title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: While attempting the pickup, a Chinook transport helicopter crashed in the darkness at 10:09 PM when the rear rotor hit a tree, and the helicopter slid down the slope and over a cliff, exploding in flames and killing all the crew and passengers. There was an element of ABLE Troop 3-71 CAV 2nd Platoon still left on the PZ after the crash that worked relentlessly to recover the bodies of their 10 comrades and destroy sensitive equipment in the wreckage.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: After marching into the proposed site for the Kamdesh provincial outpost, Captain Michael and Cherokee Company's second platoon were confronted by a large boulder in the middle of the site that made landing a helicopter in the PRT site impossible. The rock could not be demolished without raining fragments into the town of Urmul across the Landay-Sin river. The landing zone was placed on the other side of the river on a rocky peninsula jutting into the river near Urmul. This separation of the landing zone, and the fact that the site was surrounded by mountains on three sides made the site unappealing because of the difficulty of mounting an effective defense.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: On August 8, 2006, 19 days after the first American landing, the PRT was attacked for the first time. Captain Frank Brooks, commanding at LZ Warheit, was dismayed to discover the PRT could not be quickly reached by LZ Warheit. The PRT site resembled the bottom of a funnel. It could not be seen or supported with indirect fire due to the multi-level and complicated terrain. The steep mountains rendered two dimensional maps and landmarks useless. Eventually, supporting aircraft scattered the attackers; while air support provided decisive results.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: From August 8 to November 25 of 2006, strenuous efforts were made to supply and expand the PRT by supply convoys using the Landay-Sin valley road from Naray FOB. Afghan contractors were unable to keep the narrow mountain road in safe condition, and convoys were subject to constant ambush from the surrounding mountains that lined the route.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: Despite recommendations not to drive the large supply vehicle, First Lieutenant Ben Keating took the wheel while returning an armored supply truck to the Naray FOB. He wanted to avoid risking the lives of his men while traveling on an unstable road subject to ambush with an overweight vehicle. During the highly risky convoy, the road collapsed under the weight of Keating's vehicle. He was thrown from the truck, which rolled over him and sank into the river. His death had a traumatic effect on the morale of 3-71 Cav. The Allies stopped using the Kamdesh-Naray road.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: Combined with difficult conditions for air supply, and little support from the local population, supply to what was renamed Camp Keating on November 26, 2006, was wholly inadequate. As it became obvious that COP Keating was too isolated, indefensible, and impossible to supply, plans were made to close it beginning in December 2008.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: The population of Nuristan is ethnically distinct from the rest of Afghanistan, and divided into four major groups, the Kom, Kata, Kushtoz, and Kalasha. These subgroups were in turn divided into clans and sects, depending on lineages and the interpretations of individual religious leaders. These groups could clash violently over water rights, pasture, and religious beliefs. Five languages and various dialects are spoken by these groups, rendering translators from other areas of Afghanistan useless. The Soviets had to contend with a rebel group known as the Dawlet of eastern Nuristan. They professed a Salafi version of Islam, and were hostile to any political rivals. The Nuristanis had resisted Islam as late as the year 1895 and before that had been considered a Hindu nation (Islamic invaders called them "Kaffir" or heathen) with a long tradition of violently resisting outsiders and their beliefs.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: Resistance in Nuristan revolved around a specific group of Islamic fighters known as Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin or HIG. During the Soviet occupation, HIG received more support from the CIA than any other Mujahideen resistance group. When it came to infiltration from Pakistan, and setting ambushes, HIG was regarded as the most skillful. In 2006, HIG was actively resisting the Afghan government. When Captain Aaron Swain of Cherokee Co. had sounded out Afghan Border Police Commander Ahmed Shah about setting up near Kamdesh, he was told that HIG insurgents tried to blow up Shah's jeep on his last trip there and it was a bad place.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: American troops in Nuristan found themselves directly in opposition to the HIG forces. Colonel Pat Donahue, the former commander of the 3rd BCT, believed that the Nuristani population was essentially neutral, hostile to any outside groups, and so isolated that resources allocated to the region would be wasted. These resources were limited by the fact that only 5,000 American troops were available to occupy a rugged area the size of Virginia that had little infrastructure.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: A new counter-insurgency strategy seemed to offer a way around these problems. Known as COIN and refined by General David Petraeus, Commander of US forces in Afghanistan, the Army and Marine Counter-insurgency Field Manual FM 3-24 was to convert the population of Nuristan to American goals. Unlike Donahue, Nicholson was a supporter of COIN in addition to seeing Kamdesh as a decisive control point.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: Nicholson hoped the PRT would seed a process to be developed by the Nuristanis rather than imposed from the outside. Lieutenant Keating, first commander of the Kamdesh PRT, was determined to make COIN a success in the region.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: Lieutenant Colonel Mike Howard, Squadron Commander, saw COIN as a process of providing three services:


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: This would improve the local economy while providing improved communications with the central government and the rest of the nation. 1.33 million dollars was budgeted for these projects. This had the potential to boost the local economy, which had seen few civic improvements. Keating saw these programs as producing mixed results. Villagers and clans who were left out of these projects were resentful, and quick to turn against the Americans. Haji Yunus, a village elder of Gawardesh and contractor for an electric plant, was kidnapped and murdered. A note was attached to his body which said: "Don't work with coalition forces. This will happen to you." The note was signed "Mullah Omar". Omar was the top Taliban leader, but U.S. Intelligence stated that HIG had done the killing, crediting Omar to instil more fear due to Omar's greater reputation. Constant ambushes and firefights along the road to Naray did little to relieve Keating's doubts. "The little bastards keep shooting at us every day.", was Keating's assessment.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: After Keating's death, a "Night Letter" appeared on the door of the Upper Kamdesh mosque on April 29, 2007. The letter stated: "At the present time for those who work and obey the American devils by taking contracts for building schools, road, and power plants: also those who work as police, district administrators, and commanders as well as sold-out mullahs who deny Allah's orders and holy war and deny the holy Quran: We are telling you that we are continuing our holy war in Allah's will… Soon we will start our operations." This letter was written in Pashto and signed "Mujahideen".


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: The following day, insurgents kidnapped and murdered Fazal Ahad, an elder from Badmuk who was attempting to end the Kom/Kata tribal disagreements by arranging a meeting in Kamdesh. In response to this, the local Afghan officials sent more government troops into the area. These troops were ambushed on the Naray-Kamdesh road and shot up badly enough to prevent their arrival in Kamdesh.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: The closeness of the action, and coordinated fire from both sides of the valley indicated that the attackers in this ambush were different from the groups that had been using sporadic, long range, harassing fire. The latest acronym for attackers used by the Americans was AAF, for anti-Afghan fighters. These AAF were more professional and probably represented groups from areas outside of Nuristan. AAF would disguise themselves in ANA uniforms and set up fake checkpoints to extract taxes and tolls from local contractors, and allied themselves with smugglers transporting illegal timber and gems into Pakistan. Urdu and Pashtun HIG warriors brought arms and ammunition from Pakistan. Their checkpoints and "taxes" was used to finance AAF operations. On the whole the AAF was a broader based and more formidable force in 2007 than before the American invasion, and represented a significant escalation.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: At the end of May 2007, Bulldog Troop, 1-91 Cavalry Squadron, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, arrived at COP Keating. They were commanded by Captain Tom Bostick. The first of these would be "Operation Mountain II", an effort to extend a series of observation posts west to control the villages between COP Keating and the Afghan village of Saret Koheh. Extending control further along the river was expected to counter the AAF expansion and activity in the summer of 2007. The AAF responded to this advance with a well-organized ambush on July 26, 2007, in the river valley at Saret Koheh. AAF forces involved fit the pattern of the improved force, in that they were uniformed and equipped as Afghan Army and police forces, with the latest weapons and radios issued to government Afghan forces, along with ski masks. They made sustained attacks over a two-day period, drawing American support forces and widespread air forces into the battle. Despite air and artillery support the American forces suffered significant losses. Captain Bostick was killed by a rocket propelled grenade. Staff Sergeant William "Ryan" Fritsche was killed by rifle fire. Seven other Americans and one ANA soldier were wounded.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: The Battle of Saret Koheh made good on the threats of the "Night Letter". It also showed Lieutenant Colonel Chris Kolenda (commander of American forces in Naray) with a crisis. AAF operations were expanding, supported by Taliban organizations in Pakistan. American forces formed a thinly held and poorly supplied picket line from Naray to Kamdesh along the river. The American forces were too outnumbered to survive sustained combat. Something had to be done to bring Nuristan on to the American side. The first effort was made by First Lieutenant Dave Roller. He decided that American soldiers' "battle rattle" war gear gave the impression of soulless killing machines. Encased in armor, helmets, and weapons, Americans appeared to be looking for a fight. Roller attended his next meeting with village leaders dressed in a T-shirt and shorts. He discussed their common values as leaders of families and communities working toward a better future. Mawlawi Abdul Rahman was a local elder impressed with this new approach. He began building a consensus of village elders in support of the Afghan government. Through the summer and fall of 2008, Captain Joey Hutto, COP Keating's new commander, expanded this initiative. Hutto had worked for years on COIN campaigns in Central America.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: By October 2007 the elders and mullahs of the Kamdesh area had been inspired by Rahman to gather at Kamdesh for a mass meeting, or shura to plan the future of Nuristan. This series of meetings over two days involved more than 800 representatives of the people of Nuristan, and had the goal of bringing order and economic development to the region. The village leaders elected a representative council of 100 members to form a shura that would produce a regional security plan and obtain an agreement with the American military and the Afghan Karzai government. This agreement would recognize the authority of the Hundred Man Shura, and provide funds for economic development. Formalized as "The Commitment of Mutual Support" the agreement also provided the Shura would provide local security in return for an end to uninvited American military searches of local towns and mosques. From November through January 2008 members of the Shura traveled the villages of the Kamdesh area, informing the residents of the support agreement and stating that the era of holy war was over, and that local government would bring peace and prosperity. This agreement did bring down the level of combat in the Kamdesh area. In the year that followed the agreement, ANA and American deaths dropped from thirty to three.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: The shura began to falter by October 2008. The initiating ISAF forces of 1-91 Cavalry had returned home, replaced by 6th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. On October 28, the commander of COP Keating, Captain Robert J. Yllescas, was severely wounded in a targeted assassination attempt with a remotely detonated IED less than 400 meters from the outpost—he later died from his wounds on December 1. The assassin was later found in Urmul and appeared to have the assistance of one of the Afghan day laborers at Camp Keating and the acquiescence of Urmul's elders. Yllescas's charismatic relations with the Shura had supported the transition from 1-91 Cavalry to 6th Squadron, and the Shura's influence and collaboration with ISAF forces declined from this point.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: COP Keating became increasingly isolated in the summer of 2009. Ground resupply became almost impossible due to the area's limited roads and the threat of insurgent attacks. Furthermore, Camp Keating's location, surrounded by mountains on three sides, exposed helicopters and the outpost's garrison to insurgent fire. Towards the end, resupply flights were limited to moonless nights when near total darkness offered some protection to helicopter crews and their craft. The nearest attack helicopters were located in Jalalabad, a thirty-minute flight away.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: OP Fritsche was established to provide overwatch for COP Keating and was manned by a mix of US and Afghan national forces. US Army soldiers at both outposts had been ordered to prepare to evacuate the outposts and had informed local Afghan leaders of their intention to do so.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: Bravo Troop, 3rd Squadron "Destroyers", 61st Cavalry Regiment manned COP Keating. In addition, Afghan national forces manned checkpoints and roadblocks at various locations around the area. At the time, Afghan national forces were supervised and trained by members of the Latvian Operational Mentor Liaison Teams.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: The Allies planned to close COP Keating by August 2009, but the move was delayed because of other military operations in a nearby district. Because Keating was scheduled for closure in the near future, coalition leaders had decided not to make more than minimal efforts to improve fortifications at the base.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: Coalition forces received three human-source intelligence reports sometime before the battle indicating that insurgents were planning an attack on the outposts. Because the reports had not been verified by other intelligence sources, such as electronic intelligence, the reports were discounted.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: At about 3:00 a.m. on October 3, over 350 Taliban backed insurgents ordered all Kamdesh villagers to leave the area. At 6:00 a.m, the fighters opened fire from all sides of the outpost with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, immediately putting the Americans' mortar pit out of action. Within two minutes of the beginning of the attack, American forces suffered their first casualty. Observation Post Fritsche was attacked simultaneously, limiting available support from that position. Coalition forces responded with small arms fire, mortars, and by the afternoon, helicopters, heavy artillery, and airstrikes.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: The attackers overran Keating's perimeter defenses about 48 minutes into the battle. Breaches occurred at a latrine area close to the perimeter wire; also the main entrance where civilian Afghan security guards were overwhelmed; and from the eastern side—where Afghan National Army soldiers were stationed. Despite the efforts of two Latvian military advisors, First Sergeant Jānis Laķis and Corporal Mārtiņš Dāboliņš, who tried to convince the Afghan National Army forces not to flee, the Afghan defenders quickly broke and ran. U.S. soldiers reported that none of the Afghan soldiers held their ground. During and after the battle, some of the Afghan soldiers stole items, including digital cameras and protein drinks, belonging to American soldiers at the base.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: Once inside, the attackers set fire to the base, burning down most of the barracks. Within the first hour, the American and Latvian defenders had collapsed to a tight internal perimeter, centered on the two buildings that were not burning. Regrouping there, they pushed out teams to retake much of the outpost. They expanded the perimeter all the way back to the entry control point and to the buildings on the western edge of the outpost, which became their final fighting position. U.S. air support directed by Sgt. Armando Avalos, Sgt. Jayson Souter, and 1st Lt. Cason Shrode, including attack helicopters, A-10s, a B-1 bomber, and F-15 fighters, destroyed the local mosque, where much of the insurgents' heaviest fire originated. Once OP Fritsche soldiers gained control of their mortar pit, Sgt. Avalos began directing indirect support to help the defense of COP Keating. Two USAF F-15E fighter bombers circled overhead, led by Captains Mike Polidor and Aaron Dove and their wingmen, 1st Lt. Justin Pavoni and Captain Ryan Bone, for almost eight hours, helping coordinate airstrikes by 19 other aircraft.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: The insurgents began to retreat later in the day. Quick reaction forces (QRF) from 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment did not reach the outpost until 7:00 pm that day, while insurgents remained in parts of the outpost as late as 5:10 pm. Relief had been slowed in reaching COP Keating due to a lack of available aircraft and density of terrain. Members of 10th Mountain Division's 1-32 Infantry Regiment were air lifted to the nearest helicopter landing zone on OP Fritsche and arrived at approximately 2:00 pm, as recalled by a soldier on scene. After assisting with securing the OP from potential follow on attacks, members of the Quick Reaction Force descended from the mountain's peak to COP Keating on foot. While en route the Platoon encountered a planned ambush on the side of the mountain resulting in three confirmed enemy KIA at approximately 6:00 pm. After dispensing with the enemy, QRF continued their descent and entered the outpost at approximately 7:00 pm. At such time the platoon cleared the remaining areas of the outpost which members of 3-61 had not yet retaken. Within moments of entry, members of the QRF discovered and confirmed the death of Sgt. Joshua Hardt, who until this time had been MIA. Follow-up attacks attempted by Taliban forces were subsequently thwarted by U.S. aircraft.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: Eight U.S. soldiers were killed and 27 wounded; eight Afghan soldiers were wounded, along with two Afghan private security guards. The U.S. military estimated that 150 Taliban insurgents were also killed as a result of repulsing the assault.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: American forces had already planned to pull out of the area as part of a plan to move forces to more densely populated areas, so closure of the base was imminent when the attack occurred. The attack accelerated those plans, with the troops' departure taking place so quickly after the battle that some munitions were abandoned. The outpost's depot was promptly looted by the insurgents and bombed on October 6 by a B-1 bomber in an effort to destroy the lethal munitions left behind.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: On October 5 and 6, Coalition troops conducted operations in the area in an attempt to locate and destroy the Taliban forces responsible for the attack on the outposts. Another 10 Afghan soldiers and several Taliban were killed during these operations.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: Following the battle, the U.S. Central Command conducted an investigation on what had occurred, led by US Army General Guy Swan. The report, released to the public in June 2011, concluded "inadequate measures taken by the chain of command" facilitated the attack, but praised the troops fighting at the base for repulsing the attack "with conspicuous gallantry, courage and bravery." Four U.S. Army officers—Captain Melvin Porter, Captain Stoney Portis, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Brown, and Colonel Randy George—who oversaw COP Keating were admonished or reprimanded for command failures. In the report released to the public, the U.S. Army concealed the names of the four disciplined officers.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: 27 soldiers were awarded the Purple Heart for wounds sustained in combat. 37 soldiers were awarded the Army Commendation Medal with "V" device for valor. 3 soldiers were awarded the Bronze Star Medal, and 18 others the Bronze Star Medal with "V" device for valor. Nine soldiers were awarded the Silver Star for valor. Staff Sgt. Justin Gallegos' Silver Star was later upgraded to a Distinguished Service Cross. 1st Lt. Andrew Bundermann's Silver Star was upgraded to a Distinguished Service Cross as well.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: The flight crews of three United States Army AH-64D Apache helicopters were later decorated for actions during the battle. Captain Matthew Kaplan, CW3 Ross Lewallen, CW3 Randy Huff, CW2 Gary Wingert, CW2 Chad Bardwell, and CW2 Chris Wright were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for conducting close combat attacks on the Taliban during the battle. Capt. Michael Polidor and Capt. Aaron Dove, pilot and weapon systems officer of one of the F-15E aircraft coordinating close air support, were also awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: On 11 February 2013, President Barack Obama presented the Medal of Honor to Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha, a survivor of the battle. He became the fourth surviving soldier from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts to be awarded the Medal of Honor due to courageous actions during the battle.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: Staff Sergeant Ty Carter (then Specialist) was also awarded the Medal of Honor for his courage during the battle. He was awarded the medal on 26 August 2013.


title: Battle of Kamdesh

text: The battle of Kamdesh is documented in the 2017 book "Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor" by Clinton Romesha, a former United States Army soldier who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the battle for Combat Outpost Keating in Nuristan, Afghanistan. The battle is also the main focal point of the 2020 film "The Outpost", which was in-turn based on the book "The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor" by Jake Tapper. The Netflix documentary series, "Medal of Honor", includes an episode detailing the actions of Clinton Romesha and Ty Carter.


title: Ronald Wayne

text: Ronald Gerald Wayne (born May 17, 1934) is a retired American electronics industry businessman. He co-founded Apple Computer Company (now Apple Inc.) as a partnership with Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs on April 1, 1976, providing administrative oversight and documentation for the new venture. Twelve days later, he sold his 10% share of the new company back to Jobs and Wozniak for , and one year later accepted a final to forfeit any potential future claims against the newly incorporated Apple.


title: Ronald Wayne

text: Wayne was born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States on May 17, 1934.<ref name="ronaldgwayne.com/bio"></ref> to a Jewish family. He trained as a technical draftsman at the School of Industrial Art in New York.


title: Ronald Wayne

text: In 1956, aged 22, he moved to California. In 1971, Wayne started his first business, a company selling slot machines. The company failed, with Wayne reflecting in 2014 that, "I discovered very quickly that I had no business being in business. I was far better working in engineering."


title: Ronald Wayne

text: In 1976, Ronald Wayne built the internal corporate documentation systems at the three-year-old Atari, when he met coworkers Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. To help settle one of their typical intense discussions about the design of computers and the future of the industry, Wayne invited the two to his home to facilitate and advise them. In the ensuing two-hour conversation about technology and business, Jobs proposed the founding of a computer company led by him and Wozniak. Those two would each hold a 45% stake so that Wayne could receive a 10% stake to act as a tie-breaker in their decisions. As the venture's self-described "adult in the room" at age 41, Wayne wrote a partnership agreement, and the three founded Apple Computer on April 1, 1976. Wayne illustrated the first Apple logo and wrote the Apple I manual.


title: Ronald Wayne

text: Wayne's business attitude was already risk-averse due to his experience five years prior with the "very traumatic" failure of his slot machine business, the debt of which he had spent one year voluntarily repaying. Jobs secured a line of credit to buy product materials for Apple's first order which had been placed by The Byte Shop whose reputation as a notoriously slow-paying vendor gave Wayne great concern for his future. Legally, all members of a partnership are personally responsible for any debts incurred by any partner; unlike Jobs and Wozniak, then 21 and 25, Wayne had personal assets that potential creditors could possibly seize. Furthermore, his passion was in original product engineering and in slot machines, and not in the documentation systems he assumed Jobs and Wozniak probably wanted him to do indefinitely at Apple. Believing he was "standing in the shadow of giants" of product-design talent and avoiding financial risk, he quit the company. Reportedly, "Twelve days after Wayne wrote the document that formally created Apple, he returned to the registrar's office and renounced his role in the company", therefore relinquishing his equity in exchange for on April 12, 1976. This period of time however has been disputed by Steve Wozniak, who in an interview said that Wayne left the company after a few months.


title: Ronald Wayne

text: Wayne has stated in following decades that he does not regret selling his share of the company, as he made the "best decision with the information available to me at the time". He said he had originally believed that the Apple enterprise "would be successful, but at the same time there would be significant bumps along the way and I couldn't risk it. I had already had a rather unfortunate business experience before. I was getting too old and those two were whirlwinds. It was like having a tiger by the tail and I couldn't keep up with these guys." Although Apple ended up at one point becoming the most valuable company in the world, he said that with the stress of staying with Apple he "probably would have wound up the richest man in the cemetery." He summarized, "What can I say? You make a decision based on your understanding of the circumstances, and you live with it."


title: Ronald Wayne

text: Shortly after leaving Apple, Wayne resisted Jobs' attempts to get him to return, remaining at Atari until 1978, when he joined Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and later an electronics company in Salinas, California.


title: Ronald Wayne

text: In the late 1970s, Wayne ran a stamp shop in Milpitas, California, for a short time. After a number of break-ins, he moved his stamp operations to his home.


title: Ronald Wayne

text: Steve Jobs approached him again as a business contact for Apple, but Wayne refused to even forward Jobs' proposal to purchase a friend's company. Wayne's principle was that his friend should retain ownership under exclusive license to Apple instead of selling, but he would later express regret for having blocked the contact instead of allowing the decision to be made directly.


title: Ronald Wayne

text: In the early 1990s, Wayne sold the original Apple partnership contract paper, signed in 1976 by Jobs, Wozniak, and himself, for . In 2011, the contract was sold at auction for $1.6 million. Wayne has stated that he regrets that sale.


title: Ronald Wayne

text: Circa 2004, aged 70, Wayne claims he was robbed of his life savings, which he kept in a strongbox in his home. Amongst the assets he held was 145 ounces of gold (~$247,000 as of November 2022) and $3,000 worth of silver coins; the precious metals were never recovered. To cover expenses, Wayne was compelled to sell his house and retire to a mobile home park in Pahrump, Nevada, where he sells stamps and rare coins, and plays penny slots at a casino; he later sold off old Apple memorabilia to collectors to pay off bills. Wayne never owned an Apple product until 2011, when he was given an iPad 2 at the Update Conference in Brighton, England. He holds a dozen patents.


title: Ronald Wayne

text: In July 2011, Wayne published a memoir titled "Adventures of an Apple Founder". His plan for initial exclusivity on the Apple Books store did not materialize. He wrote a socioeconomic treatise titled "Insolence of Office", released on October 1, 2011 (four days prior to the death of Steve Jobs), which he describes as this:


title: Ronald Wayne

text: He appeared in the documentary "Welcome to Macintosh" in 2008, where he describes some of his early experiences with Jobs and Wozniak.


title: House of Wax (2005 film)

text: House of Wax is a 2005 slasher film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, in his feature directorial debut, and written by Chad Hayes and Carey Hayes. The film stars Elisha Cuthbert, Chad Michael Murray, Brian Van Holt in a dual role, Paris Hilton, Jared Padalecki, Jon Abrahams, and Robert Ri'chard. It is a loose remake of the 1953 film of the same name, itself a remake of the 1933 film "Mystery of the Wax Museum", based on the story "The Wax Works" by Charles S. Belden. The film soundtrack features music by Deftones, My Chemical Romance, and Interpol.


title: House of Wax (2005 film)

text: "House of Wax" premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was released in United States theaters on May 6, 2005, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film grossed over $70 million worldwide and received generally negative reviews from critics, who criticized its lack of originality, screenplay, and characters, but praised the performances and atmosphere.


title: House of Wax (2005 film)

text: On their way to a football game, Carly, her boyfriend Wade, her brother Nick, and their friends, Paige, Dalton and Blake, set up camp for the night in a wooded area. A stranger in a pickup truck arrives, then leaves after Nick smashes one of his headlights. The next morning, Wade discovers his car's fan belt is broken; a local man named Lester offers to drive Wade and Carly to the nearby town of Ambrose while the rest of the group head to the game.


title: House of Wax (2005 film)

text: In Ambrose, Carly and Wade meet a man named Bo who offers to sell them a fan belt and drive them back to their car after he is finished attending a funeral. They visit "Trudy's House of Wax" while they wait, a wax museum which is the central feature of the ghost town. They eventually follow Bo back to his house to get the fan belt; Carly waits in his truck while Wade goes inside to use the bathroom. Wade is attacked and knocked unconscious by Bo's twin brother Vincent, who wears a wax mask to cover the facial disfigurement he has from where they were once conjoined. When Carly notice's Bo's truck has a broken headlight, she flees from the scene, chased by Bo who catches her and takes her down to the gas station cellar. Meanwhile, Vincent covers Wade's body in molten wax.


title: House of Wax (2005 film)

text: Realising they will not arrive at the game in time, Paige and Blake return to the campsite while Nick and Dalton arrive in Ambrose to look for Carly and Wade. When Carly attempts to call for help, Bo cuts off her fingertip. She manages to get Nick's attention who fends off Bo and then frees Carly, while Dalton finds Wade as part of the museum, trapped in a wax coating. Dalton tries to peel the wax from Wade's face, inadvertently removing his skin in the process. Vincent then ambushes Dalton as he slashes off a section of Wade's face, causing him to die from shock, before decapitating Dalton.


title: House of Wax (2005 film)

text: While searching the town for help, Carly and Nick realise all of the wax figures are actually the wax-coated corpses of visitors. Meanwhile, back at the campsite, Vincent kills Blake and chases Paige into an abandoned sugar mill, where he kills her with a metal pipe through her forehead. Bo and Vincent chase Carly and Nick into the House of Wax. Nick unintentionally starts a fire in the workshop, causing the building and the figures inside to start melting. Bo and Nick battle and Nick is stabbed in the leg before Carly beats Bo to death with a baseball bat. Vincent chases Carly to the top floor where she tries to reason with him over his brother's treachery and, with Nick's help, is then able to stab him in the back. A dead Vincent falls through the floor and lands on top of Bo's corpse while Carly and Nick escape as the building melts to the ground.


title: House of Wax (2005 film)

text: The next morning, the police arrive and report that Ambrose had been abandoned for ten years since the sugar mill shut down. As Nick and Carly are driven away by ambulance, they are waved goodbye by Lester, who is revealed to be Bo and Vincent's other brother.


title: House of Wax (2005 film)

text: "House of Wax" was filmed at Warner Bros. Movie World, Australia. The Town set was constructed a few miles down the road, off Hollindale Road, in the Guanaba area.


title: House of Wax (2005 film)

text: In January 2006, Village Roadshow Studios owners Village Theme Park Management and Warner Brothers Movie World Australia announced they were suing special effects expert David Fletcher and Wax Productions because of a fire on the set during production.


title: House of Wax (2005 film)

text: The $7 million lawsuit alleges that Mr. Fletcher and Wax Productions were grossly negligent over the fire, which destroyed part of the Gold Coast's Warner Bros. Movie World studios. The alleged grounds of negligence included not having firefighters on stand-by and using timber props near a naked flame. The set where the fire broke out has now been demolished and is a field kept for Movie World for future projects.


title: House of Wax (2005 film)

text: Opening in 3,111 theaters, the film grossed $12 million in its opening weekend. "House of Wax" earned $70 million worldwide, $32 million of which came from North American receipts. "House of Wax" also earned $42 million in VHS/DVD rentals. A marketing campaign was launched to promote the film entitled "See Paris Die", to capitalize on the appearance of Paris Hilton in the film, as her casting had been met with disapproval by some horror fans. The campaign promised that viewers would "See Paris Die" in the film in a gruesome fashion and Hilton created shirts featuring the slogan.


title: House of Wax (2005 film)

text: On July 13, 2021 a collector's edition Blu-Ray of "House of Wax" was released by Scream Factory in the US & Canada.


title: House of Wax (2005 film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 27% based on 160 reviews and the average rating is 4.29/10. The site's consensus reads, "Bearing little resemblance to the 1953 original, "House of Wax" is a formulaic but better-than-average teen slasher flick." On Metacritic, which uses an average of critics' reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 41 out of 100 based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.


title: House of Wax (2005 film)

text: "Chicago Sun-Times" film critic Roger Ebert gave the film two out of four stars and wrote, ""House of Wax" is not a good movie, but it is an efficient one and will deliver most of what anyone attending "House of Wax" could reasonably expect...assuming it would be unreasonable to expect very much." He said of Hilton's performance that "she is no better or worse than the typical Dead Post-Teenager and does exactly what she is required to do in a movie like this, with all the skill—admittedly finite—that is required." Film critic Stephen Hunter of "The Washington Post", gave the film four out of five stars, calling it a "guilty pleasure" and wrote that it gives horror fans exactly what they want. Mick LaSalle of the "San Francisco Chronicle" rated it 4/5 stars and wrote, "After a month, no one will talk about this movie again. Still, with a picture like this, there is really only one question: Is it fun? Yes. Lots. Definitely." Bruce Westbrook of the "Houston Chronicle" called it boring and poorly-acted, though he complimented Cuthbert and Murray. A. O. Scott of "The New York Times" wrote, "The set design is fairly elaborate by the standards of the genre, and the victims don't die in precisely the order you might expect, but everything else goes pretty much according to formula".


title: House of Wax (2005 film)

text: House of Wax: Music from the Motion Picture is the soundtrack for "House of Wax", consisting of commercially recorded songs. A second album was released containing the film score composed by John Ottman, and was simply titled "House of Wax".


title: House of Wax (2005 film)

text: One song from the film does not appear on the soundtrack: "Roland" by Interpol appears in the scene at the beginning of the film when the group decides to camp overnight. The song that plays during the end credits is "Helena" by My Chemical Romance.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: Leverage is an American action crime drama television series, which aired on TNT from December 7, 2008, to December 25, 2012. The series was produced by Electric Entertainment, a production company of executive producer and director Dean Devlin. "Leverage" follows a five-person team: a thief, a grifter, a hacker, and a retrieval specialist, led by former insurance investigator Nathan Ford, who use their skills to carry out heists to fight corporate and governmental injustices inflicted on ordinary citizens.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: Season 1 consists of 13 episodes, which writers John Rogers and Chris Downey and producer Dean Devlin intended to be a complete story should the series not be renewed. Season 2, for which production moved from Los Angeles to Portland, Oregon, ran in two parts: a nine-episode summer season that premiered on July 15, 2009, followed by a further six episodes the following winter. " Leverage" moved to Sunday for season 3, which began on June 20, 2010.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: "Leverage" was renewed for a fourth season on July 30, 2010. It premiered on June 26, 2011, and ran for 18 episodes, 10 in the summer and eight in the winter. The continuation of season 4 began on Sunday, November 27, 2011, at 9 pm EST on TNT.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: On August 12, 2011, "Leverage" was renewed for a fifth season, to be both filmed and set in Portland. Season 5 premiered July 15, 2012. "Leverage" was canceled on December 21, 2012, amid falling ratings. The final episode, which was produced as a possible series finale, aired on December 25, 2012. On January 9, 2013, "Leverage" won Favorite Cable TV Drama at the 39th People's Choice Awards.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: A 16-episode revival titled "" began shooting in early August 2020 in New Orleans, Louisiana, with most cast members returning. It was released on IMDb TV in July 2021.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: Nathan "Nate" Ford is a former insurance investigator known for recovering millions of dollars in stolen property and chasing the most dangerous and elusive thieves in the world. When his son became ill, IYS, the insurance company he'd spent his career working for uses questionable ethics to deny coverage of a treatment necessary to save the child's life, causing Nate's son to die. Emotionally and financially devastated due to the expensive treatment and eventual loss of his son, Nate is approached by aerospace industrialist Victor Dubenich to recover stolen intellectual property by leading a group of thieves, all of whom Nate has previously chased. Nate initially disagrees, as the thieves all have reputations for being loners who do not cooperate with others; they include hacker Alec Hardison, 'hitter' Eliot Spencer, and a thief known only as "Parker". Dubenich eventually convinces Nate to change his mind. While the job is successful, Dubenich double-crosses them and attempts to have them killed. Instead of fleeing, Nate persuades the team to retaliate, and further recruits the assistance of Sophie Deveraux, a formidable grifter, to put Dubenich out of business. Under Nate's leadership, the group coalesces into a very effective unit, succeeding in ruining Dubenich's business, clearing their names, and providing each thief enough money to retire from crime. Realizing their potential as a team, they approach Nate to continue under his leadership. Forced to choose between being a "white knight" versus the "black king," Nate accepts on one condition: they will only target the corrupt and powerful to avenge ordinary people who have no other recourse.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: During season 1, the team initially struggles in adjusting to Nate's leadership and attempts to reform them. Additional subplots include Nate's struggle with alcoholism, his complicated relationship with Sophie, and the budding romance between Hardison and Parker. Eliot's past in the military is also a recurring theme, involving kindred soldiers who have returned from war, old enemies from his missions encountered during their jobs, and a case set in his hometown. Season 1 also establishes several running gags, including Eliot's numerous hidden talents, Hardison and Parker receiving cover IDs as FBI agents in organized crime, and Sophie's inability to act unless she's breaking the law. The team operates with impunity as "Leverage Consulting & Associates", until the season finale, in which Nate's former colleague, James Sterling, begins pursuing them on behalf of IYS. In response, they steal a collection of valuable art from Nate's former boss, Ian Blackpoole, returning it in exchange for Blackpoole being fired from his own company, and disband for six months.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: Season 2 begins in Boston, Nate's hometown. The team reunites and resume their activities, still followed by Sterling, until Nate surrenders to the latter in exchange for the others' freedom, finally admitting to Sterling and himself that he is a thief.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: As season 3 begins, Ford is in prison and the team attempts to free him, until a mysterious Italian woman blackmails them into bankrupting the untouchable criminal Damien Moreau. At the season's end, Moreau is imprisoned in San Lorenzo, a fictional nation formerly under his control.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: Season 4 opens days after the team's return from San Lorenzo, when they discover that someone has been bugging their headquarters; the culprit is later identified as the wealthy businessman Jack Latimer, who has been profiting by their victories and now offers information on the evildoings of other major corporations, in exchange for profit on each company's downfall. Nate refuses this offer, and his suspicions are justified when Latimer is revealed to be working with Victor Dubenich (the team's first victim) against the team.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: Season 5 opens with Nate having moved the team to Portland and setting up shop in a microbrewery (Bridgeport Brew Pub), but the season premiere ends with the revelation that Nate is working with Hardison on a secret project unknown to the others. After a series of extremely intricate confidence tricks, the secret project is revealed and carried off, despite the recurrent Sterling. The season's final episode, broadcast on Christmas Day 2012, also reveals drastic changes in the lives and dynamics of the team, but assures the audience of their continuity: Nate and Sophie plan to marry, leaving the remaining members to operate the team without them.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: Most episodes follow a set story structure: After meeting the client, the "Leverage" team researches the villains to find a weakness to exploit. Each con, either as originally planned or as complications develop, typically requires the specialized skills of all the members of the group. Towards the end of each episode, the villains seem to get the upper hand, only to be outwitted by the team. Because most of the narrative has seemed to follow the team's point of view, the audience is momentarily uninformed as to exactly how they have succeeded in their con. A flashback then reveals how a seeming complication was either anticipated by the "Leverage" team, or used in a clever improvisation. These flashbacks, which are featured in most episodes, sometimes reveal only in retrospect that an earlier scene was actually a clue to the Leverage team's plan. More often, the flashbacks reveal new information to which the viewer has not been privy. This formula is followed by every episode in seasons one, two, and three. With the exception of the final season, each season ends with a two-part finale which involves a two-part, multi-stage con designed to bring down a major adversary, such as an international crime financier in season three, with an ending that advances the team's story into the new season.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: Executive producer and director Dean Devlin pitched "Leverage" to TNT in mid-2007. The show was greenlighted in October and the pilot, which was written by John Rogers and Chris Downey, was shot in July 2008. Devlin said of the show's creation: "I just wanted to do the type of show that I grew up with and loved. I missed "" and "The Rockford Files". Television today tends to be more dry, dark and edgy. I’m not saying it’s bad, but it’s not the type of show I was interested in. So when TNT said they wanted to get a TV show out of me, I said I wanted to do a throwback type of show. I wanted to have fun. I don’t want to live in a dark world."


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: Thirteen episodes were commissioned for the first season. The show's pilot was filmed on-location in Chicago, with the remainder of the first season set and filmed in Los Angeles. For the second through fourth seasons, the show was primarily set in Boston, but filmed in Portland. Executive producer Dean Devlin announced the fifth season would not only be shot in Portland, but set there, as well.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: "Leverage" was shot using Red One video cameras. Extensive use of Steadicam helped the audience participate in the scene. All of the dailies were shipped on hard drives to Electric Entertainment in Hollywood, California. Shooting, editing, and all post-production work were done digitally, using no physical film or videotape at any point in the process. "Leverage" was originally edited in Apple's Final Cut Studio Pro 7, but has used Final Cut Pro X in the later seasons. Shooting was in 4096 x 2304 at 24 frame/s, though resolution was reduced in post-production to 1080p.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: The series premiered on December 7, 2008, on TNT in the United States. In the United Kingdom, the series aired on Bravo, where it premiered on January 20, 2010; when Bravo closed down, it was picked up by Fox. The series started broadcasting January 7, 2009, on W Channel in Australia.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: In 2012, Ion Television announced that reruns of "Leverage" would become part of their schedule. The series debuted on the network on July 1, 2012. The show is broadcast in marathons on Sundays.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: As of Summer 2018, Ion broadcasts "Leverage" in four hour blocks in the mornings, Monday through Thursday.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: In Live + 7 data, "Leverage" averaged 4.0 million viewers per episode in the first season, 4.5 million viewers per episode in the second season, and 4.5 million viewers per episode in the third season.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: The series ranks as ad-supported cable's #1 entertainment program in the Tuesday 10 pm (ET/PT) time slot among viewers, households, and adults 25–54. The December 7, 2008, premiere was watched by 5.6 million viewers and scored TNT's best original series telecast ever in delivery of adults 18–49 during the regular broadcast season. Through its first nine episodes, "Leverage" averaged 3.2 million viewers and 1.4 million adults 18–49 in Live + Same Day viewing. The first six episodes scored strong growth when comparing Live to Live + 7 numbers, with total viewership rising 33% to 4.1 million and adults 18–49 rising 42% to 1.9 million.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: Data from TNT indicates a large percentage of viewers recorded the second-season finale of "Leverage" for later viewing. The Live + 7 viewership of 4.2 million viewers was 70% greater than the Live data for the same episode. In addition, for the season, Live +7 viewership was 58% greater than Live viewership.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: The premiere of "Leverage" on June 20, 2010, averaged about 3.0 million viewers for the two episodes, and maintained a 1.0 rating for Adults 18–49.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: The June 26, 2011, premiere episode was viewed by 3.42 million viewers (10% more than the third-season premiere) while the January 15, 2012, season finale was viewed by 3.9 million viewers.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: The fifth-season premiere episode was viewed by 3.39 million viewers, and achieved a 0.8 Adults 18-49 rating. The fifth-season finale, also the series finale, was watched by 3.04 million viewers and achieved a 0.7 rating in Adults 18-49.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: Critical reaction to "Leverage" has been generally positive, with review aggregation website Metacritic reporting "generally favorable reviews" by critics.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: Reviewing the shows's first two episodes, Ken Tucker of "Entertainment Weekly" wrote that "Leverage" is "shrewdly conceived, and it moves along like a son of a gun". He felt that the "backup crew ... wisecrack without much charm", but also that "Hutton's top-grade work and the twisty plots" made up for this. Tucker concluded that the show was "better than the last two "Ocean's Eleven" movies". Robert Bianco of "USA Today" felt that "Leverage" "seems to owe more to other movies and shows than it does to real life", pointing specifically to "The Sting" and "" as obvious sources of inspiration, but concluded: "at least it's paying its debt in an entertaining fashion." Bianco felt that ""Leverage" does get overly busy at times (simpler camera work would help)", but also that Hutton "supplies the charisma the show needs to succeed and the weight to keep it grounded".


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: Reviewing the show's first season for the DVD review website DVD Talk, David Cornelius wrote: "The cast is terrific, bringing out the comedy without reaching for camp, while the scripts, if not exactly airtight, offer enough breezy fun. It's a bit slight, but it's also solid entertainment." Reviewing the second season for the same website, John Sinnott wrote: "Though this season is a bit of a let down after the first one, "Leverage" is still a very good show. This character driven program has some truly enjoyable characters and some great stories." Reviewing the third season, Sinnott wrote: "This third year's worth of episodes is a step up from season two, even if a couple of the shows are hit-and-miss. Happily, there are far more hits than misses." Reviewing the fourth season, Sinnott wrote: "A step up in quality from season three, the fourth season of "Leverage" is fun, energetic, and immensely entertaining. The first couple of episodes are a bit bland, but after those the show picks up the pace and fires on all cylinders."


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: Reviewing the season 5 premiere, David Hinckley of the "New York Daily News" felt it was "business as usual" for the show, but still "cool, fast-paced and thoroughly pleasant".


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: On a scale of one to 100, DVD review website DVD Verdict rated the five seasons of the show 98, 88, 84, 82, and 90, respectively.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: Paramount Home Entertainment released the first three seasons of "Leverage" on DVD in the United States (Region 1). The fourth and fifth seasons were released by 20th Century Fox. In Canada, Alliance Home Entertainment released the first three seasons on DVD.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: In Region 2, Icon Home Entertainment released the first three seasons on DVD in the UK. Season 4 was released on November 18, 2013.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: Margaret Weis Productions released a role-playing game based on the show and using the Cortex Plus system in 2010, with pdf supplements coming out in 2012 and 2013. In the game, whether or not they play the actual characters on the show, the players are expected to take on one of the five roles within the Leverage team: Grifter, Hitter, Hacker, Mastermind, or Thief. Every character has a second role they can perform well, and two they cannot perform at all. In order to run cons as in the show, the player role-playing the Mastermind is given incomplete information with which to run the con, a twist is introduced midway (as in a three-act structure), and the players are given Plot Points that they can use to establish flashback scenes. The Leverage Roleplaying Game was nominated for an Origins award.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: A South Korean adaptation produced by Production H and Higround for TV Chosun aired October 13 to December 8, 2019. It is distributed by Sony Pictures Television.


title: Leverage (American TV series)

text: On April 22, 2020, IMDb announced that a 13-episode revival of the series had been ordered to air on its own streaming service, IMDb TV. The series debuted on July 9, 2021, with an order of 16 episodes. Noah Wyle headlined the series as a new character with original cast members Beth Riesgraf, Gina Bellman, Christian Kane and Aldis Hodge set to reprise their roles. Timothy Hutton did not return for the revival. Dean Devlin, who served as executive producer on the original series, returned again as executive producer for the revival alongside original series creators John Rogers and Chris Downey who served as consulting producers. The show began shooting in August 2020 in New Orleans, Louisiana, and a new hacker, provisionally called Brenda, who grew up with the same foster mother as Hardison, appeared in several of the sixteen episodes. The revival is titled "Leverage: Redemption".


title: Jeannie Mai

text: Jeannie Mai-Jenkins (born Jeannie Camtu Mai) is an American television host and stylist best known for her work on the makeover show "How Do I Look?" and the syndicated daytime talk show "The Real". As a fashion expert, she is frequently featured on television programs such as "Today", "Extra TV", "Entertainment Tonight", and "Insider". She has also appeared as a host for E! as well as a red carpet host for the American Music Awards and as a correspondent for the Miss Universe pageant. She is currently a sideline reporter on "Holey Moley" on ABC.


title: Jeannie Mai

text: Jeannie Mai was born and raised in San Jose, California, to a Vietnamese mother named Olivia and a Chinese father named James. She attended Milpitas High School.


title: Jeannie Mai

text: At age 18, Mai launched her career as a makeup artist for MAC Cosmetics while still living in San Jose. As a trainer, she worked her way from face to face until she was eventually traveling the world to work for celebrities such as Christina Aguilera and Alicia Keys. This led her to also serve as a celebrity-makeup stylist for MTV's "Total Request Live", KCAL Los Angeles, and "Good Day Sacramento".


title: Jeannie Mai

text: In 2003, Mai began auditioning for local-television networks with self-written scripts to demonstrate her hosting talents. She was hired to co-host the Asian-American magazine-style show "Stir", on the International Channel. Later, the San Francisco-based California Music Channel hired her to host her own music countdown. Mai went on to become an entertainment reporter and producer of the WB's "The Daily Mixx".


title: Jeannie Mai

text: In 2005, Mai landed her first primetime hosting role on "Character Fantasy" on the USA Network, where she inspired guests each week to live their fantasies. Following this, she moved to Los Angeles to appear on MTV's "Granted" alongside Frankie Muniz and hosted segments related to fashion and entertainment news on networks such as E!, Lifetime, TLC, and NBC on the lattermost's talk morning program "Today". She also started appearing as a member of the beauty squad on TLC's "10 Years Younger". In 2008, Mai hosted TLC's "Miss America Reality Check". She also starred in the makeover special "Dude, Where's Your Style", and became spokesperson of the cosmetics Never Accept Ordinary. The following year, Mai became host of the Style Network's fashion makeover show "How Do I Look?". She also served as a correspondent and weekend host on NBC's "Extra TV" with Mario Lopez. In the digital realm, Mai was the resident contributor to Perez Hilton's fashion site Cocoperez.com. In 2011, Mai began hosting the Miss Universe pageant and was a fashion consultant on the NBC weight-loss competition "The Biggest Loser". Furthermore, Mai also hosted the stylist competition "The Next Style Star" from Maker Studios, and was the digital correspondent for NBC's "Fashion Star". In 2012, she appeared as a guest judge on "Asia's Next Top Model, Cycle 1".


title: Jeannie Mai

text: In 2013, Mai was the host of a live weekly series titled "Style Pop" on the Style Network. Since 2013, Mai has served as a co-host of the syndicated daytime talk show "The Real", originally alongside Adrienne Bailon, Tamar Braxton, Loni Love, and Tamera Mowry, which premiered on July 15, 2013. Following a trial summer run during 2013 on the Fox Television Stations group, it was picked up to series the following year. In 2018, Mai and her co-hosts won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host for their work. In 2015, Mai was host of the reality competition "Steampunk'd" on GSN. She also was a fashion correspondent on "Entertainment Tonight".


title: Jeannie Mai

text: In 2016, she brought her show "How Do I Look?" to Asia's Diva network. The following year, she portrayed Lady Luck on the American game show "The Joker's Wild". Mai also became an ambassador for ReimagineMyself.com a program encouraging people living with relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS) to reimagine life with the chronic disease.


title: Jeannie Mai

text: On September 2, 2020, Mai was announced as one of the celebrities competing on the 29th season of "Dancing with the Stars". She was forced to exit the show on November 2, 2020, after being diagnosed with epiglottitis, an inflammatory condition that can cause swelling and block airflow to the lungs.


title: Jeannie Mai

text: Mai is a Christian. She married Freddy Harteis on August 11, 2007; the couple divorced in December 2018.


title: Jeannie Mai

text: In November 2018, Mai started dating rapper Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins. The couple married in 2021 in an intimate ceremony at their home in Atlanta, Georgia. In January 2022, the couple announced that she had given birth to a daughter.


title: National Rifle Association

text: The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent gun rights lobbying organization while continuing to teach firearm safety and competency. The organization also publishes several magazines and sponsors competitive marksmanship events. According to the NRA, it had nearly 5 million members as of December 2018, though that figure has not been independently confirmed.


title: National Rifle Association

text: The NRA is among the most influential advocacy groups in U.S. politics. The NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) is its lobbying division, which manages its political action committee (PAC), the Political Victory Fund (PVF). Over its history, the organization has influenced legislation, participated in or initiated lawsuits, and endorsed or opposed various candidates at local, state, and federal levels. Some notable lobbying efforts by the NRA-ILA are the Firearm Owners Protection Act, which lessened restrictions of the Gun Control Act of 1968, and the Dickey Amendment, which blocks the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from using federal funds to advocate for gun control.


title: National Rifle Association

text: Starting in the mid-to-late 1970s, the NRA has been increasingly criticized by gun control and gun rights advocacy groups, political commentators, and politicians.This criticism began following changes in the NRA's organizational policies, following what is now referred to as the Revolt at Cincinnati at the 1977 NRA annual convention. The changes, which deposed former NRA executive vice president Maxwell Rich and included new organizational bylaws, have been described as moving the organization away from its previous focusses of "hunting, conservation, and marksmanship" and toward a focus on the defense of the right to bear arms. The organization has been the focus of intense criticism in the aftermath of high-profile shootings, such as the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, after which they suggested adding armed security guards to schools.


title: National Rifle Association

text: A few months after the Civil War began in 1861, a national rifle association was proposed by Americans in England. In a letter that was sent to President Abraham Lincoln and published in "The New York Times", R.G. Moulton and R.B. Perry recommended forming an organization similar to the British National Rifle Association, which had formed a year and a half earlier. They suggested making a shooting range, perhaps on the base on Staten Island, and were offering Whitworth rifles for prizes for the first shooting competition with those rifles. They suggested a provisional committee to start the Association which would include: President Lincoln, Secretary of War, officers, and other prominent New Yorkers.


title: National Rifle Association

text: The National Rifle Association was chartered in the State of New York on November 17, 1871 by "Army and Navy Journal" editor William Conant Church and Captain George Wood Wingate. On November 25, 1871, the group voted to elect its first corporate officers. Union Army Civil War General Ambrose Burnside, who had worked as a Rhode Island gunsmith, was elected president. When Burnside resigned on August 1, 1872, Church succeeded him as president.


title: National Rifle Association

text: Union Army records for the Civil War indicate that its troops fired about 1,000 rifle shots for each Confederate hit, causing General Burnside to lament his recruits: "Out of ten soldiers who are perfect in drill and the manual of arms, only one knows the purpose of the sights on his gun or can hit the broad side of a barn." The generals attributed this to the use of volley tactics, devised for earlier, less accurate smoothbore muskets.


title: National Rifle Association

text: Recognizing a need for better training, Wingate sent emissaries to Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany to observe militia and armies' marksmanship training programs. With plans provided by Wingate, the New York Legislature funded the construction of a modern range at Creedmoor, Long Island, for long-range shooting competitions. The range officially opened on June 21, 1873. The Central Railroad of Long Island established a railway station nearby, with trains running from Hunter's Point, with connecting boat service to 34th Street and the East River, allowing access from New York City.


title: National Rifle Association

text: After beating England and Scotland to win the Elcho Shield in 1873 at Wimbledon, then a village outside London, the Irish Rifle Team issued a challenge through the "New York Herald" to riflemen of the United States to raise a team for a long-range match to determine an Anglo-American championship. The NRA organized a team through a subsidiary amateur rifle club. Remington Arms and Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company produced breech-loading weapons for the team. Although muzzle-loading rifles had long been considered more accurate, eight American riflemen won the match firing breech-loading rifles. Publicity of the event generated by the "New York Herald" helped to establish breech-loading firearms as suitable for military marksmanship training, and promoted the NRA to national prominence.


title: National Rifle Association

text: The NRA organized rifle clubs in other states, and many state National Guard organizations sought NRA advice to improve members' marksmanship. Wingate's marksmanship manual evolved into the United States Army marksmanship instruction program. Former President Ulysses S. Grant served as the NRA's eighth president and General Philip H. Sheridan as its ninth. The US Congress created the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice in 1901 to include representatives from the NRA, National Guard, and United States military services. A program of annual rifle and pistol competitions was authorized, and included a national match open to military and civilian shooters. In 1907, NRA headquarters moved to Washington, D.C. to facilitate the organization's advocacy efforts. Springfield Armory and Rock Island Arsenal began the manufacture of M1903 Springfield rifles for civilian members of the NRA in 1910. The Director of Civilian Marksmanship began manufacture of M1911 pistols for NRA members in August 1912. Until 1927, the United States Department of War provided free ammunition and targets to civilian rifle clubs with a minimum membership of ten United States citizens at least 16 years of age.


title: National Rifle Association

text: After the passage of the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934, the first federal gun-control law in the US, the NRA formed its Legislative Affairs Division to update members with facts and analysis of upcoming bills. Karl Frederick, NRA president in 1934, during congressional NFA hearings testified "I have never believed in the general practice of carrying weapons. I seldom carry one. [...] I do not believe in the general promiscuous toting of guns. I think it should be sharply restricted and only under licenses." Four years later, the NRA backed the Federal Firearms Act of 1938.


title: National Rifle Association

text: The NRA supported the NFA along with the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA), which together created a system to federally license gun dealers and established restrictions on particular categories and classes of firearms. The organization opposed a national firearms registry, an initiative favored by then-President Lyndon Johnson.


title: National Rifle Association

text: Until the 1970s, the NRA was nonpartisan. Previously, the NRA mainly focused on sportsmen, hunters, and target shooters, and downplayed gun control issues. During the 1970s, it became increasingly aligned with the Republican Party. After 1977, the organization expanded its membership by focusing heavily on political issues and forming coalitions with conservative politicians. Most of these are Republicans.


title: National Rifle Association

text: However, passage of the GCA galvanized a growing number of NRA gun rights activists, including Harlon Carter. In 1975, it began to focus more on politics and established its lobbying arm, the Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), with Carter as director. The next year, its political action committee (PAC), the Political Victory Fund, was created in time for the 1976 elections. The 1977 annual convention was a defining moment for the organization and came to be known as "The Cincinnati Revolution" (or as the Cincinnati Coup, the Cincinnati Revolt, or the Revolt at Cincinnati). Leadership planned to relocate NRA headquarters to Colorado and to build a $30 million recreational facility in New Mexico, but activists within the organization whose central concern was Second Amendment rights defeated the incumbents (i.e. Maxwell Rich) and elected Carter as executive director and Neal Knox as head of the NRA-ILA. Insurgents including Carter and Knox had demanded new leadership in part because they blamed incumbent leaders for existing gun control legislation like the GCA and believed that no compromise should be made.


title: National Rifle Association

text: With a goal to weaken the GCA, Knox's ILA successfully lobbied Congress to pass the Firearm Owners Protection Act (FOPA) of 1986 and worked to reduce the powers of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). In 1982, Knox was ousted as director of the ILA, but began mobilizing outside the NRA framework and continued to promote opposition to gun control laws.


title: National Rifle Association

text: At the 1991 national convention, Knox's supporters were elected to the board and named staff lobbyist Wayne LaPierre as the executive vice president. The NRA focused its attention on the gun control policies of the Clinton Administration. Knox again lost power in 1997, as he lost reelection to a coalition of moderate leaders who supported movie star Charlton Heston, despite Heston's past support of gun control legislation.


title: National Rifle Association

text: In 1994, the NRA unsuccessfully opposed the Federal Assault Weapons Ban (AWB), but successfully lobbied for the ban's 2004 expiration. Heston was elected president in 1998 and became a highly visible spokesman for the organization. In an effort to improve the NRA's image, Heston presented himself as the voice of reason in contrast to Knox.


title: National Rifle Association

text: In April 2019 the group unexpectedly sued its longtime public relations firm Ackerman McQueen, which was responsible for two decades of aggressive gun-rights advertising on behalf of the NRA. The lawsuit alleges that the firm refused to turn over financial records to support its billings to the NRA, which amounted to $40 million in 2017. The lawsuit questioned recent programming on NRATV, an online channel operated by Ackerman, which has taken political positions unrelated to the NRA's traditional focus on gun-related issues. There were also concerns about possible conflicts of interest, such as the $1 million contract to host NRATV between Ackerman and NRA president Oliver North. Leading up to the NRA's 2019 national convention in April, there were reports that North and LaPierre were at odds, with North demanding that LaPierre resign and LaPierre accusing North of extortion. At the convention a letter was read from North, saying he had been told he would not be granted a second term as NRA president and adding that he intended to create a committee to investigate allegations of financial mismanagement. A subsequent resolution to oust LaPierre over "highly suspect" financial practices was hotly debated for an hour before members voted not to discuss financial issues in public and to refer the resolution to the NRA board. On June 25, 2019, the NRA severed all ties with Ackerman McQueen and shut down the NRATV operation.


title: National Rifle Association

text: Following an 18-month investigation, on August 6, 2020, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a civil lawsuit against the NRA, alleging fraud, financial misconduct, and misuse of charitable funds by some of its executives, including its long-time CEO and EVP Wayne LaPierre, treasurer Wilson Phillips, former chief of staff and current executive director of general operations Joshua Powell, and general counsel and secretary John Frazer. The suit calls for the dissolution of the NRA as being "fraught with fraud and abuse". On the same date, Attorney General for the District of Columbia Karl Racine filed a lawsuit against the NRA for misusing charitable funds.


title: National Rifle Association

text: On January 15, 2021, the NRA announced in a press release that it and one of its subsidiaries had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas. It also announced that it would reincorporate in Texas, subject to court approval, although its headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia, would not move. During the bankruptcy trial LaPierre stated that he had kept the bankruptcy filing secret from the NRA's board of directors and most of its senior officials. LaPierre's excessive compensation and exorbitant spending of NRA funds on himself and his wife, such as extremely expensive suits, chartered jet flights, and a traveling "glam squad" for his wife, became a subject of testimony in the eleven-day Texas proceedings.


title: National Rifle Association

text: On May 11, 2021, Judge Harlin Hale of the federal bankruptcy court of the Northern District of Texas, dismissed the bankruptcy petition without prejudice, describing that it "was not filed in good faith", warning that if the NRA chose to file a new bankruptcy case, Hale's court would immediately revisit concerns about "disclosure, transparency, secrecy, conflicts of interest of litigation counsel", which could lead to the appointment of a trustee to oversee the organization's affairs. Hale doubted that the NRA was "faced with financial difficulties", instead ruling that the true purposes of the lawsuit were "to gain an unfair litigation advantage" against the New York Attorney General, and to "avoid" regulation from New York.


title: National Rifle Association

text: On March 2, 2022 New York state court in Manhattan ruled against Letitia James's effort to break up the NRA while allowing the portion of the legal actions against the NRA's leadership to continue. The judge found that dissolving the NRA would have a negative impact on the free speech and assembly rights of the organization's members. It was also found that the NRA as an organization did not benefit from the alleged misconduct of its leadership and "less intrusive" remedies against NRA officials could be sought instead.


title: National Rifle Association

text: When the National Rifle Association was officially incorporated on November 16, 1871, its primary goal was to "promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis". The NRA's website says the organization is "America's longest-standing civil rights organization".


title: National Rifle Association

text: On February 7, 1872, the NRA created a committee to lobby for legislation in the interest of the organization. Its first lobbying effort was to petition the New York State legislature for $25,000 to purchase land to set up a range. Within three months, the legislation had passed and had been signed into law by Governor John T. Hoffman.


title: National Rifle Association

text: In 1934, the National Rifle Association created a Legislative Affairs Division and testified in front of Congress in support of the first substantial federal gun control legislation in the US, the National Firearms Act.


title: National Rifle Association

text: The Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), the lobbying branch of the NRA, was established in 1975. According to political scientists John M. Bruce and Clyde Wilcox, the NRA shifted its focus in the late 1970s to incorporate political advocacy, and started seeing its members as political resources rather than just as recipients of goods and services. Despite the impact on the volatility of membership, the politicization of the NRA has been consistent and its PAC, the Political Victory Fund established in 1976, ranked as "one of the biggest spenders in congressional elections" as of 1998.


title: National Rifle Association

text: A 1999 "Fortune" magazine survey said that lawmakers and their staffers considered the NRA the most powerful lobbying organization three years in a row. Chris W. Cox was the NRA's chief lobbyist and principal political strategist, a position he held from 2002 until 2019. In 2012, 88% of Republicans and 11% of Democrats in Congress had received an NRA PAC contribution at some point in their career. Of the members of the Congress that convened in 2013, 51% received funding from the NRA PAC within their political careers, and 47% received NRA money in their most recent race. According to Lee Drutman, political scientist and senior fellow at the Sunlight Foundation, "It is important to note that these contributions are probably a better measure of allegiance than of influence."


title: National Rifle Association

text: Internationally, the NRA opposes the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). It has opposed Canadian gun registry, supported Brazilian gun rights, and criticized Australian gun laws.


title: National Rifle Association

text: In 2016 the NRA raised a record $366 million and spent $412 million for political activities. The NRA also maintains a PAC which is excluded from these figures. The organization donated to congressional races for both Republicans (223) and Democrats (9) to candidates for Congress.


title: National Rifle Association

text: The NRA has been described as influential in shaping American gun control policy. The organization influences legislators' voting behavior through its financial resources and ability to mobilize its large membership. The organization has not lost a major battle over gun control legislation since the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban. At the federal level, the NRA successfully lobbied Congress in the mid-1990s to effectively halt governments-sponsored research into the public health effects of firearms, and to ensure the passage of legislation in 2005 largely immunizing gun manufacturers and dealers from lawsuits. At the same time, the NRA stopped efforts at the federal level to increase regulation of firearms. At the state and local level, the NRA successfully campaigned to deregulate guns, for example by pushing state governments to eliminate the ability of local governments to regulate guns and removing restrictions on guns in public places (such as bars and campuses).


title: National Rifle Association

text: The NRA Political Victory Fund (PVF) PAC was established in 1976 to challenge gun-control candidates and to support gun-rights candidates. An NRA "A+" candidate is one who has "not only an excellent voting record on all critical NRA issues, but who has also made a vigorous effort to promote and defend the Second Amendment", whereas an NRA "F" candidate is a "true enemy of gun owners' rights".


title: National Rifle Association

text: The NRA endorsed a presidential candidate for the first time in 1980, backing Ronald Reagan over Jimmy Carter. The NRA has also made endorsements even when it viewed both candidates positively. For example, in the 2006 Senate elections, the NRA endorsed Rick Santorum over Bob Casey Jr., even though they both had an "A" rating.


title: National Rifle Association

text: Republicans joined forces with the NRA and used the recently passed gun control measures to motivate voters in the 1994 midterm elections. In 1993, with Democrats in the majority of both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, President Bill Clinton signed the Brady Bill, named after the press secretary who was shot and paralyzed during the 1981 assassination attempt of President Reagan. The Brady Bill created a mechanism for background checks in order to enforce the GCA of 1968 and prevent criminals and minors from purchasing guns. In addition, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 included a 10-year ban on the sale of assault weapons. In 1994, the ban was favored by 78% of Americans according to a CBS poll.


title: National Rifle Association

text: According to Yale professor Reva Siegel, during the 1994 midterm elections, the NRA "spent more than $3.2 million on GOP campaigns and helped win nineteen of twenty-four 'priority' races the organization targeted, leading to a House with a majority of members who were 'A-rated' by the NRA." Groups like the NRA seeking to expand interpretation of the Second Amendment to include an individual right to a gun, coincided with the 'New Right', a political movement concerned with gun control, and social issues such as school prayer and abortion. Leader of the new House Majority Leader Newt Gingrich stated that support for or against gun control defined ones partisan identity. NRA leader Knox echoed this sentiment, assuring members that Republicans would be defenders of Second Amendment rights and repeal recently passed gun control legislation.


title: National Rifle Association

text: The NRA spent $40 million on United States elections in 2008, including $10 million in opposition to the election of Senator Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential campaign.


title: National Rifle Association

text: In 2010, "Citizens United v. FEC" was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, paving the way for dark money to flow into U.S. elections. As of mid-September 2018, the NRA has become one of just 15 groups which account for three-quarters of the anonymous cash.


title: National Rifle Association

text: The NRA spent over $360,000 in the Colorado recall election of 2013, which resulted in the ouster of state senators John Morse and Angela Giron. "The Huffington Post" called the recall "a stunning victory for the National Rifle Association and gun rights activists." Morse and Giron helped to pass expanded background checks and ammunition magazine capacity limits after the 2012 Aurora, Colorado, and Sandy Hook, Connecticut, shootings.


title: National Rifle Association

text: On May 20, 2016, the NRA endorsed Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election. The timing of the endorsement, before Trump became the official Republican nominee, was unusual, as the NRA typically endorses Republican nominees towards the end of the general election. The NRA said its early endorsement was due to the strong gun control stance of Hillary Clinton In the 2016 United States presidential election the NRA reported spending more than $30 million in support of Donald Trump, more than any other independent group in that election, and three times what it spent in the 2012 presidential election.


title: National Rifle Association

text: Investigations by the FBI and Special Counsel Robert Mueller resulted in indictments of Russian nationals on charges of developing and exploiting ties with the NRA to influence US politics by using the NRA to gain access to Republican politicians. Russian politician and gun-rights activist Aleksandr Torshin, a lifetime NRA member who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was suspected by some of illegally funneling money through the NRA to benefit Trump's 2016 campaign. In May 2018, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee released a report stating it had obtained "a number of documents that suggest the Kremlin used the National Rifle Association as a means of accessing and assisting Mr. Trump and his campaign" through Torshin and his assistant Maria Butina, and that "The Kremlin may also have used the NRA to secretly fund Mr. Trump's campaign."


title: National Rifle Association

text: Butina was arrested on July 15, 2018, and charged with conspiring to act as an unregistered agent of the Russian Federation and using Republican operative Paul Erickson for cover and connections as she developed an influence operation designed to "advance the interests of the Russian Federation." The FBI acquired an email Erickson had sent to an acquaintance in 2016 stating, "Unrelated to specific presidential campaigns, I've been involved in securing a VERY private line of communication between the Kremlin and key [GOP] leaders through, of all conduits, the [NRA]." According to the affidavit, from 2015 through at least February 2017, Butina worked at the direction of Russian who was a high level government official and official at the Russian Central Bank. In December, Butina agreed in a plea deal to cooperate with federal prosecutors. Butina later denied accusations that she was a Russian agent.


title: National Rifle Association

text: In 2018, in a letter sent to Sen. Ron Wyden and addressed to Congress, the NRA acknowledged it had accepted approximately $2,000 in membership dues and magazine subscriptions and $525 in contributions from 23 Russian nationals or people associated with Russian addresses since 2015. In an earlier news interview the NRA's lawyers stated that the NRA had received less than $1000 from only one Russian donor. According to a Wyden aide, the NRA letter would be referred to the Federal Elections Commission. NRA's General Counsel John C. Frazer wrote to Senator Wyden: "While we do receive some contributions from foreign individuals and entities, those contributions are made directly to the NRA for lawful purposes. Our review of our records has found no foreign donations in connection with a United States election, either directly or through a conduit."


title: National Rifle Association

text: According to the minority Democratic staff of the Senate Finance Committee the NRA acted as "a foreign asset" of Russia during the 2016 election, putting its tax exempt status at risk. The allegations were made in a 77-page report on an 18-month investigation released on September 27, 2019. An 18-page rebuttal by majority committee Republicans said the Democratic report demonstrated "little or nothing."


title: National Rifle Association

text: Neither the FBI nor Special Counsel investigations found any Russian money funneling. The FBI investigation resulted in the conviction of Butina, not on any money-related charges, and the Mueller Report does not mention the NRA. The Federal Election Commission has dismissed allegations of Russian money funneling as unsupported by the evidence.


title: National Rifle Association

text: The NRA has for decades sought to limit the ability of the ATF to regulate firearms by blocking nominees and lobbying against reforms that would increase the ability of the ATF to track gun crimes. For instance, the NRA opposed ATF reforms to trace guns to owners electronically; the ATF currently does so through paper records. In 2006, the NRA lobbied US Representative F. James Sensenbrenner to add a provision to the Patriot Act reauthorization that requires Senate confirmation of ATF director nominees. For seven years after that, the NRA lobbied against and "effectively blocked" every presidential nominee. First was President George W. Bush's choice, Michael Sullivan, whose confirmation was held up in 2008 by three Republican Senators who said the ATF was hostile to gun dealers. One of the Senators was Larry Craig, who was an NRA board member during his years in the Senate. Confirmation of President Obama's first nominee, Andrew Traver, stalled in 2011 after the NRA expressed strong opposition. Some Senators resisted confirming another Obama nominee, B. Todd Jones, because of the NRA's opposition, until 2013, when the NRA said it was neutral on Jones' nomination and that it would not include the confirmation vote in its grading system. Dan Freedman, national editor for Hearst Newspapers' Washington, D.C. bureau, stated that it, "clears the way for senators from pro-gun states—Democrats as well as at least some Republicans—to vote for Jones without fear of political repercussions".


title: National Rifle Association

text: In 2014, Obama weighed the idea of delaying a vote on his nominee for Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, when Republicans and some conservative Democrats criticized Murthy, after the NRA opposed him. In February, the NRA wrote to Senate leaders Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell to say that it "strongly opposes" Murthy's confirmation, and told "The Washington Times" Emily Miller that it would score the vote in its PAC grading system. "The NRA decision", wrote Miller, "will undoubtedly make vulnerable Democrats up for reelection in the midterms reconsider voting party line on this nominee." "The Wall Street Journal" stated on March 15, "Crossing the NRA to support Dr. Murthy could be a liability for some of the Democrats running for re-election this year in conservative-leaning states". Murthy's nomination received broad support from over 100 medical and public health organizations in the U.S., including the American College of Physicians, the American Public Health Association, the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, and the American Diabetes Association. On December 15, 2014, Murthy's appointment as Surgeon General was approved by the Senate.


title: National Rifle Association

text: The NRA initially opposed the 1934 National Firearms Act, but gave their support after several changes including the removal of pistols and revolvers and redefinition of machine gun, which regulated what were considered at the time "gangster weapons" such as machine guns, sawed-off shotguns, and sound suppressors. However, the organization's position on suppressors has since changed.


title: National Rifle Association

text: The NRA supported the 1938 Federal Firearms Act (FFA) which established the Federal Firearms License (FFL) program. The FFA required all manufacturers and dealers of firearms who ship or receive firearms or ammunition in interstate or foreign commerce to have a license, and forbade them from transferring any firearm or most ammunition to any person interstate unless certain conditions were met.


title: National Rifle Association

text: The NRA supported and opposed parts of the Gun Control Act of 1968, which broadly regulated the firearms industry and firearms owners, primarily focusing on regulating interstate commerce in firearms by prohibiting interstate firearms transfers except among licensed manufacturers, dealers and importers. The law was supported by America's oldest manufacturers (Colt, S&W, etc.) in an effort to forestall even greater restrictions which were feared in response to recent domestic violence. The NRA supported elements of the law, such as those forbidding the sale of firearms to convicted criminals and the mentally ill.


title: National Rifle Association

text: In 2004, the NRA opposed renewal of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994. The ban expired on September 13, 2004.


title: National Rifle Association

text: In 2005 President George W. Bush signed into law the NRA-backed Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act which partially shields firearms manufacturers and dealers from being held liable for negligence when crimes have been committed with their products.


title: National Rifle Association

text: In November 2005, the NRA and other gun advocates filed a lawsuit challenging San Francisco Proposition H, which banned the ownership and sales of firearms. The NRA argued that the proposition overstepped local government authority and intruded into an area regulated by the state. The San Francisco County Superior Court agreed with the NRA position. The city appealed the court's ruling, but lost a 2008 appeal. In October 2008, San Francisco was forced to pay a $380,000 settlement to the National Rifle Association and other plaintiffs to cover the costs of litigating Proposition H.


title: National Rifle Association

text: In April 2006, New Orleans, Louisiana, police began returning to citizens guns that had been confiscated after Hurricane Katrina. The NRA, Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), and other groups agreed to drop a lawsuit against the city in exchange for the return.


title: National Rifle Association

text: The NRA filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in the 2008 landmark gun rights case of "District of Columbia v Heller". In a 5 to 4 vote, the Supreme Court ruled that the District of Columbia's gun laws were unconstitutional, and for the first time held that an individual's right to a gun was unconnected to service in a militia. Some legal scholars believe that the NRA was influential in altering the public's interpretation of the Second Amendment, providing the foundation for the majority's opinion in "Heller".


title: National Rifle Association

text: In 2009 the NRA again filed suit ("Guy Montag Doe v. San Francisco Housing Authority") in the city of San Francisco challenging the city's ban of guns in public housing. On January 14, 2009, the San Francisco Housing Authority reached a settlement with the NRA, which allows residents to possess legal firearms within a SFHA apartment building.


title: National Rifle Association

text: In 2010, the NRA sued the city of Chicago, Illinois ("McDonald v. Chicago") and the Supreme Court ruled that like other substantive rights, the right to bear arms is incorporated via the Fourteenth Amendment to the Bill of Rights, and therefore applies to the states.


title: National Rifle Association

text: In March 2013, the NRA joined a federal lawsuit with other gun rights groups challenging New York's gun control law (the NY SAFE Act), arguing that Governor Andrew Cuomo "usurped the legislative and democratic process" in passing the law, which included restrictions on magazine capacity and expanding the state's assault weapons ban.


title: National Rifle Association

text: In November 2013, voters in Sunnyvale, California, passed an ordinance banning certain ammunition magazines along with three other firearm-related restrictions. The ordinance was passed by 66 percent in favor. The ordinance requires city residents to "dispose, donate, or sell" any magazine capable of holding more than ten rounds within a proscribed period of time once the measure takes effect. The following month, the NRA joined local residents in suing the city on second amendment grounds. A federal judge dismissed the suit three months later, upholding the Sunnyvale's ordinance.


title: National Rifle Association

text: The city of San Francisco then passed similar ordinances a short time later. The San Francisco Veteran Police Officers Association (SFVPOA), represented by NRA attorneys, filed a lawsuit challenging San Francisco's ban on the possession of high-capacity magazines, seeking an injunction. A federal judge denied the injunction in February 2014.


title: National Rifle Association

text: In 2014 the NRA lobbied for a bill in Pennsylvania which grants it and other advocacy groups legal standing to sue municipalities to overturn local firearm regulations passed in violation of a state law preempting such regulations, and which also allows the court to force cities to pay their legal fees. As soon as it became law, the NRA sued three cities: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Lancaster. In Philadelphia, seven regulations the NRA sued to overturn included a ban on gun possession by those found to be a risk for harming themselves or others, and a requirement to report stolen guns to the police within twenty-four hours after discovery of the loss or theft. In Lancaster, a city of fewer than 60,000, mayor Rick Gray, who has chaired the pro-gun control group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, was also named in the suit. In that city, the NRA challenged an ordinance requiring gun owners to tell police when a firearm is lost or stolen within 72 hours or face jail time. The basis for the lawsuits is "a 1974 state law that bars municipalities against passing restrictions that are pre-empted by state gun laws". At least 20 Pennsylvania municipalities have rescinded regulations in response to threatened litigation.


title: National Rifle Association

text: The NRA has worked with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in opposing NSA collection of the call records of calls in the United States.


title: National Rifle Association

text: On September 4, 2019, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a non-binding resolution which declared the NRA a domestic terrorist organization and said the city should "take every reasonable step" to limit vendors which do business with the city from also doing business with the NRA. On September 9, the NRA filed a lawsuit in response, accusing city officials of violating the organization's free speech rights by discriminating against the organization "based on the viewpoint of their political speech." On September 23, mayor London Breed and city attorney Dennis Herrera announced in a memo that "the city’s contracting process and policies have not changed and will not change as a result of the resolution." On November 7, 2019, the NRA dropped their lawsuit against San Francisco. Los Angeles had passed a similar ordinance but the NRA won a preliminary injunction on December 11, 2019 and subsequently dropped the lawsuit after Los Angeles repealed the law.


title: National Rifle Association

text: The National Rifle Association owns the National Firearms Museum in Fairfax County, Virginia, featuring exhibits on the evolution and history of firearms in America. In August 2013, the NRA National Sporting Arms Museum opened at an expansive Bass Pro Shops retail store in Springfield, Missouri. It displays almost 1,000 firearms, including historically significant firearms from the NRA and other collections. The NRA publishes a number of periodicals including "American Rifleman" and others.


title: National Rifle Association

text: The NRA sponsors a range of programs about firearm safety for children and adults, including a program for school-age children, the NRA's "Eddie Eagle". The organization issues credentials and trains firearm instructors.


title: National Rifle Association

text: In 1994, following disagreements between the NRA and athletes over control of the program of Olympic shooting sports, the US Olympic Committee recommended USA Shooting replace the NRA as the national governing body for Olympic shooting. The NRA dropped out just before the decision was announced, citing a lack of appreciation for their efforts.