title: Ford Ka

text: The Ka was the best-selling car in its class in the United Kingdom for a number of years and commanded around a fifth of the city-car market. The UK model range originally consisted of the base version, the Ka, and the higher specification Ka, which standardised a number of the options listed above. The Ka badge was fitted by dealers. The Ka was introduced later. Power steering was added to the base Ka after the first year.


title: Ford Ka

text: Concurrent with the introduction of body-coloured bumpers, Ka and Ka were replaced by Ka Collection and the LuxuryKa (later Ka Luxury).


title: Ford Ka

text: The Luxury version came with a Quickclear heated windscreen, leather seats and interior trim, and standard air conditioning. A "Ka Blue" special edition was also launched in the UK with dark blue bumpers and a silvery-blue dashboard insert, rather than the standard models' silver. The Ka Sun Collection with a full-length fabric folding roof was also added to the range during the summer.


title: Ford Ka

text: Unique to the UK was the Ford Ka Van variant, produced for BT Group and featuring a bespoke flat plywood floor with rubber overmat and white-ply covers instead of rear windows.


title: Ford Ka

text: A further line-up revision gave Ka the following trim levels in the United Kingdom: Studio, Style, Style Climate, and Zetec Climate. In 2005, the Sublime model was introduced featuring special leather interior and features not found on other models. It was produced in only very small numbers and is now one of the most sought-after Kas. The SportKa was also added to the range. With the car's impending replacement, in May 2008, a Finale special edition with distinguishing features such as roof decal and black wing mirrors was made available.


title: Ford Ka

text: From the 1997 launch, and until 2001, the Latin American Ka was substantially similar to the European Ka, differing only in levels of equipment and trim. The main differences from the European model were the very short gearing for the manual transmission (the only transmission available) and the lack of soundproofing, which had been gradually removed annually since 2000 as a way to cut down costs, following the practice of other Brazilian car makers at the time.


title: Ford Ka

text: In 2001, the Latin American Ka received a midcycle facelift, which left it slightly different, externally, to the European model. The most noticeable difference was at the rear, where the number plate was moved from the bumper to the boot (trunk) lid, and the rear lights were made much taller.


title: Ford Ka

text: In 2003, the Ka brand was diversified, with the addition of a new SportKa featuring a sporty body kit, wider track with stiffened suspension and redesigned 16" (40 cm) alloy wheels. Both models came with slightly widened bumpers front and rear with integral fog lamps. A convertible model called StreetKa also appeared, launched with the help of Australian pop star Kylie Minogue at the Paris Motor Show. It featured a manually folding soft top or an optional detachable hardtop (on the Winter Edition).


title: Ford Ka

text: StreetKa was designed and built by Pininfarina (the 2000 motor show concept was designed by Ghia, Turin) in Italy, and all StreetKas have sill plates inscribed "Pininfarina". Pininfarina produced 37,076 StreetKas between 2003 and 2005. The build quality of the Streetka was far superior to the standard three-door Ka, with improved rust proofing.


title: Ford Ka

text: StreetKa came in two equipment levels, basic and luxury. The Basic had cloth seats and air conditioning was an option. The Luxury featured leather seats with matching leather door-card inserts, heated seats, a Thatcham approved alarm along with Ford's PATS immobiliser, air conditioning, and heated door mirrors. Options included upgrading the single CD/radio to an in-dash six-disc CD/radio and additional rear speakers beneath the rollover bars and a heated windscreen, standard on winter models. All models featured remote-control central locking with remote boot release, driver and passenger air bags with passengers air bag deactivation, electric windows and door mirrors, electric headlight aim adjustment, antilock brakes, power steering, front fog lights, racing Puma aluminium gear knob, electric hood cover release, and a tachometer.


title: Ford Ka

text: The engine used in StreetKa (and SportKa) is called a Duratec, but it is of South African origin, where it is known as the Zetec Rocam. StreetKa features MacPherson struts front and rear and uses unique wider front lower arms (wishbones), giving it exceptional handling.


title: Ford Ka

text: The only exterior panel shared with Ka is the bonnet. The front headlights are also shared with Ka, but appear different due to the front bumper covering them partly to change their shape. The interior shares most parts with Ka, except the StreetKa has its facia painted blue rather than silver. Its seats are mounted lower than Ka's and it has aluminium effect detailing.


title: Ford Ka

text: Both the StreetKa and SportKa received a new 1.6-litre eight-valve Duratec petrol engine, whereas Ka, Ka Collection, and LuxuryKa retained the 1.3-litre Duratec petrol engine. The SportKa was noted for its surprising advertising campaign, "The Ka's Evil Twin", denouncing the Ka's traditionally perceived "cute" design. The StreetKa ceased to be officially on sale in late 2006.


title: Ford Ka

text: In 2005, all Ka models, including the SportKa and StreetKa, received a slightly updated interior, bringing the cabin back up to date, while still retaining the look and feel of the original. The SportKa continued to be available until 2008. A pink version was produced to promote the new "Thunderbirds" film, and was supplied by Ford to the movie producer. The "Thunderbird" movie cars were unveiled at the Birmingham Motor Show. Only eight Pink StreetKas were produced by Ford for the film, five in right-hand drive and three in left-hand drive. All were signed by Sophia Myles (Miss Lady Penelope). The matching StreetKa dress designed by Bruce Oldfield of Ford was later sold in an auction during London Fashion Week to raise money for Barnados.


title: Ford Ka

text: A Ford Ka rally championship was created in 1998. It has proved to be one of the most popular junior rally championships (Ford Ka Rally Cup) in the UK and Ireland. In 2007, Luke Pinder won the BRC Silverstone Tyre 1400 Championship in a Chris Birkbeck Ford Ka.


title: Ford Ka

text: Built by the Ford Motorsport (Ford TeamRS) works at Boreham, Essex, The Rally Ka was designed as an entry-level vehicle to compete in a one-make series as part of the British Mintex rally championship. The Ka Championship in 1997 had just four cars in the debut Granite City Rally event. In 1998, 15 competitors undertook the Mintex challenge. Ford's Boreham airfield facility provides a complete build service for competitors wishing to rally Ka. Most of the parts supplied are concerned with strengthening the car for rallying. Uprated engine mounts and suspension bushes are all included, as is a front strut brace. Aluminium sump and fuel tank guards, OZ Rally wheels, and a Safety Devices bolt-in roll cage are all either fitted by the Boreham works or supplied to individual teams. Performance-enhancing modifications are limited to the addition of a Rally spec engine control unit, camshaft and 4-into-2-into-1 extractor set attached to a free-flowing exhaust. This combination lifts power to , and to cope with it, competitors are encouraged to fit the optional uprated drive shafts with larger CV joints. A limited-slip differential and heavier clutch plate are also available. A competition brake package consisting of Mintex pads gripping vented front brake rotors and stronger rear drums is homologated for Rally Ka. Replacing the original shock absorbers is a set of four remote-reservoir Proflex coil-over struts adjustable for compression and rebound damping. These are allied to a lowering kit and adjustable spring platforms to give Ka competitors a wide range of suspension settings including ride height. Inside, the Rally Ka is all business. In true rally fashion, gone are all but the essentials - the two central eyeball vents are replaced by a tachometer and auxiliary gauge. Even the replacement panels in the dashboard, which support the fire extinguisher button and extra switches and gauges required in a rally car are listed in the Boreham parts schedule. A deeply dished rally steering wheel, competition seats, and harnesses are all supplied from the kit, and replacements are not allowed.


title: Ford Ka

text: In 2008, the European Ka was replaced with a model developed and produced for Ford by Fiat in conjunction with Fiat's own 500 vehicle. The car was built in Fiat's Tychy, Poland, factory alongside the Fiat 500, Fiat Panda, and Lancia Ypsilon. Production started on 18 July 2008.


title: Ford Ka

text: Based on the Fiat 500 architecture, its interior offers optional Bluetooth phone connection, wireless voice control, a USB port, a CD Radio, MP3, an AUX connector, steering-wheel audio controls, and a speaker system consisting of six speakers, a subwoofer, and an amplifier.


title: Ford Ka

text: The second-generation Ka came with a choice of two engines, a 1.2-litre petrol with of power and of torque and a 1.3-litre TDCi diesel engine with of power and of torque. Both engines come with sub-120 g/km CO emissions (119 for the petrol and 112 for the diesel). Both engines are supplied from Fiat.


title: Ford Ka

text: The Ka featured shock absorption revised from the Fiat 500 along with a rear antiroll bar enabling 30% softer springs and accordingly retuned dampers to improve ride performance over uneven road surfaces. Some of these improvements were subsequently adopted on Fiat 500 Abarth and Fiat 500C models. The Ka uses an electrically assisted steering system, which makes the steering much lighter and more energy efficient than its predecessor.


title: Ford Ka

text: The second-generation Ka has an overall Euro NCAP safety rating of four stars, with standard driver and passenger single-stage front airbags, ABS, immobiliser, hazard warning lights, and remote central locking (except Studio version in UK). In addition, it has front side airbags and curtain airbags and electronic stability control with hydraulic brake assist and hill launch assist that come at an extra cost.


title: Ford Ka

text: The Ka made its debut in the 22nd James Bond film "Quantum of Solace" and was unveiled in October 2008's Paris Motor Show.


title: Ford Ka

text: Three "Ford Individual packs" were introduced with special characteristics each (in both the interior and exterior design), called Tattoo, Grand Prix, and Digital. the Tattoo was replaced in 2011 by the Metal. All Individual models are based on the Zetec.


title: Ford Ka

text: The Latin American market received a separate model, which is based on the first-generation Ka chassis with redesigned exterior and interior design, adopting Ford's "Kinetic Design". It was introduced in December 2007 in Brazil, and went on sale in early January 2008 as a 2009 model year. The car was also exported to other markets in Latin America. However, it was not available in Mexico.


title: Ford Ka

text: Developed under the B402 project code, the model was designed and engineered in Brazil. During development, 123 test prototypes were used, and involving 5,145 engineering tests and 430,000 km of durability tests. In the manufacturing plant at São Bernardo do Campo, the project included the replacement of 160 robots in the assembly line, as well as measuring machines and test stations.


title: Ford Ka

text: In comparison to the original Ka, this model has a longer rear overhang and a redesigned rear seat to accommodate a fifth passenger. With a length of , it competed in the subcompact car class. The boot capacity was increased from the previous generation 186 liters to a 263 liters.


title: Ford Ka

text: It was available with 1.0-litre and 1.6-litre Zetec Rocam petrol flex engines, both are four-cylinder units. The 1.0-litre engine produces with petrol fuel and with ethanol fuel, while the 1.6-litre engine produces with petrol fuel and with ethanol fuel.


title: Ford Ka

text: In 2011, Ford presented a midcycle facelifted version following the Kinect concept car. In Brazil, only the Sport version offers a 1.6-litre engine.


title: Ford Ka

text: The Ka in its most basic Latin American configuration with no airbags received 1 star for adult occupants and 3 stars for toddlers from Latin NCAP in 2011.


title: Ford Ka

text: Developed by Ford Brazil, the Ford Ka Concept was unveiled in Brazil in November 2013. The production version of this new Ford Ka appeared in July 2014, in hatchback and sedan body styles, with the first units arriving in Brazil in September and October 2014 respectively. The next market where it was launched was India, where the sedan made its debut as the new Ford Figo Aspire in August 2015, with the hatchback arriving (as the new Ford Figo) a month later. It was launched in Europe (as the Ka+) in June 2016.


title: Ford Ka

text: The new model was based on Ford's global B platform, sharing its underpinnings with the Fiesta supermini, and embodies Ford's Kinetic 2.0 design theme. The hatchback is a five-door only model and it is now longer than the previous European model, with the wheelbase increased by . The four-door sedan has the same wheelbase as the hatchback, but two length variants: a longer one in Brazil (dubbed Ka+), measuring , and a shorter one exclusively in India (dubbed Aspire), measuring .


title: Ford Ka

text: In India, the range consists of either a 1.2-litre four-cylinder petrol, developing and , a 1.5-litre four-cylinder diesel, developing and , or a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol, developing and . The latter is paired with Ford's six-speed automatic PowerShift transmission, while for the rest a five-speed manual option is available.


title: Ford Ka

text: It features equipment such as the Ford's MyKey, MyDock, and SYNC systems, steering-mounted controls, automatic climate control, power-fold mirrors, keyless entry, electronic stability control, cruise control (in Europe), up to six airbags and high-strength steel body structure.


title: Ford Ka

text: It was then launched in Mexico in September 2015, and in South Africa one month later. In March 2016, it was also introduced in Argentina.


title: Ford Ka

text: The new Ka was produced at Ford's factories in Camaçari, Brazil, (from where it is exported to Argentina) until January 13, 2021, and in Sanand, Gujarat, India, (from where it was exported to Mexico, South Africa and Europe).


title: Ford Ka

text: The third-generation Ka was marketed in Europe as the Ka+. It was introduced in June 2016, with deliveries starting later that year. The '+' in the name shows the fact how Ford sees this as a budget B-segment car, rather than an A-segment car.


title: Ford Ka

text: In Europe, the Ka+ came with only one engine, a 1.2-litre unit, that came with either , in the Studio or the Zetec trim levels, or , exclusively in the Zetec model.


title: Ford Ka

text: The new Ford Ka was introduced in the 2014 São Paulo Motor Show, becoming available on the market in August of that year and presented at the 2015 Buenos Aires Motor Show. The Ford Ka adopts the "Kinetic" design, presenting a more aggressive style, and it is slightly bigger than the previous model, adopting a five-door body, occupying the site of the former Ford Ka and Ford Fiesta One.


title: Ford Ka

text: Also it adds a new body variant, a four-door sedan, called Ka+. In Brazil, it was offered with a choice of two petrol engines - a 1.0-litre three-cylinder, developing and or a 1.5-litre four-cylinder, developing and . Gearbox options are limited to the well-known five-speed IB5+ for both the 1.0- and the 1.5-litre variants.


title: Ford Ka

text: According to local press, the current 1.0 L version of the new 2014 Ka is the most economical compact car without a turbocharged engine (1.0 L TSI), achieving up to 12 km/L of ethanol (E100) in the city of São Paulo. E33 fuel (Brazilian standard gasoline specification) economy facts had not been publicized, although owners claim it does about 1.0 to 2.5 km/L more than with E100.


title: Ford Ka

text: Its Sigma 1.5 L-equipped version had been well received by the Brazilian market due to its relatively vigorous launches and good torque at low and midrange engine speeds.


title: Ford Ka

text: In November 2015, a Ka+ model in its most basic Latin American configuration with two standard front airbags and standard anti-lock braking system with electronic brakeforce distribution was tested by Latin NCAP and was awarded four stars out of five for adult occupants and 3 stars for toddlers. In a frontal impact,the driver's head and chest were considered to receive adequate protection, the passenger's head and chest received good protection, while the driver's and passenger's knee areas received marginal protection. The bodyshell was rated as stable and was capable of withstanding further loading.


title: Ford Ka

text: The Ka+ in its most basic Latin American configuration with 2 airbags and no ESC received 0 stars for adult occupants and 3 stars for toddlers from Latin NCAP in 2017 (one level above 2015).


title: Ford Ka

text: The updated Ka+ in its most basic Latin American configuration and no ESC received 3 stars for adult occupants and 4 stars for toddlers from Latin NCAP in 2018.


title: Ford Ka

text: The Ka+ in its most basic Latin American configuration with 2 airbags, driver pretensioner and no ESC received 0 stars from Latin NCAP under its new protocol in 2020 (one level above 2018, similar to Euro NCAP 2014).


title: Ford Ka

text: In March 2017, Euro NCAP released the results of the tests performed on the Ka+ in its standard European configuration and it scored three out of five stars. For the adult occupants, it received a 73% rating, for the child occupant, a 61% rating, for the pedestrian, a 57% rating, and the safety assist category, a 29% rating. The car's performance in the tests was rated as "mediocre", being criticized for lacking rear seatbelt pretensioners and load limiters, poor chest protection in the full-width frontal crash test, and the lack of autonomous braking technology.


title: Ford Ka

text: In 2004, two commercials advertising the Ford SportKa in the UK proved controversial when they received complaints for their content. The first commercial included a parked SportKa as a pigeon flies toward it, presumably to befoul it. When the pigeon is within range, the SportKa violently pops its hood, bashing the bird to its death.


title: Ford Ka

text: The second advertisement had the SportKa opening its sunroof as if enticing a nearby cat to peer in. When the cat climbed on the roof and peeked inside, the sunroof closed and beheaded the cat.


title: Ford Ka

text: Both commercials concluded with the graphic, "Ford SportKa. The Ka's evil twin." After many complaints, these advertisements were removed from air and not shown again.


title: Prime Minister of Denmark

text: The prime minister of Denmark (, , ) is the head of government in the Kingdom of Denmark comprising the three constituent countries: Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Before the creation of the modern office, the kingdom did not initially have a head of government separate from its head of state, namely the monarch, in whom the executive authority was vested. The Constitution of 1849 established a constitutional monarchy by limiting the powers of the monarch and creating the office of . The inaugural holder of the office was Adam Wilhelm Moltke.


title: Prime Minister of Denmark

text: The prime minister presides over a cabinet that is formally appointed by the monarch. In practice, the appointment of the prime minister is determined by his or her support in the Folketing (the National Parliament). Since the beginning of the 20th century, no single party has held a majority in the Folketing so the prime minister must head a coalition of political parties, as well as his or her own party. Additionally, only four coalition governments since World War II have enjoyed a majority in the Folketing, so the coalitions (and the prime minister) must also gain loose support from other minor parties.


title: Prime Minister of Denmark

text: The current prime minister of Denmark is Mette Frederiksen, since 27 June 2019. Since 2022 her cabinet consists of the Social Democrats, Venstre, and the Moderates.


title: Prime Minister of Denmark

text: From approximately 1699 to 1730, the highest-ranking non-monarchial government official was titled "Grand Chancellor" () and from 1730 until 1848, this office was titled "Minister of State" (). These titles foreshadowed the modern office of prime minister, however, unlike the current office, the grand chancellor and state minister were not formal heads of government. The king held executive authority as absolute ruler from 1661 until the enactment of a liberal Constitution in the early nineteenth century.


title: Prime Minister of Denmark

text: The office of prime minister was introduced as a part of the constitutional monarchy outlined in 1848 and signed as the Danish Constitution on 5 June 1849. The new Constitution established a parliamentary system by creating a new bicameral parliament () and a Council Presidium, headed by a council president. The Council Presidium is regarded as the predecessor of the modern Prime Minister's Office. The first council president was Adam Wilhelm Moltke, who came to power on 22 March 1848. Molte and his next two successors also held the title of , which translates as "prime minister".


title: Prime Minister of Denmark

text: From 1855 onwards the prime minister was known simply as the "council president" (). Carl Christian Hall became the first prime minister/council president to lead a political party (the National Liberal Party).


title: Prime Minister of Denmark

text: The modern Prime Minister's Office was founded on 1 January 1914, when the Council Presidium was established as a department under the prime minister, when it had previously existed as an informal council gathered by the prime minister. The title of the prime minister changed again in 1918 under the premiership of Carl Theodor Zahle, becoming titled "Minister of State" (in-line with its Scandinavian neighbours, Norway and Sweden), which it remains to this day.


title: Prime Minister of Denmark

text: By the mid-nineteenth century a strong party-system had developed, with most prime ministers being the leader of either Venstre () or Højre (). However, by 1924 the Social Democrats had become the largest party and Højre had disappeared.


title: Prime Minister of Denmark

text: During the first years of Occupation of Denmark, the governments of prime ministers Vilhelm Buhl and then Erik Scavenius cooperated with the Nazi occupiers. On 29 August 1943, the Danish government resigned, refusing to grant further concessions to Nazi Germany. All government operations were assumed by the permanent secretaries of the individual departments, and this arrangement lasted until the Liberation of Denmark on 5 May 1945. Since King Christian X never accepted the resignation of the government, it existed de jure until a new cabinet was formed on 5 May 1945.


title: Prime Minister of Denmark

text: The twentieth century was dominated by Social Democratic prime ministers leading left-wing coalitions; Social Democratic prime ministers were in power nearly continuously from 1924 until 1982. The first prime minister from the Conservative People's Party, Poul Schlüter, came to power as the head of a broad centre-right coalition in 1982. The centre-right coalition rule until 1993, lasting for eleven years, made it the longest centre-right government in Danish history since the 1920s.


title: Prime Minister of Denmark

text: In November 2001 the left-wing coalition in the Folketing lost seats to the right-wing coalition led by Venstre, ending their eight years rule. Venstre became the largest party since 1924. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, leader of Venstre, served as the prime minister from 2001 to April 2009. His coalition government consisted of Venstre and the Conservative People's Party, with parliamentary support from the national-conservative Danish People's Party (). On 5 April 2009, Rasmussen resigned to become Secretary General of NATO, leaving minister of finance and vice president of Venstre Lars Løkke Rasmussen to be the prime minister.


title: Prime Minister of Denmark

text: Following the September 2011 election the right-wing lost by a small margin to the opposing centre-left coalition, led by Helle Thorning-Schmidt who on 3 October 2011 formed a new government initially consisting of the Social Democrats, the Danish Social Liberal Party and the Socialist People's Party. Following a general election defeat, in June 2015 Thorning-Schmidt resigned as Prime Minister and was succeeded by Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who headed a minority government consisting entirely of ministers from Venstre.


title: Prime Minister of Denmark

text: The Social Democrats returned to power after the 2019 election, with Mette Frederiksen assuming the role of prime minister.


title: Prime Minister of Denmark

text: The Constitution of Denmark states that the monarch, who is the head of state, has supreme authority and acts out this power through their ministers. However, the modern role of the Monarch is symbolic only. The monarch formally appoints and dismisses ministers, including the prime minister. However, any action of the monarch requires a countersignature from a minister. It is also a principle in Danish constitutional literature that "the power follows the responsibility" (), and the monarch being free from responsibility means they have no genuine power. In the case of appointing ministers, it is the signature of the prime minister. This means that the power to appoint ministers practically lies entirely with the prime minister and not the monarch.


title: Prime Minister of Denmark

text: Although the country's leading politician, the prime minister is not nearly as powerful as other prime ministers in Europe. This is mainly because it is nearly impossible for one party to get a majority of seats in the Folketing (Parliament), so the government is always either a coalition or a one-party minority government. No Danish party has won a majority since 1901, and for much of that time there has not even been a majority coalition. Because of their limited powers, the prime minister is "primus inter pares" (first among equals). Additionally, unlike most of their counterparts, Danish prime ministers can never be certain that their agenda will pass, and must cobble together a majority for each piece of legislation.


title: Prime Minister of Denmark

text: Although, as stated, the monarch formally appoints all ministers of the cabinet freely according to the constitution, in practice monarchs only conventionally select the prime minister after a leader has gathered support from a majority in the Folketing. This has been the case since parliamentarianism became the convention after the Easter Crisis in 1920. Parliamentarianism was added to the constitution in 1953 with section 15. Today, it means that the monarch on the responsibility of the resigning prime minister cannot appoint a new prime minister which they expect will be met with a successful vote of no confidence. With no party having held a majority in over a century, parties form alliances. Usually, the Social Democrats join with centre-left parties, and Venstre with centre-right parties. Following elections when there is no clear leader, the monarch will hold a "king/queen's meeting" where, after a series of discussions and agreements, the leader of the largest alliance and the largest party within that alliance—usually the Social Democrats or Venstre- is appointed as prime minister-"elect" (). The new prime minister-elect, together with the leaders of the junior parties, select ministers to form a new coalition cabinet, which is the presented to the monarch. The government is allowed to take office without a vote of confidence, and is allowed to stay in office as long as it does not lose a vote of no confidence.


title: Prime Minister of Denmark

text: The prime minister chairs the weekly meetings of the cabinet meetings and has the power to set the agenda of these meetings. The prime minister traditionally gathers together a government ministry known as the "Ministry of the State of Denmark" () or Prime Minister's Office. Atypical of a Danish ministry it does not have any councils, boards or committees associated with it and its near sole responsibility is to act as the secretariat of the prime minister. There is a small department under the ministry that takes care of special legal issues not covered under other ministries, among others Greenland's and the Faroe Islands' relation to the monarchy, the mass media's contact to the state, the number of ministers in the government, or Queen Margrethe II's legal status as a civilian.


title: Prime Minister of Denmark

text: The prime minister has the power to choose to dissolve the Folketing and call a new election (although this is formally undertaken by the monarch), which the prime minister is obligated to do within four years of the previous election. In spite of this, the prime minister has no say with respect to Denmark's autonomous regions, the Faroe Islands and Greenland, while the Folketing on the other hand does, as all laws passed by the Faroese and Greenlandic parliaments must be ratified by the Folketing.


title: Prime Minister of Denmark

text: There are checks on the prime minister's power. If the Folketing revokes its confidence in an incumbent prime minister, the prime minister must either resign along with the entire cabinet or call a new election. Whenever a prime minister resigns, dies, or is forced from office, the monarch asks them (or, in the case of death, the next available leader in a coalition) to keep the government as a caretaker government until a successor has been elected.


title: Prime Minister of Denmark

text: The government offices, including the Ministry of the State of Denmark (; The Prime Minister's Office), is located inside Christiansborg Palace, along with the Folketing and the courts.


title: Prime Minister of Denmark

text: The official summer residence of the prime minister is Marienborg, an eighteenth-century estate that was acquired by the state. It is situated on the shore of Lake Bagsværd in Kgs. Lyngby, north of Copenhagen. It has served as an official summer residence for ten prime ministers since 1960. Marienborg is frequently used for governmental conferences and informal summits between the government, industry and organisations in Denmark.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: DeKalb County (, , ) is located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 764,382, making it Georgia's fourth-most populous county. Its county seat is Decatur.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: DeKalb County is included in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area. It contains roughly 10% of the city of Atlanta (the other 90% lies in Fulton County). DeKalb is primarily a suburban county.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: In 2009, DeKalb earned the Atlanta Regional Commission's "Green Communities" designation for its efforts in conserving energy, water and fuel, investing in renewable energy, reducing waste, and protecting and restoring natural resources.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: In 2021, the non-profit American Rivers named DeKalb's South River the fourth-most endangered river in the United States, citing "the egregious threat that ongoing sewage pollution poses to clean water and public health."


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: In recent years, some communities in North DeKalb have incorporated, following a trend in other suburban areas around Metro Atlanta. Dunwoody and Brookhaven are now the largest cities that are entirely contained within the county.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: The area of DeKalb county was acquired by the state of Georgia as a result of the 1821 Treaty of Indian Springs with a faction of the Muscogee (Creek). DeKalb County, formed in 1822 from Henry, Gwinnett and Fayette counties, took its name from Baron Johann de Kalb (1721-1780), a Bavarian-born former officer in the French Army, who fought for the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. The oldest existing house in the county is the 1831 Goodwin House along Peachtree Road in Brookhaven. Much of the area was forested; a section of old-growth forest is preserved at Fernbank Forest.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: In 1853, Fulton County formed from the western half of DeKalb, divided along a perfectly straight and due north–south line down the middle (along which Moreland Avenue now runs). Until this time, the growing city of Atlanta had been inside DeKalb. Atlanta grew because the city of Decatur did not want to become the railroad terminus in the 1830s, thus a spot at the Thrasherville encampment in western DeKalb was picked to become Terminus and then Marthasville, before becoming Atlanta a few years after its founding. North and southwest Fulton came from two other counties: Milton and southeast Campbell, respectively. DeKalb once extended slightly further north to the Chattahoochee River, but this strip was later given to Milton, and is now the panhandle of Sandy Springs.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: Until the 1960s, DeKalb was a mainly agricultural county, but as the sprawl of the metropolitan Atlanta region expanded, DeKalb became increasingly urbanized. Finished in 1969, the eastern half of the Interstate 285 beltway, called "the Perimeter", ringed the northeastern and southern edges of the county, placing most of it "inside the Perimeter" along with nearly all of Atlanta. Interstate 675 and Georgia 400 were originally planned to connect inside the Perimeter, along with the Stone Mountain Freeway (U.S. Highway 78) connecting with the Downtown Connector (a co-signment of I-75/I-85) near Moreland Avenue, destroying many neighborhoods in western DeKalb, but community opposition in the early 1970s spared them this fate of urbanization, although part of the proposed Stone Mountain Tollway later became the Freedom Parkway. Only Interstate 20 and Interstate 85 were successfully built through the county. DeKalb also became one of only two counties to approve MARTA rapid transit in the 1970s; the county now contains the east and northeast heavy rail lines.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: In April 2018, more than 350 bus drivers for DeKalb County School District went on strike over low pay and poor working conditions, resulting in seven bus drivers being fired.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: The DeKalb County seal was created in 1967, by artist Jackson Bailey. The design is based on a passage from Aristotle in which a comparison is made between human progress and the relay race. The background landscape shows planted fields, which is a tribute to DeKalb's heritage as an agrarian community and Stone Mountain, now recognized as Georgia's most popular tourist attraction. The date of the county's founding, 1822, is at the bottom of the seal.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.3%) is water. The county is located within the upper Piedmont region of the state.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: The county is crossed by the South River and numerous creeks, including Nancy Creek, Snapfinger Creek and two forks of Peachtree Creek. Peachtree Creek and Nancy Creek drain into the Chattahoochee River and eventually to the Gulf of Mexico. South River drains into the Ocmulgee River and ultimately into the Atlantic Ocean.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: The southern two-thirds of DeKalb County, in a line from Druid Hills northeast to Tucker, is located in the Upper Ocmulgee River sub-basin of the Altamaha River basin, while the portion of the county north of that line is located in the Upper Chattahoochee River sub-basin of the ACF River Basin (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin).


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: Stone Mountain lies near the eastern border of the county. Soapstone Ridge, parallel to the southern border, was heavily quarried between 1400 and 100 BC and objects made from the soapstone have been found as far away as the Great Lakes.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: As of the 2020 United States census, there were 764,382 people, 289,829 households, and 157,737 families residing in the county.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 691,893 people, 271,809 households, and 161,453 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 304,968 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 54.3% black or African American, 33.3% white, 5.1% Asian, 0.4% American Indian, 4.5% from other races, and 2.4% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 9.8% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 5.9% were English, 5.2% were German, and 3.5% were American.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: Of the 271,809 households, 32.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.8% were married couples living together, 18.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 40.6% were non-families, and 31.4% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 3.18. The median age was 34.3 years.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: The median income for a household in the county was $51,349 and the median income for a family was $60,718. Males had a median income of $43,663 versus $40,288 for females. The per capita income for the county was $28,412. About 12.4% of families and 16.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 24.2% of those under age 18 and 11.2% of those age 65 or over.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: Although Fulton County is more populous, DeKalb has the highest population density of any county in the Atlanta metropolitan area.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: U.S. Marine and sculptor Curtis James Miller designed a memorial that is located in front of the Dekalb County Fire and Police Headquarters. The memorial pays homage to the 343 New York Firefighters, 60 New York Police Department and Port Authority Police Officers, and the more than 2800 civilian victims of the terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: A piece of steel from one of the World Trade Center Towers in New York City is the centerpiece of this monument.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: In recent years, along with many other counties in the Atlanta area, DeKalb County has voted strongly Democratic in presidential elections, while in the past it was more of a swing county, voting Democratic and Republican an equal number of times from 1960 until 1988. Following the 2020 United States election, there are no elected Republicans in the county.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: DeKalb is the second most Democratic-leaning county in Georgia, only behind Clayton County. 83 percent of the votes cast in the 2020 presidential election were for Joe Biden.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: The current Chief Executive Officer of DeKalb County is Michael Thurmond. He took office on January 1, 2017.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: Unincorporated DeKalb County is policed by the DeKalb County Police Department; the DeKalb Sheriff's Office, which is responsible for serving criminal warrants and securing the courts and county jail; and the DeKalb Marshal's Office, which serves civil processes issued through state court, such as evictions.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: Fire services are provided throughout the county by DeKalb County Fire and Rescue. Previously, DeKalb County Fire and Rescue also provided emergency medical services throughout the county; however, in 2013, the county signed a contract with American Medical Response to provide emergency medical services to the county.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is based in the Druid Hills CDP in an unincorporated area in the county. The Federal Bureau of Investigation Atlanta Field Office is located in Chamblee.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: The Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice has its headquarters in Avondale Estates, near Decatur. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has its headquarters near Decatur, in an unincorporated area.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: The Metro State Prison of the Georgia Department of Corrections was formerly located in an unincorporated area in DeKalb County. Female death row inmates (UDS, "under death sentence") resided in the Metro State Prison. The prison was closed in 2011.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: The Consulate-General of Mexico in Atlanta is located in the North Druid Hills CDP. The Consulate-General of Guatemala in Atlanta is located in the North Atlanta CDP. The Consulate-General of Peru in Atlanta is located in an unincorporated section of DeKalb County.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: Currently, there are plans for the construction of a multi-use trail, known as the Peachtree Creek Greenway. The goal of the greenway is to provide residents with close-to-home and close-to-work access to bicycle and pedestrian trails, serve transportation and recreation needs, and help encourage quality of life and sustainable economic growth. The trail will connect the cities of Atlanta, Brookhaven, Chamblee and Doraville.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: The portion of DeKalb County not within the city of Atlanta or the city of Decatur is served by DeKalb County School District (formerly DeKalb County School System). The Atlanta portion is served by Atlanta Public Schools. The Decatur portion is served by Decatur City School District.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: On December 17, 2012, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools announced that it had downgraded the DeKalb County Schools System's status from "on advisement" to "on probation" and warned the school system that the loss of their accreditation was "imminent."


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: From its opening in 1990 until 2003, the Seigakuin Atlanta International School was located on the property of Oglethorpe University in Brookhaven, an unincorporated area.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: Emory University is a private, coeducational, liberal arts university. It is a member of the Association of American Universities, an association of leading research universities in the US and Canada. The university consists of the following divisions: Emory College of Arts and Science, the Laney Graduate School, Candler School of Theology, Goizueta Business School, Emory University School of Law, Rollins School of Public Health, and the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: Mercer University is a private, coeducational, faith-based university with a Baptist heritage. Its main campus is in Macon. The Cecil B. Day Graduate and Professional Campus is in DeKalb County; it houses the College of Nursing, the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, and the James and Carolyn McAfee School of Theology along with programs of the Eugene W. Stetson School of Business and Economics, the School of Medicine, and the Tift College of Education.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: Oglethorpe University is a private, coeducational, liberal arts school in Brookhaven and is named after James Oglethorpe, founder of the Georgia Colony.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: Georgia Perimeter College (formerly DeKalb College) has three campuses within the county and offers two-year associate degrees.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: Georgia Piedmont Technical College (formerly DeKalb Technical College) is the largest vocational institution in Georgia. Georgia Piedmont Technical College trains students in business, engineering, technologies, health, human services, industrial arts, information systems, and transportation.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: DeVry University offers bachelor's and master's degrees in healthcare, accounting, business, and management technology.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: Columbia Theological Seminary is a theological institution of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in Decatur. More than 640 students are enrolled at Columbia in one of five degree programs: Master of Divinity, Master of Arts in Theological Studies, Master of Theology, Doctor of Ministry, and Doctor of Theology.


title: DeKalb County, Georgia

text: Luther Rice College and Seminary is a private Christian college and seminary in Lithonia. It offers bachelors, masters, and doctoral programs in ministry and ministry-related programs.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: Ramakrishna Mission (RKM) is a Hindu religious and spiritual organisation which forms the core of a worldwide spiritual movement known as the "Ramakrishna Movement" or the "Vedanta Movement". The mission is named after and inspired by the Indian spiritual Guru Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and founded by Ramakrishna's chief disciple Swami Vivekananda on 1 May 1897. The organisation mainly propagates the Hindu philosophy of Vedanta–Advaita Vedanta and four yogic ideals– Jnana, Bhakti, Karma, and Raja yoga.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: Apart from religious and spiritual teaching, the organisation carries out extensive educational and philanthropic work in India and abroad. This aspect came to be a feature of many other Hindu movements. The mission bases its work on the principles of karma yoga, the principle of selfless work done with a dedication to God. The Ramakrishna Mission has centres around the world and publishes many important Hindu texts. It is affiliated with the monastic organization. Vivekananda was greatly influenced by his guru (teacher) Ramakrishna.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: The Math and the Mission are the two key organisations that direct the work of the socio-spiritual-religious Ramakrishna movement, influenced by 19th-century (1800-1900) saint Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and founded by his chief disciple Vivekananda.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: Also referred to as the Ramakrishna Order, the Math is the movement's monastic organisation. Founded by Vivekananda in 1897, the Math primarily focuses on spiritual training and the propagation of the movement's teachings.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: The Mission, founded by Vivekananda in 1897, is a humanitarian and spiritual organisation which carries out medical, relief and educational programs. Both the organisations have headquarters at the Belur Math. The Mission acquired a legal status when it was registered in 1909 under Act XXI of 1860. Its management is vested in a Governing Body. Though the Mission with its branches is a distinct legal entity, it is closely related to the Math. The elected trustees of the Math also serve as Mission's Governing Body. Vedanta Societies comprise the American arm of the Movement and work more in purely spiritual field rather than social welfare.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (1836–1886), regarded as a 19th-century mystic, was the inspirator of the Ramakrishna Order of monks and is regarded as the spiritual founder of the Ramakrishna Movement. Ramakrishna was a priest in the Dakshineswar Kali Temple and attracted several monastic and householder disciples. Narendranath Dutta, who later became Vivekananda was one of the chief monastic disciples. According to Vrajaprana, shortly before his death in 1886 Ramakrishna gave the ochre cloths to his young disciples, who were planning to become renunciates. Ramakrishna entrusted the care of these young boys to Vivekananda. After Ramakrishna's death, the young disciples of Ramakrishna gathered and practised spiritual disciplines. They took informal monastic vows on a night of 24 December 1886.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: After the death of Ramakrishna in 1886, the monastic disciples formed the first "Math" (monastery) at Baranagore. Later Vivekananda became a wandering monk and in 1893 he was a delegate at the 1893 Parliament of the World's Religions. His speech there, beginning with "Sisters and brothers of America" became famous and brought him widespread recognition. Vivekananda went on lecture tours and held private discourses on Hinduism and spirituality. He also founded the first Vedanta Society in the United States at New York. He returned to India in 1897 and founded the Ramakrishna Mission on 1 May 1897. Though he was a Hindu sadhu and was hailed as the first Hindu missionary in modern times, he exhorted his followers to be true to their faith but respect all religions of the world as his guru Ramakrishna had taught that all religions are pathways to God. One such example is his exhortion that "one can be born in a church but he or she should not die in a church" meaning that one should realise the spiritual truths for themselves and not stop at blindly believing in doctrines taught to them. The same year, famine relief was started at Sargachi by Swami Akhandananda, a direct disciple of Ramakrishna. Swami Brahmananda, a direct disciple of Ramakrishna, was appointed as the first president of the Order. After the death of Vivekananda in 1902, Sarada Devi, the spiritual counterpart of Ramakrishna, played an important role as the advisory head of a nascent monastic organisation. Gayatri Spivak writes that Sarada Devi "performed her role with tact and wisdom, always remaining in the background."


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: The Ramakrishna Math is administered by a democratically elected board of trustees. From amongst themselves, the trustees elect president, vice-presidents, general secretary, assistant secretaries and treasurer. For the confirmation of the election of the president, vice-presidents and the general secretary, the opinion of monks of twenty years standing is sought and taken.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: The Ramakrishna Mission is administered by a Governing Body, which is composed of the democratically elected Trustees of Ramakrishna Math. The headquarters of Ramakrishna Math at Belur (popularly known as Belur Math) serves also as the headquarters of Ramakrishna Mission.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: A branch centre of Ramakrishna Math is managed by a team of monks posted by the Trustees, led by a head monk with the title Adhyaksha. A branch centre of Ramakrishna Mission is governed by a Managing Committee consisting of monks and laypersons appointed by the Governing Body of Ramakrishna Mission whose Secretary, almost always a monk, functions as the executive head.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: All the monks of the Ramakrishna Order form the democratic base of the administration. They form the counterpart to the Organisation of what is Parliament to the Nation. A representative meeting of all monks is held every three years, at Belur Math, during October–November. This meeting has come to be known as 'Monks' Conference'. The Conference is for the duration of three days. A few months prior to the conference, all the monks are notified about the dates and are asked to suggest subjects for discussion and to send Resolutions to be taken up for discussion. The Agenda is finalised based on the suggestions received. On the first day of the Conference, The general secretary, on behalf of all elected Trustees, places the report of all the activities that had taken place in the Organisation, during the years that had gone by since they met last. The accounts are then placed before the Conference by the monk in-charge of accounts. The Conference passes the accounts and discusses the Report of activities. The Minutes of the earlier Conference too is passed. The monks also condole the deaths that had occurred in their ranks in the years between successive Conferences. The proposals of monks are voted upon if necessary.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: Thus, The Monks' Conference plays a very important Constitutional role of placing its seal of approval on the decisions taken by the Trustees elected by them and giving policy guidance for further works of the Organisation.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: The first such formal Conference was held in 1935. The latest and the 25th such Conference was held on 1, 2 and 3 November 2018.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: The scope of the Administration follows the detailed rules made by Swami Vivekananda when he was the General President of Ramakrishna Mission. These rules were formed when the monastic brothers in 1898 wished that there should be specific rules for the work of the Ramakrishna Mission (as the Ramakrishna Movement is commonly known). They were dictated by Swami Vivekananda to Swami Suddhananda, between 1898 and 1899, and has been accepted as the consensus of the opinion of all the monks of the Ramakrishna Mission then, consisting of all the disciples of Sri Ramakrishna and their disciples. Later for clear and formal legal confirmation of these rules, a Trust Deed was registered by Swami Vivekananda and many of the other disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, during 1899 – 1901.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: The aims and ideals of the Mission are purely spiritual and humanitarian and has no connection with politics. Vivekananda proclaimed "Renunciation and service" as the twofold national ideals of modern India and the work of the mission strives to practice and preach these... . The service activities are based on the message of "Jiva is Shiva" from Ramakrishna and Vivekananda's message of "Daridra Narayana" to indicate that service to poor is service to God. The Principles of Upanishads and Yoga in Bhagavad Gita reinterpreted in the light of Ramakrishna's Life and Teachings is the main source of inspiration for the Mission. The service activities are rendered, looking upon all as veritable manifestation of the Divine. The Motto of the organisation is "Atmano Mokshartham Jagad-hitaya Chah". Translated from Sanskrit आत्मनॊ मोक्षार्थम् जगद्धिताय च: it means "For one's own salvation, and for the good of the world." The ideology of Ramakrishna Math and mission is that universe arises and sustains in infinite pure consciousness or Brahman. Personification of Brahman, we get Ishvara or God of Religion (Like Vishnu, Shiva, Shakti, Allah, Jesus/Yahweh/Jehovah, Waheguru, etc.). Ramakrishna Mission teaches that God-Realization is the ultimate goal of life. Brahman is immanent in all beings as the Atman which is man's true self and source of all happiness. But owing to ignorance, he identifies himself with his body and mind and runs after sense pleasures. This is the cause of all evil and suffering. As ignorance is removed, the Atman manifests itself more and more. This manifestation of potential divinity is the essence of true religion. This can be realized by one of the 4 yogas or by all of them. Ramakrishna Mission also believes in Harmony of religions, means all religions lead to the same goal if followed properly.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: After the death of Ramakrishna in 1886, his young disciples organised themselves into a new monastic order. The original monastery at Baranagar known as Baranagar Math was subsequently moved to the nearby Alambazar area in 1892, then to Nilambar Mukherjee's Garden House, south of the present Belur Math in 1898 before finally being shifted in January 1899 to a newly acquired plot of land at Belur in Howrah district by Vivekananda. This monastery, known as the Belur Math, serves as the Mother House for all the monks of the Order who live in the various branch centres of the Math and/or the Mission in different parts of India and the world.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: All members of the Order undergo training and ordination ("Sannyasa") at Belur Math. A candidate for monastic life is treated as a pre-probationer during the first year of his stay at any centre, and as a probationer during the next four years. At the end of this period he is ordained into celibacy ("Brahmacharya") and is given certain vows ("Pratijna"), the most important of which are celibacy, renunciation and service. After a further period of four years, if found fit, he is ordained into ("Sannyasa") and given the ochre ("gerua") clothes to wear.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: Swami Vivekananda forbade his organisation from taking part in any political movement or activity, on the basis of the idea that holy men are apolitical.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: Almost 95% of the monks possess voter ID cards for the sake of identification and particularly for travelling, as they are forced by governmental authorities to seek a voter ID card. But they generally use it only for identification purpose and not for voting though they are not forbidden to vote. As individuals, the monks may have political opinions, but these are not meant to be discussed in public.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: The Mission, had, however, supported the movement of Indian independence, with a section of the monks keeping close apolitical relations with freedom fighters of various camps. A number of political revolutionaries later joined the Ramakrishna Order.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: The principal workers of the mission are the monks. The mission's activities cover the following areas,


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: The mission has its own hospitals, charitable dispensaries, maternity clinics, tuberculosis clinics, and mobile dispensaries. It also maintains training centres for nurses. Orphanages and homes for the elderly are included in the mission's field of activities, along with rural and tribal welfare work.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: The mission has established many renowned educational institutions in India, having its own university, colleges, vocational training centres, high schools and primary schools, teacher-training institutes, as well as schools for the visually handicapped. It has also been involved in disaster relief operations during famine, epidemic, fire, flood, earthquake, cyclone and communal disturbances.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: The mission played an important role in the installation of photovoltaic (PV) lighting systems in the Sundarbans region of West Bengal. Due to the geographical features of the Sunderbans, it is very difficult to extend the grid network to supply power to its population. The PV lighting was used to provide electricity to the people who were traditionally depending on kerosene and diesel.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: Ramakrishna "ashrama's" religious activities include "satsang" and "arati". "Satsang" includes communal prayers, songs, rituals, discourses, reading and meditation. Arati involves the ceremonial waving of lights before the images of a deity of holy person and is performed twice in a day.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: Ramakrishna "ashramas" observes major Hindu festivals, including Maha Shivarathri, Rama Navami, Krishna Ashtami and Durga Puja. They also give special place to the birthdays of Ramakrishna, Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda and other monastic disciples of Ramakrishna. 1 January is celebrated as Kalpataru Day.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: The math and the mission are known for their religious tolerance and respect for other religions. Among the earliest rules laid down by Swami Vivekananda for them was, ""Due respect and reverence should be paid to all religions, all preachers, and to the deities worshiped in all religions"." Acceptance and toleration of all religions is the one of ideals of Ramakrishna Math and Mission. Along with the major Hindu festivals, Christmas Eve and Buddha's Birthday are also devoutly observed.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: Cyril Veliath of Sophia University writes that the Ramakrishna Mission monks are a relatively orthodox set of monks who are "extremely well respected both in India and abroad", and that they "cannot be classified as just another sect or cult, such as the groups led by the gurus". Veliath writes that "of the Hindu groups I have worked with I have found the Ramakrishna Mission to be the most tolerant and amenable to dialogue, and I believe that we Christians couldn't do better, than to cooperate wholeheartedly in their efforts towards inter-religious harmony.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: As of seventh March 2022, the Math and Mission have 265 centres all over the world: 198 in India, 26 in Bangladesh, 14 in the United States, two each in Canada, Russia, and South Africa and one each in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Fiji, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nepal, Netherlands, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, UK, and Zambia. Besides, there are 44 sub-centres (14 within India, 30 outside India) under different centres.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: The Math and Mission run 748 educational institutions (including 12 colleges, 22 higher secondary schools, 41 secondary schools, 135 schools of other grades, 4 polytechnics, 48 vocational training centres, 118 hostels, 7 orphanages, etc.) with a total student population of more than 2,00,000.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: Besides these branch centres, there are about one thousand unaffiliated centres (popularly called 'private centres') all over the world started by the devotees and followers of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: The centres of the Ramakrishna Order outside India fall into two broad categories. In countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Fiji and Mauritius, the nature of service activities is very much similar to India. In other parts of the world, especially in Europe, Canada, United States, Japan, and Australia, the work is mostly confined to the preaching of Vedanta, the publication of books and journals and personal guidance in spiritual matters. Many of the centres outside India are called as the 'Vedanta Society' or 'Vedanta Centre'.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: In 1980, in an act that caused "considerable debate" within the order, the mission petitioned the courts to have their organisation and movement declared a non-Hindu minority religion for the purpose of Article 30 of the Indian constitution.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: Many generations of monks and others have been of the view that the religion propounded and practised by Ramakrishna and his disciples is very much different from that practised by Hindu masses then. They held that the Ramakrishna's "Neo-Vedanta" is a truer version of the ideals of Vedanta. So it was honestly felt that this makes the followers of Ramakrishna eligible for the legal status of "minority". It is possible that the immediate cause for the appeal for minority status was because there was a danger that the local Marxist government would take control of its educational institutions unless it could invoke the extra protection the Indian constitution accords to minority religions.


title: Ramakrishna Mission

text: They argued that the Ramakrishna's "Neo-Vedanta" is a truer version of the ideals of Vedanta, and that this makes the followers of Ramakrishna eligible for the legal status of "minority". While the Calcutta High Court accepted Ramakrishna Mission's pleas, the Supreme Court of India ruled against the Mission in 1995, citing evidence that it had all the characteristics of a Hindu organization. The Mission found it advisable to let the matter rest. The wisdom of the attempt by the Mission's leadership to characterize the Mission as non-Hindu was widely questioned within the membership of the organization itself, and the leadership today embraces the Mission's status as both a Hindu organization and as an organization that emphasizes the harmony of all faiths. Most members – and even monks – of the Ramakrishna Mission consider themselves Hindus, and the Mission's founding figures, such as Swami Vivekananda never disavowed Hinduism.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Willie Lewis Brown Jr. (born March 20, 1934) is a retired American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as mayor of San Francisco from 1996 to 2004, the first African American to hold that office.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Born in Mineola, Texas, where he graduated from high school, Brown moved to San Francisco in 1951. He graduated from San Francisco State University in 1955 and earned a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1958, after which he worked as an attorney and was involved in the Civil rights movement. He was elected to the California Assembly in 1964, during which he became popular in San Francisco and became known as one of the country's most powerful state legislators. As a legislator, Brown earned a reputation as a supporter of civil rights of gays and lesbians and was able to manage colleagues and maintain party discipline. He served as the speaker of the California Assembly from 1980 to 1995. His long tenure and powerful position were used as a focal point of the California ballot proposition limiting the terms of state legislators that passed in 1990. During the last of his three allowed post-initiative terms, Brown maintained control of the Assembly despite a slim Republican majority. Near the end of his final term, he decided to run for mayor of San Francisco.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: During Brown's tenure as mayor of San Francisco, the city's budget was expanded, and real state development, public works, city beautification, and other city projects saw a significant increase. Brown presided over the "dot-com" era at a time when San Francisco's economy was rapidly expanding. His administration included more Asian-Americans, women, Latinos, gays and African-Americans than the administrations of his predecessors. Brown was reelected in 1999, but term limits prevented him from running for a third term, and he was succeeded by his political protégé Gavin Newsom. "The San Francisco Chronicle" called Brown "one of San Francisco's most notable mayors", adding that he had "celebrity beyond the city's boundaries." He retired from politics after leaving the office in 2004, published an autobiography, and continued to fundraise and advise politicians.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Brown was born on March 20, 1934, in Mineola, a small segregated town in East Texas marked by racial tensions, to Minnie Collins Boyd and Lewis Brown. He was the fourth of five children. During Brown's childhood, mob violence periodically erupted in Mineola, keeping African-Americans from voting. His first job was a shoeshine boy in a whites-only barber shop. He later worked as a janitor, fry cook and field hand. He learned his strong work ethic at a young age from his grandmother. He graduated from Mineola Colored High School, which he later described as substandard, and left for San Francisco in August 1951 at the age of 17 to live with his uncle.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Brown originally wanted to attend Stanford University. His interviewer from Stanford was a faculty member at San Francisco State College and was surprised by Brown's ambition. Although Brown did not meet the qualifications for Stanford or San Francisco State, the professor facilitated Brown's admission to the latter school on probation. Brown adjusted to college studies after working especially hard to catch up in his first semester. He joined the Young Democrats and became friends with John L. Burton. Brown originally wanted to be a math instructor but campus politics changed his ambitions. He became active in his church and the San Francisco NAACP. Brown worked as a doorman, janitor and shoe salesman to pay for college. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. He also joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC). Brown earned a bachelor's degree in political science from San Francisco State in 1955. He later said that his decision to attend law school was primarily to avoid being drafted. He quit the ROTC and joined the California Army National Guard's 126th Medical Battalion, where he was trained as a dental hygienist. Brown attended University of California, Hastings College of the Law, where he also worked as a janitor. He befriended future San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, for whom Brown later managed a campaign. Brown earned a J.D. in 1958 and was class president.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Brown was one of a few African-Americans practicing law in San Francisco when he opened his own business. He practiced criminal defense law, representing pimps, prostitutes and other clients that more prominent attorneys would not represent. One early case was to defend Mario Savio on his first civil disobedience arrest. He quickly became involved in the Civil Rights Movement, leading a well-orchestrated sit-in to protest housing discrimination after a local real estate office refused to work with him because of his race. Brown helped organize the public protest and attract media coverage. His role in the protests gave him the notability to run for the State Assembly.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Brown began his first run for the California State Assembly in 1962 by having local African American ministers pass around a hat, collecting $700. He lost the election by 600 votes before winning a second election in 1964.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Brown was one of four Black Americans in the Assembly in 1965. The other three were Mervyn M. Dymally, F. Douglas Ferrell and Byron Rumford. He continued to be reelected to the Assembly until 1995. In the 1960s, Brown served as chair of the Legislative Representation Committee, a powerful position that helped him climb the Assembly ranks. He became the Democrats' Assembly whip in 1969. Brown also served on the Assembly Ways and Means Committee. In 1972, he delivered a speech at the Democratic National Convention. He lost his bid for the speakership in 1972. In 1975, Brown authored and lobbied the successful passing of the Consenting Adult Sex Bill that legalized homosexuality in California, thus earning the strong and lasting support of San Francisco's gay community. Similarly, he voted against AB 607, which banned same-sex marriage in 1977, further building his reputation as a supporter of the civil rights of gays and lesbians. During the 1970s, Brown continued to expand his legal practice, including the representation of several major real estate developers. He won the Speakership in 1980 with 28 Republican and 23 Democratic votes.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Brown was California's first Black American Speaker of the Assembly, and served in the office from 1981 to 1995. In 1990, he helped negotiate an end to a 64-day budget standoff. In 1994, Brown gained the vote of a few Republicans to maintain the Speakership when the Democrats lost control of the Assembly to the Republicans led by Jim Brulte. Brown regained control in 1995 by making a deal with Republican defectors Doris Allen and Brian Setencich, both of whom were elected Speaker by the Democratic minority. During their tenures, Brown was the "de facto" Speaker.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Brown's long service in the Assembly and political connections, his strong negotiation skills, and the Assembly's tenure system for leadership appointments combined to give Brown nearly complete control over the California legislature by the time he became Assembly Speaker. According to "The New York Times", Brown became one of the country's most powerful state legislators. He nicknamed himself the "Ayatollah of the Assembly".


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Brown was extremely popular in San Francisco, but less so in the rest of the state. Nevertheless, he wielded great control over statewide legislative affairs and political appointments, making it difficult for his conservative opponents to thwart his power. Partially to remove Brown from his leadership position, a state constitutional amendment initiative was proposed and passed by the electorate in 1990, imposing term limits on state legislators. Brown became the focus of the initiative, and raised just under $1 million to defeat it. The California legislature challenged the law, but the courts upheld it. California Proposition 140 also cut the legislature's staff budget by 30 percent, causing Brown to reduce legislative staff by at least 600. Under the California term-limits law, no Speaker of the California State Assembly will be permitted to have a longer tenure than Brown's. After term limits forced Brown out of office, the Assembly restructured its rules to give most of the powers formerly held by the Speaker to a leadership committee made up of senior members of both major parties.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Brown gained a reputation for knowing what was occurring in the state legislature at all times. In 1992, he gave $1.18 million to the Democratic Party to help with voter registration and several campaigns, some of which was from contributions from tobacco companies and insurance companies. As Speaker, he worked to defeat the Three Strikes Law. Critics have claimed Brown did not do enough to raise the legislature's ethical standards or to protect the environment. During his time in Sacramento, he estimates he raised close to $75 million to help elect and reelect state Democrats.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Brown led efforts in the Assembly for state universities to divest from South Africa and to increase AIDS research funding. He helped obtain state funds for San Francisco, including funding for public health and mental health funds. Brown held up the 1992 state budget for 63 days until Governor Pete Wilson added another $1.1 billion for public schools.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Brown had a reputation in the Assembly for his ability to manage people. Republican State Senator Ken Maddy of Fresno noted Brown's ability to "size up the situation and create, sometimes on the spot, a winning strategy." According to Hobson, "He was a brilliant daycare operator. ... He knew exactly how to hold the hand of his Assembly members. He dominated California politics like no other politician in the history of the state".


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: From 1975 to 1978, Brown supported the Peoples Temple, led by Jim Jones, while it was being investigated for alleged criminal wrongdoing. Brown attended the Temple perhaps a dozen times and served as master of ceremonies at a testimonial dinner for Jones where he said in his introduction, "[l]et me present to you a combination of Martin King, Angela Davis, Albert Einstein ... Chairman Mao." Brown later said, "If we knew then he was mad, clearly we wouldn't have appeared with him."


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: In 1995, Brown ran for mayor of San Francisco. In his announcement speech, he said San Francisco needed a "resurrection" and that he would bring the "risk-taking leadership" the city needed. Brown placed first in the first round of voting, but because no candidate received 50% of the vote, he faced incumbent Frank Jordan in the December runoff. Brown gained the support of Supervisor Roberta Achtenberg, who had placed third in the first round of voting. He campaigned on working to address poverty and problems with Muni. He called Jordan the "inept bumbler" and criticized his leadership. Jordan criticized Brown for his relations with special interests during his time in the State Assembly. Brown easily defeated Jordan.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Brown's inaugural celebration included an open invitation party with 10,000 attendees and local restaurants providing 10,000 meals to the homeless. President Bill Clinton called Brown to congratulate him, and the congratulations were broadcast to the crowd. He delivered his inaugural address without notes and led the orchestra in "The Stars and Stripes Forever". He arrived at the event in a horse-drawn carriage. According to the "New York Times", Brown was one of the nation's few liberal big-city mayors when he was elected in 1996.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: In 1996, more than two-thirds of San Franciscans approved of Brown's job performance. As mayor, he made several appearances on national talk shows. Brown called for expansions to the San Francisco budget to provide for new employees and programs. In 1999, he proposed hiring 1,392 new city workers and proposed a second straight budget with a $100 million surplus. He helped oversee the settling of a two-day garbage strike in April 1997. During Brown's tenure, San Francisco's budget increased to $5.2 billion and the city added 4,000 new employees. Brown tried to develop a plan for universal health care, but there wasn't enough in the budget to do so. He put in long days as mayor, scheduling days of solid meetings and, at times, conducting two meetings at the same time. Brown opened City Hall on Saturdays to answer questions. He would later claim of his mayorship that he helped restore the city's spirit and pride.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Brown's opponents in his 1999 mayoral reelection campaign were former Mayor Jordan and Clint Reilly. They criticized Brown for spending the city's $1 billion in budget growth without addressing its major problems and creating an environment of corruption and patronage at City Hall. Tom Ammiano was a late write-in candidate and faced Brown in the runoff election. Brown won reelection by a 20-point margin. Most major developers and business interests supported him. Ammiano campaigned on a promise that he would raise the hourly minimum wage to $11 and scrutinize corporate business taxes. Brown repeatedly claimed that Ammiano would raise taxes. President Clinton recorded a telephone message on Brown's behalf. Brown's campaign spent $3.1 million to Ammiano's $300,000. The 1999 mayoral race was the subject of the documentary "See How They Run".


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: According to Brown, although he was scheduled for a flight to New York City on the day of the September 11, 2001 attacks, he received a "low key warning" in a phone call from a member of his airport security detail, who advised him not to fly. Brown disregarded the warning and was waiting for a ride to the airport at 8 a.m. Pacific Time when he learned of the attacks. He immediately ordered the city to close schools and courts, concerned over the potential for additional terrorist attacks. In addition, he recommended to representatives of other possible targets in San Francisco, including the Bank of America Tower and Transamerica Pyramid, that they also close.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: In February 2003, Brown's appointed Police Chief, Earl Sanders, and several top San Francisco Police Department officials were arrested for conspiring to obstruct the police investigation into an incident involving off-duty officers popularly called "Fajitagate".


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Brown ended San Francisco's policy of punishing people for feeding the homeless. San Francisco continued to enforce its policy regarding the conduct of the homeless in public places. In 1998, Brown supported forcibly removing homeless people from Golden Gate Park and police crackdowns on the homeless for drunkenness, urinating, defecating, or sleeping on the sidewalk. Brown introduced job training programs and a $11 million drug treatment program. San Francisco, the country's 13th-largest city at the time, had the nation's third-largest homeless population, at a peak of 16,000. In November 1997, Brown requested nighttime helicopter searches in Golden Gate Park. His administration spent hundreds of millions of dollars creating new shelters, supportive housing, and drug treatment centers to address homelessness, but these measures did not end homelessness.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: In 1996, Brown approved the Equal Benefits Ordinance, which required city contractors to give their employees domestic partner benefits. In 1998, he wrote President Clinton a letter urging him to halt a federal lawsuit aimed at closing medical marijuana clubs.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: One of Brown's central campaign promises was his "100-Day Plan for Muni", in which he said he would fix the city's municipal bus system in that many days. Brown supported the "Peer Pressure" Bus Patrol program, which paid former gang members and troubled youth to patrol Muni buses. He claimed the program helped reduce crime. He fired Muni chief Phil Adams and replaced him with his chief of staff Emilio Cruz. In 1998, Brown was mayor during the summer of the Muni meltdown as Muni implemented the new ATC system and he promised riders there would be better times ahead. A voter-approved initiative the next year helped improve Muni services. Brown increased Muni's budget by tens of millions of dollars over his tenure. He later said he made a mistake in overpromising with his 100-Day Plan.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: During his first term as mayor, Brown quietly favored the demolition and abolition of the Transbay Terminal to accommodate the redevelopment of the site for market-rate housing. Centrally located at First and Mission Streets near the Financial District and South Beach, the terminal originally served as the San Francisco terminus for the electric commuter trains of the East Bay Electric Lines, the Key System of streetcars and the Sacramento Northern railroads which ran on the lower deck of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. Since the termination of streetcar service in 1958, the terminal has seen continuous service as a major bus facility for East Bay commuters; AC Transit buses transport riders from the terminal directly into neighborhoods throughout the inner East Bay. The terminal also serves passengers traveling to San Mateo County and the North Bay aboard SamTrans and Golden Gate Transit buses respectively, and to tourists arriving by bus motorcoach. Today, the terminal is being planned for redevelopment as a regionwide mass transit hub maintaining the current bus services, but with a new tunnel that would extend the Caltrain commuter rail line from its current terminus at Fourth and Townsend Streets to the site. Once completed, Caltrain riders would no longer need to transfer to Muni to reach the downtown financial district, and the terminal's heavy rail portion would be designed to accommodate the planned High Speed Rail lines to Los Angeles.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: In 1998, The Berkeley-based Bicycle Civil Liberties Union produced a two-hour documentary film in the muckraker journalism tradition, "July 25: The Secret is Out", which gives evidence of Brown's designs for the Transbay Terminal site.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Since 1992, cyclists riding in San Francisco's monthly Critical Mass bicycle rides had used the "corking" technique at street intersections to block rush-hour cross-traffic. In 1997, Brown approved San Francisco Police Department Chief Fred Lau's plan to crack down on the rides, calling them "a terrible demonstration of intolerance" and "an incredible display of arrogance." After arrests were made when a Critical Mass event became violent, Brown said, "I think we ought to confiscate their bicycles" and "a little jail time" would teach Critical Mass riders a lesson. On the night of the July 25, 1997, ride, 115 riders were arrested for unlawful assembly, jailed, and had their bicycles confiscated. By 2002, Brown and the city's relations with Critical Mass had changed. On the 10th anniversary of Critical Mass on September 27, 2002, the city officially closed down four blocks to automobile traffic for the annual Car-Free Day Street Fair. Brown said of the event, "I'm delighted. A new tradition has been born in our city."


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: As mayor, Brown was criticized for aggregating power and favoring certain business interests at the city's expense as a whole. Supporters point to the many development projects completed or planned under his watch, including the restoration of City Hall and historic waterfront buildings; the setting in motion of one of the city's largest ever mixed-use development projects in Mission Bay, and the development of a second campus for the University of California, San Francisco. In contrast, critics objected to the construction of many live-work loft buildings in formerly working-class neighborhoods that they believed led to gentrification and displacement of residents and light industry.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Under Brown, City Hall was restored from damages sustained during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. He insisted on restoring the light courts and having the dome gilded with more than $400,000 in real gold. The Embarcadero was redeveloped and the Mission Bay Development project began. Brown also oversaw the approval of the Catellus Development Corp., a $100 million restoration of the century-old Ferry Building, the new Asian Art Museum, the new M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, the expansion of the Moscone Convention Center and San Francisco International Airport's new international terminal. Brown worked to restructure the Housing Authority. He helped established an AFL-CIO housing trust to build affordable housing and worked to increase the city's share of federal and state grants. He oversaw declining crime rates and improvements in the city's economy, finances, and credit ratings during his first term.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Brown was known for his shrewd and strategic use of the planning process's details to affect and facilitate development projects on his watch. In regard to a parking garage on Vallejo Street desired by North Beach and Chinatown merchants, he circumvented neighborhood opponents of the garage by ordering demolition of the site's existing structure to commence on a Friday night and be done by Monday morning, when the group was certain to try to obtain a restraining order. "It was with the demolition permit I outsmarted them", Brown said, claiming that as the critics rushed toward court, "someone shouted out to them that the building had disappeared over the weekend. They've never recovered from that little maneuver."


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: During his mayoralty, Brown hoped to build a new stadium for the San Francisco 49ers and worked with them to create a plan. No new facility was built for the team during his tenure. Brown worked with the San Francisco Giants to build a new stadium in the China Basin after previous stadium measures had failed on the ballot. The stadium was approved by San Francisco voters in 1996 and opened in 2000.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Due to vacancies on the Board of Supervisors before 2000, Brown was able to appoint eight of the board's 11 members. Due to a change in San Francisco's election laws that took effect in 2000, the board changed from at-large to district-based elections, and all seats on the board were up for election. The voters elected a new group of supervisors that ran on changing the city's development policy. Voters also passed a measure that weakened the mayor's control over the Planning Commission and Board of Appeals. The new majority limited Brown's power over the Elections Department, the Police Commission, and extending San Francisco International Airport's runways into the bay to reduce flight delays. In July 2001, the Board of Supervisors overrode Brown's veto for the first time, creating legislation that created the new home ownership option of tenancies in common.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Allegations of political patronage followed Brown from the state legislature through his mayoralty. Former Los Angeles County GOP Assemblyman Paul Horcher, who voted in 1994 to keep Brown as Speaker, was reassigned to a position with a six-figure salary as head of San Francisco's solid waste management program. Brian Setencich was also appointed to a position by Brown. Both were hired as special assistants after losing their Assembly seats because they supported Brown. Former San Francisco Supervisor Bill Maher was also hired as a special assistant after campaigning for Brown in his first mayoral race. Brown is also accused of favoritism to Carolyn Carpeneti, a philanthropic fundraiser with whom he had a child. In 1998 Brown arranged for Carpeneti to obtain a rent-free office in the city-owned Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Between then and 2003, a period that included the birth of their daughter, Carpeneti was paid an estimated $2.33 million by nonprofit groups and political committees, though not all this money went directly to Carpeneti.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Brown increased the city's special assistants payroll from $15.6 to $45.6 million between 1995 and 2001. Between April 29, and May 3, 2001, "San Francisco Chronicle" reporters Lance Williams and Chuck Finnie released a five-part story on Brown and his relations with city contractors, lobbyists, and city appointments and hires he had made during his mayoralty. The report concluded that there was an appearance of favoritism and conflicts of interest in the awarding of city contracts and development deals, a perception that large contracts had an undue influence on City Hall, and patronage with the hiring of campaign workers, contributors, legislative colleagues, and friends to government positions.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated Brown when he was Speaker. One investigation was a sting operation concerning a fake fish company attempting to bribe Brown; he was not charged with a crime. The FBI further investigated Brown from 1998 to 2003 over his appointees at the Airport Commission for potential conflicts of interests. Brown friend, contributor, and former law client Charlie Walker was given a share of city contracts. Walker had previously thrown several parties for Brown and was among his biggest fundraisers. He had served jail time in 1984 for violating laws concerning minority contracting. The FBI investigated Walker. The FBI also investigated Brown's approval of expansion of Sutro Tower and SFO. Scott Company, with one prominent Brown backer, was accused of using a phony minority front company to secure an airport construction project. Robert Nurisso was sentenced to house arrest. During Brown's administration, there were two convictions of city officials tied to Brown. Brown reassigned Parking and Traffic chief Bill Maher to an airport job when his critics claimed Maher should have been fired. Brown also put his former girlfriend Wendy Linka on the city payroll.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Brown's romantic relationship with Alameda County deputy district attorney Kamala Harris preceded his appointment of Harris to two California state commissions in the early 1990s. The "San Francisco Chronicle" called the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and the California Medical Assistance Commission patronage positions. When the appointments became a political issue in Harris's 2003 race for District Attorney, she responded: "Whether you agree or disagree with the system, I did the work". Brown's relationship with Harris gained renewed attention in early 2019 after she had become a U.S. senator and ran for president. Brown addressed the questions by publishing a piece in the "San Francisco Chronicle" titled "Sure, I dated Kamala Harris. So what?" He wrote that he may have "influenced" her career by appointing her to boards and supporting her run for District Attorney, but added that he had also influenced the careers of other politicians. Brown noted that the difference between Harris and other politicians he had helped was that "Harris is the only one who, after I helped her, sent word that I would be indicted if I 'so much as jaywalked' while she was D.A. That's politics for ya".


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: After leaving the mayor's office, Brown considered running for the State Senate but ultimately declined. From January through September 2006, he hosted a morning radio show with comedian Will Durst on a local San Francisco Air America Radio affiliate. He also does a weekly podcast. Brown established The Willie L. Brown Jr. Institute on Politics & Public Service, an unaffiliated nonprofit organization at San Francisco State University. It trains students for careers in municipal, county and regional governments. The center will be one of the first to focus on local government in the country. Brown gave its library a collection of his artifacts, videotapes and legislative papers from his 40 years in public office. He is also planning to mentor students, teach a course on leadership, and recruit guest speakers.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: On February 5, 2008, Simon & Schuster released Brown's hardcover autobiography, "Basic Brown: My Life and Our Times", with collaborator P. J. Corkery. The book release coincided with California's Democratic presidential primary on the same day. On July 20, 2008, Brown began writing a column for the "San Francisco Chronicle", a move that drew the ire of some "Chronicle" staff members and ethicists for the failure to disclose multiple conflicts of interest.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: In 2009, Brown was defending general construction contractor Monica Ung of Alamo, California. Accused of flouting labor laws and defrauding immigrant construction workers of their wages from laboring on Oakland municipal construction projects, Ung was arraigned on dozens of felony fraud charges on August 24, 2009, in Alameda County Superior Court. Brown's decision to defend Ung angered many in the East Bay's labor community.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: In September 2013, the western span of the Bay Bridge was officially named for Brown. In early 2015, he was named to the board of directors of the San Francisco-based biopharmaceutical company Global Blood Therapeutics.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Brown has often been associated with former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who served for seven years after the end of Brown's mayoralty. In retirement, Brown continued to participate in fundraising for and advising other politicians.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: In late 2012, Brown became the regulatory lawyer for Wingz, a ride-sharing service. In that capacity, he represented the company before the California Public Utilities Commission, which was creating new regulations to legalize the ability of transportation network companies to operate ridesharing services in California.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: As mayor, Brown was often portrayed mockingly but affectionately by political cartoonists and columnists as a vain emperor, presiding in a robe and crown over the kingdom of San Francisco. He enjoyed the attention this brought to his personal life, disarming friends and critics with humor that directed attention away from the policy agendas he was pursuing.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Brown's flamboyant style made him so well known as the consummate politician that when an actor playing a party politician in 1990's "The Godfather Part III" did not understand director Francis Ford Coppola's instruction to model his character after Brown, Coppola fired the actor and hired Brown himself to play the role. Brown later appeared in 2000's "Just One Night" as a judge. He also played himself in two Disney films, "George of the Jungle" and "The Princess Diaries", and in the 2003 film "Hulk" as the mayor of San Francisco. He appeared as himself, alongside Geraldo Rivera, in an episode of "Nash Bridges". He also made a cameo appearance in the 1984 Jefferson Starship music video "Layin' It on the Line" (depicting a futuristic 1988 presidential campaign).


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Brown was criticized in 1996 for his comments that 49ers backup quarterback Elvis Grbac was "an embarrassment to humankind." He was criticized in 1997 for responding to Golden State Warriors player Latrell Sprewell choking his coach P. J. Carlesimo by saying, "his boss may have needed choking."


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: In 1998, Brown contacted the Japanese television cooking competition Iron Chef, suggesting San Franciscan Chef Ron Siegel to battle one of the Iron Chefs. Brown appeared on the telecast himself, enthusiastically promoting the Chef. Siegel won the battle, in a rare clean sweep against Iron Chef Hiroyuki Sakai.


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: Brown remained neutral in the 2008 presidential campaign. He has worked as a radio talk show host and a pundit on local and national political television shows and is seen as attempting to build credibility by abstaining from endorsing candidates for office. "I've never been high on endorsements," Brown said. "When you get one, all it does is keep the other guy from getting one. Really, what did getting John Kerry's endorsement do to help Barack Obama?"


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: In September 1958, Brown married Blanche Vitero, with whom he had three children. He has four grandchildren and a step-granddaughter. According to a 1984 "New York Times" article, Brown and Vitero separated amicably in 1982. James Richardson, a reporter for "The Sacramento Bee", said of Brown, “The measure of his flamboyance is he'll go to a party with his wife on one arm and his girlfriend on the other.”


title: Willie Brown (politician)

text: From 1994 to 1995, Brown dated Kamala Harris, who worked as an Alameda County Deputy District Attorney at the time and was 30 years his junior. Their relationship gained renewed attention in early 2019 after she had become a U.S. senator and ran for president.