October 20th, 2019 • 2h 47m

1183: Infosanement

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Elijah Cummings 'signed subpoenas from his hospital bed' for Trump impeachment before his death | The Independent

Fri, 18 Oct 2019 09:04

Elijah Cummings was kept busy to the very end of his life leading an investigation into Donald Trump before passing away at the age of 68 on Wednesday, his aides have said.

The chairman of the House Oversight Committee was signing subpoenas from his hospital bed, one aide told the New York Times.

He also helped lead a Democratic caucus conference call.

We'll tell you what's true. You can form your own view.From 15p '¬0.18 $0.18 USD 0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described Mr Cummings as a ''north star'' who spoke with ''unsurpassed clarity and moral integrity'' on the House floor.

Ms Pelosi, who grew up in the city Mr Cummings represented, said he was her ''brother in Baltimore'' during a press conference on Thursday, adding: ''We've all lost a friend '... I'm devastated by the loss.''

leftCreated with Sketch. rightCreated with Sketch.

1/19 Donald TrumpAccused of abusing his office by pressing the Ukrainian president in a July phone call to help dig up dirt on Joe Biden, who may be his Democratic rival in the 2020 election.He also believes that Hillary Clinton's deleted emails - a key factor in the 2016 election - may be in Ukraine, although it is not clear why.

Reuters

2/19 The WhistleblowerBelieved to be a CIA agent who spent time at the White House, his complaint was largely based on second and third-hand accounts from worried White House staff. Although this is not unusual for such complaints, Trump and his supporters have seized on it to imply that his information is not reliable.Expected to give evidence to Congress voluntarily and in secret.

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3/19 The Second WhistleblowerThe lawyer for the first intelligence whistleblower is also representing a second whistleblower regarding the President's actions. Attorney Mark Zaid said that he and other lawyers on his team are now representing the second person, who is said to work in the intelligence community and has first-hand knowledge that supports claims made by the first whistleblower and has spoken to the intelligence community's inspector general. The second whistleblower has not yet filed their own complaint, but does not need to to be considered an official whistleblower.

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4/19 Rudy GiulianiFormer mayor of New York, whose management of the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in 2001 won him worldwide praise. As Trump's personal attorney he has been trying to find compromising material about the president's enemies in Ukraine in what some have termed a ''shadow'' foreign policy.In a series of eccentric TV appearances he has claimed that the US state department asked him to get involved. Giuliani insists that he is fighting corruption on Trump's behalf and has called himself a ''hero''.

5/19 Volodymyr ZelenskyThe newly elected Ukrainian president - a former comic actor best known for playing a man who becomes president by accident - is seen frantically agreeing with Trump in the partial transcript of their July phone call released by the White House.With a Russian-backed insurgency in the east of his country, and the Crimea region seized by Vladimir Putin in 2014, Zelensky will have been eager to please his American counterpart, who had suspended vital military aid before their phone conversation.He says there was no pressure on him from Trump to do him the ''favour'' he was asked for.Zelensky appeared at an awkward press conference with Trump in New York during the United Nations general assembly, looking particularly uncomfortable when the American suggested he take part in talks with Putin.

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6/19 Mike PenceThe vice-president was not on the controversial July call to the Ukrainian president but did get a read-out later.However, Trump announced that Pence had had ''one or two'' phone conversations of a similar nature, dragging him into the crisis. Pence himself denies any knowledge of any wrongdoing and has insisted that there is no issue with Trump's actions.It has been speculated that Trump involved Pence as an insurance policy - if both are removed from power the presidency would go to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, something no Republican would allow.

7/19 Rick PerryTrump reportedly told a meeting of Republicans that he made the controversial call to the Ukrainian president at the urging of his own energy secretary, Rick Perry, and that he didn't even want to.The president apparently said that Perry wanted him to talk about liquefied natural gas - although there is no mention of it in the partial transcript of the phone call released by the White House. It is thought that Perry will step down from his role at the end of the year.

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8/19 Joe BidenThe former vice-president is one of the frontrunners to win the Democratic nomination, which would make him Trump's opponent in the 2020 election.Trump says that Biden pressured Ukraine to sack a prosecutor who was investigating an energy company that Biden's son Hunter was on the board of, refusing to release US aid until this was done.However, pressure to fire the prosecutor came on a wide front from western countries. It is also believed that the investigation into the company, Burisma, had long been dormant.

Reuters

9/19 Hunter BidenJoe Biden's son has been accused of corruption by the president because of his business dealings in Ukraine and China. However, Trump has yet to produce any evidence of corruption and Biden's lawyer insists he has done nothing wrong.

10/19 William BarrThe attorney-general, who proved his loyalty to Trump with his handling of the Mueller report, was mentioned in the Ukraine call as someone president Volodymyr Zelensky should talk to about following up Trump's preoccupations with the Biden's and the Clinton emails.Nancy Pelosi has accused Barr of being part of a ''cover-up of a cover-up''.

11/19 Mike PompeoThe secretary of state initially implied he knew little about the Ukraine phone call - but it later emerged that he was listening in at the time. He has since suggested that asking foreign leaders for favours is simply how international politics works.

AFP via Getty

12/19 Nancy PelosiThe Democratic Speaker of the House had long resisted calls from within her own party to back a formal impeachment process against the president, apparently fearing a backlash from voters. On September 24, amid reports of the Ukraine call and the day before the White House released a partial transcript of it, she relented and announced an inquiry, saying: ''The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law.''

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13/19 Adam SchiffDemocratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, one of the three committees leading the inquiry.He was criticized by Republicans for giving what he called a ''parody'' of the Ukraine phone call during a hearing, with Trump and others saying he had been pretending that his damning characterisation was a verbatim reading of the phone call.He has also been criticised for claiming that his committee had had no contact with the whistleblower, only for it to emerge that the intelligence agent had contacted a staff member on the committee for guidance before filing the complaint.The Washington Post awarded Schiff a ''four Pinocchios'' rating, its worst rating for a dishonest statement.

Reuters

14/19 Lev Parnas and Igor FrumanFlorida-based businessmen and Republican donors Lev Parnas (pictured with Rudy Giuliani) and Igor Fruman were arrested on suspicion of campaign finance violations at Dulles International Airport near Washington DC on 9 October.Separately the Associated Press has reported that they were both involved in efforts to replace the management of Ukraine's gas company, Naftogaz, with new bosses who would steer lucrative contracts towards companies controlled by Trump allies. There is no suggestion of any criminal activity in these efforts.

Reuters

15/19 Kurt VolkerThe former US ambassador to NATO was appointed special envoy to Ukraine, and is thought to have played a role in linking Giuliani with Ukraine officials.He resigned just before giving evidence to Congress, which had subpoenaed him.After his testimony it emerged that he had apparently told Giuliani that he was being fed false information about the Bidens from Ukrainian officials.

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16/19 Marie YovanovitchA career diplomat who was appointed US ambassador to Ukraine towards the end of Barack Obama's presidency. She was abruptly recalled from her post in May 2019 amid claims that she was not co-operating with Rudy Giuliani's unorthodox activities in Ukraine.In the Ukraine phone call Trump refers to her as ''the woman'' and ''bad news'' and hints darkly at some sort of retribution, saying: ''Well, she's going to go through some things.''Subpoenaed to give evidence to Congress.

17/19 Gordon SondlandA Seattle hotelier who became US ambassador to the European Union after donating $1 million to Trump's inauguration committee, despite having no diplomatic experience.According to the whistleblower, Sondland met Ukrainian politicians to help them ''understand and respond to the differing messages they were receiving from official US channels on one hand and from Mr GIuliani on the other''.Subpoenaed to give evidence to Congress.

Reuters

18/19 Gordon KentA career diplomat, he was number two at the Ukraine embassy under Marie Yovanovitch. He has been subpoenaed to give evidence to Congress.

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19/19 Ulrich BrechbuhlAn adviser to secretary of state Mike Pompeo, with whom he has run businesses. The two were also at West Point military academy together.Swiss-born Brechbuhl is said to handle ''special diplomatic assignments''.Subpoenaed to give evidence to Congress.

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18/19 Gordon KentA career diplomat, he was number two at the Ukraine embassy under Marie Yovanovitch. He has been subpoenaed to give evidence to Congress.

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Despite not having participated in a roll call vote since September, the late congressman was continuing to spearhead the oversight committee's impeachment inquiry into Mr Trump along with two other House committees handling the investigation.

He has sparred with Mr Trump since the president took office, condemning the humanitarian crisis on the US-Mexico border during a fiery speech and decrying his attempts to ban residents of Muslim-majority nations from entering the country as ''unconstitutional'' and ''un-American''.

Mr Trump consistently attacked Mr Cummings online, calling the congressman a ''racist'' then describing his majority-black district as a ''disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess'' in which ''no human being'' would wish to live.

Mr Cummings served 12-terms representing the 7th District of Maryland, which includes parts of Baltimore.

The president tweeted his ''warmest condolences'' to Mr Cummings' family and friends, writing: ''I got to see first hand the strength, passion and wisdom of this highly respected political leader.''

He added: ''His work and voice on so many fronts will be very hard, if not impossible, to replace!''

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The House announced its intentions to continue the impeachment inquiry against Mr Trump in the wake of Mr Cummings' passing.

News of his death came as Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union, testified on Capitol Hill.

He turned on Mr Trump in a rare rebuke from a sitting ambassador and admitted he was ''disappointed'' by the president's decision to have his Ukraine agenda go through his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani.

Trump's hosting of the G-7 is deeply corrupt. Here's how Democrats can step up. - The Washington Post

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Archived Version

Thu, 17 Oct 2019 16:05

It's unlikely that the Senate will remove President Trump from office if or when he's impeached, but the president isn't taking any chances: He's going to squeeze every last dime he can out of the presidency while he still has the opportunity.

Which is why the White House just announced that it has awarded the privilege of hosting next year's Group of Seven summit of world leaders to the Trump Doral golf course in Miami.

As Post reporters Toluse Olorunnipa,David Fahrenthold and Jonathan O'Connell note, ''That decision is without precedent in modern American history: The president used his public office to direct a massive contract to himself.''

Acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney came before reporters Thursday and said '-- remarkably, with a straight face '-- that Trump's resort was chosen solely because it is ''the best physical facility for this meeting.'' It's pure coincidence that it just happens to be owned by Trump.

What's more, when Mulvaney was asked if the White House would share documents illuminating the decision, he said no: ''If you want to see our paper on how we did this, the answer is absolutely not."

Trump's blithe flaunting of this corruption, in the midst of a deepening impeachment inquiry '-- along with Mulvaney's middle finger to basic accountability '-- may help build the case for his ultimate impeachment.

How Democrats can respond

In an interview, Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.), a member of the Oversight and Judiciary committees, laid out a process by which Democrats might bear down harder on this latest corrupt misconduct.

Raskin told us he's been discussing with other Democrats the prospect of holding a House vote on a resolution disapproving of Trump's decision on Doral, as well as of his continued violation of the Constitution's emoluments clauses via his acceptance of untold sums from foreign officials and governments, and the U.S. government.

As Raskin noted, if the House passes such a resolution, and Trump continues down this course '-- as he will surely do '-- the House would have made its opposition crystal clear. The emoluments clause permits presidents to accept such emoluments only if Congress approves them, and here the direct opposite would have happened.

At that point, Raskin argued, Democrats would have strong grounds to consider making this latest corruption '-- and the broader emoluments violations '-- part of their ongoing impeachment inquiry and potentially grounds for an appropriate article of impeachment as well.

Raskin pointed out that the G-7 corruption and the ongoing Ukraine scandal '-- in which Trump is pressuring a foreign government to help him rig the next U.S. election on his behalf '-- have a connecting thread.

''The president's conversion of his public office into an instrument of private profit and political reelection is the cardinal sin of his presidency,'' Raskin told us. ''The government is not the president's private property. The emoluments clauses are essential to framing the high crimes and misdemeanors of the president.''

''It's hard for me to imagine a comprehensive impeachment resolution that does not refer to the president's repeated and continuing violations,'' Raskin continued. ''The get-rich-quick scheme that the president has cooked up with the G-7 and Doral has the kind of alarming public clarity that the Ukraine shakedown does. The president is essentially writing his own impeachment articles.''

Raskin pointed out that the House should first ''explicitly disapprove'' of Trump's conduct, to lay the groundwork for this process, because if not, ''our silence could be falsely construed as consent.'' He added that Trump's serial violations are so unprecedented that the process for responding is necessarily still evolving.

Trump has apparently operated on the theory that the more blatant his self-dealing is, the less likely he will be held accountable for it. Some examples:

The Trump International Hotel in Washington has become a magnet for people wanting to make a show of putting money in the president's pocket; in once case, T-Mobile spent nearly $200,000 there while awaiting approval of a merger. Trump ''encouraged'' Vice President Pence to stay with his entourage at his golf course in Ireland, even though it was some distance from where Pence was holding meetings. The group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington recently reported: ''One-hundred eleven officials from 65 foreign governments, including 57 foreign countries, have made 137 visits to a Trump property, raising the question of how much foreign money has been spent at Trump's properties.'' According to NBC News, Trump visited one of his own properties on 310 of his 1,000 days in office. His large detail of aides and security runs up significant bills. He even charges the Secret Service for the use of golf carts ($500,000 so far). Some of this is legally questionable; all of it is unethical, and the G-7 caper may be the most unethical action yet.

And while Trump waxes about how spectacular and convenient Doral is, G-7 summits are usually held in more isolated locations where establishing security for a collection of many of the world's most important leaders is less of a challenge.

Doral, furthermore, has been described as run-down; the resort's revenues are down, and a G-7 meeting could be just the ticket to give it publicity.

But all the money Trump ends up reaping from this scheme may help lead to his impeachment. Surely he views the trade-off as well worth it.

Jennifer Rubin: Impeachment is now a slam dunk

Helaine Olen: For Donald Trump, it's always about his bottom line

The Post's View: Mike Pence's stay at Trump's Doonbeg resort reeks of corruption

Dana Milbank: Is Trump a president or a timeshare salesman?

The Post's View: Trump refuses to distance himself from his private business '-- again

Opinion | Our Republic Is Under Attack From the President - The New York Times

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Thu, 17 Oct 2019 16:14

If President Trump doesn't demonstrate the leadership that America needs, then it is time for a new person in the Oval Office.

By William H. McRaven

Admiral McRaven is a former commander of the United States Special Operations Command.

Oct. 17, 2019 Image Credit Credit Damon Winter/The New York Times Last week I attended two memorable events that reminded me why we care so very much about this nation and also why our future may be in peril.

The first was a change of command ceremony for a storied Army unit in which one general officer passed authority to another. The second event was an annual gala for the Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.) Society that recognizes past and present members of the intelligence and Special Operations community for their heroism and sacrifice to the nation. What struck me was the stark contrast between the words and deeds heralded at those events '-- and the words and deeds emanating from the White House.

On the parade field at Fort Bragg, N.C., where tens of thousands of soldiers have marched either preparing to go to war or returning from it, the two generals, highly decorated, impeccably dressed, cleareyed and strong of character, were humbled by the moment.

They understood the awesome responsibility that the nation had placed on their shoulders. They understood that they had an obligation to serve their soldiers and their soldiers' families. They believed in the American values for which they had been fighting for the past three decades. They had faith that these values were worth sacrificing everything for '-- including, if necessary, their lives.

Having served with both officers for the past 20 years, the genuineness of their humility, their uncompromising integrity, their willingness to sacrifice all for a worthy cause, and the pride they had in their soldiers, personified all that is good and decent and honorable about the American military.

Later that week, at the O.S.S. Society dinner, there were films and testimonials to the valor of the men and women who had fought in Europe and the Pacific during World War II. We also celebrated the 75th anniversary of D-Day, recognizing those brave Americans and allies who sacrificed so much to fight Nazism and fascism. We were reminded that the Greatest Generation went to war because it believed that we were the good guys '-- that wherever there was oppression, tyranny or despotism, America would be there. We would be there because freedom mattered. We would be there because the world needed us and if not us, then who?

Also that evening we recognized the incredible sacrifice of a new generation of Americans: an Army Special Forces warrant officer who had been wounded three times, the most recent injury costing him his left leg above the knee. He was still in uniform and still serving. There was an intelligence officer, who embodied the remarkable traits of those men and women who had served in the O.S.S. And a retired Marine general, whose 40 years of service demonstrated all that was honorable about the Corps and public service.

But the most poignant recognition that evening was for a young female sailor who had been killed in Syria serving alongside our allies in the fight against ISIS. Her husband, a former Army Green Beret, accepted the award on her behalf. Like so many that came before her, she had answered the nation's call and willingly put her life in harm's way.

For everyone who ever served in uniform, or in the intelligence community, for those diplomats who voice the nation's principles, for the first responders, for the tellers of truth and the millions of American citizens who were raised believing in American values '-- you would have seen your reflection in the faces of those we honored last week.

But, beneath the outward sense of hope and duty that I witnessed at these two events, there was an underlying current of frustration, humiliation, anger and fear that echoed across the sidelines. The America that they believed in was under attack, not from without, but from within.

These men and women, of all political persuasions, have seen the assaults on our institutions: on the intelligence and law enforcement community, the State Department and the press. They have seen our leaders stand beside despots and strongmen, preferring their government narrative to our own. They have seen us abandon our allies and have heard the shouts of betrayal from the battlefield. As I stood on the parade field at Fort Bragg, one retired four-star general, grabbed my arm, shook me and shouted, ''I don't like the Democrats, but Trump is destroying the Republic!''

Those words echoed with me throughout the week. It is easy to destroy an organization if you have no appreciation for what makes that organization great. We are not the most powerful nation in the world because of our aircraft carriers, our economy, or our seat at the United Nations Security Council. We are the most powerful nation in the world because we try to be the good guys. We are the most powerful nation in the world because our ideals of universal freedom and equality have been backed up by our belief that we were champions of justice, the protectors of the less fortunate.

But, if we don't care about our values, if we don't care about duty and honor, if we don't help the weak and stand up against oppression and injustice '-- what will happen to the Kurds, the Iraqis, the Afghans, the Syrians, the Rohingyas, the South Sudanese and the millions of people under the boot of tyranny or left abandoned by their failing states?

If our promises are meaningless, how will our allies ever trust us? If we can't have faith in our nation's principles, why would the men and women of this nation join the military? And if they don't join, who will protect us? If we are not the champions of the good and the right, then who will follow us? And if no one follows us '-- where will the world end up?

President Trump seems to believe that these qualities are unimportant or show weakness. He is wrong. These are the virtues that have sustained this nation for the past 243 years. If we hope to continue to lead the world and inspire a new generation of young men and women to our cause, then we must embrace these values now more than ever.

And if this president doesn't understand their importance, if this president doesn't demonstrate the leadership that America needs, both domestically and abroad, then it is time for a new person in the Oval Office '-- Republican, Democrat or independent '-- the sooner, the better. The fate of our Republic depends upon it.

William H. McRaven, a retired Navy admiral, is a former commander of the United States Special Operations Command and former chancellor of The University of Texas system.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We'd like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here's our email: letters@nytimes.com.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.

Perry Tells Trump He Will Resign as Energy Secretary - The New York Times

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Thu, 17 Oct 2019 16:21

Politics | Perry Tells Trump He Will Resign as Energy Secretary Rick Perry, the former governor of Texas who has become enmeshed in the Ukraine scandal, said he would resign as secretary of energy.

Image Rick Perry, the energy secretary, Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas. Credit Credit Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times Oct. 17, 2019Updated 4:46 p.m. ET

Rick Perry, the energy secretary who has drawn scrutiny for his role in the controversy surrounding President Trump's efforts to push Ukraine officials to investigate the son of a political rival, on Thursday told the president he would resign from the cabinet.

The Perry resignation had been anticipated for several weeks, even before the news emerged of his involvement in efforts to pressure the new president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, to investigate a company that had worked with Hunter Biden, the younger son of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

In the ensuing weeks, Mr. Perry has been drawn deeper into the questions around the pressure campaign on Mr. Zelensky, which has spurred an impeachment inquiry that threatens to engulf Mr. Trump's presidency.

Mr. Perry told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Wednesday night that he was in contact with Mr. Trump's personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani about Ukraine-related matters at the direction of Mr. Trump.

It is not known exactly when Mr. Perry will leave his post, but it is expected soon. The New York Times had earlier reported he would leave by year's end.

Mr. Perry has been instrumental in supporting what President Trump has called a policy of American ''energy dominance,'' which includes increasing the exports of United States fossil fuels to Ukraine and elsewhere.

As energy secretary, Mr. Perry oversaw a sharp increase in the production of fossil fuels, particularly liquefied natural gas, and promoted it with a patriotic fervor '-- even dubbing the fossil fuel ''freedom gas'' and likening its export to Europe to the United States efforts to liberate the continent from during World War II.

''The United States is again delivering a form of freedom to the European continent,'' Mr. Perry told reporters in Brussels in May, according to Euractiv.com. ''And rather than in the form of young American soldiers,'' Mr. Perry said, ''it's in the form of liquefied natural gas.''

Mr. Perry also led a failed effort to engineer a federal bailout for struggling coal and nuclear power plants. Though the plan ultimately ran afoul of White House advisers, Mr. Perry has continued to maintain that the government still has the option of keeping aging plants operating, even as he asserted that incentives might be a better path forward.

Maggie Haberman is a White House correspondent. She joined The Times in 2015 as a campaign correspondent and was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for reporting on Donald Trump's advisers and their connections to Russia. Previously, she worked at Politico, The New York Post and The New York Daily News. @ maggieNYT

Lisa Friedman reports on climate and environmental policy in Washington. A former editor at Climatewire, she has covered nine international climate talks. @ LFFriedman

''There Is Definite Hanky-Panky Going On'': The Fantastically Profitable Mystery of the Trump Chaos Trades | Vanity Fair

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Archived Version

Thu, 17 Oct 2019 16:34

OTG

GrapheneOS Review

Brad reports Butt Porn serch worked

Hey Adam, no friggin joke man. You just made my phone look

up butt porn. I was playing you thru a Bluetooth speaker and you hey googled my

phone into looking it up. I couldnt believe it worked. So after 15 minutes of

browsing butt porn I decided to email you. Lol

Have a great weekend. Im looking forward to this Sunday's

Thursday no agenda. Lol

Corrections on Safari and uBlock Origin

Dear Adam,

Thursday's discussion of uBlock Origin being banned from

the Chrome Store was premature. It was only the development build that was

rejected by the automated submission system. It was never removed from the store,

just one beta build that was automatically rejected for unknown reasons. The

issue has since been resolved (https://www.reddit.com/r/chrome/comments/dgoymg/warning_ubo_ublock_origin_will_possibly_be/f3fwlto/).

Gorhill just seemed to feel like bitching about his

issues with Google's system and creating a lot of FUD.

With regards to Safari's Fraudulent Website Warning, this

was also FUD.

URL's are only sent to Tencent if your region is set to

China. Google's Safe Browsing list is used in the rest of the world. I don't

know why people are losing their shit over this though. Safe Browsing is used

in Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Firefox and has been for years. You have always

been able to disable this feature (except maybe Chrome, I'm unsure). Apple

claims that the URL's aren't sent and that the service is only used to download

blocklists (https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/10/14/safari-on-ios-can-be-sending-your-browsing-data-to-chinas-tencent).

Sincerely, Dude named Ben

European Airport Systems Infected With Monero-Mining Malware

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Sat, 19 Oct 2019 10:00

More than 50% of all computing systems at a European international airport were recently found to be infected with a Monero cryptominer linked to the Anti-CoinMiner campaign Zscaler spotted during August 2018.

The cryptojacking attack was discovered by Cyberbit's Endpoint Detection and Response team while deploying their security solution whose behavioral engine subsequently detected suspicious activity on some airport systems.

"The malware may have been used for months prior to the installation of Cyberbit EDR, although all workstations were equipped with an industry-standard antivirus," said Cyberbit.

Luckily, besides affecting the infected systems' overall performance and leading to increased power consumption, the XMRig Monero miner did not impact the airport's operations.

Attack detected using behavioral analyticsWhile the cryptominer used to infect the airport's computers was identified over a year ago, the attackers modified it sufficiently enough to make sure that it will not be identified by anti-malware software.

"The malware we found was first discovered by Zscaler more than a year ago," found Cyberbit. "It was modified just enough to evade the vast majority of existing signatures for it, with only 16 out of 73 detection products on VirusTotal detecting the sample as malicious."

Cyberbit discovered the infection because the threat actors repeatedly launched PAExec, a redistributable version of the legitimate Microsoft tool PsExec, a light-weight utility for executing processes remotely on other systems.

The tool was used for privilege escalation and it allowed them to launch an executable named Player "in system mode," making it possible to gain maximum user privileges on the compromised systems.

VirusTotal detection rate"System mode provides maximum privileges, so the miner would take priority over any other application for the use of workstation resources," says the report.

"This impacts the performance of other applications, as well as that of the airport facility. The use of administrative privileges also reduces the ability for security tools to detect the activity."

"The use of PAExec is often an indication of malicious activity, moreover the repeated use of the tool," added the Cyberbit researchers.

Fileless malware tactics used to avoid detectionThe attackers also used Reflective Dynamic-Link Library (DLL) loading (also known as Reflective DLL injection) '-- a known detection evasion technique used by malware operators '-- to inject malicious DLLs into a host process running in memory without using the Windows loader and completely bypassing the infected systems' hard drives.

PAExec was also added by the malware into the systems' registries to gain persistence to make sure that the airport employees can't get rid of the infection by rebooting the impacted computers.

Registry entries added to gain persistenceWhile the infection vector is not yet known, the attackers could have used a wide range of methods, from dropping malicious payloads via phishing emails or infecting the systems with miners hidden in seemingly benign files using steganography, to using drive-by downloads for dropping a cryptominer binary or exploiting vulnerable servers [1, 2, 3] running on the airport's network.

"In a worst-case scenario, attackers could have breached the IT network as a means to hop onto the airport's OT network in order to compromise critical operational systems ranging from runway lights to baggage handling machines and the air-train, to name a few of the many standard airport OT systems that could be cyber-sabotaged to cause catastrophic physical damage," concludes Cyberbit.

Yahoo Groups Is Winding Down and All Content Will Be Permanently Removed - VICE

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Sat, 19 Oct 2019 10:06

Update: After this article was published, a representative for Yahoo owner Verizon asked for a correction regarding the date that the Yahoo Groups site will no longer accept new posts from users: from October 21 to 28. Yahoo's initial post said October 21, as archived versions of the webpage confirm, but has now been changed to read October 28. When asked about the change, the representative then claimed that the original date was an error on Verizon's part. Whatever happened here, it looks like Yahoo Groups users have another week to post to the site. This article has been updated to reflect this new information and to include comment from Verizon.

Yahoo announced on Wednesday that it is winding down its long-running Yahoo Groups site. As of October 28, users will no longer be able to post new content to the site, and on December 14 Yahoo will permanently delete all previously posted content.

"You'll have until that date to save anything you've uploaded," an announcement post reads.

Yahoo Groups, launched in 2001, is basically a cross between a platform for mailing lists and internet forums. Groups can be interacted with on the Yahoo Groups site itself, or via email. In the 18 years that it existed, numerous niche communities made a home on the platform. Now, with the site's planned obsolescence, users are looking for ways to save their Groups history.

Yahoo notes that users can download their own data from the site's privacy tab, and posters on the /r/DataHoarders subreddit are sharing links to automated scraping tools.

"What's a good way to download specific Yahoo groups?" one Reddit user wrote. "I'm a member of a private one run by Cold War vets, and a lot of the information and discussion there isn't replaceable."

Yahoo's announcement says that the site will continue to exist, but all public groups will be made private and require administrator approval to join. Further, administrators will have access to some limited group settings, although most features'--files, links, photos, attachments, message history, and more'--will be turned off. According to Yahoo, users will still be able to interact with their Groups via email.

"We are tailoring Groups' features to match the preferences of our Groups members. Most of our members connect and share content primarily over email, so we believe this change will streamline and improve the Groups experience," Verizon spokesperson Brittany Votto said in an emailed statement. "Yahoo Groups will continue to provide a way for people to connect with their communities around shared interests, and we will continue to listen to feedback to ensure we keep our users happy."

This isn't the first time that Yahoo has turned the switch off on an important, if niche, platform and left users in the lurch. In 2009, Yahoo shut down GeoCities, taking roughly 7 million personal websites with it. At the time, digital archivists raced to save what content they could.

"These guys found the way to destroy the most massive amount of history in the shortest amount of time with absolutely no recourse," archivist Jason Scott told Time soon after it was shut down.

YouTube Bans 'Red Ice TV' Channel With Over 330K Subscribers, 45M+ Views

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Source: BlackListed News

Sat, 19 Oct 2019 10:07

Red Ice TV on Thursday became the latest channel to be sent down the memory hole by our ruling oligarchs in Big Tech.The Anti-Defamation League on August 15 put Red Ice TV on what many have called a "hit list" of 30 Christian and right-wing channels they demanded YouTube ban for "anti-Semitism."

Google-owned YouTube deleted a host of Henrik Palmgren and his wife Lana Lokteff's most popular videos back on August 26 during their last banning spree but that apparently wasn't enough to satisfy the ADL.

Our Red Ice TV YouTube channel with 330K subscribers have been deleted without notice by @YouTube. We are asking @TeamYouTube to look into this. Help us deman our channel back. This is absurd censorship. https://t.co/OgQHGqdFxs / https://t.co/uPR0CjTtYz

'-- Red Ice TV ð (@redicetv) October 17, 2019Woke up to find our @YouTube channel @redicetv with 335k subscribers was deleted! No strikes!What has become of the land of "liberty, religious freedom and free speech?"

'-- Lana (@LanaLokteff) October 17, 2019Red Ice had been on YouTube for over 10 years:

tfw your 10+ years of hard work is gone in a split second ð(C)https://t.co/aDfJFnvae2 / https://t.co/0mJykOnBNO pic.twitter.com/3nKsN5WcPB

'-- Henrik Palmgren ð ð¸ðª ðºð¸ (@Henrik_Palmgren) October 17, 2019As you might have heard @YouTube deleted our channel today. We didn't get to celebrate breaking 333K for even 2 weeks. Why @TeamYouTube WHY???These guys are reliable, unlike how youTube treats their creators: https://t.co/xc6vthscW2 https://t.co/BufRp128m5

'-- Red Ice TV ð (@redicetv) October 17, 2019Free speech has taken another huge step backwards again today.@redicetv #FreeSpeech #CensorshipIsReal #stopthebias "Red Ice TV" channel was deleted 10/17/19 with 45M+ views, 326K+ subscribers, and 1979 videos (all available below):https://t.co/3rrRKCa0V5

'-- altCensored.com (@altcensored) October 17, 2019Count Dankula and Styxhexenhammer were some of the prominent YouTubers who spoke out against YouTube's latest act of political-view-based censorship:

I'm not in favour of deplatforming, even if I find the opinions unsavoury.If you dont like the ideas, challenge them, dont silence them, it only makes people think that you are unable to challenge the ideas because they are correct.

Seriously, stop this. https://t.co/ILmMDbOrm2

'-- LOVE SAUSAGEð´ó §ó ó "ó £ó ´ó (@CountDankulaTV) October 17, 2019Seems that Red Ice @redicetv has been depersoned from Youtube.Another day another censorship fracas. I call on @TeamYouTube to reverse this decision- which may well have been made by a robot anyways.

'-- Styxhexenhammer666 (@Styx666Official) October 17, 2019We are also on:Telegram https://t.co/2Rnk4C8XNFBitChute https://t.co/E67cknmAIjDlive https://t.co/WhsAPBGyNiInstagram https://t.co/8vsW0S8uGCMinds https://t.co/u2b1qDS3vuGab https://t.co/Tc6fFzVVidYT https://t.co/YDgrM7LjUlBckp YT https://t.co/nut3a4RIKDFollow us there!

'-- Red Ice TV ð (@redicetv) June 29, 2019It's noteworthy that YouTube chose to ban Red Ice TV by themselves rather than as part of a larger ban wave. YouTube appears to be following a policy paper I covered from "researchers" led by professor Neil Johnson of George Washington University released in August which called for a slow but steady stream of mass bannings of right-wing thought criminals on social media to avoid "inflaming the entire hive" by generating too much pushback.

Reminder: Leftist "researchers" released a paper in August which called for a slow but steady stream of mass bannings of right-wing thought criminals to avoid "inflaming the entire hive" by generating too much pushback. https://t.co/IxGvPLV6m4

'-- Chris Menahan ðºð¸ (@infolibnews) October 17, 2019The paper recommended our ruling oligarchs ban "small clusters" of thought criminals "at random" to "weaken the cluster over time without inflaming the entire hive" and it appears that's exactly what YouTube is doing.When YouTube censored Steven Crowder along with farther-right figures like James Allsup, tons of mainstream figures spoke out to defend the free speech rights of everyone who was banned or demonetized. Today, they were all silent.

Though mainstream right-wingers may be afraid to speak out lest they be targeted next, it's clear as day this censorship is only going to keep expanding and keep getting worse.

Prominent (un)Democratic 2020 presidential candidates are calling for the President of the United States to be deplatformed and Big Tech is taking steps to make their request a reality.

Harris asked Warren why she didn't join her demand to shut down Trump's Twitter account. Warren failed to give a straightforward answer #DemocraticDebate pic.twitter.com/AIMajMBUcs

'-- The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) October 16, 2019The writing is on the wall for where this censorship is headed.Our ruling oligarchs want to go back to a world where they can run fake propaganda pieces like ABC News ran five times last week to lie our country into war without some pesky Twitter user being able to go viral by outing their deception.

Wow! ABC News is trying to pass gun range videos as combat footage from Syria pic.twitter.com/zfTWtwwSfZ

'-- Wojciech Pawelczyk ðµð±ðºð¸ (@PolishPatriotTM) October 14, 2019They want to have the power back where the New York Times can lie about Iraq having WMDs to start a war and have people actually believe it.Big Tech is spending all their social capital to try and make that a reality.

The top @Google results for "New York Times lied about Iraq WMDs" are propaganda pieces from the Times covering up their lies rather than expos(C)s on the Times lying about Iraq having WMDs to start a war. pic.twitter.com/lcTGDLFQXh

'-- Chris Menahan ðºð¸ (@infolibnews) October 18, 2019Follow InformationLiberation on Twitter, Facebook, Gab and Minds.

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Ministry of Truthiness

Trump Writes Unhinged Letter Demanding CNN Pay Him Money

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Archived Version

Sat, 19 Oct 2019 08:29

Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

This week, right-wing hoaxster James O'Keefe launched the latest of his series of secretly recorded videos, which purport to prove various conservative conspiracy theories but fail. The new version involves a CNN contractor recording employees grumbling about various complaints about the network, none of which establish the plot O'Keefe set out to prove, and some of which suggest the opposite (an employee complains that CNN covers Trump rallies but not Biden ones, which are too boring).

Even some of the conservative movement's dimmest stars came away unimpressed. The project nonetheless seems to have left an impression on Donald Trump, a devoted follower and purveyor of nearly all the right's conspiracy theories, a fanatical devotee of cable news, and, incidentally, the president of the United States. Trump has directed his lawyer to threaten a lawsuit against CNN on the basis of O'Keefe's flimsy video.

The letter claims that O'Keefe has personally disproven CNN's claim to be a news network dedicated to reporting facts. ''In the Footage, your employeesappear to state that CNN attempts to make its reporting appear neutral and unbiased, when in fact its reporting is far from neutral and highly biased against the President.'' The letter then moves on to its true complaint, stating (without any evidence whatsoever), ''Never in the history of this country has a President been the subject of such a sustained barrage of unfair, unfounded, unethical and unlawful attacks by so-called 'mainstream' news, as the current situation.''

Continuing from this extremely shaky factual foundation, Trump's letter proceeds to a ludicrous legal argument: CNN has violated the Lanham Act, which controls truth in advertising. Therefore, by claiming to be a real news network while subjecting Trump to hours of critical coverage, it has misrepresented itself. For some reason Trump claims he is personally entitled to financial compensation from CNN as a result. Trump plans to ''seek compensatory damages, treble damages, punitive damages, injunctive relief, reimbursement of legal costs, and all other available legal and equitable remedies.''

Trump's business career shows a long history of threatening absurd lawsuits for the purpose of intimidation. At times he has succeeded in bullying his targets into backing down. Usually, he fails to follow through on his threats. Even if Trump does follow through and file a lawsuit, it would be laughed out of any court '-- even one stocked entirely with Trump appointees.

However, Trump's impulse here should not be merely dismissed as another ineffectual tantrum from the toddler president. The effort to intimidate news organizations he cannot control directly is a persistent theme of his presidency. Trump has used his powers as president to punish independent media when the opportunity has presented itself. And as the cordon of professionals working to restrain him has disintegrated, the space between Trump's impulses and his official acts has collapsed. Just last week, the president formally endorsed, via a quasi-legal letter, his even more absurd position that Congress cannot legally impeach him.

Trump's authoritarian impulses frequently appear cartoonish because they are executed so clumsily, and based not in any fascist theory of government but in his literal failure to grasp separation of powers, popular sovereignty, and the rule of law as concepts. But to be an authoritarian clown is still to be an authoritarian.

Here's the full letter:

Get the latest from Jonathan Chait in your inbox.Analysis and commentary on the latest political news from New York columnist Jonathan Chait.

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"Everybody Is Freaking Out": Freelance Writers Scramble to Make Sense of New California Law | Hollywood Reporter

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Archived Version

Sun, 20 Oct 2019 05:58

A new bill that caps freelance submissions may make writing financially unsustainable for many workers even though the legislator behind the law insists that the goal is "to create new good jobs and a livable, sustainable wage job."California-based freelance writer Arianna Jeret recently learned about Assembly Bill 5 and is now concerned she and her colleagues in CA may soon be speaking about their jobs in the past tense.

Jeret, who contributes to relationship websites YourTango.com and The Good Men Project, says freelance writing has helped support her two children and handle their different school schedules. Her current gigs '-- covering mental health, lifestyle and entertainment '-- allow her to work from home, from the office and even from her children's various appointments. "There were just all of these benefits for my ability to still be an active parent in my kids' lives and also support us financially that I just couldn't find anywhere in a steady job with anybody," she says.

Jeret is now coming to terms with how her lifestyle will change come Jan. 1, when AB 5, California legislation aimed directly at the gig economy that was signed into law Sept. 18, will go into effect.

The bill, which cracks down on companies '-- like ride-sharing giants Lyft and Uber '-- that misclassify would-be employees as independent contractors, has been percolating through the California legislative system for nearly a year. It codifies the 2018 Dynamex decision by the State Supreme Court while carving out some exemptions for specific professions.

But the exemption for freelance journalists '-- which some have only just learned about via their colleagues, press reports, social networks and/or spirited arguments with the bill's author on Twitter '-- contains what some say is a potentially career-ending requirement for a writer to remain a freelancer: If a freelance journalist writes for a magazine, newspaper or other entity whose central mission is to disseminate the news, the law says, that journalist is capped at writing 35 "submissions" per year per "putative employer." At a time when paid freelance stories can be written for a low end of $25 and high end of $1 per word, some meet that cap in a month just to make end's meet.

Amy Lamare, who writes for money site Celebritynetworth.com and YourTango.com, adds, "Everyone's freaking out, like my anxiety is going through the damn roof."

To keep their lifestyles under AB 5, all of these writers will have to develop a much broader base of editor contacts and likely experience more competition as a result.

In the last few weeks, concerned freelancers who like their contractor status have slid into the Twitter replies of Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, the bill's author, and her chief of staff to voice their opposition. Frustrated with the response they've received so far, freelancers have organized a Facebook group to discuss tactics, cold-called local legislators, sought out labor and tax lawyers, and, as a result of their efforts, won two meetings at Gonzalez's San Diego offices this month. Still, with the law set to go into effect on Jan. 1 and some employers already distancing themselves from California freelance journalists, their efforts may be too little, too late.

The crux of AB 5 for freelance journalists is the "B" requirement of the legislation's so-called "ABC test" to determine if a worker is an employee or an independent contractor. The B test requires that a freelancer "performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity's business." For freelance writers '-- who perform the same work as staff writers, just less frequently '-- the odds are that any argument they present as to how their roles are unique won't pass muster, and therefore the 35-"submission" cap per year will apply if they want to remain an independent contractor. Work that counts as a "submission" can include a published individual story, a series or coverage of a single event, Gonzalez tells The Hollywood Reporter.

The overall goal of AB 5, Gonzalez says, is "to protect and preserve good jobs. We're trying to create new good jobs and a livable, sustainable wage job." Indeed, freelancers typically do not enjoy employee benefits like paid leave, sick days, health care and retirement benefits, nor are they covered by workplace civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination, and they have less recourse if laws are broken or fees aren't paid on time (the latter a frequent complaint of freelance journalists). Gonzalez, who previously worked as a labor organizer and says she spoke to "dozens" of freelance journalists while writing the bill and moving it through the lawmaking process, adds that freelancers can be used to break newsroom unions like the ones formed last year at The Los Angeles Times and this year at The Ringer.

As for how lawmakers settled on the 35-submission figure, Gonzalez says that she and her team decided that a weekly columnist sounded like a part-time worker and so halved that worker's yearly submissions. After protest from some freelancers, the number was bumped up to 35. "Was it a little arbitrary? Yeah. Writing bills with numbers like that are a little bit arbitrary," she says.

Still, labor experts and freelancers alike are skeptical that the desired outcome of AB 5 '-- that newsrooms will hire California-based freelancers as part-time or full-time employees '-- will be achieved in the short term, especially as the news media continues to face major challenges to its business (in September, Business Insider estimated that 7,200 workers have lost their media jobs so far this year). Many publications that employ California freelancers aren't based in the state and it's not clear how AB 5 will affect them. Still, some are choosing to opt out entirely. Indeed, several freelance writers who spoke to THR say that various out-of-state employers '-- some with offices in California '-- have already told them they're cutting ties with California freelancers.

"I have heard from clients that they're just going to avoid working with California freelancers," freelance entertainment writer Fred Topel says (Topel chose not to name those clients in case they change their minds). THR has additionally reviewed several job notices in transcription, blogging and SEO writing that have explicitly stated that California freelancers will not be considered.

Large California-based news media brands are still figuring out the logistics of how to comply with the law. Asked how he plans to handle the implementation of AB 5 next year, San Diego Union-Tribune publisher and editor-in-chief Jeff Light says, "We're in the process of sorting through the implications right now. Unfortunately, I suspect a number of freelancers will end up with less work from us as a result of the 35-piece limit. I don't have anything more detailed than that at this point."

Of the freelancer exemption, San Francisco Chronicle publisher Bill Nagel says, "This was a poorly considered part of the law, likely based on a fundamental misunderstanding of why companies use freelancers. There are situations in which we cannot make a freelancer an employee, which inhibits our First Amendment rights as a publication. It also seems odd and problematic that broadcast freelancers are treated differently than their colleagues in print media. Unfortunately, AB 5 will limit opportunities for some freelancers and silence a number of voices in the market. We will, of course, comply with the law."

Meanwhile, national outlets are remaining mostly silent publicly. The Los Angeles Times '-- which just negotiated its first newsroom union contract '-- The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and Southern California News Group (which owns the O.C. Register and Los Angeles Daily News) declined to comment. USA Today owner Gannett, which has freelancers at papers in California, and movie website Rotten Tomatoes, which is based in Los Angeles, did not respond to requests for comment.

(A rep for Valence Media '-- the parent company of THR, Billboard, Spin, Vibe and Stereogum '-- says, "Our company routinely evaluates all new and existing laws to ensure we are in compliance.")

If publications do hire a few current freelancers as employees after Jan. 1, those freelancers will likely receive, but are not guaranteed, all the benefits of a full-time worker. "The people that will really be screwed are the people that will fall under the requirements for [employee] benefits," Greg Zbylut, a tax attorney and estate planner at Breyer Andrew, says. Some freelancers might have a SEP-IRA (a retirement benefit for business owners) and their own health care as freelancers only to find "all of a sudden I'm an employee but I'm not working enough hours to qualify for the pension plan and I'm not working enough hours to be required to have insurance provided for me," he adds.

From a tax perspective, meanwhile, freelance writers who incur expenses to craft their stories will no longer be able to write them off on tax returns, but they will enjoy no longer having to pay the 15 percent self-employment tax.

In any case, press advocates say news outlets will lose diversity in their coverage as publications think twice about hiring California freelancers and the overall breadth of voices diminishes. "The caps, from CNPA's perspective, was a pretty significant limitation on people's ability to be fully informed," says Jim Ewert, general counsel of the California News Publishers Association, which advocated for a journalism exemption in AB 5 but is still looking to change the cap on submissions.

Moreover, several freelance journalists who spoke with THR say that freelancing allows them not only to fill in the gaps of newsrooms' coverage but to keep working as journalists in an industry with baked-in biases. Newsrooms in the U.S. are predominately white, with 77 percent of newsroom employees identifying as non-Hispanic whites, according to a 2018 Pew Research Center study. While demographic information about freelance journalists is thin on the ground, Upwork and the Freelancers Union's 2019 survey of U.S. freelancers overall found that 62 percent of participants identify as white, compared with 66 percent in the general working population.

Yolanda Machado, an L.A.-based freelance film critic for The Wrap and writer for GQ, Shondaland and Harper's Bazaar, says that she's found people of color only tend to get hired as freelancers: "We don't get hired by publications, and this is a way to at least get our voices in there while building a r(C)sum(C)." Machado adds that AB 5 strikes her as ironic given recent efforts to diversify entertainment coverage, including Time's Up Critical and CherryPicks. "With all the efforts being made to diversify Hollywood and diversity who's covering Hollywood, this is going to be a huge setback in that too, because this is where we're employed, as freelancers," she says.

Kristen Lopez, a freelance entertainment writer who has written for Remezcla, RogerEbert.com and THR, notes that the legislation will particularly impact the disabled writer community. "I'm not just dealing with the concept of freelance in terms of trying to make sure I can pay my bills, but freelancing is really the only job that I can do from home, that I can do without angering the [Social Security Disability Insurance] system," Lopez says. She adds, "Freelancing allows me to have a job that I can do without affecting my health, without affecting the disability money that I get, which is not a lot, but it balances out with how much I make that allows me to live, not necessarily wealthily, but comfortably."

Writers who are parents have been particularly outspoken about the law. "Working with a baby at home is easier to do when I have my own schedule to work from, as opposed to a 9 to 5," says Aaron Pruner, an entertainment journalist and parenting and lifestyle columnist for The Washington Post (as well as a young father).

AB 5's vague language prevents even the closest observers from understanding the full effects the law will have come Jan. 1. Aaron Colby, a labor lawyer and partner at Davis Wright in Los Angeles, notes that the law does not specify what a "putative employer" is '-- is it a particular publication, such as Rolling Stone or The San Diego Union-Tribune, or an umbrella organization, like Gannett or Tribune media, that may own it and other publications? In addition, the law does not state whether, if a freelance writer submits more than 35 published submissions, the 36th will fall under AB 5 or all 36 submissions will (35 of them retroactively). "The courts are going to have to figure that out," Colby says.

In the meantime, as Jan. 1 creeps ever closer, freelancers have scheduled two October meetings with Gonzalez to discuss their concerns. Gonzalez says she is open to new solutions that might improve freelancers' situation: "If somebody comes up with some idea that makes sense, that puts them in a better position, that makes them happier, more fulfilled, but doesn't affect other workers, I'm open to that," she says. Writers are additionally working on scheduling a conversation with the California Labor Federation and are in contact with local Assembly members and senators to see if corrective legislation can be considered for the 2019 session.

Some writers, like Lamare, are seriously considering leaving the state. Others say they don't have a choice. "Covering entertainment, I can't really do that in another state: The stories I'm covering are here," Topel says.

If solutions to freelancers' complaints come about quickly after Jan. 1, however, AB 5 will be law for a full year before new legislation can go into effect. "Given the impact of the law and the variety and depth of the interests at issue '-- it's so many industries that have so much at stake here '-- it increases the likelihood that there is going to be a challenge," Colby says. "But companies should still be ready to comply."

Putative definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary

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Sun, 20 Oct 2019 06:05

adjective [ ADJECTIVE noun ] [ law , formal ] ...a putative father.

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putative in British ( ËpjuËtÉtÉªv ) adjective 1. ( prenominal ) the putative father

Collins English Dictionary . Copyright (C) HarperCollins Publishers

putatively ( Ëputatively ) adverb

Word origin of 'putative'

C15: from Late Latin

putÄtÄvus

supposed, from Latin

putÄre

to consider

putatively ( Ëputatively ) adverb

Word origin of 'putative'

putative

< L

putativus

putare

, to suppose, reckon (orig., to cleanse, set in order, hence compute, consider: see

pure)

Example sentences containing 'putative'These examples have been automatically selected and may contain sensitive content.

Read more'... It is the value of the property in the example, over eight times earnings of the putative buyer, that is unaffordable. Times, Sunday Times ( 2013 ) Trends of 'putative'

In Common Usage. putative is one of the 10000 most commonly used words in the Collins dictionary

California's new 35-story limit for freelancers - Columbia Journalism Review

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By Tony Biasotti September 24, 2019 California Assembly Bill 5, in its original language, seemed as though it could end freelance journalism in the state. The bill , which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law September 18, codifies and expands on a 2018 California Supreme Court decision that made it harder for companies to classify workers as freelancers rather than employees. As employees, workers are covered by state laws on the minimum wage, worker's compensation coverage, workplace discrimination and other protections. As freelancers, they are not.

The bill grabbed nationwide headlines because it appears to define the workers at Uber, Lyft, and other ''gig economy'' tech companies as employees, covered by a range of workplace protections. When it became clear the bill would pass, Uber, Lyft, and Doordash pledged $90 million toward qualifying a ballot measure that would let them continue to classify their drivers as independent contractors.

The core of the Dynamex decision , and of the new law, is a three-pronged ''ABC test,'' which is used to determine who is and isn't a freelancer. The ''B'' prong, which presents the biggest issue for freelance journalism, states that employers can only contract out work that is ''outside the usual course of the hiring entity's business.'' A company in the business of journalism, then, could not hire freelancers to do journalism.

As CJR reported in March , some publishers responded to the Dynamex ruling by cutting ties with freelancers based in California. The passage of Assembly Bill 5 offers some relief: freelance writers, editors, photographers and editorial cartoonists were given a partial carve-out, allowing publishers to hire them for up to 35 separate ''content submissions'' in a given year. (The law exempts more than 20 professions, including doctor, lawyer, manicurist, travel agent and commercial fisherman. Graphic designers have a full exemption, which means California judges could find themselves ruling on how much Photoshop work it takes to distinguish photography from graphic design.)

PREVIOUSLY: A California class-action suit imperils freelancers

It's not hard to find freelancers who say they will run into that limit. ''I've worked for sites such as AOL that are mostly run with senior editors doing longer stories and freelancers doing the daily news hits, and in my experience it's been really easy to go over 35 bylines in less than a month with those,'' Zac Estrada, a writer and editor in Los Angeles who covers automotive and technology news for a variety of publications, says. ''Earlier this year, I was working for a site doing daily news contributions, and they wanted at least 50 per month.''

California's new freelancing rules have prompted one site, for which Estrada works as an editor, to re-examine the way it distributes work. He hasn't had any work from that site this month. ''I'm glad the state of California is looking out for workplace issues and benefit, but I don't see a way this bill helps me,'' he says. ''A lot of people I know love freelancing and wouldn't take a full-time job even if it offered them more money.''

Nathan Cambridge, a freelance sportswriter in Los Angeles, covers football games and other high school and community college sporting events for local newspapers in Burbank, Glendale, and La Ca±ada Flintridge. All three papers are owned by the Los Angeles Times ; it's not clear from the text of the law whether the three will be treated as individual employers, or as one. If they're considered separate, then Cambridge has exceeded 35 stories for one client twice in the past five years. If they're considered a single employer, then he exceeds 35 stories every year (with an average of 59 per year, and a high of 103 in 2013).

''In an ideal world, the company would recognize the value of my content and think, 'Rather than not being able to use this person anymore, I'll give them a job,' but that's not the world we're in with newspapers,'' Cambridge says. ''What's going to happen is, I'm going to hit 35 and they're going to stop giving me assignments.''

Community newspapers and local weeklies are going to feel the pinch of the 35-byline limit, Steve Falk, the CEO of Sonoma Media Investments, says. The company owns the daily Press Democrat in Santa Rosa and two community weeklies in Sonoma County, along with a weekly business journal, two magazines, a Spanish language newspaper, and a cannabis news website. At the weeklies, Falk says, it's common for freelancers to write weekly columns on food, wine, or local events.

''They write 52 weeks a year, and that becomes a problem now,'' he says. ''We will have to pick the 35 most important weeks for them to write.'' The number, he adds, ''just seems so arbitrary.''

Why a limit of 35 stories? The number is the result of negotiations between lawmakers and interest groups, including journalists and journalists' unions, according to Steve Smith, communications director for the California Labor Federation. The union coalition was one of Assembly Bill 5's chief supporters, and worked on it with its author, San Diego Democrat Lorena Gonzalez.

''We had a lot of discussions with journalists and with unions that represent journalists,'' Smith says. ''You needed to thread the needle. If you had a blanket exemption, what would prevent any newspaper or magazine or online publication from saying, 'I'm going to get rid of all my employees and make everyone a freelancer'?''

Catherine Fisk, a professor of labor law at the University of California, Berkeley, says the 35-byline rule is an attempt by the legislature ''to distinguish between people who are really, effectively, a staff writer and people who are truly freelancers.'' She calls the threshold a ''bright-line rule'' and likens it to a speed limit. ''There might be reasons why 65 isn't the best speed limit for the road you're on, but don't try arguing with the cop about it,'' she says.

Assembly Bill 5 could have been worse for newspapers and other publishers. The first drafts of the bill had no partial exemptions for freelancers who write fewer than 35 times per year. And a separate bill gave the newspaper industry an extra year to classify its freelance delivery carriers as employees. Even under the pre-Dynamex regime, newspapers faced numerous lawsuits from carriers seeking employee status and back wages.

Under the bill, Uber and Lyft will be exposed to lawsuits from local and state prosecutors. Publishers aren't likely to face the same enforcement pressure. But the risk is there, and California prosecutors are sometimes of the activist type.

If publishers are sued, freelancers would be the intended beneficiaries. But it doesn't feel that way to Cambridge, who sees his freelance work covering high school sports as something of a community service.

''High school sports are there for the community,'' he says. ''That's half the reason I do it, and it's half the reason I feel threatened by this. It's not just money and it's not just a job that's being threatened, it's the community feeling threatened by this. It feels like the state of California has a beef with Uber and we're caught in the crossfire.''

ICYMI: The news according to migrants in Italy

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today. Tony Biasotti is a freelance writer in Ventura, California. Find him on Twitter @tonybiasotti.Featured

Lanham Act - Wikipedia

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Sat, 19 Oct 2019 08:31

United States trademark law

Lanham ActOther short titlesTrademark Act of 1946Citations Statutes at Large 60 Stat. 427CodificationTitles amended15Legislative historyThe Lanham (Trademark) Act (Pub.L. 79''489, 60 Stat. 427, enacted July 5, 1946, codified at 15 U.S.C. § 1051 et seq. (15 U.S.C. ch. 22)) is the primary federal trademark statute of law in the United States. The Act prohibits a number of activities, including trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and false advertising.

History [ edit ] Named for Representative Fritz G. Lanham of Texas, the Act was passed on July 5, 1946, and signed into law by President Harry Truman, taking effect "one year from its enactment", on July 6, 1947.[1] In rare circumstances, a conflict will arise between trademarks that have been in use since before the Lanham Act went into effect, thus requiring the courts to examine the dispute according to the trademark act that existed before the Lanham Act.

The Act has been amended several times since its enactment. Its impact was significantly enhanced by the Trademark Counterfeiting Act of 1984,[2] which made the intentional use of a counterfeit trademark or the unauthorized use of a counterfeit trademark an offense under Title 18 of the United States Code,[3] and enhanced enforcement remedies through the use of ex parte seizures[4] and the award of treble profits or damages (whichever is greater).[5]

In 1999, the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act inserted 15 U.S.C. § 1125(d) , and amended 15 U.S.C. § 1114(2)(D) .

Civil enforcement [ edit ] §§ 42 and 43 of the Act (now known as 15 U.S.C. §§ 1124''1125) set out the remedies that can be sought when a trademark is infringed. These provisions forbid the importation of goods that infringe registered trademarks, and restrict, through the use of injunctions and damages, the use of false descriptions and trademark dilution.

§ 43(a) ( 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a) ) is the "likelihood of confusion" standard for infringement of an unregistered trademark or trade dress, and courts still frequently refer to the provision as "Section 43(a)":

15 U.S.C. § 1125 - False designations of origin, false descriptions, and dilution forbidden

(a) Civil action

(1) Any person who, on or in connection with any goods or services, or any container for goods, uses in commerce any word, term, name, symbol, or device, or any combination thereof, or any false designation of origin, false or misleading description of fact, or false or misleading representation of fact, which'--

(A) is likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive as to the affiliation, connection, or association of such person with another person, or as to the origin, sponsorship, or approval of his or her goods, services, or commercial activities by another person, or(B) in commercial advertising or promotion, misrepresents the nature, characteristics, qualities, or geographic origin of his or her or another person's goods, services, or commercial activities,shall be liable in a civil action by any person who believes that he or she is or is likely to be damaged by such act.

15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)(1)(A) is often used when false or misleading statements are alleged to have hurt a consumer or business. The claimant must prove that a false or misleading statement was made in commerce and that the statement creates a likelihood of harm to the plaintiff.

15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)(1)(B) is often used when false or misleading statements are alleged to have hurt a business.

Jurisprudence [ edit ] The Act has been held to have extraterritorial impact,[6] and the circuit courts have been giving more favorable interpretations in extending its scope.[7] The original ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States,[8] as interpreted by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit,[9] contemplates a three-part test in determining whether the Act applies (where at least two factors must be met):

the conduct of the defendant must have a substantial effect on United States commerce,the defendant must be a United States citizen, andthere must be an absence of conflict with foreign law.Although the Lanham Act sets out clear parameters as to what constitutes trademark infringement, subsequent court decisions, especially those involving the Internet, have loosened the strictures.[10]

In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the law had no impact on public domain works in Dastar Corp. v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.

In 2014, the various interpretations that had been adopted by the circuit courts as to who had standing to sue under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a) were ousted by the Court in Lexmark Int'l v. Static Control Components, where Justice Scalia adopted a multi-step approach:

Under Article III, the plaintiff must have suffered or be imminently threatened with a concrete and particularized "injury in fact" that is fairly traceable to the challenged action of the defendant and likely to be redressed by a favorable judicial decision.[11]AGC requires the ascertainment, as a matter of statutory interpretation, of the "scope of the private remedy created by" Congress, and the "class of persons who [could] maintain a private damages action under" a legislatively conferred cause of action.[12]A statutory cause of action extends only to plaintiffs whose interests "fall within the zone of interests protected by the law invoked,"[13] and the "zone of interests" formulation applies to all statutorily created causes of action, as it is a "requirement of general application" and Congress is presumed to "legislat[e] against the background of" it, "which applies unless it is expressly negated."[14]A statutory cause of action is also presumed to be limited to plaintiffs whose injuries are proximately caused by violations of the statute.[15] A plaintiff suing under §1125(a) ordinarily must show that its economic or reputational injury flows directly from the deception wrought by the defendant's advertising; and that occurs when deception of consumers causes them to withhold trade from the plaintiff.Direct application of the zone-of-interests test and the proximate-cause requirement supplies the relevant limits on who may sue under §1125(a).In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in POM Wonderful LLC v. Coca-Cola Co.[16] that the Act complemented the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, allowing a company to sue for infringement by way of civil action.[17]

In 2017 Matal v. Tam, the Supreme Court ruled that a provision in 15 U.S.C. § 1052(a) of the Act, denying registration to any trademarks seen as disparaging an individual or group, was an unconstitutional restriction of applicants' freedom of speech.

In 2019 Iancu v. Brunetti, the Supreme Court ruled that a provision in 15 U.S.C. § 1052(a) of the Act, denying registration to any trademarks seen as consisting of immoral or scandalous matter, was an unconstitutional restriction of applicants' freedom of speech.[18]

Divisions [ edit ] In the United States Code, the Act has been divided into four subchapters:

SubchapterNameSectionsDescriptionIThe Principal Register§§ 1051''1072Lanham Act, ss. 1''22IIThe Supplemental Register§§ 1091''1096Lanham Act, ss. 23''28IIIGeneral Provisions§§ 1111''1127Lanham Act, ss. 29''45§ 1128later creation of the National Intellectual Property Law Enforcement Coordination Council§ 1129passage of prohibitions against cyberpiracy originally codified here, but now covered by 15 U.S.C. § 8131IVThe Madrid Protocol§§ 1141''1141nlater passage, in consequence of US accession to the Madrid systemThe Trademark Registers [ edit ] Subchapter I sets forth the requirements that a mark must meet to receive a registration on the Principal Register, which bestows various rights on the trademark owner to prevent others from infringing their mark. Among the requirements are prohibitions against the registration of marks that are confusingly similar to existing marks, are generic or merely descriptive, are scandalous or immoral, or fall onto certain other prohibited categories. Subchapter I also sets forth certain procedural requirements, such as the submission of an affidavit of continued use after five years of registration.

Subchapter II sets forth a form of registration on the Supplemental Register, for certain marks that are unregistrable under Subchapter I, but may become registrable in the future, such as those that are merely descriptive. This form of registration, while not granting all the protections of registration on the Principal Register, does provide notice to potential infringers that the mark is in use, and also provides some procedural benefits.

See also [ edit ] International cybercrimeReferences [ edit ] ^ Lanham Act, § 46. ^ Pub.L. 98''473, 98 Stat. 2179, enacted October 12, 1984 ^ 18 U.S.C. § 2320 ^ 15 U.S.C. § 1116(d) ^ 15 U.S.C. § 1117(b) ^ Brown, Erika M. (1999). "The Extraterritorial Reach of Trademark Law: A Review of Recent Decisions Under the Lanham Act" (PDF) . Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal. Fordham University School of Law. IX (3): 863''884. ^ Lawrence R. Robins; Kelly Donahue (October''November 2013). "Extraterritorial reach of the Lanham Act: a viable option". World Trademark Review. pp. 106''107. ^ Steele v. Bulova Watch Co., Inc., 344 U.S. 280 (1952) ^ Vanity Fair Mills, Inc. v. T. Eaton Co., 234 F. 2d 633 (2d Cir. 1956). ^ Rothman, Jennifer E. (2005). "Initial Interest Confusion: Standing at the Crossroads of Trademark Law" (PDF) . Cardozo Law Review. Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. 27 (1): 105''191. ^ Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555 (1992), at 560 ^ Associated Gen. Contractors of Cal., Inc. v. Cal. State Council of Carpenters, 459 U.S. 519 (1983) ^ Allen v. Wright, 468 U.S. 737 (1984), at 751 ^ Bennett v. Spear, 520 U.S. 154 (1997), 162-163 ^ Holmes v. Securities Investor Protection Corporation, 503 U.S. 258 (1992), at 268''270 ^ POM Wonderful LLC v. Coca-Cola Co., No. 12-761, ___ U.S. ___ (2013) ^ "POM notches legal win in Coke's fruit juice battle". Reuters. June 12, 2014. ^ Collins, Terry (June 24, 2019). "FUCT Clothing Can Now Get Trademark Protection, Supreme Court Rules". Fortune . Retrieved June 24, 2019 . Further reading [ edit ] JournalsLemley, Mark A. (1999). "The Modern Lanham Act and the Death of Common Sense". Yale Law Journal. The Yale Law Journal Company, Inc. 108 (7): 1687''1715. doi:10.2307/797447. JSTOR 797447. Phelps, D. M. (1949). "Certification Marks under the Lanham Act". Journal of Marketing. American Marketing Association. 13 (4): 498''505. doi:10.2307/1247789. JSTOR 1247789. BooksWilliams, Thomas M. (2012). False Advertising and the Lanham Act: Litigating Section 43(a)(1)(B). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-977258-2. External links [ edit ] The Lanham Act at bitlaw.comFull text of Lanham Act from Cornell Legal Information Institute

Opinion | Tech Companies Are Destroying Democracy and the Free Press - The New York Times

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Sat, 19 Oct 2019 08:37

Ad revenue that used to support journalism is now captured by Google and Facebook, and some of that money supports and spreads fake news.

By Matt Stoller

Mr. Stoller is the author of ''Goliath: The Hundred Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy.''

Oct. 17, 2019 Image Credit Credit Illustration by Alvaro Dominguez; Photograph via Getty Images As the presidential election approaches, the cracks in the digital facade are once again showing.

Facebook just removed an ''I Love America'' page, run by Ukrainians, which pushed recycled pro-Trump imagery from the Internet Research Agency, the Russian group that tried to influence the 2016 election. As it turned out, ''I Love America'' wasn't state sponsored '-- the Ukrainians were just running the page for the advertising money. A similar page with falsified content, ''Police Lives Matter,'' is now run out of Kosovo.

These two phony Facebook pages illustrate the crisis of the free press and democracy: Advertising revenue that used to go to quality journalism is now captured by big tech intermediaries, and some of that money now goes to dishonest, low-quality and fraudulent content.

This is the first presidential election happening after the business model for journalism collapsed. Advertising revenue for print newspapers has fallen by two-thirds since 2006. From 2008 to 2018, the number of newspaper reporters dropped 47 percent. Two-thirds of counties in America now have no daily newspaper, and 1,300 communities have lost all local coverage. Even outlets native to the web, like BuzzFeed and HuffPost, have laid off reporters. This problem is a global one; for example, in Australia from 2014 to 2018, the number of journalists in traditional print publications fell by 20 percent.

The signaling functions of news brands and the cultural barriers meant to guard against distorting effects of advertising have broken down. In their place, a dysfunctional information ecosystem has emerged, characterized by polarization, addiction and conspiracy theories. In Europe and in the United States, young men learn race science on YouTube. In Brazil, citizens learn that Zika is spread by vaccines. As the Center for Humane Technology puts it: ''Today's tech platforms are caught in a race to the bottom of the brain stem to extract human attention. It's a race we're all losing.''

There are two drivers of this crisis. The first is the concentration of online advertising revenue in the hands of Google and Facebook '-- global monopolies sitting astride public discourse, diverting money that used to go to publishers to themselves. The second is an ethical breakdown '-- a natural consequence of advertising financing an information utility like a social network or search engine '-- which I call ''conflicted communications.''

It's tempting to blame the rise of the internet for all of this, but it's important to recognize that technology is shaped by law. Advertising, publishing and information distribution operate in publicly structured markets. In the past 40 years, the rules underlying these markets have undergone a radical reorganization.

As the communications historian Richard John argues, for roughly 200 years (beginning with the creation of the Post Office in 1791), American policymakers generally sought to decentralize media power and keep communication networks neutral. In the late 1970s, policymakers reversed their presumptions. They relaxed antitrust law, eliminated the fairness doctrine and eventually allowed the creation of large media conglomerates through the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Enabled by a loose merger policy, there was a roll-up of the internet space. From 2004 to 2014, Google spent at least $23 billion buying 145 companies, including the advertising giant DoubleClick. And since 2004, Facebook has spent a similar amount buying 66 companies, including key acquisitions allowing it to attain dominance in mobile social networking. None of these acquisitions were blocked as anti-competitive.

Data is now the key input into advertising: If you know who is looking at an ad, that ad space becomes much more valuable. Google and Facebook now know who is looking at every ad, and their competitors for ad dollars '-- newspapers '-- do not. Further, newspapers now must also rely on Google and Facebook to reach their customers, and hand them valuable subscriber and reader data; when The Wall Street Journal refused to abide by Google's formatting terms, Google removed it from its search ranks and the newspaper's traffic dropped by 44 percent.

In other words, it wasn't just technology but also a pro-concentration philosophy that shaped the information revolution of the 1990s and 2000s. Google and Facebook grew to control important information utilities, like general search, social networking and mapping. New forms of advertising '-- underpinned by unregulated use of data and sold through opaque and complex auctions '-- then undermined the bargaining leverage of publishers and enabled new forms of fraud using bots and falsified content.

A result of these policy changes is a radical centralization of power over the flow of information. Tech platforms now control online advertising revenue, which is the primary source of financing for news. But this is not just a problem of the monopolization of an industry '-- these new monopolists are not simply more powerful media behemoths taking share from smaller publishers. Google and Facebook are not in the journalism business at all; they are in the communications business, running information utilities with revenue that used to go to journalism.

Advertising financing presents an inherent conflict of interest, because advertising is a third party paying to manipulate someone. In traditional media, advertising can influence editorial choices. There are a series of ethical structures designed to inhibit excessive control of advertisers in media industries, a result of debates for hundreds of years among public figures on the nature of advertising and publishing. Some of these include the signaling effects of differentiated news brands, a diversity of news outlets, the separation of advertising and editorial departments, and guilds to protect journalistic integrity from publishing business interests. But such ethical debates have yet to occur around information utilities. Consequently, the manifestation of the distorting effect of advertising '-- addiction, manipulation, fraud, tearing of a collective social fabric '-- has been met with little cultural immunity, policy response or institutional defenses.

Before Google became an enormous advertising company, the company's co-founders '-- Sergey Brin and Larry Page '-- noted this problem. They looked at the problematic search engine market of the 1990s '-- with companies offering advertisers the chance to pay to be listed as an organic search result '-- and argued that financing a search engine business through advertising was fundamentally corrupting. Such information utilities would then have an incentive to keep users on their properties so that they could keep selling more ads. They would also have an incentive to self-deal, putting content in front of users that benefits the utility rather than the end user. And they would have an incentive to surveil their users, so that they could target them more effectively.

Mr. Brin and Mr. Page were right about the corrupting influence of advertising. This business model of conflicted communications is where the addiction, surveillance, fraud and clickbait come from. Unfortunately, we are living in the world they foresaw.

The combination of these two dynamics '-- the concentration of power and the new ethical quandaries presented by the financing of information networks by advertising '-- has created a crisis for democracy. The monopolization of ad revenue starves legitimate outlets of financing. More subtly, the signaling functions of news brands and the dense cultural barriers meant to guard against distorting effects of advertising have broken down. The task of policymakers is now to put together the ethical structures to mitigate these conflicts.

The collapse of journalism and democracy in the face of the internet is not inevitable. To save democracy and the free press, we must eliminate Google and Facebook's control over the information commons. That means decentralizing these markets and splitting information utilities from one another so that search, mapping, YouTube and other Google subsidiaries are separate companies, and Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook once again compete. It also means barring or severely curtailing advertising on any of these platforms. Advertising revenue should once again flow to journalism and art. And people should pay directly for communications services, instead of paying indirectly by forgoing democracy.

Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) is a fellow at the Open Markets Institute and the author of ''Goliath: The Hundred Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy.''

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Inside the Modern Design of WarnerMedia's New NYC Headquarters With Jeff Zucker | Hollywood Reporter

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Sat, 19 Oct 2019 08:47

Spread across 25 floors and 1.4 '¯million square feet at Hudson Yards, CNN, HBO and the whole conglomerate are together at last. Says Zucker: "Our new home gives a nod to our history and future."Well before AT&T cemented its acquisition of Time Warner in June 2018 to form WarnerMedia, the decision to combine all divisions under a single roof already had been made. The strategy to execute a decidedly egalitarian approach soon followed. "This was a very different process than most companies use, where a small cadre of people make decisions behind closed doors," says Thomas Santiago, senior vp global real estate at WarnerMedia. "What we did was consensus-driven and we cast a wide net," he says of the midtown design lab set up to allow staffers to provide feedback on every element of furniture and design in the new offices that landed at New York's mini-city Hudson Yards. "We paraded hundreds of employees through to see and touch and cycled through different finishes, screening-room seating, desks, even ceiling fixtures. We went for the chair that hundreds of employees preferred, not one a guy picked out of a catalog. It proved to be an effective process."

The decision to co-locate at the new Hudson Yards not only gave the company the ability to build its new headquarters from the ground up, but it also had financial advantages as well for the media conglomerate that sold the space for $2 billion earlier this year and then leased it back. "Developers need anchor tenants, so we enjoyed some early adopter prices," says Santiago.

The space the company took is massive, encompassing 1.4 million square feet and 25 floors stacked like a wedding cake, with the larger and taller ones occupied by CNN, truTV and Warner Bros. at the base, and the other divisions, including HBO, in a tower above. Two main architectural design firms were hired to tackle the job: Gensler to oversee the whole project and Meridian to focus specifically on CNN.

"A number of the elements that make up the style of our new home give a nod to both our history and our future, in unique combinations," says Jeff Zucker, WarnerMedia chairman, news and sports, and CNN president, referring to the decorative photos of reporters on assignment as well as the new, more transparent configuration of the network's news desk. Monitors and other equipment stack visibly behind the correspondents instead of being housed in a control room, while a raised platform was created for the anchors in an open newsroom. Antonio Argibay, who led Meridian's design team, points out: "When they moved into Time Warner [Center, off Central Park] around 2001, there was no Facebook '-- the process of newsgathering has changed. You are getting a lot more information from digital means and more people are participating in the news cycle, so we made a 24-hour live newsroom that becomes more important as a content capture space than a black-box studio."

For CNN Tonight With Don Lemon and the Town Hall shows, more traditional soundproof studios were created. "We have the capacity to accommodate much larger studio audiences than we did before," says Zucker.

Like many companies today, WarnerMedia opted for fluid work conditions. Most employees have sit-or-stand desks and laptops, so they can move freely to cafes and communal hubs, with couches, lounge chairs and farm tables set up throughout the building. An architectural feature called the "Prow" showcases stairs and a dramatic hanging sculpture and is earmarked for events and parties. "We thought about how we would use this unique design's levels in a way that is architecturally significant," says Rocco Giannetti, who spearheaded the Gensler work. Lights in the sculpture connect to a digital branding system, so a promotion by Warner Bros. might pipe through colors of Joker. Colors also are used to signify each division, with CNN identified by red and HBO blue.

Wellness also is a priority, with a gym, yoga and Pilates rooms, and massage, physical therapy, chiropractic and health services for employees. A 35th-floor sky lobby was built as a crossover space to encourage cross-pollination among divisions.

Window and corner sanctums for executives are scarce: On most floors, offices are glass-walled and placed at the center rather than on the perimeters. "Corners of the core would normally be closed, but we made them open spaces," says Giannetti. Sweeping views of the Hudson and Manhattan's West Side along with spectacular sunsets grace every floor. "When we put all those buildings into one, we felt a need to eliminate walls and have fewer private offices," says Santiago. "There was a notion that light should belong to everybody."

This story first appeared in the Oct. 16 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

NWO

IMF fears the world's financial system is even more destructive than in 2008

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Thu, 17 Oct 2019 15:27

Quantitative easing, zero interest rates, and financial repression across the board have pushed investors into taking on ever more risk. We have created a monster T he International Monetary Fund has presented us with a Gothic horror show. The world's financial system is more stretched, unstable, and dangerous than it was on the eve of the Lehman crisis.

Quantitative easing, zero interest rates, and financial repression across the board have pushed investors - and in the case of pension funds or life insurers, actually forced them - into taking on ever more risk. We have created a monster.

There are 'amplification' feedback loops and chain-reactions all over the place. Banks may be safer - though not in Europe or China - but excesses have migrated to a new nexus of shadow-lenders. Woe betide us if this tangle of hidden leverage is soon put to the test. ...

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Themes '' The World in 50 Years '-- Quartz

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Sun, 20 Oct 2019 06:55

Companies that reject shareholder primacy'--that prioritize the needs of society, community, consumers, and employees above shareholder value'--and those that fully understand the social and environmental impacts of their entire supply chain, irrespective of product or industry, will be the ones to thrive.To define the characteristics of those companies: They will demonstrate emotional intelligence, flexibility, and the ability to adapt to complex, quickly-shifting conditions, work forces, and social movements. The companies that develop innovative products and services designed to protect people from climate impacts (sea-level rise, extreme heat, disaster) will prosper as well. Examples are companies that make cooling vests for outdoor workers, police officers, and firefighters; flood-response companies; design firms that build resilient structures capable of floating or adapting to rising waters; even ''private extraction'' companies like those being used by oil and gas entities to ''extract'' personnel from harmful situations like political conflicts, violence, or natural disasters.

Further, companies with a majority of women on their boards and executive teams will outperform competitors and lead in their industry. In fact, I would venture that the numbers of men will flip to a women-led majority in most everything in the next 50 years.Finally, given the increase in both the types of risk and the size of risk exposures such as hurricane, drought, extreme heat, and floods, property and casualty industry will finally transform. Along with reinsurance companies, they will offer individual policies that pay quickly based on a metric such as wind speed or sustained temperature.

#MeToo

NBC under renewed pressure to investigate sex misconduct claims, clean up news division | Fox News

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Thu, 17 Oct 2019 16:40

After seemingly burying their head in the sand as calls for the investigation of NBC News honchos Noah Oppenheim and Andy Lack gained in volume, NBCUniversal finally came up for air Wednesday to defend their beleaguered execs, before yet another raft of calls were made for the Peacock Network to clean up its act.

Ronan Farrow's book, ''Catch and Kill,'' details claims that NBC refused to expose movie mogul Harvey Weinstein as a sexual predator and wasn't truthful regarding knowledge of alleged sexual misconduct by former ''Today'' co-host Matt Lauer.

WOMEN'S GROUP CALLS FOR DEMS TO PULL MSNBC DEBATE AMID 'CULTURE OF SEXUAL ABUSE' AT NBC NEWS

Oppenheim, the president of NBC News, has downplayed Farrow's reporting, but the book's release has put the scandal back in the national spotlight, adding pressure to NBCUniversal and its parent company Comcast.

Hilary Smith, NBCUniversal senior vice president of communications, responded to NPR's David Folkenflik Wednesday after what he called ''four days of corporate silence.''

"The top leaders of NBC News still have the confidence of senior leadership within the company,'' Smith told NPR.

Smith and other NBCUniversal communications executives have not responded to a series of requests for comment from Fox News made this week.

However, Smith declaring that Lack, chairman of NBC News, and Oppenheim ''still have the confidence'' of NBCUniversal leaders didn't silence critics.

NBC NEWS BOSS ANDY LACK TAKES AIM AT FARROW'S CLAIMS HE WAS BLOCKED FROM REPORTING ON ALLEGED WEINSTEIN CRIMES

On Thursday night alone, Farrow took his media blitz to Fox News and told Bret Baier that NBC News ''didn't behave journalistically,'' while former NBC News host Megyn Kelly told ''Tucker Carlson Tonight'' that NBCUniversal should launch an independent investigation, as former NBC News correspondent Linda Vester continued to speak out about the culture of her former employer.

Vester accused NBC News legend Tom Brokaw '' who denied all wrongdoing and remains at the network -- of sexual misconduct in the spring of 2018 and founded Silence Breakers Alliance, a group aimed to help victims speak out.

''NBC was not honest when it conducted its own internal investigation of sexual misconduct'... we don't have the truth yet. It seems that the coverup continues at NBC News,'' Vester told Fox News' Shannon Bream.

NBC NEWS BOSS ANDY LACK'S LEADERSHIP SCRUTINIZED AS RONAN FARROW TELL-ALL APPROACHES

''Everybody knew, we all knew Matt [Lauer] was dangerous'' Vester said. ''He had to be avoided at all costs.''

UltraViolet Action, a leading national women's organization, has called on the Democratic National Committee to pull its upcoming debate from MSNBC unless NBC News ''cleans house'' and launches an independent investigation into ''allegations of a culture of sexual abuse'' at the network.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI PUBLICLY SUPPORTED NEWS VET BROKAW AMID MISCONDUCT CLAIMS, PRIVATELY APOLOGIZED

''The DNC needs to make it clear that they support survivors of sexual abuse and cancel the upcoming 2020 Democratic presidential primary debate on MSNBC until Comcast and NBC News take clear steps to clean up the toxic culture that exists across their networks,'' UltraViolet co-founder Shaunna Thomas said in a statement.

''Mounting reports show that NBC News executives '' namely Noah Oppenheim '' failed to hold sexual abusers accountable, failed to combat a toxic culture across newsrooms, and that the network's so-called investigation into its culture was little more than a sham to provide cover for executives,'' Thomas added. ''The DNC must stand with survivors and pull the upcoming democratic presidential primary debate from MSNBC until Comcast takes clear steps to clean house at NBC News.''

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Oppenheim, who maintains that Farrow simply has ''an axe to grind'' against NBC, was recently mocked by his own staff when he attempted to field questions from concerned employees.

The continued calls for action came one day after MSNBC's Chris Hayes admitted his news division was ''embroiled in a very public controversy over its conduct'' and appeared to side with Farrow's reporting over the talking points that have been provided by Oppenheim.

''Ronan Farrow walked out of NBC News after working on the Weinstein story, and within two months published an incredible article at The New Yorker that not only won a Pulitzer, but helped trigger a massive social and cultural reckoning that continues to this day,'' Hayes said. ''The path of least resistance for those with power was not to cross Weinstein or his army of friends and lawyers.''

Cali Blackouts

Fake solar power

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Source: Vox Popoli

Sat, 19 Oct 2019 10:07

So much for the idea of powering your home with solar panels:One valuable lesson has been learned from the California blackouts concerning the greens' vaunted solar power.People with solar panels fitted to their homes have long acted under the impression that these granted them some immunity to blackouts. They now know better. Those who went to the heavy expense of purchasing and installing solar panels are in the same situation as their neighbors: no light, no heat, no power.How does this make sense? If you've got a system that generates power all by itself, with no outside aid or assistance necessary, then it's a sure thing that it'll continue generating power even after the grid itself is shut down, right?Ah, but we're dealing here with corporate policy. And when that enters the picture, then sense of any kind quickly departs the stage.It turns out that solar panels do not supply power to the homes they are attached to. Instead, they transmit power out into the grid itself. A complex system of credits is employed to reimburse the homeowner.Forget being reliant upon it; even being connected to a centralized system turns out to be a fatal flaw when the system collapses. But hey, at least they got a tax break for installing them, right?Labels: technology, trainwreck

PG&E CEO Says It Could Impose Blackouts in California for a Decade - WSJ

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Sun, 20 Oct 2019 06:59

PG&E Corp. 's chief executive said Friday that it could take as long as 10 years for the company to improve its electric system enough to significantly diminish the need to pull the plug on customers to reduce the risk of sparking fires.

Bill Johnson, who joined the company in May, made the disclosure at a California Public Utilities Commission hearing where the panel's president, Marybel Batjer, sharply criticized the company's ''inadequate execution'' of a shut-off in which it turned off power to large portions of Northern California for more than two days last week.

The commission convened an emergency meeting to examine PG&E's handling of the massive blackout, which left roughly two million people in the dark and created widespread havoc from the Bay Area to the northern reaches of the state. Several of the company's top executives were summoned to detail the problems and take questions from regulators.

''I can tell you that you guys failed on so many levels on fairly simple stuff,'' Ms. Batjer said.

The agency earlier this week ordered PG&E to address numerous problems with its strategy for such blackouts, known as public safety power shut-offs. It condemned the company's failure to provide maps and other critical information to residents and local officials ahead of the shut-off. PG&E's website crashed for two days during the blackout, and its call centers were overwhelmed.

Mr. Johnson on Friday apologized for the hardships caused by the shut-off but defended the company's decision to implement it, noting that none of its power lines sparked fires, even though strong winds in certain areas caused damage to its system.

''Making the right decision on safety is not the same as executing that decision well,'' he said. ''PG&E has to be better prepared than it was this time.''

PG&E, which provides gas and electricity to 16 million people, shut off the power to more than 700,000 homes and businesses in anticipation of strong winds that could have increased the chances of its power lines sparking fires. The company's equipment has sparked 19 major fires during windy periods in 2017 and 2018, mostly because vegetation blew into live wires.

PG&E isn't the only California utility to deploy shut-offs to mitigate wildfire risks. Edison International's Southern California Edison and Sempra Energy's San Diego Gas & Electric also cut power recently in response to windy conditions. But PG&E is the only U.S. utility to have initiated a weather-related blackout on such a large scale.

The decision drew the ire of legislators and local officials who have called on PG&E to act more prudently in enacting future shut-offs. A group of Northern California governments, including Napa and Sonoma counties, on Thursday filed a scathing brief with the utilities commission that berated PG&E for its lack of preparedness.

''The experience of working with PG&E to effect real changes to its de-energization program has been like battling the Hydra,'' it read. ''This has got to stop.''

For now, the shut-offs will continue as PG&E scrambles to trim trees near power lines and upgrade equipment across its 70,000-square-mile service territory, after a protracted drought this decade turned millions of acres of forest into a tinderbox.

Another major fire tied to PG&E's equipment would likely drive the company to insolvency. It sought bankruptcy protection in January, citing more than $30 billion in liability costs stemming from the 2017 and 2018 fires, which collectively killed more than 100 people.

At the meeting Friday, commissioners questioned the company's commitment to its customers and how long it anticipates deploying its shut-off strategy on such a large scale.

Mr. Johnson said the utility is working to limit the scope of future shut-offs by trimming more trees and installing technology to enable the shutdown of smaller, more targeted portions of the grid. But he estimated it will take as long as a decade before its shut-offs will have ''ratcheted down significantly.''

''I think they'll decrease in size and scope every year,'' he said. ''But at the same time we're doing this the risk is not static, it's dynamic and it goes up every year.''

Already, PG&E is behind on several of its most important safety efforts, records show, including this year's tree-trimming campaign, which is less than 50% complete. It also trails its peers in technology to track winds and isolate the areas where equipment is at highest risk of sparking fires.

Though the company warned of continued shut-offs, it is working to limit their duration.

Michael Lewis, PG&E's senior vice president of electric operations, said the company, which previously advised customers to prepare for shut-offs lasting as long as five days, will work to restore power within 48 hours after initiating a shut-off.

''We now recognize that five days as a benchmark is unacceptable,'' he said.

Write to Katherine Blunt at Katherine.Blunt@wsj.com

PG&E CEO Says California Could See More Power Outages For 10 Years : NPR

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Sun, 20 Oct 2019 09:48

A car drives through a darkened Montclair Village in Oakland, Calif., after Pacific Gas & Electric shut down power last week to prevent wildfires. Noah Berger/AP hide caption

toggle caption Noah Berger/AP A car drives through a darkened Montclair Village in Oakland, Calif., after Pacific Gas & Electric shut down power last week to prevent wildfires.

Noah Berger/AP The CEO of Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. told California energy regulators that the state will likely see blackouts for another 10 years like the one imposed last week that left as many as 800,000 customers without power.

The revelation by corporation CEO Bill Johnson came Friday at a California Public Utilities Commission meeting at which he said his company is trying to reduce the chances of wildfires by trimming more trees and using technology to target smaller areas of the grid when fire dangers require power outages.

But Johnson said it could take 10 years before such outages are "really ratcheted down significantly."

PG&E has come near universal criticism for its lack of planning in shutting off power and its failure to adequately handle customers' questions while the outages lasted. PUC president Marybel Batjer blasted utility officials saying, "what we saw play out by PG&E last week cannot be repeated."

During the blackouts, Johnson admitted that his company had not been prepared for the impact of the outages, including the crashing of the utility's website and call centers being overwhelmed with customers' concerns.

But Johnson still maintains that the outages, which the company calls Public Safety Power Shutoff events, were necessary to insure safety in the face of seasonally high winds that can damage power lines and lead to wildfires.

"We recognize the hardship that the recent PSPS event caused for millions of people and want to continue working with all key shareholders to lessen this burden going forward," Johnson wrote in a letter to the PUC prior to the hearing. "At the same time, we ask our customers, their families, and our local and state leaders to keep in mind that statistic that matters most: there were no catastrophic wildfires."

The utility estimates that each customer household represents about three people, so that the power outages left roughly 2 million people in the dark.

In the hearing, Johnson tried to separate PG&E's rationale for the power outages from the company's execution.

"Making the right decision on safety is not the same as executing that decision well," Johnson said. "PG&E has to be better prepared than it was this time."

Last week California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the utility's management of the outages "was unacceptable." He called PG&E to issue rebates of $100 for residential customers and $250 credits to small businesses affected by the outages.

Johnson said PG&E is studying the request, but is concerned about setting a precedent.

SJW

Halloween - Wikipedia

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Sun, 20 Oct 2019 09:44

Holiday celebrated October 31

HalloweenAlso calledHallowe'enAllhallowe'enAll Hallows' EveAll Saints' EveObserved byWestern Christians and many non-Christians around the world[1]SignificanceFirst day of AllhallowtideCelebrationsTrick-or-treating, costume parties, making jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, divination, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractionsObservancesChurch services,[2]prayer,[3]fasting,[1] and vigil[4]Date31 OctoberRelated toTotensonntag, Blue Christmas, Thursday of the Dead, Samhain, Hop-tu-Naa, Calan Gaeaf, Allantide, Day of the Dead, Reformation Day, All Saints' Day, Mischief Night (cf. vigil)Halloween or Hallowe'en (a contraction of Hallows' Even or Hallows' Evening), also known as Allhalloween,[6]All Hallows' Eve,[7] or All Saints' Eve,[8] is a celebration observed in several countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day. It begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide,[9] the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed.[10][11]

It is widely believed that many Halloween traditions originated from ancient Celtic harvest festivals, particularly the Gaelic festival Samhain; that such festivals may have had pagan roots; and that Samhain itself was Christianized as Halloween by the early Church.[12][13][14][15][16] Some believe, however, that Halloween began solely as a Christian holiday, separate from ancient festivals like Samhain.[17][18][19][20]

Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (or the related guising and souling), attending Halloween costume parties, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, divination games, playing pranks, visiting haunted attractions, telling scary stories, as well as watching horror films.[21] In many parts of the world, the Christian religious observances of All Hallows' Eve, including attending church services and lighting candles on the graves of the dead, remain popular,[22][23][24] although elsewhere it is a more commercial and secular celebration.[25][26][27] Some Christians historically abstained from meat on All Hallows' Eve, a tradition reflected in the eating of certain vegetarian foods on this vigil day, including apples, potato pancakes, and soul cakes.[28][29][30][31]

Etymology The word Halloween or Hallowe'en dates to about 1745[32] and is of Christian origin.[33] The word "Hallowe'en" means "Saints' evening".[34] It comes from a Scottish term for All Hallows' Eve (the evening before All Hallows' Day).[35] In Scots, the word "eve" is even, and this is contracted to e'en or een. Over time, (All) Hallow(s) E(v)en evolved into Hallowe'en. Although the phrase "All Hallows'" is found in Old English "All Hallows' Eve" is itself not seen until 1556.[35][36]

History Gaelic and Welsh influence Today's Halloween customs are thought to have been influenced by folk customs and beliefs from the Celtic-speaking countries, some of which are believed to have pagan roots.[37]Jack Santino, a folklorist, writes that "there was throughout Ireland an uneasy truce existing between customs and beliefs associated with Christianity and those associated with religions that were Irish before Christianity arrived".[38] Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes that while "some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain, which comes from the Old Irish for 'summer's end'."[39]

Samhain ( ) was the first and most important of the four quarter days in the medieval Gaelic calendar and was celebrated on 31 October '' 1 November[citation needed ] in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man.[40][41] A kindred festival was held at the same time of year by the Brittonic Celts, called Calan Gaeaf in Wales, Kalan Gwav in Cornwall and Kalan Goa±v in Brittany; a name meaning "first day of winter". For the Celts, the day ended and began at sunset; thus the festival began on the evening before 7 November by modern reckoning (the half point between equinox and solstice).[42] Samhain and Calan Gaeaf are mentioned in some of the earliest Irish and Welsh literature. The names have been used by historians to refer to Celtic Halloween customs up until the 19th century,[43] and are still the Gaelic and Welsh names for Halloween.

Snap-Apple Night, painted by

Daniel Maclise in 1833, shows people feasting and playing divination games on Halloween in Ireland.

Samhain/Calan Gaeaf marked the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or the 'darker half' of the year.[44][45] Like Beltane/Calan Mai, it was seen as a liminal time, when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld thinned. This meant the Aos S (Connacht pronunciation eess- SHEE , Munster /e:s Êi:/), the 'spirits' or 'fairies', could more easily come into this world and were particularly active.[46][47] Most scholars see the Aos S as "degraded versions of ancient gods [...] whose power remained active in the people's minds even after they had been officially replaced by later religious beliefs".[48] The Aos S were both respected and feared, with individuals often invoking the protection of God when approaching their dwellings.[49][50] At Samhain, it was believed that the Aos S needed to be propitiated to ensure that the people and their livestock survived the winter. Offerings of food and drink, or portions of the crops, were left outside for the Aos S.[51][52][53] The souls of the dead were also said to revisit their homes seeking hospitality.[54] Places were set at the dinner table and by the fire to welcome them.[55] The belief that the souls of the dead return home on one night of the year and must be appeased seems to have ancient origins and is found in many cultures throughout the world.[56] In 19th century Ireland, "candles would be lit and prayers formally offered for the souls of the dead. After this the eating, drinking, and games would begin".[57]

Throughout Ireland and Britain, the household festivities included rituals and games intended to foretell one's future, especially regarding death and marriage.[58] Apples and nuts were often used in these divination rituals. They included apple bobbing, nut roasting, scrying or mirror-gazing, pouring molten lead or egg whites into water, dream interpretation, and others.[59] Special bonfires were lit and there were rituals involving them. Their flames, smoke and ashes were deemed to have protective and cleansing powers, and were also used for divination.[44] In some places, torches lit from the bonfire were carried sunwise around homes and fields to protect them.[43] It is suggested that the fires were a kind of imitative or sympathetic magic '' they mimicked the Sun, helping the "powers of growth" and holding back the decay and darkness of winter.[55][60][61] In Scotland, these bonfires and divination games were banned by the church elders in some parishes.[62] In Wales, bonfires were lit to "prevent the souls of the dead from falling to earth".[63] Later, these bonfires served to keep "away the devil".[64]

From at least the 16th century,[65] the festival included mumming and guising in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Wales.[66] This involved people going house-to-house in costume (or in disguise), usually reciting verses or songs in exchange for food. It may have originally been a tradition whereby people impersonated the Aos S, or the souls of the dead, and received offerings on their behalf, similar to the custom of souling (see below). Impersonating these beings, or wearing a disguise, was also believed to protect oneself from them.[67] It is suggested that the mummers and guisers "personify the old spirits of the winter, who demanded reward in exchange for good fortune".[68] In parts of southern Ireland, the guisers included a hobby horse. A man dressed as a Lir Bhn (white mare) led youths house-to-house reciting verses '' some of which had pagan overtones '' in exchange for food. If the household donated food it could expect good fortune from the 'Muck Olla'; not doing so would bring misfortune.[69] In Scotland, youths went house-to-house with masked, painted or blackened faces, often threatening to do mischief if they were not welcomed.[66]F. Marian McNeill suggests the ancient festival included people in costume representing the spirits, and that faces were marked (or blackened) with ashes taken from the sacred bonfire.[65] In parts of Wales, men went about dressed as fearsome beings called gwrachod.[66] In the late 19th and early 20th century, young people in Glamorgan and Orkney cross-dressed.[66]

Elsewhere in Europe, mumming and hobby horses were part of other yearly festivals. However, in the Celtic-speaking regions they were "particularly appropriate to a night upon which supernatural beings were said to be abroad and could be imitated or warded off by human wanderers".[66] From at least the 18th century, "imitating malignant spirits" led to playing pranks in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands. Wearing costumes and playing pranks at Halloween spread to England in the 20th century.[66] Traditionally, pranksters used hollowed out turnips or mangel wurzels often carved with grotesque faces as lanterns.[66] By those who made them, the lanterns were variously said to represent the spirits,[66] or were used to ward off evil spirits.[70][71] They were common in parts of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands in the 19th century,[66] as well as in Somerset (see Punkie Night). In the 20th century they spread to other parts of England and became generally known as jack-o'-lanterns.[66]

Christian influence Today's Halloween customs are thought to have been influenced by Christian dogma and practices derived from it.[72] Halloween is the evening before the Christian holy days of All Hallows' Day (also known as All Saints' or Hallowmas) on 1 November and All Souls' Day on 2 November, thus giving the holiday on 31 October the full name of All Hallows' Eve (meaning the evening before All Hallows' Day).[73] Since the time of the early Church,[74]major feasts in Christianity (such as Christmas, Easter and Pentecost) had vigils that began the night before, as did the feast of All Hallows'.[75] These three days are collectively called Allhallowtide and are a time for honoring the saints and praying for the recently departed souls who have yet to reach Heaven. Commemorations of all saints and martyrs were held by several churches on various dates, mostly in springtime.[76] In 609, Pope Boniface IV re-dedicated the Pantheon in Rome to "St Mary and all martyrs" on 13 May. This was the same date as Lemuria, an ancient Roman festival of the dead, and the same date as the commemoration of all saints in Edessa in the time of Ephrem.[77]

The feast of All Hallows', on its current date in the Western Church, may be traced to Pope Gregory III's (731''741) founding of an oratory in St Peter's for the relics "of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs and confessors".[78][79] In 835, All Hallows' Day was officially switched to 1 November, the same date as Samhain, at the behest of Pope Gregory IV.[80] Some suggest this was due to Celtic influence, while others suggest it was a Germanic idea,[80] although it is claimed that both Germanic and Celtic-speaking peoples commemorated the dead at the beginning of winter.[81] They may have seen it as the most fitting time to do so, as it is a time of 'dying' in nature.[80][81] It is also suggested that the change was made on the "practical grounds that Rome in summer could not accommodate the great number of pilgrims who flocked to it", and perhaps because of public health considerations regarding Roman Fever '' a disease that claimed a number of lives during the sultry summers of the region.[82]

On All Hallows' Eve, Christians in some parts of the world visit cemeteries to pray and place flowers and candles on the graves of their loved ones.

[83] The top photograph shows

Bangladeshi Christians lighting candles on the headstone of a relative, while the bottom photograph shows

Lutheran Christians praying and lighting candles in front of the central crucifix of a graveyard.

By the end of the 12th century they had become holy days of obligation across Europe and involved such traditions as ringing church bells for the souls in purgatory. In addition, "it was customary for criers dressed in black to parade the streets, ringing a bell of mournful sound and calling on all good Christians to remember the poor souls."[84] "Souling", the custom of baking and sharing soul cakes for all christened souls,[85] has been suggested as the origin of trick-or-treating.[86] The custom dates back at least as far as the 15th century[87] and was found in parts of England, Flanders, Germany and Austria.[56] Groups of poor people, often children, would go door-to-door during Allhallowtide, collecting soul cakes, in exchange for praying for the dead, especially the souls of the givers' friends and relatives.[87][88][89] Soul cakes would also be offered for the souls themselves to eat,[56] or the 'soulers' would act as their representatives.[90] As with the Lenten tradition of hot cross buns, Allhallowtide soul cakes were often marked with a cross, indicating that they were baked as alms.[91]Shakespeare mentions souling in his comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1593).[92] On the custom of wearing costumes, Christian minister Prince Sorie Conteh wrote: "It was traditionally believed that the souls of the departed wandered the earth until All Saints' Day, and All Hallows' Eve provided one last chance for the dead to gain vengeance on their enemies before moving to the next world. In order to avoid being recognized by any soul that might be seeking such vengeance, people would don masks or costumes to disguise their identities".[93]

It is claimed that in the Middle Ages, churches that were too poor to display the relics of martyred saints at Allhallowtide let parishioners dress up as saints instead.[94][95] Some Christians continue to observe this custom at Halloween today.[96]Lesley Bannatyne believes this could have been a Christianization of an earlier pagan custom.[97] While souling, Christians would carry with them "lanterns made of hollowed-out turnips".[98] It has been suggested that the carved jack-o'-lantern, a popular symbol of Halloween, originally represented the souls of the dead.[99] On Halloween, in medieval Europe, fires served a dual purpose, being lit to guide returning souls to the homes of their families, as well as to deflect demons from haunting sincere Christian folk.[100][101] Households in Austria, England and Ireland often had "candles burning in every room to guide the souls back to visit their earthly homes". These were known as "soul lights".[102][103][104] Many Christians in mainland Europe, especially in France, believed "that once a year, on Hallowe'en, the dead of the churchyards rose for one wild, hideous carnival" known as the danse macabre, which has often been depicted in church decoration.[105]Christopher Allmand and Rosamond McKitterick write in The New Cambridge Medieval History that "Christians were moved by the sight of the Infant Jesus playing on his mother's knee; their hearts were touched by the Piet ; and patron saints reassured them by their presence. But, all the while, the danse macabre urged them not to forget the end of all earthly things."[106] This danse macabre was enacted at village pageants and at court masques, with people "dressing up as corpses from various strata of society", and may have been the origin of modern-day Halloween costume parties.[98][107][95][108]

In parts of Britain, these customs came under attack during the Reformation as some Protestants berated purgatory as a "popish" doctrine incompatible with their notion of predestination. Thus, for some Nonconformist Protestants, the theology of All Hallows' Eve was redefined; without the doctrine of purgatory, "the returning souls cannot be journeying from Purgatory on their way to Heaven, as Catholics frequently believe and assert. Instead, the so-called ghosts are thought to be in actuality evil spirits. As such they are threatening."[103] Other Protestants maintained belief in an intermediate state, known as Hades (Bosom of Abraham),[109] and continued to observe the original customs, especially souling, candlelit processions and the ringing of church bells in memory of the dead.[73][110] Mark Donnelly, a professor of medieval archaeology, and historian Daniel Diehl, with regard to the evil spirits, on Halloween, write that "barns and homes were blessed to protect people and livestock from the effect of witches, who were believed to accompany the malignant spirits as they traveled the earth."[111] In the 19th century, in some rural parts of England, families gathered on hills on the night of All Hallows' Eve. One held a bunch of burning straw on a pitchfork while the rest knelt around him in a circle, praying for the souls of relatives and friends until the flames went out. This was known as teen'lay.[112] Other customs included the tindle fires in Derbyshire and all-night vigil bonfires in Hertfordshire which were lit to pray for the departed.[113] The rising popularity of Guy Fawkes Night (5 November) from 1605 onward, saw many Halloween traditions appropriated by that holiday instead, and Halloween's popularity waned in Britain, with the noteworthy exception of Scotland.[114] There and in Ireland, they had been celebrating Samhain and Halloween since at least the early Middle Ages, and the Scottish kirk took a more pragmatic approach to Halloween, seeing it as important to the life cycle and rites of passage of communities and thus ensuring its survival in the country.[114]

In France, some Christian families, on the night of All Hallows' Eve, prayed beside the graves of their loved ones, setting down dishes full of milk for them.[102] On Halloween, in Italy, some families left a large meal out for ghosts of their passed relatives, before they departed for church services.[115] In Spain, on this night, special pastries are baked, known as "bones of the holy" (Spanish: Huesos de Santo) and put them on the graves of the churchyard, a practice that continues to this day.[116]

Spread to North America Lesley Bannatyne and Cindy Ott both write that Anglican colonists in the southern United States and Catholic colonists in Maryland "recognized All Hallow's Eve in their church calendars",[117][118] although the Puritans of New England maintained strong opposition to the holiday, along with other traditional celebrations of the established Church, including Christmas.[119]Almanacs of the late 18th and early 19th century give no indication that Halloween was widely celebrated in North America.[120] It was not until mass Irish and Scottish immigration in the 19th century that Halloween became a major holiday in North America.[120] Confined to the immigrant communities during the mid-19th century, it was gradually assimilated into mainstream society and by the first decade of the 20th century it was being celebrated coast to coast by people of all social, racial and religious backgrounds.[121] "In Cajun areas, a nocturnal Mass was said in cemeteries on Halloween night. Candles that had been blessed were placed on graves, and families sometimes spent the entire night at the graveside".[122] The yearly New York Halloween Parade, begun in 1974 by puppeteer and mask maker Ralph Lee of Greenwich Village, is the world's largest Halloween parade and America's only major nighttime parade, attracting more than 60,000 costumed participants, two million spectators, and a worldwide television audience of over 100 million.[123]

Symbols Development of artifacts and symbols associated with Halloween formed over time. Jack-o'-lanterns are traditionally carried by guisers on All Hallows' Eve in order to frighten evil spirits.[99][124] There is a popular Irish Christian folktale associated with the jack-o'-lantern,[125] which in folklore is said to represent a "soul who has been denied entry into both heaven and hell":[126]

On route home after a night's drinking, Jack encounters the Devil and tricks him into climbing a tree. A quick-thinking Jack etches the sign of the cross into the bark, thus trapping the Devil. Jack strikes a bargain that Satan can never claim his soul. After a life of sin, drink, and mendacity, Jack is refused entry to heaven when he dies. Keeping his promise, the Devil refuses to let Jack into hell and throws a live coal straight from the fires of hell at him. It was a cold night, so Jack places the coal in a hollowed out turnip to stop it from going out, since which time Jack and his lantern have been roaming looking for a place to rest.[127]

In Ireland and Scotland, the turnip has traditionally been carved during Halloween,[128][129] but immigrants to North America used the native pumpkin, which is both much softer and much larger '' making it easier to carve than a turnip.[128] The American tradition of carving pumpkins is recorded in 1837[130] and was originally associated with harvest time in general, not becoming specifically associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 19th century.[131]

The modern imagery of Halloween comes from many sources, including Christian eschatology, national customs, works of Gothic and horror literature (such as the novels Frankenstein and Dracula) and classic horror films (such as Frankenstein and The Mummy).[132][133] Imagery of the skull, a reference to Golgotha in the Christian tradition, serves as "a reminder of death and the transitory quality of human life" and is consequently found in memento mori and vanitas compositions;[134] skulls have therefore been commonplace in Halloween, which touches on this theme.[135] Traditionally, the back walls of churches are "decorated with a depiction of the Last Judgment, complete with graves opening and the dead rising, with a heaven filled with angels and a hell filled with devils", a motif that has permeated the observance of this triduum.[136] One of the earliest works on the subject of Halloween is from Scottish poet John Mayne, who, in 1780, made note of pranks at Halloween; "What fearfu' pranks ensue!", as well as the supernatural associated with the night, "Bogies" (ghosts), influencing Robert Burns' "Halloween" (1785).[137] Elements of the autumn season, such as pumpkins, corn husks, and scarecrows, are also prevalent. Homes are often decorated with these types of symbols around Halloween. Halloween imagery includes themes of death, evil, and mythical monsters.[138] Black, orange, and sometimes purple are Halloween's traditional colors.

Trick-or-treating and guising Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween. Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candy or sometimes money, with the question, "Trick or treat?" The word "trick" implies a "threat" to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given.[86] The practice is said to have roots in the medieval practice of mumming, which is closely related to souling.[139] John Pymm writes that "many of the feast days associated with the presentation of mumming plays were celebrated by the Christian Church."[140] These feast days included All Hallows' Eve, Christmas, Twelfth Night and Shrove Tuesday.[141][142] Mumming practiced in Germany, Scandinavia and other parts of Europe,[143] involved masked persons in fancy dress who "paraded the streets and entered houses to dance or play dice in silence".[144]

Girl in a Halloween costume in 1928,

Ontario, Canada, the same province where the Scottish Halloween custom of

guising is first recorded in North America

In England, from the medieval period,[145] up until the 1930s,[146] people practiced the Christian custom of souling on Halloween, which involved groups of soulers, both Protestant and Catholic,[110] going from parish to parish, begging the rich for soul cakes, in exchange for praying for the souls of the givers and their friends.[88] In the Philippines, the practice of souling is called Pangangaluwa and is practiced on All Hallow's Eve among children in rural areas.[21] People drape themselves in white cloths to represent souls and then visit houses, where they sing in return for prayers and sweets.[21]

In Scotland and Ireland, guising '' children disguised in costume going from door to door for food or coins '' is a traditional Halloween custom, and is recorded in Scotland at Halloween in 1895 where masqueraders in disguise carrying lanterns made out of scooped out turnips, visit homes to be rewarded with cakes, fruit, and money.[129][147] The practice of guising at Halloween in North America is first recorded in 1911, where a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, Canada reported children going "guising" around the neighborhood.[148]

American historian and author Ruth Edna Kelley of Massachusetts wrote the first book-length history of Halloween in the US; The Book of Hallowe'en (1919), and references souling in the chapter "Hallowe'en in America".[149] In her book, Kelley touches on customs that arrived from across the Atlantic; "Americans have fostered them, and are making this an occasion something like what it must have been in its best days overseas. All Halloween customs in the United States are borrowed directly or adapted from those of other countries".[150]

While the first reference to "guising" in North America occurs in 1911, another reference to ritual begging on Halloween appears, place unknown, in 1915, with a third reference in Chicago in 1920.[151] The earliest known use in print of the term "trick or treat" appears in 1927, in the Blackie Herald Alberta, Canada.[152]

The thousands of Halloween postcards produced between the turn of the 20th century and the 1920s commonly show children but not trick-or-treating.[153] Trick-or-treating does not seem to have become a widespread practice until the 1930s, with the first US appearances of the term in 1934,[154] and the first use in a national publication occurring in 1939.[155]

A popular variant of trick-or-treating, known as trunk-or-treating (or Halloween tailgating), occurs when "children are offered treats from the trunks of cars parked in a church parking lot", or sometimes, a school parking lot.[116][156] In a trunk-or-treat event, the trunk (boot) of each automobile is decorated with a certain theme,[157] such as those of children's literature, movies, scripture, and job roles.[158] Trunk-or-treating has grown in popularity due to its perception as being more safe than going door to door, a point that resonates well with parents, as well as the fact that it "solves the rural conundrum in which homes [are] built a half-mile apart".[159][160]

Costumes Halloween costumes are traditionally modeled after supernatural figures such as vampires, monsters, ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils.[86] Over time, the costume selection extended to include popular characters from fiction, celebrities, and generic archetypes such as ninjas and princesses.

Halloween shop in

Derry, Northern Ireland selling masks

Dressing up in costumes and going "guising" was prevalent in Scotland and Ireland at Halloween by the late 19th century.[129] A Scottish term, the tradition is called "guising" because of the disguises or costumes worn by the children.[147] In Ireland the masks are known as 'false faces'.[161] Costuming became popular for Halloween parties in the US in the early 20th century, as often for adults as for children, and when trick-or-treating was becoming popular in Canada and the US in the 1920s and 1930s.[152][162]

Eddie J. Smith, in his book Halloween, Hallowed is Thy Name, offers a religious perspective to the wearing of costumes on All Hallows' Eve, suggesting that by dressing up as creatures "who at one time caused us to fear and tremble", people are able to poke fun at Satan "whose kingdom has been plundered by our Saviour". Images of skeletons and the dead are traditional decorations used as memento mori.[163][164]

"Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF" is a fundraising program to support UNICEF,[86] a United Nations Programme that provides humanitarian aid to children in developing countries. Started as a local event in a Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood in 1950 and expanded nationally in 1952, the program involves the distribution of small boxes by schools (or in modern times, corporate sponsors like Hallmark, at their licensed stores) to trick-or-treaters, in which they can solicit small-change donations from the houses they visit. It is estimated that children have collected more than $118 million for UNICEF since its inception. In Canada, in 2006, UNICEF decided to discontinue their Halloween collection boxes, citing safety and administrative concerns; after consultation with schools, they instead redesigned the program.[165][166]

Pet costumes According to a 2018 report from the National Retail Federation, 30 million Americans will spend an estimated $480 million on Halloween costumes for their pets in 2018. This is up from an estimated $200 million in 2010. The most popular costumes for pets are the pumpkin, followed by the hot dog, and the bumble bee in third place.[167]

Games and other activities In this 1904 Halloween greeting card,

divination is depicted: the young woman looking into a mirror in a darkened room hopes to catch a glimpse of her future husband.

There are several games traditionally associated with Halloween. Some of these games originated as divination rituals or ways of foretelling one's future, especially regarding death, marriage and children. During the Middle Ages, these rituals were done by a "rare few" in rural communities as they were considered to be "deadly serious" practices.[168] In recent centuries, these divination games have been "a common feature of the household festivities" in Ireland and Britain.[58] They often involve apples and hazelnuts. In Celtic mythology, apples were strongly associated with the Otherworld and immortality, while hazelnuts were associated with divine wisdom.[169] Some also suggest that they derive from Roman practices in celebration of Pomona.[86]

Children

bobbing for apples at Hallowe'en

The following activities were a common feature of Halloween in Ireland and Britain during the 17th''20th centuries. Some have become more widespread and continue to be popular today.One common game is apple bobbing or dunking (which may be called "dooking" in Scotland)[170] in which apples float in a tub or a large basin of water and the participants must use only their teeth to remove an apple from the basin. A variant of dunking involves kneeling on a chair, holding a fork between the teeth and trying to drive the fork into an apple. Another common game involves hanging up treacle or syrup-coated scones by strings; these must be eaten without using hands while they remain attached to the string, an activity that inevitably leads to a sticky face. Another once-popular game involves hanging a small wooden rod from the ceiling at head height, with a lit candle on one end and an apple hanging from the other. The rod is spun round and everyone takes turns to try to catch the apple with their teeth.[171]

Image from the

Book of Hallowe'en (1919) showing several Halloween activities, such as nut roasting

Several of the traditional activities from Ireland and Britain involve foretelling one's future partner or spouse. An apple would be peeled in one long strip, then the peel tossed over the shoulder. The peel is believed to land in the shape of the first letter of the future spouse's name.[172][173] Two hazelnuts would be roasted near a fire; one named for the person roasting them and the other for the person they desire. If the nuts jump away from the heat, it is a bad sign, but if the nuts roast quietly it foretells a good match.[174][175] A salty oatmeal bannock would be baked; the person would eat it in three bites and then go to bed in silence without anything to drink. This is said to result in a dream in which their future spouse offers them a drink to quench their thirst.[176] Unmarried women were told that if they sat in a darkened room and gazed into a mirror on Halloween night, the face of their future husband would appear in the mirror.[177] However, if they were destined to die before marriage, a skull would appear. The custom was widespread enough to be commemorated on greeting cards[178] from the late 19th century and early 20th century.

In Ireland and Scotland, items would be hidden in food '' usually a cake, barmbrack, cranachan, champ or colcannon '' and portions of it served out at random. A person's future would be foretold by the item they happened to find; for example, a ring meant marriage and a coin meant wealth.[179]

Up until the 19th century, the Halloween bonfires were also used for divination in parts of Scotland, Wales and Brittany. When the fire died down, a ring of stones would be laid in the ashes, one for each person. In the morning, if any stone was mislaid it was said that the person it represented would not live out the year.[43]

Telling ghost stories and watching horror films are common fixtures of Halloween parties. Episodes of television series and Halloween-themed specials (with the specials usually aimed at children) are commonly aired on or before Halloween, while new horror films are often released before Halloween to take advantage of the holiday.

Humorous

tombstones in front of a house in California

Haunted attractions are entertainment venues designed to thrill and scare patrons. Most attractions are seasonal Halloween businesses that may include haunted houses, corn mazes, and hayrides,[180] and the level of sophistication of the effects has risen as the industry has grown.

The first recorded purpose-built haunted attraction was the Orton and Spooner Ghost House, which opened in 1915 in Liphook, England. This attraction actually most closely resembles a carnival fun house, powered by steam.[181][182] The House still exists, in the Hollycombe Steam Collection.

It was during the 1930s, about the same time as trick-or-treating, that Halloween-themed haunted houses first began to appear in America. It was in the late 1950s that haunted houses as a major attraction began to appear, focusing first on California. Sponsored by the Children's Health Home Junior Auxiliary, the San Mateo Haunted House opened in 1957. The San Bernardino Assistance League Haunted House opened in 1958. Home haunts began appearing across the country during 1962 and 1963. In 1964, the San Manteo Haunted House opened, as well as the Children's Museum Haunted House in Indianapolis.[183]

The haunted house as an American cultural icon can be attributed to the opening of the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland on 12 August 1969.[184]Knott's Berry Farm began hosting its own Halloween night attraction, Knott's Scary Farm, which opened in 1973.[185] Evangelical Christians adopted a form of these attractions by opening one of the first "hell houses" in 1972.[186]

The first Halloween haunted house run by a nonprofit organization was produced in 1970 by the Sycamore-Deer Park Jaycees in Clifton, Ohio. It was cosponsored by WSAI, an AM radio station broadcasting out of Cincinnati, Ohio. It was last produced in 1982.[187] Other Jaycees followed suit with their own versions after the success of the Ohio house. The March of Dimes copyrighted a "Mini haunted house for the March of Dimes" in 1976 and began fundraising through their local chapters by conducting haunted houses soon after. Although they apparently quit supporting this type of event nationally sometime in the 1980s, some March of Dimes haunted houses have persisted until today.[188]

On the evening of 11 May 1984, in Jackson Township, New Jersey, the Haunted Castle (Six Flags Great Adventure) caught fire. As a result of the fire, eight teenagers perished.[189] The backlash to the tragedy was a tightening of regulations relating to safety, building codes and the frequency of inspections of attractions nationwide. The smaller venues, especially the nonprofit attractions, were unable to compete financially, and the better funded commercial enterprises filled the vacuum.[190][191] Facilities that were once able to avoid regulation because they were considered to be temporary installations now had to adhere to the stricter codes required of permanent attractions.[192][193][194]

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, theme parks entered the business seriously. Six Flags Fright Fest began in 1986 and Universal Studios Florida began Halloween Horror Nights in 1991. Knott's Scary Farm experienced a surge in attendance in the 1990s as a result of America's obsession with Halloween as a cultural event. Theme parks have played a major role in globalizing the holiday. Universal Studios Singapore and Universal Studios Japan both participate, while Disney now mounts Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party events at its parks in Paris, Hong Kong and Tokyo, as well as in the United States.[195] The theme park haunts are by far the largest, both in scale and attendance.[196]

Food Pumpkins for sale during Halloween

On All Hallows' Eve, many Western Christian denominations encourage abstinence from meat, giving rise to a variety of vegetarian foods associated with this day.[197]

Because in the Northern Hemisphere Halloween comes in the wake of the yearly apple harvest, candy apples (known as toffee apples outside North America), caramel apples or taffy apples are common Halloween treats made by rolling whole apples in a sticky sugar syrup, sometimes followed by rolling them in nuts.

At one time, candy apples were commonly given to trick-or-treating children, but the practice rapidly waned in the wake of widespread rumors that some individuals were embedding items like pins and razor blades in the apples in the United States.[198] While there is evidence of such incidents,[199] relative to the degree of reporting of such cases, actual cases involving malicious acts are extremely rare and have never resulted in serious injury. Nonetheless, many parents assumed that such heinous practices were rampant because of the mass media. At the peak of the hysteria, some hospitals offered free X-rays of children's Halloween hauls in order to find evidence of tampering. Virtually all of the few known candy poisoning incidents involved parents who poisoned their own children's candy.[200]

One custom that persists in modern-day Ireland is the baking (or more often nowadays, the purchase) of a barmbrack (Irish: birn breac), which is a light fruitcake, into which a plain ring, a coin, and other charms are placed before baking.[201] It is considered fortunate to be the lucky one who finds it.[201] It has also been said that those who get a ring will find their true love in the ensuing year. This is similar to the tradition of king cake at the festival of Epiphany.

List of foods associated with Halloween:

Barmbrack (Ireland)Bonfire toffee (Great Britain)Candy apples/toffee apples (Great Britain and Ireland)Candy apples, candy corn, candy pumpkins (North America)ChocolateMonkey nuts (peanuts in their shells) (Ireland and Scotland)Caramel applesCaramel cornColcannon (Ireland; see below)Halloween cakeSweets/candyNovelty candy shaped like skulls, pumpkins, bats, worms, etc.Roasted pumpkin seedsRoasted sweet cornSoul cakesChristian religious observances The Vigil of All Hallows' is being celebrated at an

Episcopal Christian church on Hallowe'en.

On Hallowe'en (All Hallows' Eve), in Poland, believers were once taught to pray out loud as they walk through the forests in order that the souls of the dead might find comfort; in Spain, Christian priests in tiny villages toll their church bells in order to remind their congregants to remember the dead on All Hallows' Eve.[202] In Ireland, and among immigrants in Canada, a custom includes the Christian practice of abstinence, keeping All Hallows' Eve as a meat-free day, and serving pancakes or colcannon instead.[203] In Mexico children make an altar to invite the return of the spirits of dead children (angelitos).[204]

The Christian Church traditionally observed Hallowe'en through a vigil. Worshippers prepared themselves for feasting on the following All Saints' Day with prayers and fasting.[205] This church service is known as the Vigil of All Hallows or the Vigil of All Saints;[206][207] an initiative known as Night of Light seeks to further spread the Vigil of All Hallows throughout Christendom.[208][209] After the service, "suitable festivities and entertainments" often follow, as well as a visit to the graveyard or cemetery, where flowers and candles are often placed in preparation for All Hallows' Day.[210][211] In Finland, because so many people visit the cemeteries on All Hallows' Eve to light votive candles there, they "are known as valomeri, or seas of light".[212]

Today, Christian attitudes towards Halloween are diverse. In the Anglican Church, some dioceses have chosen to emphasize the Christian traditions associated with All Hallow's Eve.[213][214] Some of these practices include praying, fasting and attending worship services.[1][2][3]

O LORD our God, increase, we pray thee, and multiply upon us the gifts of thy grace: that we, who do prevent the glorious festival of all thy Saints, may of thee be enabled joyfully to follow them in all virtuous and godly living. Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. '--Collect of the Vigil of All Saints, The Anglican Breviary[215]

Votive candles in the Halloween section of

WalmartOther Protestant Christians also celebrate All Hallows' Eve as Reformation Day, a day to remember the Protestant Reformation, alongside All Hallow's Eve or independently from it.[216][217] This is because Martin Luther is said to have nailed his Ninety-five Theses to All Saints' Church in Wittenberg on All Hallows' Eve.[218] Often, "Harvest Festivals" or "Reformation Festivals" are held on All Hallows' Eve, in which children dress up as Bible characters or Reformers.[219] In addition to distributing candy to children who are trick-or-treating on Hallowe'en, many Christians also provide gospel tracts to them. One organization, the American Tract Society, stated that around 3 million gospel tracts are ordered from them alone for Hallowe'en celebrations.[220] Others order Halloween-themed Scripture Candy to pass out to children on this day.[221][222]

Belizean children dressed up as Biblical figures and Christian saints

Some Christians feel concerned about the modern celebration of Halloween because they feel it trivializes '' or celebrates '' paganism, the occult, or other practices and cultural phenomena deemed incompatible with their beliefs.[223] Father Gabriele Amorth, an exorcist in Rome, has said, "if English and American children like to dress up as witches and devils on one night of the year that is not a problem. If it is just a game, there is no harm in that."[224] In more recent years, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has organized a "Saint Fest" on Halloween.[225] Similarly, many contemporary Protestant churches view Halloween as a fun event for children, holding events in their churches where children and their parents can dress up, play games, and get candy for free. To these Christians, Halloween holds no threat to the spiritual lives of children: being taught about death and mortality, and the ways of the Celtic ancestors actually being a valuable life lesson and a part of many of their parishioners' heritage.[226] Christian minister Sam Portaro wrote that Halloween is about using "humor and ridicule to confront the power of death".[227]

In the Roman Catholic Church, Halloween's Christian connection is acknowledged, and Halloween celebrations are common in many Catholic parochial schools.[228][229] Many fundamentalist and evangelical churches use "Hell houses" and comic-style tracts in order to make use of Halloween's popularity as an opportunity for evangelism.[230] Others consider Halloween to be completely incompatible with the Christian faith due to its putative origins in the Festival of the Dead celebration.[231] Indeed, even though Eastern Orthodox Christians observe All Hallows' Day on the First Sunday after Pentecost, The Eastern Orthodox Church recommends the observance of Vespers or a Paraklesis on the Western observance of All Hallows' Eve, out of the pastoral need to provide an alternative to popular celebrations.[232]

Analogous celebrations and perspectives Judaism According to Alfred J. Kolatch in the Second Jewish Book of Why, in Judaism, Halloween is not permitted by Jewish Halakha because it violates Leviticus 18:3, which forbids Jews from partaking in gentile customs. Many Jews observe Yizkor communally four times a year, which is vaguely similar to the observance of Allhallowtide in Christianity, in the sense that prayers are said for both "martyrs and for one's own family".[233] Nevertheless, many American Jews celebrate Halloween, disconnected from its Christian origins.[234]Reform Rabbi Jeffrey Goldwasser has said that "There is no religious reason why contemporary Jews should not celebrate Halloween" while Orthodox Rabbi Michael Broyde has argued against Jews observing the holiday.[235] Jews do have the holiday of Purim, where the children dress up in costumes to celebrate.[236]

Islam Sheikh Idris Palmer, author of A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam, has argued that Muslims should not participate in Halloween, stating that "participation in Halloween is worse than participation in Christmas, Easter, ... it is more sinful than congratulating the Christians for their prostration to the crucifix".[237]Javed Memon, a Muslim writer, has disagreed, saying that his "daughter dressing up like a British telephone booth will not destroy her faith as a Muslim".[238]

Hinduism Hindus remember the dead during the festival of Pitru Paksha, during which Hindus pay homage to and perform a ceremony "to keep the souls of their ancestors at rest". It is celebrated in the Hindu month of Bhadrapada, usually in mid-September.[239] The celebration of the Hindu festival Diwali sometimes conflicts with the date of Halloween; but some Hindus choose to participate in the popular customs of Halloween.[240] Other Hindus, such as Soumya Dasgupta, have opposed the celebration on the grounds that Western holidays like Halloween have "begun to adversely affect our indigenous festivals".[241]

Neopaganism There is no consistent rule or view on Halloween amongst those who describe themselves as Neopagans or Wiccans. Some Neopagans do not observe Halloween, but instead observe Samhain on 1 November,[242] some neopagans do enjoy Halloween festivities, stating that one can observe both "the solemnity of Samhain in addition to the fun of Halloween". Some neopagans are opposed to the celebration of Hallowe'en, stating that it "trivializes Samhain",[243] and "avoid Halloween, because of the interruptions from trick or treaters".[244]The Manitoban writes that "Wiccans don't officially celebrate Halloween, despite the fact that 31 Oct. will still have a star beside it in any good Wiccan's day planner. Starting at sundown, Wiccans celebrate a holiday known as Samhain. Samhain actually comes from old Celtic traditions and is not exclusive to Neopagan religions like Wicca. While the traditions of this holiday originate in Celtic countries, modern day Wiccans don't try to historically replicate Samhain celebrations. Some traditional Samhain rituals are still practised, but at its core, the period is treated as a time to celebrate darkness and the dead '' a possible reason why Samhain can be confused with Halloween celebrations."[242]

Around the world A supermarket display of Halloween treats for sale in Japan

The traditions and importance of Halloween vary greatly among countries that observe it. In Scotland and Ireland, traditional Halloween customs include children dressing up in costume going "guising", holding parties, while other practices in Ireland include lighting bonfires, and having firework displays.[245][246] In Brittany children would play practical jokes by setting candles inside skulls in graveyards to frighten visitors.[247] Mass transatlantic immigration in the 19th century popularized Halloween in North America, and celebration in the United States and Canada has had a significant impact on how the event is observed in other nations. This larger North American influence, particularly in iconic and commercial elements, has extended to places such as Ecuador, Chile,[248] Australia,[249]New Zealand,[250] (most) continental Europe, Japan, and other parts of East Asia.[251] In the Philippines, during Halloween, Filipinos return to their hometowns and purchase candles and flowers,[252] in preparation for the following All Saints Day (Araw ng mga Patay) on 1 November and All Souls Day '' though it falls on 2 November, most of them observe it on the day before.[253] In Mexico and Latin America in general, it is referred to as " Da de Muertos " which translates in English to "Day of the dead". Most of the people from Latin America construct altars in their homes to honor their deceased relatives and they decorate them with flowers and candies and other offerings.[254]

See also References ^ a b c "BBC '' Religions '' Christianity: All Hallows' Eve". British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 2010. Archived from the original on 3 November 2011 . Retrieved 1 November 2011 . It is widely believed that many Hallowe'en traditions have evolved from an ancient Celtic festival called Samhain which was Christianised by the early Church.... All Hallows' Eve falls on 31st October each year, and is the day before All Hallows' Day, also known as All Saints' Day in the Christian calendar. The Church traditionally held a vigil on All Hallows' Eve when worshippers would prepare themselves with prayers and fasting prior to the feast day itself. The name derives from the Old English 'hallowed' meaning holy or sanctified and is now usually contracted to the more familiar word Hallowe'en. ...However, there are supporters of the view that Hallowe'en, as the eve of All Saints' Day, originated entirely independently of Samhain ... ^ a b "Service for All Hallows' Eve". The Book of Occasional Services 2003. Church Publishing, Inc. 2004. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-89869-409-3. This service may be used on the evening of October 31, known as All Hallows' Eve. Suitable festivities and entertainments may take place before or after this service, and a visit may be made to a cemetery or burial place. ^ a b Anne E. Kitch (2004). The Anglican Family Prayer Book. Church Publishing, Inc. ISBN 978-0819225658. Archived from the original on 25 January 2017 . Retrieved 31 October 2011 . All Hallow's Eve, which later became known as Halloween, is celebrated on the night before All Saints' Day, November 1. Use this simple prayer service in conjunction with Halloween festivities to mark the Christian roots of this festival. ^ The Paulist Liturgy Planning Guide. Paulist Press. 2006. ISBN 978-0809144143. Archived from the original on 31 October 2017 . Retrieved 31 October 2011 . Rather than compete, liturgy planners would do well to consider ways of including children in the celebration of these vigil Masses. For example, children might be encouraged to wear Halloween costumes representing their patron saint or their favorite saint, clearly adding a new level of meaning to the Halloween celebrations and the celebration of All Saints' Day. ^ Palmer, Abram Smythe (1882). Folk-etymology. Johnson Reprint. p. 6. ^ Elwell, Walter A. (2001). Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Baker Academic. p. 533. ISBN 978-0801020759. Halloween (All Hallows Eve). The name given to October 31, the eve of the Christian festival of All Saints Day (November 1). ^ "NEDCO Producers' Guide". 31''33. Northeast Dairy Cooperative Federation. 1973. Originally celebrated as the night before All Saints' Day, Christians chose November first to honor their many saints. The night before was called All Saints' Eve or hallowed eve meaning holy evening. ^ "Tudor Hallowtide". National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty. 2012. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Hallowtide covers the three days '' 31 October (All-Hallows Eve or Hallowe'en), 1 November (All Saints) and 2 November (All Souls). ^ Hughes, Rebekkah (29 October 2014). "Happy Hallowe'en Surrey!" (PDF) . The Stag. University of Surrey. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 November 2015 . Retrieved 31 October 2015 . Halloween or Hallowe'en, is the yearly celebration on October 31st that signifies the first day of Allhallowtide, being the time to remember the dead, including martyrs, saints and all faithful departed Christians. ^ Don't Know Much About Mythology: Everything You Need to Know About the Greatest Stories in Human History but Never Learned (Davis), HarperCollins, p. 231 ^ Merriam-Webster's Encyclop...dia of World Religions. Merriam-Webster. 1999. ISBN 978-0877790440 . Retrieved 31 October 2011 . Halloween, also called All Hallows' Eve, holy or hallowed evening observed on October 31, the eve of All Saints' Day. The Irish pre-Christian observances influenced the Christian festival of All Hallows' Eve, celebrated on the same date. ^ Roberts, Brian K. (1987). The Making of the English Village: A Study in Historical Geography. Longman Scientific & Technical. ISBN 978-0582301436 . Retrieved 14 December 2015 . Time out of time', when the barriers between this world and the next were down, the dead returned from the grave, and gods and strangers from the underworld walked abroad was a twice- yearly reality, on dates Christianised as All Hallows' Eve and All Hallows' Day. ^ Smith, Bonnie G. (2004). Women's History in Global Perspective. University of Illinois Press. p. 66. ISBN 978-0252029318 . Retrieved 14 December 2015 . The pre-Christian observance obviously influenced the Christian celebration of All Hallows' Eve, just as the Taoist festival affected the newer Buddhist Ullambana festival. Although the Christian version of All Saints' and All Souls' Days came to emphasize prayers for the dead, visits to graves, and the role of the living assuring the safe passage to heaven of their departed loved ones, older notions never disappeared. ^ Nicholas Rogers (2002). Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195168969 . Retrieved 31 October 2011 . Halloween and the Day of the Dead share a common origin in the Christian commemoration of the dead on All Saints' and All Souls' Day. But both are thought to embody strong pre-Christian beliefs. In the case of Halloween, the Celtic celebration of Samhain is critical to its pagan legacy, a claim that has been foregrounded in recent years by both new-age enthusiasts and the evangelical Right. ^ Austrian information. 1965 . Retrieved 31 October 2011 . The feasts of Hallowe'en, or All Hallows Eve and the devotions to the dead on All Saints' and All Souls' Day are both mixtures of old Celtic, Druid and other pagan customs intertwined with Christian practice. ^ Moser, Stefan (29 October 2010). "Kein 'Trick or Treat' bei Salzburgs Kelten" (in German). Salzburger Nachrichten. Archived from the original on 17 March 2014 . Retrieved 11 August 2017 . Die Kelten haben gar nichts mit Halloween zu tun", entkr¤ftet Stefan Moser, Direktor des Keltenmuseums Hallein, einen weit verbreiteten Mythos. Moser sieht die Urspr¼nge von Halloween insgesamt in einem christlichen Brauch, nicht in einem keltischen. ^ D¶ring, Alois; Bolinius, Erich (31 October 2006), Samhain '' Halloween '' Allerheiligen (in German), FDP Emden, Die l¼ckenhaften religionsgeschichtlichen 'berlieferungen, die auf die Neuzeit begrenzte historische Dimension der Halloween-Kultauspr¤gung, vor allem auch die Halloween-Metaphorik legen nahe, da wir umdenken m¼ssen: Halloween geht nicht auf das heidnische Samhain zur¼ck, sondern steht in Bezug zum christlichen Totengedenkfest Allerheiligen/ Allerseelen. ^ H¶randner, Editha (2005). Halloween in der Steiermark und anderswo (in German). LIT Verlag M¼nster. pp. 8, 12, 30. ISBN 978-3825888893. Der Wunsch nach einer Tradition, deren Anf¤nge sich in grauer Vorzeit verlieren, ist bei Dachleuten wie laien gleichm¤ig verbreitet. ... Abgesehen von Irrt¼mern wie die Herleitung des Fests in ungebrochener Tradition ("seit 2000 Jahren") ist eine mangelnde vertrautheit mit der heimischen Folklore festzustellen. Allerheiligen war lange vor der Halloween invasion ein wichtiger Brauchtermin und ist das ncoh heute. ... So wie viele heimische Br¤uche generell als fruchtbarkeitsbringend und d¤monenaustreibend interpretiert werden, was trottz aller Aufkl¤rungsarbeit nicht auszurotten ist, begegnet uns Halloween als ...heidnisches Fest. Aber es wird nicht als solches inszeniert. ^ D¶ring, Dr. Volkskundler Alois (2011). "S¼es, Saures '' olle Kamellen? Ist Halloween schon wieder out?" (in German). Westdeutscher Rundfunk. Archived from the original on 14 June 2011 . Retrieved 12 November 2015 . Dr. Alois D¶ring ist wissenschaftlicher Referent f¼r Volkskunde beim LVR-Institut f¼r Landeskunde und Regionalgeschichte Bonn. Er schrieb zahlreiche B¼cher ¼ber Br¤uche im Rheinland, darunter das Nachschlagewerk "Rheinische Br¤uche durch das Jahr". Darin widerspricht D¶ring der These, Halloween sei urspr¼nglich ein keltisch-heidnisches Totenfest. Vielmehr stamme Halloween von den britischen Inseln, der Begriff leite sich ab von "All Hallows eve", Abend vor Allerheiligen. Irische Einwanderer h¤tten das Fest nach Amerika gebracht, so D¶ring, von wo aus es als "amerikanischer" Brauch nach Europa zur¼ckkehrte. ^ a b c Paul Fieldhouse (17 April 2017). Food, Feasts, and Faith: An Encyclopedia of Food Culture in World Religions. ABC-CLIO. p. 256. ISBN 9781610694124. ^ Skog, Jason (2008). Teens in Finland. Capstone. p. 31. ISBN 978-0756534059. Most funerals are Lutheran, and nearly 98 percent of all funerals take place in a church. It is customary to take pictures of funerals or even videotape them. To Finns, death is a part of the cycle of life, and a funeral is another special occasion worth remembering. In fact, during All Hallow's Eve and Christmas Eve, cemeteries are known as valomeri, or seas of light. Finns visit cemeteries and light candles in remembrance of the deceased. ^ "All Hallows Eve Service" (PDF) . Duke University. 31 October 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 October 2013 . Retrieved 31 May 2014 . About All Hallows Eve: Tonight is the eve of All Saints Day, the festival in the Church that recalls the faith and witness of the men and women who have come before us. The service celebrates our continuing communion with them, and memorializes the recently deceased. The early church followed the Jewish custom that a new day began at sundown; thus, feasts and festivals in the church were observed beginning on the night before. ^ "The Christian Observances of Halloween". National Republic. 15: 33. 5 May 2009. Among the European nations the beautiful custom of lighting candles for the dead was always a part of the "All Hallow's Eve" festival. ^ Hynes, Mary Ellen (1993). Companion to the Calendar. Liturgy Training Publications. p. 160. ISBN 978-1568540115. In most of Europe, Halloween is strictly a religious event. Sometimes in North America the church's traditions are lost or confused. ^ Kernan, Joe (30 October 2013). "Not so spooky after all: The roots of Halloween are tamer than you think". Cranston Herald. Archived from the original on 26 November 2015 . Retrieved 31 October 2015 . By the early 20th century, Halloween, like Christmas, was commercialized. Pre-made costumes, decorations and special candy all became available. The Christian origins of the holiday were downplayed. ^ Braden, Donna R.; Village, Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield (1988). Leisure and entertainment in America. Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village. ISBN 978-0933728325. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014 . Retrieved 2 June 2014 . Halloween, a holiday with religious origins but increasingly secularized as celebrated in America, came to assume major proportions as a children's festivity. ^ Santino, p. 85 ^ All Hallows' Eve (Diana Swift), Anglican Journal ^ Mahon, Brd (1991). Land of Milk and Honey: The Story of Traditional Irish Food & Drink. Poolbeg Press. p. 138. ISBN 978-1853711428. The vigil of the feast is Halloween, the night when charms and incantations were powerful, when people looked into the future, and when feasting and merriment were ordained. Up to recent time this was a day of abstinence, when according to church ruling no flesh meat was allowed. Colcannon, apple cake and barm brack, as well as apples and nuts were part of the festive fare. ^ Fieldhouse, Paul (17 April 2017). Food, Feasts, and Faith: An Encyclopedia of Food Culture in World Religions. ABC-CLIO. p. 254. ISBN 978-1610694124. Archived from the original on 31 October 2017 . Retrieved 13 August 2017 . In Ireland, dishes based on potatoes and other vegetables were associated with Halloween, as meat was forbidden during the Catholic vigil and fast leading up to All Saint's Day. ^ "Online Etymology Dictionary: Halloween". Etymonline.com. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013 . Retrieved 13 October 2013 . ^ The A to Z of Anglicanism (Colin Buchanan), Scarecrow Press, p. 8 ^ Luck, Steve (22 October 1998). The American Desk Encyclopedia. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195214659. ^ a b The Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. 1989. ISBN 978-0198611868. ^ "DOST: Hallow Evin". Dsl.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 29 April 2014 . Retrieved 13 October 2013 . ^ Anglo-Saxon Spirituality: Selected Writings (Robert Boenig), Paulist Press, p. 7 ^ Santino, Jack. The Hallowed Eve: Dimensions of Culture in a Calendar Festival of Northern Ireland. University Press of Kentucky, p. 95 ^ Rogers, Nicholas (2002). "Samhain and the Celtic Origins of Halloween". Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, pp. 11''21. New York: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 0195168968. ^ A Pocket Guide To Superstitions of the British Isles (Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; Reprint edition: 4 November 2004) ISBN 0140515496 ^ All Hallows' Eve Archived 3 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine BBC. Retrieved 31 October 2011. ^ ' h'gin, Dith. Myth, Legend & Romance: An encyclopaedia of the Irish folk tradition. Prentice Hall Press, 1991. p. 402 ^ a b c Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain. Oxford University Press, 1996. pp. 365''369 ^ a b Monaghan, Patricia. The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore. Infobase Publishing, 2004. p. 407 ^ Hutton, p. 361 ^ Monaghan, p. 41 ^ O'Halpin, Andy. Ireland: An Oxford Archaeological Guide. Oxford University Press, 2006. p. 236 ^ Monaghan, Patricia (2014). The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore. Infobase publishing. p. 167. ^ Monaghan, Patricia (1 January 2009). The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore. Infobase Publishing. p. 167. ISBN 978-1438110370. Archived from the original on 23 April 2016 . Retrieved 19 October 2015 . They were both respected and feared. "Their backs towards us, their faces away from us, and may God and Mary save us from harm," was a prayer spoken whenever one ventured near their dwellings. ^ Santino, p. 105 ^ Danaher, Kevin (1972). The Year in Ireland: Irish Calendar Customs. p. 200 ^ Evans-Wentz, Walter (1911). The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries. p. 44. ^ McNeill, F. Marian (1961). The Silver Bough, Volume 3. p. 34. ^ "Halloween". Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Chicago: Encyclop...dia Britannica, 2009. Credo Reference. Web. 21 September 2012. ^ a b McNeill, The Silver Bough, Volume 3, pp. 11''46 ^ a b c Miles, Clement A. (1912). Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. Chapter 7: All Hallow Tide to Martinmas Archived 4 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine. ^ Hutton, p. 379 ^ a b Hutton, p. 380 ^ Danaher, Kevin. "Irish Folk Tradition and the Celtic Calendar". In The Celtic Consciousness, ed. Robert O'Driscoll. New York: Braziller, 1981. pp. 218''227 ^ Frazer, James George (1922). The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. Chapter 63, Part 1: On the Fire-festivals in general Archived 12 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine. ^ MacCulloch, John Arnott (1911). The Religion of the Ancient Celts. Chapter 18: Festivals Archived 12 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine. ^ Hutton, pp. 366, 380 ^ "Halloween traditions". Welsh Government. 2016. Archived from the original on 2 October 2017 . Retrieved 2 October 2017 . ^ Rosinsky, Natalie M. (1 July 2002). Halloween. Capstone. p. 8. ISBN 978-0756503925. Christian leaders made old Celtic and Roman customs into new Christian ones. Bonfires were once lighted against evil spirits. Now, they kept away the devil. ^ a b McNeill, F. Marian. Hallowe'en: its origin, rites and ceremonies in the Scottish tradition. Albyn Press, 1970. pp. 29''31 ^ a b c d e f g h i j Hutton, pp. 379''383 ^ Hole, Christina. British Folk Customs. Hutchinson, 1976. p. 91 ^ Peddle, S. V. (2007). Pagan Channel Islands: Europe's Hidden Heritage. p. 54 ^ Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Volume 2. 1855. pp. 308''309 ^ Palmer, Kingsley. Oral folk-tales of Wessex. David & Charles, 1973. pp. 87''88 ^ Wilson, David Scofield. Rooted in America: Foodlore of Popular Fruits and Vegetables. Univ. of Tennessee Press, 1999. p. 154 ^ Beth Allison Barr (28 October 2016). "Guess what? Halloween is more Christian than Pagan - The Washington Post". The Washington Post . Retrieved 31 October 2018 . It is the medieval Christian festivals of All Saints' and All Souls' that provide our firmest foundation for Halloween. From emphasizing dead souls (both good and evil), to decorating skeletons, lighting candles for processions, building bonfires to ward off evil spirits, organizing community feasts, and even encouraging carnival practices like costumes, the medieval and early modern traditions of "Hallowtide" fit well with our modern holiday. ^ a b Rogers, Nicholas (2002). Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, pp. 22, 27. New York: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 0-19-516896-8. ^ New Proclamation Commentary on Feasts, Holy Days, and Other Celebrations (Bill Doggett, Gordon W. Lathrop), Fortress Press, p. 92 ^ Hallowe'en, A Christian Name with Blended Christian & Folk Traditions (Thomas L. Weitzel), Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ^ Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints. Church Publishing, Inc. 2010. p. 662. ISBN 978-0898696783. ^ Saunders, William. "All Saints and All Souls". catholiceducation.org. Archived from the original on 18 September 2016 . Retrieved 19 September 2016 . ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "All Saints, Festival of" . Encyclop...dia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. ^ "All Saints' Day", The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd edition, ed. E. A. Livingstone (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 41''42; The New Catholic Encyclopedia, eo.loc. ^ a b c Hutton, p. 364 ^ a b MacCulloch, John Arnott (1911). The Religion of the Ancient Celts. Chapter 10: The Cult of the Dead Archived 29 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine. ^ Butler's Saint for the Day (Paul Burns), Liturgical Press, p. 516 ^ Arising from Bondage: A History of the Indo-Caribbean People (Ron Ramdin), New York University Press, p. 241 ^ The World Review '' Volume 4, University of Minnesota, p. 255 ^ Rogers, Nicholas (2001). Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. Oxford University Press. pp. 28''30. ISBN 978-0195146912. ^ a b c d e "Halloween". Encyclop...dia Britannica. Archived from the original on 30 October 2012 . Retrieved 25 October 2012 . ^ a b Hutton, pp. 374''375 ^ a b Mary Mapes Dodge, ed. (1883). St. Nicholas Magazine. Scribner & Company. p. 93. 'Soul-cakes,' which the rich gave to the poor at the Halloween season, in return for which the recipients prayed for the souls of the givers and their friends. And this custom became so favored in popular esteem that, for a long time, it was a regular observance in the country towns of England for small companies to go from parish to parish, begging soul-cakes by singing under the windows some such verse as this: 'Soul, souls, for a soul-cake; Pray you good mistress, a soul-cake!' ^ DeMello, Margo (2012). A Cultural Encyclopedia of the Human Face. ABC-CLIO. p. 167. ISBN 978-1598846171. Trick-or-treating began as souling an English and Irish tradition in which the poor, wearing masks, would go door to door and beg for soul cakes in exchange for people's dead relatives. ^ Cleene, Marcel. Compendium of Symbolic and Ritual Plants in Europe. Man & Culture, 2002. p. 108. Quote: "Soul cakes were small cakes baked as food for the deceased or offered for the salvation of their souls. They were therefore offered at funerals and feasts of the dead, laid on graves, or given to the poor as representatives of the dead. The baking of these soul cakes is a universal practice". ^ Levene, Alysa (15 March 2016). Cake: A Slice of History. Pegasus Books. p. 44. ISBN 978-1681771083. Like the perennial favourites, hot cross buns; they were often marked with a cross to indicate that they were baked as alms. ^ The Two Gentlemen of Verona Act 2, Scene 1. ^ Prince Sorie Conteh (2009). Traditionalists, Muslims, and Christians in Africa: Interreligious Encounters and Dialogue. Cambria Press. ISBN 978-1604975963. Archived from the original on 31 October 2017 . Retrieved 31 October 2011 . ^ Bannatyne, Lesley (31 August 1998). Halloween. Pelican Publishing Company. p. 19. ISBN 978-1455605538. Villagers were also encouraged to masquerade on this day, not to frighten unwelcome spirits, but to honor Christian saints. Poor churches could not afford genuine relics and instead had processions in which parishioners dressed as saints, angels and devils. It served the new church by giving an acceptable Christian basis to the custom of dressing up on Halloween. ^ a b Morrow, Ed (2001). The Halloween Handbook. Kensington Publishing Corporation. p. 19. ISBN 978-0806522272. Another contributor to the custom of dressing up at Halloween was the old Irish practice of marking All Hallows' Day with religious pageants that recounted biblical events. These were common during the Middle Ages all across Europe. The featured players dressed as saints and angels, but there were also plenty of roles for demons who had more fun, capering, acting devilish, and playing to the crows. The pageant began inside the church, then moved by procession to the churchyard, where it continued long into the night. ^ "Eve of All Saints", Using Common Worship: Times and Seasons '' All Saints to Candlemas (David Kennedy), Church House Publishing, p. 42 ^ Bannatyne, Lesley. Halloween: An American Holiday, an American History. Pelican Publishing, 1998. p. 9 ^ a b Pulliam, June; Fonseca, Anthony J. (26 September 2016). Ghosts in Popular Culture and Legend. ABC-CLIO. p. 145. ISBN 978-1440834912. Since the 16th century, costumes have become a central part of Halloween traditions. Perhaps the most common traditional Halloween costume is that of the ghost. This is likely because ... when Halloween customs began to be influenced by Catholicism, the incorporation of the themes of All Hallows' and All Souls' Day would have emphasized visitations from the spirit world over the motifs of spirites and fairies. ... The baking and sharing of souls cakes was introduced around the 15th century: in some cultures, the poor would go door to door to collect them in exchange for praying for the dead (a practice called souling), often carrying lanterns made of hollowed-out turnips. Around the 16th century, the practice of going house to house in disguise (a practice called guising) to ask for food began and was often accompanied by recitation of traditional verses (a practice called mumming). Wearing costumes, another tradition, has many possible explanations, such as it was done to confuse the spirits or souls who visited the earth or who rose from local graveyards to engage in what was called a Danse Macabre, basically a large party among the dead. ^ a b Rogers, p. 57 ^ Carter, Albert Howard; Petro, Jane Arbuckle (1998). Rising from the Flames: The Experience of the Severely Burned. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-0812215175. Halloween, incorporated into the Christian year as the eve of All Saints Day, marked the return of the souls of the departed and the release of devils who could move freely on that night. Fires lit on that night served to prevent the influence of such spirits and to provide omens for the future. Modern children go from house to house at Halloween with flashlights powered by electric batteries, while jack o'lanterns (perhaps with an actual candle, but often with a lightbulb) glow from windows and porches. ^ The Catholic World, Vol. 138: A Monthly Magazine of General Literature and Science. 138. Paulist Press. 1934. And even then, the educated folk of the districts concerned, declared that these fires were a relic of papistical days, when they were lit at night to guide the poor souls back to earth. ^ a b Think, Volume 20, International Business Machines Corp., p. 15 ^ a b Santino, p. 95 ^ Encyclopedia of Observances, Holidays and Celebrations, MobileReference ^ Descriptive Analyses of Piano Works; For the Use of Teachers, Players, and Music Clubs (Edward Baxter Perry), Theodore Presser Company, p. 276 ^ Allmand, Christopher (18 June 1998). The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 7, c. 1415''c. 1500. Cambridge University Press. p. 210. ISBN 978-0521382960. Archived from the original on 23 April 2016 . Retrieved 19 October 2015 . ^ Books & Culture: A Christian Review. Christianity Today. 1999. p. 12. Archived from the original on 23 April 2016. Sometimes enacted as at village pageants, the danse macabre was also performed as court masques, the courtiers dressing up as corpses from various strata of society...both the name and the observance began liturgically as All Hallows' Eve. ^ H¶randner, Editha (2005). Halloween in der Steiermark und anderswo. LIT Verlag M¼nster. p. 99. ISBN 978-3825888893. On the other hand the postmodern phenomenon of "antifashion" is also to be found in some Halloween costumes. Black and orange are a 'must' with many costumes. Halloween '' like the medieval danse macabre '' is closely connected with superstitions and it might be a way of dealing with death in a playful way. ^ The Episcopal Church, its teaching and worship (Latta Griswold), E.S. Gorham, p. 110 ^ a b Mosteller, Angie (2 July 2014). Christian Origins of Halloween. Rose Publishing. ISBN 978-1596365353. In Protestant regions souling remained an important occasion for soliciting food and money from rich neighbors in preparation for the coming cold and dark months. ^ Medieval Celebrations: Your Guide to Planning and Hosting Spectacular Feasts, Parties, Weddings, and Renaissance Fairs (Daniel Diehl, Mark Donnelly), Stackpole Books, p. 17 ^ Hutton, Ronald (15 February 2001). Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain. Oxford University Press. pp. 369, 373. ISBN 978-0191578427. Fires were indeed lit in England on All Saints' Day, notably in Lancashire, and may well ultimately have descended from the same rites, but were essentially party of a Christian ceremony ... families still assembled at the midnight before All Saints' Day in the early nineteenth century. Each did so on a hill near its homestead, one person holding a large bunch of burning straw on the end of a fork. The rest in a circle around and prayed for the souls of relatives and friends until the flames burned out. The author who recorded this custom added that it gradually died out in the latter part of the century, but that before it had been very common and at nearby Whittingham such fires could be seen all around the horizon at Hallowe'en. He went on to say that the name 'Purgatory Field', found across northern Lancashire, testified to an even wider distribution, and that the rite itself was called 'Teen'lay'. ^ O'Donnell, Hugh and Foley, Malcolm (2008). "Treat or Trick? Halloween in a Globalising World". p. 35. Cambridge Scholars Publishing ^ a b Rogers, Nicholas (2002). Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, pp. 37''38. New York: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 0195168968. ^ Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween (Lisa Morton), Reaktion Books, p. 129 ^ a b The Halloween Encyclopedia (Lisa Morton), McFarland, p. 9 ^ Pumpkin: The Curious History of an American Icon (Cindy Ott), University of Washington Press, p. 42 ^ Halloween: An American Holiday, an American History (Lesley Pratt Bannatyne), Pelican Publishing, p. 45 ^ Encyclopaedia Londinensis, or, Universal dictionary of arts, sciences, and literature, Volume 21 (John Wilkes), R. G. Gunnell and Co., p. 544 ^ a b Rogers, Nicholas (2002). Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, pp. 49''50. New York: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 0195168968. ^ Rogers, Nicholas (2002). Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, p. 74. New York: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 0195168968. ^ Morton, Lisa (1 August 2003). The Halloween Encyclopedia. McFarland. ISBN 978-0786415243. ^ Village Halloween Parade. "History of the Parade". Archived from the original on 27 July 2014 . Retrieved 19 September 2014 . ^ The Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft and Wicca, Infobase Publishing, p. 183 ^ Dante's "Commedia" and the Poetics of Christian Catabasis (Lee Foust), ProQuest, p. 15 ^ The Guinness Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits (Rosemary Guiley), Guinness World Records Limited, p. 178 ^ Encyclopedia of Death and Dying (Glennys Howarth, Oliver Leaman), Taylor & Francis, p. 320 ^ a b The Oxford companion to American food and drink Archived 11 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine p. 269. Oxford University Press, 2007. Retrieved 17 February 2011 ^ a b c Leslie, Frank (5 February 2009). Frank Leslie's popular monthly, Volume 40, November 1895, pp. 540-543. Archived from the original on 11 May 2011 . Retrieved 23 October 2011 . ^ Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Great Carbuncle", in Twice-Told Tales, 1837: Hide it [the great carbuncle] under thy cloak, say'st thou? Why, it will gleam through the holes, and make thee look like a jack-o'-lantern! ^ As late as 1900, an article on Thanksgiving entertaining recommended a lit jack-o'-lantern as part of the festivities. "The Day We Celebrate: Thanksgiving Treated Gastronomically and Socially" Archived 5 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, 24 November 1895, p. 27. "Odd Ornaments for Table" Archived 5 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, 21 October 1900, p. 12. ^ The Rhetoric of Vision: Essays on Charles Williams (Charles Adolph Huttar, Peter J. Schakel), Bucknell University Press, p. 155 ^ Rogers, Nicholas (2002). "Halloween Goes to Hollywood". Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, pp. 103''124. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195168968. ^ A Handbook of Symbols in Christian Art (Gertrude Grace Sill), Simon and Schuster, p. 64 ^ In flagrante collecto (Marilynn Gelfman Karp), Abrams, p. 299 ^ School Year, Church Year (Peter Mazar), Liturgy Training Publications, p. 115 ^ Thomas Crawford Burns: a study of the poems and songs Archived 23 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine Stanford University Press, 1960 ^ Simpson, Jacqueline "All Saints' Day" in Encyclopedia of Death and Dying, Howarth, G. and Leeman, O. (2001)London Routledge ISBN 0415188253, p. 14 "Halloween is closely associated in folklore with death and the supernatural". ^ Faces Around the World: A Cultural Encyclopedia of the Human Face (Margo DeMello), ABC-CLIO, p. 225 ^ A Student's Guide to A2 Performance Studies for the OCR Specification (John Pymm), Rhinegold Publishing Ltd, p. 28 ^ Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music, and Art, Volume 1 (Thomas Green), ABC-CLIO p. 566 ^ Interacting communities: studies on some aspects of migration and urban ethnology (Zsuzsa Szarvas), Hungarian Ethnographic Society, p. 314 ^ The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature (David Scott Kastan), Oxford University Press, p. 47 ^ "Mumming Play", Encyclop...dia Britannica ^ Carmichael, Sherman (2012). Legends and Lore of South Carolina. The History Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-1609497484. The practice of dressing up and going door to door for treats dates back to the middle ages and the practice of souling. ^ Hood, Karen Jean Matsko (1 January 2014). Halloween Delights. Whispering Pine Press International. p. 33. ISBN 978-1594341816. The tradition continued in some areas of northern England as late as the 1930s, with children going from door to door "souling" for cakes or money by singing a song. ^ a b "Definition of "guising " ". Collins English Dictionary. (in Scotland and N England) the practice or custom of disguising oneself in fancy dress, often with a mask, and visiting people's houses, esp at Halloween ^ Rogers, Nicholas. (2002) "Coming Over:Halloween in North America". Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. p. 76. Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 0195146913 ^ Kelley, Ruth Edna. The Book of Hallowe'en, Boston: Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Co., 1919, chapter 15, p. 127. "Hallowe'en in America" Archived 23 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine. ^ Kelley, Ruth Edna. "Hallowe'en in America". Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. ^ Theo. E. Wright, "A Halloween Story", St. Nicholas, October 1915, p. 1144. Mae McGuire Telford, "What Shall We Do Halloween?" Ladies Home Journal, October 1920, p. 135. ^ a b "'Trick or Treat' Is Demand", Herald (Lethbridge, Alberta), 4 November 1927, p. 5, dateline Blackie, Alberta, 3 November ^ For examples, see the websites Postcard & Greeting Card Museum: Halloween Gallery Archived 24 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Antique Hallowe'en Postcards Archived 19 July 2006 at the Wayback Machine, Vintage Halloween Postcards Archived 23 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine. ^ "Halloween Pranks Keep Police on Hop", Oregon Journal (Portland, Oregon), 1 November 1934; and "The Gangsters of Tomorrow", The Helena Independent (Helena, Montana), 2 November 1934, p. 4. The Chicago Tribune also mentioned door-to-door begging in Aurora, Illinois on Halloween in 1934, although not by the term 'trick-or-treating'. "Front Views and Profiles" (column), Chicago Tribune, 3 November 1934, p. 17. ^ Moss, Doris Hudson. "A Victim of the Window-Soaping Brigade?" The American Home, November 1939, p. 48. ^ Bluff Park (Heather Jones Skaggs), Arcadia Publishing, p. 117 ^ "Trunk-or-Treat", The Chicago Tribune ^ Suggested Themes for "Trunks" for Trunk or Treat (Dail R. Faircloth), First Baptist Church of Royal Palm Beach ^ "Trunk or Treat focuses on fun, children's safety", Desert Valley Times ^ "Trunk or Treat! Halloween Tailgating Grows" (Fernanda Santos), The New York Times ^ Bradley, Michael (24 October 2018). "A very Derry Halloween: a carnival of frights, fireworks and parade". The Guardian . Retrieved 25 October 2018 . ^ Miller, Marian (31 October 1932). "Halloween Jollity Within Reason Need". The Morning Oregonian. p. 8. Quote: "Trick or treat?" the youthful mischief-maker will say this evening, probably, as he rings the doorbell of a neighbor." ^ School Year, Church Year (Peter Mazar), Liturgy Training Publications, p. 114 ^ Memento Mori, Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri ^ Beauchemin, Genevieve; CTV.ca News Staff (31 May 2006). "UNICEF to end Halloween 'orange box' program". CTV. Archived from the original on 16 October 2007 . Retrieved 29 October 2006 . ^ "History of the Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF Campaign". UNICEF Canada. 2008. Archived from the original on 4 June 2009 . Retrieved 25 October 2009 . ^ Keshner, Andrew (17 October 2018). "Instagram-loving pets owners will spend nearly $500M on animal costumes this Halloween". MarketWatch . Retrieved 17 October 2018 . ^ Diehl, Daniel; Donnelly, Mark P. (13 April 2011). Medieval Celebrations: Your Guide to Planning and Hosting Spectacular Feasts, Parties, Weddings, and Renaissance Fairs. Stackpole Books. p. 17. ISBN 978-0811744300. All Hallows' Eve. A time of spiritual unrest, when the souls of the dead, along with ghosts and evil spirits, were believed to walk the land. Church bells were run and fires lit to guide these souls on their way and deflect them from haunting honest Christian folk. Barns and homes were blessed to protect people and livestock from the effects of witches, who were believed to accompany the malignant spirits as they traveld the earth. Although a rare few continued to divine the future, cast spells, and tell ghost stories in rural communities, woe to anyone who was denounced to the church for engaging in such activities. These may seem like innocent fun today, but it was deadly serious stuff during the Middle Ages. ^ MacLeod, Sharon. Celtic Myth and Religion. McFarland, 2011. pp. 61, 107 ^ "Apple dookers make record attempt" Archived 28 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News, 2 October 2008 ^ Danaher, Kevin. The Year in Ireland: Irish Calendar Customs. Mercier Press, 1972. pp. 202''205 ^ Danaher (1972), p. 223 ^ McNeill, F. Marian (1961, 1990) The Silver Bough, Volume III. William MacLellan, Glasgow ISBN 0948474041 pp. 11''46 ^ Danaher (1972), p. 219 ^ McNeill (1961), The Silver Bough, Volume III, pp. 33''34 ^ McNeill (1961), The Silver Bough, Volume III, p. 34 ^ Hollister, Helen (1917). "Halloween Frolics". Parlor Games for the Wise and Otherwise. Philadelphia: Penn Publishing Company. p. 98. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. ^ "Vintage Halloween Cards". Vintage Holiday Crafts. 21 January 2008. Archived from the original on 29 September 2009 . Retrieved 28 October 2009 . ^ McNeill (1961), The Silver Bough Volume III, p. 34 ^ Greg Ryan (17 September 2008). "A Model of Mayhem". Hudson Valley Magazine. Archived from the original on 11 May 2011 . Retrieved 6 October 2008 . ^ Warner, Adam (27 October 2014). "The History of Haunted Houses: A Fight for Frights as Tastes Change". NBC Bay Area. Archived from the original on 27 October 2014 . Retrieved 21 July 2017 . ^ McKendry, Bekah (March 2014). "The History of Haunted Houses!". America Haunts. Archived from the original on 8 March 2014 . Retrieved 21 July 2014 . ^ Morton, Lisa (28 September 2012). Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween (paperback) . United Kingdom: Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1780230474. ^ Surrell, Jason (11 August 2009). Haunted Mansion: From The Magic Kingdom To The Movies (paperback) . Disney Editions. ISBN 978-1423118954. ^ Celestino, Mike (28 September 2016). "Knott's Scary Farm remains the ideal Southern California Halloween theme park event for the 2016 season". Inside The Magic. Distant Creations Group, LLC. Archived from the original on 30 September 2016 . Retrieved 22 July 2017 . ^ Lum, Kathryn Gin (30 October 2014). "These evangelical haunted houses are designed to show sinners that they're going to hell". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 31 October 2014 . Retrieved 22 July 2017 . ^ "Classic Haunts From Cincinnati's Past". House of Doom. 2012. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012 . Retrieved 8 August 2017 . ^ "A757914". Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third Series. 30: xliii. July''December 1976. ISSN 0041-7815 . Retrieved 22 July 2017 . ^ Gruson, Lindsey (19 May 1984). "Blaze Fatal to 8 Linked to Lighter". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 May 2009 . Retrieved 20 November 2006 . ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 March 2017 . Retrieved 9 August 2017 . CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) ^ "8 Killed by Smoky Fire in Park's 'Haunted Castle ' ". The Washington Post. 12 May 1984. Archived from the original on 28 August 2017. ^ "The Haunted Castle, Revisited '' NFPA Journal". nfpa.org. Archived from the original on 13 August 2017. ^ "Spooky and Safe". nfpa.org. Archived from the original on 13 August 2017. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF) . Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 February 2015 . Retrieved 29 September 2017 . CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) ^ Barnes, Brooks (25 October 2011). "The Real Scare Is Not Being Scary". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 30 July 2017 . Retrieved 12 July 2017 . ^ Munarriz, Rick Aristotle (23 October 2014). "Halloween Is Raking in Scary Profits for Theme Parks". AOL.com/Finance. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017 . Retrieved 3 November 2017 . ^ Mader, Isabel (30 September 2014). "Halloween Colcannon". Simmer Magazine. Archived from the original on 5 October 2014 . Retrieved 3 October 2014 . All Hallow's Eve was a Western (Anglo) Christian holiday that revolved around commemorating the dead using humor to intimidate death itself. Like all holidays, All Hallow's Eve involved traditional treats. The church encouraged an abstinence from meat, which created many vegetarian dishes. ^ Rogers, Nicholas (2002). "Razor in the Apple: Struggle for Safe and Sane Halloween, c. 1920''1990", Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, pp. 78''102. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195168968. ^ "Urban Legends Reference Pages: Pins and Needles in Halloween Candy". Snopes.com . Retrieved 31 October 2008 . ^ Nixon, Robin (27 October 2010). "Poisoned Halloween Candy: Trick, Treat or Myth? '' LiveScience". LiveScience.com. Archived from the original on 11 January 2012 . Retrieved 23 January 2011 . ^ a b "Top ten Irish Halloween traditions and memories you may share". Ireland Central . Retrieved 23 October 2018 . ^ Bannatyne, Lesley Pratt (1 August 1998). Halloween: An American Holiday, an American History. Pelican Publishing. p. 12. ISBN 978-1565543461. Archived from the original on 31 October 2017 . Retrieved 1 November 2012 . Polish Catholics taught their children to pray out loud as they walked through the woods so that the souls of the dead could hear them and be comforted. Priests in tiny Spanish villages still ring their church bells to remind parishioners to honor the dead on All Hallows Eve. ^ Feasting and Fasting: Canada's Heritage Celebrations (Dorothy Duncan), Dundurn, p. 249 ^ Latina and Latino Voices in Literature (Frances Ann Day), Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 72 ^ "BBC '' Religions '' Christianity: All Hallows' Eve". British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 2010. Archived from the original on 3 November 2011 . Retrieved 1 November 2011 . All Hallows' Eve falls on 31st October each year, and is the day before All Hallows' Day, also known as All Saints' Day in the Christian calendar. The Church traditionally held a vigil on All Hallows' Eve when worshippers would prepare themselves with prayers and fasting prior to the feast day itself. ^ Dr. Andrew James Harvey (31 October 2012). " ' All Hallows' Eve ' ". The Patriot Post. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012 . Retrieved 1 November 2011 . "The vigil of the hallows" refers to the prayer service the evening before the celebration of All Hallows or Saints Day. Or "Halloween" for short '' a fixture on the liturgical calendar of the Christian West since the seventh century. ^ "Vigil of All Saints". Catholic News Agency. 31 October 2012. Archived from the original on 24 May 2013 . Retrieved 1 November 2011 . The Vigil is based on the monastic office of Vigils (or Matins), when the monks would arise in the middle of the night to pray. On major feast days, they would have an extended service of readings (scriptural, patristic, and from lives of the saints) in addition to chanting the psalms. This all would be done in the dark, of course, and was an opportunity to listen carefully to the Word of God as well as the words of the Church Fathers and great saints. The Vigil of All Saints is an adaptation of this ancient practice, using the canonical office of Compline at the end. ^ "Night of Light Beginnings". Cor et Lumen Christi Community. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013 . Retrieved 2 November 2012 . In its first year '' 2000 AD '' over 1000 people participated from several countries. This included special All Saints Vigil masses, extended periods of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and parties for children. In our second year 10,000 participated. Since these modest beginnings, the Night of Light has been adopted in many countries around the world with vast numbers involved each year from a Cathedral in India to a convent in New Zealand; from Churches in the US and Europe to Africa; in Schools, churches, homes and church halls all ages have got involved. Although it began in the Catholic Church it has been taken up be other Christians who while keeping its essentials have adapted it to suit their own traditions. ^ "Here's to the Soulcakers going about their mysterious mummery". The Telegraph. 6 November 2010. Archived from the original on 3 April 2013 . Retrieved 6 November 2012 . One that has grown over the past decade is the so-called Night of Light, on All Hallows' Eve, October 31. It was invented in 2000, in leafy Chertsey, Surrey, when perhaps 1,000 people took part. Now it is a worldwide movement, popular in Africa and the United States.The heart of the Night of Light is an all-night vigil of prayer, but there is room for children's fun too: sweets, perhaps a bonfire and dressing up as St George or St Lucy. The minimum gesture is to put a lighted candle in the window, which is in itself too exciting for some proponents of health and safety. The inventor of the Night of Light is Damian Stayne, the founder of a year-round religious community called Cor et Lumen Christi '' heart and light of Christ. This new movement is Catholic, orthodox and charismatic '' emphasising the work of the Holy Spirit.

^ Armentrout, Donald S.; Slocum, Robert Boak (1999). An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church. Church Publishing, Inc. p. 7. ISBN 978-0898692112. Archived from the original on 30 July 2016 . Retrieved 1 November 2012 . The BOS notes that "suitable festivities and entertainments" may precede of follow the service, and there may be a visit to a cemetery or burial place. ^ Infeld, Joanna (1 December 2008). In-Formation. D & J Holdings LLC. p. 150. ISBN 978-0976051244. Archived from the original on 21 June 2013 . Retrieved 1 November 2012 . My folks are Polish and they celebrate Halloween in a different way. It is time to remember your dead and visit the cemetery and graves of your loved ones. ^ Teens in Finland (Jason Skog), Capstone, p. 61 ^ "Bishop Challenges Supermarkets to Lighten up Halloween". The Church of England. Archived from the original on 18 May 2012 . Retrieved 28 October 2009 . Christianity needs to make clear its positive message for young people. It's high time we reclaimed the Christian aspects of Halloween," says the Bishop, explaining the background to his letter. ^ "Halloween and All Saints Day". newadvent.org. n.d. Archived from the original on 16 October 2006 . Retrieved 22 October 2006 . ^ The Anglican Breviary. Frank Gavin Liturgical Foundation. 1955. pp. 1514 (E494). Archived from the original on 23 April 2016 . Retrieved 12 November 2015 . ^ "Reformation Day". Archived from the original on 19 December 2009 . Retrieved 22 October 2009 . ^ "Reformation Day: What, Why, and Resources for Worship". The General Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church. 21 October 2005. Archived from the original on 23 February 2007 . Retrieved 22 October 2006 . ^ Halloween, Hallowed Is Thy Name (Smith), p. 29 ^ Allen, Travis (2011). "Christians and Halloween". Church Publishing, Inc. Archived from the original on 28 October 2011 . Retrieved 31 October 2011 . Other Christians will opt for Halloween alternatives called 'Harvest Festivals', 'Hallelujah Night' or 'Reformation Festivals' '' the kids dress up as farmers, Bible characters, or Reformation heroes. ^ Halloween tracts serve as tool to spread gospel to children (Curry), Baptist Press ^ Woods, Robert (2013). Evangelical Christians and Popular Culture. ABC-CLIO. p. 239. ISBN 978-0313386541. Evangelicals have found opportunities with both Christmas and Easter to use Christian candy to re-inject religion into these traditionally Christian holidays and boldly reclaim them as their own. They have increasingly begun to use Halloween, the most candy-centric holiday, as an opportunity for evangelism. Contained in small packages featuring Bible verses, Scripture Candy's "Harvest Seeds" '' candy corn in everything but name '' are among many candies created for this purpose. ^ D'Augostine, Lori (20 September 2013). "Suffer Not the Trick-or-Treaters". CBN. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013 . Retrieved 23 October 2013 . ^ Halloween: What's a Christian to Do? (1998) by Steve Russo. ^ Gyles Brandreth, "The Devil is gaining ground" The Sunday Telegraph (London), 11 March 2000. ^ "Salem 'Saint Fest' restores Christian message to Halloween". rcab.org. n.d. Archived from the original on 29 September 2006 . Retrieved 22 October 2006 . ^ "Feast of Samhain/Celtic New Year/Celebration of All Celtic Saints 1 November". All Saints Parish. n.d. Archived from the original on 20 November 2006 . Retrieved 22 November 2006 . ^ Portaro, Sam (25 January 1998). A Companion to the Lesser Feasts and Fasts. Cowley Publications. p. 199. ISBN 978-1461660514. All Saints' Day is the centerpiece of an autumn triduum. In the carnival celebrations of All Hallows' Eve our ancestors used the most powerful weapon in the human arsenal, the power of humor and ridicule to confront the power of death. The following day, in the commemoration of All Saints, we gave witness to the victory of incarnate goodness embodied in remarkable deeds and doers triumphing over the misanthropy of darkness and devils. And in the commemoration of All Souls we proclaimed the hope of common mortality expressed in our aspirations and expectations of a shared eternity. ^ "Halloween's Christian Roots" AmericanCatholic.org. Retrieved 24 October 2007. ^ Bucci, Rich (2016). "Catholic Elementary Schools to Celebrate Halloween with Costume Parades on Friday, October 28 & Monday, October 31". The Catholic Schools of Broome County . Retrieved 2 October 2018 . ^ Suarez, Essdras (29 October 2007). "Some Christians use 'Hell Houses' to reach out on Halloween". USA Today . Retrieved 7 November 2015 . While some Christians aren't certain what to make of Halloween '' unsure whether to embrace or ignore all the goblins and ghoulishness '' some evangelical churches use Oct. 31 as a day to evangelize. ...Some use trick-or-treating as an evangelistic opportunity, giving out Bible tracts with candy. ^ " ' Trick?' or 'Treat?' '' Unmasking Halloween". The Restored Church of God. n.d. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012 . Retrieved 21 September 2007 . ^ Do Orthodox Christians Observe Halloween? by Saint Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church ^ The Jewish Life Cycle: rites of passage from biblical to modern times (Ivan G. Marcus), University of Washington Press, p. 232 ^ "Jews and Halloween". Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012 . Retrieved 5 March 2013 . ^ A Jewish exploration of halloween Archived 31 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine The Jewish Journal ^ Reformjudaism.org Archived 31 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine ^ A. Idris Palmer, Halloween: Through Muslim Eyes (PDF) , Al Huda Institute Canada, archived from the original (PDF) on 4 November 2009 , retrieved 11 November 2015 ^ Why Can't Muslims Enjoy Halloween?, Patheos, 28 October 2011, archived from the original on 2 November 2015 ^ Lauren Stengele (25 October 2012), Halloween in India?, Vision Nationals, archived from the original on 8 December 2015 ^ Vineet Chander (30 October 2009), Trick or Treat? Not quite sure., Beliefnet, archived from the original on 8 December 2015 , retrieved 11 November 2015 ^ Soumya Dasgupta (5 November 2009), "Should Indians Celebrate Foreign Festivals Like Halloween?", The Wall Street Journal, archived from the original on 9 July 2017 ^ a b George, Stephanie (25 October 2010). "Real-life witches that don't celebrate Halloween". The Manitoban. Archived from the original on 29 May 2014 . Retrieved 29 May 2014 . ^ Should Pagans Celebrate Halloween? (Wicasta Lovelace), Pagan Centric ^ Halloween, From a Wiccan/Neopagan perspective (B.A. Robinson), Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance ^ Halloween fire calls 'every 90 seconds' Archived 2 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine UTV News Retrieved 22 November 2010 ^ McCann, Chris (28 October 2010). "Halloween firework injuries are on the increase". The Belfast Telegraph . Retrieved 22 November 2010 . ^ "Kalan -Goa±v ha Marv". Tartanplace.com. 12 July 2001. Archived from the original on 20 January 2013 . Retrieved 1 November 2012 . ^ noticias.universia.cl. "C"mo se introduce la fiesta de Halloween en Chile?". Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. ^ Paul Kent (27 October 2010). "Calls for Halloween holiday in Australia". Herald Sun . Retrieved 7 October 2013 . ^ Denton, Hannah (30 October 2010). "Safe treats for kids on year's scariest night". The New Zealand Herald . Retrieved 22 November 2010 . ^ Rogers, Nicholas (2002). Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, p. 164. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195168968 ^ How do Filipinos Celebrate the Halloween? (Emie), Hubpages ^ Trinidad, Karen. "Tagalog festivals '' Araw ng Patay". The government of Camarines Sur. Archived from the original on 31 October 2013 . Retrieved 30 October 2013 . ^ "Halloween Around The World '' Halloween". history.com. Archived from the original on 20 March 2017 . Retrieved 27 April 2017 . Further reading Diane C. Arkins, Halloween: Romantic Art and Customs of Yesteryear, Pelican Publishing Company (2000). 96 pages. ISBN 1565547128Diane C. Arkins, Halloween Merrymaking: An Illustrated Celebration Of Fun, Food, And Frolics From Halloweens Past, Pelican Publishing Company (2004). 112 pages. ISBN 158980113XLesley Bannatyne, Halloween: An American Holiday, An American History, Facts on File (1990, Pelican Publishing Company, 1998). 180 pages. ISBN 1565543467Lesley Bannatyne, A Halloween Reader. Stories, Poems and Plays from Halloweens Past, Pelican Publishing Company (2004). 272 pages. ISBN 1589801768Phyllis Galembo, Dressed for Thrills: 100 Years of Halloween Costumes and Masquerade, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (2002). 128 pages. ISBN 0810932911Editha H¶randner (ed.), Halloween in der Steiermark und anderswo, Volkskunde (M¼nster in Westfalen), LIT Verlag M¼nster (2005). 308 pages. ISBN 3825888894Lisa Morton, Trick or Treat A history of Halloween, Reaktion Books (2012). 229 pages. ISBN 978-1780231877Lisa Morton, The Halloween Encyclopedia, McFarland & Company (2003). 240 pages. ISBN 078641524XNicholas Rogers, Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, Oxford University Press, US (2002). ISBN 0195146913Jack Santino (ed.), Halloween and Other Festivals of Death and Life, University of Tennessee Press (1994). 280 pages. ISBN 0870498134David J. Skal, Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween, Bloomsbury US (2003). 224 pages. ISBN 1582343055James Tipper, Gods of The Nowhere: A Novel of Halloween, Waxlight Press (2013). 294 pages. ISBN 978-0988243316External links Halloween at Curlie"A brief history of Halloween" by the BBC"The History of Halloween" by the History Channel

Peaky Blinders - Wikipedia

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Peaky BlindersHarry Fowler, a member of the gang sporting a signature

overcoat and a peaked

flat cap.

FoundedEarly 1890sFounding locationBirmingham, EnglandYears activeEarly 1890s to 1930sTerritoryPrimarily the West Midlands of EnglandEthnicityPrimarily English, Irish and Irish TravellersMembership (est.) c. < 100; membership fluctuated widely with alliances and joined forcesCriminal activitiesBookmaking, assault, extortion, fraud, murder, fencing, hooliganism, bribery, smuggling, hijacking and robberyRivalsSabinis; Brummagem Boys; the SloggersThe Peaky Blinders were an urban street gang based in Birmingham, England, that operated from the end of the 19th century and after the First World War. The group, which grew out of the harsh economic deprivations of working class Britain, was composed largely of young unemployed men. They derived social power from robbery, violence, political influence, and the control of gambling. Members of this gang wore a signature outfit that included tailored jackets, lapel overcoats, button waistcoats, silk scarves, bell-bottom trousers, leather boots, and peaked flat caps. The gang was highly organised with its own systems of hierarchy.

The Blinders' dominance came about from beating rivals, such as the "Sloggers", whom they fought for territory in Birmingham and its surrounding districts. They held control for nearly 20 years until 1910, when a larger gang, the Birmingham Boys led by Billy Kimber, overtook them. However, even though they had disappeared by the 1930s, their "Peaky Blinders" name became a slang synonym for any street gang in Birmingham.

In 2013, the name was reused for a BBC television series entitled Peaky Blinders. The series, which stars Cillian Murphy, Paul Anderson, and Joe Cole, is a crime story about a fictional crime family operating in Birmingham just after World War I.

Etymology [ edit ] The popular origin of the name Peaky Blinder is said to be derived from the gang members' practice of stitching disposable razor blades into the peaks of their flat caps which could then be used as weapons. However, as the Gillette company only introduced the first replaceable safety razor system in 1903, in America, and it was not until 1908 that the first factory manufacturing them in Great Britain opened, this version of the name is considered apocryphal.[1] British author John Douglas, from Birmingham, claimed hats were used as a weapon in his novel A Walk Down Summer Lane[2] - members with razor blades sewn into their caps would headbutt enemies to potentially blind them,[3][4][5] or the caps would be used to slash foreheads, causing blood to pour down into the eyes of their enemies, temporarily blinding them.[4]

Birmingham historian Carl Chinn believes the name is actually a reference to the gang's sartorial elegance. He says the popular usage of "peaky" at the time referred to any flat cap with a peak.[1] "Blinder" was a familiar Birmingham slang term (still used today) to describe something or someone of dapper appearance.[6] A further explanation might be from the gang's own criminal behaviour: they were known to sneak up from behind, then pull the hat peak down over a victim's face so they could not describe who robbed them.[7][8]

History [ edit ] Thomas Gilbert, a powerful member of the gang, wearing the outfit of the Peaky Blinders.

Economic hardship in England led to a violent youth subculture.[5] Poor youths frequently robbed and pickpocketed men walking on the streets of slum Birmingham. These efforts were executed through assaults, beatings, stabbings, and manual strangulation.[9] During the 1890s, youth street gangs consisted of men between the ages of 12 and 30.[10] The late 1890s saw the organisation of these men into a soft hierarchy.[11]

The most powerful member of the Peaky Blinders was known as Kevin Mooney. His real name was Thomas Gilbert, but he routinely changed his last name. He initiated many of the land grabs undertaken by the gang.

The most violent of these youth street gangs organised themselves as a singular group known as the "Peaky Blinders". They were likely founded in Small Heath, possibly by a man named Thomas Mucklow, as suggested by a newspaper article entitled, "A murderous outrage at Small Heath, a man's skull fractured" (printed in the Monday, March 24, 1890 edition of The Birmingham Mail).[12] This article is possibly the earliest evidence of the Peaky Blinders in print:

A serious assault was committed upon a young man named George Eastwood. Living at 3 court, 2 house, Arthur Street, Small Heath, on Saturday night. It seems that Eastwood, who has been for some time a total abstainer, called between ten and eleven o'clock at the Rainbow Public House in Adderly Street, and was supplied with a bottle of gingerbeer. Shortly afterwards several men known as the "Peaky Blinders" gang, whom Eastwood knew by sight from their living in the same neighborhood as himself, came in.

After some gangsters attacked a man in 1890, they sent a letter to various national newspapers declaring themselves as members of this specific group.[9] Their first activities primarily revolved around occupying favourable land, notably the communities of Small Heath and Cheapside, Birmingham.[5] Their expansion was noted by their first gang rival, the "Cheapside Sloggers", who battled against them in an effort to control land.[13] The Sloggers originated in the 1870s and were known for street fights in the Bordesley and Small Heath areas''extremely poor slums of Birmingham.

In 1899, an Irish police constable was contracted to enforce local law in Birmingham. However, police corruption and bribery diminished the effectiveness of his enforcement.[9]

The most prominent members of the gang were David Taylor, Earnest Haynes, Harry Fowles, Stephen McNickle, and Thomas Gilbert.[14][13] Fowles, known as "Baby-faced Harry", was arrested at age 19 for stealing a bike in October 1904.[13] McNickle and Haynes were also arrested at the same time, for stealing a bike and home invasion, respectively. Each was held for one month for their crimes.[15]West Midlands police records described the three arrested as "foul mouthed young men who stalk the streets in drunken groups, insulting and mugging passers-by."[13][15] Taylor was arrested at age 13 for carrying a loaded firearm.[13]

Gang members frequently wore tailored clothing which was uncommon for contemporary gangs of the time. Almost all members wore a peaked flat cap and an overcoat.[3] Their sporting of the flat cap lends itself to debate regarding the naming of the gang. The Peaky Blinders wore tailored suits usually with bell-bottom trousers and button jackets.[5] The weather conditions of the slums prompted members to incorporate leather steel-toed boots into their outfits. Wealthier members wore silk scarves and starched collars with metal tie buttons.[4] Their distinctive dress was easily recognisable by city inhabitants, police, and rival gang members. The wives, girlfriends, and mistresses of the gang members were known for wearing lavish clothing. Pearls, silks, and colourful scarves were commonplace.[5][14]

The Peaky Blinders, after they established controlled territory, in the late 19th century began expanding their criminal enterprise. Their activities included protection rackets, fraud, bribery, smuggling, hijacking, robbery, and bookmaking.[5][16] Historian Heather Shor of the University of Leeds claims that the Blinders were more focused on street fighting, robbery, and racketeering, as opposed to more organised crime.[2]

After nearly a decade of political control, their growing influence brought on the attention of a larger gang, the Birmingham Boys. The Peaky Blinders' expansion into racecourses led to violent backlash from the Birmingham Boys gang. Peaky Blinder families physically distanced themselves from Birmingham's centre into the countryside. With the Blinders' withdrawal from the criminal underworld, the Sabini gang moved in on the Birmingham Boys gang and solidified political control over Central England in the 1930s.[17][18][19]

As the specific gang known as the Peaky Blinders diminished, their namesake was used as generic term to describe violent street youth.[5] The gangs' activities lasted from the 1890s until the 1930s.[2][9]

In popular culture [ edit ] The BBC television drama series Peaky Blinders, starring Cillian Murphy, Sam Neill, and Helen McCrory, premiered in September 2013. It presents a fictional story in which the Peaky Blinders contend in the underworld with the Birmingham Boys and the Sabini gang, and follows a single fictional gang based in post-World War I Birmingham's Small Heath area. The gang had houses located in and around Birmingham, ranging from Longbridge to Sutton Coldfield[20] Many of the show's exteriors have been filmed on location at the Black Country Living Museum.[21]

The song "Cheapside Sloggers" (2019) by the Danish metal band Volbeat refers to the gang.

See also [ edit ] The Birmingham Boys, also known as the Brummegen BoysReferences [ edit ] ^ a b Chamberlain, Zoe (15 October 2014). "The TRUTH Behind the Peaky Blinders". Birmingham Mail. ^ a b c "Peaky Blinders: Was there a real-life Tommy Shelby?". The Week UK . Retrieved 30 December 2017 . ^ a b "Victorian gang who terrorised the streets of Birmingham". Mail Online . Retrieved 30 December 2017 . ^ a b c "The REAL Peaky Blinders... Inside the criminal gang that inspired the BBC series". The Sun. 20 December 2017 . Retrieved 30 December 2017 . ^ a b c d e f g Halls, Eleanor. "The Peaky Blinders are a romanticised myth". GQ . Retrieved 30 December 2017 . ^ Ugolini, Laura (2007). Men and Menswear: Sartorial Consumption in Britain 1880''1939. Ashgate. p. 42. ^ Bradley, Michael (12 September 2013). "Birmingham's real Peaky Blinders". BBC News. West Midlands. ^ Egner, Jeremy (21 December 2017). " ' Peaky Blinders': The Disparate Ingredients of a Cult Hit". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 30 December 2017 . ^ a b c d "Carl Chinn '' The real 'Peaky Blinders' | History West Midlands". historywm.com . Retrieved 30 December 2017 . ^ Moonman, Eric (1987). The Violent Society. F. Cass. p. 36. ^ Thompson, Paul (1992). Edwardians: The Remaking of British Society. Routledge. p. 50. ^ Archive, The British Newspaper. "Register | British Newspaper Archive". www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk . Retrieved 18 November 2018 . ^ a b c d e McCarthy, Nick (11 September 2013). "Meet the real Peaky Blinders..." Birmingham Mail . Retrieved 30 December 2017 . ^ a b Larner, Tony (1 August 2010). "When Peaky Blinders Ruled Streets with Fear". Sunday Mercury. p. 14. ^ a b "Baby-faced gang terrorised Birmingham in 1880s with razors in caps". The Sun. 30 October 2017 . Retrieved 30 December 2017 . ^ Bradley, Michael (12 September 2013). "Birmingham's real Peaky Blinders". BBC News . Retrieved 30 December 2017 . ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 October 2007 . Retrieved 18 January 2018 . CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link) ^ Barley, Nick (2001). "The Times - London A-Z Series No.1 (A Sample....) "G for Gangland London " ". The Times. Archived from the original on 30 December 2006 . Retrieved 6 December 2006 . ^ Shore, Heather (2001). "Undiscovered Country': Towards A History Of The Criminal 'Underworld ' ". School of Cultural Studies: Leeds Metropolitan University. Archived from the original (.doc) on 29 September 2007 . Retrieved 6 December 2006 . ^ "Game of Thrones star joins Peaky Blinders cast". independent.co.uk. 29 March 2017 . Retrieved 12 November 2017 . ^ "Peaky Blinders". bclm.co.uk. Black Country Living Museum . Retrieved 12 November 2017 . External links [ edit ] Birmingham's real Peaky Blinders (BBC News, 2013-09-12)Birmingham's Peaky Blinders - in fact... and fiction (Birmingham Mail, 2013-09-12)

Vape Wars

Juul halts US sales of its fruity-flavored vaping pods as regulators investigate it for marketing to minors '-- just hours after Philip Morris said its rival product targets adults | Markets Insider

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Thu, 17 Oct 2019 15:33

Associated Press

Juul Labs halted all US sales of its fruity-flavored e-cigarette pods on Thursday under mounting regulatory pressure to stop marketing them towards minors.Hours earlier, rival Philip Morris took pains to distinguish IQOS '-- its alternative to conventional cigarettes '-- from Juul, and emphasize it's targeted at adult smokers."When it comes to the youth access issue, this is where we focus on good conversion practices and a very stringent focus on adult smokers," CEO Martin King said on the group's earnings call.Watch Philip Morris trade live on Markets Insider.Juul Labs halted all US sales of its fruity e-cigarette flavors on Thursday under mounting regulatory pressure to stop marketing them towards minors. Hours earlier, rival Philip Morris took pains to say IQOS '-- its alternative to conventional cigarettes '-- is targeted at adult smokers.

Juul pulled its mango, creme, fruit, and cucumber refill pods from its online store, after suspending physical sales last year. It won't resume selling them until the Food and Drug Administration completes a vaping review, the company said.

"We must reset the vapor category by earning the trust of society and working cooperatively with regulators, policymakers, and stakeholders to combat underage use while providing an alternative to adult smokers," CEO K.C. Crosthwaite said in a statement.

Philip Morris CEO Martin King was eager to draw a distinction between Juul and the cigarette titan's IQOS offering, which it launched in the US this month. He emphasized IQOS is a heated tobacco product rather than an e-cigarette, and regulators shouldn't lump them into the same category. He also said three times that the product is targeted at adult smokers, not youths or non-smokers.

Read more: The precarious path of e-cig startup Juul: From Silicon Valley darling to $38 billion behemoth under criminal investigation

"When it comes to the youth access issue, this is where we focus on good conversion practices and a very stringent focus on adult smokers," King said. "We have very big conversion practices to make sure that we're focused on adult smokers.

He added: "We're making sure that the people that convert to IQOS are former adult smokers."

King is undoubtedly keen to avoid Juul's challenges. Those came to a head in September, when the FDA issued a warning letter to Juul calling out its labeling and advertising '-- which included giving a presentation to teenagers at their school '-- and requested more information about its outreach and marketing practices as part of an investigation into vaping.

Juul appointed a new CEO within weeks: Altria's former growth chief K.C. Crosthwaite. He launched a review of the company's practices and policies and suspended its US broadcast, digital, and print advertising.

Now read: Philip Morris is betting on e-cigarettes and new flavors as it feels the heat from Juul and KT&G

Vaping Outbreak Death Toll Reaches 33 | Live Science

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Fri, 18 Oct 2019 06:58

HomeNewsHealths(Image: (C) Shutterstock)

Nearly three dozen people have died from vaping-related lung illnesses as the nationwide outbreak that continues to grow.

Today (Oct. 17), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that the outbreak's death toll has climbed to 33, up from 26 deaths reported last week. The outbreak victims range in age from 17 to 75, with an average age of 44, the agency said.

What's more, the total number of cases in the outbreak increased to 1,479, up from about 1,300 reported last week.

The majority of those affected by the outbreak are young people, with about 80% of cases occurring in people under age 35.

Officials believe a "chemical exposure" is likely behind these illnesses, Live Science previously reported. But it's still unclear what chemicals or contaminants are to blame. Recently, the CDC said that THC-containing products may play an important role in these illnesses, with more than three-quarters of patients nationwide reporting use of vaping products containing THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

The CDC is currently performing lab tests of lung biopsies and tissue specimens from patients, as well as conducting "aerosol emission testing" of e-cigarette products used by patients in an effort to uncover the chemicals contributing to the outbreak, the agency said.

Also today, e-cigarette company Juul announced that it has suspended sales of its fruit-flavored vaping products from its website, according to CNBC. (Last year, the company stopped selling the flavored products in retail stores.) The move follows last month's announcement that the Trump administration plans to ban flavored e-cigarettes from the market.

4 Myths About E-Cigarettes Gasp! 11 Surprising Facts About the Respiratory System 8 Tips for Parents of Teens with Depression Originally published on Live Science.

Here's Why IQOS Could Completely Own the U.S. E-Cig Market

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Sat, 19 Oct 2019 08:16

The FDA just might eliminate all of its competition. Juul Labs currently dominates the U.S. electronic cigarette market with a 75% share, while Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) currently has 0%. But if things go well for Philip Morris over the next two years or so, those positions could be completely reversed.

The global tobacco giant is about to introduce its IQOS heated tobacco device to the U.S. market. Sales will probably be brisk if Philip Morris International's experience in other markets is any indication of how it will be received here. Moreover, given the current regulatory environment, it seems highly likely that Philip Morris and its domestic partner, Altria Group (NYSE: MO), will quickly come to completely own the market.

Image source: Philip Morris International.

That's not just hyperbole:

Small e-cig manufacturers may be wiped out by the financial constraints of compliance.No large manufacturer has indicated that it's ready to meet the compliance deadline.Market leader Juul appears to be too popular with teens to meet regulatory muster.With all the competition hamstrung, IQOS could very well become the only e-cig on the market. While critics called the FDA's e-cig regulations the "Big Tobacco Protection Act," undoubtedly few foresaw that the agency would create what could become an electronic-cigarette monopoly.

Early bird gets the wormGive Philip Morris International credit. Unlike its competition, the global tobacco giant didn't wait to submit a marketing application to the FDA. It acted immediately.

In December 2016, it submitted its modified-risk tobacco application for IQOS to be able to market it as safer than cigarettes and three months later submitted its premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) for review. The PMTA is required from all electronic cigarette manufacturers and must be FDA-reviewed and approved before any new tobacco product can be legally sold in the United States. In late April, the FDA gave Philip Morris the right to sell IQOS, while holding off on approving Philip Morris' claim that the product is safer than traditional cigarettes.

Meanwhile, with other e-cigarette manufacturers, the agency initially pushed back the compliance deadline until 2022 (and subsequently moved the deadline up to 2021 earlier this year) and allowed new products to be introduced to the market without a review. Anti-smoking activists charged that the agency violated its responsibility to regulate the devices and sued in federal court to force the FDA to act. The judge in the case agreed and last month demanded the FDA come up with a plan to regulate e-cig makers.

The FDA offered a 10-month deadline for PMTAs to be submitted; the anti-smoking groups want a six-month deadline. Both will allow devices to stay on the market for a year pending agency review of their applications.

A complex, expensive processThe problem for e-cig makers is that the application is not a simple two-page document. Philip Morris' application is said to have been over 1 million pages long and cost millions of dollars to produce. Small manufacturers simply won't have the financial resources to comply with the complex rules to keep their products from being pulled from the market.

Big manufacturers have the resources to meet the onerous requirements but haven't done so yet. British American Tobacco (NYSE:BTI) has said it was ready to submit its PMTA before the 2021 deadline, but the quickly closing compliance window may make that a more difficult task.

Yet even if British American or other tobacco companies do ultimately submit a PMTA, it may be a long wait for approval. The agency says it aims to make a decision on an application within six months of receiving it, but it took the FDA over two years to approve IQOS, and Philip Morris' reduced-risk assessment is still ongoing. Even if there's not a deluge of applications at the deadline, it could still take the agency a long time to sort them out.

Nowhere else to turnJuul and Altria are in a special situation. Altria paid $12.8 billion for a 35% stake in the leading e-cig maker, but Juul has come under intense scrutiny over purported teen use of its device. Former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb doubted the device will be approved because of it.

That means IQOS could be the only electronic cigarette left standing after the PMTA deadline has passed and the waiting period for agency action has come and gone.

That gives Altria special standing as it has the potential to benefit from both Juul and IQOS as two of the biggest brands on the market. Even if doomsday scenarios come true, Altria will still have the rights to market IQOS.

With several years of marketing success under its belt from selling IQOS in other countries, Philip Morris has reason to believe that its heated-tobacco platform will be a big hit in the U.S. market. That's good news for Philip Morris and Altria, and even if a rival manages to make it through the regulatory labyrinth eventually, IQOS will have a big head start toward dominating the e-cig market.

NoKo

US proposed helping North Korea build tourist area amid nuclear talks: report | TheHill

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Sat, 19 Oct 2019 09:50

The U.S. reportedly offered a long-term plan to help North Korea build a tourist area in its country as part of denuclearization talks in Stockholm earlier this month.

South Korean newspaper Hankook Ilbo reported Saturday that the U.S. proposed plans for developing the Kalma area, though didn't say how the North Korean delegation responded to the proposal, according to Bloomberg.

Bloomberg noted that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Kim Jong UnKim poses for photos on white horse on sacred mountain, plans 'great operation' Beware the 34th month of Trump's presidency The Trump doctrine: Principled realism or endemic confusion? MORE has been trying to get a resort project completed in the Wonsan-Kalma coastal area for some time.

North Korean politician Pak Pong Ju reportedly visited the area in August to encourage workers to make the area ''a scenic spot'' on the east coast.

Talks between the U.S. and North Korea in Sweden ended this month with little progress. They were the first high-level talks between the two countries in roughly eight months.

Kim Myong Gil, North Korea's nuclear envoy, said at the time that the U.S. refused to ''give up their old viewpoint and attitude," which the State Department refuted.

Wes Clark 7

Lebanon scraps WhatsApp tax as protests rage - BBC News

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Fri, 18 Oct 2019 09:00

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Thousands have taken to the streets over the handling of an economic crisis The Lebanese government has backtracked on plans to tax WhatsApp calls as protests rage over the government's handling of an economic crisis.

It had announced a new $0.20 (£0.16) daily charge on voice calls made through Facebook-owned WhatsApp and other similar apps.

But it scrapped the plans hours later amid clashes between security forces and protesters.

The demonstrations are some of the biggest Lebanon has faced in years.

Dozens were reported injured as protesters burned tires and security forces fired tear gas.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri may cancel Friday's cabinet meeting, a website linked to his party said, as protesters gathered around the government's headquarters.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Dozens have been injured in the clashes Why are people protesting in Lebanon?Thousands of Lebanese have taken to the streets amid an economic crisis that many blame on the government.

"I was sitting at home and I saw the people on the move and so I came out," Cezar Shaaya, an accountant protesting in Beirut, told Reuters news agency.

"I am married, I have mortgage payments due every month and I am not working. It's the state's fault."

Chants of "the people want to topple the regime" echoed around Beirut's Riad al-Solh square on Thursday.

Many were also angered by perceived inaction by authorities to tackle the country's worst wildfires in decades.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Protesters have gathered around government headquarters What about the WhatsApp tax? On Thursday, the government announced a new daily tax for calls made via voice-over-internet-protocol (Voip), which is used by apps including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Apple's FaceTime.

Despite the plans being pulled just hours later, protests have continued.

"We are not here over the WhatsApp, we are here over everything: over fuel, food, bread, over everything," said Abdullah, a protester in Beirut.

The prime minister is expected to deliver a speech on the crisis later on Friday.

WES CLARK 7 - 'WhatsApp Revolution' Protests In Lebanon Turn Violent With Fires, Road Blocks; Multiple Dead & Wounded | Zero Hedge

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Sun, 20 Oct 2019 10:04

Lebanon erupted in large-scale 'Arab Spring' style protests starting Thursday night into Friday, marked by number of massive fires and makeshift roadblocks which could be seen going up in Beirut, in what international reports are calling the biggest cross-sectarian anti-government uprising in years. At least two bystanders have died, one protester killed, and over 60 police wounded.

The protests were reportedly triggered based on the announcement of a legislative bill to tax people $6 a month for using the popular WhatApp messaging platform, but have grown into broader demands that political leaders step aside over the country's worsening economic crisis and lack of jobs.

Protests outside Beirut, via AFP/Getty/CNNFor this reason Lebanese daily al-Akhbar dubbed the protests "the WhatsApp revolution" and with others calling it "a tax intifada". Chants could be heard in Arabic of "the people want the downfall of the regime" from crowds described as containing a broad cross-section of Lebanese society, whether Christian, Sunni or Shia.

Police clashed with thousands of demonstrators in Beirut throughout Friday who lit tires on fire and in some cases charged government buildings and damaged shop-fronts.

"We're not here over WhatsApp - we're here over everything, fuel, food, bread, everything."Thousands have taken to the streets in Lebanon as anger grows over gov't tax plans amid an economic crisis in the country #Ø§Ø¬Ø§_ÙÙØª_ÙØØ§Ø"Ø¨ pic.twitter.com/JzMfLp9pom

'-- Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) October 18, 2019Multiple reports have put Lebanese unemployment among those aged under 35 at a staggering 37%.

At the same time Lebanese political leaders have been broadly accused of dipping into public coffers to enrich themselves and entrench their positions.

Tensions were already high when on Thursday a government minister revealed a plan to boost state revenues with a daily tax rate on calls made via voice over internet protocol (VoIP), utilized by applications such as Facebook-owned WhatsApp.

Beirut, Baalbek, Tripoli, Saida. Historical night. pic.twitter.com/xHS92xfSLD

'-- Ali (@Ali_Kourani) October 17, 2019The country has also lately suffered a severe slowdown in capital flows, and difficulty of importers securing dollars at the pegged exchange rate. Prime Minister Saad Hariri is expected to address the crisis Friday in a televised speech.

Female protester trying to stop a minster's body guard from using his weapon #Lebanon #LebanonProtests #ÙØ¨ÙØ§Ù pic.twitter.com/1D1swldRqL

'-- Steven nabil (@thestevennabil) October 17, 2019Currently multiple main routes through the Lebanese capital have been shutdown due to makeshift roadblocks, as clashes with police continue, and with roads accessing Lebanon's main international airport also blocked.

Police have deployed tear gas and other riot control measures against crowds described in the tens of thousands.

Only in #Lebanon ! pic.twitter.com/wwyA0agYz6

'-- Luna Safwan - ÙÙÙØ§ ØµÙÙØ§Ù (@LunaSafwan) October 18, 2019Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported Friday that two foreign workers died from spoke inhalation after protesters set large fires, and 60 members of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces (ISF) have been wounded.

Reuters has also reported the first protester's death in clashes with police, which happened in the northern city of Tripoli, the country's second largest.

Live from Beirut, Lebanon in the anti-government protests that were triggered by an absurd government attempt to add taxes to WhatsApp!Lebanese forces fired tear gas on the Lebanese civilians protesting corruption.

The Lebanese regime lost its legitimacy.

Stay strong Lebanon pic.twitter.com/UWLDpriFNa

'-- ÙØ§Ø¯Ù ÙØµØ±Ø§ÙÙÙ (@HadiNasrallah) October 18, 2019According to the Reuters report:

Across the country, they chanted for top leaders, including President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to step down.

The mood was a mixture of rage, defiance and hope.

A security source said one protester was killed and four wounded after the bodyguards of a former member of parliament fired into the air in the northern city of Tripoli.

Riyadh Al-Solh Square, Beirut. Numbers growing by the minute, chanting for revolution. #Lebanon pic.twitter.com/rM6NAJwuNf

'-- benwedeman (@bencnn) October 18, 2019Security authorities have condemned what they called "chaos and violence" unleashed on the streets and urged calm.

Syria

Nancy Pelosi leading bipartisan delegation in Jordan amid Syria chaos

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Sun, 20 Oct 2019 09:50

October 20, 2019 | 12:44am

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is leading a bipartisan congressional delegation in Jordan amid unrest in the Middle East following Turkey's invasion of Northeast Syria, her office said Saturday.

Pelosi announced the surprise summit in a press release Saturday, saying the delegation has met with King Abdullah II, Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II, Prince Feisal bin Al Hussein and other Jordan officials.

''Our bipartisan delegation is visiting Jordan at a critical time for the security and stability of the region,'' Pelosi said in a statement Saturday.

''With the deepening crisis in Syria after Turkey's incursion, our delegation has engaged in vital discussions about the impact to regional stability, increased flow of refugees, and the dangerous opening that has been provided to ISIS, Iran and Russia,'' she added.

Earlier Saturday, Turkish and Kurdish leaders accused each other of violating a US-brokered cease-fire in northern Syria.

A senior US official and the top Kurdish commander both said that Turkey is continuing to advance, taking territory in and around the border city of Ras al-Ain, NBC News reported.

On Wednesday, Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer stormed out of a White House sitdown on Syria after Trump began personally berating the speaker, the two Dems said afterward.

The White House and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy blamed the impasse on Pelosi.

2020

Amash: Clinton's attack on Gabbard will 'drive many people into the arms' of Trump | TheHill

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Sat, 19 Oct 2019 08:53

Rep. Justin Amash Justin AmashOvernight Defense '-- Presented by Boeing '-- House passes resolution rebuking Trump over Syria | Sparks fly at White House meeting on Syria | Dems say Trump called Pelosi a 'third-rate politician' | Trump, Graham trade jabs House passes resolution rebuking Trump over Syria pullout Grand Rapids synagogue targeted with anti-Semitic posters on its door MORE (I-Mich.) knocked Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonState cites 38 people for violations in Clinton email review Trump campaign to hold rallies in Mississippi, Kentucky Biden struggles to reverse fall MORE for suggesting that 2020 Democratic hopeful Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Tulsi GabbardGabbard hits back at 'queen of warmongers' Clinton Super PAC seeks to spend more than million supporting Yang Clinton suggests Russia grooming Gabbard to run as third-party 2020 candidate MORE (D-Hawaii) was being groomed by Russia to run as a third-party candidate, arguing the attack only helps President Trump Donald John TrumpFlorida GOP lawmaker says he's 'thinking' about impeachment Democrats introduce 'THUG Act' to block funding for G-7 at Trump resort Kurdish group PKK pens open letter rebuking Trump's comparison to ISIS MORE 's reelection efforts.

''The thing we know for sure is that Hillary Clinton is a Donald Trump asset,'' Amash, a vocal Trump critic, tweeted late Friday. ''Hillary does '-- and did '-- drive many people into the arms of Donald Trump. Her attack on Tulsi does likewise.''

The thing we know for sure is that Hillary Clinton is a Donald Trump asset.

'-- Justin Amash (@justinamash) October 19, 2019Hillary does'--and did'--drive many people into the arms of Donald Trump. Her attack on Tulsi does likewise. In my district, Trump did worse than any Republican in modern times and still beat Clinton by a fair margin. Many Ds in the Midwest rejected her. I didn't vote for either one.

'-- Justin Amash (@justinamash) October 19, 2019Clinton on Friday warned during a podcast interview that Russia was poised meddle again in the next U.S. presidential election through online disinformation efforts, and she said Moscow could attempt to sow chaos by encouraging a third-party candidate.

''She's the favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her, so far,'' Clinton said in an apparent reference to Gabbard, who has faced unfounded speculation that her campaign is being amplified by bots and online trolls.

Gabbard later Friday unleashed an attack on the former secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, calling her the ''queen of warmongers'' and the ''personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party.''

"From the day I announced my candidacy, there has been a concerted campaign to destroy my reputation. We wondered who was behind it and why. Now we know '-- it was always you," she said, challenging Clinton to join the primary instead of ''cowardly hid[ing] behind your proxies.''

Richard Cordray's CFPB Mismanagement Continues To Cause Headaches For His Ohio Gov Campaign

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Sun, 20 Oct 2019 10:09

March 22, 2018 &nbsp|&nbsp General, Ohio, RGA News

Since Washington D.C. Bureaucrat Richard Cordray left his job at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in November, his decision to overspend on the agency's new $124 million taxpayer-funded headquarters continues to cause headaches for his gubernatorial campaign in Ohio. Now there are reports of new health hazards in the building due to ''noxious fumes'' that have caused employees to become sick, forcing a ''very large number'' of them to leave the building and work from home.

This comes just weeks after reports emerged that the CFPB's building is ''infested'' with rats. In the past, Cordray has refused to answer why he drastically overspent on the building. When questioned at a congressional hearing in 2015 by Missouri representative Ann Wagner about the high taxpayer-funded price tag for the bureau's headquarters, Cordray angrily responded ''Why does that matter to you?''

The Daily Caller reports:

'''Noxious fumes' are sickening Consumer Financial Protection Bureau employees at its newly renovated headquarters, The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group learned.

It is the second health hazard employees have faced since re-occupying the renovated headquarters still under construction. Employees recently incurred an infestation of rats, which is also tied to the ongoing construction. About 750 employees work in the building that sits on prime real estate across from the White House.

The bureau was the first new agency President Obama created. Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren originally founded it as an agency designed to protect consumers.

Some bureau employees have already fled the building and are telecommuting, a CFPB spokesman confirmed. Fumes are wafting throughout the six-floor building.

'People are nauseous and dizzy' from the fumes, which occurred via chemicals used in the still-under-construction basement, a CFPB employee told TheDCNF.

A circulated memo to all CFPB employees was given to TheDCNF by a Samuel Gilford, an official bureau spokesman. 'If necessary, please contact your manager about telework and other workplace flexibilities that may be available to you,' the staff notification shows.

'We've been experiencing noxious fumes for a while, and people are saying they are getting sick,' a CFPB employee told TheDCNF. 'People should not be in that building. They need to evacuate that building until it's ready for occupancy,' he said. A 'very large number' of CFPB employees have left the building and are working from home, he added.

The federal employee would only be able talk to TheDCNF anonymously, for he felt his position would be in jeopardy if CFPB management learned he was talking to reporters, he pontificated.

The staff believes the premature return to the building was one of a long list of management mistakes, the CFPB employed explained to TheDCNF. Bureau employees believe the latest environmental problems at its headquarters may be the reason for CFPB Chief Operating Officer Santaj Alag's abrupt resignation the week of March 12 '-- Alag joined the agency in July 2013 '-- he told TheDCNF. Alag's last day would have been April 18, Alag reportedly told CFPB colleagues, according to The Morning Consult.

Alag was pushed out because he was only a year away from retirement, which would have entitled him to lifetime health coverage and an annuity, the source speculated.

Former CFPB bureau director Richard Cordray made the decision to reoccupy the building while it was still under construction. Cordray left November 2017 to launch a planned Democratic gubernatorial campaign for Ohio.

The new health risk may further strengthen the hand of acting director Mick Mulvaney, who President Donald Trump appointed to take over its management. He pledged to drastically change the troubled bureau in the form of a five-year strategic plan. Mulvaney is also simultaneously serving as the White House director for the Office of Management and Budget.''

Mulvaney requests no funding for Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - POLITICO

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Sun, 20 Oct 2019 10:09

In a letter to Fed Chair Janet Yellen obtained by POLITICO, Mick Mulvaney wrote that the bureau has $177 million in the bank. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo

Every quarter, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau formally requests its operating funds from the Federal Reserve. Last quarter, former director Richard Cordray asked for $217.1 million. Cordray, an appointee of President Barack Obama, needed just $86.6 million the quarter before that. And Wednesday, President Donald Trump's acting CFPB director, Mick Mulvaney, sent his first request to the Fed.

He requested zero.

Story Continued Below

In a letter to Fed Chair Janet Yellen obtained by POLITICO, Mulvaney wrote that the bureau has $177 million in the bank, enough to cover the $145 million the bureau has budgeted for its second quarter. Cordray had maintained a ''reserve fund'' in case of overruns or emergencies, but Mulvaney said he didn't see any reason for it, since the Fed has always given the bureau the money it needs. Mulvaney, who is also Trump's budget director, noted that instead of advancing the funds to the bureau, the Fed could return them to the Treasury and reduce the deficit.

''While this approximately $145 million may not make much of a dent in the deficit, the men and women at the Bureau are proud to do their part to be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars,'' Mulvaney wrote.

The Trump administration has not shown much interest lately in deficit reduction, but it has shown avid interest in reining in the independent CFPB. As a member of Congress, Mulvaney (R-S.C.) routinely denounced it as an overzealous regulator, and on his first day at the bureau after replacing Cordray in November, he trashed his new workplace as ''an awful example of a bureaucracy gone wrong.'' And even as Cordray's former deputy, Leandra English, has fought Mulvaney's appointment in court, he has moved swiftly to shake up its culture.

Earlier this week, he announced the bureau would reconsider its new rules designed to protect consumers from payday-lending debt traps, and Wednesday, he launched a formal review of how the bureau demands information from firms it investigates. He has even revamped the agency's mission statement; the new wording suggests that its first priority should be ''identifying and addressing outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome regulations.''

The bureau was created in response to the financial crisis of 2008, and under Cordray, it returned nearly $12 billion to nearly 30 million ripped-off consumers, cracking down on predatory lenders and bullying debt collectors and a range of Wall Street scoundrels. But the financial industry and many Republicans have portrayed it as an out-of-control liberal bureaucracy, a hotbed of the anti-Trump resistance nestled inside the Washington bureaucracy, with a budget untouchable by Congress and a director with unusually broad powers. And several federal judges have rebuked the agency for overstepping its authority in pursuit of scammers.

Mulvaney has not yet laid out his plans for the bureau, but it's clear that in general he wants it to do less, so it's not surprising that he wants it to make do with with less money. In his letter to the Fed, he said he had been assured that the cash the bureau already has on hand is ''sufficient to carry out its statutory mandates for the next fiscal quarter while striving to be efficient, effective, and accountable.''

It's just the latest sign that change is coming to the CFPB. As Mulvaney said after his first day as acting director: ''Elections have consequences at every agency.''

Missing out on the latest scoops? Sign up for POLITICO Playbook and get the latest news, every morning '-- in your inbox.

Big Oil

KEEP OIL PRICES LOW - US troops to Saudi Arabia? Stand by.

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Sat, 19 Oct 2019 10:00

NORFOLK, Va. ' The U.S. is figuring out a game plan to send troops to support Saudi Arabia following Iranian airstrikes on its oil fields, but how many, their capabilities and where they'll come from won't be announced until later this week, a senior official told reporters Tuesday.

Following the Pentagon's Friday announcement that it would deploy forces as a deterrent to Iran's recent antagonizing of a U.S. ally, senior leaders are looking at options for a deployment, the official said, and hoping for a contribution from key European allies.

''At this point, we're going to wait and see what other countries are going to do in supporting Saudi,'' the official said, reiterating Defense Secretary Mark Esper's comments in a Pentagon briefing Friday.

Esper spoke with his counterparts in the United Kingdom, France and Germany over the weekend, the official said.

''They all came out today and indicated that they also believe that Iran is responsible," the official added.

Esper told reporters Friday that, without any solid plans laid down, the troops would be primarily from an air and missile defense background.

''They've got to go through the process of talking to the combatant commands to see who can contribute,'' the official said Tuesday.

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The deployment would be the hundreds, rather than thousands, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters Friday.

That number is still under discussion, the official said Tuesday.

''The European announcement and the possibility they may send forces could change U.S. contribution,'' he said.

Brexit

UK lawmakers back a change to Brexit vote which delays full approval and forces deadline extension

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Sat, 19 Oct 2019 09:39

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson

SIMON DAWSON | AFP | Getty Images

U.K. lawmakers have voted to amend a crucial Brexit vote which now forces the government to seek an extension to the deadline and delays full approval.

The amendment, introduced by former Conservative lawmaker Oliver Letwin, withholds approval of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's withdrawal agreement with the European Union until legislation is in place, and was passed 322 to 306.

The move automatically triggers the "Benn Act" which forces the prime minister to request a further extension to the October 31 deadline until January 31.

Speaking after the setback, Johnson said the government will not table the meaningful vote on Saturday.

"The opportunity to have a meaningful vote has effectively been passed up," Johnson said.

"I will not negotiate a delay with the EU and neither does the law compel me to do so," Johnson added. However by law, according to the Benn Act, Johnson has until 11:00 p.m. London time to send a letter the EU requesting an extension. It is yet to be seen how the prime minister will attempt to circumvent this.

Supporters of the Letwin amendment suggest that it prevents the Government forcing through a no-deal Brexit at the end of October, while its opponents argue that it is a stalling tactic by anti-Brexit lawmakers.

"Next week, the Government will introduce the legislation needed for us to leave the EU with our new deal on Oct 31 and I hope that our European colleagues and friends will not be attracted, as the opposite benches are, or should I say the front bench opposite, by delay," Johnson further added.

The Withdrawal Agreement Bill will be introduced in the House of Commons early next week and would potentially mean a vote on Tuesday evening on what is termed the "second reading," the initial stage of a passage of bill through the House of Commons.

Should it pass, this would be the first time the House has passed any bill relating to Brexit. Should it then ascend to the House of Lords, parliament's upper chamber, and pass before the deadline, there is still a possibility that the U.K. leaves the EU on October 31.

Chiners

Quentin Tarantino Won't Recut 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' for China (Exclusive) | Hollywood Reporter

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Sun, 20 Oct 2019 06:46

MOVIES12:53 PM PDT 10/18/2019 by Tatiana Siegel , Patrick Brzeski

Franco Origlia/Getty Images

Quentin Tarantino

The country's regulators pulled the film from the schedule a week before its release Oct. 25.Quentin Tarantino has no intention of recutting his Once Upon a Time in Hollywood to appease China's censors.

A source close to the situation tells The Hollywood Reporter that the auteur is taking a take-it-or-leave-it stance in the wake of Chinese regulators pulling the film from the schedule a week before its release in the country Oct. 25.

THR reported earlier on Oct. 18 that the release of the acclaimed film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, has been put on hold indefinitely. No explanation was given to Sony Pictures Entertainment, the studio behind the film, as to why. Sony declined to comment.

The decision to halt the release is speculated to be about Tarantino's portrayal of the late martial arts hero Bruce Lee, who was of Chinese descent.

As THR previously reported, sources close to Beijing-based Bona Film Group, which is one of the investors in the film, and China's Film Bureau, say Bruce Lee's daughter, Shannon Lee, made a direct appeal to China's National Film Administration, asking that it demand changes to her father's portrayal. Friends and family of the Hollywood action star have criticized Tarantino for his portrayal of Lee, saying it doesn't resemble the real-life man and is instead a caricature.

But Tarantino, who is known to be opposed to any kind of tinkering with his films and has final-cut rights included in his contract, has no plans to bring his film back to the editing bay, especially given that China has offered no explanation for what is objectionable in the film that revolves around the events leading up to the infamous Manson Family murders of 1969.

One source suggested that China may finally be balking at Once Upon a Time's violence, which is graphic at times but far less than a typical Tarantino film, even though regulators approved it for release there (Bona was poised to handle distribution duties in China for the China launch).

The film would have marked Tarantino's first proper release in China and tapped into the country's enormous box office potential. The film has earned $366 million to date and likely would have exceeded the $400 mark after bowing in the Middle Kingdom. DiCaprio remains a huge star in China thanks to Titanic, which became a gigantic hit in the country earlier in his career.

In recent months, China has sought to exert greater control over the American entertainment sector, particularly when it comes the industry's reaction to the situation in Hong Kong, where pro-democracy protesters have faced a violent response from mainland-backed police forces. Perhaps feeling the economic heat , everyone from Mulan actress Crystal Liu to the Lakers' LeBron James have either sided with the Chinese regime or denounced any criticism of its authoritarian tactics.

But South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker continue to be a thorn in the side of the Chinese regime thanks to a series of episodes mocking the country's rulers as well as the celebrities who appear to be ignoring its human rights abuses and toeing the party line.

Many Hollywood studio films have undergone edits in order to get into China, including last year's Oscar-winning Queen music biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, which removed any mention of protagonist Freddie Mercury's sexual orientation (China frowns upon films with gay leads).

EuroLand

It's Time for Sweden to Admit Explosions Are a National Emergency - Quillette

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Fri, 18 Oct 2019 06:47

The bomb exploded shortly after 9 a.m. Friday in a blast that ripped through two apartment buildings and could be heard for miles. Twenty-five people suffered cuts and bruises and 250 apartments were damaged. A nearby kindergarten was evacuated. Hospitals jumped into disaster mode. Photos from the scene show rows of demolished balconies and shattered windows. It was ''absolutely incredible'' that no one was severely injured, a police spokesperson said.

It is the kind of news we usually associate with war zones, but this bombing took place in Link¶ping, a peaceful university town in southern Sweden. Remarkably, it was not the only explosion in the country that day; another, seemingly unrelated, blast was reported in a parking lot in the city of Gothenburg earlier in the morning. Three explosions have been reported in Malm¶ since Tuesday morning. As of this writing, no arrests have been made.

Sweden has experienced a sharp rise in explosions in recent years, predominantly related to conflicts between warring criminal gangs. The use of explosives in the Nordic country is now at a level that is unique in the world for a state not at war, according to police. In response, the government issued a first-ever ''amnesty for explosives'' in the fall of 2018, allowing people in possession of such weapons to hand them over to police with immunity. But this didn't stem the tide: some 50 explosions were reported in the first three months of 2019 alone'--an average of more than one every other day and an increase over the same period in 2018, a year that saw a record number of more than three blasts per week.

While explosives have become a weapon of choice among the country's gangs, the effects of such violence are hardly confined to criminals. In the past four years, fatalities include a 63-year-old man who unknowingly picked up a hand grenade lying in the street; an 8-year-old boy who was asleep when a hand grenade was thrown into the apartment where he was staying; and a 4-year-old girl killed in a car bombing.

2011- Dec 5, 2018. Source: Swedish Public Service TV

There has been a corresponding marked escalation in gang-related shootings, which increasingly take place in broad daylight. Sweden had 45 deadly shootings in what police refer to as ''criminal environments'' last year, which is an increase by a factor of 10 in one generation. In contrast, neighbouring Norway has less than three. Deadly shootings per capita in Sweden are now considerably higher than the European average. And systematic witness intimidation, paired with a code of silence in the country's socio-economically weak immigrant areas, has made this type of crime difficult for the Swedish legal system to tackle.

The rise in gang violence and other types of crime'--including sexual offenses and a wave of robberies against children'--has had far-reaching implications for Swedish society. In a country which boasts ''the world's first feminist government,'' a third of young women now report feeling unsafe going out at night. A recent survey in the country's three largest cities showed that safety is now the main priority for Swedes who are looking to buy homes. Crime emerged as a top priority among voters ahead of the election to the European Parliament in May.

According to the prevailing ideology of the Swedish political establishment, this wave of violence, which is baffling to many European neighbours, should not be happening. A longstanding cornerstone of the country's political conversation dictates that crime must be understood in socio-economic terms, and that welfare provisions are a cure-all against violence and social unrest. Yet Sweden is one of Europe's most generous welfare states.

Instead of seeking refuge in ideological wishful thinking, the Swedish government should focus on reforming a criminal justice system that was built for a more peaceful society. To name but one issue: young criminals receive remarkably soft sentences. For example, a 16-year-old convicted of an execution-style killing at a Stockholm pizza restaurant in 2018 was sentenced to three years in institutional care for young people. The country also has one of the smallest police forces per capita in the EU.

Before any specific issues can be addressed the Swedish government must acknowledge the severity of the matter. In the past few years, the rise in violent crime in Sweden has attracted growing attention from international media. How has the Swedish government responded? By launching an elaborate PR campaign for foreign audiences that plays down the challenges'--especially those in the country's immigrant areas. Nothing will change if the government continues to respond to the reality in the streets with cynical rhetorical spin.

Paulina Neuding is Quillette's European editor. Follow her on Twitter @paulinaneuding.

eScooters

Chicago's 4-month scooter pilot comes to an end on Tuesday - Chicago Tribune

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Thu, 17 Oct 2019 15:07

The four-month electric scooter pilot in Chicago, both celebrated and reviled by residents, comes to an end Tuesday.

As of last week, people had taken 772,450 rides on electric scooters, according to the city's Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection. That's about 7,000 trips a day.

The city's goal for the program was to determine if scooters would improve transportation access, reduce single-occupancy car use and provide a way to get to and from public transit.

Was it a success? It depends on how you measure it, and whom you ask.

If you tried it and got where you were going unscathed, your opinion will likely be pro-scooter. If you tripped over one left in the middle of the sidewalk, not so much.

''The vast majority of people who use scooters regularly will say it's a huge success,'' said Bryant Greening, co-founder of the law firm LegalRideshare. "However, we've heard from many people who have been injured, and community members dismayed by the clutter and the reckless operation of some of the riders.''

In a new report, the Active Transportation Alliance said if Chicago decides to try scooters again, it should continue to keep them out of the central business district, and require them to be parked in docks or corrals, or locked to fixed objects.

''The accessibility and safety issues are real, especially how it affects people on the sidewalk and older adults and people with disabilities,'' said alliance spokesman Kyle Whitehead.

Commuters head towards the train as electric scooters stand parked ready to be used near Milwaukee Avenue and Ashland Avenue in Chicago during the morning rush hour, Aug. 13, 2019. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

The report also concluded that scooters, which are battery-operated and distributed through neighborhoods using vans and trucks, offer fewer health and environmental benefits than walking, biking and transit.

But there is no denying that the scooters are fun, Whitehead said. ''If you can introduce an option like this that people really enjoy, especially in comparison to sitting in a car, that's exciting," he said.

The city is evaluating the pilot to decide how and whether to roll out a permanent program or another pilot next year. The analysis will include studying where and when scooters were used and examining hospital injury reports, said Isaac Reichman, spokesman for the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection.

As of Oct. 6, more than 7,300 people had taken the city's Scooter Survey, which also will be used in assessing the program.

On June 15, 10 companies introduced 2,500 scooters to a 50-square-mile area roughly bordered by Irving Park Road on the north, the South Branch of the Chicago River on the south, the city's western border and Halsted Street. Permits were issued to Bird, Bolt, gruv, Jump, Lime, Lyft, Sherpa, Spin, VeoRide and Wheels.

There was scooter riding on sidewalks, little kids rode devices intended for adults and older teens only, and scooters traveled outside the designated pilot area, including on the Lakefront Trail and The 606. There was also questionable parking '-- with some scooters left out overnight, despite the city rule that companies round them up at midnight and redistribute them in the morning.

The city issued 39 citations to scooter companies, for problems ranging from not having a working front light to not responding to complaints. Of the 10 companies, only Lyft, which operates the city's Divvy bike share system, received no citations. Lime was cited just once. Bird and Chicago-based VeoRide had the most, with seven each.

Helmet use was rare, though both scooter companies and the city urged riders to wear protective headgear.

Dozens of people went to local emergency rooms with a variety of scooter-related injuries '-- Rush University Medical Center, for example, saw 26, said spokesman Charles Jolie.

Injury reports from area hospitals have not been released publicly. Hospitals have been asked to report scooter injuries to the Chicago Department of Public Health, which will make the data available after the program ends, said health department spokeswoman Elena Ivanova.

Among the most seriously injured was Allyson Medeiros, who was riding his bike home from work when he was hit by a scooter rider who was going the wrong way, and took off after the crash. Greening, who represents Medeiros, said his client required reconstructive surgery to his face.

Greening also represents Eloy Scheunemann, a 27-year-old rider who shattered a kneecap after hitting a pothole, and sued the city.

''I find it irresponsible for the city to put 2,500 scooters on the street and not do anything to fix the potholes,'' Scheunemann said. ''I can't even look at them (scooters) without major anxiety.''

Despite the problems, the scooters have been popular, and they gained in acceptance the more people tried them, according to polls.

''At first it was kind of a mystery: What are these scooters? Are they free? Can you rent them? Can you buy them?'' said Jeremy Cuebas, youth organizer for the Northwest Side Housing Center, a nonprofit. ''But as time went on, people got the idea.''

Cuebas said he has enjoyed the scooters and is embarrassed that he has spent $250 to $300 on them. ''They're very fun to ride,'' Cuebas said. ''When you are a riding on a scooter, you see a lot more than if you're driving. You notice things.''

The most popular spots for scooter use tended to be in the eastern part of the pilot area, in trendier, wealthier neighborhoods, the study found. The Near West Side, for example, saw 622 scooter departures and 465 scooter destinations on July 24, while only 23 trips started in the West Side neighborhood of West Garfield Park on the same day.

''We're seeing patterns where the users are disproportionately higher income,'' said Kate Lowe, associate professor of urban planning and policy at University of Illinois at Chicago.

Lowe said that low- and moderate-income Chicago communities, which also tend to be less densely populated, may benefit more from better bus service than more scooters.

Active Transportation recommended that vendors offer discounted rates to low-income residents, and that scooter revenues be used to create more bike and bus lanes.

Not surprisingly, scooter companies want to see the program expanded. Nico Probst, Lime's head of Midwest government relations, said the company wants to serve the whole city, including downtown. He noted that having scooters in busy central areas has been successful in other big cities, such as Paris.

''It becomes a normative part of the transportation ecosystem,'' Probst said. Chicago's downtown could handle scooters with the help of parking corrals, and scooters could help reduce the congestion caused by ride-share trips, he said.

Whatever the city decides to do, the scooter pilot was a ''grand experiment'' that sets the stage for a bigger rollout next year, said Joseph Schwieterman, transportation expert at DePaul University.

''It brought something new and different to a part of a city that has seen transit improvements stuck in low gear for a long time," Schwieterman said.

Our last song is about coming across a crash. Whiskey claimed another victim, mixing with the blood and the glass. The song is ''Wreck on the Highway,'' a bluegrass standard written by Dorsey Dixon but commonly associated with Roy Acuff. Greg Klaiber, of Evanston, was first with the right answer.

This week's transportation song included both a Chicago Symphony Orchestra musician and a trippy double-entendre. What's the song and who did it? The first person with the right answer gets a Tribune pen, and glory.

Shut Up Slave

Police: Man tried to burn down parents' home in Green Township, officials say

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Archived Version

Sat, 19 Oct 2019 09:53

GREEN TOWNSHIP, Ohio '-- Police Chief Jim Vetter said the man who touched off a neighborhood emergency Thursday afternoon was arrested several miles away and indicated he fled before police and SWAT teams surrounded his parents' home for hours thinking he was still inside.

The story took an odd twist late Thursday when Vetter released a statement saying the man had been arrested at Cleves Warsaw Pike near Hillside Avenue in Delhi Township, several miles from the scene on Melissaview Court in Green Township where police had responded in force.

Vetter said family members told police the man dumped gasoline throughout the basement of his parents' house and pulled out a lighter to set it on fire, but a family member was able to wrestle the lighter away and escape.

Vetter indicated that police used necessary precautions under the circumstances.

"The family told officers that the suspect was believed to be still inside the house," Vetter's statement said. "Officers attempted verbal contact but were unsuccessful. Security measures were implemented at nearby schools in case the suspect fled the house prior to the officer's arrival. A SWAT team was called to the scene to attempt to negotiate the suspect's surrender in case he was still in the house. Because the suspect had access to multiple firearms, nearby residents were requested to shelter in place."

The man was eventually taken into custody without incident and charged with attempted aggravated arson, Vetter said.

Officers outside the house had used a bullhorn trying to communicate with the man while SWAT teams waited nearby and a sheriff's helicopter flew overhead. Residents in the area of Greenmount Drive and Melissaview were advised to shelter in place during the incident while police filled their usually quiet streets.

Late in the day, heavily-armed SWAT team members were seen approaching the house with guns at the ready.

Immediately GO INDOORS if in the area of Melissa View and Greenmount Dr. due to police activity in the area. Stay inside until further notice. Tune in to local media for more info. pic.twitter.com/mDH1zKttU7

'-- Hamilton County EMA (@HCEMA) October 17, 2019Nearby Oak Hills High School and Dulles Elementary School were placed on "soft lockdown," an Oak Hills District spokesperson said. That means the entrances were secure, the school resource officer was guarding the doors, and no one was allowed to enter the building.

After dismissal, students who live in the area were being kept at school and their parents were called to pick them up.

HRC Emails

State Department Concludes Clinton Email Review, Says It Found Nearly 600 Security Violations - The Daily Caller

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Sat, 19 Oct 2019 08:09

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton waits to speak at the World Bank May 14, 2014 in Washington, DC. Clinton and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim joined others to speak about women's rights. AFP PHOTO/Brendan SMIALOWSKI (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

State Department investigators probing Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state discovered nearly 600 security incidents that violated agency policy, according to a report the Daily Caller News Foundation obtained.

The investigation, conducted by the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, found 38 individuals were culpable for 91 security violations. Another 497 violations were found, but no individuals were found culpable in those incidents.

The investigation concluded Sept. 6, and the report was issued Sept. 13.

The investigation sought to determine if the exchange of emails on Clinton's server ''represented failure to properly safeguard classified information'' and whether any individuals at State were culpable for any of the failures. (RELATED: State Department Reboots Hillary Clinton Email Probe)

Clinton exchanged more than 60,000 emails on a private email account hosted on a server that she kept at her residence in New York. She emailed frequently with longtime aides Huma Abedin, Cheryl Mills, Jake Sullivan, and an outside adviser, Sidney Blumenthal.

The FBI investigated whether Clinton mishandled classified information by using the server. Former FBI Director James Comey announced July 5, 2016, that he would not be recommending charges against Clinton over the server, though he did say she was ''extremely careless'' in using an off-the-books email system.

Former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey speaks to members of the media on Capitol Hill December 07, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The FBI determined that thousands of the emails on Clinton's server contained some level of classified information. Some of those emails were found to have information classified as top secret, the highest level of classification.

State Department investigators reviewed all of Clinton's emails, obtained hundreds of statements, and conducted dozens of in-person interviews with current and former State Department officials, according to the report.

Investigators determined personal email use to conduct official State Department business ''represented an increased risk of unauthorized disclosure.'' Clinton's use of the private server ''added an increased degree of risk of compromise as a private system lacks the network monitoring and intrusion detection capabilities of State Department networks,'' the report stated.

Investigators said there was ''no persuasive evidence'' of ''systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information.''

One reason that investigators were unable to assign culpability in the 497 incidents was because of the duration of the investigation. Many of the subjects of the probe, including Clinton and her circle of aides, has left the State Department by the time the investigation began.

State Department report on '... by Chuck Ross on Scribd

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Unhoused

How much does the city of Austin spend, per homeless person? | PolitiFact Texas

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Sat, 19 Oct 2019 09:21

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has the city of Austin in his sights.

The Republican governor has threatened state action if the Austin City Council does not take steps to address its decision to lift a ban on camping in public places that is aimed at homeless people.

In one of several tweets criticizing the city, Abbott suggested that local leaders are not directing available resources appropriately.

"The City of Austin is dedicating more than $20,000 PER HOMELESS PERSON in Austin," Abbott wrote in a tweet. "The problem isn't resources. It's prioritization. It's inaction & word salad on an urgent public health & safety issue. Haven For Hope in San Antonio works. Lawlessness is never the answer."

Haven for Hope is a shelter-like program in San Antonio that operates using private and government funding. In its latest budget, the city of San Antonio allocated more than $500,000 for the program.

Abbott repeated his estimate about Austin in an interview on Austin television station KXAN.

"The city of Austin is tapping into their taxpayers for more than $20,000 per homeless person," Abbott said. "If they can't get this problem fixed by spending $20,000 or more per homeless person, the problem is not the homeless. The problem is a lack of leadership in Austin, Texas."

We had to ask: Is Abbott's estimate accurate?

Sort of. While it is true that the city has allocated significant funding toward addressing homelessness, a large chunk of the funding is aimed at preventing homelessness, rather than going to programs to support individuals who are currently homeless.

Austin budget looks at future programs

Abbott spokesman John Wittman said the governor's statement was based on the city's current homeless population and its recently adopted budget.

"The current Austin homeless population is 2,255 according to ECHO," Wittman said in an email, referencing the non-profit Ending Community Homelessness Coalition. "The current Austin budget calls for $62.7 million to be spent on homelessness initiatives. This breaks down to $27,804.88 per homeless person."

The Ending Community Homelessness Coalition data Wittman pointed to came from the 2019 Point in Time Count, a count of an area's homeless population, as required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

This year's survey shows that there were 2,255 homeless people in Austin. Of those, 1,169 were sheltered and 1,086 were unsheltered.

Austin's homeless population has remained relatively steady over the past nine years, fluctuating from a high of 2,362 in 2011 to a low of 1,832 in 2015.

Wittman also shared links to news articles discussing Austin's proposed budget, including one from KXAN breaking down the dollars for homelessness.

"Another report from KXAN says the city is spending $37,000 per homeless person," Wittman said in his email.

The article explored the city's budget proposal and included a calculation for how much money officials were planning to spend per homeless person during the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1.

Wittman got the figure from the article right, but left out a key detail.

"If you just look at the totals, it would appear the city is planning to spend $37,000 per homeless person," the article reads. "However, most of this budget isn't going to individuals but instead to programs aimed at keeping people off the street."

Looking at the city

The Austin City Council voted in September to approve a $4.2 billion budget, which included $62.7 million for programs aimed at homelessness, plus an additional $500,000 for crisis services and "encampment cleanups."

The funding is divided into three categories: housing displacement prevention, crisis mitigation and re-empowerment, according to a city budget document.

The budget allocates roughly $20.4 million for housing displacement prevention, which includes homelessness prevention services and emergency relocation services for people at risk of being displaced from their homes.

Funding under this umbrella goes toward keeping people in their houses, as opposed to services aiding individuals currently experiencing homelessness.

The budget also spends $23.9 million for "crisis mitigation," which includes support for emergency shelters, mental health and substance use disorder treatment and outreach teams that identify and assist homeless people "before they reach a state of crisis."

The final $18.4 million is earmarked for creating and maintaining affordable housing and for contracting with local organizations to develop strategies for ending homelessness in the city.

Only one of the three budget categories goes directly to services for people currently experiencing homelessness: the $23.9 million for "crisis mitigation."

That would be roughly $10,000 per homeless person.

Our ruling

Abbott said, "The City of Austin is dedicating more than $20,000 PER HOMELESS PERSON in Austin."

The math behind Abbott's claim checks out for the overall budget for homeless initiatives '-- $62.7 million '-- and there are an estimated 2,255 homeless people in the city. Divided evenly, that's $27,804 per homeless person.

But a large chunk of the $62.7 million is going toward programs to prevent homelessness and toward affordable housing, not directly to people experiencing homelessness.

Abbott's claim needs more context. We rate this claim Half True.

HALF TRUE '' The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context.

Homelessness is declining in America - Urban myths

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Archived Version

Fri, 18 Oct 2019 06:38

F IFTEEN-HUNDRED rubbish bins fill a room that stretches the length of an entire city block. Each one of the 60-gallon containers is neatly labelled and arrayed in a perfect line. Each holds the possessions of a homeless person or family. The facility, fittingly called The Bin, was set up by Chrysalis, a charity, to provide free storage for those living on the streets of Skid Row in Los Angeles.

There are few harsher vistas of America's homelessness problem than this neighbourhood, which adjoins a flourishing downtown and arts district. The city says that 4,800 homeless people live there, of whom 23% have an addiction and 43% have a mental illness. They are a fraction of the 50,000 homeless people estimated to live in the Los Angeles area, who are seen not just in Skid Row but also on the bustling pier of Santa Monica and along Venice Beach, where a peaceful-looking woman in her 50s wears plastic bags for shoes and a young man clothed in too many layers gestures to himself on the sand.

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Despite significant public efforts'--such as a surcharge on sales tax directed entirely towards homeless services and a $1.2bn bond issue to pay for affordable housing'--the problem of homelessness is worsening in Los Angeles. It has emerged as the greatest liability for Eric Garcetti, the mayor, and may have hindered his ambitions to run for president. After spending hundreds of millions, the city was surprised to learn in July that the number of homeless people had increased by 12% from the previous year (city officials point out that this was less than in many other parts of California). Though it can be found everywhere, homelessness, unlike other social pathologies, is not a growing national problem. Rather it is an acute and worsening condition in America's biggest, most successful cities.

Every year in January, America's Department of Housing and Urban Development mobilises thousands of volunteers to walk the streets and count the unsheltered homeless. Along with data provided by homeless shelters, these create an annual census of types of homeless residents. Advocates think that the methodology produces a significant undercount, but they are the best statistics available (and much higher quality than those of other developed countries). Since 2009 they show a 12% decline nationally, but increases of 18% in San Francisco, 35% in Seattle, 50% in Los Angeles and 59% in New York.

On the surface the problem of homelessness looks intractable. This prompts policy misadventures. In September, just before the Trump administration was subsumed by impeachment chaos, the White House began publicly flirting with intervening in California's homelessness predicament (one in four homeless Americans lives in the state). However, the suggestions they floated'--more arrests, and warehousing those living on the streets in unused aeroplane hangars'--would not have been helpful. The real aim seemed to be more to embarrass prominent Democrats than to help. Around the same time, the Council of Economic Advisors put out a report suggesting that spending on shelters would incentivise homelessness.

The pessimism is the result of three widely believed myths. The first is that the typical homeless person has lived on the street for years, while dealing with addiction, mental illness, or both. In fact, only 35% of the homeless have no shelter, and only one-third of those are classified as chronically homeless. The overwhelming majority of America's homeless are in some sort of temporary shelter paid for by charities or government. This skews public perceptions of the problem. Most imagine the epicentre of the American homeless epidemic to be San Francisco'--where there are 6,900 homeless people, of whom 4,400 live outdoors'--instead of New York, where there are 79,000 homeless, of whom just 3,700 are unsheltered.

The second myth is that rising homelessness in cities is the result of migration, either in search of better weather or benefits. Homelessness is a home-grown problem. About 70% of the homeless in San Francisco previously lived in the city; 75% of those living on the streets of Los Angeles, in places like Skid Row, come from the surrounding area. Though comparable data do not exist for Hawaii'--which has one of the highest homelessness rates in the country'--a majority of the homeless are ethnic Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, suggesting that the problem is largely local.

The third, and perhaps most pernicious, myth is that nothing can be done about it. Much of this results from conflating temporary, sheltered homelessness'--the majority of cases'--with chronic street homelessness. Most bouts are short and sheltered, driven chiefly by an inability to pay rent and likely to stabilise after rapid rehousing and time-limited housing vouchers. For the most challenging cases of triple affliction'--homelessness, addiction and mental illness'--more exhaustive interventions are needed.

One promising approach is the ''housing first'' model. This seeks to place people in supportive housing without preconditions, such as sobriety, and to provide social services afterwards. Although America pioneered this approach, it has not been scaled up. Instead, the Finns have adopted it and nearly halved their homelessness rates in the past decade. Homelessness among ex-servicemen in America has been cut substantially by dedicating federal funding to this sort of service, suggesting that the approach can work outside the Nordic countries. Houston also credits the approach with reducing its homeless counts by more than half in less than a decade. A study of Denver's programme suggests that permanent supportive housing, though costly, ultimately saves public dollars because it avoids the huge costs of policing, hospitalisation and providing emergency shelter for the homeless.

All this obscures the chief culprit, however, which is the cost of housing. Even among the poor'--of which there are officially 38m in America'--homelessness is relatively rare, affecting roughly one in 70 people. What pushes some poor people into homelessness, and not others, remains obscure. So too are the reasons for the sharp racial disparities in homelessness; roughly 40% of the homeless are black, compared with 13% of the population. But remarkably tight correlations exist with rent increases.

An analysis by Chris Glynn and Emily Fox, two statisticians, predicts that a 10% increase in rents in a high-cost city like New York would result in an 8% increase in the number of homeless residents. Wherever homelessness appears out of control in America'--whether in Honolulu, Seattle or Washington, DC'--high housing costs almost surely lurk. Fixing this means dealing with a lack of supply, created by over-burdensome zoning regulations and an unwillingness among Democratic leaders to overcome entrenched local interests.

Unaffordable rental markets make homelessness harder to fix, because housing vouchers go only so far. High housing costs also erase signs of progress. If the engine driving homelessness is left running, the problem in high-cost cities only gets worse. ''We effectively remove 133 people from the streets each day, only to be met by an inflow of 150 people each day,'' says Mark Ridley-Thomas, of the Board of Supervisors for Los Angeles County. ''Our homelessness budget is $462m, which is 25 times what it was in 2015,'' says Christina Miller, the deputy mayor of Los Angeles for the issue.

The ideal way to get stable housing, as is the case with most anti-poverty programmes, is a stable job. But that proves difficult. Chrysalis, the charity that runs The Bin, also maintains an entirely voluntary job-skills-and-placement programme, which they say helped put 2,100 people to work last year (of whom 70% were still retained six months later). One of them is Marshall May, who was recently promoted to a manager's job at The Bin after years of prison and homelessness. With the bigger pay cheque comes greater financial stability, but also a new source of angst. The rent, he says, is worryingly high.'

Ottomania

The Genealogy of the Kurdish Question - LewRockwell

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Archived Version

Sat, 19 Oct 2019 11:05

The unanimous international community multiplies its condemnation of the military offensive in Rojava and watches helplessly as tens of thousands of Kurds flee, pursued by the Turkish army. However, no one intervenes, considering that a massacre may be the only possible way to restore peace, given the inextricable situation created by France and the crimes against humanity committed by Kurdish combatants and civilians.

All wars involve a process of simplification: there are only two sides on a battlefield and everyone has to choose their own. In the Middle East, where there are an incredible number of communities and ideologies, this process is particularly terrifying because none of the particularities of these groups can be expressed and each must ally itself with others of which it disapproves.

When a war is coming to an end, everyone tries to erase the crimes they have committed, voluntarily or not, and sometimes to remove cumbersome allies they want to forget. Many then try to rebuild the past to give themselves the beautiful role. That is exactly what we are witnessing today with the Turkish operation ''Source of Peace'' on the Syrian border and the unlikely reactions it provokes.

To understand what is happening, it is not enough to know that everyone is lying. We must also discover what everyone is hiding and accept it, even when we see that those we admired until then are really despicable.

Genealogy of the Problem

If we believe European communications, we might think that the evil Turks will exterminate the kind Kurds that the wise Europeans are trying to save despite the cowardly United States. However, none of these four powers plays the role assigned to it.

First, the current event must be seen in the context of the ''War against Syria'', of which it is only a battle, and in the context of the ''Remodelling of the Broader Middle East'', of which the Syrian conflict is only one stage. On the occasion of the attacks of 11 September 2001, US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his new Director of ''Force Transformation'', Admiral Arthur Cebrowski, adapted the Pentagon's strategy to financial capitalism. They decided to divide the world into two zones: one that would be the one of economic globalization and the other that would be seen as a simple reserve of raw materials. The US armies would be responsible for removing state structures in this second region of the world so that no one could resist this new division of labour [1]. They began with the ''Broader Middle East''.

The Syrian Accountability Act (2003), following Afghanistan and Iraq, had been planned to destroy the Syrian Arab Republic, but various contingencies have postponed this operation to 2011. The plan of attack was reorganized in the light of the British colonial experience in this region. London advised not to completely destroy states, to restore a minimal state in Iraq and to keep puppet governments capable of administering the daily lives of peoples. Based on the ''Great Arab Revolt'' of Lawrence of Arabia, which they organized in 1915, it was a question of organizing an ''Arab Spring'' which placed the Brotherhood of the Muslim Brotherhood in power and no longer that of the Wahhabites [2]. The pro-Western regimes of Tunisia and Egypt were overthrown first, then Libya and Syria were attacked.

At first, NATO member Turkey refused to participate in the war against Libya, its first customer, and Syria, with which it had created a common market. The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alain Jupp(C), then had the idea of killing two birds with one stone. He proposed to his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet DavutoÄlu, to resolve the Kurdish question together in exchange for Turkey's entry into the war against Libya and Syria. The two men signed a Secret Protocol which provided for the creation of a Kurdistan not in the Kurdish territories of Turkey, but in the Aramaic and Arab territories of Syria [3]. Turkey, which has excellent relations with the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government, wanted a second Kurdistan to be created, thus putting an end to Kurdish independence on its own soil. France, which had recruited Kurdish tribes in 1911 to repress Arab nationalists, intended to finally create a rump Kurdistan in the region as the British had succeeded in creating a Jewish colony in Palestine. The French and Turks obtained the support of the Israelis who already controlled Iraqi Kurdistan with the clan of Barzani , officially a member of Mossad.

In brown: Kurdistan designed by the King-Crane Commission, validated by US President Woodrow Wilson and adopted in 1920 by the S¨vres Conference.

The Kurds are a nomadic people (that is the exact meaning of the word ''Kurdish'') who used to travel in the Euphrates Valley, in Iraq, Syria and Turkey today. Organized not in a tribal manner, but in a clan-based manner, and renowned for their courage, they created many dynasties that ruled in the Arab world (including that of Saladin the Magnificent) and Persia, and provided auxiliaries to various armies. At the beginning of the 20th century, some of them were recruited by the Ottomans to massacre the non-Muslim populations of Turkey, particularly the Armenians. On this occasion, they settled in Anatolia, while the others remained nomads. At the end of the First World War, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, pursuant to paragraph 12 of his 14 points (goals of war), created a Kurdistan on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. To delimit its territory, he sent the King Crane Commission to the area, while the Kurds continued the massacre of the Armenians. The experts identified an area in Anatolia and warned Wilson of the devastating consequences of an extension or displacement of this territory. But the Ottoman Empire was overthrown from the inside by Mustafa Kemal who proclaimed the Republic and refused the territorial loss imposed by the Wilsonian project. In the end, Kurdistan did not see the light of day.

For a century, the Turkish Kurds tried to secede from Turkey. In the 1980s, the PKK Marxist-Leninists opened a real civil war against Ankara, which was very severely repressed. Many fled to northern Syria, under the protection of President Hafez el-Assad. When their leader Abdullah callan was arrested by the Israelis and handed over to the Turks, they abandoned the armed struggle. At the end of the Cold War, the PKK, no longer funded by the Soviet Union, was penetrated by the CIA and mutated. It abandoned Marxist doctrine and became anarchistic, renounced the struggle against imperialism and placed itself in the service of NATO. The Atlantic Alliance made extensive use of its terrorist operations to contain the impulsiveness of its Turkish member.

In 1991, the international community waged a war against Iraq, which had just invaded Kuwait. At the end of the war, Westerners encouraged the Shia and Kurdish oppositions to revolt against President Saddam Hussein's Sunni regime. The United States and the United Kingdom allowed 200,000 people to be massacred, but occupied an area of the country from which they excluded the Iraqi army. They drove out the inhabitants and gathered the Iraqi Kurds there. It is this area that was reintegrated into Iraq after the 2003 war and became Iraqi Kurdistan around the Barzani clan.

The staff map of the Rumsfeld/Cebrowski plan for ''Remodelling the Broader Middle East''.Source: ''Blood borders '' How a better Middle East would look'', Colonel Ralph Peters, Armed Forces Journal, June 2006.

At the beginning of the war against Syria, President Bashar al-Assad granted Syrian nationality to Kurdish political refugees and their children. They immediately went to Damascus to defend the north of the country against foreign jihadists. But NATO woke up the Turkish PKK and sent it to mobilize the Kurds of Syria and Iraq to create a very large Kurdistan, as planned by the Pentagon since 2001 and recorded by the staff map released by Colonel Ralph Peters in 2005.

The map of the ''Remodeling of the Broader Middle East'', modified after the failure of the first war against Syria.Source: ''Imagining a Remapped Middle East'', Robin Wright, The New York Times Sunday Review, September 28, 2013.

This project (aimed at dividing the region on ethnic grounds) did not correspond at all to that of President Wilson in 1919 (aimed at recognising the rights of the Kurdish people), nor to that of the French (aimed at rewarding mercenaries). It was far too large for them and they could not hope to control it. On the other hand, it enchanted the Israelis who saw it as a way to contain Syria from behind. However, it proved impossible to achieve. The USIP, a ''Five Eyes'' institute linked to the Pentagon, proposed to modify it. Greater Kurdistan would be reduced in favour of an extension of Iraqi Sunnistan [4] that would be entrusted to a jihadist organization: the future Daesh. A Peace to End All Pea... David Fromkin Best Price: $3.99 Buy New $7.89 (as of 09:20 EDT - Details )

The Kurds of the YPG, the Syrian branch of the PKK, tried to create a new state, Rojava, with the help of US forces. The Pentagon used them to confine the jihadists to the area they had been assigned. There was never a theological or ideological struggle between the YPG and Daesh, it was just a rivalry for a territory to be shared on the rubble of Iraq and Syria. And when the Emirate of Daesh collapsed, the YPG helped the jihadists join al-Qaeda forces in Idleb by crossing their ''Kurdistan''.

The Iraqi Kurds of the Barzani clan were directly involved in Daesh's conquest of Iraq. According to the PKK, the son of the President and Head of Intelligence of the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government, Masrour ''Jomaaa'' Barzani, attended the secret CIA meeting in Amman on 1 June 2014, which planned this operation [5]. The Barzani did not fight any battle against Daesh. They simply enforced their territory and sent them to face the Sunnis. Worse still, they allowed Daesh to enslave non-Muslim Kurds, the Yezidis, during the Battle of Sinjar. Those who were rescued were saved by Turkish PKK and Syrian YPG fighters dispatched to the area.

On November 27, 2017, the Barzanis organised '' with solely Israel's support '' a referendum on self-determination in Iraqi Kurdistan, which they lost despite obvious trickery. The Arab world discovered with amazement, on election night, a tide of Israeli flags in Erbil. According to Israel-Kurd magazine, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had pledged to transfer 200,000 Israeli Kurds in the event of a referendum victory in order to protect the new state.

To enjoy the right to self-determination, a people must first be united, which has never been the case for the Kurds. It must then live in a territory where it is in the majority, which was only the case in Anatolia since the Armenian genocide, then also in northern Iraq since the ethnic cleansing of the no-flying area in the aftermath of the ''Desert Storm'', and finally in north-eastern Syria since the expulsion of Christian Assyrians and Arabs. To recognize this right today is to validate crimes against humanity.

To be continued'.... 2. Kurdistan, imagined by French colonialism 3. the Turkish invasion of Rojava

The Best of Thierry Meyssan

Vaccines

Mother would not have used vaccine with prior knowledge

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Thu, 17 Oct 2019 20:37

The mother of a 26-year-old woman who says she developed narcolepsy from the Pandemrix swine flu vaccine ten years ago has said she would not have allowed her daughter to get it if she had known then what she now knows about it.

Mary Bennett was giving evidence in the action taken by Aoife Bennett of Lakelands, Naas in County Kildare, against the Minister for Health, the HSE, the manufacturer of the vaccine, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, and the Health Products Regulatory Authority.

Ms Bennett described her daughter, Aoife, who is one of quadruplets, as a wonderful girl. She loved school and played lots of sports.

She said she and her husband, who worked in the HSE, were very "pro-vaccination". In September and October 2009, she said she became aware from listening to the radio and reading the papers that there was a swine flu pandemic across Europe.

She said it was recommended that certain groups, including school children should get the vaccine. She said she saw it as her responsibility to get the children vaccinated.

Ms Bennett said she had also heard the Chief Medical Officer, Tony Holohan being interviewed on radio and saying the vaccine was safe.

She said she expected the vaccine would have been tested on all the age groups it was going to be given to.

She would not have given it to Aoife or any of her children if she had known that it was not tested on their age group, that it was using a brand new adjuvant or that the pandemic was almost over, she said.

Aoife received the vaccine in December 2009 as part of a vaccination programme in the school.

Her mother told the court that by the Christmas holidays, her daughter was becoming "tireder and tireder" and she described this as absolutely unusual.

By January she was unable to get out of bed in the morning, was unable to attend training and was missing school.

She collapsed for the first time in April 2010, breaking a front tooth as she fell in the shower.

Ms Bennett said a neurologist thought the problem might be psychiatric but counselling and psychology appointments did not help.

She said the breakthrough happened when she saw a newspaper article in March 2011 about someone with the same symptoms as her daughter who had also had the vaccine and had been diagnosed with narcolepsy.

Aoife was diagnosed at the end of April 2011.

Narcolepsy is an incurable autoimmune disease. The court has also heard Aoife Bennett suffers excessive daytime sleepiness and episodes of sudden weakness known as cataplexy.

Aoife's senior counsel, Jonathan Kilfeather, put it to Ms Bennett that GSK denied any link had been found between Pandemrix and narcolepsy. Ms Bennett said she had heard that but did not believe it.

She broke down briefly when asked to describe the toll Aoife's illness had taken on the family.

Under cross-examination by lawyers for the Minister and the HSE, Ms Bennett said she had received a consent form and an information leaflet about the vaccine through the school.

She said she trusted the State and did not feel the need to look up further information about the vaccine online.

She told Senior Counsel, Maurice Collins, that she was "just a parent". She understood the vaccine was safe but now knew it had not been tested on Aoife's age group.

She said no parent she knew was going to look up the WHO website for a vaccination programme coming into the school.

Mr Collins put it to her that the vaccine had gone through testing and authorising and that there was data available to the regulator before a decision was made to authorise it for use.

He said it was not something "found on the side of the road". When Ms Bennett replied that it had still given more than 1,000 children narcolepsy, he said this was a matter of dispute.

Ms Bennett has yet to be cross-examined by lawyers for GSK and for the Health Products Regulatory Authority.

The case is due to last ten weeks in total.

Clips

VIDEO - Evanston School to 'Move Away' From Halloween Celebrations - NBC Chicago

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Sun, 20 Oct 2019 09:42

Evanston/Skokie School District 65 wrote in a message to parents 'while we recognize that Halloween is a fun tradition for many, it is not a holiday that is celebrated by everyone for various reasons and we want to honor that'Published Sep 30, 2019 at 10:56 AM | Updated at 7:35 PM CDT on Sep 30, 2019 NEWSLETTERS Receive the latest local updates in your inboxSome schools in northern Chicago suburbs have decided to ''move away'' from Halloween celebrations as part of an effort aimed at being more inclusive, a school district said.

Evanston/Skokie School District 65 wrote in a message to parents ''while we recognize that Halloween is a fun tradition for many, it is not a holiday that is celebrated by everyone for various reasons and we want to honor that.''

''We are also aware of the range of inequities that are embedded in Halloween celebrations that take place as part of the school day and the unintended negative impact that it can have on students, families, and staff,'' the message read.

That's why the district said supports schools ''that are moving away from Halloween celebrations'' including costumes and other traditions.

Suburban School Cancels Halloween Celebration''We are confident those who are choosing to move away from the traditional Halloween celebrations will find new and engaging ways to build community within their schools,'' the statement read.

Lincoln Elementary School is one of the schools ending Halloween traditions during the school day, a move that has upset many parents.

"I think with Halloween, at least in modern times, it's not necessarily a religious holiday so I don't see it favoring one group or another," said Jeanne Barclay, whose child attends a District 65 school.

Still, some parents said they don't mind the decision.

"These kids have a lot of chances to do candy, I love trick or treating, but they don't need to do it in school," said Janis Michael, whose grandchild attends Lincoln Elementary.

It remains unclear if any other schools in the district also plan to "cancel" Halloween events. Blocks away, at Washington Elementary, an in-school Halloween party remains planned.

VIDEO - (1) Tulsi Gabbard fires back at Hillary Clinton's Russian asset claim - YouTube

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VIDEO - Campaign HQ with David Plouffe

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VIDEO - Hear Prince's Acoustic 'I Feel For You' Demo, Fresh From The Vault : NPR

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In 1984, Chaka Khan enjoyed a career-revitalizing smash with "I Feel for You," a spangly, funky, Grammy-winning R&B crossover that featured a harmonica solo from Stevie Wonder and a guest rap from Melle Mel. The track had already been covered on records by The Pointer Sisters and Rebbie Jackson, as well as Prince's self-titled second album, but Khan's version is the one that became a classic. Before any of those versions, though, the song existed only as an unreleased acoustic demo by Prince, who was just 20 at the time.

Friday morning, the late icon's estate dropped Prince's demo as a surprise release, available via streaming services and as the A-side of a 7" single. (Prince's original studio recording is the B-side.) The spare demo, which captures the singer and his acoustic guitar back in the winter of 1978-79, turned up on a cassette in Prince's massive recorded archives, which promise to yield treasures such as this one for many years to come.

"I Feel for You" is available on 7" for a limited time via Prince's website.

VIDEO - (1) Tulsi Gabbard: I don't fear Clintons - YouTube

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VIDEO - Jane Fonda, Sam Waterston arrested at U.S. Capitol climate protest

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Sun, 20 Oct 2019 06:43

WASHINGTON '-- Stepping briskly into a U.S. Capitol police vehicle Friday, Jane Fonda is returning to civil disobedience after a nearly half-century break, inspired by the climate activism of Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg and hoping to encourage older people like her to protest as well.

Being arrested at age 81 poses its own, new challenges, Fonda told The Associated Press in an interview, a couple of hours ahead of the second in what Fonda says will be her weekly Friday arrests to advocate for urgent action to slow climate change.

These days, "They use white plastic things on your wrists instead of metal handcuffs, and that hurts more," said Fonda. With fellow actor Sam Waterston, she was one of 17 climate protesters '-- many of them white and gray haired '-- arrested for alleged unlawful demonstration Friday by what Fonda called "extremely nice and professional" Capitol police.

Actress Jane Fonda gestures after being arrested during a rally on Capitol Hill on Oct. 18, 2019. A half-century after throwing her attention-getting celebrity status into Vietnam War protests, Fonda is now doing the same in a U.S. climate movement where the average age is 18. Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP"The only problem for me is I'm old," Fonda said. After her first arrest last week, she recounted, "I had my handcuffs behind me, and I couldn't get into the paddy wagon because you have to step way up as you're leaning over and I had nothing to hang on to."

On Friday, however, Fonda emerged from the cluster of black-uniformed arresting officers stepping smartly with hands cuffed in front of her.

"Thanks, Jane!" yelled some of the couple hundred or more protesters who'd turned.

The rally drew several times more people, young and old, than Fonda's first protest at the Capitol last week.

While Fonda has taken part in many climate rallies, she says Thunberg's mobilization of international student strikes and other activism, along with the climate writing of author Naomi Klein, made her decide to return to courting arrests for a cause again.

Actor Sam Waterston is handcuffed and detained by Capitol Police during the "Fire Drill Fridays" protest outside the Library of Congress on Oct. 18, 2019. Sarah Silbiger / ReutersNoted for her protests against the Vietnam War, Fonda last was arrested in the 1970s '-- she can't remember precisely which cause led to her arrest then.

She says her target audience is people like her '-- people who try to cut their plastic use and improve their gas mileage, for instance, but otherwise "don't know what to do and they feel helpless," she said. "We're trying to encourage people to become more active across the age spectrum."

VIDEO - BUDGIE - BREADFAN - YouTube

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VIDEO - (5) FULL SHOW: World on brink of recession? IMF thinks so - YouTube

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VIDEO - (3) Josh Marshall on Twitter: ""All Roads Lead to Putin": Pelosi explains what triggered the meltdown. https://t.co/YAyjSipE73" / Twitter

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VIDEO - Haiti Enters Its 5th Week Of Protests As Calls For President's Resignation Intensify - YouTube

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VIDEO - (9) Transgender Benefits - YouTube

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VIDEO - Campaign HQ with David Plouffe - Hillary Clinton

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VIDEO - (2) Hillary Clinton says Tulsi Gabbard is a 'Russian asset' groomed to ensure Trump re-election - YouTube

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VIDEO - Home

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VIDEO - Secretary Azar: People using cigarettes to wean off vaping products - YouTube

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Fri, 18 Oct 2019 10:08

VIDEO - Keiser Report: GOLD: The Trust Anchor for Financial System (E1450) - YouTube

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VIDEO - (8) Commonwealth Bank hit with major outage - YouTube

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VIDEO - (8) Fishy futures trading? Author of bombshell Vanity Fair report dives in - YouTube

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VIDEO - (8) Black Woman Says She Is Fat Because Of President Trump & Racism! - YouTube

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VIDEO - Saudi Arabia plans bumper Aramco IPO, relying on easy loans and rich locals - Reuters

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Fri, 18 Oct 2019 06:48

RIYADH/LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is setting the stage for a blockbuster listing of state oil giant Saudi Aramco in Riyadh, relying on easy credit for retail investors and pushing rich locals to invest with cash held abroad to achieve a $2 trillion valuation target.

The world's largest oil firm could announce plans next week to float a 1%-2% stake on the kingdom's Tadawul market before a possible international listing, launching an initiative that is central to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's economic diversification drive.

If the state raises more than $25 billion, it would be the world's biggest initial public offering (IPO), topping Alibaba's 2014 debut.

To capitalize on local interest, Aramco can take advantage of new market rules that allow issuers the flexibility to sell more shares to retail investors, likely exceeding the usual 10% seen in recent IPOs, two banking and one legal source said.

A government committee has met in the past few months with dozens of wealthy Saudi individuals to secure pre-sale agreements, two bankers and a potential investor said.

One source said those discussions included encouraging investors to repatriate cash held overseas to avoid draining too much liquidity from the Saudi banking system. ''The national interest requires bringing money from overseas,'' he said.

Aramco declined to comment and the government's media office did not respond to a request for comment.

''Listing first on the Riyadh exchange is a great opportunity for Aramco to access first the type of investors that might be most excited about the public offering,'' said Ellen R. Wald, president of Transversal Consulting and author of the book Saudi, Inc.

''Between the domestic Saudi enthusiasm for the company and government encouragement of investment in Aramco, Tadawul is bound to give Aramco the best opportunity for a high valuation.''

EASY LOANS Large Saudi banks are facilitating loans for local retail investors, three other banking sources said, amid strong liquidity in the banking system where deposits exceeded loans by 215 billion riyals ($57 billion) in August.

Bankers expect at least 6 million-7 million local investors to participate, more than took part in the $6 billion 2014 IPO of National Commercial Bank (1180.SE ), which was 23 times oversubscribed.

''The IPO will be a gift from the government to the Saudi people and they will want as many of them as possible to take part in it,'' said a Riyadh investment banker.

FILE PHOTO: A view shows branded oil tanks at Saudi Aramco oil facility in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia October 12, 2019. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File PhotoSaudi investors see the IPO as a chance to own part of the kingdom's crown jewel and an opportunity to show patriotism after the attack on Aramco oil plants on Sept. 14 that temporarily knocked out more than half the country's output, which is now about 10 million barrels per day.

Potential investors told Reuters they had been preparing for months '-- saving money, selling land plots and exiting other stocks. Saudis flooded banks with phone calls asking how to participate after Aramco announced bank mandates last month.

''I have seven boys and I wish I could invest in Aramco IPO for each of them,'' said retired civil servant Abu Abdullah.

Online adverts promoting the IPO to locals have gone viral.

''The Aramco IPO is a chance that comes once in a lifetime, and one must seize it,'' said a Saudi real estate investor.

EQUAL TREATMENT Some foreign funds fear the domestic focus may crowd them out.

''It's quite a valuable asset we think is fairly well-run, but if all the cream is taken by locals it will be harder to attract foreign investors,'' said Marshall Stocker, portfolio manager at U.S.-based investment firm Eaton Vance.

''It's an important economic principle that investors are treated equally regardless of their nationality,'' he said.

A person familiar with the deal said the process was transparent for all institutional investors, including Qualified Foreign Investors registered with the Tadawul bourse, who can bid for the share allocation.

Besides helping to hit the valuation target of $2 trillion - a figure cited by the crown prince although bankers have suggested a lower number - a local listing will also aid Riyadh's efforts to promote Tadawul to investors abroad.

Bankers say Tadawul's membership in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index and FTSE Global Equity Index should boost demand for the IPO, but one source familiar with the transaction said the expected level of passive fund investment was uncertain.

''We are studying the opportunity. If we participate, most likely it would be the international space where we think liquidity should be greater,'' said Peter Marber, chief investment officer at active asset manager Aperture Investors.

Slideshow (2 Images) Foreign funds bought more Saudi stocks this year after Riyadh entered both indices, but the Saudi market .TASI is down 4% year-to-date, as local institutions sold shares to prepare for the Aramco deal, fund managers and analysts say.

Tadawul should have enough liquidity for a 1%-2% Aramco float given daily trading worth 5 billion riyals in August, analysts say. Inflows from foreign passive funds helped lift trading from 3.2 billion riyals a year earlier.

Reporting by Marwa Rashad Hadeel Al Sayegh and Saeed Azhar in the Gulf, Tom Arnold in London; additional reporting by Abhinav Ramnarayan in London; Editing by Ghaida Ghantous and Edmund Blair

VIDEO - (7) 16,000 dead in UK '-- the Brexit connection - YouTube

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VIDEO - (7) Jesse Ventura Considering Presidential Run - YouTube

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VIDEO - (14) Nancy Pelosi on Twitter: "The Constitution is clear: the President cannot accept gifts or payments from foreign governments. No one is above the law. #EmolumentsClause https://t.co/bHEx2qI2D3" / Twitter

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