title: Sharmaji Namkeen

text: Seeking to overcome boredom, Sharmaji decides to venture into other hobbies, and also applies for a few jobs. After looking into Zumba classes, property brokerage, and various other small jobs, he reluctantly agrees, at the suggestion of his childhood friend Chaddha, to cook for kitty parties after an acquaintance of the latter, Manju Gulati, thanks him for a cooking job done well. During a second such party, he befriends Veena Manchanda, a boutique owner whose husband died in a car crash three years ago. He is warmly welcomed by the members of the kitty and soon caters to many occasions. At one such party, he meets Veena's dear friend Robbie Sachdeva, a politician, and he cooks for a religious meet at the latter's place.


title: Sharmaji Namkeen

text: On his birthday, Rinku invites their extended family over, and someone comes across a video of Sharmaji dancing at a kitty party. Rinku and Vincy are humiliated and furious at this and an argument ensues between the three of them, wherein Vincy reveals that Rinku is moving out and Rinku blurts out that Vincy failed his exams. Sharmaji is distraught at this but nevertheless, continues to follow his passion.


title: Sharmaji Namkeen

text: Veena and Sharmaji bond over the parties, and soon become close friends. One day, they overhear Rinku fighting with the flat builder Jain. He lies to them that all is well. That night, they meet Urmi's parents, where Sharmaji finds out that Urmi's father knows more about the flat than he does. On the way back, he confronts Rinku, who confesses that Jain is delaying the possession of the flat and that he paid 15 lakh rupees (₹ 1,500,000) as "token money" (deposit). Sharmaji is devastated to learn that his son spent so much money without even informing him, and decides to stop his catering hobby to focus more on things at home.


title: Sharmaji Namkeen

text: Rinku is informed at a municipal office that Jain has constructed the flats on illegal land, and is advised to get his token money back and get out of the deal. When Jain refuses to answer his calls, Rinku attacks the security guards at Jain's office and is arrested. Sharmaji is at a final kitty party when he gets the call from the station that his son has been arrested. He rushes to the police station with the ladies, and a comical turn of events ensues. He is put behind bars along with his son, while the ladies are made to sit in a corner. Unbeknownst to the constable, Sharmaji has a phone inside the cell. Veena communicates to Sharmaji, using hand signals, to call Robbie who uses his power as the Mayor of West Delhi to release them; while Sharmaji learns that Robbie is Veena's brother-in-law, Robbie asks Rinku to meet Jain later for retrieving his money.


title: Sharmaji Namkeen

text: While being driven back home, Rinku realizes his mistake and apologizes to his father for not being a good son. Sharmaji accepts his apology, and they all go back home.


title: Sharmaji Namkeen

text: The film received generally positive reviews from critics and audience with praise for its performances and direction.


title: Sharmaji Namkeen

text: Renuka Vyavahare of "The Times Of India" gave the film a rating of 4/5. Sukanya Verna of "Rediff" gave the film a rating of 4/5 and wrote "Sharmaji Namkeen is Rishi Kapoor's swansong and show. His cinematic memories are coloured in liveliest hues of celebration and happiness".


title: Sharmaji Namkeen

text: Bhavna Agarwal of Bollywood Bubble gave the film a rating of 4/5 and wrote "Late Rishi Kapoor and Paresh Rawal serve you a savoury and sweet story which tugs at your heartstrings. A must-watch for those who enjoy simple storytelling."


title: Sharmaji Namkeen

text: Simran Singh of "Dna India" gave the film a rating of 3.5/5 and wrote "Sharmaji Namkeen is a perfect ode to Rishi Kapoor, and this feel-good cinema is a fun-filled, emotional rollercoaster ride for the family". Shubham Kulkarni of "Koimoi" gave the film a rating of 3.5/5 and wrote "It marks the end of an era of Indian cinema and maybe the beginning of many good things". Prateek Sur of "Outlook India" gave the film a rating of 3.5/5 and wrote "Actor Rishi Kapoor's last film is a sweet and simple tale about parents after their retirement". Pratikshya Mishra of "The Quint" gave the film a rating of 3.5/5 and stated "'Sharmaji Namkeen' is a fitting send off to Rishi Kapoor's skill and stature". Saibal Chatterjee of "NDTV" gave the film a rating of 3/5 and wrote "In what is obviously an unusual experiment, Paresh Rawal steps into the breach in several key scenes, including the crucial climactic ones". Sanjana Jadhav of "Pinkvilla" gave the film a rating of 3/5 and wrote "Sharmaji Namkeen is strictly a few laughs with its heart in the right place". Anna MM Vetticad of "Firstpost" gave the film a rating of 3/5 and wrote "The single-role-divided-between-two-actors experiment is perfectly sewed by the naturalism in Hitesh Bhatia's storytelling, and the decision not to overtly manipulate our emotions either". Taran Adarsh of "Bollywood Hungama" gave the film a rating of 3/5 and wrote "Despite its shortcomings, SHARMAJI NAMKEEN is a heartwarming film and will leave viewers smiling".


title: Sharmaji Namkeen

text: Shubhra Gupta of "Indian Express" gave the film a rating of 2.5/5 and wrote "Rishi Kapoor is truly namkeen in this film, showing us how it is done, light on his feet, light in his eyes, a will to live. Jeena isi ka naam hai". Tushar Joshi of "India Today" stated "The story of Sharmaji Namkeen, Rishi Kapoor's last film, is not new but is a reminder that we've lost a terrific actor". Monika Rawal Kukreja of "Hindustan Times" stated "Rishi Kapoor and Paresh Rawal seamlessly share the story of an endearing retiree".


title: Dear John letter

text: A Dear John letter is a letter written to a man by his wife or romantic partner to inform him that their relationship is over, usually because his partner has found another lover. The man is often a member of the military stationed overseas, although the letter may be used in other ways, including being left for him to discover when he returns from work to an emptied house. It is usually sent after time-away on holiday.


title: Dear John letter

text: While the exact origins of the phrase are unknown, the most likely origin dates back to the 1862 poem "No, thank you, John" by the Victorian poet Christina Rossetti. More specifically, the female protagonist Alice Vavasor in Anthony Trollope's 1864 novel "Can You Forgive Her?" composes just such a letter to her soon to be spurned lover John Grey. It is commonly believed to have been coined by Americans during World War II. "John" was the most popular and common baby name for boys in America every single year from 1880 through 1923, making it a reasonable placeholder name when denoting those of age for military service. Large numbers of American troops were stationed overseas for many months or years, and as time passed many of their wives or girlfriends decided to begin relationships with new men, rather than to wait for the soldiers to return.


title: Dear John letter

text: As letters to servicemen from wives or girlfriends back home would typically contain affectionate language (such as "Dear Johnny", "My dearest John", or simply "Darling"), a serviceman receiving a note beginning with a curt "Dear John" would instantly be aware of the letter's purpose.


title: Dear John letter

text: An early reference to Dear John letters was made in a United Press article of March 21, 1944. It has been claimed that the Vietnam War inspired more Dear John letters than any other U.S. conflict. Later, this type of letter formed the background to the British television show "Dear John", and the American sitcom of the same name.


title: Dear John letter

text: When written to a female lover, the letter is referred to as a "Dear Jane" letter in contemporary usage. The changing role of women in the US armed forces created, during the Iraq War, the possibility of female soldiers being posted overseas for extensive periods while their partners were left behind.


title: Frisbee

text: A frisbee (pronounced ), also called a flying disc or simply a disc, is a gliding toy or sporting item that is generally made of injection-molded plastic and roughly in diameter with a pronounced lip. It is used recreationally and competitively for throwing and catching, as in flying disc games. The shape of the disc is an airfoil in cross-section which allows it to fly by reducing the drag and increasing lift as it moves through the air, compared to a flat plate. Spinning the disc imparts a stabilizing gyroscopic force, allowing it to be both aimed with accuracy and thrown for distance.


title: Frisbee

text: A wide range is available of flying disc variants. Those for disc golf are usually smaller but denser and tailored for particular flight profiles to increase or decrease stability and distance. The longest recorded disc throw is by David Wiggins Jr. with a distance of . Disc dog sports use relatively slow-flying discs made of more pliable material to better resist a dog's bite and prevent injury to the dog. Flying rings are also available which typically travel significantly farther than any traditional flying disc. Illuminated discs are made of phosphorescent plastic or contain chemiluminescent fluid or battery-powered LEDs for play after dark. Others whistle when they reach a certain velocity in flight.


title: Frisbee

text: The term "frisbee" is often used generically to describe all flying discs, but Frisbee is a registered trademark of the Wham-O toy company. This protection results in organized sports such as ultimate or disc golf having to forgo use of the word "Frisbee".


title: Frisbee

text: Walter Frederick Morrison and his future wife Lucile had fun tossing a popcorn can lid after a Thanksgiving Day dinner in 1937. They soon discovered a market for a light-duty flying disc when they were offered 25 cents for a cake pan that they were tossing back and forth on a beach near Los Angeles, California, United States. "That got the wheels turning, because you could buy a cake pan for five cents, and if people on the beach were willing to pay a quarter for it, well—there was a business," Morrison told "The Virginian-Pilot" newspaper in 2007.


title: Frisbee

text: The Morrisons continued their business until World War II, when Walter served in the Army Air Force flying P-47s, and then was a prisoner of war. After the war, Morrison sketched a design for an aerodynamically improved flying disc that he called the Whirlo-Way, after the famous racehorse. He and business partner Warren Franscioni began producing the first plastic discs by 1948, after design modifications and experimentation with several prototypes. They renamed them the Flyin' Saucer in the wake of reported unidentified flying object sightings.


title: Frisbee

text: "We worked fairs, demonstrating it," Morrison told the "Virginian-Pilot". The two of them once overheard someone saying that the pair were using wires to make the discs hover, so they developed a sales pitch: "The Flyin' Saucer is free, but the invisible wire is $1." "That's where we learned we could sell these things," he said, because people were enthusiastic about them.


title: Frisbee

text: Morrison and Franscioni ended their partnership in early 1950, and Morrison formed his own company in 1954 called American Trends to buy and sell Flyin' Saucers, which were being made of a flexible polypropylene plastic by Southern California Plastics, the original molder. He discovered that he could produce his own disc more cheaply, and he designed a new model in 1955 called the Pluto Platter, the archetype of all modern flying discs. He sold the rights to Wham-O on January 23, 1957. In 1958, Morrison was awarded U.S. Design Patent for his product.


title: Frisbee

text: In June 1957, Wham-O co-founders Richard Knerr and Arthur "Spud" Melin gave the disc the brand name "Frisbee" after learning that college students were calling the Pluto Platter by that term, which was derived from the Connecticut-based pie manufacturer Frisbie Pie Company, a supplier of pies to Yale University, where students had started a campus craze tossing empty pie tins stamped with the company's logo—the way that Morrison and his wife had in 1937.


title: Frisbee

text: In November 1957, in what may be the first rock musical ever performed, "Anything & Everything", written by visionary pioneer of information technology Ted Nelson (Theodor H. Nelson) when he was a junior at Swarthmore College (with


title: Frisbee

text: Richard L. Capian), the game of Frisbee (spelled Frisby) is described (perhaps for the first time that the frisbee appeared in a formal manuscript) in the song "Friz Me the Frisby,” as a frisbee was passed among stooges in the audience. The scene was expressly intended as a way to introduce the game to the audience.


title: Frisbee

text: The man behind the Frisbee's success, however, was the Southern Californian Ed Headrick, hired in 1964 as Wham-O's general manager and vice president of marketing. Headrick redesigned the Pluto Platter by reworking the mold, mainly to remove the names of the planets, but fortuitously increasing the rim thickness and mass in the process, creating a more controllable disc that could be thrown more accurately.


title: Frisbee

text: Wham-O changed their marketing strategy to promote Frisbee use as a new sport, and sales increased. In 1964, the first professional model went on sale. Headrick patented its design; it featured raised ridges (the "Rings of Headrick") that were claimed to stabilize flight.


title: Frisbee

text: Headrick became known as the father of Frisbee sports; he founded the International Frisbee Association and appointed Dan Roddick as its head. Roddick began establishing North American Series (NAS) tournament standards for various Frisbee sports, such as Freestyle, Guts, Double Disc Court, and overall events. Headrick later helped to develop the sport of disc golf, which was first played with Frisbees and later with more aerodynamic beveled-rim discs, by inventing standardized targets called "pole holes." When Headrick died, he was cremated, and his ashes were molded into memorial discs and given to family and close friends and sold to benefit The Ed Headrick Memorial Museum.


title: Frisbee

text: The IFT guts competitions in Northern Michigan, the Canadian Open Frisbee Championships (1972), Toronto, Ontario, the Vancouver Open Frisbee Championships (1974), Vancouver, British Columbia, the Octad (1974), New Jersey, the American Flying Disc Open (1974), Rochester, New York, and the World Frisbee Championships (1974), Pasadena, California, are the earliest Frisbee competitions that presented the Frisbee as a new disc sport. Before these tournaments, the Frisbee was considered a toy and used for recreation.


title: Frisbee

text: Double disc court was invented and introduced in 1974 by Jim Palmeri, a sport played with two flying discs and two teams of two players. Each team defends its court and tries to land a flying disc in the opposing court.


title: Frisbee

text: Dogs and their human flying disc throwers compete in events such as distance catching and somewhat choreographed freestyle catching.


title: Frisbee

text: This is a precision and accuracy sport in which individual players throw a flying disc at a target pole hole. In 1926, In Bladworth, Saskatchewan, Canada, Ronald Gibson and a group of his Bladworth Elementary school chums played a game using metal lids, they called "Tin Lid Golf". In 1976, the game of disc golf was standardized with targets called "pole holes" invented and developed by Wham-O's Ed Headrick.


title: Frisbee

text: In 1974, freestyle competition was created and introduced by Ken Westerfield and Discraft's Jim Kenner. Teams of two or three players are judged as they perform a routine that consists of a series of creative throwing and catching techniques set to music.


title: Frisbee

text: A half-court disc game derived from ultimate, similar to hot box. The object is to advance the disc on the field of play by passing, and score points by throwing the flying disc to a teammate in a small scoring area.


title: Frisbee

text: The game of guts was invented by the Healy Brothers in the 1950s and developed at the International Frisbee Tournament (IFT) in Eagle Harbor, Michigan. Two teams of one to five team members stand in parallel lines facing each other across a court and throw flying discs at members of the opposing team.


title: Frisbee

text: A patented game scoring points by throwing and deflecting the flying disc and hitting or entering the goal. The game ends when a team scores exactly 21 points or "chogs" the disc for an instant win.


title: Frisbee

text: The most widely played disc game began in the late 1960s with Joel Silver and Jared Kass. In the 1970s, it developed as an organized sport with the creation of the Ultimate Players Association by Dan Roddick, Tom Kennedy and Irv Kalb. The object of the game is to advance the disc and score points by eventually passing the disc to a team member in the opposing team's end zone. Players may not run while holding the disc.


title: BMW Z

text: The BMW Z models are a line of roadsters manufactured by German automaker BMW. The Z stands for "zukunft" (German for "future"), and has been produced in four different series with six generations consisting of roadster, coupé, sports car, and concept variants.


title: BMW Z

text: The introduction of the M Coupé and M Roadster in the Z3 line marked the first of the Z series to have a high-performance BMW M variant. The first generation Z4 also continued to offer M Coupé and M Roadster variants. The current Z4 (G29) uses BMW's (B58B30) inline-six, its platform is the basis for the current Toyota Supra.


title: BMW Z

text: The BMW Z1 is a two-seat roadster developed by BMW and was produced from March 1989 to June 1991. It was based on the E30 3 Series platform. The Z1 featured unusual doors which, instead of opening outward or upward, dropped into the door sills and had body panels which could easily be removed and replaced; the car could be driven with its body panels removed. Only 8,000 examples of the Z1 were produced.


title: BMW Z

text: The Z3 was the first modern mass-market roadster produced by BMW. It was introduced for the 1996 model year shortly after being featured in the James Bond movie "GoldenEye". More than 15,000 were sold by the time the car was introduced. The Z3 underwent a facelift in 1999 with the introduction of a coupé bodystyle and featured revised styling, before the end of its production run in 2002. The coupé had controversial styling and was nicknamed as "clown shoe". It was manufactured and assembled in Spartanburg, South Carolina.


title: BMW Z

text: The Z8 was produced from 2000 to 2003 and was the production variant of the 1997 Z07 concept car, which was designed by Danish Henrik Fisker at BMW's DesignworksUSA. The Z07 originally was designed as a styling exercise to celebrate the 507 roadster of the 1950s, but the overwhelming popularity of the concept spurred BMW's decision to produce a limited production model called the Z8. 5,703 cars were built, approximately half of which were exported to the United States.


title: BMW Z

text: The first-generation BMW Z4 was known as the E85 in roadster form and E86 in coupé form. It was designed by Danish BMW-designer Anders Warming.


title: BMW Z

text: The Z4's design addressed many criticisms of the preceding Z3; it was larger and featured a significantly stiffer chassis. The Z4 was initially only available as a roadster, but a coupé version was officially launched in 2006. The last model rolled off the assembly line on 27 August 2008 at the Spartanburg plant.


title: BMW Z

text: The second-generation Z4 was announced on 13 December 2008 and debuted at the 2009 North American International Auto Show in Detroit the following month. It is the first Z Series model to use a retractable hardtop and meant that there were no longer separate roadster and coupé versions of the car. The top is made of a two-piece lightweight aluminium shell and takes 20 seconds to operate. Manufacturing was moved from Spartanburg, United States to Regensburg, Germany.


title: BMW Z

text: The G29 Z4 is the third and current generation Z4 and was unveiled at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance on 23 August 2018. It reuses the soft-top convertible roof found on the E85 Z4 instead of a retractable hardtop which now takes 10 seconds for operation. The G29 Z4 shares its platform with the J29 Toyota Supra and are manufactured in the same plant in Austria.


title: BMW Z

text: The BMW Z9 (or Z9 Gran Turismo) is a concept coupé introduced at the 1999 Frankfurt Auto Show, with a convertible variant later unveiled at the 2000 Paris Auto Show. The vehicle features unique gull-wing doors that also opened like a conventional hinged door and innovations such as an early concept of BMW's iDrive system, called the Intuitive Interaction Concept, were incorporated into other production vehicles. Much of the styling found on the E63 6 Series is also derived from the Z9.


title: The City of God

text: On the City of God Against the Pagans (), often called The City of God, is a book of Christian philosophy written in Latin by Augustine of Hippo in the early 5th century AD. The book was in response to allegations that Christianity brought about the decline of Rome and is considered one of Augustine's most important works, standing alongside "The Confessions", "The Enchiridion", "On Christian Doctrine", and "On the Trinity". As a work of one of the most influential Church Fathers, "The City of God" is a cornerstone of Western thought, expounding on many questions of theology, such as the suffering of the righteous, the existence of evil, the conflict between free will and divine omniscience, and the doctrine of original sin.


title: The City of God

text: The sack of Rome by the Visigoths in 410 left Romans in a deep state of shock, and many Romans saw it as punishment for abandoning traditional Roman religion in favor of Christianity. In response to these accusations, and in order to console Christians, Augustine wrote "The City of God" as an argument for the truth of Christianity over competing religions and philosophies. He argues that Christianity was not responsible for the Sack of Rome but instead responsible for Rome's success. Even if the earthly rule of the Empire was imperiled, it was the City of God that would ultimately triumph. Augustine's focus was Heaven, a theme of many Christian works of Late Antiquity. Despite Christianity's designation as the official religion of the Empire, Augustine declared its message to be spiritual rather than political. Christianity, he argued, should be concerned with the mystical, heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, rather than with earthly politics.


title: The City of God

text: The book presents human history as a conflict between what Augustine calls the Earthly City (often colloquially referred to as the City of Man, but never by Augustine) and the City of God, a conflict that is destined to end in victory for the latter. The City of God is marked by people who forgo earthly pleasure to dedicate themselves to the eternal truths of God, now revealed fully in the Christian faith. The Earthly City, on the other hand, consists of people who have immersed themselves in the cares and pleasures of the present, passing world.


title: The City of God

text: Augustine's thesis depicts the history of the world as universal warfare between God and the Devil. This metaphysical war is not limited by time but only by geography on Earth. In this war, God moves (by divine intervention, Providence) those governments, political/ideological movements and military forces aligned (or aligned the most) with the Catholic Church (the City of God) in order to oppose by all means—including military—those governments, political/ideological movements and military forces aligned (or aligned the most) with the Devil (the City of the World).


title: The City of God

text: This concept of world history guided by Divine Providence in a universal war between God and the Devil is part of the official doctrine of the Catholic Church as most recently stated in the Second Vatican Council's document: "The Church ... holds that in her most benign Lord and Master can be found the key, the focal point and the goal of man, as well as of all human history ... all of human life, whether individual or collective, shows itself to be a dramatic struggle between good and evil, between light and darkness ... The Lord is the goal of human history the focal point of the longings of history and of civilization, the center of the human race, the joy of every heart and the answer to all its yearnings."


title: Andrew Walker (actor)

text: Andrew William Walker (born June 9, 1979) is a Canadian actor and film producer. He made his film debut in "Laserhawk" (1997), followed by roles in American television series such as "Maybe It's Me", "Sabrina the Teenage Witch", and "Hot Properties". He also co-starred in "Steel Toes" (2006), which earned him an ACTRA Award for Best Actor in 2008. He subsequently appeared in films such as "The Mountie" and "The Gundown", and had a starring role on the Lifetime cop drama "Against the Wall".


title: Andrew Walker (actor)

text: Andrew William Walker was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the son of Joyce Walker, a librarian, and Bruce Walker, a school administrator. His sister is actress and model Jenimay Walker. He is a graduate of Vanier College, where he played football and was given a full scholarship to play at Boston College. After his commitment to BC, he returned home to spring camp at Vanier and tore his anterior cruciate ligament during a routine drill, thus ending his football career.


title: Andrew Walker (actor)

text: He is married to fellow Montrealer Cassandra Troy. Together they have two sons: West, born July 2015, and Wolf, born December 2019. In 2013, the couple, along with a friend, started Clover, a company that bottles fresh, cold-pressed juices, with locations in the Los Angeles area. In 2018, the couple rebranded their juice company, naming it Little West after their love of the west coast and their son, West.


title: Andrew Walker (actor)

text: Walker started his acting career in Montreal as a recurring lead on the series "Student Bodies" in 1996-1997, a series lead on "Back to Sherwood" and then "Radio Active" from 1998-2000. A month after he arrived in Hollywood he booked a series lead on the TV show "Maybe It's Me", then "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch". Following a holding deal at Warner Bros., he worked on "Wicked Minds", "Adopted", "Lies and Deception" and then landed a recurring spot on the short-lived ABC sitcom "Hot Properties".


title: Andrew Walker (actor)

text: In 2006, he played a Neo-Nazi skinhead in the film "Steel Toes". His performance won him a 2006 Phillip Borsos award at the Whistler Film Festival and the 2008 ACTRA Award for Best Actor.


title: Andrew Walker (actor)

text: Walker appeared in the 2007 Lifetime film "Abducted: Fugitive For Love". He went on to guest-star on "ER", "", "", "Without a Trace", "Reba", and "The Big Bang Theory".


title: Andrew Walker (actor)

text: In 2010, he guest-starred in the Fox comedy series "Sons of Tucson", the Spaghetti Western film "The Gundown", and was associate producer for the film "Dug Up". In 2011, Walker appeared in a Canadian western film, "The Mountie" (filmed in 2009), and produced four documentaries and reality TV series in development, also serving as a series regular on Lifetime's cop drama "Against the Wall", which was cancelled in December 2011 after thirteen episodes.


title: Andrew Walker (actor)

text: In 2012, he starred in his first Hallmark Channel movie "A Bride for Christmas" alongside Arielle Kebbel. He starred in his next Hallmark movie, "A Dream of Christmas" with Nikki DeLoach in 2016. More Hallmark TV movies followed: six more in 2017 ("Love Struck Cafe," "Dashing Through the Snow," "Appetite for Love," "Date With Love," "Love on Ice," and "Bridal Wave."), "Love in Design" in 2018, and two more in 2020. His first film after COVID-19 was "Christmas Tree Lane" with Alicia Witt. He also reunited for the third time with real-life friend Nikki DeLoach in "Sweet Autumn". As of December 2020, Walker has starred in eighteen films for the Hallmark Channel.


title: Chef Boyardee

text: Chef Boyardee is an American brand of canned pasta products sold internationally by Conagra Brands. The company was founded by Italian immigrant Ettore Boiardi in Milton, Pennsylvania, U.S., in 1928.


title: Chef Boyardee

text: After leaving his position as head chef at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, Ettore Boiardi opened a restaurant called Il Giardino d'Italia in 1924 at East 9th Street and Woodland Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. The idea for Chef Boiardi came about when restaurant customers began asking Boiardi for his spaghetti sauce, which he began to distribute in milk bottles. Four years later, in 1928, Boiardi opened a factory and moved production to Milton, Pennsylvania, where he could grow his own tomatoes and mushrooms. He decided to anglicize the name of his product to "Boy-Ar-Dee" to help Americans pronounce his name correctly. The first product to be sold was a "ready-to-heat spaghetti kit" in 1928. The kit included uncooked pasta, tomato sauce, and a container of pre-grated cheese.


title: Chef Boyardee

text: The U.S. military commissioned the company during World War II for the production of army rations, requiring the factory to run 24 hours a day. At its peak, the company employed approximately 5,000 workers and produced 250,000 cans per day. After the war ended, Boiardi had to choose between selling the company or laying off everyone he had hired. He sold the company to American Home Foods in 1946 for nearly $6 million, and remained as a spokesman and consultant for the brand until 1978. American Home Foods turned its food division into International Home Foods in 1996. Four years later, International Home Foods was purchased by ConAgra Foods, which continues to produce Chef Boyardee canned pastas bearing Boiardi's likeness.


title: Chef Boyardee

text: In 2018, Barbara Lippert of "Advertising Age" compared the 1966 Young & Rubicam ad for Beefaroni to "The 400 Blows" and running of the bulls. The ad features a large group of children running through Venice singing, "Hooray...for Beefaroni!" Lippert believed the ad influenced other famous commercials such as Prince Spaghetti (known for "Anthony! Anthony!") and "Hilltop" for Coca-Cola.


title: Chef Boyardee

text: Chef Boyardee is one of the only brands to request to be removed from an episode of "Seinfeld". In the episode "The Rye", Kramer is allowed to operate a Hansom cab for a week, and feeds the horse excess cans of Beefaroni, which causes frequent and foul smelling flatulence. As a result of the request, the name was changed to "Beef-a-reeno".


title: Chef Boyardee

text: In 2015, a class-action lawsuit was brought against the Chef Boyardee company. The lawsuit alleged false advertisement on the part of Chef Boyardee. Their product labels stated that they contained no preservatives, yet they contained citric acid. The plaintiff who filed the class-action lawsuit was demanding more than $5 million in damages. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2016.


title: Common kingfisher

text: The common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis), also known as the Eurasian kingfisher and river kingfisher, is a small kingfisher with seven subspecies recognized within its wide distribution across Eurasia and North Africa. It is resident in much of its range, but migrates from areas where rivers freeze in winter.


title: Common kingfisher

text: This sparrow-sized bird has the typical short-tailed, large-headed kingfisher profile; it has blue upperparts, orange underparts and a long bill. It feeds mainly on fish, caught by diving, and has special visual adaptations to enable it to see prey under water. The glossy white eggs are laid in a nest at the end of a burrow in a riverbank.


title: Common kingfisher

text: The common kingfisher was first described by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his "Systema Naturae" in 1758 as "Gracula atthis". The modern binomial name derives from the Latin ', 'kingfisher' (from Greek , '), and "Atthis", a beautiful young woman of Lesbos, and favourite of Sappho.


title: Common kingfisher

text: The genus "Alcedo" comprises seven small kingfishers that all eat fish as part of their diet. The common kingfisher's closest relative is the cerulean kingfisher that has white underparts and is found in parts of Indonesia.


title: Common kingfisher

text: This species has the typical short-tailed, dumpy-bodied, large-headed, and long-billed kingfisher shape. The adult male of the western European subspecies, "A. a. ispida" has green-blue upperparts with pale azure-blue back and rump, a rufous patch by the bill base, and a rufous ear-patch. It has a green-blue neck stripe, white neck blaze and throat, rufous underparts, and a black bill with some red at the base. The legs and feet are bright red. It is about long with a wingspan of , and weighs . The female is identical in appearance to the male except that her lower mandible is orange-red with a black tip. The juvenile is similar to the adult, but with duller and greener upperparts and paler underparts. Its bill is black, and the legs are also initially black. Feathers are moulted gradually between July and November with the main flight feathers taking 90–100 days to moult and regrow. Some that moult late may suspend their moult during cold winter weather.


title: Common kingfisher

text: The flight of the kingfisher is fast, direct and usually low over water. The short, rounded wings whirr rapidly, and a bird flying away shows an electric-blue "flash" down its back.


title: Common kingfisher

text: In North Africa, Europe and Asia north of the Himalayas, this is the only small blue kingfisher. In south and southeast Asia, it can be confused with six other small blue-and-rufous kingfishers, but the rufous ear patches distinguish it from all but juvenile blue-eared kingfishers; details of the head pattern may be necessary to differentiate the two species where both occur.


title: Common kingfisher

text: The common kingfisher has no song. The flight call is a short, sharp whistle "chee" repeated two or three times. Anxious birds emit a harsh, "shrit-it-it" and nestlings call for food with a churring noise.


title: Common kingfisher

text: There are seven subspecies differing in the hue of the upperparts and the intensity of the rufous colour of the underparts; size varies across the subspecies by up to 10%. The races resident south of the Wallace Line have the bluest upperparts and partly blue ear-patches.


title: Common kingfisher

text: The common kingfisher is widely distributed over Europe, Asia, and North Africa, mainly south of 60°N. It is a common breeding species over much of its vast Eurasian range, but in North Africa it is mainly a winter visitor, although it is a scarce breeding resident in coastal Morocco and Tunisia. In temperate regions, this kingfisher inhabits clear, slow-flowing streams and rivers, and lakes with well-vegetated banks. It frequents scrubs and bushes with overhanging branches close to shallow open water in which it hunts. In winter it is more coastal, often feeding in estuaries or harbours and along rocky seashores. Tropical populations are found by slow-flowing rivers, in mangrove creeks and in swamps.


title: Common kingfisher

text: Common kingfishers are important members of ecosystems and good indicators of freshwater community health. The highest densities of breeding birds are found in habitats with clear water, which permits optimal prey visibility, and trees or shrubs on the banks. These habitats have also the highest quality of water, so the presence of this bird confirms the standard of the water. Measures to improve water flow can disrupt this habitat, and in particular, the replacement of natural banks by artificial confinement greatly reduces the populations of fish, amphibians and aquatic reptiles, and waterside birds are lost. It can tolerate a certain degree of urbanisation, provided the water remains clean.


title: Common kingfisher

text: This species is resident in areas where the climate is mild year-round, but must migrate after breeding from regions with prolonged freezing conditions in winter. Most birds winter within the southern parts of the breeding range, but smaller numbers cross the Mediterranean into Africa or travel over the mountains of Malaysia into Southeast Asia. Kingfishers migrate mainly at night, and some Siberian breeders must travel at least between the breeding sites and the wintering areas.


title: Common kingfisher

text: Like all kingfishers, the common kingfisher is highly territorial; since it must eat around 60% of its body weight each day, it is essential to have control of a suitable stretch of river. It is solitary for most of the year, roosting alone in heavy cover. If another kingfisher enters its territory, both birds display from perches, and fights may occur, in which a bird will grab the other's beak and try to hold it underwater. Pairs form in the autumn but each bird retains a separate territory, generally at least long, but up to and territories are not merged until the spring.


title: Common kingfisher

text: The courtship is initiated by the male chasing the female while calling continually, and later by ritual feeding, with copulation usually following.


title: Common kingfisher

text: The nest is in a burrow excavated by both birds of the pair in a low vertical riverbank, or sometimes a quarry or other cutting. The straight, gently inclining burrow is normally long and ends in an enlarged chamber. The nest cavity is unlined but soon accumulates a litter of fish remains and cast pellets.


title: Common kingfisher

text: The common kingfisher typically lays two to ten glossy white eggs, which average in breadth, in length, and weigh about , of which 5% is shell. Both sexes incubate by day, but only the female incubates at night. An incubating bird sits trance-like, facing the tunnel; it invariably casts a pellet, breaking it up with the bill. The eggs hatch in 19–20 days, one or two eggs in most clutches fail to do so because the parent cannot cover them prior. The altricial young are in the nest for a further 24–25 days, often more. Once large enough, young birds will come to the burrow entrance to be fed. Two broods, sometimes three, may be reared in a season.


title: Common kingfisher

text: The early days for fledged juveniles are more hazardous; during its first dives into the water, about four days after leaving the nest, a fledgling may become waterlogged and drown. Many young will not have learned to fish by the time they are driven out of their parents' territory, and only about half survive more than a week or two. Most kingfishers die of cold or lack of food, and a severe winter can kill a high percentage of the birds. Summer floods can destroy nests or make fishing difficult, resulting in starvation of the brood. Only a quarter of the young survive to breed the following year, but this is enough to maintain the population. Likewise, only a quarter of adult birds survive from one breeding season to the next. Very few birds live longer than one breeding season. The oldest bird on record was 21 years.


title: Common kingfisher

text: Other causes of death are cats, rats, collisions with vehicles and windows, and human disturbance of nesting birds, including riverbank works with heavy machinery. Since kingfishers are high up in the food chain, they are vulnerable to build-up of chemicals, and river pollution by industrial and agricultural products excludes the birds from many stretches of otherwise suitable rivers that would be habitats.


title: Common kingfisher

text: This species was killed in Victorian times for stuffing and display in glass cases and use in hat making. English naturalist William Yarrell also reported the country practice of killing a kingfisher and hanging it from a thread in the belief that it would swing to predict the direction in which the wind would blow. Persecution by anglers and to provide feathers for fishing flies were common in earlier decades, but are now largely a thing of the past.


title: Common kingfisher

text: The common kingfisher hunts from a perch above the water, on a branch, post or riverbank, bill pointing down as it searches for prey. It bobs its head when food is detected to gauge the distance and plunges steeply down to seize its prey usually no deeper than below the surface. The wings are opened underwater and the open eyes are protected by the transparent third eyelid. The bird rises beak-first from the surface and flies back to its perch. At the perch the fish is adjusted until it is held near its tail and beaten against the perch several times. Once dead, the fish is positioned lengthways and swallowed head-first. A few times each day, a small greyish pellet of fish bones and other indigestible remains is regurgitated.


title: Common kingfisher

text: The food is mainly fish up to long, but the average size is . In Central Europe, 97% of the diet was found to be composed of fish ranging in size from 2 to 10 cm with an average of 6.5 cm (body mass range from <0.1 g to >10 g, average 3 g). Minnows, sticklebacks, small roach and trout are typical prey. About 60% of food items are fish, but this kingfisher also catches aquatic insects such as dragonfly larvae and water beetles, and, in winter, crustaceans including freshwater shrimps. In Central Europe, however, fish represented 99.9% of the diet (data from rivers, streams, and reservoirs from years 1999 to 2013). Common kingfishers have also been observed to catch lamprey. One study found that food provisioning rate increased with brood size, from 1498 g (505 fishes for four nestlings) to 2968 g (894 fishes for eight nestlings). During the fledging period each chick consumed on average 334 g of fish, which resulted in an estimated daily food intake of 37% of the chick's body mass (average over the entire nestling period). The average daily energy intake was 73.5 kJ per chick (i.e., 1837 kJ per 25 days of the fledging period).


title: Common kingfisher

text: A challenge for any diving bird is the change in refraction between air and water. The eyes of many birds have two foveae (the fovea is the area of the retina with the greatest density of light receptors), and a kingfisher can switch from the main central fovea to the auxiliary fovea when it enters water; a retinal streak of high receptor density which connects the two foveae allows the image to swing temporally as the bird drops onto the prey. The egg-shaped lens of the eye points towards the auxiliary fovea, enabling the bird to maintain visual acuity underwater. Because of the positions of the foveae, the kingfisher has monocular vision in air, and binocular vision in water. The underwater vision is not as a sharp as in air, but the ability to judge the distance of moving prey is more important than the sharpness of the image.


title: Common kingfisher

text: Each cone cell of a bird's retina contains an oil droplet that may contain carotenoid pigments. These droplets enhance color vision and reduce glare. Aquatic kingfishers have high numbers of red pigments in their oil droplets; the reason red droplets predominate is not understood, but the droplets may help with the glare or the dispersion of light from particulate matter in the water.


title: Common kingfisher

text: This species has a large range, with an estimated global extent of occurrence of . It has a large population, including an estimated 160,000–320,000 individuals in Europe alone. Global population trends have not been quantified, but populations appear to be stable so the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as "least concern".


title: Hugh Dillon

text: Hugh Dillon (born May 31, 1963) is a Canadian singer and actor who is the lead vocalist of rock band Headstones. He is also a film and television actor; his notable roles include Mike Sweeney in "Durham County," Ed Lane in "Flashpoint" and Sheriff Donnie Haskell in "Yellowstone." He is also the co-creator, executive producer and series regular of the Paramount+ series "Mayor of Kingstown."


title: Hugh Dillon

text: Dillon was born and grew up in Kingston, Ontario. Dillon grew up living on the same street as future NHL star Doug Gilmour and would play hockey with him on the frozen swamp in their neighbourhood. Dillon also played hockey with Paul Langlois, future guitarist of The Tragically Hip. Dillon attended the Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute at the same time that David Usher and members of The Tragically Hip such as Gord Downie attended the school. After high school, Dillon briefly attended Queen's University and lived in London, England, before moving to Toronto and now divides his time between there and Los Angeles.


title: Hugh Dillon

text: Dillon is the lead singer for rock band Headstones. Formed in 1987, the band's debut album "Picture of Health" was released in 1993 and featured the singles "When Something Stands For Nothing", "Cemetery", "Tweeter and the Monkey Man" and "Three Angels". The album was met with critical acclaim and commercial success, being certified platinum in Canada for selling in excess of 100,000 copies. In a recording career that has spanned three decades, the band has released ten studio albums and numerous chart-topping singles.


title: Hugh Dillon

text: After the Headstones broke up in 2003, Dillon formed the band Hugh Dillon Redemption Choir, an indie rock band whose style draws from country, pop, punk and new wave influences. Band members were guitarist J.P. Polsoni, Chris Osti on bass, keyboardist Ben Kobayashi, and percussionist Derek Downham. The band released an album, "The High Co$t of Low Living", in 2005 through The Tragically Hip guitarist Paul Langlois's Ching Music label. Dillon also released a solo album entitled "Works Well with Others" in 2009 through Ching Music.


title: Hugh Dillon

text: After their hiatus, original Headstones members (Dillon, Carr & White) reformed the band in 2011. In 2013, they crowdfunded their album, "Love + Fury," through PledgeMusic. "Love + Fury" is the band's first top 10 album, and it garnered the band a No. 1 hit single. The Headstones followed up with another crowdfunded album in 2014, "One in the Chamber Music". In 2015, "Fuck It" became the band's first-ever vinyl release.


title: Hugh Dillon

text: "Little Army" was released on Cadence Music in 2017. The album included the No. 1 hit "Devil's On Fire". In 2019, the Headstones released "Peopleskills", which yielded "Leave It All Behind" and "Horses", two No. 3 singles on the US "Billboard" charts.


title: Hugh Dillon

text: Dillon's first large-screen acting role was in director Bruce McDonald's 1995 film "Dance Me Outside". He then played a leading role as Joe Dick in McDonald's 1996 feature film, "Hard Core Logo".


title: Hugh Dillon

text: Dillon has appeared in a number of feature films, including "Lone Hero", 2005's "Assault on Precinct 13", and "". In 2007, he was nominated for a 2007 Genie Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in "". He starred opposite Vera Farmiga in the Sundance Film Festival award-winning movie, "Down to the Bone". Dillon has guest-starred on various television programs, including "The Eleventh Hour", "ReGenesis", and "". He has also created voice-overs a number of television and radio advertisements.


title: Hugh Dillon

text: Dillon starred as Mike Sweeney in the Canadian dramatic series "Durham County". His performance earned him a Gemini nomination for Best Actor in 2008; the show itself won five Gemini awards and its second season was aired on TMN and Movie Central.


title: Hugh Dillon

text: Dillon starred as Sergeant Ed Lane in the CTV/CBS police drama series "Flashpoint", set in Toronto, which ran for five seasons between 2008 and 2012. Dillon won the "Shaw Media Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role" at the Canadian Screen Awards in 2014 for his performance in the episode "Fit for Duty" on "Flashpoint".


title: Hugh Dillon

text: Dillon is the Co-creator and Executive Producer of the streaming service series Mayor of Kingstown on Paramount Plus. On August 5 via Deadline it was announced that Dillon would also become a series regular playing the role of Ian Ferguson, alongside Jeremy Renner, and he will return as Sheriff Donnie Haskell on season 4 of the cable series "Yellowstone" on Paramount, alongside Kevin Costner. He also played the role of Francis Becker on the third season of the American crime drama series, "The Killing" opposite Joel Kinnaman, simultaneously appearing on "Continuum". Dillon played a lead role for three seasons of CBC's "X Company". Dillon has also appeared in "Twin Peaks", feature film "Wind River" alongside Elizabeth Olsen and Jeremy Renner, Syfy's "The Expanse", and feature films "The Humanity Bureau" and "I Still See You."


title: Al-Khazneh

text: Al-Khazneh (; "The Treasury") is one of the most elaborate temples in Petra, a city of the Nabatean Kingdom inhabited by the Arabs in ancient times. As with most of the other buildings in this ancient town, including the Monastery (Arabic: Ad Deir), this structure was carved out of a sandstone rock face.


title: Al-Khazneh

text: The structure is believed to have been the mausoleum of the Nabatean King Aretas IV in the 1st century AD. It is one of the most popular tourist attractions in both Jordan and the region. It became known as "Al-Khazneh", or The Treasury, in the early 19th century by the area's Bedouins as they had believed it contained treasures.


title: Al-Khazneh

text: Al-Khazneh means "The Treasury" in Arabic, a name derived from legends regarding the decorative stone urn high on the second level, which in reality is solid sandstone.


title: Al-Khazneh

text: One legend is that the Egyptian Pharaoh and some of his armies escaped the closing of the Red Sea, created the Khazneh by magic as a safe place for his treasury, and continued in his pursuit of Moses. This led to the name Khazneh el-Far'oun, "Treasury of the Pharaoh".


title: Al-Khazneh

text: Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt wrote of another local legend that "ancient pharaonic treasures" were hidden in the urn. Significant damage from bullets can be seen on the urn, which the Jordanian government attributes to Bedouins who believed the legend.


title: Al-Khazneh

text: Al-Khazneh was originally built as a mausoleum and crypt at the beginning of the 1st century AD during the reign of Aretas IV Philopatris.


title: Al-Khazneh

text: Many of the building's architectural details have eroded away during the two thousand years since it was carved and sculpted from the cliff. The sculptures are thought to be those of various mythological figures associated with the afterlife. On top are figures of four eagles that would carry away the souls. The figures on the upper level are dancing Amazons with double-axes. The entrance is flanked by statues of the twins Castor and Pollux who lived partly on Olympus and partly in the underworld.


title: Al-Khazneh

text: In contrast to the elaborate facade, the interior comprises a plain main chamber and three antechambers with interior volume of around .


title: Al-Khazneh

text: In 1812, the city of Petra and Al-Khazneh was rediscovered by Swiss explorer Burckhardt. As Western Europe continued to explore the Middle East, tourism became more common, and by the 1920s, a small hotel had opened near Petra. While Petra was not as popular as larger, more central cities like Cairo, tourism started to change the economy and social structure of the Bedouin people who lived nearby.


title: Al-Khazneh

text: Tourism is now the main source of income in Jordan. Hotels, souvenir shops, restaurants and horse rental services are all found within a few-mile radius of Petra itself. While the economic effects have been largely positive, the site faces threats from the increased tourism.


title: Al-Khazneh

text: Humidity from large crowds of people visiting the site can cause damage to the dry sandstone. White spots have appeared on walls and columns from stearic acid deposition due to hands resting against the walls. The Khazneh surface itself has receded by 40 mm in less than ten years from touching, leaning, or rubbing on the walls.


title: Al-Khazneh

text: The Treasury has appeared in many Hollywood films, gaining particular fame after being featured in climactic scenes in the 1989 film "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", in which its facade is represented as the entrance to the final resting place of the Holy Grail. The interior scenes of the temple were filmed at Elstree Studios in England.


title: Al-Khazneh

text: PBS's Nova Special "Lost City of Stone" and "Ancient Megastructures: Petra", television series from PBS and National, were dedicated to the Khazneh, and to the theories of Nabatean construction techniques and engineering.


title: Al-Khazneh

text: The Treasury is also depicted in Hergé's "The Red Sea Sharks", one of the "Adventures of Tintin", "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger", Sky 1 travel series "An Idiot Abroad", The Sisters of Mercy 1988 music video for "Dominion", the history series "The Naked Archeologist", the Korean drama "Misaeng", the video game "Overwatch", and "." In the 2007 video game "Assassin's Creed", the relief where Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad confronts Robert de Sable in the Jerusalem Vault is modeled after The Treasury.


title: Al-Khazneh

text: The Treasury was spatially documented in 2012 by the non-profit research group Zamani Project, which specialises in 3D digital documentation of tangible cultural heritage. A 3D model can be viewed at zamaniproject.org. The data generated by the Zamani Project create a permanent record that can be used for research, education, restoration, and conservation.


title: LaRouche movement

text: The LaRouche movement is a political and cultural network promoting the late Lyndon LaRouche and his ideas. It has included many organizations and companies around the world, which campaign, gather information and publish books and periodicals. LaRouche-aligned organizations include the National Caucus of Labor Committees, the Schiller Institute, the Worldwide LaRouche Youth Movement and, formerly, the U.S. Labor Party. The LaRouche movement has been called "cult-like" by "The New York Times".


title: LaRouche movement

text: The movement originated within the radical leftist student politics of the 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s hundreds of candidates ran in state Democratic primaries in the United States on the 'LaRouche platform', while Lyndon LaRouche repeatedly campaigned for presidential nomination. From the mid-1970s the LaRouche network would adopt viewpoints and stances of the far-right. During its peak in the 1970s and 1980s, the LaRouche movement developed a private intelligence agency and contacts with foreign governments. In 1988, LaRouche and 25 associates were convicted on fraud charges related to fundraising. The movement called the prosecutions politically motivated.


title: LaRouche movement

text: LaRouche's widow, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, heads political and cultural groups in Germany connected with her late husband's movement. There are also parties in France, Sweden and other European countries and branches or affiliates in Australia, Canada, the Philippines and several Latin American countries. Members engage in political organizing, fund-raising, cultural events, research and writing and internal meetings.


title: LaRouche movement

text: On February 24, 2021, Zepp-LaRouche denounced the LaRouche Political Action Committee (LPAC) and its treasurer, Barbara Boyd, for going "in a direction which I consider contrary to the central policies that my husband stood for. [...] [S]ince he passed away in February 2019, Mrs. Boyd and her associates [...] have embarked on a path that I believe misrepresents both my and Mr. LaRouche's positions." and has stated that LPAC and Boyd do not represent the LaRouche movement. She has taken legal action against LPAC to "immediately cease and desist, both now and in the future" from "using Mr. LaRouche's name, likeness, and potentially other confusingly similar terms."


title: LaRouche movement

text: LaRouche-affiliated political parties have nominated many hundreds of candidates for national and regional offices in the U.S., Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Australia and France, for almost thirty years. In countries outside the U.S., the LaRouche movement maintains its own minor parties, and they have had no significant electoral success to date. In the U.S., individuals associated with the movement have successfully sought Democratic Party office in some elections, particularly Democratic County Central Committee posts, and been nominated for state and federal office as Democrats, although the party leadership has periodically voiced its disapproval.


title: LaRouche movement

text: The Schiller Institute and the International Caucus of Labor Committees (ICLC) are international organizations associated by some with the LaRouche Movement. Schiller Institute conferences have been held across the world. The ICLC is affiliated to political parties in France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Mexico, the Philippines, and several South American countries. Lyndon LaRouche, who was based in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States, and his wife, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, based in Wiesbaden, Germany, regularly attended these international conferences and met foreign politicians, bureaucrats, and academics.


title: LaRouche movement

text: According to London-based SciDev.Net, the LaRouche movement has "attracted suspicion for circulating conspiracy theories and advocating for grand infrastructure projects." The movement supports the Transaqua project to divert water from the Congo River to replenish Lake Chad.


title: LaRouche movement

text: LaRouche ran for U.S. president eight times, in every presidential election from 1976 to 2004. The first was with the U.S. Labor Party. In the next seven campaigns he ran for the Democratic Party nomination. He received federal matching funds in 2004. "See Lyndon LaRouche U.S. Presidential campaigns."


title: LaRouche movement

text: The LaRouche movement attracted media attention in the context of the 1986 Illinois gubernatorial election, when movement members Janice Hart and Mark J. Fairchild won the Democratic Primary elections for the offices of Illinois Secretary of State and Illinois Lieutenant Governor respectively. Until the day after the primary, major media outlets were reporting that George Sangmeister, Fairchild's primary opponent, was running unopposed. More than 2 decades later, Fairchild asked, "how is it possible that the major media, with all of their access to information, could possibly be mistaken in that way?" Democratic gubernatorial candidate Adlai Stevenson III was favored to win this election, having lost the previous election by a narrow margin. He refused to run on the same slate with Hart and Fairchild, forming the Solidarity Party and running with Jane Spirgel as the Secretary of State nominee. Hart and Spirgel's opponent, Republican incumbent James R. Thompson, won the election with 1.574 million votes.


title: LaRouche movement

text: After that primary Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) accused his own party of pursuing a policy of ignoring the "infiltration by the neo-Nazi elements of Lyndon H. LaRouche", and said that too often, especially in the media, "the LaRouchites" are "dismissed as kooks." "In an age of ideology, in an age of totalitarianism, it will not suffice for a political party to be indifferent to and ignorant about such a movement", said Moynihan. Moynihan had faced a primary challenge in 1982 from Mel Klenetsky, an associate of LaRouche.


title: LaRouche movement

text: In 1986 the LaRouche movement worked to place an AIDS initiative, Proposition 64, on the California ballot, which lost by a 4–1 margin. It was re-introduced in 1988 and lost again by the same margin.


title: LaRouche movement

text: Federal and state officials raided movement offices in 1986. In the ensuing trials, some leaders of the movement received prison terms for conspiracy to commit fraud, mail fraud, and tax evasion.


title: LaRouche movement

text: In 1988, Claude Jones won the chairmanship of the Harris County Democratic Party in Houston, and was stripped of his authority by the county executive committee before he could take office. He was removed from office by the state party chairman a few months later, in February 1989, because of Jones's alleged opposition to the Democratic presidential candidate, Michael Dukakis, in favor of LaRouche.


title: LaRouche movement

text: The LaRouche movement opposed the UN sanctions against Iraq in 1991 and the Gulf War in 1991. Supporters formed the "Committee to Save the Children in Iraq". LaRouche blamed the sanctions and war on "Israeli-controlled Moslem fundamentalist groups" and the "Ariel Sharon-dominated government of Israel" whose policies were "dictated by Kissinger and company, through the Hollinger Corporation, which has taken over "The Jerusalem Post" for that purpose." Left-wing anti-war groups were divided over the LaRouche movement's involvement.


title: LaRouche movement

text: In 2000, the Democratic Senatorial nominee in Wyoming, Mel Logan, was a LaRouche follower; the Republican incumbent, Craig Thomas, won in a 76–23% landslide. In 2001, a "national citizen-candidates' movement" was created, advancing candidates for a number of elective offices across the country.


title: LaRouche movement

text: In 2006, LaRouche Youth Movement activist and Los Angeles County Democratic Central Committee member Cody Jones was honored as "Democrat of the Year" for the 43rd Assembly District of California, by the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. At the April 2007 California State Democratic Convention, LYM activist Quincy O'Neal was elected vice-chairman of the California State Democratic Black Caucus, and Wynneal Innocentes was elected corresponding secretary of the Filipino Caucus.


title: LaRouche movement

text: In November 2007, Mark Fairchild returned to Illinois to promote legislation authored by LaRouche, called the "Homeowners and Bank Protection Act of 2007", establishing a moratorium on home foreclosures and establishing a new federal agency to oversee all federal and state banks. He also promoted LaRouche's plan to build a high-speed railroad to connect Russia and the United States, including a tunnel under the Bering Strait.


title: LaRouche movement

text: In 2009, a volunteer table in Mattituck, New York had a picture of Obama with a "drawn-in Hitler moustache" and "a picture of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi with Frankenstein-style bolts in her head." In Seattle in 2011 (?), an image of Obama with a "Hitler moustache" angered some. Police were called in regarding a LaRouche opponent telling a LaRouche volunteer "Look at me again and I'm going to punch your face." In another case, during the prior month, "the same officer was called to investigate an incident in which a man threatened to rip down several political signs displayed by LaRouche supporters." "Police investigated the incident as malicious harassment—the state's hate-crime law." At one widely reported event, Congressman Barney Frank referred to the posters as "vile, contemptible nonsense."


title: LaRouche movement

text: In March 2010, LaRouche Youth leader Kesha Rogers won the Democratic congressional primary in Houston, Texas' 22nd District. The following day, a spokeswoman for the Texas Democratic Party stated that "La Rouche members are not Democrats. I guarantee her campaign will not receive a single dollar from anyone on our staff." In June 2012, Rogers won the Democratic congressional primary for a second time. In March 2014, Rogers received 22% of the vote in the U.S. Senate Democratic primary, placing her into a runoff election with David M. Alameel.


title: LaRouche movement

text: In the 1960s and 1970s, LaRouche was accused of fomenting violence at anti-war rallies with a small band of followers. According to LaRouche's autobiography, it was in 1969 that violent altercations began between his members and New Left groups. He wrote that a faction of Students for a Democratic Society which later became the Weathermen began assaulting LaRouche's faction at Columbia University, and there were later attacks by the Communist Party, and the SWP. These conflicts culminated in "Operation Mop-Up", a series of physical attacks by LaRouche's National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC) on rival left-wing groups. LaRouche's "New Solidarity" reported NCLC confrontations with members of the Communist Party and Socialist Workers Party, including an April 23, 1973 incident at a debate featuring Labor Committee mayoral candidate Tony Chaitkin that erupted in a brawl, with chairs flying. Six people were treated for injuries at a local hospital.


title: LaRouche movement

text: In the mid-1973 the movement formed a "Revolutionary Youth Movement" to recruit and politicize members of street gangs in New York City and other eastern cities. The NCLC allegedly trained some members in terrorist and guerrilla warfare. Topics included weapons handling, explosives and demolition, close order drills, small unit tactics, and military history.


title: LaRouche movement

text: In November 1973, the FBI issued an internal memorandum, later released under the Freedom of Information Act. Jeffrey Steinberg, the NCLC "director of counterintelligence", described it as the "COINTELPRO memo", which he says showed "that the FBI was considering supporting an assassination attempt against LaRouche by the Communist Party USA." LaRouche wrote in 1998:


title: LaRouche movement

text: The FBI was allegedly concerned that the movement might try to take power by force. FBI Director Clarence Kelly testified in 1976 about the LaRouche movement:


title: LaRouche movement

text: In the later 1970s, the U.S. Labor Party came into contact with Roy Frankhouser, a felon and government informant who had infiltrated a variety of groups. The LaRouche organization believed Frankhouser was a federal agent assigned to infiltrate right-wing and left-wing groups, and that he had evidence that these groups were being manipulated or controlled by the FBI and other agencies. Frankhouser introduced LaRouche to Mitchell WerBell III, a former Office of Strategic Services operative, paramilitary trainer, and arms dealer. Some members allegedly took a six-day "anti-terrorist" course a training camp operated by WerBell in Powder Springs, Georgia. In 1979, LaRouche denied that the training sessions took place. WerBell introduced LaRouche to covert operations specialist General John K. Singlaub, who later said that members of the movement implied in discussions with him that the military might help "lead the country out of its problems", a view which he rejected. WerBell also introduced LaRouche to Larry Cooper, a Powder Springs, Georgia police captain. Cooper, Frankhouser and an associate of Frankhouser named Forrest Lee Fick later made allegations about LaRouche. Cooper said in an NBC broadcast interview in 1984 that LaRouche had proposed the assassination of Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Joseph Luns, and David Rockefeller. In 1984, LaRouche said that he had employed WerBell as a security consultant, but that the allegations coming from Werbell's circle were fabrications that originated with operatives of the FBI and other agencies.


title: LaRouche movement

text: In 1974 and 1975, the NCLC allegedly targeted the United Auto Workers (UAW), United Farm Workers (UFW), and other trade unionists. They dubbed their campaign "Operation Mop Up Woodcock", a reference to their anti-communist campaign of 1973 and to UAW president Leonard Woodcock. The movement staged demonstrations that allegedly turned violent. They issued pamphlets attacking the leadership as corrupt and perverted. The UAW said that members had received dozens of calls a day accusing their relatives of homosexuality, reportedly at the direction of NCLC "security staff". Leaflets called an Ohio local president a "Woodcocksucker". The leadership of the AFL–CIO was also attacked. During the same period, the LaRouche movement was closely associated with the Teamsters union which was in a jurisdictional dispute with the UFW.


title: LaRouche movement

text: LaRouche put substantial effort into his first Democratic Primary, held February 1980 in New Hampshire. Reporters, campaign workers, and party officials received calls from people impersonating reporters or ADL staff members, inquiring what "bad news" they had heard about LaRouche. LaRouche acknowledged that his campaign workers used impersonation to collect information on political opponents. Governor Hugh Gallen, State Attorney General Thomas Rath and other officials received harassing phone calls. Their names appeared on a photocopied "New Hampshire Target List" acquired by the Associated Press, found in a LaRouche campaign worker's hotel room; the list stated, "these are the criminals to burn – we want calls coming in to these fellows day and night". LaRouche spokesman Ted Andromidas said, "We did choose to target those people for political pressure hopefully to prevent them from carrying out the kind of fraud that occurred in Tuesday's election." New Hampshire journalist Jon Prestage said he was threatened after a tense interview with LaRouche and his associates, and found several of his cats dead after he published an account of the meeting. A LaRouche associate denied responsibility for the dead cats.


title: LaRouche movement

text: According to courtroom testimony by FBI agent Richard Egan, Jeffrey and Michelle Steinberg, the heads of LaRouche's security unit, boasted of placing harassing phone calls all through the night to the general counsel of the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) when the FEC was investigating LaRouche's political contributions.


title: LaRouche movement

text: During the grand jury hearings followers picketed the courthouse, chanted "Weld is a fag", distributed leaflets accusing Weld of involvement in drug dealing, and "sang a jingle advocating that he be hanged in public".


title: LaRouche movement

text: The Schiller Institute sent a team of ten people, headed by James Bevel, to Omaha, Nebraska, to pursue the Franklin child prostitution ring allegations in 1990. Among the charges investigated by the grand jury was that the Omaha Police Chief Robert Wadman and other men had sex with a 15-year-old girl at a party held by the bank's owner. The LaRouche groups insisted there was a cover-up. They distributed copies of the Schiller Institute's "New Federalist" newspaper and went door-to-door in Wadman's neighborhood, telling residents he was a child molester. When Wadman took a job with the police department in Aurora, Illinois, LaRouche followers went there to demand he be fired, and after he left there followed him to a third city to make accusations.


title: LaRouche movement

text: In the 1970s, Nelson Rockefeller was a central figure in the movement's theories. An FBI file described them as a "clandestinely oriented group of political schizophrenics who have a paranoid preoccupation with Nelson Rockefeller and the CIA." The movement strongly opposed Rockefeller's nomination for U.S. vice president and heckled his appearances. Federal authorities were reportedly concerned that the situation might turn violent.


title: LaRouche movement

text: One target of LaRouche's attention has been Henry Kissinger. LaRouche allegedly has called Kissinger a "faggot", a "traitor", a British or Soviet agent and a "Nazi", and has linked him to the murder of Aldo Moro. His followers heckled and disrupted Kissinger's appearances. In 1982, a member of LaRouche's Fusion Energy Foundation, Ellen Kaplan, asked Kissinger at an airport terminal if it were true that he slept with young boys; Kissinger and his wife, Nancy, were on their way to a heart operation. In response, Nancy Kissinger grabbed the woman by the throat. Kaplan pressed charges and the case went to trial. In 1986 Janice Hart held a press conference to say that Kissinger was part of the international "drug mafia". Asked whether Jews were behind drug trafficking Hart replied, "That's totally nonsense. I don't consider Henry Kissinger a Jew. I consider Henry Kissinger a homosexual."


title: LaRouche movement

text: A LaRouche organization sold posters of Illinois politician Jane Byrne described by Mike Royko as "border(ing) on the pornographic." In 1986, two LaRouche candidates, Janice Hart and Mark Fairchild, won in the Democratic primaries for two statewide positions in Illinois, Secretary of State and Lieutenant Governor. Campaign appearances by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Adlai Stevenson III, who refused to share the ticket with them and shifted instead to the "Solidarity Party" formed for the purpose, were interrupted by a trio of singers that included Fairchild and Chicago Mayoral candidate Sheila Jones. Illinois Attorney General Neil Hartigan's home was visited late at night by a group of LaRouche followers who chanted, sang, and used a bullhorn "to exorcise the demons out of Neil Hartigan's soul". Before the primaries a group of LaRouche supporters reportedly stormed the campaign offices of Hart's opponent and demanded that a worker "take an AIDS test".


title: LaRouche movement

text: In 1984 a reporter for a LaRouche publication buttonholed President Ronald Reagan as he was leaving a White House press conference, demanding to know why LaRouche was not receiving Secret Service protection. As a result, future press conferences in the East Room were arranged with the door behind the president so he can leave without passing through the reporters. In 1992, a follower shook hands with President George H. W. Bush at a campaign visit to a shopping center. The follower would not let go, demanding to know, "When are you going to let LaRouche out of jail?" The Secret Service had to intervene.


title: LaRouche movement

text: During the 1988 presidential campaign, LaRouche activists spread a rumor that the Democratic candidate, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, had received professional treatment for two episodes of mental depression. Media sources did not report the rumor initially to avoid validating it. However at a press conference a reporter for a LaRouche publication, Nicholas Benton, asked President Reagan whether Dukakis should release his medical records. Reagan replied "Look, I'm not going to pick on an invalid." Within an hour after the press conference Reagan apologized for the joke. The question received wide publicity, and was later analyzed as an example of how journalists should handle rumors. Republican candidate Vice President George H.W. Bush's aides got involved in sustaining the story, and Dukakis was obliged to deny having had depression. To avoid the negative backlash on his own campaign, Bush made a statement urging Congress to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act, which he signed upon gaining office and which became one of his proudest legacies.


title: LaRouche movement

text: At a 2003 Democratic primary debate repeatedly interrupted by hecklers, Joe Lieberman quoted John McCain, "no one's been elected since 1972 that Lyndon LaRouche and his people have not protested". The first reported incidence of heckling by LaRouche followers was at the Watergate hearings in 1973. Since then, LaRouche followers have repeatedly disrupted speaking events and debates featuring a large variety of speakers.


title: LaRouche movement

text: In the 1980s, journalists including Joe Klein and Chuck Fager from Boston's alternative weekly, "The Real Paper", and "Chicago Tribune" columnist Mike Royko alleged harassment and intimidation by LaRouche groups. After Royko wrote about a LaRouche organization, Royko said that leaflets appeared, alleging he had had a sex-change operation. He also said his assistant found a note with a bullseye and a threat to kill her cat on her door; Also according to Royko, LaRouche supporters picketed the newspaper offices, calling Royko a "degenerate drug pusher" and demanding he take an AIDS test. LaRouche supporters denied such charges, saying they were part of a campaign against them by the "drug lobby."


title: LaRouche movement

text: In 1984, Patricia Lynch co-produced an NBC news piece and a TV documentary on LaRouche. She was then impersonated by LaRouche followers who interfered with her reporting. LaRouche sued Lynch and NBC for libel, and NBC countersued. During the trial followers picketed the NBC's offices with signs that said "Lynch Pat Lynch", and the NBC switchboard received a death threat. A LaRouche spokesman said they had no knowledge of the death threat. An editor of the "Centre Daily Times" in State College, Pennsylvania reported that a LaRouche TV crew led by Stanley Ezrol talked their way into his house in 1985 implying they were with NBC, then accused him of harassing LaRouche and producing unduly negative coverage. At the end of the interview, Ezrol allegedly asked, "Have you ever feared for your personal safety?", which the editor found to be "chilling". Another LaRouche group, including Janice Hart, forced their way into the office of "The Des Moines Register"s editor in 1987, haranguing him over his paper's coverage of LaRouche and demanding that certain editorials be retracted.


title: LaRouche movement

text: Dennis King began covering LaRouche in the 1970s, publishing a twelve-part series in a weekly Manhattan newspaper, "Our Town", and later writing or cowriting articles about LaRouche in "New Republic", "High Times", "Columbia Journalism Review", and other periodicals, culminating in a full-length biography published in 1989. King alleges numerous instances of anonymous harassment and threats. Leaflets appeared from the NCLC accusing King, a newspaper publisher, and Roy Cohn, the newspaper's lawyer, of being criminals, homosexuals, or drug pushers. One leaflet included King's home address and phone number. In 1984 a LaRouche newspaper, "New Solidarity", published an article titled "Will Dennis King Come out of the Closet?", copies of which were distributed in his apartment building. Jeffrey Steinberg denied the movement had harassed King. LaRouche said that King had been "monitored" since 1979, "We have watched this little scoundrel because he is a major security threat to my life."


title: LaRouche movement

text: From the 1970s to the 2000s, LaRouche followers have staffed tables in airports and other public areas. The tables have carried posters with topical slogans. LaRouche followers have been alleged to use a confrontational style of interaction. In 1986, the New York state elections board received dozens of complaints about people collecting signatures on nomination petitions, including allegations of misrepresentation and abusive language used towards those who would not sign.


title: LaRouche movement

text: In the mid-80s, the Secretary of State of California, March Fong Eu, received complaints from the public about harassment by people gathering signatures to qualify the "LaRouche AIDS Initiative" for the state ballot. She warned initiative sponsors that permission to circulate the petitions could be revoked unless the "offensive activities" stopped. An altercation in 1987 between a LaRouche activist and an AIDS worker resulted in battery charges filed against the latter, who was outraged by the content of some of the material on display; she was found not guilty.


title: LaRouche movement

text: In California in 2009, several grocery chains sought restraining orders, damages and injunctions against LaRouche PAC activists displaying materials related to Obama's health care plan in front of their stores, citing customer complaints. In Edmonds, Washington, a 70-year-old man from Armenia, grew irate at what he viewed as comparisons of Obama to Hitler. He grabbed fliers and tussled with LaRouche supporters, resulting in assault charges against him.


title: LaRouche movement

text: The North American Labour Party (NALP) nominated candidates in federal elections in the 1970s. Its candidates only had 297 votes nationwide in 1979. LaRouche himself offered a draft constitution for the commonwealth of Canada in 1981. The NALP later became the Party for the Commonwealth of Canada and that ran candidates in the 1984, 1988 and 1993 elections. Those were more successful, gaining as many as 7,502 votes in 1993, but no seats. The Parti pour la république du Canada (Québec) nominated candidates for provincial elections in the 1980s under various party titles. The LaRouche affiliate now operates as the "Committee for the Republic of Canada."


title: LaRouche movement

text: Brazil's Party for Rebuilding of National Order (Prona) was described as a "LaRouche friend" and one of its members has been quoted in the "Executive Intelligence Review" as saying "We associate ourselves with the wave of ideas which flow from Mr. LaRouche's prodigious mind". PRONA gained six seats in the Chamber of Deputies in 2002. After gaining two seat in the 2006 election, the party merged with the larger Liberal Party forming the Republic Party. However, there is no independent evidence that the Prona or its leaders recognized LaRouche as an influence on their policies, and it has been described as being part of the right-wing Catholic integralist political tradition.


title: LaRouche movement

text: The Ibero-American Solidarity Movement (MSIA) has been described as an offshoot of LaRouche's Labor Party in Mexico. During peace talks to resolve the Chiapas conflict, the Mexican Labor Party and the Ibero-American Solidarity Movement (MSIA) attacked the peace process and one of the leading negotiators, Bishop Samuel Ruiz García, whom it accused of fomenting the violence and of being controlled by foreigners. Posters caricaturing Ruiz as a rattlesnake appeared across the country.


title: LaRouche movement

text: The movement strongly opposes perceived manifestations of neo-colonialism, including the International Monetary Fund, the Falklands/Malvinas War, etc., and are advocates of the Monroe Doctrine.


title: LaRouche movement

text: LaRouche supporters gained control of the formerly far-right Citizens Electoral Council (CEC) in the mid-1990s. The CEC publishes an irregular newspaper, "The New Citizen". Craig Isherwood and his spouse Noelene Isherwood are the leaders of the party. The CEC has opposed politician Michael Danby and the 2004 Australian anti-terrorism legislation. For the 2004 federal election, it nominated people for ninety-five seats, collected millions of dollars in contributions, and earned 34,177 votes.


title: LaRouche movement

text: The CEC is concerned with Hamiltonian economics and development ideas for Australia. It has been critical of Queen Elizabeth II's ownership of an Australian zinc mine and believes that she exerts control over Australian politics through the use of prerogative power. It has been in an antagonistic relationship with the B'nai B'rith's Anti-Defamation Commission, which has been critical of the CEC for perceived anti-semitism. It has asserted that the Liberal Party is a descendant of the New Guard and other purported fascists such as Sir Wilfrid Kent Hughes and Sir Robert Menzies. The CEC also says it is fighting for "real" Labor policies (from the 1930–40s republican leanings of the Australian Labor Party).


title: LaRouche movement

text: The LaRouche Movement has a major center in Germany. The (BüSo) (Civil Rights Movement Solidarity) political party is headed by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, LaRouche's widow. It has nominated candidates for elective office and publishes the "" newspaper. Zepp-LaRouche is also the head of the German-based Schiller Institute. In 1986 Zepp-LaRouche formed the "Patriots for Germany" party, and says it ran a full slate of 100 candidates. The party received 0.2 percent of the 4 million votes. In Germany, the leader of the Green Party, Petra Kelly, reported receiving harassing phone calls that she attributed to BüSo supporters. Her speeches were picketed and disrupted by LaRouche followers for years.


title: LaRouche movement

text: Jeremiah Duggan, a student from the UK attending a conference organized by the Schiller Institute and LaRouche Youth Movement in 2003, died in Wiesbaden, Germany, after he ran down a busy road and was hit by several cars. The German police said it appeared to be suicide. A British court ruled that Duggan had died while "in a state of terror." Duggan's mother believes he died in connection with an attempt to recruit him. The German public prosecution service said her son committed suicide. The High Court in London ordered a second inquest in May 2010, which was opened and adjourned. In 2015, a British coroner rejected the suicide verdict and found that Duggan's body bore unexplained injuries which indicated an "altercation at some stage before his death."


title: LaRouche movement

text: "Solidarité et progrès" (Solidarity and Progress), headed by Jacques Cheminade, is the LaRouche party in France. The party was previously known as "Parti ouvrier européen" (European Workers' Party) and "Fédération pour une nouvelle solidarité" (Federation for a New Solidarity). Its newspaper is "Nouvelle Solidarité". Cheminade ran for President of France in 1995, 2012 and 2017, finishing last each time. The French LaRouche Youth Movement is headed by Élodie Viennot. Viennot supported the candidacy of Daniel Buchmann for the position of mayor of Berlin.


title: LaRouche movement

text: Sweden has an office of the Schiller Institute: Schillerinstitutet/EAP in Sweden, and the political party European Worker's Party (EAP). The former leader of the EAP, Ulf Sandmark, started as a member of the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League (SSU), and was assigned to investigate the EAP and the ELC. After joining the EAP, he had his membership in SSU revoked. Following the Olof Palme assassination on February 28, 1986, the Swedish branch of the EAP came under scrutiny as literature published by the party was found in the apartment of the initial suspect, Victor Gunnarsson. Soon after the assassination, NBC television in the U.S. speculated that LaRouche was somehow responsible. Later, the suspect was released. No connection with LaRouche was shown.


title: LaRouche movement

text: In Denmark, four candidates for parliament on the LaRouche platform (Tom Gillesberg, Feride Istogu Gillesberg and Hans Schultz) won 197 votes in the 2007 election (at least 32,000 votes are needed for a local mandate). The Danish LaRouche Movement (Schiller Instituttet)'s first newspaper distributed 50,000 copies around Copenhagen and Aarhus.


title: LaRouche movement

text: The (MSA) is an Italian political party headed by Paolo Raimondi that supports the LaRouche platform.


title: LaRouche movement

text: Ortrun Cramer of the Schiller Institute became a delegate of the Austrian International Progress Organization in the 1990s, but there is no sign of ongoing relationship.


title: LaRouche movement

text: Polish newspapers have reported that Andrzej Lepper, leader of the populist Samoobrona party, was trained at the Schiller Institute and has received funding from LaRouche, though both Lepper and LaRouche deny the connection.


title: LaRouche movement

text: Nataliya Vitrenko, leader of the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, has stated multiple times that she supports LaRouche's ideals


title: LaRouche movement

text: In February 2008, the LaRouche movement in Europe began a campaign to prevent the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon, which, according to the U.S.-based LaRouche Political Action Committee, "empowers a supranational financial elite to take over the right of taxation and war making, and even restore the death penalty, abolished in most nations of Western Europe." LaRouche press releases suggest that the treaty has an underlying fascist agenda, based on the "Europe a Nation" ideas of Sir Oswald Mosley.


title: LaRouche movement

text: The Philippines LaRouche Society calls for fixed exchange rates, US/Philippine withdrawal from Iraq, denunciation of former US Vice President Dick Cheney, and withdrawal of U.S. military advisors from Mindanao. In 2008 it also issued calls for the freezing of foreign debt payments, the operation of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, and the immediate implementation of a national food production program. It has an office in Manila, operates a radio show and says on its website, "Lyndon LaRouche is our civilization's last chance at world peace and development. May God help us." On the matter of internal politics, LaRouche operative Mike Billington wrote in 2004, "The Philippines Catholic Church, too, is divided at the top over the crisis. The Church under Cardinal [Jaime] Sin, who is now retired, had given its full support to the 'people's power' charade for the overthrow of Marcos and Estrada, but other voices are heard today." Later that year, he wrote:


title: LaRouche movement

text: According to Billington, representatives of LaRouche's "Executive Intelligence Review" and Schiller Institute had met with Marcos in 1985, at which time LaRouche was warning that Marcos would be the target of a coup, inspired by George Shultz and neoconservatives in the Reagan administration, because of Marcos' opposition to the policies of the International Monetary Fund. In 1986, LaRouche asserted that Marcos was ousted because he hadn't listened to LaRouche's advice: "he was opposed to me and he fell as a result."


title: LaRouche movement

text: The LaRouche movement is reported to have had close ties to the Ba'ath Party of Iraq. In 1997, the LaRouche movement, and the Schiller Institute in particular, were reported to have campaigned aggressively in support of the National Islamic Front government in Sudan. They organized trips to Sudan for state legislators, which according to "The Christian Science Monitor" was part of a campaign directed at African Americans.


title: LaRouche movement

text: The Lyndon LaRouche Political Action Committee (LaRouchePAC) has been vocal in its support for the construction of the Thai Canal across the Kra Isthmus of Thailand.


title: LaRouche movement

text: The LaRouche organization has an extensive network of print and online publications for research and advocacy purposes.


title: LaRouche movement

text: The LaRouche movement maintains its own press service, "Executive Intelligence Review". According to its masthead, "EIR" maintains international bureaus in Bogotá, Berlin, Copenhagen, Lima, Melbourne, Mexico City, New Delhi, Paris, and Wiesbaden, in addition to various cities in the U.S.


title: LaRouche movement

text: In 1986, the LaRouche movement bought WTRI, a low-powered AM radio station that covered western Maryland, northern Virginia, and parts of West Virginia. It was sold in 1991.


title: LaRouche movement

text: In 1991, the LaRouche movement began producing "The LaRouche Connection", a Public-access television cable TV program. Within ten months it was being carried in six states. Dana Scanlon, the producer, said that "We've done shows on the JFK assassination, the 'October Surprise' and shows on economic and cultural affairs".


title: LaRouche movement

text: In January 2001, LaRouche began holding regular webcasts every 1–2 months. These were public meetings, broadcast in video, where LaRouche gave a speech, followed by 1–2 hours of Q and A over the internet. The last occurred on December 18, 2003.


title: LaRouche movement

text: In 1979, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) was sued by the U.S. Labor Party, the National Caucus of Labor Committees, and several individuals including Konstandinos Kalimtgis, Jeffrey Steinberg, and David Goldman, who claimed libel, slander, invasion of privacy, and assault on account of the ADL's accusations of anti-Semitism. A New York State Supreme Court judge ruled that it was "fair comment" to describe them as anti-Semites.


title: LaRouche movement

text: "United States v. Kokinda" was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1990. The case concerned the First Amendment rights of LaRouche movement members on Post Office property. The Deputy Solicitor General arguing the government's case was future Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts. The Court confirmed the convictions of Marsha Kokinda and Kevin Pearl, volunteers for the National Democratic Policy Committee, finding that the Postal Service's regulation of solicitors was reasonable.


title: LaRouche movement

text: According to a biography produced by the LaRouche-affiliated Schiller Institute, the movement is based on a commitment to "a just new world economic order", specifically "the urgency of affording what have been sometimes termed 'Third World nations,' their full rights to perfect national sovereignty, and to access to the improvement of their educational systems and economies through employment of the most advanced science and technology."


title: LaRouche movement

text: The LaRouche movement has attracted devoted followers and developed some specific and elaborate policy initiatives, but has also been referred to variously as Marxist, fascist, anti-Semitic, a political cult, a personality cult, and a criminal enterprise. The LaRouche movement has often been considered a far-right political movement. In 1984, LaRouche's research staff was described by Norman Bailey, a former senior staffer of the United States National Security Council, as "one of the best private intelligence services in the world". The Heritage Foundation called it "one of the strangest political groups in American history", and "The Washington Monthly" called it a "vast and bizarre vanity press".


title: LaRouche movement

text: Journalist and John Birch Society activist John Rees wrote in his "Information Digest" that the movement has "taken on the characteristics more of a political cult than a political party", and that LaRouche is given "blind obedience" by his followers. He has also called the movement a "cult of personality". In rebuttal, LaRouche called the accusations of being a cult figure "garbage", and denied having control over any of the groups affiliated with him.


title: LaRouche movement

text: In the summer of 2009, LaRouche followers came under criticism from both Democrats and Republicans for comparing President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler. Media figures as politically diverse as Rush Limbaugh and Jon Stewart criticized the comparison.


title: LaRouche movement

text: According to "The Washington Post", LaRouche has told his followers that they are "golden souls", a term from "The Republic" of Plato. In his 1979 autobiography he contrasted the "golden souls" to "the poor donkeys, the poor sheep, whose consciousness is dominated by the infantile world-outlook of individual sensuous life". According to Dennis King, LaRouche believed that cadres "must be intellectually of a superior breed—a philosophical elite as well as a political vanguard". In 1986, LaRouche said during an interview, "What I represent is a growing movement. The movement is becoming stronger all the time..."


title: LaRouche movement

text: During the criminal trials of the late 1980s, LaRouche called upon his followers to be martyrs, saying that their "honorable deeds shall be legendary in the tales told to future generations". Senior members refused plea agreements that involved guilty pleas as those would have been black marks on the movement.


title: LaRouche movement

text: Former members report that life within the LaRouche movement is highly regulated. A former member of the security staff wrote in 1979 that members could be expelled for masturbating or using marijuana. Members who failed to achieve their fundraising quotas or otherwise showed signs as disloyal behavior were subjected to "ego stripping" sessions. Members, even spouses, were encouraged to inform on each other, according to an ex-member.<ref name="Mintz9/20/87"></ref> Although LaRouche was officially opposed to abortion, a former member testified that women were encouraged to have abortions because "you can't have children during a revolution." Another source said some group leaders coerced members into having abortions. John Judis, writing in "The New Republic", stated that LaRouche followers worked 16-hour days for little wages.


title: LaRouche movement

text: Former members have reported receiving harassing calls or indirect death threats. They say they have been called traitors. "New Solidarity" ran obituaries for three living former members. Internal memos have reportedly contained a variety of dismissive terms for ex-followers. One former member said that becoming a follower of LaRouche is "like entering the Bizarro World of the Superman comic books" which makes sense so long as one remains inside the movement.


title: LaRouche movement

text: E. Newbold Smith, who married a du Pont, was indicted along with four associates for planning to have his son, Lewis du Pont Smith, and daughter-in-law abducted and "deprogrammed" after they joined the LaRouche movement and donated $212,000 of Lewis's approximately $10 million inheritance to a LaRouche publishing arm. The incident resulted in serious legal repercussions but no criminal convictions for those indicted, including private investigator Galen Kelly. E. Newbold Smith also successfully had his son declared "incompetent" to manage his financial affairs in order to block him from possibly turning over his inheritance to the LaRouche organization.


title: LaRouche movement

text: Kenneth Kronberg, who had been a leading member of the movement, committed suicide in 2007, reportedly because of financial issues concerning the movement. His widow, Marielle (Molly) Kronberg, had also been a longtime member. She gave an interview to Chip Berlet in 2007 in which she made critical comments about the LaRouche movement. She was quoted as saying, "I'm worried that the organization may be in danger of becoming a killing machine." In 2004 and 2005, Kronberg made contributions of $1,501 to the Republican National Committee and the election campaign of George W. Bush, despite the LaRouche movement's opposition to the Bush administration. According to journalist Avi Klein, LaRouche felt that this "foreshadowed her treachery to the movement." Kronberg had been a member of the movement's governing National Committee since 1982 and was convicted of fraud during the LaRouche criminal trials.