed witnesses but need to identify and talk with all those who were present during the incident. Leads have been developed concerning the identity of a shooter, but no one is in custody at this time.
“This was a violent incident of huge magnitude that was witnessed by lots of people,” said Sheriff Barry Faile. “Two people are dead, and many more are seriously injured. The shooter or shooters are out there. We need to talk with everybody who was at the club when the shooting happened, and I encourage those witnesses to contact us immediately so those responsible for these deaths and injuries can be taken into custody.”
Murder - Helena Community, Newberry, SC
The Newberry County Sheriff’s Office and Midlands Crimestoppers need your help solving the homicide of 40 year old, black female, Sharonda Shontay Sims. She was walking home on Drayton Street near Cherry Lane during the early morning hours on September 17, 2019 when she was shot and killed. This incident occurred in the Helena Community of Newberry County. Anyone with information or knowledge of this homicide is asked to contact Midlands Crimestoppers. You can provide information anonymously. A CASH REWARD of up to $1,000 is being offered for any information that leads to an arrest in this case.
Unsolved Newberry Shooting gets New Attention
Armed Robbery - Grand Central Truck Stop, Winnsboro, SC
The Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office is seeking the public’s assistance in identifying the two individuals in the photographs. On August 31st, 2019, the Grand Central Truck Stop on SC 200 at the intersection of I-77 in the Winnsboro area of Fairfield County, was robbed by these two individuals. They wore masks and were armed with a hammer and a large knife, believed to be a machete. One of the subjects returned on September 9th, 2019 with the large knife and robbed the store again. A 4-door vehicle, dark in color (see photo below), is believed to have been used in this incident. If you have any information about this incident or can identify either of these individuals, click on Submit a Tip. Your identity will be kept anonymous and if your tip leads to an arrest, you could be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000.00.
Suspects Robbed Truck Stop with Hammer, Machete
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Author De Lancey's Brigade (Loyalist) 1776-1778.
Title Orderly book of the three battalions of loyalists, commanded by Brigadier-General Oliver De Lancey 1776-1778; to which is appended a list of New York loyalists in the city of New York during the war of the revolution-- comp. by William Kelby.
Published New York, Printed for the New York Historical Society, 1917.
Description xi, 147 p. 26 cm.
Series John Divine Jones Fund series of histories and memoirs ; 3.
The New York Historical Society. The John Divine Jones fund series of histories and memoirs, 3
General Note "Edition of two hundred copies."
"Covers the period from September, 1776, to June 1778, and relates mainly to the 1st and 3d battalions of De Lancey's brigade and their service on Long Island."-- Pref.
Subjects American loyalists -- New York (State)
United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Regimental histories -- De Lancey's Brigade (Loyalist) 1776-1778.
Other Authors Kelby, William, 1841-1898.
LC Card Number 17-24061//r
WRHS Research Library: E 277.6 D3 D3
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Supreme Privy Council
to get instant updates about 'Supreme Privy Council' on your MyPage. Meet other similar minded people. Its Free!
The Supreme Privy Council of Imperial Russia was founded on 8 February 1726 as a body of advisors to Catherine I.
Originally, the council included six members — Alexander Menshikov, Fyodor Apraksin, Gavrila Golovkin, Andrey Osterman, Peter Tolstoy, and Dmitry Galitzine. Several months later, Catherine's son-in-law, Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, joined the Council. During Catherine's reign, the Council was dominated by her former lover Prince Menshikov.
In her testament, the Empress authorized the Council to wield power equal to that of her successor Peter, except in the matters of succession. After Peter II assumed the throne, Menshikov persuaded him to marry his daughter. By the time of Menshikov's downfall in September 1727 the Council's constitution had changed drastically: Apraksin died, Tolstoy was exiled, and Duke of Holstein left Russia. Thereupon it was expanded to eight members, of which six represented old boyar families opposing the Westernization reforms of Peter the Great — the Dolgorukovs and the Galitzines. The other two seats were retained by Osterman and Golovkin.
As the conservative influences prevailed among its members, the Council — although nominally a consultative body — monopolized supreme power and had the imperial capital moved back to Moscow. The collegia (i.e., ministries) and the Senate, instituted by Peter the Great as supreme governing bodies, were not called "governing" any more and were held accountable before the...
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Home » Portfolio » Residences
Trent Park (part two)
Trent Park in 1903 (this is the south front, in spite of the label). Country Life, February 21st (Continued from part one) In 1909, just a few years after carrying out major...
Trent Park (part one)
'Trent Place. Near Southgate, The Seat of Wigston Esq.', 1808. On two occasions so far I have been asked to work on houses with strong connections with my family. The first...
Addison Avenue, London W11
37-55 Addison Avenue Addison Avenue is located in the Norland Conservation Area, in North Kensington. This was first designated in 1969. All the houses on Addison Avenue...
Lord North Street is a short street of Georgian terraced housing running between Smith Square and Great Peter Street in Westminster. It forms part of an exceptionally well...
Oakley Gardens, Chelsea
2-10 Oakley Gardens - on the south side of the centre In the mid-nineteenth century Oakley Crescent (later Oakley Gardens) was constructed to the west of Manor Street on the...
East Front Farleigh Wallop is a small village and civil parish in Hampshire. An earlier Farleigh House was burnt down in the 1660s and not rebuilt till 1731 by Viscount...
The Aviary, Dropmore Park
Barbara Jones. The Aviary, Dropmore, Buckinghamshire. Lithograph, 1971 Dropmore House is a large detached late eighteenth century mansion which stands in its own estate of 220...
Dockyard Terrace, Sheerness
Sheerness is a small town and port located on the north-west corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent. It began as a fort strategically positioned at the meeting of the...
New Lanark (Rosedale Street is off to the left) New Lanark is a village on the River Clyde, approximately 2.2 km from Lanark, in Lanarkshire, and some 40 km southeast of...
Fountain Court, Hampton Court Palace
Fountain Court - East Range Fountain Court is one of the most homogenous spaces at Hampton Court Palace, with little alteration or reconstruction since its creation by Sir...
The Queen’s Staircase – Hampton Court Palace
The Queen's Staircase The balustrade to the Queen’s Staircase at Hampton Court Palace was designed and made by the Huguenot ironsmith Jean Tijou most probably in 1694-96. ...
Queen’s House, Tower of London
The White Tower of the Tower of London viewed from the River Thames The building of the Tower of London was begun shortly after the Norman Conquest by Duke William II of...
Witanhurst
Witanhurst - Marcus Cooper Group Witanhurst is an early twentieth century Georgian Revival mansion located on five acres (20,000 m²) in Highgate, North London. It commands...
The Queen’s House, Greenwich
The Queen's House is a former royal residence built between 1616–1619 in Greenwich, originally a few miles downriver from London, and now a district in the south east of the...
Richmond Green
The subject of this post is a Grade II Listed building within a rectangular block on the southwest corner of The Green, in Richmond, Surrey. The Green is described as one...
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Guide to Sony Consumer Level Alpha DSLR Model Cameras
Published by photo-guy at 5:25 pm under General
Are you thinking you want to buy a Sony DSLR camera online? Are you confused about which models offer the features you want? Read this review for a detailed overview of the entry level DSLRs on offer from Sony.
When Sony produced their first DSLR camera in 2006, their intention was to deliver a new camera that was comparable to the current offerings from Canon and Nikon. They quickly succeeded. These DSLR cameras from Sony offer unique features that match, or even surpass, entry level Nikon cameras, or those at a similar price point from Canon.
Sony A100: This was the camera that launched the Sony Alpha series. Introduced in 07/2006 the DSLR-A100 is a 10.2 MP camera with built in image stabilization so that will work with any lens you choose. Like all the models that succeeded it, the Sony Alpha 100 used the Minolta A-type bayonet mount that was gleaned from the merging of Sony with Konica Minolta. It had an anti-dust system, a 2.5 inch LCD, and could shoot at 3 frames per second. It was a very good camera at the time and considered a successful first DSLR by Sony. Status: Discontinued model.
Sony A200: The Alpha 200 was a moderate update of the popular Alpha 100. It also became Sony’s cheapest digital SLR when it was introduced in January 2008 alongside the Sony A300 and A350. Changes to the A200 included the ability to shoot pictures in a 16:9 widescreen format, increased ISO sensitivity to 3200, noise reduction software, and a larger 2.7” LCD screen. Other refinements included an updated Super SteadyShot and a useful shadow/highlight warning system. Status: Replaced by Alpha 230.
Sony A300 and A350: These two digital SLR cameras were released at the same time by Sony because of their similar feature set. Unveiled in January 2008, the A350 is more expensive than the Sony A300, because of its higher resolution, 14.2 MP image size. (The A300 has the same 10.2 MP image size found in the A200 camera). Doing this increased the price of the A350 by $100 but allows you to be able to print very large prints, though nobody ever does.
One of the best features of these cameras are their Live View and adjustable 2.7” LCD screen. Two sensors were included in the Sony Alpha 300 and Alpha 350 to help ensure that you could take pictures as quickly and easily with live view as you could with the optical viewfinder. It made the conventional ‘mirror flip’ live view systems from Nikon and Canon look slow and cumbersome, and meant that photographers moving up from point and shoot cameras had a much easier transition to the world of digital SLR cameras. Status: Replaced by Alpha 330 and 380.
Sony A230: Sony’s A230 was the 2009 update of the Alpha 200, and the foundations for a 3 model lineup that included the Alpha 330 and 380. The Sony Alpha 230 is lighter and more compact than the Alpha 200, and was also revised to make it more user friendly to first time DSLR users. There is an easy to use help mode available on screen, as well as 6 easily accessible automatic scene settings. The camera also comes equipped with dynamic range optimization to help produce pictures with both good highlighting as well as shadow detail. A multi shot self timer, a new graphic display for selecting aperture or shutter speeds, and a nine point autofocus system round off the rest of the features included in this great value Sony Alpha camera. In fact the one thing not available on this camera is Live View which was saved for the DSLR-A330. Status: New model.
Sony A330 and A380: Announced in May 2009, (at the same time as the A230), the Sony A330 and Sony A380 became direct replacements for the A300 and A350. They share many features with the budget priced Alpha 230, and are the most recent entry level digital SLRs from Sony. Both the Sony A330 and the A380 include the unique Sony live view, and a tilting 2.7” LCD, to an already impressive feature list. The DSLR-A380 takes it even further with a professional level resolution with a 14.2 megapixel sensor. Status: Both are new models.
Our recomendation is to buy the Sony Alpha DSLR-A330. Overall it’s a great camera with every feature you need as well as many you will never use. The DSLR-A330 is very affordable and will fulfill all your photographic needs for quite some time.
If you need to find a good spot for Sony Alpha DSLR camera repair you will be able to find repair shops to compare quotes with just a quick Google search or two. If you call Sony first to get a baseline price, then you may find that your Sony camera repair will cost less by not going through the manufacturer directly.
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Venice Biennale 2019
Fierce debate over Christoph Büchel's Venice Biennale display of boat that sank with hundreds locked in hull
Up to 1,100 may have died on board the fishing vessel; critics say its display is grossly insensitive at best while others describe it as a powerful reminder of exploitation
14th May 2019 10:42 GMT
Christoph Büchel’s Barca Nostra at the Venice Biennale has proved controversial © The Art Newspaper
A fishing boat which sank in the Mediterranean in 2015 with up to 1,100 migrants on board has provoked a furious debate since it went on public display a week ago as part of the latest edition of the Venice Biennale.
Hundreds of people trying to reach Italy from Libya drowned on the night of 18 April 2015 when the vessel collided with a Portuguese freighter, which was attempting to rescue those on board. Most of the migrants who died were locked in the hold and machine room.
The wreck was recovered from the bottom of the sea by the Italian navy in June 2016 and taken to a Nato base in Sicily where the victims were painstakingly identified.
Now the rusting boat is on display in the Arsenale in Venice, the city’s historic shipyard, as a work of public art entitled Barca Nostra [Our Boat] by the Swiss-Icelandic artist Christoph Büchel.
The public reaction to the boat’s inclusion in a contemporary art show has ranged from outrage to approval and everything in between.
Italy’s deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini of the far-right League party who has closed Italian ports to migrant rescue ships, denounced the display of the boat as “political propaganda” while Roberto Ciambetti, the president of the Regional council of the Veneto who is also a member of the League Party, has called for the boat to be taken to Switzerland, Büchel’s home country, “so that Switzerland can reflect on how to accommodate economic migrants on its own territory.”
But criticism of the boat has come from across the political spectrum. Writing in the Guardian, Lorenzo Tondo, the newspaper’s Italy correspondent said that “displaying [the] wreckage in such a purely artistic context—far from the institutions that were responsible for the tragedy or the communities that witness this kind of horror year in, year out—risks losing any sense of political denunciation, transforming it into a piece in which provocation prevails over the goal of sensitising the viewer’s mind. Büchel’s decision risks creating yet another celebration of the nostalgia of tragedy without a corresponding act of conviction in the present; it is simply too distant from those towards whom its message should be directed.”
The Venice Biennale artistic director, Ralph Rugoff explained his decision to include the boat in his exhibition to Channel 4 news: “It’s one thing to see an image in a newspaper or on television but when you confront the physical thing, you have a whole other group of sensations. You feel it in a different way; you’re processing the information in a different way, hopefully that leads you to think in a different way.”
Supporters of the boat’s display include the British art critic Matthew Collings who wrote in the Evening Standard that “over the six-month duration of the Biennale the boat will be a sign among signs. Venice is replete with visible reminders of militarism, colonialism and looting. The Biennale itself is such a reminder: how was it paid for when it began, 120 years ago? Today it is all rich and privileged fun, and now the boat is a great big reminder of separation, the remnants of a physical object standing for those excluded from the fun. Not just the ones who died in it, but the part of the world exploited to create the extra wealth for all this fun.”
Writing on twitter, the Sunday Times art critic Waldemar Januszczak, noted that: “There's been a lot of fake news spread about on Twitter about the [migrant] boat at the Venice Biennale. It is not true to say that it has no context and ignores death. The context is spelled out clearly in the catalogue. I found it dark, upsetting, accusatory and powerful….to suggest that the piece somehow glorified or ignored death is, at best, plain wrong.”
A label for the boat
This newspaper has criticised the lack of any labels displayed near the boat to explain to visitors what they are looking at. Information about Barca Nostra is included only in the Biennale catalogue which is purchased by a minority of visitors to the exhibition.
“Many, if not most, exhibition goers will eat and drink in the shadow of this ship (it is positioned near a cafe) with absolutely no idea of the tragedy that unfolded there. We will trudge past it without knowing it is the site where hundreds perished because we have failed to solve one of the most urgent crises of our time,” we wrote in one of our reviews of the Biennale.
However, the lack of explanatory text near the boat was not the Biennale’s intention. Organisers of the show did write a label for Barca Nostra but Büchel insisted on its removal. Ralph Rugoff tells The Art Newspaper that "information about this project is included in the exhibition guide and catalogue and in my opinion should also be freely available to visitors who don't have the means or desire to purchase those publications. I think it should be possible to do this in a way that won't compromise the artist's intentions."
Christoph Büchel declined to comment on this but his spokeswoman provided a statement from the entire Barca Nostra team which follows in full:
“As with all of Christoph Büchel’s work, on-site explanatory text was never intended to be part of the ongoing BARCA NOSTRA project’s presence at the [Venice Biennale].
Here, as with all of of his previous projects, public response—including press articles, critical essays, and social media posts—is integral to the overall concept. Büchel’s work comprises process and unmediated interactions. Therefore, it has always been his position with BARCA NOSTRA that physical signage and explanatory text at the Arsenale would disrupt the process by which questions are raised, assumptions are made, intentions are projected onto the project, and a meaningful debate ensues.
Again, the fishing vessel is not the artwork; instead, the ongoing project and its journey are the artwork.
For the appearance of the 18 April 2015 shipwreck in Venice, the BARCA NOSTRA team has from the outset strongly encouraged the Biennale to include a project summary text written by [the curator] Nina Magnusdottir, in the exhibition catalogue. The team has also suggested that the full project press release be posted on the Biennale website, so that journalists and members of the general public alike can have access to the necessary information.”
More NewsTopicsExhibitionsBiennials & festivalsContemporary artChristoph Büchel
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Things Are Looking Up in Many Porn Industry
The adult industry got in a wide range of fights in 2014, and from the look of issues, 2015 is going to be a brawler of a year as well.
Piracy and condoms continue to be the porn business’ chief battlegrounds. While the drive for a controversial bill that will have criminalized the production of porn without condoms any place in California died in panel last year, a circuit judge upheld an existing, similar law in Los Angeles County (where 60 to 70 percent of U. S. porn motion pictures are shot).
And piracy, which costs the industry millions of dollars each year continues to run rampant. In 2014, Nate Glass, owner of Takedown Piracy, a copyright enforcement service, estimates he sent out 24, 716 copyright law notices to sites— and expects to send considerably more this year.
“It’s hard to say exactly how much piracy costs the adult sector, since companies aren’t instructed to make yearly revenues open public, ” said Glass. “However, you can see the decline in production where fewer businesses are shooting new content and there’s less work for entertainers…. I know back in 2009 when I was working for studios all of us saw about a 50 percent drop in DVD sales during the period of the year; that’s when the go really began. ”
“The industry’s balancing, but still on the rocks. inch
Globally, adult is a $97 billion industry, according to Kassia Wosick, assistant professor of sociology at New Mexico Condition University. At present, between $ and $12 billion of that comes from the United States.
Revenue from traditional adult porn films has been shrinking within the past several years, though. Businesses just like live webcam models and adult novelties have helped fill that gap— but Wosick notes that most in the industry’s financial information is less concrete numbers and more estimates.
Former Nude Model Mourns Apparent End of Tabloid Tradition
Jan. 20, 201500: 42
Inspite of the legal and piracy problems, porn has arguably under no circumstances been such a visible portion of the pop culture landscape. Adult sex toys are sold in corner drugstores. Several adult actresses made an appearance on popular television series, just like “Sons of Anarchy. very well And later this year the motion picture version of “50 Gradation of Grey”— with a strong give attention to the bondage fetish— is going to hit theaters— and is required to be one of 2015’s big hits.
“The industry’s stabilizing, but still within the rocks, ” said Chauntelle Tibbals, an independent sociologist (and former visiting scholar at the University of Southern California) who studies the mature entertainment industry. “The huge purges we were seeing with regards to… lots of companies closing seems— from a far distance— to be leveling off— and that’s a good thing, but granny sex one rugged thing that’s happening is definitely the issue of expression. And I think that’s going to be a continuing issue in 2015. ”
A Red Flag
Expression became a red light in December when the ninth Circuit Court of Appeal upheld the Los Angeles condom law. In its ruling, Judge Susan P. Graber, composing for the three-member panel’s majority, noted “The condom mandate survives intermediate scrutiny because it has only a trivial impact on expression… and leaves available adequate alternative means of expression”.
“The thought of controlling sexual expression because of this is absolutely frightening, ” said Tibbals. “It shows the court is more interested in manipulating the adult industry in terms of manifestation than it is with STI transmissions. ”
The ongoing legal battle above condom usage in LA and the threat that the HELPS Healthcare Foundation, which added the charge on Strategy B, will once again press for a statewide law provides renewed speculation that some companies may move by California— with Nevada often mentioned as a possible new home (despite the fact that recording porn in that state continues to be illegal).
In spite of the potential struggles, many market insiders are upbeat about the year to come, saying they feel adult entertainment is getting a new beginning of varieties.
“There’s the sense of optimism, inch said Alec Helmy, creator and publisher of industry trade Xbiz. “I imagine the companies that have stood the test of time are no longer dwelling on the past and have figured out a way to stay viable. I would say it’s a new era for the industry. ”
Chanel Preston, one of porn’s top stars, agrees.
“When I got in to the industry in 2010, I feel that way was the lowest point, ” she said. “People were struggling with the Internet and corporations were getting pushed out. It was the true test of the industry. Now, four to five years later, the companies are starting to adapt to the new technology and figuring out how to use it to their benefit. The companies that not necessarily willing or couldn’t do that got weeded out. ”
XBET MOBILE SITE
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Queuing Up Bollywood!
My journey through Bollywood via online streaming and dvds through the mail.
Devdas and its near-twin, Parineeta
Here's what happened: I watched Devdas (Bhansali's version), and then a little while later I watched Parineeta. And I had a slight sense of deja vu. The stylistic feel of the movies was different (I really don't think anyone is quite like Sanjay Leela Bhansali, love him or loathe him), but there were definite echos as far as story goes. Turns out both movies are adaptions of novels by the same writer, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. I wouldn't judge an author's entire set of works by only two, but these two certainly dealt in similar characters and situations. Both featured childhood next-door neighbors and friends who grow up together and in love with each other, and the complications brought by the differing social statuses of their families.
Film: Devdas
Stars: Aishwarya Rai, Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit
Directed by: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
How I watched it: On DVD delivered by Netflix
Short answer to "Did I like it?": Yes. With an exclamation point. Yes!
I was, quite simply, mesmerized by this film. I have read complaints about it before and since watching it, and I can definitely see how the opulent sets and the heightened tone could be not to everyone's tastes, but it worked beautifully for me. (One peeve--people who complain that it was "unrealistic." That's like attending the opera and harping on how it's so unrealistic to think people would sing everything to each other, and what's with the horned hats? Bhansali doesn't seem to go in for realism. It's a choice, not a blunder.)
Every frame is shot with the maximum aesthetic effect in mind. The music is delicious and the dancing is simply stunning. Aishwarya and Madhuri are the best I've ever seen them, and SRK is made for the over-the-top melodrama that Bhansali relishes, but he's not obnoxiously frenetic here. The story is sad, but a very cathartic sad, a sad that feels like tears over beautiful poetry.
If you like beauty and spectacle in your Bollywood, this is a must-watch. And, in case it wasn't clear, well, it has Aishwarya Rai AND Madhuri Dixit DANCING. Even together, once.
Film: Parineeta
Stars: Vidya Balan, Saif Ali Khan, Sanjay Dutt
Directed by: Pradeep Sarkar
Short answer to "Did I like it?": Yes. Yes, I did.
I stayed up too late watching this movie. Apparently, it is dangerous to assume I will be able to turn off the movie at intermission and wait until the next day. It didn't happen. I was having too much fun staring at Vidya being all beautiful and riveting and Saif being all intense and brooding and Sanjay Dutt being all gentle and noble.
There are several similarities to Devdas here, but the music and dancing were far, far inferior. (Was there any dancing? Now I can't really recall. There was an interesting and fun item number by Rekha, sung to the tune of Louis Armstrong's "A Kiss to Build a Dream On." No, really.) However, there is much less altered reality and general over-the-top-ness, if that sort of thing bothers you (although the climax does have more than a touch of melodrama.) Also, this one has
(SPOILER ALERT!)
a happy ending. Sort of. Depending on whether you think Saif's character is basically a decent guy who just needed to get out from under his father's thumb and wake up to what was going on, or whether you think he is mostly a controlling and abusive whiner. I could go either way by the time the film wound to its close, so while I enjoyed it, the vacillating sense of whether or not I was happy with the outcome kept it from being a clear winner. Not that it really could have been any other way, as it turned out, but still.
I did absolutely love Vidya Balan in this. She was fabulous and flawless. I also loved her character, who could be sometimes strong and sometimes weak, firm as well as needy, clear-headed except when absolutely foolishly driven by emotion. You know, a complex, real human being.
Posted by Annie at 10:31 PM No comments:
Labels: Aishwarya Rai, Devdas, Madhuri Dixit, Parineeta, Saif Ali Khan, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Shah Rukh Khan, Vidya Balan
Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa
I watched Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa (The Mother of 1084), which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi in 1998.
It wins an award from me, too. The Queuing Up Bollywood Award for the Most Depressing Hindi Film Watched Thus Far. Congratulations!
This is not a small thing. I have watched quite a few depressing Hindi films. This is by far the most unrelenting, although it does end on an uplifting and hopeful note, mingled with the resonance of another onscreen tragedy. It is unique, however, in being completely song, dance, and subplot-free.
And this is not to say that the movie isn't good. It is a well-made, atmospheric film. The performances throughout are excellent. Apparently, this was Jaya Bhaduri Bachchan's comeback film after 18 years off the screen, and I admire the very quiet fire of her performance.
This is the first film I have seen that centers about the Naxalite movement, something which a year or two ago I had never even heard of. "Naxalite" is a general term for militant communist groups in India, groups that mainly derive their philosophy from Mao, and their name from the town Naxalbari, where the Communist Party of India was involved in a violent uprising. The impression that I get is that there are many different groups with a great deal of variation in practices and aims that are lumped under this term "Naxalite." The Naxalites in this film are idealistic young men dreaming of a more egalitarian future for their country, not unlike the young revolutionaries in Les Misérables, actually.
I have read that some Naxalites resort to or even depend on violence to promote their aims, but in this film the idealistic Naxalite youths are the ones subjected to violence by those who disapprove of their aims, including the police.
The film is set in the 1970s, and opens with Jaya's character, Sujata, being summoned to identify the body of her son, Brati. Her husband (played by Anupam Kher) and her other son immediately go into cover-up mode, alerting the audience that there is something other than a simple crime involved here, and Sujata must go to the police morgue alone. She hadn't had any idea what her son was involved in, and is despondent and confused, which the viewer is also. The viewer trails behind her for the rest of the film as she decides to find out just what happened.
I am always fascinated by how nice communism sounds as a philosophy. There is a flashback scene where Sujata is realizing there were hints of what was going on that she didn't pick up on. In this scene, Brati is arguing with his father, who asks him why he is hanging out with these disreputable people when he comes from a fine, well-to-do family. Brati proudly replies that he wants his friends to be able to have what he has, asserting that they are "no less" than he. His father has no reply. It sounds lovely, doesn't it? And this film has a bit of a feel of wondering why this lovely sounding philosophy inspires such hatred, and comes to such violence and grief.
I do feel that this is one film I did not entirely understand. There was so much in it for which I simply don't have the background required to get all of the implications. I don't know enough about Naxalites, about what they've done and what has been done to them, about politics in India in the 1970s, about how Indians feel about where India is now and how that relates to earlier policies. But I could feel this mother's pain, and her confusion about why her son came to the end he did, and her slow realization that there are people around her suffering and struggling that she hadn't really notice before, and that her son had wanted something better.
One thing I found absolutely beautiful was the portrayal of how Sujata comes into her own, stops being under her husband's thumb, and finds a purpose in her grief. I also found it interesting that, in the not entirely bleak ending I alluded to, her husband has also changed as a character, for the better, in response. The film seems to be making a hopeful statement that the leaders of a country might change for the better when their citizens decide to make a stand for what they believe in. As I said, it's a depressing film, but not without hope.
Posted by Annie at 11:12 AM No comments:
Labels: Anupam Kher, Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa, Jaya Bhaduri Bachchan, Naxalites
Somewhat Soporific Saawariya
Saawariya is a film by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who also did one of my favorites, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Saawariya is a dream-like, fantasy film set in an entirely fabricated world, and it has Bhansali's stamp of visual artistry on it.
There is a lot of beauty in this movie. However, sometimes perhaps Bhansali forgot the difference between creating a painting, or a series of paintings, and making a movie. In places Saawariya was so slow it was like watching a painting dry, and in other places the threads of the story frayed until it entirely ceased to make sense.
Saawariya is set in a make-believe world, in a city that is not any real city, just a beautiful backdrop for the story. Ranbir Kapoor plays Raj, who falls in love with the beautiful Sakina (Sonam Kapoor) who is pining for her own heart's desire to return to her (her absent love is played by Salman Khan, in a bit of a cameo here). Raj meets Sakina walking through the city and grows obsessed with her. She first wants nothing to do with him, then befriends him, but tells him she is waiting for the man she loves to come back. But he is sure, because his feelings for her are so strong, that she belongs with him. All that remains is to convince her, right?
There is also a small role here for Rani Mukerji, who performs the best dance number in the movie. (Yay Rani!)
There are some similarities between this movie and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, but I much prefer HDDCS. Now, HDDCS is not a perfect movie by any means. It is filled with melodrama and suffers from some poor directing choices in places. But it is undeniably alive, and so heartfelt, whereas Saawariya feels distant and a little cold. I didn't feel I really knew any of the people in the movie by the time I got to the end of it. Nor did I really care about them or the choices they ultimately made. This is a sharp contrast to my reaction to HDDCS, which I was very invested in. Saawariya can also be, quite frankly, very dull in places. There is a lot of the young couple wandering slowly around the beautiful set, talking, but not getting anywhere with it.
But I did discover something interesting when I watched Saawariya. I discovered that I don't much care for Ranbir Kapoor, at least when he performs in an exuberant or quirky role (I did like him very much in Rocket Singh, Salesman of the Year, but that was a very low-key performance). Which goes a long way toward explaining why I couldn't get into Barfi, in addition to what I mentioned in my post about it. He is very talented and performs very well, which is why I didn't immediately think it was his performance putting me off at all, but now having seen both Barfi and Saawariya it clicked for me: he sells it, but I don't like what he's selling. When he tries to turn on the charm, it turns me right off. My working theory is that he's too technical. He is a Kapoor, after all, part of that powerful Bollywood dynasty, and has been steeped in it his entire life, no doubt. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is a fine-tuned Bollywood-performance instrument. But I don't feel any heart behind it.
Well, maybe I'll see something later that will change my mind!
Labels: Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Ranbir Kapoor, Rani Mukerji, Saawariya, Salman Khan, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Sonam Kapoor
Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya vs. Mere Brother Ki Dulhan
I watched Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya, which stars Genelia D'Souza and Ritesh Deshmukh, and which is pretty uncomplicated and sweet. It's a fun, feel-good (probably one-time) watch, and the only real complaint I have is that the music could have been better.
The inciting incident of the film unfolds thusly: Viren is working as a cab driver, saving money to start a business of his own someday. One day he comes to work to find that his boss has sold all the cabs, which is a problem for him, because he was storing all his hard-earned money in his cab. He gets drunk and later comes back with a gun, demanding his boss reimburse the lost money. It so happens that his drunken tirade is interrupting a meeting in which his boss is arranging the marriage of his daughter, Mini, who is not happy with the match her father has picked out. Being a spunky sort, and a skilled hand with firearms, Mini forces Viren to drive off with her, pretending that she is being kidnapped. The pair strike a deal in which they plan to split the ransom money Mini's father pays for her, so that he'll get his money back and she'll have the funds to go off and live her life the way she wants to.
It's a pretty implausible story line, but this is not the type of movie to worry overmuch about such trivialities. And it basically works, mainly because the two leads play so well together. Genelia D'Souza is animated and energetic, and I found her completely adorable. Ritesh Deshmukh also gives a heartfelt performance, not seeming to mind that a good percentage of the time he is playing the straight man to Genelia's spunky quirkiness.
It is a harmless, fluffy movie and fun to watch. And it reminded me of something. After it ended, I realized that it reminded me of Mere Brother Ki Dulhan.
In Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, Imran Khan plays Kush, who agrees to find a wife for his brother Luv (Ali Zafar). He finds a seemingly ideal match in Dimple (yes! a person named Dimple!), but, none too surprisingly, the two of them end up falling in love with each other, and the film deals with their attempts to find a way to be together without causing hard feelings.
It's not that the plotlines of the two movies are terribly similar, it's the overall feel of both of the films. Both films are simple, aim-to-charm love stories in which the romantic pairs don't intend to fall in love with each other but inevitably and with much cuteness do.
But that's not all. In each film you have a spunky, goofy main female character (who, naturally, also happens to be very beautiful) who takes the lead in a lot of the hijinks of the film but also is a bit childlike and needs to be reigned in a smidge by the main male character.
Katrina Kaif, incidentally, is much better at being cute and quirky than emotional or sultry. I wouldn't say that she displays any great acting in MBKD, but her performance is pretty charming nonetheless.
Also, in each of these movies, the male protagonist is more sensible and a bit more conservative and buttoned-down than his love interest, and more sensitive to the possible repercussions of the two of them deciding to be together.
But since they are both feel-good romcoms, in the end, love gets to prevail in both movies!
It occurs to me now that I'm not quite sure of the point of this exercise in comparison, unless it is to point out that if you liked one of these, you will quite likely enjoy the other as well. I very superficially enjoyed them both. Nothing deep here; what you see is what you get!
Posted by Annie at 8:06 AM No comments:
Labels: Ali Zafar, Genelia D'Souza, Imran Khan, Katrina Kaif, Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, Ritesh Deshmukh, Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya
Our Mediocre Story- Teri Meri Kahaani
It pains me to say it, but I have to be honest. It's getting difficult to sustain my enthusiasm for Shahid Kapoor.
I'm not giving up hope, because he has some new projects in the works, and there are still a few of his older films I haven't seen yet. But the latest I watched, Teri Meri Kahaani (Our Story), was not terribly encouraging.
It's not that it is really all that awful, it just isn't anything special. The story is actually three love stories with Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra playing the couple in all three. At the beginning you think it's a reincarnation-themed story about love triumphing throughout all lifetimes, but by the end it feels more like those responsible for this film had three story ideas they couldn't decide between and ended up putting all three together in one movie, which necessarily means that none of the stories are fleshed out or well-developed.
Also, the chemistry between Shahid and Priyanka is lacking. This is, however, largely because Shahid's character is pretty much a jerk in two out of the three vignettes (in the remaining one he's arrogant, but seems more of a decent guy who messes up than a rampant egomaniac). I hope this is the writing and not what Shahid brought to the table, and I think it is, because it actually exemplifies my most-hated Bollywood trope. That would be the womanizing, arrogant, sexist male character with no respect for women who suddenly falls in love with a 'good girl,' and, we are supposed to believe, instantly transforms into a faithful, loving man who should be entirely forgiven by both the audience and his love interest and deserves her love and trust and would never, you know, go back to behaving the way he's always behaved up to that point. Uh huh. Sure.
At least the recreation of 1960s Mumbai (or should I say Bombay?) and the recreation of Lahore in 1910 are fun to see and give us some interesting and beautiful costumes and settings to look at.
The story set in 2012 lacks this, of course, and is very concerned with texting (and facebook). I would think that most everyone at this point knows that it's not very interesting to watch someone else text (we've all been in the company of someone glued to their phone, right?), even if they are Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra, but the filmmakers seem to think it is. I pretty much hated everything about the 2012 segment.
There was some nice music, although come to think of it, I even hated the music in the 2012 segment. Shahid danced, and it's always a pleasure to see some dancing from Shahid. Personally I think they could have had him dance even more. There can never be too much Shahid dancing.
If you're not feeling very choosy and you'd like to watch a romantic comedy and you like Shahid and/or Priyanka, then this is a decent timepass. Otherwise, don't bother.
Labels: Bollywood tropes, Priyanka Chopra, Shahid Kapoor, Teri Meri Kahaani
Baazigar the bizarre
So. I watched Baazigar, the 1993 movie that was a breakthrough role for Shah Rukh Khan.
It's truly bizarre.Consider the following images:
All in one film! Bollywood Zorro is particularly great, isn't it?
This is a wild trip of a film, but very entertaining and actually quite well-written. It is a thriller, but pretends it isn't for a little while.
In the very beginning, you know it's not all sweetness and light. A young boy runs through the rain to find a doctor for his mother. We learn she has had some sort of breakdown due to an undisclosed "setback." We don't know where his father might be. Then we see a montage of the boy struggling to support and care for his mother, until eventually he grows into Shah Rukh Khan. (Incidentally, they did a great job finding a boy who looks like SRK, and the boy turned out a great performance.)
The film thereupon mostly masquerades as a typical Bollywood romance for awhile. SRK goes to the city to get a job, leaving his mother in a family friend's care. He has a girlfriend and sings happy Bollywood love songs with her. They are keeping their relationship secret for fear her father will not approve. All of this is, of course, well-treaded Bollywood ground.
There are some continuing hints that all is not what it seems. An example is the occasional creepy music. Still, when the monumental twist comes, it's a big shock. A very big shock. A sincerely shocking shock. A... ok, I actually knew it was coming because Anupama Chopra discusses this film in her biography of SRK (which I reviewed here), and it STILL shocked me. I imagine Indian theaters when this was first released must have been filled, at this particular point in the film, with the thunderous sound of many jaws hitting the floor.
No, I'm not going to tell you what happens. If you have made it this point in your life without knowing the twist of Baazigar, I'm not going to be the one to spoil it for you. It's too late for me; Anupama Chopra's book spoiled it. But I'm not going to be responsible for this happening to any other burgeoning Bollywood fan.
SRK is riveting in this. True, part of that is just the way the role is written, since it is such a surprising role, but he also completely commits to his bizarre character. He gleefully embraces the crazy, and the result is something that is hard to look away from. It's a very emotionally compelling performance. The rest of the cast is quite good as well. Kajol really impressed me, although I did think it was too bad that her character dwindled from strong and determined to crying and standing by watching the climax. Of course, that's not really her fault.
Still, the script is strong-- surprisingly so, even. For example, I have grown used to the silly comical subplots that crop up occasionally in Bollywood films, especially older ones, and I no longer expect them to make any sense or have anything to do with the main story line. Here there are comical bits involving a household servant who keeps causing trouble by being quite unable to remember even the simplest of things. Imagine my surprise when this is actually put to the service of the plot, and helps move the main story forward! It was nice to see.
The songs are a bit of a mixed bag (and the costumes are, ahem, really something), but often enjoyable. In the version I watched they were not subtitled, however, so I only caught words here and there. I find that very annoying, by the way. If I need the subtitles, why wouldn't I also need them for the songs? I don't understand why they are left off sometimes.
Back to Baazigar-- overall, this a gripping, fascinating film. The wild ride culminates in a very violent, bloody ending, though, so be aware of that before proceeding!
Posted by Annie at 8:31 AM 1 comment:
Labels: Anupama Chopra, Baazigar, Kajol, Shah Rukh Khan, Zorro
Bemused by my lack of enthusiasm for Barfi
I was really quite certain I would like this movie.
I saw Ranbir Kapoor in Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year and thought he did an excellent job. I had faith in Priyanka Chopra's abilities after seeing Kaminey. Ileana D'Cruz was a complete unknown to me, but fans of South Indian films were very enthusiastic about her.
I heard that the movie was feel-good and sweet, funny, well-made, and possessing plenty of heart. This is the kind of thing I generally like.
It was a hit in India, and people in the know in those parts liked it so well that it was India's 2012 entry for the "Best Foreign Language Film" category at the Oscars.
I was all geared up for a fabulous time when I streamed it, but somehow, for me, it fell a little flat. And it's hard for me to pinpoint exactly why.
It wasn't the acting. All three of the leads were good, and so were the supporting actors. Ranbir's character was deaf and mostly mute, and Priyanka's character was severely autistic, so there was plenty of room for embarrassingly misguided performances. But this was not a problem.
It wasn't the direction or the cinematography. There are some beautiful pictures in this film, and I liked how much they played with light versus shadow.
It wasn't the physical comedy. It was well-done and not nearly as extreme as some Bollywood flicks go, and very often done in homage to Chaplin and in that style. There was some internet chatter about "copying," and I'll admit it was a little weird to see a scene basically lifted from Singin' in the Rain that didn't really fit where it was placed, but it was a small scene and not something likely to make me hold a grudge.
We may be getting closer with the music. No song-and-dance numbers, and the underlying soundtrack had a repetitiveness that became a bit grating after awhile. But there were some nice songs, too.
And it's not that the story was bad either, although one problem was that it had too much going on. I think what it boiled down to was the central message of the movie resulting from how the story was framed. The message of the movie seems to be "you better get love right the first time, because you get no second chances for happiness!" Bull, I say. (And I say this as someone who married her first love!) And, for me, this message fairly ruined what should have been a perfectly lovely movie. But it was a movie that demanded to be taken seriously, so I can't help but be seriously nettled by that central message.
It's too bad, though. And it would have been nice for India to get that Oscar nomination...
Labels: Barfi, Ileana D'Cruz, Priyanka Chopra, Ranbir Kapoor
Through the magic of streaming and renting dvds through the mail, I have discovered Indian cinema. Bollywood, where have you been all my life? Join me while I try to make up for lost time- there's a whole history of Bollywood to delve into!
74 Bollywood films seen to date!
My Favorites So Far:
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi
Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam
Kaminey
Main Hoon Na
Dil To Pagal Hai
Omkara
(The above list is in no particular order, except that Jab We Met really is my very favorite.)
BollyMeaning
Jo Gum Hua Hai Lyrics Translation | Ram Prasad ki Tehrvi
reviewsbyjared.com
Bollywood-ish blog
..so they dance!
Filmi year 2015.
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Joseph S. Beeson
jsb@ramlaw.com
Assistant Managing Member, Robinson & McElwee, 1998-2010
Former Chair, Litigation Department, Robinson & McElwee
Member, Robinson & McElwee, 1983-present
Partner, Love, Wise, Robinson & Woodroe, 1976-1983
Associate, James, Wise, Robinson & Magnuson, 1974-1975
Mr. Beeson primarily practices civil litigation in federal and state courts at the trial and appellate level, with an emphasis on toxic exposure cases, often involving mass torts and class actions.
Mr. Beeson, a founding member of Robinson & McElwee, has more than 40 years of experience as an attorney, including more than 30 years defending clients in asbestos cases. Mr. Beeson has also handled civil litigation cases involving mercury, lead, formaldehyde, silica, acrylamide, perchlorethylene and other toxic substances.
In addition to toxic tort experience, Mr. Beeson is knowledgeable and experienced in “deliberate intent” cases. Mr. Beeson also has extensive experience with regard to major class-action litigation.
Additionally, Mr. Beeson handles litigation in commercial, contract, personal injury, product liability and eminent domain cases.
Mr. Beeson typically represents corporations, including national corporate clients, as well as regional and local corporate clients. He has represented clients in many industries, including the chemical industry and coal industry; manufacturers of plastics and synthetic fibers and manufacturers and suppliers of asbestos-containing products.
Civil litigation of asbestos and other toxic exposure cases, including mercury, lead, formaldehyde, silica and acrylamide cases.
More than thirty years of experience litigating asbestos cases representing in excess of 25 different clients, including premises liability clients, manufacturers and suppliers of numerous products and installers of asbestos-containing products.
Extensive experience in the litigation of “deliberate intent” cases brought by employees against employers in an effort to avoid the employer’s workers’ compensation immunity, a type of personal injury action unique to West Virginia jurisprudence.
Successful representation of a chemical company in a major class action in federal court in West Virginia.
Experience in commercial and business-related litigation.
Litigation of asbestos, commercial, contract, eminent domain, personal injury, product liability, and employer-employee cases, including deliberate intent litigation.
Provides general counseling to various clients.
Former Chair of Robinson & McElwee Litigation Department.
Founding member of Robinson & McElwee.
“Lawyer of the Year” for Product Liability Litigation - Defendants in Charleston, W.V. by Best Lawyers, 2014
“Lawyer of the Year” for Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Defendants in Charleston, W.V. by Best Lawyers, 2013
Best Lawyers in America, Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Defendants, Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants, and Product Liability Litigation – Defendants, 2008 - Present
Defense Lawyer of the Year, Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia, 2015
AV 5/5 Peer Review Rated, Martindale-Hubbell.
Presenter at seminars covering various aspects of “deliberate intent” litigation in West Virginia that included written publication
Author, Mitchell and its Progeny: An Analysis of Recent Developments in the Payment of Temporary Total Disability Benefits in Workmen's Compensation Cases, 93 W.Va. L. Rev. 1, 1980
Author, The Expanding Role of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals in the Review of Workmen's Compensation Appeals, 81 W.Va. L. Rev. 1, 1978
Board of Directors Member, Executive Committee Member and Former Chair, Fund for the Arts of the Kanawha Valley
Former Chair, Board of Directors Member, West Virginia Independent Colleges and Universities
Former Chair, West Virginia University College of Law Development Council
Former Board Chair and Trustee, West Virginia Wesleyan College
Former Board Chair and Trustee, United Disciples of Christ Church
Former Chairman of the Board of Directors and current Board Member, Faith in Action of the Greater Kanawha Valley
Deliberate Intent
General Purpose Injury Litigation
Toxic Tort Litigation
J.D., West Virginia University, 1974
A.B., cum laude, History, West Virginia Wesleyan College, 1968
"Defense Lawyer of the Year" - Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia, 2015
“Lawyer of the Year” for Product Liability Litigation – Defendants in Charleston, W.V. by Best Lawyers, 2014
Best Lawyers in America, 2008 - Present
AV 5/5 Peer Review Rated, Martindale-Hubbell
The Best Lawyers in West Virginia, Personal Injury Litigation
Bar & Court Admissions
West Virginia State Bar
Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia
United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia
United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
West Virginia Bar Association
Kanawha County Bar Association
Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia
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Miscellaneous Giant Serpents
Left: In December 1964, French photographer Robert Serrec was on vacation in Queensland, Australia, when he allegedly took the photograph of a lifetime -- or faked it.
He was paddling rowboats with a group of family and friends in shallow waters off Hook Island, near the Queensland coast, when he says a bizarre creature appeared beneath the waves.
Serrec described the monster as an enormous, dark-colored snake with the shape of a giant tadpole. It had a huge reptilian head and a slender, waving body that stretched to about 75-80 feet.
Serrec said there seemed to be a wounded area on the creature's back.
One of Serrec's photos presents a very clear and striking image that distinguishes it from the average blurred, murky sea monster picture. Serrec also shot some movie camera footage underwater, but it did not turn out with any distinct detail.
Serrec's photo and his story have been widely discredited as a hoax. The main argument against the photo is that it is simply too clear -- it looks so perfect and so overly "real" that many experts believe, ironically, that it must have been staged.
It is also extremely difficult to judge the scale of the supposed creature. The position of the tiny man in the rowboat above the monster creates the visual impression that the monster must be gigantic, but it could actually be a small prop photographed at very close range, with the rowboat off in the far distance.
Right:Colonel Rene van Lierde was piloting his helicopter over the Katanga province of the Belgian Congo. Suddenly a gigantic snake reared up as if to attack his helicopter.
He lifted up and took several photos of the snake and continued on his journey.
His estimate of the size of the snake was 40-50 feet, and that is the same estimation made by zoologists who later examined the photo. Allegedly, giant anacondas have been measured up to 130 feet. The largest scientifically measured snake was a 32 foot long reticulated python killed in Indonesia as the world's longest snake.
2003 Nessie Sighting with Photo
Nessie mania returned to Scotland yesterday after new pictures were printed of Scotland’s most reclusive resident. The new photos appeared to show a slimmer Loch Ness monster, prompting fervent speculation that the living dinosaur could have been pregnant.
Instead of the usual fleeting glimpse afforded her followers, Nessie stayed above the surface long enough for retired printer Roy Johnston to take at least four photographs showing the suspiciously snake-like Nessie arching out of the water and returning to it with a splash. The new photographs, printed in yesterday’s Daily Mail, prompted an immediate debate as to whether they are genuine.
Johnston, 63, said he and his wife, Janet, had been nearing the end of a Highlands driving holiday two weeks ago when he decided to stop in a lay-by near the loch. He made his way to the loch’s edge at around 9am and had been standing there only a few minutes before the "creature" emerged.
"I thought I was going mad," he said. "The first thought that sprang into my mind was, ‘That’s an elephant.’ I know it sounds silly but it looked like a trunk. It was the same length and width.
"I wondered if the creature was a conger eel, but it was way too big for that. It was about seven or eight feet out of the water and it was obvious that there was more of it underneath the surface."
The sighting has delighted tourism businesses in the area. Malaina Krott-Thiarry, a worker at a tourist information centre close to the loch, said: "I have no idea what to make of these pictures, but I think they’re good news for the area. This might lead to a boost for business later this year or next year."
Lawrence Sear, the managing editor of the Daily Mail, said there was absolutely no sign the photographs had been doctored. "We collected the negatives from Mr Johnston and they were absolutely genuine. They have not been manipulated at any stage," he said.
"Who knows whether the images are of the Loch Ness monster or not? All we can say is that those pictures are genuine and have not been doctored." But Scotland on Sunday’s picture editor, Kayt Turner, said there was room for doubt.
The Daily Mail published a sequence of pictures to represent the object emerging from the water and then submerging. But the third picture in the sequence, representing the splash of water, was appreciably lighter in colour than the previous two images.
Turner said: "Those pictures were not taken in sequence." A picture editor for 15 years, she added: "Anyone with a spare £500 can get the equipment needed to digitally manipulate this kind of image, using a simple software package such as Photoshop. All you need is a scanner and a computer.
"Looking at this image it is impossible to tell if there has been any manipulation. It would be very simple to take a picture of an object and place it in the loch. "The only way you could be sure they are genuine would be to see the original negatives."
The pictures have started a squabble between the Daily Mail and the News of the World. The latter is expected to pour cold water over the sighting, as it has signed up a Nessie expert to analyse the pictures.
The expert, Adrian Shine, who has spent 20 years in a scientific quest for Nessie, was barred from talking to Scotland on Sunday but a friend said: "We’re all very sceptical."
..Article from thisislondon
September 2002 "Champ" & Friends Sighting w/Video
Anonymous amateur takes video of three Champ-like sea serpents. "It is the real thing! These animals are HUGE! There´s two 20 footers on the video and a third that´s even bigger!".
The man who took the video has asked to be anonymous. The time was 5.30 PM on the night of 8 September 2002, and the place the mouth of Otter Creek, Ferrisburgh in Vermont, USA.
Dennis J. Hall: "The witness who took the footage calmly noticed that the two smaller serpents were 20 foot long and the biggest one 40 feet. The largest one turned up very close to his boat, while the others surfaced a a little farther away. They were so close he could smell them!".
Stayed on the surface
"There was many boats on the mirror-calm lake that evening but when the three serpents discovered a shoal of fish nearby, they took no notice of the witnesses but started to chase the school and stayed on the surface. They swam a distance of half a mile in just a couple of minutes".
"Above still shows the first sea serpent, moving in a classic vertical undulation over the surface, moving at full speed towards the American side of Lake Champlain"...
"The video is what the world has been waiting for, but must certainly be analyzed before scientists can confirm it´s genuine. I´m myself in no doubt, and the man who took it stands with his two feet steadily on the ground and are not even as excited as I am myself", say´s Dennis J. Hall finally.
Source: G.U.S.T.
October 2003 Pterosaur Sighting?
"This picture, I took with my digital camera on October 25, 2003, while taking a train trip to the mountains. It almost looks like this object is ready to swoop down and attack the unsuspecting deer.
As far as I know there was nothing there when this picture was taken. And there was nothing on the lens of the cam
era that could account for this or on the window of the train. I asked other people that were with me if they had seen anything in the sky when I was taking the picture and there response was a negative one. Click Photo for Larger View"
--Joy P. Plymouth, New Hampshire...From Coast to Coast
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WE SET PANELS TO RECOVER LOOTED FUND FOR DEVELOPMENT PURPOSES – ORTOM
Governor Samuel Ortom today explained why he set up probe panels on the past administration while reacting to the judgment of the Makurdi High Court that lifted the stay of proceedings on the commissions of inquiry.
We just left the High Court of Makurdi where the court dismissed the two suits filed by former Governor Gabriel Suswam challenging the probe of his administration and ordered the commissions of inquiry to resume sitting, what’s your reaction sir?
I want to thank God. Like I keep saying, those two panels were not meant to witch hunt anyone. Of course everybody in the state k nows that I’m a Christian, I’m not a witch, so I cannot be seen as witch hunting anyone. All that I had wanted is that I’m a democratically elected Governor and my allegiance is to the people. The people of Benue State want to know what happened to their funds. The money that accrued to the state through the sale of Benue State government shares in BCC amounting to N8.3 billion; what went wrong with it? We could not find where it was expended, whether it was in compliance with the laws of the land as stipulated in the budget. The money that came to Benue State through Sure-P, the money that came to Benue State through the excess crude account, the money that came to Benue State through the sale of shares from Julius Berger, the money that came to Benue State through several other means within the eight years because the amount of debt that we inherited is alarming. For the first time, we have witnessed this. So all that we’re saying is for people to go out there and verify and rather exonerate themselves. So we’ve provided a platform for people to go there and exonerate themselves if they are not culpable, but if you are, what we’re saying is that you must repent. You must make restitution by returning such monies. So that is all. The second panel is set up to verify government’s assets. How can you have a government and you don’t know what is government’s assets in Lagos, in Kaduna, in Benue State itself. How will people be just buying off government property including part of Government House? It is unthinkable that a government under my watch will just fold its hands and watch. So I’m happy and I appreciate God. I’ve always said that I have confidence in the judiciary because they will do the right thing. And for us as a government, I want to say that I’ve covenanted with the people and God that I’ll rule with the fear of God and issues of transparency, equity, fairness, justice, accountability, discipline, integrity are things that I value so much and I’ll ensure that they’re part of what we’re doing. And of course where there’s need to forgive, we’re ready but in forgiving, somebody must be there to ask for forgiveness not to try and over stretch and paint the government black. Intrigues and insinuations from the past government to try to paint us black and so on, it’s not founded anywhere and trying to use the issue of bailout to blackmail me, all those things are not right. We’ve set up committees made up of our own officials and those of various unions that are connected with this bailout. So we’re transparent about this and no single kobo is going to be used for any other means. All that we’ve been trying to do is to ensure that money gets into the hands of those people that are genuinely entitled to get this money and that is what we’re doing.
There are widespread insinuations that you are a personal friend to former governor Suswam and that left you alone, you wouldn’t have probed him but because of the pressure by the leader of the party in the state, Senator George Akume to probe him… just yesterday we gathered that there was a thanksgiving mass where Suswam said that during his time, he didn’t probe his predecessor but because you are being pressured, who and what’s behind the probe?
When you talk to me like that, I’m close to 55 years. For God’s sake, I’ve been local government chairman, I’ve held leadership positions at the state level and at various levels, became national auditor of the party, became Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Today I’m democratically elected Governor, I’m educated. Please for God’s sake when you talk about that, it’s like you’re insulting my integrity and who I am. I sold my manifesto to the people of Benue State, they elected me and I’m telling you that it is the people of Benue State that told me to know what went on with their resources. If you were here during the stakeholders’ meeting which I held, what did the people say? The people came out unanimously, including those in PDP and said that I should go ahead and verify where their money is and they are concerned and anyone who has taken this money should bring it back. So to go back and begin to say Akume, Akume has not told me to probe anyone; it is the people of Benue State including PDP members and you all heard it, you are aware of this, they are still alive, you can go and verify this. So I’m not out to witch hunt, like I said I’m not a witch, I’m a child of God.
If forgiveness is asked for and restitutions are made, would the state government make peace with the former Governor to address this issue of fear of being probed by the court or by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission?
You know, the major thing for me is to recover the looted funds that are missing, once I have that then there are agencies that can handle issues of prosecution and all that, EFCC is there, ICPC is there and so on. But for me, my primary objective of setting these panels to recover these looted funds so that we can take that and use it for the development purposes for the state which is why I was elected.
We will like to know whether you will be averse to plea bargain. If some funds are recovered or returned, will the probes be stopped?
I’ve always said that Samuel Ortom believes in the rule of law and due process and so I’ll ensure that the law take its course, I’m not interested in that, I believe in the rule of law and due process and of course about the court judgment, I’ve answered it before, I’ve said that I appreciate the judiciary and I know that they will always do the right thing.
The judgment does not give powers to the commissions to arrest and try, will at the end of the day not this process come to a knot? If it comes to a knot, what is going to be done?
We did not set the commission to arrest people and try them; we set the commission to verify what happened to our resources, we said income and expenditure; what came in and what went out; how it went, whether it was right or wrong. I’ve said it, we’ve provided a platform especially for those who operated the past government to come in and exonerate themselves. We believe in the rule of law and we cannot just come out and accuse people that look, you took this much, you took that much; we are saying that come and exonerate yourself. The allegations are there, after that if you we want to prosecute, the process can be done.
November 9, 2015 By adminGovernance InterviewsLeave a comment
Makurdi High CourtSamuel Ortom
BENUE TO HOLD RETREAT FOR FARMERS AND HERDSMENMAKURDI HIGH COURT DISMISSES SUSWAM’S SUITS TO STOP HIS PROBE
VERBATIM OUTCOME OF ORTOM, OSHIOMOLE MEETING
NATIONWIDE KILLINGS: SOYINKA URGES FG TO SEEK INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE
NIGERIANS MUST RISE TO STOP ONGOING KILLINGS – ORTOM
ATTACKS ON BENUE ARE ACTS OF TERRORISM – ORTOM TELLS BBC
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What We Can Investigate
Shaping Civilian Oversight
Status of SIU Cases
Breakdown of Occurrences
SIU on Twitter
Name Release Policy
Email Alerts - News Releases
Director's Reports
SIU Annual Report 2019
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SIU Director’s Report - Case # 19-TVI-150
This page contains graphic content that can shock, offend and upset.
Mandate of the SIU
Information Restrictions
Mandate Engaged
Incident Narrative
Analysis and Director's Decision
News Releases for this Case:
No Charges to Issue in Relation to Police Pursuit that Preceded Collision in Toronto
Director's Report for Case # 19-TVI-150.
The Special Investigations Unit is a civilian law enforcement agency that investigates incidents involving police officers where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault. The Unit’s jurisdiction covers more than 50 municipal, regional and provincial police services across Ontario.
Under the Police Services Act , the Director of the SIU must determine based on the evidence gathered in an investigation whether an officer has committed a criminal offence in connection with the incident under investigation. If, after an investigation, there are reasonable grounds to believe that an offence was committed, the Director has the authority to lay a criminal charge against the officer. Alternatively, in all cases where no reasonable grounds exist, the Director does not lay criminal charges but files a report with the Attorney General communicating the results of an investigation.
Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (“ FIPPA ”)
Pursuant to section 14 of FIPPA (i.e., law enforcement), certain information may not be included in this report. This information may include, but is not limited to, the following:
Confidential investigative techniques and procedures used by law enforcement agencies; and
Information whose release could reasonably be expected to interfere with a law enforcement matter or an investigation undertaken with a view to a law enforcement proceeding.
Pursuant to section 21 of FIPPA (i.e., personal privacy), protected personal information is not included in this document. This information may include, but is not limited to, the following:
Subject Officer name(s);
Witness Officer name(s);
Civilian Witness name(s);
Location information;
Witness statements and evidence gathered in the course of the investigation provided to the SIU in confidence; and
Other identifiers which are likely to reveal personal information about individuals involved in the investigation.
Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (“ PHIPA ”)
Pursuant to PHIPA , any information related to the personal health of identifiable individuals is not included.
Other proceedings, processes, and investigations
Information may have also been excluded from this report because its release could undermine the integrity of other proceedings involving the same incident, such as criminal proceedings, coroner’s inquests, other public proceedings and/or other law enforcement investigations.
The Unit’s investigative jurisdiction is limited to those incidents where there is a serious injury (including sexual assault allegations) or death in cases involving the police.
“Serious injuries” shall include those that are likely to interfere with the health or comfort of the victim and are more than merely transient or trifling in nature and will include serious injury resulting from sexual assault. “Serious Injury” shall initially be presumed when the victim is admitted to hospital, suffers a fracture to a limb, rib or vertebrae or to the skull, suffers burns to a major portion of the body or loses any portion of the body or suffers loss of vision or hearing, or alleges sexual assault. Where a prolonged delay is likely before the seriousness of the injury can be assessed, the Unit should be notified so that it can monitor the situation and decide on the extent of its involvement.
This report relates to the SIU’s investigation into serious injuries sustained by a 39-year-old man (the “Complainant”).
Notification of the SIU
On June 26, 2019 at 2:54 p.m., the Toronto Police Service (TPS) reported an injury to the Complainant. The TPS advised that on June 26, 2019 at 6:15 a.m., TPS police officers attended the area of Weston Road for a carjacking. The Subject Officer (SO) was in the area and tried to stop the vehicle, which led to a pursuit. The vehicle, which was driven by the Complainant, struck a dump truck at Denison Road and Weston Road. The Complainant fled on foot and was arrested by police officers. He complained of injuries and was taken to Humber River Hospital (HRH). At 2:15 p.m., he was diagnosed with having sustained a fractured nasal bone and a fractured 9th rib on his right side. The Complainant was returned to TPS 12 Division to await a bail hearing and the SO’s cruiser was secured at TPS 12 Division.
Number of SIU Investigators assigned: 3
On June 26, 2019, two SIU investigators attended TPS 12 Division and interviewed the Complainant, and then viewed a TPS fully marked cruiser, which was not damaged. The SIU investigators designated one witness police officer and one subject police officer. One civilian witness was interviewed. A Canadian Police Information Centre check was performed on the Complainant. Documentation was requested from the TPS, which included the communications recording and the In-Car Camera System (ICCS) video recording.
39-year-old male interviewed, medical records obtained and reviewed
[Note : A complainant is an individual who was involved in some form of interaction with police, during the course of which she or he sustained serious injury, died or is alleged to have been sexually assaulted.]
Civilian Witnesses
CW Interviewed
Witness Officers
WO Not interviewed, but notes received and reviewed
[Note : A witness officer is a police officer who, in the opinion of the SIU Director, is involved in the incident under investigation but is not a subject officer.
Upon request by the SIU, witness officers have a duty under Ontario Regulation 267/10 of the Police Services Act , to submit to interviews with SIU investigators and answer all their questions. The SIU is also entitled to a copy of their notes from the police service.]
Subject Officers
SO Declined interview, as is the subject officer’s legal right. Notes received and reviewed.
[Note : A subject officer is a police officer whose conduct appears, in the Director’s opinion, to have caused the death or serious injury under investigation.
Subject officers are invited, but cannot be legally compelled, to present themselves for an interview with the SIU and they do not have to submit their notes to the SIU pursuant to Ontario Regulation 267/10 of the Police Services Act .]
The scene was located at the southeast corner of Denison Road and Weston Road, Toronto.
Communications Recordings
On June 26, 2019 at 6:15:15 a.m., a woman called 911 and reported that someone had just stolen her car at an address on Goldwin Avenue, North York. The suspect had a knife and the car, which was a red, Kia, two-door, was last seen southbound on Jane Street. The woman provided the licence plate number. The suspect was a male with light, black skin, in his early 40s. He had an average build and was about six feet tall. He wore a grey or black hat, a white shirt with lines, khaki pants and a khaki jacket. The woman parked the car to drop off her mom and the suspect asked where Weston Road was. When the woman pointed, the male suspect pulled a small knife and demanded her key.
At 7:58:48 a.m. the SO broadcast, “I’ve got the stolen Kia. It’s fleeing on Weston Road travelling at a high rate of speed south. Crashed into a car southbound on Weston Road driving extremely recklessly. He just crashed, stand-by, at Denison. Just crashed into a dump truck. He is bailing out.”
Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) Report for the SO’s cruiser on June 26, 2019
At 7:49:32 a.m., the SO’s speed was 0 mph on Weston Road just north of Victoria Avenue, which is just over two blocks north from the scene of the collision at Weston Road and Denison Avenue.
At 7:54:43 a.m., the SO’s speed was 31 km/h northbound on Weston Road further north of Victoria Avenue.
At 7:55:20 a.m., the SO’s speed was 6 km/h northbound on Weston Road further north.
At 7:56:26 a.m., the SO’s speed was 31 km/h northbound on Weston Road, just north of Lawrence Avenue.
At 7:57:43 a.m., the SO’s speed was 14 km/h on Weston Road, just north of Little Avenue, which is one block north of Lawrence Avenue.
At 7:58:04 a.m., the SO’s speed was 19 km/h southbound on Weston Road just north of John Street.
At 7:58:19 a.m., the SO’s speed was 29 km/h southbound on Weston Road, just north of Lawrence Avenue.
At 7:58:53 a.m., the SO’s speed was 98 km/h southbound on Weston Road, half way between Lawrence Avenue and Victoria Avenue.
At 7:59:16 a.m., the SO’s speed was 0 km/h stopped at the scene of the collision at Denison Avenue and Weston Road.
Video/Audio/Photographic Evidence
ICCS Report for the SO’s cruiser
The video started at 7:57:13 a.m., June 26, 2019. The SO’s cruiser was northbound on Weston Road as it approached John Street. The speed of the cruiser was slow as civilian vehicles passed the cruiser, northbound, in the curb lane. From the AVL report on the SO’s cruiser just north of Lawrence Avenue, at 7:56:26 a.m., the SO’s cruiser travelled at about 30 km/h.
The SO continued northbound on Weston Road and the next intersection was Elsmere Avenue on the east side of the street and Little Avenue on the west side of the street. After Little Avenue at 7:57:39 a.m., a red car [now known to be the stolen Kia] was seen southbound on Weston Road in the curb lane, slightly behind a yellow school bus, which was southbound on Weston Road in the passing lane.
At 7:57:42 a.m., the emergency lights were activated on the cruiser and just before King Street at 7:57:47 a.m., the SO safely made a U-turn after the southbound traffic on Weston Road stopped for him. The AVL data showed that the SO’s speed was about 14 km/h just north of Little Avenue before he made the U-turn.
At 7:57:54 a.m., the SO drove southbound on Weston Road through the intersection of Little Avenue. Just before John Street, at 7:58:01 a.m., he drove southbound in the northbound passing lane of Weston Road and two civilian vehicles safely took evasive action and drove to the northbound curb lane. The SO’s speed was about 19 km/h.
At 7:58:09 a.m., with his emergency equipment activated but no siren, the SO continued southbound in the northbound passing lane of Weston Road and he slowed but did not stop at the red light at John Street. He then moved back into the southbound passing lane of Weston Road before Lawrence Avenue and the AVL data from his cruiser showed that his speed at 7:58:19 a.m. was 29 km/h.
At 7:58:24 a.m., he stopped beside the Kia, which was stopped behind a transit bus on the west curb lane of Weston Road, south of Lawrence Avenue. The bus moved forward and stopped and the SO was heard to say, “Don’t move” and “Do not move.” At 7:58:35 a.m., the Kia drove in front of the SO’s cruiser, at a high rate of speed, southbound on Weston Road in the southbound passing lane.
At 7:58:38 a.m., the Kia continued southbound in the passing lane of Weston Road, and it changed to the southbound curb lane to avoid hitting a pedestrian who was walking eastbound across Weston Road in the southbound passing lane. The Kia continued to drive at a high rate of speed southbound on Weston Road and the distance between the Kia and the SO’s cruiser became greater.
At 7:58:49 a.m., the AVL data from the SO’s cruiser showed his speed at 98 km/h. At 7:58:54 a.m., the SO passed a yellow school bus and he travelled southbound in the northbound passing lane of Weston Road. The SO spoke on the radio; however, because of background noise his transmission could not be understood. At 7:58:58 a.m., the Kia could not be seen in the distance.
At 7:59:03 a.m., the SO broadcast to the dispatcher the direction of the Kia and the fact that the driving was extremely dangerously. At 7:59:10 a.m., the SO broadcast that the Kia had collided with a dump truck at the southeast corner of Weston Road and Denison Avenue and the driver had bailed out of the Kia. At 7:59:13 a.m., the dump truck left the scene eastbound on Denison Avenue. At 7:59:18 a.m., the SO was on foot outside his cruiser and he entered the screen and said, “Don’t you move.” The male driver of the Kia faced the SO and put his hands in the air. At no time did the SO activate his siren.
Materials obtained from Police Service
Upon request, the SIU obtained and reviewed the following materials and documents from the TPS:
AVL data;
Crash Data Retrieval Download Data;
Communications Audio;
Disclosure of ICCS video;
Disclosure of Photos;
General Occurrence;
Intergraph Computer-Assisted Dispatch Event Details;
Injury Report;
Motor Vehicle Accident Report;
Procedure-Suspect Apprehension Pursuits;
TPS Photos;
TPS Audio Interviews;
Witness Statement-the CW; and
Witness Video Statement Summary-additional civilian witness.
Materials obtained from Other Sources
The SIU also obtained a copy of the Complainant’s medical records from HRH.
The facts in question are not in dispute thanks in large measure to a video recording of the incident captured by the SO’s ICCS. At about 6:15 a.m. on June 26, 2019, the TPS received a 911 call from a woman whose car had just been stolen from her at knifepoint. The woman reported that a male had approached her asking for directions. The male then produced a knife and asked for her keys. The woman provided the male her keys and watched as he drove her vehicle – a Kia two-door sedan – southbound on Jane Street. The male was the Complainant.
The SO met with the 911 caller and then set out to try and find the stolen Kia. While traveling north in his marked cruiser, the officer spotted the Kia proceeding south on Weston Road just north of Little Avenue. The SO made a U-turn to travel south on Weston Road, passed a number of southbound vehicles in the northbound passing lane of Weston Road and caught up with the Kia just south of Lawrence Avenue. The Complainant was stopped in the curb lane behind a Toronto Transit Commission bus at this time with the officer’s cruiser alongside his vehicle in the passing lane. Ignoring the SO’s direction that he not move his vehicle, the Complainant reversed into the front of a Hyundai Santa Fe behind him before accelerating forward via the passing lane ahead of the cruiser and past the bus.
With his cruiser’s emergency lights activated, the SO gave chase as the Complainant fled south on Weston Road. The officer accelerated past several southbound vehicles in the northbound passing lane attempting to catch up with the Complainant. Though reaching a top speed of 98 km/h, the SO was unable to close the gap. From a position in the area of Victoria Avenue, the officer watched as the Complainant crashed into a dump truck while attempting a left-hand turn onto Denison Road.
The Complainant exited the Kia following the collision and was quickly arrested upon the arrival of the SO. He was taken to hospital from the scene and diagnosed with his injuries.
Section 128(13)(b), Highway Traffic Act – Police vehicles and speeding
128(13) The speed limits prescribed under this section or any regulation or by-law passed under this section do not apply to,
(b) a police department vehicle being used in the lawful performance of a police officer’s duties.
Section 320.13, Criminal Code – Dangerous operation causing bodily harm
320.13 (1) Everyone commits an offence who operates a conveyance in a manner that, having regard to all of the circumstances, is dangerous to the public.
(2) Everyone commits an offence who operates a conveyance in a manner that, having regard to all of the circumstances, is dangerous to the public and, as a result, causes bodily harm to another person.
Section 144 (18) and 144 (20), Highway Traffic Act -- Stopping at red light
144 (18) Every driver approaching a traffic control signal showing a circular red indication and facing the indication shall stop his or her vehicle and shall not proceed until a green indication is shown.
144 (20) Despite subsection (18), a driver of an emergency vehicle, after stopping the vehicle, may proceed without a green indication being shown if it is safe to do so.
The Complainant fractured his nose and a right-side rib in a motor vehicle collision on June 26, 2019. The SO was in pursuit of the Complainant at the time. On my assessment of the evidence, there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the SO committed a criminal offence in connection with the Complainant’s injuries.
The offence that arises for consideration is dangerous driving causing bodily harm contrary to section 320.13(2) of the Criminal Code . Liability for the crime is predicated, in part, on conduct that amounts to a marked departure from a reasonable level of care in the circumstances. On the record established by the SIU investigation, I am unable to reasonably conclude that the manner in which the SO operated his cruiser amounted to a marked deviation from the level of care that a reasonable person would have observed in the circumstances. To be sure, there are aspects of the officer’s driving that are open to question. These include a top speed of 98 km/h, representing almost twice the speed limit on Weston Road over the area of the pursuit. In apparent contravention of sections 144(18) and (20) of the Highway Traffic Act (HTA), the SO also failed to bring his vehicle to a complete stop before he travelled through the red light on John Street. Finally, the officer proceeded south in the northbound lanes of traffic for a period on Weston Road as he tried to make up ground on the fleeing Kia.
On the other hand, the SO’s indiscretions, if they be such, are mitigated by a number of important considerations. The officer had reasonable grounds to believe that the Complainant had just committed a serious and violent offence. He was not simply pursuing the Kia because it was stolen, but because its occupant had reportedly stolen it by way of threatening the vehicle’s owner with a knife. In addition, while the SO was exempt from the speed limitations pursuant to section 128(13) of the HTA, I am satisfied the officer did not speed with reckless disregard for the safety of traffic around him. The officer’s top speed, though no doubt a danger on the road while it continued, was short-lived and does not appear to have placed third-parties in imminent peril. The same can be said of the officer’s failure to come to a complete stop at a red light and travel on the wrong side of the road; risky conduct to be sure but controlled and careful in execution.
Of the other factors of relevance that marked the pursuit in question, their impact on the public safety risks inherent in any police engagement of this nature were largely neutral or even favourable. Thus, for example, the roadway was dry and visibility good. The SO made judicious use of his emergency lights, alerting nearby motorists to what was happening around them and allowing them an opportunity to steer clear of the pursuit. Consistent with the regulation governing police pursuits in the province – O. Reg. 266/10 – the SO did what he could in the very brief time he had at his disposal to inform his communications centre of his location and the driving behaviour of the Kia being pursued. Finally, aside from serving as the impetus for the Complainant’s flight down Weston Road, it does not appear by the manner of his driving that the SO prevented the Complainant from safely operating the Kia or bringing it to a stop had he been so inclined. In fact, the evidence suggested that the cruiser was a fair distance behind the Kia – some 150 metres - by the time it collided with the dump truck.
On the aforementioned record, and in the context of a very brief engagement – lasting approximately 30 seconds over less than 700 metres - I am satisfied on reasonable grounds that the SO exercised a level of care that fell within the limits prescribed by the criminal law. Accordingly, there is no basis to proceed with criminal charges against the officer and the file is closed.
Date: December 16, 2019
Original signed by
Joseph Martino
Interim Director
The signed English original report is authoritative, and any discrepancy between that report and the French and English online versions should be resolved in favour of the original English report.
5090 Commerce Boulevard
L4W 5M4
Queen's Printer for Ontario
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