Split (1)

train · 726k rows

pred_label stringclasses 2 values	pred_label_prob float64 0.5 1	wiki_prob float64 0.25 1	text stringlengths 29 1.02M	source stringlengths 37 43
__label__wiki	0.951845	0.951845	102.7 KIIS FM's Jingle Ball Mercedes-Benz Interview Lounge #KIISJingleBall WATCH: BTS Debuts ‘Butter’ (Holiday Remix) At 102.7 KIIS FM Jingle Ball By ronniehiii Dec 4, 2021 Photo: Getty Images North America Surprise! BTS just dropped a special holiday version of their song ‘Butter’ On Friday December 3rd and debuted it at 102.7 KIIS FM Jingle Ball in Los Angeles on Friday, Dec. 3rd! Watch a snippet of their performance below! For more holiday celebration, fans can tune in to watch the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball live from New York on Friday, December 10th via an exclusive livestream on The CW App and CWTV.com. The event will also be broadcast live on all iHeartRadio CHR stations nationwide. Then, relive the best moments from this year's show during a nationwide television special on Wednesday, December 15th at 8pm ET/PT on The CW Network, which will also air again on Christmas Day, Saturday, December 25th at 8pm ET/PT. Ryan Seacrest Foundation Every year, the Jingle Ball Tour gives back to the community to celebrate the holiday season. This year's official charity for the Jingle Ball Tour is the Ryan Seacrest Foundation. $1.00 of each ticket sold will be donated to the non-profit organization, which is dedicated to inspiring today's youth through entertainment and education focused initiatives. Meet the headliners backstage for a great cause! Wish one of music's hottest acts a happy holidays in person, take a photo with them, and get four tickets to the show while benefiting the Ryan Seacrest Foundation. View Auctions About 102.7 KIIS FM's Jingle Ball See the best moments from 102.7 KIIS FM's Jingle Ball held on Friday, Dec. 3rd at The Forum!	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2010
__label__cc	0.659956	0.340044	Casper City Council Seeks Candidates for Vacant Ward III Position Tom Morton Published: July 10, 2019 City of Casper The City of Casper is taking applications for people living in east Casper to fill the vacant position left after the resignation of council member Chris Walsh last week. Walsh represented Ward III, which is generally located between South Conwell Street on the west to Hat Six Road on the east. Chris Walsh. Tom Morton, Townsquare Media Those interested in the nonpartisan position are asked to submit an application and résumé to the City Clerk’s Office, 200 N. David St., no later than 5 p.m. Friday, July 19. A list of applicants will be released to the media on July 22. To qualify, you must be a registered voter in Natrona County, and have been a resident of Ward III since at least July 10, 2018. The council will then set a date for candidate interviews. The selected interim council member will serve until the next general municipal election in 2020, which is when Walsh would have been up for re-election. To obtain an application, please visit the city's website for a map and an application, or go to the City Clerk’s Office. For more information, contact the clerk’s office at (307) 235-8215. Filed Under: candidate, Casper, chris walsh, City Council, east Casper, resign, vacancy, Ward III Categories: Casper News, Politics	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2012
__label__cc	0.718362	0.281638	Cluster Plastics and Chemistry Cooperation Forum & Calls for Papers Sustainable speciality chemicals Sustainable plastics industry Plastics processing and lightweight construction technologies Locations for plastics and chemistry Logistics for Plastics and Chemistry Securing skilled workers for plastics and chemistry Markets and technologies The Cluster Networks, Chambers and Associations © WFBB Strong locations Plastics and chemistry locations are seeds from which value chain-related networks of customer and user industries grow and it’s those seeds that enlarge and strengthen existing value chains in the region. Additionally, within their respective subject areas, the production locations benefit from collaborations with higher education institutions and scientific institutes. A focused and targeted further development of suited locations in Brandenburg preserves the international competitiveness of the region – also in the long run. Therefore, the field of action displays the unique characteristics of the locations and develops measures aimed at improving the framework conditions for investors and for the continual fostering of the image of the locations. All of the above forms the basis for the location marketing that focuses on the target groups and for the creation of competence networks in the region, which, in turn, intensifies cooperation between businesses and research institutes as well as funding institutions. Collaborations across fields of action, such as, for example, with the field of action “Logistics”, will sustainably improve the conditions for the further development of the locations. Industrial Park Schwarze Pumpe \| ISP The Competence Centre Industrial Water represents a special component of the location: in the framework of cross-cluster project development, project support and project implementation in the areas of research, development and innovation, this is where particular competences are pooled. The Industrial Park Schwarze Pumpe \| ISP (German website) boasts cutting-edge technologies and many years of experience in the areas of water supply and wastewater disposal. During their production and development work, already more than 120 businesses with around 4,400 employees within the ISP jointly benefit from cooperation opportunities and the potential for synergies that emerge from the close proximity to many other innovative businesses. The entrepreneurial landscape is being coined by the largest employer at the location, namely the energy company Lausitz Energie Bergbau AG (LEAG), which is also a driving force behind innovation and cooperation within the ISP. Another huge advantage of the location is its proximity to the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, which sees itself as a research-intensive and strongly application-oriented university. Field Spokesperson +49 35752 6-2511 Master Plan Plastics and Chemistry Brandenburg Folder Plastics and Chemistry Brandenburg Chemical Park Schwarzheide The Chemical Park Schwarzheide is special because it is connected to the rail network of the Deutsche Bahn. A highly effective intermodal transport terminal of the company STR Tank-Container-Reinigung enables the smooth transition between rail transport and road transportation and vice versa. Schwarzheide also serves as the logistics hub through which raw materials and goods pass on their way from the North Sea to the Black Sea as well as from the Iberian Peninsula to Asia. This, in turn, benefits companies such as Feurer Febra, Proseat Schwarzheide or Ineos Styrolution Schwarzheide. BASF Schwarzheide (Link to German website) sustainably advances the region and also takes on social responsibility. Through, for example, the professional training it offers or by attracting new companies to the location, BASF Schwarzheide is a company that defines the structure of the region and contributes to a positive development of its surrounding areas. Scientific institutions are located in its close proximity; among them ranks also the company’s next-door neighbour: the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg. The Fraunhofer Processing Pilot Plant for Biopolymers Schwarzheide is a branch of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research in Potsdam-Golm and it was established as a potent research and development unit with a strong industrial and practical orientation; it supports small and medium-sized enterprises and thereby makes it easier for bio-based plastics to access the market. The joint appointment of the Director of the Processing Pilot Plant by the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research and the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg strengthens the plant’s cooperation with the local higher education institution and contributes to the recruitment of young talents in the area of plastics processing. Industrial Park Schwedt \| IPS The Industrial Park Schwedt is located in a strategically advantageous place in the north-eastern part of the economic region Berlin-Brandenburg on the axis Berlin-Szczecin directly at the Polish border. This is the ideal point of departure to the Eastern and Central European markets as well as to Scandinavia and the Baltic region. The Industrial Park is a next-door neighbour of PCK Raffinerie and it is one of the largest industrial areas of Brandenburg. The petrochemical industry is at home here. The northern part of Brandenburg is turning into a leading region in the fields of renewable energy and renewable raw materials; especially in the areas of photovoltaics, wind energy, biogas and biofuels. A bioethanol plant, a biodiesel plant and a wood pelleting plant have already commenced production. This facilitates the development of potential synergies. The PCK Raffinerie uses biofuels for its production. The production of 2nd generation biogenic fuels provides interesting and innovative directions for further advancements. The prerequisite of a continual availability of biomass from agricultural production is guaranteed in this region. Opportunities for the development of new products arise where traditional industry, agriculture and forestry meet. Due to its farmland, North-East Germany has a huge potential with regard to the production of biomass. Furthermore, relations with business partners in Poland open up additional opportunities for using new areas for the production of biomass. Another advantage in the field of biogenic raw materials lies in the long-lasting and successful cooperative relations with the University of Applied Sciences Eberswalde. Industrial Park Guben Along the traditional company Trevira other businesses, such as the Polish Grupa Azoty ATT Polymers and Megaflex Schaumstoff, rank among the important employers at the location Guben. The yarn specialties produced by Trevira are being used for the interior design of cars. The applications of these filaments are being continually expanded through cooperation with external networks of institutions and the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg. One result of the development work carried out by Trevira: bi-component filaments that can be used, among other things, for the production of three-dimensional sound-absorbing surfaces, which, in turn, can be used, for example, in the field of sun protection or for wall panels, and they are suited for digital printing. The yarns that are being used for these products are furthermore also available as a permanently low-flammable variety. Industrial Park Premnitz Premnitz owes its reputation of being an industrial location to the development of synthetic fibres. The Industrial Park Premnitz (Link to German website) offers excellent conditions for businesses from the chemical sector, predominantly through its state-of-the-art technical infrastructure and the local innovative business community. The fibre producing company Märkische Faser still produces in Premnitz. Alongside this traditional business, two businesses of the Blücher Group are also located in the industrial park: Adsor-Tech and SmarTex – both are active in the field of high-performance materials and fibres. Additionally, DOMO Engineering Plastics and the plastics recycling company Vogt-Plastics from south Germany also have branches in Premnitz. Industrial Region Neuruppin Neuruppin (Link to German website) as a Regional Growth Area offers a high-performance economic infrastructure. The industrial and business park Neuruppin-Treskow and the Temnitzpark are located here and offer optimal conditions for innovations and collaborations. Regional market leaders and global players from the plastics sector have already settled in Neuruppin. Along the company PAS Germany, the leading developer and manufacturer of cable and panel systems for household appliances, the companies Ruppiner Papier-und Folienwerke, REA Plastik Tech, ESE Industrie as well as Atotech have their business locations in this industrial region. One huge advantage of the region resides in the availability of skilled employees. Furthermore, innovations play a vital role: PAS Germany has repeatedly been awarded “Brandenburg’s Innovation Award Plastics and Chemistry” in the course of the past years. Technology Region Wildau Wildau is a city with an industrial tradition that spans more than 100 years. Since the 50s Wildau has also become a training and research location. The Aerospace Technology Centre (ATC) is now located at the former construction site for heavy machinery, which is a location that boasts attractive halls and office spaces and which is located amidst innovative high-tech companies and start-ups. The Technical University of Applied Sciences and the Technology and Start-ups Centre (“Technologie- und Gründerzentrum”, abbreviated TGZ) are also located in this region. The TGZ offers attractive opportunities for start-ups, technology companies and research institutes. The Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research with its research field “Polymer Materials” and “Composite PYCO” and the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau represent important factors that businesses settling in the region take into account; these factors will be further accentuated through the future “Competence Centre for Energy and Resource Efficient Lightweight Design and Composite Materials”. More than 60 businesses have already settled in Wildau, which, in particular, focuses on lightweight design technologies. These companies will work closely together with predominantly technology-oriented research institutes in order to dynamically advance this location. The “Centre for Future Technologies” (“Zentrum für Zukunftstechnologien”, abbreviated ZFZ) will be a next-door neighbour of the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau and located within walking distance of the ATC. The four-storey building complex covering an area of about 7,000 m² will encompass office and workshop spaces as well as halls and should be completed in 2020.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2017
__label__wiki	0.767373	0.767373	Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies Women Manipulating and Manipulated 1 ... 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 7.1Christie’s Women in and out of Control 7.2Sayers’ Female Authority 7Women Manipulating and Manipulated Women are said to be emotional which displays them as a very easily manipulated subjects. Men, due to their historical dominant position, tend to invent various techniques and methods for manipulating women and master them. The male partners generally like to be in control and thus manipulate their victims, on the other hand, women are rational and they built up a feature of manipulating their partners which reverses the roles of women and men. For instance, they are able to manipulate men into liking them or make them do whatever they like even though it may look like that it was men that invented the activity or the procedure. Lies, in principle a frequent women practice, are also considered to be a manipulation and other female activities which support their ideas and desires symbolize women in control. All the four female authors discussed portray women manipulating individual relations between women and men, as well as among only women. Sometimes they root it in more natural and matrimonial links to create protectionist tendencies, or sometimes it is only their own desires and they want to have power over somebody. “At the heart of Agatha Christie’s writing, productive of both its reassuring comedy and of its narrative grip, is just such a game of make-believe which plays deliberately with the metamorphosis of the everyday and the comfortable into the unfamiliar and the sinister (Light 89). The metamorphosis can be spotted in Miss Waynflete’s character which is fully discussed in the chapter on Women Criminals. Now I look at her figure in a more detailed description from the manipulating perspective. Miss Waynflete epitomizes the evil woman who is not the only person with the power of manipulation, for example, the innocent Bridget Conway somehow manipulates her nearest and dearest people without even realizing it. First, I would introduce Bridget manipulating as well as being manipulated and provide the great example of Miss Waynflete’s manipulation further on. When Luke meets Bridget for the first time, he describes her almost as a witch: “Her black hair was blown up off her head by the sudden gust and Luke was reminded of a picture he had once seen – Nevinson’s ‘Witch’. The long pale delicate face, the black hair flying up to the stars. He could see this girl on a broomstick flying up to the moon…” (MIE 37). She behaves very confidently and Luke cannot resist her beauty, he instantly falls in love with her and gradually continues to gain her love. Bridget becomes the subject that easily manipulates Luke without being aware of it. After talking to Major Horton: “Fellow needs a wife to keep him up to scratch, otherwise he gets slack – yes, slack. He lets himself go” (MIE 148), Luke realizes that he needs someone to support him, someone to manipulate him in the right direction and finally someone to show him the meaning of life. Unfortunately, Bridget respects Lord Whitfield and she lets herself be manipulated, for example, when she plays tennis with his fiancé and lets him win. She innocently explains to Luke why she did it: “One mustn’t quarrel with one’s bread and butter. Gordon is my bread and butter. You are not” (MIE 158). Bridget reveals her weak side and points out that as a secretary she has only six pounds a week, but as his wife she would have a hundred thousand settled on her, therefore, she drifts herself along and behaves as a straight and narrow wife. She also suggests that she possesses some kind of power by being rather a mother, than a wife to Lord Gordon since he “is a small boy who has not quite grown up” (MIE 158). That means that she is determined to obey his rules and orders, listen to his high words about himself and occasionally play his mother. On the one hand, Bridget acts as a strong woman manipulating Luke’s love and partially Lord Gordon’s life, but on the other, she is nothing more that a servant to Lord Gordon’s caprice. Miss Waynflete displays almost a pathological creature that can manipulate anyone she chooses to. Her success is enormous since she lives in a small village where, according to anyone, “everybody knows everything about everybody else,” which is contradicted by Luke, who says that “no one human being knows the full truth about another human being” (MIE 130). And he is right. It takes a while before anybody suspects Miss Waynflete of the evil activities she performs. She must be a very influential and powerful woman if nobody from the village can see through her malice and revenge. Even Luke Fitzwilliam fails to notice her intentions as well as her aims, and she even plays with him when he tells her about meeting Miss Pinkerton and her description of the possible murderer. She knows exactly what happened and who the murderer is, but she acts in a professional way and hardly shows any signs of pretending and lying to him. Miss Waynflete triumphs over Lord Whitfield since she “made him believe that there was something very special about him! He believed it quite easily. Poor dear Gordon, he’d believe anything. So gullible!” (MIE 295). She had him in her pocket and could do anything what she set heart upon. The same can be applied to all her victims, who either accidentally or intentionally crossed her path. Miss Waynflete carefully chooses them and enjoys the killing while playing with the others and deceiving them whether it was a murder or a suicide. However, her main purpose is to humiliate Lord Whitfield and get him accused of all the murders, which she finally almost manages. Eventually, the order must be though restored, like in a fairy tale, and Miss Waynflete is caught in her evil plan to kill any possible enemy to Lord Whitfield and so her revenge is staved off. Waynflete’s manipulation fails to last forever and on the contrary, the woman manipulated, Bridget, finds her happiness. The female manipulative tendencies emerge straight at the beginning of the novel. Women pride reflects the incident at the court when the inside information about jury is revealed. Coincidently, it is a woman who first suggests Harriet’s innocence and, therefore, manipulates the whole verdict and evidence that cannot be relied on. She expresses her hesitation and doubts that the case is so obvious and states that it is “perfectly possible that Boyes had taken the stuff himself, or that his cousin had given it to him” (SP 42). Her behavior is influenced by a male attitude towards the whole case since “at first she was ready to vote with the majority, but she took a dislike to the foreman, who tried to bear her down by his male authority” (SP 42) and she eventually decides to disagree with the evidence and stay in the opposition with Miss Climpson. Her vote leads the whole case towards a new investigation and she thus tampers with the fate of Harriet Vane. Miss Climpson also acts her part in the manipulation, not only in the case of Harriet, but also in her professional life and her employers’ lives. She owns a typing bureau and employs only women who had suffered from lack of money and other necessities, which gives her the power to manipulate such women and they are attached and obedient to her. She is in control, but never misapplies the power towards her female employers. Her manipulation springs from her goodness and kindness, which help the women in need of help. Sayers further on emphasizes the marital institution and highlights the notion of changing a woman’s name after her husband. She signifies the manipulative feature of a man when he gets married to a woman. In the novel, Luke happens to interrogate Mrs. Bulfinch who explains how a woman is determined to a personal sacrifice when she enters a marital institution: “Well, my lord, before I was married I was barmaid at the Nine Rings, as the Chief Inspector says. Miss Montague I was then – it’s a better name than Bulfinch, and I was almost sorry to say goodbye to it, but there! a girl has to make a lot of sacrifices when she marries and one more or less is nothing to signify” (SP 116). Her family name indicates Shakespeare’s famous tragedy Romeo and Juliet which draws the attention to the meaning of it. Mrs. Bulfinch is sorry for losing her name that is connected with such a well-known character, Romeo. The name merely gives her a partial celebrity which she lacks after marrying a man with a different name. This remarkable sacrifice governs the woman life and leads her to the status of woman manipulated by the man, but most of the time it is the woman’s choice if she prefers to keep her name or to assume her future husband’s name nowadays. A similar case is seen in Harriet’s feelings towards Lord Peter Wimsey and their relationship. The image of a modern woman gradually appears on the scene; modern women take control of late male-dominated duties, they speculate about their position within society and strive to form independent entities which reject to be subjected to men. Harriet Vane represents the excellent example of such an independent woman and she emphasizes her position by refusal of Peter’s suggestion of marrying him. Although she undoubtedly rejects Peter’s offer because of her fear, she agrees to live with him since she points out that free relationships are now openly accepted not like in Victorian era when “you wouldn’t have to slink abroad with your impossible wife and live at obscure Continental watering-places like people in Victorian novels” (SP 265). Harriet finds herself in a position of a woman manipulating Peter who must accept her proposal of half-marital status otherwise he would come out from the relationship as a loser. Philip Boyes also personally experiences her attitude towards men. At first he desires to live in an open relationship, but suddenly he decides to marry her which Harriet refuses and breaks up with him. The manipulative tendencies root in Harriet’s behavior which shows her female power over men. different versions gradual development	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2020
__label__cc	0.546224	0.453776	Georgia Tech Alumni, Researchers Author Comprehensive Book on Biomass Energy Systems February 10, 2010 by ei2admin Leave a Comment Installing biomass energy systems can greatly reduce a company’s operating costs, create a cost-effective and cleaner way to produce energy, and reduce its carbon footprint – if managers, engineers and environmental health and safety professionals understand renewable fuels and the equipment required to convert these fuels into energy. A group of Georgia Tech alumni and researchers now have in print a comprehensive book on this subject, Biomass and Alternate Fuel Systems: An Engineering and Economic Guide. The book is a joint publication of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and John Wiley & Sons. It is an update and significant expansion of the Industrial Wood Energy Handbook written by the same Georgia Tech team in 1984. “Knowledge about biomass energy is essential as the domestic economy moves toward an emphasis on sustainability, which requires the conversion to renewable energy sources like wood and biomass,” noted Mike Brown, one of the book’s editors and an energy specialist with Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute. “Biomass energy, which is the greatest renewable energy resource, is of prime importance in the Southeast because other renewable resources like wind, geothermal and solar are available in only marginal quantities. In the United States, the potential sustainable amount of biomass rivals that of current nationwide use of coal.” The book explains characteristics of renewable fuels, especially biomass and wood, and the cost-effective and environmentally friendly methods for handling, storing, burning and converting these fuels into heat, steam, power and chemicals. Wood refers to renewable fuel generated from trees and comes in forms that include bark, sawdust, shavings and whole tree chips. Biomass — a more general term referring to fuel generated from any type of plant life — includes trees, agricultural residue, biogas, and small, fast-growing plants like switch grass and algae. The book also includes economic evaluation methods; information on furnaces, boilers and gasifiers; pollution control equipment to limit emissions from biomass combustion; production of liquid fuels from biomass; a case study and feasibility study; costing; and calculation methods for greenhouse gas and carbon emission comparisons between conventional and alternate fuels. “People who would be interested in this book include upper managers who would make the decision to install the biomass system; operating personnel who must evaluate the technical feasibility of a system; environmental, health and safety staff that permit and support operations; and equipment manufacturers who want to educate potential customers on the details of the system,” said Thomas F. McGowan, the book’s co-editor and president of TMTS Associates, Inc., an engineering consulting firm specializing in combustion, air pollution control, solids handling and biomass energy. “This comprehensive book introduces new technologies and contains current cost and equipment vendor data. For those involved in the alternate fuels industry, this book contains a wealth of information.” The editors of the book are all Georgia Tech alumni: McGowan (Industrial Management, 1985), Brown (Mechanical Engineering, 1973 and Management, 1987), William Bulpitt (Mechanical Engineering, 1970 and 1972) and Jim Walsh (Aerospace Engineering, 1969 and 1970) have more than 140 years of experience among them. McGowan was a senior research engineer at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) from 1978 to 1985, and Bulpitt recently retired as a senior research engineer with Georgia Tech’s Strategic Energy Institute. Brown and Walsh are both senior research engineers with Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute. For more information on the book, please contact Thomas McGowan (404-627-4722); E-mail: (moc.gnirpsdnimnull@nawogcmft). For more information on Georgia Tech’s services in energy management, please contact Bill Meffert (404-894-3844); E-mail: (ude.hcetag.etavonninull@treffem.llib). The book can be purchased from John Wiley & Sons at http://tinyurl.com/Wiley-biomass-book About Enterprise Innovation Institute: The Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute helps companies, entrepreneurs, economic developers and communities improve their competitiveness through the application of science, technology and innovation. It is one of the most comprehensive university-based programs of business and industry assistance, technology commercialization and economic development in the nation. Research News & Publications Office 75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 314 Atlanta, Georgia 30308 USA Media Relations Contact: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail (ude.hcetag.etavonninull@noot.nhoj). Writer: Nancy Fullbright Categories: Front Page, Manufacturing, News Tags: energy, environmental, Manufacturing Insulation Manufacturer Improves Business with Georgia Tech Assistance March 21, 2009 by ei2admin 1 Comment Thermal Ceramics, an Augusta-based insulation manufacturer, has always been at the forefront of its industry. It is a world leader in the production of ceramic fiber products and insulating firebricks, as well as specialty insulation products. With more than 3,000 employees in more than 30 locations worldwide, Thermal Ceramics supplies customers in the petrochemical, chemical, automotive and power generation industries. In the early 1990s, the Augusta, Ga. facility became ISO certified, meaning it was independently audited and certified to be in conformance with quality management standards maintained by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). However, by 2005 the system had begun to lose its relevance. “In 2005, we recognized that our ISO system was the old version and it wasn’t functioning for us anymore. It was burdensome,” recalled Sherri Pettigrew, environmental health and safety/quality assurance manager for Thermal Ceramics. “We contacted Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute to see if it would help us revamp and streamline our ISO system to meet our current needs with our current level of staffing.” Elliot Price, Deann Desai, Don Pital, Holly Grell-Lawe and Dennis Kelly, all Georgia Tech quality specialists, assisted Thermal Ceramics with re-tooling its quality management system. ISO 9001 is an international quality management system standard that presents fundamental management and quality assurance practices applicable to any organization. Companies that are ISO 9001 certified have a demonstrated baseline of managerial discipline and control, and they also have higher rates of customer satisfaction. Throughout the process, the Georgia Tech team reviewed the company’s documentation, developed a system that had a more value-added process and identified training needs. Team members also conducted a gap audit, helped with the development of an implementation plan, assisted with initial internal audits and management review, conducted a pre-assessment audit and corrected any system issues prior to the registration audit. “We threw out almost everything and started from the ground up,” Pettigrew said. “Then we decided we were going to be ISO 14001 certified, so Georgia Tech built that system from scratch for us as well.” ISO 14001, the international specification for an environmental management system, helps organizations develop a process to reduce negative environmental impacts caused by their operations while also complying with applicable laws and regulations. Like ISO 9001, ISO 14001 focuses on the process rather than the end product. The Georgia Tech team helped Thermal Ceramics integrate the two standards into one, and served as the company’s internal auditors. “Our employees thought of our ISO system as just a bunch of paper and manuals sitting on a shelf, and they didn’t understand the value. Truthfully, there really was no value in that old system,” Pettigrew noted. “The big hurdle that we overcame was getting people to understand that the new system was going to be helpful to them. We actually went from a burdensome paper system to something that’s online and totally electronic, so it’s easier to maintain.” Pettigrew estimates that as a result of becoming ISO 9001 and 14001 certified, Thermal Ceramics was able to increase its sales by $6 million while saving $2 million in costs. The company, which employs a total of 450 people at its Augusta facility, was also able to add seven employees. On the heels of its quality and environmental standards success, Thermal Ceramics also sought assistance from the Enterprise Innovation Institute in the area of lean management principles, a set of tools that helps organizations identify and steadily eliminate waste from their operations. Paul Todd, a Georgia Tech lean specialist, led an executive introduction to lean, a 5S overview and planning session and 5S training and implementation. 5S refers to five Japanese words: seiri (remove what is not needed and keep what is needed); seiton (place things in such a way that they can be easily reached whenever they are needed); seiso (keep things clean and polished); seiketsu (maintain cleanliness after cleaning); and shitsuke (sustain the improvements over time). In English, the steps become sort, set in order, shine, standardize and sustain. “We were very aggressive with the lean implementation. We had four teams that represented each of the three manufacturing areas plus a warehouse/shipping group,” Pettigrew explained. “We did everything from painting the lines for hoppers and pallets to getting rid of the clutter to implementing visual cues and labeling. We did it all.” Currently, Thermal Ceramics is conducting lean projects in the areas of energy reduction, downtime reduction, safety, increasing melting efficiency, and shipping error reduction. Weekly 5S meetings are also held to maintain the momentum. In December 2007, the Augusta operation of Thermal Ceramics – which spans 58 acres and 10 buildings – sought Georgia Tech’s assistance in the high-impact area of energy management. As part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Industrial Assessment Center program, Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute can provide energy, waste and productivity assessment at no charge to small- and mid-sized manufacturers. Mike Brown and Pierpaolo Baldisserotto, Georgia Tech energy specialists, visited the Thermal Ceramics plant to evaluate the company’s challenges, problems and solutions. They studied the facility’s energy consumption history and measured the major energy-consuming equipment. Along with several Georgia Tech co-op students, they produced a report that included a number of recommendations, including recovering fiber waste, recovering heat from the kiln exhaust, repairing air leaks and replacing desiccant air dryers with refrigerated dryers. The report estimates that Thermal Ceramics could save more than $1.8 million – 22 percent of the facility’s annual energy costs – by implementing its recommendations. “Having Georgia Tech come in and assist us in these different areas has really worked for us,” said Pettigrew. “We’re better now than we have ever been.” Categories: Front Page, Manufacturing, News Tags: east Georgia, energy, environmental, Manufacturing, quality Jump-starting Growth in Glennville January 21, 2009 by ei2admin Leave a Comment Rotary Corporation, headquartered in Glennville, Ga., literally began from a car trunk when J.D. Nelson began selling replacement parts to auto parts stores and lawnmower dealers in 1956. By 1971, the company’s volume had increased to the point where Rotary began considering manufacturing its own lawnmower blades. To make an informed decision, it enlisted experts at Georgia Tech to conduct a feasibility study. “They came back to us and suggested that we begin manufacturing lawnmower blades, so we found a company for sale in Toledo, Ohio, bought it, moved it down here and started making lawnmower blades,” recalled Ed Nelson, Rotary’s president. “I don’t know where we would be today if we hadn’t done that, because when we started manufacturing our business really started growing.” Today, Rotary employs 450 people and delivers parts to 20,000 customers in all 50 states and more than 50 countries throughout Europe, Asia, South America, Canada, Australia and Africa. “When my father bought the business from my great-uncle in ’66, we had seven employees and were selling $250,000 a year, and now we sell that before lunch on a good day,” Nelson said. “Last year we marked two milestones – our fiftieth year in business and our 150 millionth lawnmower blade.” To support that growth over the years, Nelson continued to turn to Georgia Tech for assistance and guidance. Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute provides comprehensive services to improve the competitiveness of Georgia’s business and industry, including technical and engineering assistance, continuing education courses, facilitation of networks and connecting companies to Georgia Tech resources. Since the initial feasibility study on lawnmower blade manufacturing, Rotary has tapped into nearly every service offered by the Enterprise Innovation Institute. In the mid-‘70s, Georgia Tech conducted another study to determine the best steel for blade manufacturing. Energy and environmental specialists have performed air sampling, noise monitoring, general safety audits and environmental audits, and assisted the company on better managing its energy costs. Rotary has also thoroughly utilized Georgia Tech’s services in lean manufacturing, a process management philosophy derived mostly from the Toyota Production System and known for reducing wasted time and effort. Alan Barfoot, a lean specialist and central Georgia region manager with the Enterprise Innovation Institute, led Rotary staff in a lean overview, helping participants learn the principles of lean manufacturing and how to apply them. During a series of simulations, they applied lean concepts such as standardized work, visual signals, batch-size reduction and pull systems, among others. They experienced how lean improves quality, reduces cycle time, improves delivery performance and reduces work-in-process. The team also developed value stream maps – diagrams used to analyze the flow of materials and information required to bring a product or service to a consumer – to determine Rotary’s current and future states. Nelson estimates that Rotary’s available warehouse space increased by 20 percent as a result of these projects. “When Georgia Tech has a long-term relationship with a client like Rotary, there is better synergy between us and the company,” noted Barfoot. “We are much more familiar with the business and are able to be a more valuable set of outside eyes to provide feedback.” In 2007, the Enterprise Innovation Institute – through the U.S. Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) – began offering a program to help Georgia companies develop new strategies for growth. “Eureka! Winning Ways®,” an award-winning three-step process that includes idea engineering, success screening and action-plan coaching, was developed by Doug Hall, former master marketing inventor with Procter & Gamble and former host of the ABC television series American Inventor. Eureka helps companies assess how to best jump-start growth through innovative and creative ideas. Projects, which are led by Georgia Tech experts who have been certified in the Eureka Ranch techniques, examine how companies can establish more effective marketing messages, capture new customers or markets, and develop new products, services or business models. In fall 2007, Rotary was invited to Eureka Ranch, Hall’s headquarters in Newtown, Ohio. “We took 12 people from Rotary’s management team, sales people and trusted advisors to Eureka Ranch and we did the project from there. Doug Hall and his team were there, so we got to be in that environment,” recalled Bob Wray, a Georgia Tech project manager and Eureka specialist. “We went through the ideation day – a disciplined system for thinking smarter and more creatively about old and new ideas for top-line growth – and then tried to figure out which projects were worth pursuing. We came up with more than 150 ideas.” Following the idea generation, the group refined and rewrote the top 12 ideas, and then senior management selected four to go into idea testing. That testing took place in the second phase of Eureka, which assesses ideas using Merwyn Research, a software program that evaluates the group’s ideas based on other ideas’ successes. The software generates a score for each idea and, based on that information, the client chooses two ideas on which to focus. The third phase of Eureka – TrailBlazer – is a 30-day research-intensive coaching process to make a decision on whether to develop the two ideas. If the decision is “yes,” the idea will proceed into a development phase. Over time, the goal is for the company to have a continuous “idea pipeline,” with ideas in different stages of incubation and development. “We saw a need for improvements on lawnmower blades within the industry, and we’re currently in the process of developing a unique blade,” Nelson noted. “However, that doesn’t happen overnight; it involves a lot of testing. Eureka really got us up and going with that project.” Another project that was immediately identified by the Eureka process was an information technology project that remedied the problem of Rotary’s computer system being down during back-up. Now, the ordering system is always accessible, a big improvement for Rotary’s European customers in particular. “The biggest advantage to Eureka is establishing a pipeline of ideas. With Rotary, there may have been 50 pretty good ideas out of those 150 that we identified at the Eureka Ranch. The next step was working through that list, prioritizing and executing,” said Wray. “Doug Hall says that if you’re not unique, you better be cheap. If you don’t have unique lawnmower blades, you’re selling commodities. But, if you have something no one else has, then you can charge a premium for it.” Nelson says that Rotary has experienced a number of positive impacts as a result of the Eureka project, including $1.5 million in increased sales, $2 million in retained sales that would have otherwise been lost, 50 retained jobs and one job created. He also notes that Rotary avoided $262,000 in unnecessary investments as a result of Georgia Tech’s assistance. “Eureka really opened our eyes to other ways of doing things, and helped us to take advantage of ideas as fast as we can. We’ve got a lot more ideas now than we had in the past,” Nelson said. Media Relations Contacts: Nancy Fullbright (404-894-2214); E-mail: (ude.hcetag.etavonninull@thgirblluf.ycnan) or John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail (ude.hcetag.etavonninull@noot.nhoj). Categories: Front Page, Manufacturing, News Tags: central Georgia, energy, environmental, lean, Manufacturing	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2021
__label__wiki	0.637841	0.637841	May 24, 2019 Air DHL Express and EHang Partner to Bring Last-Mile Drone Delivery to China By Inside Unmanned Systems DHL Express and EHang are working together to create a fully automated and intelligent UAS delivery solution for last-mile delivery in China. The customized route the EHang Falcon will travel was created for a DHL customer and covers about eight kilometers between the customer and the DHL service center in Liaobu, Dongguan, Guangdong Province, according to a news release. The drone is designed to overcome the complex road conditions and traffic congestion issues common in urban areas. It reduces one-way delivery time from 40 minutes to eight minutes and can save up to 80% per delivery. “Together with DHL we are very glad to bring the first smart drone delivery service route to China in Guangzhou; this marks a new beginning in building air logistics for smart cities,” said Hu Huazhi, founder and CEO of EHang. “Riding on today’s launch, we expect smart drone delivery as an innovative logistics solution to be expanded and realized in more areas, and we look forward to working with DHL in building the eco-system for a multi-dimensional urban air transport system.” The UAS comes with eight propellers on four arms and is designed with multiple redundant systems as well as smart, secure flight control modules. Other features include vertical take-off and landing, high accuracy GPS and visual identification, smart flight path planning, fully-automated flight and real-time network connection and scheduling. The system can carry up to 5 kg of cargo per flight and take off and land from intelligent cabinets designed for fully autonomous loading and offloading of the shipment. The cabinets connect with automated processes such as sorting, scanning and storing mail. They also feature facial recognition and ID scanning. DHL will continue to identify new routes for clients and will work with EHang to develop a second generation of drones to further improve express delivery. “We are delighted to be partnering with EHang to set a new innovation milestone with this new fully-automated and intelligent drone logistics solution, which combines the strength of the world’s largest international express company together with one of the leading UAV companies in the world,” said Wu Dongming, CEO of DHL Express China, according to the release. “This is an exciting time for the logistics sector, with continued growth of the Chinese economy and cross-border trade, particularly in South China and the Greater Bay Area, which is home to an increasing number of SMEs and startups. This means there is a tremendous volume of logistics needs, which in turn creates new opportunities for implementing innovative solutions that can continuously drive growth with greater efficiency, sustainability and less cost.” Ford Introduces Digit, a Robot Designed to Deliver Goods from the Self-Driving Cars that Partly Power it DJI to Add Detect and Avoid	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2023
__label__wiki	0.606596	0.606596	Explosion in A Snapshot of Our Emergency Response This page was created in response to the Lebanon Explosion in August 2020 and reflects our work at the time around the disaster and immediate recovery. To find out more about our current activities in the area, click the button below. Learn about our work in Lebanon The explosion in the port of Beirut was so powerful that it registered as a 3.3 magnitude earthquake, and was felt as far away as Cyprus. International Medical Corps has launched an emergency response, coordinating closely with the government and other responders to quickly provide help to overwhelmed hospitals and health facilities. Our teams continue to mobilize urgently needed supplies and staff, quickly deployed mobile medical units to provide care to affected communities, and continue to provide mental health and gender-based violence prevention and treatment services to those affected by this catastrophe. Response efforts have been complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic (which already was straining the health system), widespread power outages, and economic and political crises that have been affecting millions throughout the country for much of the past year. International Medical Corps has been on the ground in Lebanon since 2006, providing health services to Syrian refugees and vulnerable Lebanese. We also have been responding to COVID-19 across the more than 50 health facilities we support. Though our offices were extensively damaged by the blast, our team members are safe, have found a new base to operate from and are continuing to work remotely to provide emergency and other services. Thankfully, because our warehouse and vehicles were not damaged, we are able to continue providing medical supplies to those in need. The blast has complicated an already extensive humanitarian crisis in the country. If you would like to help relieve the suffering of the women, men and children there, please support our work by clicking the link below. On Tuesday, August 4, 2020 a massive explosion tore through Beirut, Lebanon, killing at least 220 people, injuring more than 6,500 and leaving some 300,000 homeless, including at least 100,000 children At least six hospitals and 20 primary healthcare centers have been severely damaged, rendered partially or fully inoperable International Medical Corps is working closely with other responders to provide help to hospitals and health facilities throughout the city The team provided more than 1,200 medical consultations and 1,500 psychological first-aid consultations through mobile medical units that we deployed to highly affected areas of Geitaoui-Karm El Zeitoun, Mar Mikhael, Bourj Hammoud and Mdawar. Beirut Emergency Response: One Year Overview On August 4, 2020, Beirut experienced a massive explosion that ripped through the entire city. Hours after the explosion, International Medical Corps teams were on the ground to support survivors. Within the first two weeks, we reached more than 54,000 women, men and children. MSNBC: Deadly explosion in Beirut, Lebanon Mobile medical teams in Beirut On Tuesday, August 4, 2020, at about 6 p.m. local time, a massive explosion ripped through the port of Beirut, Lebanon, damaging much of the city. The explosion—believed to have occurred in a warehouse storing thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate—was so powerful that it registered as a 3.3-magnitude earthquake in Beirut, and was felt as far away as Cyprus. The port is expected to be inoperable for at least a month, and lost an estimated 120,000 metric tons of food stocks—including wheat, soy and other staples—in the explosion. The blast caused damage as far as 12 miles from the port area, and ensuing fires reportedly released toxic materials into the environment. According to the Governor of Beirut, the blast damaged half of the city and caused $3 billion to $5 billion worth of damages. How have people been affected? The human cost was significant as well. According to media reports, the blast killed at least 220 people, injured more than 6,000 others and left approximately 300,000 homeless—at least 100,000 of whom are children, according to UNICEF. Scores of people remain missing. Six hospitals, 20 primary healthcare centers and more than 175 schools, attended by tens of thousands of children, sustained significant damage. And the blast occurred in the midst of a prolonged economic crisis that has led to hyperinflation, frequent power outages, widespread poverty and political turmoil—all complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the strain it has been putting on an overburdened healthcare system. How was the healthcare system affected? The damage done to the healthcare system and with the massive influx of patients has severely strained health services in Beirut. A number of city hospitals were so damaged by the explosion that they are unable to treat victims. Remaining hospitals are overwhelmed, limiting the amount of emergency care available in Beirut. Healthcare workers were reportedly among the killed, and nurses and doctors are in high demand. The blast also affected the country’s stores of vaccines, medicines, medical equipment and reproductive health supplies, which were warehoused half a mile from the port, leading to acute shortages of vital medicines. How is International Medical Corps responding? With a staff of nearly 300 already in the country, International Medical Corps was able to quickly launch an emergency response, coordinating efforts with international aid agencies, the Ministry of Public Health and other international non-governmental organizations in the country. We have an undamaged warehouse in Beirut, where we store medicine, medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) that we are providing to hospitals and other healthcare centers, and also are providing these facilities with surgical, kits, trauma kits and burn kits. We also deployed mobile medical units (MMUs) to provide a range of health services to affected communities. Other services we are providing include: mental health and psychosocial support, including psychological first aid and medications; water, sanitation and hygiene services, including distribution of hygiene kits; food security, especially for infants and mothers; gender-based violence prevention and treatment services; and continuity of care for patients with chronic conditions and other ongoing needs. How long has International Medical Corps been in Lebanon, and what services do you provide? International Medical Corps has more than 35 years of experience as a first responder, delivering emergency medical and related services to those affected by conflict, disaster and disease, no matter where they are, no matter what the conditions. We also train people in their communities, providing them with the skills they need to recover, rebuild and return to self-reliance. We first began operating in Lebanon in 2006, and in 2011 were the first health organization there to begin providing services for Syrian refugees, as the civil war drove them out of that country into Lebanon. Today, International Medical Corps’ health, mental health, and gender-based violence prevention and response activities address the needs of refugees and vulnerable Lebanese at more than 50 facilities throughout the country, including primary healthcare centers, health dispensaries, community centers, social development centers and safe spaces focused on protection. Illustrating our reach, our teams provided healthcare services to approximately 47,000 people, and provided mental health services to 940 people, each month in 2019. Was International Medical Corps directly affected by the explosion? Luckily, though some of our staff members were injured by the blast, everyone is expected to recover and is continuing to provide emergency assistance and other specific medical services. In addition, our warehouse and vehicles were not damaged, so we are able to continue providing urgently needed medical equipment and supplies, including medicine and PPE, to health facilities. Our office in Beirut was extensively damaged, and we have identified a temporary office from which we will operate. However, many of our office assets remained intact, we were able to recover essential equipment and documentation, and we do have other field offices in the country, so we have retained the capability to operate efficiently and effectively in the midst of the destruction. Destruction caused by the explosion in the port of Beirut on August 4, 2020. On August 9 and 10, 2020, International Medical Corps deployed a Mobile Medical Unit and a Mental Health Unit to Karm El Zaytoun, a neighborhood damaged by the port explosion in Beirut. The mobile units offer primary healthcare and psychological first-aid services to those affected by the disaster. International Medical Corps deployed a Mobile Medical Unit to Karm El Zaytoun, a neighborhood affected by the port explosion in Beirut. Here, Senior Medical Advisor Dr. Nada Awada provides medication to a resident. On August 8, just days after the port explosion that ripped through Beirut, International Medical Corps deployed a Mobile Mental Health Unit in Borj Hammoud, a severely damaged neighborhood, to provide psychological first aid to those affected. Lama, a disability officer for International Medical Corps, distributes hygiene supplies to volunteers who are cleaning up areas in Beirut affected by the port explosion. The supplies help prevent COVID-19. On August 9, 2020, Rabih, a health officer and a registered nurse who usually works for International Medical Corps in the south of Lebanon, was deployed to Beirut to help with the emergency response in the wake of the port explosion. Here, he treats an elderly patient at the Mobile Medical Unit deployed to the Karm El Zaytoun neighborhood. On August 8, just days after the port explosion that ripped through Beirut, International Medical Corps deployed a Mobile Mental Health Unit in Borj Hammoud, a severely damaged neighborhood, to provide psychological first aid to those affected. Here, Manal, a mental health social worker, provides support to an affected resident. icon-resource International Medical Corps - Beirut Explosion - Situation Report 9 Response Overview International Medical Corps - Beirut Port Explosion: One Year Review View all active emergencies	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2025
__label__cc	0.530958	0.469042	You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Revolutionary War’ category. 9/11 In Memory Of Our Most Tragic Defeat September 11, 2013 in 1777, 9/11, A Dad's Responsibility, British accents, Delaware, Delaware National Park, England, Founding Fathers, George Washington, Newark, Philadelphia, Revolutionary War, Truth Be Told In Britain, Wilmington \| Leave a comment The cannon fire could be heard from Brandywine Hundred. It was louder in Concord. It was deafening in Chadd’s Ford. The Battle of the Brandywine was in full swing, and the result was a defeat of the American Forces leaving Philadelphia wide open to the British invasion. Sadly for us this marks the end of Delaware’s direct involvement in the Revolutionary War. After this battle, the war in the North became a sitting game, and Cornwallis felt compelled to shift to the South to try and gain some momentum. He misread the South’s resilience, and the war of course ended when he got boxed at Yorktown. As for Delaware, the British had previously marched up from Glasgow through Newark then up Kirkwood Highway and camped at Marshalltown. One can still see the embankments they threw up. The Americans realized that they had only a narrow route north before did the British. Had the British chosen to fight through the night, the war would have been over with Washington’s defeat. He was trapped by water on three sides. General Howe was a person adverse to exertion, and chose to investigate the following morning. When the British awoke, they saw the Americans had disappeared in the night, leaving their camp fires burning to fool the British watchmen. The British marched north to Kennett Square, probably along what is now Route 82… On the morning of 9/11 the British marched towards Philadelphia. Washington assumed the lazy Howe would march the easiest route and set up defenses in Chadd’s Ford covering the road to Baltimore, which is Route 1 today. What Washington miscalculated is that the British had better intelligence than he. Here is how. Washington was employing those in Philadelphia to give him advice. Howe was approaching on the outside, and chose those locals to tell him the layout. The difference in intelligence was a simple as one looking out, and one looking in. Perhaps you may remember the meme last decade of showing a city as the makeup of their entire World? For instance one of Rehoboth, would show Rehoboth and Dewey and Ocean City in Great detail, and Washington and Baltimore as tiny patches on the last edge of the map? Well that myopia actually affects our judgment. As one approaches the unknown, one is apt to know only his one way. But to use that same analogy backwards, as one approaches the known, from the area of the unknown, one is far more perceptive of all other options leading towards that goal or destination. So it was with Howe, who found out there were two ford to the north, both overlooked by Washington, and the access to the battle field was relative easily. Howe committed 5000 of his 18,000 troups to attacking Washington’s front lines, and sent 13,000 north to cross both the west and east branches of the Brandywine, then head south. imagine the surprise of the American army who had been confident that they were holding their own, to find they’d been fighting a measly 5000 men in the fog, and now had 13,000 marching behind them on their right side…. We retreated. Some said it was a disciplined retreat, and Lafayette is given a lot of credit for that. He was wounded this day in history by the way, yet he established a rallying point, communicated it to all the troops, and an orderly retreat was managed. But the surprise to our right cost us dearly. We lost 11 of our 14 artillery guns. The British listed 587 as killed, missing or wounded, but no records of the Americans lost is known.. General Nathaniel Greene is later quoted as guessing 1200 to 1400 Continentals were lost… Commander Howe wrote to the British Foreign Secretary that 300 dead, 600 wounded, 400 prisoners were the total of America’s casualties. One cannot imagine how dark things seemed for the prospects of an American nation after this day. Americans had been tricked and easily routed. They’d lost 79% of their artillary, having only 3 cannons left. The Continental Congress fled in the night to Lancaster for one day, then to York. Military supplies were moved to Reading. Philadelphia, the cradle of democracy, was wide open to the British Army. It was 52 years before the founding of Yeungling’s brewery, so none was available to drown one’s sorrows. They suffered fully sober. If we can remember the tragedy of our 9/11, try to imagine something ten times worse. There was no hope, period. A makeshift hospital was scrambled together in Wilmington Delaware, and 350 causalities were sent. 11 Score And 16 Years Ago….. August 25, 2013 in "clean" remark, "It's a Wonderful Life", 1777, August 25, Battle of Brandywine, Battle of Cooch's Bridge, Classical Education, Delaware Power Authority, Elks Neck Landing, General Pulaski, Hyperbole, Iron Hill, Ivan Wolfe, Largest flotilla off America, littering, manipulation of youth, political favors, Revolutionary War, Rick Jensen, Tennessee Valley Authority \| Leave a comment Occasionally something that you looked at many times, but have never seen, suddenly jumps out and changes your whole perspective. For example, I had always thought that as far as the Revolutionary War went, Delaware’s only claim to fame was that the new flag was first flown in battle on Delaware’s soil……. Not so! Two hundred thirty-six years ago today, things were really jumping in these parts. It may seem like a long time ago to most of us, but in reality it is only a string of three ten year olds who each knew someone who was ninety. In the vernacular, that means that most of us know someone, who themselves knew someone who actually had spoken to someone, who was alive during the Revolutionary War!…… Whoa……. August 25, 1777 close to 300 ships sailed up the Chesapeake Bay, anchored off off Elk Neck, Maryland, and began disembarking. That has been called the largest fleet ever assembled off either of the America’s coasts. To put that number into perspective, the famous Spanish Armada, consisted of a meager 130 Spanish ships. The most-oft talked about Battle of Trafalger, consisted of a combined total of some 60 ships. Modern historians can get a perspective by comparing those 300 ships to the 700 off of Dunkirk or the 900 off of Normandy……. It must have been quite a sight to stand on the top Iron Hill and see over 300 tall masts sailing to defeat you. And on board those ships, were 15,000 solders disembarking to begin marching towards your capital city….That’s close to the total number of women living across Greater Newark in 2010. Were we living 236 years ago, we would all be on edge! Anticipating a major battle on Delaware soil, 11,000 continental troops were moved into Delaware and bivouacked at what used to be known as Red Mill Neck, and now is near the Marshalltown bridge over top of Red Clay Creek. The British moved in steps, out of Elkton to Gray’s hill, then up the road to Newark. One account said their line stretched from Glasgow to the bridge across the Christiana, where the I 95 and 896 interchange is today. They marched through the village of Newark, and then advanced parallel to today’s Kirkwood highway and camped at Milltown, just two miles from the American Camp in Newport. For one day, they stared each other down. The potential existed for a pitched battle to have occurred on Delaware soil. When no attempt was made by the British, Washington got scared that he was to be flanked to the north. Had General Howe chosen to do so, Washington and the Continental Army would have suffered a catastrophic defeat. At 2 am, the Continentals forced marched north to Chadd’s Ford, thereby occupying the high ground, and then on the following day, occurred the Battle of the Brandywine, the second to last major battle to be fought by Washington until Yorktown, four years latter. Just a small footnote: it was in Delaware where General Pulaski, from Poland, met Washington while in Wilmington and was placed in charge of developing the calvary. Although only a small skirmish actually occurred in this small state, with just a few things happening differently, a major conflagration could have happened that could have ended the war for the Americans. Needless to say, it was relatively scary “in these parts” just 11 score and sixteen years ago. Syrian Refugees Flood Neighbors January 22, 2013 in Jordan, middle east democracy, military buildup, Numbers Don't Lie, Revolutionary War, Russian Military, State of Denial, Syria, Turkey \| Leave a comment Senator Coons just returned this week from the Middle East. Lindsay Graham, Kelly Ayotte, John McCain, Sheldon Whitehouse, Richard Blumenthal went as well. Jordan and Turkey have welcomed Syrian refugees with open arms. The camp visited, Zaatari, is at a population of 42,000 and absorbing 2000 a night. They need help before their scarce resources cause tensions within their own country. This affects the US… Aid is in the United States’ interest. If we can provide aid to the rebels on the ground inside Syria we are preventing a much greater future cost of a full blown jihadist regime sharing a border with Israel…. Currently the aid we actually are providing is going through NGO’s into Damascus, where the Syrian government is distributing it to their supporters and away from the rebel towns who are hardest hit. The American people believe this aid is reaching the population they see on their televisions. Sad thing it isn’t. The Assad administration is” dug in pretty hard.” It is clear that air power is needed to protect people from Syria. A no-fly zone would even the odds. Currently the jihadists can stir up unrest. The war gives jihadist opportunity, The jihadists are the better fighters. When you as a people are being tortured and killed, the people fighting alongside of you gain legitimacy. Extremism always thrives inside anarchy. Any money now spent to facilitate the end of Assad is cheaper than what we will be grappling with jihadists at a later date. It is time to give the Syrian Opposition Council more legitimacy, by recognizing it’s rightful representation of the Syrian people The window is closing for the US… Either we act now, or get caught inside another Mid East bubble just as it explodes…. Here is how we move forward. A) Step up Aid to Syrian People B) Send aid to Turkey and Jordan and direct to refugee camps. C) Apply to Assad to US to accompany aid into Syria and to those opposition towns inside. D) When he refuses, enable a No-fly zoned over the Rebel held zones to enable OUR AMERICAN aid to get through. E) Step up diplomatic pressure on Assad and his supporters to step down….. F) Invite China to be part of the peace process and send humanitarian troops and infrastructural aid….. Who Needs Guns? December 19, 2012 in "clean" remark, "It's a Wonderful Life", Accountability, America's morals, Green Berets, Guns Are Good, Homeland Security, It's About The Kids, It's an Investment, just the facts, Justice Scalia, Life and Death, Love You All, no child left behind, NRA, nuclear weapons, parental responsibility, Revolutionary War, Soviet Union collapse, Sussex County, Sweden, The Dark Knight, tranquility, women' rights \| Leave a comment A. A woman, with two small children, separated from an abusive husband. He has just started violating a no-contact order, and is making threats over the upcoming divorce. B. A father of three boys, married, lives in rural area. Owns 97 acres of woods. Has a two mile driveway. Then fifteen miles of one lane road to the nearest major highway, whose junction is 38 miles from the nearest police station. C. A 15 year old urban dropout, who was jumped and beaten up badly when he was twelve in an act of random violence; he was in the wrong place when they were looking for something to do, allegedly to “teach him a lesson”; the reality? There was no reason for it. D. A thirty year old man, who was raped over 100 times while a child by a neighbor, and that neighbor now is politically well connected, who boasts on talk radio of how big his arsenal is…. E. A bright, attractive professional woman of twenty five, who has a high powered job, lives alone out of necessity and convenience, lives on an international schedule, enters and exits often between midnight and 6 am. F. A 43 year old mother, who at 18 became state’s witness and testified against her acquaintance and he, is being freed tomorrow, sentence done…. G. A 62 year old pill popping DJ, who excels at conservative talk radio, by stirring up hate, spinning lies into truth, and coining derogative names to be recycled by bitter old white me, like “femminazi’s”…. H. Pastor Washington, who has taken the calling of walking around the inner city on very cold nights, and persuade homeless people to swallow their pride and come inside to a warm shelter… I. One day, you? At What Price, Loyality? July 15, 2012 in "clean" remark, "It's a Wonderful Life", "Its the economy, 12 Election Results, 1777, A Dad's Responsibility, abolish Medicare, Accountability, administration policy, Affordable Healthcare, affordable housing, AFL-CIO, Afro Americans, AFSCME, Alliance for Postive Growth, America's Food Supply, America's morals, American Right to Privacy, Amish, an actual good Republican, Andrew Johnson, Anywhere But Philadelphia, Arizona, Ben Franklin, Bernie Sanders, Bill Bell, bill of rights, black power, Bloggers, Blogroll, Blue Cross / Blue Shield, Boston School District, Brian Selander, Buddy Roemer, capital gains tax, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Corporations versus WE THE PEOPLE, Courage, credibility, Damn Dixie Cups, Declaration of Independance, Delaware beaches, Delaware Bloggers, Delaware Libertarian, Delaware Park, delaware's finest, Dick's Sporting Goods, early childhood development, education, eminent domain, ethics, Evolution, Exchange of ideas, exports and job creation, family values, FISA Legislation, fiscal responsibility, FOIA, Franklin Roosevelt, Freedom of Speech, Fund Schools by Taxing Wealthy Corporations, Gary Johnson, George Washington, German Reunification, Getting Rid of Hannity, getting to know you, God Bless Our Troops, Good Citizenery, good teachers, Government is Good, Greatful Dead concerts, greed is good, Green Berets, green frog theory, Greenland ice cap, Guinness Draught, Health Care, Hedge Funds & Speculation, Hillary Needs Money, Hogan's Heros, Horton Hears a Who, Housing Market, hybrid cars, hydrogen, IBEW, If this is goodbye, In God We Trust, individual responsibility, intelligence sharing, Internet Censorship, Iron Hill, Irving Berlin, It's About The Kids, It's an Investment, jalapeno peppers, Jessica Simpson, Job Growth Requires Democrats, labor unions, Largest flotilla off America, Lord of the Rings, Love You All, making bets, Margaret and Helen, Marharishi, Mexican economic benefits, Middletown High, Midwest Drought, Mike's Musings, Minot, money in politics, Mother Nature, moving on, natural gas, natural gas futures, ND, Nebraska, Neotame Is Poison, New Hampshire, new jobs, New Orleans, New York Giants, NSA, Numbers Don't Lie, Olde New Castle, Olympia Snow, On the Brink, Ooga Ooga Ooga, open government, Organized Labor, Packaging, Pandora, Paris Hilton, Pat Fish, Paul Pomeroy, per person cost, PIPA, plausible deniability, poetry, Polar Bear Expert, polls? Can't belive them, Ponzi Scheme Mitt, poor get poorer, Population explosion, Portugal, Presidential Debate, Presidential Politics, Privacy Issues, public option health care, Red Clay School District, retailer's rights, Revolutionary War, Revolving Door, Right to Redress Greviences, Roaches are Republicans, Ronald Reagan, science fiction, Seabiscuit, Secret Government Searches, Senator Jay Rockerfeller, sex should be private, Sheriff's Sale, silver bullet, silver lining, Soviet Union collapse, Spock, Spying on American Citizens, Star Trek I, Star Wars, State of Denial, Stenny Hoyer, Steve Newton, Support Mind Altering Drugs For Republicans, Talk Like A Pirate Day, telemarketers, The King Is Gone, The Pretenders, thought models, Tigers, Time Machine, Tommywonk, tranquility, Trust in the political process, Truth Be Told In Britain, US Marines, Vermont, Voting Integrity, women' rights, Women's Prerogative \| 8 comments This is going to my hard core Republican friends. Why are you still supporting Romney? 1) You know he is not going to win. 2) You know as the election heats up, his Bain Capital experience will make Republicans untouchable for decades. 3) You can’t pin down where Romney stands on anything. 4) He tied his dog to a car. 5) He stands with black people and says “Who let the dogs out, woof, woof.” Most of you are telling me, “I certainly can’t vote for Obama. I guess I’m not voting for President this time.” Let’s say, just for argument sakes there was a presidential candidate out there who says to have good government you need: ………………… 1. Become reality driven. Don’t kid yourself or others. Find out what’s what and base your decisions and actions on that. 2. Always be honest and tell the truth. It’s extremely difficult to do any damage to anybody when you are willing to tell the truth–regardless of the 3. Always do what’s right and fair. Remember, the more you actually accomplish, the louder your critics become. You’ve got to learn to ignore your critics. You’ve got to continue to do what you think is right. You’ve got to maintain your integrity. 4. Determine your goal, develop a plan to reach that goal, and then act. Don’t procrastinate. 5. Make sure everybody who ought to know what you’re doing knows what you’re doing. Communicate. 6. Don’t hesitate to deliver bad news. There is always time to salvage things. There is always time to fix things. Henry Kissinger said that anything that can be revealed eventually should be revealed immediately. 7. Last, be willing to do whatever it takes to get your job done. If you’ve got a job that you don’t love enough to do what it takes to get your job done, then quit and get one that you do love, and then make a difference. Honesty. Integrity. Principal. Sounds good so far. Let us say just for argument, he had chief executive experience. Let us say just or argument that he once ran a state, one of the fifty in this union. Let us say while governor, this is what he did….. During his tenure, New Mexico experienced the longest period without a tax-increase in the state’s entire history. 1) He cut the rate of government growth in half, 2) Left the New Mexico state government with a budget surplus and 1000 fewer employees (without firing anyone), 3) Privatized half of the prisons in the state, 4) Brought a state-wide school voucher system to New Mexico. 5) Vetoed 750 bills (more than all the vetoes of the other 49 Governors in the country at that time, combined) with only 2 overrides, earning him the nickname Gary “Veto” Johnson. 6) In 1999, Johnson became the highest-ranking elected official in the United States to advocate the legalization of drugs. 7) Shifted Medicaid to managed care. ISN’T THAT WHAT YOU WANT? ISN’T THAT WHAT WE NEED? Can you not think of a better way to show your lack of enthusiasm over a wealthy capitalist buying his way to the top of your ticket, by voting for someone who has character, who does what you’ve always wanted, a doer, not a talker? And to think…. you were simply just going to throw your vote away. His name is Gary Johnson. He is the new party’s candidate for President. Remember Republicans. It is your values that are important. If your party has given up and moved on from your values, don’t think you have to be loyal to the word…. “Republican”… What you have to be loyal too, is yourself. Always. Never lie to yourself. You don’t need to waste your vote on Romney. You probably need to find more about this guy, Gary Johnson, and then throw your support behind him. Don’t worry it is not one of the two parties on whose ticket he is running. Remember, at one point in time, the Republican Party was a once a third party too. One that went mainstream because of its core values, its principles resonated with everyday American People. New Hampshire Repeals Gay Marriage Bill March 23, 2012 in "Stupid is, Freedom of Speech, Life and Death, Live Free or Die, New Hampshire, Republican Majority Leader, Republican National Committee, Republican soul, Republicans are Gay, Revolutionary War, Rupert Murdoch, Rush Limbaugh, Scott Walker, sex should be private, Socialist Republicans, Stay Out Of My Pocket, Voting Integrity, Women's Prerogative \| Leave a comment Not so fast… The repeal failed… In a state that is OVERWHELMINGLY Republican, the vote was not even close….. 211 to 116 to keep same sex marriage as the law of the land in New Hampshire… It appears that the backlash against the trashy Rick Santorum, is making waves in the Republican Party itself… Running away from Social Conservatism and embracing the party’s roots in Libertarianism, the Republican Party of New Hampshire, may have found a method to survive in the modern world…… Eliminate the Social Conservatives…. Get rid of every stupid, stinkin’ thing they stand for….. Quite a few social conservatives checked themselves into the local hospital emergency room, as the whopping defeat made itself known….. What is probably the most fascinating aspect of this absolutely ridiculing and embarrassing defeat of social conservatism, is that the force to defeat it….. came from conservatism itself….. This was not a win by liberals… This was a win by conservatives for every American’s right to live free from the scorn that Social Conservatives heap on everyone who doesn’t share their cultish view. As Tea Party Republican Tammy Simmons correctly noted: “I always say that my liberty ends, where your liberty begins. …And if you’re a gay man wanting to marry another gay man, how does that impact me personally? You know,.. it doesn’t …” “It’s not about whether I’m Catholic or whether or not the party platform says this or whether or not the Democrats were the ones who brought it in the first place. All of that’s really irrelevant.” Social Conservatives are irrelevant. “It’s great to have faith and it’s great to have religion, but that should dictate your life, not how somebody else lives their life.” “The people that are supporting repeal want their personal religious views to be the law of the land. I hate to say it, but that’s really what it’s coming down to,”— Tammy Simmons Our founding fathers gave up everything, fought, and died to prevent that… Damned if we’re going to let these nuts tear up the Constitution… and take us back to the very Dark Ages of Enlightenment…… “We’ve got so many Republican state representatives that are opposed to this repeal effort. And it’s like the Republican Party’s getting back to its roots—values of individual freedom and liberty and equality. It’s been an exciting thing to see. I think that New Hampshire is going to be a model for the national Republican Party to see that it is okay for the Republicans to be inclusive of gays and lesbians and to be in favor of equal rights. It’s a new step forward for the party.” Tyler Deaton Finally, a Republican Party that is getting back to it’s roots… values of individual freedom and liberty and equality. Currently, if you valued freedom at all, the only place you could find it, was when you had a government consisting of all Democrats, and no Republicans……. Be Careful, Brian Selander. Be Very Careful… November 7, 2011 in "It's a Wonderful Life", "Its the economy, "My City Was Gone", Brian Selander, History Is Facts, Jack Markell, nuclear option, Oakland, Obama, Occupy Delaware, Occupy Wall Street, Revolutionary War, Stamp Act, stand down, Wilmington, Wilmington News Journal, wish it wasn't \| 1 comment Brian Selander to those of you who don’t know, is a really good guy… I bet he wishes (like most dads), that he had more time to spend with his children…. It happens quickly. You get a call. You just sat down at the dinner table. It’s a Sunday, the only time you ever get to spend with your family, … and it’s a reporter who says: “Occupy Delaware just defied the state government and is staking a claim at that plaza beside the Federal Building in Wilmington. Do you want to go on record with any statement or comment, considering you have now been defied and all?” You want to say, “I’m eating dinner with my family. Leave me alone, Ms Reporter!”… but you don’t. Instead the words come out without you thinking as that delicious smell of food that you almost had in your mouth, becomes all you really care about, and that professional part of you that functions so much that it is automatic, takes over and says something like: “The state made a very reasonable offer with the use of state managed properties at Brandywine and Fletcher Brown park,” Selander said. “It was an offer that respected constitutional rights to be heard and assemble. They’ve chosen a different path.” And it gets twisted like this: Brian Selander expressed dismay at the group’s decision to defy the state, for the second straight day, by choosing not to accept the Brandywine Park permit. Thinking you made a neutral statement that says nothing but holds them off for a while, you exit and go back to your dinner. You can be forgiven. I WOULD HAVE SAID THE SAME THING, primarily because I wouldn’t have had time to think about it first…. But thinking changes things, a lot. This is not some ragtag group of protesters. These are former professionals, people currently employed or not, who are scared to death, that their country is going down the wrong path, fast. As much as you and Jack have been scrambling to bring jobs here to Delaware, YOU KNOW THEY ARE RIGHT!! We ARE going down the wrong path, … and HAVE BEEN, ever since the 2000 elections! And the nuts who got elected from conservative districts in 2010, haven’t helped! What you have underestimated, Brian, is the amount of resonance this movement has. They, are expressing the sentiments of a vast majority of humanity. Those human beings have looked for “hope” when “change” was promised… and not delivered. They looked with “promise”, when “throwing out the bums” was “delivered”, but things got worse. What you may not realize is that most Americans look at this Occupy Movement, and say, “finally, finally, someone is saying what we feel. Even better, someone is doing something about it! It may not be much, but at least, SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING!” You, dear colleague, have the most unenviable task. In a way, you are in the exact same position as was King George’s governor of Massachusetts, attempting to put down the rebellious nature of its citizens…. If you remember history, you have only one time, ONE TIME, to get it right. Had the British immediately repealed the Stamp Act, and said, “thanks Colonies, for bringing it to our attention; you’re right, it was stupid of us to try that! Forgive us, we’ll do our best to act better in our future,” seriously, we’d be speaking Kings English right now. There would be no United States of America because there would not have been an American Revolution. In fact, as things continued to unravel in the colonies, the British did just that: repealed the Stamp Act. (Yep, it was too late.) Instead, the initial reaction was a response to those catcalls from the insignificants on the sidelines: “are you letting them get away with it? Are you some kinda pussy or something” (To be perfectly clear, I am talking about real cats here). They felt they had to show who was in charge and they cracked down, killing 6 in a massacre, and then later, sneaking off to the arsenals of Lexington and Concord to confiscate their powder and arms…. Bad plan. Today no one knows off the top of their head, the name of that governor of Massachusetts. But his actions, at his expense, planted the seed that grew into the greatest nation this planet has ever known. Since you are a great guy, and have a family, and are in a very, very difficult position right now, I’m going to advise you how to work your way out of it… I could do it in an email, but I fully believe in public disclosure, for the simple reason that if I do it here, all know, and if the possibility rises that a flaw exists, someone is sure to point it out in public, and the action in question can be amended to cover that detail. Make sense? Never give into bullies. The bullies here are NOT the “Occupy Movement.” They are Greg Lavelle and the 9/12 Patriots. How many Republicans are there in Delaware? You don’t need them. You do need the rest of us. So what I would do, is strategically take this approach. “These people are citizens of this nation. They are protected by the U.S Constitution like everyone else. We are a fee based society. Sometimes, like the poll tax, those fees get in the way of pure democracy. Heaven forbid, that democracy could only exist, for those who could afford to pay a fee. In fact, the Stamp Act by the British, that event that triggered the American Revolution, was exactly that. A fee for a permit. Currently, the Occupy Movement is representing the revolutionary spirit that created this country. Likewise, they represent the moral equivalent of those who felt slavery, despite it’s being sanctioned by the Federal government, was intensely immoral, and an abomination. They too, like those who said it was wrong to have a second class citizenry, based solely upon the color of ones skin, even though that too, was approved and sanctioned by State governments around this nation. For this reason, we are going to issue permits for this group. They have the same right as every citizen in America, to make their grievances known. When the wealthy lost an election, they had money to advertise, set up rallies, buy media spokespersons, pour unheard amounts of money into tiny local campaigns. But when the poor want to do the same, we say, sorry, you can’t because you don’t have cash…. and your checks come back stamped: insufficient funds. One must wonder, if our current mayor, yes, that one who got his start during the Civil Rights movement right here in Wilmington, would be here today, if he, failed, yes, failed to lead a protest on some steps near here, because to do so, he would have first, had to pay a fee? A fee/permit system is the surest method to silence the poor. Yet those who can’t afford it, were expressly given the same rights under the Constitution of the United States of America. They were given them, simply because, we were going to be a nation designed like no other, where each person, no matter his income, had the equal right to life, to liberty, and to their individual pursuit of happiness.. Like Philadelphia to the north of us, Baltimore to the south of us, New York to the northeast of us, we too will allow these citizens of the Occupy movement, to make their grievances known, in their own way. Their symbol of communication, is with tents. We ask, and have been given assurances, that they will respect every other citizen’s rights and property, in their pursuit of expressing their message. We wish them luck with their endeavor. Simple, short, to the point. Your second term is safe. But, it couldn’t hurt to have the entire line of Democratic office holders, sail by Greg Lavelle, the GOP, and the 9/12 with gun-ports open, cannons fully loaded and primed, and unleash a fusilade of the like that has never before been seen, equating Greg Lavelle, the GOP, and the 9/12 Patriots with the likes of King George, Southern Plantation Owners, and Southern Whites who enforced segregation. That’s exactly what they are. Hanging on to power by impeding democracy; not celebrating it. How Much Did Eric Cantor Cost You? September 15, 2011 in Eric Cantor, republican ineptitude, Republican intimidation, Republican Lies, Republican Majority Leader, Republican National Committee, Republican soul, Republicans = Bad Guys, Revolutionary War, rich get richer, Support Mind Altering Drugs For Republicans \| Leave a comment Did you get your IRA or Keogh plan financials yet? Just wondering how much the “contrived” debt ceiling crises cost you? The debt ceiling was raised 7 times during the Bush administration but it was never a crises… Why? Because it was the Republicans doing it.. Now, put a Democrat in the White House who is up for re-election, and presto… we have a crises… The Republicans wanted to default the government. That is a pretty bad crises. So how much did this Cantor-ization cost you? 6%? If your plan currently has a value of $50,000 Eric Cantor directly cost you a cool $3,000. At $100,000 Eric Cantor cost you $6,000. At $200,000 Eric Cantor cost you $12,000. At $300,000 Eric Cantor cost you $18,000.. In just 3 months. Multiply those by four to find out how much Republicans will cost you in just one year?… Now add that cost to what the last recession cost you. A job? Your house? Lost savings? Now you are beginning to see the true value of what Eric Cantor offers… the financial equivalent of death and destruction. Don’t be too hard on yourselves. You were fooled. Fooled by the very people profiting off every dollar you spend. You were not told the truth, so you cannot blame yourself for not knowing… Truth is: Republicans are the touch of death……. Not the individuals who make up the party, not the people!… they didn’t know either. Just like forgiving the German people for the sins of their leader, we carry no animosity for those who were corralled by their party, who supported Republicans for other issues, without understanding the consequences of their actions… They were victims too. Everyone needs to call Republican out for what they are. it would have been nice if the same had happened in Nazi Germany during the ’30’s….. So? How much did Eric Cantor cost you? How much will he cost you tomorrow? How much will he cost you again next year? Republicans Cost to the World Today….. $1.2 Trillion July 25, 2011 in "Stupid is, 10 Election Results, A Dad's Responsibility, abolish Medicare, Accountability, administration policy, affordable housing, AFL-CIO, Afro Americans, Akron, America's morals, American Press Corp, American Right to Privacy, Anderson Cooper 360, AOL, AP Wireservices, Apostle Paul, as stupid does", bad hair day, Balanced Budget Amendment, Bank Bailouts, bank failures, Ben Bernanke, Bernie Sanders, Bill Clinton, bipartisanship, campaign finance, civil disobediance, Cleavage Shots, CNN, CNN Sucks, Colbert Report, Committee to Finance Marijuana, Conservative Movement, Controller General, Corporate Bailouts, Corporate Bankruptcies, credit rates, Dallas Cowboys, Damn Dixie Cups, darn it, Dave Burris, David Anderson, David Plouffe, David Walker, Death of Conservatism, Death of Democracy, Death of Unions, debt, Debt Ceiling Crisis, Democrats = Good Guys, Democrats Rule; Republicans Drool, Democrats vrs. Republicans, Do Something!, Dumbing of America, Earmarks, easy credit, Economic collapse, economic fallout, Entitlements, Eric Cantor, ethics, exports and job creation, Fall of Rome, fiscal responsibility, Fox News, FSP, It's an Investment, J P Morgan, Japan's banking crises, Jobs lost, John Boehner, Koch Brothers, labor unions, Laura Ingram, Life and Death, Loss of Party Influence, making bets, Malkin, Medicaid, Medicare, Mexican economic benefits, money in politics, National Debt, NSA, nuclear option, nuclear weapons, Obama, open government, Organized Labor, Paul Wellstone, political favors, political humor, political letters, poor get poorer, President Obama, Presidential Politics, republican ineptitude, Republican intimidation, Republican Lies, Republican Majority Leader, Republican National Committee, Republican soul, Republicans = Bad Guys, retailer's rights, Revolutionary War, rich get richer, Rising Insurance Premiums, Ron Paul, Ronald Reagan, rsmitty, Run on the Bank, Rupert Murdoch, Rush Limbaugh, sex should be private, Sherry Williams, Sith Lord, slave labor, Sleaser Soddy Institute, Socialist Republicans, Speaker of the House, stand down, Star Wars, State of Denial, Stimulus Package, stock market, stock market crash, Stupid, Support Mind Altering Drugs For Republicans, Tea Party versus Republicans, top marginal tax rate, torture, Trillion Dollar War, truth in advertising, Viva Viagra, Voting Integrity, Wall Street Journal, Want Some Tea, washington post, WDEL, Weekend news cycle, WGMD, Wilmington, Wisconsin, wish it wasn't, women' rights, Women's Prerogative, Wrong Williams \| Leave a comment The global markets lost 1% today… Actually that is pretty good. The losses stemmed over the fact that Republicans won’t allow new revenue to enhance our failing budget……. Like George Washington, they want to apply more leeches (tax cuts) which eventually will bleed the father of our country dry, and kill him dead. There are great ideas to get around the impasse…… One was so close last week in which Obama and Boehner had come almost to a 4$ Trillion Deal… It was so, so close. Boehner was about to become the Alexander Hamilton of the 21st Century: Historians would forever know him as the man who brought America back from economic ruin……. But Boehner’s owner, jerked hard on his leash… cracking Boehner’s trachea. He then spun Boehner to the ground, and applied zip strips to his wrists and ankles. He then tazed Boehner repeatedly. For the first time in his life, Boehner did not cry. He was then strapped to a board, tilted backwards into a tank of water, and held for 45 seconds, over 111 times. He was then blindfolded and pummelled with cans of Pepsi, embedded in old cotton socks, leaving no evidence. He then poked with a tube, in his (you know where) and the other end was attached to a fire hydrant. The next morning, Boehner said the deal was off; he refused to return Obama’s calls. Leaks from those working for his owners, tell us the taxes on the wealthy 1% were the sole reason Boehner was given “the treatment”… It’s a damn shame; for a package of $3 trillion in cuts, (yes, includes modifications to SS and Medicare) and a Trillion in tax increases on the top 1%… would shake the dynamics of our economy. It would spur investment here in America. It would therefore create jobs. It would stop the uncertainty where America was financially headed. It would prevent the immediate loss to our economy of $4 billion a day. It would reduce the deficit over time, and save money spent paying interest, which could then be used for services. It would be the proper step at this time in the direction we need to go. But, if the US defaults on its debt, nothing in the financial markets is sacred, and when nothing is sacred, that… causes panics… And a panic in 1929… caused the Great Depression. A panic in 2008, caused the mess we’re in right now. The world’s managed wealth is $122 trillion… A one percent drop.. is $1.2 trillion. That is the amount, that one half, of one third our government,… cost the world today. They are kids, playing with a live junction box… Sticking a screwdriver in the wrong hole, burns down the entire house…… (At $50,000 a job, today’s loss is the financial equivalent of putting 24 million human beings out of work) If Republicans Cannot Trust Copeland, Why Should You? November 3, 2008 in America's morals, Charlie Copeland, Delaware, Elections 08, republican ineptitude, Republican intimidation, Republican Majority Leader, Republican National Committee, Republican soul, Revolutionary War \| Tags: Charlie Copeland \| 8 comments Artistic Photography Courtesy of Delaware Liberal Poor Bill Lee… Copeland asks, then begs, then pleads with him to run as Governor so Charlie and Protack would not be running mates…. and Charlie turns around and endorsed Jack Markell?… Poor Bill Lee is crushed right now, and no expert spin performed by Ms. Evans could ever put a good face on that once great Republican again… Charlie appears to have sold out the entire party to salvage his own future career… What? No support for McCain? What? No support for Sarah Palin? What? No support for what was once said on circuit…”his good friend” Bill Lee? Just support Charlie Copeland for Lieutenant Governor? Obviously no Republican will vote for him now… What’s Charlie planning to do? Start the Dupont Political party beginning November? He had better think of something… In the meantime….Poor Bill Lee. As an aside… why would anyone want to put in a snake into office… when such a hero is standing by? Matt Denn by his actions alone, has saved every insured Delawarean at least $100 on insurance costs, by delinking credit scoring with insurance rates….. If Republicans can’t trust Copeland… should you?	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2029
__label__wiki	0.732323	0.732323	in: LGBT musicians from the United States, Christian LGBT people Jason and deMarco Revision as of 19:20, 31 October 2016 by Miiohau's bot (talk \| contribs) (clean up, replaced: {{reflist}} → <references />) Jason Warner (born 1975) and deMarco DeCiccio (born 1976) are a Christian musical duo (and life partners) with outreach to the LGBT community. Robert Jason Nicewarner, who changed his name to "Jason Warner" before becoming a duo with deMarco, is a 1997 graduate of Lee University in Tennessee, and comes from a Pentecostal faith background. Marco DeCiccio, who is now known as deMarco, grew up a Roman Catholic, is a native of Canada and a 1999 graduate of York University. Jason and deMarco met in 2001 in Hollywood, California. Before launching their duo act, deMarco was a lead in the international touring company of the musical "California Dream Men" and Jason was a Christian artist in mainline traditional Gospel groups, and then as a solo artist touring mostly through Metropolitan Community Church, gay-accepting churches. The duo released their first album together, The Spirit of Christmas, in 2002 followed by 2003's Songs for the Spirit. In 2004, they appeared on the cover of The Advocate magazine with their new album Spirit Pop. In early 2005, they started working with Letthead Productions, a recording studio and production company based in Houston. They released their fourth album, Till the End of Time, produced by Alan Lett, with additional production from Joe Hogue, Eddie X and Luigie Gonzalez. Seven of the album's twelve songs are written by Jason and deMarco. Jason and deMarco's first single, "Trying to Get to You," climbed the Billboard Charts and their second single, "This is Love", won "Music Video of the Year 2006" on MTV's LOGO. A full-length feature documentary film entitled We're All Angels premiered at NewFest 2007 (the 19th Annual New York LGBT Film Festival), and at Outfest 2007 (the 25th Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival). They have a fan club "The Angel Club," based on the We're All Angels documentary. In 2007, Jason joined the staff at Unity Church of Christianity in Houston, Texas under the leadership of Rev. Howard Caesar. He is a Young Adult and Youth Leader as well as a Contemporary Worship Leader, performing with deMarco.[1] The couple married in Los Angeles in 2008 prior to the passage of Proposition 8.[2][3] the couple performed at summit united Methodist church in Columbus Ohio in September. ↑ http://www.scucaregion.com/NGU.html ↑ http://www.gay-sd.com/jason-demarco-return/ ↑ http://www.jasonanddemarco.com/forum/topics/answers-about-jds-wedding-and Jason and deMarco home page Jason and deMarco's Angel Fan Club This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Jason and deMarco. The list of authors can be seen in the page history.. As with LGBT Info, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0. LGBT musicians from the United States Christian LGBT people More LGBT Info 1 Craig of the Creek 2 Steven Universe 3 Moonbyul	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2031
__label__wiki	0.707961	0.707961	CDR 512 Introduction to Law CDR 512 Introduction to Law: Reading list Module Description: This module is intended for students who do not have a professional Law background. The module therefore provides an introduction to the key aspects and features of relevant legal systems which form the foundation for law in the construction industry. Topics include: nature of law, major legal traditions, common law, civil law and Shari'a, the law of contract, particular contracts, law of tort, remedies and defences, restitutionary remedies, torts, intro to public law, intro to European law and property. E Mckendrick, Contract Law (12th edn, Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire 2017). E Peel, Treitel: The Law of Contract (14th edn, Thomson Reuters, London 2015). E MacIntyre, Business Law (9th rev. ed, Pearson UK 2018). R Ward, A Akhtar, Walker & Walker’s English Legal System (11th edn, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2011). C Boundy, Business Contracts Handbook (Gower, 2010). M. Keshavjee, Islam, Sharia and Alternative Dispute: Mechanism for Legal Redress in the Muslim Community (A.B. Tauris, 2013). Key indicative readings R Price, United Arab Emirates Court of Cassation judgments (Kluwer 1998 and Brill 2005). C Wild, Smith & Keenan’s English Law: Text and Cases (17th edn, Pearson, Harlow 2013). S Deakin, Markesinis & Deakin’s Tort Law (7th edn, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2012). E. Al Tamimi, Practical Guide to Litigation and Arbitration in the United Arab Emirates : A Detailed Guide to Litigation and Arbitration in the United Arab Emirates (Kluwer Law International, 2003) W V H Rogers, Winfield & Jolowicz on Tort (19th edn, Sweet & Maxwell, London 2014). P S Atiyah, Introduction to the Law of Contract (6th edn, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2006). S Cottrell, The Study Skills Handbook (4th edn, Palgrave Macmillan, New York 2013).	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2034
__label__wiki	0.665234	0.665234	kottke.org posts about Michael Hobbes Podcast Recommendation: You’re Wrong About posted by Jason Kottke Oct 12, 2020 My favorite podcast right now is You’re Wrong About, hosted by journalists Sarah Marshall and Michael Hobbes. So I was pleased to see Rachel Syme’s profile of the show in the New Yorker this morning. Marshall and Hobbes are endlessly curious about their own blind spots, which they hunt down like truffle pigs set loose in a damp forest. Each brings a unique view and tone to the show; Marshall is more world-weary and sardonic, with a gravelly voice that sounds not unlike the caustic cartoon character Daria Morgendorffer. Hobbes is excitable and buzzing, often so eager to rattle off information that he speaks in full paragraphs. Together, they make up a kind of millennial Statler and Waldorf, heckling the shoddy journalism of the past. But even their response to the media is one of amusement, or droll resignation-they stay far away from the outrage that has become the pattern of public life. (Indignation would imply certainty, and certainty would cut against the core of their project.) In one episode, the hosts discuss the Y2K-bug scare, in which people feared that the year 2000 would cause computer systems — and society at large — to crash. Hobbes tells Marshall that people often use the subject as a bludgeon. “When we’re talking about climate change, people will bring up, like, Oh, we were worried about Y2K, too, and that turned out to be a hoax,” he says. “And somebody else will respond to that by saying, No, Y2K is an example of us coming together and fixing a problem.” After he’s done, Marshall playfully clears her throat. Then she says, “And, since we have now had two years of doing this show, I am able to extrapolate that perhaps the answer is no one is right.” If you haven’t listened to the show before and your interest is piqued after reading that, I’ll give you some of my favorite episodes: Their still-ongoing series about The OJ Simpson Trial is simply fantastic. My only criticism of the excellent OJ: Made in America documentary was that they didn’t spend enough time on violence against women and You’re Wrong About is very persuasive in arguing that it was a central issue in this case. The four-part DC Snipers series is just as good as the OJ series. At the time, this was painted as radical Islamic terrorism but the actual motivations of the killers had much more to do with toxic masculinity than religion. Why Didn’t Anyone Go to Prison for the Financial Crisis? This episode is noteworthy in that they don’t actually talk that much about the circumstances of the 2008 financial crisis, but after listening you totally know the answer to the title’s question. I could have listened to an expanded 2-3 part series of this one. More recently, the two-part Tuskegee Syphilis Study is worth a listen. But I’ve only been listening to the show for a little over a year and haven’t gone back into the archive that much. Other episodes that have gotten a lot of love from fans include Tonya Harding, Kitty Genovese, and Terri Schiavo. So much more to explore! Michael Hobbes Rachel Syme You’re Wrong About	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2036
__label__cc	0.732632	0.267368	Raptors in a changing world: Understanding the response of predators to increasing urbanisation by Dr Petra Sumasgutner 751 751 people viewed this event. Urban development is increasing across the globe and poses a major threat to biodiversity, which is often relatively low in human-modified landscapes. More people live in urban than in rural areas globally, and the urbanization trend is faster in Africa and Asia than in any other region of the world. Avian predators are amongst the most vulnerable species to urbanization, but a few have persisted, thus contributing substantially to functional diversity in urban habitats. To date, the majority of urban raptor research has occurred in North America and Europe, but findings from one region may not necessarily translate to populations of the same or similar species across regions. This scarcity of research is despite the fact that Africa hosts its own unique assemblage of raptor species many of which face substantial conservation challenges. Urban areas might create valuable opportunities for public engagement and urban conservation. In this talk I will focus on the responses of raptors to increasing urbanization, providing examples from across the globe and highlighting urban raptor research from Africa. My own research has used long-term data of individually colour-ringed populations to better understand the key resources which attract raptors to urbanized areas, and explores how the decision to settle in urbanized areas can affect individual health, productivity and survival. Find my time zone Bird biology Dr Petra Sumasgutner Petra is an urban ecologist and raptor researcher who recently transitioned from a post-doc fellowship at the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, Cape Town to the Konrad Lorenz Research Centre in Austria. She initiated the Viennese Kestrel Project as her PhD research, and graduated from the University of Vienna in 2014. Ever since she has been involved in a variety of post-doc projects, bringing her to Northern Finland and Southern Africa, where she worked on several different urban raptor species, including Black Sparrowhawks, Peregrine Falcons and Crowned Eagles. In her current project she focuses on movement ecology of common ravens and behavioural adaptations in the face of global change and inter-species interactions within the scavenger community of the Alps. Faceboo	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2039
__label__cc	0.643429	0.356571	PDF2 PDF \|Add To My Favorites \| Version: 03/30/17 - Amended Assembly 02/17/17 - Introduced AB-1123 Virtual currency: regulation.(2017-2018) Date Published: 03/31/2017 04:00 AM AB1123:v98#DOCUMENT Amended IN Assembly March 30, 2017 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION Assembly Bill Introduced by Assembly Member Dababneh An act to amend Section 14002 of the Financial Code, relating to credit unions. An act to repeal Section 107 of the Corporations Code, and to add Section 2178 to, and to add Division 11 (commencing with Section 26000) to, the Financial Code, relating to currency. AB 1123, as amended, Dababneh. Credit unions. Virtual currency: regulation. Existing law, the Money Transmission Act, prohibits a person from engaging in the business of money transmission in this state, or advertising, soliciting, or holding itself out as providing money transmission in this state, unless the person is licensed by the Commissioner of Business Oversight or exempt from licensure under the act. Existing law requires applicants for licensure to pay the commissioner a specified nonrefundable fee and to complete an application form requiring certain information. As security, existing law requires each licensee to deposit and maintain on deposit with the Treasurer cash in an amount not less than, or securities having a market value not less than, such amount as the commissioner may find and order from time to time as necessary to secure the faithful performance of the obligations of the licensee with respect to money transmission in this state. Existing law requires a licensee at all times to own eligible securities, as defined, in a specified aggregate amount not less than the amount of all of its outstanding money received for transmission, as specified. This bill would enact the Virtual Currency Act. The bill would prohibit a person from engaging in any virtual currency business, as defined, in this state unless the person is licensed by the Commissioner of Business Oversight or is exempt from the licensure requirement, as provided. The bill would require applicants for licensure, including an applicant for licensure and approval to acquire control of a licensee, to pay the commissioner a specified nonrefundable application fee and complete an application form required to include, among other things, information about the applicant, prior virtual currency services provided by the applicant, a sample form of receipt for transactions involving the business of virtual currency, and specified financial statements. The bill would make these licenses subject to annual renewal and would require a renewal fee paid to the commissioner in a specified amount. The bill would require licensees to annually pay the commissioner a specified amount for each licensee branch office. The bill would require applicants and licensees to pay the commissioner a specified hourly amount for the commissioner’s examination costs, as provided. The bill would also require the commissioner to levy an assessment each fiscal year, on a pro rata basis, on licensees in an amount sufficient to meet the commissioner’s expenses in administering these provisions and to provide a reasonable reserve for contingencies. This bill would require each licensee to maintain at all times such capital as the commissioner determines, subject to specified factors, is sufficient to ensure the safety and soundness of the licensee, its ongoing operations, and maintain consumer protection. The bill would require each licensee to maintain a bond or trust account in United States dollars for the benefit of its consumers in the form and amount as specified by the commissioner. This bill would authorize the commissioner to examine the business and any branch office of any licensee to ascertain whether the business is being conducted in a lawful manner and all virtual currency is properly accounted for. The bill would require a licensee to file a report with the commissioner within a specified period of time after the licensee knows about the occurrence of certain events relating to the virtual currency business and those persons connected to that business, and to also maintain records as required by the commissioner for a specified period of time. With regard to enforcement, among other things, this bill would, if it appears that a licensee is violating or failing to comply with these provisions or conducting business in an unsafe or injurious manner, authorize the commissioner to order the licensee to comply or discontinue those practices. The bill would also authorize the commissioner to issue an order suspending or revoking a license, or placing a licensee in receivership, if after notice and an opportunity for a hearing, the commissioner makes a specified finding. The bill would provide that every order, decision, or other official act of the commissioner is subject to review. This bill would authorize the commissioner to impose a civil penalty for a violation of these provisions. Within a specified period after the fiscal year, the bill would require a licensee to file with the commissioner a specified audit report. Within a specified period after the end of each calendar quarter, the bill would require a licensee to file with the commissioner a report containing financial statements verified by 2 of the licensee’s principal officers. This bill would require a licensee to provide a specified consumer protection disclosure and receipt to its consumers. This bill would authorize a virtual currency licensee in good standing that plans to engage in activities permitted under the Money Transmission Act to request that the commissioner convert his or her license into a license under the Money Transmission Act, as specified. The bill would authorize a person or entity conducting virtual currency business with less than $1,000,000 in outstanding obligations and whose business model, as determined by the commissioner, represents low or no risk to consumers to register with a $500 license fee and, if approved, receive a provisional license to conduct virtual currency business. This bill would require a licensee, under the Money Transmission Act, to report to the commissioner its plan to engage in any virtual currency business and request permission to engage in that business subject to specified requirements and conditions, as determined by the commissioner. This bill would make these provisions including the Virtual Currency Act operative on July 1, 2018. (2) Existing law, the General Corporation Law, prohibits a corporation, social purpose corporation, association, or individual from issuing or putting in circulation, as money, anything but the lawful money of the United States. This bill would delete that prohibition. Existing law, the California Credit Union Law, defines and regulates the formation, management, and dissolution of credit unions to the extent not preempted by federal law. The law defines credit union for these purposes. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change in the definition of credit unions. Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NOYES Local Program: NO Section 107 of the Corporations Code is repealed. No corporation, social purpose corporation, association, or individual shall issue or put in circulation, as money, anything but the lawful money of the United States. Section 2178 is added to the Financial Code, to read: (a) Notwithstanding any other law and consistent with subdivision (e) of Section 26004, a licensee shall report to the commissioner its plan to engage in any virtual currency business as described in Division 11 (commencing with Section 26000) and request, on a form provided by the commissioner, permission to engage in any virtual currency business without the issuance of a virtual currency license issued under Division 11 (commencing with Section 26000). However, the commissioner may require the licensee to increase its surety bond or eligible securities amounts in an amount necessary to ensure the consumer protection of the additional business. The commissioner may also place, as a condition on the authorization to engage in any virtual currency business pursuant to Division 11 (commencing with Section 26000), any condition authorized by Section 2036. (b) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2018. Division 11 (commencing with Section 26000) is added to the Financial Code, to read: DIVISION 11. Virtual Currency For purposes of this division, the following definitions shall apply: (a) “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Business Oversight. (b) (1) “Virtual currency” means any type of digital unit that is used as a medium of exchange or a form of digitally stored value. (2) Virtual currency does not include the following: (A) Digital units that are used solely within online gaming platforms with no market or application outside of those gaming platforms. (B) Digital units that are used exclusively as part of a consumer affinity or rewards program. (C) Digital units that can be redeemed for goods, services, or for purchases with the issuer or other designated merchants, but cannot be converted into, or redeemed for, fiat currency. (c) “Virtual currency business” means maintaining full custody or control of virtual currency in this state on behalf of others. (d) “Fiat currency” means government-issued currency that is designated as legal tender through government decree, regulation, or law, that customarily refers to paper money and coin and is circulated, used, and accepted as money. For the purposes of carrying out the provisions of this division, the commissioner may adopt regulations pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code). This division shall be known and may be cited as the Virtual Currency Act. A person shall not engage in any virtual currency business in this state unless the person is licensed or exempt from licensure under this division. The following are exempt from the licensing requirement described in Section 26002: (a) The United States or a department, agency, or instrumentality thereof, including any federal reserve bank and any federal home loan bank. (b) Money transmission by the United States Postal Service or by a contractor on behalf of the United States Postal Service. (c) A state, city, county, city and county, or any other governmental agency or governmental subdivision of a state. (d) A commercial bank or industrial bank, the deposits of which are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or its successor, or any foreign (other nation) bank that is licensed under Chapter 20 (commencing with Section 1750) of Division 1.1 or that is authorized under federal law to maintain a federal agency or federal branch office in this state; a trust company licensed pursuant to Section 1042 or a national association authorized under federal law to engage in a trust banking business; an association or federal association, as defined in Section 5102, the deposits of which are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or its successor; and any federally or state chartered credit union, with an office in this state, the member accounts of which are insured or guaranteed as provided in Section 14858. (e) Subject to Section 2178, an entity licensed as a money transmitter under the Money Transmission Act described in Division 1.2 (commencing with Section 2000). (f) A merchant or consumer that utilizes virtual currency solely for the purchase or sale of goods or services. (g) (1) A transaction in which the recipient of virtual currency is an agent of the payee pursuant to a preexisting written contract and delivery of the virtual currency to the agent satisfies the payor’s obligation to the payee. (2) For purposes of this subdivision, the following shall apply: (A) “Agent” has the same meaning as that term is defined in Section 2295 of the Civil Code. (B) “Payee” means the provider of goods or services, who is owed payment of money or other monetary value from the payor for the goods or services. (C) “Payor” means the recipient of goods or services, who owes payment of money or monetary value to the payee for the goods or services. (h) A person or entity developing, distributing, or servicing a virtual currency network software. (i) A person or entity contributing software, connectivity, or computing power to a virtual currency network. (j) A person or entity providing data storage or cyber security services for a licensed virtual currency business. (a) An applicant for licensure under this division shall pay to the commissioner a nonrefundable application fee of five thousand dollars ($5,000). (b) An applicant for a license shall do so in a form and in a medium prescribed by the commissioner by order or regulation. The application shall state or contain all of the following: (1) The legal name and residential business address of the applicant and any fictitious or trade name used by the applicant in conducting its business. (2) A list of any criminal convictions of the applicant and any material litigation in which the applicant has been involved in the 10-year period next preceding the submission of the application. (3) A description of any virtual currency services previously provided by the applicant and the virtual currency services that the applicant seeks to provide in this state. (4) A list of other states in which the applicant is licensed to engage in the business of virtual currency and any license revocations, suspensions, or other disciplinary action taken against the applicant in another state. (5) Information concerning any bankruptcy or receivership proceedings affecting the licensee. (6) A sample form of receipt for transactions that involve money received for the business of virtual currency. (7) The name and address of any bank through which the applicant’s business will be conducted. (8) A description of the source of money and credit to be used by the applicant to provide virtual currency services. (9) The date of the applicant’s incorporation or formation and the state or country of incorporation or formation. (10) A certificate of good standing from the state or country in which the applicant is incorporated or formed. (11) A description of the structure or organization of the applicant, including any parent or subsidiary of the applicant, and whether any parent or subsidiary is publicly traded. (12) The legal name, any fictitious or trade name, all business and residential addresses, and the employment, in the 10-year period next preceding the submission of the application, of each executive officer, manager, director, or person that has control, of the applicant, and the educational background for each person. (13) A list of any criminal convictions and material litigation in which any executive officer, manager, director, or person in control, of the applicant has been involved in the 10-year period next preceding the submission of the application. (14) A copy of the applicant’s audited financial statements for the most recent fiscal year and, if available, for the two-year period next preceding the submission of the application. (15) A copy of the applicant’s unconsolidated financial statements for the current fiscal year, whether audited or not, and, if available, for the two-year period next preceding the submission of the application. (16) If the applicant is publicly traded, a copy of the most recent report filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission under Section 13 of the federal Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. Sec. 78m). (17) If the applicant is a wholly owned subsidiary of: (A) A corporation publicly traded in the United States, a copy of audited financial statements for the parent corporation for the most recent fiscal year or a copy of the parent corporation’s most recent report filed under Section 13 of the federal Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. Sec. 78m) and, if available, for the two-year period next preceding the submission of the application. (B) A corporation publicly traded outside the United States, a copy of similar documentation filed with the regulator of the parent corporation’s domicile outside the United States. (18) The applicant’s plan for engaging in the business of virtual currency, including without limitation three years of pro forma financial statements. (19) Any other information the commissioner requires with respect to the applicant. (c) The commissioner may waive any of the information required under subdivision (b) or permit an applicant to submit other information instead of the required information. (d) The nonrefundable application fee for filing an application for licensure and approval to acquire control of a licensee is three thousand five hundred dollars ($3,500). An applicant for licensure and approval shall comply with subdivision (b). (e) A licensee, including a licensee described in subdivision (b), shall pay annually on or before July 1, a license renewal fee of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500). (f) A licensee shall pay annually on or before July 1, one hundred twenty-five dollars ($125) for each licensee branch office in this state. (g) Whenever the commissioner examines a licensee, the licensee shall pay, within 10 days after receipt of a statement from the commissioner, a fee of seventy-five dollars ($75) per hour for each examiner engaged in the examination plus, if it is necessary for any examiner engaged in the examination to travel outside this state, the travel expenses of the examiner. (h) Whenever the commissioner examines an applicant, the applicant shall pay, within 10 days after receipt of a statement from the commissioner, a fee of seventy-five dollars ($75) per hour for each examiner engaged in the examination plus, if it is necessary for any examiner engaged in the examination to travel outside this state, the travel expenses of the examiner. (i) Each fee for filing an application shall be paid at the time the application is filed with the commissioner. No fee for filing an application shall be refundable, regardless of whether the application is approved, denied, or withdrawn. (a) Each licensee shall maintain at all times such capital as the commissioner determines is sufficient to ensure the safety and soundness of the licensee and maintain consumer protection and its ongoing operations. In determining the minimum amount of capital that must be maintained by a licensee, the commissioner shall consider a variety of factors, including, but not limited to: (1) The composition of the licensee’s total assets, including the position, size, liquidity, risk exposure, and price volatility of each type of asset. (2) The composition of the licensee’s total liabilities, including the size and repayment timing of each type of liability. (3) The actual and expected volume of the licensee’s virtual currency business activity. (4) Whether the licensee is already licensed or regulated by a state or federal entity, and whether the licensee is in good standing in such capacity. (5) The amount of leverage employed by the licensee. (6) The liquidity position of the licensee. (7) The financial protection that the licensee provides for its consumers through its trust account or bond. (b) Each licensee shall maintain a bond or trust account in United States dollars for the benefit of its consumers in the form and amount specified by the commissioner. CHAPTER 3. Examinations and Records (a) The commissioner may at any time and from time to time examine the business and any branch office, within or outside this state, of any licensee in order to ascertain whether that business is being conducted in a lawful manner and whether all virtual currency held or exchanged is properly accounted for. (b) The directors, officers, and employees of any licensee being examined by the commissioner shall exhibit to the commissioner, on request, any or all of the licensee’s accounts, books, correspondence, memoranda, papers, and other records and shall otherwise facilitate the examination so far as it may be in their power to do so. The commissioner may consult and cooperate with other state or federal regulators in enforcing and administering this division. They may jointly pursue examinations and take other official action that they are otherwise empowered to take. A licensee shall file a report with the commissioner within five business days after the licensee has reason to know of the occurrence any of the following events: (a) The filing of a petition by or against the licensee under the United States Bankruptcy Code (11 U.S.C. Secs. 101 to 110, inclusive) for bankruptcy or reorganization. (b) The filing of a petition by or against the licensee for receivership, the commencement of any other judicial or administrative proceeding for its dissolution or reorganization, or the making of a general assignment for the benefit of its creditors. (c) The commencement of a proceeding to revoke or suspend its virtual currency business license in a state or country in which the licensee engages in such business or is licensed to engage in such business. (d) The cancellation or other impairment of the licensee’s bond or trust account as required by subdivision (b) of Section 26008. (e) A charge or conviction of the licensee or of an executive officer, manager, director, or person in control of the licensee for a felony. A licensee shall maintain any records as required by the commissioner for determining its compliance with this division for at least three years. CHAPTER 4. Enforcement Any licensee may surrender its license by filing with the commissioner the license and a report with any information as the commissioner requires. The voluntary surrender of the license shall become effective at the time and upon the conditions as the commissioner specifies by order. (a) The commissioner may prepare written decisions, opinion letters, and other formal written guidance to be issued to persons seeking clarification regarding the requirements of this division. (b) The commissioner shall make public on the commissioner’s Internet Web site all written decisions, opinion letters, and other formal written guidance issued to persons seeking clarification regarding the requirements of this division. The commissioner may, at his or her discretion or upon request by an applicant or licensee, redact proprietary or other confidential information regarding an applicant or licensee from any decision, letter, or other written guidance issued in connection with an applicant or licensee. The commissioner may offer informal guidance to any prospective applicant for a license under this division, regarding the conditions of licensure that may be applied to that person. The commissioner shall inform any applicant that requests that guidance of the licensing requirements that will be required of that applicant, based on the information provided by the applicant concerning its plan to conduct business under this division, and the factors used to make that determination. At any time, if the commissioner deems it necessary for the general welfare of the public, he or she may exercise any power set forth in this division with respect to a virtual currency business, regardless of whether an application for a license has been filed with the commissioner, a license has been issued, or, if issued, the license has been surrendered, suspended, or revoked. (a) If it appears to the commissioner that a licensee is violating or failing to comply with this division, the commissioner may direct the licensee to comply with the law by an order issued under the commissioner’s official seal, or if it appears to the commissioner that any licensee is conducting its business in an unsafe or injurious manner, the commissioner may in like manner direct it to discontinue the unsafe or injurious practices. The order shall require the licensee to show cause before the commissioner, at a time and place to be fixed by the commissioner, as to why the order should not be observed. (b) If, upon any hearing held pursuant to subdivision (a), the commissioner finds that the licensee is violating or failing to comply with any law of this state or is conducting its business in an unsafe or injurious manner, the commissioner may make a final order directing it to comply with the law or to discontinue the unsafe or injurious practices. A licensee shall comply with the final order unless, within 10 days after the issuance of the order, its enforcement is restrained in a proceeding brought by the licensee. (a) The commissioner may issue an order suspending or revoking a license, or taking possession of and placing a licensee in receivership, if after notice and an opportunity for hearing, the commissioner finds any of the following: (1) The licensee is violating this division or a regulation adopted or an order issued under this division, or a condition of approval issued under this division. (2) The licensee does not cooperate with an examination or investigation by the commissioner. (3) The licensee engages in fraud, intentional misrepresentation, or gross negligence. (4) The competence, experience, character, or general fitness of the licensee, or any director, officer, employee, or person in control of a licensee, indicates that it is not in the public interest to permit the person to provide virtual currency services. (5) The licensee engages in an unsafe or unsound practice. (6) The licensee is insolvent, suspends payment of its obligations, or makes a general assignment for the benefit of its creditors. (7) The licensee has applied for an adjudication of bankruptcy, reorganization, arrangement, or other relief under any bankruptcy, reorganization, insolvency, or moratorium law, or any person has applied for any such relief under that law against the licensee and the licensee has by any affirmative act approved of or consented to the action or the relief has been granted. (8) Any fact or condition exists that, if it had existed at the time when the licensee applied for its license, would have been grounds for denying the application. (b) In determining whether a licensee is engaging in an unsafe or unsound practice, the commissioner may consider the size and condition of the licensee’s provision of virtual currency services, the magnitude of the loss, the gravity of the violation of this division, and the previous conduct of the person involved. (a) Every order, decision, or other official act of the commissioner is subject to review in accordance with law. (b) Whenever the commissioner has taken possession of the property and business of any licensee, the licensee, within 10 days after that taking, if it deems itself aggrieved thereby, may apply to the superior court in the county in which the head office of the licensee is located to enjoin further proceedings. The court, after citing the commissioner to show cause why further proceedings should not be enjoined and after a hearing and a determination of the facts upon the merits, may dismiss the application or enjoin the commissioner from further proceedings and direct the commissioner to surrender the property and business to the licensee. (a) If the commissioner finds that any of the factors set forth in Section 26017 is true with respect to any licensee and that it is necessary for the protection of the public interest, the commissioner may issue an order immediately suspending or revoking the licensee’s license. (b) Within 30 days after the license is suspended or revoked pursuant to subdivision (a), the licensee may file with the commissioner an application for a hearing on the suspension or revocation. (c) If the commissioner fails to commence a hearing within 15 business days after the application is filed with the commissioner pursuant to subdivision (b) or within a longer period of time agreed to by the licensee, the suspension or revocation shall be deemed rescinded. (d) Within 30 days after the hearing, the commissioner shall affirm, modify, or rescind the suspension or revocation. Otherwise, the suspension or revocation shall be deemed rescinded. (e) The right of the licensee to petition for judicial review of the suspension or revocation shall not be affected by the failure of the licensee to apply to the commissioner for a hearing on the suspension or revocation pursuant to subdivision (b). The commissioner may assess a civil penalty against a person that violates this division or a regulation adopted or an order issued under this division in an amount not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each violation or, in the case of a continuing violation, one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each day or part thereof during which the violation continues, plus this state’s costs and expenses for the investigation and prosecution of the matter, including reasonable attorney’s fees. The enforcement provisions of this division are in addition to any other enforcement powers that the commissioner may have under law. (a) The commissioner may by order or regulation grant exemptions from this section in cases where the commissioner finds that the requirements of this section are not necessary or may be duplicative. (b) A licensee shall, within 90 days after the end of each fiscal year, or within any extended time as the commissioner may prescribe, file with the commissioner an audit report for the fiscal year that shall comply with all of the following provisions: (1) The audit report shall contain audited financial statements of the licensee for or as of the end of the fiscal year prepared in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles and any other information as the commissioner may require. (2) The audit report shall be based upon an audit of the licensee conducted in accordance with United States generally accepted auditing standards and any other requirements as the commissioner may prescribe. (3) The audit report shall be prepared by an independent certified public accountant or independent public accountant who is not unsatisfactory to the commissioner. (4) The audit report shall include or be accompanied by a certificate of opinion of the independent certified public accountant or independent public accountant that is satisfactory in form and content to the commissioner. If the certificate or opinion is qualified, the commissioner may order the licensee to take any action as the commissioner may find necessary to enable the independent or certified public accountant or independent public accountant to remove the qualification. (c) Each licensee shall, not more than 45 days after the end of each calendar year quarter, or within a longer period as the commissioner may by regulation or order specify, file with the commissioner a report containing all of the following: (1) Financial statements, including balance sheet, income statement, statement of changes in shareholders’ equity, and statement of cashflows, for, or as of the end of, that calendar year quarter, verified by two of the licensee’s principal officers. The verification shall state that each of the officers making the verification has a personal knowledge of the matters in the report and that each of them believes that each statement in the report is true. (2) Other information as the commissioner may by regulation or order require. In addition to the fees provided in Section 26006, the commissioner shall levy an assessment each fiscal year, on a pro rata basis, on those licensees that at any time during the preceding calendar year engaged in this state in the virtual currency business in an amount that is, in his or her judgment, sufficient to meet the commissioner’s expenses in administering the provisions of this division and to provide a reasonable reserve for contingencies. CHAPTER 5. Miscellaneous Provisions A licensee shall disclose to consumers the following disclosure in a form and manner prescribed by the commissioner: “Once submitted to the network, a virtual currency transaction will be unconfirmed for a period of time (usually less than one hour, but up to one day or more) pending sufficient confirmation of the transaction by the network. A transaction is not complete while it is in a pending state. Virtual currency associated with transactions that are in a pending state will be designated accordingly, and will not be included in your account balance or be available to conduct transactions. The risk of loss in trading or holding virtual currency can be substantial. You should therefore carefully consider whether trading or holding virtual currency is suitable for you in light of your financial condition. In considering whether to trade or hold virtual currency, you should be aware that the price or value of virtual currency can change rapidly, decrease, and potentially even fall to zero. (Insert company name) is licensed by the Department of Business Oversight to do business in California. If you have complaints with respect to any aspect of the virtual currency business conducted by (company name), you may contact the California Department of Business Oversight at its toll-free telephone number, 1-800-622-0620, by email at consumer.services@dbo.ca.gov, or by mail at the Department of Business Oversight, Consumer Services, 1515 K Street, Suite 200, Sacramento, CA 95814.” (a) Upon completion of a transaction subject to this division, the licensee shall provide to the consumer a receipt containing the following information: (1) The name and contact information of the licensee including a telephone number of the licensee where consumers can contact the licensee for questions or to register complaints. (2) The type, value, date, and time of the transaction. (3) The type and amount of any fees charged. (4) The exchange rate, if applicable. (5) A statement of the refund policy of the licensee. (6) Additional information the commissioner may require. (b) The receipt required by this section shall be made in English and in the language principally used by that licensee to advertise, solicit, or negotiate, either orally or in writing, if other than English. (c) The receipt required by this section may be provided electronically for transactions that are initiated electronically or in which a consumer agrees to receive an electronic receipt. The commissioner may, by regulation or order, either unconditionally or upon specified terms and conditions or for specified periods, exempt from all or part of this division any person or transaction or class of persons or transactions, if the commissioner finds such action to be in the public interest and that the regulation of such persons or transactions is not necessary for the purposes of this division. The commissioner shall post on the commissioner’s Internet Web site a list of all persons, transactions, or classes of person or transactions exempt pursuant to this section, and the provision or provisions of this division from which they are exempt. Notwithstanding any other law, a licensee in good standing under this division that plans to engage in activities permitted under the Money Transmission Act (Division 1.2 (commencing with Section 2000)) may request from the commissioner in a form specified by the commissioner to convert their license into a license under Division 1.2 (commencing with Section 2000). A licensee’s request to convert its license shall be accompanied by documentation or other evidence as determined by the commissioner that the licensee meets the requirements for licensure under Division 1.2 (commencing with Section 2000). If a licensee’s request for a converted license is granted, the licensee shall be subject to Section 2178 in order to thereafter engage in any virtual currency business. (a) A person or entity conducting virtual currency business with less than one million dollars ($1,000,000) in outstanding obligations and whose business model, as determined by the commissioner, represents low or no risk to consumers may register with a five-hundred-dollar ($500) license fee with the commissioner and, if approved, receive a provisional license to conduct virtual currency business. A person or entity that receives such a license shall also register with FinCEN as a money services business, if applicable. (b) In determining whether to issue a provisional license, the commissioner shall consider a variety of factors, including, but not limited to: (1) The nature and scope of the applicant’s business. (2) The anticipated volume of business to be transacted by the applicant in California. (3) The nature and scope of the risks that the applicant’s business presents to consumers. (4) The measures which the applicant has taken to limit or mitigate the risks its business presents. (5) Whether the applicant is regulated or otherwise authorized by another governmental entity to engage in financial services or other business activities. (c) The commissioner may require a provisional licensee to certify adherence to certain risk-based performance standards related to safety, soundness, and consumer protection as prescribed by the commissioner. (d) Based upon the factors identified in subdivision (b) and the provisional licensee’s history as a holder of a provisional license, the commissioner may at any time renew such license for an additional length of time or remove the provisional status from the license if the licensee meets all the requirements of this division. Unless the commissioner otherwise removes the provisional status of or renews such license, a provisional license shall expire two years after the date of issuance. If the commissioner renews a provisional license, the licensee shall pay a five-hundred-dollar ($500) renewal fee. (e) The commissioner may request reports and documents and may audit the provisional licensee as needed to further consumer protection and enhance safety and soundness. (f) A provisional licensee shall notify the commissioner within 15 days of surpassing the threshold in subdivision (a) and shall, within 30 days from that notice, apply for a license pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 26002). (g) A provisional license may be suspended or revoked pursuant to Section 26017. CHAPTER 6. Operative Date This division shall become operative on July 1, 2018. SECTION 1.Section 14002 of the Financial Code is amended to read: A credit union is a cooperative, organized for the purposes of promoting thrift and savings among its members, creating a source of credit for them at rates of interest set by the board of directors, and providing an opportunity for them to use and control their money on a democratic basis in order to improve their economic and social conditions. As a cooperative, a credit union conducts its business for the mutual benefit and general welfare of its members with the earnings, savings, benefits, or services of the credit union being distributed to its members as patrons.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2041
__label__wiki	0.871497	0.871497	Home China: Daily Scan, December 01, 2021 China: Daily Scan, December 01, 2021 Kota Mallikarjuna Gupta, Research Associate, VIF December 1 , 2021 Views: 265 Comments: 0 Wang Dongfeng elected Party chief of China's Hebei: Xinhuanet Wang Dongfeng has been elected secretary of the Hebei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Wang was elected to the post at the first plenary session of the 10th CPC Hebei Provincial Committee on MondayClick here to read... Shi Taifeng elected Party chief of Inner Mongolia: Xinhuanet Shi Taifeng has been elected secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional Committee. The election was held during the first plenary session of the 11th CPC Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional Committee on Tuesday. Click here to read... Wang Junzheng elected Tibet's Party chief: Xinhuanet Wang Junzheng has been elected secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee. The election took place during the first plenary session of the 10th CPC Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee on Tuesday. Click here to read... State Council announces appointment, removal of officials: Xinhuanet The State Council, China’s cabinet, on Tuesday announced the appointment and removal of several officials. Wang Zhiqing was appointed deputy secretary-general of the State Council, and no longer serves as vice minister of transport. Li Wentang was named a member of the academic affairs committee of the National Academy of Governance. Gao Yu was removed from the post of deputy secretary-general of the State Council. Click here to read... China’s national political advisory body hears special committee work reports: Xinhuanet China's top political advisor Wang Yang has urged the special committees under the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee to further improve their work to ensure the country's political advisory body better fulfills its role. Wang, who is a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, made the remarks while presiding over a meeting of the Chairpersons' Council of the CPPCC National Committee on Tuesday. Click here to read... Chinese premier urges enhanced pragmatic cooperation with Russia: Xinhuanet Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday co-chaired the 26th regular meeting between Chinese and Russian heads of government with his Russian counterpart Mikhail Mishustin via video link, urging the two sides to further inspire cooperation potential and improve the level of bilateral cooperation. Li said the two nations are global partners that provide each other with development opportunities, and China attaches great importance to relations with Russia. In spite of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two countries have witnessed new vitality in bilateral cooperation in all fields, Li added. Click here to read... Xi announces supplying Africa with additional 1 bln COVID-19 vaccine doses, pledges to jointly implement nine programs: China Military Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday announced that China would provide an additional 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa and pledged to jointly implement nine programs on China-Africa future cooperation. Click here to read... China's national political advisory body hears special committee work reports: People’s Daily China's top political advisor Wang Yang has urged the special committees under the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee to further improve their work to ensure the country's political advisory body better fulfills its role. Click here to read... Sinopec starts constructing mega-green hydrogen project in Xinjiang: People’s Daily The China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group), the country's largest oil refiner, said on Tuesday that it started the construction of a 20,000 tonnes-per-year green hydrogen plant in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. With an investment of nearly 3 billion yuan (about 470 million U.S. dollars), the project in Kuqa City includes five parts, including photovoltaic power generation, power transformation, electrolytic hydrogen production, hydrogen storage, and hydrogen transportation. Click here to read... HK students to receive values education with ‘Chinese culture as backbone’: Global Times According to newly published guidelines for secondary and primary schools in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, students will receive an education in values aimed at instilling positive values and attitudes with Chinese culture as the backbone. The Education Bureau (EDB) of the HKSAR unveiled on Tuesday the Values Education Curriculum Framework (Pilot Version), prepared by the Standing Committee on Values Education under the Curriculum Development CouncilClick here to read... China’s BeiDou in race with Nasa over laser communications in space: South China Morning Post China has conducted a pioneering high-speed communication experiment using lasers, rather than the usual radio signals, between satellites in its BeiDou navigation system and ground stations on Earth. The method could allow a satellite to beam data to the ground at several gigabytes per second, rather than kilobytes at present, according to researchers involved. BeiDou’s fastest communication performance in the experiment remains classified. Click here to read... Taiwanese tycoon ‘opposes independence’ after China fines firm US$74 million: South China Morning Post The chairman of a Taiwanese conglomerate said on Tuesday he does not support independence from China after Beijing fined his company in an apparent warning to it and other businesses to toe the mainland’s line on its sovereignty claims. Beijing took aim last week at Taiwan’s Far Eastern Group, which has interests ranging from hotels to petrochemicals, for a series of problems, from tax to fire safety, with fines totalling 474 million yuan (US$74 million). Click here to read... Related VIF Digest China: Daily Scan, January 17, 2022 Senior official of south China's Guangxi under probe: Xinhuanet January 15, 2022 Liu Hongwu, vice... Myanmar Round Up - December 2021 The ongoing conflict in the country between the military and opposition forces has resulted in a... China's new yuan loans rise in 2021: Xinhuanet January 12, 2022 China's new yuan-denominated loans... Xi stresses better understanding, use of CPC's centenary historical experience: Xinhuanet January... Global Developments and Analysis: Weekly Monitor, 03... Economic US becomes world’s top LNG exporter for first time ever The U.S. became the world’s No. 1... Former senior provincial legislator expelled from CPC: Xinhuanet January 10, 2022 Song Taiping, a... Chairman of Tibet regional government elected: Xinhuanet January 8, 2022 Yan Jinhai was elected... VIF Cyber Review: December 2021 NATIONAL Government to set up a unified Cyber Security Task Force by March 2022 Considering the...	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2045
__label__wiki	0.612707	0.612707	Gene Siskel (1946–1999) Writer \| Actor Gene Siskel was born on January 26, 1946 in Chicago, Illinois, USA as Eugene Kal Siskel. He was a ... Died: February 20, 1999 (age 53) Sneak Previews Writer (1975-1982) At the Movies Self - Host (1986-2010) The Larry Sanders Show Gene Siskel (1993) The Critic Gene Siskel (1995) Sneak Previews (1975-1977) The Movies That Made Us (2019-2021) Tom Cruise: An Eternal Youth (2020) Console Wars (2020) Daughter of Shanghai (2019) You Don't Nomi (2019) Minty Comedic Arts (2018-2019) What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael (2018) Waiting for Ishtar (2017) Quick Reviews with Maverick (2017) Chroma (2016) Nostalgia Critic (2013-2016) Everything Is Copy (2015) Batman: The Birth of the Modern Blockbuster (2014) Brows Held High (2014) Life Itself (2014) Ebert Presents: At the Movies (2011) At the Movies (1999-2010) The People vs. George Lucas (2010) The Oprah Winfrey Show (2010) Don't You Forget About Me (2009) Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film (2006) Tupac: Resurrection (2003) Mysteries of Love (2002) The 51st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1999) The 71st Annual Academy Awards (1999) Junket Whore (1998) Nominated for 7 Primetime Emmys. Another 2 wins & 3 nominations. Says he has only walked out of three movies in his career as a film critic. The movies were The Million Dollar Duck (1971), Maniac (1980), and Black Sheep (1996). Fargo (1996) was the last great film that I saw. Distinctive style of writing The Bald Guy Eugene Kal Siskel February 20, 1999 (age 53) Evanston, Illinois, USA 14 July 2021 \| Deadline Siskel & Ebert Narrative Podcast Series Set From Brian Raftery & The Ringer 26 March 2021 \| The Guardian - Film News Hear me out: why Speed 2: Cruise Control isn't a bad movie 14 February 2021 \| Gold Derby ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ devoured the competition and won the top 5 Oscars Rolling Stones' Top 20 Most Annoying Songs Critics and You Can Video Games Be Art? How much did IMDb change your life? #OscarsSoRight? Three-Word TV Catchphrases	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2050
__label__wiki	0.9143	0.9143	Russia’s Stroytransgaz to Build Gas Pipeline in Macedonia Southeast Europe \| March 12, 2015, Thursday // 12:14\| views Russian company Stroytransgaz will start building a gas pipeline in Macedonia that would link the Balkan country’s gas network system to neighbouring Greece. Stroytransgaz had been commissioned for the construction of the section of Russia-led South Stream gas pipeline in Macedonia's eastern neighbour Bulgaria. However, it pulled out of the project in August 2014 after EU member Bulgaria froze the project citing objections by the European Commission over the project’s incompatibility with EU energy legislation. The construction of a Macedonian offshoot of South Stream, however, hasn’t been frozen as the section will enable connection to the Turkish Stream project that Russia announced as a substitute for South Stream, newsru.com reported on Thursday. Under the Turkish Stream project Russian gas will be delivered to Turkey across the Black Sea via an underwater section. A gas hub could be built at Turkey’s border with Greece for possible deliveries to the EU. In the first phase of the Macedonian project Stroytransgaz will build a 61-kilometre section from Klecovtse to Negotino that will allow gas to be delivered to the city of Stip. The construction of this section is planned to be completed in about a year. In the second phase another 60 km of pipeline will be built to enable connection to Greece’s gas network. Macedonia imported 46 million cubic metres of Russian gas last year, down 9% compared to 2013, via the existing pipeline from Bulgaria that is transiting Ukraine. One of the main consumers in Macedonia is a Skopje-based thermal power plant owned by a Russian company, newsru.com said. The estimated cost of the Macedonian pipeline is about USD 75 M. The country will pay USD 15 M, the remainder will be offset against debt owed by the former USSR to the former Yugoslav Federation, of which Macedonia was part. Tags: Turkish Stream, South stream, pipeline, gas, Stroytransgaz, macedonia, Russia, Bulgaria Bulgarian PM: The time of the untouchables is over Bulgaria: Will we reach the psychological barrier of BGN 3 per liter of gasoline and diesel Mathematician: By the end of the week Omicron will be dominant in Bulgaria Bulgarian hoteliers: The winter season will end if the entry of foreign citizens is banned NATO Secretary General says alliance will not agree to withdraw troops from member states Weather in Bulgaria: Yellow Code for strong wind is in force for 27 districts in the country	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2051
__label__cc	0.555908	0.444092	FREE DELIVERY Across South Africa This Privacy Policy describes Our policies and procedures on the collection, use and disclosure of Your information when You use the Service and tells You about Your privacy rights and how the law protects You. The words of which the initial letter is capitalised have meanings defined under the following conditions. The following definitions shall have the same meaning regardless of whether they appear in singular or in plural. Company (referred to as either “the Company”, “We”, “Us” or “Our” in this Agreement) refers to BACE Brands (Pty) Ltd, 183 Arkansas Avenue, Berario, Randburg, Gauteng, South Africa, 2194. Country refers to: South Africa Service Provider means any natural or legal person who processes the data on behalf of the Company. It refers to third-party companies or individuals employed by the Company to facilitate the Service, to provide the Service on behalf of the Company, to perform services related to the Service or to assist the Company in analysing how the Service is used. Website refers to all brands owned and managed by BACE Brands as well as all subsidiaries and parent companies: Magnetex, accessible from https://www.magnetex.co.za Eazio, accessible from https://www.eazio.co.za Kidsy, accessible from https://www.kidsy.co.za Fix-A-Floor, accessible from https://fixafloorsa.co.za Surge, accessible from https://www.powerofmovement.co.za BACE Brands, accessible from https://wwwbacebrands.com While using Our Service, We may ask You to provide Us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify You. Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to: Address, Province, Postal code, City We use Cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on Our Service and store certain information. Tracking technologies used are beacons, tags, and scripts to collect and track information and to improve and analyse Our Service. For more information about the cookies we use and your choices regarding cookies, please visit our Cookies Policy at magnetex.co.za/cookie-policy/ For the performance of a contract: the development, compliance and undertaking of the purchase contract for the products, items or services You have purchased or of any other contract with Us through the Service. To contact You: To contact You by email, telephone calls, SMS, or other equivalent forms of electronic communication, such as a mobile application’s push notifications regarding updates or informative communications related to the functionalities, products or contracted services, including the security updates, when necessary or reasonable for their implementation. For other purposes: We may use Your information for other purposes, such as data analysis, identifying usage trends, determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns and to evaluate and improve our Service, products, services, marketing and your experience. With Service Providers: We may share Your personal information with Service Providers to complete the purchase transaction and better service You. Examples of service providers are; Courier Services, Payment Gateway’s, etc. Your information, including Personal Data, is processed at the Company’s operating offices and in any other places where the parties involved in the processing are located. It means that this information may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of Your city, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ than those from Your jurisdiction. The Company will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that Your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of Your Personal Data will take place to an organisation or a country unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of Your data and other personal information. If the Company is involved in a merger, acquisition or asset sale, Your Personal Data may be transferred. We will provide notice before Your Personal Data is transferred and becomes subject to a different Privacy Policy. The security of Your Personal Data is important to Us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While We strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect Your Personal Data, We cannot guarantee its absolute security. Our Service may contain links to other websites that are not operated by Us. If You click on a third party link, You will be directed to that third party’s site. We strongly advise You to review the Privacy Policy of every site You visit. By email: info@bacebrands.com Magnetic Ball Run Instant EFT Visa & Master Card © BACE Brands 2021	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2056
__label__cc	0.729571	0.270429	Our Town during Covid 19, Interesting Signs and The Ballymacasey Cross Photo; Eamon ÓMurchú The Changed face of our Town Notices like this are appearing all over town. One in my local newsagents warned that if you dont like wearing a mask you will find a ventilator brutal. Another sign I spotted in the Irish Wheelchair shop stated that they will not accept payment in cash extracted from your underwear. Contactless payment is the preferred option in most shops. Lizzy’s is open for sit down and take away. Kevin’s is still closed and Broderick’s never closed. The Gentleman’s Barber on William Street strikes a good mix of welcome and caution. This flowerpot man in his PPE is in Listowel Garden Centre. Broderick’s Pharmacy Makeover I love the new colour scheme. It livens up this corner of town. <<<<<<<<<< Ballymacasey Cross A while ago I wrote here about Lislaughtin Abbey and the story of the sacking of the monastery and the slaughter of the holy friars. In response, Michael O’Sullivan wrote the following; The monks while running for their lives from the soldiers dropped a silver cross which is known as the Lislaughtin or Ballymacessy cross and can be seen in the national museum.It was found some time in the 1800’s by a man ploughing a field and suffered some damage. Michael did the search for us and he found the story of the cross in the blog of none other than my friend, Eileen Moylan of Claddagh Design It was easy enough to trace the origins of the cross as it had been engraved with the details of the maker and the recipients. It turns out the cross was commissioned by Cornelius O’ Connor and his wife Avlina (or Eileen!) as a gift to the Lislaughtin Friary, Ballylongford in 1479. It might be slight vanity but the search was completely justified when I discovered my name was engraved on the cross. The cross which is silver gilt is 67cm in height and considered one of the finest crosses from medieval Ireland. It has the figure of Christ in the centre surrounded by the symbols of the four Evangelists. The symbol at the centre of the cross is missing, leaving just a winged lion, a winged bull and an eagle. The entire cross is decorated with an open work border (the leaf -like trim). It has an amazing amount of intricate detail and it’s hard to believe it has survived so well. The engraving is entwined with images of birds, animals and flowers which would not be typically Irish. The funny thing about this cross is that it remained in the home of Mr Jefcott in Ballylongford rather than being handed over to be put on public display. I love the idea of a 2 foot gold ornate cross lying around his house. Where would you put something like that?! In Hewson’s article he writes that “the finder does not appear disposed to consent to part with it to anyone on any terms” It seems Hewson argued the case that although it was well looked after it would be much more secure in the national collection. He believed it would be worthy of a place alongside the Cross of Cong, which, coincidently, was also commissioned by an O’Connor. I couldn’t find out when the cross finally left Ballylongford and went on public display in Dublin. If anyone has any more information, please do let me know. Ballymacasey cross, Journal Royal Historical & Archaeological Association The Late Dan Keane, Listowel Cinemas, All Kinds of Everythingand M.S. Busking Day 1994 My Boyeens, A Hawk and Tullamore School	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2059
__label__cc	0.560633	0.439367	Old Times Reality and Illusion in Pinter and Stoppard June 29, 2019 by Essay Writer The contrast between illusion and fact functions as the central focus of countless texts in the canon of English literature. The subject occupies a prominent position in a diverse array of genres and forms, among which is that of the modern drama. Old Times and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, two classics of late twentieth-century British theater, exemplify the predominance of the conflict between truth and artifice as a topic on the contemporary stage and illuminate the thematic significance of such a subject in relation to prevailing literary thought and more universal statements on the nature of existence and the human condition. The nature of reality is the ultimate concern of Old Times, the script of which is as understatedly menacing as enigmatic as any form the Pinter oeuvre. The piece eludes simple summarization to such an extent that the author himself, when prompted to describe the plot, offered a mere five words in reply: “. . . it happens. It all happens.” In a somewhat more thorough elucidation, the playwright commented on the cryptic and frequent silences that mark Old Times as a product of the Pinter pen, stating that halts in conversation result because “something has happened to create the impossibility of anyone speaking for a certain amount of time.” The pauses are not superfluous, but arise from the tension that resides below the surface of the lines. In much the same way that meaning is contained in what the characters do not say, import is attached to what they do. Critic Sidney Hoffman notes that, linguistically, the work “is alternately simplistic (to the level of being banal) and tortured,” and, “while it has a double purpose, [it] still points toward . . . comprehension.” Old Times is a study of battling couples (in both the metaphorical and literal sense), and it is the juxtaposition of opposites that simultaneously propels the action and creates ambiguity. In the most superficial respect, a synopsis would indicate that very little takes place: spouses living in a remote converted farmhouse receive a visitor, the old friend of the wife, at which point the interaction among the trio prompts recollections of years gone by. However, the parlance is bizarre and unnerving, rife with confessions and allusions, suggesting an abundance of concealed inter- and intrapersonal wars. Homan writes, “a majority of the critics, sometimes affirmatively, sometimes negatively, found that the “real” play was below the surface. . . “between the lines.” A number of interpretations offered by scholars “stress the act of interpretation itself. Each of the characters is a “perceiver who distorts,” and, fashioning a world through a private language, “straining further from reality,” resembles an artist engaged in the “process of creation.” Two modes of perception and, hence, creation may be in operation: what we see of others and what we insist others see of us.” This is, to a certain extent, confirmed by Pinter’s remark of, “It is all happening.” The interview between Deeley, Kate, and Anna takes place, and that is all; there is nothing more. “What we see is what we see.” This straightforward approach to Old Times directly relates to the soundlessness that pervades Pinter’s body of work. For him, “When true silence falls, we are still left with echo but are near nakedness. One way of looking at speech is to say it is a constant stratagem to cover over nakedness.” By manipulating language to their advantage, Anna and Deeley, viewed by Elin Diamond as “dazzling word performers,” can fashion their past and present states of being according to personal preference; they see circumstance and actuality as “matters of linguistics choice.” Yet the fragility of this tailored history becomes evident when it “is Kate’s narrative, her final speech, that demolishes everything her rivals have tried to establish by verbal fiat. Language here is a double-edged sword that, at length, wounds the players themselves, betraying them because it is “endlessly and hopelessly significant.”” Words are tools by which it is possible to usher a reinvented past into the now, and thus to alter the present condition of things from what they are to what they, in the minds of Deeley and Anna, should be. Of the real world, “only Kate can live there.” The finale further highlights the conflict of pretense and fact as the characters engage in a concluding mime that will, both within and outside of the play’s events, cap the performance. After both Anna and Deeley have made unsuccessful attempts to exit the stage, the threesome sits in shadow until a flash of light interrupts the dimness. The sudden brilliance shows Anna lying on the divan, Deeley collapsed in his armchair, and Kate sitting on the sofa in the midst of the desolation. According to one school of thought, the light, “like a photograph in our memories,” underlines how the “verbal creativity” at the forefront of the majority of the play has degenerated into silence. The disconcerting quiet that engulfs the scene reminds the audience that the rivalry between the husband and the friend has precluded the potential for “further opportunities for verbal recreation.” The architecture of illusion, which Anna and Deeley have skillfully produced from “linguistic choice”, has prompted a disastrous end. Only Kate, who has refrained from direct participation in the contest at hand, remains serenely unaffected: “it is Kate alone who sits upright, who does not leave her place on the divan, and who, unlike her husband and her friend, feels not need to try to escape. One observer argues that to be motionless in a mime is to win.” Kate’s refusal to improvise a past has afforded her a peacefulness that differs sharply from “Deeley slumped, sobbing, humiliated in the chair.” And indeed, “several scholars have found in the mime an address to the audience. Forced to look at the stage in bright light, we are “halted to see how we too lead our lives,” and how there is no victory “for these half-concealed, half-revealed characters” who reflect an image of the spectator. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead devotes even more attention to the examination of artifice and actuality. The very framework of Stoppard’s revision of Hamlet underscores the divergent pull of this antithetical pairing, as the playwright inserts numerous excerpts from the Bard’s original into his modern variation. When observing the episodes from Shakespeare’s tragedy, the eponymous noblemen inhabit the role of the onlooker. The twosome often makes comments regarding their resemblance to a traditional audience. “I feel like a spectator,” Rosencrantz remarks in the first act. This self-consciousness is also discernible in such instances, as when Guildenstern, addressing the pathetic Alfred, employs the phrase, conventionally associated with directors, “We’ll let you know.” Ros and Guil, as they are called in the text, are effectively extensions of the theater-going public witnessing Stoppard’s drama. Many of the speeches specifically address the audience, as when Ros shouts “Fire!”, and then continues by saying, of the viewers, “They should burn to death in their shoes.” The author contrasts the “realistic” duo with the fabricated personages of Hamlet. As Richard Corballis points out, it is important that the elimination of the famous “to be or not to be” soliloquy “robs Hamlet of another chance to communicate directly with his audience,” and thus heightens the sense of artificiality that is imparted upon the Elsinore of Shakespearean invention. In much the same way, the Tragedians seem, at least initially, to occupy a place in the “genuine” realm of existence: “They get involved in the absurd coin-spinning, complain that they have no control, and join the empty speculation about chance and fate.” However, as the Player himself declares, he is “Always in character,” not so much a real person as a fashioned self. The troupe is in fact representative of something quite contrary to Ros and Guil. The relationship between the thespians and the abstracts of reality and illusion becomes evident when the Player declares, “We’re actors- we’re the opposite of people!” As Corballis notes, a crucial moment in the play comes when Guildenstern, stating, “But we don’t know what’s going on, or what to do with ourselves. We don’t know how to act,” is met with the response from the Player, “Act natural. . .” Thus, though it may have at first appeared that the Tragedians were out of place within Stoppard’s landscape, it quickly becomes clear that it is actually “real” people like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern who are out of their element in the constructed mirage of the stage. This idea is further realized when the Player states, “There’s a design at work in all art . . . we aim at the point where everyone who is marked for death dies. . . It is written. . . We follow directions- there is no choice involved. The bad end unhappily, the good unluckily. That is what tragedy means.” This world, therefore, “unlike the ‘real’ world of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, has form and meaning, and death is an accepted part of its design.” Amidst the uncertainty of the reality in which Stoppard’s viewers languish, however, there is no such simple choreography. The Tragedians emphasize the isolation that defines the plight of Ros and Guil, and thus the plight of humanity in general. In contrast to the predetermined organization of the theater, there are no guarantees in the brutal puzzle of the mortal condition. Both Old Times and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead illuminate a variety of aspects of the conflict, ever present in countless works of twentieth-century literature, between illusion and actuality. The plays underscore the relativity of the nature of existence, and also offer testimony to the prevailing philosophies of modern English writing, illustrating popular approaches to the motifs of life, death, and the meaning of each. Self-Repression and Dystopia: The Bumpy Road to Freedom in “Never Let Me Go” Jane’s Art and Story Virtue in Pamela Among School Children: A Condemnation of Old Age? Desire and Revenge in Frankenstein and Prometheus Memoirs of a Geisha: The Downside of the “Ideal” Woman Sexism Within Donne’s “Elegy 19” A Prisoner to Her Sex: The Hauntings of the Female Genitalia in Louise Glück’s “Mock Orange” Aesthetic Development in Kant and Hawthorne Dis[man]tling the Blazon: The Relationship of Women and the Poetic Convention Beauty is a part of the human condition; we are attracted to what we find appealing and repelled by what we find unappealing. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, scholars […] In Louise Glück’s poem, “Mock Orange” (Glück 1995) the female flesh interferes with the speaker’s search for a desired full presence or wholeness. Through her representation of the mock orange […] In his essay “A Defence of A Womans Inconstancy,” John Donne wrote of the female race that “for all their fellowship will they never be tamed, nor Commanded by us.” […] “…The very word “geisha” means artist and to be a geisha is to be judged as a moving work of art.” (Memoirs of a Geisha, Movie 2005) How would you […] In the wide spectrum of humanistic characteristics, that of desire is one of the most prominent. It is an emotion that is challenging to resist, as it tends to control […] In his poem “Among School Children,” W.B. Yeats describes his feelings upon entering a classroom full of young children as a sixty year old man. The beauty of the children […] In Pamela, Samuel Richardson teaches a religious lesson through Pamela’s pride in virtue, love through purity, and ultimately forgiveness of others. He presents his character as rigorously devoted to God, […] “Each picture told a story; mysterious often to my undeveloped understanding and imperfect feelings, yet ever profoundly interesting.” –Jane Eyre (9)There is something extraordinary and spiritual about Jane Eyre’s artwork. […] “Tommy sighed, ‘I know,’ he said. ‘Well, I suppose we’ve got time. None of us are in any particular hurry’ ” (178). None of us are in any particular hurry. […] The contrast between illusion and fact functions as the central focus of countless texts in the canon of English literature. The subject occupies a prominent position in a diverse array […]	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2060
__label__wiki	0.817357	0.817357	October 25, 2012 by Brian Krasman - 0 comments Legendary, unstoppable Neurosis return with devastating ‘Honor Found in Decay’ There is a small list of metal bands that changed everything. They didn’t hit all at once, of course, but their presence in the era in which they originated helped spawn a tidal wave of like-minded musicians who responded to the artists’ ways and found their own creative calling. Of course, Black Sabbath were the originators, the godfathers of all heavy metal and the one act cited by just about every genre as being a starting point or at least a major influence. Then you had Judas Priest and Iron Maiden that brought in the more theatrical, power-laden styles of metal and made it OK to fantasize and have spectacular dreams. And of course, you have Metallica and Slayer, who made it acceptable and almost necessary to do things as heavily and aggressively as possible. Of course, Metallica fell off that wagon over time, but Slayer still spills the blood. Then there’s Death, Bathory, Hellhammer, Mayhem, and others with death and black metal. In the 1990s Neurosis, a band born in Oakland, Calif., came to power, and they combined elements of everything listed above but also took things to the stratosphere. They weren’t afraid to weave long, poetic sections of music together, they were more ambitious than most of the other bands of their era, and they gave birth to something completely different that’s still inspiring bands to this day. In fact, their presence gave birth to ISIS, also a heavily influential band that was sparked by its members’ love of Neurosis. Nowadays, I probably get more promos from metal bands that worship at the Neurosis altar than any other band, and while many give it a gallant effort and even produce good music, no one ever comes close to the masters. And no one likely ever will. Neurosis also arrived at a time when mainstream metal was on its way to hell. Nu-metal was born, a scourge that plagues us to this day, albeit not in the same horrible volume as before, and your main festival Ozzfest was chock full of that garbage. But they also had Neurosis play their second stage before, and while I didn’t get to see them on that tour, I can imagine the mind fuck going on with a bunch of sweaty kids waiting for dreadlocks, rap over metal, and god-awful, downtuned, gunky guitars. Neurosis were way ahead of their time. The band’s roots actually can be traced to the 1980s, when metal still was at an apex and was nowhere near its downward spiral domestically. Their first record “Pain of Mind” was released in 1987 on Alchemy Records, but it wasn’t really until 1992’s “Souls at Zero” (one of my favorite albums of all time) where their gears started moving toward the beast they would become. They released records fairly regularly during the 1990s, jumping from Alternative Tentacles to Relapse, and offering up classics such as “Enemy of the Sun” and “Through Silver and Blood.” Once 2000 hit, their output was less frequent, popping up every three years or so. Eventually, they started releasing music on their own Neurot, most notably their last album “Given to the Rising” in 2007, and now they’re back with their 10th full-length effort “Honor Found in Decay.” It was a long five-year wait for this platter, but as usual, it was totally worth it. Most of what you’ve come to expect from Neurosis the last couple of releases is intact, with sludgy, doomy epics, growl-speak vocals, and tons of atmosphere, but they also go back to some of their folk-influenced music, as they dash in some European and Americana influences. That’s not a shock considering some of Scott Kelly and Steve Von Till’s side work away from the band, and it mixes in just nicely, adding strains of earthiness and forestal majesty that fill your lungs with adventure. “Honor Found in Decay” is a sprawling, aggressive collection that requires your undivided attention and commitment to their emotional display. The band — guitarists/vocalists Kelly and Von Till, bassist Dave Edwardson, synth player Noah Landis, drummer Jason Roeder, and visual director Josh Graham (of the great A Storm of Light, and who also designed the cover art and packaging) — find a way again and again to dig into the deepest valleys and also reach enormous, surging heights. The record is comprised of seven excellent songs that are some of their best in a decade, and at 61 minutes, you’re guaranteed to be physically and emotionally exhausted when it finally expires. As noted before, these guys are the masters, and this record leaves no doubt about that. “We All Rage in Gold” opens the collection on a calculated note, as the melody is pulled back and the tempo is more like a rock song. The lyrics imagine cleansing one of blood in a river, with a howl of, “Death was my first companion,” sending chills down the spine. “At the Well” runs 10 minutes, and the vocal work reminds me of Tom Waits. This cut feels solemn and bleak for the most part, with heavy atmosphere and some bagpipes, but all of a sudden the thing ignites into a full rage, with emotion overflowing. “My Heart for Deliverance” runs 11:41 and has more strains of Euro folk, with strings, whistles, and organic energy. It’s also rich with doom and mud but also has some Southern rock richness to the guitars. It’s a great, all-inclusive song. “Bleed the Pig” is slow-driving and also full of whirry keys, and it, too, explodes after too long with tribal drumming and animalistic aggression. “Casting of the Ages” is another challenger, with some folkish guitars, harmonica, and hints of Americana, but that all eventually melts into mechanical storming and noise buzzing, melting its traditional roots into a steely muck. “All Is Found … In Time” picks up where “Ages” left off, with a cacophony of chaos, but eventually a groove settles in, trippy, space-age sludge rolls out, and the line, “Cracking the bones to get to the marrow,” gives you a full indication of the mental, soulful exploration behind this song. Closer “Raise the Dawn” is full of whispers and lurching, somber doom, some banjo plucking, and more folk tendencies, giving a rustic conclusion to this devastating, soul-bruising album. Neurosis are just as vital to metal today as ever. Their disciples are numerous, their influence is immeasurable, and their legend will outlive them. And unlike most other bands that have had the impact this band has, they’ve had a strong lineage of music to show for it. “Honor Found in Decay” can be put up against anything else in the band’s catalog and logically stand against past efforts. This band shows no sign of letting up, and it’s unlikely to be their final universe-altering statement. For more on the band, go here: http://www.neurosis.com/ To buy the album, go here: http://www.bluecollardistro.com/neurotrecordings/categories.php?cPath=1030 For more on the label, go here: http://www.neurotrecordings.com/	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2063
__label__wiki	0.767324	0.767324	Justia › US Law › Case Law › West Virginia Case Law › Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia Decisions › 2017 › In re Hon. Stephen O. Judge-Elect Callaghan Receive free daily summaries of new opinions from the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. Subscribe In re Hon. Stephen O. Judge-Elect Callaghan (Signed Opinion) Annotate this Case Justia Opinion Summary This disciplinary proceeding stemmed from allegedly false statements contained in a campaign-issued flyer disseminated while Stephen O. Callaghan, Judge-Elect of the 28th Judicial Circuit was a candidate for Judge of the 28th Judicial Circuit. The West Virginia Judicial Hearing Board recommended that Judge-Elect Callaghan be disciplined for three violations of the West Virginia Code of Judicial Conduct and one violation of the West Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct. The Supreme Court adopted the Board’s recommended discipline, with modification, and found that it was appropriate to suspend Judge-Elect Callaghan from the judicial bench for a total of two years without pay, along with the recommended fine of $15,000, and reprimand as an attorney, holding (1) there was clear and convincing evidence of improper conduct presented in support of each of the violations found by the Board; and (2) Judge-Elect Callaghan’s constitutional arguments were unavailing. IN THE SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS OF WEST VIRGINIA January 2017 Term No. 16-0670 FILED February 9, 2017 released at 3:00 p.m. RORY L. PERRY II, CLERK SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS OF WEST VIRGINIA In the Matter Of: THE HONORABLE STEPHEN O. JUDGE-ELECT CALLAGHAN, JUDGE-ELECT OF THE TWENTY-EIGHTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDING SUSPENDED WITHOUT PAY AND OTHER SANCTIONS Submitted: January 24, 2017 Filed: February 9, 2017 Teresa Tarr, Esq. Brian Lanham, Esq. Judicial Disciplinary Counsel Charleston, West Virginia Attorneys for West Virginia Judicial Investigation Commission Lonnie C. Simmons, Esq. DiTrapano, Barrett, DiPiero, McGinley & Simmons, PLLC Charleston, West Virginia Attorney for Respondent ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE THOMAS E. MCHUGH delivered the Opinion of the Court. JUDGE MATISH concurs in part and dissents in part and reserves the right to file a separate opinion. CHIEF JUSTICE LOUGHRY, JUSTICE DAVIS, JUSTICE WORKMAN, JUSTICE KETCHUM, and JUSTICE WALKER, deeming themselves disqualified, did not participate in the decision of this case. SENIOR STATUS JUSTICE THOMAS E. MCHUGH, JUDGE ROBERT A. WATERS, JUDGE JAMES A. MATISH, JUDGE H. CHARLES CARL, III, and JUDGE JOANNA I. TABIT, sitting by temporary assignment. SYLLABUS BY THE COURT 1. “‘The Supreme Court of Appeals will make an independent evaluation of the record and recommendations of the Judicial [Hearing] Board in disciplinary proceedings.’ Syl. pt. 1, W. Va. Judicial Inquiry Commission v. Dostert, 165 W.Va. 233, 271 S.E.2d 427 (1980).” Syl., Matter of Hey, 193 W.Va. 572, 457 S.E.2d 509 (1995). 2. “‘“Under [Rule 4.5 of the West Virginia Rules of Disciplinary Procedure], the allegations of a complaint in a judicial disciplinary proceeding ‘must be proved by clear and convincing evidence.’” Syllabus Point 4, In Re Pauley, 173 W.Va. 228, 235, 314 S.E.2d 391, 399 (1983).’ Syllabus Point 1, Matter of Hey, 192 W.Va. 221, 452 S.E.2d 24 (1994).” Syl. Pt. 1, Matter of Starcher, 202 W. Va. 55, 501 S.E.2d 772 (1998). 3. “This Court is the final arbiter of legal ethics problems and must make the ultimate decisions about public reprimands, suspensions or annulments of attorneys’ licenses to practice law.” Syl. Pt. 3, Comm. on Legal Ethics v. Blair, 174 W.Va. 494, 327 S.E.2d 671 (1984), cert denied, 470 U.S. 1028, 105 S. Ct. 1395, 84 L.Ed.2d 783 (1985). 4. “The purpose of judicial disciplinary proceedings is the preservation and enhancement of public confidence in the honor, integrity, dignity, and efficiency of i the members of the judiciary and the system of justice.” Syl., In the Matter of Gorby, 176 W.Va. 16, 339 S.E.2d 702 (1985). 5. The provisions of the West Virginia Rules of Judicial Disciplinary Procedure are applicable in their entirety to “judicial candidates” as defined in the West Virginia Code of Judicial Conduct, and permit the exercise of authority over said candidates for all purposes articulated therein. 6. “The West Virginia Constitution confers on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, both expressly and by necessary implication, the power to protect the integrity of the judicial branch of government and the duty to regulate the political activities of all judicial officers.” Syl. Pt. 6, State ex rel. Carenbauer v. Hechler, 208 W. Va. 584, 542 S.E.2d 405 (2000). 7. Insofar as West Virginia Code of Judicial Conduct Rule 4.1(A)(9) and West Virginia Rule of Professional Conduct 8.2(a) prohibit lawyers, judges and judicial candidates from knowingly, or with reckless disregard for the truth, making a false statement as more fully proscribed therein, they are facially constitutional under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. 8. “The law . . . takes but one approach to the question of falsity, regardless of the form of the communication. ii It overlooks minor inaccuracies and concentrates upon substantial truth. Minor inaccuracies do not amount to falsity so long as the substance, the gist, the sting, of the [] charge be justified. A statement is not considered false unless it would have a different effect on the mind of the reader from that which the pleaded truth would have produced.” Syl. Pt. 4, in part, State ex rel. Suriano v. Gaughan, 198 W.Va. 339, 480 S.E.2d 548 (1996). 9. “This Court has the inherent power to inquire into the conduct of justices, judges and magistrates, and to impose any disciplinary measures short of impeachment that it deems necessary to preserve and enhance public confidence in the judiciary.” Syl. Pt. 8, In re Watkins, 233 W.Va. 170, 757 S.E.2d 594 (2013). 10. “[I]t is clearly within this Court’s power and discretion to impose multiple sanctions against any justice, judge or magistrate for separate and distinct violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct and to order that such sanctions be imposed consecutively.” Syl. Pt. 7, in part, In re Watkins, 233 W.Va. 170, 757 S.E.2d 594 (2013). 11. “Pursuant to article VIII, section 8 of the West Virginia Constitution, this Court has the inherent and express authority to ‘prescribe, adopt, promulgate and amend rules prescribing a judicial code of ethics, and a code of regulations and standards of conduct and performances for justices, judges and magistrates, along with sanctions and penalties for any violation thereof[.]’” Syl. Pt. 5, Comm. On Legal Ethics v. Karl, 192 W.Va. 23, 449 S.E.2d 277 (1994). iii 12. “Always mindful of the primary consideration of protecting the honor, integrity, dignity, and efficiency of the judiciary and the justice system, this Court, in determining whether to suspend a judicial officer with or without pay, should consider various factors, including, but not limited to, (1) whether the charges of misconduct are directly related to the administration of justice or the public’s perception of the administration of justice, (2) whether the circumstances underlying the charges of misconduct are entirely personal in nature or whether they relate to the judicial officer’s public persona, (3) whether the charges of misconduct involve violence or a callous disregard for our system of justice, (4) whether the judicial officer has been criminally indicted, and (5) any mitigating or compounding factors which might exist.” Syl. Pt. 3, In re Cruickshanks, 220 W.Va. 513, 648 S.E.2d 19 (2007). iv MCHUGH, Acting Chief Justice: This matter arises from the recommendation of the West Virginia Judicial Hearing Board (hereinafter “the Board”) that respondent Stephen O. Callaghan, JudgeElect of the 28th Judicial Circuit (hereinafter “Judge-Elect Callaghan”) be disciplined for three violations of the West Virginia Code of Judicial Conduct and one violation of the West Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct. These violations stem from allegedly false statements contained in a campaign-issued flyer disseminated while Judge-Elect Callaghan was a candidate for Judge of the 28th Judicial Circuit. He objects to the findings and sanctions recommended by the Board and before this Court asserts 1) that neither Judicial Disciplinary Counsel nor the Board had jurisdiction to prosecute and hear the charges asserted against him since he was not a judge at the time of the alleged violations; 2) that the statements are protected by the First Amendment; and 3) that the recommended discipline of a one-year suspension without pay and other sanctions is excessive. Judicial Disciplinary Counsel likewise objects to the recommended discipline, requesting a two-year suspension. This Court has before it all matters of record, including the stipulations, exhibits and a transcript of the evidentiary hearing conducted by the Board, as well as the briefs and argument of counsel. Based on this Court’s independent review of the record, we find that clear and convincing evidence of improper conduct has been presented in support of each of the violations found by the Board and that Judge-Elect Callaghan’s constitutional arguments afford him no relief. 1 Further, we adopt the Board’s recommended discipline, with modification, and find that, under the unique circumstances presented herein, it is appropriate to suspend Judge-Elect Callaghan from the judicial bench for a total of two years without pay, along with the recommended fine of $15,000.00, and reprimand as an attorney. The Court further directs Judge-Elect Callaghan to pay the costs of the proceedings. I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY On May 11, 2015, Judge-Elect Callaghan filed pre-candidacy papers to run for Judge of the 28th Judicial Circuit. On November 24 and December 30, 2015, the West Virginia Judicial Investigation Commission (“JIC”) sent a letter to all candidates advising them of the applicability of Rule 4.1 of the West Virginia Code of Judicial Conduct, entitled “Political and Campaign Activities of Judges and Judicial Candidates in General.” On January 14, 2016, Judge-Elect Callaghan filed his candidacy papers; his opponent was the incumbent Honorable Gary L. Johnson (hereinafter “Judge Johnson”). In late January 2016, upon the advice of his campaign consultant, Brad Heflin of Rainmaker, Inc., Judge-Elect Callaghan commissioned and approved an automated survey, in part, to test the effect of connecting Judge Johnson’s attendance at a child trafficking seminar in Washington, D. C. with the loss of coal jobs in Nicholas County, which losses had been widely associated with President Barack Obama’s 2 policies.1 The specific survey question stated: “Gary Johnson is lockstep with Barack Obama’s policies. While Nicholas County was losing coal jobs to Obama’s policies, Johnson was the only West Virginia judge invited to the Obama White House to participate in a junket highlighting issues of importance to President Obama.” The survey then asked the participant to rate whether this statement caused major concern, some concern, no real concern, or “don’t know.” Approximately 67% of those surveyed responded that this statement caused them “major concern” or “some concern.”2 The genesis of the survey question is Judge Johnson’s June 2015 attendance at a Court Improvement Program (“CIP”) meeting and Child Trafficking Conference in Washington, D. C. As a recipient of three federal CIP grants, the State was required to send a representative for each such grant to the annual CIP Grantee meeting; Judge Johnson was the Chair of the West Virginia CIP. At the same time as the CIP Grantee Meeting, the Federal Administration for Children and Families held a 1 A 2015 Gallup poll revealed that President Obama had a 72% disapproval rating in West Virginia. See http://www.gallup.com/poll/189002/obama-rated-best-hawaii2015-worst-west-virginia.aspx (last visited February 8, 2017). As stated in his response to the Statement of Charges: “To the extent some citizens of Nicholas County may have the opinion that any association between Judge Johnson and President Obama is completely unacceptable, regardless of the circumstances, Mr. Callaghan sought to create advertising consistent with that opinion. . . .” (emphasis in original). 2 The polling results submitted into evidence demonstrate that when asked which candidate they were likely to vote for both before and after this statement, the number of individuals indicating they would likely vote for Judge Johnson was reduced by approximately 9%. Judge-Elect Callaghan’s ultimate margin of victory against Judge Johnson was 3.38%. See n.6, infra. 3 seminar on child trafficking; the agency encouraged the States to send their highest level representatives. In an unrelated occurrence that same month, a press report was issued detailing the loss of 558 coal jobs in Nicholas County between 2011 and 2015. Following the survey, Judge-Elect Callaghan approved a direct-mail flyer created by Mr. Heflin emblazoned with “photoshopped” 3 photographs of President Obama and Judge Johnson, along with the caption “Barack Obama & Gary Johnson Party at the White House . . . .” President Obama is depicted holding what appears to be an alcoholic beverage and party streamers form the background of the photographs. See Exhibit “A” attached to this opinion. The opposing side of the flyer concludes “. . . While Nicholas County loses hundreds of jobs.” The opposing side also contains a mock-up of a “Layoff Notice” which states: While Nicholas County lost hundreds of jobs to Barack Obama’s coal policies, Judge Gary Johnson accepted an invitation from Obama to come to the White House to support Obama’s legislative agenda. That same month, news outlets reported a 76% drop in coal mining employment. Can we trust Judge Gary Johnson to defend Nicholas County against job-killer Barack Obama? (emphasis added). The flyer was mailed to voters in Nicholas County on or about May 5, 2016, five days before the May 10, 2016, election, as agreed by Judge-Elect Callaghan 3 This was the term utilized by Mr. Heflin during his testimony before the Board. 4 and Mr. Heflin.4 The flyer was also posted on Judge-Elect Callaghan’s personal and campaign Facebook pages. It is undisputed herein that Judge Johnson was not “invited by” President Obama to attend the CIP meeting and Child Trafficking conference, did not meet President Obama, has never met President Obama, and did not attend a “party” or any social function, much less one involving alcohol, while at the meeting and seminar. It also appears that while conference meetings were held at buildings within the White House compound, Judge Johnson did not actually go to The White House. Upon receipt of the subject flyer, Judge Johnson notified Judge-Elect Callaghan of his objection to the flyer and demanded that he take action to counter-act the effect of the flyer. Judicial Disciplinary Counsel contacted Judge-Elect Callaghan as well, further advising him that the flyer was inappropriate and demanding remediation. The record demonstrates that Nicholas County’s only newspaper is published and circulated only on Wednesdays, allowing no opportunity to run an ad addressing the flyer before the following Tuesday’s election. Therefore, as a result of these discussions and in an effort to avoid the filing of a judicial ethics complaint by Judge Johnson or Judicial 4 In addition to this flyer, Judge-Elect Callaghan also sent four additional flyers on various topics such as drug abuse, drug court, and a “teen court.” See infra. 5 Disciplinary Counsel, 5 Judge-Elect Callaghan agreed to remove the flyer from his personal and campaign Facebook pages and run eight local radio ads over a three-day period stating: If you received a mail advertisement recently from Steve Callaghan, Candidate for Nicholas County Circuit Judge, showing Judge Gary Johnson visiting the White House, please understand that the specific characterization of the White House visit may be inaccurate and misleading and should not have been sent containing the inappropriate information. Candidate Callaghan apologizes for any misunderstanding or inaccuracies. . . .” (emphasis added). On May 10, 2016, Judge-Elect Callaghan defeated Judge Johnson by 227 votes.6 On July 18, 2016, a Formal Statement of Charges was issued against JudgeElect Callaghan by the JIC.7 On November 29, 2016, after hearing evidence, the Board 5 Both Judicial Disciplinary Counsel and Judge Johnson indicated to Judge-Elect Callaghan that this action would be sufficient to deter either of them from filing or initiating a judicial complaint. The complaint filed in this matter was ultimately filed by Judge Johnson’s son, Nicholas Johnson. 6 Out of 6,717 votes cast, Judge-Elect Callaghan received 3,472 and Judge Johnson received 3,245. 7 Judge-Elect Callaghan was originally charged under a single count with eight separate violations: Rule 4.1(A)(9) and (B), Rule 4.2(A)(1), (3), (4) and (5) of the West Virginia Code of Judicial Conduct (2015), as well as Rule 8.2(a) and (b) of the West Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct (2015). Judicial Disciplinary Counsel later voluntarily dismissed the violation of Rule 4.2(A)(3), requiring a candidate to review and approve all campaign statements and materials inasmuch as Judge-Elect Callaghan admitted he reviewed and approved the subject flyer. 6 issued a Recommended Decision pursuant to Rule 4.8 of the West Virginia Rules of Judicial Disciplinary Procedure, finding that he violated Rules 4.1(A)(9), 4.2(A)(1), 4.2(A)(4) of the Code of Judicial Conduct and Rule 8.2(a) of the Rules of Professional Conduct. 8 Disciplinary Counsel requested a one-year suspension for the Professional Conduct violation and a one-year suspension for the Judicial Code violations to run consecutively, for a total of a two-year suspension. Instead, the Board recommended a one-year suspension without pay for each of the four violations, to run concurrently, as well as censure, reprimand, a $5,000 fine per Judicial Code violation, and payment of costs. Judge-Elect Callaghan filed an objection to the recommended disposition pursuant to Rule of Judicial Disciplinary Procedure 4.11. As a result of the Board’s one-year concurrent suspension, Disciplinary Counsel likewise objected to the recommended discipline, reiterating its request that a two-year suspension be ordered. 8 With respect to the remaining charged violations, the Board found that there was not clear and convincing evidence that Judge-Elect Callaghan violated Rule 4.2(A)(5) of the Code of Judicial Conduct, which requires a candidate to “take corrective action if he or she learns of any misrepresentations made in his or her campaign statements or materials.” The Board found that his attempts “however feeble” to rectify the “inaccurate and misleading” characterizations in the flyer precluded a finding that he violated this Rule. In addition, the Board found a separate charge under Rule 8.2(b) of the Rules of Professional Conduct requiring a lawyer who is a judicial candidate to comply with the Code of Judicial Conduct to be redundant and therefore made no finding in that regard. The Board further found that the language of Rule 4.1(B) of the Code of Judicial Conduct requiring a candidate to “take reasonable measures” to ensure that others do not undertake prohibited activities to be duplicative of the language contained in Rule 4.2(A)(4) containing a similar requirement and therefore made findings only on the latter charge. 7 II. STANDARD OF REVIEW With respect to discipline for violations of the West Virginia Code of Judicial Conduct, “‘[t]he Supreme Court of Appeals will make an independent evaluation of the record and recommendations of the Judicial [Hearing] Board in disciplinary proceedings.’ Syl. pt. 1, W. Va. Judicial Inquiry Commission v. Dostert, 165 W.Va. 233, 271 S.E.2d 427 (1980).” Syl., Matter of Hey, 193 W.Va. 572, 457 S.E.2d 509 (1995). “The independent evaluation of the Court shall constitute a de novo or plenary review of the record.” Matter of Starcher, 202 W. Va. 55, 60, 501 S.E.2d 772, 777 (1998). Moreover, “‘“Under [Rule 4.5 of the West Virginia Rules of Disciplinary Procedure], the allegations of a complaint in a judicial disciplinary proceeding ‘must be proved by clear and convincing evidence.’” Syllabus Point 4, In Re Pauley, 173 W.Va. 228, 235, 314 S.E.2d 391, 399 (1983).’ Syllabus Point 1, Matter of Hey, 192 W.Va. 221, 452 S.E.2d 24 (1994).” Syl. Pt. 1, Starcher, 202 W. Va. 55, 501 S.E.2d 772. Likewise, with respect to lawyer disciplinary matters, “[t]his Court is the final arbiter of legal ethics problems and must make the ultimate decisions about public reprimands, suspensions or annulments of attorneys’ licenses to practice law.” Syl. Pt. 3, Comm. on Legal Ethics v. Blair, 174 W.Va. 494, 327 S.E.2d 671 (1984), cert denied, 470 U.S. 1028, 105 S. Ct. 1395, 84 L.Ed.2d 783 (1985). A de novo standard similarly applies. Syl. Pt. 3, Comm. on Legal Ethics v. McCorkle, 192 W.Va. 286, 452 S.E.2d 377 (1994). 8 Moreover, insofar as Judge-Elect Callaghan challenges the constitutionality, both facially and as-applied, of the Rules which he was charged with violating, our review is plenary. “Constitutional challenges . . . are reviewed pursuant to a de novo standard of review.” In re FELA Asbestos Cases, 222 W. Va. 512, 514, 665 S.E.2d 687, 689 (2008). Standards for imposition of discipline are discussed in greater detail, infra. Therefore, with these standards in mind, we proceed to the substance of the presented objections. III. DISCUSSION The Board found that Judge-Elect Callaghan violated the following provisions of the West Virginia Code of Judicial Conduct: Rule 4.1(A)(9): “. . . [A] judge or a judicial candidate shall not . . . knowingly, or with reckless disregard for the truth, make any false or misleading statement[.]” Rule 4.2(A)(1): “A judge or candidate subject to public election shall . . . act at all times in a manner consistent with the independence, integrity, and impartiality of the judiciary[.]” Rule 4.2(A)(4): “A judge or candidate subject to public election shall . . . take reasonable measures to ensure that other persons do not undertake on behalf of the candidate activities . . . that the candidate is prohibited from doing by Rule 4.1[.]” and the following provision of the West Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct: Rule 8.2(a): “A lawyer shall not make a statement that the lawyer knows to be false or with reckless disregard as to its truth or falsity concerning the qualifications or integrity of a judge, adjudicatory officer or public legal officer, or of a 9 candidate for election or appointment to judicial or legal office.” Judge-Elect Callaghan raises three objections to the Board’s recommended decision, as follows: 1) Judicial Disciplinary Counsel has no authority to prosecute, nor does the Board have jurisdiction to hear, matters involving a judicial candidate who is not a “judge” because the Rules of Judicial Disciplinary Procedure make no reference to “judicial candidates”; 2) the language in the subject flyer was speech protected by the First Amendment either because it is objectively or substantially true and/or rhetorical hyperbole or parody; and 3) the recommended discipline is excessive. We begin, as we must, with Judge-Elect Callaghan’s jurisdictional challenge to Judicial Disciplinary Counsel’s prosecution of the charges against him and the Board’s authority to hear such charges and recommend discipline. A. Jurisdiction of the Board and Judicial Disciplinary Counsel The West Virginia Code of Judicial Conduct contains provisions expressly applicable to judicial candidates. See W. Va. Code of Jud. Cond., Application, Section I(B) (“All judicial candidates for judicial office shall comply with the applicable provisions of this Code.” (emphasis added)); Preamble (“The West Virginia Code of Judicial Conduct establishes standards for the ethical conduct of judges and judicial candidates.” (emphasis added)). In fact, Canon 4 deals exclusively with campaign activity by judges and “candidates.” Rules 4.1 and 4.2 contain general prohibitions and affirmative obligations relative to “Political and Campaign Activities of Judges and 10 Judicial Candidates.” (emphasis added). The remaining Rules within this Canon deal with activities of candidates for appointive judicial office, candidates for non-judicial office, and campaign committees. See Rules 4.3, 4.4, and 4.5. As indicated above, each of the Judicial Rule violations found by the Board expressly applies to “judicial candidates.” Judge-Elect Callaghan does not dispute that he qualifies as a “judicial candidate” as defined by the Code of Judicial Conduct,9 nor does he dispute that the Code properly governs the conduct of judicial candidates. Rather, he argues that because the West Virginia Rules of Judicial Disciplinary Procedure make no express reference to “judicial candidates” and refer only to “judges” in outlining the disciplinary procedures, neither Judicial Disciplinary Counsel nor the Board have “jurisdiction” to prosecute and hear charges against a judicial candidate who is not a judge. Noting the absence of any reference in the entire collection of procedural rules to “judicial candidate,” he specifically highlights the reference to and 9 The Terminology section of the Code of Judicial Conduct defines “judicial candidate” as: any person, including a sitting judge, who is seeking selection for or retention in judicial office by election or appointment. A person becomes a candidate for judicial office as soon as he or she makes a public announcement of candidacy, declares or files as a candidate with the election or appointment authority, authorizes or, where permitted, engages in solicitation or acceptance of contributions or support, or is nominated for election or appointment to office. 11 definition of “judge” contained in Rule of Judicial Disciplinary Procedure 2, which states: Any person may file a complaint against a “judge” with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel regarding a violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct. The term “judge” is defined in the Code of Judicial Conduct as “Anyone, whether or not a lawyer, who is an officer of a judicial system and who performs judicial functions, including but not limited to Justices of the Supreme Court of Appeals, Circuit Judges, family court judges, Magistrates, Mental Hygiene Commissioners Juvenile Referees, Special Commissioners and Special Masters.”10 (footnote added). Judge-Elect Callaghan maintains that this incongruence between the Code of Judicial Conduct and the Rules of Judicial Disciplinary Procedure serves to strip Judicial Disciplinary Counsel and the Board of any authority to prosecute charges and/or recommend discipline against him. The West Virginia Constitution article VIII, section eight provides that [u]nder its inherent rule-making power, which is hereby declared, the supreme court of appeals shall, from time to time, prescribe, adopt, promulgate and amend rules prescribing a judicial code of ethics, and a code of regulations and standards of conduct and performances for justices, judges and magistrates, along with sanctions and penalties for any violation thereof, and the supreme court of appeals is authorized to censure or temporarily suspend any justice, judge or magistrate having the judicial power of the state, 10 The Code of Judicial Conduct no longer contains a definition for “judge,” given the substantial 2015 amendments, describing instead the “applicability” of the Code of Conduct. Moreover, as pertains to Canon 4’s express reach over “judicial candidates,” it appears simply that the procedural rules were not modified to comport with the specific language in the Code of Judicial Conduct. 12 including one of its own members, for any violation of any such code of ethics, code of regulations and standards[.] In exercise of that authority, this Court has held that “[t]he purpose of judicial disciplinary proceedings is the preservation and enhancement of public confidence in the honor, integrity, dignity, and efficiency of the members of the judiciary and the system of justice.” Syl., In the Matter of Gorby, 176 W.Va. 16, 339 S.E.2d 702 (1985). That such a goal must, at a minimum, begin by regulating the conduct of those who seek to become members of the judiciary hardly needs explication.11 Indeed as previously indicated, Judge-Elect Callaghan does not challenge this Court’s authority, through the Code of Judicial Conduct, to regulate the activities of judicial candidates. Instead he argues that the disciplinary procedural rules do not expressly grant commensurate authority to Judicial Disciplinary Counsel or the Board to act upon or enforce such regulations against a non-incumbent, lawyer-candidate. Although this Court has not had occasion to specifically address the role of the Rules of 11 Accordingly, the various iterations of our judicial code of conduct have historically swept broadly enough to regulate the conduct of judicial candidates. Canon 7(B)(1)(c) of West Virginia’s long-standing Judicial Code of Ethics (1977) provided that “[a] candidate, including an incumbent judge, for a judicial office that is to be filled by public election between competing candidates . . . should not . . . misrepresent his identity, qualifications, present position, or other fact.” On January 1, 1993, the Code of Judicial Conduct superseded the Code of Ethics and the corollary of this provision then provided that a candidate shall not “knowingly misrepresent the identity, qualification, present position or other fact concerning the candidate or an opponent[.]” Canon 5A(3)(d)(iii) (2015). In November 2015, the Court adopted the current Code of Judicial Conduct, which substantially revised the prior Code and more closely mirrors the 2007 Model Code of Judicial Conduct promulgated by the American Bar Association, containing the provisions cited above. 13 Judicial Disciplinary Procedure, it has examined the import of our other rules of procedure. In Arlan’s Department Store of Huntington, Inc. v. Conaty, 162 W. Va. 893, 897-98, 253 S.E.2d 522, 525 (1979), the Court observed as pertains to our functionally comparable Rules of Civil Procedure: The rules of civil procedure were designed to secure just, speedy and inexpensive determinations in every action. Neither the West Virginia Rules of Civil Procedure nor the statutory rules of pleading, practice and procedure impermissibly restrict the jurisdiction of circuit courts in the constitutional sense. The rules of civil procedure do not restrict the original and general jurisdiction of courts of record in this State; they do not remove any class of cases or restrict the types of disputes which a circuit court has judicial jurisdiction to hear and adjudicate. The rules do, however, establish procedures for the orderly process of civil cases as anticipated by W.Va. Const. Art. III, § 10. They operate in aid of jurisdiction and facilitate the public’s interest in just, speedy and inexpensive determinations. They vindicate constitutional rights by providing for the administration of justice without denial or delay as required by W.Va. Const. Art. III, § 17. (emphasis added). Accordingly, the Arlan Court tersely rejected a claim that procedural violations strip a court of jurisdiction: “Th[e] effect of noncompliance with the rules is not equivalent to impermissibly depriving the court of its constitutional power or jurisdiction, and to characterize it as such will not make it so.” Id. at 898, 253 S.E.2d at 526. As more pointedly stated by the Ohio Supreme Court: It is well established that statutes establishing subject matter jurisdiction, which create and define the rights of parties to sue and be sued in certain jurisdictions, are substantive law. 14 “If the statute is jurisdictional, it is a substantive law of this state, and cannot be abridged, enlarged, or modified by the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure.” Proctor v. Kardassilaris, 873 N.E.2d 872, 876 (Ohio 2007) (quoting Akron v. Gay, 351 N.E.2d 475, 477 (Ohio 1976)). Other courts take a similar view that procedural rules merely create a mechanism to vindicate the substantive law and therefore do not affect jurisdiction. “‘[T]he basis for the exercise of judicial authority is normally found in jurisdictional statutes, not in the language of procedural rules.’” Interest of Clinton, 762 P.2d 1381, 1388 (Colo. 1988) (en banc) (quoting White v. Dist. Court, 695 P.2d 1133, 1135 (Colo. 1984)). In Levin v. Anouna, 990 P.2d 1136, 1138 (Colo. App. 1999), the Colorado Court of Appeals stated that “a procedural statute or a court rule normally does not address jurisdictional issues; restrictions upon a court’s jurisdiction are generally to be found in statutes directly addressing that subject.” While acknowledging that a “procedural defect result[ing] from a failure to comply with an essential requirement . . . may constitute reversible error,” the court found that such procedural requirements do not implicate its jurisdiction. Id. The import of these decisions is that procedural rules are not designed to either establish or affect jurisdiction. Accordingly, it is clear that it is the Code of Judicial Conduct that provides the substantive, jurisdictional requirements for exercising discipline over Judge-Elect Callaghan; the rules of disciplinary procedure are merely 15 that—procedural mechanisms for the exercise of that jurisdiction. Any technical deficiency in the verbiage of the procedural rules does not serve to eradicate the unmistakable grant of authority contained in the Code of Judicial Conduct to Judicial Disciplinary Counsel and the Board to investigate, prosecute, and hear matters involving violations thereof. Moreover, even a hyper-technical reading of the Rules of Judicial Disciplinary Procedure reveals sufficient breadth in its description of the Board’s authority to allow for the prosecution and discipline of non-incumbent lawyer-candidates for the judiciary. Both Rule 1.11 and 3.11 permit the JIC and Board to “engage in such other activities related to judicial discipline as it deems appropriate[.]” In fact, Rule 5.4 expressly directs Disciplinary Counsel to “prosecute violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct . . . before the . . . Judicial Hearing Board[.]” We therefore reject Judge-Elect Callaghan’s contention that, as a non-incumbent, lawyer-candidate, neither Judicial Disciplinary Counsel nor the Board have authority or jurisdiction over him for violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct, as set forth therein. To find otherwise would, as the Board concluded, create an inequity where judicial candidates who are judges are held to the standards set forth in the Code of Judicial Conduct, but lawyer-candidates are not. The Oregon Supreme Court similarly noted and rejected the imbalance such an interpretation would make: It is equally clear that to apply the limitations of Canon 7 B(7) to sitting judges, while allowing their as-yet-unelected 16 opponents to campaign unfettered by Canon 7B(7), would create an advantage for the challenger. The legislature did not intend the Commission to have so little and so ineffective jurisdiction over judicial activity. In re Fadeley, 802 P.2d 31, 36 (Ore. 1990). See also Wolfson v. Concannon, 811 F.3d 1176, 1191 (9th Cir. 2016) (Berzon, Cir. J., concurring) (“[S]tricter restrictions during judicial campaigns . . . for sitting judges than for nonincumbent candidates for judicial positions would create [] disparity[.]”).12 We therefore expressly hold that the provisions of the West Virginia Rules of Judicial Disciplinary Procedure are applicable in their entirety to “judicial candidates” as defined in the West Virginia Code of Judicial Conduct, and permit the exercise of authority over said candidates for all purposes articulated therein. 12 We find Judge-Elect Callaghan’s passing assertion that this incongruity is resolved by construing the Rules to require violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct by lawyer-candidates to be “handled by the West Virginia Lawyer Disciplinary Board” unavailing. As he correctly notes, both Judicial Disciplinary Counsel and Lawyer Disciplinary Counsel have overlapping authority to investigate and prosecute violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct or Rules of Professional Conduct as per Rule 4 of the Rules of Lawyer Disciplinary Procedure. However, the Hearing Panel Subcommittee of the Lawyer Disciplinary Board acts upon “formal charges filed by the Investigative Panel.” W. Va. R. L. Disc. Proc. 3. The Investigative Panel, concomitantly, has authority to find probable cause for “a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct.” W. Va. R. L. Disc. Proc. 2, 2.9(a) (emphasis added). Moreover, the Hearing Panel Subcommittee is granted authority to sanction for “a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct.” W. Va. R. L. Disc. Proc. 3.15. Therefore, the Hearing Panel Subcommittee has no authority to hear charges involving violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct. The Board’s near-comprehensive authority over judges and conduct governed by the Code of Judicial Conduct is further demonstrated by Rule 3.12 which provides that even when judges are charged with violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct, the Board maintains exclusive jurisdiction over such discipline. W. Va. R. Jud. Disc. Proc. 3.12. 17 Having concluded that Judicial Disciplinary Counsel and the Board permissibly exercised jurisdiction over Judge-Elect Callaghan in prosecuting, hearing, and acting upon the charges against him, we now proceed to examine his substantive objections to the Board’s findings and recommended discipline. B. First Amendment Challenge to Rule 4.1(A)(9) and Rule 8.2(a) As discussed above, the Board concluded that the subject flyer violated Rule 4.1(A)(9) of the Code of Judicial Conduct which forbids judicial candidates from “knowingly, or with reckless disregard for the truth, mak[ing] any false or misleading statement[.]” Commensurately, the Board found the subject flyer violated Rule 8.2(a) of the Rules of Professional Conduct which similarly prohibits a lawyer from making “a statement that the lawyer knows to be false or with reckless disregard as to its truth or falsity concerning the qualifications or integrity of a judge . . . [or] a candidate for election . . . to judicial . . .office.”13 By authorizing the creation and mailing of the subject flyer by his campaign consultant, the Board concluded that Judge-Elect Callaghan also violated Rule 4.2(A)(4) which requires a candidate to take “reasonable measures to 13 In the interest of brevity and given the similarity between the “false statement” prohibitions contained in Rule 4.1(A)(9) of the Code of Judicial Conduct and Rule 8.2(a) of the Rules of Professional Conduct, our analysis herein of the substance of Rule 4.1(A)(9) should be read as equally applicable to Rule 8.2(a). We expressly note that Judge-Elect Callaghan makes no separate constitutional challenge to Rule 8.2(a) that differs from that which he advances against Rule 4.1(A)(9). See In re Chmura, 608 N.W.2d 31, 43 n.11 (Mich. 2000) (summarily applying analysis of judicial canon restricting judicial candidate’s speech to companion Rule of Professional Conduct similarly restricting lawyer’s speech about judges and other public legal officers). 18 ensure that other persons do not undertake on behalf of the candidate activities . . . that the candidate is prohibited from doing by Rule 4.1[.]” Finally, as a result of the foregoing, the Board further found that Judge-Elect Callaghan failed to “act at all times in a manner consistent with the independence, integrity, and impartiality of the judiciary,” in violation of Rule 4.2(A)(1). Judge-Elect Callaghan argues that the Board’s recommended discipline, all of which is based upon the statements made in the subject flyer, violates his right to free speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.14 He asserts that all of the statements contained in the subject flyer are either objectively true, “substantially true” or “rhetorical hyperbole/parody,” all of which is protected speech. He argues that the flyer simply took two unrelated facts—Judge Johnson’s attendance at a federal 14 The First Amendment to the United States Constitution states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Although not referenced by Judge-Elect Callaghan, the West Virginia Constitution likewise provides: No law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, shall be passed; but the Legislature may, by suitable penalties, restrain the publication or sale of obscene books, papers, or pictures, and provide for the punishment of libel, and defamation of character, and for the recovery, in civil actions, by the aggrieved party, of suitable damages for such libel, or defamation. W. Va. Const. art. III, § 7. 19 seminar and coal job losses in Nicholas County—and juxtaposed them, allowing the public to draw any inferences it saw fit. The Board concluded that the statements in the subject flyer were not entitled to First Amendment protection and were materially false in violation of the Rules set forth hereinabove.15 15 The Board crafted a separate order entered in advance of the hearing denying Judge-Elect Callaghan’s motion to dismiss the charges on constitutional grounds. Taking issue apparently with the Board’s refusal to seek an advisory opinion from this Court regarding the constitutionality of the Rule violations with which he was charged, he now urges this Court to address the “serious procedural question” of whether administrative agencies have the authority to address constitutional issues. Subsequent to oral argument, Judge-Elect Callaghan submitted a notice of additional authorities containing an additional citation to a case in support of this issue and further suggesting that remand may be necessary, depending on this Court’s ruling on the constitutional issue presented. First, we observe that Judge-Elect Callaghan forced the issues before the Board by raising them in the context of a motion to dismiss, which necessarily must be ruled upon before proceeding to disposition. Secondly, before this Court, he cites no authority suggesting that an agency must first seek a court ruling on the constitutionality of the rules it is charged with enforcing before acting. In fact, the cases he cites merely protect the right of one who challenges the constitutionality of a rule to seek declaratory judgment in the proper forum. Judge-Elect Callaghan apparently declined to do so in this case, preserving his constitutional challenge for presentation to this Court upon consideration of the recommended disposition. Moreover, none of the cases cited suggest that the agency cannot act upon its rules in the face of a constitutional challenge; in fact, they demonstrate the opposite. In each case, the agency before which the constitutional challenge was raised acted with the presumption that its rules and actions were constitutional and reserved to the appropriate judicial forum the final resolution of constitutionality. That is precisely what has occurred in this case. In fact, the leading case cited in support of the proposition that the Board could not pass on the constitutionality of the Rules at issue states “although the general rule is that agencies do not have the authority to decide constitutional issues, agencies must consider and apply constitutional principles in determining procedures and rendering decisions in contested cases.” Richardson v. Tenn. Bd. of Dentistry, 913 S.W.2d 446, 453 (Tenn. 1995). More specifically, “[w]hen the focus of an aggrieved (continued . . .) 20 1. Facial Constitutionality of Code of Judicial Conduct Rule 4.1(A)(9) and Rule of Professional Conduct 8.2(a) It is well-established that “speech about public issues and the qualifications of candidates for elected office commands the highest level of First Amendment protection.” Williams-Yulee v. The Fla. Bar, 135 S. Ct. 1656, 1665 (2015). However, that being established, the United States Supreme Court has made clear that judicial candidates may be treated differently than political candidates for purposes of curtailing improper speech: “Judges are not politicians, even when they come to the bench by way of the ballot. And a State’s decision to elect its judiciary does not compel it to treat judicial candidates like a campaigner for political office.” Id. at 1662. In acknowledgment of this view, the commentary to our Rule 4.1 notes that “[t]he role of a judge is different from that of a legislator or executive branch official, even when the judge is subject to public election [and] [c]ampaigns for judicial office must be conducted differently from campaigns for other offices.” W. Va. Code of Jud. Cond. 4.1 cmt. See also Randall T. Shepard, Campaign Speech: Restraint and Liberty in Judicial Ethics, 9 Geo. J. Legal Ethics 1059, 1067 (1996) (“The American tradition sets judges aside from the hurly-burly of sometimes unseemly political strife. We place courts and judges on a party’s claim is an ‘as applied’ challenge to the constitutionality of a statute or any challenge to the constitutionality of an agency rule, the agency may initially rule on the challenge.” Id. at 455. See also Middlesex Cty. Ethics Comm. v. Garden State Bar Ass’n, 457 U.S. 423, 435 (1982) (criticizing disciplinary respondent for failing to raise constitutional challenge during disciplinary proceedings as there was nothing to indicate “the members of the Ethics Committee, the majority of whom are lawyers, would have refused to consider a claim that the rules which they were enforcing violated federal constitutional guarantees”). 21 higher plateau and hope that in doing so they will act the part and ask us to do the same on matters of importance. Consignment of judges to regular rough-and-tumble politics makes the judiciary less capable of filling this role.”). The Williams-Yulee Court explained further that since “the judiciary ‘has no influence over either the sword or the purse; . . . neither force nor will but merely judgment[,]’ . . . . [t]he judiciary’s authority [] depends in large measure on the public’s willingness to respect and follow its decisions.” 135 S. Ct. at 1666 (citations omitted). In short, the bedrock of the public’s submission to the judiciary’s authority is the public’s faith in its integrity, impartiality, and fairness. With the critical understanding that “[s]tates may regulate judicial elections differently than they regulate political elections, because the role of judges differs from the role of politicians[,]” it is therefore incumbent upon this Court to determine if Rule 4.1(A)(9) of the Code of Judicial Conduct and Rule 8.2(a) of the Rules of Professional Conduct improperly infringe on the petitioner’s First Amendment rights. Id. at 1667. The Supreme Court has explicitly held that “[a] State may restrict the speech of a judicial candidate only if the restriction is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling interest.” Id. at 1665. a. Existence of a Compelling State Interest Without question, this Court has previously recognized that “[t]he State has compelling interests in maintaining the integrity, independence, and impartiality of the judicial system—and in maintaining the appearance of the same—that justify unusually 22 stringent restrictions on judicial expression, both on and off the bench.” In the Matter of Hey, 192 W. Va. 221, 227, 452 S.E.2d 24, 30 (1994). The United States Supreme Court has agreed: “We have recognized the ‘vital state interest’ in safeguarding ‘public confidence in the fairness and integrity of the nation’s elected judges.’” Williams-Yulee, 135 S. Ct. at 1666 (quoting Caperton v. A. T. Massey Coal Co., 556 U.S. 868, 889 (2009)).16 While “[t]he concept of public confidence in judicial integrity does not easily 16 Similarly, and as pertains to the lawyer disciplinary penalty, this Court has expressly held with respect to lawyers’ asserted free speech rights: The Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment protects a lawyer’s criticism of the legal system and its judges, but this protection is not absolute. A lawyer’s speech that presents a serious and imminent threat to the fairness and integrity of the judicial system is not protected. When a personal attack is made upon a judge or other court official, such speech is not protected if it consists of knowingly false statements or false statements made with a reckless disregard of the truth. . . . Syl. Pt. 1, in part, Comm. on Legal Ethics v. Douglas, 179 W.Va. 490, 370 S.E.2d 325 (1988) (emphasis added). More recently, the Court held: . . . [A] statement by an attorney that such attorney knows to be false or with reckless disregard as to its truth or falsity concerning the qualifications or integrity of a judge, adjudicatory officer or public legal officer, or of a candidate for election or appointment to judicial or legal office is not protected by the First Amendment as public speech on a matter of public concern where such statement is not supported by an objectively reasonable factual basis. The State’s interest in protecting the public, the administration of justice, and the legal profession supports use of the objectively reasonable standard in attorney discipline proceedings involving disparagement of the credibility of the aforementioned judicial officers. (continued . . .) 23 reduce to precise definition, nor does it lend itself to proof by documentary record[,] . . . no one denies that it is genuine and compelling.” Williams-Yulee, 135 S. Ct. at 1667. Although it is fairly inarguable that states have a compelling state interest in maintaining public confidence in their judiciary, we pause briefly in our analysis to give proper treatment specifically to West Virginia’s wide-ranging measures to uphold the integrity and impartiality of judicial officials and candidates.17 The West Virginia Code of Judicial Conduct requires that those within the judiciary “respect and honor the judicial office as a public trust and strive to maintain and enhance confidence in the legal system.” Preamble, W. Va. Code of Jud. Cond. It critically mandates that the judiciary “maintain the dignity of judicial office at all times, and avoid both impropriety and the Syl. Pt. 5, in part, Lawyer Disciplinary Bd. v. Hall, 234 W. Va. 298, 765 S.E.2d 187, 190 (2014). See also n.13, supra. 17 As explained by now-Chief Justice Loughry in his book about West Virginia election corruption: For too long, West Virginians have witnessed lying about candidates as a matter of tradition and expected behavior. The result, however, is that lying during a campaign erodes democracy, defames good people, and discourages others from even considering entering politics. There is simply no justification and no First Amendment right to lie and destroy someone’s reputation and life. It amounts to obtaining a public office through stealth and deception and by robbing every voter of a fair election. Allen H. Loughry, II, “Don’t Buy Another Vote, I Won’t Pay for a Landslide,” 498 (McClain Printing Co. 2006). See also Caperton, 556 U.S. 868 (discussing effect of campaign contributions on obligation of West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals justice to recuse himself). 24 appearance of impropriety . . . [and] aspire at all times to conduct that ensures the greatest possible public confidence in their independence, impartiality, integrity, and competence.” Id. While not naive enough to suggest that the public believes the judiciary to be infallible, judicial officers and candidates must minimally conduct themselves such as to preserve the institutional veneration with which the judiciary is historically imbued. We agree whole-heartedly that [t]he public at large is entitled to honesty and integrity in judicial officials elected to mete out justice, apportion equity, and adjudicate disputes. We cannot ask for more, but we should certainly not expect less, particularly when it is the robed arbiter who, when administering the oath to witnesses, cautions them to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. In re Lowery, 999 S.W.2d 639, 663 (Tex. Rev. Trib. 1998). That said, this Court is not blind to the “fundamental tension between the ideal character of the judicial office and the real world of electoral politics.” Chisom v. Roemer, 501 U.S. 380, 400 (1991). See In re Donohoe, 580 P.2d 1093, 1097 (Wash. 1978) (en banc) (recognizing the “delicate balancing of rights involving the public, the incumbent judge, and the lawyer candidate for judicial office”). However, as this Court held in syllabus point six of State ex rel. Carenbauer v. Hechler, 208 W. Va. 584, 542 S.E.2d 405 (2000), “[t]he West Virginia Constitution confers on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, both expressly and by necessary implication, the power to protect the integrity of the judicial branch of government and the duty to regulate the political activities of all judicial officers.” (emphasis added). 25 Accordingly, the requirements and prohibitions contained in our Code of Judicial Conduct carry out this Court’s mandate to ensure that “integrity and impartiality” are visible, demonstrable qualities of our judicial candidates and not merely a meaningless ethical talisman. Significantly, judicial candidates willingly submit themselves and their campaigns to these restrictions. See Shepard, supra at 1060 (“The notion that judges must sacrifice many of their personal interests to the interests of the system and the litigants that it serves is ancient and widespread.”). Not only is protecting the integrity of the judiciary the constitutional duty of this Court, but it has likewise been woven into the fabric of public policy as expressed by our Legislature. In a measure that complements the Code of Judicial Conduct’s distinguishing regulation of judicial campaigns, in 2015, the West Virginia Code was amended to make judicial elections non-partisan. See W. Va. Code §§ 3-5-6a through 6d (2015). This amendment represents an unmistakable Legislative mandate that West Virginia’s judiciary must distance itself from the fray of partisan politics. These legislative and judicial constraints plainly seek to discourage—if not eradicate—within the judiciary, the type of distasteful and reckless campaign conduct which, quite unfortunately, is becoming increasingly more common with each passing election. “The citizenry cannot conceivably maintain faith in the judiciary’s impartiality and integrity if it witnesses the slick, misleading advertisements and public mudslinging that candidates use to reach the bench every election year.” Adam R. Long, Keeping Mud Off the Bench: The First Amendment and Regulation of Candidates’ False or Misleading Statements in 26 Judicial Elections, Duke Law Journal, 787, 791 (Nov. 2001). These measures plainly seek to preserve not only the personal integrity and impartiality of the judicial candidates themselves, but more importantly, that of the institution. This discussion leads us inexorably to the conclusion that, in terms of Judge-Elect Callaghan’s challenge to the facial constitutionality of Rule 4.1(A)(9) and Rule 8.2(a), there is plainly a compelling state interest which justifies restricting judicial candidates’ speech, which is undertaken both in his or her role as a judicial candidate and lawyer. The issue that remains is whether our Rules, as crafted, are sufficiently narrowly tailored to meet that compelling state interest. b. Narrow Tailoring of Rule 4.1(A)(9) and 8.2(a) Code of Judicial Conduct Rule 4.1(A)(9) prohibits a judicial candidate from “knowingly, or with reckless disregard for the truth, mak[ing] any false or misleading statement[.]” (emphasis added). 18 The commentary to this Rule augments this 18 Insofar as Judge-Elect Callaghan was not charged with, nor does the Board base its recommendation on, any alleged “misleading” statement, the issue of whether the “misleading” portion of Rule 4.1(A)(9) is constitutional is not squarely before the Court. Accord Disciplinary Counsel v. Tamburrino, 2016 WL 7116096, 4 (Ohio, Dec. 7, 2016) (declining to address constitutionality of “misleading” campaign speech prohibition because candidate was not charged with such). Given our conclusion that the subject flyer was materially false, we see no occasion herein to resolve the constitutionality of that portion of Rule 4.1(A)(9) prohibiting such statements. We do, however, note that such provisions in similar Rules have been widely found to be facially unconstitutional. See Winter v. Wolnitzek, 834 F.3d 681, 694 (6th Cir. 2016) (“[O]nly a ban on conscious falsehoods satisfies strict scrutiny.”); Butler v. Ala. Judicial Inquiry Comm’n, 802 So.2d 207 (Ala. 2001); Chmura, 608 N.W.2d 31 (amending rule to eliminate unconstitutional (continued . . .) 27 prohibition by explaining that “[j]udicial candidates must be scrupulously fair and accurate in all statements made by them and by their campaign committees.” Rule of Professional Conduct 8.2(a) similarly prohibits a lawyer from making “a statement that the lawyer knows to be false or with reckless disregard as to its truth or falsity concerning the qualifications or integrity of a judge, adjudicatory officer or public legal officer, or of a candidate for election or appointment to judicial or legal office.” (emphasis added). With respect to false statements in general, Justice Alito has observed that the United States Supreme Court has repeatedly made clear that such statements “possess no intrinsic First Amendment value.” United States v. Alvarez, 132 S. Ct. 2537, 2560-61 (2012) (Alito, J., dissenting).19 Further, the United States Supreme Court has stated prohibition on misleading or deceptive speech, or which contains material misrepresentations or omissions); In re O’Toole, 24 N.E.3d 1114 (Ohio 2014). 19 Citing Illinois ex rel. Madigan v. Telemarketing Associates, Inc., 538 U.S. 600, 612, 123 S. Ct. 1829, 155 L.Ed.2d 793 (2003) (“Like other forms of public deception, fraudulent charitable solicitation is unprotected speech”); BE & K Constr. Co. v. NLRB, 536 U.S. 516, 531, 122 S. Ct. 2390, 153 L.Ed.2d 499 (2002) (“[F]alse statements may be unprotected for their own sake”); Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46, 52, 108 S. Ct. 876, 99 L.Ed.2d 41 (1988) (“False statements of fact are particularly valueless; they interfere with the truth-seeking function of the marketplace of ideas, and they cause damage to an individual’s reputation that cannot easily be repaired by counterspeech, however persuasive or effective”); Keeton v. Hustler Magazine, Inc., 465 U.S. 770, 776, 104 S. Ct. 1473, 79 L.Ed.2d 790 (1984) (“There is ‘no constitutional value in false statements of fact’” (quoting Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323, 340, 94 S.Ct. 2997, 41 L.Ed.2d 789 (1974))); Bill Johnson’s Restaurants, Inc. v. NLRB, 461 U.S. 731, 743, 103 S. Ct. 2161, 76 L.Ed.2d 277 (1983) (“[F]alse statements are not immunized by the First Amendment right to freedom of speech”); Brown v. Hartlage, 456 U.S. 45, 60, (continued . . .) 28 “[t]hat speech is used as a tool for political ends does not automatically bring it under the protective mantle of the Constitution. For the use of the known lie as a tool is . . . at odds with the premises of democratic government[.]” Garrison, 379 U.S. at 75. Nevertheless, prohibitions on false statements must still contain sufficient proof requirements to avoid infringing on protected speech: [I]n order to prevent the chilling of truthful speech on matters of public concern, we have held that liability for the defamation of a public official or figure requires proof that defamatory statements were made with knowledge or reckless disregard of their falsity. . . . All of these proof requirements inevitably have the effect of bringing some false factual statements within the protection of the First Amendment, but this is justified in order to prevent the chilling of other, valuable speech. Alvarez, 132 S. Ct. at 2563-64 (emphasis added). Accordingly, prohibitions on knowingly or recklessly false statements by judicial candidates have been universally upheld and found not to infringe on First Amendment rights. Most recently, in Winter, the Sixth Circuit found a false statement ban identically worded to our Rule 4.1(A)(9) to 102 S. Ct. 1523, 71 L.Ed.2d 732 (1982) (“Of course, demonstrable falsehoods are not protected by the First Amendment in the same manner as truthful statements”); Herbert v. Lando, 441 U.S. 153, 171, 99 S. Ct. 1635, 60 L.Ed.2d 115 (1979) (“Spreading false information in and of itself carries no First Amendment credentials”); Virginia Bd. of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Inc., 425 U.S. 748, 771, 96 S. Ct. 1817, 48 L.Ed.2d 346 (1976) (“Untruthful speech, commercial or otherwise, has never been protected for its own sake”); Gertz, supra, at 340, 94 S. Ct. 2997 (“[T]he erroneous statement of fact is not worthy of constitutional protection”); Time, Inc. v. Hill, 385 U.S. 374, 389, 87 S. Ct. 534, 17 L.Ed.2d 456 (1967) (“[T]he constitutional guarantees [of the First Amendment] can tolerate sanctions against calculated falsehood without significant impairment of their essential function”); Garrison v. Louisiana, 379 U.S. 64, 75, 85 S. Ct. 209, 13 L.Ed.2d 125 (1964) (“[T]he knowingly false statement and the false statement made with reckless disregard of the truth, do not enjoy constitutional protection”). 29 be constitutional on its face. 834 F.3d 681. The Winter court, citing Kentucky’s interest in “preserving public confidence in the honesty and integrity of its judiciary,” found that its ban on false statements was narrowly tailored to meet that compelling interest. Id. at 693. In reaching that conclusion, the court succinctly stated “[t]he narrowest way to keep judges honest during their campaigns is to prohibit them from consciously making false statements about matters material to the campaign. This canon does that, and does it clearly.” Id. Likewise, the Ohio Supreme Court reformulated its prohibition on false statements by judicial candidates to apply only to knowingly or recklessly made false statements such that it would not run afoul of the First Amendment. In O’Toole, the Ohio Supreme Court observed that banning false statements did not circumvent “free debate” because “intentional lying is not inevitable in free debate” and that “[l]ies do not contribute to a robust political atmosphere.” 24 N.E.3d at 1126 (emphasis in original). The Court found that a rule with such narrow scope, applicable only to speech made during a specific time period (the campaign), conveyed by specific means (ads, sample ballots, etc.), disseminated with a specific mental state (knowingly or with reckless disregard) and with a specific mental state as to the information’s accuracy (with knowledge of its falsity or with reckless disregard as to its truth or falsity) was plainly constitutional. Id. Accord Myers v. Thompson, 192 F. Supp. 3d 1129 (D. Mont. 2016) (denying preliminary injunction because candidate unlikely to succeed on merits of constitutional challenge to Rule prohibiting judicial candidate from making 30 false statement); Butler, 802 So.2d 207 (acknowledging constitutionality of restriction on judicial candidate speech where statements are made with knowing or reckless disregard of falsity); In re Chmura, 626 N.W.2d 876, 883 (Mich. 2001) (“[W]e believe that a rule . . . prohibiting a judicial candidate from only knowingly or recklessly making a false communication, strikes a reasonable constitutional balance between the candidate’s First Amendment rights and the state’s interest in preserving the integrity of the judicial system.”); Donohoe, 580 P.2d at 1097 (rejecting First Amendment challenge to restriction on judicial candidate’s speech where statement made with “knowledge of its falsity”). Moreover, in assessing the First Amendment’s protections to the speech of a judicial candidate, courts have noted the categorical inapplicability of the adage that the “remedy for misleading speech is more speech, not less.” Winter v. Wolnitzek, 56 F. Supp. 3d 884, 898 (E.D. Ky. 2014) (citing Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357, 377, (1927) (Brandeis, J., concurring)). As the court observed in Myers, “[w]hile counterspeech may be a strong alternative in the political election context, . . . [counterspeech] does not work to enhance the compelling State interest in judicial elections[.]” 192 F. Supp. 3d at 1140. The reason for this is obvious. While counterspeech may correct any misapprehensions about the subject of the false speech, i.e. the judicial opponent, it does nothing to restore erosion of the public’s confidence in the judicial system as an institution, which occurs when its candidates spread falsehoods. As well-stated by the Myers court: 31 Counterspeech is the best argument to explore falsehoods in speech about ideas and beliefs. Counterspeech is the cure to hate speech, to subversive speech, or to disagreeable political ideas or policies. Counterspeech is not a remedy to a systemic challenge that is false and undermines the public’s confidence in the third branch of government. Id. at 1141. Furthermore, judicial candidates may be unable to adequately respond to false attacks with “more speech” because of the very restrictions their opponent refused to honor—the Code of Judicial Conduct. “[B]ecause their conduct is governed by [the Code of Judicial Conduct] . . . . [j]udicial candidates cannot always use ‘channels of effective communication’ to rebut misleading statements made about them and should not be left in the vulnerable position of fighting a political battle with one hand tied behind their backs.” Long, supra at 815 (quoting Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323, 344 (1974)). In this particular case, as the Board and Judge Johnson correctly noted, Judge Johnson “could not make public statements that, contrary to what was being represented by [Judge-Elect Callaghan], that he did not support policies which might have a negative impact on coal employment in Nicholas County, because the Code of Judicial Conduct would preclude such statements[.]” A judicial candidate should not be left with the Hobson’s choice of leaving false attacks unrequited or following his or her opponent into the ethical minefield of judicial counter-speech. Therefore, as pertains to false speech made with knowledge of or reckless disregard as to its falsity, those portions of our Rules clearly pass constitutional muster. 32 We therefore hold that insofar as West Virginia Code of Judicial Conduct Rule 4.1(A)(9) and West Virginia Rule of Professional Conduct 8.2(a) prohibit lawyers, judges and judicial candidates from knowingly, or with reckless disregard for the truth, making a false statement as more fully proscribed therein, they are facially constitutional under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Likely in view of the fact that our Rules mirror countless other such ethical prohibitions which have been found facially constitutional, we observe that the tenor of Judge-Elect Callaghan’s argument focuses largely on his “as-applied” challenge. 2. Constitutionality of Rule 4.1(A)(9)and Rule 8.2(a) As-Applied In that regard, Judge-Elect Callaghan maintains that Rule 4.1(A)(9) and Rule 8.2(a) are unconstitutional as applied to the speech contained in the flyer inasmuch as the flyer is objectively true, substantially true and/or contains rhetorical hyperbole or parody. In effect, he claims that the flyer is not actionably “false” in the first instance.20 We now turn to the substance of the flyer to resolve these issues. 20 Judge-Elect Callaghan does not challenge the Board’s conclusion that the allegedly false statements were made “knowingly” or with “reckless disregard.” We therefore find it unnecessary to discuss this aspect of the violations in any detail. We agree with the Board that the evidence demonstrates that he was fully aware of the information which was utilized to craft the flyer and admitted as much. 33 a. Rhetorical Hyperbole and Parody Judge-Elect Callaghan first argues that the opening statement of the flyer— “Barack Obama & Gary Johnson Party at the White House . . .”—is merely a “colorful way” of saying that Judge Johnson attended an event at the White House and that it was “not intended to be taken literally.” As such, he argues that the statement is rhetorical hyperbole or parody. With respect to such purported “colorful” speech, the First Amendment does in fact protect speech which contains parody, fantasy, rhetorical hyperbole, and imaginative expressions, “that cannot ‘reasonably [be] interpreted as stating actual facts’ about an individual[.]” Because no reasonable person would take these types of speech as true, they simply cannot impair one’s good name. “This provides assurance that public debate will not suffer for lack of ‘imaginative expression’ or the ‘rhetorical hyperbole’ which has traditionally added much to the discourse of our Nation.” Mink v. Knox, 613 F.3d 995, 1005 (10th Cir. 2010) (internal citations omitted) (quoting Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co., 497 U.S. 1, 20 (1990)). First, Judge-Elect Callaghan perfunctorily suggests that this aspect of the flyer is “parody.” To support this contention, he briefly refers to the flyer as “harken[ing] back to the ‘beer summit’ between Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates and Sergeant James Crowley[.]”21 The United States Supreme Court has explained that 21 In 2009, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, an African-American, was arrested for disorderly conduct by Sergeant James Crowley, a Caucasian police officer, upon Sergeant Crowley’s belief that Mr. Gates was breaking and entering into what turned out to be his own home. In an attempt to address racial tensions heightened by (continued . . .) 34 [p]arody’s humor, or in any event its comment, necessarily springs from recognizable allusion to its object through distorted imitation. Its art lies in the tension between a known original and its parodic twin. When parody takes aim at a particular original work, the parody must be able to “conjure up” at least enough of that original to make the object of its critical wit recognizable. Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569, 588 (1994) (emphasis added) (quoting Elsmere Music, Inc. v. Nat’l Broad. Co. Inc., 623 F.2d 252, 253 n.1 (2d Cir. 1980)); see also Cliffs Notes, Inc. v. Bantam Doubleday Dell Publ’g Grp., Inc., 886 F.2d 490, 494 (2d Cir. 1989) (“A parody must convey two simultaneous—and contradictory— messages: that it is the original, but also that it is not the original and is instead a parody.”). We may dispense with this argument in short order. Under any common understanding of the concept of “parody,” a parodist creates a facsimile of an original image, event, person, etc. and alters it in a manner that distinguishes it from the original for the purpose of humor, commentary, etc. The sine qua non of parody is a recognition of that which it purports to parody. Using the language of the United States Supreme Court, the subject flyer lacks a “reasonable allusion” to any object, person, or event, much less the event posited by Judge-Elect Callaghan. There is nothing whatsoever in the flyer which can be fairly characterized as being reminiscent of the so-called “beer summit,” nor does he explain in what manner it purports to parody it. The “beer summit” this event, President Obama invited the men to the White House to meet in the White House garden in what was then characterized as a “beer summit.” 35 moniker was derived of a well-publicized photograph of President Obama, Vice President Biden, Mr. Gates, and Sergeant Crowley sitting around a table in the White House gardens, each with a mug of beer in front of them. Aside from what appears to be a pilsner glass of beer depicted near the image of President Obama on the flyer, there is literally no similarity between the events or depictions, much less a “recognizable allusion.” Turning now to Judge-Elect Callaghan’s more substantial contention that this aspect of the flyer is mere “rhetorical hyperbole,” the Supreme Court has instructed that rhetorical hyperbole results when the speaker offers speech which cannot “reasonably [be] interpreted as stating actual facts about the [individual] involved.” Hustler, 485 U.S. 46, 50 (1988). Therefore, we must determine if that portion of the subject flyer indicating that Judge Johnson “part[ied]” with President Obama at the White House could reasonably be interpreted as stating actual facts about Judge Johnson; if so, it does not qualify as rhetorical hyperbole. See also Milkovich, 497 U.S. at 23-24 (Brennan, J., dissenting) (“[T]he ‘statement’ that the plaintiff must prove false . . . is not invariably the literal phrase published but rather what a reasonable reader would have understood the author to have said.”); Greenbelt Coop. Publ’g Ass’n, Inc., v. Bresler, 398 U.S. 6, 14 (1970) (characterizing speech as rhetorical hyperbole where “even the most careless reader must have perceived” it as such). Moreover, “[c]ontext is crucial and can turn what, out of context, appears to be a statement of fact into ‘rhetorical hyperbole,’ 36 which is not actionable.” Ollman v. Evans, 750 F.2d 970, 1000 (D.C. Cir.1984) (en banc) (Bork, J., concurring). As further instruction, we are mindful that [a]lthough rhetorically hyperbolic statements may “at first blush appear to be factual[,] . . . they cannot reasonably be interpreted as stating actual facts about their target.” Where rhetorical hyperbole is employed, the language itself “negate[s] the impression that the writer was seriously maintaining that [the plaintiff] committed the [particular act forming the basis of the alleged defamation].” Fortson v. Colangelo, 434 F. Supp. 2d 1369, 1378–79 (S.D. Fla. 2006) (citations omitted). In spite of Judge-Elect Callaghan’s contention that “the idea that the President of the United States would ‘party’ with a Nicholas County Circuit Court Judge is ridiculous on its face,” we can perceive of no reason why Judge Johnson could not have been invited to the White House by President Obama or on his behalf to what could be characterized as a “party” “in support of” the President’s “legislative agenda” as stated on the flyer. As explained above, Judge Johnson was involved in initiatives receiving federal funding and oversight, such as could theoretically come within the ambit of matters for which the President may choose to gather, honor, or entertain such individuals. Certainly individuals from all walks and of various repute are frequently visitors to The White House and/or guests of the President. The notion that those who do so are occasionally treated to receptions, cocktail parties, or the like is similarly not unheard of or incredible on its face. Quite the contrary, the idea of a long-time, distinguished sitting circuit judge attending a function at the White House at the 37 invitation of the President–for whatever reason and however that may come about–is imminently reasonable and believable. Frankly, it is undoubtedly because it is so believable—and when viewed in connection with the purported hardships being experienced in Nicholas County, potentially incendiary—that Judge-Elect Callaghan and his campaign consultant found it compelling campaign fodder. In this instance, however, it simply did not occur. We therefore conclude that this statement could reasonably be perceived as stating actual facts about Judge Johnson and therefore reject Judge-Elect Callaghan’s contention that this aspect of the subject flyer was mere hyperbole deserving of First Amendment protection. b. The Objective and/or Substantial Truth of the Flyer As to the remainder of the flyer, Judge-Elect Callaghan examines each particular phrase in isolation, arguing that each is either substantially or objectively true. First, he argues that the remainder of the headlining statement regarding Obama and Johnson partying at the White House—“while Nicholas County loses hundreds of jobs”—is substantially true. He argues that Judge Johnson attended the conference at a time when Nicholas County was losing jobs. 22 As to the mock “Layoff Notice,” he argues that the phrase “While Nicholas County lost hundreds of jobs to Barack Obama’s coal policies . . .” is opinion. He argues that the remainder—“Judge Gary Johnson accepted an invitation from Obama to come to the White House to support Obama’s 22 As the Board noted, however, the job losses cited in the flyer occurred over a four-year period preceding Judge Johnson’s attendance at the meeting and conference. 38 legislative agenda”—is true because the conference occurred a couple of weeks after Obama signed the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015, which was a part of Obama’s legislative agenda. As to the remaining sentence stating “That same month, news outlets reported a 76% drop in coal mining employment” he argues that it is also objectively true given a June 17, 2015, article admitted into evidence which states that Nicholas County lost 558 jobs representing a 76% drop in coal mining employment. Finally, he argues that the last portion stating “Can we trust Judge Gary Johnson to defend Nicholas County against job-killer Barack Obama?” is merely a rhetorical question. Despite Judge-Elect Callaghan’s attempt to finely parse the flyer into discrete, palatable bits of objective or “substantial” truth, the United States Supreme Court has stated that this Court must examine “‘the substance, the gist, the sting’” of the communication as a whole to determine falsity. Masson v. New Yorker Magazine, Inc., 501 U.S. 496, 517 (1991) (quoting Heuer v. Kee, 59 P.2d 1063, 1064 (Cal. Dist. Ct. App. 1936)). Critically, the Supreme Court has instructed that a communication is considered false if it has “‘a different effect on the mind of the reader from that which the pleaded truth would have produced.’” Id. (quoting R. Sack, Libel, Slander, and Related Problems 138 (1980)) (emphasis added). This Court long ago adopted precisely this standard as pertains to the concept of “falsity” in the parallel libel and defamation contexts: The law . . . takes but one approach to the question of falsity, regardless of the form of the communication. It overlooks minor inaccuracies and concentrates upon 39 substantial truth. Minor inaccuracies do not amount to falsity so long as the substance, the gist, the sting, of the [] charge be justified. A statement is not considered false unless it would have a different effect on the mind of the reader from that which the pleaded truth would have produced. Syl. Pt. 4, in part, State ex rel. Suriano v. Gaughan, 198 W.Va. 339, 480 S.E.2d 548 (1996). Other courts agree with and have utilized this analysis when assessing the falsity of a judicial candidate’s speech. See Chmura, 626 N.W.2d at 887 (“The communication as a whole must be analyzed [and] . . . . [i]f ‘the substance, the gist, the sting’ of the communication is false, then it can be said that the judicial candidate ‘used or participated in the use of a false communication.’”). Typically this so-called “substantial truth doctrine” inures to the benefit of the accused, i.e. if something is “substantially” true in overall effect, minor inaccuracies or falsities will not create falsity. However, in this particular instance, it works to JudgeElect Callaghan’s detriment because “the substance, the gist, the sting” of the communication, taken as a whole, is patently false. See Turner v. KTRK Television, Inc., 38 S.W.3d 103, 115 (Tex. 2000) (collecting cases which “represent the converse of the substantial truth doctrine” because they “convey a substantially false and defamatory impression”). As the Turner court explained, “a publication can convey a false and defamatory meaning by omitting or juxtaposing facts[.]” Id. at 114. We find that merely peppering the latter portion of the flyer with statistical facts about job losses in Nicholas County does not elevate the flyer as a whole to the 40 level of “substantially true.” Nor does the narrow fact that Judge Johnson did in fact attend a federal seminar and meeting make the statement that he “accepted an invitation from Obama to come to the White House” substantially true. There can be little question that the truth, i.e. that Judge Johnson merely attended a federally-required meeting and seminar, would produce a “different effect on the mind of the reader” than what the flyer conveys, i.e. that Judge Johnson was invited by and socialized with President Obama. 23 Distilled to its essence, the ultimate question presented to this Court is whether the flyer is “false” and therefore stripped of First Amendment protection, or, as Judge-Elect Callaghan insists, merely the juxtaposition of two attenuated occurrences— coal job losses in Nicholas County and Judge Johnson’s attendance at a federal seminar in Washington, which was “hyperbolized” as “partying” at the White House. We conclude that the “gist” of the subject flyer conveys that Judge Johnson “partied with Obama” at his personal invitation and is therefore simply too far afield from the truth to 23 In its recommended decision, the Board focuses its “falsity” discussion heavily on the fact that the job losses referenced in the flyer preceded Judge Johnson’s attendance at the seminar and the fact that the seminar had nothing to do with “coal-killing” legislative policies of President Obama. However, we find that the upshot of the flyer is, as Judge Johnson put it, that he was “fiddling while Rome burned,” i.e. he was “partying” in Washington at the invitation of and with President Obama while Nicholas Countians were struggling with job losses. Collaterally, Judge-Elect Callaghan and Mr. Heflin may have hoped that recipients of the flyer would also presume that the “legislative agenda” that yielded the invitation and which Judge Johnson was “partying” in support of was related to the President’s “coal-killing” policies and therefore was directly related to the job losses. That is certainly a reasonable implication from the text of the flyer. However, we find that the flyer is false on a more fundamental level as described herein. 41 be considered protected, hyperbolic free speech; it is, in every sense, materially false. Judge Johnson attended a federally-required meeting and conference in furtherance of his service to the State, which meeting and conference was utterly devoid of any meaningful connection to or interaction with the President. Judge Johnson’s attendance at the meeting and conference is exaggerated, repurposed and mischaracterized to the point that it is rendered patently untrue. When viewed in its entirety as instructed by various courts, we have little difficulty finding that the subject flyer contains knowingly, materially false statements in violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct and the Rules of Professional Conduct. We therefore conclude that the First Amendment does not serve to shield Judge-Elect Callaghan from discipline as a result of the subject flyer. We further conclude, as did the Board, that the subject flyer contains a knowingly false statement and that Judge-Elect Callaghan’s actions in approving and disseminating the flyer are therefore violative of Rule 4.1(A)(9), Rule 4.2(A)(1), Rule 4.2(A)(4) of the Code of Judicial Conduct and Rule 8.2(a) of the West Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct. C. Discipline In addition to his assertions regarding jurisdictional issues and First Amendment concerns, Judge-Elect Callaghan also contends that the sanctions recommended by the Judicial Hearing Board are excessive. As referenced above, “[t]he purpose of judicial disciplinary proceedings is the preservation and enhancement of 42 public confidence in the honor, integrity, dignity, and efficiency of the members of the judiciary and the system of justice.” Gorby, 176 W.Va. at 16, 339 S.E.2d at 702. The objective of any judicial disciplinary proceeding must be to “preserve public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.” In re Wilfong, 234 W. Va. 394, 407, 765 S.E.2d 283, 296 (2014). Consistent with that goal, “[t]his Court has the inherent power to inquire into the conduct of justices, judges and magistrates, and to impose any disciplinary measures short of impeachment that it deems necessary to preserve and enhance public confidence in the judiciary.” Syl. Pt. 8, In re Watkins, 233 W.Va. 170, 172, 757 S.E.2d 594, 596 (2013). In pertinent part of syllabus point seven of Watkins, this Court also explained “[i]t is clearly within this Court’s power and discretion to impose multiple sanctions against any justice, judge or magistrate for separate and distinct violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct and to order that such sanctions be imposed consecutively.” Id. (emphasis supplied). This authority, as referenced above, is derived from article VIII, section 8 of the West Virginia Constitution. Pursuant to article VIII, section 8 of the West Virginia Constitution, this Court has the inherent and express authority to “prescribe, adopt, promulgate and amend rules prescribing a judicial code of ethics, and a code of regulations and standards of conduct and performances for justices, judges and magistrates, along with sanctions and penalties for any violation thereof[.]” Syl. Pt. 5, Committee On Legal Ethics v. Karl, 192 W.Va. 23, 449 S.E.2d 277 (1994); see also Syl. Pt. 1, West Virginia Judicial Inquiry Comm’n v. Dostert, 165 W.Va. 233, 271 43 S.E.2d 427 (1980) (“The Supreme Court of Appeals will make an independent evaluation of the record and recommendations of the Judicial [Hearing] Board in disciplinary proceedings.”). The parameters of potential discipline in this proceeding are governed by Rule 4.12 of the West Virginia Rules of Judicial Disciplinary Procedure.24 Pursuant to Rule 4.12, [t]he Judicial Hearing Board may recommend or the Supreme Court of Appeals may impose any one or more of the following sanctions for a violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct: (1) admonishment; (2) reprimand; (3) censure; (4) suspension without pay for up to one year; (5) a fine of up to $5,000; or (6) involuntary retirement for a judge because of advancing years and attendant physical or mental incapacity and who is eligible to receive retirement benefits under the judges’ retirement system or public employees retirement system . . . . Any period of suspension without pay shall not interfere with the accumulation of a judge’s retirement credit and the State shall continue to pay into the appropriate 24 We also emphasize the significance of Rule 1 of the West Virginia Rules of Judicial Disciplinary Procedure, providing: The ethical conduct of judges is of the highest importance to the people of the State of West Virginia and to the legal profession. Every judge shall observe the highest standards of judicial conduct. In furtherance of this goal, the Supreme Court of Appeals does hereby establish a Judicial Investigation Commission to determine whether probable cause exists to formally charge a judge with a violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct promulgated by the Supreme Court of Appeals to govern the ethical conduct of judges or that a judge because of advancing years and attendant physical and mental incapacity, should not continue to serve. 44 retirement fund the regular payments as if the judge were not under suspension without pay. . . . In addition, the Judicial Hearing Board may recommend or the Supreme Court of Appeals may impose any one or more of the following sanctions for a judge’s violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct: (1) probation; (2) restitution; (3) limitation on the nature or extent of future practice; (4) supervised practice; (5) community service; (6) admonishment; (7) reprimand; (8) suspension; or (9) annulment. See also In re Toler, 218 W.Va. 653, 625 S.E.2d 731 (2005). In the matter sub judice, the Judicial Hearing Board concluded the evidence established three separate and distinct violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct, specifically Rules 4.1(A)(9), 4.2(A)(1), and 4.2(A)(4). The Board also found one violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct, specifically Rule 8.2(a). The Hearing Board recommended the following sanctions: (1) censure as a judicial candidate and as a lawyer; (2) concurrent suspension from serving as a judge and from practicing law for one year; (3) fine of $5,000 for each of the three Code of Judicial Conduct violations, for a total of $15,000; and (4) payment of costs related to the three violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct and one violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct. Judge-Elect Callaghan objects to what he characterizes as excessive and unjustified recommended sanctions. He contends that the dissemination of the flyer played a very minor role in his successful campaign and maintains that a suspension is not justified, arguing that admonishments, reprimands, censures, and fines have been 45 deemed more appropriate in other cases of this nature. The Office of Disciplinary Counsel likewise disagrees with the Board’s recommended sanctions and asserts that the severity of Judge-Elect Callaghan’s violations warrants the attorney and judicial suspensions to be served consecutively, resulting in two years of suspension. Having thoroughly evaluated all arguments asserted in the briefs of this matter, the determinations of this Court are presented below. 1. Factors to be Examined in Determinations of Discipline An extensive consideration of the appropriate discipline for Judge-Elect Callaghan’s violations of both the Code of Judicial Conduct and the Rules of Professional Conduct requires this Court to examine the factors enunciated in syllabus point three of In re Cruickshanks, 220 W.Va. 513, 648 S.E.2d 19 (2007): Always mindful of the primary consideration of protecting the honor, integrity, dignity, and efficiency of the judiciary and the justice system, this Court, in determining whether to suspend a judicial officer with or without pay, should consider various factors, including, but not limited to, (1) whether the charges of misconduct are directly related to the administration of justice or the public’s perception of the administration of justice, (2) whether the circumstances underlying the charges of misconduct are entirely personal in nature or whether they relate to the judicial officer’s public persona, (3) whether the charges of misconduct involve violence or a callous disregard for our system of justice, (4) whether the judicial officer has been criminally indicted, and (5) any mitigating or compounding factors which might exist. 46 Utilizing the framework for analysis outlined in Cruickshanks, this Court first finds that Judge-Elect Callaghan’s conduct relates directly to the administration of justice and negatively impacts the public’s perception of the administration of justice. Second, the behavior certainly relates directly to his public persona, through his efforts to achieve professional gain by dissemination of false materials to the voting public. Third, his actions demonstrate profound disrespect and disregard for our system of justice; his intentional utilization of falsehoods subverts the very essence of the integrity of the judicial system and casts serious doubt upon his fitness for a judicial position established upon unbiased veracity and incorruptibility. 25 Continuing in our examination of the Cruikshanks factors, while we recognize that Judge-Elect Callaghan has not been criminally indicted for his actions, we must also examine other issues which might be considered as mitigating or aggravating factors. The Hearing Board observed the following mitigating factors: Judge-Elect Callaghan has not been the subject of prior disciplinary complaints; Judge Johnson had referenced his seminar attendance on his campaign’s Facebook page; Judge-Elect Callaghan acted quickly in taking corrective measures to address Disciplinary Counsel’s 25 The practice of intentional dissemination of false information to the public strikes the very essence of fundamental judicial principles. “[D]eception is antithetical to the role of a Judge who is sworn to uphold the law and seek the truth.” Matter of Collazo, 691 N.E.2d 1021, 1023 (N.Y. 1998) (quotation omitted); see also William P. Marshall, False Campaign Speech and the First Amendment, 153 U. Pa. L. Rev. 285, 287 (2004) (arguing that effects of false campaign speech “can be as corrosive as the worst campaign finance abuses”). 47 concerns about the subject flyer; he expressed regret that the flyer had caused others consternation; and he cooperated with Disciplinary Counsel in the investigation. Upon de novo review by this Court, we find somewhat limited mitigation in this case. A valid mitigating factor is Judge-Elect Callaghan’s lack of a prior disciplinary record. Likewise, his cooperation with the investigation of the charges against him is a mitigating factor; his full and free disclosure is laudable. With regard to his attempts at corrective measures and his level of regret, however, we find that although he removed the false assertions from his personal and campaign Facebook pages and ran radio advertisements ostensibly retracting the assertions contained in the flyer, the calculated and intentional timing of his mailings rendered it virtually impossible to engage in meaningful mitigation. As Judge Johnson testified, time constraints prevented him from taking meaningful action in response to the distribution of the flyer.26 Nicholas County’s only newspaper was a weekly paper, and the timing of the mailing prevented inclusion of any response or countermeasure in that 26 A somewhat similar circumstance was remarked upon in In re Hildebrandt, 675 N.E.2d 889 (Ohio 1997), noting “the record indicates that the advertisements in question were timed to appear on radio and television two to three weeks prior to the election, thus providing complainant little time to respond publicly to the misstatements or seek redress prior to the election. . . .” Id. at 891. 48 paper.27 Thus, we find that the removal of the assertions from social media and the radio statements are entitled to limited weight in mitigation.28 The Hearing Board references extensive aggravating factors, asserting that Judge-Elect Callaghan acted with a selfish motive; some portion of the electorate may perceive his actions as “stealing the election;” the charges relate to his standing as a judicial officer who used false advertising to get elected and has implied that he will rule in a manner that may impact the local coal industry; he created a false reality and communicated it to the public through polling and campaign flyers; he timed the release of the flyer in a manner which effectively eliminated Judge Johnson’s ability to “undo the damage;” his remedial efforts used language that did not convey authentic regret; and he used other campaign materials to disseminate false or misleading information. Upon review, this Court is compelled to conclude that the record is replete with examples of Judge-Elect Callaghan’s extremely limited remorse. Even in his 27 We note the inherent difficulty of responding to false speech in any instance, even where time constraints are not present. False speech “interfere[s] with the truthseeking function of the marketplace of ideas, and [it] cause[s] damage . . . that cannot easily be repaired by counterspeech, however persuasive or effective.” Hustler, 485 U.S. at 52 (citing Gertz, 418 U.S. at 340, 344 n.9). It has also been observed that the “truth rarely catches up with a lie.” Gertz, 418 U.S. at 344 n.9. 28 We do not find the other factor mentioned by the Board to be worthy of appreciable consideration in mitigation of these violations. Judge Johnson’s reference to his seminar attendance on his campaign’s Facebook page, while indeed relevant in proving the truth of such attendance, in no manner reduces the impact of the violations at issue. 49 meager attempt at mitigation, his comments potentially qualifying as retraction demonstrated an absence of a thorough understanding of the inappropriateness of his actions. In the radio ads, as referenced above, the following statement was made: “[P]lease understand that the specific characterization of the White House visit may be inaccurate and misleading and should not have been sent containing inappropriate information. Candidate Callaghan apologizes for any misunderstanding or inaccuracies. . . .” (Emphasis added). As the Supreme Court of Arizona appropriately remarked in In re Augenstein, 871 P.2d 254 (Ariz. 1994), “[t]hose seeking mitigation relief based upon remorse must present a showing of more than having said they are sorry.” Id. at 258 (quotation and alteration omitted). Judge-Elect Callaghan’s subsequent statements during his testimony continued to reveal a dismissive and cavalier attitude toward his behavior. He stated, “If I had to do it again, I probably would not approve the flier going out just because it’s not enjoyable - politics is not enjoyable in a lot of different ways, but when you cause outrage in somebody, that, I regret.” Moreover, his written response to the initial complaint disingenuously urges that “[s]ome members of the public may have been duly impressed by the fact that Judge Johnson was honored by the White House for the good works he had performed[.]” He further suggested that Judge Johnson could have “easily . . . boycotted this meeting, based upon his disagreement with President Obama’s policies, and he could have publicized such a boycott for political purposes.” In his testimony before the Board, Judge-Elect Callaghan minimized his conduct, stating 50 The Johnson campaign - I described before - they got their mileage out of this flier. . . . [W]hen the retraction came out, on Judge Johnson’s campaign Facebook page they formed what I called the Callaghan lynch mob, and they called me a liar, dishonest, unethical, despicable, dirty politician - just anything you can think of. So they got their mileage, not only out of the flier but out of my retraction in calling me all those names. . . . I think I would’ve beat Judge Johnson by more votes without that flier because of the negative reaction that it got and the negative comments that were created from it. (emphasis added). Flippantly attempting to dismiss the voter effect of the direct-mail flyer, he further testified “these fliers barely warrant a glance on the short trip from the mailbox to the trash can,” allegedly quoting a local reporter. As a further example of aggravating factors, the Hearing Board references the alleged falsities contained in other campaign materials disseminated by Judge-Elect Callaghan. The Board emphasizes that after he presented these flyers during the hearing and sought to have them introduced into evidence, they were ultimately submitted as joint exhibits. He was not, however, charged with any ethical violation based upon those additional materials. Consequently, this Court does not base its determination of appropriate discipline on the existence of those materials, either as actual violations or as aggravating factors.29 While the Board seeks consideration of these matters as indicative 29 The utilization of uncharged allegations of misconduct as an aggravating factor enhancing sanctions must be approached with caution, particularly in an arena in which First Amendment rights to freedom to engage in campaign speech are asserted. As the Supreme Court of Minnesota observed in In re Disciplinary Action against TayariGarrett, 866 N.W.2d 513 (Minn. 2015), due process protections are implicated and (continued . . .) 51 of a pattern of ethical misconduct, this Court finds it unnecessary to consider those uncharged alleged violations to support or enhance the discipline imposed in this case. Our conclusions are premised exclusively upon the four charges properly levied against Judge-Elect Callaghan and proven by clear and convincing evidence.30 2. Precedential Analysis of Violations of Code of Judicial Conduct Where violations of ethical rules occur, it is incumbent upon this Court to impose appropriate sanctions. This Court has recognized that a determination of discipline must be premised upon the unique facts of each individual case. See McCorkle, 192 W.Va. 286, 452 S.E.2d 377. Mindful of the interplay between the roles of lawyer and judge, this Court stated as follows in Karl: It is important for us to emphasize that a judge is first and foremost a lawyer. While acting as a lawyer, he or she is charged with the knowledge or the standards of conduct are weakened if the referee is permitted to consider uncharged violations of the Minnesota Rules of Professional Conduct under the guise of aggravating factors instead of requiring that allegations of additional misconduct be brought in a supplementary petition. However, we need not decide whether the referee clearly erred by finding either of these aggravating factors because their existence does not affect the discipline we impose in this case. Id. at 520 n.4. 30 If the Office of Disciplinary Counsel believes it is appropriate to formally charge Judge-Elect Callaghan for the violations allegedly committed by the dissemination of those additional materials, that office is competent to further investigate those matters, based upon the guidance provided by this opinion. 52 defined in the West Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct. While acting as a judge, he or she is charged with the knowledge of the standards of conduct in the West Virginia Code of Judicial Conduct. Any behavior that reveals the lack of integrity and character expected of lawyers and judges within these standards warrants discipline. The West Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct and the West Virginia Code of Judicial Conduct serve as a unified system of discipline within the legal profession to achieve a common goal and that is to uphold high standards of conduct to secure and enhance the public’s trust and confidence in the entire judicial system. 192 W.Va. at 33, 449 S.E.2d at 287. While this Court has not had occasion to evaluate ethical violations in a factual scenario identical to the present case, we have encountered violations demanding serious response. For purposes of our analysis of Judge-Elect Callaghan’s violations of the Judicial Code of Conduct, our reasoning in prior judicial discipline cases is instructive. In Watkins, for instance, this Court suspended a judge without pay for four years “until his present term of office ends on December 31, 2016” for his repeated intemperance with litigants and disrespect for authority. 233 W.Va. at 183, 757 S.E.2d at 607. This Court expressed grave concerns with the behavior of judges and the resultant effect upon public perception of the judiciary. Citizens judge the law by what they see and hear in courts, and by the character and manners of judges and lawyers. “The law should provide an exemplar of correct behavior. When the judge presides in Court, he personifies the law, he represents the sovereign administering justice and his conduct must be worthy of the majesty and honor of that position.” Matter of Ross, 428 A.2d 858, 866 (Maine 1981). Hence a judge must be more than independent and honest; equally important, a judge must be perceived by the public to be 53 independent and honest. Not only must justice be done, it also must appear to be done. Id. at 182, 757 S.E.2d at 606 (footnote omitted). Interestingly, in Watkins, this Court also noted that more extensive disciplinary measures could have been imposed, based upon the number of ethical violations committed. The Court observed: The Hearing Board concluded that Judge Watkins had committed 24 separate violations of nine separate Canons of the Code of Judicial Conduct. Under the Rules of Judicial Disciplinary Procedure, the Hearing Board noted that for each violation it could recommend that this Court impose a maximum penalty of suspension for one year and a fine of up to $5,000, and that it could impose the penalties consecutively. See Rule 4.12(4) and (5), Rules of Judicial Disciplinary Procedure; Syllabus Point 5, In re Toler, 218 W.Va. 653, 625 S.E.2d 731 (2005). Hence, the Board could have recommended a maximum sanction against Judge Watkins of a 24-year suspension without pay plus a fine of $120,000. 233 W.Va. at 173, 757 S.E.2d at 597.31 Under the particular facts in Watkins, however, the Court determined that a four-year suspension was adequate discipline for the violations. In Toler, this Court suspended a magistrate for four years for sexual misconduct in a prior term, thus suspending him beyond his term in office. 218 W.Va. at 31 By way of hypothetical analogy, a reviewing body might consider the violations herein charged to be premised upon each separate action, i.e., each posting and each item mailed. Similarly, charges possibly could have been calculated based upon the number of false assertions encompassed within the subject flyer. This Court addresses the charges as levied against Judge-Elect Callaghan by the Board and passes no judgment upon the efficacy or validity of alternate methods of calculation. 54 662, 625 S.E.2d at 740. We found four separate and distinct acts and suspended the magistrate one year for each, to run consecutively. Sanctioning the magistrate for each violation was deemed essential, based upon the following reasoning: Having found that Mr. Toler did, in fact, violate the Code of Judicial Conduct on at least four different occasions, in four completely separate and distinct situations, and against four separate individuals, it simply would make little or no sense to find in any other manner than to impose sanctions against Mr. Toler for each of the separate violations and to impose such sanctions consecutively. Given the nature and extent of the misconduct in this case, to rule otherwise would diminish public confidence in the judiciary, impugn the judicial disciplinary process, and would have a chilling effect on the willingness of victims of domestic violence to seek help from the judicial system. Id. at 661, 625 S.E.2d at 739. “To hold a violator of the Code of Judicial Conduct who has committed only one offense to the same exact standard and subject that offender to the same sanctions as a violator who has committed four, five, or fifty separate acts of misconduct would suggest unreasonable disparate treatment. . . .” Id. The Court explained that it “must give proper consideration and weight to the severity of each of the independent acts of judicial misconduct when deciding appropriate sanctions.” Id. In In re Wilfong, 234 W.Va. 394, 765 S.E.2d 283 (2014), this Court imposed a two-year suspension, censure, and costs upon a judge who maintained an extra-marital affair with a corrections program director who regularly appeared in her court. In ruling on that issue, this Court explained: [T]his Court adopts the Hearing Board’s finding that the judge committed eleven violations of seven Canons. The 55 judge demeaned her office, and significantly impaired public confidence in her personal integrity and in the integrity of her judicial office. As a sanction, we hold that the judge must be censured; suspended until the end of her term in December 2016; and required to pay the costs of investigating and prosecuting these proceedings. 234 W.Va. at 397, 765 S.E.2d at 286. As argued by Judge-Elect Callaghan and acknowledged by the Hearing Board and Office of Disciplinary Counsel, judicial campaign ethical violations, in this and other jurisdictions, have often resulted in minimal disciplinary measures, sometimes consisting only of fines, reprimands, or censures. For instance, in In the Matter of Codispoti, 190 W.Va. 369, 438 S.E.2d 549 (1993), this Court censured a magistrate for his direct involvement in his wife’s campaign and for misleading advertisements appearing in a local newspaper. This Court found, however, an absence of clear and convincing evidence that the magistrate caused the advertisement to be published and therefore found that censure was an adequate sanction. Id. at 373, 438 S.E.2d at 553; see also Matter of Tennant, 205 W.Va. 92, 516 S.E.2d 496 (1999) (admonishing candidate for magistrate for solicitation of campaign funds); Starcher, 202 W.Va. 55, 501 S.E.2d 772 (admonishing judge for personally soliciting campaign contributions). In our review of cases involving multiple facets of judicial discipline, we find the rationales employed in those cases instructive on principles underlying disciplinary determinations. In In re Renke, 933 So.2d 482 (Fla. 2006), for example, a successful judicial candidate was removed from office for “knowingly and purposefully” 56 making material misrepresentations in his campaign brochures, among other violations. Id. at 487. The Supreme Court of Florida reasoned: [T]o allow someone who has committed such misconduct during a campaign to attain office to then serve the term of the judgeship obtained by such means clearly sends the wrong message to future candidates; that is, the end justifies the means and, thus, all is fair so long as the candidate wins. . . . In our decision to remove Judge Renke, we have concluded that the series of blatant, knowing misrepresentations found in Judge Renke’s campaign literature and in his statements to the press amount to nothing short of fraud on the electorate in an effort to secure a seat on the bench. . . . [W]e hold that regardless of Judge Renke’s present abilities and reputation as a judge, one who obtains a position by fraud and other serious misconduct, as we have found Judge Renke did, is by definition unfit to hold that office. . . . [T]hose who seek to assume the mantle of administrators of justice cannot be seen to attain such a position of trust through such unjust means. Id. at 495 (citations and internal quotations omitted);32 see also In re McMillan, 797 So. 2d 560 (Fla. 2001) (successful judicial candidate removed, in part, for unfounded attacks on opponent and local court system). 32 In Renke, the Supreme Court of Florida also addressed a matter it had evaluated ten years prior to the Renke matter. Its discussion of that prior case is illuminating on the issue of progression of legal reasoning and sanctioning ability. In In re Alley, 699 So.2d 1369 (Fla. 1997), allegations of violations had been asserted against a candidate for judicial office, charging Judge Alley “with knowingly misrepresenting her qualifications and those of her opponent in her campaign literature, including mailers and newspaper advertisements.” Renke, 933 So.2d at 494. The court, in a very brief Alley opinion, imposed only a public reprimand as discipline, based upon its limitations with regard to altering the recommendations of the Judicial Qualifications Commission. Alley, 699 So.2d at 1370. In Renke, the court took the opportunity to explain that it had been “constrained by the language . . . regarding our ability to modify the . . . proposed discipline” at the time of the Alley decision. 933 So.2d at 494. The court in Renke (continued . . .) 57 In Tamburrino, the Ohio Supreme Court suspended an unsuccessful judicial candidate from the practice of law for one year, with six months stayed, based upon false television advertisements, emphasizing “[t]his case does not involve false statements to merely make Tamburrino appear as though he had better credentials or more endorsements” as in several other arguably comparable judicial ethics cases. 2016 WL at 11. Rather, Tamburrino, similar to Judge-Elect Callaghan in the present situation, “used false statements to impugn the integrity of his opponent.” Id. “Tamburrino’s misconduct impugned the integrity of his opponent as a jurist and as a public servant.” Id. at *12; see also In re Kinsey, 842 So.2d 77 (Fla. 2003) (reprimanding and fining judicial candidate, in part, for attacking opponent’s handling of cases and presenting herself as pro-police and anti-criminal); In re Baker, 542 P.2d 701 (Kan. 1975) (censuring judicial candidate for authorizing campaign flyer containing false assertions regarding opponent’s retirement eligibility); In re Freeman, 995 So.2d 1197 (La. 2008) (suspending justice of the peace without pay for remainder of term for failing to resign judicial office before becoming candidate for non-judicial office); In Matter of Fortinberry, 708 N.W.2d 96 (Mich. 2006) (censuring judicial candidate for falsely accusing opponent of having illicit affair with law clerk and asserting that candidate’s wife was thereafter found dead in observed that, in Alley, it had expressed “our frustration with the recommended discipline in that case, regarding violations similar to the ones we face today, stating, [in Alley], ‘we find it difficult to allow one guilty of such egregious conduct to retain the benefits of those violations and remain in office.’” Renke, 933 So.2d at 494 (quoting Alley, 699 So.2d at 1370). Thus, in Renke, the court stated: “Today we make clear that those warnings cannot be ignored by those who seek the trust of the public to place them in judicial office.” Renke, 933 So.2d at 495. 58 home); In re Burick, 705 N.E.2d 422 (Ohio 1999) (reprimanding and fining judicial candidate, in part, for misrepresenting facts about opponent in campaign communications); Hildebrandt, 675 N.E.2d at 892 (suspending judicial candidate for six months, with suspension stayed, and placing on probation for six months subject to candidate’s compliance with terms of order, including public apology, for falsely accusing opponent of running for judge and for Congress). 3. Precedential Analysis of Violations of Rules of Professional Conduct Our analysis of Judge-Elect Callaghan’s violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct is also guided by our prior decisions of appropriate discipline of attorneys for false statements. In Committee on Legal Ethics of West Virginia State Bar v. Farber, 185 W. Va. 522, 408 S.E.2d 274 (1991), this Court suspended an attorney for three months, with readmission conditioned upon having a supervising lawyer for a period of two years. The attorney had misrepresented facts in a motion to disqualify a circuit judge and had made false accusations against the judge. 185 W.Va. at 525, 408 S.E.2d at 277. Similarly, in Lawyer Disciplinary Board v. Turgeon, 210 W.Va. 181, 557 S.E.2d 235 (2000), this Court suspended a lawyer for two years, in part, for falsely accusing a judge of manufacturing evidence and cooperating with the prosecution against a client. In Hall, this Court suspended an attorney for three months for falsely accusing an Administrative Law Judge of racial bias and unethical behavior. 234 W. Va. 298, 765 S.E.2d 187. 59 The discussion of such violations by other jurisdictions is also instructive. See In re Becker, 620 N.E.2d 691 (Ind. 1993) (suspending attorney thirty days for false claims against judge); In re Ireland, 276 P.3d 762 (Kan. 2012) (suspending lawyer two years for accusing judge of improper sexual behavior during mediation); Kentucky Bar Assoc. v. Waller, 929 S.W.2d 181 (Ky. 1996) (suspending lawyer six months for calling judge lying incompetent ---hole); In re Mire, 197 So.3d 656 (La. 2016) (suspending lawyer one year and one day with six months deferred by two years’ probation for saying judge was incompetent); In re McCool, 172 So.3d 1058 (La. 2015) (disbarring lawyer for orchestrating media campaign based on false or misleading information in effort to intimidate judge); Disciplinary Action Against Graham, 453 N.W.2d 313 (Minn. 1990) (suspending lawyer sixty days for accusing judge, magistrate, and attorneys of conspiracy); Mississippi Bar v. Lumumba, 912 So.2d 871 (Miss. 2005) (suspending lawyer six months for saying judge had temperament of barbarian); Disciplinary Counsel v. Shimko, 983 N.E.2d 1300 (Ohio 2012) (imposing one year stayed suspension on lawyer who repeatedly questioned judge’s impartiality); Moseley v. Virginia State Bar, 694 S.E.2d 586 (Va. 2010) (suspending lawyer six months, in part, for making false comments about judge). 4. Sanctions for Judge-Elect Callaghan’s Violations In this Court’s analysis of the present matter and our determination of appropriate sanction, we recognize the limited precisely comparable precedent. Based upon our review of numerous infractions involving assertions of false statements by 60 judges and attorneys, however, we find it imperative to consider that Judge-Elect Callaghan did not simply misrepresent himself or issues such as his own qualifications or endorsements, his professional competence, or his campaign’s monetary contributions. Rather, he directly and methodically targeted an opponent with fabricated material and disseminated it to the electorate. The perceived vulnerabilities in the opponent’s campaign were exploited, based upon polls and research conducted on behalf of JudgeElect Callaghan and with his approval. As Mr. Heflin explained the strategy, the attempt was “to create a piece of - - something humorous and something that would help create the theatre of the mind we were looking for.” Subsequent to thorough evaluation of this matter, this Court finds clear and convincing evidence of the violations set forth by the Board and adopts its recommendations, with modification. For his violation of Rule 4.1(A)(9), Rule 4.2(A)(1), and Rule 4.2(A)(4) of the Code of Judicial Conduct, we find that Judge-Elect Callaghan should be suspended for two years, without pay, from his position as Judge of the 28th Judicial Circuit.33 For his violation of Rule 8.2(a) of the Rules of Professional Conduct, we find that Judge-Elect Callaghan should be reprimanded. 33 The finding of three separate and distinct violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct could warrant a three-year suspension under Rule 4.12 of the West Virginia Rules of Judicial Disciplinary Procedure. Based upon our assessment of the various elements of Judge-Elect Callaghan’s conduct, as well as aggravating and mitigating factors, we find a two-year suspension is adequate and warranted by the severity of the conduct. We also note that article VIII, section 7 of the West Virginia Constitution (continued . . .) 61 The imposition of this discipline, both suspension as a judge and reprimand as an attorney, is warranted by the severity of Judge-Elect Callaghan’s conduct. The Court acknowledges the obligation to “respect and observe the people’s categorical right to choose their own judges, and to avoid interfering with that right except for manifest violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct.” Turco, 970 P.2d at 740. However, we find manifest violations have been committed in this case.34 We have also observed “it is sometimes appropriate to discipline a judge both as a judge and as a lawyer for the same misconduct.” Matter of Troisi, 202 W. Va. 390, 397, 504 S.E.2d 625, 632 (1998). This precept is artfully explained in In re Mattera, 168 A.2d 38 (N.J. 1961): “A single act of misconduct may offend the public interest in a number of areas and call for an appropriate remedy as to each hurt. . . . The remedies are not cumulative to vindicate a single interest; rather each is designed to deal with a separate need.” Id. at 42. As this prohibits a circuit court judge from practicing law during his term. See also McDowell v. Burnett, 75 S.E. 873, 878 (S.C. 1912) (suspension is “the mere temporary withdrawal of the power to exercise the duties of an office.”). 34 The significance of the elevated public position of a judge cannot be overstated. “Because their misconduct is undeniably more harmful to the public’s perception of both the legal profession and the judiciary as a whole, judges must maintain standards of personal and professional care beyond that of regular attorneys.” In re Coffey’s Case, 949 A.2d 102, 129 (N.H. 2008). “Without judges who follow the law themselves, the authority of the rule of law is compromised.” Id. at 132 (Galway, J., dissenting). In disagreeing with the majority’s decision to impose a three-year suspension for Coffey’s fraudulent conveyances and arguing for imposition of an indefinite suspension, the dissent posits: “Simply put, when one whose job it is to enforce the law, instead interferes with and disregards the law to her own benefit, the public rightfully questions whether the judicial system itself is worthy of respect.” Id. at 130 (Galway, J., dissenting). 62 Court has stated: “In cases of judicial misconduct, more than a single interest is implicated.” Troisi, 202 W. Va. at 397, 504 S.E.2d at 632.35 Judge-Elect Callaghan’s conduct violated fundamental and solemn principles regarding the integrity of the judiciary. 36 His egregious behavior warrants substantial discipline.37 While this Court remains mindful that sanctions are not for the purpose of punishment, this Court must impose discipline in appropriate measure to “instruct the public and all judges, ourselves included, of the importance of the function performed by judges in a free society.” Karl, 192 W.Va. at 34, 449 S.E.2d at 288 (internal quotations omitted). Moreover, “[a]ny sanction must be designed to announce publicly our recognition that there has been misconduct; it must be sufficient to deter the individual being sanctioned from again engaging in such conduct and to prevent others from engaging in similar misconduct in the future.” Id. (internal quotations omitted). We acknowledge Judge-Elect Callaghan’s contention that significant sanctions would have “a devastatingly chilling effect on lawyers pondering the idea of running for a judicial office.” In that vein, we sincerely expect that these sanctions will indeed have a 35 See also Frank D. Wagner, Annotation, Misconduct In Capacity As Judge As Basis For Disciplinary Action Against Attorney, 57 A.L.R.3d 1150 (1974). 36 “[H]onesty is the base line and mandatory requirement to serve in the legal profession.” Iowa Supreme Ct. Disciplinary Bd. v. McGinness, 844 N.W.2d 456, 465 (Iowa 2014) (internal citations omitted). 37 If Judge-Elect Callaghan had not been elected to the judicial seat, our consideration of the discipline to be imposed under the Rules of Professional Conduct may have differed. 63 devastatingly chilling effect on lawyers pondering the idea of disseminating falsifications for the purpose of attaining an honored position of public trust. IV. CONCLUSION This Court imposes the following discipline upon Judge-Elect Callaghan: 1. Judge-Elect Callaghan is reprimanded for violation of Rule 8.2(a) of the Rules of Professional Conduct. 2. Judge-Elect Callaghan is forthwith suspended for two years, without pay, from his office as judge of the 28th Judicial Circuit, for his violations of Rules 4.1(A)(9), 4.2(A)(1), and 4.2(A)(4) of the Code of Judicial Conduct. 3. Judge-Elect Callaghan is ordered to pay a $5,000 fine per violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct, for a total of $15,000 fine. 4. Judge-Elect Callaghan is ordered to pay all costs associated with the investigation, prosecution, and appeal of the violations proven in these proceedings. The Clerk of this Court is ordered to issue the mandate forthwith. Suspension without pay and other sanctions ordered. It is so Ordered. 64 of Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia opinions.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2069
__label__wiki	0.693688	0.693688	Soeur Lea Come, MSC Léa Come was born at Bazougers, a village in the Mayenne, on March 13, 1925, into a family of four daughters, of two sets of twins. Léa remained very close to her twin sister, Andrée, until her death. Léa entered the postulancy of the Marianites at the motherhouse in Précigné on September 7, 1948. At the reception of the habit on March 19, 1949, she received the name Sister Mary of St. Norbert. Sister pronounced her temporary vows on September 4, 1950. She was sent to Felix Marchais Orphanage in Andouillé to be supervisor of the children and to assist in housekeeping for three years. In 1953, Sr. Norbert returned to the Sarthe to St. Joseph School in Précigné to supervise the children and to work in the canteen. Then in 1956 she went back to Andouillé to render those same services at the orphanage. She was given, in 1969, charge of the kitchen in the same establishment which in 1970 was renamed IMPRO. A new orientation directed Léa in 1971 to a totally different ministry and community life. It was at Dinan, in the department of Cotes du Nord, that Léa ministered in the juniorate of the Fathers and Brothers of Holy Cross, doing the interior services of this house. From 1971 until 1977, Léa was part of the community that was the dream of our Founder to live the spirit of the family of Holy Cross: Priests, Brothers, and Sisters. At Dinan, Léa worked with Sr. Christiane L’hommelet so closely and fraternally that a friendship was formed which lasted all their lives in the various obediences they shared. Each one helped the other, especially when Léa became more and more visually impaired. At Léa’s funeral Mass, Father Lesacher, recalling this epoch when he lived with Léa and Christiane at Dinan, cited three traits that he retained of this “little sister.” She was merry, gay, and always happy. She loved to sing and remembered the words to every possible song, especially those from Brittany which she had learned simply from hearing them. She was devoted in all simplicity and available to do even the most menial tasks around the house. Although handicapped, she generously accepted her limited vision even if it frustrated her when she knew that services were needed which she could no longer do!! In August 1977, Léa joined the community at the motherhouse of the Solitude in Le Mans. She shared the work of the guest house and also taught catechism to the neighborhood children with Sr. Christiane. With joy and caring, they welcomed groups who came for Confirmation retreats. They participated with pleasure in the days of recollection for the “Aides aux Pretres” (Assistants to the Priests) and they helped out with the workers of the construction company who sometimes came to the Solitude. They neglected nothing to give a warm welcome to all Holy Cross groups that came to the Solitude. Their joyous and simple hospitality warmed the hearts of all whose paths they crossed. For several years, Léa shared community life with her Marianite sisters in the community Blaise Pascal while participating in parish activities at Holy Cross. In 2004, failing health forced Léa to join the community of our senior sisters at the Solitude. In May of 2005, her doctors directed Léa to a specialized dementia unit at the Basile Moreau Center at Précigné. Despite everything, Léa never complained of her blindness; she spent much of her time in the chapel and could be heard singing joyously wherever she happened to pass. Léa allowed herself to be led with pleasure to activities and enjoyed shopping at Leclerc Center, especially at holiday time when the Christmas lights and music transported her to new worlds well beyond the confines of the store. She loved the activities proposed to her and knew how to put joy into all she could for as long as she could. In March 2012, Sister was hospitalized in Bailleul; the sisters of Précigné accompanied her all during her stay there. Sr. Léa went home to God on March 21, 2012, at the age of 87 and in the 62nd year of her religious life. Her funeral celebration was concelebrated by several Holy Cross priests and the chaplain in the chapel of Basile Moreau Medical Center at Précigné on March 23, 2012. Several sisters from Le Mans and Parcé, members of her family and friends from the Medical Center accompanied Léa’s body to the parish cemetery in Précigné. May her soul rest in peace and in the joy of the Risen Christ.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2073
__label__wiki	0.562854	0.562854	Home > Stocks & Markets > Automotive > Tesla Motors Inc Analysts Upgrade Tesla, Stock Jumps 6% in Pre-Market Trade By Ambrish Shah Jul. 24 2020, Updated 1:10 p.m. ET Tesla stock rose 6.0% in the pre-market trading session at 8:26 AM ET today. The stock rose after three Wall Street analysts upgraded the stock. JMP Securities analyst Joseph Osha increased its target price on Tesla stock from $1,050 to $1,500 but maintained an “outperform” rating. According to a report from TheFly, “The analyst is citing the company’s significant upside in Q2 deliveries with 90.7K shipments vs. his forecast of 73.8K and the consensus figure of 70.3K. Osha adds that Tesla’s Q2 delivery outcome is significant and supports his outlook for continued competitive gains as the company’s decline of about 5% from last year’s volume compares to the industry where demand is collapsing at a rate at least 3-times that pace.” J.P. Morgan analyst Ryan Brinkman also increased its target price on Tesla stock from $275 to $295 but maintained an “underweight” rating. According to a report from TheFly, “The analyst increased estimates to account for Tesla’s better than expected Q2 production and deliveries report.” Meanwhile, a Deutsche Bank analyst increased its target price on Tesla stock from $900 to $1,000. Analysts’ recommendations for Tesla stock Among the 33 analysts following Tesla stock, nine recommend a “buy,” 11 recommend a “hold,” and 13 recommend a “sell.” Analysts have an average target price of $732.14 on Tesla. The target price implies a return of -39.4% based on the closing price of $1,208.66 on July 2. The consensus target price for the stock has risen from $626.30 in June—a growth of 16.9%. In the first quarter of 2020, Tesla reported an adjusted EPS of $1.14 compared to -$1.77 in the first quarter of 2019. The adjusted EPS beat analysts’ consensus expectation of -$0.25. Tesla generated sales of $5.99 billion—a growth of 31.8% from the same quarter a year ago. The company met analysts’ consensus sales expectation of $5.98 billion. Wall Street analysts expect Tesla to report an adjusted EPS of -$1.36 on total revenue of $5.0 billion in the second quarter. Analysts also expect the company’s sales to rise by 10.3% YoY (year-over-year) in 2020 to $27.1 billion. The sales could rise by 39.2% YoY in 2021 to $37.7 billion. The adjusted EPS would rise from $0.20 in 2019 to $4.05 in 2020. Analysts also expect an adjusted EPS of $11.29 in 2021. On July 2, Tesla stock gained 8.0% and closed at $1,208.66 with a market cap of $224.1 billion. Tesla’s stock price has risen by 22.6% in the trailing five-day period, while it has risen by 438.3% in the trailing 12-month period. The stock is trading 1.6% below its 52-week high of $1,228.00 on July 2. The stock was also trading 472.8% above its 52-week low of $211.00 on August 23, 2019. On a year-to-date basis, the stock has risen by 188.9% as of July 2. Based on the closing price on July 2, Tesla stock was trading 18.5% above its 20-day moving average of $1,019.86. The stock is also trading 35.3% above its 50-day moving average of $893.48 and 57.5% above its 100-day moving average of $767.41. With a 14-day relative strength index score of 77, the stock is overbought. Tesla stock has a lower Bollinger Band level of $863.70, while its middle Bollinger Band level is $999.96. On July 2, the stock closed near its upper Bollinger Band level of $1,136.22, which also suggests that it’s overbought. At 9:04 AM ET today, the S&P 500 futures rose 1.29%, while the Dow futures rose 1.49%. Read Tesla Takes a Dig at Short Sellers Einhorn and Chanos, Will Tesla’s Q2 Results Push It into the S&P 500?, and Will NIO’s EC6 Beat Tesla’s Model Y in the Chinese Market? to learn more.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2075
__label__wiki	0.680436	0.680436	- $30 – $40 BUY ONLINE or CALL (530) 265-5040 Tue. – Fri. 9:00 – 4:00 \| Doors open one hour before showtime Miners Foundry Cultural Center is pleased to present Loudon Wainwright III on Friday, January 31, 2020 at 8:00pm. Doors will open at 7:00pm for seating and food/drink. Loudon Wainwright III’s long and illustrious career is highlighted by more than two dozen album releases, Movie and TV credits, and now his new autobiography, Liner Notes(2017 Penguin/Random House). In 2010 Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album for High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project. His 2012 recording, Older Than My Old Man Now, was named one of NPR’s Top 10 Albums of the Year. September 2018, Loudon releases his 27th career album to-date, Years In The Making, a retrospective double CD with more than 45 tracks – live performances, demos, outtakes, unreleased songs spanning 50 years. Wainwright is perhaps best known for the novelty song “Dead Skunk (in the Middle of the Road)”, and for playing Captain Calvin Spalding, the “singing surgeon”, on the American television show, MAS*H. His songs have been recorded by Bonnie Raitt, Johnny Cash, Earl Scruggs, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Rufus Wainwright, and Mose Allison. He has collaborated with songwriter/producer Joe Henry, on the music for Judd Apatow’s hit movie Knocked Up. Loudon penned music for the British theatrical adaptation of the Carl Hiaasen novel Lucky You. He composed topical songs for NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered and ABC’s Nightline, and recorded several songs for the soundtrack of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. As an actor, Wainwright has appeared in films directed by Martin Scorsese, Hal Ashby, Christopher Guest, Tim Burton, Cameron Crowe, and Judd Apatow. Tickets are $30 in Advance and $40 At the Door. This will be a seated, general admission show. Tickets are available online, by phone, or in person at the Miners Foundry Box Office, and in person at BriarPatch Co-Op. Advance sales close at 4:00 p.m. on January 31, 2020. Ticketing fees waived for purchases made by phone or in person through the Miners Foundry Box Office and BriarPatch. The Miners Foundry Box Office is open Tuesday – Friday from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., (530) 265-5040. There will be a full service no-host bar available as well as food available for purchase beginning at 7:00pm. blues, Concert, folk, loudon wainwright, miners foundry, nevada city https://www.eventbrite.com/e/loudon-wainwright-iii-tickets-68195447419?aff=Website Nevada City, CA 95959 United States + Google Map « Foundry Dance Party! Antsy McClain » Foundry Dance Party! Antsy McClain	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2080
__label__wiki	0.849777	0.849777	Firefox version 4.2.1.21a download old version Download file.al - spr-1611.mp4 - 401.4 mb Change download file for gmail Download pdf a socio-technical framework for internet-of-things design How humans evolved 6th edition pdf download Like stars on earth movie download english version Don't like ads? No problem! Ptable will always be free for everyone. If you find it especially useful, please consider buying a poster or making a $1 monthly megafilesnnle.web.app Minecraft windows 10 installer free download Like Stars on Earth: Darsheel Safary, Tanay Chheda, Tisca Chopra, Sachet Engineer, Vipin Sharma, Aamir Khan: Amazon.com.au: Movies & TV Shows. Language, English (Dolby Digital 5.1), Hindi (Dolby Digital 5.1) Lagaan - Once upon a Time in India - 2-Disc Collectors Edition - All Regions DVD - PAL - Aamir Khan - dyslexia suffered by Ishaan, the main character in “Like Stars on Earth” movie as the English Teacher: All the time asking for permission to go to the toilet. These are the best movie soundtracks — from John Williams' Star Wars score to Marvel's Black Panther compilation. We're not just talking about breathtaking surround sound technology like Dolby Atmos or The Broken Bridge / British Relief Back To The Future (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack / Expanded Edition). Troy Baker, Actor: The Last of Us. Troy Baker was born on April 1, 1976 in Dallas, Texas, USA as Troy Edward Baker. He is known for his work on The Last of Us (2013), BioShock Infinite (2013) and Batman: Arkham Knight (2015). Feature films, shorts, silent films and trailers are available for viewing and downloading. Enjoy! View a list of all the Feature Films sorted by popularity. Do you want to post a feature film? Yesterday movie available on Blu-ray, DVD, Digital and On Demand from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Watch Yesterday trailers and video and find out where to buy or view the Yesterday movie. Travolta, a Scientologist, had sought for years to make a film of the novel by Hubbard, the founder of Scientology. He was unable to obtain major studio funding due to concerns about the script and its connections to Scientology. Plans for the film were announced in October 2014, with Snyder on board to direct and Terrio attached to write the script. If you take away the dyslexia, it seems like my story. The film affected me so deeply that I was almost left speechless. After watching the film, I was asked how I liked Taare Zameen Par. I could not talk as I was deeply overwhelmed." Matthew Mercer, Actor: Overwatch. Matthew Mercer was born on June 29, 1982 as Matthew Christopher Miller. He is an actor and director, known for Overwatch (2016), Biohazard: Damnation (2012) and Critical Role (2015). Bryce Papenbrook, Actor: Shingeki no kyojin. Bryce Papenbrook was born on February 24, 1986 in West Hills, California, USA as Bryce Austin Papenbrook. He is an actor, known for Bureiburî deforuto: Furaigu fearî (2012) (2012), Call of Duty… Feature films, shorts, silent films and trailers are available for viewing and downloading. Enjoy! View a list of all the Feature Films sorted by popularity. Do you want to post a feature film? Yesterday movie available on Blu-ray, DVD, Digital and On Demand from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Watch Yesterday trailers and video and find out where to buy or view the Yesterday movie. Travolta, a Scientologist, had sought for years to make a film of the novel by Hubbard, the founder of Scientology. He was unable to obtain major studio funding due to concerns about the script and its connections to Scientology. Plans for the film were announced in October 2014, with Snyder on board to direct and Terrio attached to write the script. If you take away the dyslexia, it seems like my story. The film affected me so deeply that I was almost left speechless. After watching the film, I was asked how I liked Taare Zameen Par. I could not talk as I was deeply overwhelmed." Matthew Mercer, Actor: Overwatch. Matthew Mercer was born on June 29, 1982 as Matthew Christopher Miller. He is an actor and director, known for Overwatch (2016), Biohazard: Damnation (2012) and Critical Role (2015). Chuck Huber, Actor: Dragon Ball Z: Doragon bôru Z - Kami to Kami. Chuck Huber was born on May 8, 1971 in Chicago, Illinois, USA as Charles Cody Huber. He is an actor and producer, known for Dragon Ball Z: Doragon bôru Z - Kami to Kami (2013… 1504 quotes have been tagged as stars: Stephenie Meyer: 'I like the night. Without the I had always known the sky was full of mysteries—but not until now had I realized how full of them the earth was.” ― Ransom tags: beatles, immortality, moon, song-lyrics, stars, sun Download app for iOS Download app for Android. Shop Alita: Battle Angel [ 3D, 4K UHD and Blu-Ray ] [2019]. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Click or tap to get more information on any movie below. He was made a Kennedy Center Honoree at the White House in 2014, and was awarded the Polar Music Prize in 2017. While in college, Rai did a few modelling jobs. Following appearances in several television commercials, she entered the Miss India pageant, in which she placed second. Although he publicly marketed it as a Western in outer space—a so-called "Wagon Train to the Stars"—he privately told friends that he was modeling it on Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, intending each episode to act on two levels: as a… The film title and credits are on the bottom of the poster. Johnny Yong Bosch, Actor: Bleach: Burîchi. Johnny Yong Bosch was born on January 6, 1976 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA as John Jay Bosch. He is known for his work on Bleach: Burîchi (2004), Akira (1988) and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The… The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book. Read 26,971 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. Seconds before the Earth is demolished to Enjoy millions of the latest Android apps, games, music, movies, TV, books, magazines & more. Anytime, anywhere, across your devices. James Cameron journeys to some of the Earth's deepest, most extreme and unknown environments in search of the strange and alien creatures that live th Written by Andy Weir, Audiobook narrated by R. C. Bray. Sign-in to download and listen to this audiobook today! First time visiting Audible? Get this book free when you sign up for a 30-day Trial. Johnny Yong Bosch, Actor: Bleach: Burîchi. Johnny Yong Bosch was born on January 6, 1976 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA as John Jay Bosch. He is known for his work on Bleach: Burîchi (2004), Akira (1988) and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The… Bryce Papenbrook, Actor: Shingeki no kyojin. Bryce Papenbrook was born on February 24, 1986 in West Hills, California, USA as Bryce Austin Papenbrook. He is an actor, known for Bureiburî deforuto: Furaigu fearî (2012) (2012), Call of Duty… 1504 quotes have been tagged as stars: Stephenie Meyer: 'I like the night. Without the I had always known the sky was full of mysteries—but not until now had I realized how full of them the earth was.” ― Ransom tags: beatles, immortality, moon, song-lyrics, stars, sun Download app for iOS Download app for Android. Amazon.co.uk - Buy Like Stars On Earth at a low price; free delivery on qualified orders. PK 2 DISC COLLECTORS EDITION [BOLLYWOOD] by Aamir Khan Wonderful wonderful film in English, looking from the point of view of a dyslexic child who is misunderstood and sent Download Audiobooks · Book Depository 10 Jan 2017 Translation of 'Taare Zameen Par Title Song' by Shankar These stars on the Earth. Like any loving relationship without a hidden motive. Hello, Earth Kids! My name is Download the 2020 Calendar With Student Artwork (PDF). Find Out Who Is on the Download This: Space Tech Fun Pad (PDF). 21 May 2014 There's also a debate over what percentage of those sun-like stars might be orbited by an Earth-like planet (one with similar temperature Star Wreck: Timecrash short film continues the Star Wreck saga. It takes the franchise to a new dimension where Soviet Union rules the future Earth. The Communist utopia is coming to Want to learn more? Follow us on Facebook! Facebook 200713+ 2h 42mInternational Movies Watch offline. Available to download. Genres English, Spanish, French, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese. Cast. Explore the fact-checked online encyclopedia from Encyclopaedia Britannica with hundreds of thousands of objective articles, biographies, videos, and images 26 Apr 2019 Studios announce their superhero slates like Stalin announced five-year plans. primarily on Earth, which excludes sci-fi fantasias like Star Wars and a curious, bloody version of the expansive agape, the embrace of our He's reportedly set to be a star witness in her lawsuit against the British tabloids. ‎Read reviews, compare customer ratings, see screenshots and learn more about Solar Walk - Planets Explorer. Download Solar Walk - Planets Explorer and enjoy it on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The web-based version of Google Earth also includes Voyager, a feature that periodically adds in-program tours, often presented by scientists and documentarians. It is envisaged in a flat Earth cosmology, with the sun, moon and stars revolving around it. Tolkien's sketches show a disc-like face for the world which looked up to the stars. Adobe flash for android tablets download How to download save file for wii games How to download files from whatsapp Download the latest version of the ocommunity suite Amharic books free download pdf Frp remove android all device tool download 2018 © 2019 https://megafilesnnle.web.app, Inc. All rights reserved.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2082
__label__wiki	0.600263	0.600263	The Golem and the Jinni: Our 9th Annual One Book Mishkan Series ONE BOOK MISHKAN One Enchanting Novel for our 9th Annual Series The Golem and the Jinni, by Helene Wecker “Magical,” “captivating,” “engrossing,” “inventive,” “elegantly-written,” “utterly unique,” “enchanting,” “provocative,” “atmospheric,” “spellbinding,” “meticulously researched,” “a continuous delight.” Join us this year as we read this exceptional debut novel blending mythical beings from Jewish and Arab folklore with historical fiction to illuminate our own human nature. The magical Arab myth of the Jinni -- creature of fire -- and the Jewish myth of the Golem -- formed from earth -- is not a parable of Jewish/Arab conflict but of what it means to be human. The struggle to assert reason over emotion is played out as these mythical creatures interact with the citizens of New York’s Lower East Side and Little Syria, circa 1899. Over the course of the year, we’ll explore themes of Jewish folklore, correspondences between Arab/Muslim and Jewish culture, interfaith experiences and the common ground of our shared humanity. Programs in our 5774 series: Book Discussion: The Golem and the Jinni, by Helene Wecker (February 23, 2014) Facilitated by Sharon Rhode What can a golem and a jinni, thrown together by chance in turn-of-the-century New York, teach us about being human? Are we any more skilled at balancing reason and emotion today? What resonates with our own experiences as differing cultures come in contact with one another? Rich in ideas emerging from this astonishingly original and imaginative story, we explored these, and other, questions in our wide-ranging Book Discussion. A Fire in the Forest: The Life and Legacy of the Baal Shem Tov (February 2, 2014) An offering of music, Hasidic story and the viewing and discussion of the film A Fire in the Forest, led by Rabbi Shawn Zevit with guest Rabbi Jeff Eisenstat. Filmmakers traveled to Europe with Rabbi Marc Soloway in search of the legacy of the Baal Shem Tov, and other Hasidic masters, to understand the history and ongoing impact of the early Hasidic movement of the 17th and 18th centuries. Rabbi Jeff Eisenstat, who recently visited this part of Europe, including some of the sites in the film, also shared music and stories from his own adventure. Read about the connections between Kabbalah, Hasidism and our One Book, The Golem and the Jinni, in November's Kol Shalom. Saturday Night at the Movies: Paul Wegener's 1920 Silent Classic THE GOLEM (October 12, 2013) Probably the silver screen's first 'monster movie,' this rarely-seen black-and-white silent movie classic tells the story of the creature, brought to life from clay, to protect the inhabitants of a Jewish ghetto in 16th century Prague...and what happens when Man's creation stops obeying the will of its creator. While many have seen stills from this film, most have not seen it in full. The new version offers striking cinematography with restorative tinting, vividly stylized details and a newly-composed soundtrack incorporating Jewish and folk dance melodies. Our screening was followed by a lively discussion, moderated by film buff and classicist Dr. Adam Blistein, and accompanied by popcorn, libations and yummy treats...another great Saturday night at the movies! Panel Discussion: The Golem and the Jinni: Jewish Science Fiction. Jewish? Science Fiction? (Saturday, April 19, 2014) Reception with special Passover treats to follow! Our well-loved One Book Mishkan format, the panel discussion, returns this month with a stellar cast of expert commentators set to explore a wide range of questions beginning with our One Book and building on its varied themes. We are so fortunate that longtime member, and Temple English Professor, Steve Newman agreed to convene the panel and moderate the discussion. Steve writes the following about the topics and questions to be addressed and some background on our distinguished guests: Three panelists well-versed in science fiction and its links to Jewish culture in the US will lead discussion on Helene Wecker's The Golem and the Jinni. In what ways is The Golem and the Jinni a Jewish novel? How is it a work of science fiction? How do these categories cross-pollinate or stand in tension with each other? How is its Jewishness complicated and enriched by the worlds the Jinni brings with him; among them Arabic folklore and the Little Syria of late-nineteenth-century New York City? What does Wecker's novel have to say to us now about the intimate and vexed relationship between Jews, Arabs, and others, both in the US and in the Middle East? These are some of the questions we look forward to addressing with you, and are eager to hear your own questions and reflections. Todd Dashof, a graduate of the Wharton School of Business and an actuary, is the president of the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society and the past holder of numerous Board positions. An avid reader of science fiction since he was six years old, he has been attending and working science fiction conventions since he was 20 and chaired the 2001 World Science Fiction Convention (The Millennium Philcon). Sally Wiener Grotta is an award-winning journalist who has authored many hundreds of articles, columns and reviews for scores of glossy magazines, newspapers and online publications, as well as numerous non-fiction books. A Jewish Book Council Network Author, her fiction includes Jo Joe, and the soon-to-be-published The Winter Boy. Josh Lukin has published interviews with four radical science fiction writers, including the great Jewish satirist Phil Klass (a.k.a. William Tenn). He is the editor of It Walks in Beauty: Selected Prose of Chandler Davis, a book collecting stories and essays by an innovative Cold War-era science fiction writer and peace activist. A regular presenter at WisCon: The Feminist Science Fiction Convention, he teaches in Temple University's English Department. Steve Newman is an associate professor of English at Temple University where he specializes in British literature of the Long Eighteenth Century and questions of valuation. He is interested in discussions about the state of the academy and the value of the humanities, organizing academic labor, community-based learning and the literature of Philadelphia. He is the author of Ballad Collection, Lyric, and the Canon: The Call of the Popular from the Restoration to the New Criticism and editor of Temple’s Faculty Herald. Next year, an essay of his will be published on growing up Jewish in the South Florida suburbs. Download the program flyer to e-mail and post. Open to the public. All Welcome. Donations Encouraged. Longing & (A Little) Laughter: An Evening of Jewish & Arabic Folk Culture (Saturday, May 3, 2014) One Book Mishkan & One Book, One Jewish Community Joint Program Reception with Jewish & Arabic treats to follow. A very special evening of music, poetry readings, theatrical performances and more as we explore themes of longing for home and homeland found in both our One Book Mishkan selection, The Golem and the Jinni and the city-wide One Book, One Jewish Community selection, The Wanting. Members of Mishkan Shalom will perform and we’re delighted to welcome, once again, Makhelat Micha’el: The Mishkan Community Choir. Having enhanced many One Book Mishkan programs over the years, we are especially pleased to present the choir’s first concert performance at Mishkan under the direction of new conductor Miriam Davidson. Open to the public. All Welcome. Suggested Donation $10.00.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2085
__label__cc	0.696648	0.303352	Greenspan: Worried About Inflation, Says “Entitlements Crowding Out Investment, Productivity is Dead Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan spoke with Tom Keene and Mike McKee for Bloomberg TV & Radio. MishTalk He discussed the ramifications of negative interest rates, entitlement spending, and declining productivity. On the state of the U.S. and global economy, he said: “We’re in trouble basically because productivity is dead in the water.” On whether he is optimistic going forward, Greenspan said: “No. I haven’t been for quite a while. And I won’t be until we can resolve the entitlement programs. Nobody wants to touch it. And that is gradually crowding out capital investment, and that’s crowding out productivity, and it’s crowding out the standards of living where do you want me to go from there.” Greenspan was critical of negative interest rates but refused to comment directly on the recent decision of the ECB. He is also worried about interest rates and the level of debts. Entitlements now probably require a three to four percent growth rate in the United States. Rate cuts, negative interest rates, buying corporate debt is no part of the solution. Gross domestic savings as a percent of GDP has been declining over the years largely because entitlements have dug into them. You just can’t print money and buy the infrastructure. Productivity will only increase if there is savings behind the investment. We should be more concerned about inflation than we appear to be. The issue is how long can we maintain long-term interest rates by continuously pushing money into the system, at rates which I would say, human psychology doesn’t continence. Interview Transcript Courtesy of Bloomberg DAVID WESTIN: Thanks very much, Stephanie. So we are here sitting with Dr. Alan Greenspan, who led the Fed for eighteen and a half years. I ask him, he’s very precise about this. So welcome to Bloomberg GO. It’s great to have you here. Beyond that, he’s really one of the major economic thinkers of our era. So we had the Bank of England just hold their rates. We had the Fed yesterday, we’ve had the Bank of Japan. It’s all about central banks right now. Everyone one of those central banks, whatever their approach, is focused on growth and the problem of getting growth going. ….. GREENSPAN: Well, the fundamental problem, if you dig under the fingers, is — it is ultimately the fact — that entitlements — which are legally required, because that’s what they are; they’re entitlements — will grow wholly independently of what the ability to fund it is. And the ability to fund it is largely related to the GDP. I would say it is hard to know exactly, but it just — entitlements now probably require a three to four percent growth rate in the United States, for example. WESTIN: I’m sorry — Just to pay for entitlements? GREENSPAN: Well — no, it requires the context of the types of revenues that arise for government, specifically one form another to fund entitlements. Implicit in where the entitlements are on the spending side is an economic growth probably close to four percent. We’re at two and struggling at two. And therefor what is happening is there has been a significant decline in savings in the society that has gross domestic savings as a percent of GDP has been declining over the years largely because entitlements have dug into them. And in fact, one way to see that is if the sum on entitlement spending plus gross domestic savings, which incidentally is household and business savings. Some of those two items, as a percentage of GDP, has been relatively constant since 1965. And what that says is for every dollar increase in entitlements, we’ve lost a dollar in gross domestic savings, but gross domestic savings causes gross domestic investment and gross domestic investment is the key element in productivity growth. And so this sequence of starting with an — unfundable retitlements has led to a stagnation in productivity growth. WESTIN: So to oversimplify, instead of investing in things like plants and equipment, long-term capital assets, we are spending it on entitlements. Those dollars are going for entitlements. GREENSPAN: Actually — exactly the issue. The interesting thing about it is that during Republican administrations, entitlements grew more than on average during Democratic administrations. WESTIN: That is your party, after all. GREENSPAN: That is my party. I want you to observe how much this issue is being discussed in this campaign. This is what — what they should be talking about. The problem is is that entitlements is the third rail of American politics. You touch it and you lose. WESTIN: Right. But to come back to the central banks for a moment, because we were all fastened on the central banks right now. I listened carefully to your answer. I heard nowhere in there, let’s cut rates, let’s go to negative interest rates, let’s buy corporate debt, the way that ECB is doing. I didn’t hear any of that as part of the solution. GREENSPAN: Well, because it isn’t. WESTIN: So what do you think of the ECB buying private corporate debt? GREENSPAN: I don’t like to comment on — how — people with whom I’ve worked. Second-guessing is a wonderful activity. I love it. But I don’t like — I shouldn’t practice it. WESTIN: But you first guessed, actually, not second guessed back in 2000 when there was the Soma report that came out under your leadership in the Fed. Were you had all the Federal Reserve system sign on to it with some fairly stringent rules about what — the Federal Reserve, at least — should be investing in, what assets should be investing in. Because you were concerned about distortions in the market. GREENSPAN: Well — the Federal Reserve is there to act as a central bank to supply liquidity to depository institutions. You can do everything you want there by merely stay with U.S. treasuries. We used to (ph) (inaudible) U.S. Treasury bills made a very short turn — I mean, investing long-term in U.S. treasuries was considered inappropriate. The point is that once you start to invest in anything, where do you stop? And since it appears though the Central Bank, which has got the sovereign credit under its thumb, can produce free money anytime you want. And so what you get is that the political system looks on and says, well hey, this is — How long has this been going on? And you get an extraordinary demand for entitlements and all sorts of programs which are not funded. Why? Because why do they need to be funded? We just print the money. WESTIN: So let’s come back for (inaudible) investment and I understand you think we should be dealing with entitlements, we should give us the money. But as you say, politically that is very difficult. Why shouldn’t, as an alternative — this wouldn’t be the central bank, this would be the treasury. Why shouldn’t we borrow 30-year money at 2 percent interest rates and invest in infrastructure? Isn’t that a way of getting investment into the system? GREENSPAN: Well it wouldn’t be, but it would certainly help to fund the system in a way which would be very cheap. Of course, our level of debt is now on the rise and it’s going to accelerate on the upside. And the more of that that is in 30-year issues, if we can put them out there, the better off we are. And I think we need (inaudible). WESTIN: But if that money was used to invest in things like broadband internet access for all — bridges and roads, traditional infrastructure, basic education for the new market economy, wouldn’t that increase productivity? GREENSPAN: No. It would increase productivity only if there were savings behind the investment. Although it says double entry bookkeeping, the question is, you just can’t print money and buy the infrastructure, for example. Ultimately inflation begins to take hold. And one of the very — I find that the fact that — I know yesterday, the consumers price index came out, and the last two months at an annual rate have been more than 3 percent. Now I grant the — That the CPI is not the ideal — I should (inaudible) core CPI. Even that’s not the ideal, or statistic to use. But I think we’re going to be watching the inflation issue coming (inaudible). WESTIN: Shouldn’t we be more concerned about inflation than we appear to be? GREENSPAN: Very much so. WESTIN: And what is the proper measure? PCE? GREENSPAN: Well it is — Yeah, it’s PCE core and that’s not going up into three percent. But I don’t deny that there is a strong deflationary process that’s been going on very much — very similar from what happened in Japan after their crisis — But that’s going to pass and the issue is how long can we maintain long-term interest rates by continuously pushing money into the system, at rates which I would say, human psychology doesn’t continence (ph). I think there is a limit to that. WESTIN: The Federal Reserve yesterday indicated there won’t be as many rate hikes as were originally thought this year. But they have been fairly consistently wrong in their projections. They have overestimated their ability to raise — rate hikes. And although those numbers have come together a little bit for 2016, if you go out to 2017, 2018, there’s still a fair spread between what the market thinks can be absorbed and what the Fed is singling. Who is right and why is the Fed — it seems to be consistently wrong on this issue? GREENSPAN: No comment. WESTIN: Okay. That’s fair enough. From your experience with the Federal Reserve and central banking, is there a practical limitation on the ability of any central bank to raise rates because of foreign exchange at this point? GREENSPAN: Well, remember when you’re talking about foreign exchange, it’s a two-sided coin. There are those who basically think that everybody’s exchange rate is going up or they’re all going down. It’s a zero sum game. And we know that you (ph) think in terms of what your exchange rate is doing. Always think in terms of what the system as a whole is doing. I mean, it is very obvious that we have been through a period where the dollar has been extremely strong, not because we did things necessarily right, but other people did other things wrong. And so that we ended up, by default, at the top of the heap. But I’m not sure that’s all good. End Transcript On the whole, however, that was a surprising good, as well as accurate interview. His comments on entitlements and productivity were generally spot on. I disagree with Greenspan’s belief that inflation is best measured as price increases in “core PCE” personal consumption expenditures. Such a belief led to the housing bubble for which Greenspan never admitted responsibility. Essentially Greenspan chastised central banks for asset bubble blowing polices he started. Mike “Mish” Shedlock Real and Unreal Inflation: Workers Lost Money 9 out of 12 Months in 2021 Inflation is Up 7% in December Reaches Fastest Pace Since 1982 Janet Yellen's Poison Pill Tax Gambit May Soon Explode Into a Huge Trade War	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2086
__label__wiki	0.848158	0.848158	Economist: Low wages, costly housing limit Missoula’s economy January 27, 2017 By cmsadmin Bryce Ward, associate director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana, said Missoula’s high cost of housing and low wages has forced many college-educated workers to leave, making it hard for businesses to find skilled workers. (Martin Kidston/Missoula Current) By Martin Kidston/Missoula Current The state of Montana has lost an estimated 17,000 college-educated workers due to low wages and a lack of opportunity, making it hard for businesses to grow within the state, an economist said Friday. The issue is particularly acute in Missoula, where a worker with a college degree earns just 63 percent of the nation’s median earnings and can’t afford the cost of housing. “If you’re a college-educated Montanan, your median earnings are only 77 percent of the U.S. median,” said Bryce Ward, associate director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana. “In Missoula, it’s even worse. Our median here is only 63 percent of the U.S median.” Ward and Patrick Barkey, the director of BBER, brought their economic outlook seminar to Missoula on Friday. Intermixed with the state’s annual economic outlook, they dedicated a portion of their presentation to the state’s wage problems, including those in Missoula. Of the nation’s 917 metro areas, Ward said, Missoula ranks 910th for the median earnings paid to college-educated workers. Across the state, he added, 65 percent of those who have earned a bachelor’s degree in Montana have left. It’s a figure that equates to roughly 17,000 educated workers, according to Ward. “That’s nearly a 10 percent increase in the size of Montana’s college-educated population,” said Ward. “That’s an enormous loss of potential of productive capacity.” Ward has given his presentation in Missoula twice before, once during the Missoula Economic Partnership’s investors’ breakfast back in October, and again in December before the Missoula City Council. On all occasions, Ward touched on the pillars that contribute to regional success, including quality of life – a category in which Missoula performs well. The city’s cost of living is also reasonable, serving as another check in Missoula’s favor. But where the city falls short is through its cost of housing and its low wages. Back in 1990, Ward said, Missoula’s ratio of median home values compared to its median household income was 2.83 percent. It was considered high at the time, though it has since risen to more than 5 percent. That makes Missoula more expensive than 96 percent of all U.S. counties. Unable to earn a competitive wage and faced with the city’s steep housing prices, educated workers often look elsewhere for opportunity. “Any loss of capital is a potential loss to your region,” said Ward. “Given the large changes that have occurred across the economy, the loss of young college-educated workers is an increasing problem for Montana and Montana’s economy.” Several hundred people turned out Friday in Missoula for the annual economic outlook offered by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana. (Martin Kidston/Missoula Current) The scenario has created a challenging dilemma for city and state officials. Weak job opportunities for college-educated workers has forced them to leave the state, leaving behind a smaller pool of skilled employees. That, in turn, makes it difficult for existing businesses to grow, and without growth, they can’t offer higher wages. “That’s the cycle,” Ward said. “There’s 17,000 of them that should be here but aren’t. We have to break out of this cycle.” With the national economy shifting to knowledge-based employment, Ward said Montana – and Missoula – must do more to invest in its entrepreneurs. It’s a subject that has played as a central theme over the past two months, including this week’s unveiling of Accelerate Montana – a new program housed at UM that will streamline seven unique programs designed to help entrepreneurs find their footing and help businesses grow. In a knowledge-based economy, Ward said, it’s the entrepreneur’s job to make the economy work. It’s up to the city and the state whether it will support them. “We have to be able to learn from our entrepreneurs systematically, both those who succeed and those who fail,” Ward said. “What are the boulders they keep running aground on? Is there something collective we can do to remove those boulders? We also have to support them so we can get more and more entrepreneurs into the process.” Contact reporter Martin Kidston at info@missoulacurrent.com	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2087
__label__cc	0.539975	0.460025	Snake Hill + "Hipsters in the Woods" — A great piece by David Fixler Posted in Carl Koch, David Fixler, DOCOMOMO, Snake Hill On Sep 16, 2010 I just stumbled across this piece by David Fixler, President of the New Englad chapter of DOCOMOMO. Years ago, I read a similar piece by Mr. Fixler in Architecture Boston. Massachusetts is home to the first (and only prewar) Modern house neighborhoods in this country, of which the earliest and one of the most significant is Snake Hill in Belmont, developed by architect Carl Koch. Progressive Architecture noted in a 1945 article on the expansion of Snake Hill that the five original 1940 Snake Hill houses were “one of the best known and most significant groups of contemporary houses in the world,” by virtue of their planning and architecture, and their success in creating a strong sense of community on what had previously been considered an unbuildable rocky hillside. Snake Hill was as innovative technically as it was in social terms; Koch experimented with new materials and construction techniques that enabled the houses to be built cheaply and quickly, without sacrificing aesthetics or the quality of the interior space. The steep road accessing Snake Hill was even fitted with radiant hot-water pipes to melt snow and ice. The enduring coherence of Snake Hill’s identity is underscored by the relative obscurity of a contemporary development, under-taken by architect Gunnar Peterson in 1941 in Falmouth. This was unfortunately not conceived as a protected community, and has therefore had a considerable number of its houses replaced with mammoth contemporary structures that have severely compromised the character of the neighborhood. The western suburbs — arcing out from an intellectual heart in Cambridge through Belmont, Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, and Weston — formed the locus of the Modern neighborhood. Each was a place that attracted progressive intellectuals, most of limited means, in search of space and good schools for growing families. A culture receptive to Modernism had already established itself in this area before the war: the first Modern houses in New England were the 1932 Eleanor Raymond House in Belmont, the 1933 Field House in Weston, and several houses including architect Henry Hoover’s own house, in Lincoln — all prior to the arrival of Walter Gropius in 1938. Read more of the article here (PDF). Bauhaus in The Burbs Hugh Stubbins-Designed House in Lincoln	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2089
__label__wiki	0.889604	0.889604	Banana Skin Shoes On the title track that opens Badly Drawn Boy’s ninth studio album (and first in eight years), Damon Gough is getting back up and he’s ready to move on. “It’s time to break free from this plaster cast/And leave your past behind,” the English singer-songwriter rejoices over horn-filled funk, returning to the genre-bending experiments of 2000’s Mercury Prize-winning The Hour of Bewilderbeast and 2002’s Have You Fed the Fish. Gough, who went through an extended bout of soul-searching during his absence, exudes marital bliss on "I Need Someone to Trust" and "Fly on the Wall," taking a more pop-minded bent even as his penchant for chamber music remains present. The loose-limbed “Is This a Dream?” and “Colours” carry a celebratory tone, where he acknowledges his past mistakes as he recollects his thoughts. Even the more subdued moments, like the bossa-nova-tinged “You and Me Against the World,” play with a slow rhythmic groove as Gough opens his heart: “I feel so vulnerable/I want to be/Only in love.” Is This a Dream? I Just Wanna Wish You Happiness I'm Not Sure What It Is Tony Wilson Said You and Me Against the World I Need Someone to Trust Funny Time of Year Appletree Boulevard I'll Do My Best ℗ 2020 Damon Gough under exclusive license to AWAL Recordings Ltd More by Badly Drawn Boy About a Boy (Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack) The Hour of Bewilderbeast Have You Fed the Fish One Plus One Is One Born In the UK It's What I'm Thinking: Photographing Snowflakes (Deluxe) Being Flynn (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2097
__label__cc	0.579773	0.420227	Composer Robinson McClellan Robinson McClellan Robinson McClellan is a composer, teacher, scholar, and concert presenter. Audiences have heard his music via commissions, performers and venues such as the Albany, Ft. Worth, and Knox-Galesburg Symphonies, the Museum of Biblical Art, Amsterdam’s Gaudeamus Competition, the Monteverdi Kamerkoor Utrecht, Yale Schola Cantorum, the Hudson Opera House, Macalester Concert Choir, Moira Smiley and VOCO... Read More Robinson McClellan is a composer, teacher, scholar, and concert presenter. Audiences have heard his music via commissions, performers and venues such as the Albany, Ft. Worth, and Knox-Galesburg Symphonies, the Museum of Biblical Art, Amsterdam’s Gaudeamus Competition, the Monteverdi Kamerkoor Utrecht, Yale Schola Cantorum, the Hudson Opera House, Macalester Concert Choir, Moira Smiley and VOCO, Trio Eos, and many others. He has received residencies and awards from the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, ASCAP, and Vassar College. His choral music is published by E.C. Schirmer, See-a-Dot Music Publishing, in the hymnal from Augsburg Fortress 'Singing in Community: Paperless Music for Worship', and in the brand-new Justice Choir Songbook. Robin earned his doctorate in composition (DMA) at the Yale School of Music and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. He spent several years immersed in piobaireachd, a bagpiping tradition rooted in 17th-century Gaelic Scotland. He founded El Salto, a forum for contemporary music heard in a context of broad-minded religious/humanist inquiry, at Yale Divinity School and the New York Society for Ethical Culture. by Robinson McClellan	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2098
__label__wiki	0.622065	0.622065	Muslim schools: 2019 GCSE and equivalent exam results KEY \| SCHOOL © Confirmed the results to The Muslim News \| * Result or info corrected by the school \| B Boys \| G Girls \| M Mixed. Independent (IND) school is not maintained by a local authority and does not have academy status. Governance arrangements vary, but such a school will always have a registered proprietor. It usually raises its income through charging fees to parents, but may also receive state funding through local authorities. Voluntary-aided (VA) schools are local-authority-maintained schools and often, have a religious character. They are eligible for capital funding grants. VA schools are paid on a similar basis to other categories of school, but the governing body must usually pay at least 10% of the costs of capital work. Free schools maintained (FSM) are funded by the government but are not run by the local authority. They have more operational control. They’re ‘all-ability’ schools, so cannot use academic selection processes like a grammar school. National curriculum optional. ADMISSIONS POLICY (ADMPOL) The admissions policy is that pupils are not selected (NSEL) on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to the selective (SEL) school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of selection criteria. Criteria may include the distance from the pupil’s home to school and whether a sibling is already at the school. Not recorded (NR). ENGLISH BACCALAUREATE AVERAGE POINT SCORE (Ebacc APC) EBacc qualifications in English, Maths, Sciences, a language and either History or Geography. The English Baccalaureate (EBacc) is not a test or qualification; it is a measure used to provide information about a particular range of qualifications. The EBacc APS calculates a pupil’s average point scores across the 5 pillars of the English Baccalaureate, allocating points to a pupil’s best grades and dividing by 6 (the science grades count in 2 pillars, meaning a total of 6 pillars) to create an average point score per pupil. This measure is an average across the subjects (i.e. we divide the total by 6) and so is on a different scale to Attainment 8 which we calculated by awarding points score across 8 qualifications (without dividing the total). ATTAINMENT 8 SCORE: Schools get a score based on how well pupils have performed in up to 8 qualifications, which include English, Maths, 3 English Baccalaureate qualifications including Sciences, Computer Science, History, Geography and Languages, and 3 other additional approved qualifications. GRADE 5(+) OR ABOVE IN ENGLISH & MATHS GCSES This indicates the percentage of pupils who achieved grade 5 or above. Reformed GCSEs are graded 1 (low) to 9 (high). Grade 5 is a similar level of achievement to a high grade C or low grade B in the old grading. Grade 4 or above in the new grading is a similar level of achievement to a grade C or above in the old grading. Note: the Dept of Education suppressed the results of Ghausia Girls High School (Lancashire) and Al-Madani Girls School (Slough), results are suppressed when there are 5 or fewer pupils. Al-Hijrah School (Birmingham) closed last August and is now The Olive School, an academy. Search for schools and colleges to compare	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2099
__label__wiki	0.844842	0.844842	Double Olympic champion and mother of three Helen Glover back in training for Tokyo 2020 “I began to wonder if I could be the first woman in British Rowing history to make an Olympic team after having children.” Helen Glover with her three children Double Olympic champion Helen Glover MBE has returned to training with the GB Rowing Team with the goal of gaining selection for the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. During her four years away from competing, Helen has married her husband Steve Backshall and has had three children Logan (2 ½), Bo and Kit (1). Hear from Helen British Rowing members can check out Helen's first interview about her return to rowing on British Rowing Plus After spending the past seven months training near her home near Maidenhead, Helen has now rejoined the GB Rowing Team at their Caversham training base. She is now training full time with the women’s sweep squad as they build towards the summer’s international competitions, including the Games. Helen said: “It started as a desire to get my fitness back after having the twins, training during their nap time. When lockdown came it meant more hours on the rowing machine than I had anticipated. As my scores and times started getting better, I began to wonder if I could be the first woman in British Rowing history to make an Olympic team after having children. I’m finding the journey exciting and extremely challenging. Trying to be an elite sportswoman and also the best mother I can be to young babies is certainly teaching me a lot.” Director of Performance Brendan Purcell said: “It’s fantastic to have Helen back training with the squad. She’s an incredible athlete and brings a huge amount to the team. “At this stage, all options are open and there’s a lot left to be decided but Helen has already displayed her qualities as an elite level athlete by placing herself in contention for Tokyo.” Helen, who won gold medals alongside Heather Stanning OBE at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games, is one of British Rowing’s all time success stories. She first started rowing through the Sporting Giants talent identification scheme in 2008 under coach Paul Stannard; three years later she and Heather began their historic unbeaten international streak in the women’s pair. Heather said: “It’s such great news to hear Helen is back in a boat and challenging for a place at the Tokyo Olympics. She’s an awesome athlete who clearly brings a huge amount of experience to any boat she rows in. I was lucky to have shared both my Olympic journeys with her and now can’t wait to be chief cheerleader at the next Games!” Polly Swann, who made her own return to the GB Rowing Team in 2019 after completing her medical degree, said: “”Helen is an exceptional person and a phenomenal athlete. To return to the team as a mum of three is an incredible achievement and it really inspires me. It’s a huge step in the right direction for women in sport. If we as a team can support her ambitions and learn from her it will hopefully pave the way for more women to follow in her footsteps – and who wouldn’t want a double Olympic champion in their team?”	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2101
__label__wiki	0.76226	0.76226	Exploring the role of illicit financial flows in Zimbabwe’s political economy Chris Maroleng This story is sponsored This Good Governance Africa webinar was hosted by the Mail & Guardian. It featured as speakers Honourable Tendai Biti, Former Finance Minister during Zimbabwe’s coalition government 2009-2013; Mark Heywood, Human Rights and Social Justice Activist; Farai Maguwu, Founder of the Centre for Natural Resource Governance; Professor Francis Gudyanga, Founding Fellow and past President of the Zimbabwe Academy of Sciences; and Sikhululekile Mashingaidze, Lead Researcher, Human Security & Climate Change Programme, GGA. It was facilitated by Chris Maroleng, Executive Director, GGA. Financial probity remains one of Zimbabwe’s biggest challenges. Maverick Citizen’s Report on Cartel Power Dynamics in Zimbabwe exposes the intricate details of the roots, networks and cost of illicit financial flows (IFFs), including their role in entrenching their patrons’ hold on power; eroding democratisation; undermining service delivery; and creating an uncompetitive business climate. A recently released report by Africa Risk Consulting notes with concern that Zimbabwe is “… becoming a regional hub for laundering illicit wealth that is fuelling violent conflict”. Chris Maroleng opened proceedings, explaining what Good Governance Africa (GGA) does, and how it is conducting a series of webinars to try and bring about reform in Zimbabwe. He introduced the speakers and briefly outlined their backgrounds. Mark Heywood began his presentation by demystifying the concept of illicit financial flows (IFFs); this is corruption, he said, and the poor pay the price. This corruption is carried out by elites in Zimbabwe and internationally, and it is a human rights issue. The personal wealth of Emmerson Mnangagwa is estimated at $500-million, while the per capita income of the average Zimbabwean is about $1 000. The corruption is “sophisticated and sustained” and involves the hiding of money and IFFs. Mark Heywood Heywood is the editor and publisher of the report Cartel Power Dynamics in Zimbabwe, which was published in February 2021. The authors were kept anonymous, as the regime it criticises is prone to lashing out at its critics — imprisoning, torturing and at times murdering them. Heywood ensured that the report was thoroughly fact-checked. It has implications for South Africa and other countries, as Zimbabwe’s state capture is by no means unique in Southern Africa, and Africa in general, as “there is a lot of overlap and co-operation between these criminal political and economic elites”. What is the end result is of allowing IFFs to continue unchecked? Just look at Cabo Delgado province in Mozambique, which has descended into military conflict and a humanitarian crisis. The context of the report thus makes it important. It is a taxonomy of state capture in Zimbabwe, or as a post-mortem of the cancer that killed the independence dream. There is little that is new in its 462 references, but it does join the dots. Nobody knows how much corruption costs Zimbabwe, but the estimate is around 20% of its GDP. The systems that allow this are cartels that make connections between private and political systems, which are mutually beneficial for the parties concerned. Wealth is recycled in a tiny elite and kept out of range of the common man. Most Zimbabweans — about 90% — are in the informal sector because of this. The report identifies the sectors that are in the grip of cartels — fuel, agriculture, roads, tobacco and mining — and it describes who the players are and what their modus operandi are. This has caused some dissent among those implicated, but nobody has been able to dispute the report on a factual basis. One example is Zimbabwe’s roads authority (Zinara) and how it and a company called Univern has made millions through corrupt tenders. The report also asks “what next?” Its aim is to trigger enquiry, and it contains a number of recommendations, which if implemented would make IFFs more difficult to maintain. Zimbabwe has made changes to its constitution since the report was published, which makes publishing much of its content illegal. Heywood concluded his presentation by saying that if corruption is slowed in South Africa, it will have an effect on Zimbabwe too. Hon Tendai Biti Maroleng quoted from an African Development Bank report, which estimated that Zimbabwe has lost a cumulative $12-billion in the last three decades through IFFs, ranging from opaque financial deals to tax avoidance and illegal commercial activities. Hon Tendai Biti said that corruption is very deeply entrenched, especially since the last coup, even more than the cartel report outlines. The forces responsible for IFFs have now converged so that Zimbabwe is a fully-fledged kleptocracy. While Mugabe was president, the primary aim was on retaining power, but now the focus is on looting and personal accumulation. Corruption is a cancer; Biti estimated that 82% of every dollar earned in tax goes towards corruption. There is a huge disparity between the rich resources of the country and the population, most of which lives below the poverty line. Development has ground to a halt because of the corruption. Biti quoted from a book called Kleptopia: How Dirty Money is Capturing the World by Financial Times correspondent Tom Burgis. which has two chapters on Zimbabwe. The country’s huge resource base is inextricably linked to the corruption in there. There are eight tentacles that make up the corruption in Zimbabwe, said Biti. The first is the Reserve Bank and its mismanagement of the US dollar. Secondly is the fuel sector which is the “Manchester United” of cartels; the retail sector is largely controlled by the same cartels. The third pillar is agriculture; its profits are stolen directly through the ministry of finance. The financial sector is controlled by the corrupt, who own many of Zimbabwe’s banks. The mineral sector is crippled by gold smuggling. Biti said other minerals that have become sources of corruption are chrome and platinum. Contracts and procurement have become a major source of looting, and land is being seized from indigenous people for criminal purposes. The borders, especially Beitbridge, are a “commanding height” of corruption: of the $8-billion of goods flowing through there each year, only $2-billion worth of customs duty is paid. Lastly, the parastatals, such as the grain marketing board, are sectors controlled by criminal elites. Less than 30 people control all of them. Farai Maguwu outlined how diamonds were “discovered” in Marange in 2006, after De Beers obtained a prospecting licence and began extracting diamonds with the complicity of the government. In 2008 the diamond fields were captured by the military and many miners were massacred. About eight companies, working with Zanu-PF, became involved in looting diamonds, to the tune of $15-billion. Whenever artisanal miners find minerals, the government moves in and takes over. Farai Maguwu “Zimbabwe is not a poor country: our poverty is a poverty of leadership, who wish to enrich themselves”. Zanu-PF has taken over the banks and economy; any “investors” who come into the country are just criminal networks masquerading as investors. Real investors create employment and leave behind infrastructure. Workers who work for these criminal companies “are basically modern-day slaves”. If anybody objects to working conditions or new projects they are brutally suppressed. In 2018 a protest was organised against cyanide dumping in Penalonga. A meeting was called at which many senior police officers were present. One of them raised an AK-47 and basically told the councillor organising the protest to “not become a statistic”. The government is “wired into” looting and uses the resources of the state to carry it out. The judiciary is part of the criminal network: when large-scale criminals are caught smuggling, they are not arrested; only small-time thieves go to jail. The Crisis Group’s Piers Pigou asked what the private sector is doing to stand up to corruption? Biti said that the private sector in Zimbabwe is not sufficiently developed. The large companies that are there are complicit in the looting. If there was a strong judiciary, and a proper electoral framework that served the people, things might be different. Sikhululekile Mashingaidze touched on Professor Francis Gudyanga’s book Minerals in Africa: Opportunities for the Continent’s Industrialisation, which details the wide array of minerals found in Zimbabwe and Africa, and how these minerals have failed to contribute to the development of Africa due to corruption, which impacts on the poor. She outlined how many Zimbabwean citizens live in fear of their lives because of state-sanctioned organised crime, when they should be benefiting from the vast wealth of Zimbabwe’s minerals. There are many areas in the country that are “no-go” areas because Chinese companies are mining there. Sikhululekile Mashingaidze Mashingaidze said that tackling corruption in Zimbabwe is very difficult; it is unlikely that a Zondo commission will happen there. Many who have spoken up have paid with their lives. There is no investment in industries from the fly-by-night companies that come into the country: many industrial centres are abandoned or are used for church gatherings. Can the legitimacy of the state ever be restored in Zimbabwe? Heywood answered that we have no choice but to attempt to do so. The process of state capture has been put on the back foot to some extent in South Africa by the press and the judiciary. Three things must happen: firstly, there must be more media exposure so that the ordinary people of the region can see that “poverty” is being created by the elites. Secondly, there must be more pressure put on the SADC, because IFFs can only be halted with regional co-ordination. Companies that are complicit must be put in the spotlight. “We have to pool our resources and we have to fight back.” Biti said he has no confidence in regional structures such as SADC or the African Union. We need an international convention or treaty on IFFs, as there are big players involved here, such as the Russians and the Chinese. The Financial Action Task Force formed in 1998 has been very effective in dealing with money laundering and terrorism. The billions stolen from Africa, often by its leaders, are stashed in Swiss banks, and these recipient countries must be held accountable. Biti outlined how billions have been stolen by leaders such as the Dos Santos family in Angola, and they are still walking free. He said the common thread of corruption in southern Africa is the liberation movements in the region. Maguwu said the AU is a union for African leaders, not African people. He said there is a need for African countries to integrate and create links between their mineral and agriculture sectors, infrastructure etc. He said the “people on the ground” once organised to get rid of the colonial powers, and this bottom-up approach may work to rid them of the corrupt elite too. Mashingaidze summarised what the speakers had addressed. The media has a major role to play; the SADC must be put under pressure. Maroleng said the role that international companies and countries that are complicit in corruption play must not be forgotten. Heywood said the cartel report will enable ordinary people to push back against corruption so that resources are distributed more equitably. There has been pushback from those implicated, but he said he believes in the veracity of the report. He agreed with Biti that EFFs must be halted at their source — in the developed countries. Biti said Zimbabwe faces an existential crisis, as it is now run by thugs. He warned that it is extremely dangerous to challenge those in power in Zimbabwe; it is a tough call. Magawu said the greatest challenge of this generation is to fight corruption and that everybody has a role to play, especially the media, as research such as the cartel report is required to fight corruption. It is time for ethical leadership to emerge. Mashingaidze said there must be co-ordination at local and international levels to fight corruption. Maroleng agreed and said a holistic approach is required. To view the webinar, click below: About Mail & Guardian Sponsored Stories The Mail & Guardian’s sponsored stories are produced in association with paying partners. If you would like to speak to our team about producing and publishing high quality content on our site, please contact us at this email address. Clear link between alcohol abuse and gender-based violence, evidence review finds Reflections on Hichilema’s first 100 days in office – GGA Webinar State of capture – DDP Webinar summary How can politicians and municipalities be held accountable by citizens? What should be at the top of Africa’s agenda during COP-26? SA can clear the roadblocks to youth unemployment Your M&G Hi , To manage your account please click here. You can access your digital copy of this week’s paper here. What South Africa’s excessive rains mean for food prices We will have a poorer harvest than the glowing 2020-21 harvest, but will probably not have to import supplies	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2103
__label__cc	0.729018	0.270982	Film review: The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) The most visually dazzling movie I’ve seen in quite some time! Happy I saw it on the big screen. Doesn’t have a dull moment, I was captivated by that world that was created, wanting to step into it, and was tapping my foot along to the score. Apparently different aspect ratios were used in each respective flashback, and each era has a distinct color palette, but I didn't even notice that. Loosely based on Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig, and perhaps a tribute to a bygone era. The actual story is simple, with entertaining and amusing dialogue. Ralph Fiennes' character is fairly odd, yet I couldn’t wait to hear what he’d say next. I used to not get the director’s light-hearted style, which I found pointless and lacking in depth, but I‘ve begun to warm to Wes Anderson’s work, as I mellow with age, and just accept it for the quirkiness, charm, playfulness and eye candy. Yes, it may be style over substance, but sometimes that’s ok. You could probably watch The Grand Budapest Hotel like you read a comic, in fact I wouldn’t be surprised to see Anderson’s movies adapted to graphic novels. I wouldn’t have minded it went on 20 minutes longer, so several of the supporting characters were fleshed out a bit more, and not merely cameos. There are other weaknesses too, the film’s resolution of the murder plot, and the fact F. Murray Abraham doesn't look anything like another character. I have read critics complain that the characters are unpleasant and lacking in redeeming virtues, but I didn't see it that way myself. While there is pending gloom, violence and greed, the film also highlights what used to be, and still is, important: Decency, meticulousness, manners, eloquence, presentability, being the best at what you do, looking after your fellow employees, and so on. As Andy Buckle wrote in his review, Anderson is able to "find humour in the most sad and mundane events" Rating 4.5/5 Agree or disagree? As always, comments are welcome Posted by Chris at Tuesday, April 08, 2014 Labels: Film review ruth 8 April 2014 at 15:08 Hi Chris! Glad you love this too. It' a visual treat indeed but I'm glad the story holds up well too, so it's definitely not a case of style over substance. Chris 9 April 2014 at 00:08 @Ruth: Indeed a visual treat. I agree the story is good, but I think in terms of substance there is more going on. Like I was saying at the end of my review, highlighting virtues of a bygone era. Glad you loved it too! thevoid99 8 April 2014 at 17:32 This is right now, my favorite film of the year. I just had a ball watching it. Yet, what made the screening more enjoyable were the two old ladies who were sitting in front of me who laughed their ass off during the screening. @thevoid99: Funny you should say that, I didn’t mention it in my review, but I had almost the exact same thing happen, with a women next to me laughing quite a lot. It did indeed make it even better to have a communal experience in the cinema! Andina 8 April 2014 at 21:53 Given that you rarely review movies lately, means this movie is a plus. I think I should definitely check this out! What about the soundtrack? @Andina: Indeed, I rarely do full reviews, so you’re right, had a big impact, so I wanted to share my thoughts on it. Hope you get to see it soon :) The soundtrack is mostly instrumental, worked great with the fast-paced story, I don't know if I would listen to it outside the movie, though. Dan O. 11 April 2014 at 08:06 Good review Chris. Such a lovely treat to watch. Maybe Anderson's most ambitious to date, and while that may not automatically make it his best, it still makes it worth a watch. @Dan O: Thanks. I haven’t seen every single one of Anderson’s films, I agree Budapest Hotel is ambitious. His latest has certainly gotten me interested in rewatching his previous work, maybe I will look at them differently now. Eric @ The Warning Sign 13 April 2014 at 10:43 I liked this one quite a bit, too. Like you, I think I am finally starting to warm up on Anderson films. I would put this a close second behind Moonrise Kingdom as far as my favorites go. Also: glad I'm not the only one who thought the connection between Abraham and the young bus boy was dubious at best. Eric @ The Warning Sign: Yeah, Moonrise was very good, and the child perspective worked wonders with Wes Anderson’s style. Looks like he managed to appeal to a wide audience again with Budapest Hotel. Someone argued on IMDb board that Abraham maybe wasn’t the boy? To make us question whether the older Zero is giving us an accurate account of his life. But I don’t buy that theory myself. jjames36 18 April 2014 at 06:37 Great review of what is definitely a visual treat. I would even argue that there is plenty of emotion thrown into the Gustav/Zero relationship. Though I agree the secondary characters aren't given quite enough treatment. @jjames36: Thanks, indeed, a visual treat, and agree could have done more with secondary characters. Gustav’s mentor role works really well. Josh 28 April 2014 at 08:20 I really liked it (4/5), but the film actually felt too long to me. I can't wait to see it again though, as Moonrise Kingdom improved a lot for me on a second viewing. @Josh: 4/5 is a pretty high score, so that's fair enough. I hope I don’t go in the other direction and downgrade Grand Budapest Hotel and Moonrise Kingdom on rewatch :) Lights Camera Reaction 13 May 2014 at 08:38 Lovely review! My favourite film of the year so far. It's witty, emotional and visually beautiful. The actors’ performances are effective, humorous, and sometimes, quite sad. Chris 18 May 2014 at 06:07 @LightsCameraReaction: Thank you! Yes, the things the movie goes for, humor, visuals, and so on, it does very well. And I agree there is some heart there as well. Nice review. It makes me want to see this. Sadly, I have been so busy it has been impossible to get to as many films as I would have liked in the past couple of months. I completely agree with your thoughts about Wes Anderson and the superficial quality of his work. This has always been a point of contention about everything he does for me. I mean, do we appreciate it for what it is and for the way in which it looks, or do we judge the caricaturesque quality of all the characters he creates as a fault rather than a strength. For once, I would be interested in seeing something a bit more adult from Anderson. Now that would be something I would go see in a theater right away. @niels85: Thanks. Indeed Wes Anderson’s filmmaking is very stylized and with moments that you normally only see in movies. So if you’re looking for stories delving into what it means to be human, then his films are probably not where you’ll find any insight about the human condition. Grand Budapest Hotel I liked a lot, and I think the movie worked. Yes, I too would like to see Wes Anderson try something realistic. I think Wes is happy with what he’s doing, but you never know what the future holds. I used to knock him as a shallow director, looking for things that weren’t there, now I just appreciate his uniqueness. 2014 albums I'm listening to 2014 Blind Spot series: The Story of Film An Odyss... Top 25 songs of 2014 so far Top 10 songs by Talking Heads Czech New Wave: Reviews of key works mini-reviews of 2014 albums (3 of 3)	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2108
__label__wiki	0.609176	0.609176	Insulated Concrete Form Tilt-up Podium Decks Site Concrete Federal Projects CITRUS HIGH SCHOOL - REDLANDS, CA Citrus Valley High School is a high school in the Redlands Unified School District in Redlands, California. It is part of San Bernardino County. Citrus Valley High School is a high school in the Redlands Unified School District in Redlands, California, located in San Bernardino County. MIRA MONTE HIGH SCHOOL - BAKERSFIELD, CA Mira Monte High School serves 9-12th grade students and is located in Kern County. Mira Monte High School is a high school located in southeast Bakersfield, California and is part of the Kern High School District. It opened for the school year of 2008-2009. TUTOR FAMILY CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS - WEST HILLS, CA The Tutor Family Center for the Performing Arts is located on campus of Chaminade College Preparatory High School. It has a state-of-the-art 362-seat theatre as well as a black box classroom for smaller theatre performances. GRAND TERRACE HIGH SCHOOL - GRAND TERRACE, CA Grand Terrace High SChool is located in Grand Terrace, California and offers a rigorous, relevant education to prepares their students. PARACLETE HIGH SCHOOL - LANCASTER, CA Paraclete High School is a private Roman Catholic college preparatory high school in Lancaster, California. Privacy and Legal \| Careers \| Contact Us \| Staff Submission Copyright 2021 Nibbelink Companies \| All Rights Reserved \| A Jolly Good Media Website	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2111
__label__wiki	0.685998	0.685998	Tag Archives: korean “Gangnam Style” artist PSY signed to US deal: Will he be the 1st Korean superstar here, or a one-hit wonder? By Gil Asakawa \| September 5, 2012 - 2:54 pm \| September 6, 2012 japan & asia, music, pop culture Scooter Braun, the management guru behind Justin Bieber and Carly Rae Jepsen, today announced he’s signed Korean rap artist Park Jae-Sang, better-known as PSY, the dude with the huge viral video hit, “Gangnam Style” (see above). The goofy, annoying techno-dance thumper with the horsey-straddling giddyup choreography is unavoidable — with more than 107 million views as of this writing, it’s become a meme with a life of its own. There’s a pretty fun (slightly less annoying) mashup of the song with bits by LMFAO, Far East Movement (featuring Dev), Offspring and Bloodhound Gang titled “Like a Bad White Guy Party Gangnam Style” (see below). The song’s video was choreographed by PSY, whose name is a reference to “psycho” for his outsized personality. The “Gangnam” in the song refers to the high-toned part of Seoul, where he probably hangs out — Park is a star in Korea. No doubt the song will now become a megahit with the backing of a US pop music label. There’s a general buzz around Korean pop music, or Kpop, these days, so PSY benefits from that spotlight. Tagged gangnam style, korean, kpop, kyu sakamoto, psy, sukiyaki Sites like I Am Korean American & Discover Nikkei collect stories about identity for our communities By Gil Asakawa \| December 5, 2009 - 10:47 pm \| December 5, 2009 asian american Every once in a while, people ask me about the name of my blog, because they only hear the word “Nikkei” when it’s used for the Japanese stock exchange. “Nikkei” is also so the word used to describe people of Japanese ancestry outside of Japan. I’m a Nikkei-jin, or Nikkei person. When my blog first started out in the 1990s as a column in Denver’s weekly Japanese community newspaper, the Rocky Mountain Jiho, its publishers, Eiichi and Yoriko Imada, suggested I call the column “Nikkei View” since it reflected my perspective on pop culture and politics. The name stuck. In the years since, I’ve come across “Nikkei” a few times as a term for who I am — mostly on research projects such as the International Nikkei Research Project, a three-year collaborative project involving more than 100 scholars from 10 countries and 14 participating institutions including the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) in LA. There are organizations that use the term, such as the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center, and the blog “Nikkei Ancestry.” Now there’s another “Nikkei” site, which is republishing some of my babbling from this blog. In 2005, JANM launched Discover Nikkei, which is a gathering place for stories about Nikkei-jin from all over the globe, not just Japanese Americans but also Japanese Peruvians and Japanese Brazilians (two countries that have very large Nikkei populations), and every other country, as well as mixed-race people of Japanese ancestry. Continue reading → Tagged i am korean american, identity, japanese, japanese american, korean, nikkei discovery Asian adoptees have a unique perspective on cultural heritage By Gil Asakawa \| November 14, 2009 - 2:00 pm \| November 14, 2009 asian american The Asian American community is a diverse world, and not just along purely ethnic lines. There are mixed-race Asian Americans, generations that all have different views on culture and identity, and also a thriving Asian American adoptee community. But adopted kids aren’t always connected to their root heritage. The New York Times last week ran a well-written story interviewing Korean adoptees about the challenges of finding their identity. The article was based on a report on trans-racial adoptions by the Evan E. Donaldson Adoption Institute, which concentrated on adult adoptees who were adopted as children from South Korea. Focusing on Korean adoptees makes sense because, as the report states, “South Koreans comprise the largest group of internationally adopted persons in the U.S., and adoption from South Korea into the U.S. has a longer history than from any other nation; indeed, 1 in 10 of all Korean American citizens came to this country through adoption.” Angry Asian Man and Linda of 8Asians both posted thoughtful reactions informed by their Korean American perspective. Most notably, the report found that a staggering 78% of respondents considered themselves white or wanted to be white when they were children, and also that: Racial/ethnic identity was of central importance to the Korean respondents at all ages, and continued to increase in significance into young adulthood. Sixty percent of them indicated their racial/ethnic identity was important by middle school, and that number grew during high school (67%), college (76%) and young adulthood (81%). Based on their overall scores on the Multi-group Ethnic Identity Measure, Korean adoptees had a stronger sense of ethnic identity than did White respondents, but with caveats. While being equal to Whites in agreeing that they were happy about being a member of their ethnic group and feeling good about their ethnic background, they were less likely to have a strong sense of belonging to their ethnic group, despite identifying more strongly with it. They also were less likely than Whites to feel welcomed by others of their own race. There are a lot of fascinating data points to mull over in the report, and whether you’re interested in adoption, Asian American identity or trans-racial issues, it might be worth downloading and reading the 111-page PDF file, “Beyond Culture Camp: Promoting Healthy Identity Formation in Adoption.” The “Culture Camp” reference caught my attention. Continue reading → Tagged adoptees, adoption, asian adoption, chinese, colorado heritage camp, heritage camp, korean Pho-Yo serves noodles and dessert in one stop By Gil Asakawa \| August 9, 2009 - 8:00 am \| August 9, 2009 asian american, food & dining Pho has evolved over the years, from its invention in 1920s Hanoi to its popularity in the U.S. today. When the soup, with rice noodles and meats served in a hearty broth, first arrived in the stateside, the restaurants catered to mostly Vietnamese diners, like an exclusive club. As non-Vietnamese discovered pho, the restaurants became more inviting, and the diners more diverse. When we first started going to pho restaurants, we weren’t always treated very warmly, because we were outsiders — clearly not Vietnamese. These days, pho restaurants have evolved. We’re welcomed as regulars at our favorite neighborhood pho spot, Pho 78, and all sorts of folks enjoy pho. Even Denver, not exactly known as an Asian American mecca, has dozens of pho restaurants, many with the odd names including nonsensical numbers. Pho-Yo! is the next evolution. When you step in you might not even think it looks and feels like a typical, funky family-run pho restaurant. The difference starts with the menu: itâ€™s an Asianfusion combo of the popular Vietnamese noodle soup, pho, and the popular dessert, frozen yogurt. Tagged #twEATs, dining, food & dining, froyo, frozen yogurt, korean, pho, pho-yo, vietnamese, yoghurt Korean dancers perform in Denver By Gil Asakawa \| September 12, 2008 - 12:28 pm \| September 22, 2008 asian american, music Erin and I got to see a really interesting traditional Korean dance and music performance last week. Think about it — you’ve seen taditional Japanese dancig in kimonos, and heard lots of traditional Japanese music, with the wood flute, koto and taiko drums. You’ve seen Chinese dance and heard Chinese music. And at events such as the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival, audiences have been intorduced to the traditional dance and music of Bali, Vietnam, Philippines, India and more… but not that much from Korea. During the early years of the CDBF, a troupe of Korean seniors used to perform, but their act was mostly 20 minutes of the large group in traditional dress, circling the stage to no particular rhythm and randomly beating on drums. The festival has also featured a solo Korean dancer who did a slow and meticulous mask dance. Abd last year during the Miss Asian American Colorado pageant, one contestant performed a Korean fan dance with a bunch of cute kids helping out. I’m not sure why, but there hasn’t been much exposure, at least in my world, of a lot of traditional Korean performance. Maybe the noisy, sometimes chaotic nature of traditional Korean dance just doesn’t appeal to Americanized tastes. Whatever the reason, though, we got plenty on Saturday, Sept. 6, when the Korean Consulate General in San Francisco sponsored a rare U.S. visit by a Korean dance troupe, Festive Lands, for a performance at the DCPAâ€™s Temple Buell Theater titled â€œColorado Forever.â€ Tagged aapi, korea, korean, traditional dance	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2112
__label__wiki	0.50467	0.50467	Synthetic molecule causes cancer cells to self-destruct Aug 28, 2006 9:00 am by James E. Kloeppel \| 217-333-1085Physical Sciences On white board is diagram of the synthetic molecule that signals cell death in cancer cells, identified by Illinois researchers: seated from left, Bill Helferich, professor of nutritional sciences; Paul Hergenrother, professor of chemistry, and Karson Putt, graduate research assistant in chemistry; and standing from left, Joe Sandhorst, graduate research assistant in chemistry, and Martin Hoagland, postdoctoral student in veterinary biosciences. Photo by L. Brian Stauffer CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Scientists have found a way to trick cancer cells into committing suicide. The novel technique potentially offers an effective method of providing personalized anti-cancer therapy. Most living cells contain a protein called procaspase-3, which, when activated, changes into the executioner enzyme caspase-3 and initiates programmed cell death, called apoptosis. In cancer cells, however, the signaling pathway to procaspase-3 is broken. As a result, cancer cells escape destruction and grow into tumors. "We have identified a small, synthetic compound that directly activates procaspase-3 and induces apoptosis," said Paul J. Hergenrother, a professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and corresponding author of a paper to be posted online this week ahead of regular publication by the journal Nature Chemical Biology. "By bypassing the broken pathway, we can use the cells' own machinery to destroy themselves." To find the compound, called procaspase activating compound one (PAC-1), Hergenrother, with colleagues at the U. of I., Seoul National University, and the National Center for Toxicological Research, screened more than 20,000 structurally diverse compounds for the ability to change procaspase-3 into caspase-3. The researchers tested the compound's efficacy in cell cultures and in three mouse models of cancer. The testing was performed in collaboration with William Helferich, a professor of food science and human nutrition at the U. of I., and Myung-Haing Cho at Seoul National University. The researchers also showed that PAC-1 killed cancer cells in 23 tumors obtained from a local hospital. Cell death was correlated with the level of procaspase-3 present in the cells, with more procaspase-3 resulting in cell death at lower concentrations of PAC-1. "This is the first in what could be a host of organic compounds with the ability to directly activate executioner enzymes," said Hergenrother, who is also an affiliate of the Institute for Genomic Biology at the U. of I. "The potential effectiveness of compounds such as PAC-1 could be predicted in advance, and patients could be selected for treatment based on the amount of procaspase-3 found in their tumor cells." Such personalized medicine strategies are preferential to therapies that rely on general cytotoxins, the researchers say, and could be the future of anti-cancer therapy. The work was funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the University of Illinois. Editor's note: To reach Paul Hergenrother, call 217-333-0363; e-mail: hergenro@uiuc.edu.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2113
__label__cc	0.638657	0.361343	Violence Prevention and Social Justice Sign Up for PSR Action Alerts Round Up of Useful Scientific Sources on Fracking Health Effects On December 17th, 2014, Acting New York State Department of Health Commissioner Zucker, having analyzed reams of peer-reviewed papers, consulted with three out-of-state experts, and visited several states where gas drilling and fracking were underway, stated decisively that he could not recommend that high volume hydraulic fracturing be allowed in the great state of New York. The NYS DOH health review can be found here, and a video of the NYS Cabinet meeting where the fracking decision was discussed is posted here (the fracking discussion starts 41 minutes in). Towards the end of the health review are insightful summaries written by experts including Lynn Goldman from Washington DC, John Adgate from Colorado and Dick Jackson from California. All three were asked to comment on whether a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) would be useful. Of the three, only John Adgate didn’t think so, but his group already conducted an excellent HIA (abandoned in a second draft) with useful information, posted here. Just before the decision on fracking was made, two analyses by independent health groups were made public and shared with the NYS Department of Health. The first was from our New York colleagues at the energy think-tank Physicians, Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy, posted here. They analyzed relevant peer-reviewed literature on fracking and found 96% of all papers on health effects indicate risks/adverse health outcomes; 95% of all original research studies on air quality indicate elevated concentrations of air pollutants; 72% of original research studies on water quality indicate contamination or risk of contamination. Another group, Concerned Health Professionals of New York (CHPNY), which includes several PSR-NY members, started its campaign on fracking about four years ago by asking the NYS Department of Health to get involved, and to do a Health Impact Assessment. Those are documented in CHPNY letters posted here. CHPNY and PSR released a new edition of the “Compendium of Scientific, Medical, and Media Findings of Risks and Harms of Fracking (Unconventional Gas and Oil Extraction),” available here. It documents the recent explosion in peer-reviewed publications on fracking, nearly three quarters of which were published in the past 24 months. Physicians for Social Responsibility New York 135 E 83rd St. #6E email: psr.newyork@gmail.com	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2116
__label__cc	0.556463	0.443537	A Demolition Dictionary As certain cities across the country shrink in population, local governments are left with the task of demolishing hundreds of dangerous vacant properties. Without a national standard for contractors to follow, however, the process poses a significant health risk to the general public. Kyla Fullenwider February 1, 2012 Kyla Fullenwider In 2011, the City of Baltimore’s Housing Department oversaw the demolition of more than 300 unsafe structures throughout the city, including a seven-acre demolition site on the city’s east side. In 2010, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing promised to demolish 10,000 of the city’s most blighted and dangerous properties before his term ends in 2013. And in Youngstown, Ohio, a shrinking population has left the city with 4,000 vacant structures, most of them slated for demolition. On This Road, All the Cars Will Drive Themselves L.A. Tests the Free-Transit Waters Detroit Gallery Packages Meals with Artist-Designed Coloring Book for Kids Housing in Brief: Can the Biden Admin ‘House America’? What Baltimore, Detroit, Youngstown and an increasing number of U.S. cities with shrinking populations have in common is a problem Americans are unused to solving: How to creatively and safely deconstruct our cities. In places like Baltimore — which has lost a third of its population since 1950 and where, depending on who you ask, almost 20,000 properties sit vacant — this breaking down and reinterpreting of place is already happening. Suggestions abound from artists and policy-makers alike. A 2002 Brookings Institute/CEO for Cities report highlights a number of plausible solutions to promote faster and better development of vacant properties, many of which we are now seeing implemented. Some of these solutions — like vacant lot revitalization programs, data visualization to increase transparency and creative financing strategies — are attempts to address the very complex problem that is urban redevelopment. But in the haste to attract developers and their money, many cities have overlooked a most important and essential component of responsible redevelopment: Communicating the potential health hazards, necessary health precautions and contractor’s responsibilities to the people who live and work near a demolition site. In a 2011 report, the Annie E. Casey Foundation defines “Responsible Development” as “an approach that combines economic, community and human development strategies to provide area residents, businesses, and the surrounding neighborhoods with the maximum benefit from the revitalization efforts.” This definition and the tactics outlined for getting there — including “using strict safety protocols to minimize the health hazards for residents of neighborhoods affected by demolition activities” — is a big step toward gaining national standards and protocols for urban demolition, which the U.S. has yet to establish in any meaningful way. As a result of the lack of national standards, cities and contractors are left to make it up as they go along, often creating standards on the fly or after the fact. This was the case in St. Louis after a 2007 study found that children living in low-income areas with significant demolition activity “showed significantly higher levels of lead in their blood than in children where no demolition had taken place.” The report goes on: Despite such findings, federal laws and regulations provide no protections to ensure that lead exposure is minimized during demolition… likewise, states and municipalities typically do not require contractors to ensure lead exposure is minimized. That contractors and developers are left to police themselves is a little like asking food manufacturers to decide what to include on nutrition labels. It is not only inefficient and ineffective, but an egregious conflict of interest. And yet, this is exactly what happens in cash-strapped cities across the country. Desperate for any development to take place in deteriorating neighborhoods, municipalities are uncharacteristically timid — reluctant to require, for example, even the most basic forms of communication with residents near a demolition site. Sure, some cities have spearheaded such initiatives, but most are spotty and half-hazard at best. Responsible redevelopment benchmarks — like public health standards — must include a standard set of communication protocols that publicly and clearly articulate potential health risks, necessary precautions local residents should take, and the contractor’s responsibilities and protocols. It is the onus of the city (and its elected officials) to protect and inform its residents of any city-permitted activities that could potentially impact their health. To be sure, urban demolition is a complex, risky and exhaustive endeavor for cities and developers. It is expensive, logistically challenging and just plain ugly. But — for now — it is a necessary part of the creative deconstruction of many great American cities. And so rather than look the other way, we should increase transparency around the demolition process both for the sake of residents and developers. By creating a national standard for best practices around demolition — including standardized, public-facing communication protocols — we make it easier for contractors to do their job right and for cities to protect the health of their residents. Tags: built environment, detroit, baltimore, st. louis, youngstown	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2117
__label__wiki	0.746614	0.746614	Potential HUD Secretary Pick Is Poverty Adviser to Paul Ryan Bob Woodson is founder of the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise. Jen Kinney November 21, 2016 Center for Neighborhood Enterprises President Bob Woodson with President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence earlier this month (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Fair housing rules, federal spending on affordable housing and more are at stake in President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to run HUD, a frequent target of Republican budget cuts. A few names have been floated for secretary so far, including former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown and Westchester County Executive Robert Astorino. The Washington Post reported Friday that Robert L. Woodson Sr. told the paper he’s a candidate too. Woodson is the director of the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise in D.C. and adviser on poverty issues to U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan. The Project That’s Transforming a Historic Baton Rouge Corridor Built by Enslaved People Housing in Brief: HUD Kills Another Obama-Era Fair Housing Rule Bringing Solar Power to New York’s Affordable Apartment Buildings This Oakland Law Center Fights Housing Insecurity by ‘Radicalizing Real Estate’ Woodson has expressed skepticism about state-initiated poverty solutions and has been supportive of market-based interventions. The Center for Neighborhood Enterprise notes that he has received “both the liberal and conservative world’s most prestigious awards — the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur ‘Genius’ Fellowship and the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Prize.” A black conservative, he has been critical of liberal leaders in the black community, like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, and of their role in what he calls the “poverty Pentagon” — the social workers, counselors and others staffing anti-poverty programs. “We’ve created a poverty industry, turned poor people into a commodity,” he told the Wall Street Journal in 2014. “And the race hustlers play a bait-and-switch game where they use the conditions of low-income blacks to justify remedies.” The Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, which he founded in 1981, works to train and support neighborhood- and faith-based organizations to address issues in and design programs for low-income communities. In addition to focusing on a bottom-up approach, one of the organization’s three founding principles emphasizes the need for market solutions. “An effective approach to societal problems must be driven by the same principles that function in the market economy, recognizing the importance of competition, entrepreneurship, cost efficiency, and an expectation of return on investment,” the CNE’s website states. Woodson told the Wall Street Journal that in neighborhoods where 70 percent of households are raising children outside of wedlock, CNE would “want to know what the 30 percent are doing right. How are they raising kids who aren’t dropping out of school or on drugs or in jail? We seek them out — we call them the antibodies of the community — and put a microphone on them, and say, ‘tell us how you did this.’” Around 2013, Paul Ryan approached Woodson to help him understand what alternatives to traditional poverty-alleviation strategies existed. Woodson took him on tours of low-income neighborhoods across the country, and continues to be a close adviser to the speaker. Of the possible HUD pick, Woodson told the Post, “It’s fair to say that Paul wouldn’t mind having me there to work with them on all of this. … They seem to be very serious about it.” Jen Kinney is a freelance writer and documentary photographer. Her work has also appeared in Philadelphia Magazine, High Country News online, and the Anchorage Press. She is currently a student of radio production at the Salt Institute of Documentary Studies. See her work at jakinney.com. Follow Jen .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) Tags: affordable housing, poverty, hud	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2118
__label__cc	0.680116	0.319884	AAFS Home Presidents’ Messages FSF News FEPAC News YFSF News President’s Spotlight—General Section This entry was posted in General on January 5, 2022 Source: Joanna L. Collins, MFS, General Section Board Representative During the year, we have been presenting presidential spotlights from the Academy sections to highlight the latest significant research or improvements within its discipline. Examples include cutting-edge technology, standards, or methods that improve the practice. Alternatively, they may show a historical account/timeline of the discipline’s use of innovative technology or research. These are presented to inform all members of how each discipline is responding to the challenges of a modern forensic science world—our theme for the year. This featured submission is from the General Section. The American Academy of Forensic Sciences: Response to a New Section for a New Scientific Era The American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) was the first organization to formally recognize the potential of a forensic scientific role for nurses as an essential partner to other forensic specialists. Forensic nursing science is a body of diverse and collective knowledge drawn from the application of the forensic sciences to the nursing process in the investigation and intervention of trauma, death, and court testimony in public or legal proceedings. Forensic nurses are licensed, registered nurses, and qualified in the academics and experience of the Forensic Nursing Science discipline. An advanced curriculum includes scientific techniques, clinical technology, artificial intelligence, digital photo documentation, and recovery of highly perishable and fragile biological evidence. This knowledge base includes the physiological, psychological, and behavioral sciences relevant to medicolegal matters Historically, forensic nursing assessments of mentally disordered offenders and the investigation of fatal and non-fatal trauma have been practiced within the framework of the forensic sciences. AAFS Distinguished Fellow Virginia Lynch designed the singular Master of Science in Nursing in the clinical specialty of forensic nursing (1986, University of Texas, Arlington). This program identified nursing roles practiced in addressing human violence: sexual assault, intentional vs. non-intentional trauma, interpersonal violence, child and elder abuse, and associated deaths. Lynch was invited to present her initial concept of a forensic specialist in nursing science to the AAFS in 1991. The concept was formally recognized as a scientific discipline and deemed eligible for Academy membership as an essential discipline that recognizes human violence through a contemporary domain of scientific knowledge, health care, and legal and human rights. Forensic nursing care includes traditional psychosocial intervention while simultaneously applying an investigative, interpretative search for the truth. In 1992, the International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN) was founded to provide a forum for nurses who practice in a specialty where health care and law intersect. Acceptance by national nursing bodies soon followed. The American Nurses Association’s (ANA) Congress of Nursing Practice accorded forensic nursing formal specialty status in 1995. A brief history indicates that the advances and contributions of forensic nursing science are a core component in promoting truth and justice. By 2002, the State Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed the expert witness testimony of the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) in criminal and civil litigation, based on the extensive clinical forensic education, experience, and qualifications these nurse specialists possess. Concurrently, the ANA recognized forensic nursing as one of the four dominant areas for future nursing advancement. In 2014, the United States Congress and President Obama signed into law a provision recognizing that the SANEs work with military physicians to help reduce and prevent sexual assault in the United States armed forces. The SANE nurse has become the primary face of forensic nursing roles worldwide. However, forensic nurse examiners within the discipline’s members are active in an extensive range of subspecialties: pediatric and adult forensic health, psychiatric mental health, nursing jurisprudence, death investigation, intimate partner violence, child and elder abuse, human trafficking, refugee health, and other areas where forensic assessments are analyzed, including genocide, torture, and mass disaster response. In February 2014, the National Institute of Standards and Technology established the Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC) for the forensic sciences to facilitate the development of sound technical forensic standards and encourage their adoption across the forensic science community. These standards define minimum requirements, best practices, standard protocols, and other guidance to help ensure that the results of forensic analyses are reliable and reproducible. OSAC launched a forensic nursing subcommittee in October 2021 to draft standards for the evaluation and intervention of all forensic patients. The initial goal of the subcommittee is to draft standards for collecting and managing physical evidence from victims of sexual assault. The ultimate goal is to improve the quality of care for victims, prevent wrongful convictions, and help ensure that injuries and evidence are properly identified, collected, and preserved. Forensic nurses are not criminal investigators; rather, they serve as the clinical investigator of trauma and liaise with criminal justice, advocacy, and legal agencies. After three decades of membership, forensic nursing is on the cusp of becoming the 12th AAFS section, identified as the Forensic Nursing Science Section. Contemporary influences continue to shape the evolution of nursing education, practice, scholarship, and research involving the consequences of human violence and social justice. This specialized nursing role has evolved into a fully designated, evidenced-based practice and will continue to evolve as a state-of-the-art science for the 21st century and beyond. ← Vaccination Required to Attend AAFS Annual Conference · © 2022 American Academy of Forensic Sciences · Designed by AAFS ·	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2122
__label__wiki	0.707254	0.707254	Statewide filing deadline approaches in Michigan By Megan Feeney In Local, State The major party filing deadline to run for elected office in Michigan is on April 21, 2020. In Michigan, prospective candidates may file for the following offices: • U.S. Senate (1 seat) • U.S. House (all 14 seats) • State Board of Education (2 seats) • University of Michigan Board of Regents (2 seats) • Michigan State University Board of Trustees (2 seats) • Wayne State University Board of Governors (2 seats) • Michigan House of Representatives (all 110 seats) • Wayne County, Michigan • Detroit Public Schools Community District • Dearborn Public Schools • Ann Arbor Public Schools The primary is scheduled for August 4, 2020, and the general election is scheduled for November 3, 2020. The filing deadline has so far been unaffected by the coronavirus pandemic. Ballotpedia is tracking changes in election dates, procedures, and administration. Michigan’s statewide filing deadline is the 35th to take place in the 2020 election cycle. The next statewide filing deadline is on April 24 in Florida. Michigan has a divided government, which means that no party holds a state government trifecta. A trifecta exists when one political party simultaneously holds the governor’s office and majorities in both state legislative chambers. Ballot access requirements for political candidates in Michigan United States House of Representatives elections in Michigan, 2020 United States Senate election in Michigan, 2020 Michigan state executive official elections, 2020 Michigan House of Representatives elections, 2020 Megan Feeney Megan Feeney is a staff writer at Ballotpedia. Contact us at editor@ballotpedia.org.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2123
__label__wiki	0.865784	0.865784	Gary McLendon As protests against mayoral control of the City School District continued Friday, Rochester Mayor Robert Duffy announced that the first two of the four public forums on school governance have been postponed. The forums have been postponed, Duffy said, because Gov. David Paterson's staff has not completed writing the draft legislation. "While they are working diligently on this, it is clearly not yet finished and we do not have a firm date when the draft legislation will be ready to take to the people," Duffy said in a statement. "I do not want to bring together gatherings of people and not have answers to their questions." A schedule on all four meetings will be set once state legislation is in hand, Duffy said. The announcement, released Friday afternoon, came as about two dozen people endured 15-degree weather to protest outside of state Assemblyman David Gantt's office on University Avenue. Gantt supports mayoral control, which would abolish the elected seven-member school board. "We want a seven-member group leading the schools, not one person. He (Gantt) should vote for the community's rights, not one man," said School 45 teacher and protester Lori Thomas. Gantt was present, but did not speak directly with protesters. "This bill hasn't even been written. I don't know what they're protesting for," Gantt said. In Duffy's release, Gantt said, "Once we have draft legislation to discuss with families and parents, the State Assembly will also conduct public hearings to get everyone's input." Duffy and opponents agree on the need to increase the district's roughly 50 percent graduation rate. However, protesters are adamant that any plan maintains the public's right to vote. "It is unbelievable in that he has abandoned his constituency," activist Howard Eagle said, referring to Gantt's support of mayoral control. "It shows a blatant disrespect for the people he is supposed to represent." Opponents said at the protest that they have secured a meeting with Paterson or his staff on Feb. 22 in Albany. In addition, former County Legislator Chris Wilmot said he will lead a class action lawsuit against "any legislation drafted to bring about mayoral control." Posted by ed notes online at Monday, February 01, 2010	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2126
__label__cc	0.744556	0.255444	Main → Musicians → Ludwig van Beethoven → Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major, Op. 2, 1st Movement Sheet music Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major, Op. 2, 1st Movement for piano - Piano.Solo The notes are sent to the e-mail address you specified when placing your order. .pdf, .midi .pdf, .midi, .xml (ред.) Musician: Ludwig van Beethoven Composition: Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major, Op. 2, 1st Movement Other arrangements: Piano.Easy Music from: Beethoven sonatas Genre: Classic Other notes Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 14 in C♯ minor Quasi una fantasia (Moonlight Sonata) Part 1, 1801 Ludwig van Beethoven - La Marmotte, 1790 Ludwig van Beethoven - Für Elise (Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor), 1810 Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No.7, op.92: II. Allegretto, 1812 Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 6 ‘Pastoral’: I. Allegro ma non troppo, 1808 Ludwig van Beethoven - Egmont, Op. 84: Overture, 1810 Ludwig van Beethoven - Sonatina in F major, Anh. 5/2, 1770 Ludwig van Beethoven - Nine Variations on an Aria by Paisiello, WoO 69, 1795 Ludwig van Beethoven - German Dance in A Major, 1792 Ludwig van Beethoven - Sonata No. 16 in G Major, Op. 31, No. 1, 1803 Ludwig van Beethoven - Ode an die Freude (The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125), 1823 Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, 1808 Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 4, in E♭ major, Op. 7, 1797 Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111, 1822 Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 18 in E♭ major, Op. 31, No. 3, 1802 Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 26 in E♭ major, Op. 81a, 1810 Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major, Op. 2, 1st Movement, 1795 Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major, Op. 53, 1804 Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 12 in A♭ major, Op. 26, 1st Movement, 1800 Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 5 in C minor, Op. 10, No. 1, 1798 Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57, 1807 Ludwig van Beethoven - The Violin Sonata No. 9, Op. 47, 1802 Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 8 Pathétique, 1799 Ludwig van Beethoven - Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31, No. 2, Allegretto, 1802 Ludwig van Beethoven - Sonata for piano number 2 in A major, op. 2 number 2, 1795 Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No.1, Op.2, 1792 Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No.7 Op.10 No.3, 1798 Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major, Op. 2, 1st Movement Соната для фортепиано № 3 Бетховена состоит из четырёх частей: 1) Allegro con brio, 2) Adagio, 3) Scherzo. Allegro, 4) Allegro assai. Nikolai Rakov Johann Gottlieb Janitsch	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2128
__label__wiki	0.582605	0.582605	Αρχική World News New on NCI Websites for December 2018 New on NCI Websites for December 2018 December 28, 2018, by NCI Staff NCI’s collection of cancer information products is constantly growing, so periodically we provide updates on new and updated content of interest to the cancer community. Fiscal Year 2018 NCI Budget Fact Book The latest Budget Fact Book provides a summary of the distribution of NCI’s fiscal year 2018 budget among the institute’s research programs and funding mechanisms, as well as an explanation of NCI funding policies related to research grant awards. President’s Cancer Panel Report The President’s Cancer Panel concluded in its 2012–2013 report that underuse of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines is a serious but correctable threat to progress against cancer. In its new report, published in November, the panel provides an overview of progress in vaccine uptake over the past 5 years and presents priorities and strategies to accelerate vaccine uptake and eliminate the unnecessary burden of preventable HPV-related cancers. Twitter Live—What’s Next in Liver Cancer Research NCI hosted its first Twitter Live event on October 30. NCI experts Anuradha S. Budhu, Ph.D., and Tim Greten, M.D., of NCI’s Center for Cancer Research (CCR), joined Katherine McGlynn, Ph.D., of NCI’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG), to discuss recent developments in research on liver cancer causes and prevention. Video—The Role of Immunotherapy in Childhood Cancer Treatment In a Facebook Live event held on October 25, NCI’s Nirali Shah, M.D., and Carlos Sandi of the St. Baldrick’s Foundation discussed the role of immunotherapy in childhood cancers such as leukemia. Redesigned Risk Assessment Tools NCI’s Colorectal Cancer Risk Assessment Tool and Melanoma Risk Assessment Tool have been redesigned with usability-tested user interfaces and results pages, enhanced security features, and more accessible designs. Latest Issue of the OCG e-Newsletter The Office of Cancer Genomics (OCG) published issue 20 of their e-News in November. The articles provide program highlights and guest editorials, discuss data sharing facilitated by OCG’s Data Coordinating Center, and include a perspective piece from OCG staff member Eva Tonsing-Carter, Ph.D., on transitioning from the laboratory to program management. CAR T-Cell Therapy Infographic This illustration shows the steps for creating CAR T-cell therapies, a type of treatment in which a patient’s T cells are changed in the laboratory so they will attack cancer cells. T cells are part of the immune system. To date, two CAR T-cell therapies have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, to treat some forms of leukemia and lymphoma. Cancer Center Cessation Initiative Video A new video shows how NCI is working with cancer centers to build and implement programs to help people being treated for cancer quit tobacco. NCI’s Cancer Center Cessation Initiative, launched in 2017 as part of the Cancer Moonshot℠, aims to advance tobacco cessation efforts in cancer centers across the country. New CCR Publication: Horizons CCR has launched a new publication called Horizons to highlight areas of investigation likely to shape future research conducted by the center. The inaugural issue includes reports on new avenues for research on natural products, clinical trial design, and the study of rare tumors. Fall Issue of Linkage Newsletter DCEG has published the latest issue of its Linkage newsletter. The issue features an article on the emerging field of metabolomics and a profile of Britton Trabert, Ph.D., a DCEG researcher who studies the epidemiology of ovarian cancer and the hormonal causes of gynecologic cancers. The issue also includes highlights on the latest scientific publications and updates on staff achievements. DCTD November Newsletter NCI’s Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis (DCTD) has published the November issue of its quarterly newsletter. This issue includes a profile of Jeff Abrams, M.D., recently retired associate director for the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program, spotlights on the Cancer Diagnosis Program and Patient-Derived Models Repository, and recent news about DCTD programs and activities. New Trichloroethylene Page A new page on the NCI website explains what the chemical trichloroethylene (TCE) is, how people may become exposed to it, and what cancers are associated with TCE exposure. The TCE page is part of NCI’s collection of pages about cancer-causing substances in the environment. Chemotherapy and You The popular patient education publication Chemotherapy and You: Support for People with Cancer has been updated with a new look and refreshed content, including information about precautions patients receiving chemotherapy should take at home. Revised NCI Fact Sheets The recently updated fact sheet on Menopausal Hormone Therapy and Cancer covers new research results on menopausal hormone therapy and includes information about benefits, risks, and how it affects the body. The Primary Bone Cancer fact sheet was comprehensively revised. It addresses bone cancer statistics, the main types of primary bone cancer, possible causes, treatment, and the side effects of treatment. NCI’s fact sheet on Cancer in Children and Adolescents now includes updated statistics, along with descriptions of the types, causes, and treatment of childhood cancers in the United States. The Secondhand Smoke and Cancer fact sheet has been revised to make it easier to read and to include updated statistics and references. The patient education booklet Taking Time: Support for People With Cancer has been revised with new content, updated contact information, and a new design. PDQ Summary Updates All sections of the breast cancer screening PDQ summary have been revised to reflect recent research results and to clarify information about newer screening methods. The PDQ summary on testicular cancer treatment has been revised with updated descriptions of the different stages of this disease. Προηγούμενο άρθροFDA Approvals Bring New Options for Older Patients with AML Επόμενο άρθροFor Early-Stage Lung Cancer, Study Identifies Potential New Biomarker, Treatment Target	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2133
__label__wiki	0.569474	0.569474	Is it Time for a ‘Persian Spring’? by January 26, 2015 Tera Dahl \| Jan 26, 2015 As the debate heats up between Congress and the Administration over new Iran sanctions and Houthi rebels take over Yemen’s government while the U.S. continues to battle the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria – there needs to be a different focus for a solution in the war against terrorism; and that could be a “Persian Spring.” Whether fighting the Islamic State in Iraq or Syria, Boko Haram in Nigeria, or militants in Yemen, Iran seems to be an underlining problem. The global war against terrorism should include ‘degrading’ the Iranian Regime, and not only focus on the war against the Islamic State. Countries that are supporting terrorism need to be included in the global strategy and Iran is one of those states. The Obama Administration continues to pressure Congress against implementing additional sanctions against Iran, pressuring for a diplomatic solution and negotiations, believing that Iran’s nuclear program is for “peaceful purposes.” Senator Menendez, the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee calling for more sanctions against Iran, said during a Senate Hearing last Wednesday that “the more I hear from the administration and its quotes, the more it sounds like talking points that come straight out of Iran.” Iran is not the solution, but the problem. It is important to look at Iran’s Constitution to understand that Iran’s ideology is no different than the ideology of the Islamic State, except for being a Shiite version of worldwide Islamic domination using military force. In the Iranian Constitution under “The Religious Army,” it states that the Iranian Army is to conduct jihad to establish God’s Law in the world, stating: In the organization and equipping of the countries defense forces, there must be regard for faith and religion as their basis and rules. And so the Islamic Republic’s Army, and the corps of the Revolutionary Guards must be organized in accordance with this aim. They have responsibility not only for the safeguarding of the frontiers, but also for a religious mission, which is Holy War (JIHAD) along the way of God, and the struggle to extend the supremacy of God’s Law in the world. “Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of God and your enemies, and others beside. (Quotation from the Arabic) Again in the Iranian Constitution, under “The Army and The Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, Article 151”: In Accordance with the Noble Qur’anic verse: (Prepare against them whatever force you are able to muster, and horses ready for battle, striking fear into God’s enemy and your enemy, and others beyond them unknown to you but known to God…[8:60])” the government is obliged to provide a program of military training, with all requisite facilities, fob all its citizens, in accordance with the Islamic criteria, in such a way that all citizens will always be able to engage in the armed defense of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The possession of arms, however, requires the granting of permission by the competent authorities. Richard Horowitz, in an article titled “A Detailed Analysis of Iran’s Constitution” wrote that the Iranian Constitution “…makes clear its objective to promote Islam worldwide. Its preamble states that ‘the mission of the Constitution’ is ‘to create conditions conducive to the development of man in accordance with the noble and universal values of Islam’ and that ‘the aim of government is to foster the growth of man in such a way that he progresses towards the establishment of a Divine order (in accordance with the Quranic phrase “And toward God is the journeying” [3:29]).’” Horowitz continues saying, “And while Article 11 states ‘All Muslims form a single nation,’ the preamble states that the constitution ‘provides the necessary basis for ensuring the continuation of the Revolution at home and abroad’ [emphasis added] and ‘will strive with other Islamic and popular movements to prepare the way for formation of a single world community’ (in accordance with the Quranic verse ‘This your community, and I am your Lord, so worship Me’ [21:92]).” Iran’s Constitution is clear that their goal is similar to the Islamic State’s of creating a global caliphate, but the difference is the Islamic State is Sunni and Iran is Shiite, which creates a power struggle for dominance. The power struggle is similar to the differences between Al Qaeda and the Islamic State; although both organizations have the same mission and goals, they want to consolidate the power for themselves. The Iranian Quds Force, a special forces unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, have been responsible for wounding and killing American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran has also been tied to numerous terrorist attacks in the past, including the October 23, 1983 bombing at the Marine compound in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. service personnel, including 220 Marines. The bombing was traced to Hezbollah, including Iran and Syria. Iran has also been accused of supporting Boko Haram in Nigeria. Catherine Herridge of Fox News reported in October 2013 on Iran’s influence in western Africa, particularly in northern Nigeria. Herridge referenced an article published by Jacob Zenn titled, “The Islamic Movement and Iranian Intelligence Activities in Nigeria.” She wrote, “Zenn, whose research is noteworthy because little study has been done on Tehran’s strategy to spread ‘Khomeinism’ in West Africa, states there is now ‘no religion outside of the Middle East where Iran’s ideology has a greater impact in northern Nigeria.’” There is a clear contrast between countries such as Iran that believe in no borders and countries like Egypt that believe in state sovereignty. Egypt is a model to follow in the war against terrorism. Islamist Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was in power for only one year and was taking Egypt into an “Iranian theocracy,” not caring about Egypt as a nation but implementing a global caliphate. The Egyptian people took a stand to take their country back by removing the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood government and implemented a democratic roadmap instead. What happened in Egypt could happen in Iran today. There is a strong native opposition to the Iranian Regime that does exist outside and inside of Iran. During the 2009 Green Revolution, thousands of Iranians took to the streets after the election of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to take a stand against the brutal Iranian Regime but, without the support they needed from the international community, the opposition failed to succeed. Dr. Majid Sadeghpour stated in a recent article that Iran is at the heart of radical Islam. He said “The Islamic State, Al-Qaeda in Yemen, the Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Taliban must hence be beheld as only ‘hardware’ fragments of complex machinery. The ‘software,’ the beating heart, the inspiration for their treacherous ways is located within the government Khomeini fashioned in Tehran.” Dr. Majid Sadeghpour is the political director of the Organization of Iranian American Communities (OIACUS). The OIACUS is one of several organizations that want to see the future of Iran be democratic. The National Council of Resistance of Iran is another organization that represents multiple groups who want see a democratic Iran. An ‘Egyptian style’ revolution where millions of people took a stand against terrorism could be possible in Iran, but the people need the political support of the United States and international community. A problem in funding and aiding the Iraqi Army to fight against the Islamic State is the influence of Iran in Baghdad. In a recent article, Josh Rogin and Eli Lake reported on U.S. weapons getting into the hands of Iranian militias, stating, “U.S. weapons intended for Iraq’s beleaguered military are winding up in the possession of the country’s Shiite militias.” A Peshmerga soldier spoke to Breitbart News about the influence of Iran in the Baghdad government, stating that “you see pictures of Khomeini in the government buildings.” He said that “soon you will see Iranians as pilots in the jets that you [U.S.] are providing them” and “the equipment and weapons that the U.S. gives to Baghdad will go the Iranians, and help Iran.” Iran is an underlying problem in the global war against terrorism. As the world witnessed in Egypt, miracles can happen. The people of Iran can stand up against the terrorist theocracy of the Iranian Regime, but they will need the support of the international community. There are several different ways that the United States could support Iranian opposition groups. One example lies in how the U.S. funds multiple “democracy programs” through USAID and other State Department initiatives in various places throughout the world. The United States should start focusing on increasing democracy programs for Iranian opposition groups. There are Iranian opposition groups are all over the world, including the United States and Europe. The United States is also training opposition forces to remove Assad, but another idea is to start training opposition forces for the removal of the Iranian Regime, which would then remove a pillar holding up the Assad Regime. The United States spends millions on programs under the Broadcasting Board of Governors, such as “Voice of America” and “Alhurra,” which were created to support freedom and democratic values to people all over the world. These are programs that should be utilized to bring about democratic reform in Iran. President Obama will host a summit on February 18th to fight “violent extremism” where a global strategy to defeat terrorism will take shape. Part of this strategy should include supporting opposition groups against the Iranian Regime. Egypt should be the model to follow on how a nation can stand against a terrorist regime. Tera Dahl is the Executive Director of the Council on Global Security. The Legacy of Neda Agha Soltan OIAC Brief On Iran (BOI) -Jan 26, 2015 Iran’s radical Islamic government will likely not stay... Iran’s worsening treatment of religious minorities The UN General Assembly: Will New American Policy... Iran’s Presidential Election Will Render a Weaker Regime Why Boeing and Airbus deals with Iran shouldn’t... Is Iran secretly developing a nuclear bomb?	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2134
__label__wiki	0.846553	0.846553	Oscar Hartzell and the Francis Drake Fortune Swindle Rupert Taylor I've spent half a century (yikes) writing for radio and print—mostly print. I hope to be still tapping the keys as I take my last breath. English school children are taught that Sir Francis Drake was a gallant hero who saved his country from the Spanish Armada in 1588; schools are even named after him. The Spanish called Drake “El Draque” and placed a bounty on his head worth several million dollars in today’s money. He was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe and was knighted by Elizabeth I in 1581 after his triumphant return. During his epic voyage, Drake anchored for a month near present-day San Francisco for repairs. While there, he claimed the area as a possession of Queen Elizabeth I and named it Nova Albion. A more accurate depiction, before the spin doctors were able to polish up his image, is that Drake was a pirate and a slave trader; fitting occupations for someone whose name is attached to the scams that followed his death. Sir Francis Drake. The Swashbuckling Privateer Drake was allowed a free hand to prey on Spanish galleons through a commission from Queen Elizabeth. Privateers were given letters of marque by their governments that authorized them to attack and plunder enemy vessels in time of war. This was a cheap way for governments to expand their fleets without dipping into the national treasury. The privateer’s letter of marque described where and against whom he could operate. There was a large possible downside to attacking a naval vessel bristling with cannon so privateers focussed their attention on merchant ships. There was cargo to steal. By the time he was 20, Francis Drake was privateering with gusto. English privateers attack a Spanish fleet. A BBC biography of Drake notes that after attacking Spanish ports and fleets in the Caribbean in 1572, he returned to England “with a cargo of Spanish treasure and a reputation as a brilliant privateer.” They were called “privateers” because “pirate” is such an ugly word. There was to be more looting of Spanish gold that had been stolen from South American Indians. So, it was safe to assume Drake had stashed away a considerable nest egg. Claiming Drake’s Fortune Where did Drake’s money go? When Drake died of dysentery off Puerto Rico in 1596, he left no legitimate heir and his fortune seemed to have vanished. Various claimants came forward with vague assertions of kinship, but none was able to prove direct lineage. The man was scarcely cold before scammers started selling people on the idea they could get a share of the wealth. All they had to do was put up some money to grease some legal wheels and the loot would be released. This was a fraud that would have a long life. It lives on today in a slightly different guise. Enter Oscar Merrill Hartzell Across the Atlantic Ocean some people thought the story of Drake’s money held the promise of profit. In 1919, (there is some disagreement about the date) a couple of con artists swindled an Iowa farm woman out of $6,000. They did so by selling her shares in a scheme to retrieve Sir Francis Drake’s lost wealth; a plot they had used successfully many times before. The woman’s son, Oscar Merrill Hartzell, was intrigued by the scheme. He thought the plan, polished up a bit, had potential for expansion. He sold the fraudsters on a more aggressive business plan, and managed to cut himself in on the deal. Soon, thousands of people whose last name was Drake received letters from the Sir Francis Drake Association. Recipients were told the old sea dog’s wealth, now estimated at $22 billion or $400 billion, depending on Hartzell’s whim, was tied up in probate court. The entire English city of Plymouth was said to be part of the unclaimed swag. To pry it loose from the British bureaucrats legal costs of $2,500 a week had to be covered. The many Drakes were invited to invest in the lawsuit and were assured that for every dollar they put up they would get back $500. A lot of people found a five-hundred-to-one return on investment appealing. Oscar Hartzell generously opened his scheme up to anybody, whether Drakes or not, and as many as 70,000 subscribers signed on. Gerd Altmann Hartzell Moves to London To be closer to the legal action, or so he told his investors, Oscar Hartzell moved to England’s capital around 1924. Those who were footing the bill would have been disappointed to learn that Hartzell was enjoying an opulent lifestyle on their dime. He squeezed out his original partners but he had a team of agents back in the States who continued to sign up subscribers. Some of these agents believed the scheme was legitimate. He sent out newsletters telling his investors how he was engaged with the highest authorities in the U.K. However, the British government had announced in 1922 that there was no Drake loot. The FBI investigated and found that Drake’s second wife, Elizabeth, had inherited whatever was in his estate. But, despite the official word that there was no vast treasure to claim, Hartzell’s suckers continued enthusiastically to cough up coin to support his quest. A common human trait is to stick with a decision even though evidence suggests it was a bad one. Not only do we refuse to admit we made a lousy investment, sometimes we plunge further into it in an attempt to convince ourselves that our original judgement was good. Organizational behaviour expert Barry Staw calls this “escalation of commitment to a losing course of action.” Every time Hartzell ran a little short of cash his faithful followers were tapped for another contribution and he successfully ran his scam for 15 years. In all, he gathered up $2 million, worth at least ten times that much in today’s money. The Law Catches up with Oscar Hartzell The British couldn’t touch him because he broke no laws there, but eventually, the long arm of American justice reached out and grabbed him. He was deported to the U.S. to face mail fraud charges. His trial was held in Iowa in 1933, and many of his subscribers contributed $350,000 to his legal defence fund and bail, so convinced were they that Hartzell was a straight shooter and they had invested wisely. The court thought otherwise, Hartzell was convicted and given a ten-year sentence. Despite this, his agents collected another half million dollars from followers in the year after he entered Leavenworth Penitentiary. Some subscribers carried to their graves the belief they were about to score a big share of Drake’s spoils. Oscar Hartzell died in custody in 1943, by which time he had gone mad and believed himself to be Sir Francis Drake. Richard Rayner writes in The New Yorker that “In Iowa and Minnesota, in particular, the Drake estate became a craze that split entire towns into believers and non-believers.” While Oscar Hartzell pulled off the biggest such scam, many others, then and now, have worked the con to relieve dupes of their money. The famous quote attributed to P.T. Barnum (although there's no evidence he actually said it) that "There's a sucker born every minute" applies here and elsewhere. If it looks too good to be true, it is. Bonus Factoids A variant of the Drake estate swindle lives on today. Who hasn't seen a massage in their in-box from a confidential source in Nigeria? The fortune of Prince Mungambana can be yours for a small up-front investment needed to pay the legal expenses involved in untangling it from corrupt bureaucrats. A W.C. Fields 1939 movie stated an off-quoted maxim in its title "You Can't Cheat an Honest Man." “Sir Francis Drake.” BBC History, undated. “The Francis Drake Association Hoax.” Cory Family Society, March 13, 2012. “The Admiral and the Con Man.” Richard Rayner, New Yorker, April 22, 2002. “How to Escape from Bad Decisions.” Adam Grant, Psychology Today, July 9, 2013. © 2017 Rupert Taylor Rupert Taylor (author) from Waterloo, Ontario, Canada on May 10, 2018: I too went through the English school system being told of the heroic deeds of men who were nothing better than pirates. Stamford School, where I endured Latin, Greek, and carefully spun history, had some of its houses named after William Cecil, Lizzy One's chancellor, who built his palace, Burghley House, nearby. He may well have been a scoundrel too. Don't know. However, it never occurred to me to challenge the received wisdom of our masters. I was a naive lad. Rupert Falcon Kavanagh from Great Britain on May 10, 2018: As to what schoolchildren are taught, I went to Bideford School, and attended Drake House ( others included Raleigh and Hawkins, scoundrels all ! ) and I can recall my worry learning of Drake's great-nephew of Buckland Abbey [ nice place, which I visited at the time ] being a vicious parliamentarian traitor, and wondering if Drake was of that foul persuasion. He probably was. All he did disenchanted me further, and even --- anguish to a good English lad --- I wondered if it was right to take treasure from King Philip, being a Spaniard an' all... Everyone was a bastard in the past. But him and his puritan cronies more so than others. From one Rupert to another, I thank you !	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2136
__label__wiki	0.968771	0.968771	Huskers promote Reyes to Volleyball lead assistant Posted Dec 22, 2021 6:22 PM Karlie Moore/Nebraska Communications Courtesy: NU Athletic Communications Nebraska head volleyball coach John Cook announced Tuesday that assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Jaylen Reyes will move into the Huskers' lead assistant role following the departure of associate head coach Tyler Hildebrand. Hildebrand was announced Sunday as the new head women's volleyball coach at Long Beach State. Reyes joined the Nebraska staff in March 2018. As the Huskers' recruiting coordinator, he has helped NU land the nation's No. 1 recruiting class for 2021 and the No. 2 class for 2022, according to PrepVolleyball.com. Reyes coaches the Husker liberos and defense while helping coordinate game plans and scouting reports and assisting with other positions. In 2021, Nebraska boasted an elite defense and held opposing teams to just .148 hitting for the year. Libero Lexi Rodriguez was the 2021 AVCA National Freshman of the Year and a first-team All-American, starring alongside fellow All-America selections Kayla Caffey and Madi Kubik. As a team, the Huskers claimed an NCAA runner-up finish. "Jaylen is committed to Nebraska Volleyball, and we're thrilled to see him rewarded for his hard work, especially with our stellar recruiting classes," Cook said. "He's putting down roots in Lincoln, and our program will continue to succeed with a young coach of his caliber on our bench." In just six years of coaching at the collegiate level, Reyes has built a strong reputation nationally for his recruiting. A former BYU libero, Reyes was previously an assistant coach for the BYU men's volleyball team from 2016-18. He handled player development and was the recruiting coordinator for the Cougars, who reached the NCAA Championship match in 2016 and 2017 and were NCAA semifinalists in 2018. "I'm thrilled to continue my journey with the Nebraska volleyball program into the future," Reyes said. "It has been a privilege to coach these incredible student-athletes over the last four seasons, and I'm excited to be a part of our current and future Huskers' journey for a championship. "I want to thank Chancellor Ronnie Green and Vice Chancellor, Athletic Director Trev Alberts for their generous support. I also want to sincerely thank Coach Cook for taking a chance on a 25-year-old coach in 2018. I am grateful for his mentorship and for the opportunity to be a part of the best volleyball program in the country for years to come. There is no place like Nebraska."	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2144
__label__wiki	0.589063	0.589063	In 2019, Paradisus Dei launched a new ministry called Missionaries to the Family to help combat the collapse of marriage and family in our culture. It forms modern marriages and families upon the model of the Holy Family at Nazareth. Couples discern this calling for their own family, receive the formation needed to live that life in their own homes, and share what they have learned with other couples and families through intentional, spiritual friendships and accompaniment. After their formation year, they begin their active mission work, which takes place right in their own homes and communities. The first class of missionary couples completed their formation year and were commissioned in the summer of 2020. The second class will be commissioned this summer. And the third class is now being assembled and will begin formation this August. The first missionary couples have already begun their active mission work, and in spite of the pandemic-restricted environment, they are having an impact! Their work includes leading marriage preparation sessions, leading marriage enrichment efforts, hosting young adult and family small groups in their home, and even leading regional outreach to recruit other missionary couples. Win and Erinn Vahlkamp belong to St. Laurence in Sugar Land, TX. Their active mission work began with leading a parish marriage enrichment initiative based on content presented in their formation year. After that, the Vahlkamps invited couples to form a small community that meets out of their home. Eight couples continued in that fashion, meeting every other Friday. “Conversations have been remarkably deep. We’ve had to cut ourselves short because they’ve gone so long,” offered Win. Erinn shared, “It feels really great to get to the point to have a small group and develop friendships…just deepening our faith and growing.” Through those spiritual friendships, the group has already provided support for those tough moments of everyday life, most notably when a member lost a parent. “These are groups that care about each other and can be there for each other, build you up, do life together. There is a lack of that. That’s a rare gift,” said Win. Carlos and Rebecca Carrillo, members of Christ the Redeemer parish in Houston, TX, led a pilot program for couples last October on behalf of the parish. When asked about getting couples involved, Carlos commented, “In our case, it was surprising how well it worked. Six couples accepted right away.” Carlos further spoke of the great need for groups like this. “There is a need to help other couples. Every couple in the group shared that they have no one else to share their faith journey with,” he said. As a result, many of the couples are interested in continuing as a small group, and three new couples expressed a desire to join as well. Carlos summed it up by saying, “People are waiting for that opportunity, particularly as a couple.” Deacon Richard and Tina Grant are members of Our Lady of Mercy parish in Baton Rouge, LA, where Deacon Grant also serves on staff. The diocese has seven missionary couples actively engaged in mission work with three more scheduled to be commissioned this summer. Reflecting on the impact of their work so far, Deacon Grant said, “We are restarting every ministry again after Covid. These are the people who are going to do them. They will have the full support of the parish.” During the pandemic-related restrictions, the missionary couples were invaluable to the parish in keeping marriage preparation going. They were able to host the engaged couples in their homes. The engaged couples witnessed different Catholic couples and households as they rotated through four missionary couples during the course of marriage preparation. Missionary couples will continue to leverage this model and host newly married couples to experience The Choice Wine: 7 Steps to a Superabundant Marriage. Deacon Grant noted that the missionary couples “…are not only taking more of a leadership role in their own homes, but in the parish. They become more visible. They planted a seed and now the seed is sprouting into other areas of parish life.” He went on to say, “Our pastor is pleasantly surprised when he hears these things the couples are doing.” These examples highlight the tremendous work being done by just some of couples from the first group of Missionaries to the Family. This fall, couples from the second group will begin their active mission work. The ministry is structured so that additional missionary couples enter into the mission field each year after they complete their formation. When they do so, they can rely on key learnings so far: the need is great, it’s not hard to get started, and the results are so worth the effort. As this ministry grows, it will not only meet the great need that exists but also begin to transform the culture one family at a time. Please join us in praying for the missionary couples, whether in formation or active mission work. May God bless them abundantly in their calling and their work. Please visit our website for more information about Missionaries to the Family, or contact us.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2145
__label__wiki	0.546055	0.546055	Pennsylvania needs a prosecutor AND a politician (a strong political leader) – Don Bailey clearly most qualified candidate for attorney general March 2, 2012 andy ostrowski Leave a comment The campaign slogan of candidate Kathleen Kane is “we need a prosecutor, not a politician” as attorney general. We disagree. We need both. Of course we need strong law enforcement and tough prosecutors for the protection of the public and vigorous enforcement of the criminal laws of the Commonwealth, but we also need a strong and trusted political leader with proven integrity, and Don Bailey is best qualified by far to serve both roles. The systemic issues that have corrupted Pennsylvania politics need extensive political reform. There need to be calls for investigations into, and oversight of, the courts and their control over attorneys, and to the conditions that have allowed whistleblowers to be scuttled, and cronyism to flourish. There may even need to be a call for a constitutional convention to address some of the problems endemic to the Pennsylvania Constitution. We need a seasoned politician – a professional who knows how to work within the constitutional political process – to take these issues to the executive and the legislature, and to work in cooperation with federal authorities as well, and to be prepared to go toe-to-toe with the courts over attorney discipline and judicial discipline issues. Don Bailey has served on both the federal and statewide levels in the past in politically-elected positions, i.e., positions in which he was responsive only to the people who elected him, and he served honorably, and always in the interest of his constituents. Handwritten thank you notes from, and photographs of Don with, Presidents, commendations from his past service, both as a public servant and as an actually decorated combat veteran, adorn the walls of his office, and Don has stayed closely connected to the political process, though as an outsider, through his civil rights practice. Don’s story – his experience that qualifies him to be attorney general – began when he was an elected official, and has continued in an unbroken chain through the present. Only he has the political experience to tackle the problems that confront us as Pennsylvanians. The Office of Attorney General has only been an elected office in Pennsylvania since 1981, and it has never been won by a Democrat. The Republican party for some reason has seemed to garner the “tough on crime” image – it may be nothing more than that – Democrats are prosecutors in district attorneys’ offices all over the state. The tactic is to make that portrayal, and to discuss toughness on crimes against children and the elderly. These crimes no doubt are major areas of legitimate concern, but their use in the context of elections to the office are more of a scare tactic that serve only to distract from the real issues that should be high on the next attorney general’s agenda. The prosecutor not a politician with tough on child and elder crime message is a co-opting of what has already been a successful formula for the Republican candidates, and a general election on that turf would be a contest as to whom can spend more money trying to get that message across, a contest that clearly favors Mr. Freed. Every Pennsylvanian should be able to be assured that protection of children and the elderly is of the highest ongoing priorities of the criminal enforcement division of the Office of Attorney General, and that should never depend on the politics of the office-holder. The importance of that commitment is even greater as access to the vulnerable is easier as technology advances, and, again, should be universally recognized. It is fair to assure prospective voters of the priority, and the commitment to it. It is artificial to make it the primary issue in a campaign, as, of course, it appeals to all our senses of safety and security, like a commercial advertisement, and distracts from the other issues that have affected the condition of government in Pennsylvania. The real harm to children in this state through its highest-profile-ever child sex prosecution was not the result of the alleged acts of one man. Grievous harm to numerous children was allowed to happen because of the “good old boys’ network” need to protect an institution, by using its lawyers and the courts. Jerry Sandusky, of course, needs to be prosecuted and convicted if he is proven to have done what has been alleged, and Kathleen Kane could probably be counted on to do as good a job as any prosecutor in bringing him to justice, but which candidate, Kane, Bailey, Murphy, or Freed, will look into the institutional heart of the matter to the decisions that were made that allowed this case to become a sordid 10-year tale of cover-ups and abuses. Bailey is the only one, and his record shows it abundantly. Don Bailey’s political history is one of not turning a blind eye or giving in to the “business as usual” ways of Pennsylvania politics. He stood in the way of a joint state and federal coercive effort to have him do so, and was smeared in a re-election campaign, and had his political future taken from him for doing so. Don may be the only politician in American history to have won a defamation case arising out of statements made against him by his political opponent during an election contest. The September 8, 2000 letter of apology he received from former Auditor General Barbara Hafer cites false information she received from certain federal officials as the basis of her smear. One of those “federal officials” is Marty Carlson, former U.S. Attorney, and current U.S. Magistrate Judge, and author of the April fool’s day 2010 false smear against Don Bailey circulated throughout the state that was intended to be the last nail in Bailey’s professional coffin. Carlson is a Penn State graduate, and Penn State has been protected by the good old boys’ network, including the courts, for years. Pat Murphy has never tried a case in Pennsylvania courts according to reports, Kane as an assistant prosecutor likely has an acculturated and protective view of “the system”, as reflected through her reported commitment to keep on all the current staff of the AG’s office. Dave Freed is endorsed by the primary focus of the initial investigation, governor Tom Corbett, and Freed’s father-in-law, Leroy Zimmerman, is also a major fundraising Republican operative, and was the first in the unbroken chain of Republican Attorneys general, elected in 1981. Bailey was Auditor General while Zimmerman was Attorney General. Zimmerman stepped down as Chairman of the Board of the Hershey School for Boys in November, 2011, one week before his son-in-law announced his candidacy. Questions of improprieties in the Hershey Trust have flown under the radar of past Republican Attorneys General. Zimmerman’s firm, Eckert, Seamans, also has close ties right into the state and federal federal courts, and the disciplinary authorities. Linda Kelly does not appear to have any of these matters on her agenda. The next Attorney General needs to understand the entire climate in which these things occur in order to have any chance of effecting any real institutional change, and Don Bailey has been at the heart of the efforts to expose it and change it for 20 years. Kane has talked of “public corruption”, and the prosecutions of Jim Dewees, Mike Veon, and others serve some valuable public integrity purposes to be sure, but they are treating a symptom, and nobody but Bailey is addressing the problem. The candidates for the office sell the “criminal prosecutor” aspect of the job, which, again, is an important part of the position, and one that will be a part of Bailey’s administration, to be sure, but the Attorney General is more than a prosecutor, he or she is the chief “law enforcement” officer of the Commonwealth, and Don Bailey’s practice as a civil rights lawyer for years, which could as easily be known as “constitutional law enforcement”, and offers a unique law enforcement background, that, with his hands-on experience, qualifies Don alone as the proper person for the job. Don’s practice has centered on bringing cases under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which is quintessentially a constitutional law enforcement statute – it protects individual citizens from intrusions into their rights “under color of law”, i.e., by government officials. There are criminal civil rights statutes as well. One of the biggest problems in our state is corruption in our courts and high-level public offices, the state police, and other government institutions. Government criminal prosecutors are beholden, and become acculturated, to deferring to these entities, understandably and by necessity, to some extent, but it creates a loyalty to the heart of the problem. A constitutional law enforcement lawyer, on the other hand, particularly the kind of cases and law that Don typically deals with, is really a very important law enforcement function – it is policing the police, and the government, through civil cases prosecuted by individual citizens against public officials for violations of their rights under the constitution, and Don has a prolific record of successfully performing this law enforcement function over the years, and is the very reason the courts themselves are trying to stop him. The other candidates have not even mentioned things like investigating Penn State administrators, or even Corbett, for what they knew, and the harm that was caused by trying to cover the whole thing up – the evidence of something nefarious cannot be denied – and they may not talk about it at all during their campaigns because they likely do not know how it all really works. These are the types of things that Don deals with routinely, and, in the Penn State case, this would have been the most effective way to protect children, and needs to be done now to do so in the future. What is the next attorney general going to do about the Centralia, Pennsylvania situation, which will involve investigations going back decades, through all the Republican law enforcement administrations, or the Kimmet case involving fraudulent debt collection practices right out of the current attorney general’s office, or the myriad other public corruption cases where the attorney general’s civil division is representing state police officials, executive office holders, and all other manner of constitutional law enforcement cases? They will likely not be addressed if the next attorney general is committed to the same staff, and certainly if not beholden to the same party and the same executive. They are issues that must be addressed, and Don Bailey has proven that he has the courage to do so, and is beholden to no one, except the people who should put him into office. When Don Bailey won a verdict on behalf of two dedicated narcotics enforcement officers from the attorney general’s office against then-attorney general Mike Fisher, who was rewarded with a seat on the United States Third Circuit Court of Appeals, a memo circulated that Bailey had caused a “shit storm”. If not before, that was the time that they knew that Bailey must be stopped, because the real shit storm that “they” have always wanted to avoid is one that could be created by an elected law enforcement official that is not beholden to the gold old boys’ network, and to business as usual in Pennsylvania. A shit storm could be just the cleansing Pennsylvania needs.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2149
__label__cc	0.572054	0.427946	THOMAS EDISON, Button Home » THOMAS EDISON, Button Founder and c e o of pentareddyn.com biography Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American Inventor and businessman who held a world record of 1,093 patents, he was dubbed ‘The Wizard Of Menlo Park’. He created the worlds first industrial research laboratory. He invented the light bulb, the motion picture camera, the phonograph, a stock ticker, a battery for electric cars, and numerous other inventions. Edison’s numerous inventions have influenced the world greatly. But what you may not have known, is just how much Thomas Edison had experienced failure in his lifetime before becoming successful. I was listening to the late Greg Plitt’s speech on Edison recently. In which he explained that Edison had been labelled as retarded when he was just a child. He couldn’t speak until he was 4 years old. He was removed from school after being called retarded. He failed at every single job he had, until finally… Edison became a successful inventor. Greg touched on the point that it was perhaps because of his earlier life, that he stuck at inventing things for so long. All his life he’d experienced failure; so when he started failing with every invention he was trying to create at the time, it was just an average day to him. Hence, he kept on going because he loved what he did, and finally succeeded after failing over 1000 times. He was a man who persevered until he succeeded, and he didn’t stop until he got what he wanted. Most people just give up when things get tough, and remain where they are. May you be inspired by his quotes to persevere in all your endeavours in life so that you become an individual of success., 1 of 69, In list, 69 items	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2150
__label__cc	0.698637	0.301363	Chip Wars or the Crisis of Late Capitalism? Prabir Purkayastha WITH the US imposing technology sanctions on China, the world’s electronics industry is facing turbulent times. After the sanctions, Huawei has slipped from its number one slot as a mobile phone supplier (2nd quarter 2020) to number seven currently. Commenting on this slide, the Huawei chairman has said that right now, Huawei’s battle is for survival. On that count, Huawei is not only surviving but doing pretty well. It is still the world leader in the telecom equipment market with a hefty 31 per cent share, twice that of its nearest competitors Nokia and Ericsson, and profits of nearly $50 billion in the first six months of 2021. But will it be able to retain its market position without China catching up in chip manufacturing and design technologies? It is not the Chinese companies alone that are facing tough times. With growing chip wars between the US and China, the global supply chain for electronic chips has been affected and chip shortages have emerged. Semiconductor chips enter almost every product, from our lowly household equipment— microwave ovens and toasters—to the most advanced products in the industry. The car industry’s biggest bottleneck today is this chip shortage, which has badly hit their production. If the chip wars continue, the crisis of a chip shortage can affect other industries as well. Is the crisis of the semiconductor industry a precursor to the fragmentation of the global supply chains? Will it lead to warring blocks, with the US at one pole and China at the other? With this fragility of the supply chain, are we seeing the end of globalisation as a paradigm? Chip making and the electronics industry is one of the most capital and research and development (R&D) intensive industries. No other industry has this characteristic. Power or steel plants are capital intensive; pharmaceuticals are R&D intensive. But not both. A little-known Dutch company ASML that produces the lithographic machines for chip manufacture has a market capitalisation more than that of Volkswagen, the world’s largest car manufacturer! This is due to the R&D costs that go into their machines: ASML is the only equipment maker that can deliver the machines that the most advanced chips require. A new fabrication facility to make the new generation of chips today cost $20 billion, more than that of an aircraft carrier; or a nuclear plant. Only two fabricators, TSMC in Taiwan and Samsung are capable of producing the most advanced chips that the industry uses. The US and China are in competition in areas such as artificial intelligence, computers, mobile networks and phones. The basic building block of all of these technologies is semiconductor chips. The more circuity we can pack into a chip, the more its computing power. The bulk of the market still consisting of older fabricators using 180 nm to 28 nm level technologies. Only two per cent of the chips, the most advanced chips, are below 10 nm (<10 nm) level. The only fabricators that can make such chips are TSMC and Samsung, the world’s largest fabricators. While SMIC of China, the third-largest chip fabricator in the world is also at 14 nm level, it has only recently moved from 28 nm to 14 nm. With Chinese government support, it is investing in production lines that can go below 14nm. Intel, once the world leader in chip manufacture, is stuck at the 14 nm level, though it also has plans for developing the next generation of chips. The US has chosen the electronics/semiconductor industry as a battleground for its geostrategic competition with China. It believes that here, it has a significant technology lead and a major market share. China is a late entrant and though has a comparable market share, is still dependent on certain core technologies that the US and its allies—the European Union, Japan and South Korea—control. That is why the US has chosen Huawei and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), two major Chinese players as targets for its sanctions. The US is following up its sanctions on Huawei and SMIC with a plan to bar China from technologies it calls “foundational technologies” under its 2018 Export Reform Control Act. The argument that the US is building is a simple one: “ we are ahead of China in certain critical technologies required for advanced chip manufacture; all we have to do to maintain our lead is to deny China access to these technologies; that will ensure that our lead for the future and ensure the dominance of the US.” At first sight, it might appear that chips should be considered as foundational technologies and the target of US sanctions. This is what the US did when it barred Huawei from buying the latest 7 nm scale chips from Taiwan’s TSMC, the world’s largest chip fabricator. The SMIC then tried to set up its fabrication line for 7nm chips and needed to import from the Dutch company ASML Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUV) machines, each costing around 120-150 million dollars. Though the EUV machines are from the Netherlands, it uses software developed in its US subsidiary and therefore has under the US sanctions regime. The US sanctions mean that ASML cannot sell the EUV lithography machines to China, though it can sell other lithographic machines for lower-end chip production, keeping China out of the high-end <10 nm technology, and therefore a generation or two behind the market leaders. This brings us to what is a foundational technology. Clearly, chips, though the key driver of electronics is not as foundational as the machines that produce these chips. If we want to be at the cutting edge of technology we have to master not only the technology of chip production but also the technology that produces the machines that run the production lines. That is why ASML’s lithography machines are the bottleneck for China. What then drives the advances in key technologies of the machines and chip production? As Marxists know, it is the knowledge that drives the productive forces, in this case, the advances in chip design. This knowledge is captured in the software design tools and of the lithography machines. They are both highly knowledge-intensive and require people with very specialised skills. The US and its universities are still the major source of knowledge development, the key to the advances in this sector. But here is its long-term problem. The research programs of US universities are mostly staffed with foreign students, the bulk of them from China, India and other developing countries. A large number of them stay back in the US and provide the human power required for the advances in knowledge that the US has today. If Chinese students and researchers are not welcome in the US, this source of knowledge development is going to weaken. Unfortunately, countries like India have not made the investments in high-quality education and research laboratories to provide a substitute for the stream of Chinese students that enter the US universities. On the other hand, China has invested heavily in its universities and research institutions, overtaking the US in producing a larger number of PhDs in science and technology. It is also building a strong pipeline of innovations from the universities/research institutions to the industry. The fear of the US semiconductor industry is that China is the biggest market for the US for its chip design software. The US companies also design high-end chips which are then manufactured in Taiwan. In the short run, the US sanctions will certainly damage the Chinese in advanced chip production and the production of electronics devices based on such chips. But it will also mean that the US companies will lose a significant part of their revenues that it now receives from the Chinese market for its sale of design tools. It also means a loss of revenue for advanced chips that the US companies like Qualcomm and Nvidia design and then manufacture in Taiwan’s TSMC. For the high-tech US companies, the loss of this income means less money for R&D and the slow erosion of its position as the global knowledge hub. If the US companies lose the Chinese market and therefore a significant part of their revenues, their ability to compete in the future will be seriously impaired. They may gain in the short run, as they are doing with Huawei losing its number one spot in smartphones, but in the long term, the loss of revenues will mean less ability to produce the knowledge that gives the US its edge in technology. Less money in research means an eventual loss of leadership, because, unlike other countries, the US increasingly does not produce the chips or the machines, but the knowledge that goes into both. In a series of submissions to the US department of commerce, the US semiconductor industry has argued that the US companies de-linking from the Chinese market will mean a huge loss of revenue and eventually giving up the US leadership in electronics. Already, the US sanctions have led the Chinese companies to take out US-designed components from their product lines. Sanctions, therefore, have not only hit Huawei and other Chinese suppliers, but they have also hit the US companies who were their suppliers. How long will China take to erase the lead that the US and its allies have in semiconductor technologies? Analysis Mason, a leading consulting company says in its May 21 report that China will be able to attain self-sufficiency in semiconductors in three-four years. The Boston Consulting Group and Semiconductor Industry Association have modelled the impact of breaking up the global supply chain of China and the US delinking their supply chain and markets. It predicts that with such a policy, the US would still lose its leadership to China. According to the Semiconductor Industry Association’s submission to the US department of commerce, the only way that the US can preserve its lead is if it allows exports to China—except in the military sector—and uses its profits from these sales to develop the new generation of technologies. Of course, along with hefty subsidies from the US government! Where is India in semiconductor manufacturing? India missed the semiconductor manufacturing bus when it decided not to rebuild the Semiconductor Complex in Mohali after it was destroyed in a fire in 1989. Its policymakers decided that India should leverage its strength in software and systems and not worry about manufacturing chips. Vinnie Mehta, formerly the executive director of Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology (MAIT), had said to Mint ten years back, “A nation without silicon (technology) is like a person without a heart." That heart is still missing in the Indian technology ecosystem. If the US wants to be a world leader, it has to match China in investing in knowledge generation for future technology. Why then is the US taking the sanctions route? Sanctions are simpler to implement; building a society that values knowledge is much more difficult. This is the crisis of late capitalism.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2151
__label__cc	0.595992	0.404008	One distribution Catch up on security news We’re delighted to be able to share the latest developments and news relating to One Distribution and our network of solutions and services we represent. We also feature regular vendor / solution updates but you can also access our latest tweets and social media activity to keep your finger well and truly on the cyber security pulse. >Tweets by One Distribution One Intelligence Weekly report - 5th October 2020 The “One Intelligence” weekly report is a high-level report designed to share intelligence about the most notable attacks, breaches, and malware. Hear experts from Bullwall, Krontech, Fidelis analyse and highlight new techniques used by attackers over the last week. Universal Health Services, which is one the the largest healthcare providers in the US has been hit with Ransomware. The attack locked both computer and phone systems at multiple UHS locations across the US. Reports suggest that the type of Ransomware was the “Ryuk Ransomware” as users were displayed text referencing the “shadow universe”, a known action that the Ryuk ransomware takes. The impact on patient care is unknown as currently minimal information has been released. It doesn’t appear that any data has been stolen or breached at all in this case, just the old school standard Ransomware case of file encryption. As always, endpoint protection or EDR software cannot guarantee protection against ransomware attacks, but a last-line-of-defence Ransomware protection tool such as BullWall’s Ransomcare can spot not jut known threats but unknown threats by understanding the patterns that take place when a ransomware attack is underway. A federal agency has fallen victim to a Cyber-espionage attack, the US CISA believe that the attacker’s way in was via a legitimate set of Office 365 login credentials, the username and password are likely to have been phished. From gaining access to their Office 365 account, they were able to do much more damage such as browsing SharePoint sites, viewing all emails, reading through chats on Teams, etc. The Attacker proceeded to download a file from SharePoint and launch a virtual VPN to the network. Once here, they use a known vulnerability to pull files across the VPN, they then set up a connection to a command and control server as a gateway for other malicious software to be transferred. Through doing this, the attackers were then able to exfiltrate data from the network – although it is not currently known what files or how sensitive they were. This attack is a classic example of how one set of credentials can cause disruption for the whole network. A simple enough fix is to use two-factor authentication, or better a full PAM solution such as Krontech’s Single Connect, which would have prevented this attack from going any further than one stolen set of credentials. Chubb, the UKs largest fire and security firm were hit by the NetWalker ransomware, a strain of Ransomware that is very common across the world. The attackers claim to have successfully attacked the network and proved it by showing screenshots of the directories and other information that only someone with network access would be able to see. It is not yet known the extent of damage or cost. Threat intel A new variant of FinSpy has been identified, the spyware is able to access private data and record audio/video on Mac, Windows, Android, and Linux operating systems. The malware spreads by presenting itself as a Flash Player update, and then installs itself as root (with all privileges). Once the Spyware exists, it has the ability to run anything on the system and obtain any information it wants. A good EDR tool will stop these attacks as they are happening, and work to prevent future vulnerabilities – for this, it is a good idea to have an EDR tool that moves beyond just looking at signatures to stop known bad threats. Fidelis EDR is next-generation software that offers both protection and detection. One Intelligence Weekly report - 28th September 2020 The “One Intelligence” weekly report is a high-level report designed to share intelligence about the most notable attacks, breaches, and malware. Hear experts from Krontech, Bullwall, Anomali, Zecops and Skybox analyse and highlight new techniques used by attackers over the last week. We often hear about attacks against public service organisations but do not often hear about severe repercussions as a result of an attack. A German hospital has recently been attacked with Ransomware, causing the hospital’s systems to crash, this led them to reroute patients to other hospitals, causing one patient to die. The attack was supposedly meant to take place against the university rather than the hospital, and when the attackers were contacted by the police and told this, they were quick to provide the decryption keys, however it was too late as patients had already been rerouted. It has not been disclosed who was behind this attack, however Ransomware software is easy to obtain, often by non-professionals (or script-kiddies) who do not think the attack through, such was the case in this attack. All organisations, public service or not should have adequate defences against Ransomware, especially due to the nature of the malware and how it spreads. Ransomware can also be introduced to a network in many different ways such as through cloud data services or USB cables/devices. A last-line-of-defence approach to stop the spread of Ransomware remains the best way to protect against it, Bullwall’s Ransomcare does this very well. The university of Missouri healthcare department has also been hit with a Cyber-attack. The attacker gained access to some of the employee email accounts in May and it is not yet known how much patient data they might have had access to. The exposed data included names, dates of births, medical records, patient numbers and even social security numbers. A classic attack that we see a lot of, one that can often be stopped by identifying when an attacker is on the network. Often attackers leave traces behind, and these traces (indicators of compromise) can be picked up by various intelligence streams. For larger organisations it would be a good idea to feed these into a central TIP (Threat intelligence platform) such as Anomoli, which can take multiple intelligence feeds and compile them, giving a confidence score and other useful information. The Covid-19 platform used by an Indian state has been breached, leaving over 8 million records exposed – these records were of those who tested positive for the virus. The code for the surveillance platform, as well as the admin login credentials were all listed in plain text on an unsecured code repository online. The exposed data contained names, gender, addresses, phone numbers and medical information. Unfortunately, there were multiple problems with how this system was configured, most importantly leaving the code exposed on a public forum. However, this breach could have been prevented if other measures were put in place, such as secure access management into the admin portal, which would have meant the code for the portal would still be available, but most importantly the admin login would be locked down. Krontech’s Single Connect would have been ideal in this scenario to provide privileged users with a secure method of connecting to this dashboard without needing to even know the password. We recently reported on the Cerberus banking trojan after various attacks against banks. The source code of this trojan has now been released for free after an auction failed to reach $100K. The Cerberus trojan is launched on the Android operating system and is capable of intercepting communication, stealing banking credentials and other data by creating overlays on banking and social networking apps. The auction started at $50K but failed to reach the target, despite claiming the malware netted $10K per month. Although the malware is available for free now, there is not expected to be a rise in attacks, but we may see some new variants being created. Mobile device policies should be used across the organisation, whether the devices are company owned or personally owned. Another step to protect against mobile attacks is to have a DFIR system in place. There are not many offerings in this area for mobile devices, however Zecops can automate discovery, analysis, and disinfection of advanced attacks and provides intelligence for both Android and iOS devices. A vulnerability has been found on servers hosting Active Directory that can give an attacker domain admin privilege. The vulnerability is based around encryption methods and sending certain data in an authentication response to the server, which in turn means AD passwords can be used from the hashes via a pass-the-hash attack, this can be done for all accounts including the domain admin accounts. Microsoft have released fixes to address the issues, and it is highly recommended to apply these patches to vulnerable devices as soon as possible, Skybox can help identify what devices require this patch and will prioritise patch management by combining threat-centric data, asset information and using business context. One Intelligence Weekly report - 21st September 2020 The “One Intelligence” weekly report is a high-level report designed to share intelligence about the most notable attacks, breaches, and malware. Hear experts from Fidelis, Bullwall, Skybox, Anomali and Flashpoint analyse and highlight new techniques used by attackers over the last week. Microsoft have realised their September 2020 updates, and this batch of updates include patches for 129 vulnerabilities, which is a very large number. Of these 129 vulnerabilities, 23 are marked as critical and 105 are important. Microsoft however have said that all of these vulnerabilities are not currently being publicly exploited. With that being said, with these patches now being pushed out and made publicly available, more threat actors may look to exploit them in the hope that systems are not patched. Patch management and vulnerability assessment/control come hand in hand and the Skybox Vulnerability Control module can help prioritise vulnerabilities using threat-centric data and business context, alongside what is currently available or being exploited in the wild. A database containing 2.4 million records of people has been leaked from a Chinese organisation “Zhenhua Data”, the organisation is believed to be linked to Chinese intelligence services. The database contained varied data including bank details, dates of birth, criminal records of politicians, lawyers, military personnel, and others – all Australian people. A lot of this data is publicly available, however there is also some private data that is raising concerns that China is developing a mass surveillance system, something that has been a worry for many western countries for a while now. Organisations should ensure that they have control of what data is leaving their network by using a data loss prevention system. Fidelis is one of the most fully featured network DLP solutions currently available and can help organisations overcome the problem of data leaks. The UK National Cyber Security Centre has issued an alert to education establishments that they are seeing an increased number of attacks against this sector. The NSCS reported it has been seeing an increased number of ransomware attacks affecting schools, colleges, and universities since August 2020 – these attacks are likely due to schools starting again. Ransomware can enter a network in a number of ways, and many endpoint protection systems claim to protect against Ransomware, however they are relying on knowing about a particular strain of ransomware in order to protect against it. Instead it is better to have a last-line-of-defence solution such as BullWall’s Ransomcare, which also looks for the patterns that ransomware takes, such as file encryption or changes in extensions/file headers and can then intervene if a ransomware attack is suspected. A new spout of phishing emails is doing its rounds, the “Emotet” emails are said to include malicious attachments or links made to look genuine, often including fake company documents such as invoices, CVs, scanned documents or COVID information. Phishing emails still remain the number one most common entrance point for malware and other malicious software. User training is obviously key to preventing this, however it is important to have a layered approach and use other technologies to step in should a user make a mistake. Organisations may choose to respond to cyber threats by using various intelligence streams, for example Anomoli is able to piece together indicators of compromise and show the source, severity and confidence level of threats, therefore creating an overarching umbrella of protection across the network to notice any threats coming in, not just from phishing emails but all threat sources. The US presidential election, like other worldwide media heavily reported on is a prime event for attackers to disrupt. Microsoft has released a blog detailing the efforts Russian, Chinese and Iranian hackers have been making in an attempt to harvest log-in details, compromise accounts and gather intelligence or disrupt operations. With so much on the line, it is crucial that the organisations running these campaigns know what is being discussed and exploited in relation to their organisation and campaign. FlashPoint has hundreds of feeds across the deep and dark web and provides valuable insight in areas that are generally invisible to the public eye. The “One Intelligence” weekly report is a high-level report designed to share intelligence about the most notable attacks, breaches, and malware. Hear experts from Flashpoint, Bullwall, Skybox, Silobreaker and Cyglass analyse and highlight new techniques used by attackers over the last week. A vulnerability has been identified on Visa online payment systems. The vulnerability uses JavaScript to skim card details, which is a well-known issue that can be protected against relatively easily. However, this particular variant “Baka” uses various different methods to inject additional scripts, including connecting to a command and control server, using encryption ciphers to hide itself and loading dynamically. Visa have issued a security alert based on the identification of this skimmer and recommend site owners take every step necessary to secure their data and safeguard payment card information. Battling fraud is one of many use cases that FlashPoint intelligence can offer as part of their intelligence package. The Argentinian immigration agency has suffered a ransomware attack that shut down the border crossing systems. The systems were shut down in an attempt to stop the spread of the ransomware. The Ransomware variant used is a known type called “Netwalker”. The group behind the attack requested a $2 million ransom to be paid in order for the decryption key to be handed over, this amount was doubled after the first week as it was not paid. Quite often Ransomware protection is put to the back of the priority list due to Cyber Security funding being assigned elsewhere, however it is not until an attack takes place that Ransomware protection becomes a priority. BullWall’s Ransomcare is a last-line-of-defence security control in place specifically to catch Ransomware attacks as they are taking place and isolate the device and/or user to stop the spread. The cost of downtime can be calculated using BullWall’s calculator (https://bullwall.com/solutions/rc/cost-of-downtime/pound/). Windows Defender, a built-in end-point protection system for modern Microsoft operating systems has had an update that has given the software the ability to download malware onto the computer. The change means that the Microsoft anti-malware Service Utility can download files from remote locations if specific command line flags are used, meaning it is able to download malware. Microsoft Defender may still detect the malicious files downloaded, but by this point the malware could already exist on the computer. Having other endpoint protection tools may also block this type of attack, however we are seeing an increasing number of organisations using only Windows Defender. Understanding the patches you are installing onto machines is critical to protecting against current attacks and an intelligence platform can give you the visibility into these patches to help protect your network. Skybox and Silobreaker would be a good combination in this case. Cybersquatting is a term not everyone may have heard of, it involves an attacker purchasing a domain that relates to an official organisation in the hope to either sell it to the official organisation for an overpriced figure, or to use it in fraudulent activities to trick customers into thinking the website is official. An average of 450 domains have been found each day to be under fake control, of which 37% were classified as high risk. These fake domains are used in phishing campaigns, as a way to distribute malware, unwanted programs, and many other malicious activities. User education will always be the best way to protect against these fake websites, however some are almost impossible to spot by the human eye. CyGlass however, can detect these with ease and can alert on them in real time, offering a failsafe in the event one of your users come across one of these websites. One Intelligence Weekly report - 8th September 2020 The “One Intelligence” weekly report is a high-level report designed to share intelligence about the most notable attacks, breaches, and malware. Hear experts from Anomali, CyGlass, and Fidelis analyse and highlight new techniques used by attackers over the last week. The Qbot banking trojan has a new version that is doing its rounds, this time targeting email threats in Outlook to create personalized phishing emails based on the content of the emails themselves. The attack begins with phishing emails being sent to the victim’s Outlook inbox, much like the entry point for most cyber-attacks at the moment. The email contains a ZIP file or URL, that once executed installs the Qbot malware. This malware will then extract email threats to be used in future phishing campaigns. The malware also has the ability to steal information, conduct banking transactions and act as a dropper for other malware. There are plenty of opportunities to spot this malicious activity and having a system such as Anomoli can help find and respond to cyber threats by using various intelligence streams together with external content. It works by piecing together indicators of compromise, which for malware such as Qbot, there will be a lot of. We have seen various attacks against AWS storage buckets recently. This week the Transport for New South Wales in Australia has been hacked and 50,000+ driving license records have been exposed. The data contained front and back images of driving licenses and scans of road and maritime data which included dates of birth and phone numbers. The attack occurred on an open AWS storage instance, likely to have been misconfigured. RangeForce offer invaluable training from beginner to expert, this training can help improve staff knowledge in technical areas including cloud computing and security configurations. The Maze ransomware operators, which are one of the biggest operators active at the moment have breached the United Memorial Medical Center and added them to their “portfolio” on their data leak site. The group also leaked files which they claimed to have exfiltrated from the victim. One folder in particular contained sensitive patient records from patients living in the Houston area of Texas. Data exfiltration is becoming the preferred method for ransomware operators as gives greater leverage over simply encrypting the data. CyGlass is able to detect and respond to threats on the network by analysing what is normal and alerting on malicious activity, it also offers detection when data exfiltration is taking place, alerting on this in real-time. Analysts at Flashpoint Intelligence have obtained a publicly available POC code that is capable of leveraging an internet explorer browser vulnerability (CVE-2020-1062). The analysts assess with high confidence that this vulnerability is likely to have a high impact, however they believe it may be a while before this vulnerability is actively exploited in the wild. Knowing about these vulnerabilities before they are exploited is key to protecting your network. Flashpoint intelligence platform can offer many insights into intelligence obtained from the deep and dark web and can help make business decisions and mitigate risk based on this intelligence. “DeathStalker” a new threat actor group that is targeting companies in the financial and law sectors has been found to be stealing sensitive business information. Although the group themselves are not motivated by financial gain, they instead class themselves as “hacker-for-hire”, meaning that anyone is able to use their service to obtain business sensitive data from the victim. These attacks are often in form of APTs and can be difficult to protect against. A Defence-in-depth approach is best, focusing on network and end-point security. Fidelis would be an ideal platform to protect against these types of attacks, with their two main products Fidelis Network and Fidelis Endpoint which are able to actively hunt down these threats and alert on them. One Intelligence Weekly report - 28th August 2020 The “One Intelligence” weekly report is a high-level report designed to share intelligence about the most notable attacks, breaches, and malware. Hear experts from Krontech, CyGlass, and Bullwall analyse and highlight new techniques used by attackers over the last week.In the spotlight The NSA and the NCSC have issues warnings on the vulnerabilities of VPNs. With the huge increase in numbers of staff working from home and connecting into the business network using VPN connections, VPNs have been under more attack than ever before. Although most modern VPN software is secure and safe to use, it is only the case if they are properly configured. Many VPNs are left incorrectly configured or left with default passwords – especially if they were installed in a rush when the country went into lockdown. With that being said, VPNs can be complex and even experienced network engineers can miss something critical. VPNs, like all other network equipment should be regularly scanned for vulnerabilities and updated, this will help prevent any new exploits. VPN logs should also be regularly analysed, which can often be a daunting and manual task. CyGlass has a new approach to this problem and can identify threats on the network, whether they come through the VPN or not and can actively suspend user or VPN sessions. CyGlass uses machine learning to pick up on these kinds of anomalies. The university of Utah has disclosed that it has paid a ransom of $457,000 to attackers. Student and employee data were stolen following on from an attack on July 19th, 2020. The ransom was paid not to un-encrypt their files but for the attacker to delete the stolen data, a method we are seeing more of in the world of Ransomware. Often ransomware is thought of as encryption software, but it is worth remembering that ransomware could be any malicious software that asks for a ransom amount to be paid for the act to be reversed. The most effective attacks are those that encrypt and steal the data, as this means they are more likely to be paid the ransom amount. Protection for such attacks comes in means of ransomware protection, such as BullWall’s Ransomcare, which monitors the file share for encryption that is taking place and can isolate the individual without the rest of the organisation even knowing the attack took place. A Cryptominer has been found embedded inside an AWS application machine image (AMI), which was uploaded to the AWS community about 5 years ago. Official AMIs undergo security evaluations before being sold on the AWS store, however community submissions do not follow the same evaluations. The free AMIs are often used due to the vast number of different operating systems and software combinations, however in this case a cryptomining service that would generate bitcoin at the user’s expense was embedded. Attacks like these could remain un-noticed for many years, especially if no malicious activity is taking place. However, with many cloud environments, it is easy to analyse network and processing usage against cost, this should be reviewed regularly as activity such as mining cryptocurrency will largely increase cloud compute costs. A new botnet has been discovered which is targeting SSH Servers around the world. The malware has been built to leave no traces on the infected machine and is actively attacking government, education, and financial institutions. This botnet works by brute forcing the password on millions of IP addresses, and is known to have successfully breached 500 servers so far. With the increase in use of IoT devices, many of which are configured or imaged very quickly, often using default or weak passwords. It is always recommended to use strong passwords and public key authentication when logging into devices, a password management or an access management tool can be the best way to manage and log into all owned devices. Krontech’s Single Connect has both password management and PAM capabilities amongst other built-in tools. The “One Intelligence” weekly report is a high-level report designed to share intelligence about the most notable attacks, breaches, and malware. Hear experts from Krontech, Fidelis, Picus, CyGlass, and Bullwall analyse and highlight new techniques used by attackers over the last week. It has been a while since we last saw a big fine due to a data breach, Capital One suffered a large data breach in 2019 and have just been hit with a $80 million fine. Capital One, a banking regulator were delivered the fine after neglecting security by not carrying out risk assessments after migrating data to AWS. This led to over 100 million customer details being leaked online, including social security numbers and bank account numbers. The threat actor is actually believed to be a former AWS employee and was able to gain access by exploiting a misconfigured firewall. Due to the complexity of the configuration when setting up an AWS S3 bucket, mistakes can often be made, and only one is needed for it to be fatal – it is not a process that should be rushed. Correctly managing access to the server is the best way to defend it, ensuring access management and multi-factor is in place. Krontech’s Single Connect is a full PAM solution with many unique features such as password management and session management, ideal when multiple users require access to multiple servers. 20GB of internal documents from Intel have been uploaded to a sharing site. The anonymous attacker claimed to have breached Intel earlier in the year, with some of the files marked as “confidential” and “restricted secret”, analysts have reviewed these files and confirmed they contain data relating to chipset designs. The attacker claims to have retrieved these files from an unsecured server hosted on Akamai, and although they were password protected, the password of “intel123” was able to open most of them. There are a number of areas that could have prevented this breach, mainly being strong passwords, but also a defence-in-depth approach and being able to detect this malicious activity on the network, something that Fidelis would be able to pick up on quickly with their NDR solution. Another approach would be to continually test the efficacy of security controls to be able to pick up on gaps in security, Picus offer a continuous breach and attack simulation platform that would identify any gaps in security and offer remediation steps. As with most breaches, usually the breach occurs due to a series of failures, stopping the attack at any of the failure points would be enough to have stopped the breach altogether. Monsoon accessorize, a women’s clothing and accessories franchise based in the UK have been breached due to an unpatched version of a VPN server, the server contained a vulnerability (CVE-2019-11510), within the files leaked were internal files, customer information, business documents and more. Further information on the breach has not yet been disclosed but patching the vulnerability as soon as they knew about it would have stopped the breach altogether. Sometimes organisations find it hard to prioritise alerts and vulnerabilities as they find it hard to add business context to the vulnerabilities, usually meaning patching things in the wrong order. Skybox adds business context, asset information and threat information together to create threat-centric prioritisation. In the past month, we have reported on vulnerabilities found in the Zoom and Slack communication tools. This week TeamViewer has released an update to a number of versions of their application to patch a vulnerability. The vulnerability related to how data is passed to the application as it is launched by a URI link, allowing the attacker to craft a malicious URI that is then ingested as a direct command, for example launching a connection to a remote server. A URI link (Uniform Resource Identifier) is the string of characters that unambiguously identifies a particular resource, often seen at the end of the URL. It is recommended to update your TeamViewer applications as soon as possible, but also to follow best practices when clicking URLs, however, as this vulnerability can also be launched via an invisible iFrame embedded into a legitimate, but compromised, webserver, URL inspection would be insufficient to detect this. The best way to protect against this sort of attack is to be spot the anomaly in the network traffic. CyGlass offer a NDaaS and would identify this and send the alert to the SOC team for investigation. The Lockbit ransomware is doing its rounds amongst various companies in the US. The Lockbit ransomware, one of the first well-known Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) has previously targeted Microsoft and US healthcare services. A report has suggested that there is an increase in use of this Ransomware, likely due to it being easy to purchase and use. We are seeing a lot of cases against medium sized organisations and tailored around COVID-19. BullWall’s Ransomcare is unrivalled in its ability to monitor file shares and detect/respond to an attack, isolating the attack to just one machine and user. The “One Intelligence” weekly report is a high- level report designed to share intelligence about the most notable attacks, breaches, and malware. Hear experts from Anomali, Flashpoint and Silobreaker, analyse and highlight new techniques used by attackers over the last week. Several US government websites have been abused by attackers using open redirects. An open redirect means that the users are shifted to a different URL than the one they requested, but more importantly, the search engine results appear to go to the official websites but are then redirected without even actually hitting the intended website at all. In this case users were forwarded to various pornographic sites. The only way to prevent this type of attack happening is to ensure correct configuration of the site, and this often means training staff to know about such vulnerabilities. RangeForce is a unique technical interactive training platform where skills can be trained and put to test in most technical areas. Canon (US) a company known and trusted worldwide has issued a company-wide notice informing employees that they were experiencing widespread system issues. A leaked screenshot shows a ransomware note displayed on one of the Canon computer systems, Maze ransomware was behind the attack and has been claimed by them. They managed to exfiltrate 10TB of data in total. This is not only a huge amount of data of varying sensitivity, but it is also embarrassing for such a large organisation. Maze are brutal with the way they operate, and if the victim does not pay the ransom, Maze will publicly distribute the stolen data on a leak site. This breach could have been due to misconfigured devices, non-patched devices or just lack of security controls, all of which should be a priority for an organisation of that size. Researchers have discovered an unsecured data bucket belonging to IndieFlix (content streaming service) on a publicly accessible Amazon S3 storage server. We have recently seen many similar breaches likely due to the increase in popularity of cloud storage solutions. This breach contained some sensitive data such as movie agreements, tax requests, social security numbers and employment data, contact information for film professionals and countless thousands of hours of movie clips. Another government organisation has had a data leak, this time the Government of Iran. The data contained sensitive information surrounding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the leaked files revealed that the death toll in Iran stood at around 42,000 as of July 20th 2020, the figure reported by Iran’s government was only 14,000! The data leak was quite an embarrassment for Iran who have yet to report on it. For large, wealthy organisations such as governments, a good investment in security should always be considered, especially as they are a big target for attackers. In this case an intelligence driven cybersecurity solution such as Anomoli would have detected this threat before the attackers would have had a chance to take any data. We see too many cases where various security controls are “not needed” until a breach takes place. Researchers at Trend Micro have identified a new backdoor vulnerability for web servers running PHP. This is a unique vulnerability as it has built-in ransomware functionality. The vulnerability, which is built around webshell, means attackers can launch other malware from a command line interface when on the web server. The ransomware component is allowing the attackers to encrypt the compromised machine without any separate malware – to protect itself from being detected by XDR solutions. This vulnerability shows the complexity levels threat actors are going to in order to remain undetected. Accepting that at some point you will be targeted is the best thing to do and have defences in place to block the attack when it does happen. BullWall’s Ransomcare is a unique offering that sits as the last line of defence and can stop spread of ransomware attacks, isolating the machine and user. Popular network storage devices QNAP are at risk of being compromised with a vulnerability that is currently affecting over 62,000 devices worldwide. The QSnatch malware has features such as password loggers, credential scraping, SSH backdoor access and file exfiltrating abilities. It is being recommended that those running the vulnerable version should do a complete factory reset and then perform the firmware upgrade, else they risk leaving the device vulnerable. We do not often see attacks against these types of devices and therefore your security controls may not protect them in attacks, for this reason it’s best to have some kind of network security that monitors all network traffic for malicious activity such as CyGlass, which would easily pick up on the malicious activity taking place. If you would like to learn more about One Intelligence technologies, please get in touch with one of the team via info@onedistribution.co.uk One Intelligence Weekly report - 4th August 2020 The “One Intelligence” weekly report is a high- level report designed to share intelligence about the most notable attacks, breaches, and malware. Here experts from Anomali, Flashpoint and Silobreaker, analyse and highlight new techniques used by attackers over the last week. In the spotlight this week, 17 million user details are for sale on the dark web stolen from popular travel site Couchsurfing. The Couchsurfing site enables travellers to seek out hosts who offer their couch for free, or if they are lucky, even a bed; however, the travellers have not been so lucky in this instance. It is not yet clear whether passwords are included, but names, email addresses and User IDs are all available. The database is currently on offer for $700 on hacking forums and Couchsurfing has confirmed the breach via a Twitter post, stating that the FBI is involved. For large organisations with millions of customer database records it is inevitable that they will be targeted. Flashpoint Intelligence offers various deep and dark web intelligence services and having eyes and ears on dark web is key to being alerted to these types of discussions in the early stages and ensuring there are appropriate defences in place should an attack occur. Having an effective and well-thought-out development lifecycle is crucial for software houses. Source code to software development companies is like bread to a bakery – it is what they do. For that reason, keeping source code safe and secure should be a priority. However, as things move more towards AGILE development lifecycles, we can often see loopholes in the processes, meaning source code is exposed. In addition, source code often contains hard-coded passwords and potentially secrets to new, unreleased software. This week, source code from a wide range of companies has been leaked online, including big names such as Adobe, Disney, Microsoft, and Nintendo. Within the source code developer names and hard-coded credentials have been found. In the wrong hands this could have a serious impact on a company’s reputation and therefore process and training are key to getting it right. RangeForce delivers an integrated cyber security simulation skills and training platform, with a focus on Secure DevOps and many additional features, such as CyberSiege simulations to evaluate team skills. A large German organisation, The Dussmann Group, which specialises in facility management has been hit with ransomware. The company has 64,500 employees in 22 countries and has reportedly had data stolen during the attack, including accounting information and AutoCAD drawings. The attackers have published ‘Part 1’ of the data leak in the hope that The Dussmann Group will pay them off, which is a method we are seeing more frequently during ransomware attacks. BullWall’s Ransomcare is a last-line-of-defence security package that monitors file shares, including SharePoint and any cloud file storage systems that operate on SMB level and acts when it sees malicious activity taking place in the share. This can be a very effective tool as we see more and more ransomware variants getting past the standard endpoint protection systems. Researchers at Kaspersky have discovered new Malware framework called “MATA” which can target multiple platforms (Windows, Linux and MacOS) making it a very powerful threat. The threat actors behind the malware have been active since April 2018 targeting numerous different sectors. A defence-in-depth approach such as Fidelis is best to protect against such threats. Network and cloud traffic analysis across all ports and protocols, deep endpoint forensics and advanced deception techniques are all used to spot when an attack is taking place and with the possibility of multi-platform attacks, it is crucial to monitor different areas of infrastructure. MaaS is a new term that follows the same suit as many others, this time meaning Malware-as-a-Service. Golden Chickens, a crime group operating a MaaS marketplace are a preferred service provider for top-tier e-crime groups on the dark web. The ability to purchase prebuilt malware is a dangerous and worrying trend for those who are likely to be targeted by cyber-attacks. Organisations should ensure that they have the necessary detection systems in place throughout their infrastructure to know when Malware has made its way onto the network, and more importantly (due to detection systems not guaranteeing detection), an intelligence platform such as Anomali’s Threatstream to understand when malicious activity is taking place. Threatstream automates the collection and management of your threat intelligence and disseminates it in real time to your security controls. One Intelligence Weekly report - 27th July 2020 One of the world’s largest providers of education software, Blackbaud, has been targeted in cyber-attacks. The US-based company was hacked in May and it is reported that at least ten universities, some of which are in the UK, have had student and alumni data stolen. The ransomware attack, in which Blackbaud ended up paying the ransom, not only encrypted data but also exfiltrated it too. Recently this type of tactic has been on the increase, as it gives attackers greater financial leverage. These attacks are becoming more complex and to truly stop them specialist software is needed, for example BullWall’s Ransomcare, which is a unique last-line-of-defence protection system or CyGlass, which has a key focus on understanding when data exfiltration is taking place. The Premier League has announced that a cyber-attack has taken place during a £1 million transfer. It has not yet been confirmed which club was affected, but it is understood that attackers gained access to the emails of the Managing Director during the negotiations and if it were not for the bank intervening, the attackers would have successfully retrieved the money. The attack is likely to be the final straw for cyber security in sport, following on from scrutiny hi-lighting that the industry is well behind where it should be in terms of cyber security. Other recent attacks have seen turnstiles and CCTV systems being disabled due to ransomware and this comes at a time when sports teams and organisations are under immense pressure to bounce back after a long period of “downtime” during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sports teams are businesses and so it is essential they understand the threat landscape and follow cyber security best practice. The Western Australian government has had over 400 web pages of medical data stolen and posted online, including personal health information. The attack was said to have been launched by a 15-year old, who most likely discussed this over the internet before the attack. The information was not only related to coronavirus, but also included data from several government agencies. When it comes to government agencies and data protection, it is imperative to have eyes and ears across the internet and understand what discussions are taking place that relate to the cyber security of all the systems an organisation employs. This can be done with Silobreaker or Flashpoint, which both make it easy to see a clear picture of the topics of discussion on the open and deep/dark web that may be relevant to the organisation in question. Last week we reported on the recent Zoom vulnerabilities and this week another popular communication tool, Slack, has been hit. Over 17,000 credentials and 12,000 Slack workspaces are being sold on the dark web, with prices varying from $0.50 to $300 per credential. The key message here is that no systems are truly safe, and the more third-party applications we use the more we put ourselves at risk; however, standard best practices such as using unique passwords for different systems, 2-factor authentication and PAM systems can help protect against this kind of attack. Krontech’s Single Connect is an upcoming name in the PAM space and is a highly effective solution. Globally, financial services is one of the most targeted industries, due to the nature of the business. The attacks are generally focused on entry via weak staff with phishing emails the most common and effective entry method for attackers. The industry must recognise this is a huge issue, as millions are spent on the latest security hardware and software, yet one mistake by a member of staff could mean that all the security systems are bypassed. User education is the best way to prevent this, as the methods and attacks are constantly evolving, and the malware and other malicious software is becoming more complex; however, the entry points are still the same. Every week we see news that the sophistication level of the banking trojan landscape is steadily increasing, and the takeaways are always the same – user education. Most people reading this would have heard of a PoC when it comes to trialling software. The term is also used when vulnerabilities are in a stage where they are being discussed on the dark web but not quite proven to work effectively yet. It is at this time, when a PoC exploit is made available, that a series of attacks may be triggered as hackers test it out. This week saw a series of attacks against a vulnerability on SharePoint servers, .NET framework and Visual Studio. It is recommended that patches are kept up to date and reviewed daily, as the difference in patching on day one and day five could be critical. Zoom, the well-known teleconferencing application, has been under the microscope throughout the COVID-19 pandemic after some critical security flaws were discovered with the application. Initially there were theories that these were just rumours started by competitors, but Zoom quickly sent out a critical patch, which confirmed the problem. These issues subsequently pushed a lot of customers elsewhere to the point where Zoom was put on the block list by some organisations. Now the dust has settled, another vulnerability has been found for Windows 7 users using Zoom. The zero-day vulnerability allows attackers to access files on the system and, if the user is an admin, access the entire computer. The patch for this must be pushed out by Microsoft; however, technical support and updates have been phased out for the old operating system. It is not yet known whether Microsoft will fix this or just encourage users to upgrade to Windows 10. At this stage, the best thing you can do is to move away from Windows 7, and in fact some patch management systems are no longer supporting Windows 7 at all. CheckPoint researchers have found a new variant of malware targeting android devices, which is one of the first to be seen with the objective of monetary theft. The malware, “Joker”, is capable of downloading other malware and subscribing devices to premium services. ZecOps has an interesting approach when looking for malicious activity, which means no patches or updates are required as it looks for crashes and mistakes in the code used by attackers. An intelligence platform such as ZecOps is one of the best ways to protect an organisation’s mobile devices from this type of attack. Understanding your threat landscape often requires you to have visibility of what is taking place in the “wild” and one way to do this is by having eyes on the dark web. Flashpoint is an intelligence platform that looks only at the deep and dark web and provides insights into what is being discussed and acted upon that is relevant to your specific assets and business processes. In the case of a new family of ransomware named “Conti”, this was first discussed on the deep and dark web and is now active. The unique ransomware variant allows a threat actor to control how an attack takes place and can perform a whole host of attacks. In addition, the ransomware is capable of encrypting 32 files simultaneously using AES-256 encryption. A slightly different ransomware encryption method has also been found this week. The AgeLocker ransomware uses Google’s Age Encryption tool, which was designed as a replacement for GPG to encrypt “files, backups, and streams.” Instead of using common standard encryption methods, such as AES or RSA, it uses the age command line tool to encrypt files, which uses three very secure algorithms making it virtually impossible to decrypt. The ransom note is sent to the user via email, rather than the more commonly used method of leaving the note on a file system. The amount charged to decrypt files is about $65,000, payable in bitcoins (7 bitcoins in total). As always, endpoint detection and response tools cannot guarantee detection of ransomware as they must first be aware that the ransomware exists. Alternative defence systems such as Bullwall’s Ransomcare can be used as a last line of defence and will detect the attack without having to know the signature or strain of ransomware, giving some confidence in protection against any future ransomware variants. MGM, a very well known and reputable name in the hotel industry has had details of at least 142 million hotel guests put up for sale on the dark web, details of the breach and attack have not been disclosed fully but it is more than likely that the attacker was on the network for a long period of time in order to exfiltrate such a large amount of data. In most large scale breaches such as this, the attacker leaves behind traces of their movement and actions. Having an intelligence platform such as Anomoli to pick up on all indicators of compromise and understand what is happening would have helped identify an attack was taking place early enough to prevent a data breach. Silobreaker have released information showing that discussions around vulnerabilities in Windows Servers have been trending this week. Likely because of a series of vulnerabilities found, one of them being a 17-year old DNS bug that allows attacks to gain domain admin privileges into the network. The “SigRed” vulnerability (CVE-2020-1350) affects all servers between 2003 and 2019. It works by sending a crafted DNS request to the Windows DNS server, allowing them to be able to input code to execute. The vulnerability is even more critical as it can also spread through the network without the need for human interaction (worm capabilities). It is obvious that this should be patched on all Windows servers, but you can also set a limit to the size of DNS messages which should help eliminate the chances of a buffer overflow which would take place during an attack. F5 have released a critical patch for their BIG-IP devices. A vulnerability that allows for remote code execution (including Java scripts) without any authentication has been found. This vulnerability has been marked as critical and multiple security researchers have been able to prove its effectiveness. This patch should be applied immediately for anyone with an affected device, even more so because this vulnerability is now being discussed widely on the open web, meaning more threat actors are likely to use this vulnerability. It really is a race against time as soon as these critical vulnerabilities are discussed on the open web. Progress of the growth’s discussions and use can be tracked using Silobreaker, a well featured open-source intelligence tool. And of course, having a patch management system has never been more important. It is best to have an intelligent system that prioritises vulnerabilities based on your assets and network information, a tool such as Skybox would do this well. Cyber Espionage, a term many may not have heard of before. Cyber Espionage is the act of stealing classified or sensitive data to gain an advantage over a company or government. In some cases, this type of attack has influenced outcome of elections, caused havoc during international events and much more. PROMETHIUM is a threat actor that has been linked to Cyber Espionage attacks since 2012, they specialise attacking state-sponsored operations. They have recently added four new trojanized applications to their arsenal, including FireFox. This means anyone who downloads this infected version of Firefox is at risk. Infected systems can then be used to contribute towards the espionage or be turned into part of a larger botnet of machines that can be controlled by the threat actors. Whilst not all malware is detectable right away, potentially because the malware hides itself – it will still leave traces of its existence behind, so it’s important to use intelligence software such as Anomoli to pick up on the indicators of compromise and alert where necessary. Another big name in security has recently released some patches to address an issue allowing threat actors to bypass the authentication of the device. Palo Alto Networks have released these patches that affect a number of different PAN-OS versions between 8.0 and 9.1.3. This vulnerability allows anyone to obtain admin access without any authentication at all, which is obviously a problem. Palo Alto themselves have rated this vulnerability at 10.0 on the CVSS base scoring system, which is the highest possible criticality. There are a few workarounds that can be put in place if the patches cannot be fixed right away, such as disabling SAML authentication. As always it is best practice to keep up to date with the hardware and software you use as an organisation. A Texas-based health clinic is informing 19,000 of its patients that there has been a potential data breach. The breach took place via a phishing attack against an employee’s email account. The data includes names, dates of service and more importantly, health information. Although this type of attack is taking place every day, this organisation could potentially go under due to this breach. It’s important to get the balance right between what you need to buy in order to secure your network, but also what you need to train your staff – oftentimes we are seeing all existing security controls bypassed because the weak link was the user operating the computer systems. There are protection methods available to try and help in cases where a user has fallen for a phishing scam, however protection cannot be guaranteed and therefore end-user training is crucial. A last line of defence in these situations would be to have the ability to stop data exfiltration, Cyglass can spot when a data exfiltration attempt is taking place and stop/alert on it. We have seen several Ransomware attacks that are taking place on suppliers. If one of your suppliers has access to your data and gets hit by a ransomware attack, your data will be also be attacked. Proper vetting on your suppliers and knowing what systems they have in place to protect against these types of attacks is obviously a key part to ensuring your data is kept safe, but there are no guarantees that perhaps a new strain of ransomware might come out that they are not protected against. BullWall’s Ransomcare however looks at the behaviour of a ransomware attack rather than for specific strains, meaning that if configured properly it protects against future ransomware strains. A system such as this would protect your data whether it is being used on your device or your supplier’s devices as it looks at the actual file share rather than end devices. One Intelligence Weekly report - 6th July 2020 iOS 14, a not-yet publicly released operating system for iPhones, has a new functionality that warns users when an app reads the contents of the clipboard. The operating system is currently available to developers in the BETA program. TikTok, a popular social media platform, has been found to be accessing clipboard information after users received warnings. With many iOS devices used as business phones, data security and privacy are huge concerns. Apple also has the functionality for Mac or iPads to share a clipboard with iOS devices, meaning items copied on a Mac/iPad could also be read by TikTok. Organisations should ensure they are putting measures in place both to prevent users copying sensitive information, and to ensure updates are installed as soon as they are released. An unnamed Chinese bank is implanting backdoor trojan software onto target systems that use their official tax software. The software called “Intelligent Tax” allows companies to pay tax but also installed the GoldenSpy trojan with system level privileges. These attacks are said to have targeted Western organisations and so far, two UK-based companies have found the trojan on their networks, which enables commands to be executed remotely, as well as the uploading/downloading of other payloads. Organisations should always ensure that the software they are using comes from trusted sources. As an additional measure, an intelligence service such as Flashpoint will monitor discussions on the dark web about any apps that an organisation is using. As with all threats, a layered defence approach is best and a system like Anomoli gives good visibility, as it monitors all indicators of compromise throughout the network. The most recent large firm to be hit by ransomware is LG Electronics. The operators of the ransomware collected over 40gb of data relating to ongoing projects with several US companies and released screenshots and stolen emails to prove the legitimacy of the breach. This type of ransomware has been seen a lot recently (Maze Ransomware) and uses exposed remote desktop connections to operate. Ransomware is an ongoing threat for all organisations and having endpoint protection is not always enough – specific ransomware protection such as Bullwall’s Ransomcare product works differently and ensures protection against both current and future strains of ransomware. Researchers at Trend Micro found several US cities had their websites infected with Magecart skimmer in a campaign that started in mid-April. The skimmer is based on JavaScript and is capable of stealing credit card data as well as personal information. All affected sites appear to have been built using Click2Gov. Having visibility of current attacks and vulnerabilities relating to your platform is crucial when operating an e-commerce site; however, it can be difficult to know where and how to monitor this. Silobreaker monitors the open web for discussions on any topic and can be used to track dialogue on the components of your infrastructure in order to pick up on new attacks as soon as they come into circulation. There was another report concerning web application security this week with hackers exploiting Google’s analytics services to steal credit card information from infected e-commerce sites. Threat actors were able to inject data-stealing code onto the compromised websites in combination with tracking code generated by Google Analytics, allowing them to exfiltrate payment information, even where security policies are set for maximum protection. There are several recommendations to protect against these types of breaches, the main one being to avoid installing web apps and components that are not needed or are from untrusted sources. One Intelligence Weekly report - 30th June 2020 In April, Australia’s government called for an investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 virus, accusing the Chinese of engaging in ‘economic coercion’. Australia has also claimed that a foreign threat actor has been targeting its government, business, and public services in coordinated cyber-attacks. It is not confirmed that these attacks have been launched from China, but with tensions running high between the two countries it is thought that they are most likely to be originating from there. The previous year, the Chinese were believed to have targeted the Australian parliament and political parties in the lead up to a general election – a lot of this information is being discussed on the open web and can be seen clearly with a tool such as Silobreaker. Having a defence-in-depth approach is the best way to protect from Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), focusing on network and host-based security. Picus, a breach and attack simulation tool can offer great visibility and defence against APTs and similar attacks to nodes within a network. Cognizant, one of the largest IT managed service providers in the world, was recently in the spotlight due to claims it had been hit with Ransomware and a data breach. After releasing a statement and contacting customers to let them know that no data was breached, the company was more recently forced to admit that threat actors did indeed access sensitive customer data. Threat actors had network access weeks before any file encryption took place, so the real damage is unknown. With a tool such as Anomoli, Cognizant would have been able to spot indicators of compromise and traces left behind by threat actors, making the business aware that an attack was taking place. Once encryption has started, it is crucial that the Ransomware is detected as early as possible. Traditional antivirus and endpoint protection may not have picked up on this, but a last line of defence tool such as Ransomcare by Bullwall would have done. Cognizant has since been offering credit and identity theft monitoring services to the individuals affected. Google’s Play Store has recently removed 38 apps that were associated with threats relating to ad fraud. The apps bombarded users’ devices with fraudulent advertising and in total had more than 20 million downloads. It can be difficult to identify when attacks such as these are taking place, but as always with non-legitimate software there are traces and mistakes left behind. These are easily picked up by a tool such as ZecOps which specialises in finding attackers’ mistakes to identify when malicious activity is taking place. Telegram, an online messaging application has had one of its databases containing 900MB of user data leaked onto a dark web forum. The database includes phone numbers linked to millions of Telegram accounts. The source of the leak is still unclear, but the data was confirmed to have been collected using the Telegram contact import function. It is likely that an attack such as this was discussed and planned on the dark web prior to taking place. Having intelligence in the dark web by using a tool such as Flashpoint intelligence allows organisations to be better protected against these potential attacks. ESET researchers have discovered that the InvisiMole threat group has created an improved toolset targeting diplomatic and military entities in Europe. InvisiMole distributed its backdoor payloads using a .NET downloader and leveraged vulnerabilities (EternalBlue and RDP vulnerability BlueKeep) to spread across networks. The group used stolen documents and modified them to act as trojans that would later install the payloads when executed. Having a patching schedule in place across all networked devices is crucial, even if not exposed to the internet. Skybox can help understand and visualise attack surfaces and vectors to prioritise patches based on several different factors. In this case, behavioural monitoring capabilities, including detecting when files and data are accessed outside of normal working hours would have been beneficial. One Intelligence Weekly report - 22nd June 2020 The sixth edition of the “One Intelligence” weekly report is a high- level report designed to share intelligence about the most notable attacks, breaches and malware. Here experts from Anomali, Flashpoint and Silobreaker, analyse and highlight new techniques used by attackers over the last week. It is not unheard of for malware to sit undetected for months, sometimes years as an attacker slowly navigates their way around the network and infects different systems as they go (lateral movement). This was the case in a recent data breach on Austria largest ISP. It was reported that the malware went undetected for a month, infecting 27,000 systems, 12,000 of those being servers. The attacker was able to run database queries on the backend systems. The clean-up operation took 6 months, with the security team working to try and find and remove any backdoors that had been created into the network. It is likely that the malware would have left traces that should have been flagged on any threat intelligence platform (TIP) such as Anomoli, who look for indicators of compromise and piece these together to understand whether an attack is taking place or not. In this case, the ISP was in the dark. The attack is said to have been carried out by a Chinese APT that is well known for targeting large telecom providers. The City of Knoxville, Tennessee is in the news this week due to a Ransomware attack that went unnoticed until multiple systems had been encrypted. The strain of Ransomware is unknown, and it is also unknown as to how the ransomware spread. With most cases of ransomware, an issue is usually reported by a user who attempts to open a file but finds out it is encrypted and then reported to IT. This sometimes takes hours to take place and by then the ransomware could have encrypted the entire network – with modern high-speed networks you can expect to see 7000-10,000 files encrypted per minute. It is imperative that the spread of the ransomware is stopped as early as possible and to do this, Ransomware protection is advised, such as BullWall’s Ransomcare. In some cases, a simple Anti-virus or Endpoint solution will not be enough to prevent a Ransomware outbreak, as they rely on knowing that a strain of ransomware exists before they can protect against it, this new patch then needs to be rolled out to the endpoints to protect them. Protection specifically for Ransomware works by looking at file changes and additions and looks for patterns that indicate a Ransomware attack is taking place, meaning this will stop any new strains despite whether they are a zero-day attack. The deep and dark web is usually the place where discussions are held on new types of Cyber attacks and methodologies, sometimes these are discussed months prior to an attack taking place. Often these attacks are crafted specifically for a purpose, such as an individual planning an attack against an organisation. For that reason, having eyes and ears on the dark web is just as important as having eyes and ears on the open web. Flashpoint intelligence does this by embedding themselves into the dark web communities to extract useful intelligence data. For example, Flashpoint analysts can see chatter about vulnerabilities before they are exploited, very handy for organisations to spot this and patch against them before attacks take place. Such is the case for CVE-2020-2883, where chat has included sharing of related news articles and proof of concept code to exploit this vulnerability. Security researches at ZecOps have discovered a critical vulnerability affecting the SMB protocol on Windows devices. The vulnerability allows for kernel memory to be leaked remotely, which can then be paired up with previous vulnerability SMBGhost to achieve remote code execution. As with most findings by security firm ZecOps, the vendors are quick to listen and act on reported vulnerabilities. Microsoft added this patch into their June 2020 update (which in total has patches for 129 vulnerabilities). Having a good patching schedule is always a good idea, or even better a platform that will analyse the vulnerabilities/patches against your devices and their properties (internet-facing, public servers, etc) and prioritise which vulnerabilities you should patch first. Skybox’s understanding and contextualisation of security controls and network configuration offers customers an unparalleled insight into patching prioritisation. Silobreaker, an Open-source intelligence platform regularly reports on topics that have been mentioned more than usual, for example this week VLC Media Player has been discussed a lot on the open web. Though this might mean nothing to most people, Silobreaker can be tailored to meet the intelligence needs of the organisation, giving insights into hot topics relating to the organisation. This type of intelligence is becoming increasingly popular as it would be impossible for a human to scan the whole internet for discussions on particular topics. Although Silobreaker is a security intelligence tool, it can be used for a huge number of things, market intelligence and competitor analysis just to name a couple. The fifth edition of the “One Intelligence” weekly report is a high- level report designed to share intelligence about the most notable attacks, breaches and malware. Here experts from Anomali, Flashpoint and Silobreaker, analyse and highlight new techniques used by attackers over the last week. Financial data shows a 50% growth in the use of mobile banking since the start of 2020 and we are expecting to see a corresponding increase in number of threat actors targeting these platforms. The FBI has warned that they expect attacks to utilise app-based banking trojans and fake banking apps to target customers. The security of mobile devices has been questioned for a while now, with a huge amount of sensitive data being used and stored on them. A security platform such as ZecOps will look at the underlying system logs of the device and can indicate whether the device has been compromised or not, something no other security organisation is doing. Conduent, a large US-based business process services company has been hit by Maze, a strain of ransomware that is already well known across the world. The operators of this attack leaked 1GB of data from Conduent’s network on the website, stating that they had stolen sensitive data and had encrypted devices. It is thought that they leveraged a vulnerability in a Citrix server that allowed for remote code execution, followed by lateral movement to collect data, and encrypt drives. Several security systems could have prevented the spread of this attack, such as ransomware detection (Bullwall) to stop file encryption and to alert on an attack and a proper patching schedule and configuration management system, such as Skybox. The recent death of a US citizen has sparked global uproar and wherever there is a big worldwide news story, there are opportunities for threat actors to take advantage of the situation. Far-right extremists across the world discuss have begun to discuss this on both the open web, and deep and dark web. There is the potential for the acceleration of violence via various online communities that are using acronyms such as “ACAB” (All Cops are Bastards), which is causing an increase of violence against law enforcement. It is important for public-facing organisations to understand how the discussion of violence and extremist communications could affect them, and with the use of Silobreaker (for open web discussions) and FlashPoint (for deep and dark web discussions) business decisions can be made around this topic. One of NASA’s IT contractors (Digital Management Inc.) is said to have been breached, when the network was compromised by the operators of the DopplePaymer ransomware. The group leaked 20 files onto its dark web portal to prove legitimacy of the compromise. The data leaked included HR details, project plans and employee records. The breach not only hit NASA, as a total of 2,500 servers and workstations within the Digital Management Inc. internal network had been encrypted and held at ransom. The attack is likely to have entered the network through a phishing attack and side stepped through the network to get to the sensitive systems. Early detection of such attacks would have given Digital Management Inc. the information to stop the attack before too much damage was done. A system such as Anomoli would look for early indicators of a compromise and alert where necessary. Anti-virus and endpoint protection software could be used but cannot guarantee prevention of ransomware, as new strains of ransomware can sometimes take weeks to be patched. A last line of defence system, such as Bullwall,would provide a more reliable prevention technique as it looks at the file headers, extensions, and patterns despite the strain of ransomware, so can stop new strains from day one. A data breach linked to the Spanish language e-learning platform 8Belts, has exposed PII data of its customers. The breach was a result of misconfigured AWS systems, and affected many hundreds of thousands of users around the world. It is critical to ensure you regularly review the configuration of all hosted systems. A defence-in-depth approach is the best way to defend against advanced attacks, which means having layered security infrastructure to protect against each phase of an attack. Weekly threat report June 15th One Intelligence Weekly report - 8th June 2020 Our fourth weekly edition of the “One Intelligence” report is a high-level report designed to share intelligence about the most notable attacks, breaches and malware that experts from Anomali, Flashpoint and Silobreaker, who have analysed and highlighted new techniques used by attackers over the last week. With healthcare-related organisations now in the spotlight across the world, there is a large market for stolen data on both the deep and dark web. These data sets include data from health insurance organisations. Generally, the data obtained from breaches, compromised remote desktop protocols and ransomware. The healthcare industry is notorious for being behind with security, patching, hardware etc and therefore, is easily targeted. Due to the nature of healthcare organisations, significant volumes of PII data on patients is retained, in addition to financial records when healthcare insurance is concerned. This data is an attractive and easy target for threat actors who have been selling the exfiltrated data on the deep and dark web for approximately $0.50 to $1.00 per medical record; however, some posts in early 2020 advertised the medical data for around $2.00 per record. With healthcare organisations being pushed both physically and financially during the first half of this year, they are prime targets for cyber-attacks. A US-based marketplace for independent artists has disclosed a data breach after a hacker sold a database containing 5 million user records on a dark web marketplace. Exposed data includes names, email addresses, hashed and salted passwords, billing addresses, and more. There is a constant stream of data breaches that are disclosed publicly, all this information can be seen using tools such as Silobreaker. There has been an alert about malware found in Java projects that can run on Linux, MacOS and Windows operating systems. Vulnerability is in an IDE named NetBeans. Once the user downloads a repository, the malware infects the local machine and spreads into other Java projects, the next step of the malware is to download a Remote Access Trojan, which sniffs for confidential information, including source code, which if exfiltrated could be a huge issue for software development organisations. There are a few things to help in spotting attacks like these. Anomoli can spot the indictors of a compromise early on and if the attack gets to data exfiltration stage, CyGlass is able to alert and stop these kinds of attacks. Microsoft’s IIS servers have been exploited due to a critical vulnerability allowing threats actors to host a cryptominer on the server. The vulnerability allows attackers to gain backdoor and shell access in just two steps. With such a simple attack, it is imperative to ensure a patching schedule is in place and adhered to. WordPress is yet again being targeted with over 130 million attacks hitting 1.3 million WordPress sites. These attacks attempted to download a file critical to the WordPress installations, which contains backend database credentials, connection information, unique keys, and salts. WordPress has come forward and stated that the attacks are linked to an attacker who previously launched a similar scale attack targeting cross-site scripting flaw. WordPress is quite often left unpatched, meaning that a huge number of websites and backend data are exposed. Several discussions on this matter have been seen on the internet. These attacks can be seen using tools such as Silobreaker. There has been a critical update released for iOS and iPadOS devices, related to two vulnerabilities in the default email application. These vulnerabilities allow threat actors to corrupt and modify memory or terminate applications. All devices running iOS versions 3.1.3 up to 13.4.1 are vulnerable. Apple has patched these upon the release of 13.5. Forbes reported on these vulnerabilities which were initially discovered by ZecOps and reported to Apple directly. Weekly threat report June 8th One Intelligence Weekly report - 2nd June 2020 Welcome to our third edition of the “One Intelligence” Weekly Report. This high-level report is designed to share intelligence about the most notable attacks, breaches and malware that experts from Anomali, Flashpoint and Silobreaker, who have analysed and highlighted new techniques used by attackers over the last week. Several financial technology applications are said to be targeted, as threat actors on both the deep web and dark web express interest in buying and selling accounts for such applications. Some of these apps are dedicated to personal finance activities and often contain highly sensitive data. The data retrieved from these apps is also being used as a method of payment on the deep and dark webs. Although the financial technology apps are apparently not being targeted any more than the traditional financial institutions, these types of applications contain payment details, mortgage details, credit card information etc that can be exploited for fraudulent purposes. Organisations that have had a significant number of fraud-related references across the deep and dark webs include Credit Karma (previously Noddle), Plaid and Square Cash. It is recommended that passwords for all online accounts are updated regularly to prevent access in the event of a password leak. Learn more about Flashpoint’s Intelligence Platform. Another large financial and retail technology company Diebold Nixdorf (a major provider of ATM machines) was hit by a ransomware attack earlier this month. The group behind the attack, ProLock Ransomware, is a relatively new group that uses phishing emails to gain initial entrance (as with most ransomware). It then uses incorrectly configured Remote Desktop services and attempts to steal login credentials for networks using only a single authentication method. Once the attackers gain access, they then identify backups, including Microsoft’s built-in shadow copies, and aim to delete or encrypt them, making it more difficult to restore the data. Many ransomware variants are now stealing data before they encrypt it to use against the organisation in an attempt to obtain the ransom amount. It is not yet known how much this has cost Diebold Nixford. Learn more about the last line of defence from BullWall. A new variant of the information stealing malware family “racoon” has been discovered. These new variants are said to impersonate popular legitimate programs such as Revo Uninstaller. The latest version aims to collect sensitive data, as well as capturing the screen and collecting keystrokes of the users. PowerShell scripts are used to disable Windows Defender and modify various registry key values to remove the admin prompt that would usually be displayed when making changes to the system. These new techniques are forever changing and becoming more complex and the best way to prevent them is to spot the indicators of compromise early with systems such as behavioural analysis defences. Anomali arms security teams with machine learning optimised threat intelligence and identifies hidden threats targeting their environments. Since last week’s report, Adobe has released another set of critical patches for its products, this time including Character Animator, Premier Pro, Audition and Premiere Rush. These patches are said to prevent critical buffer overflow vulnerabilities, which could provide threat actors with the ability to execute remote code onto a target system. With these various critical patches, some vulnerabilities are classified as “out-of-bounds” meaning that disclosing what the patches are fixing could disclose sensitive information for threat actors to further manipulate. Get Complete and Contextual Visibility with Skybox Security. A new Bluetooth vulnerability has been found that affects all modern devices capable of Bluetooth pairing, including IoT devices, laptops, smartphones, and tablets. The vulnerability (CVE-2020-10135) relates to how devices are pared with Bluetooth using a link key. Threat actors can masquerade as genuine devices and gain access with the link key. Bluetooth chips used by Apple, CSR, Intel, Samsung, and Qualcomm are all vulnerable to these attacks unless patched. A hacker is reportedly selling details of 9 million Zoomcar users for $300 on the dark web. This data includes names, email addresses, passwords, mobile numbers, and IP addresses. The data is said to have been obtained in a 018 data breach. Zoomcar’s CEO claims that its data is “absolutely secure” and a breach involving its customers’ data is untrue. Learn more about Flashpoint’s Intelligence Platform. Researchers have measured the prevalence of exposed sensitive assets at leading banks, including exposed databases, remote login services and development tools. It is reported that 23% of banks had at least one misconfigured database exposed to the internet, meaning this data could potentially be leaked. 54% of the banks had at least one Remote Desktop Protocol exposed to the internet, 31% had at least one vulnerability to remote code execution and Multiple File Transfer servers with anonymous authentication were discovered. Although banks usually have well established security structures, which are heavily regulated, up to 84% of the exposed assets are likely to fall under IT and security teams’ radars and out of the scope of traditional asset management and security tools. It is imperative to understand and have visibility of internet facing assets to manage and mitigate the risks. Get Complete and Contextual Visibility with Skybox Security. Weekly threat report June 2nd One Intelligence Weekly report - 25th May 2020 Welcome to our “One Intelligence” Weekly Report. This high-level report is designed to share intelligence about the most notable attacks, breaches and malware that experts from Anomali, Flashpoint and Silobreaker, who have analysed and highlighted new techniques used by attackers over the last week. This week saw another huge data breach, this time affecting EasyJet customers. It has been reported that approximately nine million customers may have had their email addresses and travel details stolen, and over 2000 customers also had their credit/debit card details “accessed”. It is not yet known exactly how the attack was perpetrated; however, it is likely to have come from a phishing attack. A similar data breach in 2018 saw the airline British Airways fined £183m by the regulator. EasyJet is likely to incur a similar fine. The Bank of America has also issued notice of a data breach to its clients, with a set of customers who applied for a particular loan program being impacted. Exposed data included tax ID numbers, full names, phone numbers, email addresses, physical addresses, social security numbers and more. It is not yet known exactly how many customers have been affected. A sophisticated Android spyware framework has been identified by researchers and is said to have been undetected for four years. The spyware named “Mandrake” embeds itself into applications to avoid detection. The Spyware is said to have been found on seven apps available on the Google Play Store. This attack is mainly targeting Art, Finance, Media, and the Auto industry for use in espionage campaigns. The Spyware works by collecting SMS messages, contact lists and lists of applications. It can also send SMS messages, initiate calls, uninstall applications, steal credentials from the applications and enable GPS tracking. The information is then sent to a Command and Control server operated by the threat actors. Researchers from Checkpoint have announced that a previously patched Remote Desktop Services (RDP) vulnerability is being bypassed in order to further exploit the RDP functionality. The exploit allows remote code execution to take place, even using Microsoft’s built-in client “MSTSC.exe”, a commonly used service. Microsoft was notified of this new vulnerability and has since released a patch (CVE-2020-0655). Checkpoint has reviewed the patch and confirmed it does not rectify the issues, but does function as a workaround. Get Complete and Contextual Visibility with Skybox Security. The US government has linked three different Malware variants to the North Korean group HIDDEN COBRA. The malware includes a Remote Access Tool targeting cryptocurrency exchanges; a trojan masquerading as Microsoft Narrator, that will execute modules received from the Command and Control server; and finally, a trojan that provides access to CLI to execute, upload and download files. HIDDEN COBRA is known to target industry sectors in South Korea and the US, as well as entertainment, media, and non-government organisations, using spearphishing as an initial point of entry. Anomali arms security teams with machine learning optimised threat intelligence and identifies hidden threats targeting their environments. Adobe have become the next big software company to have its software attacked. Thirty-six patches for various Adobe products have been published, including 16 critical vulnerability patches. These vulnerabilities would allow for remote code execution and can evade security solutions. Microsoft has also released two patches to resolve the issues. The data from 40 Million Wishbone app users is for sale for approximately $8,000 across multiple hacking forums on the dark web. The data is claimed to have been obtained in an attack that took place earlier in 2020. The data sample that was advertised included usernames, emails, phone numbers, physical address details and hashed passwords. Discover insights that are buried deep inside the data, and uncover the information that is most valuable to you with Silobreaker. Welcome to the first edition of our “One Intelligence” Weekly Report. This high-level report is designed to share intelligence about the most notable attacks, breaches and malware that experts from Anomali, Flashpoint and Silobreaker, who have analysed and highlighted new techniques used by attackers over the last week. Some of the trends we are seeing this week confirms the prediction that global ransomware damage costs will reach $20 billion by 2021 – which is 57X more than it was in 2015. This makes ransomware the fastest growing type of cybercrime! 12th May saw over sixty mentions relating to Coronavirus Malware, the highest figure since mid-April. This was mainly due to an increase in discussions around Sphinx Trojan, Maze Ransomware and AgentTesla Keylogger, all of which are targeting home users by email with fake phishing Coronavirus campaigns. The Sphinx Trojan is targeting North American banks and has seen some changes in 2020 including new persistence mechanisms, injection techniques, bot configurations and more – all to increase the spread during the pandemic. The Maze Ransomware, like all Ransomware, demands a payment in Cryptocurrency for an organisation to get its data back; however, Maze could potentially be even more dangerous as it also exfiltrates the data it finds to servers controlled by the hackers, who then threaten to release this data should the ransom not be paid. In addition, this means that restoring from backup will not eradicate the problem. Ransomware attacks are becoming smarter and a report has suggested a new propagation method is being used, Wake-on-LAN. Wake-on-LAN means that a networking device can be powered on over the network with no physical actions required and therefore Ransomware can potentially encrypt the data of a machine when it is switched off. Wake-on-LAN functionality does not exist on all systems, and often has to be enabled. To mitigate this, network administrators are encouraged to switch off this feature on all systems, or at least restrict which devices can trigger this function. A recent survey carried out by the Identify Defined Security Alliance (IDSA) revealed that 79% of organisations have experienced an identity-related security breach in the past two years. 99% of those surveyed believe that the breach was preventable, but fewer than half had actually fully implemented key identity-related security outcomes. The hacker group “Shiny Hunters” is selling millions of user records from eleven different companies in an undisclosed dark web marketplace and in total 164.2 million records are being sold. The affected companies have all been contacted by Bleeping Computer (Tokopedia, Bhinneka, Chatbooks, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Ggumim, Home Chef, Mindful, Minted, Star Tribune, StyleShare, and Zoosk). Europe’s largest private hospital operator, Fresenius, has been targeted by another Ransomware attack, which aims to identify enterprise management tools and industrial control systems (ICS) in order to take advantage of health care providers who are attempting to resolve the pandemic. A recent report from Trend Micro found that a threat group known as “Tropic Trooper” is currently infiltrating physically isolated (Air-Gapped) networks of the Philippine and Taiwanese armies, as well as government institutions, hospitals, and banks in these countries. The threat group has been active since 2011 and is continuously improving its methods. This particular method works by using USB malware called “USBFerry”, which injects the payload onto a USB and waits for it to be plugged into an Air-Gapped device. Web hosting provider Digital Ocean has also notified some customers about a security lapse that exposed their account details. The leak occurred as a result of an internal document which was left accessible online via a public link. The document was reported to have been opened 15 times; however, Digital Ocean claims the file only contained details of less than 1% of the company’s total customer base. Anomali and One Distribution Partner in the UK and Ireland to Meet Demand for Cyber Threat Intelligence Platforms Anomali, a leader in intelligence-driven cybersecurity solutions, and One Distribution, the leading technology distributor, today announced that the companies have entered into a strategic partnership giving One Distribution the ability to deploy and support Anomali threat intelligence solutions in the UK and Ireland. By broadening its portfolio to include Anomali, One Distribution is expanding their ‘One’ Intelligence suite of integrated solutions. “Businesses in Europe are looking for new and innovative ways to respond to cyberattacks and are willing to invest in proven security solutions,” said John Dams, General Manager, One Distribution. “Anomali brings a unique approach to improving defences that many Europe-based organisations are using to reduce risk across their environments. By expanding our product offering with Anomali, we expect to accelerate the adoption of cyber threat intelligence solutions across the region.” ZecOps Partners With One Distribution, Bringing a Realistic Approach to APT Automated Discovery, Analysis and Disinfection to the United Kingdom& Ireland ZecOps, the first agentless automated Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) & APT detection platform, and One Distribution, the leading technology distributor, announced today the launch of their strategic partnership, enabling One Distribution to deliver, deploy and support ZecOps solutions in the UK & Ireland. One Distribution is expanding its security solutions and services with ZecOps ground-breaking offering, providing automated detection, analysis, and response of sophisticated attacks that are crafted to evade security controls. Nominet and One Distribution take on the UK & I cyber market One Distribution are delighted to be adding Nominet to our growing portfolio of threat intelligence solutions. One Distribution is a people-centric business. It combines a personal, consultative approach and early engagement to ensure that it fully understands all its partners and business requirements. One Distribution provides unrivalled expertise and agility to the Cyber Security marketplace, driving growth and expanding market opportunities for technology partners within the UK and Ireland. Nominet NTX is a Network Detection and Response platform purpose built to analyse billions of DNS data packets in real time, pinpointing and eradicating malicious activity quickly and seamlessly. NTX can identify malware, phishing attacks, data theft, DNS hijacks and DNS tunnelling, even at patient zero. Allowing it to effectively and comprehensively eradicate malicious activity on the network. Able to identify malware, phishing attacks, data theft, DNS hijacks and DNS tunnelling so early, as well as being able to protect patient-zero, makes it both effective and comprehensive in its mission to eradicate malicious activity on the network. Nominet is the organisation responsible for running and protecting the .UK. For over 20 years it has been operating at the heart of the internet infrastructure. This experience also underpins its cyber-security capability which is used by the UK government and other global enterprises to secure their networks. Dave Polton, VP of Cyber Solutions at Nominet said; “Effective network detection and response is a fundamental part of a robust security posture. The network offers broad visibility and with intelligent machine-learnt algorithms it can be used to identify and eliminate threats early. Every organisation has a DNS layer that is ubiquitous, failing to take advantage of this for threat defence really is a missed opportunity.” “We’re excited to be partnering with One Distribution to enable more enterprises to take advantage of this untapped area of the IT estate for threat detection and response.” Take a closer look at how Nominet NTX can improve your security posture here. Welcome Krontech Single Connect™ to the UK One Distribution Ltd, has today announced they have signed a distribution agreement with Krontech. Krontech is a technology company that specialises in Privileged Access Management (PAM) and Single Connect™ is their comprehensive PAM Suite. Single Connect™ is used as an information security and governance tool to prevent internal and external data breaches and attacks using privileged accounts and is known to be the fastest to deploy and the most secure PAM solution for business of all sizes including enterprises and telco’s globally. Silobreaker & Flashpoint partnership expands data coverage to deep and dark web The partnership between Silobreaker and Flashpoint represents a union between technology and data, and of two companies with a common goal: empowering organisations to predict, detect and mitigate risk of all kinds by turning unstructured data into timely and actionable intelligence. Flashpoint’s data is being ingested by Silobreaker’s platform, where it is indexed and fully integrated for use across all analytical tools, visualisations and workflow features. When correlated with Silobreaker’s open source data, this combination empowers customers to move seamlessly between the two data-sets in a single application, expanding their analyses to include both. Access to Flashpoint data in Silobreaker requires licenses from both companies. Please contact us for a demo. Silobreaker Sign their First Distribution Partner - One Distribution, to Support Growth Plans for the Channel in UK and Ireland. The team at One Distribution have experienced first-hand the broad use of “Threat Intelligence” and how it can sometimes be confusing, and still result in huge volumes of collected threat data with limited resource at hand to do the necessary deeper investigation. Silobreaker is not a TIP, it is a complementary technology that provides the required and often missing context in a TIP or SIEM system, and it’s only by building that interconnected ecosystem of security and intelligence solutions that an organisation can take their current security posture from ‘good’ to ‘great’! Welcome to our newsletter With InfoSec 2019 looming we can’t help but think about hangovers and freebies, not to mention security! What will you be looking to gain from the event this year? Flashpoint partner with One Distribution to expand its UK channel for Business Risk Intelligence (BRI) One Distribution solutions portfolio now offers the Flashpoint Intelligence Platform, which includes Flashpoint’s expansive archive of Finished Intelligence reporting and Deep & Dark Web (DDW), Risk Intelligence Observables (RIOs), and Chat Services datasets. By granting access to all of these resources in a single, finished intelligence experience, the platform aims to empower experienced and entry-level users alike with the context they need to make better decisions about threats, adversaries, and risks relevant to them. DocAuthority selects One Distribution as sole UK distribution partner This partnership, which came into effect on October 1st 2018, will enable DocAuthority to accelerate UK growth, while opening up the vast potential of the data management market for One Distribution. Welcome Skybox Security ... One Distribution, a leading technology distributor, has signed a distribution agreement with Skybox®Security, a global leader in cybersecurity management. This agreement leverages One Distribution’s expertise in sales enablement and education programmes to fuel Skybox’s channel expansion plans and long-term channel partnerships across the UK and Ireland. One Distribution will distribute Cyren's cloud security solutions via resellers throughout the UK and Ireland. One Distribution, a leading technology distributor, has signed a sole distribution partnership agreement with Cyren to distribute Cyren’s award-winning SaaS internet security products to resellers throughout the UK and Ireland. © 2018 One Distribution.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2154
__label__cc	0.521699	0.478301	Gliding may not be as overhyped as any other extreme sport, but it is an equally exhilarating form of competition. Aside from it being an air sport, gliding is also a unique recreational activity for some people who wanted to experience riding the winds. People can do so much while sailing mid-air, performing tricks and aerobatics as if they’re air benders. Interestingly, gliding (or, for some people, soaring) does not use any form of artificial power to allow you to climb and zoom, which means that it does not depend on any engine. Pilots use unpowered aircraft called gliders or sailplanes to navigate high-altitude spaces. Using these engineless aircraft, gliding enthusiasts learn to harness natural forces (such as gravity) and begin to move as freely as the wind. Gliding Mechanics Gliders stay in flight and maneuver their sailplane by understanding and harnessing the dynamics of the forces involved in flight. For example, the pilots can gain potential energy from flying through the wind ascending as fast as (or even faster) than the descending glider’s speed. Several forces also help the aircraft climb. They are Thermals– these are updrafts of warm air. Ridge Lift– it is a phenomenon where the wind blows against the face of a hill, forcing it to rise. Wave Lift– these are standing waves in the atmosphere. These three forces allow the aircraft to propel itself in flight, maintain, and even achieve higher altitudes. The region’s terrain, weather, and climate ultimately determine how high a glider can go, as these influence the above-mentioned forces. Brave girl student is mastering hang gliding sport. Extreme sports activity Glider Launching Methods People employ methods to allow the aircraft to take off due to the lack of engines to power the gliders or sailplanes. Launching is the first step in allowing the aircraft to fly, so it must be seamless. Pilots should carefully practice gliding using the same launching method, as each technique can be different from the other. Aerotowing– in this method, a powered aircraft carries the glider using a tow rope. When the tow plane achieves the ideal height, the glider may release the attached tow rope on his end and begin gliding. Winch Launching– this method requires a stationary ground-based winch mounted on a heavy vehicle. Auto-tow – using this method, a hard surface, and a powerful vehicle are attached to the glider with a long steel cable. When the car accelerates, it forces the glider to rise rapidly to the point where the glider may disconnect the cable. Bungee Launch– this launching method requires a substantial multi-stranded rubber band or ‘bungee’ to assist the glider launching atop a slightly sloping hill into a strong breeze of rising air. Gravity Launch– this method only requires gravity, in which the glider pushes down a slope and waits for the gravity to give it enough speed to take off. Motorized hang-glider on a blue sky background History of Gliding The air sport can credit its origins to the genius of the German Otto Lilienthal (1848–1896), who was the first person to achieve predictable and controlled flight using gliders. Further developments on the sport involve the British pilot Percy Pilcher (1866–1899) and the Americans Octave Chanute and the Wright brothers. After World War I, the Germans developed the sailplanes (the engineless aircraft used in the sport) as a loophole to the Treaty of Versailles that prevented them from developing powered airplanes. They were also the first to utilize gliders and turn them into a sport in 1910. By 1922, the sport reached an international audience, and competitions began in the same year. The sport became prominent in Europe and the United States during the 1930s, not more than a decade. The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) became the sport’s governing body in 1937. Several nations such as the US, Britain, and Germany soon utilized gliders at the onset of World War II. By the end of World War II, sports began to soar again, extending their popularity throughout the continents. Gliding in the Olympics With its continued rise to popularity in the 1930s, gliding made its way to the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. As a demonstration sport, it carved its path as a full Olympic Sport for the 1940 Games. However, the ensuing second world war halted this momentum and suspended most of the gliding sports events in Europe. Unfortunately, when the war ended, gliding failed to return to the Olympics. There were two significant reasons. The first is due to a shortage of sailplanes. The other one is due to the disagreement on a single glider model to use in the competition. Despite the FAI’s constant pitching to reintroduce air sports to the Olympics, it failed to convince the big bosses because the sport lacked enough public interest. This exclusion did not hinder several trained pilots and aeronautics engineers from discontinuing their passion for soaring. They formed clubs and organizations like the Soaring Society of America to manufacture and maintain gliders. Hang glider in the sunset sky. Beauty of extreme sport. dream to fly come true. Gliding Competitions Outside Olympics Outside the Olympics, gliding competitions become an arena for gliding enthusiasts to show their aerobatics and flight maneuvering skills. The earliest form of gliding competition involves staying airborne for as long as possible. It led pilots to spend days finishing and winning the contest. By 1939, enthusiasts abandoned form after pilots got themselves killed for falling asleep during said long flights. Several forms of gliding competition emerged over the years, opening venues for both sexes to showcase their gliding prowess. The World Gliding Championship (WGC) and the European Gliding Championships were the most prominent examples of such competition. These competitions were to test pilots’ ability to harness the dynamics of forces at play and use it to their advantage. The FAI Gliding Commission holds the WGC every two years. Since air sport is not included in the Olympics, the WGC became the highest level in the air sport. The dates of the events were not necessarily the same because competitions are sometimes held in the summer in the Southern Hemisphere. Currently, the competition involves seven glider classes as recognized by the governing body, FAI. They are Standard Class 15 meter Class 20-meter Two-Seater Class 13.5 meter The FAI determined these gliding competition classes to ensure the fairness of the completion. Other gliding competitions include World Grand Prix Gliding Championships, Women’s World Gliding Championships, Junior World Gliding Championships, and the FAI World Glider Aerobatic Championships. Meanwhile, click the link if you want to know the biggest sports stars of the 1960s. Computer generated 3D illustration with a glider over a landscape Benefits of Gliding There are several benefits of gliding to health, both emotional and mental, provided below. Improves Upper-Body Strength Gliders use most of their upper body while they are gliding. The high force of air, as well as the glider, brings out a lot of effort from the arms. Initially, people begin gliding with basic gliders that are easy to control and manage. However, with time, as arm strength improves, a glider can move on to professional and advanced gliders which are a bit difficult to control mid-air. It even requires a lot of load from the arms to keep the glider balanced at all times. As a person performs gliding on routine, it helps in the upper body exercise, mainly arms, and wings. Ultimately, there is a significant improvement in the upper body strength as well. There aren’t many times when a person is able to burn calories as well as have fun but this is surely the case with gliding. As it boosts adrenaline as well as involves physical effort, gliding helps in burning about 230 calories for every hour of gliding. This is suggested on the basis of a 150-pound person. Most people have a gliding session of about 15 to 20 minutes which can burn approximately 60 calories in one go. That sounds like a good deal! Improved Body Balance According to experts, gliding is a sport that improves body balance as well. This is because gliding activity targets the postural muscles in the body which include the back muscles, pelvis, and even abdominals. Those who land for the first time have a rough landing and usually have muscular pain in their thighs. In routine landings, there is a constant exercise of thigh muscle which results in improved landings as well. As a result, there is more strength to the bottom as well as the upper part of the body. This provides a significant improvement in body balance as well. A young woman is learing how to fly a glider. Improved Mental Health One of the best things about gliding is that it is known to help people with their mental issues. This is because gliding increases the adrenaline rush in the body and gives a surge of excitement as well. The body creates useful chemicals such as endorphins and dopamine which create happy feelings in a person. Besides, flying around in the sky creates a sense of freedom for a person along with an overwhelming view. People really cherish this experience as a memory later on. Helps you Overcome Fears Gliding is a sport that helps in overcoming fears as well. Every person who goes out for the first time for gliding is very scared and does not want to do so. This hesitation goes away as a person glides for the first time. With every next attempt, a person can overcome this fear as well as be more confident about it. The mental sense of accomplishment helps a person overcome other fears as well. This is because gliding helps in creating a higher sense of confidence among a person. Sailplane landing on a grass, sunny day in Szczecin. Gliding is one of the most versatile and adrenaline-rushing sports in the world. It may seem scary but with modern technology, it has become very safe with minimal chances of any accidents. We recommend that you add gliding to your bucket list and have this fun-filled experience at least once in your lifetime.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2156
__label__cc	0.658247	0.341753	Mo Ibrahim Foundation MSc Scholarship in Governance and Statebuilding 2015 Deadline: May 18, 2015 The International Development Department, University of Birmingham, is offering one scholarship for their MSc in Governance and State-building, for the academic year starting in September 2015. The scholarship is a two-year programme, provided by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, which includes a full MSc programme and one year internship being integral to the programme. The internship will consist of six months with IDD and six months with the Mo Ibrahim Foundation in London. The Governance and Statebuilding programme is one of the specialised streams within international development, and takes an interdisciplinary standpoint, combining the theoretical rigour of political economy and the practical experience of development. The good governance agenda occurs now increasingly alongside debate on state-building, which encompasses issues such as accountability and transparency, corruption, conflict, political settlement, human rights, participation, access to justice and democratisation. Scholarship Value The scholarship includes: Air fare to and from the United Kingdom and visa Monthly stipend of £920 for 18 months Arrival allowance of £920 The remaining six months for the internship will be funded directly to the successful candidate by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. The entry requirements consist of: A first class Honours degree or equivalent from an approved university. Adequate capacity in written and spoken English. For those whose first language is not English, evidence of this capacity is required. Applicants should reach at least level 6.5 in the IELTS. Please check the University website for more information on English language requirements. Experience in economics and statistics, demonstrated through a good mark received for at least one course at undergraduate level. Applicants must be African nationals domiciled (or permanent residents) in an African country. Preference will be given to scholarship candidates living in Sub-Saharan Africa. Applications must be received through the University online application system, accessed via www.birmingham.ac.uk by the 18 th May 2015. In addition to the usual documents to be submitted, applicants should also upload a 500 word statement and CV. This statement should set out why the applicant is the best candidate for the scholarship. Applicants must then send an email to Mrs Debra Beard ([email protected]) informing her of their wish to be considered for the Mo Ibrahim Scholarship and their ID number. Please include ‘Mo Ibrahim Scholarship’ in the subject line of the email. For more information download the Mo Ibrahim Foundation MSc Scholarship. Previous: 2015/16 NITDA Postgraduate Scholarship Scheme for Nigerians Next: Apply to become a Student Reporter at the World Resources Forum 2015 – Davos, Switzerland (fully-funded)	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2157
__label__wiki	0.970803	0.970803	The War Goes On, Unreported... huffingtonpost.com Eric Alterman Center for American Progress: Think Again As the “coalition forces” lurch toward the third anniversary of the Bush administration’s ill-fated March 2003 invasion of Iraq, the members of the media stand poised to embark on yet another round of navel-gazing over their role in first helping to enable, and later make sense of, this senseless war – a war that has proven as dangerous to journalists as anyone else. We began January with the Christian Science Monitor’s Jill Carroll being abducted – and her translator killed – on a Baghdad street, and ended the month with ABC’s Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt being seriously injured in a bombing near the capital. In all, the Committee to Protect Journalists estimates that 61 journalists have been killed in Iraq since March 2003 – 42 of whom, lest we forget, were Iraqi. In addition, 23 “media workers” have also lost their lives, bringing the total up to 84. That’s a rate of more than two a month since the start of the war. One reason this astounding casualty rate may have been left off the front pages here in the States (aside from the Woodruff/Carroll tragedies) is most likely reflected in the ethnic breakdown seen above: the majority of those killed have been Iraqis. And if you peruse the “media workers” list, which consists of translators, drivers, fixers, and other media support personnel, you’ll find that it is made up solely of Iraqis or Arabs. It brings to mind the National Review Online's John Derbyshire, who recently wrote that after seeing a headline about the Egyptian ship that sank in the Red Sea, “A couple of sentences in, I learned that the ship was in fact a ferry, the victims all Egyptians. I lost interest at once, and stopped reading. I don't care about Egyptians.” But if we didn’t already know of the dangers reporters in Iraq face, the stream of editorials and first-hand accounts from reporters over the past month have driven the lesson home. Hidden beneath this public lament is another sobering fact: While the danger for reporters increases day-by-day, many western news organizations have been downsizing their staffs in Iraq due to the astronomical costs associated with keeping a full staff in country for such an extended period of time. With such a withdrawal, it stands to reason that the daily coverage of the nuts and bolts of the war on the ground would suffer – which is what the Columbia Journalism Review found when it sent a reporter to Baghdad last month to cover the coverage. In late January, Paul McLeary (who used to co-author this column with me before being hired by CJR), wrote that “from the anecdotal evidence I collected [while in Baghdad] it's clear that news organizations have scaled back so much that there are fewer and fewer reporters to go out on embeds with the military. As a result, everyday stories…are being lost.” Obviously, stories are still coming out of Iraq, but as more reporters leave, as they did en masse after the November 2005 bombing of the al-Hamra Hotel in Baghdad (one of the most popular among western reporters), the quantity of the coverage has decreased. Paul wrote, “the fact is that the grinding, day-to-day reality of the war is essentially being forgotten…. With a dwindling number of people assigned to cover the war, there is only so much that can be done, resulting in coverage restricted to the ‘big’ stories, while many of the small, daily victories and defeats go unnoticed. And in that, the enormity of the story itself gets diminished.” We’ve seen this pattern of waning concern and mounting indifference before, and as Nicholas Kristoff has been hammering home for months now in the New York Times, we’re seeing the unwillingness of news organizations to commit their people to dangerous situations showing up in the dearth of coverage of the genocide in Darfur. So, while we dwell on the danger reporters face in Iraq, we run the risk of ignoring the fact that there are fewer and fewer reporters present to cover the story. As a result, it slips further from the headlines, and from our collective consciousness. As David Axe recently wrote in Salon, the reporters who remain in Iraq are increasingly constrained by both the danger and cost of extremely expensive security measures, which have “sharply limited their ability (and in some cases their willingness) to move around and provide accurate, comprehensive coverage of Iraq…. The remaining handful of non-embedded reporters in Baghdad are mostly holed up in a few besieged hotels, which, according to one source, are under constant surveillance by insurgent groups. Western reporters rarely venture out of the heavily fortified Green Zone, instead relying on local stringers to gather quotes and research stories.” But as McLeary discovered, Axe is wrong to stoke the myth that reporters are all taking refuge in the Green Zone, when in reality only a few news organizations make their home there. Some of the biggest, like Time, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, NBC, CBS, the AP and Knight Ridder are all out in Baghdad itself, well removed from the protective embrace of the American military. But it hardly matters where a reporter lives if confined, for reasons of security, to a hotel room. As for the dwindling number of journalists actually living in those hotels and compounds, try as they might, their corporate bosses aren’t giving them enough staff to cover all the dimensions of the story. “[I]f news organizations won't invest the money and manpower to cover it from top to bottom,” McLeary wrote, “it will end up becoming a story told only through its major disasters and victories, without many of the small, personal narratives and struggles that give the story its humanity.” And without that, there really isn’t much of a story to tell, at all. Brown warned White House before Katrina struck By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former federal disaster chief Michael Brown told a U.S. Senate panel on Friday he warned President George W. Bush of impending catastrophe in New Orleans last summer and informed White House aides of dangerous flooding shortly after Hurricane Katrina struck. Brown said on August 29, the day the hurricane hit, he relayed urgent reports that the city's levee pumps were failing, contradicting White House officials who have said they were unaware on August 29 the levees were no longer functioning. With the pumps overwhelmed and the levees seriously breached, floodwaters overtook much of New Orleans in a natural disaster that killed about 1,200 people along the Gulf Coast. On September 1, Bush said in a television interview, "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees." Yet Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the committee's ranking Democrat, cited a report from the National Weather Service at 9:14 a.m. on August 29 that at least one of the levees protecting the city was breached. Brown, who headed the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said in his first detailed testimony about his contacts with Bush and top White House officials that he informed the White House that "we were realizing our worst nightmare." The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is investigating failures by federal, state and local officials to deal with the hurricane and particularly why the Bush administration was so slow to react to the emergency. Brown blamed the poor federal response to Katrina in part on the absorption of FEMA into the Department of Homeland Security, which he said was focused on preventing terrorist attacks and neglected the threat of natural disasters. He urged it be set up as a separate agency once again. In addition to one or two direct talks with Bush before the storm, Brown said he talked with White House officials about 30 times once Katrina hit land. Those conversations included White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, Brown said, adding: "Sometimes the president would get on the phone." Before agreeing to answer questions about his contacts with the White House, Brown sought assurances he would not be caught in a legal cross-fire over whether those conversations should be divulged. Committee head Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, gave Brown a green light to testify, saying the White House was given the chance, but had not invoked executive privilege. 'UNMANAGEABLE SITUATION' In his testimony, Brown said Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff's sprawling agency was making Katrina response decisions contrary to his own. "It became an absolutely unmanageable situation," Brown said. Brown emerged as the main scapegoat for the government's response. He was forced to resign shortly after the disaster. Collins, who is leading the Senate probe of the government response, put some of the blame on Brown's shoulders. Following his testimony, Collins said Brown "let his poor relations" with Chertoff interfere with communications. Some Democrats on the committee tried to lay blame squarely with the White House. "Keep your chin up. Fight back," Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey told Brown, adding that the Bush administration was handling hurricane reconstruction poorly. Besides those killed, hundreds of thousands were made homeless in the storm, which devastated much of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Nearly six months later, many of those displaced do not know whether their homes will be rebuilt. Bush was nearing the end of his monthlong summer vacation when the hurricane struck. He was on a working trip to Arizona and California on the day it hit and the day after, August 29 and August 30, and returned to Washington from his Texas ranch on August 31. Brown's appearance before the Senate panel was followed by a subpoena to appear before the House Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina. The panel is meeting this weekend. "This will be a closed meeting. We want to get the information we need from Brown without causing a further media circus," said Tom Davis, a Republican from Virginia who chairs that committee. (Additional reporting by Alan Elsner and Donna Smith) Auditors Find Huge Fraud in FEMA Aid By ERIC LIPTON WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 — Thousands of applicants for federal emergency relief money after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita used duplicate or invalid Social Security numbers or bogus addresses, suggesting that the $2.3 billion program was a victim of extensive fraud, a Congressional auditor will report Monday. The examination of the so-called Expedited Assistance program determined that the Federal Emergency Management Agency failed to take even the most basic steps to confirm the identifies of about 1.4 million people who sought expedited cash assistance, leaving the program vulnerable to the "significant fraud and abuse," the Government Accountability Office intends to report. The auditors did not try to estimate the total dollar amount of fraudulent claims. But the report says that FEMA itself had found that 900,000 of the 2.5 million applications for all forms of individual assistance were "potential duplicates." Even when FEMA's automated computer system picked out what might be fraudulent applications, payments were at times still sent, says the advance testimony of Gregory D. Kutz, the managing director of the G.A.O.'s forensic audits unit. The controls were so lax that auditors were able to secure their own $2,000 relief check by using "falsified identifies, bogus addresses and fabricated disaster stories," and then simply waiting for the money to arrive in the mail, says the report for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times. Nicol Andrews, a FEMA spokeswoman, said the agency recognized there could be fraud. But Ms. Andrews said the priority was getting aid as fast as possible to hundreds of thousands of families in dire need. "We took a calculated risk in a catastrophic situation," she said. "It was the right thing to do. Unfortunately, some may have cheated the system." She added that some arrests have been made. The agency is also suspending payments to people suspected of trying to cheat the system. Still, the auditors found signs of fraud nearly everywhere: ¶Nearly half of the 11,000 individuals who received special debit cards as payment — an approach used in the immediate aftermath of the storm in Texas — got a second $2,000 payment in emergency aid. ¶Inspections of 200 properties in Texas and Louisiana listed as home addresses turned up 80 that were vacant lots or nonexistent apartments. ¶More than half of a group of 248 other applicants had used Social Security numbers that were never issued, belonged to dead people or did not match the name provided. In one case, auditors found 17 individuals, some with the same last name and addresses, who used 34 bogus Social Security numbers to collect more than $103,000 in payments. Auditors found isolated instances where the electronic debit cards were used to pay for "adult entertainment," a .45-caliber handgun, jewelry or bail bond services. Cheney Says New Unit Will Prove Tax Cuts Boost Revenue By Nell Henderson Washington Post Staff Writer Vice President Cheney said Thursday night that the verdict is in before the Bush administration's new tax analysis shop has even opened for business : Tax cuts boost federal government revenue. That assertion won applause from his audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference, but it is a long-standing source of debate among many economists and tax experts at a time of rising federal budget deficits. Cheney touted President Bush's recently announced proposal to create a tax analysis division as a move toward providing more evidence for the administration's side of the argument. "The president's tax policies have strengthened the economy, as we knew they would," Cheney told the conference, according to a text posted on the White House's Web site. "And despite forecasts to the contrary, the tax cuts have translated into higher federal revenues." Cheney said some forecasters have underestimated the degree to which tax cuts would stimulate economic growth and tax revenue. "It's time to reexamine our assumptions and to consider using more dynamic analysis to measure the true impact of tax cuts on the American economy," Cheney said, explaining why Bush has proposed the new Treasury Department division. "The evidence is in, it's time for everyone to admit that sensible tax cuts increase economic growth and add to the federal treasury." Bush's proposal, unveiled in his budget plan last week, comes as he is pushing Congress to make permanent the recent tax cuts that are scheduled to expire in coming years. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted last month that the budget deficit would swell to $337 billion this year and that the red ink would end in 2012 only if the tax cuts were allowed to expire. Treasury officials said yesterday that the president's proposed Division on Dynamic Analysis -- with a handful of employees and a $513,000 budget -- would go beyond the government's old "static" methods of analyzing proposed changes in tax policy only in terms of their direct effects on certain affected taxpayers. Instead, "dynamic" analysis looks at how tax changes cause consumers and businesses to behave differently in ways that affect the overall economy's growth. For example, a tax break to encourage business investment might lower some individual companies' tax bills -- looking like a hit to Treasury revenue under a static analysis. But if that tax cut caused businesses to buy more equipment, hire more workers and increase profits, that might contribute to stronger overall economic growth -- causing the employees and companies to pay more in income, sales and other taxes over time. Treasury officials said yesterday that they would not initially use their dynamic analysis for "scoring," or estimating the effects of tax changes on the government's tax receipts. But the department said in a statement: "It is envisioned that dynamic analysis eventually would evolve into dynamic scoring . . . (maybe within a year or two)." Some tax-cut proponents contend that tax cuts can essentially pay for themselves by spurring such strong economic growth that the additional tax revenue more than offsets the money lost to the cuts. Many economists dispute that, arguing that the effects of tax cuts depend on how they are structured, on economic circumstances and on many other variables. "All economists agree tax policy has an effect on the economy. The hard thing is to figure out how to measure these effects in the real world," said Leonard E. Burman, co-director of the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center. Both Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation and the CBO provide dynamic analyses of how tax changes are likely to affect the larger economy, but they do not use dynamic scoring in the budget process. "I am a proponent of doing this," said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who introduced dynamic analysis while he was CBO director. But, he added, because of the challenges of developing good models and the difficulty of the findings, "there are limits to how useful it is as a policy tool." Censorship Is Alleged at NOAA; Scientists Afraid to Speak Out, NASA Climate Expert Reports Censorship Is Alleged at NOAA Scientists Afraid to Speak Out, NASA Climate Expert Reports By Juliet Eilperin NEW YORK, Feb. 10 -- James E. Hansen, the NASA climate scientist who sparked an uproar last month by accusing the Bush administration of keeping scientific information from reaching the public, said Friday that officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are also muzzling researchers who study global warming. Hansen, speaking in a panel discussion about science and the environment before a packed audience at the New School university, said that while he hopes his own agency will soon adopt a more open policy, NOAA insists on having "a minder" monitor its scientists when they discuss their findings with journalists. "It seems more like Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union than the United States," said Hansen, prompting a round of applause from the audience. He added that while NOAA officials said they maintain the policy for their scientists' protection, "if you buy that one please see me at the break, because there's a bridge down the street I'd like to sell you." NOAA Administrator Conrad C. Lautenbacher denied Hansen's charges, saying his agency requires its scientists to tell its press office about contacts with journalists but does not monitor their communications. "My policy since I've been here is to have a free and open organization," Lautenbacher said. I encourage scientists to conduct peer-reviewed research and provide the honest results of those findings. I stand up for their right to say what they want." Hansen prefaced his speech, which focused largely on how quickly humans must act in order to prevent irreversible climate change, by saying he was speaking as an individual. "I'm not speaking for the agency or the government," he said. Most scientists who study climate change have concluded that Earth's current warming is being driven by the burning of fossil fuels. The administration does not question the link between human activity and climate change, but it has called for more research and supports solutions other than mandatory limits on carbon emissions. After the panel discussion -- which also featured Princeton University professor Michael Oppenheimer, American Enterprise Institute fellow Steven Hayward and Stanford University professor Paul Ehrlich -- Hansen said he knows of NOAA scientists who are chafing at the administration's restrictions but are afraid to speak out. New School President Bob Kerrey, a former Democratic senator from Nebraska, said he invited Hansen to speak because he was "very concerned" about what he called the administration's efforts to steer the debate over global warming: "It's not only inappropriate; it stifles the very debate we're trying to have today, and that we need to have on this issue." Kerrey said of Hansen, "He's not a radical; he's a scientist who's studied the issue. Let the disagreement occur without stifling one side of the argument." After Hansen told the New York Times and The Washington Post in late January that political appointees at NASA had made it hard for him and other researchers to convey their findings on climate change to the public, NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin e-mailed agency employees last week and vowed to support "scientific openness." Griffin, who had been chastised by House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-N.Y.) over the issue earlier in the week, said he would draft a new policy that would respect scientists' right to speak out. In an interview Friday, Boehlert -- who has met personally with Griffin and spoken on the phone with him several times since the controversy erupted last month -- said he was satisfied Griffin was taking the necessary steps. "The administration should make it abundantly clear, as Michael Griffin did in his letter to NASA employees, that there will be no effort, in any way, shape or form, deliberate or hinted at, that would stifle a respected scientist working for the government, doing research paid for by the American taxpayers, from talking about their work," Boehlert said. He added that he had not received "outpourings from the scientific community" alleging government censorship and that, to his knowledge, "there are no plans in place to intimidate or stifle science." Also Friday, George C. Deutsch, 24, a NASA spokesman who resigned this week after allegations that he had edited scientists' writings to conform to administration views and tried to limit reporters' access to Hansen, e-mailed reporters to say there is a "culture war" in the government over climate change. Deutsch's resignation came after it was learned he had not graduated from Texas A&M University, as he claimed on his résumé. "There is no pressure or mandate, from the Bush administration or elsewhere, to alter or water down scientific data at NASA, period," Deutsch said, adding that after being tasked to work with Hansen, "I quickly learned one thing: Dr. Hansen and his supporters have a very partisan agenda and ties reaching to the top of the Democratic Party. "Anyone perceived to be a Republican, a Bush supporter or a Christian is singled out and labeled a threat to their views. I encourage anyone interested in this story to consider the other side, to consider Dr. Hansen' s true motivations and to consider the dangerous implications of only hearing out one side of the global warming debate," Deutsch said. Americans say president shouldn't suspend rights By Andrew Stern CHICAGO (Reuters) - Most Americans believe a president should not be allowed to suspend constitutional guarantees in order to fight terrorism, a poll released on Friday said. The poll, taken for the American Bar Association in the wake of the controversy generated by President Bush's domestic spying program, found the public divided over whether government eavesdropping on personal communications could ever be justified. "As our poll shows, and legal scholars agree, the awesome power of government to penetrate citizens' most private communications must not be held in one set of hands," Michael Greco, the group's president, told a news conference. "To prevent the very human temptation to abuse this power there must be checks and balances in the form of oversight by the courts and Congress," he said. "I personally reject the false choice that is being offered Americans that they must give up their liberties to have security. We must protect both, and we can protect both," he added. With the administration refusing to provide details of the eavesdropping program, which was a closely held secret until recently, the extent of any violations are unclear, Greco said. The program, authorized by Bush in 2001, allows the National Security Agency to monitor the international phone calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens to track people with suspected ties to al Qaeda and other militant groups. The White House has said warrantless eavesdropping is legal under Bush's Constitutional powers as commander-in-chief and a congressional authorization for the use of military force adopted days after the September 11 attacks. The program bypassed secret courts created under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that grant warrants. Greco said if those courts do not work as they should, the administration should ask Congress to amend the law. The Harris Interactive telephone survey of 1,045 adults taken February 3-6 found that 77 percent have reservations about the fundamental issues raised by the eavesdropping controversy, the ABA said in releasing the survey. Of that group, 52 percent agreed that a president should never be able to "suspend the constitutional freedoms of people like you." Another 25 percent said constitutional freedoms should never be suspended unless authorized by a court or Congress. Only 18 percent said a president could lift constitutional guarantees any time if it was necessary to protect the country and another 5 percent said they did not know or declined to answer. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 points. A second question asking what would justify government eavesdropping on personal communications without a search warrant or court order found 45 percent saying such action would never be justified. A further 48 percent were divided, with 22 percent saying it would be OK based on "an anonymous tip that you may be helping to plan a terrorist attack in the United States" and 21 percent saying it would be justified based on "someone's suspicion that you may be sending money to a terrorist organization." ABA delegates plan to vote on Monday on a policy proposal calling on Bush "to abide by our constitutional system of checks and balances and respect the roles of Congress and the judiciary in protecting national security consistent with the Constitution." It also calls for a halt to the eavesdropping. Thousands to join pro-Islam rally A mass rally by mainstream Muslims demonstrating against controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist is to be staged. Organisers told BBC News they are expecting at least 30,000 people to go to central London's Trafalgar Square. Public figures from across the political spectrum are due to speak. The event aims to explain the views of moderate Muslims towards cartoons published in a Danish newspaper which led to worldwide protests. Organisers also said it aims to dissociate the mainstream Muslim community from a "minority of extremists". The rally on Saturday afternoon, called United Against Incitement and Islamophobia, has been organised by the Muslim Council of Britain, the Muslim Association of Britain and a number of Christian organisations, and has the backing of the Mayor of London. Mayor Ken Livingstone singled out football thugs and extremists and warned them to stay away, saying police would halt any attempt to disrupt the demonstration. Organiser Anas Altikriti, of the Muslim Association of Britain, said he was confident the demonstration would not be taken over by extremists. He told BBC Five Live: "Our stewards are very vigilant, we're working very very closely with the police plus we have made absolutely sure that there will only be one official slogan on our T-shirts and on our placards, and that is 'united against incitement and united against islamophobia' - anything else is not down to the organisers." 'Civilised manner' Protests held in London last week sparked outrage when demonstrators carried placards with messages which some said amounted to "incitement to murder". Doctor Azam Tamimi, who is the director of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought, is due to speak at the demonstration and said it would be peaceful. "The main purpose of the rally today is to object to what has been going on in a civilised manner. "We have the right to be angry, but we have to do it within the remits of the law, and we have to respect the rights of others," he said. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/4700482.stm Steele Apologizes for Holocaust Remarks; Compared Stem Cell Research to Nazi Medical Experiments Steele Apologizes for Holocaust Remarks Compared Stem Cell Research to Nazi Medical Experiments By Robert Barnes and Matthew Mosk Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele profusely apologized yesterday for comments linking stem cell research to Nazi experimentation, but the offhand analogy could undermine what had been a concerted effort by the Republican to run for the U.S. Senate as a moderate "bridge" between Democrats and Republicans in his left-leaning state. Steele issued apologies in a radio interview and in phone conversations with Jewish leaders in Baltimore and Washington, and then continued to express regret throughout a series of stops in Prince George's County. "I offended members of the Jewish community and members of the Maryland community," Steele said outside a Prince George's nursing home. "It was a remark that was an improper inference, because I never specifically said Holocaust. . . . And it did not reflect my attitude and my belief, and I am really sorry about the whole thing." Besides offending those Steele was trying to befriend, some politicians and political observers said his remarks appeared to hurt him in several ways: putting him on the wrong side of a popular issue, reinforcing a worry among even some Republicans that he can be an accident-prone candidate in a high-profile race, and signaling to swing voters that he is more conservative than the almost-nonpartisan image he has cultivated. "Some people could think he's not moderate . . . but a hard-right Republican," said University of Maryland Prof. Ronald Walters, who has been closely following Steele's campaign. Keith Haller, who conducts polls for Maryland media and others, said his recent surveys show that Steele has "risen above the cacophony of partisan battles" in the state. "His popularity has been steadily soaring, so he certainly didn't need to engage on this issue, in such an awkward way." In an appearance Thursday before the Baltimore Jewish Council, Steele responded to a question about stem cell research by saying he was "cautious" about the idea of "tinkering around with life," and added: "Look, you of all folks know what happens when people decide they want to experiment on human beings, when they want to take your life and use it as a tool," Steele said, according to a recording of the event. "I know that as well from my community and our experience with slavery." Jewish leaders, for the most part, accepted Steele's apology. Ron Halber, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, said he considered it an exercise of bad judgment by a good man. "He understands his remarks were offensive," Halber said. "People in the Jewish community are upset about them. What was behind the words were not the feelings of a hatemonger, though." His Democratic opponents were glad Steele apologized but sharp in their criticism. "Michael Steele does not have the right to compare the lifesaving potential of stem cell research to the barbarity of the Holocaust," said Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, one of several Democrats running to replace retiring Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes (D). "His remarks were offensive to the millions of Americans who stand to benefit [from] this research, as well as to Holocaust survivors and their families." State Sen. Sharon M. Grosfeld (D-Montgomery), the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, said she was "shocked by the ignorance of the statement." Another Senate candidate, former congressman and former NAACP president Kweisi Mfume, said he also was offended by Steele's comments about slavery. "Any further comparison to equate slavery to stem cell research is a reach that I and others who are the descendants of slaves don't understand," he said. Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., who has recommended $20 million in state money for stem cell research but wants to let an outside panel decide which kind of cell research should be funded, tried to deflect criticism from his former running mate. "I think after an adult, straight-up person makes a comment and then apologizes for the comment, unless you want to make a political deal out of it, or you want to cause some sort of political damage because you dislike his candidacy, what else can the guy do?" Ehrlich told the Associated Press. Steele's Senate candidacy has been greatly aided by national Republican leaders, who recruited him to run believing he is the party's best hope. But Steele has studiously avoided following a GOP script in a state where President Bush is a help only in fundraising. The stem cell issue is one in which Marylanders differ greatly from Bush and other prominent Republicans. Haller said that in his latest poll for the Baltimore Sun, 60 percent of the voters supported embryonic stem cell research; the state's increasingly important independent voters favored it 3 to 1, and even a plurality of Republicans are in favor. Steele has cited his strong Catholic faith -- he spent several years as a seminarian -- in explaining his opposition to abortion and the death penalty, even though he said yesterday he does not let his religion enter into "policy discussions." "It is a force in my life. I tried to share a little bit of that because most politicians get up and give you the pat, 30-second sound bite," Steele said. "I will continue to do that, but unfortunately in that process, there was an inference that was not right." Steele was elected Maryland's first statewide African American officeholder as Ehrlich's running mate and has not campaigned on his own for such a high-profile job. He has regretted off-the-cuff remarks before. Last summer, when news reports broke that Ehrlich had held a fundraiser at an all-white country club, Steele said he didn't care because "I don't play golf. It's not an issue with me." A couple of weeks later, he changed his mind and said, "The core issue there is, the perception of discrimination is just as insidious as the reality of discrimination." He said his first answer was "flippant." Staff writer Hamil R. Harris contributed to this report. 3 more representatives tied to lobbyist Abramoff WASHINGTON (AP) — Three members of Congress have been linked to efforts by lobbyist Jack Abramoff and a former General Services Administration official to secure leases of government property for Abramoff's clients, according to court filings by federal prosecutors on Friday. The filings in U.S. District Court do not allege any wrongdoing by the elected officials but list them in documents portraying David Safavian, a former GSA chief of staff, as an active adviser to Abramoff, giving the lobbyists tips on how to use members of Congress to navigate the agency's bureaucracy. Abramoff is cooperating with federal investigators in a wide-ranging probe of corruption on Capitol Hill that threatens several powerful members of Congress and their staff members. Last month, he pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy, tax evasion and mail fraud. Safavian is charged with lying to a GSA ethics officer when he said Abramoff was not seeking business with the agency at the time the lobbyist paid for Safavian and several others to go on a golf outing to Scotland in August 2002. At the time of the trip, prosecutors said, Abramoff was trying to get GSA approval for leases of the Old Post Office Pavilion in Washington for an Indian tribe to develop and for federal property in Silver Spring, Md., for use by a Jewish school. Two of the elected officials referred to in Friday's filings have been identified in published reports as Reps. Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio, and Don Young, R-Alaska. According to Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper, the two representatives wrote to the GSA in September 2002, urging the agency to give preferential treatment to groups such as Indian tribes when evaluating development proposals for the Old Post Office. LaTourette maintains he did nothing improper by advocating special opportunities for certain small businesses in areas known as HUBzones, or Historically Underutilized Business zones. His spokeswoman, Deborah Setliff, said that the letter was reviewed by Young's chief of staff and counsel and that it did not advocate any particular business over another. A spokesman for Young did not return telephone calls. Friday's filings by prosecutors refer to a third member of Congress, Rep. Shelly Moore Capito, R-W.Va. Her name appears in e-mails that suggest she was trying to help Abramoff secure a GSA lease for land in Silver Spring for a religious school. Capito claims to know nothing about the effort. "The action taken by her former chief of staff was done without her knowledge, approval or consent," said her spokesman, Joel Brubaker. "She was not aware of any contact with GSA of any type on this matter." Mark Johnson, Capito's former chief of staff, said he did not bring the issue to Capito's attention. He said he was contacted by Neil Volz, a colleague of Abramoff's and a former chief of staff for Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio. Johnson said Volz asked him to check on the status of a project involving the GSA. Johnson said he believes he called a friend at the GSA but doesn't recall the outcome. Prosecutors included the e-mails in documents filed in response to a request by Safavian's lawyers to dismiss the indictment against him. Safavian's lawyers want a federal judge to throw out the charges on grounds there is no evidence of wrongdoing. In their filing, prosecutors laid out a series of contacts between Abramoff and Safavian that show the former GSA official gave inside information and advice to the lobbyist. Safavian used his personal e-mail during business hours to communicate with Abramoff several times, according to prosecutors. He also edited the draft of a letter that was probably sent under LaTourette and Young's names. And Safavian advised Abramoff to tell his wife to use her maiden name during a meeting with GSA officials so she wouldn't draw attention to her politically connected husband's involvement in the project. In a July 23, 2002, e-mail to a GSA official, Safavian discussed getting information about the Silver Spring site to Capito's office. But Volz discovered a complication the next day. Volz told Abramoff that someone at the GSA wanted the congresswoman to put her request in writing. "We can't ask the most vulnerable Republican incumbent member of Congress in the House to put something in writing that can be made public," Volz wrote. "The congresswoman's office has already put the request in and you would think that would be enough!!!" Associated Press writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-02-10-abramoff_x.htm?csp=34 Cheney authorized aide to leak in CIA case Cheney authorized aide to leak in CIA case: report WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney directed his aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby to use classified material to discredit a critic of the Bush administration's Iraq war effort, the National Journal reported on Thursday. Court papers released last week show that Libby was authorized to disclose classified information to news reporters by "his superiors," in an effort to counteract diplomat Joe Wilson's charge that the Bush administration twisted intelligence on Iraq's nuclear weapons to justify the 2003 invasion. The National Journal, a U.S. weekly magazine, citing attorneys familiar with the matter, reported that Cheney was among those superiors referred to in a letter from prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to Libby's lawyers. A lawyer for Cheney had no immediate comment. Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, faces perjury and other charges in the leak of the identity of Wilson's wife Valerie Plame, a move that effectively ended her career at the CIA. Libby has pleaded not guilty to five counts of perjury, making false statements and obstruction of justice. Cheney's name has surfaced in other court documents as well. According to an appeals-court decision made public last Friday, "the vice-president informed Libby 'in an off sort of curiosity sort of fashion'" that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA one month before her identity was made public. Both documents cite testimony Libby made to a grand jury. Lawyers for Libby could not be reached for comment. Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, said Cheney's efforts to discredit Wilson could have risked national security. "The Vice President's vindictiveness in defending the misguided war in Iraq is obvious. If he used classified information to defend it, he should be prepared to take full responsibility," Kennedy said in a statement. White House spokesman Scott McClellan declined to comment. "Our policy is we're not going to discuss this while there's an ongoing legal proceeding," McClellan told reporters. Abramoff says he met Bush "almost a dozen" times By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jack Abramoff said in correspondence made public on Thursday that President Bush met him "almost a dozen" times, disputing White House claims Bush did not know the former lobbyist at the center of a corruption scandal. "The guy saw me in almost a dozen settings, and joked with me about a bunch of things, including details of my kids. Perhaps he has forgotten everything, who knows," Abramoff wrote in an e-mail to Kim Eisler, national editor for the Washingtonian magazine. Abramoff added that Bush also once invited him to his Texas ranch. The messages were made public by the American Progress Action Fund, a liberal activist group. Eisler confirmed their accuracy to Reuters but said he did not intend them to become public. "They reflect the feeling of frustration he has not just with Bush but with all these guys claiming they didn't know him," said Eisler, who knew Abramoff through a book he wrote about the Pequot Indian tribe. Abramoff pleaded guilty to fraud charges in early January and is cooperating with prosecutors in a corruption probe that could implicate lawmakers and officials across Washington. Bush has said he never had a discussion with Abramoff and does not remember having his picture taken with him. The White House has said Abramoff attended three Hanukkah receptions at the White House. Eisler said he had seen five photographs of Abramoff with Bush, none taken at Hanukkah parties. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said on Thursday that the revelations did not prove Bush knew him well. "I think as the president also indicated, he's taken at least five photos with many people in this room at the annual holiday reception. And so I think you need to put this in context," McClellan said. Abramoff spokesman Andrew Blum declined to comment. Abramoff raised more than $100,000 for Bush's 2004 re-election campaign, a feat that won him an invitation to Bush's ranch in August 2003, the National Journal reported at the time. "I was invited during the 2004 campaign," Abramoff told Eisler. Abramoff said he did not make the trip because as an Orthodox Jew he cannot travel on Saturdays. In the wake of Abramoff's indictment, the Bush-Cheney campaign said it would donate to charity $6,000 in contributions made by Abramoff or his clients, but not the money he helped raise. The White House has acknowledged he participated in a few staff-level meetings at the White House. Although the Abramoff scandal has mostly focused attention so far on prominent House Republicans, including former Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, at least two Bush administration officials have been implicated. David Safavian, a former White House budget official, has been charged with lying and obstructing investigations into his 2002 golf outing to Scotland with Abramoff. Stephen Griles, the former No. 2 official at the Interior Department, has come under scrutiny after allegations he tried to block a casino at Abramoff's request. White House Knew of Levee's Failure on Night of Storm WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 — In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Bush administration officials said they had been caught by surprise when they were told on Tuesday, Aug. 30, that a levee had broken, allowing floodwaters to engulf New Orleans. But Congressional investigators have now learned that an eyewitness account of the flooding from a federal emergency official reached the Homeland Security Department's headquarters starting at 9:27 p.m. the day before, and the White House itself at midnight. The Federal Emergency Management Agency official, Marty Bahamonde, first heard of a major levee breach Monday morning. By late Monday afternoon, Mr. Bahamonde had hitched a ride on a Coast Guard helicopter over the breach at the 17th Street Canal to confirm the extensive flooding. He then telephoned his report to FEMA headquarters in Washington, which notified the Homeland Security Department. "FYI from FEMA," said an e-mail message from the agency's public affairs staff describing the helicopter flight, sent Monday night at 9:27 to the chief of staff of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and recently unearthed by investigators. Conditions, the message said, "are far more serious than media reports are currently reflecting. Finding extensive flooding and more stranded people than they had thought — also a number of fires." Michael D. Brown, who was the director of FEMA until he resigned under pressure on Sept. 12, said in a telephone interview Thursday that he personally notified the White House of this news that night, though he declined to identify the official he spoke to. White House officials have confirmed to Congressional investigators that the report of the levee break arrived there at midnight, and Trent Duffy, the White House spokesman, acknowledged as much in an interview this week, though he said it was surrounded with conflicting reports. But the alert did not seem to register. Even the next morning, President Bush, on vacation in Texas, was feeling relieved that New Orleans had "dodged the bullet," he later recalled. Mr. Chertoff, similarly confident, flew Tuesday to Atlanta for a briefing on avian flu. With power out from the high winds and movement limited, even news reporters in New Orleans remained unaware of the full extent of the levee breaches until Tuesday. The federal government let out a sigh of relief when in fact it should have been sounding an "all hands on deck" alarm, the investigators have found. This chain of events, along with dozens of other critical flashpoints in the Hurricane Katrina saga, has for the first time been laid out in detail following five months of work by two Congressional committees that have assembled nearly 800,000 pages of documents, testimony and interviews from more than 250 witnesses. Investigators now have the documentation to pinpoint some of the fundamental errors and oversights that combined to produce what is universally agreed to be a flawed government response to the worst natural disaster in modern American history. On Friday, Mr. Brown, the former FEMA director, is scheduled to testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. He is expected to confirm that he notified the White House on that Monday, the day the hurricane hit, that the levee had given way, the city was flooding and his crews were overwhelmed. "There is no question in my mind that at the highest levels of the White House they understood how grave the situation was," Mr. Brown said in the interview. The problem, he said, was the handicapping of FEMA when it was turned into a division of the Homeland Security Department in 2003. "The real story is with this new structure," he said. "Why weren't more things done, or what prevented or delayed Mike Brown from being able to do what he would have done and did do in any other disaster?" Although Mr. Bahamonde said in October that he had notified Mr. Brown that Monday, it was not known until recently what Mr. Brown or the Homeland Security Department did with that information, or when the White House was told. Missteps at All Levels It has been known since the earliest days of the storm that all levels of government — from the White House to the Department of Homeland Security to the Louisiana Capitol to New Orleans City Hall — were unprepared, uncommunicative and phlegmatic in protecting Gulf Coast residents from the floodwaters and their aftermath. But an examination of the latest evidence by The New York Times shines a new light on the key players involved in the important turning points: what they said, what they did and what they did not do, all of which will soon be written up in the committees' investigative reports. Among the findings that emerge in the mass of documents and testimony were these: ¶Federal officials knew long before the storm showed up on the radar that 100,000 people in New Orleans had no way to escape a major hurricane on their own and that the city had finished only 10 percent of a plan for how to evacuate its largely poor, African-American population. ¶Mr. Chertoff failed to name a principal federal official to oversee the response before the hurricane arrived, an omission a top Pentagon official acknowledged to investigators complicated the coordination of the response. His department also did not plan enough to prevent a conflict over which agency should be in charge of law enforcement support. And Mr. Chertoff was either poorly informed about the levee break or did not recognize the significance of the initial report about it, investigators said. ¶The Louisiana transportation secretary, Johnny B. Bradberry, who had legal responsibility for the evacuation of thousands of people in nursing homes and hospitals, admitted bluntly to investigators, "We put no plans in place to do any of this." ¶Mayor C. Ray Nagin of New Orleans at first directed his staff to prepare a mandatory evacuation of his city on Saturday, two days before the storm hit, but he testified that he had not done so that day while he and other city officials struggled to decide if they should exempt hospitals and hotels from the order. The mandatory evacuation occurred on Sunday, and the delay exacerbated the difficulty in moving people away from the storm. ¶The New Orleans Police Department unit assigned to the rescue effort, despite many years' worth of flood warnings and requests for money, had just three small boats and no food, water or fuel to supply its emergency workers. ¶Investigators could find no evidence that food and water supplies were formally ordered for the Convention Center, where more than 10,000 evacuees had assembled, until days after the city had decided to open it as a backup emergency shelter. FEMA had planned to have 360,000 ready-to-eat meals delivered to the city and 15 trucks of water in advance of the storm. But only 40,000 meals and five trucks of water had arrived. Representative Thomas M. Davis III, Republican of Virginia, chairman of the special House committee investigating the hurricane response, said the only government agency that performed well was the National Weather Service, which correctly predicted the force of the storm. But no one heeded the message, he said. "The president is still at his ranch, the vice president is still fly-fishing in Wyoming, the president's chief of staff is in Maine," Mr. Davis said. "In retrospect, don't you think it would have been better to pull together? They should have had better leadership. It is disengagement." One of the greatest mysteries for both the House and Senate committees has been why it took so long, even after Mr. Bahamonde filed his urgent report on the Monday the storm hit, for federal officials to appreciate that the levee had broken and that New Orleans was flooding. Eyewitness to Devastation As his helicopter approached the site, Mr. Bahamonde testified in October, there was no mistaking what had happened: large sections of the levee had fallen over, leaving the section of the city on the collapsed side entirely submerged, but the neighborhood on the other side relatively dry. He snapped a picture of the scene with a small camera. "The situation is only going to get worse," he said he warned Mr. Brown, then the FEMA director, whom he called about 8 p.m. Monday Eastern time to report on his helicopter tour. "Thank you," he said Mr. Brown replied. "I am now going to call the White House." Citing restrictions placed on him by his lawyers, Mr. Brown declined to tell House investigators during testimony if he had actually made that call. White House aides have urged administration officials not to discuss any conversations with the president or his top advisors and declined to release e-mail messages sent among Mr. Bush's senior advisors. But investigators have found the e-mail message referring to Mr. Bahamonde's helicopter survey that was sent to John F. Wood, chief of staff to Secretary Chertoff at 9:27 p.m. They have also found a summary of Mr. Bahamonde's observations that was issued at 10:30 p.m. and an 11:05 p.m. e-mail message to Michael Jackson, the deputy secretary of homeland security. Each message describes in detail the extensive flooding that was taking place in New Orleans after the levee collapse. Given this chain of events, investigators have repeatedly questioned why Mr. Bush and Mr. Chertoff stated in the days after the storm that the levee break did not happen until Tuesday, as they made an effort to explain why they initially thought the storm had passed without the catastrophe that some had feared. "The hurricane started to depart the area on Monday, and then Tuesday morning the levee broke and the water started to flood into New Orleans," Mr. Chertoff said on CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday, Sept. 4, the weekend after the hurricane hit. Mr. Chertoff and White House officials have said that they were referring to official confirmation that the levee had broken, which they say they received Tuesday morning from the Army Corps of Engineers. They also say there were conflicting reports all day Monday about whether a breach had occurred and noted that they were not alone in failing to recognize the growing catastrophe. Mr. Duffy, the White House spokesman, said it would not have made much difference even if the White House had realized the significance of the midnight report. "Like it or not, you cannot fix a levee overnight, or in an hour, or even six hours," he said. But Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine and chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, said it was obvious to her in retrospect that Mr. Chertoff, perhaps in deference to Mr. Brown's authority, was not paying close enough attention to the events in New Orleans and that the federal response to the disaster may have been slowed as a result. "Secretary Chertoff was too disengaged from the process," Ms. Collins said in an interview. Compounding the problem, once Mr. Chertoff learned of the levee break on Tuesday, he could not reach Mr. Brown, his top emergency response official, for an entire day because Mr. Brown was on helicopter tours of the damage. Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, the ranking Democrat on the homeland security committee, said the government confusion reminded him of the period surrounding the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. "Information was in different places, in that case prior to the attack," Mr. Lieberman said, "and it wasn't reaching the key decision makers in a coordinated way for them to take action." Russ Knocke, a homeland security spokesman, said that although Mr. Chertoff had been "intensely involved in monitoring the storm" he had not actually been told about the report of the levee breach until Tuesday, after he arrived in Atlanta. "No one is satisfied with the response in the early days," Mr. Knocke said. But he rejected criticism by Senator Collins and others that Mr. Chertoff was disengaged. "He was not informed of it," Mr. Knocke said. "It is certainly a breakdown. And through an after-action process, that is something we will address." The day before the hurricane made landfall, the Homeland Security Department issued a report predicting that it could lead to a levee breach that could submerge New Orleans for months and leave 100,000 people stranded. Yet despite these warnings, state, federal and local officials acknowledged to investigators that there was no coordinated effort before the storm arrived to evacuate nursing homes and hospitals or others in the urban population without cars. Focus on Highway Plan Mr. Bradberry, the state transportation secretary, told an investigator that he had focused on improving the highway evacuation plan for the general public with cars and had not attended to his responsibility to remove people from hospitals and nursing homes. The state even turned down an offer for patient evacuation assistance from the federal government. In fact, the city was desperately in need of help. And this failure would have deadly consequences. Only 21 of the 60 or so nursing homes were cleared of residents before the storm struck. Dozens of lives were lost in hospitals and nursing homes. One reason the city was unable to help itself, investigators said, is that it never bought the basic equipment needed to respond to the long-predicted catastrophe. The Fire Department had asked for inflatable boats and generators, as well as an emergency food supply, but none were provided, a department official told investigators. Timothy P. Bayard, a police narcotics commander assigned to lead a water rescue effort, said that with just three boats, not counting the two it commandeered and almost no working radios, his small team spent much of its time initially just trying to rescue detectives who themselves were trapped by rising water. The investigators also determined that the federal Department of Transportation was not asked until Wednesday to provide buses to evacuate the Superdome and the convention center, meaning that evacuees sat there for perhaps two more days longer than necessary. Mr. Brown acknowledged to investigators that he wished, in retrospect, that he had moved much earlier to turn over major aspects of the response effort to the Department of Defense. It was not until the middle of the week, he said, that he asked the military to take over the delivery and distribution of water, food and ice. "In hindsight I should have done it right then," Mr. Brown told the House, referring to the Sunday before the storm hit. Lawmakers seek oversight of Bush spying program By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic and Republican lawmakers called on Thursday for stronger congressional oversight of President George W. Bush's domestic spying program, despite a new White House gesture of openness toward Congress. A day after the White House began sharing details of the program with the two congressional intelligence committees, Republican Sen. Mike DeWine of Ohio said Congress still needed to adopt new legislation to ensure the program was legal under the Constitution. "We can end this controversy about the constitutionality of this program very simply, and that is to deal with it by legislation," said DeWine, a member of the Senate intelligence and judiciary committees. He also said it was "in the best interests of this country" for the Senate intelligence committee to have regular oversight of the program, which has caused an outcry among Democrats and some Republicans. DeWine and other members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence got their first formal briefing on the program on Thursday from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and deputy U.S. intelligence chief, Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden. But Democrats emerged from the closed-door session to express frustration over what they called White House stonewalling. "Where we really wanted hard information that was important to us, that gave us the size and the scope and the reach and the depth, they were not forthcoming," said Sen. John Rockefeller of West Virginia, the panel's ranking Democrat. MONITOR CALLS Rockefeller said the committee would vote on whether to launch a full Senate inquiry at a February 16 business meeting. "The momentum of that may do more to bring about a resolution than anything else," he said. "They cannot shut us out." The program, which Bush authorized in 2001, allows the National Security Agency to monitor the international phone calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens to track people with ties to al Qaeda and other militant groups. Up to now, the administration has informed only eight lawmakers, known as the "Gang of Eight," about its existence. But the White House has come under increasing pressure to brief the full Senate and House of Representatives intelligence panels. On Wednesday, the White House allowed Gonzales and Hayden to share some details of the program with House lawmakers. Some Republicans worry that the wider discussion would allow lead to the release of classified information that could jeopardize the program. "I am most concerned -- most concerned -- over the loss of the capability of this program, which could have dire consequences," said Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, the Senate intelligence panel's Republican chairman. Two Senate Democrats -- Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin -- queried the chief executives of AT&T Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc. in a Thursday letter about whether their companies have been asked to participate in the program. The White House maintains that warrantless eavesdropping is legal under Bush's Constitutional powers as commander-in-chief and a congressional authorization for the use of military force adopted days after the September 11 attacks. Critics say Bush may have overstepped his authority under the Constitution and the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is drafting a measure requiring the White House to submit the program for review by a secret federal court that handles eavesdropping warrant applications. But Roberts said any effort to address the program with new legislation would emerge from his intelligence committee. Group Claims New Orleans Election Plans Hurt Blacks; Lawsuit Filed Group Sues Over New Orleans Election Plans By CAIN BURDEAU NEW ORLEANS - An advocacy group filed a federal lawsuit Thursday challenging plans for city elections in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, alleging the process would keep blacks out of elected office. The Advancement Project, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group that has been active in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina, claims the plan relies too much on cumbersome absentee voting. Most displaced voters are black. The group wants changes to the election plan, including polling stations outside the state. Meanwhile, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People warned that it might organize protests and challenge the elections in court unless displaced voters are given greater consideration in plans to hold elections April 22. "Everything is on the table," said John Jackson, the NAACP's chief policy officer. City elections were originally scheduled for Feb. 4 but were postponed after Katrina smashed polling places, dispersed election workers and displaced about two-thirds of the city's population. Among other races, voters will cast ballots for mayor. So far, the most striking aspect of that race is the number of prominent white business leaders and politicians who have jumped into the fray. Incumbent Mayor Ray Nagin remains the only black candidate among more than half a dozen hopefuls. Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, the son of former Mayor Moon Landrieu and brother of U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., is considering a run. Moon Landrieu, who was elected in 1970 and left office in 1978, was the last white mayor. "Everything reflects the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the demographics of the city," said Silas Lee, a New Orleans political analyst and pollster. "That impacted how many white candidates perceive their political fortunes." Penda Hair, co-director of the Advancement Project, went further and charged that "there may be an effort to elect white leadership and create a city that is not welcoming to having the residents return." State officials have been working to try to make sure evacuees can vote. Secretary of State Al Ater plans to send out nearly 1 million notices to tell displaced voters how to cast ballots by mail. But Jackson said having displaced people cast ballots by mail may leave many people out of the electoral process. Ater did not immediately return a phone call Thursday. In the meantime, the state Legislature is working on bills that would make it easier for evacuees to vote. For example, one bill would set up polling places in cities around Louisiana. Judge Dismisses Penultimate Ohio Lawsuit Stemming From 2004 Presidential Race Judge Dismisses Penultimate Ohio Lawsuit By JOHN McCARTHY COLUMBUS, Ohio - A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit over Ohio's recount of the 2004 presidential election, leaving only one court challenge remaining from the state's role in the re-election of President Bush. U.S. District Judge James Carr in Toledo threw out the suit filed by a voting rights group on behalf of the Green Party and Libertarian candidates. Tuesday's dismissal, barring an appeal, leaves active only a suit filed by the League of Women Voters of Ohio. The judge's ruling came in a challenge by the National Voting Rights Institute to the recount that showed Bush beat Democratic challenger John Kerry by about 118,000 votes out of 5.5 million cast. The institute's initial lawsuit sought to force the state to begin the recount before the vote was certified Dec. 6, 2004. The institute complained that the recount would not be finished until after the Electoral College vote made Bush's election official Dec. 13 and thus violated federal law. The recount was completed Dec. 28. Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell sided against the institute, noting that state law mandated the recount could not begin before certification. States generally are exempt from election lawsuits unless a plaintiff can prove that a state's policy could affect future races, which the institute said Blackwell's interpretation could do. But the judge ruled that Blackwell's interpretation applied only to the 2004 election and would have no bearing on future elections. A spokeswoman for Attorney General Jim Petro was he was pleased with the ruling. The institute said any decision to appeal would be up to David Cobb, the Green Party candidate, and the Libertarians' Michael Badnarik. The League of Women Voters' suit says a faulty elections system violated the equal protection and due process of some Ohio voters. Some voters waited in line for hours because there were too few voting machines in many precincts, the league contends. The state has said the suit, which does not challenge the 2004 results, is frivolous and should be dismissed. On the Net: National Voting Rights Institute: http://www.nvri.org League of Women Voters of Ohio: http://www.lwvohio.org Climate 'warmest for millennium' By Paul Rincon BBC News science reporter In the late 20th Century, the northern hemisphere experienced its most widespread warmth for 1,200 years, according to the journal Science. The findings support evidence pointing to unprecedented recent warming of the climate linked to greenhouse emissions. University of East Anglia researchers measured changes in fossil shells, tree rings, ice cores and other past temperature records or "proxies". They also looked at people's diaries from the last 750 years. Timothy Osborn and Keith Briffa of UEA analysed instrument measurements of temperature from 1856 onwards to establish the geographic extent of recent warming. Then they compared this data with evidence dating back as far as AD 800. The analysis confirmed periods of significant warmth in the Northern Hemisphere from AD 890 - 1170 (the so-called "Medieval Warm Period") and for much colder periods from 1580 - 1850 (the "Little Ice Age"). Natural records The UEA team showed that the present warm period is the most widespread temperature anomaly of any kind since the ninth century. "The last 100 years is more striking than either [the Medieval Warm Period or Little Ice Age]. It is a period of widespread warmth affecting nearly all the records that we analysed from the same time," co-author Timothy Osborn told the BBC. Osborn and Briffa used 14 sets of temperature records from different locations across the Northern Hemisphere. The records included long life evergreen trees growing in Scandinavia, Siberia and the Rockies which had been cored to reveal the patterns of wide and narrow tree rings over time. Wider rings related to warmer temperatures. The chemical composition of ice from cores drilled in the Greenland ice sheets revealed which years were warmer than others. The researchers used proxy data developed from the diaries of people living in the Netherlands and Belgium during the past 750 years that revealed, for example, the years when the canals froze. "These records extend over many centuries and even thousands of years. We simply counted how many of those records indicated that, in any one year, temperatures were warmer than average for the region they came from," said Dr Osborn. Professor John Waterhouse, director of the Environmental Sciences Research Centre Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge commented: "Although we're getting increasingly accurate measurements of present-day temperature, we've got nothing like that from the past to compare those with. "There's much uncertainty in past reconstructions. You've got to look at the reconstructed data in the past in light of the likely errors that those data have." But he added: "As we get more and more evidence in, it is looking as if the current period is the warmest for over 1,000 years." In November, Science published a paper showing atmospheric levels of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane are higher now than at any time in the past 650,000 years. Ethics scandal looms over Republicans' meeting By Thomas Ferraro CAMBRIDGE, Maryland (Reuters) - Republicans in the House of Representatives, rocked by ethics scandals, met in a secluded Maryland town on Thursday, hoping to regroup under new leadership and position themselves to retain power in November's elections. A week after electing Rep. John Boehner of Ohio as majority leader to succeed indicted Texan Tom DeLay, Republicans opened a three-day retreat at a time when public opinion polls show broad discontent with Congress and the White House. "I'm going to tell them they face challenges and opportunities," Republican Party Chairman Ken Mehlman said shortly before addressing the gathering at a waterfront hotel in Cambridge, a two-hour drive from Washington. "I'm going to tell them that the public clearly wants reform -- that the public believes that the country needs to continue reforming things if we are going to be on the right track," Mehlman told reporters, referring to lobbying practices on Capitol Hill and such basics as health care, education and national security. Lobbying scandals and Justice Department investigations involving Republican lawmakers and former aides threaten the party's control of the House, which it has held since 1995. Boehner said the retreat would allow for a "period of renewal" and bonding. He said it would take time to unite his 231-member caucus on a lobbying reform package, one that party leaders said would seek input from Democrats. "We're going to have, frankly, an ethics seminar for all our members and staff so that they know what the rules are, and I think it'll help ensure that members and staff live up to those rules," Boehner said. REFORM OR OVERHAUL? In the wake of a scandal involving Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Boehner has called for more public disclosure of the relationships between lawmakers and lobbyists rather than a fundamental overhaul of the way Congress does business. Unlike some of his colleagues, he is opposed to abolishing "earmark" spending for pet projects, urging instead more transparency. A number of Republicans have been drawn into the investigation of Abramoff, who pleaded guilty last month to fraud charges and agreed to help prosecutors in their corruption probe. Separately, Republican Randy Cunningham of California resigned from the House in November after pleading guilty to taking $2.4 million in bribes in exchange for help in securing Defense Department contracts. Boehner was the surprise winner of a House Republican leadership election last week, defeating Roy Blunt of Missouri. DeLay was forced to step down as majority leader last year after he was indicted in Texas on campaign-related felony charges. President George W. Bush was scheduled to address House Republicans on Friday. Bush was expected to focus on his $2.77 trillion proposed federal budget that would boost defense spending, slow Medicare's growth and cut domestic programs in an effort to soothe Republican frustrations over high deficits. (Additional reporting by Richard Cowan) Secret Court's Judges Were Warned About NSA Spy Data; Program May Have Led Improperly to Warrants Secret Court's Judges Were Warned About NSA Spy Data Program May Have Led Improperly to Warrants Twice in the past four years, a top Justice Department lawyer warned the presiding judge of a secret surveillance court that information overheard in President Bush's eavesdropping program may have been improperly used to obtain wiretap warrants in the court, according to two sources with knowledge of those events. The revelations infuriated U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly -- who, like her predecessor, Royce C. Lamberth, had expressed serious doubts about whether the warrantless monitoring of phone calls and e-mails ordered by Bush was legal. Both judges had insisted that no information obtained this way be used to gain warrants from their court, according to government sources, and both had been assured by administration officials it would never happen. The two heads of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court were the only judges in the country briefed by the administration on Bush's program. The president's secret order, issued sometime after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, allows the National Security Agency to monitor telephone calls and e-mails between people in the United States and contacts overseas. James A. Baker, the counsel for intelligence policy in the Justice Department's Office of Intelligence Policy and Review, discovered in 2004 that the government's failure to share information about its spying program had rendered useless a federal screening system that the judges had insisted upon to shield the court from tainted information. He alerted Kollar-Kotelly, who complained to Justice, prompting a temporary suspension of the NSA spying program, the sources said. Yet another problem in a 2005 warrant application prompted Kollar-Kotelly to issue a stern order to government lawyers to create a better firewall or face more difficulty obtaining warrants. The two judges' discomfort with the NSA spying program was previously known. But this new account reveals the depth of their doubts about its legality and their behind-the-scenes efforts to protect the court from what they considered potentially tainted evidence. The new accounts also show the degree to which Baker, a top intelligence expert at Justice, shared their reservations and aided the judges. Both judges expressed concern to senior officials that the president's program, if ever made public and challenged in court, ran a significant risk of being declared unconstitutional, according to sources familiar with their actions. Yet the judges believed they did not have the authority to rule on the president's power to order the eavesdropping, government sources said, and focused instead on protecting the integrity of the FISA process. It was an odd position for the presiding judges of the FISA court, the secret panel created in 1978 in response to a public outcry over warrantless domestic spying by J. Edgar Hoover's FBI. The court's appointees, chosen by then-Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, were generally veteran jurists with a pro-government bent, and their classified work is considered a powerful tool for catching spies and terrorists. The FISA court secretly grants warrants for wiretaps, telephone record traces and physical searches to the Justice Department, whose lawyers must show they have probable cause to believe that a person in the United States is the agent of a foreign power or government. Between 1979 and 2004, it approved 18,748 warrants and rejected five. Lamberth, the presiding judge at the time of the Sept. 11 attacks, and Kollar-Kotelly, who took over in May 2002, have repeatedly declined to comment on the program or their efforts to protect the FISA court. A Justice Department spokesman also declined to comment. Both presiding judges agreed not to disclose the secret program to the 10 other FISA judges, who routinely handled some of the government's most highly classified secrets. So early in 2002, the wary court and government lawyers developed a compromise. Any case in which the government listened to someone's calls without a warrant, and later developed information to seek a FISA warrant for that same suspect, was to be carefully "tagged" as having involved some NSA information. Generally, there were fewer than 10 cases each year, the sources said. According to government officials familiar with the program, the presiding FISA judges insisted that information obtained through NSA surveillance not form the basis for obtaining a warrant and that, instead, independently gathered information provide the justification for FISA monitoring in such cases. They also insisted that these cases be presented only to the presiding judge. Lamberth and Kollar-Kotelly derived significant comfort from the trust they had in Baker, the government's liaison to the FISA court. He was a stickler-for-rules career lawyer steeped in foreign intelligence law, and had served as deputy director of the office before becoming the chief in 2001. Baker also had privately expressed hesitation to his bosses about whether the domestic spying program conflicted with the FISA law, a government official said. Justice higher-ups viewed him as suspect, but they also recognized that he had the judges' confidence and kept him in the pivotal position of obtaining warrants to spy on possible terrorists. In 2004, Baker warned Kollar-Kotelly he had a problem with the tagging system. He had concluded that the NSA was not providing him with a complete and updated list of the people it had monitored, so Justice could not definitively know -- and could not alert the court -- if it was seeking FISA warrants for people already spied on, government officials said. Kollar-Kotelly complained to then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, and her concerns led to a temporary suspension of the program. The judge required that high-level Justice officials certify the information was complete -- or face possible perjury charges. In 2005, Baker learned that at least one government application for a FISA warrant probably contained NSA information that was not made clear to the judges, the government officials said. Some administration officials explained to Kollar-Kotelly that a low-level Defense Department employee unfamiliar with court disclosure procedures had made a mistake. Kollar-Kotelly asked Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to ensure that wouldn't happen again, government officials said. Baker declined to comment through an office assistant, who referred questions about his FISA work to a Justice Department spokesman. Pentagon spokeswoman Cynthia Smith also declined to comment and referred questions to Justice officials. Justice spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said the department could not discuss its work with the FISA court. "The department always strives to meet the highest ethical and professional standards in its appearances before any court, including the FISA court," Roehrkasse said. "This is especially true when department attorneys appear before a court on an ex parte basis, as is the case in the FISA court." Shortly after the warrantless eavesdropping program began, then-NSA Director Michael V. Hayden and Ashcroft made clear in private meetings that the president wanted to detect possible terrorist activity before another attack. They also made clear that, in such a broad hunt for suspicious patterns and activities, the government could never meet the FISA court's probable-cause requirement, government officials said. So it confused the FISA court judges when, in their recent public defense of the program, Hayden and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales insisted that NSA analysts do not listen to calls unless they have a reasonable belief that someone with a known link to terrorism is on one end of the call. At a hearing Monday, Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the "reasonable belief" standard is merely the "probable cause" standard by another name. Several FISA judges said they also remain puzzled by Bush's assertion that the court was not "agile" or "nimble" enough to help catch terrorists. The court had routinely approved emergency wiretaps 72 hours after they had begun, as FISA allows, and the court's actions in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks suggested that its judges were hardly unsympathetic to the needs of their nation at war. On Sept. 12, Bush asked new FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III in a Cabinet meeting whether it was safe for commercial air traffic to resume, according to senior government officials. Mueller had to acknowledge he could not give a reliable assessment. Mueller and Justice officials went to Lamberth, who agreed that day to expedited procedures to issue FISA warrants for eavesdropping, a government official said. The requirement for detailed paperwork was greatly eased, allowing the NSA to begin eavesdropping the next day on anyone suspected of a link to al Qaeda, every person who had ever been a member or supporter of militant Islamic groups, and everyone ever linked to a terrorist watch list in the United States or abroad, the official said. In March 2002, the FBI and Pakistani police arrested Abu Zubaida, then the third-ranking al Qaeda operative, in Pakistan. When agents found Zubaida's laptop computer, a senior law enforcement source said, they discovered that the vast majority of people he had been communicating with were being monitored under FISA warrants or international spying efforts. "Finally, we got some comfort" that surveillance efforts were working, said a government official familiar with Zubaida's arrest. Records Show New House Majority Leader John Boehner Rents Washington Aparment From Lobbyist Records Show Boehner Rents From Lobbyist By LARRY MARGASAK WASHINGTON - House Majority Leader John Boehner rents a basement apartment from a lobbyist whose clients had an interest in legislation overseen or sponsored by Boehner, according to lobbying records. Boehner, R-Ohio, pays $1,600 a month rent for the apartment owned by lobbyist John Milne and his wife, Debra Anderson, Boehner spokesman Don Seymour Jr. said. "It is conceivable that John Milne may have lobbied Boehner on a few occasions over the years, but we are not aware of any specific instances of it, and we are certain no lobbying has taken place during the time in which John Boehner has been renting the property," Seymour said. Boehner, elected majority leader by his Republican colleagues last week, is involved in GOP efforts to reform lobbying rules, a consequence of influence peddling by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Abramoff agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in a Capitol Hill corruption investigation after pleading guilty last month to conspiracy, tax evasion and mail fraud. Milne did not respond to a request for comment. Lobbying records show that he represented Buca di Beppo and Parasole Restaurant Holdings Inc. both restaurant companies to lobby on the minimum wage, an issue handled by the Education and the Workforce Committee chaired by Boehner. The restaurant industry has opposed increases in the minimum wage, which has not risen since 1997. Milne also represented the parent company, Buca Inc., to lobby for the Small Business Tax Fairness Act, which had provisions to quicken tax breaks for restaurant buildings. While the measure did not go through Boehner's committee, he was among the sponsors. The proposed speedup in depreciation is a major objective for the restaurant industry. Seymour, the Boehner spokesman, said the rental price of the apartment represented a fair market value, based on similar rental costs in the area near the U.S. Capitol. He said that Boehner first met Debra Anderson during the early 1990s when she worked in the administration of George H.W. Bush and met Milne in the late 1990s. Meanwhile, the chairman of the House Republican Conference, composed of all the Republicans in the chamber, named a registered lobbyist for the Securities Industry Association as its chief of staff. Rep. Deborah Pryce, R-Ohio, cited Rachel Robinson's experience, not only as a vice president of the securities trade group but as a director of operations for former Rep. Newt Gingrich when he was speaker of the House. Indicted Rep. Tom DeLay Lands Spot on Appropriations Committee DeLay Lands Coveted Appropriations Spot WASHINGTON - Indicted Rep. Tom DeLay, forced to step down as the No. 2 Republican in the House, scored a soft landing Wednesday as GOP leaders rewarded him with a coveted seat on the Appropriations Committee. DeLay, R-Texas, also claimed a seat on the subcommittee overseeing the Justice Department, which is currently investigating an influence-peddling scandal involving disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his dealings with lawmakers. The subcommittee also has responsibility over NASA a top priority for DeLay, since the Johnson Space Center is located in his Houston-area district. "Allowing Tom DeLay to sit on a committee in charge of giving out money is like putting Michael Brown back in charge of FEMA Republicans in Congress just can't seem to resist standing by their man," said Bill Burton, spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. GOP leaders also named California Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon as chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee. Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, vacated that post after winning a campaign to replace DeLay. McKeon is a seven-term conservative who has a generally good relationship with educators. He authored a 2001 law to remove disincentives for workers who would have lost part of their Social Security benefits when switching jobs to become public school teachers. DeLay was able to rejoin the powerful Appropriations panel he was a member until becoming majority leader in 2003 because of a vacancy created after the resignation of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif. Cunningham pleaded guilty in November to charges relating to accepting $2.4 million in bribes for government business and other favors. House Committee Squashes Democratic Queries About Torture House Committee Squashes Torture Queries By WILLIAM C. MANN Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Republicans easily defeated three resolutions seeking information about the Bush administration's policies on torture after a heated committee hearing. Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., chairman of the House International Relations Committee, said Democrats who submitted the resolutions should "at least silently confess to themselves that their actions pose real dangers to our country." Hyde accused Democrats of playing politics, with an eye on November's congressional elections, by offering the three resolutions demanding: Information on a practice that has been called extraordinary rendition, or sending suspects abroad to countries where they would allegedly be tortured for information. Documents about U.S. policies regarding U.N. anti-torture conventions. Documents and records involving Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's December trip to Europe, during which she was dogged by reports of alleged secret European jails. All three proposed resolutions were defeated on almost straight party-line votes. The committee's senior Democrat, Rep. Tom Lantos of California, denied Hyde's accusations of partisan motivation. Wikipedia's Help From the Hill; Edits Lead Site to Block Some Lawmakers' Offices Wikipedia's Help From the Hill Edits Lead Site to Block Some Lawmakers' Offices By Yuki Noguchi The scope of the scandal keeps growing, and now that an investigation has been launched, a growing list of Capitol Hill members and their staff appear to be involved. No, this isn't about fallout from the shenanigans of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. This concerns Wikipedia -- the online encyclopedia written and edited by anyone who wants to contribute -- and the suspected perpetrators of untruths about certain lawmakers. Recent reports about editorial antics taking place on the site -- selective erasures of past faux pas, outright insults and dozens of other politically motivated revisions -- prompted Wikipedia to block temporarily some addresses on Capitol Hill from being able to edit entries. At the same time, Wikinews, the affiliated news site about Wikipedia, launched an investigation into changes from Senate offices. Wayne Saewyc, a volunteer Wikinews editor, designed a computer program to match up more than 65,000 possible Internet addresses to offending changes, and it traced them back to various lawmakers' offices. (A similar gumshoe tactic could not be used on House offices, because those computers share an Internet address, according to Wikipedia and Wikinews). This crime-scene-style investigation points to staff members of at least five offices: Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). In all cases the edits removed factually accurate but unflattering descriptions of the lawmakers, and in many cases they added some beautifying language describing awards or glorifying legislative records. An entry for Feinstein removed references to her net worth and a $190,000 fine she paid for not disclosing that her husband, Richard C. Blum, had guaranteed her gubernatorial campaign loans in 1990. Edits allegedly made by Burns's staff removed references to his calling Arabs "ragheads," inserting a paragraph instead called "A Voice for the Farmer" that touted his advocacy for agriculture. "I don't know why this is a story," said James Pendleton, a spokesman for Burns. "There is no sanctity in Wikipedia. Somebody will always come and change it." He declined to comment on Wikipedia's assertion that some of the changes came from his office. The edits to Feinstein's entry were done by a former staffer acting alone, said Howard Gantman, a spokesman for the senator. "Online encyclopedias are prone to errors," he said, but staff members have been directed to coordinate changes with the senator's communications people, who are to contact Wikipedia directly. Wikipedia maintains that, by soliciting edits from all volunteers, the site generally arrives at a neutral description of people and events -- a contention challenged by some on the Hill. "There were several factual things that were wrong," said Tom Steward, a spokesman for Coleman, defending the staff's changes to the senator's voting record. "There are some subjective things in there, but obviously, as the editors of their site, they have the final say in what they write." The edits to Biden's entry removed and altered references to incidents of alleged plagiarism. Biden spokesman Norm Kurz said changes that were "made to Biden's site by this office were designed to make it more fair and accurate." Harkin's spokeswoman, Allison Dobson, said that the alterations were made by a junior staff member and that the office has reemphasized a policy that any changes must be authorized. Saewyc, the Wikinews editor, said he solicited comment from the senators' offices but has not received any replies. Meanwhile, some congressional offices are doing their own sleuthing. Staff members for Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) traced one offending change -- inserting that "he likes to beat his wife and children" -- to an Internet address in Omaha. But the person couldn't be identified from the general address, said Jen Rae Hein, a spokeswoman for the congressman. Instead, the office called Wikipedia, which put a temporary freeze on edits on Terry's entry and took down all references to the offending edit. Senator Hillary Clinton Urges Democratic Candidates to Speak Out on National Security Issues Sen. Clinton Urges Democrats to Speak Up Sen. Hillary Clinton Urges Democratic Candidates to Speak Out on National Security Issues By DEVLIN BARRETT WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday accused Republicans of "playing the fear card" of terrorism to win elections and said Democrats cannot keep quiet if they want to win in November. The New York Democrat, facing re-election this year and considered a potential White House candidate in 2008, said Republicans won the past two elections on the issue of national security and "they're doing it to us again." She said a speech by presidential adviser Karl Rove two weeks ago showed the GOP election message is: "All we've got is fear and we're going to keep playing the fear card." In that speech, Rove suggested Republicans can prevail in 2006 by showing Democrats had undermined terrorism-fighting efforts by questioning Bush's authority to allow wiretapping without getting court approval first. Clinton said a convention of United Auto Workers that Democrats should not be afraid to question Bush's handling of the war. "I take a back seat to nobody when it comes to fighting terrorism and standing up for national homeland security," she said. Referring to fugitive al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, Clinton said, "You cannot explain to me why we have not captured or killed the tallest man in Afghanistan." She added, "Since when has it been part of American patriotism to keep our mouths shut?" White House spokesman Ken Lisaius responded: "It sounds like from reports that the political season is certainly starting early for some." President Bush, he said, wants to address rising health costs, energy costs and the war in Iraq in a bipartisan way "and keep the political bomb-throwing to a minimum." Clinton also said the Bush administration was allowing U.S. manufacturing to wither away and that the only way for workers to protect those jobs was by electing Democrats. She was cheered by the auto workers, a few of whom shouted, "Hillary for president." The bulk of her 30-minute speech focused on economic issues and the troubled U.S. auto industry, which is losing market share to foreign manufacturers and bracing for tens of thousands of layoffs. Clinton said the administration has not done enough to keep America globally competitive. She urged a new long-term effort by the government and private oil companies to fund research and development, particularly in energy-saving technologies. Speaking to an enthusiastic Democratic crowd that increasingly sees jobs moving overseas, Clinton said Thailand should not be granted access to the U.S. auto market. The U.S. is in negotiations with Thailand on a trade pact that might eliminate or reduce a 25 percent tariff on trucks made there. Cheney Says New Unit Will Prove Tax Cuts Boost Rev... Censorship Is Alleged at NOAA; Scientists Afraid t... Steele Apologizes for Holocaust Remarks; Compared ... Group Claims New Orleans Election Plans Hurt Black... Judge Dismisses Penultimate Ohio Lawsuit Stemming ... Secret Court's Judges Were Warned About NSA Spy Da... Records Show New House Majority Leader John Boehne... Indicted Rep. Tom DeLay Lands Spot on Appropriatio... House Committee Squashes Democratic Queries About ... Wikipedia's Help From the Hill; Edits Lead Site to... Senator Hillary Clinton Urges Democratic Candidate... Congress Hears Complaints About Medicare Drug Program Chinese man 'jailed due to Yahoo' Error may snag $39 billion US spending-cut bill New York City took a hit in the new White House bu... A Young Bush Appointee Resigns His Post at NASA af... Republican Who Oversees N.S.A. Calls for Wiretap I... Four presidents and a raucous funeral for a King Cheney: "we have all the legal authority we need" CIA counter-terrorism chief steps down States slow to improve voting systems Senators rap White House on Iraq's economy Karl Rove threatens to blacklist any Republican wh... Treasury says extending tax cuts would cost billions Louisiana governor vows 'hardball' with Washington Clinton Fires Back After Being Labeled 'Angry' and... New Voting Machines Await 4 in 5 Voters Dutch state to return Nazi loot Q and A about Bush's $2.77 trillion budget Senate to vote Tuesday on asbestos debate The Pusher Plagiarizes "Addiction to Oil" King George or President Bush? Shout It From the R... Key Republican Senator Specter Questions Attorney ... US triples spending to stop Iraq bomb attacks Isn't He Our Dealer? It's Official: He Sees His Shadow Authorized Study Tectonic Plates Shifting Misplaced outrage Time to drain the cesspool Teens Putting Themselves at Risk Online; U.S. Auth... On Capitol Hill, Playing WikiPolitics; Partisanshi... Rove and Bush and Their Non-9/11 Worldview Why Are the Democrats Helping to Derail the Abramo... Tax Talk Goes Orwellian Democratic governor calls on Bush to aid manufactu... Feminist pioneer Betty Friedan dies Bush to propose Medicare cuts	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2168
__label__wiki	0.905132	0.905132	Electoral Act: INEC breaks silence on Buhari’s letter Friday Olokor INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye The Independent National Electoral Commission has broken its silence on a letter written to it by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), over the contentious Electoral Act Amendment Bill. Buhari, who received the bill on November 19, has until December 19 to sign it or withhold his assent and communicate to the National Assembly his views and comments about it. And if after 30 days he refuses to sign the bill, and with the National Assembly not in support of the President’s amendments or reservation, the Senate and the House of Representatives can recall the bill and pass it into law. Should the bill be passed in the form it was sent to the President by two-thirds majority votes in both chambers, the bill automatically becomes a law even without the signature of the President. But reacting to the President’s letter on Wednesday, INEC National Commissioner and chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, said its position constitutionally, legally and administratively was that the electoral management body is the end user of the electoral legal framework. He said that it was conventionally rational, strategic and fundamental to seek the opinion of the commission and other critical agencies in the electoral matrix before a new legal framework becomes law. Okoye said, “Pursuant to Section 58(4) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), the President has 30 days to assent to a bill presented to him by the National Assembly. “The President has requested the commission and other critical national institutions to revert with detailed and considered views indicating whether or not the President should assent to the bill. “This is the democratic way to go and the commission will make its views known to the President bearing in mind the overriding national interest and interest of our democracy. “The commission will go through the bill and revert to the President within the time frame given to it.” 2023: Pass electoral bill to aid INEC’s preparation, Jega urges NASS, Buhari Five factors that will determine #NigeriaDecides2023 INEC does more than conducting elections –Yakubu He said INEC was aware that Nigerians were waiting for this bill and also conscious of the fact that a comprehensive, clear, unambiguous and forward-looking electoral legal framework was germane to early preparations for elections. He said the regulations and guidelines of the commission are drawn from the Electoral Act and without a new electoral legal framework, the work of the commission will be tentative and that will not be good for the electoral process. Speaking on the cost implications, Okoye said that it was rather unfortunate that the issue of direct or indirect primary had overshadowed other fundamental issues in the bill. He said, “However, it is difficult at this stage to speculate on the cost implications of direct primaries. As of today, the bill is inchoate until the President assents to it. “It is the constitutional and legal responsibility of the commission to give effect to laws passed by the National Assembly. “Moreover, direct primaries have been a feature of our electoral legal framework. The commission has monitored direct and indirect primaries organised by the different political parties. The commission does not dictate to political parties on the mode of primaries to adopt. “The new system of direct primary election proposed in the bill domiciles the conditions for the conduct of the primaries with the political parties. In other words, the procedure adopted for the direct primaries shall be spelt out in a guidelines to be issued by the political party and filed with the commission at least 14 days before the primary election.” Human Rights Watch demands criminalisation of child marriage Tags: election Festus Okoye indirect primary INEC	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2173
__label__cc	0.506996	0.493004	Catalyzing cross-sector implementation of renewable energy through intermediaries Accelerating the Implementation of Renewable Energy Home 9 Accelerating the Implementation of Renewable Energy – Protocol 9 Catalyzing cross-sector implementation of renewable energy through intermediaries Purpose and Objectives The purpose of this section is to introduce governance innovations that can facilitate collaborative implementation of renewable energy systems (and other aspects of community energy plans). Specifically, we shed light on ‘intermediaries’: i.e., organizations that institutionalize local collaborations, and serve to catalyze and coordinate the implementation of community energy plans. In this section, we will: Articulate the significance of intermediaries to community energy planning Identify the different roles, functions, and design considerations Assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with this governance approach based on a review of literature and insights from key informants involved with local intermediaries operating in select Canadian communities In the end, we hope to have equipped you with baseline knowledge necessary to assess whether an intermediary might be the right fit for your community. Background and Significance The barriers to renewable energy (RE) technology implementation and diffusion are systemic. Even as RE systems have become cost-competitive with conventional energy systems, and as flows of capital investment are poised to drive RE implementation, their deployment is inhibited by entrenched preferences for conventional modes of energy generation and distribution within prevailing regulatory systems, utility business models, and energy markets. These entrenched preferences and interests are not always obvious or deliberate in their intent to inhibit the deployment of RE. Systems are lazy, and they will not change on their own. They require a vigilant effort to identify and address the ways in which they inhibit deployment of RE at scale. Intermediary organizations are a governance innovation through which this vigilance can be achieved at a local level. Intermediary organizations serve as a network manager, a catalyst, and a boundary crosser. Their purpose is to break down silos and systemic barriers by brokering relationships across implementation partners to drive community projects and programs. Our focus here is on intermediary organizations with a direct line into municipal government, and a direct mandate to catalyze the implementation of a community energy plan (CEP). As a corollary, the municipality is positioned as a partner, rather than the primary implementer, of a CEP. This is not a new proposition for community energy planners. The spirit and intention of CEPs have always envisioned such a role for the municipality. The suggestion to develop an intermediary organization is simply a proposal to structure and institutionalize this role. In many ways, establishing an intermediary is a classic form of corporate innovation: where a corporation (municipality) sets an objective that overwhelms internal capacity and extends beyond the sphere of direct influence (e.g., climate emergency declarations or net-zero carbon targets), that corporation must find ways to mobilize external resources to support those objectives. An intermediary is just such an innovation. There are two underlying assumptions here, about the role of the municipality in CEP implementation. First, that the mentality of municipal staff shifts from an ‘inside-out’ approach to an ‘outside-in’ approach. Municipalities must work to align themselves with implementation partners first, and then organize internally. When the municipality sees itself as the implementer of CEPs, the opposite tends to be true: municipalities organize internally, and then align themselves externally. This inside-out approach can foreclose or delay collaborative solutions. The second assumption is that the problem statement shifts from ‘technology and finance’ to ‘institutional capacity and collective action’. Seen in this light, the municipality focuses on expanding capacity by mobilizing collective action, rather than starting with concerns about which technology will be pursued and whether it can be justified in their capital budget. This view is important, certainly: we are simply proposing that it is not the starting point. Intermediaries are in some ways similar to municipal service corporations and public-private partnerships, in that these are all governance innovations required to accelerate implementation of renewable energy. Unlike municipal service corporations and many public-private partnerships, however, intermediaries are (in theory) not meant to deliver services or products. They are meant to sit between organizations that do; to serve as a backbone for collaborations across government, NGOs, businesses, and the public. In Canada, intermediaries have taken two forms: An incorporated not-for-profit entity tied to the municipality through a service agreement and a mandate to implement the community energy plan. See Our Energy Guelph as an example of this model. An unincorporated network of key implementation partners, committing resources (cash and in-kind) into an entity with a mandate to drive a collaborative investment strategy. See Waterloo Region Community Energy as an example of this model. To date, very few intermediaries are operating in a community energy context. There is, however, an extensive literature on intermediaries working in other domains (e.g., homelessness; poverty reduction). We review that literature here, supplemented by insights from interviews with key informants who have experience with intermediaries across select Canadian communities. We use a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) approach, described in the figure below, as a way to draw out insights from experiences. Ultimately, more research is needed on specific design features and outcomes to understand the efficacy of these governance innovations. Political resilience in community energy planning (CEP). The long-term objectives of a community energy plan are made vulnerable to relatively short-term election cycles if the municipality is the primary implementer and the plan is held within City Hall. An intermediary can protect the CEP against political disruption. Intermediaries can adapt the tone and approach of CEP implementation to shifts in local politics, without abandoning it entirely as can be the case with direct ties to Council decisions. Neutral convener. Related to the above, an intermediary is (in theory) guided by a strategic energy plan and is therefore agnostic to technology selection and technology designs. This not only ensures a wide lens through which to evaluate options, but also helps to strengthen political capital among the public and key stakeholders because intermediaries push a mission, rather than a specific technology or program. They facilitate technologies or programs to the extent that they fit the mission. Builds energy literacy. Often, failure to adopt new and beneficial technologies among the public and local businesses is related to poor messaging, low awareness, and / or lack of trust. Intermediaries can centralize and expedite information sharing, serving as a local think-tank and source of trusted information. Backbone for CEP implementation. The purpose of an intermediary is to broker and catalyze partnerships and collaborations to drive implementation of projects and programs. In other words, they are meant to make the job of existing actors easier; not to replace their job. Intermediaries can translate jargon and standards of work – e.g., across energy professionals and land-use planners and property managers. In addition, the role of an intermediary is to turn shared resources, and capacity-holders into implementation partners. The implementation of innovative technologies and services is inhibited by a myriad of factors that are difficult to detect and resolve by municipal government alone. Collaborative, cross-sector implementation strategies and initiatives are critical to overcoming the systemic barriers described above. Unproven (and sometimes undefined) financial model. Intermediaries are often initiated with funding from municipalities or government grants. In some cases, depending on the level of commitment, that funding can carry the intermediary through its operational life. In other cases, for example Our Energy Guelph, public funding is considered seed funding, and the intermediary develops a business plan to secure long-term funding. Long-term funding can come from a range of sources, including sponsorships, memberships, revenue sharing from programs established under their purview, and / or convenor fees as a percentage of project value. Establishing multiple revenue streams is important, but difficult and not yet proven. Furthermore, there is always a risk that an intermediary will fall into a role of ‘implementer’ rather than ‘catalyst’ to achieve financial security (e.g., fees for services). Resource constraints can magnify these weaknesses (as discussed below under ‘threats’). Low legitimacy, initially. In general, there is a history of siloed approaches to energy planning and energy management, and a lack of understanding of collaborative governance models. Intermediaries need to break these siloes down, without a lot of legitimacy initially. Whatever the specific design of the intermediary – whether an incorporated not-for-profit or a less structured network – collaboration and collaborative implementation will move at the speed of trust, which is to say it will move slowly. Funnel for resources. Intermediaries can coordinate grant applications and other funding pitches/partnership models. This is one of the ways in which an intermediary can ‘grow the pie’ for other organizations. The same is true of private capital which is rapidly moving out of fossil fuels and into renewable energy. Intermediaries can help to steer capital toward local projects that help meet community objectives. A forum for innovation. Intermediary organizations offer a space in which bold, forward-looking and potentially controversial ideas can be shared, outside of the context of formal decision-making processes and its politics. An intermediary organization can engage in conversations and develop partnerships that would be difficult for a municipality. In fact, intermediaries can serve as a permanent ‘innovation sandbox’: bringing key change agents into dialogue to identify systemic barriers and negotiate visions, roles, and responsibilities to accelerate the implementation of renewable energy. Free riders. This can occur if key stakeholders assume that problems are being solved by the intermediary and, in turn, step back or direct their attention elsewhere. One specific example of this threat is if a municipality supports an intermediary and then reverts to a minimalist view of their role in implementing community energy plans, as shown in the figure below: (Perception that) the organization is captured by outside interests. Capital is moving rapidly out of fossil fuels and into renewable energy development. Intermediaries can help to direct that capital to projects and programs that meet community interests. On the other hand, these opportunities can also be a threat, to the extent that an intermediary deviates from its mission, or narrows their mission, in response to financial opportunities. Should this happen, an intermediary would then tend to become an implementer rather than a catalyst and would begin to advocate for specific programs and technologies – thereby narrowing their mission and potentially losing a lot of social and political capital that is a source of strength. Weakened civil society. Intermediaries rely on a strong civil society and a propensity toward collaboration. A wide range of forces that might work against this, including the rise of various forms of populism and increasing distrust in social institutions, are threats to the capacity of an intermediary. Technological innovations need to be met with social innovations. Establishing an intermediary is increasingly seen as a crucial social innovation through which to accelerate the implementation of renewable energy, and of community energy plans more broadly. In all cases, intermediaries move at the “speed of trust”, which is to say slowly and only through predictable commitment and cultivation of relationships. For more information on this idea, consult the resources below. Key References Bonow, M., Normark, M. 2018. Community gardening in Stockholm: participation, driving forces and the role of the municipality. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 33: 503-517. Calvert, K., McVey, I. 2017. From strategic planning to implementation planning: a review of emerging standards in community energy planning. Dowling, R., McGuirk, P. M. & Bulkeley, H. 2014. Retrofitting cities: Local governance in Sydney, Australia. Cities, 38 18-24. Ordonez-Ponce, E., Clarke, A.C., Colbert, B.A. 2020. Collaborative Sustainable Business Models: Understanding Organizations Partnering for Community Sustainability. Business and Society Viana, C., Coudel, E., Barlow, J., Ferreira, J., Gardner, T., Parry, L. 2016. How Does Hybrid Governance Emerge? Role of the elite in building a Green Municipality in the Eastern Brazilian Amazon. Environmental Policy and Governance 26: 337-350. Powered by Business Cloud Inc. \| © 2018-2020 QUEST	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2176
__label__cc	0.526674	0.473326	Last edited by Akinozuru 2 edition of China, India and the end of development models found in the catalog. China, India and the end of development models Xiaoming Huang Published 2012 by Palgrave Macmillan in Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hamphire, New York . Statement edited by Xiaoming Huang, Alex C. Tan, Sekhar Bandyopadhyay Series Rethinking international development series Contributions Bandyopādhyāẏa, Śekhara LC Classifications HC427.95 .C44413 2012 Pagination xvii, 294 p. OCLC/WorldCa 768474023 At Women's Wear Daily's Beauty CEO Summit , Revlon head Alan Ennis argued that China is now past its prime as a place for manufacturing. On the correlation between the mean period of classical cepheids and the mean star space-density in the Milky Way Paediatric urology. Advanced text-book of zoology for the use of schools Teaching in the pre-school kindergarten Vicars of Christ Bantam UK Self-help advice Passionate Joy Tailspin Codes and classifications The Complete Idiots Guide to Irish History and Culture The panacea for world peace China, India and the end of development models by Xiaoming Huang Download PDF EPUB FB2 Free shipping on orders of $35+ from Target. Read reviews and buy China, India and the End of Development Models Indian Edition - (Rethinking International (Hardcover) at Target. Get it today with Same Day Delivery, Order Pickup or Drive Up. China, India and the End of Development Models Indian Edition (Rethinking International Development series) [Huang, Xiaoming, Tan, Alex C., Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar] on FREE shipping on qualifying offers. China, India and the End of Development Models Indian Edition (Rethinking International Development series). Promoting the understanding of the impressive economic growth and social transformation in China and India, the authors demonstrate the diverse economic, political, social, cultural, international and historical conditions in these two developing countries and point out the theoretical problems of comparative development models in : Xiaoming Huang. Labor Movement and Economic Growth: Shaping and Managing the Lewis Transition in China and India / Jason Young China's Economic Growth Engine: The Likely Types of Hardware Failure, Software Failure, and Power Supply Failure / Wing Thye Woo Comparing National Sustainability in China and India / Bruce Gilley "Living Wisdom" of. Promoting the understanding of the impressive economic growth and social transformation in China and India, the authors demonstrate the diverse economic, political, social, cultural, international and historical conditions in these two developing countries and point out the theoretical problems of comparative development models in particular. BOOK REVIEW China, India and the End of Development Models by Xiaoming Huang, Alexander C. Tan and Sekjar Bandyopadhyay (eds). London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp., £, ISBN 0 0. The China Model (Chinese: 中國模式) or Beijing Consensus, also known as the Chinese Economic Model, is the political and economic policies of the People's Republic of China that began to be instituted by Deng Xiaoping after Mao Zedong's death in The policies are thought to have contributed to China's "economic miracle" and eightfold. India should first focus on economic growth before it begins to focus on redistribution. According to the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) human development indicators, the top 20 nations have an average gross national per-capita income of $51, India’s current gross per-capita national income is $6, 1 day ago India has banned some more mobile apps of Chinese companies such as Xiaomi Corp and Baidu Inc, three sources told Reuters on Wednesday, in. This book examines the development model that has driven China's economic success and looks at how it differs from the Washington Consensus. China’s Development Model (CDM) is examined with a view to answering a central question: given China’s peculiar matrix of a socialist party-state juxtaposed with economic internationalization and marketization, what are the underlying. The new coronavirus Covid will end up being the final curtain on China’s nearly 30 year role as the world’s leading manufacturer. “Using China as a hub that model died this week, I. There are at least four corners of the China development model. State-Led Development Model Economically, China has shocked the world. The Chinese economy has done remarkably well over the last three decades, consistently ranking among the fastest-growing in the world. It has attracted. Now, despite this boom, China’s development model is being tested. For Beijing’s leaders during the s, achieving a market economy was the overarching goal. For its current leadership, the hypermarket economy poses new burdens: The country does not have the energy to support its own growth, the environment has been degraded and the. As the title implies and the sub-title suggests, the book is a comparative study of Asia’s two big and rising countries. The accent is on their economic performance since China. "The China Model is a timely, highly original, and hugely important book. Based on excellent knowledge of current political theories and a deep understanding of manifold peculiarities regarding China's constantly evolving political system, this book will be widely read by political science students, sinologists, and all those who are interested. China's main trading partners since its foreign trade was liberalised have been the OECD economies, accounting for % of total trade in China's top eighteen (18) trading partners in in terms of trade volume and share are shown in Table A3. Trade with these countries accounted for % of total trade in The Sino-Indian War, also known as the Indo-China War and Sino-Indian Border Conflict, was a war between China and India that occurred in A Chinese disputed Himalayan border was the main cause of the war. There had been a series of violent border skirmishes between the two countries after the Tibetan uprising, when India granted asylum to the Dalai Lama. The reason I cite this book is that he is one of the early proponents of what in recent years has been revived as the political-economy approach to development. “A great deal of my China-India book deals with political economy in both countries.” Economics has made a big transition. The main argument of the book is that economic performance and growth depend crucially on the choice of development strategy. The China miracle is the result of China’s having chosen the right. Search the world's most comprehensive index of full-text books. My library. Essays by one of India’s biggest intellectuals on globalization, the economies of India and China, and developments in Indian economy, politics and culture since the reforms. Meghnad Jagdishchandra Desai has been an outstanding scholar, policy advisor and public intellectual in India. Reforms in China are older than they are in India. Therefore, a comparison of econometric parameters shows that during the compound annual growth rates of exports, imports and GDP per capita have been better in China as compared to India. The study found that India & China had similar level of per capita GDP (at constant. Meripustak: Paper Tigers Hidden Dragons Firms and the Political Economy of China's, Author(s)-Fuller Douglas B., Publisher-Oxford UP, Edition-Reprint, ISBN, Pages, Binding-Paperback, Language- English, Publish Year PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AS AN END-TO-END PROCESS A key factor in successfully managing the complexities of new product development in any organization is having a clear understanding of the process. The pro cess is, of course, embedded in an environment. For the NPD process, four elements of the environment can be delineated to be. NEW DELHI: India on Thursday said it expects China to work with it sincerely for ensuring "complete disengagement and de-escalation" in eastern Ladakh as. One, significant trends in the relationship between China and India on a range of issues, including economic development models, their military strategies, and the boundary dispute; and two, how others are responding to the rise of India and China and their impact on East Asia. The economic history of China describes the changes and developments in China's economy from the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in to the present day. China has been the fastest growing economy in the world since the s, with an average annual growth rate of 10% from tobased on government statistics. Row over Defence Ministry report on China: Why was it taken down from website. Watch #Newstrack full show with Rahul Kanwal here: In contrast, India has suffered from a fractious political system that has made it much more difficult to invest in long-term economic development. As a result, the government has failed to deliver even basic necessities, such as paved roads, reliable electricity, and. The authors (professors of economics at the U. of Queensland, Australia) offer a comparative analysis of the developmental experiences of China and India, applying quantitative analysis to investigation of economic, social, political, and environmental aspects of the countries' development from the s forward. First, there’s China, the major global power. Over the past 30 years China has built up the world’s second largest economy, tipped to overtake the US within the next decade. Back in the early s, China’s GDP per capita was lower than India’s; byit was already twice that of India’s and the gap continues to widen. The end of the US-China clash is still a blur. With the recent development, Tesla seems to have taken an interest in India too. “The China model includes an authoritarian regime to guide economic development, limit access to the policymaking process, and prevent the formation of interest groups, such as labor unions, which would distract from the priority on economic growth, ” said Dr. Bruce Dickson, professor of Chinese politics at the George Washington University. Upgrading China's Development Model. 02/10/ pm ET Updated a free trade scheme of the 10 ASEAN member states and Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and New Zealand to be concluded by the end of The RCEP and the Trans-Pacific Pact (ed. India has banned some programs of Chinese companies including Xiaomi Corp and Baidu Inc, three sources told Reuters on Wednesday, in New Delhi's most News India widens China app ban to cover more from Xiaomi and Baidu. India only exceeds China in its BPO / IT sector, rest among all the sectors it is China which is ahead whether it is agriculture, trade patterns, employment growth, human development etc. Thus in the coming future we can say that it can be India and china together instead of India V/S China. A historic event, largely unnoticed by the rest of the world, took place on the border between China and India on July 6, After 44 years, the Asian neighbors reopened Nathu La, a mountain. India is the world’s largest parliamentary democracy, while China is a one-party dictatorship. India’s reforms have scaled back state-run industries, while China’s reforms have created a pseudo-free-market command economy. India has courted the capitalist West while China. The history of independent India began when the country became an independent nation within the British Commonwealth on 15 August Direct administration by the British, which began ineffected a political and economic unification of the subcontinent. When British rule came to an end inthe subcontinent was partitioned along religious lines into two separate countries—India. The Indian men's team has been placed in Group C alongside champions Denmark, Germany and Algeria, while the women's side has been clubbed with time winners China, France and Germany in group D in the draw which was staged at BWF headquarters in Kuala Lumpur on Monday. Both the men's and women's team are seeded fifth in the tournament, according to the BWF release. India has made progress in increasing the attainment rate of primaryApproximately 75% of the population, aged between 7 and 10 years, was literate. India's improved education system is often cited as one of the main contributors to its economic development. Much of the progress, especially in higher education and scientific research, has been credited to various public.It is also a valuable reference book to drug regulatory agencies and other government agencies that are involved in strategic planning for development of pharmaceutical industry in their own countries. Key Findings of the Report - In general, China is better equipped in industry infrastructure than India. Shashi Tharoor is comparing China's "orderly authoritanianism" to India's "choatic democracy". He sees that China, despite its enviable development and growth at "breakneck speed", its people are not "free to choose" their own leaders. Conversely, Indians enjoy free election. So in the end "India’s model may well stand up better in the long run".	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2178
__label__wiki	0.680196	0.680196	Biden and Democrats admit they won't be passing Build Back Better before Christmas By Kelsey Snell It became clear this week that Democrats are not getting a $2 trillion spending bill for Christmas this year. After a flurry of last-ditch meetings and negotiations, President Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are admitting they don't have the votes to pass Biden's massive social and climate spending package, otherwise known as Build Back Better. Here's how Schumer explained it today. CHUCK SCHUMER: The President requested more time to continue his negotiations, and so we will keep working - working with him hand-in-hand. CORNISH: NPR congressional correspondent Kelsey Snell joins me now to talk about what all of this means for Democrats. Welcome back, Kelsey. KELSEY SNELL, BYLINE: Hi there. CORNISH: This is not the first or the second time Democrats have sent a deadline for themselves - right? - to pass this legislation. How is this time different? SNELL: Well, the biggest difference here is that this time there are actual stakes beyond some, you know, immediate political embarrassment that they had before. This time, the monthly child tax credit payments that started back in July are now officially over. Those expanded benefits were part of the American Rescue Plan and they're set to expire at the end of this month, but the last payments went out this week. You know, Democrats wanted to pass this bill in the Senate before Christmas so they could finish any, you know, final work in the house and do whatever they needed to do to get it to the president to keep the payments going, but that's not going to happen now. Democrats say they could theoretically just make double payments in February to make up for it, but that would mean that they would have to pass a bill quickly when they get back into town in January, and that means that millions of people will not be getting payments in January. And this is a program that is credited with keeping more than 3 million kids out of poverty. CORNISH: And yet, is it any more likely they can do it in January? SNELL: Well, it's really hard to say because it comes down to one very familiar question - what does West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin want? So lately, the fight has centered around that child tax credit. Manchin has said he's worried about the long-term cost of the credit because Democrats do say they'd like to make it permanent someday. But this bill only extends the provision for a year, and that's in part because Manchin essentially demanded that several rounds of negotiations ago. So Manchin says he supports the credit, but it's very unclear what his actual substantive demands are. And there are real concerns, particularly among members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, that he's never going to make those clear. CORNISH: Right. There - many months, the progressive members didn't want to allow votes on the bipartisan infrastructure bill because they feared it would ruin their leverage to try and get Manchin and other centrists to agree on this one. So how are they reacting now? SNELL: Well, they are extremely unhappy. You know, congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, who is the chair of the Progressive Caucus in Congress - she put out a statement saying that the Senate should stay in session until this is all done. And she said delaying passage would have devastating consequences. Jayapal was clear that her members worked with the White House and the Senate and agreed to move forward on legislation based on a promise from Biden that he could deliver the votes needed to get the bill passed in the Senate. You know, there's all this bubbling frustration, but there's not much these progressives can do. It is a moment where it really does come down to whether or not they can get Manchin onboard. CORNISH: In the meantime, how are Republicans responding? SNELL: Well, it's a little bit of them saying I told you so to Democrats. You know, Manchin did meet with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell this week, and it was for unspecified reasons. But McConnell has said he doesn't expect Manchin, you know, will be switching parties or anything right now, but he has suggested it to Manchin in the past, and other Republicans have said similar things. They're also very quick to point out that Democrats need unanimity within their own party to pass this because Democrats refuse to work with Republicans on any of it. They basically say this isn't 49 Democrats versus one Joe Manchin, it's 51 senators versus 49 senators. CORNISH: That's NPR's Kelsey Snell. Thanks so much. SNELL: Thanks for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. Kelsey Snell is a Congressional correspondent for NPR. She has covered Congress since 2010 for outlets including The Washington Post, Politico and National Journal. She has covered elections and Congress with a reporting specialty in budget, tax and economic policy. She has a graduate degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. and an undergraduate degree in political science from DePaul University in Chicago. See stories by Kelsey Snell	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2179
__label__cc	0.527397	0.472603	Soggy Po Boys Saturday, January 15, 2022 • 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM EST The Dance Hall, Kittery The Dance Hall Tickets for this event are not available. For your safety all performances at The Dance Hall require: PROOF OF FULL VACCINATION against COVID-19 or PROOF OF A NEGATIVE COVID TEST administered within 72 hours. MASKS ARE REQUIRED INDOORS for patrons and staff. This is a seated event. Born on a snowy Fat Tuesday night of 2012, the Soggy Po' Boys have been honing their craft of New Orleans' music in their Tuesday residency in their home town of Dover New Hampshire. The New Orleans flavored septet doesn’t just play their weekly gig and call it at that. No, they fit in more than a hundred shows every year, from festivals and concerts to politics-infused burlesque collaborations and street parades. Part of the beauty of New Orleans music is that it's celebrated and appreciated wherever it goes, from the street to the theater. The Po' Boys are doing their part to spread the greatest music on earth around their home in New England and when touring, throughout the rest of the country. The Soggy Po' Boys serve their jazz messy, mixing brass-fueled mayhem with spirituals, Meters-style old-school funk, and the Caribbean side of the New Orleans tradition.NHPR describes the band in this way: "If you've been to Sonny's Tavern in Dover, New Hampshire on a Tuesday night, you could be forgiven for feeling like you've stepped into a New Orleans jazz club. The eight musicians that make up the Seacoast-based Soggy Po Brings the brassy music of 'Nawlins to Dover." London Jazz News agrees, writing of the band's third release in four years No Worse for Wear: "Although boasting a convivial spirit to rival that of a slick cocktail party favourites The Hot Sardines, The Soggy Po' Boys like things a bit rougher around the edges. This sousaphone-powered octet from New Hampshire is a more microbrewery ale than a peach daiquiri. Think Hot 8 Brass Band, but with generally darker subject matter and fewer Marvin Gaye covers." $15 ADV $18 DOOR n on a snowy Fat Tuesday night of 2012, the Soggy Po' Boys have been honing their craft of New Orleans' music in their Tuesday residency in their home town of Dover New Hampshire. The New Orleans flavored septe’t just play their weekly gig and call it at that. No, they fit in more than describes the band in this way: "If you've been to Sonny's Tavern in Dover, New Hampshire on a Tuesday night, you could be forgiven for feeling like you've stepped into a New Orleans jazz club. The eight musicians that make up the Seacoast-based Soggy Po Brings the brassy music of 'Nawlins to Dover." London Jazz News agrees, writing of the band's third release in four years No Worse for Wear: "Although 7 Walker Street Kittery, ME 03904 Drika Overton Online ticket sales for this event have ended. Please contact the Box Office for more information.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2180
__label__cc	0.535935	0.464065	Only shark in its family with long barbels The Whiskery shark (Furgaleus macki) belongs to the Houndsharks, in the family Triakidae, and it is the only member of its genus. This common shark inhabits the Australian continental shelf from Western Australia to the Bass Strait, to a depth of 722 feet. It is demersal in habits and prefers rocky and vegetated habitats. It has a stalky, humpbacked body, and can be distinguished from all other members of its family by the presence of long nasal barbels. The Whiskery shark population is stable and increasing. Family: Triakidae – Houndsharks Genus: Furgaleus Species: macki Phylum– Chordata Class– Chondrichthyles Order– Carcharhiniformes Common Name– Ground Sharks Family– Triakidae Common Name– Houndsharks Genus– Furgaleus Species– macki Status: IUCN Red List LEAST CONCERN Average Size and Length: They are born around 25 cm/9.8 inches. Mature sharks have been measured at 110 cm/3.6 feet, with a max of 150 cm/4.9 feet. Average Weight: They have been weighed up to 29 pounds. Current Rare Mythical Sightings: Australian ichthyologist Gilbert Percy Whitley described the Whiskery shark as a new genus and species, Fur macki, in a 1943 issue of the scientific journal Australian Zoologist. The name Fur was already in use for the genus Fur of true flies, in 1951, Whitley replaced it with Furgaleus. The type specimen is a 50 cm/1.6 feet long immature male caught off Mordialloc in Victoria, Australia. Based on morphology, Leonard Compagno grouped Furgaleus with Hemitriakis, Iago, and Gogolia as the tribe Iagini within the subfamily Galeorhininae of the family Triakidae. A 2006 phylogenetic study by J. Andrés López and colleagues, based on four protein-coding gene sequences, confirmed that Furgaleus and Hemitriakis are sister taxa (but didn’t include Gogolia). Teeth and Jaw: The mouth is very short and arched with long furrows at the corners. Tooth rows number 24–32 in the upper and 36–42 in the lower jaw. Each upper tooth has an angled, knife-like main cusp with smaller cusplets on the trailing side, while each lower tooth has a single upright cusp. Head: The snout is short, rounded or wedge-shaped when viewed from above. The Whiskery shark is the only member of the houndsharks with anterior nasal flaps forming slender barbels. There are obvious ridges below the dorsal-lateral eyes that are high on the head, with nictitating membranes. Just behind the ridges are tiny spiracles. Tail: The caudal fin has a short lower lobe and a deep ventral notch near the tip of the upper lobe. Demographic, Distribution, Habitat, Environment and Range: They can be found in Australia (21°S – 45°S) from Western Australia to the Bass Strait, to a depth of 722 feet. It is most common in the southwestern portion of its range between Kalbarri and Albany and is rare off Victoria and Tasmania. They prefer demersal, shallow temperate waters on the continental shelf, on or near the bottom on rock, seagrass, and even in kelp. Diet: The Whiskery shark is a specialist when it comes to feeding on octopus. They will also eat squid, lobster and bony fish. They may also eat some other cephalopods, with spoon worms and seagrass found in the contents of its stomach. Aesthetic Identification: The Whiskery shark is stalky and almost humpbacked. The dorsal side is grey, with variegated dark blotches or saddles that fade with age. The ventral side is lighter. Its two moderately large dorsal fins are roughly equal in size. The first dorsal fin is positioned closer to the pectoral fins than the pelvic fins, though its origin lies posterior to the pectoral fin rear tips. The second dorsal fin is positioned slightly ahead of the anal fin, which is much smaller than either dorsal fin. Biology and Reproduction: They are ovoviviparous. There is no yolk-sac placenta. They have between 4-29 pups per litter, with an average of 19 pups per litter, every second year, typically from August to October, after a gestation period of 7–9 months. Males can mate every year, while females have a biennial reproductive cycle. Females store sperm until late January to early April of the following year, when the ova are ready to be ovulated into the uterus. It is possible that nursery areas may be in deeper water or other unfished habitats. Pups double to triple in size in the first 15–17 months of life and continue to grow rapidly until they are 3–4 years old. Sexual maturity is reached at a length of 3.6–4.3 feet for both sexes, corresponding to around five years of age for males and seven years of age for females. The maximum lifespan is estimated to be 15 years. A known parasite of this species is the tapeworm Calliobothrium pritchardae. Behavioral Traits, Sensing and Intelligence: They are active predators. Speed: The Whiskery shark is an active swimmer and predator/hunter. Whiskery Shark Future and Conservation: They are currently of least concern. They are quite common. Some of the population has been depleted by target gillnet fisheries to greater than 30% of the original measured population in the 1960-70’s. In the early 1980’s catches peaked at 400–600 tons taken annually. Fisheries are now managing their numbers, and the population is in a stable position from the mid 1980’s to today. It’s meat, coined flake, was used heavily. Other sharks that are used as flake include the Gummy shark and the Dusky shark. Although populations are stable, in 2004 and 2005 it made up 12% or 153 tons of the Western Australian Joint Authority Southern Demersal Gillnet and Demersal Longline Fishery by weight. Whiskery Shark Recorded Attacks on Humans: Not a threat to humans.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2184
__label__wiki	0.89799	0.89799	Lord MacLean, born Ranald Norman Munro MacLean, is a graduate of the Universities of Cambridge (BA, Clare College), Edinburgh (LLB) and Yale (LLM). Lord Sutherland was the presiding judge at the Lockerbie trial, sitting with Lord Coulsfield and Lord MacLean. Lord Abernethy was an additional judge. He has been a judge since 1990. He was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1964 and appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1977. He served as an Advocate Depute from 1972 to 1975 and was Home Advocate Depute from 1979 to 1982. He has served on the Scottish Legal Aid Board, the Council on Tribunals and the Stewart Committee on Alternatives to Prosecution. Lord MacLean has been a member of the Parole Board for Scotland since 1998, a member of the Secretary of State for Scotland’s Criminal Justice Forum since 1996, and the Chairman of the Governors of Fettes College, Edinburgh since 1996. From 1988 to 1996 he was Chairman of the Council of the Cockburn Association. In January 1999 he was appointed Chairman of a committee whose remit is to review the sentencing and treatment of serious sexual and violent offenders including those with personality disorders. The men in robes BBC News 1 February 2001 The legal lineup The Guardian 4 May 2000	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2187
__label__cc	0.674094	0.325906	Can Egypt’s Muslim Establishment neutralize the anti-Establishment Jihadist narrative? On February 16, 2017 December 13, 2017 By NathanIn Counter-terrorism Below I have translated a February 13th article in Alaph newspaper titled “Daesh and the Muslim Brotherhood Call Upon Their Followers to Kill the Sheikh of Al-Azhar.” It highlights the extent to which the political violence associated with Jihadist movements everywhere in the Muslim World is best understood using this paradigm: Establishment versus Anti-Establishment The basic divides as relates to Egypt in particular: (Group A) Establishment Islam: Al-Azhar University is the epitome of the Muslim Establishment in Egypt. It is the training institute for the vast majority of the clerics who end up preaching at mosques throughout the country. And the second position mentioned throughout the article, the “Mufti of the Republic” is considered the highest-ranking cleric. The Sheikh (President) of Al-Azhar and the Mufti are not “tools” of the Government as some of their critics – both Jihadists and hard-core Leftists often allege. They have massive prestige in the eyes of the overwhelming majority of Egyptians. However, it is true that nobody gets appointed to these very high-level religious posts unless they are seen as “Company Men” by the Government. Most importantly, those Egyptians who are most content with the social-cultural-economic status quo will tend to be most supportive of this “Establishment Islam.” (Group B) Extreme Anti-Establishment Islamism: It goes without saying that Daesh, ISIS, and other Jihadist groups etc are the epitome of the extreme Anti-Establishment. It’s not just card carrying members though who fall within this group. There are also several million passive sympathizers with Daesh or with Jihadist groups in Egypt. They are unlikely to act on those sympathies because the social consequences would be too high for them or their families, but they are there, in the shadows. And nobody has any idea who they are. Will they ever act on their sympathies in the future if an opportune moment arises? Nobody knows. (Group C) Some Vague and Hard to Clarify Point in the Middle: The Muslim Brotherhood is a direct competitor to the Al-Azhar establishment and falls in the Anti-Establishment category to a large extent. Although to be fair to the Muslim Brotherhood, as a caveat, I should mention that the Alaph article is written from an inherently anti-Ikhwan perspective and the evidence cited against them in the article below should be treated with a strong degree of healthy skepticism. That being said, without question, individual members of the Ikhwan have shifted over to the Jihadi world-view in recent years. So if officially as a group the MB structure would be closer to the Establishment (their goal is in fact to be the Establishment), some ex-Ikhwanis have become Jihadis, and many who remain officially as Brotherhood members are in fact Jihadist sympathizers. It is not a neat “either/or” situation as is sometimes portrayed by academics. An individual can have a foot in/sympathies with both camps, and can easily switch back and forth depending upon whatever circumstance may arise. To the article… My translation with some commentary at the end. Daesh and the Muslim Brotherhood Call Upon Their Members to Kill the Sheikh of Al-Azhar Cairo – Consistent with the typical strategy of terrorist organizations to kill and liquidate their opposition, the “Daesh” terrorist organization released a video recording, imploring its followers to carry out assassinations against several members of the Muslim Ulema, in particular, Dr. Ahmed Tayyeb, the head of Al-Azhar. The tape was released by the Daesh-affiliated media office of the “Ninevah Province” and shared on social media. It listed the names of several of the Ulema from Egypt and the Gulf, accusing them of apostasy. The tape, which took the name “Spies not Ulema,” featured recordings of previous statements by these clerics against Daesh, calling them [Daesh] “the Evil Ulema.” The recordings made the accusation that the Fatwas of these [establishment] clerics were the cause of the war against the [Daesh] Organization, and described the killings of the [establishment] Ulema as a “great good and benefit to all.” It called upon its members to carry out assasinations against them when the opportunity arises, whether by way of shooting with a gun, or by slitting their throats. Among the names listed in the recording were Dr. Ali Guma’a, former Mufti of the Republic, Sheikh Mohammed Hassan, in addition to other clerics and preachers. However, the Daesh organization is not the only one in Egypt making such threats against Egyptian religious figures. The Brotherhood terrorist organization called upon its members to target and seek retribution against the Ulema claiming that they are misleading the people with their Fatwas. A page was published on a social media site called “Association of Muslim Ulama Against the Coup (Europe) ” with information about Dr. Ahmed Tayyeb, the head of Al-Azhar, and Dr. Ali-Gum’aa, former Mufti of the Republic, and Dr. Osama al-Azhari, advisor to the President of the Republic. The site included their home addresses, their places of birth, and several fatwas they issued, plus their political views. Also published was their phone numbers and followers were called upon to get in touch and harrass them. Previous Crimes Terrorist groups have already attempted to carry out the killings of the [establishment] clerics in Egypt. On 22 March 2015, the house of Mohammed Mukhtar Gomaa, minister of Religious Endowments, located in the Beni Suef province, south of Cairo, was the target of a terrorist attack. He was not home at the time and therefore was not harmed. In August 2016, Dr. Ali Gumaa, former Mufti, was the target of a failed assassination attempt by terrorist organizations. While leaving his home in 6 October City, and headed towards the nearby Fadel Mosque to give a sermon, unknown assailants fired a gun in his direction. However, the security gaurds tasked with protecting him, returned fire, forcing them to flee, without injuring the Mufti, although one of the gaurds had his foot injured. The threat by terrorist organizations to liquidate religious clerics has caused the Ministry of the Interior to rethink its plans for protecting the leaders of Al-Azhar and its Ulema. According to announcements from Al-Azhar security, The Interior has begun protecting the building, and the office of Dr. Ahmed Tayyeb, head of Al-Azhar. They have decided to ban cars from entering the area to meet with the Sheikh. They have also provided an alternative site to the [sports] playing field in the vicinity of the Al-Azhar campus. In addition, bomb sniffing dogs make regular rounds and other tactics are used. According to security reports, the Ministry of the Interior decided to assign two high-level security gauds to Dr. Tayyeb, and provide his convoy with 2 four wheel drive vehicles. As for the security arrangements for the Minister of Endowments, the Interior Ministry assigned him a 4 wheel drive car, with 3 armed guards to protect against any future threats. They also decided to increase the number of guards for clerics holding leadership positions throughout Egypt, such as Dr. Sowki Alaam, Mufti of the Republic, and Dr. Ali Gomma, the former Mutfi, and several members of the High Azhar commission. Ikhwan Violence: Al-Azhar, via the 2nd meeting of the High Council of Islamic studies, published a report titled “Protitutes and Khawaraj”, discussing the position of Shariah [Islamic Law] towards terrorist groups such as the Brotherhood and others such as Ansar Beet Al-Maqqaddis and the Daesh Organization, which advocate violence, and are not committed to the principle of obedience to the Wali Al-Amar [ruler]. It reaffirmed that there are organizations that don’t believe in the parts from the scriptures advocating Unity, in order to strive to take over power, or other partisan motivations, and using religion as a cover to hide other motivations. These have been around since the furthest times. Al-Azhar states that those who take up arms, and kill themselves, those are the fighters concerning whom Allah said “the recompense of those who fight Allah and his messenger, and seek to make corruption in the land, is that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from alternate sides or that they be banished from the land; that is their disgrace in this world and in the Hereafter they will have a great torment.” Based on this, the ruler is free to choose any of the the punishments listened in the verse for whoever takes up arms and kills civilians, keeping in mind that what is meant by banishment is exile from the land of Islam to the lands of Polytheism. A Dangerous Matter Dr. Shawki Abdel Latif, a member of the Association of Al-Azhar graduates, confirmed that that the Muslim Brotherhood organization wants to get rid of Dr. Tayyeb, the Sheikh of Al-Azhar, given his position as one of the strongest supporters of Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi during the Revolution of 30 July. He noted that Egyptian clerics were exposed to attacks and liquidations by armed terrorist groups, although thanks be to Allah they fortunately failed. But this certainly doesn’t mean that these clerics wouldn’t be exposed to attacks in the future. Therefore, the matter requires close watch by security forces. Dr. Abdel Latif stated to Alaph that Al-Azhar is being called upon to urgently rethink matters on the issue of Excommunicating (Takfir) Daesh and those affiliated terrorist groups, following their publicizing of threats to kill religious clerics. They have to be overcome decisively,” reiterating that their the act of killing other Muslims is a far graver matter than [merely] being outside of the Muslim fold.” Security Control: In this context, General Nasr Musa, a security expert, told Alaph that “the Interior Ministry is capable of guarding Egypt’s religious clerics, and in recent days measures have been strengthened to protect the leaders of Al-Azhar, especially Dr. Ahmed Tayyeb. He pointed out that the Ministry of the Interior takes these threats seriously, especially given that the war on terrorism is a Long-Game. And the Muslim Brotherhood wants to get rid of the Al-Azhar clerics, given that they were one of the reasons for the fall of the Brotherhood, and the Sheikh of Azhar fiercly resisted the numerous attempts by former President Morsi and his supporters to gain control over Azhar. My Commentary (1) To actively”Takfir” Daesh or not? This is a very important point in the 3rd paragraph from the bottom. Official Muslim clerics in the Middle East are extremely reluctant to clearly declare groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS outside the fold. They do not do it even if it’s commonly assumed they do on PC American university campuses. Will they in the future if they start taking out Egypt’s high-level clerics? That would be a huge development. (2) Will the Establishment vs Anti-Establishment brawl grow worse? Nobody knows what the future holds. But my inclination is that Establishment-Anti-Establishment tension described in the above article is likely to get much more violent. What we see in this article is merely a reflection of the Zero-Sum nature of Egyptian society, given the limited number of economic resources (jobs, status) available and such a large number of people. A huge number of Egyptians can not and will not be content under any circumstances because of that. Therefore, the “demand” for anti-Establishment Islamist narratives is growing and probably has to grow. At the other extreme – say Qatar – we never read about people from that country joining Jihadist groups for a very simple reason. The basic reason is because of the fact that they only have 300,000 people with massive wealth to spread around. When a secretary makes $75,000/per year, as is the case in Qatar, nothing is Zero Sum. Therefore, Establishment Islam is sufficient to take care of everyone. There is no “demand” for anti-Establishment Islamist narratives. Do you want to get more content like this? Sign up to receive new posts directly via the email box in the upper-right or by following the blog on twitter (@nathanrfield1). AzharDaeshEgyptISISMuslim Brotherhood Why have Jihadists failed at implementing the Daesh “approach” in Sinai? Book review: The way of strangers, Encounters with the Islamic State 4 thoughts on “Can Egypt’s Muslim Establishment neutralize the anti-Establishment Jihadist narrative?” arabist Azhar has given its reasons for not declaring IS “kaffir” and they are very good: we have enough problems with takfirism as it is without a major theological authority endorsing it. No Muslim should have the ability to declare another Muslim non-Muslim. One would hope Azhar will extend this to hesba cases. It has however condemned IS and called it deviant etc. IS is not inventing stuff in Islam, it is using interpretations of the Quran and Sunna that are either marginal or rarely acted upon by normal people. And of course it is frequently ramming these interpretations into the minds of its recruits that have very little religious knowledge for the most part. Great points – Thanks for sharing this insight on the Takfir issue. One wonders if there is a certain point that a group could cross inside Egypt and get themselves officially Takfired. It would have to be something truly massive. Pingback: What people in the Middle East are actually talking about re “radical Islamic terrorism” the day after Trump’s speech Pingback: Book review: The way of strangers, Encounters with the Islamic State	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2196
__label__wiki	0.878161	0.878161	Apple to store your fingerprints in the cloud, ripe for hackers and NSA surveillance Saturday, January 31, 2015 by: J. D. Heyes Tags: Apple privacy, fingerprint storage, NSA surveillance https://www.naturalnews.com/048464_Apple_privacy_fingerprint_storage_NSA_surveillance.html (NaturalNews) In the digital age, when governments including ours are increasingly concerned about waging the next war, in large part, via the Internet, Americans' constitutional right to privacy seems a quaint anachronism. Successive presidential administrations, as well as Congress, appear to have ceded complete control to the intelligence community when it comes to deciding not when, but if, such protections are even warranted, and all in the name of "national security." What's worse, though, is that American technology companies appear ready, willing and able to assist in the constitutional usurpation; one such company is Apple. According to Business Insider, the tech giant and media company is considering a new technology that would enable storage of customers' biometric data, like fingerprints, in the iCloud, ostensibly to enable "next-generation" payment methods. A new patent application, found by Apple Insider, says "[f]inger biometric sensor data synchronization via a cloud computing device and related methods" would be stored, with one possible use being a means to authorize a "financial transaction." "Simply put, this means Apple is considering using its cloud hosting service iCloud to store customers' fingerprints, so they can be synced to other devices when required -- such as to pay for a purchase," Business Insider reported. All that may "be about to change" The name of Apple's biometric verification app is Touch ID; it was first introduced, you may recall, with the iPhone 5S as a security mechanism. Users were instructed to press a finger on the home button, so they could unlock their phone for use. By doing so, the phone verified a users' identity. Also, the Touch ID app could be used to make purchases via Apple Pay. As further noted by Business Insider: Apple has previously emphasised the security measures used for securing Touch ID biometric data, including encrypting and storing it in a "Secure Enclave" on the A7 chip. "Other apps never access your fingerprint data," their website says. "It's never stored on Apple servers, and it's never backed up to iCloud or anywhere else." However, if the proposed measure is implemented, all that may be about to change. Worse, iCloud's security reputation has been tarnished already. In 2013, the intimate photos of scores of high-profile celebrities were hacked and then leaked on the Internet in a scandal known as "CelebGate." Apple's iCloud service, Business Insider notes, was identified as being the source of the photos. Also, as reported by a number of media outlets, Apple was one of the many tech companies that cooperated with the National Security Agency's "Prism" program, which is able to access user data. As reported by The Guardian in Britain: The NSA access is part of a previously undisclosed program called Prism, which allows officials to collect material including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats... Initially, most tech companies, including Apple, denied that they cooperated with national security officials to permit snooping of their users' data. But The New York Times reported in June 2013 that officials from several tech firms, including Apple, did indeed negotiate for cooperation. "This patent is in keeping with what we know of Apple" What's more, the Times noted, the companies had little legal recourse: The companies that negotiated with the government include Google, which owns YouTube; Microsoft, which owns Hotmail and Skype; Yahoo; Facebook; AOL; Apple; and Paltalk, according to one of the people briefed on the discussions. The companies were legally required to share the data under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. People briefed on the discussions spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are prohibited by law from discussing the content of FISA requests or even acknowledging their existence. Now, Apple seems ready to make it easier for hackers -- or the government -- to continue tracking users. Business Insider noted that it is important to point out that Apple files thousands of patents, in a bid to head off competitors, that never actually make it into products. However, "this patent is in keeping with what we know of Apple's intentions, particularly its pushing of Apple Pay," the news site reported. http://www.businessinsider.com http://appleinsider.com http://support.apple.com http://www.theguardian.com http://news.yahoo.com http://www.nytimes.com Apple privacy at FETCH.news	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2198
__label__wiki	0.956656	0.956656	Observer elects next top editor Observer Staff Report \| Thursday, January 22, 2015 The Observer General Board elected Associate Sports Editor Greg Hadley to the position of Editor-in-Chief for 2015-2016 on Wednesday. Hadley, a junior resident of Carroll Hall, is a double major in Political Science and American Studies with a minor in Journalism, Ethics and Democracy. The Rockville, Maryland, native has served as both Baraka Bouts and Bengal Bouts editor in 2013-2014 and covered the Notre Dame women’s basketball team and men’s lacrosse team during their Final Four runs last season. “This position is both an honor and an opportunity, and I am very grateful to have it,” Hadley said. “The Editorial Board this year has done tremendous work, and I’m really looking forward to building off all that they’ve accomplished.” Hadley has also covered Notre Dame women’s golf, men’s tennis, women’s soccer, cross country and track and field, and spent the past year helping to coordinate all of The Observer’s sports coverage. “Greg has become an absolutely indispensable member of the staff this year, and I know he will do a fantastic job leading The Observer in the coming year,” outgoing Editor-in-Chief Ann Marie Jakubowski said. “I can’t wait to see what he accomplishes with his great talent, passion and work ethic.” “We have a great group of people on staff, and I am confident that we will continue to be an outstanding news source for the rest of campus,” Hadley said. “I will continue to look for ways to improve and learn as much as I can.” Hadley will take on his new position March 1. Tags: Editor-in-Chief About Observer Staff Report Contact Observer Staff Report Observer appoints top editor The Observer General Board elected News Editor Ann Marie Jakubowski as the 2014-15 Editor-in-Chief... Professor named Editor-in-Chief of new journal Observer elects next Editor-in-Chief	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2200
__label__wiki	0.715669	0.715669	Archive for the ‘September 16’ Category Feast of Sts. Cyprian of Carthage, Cornelius of Rome, Lucius I of Rome, and Stephen I of Rome (September 16) 5 comments Above: Carthage and Rome Image in the Public Domain +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ SAINT CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE (190/210-SEPTEMBER 14, 258) Bishop of Carthage, and Martyr Born Thascius Caecillianus Cyprianus His feast day = September 16 Alternative feast days = August 31, September 15, September 26, and October 2 SAINT CORNELIUS OF ROME (DIED IN JUNE 253) Bishop of Rome SAINT LUCIUS I OF ROME (DIED MARCH 5, 254) His feast transferred from March 4 SAINT STEPHEN I OF ROME (DIED AUGUST 2, 257) His feast transferred from August 2 Whoso stands aloof from the Church and is joined to an adulteress [a schismatic sect] is cut off from the promises given to the Church; and he that leaves the Church of Christ attains not to Christ’s rewards. He is an alien, an outcast, an enemy. He cannot have God for his father who has not the Church for his mother. –St. Cyprian of Carthage, On the Unity of the Church; quoted in Henry Bettenson and Chris Mander, eds., Documents of the Christian Church, 3d. ed. (1998), 80 September 15 is the Feast of St. Cyprian of Carthage in The Episcopal Church. The saint has more than one feast day, not one of them September 14, the anniversary of his death. September 14 is, after all, the Feast of the Holy Cross. Of all the feast days of St. Cyprian September 16 makes the most sense for my purposes as I continue to renovate my Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days because (1) September 16 is the Feast of St. Cornelius of Rome, and (2) one cannot explain the lives of either St. Cyprian or St. Cornelius properly in isolation from each other. Most persecution of Christianity in the Roman Empire was local and sporadic. Sometimes, however, an emperor launched an empire-wide persecution. Roman pagan orthodoxy, such as it was, mixed politics, religion, and civic duty. The reasoning was that the empire would prosper as long as the gods allowed. A civic duty, therefore, was to sacrifice to the gods on behalf of the empire. Jews were exempt from this obligation, but had to pay a tax instead. Gentiles who refused to make such a sacrifice were not fulfilling their civic duty, as the government defined it. As Christianity grew, more and more Gentiles refused. Was Christianity a threat to the future of the empire? Were Christians threats to imperial security? Above: St. Cyprian of Carthage St. Cyprian, born in Carthage between 190 and 210, was a pagan rhetorician until he converted to Christianity circa 246. Within two years he had progressed from convert to deacon to priest then, in 248, to Bishop of Carthage, a post he held for the rest of his life, that is, until 258. St. Cyprian was one of the most influential Christian leaders of the 250s. The Emperor Decius (reigned 249-251), unlike his tolerant predecessor, Philip I (reigned 244-249), considered Christianity to be a threat to the future of the Roman Empire. Decius forced St. Cyprian to flee Carthage; the bishop governed his diocese remotely. St. Fabian, Bishop of Rome from 236 to 250, became a martyr. A committee of clergymen, with Novatian (circa 200-258) as the spokesman, governed the Church for fourteen months. In March 251, toward the end of the reign of Decius, a papal election was finally safe. Novatian expected to win, but St. Cornelius did instead. Above: St. Cornelius of Rome In 251, when St. Cyprian returned to Carthage, he had to contend with the question of how to deal with people who had committed apostasy by renouncing their Christian faith during the Decian persecution. Some confessors were overly eager to readmit the lapsed on the grounds of the merits of the martyrs. This displeased St. Cyprian, who insisted that apostates must perform penance in order for reconciliation to occur. This penance, the Bishop of Carthage said, must be suitably long. St. Cornelius agreed. The policy would become the policy church-wide, the Bishop of Rome decreed. Novatian disagreed. In March 251, via a schismatic papal election, he established himself as a rival Bishop of Rome. St. Cornelius excommunicated Novatian and his followers. The Novatianist sect was ridiculously morally rigorous, teaching that there was no forgiveness for serious sins one committed after one’s baptism. The schism persisted in Armenia and Mesopotamia until the 400s, and later elsewhere. Sts. Cyprian and Cornelius did not always have friendly relations. The Bishop of Carthage had initially been dubious about the election of St. Cornelius, but had quickly accepted it. St. Cyprian even helped St. Cornelius to win the support of many Roman clergymen who might otherwise have supported Novatian. In the summer of 252, however, St. Cornelius received envoys of Fortunatus, a bishop rival to St. Cyprian. The Bishop of Rome did not side with Fortunatus, but St. Cyprian complained in writing about the meeting. The next emperor was Gallus (reigned 251-253), initially tolerant of Christianity. The reign of Gallus was one disaster after another. A plague swept through the empire. In Carthage Christians became scapegoats for the plague. There were also barbarian invasions as well as military defeats on the Persian frontier. Gallus distracted much criticism of him by resuming the persecution of Christianity in June 252. That month the imperial government forced St. Cornelius into exile at Centumcellae (now Civitavecchia, the port of Rome). The Bishop of Rome died in June 253. The empire seemed to be coming apart; a civil war seemed unavoidable. Gallus had two rivals (both generals) for the imperial throne. In July 253 he died at the hands of his soldiers, who preferred assassinating their emperor to fighting a losing battle in which they would die in vain. Aemilian, the next emperor, reigned for a few months until dying the same way. The next emperor was Valerian (reigned 253-260), initially tolerant of Christianity. Above: St. Lucius I St. Lucius I, elected Bishop of Rome on June 23, 253, had been in exile during the persecution under Gallus. St. Cyprian wrote to St. Lucius I, who maintained the policy of St. Cornelius vis-á-vis repentant apostates. The Bishop of Carthage congratulated the new Bishop of Rome for faithful suffering, and welcomed him back to Rome. St. Lucius I died of natural causes on March 5, 254. Above: St. Stephen I St. Stephen I, elected Bishop of Rome on May 12, 254, had conflicts with St. Cyprian. St. Stephen I readmitted two lapsed Spanish bishops to the Church. St. Cyprian did not agree that the Spanish bishops had repented of their apostasy. He convened a synod of north African bishops. The synod decreed that the Spanish bishops were still apostates, and that they had deceived the Bishop of Rome. Marcian, Bishop of Arles, was, like Novatian, a moral rigorist who refused forgiveness and reconciliation, to repentant apostates–even on deathbeds. Some local bishops petitioned St. Stephen I to depose Marcian. St. Cyprian urged the Bishop of Rome to excommunicate and depose Marcian. St. Stephen I refused on all counts. Sts. Stephen I and Cyprian disagreed about the rebaptism of people baptized by heretics, i.e., Novatianists. The Bishop of Carthage argued that such baptisms were almost always invalid. He contended that the sacrament was valid only within the Church, so rebaptism was necessary in most of these cases. The Bishop of Rome, however, regarded baptisms by heretics as generally valid. Therefore, according to St. Stephen I, absolution via the laying on of hands was the only requirement for reconciliation of heretics. He refused to permit the churches in Asia Minor to hold valid Eucharists due to their practice of rebaptizing heretics. However, St. Cyprian convened two synods (in 255 and 256) that reaffirmed his position. Ironically, Novatian and St. Cyprian had something in common, for Novatian refused to accept orthodox Catholic baptisms, just as St. Cyprian refused to accept Novatianist baptisms. St. Stephen I was doing something new; he became the first Bishop of Rome to claim the primacy of his office based on succession from St. Simon Peter. What the Bishop of Rome said, went. St. Cyprian was having none of it, despite his acknowledgment of St. Simon Peter as the rock upon which Jesus founded the Church. One may wonder what the long-term consequences of the dispute between Sts. Stephen I and Cyprian would have been. One must, however, consign those thoughts to the realm of the counterfactual. One should also consider St. Cyprian’s condemnation of schism as sinful. Circumstances ended the dispute. St. Stephen I died of natural causes on August 2, 257. The next Bishop of Rome was St. Sixtus II. In August 257 Valerian, seeking to distract attention from ample imperial woes, resumed the empire-wide persecution of Christianity. St. Cyprian, forced into exile again, eventually returned to Carthage, where he became a martyr on September 14, 258. Novatian also died in 258, perhaps as a martyr during the persecution under Valerian. Valerian’s persecution did much to damage the Church, which survived, of course. St. Sixtus II and many clergy died. The empire also confiscated Church property. Nevertheless, St. Dionysius, the Bishop of Rome from 260 to 268, rebuilt the Church. He also had to contend with the issue of rebaptism. Valerian failed. The position of the Roman Catholic Church on baptism is that all Christian baptisms are valid. Defects in the intentions of those who administer baptism render a baptism invalid, hence the Church’s refusal to accept Mormon baptisms. AUGUST 14, 2018 COMMON ERA THE FEAST OF WILLIAM CROFT, ANGLICAN ORGANIST AND COMPOSER THE FEAST OF MATTHIAS CLAUDIUS, GERMAN LUTHERAN WRITER THE FEAST OF SAINT MAXIMILIAN KOLBE, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1941; AND JONATHAN MYRICK DANIELS, EPISCOPAL SEMINARIAN AND MARTYR, 1965 THE FEAST OF SARAH FLOWER ADAMS, ENGLISH UNITARIAN HYMN WRITER; AND HER SISTER, ELIZA FLOWER, ENGLISH UNITARIAN COMPOSER Heavenly Father, Shepherd of your people, we thank you for your servants Saint Cyprian of Carthage, Saint Cornelius of Rome, Saint Lucius I of Rome, and Saint Stephen I of Rome, who were faithful in the care and nurture of your flock; and we pray that, following their examples and teachings of their holy lives, we may by your grace grow into the stature of the fullness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Ezekiel 34:11-16 –Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), 718 Posted August 14, 2018 by neatnik2009 in Bishops of Rome, Saints of 200-249, Saints of 250-299, September 16 Tagged with Aemilian, Decius, Gallus, Marcian of Arles, Novatian, Novatianism, Philip I of the Roman Empire, St. Cornelius of Rome, St. Cyprian of Carthage, St. Dionysius of Rome, St. Fabian, St. Lucius I of Rome, St. Simon Peter, St. Sixtus II, St. Stephen I of Rome, Valerian Feast of James Carney (September 16) Leave a comment Above: Honduras and Nicaragua, 1957 Scanned from Hammond’s World Atlas–Classics Edition (1957) JAMES FRANCIS CARNEY (OCTOBER 28, 1924-SEPTEMBER 16, 1983) U.S.-Honduran Roman Catholic Priest, Missionary, Revolutionary, and Martyr, 1983 Also known as Padre Guadeloupe To be a Christian is to be a revolutionary. –Father James Carney The national security policy that justifies everything that is done in terms of U.S. security is an evil policy. Father Carney got in trouble because he fell in love with poor people. Other people get in trouble because they fall in love with riches and power and glory and pomposity. –Joseph Connolly, brother-in-law of James Carney James Francis Carney took up his cross and followed Jesus to his death. Carney, born in Chicago, Illinois, on October 28, 1924, grew up in a devout and middle-class Roman Catholic family in the Middle West. He was an altar boy, a football player, and a member of the St. Louis University High School Class of 1942. Our saint attended St. Louis University on a football scholarship. While playing the sport he injured a knee; he had a bad knee for the rest of his life. Myopia and a bad knee did not prevent conscription into the U.S. Army during World War II. He, serving in the European Theater as a member of the Army Corps of Engineers, found living piously in the military difficult. The frequent profanity proved especially disturbing. Carney’s life changed after the war. In 1946 he resumed studies at St. Louis University for a year. Our saint matriculated at the University of Detroit, to study civil engineering, in 1947, but left after a year. Religious life was calling. While at Detroit Carney first read Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. He spent the rest of his life synthesizing Christianity and Marxism. In 1948 our saint matriculated at St. Stanislaus Seminary, Flourissant, Missouri. Carney joined the Society of Jesus. He served as a missionary in British Honduras (now Belize) from 1955 to 1958 then studied at St. Mary’s College, St. Mary’s, Kansas. He became a priest in 1961. Honduras has a sad political history. The economically underdeveloped country has a long record of military dictatorships and corrupt and repressive governments. Poverty is rampant, entrenched, and intergenerational, and institutional. As in other parts of the former Spanish Empire, relatively few people own most of the land, control the majority of the wealth, and resist attempted at the redistribution of land, wealth, and political power. From 1961 to 1979 Carney was a missionary priest in Honduras. He, devoted to Our Lady of Guadeloupe, preferred that the peasants (campesinos) among whom he ministered call him “Padre Guadeloupe.” Our saint, not content to stop at administering sacraments, became a social and political revolutionary for justice. He identified with the peasants and lived as they did. He became active in the peasants’ union, advocated for land reform, became a Honduran citizen, and came to identify as a “Marxist-Christian.” He criticized the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in Honduras for their close relationship with the United Fruit Company, which paid far below a living wage, thereby exacerbating poverty. Our saint also condemned U.S. imperialism in Latin America. Carney, after spending a few weeks at St. Louis University in 1979, moved to Nicaragua, where the Sandinistas had recently deposed Anastasio Somoza Debayle, the U.S.-backed dictator. After spending a few years as a member of a revolutionary society, Carney decided to return to Honduras. Doing so was dangerous. The U.S.-supported government there arrested or executed alleged subversives–including leftists, liberals, and union activists. Death squads were active in the Honduran Army. This was the government that, according to U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1983, was promoting democracy. The Honduran government was not promoting democracy while murdering or arresting its politically troublesome citizens. It was, however, providing a base of operations for the U.S.-backed, anti-Sandinista Contras. Carney, who resigned from the Society of Jesus in June 1983, had become a committed revolutionary. He regarded the wealth of the Vatican with disgust and recoiled at bourgeois Christians who supported causes he considered antithetical to the faith. His pacifism was gone; some violence was sadly necessary, Carney understood. On July 19, 1983, Carney returned to Honduras as the chaplain to a small band of guerrillas. The Honduran Army captured or killed the unit quickly; Carney disappeared. There were, over the years, various proposed fates for Padre Guadeloupe. The most likely one was that, on Friday, September 19, 1983, the Honduran Army, having tortured Carney, threw him out of a helicopter above a mountain. Perhaps the priest died when he hit the ground. Officially, nobody recovered Carney’s physical remains–just his stole and chalice. Carney’s family has attempted to learn of his fate and what the U.S. Government knows about it. A federal judge, citing national security, dismissed a lawsuit. Requests under the Freedom of Information Act have revealed answers, but mostly indirectly. In 1999 the Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) released many pages of documentation; 75 of those pages were entirely blacked out. Members of the the family have also had good reasons to suspect that the federal government has tapped their telephones. The truth of the matter seems clear, especially considering the many redactions and the appeals to national security: The Honduran Army executed Carney with the support of the U.S. Government, which does not want to admit this. Carney, in his 1983 autobiography, “The Metamorphosis of a Revolutionary,” wrote: Since my novitiate, I have asked Christ for the Grace to be able to imitate him, even to martyrdom, to the giving of my life, to being killed for the cause of Christ. And I strongly believe that Christ might give me this tremendous Grace to become a martyr for justice. –Quoted in Robert Ellsberg, All Saints (1997), 404-405 The United States of America is, unlike many other nation-states, a country founded on high ideals, which the U.S. Government and society has a long record of trampling, unfortunately. Human nature makes no exceptions because of U.S. citizenship. When my country is at its best, it seeks to live those ideals, embodied most nobly in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, especially the Fourteenth Amendment. The case of James Carney’s fate and the subsequent cover-up of U.S. Government knowledge of if poses a difficult question: If a government founded on high ideals consistently makes a mockery of them, how are citizens supposed to respond to that hypocrisy? God of the poor, the oppressed, and the powerless, we confess our sins, which we have committed either in knowledge or ignorance, and which have harmed those less fortunate, many of them far away. We acknowledge that, despite our best intentions, we are complicit in the sins of our society, governments, institutions, and corporations. We have the blood of innocents, many of whom we will never encounter, on our hands. As we praise you and thank you for the moral courage of Father James Carney to take up his cross and follow Christ, we also pray that you will forgive us and grant us the necessary grace to confess and repent of our sins, and to act, as you lead us, to help the poor, the oppressed, and the powerless. We pray through Jesus of Nazareth, executed unjustly as a criminal and a threat to imperial security. In the Name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Amos 8:4-8 THE FEAST OF JOHN HENRY HOPKINS, JR., EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND HYMNODIST; AND HIS NEPHEW, JOHN HENRY HOPKINS, III, EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND MUSICIAN THE FEAST OF ELIZABETH PAYSON PRENTISS, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN HYMN WRITER THE FEAST OF JEREMY TAYLOR, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF DOWN, CONNOR, AND DROMORE THE FEAST OF JOHN BAJUS, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN TRANSLATOR This is post #1600 of SUNDRY THOUGHTS. Posted August 13, 2018 by neatnik2009 in Martyrs of Latin America, Political Statements 2018, Saints of 1930-1939, Saints of 1940-1949, Saints of 1950-1959, Saints of 1960-1969, Saints of 1970-1979, Saints of 1980-1989, September 16 Tagged with Anastasio Somoza Debayle, Friedrich Engels, James Carney, Karl Marx, Marxism, Robert Ellsberg, Ronald Reagan Feast of Martin Behm (September 16) 1 comment Above: Bohemia, Silesia, and Vienna, 1559 Image Source = Hammond’s World Atlas–Classics Edition (1967) Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ MARTIN BEHM (SEPTEMBER 16, 1557-FEBRUARY 5, 1622) German Lutheran Minister and Hymn Writer My occasional tour of German Lutheran ministers who wrote hymns continues with an account of the life of Martin Behm, a native of Lauban, Silesia (now Luban, Poland). His father, Hans, was a town overseer at Lauban. In 1574, during a longterm famine, Dr. Paul Fabricus, a relative and a royal physician, took our saint to Vienna. Behm lived in Vienna from 1574 to 1576, working as a private tutor. Studies at Strassburg, Austria, followed. Then, in May 1580, after his father died, our saint went home, as his mother had requested. Behm’s adult life in Lauban was eventual. At first he worked as an assistant in the town school. Then, on September 20, 1581, he received ordination as the deacon of Holy Trinity Church. Three years later, the senior pastor, Sigismund Schwabe, accepted a position in Breslau. The town council kept the senior pastor position vacant until 1586, when it offered the job to Behm. He served with distinction for 36 years, shepherding his flock through an earthquake (1590), pestilence (1613), and war (1619). He was also a renowned preacher. Behm delivered 150 sermons on the Passion of Jesus and 463 on the Psalter alone. His emphasis on the Passion was also evident in many of his nearly 500 hymns, only four of which exist in English transactions and three of which are in common use in the English-speaking world. On the personal front, Behm married Ursula Romer, daughter of Casper Romer, the church administrator, in November 1582. The couple had eleven children. One son became a deacon and worked with Behm in the church. Our saint preached his last sermon on the Tenth Sunday After Trinity, 1621. Shortly thereafter he became severely ill. Behm died after spending 24 weeks in his sick-bed. His legacy has survived, however. APRIL 18, 2015 COMMON ERA THE FEAST OF DONALD S. ARMENTROUT, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER AND SCHOLAR THE FEAST OF CALVIN WEISS LAUFER, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMNODIST THE FEAST OF ROGER WILLIAMS, FOUNDER OF RHODE ISLAND THE FEAST OF WILLIAM PENNEFATHER, ANGLICAN PRIEST, HUMANITARIAN, AND HYMN WRITER; AND HIS WIFE, CATHERINE KING PENNEFATHER, HUMANITARIAN AND HYMN WRITER Heavenly Father, shepherd of your people, we thank you for your servant Martin Behm, who was faithful in the care and nurture of your flock. We pray that, following his example and the teaching of his holy life, we may by your grace attain our full maturity in Christ, through the same Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, –Adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 60 Posted April 18, 2015 by neatnik2009 in Saints of 1560-1569, Saints of 1570-1579, Saints of 1580-1589, Saints of 1590-1599, Saints of 1600-1609, Saints of 1610-1619, Saints of 1620-1629, September 16 Tagged with Martin Behm Saints’ Days and Holy Days for September Leave a comment Forget-Me-Nots Image Source = Wilder Kaiser 1 (Dionysius Exiguus, Roman Catholic Monk and Reformer of the Calendar) David Pendleton Oakerhater, Cheyenne Warrior, Chief, and Holy Man, and Episcopal Deacon and Missionary in Oklahoma Fiacre, Roman Catholic Hermit François Mauriac, French Roman Catholic Novelist, Christian Humanist, and Social Critic 2 (Martyrs of New Guinea, 1942 and 1943) David Charles, Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Minister and Hymn Writer Dianna Ortiz, U.S. Roman Catholic Nun and Anti-Torture Activist William of Roskilde, English-Danish Roman Catholic Bishop 3 (Jedediah Weiss, U.S. Moravian Craftsman, Merchant, and Musician) Arthur Carl Lichtenberger, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, and Witness for Civil Rights F. Crawford Burkitt, Anglican Scholar, Theologian, Hymn Writer, and Hymn Translator James Bolan Lawrence, Episcopal Priest and Missionary in Southwestern Georgia, U.S.A. Sundar Singh, Indian Christian Evangelist 4 (Paul Jones, Episcopal Bishop of Utah, and Peace Activist; and his colleague, John Nevin Sayre, Episcopal Priest and Peace Activist) Birinus of Dorchester, Roman Catholic Bishop of Dorchester, and the “Apostle of Wessex” E. F. Schumacher, German-British Economist and Social Critic Gorazd of Prague, Orthodox Bishop of Moravia and Silesia, Metropolitan of the Czech Lands and Slovakia, Hierarch of the Orthodox Church in Czechoslovakia, and Martyr, 1942 William McKane, Scottish Presbyterian Minister and Biblical Scholar 5 (Carl Johannes Sodergren, U.S. Lutheran Minister and Theologian; and his colleague, Claus August Wendell, Swedish-American Lutheran Minister and Theologian) Athol Hill, Australian Baptist Biblical Scholar and Social Prophet Teresa of Calcutta, Founder of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity William F. Albright and G. Ernest Wright, U.S. Biblical Scholars and Archaeologists William Morton Reynolds, U.S. Lutheran Minister, Episcopal Priest, Educator, and Hymn Translator 6 (Charles Fox, Anglican Missionary in Melanesia) Aaron Robarts Wolfe, U.S. Presbyterian Minister and Hymn Writer Allen Crite, Artist Joseph Gomer and Mary Gomer, U.S. United Brethren Missionaries in Sierra Leone 7 (Beyers Naudé, South African Dutch Reformed Minister and Anti-Apartheid Activist) Elie Naud, Huguenot Witness to the Faith Hannah More, Anglican Poet, Playwright, Religious Writer, and Philanthropist Jane Laurie Borthwick and Sarah Borthwick Findlater, Scottish Presbyterian Translators of Hymns John Duckett and Ralph Corby, Roman Catholic Priests and Martyrs in England, 1644 Kassiani the Hymnographer, Byzantine Abbess, Poet, Composer, Hymn Writer, and Defender of Icons 8 (Nikolai Grundtvig, Danish Lutheran Minister, Bishop, Historian, Philosopher, Poet, Educator, and Hymn Writer) Gottfried Wilhelm Sacer, German Lutheran Attorney and Hymn Writer; and Frances Elizabeth Cox, English Hymn Writer and Translator Shepherd Knapp, U.S. Congregationalist Minister and Hymn Writer Søren Kierkegaard, Danish Philosopher and Theologian, and Father of Existentialism Wladyslaw Bladzinski, Polish Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1944 9 (Martyrs of Memphis, Tennessee, 1878) Francis Borgia, “Second Founder of the Society of Jesus;” Peter Faber, Apostle of Germany, and Co-Founder of the Society of Jesus; Alphonsus Rodriguez, Spanish Jesuit Lay Brother; and Peter Claver, “Apostle to the Negroes” Lucy Jane Rider Meyer, Novelist, Hymn Writer, Medical Doctor, and Founder of the Deaconess Movement in the Methodist Episcopal Church Sarah Mapps Douglass, U.S. African-American Quaker Abolitionist, Writer, Painter, and Lecturer William Chatterton Dix, English Hymn Writer and Hymn Translator 10 (Alexander Crummell, U.S. African-American Episcopal Priest, Missionary, and Moral Philosopher) Lynn Harold Hough, U.S. Methodist Minister, Theologian, and Biblical Scholar Mordecai Johnson, Educator Nemesian of Sigum and His Companions, Roman Catholic Bishops and Martyrs, 257 Salvius of Albi, Roman Catholic Bishop 11 (Paphnutius the Great, Roman Catholic Bishop of Upper Thebaid) Anne Houlditch Shepherd, Anglican Novelist and Hymn Writer Jean-Gabriel Perboyre, French Roman Catholic Priest, Missionary, and Martyr in China, 1840 John Stainer and Walter Galpin Alcock, Anglican Church Organists and Composers Patiens of Lyons, Roman Catholic Archbishop 12 (Kaspar Bienemann, German Lutheran Minister and Hymn Writer) Ernest Edwin Ryder, U.S. Lutheran Minister, Hymn Writer, Hymn Translator, and Hymnal Editor Franciscus Ch’oe Kyong-Hwan, Korean Roman Catholic Catechist and Martyr, 1839; Lawrence Mary Joseph Imbert, Pierre Philibert Maubant, and Jacques Honoré Chastán, French Roman Catholic Priests, Missionaries to Korea, and Martyrs, 1839; Paul Chong Hasang, Korean Roman Catholic Seminarian and Martyr, 1839; and Cecilia Yu Sosa and Jung Hye, Korean Roman Catholic Martyrs, 1839 William Josiah Irons, Anglican Priest, Hymn Writer, and Hymn Translator; and his daughter, Genevieve Mary Irons, Roman Catholic Hymn Writer 13 (Peter of Chelcic, Bohemian Hussite Reformer; and Gregory the Patriarch, Founder of the Moravian Church) Frederick J. Murphy, U.S. Roman Catholic Biblical Scholar Godfrey Thring, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer Jane Crewdson, English Quaker Poet and Hymn Writer Narayan Seshadri of Jalna, Indian Presbyterian Evangelist and “Apostle to the Mangs” Robert Guy McCutchan, U.S. Methodist Hymnal Editor and Hymn Tune Composer 14 (HOLY CROSS) 15 (Martyrs of Birmingham, Alabama, September 15, 1963) Charles Edward Oakley, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer George Henry Trabert, U.S. Lutheran Minister, Missionary, and Hymn Translator and Author James Chisholm, Episcopal Priest Philibert and Aicardus of Jumieges, Roman Catholic Abbots 16 (Cyprian of Carthage, Bishop and Martyr, 258; and Cornelius, Lucius I, and Stephen I, Bishops of Rome) James Francis Carney, U.S.-Honduran Roman Catholic Priest, Missionary, Revolutionary, and Martyr, 1983 Martin Behm, German Lutheran Minister and Hymn Writer 17 (Jutta of Disibodenberg, Roman Catholic Abbess; and her student, Hildegard of Bingen, Roman Catholic Abbess and Composer) Zygmunt Szcesny Felinski, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Warsaw, Titutlar Bishop of Tarsus, and Founder of Recovery for the Poor and the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary Zygmunt Sajna, Polish Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1940 18 (Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary-General of the United Nations) Amos Niven Wilder, U.S. Congregationalist Minister, Poet, Literary Critic, and Biblical Scholar Edward Bouverie Pusey, Anglican Priest Henry Lascelles Jenner, Anglican Bishop of Dunedin, New Zealand Henry Wellington Greatorex, Anglican and Episcopal Organist, Choirmaster, and Hymnodist John Campbell Shairp, Scottish Poet and Educator 19 (Gerard Moultrie, Anglican Priest, Hymn Writer, and Translator of Hymns) Clarence Alphonsus Walworth, U.S. Roman Catholic Priest, Poet, Hymn Translator, and Hymn Writer; Co-Founder of the Missionary Society of Saint Paul the Apostle (the Paulist Fathers) Emily de Rodat, Founder of the Congregation of the Holy Family of Villefranche Walter Chalmers Smith, Scottish Presbyterian Minister and Hymn Writer William Dalrymple Maclagan, Archbishop of York and Hymn Writer 20 (Henri Nouwen, Dutch Roman Catholic Priest and Spiritual Writer) Elizabeth Kenny, Australian Nurse and Medical Pioneer John Coleridge Patteson, Anglican Bishop of Melanesia, and His Companions, Martyrs, 1871 Marie Therese of Saint Joseph, Founder of the Congregation of the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus Nelson Wesley Trout, First African-American U.S. Lutheran Bishop 21 (MATTHEW THE EVANGELIST, APOSTLE AND MARTYR) 22 (Philander Chase, Episcopal Bishop of Ohio, and of Illinois; and Presiding Bishop) C. H. Dodd, Welsh Congregationalist Minister, Theologian, and Biblical Scholar Charlotte Elliott, Julia Anne Elliott, and Emily Elliott, Anglican Hymn Writers Justus Falckner, Lutheran Pastor and Hymn Writer Stephen G. Cary, U.S. Quaker Humanitarian and Antiwar Activist 23 (Francisco de Paula Victor, Brazilian Roman Catholic Priest) Churchill Julius, Anglican Bishop of Christchurch, and Primate and Archbishop of New Zealand Émelie Tavernier Gamelin, Founder of the Sisters of Providence Jozef Stanek, Polish Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1944 24 (Anna Ellison Butler Alexander, African-American Episcopal Deaconess in Georgia, and Educator) Henry Hart Milman, Anglican Dean, Translator, Historian, Theologian, and Hymn Writer Juvenal of Alaska, Russian Orthodox Martyr in Alaska, and First Orthodox Martyr in the Americas, 1796 Peter the Aleut, Russian Orthodox Martyr in San Francisco, 1815 Silouan of Mount Athos, Eastern Orthodox Monk and Poet 25 (Sarah Louise “Sadie” Delany, African-American Educator; her sister, Annie Elizabeth “Bessie” Delany, African-American Dentist; and their brother, Hubert Thomas Delany, African-American Attorney, Judge, and Civil Rights Activist) Bernhard W. Anderson, U.S. United Methodist Minister and Biblical Scholar Euphrosyne and her father, Paphnutius of Alexandria, Monks Herman of Reichenau, Roman Catholic Monk, Liturgist, Poet, and Scholar Judith Lomax, Episcopal Mystic and Poet Sergius of Radonezh, Abbot of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, Sergiyev Posad, Russia 26 (Paul VI, Bishop of Rome) Frederick William Faber, English Roman Catholic Hymn Writer John Bright, U.S. Presbyterian Minister and Biblical Scholar John Byrom, Anglican then Quaker Poet and Hymn Writer Joseph A. Sittler, U.S. Lutheran Minister, Theologian, and Ecumenist Lancelot Andrewes, Anglican Bishop of Chichester then of Ely then of Winchester 27 (Francis de Sales, Roman Catholic Bishop of Geneva; Vincent de Paul, “The Apostle of Charity;’ Louise de Marillac, Co-Founder of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul; and Charles Fuge Lowder, Founder of the Society of the Holy Cross) Edward McGlynn, U.S. Roman Catholic Priest, Social Reformer, and Alleged Heretic Eliza Scudder, U.S. Unitarian then Episcopalian Hymn Writer Joanna P. Moore, U.S. Baptist Missionary and Educator Martyrs of Melanesia, 1864-2003 Thomas Traherne, Anglican Priest, Poet, and Spiritual Writer 28 (Jehu Jones, Jr., African-American Lutheran Minister) Francis Turner Palgrave, Anglican Poet, Art Critic, and Hymn Writer Joseph Hoskins, English Congregationalist Minister and Hymn Writer Lorenzo Ruiz and His Companions, Roman Catholic Missionaries and Martyrs in Japan, 1637 29 (MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS) 30 (Honorius, Archbishop of Canterbury) Mary Ramabai, Prophetic Witness and Evangelist in India Richard Challoner, English Roman Catholic Scholar, Religious Writer, Translator, Controversialist, Priest, and Titular Bishop of Doberus Lowercase boldface on a date with two or more commemorations indicates a primary feast. Posted May 21, 2011 by neatnik2009 in Saints--Monthly Guides, September 1, September 10, September 11, September 12, September 13, September 14, September 15, September 16, September 17, September 18, September 19, September 2, September 20, September 21, September 22, September 23, September 24, September 25, September 26, September 27, September 28, September 29, September 3, September 30, September 4, September 5, September 6, September 7, September 8, September 9 Tagged with Holy Days, Saints' Days	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2201
__label__wiki	0.614085	0.614085	UNESCO and WHO urge countries to make every school a health-promoting school Based on a set of eight global standards, the resource package aims to ensure all schools promote life skills, cognitive and socioemotional skills and healthy lifestyles for all learners. These global standards will be piloted in Botswana, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya and Paraguay. The initiative contributes to WHO’s 13th General Program of Work target of ‘1 billion lives made healthier’ by 2023 and the global Education 2030 Agenda coordinated by UNESCO. “Education and health are interdependent basic human rights for all, at the core of any human right, and essential to social and economic development,” said UNESCO Director General, Audrey Azouley. “A school that is not health-promoting is no longer justifiable and acceptable. I call for all of us to affirm our commitment and role, to make every school a health-promoting school”. The global standards provide a resource for education systems to help foster health and well-being through stronger governance. UNESCO and WHO will work with governments to enable countries to adapt the package to their specific contexts. The evidence is clear. Comprehensive school health and nutrition programmes in schools have significant impacts among school-aged children. For example: · School health and nutrition interventions for girls and boys in low-income areas where worms and anaemia are prevalent can lead to 2.5 years of additional schooling. · Malaria prevention interventions can result in a 62% reduction in absenteeism. · Nutritious school meals increase enrolment rates by 9% on average, and attendance by 8%; they can also reduce anaemia in adolescent girls by up to 20%. · Hand-washing promotion reduces absenteeism due to gastrointestinal and respiratory illnesses by 21% -61% in low-income countries. · Free screening and eyeglasses have led to a 5% higher probability of students passing standardized tests in reading and math. · Comprehensive sexuality education encourages the adoption of healthier behaviours, promotes sexual and reproductive health and rights, and improves sexual and reproductive health outcomes such as the reduction of HIV infection and adolescent pregnancy rates. · Improving water and sanitation (WASH) services and supplies in school, as well as knowledge on menstrual hygiene, equips girls to maintain their body hygiene and health with dignity, and may limit the number of school days missed during menstruation. The Health Promoting Schools approach was first articulated by WHO, UNESCO and UNICEF in 1995 and adopted in over 90 countries and territories. However, few countries have implemented it at scale, and even fewer have effectively adapted their education systems to include health promotion. The new global standards will help countries to integrate health promotion into all schools and boost the health and well-being of their children. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Health Organization (WHO). Two gun-wielding men in viral video granted GHS50,000 bail with two sureties Fans Descend On Mzbel For Advising Them To Choose Ma$turbation Over S3kz	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2206
__label__cc	0.647918	0.352082	Eurowings new ‘family and home visit’ flights to Beirut and Erbil In December 2020, Eurowings will start flying passengers for the first time to Beirut, Lebanon and Erbil, Iraq. Lufthansa (LHAB) (LHA) subsidiary’s new flights fall under the category of “families and homeland visits” and are aimed for passengers visiting their families during the holiday period. The airline has been operating flights to Greece, Croatia, Algeria and Turkey in this market segment. From December 19, 2020, the flights from Berlin to Beirut and from Düsseldorf to Erbil will start. From December 22, 2020, Düsseldorf – Beirut and from February 2, 2021, from Stuttgart to Beirut. “Visiting families and friends is particularly valuable in times of crisis. People of all nationalities regularly seek closeness and personal exchange with their relatives. We make this possible with attractive non-stop connections to the respective home countries. We are seeing continued stable demand in this segment, even in the last weeks and months of the Corona crisis,” said Jens Bischof, CEO of Eurowings. Tickets to Beirut for a one-way start from €139, to Erbil from €159. To enter both countries, passengers need to present a negative COVID-19 test. Lufthansa’s (LHAB) (LHA) subsidiary Eurowings has recently started flights from the newly opened Berlin Brandenburg airport (BER). Flights to Beirut will be also operated from BER. Due to the pandemic, the airline had to reduce its traffic but is focusing on the domestic programs as well as weekly flights to Canary and Greek islands.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2207
__label__wiki	0.588661	0.588661	Home PREVIEW – Purposeful Migration PREVIEW – Purposeful Migration QUOTE OF THE WEEK: FEATURED PICTURE: Biden called on migrants to enter the U.S. illegally from Mexico – and the tsunami of migrants rushing our border is now a human catastrophe. Intentional Illegal Migration Chaos – Ken’s Thought of the Week Threat Analyst Ken Abramowitz is author of “The Multifront War” Editor: Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, President, American Center for Democracy (ACD) See the sources for this article and more research in the Additional Reading section. The Biden Administration launched a new, radical strategy, encouraging illegal migration through our southern border. Following up on campaign promises to open the border between Mexico and the U.S., the President, the Vice President, and members of the new administration invited migrants to enter the U.S. illegally through Mexico. They encouraged hundreds of thousands from all over the world, not only from Central America, and not only refugees, but also criminals, drug traffickers, and potential terrorists, who are now rushing to the border. According to the overwhelmed U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), there is a huge increase in the number of illegal migrants since Biden began his presidency. At least 171,000 migrants have illegally crossed the border in March alone, up from 100,441 in February. This is five times the number of illegal migrants crossed the border in the same months in 2020. This estimate does not take into account the number of people who crossed into the U.S. undertected. Indeed, why should anyone go through the trouble and expense of applying for a U.S. visa that could be rejected, when entering the country illegally offers rewards for which most American citizens are ineligible? Of the estimated 5,000 or more, who are entering the country illegally every day, as many as 50% are said to be infected with COVID-19. The majority of the illegals have been traveling in large groups, keeping no anti-Covid protocols, and are not tested before or after crossing the U.S. border. The number of unaccompanied minors who were separated from their families seems to be growing exponentially, and currently appear to be approximately 500 per day. We do not know exactly how many adults are crossing, since only a small percentage of them are caught. To ease the journey to the U.S. border, the Biden Administration canceled the “stay in Mexico” policy of the Trump administration. Instead, the futile Obama/Biden “catch and release” policy has been reinstated. Moreover, there is a complete disregard by the Administration to ‘social distancing’ of those captured and detained. Many illegals are being shipped around the country by different transportation means, guaranteeing further COVID infections of the native population. A very conservative estimate claims that at least 30% of the children making the hazardous jouney are being sexually and otherwise abused on their way to the border. This known horror makes the U.S. government complicit in mass child abuse. Meanwhile, drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) pocket at least $500 million per month on transit fees. How much money is made by smuggling illegal drugs, arms, and terrorists is anybody’s guess. Why is the U.S. government intentionally engaging in mass child abuse, encouraging a criminal invasion of the country, and aiding in the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases in violation of its national security and the CDC guidelines? Why has the Biden Administration encouraged and then launched an illegal invasion into the country? What could be its motivation? Trying to figure out this anti-American behavior, we at Save the West offer some clues, answers, and analysis: 1) The President and the leaders of the Democrat Party are globalists and are keeping their campaign promise for “open borders” to the U.S.. They are doing so regardless of the cost and chaos that they have created. 2) The Administration is supported by large corporations looking for cheap labor. 3) Democrat leaders are interested in flooding Texas and other Republican states with illegal immigrants who, the Democrats hope, would later vote for Democrat candidates and help turn the once “Red” states into “Blue”states. 4) The Biden administration and the leaders of the neo-Marxist Democrat Party hope to apply amnesty to millions of illegals. In turn, these immigrants (whether ‘legal’ or not, will be encouraged to vote for Democrats, thereby assisting in creating one-party rule “forever”, as in China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba. So, what can 95% of law-abiding Americans do to protect themselves from a lawless, irresponsible, immoral, and increasingly tyrannical federal government? The governors of the 25-30 states that still believe in the Constitution and rule-of-law must unite to save the Constitutional Republic and its citizens. These governors must flood the court systems with lawsuits against the violations of local, state, and federal laws committed by the Federal government, seeking immediate injunctions to prevent further violations and harm. Wealthy patriotic Americans should immediately invest in creating new media and social media platforms that could counter the ‘fake news’, censorship, and disinformation that the corrupt, Democrat-controlled media is producing, and provide unbiased information and opinions to all Americans and the world. Does it sound like 1776 all over again? Or is it 1861, again, when the Confederates (Democrats) declared war against the Unionists (Republicans) in order to perpetuate slavery? America is fighting for its soul, and its citizens are gradually beginning to realize that. The 2022 mid-term election is just around the corner. Let’s hope that a Republican victory of 50-100 seats in the House and a large majority in the Senate can roll back the damage caused by the neo-Marxist, pro-Islamist Democrats and the complicit Biden administration. Let’s hope it won’t be too late to turn America back into the strong, powerful, and exceptional country that it once was. Sen. Ted Cruz to Newsmax TV: Biden Immigration Plan Most Radical Under Any US President – Newsmax.com Biden Promises Migrants Entry at the Border – HNGN – Headlines & Global News Border officials say more people are sneaking past them as crossings soar and agents are overwhelmed – Anchorage Daily News REPORT: Authorities Apprehended 171,000 Migrants At The Border In March – The Daily Caller Sheriffs: Up to 50% of migrants captured have COVID, want border secured – msn.com US begins admitting migrants as Biden phases out ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy – NYPost.com Migrant children in Biden’s packed border facilities not being COVID-tested, can’t social distance – Fox News Thousands of minors at border claim they were sexually abused in US custody – NYPost.com US waives FBI checks on caregivers at new migrant facilities – apnews.com Here’s the Insane Amount of Money US-Mexico Border Traffickers Earned Last Month – WesternJournal.com Under Biden, US set to resume globalist policies – AsiaTimes.com Big employers no strangers to benefiting from cheap, illegal labor – TexasTribune.org Democrats move to crush red states’ rise and threat – TheHill.com Ken’s Thought of the Week: Forging an Iranian Policy Ken’s Thought of the Week: The sad state of public affairs TV shows Jon Sutz - June 9, 2019 Ken’s Thoughts of the Week: Dealing with bad guys Jon Sutz - December 10, 2018 STW Founder Ken Abramowitz on Fox News re healthcare reform, medical innovations Jon Sutz - January 19, 2017	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2210
__label__cc	0.565948	0.434052	Join Us for Breakaway by Charlie Novak (excerpt and giveaway) Charlie Novak Contemporary Romance, Sports Romance, Second Chance Romance Release Date: 07.23.19 Cover Designer: Natasha Snow/http://natashasnow.com/ When your life revolves around a single goal, is there room for love? Christian King is a rising star in English football. He’s talented, devoted, and on the road to glory. He’s following the path that’s been laid out for him since he was four, and he has no plans to deviate from it. Christian’s life revolves around a single goal—to be the best… until he runs into his first love ad former best friend, David. David Cade is just trying to survive the final year of his PhD intact, while battling long hours, unmotivated students, and the idea that academia might not be for him. But a chance encounter with his first love’s twin sister changes everything, and suddenly David is faced with the realisation that he can’t leave the past behind. When David and Christian are drawn back together, sparks fly. Soon, Christian is forced to confront his deepest insecurities. Can they break away from their fears for a second chance at true love? Breakaway is a 79,000 word contemporary gay romance featuring light angst, glittery bath bombs, a ginger-haired roommate/pet, shared Star Wars love, and a meddling twin sister. Universal Book Link: http://mybook.to/breakaway We were still chatting after dinner, so we took our pudding into the living room, while Christian sang Monika’s praises and practically danced on the spot about being allowed pudding during the week. He’d always had a phenomenal sweet tooth, and I guessed that being a professional player was seriously at odds with his desire for sugar. “Do you want to watch a film?” Christian asked as he flopped onto the sofa, carefully holding his bowl of lemon tart while searching for the remote. “Sure,” I said, settling next to him and taking in the details of the room. It was light and airy, with large French doors at one end that I assumed opened up onto the garden, although it was too dark to see. The room was lit with the soft glow of lamps, which gave it a warm feel despite its size. The two sofas were scattered with a large selection of colourful cushions and throws, and in one corner a large television stood on a wooden stand. There was a unit beside it filled with Blu-rays and games as well as random knick-knacks and photos, and I was sure I could see a scattering of trophies in amongst them. I was dying to be nosey, but I also knew that wasn’t polite. “What do you fancy? I’ve got Netflix and Amazon Prime,” Christian said. He gestured at the unit. “Or there’s lots of Blu-rays up there. Take your pick.” “I’ll have a look,” I answered, seizing my chance to satisfy my curiosity. I placed my bowl on the solid coffee table and meandered, over but before I could look at any of the photos, something on the floor behind the coffee table caught my eye. It was a giant LEGO set, half assembled and spread across the carpet, the carefully numbered bags laid out neatly next to the large instruction manual. “Holy fuck, is that the Millennium Falcon?” It was still more of a frame than anything else, but the shape was still recognisable. “Yeah,” Christian said, his cheeks tinting again which made something funny pulse in my chest. “I, um, I like building them for fun. They’re good to take my mind off things, help me focus on being in the moment instead of dwelling on stuff. And I like Star Wars.” “Do you have others?” Christian nodded, chewing his lip and smiling. “I built the Death Star in the spring. That was fun, but it took hours. It’s upstairs so I don’t knock it over.” My inner geek was dancing. I’d always loved Star Wars, and Christian and I had spent hours watching them as kids. My mum had even taken the two of us to see Revenge of the Sith for my birthday. As an adult I’d always longed for a couple of these sets, but they were so fucking expensive I’d never imagined getting one. I mean, this Millennium Falcon kit was worth nearly seven hundred quid. “Can—can we build it now?” I asked, trying not to hold my breath. “Really? I mean, you’d be interested in that?” There was a note of astonishment in Christian’s voice, while mine was barely controlled excitement. “Of course! I’ve always wanted to get my hands on this.” “Okay,” Christian said with a nod. “Let’s do it. Do you want to put a film on in the background? Maybe The Force Awakens? I haven’t seen it in a while.” “Sounds perfect!” Ten minutes later we were sitting on the floor, the opening credits of the film playing in the background while Christian talked me through what he’d done so far. It was obvious that he took his building seriously, and I had to admit it was adorable. After my pep talk, he handed me a bag and showed me the instructions he wanted me to follow. “You know, I’m sure there’s a terrible joke about inserting things somewhere in there,” I said, watching the way Christian’s face flushed as my words filtered through. “Probably,” he added. “But I’ve never thought of it.” “Me neither, I’m not good with words.” “I find that hard to believe—you’re doing your PhD.” “Nah, that’s all smoke and mirrors,” I joked. “So, tell me more about your work,” Christian said, picking up his own pieces. “I don’t know much about academic stuff beyond what Lily’s told me.” I smiled, opened my bag, and began talking. And I didn’t stop. Well, not until the early hours of the morning. By that time, we’d covered my degree, Lily, our mums, the Champions League, and the new Star Wars and Marvel films. The only thing we’d avoided discussing was our relationships, but I figured that was because neither of us had much to tell. Plus, talking about new partners with exes is one of those weird grey areas I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to avoid. With every word, I could feel Christian slotting back into my life like he’d never left, but at the same time, this wasn’t the same Christian as before. It was a new version—older, smarter, and sweeter. He was driven and determined and had a desire to know as much as he could and actually seemed interested when I spent another hour talking about my work. He talked non-stop about how proud he was of Lily and how much he loved her, and he was so endearingly serious and charming that I couldn’t help but be bowled over by him. And he was so disarmingly handsome that every time he smiled or chewed on his perfect, pink lips, the hot ball of desire in my chest burnt hotter and hotter until it felt like there was a supernova inside me. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt this way about anyone. It had probably been six years. Charlie lives in England with her husband and a severe lack of dogs. She spends most of her days wrangling other people’s words in her day job and then trying to force her own onto the page in the evening. She loves cute stories with a healthy dollop of angst, even more fluff, plenty of delicious sex, and happily ever afters – because the world needs more of them. Charlie also believes that love comes in all shapes and sizes. Charlie has very little spare time, but what she does have she fills with cooking, pole-dancing, reading and ice-hockey. She also thinks that everyone should have at least one favourite dinosaur… Website: https://charlienovak.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/charlienwrites Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/charlienwrites/ FB Readers Group (Charlie’s Angels): https://www.facebook.com/groups/1287247458080320/ Categorized as Book Giveaways, Book Reviews, Book Tours and Contests, Books, Contemporary fiction, eBooks, LGBTQ Book Reviews, M/M Book Reviews, M/M Contemporary Fiction, M/M Fiction, M/M Romance, Uncategorized Tagged @BookBlitz #Breakaway #giveaway, @charlienwrites, Breakaway by Charlie Novak, contemporary romance, second chance romance, sports romance Love Fantasy? Check Out the Book Blitz for The Exile Prince (The Castaway Prince #2) by Isabelle Adler (excerpt and giveaway) A Barb the Zany Old Lady Release Day Review: Four ( Love By Numbers #2) by Tia Fielding Jun Aug	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2211
__label__cc	0.708179	0.291821	Open SF Courts Now CopMonitor Adachi Project Home Tags Staten Island Tag: Staten Island SF Public Defender’s Statement On Grand Jury Decision in Chokehold Death Tamara Aparton - December 3, 2014 0 Trial Board The content of this site does not constitute legal advice. The views expressed on this site belong to the original authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the San Francisco Public Defender's Office, its members or affiliates. All content is provided "as is" for informational purposes only, and San Francisco Public Defender's Office makes no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, currentness or suitability of the information on this site. San Francisco Public Defender's Office is not responsible for and does not endorse any materials, information, viewpoints, goods or services available through third party sites linked from this site. All images, unless otherwise noted, are property of the San Francisco Public Defender's Office and may not be used without our expressed permission. © 2021 San Francisco Public Defender's Office. Made with love in-house and powered by Wordpress. EMPLOYEE LOGIN. Looking for Jeff Adachi?	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2215
__label__cc	0.639826	0.360174	Kelly Reichardt Jump to: Overview (1) \| Mini Bio (1) \| Trade Mark (4) \| Personal Quotes (7) Height 5' (1.52 m) Mini Bio (1) Kelly Reichardt was born and raised in Miami-Dade Country, Florida, to a family of police officers. She had an interest in photography from a very young age. She started by using her father's camera, which he used for photographing crime scenes. She went to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. In the summer of 2005, Reichardt directed Old Joy (2006), which premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. It was the first American film to win the Tiger award at the Rotterdam Film Festival and opened at the Film Forum in New York City. Reichardt's first feature, River of Grass (1994), a sun-drenched noir that was shot in her home town of Dade County, was cited as one of the best films of 1995 by the Boston Globe, Village Voice, Film Comment, the New York Daily News, Paper Magazine, and the San Francisco Guardian. - IMDb Mini Biography By: From an interview with Kelly Reichardt Trade Mark (4) An emphasis on mood and atmosphere as opposed to intricate plots Often utilises older filming formats, i.e. Super 16 Certain Women (2016) and Old Joy (2006) and a 4:3 aspect ratio Meek's Cutoff (2010) and River of Grass (1994) Often sets her films in Portland, Oregon Films produced by film directors Larry Fessenden and Todd Haynes. Personal Quotes (7) [on the potential parallels of 'Meek's Cutoff' with current times ] Here was the story of this braggart leading a bunch of people into the desert without a plan and becoming completely reliant on the locals who are socially different from him and who he is suspicious of. All of which seemed relevant to the moment. [on the title character in 'Meek's Cutoff'] He's so compelling, and what was really interesting is how everyone experiences him differently. If you read the journals of those who were there, it's clear that some see him as a loudmouth and a bit of a buffoon, and some felt he was just a trapper who had misread his maps. Others felt he was just full of it. The only thing all the journals agree on is he was a showman. [observation, 2014, on her seemingly minimalist form of storytelling] A movie is a series of reveals, essentially, and then you're supposed to sit in a room and tell someone what it all means. That goes against everything that I just worked for. So I have no interest in summing it all up. It's all out there. I recognize that there are themes I repeat, and ways of shooting that I repeat. My movies end up being about the moments of getting from here to there, but not in a grand way. Getting from the hutch to town, from the parking lot to the gas station. But this isn't a grand plan - I am just a practical person. I'm a pretty boring person. Life can be pretty small in Oregon. Knitting, reading, meals with friends, shooting non-narrative 16mm films just to shake it up. But I can also enjoy an episode of Project Runway (2004). I want a project to work on that will lead me to travel places and get to know places that I wouldn't otherwise know. It'll send you in the direction of finding, studying painters that you didn't know as deeply before, or reading stuff for inspiration or research and it turns you on to literature you might not have otherwise known, or photography. It gives you a path. I'm getting better at learning how to have time off, but I would rather know that I'm working on something, but maybe not feel like I have to move it along. Other Works \| Publicity Listings \| Official Sites View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro Favorite Directors a list of 39 people Female Directors created 20 Nov 2017 My Favorite American/Latin-American/Canadian Directors Best Director of the Decade (Copy) created 13 Jun 2013	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2216
__label__wiki	0.913154	0.913154	Dodgers Assistant General Manager Kim Ng Ready to Make the Jump to Top Job August 4, 2011 /in Articles.2011.TNP /by admin This article was written by Sherri Eng This article was published in the The National Pastime: Endless Seasons: Baseball in Southern California (2011) Los Angeles Dodgers Assistant General Manager Kim Ng never thought she would become one of the highest-ranking women in the sport. After all, what place did women have in a sport run by the good ol’ boys? And yet by the beginning of 2011 she was frequently touted as a sure bet to be the first female general manager in Major League Baseball. Ng was born in Indianapolis, but grew up in Queens, Long Island, and New Jersey. Her parents—dad, Jin, a financial analyst, and mom, Virginia, a banker—might have preferred the eldest of their five daughters to choose a more traditional profession such as law or business, but young Kim had other ideas. She loved sports—stickball, tennis, skating, and skiing were her activities of choice. Although she lived just a stone’s throw from Shea Stadium while growing up, it was the Yankees who captured her heart. “They were pretty good in the ’70s and ’80s,” notes Ng. She went on to play infield for the University of Chicago’s softball team. It is somewhat serendipitous that Ng has emerged as one of the top-ranking women in professional baseball. With her newly minted bachelor’s degree in public policy, Ng applied for a variety of jobs at different sports organizations and landed an internship as a research assistant at the Chicago White Sox in 1991. Computers and data analysis were just beginning to gain traction, and Ng was good at it. After three or four months, Ng had impressed the organization so much that management offered her a full-time entry-level job, where she did everything from entering scouting reports to operating the radar gun. She showed a propensity for numbers and soon took over the team’s salary arbitration duties. She was later promoted to assistant director of baseball operations. “I never thought about working in operations for a sports organization. I thought that marketing or sports information would be more likely areas,” says Ng in a soft but confident voice. “I just didn’t think there were opportunities in operations for someone like me until I went to the White Sox.” Then-White Sox GM Dan Evans was impressed by Ng’s analytical ability and attention to detail. Her strong work ethic and dedication to delve into whatever she was working on were traits that convinced Evans that Ng had the makings of a future top baseball executive. “Kim is one of the most inquisitive minds I’ve ever been around,” says Evans, president and chief executive officer of Paragon Sports International, a Pasadena, California-based sports management firm. “She asked really solid questions as to why we were doing certain things. As a result, it made me rethink some of my beliefs and procedures. You could tell that she was going to go far because she had that combination of street smarts, book smarts, and stick-to-it-ive-ness that you can’t teach.” Her persistence and drive have kept Ng in a game where the work of scouting, drafting, and developing ballplayers has traditionally been left to men, typically those who played the game at the highest levels. But a sea change in baseball has given rise to GMs without playing experience. Neither Boston Red Sox GM Theo Epstein nor Texas Rangers GM Jon Daniels laced up cleats at the professional level. They are more academic than athletic. Ng believes that the advent of the Internet and the massive amount of readily available statistics and information has leveled the playing field for anyone—man or woman—to get involved with the game. No longer do you have to be an insider to get the inside scoop. “She’s here because of how good she is and how hard she works,” says Dodgers GM Ned Colletti. Her rise to the top could be attributed to the job she took in 1997 as director of waivers and records at the American League office in New York. What might have seemed an odd career move away from baseball operations proved to be just the stepping-stone Ng needed. At the league office, she approved all player transactions and contracts and helped American League general managers interpret and apply major league rules. The job afforded her tremendous opportunity to meet and network with baseball’s upper echelon. That’s how she met Yankees GM Brian Cashman, who hired her a year later, making her, at the time, the youngest assistant general manager in Major League Baseball. Under Cashman, she assumed a number of responsibilities, including handling the team’s arbitration cases. Arbitration is an arcane process in which players whose contracts are up and who have at least three, but less than six, years of major league service time can take their team to a hearing to determine their salary. In that hearing, a panel must choose either the player’s figure or the team’s figure, with no wiggle room in between. Consequently, it behooves both parties to reach a compromise agreement before the case goes to a hearing. Placing a dollar figure on a human being is not an exact science. While a player’s stats can be compared to others playing the same position with the same number of years of service, other factors play into the equation; leadership skills, personality, and attitude should also be considered according to Ng. “I think the intangibles play a big role in whether we want a guy. You never want a bad guy in your clubhouse,” she says. The Yankees, she notes, wanted very team-oriented players who took care of themselves and handled issues in the clubhouse, thereby making the manager’s job easier. “Statistics can tell a story, but they can also lead you down the wrong path,” says Ng. “I think that the differences between what you see visually and what you see on paper is very interesting. It makes you look at the game differently.” Ng’s uncanny talent for evaluating a player’s worth and affixing an appropriate price tag led her to successfully negotiate the contracts of Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, and Paul O’Neill, among others, which helped build a team that won three championships. During her four seasons with the Yankees, the team advanced to the World Series four times, winning the World Championship three times. Ng cites being a part of the 1998 Yankees, who won 114 regular-season games en route to a World Championship, as one of her all-time greatest career moments. “That team embodied a lot of ideals that I believe in—strength in unity, team chemistry, and unselfishness. They were the sum of the parts,” says Ng. “That is one of the greatest things you get from sports, is understanding what you can achieve with people who have the same goal in mind. That team did not revolve around any one guy; it was a true team.” In 2002 her former White Sox mentor Dan Evans, then Dodgers GM, lured Ng away from the Yankees to become his deputy as the Dodgers’ vice president and assistant general manager. Again, handling arbitration cases has been her forte. In nine winters of handling all arbitration cases for the Dodgers, she has gone to a hearing with just two players: National League Cy Young Award winner Eric Gagne in 2004, and reliever Joe Beimel in 2007. Ng won both cases. Facing a daunting list of nine potential arbitration cases in 2010—including four former All-Stars, two Gold Glove winners, and two players who finished in the top 10 in the NL Most Valuable Player voting in 2009—Ng reached amicable agreements with all nine players, all before the deadline for teams and players to exchange salary figures. Although three of those players were given two-year deals, Ng signed all nine players for a total of $31.95 million in 2010 salary. “She’s one of the best around,” says Colletti. “[Handling the 2010 arbitration cases] was a monstrous task and she came out of it and put the organization in a very good position. It was the best job I’ve ever seen anyone do.” Prior to the 2011 season, Ng successfully avoided arbitration and signed all three eligible players—Chad Billingsley, Hong-Chih Kuo, and James Loney. In addition to handling arbitration cases, Ng’s duties include negotiating free agent contracts, conducting trade talks, overseeing pro scouting—the department that compiles the information Colletti uses to make decisions on trades or free agent signings—and running Campo Las Palmas, the Dodgers’ academy in the Dominican Republic. During the season, a typical day for Ng includes getting an update on the organization’s minor league teams, dealing with transactions ( placing a player on the disabled list, calling up a replacement, etc.), and making calls to player agents. The rest of the time is spent evaluating players. As she watches from the stands, any number of questions might go through Ng’s mind: What does the club need? How can this player improve? How do these players fit into the future? In 2011, Ng entered her 20th year—12 as an assistant GM—in professional baseball. Her peers say she has paid her dues and has done everything to prove that she is capable of leading a major league team. Still, she keeps getting passed over for the top job— the Dodgers in 2005, the Mariners in 2008 and, most recently, the Padres in 2009. Still, Ng, 42, does not like to dwell on the fact that she is a rare breed among the rarified baseball elite. She is only one of two women—Jean Afterman who succeeded Ng at the New York Yankees is the other— who currently hold the title of assistant GM, the highest baseball operations position ever held by a woman. What’s more, there is no other female within striking distance. “You have to be persistent to break into this game, and you have to be really good to stay in this game,” says Ng. “That takes a daily level of commitment.” Ng’s colleagues say that it’s just a matter of time before she gets tapped for the top job. “As I told her [after the Padres interview]: ‘This is no longer up to you. You’re prepared. You just need the opportunity and someone to believe in you and give you a chance,’” says Colletti. “It’s beyond her control at this point. She’s done everything she can to put herself in that position. She deserves the opportunity and it will take someone willing to give her the opportunity to make it happen.” SHERRI ENG is a lifelong San Franciscan and diehard Giants fan. She has written for “Giants” magazine since 1996—her first article being a profile on Barry Bonds. She was the Giants’ editorial coordinator 1999–2000 and had the once-in-a-lifetime experience of helping the team move from Candlestick Park to AT&T Park (formerly Pacific Bell Park)—a momentous event that she never thought would happen considering the team’s impending move to Florida in 1992. She considers the Giants’ winning of the 2010 World Series a dream come true. Over the years, she has grown to like that other baseball team across the Bay and now follows and writes about the Oakland A’s. The information for this article came primarily from the author’s interviews with Ned Colletti, Dan Evans, and Kim Ng. http://dev.sabr.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Eng_KimNgwithballplayers.jpeg 600 800 admin /wp-content/uploads/2020/02/sabr_logo.png admin2011-08-04 22:40:232020-11-13 11:43:48Dodgers Assistant General Manager Kim Ng Ready to Make the Jump to Top Job	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2217
__label__wiki	0.747922	0.747922	You are here: Home › Numbers of Buncombe, Western North Carolina Residents Living with Serious Illness on the Rise, says Four Seasons Compassion for Life Numbers of Buncombe, Western North Carolina Residents Living with Serious Illness on the Rise, says Four Seasons Compassion for Life By Send2Press Newswire on August 7, 2013 in ASHEVILLE, N.C., Long Term Care, Medical, North Carolina, Press Releases, Senior Citizen Interests ASHEVILLE, N.C., Aug. 7, 2013 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — North Carolina area services, options and support result in relocation of patients in need of long-term care options, says Four Seasons Compassion for Life. Fewer than 15 minutes: That’s how long it took for a Virginia neurologist to tell Karen Zimmerman, then 51, a member of the Board of Directors of the National Alzheimer’s Association, the results of her medical tests. The conversation went something like this: “I’m sorry to tell you, ma’am, but you have young onset Alzheimer’s disease. Don’t worry, you have many years of productive life ahead of you.” Then, as the physician wrote out two prescriptions, he said, “You’re not going back to work ever.” There was no follow-up, recalls her husband, Keith Holdsworth. Zero. Today, Zimmerman, 56, and Holdsworth, live in the Fletcher home they began building in 2005, three years before Karen’s diagnosis. Through Alzheimer’s advocacy work, the couple heard North Carolina might offer the support Karen needed. Taking a closer look, and confirming their impression, they relocated to Buncombe County. Previously planning to relocate to be near their daughter, who has lived in Asheville for 15 years, they amped up their plans. The numbers of Buncombe County residents like Zimmerman who live with the emotional and financial burdens of a long-term illness are on the rise, say regional experts. Contributing factors include the popularity of the Asheville area as a relocation destination, the region’s aging population, and high mortality rates. “Information and support for living with a serious illness is needed before an illness occurs, not after,” says Chris Comeaux, CEO of Four Seasons Compassion for Life, Flat Rock, which provides assistance to those living with a serious illness through hospice or palliative care. Zimmerman’s first visit with an Asheville physician in December 2010 took more than three and one-half hours. He interviewed both Karen and Keith, weighing her evaluation, diagnostics, and the mental and physical elements associated with living with a serious illness. The visit was “vastly different than having no information in Virginia,” says Holdsworth. Understanding Patient Needs: Patients living with serious or long term illness aren’t simply demographics or statistics, says Comeaux. They’re people first. And the experience of living with a serious illness impacts not only the person who’s sick, but also every member of that person’s family and extended community. “Each person’s journey through illness affects every aspect of their lives, whether their journey leads to recovery or transition,” he says. Life changes, such as family and social dynamics, can be a source of comfort or difficulty. In Zimmerman’s case, relocation has been a source of comfort. Despite the isolation while Keith is working, Karen has developed a network of neighbors and friends, and has taken up pottery as a hobby. “The kindness of people here is off the charts,” says Holdsworth. As a long term illness progresses, everyone involved may feel emotions, including the person who is seriously ill. The patient can experience anger and loss deeply as they watch health and well-being slip away. Others, remain determinedly hopeful. “I’m optimistic, keep things going, and take life one day at a time,” says Zimmerman. “There’s just no other way to do it on this mountain. I just keep on doing and keep on doing.” Right now, she’s putting up berries. “I pull out the food, and the food is good.” She adds, “Right now, in my hands, I have a half a pint of blueberries. I’ve got 40 quarts put up.” She sees the richness of life on “my mountain” as viable confirmation that the course they’ve chosen is the right one. As Zimmerman’s needs change, so will the choices. Holdsworth is already thinking ahead to the resources needed to manage Karen’s symptoms as they increase. “Patient needs encompass symptom management as well as the practical, personal considerations, whether that person is being cared for in a home, in a traditional setting such as a hospital, or in hospice,” says Comeaux. Care settings and needs are individualized based on the type of illness, prognosis, and personal situation and beliefs, says Comeaux. These include care-giving options and settings, recovery support, and more practical concerns about managing the logistics of illness, financially and emotionally. Holdsworth says the support needs to be present for the family and caregiver who have known and loved this person as they were before the illness progressed. “Pretty much everyone needs to see some kind of support when they see the iceberg that was the person melt away,” he says. Comeaux agrees. “The search for meaning in our lives in the face of disease is a journey which affects us all,” he says. About Four Seasons: Four Seasons is a non-profit hospice and palliative care organization led by a dedicated team of health care professionals, social workers, spiritual care professionals and volunteers. Four Seasons currently serves patients in Henderson, Buncombe, Macon, Jackson, Transylvania and surrounding counties. For information on Four Seasons, visit http://www.fourseasonscfl.org/ or please call 828-526-2552. NEWS SOURCE: Four Seasons Compassion for Life :: This press release was issued on behalf of the news source (who is solely responsible for its accuracy) by Send2Press® Newswire, a service of Neotrope®. Original syndication source of this news item: https://www.send2press.com/newswire/Numbers-of-Buncombe-Western-North-Carolina-Residents-Living-with-Serious-Illness-on-the-Rise-says-Four-Seasons-Compassion-for-Life_2013-08-0807-001.shtml. Asheville, Four Seasons Compassion for Life, hospice care, Living with Alzheimers United Shore Financial Services Chairman Jeff Ishbia Wins Ernst & Young’s Master Entrepreneur of the Year Award Getting iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch Data Back Won’t be a difficult thing with EaseUS Free iPhone Data Recovery Software	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2226
__label__cc	0.531222	0.468778	Shanghai granted free trade zone status Shanghai has been granted official approval from Beijing to establish the largest free trade zone on the Chinese mainland. The move brings Shanghai a step closer to becoming a global financial trade and maritime hub. BY RITZAU FINANS The approval of Shanghai as a free trade zone is seen as a possible trial run by the central government, and the plans to launch major economic reforms are seen as part of the attempts to boost economic growth and to reduce the country's dependency on the export industry. A general plan for operating the free trade zone, which covers 28.78 square kilometers in the Waigaogiao, Yangshan, and Pudong districts in Shanghai, has not yet been made public. The plan is still awaiting the approval of changes to a series of laws, to legalize certain aspects, according to a statement from the Chinese Ministry of Trade, writes newspaper South China Morning Post. New report lists world's five leading maritime cities Chinese shipyards fighting to survive Foreign shipowners hit by new tax on ocean freight in China Shipyard: Half of China's yards will be gone in 3-5 years	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2229
__label__cc	0.587561	0.412439	Regulating Fake Identities on the Internet By Sarah Brodsky on Jan 14, 2008 Here’s an interesting twist in the Megan Meier case. Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles might charge the people who allegedly harassed Megan with defrauding MySpace, because they opened an account with a fake identity. A law professor quoted in the article explains why prosecuting people for using fake identities on the Internet could lead to trouble: Levenson, a former federal prosecutor, said that if the grand jury brings an indictment, it could raise 1st Amendment issues and questions about how to fairly enforce such a law on the Internet, where pseudo-identities are common. "This may be a net that catches a lot of people," she said. Levenson is right — so many people have fake identities on the internet that enforcement would have to be selective. Most people are aware that Internet appearances can be deceiving, and they discount information from anonymous sources. If a major news website reports on social trends, you might give it some consideration. But if someone identifying himself only as "Josh" says he doesn’t like you anymore, you probably wouldn’t consider that credible. Teenagers with fragile self-esteem approach the situation in an entirely different way, and can feel devastated after whoever happens to be online expresses disapproval. That’s a good reason for parents of teens to be careful in monitoring their online activities. It’s not a good reason to prosecute people for using fake identities on the Internet. Anonymous communication online is usually not harmful, and it can be beneficial. In other media, people publish letters to the editor, op-eds, or books anonymously. That allows anyone to safely express unpopular opinions. We should have the same freedom of speech online. 2022 Missouri Blueprint Virtual Town Hall: Ideas to Move Missouri Forward in 2022	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2233
__label__wiki	0.981664	0.981664	Students in Hillsborough County Public Schools returned to school Tuesday in masks, as required by the district, unless parents opted out of the requirement (Spectrum Bay News 9). 1 case of ‘shock’ as Hillsborough schools embrace first day By Pete Reinwald and Laurie Davison Hillsborough County PUBLISHED 5:36 PM ET Aug. 10, 2021 PUBLISHED 5:36 PM EDT Aug. 10, 2021 TAMPA — Hillsborough County Public Schools Supt. Addison Davis made the rounds Tuesday and declared that “we need them here.” Hillsborough Schools Supt. Addison Davis says "we need" students back in school settings Parent says she's concerned district doesn't mandate masks for teachers, as it does for students "If I’ve got to pull my kids out of school to protect them, that’s what I’ll do," parent says He referred to the district’s 200,000 students, who returned to school as the coronavirus pandemic continued to set daily records statewide and as parents throughout Florida expressed concerns about the safety of their children in crowded schools. About having students back in school, Davis said: “It’s the easier way to make that connectivity … to help them get connected to extra-curricular activities, to help them in small group instruction, to meet grade-level standards.” Davis emerged last week as the only Tampa Bay Area schools superintendent to require masks for students, in defiance of an executive order from Gov. Ron DeSantis. That followed a Florida Department of Health ruling that required school districts to give parents the ability to opt out of any such mandates, as Hillsborough County Public Schools did. The district says it will keep the mandate in place until at least Sept. 3, to the appreciation of some parents. “I understand that we have to give everyone a choice,” Hillsborough County schools parent Eleni Georgiou said, “but we are definitely in favor of wearing masks.” The Hillsborough Schools mandate doesn’t include teachers, for whom masks remain optional. Masks also remain optional for teachers as well as students in various other school districts, including Pinellas, Pasco and Polk. The idea of unmasked teachers concerns Debbie Munoz, who says she’s considering pulling a daughter out of Kimbell Elementary School and a son out of King High School if the Hillsborough district doesn’t change its policy. “It’s just not OK for these people not to wear masks at school,” Munoz told Spectrum Bay News 9 on Tuesday. “There shouldn’t be two different policies for Hillsborough County schools.” Munoz said she found herself surprised at an open house on Monday to find only one Kimbell Elementary staff member wearing a mask. “Dozens” went without them, she said. “I was in shock,” she said. Munoz said she approached one teacher and asked, “No masks?” “And he said, ‘Nope,’” she said. On the first day of school at Kimbell Elementary, she said every student she saw wore a mask. That compared with, based on her observations, 20% or 25% of teachers who wore masks, she said. “Why it concerns me is I am a mother and I have children,” Munoz said, “and I personally believe that we’re at the beginning of another pandemic.” She said she’s concerned about her own weakened immune system but especially about the health of her children and other children. She said she worries about removing her daughter, a fourth-grader, from school because her daughter’s on the autism spectrum and has difficulty learning outside of a traditional school setting. Yet she said she’s poised to make that move. “If I’ve got to pull my kids out of school to protect them, that’s what I’ll do,” Munoz said. “I need to protect myself and my children, and we all have to be protected.” In response to an explanation for the policy that makes masks optional for teachers and staff, Hillsbourgh County Public Schools spokeswoman Tanya Arja told Bay News 9 in an email Tuesday that district employees "have more access to vaccinations than students do." The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has yet to approve vaccines for children under age 12. "Please remember," Arja added, "we are the only local district that has mandated masks with an opt out for students." Not all parents agreed with the mask mandate for students. “I think they should be optional,” Hillsborough County schools parent Scott Brady said. “I mean, they don’t need to be worried about a mask or any stress of that nature. They have enough going on here at school.”	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2236
__label__wiki	0.962928	0.962928	National Football League (NFL) Football - Soccer Football - American Madden NFL What players are the highest paid in the NFL for the 2007 season? Leonard Davis Q: What players are the highest paid in the NFL for the 2007 season? Who were the 10 highest paid NBA players during the 2006-2007 season? Who is the highest paid player in the nba during the 2007 season? Who were the highest paid soccer players in 2007? What are the highest paid basketball players of 2007-2008? Who is the highest paid player in the NFL 2010? Here is a list for the top 15 highest paid NFL players for the 2010 season, with Peyton Manning on top. http://www.helium.com/items/1928642-highest-paid-nfl-players-of-2010 Who was the highest paid player in the NFL in 2007-2008 season? Top 10 highest paid rugby players? top ten highest paid rugby players Which NFL team was the highest paid during the 2007 season? According to FOX Sports, the highest payroll in 2007 belonged to the Washington Redskins at $121,813,324. Who are the Highest paid African soccer players in 2007? The highest African footballer in earnings are either Dider Drogba, or Michel Essien. Who are the current highest paid soccer players? Ricardo Kaka from AC Milan according to Futebol Finance 2007/2008. It is based on the salaries paid by the players' clubs, not endorsements. YearHow much money do nhl players make a season? As of the 08/09 season the minimum is $495,000USD per season. The highest paid is $10 million. How often are football players paid? football players are paid weekly or at the end of a season Who is the highest paid soccer players in 2011? The highest paid player is Luis suarez of Liverpool Who is the highly paid footballer of the season 2006-2007? Ronaldinho without a doubt. He has probably been the highest paid player since 2003 Man u top ten highest paid player? The top ten highest paid payers are football players and basketball players. They both get paid millions. Who makes more money a basketball player or a baseball player? The average salary of an NBA player in the 2007-2008 season was $5.356 million. The average salary of an MLB player in the 2007-2008 season was $3.15 million. NBA players are the highest paid athletes in the world. Highest paid Arsenal players? The highest player at arsenal is Fabregas. NBAs highest paid players? The NBA's highest-paid player is guard Kobe Bryant, who last season led the Los Angeles Lakers to its fifth title since he entered the league in 1996. The second highest-paid player in the game: Orlando Magic forward Rashard Lewis. Lewis signed a $118 million, six-year deal in 2007 that pays him $20.5 million this season. The No.3 and No. 4 highest-paid are veterans Garnett and Tim Duncan who will earn $18.8 million and $18.7 million respectively this season. Who are the highest paid tennis players? Tiger woods is the highest paid tennis player ever . As for the other ones ,the only one i know it's that roger federer is one of the highest paid players and he might be the highest paid tennis player in a few years!!!!! Highest paid football players? Who are the highest paid and richest players in the world? Who are the highest Paid Baseball Players? Who are the highest paid players in the 2007-2008 NHL season? According to The Globe and Mail, Daniel Briere, Scott Gomez, and Thomas Vanek each made $10 million in 2007/2008, to lead all NHL players: http://static.fantasysports.ca/NHLSalaryData/globe/top100cur-Overall-salary.html Who is the highest paid hockey player of 2008? The highest paid player for the 2007/08 season was Brad Richards of the Dallas Stars. However, Richards' contract was given to him by the Tampa Bay Lightning; Dallas obtained his services midway through the season. Who are the highest paid soccer players 2007? David Beckham just signed a 5 year $50 million a year deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy of the MLS. He is the highest paid soccer player in the world. Who was the highest paid coach in the NFL during the 2006-2007 season? Mike Holmgren, 7 million last season, 8 million in the current (07-08 season).	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2237
__label__cc	0.713775	0.286225	Tag Archives: The Layover Anthony Bourdain to bring Guts & Glory tour to Jacksonville tomorrow night In the world of culinary super heroes there is one man who, through his snarky remarks and laid back attitude, has risen to the pinnacle of his craft. That stellar, unabashedly frank titan is none other than Anthony Bourdain who will be appearing at the Jacksonville Times-Union Center April 25 as part of the Artist Series. Bourdain will storm into town with his Guts & Glory tour to regale attendees with stories of his adventures on the road that are sure to be heavily dosed with his trademark caustic humor. Bourdain made a name for himself with his best-selling books such as Kitchen Confidential and Medium Raw. In them he reveals the shocking details of what really goes on behind the kitchen doors in hilarious and often sneeringly blunt style. His success has lead him to star in the Emmy Award-winning Travel Channel programs No Reservations and The Layover as well as host of The Taste, a cooking competion series on CBS. His writing has appeared in such luminous publications as The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Times of London, as well as the Harvard Business Review. But, lest you think food is Bourdain’s only love, you need only watch several episodes of his television programs. Beer is a staple on the tables Bourdain sits at and with the company he keeps. Episodes that highlight his love for all things malt and hops include No Reservations’ Prague episode and The Layover’s Dublin installment. Bourdain has even famously got into a little hot water when he commented on the pulling of Dogfish Head founder Sam Calgione’s Discovery Channel television show Brewmasters. The popular and superb San Marco Dining District is proud to be the Official Restaurant Sponsor of Bourdain’s show and is providing a dazzling selection of appetizers for the sold-out VIP reception. In addition to the show, attendees can expect a slew of merchandise including copies of Bourdain’s books provided by The Bookmark, the show’s Official Bookstore Sponsor. The Omni Jacksonville serves as the show’s Official Hotel Sponsor. Great seats are still available for the Guts& Glory tour ranging from $40.00-$75.00, at the Artist Series Box Office between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., at (904) 442-BWAY (2929) and online at http://www.artistseriesjax.org. Posted by mwisdom562 on April 24, 2013 in Beer, Food, Travel Tags: Anthony Bourdain, Bourdain, Emmy Award, FSCJ Artist Series, Guts & Glory tour, harvard business review, Kitchen Confidential, Medium Raw, New York Times, New Yorker, No Reservations, The Layover, Times, Times Union Center	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2239
__label__wiki	0.87205	0.87205	Why Americans Will Never Turn Against Polling Failures inspire distrust of pollsters and calls for more shoe-leather reporting. But by the next election, we always come running back. By Rebecca Onion President Harry S. Truman laughing as he holds an early edition of the Chicago Tribune for Nov. 4, 1948, incorrectly declaring Thomas Dewey the winner. It wasn’t the last time the polls would get things wrong. UPI Across the land, people who care about election results have once again commenced moaning about the inaccuracy of the preelection polling that led Democrats to believe Joe Biden would have a much easier path to the presidency—and maybe, even, the benefit of a Democrat-controlled Senate. “The Polling Crisis Is a Catastrophe for American Democracy,” ran a headline in the Atlantic; “The Polling Industry Can’t Sweep Its Failure Under the Rug,” warned the Washington Post; on this website, we went with “The Problem Isn’t That The Polls Were Wrong. It’s That They Were Useless.” Communications scholar W. Joseph Campbell’s Lost in a Gallup: Polling Failure in U.S. Presidential Elections, which came out earlier this year, shows how this dynamic of poll failure, poll-blaming, and soul-searching is a familiar one in American life. For years, as Campbell documents, pollsters have gotten things wrong, journalists have called for less reliance on polling in political reporting, and people shocked by election results have sworn that next time they won’t have any faith in polls—only to do it all over again, two and four years later. Will this time be any different? I asked Campbell for his thoughts. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. Rebecca Onion: I just saw someone tweet something like, Fire pollsters, hire local news reporters! And since I had just been looking through your book, I thought, “Oh boy, it’s happening all over again!” W. Joseph Campbell: Ha! Yes, but it always happens with a twist. It’s never the same. Somebody said to me recently that polling failures are like Tolstoy’s unhappy families—all unhappy in their own way. And with polling failures, polling surprises, and presidential elections no two are exactly the same. There’s never been a replay, really, of the 1948 “Dewey Defeats Truman” election, which was an epic polling failure. You think that one was the worst? What makes you say so? I think it was the worst because of the shock that permeated from that election outcome. The pollsters were saying it was a done deal; the press was buying into that narrative and the pundits were saying to everyone it was a sure thing that Thomas Dewey would be elected president. But of course, that election was 72 years ago, so it’s not surprising that it’s faded away a bit in popular consciousness, though everybody remembers the photograph of Truman holding up the copy of the Chicago Tribune’s famous front page. That photo really tells you a lot about the fallibility of polls, how politicians can run against them, and how journalists can err when they buy into a polling narrative. I’d like to talk about trust and distrust of polls over the years. Your book has a lot of examples that show that this kind of discourse around polling that we are reentering after the 2020 results has deep roots. How do you see that dynamic evolving over time? “The very emergence of public opinion research came after a polling failure.” — W. Joseph Campbell Public suspicions about polling run deep, but at the same time memories are short. At the beginning, the dawn of modern opinion research, which was 1936, when pollsters like George Gallup and Elmo Roper began polling using quasi-scientific techniques, they were improving on a technique that the Literary Digest magazine had used successfully since 1924, which was to send out mailed postcards to millions of voters. Literary Digest called elections correctly in 1924, 1928, and 1932—basically by luck. But in 1936 they did the presidential election poll again, sent out 10 million postcard ballots, received 2.3 million in return, tallied them all up, and said it looked like Alf Landon was going to win the presidential election and unseat the incumbent Franklin Roosevelt by a comfortable margin. That poll was 19.9 percentage points off. I mention the story to make the point that the very emergence of public opinion research came after a polling failure. The roots of popular suspicions about the accuracy and reliability of polls go back a long way. I think there’s a tendency to want to believe polls because they have a certain degree of precision attached to them. Those cold, hard numbers look like they must be accurate. I think the default is to treat polls as if they are accurate, and this extends not only to the public at large, but to journalists. The precision in the numbers is attractive and very appealing, because journalists deal with ambiguity and imprecision all the time. Even if polling numbers come with some degree of caveat, there’s that appeal there. Another little story I’ve seen emerging around the polling in 2020 is the idea that polls used to be more accurate—that there was some kind of golden age of polling—and that after 2016 and 2020, polling is newly broken. But it strikes me, looking at your book, that this might be sort of a false memory. Since the dawn of modern opinion research in the mid-’30s, almost every presidential election has had some kind of polling controversy, big or small, attached to it. It’s a very rare election that doesn’t. In 1948, of course, we had the “Dewey Defeats Truman” polling failure. That was followed four years later by a landslide election that the pollsters completely missed, in 1952. And they had been very, very wary about getting it wrong, because of 1948. Gallup, Roper, and Archibald Crossley, the three principal national pollsters of the time, had been so cautious about the race between Dwight Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson. They thought it was a very close race that might go either way; they had Eisenhower slightly ahead, but with the caveat that Stevenson seemed to be coming on strong near the end, and he might pull ahead, if enough undecided voters broke for him. It didn’t happen that way! It was not a close election at all. It was a landslide [for Eisenhower]. So, back-to-back elections, ’48 and ’52, and two different types of polling failure. The pollsters were beside themselves and the press was relentless in criticizing them for these back-to-back mistakes. These weren’t the same kinds of errors—one was an error of arrogance and the other an error of timidity, in a sense, but it was a shock. Then, of course, the 1960 campaign, the Kennedy-Nixon race, was a very close election. George Gallup got the election almost spot-on correctly—within a fraction of a percentage point. Elmo Roper also got the election very close, but his final poll pointed to the wrong winner. He thought Nixon was going to pull ahead. That was a minor one—not a prominent polling failure. And not an outcome that’s widely remembered, or that we often recall. But it’s there, as part of the polling history. 1980 was another landslide that pollsters missed. This was akin to 1952 but not exactly. It was when Reagan defeated Carter to win the presidency and oust Carter as a one-term president. And again, the pollsters were thinking, This is a very close election, too close to call. And in the end Reagan won in a landslide. Almost 10 percentage points. And then there’ve been other cases where exit polls have gone awry, or have led people to think things were going to happen that didn’t. 2004 was a well-known case of exit polling failure—exit polls that year were pointing to John Kerry as the likely winner of the presidency, and news organizations were making plans for their coverage for the next day, around these exit polls. One of Kerry’s campaign aides, a guy named Bob Shrum, even turned to Kerry about 7 p.m. on election night and looked him in the face and said Mr. President. George Bush, in his memoir, talks about brooding in the White House, wondering how the election went so badly, believing these exit polls. After what seems like another polling failure in 2020, I’m seeing all kinds of self-examination among people wondering, Can we depend on polls for a picture of the electorate? Are polls over? It’s like a supercharged emotional reaction to polling failure, which of course Hillary Clinton supporters also experienced after 2016. I’m wondering how people in the past might have reacted to these polling failures. Dewey’s supporters in 1948, for example. Of course, it was a different situation—Dewey was a two-time losing presidential candidate, in 1944 and in 1948. When he ran in 1948 and lost, people were like, Oh my God! He lost again? And so after that election, he didn’t contest the results—it wasn’t the kind of election you would have contested; not really close—and he announced right afterwards, after conceding, that he wasn’t going to run again. And so there was this sense that Dewey is out of the picture. So that’s a difference and that’s an important difference. I think there was some Dewey weariness that set in, and I also think Republicans may have had themselves to blame in part for the outcome of that election; the turnout that year was extraordinarily low. That may have been due in part to Republican voters thinking it was in the bag for Dewey. Was that because of the positive polling? Nobody knows for sure. But yes, if you look at the turnout numbers in that election and then previous and subsequent elections … it’s a low point, which says something. Just hard to know for sure. He also decided to run a glide-path campaign—not to stir up any controversy at all, not disrupt, run above the fray, do nothing that might cause him problems and damage his presumed lead. So did people at the time say, Man, you really shouldn’t have trusted the polls? Yes, that was identified as one of the factors as to why he ran this run-out-the-clock kind of campaign. It was seen almost immediately as a mistake. His biographer tells a story of him looking at some footage of a Truman rally during the campaign and thinking there might be an enthusiasm gap, but deciding to trust the polls, and going on as he had been doing—that was a call that didn’t redound to his benefit! I noticed that in some of the publicity for your book, you note that despite the fact that it’s a history of polling failure (and of people who’ve criticized polling), your book is not an anti-polling argument. How’d you put it? “This is not a poll-bashing book.” Right! George Gallup, one of the pioneers of opinions research, probably the best-known single pollster of all time, said something like, This is the best technique that has ever been devised in a democracy for evaluating public opinion. Of course, he was not a disinterested critic of polling by any means, and we might take his comment with a grain of salt. But at the same time, it’s kind of right, because what other systematic method of evaluating public opinion has really been developed? Every time there’s a major polling failure it seems like the news media says, We have got to go out and talk to the people. We have to do more shoe-leather journalism—and that’s fine. But it also becomes very impressionistic. Are you talking to the right people? How do you know that the insights you get from the person on the street are better than a systematic evaluation of public opinion? So it falters. Shoe-leather journalism sounds appealing, and it’s a good technique to get reporters out from behind screens, talking to people, and all that. It’s an effective supplemental tool, but I don’t think it’s the answer. I’ve studied too many of these cases of polling failure and seen how every time shoe-leather journalism is identified as the remedy. It’s not a panacea; it really isn’t. Popular in News & Politics The Even Bigger Problem With Neil Gorsuch’s Decision Not to Wear a Mask Virginia Republicans Want Students to Learn About the Debate Between “Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.” But It Gets Worse. Capitol Rioters Called Pelosi’s Office Looking for Stuff They Left Behind on Jan. 6 It Was Kyrsten Sinema, in the Capitol, With the Dagger! What do you think will happen to polling after 2020? I feel like everyone today is saying “We can’t trust the polls!”—but I can’t imagine we won’t be writing about them again in 2022, or 2024. Right. A Republican pollster named Frank Luntz said a week or so ago, on Twitter and on Fox News, If we get it wrong again in 2020, my industry is done for. [Luntz said it again on Tuesday night.] But it’s pretty clear that’s not going to happen. A polling surprise like we had in 2020 is not going to uproot or destroy the industry of opinion research. It’s just too profoundly attached to American life, with deep roots. It’s a multibillion-dollar industry that includes market research and consumer preference research and public policy research; there’s a lot of polling that goes on that has little if anything to do with election polls. I can’t see how one polling surprise is going to destroy it. If that were the case, it would have happened in 1952, after back-to-back polling errors, missing Dewey/Truman and then Eisenhower/Stevenson. And the industry lived on. 2020 Campaign Elections Polls	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2241
__label__wiki	0.544527	0.544527	News Segment Posted on April 24, 2005 by Skid in Needs Reviewed, Uncategorized // 0 Comments BRITISH HARD ROCKERS PRIDE ANNOUNCE AN ADDITION TO THE RANKS: Tony Marshall (Vaughn/Contagious) has joined the band as second guitarist/backing vocals, ahead of their two slots at this year’s melodic rock show Firefest in Bradford on May 6th and 7th, and the Sheffield Rock Festival on May 29th. Tony played for many years with Contagious in and around Europe; his most recent shows were playing guitar with Vaughn on the Firehouse/Vaughn/Pride tour in Feb 04. “To join Pride is great” said Tony, “I’ve been a big fan of the band since I first saw them and have been friends with the guys since that time- they are definitely the most underrated hard rock band in the UK today. This year is going to be a big one for me and the band. I’m looking forward to playing Firefest – a lot of old friends are going to be there to see me with Pride and I can’t wait.” Guitarist and founder member of Pride Chris Green had this to say:- “The addition of Tony is a new beginning for the band. He has a killer vocal range and even after one rehearsal has nailed the backing vocals we’ve been striving to get for years in a live situation; the added guitar compliments the Pride sound too, lets put it this way – come to either of the shows in May and you’ll see a new and vibrant Pride walking the stage.” Chris also talked about the next Pride album, “The songs are coming together really well, there’s a slight direction change, a harder edge but with all the Pride melodies. We’re really proud of what we have so far, the songs have all the ingredients from Signs of Purity and Far From The Edge but with a twist.” For more info on Pride go to http://www.prideofuk.com Courtesy of www.prideofuk.com	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2242
__label__wiki	0.662422	0.662422	DUBLIN - Shortlisted in the 2022 competition Dublin is the largest city in Ireland and capital of the Republic of Ireland. The Dublin Region consists of the City of Dublin and the area which was formerly known as County Dublin. Cultural treasure chest, filled with an abundance of history As the capital of Ireland, Dublin boasts a population of 1.7 million in the urban region. Situated on the river Liffey on the east coast of Ireland the city grew out of a Gaelic settlement into a second, Viking settlement and eventually the principal settlement on the Island following the Norman invasion in the 12th century. Throughout Ireland’s history, Dublin has served as the administrative and political heart of Ireland all the way through until the partition of Ireland in 1922. Dublin is one of Ireland’s most popular tourism destinations registering 8.6 million visitors in the year 2019 which supporter 68,000 jobs in the tourism industry in 2019. Dublin is Europe’s only capital to have received a UNESCO Bay Biosphere and City of Literature designation as well as being voted the world’s 6th friendliest city in 2019. Digitalisation at the heart of the city tourism In 2020, the Dublin City Council, Fáilte Ireland and Smart Dublin came together to launch a new strategic partnership: the city’s first and very own Smart Tourism Programme. The aim of this programme is to make Dublin City a smart tourism destination and to capitalise on the opportunity to blend the city’s expertise in technology, tourism and smart city collaboration. By centralising their smart tourism efforts, Dublin has begun a series of projects and investments into key ideas and infrastructures designed to enhance the visitor experience through progressive collaboration with both internal and external partners. Digitalisation is at the heart of the city tourism recovery plan, with the development of a world class immersive city-wide digital trails platform that will help bring the city’s stories and the communities to life. By using open data, Dublin is creating the “Culture Near You Map”, an interactive user experience that gives visitors and residents the opportunity to view up-to-date information about things to do, culture, people and places which can all be accessed through the web app and unveils the wealth of attractions that the city has to offer at the touch of a button. Since Dublin is a cultural treasure chest, filled with an abundance of history and culture, the city is capitalising on this with museums such as EPIC; a high-tech visitor attraction housed in the historic vaults of Dublin’s old Docklands. EPIC is arranged in 20 galleries which explores Ireland’s history of emigration through a sustainable model of exhibition allowing for a far greater degree of developing and protecting the history than before. The city of poets and writers From James Joyce to William Butler Yeats, Oscar Wilde and Jonathan Swift Dublin boasts a wide array of literary icons amongst its former residents. The city has always been home to poets and artists that have contributed to the global stage of the arts. With a multitude of galleries and 43 museums and an array of theatres and music halls, with Handel’s Messiah being first performed in the city in 1742. To compliment this, Dublin has become one of Europe’s most youthful cities with an estimated 50% of the population being under 25. This is due to the abundance of universities in the city including the history Trinity College founded in 1592. From its early Viking origins to its modern push into the world of smart tourism Dublin is at the forefront of creating a unique visitor experience that takes into account both where it has come from and where it wants to go. In Irish the saying céad míle fáilte or One Hundred Thousand Welcomes invites each and every visitor to make themselves at home. Dublin Docklands — Freedom in the City EPIC is a high-tech visitor attraction housed in the historic vaults of Dublin’s old Docklands. EPIC is arranged in 20 galleries which explores Ireland’s history of emigration through a sustainable model of exhibition making allowing for a far greater degree of developing and protecting the history than before. Dublin’s Docklands offers the visitor the freedom and space to explore this vibrant part of the city. The Docklands themselves, separated by the gently flowing River Liffey, has been built over many generations and continues to develop today. It is a place not set in stone but is still connected to its history, while also looking to the future. Only a short distance from the City Centre it has been home to Vikings and dockers, a leaving point for emigrants and a welcoming hub for tech start-ups. It is a place that flows with ideas and opportunities, connected by its heritage and its innovation. There is so much to see and discover in Dublin’s Docklands, from Ireland’s smallest museum to the magical creatures hidden atop The Custom House. This circular trail can be started at any of its seven stops and with a range of activities it’s suitable for all the family to take part in and enjoy. Find out more. https://epicchq.com/visit/	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2244
__label__wiki	0.666745	0.666745	By Mike Gonzalez, in Venezuela Two visions for the future of Venezuela’s revolution Ciudad Guyana is not one city but two. Several hundred kilometres south east of the capital Caracas, it is split by a tributary of the Orinoco river. On one side of the bridge is San Felix, a crowded poor town of potholed roads and very basic houses. Can their lives be transformed? (Pic: Jess Hurd/ » reportdigital.co.uk ) In the early morning, San Felix empties, as most of its inhabitants travel across the bridge to Puerto Ordaz, a wealthy place full of flashy shopping malls and new apartments. The source of this wealth is visible on the horizon where the chimneys and furnaces of the industrial plants and chemical works stand out against the sky. Further east, four or five hours away by road, are the mining areas that produce gold and diamonds and a thriving contraband trade. In the future the place will grow even faster, as the huge oil reserves of the Orinoco delta are developed through a series of mixed enterprises between the Venezuelan oil corporation and several multinational corporations. Ciudad Guyana has always been the heartland of Venezuela’s working class traditions and the base of its most militant unions. Today, two major factories in the area symbolise the possibilities and the problems faced by the working class in Venezuela today. On the one hand, there is Alcasa, a huge state-owned plant producing aluminium at a rate of about 3,000 tonnes a week. It’s a hot and noisy place, with red hot coals everywhere you look and flying cranes moving across the enormous vats where the metal is produced. But the most interesting thing about Alcasa is to be found in a white building behind the foundries. It is the education centre, where groups of workers were following courses defined by workers’ committees and the walls were covered with plans for past and future courses. The topics were amazing – co-management and the working class, overcoming the divisions between workers and management, developing the creativity of workers. Talking to the people there, the conversations ranged between improving productive efficiency, how workers could control production, the nature of the capitalist system and so on. Alcasa is an experiment in developing industries run by the producers, and a very exciting one. Not far away, the Sidor plant is locked in a bitter and complicated struggle with its Argentine owners. Sidor produces iron and steel. It was always emblematic of the most combative sectors of the Venezuelan working class. But the call for the plant to be nationalised has not found support in Hugo Chavez’s Bolivarian government. The firm was charging higher rates to the Venezuelan state than to foreign customers. It had also reduced its workforce by almost half, re-employing most of those sacked on a contract basis under terrible working conditions as well as lower wages. These contract workers, organised into cooperatives, and were treated as small businesses and lost all the rights that had been fought for over previous years. Their appeal to presiadent Hugo Chavez, however, fell on deaf ears. Although he threatened nationalisation if the firm did not reduce its prices, a personal intervention from Argentine president Nestor Kirchner brought an assurance that the firm would remain private. The limits of nationalisation were set at Sidor, and left the workers fighting a brutal management at a real disadvantage. The leadership of the trade union movement in the past, the Venezuelan Workers Congress, was notoriously corrupt and joined with the employers in the bosses’ strike of 2002-03. A new trade union federation, the UNT, was founded as an independent union supporting the Bolivarian Revolution. But its independence has caused a number of clashes with other trade unions more directly linked to Chavez. In a sense, the story of Ciudad Guyana’s two factories symbolises the alternatives that face the Venezuelan working class. And it is very clear that if Alcasa is to be the future for the working class of Venezuela, it will mean a battle against an economic model which accepts mixed enterprises with foreign multinationals but resists increasing working class control of production. The alternative, of course, is Sidor. Mike Gonzalez will be speaking about Latin America – Rising of the People and Cuba After Castro at the Marxism 2007 festival of resistance which takes place in central London from 5-9 July. Go to » www.marxismfestival.org.uk. Topics Guyana, Revolution, Venezuela Letter from Brazil Letter from Venezuela: student pawns of the right Mike Gonzalez's audio reports from Venezuela	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2246
__label__wiki	0.673251	0.673251	G7 vaccine plan is a death sentence for millions The G7 leaders and their allies preside over a world where profits come first (Pic: Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street on Flickr) The G7 leaders’ plan to donate coronavirus vaccines to low and middle-income countries is a sham. At last weekend’s summit Boris Johnson and Joe Biden presented themselves as global saviours, announcing they’d respectively offer up 500 million and 100 million doses to the world’s poorest. Overall the G7 committed to providing one billion doses of coronavirus jabs over the next year. What terrible paucity of ambition. The low-level plan will mean that over the course of the next 18 months millions more people, mostly in poorer countries, will be infected as they wait for vaccinations to arrive. The World Health Organisation (WHO) had challenged the G7 leaders to commit to vaccinating at least 70 percent of the world’s population by the time they meet again next year. The WHO said that would need 11 billion doses. There will be no meaningful coverage until the end of next year—if then. Many will face serious illness and death because the health systems in their countries cannot cope. The scenes from India of people searching desperately for hospital beds and oxygen cylinders for sick relatives will be repeated again and again, in country after country. But it does not have to be this way. Vaccinating the world far more quickly could happen If all the world’s major economic powers came together to throw all their resources at the biggest threat to human existence for more than a century. It would mean abolishing all patents and intellectual property rights related to coronavirus vaccines and Covid-19 treatments. Research by the charity Oxfam shows that this would enable all of the world’s developing countries to be vaccinated for just £4.6 billion. But keeping the patents will mean the cost is a whopping £56 billion. Covid-19 vaccine—who will be to blame if the poor are again left to die? “Without a waiver, we would effectively be spending up to ten times more than we need to in order to get enough doses,” an Oxfam spokesperson said. “Much of this will be money that will go directly into the pockets of the shareholders of these companies”. In addition, a global network of manufacturing sites for the most effective vaccines must be created. Big pharmaceutical firms insist that only they have the knowledge and skills required to manufacture complex vaccines. That knowledge must be spread immediately, and if Big Pharma is resistant, all the key firms should be brought under state control to make it happen. “Vaccines belong to everyone. Everyone must have equal access,” demanded Fiona Uellendahl from the World Vision children’s charity. “You can’t let pharmaceutical companies decide who gets vaccines.” She insists the argument that developing countries cannot build up production fast enough is a “myth”. She adds that there is “a lot of very good infrastructure”, even in poor countries, to produce vaccines. Protesters confront failing politicians at G7 summit With already some 4 million people dead, the cost of not acting could be horrendous. Millions of people in poorer countries will die unnecessary deaths. And the virus will be given space in which it can grow and continue to mutate into new, and potentially more dangerous, strains. The Delta variant that is now the dominant strain in Britain emerged in India because the huge unvaccinated population there stood no chance against the virus. Now, that strain—which is at least 60 percent more infective, and more resistant to vaccines— threatens a new wave of infections in Britain. It will doubtless spread to other countries too. When seen in this light, Britain’s paltry offer of 500 million shots is a drop in the ocean. Alex Harris of the Wellcome Foundation was right when he attacked the G7 plan. “What the world needs is vaccines now, not later this year,” he said. “We urge G7 leaders to raise their ambition.” But the failure of world leaders to come together with a genuine global vaccination plan is not simply a reflection of our inept ruling classes. It is a sign of just how warped the priorities of the G7’s system are. What really stands in the way of the emergency measures needed is neither lack of technology nor lack of resources. It is the global system of capitalism that subordinates all life to the pursuit of profit. The G7 leaders lord over that. Topics Africa, Asia, Boris Johnson, Coronavirus, Imperialism, Joe Biden, Latin America G7 Summit—world leaders accelerate towards climate chaos G7 deal will not make big businesses pay their tax Thousands march for Palestine in London as the G7 meets New wave forced Tories to keep lockdown NHS in crisis as patients queue for 12 hours to see doctors Biden injects billions into Big Pharma to compete Biden tries to pull Russia into his battle with China Sajid Javid will front new attack on safety and NHS Why would a businessman pay £100,000 for breakfast with Boris Johnson? Climate change—voices from the Global South	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2247
__label__wiki	0.553079	0.553079	#LifeatStewart / Preserving the Living History of Durham May 19th / 2021 The Kress Building’s Living Legacy The Kress Building resides on the corner of West Main Street and Mangum Street, one of the most notable and highly traveled intersections in the heart of Durham. It was built in 1932 in the Art Deco style and features dazzling architecture, with floral and foliage motifs embellishing its facade and interior. Its location within the center of the Bull City positions this site within footsteps of downtown’s prime attractions—numerous popular restaurants and bars, the Durham Performing Arts Center, the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, the Farmers’ Market, offices for Durham’s desirable creative, tech, and entrepreneurial workforce, and thousands of apartment units. The Kress Building a sunset It is also the home of Stewart’s Durham office where Project Manager Katie Hamilton, PLA, who has over seven years of design experience, plans and creates for projects across the region. A member of the landscape architecture team, she assists developers with entitlements research, re-zonings, site development, and construction documentation to bring their projects to life in the areas of local government, healthcare, higher education, and hospitality. Katie is also former chair of the City of Durham Historic Preservation Commission (HPC). The HPC’s mission is to determine whether requested changes to the exterior of locally designated historic district or landmark properties are appropriate by state law, local ordinance, and historic preservation plans for the communities. The HPC reviews all major, minor, or master certificates of appropriateness. The distinct flavor of the neighborhoods in Durham was part of what drew me to working on the Durham Historic Preservation Commission. Katie Hamilton, PLA The Kress Building, a local historic landmark, was adaptively repurposed and renovated in 2006, with 14 luxury residential condo units occupying the upper levels. The structure receives a tax abatement to ensure that the owners have more funds to maintain the property to the level needed for a historic site with landmark status. Durham’s HPC reviews all exterior changes to landmarks such as the Kress and properties in local historic districts. Living Structures Preserving historic buildings isn’t simply about freezing a place in time. Preservation takes into account the constant movement of life and the people who use these spaces. “Historic buildings are living structures that should grow and change with society and the needs of residents to retain their usefulness while respecting the roots that give the building its character,” Katie explains. “As a landscape architect serving on the HPC, I focus on the holistic character of the local historic. While each historic building is individually meaningful, the value of the building’s setting and the contribution to the feeling of the neighborhood is of utmost importance to my preservation interests.” Durham Historic Downtown Preserving Character or Elitism? Katie notes that historic preservation can be a surprisingly contentious issue. “Some people view it as a form of elitism and modern redlining, but that’s the exact opposite intent when creating local historic districts. These districts are intended to preserve the neighborhood’s character. While that preservation may come with requirements for building materials that are slightly more expensive than what is allowed outside of these districts, it also comes with protections against replacing smaller historic houses with ‘McMansions.’ “Durham’s historic districts are remarkably diverse in both housing stock and periods of significance and importance. Our landmark districts include not only a range of single-family residences but duplexes and multi-family developments. That diversity of housing stock is critical to maintaining the charm of historic districts and the ability of individuals with differing socioeconomic means to live in historic districts. “The distinct flavor of the neighborhoods in Durham was part of what drew me to working on the Durham Historic Preservation Commission. We also have great local partners that offer assistance to residents in these neighborhoods who need help with home repair. Right now, Preservation Durham is seeking a grant from the city through their participatory budgeting to help residents maintain their homes in these districts.” As Katie has found, historic places are worth preserving. Behind each door and wall, and under each roof, there is a story to be found, understood, and appreciated. Organizations such as the Durham HPC are doing the work to maintain the living histories of their treasured communities.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2252
__label__cc	0.655754	0.344246	Agreement Between Turkey and Russia to Avoid Provocations in Idleb Thursday August 5th, 2021 by AL-MODON (Lebanese website) Turkey and Russia have reached an agreement to prevent provocations that could lead to tensions and violence in the province of Idleb, according to al-Modon. Turkey and Russia have reached an agreement to prevent provocations that would damage the stability resulting from the Idleb ceasefire agreement. Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin met with the Russian special envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, in Ankara, Turkey. They discussed the latest developments in Syria. During the meeting, Turkey and Russia noted the importance of maintaining the ceasefire agreement in Syria’s Idleb governorate by avoiding provocations, according to a statement issued by the Kalin office. During the meeting, it was stressed that the political process should be activated more effectively and that the work of the Constitutional Committee should be accelerated to bring peace and stability to Syria. It was also stressed that all terrorist organizations, including ISIS and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), should be firmly combated to guarantee the territorial integrity of Syria. Read Also: Turkey, Russia Switch Roles in North Syria: Idleb Civil Council The two sides also stressed “the importance of taking joint steps to alleviate the humanitarian crisis.” They also expressed satisfaction with the UN Security Council Resolution 2585, which guarantees continued humanitarian aid to Syria. On July 9th, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution allowing the extension of the mechanism for the delivery of cross-border humanitarian aid to Syria for one year, through the Bab al-Hawa crossing. The council members unanimously voted (15 countries) on the joint draft resolution reached by Russia, the United States, Norway, and Ireland. The Idleb governorate is witnessing a military escalation by regime forces and the Russian army despite a ceasefire agreement signed on March 5, 2020, between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2256
__label__cc	0.577635	0.422365	February 28, 2019 February 28, 2019 Monica Kings and Queens Accepting the Torch I couldn’t think of a better way to end the African American History Month other than to post something inspirational that shows the continued spirit of African Americans despite the struggles that we have and are still overcoming from the injustices of discrimination. Just like our ancestors, we will continue to push forward!!! These children have received the torch and are running with it! Hope this vid brings you hope for the next generation. Also to have gratitude for those that sacrificed so much for us to have the privileges that we have today. This is evidence that if we live each day with the intent to touch the lives of others, there is a huge positive impact on humanity. Please share♻ like 👍comment💬😄 and yes subscribe! Thanks so much for stopping by! January 22, 2019 Monica Perpetual Holocaust of Africans Truthfully, I know the responses that Africans, Blacks, African Americans receive when we bring light to our past and present of being terrorized throughout history…..such sayings as, “That was a long time ago”, or “Slavery is over, you must get over it, besides that, no one in this generation dealt the terror or received it”. This is exactly why I felt compelled to write this post. I choose to remember my African history because after all, we are approaching that short month in which historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History announced the second week of February to be “Negro History Week”. This became a precursor to Black History Month in America which began in 1976, and since then, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month. Many ask, “Why do Blacks need a month for their history”. How about this…..our history is rarely taught in the public school system and if it is, there are so many deletions and changes made to it that it would be unrecognizable to our ancestors. Let’s just look at the term “Black History” itself. It doesn’t tell anyone where we are from, it’s just a color. We have been called everything throughout the centuries except for what we truly are, “African”. So I leave you with these thoughts to ponder and if you would choose to educate others, no matter what their heritage that the holocaust of Africans worldwide is in full effect, even till this day. Just know that this is blood spilled on American soil and doesn’t even begin to touch the holocaust that occurred in world history or before the Atlantic Slave Trade, surpassing all death tolls of any nation of people ever reported. Perpetual Holocaust East St. Louis Massecre July 1917 Red Summer Massecre (including Elaine, Arkansas) 1919 Black Wall Street Tulsa Murders (Greenwood) May 1921 Tuskeegee Syphilis Experiment 1932-1972 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing September 1963 Hurricane Katrina Deaths from little or no government response and displacement of children from families- 2005 Flint, Michigan Deaths and Chronic Illnesses from Water Pollution (2012-present)- most victims predominately African American Charleston Church Shooting June 17, 2015 Unfortunately, since it’s inception, the United States of America has perpetuated a holocaust and the death toll of my people continually rises, while we hear, “Get over it” . As always, why not impact someone’s day and SHARE IT, LIKE, REPOST, COMMENT and YES, SUBSCRIBE by clicking Follow? Thanks so much for dropping in! Did You Know? Celebrating African American History! As African Americans, most of us take great pride in teaching our children and youth about our history all year round. In America, February has been chosen as the height of this celebration of the rich contribution that we have made to not only America, but the entire world. However, there is a sadness that grabs me when I think about even the above title….African-American History Month. Why not simply African History? We have a rich history before the Americas as well. A history of being educators, agricultural experts and inventors of things made to aid our journey into outer space as well as much needed health inventions and procedures. We know about many great contributors and have taught our children about greats such as George Washington Carver, Frederick Douglas, Martin Luther King, Jr., Marcus Garvey, Harriet Tubman, and so many others that would fill pages and pages. Being that I come from a discipline in healthcare, I want to take you on a journey with me to educate about some unsung heroes in the healthcare industry who have made a huge impact on our lives. Dr. Patricia Bath (Photo credit: Scholastic, Teacher’s Activity Guide) Did You Know…..Dr. Bath was born in Harlem, New York in 1942 and earned her medical degree from Harvard University followed by a fellowship in Opthalmology at Columbia University. She had an interest in science from an early age. In 1981, she invented the Laserphaco Probe which made her famous. She patented the device in 1988 after years spent perfecting it. She was the first African American female to physician to secure a medical patent. This device was used for cataract correction during eye surgery and was less invasive, more precise and had less risk associated with it than other devices. It has been used world-wide. Bath also co-founded the American Institute for the prevention of blindness and the first woman to chair an ophthalmology residency program in the US. She is an example of what it is to work tirelessly for improvement of health for all. (Photo credit: Celebrating Black History Month, Triocountysentry) Did You Know…..Otis Boykin is best known in the medical field for improving the pacemaker. In addition to this, he made devices that we use on a daily more effecient and affordable, such as the television and computers. Boykin was born in Dallas, Texas and attended Fisk College in Nashville, Tennessee. He went on to the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago to further his education. Boykin began to study electronics and learned about resistors. He found that resistors allow a safe amount of currency to flow through a device because you can slow the electrical flow. He patented a “wire precision resistor” in 1959 which allowed specific amounts of electrical currents to flow for a specific purpose. If that wasn’t magnificent enough, he came back with an improved version that could withstand shifts in temperature and air pressure. This breakthrough allowed devices to be made even cheaper and more reliable than what had ever been seen before. His resistors were even used in military missiles. His invention for the control unit for the pacemaker, which was a device that was implanted in the body to help the heart beat normally, was a great invention that allowed the pacemaker to be regulated more precisely. He is a true legend. (Photo credit: google photos) Garrett Morgan Did You Know…….Garrett Morgan was born in 1877 in Paris and passed in 1963. He is most known for inventing an early version of the gas mask and a new form of the traffic signal. If that was not amazing enough, he also invented the “safety hood” in 1914, which made polluted air safer to breath. It was used in World War I to protect soldiers from poisonous gases. In 1916 in Ohio, during the drilling of a tunnel being drilled under Lake Erie that tragically collapsed, 32 workers were trapped and while firemen could not rescue the men due to gases and fumes, Morgan and other men used his safety hood to reach the trapped men and rescue others also. Oh, but wait, there is more! What we are all probably more familiar with is his invention and patent for the traffic signal in 1923. His traffic signal was the first to use 3 instead of 2 commands which made traffic flow more efficiently. He sold the patent rights for a whopping $40K to G.E., which was more like a cool $1/2 million now. To these 2 heroes and heroin as well as many others that gave of their time, sweat and hard work and made this world a better place to live. Here is also to the up and coming Baths, Boykins, and Morgans of our day and time. Keep pushing forward, breaking open doors and leaving them open for others to come after you. Thank you for your contributions.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2265
__label__cc	0.605592	0.394408	WIA News Showcase 2021 Awards / World Illustration Awards 2022 / 2013 / Judges / Catharine Brandy Next Previous Back to Awards List Catharine Brandy Design Manager, Stamps & Collectibles, Royal Mail After studying design and illustration at college, Catharine worked as a graphic designer in Canada for over a decade, followed by a move to the UK. She enjoyed running her own freelance design practice in London before joining Royal Mail as a design manager for stamps. She continues to be fascinated by the way in which huge tales of British history and culture can be told so effectively on a tiny canvas. Over the course of her career, her work has earned awards in the UK and internationally. Illustration Agencies & Collectives Let’s work together to educate, campaign and bring the best to the industry!	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2269
__label__cc	0.739275	0.260725	Best resources: BorntoSell.com’s killer covered call screener (transcript) Zack Miller \| June 05, 2011 On Tradestreaming Radio, we’re interviewing lots of innovative entrepreneurs, investors, and researchers all trying to make investors better at what they do. Check out our archives. Subscribe on iTunes. Audio transcription provided by Speechpad.com. Announcer: Live from the Internet, it’s Tradestreaming Radio with your host, Tradestreaming.com’s own Zack Miller. Zack: Hey, this is Zack Miller and you’re listening to Tradestreaming Radio. This is your place online to talk about tools, tech, and tips to help make you a better and more accurate investor. We help to bubble up some of the best and smartest people, sharing the most important ideas. That’s what Tradestreaming is all about. I appreciate you listening. You can find this podcast on iTunes at Tradestreaming. You can also find this podcast on my website, Tradestreaming.com. After the show is up, we will have the audio transcribed so you can find some text there. We’ll also put in some other valuable information as well, so I recommend you check that out. Today’s guest is Mike Scanlin, the founder of BornToSell.com. It’s an online call option research platform. Mike left a sweet job as a VC to pursue two different ideals. One is this sort of entrepreneurial idea. He wanted to prove to everybody in his life that he could branch out and do it on his own. The second was really to create “the resource” for covered calls online. There are a few other sites out there that do that. He’s totally hyper focused on making it the best, most usable, most functional place out there to really research covered calls. Covered call strategies are used for a variety of reasons. He’ll talk about why investors use these things. I was interested in understanding how he formed the company, some of the techniques he used to build awareness and traffic to his site, so where he was going with Born To Sell. It’s a great site. He’s got a lot of free content there. It’s a subscription model as well. I’ll put some links up to it on the website. He’s a treasure trove of information, both about technology and marketing, as well as obviously covered call strategies. He actually learned the strategy from his father, who was a stock broker, who used it to generate income on retirement portfolios. It’s really functional. I even said in the conversation that it felt like using one of the best tools I use in my practice, which is MailChimp. It’s a mail services provider. It has the same type of functionality and ease of use that some of the best online tools have. That’s not by chance. That’s something definitely programmed and designed in there. I hope you find this informative. If you do, please rank or rate us on iTunes. We benefit and let other people know about what we’re doing here. Also, we’re always open for your feedback, either on the blog or via email. Let us know what you think of the podcast. We’re aiming to make this better and more useful for you. We’ll just jump right into the conversation. Best resources: BorntoSell.com’s killer covered call screener by tradestreaming Can you tell me your background? Are you more of a technology person? Do you have a financial background? Mike: I’m both. I started off my professional career as a software engineer, so I was a day-to-day programmer for 12 years. I worked at five startups in Silicon Valley. Two went public, one got bought, and two failed, so kind of a mix of experience there. Then I ended up at Garage.com with Guy Kawasaki, which was an early-stage investment bank. Originally I was hired to build their website, as a technology person. So I built the Garage.com website. It was designed to accept business plan submissions online, and then Garage would review the plans. They would choose about half of one percent to take on as clients, and then they would prepare those entrepreneurs to meet angels and VCs and then syndicate their Series A fundraising rounds. I did that for four years. After developing the site, Guy hired me on full time to be the software/technology guy, to evaluate business plans on a technical level that were in the software space. That grew into a role, over four years, where I was running half of that company, and we had 65 people in 6 offices around the world. Zack: Was Katia there while you were there? Mike: Yeah, Katia is a good friend. Zack: Oh good. She’s my first cousin. Mike: Is that right? Wow. Zack: Yeah. Mike: Amazing. Zack: Small world. Mike: Yeah, she’s awesome. We were buddies in Palo Alto. Then when she moved to London, Guy and I visited her there a couple times. We do one of our boot camps for startups in London. But yeah, she’s awesome. In fact, my wife is in the jewelry business and is still in touch with Katia, talking about pearls and stones and stuff. Zack: That’s great. Mike: So anyway, I did Garage for four years, I read like 10,000 business plans. I helped 120 companies raise $400 million. Then we filed to go public with Goldman as our lead underwriter in February of 2000. The market corrected in April, or peaked, started to correct as we were in S1. Then we waited six months. Then in October, Goldman said, “Look, it’s not getting better. You guys should just withdraw.” So we withdrew the filing. At that point, it was clear this dream of the instant big bucks was over. So I left that. I took some time off. I came back as a VC. I joined Sierra Ventures, which is a 25 year old venture fund, as a principal. I was there for four years, and then I got recruited out to go to Battery Ventures, which is a bigger fund, and they made me partner. I spent the last two years of my professional career as a partner in a VC firm. Ultimately I decided I was tired of the venture business, having done it for six years and then the prior four years in banking, and I really wanted to run my own company. So I left a very good job, which my wife is still not sure I should have done, to go start Born To Sell, which is this covered call website. I did that just over two years ago. It took 18 months to develop this site. I hired 35 people around the world. I found them on the Internet using Elance and oDesk. So it’s a completely outsourced model. It’s all self-funded. I had seven different people offer me money to invest when I quit the venture business, and I declined. I decided to go the self-funding route just because, having been on boards, I knew what it meant to take outside money. We were launched last July, and we were cash flow positive and profitable in our fourth month. Every month the subscriptions go up. It’s a recurring revenue model, so it’s just going to be a cash machine. In a couple of years, it’s going to be awesome. We had a nice write-up. I don’t know if I sent it to you. We were in Barron’s about two weeks ago. Zack: I did see that. You didn’t send it to me, but I did see it, yeah. Mike: Yeah, that was a really great mention for us and really boosted subscribers. So I’m now going to hire a PR person. I haven’t done any PR. It’s all been sort of organic SEO. That’s been great. It’s just that learning a new skill I’ve been obsessed with increasing my organic page ranking in Google for 150 different phrases that are relevant to covered call traders. Now I rank . . . Zack: So . . . Mike: Go ahead. I’ll stop. Zack: I’m sorry. It’s interesting to me, given your background, why focused on covered calls? Mike: Oh yeah, I skipped that part in the very beginning. My father’s a stockbroker, and at the age of 15, he brainwashed me that selling options actually didn’t even exist then. He taught me about investing as a teenager. In 1973, they’d just come out, and covered calls were new. He started doing it. He was obsessed with them. He taught me about them, and I started trading them as a teenager. So I’ve been doing covered calls for 30 years with my own personal money. I don’t outsource any of my financial management. I do it myself, and covered calls is the number one strategy. I’ve been using it, and I’ve had great success. My frustration was I had a homegrown Excel spreadsheet, like most covered call traders do, because the brokerage firms don’t pair up the trades, a long stock and a short option. So it’s really hard to see if you have 30 open positions, what’s the time premium remaining in each of these positions? So everybody has their homegrown spreadsheet. It doesn’t import prices usually. It certainly doesn’t have ex-dividend dates or earnings release dates or other kinds of integrated information that’s pretty important if you’re doing this. So I was going to write a web page tool, just for my own trading. After six months, I got into it. I showed it to a couple covered call friends, and they’re like, “Well, dude, you should sell that.” Zack: Right. Mike: So I polished it up, and that’s when I quit my . . . I was doing this while I was still a VC. Then I decided I’m just going to make this a business. So I quit my VC job and decided to go after this full time. Zack: So what kind of channels are you using to get the word out? I know you have the blog. There’s some really nice content there. I even saw that you developed an app for the Investing Tools section on Seeking Alpha. Mike: Yeah. Zack: Can you talk about how you’re using distribution technologies to get the word out? Mike: Sure. One, we have an affiliate program. We have over 300 affiliates. They get a fee for sending us leads, which is someone who signs up for a free trial, and then more if they convert to a paid subscriber. The details are all on our page. It’s all public. It’s in the footer under Affiliates. So that’s one channel. Then I ran some print ads in a few different publications, like Stocks and Commodities and SSO, and actually in IBD, Investor’s Business Daily. I ran it for about a month as well. Those kind of paid for themselves. It was kind of a break even proposition, so I wasn’t very excited about continuing the print advertising. So then I got turned on to online SEO, which I had known about as a VC obviously and being a techno nerd. I’m thinking, okay, this is a new challenge. I’ve got to get this page ranked number one. My ideal phrase is “covered call screener,” which is an exact description of what we are. So my mission was to get that ranked number one, which we are today. Zack: How long did that take? Mike: It wasn’t that competitive. There are probably five websites that matter in that space. I think it took maybe three months, because with Google, you can’t just blast it all at once or it looks like spam. Google will actually penalize you if you do it in a spam-like way. You have to build up trusted links from credible sites on a regular schedule over time. If you just get a thousand inbound links on day one and then none for a month after that, that looks really spammy, and it looks like you bought links, which is what Google hates. So you can’t do that. I read all kinds of SEO blogs and forums and learned from a bunch of books. It’s basically pretty straightforward. The on page optimization is about 20 percent of what you need. That takes a couple of weeks to get that nailed, and then 80 percent of it is the external links and people to point to you. You’ve got to get a link from Wikipedia, although now, Wikipedia is all no follow. They used to be do follow. Wikinvest, Investopedia, places that are relevant to your audience and trustworthy, ranked by Google. So today, I’m tracking 150 different phrases. I have 20 of them in the top 3 organic results. I have about 55 on page 1 organic results, and I’m still working on the others. It’s become less of a focus to be honest. I stopped that about two months ago. For the first six months of the site’s life, that’s pretty much where I spent 75% of my time doing SEO and trying to get it to rank. It’s great because today that’s going to pay dividends for years. We get hundreds of visitors per day that are coming to us essentially for free because we rank for phrases that they’re searching on. If you were to buy a pay-per-click ad on Google for the phrase “covered calls,” it’s like $5 a click. Zack: Wow. Mike: Because all the brokerage firms are bidding on it, because to them, the lifetime value of a customer is enormous if they can secure an options trader who can trade ten times more than a stock trader. So you’re competing with all the brokerage firms on the phrase “covered calls,” and the singular version “covered call.” So I didn’t want to buy clicks at $5 a click. I’d rather rank organically, and I think right now we rank number six or seven organically for the phrase “covered calls.” So we are on page one. But I got things like Motley Fool and Wikipedia ahead of me, and those will be harder to overcome. But it’s doable. It’s just going to take more time. It’ll probably take a year, because Google puts a big emphasis on domain age, as you may know, and on the new site. Zack: It’s just interesting, given the fact that you found a winning strategy for you that you sort of battlefield tested that you yourself were using. Why launch a software company as opposed to just raising a fund and doing it yourself? I guess more principal investing. Mike: Yeah, I guess it’s lifestyle and passion. I’ve always felt that with a big enough asset base, I could live extremely comfortably just writing covered calls on the call premium income alone. It’s relatively low stress, from the way that I do it. I mean a well diversified, conservative stuff. I do trade on margin, but I’m online all the time, and I don’t trade around earning dates or a specific stock. There’s still macro and market risk in general, but I’ve learned a lot of lessons about what not to do. I wanted to build the ultimate tool for covered call traders. I wanted to basically give people like dad’s clients a reason not to use my dad. My dad is 80 years old. He’s a full-service, retail, full-charge broker, and people pay a lot of money to him to execute trades and manage their funds. Because he’s low-risk, these big cap dividend payers write the money covered calls on, they will dump their life savings on him because of the trust factor. I’m thinking, well, that’s great, but he’s a dinosaur. I love my dad, don’t get me wrong. But that business model is a dinosaur. If someone has just a tiny bit of technology understanding, they can do it themselves. So I’m trying to make a tool to help enable the average person that owns stocks to generate extra monthly income from them. I’m very passionate that anyone can do it, and you don’t even have to buy any new stocks. If you’re a mutual fund, it doesn’t work. But if you own stocks through ETFs, you could just do it today. If you’re not doing it, you can just write some stuff, put down some money, and see what happens. You’ll probably just find you get extra dividends every month, and then you can graduate to weeklies, maybe, but those are generally higher beta stocks and maybe not appropriate for the total casual observer. But half of my audience are people who are really active traders, and they’ve been dying for weeklies. I’m actually implementing weeklies right now. I’m going to release them soon, probably next week. Zack: What’s a weekly? Mike: The weekly options are just like the monthlies, but they expire every week. So they have a lifetime of eight days. They get announced on Thursday, and then they expire eight days later on Friday. It behaves exactly like a monthly. It’s just that if you trade weeklies, you get 52 expirations a year instead of 12. Since an option’s time decay quickest near expiration, you get a lot more time decay or income from the weekly than from the monthlies. Zack: You’re launching the weeklies. That’s in the pipeline? Mike: Yeah, it’s not announced. I’ve just spent the last two weeks coding it. It’s beta testing right now with a few users. We should have that imminently, maybe this week. If not, the next week. Zack: That’s great. So outside of SEO, you said you sort of scaled back. Why? Just because you sort of hit a tipping point where it was good enough? Mike: Yeah, it was good enough. Then I got other opportunities coming along. Now, we’re well enough known that people are approaching me for biz dev deals and trading subscriber lists and other marketing things. They’re like, build me a special widget that looks like this, and we’ll put it on our site. It’ll be like a souped-up affiliate program where I can provide some sort of unique content. Like today’s highest yield in covered call in a widget, and they can put that on their site. If anyone clicks through and then signs up for a free trial or a paid subscription, the person who hosted the widget earns an affiliate fee. So it’s more than just a review and a mention by an affiliate. It’s actually some sort of valued content that they can display on their site, which is relevant to options trading or stocks. I’ve got to write a book. Everyone in this space has written a book on covered calls. It’s just a credential that I need. I’ve just got to do that. I know how to do it. It’s just time. I just figured the SEO was at the point where I was generating enough traffic. We get new paid subscribers every day, and it’s basically going great. So now is the moment, eight months after launch, to take a little break from the marketing craziness and think about features in 2.0, like weeklies and then writing this book and some other biz dev opportunities that I have. Zack: So outside of the SEO, can you point to other specific marketing endeavors that you felt had good return on your time spent? Mike: I did a lot of interviews, and there are two kinds of interviews. One are people who are focusing on investing, and they’re like, “Teach me about covered calls or how does it work, because it seems confusing.” The other half is on being a startup, to be honest. How did you boost traffic? How much money did it take? Did you have investment options? Did you have to mortgage a house or get a bank loan? All these questions and teaching other entrepreneurs. Even when those interviews got published, it was to an audience that typically is not my customer, because an entrepreneur is not going to have the assets to do a covered call strategy. It was great exposure, and it was actually really good SEO, because I got links from trusted sites related to interviews around how to be a startup. There’s a resource called HARO. I don’t think I found you through HARO. Do you know HARO? Zack: Yeah, that’s where we first connected. Mike: HARO is great. I respond to probably three HARO requests per week where I feel that I’m relevant, and I probably get a 50% callback. Of the callbacks, about 80% results in something good, either a positive mention or a “do follow” link back to my site or something to make it worth my time to talk to those people and help them with their articles. So HARO has been a great . . . I don’t know if it’s a channel, but it’s kind of do-it-yourself PR. I’ve been extremely pleased. There’s another one called Blogger LinkUp. I think it’s BloggerLinkUp.com, where people who want content on their blogs publish every day what they want. About once a week there’s something on finance there or retirement. There’s something that’s relevant to me. So I respond to those, and then I can basically guest blog. I’ll write a 500 word article that they post on their blog, and they give me a link back. Again, it’s establishing credibility and my point of view on investing, as well as the SEO benefit of having a link back and just exposure to their audience, whoever that may be. Guest blogging. I do a little bit of article marketing, although it feels kind of spammy to me, so I didn’t really focus on that. Zack: What is article marketing? Mike: Article marketing is where you write an article. I’ll write an article on covered calls, 500 words or more, and then I’ll post it. There are a hundred article databases. The big one’s called Ezinearticles.com, and then the theory is that other bloggers who need content will go to Ezine, scan through, do a search for relevant articles, find one they like, and then republish the article on their blog with a link back to the original author. It’s a way for people who need content and people who are producing content to come together in a marketplace. People have taken that to an extreme. They’ll post articles to Ezine, not because they expect anyone to syndicate that and republish it, but just because Ezine itself is like a PR 7 site or PR 8 site, I think. A link back from Ezine is worth something. So, “Let’s just post a bunch of articles to Ezine, and I don’t care if anybody syndicates them, because Ezine itself, the link is worth it to get back.” Then Ezine has 100 competitors, and none of them will accept previously published content. So you have to write a unique article for each one. Then there are these things called article spinners, where you write an article once and then you feed it to the software, and it changes synonyms within the article so that the output has similar meaning but it’s different words than the original article. Depending on what spinner you use, the output can be gibberish and not make any sense at all, or it could be a timesaving awesomeness where you write one article and you get five, and then you can post that article in five different directories. That whole thing is a game, and that’s not my angle. There are people who are professional gamers of the Google algorithm, but then Google figures this stuff out. They’ve got hundreds of Ph.D.s on staff who are stressing over, “How do we identify these article spinners and their output?” If they do, they’re just going to devalue it – meaning zero value for the link that you worked to get – and they might even penalize your site for trying to game their algorithm. I’ve stayed away from things where it’s just a pure game, and I’m trying to optimize the Google algorithm. There’s a difference between black hat and white hat SEO. I’m in the white hat category. I want to have a link from a credible source. I wrote an article for Investopedia on weekly options, and Investopedia is a totally credible place where you have credible articles on investment topics. They have an audience that is relevant to what I do, and now I have a link back from them. That single link is worth 100 or even 1,000 spam links through some black hat SEO method. So I’m sticking to white hat SEO. Forum posting is another one we didn’t talk about yet. I’ll participate in investment discussions, and in my signature, I’ll say BornToSell.com. It’s not a blatant advertisement for Born To Sell, but you’re allowed to have an affiliation in your signature, as long as your comment is a value add to the discussion that’s going on. If it’s not, the moderator will just delete your comment. Posting, being a resource and offering advice to the different the investment communities out there, like on Motley Fool, you can participate in the discussions. Obviously, Seeking Alpha, I’ve done that a bunch. Then you can have a link back from those. Those are typically no follow, which gives you no SEO benefit. But if you’re posting in a place where relevant humans are, you don’t really care about the SEO value of the link. You want the humans to read your comment, think you’re credible, and click through. Zack: You are so busy from guerilla marketing tactics. It sounds like you spend most of your time marketing. Mike: Yeah. Well, one, I rarely sleep and this is a total passion. I have the quality that a lot of CEOs of small startups do, which is they want to work on their thing until they’re too tired to type and then they fall asleep and they wake up four hours later and keep going. That’s kind of how I operate, because I really, really want this to succeed. One, I just kind of want to prove to all my ex-VC buddies that I’m not an idiot. I didn’t give up a sweet gig to starve for the next seven years doing nothing, working for minimum wage. So it’s nice to have a competitor. It keeps you focused. I think this is a big market. I think options are becoming more popular, and I think that everyone should be doing covered calls. I’m just trying to make it easy enough that they can. I don’t use jargon. On my site, you don’t find words like delta or implied volatility or any other option geek words, which I fully understand, but I’m not going to expose the average investor to because I don’t think you need to, to make some money with covered calls. Zack: I think it’s people like you that are contributive to what I call really a bull market for financial content right now. You’ve been successful in taking a strategy and then productizing it. You’re finding other form factors, with apps and stuff like that around it. Is that where everything is headed? Smart people with experience in other industries coming to the financial sector and just kind of changing things up? Mike: Well, I think the Internet is great, because the tools are becoming more sophisticated. It used to be installed software, where you had to buy a package and then typically subscribe to a data feed to get that software to update to be useful. Now it’s the Web and having web apps and they’re easy to change. People have new and high-level expectation on user interface design. Everyone wants an iPhone or iPod-like simplicity. That really was my goal, to make my site the Apple-like version of a covered call tool. Because if you look at my tool and you compare it to any other options screener, it’s night and day. I’m the only one who someone who is not an option geek could really get into. Zack: On your site, I feel like I’m using MailChimp. It’s that level of ease. Mike: Yeah, and that was a design goal. This is the third version, by the way, what you’re seeing. I threw away the first two versions, because I kept trying to simplify it without making it unusable. I started with my spreadsheet. I said, “Let me make this web version of my Excel spreadsheet.” Then I realized, “Wait a minute. I’m an option geek, and this is going to intimidate people that are new to this.” I think that there are already sites, like IVolatility.com and some of the tools on thinkorswim or optionsXpress, that cater pretty well to the five or ten percent of the audience that are option geeks. They want to do four-legged strategies, or they’re talking about theta or delta, and they’re really into it. That audience is well-served. Zack: Lots of geeks. Mike: Yeah, that audience is really well-served, and that’s not what I’m competing against. Sometimes those people call me and they say, “Your site is a toy. I can’t possibly use your site to make money.” Then the majority of my users are people that say, “Oh my god. Thank you for making this simple and clean. Now I get it. I never have prior to this.” So I’m going after the middle of the bell curve. I’m not going after the right side of the traders who are option geeks. But to your earlier question, is this the future? I think so. I think there are a lot of specialty web apps that are in niche markets that are kind of best of breed in their little niche. Eventually people just figure, “Okay, they’ve done it. There’s really no reason to go anywhere else. It’s simple, it’s clean. It does something I need. Why would I switch to something else?” There are a lot of spaces like that, I think, on the Web, niches that people have successfully dominated, and I want to dominate covered calls. I get requests to do spreads and butterflies and naked puts, and I’m like, “You know, I really don’t want to expand into 12 different options strategies, because then I’m going to look like every other options site. I’m going to confuse the hell out of the beginner, and I don’t want to do that.” I just want to be best of breed for covered calls and see how that goes. Zack: Well, I guess, sitting at the intersection of technology, media, and investing, there was this sort of growing frustration that a lot of other industries have undergone some type of transformation where finance seems so monolithic and so resistant to change. A lot of that, obviously, come from compliance, regulatory environments, and stuff like that. But I’m seeing professional investors sort of move out of directly managing money and creating an educational cell, which is really what you’re doing. You’re selling content. I guess that was my question. Obviously, you’re still just in the beginning of it. But if that seems to be where people are rejiggering their businesses and saying, “Hey, there really is a content business in finance. You really can make it without having to custody somebody’s assets and get paid for that.” Mike: I agree with that. There are so many overwhelming choices, especially now with the explosion of ETFs that are niche ETFs, and people are confused. Like, “How do I do asset allocation? How do I rebalance? Are bonds really going to get creamed the next three years because of inflation risks? I’m retired, and I have a lot of bonds and I want to live off the income, but I don’t want to get creamed on the principal.” Financial education is a big space. Especially with the Internet, these old guys, they call me, they write me emails, and they have nothing to do. They’re home alone. They’re retired. Zack: They are watching CNBC all day, right? Mike: They are. That’s the other thing I need to do, by the way, is I need to add a chat forum to my site so they can talk to each other. I didn’t do it in the beginning, because when you only have seven members, it’s like a ghost town and no one is chatting. But now I have enough people that a chat or a forum would be useful on Born To Sell. So I’m thinking about that. I think they like having simple, clear instructions on here’s a strategy. You don’t need an advanced degree in math to understand how it works. You’re not having some asintotic risk exposure for some black swan event. In all likelihood, you’re going to make reasonable money. It’s not get rich quick, but if you can even make 1% a month consistently, that’s pretty good, and it’s way better than bonds, which are paying you 4% a year and have inflation risks. So, you can triple your yield, reduce inflation risks and maybe get some dividends while you’re at it. That sounds like a better deal. They like that argument. They’re just risk averse, because they’re at the end of their career. So they don’t want to be investing in high beta pharmaceuticals. I’m like, “Look, you don’t have to. Buy some big cap dividend stocks and write them into money covered calls. Your equity risk exposure is very small. You have no inflation risk, relative to bonds.” That resonates with them. So, just a little bit of information and a rational argument and some education, and then you give them a tool to use it or to go implement it. Zack: One other question. A lot of data or content providers have found certain tools to move into the portfolio space. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Covester and Wealthfront, but they’re basically like marketplaces for strategies, I would call them. Mike: Okay. Zack: Basically, whatever data they have, say if you’re running a portfolio or something, even though it’s not a real money portfolio, you can then port that over to their site. They’re an RIA. They take in the assets. They’ve taken responsibility over the client management. Zack: You’re just like a model manager. Zack: Have you thought about that move? Mike: Yeah, I’m not going to do that. I get two requests from my users, beyond features for my tool. The first request is, “I want a trade recommendation service, so I just want you to tell me what to buy, and I’ll go trade it.” Zack: They don’t want to work. Mike: Exactly. That requires a ton of work on my time, because if I’m making trade picks, I’ve got to really make reasonable trade picks. There’s so much information you really want to know about the other side and their financial situation. One thing that’s appropriate for one guy may be completely inappropriate for another guy, based on their risk level, their asset base, experience, whatever. So trade picks is one thing that I don’t think I’m going to do. The other thing is money management. I’ve had people call me and say, “You’re obviously credible in this space. I just want to give you money and have you manage covered calls with my money, and I’ll pay you a fee for that.” That’s like me setting up a mutual fund, or like you said, being a model manager at one of these sites. I don’t think I want to do that either, because from a lifestyle point of view, that’s very different than running a subscription tool where it’s sort of use at your own risk. I’m only eight months into this with a launched service, so I don’t yet know the total market size of what I’m doing. I’m trying to expand the market size. I make it easy for anyone to do. But if I can build a subscription business that’s a decent size, then I don’t need to take on additional stress of trade picks or money management. I prefer not to do it if I don’t have to. I’m not one of those guys that need to be a billionaire; I’m just trying to earn and get to a point where I can do the things that I enjoy, which includes travel. It’s really hard to travel if you’re managing other people’s money. Zack: Right, for sure. Last question, any other tools that you use online? Obviously, you employ an option strategy in your own investing, but do you find any other financial tools useful? Mike: I look at so many things during the day, because I do trade from my own account. What do I use? I use Yahoo! Finance for headlines. I use Seeking Alpha. Obviously, they have some interesting content there. What other blogs? Obviously, The Wall Street Journal, TheStreet.com. What else do I read regularly? It seems like my inbox is always full of different services that are sending me tidbits of information. It’s kind of like I’m digesting feeds from 20 or 30 different sources. I don’t really depend heavily on any one tool, other than my own, because that’s my main strategy. It’s not really a tool, but information sources are all over the place. I’ve kind of learned to use a variety and not just stick with one. It’s nice to have opposing opinions sometimes. Zack: Awesome. Very nice speaking to you. I appreciate your time. Mike: Sure thing, Zack. Good luck. Talk to you soon. Zack: All the best. Bye. That was our conversation with Mike Scanlin of BornToSell.com. Check it out. It’s a covered call screener. Mike’s a programmer turned VC turned entrepreneur. He’s built a very useful site that really wants to own and go very deep in the covered call industry. He’s been thrown curve balls to try to expand the service other ways. He’s staying very focused. He’s used a lot of guerilla marketing techniques to really get a lot of awareness and a lot of people talking about the product. He’s created an affiliate strategy, so he has other people marketing him. He’s doing a great job, I think, as a very small, lean shop, being able to start building traffic and generating revenue. Come back to the blog. We’ll have some links there hopefully that you’ll find useful. Appreciate your listening to us. We’re very grateful for you tuning in. We know you value your time, and we appreciate your listening. Please come to iTunes if you have a chance and rate us and rank us. Let the rest of the world know what you think of us, and let us know what you think of us by either commenting on the blog or sending us an email. Again, this is Zack Miller at Tradestreaming Radio, and peace out. Born to Sell (website) BTS’s blog *If you are listening to this podcast on iTunes — run (don’t walk) and please rate/rank this show. Share with others the value you’re getting out of this program.* 0 comments on “Best resources: BorntoSell.com’s killer covered call screener (transcript)” You must be logged in the post a comment. Events, Uncategorized New speakers announced for Tearsheet’s Resilience Conference The Resilience Conference will celebrate the people, teams and companies successfully navigating through this crisis. 3 new speakers have just been announced. Tearsheet Editors \| June 25, 2020 The Customer Effect, Uncategorized Inside Yielders, the UK’s first regulatory compliant Islamic crowdfunding platform Yielders, an equity-based crowdfunding platform for real estate, is the first Shariah-compliant financial technology company to get regulatory approval in the U.K. The platform's user base is 35 percent non-Muslim, some of whom may be attracted to the ethical investing principles. Suman Bhattacharyya \| May 18, 2017 Sponsored, Uncategorized FinTech is changing your life, and you don’t even know it Brandeis University \| May 01, 2017 FinTech Week: By the numbers Empire Startups' inaugural FinTech Week begins today in New York In preparation for 25 forthcoming events over four days, here's a breakdown by the numbers. Tanaya Macheel \| April 24, 2017 Hi 5! The top five fintech stories we’re following today Retailers may be looking into the future as opposed to implementing for today. Banks are working to get more people comfortable using mobile apps. Zack Miller \| February 06, 2017	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2274
__label__cc	0.699716	0.300284	Editorial: They've already accomplished a great deal THE WASHINGTON POST's Louisa Loveluck Tweeted: Louisa Loveluck‏Verified account @leloveluck 12h12 hours ago Iraq's protests have faced the full force of the state, & the fact they persist is a victory in itself. But now they must decide how to channel that influence into real political change, writes @Observer46664 in this clear-eyed analysis. 1 reply8 retweets24 likes Whatever the protesters decide to do will be their decision. They deserve praise for what they have already accomplished -- and, yes, just protesting daily despite the threats is an accomplishment. علي السويدي‏ @7___HD 7h7 hours ago 147 days of anti-government protests continue in Baghdad, Iraq Violent clashes between protesters and riot police continue near al-Khilani Square in Baghdad. #راجعين25 #Iraq 0 replies1 retweet2 likes In addition, they have managed to oust a prime minister. Their brave actions have been recognized and embraced by the Iraqi people. IIACSS looks at the support for the protesters in Iraq: 1. the independent research group, the only representative of the GAF International Research Foundation conducted a survey of Iraqi public opinion on the events that took place in October 2019 and are still ongoing. The research conducted with Iraqis representing all the provinces of Iraq and in various social, demographic, economic, educational and sexual sectors was based on more than 2000 interviews conducted face-to-face and computerized by the group of researchers and according to the latest technology used in this field. The survey was conducted during February 2020. Where the random sample method (PPS) was used. 2. Top Results: 1. There is absolute support for more than 85 % for demonstrations and in various regions, including more than 80% of support among the kurds while the ratio has reached much more in the rest of the regions. While various southern and Baghdad provinces have shown a very close level of support for demonstrations, the provinces of diyala, kirkuk and Mosul have shown the highest levels of support compared to the other provinces that were occupied (or parts) by ISIS gangs. 2. The percentage of Iraqis who support the demands of the protests and are legitimate over 90 % WHILE ONLY 5 % of those who say it is illegal, and the percentage of those who say it is an external conspiracy on Iraq only 10 %. 3. The two highest demands in support of the two leaders are to hold those responsible for killing and killing protesters and then early elections. 4. About 50 % of Shia and more than 15 % of the year reported that they personally participated in these demonstrations in different ways and at least once. The citizens of Mosul and Tikrit showed the highest desire to participate in the demonstrations if they broke out in their wallets compared to the other provinces where the demonstrations did not break out. 5. Although there are some relative differences, Iraqis have not encouraged any of the major political leaders to discontent their political performance. None of the political leaders (other than the Kurds) were able to reach 20 % of confidence in their performance. Posted by Third Estate Sunday Review at Monday, February 24, 2020 TV: The documentary weak on facts Hey, Cher, we need Medicare For All We deserve better than Biden Jussie's got a defense! The Face of Loreal Tweet of the week international	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2276
__label__wiki	0.904319	0.904319	India Sets a Surprise Net Zero Goal for 2070 By Ciara Nugent November 1, 2021 6:28 PM EDT India will reach net zero emissions by 2070, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged Monday in his speech at the opening of the COP26 U.N. climate summit, a target that climate advocates recognized as further off than is ideal but potentially transformative for the world’s third-largest emitter. The announcement—which was accompanied by four other climate-related targets, all light on detail—caught climate advocates by surprise, given that Indian officials have previously rejected global pressure to make such a commitment, saying as recently as last week that net-zero goals were not the solution to the climate crisis. A net-zero target refers to the date by which a country plans to be adding no more carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases to the earth’s atmosphere than it sucks out of it, using carbon-absorbing plants and still-developing technologies. Dozens of countries have set net-zero targets over the last few years, with most wealthy nations, including the U.S., the U.K., Japan and others, opting for a 2050 goal. China, Saudi Arabia and Russia have all recently pledged to hit net-zero by 2060. It’s not immediately clear if India’s 2070 net-zero target refers only to carbon dioxide emissions, which is responsible for around 80% of the warming effect that is driving up global temperatures, or to emissions of all greenhouse gases. The 20-year lag behind other powerful nations’ targets may make India’s goal seem unambitious. If other major emitters were to align efforts along similarly extended time frames, the world would have no hope of avoiding the worst consequences of climate change. Read More: Here Are the Goals of the COP26 Climate Change Meetings—and Where the World Stands in Accomplishing Them But Ulka Kelkar, climate director of the India chapter of the World Resources Institute, a prominent scientific research group, says India’s goal has to be considered in the context of a developing country. Developed countries have used fossil fuels to power their industrialization for centuries and therefore have more resources available now to transition away from them. “If it is net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, then I would say it’s on par with Western commitments,” Kelkar told a press call Monday evening. “The fair comparison, I would say, is not with the U.S. and Europe as of today, but with the U.S. and Europe of 20 or 30 years ago. That’s where we are in our development trajectory.” India’s developing economy is still heavily reliant on coal, the most polluting fossil fuel, which makes up 70% of its energy production. Coal consumption in the country has increased by 39% over the last decade, and, because it has a population of 1.3 billion people, almost half of them under 25, the International Energy Agency says that India’s energy needs will rise by more than any other country over the next 20 years. Kelker admitted that it would “of course” have been better to have an earlier target, but said that the announcement would have a significant impact by setting a “direction of travel” for India’s economy. ”Net zero became a topic of public discourse only six months ago. Just having this concept understood in India is going to give a very strong signal to all sectors of industry and society. So this coming from the Prime Minister is going to be pretty transformative.” Modi also announced that by 2030, India would shave 1 billion metric tons off its projected carbon emissions and reduce the carbon intensity of its economy—how much carbon is emitted to generate a unit of economic activity—by 45% from 2005 levels. That’s up from the 33%-35% target it submitted in Paris in 2015. The country also plans to get half of its energy from renewable sources by 2030, increasing its non-polluting energy capacity to 500GW, up from a 450GW goal set in 2015. A lot remains unclear about these targets. Modi did not specify, for example, against what baseline the plan to reduce carbon emissions by 1 billion metric tons by 2030 is set. In 2019, India emitted 2.62 billion metric tons of CO2. The baseline that the government ends up using will likely be higher, Kelker says. In any case, reaching these targets will be a challenge. As of July 2021, India had 96.96 GW of renewable-energy capacity—representing 25.2% of its total power generation capacity. Reaching Modi’s 2030 targets will require huge investments in updating India’s electricity grid and setting up new clean energy projects. Modi also used his speech to call on developed countries to mobilize $1 trillion of climate finance to help developing countries decarbonize and adapt to climate change. That is far higher than the current $100 billion commitment—which originally had a 2020 deadline but has now been pushed back to 2023. Write to Ciara Nugent at ciara.nugent@time.com. Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Nakate's Open Letter to the Media	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2280
__label__wiki	0.583022	0.583022	Home › Articles › One Man’s Junk One Man’s Junk q and a service Brian Scudamore is a man who believes in human connection before technology, so it’s no wonder he founded a company that has a heavy dose of both. After the success of 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, the Canadian-born entrepreneur doubled down on his big idea by replicating the business model for new industries. But not before almost losing everything. Scudamore has made a name for himself on the entrepreneurial circuit, using his story as a cautionary tale for up-and-comers. Among his big moments: Though the company started in 1989, it took almost a decade and a half for 1-800-GOT-JUNK? to catch some wind in its sails, all thanks to wild determination and killer press opportunities. Once his company took off, Scudamore knew he had a unique formula on his hands. Now he’s the CEO of O2E Brands, the parent company of 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, WOW 1 DAY PAINTING, You Move Me, and Shack Shine.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2283
__label__wiki	0.586367	0.586367	Top 10 Luxury Car Brands A luxury car is a car that provides increased levels of comfort, equipment, amenities, quality, performance, and status relative to regular cars for an increased price. The term is subjective and reflects both the qualities of the car and the brand image of its manufacturer. Luxury brands rank above premium brands, though there is no fixed demarcation between the two. Luxury cars are the cars that offer exceptional comfort both in the front and back seats, a glossy smooth ride, brilliant drivability, refined looks, best performance – and on top of that they have to serve as status symbols. These cars are high on technology, safety, and digital connectivity systems. Here you can find the list of luxury car brands that produce cars that are incredibly comfy, amazing to drive, and great to be owned. Needless to say, they are super costly as well. All these car brands are a cut above mainstream brands and beyond any competition. They assure lightning-fast rapidity and classy looks along with a legacy that is matchless. These luxury car brands often come up with something innovative in the field of automotive technology. They’re novel inventions that are meticulously manufactured by the best engineers of the world. Have a look at the awe-inspiring inspirations for other carmakers. Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. is an Italian brand and manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant’Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its subsidiary Audi. Ferruccio Lamborghini, an Italian manufacturing magnate, founded Automobili Ferruccio...Read More Ferrari is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1939 out of the Alfa Romeo race division as Auto Avio Costruzioni, the company built its first car in 1940. However, the company’s inception as an auto manufacturer is usually recognized...Read More Jaguar is the luxury vehicle brand of Jaguar Land Rover, a British multinational car manufacturer with its headquarters in Whitley, Coventry, England. Jaguar Cars was the company that was responsible for the production of Jaguar cars until its operations were fully merged with those of Land Rover...Read More Bentley Motors Limited is a British manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs, and a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group since 1998.Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded as Bentley Motors Limited by W. O. Bentley in 1919 in Cricklewood, North London, and became widely known...Read More Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, commonly referred to as BMW, is a German multinational company which produces luxury vehicles and motorcycles. The company was founded in 1916 as a manufacturer of aircraft engines, which it produced from 1917 until 1918 and again from 1933 to 1945. Automobiles are...Read More 30 Best Headphone Brands Mercedes-Benz is both a German automotive marque and, from late 2019 onwards, a subsidiary – as Mercedes-Benz AG – of Daimler AG. Mercedes-Benz is known for producing luxury vehicles and commercial vehicles. The headquarters is in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The name first appeared in 1926...Read More Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was a French car manufacturer of high-performance automobiles, founded in 1909 in the then-German city of Molsheim, Alsace by the Italian-born industrial designer Ettore Bugatti. The cars were known for their design beauty and for their many race victories. Famous Bugattis...Read More Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited is a British luxury automobile maker. A wholly owned subsidiary of German group BMW, it was established in 1998 after BMW was licensed the rights to the Rolls-Royce brand name and logo from Rolls-Royce plc and acquired the rights to the Spirit of Ecstasy and Rolls-Royce...Read More Dr.-Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche AG, is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans. The headquarters of Porsche AG is in Stuttgart, and the company is owned by Volkswagen AG, a controlling stake of which is owned by Porsche Automobil Holding SE. Porsche’s current lineup includes the 718 Boxster/Cayman, 911, Panamera, Macan, Cayenne and Taycan. Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings plc is a British independent manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. It was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated with expensive grand touring cars in the 1950s and 1960s, and with...Read More If you have any comments, complaints or suggestions related to this page. Please let us know via comment box below. Most Popular Luxury Car Brands Top Brands of Luxury Car Best Luxury Car Brands Famous Brands of Luxury Cars 84 Most Popular Yoga Poses ( Asanas ) 93 Indian Popular Female Singers 94 Most Popular Indian Singers (Male) 57 Popular Hindu temples across the world 60 Most Popular Indian Male Players 55 Popular And Great Indian Rulers 42 Famous and Popular Festivals In India List of All 28 Nakshatras 96 Popular Indian Philosophers World's 31 Most Popular Sports in the World	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2289
__label__wiki	0.800335	0.800335	Available: October 2012 An Illustrated Oral History of the Great Depression Studs Terkel The masterpiece that brings to life an era that resonates all too well with the current moment, reissued in a stunning new edition with documentary photographs from the celebrated Farm Security Administration archive First published in 1970, Studs Terkel’s bestselling Hard Times has been called “a huge anthem in praise of the American spirit” (Saturday Review) and “an invaluable record” (The New York Times). With his trademark grace and compassion, Terkel evokes a mosaic of memories from those who were richest to those who were destitute: politicians, businessmen, artists and writers, racketeers, speakeasy operators, strikers, impoverished farmers, people who were just kids, and those who remember losing a fortune. Now, in a handsome new illustrated edition, a selection of Studs’s unforgettable interviews are complemented by images from another rich documentary trove of the Depression experience: Farm Security Administration photographs from the Library of Congress. Interspersed throughout the text of Hard Times, these breathtaking photographs by Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Jack Delano, and others expand the human scope of the voices captured in the book, adding a new dimension to Terkel’s incomparable volume. Hard Times is the perfect introduction to Terkel’s work for new readers, as well as a beautiful new addition to any Terkel library. “Wonderful!. . . It will resurrect your faith in all of us to read this book.” “The horrors of the Depression come through vividly. . . .[Terkel’s] lifelong empathy for the disenfranchised was rooted in the troubled era recalled so vividly in Hard Times.” —Adam Cohen, The New York Times “Read a page, any page. Then try to stop.” —National Observer Celebrate Studs Terkel's Birthday With The New Press! Get 30% off these selected titles by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Studs Terkel with code TNPSTUDS through May 31: In March 1970, Maya Angelou sat down with Studs Terkel for a radio interview about her memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Books by Studs Terkel Studs Terkel’s Chicago The Studs Terkel Reader My American Century Talking to Myself A Memoir of My Times People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do Studs Terkel (1912–2008) was an award-winning author and radio broadcaster. He is the author of Race: How Blacks and Whites Think and Feel About the American Obsession; Division Street: America; Coming of Age:...	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2294
__label__wiki	0.828578	0.828578	Category: Malcolm Ross SATURDAY’S SCOTTISH SONG : #202 : MALCOLM ROSS Malcolm Ross was the subject of ICA #143 back in October 2017. These words are cribbed from that piece:- The only man who has recording credits on all three of the Scottish bands who signed to the original Postcard Records. Malcolm Ross first came to prominence as guitarist-extraordinaire with Edinburgh band Josef K, whose spiky and angular material, combined with a rough and ready production, laid out the template for so many indie groups who would later come to some level of prominence in the middle part of the 80s. Josef K messily broke up in 1982, but Malcolm was never short of work thanks to all sorts of offers from his contemporaries across the Scottish music scene. Edwyn Collins made him an integral part of Orange Juice after the initial line-up of that band had imploded, (by intergral, that includes songwriting and lead vocal contributions), while Roddy Frame, having recognised that, despite his own unique talents, a second guitarist was essential for the live setting drafted him into Aztec Camera initially for touring purposes and later into the studio. Malcolm also continued to work with David Weddell and Ronnie Torrance, the rhythm section of his old band and contributed on the song-writing side to the short-lived The Happy Family whose vocalist Nick Currie would go on to later enjoy a lengthy solo career under the name of Momus. He spent the latter half of the 80s and much of the 90s as a musician for hire, including stints with Barry Adamson, Edwyn Collins, Blancmange and Paul Haig, as well as contributing to a number of films either in an advisory or performance capacity. He also found time to record some solo material or as part of combos, releasing a handful of singles and albums on a number of different indie labels based in Germany and America. He’s been less busy in the 21st century but his name can be found on releases by Nectarine No.9 and The Low Miffs, always bringing a touch of class and quality to the recordings. He was one of the key folk involved in telling the story of Big Gold Dream, the first of the documentaries about the Scottish indie scene made by Grant McPhee. This was a work that received its world premiere in Edinburgh in June 2015, after which there was a live performance by a specially convened ‘super-group’ consisting of past members of Subway Sect, Fire Engines and The Rezillos along with Malcolm Ross who raced through a hugely enjoyable 10-song set from the era, all of which only demonstrated just how great a guitarist he still is. He’s no longer a full-time musician, instead making his living as a taxi driver in the city that he has called home for so much of his life. Another example of how the music industry failing to recognise and reward its greatest talents. Here’s a fantastic solo single from 1993:- mp3 : Malcolm Ross – Low Shot Worth mentioning that the great man is accompanied on this 45 by Steven Daly (ex-Orange Juice) on drums and Robert Vickers (ex Go-Betweens) on bass. March 7, 2020 August 12, 2020 Leave a comment AN IMAGINARY COMPILATION ALBUM : #143 : MALCOLM ROSS Here’s an ICA that is devoted to the only man who has recording credits on all three of the Scottish bands who signed to the original Postcard Records. Malcolm Ross first came to prominence as guitarist-extraordinaire with Edinburgh band Josef K, whose spiky and angular material, combined with a rough and ready production, laid out the template for so many indie groups who would later come to some level of prominence in the middle part of the 80s. Josef K messily broke up in 1982, but Malcolm was never short of work thanks to all sorts of offers from his contemporaries across the Scottish music scene. Edwyn Collins made him an integral part of Orange Juice after the initial line-up of that band had imploded, (by intergral, that includes songwriting and lead vocal contributions), while Roddy Frame, having recognised that, despite his own unique talents, a second guitarist was essential for the live setting drafted him into Aztec Camera initially for touring purposes and later into the studio. Malcolm also continued to work with David Weddell and Ronnie Torrance, the rhythm section of his old band and contributed on the song-writing side to the short-lived The Happy Family whose vocalist Nick Currie would go on to later enjoy a lengthy solo career under the name of Momus. He spent the latter half of the 80s and much of the 90s as a musician for hire, including stints with Barry Adamson, Edwyn Collins, Blancmange and Paul Haig, as well as contributing to a number of films either in an advisory or performance capacity. He also found time to record some solo material or as part of combos under the name of The Stone Rangers, The Magic Clan and The Delancey Street Group, releasing a handful of singles and albums on a number of different indie labels based in Germany and America. He’s seemingly been less busy in the 21st century but his name can be found on releases by Nectarine No.9 and The Low Miffs, always bringing a touch of class and quality to the recordings. He was one of the key folk involved in telling the story of Big Gold Dream, the first of the documentaries about the Scottish indie scene made by Grant McPhee. This was a work that received its world premiere in Edinburgh in June 2015, after which there was a live performance by a specially convened ‘super-group’ consisting of past members of Subway Sect, Fire Engines and The Rezillos along with Malcolm Ross who raced through a hugely enjoyable 10-song set from the era, all of which only demonstrated juts how great a guitarist he still is. He’s no longer a full-time musician, instead making his living as a taxi driver in the city that he has called home for so much of his life. Another example of how the music industry failing to recognise and reward its greatest talents. Here’s his ICA:- 1. Josef K – Radio Drill Time (single, Postcard Records 1980) 2. Malcolm Ross – Another Year, Another Town (single, The Bus Stop Label, 1993) 3. Orange Juice – Turn Away (album track, Polydor , 1982) 4. The Low Miffs and Malcolm Ross – The Man Who Took On Love (and Won) (album track, Re-Action Recordings, 2009) 5. Malcolm Ross – Lowshot (single, spinART Records, 1993) 1. Aztec Camera – Still On Fire (single, WEA, 1984) 2. Malcolm Ross – Happy Boy (album track, Marina Records, 1998) 3. The Magic Clan – My Avenger (album track, Marina Records 1998) 4. Orange Juice – Punch Drunk (album track, Polydor 1984) 5. Malcolm Ross – Tried So Hard (album track, Marina Records, 1998) The final track is a cover of the song written by Gene Clark and recorded by him alongside the Gosdin Brothers in 1967. I’ll dedicate it to JTFL….. October 3, 2017 August 4, 2018 5 Comments	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2295
__label__wiki	0.564089	0.564089	Home Travel Voikom: The northwestern end of Kottayam in Kerala Voikom: The northwestern end of Kottayam in Kerala Nivedita Nair Vaikom-Kottayam Vaikom was believed to be a part of a kingdom called Venmalanadu in the past. When Venmalanadu was split into Vadakkumkoor and Thekkumkoor, it became part of the Vadakkumkoor dynasty. Vadakkumkoor kingdom spread along the path of Muvattupuzha river towards the northeast side from Kaduthuruthy, Vaikom, Piravom, Muvattupuzha, Kothamangalam, and Thodupuzha. VAIKOM: KNOW MORE With the Vembanad Lake as its neighbor, the historic town of Vaikom lies on the western side of the Kottayam district. Its beautiful water bodies and serene villages make Vaikom popular among tourists. Country boat rides and canoe cruises through the Murinjupuzha backwaters offer glimpses into the unique village lifestyle of Kerala. Here, tourists can get a feel of the traditional fishing techniques of the locals and a taste of their signature dishes. One of the oldest temples in Kerala, Vaikom Mahadeva Temple, showcases the beauty of Kerala temple architecture. Renowned as the Kasi of the South, this temple is famous for elephant pageants and traditional art performances. The civil rights movement, Vaikom Satyagraha, marked a significant epoch in the state’s history. Railway station: Kottayam Railway Station, 34 km away Flight: Cochin International Airport Ltd., 60 km away	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2298
__label__cc	0.702975	0.297025	premier-league manchester-united leeds liverpool Ep 1008: Man Utd should get Bielsa John Giles joins Eamon to review the weekend's Premier League action. Ep 613: Liverpool – Ability and Attitude in footballing harmony Didi Hamann and John Giles join Eamon to salute a great Liverpool team, compare the decline of Manchester United against the promise at Arsenal and Chelsea, and discuss the potential for a Manchester City comeback next season. John Giles is a former football player and manager best remembered for his time as a midfielder with Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s, and as player-manager of the Irish national team. John served as the senior analyst on RTÉ Sport's football coverage from 1986 until 2016.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2299
__label__wiki	0.983497	0.983497	Title-starved Georgia on the brink of delirium thanks to Kirby Smart's tunnel vision Kirby Smart American football player and coach ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia coach Kirby Smart, on the cusp of playing Alabama for the SEC title on Saturday, delivers a sheepish grin when asked if he has any childhood memories of the last time Georgia went undefeated in the regular season (1982) or won the national title (1980). Smart grew up the middle child of Sonny and Sharon Smart, a coach-teacher husband-wife tandem who hopscotched through the South to follow Sonny’s coaching jobs. That meant Kirby grew up outside Montgomery, Alabama, and wasn’t in tune during his early childhood years when the Bulldogs last won the sport’s biggest prize. “I'm embarrassed to say it,” Smart said, “but I don't remember really anything because I was living in Alabama.” Smart, 45, has Georgia on the brink of the type of delirium that has been missing in this football-crazed state for four decades. And what’s grown as Georgia has pushed toward the school’s first national title since 1980 is the palpable longing of a school, town and state that has been starved for success at the highest level. Georgia enters the SEC title game against Alabama on Saturday as a near-touchdown favorite. Even with a loss in that game, the Bulldogs would enter the College Football Playoff as the betting favorite. The inevitability of Georgia’s playoff bid has only amplified the lusty anguish of the fan base. “They're hungry,” Smart told Yahoo Sports this week. “I mean, they're starving for that success.” Georgia’s run has been hallmarked by a historically good defense under coordinator Dan Lanning, as the Bulldogs are allowing just 6.9 points per game. That’s the most dominant defense the sport has seen since Oklahoma in 1986, when the sport was a shadow of the spread and pass-based offenses that dominate today. That dominance comes in a year of relative offensive impotence in the sport, as there’s no sure-fire Top 15 quarterback and an increasing chance that a defensive player — including Georgia’s Jordan Davis — could win the Heisman Trophy. Georgia has the most talented roster in the sport, and could see a record 17 players picked in the NFL draft next year. Georgia has been close, as the Bulldogs played Alabama to overtime in the 2017 season's national title game, which they led 13-0 at halftime. Smart has won 82 percent of his games at Georgia and recruited at such an elite level where a title feels imminent in upcoming years. “You get enough at-bats, you usually get a hit,” Smart said. “And that's what we're trying to do, is not have arches and highs and lows. We're trying to be very consistent.” That doesn’t calm the longing of the fan base, which Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett summed up with emotion and elegance. As a Georgia native, he understands the raw emotion that comes with the upcoming high-stakes games. “It’s hard to try not to think about it, just once you think about it then it's easy to let it get overwhelming because it does mean so much,” Bennett told Yahoo Sports this week. “And my job right now is just to win football games and let what it means for other people mean what it does for them.” Quarterback Stetson Bennett and head coach Kirby Smart carry the hopes of Dawgs fans entering this postseason. (Todd Kirkland/Getty Images) Bennett is a senior quarterback who grew up in Blackshear, Georgia, going to games with his father. He remembers his dad listening to games on the radio in the stadium, clinging to the action described by Larry Munson as it unfolded in front of them. Bennett recalls crying after the SEC title game in 2012. “Just a feeling inside,” he said. “You don’t really know, just a feeling inside. You don't really know why you feel it, but you just do.” Bennett went on to articulate the sociology of fandom at a Ph.D. level, an education by personal osmosis. “It's hard to quantify how much it means to people and why it means so much to people,” he said. “Sports in general, but I think especially football, are a microcosm of life and when your team can win something, I guess it gives you hope. It’s hard to say exactly what it is, but there's just an entire inflated sense of pride in your school, in your state. Even if you have no personal connections to Georgia, you can draw on them.” Smart has never beaten Alabama coach Nick Saban, his mentor and former boss, in three attempts. But there’s a hope amid the Georgia fan base that this game could serve as a pivot point for SEC dominance. Alabama has won six of the past 10 SEC titles. Georgia has won one in that time, Smart’s lone title in 2017. Overall, Georgia has won just three SEC titles since the undefeated 1982 regular season. Predicting any kind of hostile takeover or axis shift is dangerous as there’s infinite gigabytes of cloud space dedicated to Alabama dynasty obituaries. But Smart is 45 and Saban is 70, so it’s safe to say that Georgia is the leader in the clubhouse to be the next SEC school to follow Alabama’s run of dominance. The variable would be when that potential transition would take place. In a way, Saban has helped enable this UGA run. Smart’s blueprint — especially in recruiting — comes straight from Tuscaloosa. Georgia had never spent, built and invested in a staff like a high-end SEC school until Smart came to town and $175 million in football upgrades soon followed. A former UGA staffer described the overhaul perfectly: “Kirby took it from a Mustang and turned it into a Ferrari.” Smart has Georgia in the fast lane, hammer dropped down and ahead of most everyone in the sport. Part of that is exhilarating to the fan base, which sees a No. 1 recruiting class for 2022, a former star player on the sideline and a facility boom collide with the passion and talent base for the results they always felt they deserved. There were six high school players from the state of Georgia selected in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft, another reminder that local talent hasn’t been an issue. (Two went to UGA, DB Eric Stokes and QB Justin Fields spent a year there before transferring.) Smart’s exacting style and tunnel vision has brought everything together. “It starts from the head coach all the way down to the custodian and everyone in between,” Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks said. “The mindset of how everyone works and treats their job day in and day out. But you're seeing the combination of support and a plan and everything come together, and I think that's what the success to this point has been about.” And that leaves the final step inches away and yet still daunting until it’s traversed. In the UGA athletic offices, longtime athletic employee Loran Smith, who first got hired there in 1964, perhaps understands the yearning for the final steps the best. “It’s not like we’re being deprived,” said Smith, who has written more than 10 books on UGA football. “We just haven’t had the icing on the cake.” Why Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman can become 'the next great coach in college football' The WTA’s hundred-million-dollar statement to China UConn freshman Azzi Fudd pairs up with Steph Curry on NIL deal for SC30 brand MLB locks out players, officially initiates baseball's first work stoppage since 1994-95 strike England are collapse specialists but Hobart ignominy sets new low England are collapse specialists but Hobart ignominy sets new low. Rory Burns and Zak Crawley put on England’s first opening stand of more than 50 in the series before old failings returned Andy Murray confident body will hold up for Australian Open after reaching Sydney semi-finals Andy Murray is setting his sights on a first title since 2019, after reaching the semi-finals of the Sydney Tennis Classic.	cc/2022-05/en_head_0005.json.gz/line2300

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.