text:
Danone sells U.S. organic salad business to Taylor Farms
French food group Danone said on Friday it had signed a definitive agreement for the sale of Earthbound Farms, its U.S. organic salad business, to California-based Taylor Farms.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The sale of Earthbound Farms, which had 2018 sales of about $400 million, is part of Danone's portfolio management and capital allocation optimization strategy, the company statement said.
Danone Chief Executive Emmanuel Faber said in February the loss-making Earthbound Farms was under "intense strategic scrutiny".


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Looking Back at the Poop So Toxic It Grounded a Plane
On the one year anniversary of the poo that grounded a plane, what have we learned? How, collectively, have we grown?
by Joel Golby
Again: not the plane in question, just a nice photo of the same aircraft model. Photo via Aero Icarus.
In quiet moments, it gets to me. In the middle of the night, when the light is blue and black, I'm there with my eyes bolt open, thinking about it. Thinking: What happened to you, Person Who Did a Shit So Bad on a British Airways Plane That It Had to Turn Around and Come Back Again? Prithee: When did thine shits return back to normal? And then I think: if I am thinking about the Person Who Did a Shit So Bad on a British Airways Plane That It Had to Turn Around and Come Back Again, what is the Person Who Did a Shit So Bad On a British Airways Plane That It Had to Turn Around and Come Back Again thinking? Are they thinking about that shit? More to the point: Are there ever any moments when he's not thinking about the shit he did, the one that landed the plane? Do their cheeks still glow with the furnace of embarrassment? Or does life go on? How long until they could sit down comfortably again?
A year ago today, the most-shared headline I've ever written goes, Someone Did a Shit So Bad On a British Airways Plane That It Had to Turn Around and Come Back Again. This is a fact. This happened. The plane was going from Heathrow to Dubai, but 30 minutes in, it had to turn around and come back. This was because someone did some damage to the plane bathroom using their butt and butt hole, and it was considered a safety hazard to keep flying, because the butt crime was in danger of poisoning the air. A British Airways (BA) employee known only as "Sarah," to the BBC, at the time of the incident: "When you're up at that altitude the cabin has to be pressurized so the problem is that anything like that is actually a health and safety problem because only 50 percent of the air is being recycled and cleaned." Tory councillor Abhishek Sachdev, a passenger who was delayed 15 hours waiting for the next flight to Dubai after the incident, euphoric on re-pumped turd air: "Insane. Our BA flight to Dubai returned back to Heathrow because of a smelly poo in the toilet." This shit changed people's lives. This shit ruined vacations and launched media careers. This shit was talked about.
In the grand scheme of things, this bad shit is more significant than many of us, and yes, I include myself in that. And yet the name of the shit doer remains a mystery.
This just makes me think about the person who did the shit ever more, about who they might be and what they might be feeling. This is what has been keeping me occupied for 12 straight months, attempting to profile them in my head for a year. What I have so far is:
i. The shit-doer is almost certainly a man. Listen: I have been trying to brush up on my feminism, I really have. And one central tenet of feminism seems to be: Do not assume men are the answer to everything. It is so entrenched that a man should do job x, or head up team y, or do shit z in airplane bathroom α, and we need to rail against that ingrained assumption, we need to think bigger. We need to consider that women are involved just as much, if not more so. But in this instance, I refuse to believe a woman did a shit so bad it made a plane fall to the ground. I have been in a bathroom after men. I have been into a bathroom after women. A man did this shit, with his man anus;
ii. You have to assume that the shit-doer was having a subnormal digestion day. Somebody with a long-standing poo disease—the kind that can render an airplane bathroom medically inadvisable in ten minutes flat—is not going to get on a seven-hour flight to Dubai. They are going to get a train somewhere for their vacations, nothing more exotic than that. Anything more than an hour from home is dangerous territory. They are going to bring their own supply of water because they do not trust the water supply wherever they are going. But the BA Heathrow–Dubai shitter, in my opinion, was not expecting this to happen out of their body in any way at all. They were hungover, or something. They went to someone's house and had chicken the day before, and it was pink in the middle, but they were too polite to say something. Nothing too unordinary. But then: then something unordinary came out of them, at high speed, and got up and indeed around the toilet they were aiming for, and grounded a plane for 15 hours;
iii. I like to imagine the moment of sheer panic the shit-doer had to experience post-shit when they realized that the plane toilet was ill-equipped to mop up what they had done to anything close to a satisfactory level. Were there people waiting outside the bathroom door that they had to play through-the-door chicken with? You know the game: You have to leave the bathroom, but you've done a life-changing and un-cleanable shit in it, and people are waiting but their patience will only run to about eight minutes or so, so you just sit there—perfect silence, single bead of sweat undulating on the end of your nose—and you wait it out, in your poo prison, the absolute lowest moment of your life, until they leave;
iv. How do you live your life after an incident such as this? How do you even make it to Dubai? You turn up a day later than expected, and everyone who is meeting you there has heard about the poo plane. "Were you on it?" they're saying, desperately. "Did you see who did the poo?" And you laugh nervously and say: "No." And then you try and enjoy your week in Dubai with the sun and sand and excess, but you can't—you can't relax unless you're within 100 feet of a bathroom, you can't sleep without reimagining yourself back in that cubicle. The flight home is shitless hell. And then you get home, back to your base toilet, but nothing feels the same anymore. Are... are you afraid to shit? You are. The last time you shat it grounded a plane. Nothing will be the same again, now. You will carry this boulder around with your forever;
You would be right to think: Hold on, Joel, do you not exactly fit the profile of the poo bandit? You do seem to know a lot about this mythical person. Are you not a man in a panic, capable of doing a shit? I am all of those things and more. But I am not the poo bandit. I am just a man who has spent a full year inhabiting a mental space where a poo bandit can live, trying to understand them from the inside out, from every angle, from mouth to asshole. I feel like I understand the poo bandit better than they understand themselves. If you line up every person who was on that flight from Heathrow to Dubai, and let me look them each in the eye, I would tell you who done the shat. I would look at the pain and the fear and the weakness inherent within them and say: "This, this is the shitter. This man did the shit."
If you are reading this, anonymous plane-shitter, know that you are forgiven. That you made a mistake, but that we all do. A year ago you did a shit. A shit that affected the fundamental workings of a multi-million pound aircraft, but a simple shit nonetheless. We all do this. We all make mistakes. Let he who is without sin—let he who hath not had six pints of Guinness then a curry the night before an intercontinental flight—cast the first stone. Be at peace, plane shitter. Put that poop to bed.
Follow Joel on Twitter.
poo plane
pooing on planes

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Yefim Kaplan
Yefim Kaplan, 1945.
Yefim Kaplan was born in Korosten, west of Kiev, in 1923, and grew up in Kiev. His father Volf was a clerical worker at the Ukrainian State Leather Trust. Following the outbreak of the Soviet-German War on June 22, 1941, the father was evacuated along with the administration of the trust, while the family was left behind in Kiev. In July 1941, Yefim was drafted into the "Labor Front" and sent to do agricultural work in eastern Ukraine. After three weeks of working as harvesters, the young boys were evacuated to western Siberia. Yefim found himself at a military technical school. After finishing it, he was attached to the 647th Artillery Regiment, as head of the regimental radio station, in the rank of sergeant. In May 1942, his regiment was deployed on the Don Front, where the Red Army was slowly retreating in the direction of Stalingrad (present-day Volgograd, in the Lower Volga area). Here, Yefim Kaplan proved himself a capable artilleryman and machine gunner. During the retreat of August 1942, the remnants of Kaplan's decimated unit were taken prisoner by the Germans.
In captivity, Yefim Kaplan was registered as Kaplenko, an ethnic Ukrainian. He survived the Nazi "examinations" due to the fact that he had not been properly circumcised after his birth; his comrades did not denounce him to the Germans as a Jew. In December 1943, during a transfer between camps, Kaplan and some fellow POWs managed to escape from the train in Volhynia, northwestern Ukraine. After several weeks of wandering, they were taken in by Soviet partisans.
In March 1944, the area was liberated by the Red Army, and Kaplan, being an experienced military technician, requested to enlist in the military. He was assigned to a reserve regiment and sent to western Russia for retraining. Here, Kaplan, as a former POW, had to undergo a long screening. He kept petitioning his superiors to have him transferred to the frontline. Only in late 1944 was he attached to the 8th Guards Rifle Division, which was fighting in Latvia at the time. Remarkably, in March 1945, during the operation to liquidate the Courland Pocket, the division found itself encircled by German forces. However, it managed to break out, and Kaplan thus avoided being taken prisoner for the second time. He met V-E Day in Auce, southern Latvia.
In the course of the war, Kaplan was awarded only the medal "For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War." His father survived the war, while his mother was murdered in Babii Yar in Kiev on September 29-30, 1941.
After the war, Yefim Kaplan – who, by his own admission, hated the army and military service 1– made great efforts to avoid being sent to a military school or academy, so as not to become a career officer. He was discharged from the army in March 1947. From the 1950s on, he lived in Kiev.


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Censorship in the Republic of Ireland
Overview of censorship in the Republic of Ireland
This article is about censorship in the Republic of Ireland. For censorship in Northern Ireland, see Censorship in the United Kingdom.
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Censorship by country
(Hong Kong / overseas)
Dutch East Indies
(Nazi / Democratic Republic / Federal Republic)
(Empire of Japan)
(Communist)
(Communist )
(Soviet Union / Russian Empire)
(Francoist)
Freedom of speech by country
Internet censorship and surveillance by country
In Ireland, the state retains laws that allow for censorship, including specific laws covering films, advertisements, newspapers and magazines, as well as terrorism and pornography. In the early years of the state, censorship was widely enforced, particularly in areas that were perceived to be in contradiction of Roman Catholic dogma, including abortion, sexuality and homosexuality. The church had banned many books and theories for centuries, listed in the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. [1]
Current censorship
Film censorship
Central Bank of Ireland
The Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Act 2010
Censorship of books
Formerly censored topics
The Troubles: RTÉ and Section 31 of the Broadcasting Authority Act
Abortion and birth control
Unusual omissions
Irish statutes on censorship
Main article: Film censorship in the Republic of Ireland
Ireland's Film Censors Office, renamed in 2008 as the Irish Film Classification Office, heavily cut films and videos for rental release, or placed high age ratings on them. In 2000 The Cider House Rules received an 18 certificate in Ireland due to its themes of abortion and incest, although in other countries, such as the UK, the film received a 12 certificate.
Advertisements are regulated by the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland, and must be truthful and factually accurate. In addition, adverts for illegal services are not allowed. The ASAI is a voluntary industry body which has no statutory powers and has no power to remove a publication from circulation. This power is vested in the Censorship of Publications Board. Given the status of the ASAI some advertisers choose to continually ignore its rulings by running controversial advertisements purely to draw attention to their products and services.
Whilst still theoretically censorable, newspapers and magazines are free to publish anything which does not break Ireland's tough libel laws. The Censorship of Publications Board reviews newspapers and magazines referred to it by the Customs and Excise and by members of the public. Until the late 1980s a large number of (mainly foreign) newspaper and magazines were banned in Ireland including Playboy [2] and the News of the World , [3] the British edition of which was still, theoretically, banned when it ceased publication. [4]
The listing of periodicals under permanent banning orders as of 2007 includes many publications which have ceased to be published, as well as ones which are now sold freely without any realistic chance of prosecution, such as Health and Efficiency and The Weekly News . A large proportion of the banning orders date from the 1950s or before; and a similar proportion cover true crime publications, a type which were once illegal due to a perceived risk of glorifying or encouraging criminal behaviour.
In 2011, Paul Raymond Publications successfully appealed against the ban on 5 of their publications, one of which has been banned for nearly 80 years, and these publications can now be freely sold. [5]
Pornography that includes any participants being beneath the Irish age of consent is strictly illegal. This includes videos, DVD, film, photographs, digital files, drawings and text descriptions. [6] There are no other laws banning specific types of pornography in Ireland.[ citation needed ]
However, distribution of obscene material by phone can be prosecuted under the Post Office (Amendment) Act of 1951, [7] [8] the Director of Film Classification at the Irish Film Classification Office may ban public display of films considered to be obscene, [9] [10] and the Censorship of Publications Board may prohibit the sale and distribution of books and periodicals if they are found to be obscene. [11] The magazine Playboy was illegal in Ireland until 1995. [12]
In the 1960s, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin John Charles McQuaid lobbied the Irish government to have pornography banned outright. [13]
The government-controlled IE Domain Registry currently has a ban on all domain names it considers "offensive or contrary to public policy or generally accepted principles of morality". [14] In particular, the domains Pornography.ie and Porn.ie are known to be banned. [15] [16]
In July 2009, the Central Bank of Ireland blocked insurers and banks from making any critical statements containing "any references" to them by means either of "public press statements" or un-approved public references, whether "written or oral." [17]
This Act was passed by 78–71 in December 2010 in partial response to the post-2008 Irish banking crisis. Section 60 provides that the Irish government may apply to the courts for an order made under the Act to be heard in private. Section 59 prohibits anyone from publishing the fact that the minister has made an order or direction under the Act; even publication that such a prohibition order has been made is also an offence under the Act. Days after the Act was passed, an order was sought by minister Brian Lenihan Jnr and approved allowing a transfer of over €3,700,000,000 into Allied Irish Bank, then an insolvent bank. [18] Two Irish Times reporters were expelled from the court by judge Maureen Harding Clark just before the hearing. [19] [20]
Main article: Book censorship in the Republic of Ireland
On 18 November 1942 Senator Sir John Keane moved in Seanad Éireann: "That, in the opinion of Seanad Éireann, the Censorship of Publications Board appointed by the Minister for Justice under the Censorship of Publications Act 1929, has ceased to retain public confidence, and that steps should be taken by the Minister to reconstitute the board". After four days of debate, the motion was roundly defeated: Tá (for) 2 votes – Sir John Keane and Joseph Johnston – Níl (against) 34 votes.
During the Troubles in Northern Ireland, from 1968 to 1994, censorship was used principally to prevent Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) interviews with spokespersons for Sinn Féin and for the IRA. Under Section 31 of the Broadcasting Authority Act (1960), [21] the Minister for Posts & Telegraphs could issue a Ministerial Order to the government-appointed RTÉ Authority not to broadcast material specified in the written order. In 1971 the first ever Order under the section was issued by Fianna Fáil Minister for Posts and Telegraphs Gerry Collins. It instructed RTÉ not to broadcast,
any matter that could be calculated to promote the aims or activities of any organisation which engages in, promotes, encourages or advocates the attaining of any particular objectives by violent means.
Collins refused clarification when RTÉ asked for advice on what this legal instruction meant in practice. RTÉ interpreted the Order politically to mean that spokespersons for the Provisional and Official IRA could no longer appear on air. In 1972 the government sacked the RTÉ Authority for not sufficiently disciplining broadcasters the government accused of breaching the Order. RTÉ's Kevin O'Kelly had reported on an interview that he conducted with the (Provisional) IRA Chief of Staff, Sean MacStiofáin, on the Radio Éireann This Week programme. The recorded interview was not itself broadcast. MacStiofáin's voice was not heard. However, he was arrested after the O'Kelly interview and charged with membership of the IRA, an illegal organisation. Soon afterwards, at the non-jury Special Criminal Court O'Kelly was jailed briefly for contempt because he refused to identify a voice on a tape seized by the Gardaí as that of Mac Stiofáin. Mac Stiofáin was convicted in any case. On appeal by O'Kelly to the Supreme Court a fine was substituted as a means purging O'Kelly's contempt. The fine was paid anonymously and O'Kelly was released.
In 1976, Labour Minister for Posts and Telegraphs Conor Cruise O'Brien amended Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act. He also issued a new Section 31 Order. O'Brien censored spokespersons for specific organisations, including the Sinn Féin political party, rather than specified content. That prevented RTÉ from interviewing Sinn Féin spokespersons under any circumstances, even if the subject was unrelated to the IRA campaign in Northern Ireland conflict. On one occasion that led to the interruption of a call-in show about gardening on radio because a caller was a member of Sinn Féin. [22] The changes eroded liberal interpretations by RTÉ of its censorship responsibilities, afforded by the original 1971 Order, and encouraged a process of illiberal interpretation. [23]
Also in 1976, O'Brien attempted to extend censorship to newspaper coverage of the 'Troubles' by targeting in particular The Irish Press ; [24] In an interview with Washington Post reporter Bernard Nossiter, O'Brien identified Press Editor, Tim Pat Coogan, as someone who might be prosecuted under a proposed amendment to the Offences Against the State Act. O'Brien cited pro-republican Letters to the Editor as coming under the terms of the legislation for which the editor could be made legally liable. Coogan, who was immediately warned of O'Brien's intentions by Nossiter, then published the Nossiter-O'Brien interview (as did The Irish Times). Due to public opposition the proposed provisions were amended to remove the perceived threat to newspapers. The 1973-77 Fine Gael/Labour Coalition Government also tried to prosecute the Irish Press for its coverage of the maltreatment of republican prisoners by the Garda Heavy Gang, with the paper winning the case. [25]
The United Kingdom operated similar rules between 1988 and 1994 covering eleven republican and loyalist organisations, but they were less severe than the Section 31 Order. For instance, British broadcasters could dub Sinn Féin speeches and interviews with an actor's voice, or subtitle footage. That was not possible in Ireland where O'Brien's Section 31 Order, which remained in place until 1994, specifically banned 'reports of interviews' with spokespersons for censored organisations. Moreover, British broadcasters were more liberal than RTÉ in defining when a person was a spokesperson for a censored organisation. They held that an MP like Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams or a Sinn Féin councillor could be interviewed about constituency business or in their private capacity. RTÉ would not allow this under any circumstances, a stance that caused a crisis in RTÉ in the early 1990s. In addition, the British censorship rules did not apply at election time, whereas they operated at all times in Ireland. [26]
Under severe pressure from successive governments, from approximately 1977 RTÉ extended Section 31 to censor all Sinn Féin members, not merely the Sinn Féin spokespersons specified in the Section 31 Order. This extension of the Order came to a head in the early 1990s. Sinn Féin member Larry O'Toole was not permitted to talk on RTÉ about a strike in Gateaux, a cake factory in Finglas, north Dublin, where O'Toole worked. He was informed in writing by RTÉ that his Sinn Féin membership was the reason for the censorship. O'Toole challenged what he contended was RTÉ self-censorship in the High Court. After the court found in O'Toole's favour in August 1992, RTÉ appealed the ruling that liberalised its Section 31 regime. Consequently, RTÉ were accused of appealing to be censored. RTÉ then lost in the Supreme Court in March 1993. [26] [27]
In 1991, European Commission of Human Rights upheld the ban in case Purcell v. Ireland, though not unanimously. [28] The Section 31 broadcasting ban lapsed on 19 January 1994 because it was not renewed by Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht Michael D. Higgins, [29] eight months prior to the August 1994 IRA ceasefire. The last person censored under the lapsing Order in January 1994 was Larry O'Toole, who was banned from appearing in a joint RTÉ/Channel Four programme on the Northern Ireland conflict, chaired by Channel Four's John Snow. The Channel Four production team wished to speak to O'Toole about his court victory. RTÉ would not permit this as O'Toole had been chosen as a candidate in European elections to be held five months later. RTÉ said O'Toole was therefore a Sinn Féin spokesperson, irrespective of the capacity in which he was to be interviewed or the proposed interview's distant relationship with a future election. [26]
Until the early 1990s, discussing abortion in any way, including the provision of impartial information, was disallowed, and any publication providing information on the medical treatment would be confiscated. In the 1980s, the Irish Family Planning Association and the Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin students' unions were successfully sued by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children for publishing telephone numbers for abortion clinics in the United Kingdom. On one occasion British newspaper The Guardian was withdrawn by its Irish distributors for a day to preempt a threatened ban due to the inclusion of an advertisement for a UK abortion clinic in that day's issue (despite the advert having appeared on a number of prior occasions without incident).
In May 1992, the Democratic Left T.D. Proinsias De Rossa subverted this ban by reading the offending telephone numbers into the Dáil record; because of his absolute privilege as a member of the Oireachtas, he avoided a lawsuit. [30]
In the wake of the X Case, the fourteenth amendment of the Constitution of Ireland approved in November 1992 removed the constitutional prohibition. Regulation of access to information to abortion was put on a statutory basis by the Regulation of Information (Services Outside the State For Termination of Pregnancies) Act 1995. [31] This was repealed by the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018. [32]
Main article: Blasphemy law in Ireland
Until 2018, blasphemy was prohibited by Article 40.6.1º.i. of the 1937 Constitution. The common law offence of blasphemous libel, applicable only to Christianity and last prosecuted in 1855, was ruled in 1999 to be incompatible with the Constitution's guarantee of religious equality. Since banning blasphemy was mandated by the Constitution, abolishing the offence required a referendum. Since it was deemed by the government of the time that a referendum solely for that purpose "would rightly be seen as a time wasting and expensive exercise", the lacuna was filled in 2009 by a new offence of "publication or utterance of blasphemous matter", against any religion, under the Defamation Act 2009, section 36. The law included the offence of blasphemous libel. [33] It was never enforced.
The advocacy group Atheist Ireland responded to the enactment by announcing the formation of the "Church of Dermotology" (named after Dermot Ahern, the minister who introduced the 2009 law). [51] On the date on which the law came into effect, it published a series of potentially blasphemous quotations on its website and vowed to challenge any resulting legal action. [52] Scientist Richard Dawkins described the new law as "wretched, backward and uncivilised". [34]
After the 2015 Charlie Hebdo shooting, Ali Selim of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland suggested that the blasphemy provision of the Defamation Act 2009 should be applied to any media outlet reproducing cartoons depicting Muhammad as part of the "Je suis Charlie" campaign. [53]
The text of the 2009 Act defined the crime where: he or she publishes or utters matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion, and (b) he or she intends, by the publication or utterance of the matter concerned, to cause such outrage.
The judge would need to be satisfied the matter is "abusive and insulting" as distinct from opinion.
Judicial interpretation of "held sacred" and "any religion" could render the Act unenforceable.
A defendant's lawyer would argue the definition of "grossly", "thereby causing", "outrage" and "substantial number".
Article s.36 (3) provides that – "it shall be a defence to proceedings for an offence under this section for the defendant to prove that a reasonable person would find genuine literary, artistic, political, scientific, or academic value in the matter to which the offence relates.
Further, a "religion" is further defined in s.36 (4); it – does not include an organisation or cult— (a) the principal object of which is the making of profit, or (b) that employs oppressive psychological manipulation— (i) of its followers, or (ii) for the purpose of gaining new followers.
s.36 could be held to be in breach of 44.2.1º of the Constitution The State shall not impose any disabilities or make any discrimination on the ground of religious profession, belief or status." [35]
In October 2014, Minister of State Aodhán Ó Ríordáin gave the official government response to a report on the blasphemy issue by the Constitutional Convention, announcing that it had decided to hold a referendum on the issue. [71]
On 26 October 2018, a constitutional amendment was approved by a margin of 64.85% to 35.15% which removed the offence of blasphemy from the Constitution. [36] The provisions of the Defamation Act 2009 were repealed upon the commencement of the Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related Matters) Act 2019 on 17 January 2020.
Censorship of mail in Ireland goes back to, at least, the 1660s and possibly earlier. [37] Both overt and covert censorship of Irish mail took place, mainly in England and sometimes using warrants, from then through the 19th century. [38] [39] : 3–8 The Irish Civil War saw mail raided by the IRA, marked as censored and sometimes opened. This was the first recorded such action within the new state. The National Army also opened mail and censorship of irregulars' mail in prisons took place. [40]
Envelope from Dublin to USA showing a bilingual Irish censor handstamp used 8 September 1939, just six days after the enabling legislation was enacted
During the 1939–1945 Emergency extensive postal censorship took place under the control of the Department of Defence whose powers were conferred by the Emergency Powers Act 1939. [41] Civilian mail was controlled by the approximately 200 censors who worked in Dublin's Exchequer Street and who had all been vetted by the G2 Directorate of Intelligence and the Gardaí. Using the Black List and White List to target certain mail, the small staff were unable to effect 100% censorship; however, continental European mail was all reviewed, as was all incoming and outbound airmail. Following the overthrow of France and the Low Countries in May 1940, the British instigated full terminal mail censorship but the Irish were unable to look at more than about 10% due to the enormous staff this would have required. Covert censorship of mail between Northern Ireland and the south was effected by warrants obtained by G2, who also obtained warrants from the Minister for Justice for internal mail oversight. [42] : 61–79
The military internees, British, German and a few of other nationalities, held in the Curragh Camp had their mail censored, [43] even local mail, though they are known to have posted their letters outside the camp to try to evade the camp oversight. [44] IRA internees' mail was also censored under the Offences against the State Act that had been in place since June 1939. [42] : 235
The Border Campaign led to the internment of IRA members, again under the Offences against the State Act, and their mail was overtly censored between 1957 and 1960 most often with an Irish language censor mark reading Ceadaithe ag an gCinsire Mileata applied to the outside of the letter and also to the sheets contained within. [39] : 99–100 In the 1980s mail from IRA members imprisoned in Limerick and likely also Portlaoise prisons has been recorded as censored but there is no record of civilian mail censorship since 1945. [39] : 117–118
Music videos are exempt from film classification, whereas in the UK, they must be classified. [45] [ citation needed ] Broadcasters usually use their discretion and obey the UK classifications and showing-time restrictions. Ireland receives all of the UK music channels, which are subject to UK music video laws; with the only Irish regulated broadcaster regularly showing music videos being Channel 6 or City Channel. However, for several years TV3 ran a late-night music programme, which quite often showed uncensored music videos containing large amounts of nudity.
References to records or songs being "banned" in Ireland refer to one or more radio stations refusing to play the songs rather than any legislative ban, although before 1989 it may have been a moot point given that the only legal broadcasting stations in Ireland were those operated by state broadcaster RTÉ. In the 1930s there was even a short-lived airplay ban on an entire genre of music known as the "ban on Jazz" (with an exceptionally wide definition of what constituted "jazz"). Such bans only served to further increase listenership to foreign radio stations (such as Radio Luxembourg and the BBC) in Ireland, and led to the growth of Irish pirate radio.
The ban by the Irish courts of the song "They never came home" by Christy Moore along with the original version of the album Ordinary Man on which it appeared has apparently never been overturned.
In late 2017 RTÉ's Irish language station Raidió na Gaeltachta removed the track "C.E.A.R.T.A" by west Belfast Irish language rap duo KNEECAP from an afternoon programme's playlist due to the song's "drug references and cursing". [46]
Unlike most other countries, the Film Censors Office have little involvement in video game censorship. This led to an unusual situation where in the 1990s the UK-owned GAME sold the sanitised versions of Carmageddon which was a victim of censorship in the UK, whilst Irish owned stores sold the uncut versions imported from the United States. Games may only be banned if the Film Censor judges that it is unfit for viewing, [47] which has happened once to date, with the banning of Manhunt 2 on 18 June 2007, over two weeks before its launch date of 6 July. [48]
Ireland is a member of PEGI, but places no legal powers on its age recommendations. Retailers may attempt to enforce them at their discretion.
The Censorship of Films Act 1923 was an act "to provide for the official censoring of cinematographic pictures and for other matters connected therewith". It established the office of the Official Censor of Films and a Censorship of Films Appeal Board (and see William Magennis). It was amended by the Censorship of Films (Amendment) Act 1925, in connection with advertisements for films. It was amended by the Censorship of Films (Amendment) Act 1930 to extend the legislation to "vocal or other sounds" accompanying pictures.
The Committee on Evil Literature was appointed in 1926 to report on the effectiveness of the censorship laws. It concluded that the then-current censorship laws were inadequate, and that the government had a duty to ban "morally corrupting" literature.
The Censorship of Publications Act 1929 was an act "to make provision for the prohibition of the sale and distribution of unwholesome literature and for that purpose to provide for the establishment of a censorship of books and periodical publications, and to restrict the publication of reports of certain classes of judicial proceedings and for other purposes incidental to the matters aforesaid". It established the Censorship of Publications Board. A book caught by the act was one that "in its general tendency indecent or obscene ... or ... advocates the unnatural prevention of conception or the procurement of abortion or miscarriage or the use of any method, treatment or appliance for the purpose of such prevention or such miscarriage".
The Emergency Powers Act 1939 dealt with the preservation of the State in time of war and contained provisions relating to the censorship of communications, including mail, [49] newspapers and periodicals
The Censorship of Publications Act 1946 repealed a large part of the 1929 act and was "to make further and better provision for the censorship of books and periodical publications". Periodicals caught by the act included issues that "have devoted an unduly large proportion of space to the publication of matter relating to crime".
The Censorship of Publications Act 1967 provided for prohibition orders made on the grounds of indecency or obscenity to expire after a period of twelve years. A further prohibition order could then be made by the Censorship of Publications Board in respect of the same book.
The Health (Family Planning) Act 1979 deleted references to "the unnatural prevention of conception" in the Censorship of Publications Act 1929 and the Censorship of Publications Act 1946.
The Regulation of Information (Services Outside the State for Termination of Pregnancies) Act 1995 modified the effect of the Censorship of Publications Acts 1929 to 1967 in respect of certain information likely to be required by a woman to avail herself of "services provided outside the State for the termination of pregnancies". However, the information in question must not advocate or promote the termination of pregnancy.
The Defamation Act 2009 which defines such offences. [50]
The Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 repealed
(a) sections 16 and 17 (1) of the Censorship of Publications Act 1929;
(b) sections 7 (b) and 9 (1)(b) of the Censorship of Publications Act 1946;
(c) section 10 of the Health (Family Planning) Act 1979;
(d) the Regulation of Information (Services outside the State for Termination of Pregnancies) Act 1995. [32]
The Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related Matters) Act 2019 which
(a) amended section 7 (2)(a)(ii) of the Censorship of Films Act 1923;
(b) amended section 3 (2) of the Censorship of Films (Amendment) Act 1925;
(c) repealed sections 36 and 37 of the Defamation Act 2009.
Sinn Féin is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Gerard Adams is an Irish republican politician who was the president of Sinn Féin between 13 November 1983 and 10 February 2018, and served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Louth from 2011 to 2020. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he followed the policy of abstentionism as a Member of Parliament (MP) of the British Parliament for the Belfast West constituency.
The Workers' Party is a Marxist–Leninist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Republican Sinn Féin or RSF is an Irish republican political party in Ireland. RSF claims to be heirs of the Sinn Féin party founded in 1905 and took its present form in 1986 following a split in Sinn Féin. RSF members take seats when elected to local government in the Republic of Ireland, but do not recognise the validity of the Partition of Ireland. It subsequently does not recognise the legitimacy of the parliaments of Northern Ireland (Stormont) or the Republic of Ireland, so the party does not register itself with them.
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh was an Irish republican political and military leader. He was Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) from 1958 to 1959 and again from 1960 to 1962, president of Sinn Féin from 1970 to 1983, and president of Republican Sinn Féin from 1987 to 2009.
The Irish Film Classification Office (IFCO) is the organisation responsible for films, television programmes, and some video game classification and censorship within Ireland. Where restrictions are placed by the IFCO, they are legally binding.
An Phoblacht is a formerly weekly, and currently monthly newspaper published by Sinn Féin in Ireland. From early 2018 onwards, An Phoblacht has moved to a magazine format while remaining an online news platform. Editorially the paper takes a left-wing, Irish republican position and was supportive of the Northern Ireland peace process. Along with covering Irish political and trade union issues the newspaper frequently featured interviews with celebrities, musicians, artists, intellectuals and international activists. The paper sells an average of up to 15,000 copies every week. During the 1981 Irish hunger strike its sales soared to over 70,000 per week.
The Special Criminal Court is a juryless criminal court in Ireland which tries terrorism and serious organised crime cases.
Edward "Eddie" Fullerton was a Sinn Féin councillor from Inishowen in County Donegal, Ireland. He was killed at his Buncrana home in May 1991 by members of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA).
Ógra Shinn Féin is the youth wing of the Irish political party Sinn Féin. Ógra Shinn Féin is active and organised throughout the island of Ireland.
Rita O'Hare was the General Secretary of Sinn Féin and the current Sinn Féin Representative to the United States.
Eoghan Harris is an Irish journalist, columnist, director, and former politician. He has held posts in various and diverse political parties. He was a leading theoretician in the Marxist-Leninist Workers' Party of Ireland, previously 'Official' Sinn Féin. Harris was a fierce critic of 'Provisional' Sinn Féin, from which they had split, and became an opponent of Irish republicanism. For much of the Troubles, from the 1970s until the 1990s, Harris worked in Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) and was influential in shaping the current affairs output of Ireland's national broadcaster. Later he began writing for the Sunday Independent newspaper.
Michael Nugent is an Irish writer and activist. He has written, co-written or contributed to seven books and the comedy musical play I, Keano. He has campaigned on many political issues, often with his late wife Anne Holliday, and he is chairperson of the advocacy group Atheist Ireland.
Desmond Ellis is an Irish Sinn Féin politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin North-West constituency since the 2011 general election. During the 1970s and 1980s Ellis was a member of the Provisional IRA until his arrest in Ireland in 1981. Ellis subsequently fled Ireland before being recaptured in the United States and returned to Irish authorities. In 1983 Ellis was found guilty of possessing materials used to make explosive devices for the IRA and was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by an Irish court. In 1990 Ellis was the first person extradited from the Republic of Ireland to the United Kingdom under the 1987 Extradition Act, on charges of terrorism on charges related to the 1982 Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings as well as the 1983 Harrods bombing, however Ellis was acquitted of these charges in 1991. Ellis moved into constitutional politics in 1999 when he was elected to Dublin City Council, a position he held until he was elected to his current position as a Teachta Dála.
Éamonn Mac Thomáis was an author, broadcaster, historian, Irish Republican, advocate of the Irish language and lecturer. He presented his own series on Dublin on RTÉ during the 1970s and was well known for guided tours and lectures of his beloved Dublin. He is buried in Dublin's Glasnevin Cemetery, next to Frank Ryan.
Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Donnybrook, Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on 31 December 1961, making it one of the oldest continuously operating public service broadcasters in the world. RTÉ also publishes a weekly listings and lifestyle magazine, the RTÉ Guide.
In Ireland, "publication or utterance of blasphemous matter", defamatory of any religion, was a criminal offence until 17 January 2020. It was a requirement of the 1937 Constitution until removed after a 2018 referendum. The common law offence of blasphemous libel, applicable only to Christianity and last prosecuted in 1855, was believed to fulfil the constitutional requirement until a 1999 ruling that it was incompatible with the constitution's guarantee of religious equality. The Defamation Act 2009 included a provision intended to fill the lacuna while being "virtually impossible" to enforce, and no prosecution was made under it. The 2009 statute increased controversy, with proponents of freedom of speech and freedom of religion arguing for amending the constitution. After the 2018 constitutional amendment, a separate bill to repeal the 2009 provision and residual references to blasphemy was enacted in 2019 by the Oireachtas (parliament) and came into force in 2020. The Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989, which includes religion among the characteristics protected from incitement to hatred, remains in force.
From October 1988 to September 1994 the British government banned broadcasts of the voices of representatives from Sinn Féin and several Irish republican and loyalist groups on television and radio in the United Kingdom (UK). The restrictions, announced by the Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, on 19 October 1988, covered eleven organisations based in Northern Ireland. The ban followed a heightened period of violence in the course of the Troubles, and reflected the UK government's belief in a need to prevent Sinn Féin from using the media for political advantage.
Fiona Plunkett 11 January 1896 – 12 July 1977 was an Irish republican involved in the organisation of the Easter 1916 Rising and a leading member of Cumann na mBan.
The Thirty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution is an amendment to the constitution of Ireland which removed the constitution's requirement to criminalise "publication or utterance of blasphemous matter". The amendment was effected by an act of the Oireachtas — the Thirty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Act 2018, which was introduced in Dáil Éireann, passed by the Dáil and Seanad, approved by the people in a referendum, and signed into law by the president.
↑ Items in the Index between 1600 and 1966 are listed in: Jesús Martínez de Bujanda, Marcella Richter; Index des livres interdits, Librairie Droz, 2002
↑ "Censors lift ban on Playboy". Sun Journal. Associated Press. 27 September 1995. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
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↑ "Censored: The 274 books and magazines still banned in Ireland today". TheJournal.ie. 21 May 2012. Archived from the original on 16 November 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
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↑ "Post Office (Amendment) Act 1951: Section 13, Offences in connection with telephones". www.irishstatutebook.ie. 17 July 1951. Archived from the original on 3 June 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
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↑ Irish Films, Classification Office. "LEGISLATION". www.ifco.ie. Archived from the original on 29 August 2017. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
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↑ Censors lift ban on Playboy Archived 2 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine , Sun Journal - 27 Sep 1995
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↑ "Extent of Lenihan's new powers on show as reporters excluded from AIB court hearing | Newswhip". Archived from the original on 28 December 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
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↑ The Sunday Times Irish edition, business section, 2 January 2011, page 4.
↑ "Section 31 of the Broadcasting Authority Act, 1960". e-ISB. Archived from the original on 25 September 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
↑ Maillot, Agnès (2005). New Sinn Féin: Irish republicanism in the twenty-first century. Routledge. p. 75. ISBN 0-415-32197-2.
↑ Conor Cruise O'Brien – Obituary Archived 7 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine by Brian Fallon, guardian.co.uk, Friday 19 December 2008.
↑ Page 380, The Troubles: Ireland's ordeal, 1966–1996, and the search for peace By Tim Pat Coogan, Palgrave MacMillan, 2002
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↑ "BUNREACHT NA hÉIREANN". Archived from the original on 5 October 2009. Retrieved 21 October 2009.
↑ "Referendum Results 1937–2019" (PDF). Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 October 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
↑ Reynolds, Mairead (1983). A History of The Irish Post Office. Dublin: MacDonnell Whyte Ltd. pp. 5, 11. ISBN 0-9502619-7-1.
↑ Kumpf, Heinz-Jürgen (2008). The Military Postal History of Ireland. Munich: Forschungs- und Arbeitsgemeinschaft Irland e.V. im Bund Deutsche Philatelisten e.V. p. 125.
1 2 3 Moxter, Hans (2003). Censorship of Mail in Ireland. UK: Civil Censorship Study Group.
↑ Dulin, Cyril I. (1992). Ireland's Transition: The Postal History of the Transitional Period 1922–1925. Dublin: MacDonnell Whyte Ltd. pp. 94–97. ISBN 0-9517095-1-8.
↑ "Emergency Powers Act 1939". Oireachtas. 3 September 1939. Archived from the original on 4 January 2015. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
1 2 Ó Drisceoil, Donal (1996). Censorship in Ireland, 1939–1945. Cork University Press. ISBN 978-1-85918-074-7. Archived from the original on 21 June 2013. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
↑ McNamara, Matthew (2008). "K-Lines Internment Camp". curragh.info. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
↑ Dwyer, T. Ryle (1995). Guests of the State. Brandon Press. p. 94. ISBN 0-86322-182-3.
↑ BBFC Classifications. "What is classification | British Board of Film Classification". What Classifications?. British Board of Film Censors. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
↑ "Belfast Irish language rappers Kneecap banned by radio station". Archived from the original on 1 January 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
↑ "Censorship Classifications: Video Games". Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Archived from the original on 27 May 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
↑ IFCO. "IFCO: Irish Film Classification Office – NEWS FROM IFCO". Ifco.ie. Archived from the original on 20 November 2007. Retrieved 24 October 2008.
↑ "Emergency Powers Act 1939". Attorney General of Ireland. 3 September 1939. Archived from the original on 27 November 2007. Retrieved 12 December 2007.
↑ "Defamation Act 2009, Section 36". Oireachtas. 23 July 2009. Archived from the original on 5 February 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
Irish Statute Book:
Censorship of Publications Acts 1929, 1946, 1967
Censorship of Films Acts 1923, amendments list
What We Do > Other Regulatory Functions > Censorship/Classification — from Department of Justice website; links to most recent list of prohibited publications
Oireachtas Library Catalogue — lists digitised versions of annual reports via the following search queries:
"censorship of publications board" (most years 1946–1981)
"Film Censor" (1990–2008) and "Irish Film Classification Office" (since 2009)
Censorship in Ireland – from the International Freedom of Expression Exchange
Censorship of publications in Ireland — from the official Irish government information website
Tales out of school — Irish author John McGahern's experience with the Irish censorship system
Sunday Times article on Irish Censor's office
Survey on attitudes of Dublin Population to Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act, Niall Meehan, Jean Horgan, Dublin City University monograph, January 1987
Censorship in Europe
States with limited


text:
[ January 21, 2020 ] Cruz TRIGGERS Pelosi: Trump Will Be "Acquitted Forever of Bogus Impeachment Charges"	News
HomeNewsChina Ready To Confront Washington Over South China Sea Dispute
China Ready To Confront Washington Over South China Sea Dispute
July 5, 2016 Sean Adl-Tabatabai News, US 2
Beijing have threatened to make the US "pay a cost it can't stand" if it continues to intervene in the South China Sea dispute, a state newspaper has warned.
China have described the American military build-up in the region as "a direct threat to national security," according to the state-run Global Times on Tuesday.
Rt.com reports:
Beijing should accelerate developing its strategic deterrence capabilities to contain the United States, the newspaper added.
#环球时报 Editorial: Power game decides post-arbitration order in #SouthChinaSea https://t.co/FGAAzaEsDA pic.twitter.com/a2o0IXSQyb
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) July 5, 2016
"Even though China cannot keep up with the US militarily in the short-term, it should be able to let the US pay a cost it cannot stand if it intervenes in the South China Sea dispute by force."
China is a peaceful country that welcomes dialogue on the disputed region, the influential newspaper wrote, "but it must be prepared for any military confrontation."
The Global Times is believed to have close ties with the government as it operates under the auspices of the Communist Party's official newspaper, the People's Daily.
The Tuesday editorial went online a week ahead of a ruling by the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague on the South China Sea dispute between China and the Philippines. In 2013, the Philippines filed a complaint with the court, asking it to rule on who owns the Spratly Islands, which lie at the heart of economically important shipping routes in the area.
China sees the ruling – which is due to be announced on July 12 – as "posing more threat to the integrity of China's maritime and territorial sovereignty," the Global Times stated, claiming "the arbitration becomes nothing but a farce." Beijing has said it will not recognize the ruling.
What tensions? Chinese ships join US Navy in massive Pacific exercise https://t.co/QEq9j7TwBE pic.twitter.com/2Od3xozzx8
— RT (@RT_com) June 27, 2016
The Spratly Islands, or Spratlys, comprise more than 750 islets, atolls and reefs, and lie off the coastlines of Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and China, with all the claimants having their own national names for the archipelago.
China runs military drills near Paracel Islands
Prior to The Hague court's ruling, Beijing announced it will conduct a routine naval exercise covering an area east of China's Hainan Island all the way up to and including the Paracel Islands (known as Xisha in Chinese), another disputed area. The drill will run from Tuesday to July 11, and will involve two Chinese guided-missile destroyers, the Shenyang and Ningbo, as well as a frigate, the Chaozhou, according to the People's Daily.
The exercise has sparked fears across the region, but "could be regarded as a countermeasure" to the US efforts "to press China militarily and politically," the Global Times' editorial said.
Over the past few years, Beijing has reclaimed several atolls and built up military installations on the group of disputed islands in the South China Sea. Washington has accused China of "aggressive behavior" in the region, sending warships to enforce what it calls freedom of navigation in international waters.
China's President Xi Jinping says Beijing has no plans to attack anyone, but will continue its policy of active defense.
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The program centered around bi-weekly calls to, in the words of Product Owner, Daniel Burckhardt, "release early and get unfiltered feedback". Halfway through the development period, the focus turned to supporting current manual scheduling processes on the floor, primarily the paper production lists that travel with parts and are available at each workstation in a daily worklist. Within six weeks a solution was deployed and being tested in the field. The automatically generated documents save large amounts of time at the point of scheduling, but more importantly add quality assurance by creating pre-set documentation when a production method is selected and assigned to a workflow.
3YOURMIND is moving the world towards Agile Manufacturing. In the coming months, they will announce how the program will continue to develop additional feature sets.
The Agile MES enables additive manufacturing facilities to benefit from digital production planning and software driven workflows to improve efficiency and machine utilization. The next focus will be finalizing machine connectivity. Stephan Kühr, CEO of 3YOURMIND, will be speaking with manufacturers about integrating their machines into the Agile MES at AMUG.
3YOURMIND offers Enterprise Software to optimize the additive manufacturing processes for leading companies and 3D print services. The technology allows customers to fully exploit the potential of industrial 3D printing using digital workflows to connect teams with production locations, optimize machine utilization and enable well-informed production decisions.
The AM Services department offers additional, on-demand expertise for CAD modeling, part optimization, and technology selection. 3YOURMIND works closely with customers to add efficiency to AM workflows and to drive AM production forward. The software is laying the foundation for Agile Manufacturing.
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text:
Q: A simplified MCMC / MH algorithm. Are there known convergence results? Hi, I hope this isn't too basic. We were working on a simulation using a Monte Carlo Within Metropolis algorithm and noticed that the whole thing could be expressed in the form below and simplified dramatically.
I've given a detailed description, but for a quick informal idea: simulate a random variable $X$ by choosing a suitable event $E$ in some larger probability space and draw from $X$ conditioned on $E$, then hold the chain in state $x$ for a geometric number of steps with mean $\left(\mathbb P\left(E | X=x \right)\right)^{-1}$.
I've tried to find this approach in the literature, with no luck, but I'm not an expert in this area. It would be really helpful to know if anyone has heard of anything like it.
Let $\left(\Omega,\mathscr F, \mathbb P\right)$ be a probability space.
We are interested in the distribution of some $\mathscr F$-measurable $X:\Omega\to \mathcal X$ which generates a $\sigma$-algebra $\mathscr G \subset \mathscr F$.
The space is too complicated to calculate any probabillties directly,
but we can simulate a draws from $\mathbb P$ under two different forms of conditioning.
1$\qquad$ Given a value of $X$ we may draw from the distribution of $\mathbb P$
conditioned on $\mathscr G$.
2$\qquad$There is an event $E\in\mathscr F$ for which we can simulate the conditional distribution of $\mathbb P$ conditioned on $E$.
Under these conditions we can construct a Markov chain $X_i\in\mathcal X$ with stationary distribution $\mathbb P$ by simulating a draw $Y$ from $\mathbb P$ conditioned on $\mathscr G$ with $\left[X = X_i\right]$ and choosing $X_{i+1}$ as follows.
$\circ\qquad$If $Y\notin E$ set $X_{i+1} = X_i$.
$\circ\qquad$If $Y\in E$ draw $X_{i+1}$ independently from $\mathbb P$ conditioned on the event $E$.
It is easy to check that for $x_1\neq x_2$ the probability that $x_1\mapsto x_2$ is
$\mathbb P\left(E|X=x_1\right) \mathbb P\left(X\in\mathbf d x_2 | E\right)$
and so detailed balance is satisfied.
We can also show that if $X_0$ is drawn from $\mathbb P$ conditioned on $E$ and $p$ and $q$ are such that $\mathbb P\left(\mathbb P \left(E|\mathscr G\right)\leq p\right)\leq q$ then the total variation distance between the distributions of $X$ and $X_n$ is at most $q+(1-p)^n$.
My question is, does a technique like this appear in the literature and if so is there a know rate of convergence similar or tighter to the one above?

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