title: Lego The Lord of the Rings (video game)

text: The game follows the storylines from "The Lord of the Rings" movie trilogy: "The Fellowship of the Ring", "The Two Towers", and "The Return of the King". However, the game's developers modified the storylines to fit the events into a number of game chapters per film. Central sequences were recreated from the films, such as the Mines of Moria scenes. Each different character has at least one special ability. The characters can also add new items and weapons to their inventory as the story advances, thus adding role-playing elements to the traditional Lego gameplay.


title: Lego The Lord of the Rings (video game)

text: The game was not released for Wii U because Traveller's Tales, Lego, and Nintendo were busy completing "Lego City Undercover", which was already behind schedule. The Wii version for Europe was delayed until 30 November. The game has also been released for iOS. It was released on 20 October 2013. The gameplay is mostly the same, with minor limitations.


title: Lego The Lord of the Rings (video game)

text: Similar to "Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes", "Lego The Lord of the Rings" features talking minifigures. This makes it the second Lego game to feature actual dialogue, the third being "Lego City Undercover". However, the dialogue is taken directly from the films unlike the other two, which feature original vocals. Additional voices were provided by Eric Artell, Steven Blum, Cam Clarke, Chris Edgerly, Kieren Elliott, Gideon Emery, Crispin Freeman, Bob Joles, Tom Kane, Jennifer Taylor Lawrence, Yuri Lowenthal, Jim Meskimen, Nolan North, Liam O'Brien, Jon Olson, Jim Piddock, Eliza Schneider, Keith Szarabajka, Fred Tatasciore, Anna Vocino and Hynden Walch.


title: Lego The Lord of the Rings (video game)

text: "Lego The Lord of the Rings" complements the Lego "The Lord of the Rings" toy collection. The pre-ordered game came with an Elrond minifigure with a code to enter on the game's homepage for a wallpaper and designer video. "" includes a trailer for the game. A demo was released for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 3DS and Xbox 360. Upon release, the Xbox 360 version had been potentially recalled for being shipped with demo discs rather than the full retail copy.


title: Lego The Lord of the Rings (video game)

text: This would be the last Lego video game released on the Wii, as well as the first Middle-Earth video game to be available on a Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft console since "".


title: Lego The Lord of the Rings (video game)

text: "Lego Lord of the Rings" has four packs of downloadable content (DLC), which were also available with pre-ordering the game. The first one includes Sméagol (before he was corrupted as Gollum), Sauron in his Second Age "fair" form (Annatar), and three other characters, and the second one includes characters such as a Mini-Balrog and a Corsair of Umbar. The third one includes only tools, such as the Three Elven rings, and a fourth includes a special Faramir and a Barrow-wight. There is no way to buy the DLC for the PC version of the game.


title: Lego The Lord of the Rings (video game)

text: "Lego The Lord of the Rings" has received generally positive reviews from critics, mostly praising the story, humour and visuals based on Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. GameRankings gave it a score of 82% based on 12 reviews. However, the PS Vita version was criticised.


title: Lucien Bonaparte

text: Lucien Bonaparte, 1st Prince of Canino and Musignano (born Luciano Buonaparte; 21 May 1775 – 29 June 1840), was French politician and diplomat of the French Revolution and the Consulate. He served as Minister of the Interior from 1799 to 1800 and as the final president of the Council of Five Hundred in 1799.


title: Lucien Bonaparte

text: The third surviving son of Carlo Bonaparte and his wife Letizia Ramolino, Lucien was the younger brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. As president of the Council of Five Hundred, he was one of the participants of the Coup of 18 Brumaire that brought Napoleon to power in France.


title: Lucien Bonaparte

text: Lucien was born in Ajaccio, Corsica on 21 May 1775. He was educated in mainland France, initially studying at the military schools of Autun and Brienne but later, after his father's death, at the seminary of Aix-en-Provence, from which he dropped out in 1789. In 1769, the Corsican Republic had been conquered and annexed by France. Lucien's father Carlo Bonaparte had been a strong supporter of Corsican patriots under Pasquale Paoli, but later switched to become a supporter of French rule.


title: Lucien Bonaparte

text: Lucien became a staunch supporter of the French Revolution upon its outbreak in 1789, when he was 14 years old. He returned to Corsica at the start of the Revolution, and became an outspoken orator at the Corsican chapter of the Jacobin Club in Ajaccio, where he adopted the alias "Brutus Bonaparte". In 1791, he became a secretary of Pascal Paoli, but broke with him in May 1793, along with his brother Napoleon.


title: Lucien Bonaparte

text: After returning to mainland France, Lucien held a number of minor administrative posts from 1793 until 1795, when he was briefly jailed for his Jacobin activity, during the Thermidorian Reaction. He was released after an intervention by Napoleon, who then found him an administrative assignment in the Army of the North.


title: Lucien Bonaparte

text: In 1798, Lucien was elected member of the Council of Five Hundred for Corsica's Liamone department. Later, as president of the Council, which he moved to the suburban security of Saint-Cloud – Lucien Bonaparte was crucial with a combination of bravado and disinformation to the "coup d'état" of 18 Brumaire (date based on the French Republican Calendar) in which Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew the government of the Directory to replace it by the Consulate on 9 November 1799. Lucien mounted a horse and galvanized the grenadiers by pointing a sword at his brother and swearing to run him through if he ever betrayed the principles of "Liberté, égalité, fraternité". The following day Lucien arranged for Napoleon's formal election as First Consul.


title: Lucien Bonaparte

text: Napoleon made him Minister of the Interior under the consulate, which enabled Lucien to falsify the results of the plebiscite for First Consul but brought him into competition with Joseph Fouché, the chief of police, who showed Napoleon a subversive pamphlet possibly written by Lucien and effected a breach between the brothers. Some evidence exists that Napoleon himself wrote the pamphlet and scapegoated his brother when it was received poorly.


title: Lucien Bonaparte

text: Lucien was sent as ambassador to the court of Charles IV of Spain, (November, 1800), where his diplomatic talents won over the Bourbon royal family and, perhaps as importantly, the minister Manuel de Godoy.


title: Lucien Bonaparte

text: Though he was a member of the "Tribunat" in 1802 and was made a senator of the First French Empire, Lucien came to oppose many of Napoleon's ideas. In 1804, with Lucien disliking Napoleon's intention to declare himself as Emperor of the French and to marry Lucien off to a Bourbon Spanish princess, the Queen of Etruria, Lucien spurned all imperial honours and went into self-imposed exile by living initially in Rome, where he bought the Villa Rufinella in Frascati.


title: Lucien Bonaparte

text: In 1809, Napoleon increased pressure on Lucien to divorce his wife and return to France, even having their mother write a letter encouraging him to abandon her and return. With the whole of the Papal States annexed to France and the Pope imprisoned, Lucien was a virtual prisoner in his Italian estates, requiring permission of the Military Governor to venture off his property. He attempted to sail to the United States to escape his situation but was captured by the British. When he disembarked in Britain, he was greeted with cheers and applause by the crowd, many of whom saw him as anti-Napoleonic.


title: Lucien Bonaparte

text: The government permitted Lucien to settle comfortably with his family at Ludlow, and later at Thorngrove House in Grimley, Worcestershire, where he worked on a heroic poem on Charlemagne. Napoleon, believing Lucien had deliberately gone to Britain and thus a traitor, had Lucien omitted from the Imperial almanacs of the Bonapartes from 1811 until his 1814 abdication.


title: Lucien Bonaparte

text: Lucien returned to France following his brother's abdication in April 1814. Lucien continued to Rome, where on 18 August 1814 he was made Prince of Canino, Count of Apollino, and Lord of Nemori by Pope Pius VII and Prince of Musignano on 21 March 1824 by Pope Leo XII.


title: Lucien Bonaparte

text: In the Hundred Days after Napoleon's return to France from exile in Elba, Lucien rallied to his brother's cause, and they joined forces once again during Napoleon's brief return to power. His brother made him a French Prince and included his children into the Imperial Family, but this was not recognized by the Bourbons after Napoleon's second abdication. Subsequently, Lucien was proscribed at the Restoration and deprived of his "fauteuil" at the Académie Française. In 1836 he wrote his "Mémoires". He died in Viterbo, Italy, on 29 June 1840, of stomach cancer, the same disease that claimed his father, his sister Pauline and his brother Napoleon.


title: Lucien Bonaparte

text: Lucien Bonaparte was the inspiration behind the Napoleonic reconstitution of the dispersed Académie Française in 1803, where he took a seat. He collected paintings in "la maison de campagne" at Brienne, was a member of Jeanne Françoise Julie Adélaïde Récamier's salon and wrote a novel, "La Tribu indienne." He was an amateur archeologist, establishing excavations at his property in Frascati which produced a complete statue of Tiberius, and at Musignano which rendered a bust of Juno. Bonaparte owned a parcel which had once formed part of Cicero's estate called Tusculum, and was much given to commenting on the fact. In 1825, Bonaparte excavated the so-called Tusculum portrait of Julius Caesar at the Tusculum's forum.


title: Lucien Bonaparte

text: His first wife was his landlord's daughter, Christine Boyer (3 July 1771 – 14 May 1800), the illiterate sister of an innkeeper of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume, and by her he had four children:


title: Lucien Bonaparte

text: His second wife was Alexandrine de Bleschamp (23 February 1778 – 12 July 1855), widow of Hippolyte Jouberthon, known as "Madame Jouberthon", and by her he had ten children:


title: Roger Wicker

text: Roger Frederick Wicker (born July 5, 1951) is an American attorney and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Mississippi, in office since 2007. A member of the Republican Party, Wicker previously served as a member of the United States House of Representatives and the Mississippi State Senate.


title: Roger Wicker

text: Born in Pontotoc, Mississippi, Wicker is a graduate of the University of Mississippi and the University of Mississippi School of Law. He was an officer in the United States Air Force from 1976 to 1980 and a member of the United States Air Force Reserves from 1980 to 2003. During the 1980s, he worked as a political counselor to then-Congressman Trent Lott on the House Rules Committee. In 1987, Wicker was elected to the Mississippi State Senate, representing the 6th district, which included Tupelo.


title: Roger Wicker

text: Wicker was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994, succeeding longtime Representative Jamie Whitten. Wicker served in the House from 1995 to 2007, when he was appointed to the Senate by Governor Haley Barbour to fill the seat vacated by Lott. Wicker subsequently won a special election for the remainder of the term in 2008 and was reelected to a full term in 2012. Wicker served as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee from 2015 to 2017 and is a deputy Republican whip. He was reelected in 2018, defeating Democratic nominee David Baria.


title: Roger Wicker

text: Wicker was born on July 5, 1951, in Pontotoc, Mississippi, the son of Wordna Glen (née Threadgill) and Thomas Frederick Wicker. In 1967, the 16-year-old Wicker worked as a United States House of Representatives Page for Democratic Representative Jamie L. Whitten of . He earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and political science and a J.D. degree from the University of Mississippi, where he was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity and student body president. He was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa for his student leadership and academic merit while at the University of Mississippi.


title: Roger Wicker

text: After graduation, Wicker served as an officer in the United States Air Force from 1976 to 1980. Starting in 1980, he was a member of the Air Force Reserve; he retired from the reserve in 2003 as a lieutenant colonel. Wicker served as a judge advocate.


title: Roger Wicker

text: Wicker began his political career in 1980 as House Rules Committee counsel to U.S. Representative Trent Lott. He was elected to the Mississippi State Senate in 1987, spending $25,000 on the race. He represented the 6th district, which included Tupelo, from 1988 to 1994.


title: Roger Wicker

text: In 1994, Whitten declined to seek reelection; he had represented the 1st District for 53 years, longer than any other congressman at the time. Wicker ran to succeed him, spending $750,000 on his campaign. He finished first in a crowded six-way Republican primary with 7,156 votes (26.62%) and proceeded to a runoff with attorney Grant Fox, who received 5,208 votes (19.37%). Former U.S. Attorney Bob Whitwell finished 600 votes short of the runoff with 4,606 votes (17.14%), 1992 nominee Clyde E. Whitaker came fourth with 4,602 votes (17.12%), 1986 nominee Larry Cobb came fifth with 4,162 votes (15.48%) and 1990 nominee Bill Bowlin took the remaining 1,147 votes (4.27%). In the runoff, Wicker defeated Fox, 11,905 votes (53.07%) to 10,527 (46.93%).


title: Roger Wicker

text: In the general election, Wicker defeated Fulton attorney Bill Wheeler, 80,553 votes (63.06%) to 47,192 (36.94%), making him the first Republican to represent the 1st district in over a century. This was not considered an upset, as the 1st has always been a rather conservative district (especially in the Memphis suburbs). The district had only supported the Democratic nominee for president once since 1956, when Jimmy Carter carried the district in 1976. Although Whitten had a nearly unbreakable hold on the district, it had been considered very likely that he would be succeeded by a Republican once he retired.


title: Roger Wicker

text: Wicker was reelected six times without serious difficulty, never receiving less than 65% of the vote. In 2004, he was unopposed by a Democratic candidate, facing only Reform Party nominee Barbara Dale Washer, whom he defeated by 219,328 votes (79.01%) to 58,256 (20.99%).


title: Roger Wicker

text: Assuming office in 1995, Wicker was president of the freshman class, which included 53 other new Republican representatives, elected as part of the 1994 "Republican Revolution".


title: Roger Wicker

text: In Congress, Wicker worked on issues related to medical research and on economic development for his home state. He advocated private-public partnerships to bring investment to rural areas. Wicker also worked for veterans' issues while serving as a member of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee. In his final year as representative, Wicker topped the list in earmarks.


title: Roger Wicker

text: In 2007, Wicker was criticized after securing a $6 million earmark for a defense company whose executives had made significant contributions to his campaign.


title: Roger Wicker

text: On November 26, 2007, Senator Trent Lott announced that he would resign before the end of the year to become a lobbyist. At a press conference on December 31, 2007, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour appointed Wicker to fill the Senate seat Lott vacated on December 18, 2007. He was sworn in by the Senate clerk just before that news conference.


title: Roger Wicker

text: Wicker ran for the remainder of Lott's term in the November 2008 special election against Democrat Ronnie Musgrove, Barbour's predecessor as governor. Wicker defeated Musgrove, 683,409 votes (54.96%) to 560,064 (45.04%). Wicker's resignation from the House also triggered a May 13, 2008, special election to fill the vacancy in the House, which was won by Democratic nominee Travis Childers.


title: Roger Wicker

text: Wicker ran for reelection to a full term in 2012. He was opposed by Robert Maloney and Tea Party activist E. Allen Hathcock in the Republican primary, defeating them by 254,936 votes (89.17%) to 18,857 (6.60%) and 12,106 (4.23%), respectively. In the general election, he defeated Albert Gore, the Chairman of the Oktibbeha County Democratic Party and a distant relative of former Vice President Al Gore, 709,626 votes (57.16%) to 503,467 (40.55%).


title: Roger Wicker

text: On September 16, 2010, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Wicker as representative of the United States to the Sixty-fifth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.


title: Roger Wicker

text: In the Senate, Wicker is a member of the Senate Republicans' whip team and has repeatedly introduced a bill to overturn "Roe v. Wade", the Supreme Court decision ruling abortion bans unconstitutional. Wicker called the Affordable Care Act the "great fight for the rest of this term, maybe our lifetimes" and later introduced a bill to enable state officials to challenge the law. In the interest of protecting gun owners, he amended a fiscal 2010 transportation spending bill to allow Amtrak passengers to carry firearms and ammunition in checked baggage.


title: Roger Wicker

text: Wicker and Representative Gene Taylor pushed amendments allowing purchasers of federal flood insurance to add wind coverage to their policies, helpful to a hurricane-prone state. As a member of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission) monitoring human rights and other issues, in late 2012 Wicker worked with Senator Ben Cardin to enact a bill imposing penalties on Russians accused of violating human rights. The measure led Russian President Vladimir Putin to announce a subsequent ban on U.S. adoptions of Russian-born children.


title: Roger Wicker

text: Wicker was one of three politicians targeted during the April 2013 ricin letters bioterrorism attack. On April 16, 2013, a letter addressed to Wicker tested positive for the poison ricin as part of a series of letters. The letter was detected by postal officials and law enforcement and prevented from reaching the Capitol. The letter was tested three times, with each test confirming the presence of ricin.


title: Roger Wicker

text: In July 2013, Wicker proposed that the Senate meet to discuss a controversial change to filibuster rules. The Senate held the private meeting in the Old Senate chamber to discuss Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's threat of the so-called "nuclear option", which would change the rules for Senate votes on Obama's executive branch nominees. Wicker said he hoped the chamber's bipartisan past could serve as an inspiration for the debate about the nuclear option: "I think there are concessions that can be made on both sides. And then I would just hope that, institutionally, we can get away from this mindset."


title: Roger Wicker

text: Wicker supported the Bipartisan Sportsmen's Act of 2014 (S. 2363; 113th Congress), a bill related to hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation, aimed at improving "the public's ability to enjoy the outdoors." He said, "Mississippians know the importance of efforts to preserve our natural resources for future generations."


title: Roger Wicker

text: Wicker was elected chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee for the 114th U.S. Congress on November 13, 2014.


title: Roger Wicker

text: Weeks after the 2014 Hong Kong class boycott campaign and Umbrella Movement broke out, demanding genuine universal suffrage among other goals, Wicker joined Senator Sherrod Brown and Representative Chris Smith's effort to introduce the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which would update the United States–Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 and U.S. commitment to Hong Kong's freedom and democracy. "U.S. should stand steadfast with the people of Hong Kong in their fight to exercise self-determination," Wicker said, and "speak with a unified American voice in support of universal freedom and democratic values. The Congress and the Obama Administration should act to ensure China honors its longstanding obligation under international law to maintain Hong Kong's autonomy."


title: Roger Wicker

text: In March 2017, Wicker co-sponsored the Israel Anti-Boycott Act (s. 720), which made it a federal crime for Americans to encourage or participate in boycotts against Israel and Israeli settlements in the West Bank if protesting actions by the Israeli government.


title: Roger Wicker

text: In May 2020, a group of Senate Republicans planned to introduce a privacy bill that would regulate the data collected by coronavirus contact tracing apps. The COVID-19 Consumer Data Protection Act would "provide all Americans with more transparency, choice, and control over the collection and use of their personal health, geolocation, and proximity data", according to a joint statement. Wicker said the legislation also would "hold businesses accountable to consumers if they use personal data to fight the COVID-19 pandemic." The act would permit the creation of "platforms that could trace the virus and help flatten the curve and stop the spread – and maintaining privacy protections for U.S. citizens", Wicker said.


title: Roger Wicker

text: In September 2020, less than two months before the next presidential election, Wicker supported an immediate Senate vote on Trump's nominee to fill the Supreme Court vacancy caused by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death, saying that Senate Republicans had "promised to confirm well qualified, conservative judges" and that there was a "constitutional duty" to fill vacancies. In March 2016, Wicker had taken the opposite position by declining to consider Obama's Supreme Court nominee during a presidential election year, saying that the "American people should have the opportunity to make their voices heard before filling a lifetime appointment to the nation’s highest court."


title: Roger Wicker

text: Wicker announced before the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count that he would vote to certify the election on January 6, 2021. He was participating in the certification when Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. When the Capitol was secure and Congress returned to complete the certification, Wicker voted to certify the count, with his senate counterpart, Cindy Hyde-Smith objecting to the count. In the wake of the violence and certification, Wicker called for perpetrators to be prosecuted "to the fullest extent of the law" and said, "we must work together to rebuild confidence in our institutions." Wicker opposed Trump's removal from office, encouraging a peaceful transfer of power on Inauguration Day.


title: Roger Wicker

text: In March 2021, after Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, Wicker highlighted on social media that the bill awarded $28.6 billion of "targeted relief" to "independent restaurant operators" to "survive the pandemic". In that post, he neglected to mention that he had voted against the bill.


title: Roger Wicker

text: After President Joe Biden said that he planned to select a black woman to appoint to the Supreme Court in January 2022, Wicker told Mississippi radio host Paul Gallo that the nominee would be a "beneficiary" of an affirmative action "quota", drawing a rebuke from the White House.


title: Roger Wicker

text: As of December 2017, Wicker ranks 14th of 98 in the "Bipartisan Index" compiled by The Lugar Center, which reflects a low level of partisanship.


title: Roger Wicker

text: While discussing Mississippi's previous state flag, Wicker said his Confederate military ancestors were "Americans" and were "brave".


title: Roger Wicker

text: In 2015, Wicker was the only U.S. senator to vote against an amendment declaring that climate change is real. The final vote was 98 to 1, with Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic leader from Nevada, not voting. The amendment affirmed that "climate change is real and not a hoax."


title: Roger Wicker

text: In 2017, Wicker was one of 22 senators to sign a letter to President Trump urging him to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement. According to OpenSecrets, Wicker has received over $200,000 from the oil and gas industry since 2012.


title: Roger Wicker

text: Wicker's support for pro-gun legislation and gun rights has earned him an "A+" rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA). The NRA endorsed Wicker during the 2012 election. Wicker has said that he will filibuster any bill that he feels "infringes" on the Second Amendment, including weapon bans. He has received $21,350 in funding from gun lobbyists for his political activities.


title: Roger Wicker

text: In 2009, Wicker introduced a bill allowing Amtrak passengers to check unloaded and locked handguns in their luggage. The law passed 68–30. His rationale for the bill was that people's Second Amendment rights were violated on a federally subsidized train system if they could not bring their guns.


title: Roger Wicker

text: One day after the 2015 San Bernardino attack, Wicker voted against a bill, co-sponsored by a Democrat and a Republican, that would make background checks mandatory when a person buys a gun. He said he voted against it because he feared it would have "opened the door to a national gun registry."


title: Roger Wicker

text: In 2017, Wicker voted in favor of "a joint resolution of disapproval aimed at former President Obama’s executive action requiring the Social Security Administration (SSA) place beneficiaries on the National Instant Criminal Background Check System 'mental defective' list."


title: Roger Wicker

text: Wicker asked the United States Navy to deny the admission of a secular humanist to the Chaplain Corps, saying, "It is troubling that the Navy could allow a self-avowed atheist to serve in the Chaplain Corps."


title: Roger Wicker

text: On May 28, 2021, Wicker voted against creating an independent commission to investigate the 2021 United States Capitol attack.


title: Roger Wicker

text: In a 2021 interview with Neil Cavuto about the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, Wicker said the U.S. should not "rule out first-use nuclear action" as an option to support Ukraine.


title: Roger Wicker

text: In 2020, Wicker received a score of 74 from the American Conservative Union. He has a lifetime rating of 83.62. The Americans for Democratic Action gave Wicker a score of 0 for the term.


title: Roger Wicker

text: Wicker has been married to Gayle Long since 1975. They have three children and six grandchildren. The Wickers reside in Tupelo, where Wicker is a deacon and a member of the First Baptist Church Tupelo choir. He previously served on the Board of Advisors for the , a nongovernmental organization that works in crisis areas.


title: Roger Wicker

text: On August 19, 2021, Wicker and fellow senators John Hickenlooper and Angus King tested positive for COVID-19. He fully recovered from the disease, saying, "Being fully vaccinated greatly reduced my risk of developing severe complications from the virus. Getting the shot is safe, easy, and free, and it could save your life."


title: Hotchkiss M1909 Benét–Mercié machine gun

text: The Hotchkiss M1909 machine gun was a light machine gun of the early 20th century, developed and built by Hotchkiss et Cie. It was also known as the Hotchkiss Mark I, Hotchkiss Portative and M1909 Benét–Mercié.


text: It was based on a design by Austrian nobleman and Army officer, Adolf Odkolek von Újezd, who sold the manufacturing rights to Hotchkiss in 1893. Several improved versions were designed by Hotchkiss's American manager, Laurence Benét and his French assistant, Henri Mercié.


text: It was gas-operated and air-cooled, had a maximum range of and weighed 12 kg (27 lb). Initial models were fed by a 30-round feed strip but later models could be either strip-fed or belt-fed. The U.S. types had a bipod, while some others used a small tripod. This tripod, fitted under the firearm, could be moved with the weapon, and thus was very different from larger, heavier tripods of the period.


text: Production began at the Hotchkiss factory in Saint-Denis, Paris, but in 1914, with the invading German army threatening the city, the French military authorities ordered the factory to be moved to Lyon. The following year, the British government invited Hotchkiss to set up a factory in Coventry. By the end of the war, this factory had manufactured over 40,000 M1909s.


text: The U.S. version was made by Springfield Armory and by Colt's Manufacturing Company. Total production for the United States was 670. This was small compared to the huge production runs of firearms later in the 20th century, but this was a significant number for the size of the contemporary U.S. Army. The M1909's adoption coincided with the withdrawal of the .30-06 manually operated Gatling guns from the U.S. Army's arsenals.


text: As the Hotchkiss M1909 (or "Mle 1909"), firing the 8 mm Lebel, it was adopted by the French military in 1909 but not issued as an infantry weapon. The 700 examples manufactured were used in the fortresses at Verdun in a defensive capacity, on some fighter aircraft, and in Mark V* tanks acquired from Great Britain.


text: A variant to use the .303 round was produced in Britain at the Coventry factory as the "Hotchkiss Mark I" and issued to some cavalry regiments. The MkI* variant, with the wooden stock replaced with a pistol grip, was widely used in British tanks during World War I.


text: It was adopted by the United States in 1909 as the "Benét–Mercié Machine Rifle, Caliber .30 U. S. Model of 1909" firing the .30-06 cartridge. It was also used by other countries, including Belgium, Sweden and Mexico. France and Britain used the Hotchkiss M1909 through World War I and on into World War II. The Australian Light Horse, the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade, the Imperial Camel Corps, and the Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry used the Hotchkiss in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1915–17). U.S. forces used the Benét–Mercié at the Battle of Columbus in 1916 (4 guns fired 20,000 rounds total in the engagement), in the subsequent Pancho Villa Expedition in Mexico of 1916–17, and initially in France.


text: On the American guns, firing pins and extractors broke frequently. Some members of the U.S. press derisively called the M1909 the "daylight gun" because of the difficulty in replacing broken parts at night and jams caused when a loading strip was inserted upside down in darkness. Major Julian Hatcher was assigned to look into the issue after Columbus and found almost all the issues were due to inadequate training. U.S. troops during the Villa Expedition received additional training and the M1909 was considered an effective weapon. During service in the Villa Expedition in 1916, the M1909 was fitted with the Model 1908 Warner & Swasey Musket Sight (more well known as an early telescopic sight on the M1903 Springfield Rifle) to aid in long-range firing. U.S. production had already ceased before World War I and only a small number were available to the U.S. military. However, the U.S. Navy still used them in that period.


title: State terrorism

text: State terrorism refers to acts of terrorism which a state conducts against another state or against its own citizens.


title: State terrorism

text: There is neither an academic nor an international legal consensus regarding the proper definition of the word "terrorism". Some scholars believe the actions of governments can be labelled "terrorism". Using the term 'terrorism' to mean violent action used with the predominant intention of causing terror, Paul James and Jonathan Friedman distinguish between state terrorism against non-combatants and state terrorism against combatants, including 'shock and awe' tactics:


title: State terrorism

text: Shock and Awe" as a subcategory of "rapid dominance" is the name given to massive intervention designed to strike terror into the minds of the enemy. It is a form of state-terrorism. The concept was however developed long before the Second Gulf War by Harlan Ullman as chair of a forum of retired military personnel.


title: State terrorism

text: However, others, including governments, international organisations, private institutions and scholars, believe the term "terrorism" is applicable only to the actions of violent non-state actors. Historically, the term terrorism was used to refer to actions taken by governments against their own citizens whereas now it is more often perceived as targeting of non-combatants as part of a strategy directed "against" governments.


title: State terrorism

text: Historian Henry Commager wrote that "Even when definitions of terrorism allow for "state terrorism", state actions in this area tend to be seen through the prism of war or national self-defense, not terror." While states may accuse other states of state-sponsored terrorism when they support insurgencies, individuals who accuse their governments of terrorism are seen as radicals, because actions by legitimate governments are not generally seen as illegitimate. Academic writing tends to follow the definitions accepted by states. Most states use the term "terrorism" for non-state actors only.


title: State terrorism

text: The Encyclopædia Britannica Online defines terrorism generally as "the systematic use of violence to create a general climate of fear in a population and thereby to bring about a particular political objective", and states that "terrorism is not legally defined in all jurisdictions." The encyclopedia adds that "[e]stablishment terrorism, often called state or state-sponsored terrorism, is employed by governments—or more often by factions within governments—against that government's citizens, against factions within the government, or against foreign governments or groups."


title: State terrorism

text: While the most common modern usage of the word terrorism refers to political violence by insurgents or conspirators, several scholars make a broader interpretation of the nature of terrorism that encompasses the concepts of state terrorism and state-sponsored terrorism. Michael Stohl argues, "The use of terror tactics is common in international relations and the state has been and remains a more likely employer of terrorism within the international system than insurgents. Stohl clarifies, however, that "[n]ot all acts of state violence are terrorism. It is important to understand that in terrorism the violence threatened or perpetrated, has purposes broader than simple physical harm to a victim. The audience of the act or threat of violence is more important than the immediate victim."


title: State terrorism

text: Scholar Gus Martin describes state terrorism as terrorism "committed by governments and quasi-governmental agencies and personnel against perceived threats", which can be directed against both domestic and foreign targets. Noam Chomsky defines state terrorism as "terrorism practised by states (or governments) and their agents and allies".


title: State terrorism

text: Stohl and George A. Lopez have designated three categories of state terrorism, based on the openness/secrecy with which the alleged terrorist acts are performed, and whether states directly perform the acts, support them, or acquiesce in them.


title: State terrorism

text: Aristotle wrote critically of terror employed by tyrants against their subjects. The earliest use of the word "terrorism" identified by the "Oxford English Dictionary" is a 1795 reference to tyrannical state behavior, the "reign of terrorism" in France. In that same year, Edmund Burke decried the "thousands of those hell-hounds called terrorists" who he believed threatened Europe. During the Reign of Terror, the Jacobin government and other factions of the French Revolution used the apparatus of the state to kill and intimidate political opponents, and the Oxford English Dictionary includes as one definition of terrorism "Government by intimidation carried out by the party in power in France between 1789–1794". The original general meaning of terrorism was of terrorism by the state, as reflected in the 1798 supplement of the Dictionnaire of the Académie française, which described terrorism as "systeme", "regime de la terreur". Myra Williamson wrote:


title: State terrorism

text: The meaning of "terrorism" has undergone a transformation. During the Reign of Terror, a regime or system of terrorism was used as an instrument of governance, wielded by a recently established revolutionary "state" against the enemies of the people. Now the term "terrorism" is commonly used to describe terrorist acts committed by "non-state or sub-national entities" against a state. (italics in original)


title: State terrorism

text: Later examples of state terrorism include the police state measures employed by the Soviet Union beginning in the 1930s, and by Germany's Nazi regime in the 1930s and 1940s. According to Igor Primoratz, "Both [the Nazis and the Soviets] sought to impose total political control on society. Such a radical aim could be pursued only by a similarly radical method: by terrorism directed by an extremely powerful political police at an atomized and defenseless population. Its success was due largely to its arbitrary character—to the unpredictability of its choice of victims. In both countries, the regime first suppressed all opposition; when it no longer had any opposition to speak of, political police took to persecuting 'potential' and 'objective opponents'. In the Soviet Union, it was eventually unleashed on victims chosen at random."


title: State terrorism

text: Military actions primarily directed against non-combatant targets have also been referred to as state terrorism. For example, the bombing of Guernica has been called an act of terrorism. Other examples of state terrorism may include the World War II bombings of Pearl Harbor, London, Dresden, Chongqing, and Hiroshima.


title: State terrorism

text: An act of sabotage, sometimes regarded as an act of terrorism, was the peacetime sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, a ship owned by Greenpeace, which occurred while in port at Auckland, New Zealand on July 10, 1985. The bomb detonation killed Fernando Pereira, a Dutch photographer. The organisation who committed the attack, the Directorate-General for External Security (DSGE), is a branch of France's intelligence services. The agents responsible pleaded guilty to manslaughter as part of a plea deal and were sentenced to ten years in prison, but were secretly released early to France under an agreement between the two countries' governments.


title: State terrorism

text: During the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland from the 1960's to the 1990's, the Military Reaction Force (MRF), a counterinsurgency unit of the British Intelligence Corps, was tasked with tracking down members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). During the period when it was active, the MRF was involved in the killings of Catholic civilians in Northern Ireland.


title: State terrorism

text: In November 2013, a BBC Panorama documentary was aired about the MRF. It drew on information from seven former members, as well as a number of other sources. Soldier H said: "We operated initially with them thinking that we were the UVF." Soldier F added: "We wanted to cause confusion." In June 1972, he was succeeded as commander by Captain James 'Hamish' McGregor.


title: State terrorism

text: In June 2014, in the wake of the Panorama programme, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) opened an investigation into the matter. In an earlier review of the programme, the position of the PSNI was that none of the statements by soldiers in the programme could be taken as an admission of criminality.


title: State terrorism

text: The Uyghur American Association has claimed that Beijing's military approach to terrorism in Xinjiang is state terrorism. The Chinese state has also been accused of state terrorism in Tibet.


title: State terrorism

text: The sinking of the Rainbow Warrior took place in Auckland Harbour on July 10, 1985. It was an attack carried out by French DGSE agents Captain Dominique Prieur and Commander Alain Mafart aimed at sinking the flagship craft of the Greenpeace Organisation in order to stop it from interfering in French nuclear testing in the South Pacific. The attack resulted in the death of Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira and led to a huge uproar over the first ever attack on New Zealand's sovereignty as a modern nation. France initially denied any involvement in the attack, and it even joined in condemning the attack as a terrorist act. In July 1986, a United Nations-sponsored mediation effort between New Zealand and France resulted in the transfer of the two prisoners to the French Polynesian island of Hao, so they could serve three years there, as well as an apology and an NZ$13 million payment from France to New Zealand.


title: State terrorism

text: In the 1980s, Libya under Muammar Gaddafi was accused of state terrorism following attacks abroad such as the Lockerbie bombing. Between 9 July and 15 August 1984 seventeen merchant vessels were damaged in the Gulf of Suez and Bab al-Mandeb straits by underwater explosions. Terrorist group Al Jihad (thought to be a pro-Iranian Shiite group connected to the Palestine Liberation Organisation) issued a claim of responsibility for the mining, but circumstantial evidence indicated that Libya was responsible.


title: State terrorism

text: North Korea has been accused of state terrorism on several occasions, such as in 1983 in the Rangoon bombing, the Gimpo International Airport bombing, and in 1987 when North Korean agents detonated a bomb on Korean Air Flight 858, killing everybody aboard.


title: State terrorism

text: Following the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and the initial investigations into war crimes committed by Russian soldiers, there were calls for Russia to be designated a terrorist state. On May 10, 2022, Lithuania's parliament designated Russia a terrorist state and its actions in Ukraine a genocide. The US Senate unanimously passed a resolution to this effect on July 27, 2022, and the US House of Representatives is to consider such legislation. On August 11, Latvia's parliament designated Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada on 20 August 2022 also designated Russia as a terrorist state. On October 17, the European Parliament approved a request to debate and vote on a resolution recognizing Russia as a terrorist state, which it did on November 23.


title: State terrorism

text: Britain has been accused of involvement in state terrorism during the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland from the 1960s to the 1990s by covertly assisting loyalist paramilitaries.


title: State terrorism

text: Ruth J Blakeley, Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Sheffield, accuses the United States of sponsoring and deploying state terrorism, which she defines as "the illegal targeting of individuals that the state has a duty to protect in order to instill fear in a target audience beyond the direct victim", on an "enormous scale" during the Cold War. The United States government justified this policy by saying it needed to contain the spread of Communism, but Blakeley says the United States government also used it as a means to buttress and promote the interests of U.S. elites and multinational corporations. The U.S. supported governments who employed death squads throughout Latin America and counterinsurgency training of right-wing military forces included advocating the interrogation and torture of suspected insurgents. J. Patrice McSherry, a professor of political science at Long Island University, says "hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans were tortured, abducted or killed by right-wing military regimes as part of the U.S.-led anti-communist crusade," which included U.S. support for Operation Condor and the Guatemalan military during the Guatemalan Civil War. More people were repressed and killed throughout Latin America in the last three decades of the Cold War than in the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, according to historian John Henry Coatsworth.


title: State terrorism

text: Declassified documents from the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta in 2017 confirm that U.S. officials directly facilitated and encouraged the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of suspected Communists in Indonesia during the mid-1960s. Bradley Simpson, Director of the Indonesia/East Timor Documentation Project at the National Security Archive, says "Washington did everything in its power to encourage and facilitate the army-led massacre of alleged PKI members, and U.S. officials worried only that the killing of the party's unarmed supporters might not go far enough, permitting Sukarno to return to power and frustrate the [Johnson] Administration's emerging plans for a post-Sukarno Indonesia." According to Simpson, the terror in Indonesia was an "essential building block of the quasi neo-liberal policies the West would attempt to impose on Indonesia in the years to come". Historian John Roosa, who commented on documents which were released by the U.S. embassy in Jakarta in 2017, said they confirmed that "the U.S. was part and parcel of the operation, strategizing with the Indonesian army and encouraging them to go after the PKI." Geoffrey B. Robinson, a historian at UCLA, argues that without the support of the U.S. and other powerful Western states, the Indonesian Army's program of mass killings would not have happened.


title: State terrorism

text: The chairman of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee has said the twelve previous international conventions on terrorism had never referred to state terrorism, which was not an international legal concept, and when states abuse their powers they should be judged against international conventions which deal with war crimes, international human rights law, and international humanitarian law, rather than international anti-terrorism statutes. In a similar vein, Kofi Annan, at the time the United Nations Secretary-General, said it is "time to set aside debates on so-called 'state terrorism'. The use of force by states is already regulated under international law". Annan added, "...regardless of the differences between governments on the question of the definition of terrorism, what is clear and what we can all agree on is any deliberate attack on innocent civilians [or non-combatants], regardless of one's cause, is unacceptable and fits into the definition of terrorism."


title: State terrorism

text: Dr. Bruce Hoffman has argued that failing to differentiate between state and non-state violence ignores the fact that there is a "fundamental qualitative difference between the two types of violence." Hoffman argues that even in war, there are rules and accepted norms of behaviour that prohibit certain types of weapons and tactics and outlaw attacks on specific categories of targets. For instance, rules which are codified in the Geneva and Hague Conventions on warfare prohibit taking civilians as hostages, outlaw reprisals against either civilians or POWs, recognise neutral territory, etc. Hoffman says "even the most cursory review of terrorist tactics and targets over the past quarter century reveals that terrorists have violated all these rules." Hoffman also says that when states transgress these rules of war "the term "war crime" is used to describe such acts."


title: State terrorism

text: Walter Laqueur has said those who argue that state terrorism should be included in studies of terrorism ignore the fact that "The very existence of a state is based on its monopoly of power. If it were different, states would not have the right, nor would they be in a position, to maintain that minimum of order on which all civilized life rests." Calling the concept a "red herring" he stated: "This argument has been used by the terrorists themselves, arguing that there is no difference between their activities and those by governments and states. It has also been employed by some sympathizers, and it rests on the deliberate obfuscation between all kinds of violence..."


title: Unstoppable (2018 film)

text: Unstoppable is a 2018 South Korean action crime film directed by Kim Min-ho. It stars Ma Dong-seok and Song Ji-hyo. The film revolves around a former legendary gangster turned seafood distributor named Dong-Chul, who goes on a crusade to rescue his wife from a human trafficking ring. It was released on November 22, 2018.


title: Unstoppable (2018 film)

text: Dong-chul is a meek seafood distributor who tries to hit big bucks with various business opportunities that eventually go bust, losing a lot of money, much to the annoyance of his wife Ji-soo. One evening, while trying to convince her about a new opportunity in the fishing industry with the supply of King Crabs and opening a new restaurant. Dong-chul’s car is rear-ended by the car of Gi-tae, a female trafficker, who is attracted to Ji-Soo and kidnaps her the next night.


title: Unstoppable (2018 film)

text: When Dong-Chul arrives home after work, He learns that Ji-Soo is kidnapped, where he receives a bag full of money from Gi-tae in exchange for the "purchase" of Ji-soo. However, Gi-tae is unaware that Dong-chul was a legendary fighter and gangster, who is now living the quiet life on the insistence of Ji-Soo. Dong-Chul and his friend Choon-Sik and retired cop Gomsajang begins a search which leads them to a casino where they find that the gangsters are smuggling Lorazepam and plates from Jangseang port. They find the manager Park In-Chang of "Business Club". Dong-chul checks In-Chang's car where he finds that In-Chang was present at the time of Ji-Soo's kidnapping. Dong-Chul tries to nab In-Chang, but escapes.


title: Unstoppable (2018 film)

text: With the help of the police department, Dong-Chul meets and learns from a deceased wife's husband that Gi-tae had offered him money in exchange to sell his wife, who was in coma. The husband reluctantly accepts and felt guilty for his actions, where he gives a file to Dong-Chul and dies by jumping off the police headquarters. Dong-Chul finds the visiting card of a finance company "DS (Dae-Sung) Financial" headed by Dae-Sung, who is Gi-tae's associate (Dae-Sung had gave the visiting card to Dong-chul previously when they accidentally crashed their car). Dong-Chul confronts Dae-Sung where he kidnaps him, which is witnessed by Gi-too from the CCTV cameras.


title: Unstoppable (2018 film)

text: Gi-tae calls Dong-Chul and blackmails him to kill Dae-Sung in exchange for Ji-Soo's survival. Dong-Chul pretends to kill Dae-Sung and saves Ji-Soo. Without knowing, Gi-tae tells Dong-Chul to bring the money. The trio enquire Dae-Sung where they learn that the husbands are brainwashed into selling their wives in exchange for money. They manage to steal the money from the police station (as Dong-Chul had given the bag to the police). Dong-Chul reaches the Gangwon province and defeats all of the syndicate's henchmen including In-Chang and a car chases ensues between Gi-tae and Dong-Chul where Dong-Chul manages to defeat Gi-tae and hand him over to the cops and reunites with Ji-Soo, where he also testifies about the syndicate's activities to the cops.


title: Unstoppable (2018 film)

text: The King-Crab is successfully delivered, where Dong-Chul, Ji-Soo and Choon-sik inaugurate their restaurant "Road Village, Fish Village" and celebrate with a happy meal of King Crab.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: The Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club (GJMC), are a "one-percenter" motorcycle club that was originally formed in San Bernardino, California on April Fool's Day, 1956. Though founded in the United States, the MC expanded successfully overseas and is now one of the most notorious and feared motorcycle clubs in Australia and Norway.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: It is considered by many to be one of the most difficult clubs in which to achieve full membership, due to tough requirements and a "prospecting" time that usually takes at least two years, as pointed out in the book "The Brotherhoods": "Inside the Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs" by Professor Arthur Veno.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: In November 1969, Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club Australia was founded by former members of the St Mary's Motorcycle Club who enjoyed riding Harley Davidson motorcycles. Sydney was the first chapter.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: Following a friendly amalgamation with the notorious South Australian formed Mandamas MC and Gypsy Joker MC. the group has had a high profile in Australia, especially in the southern and western regions. They are well known in Australia for the 2001 car bomb murder of Western Australia's former chief detective Don Hancock. The gang had an altercation with Hancock at the hotel he owned in Ora Banda which is 60 km north of Kalgoorlie. After setting up a campsite, Gypsy Joker Billy Grierson was shot dead by a sniper and it was alleged that Hancock was the shooter.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: Gypsy Joker members claimed that on January 12, 2001, a member was severely beaten by police in Adelaide, South Australia for refusing to remove his motorcycle helmet and sunglasses.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: In February 2008, police forced the Gypsy Jokers to dismantle its clubhouse fortifications, which include a concrete front wall, surveillance cameras and modified doors, in Perth, Western Australia. The club said the security was needed in the area where the burglary rate is high.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: Two Gypsy Joker members were jailed on March 5, 2009 on charges of assault. On May 12, 2007, Dean Alan Adams and Peter Floyd Robinson attacked Petera Heta Haimona outside the Cactus Club in Gosnells, Western Australia and beat him with metal pipes.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: A Gypsy Joker was charged with unlawful possession of a large sum of cash, weapons and ammunition on August 17, 2007. Police pulled his car over and discovered a gun, an expandable baton, capsicum spray and ammunition when they searched his vehicle.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: A Gypsy Joker member was charged with attempted murder on March 17, 2009. He shot and wounded a member of the Newboys gang and former Hells Angel outside their clubhouse in Adelaide, South Australia.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: On May 19, 2009, five Gypsy Jokers were involved in a drug-related shoot-out with another gang in Perth, Western Australia. Two were wounded and taken to hospital, one of which was Club President Leonard Mark Kirby.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: On April 14, 2012, Gypsy Joker Anthony Perish, his brother Andrew (a Rebels Motorcycle Club gang member) and Matthew Lawton were sentenced to eighteen, nine and fifteen years respectively for the murder of convicted drug trafficker Terry Falconer, conspiracy to commit murder and firearms and drug offences.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: In December 1981, Donald Manuel Paradis, a Leader of the Gypsy Jokers motorcycle gang, was convicted of the June 21, 1980 murder of Kimberly Anne Palmer, 19. Palmer and her boyfriend Scott Currier were murdered in Paradis's home. Paradis helped move the bodies to Post Falls, ID. Medical pathologist, William Brady, fostered the impression that Ms. Palmer had been killed in Idaho. This allowed Idaho to charge and convict Paradis with murder and sentenced to death. Public outcry and legal appeals managed to make it clear that the prosecution had withheld potentially exculpatory evidence, and Mr. Paradis’s conviction was overturned. When Paradis finally won release from prison in April, 2001, David Bond was widely credited with contribution to his case. "Dave Bond believed in me," Paradis noted. "And he got a whole bunch of people to believe in me."


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: In 2004, the police raided the Gypsy Joker clubhouse in Portland, Oregon looking for two men wanted for armed robbery one of whom went by the street name Brick. (Brick later was found dead due to an altercation with a rival gang and could not be tried for said crimes.) The men were not there, however, and the club sued the Portland Police Bureau for $50,000 because of the damage caused in the raid.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: On April 10, 2008, police raided the Gypsy Joker clubhouse in Kennewick, Washington and arrested four men for possession of methamphetamine. Stolen property and weapons were also seized from the premises.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: On August 13, 2009, police in Nampa, Idaho, with assistance of the FBI, pulled over and detained approximately 60 to 70 members of the Gypsy Joker MC just off exit 38 on interstate 84. They were searched, interrogated, and photographed for future reference by law enforcement concerning gang affiliated activity.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: As of July 2016, three people in Oregon are facing two counts of murder, one count each of criminal conspiracy to commit murder and two counts each of criminal conspiracy to commit kidnapping regarding the killing of Robert Huggins, once a high-ranking member of the group. Others are accused of hindering prosecution in this case. The investigation lead to a raid of the Gypsy Joker clubhouse in North Portland that same year. Huggins' body was found beaten and mutilated in July 2015. His killers shot nails through his boots, carved out an ‘X’ on his body and knocked out his teeth.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: On January 31, 2019 six members of the Oregon Gypsy Joker MC were charged with multiple crimes. The U.S. Attorney's Office said five defendants face charges of murder in aid of racketeering, kidnapping in aid of racketeering resulting in death, kidnapping resulting in death and conspiracy to commit kidnapping resulting in death for the June 30 to July 2, 2015 kidnapping and murder of Robert Huggins. Huggins was a former GJOMC member and resident of southeast Portland. The five defendants are accused of killing Huggins to maintain and increase their positions in the criminal club.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: Gypsy Joker MC Norway started out as a local Harley Davidson club on the 1st of April, 1997 under the name JOKER MC. The path towards becoming a new international chapter of the Gypsy Joker MC started in 2007.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: In 2008 Joker MC members were seen wearing the 1% patch on their colors. For the time being it was still a local 1%-er club, but Gypsy Joker members were frequently observed around the clubhouse.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: As the suspected plans of a merger became known, other international 1%er clubs opposed the idea of a new international 1%-er club being established in the country. Meanwhile, Joker MC made headlines after a bar brawl in a neighboring city, and after several local business shops put up signs with “Protected by Joker MC”. The police was fearing racketeering and mafia-style conditions in the city, and the club came under heavier surveillance. Several police raids followed in the years to come, without any charges being made.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: Meanwhile, things started to heat up, and the Norwegian Police Security Service put the biker clubs as one of the highest ranking threats for domestic safety as they feared a new biker war brewing. The Joker MC clubhouse was fortified, and members of the club was observed riding with bullet proof vests under their colors/patch.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: In November 2011 several Gypsy Jokers came to Norway from abroad, but were all stopped at the airport, where they were incarcerated for days before being shipped back home without being able to enter Norway. At the same time several police officers raided the Joker MC clubhouse. The Norwegian police treatment of the bikers caused several headlines in the US, as several of the members were US Veterans.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: Just days after a big sign with Gypsy Joker MC decorated the former Joker MC clubhouse. Although the club rarely makes any public comments, a spokesperson did in this case make a statement, clearly meant as a jest on behalf of the police, calling the finalization of the patch-over a Christmas gift for the local police and their constant quest for more money and resources.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: Although the club mostly keeps to itself, they continue to draw attention from both the public and the police, with the latest known police raid being in 2020 when armed police raided the club on the suspicion of a case involving violence and bodily harm. No charges were made following the raid.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: Gypsy Joker MC Norway holds an annual Joker Run every 1st of May, gathering over hundred local bikers from different local motorcycle clubs.


title: Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club

text: Gypsy Joker MC Norway have a support club in Brazil, Jesters MC, established in 2017. Gypsy Joker members are frequently seen in Brazil. The pattern is similar to the patchover of Joker MC and its assumed that the Jesters MC is a foothold for the club to establish a full Gypsy Joker MC chapter in Brazil with time.


title: Community (season 4)

text: The fourth season of the television comedy series "Community" premiered on February 7, 2013, and concluded on May 9, 2013. The season consists of 13 episodes and aired on NBC on Thursdays at 8:00 pm ET as part of the network's "Comedy Night Done Right" programming block.


title: Community (season 4)

text: The season marked the departure of showrunner Dan Harmon, replaced by Moses Port and David Guarascio, and overall received mixed reviews from critics. In the series's fifth season, Harmon returned as showrunner, and the fourth season was referred to retroactively in the series' continuity as "the gas-leak year."


title: Community (season 4)

text: The series was renewed for a fourth season of 13 episodes on May 10, 2012. On May 18, 2012, after returning to California from a cross-country flight, series' creator Dan Harmon received a text message alerting him that he had been relieved of his position as "Community" showrunner by Sony Pictures Television. Reportedly, Harmon's erratic behavior (such as his drinking, his tardiness, his falling asleep at work and his disappearing in San Francisco for a few days during the SF Sketchfest) and leadership style (namely the “tug of war between his perfectionist tendencies and his procrastinator nature”) were the reasons that the studio fired him. To replace Harmon, Sony Pictures Television hired writers David Guarascio and Moses Port, the co-creators of the short-lived CW series "Aliens in America". Sony Pictures Television claimed that Harmon would serve as a consulting producer, but Harmon affirmed via his Tumblr that he would not return in a position without executive prerogatives. Regardless, Harmon was credited as an "executive consultant" for the season, despite not working on a single episode.


title: Community (season 4)

text: The fourth season saw other behind-the-scenes changes, as well. Executive producers Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan, writer/producer Chris McKenna and actor/writer Dino Stamatopoulos all departed following the third season. Frequent episode directors and executive producers Anthony and Joe Russo also left in order to direct "". McKenna, Stamatopoulos, and Joe Russo later returned to work on the show's fifth season.


title: Community (season 4)

text: Returning writers for fourth season included co-executive producer Andy Bobrow, producer Megan Ganz, and staff writer Tim Saccardo, who had been with the series since season two; and co-executive producer Maggie Bandur, and writing team and executive story editors Steve Basilone and Annie Mebane, who joined the series in season three. New additions to the writing staff in the fourth season included co-executive producer Ben Wexler, co-producers Hunter Covington and Gene Hong, and staff writers Issac Gonzalez and Jack Kukoda. Cast member Jim Rash (who won an Academy Award for co-writing "The Descendants") wrote the eleventh episode of the season. Tristram Shapeero, who directed several episodes during the first three seasons, was promoted to an executive producer and directed the majority of the fourth season's episodes.


title: Community (season 4)

text: Filming for the season began in August 2012, and the series was initially scheduled to premiere on October 19, 2012, airing in a new time slot on Fridays at 8:30 pm. In early October 2012, NBC delayed the premiere. NBC.com released a video of the cast of "Community" in character addressing the delay of the season premiere; this video humorously claimed that October 19 is merely a "state of mind". On October 30, 2012, NBC announced that the fourth season would premiere on February 7, 2013, returning to its original time slot of Thursdays at 8:00 pm.


title: Community (season 4)

text: During the filming of "Advanced Documentary Filmmaking", Chevy Chase became angry at the racist direction his character was heading. While venting his frustrations, he used the slur "nigger"; episode director Jay Chandrasekhar argued that Chase's use of the word was a "political comment," and an attempt to point out how racist his character had become. Regardless, the slur upset cast members, and Chase walked off of the set. He later returned to film some additional scenes, but later announced on November 21, 2012, that he had left the show.


title: Community (season 4)

text: As a result of timing and the agreement made, Chase's character Pierce is absent for two episodes—he did not appear in tenth episode, "Intro to Knots", or the twelfth episode, "Heroic Origins". He also appeared in a voice-only role in the episode "Intro to Felt Surrogacy", which was the final episode produced for the season, and as part of his agreement to leave the show, Chase was required to record all audio for the scenes where his character, alongside the other characters, appeared as a puppet. The season finale, which was filmed out-of-sequence, as it was the eleventh episode produced, marked the final on-screen appearance (based on production order) of Chase as a regular cast member.


title: Community (season 4)

text: The season premiere, "History 101", was seen by 3.88 million viewers and scored a 1.8 in the 18–49 demographic. This meant that its ratings were up when compared not only to the third season finale (which was seen by 2.48 million viewers and received a 1.3 in the 18–49 demographic), but also the prior season's premiere (which was seen by 3.93 million and received a 1.7 in the 18–49 demographic). The premiere's ratings were enough to generate cautiously optimistic speculation that the show would be renewed for a fifth season (speculation that was later confirmed). However, as the season wore on, the ratings began to dip, which led some to wonder if this would be the show's last season. The season's final episode, "Advanced Introduction to Finality", was viewed by 3.08 million viewers and scored a 1.3 rating in the 18–49 demographic.


title: Community (season 4)

text: The fourth season received mixed to positive reviews from critics, and is considered to be the weakest season of "Community" due to Harmon's absence. The fourth season scored 69 out of 100 based on 17 critics on Metacritic based on episode 1 and 3, indicating "generally favorable reviews". On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has an approval rating of 65% with an average score of 6.5 out of 10 based on 40 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Despite some behind-the-scenes drama, the fourth season of "Community" manages to retain the playful energy, potent humor, and kooky stories the show is famous for."


title: Community (season 4)

text: Verne Gay of "Newsday" stated, "Still defiantly "Community", still good and still uninterested in adding new viewers." On the other hand, "Hitfix"s Alan Sepinwall stated, "It feels like [Moses] Port, [David] Guarascio and the other writers decided to reverse-engineer the [Dan] Harmon version of "Community", but couldn't quite manage without the missing ingredient of Harmon himself." Mike Hale of "The New York Times" has stated that the series "has been dumbed down, its humor broadened past recognition, and the two episodes provided for review...have fewer laughs between them than a single good scene from the old "Community"." At the end of season 4, The A.V. Club's Emily VanDerWerff confessed, "I never thought I would say this, but I just don't care anymore."


title: Community (season 4)

text: In an episode of "Harmontown" — a weekly live-comedy podcast — Harmon initially said that, while the season was an "impression, and an unflattering one," it was merely "not [his] cup of tea." Later in the same interview, however, he likened it to "'flipping through Instagram just watching your girlfriend blow everyone' and seeing a friend 'Like' a photo of your ex-girlfriend with her new boyfriend on Facebook." Harmon also described the season as like "being held down and watching your family get raped on a beach". Later, in a Tumblr blog post, Harmon apologized to fans of the show, its cast and crew and the writers. He apologized for the rape comparison and for using the phrase "durpy durpy dur" in a joke about the season, saying that the phrase is "language used to dehumanize the developmentally disabled". Sony later expressed an interest in having Harmon record commentary tracks for all the fourth-season episodes, although this did not come to pass.


title: Twizzlers

text: Twizzlers is the product of Y&S Candies, Inc., of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Twizzlers were first produced in 1929 by Young and Smylie, as the company was then called. The licorice company was founded in 1845, making it one of the oldest confectionery firms in the United States. Twizzlers ingredients consist of corn syrup, wheat flour, sugar, cornstarch, and smaller amounts of palm oil, salt, artificial flavor, glycerin, citric acid, potassium sorbate, Red 40, and soy lecithin. Because only black Twizzlers contain extracts of the licorice plant, they are collectively referred to as licorice-type candy. 70% of the annual production of Twizzlers are strawberry, the most popular Twizzlers flavor.


title: Twizzlers

text: The manufacturer of Twizzlers candy is one of the oldest confectionery firms in the United States. The company was established in 1845 as Young and Smylie, and adopted Y&S as its trademark in 1870. National Licorice Company was created in 1902 through the merger of three small firms: Young & Smylie, S.V. & F.P. Schudder and H.W. Petherbridge. In 1908 a plant was opened in Montreal and in 1929 the Twizzlers brand was created. The company changed its name to Y&S Candies Inc. in 1968. Y&S Candies was acquired by The Hershey Company in November 1977 in a pooling-of-interests, then merged into Hershey in January 1982.


title: Twizzlers

text: Since 1999, Twizzlers have been manufactured in Memphis, Tennessee, as well as Lancaster, in a Y&S plant that makes chewing gum and other candies. From 1970 through 1999, it was manufactured in Farmington, New Mexico, but relocated the operation to Memphis due to rising transportation costs. According to the "Guinness Book of Records", the longest licorice twist ever made measured and and was made at the Y&S Candy Plant in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1998.


title: Twizzlers

text: Nibs are bite-sized licorice pieces made for nibbling. The confectionery industry has long used the word nibs to describe small pieces of a product. The origin of the industry's use of the word comes from cacao nibs, which are the bitter but very flavorful chocolate bits made from the beans of the cocoa tree.


title: Twizzlers

text: No one knows when Y&S introduced its Nibs to the Twizzlers licorice line, whether it was in the 1930s right after Twizzlers were first produced or some time later. Candy packaging collectors provide first-hand accounts of specific Nibs package features on specimens from the 1960s and 1970s. Even though the company sold nearly 50 million pounds of licorice products a year by 1975, in an effort to differentiate the Twizzlers and Nibs products, in that year Y&S turned to a Madison Avenue ad firm to separately promote the different products.


title: Twizzlers

text: While the original flavor introduced in 1845 was licorice, in the middle 1970s the company began to expand its flavors to include strawberry, grape, chocolate, cherry, and watermelon flavors. Limited edition cherry cola and "rainbow" (fruit variety consisting of strawberry, orange, lemonade, watermelon, blue raspberry and grape) flavors were introduced in 2006. Today all these flavors of "rainbow" Twizzlers are still sold in stores and movie theaters.


title: Twizzlers

text: Twizzlers come in a variety of shapes and sizes. In addition to the original Twists, Nibs and Bites of various sizes, Y&S introduced Pull 'n' Peel in 1994. Twerpz and Strawz came along in 2004. The company also manufactures a special variety; the regular length of Twizzlers is .


title: Twizzlers

text: In 2006, Y&S introduced the Sweet and Sour Filled Twist. They come in two different colors, red and yellow, and both have a viscous, fruity filling inside. The yellow flavor is Citrus Punch and the red flavor is Cherry Kick. In 2011, Super Long Nibs was introduced, combining the flavor and texture of the classic Nib with the length of a standard Twizzlers twist. In May 2013, the Pull 'n' Peel introduced its "Raspberry Wild Berry Lemonade" flavor.


title: Twizzlers

text: In December 2014, Twizzlers came out with Pull 'n' Peel Fruit Punch and Twizzlers filled Strawberry Lemonade varieties.


title: Twizzlers

text: In December 2016, Twizzlers came out with Pull 'n' Peel Cherry and Green Apple and Twizzlers filled Strawberry Lemonade varieties.


title: Twizzlers

text: All flavors of Pull 'n' Peel and Twists, and cherry and black licorice flavored Bites and Nibs are kosher certified by the Orthodox Union. Strawberry Twizzlers, cherry Pull 'n' Peel, Bites, Twists and Nibs, black licorice Twizzlers, and chocolate flavored Twizzlers do not contain animal gelatin or other animal products, and are approved as a vegan-edible candy.


title: Napoleon Dynamite (TV series)

text: Napoleon Dynamite is a short-lived American animated sitcom based on the 2004 indie film of the same name. Set in the small town of Preston, Idaho, it follows the adventures of the titular 16-year-old boy, who thinks he is skilled at everything. The series was created by the film's co-writers and directors Jared and Jerusha Hess, who developed it with Mike Scully and proposed it to Fox.


title: Napoleon Dynamite (TV series)

text: The series received mixed to positive reviews; critics were divided on how well the source material translated to animation. The premiere episode had a Nielsen rating of 9.5 million viewers, but the ratings later dropped and the last four episodes averaged only 4 million viewers. The series ranked sixth in viewership among teenagers. The series aired on Fox's Animation Domination lineup from January 15 to March 4, 2012, before it was cancelled.


title: Napoleon Dynamite (TV series)

text: Married couple Jared and Jerusha Hess were co-writers and directors of the 2004 film "Napoleon Dynamite", and had wanted to do an animated version since the film's release. They thought animation was the best way to continue the world of "Napoleon Dynamite" as the original actors had grown too old to play teenage characters. Following the film's success, Fox Searchlight Pictures wanted a sequel, but the Hesses delayed due to commitments to other projects and fear that audiences would tire of the "Napoleon Dynamite" characters.


title: Napoleon Dynamite (TV series)

text: Development of the series began in 2009 when Jared Hess met with writer-producer Mike Scully to propose an animated version of the film to him. Scully stated that ""Napoleon Dynamite" as an animated series made "perfect sense" to him, and the two presented a nine-minute pilot episode to Fox in 2010. That May, Fox officially confirmed that an animated series with the original cast was in development with close involvement from the Hesses. Fox placed an order for six episodes as a trial run, and in July 2011 ordered seven additional scripts to be put into production if the series was renewed for a second season. The show was overseen by the Hesses and Scully.


title: Napoleon Dynamite (TV series)

text: The series premiered on January 15, 2012, as a mid-season replacement for the animated series "Allen Gregory". During its six-episode run, "Napoleon Dynamite" had no consistent schedule; it was constantly shifted on the Fox schedule in favor of football and award shows. On May 15, 2012, Fox announced a schedule for its 2012–13 season that dropped "Napoleon Dynamite" from the listings.


title: Napoleon Dynamite (TV series)

text: The Hesses set the series towards the end of the "Napoleon Dynamite" film; Scully said they transferred the characters and premise, but not the events of the film.


title: Napoleon Dynamite (TV series)

text: In the film, set in the small town of Preston, Idaho, Napoleon (Jon Heder) is an awkward 16-year-old boy who loves practicing ninja moves, dancing, and drawing pictures of a liger, an animal he says is bred for its skills in magic. He also invents stories about himself: hunting wolverines in Alaska, having an Oklahoman girlfriend, and that a gang wants him to join because of his skill with a bo staff. His brother Kip (Aaron Ruell) is an unemployed 32-year-old; flimsy and gawky, he is the target of Napoleon's outlashes, although he often brags of his wrestling abilities and overall coolness; he spends his days in an internet chat room talking to a woman named Lafawnduh. The two live with their grandmother, Carlinda (Sandy Martin), who enjoys riding all-terrain vehicles.


title: Napoleon Dynamite (TV series)

text: Deborah "Deb" Bradshaw (Tina Majorino) is a shy, quiet, sweet, and artistically inclined girl who is infatuated with Napoleon upon first meeting him. Napoleon's uncle Rico (Jon Gries) is a middle-aged man who lives in a camper van and is obsessed with his failed football career and with attempts at get rich quick schemes. Rex Kwon Do (Diedrich Bader) is a self-declared martial-arts master who runs a dojo.


title: Napoleon Dynamite (TV series)

text: Napoleon also becomes friends with a Mexican exchange student named Pedro Sánchez (Efren Ramirez) who rarely conveys emotion or speaks. Pedro runs for class president after seeing a poster at the school dance. On the election day, he gives a mediocre speech in front of the student body. Napoleon does a dance routine as Pedro's skit for the election and receives a standing ovation, saving the campaign and winning Pedro the election. Following the campaign, Kip and Lafawnduh meet each other in real life and are wed.


title: Napoleon Dynamite (TV series)

text: Jared Hess has stated that this series takes place after Pedro's election, but before the marriage, and several new characters are introduced.


title: Napoleon Dynamite (TV series)

text: Reviews for the show's premiere episode were mixed. Linda Stasi of the "New York Post" praised its humor as almost as funny as the film, and Nancy Smith of "The Wall Street Journal" called it "a dream come true" for fans of the film. Ed Bark of "UncleBarky.com" enjoyed the show and said it was "far funnier" than the Fox animated comedies "Bob's Burgers" and "Allen Gregory". Simon Moore of "Flickering Myth" compared the show's "left-field laughs" favorably to the humor in "The Simpsons" and "Futurama". On Rotten Tomatoes, "Napoleon Dynamite" has an aggregate score of 32% based on 9 positive and 19 negative critic reviews. The website’s consensus reads: "Unfunny and hackneyed, "Napoleon Dynamite" doesn't understand what made the movie popular in the first place."


title: Napoleon Dynamite (TV series)

text: David Wiegand of the "San Francisco Chronicle" found the writing not funny, writing that he could not see "Jon Heder's expressionless face" as he talked in the animation. The "Staten Island Advance" said the change to animation freed "Napoleon" from real-world limitations, but thought it "lessen[ed] the overall appeal of the character and setting". Lori Rackl of the "Chicago Sun-Times" did not like the movie and liked the animated series even less; she thought the emotions and physical humor were lost in the change to animation.


title: Napoleon Dynamite (TV series)

text: Brian Lowry of "Variety" gave the show a neutral review: "To say the show represents an improvement over "Allen Gregory" is not much of an endorsement, but there is something amusing about Heder's monotonic voice and Napoleon's utter lack of self-awareness, along with fast-paced gags like a miniature golf course where hitting the ball into Hitler's mouth wins a free round." Robert Bianco of "USA Today" called the first episode a "vulgarized premiere" that detracted from the film's qualities, but called the second one a "sweeter, funnier improvement". Mary McNamara of the "Los Angeles Times" wrote of the pacing that the "satirical silence or non-sequitur scenes slowly compiled to establish tone" in the film, but were sacrificed for the faster pace of a network TV show.


title: Napoleon Dynamite (TV series)

text: Simon Moore of "Flickering Myth" disagreed the faster pace was to the show's detriment, calling the film's "snail-like pace ... its biggest flaw".


title: Napoleon Dynamite (TV series)

text: Despite canceling the show, Fox touted in a press release that it had an averaged 2.8/7 Nielsen share and 5.8 million viewers for the six episodes, and that it ranked sixth in teenage viewership against other television networks. The show ranked #56 in the adults 18–49 ratings and #103 in the total viewership rankings for the 2011–12 television season.


title: Napoleon Dynamite (TV series)

text: On August 20, 2015, Adult Swim Canada announced they would begin airing reruns of the series in September 2015.


title: Napoleon Dynamite (TV series)

text: "Napoleon Dynamite: The Complete Animated Series", containing all 6 episodes, was released on DVD in Region 1 on November 4, 2014 by Olive Films.


title: Bonnie Blue flag

text: The "Bonnie Blue flag" was a banner associated at various times with the Republic of Texas, the short-lived Republic of West Florida, and the Confederate States of America at the start of the American Civil War in 1861. It consists of a single, five-pointed white star on a blue field. Its first use being as early as 1810, it is considered the first lone star flag in U.S. history.


title: Bonnie Blue flag

text: The first recorded use of this flag (typically with a white star) was in 1810 when it was used to represent the Republic of West Florida, a republic of English-speaking inhabitants in parts of Louisiana east of the Mississippi River who rebelled against the reign of Spanish government and overthrew Spain's district governor, , at Baton Rouge. The republic's independence lasted barely three months, dissolved after the annexation of Louisiana's portion of the disputed land to the United States territory acquired in the Louisiana Purchase.


title: Bonnie Blue flag

text: Later referred to as the Burnet flag, it was adopted by the Congress of the Republic of Texas on December 10, 1836. This version consisted of an azure background with a large golden star, inspired by the 1810 flag of the Republic of West Florida. Variants of the Burnet flag with a white star, virtually identical to the Bonnie Blue flag, were also common. Other variants featured the star, of either color, upside down, and/or ringed with the word Texas, with each letter filling one of the gaps of the star (the De Zavala flag). These flags, combined with the flag of the Fredonian Rebellion, are ancestral to the modern flag of Texas.


title: Bonnie Blue flag

text: When the state of Mississippi seceded from the Union in January 1861, a flag bearing a single white star on a blue field was flown from the capitol dome. Harry Macarthy helped popularize this flag as a symbol of independence, writing the popular song "The Bonnie Blue Flag" early in 1861. Some seceding Southern states incorporated the motif of a white star on a blue field into new state flags.


title: Bonnie Blue flag

text: Although the name "Bonnie Blue" dates only from 1861, there is no doubt that the flag is identical with the banner of the Republic of West Florida. In 2006 the state of Louisiana formally linked the name "Bonnie Blue" to the West Florida banner, passing a law designating the Bonnie Blue flag as "the official flag of the Republic of West Florida Historic Region".


title: Bonnie Blue flag

text: The Bonnie Blue flag was used as an unofficial flag during the early months of 1861. It was flying above the Confederate batteries that first opened fire on Fort Sumter, beginning the Civil War. In addition, many military units had their own regimental flags they would carry into battle.


title: Bonnie Blue flag

text: In 2007, one of six known Bonnie Blue flags from the Civil War era was sold at auction for . The flag had been carried by the Confederate 3rd Texas Cavalry, and later exhibited as part of the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition.


title: Bonnie Blue flag

text: In the 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell and the 1939 film "Gone with the Wind", Rhett Butler nicknames his newborn daughter "Bonnie Blue" after Melanie Wilkes remarks that her eyes will be "as blue as the bonnie blue flag."


title: Santa Claus: The Movie

text: Santa Claus: The Movie is a 1985 Christmas film starring Dudley Moore, John Lithgow, and David Huddleston. It depicts the origin of Santa Claus (played by Huddleston), and his modern-day adventure to save one of his elves (Moore) who has been manipulated by an unscrupulous toy company executive (Lithgow). It was directed by Jeannot Szwarc and was the last major fantasy film produced by the Paris-based father-and-son production team of Alexander and Ilya Salkind.


title: Santa Claus: The Movie

text: Released in North America by TriStar Pictures on November 27, 1985, "Santa Claus: The Movie" was a box office bomb and received mostly negative reviews from critics. However, thanks to frequent television showings around Christmastime, it has earned a cult status, especially in the United Kingdom.


title: Santa Claus: The Movie

text: In the Middle Ages, a woodcutter named Claus delivers hand-carved toys to the children of his village each Christmas, accompanied by his wife Anya and their reindeer Donner and Blitzen. Caught in a blizzard, they are saved by elves and taken to their magical workshop at the North Pole. Lead elf Dooley explains that their coming was prophesied; that it is Claus' destiny to deliver the toys made by the elves to the children of the world; and that they, like the elves, will live forever. The following Christmas Eve, the oldest elf dubs Claus "Santa Claus" and explains that the night will last as long as it takes for him to deliver toys to every child on Earth. Donner and Blitzen join six other reindeer and are fed hay sprinkled with magical powder that enables them to fly, pulling Santa's sleigh through the air. As the centuries pass, much of the mythology and traditions surrounding Santa Claus develop.


title: Santa Claus: The Movie

text: By the late 20th century Santa is exhausted by his ever-growing workload, and Anya suggests that he enlist an assistant. Two elves compete for the position: Puffy, who follows traditional toymaking methods, and Patch, who has many ideas for modernization. Patch wins by designing a machine to increase production through automation, his idea at first works making perfectly made toys, but unbeknownst to him it then begins to malfunction and produce shoddy toys. In New York City Santa befriends homeless orphan boy Joe and takes him for a ride in his sleigh. They unsuccessfully attempt the "Super Duper Looper", a vertical loop maneuver which always fails due to Donner's acrophobia. They also meet wealthy orphan girl Cornelia, who befriends Joe.


title: Santa Claus: The Movie

text: When the toys produced by Patch's machine fall apart on Christmas Day and they end up getting returned, he resigns in disgrace and leaves the North Pole, winding up in New York City. Meanwhile, the B.Z. Toy Company, run by Cornelia's unscrupulous step-uncle B.Z., is facing shutdown by the government for producing unsafe toys. Seeing the company's toys being pulled from a storefront, Patch mistakenly thinks they are very popular and approaches B.Z. about a job. Hoping to redeem himself in Santa's eyes, he creates lollipops laced with the magic powder that allows the reindeer to fly, and a flying car which he uses to deliver them to the world's children on Christmas Eve. The lollipops allow people to fly, making them an instant sensation and leaving Santa feeling obsolete and disheartened. B.Z. convinces Patch to strengthen the formula and put it in candy canes, planning to launch his own holiday called "Christmas 2" in late March.


title: Santa Claus: The Movie

text: One evening in January, Cornelia invites Joe into her home as he had come down with a cold and needed a warm and dry place to sleep until he was better. Cornelia and Joe then overhear B.Z. speaking to Towzer over a plot to oust Santa as the figurehead of Christmas, after accidentally sneezing and being unable to hide in time Joe is captured. Cornelia further overhears B.Z.'s assistant, Towzer, share his discovery that the candy canes explode when exposed to heat. B.Z. plans to take Towzer and their money and flee to Brazil, letting Patch take the fall for their dangerous product. Cornelia writes to Santa, who rushes to help despite two of his reindeer being sidelined by illness. Patch finds Joe tied up in the toy factory and frees him. Seeing a wood carving resembling Patch that Santa made for Joe, Patch realizes that Santa misses him. He and Joe take off for the North Pole in his flying car with the candy canes loaded in the trunk, unaware that they are becoming unstable. Santa and Cornelia pursue in Santa's sleigh; as the car explodes, they successfully perform the Super Duper Looper, saving Joe and Patch. The police, alerted by Cornelia arrest Towzer and Grizzard & then attempt to arrest B.Z., with no intention to end up in prison he eats several of the magic candy canes and jumps out a window to escape, only to then float upward uncontrollably.


title: Santa Claus: The Movie

text: Santa and Anya adopt Joe and also agrees to let Cornelia live at his workshop too. As they celebrate with the elves, B.Z. floats off into space.


title: Santa Claus: The Movie

text: Additional elves were played by Melvyn Hayes, Don Estelle, Tim Stern, Peter O'Farrell, and Christopher Ryan as Goober, Groot, Boog, Honka, Vout, and Goobler, respectively. Other minor roles were played by Paul Aspland, Sally Granfield, and Michael Drew as reporters; Walter Goodman as a street corner Santa; John Cassady as a wino; and Ronald Fernee and Michael Ross as policemen.


title: Santa Claus: The Movie

text: Conceived by Ilya Salkind in the wake of the apparently waning critical and U.S. box office success of 1983's "Superman III" and its immediate follow-up, 1984's "Supergirl", "Santa Claus: The Movie" was directed by "Supergirl" director Jeannot Szwarc, from a story by David and Leslie Newman (though David Newman took sole screenplay credit). Pierre Spengler, Ilya's longtime partner and a longtime collaborator of the Salkinds', joined Ilya as the project's producer.


title: Santa Claus: The Movie

text: John Carpenter was originally offered the chance to direct, but also wanted a say in the writing, musical score, and final cut of the film. Carpenter's original choice for the role of Santa was Brian Dennehy. Szwarc, however, felt that he needed an actor with more warmth than Dennehy. Lewis Gilbert was another early choice for director but, despite initial interest, he could not agree with the Salkinds over certain aspects of the script. Robert Wise was also offered the chance to direct, but had a different approach to the story. Guy Hamilton, who had to withdraw from directing "Superman: The Movie" in 1976, lobbied hard for the chance to direct the film, but only on the condition that it be shot either in Los Angeles, Vancouver, or Rome. Ultimately, the Salkinds chose Szwarc because of their excellent working relationship on "Supergirl".


title: Santa Claus: The Movie

text: Dudley Moore was the Salkinds' top choice to play the lead elf in the film, Ilya Salkind having remembered a scene in "Arthur" in which Liza Minnelli's character asks Moore if he is Santa's Little Helper. Moore was attached to the project early on, and had a say in both scripting and choice of director. David Newman's first script draft named Moore's character Ollie, but Moore decided that the name should be changed to Patch, which was the nickname of his young son, Patrick. Moore had briefly been considered to play the role of Mister Mxyzptlk in the Salkinds' aborted original script for "Superman III", and for the role of Nigel in "Supergirl". He turned down that role, but suggested his longtime friend and comic partner Peter Cook for the part.


title: Santa Claus: The Movie

text: Ilya Salkind wanted an American actor to portray Santa Claus because he felt that the film focused on a primary piece of Americana in much the same way that "Superman: The Movie" had. Szwarc screen-tested such actors as David White (who, being in his late 60s, was considered too old for the role) and Moore's "Arthur" co-star Barney Martin. For a while, Ilya Salkind actively pursued Carroll O'Connor for the role before Szwarc showed him David Huddleston's screen-test, which won Salkind over.


title: Santa Claus: The Movie

text: For the role of B.Z., the producers wanted a star with a similar stature to Gene Hackman when he had played Lex Luthor in "Superman: The Movie". To this end, they offered the role to Harrison Ford who turned them down. They made offers to Dustin Hoffman, Burt Reynolds and Johnny Carson, each of whom also turned the part down. Eventually, John Lithgow was settled on after Ilya Salkind watched "Terms of Endearment" and realized that he had a Grinch-type look to him.


title: Santa Claus: The Movie

text: The role of the Ancient Elf was written with James Cagney in mind. Though he liked the film's overall idea, Cagney, at 84, turned the role down due to being too weakened by age to perform it. Fred Astaire was considered, but when this eventually came to nothing Dudley Moore suggested his friend Burgess Meredith for the role, which he in the end won. At the time of the film's announcement in mid-1983, the British Press carried reports that diminutive actors such as David Jason, Patrick Troughton and Norman Wisdom would be cast alongside Moore as fellow elves, but none of them were.


title: Santa Claus: The Movie

text: "Santa Claus: The Movie" was filmed in Buckinghamshire, England at Pinewood Studios, between August and November 1984. The film was photographed by Arthur Ibbetson, whose credits included "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" (1971). "Santa Claus: The Movie" was his final feature film. Serving as film editor was Peter Hollywood. The production was designed by Anthony Pratt, with costume design concepts by Bob Ringwood. The visual effects unit, as well as several of the production staff, were Salkind stalwarts from the "Superman" films: Derek Meddings, director of visual and miniature effects; Roy Field, optical visual effects supervisor; and David Lane, flying and second unit director.


title: Santa Claus: The Movie

text: "Santa Claus: The Movie" received negative reviews upon release, with a rating of 20% on Rotten Tomatoes, from the 20 reviews counted. Box Office Mojo lists the film's total United States box office gross as $23,717,291, less than its $30–50 million production budget. It was very popular in the UK, grossing £5,073,000.


title: Santa Claus: The Movie

text: "Chicago Sun-Times" critic Roger Ebert noted some positive points to the film, writing that the film "does an interesting job of visualizing Santa's workshop" and Santa's elves. He also praised the film's special effects, particularly the New York City fly-over sequence involving Santa. Ebert also had some praise for Lithgow's "nice, hateful performance", but wrote that "the villain is not drawn big enough." He ceded that young children would probably like most of the film, but that older children and adults are "likely to find a lot of it a little thin."


title: Santa Claus: The Movie

text: Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" was less positive than Ebert, calling the production "elaborate and tacky". He described the film as having "the manner of a listless musical without any production numbers". Unlike Ebert, he offered little praise for the film's production design. Canby quipped that "Santa's workshop must be the world's largest purchaser of low-grade plywood" and that the flyover sequences with Santa "aren't great." The only praise he had for the film's acting was for John Lithgow, who Canby wrote "(gave) the film's only remotely stylish performance." A more recent review by William Mager for the BBC echoed Canby and Ebert's comments.


title: Santa Claus: The Movie

text: In his book "Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas", critic Alonso Duralde lists "Santa Claus: The Movie" in his chapter of worst Christmas films ever. His reasons include weak plot, garish production design, blatant product placement (particularly for McDonald's, though Coke and Pabst Blue Ribbon are also prominent), and scenery-chewing overacting on the part of Lithgow. Duralde ultimately concludes that the film is "a train-wreck of a Christmas film that's so very wrong that you won't be able to tear yourself away from it."


title: Santa Claus: The Movie

text: John Lithgow, in a 2019 interview, said, "It's just one of the tackiest movies I've ever been in. It seemed cheesy and it certainly never stuck...except in England. It is huge over there. I wish I had a nickel for every Englishman who's told me [it's their favorite film]. In England, that's half of what I'm known for."