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Impeachable Offenses?
~ Examining the Case for Removal of the 45th President of the United States
Tag Archives: Governor Greitens
Greitens' Criminal Case Dismissed: Be Careful What You Wish For…
Posted by impeachableoffenses in Uncategorized
Eric Greitens, Governor Greitens, Greitens criminal case, Greitens criminal case dismissed, Greitens impeachment, Greitens invasion of privacy
By Frank Bowman
Never a dull moment here in Missouri. This afternoon brings the news that, on the third day of jury selection, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner has moved to dismiss the invasion of privacy prosecution against Governor Eric Greitens. This is, at least in theory, what is a called a dismissal without prejudice, meaning that the case can be refiled. And Ms. Gardner says she will seek to refile.
The stated reason for the dismissal is that the defense named Ms. Gardner as a defense witness, and the trial judge allowed them to do so. Ms. Gardner claims that she cannot proceed with the trial in a situation where her subordinates would be in the position of cross-examining her.
Ms. Gardner says she is considering either seeking a special prosecutor to handle the case or refiling and asking one of her assistants to lead the prosecution.
I haven't yet thought through the validity of Ms. Gardner's assertions about her ethical position. I may have some thoughts on that later.
For the moment, I have a sneaking suspicion that Governor Greitens' trial team has been too clever by half, at least if their objective is to preserve Mr. Greitens in the governor's office. My own necessarily tentative assessment of the invasion of privacy criminal case has been that it's a very tough one for the prosecution in the absence of the photograph, or at least forensic evidence that a photograph once existed. From what can be gleaned from press reports, the government had neither the picture nor any circumstantial forensic evidence. Thus, the state's entire case rested on the credibility of the victim, who, according to her own statement, was blindfolded at the time the supposed picture was taken. And the state had to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt and secure votes of guilty from every juror.
Therefore, while the state could have won (and may yet win) this trial based purely on a favorable jury assessment of the victim's credibility, my money would have been on an acquittal or at most a hung jury. Politically, either is a great outcome for Greitens.
But the aggressiveness of trial counsel has just deprived the governor of a reasonably likely legal win. Instead, the criminal trial will either never happen or will be delayed for months by further legal wrangling. In the meantime, the action shifts to the legislature's special impeachment session, where the governor is saddled by multiple handicaps:
The charges in the legislature probably won't be limited to invasion of privacy, with the inherent weakness of the absence of the photo. As noted in an earlier post, if one believes the former mistress victim, Mr. Greitens also arguably committed one or more forms of felony sexual assault. And, of course, there are now allegations of campaign finance violations.
Even if the impeachment case were limited to allegations about Mr. Greitens' encounters with his mistress, the report of the House special committee on that matter indicates plainly that the committee members unanimously believe her, not him.
The burden of proof in impeachment is lower than the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard of criminal cases. And those seeking impeachment don't need a unanimous verdict.
The legislators, even in Greitens' own party, seem not to like him. The Republicans in particular plainly think he is a political millstone. And unlike jurors, they can't be challenged for political bias or for prejudging the case.
It sure looks to me like the governor's lawyers have outsmarted themselves.
Impeachment in the States: Missouri Governor Edition, Part 11 (More on suspension after impeachment)
Eric Greitens, Governor Greitens, Greitens conviction, Greitens impeachment, Missouri constitution, Suspension of Governor Greitens
Jason Hancock, a diligent reporter from the Kansas City Star, alerted me to a Missouri constitutional provision that kicks up even more dust on the question of whether Governor Greitens could be suspended from office following impeachment by the House, but before conviction by the panel of seven "eminent jurists" appointed by the Senate.
Article IV, Section 11(a) of the Missouri constitution states:
On the death, conviction or impeachment, or resignation of the governor, the lieutenant governor shall become governor for the remainder of the term.
Candidly, this language is almost impenetrable.
It says that the Lt. Gov takes over for "the remainder of the term" upon "the death, conviction or impeachment, or resignation of the governor." But it is entirely unclear about what "conviction or impeachment" means. "Impeachment" could mean just a vote by the House on articles of impeachment, which is usually the technical meaning of that term. But that can't be right in this context because that would mean that the Lt. Gov. becomes the governor, and stays governor until the end of the term, as soon as the House votes and regardless of what the judges do.
Which leads one to think that the drafters intended "impeachment" in this context to mean completion of the whole process – the House vote and then the "eminent jurist" vote.
But if so, that leaves unexplained the word "conviction" in the odd phrase "conviction or impeachment." Does conviction here refer solely to the impeachment setting and thus to the verdict of the eminent jurists? That would make logical sense, but it makes no grammatical sense because of the word "or" connecting conviction with impeachment. In other words, one cannot have an impeachment conviction without first having a House impeachment vote, but one can have a separate criminal conviction regardless of whether there is an impeachment proceeding.
In which case, does conviction refer to some kind of conviction independent of an impeachment proceeding? But that makes no sense because the term "conviction" doesn't seem to have a definition. Presumably, outside of the impeachment context it would have to refer to a criminal conviction. But absent any other qualifier, it would include every kind and degree of criminal conviction from murder to jaywalking. And that can't be right.
Here's my best guess: The sensible way to read this is that the governor stays governor until the impeachment process – House vote and judge vote – produces a final result. At which point, if the governor is impeached and convicted, the Lt. Governor takes over as governor for the remainder of the governor's term. But this sensible reading is not necessarily required by the text.
In addition, as explained in my last post, the governor could be suspended from exercising his official powers in the interval between the House impeachment vote and judicial vote on the articles of impeachment if the "eminent jurists" vote to suspend him. Presumably, the Lt. Governor would take over the powers of governor during the suspension, to return them if the governor were acquitted, but keep them until the end of the governor's term if the governor were convicted.
Impeachment in the States: Missouri Governor Edition, Part 9 (Still more on pre-office conduct)
federal impeachment for pre-office conduct, Governor Greitens, Greitens impeachment, Impeachment for pre-inaugural conduct, impeachment for pre-office conduct, Missouri impeachment, Missouri state impeachment, Porteous, pre-office conduct, Schiff
Regular readers will recall that former Missouri Chief Justice Michael Wolff and I have disagreed about whether Governor Eric Greitens can be impeached for conduct that occurred before he took office. Judge Wolff said no. I said yes.
One of Judge Wolff's arguments was that there had been no impeachments of federal officers for conduct prior to assumption of office. I responded, in part, that federal practice is irrelevant to Missouri constitutional rules because the standards for impeachment are markedly different in the U.S. and Missouri constitutions. But I concurred with Judge Wolff's assertion that no federal official had been impeached for pre-office conduct.
Both of us were wrong. In an op-ed in today's New York Times, Congressman Adam Schiff recalls his experience as a member of the House Judiciary Committee in 2010 when it voted to recommend impeachment of U.S. District Judge Thomas Porteous. He notes that one of the articles of impeachment approved by the House and later the Senate alleged corrupt behavior while Porteous was a state judge and before he took the federal bench.
As Congressman Schiff observed, "In voting overwhelmingly to convict Judge Porteous on every count, the Senate established the precedent that a federal official can be removed for conduct committed before assuming office."
Precedent in federal impeachment is a peculiar animal. The process lies entirely within the province of Congress, and is generally agreed not to be reviewable by the courts. Therefore, the legal principle of stare decisis — meaning that earlier decisions of appellate courts have some binding effect on judges in later cases — doesn't apply to federal impeachments. Each new congress can interpret the impeachment language of the constitution however it chooses, regardless of what previous congresses may have done. That said, congressmen have tended to look at prior impeachment decisions as guides to appropriate constitutional interpretation. Therefore, it seems quite likely that the Porteous case will be seen as establishing a meaningful precedent.
This may be of some modest consequence in the case of Governor Greitens. The standard for impeachment under the Missouri constitution is entirely different than the federal constitution's famous "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." And therefore federal practice is of little or no real importance. Still, Governor Greitens defenders will surely try to use precedent from any source if they think it helps their man. The impeachment of Judge Porteous takes one possible argument off the table.
The Porteous case is of greater potential importance should Mr. Trump ever face a formal impeachment inquiry. Inasmuch as the Mueller investigation focuses largely on contacts between Mr. Trump and his associates and agents of Russia prior to Trump's inauguration, the Porteous precedent places any misbehavior in that period squarely within the purview of the congressional impeachment power.
Impeachment in the States: Missouri Governor Edition, Part 7 (The "eminent jurists")
eminent jurists, Eric Greitens, Governor Greitens, Greitens impeachment, Missouri impeachment procedure, special commission
An inquisitive reader, and former excellent student of mine, wrote in with a question about precisely who would try any impeachment charges against Governor Greitens approved by the Missouri House of Representatives. He correctly noted that Article VII, Section 2 of the Missouri constitution provides that, if the governor or a member of the state supreme court is impeached, the trial of the articles of impeachment is to held before a "special commission of seven eminent jurists to be elected by the senate." But he wanted to know who counts as an "eminent jurist."
Before I could respond, my industrious correspondent found and sent me the answer in a statute, RSMo 106.080, which states:
If the governor or a judge of the supreme court shall be impeached, the house of representatives shall immediately transmit such articles of impeachment to the senate who shall, without delay, proceed to the election of a special commission to try the cause, which commission shall be composed of seven eminent jurists, who at the time of their election are judges of the circuit or appellate courts of this state; provided, however, that judges of the supreme court shall not be eligible to serve on such special commission. The commission shall meet in the City of Jefferson within thirty days after their election on a day designated by the senate.
In short, by statute, only sitting circuit and appeals judges can be on the special commission.
ADDENDUM: After I first posted this analysis, my eminent friend Jim Layton, former Solicitor General of Missouri, pointed out that "eminent jurists" is a vague term that could be read to include retired judges, federal or state, and that it's doubtful the legislature can, by statute, modify the meaning of a constitutional term. I take his point, but since the constitution requires that the "eminent jurists" be "elected by the Senate," my bet is that they follow the rule they plainly thought they had the power to enact.
Impeachment in the states: Missouri governor edition, Part 2
blackmail, Eric Greitens, Governor Greitens, impeachment of governor, impeachment of Greitens, invasion of privacy, Missouri state impeachment, revenge porn, stealing, tampering with evidence
In yesterday's post, I discussed the basics of the impeachment provisions of the Missouri state constitution and how they compare with federal practice. Today I turn to how Missouri's rules intersect with the publicly reported facts of Governor Eric Greitens' sex scandal.
To recap, under the Missouri constitution the procedure for impeaching state judges and all elective officials is as follows:
The official must first be impeached by the state House of Representatives. Curiously, the state constitution does not specify a minimum vote threshold for approving articles of impeachment, but presumably, as with federal impeachment, approval requires a majority vote.
Once articles of impeachment are approved by the House, the trial of the allegations is held, not in the state senate, but by judges. For all officials except members of the supreme court and the governor, impeachments are tried before the supreme court. Impeachment of the governor or a member of the supreme court is tried to "a special commission of seven eminent jurists to be elected by the senate."
Article VII, Section 1 of the Missouri constitution lists as impeachable conduct "crimes, misconduct, habitual drunkenness, willful neglect of duty, corruption in office, incompetency, or any offense involving moral turpitude or oppression in office." As I discussed in detail in my last post, this apparently very broad standard has been interpreted by the Missouri Supreme Court in Matter of Impeachment of Judith K. Moriarty, 902 S.W.2d 273 (1994), to include only conduct that is a violation of some other law, i.e., some law other than Article VII, Section 1.
The legal violation need not be criminal. Nor does there seem to be a requirement like that in the federal constitution that the impeachable behavior be a "high" or great offense. Even, as was the case in Moriarty, a minor civil regulatory infraction could apparently suffice. Moreover, it does not appear that the impeached official must have been previously found guilty or adjudged liable by any tribunal other than the impeachment court.
[NOTE: After this article was first posted, an astute reader who worked in the statehouse at the time of the Moriarty impeachment e-mailed me to point out that, prior to her impeachment, Ms. Moriarty was indicted and convicted in Cole County for a misdemeanor election law violation in connection with the same transactions that led to her impeachment. Curiously, however, in its opinion convicting Ms. Moriarty of the articles of impeachment, the Supreme Court never mentions the prior conviction or any criminal infraction. It merely finds that she knowingly violated the civil election statutes, as alleged by the House.]
Finally, the Missouri Supreme Court held in Moriarty that judges sitting as a court of impeachment should not make political judgments about whether the charged conduct is serious enough to merit removal. The practical effect of this limitation is that, while judges should not convict in an impeachment case unless the charged conduct violates state law, any proven violation of any state law, however minor, should result in conviction and removal so long as the Missouri House of Representatives deemed the conduct worthy of inclusion in an article of impeachment in the first place.
Is Governor Greitens impeachable?
These ground rules have significant implications for any effort to impeach Governor Greitens.
First, because the governor cannot be impeached unless he somehow violated the law, we must begin by determining whether any of his reported conduct did so. Here's a rundown of the major possibilities:
Adultery: A surprising number of states still make adultery illegal. But Missouri is not among them.
Sexual offenses or false imprisonment: Media accounts of the sexual contact between Mr. Greitens and his former hairdresser suggest that it was consensual. In an interview today, Mr. Greitens resolutely insisted that this was the case. However, the woman's account of the relationship includes at least one sexual encounter in which she was bound, a point Mr. Greitens has not so far denied. So long as the woman consented to the binding and all sexual contact occurring while she was bound, there would be no crime. That said, if either the binding or any of the particular kinds of sexual contact that occurred while the woman was bound was non-consensual, the non-consensual behavior could be criminal. Sexual contact without consent can constitute a series of crimes, ranging in seriousness from the misdemeanor of Sexual Abuse, RSMo 566.101, to felony Second Degree Rape, RSMo 566.031. Either binding the woman without consent or declining to release her after she withdrew consent could in theory amount to false imprisonment (now known as third degree kidnapping), RSMo 565.130. It must be emphasized that at this point there is no evidence of anything other than a consensual sexual encounter with somewhat unusual, shall we say, rules of engagement. And that's not a crime.
Blackmail or extortion: During a conversation with her husband in which she confessed to the affair with Mr. Greitens, the woman asserted that while she was bound, unclothed, and blindfolded, she saw a flash, which she interpreted as Mr. Greitens photographing her. She also said that Greitens threatened to release the photo to the public if she revealed the affair. Mr. Greitens has denied that he took a picture or threatened to release it. There has been widespread media speculation that this conduct, if proven, might amount to "blackmail." The legal difficulty with this speculation is that there is no Missouri crime of blackmail. If a person threatens public release of embarrassing material unless the victim turns over money or something else of economic value, that constitutes "stealing" by "coercion" – which includes a threat "to expose any person to hatred, contempt or ridicule." But there is no allegation here that Mr. Greitens sought money or anything else of economic value. Similarly, Missouri has no extortion statute.
"Revenge porn": Some jurisdictions make it an offense to release publicly indecent images of another person without consent. But Missouri has no such statute. And Mr. Greitens released nothing.
Invasion of privacy (the alleged picture): Regardless of whether Mr. Greitens committed any crime akin to blackmail, if he simply took a picture, without the woman's consent and while she was fully or partially unclothed, that would be a plain violation of Missouri's invasion of privacy statute, RSMo 565.252.
Tampering with physical evidence: If the alleged photograph was ever taken, it has not surfaced, and the woman in the case says that Mr. Greitens told her he erased / destroyed the picture. However, if there was a picture and Mr. Greitens erased it for the purpose of preventing its disclosure in any "official proceeding or investigation," that would be the crime of tampering with physical evidence, RSMo 575.100. Of course, if such a picture once existed, but Mr. Greitens destroyed it either out of remorse for his bad behavior or to prevent its discovery by, say, his wife, that would be no crime.
The bottom line here is that, if the woman is telling the truth, Mr. Greitens committed at least one crime under Missouri law – invasion of privacy for taking a non-consensual nude photograph. The offense is only a misdemeanor, but as noted above, Missouri's impeachment provisions set no minimum level of severity for impeachable offenses.
The most obvious impediment to proving conclusively that Mr. Greitens violated the invasion of privacy statute is the absence of the alleged photograph. That said, even in ordinary criminal cases, physical evidence is not necessary to establish contested facts. In criminal court, Mr. Greitens could be charged with and convicted of invasion of privacy purely on the testimony of the woman in the case. As a practical matter, this would require her cooperation (trying to prove the case with only her taped statement to her husband would probably run afoul of the rules of evidence). But if she testified consistently with her taped statement, nothing would prevent a judge or jury from convicting Mr. Greitens because they believed her story and not his denials.
The same is true of an impeachment proceeding. The Missouri House of Representatives could frame an article of impeachment based on violation of the invasion of privacy statute and the panel of judges appointed to hear the matter could convict the governor because they found her more credible than him. That said, without some corroboration that a photo ever existed, it seems somewhat improbable that either a prosecutor or the House of Representatives would proceed.
The most interesting legal question an impeachment case for invasion of privacy would present is whether a state official can be impeached for conduct that occurred before he took office. The Missouri constitution doesn't address this issue. And the final intriguing twist on the matter is that we cannot be sure that the issue is what lawyers call "justiciable." In other words, the Missouri constitution delegates the task of trying impeachment of a governor to a special commission of judges appointed by the state senate. In the federal system, the decision of the U.S. Senate on whether or not to convict an impeached officer is generally understood not to be reviewable by the courts. The Missouri constitution certainly implies that the decision of the special commission is final, but inasmuch as no such commission has ever been convened, we cannot know whether its decision would be deemed final by the regular courts.
As a final note, I have not discussed here the fact that the FBI is also apparently taking a preliminary look at this case. I may return in a later post to consider whether any federal statute could possibly have been violated and whether a violation of federal law would be grounds for impeachment under the Missouri constitution.
Frank Bowman
Impeachment in the states: Missouri governor edition, Part I
Alexander Hamilton, Governor Greitens, Greitens, Greitens impeachment, impeachable offenses, Missouri state impeachment, state impeachment
Here in the Show-Me State, we have been granted a temporary reprieve from the feverish national focus on all things Trump by news of the sexual peccadillos of our recently-elected governor, Eric Greitens. As has now been reported across the nation, on Wednesday, January 10, shortly after his State of the State address, Governor Greitens released a statement admitting to a extramarital sexual affair with his former hairdresser back in 2015.
The admission came in anticipation of impending media reports alleging not only that there were one or more sexual encounters between the hairdresser and Mr. Greitens, but that on one occasion Mr. Greitens took a picture of the woman while she was bound and in a state of full or partial undress and then threatened to release the picture publicly if she were ever to speak about the affair. The reports were made all the juicier by the fact that the woman's former husband secretly recorded her tearful confession to the affair and released the recording to the media.
In his statement, Mr. Greitens admitted the sex, but denied that he had either taken a picture of the woman en déshabillé or threatened to release such a picture to maintain her silence.
Political reaction to these revelations has been swift and somewhat surprisingly severe given that Mr. Greitens is a first-term Republican governor often touted as a rising political star in a state where Republicans hold all but one state-wide office and supermajorities in both houses of the legislature. Democrats immediately called for Mr. Greitens' resignation, as have multiple Republican legislators. Even Republicans who haven't gone that far seem, at best, to be withholding judgment pending the outcome of a criminal investigation by the St. Louis Circuit Attorney (and possibly one by the FBI). One Republican state senator, Gary Romine, said that if investigations into Mr. Greitens' behavior do not exonerate him, he should "resign or face impeachment."
Naturally, as soon as I read the word "impeachment," I perked up like a foxhound when the Master of the Hunt yells "Talley Ho!" What follows is a two-part look at the law governing impeachment of Missouri state officials, a comparison of Missouri law to federal practice, and a preview of the particular issues an effort to impeach Mr. Greitens would present given the current state of the evidence.
Impeachment in Missouri
Article VII, Sections 1 and 2 of the Missouri constitution state:
Section 1. All elective executive officials of the state, and judges of the supreme court, courts of appeals and circuit courts shall be liable to impeachment for crimes, misconduct, habitual drunkenness, willful neglect of duty, corruption in office, incompetency, or any offense involving moral turpitude or oppression in office.
Section 2. The house of representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment. All impeachments shall be tried before the supreme court, except that the governor or a member of the supreme court shall be tried by a special commission of seven eminent jurists to be elected by the senate. The supreme court or special commission shall take an oath to try impartially the person impeached, and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of five-sevenths of the court or special commission.
The most obvious difference between federal and state impeachment procedure is that, while in both systems the house of representatives impeaches the officer, i.e., specifies the charges against the accused, in Missouri the state supreme court, rather than the senate, tries the case. That is, the Missouri Supreme Court, not the Missouri senate, decides whether the allegations in the bill of impeachment are proven and thus whether the officer ought to be removed. The way the Missouri Supreme Court has interpreted its function materially alters the Missouri impeachment process.
In the federal system, the president may be impeached for serious crimes (although there is disagreement about which ones) and for very serious non-criminal misconduct either in relation to the office or of a personal sort that undermines the president's legitimacy. Most scholars would agree that, under the federal constitution, the president ought not be impeached for minor crimes (and perhaps not even for serious crimes like perjury if unrelated to his official duties) or for laziness, ineptitude, or pursuing political objectives contrary to those of the legislative majority.
Critically, all informed observers of the federal impeachment process agree that both the decision by the House about which behavior is impeachable and the subsequent decision by Senate about whether to convict and remove the accused are to a significant degree "political." As Alexander Hamilton famously said in Federalist #65, impeachable offenses "are of a nature which may with peculiar propriety be denominated POLITICAL, as they relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the society itself."
The concededly political character of the federal impeachment process shapes the essential nature of the decision-making process. Both the House and Senate are called upon not merely to decide the truth of factual allegations against the president, but to judge whether the conduct is of a nature that merits removal of the nation's chief executive officer. The second choice is a political judgment which the Framers consciously placed in the hands of two political bodies.
The Missouri constitution originally consigned the trial of impeachments to the state senate. But in the 1940's (perhaps in response to a case where the senate refused to convict a former senator whose factual guilt was patent), the constitution was amended to institute the present arrangement assigning impeachment trials to the state supreme court. The apparent purpose of the change was to eliminate politics from the last stage of the impeachment process, but as is so often true, this benevolent-sounding objective created a new complication.
In theory, courts are not supposed to be political bodies. In theory, they are limited to deciding what the law is, whether facts are proven, and whether proven facts fall within the ambit of the law. Of course, any serious student of courts realizes that politics in the broad sense affects judicial decisions at every level. Judges unavoidably bring their own philosophical predilections to deciding both law and facts, and perhaps more importantly, common law judging has always had a public policy component. Nonetheless, judges traditionally shun explicitly political judgments – such as whether removal of a particular executive branch official would or would not be beneficial to the commonweal.
This judicial discomfort manifested itself in the only Missouri impeachment case to arise after the constitution was amended to give the responsibility of trying impeachments to the supreme court. The case, Matter of Impeachment of Judith K. Moriarty, 902 S.W.2d 273 (1994), arose from the impeachment of the Missouri Secretary of State for "knowingly allow[ing] the signature of her son as candidate or of her administrative aide or both to be placed on an unsigned declaration of candidacy [for public office] so that declaration falsely declared that the son had appeared in presence of aide to declare for office within the time provided for by statute."
The Missouri Supreme Court found that Ms. Moriarty did what the articles of impeachment charged, thus removing her from office. The interesting part is the court's explanation of its role in the impeachment process. The court began by contrasting the traditional impeachment system in which the house impeaches and the senate tries the accused with the Missouri system of trial by supreme court:
An impeachment is thus a judgment by the House of Representatives—one of the popularly-elected, representative bodies of the people's General Assembly—that an officer of the state has committed acts such that, were an election held, the people would not permit the impeached officeholder to remain in office. When a Senate determines whether to convict under articles of impeachment, the vote affirms or rejects the judgment of the House. Under this system, the possibility exists that the House may impeach and the Senate may convict an official for purely political reasons, though they clothe their charges with constitutional language like "misconduct."
Missouri's constitutional provision is a clear acknowledgment that the trial of impeachment charges is essentially judicial in character and is not a political function. This Court can convict only where there is actual misconduct as the law defines it. "Misconduct" means doing an unlawful act, doing a lawful act in an unlawful manner, or failing to perform an act required by law. It does not include errors in judgment, acts done in good faith, or good faith exercise of discretion.
This passage is remarkable in several respects.
First, it offers a distorted interpretation of the standard for defining an impeachable offense in federal and state systems in which legislators both formulate and try the articles of impeachment. The court opines that in such systems legislators are supposed to engage in a sort of mass mind-reading exercise assessing the probable electoral reaction of the public to the charged conduct. I confess to thinking this assessment misguided. In the federal system, at least, it is quite clear that senators are intended to exercise independent judgment, and that they should not decline to convict an office holder merely because they think the public might re-elect him despite constitutionally obnoxious conduct. Were that the case, no demagogue could ever be impeached so long as he retained the probable support of the mob.
Moreover, when the Missouri court disparages senate impeachment trials on the ground that an officeholder may be convicted "for purely political reasons," it betrays a crabbed and historically inaccurate view of what Founders like Hamilton meant by "political." For Hamilton and others of his generation, the term "political" ran far beyond narrowly partisan considerations to broad considerations of constitutional balance and societal good. For them, impeachment was "political" because it demanded the exercise of sound judgment about whether removing a particular officer for particular conduct protected or disserved republican government.
More important from Governor Greitens' standpoint is the court's holding that, because judges and not legislators try Missouri impeachments, there can be a conviction only:
… where there is actual misconduct as the law defines it. 'Misconduct' means doing an unlawful act, doing a lawful act in an unlawful manner, or failing to perform an act required by law. It does not include errors in judgment, acts done in good faith, or good faith exercise of discretion.
This is huge because it markedly narrows the definition of impeachable conduct. Indeed, the result is to judicially amend the Missouri constitution. Recall that Article VII, Section 1 of the Missouri constitution says that officials may be impeached for "crimes, misconduct, habitual drunkenness, willful neglect of duty, corruption in office, incompetency, or any offense involving moral turpitude or oppression in office."
Some of the items on this list obviously do refer to illegal conduct, notably "crimes … corruption in office, [and] any offense involving moral turpitude or oppression in office." On the other hand, the constitutional text pretty plainly contemplates impeachment for lots of behavior that violates no other law. For example, neither "habitual drunkenness" nor "incompetency" is illegal. Nor is either "willful neglect of duty" or "misconduct" necessarily a legal infraction.
To maintain its preferred self-conception of non-political arbiter of facts, the Missouri Supreme Court imposed a limiting construction on the constitutional term "misconduct" that requires the impeached official to have violated some other law. (For you law geeks in the audience, it does so by the extremely dubious expedient of adopting its definition of "misconduct" from a Tennessee case construing the common law crime of "official misconduct," an offense which exists nowhere in Missouri law." Mid–South Indoor Horse Racing, Inc. v. Tennessee State Racing Commission,798 S.W.2d 531, 538 (Tenn.App.1990).)
Notably, the laws the Court found Ms. Moriarty to have violated were simply statutory rules for proper filing of candidacy for office. Failing to perform the duties prescribed in these sections was apparently chargeable as a misdemeanor (perhaps under RSMo 115.641). Moreover, it appears that, prior to the impeachment proceeding, Ms. Moriarty was charged in Cole County and convicted of such a misdemeanor for her conduct. But curiously, the Missouri Supreme Court made no reference in its opinion either to the Cole County proceeding or to any violation of criminal law. The bottom line of Moriarty seems to be that, on the one hand, the Supreme Court will not convict in an impeachment case unless the charged conduct violates state law, but on the other hand, violation of any state law, however minor, will result in conviction and removal so long as the Missouri House of Representatives deems it impeachable.
One sympathizes with Court's reluctance to stray from its traditional judicial role, but the result is a markedly strained reading of the Missouri constitution — and one that could have considerable impact on any effort to impeach Governor Greitens.
I will address the specifics of the Greitens case in my next post.
Frank O. Bowman, III
Floyd R. Gibson Missouri Endowed Professor of Law
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Proud exit – Lluidas Vale boys leave competition after gallant fight
July 25, 2019 July 26, 2019 Horace Mills	0 Comments Jacques Small, Lluidas Vale Sporting Academy, st catherine under-17 competition
The Lluidas Vale Sporting Academy said its Under-17 footballers surpassed expectations, although they did not advance beyond the semi-final round in the St Catherine Under-17 Football Competition.
They lost 1-0 to Black Lion Football Club at the Owen Palmer Community Centre on July 19.
Jacques Small, who manages the Lluidas Vale team, admitted: "The team was somewhat disappointed. At the game, we had to be telling them 'hold up your heads; there is nothing to be ashamed of'. They really wanted to go all the way, but they are work in progress.
"It was a hard-fought [semi-final] game. We had a questionable goal that was not given to us. It is understandable that, based on what happened, the referees weren't in any position to give that goal; we weren't playing with technology that the international games have at their disposal," Small further told The Beacon.
He stated that the response to the team's overall performance has been overwhelmingly positive.
"The feedback that I got from even persons in the St Catherine Football Association is that they are overwhelmed as they weren't expecting to see such a well-rounded team, especially because we had been out of organized football for so long," Small explained.
"The community also was in a sense of surprise of how well the team performed in the Under-17 [competition]. Even at the semi-final, we had a large group of people from the community who actually travelled for that game."
Small, in the meantime, said the Lluidas Vale Sporting Academy is continuing to work with its players to achieve better results next time round.
"We are going to continue to work with them to see how best we can assist them in their love for the sport and to progress as far as they can," he told The Beacon.
He added: "I believe this is the least talented Under-17 team I have ever coached, and, for the most part, they have exceeded everybody's expectations. I am pleased with their effort and I am looking forward to them doing better next year – reason being, we have more than half of the squad that will be eligible to play next year."
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Bennett Joins Hoops2o Program as First Head Coach
Virginia Athletics Master Plan
Charlottesville, VA — The Chris Long Foundation announced Monday that University of Virginia (UVA) Head Men's Basketball Coach Tony Bennett is joining the Foundation's Hoops2o program as its first "Head Coach." Bennett, who led UVA to its first NCAA men's basketball Championship in 2019, joins UVA alums Chris Long, Malcolm Brogdon, Justin Anderson, Kyle Guy, Joe Harris, and De'Andre Hunter in the shared mission of bringing clean water to one million people.
"I first heard about Hoops2o through Malcolm [Brogdon], when he founded the program last year," says Tony Bennett, UVA Men's Basketball Coach. "Teaming up with Malcolm again was a no-brainer; he is one of the most generous, thoughtful leaders I know, and to join with him in serving those in need is very meaningful."
In his role as "Head Coach," Bennett will help expand the footprint of Hoops2o to basketball fans from the NBA into the collegiate level. To do this, Bennett has selected to bring awareness to Hoops2o during the December 8 home matchup vs. UNC at John Paul Jones Arena. Bennett will wear a Hoops2o pin and pocket square to raise awareness in addition to the program being highlighted via in-game content. Additionally, Bennett and his wife Laurel are funding a well project in Isinya, Kenya, that will provide water to 8,700 people. The Bennett's hope their gift will inspire others to follow their lead and donate to Hoops2o.
"I'm excited to work with the entire Hoops2o roster and bring this mission to NCAA basketball," continued Bennett. "Just as NBA fans have rallied around the cause, I know our UVA and collegiate fans will join me in making a big impact for individuals and communities through the gift of clean water."
To support the announcement of Bennett's involvement, Hoops2o is dedicating the week leading up to the December 8 game to rallying support from the UVA community. Students, fans, and alumni can show their support and join Bennett in being a game-changer in unique ways throughout the week, including:
Follow @waterboysorg on social media
Visit the Hoops2o booth at UVA's Lighting of the Lawn event on Thursday, December 5
Attend the Hoops2o Beer release from Champion Brewing Company on Friday, December 6 at Boylan Heights
Participate in the day-long social media "Game Changer" effort on Sunday, December 8 by sharing social media posts from @WaterboysOrg, tagging three friends, and using the hashtag #WaHoos2o
"I learned so much about servanthood and gratitude during my time playing under Coach Bennett," says Malcolm Brogdon, founder Hoops2o. "Having him on board ensures we will educate more fans about the need that exists in East Africa. It will strengthen the impact the UVA community and collegiate fans can have on the world water crisis."
Hoops2o is a program of the successful Waterboys initiative. Waterboys was started by NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year Chris Long in 2015 and has delivered the gift of clean water to over 330,000 people in East Africa. Together with the NFL Waterboys program, Hoops2o uses a collective impact model to unite as many people as possible in the same goal: bringing clean water to one million people.
To learn more about Hoops2o and the Waterboys mission, visit www.waterboys.org/hoops2o.


Congrats to the winners of this year's challenge!
In preparing for 'March is Reading Month", we've had some fun with selfies....or....#libraryshelfies.
Kids learning exponents through a little exponent Yahtzee!
We often take brain breaks in class to refresh ourselves before we begin our next subject or concept. Kids dancing to "Get Happy"!
Special thanks to Ms. Bowman for taking charge and providing our class with a wonderful Halloween Party! Thanks to everyone who was able to send in goodies and volunteer their time. Good times.


text:
Microbiology Section DOI : 10.7860/JCDR/2019/40684.13055
Year : 2019 | Month : Aug | Volume : 13 | Issue : 08 Page : DC04 - DC07
Prevalence of blaCTX-M, blaCTX-M-2, blaCTX-M-8, blaCTX-M-25 and blaCTX-M-3 Genes in Escherichia coli Isolated from Urinary Tract Infection in Kermanshah City, Iran
Alisha Akya1, Mahnaz Ahmadi2, Sepideh Khodamoradi3, Mohammad Reza Rezaei4, Nahid Karani5, Azam Elahi6, Roya Chegene Lorestani7, Mansour Rezaei8
1 Associate Professor, Department of Medical Microbiology, Infectious Diseases Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran.
2 MSc in Medical Surgical Nursing, Imam Reza Hospital, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran.
3 PhD, Department of Biology, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Shahr-e-Qods Branch, Tehran, Iran.
4 Associate Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran.
5 BSc in Nursing, Imam Reza Hospital, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran.
6 MSc in Medical Microbiology, Infectious Diseases Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran.
8 Associate Professor, Department of Biostatistics, School of Health, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran.
NAME, ADDRESS, E-MAIL ID OF THE CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Dr. Mansour Rezaei, School of Health, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran.
E-mail: mansourreza05@gmail.com
Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) is one of the most common bacterial infections and Escherichia coli is the most common organism that causes UTI. However, the incidence of community acquired UTI caused by Extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing strains of E.coli, in particular CTX-M genes, is on the rise worldwide.
To detect the frequency of CTX-M gene subgroups in uropathogenic E.coli.
In this descriptive-analytical study, 240 isolates of E. coli were studied. All isolates were isolated from UTIs in Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran, in 2014 to 2015. After screening for ESBL, the CTX-M, CTX-M-2, CTX-M-8, CTX-M-25 and CTX-M-3 genes were detected among ESBL- producing isolates using PCR.
Of the 240 E. coli isolates, 67 were ESBL-producing isolates. Sixty one isolates (91%) contained CTX-M gene, of which 57 (85%), 3 (4.5%), 3 (4.5%) and 1(1.49%) contained CTX-M-3, CTX-M-8, CTX- M-25 and CTX-M-2, respectively.
Due to the high resistance of E. coli to beta-lactam drugs in this region, these drugs have limited effects for treatment of UTI in outpatient. The frequency of CTX-M-2, CTX-M-8,CTX-M-25 beta-lactamases in isolates of E. coli is relatively low but the overall prevalence of CTX-M and CTX-M-3 beta-lactamases is high which indicates the spread of drug resistance.
UTI is one of the most common bacterial infections [1]. Failure to diagnose and improper treatment of UTI may lead to complications such as kidney damage and hypertension [2]. Among the uropathogenic bacteria in the outpatients and inpatients, Escherichia coli (E. coli) is the most common organism [1,3]. Given the obvious role of E. coli as the main and prevalent cause of UTIs in all ages, it is important to recognise its regional susceptibility pattern to antibiotics [1]. The sensitivity of bacteria to diverse antibiotics varies in different regions, which can be the consequence for the usage of various types and quantity of antibiotics in each region [3]. The first line of antibiotics for the treatment of UTIs is usually determined experientially; therefore, it is essential to obtain accurate and up-to-date information on the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of the regionally circulating strains. Beta-lactam antibiotics are often used for the treatment of bacterial infections [4]. The main resistance mechanism used in gram-negative bacteria against beta-lactam antibiotics is the production of beta-lactamase enzymes to hydrolyze the beta-lactam ring of antibiotics [5]. E. coli strains produce ESBLs resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics [4].
The common types of ESBLs in gram negative bacteria are TEM, SHV and CTX-M. In recent years, the CTX-M group has been increasingly reported in gram-negative bacteria, especially E. coli [6]. Until recently, more than 123 types of CTX-M had been identified and reported [7]. These beta-lactamases have no genetic linkage with TEM and SHV beta-lactamases [8]. In CTX-M, the presence of a serine amino acid at position 237 has led to the expansion of its beta-lactamase activity spectrum [9]. The CTX-M subgroups are divided into 5 main groups based on the amino acid sequences; Group 1 (CTX-M-1, 3, 10, 11, 12, 15, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30, UOE- 1), Group 2 (CTX-M-2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 20, Toho-1), Group 3 (CTX-M-8), Group 4 (CTX-M-9, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 21, 27, Toho-2) and Group 5 (CTX-M-25,26) [8].
Over the past decades, CTX-M subgroups have been more frequently reported than TEM and SHV in Europe, North America and Asia [10,11]. Similarly, the reports for CTX-M type have also been in rise in Iran [12]. Given the diversity of CTX-M beta-lactamases and their different effects on susceptibility to various antibiotics, it is epidemiologically essential to determine the frequency of subgroups of these resistant genes in E. coli. Previous studies in Iran primarly have focused on the main ESBL groups in clinical strains of E. coli, while various CTX-M subtypes have been less investigated in different regions of Iran [2,3,12]. The first part of data derived from this work has already been published which indicate the high frequency of blaCTX-M1, blaCTX-M14 and blaCTX-M15 among isolates in our region [13]. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the frequency of other blaCTX-M subtyped genes including CTX-M-2, CTX-M-8, CTX-M-25 and CTX-M-3 in E. coli isolates.
Isolation of Bacteria and Collection of Sample Data
The present descriptive-analytic study was conducted on 240 isolates of E. coli obtained from outpatients with UTI referred to the Clinic of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences and the Central laboratory. The study was approved by the Kermanshah University Ethics Committee (Approval number: IR.KUMS.REC.1393.519). All patients agreed to participate in the study and signed the informed consent form. The UTI was defined as the presence of 105 or more E. coli bacteria per ml of midstream urine sample in the patients who were clinically suspected to UTI [14]. The patients' data including age, gender and type of samples were also collected. E. coli isolates from urine samples were isolated and identified using Gram staining, morphology, culture characteristics and conventional biochemical tests for verification, including oxidase, simmons' citrate, urease, phenylalanine deaminase, lysine decarboxylase, Sulfur Indole Motility Medium (SIM), Triple Suger Iron Agar (TSI), Methyl Red/Voges-Proskauer (MR/VP) [15].
Screening Isolates for ESBL and their Resistance Pattern
The verification tests for analysing the phenotypes were used to screen ESBL production in bacteria. This method requires combination discs including ceftazidime (30 μg) + clavulanic acid (10 μg) and cefotaxime (30 μg) + clavulanic acid (10 μg) (MAST, England). The diameter of the bacterial inhibition zone around the combination disc about 5 mm or more than the inhibition zone diameter of the single disc relating to the same antibiotic was considered as the ESBL-producing isolates. The standard strain of E. coli ATCC 35218 was used for qualitative control of ESBL-producing isolates. The ESBL-positive isolates were further tested using PCR for evaluating the frequency of CTX-M, CTX-M-2, CTX-M-8, CTX-M-25, and CTX-M-3 genes. The antibiotic susceptibility of isolates to beta-lactam antibiotics was assessed using Disk diffusion test according to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI 2015) guidelines and antibacterial discs, including ceftriaxone (30 μg), ceftazidime (30 μg), cefotaxime (30 μg), aztreonam (30 μg), ampicillin (10 μg) and imipenem (10 μg) (MAST, England). The results were interpreted based on standard tables of CLSI [16]. Meanwhile, the standard strain of E. coli ATCC 25922 and ATCC 700603 was used as qualitative control.
Detection of CTX-M Genes
The specific primers using PCR were applied to detect the CTX-M genes and related subgroups of CTX-M, CTX-M-2, CTX-M-8, CTX-M-25 and CTX-M-3 [17-19]. The sequences of used primers and the size of the PCR products have been listed in [Table/Fig-1]. Initially, the isolates were cultured on nutrient agar medium and DNA was extracted using boiling method. The PCR was performed using the reaction solution with final volume of 25 μL, including 12.5μl of Master Mix 2X, 3 μL of DNA template, 10 picomoles (1μL) of each of paired primers, and 7.5 μL of sterilized double-distilled water. The agarose gels were immersed in 0.5 to 1 mg/L of ethidium bromide for 10 minutes, rinsed with distilled water and then examined by Gel-Documentation (BioRad, USA). The DNA sequencing was performed using an ABI 3730XL DNA analyser apparatus (Macrogen Inc., Korea). The DNA sequence data were analysed for homology with genetic data using the National Center for Biotechnology Information GenBank database (http:/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/BLAST/).
[Table/Fig-1]:
Primers.
Forward and reverse primers (5'-3')
Amplicon size (bp)
blaCTX-M-2 F:ATGATGACTCAGAGCATTCGR:TTATTGCATCAGAAACCGTG 884
blaCTX-M-8 F:ATGATGAGACATCGCGTTAAGR:CGGTGACGATTTTCGCGGCAG 924
blaCTX-M-25 F:CACACGAATTGAATGTTCAGR: TCACTCCACATGGTGAG 864
blaCTX-M-3 F:AATCACTGCGCCAGTTCACGCTGAACGTR: TTCGTCTCCCAGCTGT 540-600
blaCTX-M F:TTTGCGATGTGCAGTACCAGTAAR:CGATATCGTTGGTGGTGCCAT A 544
The collected data were analysed by SPSS 19 using descriptive and analytical statistical indexes.
Data of Samples and Patients
Out of 67(27.9%) ESBL-producing E. coli isolates, 34 (50.7%) belonged to the Clinic of University and 33 (49.3%) to the Central Laboratory. Of these 67 samples, 57 belonged to females (85.1%) and 10 to males (14.1%). The mean age of patients was 43.1±22.1 years with the maximum age of 97 years and the minimum age of 1 year.
The amplification results of target genes are displayed in [Table/Fig-2].
Electrophoresis of PCR products for CTX-M genes.
Row 1: Marker (DNA ladder, 100bp); Row 2: CTX-M-3 (540 bp); Row 3: CTX-M (544 bp); Row 4: CTX-M-8 (924 bp); Row 5: CTX-M-25 (846 bp); Row 6: CTX-M-2 (884 bp); Row 7: Negative control
Of the 67 ESBL-producing E. coli isolates, 61 isolates (91%) contained the CTX-M gene, of which 57 (85%) had CTX-M-3 and three (4.5%) had CTX-M-8, three (4.5%) had CTX-M-25 and one (1.49%) contained CTX-M-2.
The susceptibility to beta-lactam antibiotics in CTX-M-producing and non CTX-M isolates are listed in [Table/Fig-3]. [Table/Fig-4] shows the frequency distribution of CTX-M-containing isolates based on age and gender.
Comparison the susceptibility to beta-lactam antibiotics among the CTX-M producing and non CTX-M isolates of E. coli.
CTX-M producer
Non-CTX-M
Chi-square
Ampicillin 1 (1.6%) 34 (19%) 11 0.001
Ceftriaxone 1 (1.6%) 164 (91.6%) 171.5 0.001<
Cefotaxime 2 (3.3%) 164 (91.6%) 166.5 0.001<
Ceftazidime 13 (21.3%) 167 (93.3%) 125.7 0.001<
Aztreonam 6 (9.8%) 166 (92.7%) 154 0.001<
Imipenem 61 (100%) 179 (100%) - -
Distribution of CTX-M isolates by age and sex.
The outpatients reffering from UTI are primarily treated empirically which requires the awareness of antibiotic susceptibility and the frequency of antibiotic resistance genes in each country or region [2]. Beta-lactams are usually used against gram-negative bacteria such as E. coli [5]. The results of the present study indicated a high resistance to beta lactam antibiotics among E. coli isolates. Accordingly, ampicillin resistance was observed to be very high in these isolates, which is consistent with the results of other studies conducted in Iran and other countries [2,20,21]. These findings indicate the spread of resistance to this drug. On the other hand, the present results revealed all E. coli isolates were sensitive to imipenem that is consistent with the results of other studies [2,20-23].
Comparison of the resistance pattern of isolates showed that the antibiotic resistance of CTX-M-producing isolates was much higher than non CTX-M isolates, emphasizing the important role of CTX-Ms for spread of antibiotic resistance in E. coli strains, which needs to be considered in the treatment of UTIs. Compared to the previous studies from other countries, our results indicate an increase in the frequency rate of ESBL-producing E. coli isolates [2,5,10].
Given the results of other studies and the fact that most previous researches in Iran were basically focused on clinical isolates of inpatient which as expected to be more resistant to antibiotics. The high frequency of CTX-M isolates among outpatients in our region suggest the dissemination of this gene group. The beta-lactamase genes in this bacterium, especially the CTX-M genes, are major factors involved in the increasing resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics. Organisms containing these genes can also exacerbate the pathogenicity and increase the mortality in the patients [24].
Studies conducted in different countries including Iran, reported a various frequency rates for the CTX-M genes [24-26]. For example, a study from India (2015-2016) on E. coli isolated from UTI reported a prevalence rate of 82.6% for CTX-M gene in ESBL-producing strains [27]. In another study in Iran (2015), the prevalence of CTX-M was 68.9% in 29 strains of ESBL-producing E. coli [28]. Our findings along with the aforementioned studies indicate that CTX-M-producing E. coli have become more frequent and the production of this beta-lactamase is increasing on the rise. The high frequency of CTX-M genes could be the consequence of over prescription of cephalosporins in our region followed by the transmission of plasmids among strains of bacteria. On the other hand, this gene has the ability of transmission between animal (poultry) and humans bacteria, which is considered as the another source of resistant genes dissemination [29].
It has been shown that CTX-M genes are located upstream to the ISEcp1 conjugated sequences which may explain the expression and transmission of this gene group [30]. In our study, the relatively low percentage of ESBL-producing strains had CTX-M-2, CTX-M-8 and CTX-M-25 genes, which is similar to other research results. For instance, in a study in Iran (2009), only 0.7% of the strains of E. coli had CTX-M-25 and none of the isolates had CTX-M-2 [31]. In another Iranian study in 2013, none of the E. coli isolates contained CTX-M-2 [32]. The results of studies in other countries are also in agreement with the findings of research conducted in Iran. For example, the studies in China (2008) and Spain (2011) reported no production of CTX-M-2, 8, 25 in E. coli [33,34]. Furthermore, in a study in France (2006), none of the isolates had the CTX-M-8 gene, and only one isolate (2.27%) was detected to have CTX-M-2 gene among E. coli isolates [6]. In Egypt (2014), the frequency of CTX-M-2 gene was found to be zero in E. coli isolates and the frequency of CTX-M-25 gene was reported to be 1.3% [4]. Considering the results of the above studies, it seems that the prevalence of these genes in E. coli isolates is still low and varies in different geographic regions.
The prevalence of CTX-M-3 subtype varies in different regions. Studies in Iran on Group 1 of CTX-M have reported different frequencies which ranged from 35.87% to 87.5% [10]. For instance, a study in Rasht (Iran) showed that only 2.1% of the isolates possessed the CTX-M-3. This gene was also observed in 88% of ESBL-positive isolates in France and 84% in India [35,36]. The CTX-M-I was found in 60.6% of ESBL-positive isolates in Poland [37], but CTX-M-3 was reported to have an extremely low prevalence in other countries. For example, studies conducted in Canada reported that the prevalence of CTX-M-3 was 1% in 2007 and 2% in 2009. The prevalence of this gene in Germany (2009) was reported to be 4.7% [8,38]. In the present study, 85% of ESBL-positive isolates exhibited the CTX-M-3 gene, which can demonstrate the spread of this gene among E. coli strains in our region.
As a limitation of our study, it was not possible to collect all relevant data of patients' UTIs including underlined diseases, the history of UTIs and previous treatments.
Due to the high resistance of E. coli to beta-lactam drugs in our region, especially cephalosporins and penicillins, these antibiotics cannot effectively treat UTIs in outpatients. Although the prevalence of CTX-M-2, CTX-M-8 and CTX-M-25 subtypes of beta-lactamases in E. coli in Kermanshah region are relatively low, the prevalence of CTX-M beta-lactamases and CTX-M-3 subtype is high, which indicate the spread of drug resistance among the strains of this bacterium.
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The IFS (International Food Standard), is an international standard, based on the EN 45011 standard for product certification.
The BRC standard is an standard established by the Association of British Retailers or British Retail Consortium (BRC), which links the major trade associations in the United Kingdom.
At the beginning of 1996, the European Union awarded to "Sobrassada of Mallorca" the Protected Geographical Indication, extending the protection initially granted in Spain to the whole territory of the European Union.
The defense of the specific designation, the application of its rules and procedures, as well as the promotion and control of the sobrasadas of Mallorca is entrusted to the Regulatory Board.


text:
Dealership Lists 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 for Outrageous $169,900
That's a nearly $100,000 markup.
By Chris Chin December 20, 2019
The 760-horsepower 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, the automaker's most powerful car and one of 2019's most anticipated launches, is now starting to hit dealership showrooms across the country with a Ford-established MSRP of $72,900 plus destination fee. However, as the story goes for a lot of coveted machinery, dealerships are already inflating that price to stratospheric levels.
For example, one dealership in Thousand Oaks, California is advertising one of its freshly delivered GT500s for the hefty sum of $169,900. That's almost the same price as a Mercedes-AMG GT R coupe and a whole 10 grand more than a base 2019 Porsche 911 Turbo or Audi R8 V-10. Not only that, but it's a few grand shy of a whopping $100,000 markup.
Screenshot | DCH Ford of Thousand Oaks
One would think that the unit commanding such a premium would have some unique party piece in the form of special or additional equipment, while also checking every box marked on the build sheet. Shockingly, however, the stupidly high-priced pony car is a measly base model.
The dealership in California isn't alone, as another lot in Virginia is listing a GT500 for $145,890. While not as bad, that's still nearly a $72,000 difference, which could almost buy a second base-model GT500.
A quick search on Cars.com revealed that there are plenty of dealerships listing new 2020 GT500s well into the six-figure range. Refreshingly, a few are also listed for a price closer to the car's MSRP, with one dealership in Kansas selling a blue on black base GT500 for $75,390. Interestingly, the next similarly priced example is a white-on-black model for $78,390 in Ford's hometown of Dearborn.
Screenshot | Cars.com
While the new GT500 may be the hottest Ford yet with its supercharged 5.2-liter flat-plane-crank V8, we're not quite sure it's worthy of such markups. But in their slight defense, the GT500 is a limited production model and it may have even gotten rarer after a carrier hauling a pair of GT500s flipped in Michigan totaling two freshly made examples.
Earlier this year, Toyota dealers were caught red-handed hiking up the prices of some 2020 Toyota GR Supra Launch Editions for almost three times its MSRP price. A few Jeep dealers were also seen adding an additional $20,000 markup on the new Gladiator.
Happy shopping.
2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Review: The Price of Perfection
The GT500 is better than ever—but it's no longer a vicious super snake.
Car Carrier Hauling New 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500s Flips in Detroit (UPDATE)
Christmas delivery ain't happening.
Florida Toyota Dealer Selling 2020 Supra With Outrageous $40,000 Markup
An Al Hendrickson Toyota salesperson confirmed to us that it's most definitely charging a fully-loaded Camry's worth over the Supra's MSRP.
2020 Jeep Gladiator Dealer Markup as High as $20,000 in Some States
Do you fancy spending $75k on Jeep's new pickup? How about $80k?
Dozens of Chevrolet Dealers Promise No Markup on the 2020 C8 Corvette: Report
Praise be, Chevrolet dealers pledge to keep the C8 Corvette affordable.


text:
Would you want to see, if seeing meant that you would have to believe?
Oct. 7th, 2010 at 12:40 AM
Say, if anyone would like to send me one of those Yorkshire Terrier v-gifts, please go ahead. She says, off-handedly, in a too-casual way that implies she really wants some. In exchange, this post.
Glee, 2x03, "Grilled Cheesus"
Everything related to the title offends me, Kurt is a pill, can I please just replace this episode with 10 replays of "One of Us."
Rather than dwell on how very grating, aggravating, or just plain boring so much of this was, I'm going to embrace my approach to 1x02-04 and just slap up a bullet list of what little is good.
* I have listened to the full version of "One of Us" roughly a gazillion times since I discovered it on Sunday, and while I adore the original, Glee made it 1500 times more amazing. The episode performance was inferior, with its terrible outfits and being butchered to only 90 seconds, but you absolutely must go hear Kurt's wonderful voice on the second verse, especially with Rachel's harmony. It's the happiest I've been since his part in "To Sir, With Love." It's also the only music from the show I have enjoyed so far this year.
("Losing My Religion" was good in the sense that I recognized it, but was one of the times where Monteith's voice just made me want to listen to the original. That's also what I said about the It's My Life mashup and that's on my MP3 player now, but this time I mean it. IML was already a beloved song; LMR merely upgraded itself from "a song on the radio" to "oh, that's what the song on the radio is called." I never even knew the words. BRAIN, stop latching onto the "that's me in the corner" lyric and convincing yourself that Finn owns the first-person-POV rights to this song, and just let it exist as regular music)
(And while not a favorite, I am impressed with the newly sad, slow rendition of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and 500% appreciate the existence of a musical sentiment now applicable for all hospital vigils in every fandom ever. No, no, not for fanvids, just to play quietly in your head while thinking about it)
* Speaking of, Emma held Will's hand at the hospital. Go, Out Of Context Filter, go, go, go! First idea: Cut Kurt out of the picture (literally), head for season 1 and insert Terri as a car crash victim. This split second just became the best part of the episode for me.
Thank you, Magical Wishlist Supplier
* In Context Filter: Man, that's a whole lot of extracurricular teacher moments for me to hold onto. I love this show for handing out potential tragedy, and while the drama is largely squandered by giving it to Burt and Kurt, it cannot be entirely squandered so long as it involves a student and Mr. Schue provides the transport to the hospital and shoulder-squeezing support after also being the one to pull him out of class and break the news. The dark side of my brain that needs Will to be in a relationship, any relationship, even loves the fact that Emma came with.
* I always forget that Kurt takes French, and is marvelous when speaking it. Snark in a foreign language is the best.
* So long as it's on mute (and not because of Puck, actually, but because the verses I didn't know existed in this song just made me angry), watching the whole club dance around - teacher included - makes me happy.
* My heart swelled with joy in the split second where Quinn beamed at Finn for believing in Jesus. Make that a thing again.
* It is spooky how much the actor playing Young Kurt looks like Chris Colfer. It's almost beyond Idina Menzel. This casting department is made of magic.
* Sue was precious while asking her sister if she believed in God. PRECIOUS. Between that and the incredibly, dare I say, gentle ending in which she actually avoids picking a fight, she just might have been my #2 this hour.
* Parting Macro:
CSI: NY, 7x01, "The 34th Floor," and yes I know I am a week behind but let's pretend I am pairing it up with Miami
Real reason this is late: that teaser was so great I needed ten or twelve full days to roll it around in my brain, savoring every perfect moment of home-invading, tot-threatening, parent-pleading, and family-comforting before I could think about moving on.
Lone misgivings: 1) If her hands really were shaking, then Lindsay's shot seemed like the worst judgment in the world, and 2) way to turn your kid away from the upsetting carnage, guys.
Otherwise? Yeah. I will give Lindsay the benefit of the doubt, because Fierce Mama Bear mode is the most brilliant thing I have ever seen, and if I thought Danny over-emoted in the finale to the point where I had to patch over the worst parts in my brain, every note in this brief bonus continuation of Epic Finale of Epicness was pitch perfect. My delight when reality lived up to the daydream I'd concocted out of the spoilers knew no bounds. (And then as a bonus bonus bonus moment, Mac wordlessly coming over to hug Lindsay. That was my favorite part of the spoilers, but seeing it action, complete with absolutely lovely piano notes rolling over the scene so that watching it 15 times in a row will not drive me insane? Nirvana.)
Five months later, Sela Ward showed up and it all went to hell.
I don't care if everyone has decided to smile and find her charming in an attempt to get us on board and pretend we are not dead of woe that Stella is gone, it turns out I just despise her face. Everything she does just seems so obnoxiously forced. "Must make people like me! SEE HOW WONDERFUL I AM, A HA HA HA HA HA!" Even when she is not doing that, she just crawls under my skin and aggravates in the worst way. Though they are nothing alike, the last time a CSI annoyed me to this level her name was Riley Adams.
So, back to the more fun times of Monroe-Messer, I see we've got another case of hostile "SHRINKS ARE STUPID, RAWR!" That, of course, has never been done on any of my crime shows. Very fresh approach, Linds. I feel like her last round of gun-related trauma should have either taught her the power of therapy, or taught her that avoiding therapy causes you to bottle up until you're a PTSD basket case.
But oh, Mac coming up to talk to her on the roof (yay, yay, yay) -- with bonus Danny waiting in the wings! Featuring all kinds of adorable cuddling and hair kissing, wow, I thought for sure the teaser met my quota of Cute Moments, but then there you go! I might not be able to hate this hour as much as I want to.
Next episode. Next episode the Jo-inspired hate can kick in full force.
Other first impressions
-SWEET JESUS FLACK WHY NO. *flings self against back wall at sight of hair product horror*
-I am really really fond of the incidental music lately and would like to know if it's part of a suite. I've never found any music from CSI: NY like I have the other two; I'm not even sure I know the composer. Do THEY have a soundtrack? Maybe random background composers like my new buddy Jeff Cardoni?
-Like I said before, I'm glad that Stella got a safe exit to go run a lab in New Orleans, although she's so 100% New York to me that I can't imagine her down there, and I still desperately miss her presence - the absence of her dynamic with Lindsay is especially cutting right now, it's temporarily worse than losing Mac/Stella. Also, still peeved that circumstances made her departure a shoddy afterthought.
-Hahaha! I love that they ended with "Empire State of Mind," apparently just to prove how terrible that kind of music is until it's been awesome-washed by Glee.
CSI: Miami, 9x01, "Fallen"
I have no idea what went on for half of it, but I'm pretty sure that as a whole, this was my favorite of the three CSI-verse premieres.
+ Best thing it had in common with NY: the continuation of the loved-ones-in-danger cliffhanger, meaning lots more of Calleigh nearly dying while Eric freaked out nonstop, except for a temporary pause when he nearly died along with her (frankly, I am amazed he didn't kill her outright by dropping her on her head when he fell, especially given that he landed on top of her. Dramatic Fireman Rescue cannot be pulled off through sheer determination, dude; oxygen is required too). Screw logic and just enjoy it. With bonus moments of Horatio trying to rouse her, too, complete with a litany of "Sweetheart"s. Apply your out-of-context filter and take it back to season 3; there you go, there you go. Fun, right?
[sidebar: I like that there are random schizophrenic flashes back to them having sex while Eric's stumbling around dying. What even is that?]
+ Nice to see you, Ponytail Dave/my favorite part of New Miami after E/C
+ I find Jesse's abrupt and unceremonious death hilarious, and I will always find it hilarious. The sadder people act, the harder I have to muffle my outrageous giggles. It's hard to even think of it as "losing a member of the team," really. More like finally swatting a very oversized and very annoying fly. Did I mention that we kicked him out so we could have Eric back? Because YAY.
+ In this new world where I don't hate Natalia and apply my out-of-context-season (4) filter, I actually very much liked her initial grief at Jesse's unresponsive side, sinking against Horatio.
+ "Fallen": Featuring an appearance by Team Delko/Caine Beatdown, Brothers In Dubiously Legal Arms. Always welcome.
+ LOL-ing forever at utterly ludicrous team basketball game closure and its grossly blatant attempt to be heartwarming, complete with Horatio gratuitously sinking a swishy free throw in what is no doubt meant to be some sort of Grand Symbolic Gesture.
+ ...I still think this is a fascinating plot, even though I'm not really clear on how they got from some points to others, and Blondie is still my favorite suspect since Christa Miller.
Mini (SPOILER INCLUSIVE) Reviews, Week 3
-House, "Unwritten": Still adorable, still no words, but House as a complete fanboy of a juvenile mystery series is WONDERFUL. Like, my favorite plot thing since Death Cat. I'm pretty sure I just watched the author-talks-to-her-muse plot on Nim's Island, minus the suicidal notions and medical problems, and this easily matched it. Also, go-carts and Cynthia Watros and double dates. How is this season real.
Raising Hope: I LIVE FOR THIS BITE-SIZED PIECE OF CUTE OVERLOAD. Also, my secret wish appears to be coming true, as it just got a full-season pickup and I will bet $10 that Running Wilde is dead or doomed by Thanksgiving.
NCIS: Gibbs & Fornell have officially taken old-married-coupleness to a new level (hand-slapping, hee). In other news, I wish this show was dead and Numb3rs was living it up. SORRY. My specific grudge is gone, but my grief knows no bounds and while this series has nothing fundamentally wrong with it, it is still slipping into the chore zone normally occupied by SVU. Which, incidentally, this year is the total opposite of a chore.
Law & Order: SVU (12x04): In which Elliot and Olivia temporarily become U.S. marshals - oh good, so we're back to promos that only focus on the last 15 minutes - but still completely nail a wrenching story full of underage human trafficking and a heartbreaking homeless dad who accidentally sold two of his kids there under the promise of jobs in the countryside (because it's the early 20th century, I guess. I hear orphan trains are making a comeback too). Huang has lines. Warner too. It's an episode full of goodies. How is this the best season in years??
Next week: A preview promises the first bad episode of the year, and then suddenly David Krumholtz appears and turns it AWESOME. (let's not talk about his hair just yet) Also: turns out Munch is still on the show. I'm pretty excited.
P.S. HO, WAIT, WHAT, when did new Law & Order: UK episodes start happening? BRITAIN. Since when do you do things on time? Too bad, no room in the schedule right now; try me in December when all is bleak and barren on the broadcast stations.
csi: miami,
csi: ny,
law & order: svu,
ncis,
raising hope,
Re: Empire State of Mind, version AWESOME
Will reply to rest of comment later, but OH GOSH YAY, you made it completely listenable! Even Glee failed at that! *staggers wildly toward you for a glomping hug* Geeze, I knew this song had beautiful potential, it just needed somebody to let it fly. I don't normally like Alicia Keys either, but this is definite exception territory. I love when you find women with pianos rescuing music like this.
Re: Rest of Comment
Haha, yeah, now that I've had a chance to read it that is definitely its own post (LOVE IT).
I agree, it's evident that they tried to smoothly ease her in, but that's a tricky trick under the best of circumstances and the chemistry just isn't there for me. I am apparently the only person who feels this way (which is weird, because normally I only turn up contrary after I hear popular opinion), and I might be able to dial my opinion down to mere apathy, but based on the two episodes I've now seen, everything's simply bland and devoid of charm (the weird dynamic she has going with Adam doesn't help). I probably would have been better about the exit if we could at least have had Stella's voiceover -- without it, her exit's explanation was just so obviously slapped together at the last second. Even though it basically was, it shouldn't look it.
Thank you for agreeing with me about Flack's hair, though. From now on, I will just imagine Angell (who is totally not dead, but merely transferred to some off-screen department) mercilessly teasing him and snicker to myself.
rainbowstevie : Re: Empire State of Mind, version AWESOME [+1]


A truckdriver who pretended to be an investment broker on the Internet has reportedly agreed to a permanent injunction from a federal court prohibiting him from operating as an unregistered broker. The trucker's web site promised investors returns ranging from 60 to 208 percent a year.
In a civil action against Mark Steven Snader filed in a Dallas, TX, federal court earlier this month, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged that E-HighYields.com solicited money from investors for a bogus "prime bank" trading scheme. The SEC said Snader, of Stevens, PA, became a "one-man show" behind the now-defunct investment web site.
Snader apparently told visitors to his site that he had a staff of analysts working for him and that he was advised daily by a network of consultants with access to information not available to the general public, according to published reports. Instead, Snader worked alone from his home computer. "Further, Snader, who claimed to be a former purchasing manager for one of the top 50 corporations in the world, was in fact a former truck driver and welder, with a high school education and no investment experience or acumen," the SEC said in a released statement.


text:
Q: Intersect TriangleMesh from screen coordinates in JavaFX I have a TriangleMesh in javafx and a 2D point in screen space and i want to check whether any triangles in the mesh intersect with that point(basically same as clicking a point in the mesh except that i already have a predefined screen coordinate)
Note that i don't care where the intersection happened etc but only the fact whether it intersected or not.
I did try googling this and found some useful answers, especially one by José Pereda here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/27612786/14999427
However the links are down
Edit: i did find a working link to it, however it just hardcodes the origin/target and im not sure how to compute these from the 2d screen point
Another idea i had was to copy the implementation from openjfx but after some research i figured that i'd have to copy a lot of internals and even then i wasn't sure if i would get it working so i scrapped that idea.
Goal: i want to use my mouse to create a rectangle at an arbitrary position in the mesh and then find all triangles that are inside that rectangle (i believe it's usually called rectangle selection in 3d modeling software)
Update: converting each triangle to 2d screen coordinates using Node#localToScreen and then doing a 2D point inside triangle test works perfectly however it also selects faces that are culled.
Update 2: after also doing the culling myself it works quite well (it's not perfect but it's mostly accurate)
Current code:
Point2D v1Screen = view.localToScreen(mesh.getPoints().get(0), mesh.getPoints()
        .get(1), mesh.getPoints().get(2));
Point2D v2Screen = view.localToScreen(mesh.getPoints().get(3), mesh.getPoints()
        .get(4), mesh.getPoints().get(5));
Point2D v3Screen = view.localToScreen(mesh.getPoints().get(6), mesh.getPoints()
        .get(7), mesh.getPoints().get(8));
Point2D point = new Point2D(mouseX, mouseY);
boolean inTriangle = pointInTriangle(point, v1Screen, v2Screen, v3Screen);
// Back-face culling
double dxAB = v1Screen.getX() - v2Screen.getX();
double dyAB = v1Screen.getY() - v2Screen.getY();
double dxCB = v3Screen.getX() - v2Screen.getX();
double dyCB = v3Screen.getY() - v2Screen.getY();
boolean culled = ((dxAB * dyCB) - (dyAB * dxCB)) <= 0;
if (inTriangle && !culled) {
    view.setMaterial(new PhongMaterial(Color.BLUE));
    System.out.println("Intersected");
}

A: I think the answer to this question may help you. How to correctly obtain screen coordinates of 3D shape after rotation If you can compute the screen coordinates of a 3D shape (triangle) the hit test should then be simple.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


3-room apartment 48 m2 on 1st floor. Beautiful furnishings: living/dining room with flat screen and hi-fi system. Exit to the terrace. 1 room with 1 french bed (2 x 90 cm, length 190 cm). Exit to the terrace. 1 children's room with 1 x 2 bunk beds (90 cm, length 190 cm). Exit to the terrace. Open kitchen (oven, dishwasher, 4 ceramic glass hob hotplates, microwave, electric coffee machine, combination microwave). Bathroom, sep. WC. Heating. Terrace 8 m2, east facing position terrace 8 m2, west facing position. Terrace furniture. Beautiful view of the sea and the mountains. Facilities: washing machine, iron. Internet (WiFi, extra). Garage.
Canet Plage: Residence Grand Sud. In the district of Canet Sud, 100 m from the sea. For shared use: swimming pool (15.06.-15.09.). In the complex: lift. Public parking on the road. Shop, restaurant 400 m, sandy beach 50 m. Please note: There are more similar properties for rent in this same residence. Direct access to the beach (no road to cross). Centre, museums 1.5 km. Harbour, tennis 2.5 km.