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Thirteen Russians: a Defense Lawyer Decodes the Mueller Indictments
By AM Wednesday, March 7, 2018
Stanley Cohen writes for Counterpunch on the vagaries of the US justice system.
Photo by Medill DC | CC BY 2.0
"A courtroom is not a place where truth and innocence inevitably triumph; it is only an arena where contending lawyers fight not for justice, but to win."
Though there is disagreement about the exact wording used by the legendary defense attorney, Clarence Darrow, in describing what he did better than anyone of his day, perhaps of any day, the sentiment outpaces its many incarnations and puts to rest the preaching that trial proceedings or pleadings are necessarily a welcome home to justice.
Ultimately, it's a search in look for a happy and honest end that, for most, is ever present but just never quite gets there.
Darrow spent his life in the trenches of migrant and trade union camps among anarchists and suffragettes… those who believed collective struggle was more than slogan driven chants that seem to find an almost recurring desperate chorus each and every electoral cycle.
Though remembered largely for his timely, but far too brief, court-room burying of obedient evangelical submissions, he went on to "Inherit the Wind" in real time for real people.
Having tried and saved the lives of over 150 accused in capital punishment cases, Darrow had that unique ability to speak to jurors, in court and out, well above and beyond the seductive devotee roar of the crowd or the crime of the moment. In courtrooms from coast to coast, he reduced often complex legal theories to simple steps while deconstructing cases built of overt acts but, in reality, frequently maneuvered by little more than pain and passion.
Like any seasoned defense attorney, Darrow spent hours consumed not with the literal language of a given charging instrument but the nuanced message contained somewhere in between each fine line. For those of us who have been there, that study says as much about what a prosecutor has, and where they plan to take it, as it does what an accused did that swept them within the eye of the storm.
While endless debate has been unleashed with the most recent indictment returned by the grand jury empaneled by Special Counsel Mueller, most of it is but more tea leaves to be read as so much wishful partisan cheer for Putin… or jeer for Trump.
Watching journalists and fans, alike, weigh in, with expert certainty, on matters of complex litigation and sophisticated criminal procedure, as if a mere cotton candy purchase may pass time with sweetened fancy, however, it provides little informed answer by way of what a "case" is, or is not, and where it may ultimately lead.
To acquire a meaningful glimpse of what the most recent indictment… and, perhaps, those yet to come… augurs for the future, one must necessarily understand not just what an indictment is and is not, but why some are pursued at all during the life of a complex investigation.
The Grand Jury Process
Indictments are not verdicts of guilt proven beyond a reasonable doubt as found by a unanimous jury of twelve following a full and fare adversarial proceeding in which both sides get to challenge and recast evidence or introduce their own.
They are simply pleading instruments; basic charging documents that reflect probable cause sufficient enough to convince a majority of typically 23 jurors who heard all the relevant evidence that various crimes were committed and that certain defendants participated in them.
As for the proceeding, itself, under federal law, while live testimony is the usual, preferred way of presenting evidence to a grand jury, hearsay is permitted. Often an agent simply reads to jurors from reports he or she generated that include what a witness said about what they saw or did or what another source told them. Unlike a trial, where jurors can assess firsthand the credibility of each witness through direct and cross-examination, in the grand jury no such vehicle for challenge or impeachment exists. Indeed, not at all a search for the ultimate "truth", prosecutors are under no obligation to present Brady material, that is to say, exculpatory evidence to grand jurors.
While federal judges oversee a grand jury presentation and are available to resolve unusual issues or conflicts that may unexpectedly arise during its term, unlike at trial, they are not physically present in the jury room and rarely make rulings on the admissibility of evidence that it hears. Nor do they provide legal or curative instructions about either the relevance or significance of evidence, nor define the elements of a given offense, nor provide final legal instructions before jurors decide whether to return what is known as a "true bill."
For those stunned by this brief thumb-nail sketch of the ex-parte nature of the grand jury process and the ability of prosecutors… should they be so inclined… to essentially stage manage each case as so much a tailored grade B movie… welcome to the real world of the criminal bar.
Although there are "special grand juries" that issue non-criminal reports to a court that may release their findings, a federal grand jury almost exclusively hears "routine" criminal matters. It is empaneled for an 18 month period and, while it can be extended by the court for up to another 18 months, this rarely happens.
Indeed, while the specter of a "deep-state" grand jury sitting in some secret catacomb-like courtroom for 7 plus years targeting Julian Assange and Wikileaks has, for some, become a mantra of political faith, for them I suggest a long peaceful walk in the country. This prophecy is little more than an expedient exercise in convenient reality rewrite.
Most grand juries hear evidence related to multiple unrelated criminal matters with responsibility largely limited to that of reviewing evidence as it is introduced and issuing indictments (or not) based upon investigations that have already been largely completed.
Although very rare, a grand jury can, as here, be empaneled to investigate a single matter and related offenses. Given its by-in-large narrow focus, it is clear that the grand jury that returned the recent indictment against 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities was, when empaneled, expected to do a lot of proactive hands-on work including a review of classified material as it proceeded.
In high profile, complex cases, these particular grand juries are essential to the underlying investigation itself because… unlike prosecutors and law enforcement agents… they can issue subpoenas and compel witnesses to answer questions under oath.
Generally, indictments are not rich with unnecessary or particularly graphic detail but rather provide a bare bones view of the government's case. This is not by accident. Strategically, seasoned prosecutors know better than to memorialize prior testimony of witnesses which must be provided to the defense and can be later used for impeachment purposes should they be called to testify at trial on the government's case in chief.
In relevant part under federal law a true bill must simply contain 1) a plain, concise and definite written statement of the essential facts constituting the specific offense charged and 2) allegations of each element of the offense so that an accused is provided fair notice of the charge against which they must defend.
Although by statute the burden of proof for a legally sufficient indictment is merely probable cause, under long settled Department of Justice policy, charges cannot be brought as a simply a means to harass an accused, to coerce a plea (where evidence to convict is otherwise lacking) or to secure additional time in which to build a case against those indicted to be tried at some future date. Likewise, an indictment may not be obtained simply to toll a statute of limitations that is otherwise in danger of lapsing thereby prohibiting a future prosecution of a given offense.
While prosecutors are under no obligation to present their case, in its entirety, to a grand jury, they are prohibited from seeking a true bill unless they possess sufficient evidence to prove one's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt for the charges returned as of the time of the indictment.
That holds true for superseding indictments that add additional charges as evidence of new crimes, against those already charged, often unfold as prosecutors prepare for trial or add new co-defendants.
Although distasteful, yet entirely lawful, at other times superseding indictments are sought to bring added pressure upon defendants to dispose of a case by plea or to cooperate against others as they watch their own personal exposure increase exponentially with the return of a second or third indictment.
Likewise, there is nothing untoward or prohibited for prosecutors to obtain an indictment as a part of a broader strategy that includes an on-going investigation that may produce future related charges against, as yet, unknown co-conspirators or to induce cooperation agreements from them as they emerge.
The 13 Defendant Indictment
The recently returned indictment for Conspiracy to Defraud the United States is rich with comical imagery. Whether it's a U.S. citizen standing in front of the White House holding a sign that reads "Happy 55th Birthday Dear Boss" or another depicting Clinton stating "I think Sharia Law will be a powerful new direction of freedom" or a person paid to ride in a cage on a flatbed truck wearing a costume portraying Clinton in a prison uniform, it appears a lot of money was invested, but little original creative talent expended, in crafting a nonetheless entertaining virtual SNL.
No less amusing were inventive hash tags that ran the gamut from "#IWontProtectHillary," to "#Hillary4Prison" to "#TrumpTrain" to social media ads such as "Donald wants to defeat terrorism… Hillary wants to sponsor it" to "Hillary is a Satan, and her crimes and lies had proved just how evil she is" to "Among all the candidates, Donald Trump is the one and only who can defend the police from terrorists."
Likewise, giving snark a dilettante's name, indeed, various fraudulent Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts were apparently set up by the co-defendants including the "Clinton FRAUDation" and, my favorite of all, under the name of "Woke Blacks" which, no doubt, swung the election to Trump through the ad: "[A] particular hype and hatred for Trump is misleading the people and forcing Blacks to vote Killary. We cannot resort to the lesser of two devils. Then we'd surely be better off without voting AT ALL."
And then there were the memorable rallies such as "Support Hillary… Save American Muslims." Hopefully this one was recorded by the NSA to be shown over and over again on Turner Classic Movies as evidence of just how desperate and obtuse the US body politic had become by the time of the election in 2016.
Humor aside, the indictment returned by the DC-based grand jury includes a number of serious, often used, generic stand-alone offenses that are easy to prove and difficult to defend.
Indeed, over the years the Bureau of Prisons has been a frequent habitat for thousands of people of color, the poor and political dissidents charged with such crimes as bank and wire fraud, identity theft, money laundering, credit card fraud and visa violations… all of which are covered by the indictment at hand but conveniently overlooked by those partisans who wish to trivialize it as little more than desperate McCarthy like overreach.
Under federal law, identity theft and identity fraud are terms used to refer to all types of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person's personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception. It includes credit card fraud that covers s a wide range of activity such as:
+ False applications for loans and credit cards,
+ Fraudulent withdrawals from bank accounts,
+ Fraudulent use of telephone calling cards or online accounts, or
+ Obtaining other goods or privileges which might be denied if the applicant were to use their real name.
In one form or another, each of these designated offenses were set forth as overt acts in the indictment returned against the identified Russian nationals and each carries a significant prison sentence upon conviction.
Thus, the Department of Justice prosecutes cases of identity theft and fraud under a variety of federal statutes including the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act. This now 20 year old law prohibits "knowingly transfer[ring] or us[ing], without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person with the intent to commit, or to aid or abet, any unlawful activity that constitutes a violation of Federal law, or that constitutes a felony under any applicable State or local law." It carries a maximum term of 15 years imprisonment.
Schemes to commit identity theft or fraud may also involve violations of other statutes such as identification fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1028), credit card fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1029), computer fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1030), mail fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1341), wire fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1343), or financial institution fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1344).
Each of these offenses carries substantial penalties as high as 30 years imprisonment.
Likewise under federal criminal law one who submits a visa application that knowingly contains false information can be charged with a fraud against the U.S. government. And when, as here, multiple defendants are charged with participation in the same underlying offense conspiracy to commit fraud becomes the designated charge.
In relevant part "whoever knowingly forges, counterfeits, alters, or falsely makes any immigrant or non immigrant visa… for entry into, or as evidence of, authorized stay or employment in the United States, knowing it to be… falsely made, or to have been procured by means of any false claim or statement is guilty of a violation of 18 U.S. Code § 1546.
Upon conviction of such offense, and absent aggravating circumstances, one faces a sentence of up to 15 years imprisonment to be followed by deportation.
According to the so-called "Russian" indictment, most of the defendants committed a per se violation of the applicable statute by falsifying the reason for their visit to the United States and accordingly faces significant criminal exposure upon conviction.
Although thousands of women and men have been convicted, imprisoned and deported for run of the mill visa violations no more serious than those set forth in the indictment this past week, a cursory search of such prosecutions reflects a clear and long standing preference for targeting political activists and dissidents.
Thus, Mousa Abu Marzook was arrested and detained for some 22 months in 1995 for failure to update his visa status by including his membership in Hamas. The head of its political wing, Abu Marzook, had lived in the United States for some 14 years as a lawful permanent resident… entirely before the group's designation as a foreign terrorist organization in 1999. Ultimately, Marzook was deported to Jordan.
Mazen Al Najjar was accused of being part of Palestinian Islamic Jihad leadership and the editor of WISE (World and Islam Enterprise) Journal. Al Najjar was detained for 8 years for fraud arising from his overstay of his student visa and providing false information about his marriage to a US citizen for the purpose of obtaining permanent resident status. He was ultimately deported in 2002.
Mohamad Mustafa Ali Masfaka, also known as Abu Ratib, a Syrian singer and one time lawful permanent resident was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for failure to include pertinent facts in his immigration application. According to the Government, he was an unreported "operative" of the Holy Land Foundation from 1997-98. However, it was only years later, and after his involvement with HLF had ended, that it was declared a pro-Hamas terrorist organization.
Year before, in 1984, Joe Cahill, a famed Irish Republican and former Chief of Staff of the provisional Irish Republican Army, was deported from the United States for a second time on the basis of illegal entry. On this occasion, he entered the country through the use of a false Irish passport and provided untruthful information as part of his visa application.
After ten years of imprisonment, Joseph Patrick "Joe" Doherty, a volunteer with the Provisional Irish Republican Army, was deported from the United States, in 1992, for visa violations arising from his illegal entry through the use of a false passport.
In 2004, Elana Lappin, a British journalist, became another in a long line of journalists deported from the US for use of an improper visa to obtain entry in the country.
In 2010, Vicky Peláez pleaded guilty to working in the United States as an unregistered foreign agent for Russia and was deported in exchange for the government dropping the more serious charge of money laundering, thereby, avoiding any jail time.
At the same time, Anna Chapman (née Kushchyenko), a Russian national, had her British citizenship revoked and was deported from the US along with nine others in exchange for the government dropping criminal charges lodged against them. They were removed because of visa violations connected to their alleged work with the so-called "Ilegals Program" spy ring under the Russian Federation's external intelligence agency, the SVR. According to charging documents the ten became "Americanized" as they spent years living under false names adopting American identities and building relationships with sources as they gathered intelligence information ranging from that about nuclear weapons to the gold market to personnel changes at the CIA.
Recently, Rasmea Odeh's U.S. citizenship was revoked for failure to include information about an almost 50 year old conviction in Israel which she had failed to include in her visa application when she entered the United States in 1994.
Convicted ,in 2014, and sentenced to 18 months in prison, after her conviction was reversed, she accepted a plea agreement which stripped her of her citizenship and deported her to Jordan.
Although the sentencing court praised Ms. Odeh for her years of service as an organizer among Palestinian women in Chicago, the judge went on to announce from the bench that the "immigration system relies on honesty."
Why this Indictment?
There is abundant evidence that the various overt acts set forth, and criminal counts returned, in the recent indictment pose significant criminal liability and prison time for those charged.
Yet, understandably, many are torn by the reality that given their status as Russian nationals and the absence of an extradition treaty with Russia, the accused stand no chance of ever ending up in a US court lest they be foolish enough to risk arrest through a cross border passage into a country bound by the Interpol Treaty.
Indeed, typically, when the government does not know where the subject of an indictment is, or does, but knows they are beyond the reach of the court, indictments remain sealed in the hope that an unwitting suspect will one day make the mistake of returning to the United States or another country with which it shares an extradition treaty. Why then was the indictment returned, let alone unsealed?
As for the unsealing, the cynic in me says it was done as a matter of political expedience and power providing an opportunity for the Special Counsel to push back against the political narrative that has deflected the search for truth wrapping millions of Americans in the garb of hoax, fake news or witch hunt.
For many on the right or so-called left, this deflection has become a resounding glee club whether in defense of the president or to support Russia as the enemy of my enemy (the US) or the friend of my friend (Assad).
Others are terrified with the prospect of an indictment to come which names Assange, not as a journalist or publisher, but rather as a common co-conspirator involved in various overt acts related to an alleged hack or possible cover-up that ensued.
For them, Assange is the flawless golden calf beyond challenge or corruption and anything that might tarnish that sculpt must be staved off no matter where the truth may go or just how selective and unequally the law is applied to get there.
Be that as it may, in one fell swoop the public release of this indictment has with predictable political precision retired claims that there is no evidence that Russians and Russian entities conspired to use various publicity and social media platforms to defraud the United States in the run up to the election of 2016… as that term is commonly applied and historically enforced.
In point of fact, to whatever extent the White House was contemplating ending this now wide reaching investigation through a slow burn "Saturday-night massacre", this indictment has likely turned it into an interesting chapter of what was… in a book yet to come.
As for the practical consequences of obtaining and unsealing the indictment, as a matter of both substantive and procedural law it makes perfect sense.
While a debate has raged on among legal scholars as to whether an obstruction of justice count may lie in the absence of a real-time predicate offense, the return of this indictment has now rendered it an interesting, but moot, point.
For those who believe a conspiracy to obstruct justice compels an actual underlying offense (I do not) or an investigation into one, with the arrival of these charges both prongs of this construct have now been retired to little more than a law school contest.
Conspiracies are not finite; members come and go, often without knowledge or familiarity with others who may share its broad brush aim or even just one of its narrow components. Conspiracies arise when there is an agreement among parties… a meeting of the minds… and overt acts carried out in furtherance of them. Under federal law, all are equally responsible for the foreseeable consequences of a given conspiracy no matter what their individual role.
Some conspiracies involve an illegal end accomplished through lawful overt acts. Others a lawful end carried out by illegal overt acts. Overt acts are simply steps undertaken in furtherance of a particular end. "Impossibility" is no defense to conspiracy to commit a crime.
For example, an agreement to sell fake drugs is nonetheless a crime. Nor does impossibility render a conspiracy any less illegal. Accordingly, a conspiracy comprised of 6 undercover law enforcement agents and one civilian will, of course, not come to fruition but yet remains a crime. So, too, an agreement to illegally impact a given election through impossible means does not discharge its participants from accountability no matter how unrealistic the effort may have been.
By law, a conspiracy does not necessarily end when its intended goal is either reached or fails but can, by agreement, continue to include a host of on-going overt acts or activity intended to hide its existence.
Thus agreements to provide or pay for legal counsel or bail, to care for family, to hide or destroy records such as emails, text messages, audio and video recordings, to mislead investigators about meetings or discussions, promises to pardon, provide future employment or cash, to hinder or end investigations can constitute core components and tangible evidence of a continuing conspiracy as well as the discrete charge of obstruction of justice.
From a technical standpoint, the presence of a charged conspiracy empowers prosecutors to introduce various statements of defendants as evidence in chief against all co-conspirators that would otherwise be deemed to be hearsay and thus inadmissible. For example, if person A in the current indictment is overheard talking to person B about what, as yet, uncharged person X has said or is to do in furtherance of the conspiracy, that discussion may be used against X to build a case against her.
Thus is provided a powerful tool in proving the reach and roles of those accused of criminal involvement.
From a practical standpoint under the applicable sentencing guidelines, there is no difference of consequence in sentence exposure arising from the conspiracy or the underlying substantive offense, itself. That is to say, conspiracy to commit bank robbery and the robbery itself are essentially a difference without a distinction when it comes to sentence upon conviction.
The indictment returned not long ago is what is known in criminal law parlance as a "speaking" one. Well above and beyond the requisite bare bones recitation of events, its precision was intended to give notice of the nature and extent of a sophisticated multi-jurisdictional investigation.
To be sure, it's unnecessary depth and breadth was crafted as much to serve as an enticement for others to cooperate as it was to lay the foundation for superseding indictments sure to follow. For those schooled in the prosecution or defense of complex criminal enterprises, this tactic is very much the norm.
The indictment itself is not static. As noted, it can, and likely will, be superseded to include new charges and defendants who, by additional overt acts or aims, shared the criminal intent set forth within the underlying indictment; namely to illegally impact the election of 2016 and thus to defraud the United States.
One need not be a soothsayer to envision a host of additional overt acts that may very well end up swept within the reach of the conspiracy found to date, or as evidence of a new one. For example, a meeting, let's say in a tower, between campaign officials and foreign nationals in which discussions about how to obtain an unlawful election edge, information or otherwise, could easily be weaved into a variation of the current conspiracy. Exchanges of emails, calls and texts before or after the meeting to further its aim are no less problematic for potential co-conspirators.
So, too, an agreement to provide a benefit such as the end of an international sanction law or to change a political platform in exchange for campaign contributions or payments or large unsecured loans are the very kind of overt acts upon which criminal conspiracies are built and proven.
Evidence that individuals, candidates or staff wittingly approved and abetted in the release and use of protected computer data to further one candidate at the expense of another, whether obtained by hacks or internal leaks, adds a new dimension to the case at bar as additional suspects are drawn closer to the gravamen of the prosecution.
These are but a few examples of just how an indictment currently involving 13 foreign nationals and entities and a relatively sedate but criminal social media campaign can explode as so much a launch pad overnight to draw dozens of additional defendants into a federal criminal court and, possibly, prison.
If history is, in fact, a guidepost of what is yet to come, the current complex investigation is not at all without precedent. As Richard Nixon was to painfully learn… what can begin quietly in the dead of night with an obscure offense born of arrogance and greed can tip the scales of justice in ways that even the most powerful of all cannot withstand or avoid.
More articles by:Stanley L. Cohen
Stanley L Cohen is a lawyer and human rights activist who has done extensive work in the Middle East and Africa.
Stanley Cohen US justice system
wolfe tone 10:59 AM, March 07, 2018
Any 'conspiracy theorists' that are still running with this notion that big bad Russia won the election for a Trump need to take a long walk in the fresh air. Btw, Samantha Power is now blaming the Russians for the recent Italian election results lol. Total denial whilst keeping the peasants totally blind to what's going on I.e the most corrupt tend to point the finger at others the most.


At each edition of Milano Whisky Festival in November we receive a lot of praise for our bottlings: as the title says, it's getting to be a habit, and this year instead of the usual medal we were awarded TWO. Two gold medals, to be exact.
One for the best single malt in the Daily Whisky category, and one in the Connoisseur Whisky category. The first golden medal is for Beathan 2010/2017 "Heavy Peat - Extra Strength", a Highland whisky which is unusually heavily peated and aged in second fill sherry casks. The second gold medal was won by our Glenrothes 18yo 1997/2016 "Sherry Finish Oloroso", a very traditional example of whisky from this distillery, with the typical fruity, winey and very dry notes due to the usage of sherry casks.
See you back in November 2018, for an even bigger MWF… and for more Wilson & Morgan gold medal bottlings!


Dry Cleaning and Laundry services, Golie's Cleaners specializes in Alterations in formal wear for both women and men as well as causal wear. Recommended by Bridal Shops in the Bay Area for Wedding Dresses and Bridal gowns. Golie's Cleaners is accredited by the Better Business Bureau with an A+ rating. A full service shop working with men's suits, leather garments, knits, and shoe repair. The business has major contracts with the Military and large uniform companies specializing in design, restoration, and repairs as well as patches for the Military Services. Golie's is now an integral part of the community where she has fostered a family of regular customers.
Originally from Iran, Golnaz "Golie" Bakhtiari immigrated to the United States in 1985. Seventeen years later, Golie was a successful dry cleaner and in business for over 20 years despite having majored in art. It was a love of fabric and the opportunity to manage her own business that drew her in. Having worked as a costume designer for a performance art theater and a master's degree in Fine Arts, Golie's passion was fabric textile and clothing design. She originally studied in America in the 70's, returned to Iran for 10 years, and then came back to America and later followed her passion after a successful teaching career. She feels to be successful in her business you must have knowledge of fabric and the nature of different materials like linen, rayon, or silk. You have to know how it reacts to various substances and liquids.


The BalticClimate Toolkit provides local and regional level policy makers, spatial planners, and the business community with climate mitigation and adaptation support. Development and increased competitiveness of municipalities, regions and companies are the main objectives.
The BalticClimate toolkit provides explanations of regional climate change scenarios and scenario impacts for the Baltic Sea Region (BSR), as well as for selected areas within the Baltic Sea Region. Also available are several levels of information and tailored processes for users to follow in terms of assessing vulnerability, as well as identifying the challenges and opportunities they may face due to climate change. Hence, the users are enabled to deal with climate change issues in a cooperative, integrated and sustainable way.
The stepwise processes are further backed up with examples of tool-use results from throughout the BSR, as well as video clips and presentations of cases of win-win-win situations, pertaining to the sectors of transport, energy, housing and agriculture.
The BalticClimate toolkit is available publicly online at www.toolkit.balticclimate.org in 11 BSR languages and English. Development was done within the BalticClimate project, part-funded by the European Union's Baltic Sea Region Programme 2007-2013.


think I came across another, but it escapes me at the moment.
Adams was the only title issued with the 100 Best Non-Fiction designation.
Yesterday I foun William James: The varietyoes of Religious Experience.
0a>  out the hottest 2008 models today at Yahoo! Autos.


Intel's new "Bloomfield" quad-core Core i7 processors are the company's first to be based on its long-previewed "Nehalem" architecture. You see, the Core i7 family doesn't just mean new CPUs, they use a new chipset, a new system bus, and a new socket structure. In short, it's a whole new ballgame. This is the first major technology jump since mid-2006, when Core 2 CPUs showed up on the scene. Yep, in those two years since, we've seen incremental upgrades stacking on more cores at higher clock speeds while dropping the manufacturing process down to 45nm. But buckle up for what's next.
Intel's existing Front Side Bus architecture is replaced with its QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) technology that ferries files at a peak rate of 25GB/second to help speed the data's journey. As I understand it, that is the theoretical limit, but not all the new Nehalem CPUs will approach that speed.
Hyperthreading makes a come back. The four cores can each process two threads at once so the operating system thinks its dealing with eight CPUs.
A "Turbo Burst" feature pushes individual cores into the red zone (133MHz to 266MHz over base clock frequencies) when a program calls for it. But this happens automatically in the background -- pretty much invisible to the user.
Integrated memory controller supports three channels of DDR3 (only) memory per socket. By finally making it move off the North Bridge, latency will drop (just don't ask me the exact percentage, our tests haven't fully run their course, yet).
Uses Socket B (LGA1366) for motherboard installation. This is the same socket type that's expected to be used by "Westmere" series CPUs; Intel's next major mainstream desktop processor update slated for Q4 2009.
Intel also makes its move to step up Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE) instructions to improve graphics and reduce times for transcoding video. It'll be interesting to see how this move stacks up to what Nvidia's been proposing for a while now: using a GPU and lower-end CPU with better, more cost-effective transcoding performance. Hey, Nvidia's been shouting out for a while now that you don't need a high-end CPU to do everything --I'd pay to see that grudge match. As we start getting in machines sporting Core i7 architecture, we'll be able to pit the two against each other and see whose solution is better.
How much are these gonna run you? The 2.66-GHz Core i7 920 goes for about $300. The 2.93-GHz Core i7 940 costs in the neighborhood of $580. The meaty 3.2-GHz Core i7 965 Extreme sells for roughly a "mere" $1060.
While I can't speak to how well it plays (we're still testing a bunch of Core-i7 equipped machines), let me direct you to our review of Falcon NorthWest's Mach V (or watch the video below) for more details.
But I'm pretty impressed with the fact that Intel is making an aggressive price play on the baseline Core i7 CPUs. A powerful CPU that comes in for under 300 bucks is nothing to sneeze at -- and taking a swipe at AMD, which is well-known for cost-effective computing. Would I be likely to drop top dollar on the i7 965? Maybe when we start seeing more modern, high-end apps will be able to take advantage of all that Nehalem's new architecture has to offer.


text:
People and the Internet
According to a classic short story called the Veldt which was written by an American writer, Ray Brandbury. I have noticed that technology and family institutes are merging together. The main characters in this story that have been talking about are the parents, George and Lydia Hadley and their offspring Wendy and Peter Hadley. They are living in a technologically driven house which basically this house would run everything for the owner.
The sentence that has proof that these kids Wendy and Peter are spoiled kids is when their dad says "nothing is too good for our children". They let their kids live with technology and let them use it without any limitation. Looking back to real life at the present there are a lot of families which let their kids live and learn with technology, Laptops, iPad, Phone and Internet. Some kids could already make money from the Internet these days. While parents are working and working and kids are searching and scrolling, the bond of family also can be decreasing as well. Technology developed over the past two decades and there are of course advantages and disadvantages of technology.
Many parents are buying smartphones for their children under 13 for a security reason so that they can track their children, they can phone their child directly. Looking back when I was young as a girl who doesn't know what Google is I spend most of my time in the real world with people around me. We were having a really great time back then but then after I got my first iPhone and Instagram first launched. My friends introduced me to the world of picture and picture with the photo of the hottest girl in the school at that time. After that the activities or hobbies of people have changed. Everyone is more concerned about pictures and photo editing. Some people just couldn't stop coming up with new content for posting.
We could be really educated with technology but we also could be one of those Instagrammer who only scroll down to stalk people and cafe hunting for a cute picture. I have been seeing that many people are making money from Instagram, Facebook and Tik-Tok but some people could get addicted to their phone.
During three months of lockdown in Thailand. There is a new social media application which has been really popular until now called "Tik-Tok". The good thing about this application is that it keeps people entertained, most of the people are dancing, doing challenges and having fun with Tik-Tok. Everything seems to be real entertaining but on the other side of the world we are having a big economic crisis and people dying out there. Not so many people are considering about the COVID-19 situation at that time. It's like we are being spelled under the fantasy world of social media and cyber-world. People could be stuck in it and there is no way out.
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An Excerpt from ENG: Writing about Texts Reflection Essay…5/4/2016
Township Sunset
Another day reaches its denouement cows are milked hens locked up and stretching across the township summer night peat fires are lit wisps…
The Ultimate Decision For Mankind
The following story came to me in the early morning hour of 5am.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This was a nice project, here we have installed a Reeded Softwood Deck.
The customer has oiled the decking to attain a darker colour.
For this deck it was important to make sure we finished flush with the existing paving and bifold doors.
The second stage of this project will be beginning in a couple of weeks, as we will be decking around a Jacuzzi and forming an area between two outside office spaces.


The Bayou Classic 14" by 2 3/4" Cast Iron Skillet is the perfect 'larger family' sized cast iron frying pan for searing and frying.
Treated well these cast iron frying pans will last for generations. Your Grand children will be proud to use them.
If you'd like to show off your cast iron frying pan as it ages and develops that beautiful hue, it has an eye for hanging on a hook.


[S69] Unknown author, The Heritage of Vance County, N.C., pg 263 & 242.
[S339] Henderson Daily Dispatch, c 30 Mar 1998, Unknown, 1 Sep 2004.
[S179] Unknown volume, Vance Co., N.C. Death Certificate: death certificate for Mater Harris Renn, Register of Deeds Vance Co., NC Courthouse.
Birth*: Nancy M. Harris was born circa 1819 at NC.
[S545] 1930 Vance Co., N.C. Census, pg 93.
Birth*: Roger Perry Harris was born on 16 June 1939 at Franklin Co., NC.
He was the son of Foster Man Harris and Jodie Falkner.
Death*: Roger Perry Harris died on 11 August 2008 at age 69 .
[S1241] Unknown author, Hall-Wynne Funeral Service Obituaries, for Roy B. Harris Jr. 14 Feb 2009.
[S1241] Unknown author, Hall-Wynne Funeral Service Obituaries.
Birth*: Sally "Sarah" Harris was born circa 1794 at NC.
Death*: Sally "Sarah" Harris died before 1860 at Splunge, Monroe Co., MS.
Shelby Jean Harris with husband Harold Renn and son.
Birth*: William E.B. Harris was born on 29 June 1855 at Warren Co., NC.
He was the son of Doctor Matherson Harris and Elizabeth Williams "Pinky" Lancaster.
Death*: William E.B. Harris died on 2 April 1936 at Warren Co., NC, at age 80 .
[S1462] Unknown author, Harris Family Tree.


Written by Scott Joseph on 18 January 2019 on 18 January 2019 .
Walt Disney World has announced the first three dates for its Delicious Disney Chef Series — Storytelling with Food, an ultra fine dining event that showcases the talents of the resort's top chefs.
The first dinner will be Jan. 28 at Markham's at Golden Oak, the exclusive community of multi-million dollar homes. Markham's is the community's clubhouse and private restaurant that is usually off limits to nonresidents.
Dominique Filoni, chef at Citricos at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, will lead a team of chefs in the evening's theme: A celebration of the 60th anniversary of Sleeping Beauty. The actual menus are always a surprise, but each course will somehow be tied to an aspect of the classic animated feature. I'm going out on a limb and predicting there will be apples somewhere.
The evening begins at 6:30 p.m. with a reception followed by dinner in the elegant dining room. Tickets for this dinner are $399 per person, all inclusive. Reservations, if they are still available, may be made by calling 407-939-5773.
The series started in the summer of 2016 as something of an experiment and was available only to residents at Golden Oak. It proved popular enough to move beyond summer and was eventually opened to the general public. It offers a chance for the Disney chefs to step away from their regular kitchens and to get creative. I've had the pleasure of attending a few of the past dinners and they've always wowed everyone there, including me. I wrote about the first dinner here and one that took place in Cinderella's Castle after hours here.
The other two dates announced are Feb. 25, with Flying Fish chef Timothy Majoras leading A Salute to Walt Disney's "It's a Small World" 55th Anniversary: A Tasting of the Many Lands of the Small World. If Majoras wanted to be cruel he could just serve the same thing over and over and over, but he has many options with the world as his inspiration.
And on March 25, Michael Rodriguez of the Yachtsman Steakhouse at Disney's Yacht Club Resort will offer a Fantasy Culinary Adventure of DUMBO.
As with the Jan. 28 event, the dinners will take place at Markham's at Golden Oak at 6:30. Cost for the February and March series is $349 per person, all inclusive.


The thatched roof, in various forms, has been used in tropical and temperate areas of the world. Thatching continues to be used in developing countries using locally sourced materials.
At a time when there was a shortage of roofing materials in rural England, a thatched roof on cottages was common among the poor. This roofing style continued until the late 1800s. The roofs were made of materials including straw, reeds, palm fronds or other dried plant material. The materials were assembled so that rain rolled off the roof, keeping the interior of the home dry. Since the underlying material stayed dry and contained trapped air, the thatch also insulated the home. The result was a warmer home in the winter and a cooler cottage in the summer. An additional feature was the the natural wind resistance. As needed, new lays of straw or "spar coating" would be laid over the original thatch to do repairs. On some of the oldest buildings these spar coatings have accumulated to a thickness of 7 feet!
In the past the wheat grasses grew very tall and made for excellent thatch. Today Norfolk reed is most commonly used in England. A roof of reed thatch will last 50 to 70 years, with the roof ridge being replaced roughly every 10 years.
In the last few decades the thatched roof has seen a resurgence in England. Presently, there are about 1000 full time thatchers in the UK. Restoration work on the old thatched roofs is being done as the preservation of historic buildings becomes a focus. For new builds a thatched roof provides a charming historical roof style. For other building projects it is considered an environmentally friendly roofing material.
Such a roof in England is associated with the wealthy now!
Renoteck may not install thatched roofs, but they do install green roofs in residential and commercial applications. Experience with all that Alberta climate has to offer ensures a successful install.
When it comes to roofing it is possible to think out of the box! Alberta weather and geography presents unique challenges when it comes to roofing. Renoteck has years of experience that they can draw on to give you the roof you want.


text:
Tropical storm undoes two furloughs
Karen is expected to be at least a strong tropical storm at landfall Saturday.
By Bob King and Darren Samuelsohn
The National Hurricane Center and FEMA called employees back on the job after Tropical Storm Karen formed Thursday morning off the Yucatan Peninsula, with predictions that it will become a hurricane shortly before bearing down on the U.S. Gulf Coast on Saturday.
Karen is expected to be at least a strong tropical storm when it makes landfall somewhere between eastern Louisiana and the Florida Panhandle. That will offer a test of the nation's ability to mount a hurricane response during a government shutdown that has locked agency doors, shuttered websites and furloughed 800,000 federal workers while forcing "essential" employees to work without pay.
A FEMA official said furloughs had hit 86 percent of the emergency agency's 4,300 permanent employees funded by lapsed appropriations.
( POLITICO's full government shutdown coverage)
The White House and leaders in Louisiana, Alabama and Florida pledged to mount full preparations for the storm, despite what Gov. Bobby Jindal called the "dysfunction" of the government shutdown. Still, Karen's emergence offered yet another reminder that the hiatus in federal operations can affect the lives of Americans far removed from the posturing inside the Beltway.
President Barack Obama received a briefing on Karen on Thursday morning and directed the administration "to ensure that federal resources and personnel needed to support state and local preparation efforts are available and on the job," said White House spokesman Jay Carney, who led off his afternoon news conference with an update on the storm.
Carney added that FEMA's regional offices along the Gulf Coast have been in touch with state and local officials "and stand ready to assist our state and local partners." He said FEMA "has begun to recall currently furloughed employees necessary to serve functions of the agency that protect life and property as they prepare for potential landfall."
It was unclear exactly how many FEMA employees were being recalled because of the storm. But the agency said it maintains emergency supplies including water, millions of meals and hundreds of thousands of blankets "at all times" in distribution centers around the country.
Jindal, meanwhile, vowed in a statement to POLITICO that "we won't let the dysfunction in Washington, D.C., impact our ability to be prepared."
( PHOTOS: D.C. closes up shop)
"We're ready. We're prepared to mobilize the Louisiana National Guard, and our state agencies are readying resources so we can protect our people and respond to this storm," Jindal said. "FEMA has also indicated they are taking people off of furloughs to assist our efforts. We will remain vigilant as this storm approaches, and I encourage everyone to stay informed of local updates and make sure to get a game plan in place for your family."
Likewise, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley said he and state emergency management chief Art Faulkner were in contact with the National Weather Service, the National Hurricane Center and FEMA to discuss storm preparations.
In Florida, state emergency management spokeswoman Julie Kay Roberts said leaders there have also been in touch with FEMA.
"We do not anticipate any issues at this time with the resources from FEMA for this storm," she said.
The National Hurricane Center near Miami has remained open around-the-clock despite the shutdown, but it had furloughed its lead spokesman, Dennis Feltgen. Also furloughed was FEMA's liaison to the hurricane center, Matthew Green.
Feltgen and Green both returned to work Thursday in preparation for the storm.
"That fills out our staff," James Franklin, the center's chief of hurricane operations, told POLITICO. "Two of our most important constituents are the media and the emergency management community. Those two were very important in outreach with very important partners."
Hurricane hunter planes from the Air Force Reserve and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have also been on duty, repeatedly probing the disturbance even before Karen officially became a tropical storm Thursday morning.
In its 5 p.m. EDT update, the hurricane center said Karen's strongest sustained winds remained at 65 mph and are expected to surge to 75 mph — making it a weak Category 1 hurricane — over the Gulf's warm waters by early Saturday morning.
A hurricane watch was in effect from Grand Isle, La., to west of Destin, Fla., while a tropical storm warning was in place from Grand Isle to the mouth of the Pearl River. A tropical storm watch covered areas including New Orleans, Louisiana's Lake Pontchartrain and the coast from Destin to Indian Pass, Fla.
A tropical storm warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected in the warning area within 36 hours. A tropical storm or hurricane watch means those conditions are "possible" within the affected area.
"The storm could still be near hurricane strength at landfall," the hurricane center said.
Beyond the Gulf Coast, Karen's forecast track could bring a soggy tropical depression to the Carolinas, southwestern or central Virginia, West Virginia or eastern Kentucky by Monday afternoon, although the probability of strong tropical-storm-force winds is centered mainly on Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and western Florida.
Kevin Robillard contributed to this report.
Government Shutdown,
Government Shutdown 2019,
Tropical Storm Karen


A man in Homewood may have brought his toys, but these cops and robbers weren't looking to play.
According to Dolton police, a man tried to rob a Homewood bedding store with a toy gun on Tuesday.
It appears he was trying to steal more than just a few Z's.
Officials said the unnamed man entered The Bedding Experts in Homewood, pointing a toy gun at an employee.
But the would-be robber found himself on the receiving end of a very real hunting knife. During a struggle, the man was stabbed several times, and an employee's finger was severely wounded.
It is uncertain at this time where the knife came from.
The not-really-armed man fled the store, but Dolton police were able to apprehend him using descriptions of his vehicle and its license plate.
Homewood Deputy Police Chief Dale Gustafson explained that getting him into police custody would take some time, as the man will have to be extradited from Indiana.
This man has made his bed. Now we'll see if he lies in it.


Yesterday at IoT World, Samsung's President Young Sohn and SmartThings CEO Alex Hawkinson got on stage to talk about Samsung's new Artik chip family and the SmartThings open cloud.
We had known that Samsung was launching a new set of chips/modules targeted towards IoT applications, but it was good to see the company shed some more light on its plans for SmartThings as well. Samsung's made it no secret of its plans to extend the SmartThings platform further by integrating with a variety of home appliances, but it was easy to assume at the time much of this talk was around Samsung's own line of appliances.
However, with this news, it becomes clear that Samsung and SmartThings have a fairly evolved strategy to become an turnkey IoT and Smart Home platform, providing ingredient technology in the form of three modules that target a variety of device categories and a new open cloud architecture with a set of APIs and an SDK for manufacturers to build their own client apps.
The Artik 1 is module targeted at wearables and small BLE devices like motion trackers, devices that need long battery life. The Artik1 will cost approximately $10; the Artik 5 has on-board Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 802.15.4 Zigbee/Thread connectivity, a dual core processor and video codec - a good application could be a connected camera or home security appliance; the last is the Artik 10, which as the same connectivity as the 5, an Octa core processor and 2 GB of on-board and 1080p video decoding and, according to the Verge, will cost $100.
Open Cloud provides a secure device cloud that accomplishes this by delivering device authentication, connectivity, data sharing and normalization, and security. It also has the ability to aggregate a diverse, wide array of data from third party applications, services and devices that can be accessed for visualization and analysis, opening up new potential for discovery within the developer community.
Yesterday at IoT World, we announced SmartThings Open Cloud: A Device Cloud and Data Broker solution that will fill this gap and allow us to provide this kind of offering to device manufacturers. The Open Cloud offering is powered by a Samsung Platform called SAMI.
So in essence, manufacturers can use the SmartThings cloud as their own IoT cloud infrastructure, leveraging both the integration work already done for SmartThings and building upon the data-cloud infrastructure Samsung has built for SAMI. What's also interesting is company can choose to use this offering for their own products fully independent, but they can also choose to integrate with the SmartThings consumer-facing platform as well.
In total, this set of announcements is big news. The combination of a turnkey modules and a full Platform as a Service cloud for IoT put Samsung/SmartThings in direct competition with companies like Electric Imp, Marvell, Greenwave and, of course, Intel. It also sheds light on the grander plans around Samsung's IoT strategy and how SmartThings has become a fairly big part of the master plan.


text:
Freedom-y
only art evokes one's feelings
collage for arts
arts and communication
supports and arts
technology and arts
the masterpiece of arts
Animation composer
arts & science
arts and business
history of arts
arts and learning
Masterpiece Artist Canvas
By jimmy February 9, 2020 the masterpiece of arts
With the weight of all this hanging over me, no wonder I couldn't get very far in selecting a single masterpiece to put in writing about. For instance the novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens is mostly thought of a literary masterpiece. The term is commonly used loosely, and a few critics such as Edward Douglas of the Tracking Board really feel it is overused in describing current films. The follow of producing a masterpiece has continued in some trendy academies of art, the place the final term for such works is now reception piece.
The 50 Windows of Creativity trail has turned Manchester into a huge open-air gallery. … while Ricky Adams' workplace vegetation have had a tough time of it. A Jewish household allege bias in a Dutch art-restitution case. Explore the rise of contemporary Scottish id as this museum's splendid gothic building reopens. The Scottish poet's private art collection, including work by late, nice Glasgow painter and novelist Alasdair Gray.
Powerful paintings created from jute sacks utilized in Ghana's cocoa bean business, stuffed with abstract ambiance and suggestiveness. The fantastic visions of the most poetic of all particular effects designers get a nice art retrospective.
One of the collections' main boosts came early in its historical past when local granite service provider Alexander Macdonald bequeathed his entire assortment to the gallery in 1901. The gallery's new shows have been an enormous hit.The facelift has been a shocking transformation, including the addition of a new flooring and rooftop outdoor areas. But the adjustments have been fastidiously thought out to retain and be devoted to Mackenzie's original frontage.
The Royal Academy in London makes use of the time period "diploma work" and it has acquired a fantastic collection of diploma works received as a situation of membership. Originally, the term masterpiece referred to a chunk of labor produced by an apprentice or journeyman aspiring to become a master craftsman within the old European guild system. His fitness to qualify for guild membership was judged partly by the masterpiece, and if he was profitable, the piece was retained by the guild. Great care was therefore taken to produce a fine piece in whatever the craft was, whether confectionery, painting, goldsmithing, knifemaking, leatherworking, or many different trades.
My first magazine job was with a design and structure commerce publication the place I acquired a primary-hand training and appreciation of how good, innovative design could make the world a greater place. It's something I take with me while touring the world and writing about the finer things in life. In addition to this weblog, you can find me at my "Jewelry News Network" weblog and fb web page, on Instagram @jewelrynewsnetwork and on Twitter @jewelrynewsnet.
She's sturdy, confident, and I felt like while this guide was certainly in regards to the love that she and Max shared, it was additionally almost like her e-book within the sense that she actually got an opportunity to shine on this portion of the story.
Max is so beautifully damaged, and I beloved how he was given a chance to actually heal himself on this book, and how he was subjected to some pretty critical obstacles.
I love how she is aware of the main points of the museums and the places and the surroundings.
As I've talked about in every review for this sequence, Clampett's writing is beautiful.
In painting, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa (c. 1503–06) is taken into account an archetypal masterpiece, although it was not produced for admission to a guild or academy. Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam (c. 1512), part of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, is taken into account an archetypal masterpiece of portray. For as little as £5.ninety nine a month you'll be able to entry all of our content material, together with Premium articles.
An straightforward-to-comply with on-line course that will train you the basics of Art. In a previous life I was an award-successful daily newspaper reporter who moved to enterprise and commerce magazines and who now makes a speciality of excessive jewelry and watches for publications around the world.
New Topicdiscuss This Book
They opened in 1925, 40 years after Mackenzie had referred to as the gallery itself into being. Also, a curator was appointed and a fund for acquiring new work established. The gallery had a small extension to the west of the building in 1902 – it's where the visitors enter in the intervening time under the Covid restrictions – then in 1904 it was prolonged again.
Art Masterpiece
We are sometimes touched at just how warmly individuals really feel in regards to the gallery and their favorite works. The gallery is very much at the coronary heart of the Granite City, particularly at present when its sleek and iconic warfare memorial to Aberdeen's Fallen – built 95 years in the past – takes on such poignant significance. If you don't already receive our regular roundup of art and design information through e mail, please join right here. Artist Richard Butchins considered whether you need good eyesight to make nice art.
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Joinery - BARLOZZINI, mobili, arredamenti, casa, bagno, cucina ed interior design.
Woodworking is one of the oldest arts of mankind. In the collective imagination, a joiner is a man with calloused hands who carries out a job that is both accurate and tiring. But for us working with wood is more than just sweat of our brow.
It is first and foremost quality craftsmanship and uniqueness: two elements that are essential for us.
Joinery is based on experience, creativity and intuition and is not limited to the past. We are professionals who live in modernity, for this reason we design and manufacture products and furnishing components according to the tastes and needs of our time.
Our daily commitment consisting of researching for customized solutions for every kind of setting, both domestic and work, in private and public areas.
We accept the requests of each customer creating customized furnishings that meets their tastes and actual space requirements.
A proven experience of more than ten years enables us to create customized furnishings and furniture accessories, always carefully selecting the raw materials.
"Bookshops, wardrobes, wall units, kitchens, paneling and everyday objects: we do everything you want so that you can live in the environement you have always dreamed of.
From the estimate to the delivery, we follow every phase with passion and attention, guaranteeing the customer of the reliability and safety of the work performed with extreme care of details.
We relieve the customer of all commitment and responsibility, we listen to and value every request to complete the furnishing and structural, functional and design works.
For information on our joinery work or to request for a free estimate, please fill out the contact form below.


If you stay 14 Nights or more. Receive a 20% Discount, applicable for stays between for stays anytime.
Get 25% off on stays that are 14 nights or longer. This special is always valid.
We are a old Pretoria guests house centrally located in the heart of the capital city. Born in the 1920's our house stands as strong and looks as good as she ever did with tall double volume ceilings and wooden floors from the period.
There are several communal areas like a kitchen, TV room and stoep for ours guests. Our bigger rooms feature bay windows and some also have on-suite bath rooms.There is a BBQ area, lapa and washing machines on the property.
We are looking forward to welcoming you to are home and sharing our city with you.
The weather and the friendliness of the people.
The game reserve we went to had the big five and we were able to spot 3 of them! Amazing!
The bush, heat and wild.
It's a nice place and it's not dusty and I love it in Pretoria.
The views and the friendly people.
Amazing nightlife. A lot of attractions to keep you busy. And it is a fantastic place in general.
Very clean rooms and its linen.
I loved visiting different shopping malls in Tshwane.


text:
Chicago Cop Who Shot Black Teen 16 Times Is Charged With Murder: Report
Breanna Edwards
The white Chicago police officer who shot a black teen 16 times in a fatal encounter that was caught on video has been charged with first-degree murder, multiple sources report.
According to Reuters, local newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times, are both reporting that murder charges were filed Tuesday against Officer Jason Van Dyke, who has been on administrative duty while state and federal prosecutors investigate the shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
Van Dyke turned himself in Tuesday morning and will be processed and fingerprinted before his noon bond hearing.
A video of the fatal October 2014 encounter is expected to be released Wednesday, with community leaders who met with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel saying that they expect protests to follow. The release of the footage, which the police union is against, is the result of a judicial order from a lawsuit brought on by a freelance journalist, Reuters notes. The video will be evidence if Van Dyke is charged.
Police claim that Laquan threatened officers with a knife and slashed at the tires and windshield of a patrol car. However, a lawyer for his mother who has seen the video says that the teen was seen moving away from police when he was shot.
Laquan's family received a $5 million civil settlement from the city in the aftermath.
Read more at Reuters.


Are you considering selling your company? Or are you seeking a strategic partner or financial investor to ensure further growth? And you don't have a clear idea yet?
After determining the basic information, we will propose a convenient sale procedure and discuss the potential sale conditions with you.
Do you want to negotiate or are already discussing the sale of your company with a specific investor?
We will contact the buyer on your behalf.
We will assess the buyer's proposal regarding transaction conditions and provide you with recommendations.
We will coordinate the sale, support you in negotiations, process an indicative appraisal of the enterprise, etc.
Are you the seller's consultant or broker? We will agree on an individual approach depending on the specific circumstances of the case.
Working with the specific nature of smaller companies.
Assess the marketability of the given company and the attainable price range. We will show you the investor's point of view.
Propose a corresponding approach for the given company sale including selection of a range of suitable bidders and negotiation tactics.
Process and present information about the business for sale so as to emphasise the relevant information from the investor's perspective and defend the required, reasonable price.
Through us, offers for the sale of a company are communicated to the greatest possible number of domestic and foreign prospective buyers:.
The communication channels we use are very difficult or expensive to access for regular sellers (e.g. savings on advertising of one or several companies for sale).
We have long-term relationships with many investors. Therefore, they consider our offers of companies for sale reliable and worthwhile.
We have set up our processes so as to maximally protect confidential information.
We ensure the repetitive preliminary communication process and provision of information to bidders, which would otherwise detain you.
Thanks to experience and process settings, we are generally able to protect you from unreliable or non-credible bidders (bidder "filtration") and concentrate instead on the most suitable partners for the specific case.


The ceremony will feature Naruwan Taiko Drummers and the Port of San Diego's Harbor Police Department Honor Guard. Speakers confirmed who represent the partnership and commitment of this project include Port Chairman Bob Nelson, Port Commissioner Marshall Merrifield, Acting Port President/CEO John Bolduc, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, San Diego City Council President Todd Gloria and Civic San Diego Chair Cynthia Morgan.
Highlights of the North Embarcadero project include dramatic, swooping streetlights (imported from Poland) along the new "Grand Hall" along West Broadway; lush jacaranda trees, whose purple blooms are synonymous with San Diego because it's the city's official tree; iconic public art by the internationally acclaimed artist Pae White incorporated into the design for new pavilions, café building, information center' and a new bathroom building that is also a Pae White art piece!
The design team is led by Project Design Consultants and includes Civitas, Spurlock Poirier Landscape Architects and Joseph Wong Design Associates, among others. Dramatic, swooping streetlights can be seen lining the new "Grand Hall" along West Broadway. Lush jacaranda trees (the tree of San Diego!) donated by the Village Garden Club of La Jolla adorn the area with purple blooms. A 105-foot-wide public esplanade provides an inviting place to walk. There's also a new information center, and a new café building where a a Carnitas' Snack Shack restaurant is expected to open as early as Spring next year.
Iconic public art by the internationally acclaimed artist and Californa-native, Pae White, is incorporated into the design for the new pavilions, café building and entertainment center. The new restroom building is also a Pae White art piece. The project also includes significant improvements to roadways, utilities and storm water systems. One example of these improvements is a water quality band. It is a natural water filtration system, created by layered mulch, soil and gravel. Water runoff from the street and sidewalks enters the band and trickles down through the layers, allowing only clean water to go into San Diego Bay.
This year has been highly significant for San Diego's waterfront. Not only does the North Embarcadero have a new look, but the County of San Diego's waterfront park opened May 10. Construction is underway at Lane Field with a hotel and a new public park, adding to the amenities to in the area.
Parking for the community event is available at metered parking spots and paid parking lots near the event. Attendees are encouraged to carpool or take public transportation. The San Diego Trolley has convenient stations with service to the Harbor Drive and Embarcadero areas with free and paid parking lots.
The new North Embarcadero is located at 1000 North Harbor Drive in downtown San Diego. For more information, visit portofsandiego.org.


The Carbon Farming Solution (2016), written by Eric Toensmeier offers both hope and tangible solutions to the climate crisis based on ecological and regenerative farming practices. Not only do they sequester carbon in the soil but they also present opportunities for economic development and social wellbeing. Ranging from practices as simple as using a cover crop, or rotational grazing to multi-species agroforestry and silvopasture, the book provides both the practical solutions, deeply scrutinized rates for sequestration, ample supporting research for implementation and a road map to implement it all. It is the most comprehensive book on the subject to date.
Unfortunately for the Northern reader, the majority of the focus is on tropical, subtropical and moderate climates that have the potential to sequester the most carbon due to a number of factors addressed. There is a nod to temperate climates, including Canada and there are especially important takeaways that can still be applied. At the very least, Townsmeier makes a compelling argument for wealthy nations funding such projects in the global south.
As well, switching production systems to those that benefit the environment beyond carbon sequestration have additional benefits: increased water holding capacity of the soil, more fertility, improved nutritional content in food, less reliance on synthetic inputs and improved biodiversity. Interestingly, there are a variety of options for conventional cash crop operations that do not require the immediate shift to organic or other agro-ecological systems. Incorporating cover crops, reduced tillage, applying mulch and compost, bacterial inoculations and improved irrigation, are simple, low cost applications that can improve soil organic matter and sequester carbon without massive changes. However, in order to meet the needed targets in reduction to keep global temperatures from warming beyond 2 degrees, more intensive systems that sequester moderate to high rates of CO2 are necessary.
Practices that have a low to moderate increase the amount of carbon sequestered in annual systems include Conservation Agriculture, Regenerative Organic Crop Production and Swidden Farming, also called Shifting Cultivation.
Townsmeier importantly offers a three point plan for scaling up carbon farming. This includes, 1.) Supporting farmers and farming organizations to make the transition, 2.) Effectively financing carbon farming efforts, 3.) Removing national and international policy barriers. Supporting farmers comes in many forms from financial to societal recognition. Embracing indigenous knowledge and valuing traditional knowledge is a key aspect of this. Thankfully, the author acknowledges that indigenous cultures have been practicing carbon farming for eons in their traditional farming, animal husbandry and land management schemes.
It is important to remember that the techniques offered in the book are new in the call for wide scale implementation and the entrepreneurial opportunity, however, credit must be given to the people that have over centuries developed food systems that work in partnership with the land. Townsmeier does an effective job of outlining how these techniques work, are important, can be implemented and why, while also acknowledging the vast array of knowledge that farmers, indigenous and non-alike, bring to the table.
This book is a valuable tool in the fight against climate change. As noted by the author, quoting Faith Bristol, the chief economist for the International Energy Association asserts that "The door to two degrees is about to close. In 2017 it will be closed forever." (pg.313) In order to mitigate the worst outcomes of climate change, wealthy nations need to invest in the tools and techniques outlined in this book. Farmers, land managers and the public alike, also need to invest in products that have been carbon farmed, discuss the idea, educate themselves and get it in front of local councils. Eric Townsmeier's book is the perfect place to gather ideas and then work towards implementing them, before the door to two degrees closes.
MSc. Capacity Development and Rural Extension, University of Guelph (2012), BA Anthropology, Wilfrid Laurier University (2008). Founder of the Upper Canada Mercantile.


New UV printer for printed foamex boards.
Due to our constant growth we have invested in a new UV large format flat bed printer.
Now we can print onto anything up to 50mm thick and any size up to 2m wide and any length. This new press has been added to our existing printers and the inks are eco-friendly and are dried by UV light. This means as soon as it is printed we can make you a roller banner stand or pop up stand reducing times needed for express print jobs.
Foamex graphic boards can be done in minutes and if Perspex needs printing front or reverse the ability to print white either in the image or as a flooded background means your images really stand out and are opaque while the Perspex remains clear.
The commissioning is done, our staff trained and it's full speed ahead in production.
The printed Foamex boards are well suited to point of sale, exhibition shell scheme and retail or office use.
We can also print onto Correx boards and banner material in a high resolution up to photographic quality.
We can print PVC foam boards and distribute anywhere in the UK or abroad for that matter. Whatever your requirements just give us a call on 01782 264110.


text:
ACBL Unit 539
Partnership Desk
Minutes and Financials
Masterpoint Races
Lena Jelusich 1917-2021
We are sad to report that Lena Jelusich died on November 1st 2021 at the age of 104. She is survived by her beloved daughter Carolyn Casey. Fellow bridge players shared their sentiments below. This was collected by Larry Sherman at the occasion of her 100th birthday.
From daughter Carolyn Casey
"Mom was born first and no one had any idea that another baby was coming. She told me she was put in at one end of the crib and her sister at the other end. Mom grew up on a dairy farm in Buckley, Washington, which is just outside of Tacoma. She worked the farm with her twin sister Louise and four brothers. One of her brothers died when he was 12 and her mother died the following year. Mom was eight and her mother was only 33. Mom had to quit school during the depression to help out on the farm. I remember her telling me about going to the doctor one day when she was a teenager and the doctor commented on the calluses on her hands. She always said that she and her sisters worked right along with their brothers doing everything they did.
We moved to San Diego in 1954 when daddy had an opportunity to buy into a shipyard which repaired tuna boats. Up until recently mom played bridge six days a week, taking Wednesday off to go shopping and go to Nordstrom for lunch. Growing up, mom did what the typical American housewife of the time did. She did everything from gardening, cooking, cleaning, and anything that needed to be done she did. My father did not play bridge but after he retired he would happily take her to & from bridge. I can tell you with 100% certainty that she would tell anyone and everyone to have fun while you can.
The main person she played with was Roger Doughman and she won many tournaments with him. I have asked her on more than one occasion recently to try and remember, but she cannot recall other than the fact she and Roger used to win big. She started playing with him in the early '60s. She won the women's pairs at the SD regional in 1965, but she can't remember who she played with. As far as I know the women that she used to win tournaments with have all died. I have a sister and a brother and they have no interest in the game. For as long as I can remember, Mom has enjoyed playing cards - whether playing pinochle with my uncles at the dining room table or our nightly family cribbage game after the dishes were done. There is nothing she would change! She likes things the way they are."
From District 22 President Bill Grant
"Lena Jelusich started playing bridge in 1960, when a neighboring San Diego housewife, Mimi Flood, wondered if she'd like to learn a new card game. Lena told her she knew nothing about the game, but Mimi said not to worry, that it was easy. That did it! She quickly became addicted, but since she still had children in school, only played once or twice a week. As she learned the ropes, she recalls someone telling her she played pretty well for a woman. In addition to several terms as hospitality chair for unit games and sectionals, Lena's combination of kindness, friendliness, and huge streak of competitiveness has made her a natural good will ambassador, playing with young and old, beginning and expert, all for her love of our game. Her daughter Carolyn Casey has now joined our ranks, disproving the bridge skips a generation rule."
From author Fred Parker
"There was a bridge player who always kept a small box on his laptop during the game. Each time, when it was his turn to bid, he would peek inside the box before making his call. We all assumed it was some kind of cheat sheet with notes about he and his partner's agreements. After passing away, the club owner was able to get the box from his children. He opened the box, and inside he found a single slip of paper that read "Pass." Obviously, you have never seen a similar box on Lena's lap!"
From bridge obituarian Jo Boyer
"Wish I were half the player Lena is." Meanwhile, last year, Jo (49) and Tom Tatham (89) teamed up with Lena (99) and Florence Seltzer (96). Their average age was 83.
From former partner Roger Doughman
"In our SD Sectional, we were playing in the finals of a Swiss team event. Our team consisted of Riggs Thayer playing with Cathy Strauch and Lena with me. Our opponents were Evan Bailey playing with John Strauch and Robert Rosenblum with Joel Hoersch. Lena arrived at a contract of 6S after cue bidding a couple suits at the 4 level. Joel under lead the ace of hearts to dummy's singleton K. Lena played the hand very nicely and made her contract. When comparing our 7 board match, we had 6 push boards while the 7th board was the above mentioned slam, which made only 4 in 4S at the other table. Robert came over and commented on that board, to which Lena responded, "Well, Robert, you bid what you can make."
From bridge historian Robert Rosenblum
See on the right an article "San Diego Pair Top Fund Game" from the August, 1980 issue of The Contract Bridge Bulletin. Lena paired with Roger to score a 75.6% game!
Click on the image to read the article.
From friend Common Knowledge
A fierce competitor, a gracious and loving person, Lena always has a smile on her face. Of things she likes the best, Lena loves the competition and likes the people. May you enjoy this, your 100th birthday, with friends and family who love being around you. And, just so you know, you are hot on the heels of Natalie Doerner, who just turned 103 and plays twice each week at the Soledad Club!
Photos of the 100th Birthday Party
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This is one of the toughest aspects of my practice – when the reality of insufficient insurance coverage strikes home.
Very few people realize that when we get behind the wheel, we are engaging in one of the most dangerous activities in the history of mankind. More people are hurt and killed in auto accidents than all the wars in the history of our planet combined. Even so, many of us see it just as a convenience, a recreation, or even a sport.
We certainly do not think that we could be injured, maimed or killed whenever we turn the key.
Nevertheless, there are two things we each can control about driving a car, and two that we cannot.
We can control how careful we drive (which sometimes makes no difference), and we can control how much insurance coverage we carry.
Conversely, we cannot control how irresponsibly other drivers behave behind the wheel, and we certainly cannot control how much insurance they have.
In Ohio, all drivers must carry a minimum amount of insurance coverage. This does not always mean they do, or if they do it is enough to adequately cover serious damages. That is why prudent motorists chose to pay for uninsured and underinsured motorists coverage ("UIM").
Unfortunately, unless you have an "umbrella" or other excess insurance, many have decided that $100,000 was satisfactory UIM coverage upon purchasing (or renewing) auto insurance. It is a difficult experience to come to learn that $100,000 sounds like a lot of money when choosing coverage, but then turns out to be wholly insufficient when one is severely injured in a car accident.
The insurance industry does nothing to help the problem when the marketing campaigns are tailored to "discounts" and "cheaper premiums" as if one is shopping for a better price on a pair of shoes. The truth is that the only thing lower premiums mean is lower coverage.
By the very nature of the hard learned lessons of 25+ years in this practice, whenever I have the opportunity I advocate that people should purchase as much auto insurance as they can afford, and cut corners in other aspects of personal finances. After all, there is nothing wrong with over paying for auto insurance when it becomes necessary to make a claim.