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Welsh Government reveals members of its news Constitutional Commission
Y Senedd (Image: Gwalia)
The people who will serve on an independent commission which will make recommendations about Cymru's constitutional future have been announced.
The commission will develop options for the fundamental reform of the constitutional structures of the UK in which Cymru remains an integral part and it will also consider all progressive options to strengthen Welsh democracy.
Last month, Professor Laura McAllister and Dr Rowan Williams were confirmed as the co-chairs of the commission.
The commissioners, who will be working with the co-chairs, are:
Dr Anwen Elias, a Reader in Politics at Aberystwyth University. Her research interests include comparative territorial and constitutional politics, political parties and deliberative democracy. She is co-director of the Centre for Welsh Politics and Society and the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Data and Research.
Miguela Gonzalez, a diversity and inclusion practitioner and a former journalist. She worked for the BBC for 15 years, most recently as the diversity and inclusion lead for the nations. She currently works for life science firm Abcam, where she is working to build an open and inclusive culture. Miguela has worked with the Welsh Government on the implementation of the Culture Connect Cymru project and has also been a visiting lecturer at Cardiff University's School of Journalism, Media and Culture.
Michael Marmot, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London and Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity. Professor Marmot has led research groups on health inequalities for over 40 years. He chaired the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, several WHO Regional Commissions, and reviews on tacking health inequality for governments in the UK.
Lauren McEvatt, a former Conservative UK Government special adviser to the Wales Office, during the coalition administration, when she worked on the Silk Commission and the Wales Act 2014. She has subsequently worked for several governments across East Africa and the Caribbean, on constitutional reform, trade and investment.
Albert Owen, the former Labour MP for Ynys Mon from 2001 to 2019. During his time in Parliament he was a member of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee, Welsh Affairs Select Committee and the International Development Committee.
Philip Rycroft, who was a civil servant for 30 years. He worked at a senior level for the devolved government in Scotland before moving to the Cabinet Office in London where he led civil service work for the UK Government on the constitution and devolution. His last posting was as Permanent Secretary at the Department for Exiting the EU.
Shavanah Taj, Wales TUC's first BME General Secretary. Shavanah is a passionate campaigner and can often be found contributing speeches at round table debates and protest marches on issues such as anti-racism, just transition, climate change, human rights, women's rights, fair pay and fair work.
Kirsty Williams, a former Member of the Senedd and Minister for Education in the Welsh Government during the Fifth Senedd. She became the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats in December 2008 and, at the time, she was the first female leader of a Welsh political party in the Senedd.
Leanne Wood, a former Member of the Senedd for the Rhondda and former Leader of Plaid Cymru. As the first female leader of her party, she brings a wealth of political experience and has a longstanding commitment to issues of social justice.
The commission will be supported by an expert panel, which will bring expertise in areas including governance, law, constitution, the environment, economics, and finance. Its first meeting will be on 25 November. Mick Antoniw, Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution, said: "Each commissioner brings with them different strengths, knowledge, experience and perspectives. They are drawn from across Wales, across the UK, and further afield and from across the political spectrum.
"Collectively, the commissioners combine the academic rigor and the alternative perspectives the commission will need to think creatively and radically about Wales' future.
"I encourage everyone to take the opportunity to engage with the commission and join the national conversation about our constitutional future."


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Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of
The Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported)
Zion Oil & Gas, Inc.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
6510 Abrams Road, Suite 300, Dallas, TX 75231
Registrant's telephone number, including area code: 214-221-4610
Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:
Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)
Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))
Pre-commencement communications pursuant to 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))
ITEM 8.01 OTHER EVENTS
On July 15, 2010, Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. (the "Company") completed its previously announced rights offering. As a result of the rights offering, the Company will issue 2,471,117 shares of common stock, par value $0.01 per share (the "Common Stock"), at a subscription price of $5.00 per share, to holders of record as of the close of business on May 6, 2010, who exercised their rights pursuant to the basic and over-subscription privileges. The total subscription of 2,471,117 shares of Common Stock will be accepted (including all of the over-subscription). The gross proceeds from the rights offering of approximately $12.4 million, less fees and expenses incurred in connection with the rights offering, will be used by the Company to further its drilling efforts and as otherwise provided in the prospectus. Following the issuance of the shares subscribed for in the rights offering, the Company will have outstanding 21,220,515 shares of its Common Stock.
ITEM 9.01. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND EXHIBITS
(d) Exhibits
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereto duly authorized.
Zion Oil and Gas, Inc.
/s/ Richard J. Rinberg
Richard J. Rinberg

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This charming 10 drawer desktop filing cabinet is unusual and sporting a stripped metal industrial look. Due to its age and the type of setting it's been salvaged from, there are signs of wear including small dents and scratches, the odd spots of rust. This does nothing to detract, however, and is, in fact, what gives the cabinet its character.
The cabinet is made by star. The filling cabinet has 10 drawers to store A4 files. This would be great to keep tools, bite and bobs or indeed your paperwork and a very useful size!


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Q: Which payment provider is advisable for startup e-commerce business: PayPal or Stripe? Does anybody has any experience with Stripe payment provider?
Which payment provider is advisable for startup business?

A: Stripe is very friendly to startups and developers. (Disclaimer: I work for Stripe.)
While we don't offer anything like PayPal's Adaptive Payments, I think you'll find the simplicity of the API to be great for getting up and running quickly, so you can go back to worrying about your actual business rather than worrying about how to get paid.
But don't take it from us, ask our users: http://gc-taylor.com/blog/2011/12/8/why-we-ditched-paypal-stripe/.

A: Depends on what you want to do with it.
PayPal is great if you want to start accepting payments in a heartbeat, online and offline.
As with all products / services, depending on your growth speed, you may eventually outgrow it. But for a start-up wishing to accept your first payments it's perfect.
They now offer some pretty strong products with new REST-based API's, accepting card payments directly or guiding buyers through the PayPal site to use any funding source (beyond just card).

A: Actually, my understanding is that Stripe requires you, the owner to be in the US but you can accept payments from anyone.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Shoes as pliable as these suede or leather ballet pumps are bound to be lighter than most, but the real revelation here is their exceptional comfort. Inside a sumptuous centimetre-deep foam footbed will have you walking on air, while the rubber sole is surprisingly robust given its fold-in-half flexibility. They happen to be rather cute, too - a perfect marriage of style and substance!.


There is a very interesting piece in the Boston Globe about political leaders and hypocrisy. Perhaps there's nothing terribly earth-shattering, but it puts all the pieces together in a nice way. I'm no fan of hypocrisy, but what if the alternative is really too much consistency (and therefore an inability to learn and change course as necessary) or too much simplicity?
For Romney, the illegal immigrants working for the landscaping company he hired seems completely irrelevant and reminiscent of AGs who were disqualified because they didn't pay social security tax on their housekeeper's pay. And we all know what happens if you disqualify AGs on these grounds - you end up having to look at pictures of Janet Reno for years.
For Obama voting to provide funds for the Iraq war, this doesn't seem to be hypocrisy at all. Being against the war shouldn't compel someone to cut off funding. He was right on Iraq in the beginning, but he's not a moron. Whether he wanted it this way or not, we are at war and we need to wage it effectively.
The hypocrisy accusations against Clinton seem more valid. Initially for a bad war, but then against it when it's unpopular and we really need to keep fighting. It seems like hypocrisy here, but it could just be consistently bad judgment, which would be even more troubling.
I don't know too much about McCain's positions on Bush's tax cuts. Maybe he is a weasel and a hypocrite like the rest, but it seems like in the primaries you're going to get some inconsistency from everyone as they pander to the extremes of their respective parties.
Anyway, it's an interesting read.
. . . and more inconsistency if they tack back toward the center in the general election.
It seems to me that inconsistency can mean a lot of things.
*First, there's hypocrisy, which is a very specific kind of inconsistency whereby you promote standards of conduct for others, but you yourself can't abide by them. This reflects poorly on one's character and should raise doubts about the genuineness of the person's belief in his promoted norms. EAH, I'm less willing than you are to give Romney a pass on the illegal immigrant-hiring, because he has tried to capitalize on the immigration issue by taking a hard-line stance. The Clintonites who hired illegal domestics weren't necessarily lock-'em-up/send-'em-home advocates. They may have violated a malum prohibitum law, but they don't appear to be as unprincipled as Romney is. See also, e.g. Larry Craig, who scored political points by impugning the homosexual lifestyle even as he was soliciting other men in public restrooms.
*Second, there's mind-changing. It gets tricky here. A person can change his mind for all sort of reasons. There's "I was foolish then, but I have since grown as a person," which is how Romney explains away his inconsistent positions on social wedge issues. That seems reasonable, and it can even have rhetorical appeal. We all identify with misspent youth and the slow arrival of wisdom. There's also "the circumstances have changed." One subcategory of changed circumstances is "I didn't have the information I have now," which describes Hillary's position on the war. She faults the Bush Administration for not revealing the full picture on the state of intelligence regarded WMD. This seems reasonable, too (in fact, she ought to come off better than Romney: he claims to have been stupid and wrong, whereas Hillary claims only to have been deliberately misinformed), but not as rhetorically appealing, because it's too complicated to reduce to a sound bite.
*Third, I guess, is inconsistency for the sake of expediency. In politics, this translates to the unspoken "I'll say anything to get votes, and I'll say the opposite to get votes later on." This is the catch-all explanation -- it's where you land if you don't believe the more appealing explanations that candidates give for their reversals.
*Fourth, there's the possibility that two positions might not be inconsistent. For example, you can be against the war as a terrible idea, but committed to the notion that we need to stick it out and do what we can to fix it. Not an inconsistency in the least, and to my mind the most defensible set of positions on the war. Which is naturally why we're not hearing it from anybody.


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For street vendors, finding water and toilets isn't just a nuisance, it's cutting into earnings
informality
Vendor in Durban cleaning her vegetables (Source: WIEGO)
The daily grind of street vendors comes with a host of obvious business challenges: sourcing and preparing goods to sell; attracting a steady stream of customers; and generating enough take-home pay to survive. It's a hustle, and one that these roadside entrepreneurs know well.
But the hustle only goes so far.
Conducting their livelihoods in public spaces, street vendors face difficult challenges extending beyond their everyday business transactions. Woefully inadequate infrastructure, particularly around access to clean water and toilets, often wreaks havoc on their working lives. Multiple costs — including trips to the toilet and water delivery — cut into already meager earnings. Limited access takes a toll on vendors' mental and physical health, further reducing their earning potential.
These are key findings from research by WIEGO and the International Institute for the Environment and Development (IIED) with street vendors in Nakuru (Kenya) and Durban (South Africa). Funded by DFID's ICED facility, the study was conducted with WIEGO partner Asiye eTafuleni (AeT) and StreetNet International's affiliate Kenya National Alliance of Street Vendors and Informal Traders (KENASVIT). The partners examined how inadequate access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) has affected vendors, and found that the resulting economic, health and environmental burdens can have long-term consequences that may further entrench workers' poverty and exclusion.
In Durban, water and toilet expenses cut out 8–12% of vendors' monthly earnings. In Nakuru, these cost burdens were even higher: vendors spent approximately 20% of their incomes on WASH.
"Improving economic opportunities for the poor cannot happen in a vacuum," explains Laura Alfers, director of WIEGO's Social Protection Programme. "Street vendors are out there every day trying to earn an income, but policymakers need to address these structural inequities that hinder those at the base of the pyramid from making a living and a life."
Charges even for toilet paper
Street vendors already struggle to make enough to survive; the cost of accessing toilets and clean water only adds to that burden. WASH services are needed on a daily basis and often several times in a working day, which means that these recurring fees can be endless.
Most vendors use pay-per-use toilets in Durban and Nakuru, where some facilities may even charge extra for toilet paper. Paying for services, however, doesn't guarantee quality. Many vendors still struggled to access clean or convenient sanitation, even when free options were available. In Durban, free toilets may fall into disuse, often close early, or have excessively long queues.
In addition, many vendors need WASH to conduct their businesses and for women, the burdens of meagre WASH are especially challenging. Women often need to visit toilets more frequently and may also bring their children, who often accompany them to work. Food sellers are overwhelmingly female, and these vendors particularly depend upon water to wash their dishes, hands, and vegetables or other foods. However, WIEGO's Informal Economy Monitoring Study found that only 28% of vendors in Durban had access to water and 47% in Nakuru. As a result, vendors in Durban must pay for water drums — R5 for a 20-litre or 25-litre drum — plus extra delivery charges (another R3 to R10 per drum). That also means that female food-sellers are unequally burdened with WASH-related costs of conducting their livelihoods
All of these fees — multiple trips to the toilet, toilet paper, water delivery costs, water itself — are just part of the economic losses for vendors lacking adequate WASH.
Time away results in lost customers
For these small-scale entrepreneurs, time is money — and running after all these services takes a toll on their business in myriad ways.
In Durban, more than 35% of surveyed vendors spent upwards of 30 minutes to access water — and nearly 10% spent over an hour a day. In the cut-throat world of street vending, potential customers can easily be snatched up by neighbouring sellers.
As one respondent from Durban noted, "Sometimes when someone is at your table without you being there, another trader will say, 'come this side'".
Even more insidious are the extractions from local officials for leaving goods unattended, which represent a violation of Durban's bylaws.
Mental and physical health stresses add up
Alongside the economic costs, there are the major yet invisible burdens upon vendors' physical and psychosocial well-being. Finding, waiting and paying for toilets multiple times a day is a stressful endeavour.
Vendors also recognised that inadequate water and sanitation may affect their relations with customers and with fellow traders. In Nakuru, vendors linked the lack of toilets to business closures, several health impacts, environmental pollution, and family- or employment-related conflicts. As they explained, "Lack of toilets can lead to conflict between employers and employees if the employee takes long to access toilets, and this becomes a source of stress for the employee".
Traders in both cities also identified several pathways between inadequate WASH and health burdens, including medical expenditures and the opportunity costs of seeking treatment.
Vendors discussing the study's findings in Nakuru (source: Francis Kapere, KENASVIT)
Addressing WASH has far-reaching potential
Clean, safe and affordable WASH facilities are among the most vital infrastructure that municipalities can provide. With adequate provision, there can be multiple positive outcomes, both for the workers and the city overall. Hygienic conditions can address customer-confidence issues, reduce stigma against vendors, and improve their workplaces. These outcomes not only significantly improve vendors' earning potential, but can also create safer and healthier communities.
To meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for ending poverty while providing decent work and universal access to WASH, solutions must address the daily challenges faced by those at the base of the pyramid. It's not a one-size-fits-all answer, and for real change to happen, informal workers should be given a voice in key decision-making processes affecting their lives. Only then can we begin to measure and achieve meaningful progress.
Author: Carlin Carr, WIEGO Communications Consultant
This article was written in collaboration with Women in Informal Employment Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO). This blog also draws upon inputs by partners at Asiye eTafuleni (AeT), Kenya National Alliance of Street Vendors and Informal Traders (KENASVIT), University of Nairobi, and International Institute for Environment at Development (IIED).
See also the WIEGO Medium page.


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Plenty of Room at the Bottom
The entire Library of Congress in a space smaller than a dust mote.
By Jonathon KeatsDecember 20, 2016 6:00 AM
Each missing atom (dark blue) in this memory device holds a bit of data, giving unprecedented storage density. | Courtesy of Sander Otte
The Library of Congress sprawls over 2 million square feet and can hold some 10 million books. In July, Delft University physicist Sander Otte showed off a way to fit all that writing in a space smaller than a dust mote.
Otte stores information by manipulating individual chlorine atoms within a layer of chlorine on a copper lattice. The chlorine is moved with the tip of an electron microscope, representing one computer bit with a single displaced atom. Data is read by scanning gaps between atoms and the microscope's probe.
So far, Otte has used the technology to store text by Charles Darwin — and overwritten Darwin with an excerpt from physicist Richard Feynman's text "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom."
The storage density of this 100 square-nanometer system is 500 times more compact than the most advanced commercial hard disk. But the storage space on this early device is still extremely limited, and Otte admits that its reading and writing speed must increase exponentially to become practical. In the long run, however, he believes our existing technology won't be able to get smaller forever. Atom wrangling could overcome the limitations of downscaling. "What we do completely breaks with that tradition," he says. "We build new things from the bottom up." — Jonathon Keats
TechnologyScientists Create Tiny Nanomaterials By Shrinking Them
TechnologyThese Spray-on Antennas Could be the Future of Communication
TechnologyThis Device Makes You Invisible to Thermal Imaging
TechnologyA Nanotech Device Harvests Water in the Driest Places
TechnologyNew Fabric Warms or Cools Depending How You Wear It
TechnologySelf-Wrinkling Mini-Mazes Could Serve as Cybersecurity Moats


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Jennifer's debut album "To Measure the Sky" available at CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon and more…
Jennifer's album "To Measure the Sky" available at CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon & more.
Check out her co-starring role in the independent feature film "The Last Hot Lick".
Jennifer co-stars in the independent feature film "The Last Hot Lick".
When she was a little girl back in Wisconsin Jennifer would sit at the piano lost in a dream. Music took her some place that felt better than anything. She had talent they said, but somehow life got in the way. Now years later she's reclaimed her true north, and her voice is as pure and personal as you'll hear anywhere. The country runs through it and it's a beautiful highway. Her first EP "To Measure The Sky" available now @ CD Baby, iTunes,Spotify & more. Original songs from an original voice. Jennifer Smieja, (smile in Polish).
Film debut! The Last Hot Lick, dir. by Mahalia Cohen
Watch the trailer here. Co-starring Jaime Leopold & Jennifer Smieja. The Last Hot Lick is continuing on the film festival circuit and was recently AWARDED special jury recognition for CINEMATOGRAPHY at Ashland Film Festival!
EVERY 4th WED. – SWAMP THANG @ Secret Society
Deep swamp-filled New Orleans blues, R&B, Swamp Pop, Zydeco music to ignite your soul…
Led by guitarist Jesse Lee Young, w/ Mike Danner, Greg Hyatt, Brian Foxworth & me.
7pm dance lessons by Cascade Zydeco Dance Assoc.
@ Secret Society 7:30 – 10pm | 21+ | $15 cover (includes 7pm dance lesson)
Wed., June 12th – Too Loose @ Secret Society
Join me and the Too Loose Cajun/Zydeco Band for Zydeco Wednesdays at SECRET SOCIETY BALLROOM.
Hosted by Cascade Zydeco Dance Association.
Dance lesson @ 7pm. Allons Danser!!
7:30 – 10pm | 21+ | $15 (includes lesson)
See All Upcoming Shows
Jennifer Smieja Music - © July 2019


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Author Archives: Emily T. Broach
Oral Argument Scheduled In The Consolidated Appeal From The FCC's October 2014 Anda Order
Justin O. Kay, Emily T. Broach and Iman N. Boundaoui
Anda Order, Consolidated Appeal, D.C. Circuit, FCC Actions
After recently scheduling oral argument in the consolidated appeal from the July 2015 Declaratory Ruling and Order, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has scheduled oral argument in the consolidated appeal from the Federal Communication Commission's ("FCC") October 2014 Final Order (the "Anda Order") for Tuesday, November 8, 2016. As we previously reported, in the Anda Order the FCC found that it had the statutory authority to promulgate a rule requiring that the opt-out notice Congress specified in the Junk Fax Prevention Act ("JFPA") must be present on faxes for the sender to take advantage of the Established Business Relationship ("EBR") exemption must also appear on solicited faxes. The FCC also decided that, because of reasonable confusion surrounding the rule, there was good cause to waive the rule for fax senders who had previously sent solicited faxes without an opt-out notice. Following the release of the Anda Order, both class action plaintiffs ("Plaintiff Petitioners") and class action defendants ("Defendant Petitioners") filed cross-appeals, which were consolidated and centralized in the D.C. Circuit as Bais Yaakov of Spring Valley, et al. v. FCC, No. 14-1234. Continue reading »
FCC and District Court Provide Additional Clarity to the TCPA's Emergency Purpose Exception
Bradley J. Andreozzi, Justin O. Kay and Emily T. Broach
Emergency Purpose Exception, FCC Actions, Healthcare, Prior Express Consent
Over two years ago, we first argued that a pharmacist's prescription refill reminder calls fell within the emergency purpose exception to the TCPA in Kolinek v. Walgreen Co. (N.D. Ill.). The TCPA, of course, prohibits many types of autodialed or pre-recorded/artificial voice calls to cell phones if made without the prior express consent of the called party, except where the calls are made "for emergency purposes." 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(A). In Kolinek, the court held at the motion to dismiss stage that further factual development was necessary to evaluate whether the emergency purpose exemption precluded plaintiff's claims because the complaint did not allege sufficient detail regarding the nature of the calls. Although the case settled before the court had the opportunity to rule on the issue on summary judgment, the court acknowledged the viability of the emergency purposes defense as a basis for approving the class action settlement despite objections that the settlement fund was a tiny fraction of potential liabilities. Continue reading »
First Amendment Protects Automated Calls Made for Political Campaigns in Arkansas
First Amendment, Political Calling
As we've previously discussed, while First Amendment challenges to the TCPA have largely been unsuccessful, First Amendment challenges to restrictions on calls or texts made in connection with political campaigns may fare differently. Further evidence of this distinction came last week, when a district court in the Eastern District of Arkansas declared Arkansas's restriction on using automated or prerecorded telephone calls to "'solicit[] information, gather[] data, or for any other purpose in connection with a political campaign'" unconstitutional as "a content-based regulation that does not survive strict scrutiny." Gresham v. Rutledge, No. 16cv241, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97964, at *2-3 (E.D. Ark. July 27, 2016) (quoting Ark. Code Ann. § 5-63-204(a)(1)). Continue reading »
Circuits Are Split Over Whether Agency Law Applies to TCPA Fax Cases
Justin O. Kay, Sheldon Eisenberg, Iman N. Boundaoui and Emily T. Broach
Faxes, General, Vicarious Liability
On May 9, 2016, the Sixth Circuit reversed a decision of the Northern District of Ohio granting summary judgment to Defendant in a TCPA fax case. Siding & Insulation Co. v. Alco Vending, Inc., No. 15-3551. The district court had accepted Defendant's argument that it could not be liable under the TCPA for sending the allegedly offending faxes because while it did retain an ad agency (B2B/Caroline Abraham, a combination known well to practitioners in this space) to transmit faxes advertising its services to consenting businesses, it had never authorized transmission of faxes to non-consenting businesses, including the Plaintiff. Finding that under federal common-law agency principles Defendant could not be held vicariously liable for sending the faxes because it neither authorized the transmission of the offending faxes, nor ratified the ad agency's conduct, the district court entered summary judgment in favor of Defendant. Continue reading »
Seventh Circuit Affirms District Court Ruling That TCPA Fax Regulations Are Not Strict Liability
Justin O. Kay and Emily T. Broach
Direct Liability, Faxes, Vicarious Liability
On March 21, 2016, the Seventh Circuit issued its decision in Bridgeview Health Care Ctr., Ltd. v. Clark, Nos. 14-3728 & 15-1793, holding that agency rules apply to determine whether a fax is sent "on behalf of" a principal and affirming the district court's decision that the defendant was liable only for those faxes he authorized.
As previously reported, the lead issue on appeal in this fax-based TCPA case involved whether a defendant is liable for all faxes sent by the fax broadcaster or another third party, or only for those faxes the fax broadcaster or third party was authorized by the defendant to send (in this case, only within a 20-mile radius of the defendant's businesses). Continue reading »


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Browsing Posts published in August, 2013
Department of Defense: Founding Fathers Were Extremists
The Department of Defense's (DOD) training materials include a "student guide" titled "Extremism."
In discussing "extremist ideologies and movements," the DOD guide lists "the colonists who sought to free themselves from British rule" as an example.
The Obama administration has been known to have "a nasty habit of equating basic conservative values with terrorism," according to Tom Fitton, President of Judicial Watch.
"Now, its Defense Department suggests that the Founding Fathers, and many conservative Americans," fit the bill as well."
Full report at Breitbart.com:
Politics Breitbart, colonists were extremists, Department of Defense, DOD, DOD Documents suggest colonists were 'extremist' for fighting British rule, Extremism, Judicial Watch, Liberty, Tom Fitton
NSA Spying and French Republicans – Any Connection?
What's a "French Republican?"
"French Republicans" is a term coined recently to describe Republicans who appear to act like Democrats.
These conflicted individuals are also referred to as "Establishment," "Republican in Name Only" (RINO), and "Country-Club Republicans."
Speaker of the House Boehner is one example of this group; elected to oppose ObamaCare, yet seemingly unwilling to support the de-funding of ObamaCare. He seems to have abandoned Republican values in favor of playing golf with President Obama.
There has recently been a rash of such abandonment of conservative values among Republicans, resulting in a serious split in the Republican party. A split so serious that many serious conservatives are considering abandoning the Republican party altogether, and are considering extreme measures such as U.S. citizens overriding their Senate and their Congress, using Article V of the US Constitution. (Details at Political Puzzle Pieces Falling into Place.)
Motivations of "French Republicans"
Some imply that "French Republicans" fail to fight for conservative values because they don't want to risk their comfortable, elegant, luxurious, "French" Washington positions and lifestyles.
The name "French Republican" could also refer to the relative failure of the French Revolution, which failed to achieve its goals and at times degenerated into a chaotic bloodbath. The French Revolution quickly gave way to the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte, and new despots replaced old despots. So the term could also refer to the disastrous strategy of continual compromise that is now being used by "French Republicans."
Possible New Motivation
Today, the Wall Street Journal revealed a much broader National Security Agency (NSA) Surveillance Reach than previously acknowledged.
This recent climate of government scandal,which has exposed the extent of government spying on innocent US citizens without warrant, combined with the Obama administration's growing reputation for the use of intimidation and "Chicago tactics," now makes it reasonable to wonder whether there could be a connection between NSA spying and "French Republicans."
In other words, we wonder whether "French Republicans" could be acting "French" not because they want a spoiled lifestyle, nor because they fail to recognize that continual compromise is a bad policy, but because they or their families are being blackmailed and/or threatened by a corrupt Obama administration.
The NSA is monitoring 75% of all internet traffic!
Have YOU emailed anything to a friend recently that you don't want on the front page of the New York Times?
Politics 75% of US Net Traffic, Article V, Boehner, Country-Cllub Repblican, Drudge Report, Establishment, French Republicans, General Petraeus, General Powell, Herman Cain, Justice Roberts, Liberte egalite fraternite, Liberty Articles, Marco Rubio, Mark Levin, National Security Agency, NSA, NSA Spying, Paul Ryan, Republican in Name Only, RINO, Stupak, Wall Street Journal
What in the World Happened to Us?
TV star Phil Robertson is a successful businessman whose family owned company makes duck calls and other products for duck hunters. The Robertson men, Phil, his brother and his three sons, are known for their long beards. They also star in the reality TV show Duck Dynasty, the most-watched nonfiction cable telecast in history.
Here's what Phil has to say about abortion:
More on Abortion:
Abortion, Politics Abortion, Duck Dynasty, George Washington, Phil Robertson, reality TV, What in the world happened to us?
Hummingbirds Like Rolf's Guitar
A Hummingbird stays at our feeder, appears to be enjoying Rolf's Guitar playing.
…but apparently my camera's audio leaves something to be desired.
(Better guitar at Vacationing…. Rolf's guitar)
Another hummingbird comes – look at this one's shadow at lower right:
More of Rolf's Guitar: Silent Night and Hold Me Tight
Family guitar, Hummingbird, Hummingbird likes guitar
Political Puzzle Pieces Falling into Place
Political Surprises
We've been seeing a high
frequency of political surprises in
recent months and years.
Turnarounds that were really not expected.
A number of outcomes that stymied the predictions of political pundits, leaving everyone scratching their heads.
But things happen for a reason, and that reason may not always be immediately clear.
However, in time, with faith, the meaning emerges.
What Political Surprises?
What surprises?
Shocking reversals.
In recent news, apparently enough votes have been obtained in the Republican-dominated House to pass the Immigration Bill, despite the fact that most conservatives oppose any legislation that does not prioritize securing the border first, and despite the fact that a CBS poll
Shocking Reversals
shows that 56% of Americans want the border secured before a path to citizenship is established for illegal immigrants.
Only 37% of Americans want "status of illegal immigrants" addressed before the border is secured.
So Republicans appear to be pushing for what Obama wants in opposition to what voters want.
Conservatives Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan have been pushing the Immigration Bill, despite conservative objections to the Bill, as well. These are very unexpected and puzzling developments.
These surprises are not the first.
There was Bart Stupak's catastrophic reversal on abortion in ObamaCare (along with 11 other Democrats) in 2010.
There was Justice Roberts' unexpected ruling on the Constitutionality of ObamaCare (2013).
Obama's 2009 Alice-in-Wonderland Halloween Party
-Curiously prophetic
There was the chaotic bulldozing of the Republican nomination in August 2012, during which John Boehner made an apparently intentional bad call on a rule change vote, enabling the nomination of Mitt Romney and the elimination of other candidates. Boehner's vote call was clearly erroneous, and Boehner was booed.
Aside: American politics ironically begins to resemble the upside-down room from Alice in Wonderland. Was the White House's secret 2009 Halloween Costume Ball, held while America sank into recession, actually more of a policy announcement? The extravagant "over-the-top" Hollywood-created party followed a $4 million Hawaii vacation for the First Family, during a year in which Michelle Obama spent $10 million on vacations.
Back to shocking reversals-
How about the Supreme Court ruling in June of 2013 striking down part of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)? What was Justice Roberts' role in that? What implications will that ruling have?
So many conservatives are falling into scandals and out of office- Herman Cain, General Petraeus, General Powell…
A comprehensive list of recent examples would exhaust my resources and the reader's patience!
Magic Political Potion?
John Boehner……..or Harry Reid?
It's like there was a virus going around that turned conservatives progressive, or a magic potion that Obama has which makes people do his bidding.
Are Chicago-style persuasion tactics at work?
Putting Together the Pieces
Snowden's recent revelations about systematic NSA snooping on citizens without warrant, and IRS involvement in the harassing and suppression of conservative groups, combined with the growing number of other Obama administration scandals, is revealing that the comprehensive amassing of detailed information on American citizens, as well as strong-arming, have become routine practices used by the Obama adminstration. The pursuit and attack of consevatives by liberals has been implemented to an exhaustive degree, down to small individuals like me, whose conservative website was under D0S (DDoS) attack for the third time this summer by "unknown" sources.
These surfacing facts paint a picture of an extremely active left wing "culture" very busy implementing illegal and unethical Alinsky tactics in an underground war against democracy and against Judeo-Christian ethics.
Massive amounts of data are being collected about innocent Americans, and are being stored in immense facilities in Utah, with Obama administration assurances that the information will not be mined or used except for national security.
Yet abuse of this informaion is apparently almost routine, as the NSA breaks privacy rules thousands of times every year.
Meanwhile, all of Obama's opponents are surprisingly reversing their positions or falling like flies. scandal
Is there a connection?
In this Benghazi scandal–IRS scandal (Internal Revenue Service)-NSA scandal (National Security Agency)-DOJ scandal (Department of Justice) –DHS scandal (Department of Homeland Security) scandal climate, the picture emerging is one of indiscriminate and unethical abuse of power of historical proportions by members of the Obama administration.
The Ideology
What radical "progressives" cannot achieve by democracy, they seem determined to get by hook or by crook, or by Alinsky tactics.
Left wing ideology is so important and so faultless in the radical narcissistic mind, that it justifies sacrificing law, order and democracy, to achieve desired results.
This radical philosophy espouses "the ends justify the means (consequentialism), a classic error made by narcissists and totalitarians throughout history.
This method is in direct opposition to the teachings of Christ and of Judaism, and is in opposition to any absolute moral code, like the Ten Commandments or the Constitution of the United States.
New Modus Operandi (Method of Operation)
In this Gangster Government climate, it becomes eminently reasonable to suspect the dishonest Obama administration, with it's ever-expanding list of agencies and czars, of simply dipping into the Utah treasury of information every time it needs to "persuade" an opponent.
Most people, even good people, have made a mistake or two in their lives which they do not want publicized, and if they have not, their child or their spouse or their grandmother probably have. That failing, evidence can be planted, accusations can be manufactured, and lies can be constructed. All is fair under Alinsky tactics or under totalitarian rule.
What Can an Ethical Population Do to Combat Such Tactics and This Level of Corruption?
One previous challenge of this magnitude and nature was the Soviet Union dominating and abusing its citizens with iron hand and iron curtain, utilizing the KGB as enforcers, and making desperate attempts to eradicate the power of religion in the 20th century.
And it was religion that brought down the Soviet Union.
Religion, plus transparency.
It was Catholic Poland's Solidarity, Catholic Pope John Paul the Great, and Christian Evangelical Ronald Reagan, who brought down the Soviet empire virtually without violence and without battle through what TIME magazine called a Holy Alliance.
The transparency was provided by communications; in the internet era, real-time video of Soviet government atrocities such as the crushing of 11 Lithuanian citizens by Soviet tanks kept the autocrats accountable for their actions. Reports of these events echoed across the globe in real time, with reports appearing in local American news.
The Missing Link- Redefining How We Approach Politics describes in more detail a philosophy which brings God into politics, allows good men to tap into the power of religion, and allows battles to be won relatively peacefully.
Point: The battle against the Soviets was not won by using Soviet tactics.
The solution, the key to the puzzle, is simple:
Don't use the enemy's tactics
Use religion and use transparency
Religion: Aim for justice, stick to the rules, follow your conscience, and ask God for help and for guidance.
Transparency: Use modern communications to keep your opponents accountable
In 2013, the victory is likely to be surprising, as it was with the Soviet Union:
It will be a surprise, like many victories in history.
It could involve a restructuring of the Republican party, to return to true Judeo-Christian conservative values.
It could involve a third party which suddenly receives surprising support from a nation that has been burnt enough by 8 years of Imperial rule and by several years of unfolding Obama administration scandals and ObamaCare catastrophies.
It could involve something completely unexpected, like the unorthodox but constitutional use of Article V of the Constitution, to amend the Constitution via state legislatures, circumventing the now-corrupt Senate and Congress, as suggested by Mark Levin, whose book The Liberty Amendments, just shot to #1 bestseller on Amazon this week.
And, of course, it most probably will involve an as-yet-unimagined mechanism that exists only in the mind of God, and not in our minds at this point in time.
Already Accomplished
What has already been accomplished?
America has galvanized and joined to oppose the greatest injustice ever tolerated in this country, which has killed the largest number of people in American history (54 million) – abortion. Now, through tremendous public involvement and prayer, progress is finally being made toward reversing the killing of 1/3 of our children. A nation that kills it's own children cannot prosper. The year 2013 marks 40 years of that killing, and it is time for the killing to end.
The unraveling of the crooked and imperial Obama administration's reputation has begun, and continues every day. Obama's approval rating has slipped from 64% in 2009 to 41% today.
Even the Republican Party, which gets the main modern issue, abortion, right, but neglects other important Judeo-Christian values, is undergoing an internal struggle which may (or may not) purge it of its recent ineffective spinelessness.
Predicting the Outcome
All predictions are tentative and are subject to the test of history.
But we have great faith in God, and today we see Americans returning increasingly to prayer and to Judeo-Christian values.
I don't believe that God will allow Godless progressives who idolize indiscriminate promiscuity and the killing of children, to triumph.
I believe that God will help good people to win.
The victory will undoubtedly, like the victory over the Soviet Union, reflect the quiet, surprising, and powerful signature of God's assistance, who is ever at our side, leading us quietly.
The victory could also, like David's victory over Goliath, and like the parting of the Red Sea, be spectacular and miraculous.
From the Bible:
Incidentally, today in the United States we have more than the 50 righteous people Abraham refers to in his negotiation with the Lord (Genesis 18:23.)
Excerpts from the Liturgy of the Hours for August 13th, 2013:
Lord, how I love your law!
It is ever in my mind.
Your command makes me wiser than my foes;
for it is mine for ever.
I have more insight than all who teach me
for I ponder your will.
I have more understanding than the old
for I keep your precepts.
I turn my feet from evil paths
to obey your word.
I have not turned from your decrees;
you yourself have taught me.
Your promise is sweeter to my taste
than honey in the mouth.
I gain understanding from your precepts
and so I hate false ways.
Arise, O Lord, and defend your cause.
Remember this, Lord, and see the enemy scoffing;
a senseless people insults your name.
Do not give Israel, your dove, to the hawk
nor forget the life of your poor ones for ever.
Remember your covenant; every cave in the land
is a place where violence makes its home.
Do not let the oppressed return disappointed;
let the poor and the needy bless your name.
Arise, O God, and defend your cause!
Remember how the senseless revile you all the day.
Do not forget the clamour of your foes,
the daily increasing uproar of your foes.
Faith, Politics, Uncategorized Abortion, abortion in ObamaCare, Abraham Lincoln, Abraham negotiates with the Lord, Alice in Wonderland, Alinsky tactics, Arise o Lord and defend your cause, Bart Stupak, Benghazi scandal, Boehner was booed, consequentialism, Constitution, Constitutionality of ObamaCare, data storage in Utah, David and Goliath, DDoS, DHS scandal, DOJ scandal, DoS, fall of the Soviet Union, Gangster government, General Petraeus, General Powell, Genesis 18:23, Herman Cain, Holy Alliance, Immigration bill, iron curtain, IRS scandal, John Boehner, Juedo-Christian values, justice, Justice Roberts, Lithuanins crushed by Soviet tanks, magical potion, Marco Rubio, Mark Levin, Mitt Romney, modus operandi, NSA breaks privacy rules, NSA scandal, Obama approval, ObamaCare, parting of the Red Sea, Paul Ryan, Political predictions, political strategy, Political surprises, Pope John Paul II, Pope John Paul the Great, Psalm 119, Psalm 73, Puzzle Pieces, Religion is Power, Republican nomination, Ronald Reagan, Snowden, Soviet tactics, Supreme Court DOMA, The Libery Amendments, The Missing LInk, transparency, White House Halloween Party, Your command makes me wiser than my foes
Wisconsin State Journal Flunks Journalism Again! or What's Wrong With Gay Marriage?
Wisconsin State Journal Flunks Journalism Again!
What's Wrong With Gay Marriage?
Two days after getting some praise for their balanced article on Bishop Morlino, the Wisconsin State Journal was back to its old games, misrepresenting the Bishop yet again.
They managed to shoot themselves in the foot quite handsomely this time.
Here's a cartoon they published, quoting both Pope Francis and Bishop Morlino out of context, in an attempt to make it seem that Bishop Morlino is in disagreement with the Pope:
How Does This Cartoon Shoot WSJ in the Foot?
How does WSJ shoot itself in the foot with this cartoon?
Let me count the ways:
It's unprofessional to nest your references so deep that the original source being quoted can hardly be found.
It's unprofessional to compare apples and oranges.
It's unprofessional to quote your sources out of context.
It's unprofessional to ignore the Bigger Story
It's unprofessional to contradict yourself.
It's unprofessional for a journalist to spin the news. (And it's triply embarrassing when you spin it badly and get caught.)
This unprofessional behavior would be more suited to the grapevine whispering game, in which messages become unrecognizably altered as they are whispered from person to person in a chain, than to a professional journalist.
It's unprofessional to nest your references so deep that nobody can find the original source being quoted.
So, in his efforts to malign and misrepresent Bishop Morlino, Phil Hands had to dig far and deep, and ended up quoting out of context from a homily given by Bishop Morlino in 2006.
In fact, Phil Hands quoted Doug Erickson's artilce, who quoted a 2006 Bill Wineke article, who quoted Bishop Morlino's homily from the 2006 Madison Catholic Herald, out of context.
Phil Hands was comparing Pope Francis' comments about a Catholic homosexual who is following Church teaching on chastity, with Bishop Morlino's comments on the the legal repercussions of governmental redefinition of marriage. Those repercussions have already violated the religious freedom rights of Catholics and have already closed Catholic adoption agencies. More on the legal details in the Appendix below. But suffice it to say that comparing discussion of chaste Catholic homosexuals with discussion of the legal implications of redefining marriage is not a very professional move on the part of Phil Hands.
Pope Francis' statement in context:
In these situations, it's important to distinguish between a gay person and a gay lobby, because having a lobby is never good. If a gay person is a person of good will who seeks God, who am I to judge? The Catechism of the Church explains this very beautifully. It outlines that gays should not be marginalized. The problem is not having this [homosexual] orientation. No, we must be brothers and sisters. The problem is lobbying for this orientation, or lobbies of greed, political lobbies, Masonic lobbies, so many lobbies. This is the most serious problem for me. And thank you so much for this question. Thank you very much!
Bishop Morlino's statment in context:
I'm spending time on this today because we've got a battle. We've got a battle at the federal level in June and we've got a battle at the state level in November. And I'm serious about it, I can't imagine what happens if marriage goes down the tubes. If marriage goes down the tubes, life will become one big custody suit. And who will decide who raises children and how they get raised? The State, more and more and more. Marriage goes down the tubes, the State will be deciding who gets custody and how the kids get taught. And when the State does that, rather than the natural parents, that's the end of democracy.
In context, both Pope Francis' comments and Bishop Morlino's comments mean something quite different than what Phil Hands tried to imply in his cartoon.
Madison, WI Masonic Temple
Anybody who reads the Pope's comment above will notice that the Pope made some pretty newsworthy statements.
The Pope's claim that his most serious problems come from lobbies of greed, political lobbies and Masonic lobbies should raise a few eyebrows.
Apparently Cybercast News Service (CNS) found the Pope's Freemasonry comment worth reporting. And exploring the reasons for such a comment.
Madison, with it's giant Masonic Temple one block from the Wisconsin State Capitol building, might be more interested in hearing why Freemasonry might pose a threat to Pope Francis, than hearing old 2006 quotes from Bishop Morlino being compared out of context with the Popes' comments.
Misquoting Bishop Morlino's 2006 homily is not news.
It's unprofessional to contradict yourself
Sloppy reporting has a way of coming back to bite the journalist.
Ironically, the very homily that Phil Hands was misquoting from, that Bill Wineke misquoted from and Doug ERickson misreported on, that very homily is one in which Bishop Morlino actually does the opposite of what WSJ claims. In that homily, Bishop Morlino spends two paragraphs emphacising how Catholics must treat the gays with whom we disagree with love and respect, and undescores how Catholics must avoid association with gay-bashing in any shape or form.
It's unprofessional for a journalist to spin the news. (And it's triply embarrassing when you do it badly and get caught.)
So there we have it.
Phil Hands' best effort to spin the comments of Pope Francis and Bishop Morliino, a painful stretch, involving a 100% reversal of what Bishop Morlino actually said in the homily from which Phil Hands is quoting.
Meager attempt to malign Madison's Bishop Morlino, and to make him look heartless.
Spin.
Bad spin.
Caught, and (hopefully) embarrassed.
Although with progressives these days, you never know. Some of them are very proud of their Alinsky (crooked) tactics.
Grading the Wisconsin State Journal on this one: F-
In fact, WSJ's journalism license should be suspended for this one.
Appendix– Why Bishop Morlino is Right in His End of Democracy Comment
The Legal Repercussions of Government Redefining Marriage
What Changing the Definition of Marriage Does
For millennia, marriage has been defined by religion, and government has rarely tried to challenge that definition.
The biggest challenge to date by government was by Henry VIII, who introduced divorce, and how has that worked for our society?
Women and children are no longer guaranteed stability, most women must work, and most children are virtually raised by the State (by the Obama Administration).
The redefinition of marriage by government to include marriages between persons of the same sex would have, in addition to numerous moral repercussions (on which people disagree), a large number of legal repercussions, which have nothing to do with opinion, but stem from law and from fact, and are inevitable.
Legal Details for Lawyers
For the lawyers among us who want this from the legal "horse's mouth," (unlike the WSJ, we make the original sources available), the legal impact of the redefinition of marriage is described at:
UCLA Williams Institute of Law: The Future Impact of Same-Sex Marriage – Nan D. Hunter, Georgetown Law
Harvard Law: Or For Poorer? How Same-Sex Marriage Threatens Religious Liberty – Roger Severino, legal counsel for Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Less technical information: How Could Gay Marriage Harm Anyone?
Layman's Summary
For the rest of us, I will attempt a layman's summary of the logic involved:
Legal Definition of Marriage Alters Impacts Many Areas of the Law
The legal definition of marriage does not exist in isolation; changing it alters many areas of the law.
The definition of marriage plays an important role in the laws of :
Government contracts and subsidies
Trusts and estates.
These laws, in turn, impact the ongoing daily operations of religious organizations of all kinds, including:
Soup kitchens
Complex Intertwining of State, Federal, and Religious Definitions of Marriage
Current law, particularly law on child custody, provides little room for non-uniform definitions of marriage within a state and across states.
As a result, changes in marriage law impact religious institutions disproportionately because their role is so deeply intertwined with the institution of marriage.
Religious institutions have been regulating marriage since time immemorial, and law has adopted and accommodated religious conventions.
As a result, if the legal definition of marriage is changed to differ dramatically from the religious definition of marriage, all the religious institutions mentioned above will be negatively impacted.
Can Government Compel Religious Institutions to Act Against Their Conscience- Accomplished
Changing the legal definition of marriage will likely result in government compulsion of religious institutions to accommodate same-sex couples, something contrary to their beliefs, and public benefits will likely be withdrawn from religious institutions which provide preferential treatment to traditionally married couples.
Already, failure to participate in the HHS "Contraceptive" Mandate, which requires religious employers to provide contraception and abortifacients to employees against the employer's conscience, is likely to subject all religious individuals to legal penalties for failure to provide HHS Mandated services.
Threats to religious liberty can come both directly and indirectly. They include court ordered injunctions or fines in retaliation for following one's religious beliefs, particularly for violating anti-discrimination laws in employment, housing,public accommodations, as well as labeling the statement of religious beliefs as hate speech.
How Christians Become Excluded From Many Professions – Accomplished
It quickly becomes clear how a Christian can no longer become an employer or a pharmacist because they will not dispense abortifacient pills, how a Christian cannot become a doctor because they will not offer abortion services, a Christian cannot rent out half of their duplex because they don't want the gay lifestyle in close proximity to their family home, a Christian cannot become a public school teacher because they are required to teach acceptance of the gay lifestyle, and so on.
Financial Crippling of Christian Institutions – Accomplished
And the lawsuits, injunctions, penalties and legal bills required to fight these battles are likely to cripple Christians financially, and are likely to bankrupt religious service institutions. The Catholic Church has already been forced to abandon adoption and foster services in Boston, San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Illinois as a result of their policy to make sure children are placed with a mom and a dad who are married.
When You Force Christians Out of Service in an 80% Christian Country, Who Takes Over Providing Services?
When service institutions have traditionally been operated by volunteer religious institutions, and now religious institutions are forced out of these ministries, there is only one option– for government to take over providing these services.
The history of government performance, in the absence of financial pressure and accountability, in providing essential services has had a very bad track record, both in the United States and abroad. The U.S. Postal Service, Medicare, and UK Medicine are all examples of services that fail abysmally when operated by government.
The control of everything by government is the definition of totalitarianism.
Totalitariansim: Of, relating to, being, or imposing a form of government in which the political authority exercises absolute and centralized control over all aspects of life, the individual is subordinated to the state, and opposing political and cultural expression is suppressed.
Religious people (90% of US) can be forced against their conscience
Christian (80%) excluded form many professsions
Financial crippling of Christian Intitutions
Totalitarian control of everything by government
= End of Democracy
And the good Bishop was right.
Wisconsin State Journal, grow up and do your homework!
Addendum: WSJ Editor Responds to Our Criticism: Stands His Ground
(For anybody interested in contacting this editor about the Bishop Morlino Cartoon he published: JSmalley@madison.com)
From: Syte Reitz
Sent: Thursday, August 08, 2013 1:53 PM
To: John Smalley
Subject: Defamatory Cartoon in WSJDear Editor Smalley-Phil Hands' cartoon published in the WSJ August 1st was a gross misrepresentation of Bishop Morlino.
There was no option provided for discussion or comments, so my comments can be found in a blog article which outlines the reasons why publication of that cartoon was such a poor choice on your part.
Many Catholics had become hopeful of getting fair treatment in the WSJ following your publication of Doug Erickson's article on Bishop Morlino's 10 year anniversary in Madison.
As a Catholic blogger who was first motivated to blog by seeing media misrepresentation of Catholicism, I'm very sorry to see you returning to WSJ misrepresentation of Catholics so soon.
Please share my comments with the cartoonist, Phil Hands.
SyteReitz.com
Madison Catholic Blogger
From: John Smalley
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2013 14:45:30 -0500
To: Syte Reitz
Subject: RE: Defamatory Cartoon in WSJSyte,
Thanks for your note, and your comments on the recent cartoon by Phil Hands.
We will have to agree to disagree on this topic, in that I don't think we've misrepresented Catholics in the past, or that we're doing so now. I'm sure you understand that editorial cartoons are meant by their nature to exaggerate to the extreme. We publish many cartoons on the page that I would personally disagree with, but we think it's important to represent a full spectrum of thoughts and opinions on the page. In fact, we always give preference to letter writers who disagree with our editorials.
It sounds like you thought Doug's anniversary story on the Bishop was a worthy effort. I certainly felt that way.
Thanks again for your feedback.
John Smalley
WSJ Editor
Date: Sat, 10 Aug 2013 13:54:57 -0500
Cc: Reitz Rolf
Subject: Re: Defamatory Cartoon in WSJ
You gave me no substance in your response.
If you "agree to disagree" without supporting your position, you come across as a low-information thinker, something I hope the editor of Wisconsin's second largest newspaper is not.
You are in a unique position to moderate a serious and important cultural debate, and you should not be pandering to pressure from Madison's progressives.
A newspaper professional should not show bias.
Your newspaper would benefit by hosting lively cultural debates, and your newspaper only suffers when you diss the leaders of Madison's and Wisconsin's leading religion without substance.
Honestly, that was a blatant misrepresentation of Bishop Morlino that you published, and you should retract or apologize for it.
You could also consider publishing arguments from the blog critique of the cartoon, which illustrate why the cartoon was such a bad misrepresentation.
The Wisconsin State Journal purports to serve the entire population of Wisconsin, and Madison claims to champion tolerance, so who better to show some respect for Catholicism and it's leaders than the State Journal?
Syte
From: Romulus
Date: Friday, August 09, 2013 9:57 AM
Subject: Bishop Morlino Cartoon
Dear Mr. Smalley: The Phil Hands smear of Bishop Morlino is in no sense an exaggeration. It is a lie. If you lack the sense or else the integrity to grasp this distinction, you belong in a different line of work. Since your heart seems to be in the field of dishonest advocacy, public relations for a really sleazy organization might suit your talents.
Or you could man up and apologize. Your call.
Cultural Wars, Don't Diss My Church, Politics Bill Wineke, Bishop Morlino, Catholic Herald, comparing apples and oranges, Defamation of Bishop Morlino, Doug Erickson, Flunking Journalism, gay marriage would spell the end of democracy, Grapevine Whispering Game, ignore the Bigger Story, Journalism Code of Ethics, Media Spin, Phil Hands, Pope Francis, Pope Francis on gays, the Church and Freemasonry, What's Wrong with Gay Marriage?, Who am I to Judge, Wisconsin State Journal


From a small start in 2005, the company now takes wood from large tracts of the county's woods – including areas managed by Lancashire County Council (LCC), Natural England (NE), the Forestry Commission (FC) and private estates – and turns it into top quality wood fuel.
As an accredited processor of trees carrying diseases such as Phytophthora ramorum, our biosecurity measures ensure no further spread from infected trees.The benefits of managing these areas of woodland, replanting and contributing to carbon capture go alongside considerably lower fuel costs for users who currently include schools, horticultural businesses, housing developments, large country houses and higher education establishments.
We are Members of Bowland Experience, a network of businesses supporting sustainable development within the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).


We welcomed back Dr. Jason Kalirai to discuss space telescopes with a focus on Hubble, JWST, and WFIRST plus exoplanets and life searches using telescopes. Please note that I again had trouble with the program tapes for different segments. I did add them in for the archive version but they were not available for the live broadcast. I believe the problem has been resolved and will be testing repairs on the next live program. With regards to our program today with Dr. Kalirai, we started off talking about Hubble which just had its 28th anniversary and 25th year of operational success. We spent time talking about technology, operations and software, plus the fact that still today about two peer reviewed papers a day are being published based on Hubble data. In addition, our guest talked about the vast and comprehensive archival data for Hubble since its start which has turned out to be an amazing research data for scientists and researchers all over the world. Jason was asked about the cost to do research on Hubble so he explained the Hubble financial model which is also the model for other telescopes. Researchers submit a proposal, very few are accepted but if your proposal is accepted, your research on Hubble is funded. US researchers are funded out of the Hubble budget which mostly comes from US taxpayers. Foreign researchers are funded through grants and support in their country or an international agency. About 1/3 of the Hubble budget is for Hubble flight, 1/3 goes to grant research funding, and a third goes to the Hubble science budget. We talked about the Hubble orbit, the software being used for it and how that software has evolved over the years. Jason mentioned that now Hubble data exists in the cloud which is a fairly new development coming about over the last five years.
We next talked about the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Jason talked about it being an infrared telescope and what that might mean. Because of it being infrared, it cannot have any ambient heat around it, hence its orbit location a million miles from Earth at the second Lagrange point (L2). He described the bottom of JWST which is a special sunshield. Don't miss what he said about the sunshield, how JWST is kept cool even in this far out orbit and more. The bottom of the sunshield is covered with solar panels plus it carries fuel on board for about a ten year service life. We talked about that lifespan and possible repairs using future technology and spacecraft. He said more likely the future might allow for some on orbit refueling but he would not rule out technological advances making other types of repairs possible though those repairs would not be possible today. Jason said that JWST was the most complex space hardware ever tested and made ready to go to space. Listeners had several email questions about JWST including how the infrared photos will be visually displayed. Ohers wanted to know why it was launching on an Arianne and if would have a full sky view once on station. Before the segment ended, Bob in Oklahoma City wanted to know about transmitting images back to Earth and bandwidth availability.
In the second segment, we talked about the science to be conducted by JWST. The telescope will be searching for first light, going further back in time to see the light from star formation that happened right after the Big Bang. Jason explained the first light search in detail so don't miss it. Finding first starlight will allow scientist to model the very early universe. He explained the spectrum and what they would look for to confirm first light.
Kepler and exoplanet searches were discussed. Yet to come from exoplanet searches will be the capability to accurately determine the gasses in the atmospheres around exoplanets and someday even detect biosignatures in the atmosphere. Our guest had much to say on the subject of exoplanet searches within our solar system as Kepler is looking for much more recent objects (light) than either Hubble or JWST. As part of this discussion, Randy wanted to know about the likely merger down the road of Andromeda with our own Milky Way. He wanted to know what people on Earth might experience at the time of the merger. Don't miss what Jason said in response to Randy's question. Carolyn asked about searching exoplanets for intelligent life and a timeline for such searches. In his response, our guest talked about subsurface oceans being found in our solar system, plumes and planned plume sample missions to sample the water.
Our topics then switched to the Wide Field Telescope (WFIRST) that today has an uncertain future. Jason describe the technology behind WFIRST and what wide field actually means and why it is important. Don't miss this discussion. Jason said he was an optimist regarding the eventual confirmation of funding for the project which is still up in the air.
As the show was nearing its end, I asked Jason what telescope to him was the most exciting. He said JWST. Don't miss why he selected JWST. Donna sent in a question wanting to know if an optical telescope could search for and find life. Jason said this was hard to do but listen to his full response to Donna. Burton from Montreal sent in a question about a possible UV replacement telescope for Hubble, the eventual use of a 2.4 meter telescope mirror which he said was available and the possibility of using a robotic arm for JWST. He later followed up his question by asking about the existence of demand for a UV Hubble replacement telescope. Don't miss what Jason had to say about a possible Hubble replacement as well as a future repair mission.
Before the program ended, we talked about the JWST delays, causes, and repairs. I also asked our guest if he knew the acceptable risk tolerance for mission success in launching JWST. Our guest concluded by saying that Hubble was the most important scientific instrument ever build. Don't miss all of his closing comments.
Please post your comments/questions on TSS blog for this show. You can reach our guest through me or the Space Telescope Science Institute.


04/02/2019 [-] Can We Stop AI Outsmarting Humanity?
03/07/2019 [-] 2,700-Year-Old Polynesian Tattoo Kit Found — and the 'Needles' Were Made of Human Bone.
02/03/2019 [-] Is Gwyneth Paltrow a human after all?
02/03/2019 [-] Can DeepMind's AI Really Beat Human Starcraft II Champions?
01/07/2019 [-] Will Trump Consign Humans to the Fate of the Dinosaurs?
12/10/2018 [-] 'Human SOUL' to be scanned?
12/04/2018 [-] Ripped monkey four times stronger than humans!
11/05/2018 [-] The Seafloor Is Dissolving Away. And Humans Are to Blame.
10/30/2018 [-] NOT transmissible human-to-human?
10/30/2018 [-] Would you use soap made from human fat?
10/16/2018 [-] Stephen Hawking Said 'Superhumans' Will Replace Us. Was He Right?
10/01/2018 [-] Humans delayed onset of Sahara desert by 500 years?
09/26/2018 [-] How Can Nagini Be a Human in Fantastic Beasts 2?
09/24/2018 [-] What happens if you find human bones on your property?
09/22/2018 [-] What will humans look like in 100 years?
09/21/2018 [-] Mungo Man What to do next with Australia's oldest human remains?
09/18/2018 [-] Is Captain Marvel Human or Alien?
09/15/2018 [-] Did archaeologists find the oldest drawing made by humans?
09/12/2018 [-] Ancient hashtag discovered in African cave #ButWhatDoesItMean?
09/11/2018 [-] What should you do if you discover human remains?
08/30/2018 [-] CRISPR Gene Editing Fixes Muscular Dystrophy in Dogs. Are Humans Next?
08/08/2018 [-] FDA Acquiring Aborted Baby Parts to Make Humanized Mice?
08/06/2018 [-] Did DARPA Just Develop Autonomous Drones To Hunt Humans?
08/05/2018 [-] Is Facebook Ignoring Our Humanity?
07/28/2018 [-] Should Bots Be Required To Tell You That They're Not Human?
07/17/2018 [-] Dinosaurs more calorie-conscious than humans!
07/16/2018 [-] Ready to Fly Without Human Pilot?
07/11/2018 [-] How promising is the new HIV vaccine being trialled in humans?
07/04/2018 [-] How Long Can Humans Survive in a Cave?
07/02/2018 [-] Humana finalizes deal to buy part of Kindred Healthcare, Inc.
07/02/2018 [-] Are These Dots Purple, Blue or Proof That Humans Will Never Be Happy?
06/29/2018 [-] Have Humans Reached Their Limit on Life Span? These Researchers Say No.
06/20/2018 [-] A life at high altitude shapes human body, but how?
05/23/2018 [-] Does Humanity Need a Backup Earth?
05/22/2018 [-] Why Would a Pig Follow a Man Home?
05/21/2018 [-] Dark Futures Does Humanity Really Need a Backup Earth?
05/18/2018 [-] Quiz Which animal's bed is cleaner than a human's?
05/17/2018 [-] Think Your Bed Is Clean? A Chimp's Is Cleaner.
05/12/2018 [-] Life inside a clinical trial human guinea pig or science insider?
05/12/2018 [-] What Can Human Mothers Learn from Animal Moms?
05/11/2018 [-] Google's human-mimicking Duplex voice AI will now identify itself!
05/09/2018 [-] Modern health systems based on trained human element Min.
04/30/2018 [-] Technology makes our lives easier, but is it at the cost of our humanity?
04/30/2018 [-] How Would Humanity React If We Really Found Aliens?
04/24/2018 [-] Was There a Civilization On Earth Before Humans?
04/20/2018 [-] Pet cloning here - humans next?
04/19/2018 [-] Why Is a Train Filled with Human Poop Stuck Outside This Alabama Town?
04/18/2018 [-] How Would We Know If Intelligent Life Existed on Earth Before Humans?
04/17/2018 [-] Another civilization on Earth before humans?
04/03/2018 [-] '2001 A Space Odyssey' Turns 50 Why Haven't Humans Been to Jupiter Yet?
03/23/2018 [-] Did Human Noise Pollution Drive 150 Whales To Beach Themselves in Australia?
03/21/2018 [-] Frankie Shoveller at La Grange Bay near Bidyadanga, where he found a human skull.
03/13/2018 [-] Would You Eat Human Meat Grown in a Lab?
03/12/2018 [-] What Image Should Represent All of Humanity On Wikipedia?
03/10/2018 [-] Wipe out humanity?
03/09/2018 [-] Human remains found on Golden Camp Rd.
03/05/2018 [-] The best presenter at Oscars 2018 was not a human!
02/10/2018 [-] Human eggs grown in lab for the first time by scientists!
02/07/2018 [-] FIRST MODERN HUMAN IN UK HAD BLUE EYES - AND BLACK SKIN?
02/07/2018 [-] Ants as drug manufacturers for humans?
02/06/2018 [-] Ancient virus responsible for human ability to think?
02/02/2018 [-] How much longer before humans conquer ageing?
02/01/2018 [-] 'Hello!' Says the Human. 'Hello!' Pipes the Orca Right Back.
01/30/2018 [-] Do 'robo hacks' spell the end for human journalists?
01/28/2018 [-] Spermageddon Human race infertile in 50 years?
01/24/2018 [-] Scientists successfully clone monkeys; are humans up next?
01/24/2018 [-] Scientists successfully clone monkeys; could humans be next?
01/23/2018 [-] Could 'Zombie Deer' Disease Spread to Humans?
01/22/2018 [-] This new AI system can negotiate deals better than humans!
01/12/2018 [-] DOGS - to speak HUMAN?
01/01/2018 [-] Humans vs leopards Whose home is it?
12/11/2017 [-] How we reached peak human.


text:
Подгруппа A группы I зоны Европа/Африка Кубка Федерации 2014 — одна из четырёх отборочных подгрупп высшей группы регионального турнира Кубка Федерации в евро-африканской зоне. Четыре команды играют однокруговой турнир, выявляя претендента на повышение в классе.

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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Farm ecosystems in global summit
April 6, 2009 New Fulbright Scholarship extends research scope
October 25, 2016 Funding puts Flinders at centre of new wave of medical technology
April 11, 2017 Law books delve into big questions
Posted on July 30, 2015 by flindersblogs
Dr Sandhu, from Flinders' School of the Environment, conducting research at the Hart Field Crop Trial Site in SA's Mid North.
A United Nations initiative to share scientific knowledge on agriculture and the environment will see Dr Harpinder Sandhu, from Flinders' School of the Environment, speak in Rome this week.
Dr Sandhu is lead investigator of an international, independent Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) study into pollination and food production.
As lead author, he is working with the Australian Department of Environment and more than 100 other researchers around the world, to compile a seminal report by early 2016. The report will cover changes in animal pollination that underpins global food production – and the key role pollinators play in gene flows and restoration of ecosystems.
"Biodiversity and the natural assets, or ecosystem services, of farmlands around the world are being studied by a number of research teams around the world," Dr Harpinder says.
"The pollination report will be the first of many different reports to guide future trends in agricultural production."
Dr Harpinder said the IPBES was established by the UN in 2012 to conduct a global assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services – as an agro-ecology equivalent to the more widely recognised Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The IPBES panel on pollinators, pollination and food production selected Dr Sandhu as a lead author due to his leading research in ecosystem services area over the past decade.
As a part of his investigation, a local study was conducted in the Northern and Yorke agricultural region in South Australia that examined the contribution of ecosystem services.
It concluded that these natural assets are of great significance and high economic value to local agriculture – and could improve yield at a time when productivity gains can be slow and costly.
"For example, contribution of pollinators to canola crop in this region accounts for up to $15 million annually," he says.
"In the absence of pollinators, farmers will lose production value.
"There is a real need to create biodiversity islands in agricultural landscapes to attract wild and managed pollinators which are of high economic value to farming," Dr Sandhu says.
Primary health care in focus
Foundation program sets a new course for Zoe


May 16 Beijing– Baidu Finance announced issuance of the first blockchain-based ABS product in China with 424 million yuan worth. The product is jointly released with Baiqian Leasing, Huaneng Trust. The product contains private equity ABS for personal car rental. The adoption of blockchain technology provides operation transparency for the asset, which greatly enhance the efficiency, safety and traceability of the product.
As per the report, blockchain is adopted to solve the trust issue. Features like decentralized storage, asymmetric secret key and consensus algorithm are introduced. Baidu also test some new features by adding some "adaptive modifications". Attacks on the network protocol is simulated on Baidu security lab to ensure the safety of the network and the protocol. The consortium blockchain could process up to million TPS scale. AI developed by Baidu is also integrated in the program. Authority hierarchy and asymmetric encryption are deployed to ensure information security. The report also mentions the enabling of smart control on its bottom layer.
It's more like a pilot program for the next move of Baidu on its blockchain development roadmap.
Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent has been regarded the top 3 internet conglomerates in China.
Tencent has released the consortium blockchain platform: TrustSql in April. Alibaba has adopted blockchain technology for its charity project with CRCF. Baidu seems to be lagging behind the race while JD is catching up. China Unionpay test the 1st consortium blockchain with JD Finance. With the strong performance of JD in Q1 2017, people are thinking of "BAT" should be changed to "JAT".
Baidu Financial Services Business Group (FSG) was established on December 14, 2015. Financial business has been lifted to a strategic position in Baidu. Baidu financial is composed of consumer finance, wallet payment, financial management, Internet banking, Internet insurance and other sectors. According to the 2016 Q4 report, Baidu wallet has over 100 million activated accounts. Baxin bank has been officially approved by the CBRC. The total value of OTC ABS assets issued by Baidu Financial OTC has been over 5 billion yuan by 2016.


A perfect place for having your business meetings!
Really peaceful surroundings and our group got rid of everyday routine. Peacefulness in the premises and the clean nature surrounded the whole estate. In the middle of all this tranquillity a lot of creativity popped up for new ideas and we came up spontaneously with new sources for development. As regards the programme, we had plenty of interesting activities. Frisbee golf can sound child´s play but when you have done the track a couple of times, you may have a different opinion. Having a sauna in the evening and relaxing in a warm hot tub enchanted us while the delicious aroma from the grill was frizzling. All this created a special atmosphere to spend an evening. The night´s lodging was pleasant and cosy (though we could have gone home if we had wanted because of the short distance). I heartily recommend you to try this place and remove your meetings from your normal surroundings as the results are really worth it!
Asko' s Villa is very comfortable, big, good facilities.
We nine people enjoyed fresh air, green garden and sweet family feeling. We had very beautiful view from each window, the clean sky ,trees and grass are like pictures. Finish wooden house and sauna impressed me and gave us a good memory. Asko offered us very good service.
A splendid place for a small get-together party to enjoy a relaxing evening.
We were well looked after by the landlord, and everything was done with great hospitality. Near the capital area. I recommend!
A wonderful place to enjoy a peaceful cottage feeling or have a unique hen or stag night.
A gorgeous villa both inside and outside plus enough space for outdoor games and barbeque. I recommend!


ChemIDplus - 467-36-7 - PXLVRFQEBVNJOH-UHFFFAOYSA-N - Thialbarbital [INN:BAN:DCF] - Similar structures search, synonyms, formulas, resource links, and other chemical information.
mouse LD50 intraperitoneal 384mg/kg (384mg/kg) British Journal of Pharmacology and Chemotherapy. Vol. 1, Pg. 215, 1946.
mouse LD50 intravenous 390mg/kg (390mg/kg) British Journal of Pharmacology and Chemotherapy. Vol. 1, Pg. 215, 1946.
mouse LD50 oral 370mg/kg (370mg/kg) British Journal of Pharmacology and Chemotherapy. Vol. 1, Pg. 215, 1946.
mouse LD50 subcutaneous 240mg/kg (240mg/kg) Farmaco. Scienza e Tecnica. Vol. 3, Pg. 269, 1948.
rat LD50 intravenous 175mg/kg (175mg/kg) BEHAVIORAL: ALTERED SLEEP TIME (INCLUDING CHANGE IN RIGHTING REFLEX) Archives Internationales de Pharmacodynamie et de Therapie. Vol. 106, Pg. 437, 1956.


For the longest time, there has been a prevailing debate on what is best investment technique. Certain financial professionals argue it is active management, but others prefer passive management. Nevertheless, the snake oil salesmen use this argument in order to take advantage of investors, especially the least knowledgeable ones and earn more money.
This article will uncover the three big lies encompassing the Wall Street, which these snake oil salesmen use on their clients or investors.
Modern Portfolio Theory Does Not Exist. This is probably one of the biggest lies an investor will always hear. The Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) states investors are risk averse, and appropriate diversification cuts down risk to the lowest possible amount at any determined return target.
The common notion about diversification is to purchase a set of asset classes, hoping to reduce the likelihood of depleting the entire portfolio in a single, sudden event. Yes, a little diversification is better than none at all. But the best way to do it is to use assets with low correlations to one another. However, no matter how far you take the diversification, there are still market risks - and some of these risks are inevitable.
Because if we are going to eliminate market risks, we remove the possibility of optimizing the returns in the investment portfolio, which is a fuel that drives the returns above the zero-risk level. Whether you aim for highest returns or lowest returns, you still need to embrace the risk in every trade.
MPT is a tool meant to maximize results. It never claimed to remove the risk or predict future events.
There is No Such Thing as Diversification. Talking about diversification, have you heard the advice "Do not put all your eggs in one basket"? It refers to a risk management technique which combines various investment instruments in a portfolio. It aims to even unsystematic risk events in a portfolio so that the positive performance of certain investments will neutralize or counter the negative performance of other vehicles.
During the financial crisis between 2007 and 2009, diversification helped a little in improving the results in the short term. But in the long run, this technique reflected a distinct benefit. Global diversification removed the possibility of placing all the funds in the worst asset class. Each asset has its own features, and accompanying returns and risks. Therefore, it is still best to put various assets in an investment portfolio.
Remember, put your eggs in several baskets for best returns.
Buy and Hold is Not Real. Considering all other investment techniques, buy and hold is one of the worse investment strategies a trader will encounter. An active manager refrains from recognizing this technique in managing a portfolio. Active management systematically increases costs, risks, and tax exposures, and also lowers returns. But as long as investors buy, active managers will keep on using their snake oil. Like what has been said earlier, this is one of the worse investment techniques. However, buy and hold still exists, but this is not applicable in all trading situations.
At the end of the day, it is still up to the investor whether he wants to follow the snake oil salesman or do his own due diligence. No one will stop you if you take the first option. But for best investment opportunities and returns, might as well take the second option.
Can Traders Depend on the Swiss Franc?


From the day its doors opened in 2009, it was clear there was something special about Cambria Hotel & Suites. Take the lobby, for instance. This is no place where you quickly shuffle off to your room. Instead, you're drawn into a welcoming environment where relaxing and lingering is encouraged. A gracious lobby area, with big, comfy chairs and couches, is perfect for kicking back and enjoying the moment. Procure a beverage from Reflect Bistrot, the full-service lounge, which is just steps away. While you're at it, grab a dinner menu, as Reflect serves some of the finest fare in town.
What's not to love about Cambria? Cambria offers so much luxurious comfort, a welcome convenience, and close proximity to all Traverse City and the surrounding area.


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UAE reports new record daily COVID-19 cases with 3,407 infections
Greece to hike fines for violation of COVID-19 restrictions
Arriving players for Australian Open go straight into quarantine
Faces of Saudi
KSA Today
Preachers of Hate
Careem welcomes Saudization of ride-hailing sector, eyes further investment
Global pop group Now United shoots new music video in Abu Dhabi
Saudi Arabia to reopen its embassy in Doha, says Saudi FM
Saudi telecom operators slapped with $10.67m in fines
Saudi competition authority imposes fine on gas company
'Night Stalker: the Hunt for a Serial Killer' is fraught with blood and gore
Three killed in Ramadan violence in restive Thai south
Three killed in Ramadan violence in restive Thai south /node/1503086/world
Around 7,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in violence that rarely makes international headlines despite taking place a few hours south of some of Thailand's tourist hotspots. (File/AFP)
The insurgents detonated a motorcycle bomb at a crowded market place in Nong Chik, Pattani province, killing two civilians
The bombing appeared to be in "retaliation" for the death of a fugitive suspected rebel leader in neighboring Yala province earlier in the day
PATTANI: Two people, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed in a market place bombing in Thailand's Muslim-majority south, a military spokesman said Tuesday — an apparent retaliatory attack for the killing of a wanted rebel leader.
Thailand's three southernmost provinces, Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, have since 2004 been plagued with conflict between ethnic Malay-Muslim rebels and the Buddhist-majority Thai state, which annexed the region around a century ago.
Around 7,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in violence that rarely makes international headlines despite taking place a few hours south of some of Thailand's tourist hotspots.
On Monday afternoon, the insurgents detonated a motorcycle bomb at a crowded market place in Nong Chik, Pattani province, killing two civilians.
"A 14-year-old boy and a 38-year-old woman died," Col. Thanawee Suwannathat, spokesman for the southern army, told AFP.
Four military rangers were wounded in the blast.
The bombing appeared to be in "retaliation" for the death of a fugitive suspected rebel leader in neighboring Yala province earlier in the day, who was shot dead as authorities surrounded his house, Thanawee told AFP.
The 37-year-old suspect, named as Abdulloh Lateh, was "head of operations" in the Yaha district.
The highly secretive rebels, who are pushing for autonomy from Thailand, operate in small village cells, with their senior leaders based overseas far from the reach of Thai authorities.
The grinding conflict is characterised by tit-for-tat attacks that usually target symbols of the Thai state and its security forces but civilians from both Muslim and Buddhist communities often get caught in the crossfire.
The region usually sees an uptick in violence during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ends next week.
Monday's violence came a day after another bomb attack in Songkhla province killed a police officer at a checkpoint, wounding three others.
Video footage of Sunday's attack showed a plume of thick smoke as the blast went off, leaving a police officer's body lying in the middle of the road.
Thailand's junta leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha — who is expected to return as a civilian prime minister in the coming days — condemned the latest attacks as "inhuman."
Peace talks have been inconclusive despite an intensification of army operations in the border zone with Malaysia.
Topics: Ramadan Thailand
Saudi 'care' for Thai Muslims wins praise
Mini hoteliers in the making at Anantara resort in Thailand
How artists in coronavirus-hit Middle East found strength in solidarity
A nonprofit helps build a better Egypt, one brick at a time
How tech helped Middle East restaurants, cafes stay in business