title: Simon bar Kokhba

text: According to Israeli archaeologist Yigael Yadin, Bar Kokhba tried to revive Hebrew and make Hebrew the official language of the Jews as part of his messianic ideology. In "A Roadmap to the Heavens: An Anthropological Study of Hegemony among Priests, Sages, and Laymen (Judaism and Jewish Life)" by Sigalit Ben-Zion (page 155), Yadin remarked: "it seems that this change came as a result of the order that was given by Bar Kokhba, who wanted to revive the Hebrew language and make it the official language of the state."


title: Simon bar Kokhba

text: Simon bar Kokhba is portrayed in rabbinic literature as being somewhat irrational and irascible in conduct. The Talmud says that he presided over an army of Jewish insurgents numbering some 200,000, but had compelled its young recruits to prove their valor by each man chopping off one of his own fingers. The Sages of Israel complained to him why he marred the people of Israel with such blemishes. Whenever he would go forth into battle, he was reported as saying: "O Master of the universe, there is no need for you to assist us [against our enemies], but do not embarrass us either!" It is also said of him that he killed his maternal uncle, Rabbi Elazar Hamudaʻi, after suspecting him of collaborating with the enemy, thereby forfeiting Divine protection, which led to the destruction of Betar in which Bar Kokhba himself also perished.


title: Simon bar Kokhba

text: Hadrian is thought to have personally supervised the closing military operations in the siege against Betar. When the Roman army eventually took the city, soldiers carried Bar Kokhba's severed head to Hadrian, and when Hadrian asked who it was that killed him, a Samaritan replied that he had killed him. When Hadrian requested that they bring the severed head (Latin:"protome") of the slain victim close to him that he might see it, Hadrian observed that a serpent was wrapped around the head. Hadrian then replied: "Had it not been for God who killed him, who would have been able to kill him!?"


title: Simon bar Kokhba

text: Bar Kokhba was a ruthless leader, punishing any Jew who refused to join his ranks. According to Eusebius' "Chronicon", he severely punished the sect of Christians with death by different means of torture for their refusal to fight against the Romans.


title: Simon bar Kokhba

text: Since the end of the nineteenth century, Bar-Kochba has been the subject of numerous works of art (dramas, operas, novels, etc.), including:


title: Simon bar Kokhba

text: Another operetta on the subject of Bar Kokhba was written by the Russian-Jewish emigre composer Yaacov Bilansky Levanon in Palestine in the 1920s.


title: Simon bar Kokhba

text: John Zorn's Masada Chamber Ensemble recorded an album called "Bar Kokhba", showing a photograph of the Letter of Bar Kokhba to Yeshua, son of Galgola on the cover.


title: Simon bar Kokhba

text: According to a legend, during his reign, Bar Kokhba was once presented a mutilated man, who had his tongue ripped out and hands cut off. Unable to talk or write, the victim was incapable of telling who his attackers were. Thus, Bar Kokhba decided to ask simple questions to which the dying man was able to nod or shake his head with his last movements; the murderers were consequently apprehended.


title: Simon bar Kokhba

text: In Hungary, this legend spawned the "Bar Kokhba game", in which one of two players comes up with a word or object, while the other must figure it out by asking questions only to be answered with "yes" or "no". The questioner usually asks first if it is a living being, if not, if it is an object, if not, it is surely an abstraction. The verb "kibarkochbázni" ("to Bar Kochba out") became a common language verb meaning "retrieving information in an extremely tedious way".


title: Chris Oyakhilome

text: Christian Oyakhilome (also known as "Pastor Chris") (born 7 December 1963) is the founder and president of LoveWorld Incorporated, also known as Christ Embassy, based in Lagos, Nigeria.


title: Chris Oyakhilome

text: Oyakhilome's ministry holds meetings in the United Kingdom, the United States,Ghana and South Africa, and has "healing school" sessions in South Africa, Lagos and Canada. He was also the first to pioneer a Christian-based television network from Africa to the rest of the world. He also held the largest single night event held in Nigeria in 2006 with 3.5 million people in attendance "Good Friday Miracle Night". Oyakhilome also hosts Higher Life conferences in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, UK, US and Canada, and organized the "Night of Bliss" South Africa event at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg. Oyakhilome also operates an International School of Ministry, which held one of its Ministers' Network Conferences in 2016 with 5,000 ministers in attendance from 145 countries, in Johannesburg, South Africa.


title: Chris Oyakhilome

text: Oyakhilome runs an online prayer network using social media to send messages to Christians in several countries. He had over 1.2 million followers on Twitter in 2013, over 1.9 million followers on Facebook, and operates a smartphone messenger called KingsChat. In 2015, Oyakhilome was given an honorary doctorate from Ambrose Alli University and Benson Idahosa University. In 2017, Oyakhilome, in partnership with Benny Hinn, created the Christian cable channel LoveWorld USA.


title: Chris Oyakhilome

text: Oyakhilome has hosted several online programs including five editions of the Global Day of Prayer, with Pastor Benny, the first edition on 27 March 2020 having people from many nations of the world in attendance.


title: Chris Oyakhilome

text: Oyakhilome was born on 7 December 1963 in Edo State, Nigeria, the son of Elder T.E and Angelina Oyakhilome.


title: Chris Oyakhilome

text: In 1991, Oyakhilome married Anita Ebhodaghe. They had two daughters. Anita Ebodaghe filed for divorce on 9 April 2014 at the Central Family Court in London. After the separation, they also decided to share custody of their two children. They divorced in February 2016 after 25 years of marriage on the basis of "Unreasonable Behavior." On 6 October 2018, Oyakhilome's first daughter Sharon Oyakhilome, married Phillip Frimpong; a Ghanaian man, and her mother was reportedly absent.


title: Chris Oyakhilome

text: Oyakhilome operates the Inner City Mission Project, which works to assist orphaned and indigent children in inner cities in several countries. The organisation is under the auspices of the Chris Oyahkilome Foundation, which works to help the poor and those in the inner cities. The organisation sends relief materials to countries when disasters strike and works with government parastatals to improve social wellbeing.


title: Chris Oyakhilome

text: The Chris Oyakhilome Foundation is one of the major sponsors of the inner city orphanage homes in Africa managed by pushaboo, an organisation spearheading the care of mothers and babies around the world.


title: Chris Oyakhilome

text: Other agencies supported by Chris Oyakhilome Foundation International (COFI) are the Volunteer Medical Corps, Trauma Care International Foundation, Inner City Mission for Children, Future Africa Leaders Foundation and the Bible for All Mission.


title: Chris Oyakhilome

text: He is a graduate of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, where he obtained a degree in architecture and an honorary Doctor of Science award.


title: Chris Oyakhilome

text: Oyakhilome's statement about marriage has been a subject of controversy. He has come under strong criticism from Nigerians on social media over his religious views on gender equality.


title: Chris Oyakhilome

text: A Facebook post cited an excerpt of the clergyman's message titled "Who is a husband and what is his role?", in which husbands were defined as "masters" as opposed to "male partners".


title: Chris Oyakhilome

text: Oyakhilome's ex-wife, Anita, on 8 February 2016 finalised her divorce from Oyakhilome and dropped his last name for "Obhodaghe".


title: Chris Oyakhilome

text: Oyakhilome has also been a target of criticism by the Treatment Action Campaign for his support of faith healing as a supposed cure for HIV/AIDS, and his devotional Rhapsody of Realities has claimed tumors will disappear if rebuked.


title: Chris Oyakhilome

text: Oyakhilome has been accused of preaching the prosperity gospel and using his followers for money, stating that those who donate to his ministry will be rewarded with wealth, health .


title: Chris Oyakhilome

text: In March 2021, his television network Loveworld was fined £125,000 by British regulators Ofcom after it breached broadcasting rules by airing “inaccurate and potentially harmful claims about coronavirus”.


title: Chris Oyakhilome

text: Oyakhilome is the author of several books, including "Rhapsody of Realities", distributed monthly in several countries.


title: The Incredible Hulk Coaster

text: The Incredible Hulk Coaster is a launched roller coaster located at Universal's Islands of Adventure within the Universal Orlando Resort. Designed by Werner Stengel and manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M), the roller coaster is themed after Marvel's Hulk and opened to the public on May 28, 1999. It is the first B&M coaster themed to a Marvel Comics superhero character and the first to feature a launch design, a system that was primarily implemented by Universal Creative and MTS Systems Corporation.


title: The Incredible Hulk Coaster

text: The Incredible Hulk Coaster's launched lift hill accelerates the train up to in approximately two seconds and eventually reaches a maximum speed of . Riders experience seven inversions throughout the course of the ride, which was positively received when it opened. The park temporarily closed the coaster on September 8, 2015, for a major refurbishment that included an updated queue line, a modified theme, new sections of track, and new trains that feature on-board audio. It reopened to the public on August 4, 2016.


title: The Incredible Hulk Coaster

text: In 1991, planning began for a new theme park adjacent to Universal Studios Florida. By the end of 1993, it was decided that one area of the future Islands of Adventure theme park would be themed after Marvel Comics, with a Hulk theme being selected for a thrill ride. The designers of the ride wanted to simulate being fired out of a cannon and subsequently set about prototyping a launch system. Universal Creative and MTS Systems Corporation had a working prototype in January 1995. Methods to achieve this acceleration were investigated into mid-1996. On-site construction of Islands of Adventure was underway in 1997, with Superior Rigging & Erection being responsible for erecting the supports and track of the roller coaster. On May 28, 1999, Islands of Adventure officially opened to the public, with The Incredible Hulk being one of its debut attractions.


title: The Incredible Hulk Coaster

text: On August 14, 2015, Universal announced that the coaster would undergo major enhancement and refurbishment work. The ride closed on September 8, 2015, and re-opened to the public on August 4, 2016, after several days of technical rehearsals. The refurbishment involved heavy modifications to the line queue and entrance, along with a storyline theme. To improve the smoothness of the ride, sections of track were also replaced along with the trains, which were enhanced with on-board audio and special lighting effects. The launch tunnel's exterior was repainted black and the old track and trains were recycled for scrap.


title: The Incredible Hulk Coaster

text: Concept art released in 2015 for the upcoming Universal Studios Beijing showed that the park would include a clone of the Incredible Hulk Coaster. However, Universal later clarified in 2019 that the depicted roller coaster clone would instead be themed to the "Transformers" franchise.


title: The Incredible Hulk Coaster

text: The Incredible Hulk is a sitting coaster by Swiss firm Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M). The ride features seven inversions including a zero-G roll, a cobra roll, two vertical loops, and two corkscrews. The ride features a maximum height of , and a first drop stretching . Riders reach a top speed of on the two-and-a-quarter minute ride. Each of The Incredible Hulk's trains feature eight cars which seat riders four abreast, giving each train a maximum capacity of 32 riders. Riders, who must be at least tall, are restrained with ratcheting over-the-shoulder restraints. This train configuration allows the ride to achieve a theoretical hourly capacity of 1,920 riders per hour. The ride features two subterranean dives, is partially built over water, and is illuminated green at night.


title: The Incredible Hulk Coaster

text: A unique launch system propels riders up the hill. The system was developed by Universal Creative and MTS Systems Corporation. A prototype launch system was designed by January 1995. The prototype consisted of a series of boxcars welded together to form a launch tunnel. A track-mounted dune buggy was then propelled inside the tunnel through the use of a weight drop launch mechanism. The designers then experimented with different rates of acceleration, each emitting between one and five times the force of gravity. The final system which was implemented on The Incredible Hulk sees trains launch from 0 to in 2 seconds. Riders travel at an angle of 30 degrees through a tunnel, pulling 1 G. To power this launch the designers investigated a variety of systems ranging from hydraulic, pneumatic, cable, steam catapult, and conveyor belt. In the end a drive tire system was selected, where 230 electrical motors power a set of tires that pinch the train's underside to provide propulsion. As this system required eight megawatts of power to propel each train, the park built several customized motor generator sets with large flywheels to reduce the risk of browning-out the local energy grid with every launch. The launch system made The Incredible Hulk the only B&M ride to feature a launch, until Thunderbird opened at Holiday World in 2015. Unlike The Incredible Hulk, Thunderbird uses a linear synchronous motor (LSM) launch system.


title: The Incredible Hulk Coaster

text: In the original version, the queue began with the science laboratory of Dr. Bruce Banner with many televisions showing a cartoon about the story of Hulk. Bruce tried to find a way to reverse the effects, which the guests were about to take part in. While walking through the lab they encountered items including the generator, the gamma core and the towers of power. Guests waiting in line were also able to see the roller coaster through large holes in the walls as well as listen to the ride as it did a number of passes.


title: The Incredible Hulk Coaster

text: After boarding, the train moved into another area of the station themed as a gamma-ray accelerator, while a recording of Dr. Bruce Banner was played anxiously stating, "Everything looks good...I think...I think this time it's...going to work!" A female voice then exclaimed, "Warning! Coolant levels dropping!" and announced that there was a malfunction. Alarms began to sound inside the accelerator as Dr. Banner screamed in terror, "No! No! No! No!" The last "No!" was synchronized with the tire-propelled launch mechanism, which propelled the train from in 2 seconds at an upward angle exiting the station.


title: The Incredible Hulk Coaster

text: Immediately after exiting the tunnel, the train entered a zero-g roll inverting element and plunged down a drop. The train then reached a top speed of , followed by a cobra roll over the park's main lagoon. The train then proceeded through a vertical loop, followed by a subterranean tunnel full of mist. Upon exiting the tunnel, the track encircled the station, sending the train into a corkscrew and a second vertical loop, which wrapped around the mid-course brake run and was flanked by two over-banked turns. This led into the mid-course brake run slowing the train before descending another hill into a second corkscrew and a turn-around. The train then tilted sideways during the final stretch of track as riders passed an on-ride camera and entered a helix, which ended at the coaster's final brake run.


title: The Incredible Hulk Coaster

text: Following a major refurbishment that was completed in 2016, a new, original storyline was added with a completely redesigned queue experience that places guests inside a perilous scientific experiment led by General Thaddeus Ross. The entrance features a statue of Hulk holding one of the ride's vehicles over his head, and arching tracks passing over him. These arching coaster tracks came from the original Hulk Roller Coaster. The televisions now show CGI animations of test subjects being exposed to gamma radiation and being transformed into Hulk-like creatures. As of April 2015, riders must pass through metal detectors and security personnel and must rid themselves of all loose items from their pockets.


title: The Incredible Hulk Coaster

text: The refurbishment added new, immersive elements such as a revamped launch tunnel and audio speakers integrated on-board each train. After walking through the queue, guests arrive at General Ross' launching platform. After boarding, the train departs the platform and enters an area themed as a gamma core. The train begins to ascend a launch tunnel, while a female voice recording announces, "Initiating Gamma Exposure. Hulk Transformation: Accelerating. Do not be afraid." Visual and audio effects portraying the reaction of a gamma accelerator are activated, as a tire-propelled launch mechanism sends riders catapulting out of the launch tunnel. Riders experience the same track layout from the original Hulk ride that was rebuilt with new track pieces. An original score composed by Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy is played over the on-board speakers.


title: The Incredible Hulk Coaster

text: The Incredible Hulk has been well received. In its debut year, the ride was voted the best roller coaster by Discovery Channel viewers and appeared on the "Thrills, Chills and Spills" documentary. "Amusement Business" described The Incredible Hulk as one of Islands of Adventure's two world-class roller coasters (the other being the now-dismantled Dueling Dragons, later known as Dragon Challenge). Dewayne Bevil of the "Orlando Sentinel" rated the ride as his eighth favorite attraction in Orlando. He states the ride is "too intense to take back-to-back trips. It rattles our nerves, in a good way." Arthur Levine of About.com gave the ride 9 out of 10 stars. Levine describes the ride as "both terrifying and exhilarating" and "not for the faint of heart".


title: The Incredible Hulk Coaster

text: In Amusement Today's annual Golden Ticket Awards, The Incredible Hulk was consistently ranked until 2013. It debuted at position 19 in 1999 before reaching its peak ranking of 9 in 2001.


title: The Incredible Hulk Coaster

text: On September 23, 2003, a 34-year-old from Jensen Beach, Florida, suffered a heart attack from an unknown heart condition while riding The Incredible Hulk coaster. She was rushed to Sand Lake Hospital in critical condition, but never regained consciousness and died shortly after being taken off of life support.


title: The Great Father

text: The Great Father is a 2017 Indian Malayalam-language crime thriller film directed by Haneef Adeni and jointly produced by Prithviraj Sukumaran, Arya, Santhosh Sivan, and Shaji Nadesan under the banner of August Cinema. It stars Mammootty and Arya with Sneha, Anikha, Malavika Mohanan, Santhosh Keezhattoor, Balaji Sharma and Kalabhavan Shajon in the supporting roles. The original release date of 25 December 2016 was postponed to 30 March 2017. A dubbed version in Hindi, titled "Dashing Jigarwala", was also released.


title: The Great Father

text: Samuel (Shaam) is a police officer investigating the crimes of serial child abuse and murder. He receives a phone call from a child abuser who calls himself "Joker". Samuel tracks his location, goes to his place, and is killed by the Joker.


title: The Great Father

text: The cases are picked up by Officer Andrews Eappan (Arya), from the Crime Investigation Department (CBCID). The story then shifts to Sarah David (Anikha), a 10-year-old girl whose hero is her father David Nainan (Mammootty), a well-known builder.


title: The Great Father

text: One day when he returns home from his office, he finds Sarah lying unconscious after being brutally raped. Shattered, he takes her to the hospital where his wife, Dr. Michelle David (Sneha), works. After recovering, Sarah reveals that it was Joker who attacked her. An enraged David and Michelle decide to find and kill him to protect other girls.


title: The Great Father

text: Nainan starts his own investigation independent of the police, causing Eapen to become suspicious. He discovers that Nainan's daughter was one of the Joker's victims, and aggressively questions her at home while he is away. Nainan warns Eapan off for upsetting his daughter. Both of them start receiving calls from the Joker and compete as to who will find and get to the Joker first. The Joker attacks Eapan and Nainan who manages to overpower and kill them.


title: The Great Father

text: After, when Eapan asks Nainan who the Joker was, Nainan tells him that it was James, who was working in his office. Eapan admits to having wanted to kill Joker too.


title: The Great Father

text: On 19 August 2016, actor Mammootty shared the first-look poster of the film on his Facebook profile. The film was produced by Prithviraj Sukumaran, Arya, Santosh Sivan, and Shaji Nadesan under the banner of August Cinema. South Indian actress Sneha plays the female lead. Although it was originally thought Sara Arjun would be acting as Sara, the daughter, Anikha was eventually cast in that role. Prithviraj Sukumaran was originally thought to do the role of a police officer but was later replaced by Arya due to physique issues. Later Malavika Mohanan replaced Mamta Mohandas for the role of woman inspector. Eventually Santhosh Keezhattoor opted to play the antagonist, the Joker.


title: The Great Father

text: On 4 September 2016, principal photography began in Wagamon, Kochi, with other shooting locations including Thrissur. Producer-actor Arya also plays a leading police role in the film. The actor himself released a teaser on 10 February.


title: The Great Father

text: Deepa Soman of "The Times of India" wrote ""The Great Father" is worth your money for its daddy-daughter moments and a timely plot rating the film 3 out of 5 stars. If only every wronged woman had a hero for a father… you might wish as the end credits roll…," and praised Mammootty, saying: "Mammootty is suave and the thriller heavily banks on his evergreen good looks." The reviewer from Sify said the film comes heavily packed with enough masala for the masses. Mammootty succeeds in raising the mercury levels with his million-dollar looks and his hardcore fans would be delighted for sure."


title: The Great Father

text: "The Indian Express" Muhammed Hashique described this family thriller by a debut director as "watchable" fare "but don’t get your expectations high!"


title: The Great Father

text: The film was a commercial success. The film grossed $960,748 from UAE box office in two weeks. The Film collected ₹4.31crore on the first day of its release and ₹20.54 crore within 4 days which was an all-time record. The Final gross collection of the movie is about ₹50 crore and had a 100 days run at the theatre.


title: Deep Blue (great white shark)

text: Deep Blue is a female great white shark that is estimated to be 6.1 m (20 ft) long and over fifty years old. The shark was first spotted in Mexico by researcher Mauricio Hoyos Padilla. Deep Blue was featured on the Discovery Channel's Shark Week. The shark was spotted by marine biologists studying tiger sharks near the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Various videos show the shark as calm and non-aggressive around humans and even dolphins.


title: Deep Blue (great white shark)

text: Deep Blue was first discovered in 2014 when she was filmed as part of Shark Week off the coast of Guadalupe Island, Mexico, aboard the MV "Horizon" charter vessel. Deep Blue's popularity increased when a viral video of her was posted to Facebook in 2015 by Padilla. Deep Blue's exposure increased further when she was spotted scavenging for food from a sperm whale carcass in Hawaii by researchers who had been in the area to monitor tiger sharks. Due to the amount of interest, a Twitter account about her was created.


title: Deep Blue (great white shark)

text: Deep Blue is estimated to be 6.1 m (20 ft) long and to weigh over two tonnes (4409  lbs). Her size is disputed, with smaller estimates between 18 and 19 feet in length. Deep Blue has noticeable pigmentation and markings on her body, with a large laceration over her right side. In addition to her length, her body has a noticeable girth to it, indicating she may have been pregnant. Deep Blue was identified by researchers by her size and the pattern of where the gray coloring meets the white underside. Shark photographer George Probst notes that a shark's countershade is unique to the individual of the species and is analogous to a human fingerprint.


title: Deep Blue (great white shark)

text: Despite the large size of Deep Blue, she has been filmed non-aggressively approaching one diver and even tolerating the presence of other scuba divers in the area, even allowing free diver and model Ocean Ramsey, to hold on to one of her fins while swimming with her. However, multiple sources disputed that the shark encountered by Ramsey was Deep Blue and was more likely to be Haole Girl. Prior to this interaction, the shark is said to have already fed on some of the whale carcass, which may have contributed to her placid behavior around the divers.


title: Deep Blue (great white shark)

text: When Deep Blue was filmed in Mexico a few years before, she was seen calmly swimming around the shark cage and only taking curious bites at the cage; she did not attack Padillo, who had been on top of the cage and exposed. The diver was even able to touch her fin, stating he was trying to push her away from the cage.


title: Deep Blue (great white shark)

text: Ramsey's video of her touching and holding onto the shark has brought on some criticism from shark researchers. David Shiffman, a marine biologist criticised Ramsey's behaviour and stated that the shark should not be interfered with, stating that it is an enormous wild predator and that repeated contact from humans can over stress the animal. Michael Domeier, another shark researcher, also criticised Ramsey's behaviour. Domeier stated that the number one rule of shark diving was not to touch the sharks. Both researchers considered Ramsey's behaviour as essentially harassing the animal.


title: Deep Blue (great white shark)

text: In addition to his criticism of Ramsey, Domeier believed that the shark encountered by Ramsey was not Deep Blue and was likely to be Haole Girl, a newly discovered great white shark that Domeier believed was pregnant.


title: Deep Blue (great white shark)

text: David Bernvi, a graduate student, has claimed that Deep Blue is with 93% likelihood 528 cm in total length (total length 491–565 cm) based on a model using the caudal fin to determine the total length. This means that Deep Blue likely is 5.3 m (17 ft) long and not the largest white shark on record.


title: Napapijri

text: Napapijri is an Italian premium clothing brand owned by VF Corporation. Originally a producer of alpine travel bags, Napapijri now markets apparel, as well as fashion accessories, footwear and bags. The Napapijri brand is most widely associated with its Skidoo jacket.


title: Napapijri

text: Napapijri was found in 1987 by Giuliana Rosset, whose family owns Saint-Roch the oldest distillery in the Aosta Valley region. She purchased Green Sport Monte Bianco S.p.A., a small backpack company, from a Turin artisans. The headquarters was moved to Quart, initially starting to produce backpacks and travel bags with about fifteen employees. The Bering Bag, a waxed canvas duffel bag marketed to travelers that was the first product to carry the Napapijri name.


title: Napapijri

text: In 1990, the company expanded into the field of sportswear in which bright colors were dropped and started designing and producing clothing and accessories. It introduced its signature Skidoo jacket, a lightweight, rain-proof, anorak designed for extreme temperatures.


title: Napapijri

text: The company continued to add to its product range in the 2000s. In 2002, the Napapijri Kids clothing line was introduced, followed by Napapijri footwear in 2007. The first Napapijri store opened in Chamonix, France in 1997. Since then, the company has consistently added stores and opened its 100th in Stockholm in 2012. That year, the first Asian Napapijri store opened in Seoul, South Korea.


title: Napapijri

text: Andrea Cannelloni joined Napapijri in 2009 as vice president and general manager and is now brand president. Cannelloni had worked as a designer at Ermenegildo Zegna and Trussardi, and served as Creative Director for Boss Orange and Boss Green at Hugo Boss.


title: Napapijri

text: The Italian company has a long-standing dispute with Geographical Norway, a Spanish clothing brand of the French company Artextyl, over the trademark design that includes the Norwegian flag on products.


title: Napapijri

text: Napapijri incorporates imagery into its branding to accentuate the themes of travel, adventure and environmental consciousness. The name itself is a variation of the Finnish word "napapiiri", which means Arctic Circle. Its logo is the company's name rendered in half-positive and half-negative block letters to suggest the North Pole and South Pole in graphic form, similar to flag of Greenland. The flag of Norway is also employed to evoke that country's extreme conditions, dramatic landscapes, and tradition of famous explorers.


title: Napapijri

text: Napapijri designs and produces casual apparel and sportswear for men, women, and children, including outerwear and footwear. The company also produces duffel bags, backpacks, cross-body bags and shoulder bags, as well as accessories including belts, hats, scarves, gloves and socks in Vietnam.


title: Napapijri

text: As of April 2022 there are 229 stores in Europe (primarily in Italy, Spain and France) and also in Kazahstan, Puerto Rico, Qatar and UAE. The company directly operates 12 of the stores, with the remainder operated by franchisees.


title: Napapijri

text: In 2002, Napapijri teamed with Karl Lagerfeld for a special edition of the company's signature Skidoo jacket.


title: Napapijri

text: Japanese designer Yoshinori Ono designed a special clothing line for Napapijri in 2010 which was designated as the ‘66° 33’ Special Project’. The numbers referred to the latitude of the Arctic Circle.


title: Napapijri

text: Napapijri has supported travel, research and exploration to raise its public profile. In 2008, to celebrate the opening of a store in Milan, Napapijri teamed with photographer/adventurer Sebastian Copeland to present an exhibition of Copeland's photographs entitled “Antarctica: The Global Warming” at the store. Proceeds from the sale of the photographs went to Global Green USA, the U.S. arm of Green Cross International. Napapijri continues to sponsor Copeland on expeditions to photograph and film endangered environments.


title: Napapijri

text: In 2011, Napapijri designed a jacket costing 10 Euros for the Democratic Wear campaign launched by the Coin department store chain in Italy. A percentage of the sales went to Green Cross Italy.


title: Wedding dress of Lady Diana Spencer

text: Lady Diana Spencer's wedding dress was an ivory silk taffeta and antique lace gown, with a train and a tulle veil, valued then at £9,000 (). It was worn at Diana's wedding to Charles, Prince of Wales in 1981 at St Paul's Cathedral. It became one of the most famous dresses in the world, and was considered one of the most closely guarded secrets in fashion history.


title: Wedding dress of Lady Diana Spencer

text: The dress was designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel, who described it as a dress that "had to be something that was going to go down in history, but also something that Diana loved", and which would be "suitably dramatic in order to make an impression". Diana personally selected the designers to make her wedding dress because she was fond of a chiffon blouse they designed for her formal photo session with Lord Snowdon.


title: Wedding dress of Lady Diana Spencer

text: The woven silk taffeta was made by Stephen Walters of Suffolk. The Emanuels consulted Maureen Baker, who had made the first wedding dress of Princess Anne, during their construction of the gown. One observer wrote "the dress was a crinoline, a symbol of sexuality and grandiosity, a meringue embroidered with pearls and sequins, its bodice frilled with lace". The gown was decorated with hand embroidery, sequins, and 10,000 pearls, centering on a heart motif. An 18-karat gold horseshoe was stitched into the petticoats as a sign of good fortune. The lace used to trim it was antique and hand-made and a square of Carrickmacross lace which had belonged to Queen Mary was attached to the gown. A petite blue bow was also sewn into the interior of the gown's waistband as her "something blue". In contrast, the wedding dress of Catherine Middleton, for her marriage to Prince William, Diana's elder son, incorporated motifs cut from machine-made lace appliquéd to silk net. The dress featured "lace flounces adorning neckline and sleeves".


title: Wedding dress of Lady Diana Spencer

text: Fittings of the dress posed difficulties because Diana had developed bulimia and dropped from a size 14 to a size 10 in the months leading up to the wedding. Even the seamstress was concerned about her weight loss and feared the dress might not fit as it should.


title: Wedding dress of Lady Diana Spencer

text: The twenty-five-foot train posed problems. According to writer Andrew Morton, in "Diana: Her True Story", the gown's designers realized too late that they had forgotten to allow for the train's length in relation to the size of the glass coach Diana and her father rode in to the ceremony. They found it difficult to fit inside the glass coach, and the train was badly crushed despite Diana's efforts. This accounted for the visible wrinkles in the wedding gown when she arrived at the cathedral.


title: Wedding dress of Lady Diana Spencer

text: Diana also had a spare wedding dress, which would have acted as a stand-in if the dress' design was revealed before her big day. The Emanuels also created a parasol in a matching taffeta to be used by Diana in case the wedding day turned out to be rainy.


title: Wedding dress of Lady Diana Spencer

text: The dress set wedding fashion trends after the wedding. Large puffed sleeves, a full skirt and "soft touch fabrics" became popular requests. Copies by other dressmakers were available "within hours" of the 1981 wedding.


title: Wedding dress of Lady Diana Spencer

text: Many bridal experts considered the dress a "gold standard" in wedding fashion in the years after the wedding. Continued appreciation for the dress was not universal. One 2004 bridal magazine listed it as "too much dress, too little princess." Nevertheless, Elizabeth Emanuel noted in 2011 that she still received requests for replicas of Diana's dress.


title: Wedding dress of Lady Diana Spencer

text: In his 2003 memoir, "A Royal Duty", Paul Burrell wrote that Diana had wanted the dress to be part of the fashion collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.


title: Wedding dress of Lady Diana Spencer

text: The dress toured for many years with the exhibition "Diana: A Celebration", though generally it stayed for only part of the exhibit. Althorp House, Northampton was the prime display location for the dress. Diana's dress transferred ownership from her brother to her sons in 2014 because she had requested that her belongings be handed back to them when they both turned 30. Her engagement ring was given to Prince William, while the wedding dress' ownership was given to both Prince William and Prince Harry.


title: Wedding dress of Lady Diana Spencer

text: In 2018, the dress was chosen as one of the "Most Influential British Royal Wedding Dresses of All Time" by "Time" magazine. In 2021, it went on display at Kensington Palace as a part of the "Royal Style in the Making" exhibition.


title: Crawford Goldsby

text: Crawford Goldsby (February 8, 1876 – March 17, 1896) was a 19th-century American outlaw, known by the alias Cherokee Bill. Responsible for the murders of eight men (including his brother-in-law), he and his gang terrorized the Indian Territory for over two years.


title: Crawford Goldsby

text: Crawford's father, George Goldsby, was from Perry County, Alabama, a sergeant of the Tenth United States Cavalry, and a Buffalo Soldier. His mother was a Cherokee freedman, with mixed African, Native, and white ancestry. Crawford Goldsby had one sister, Georgia, and two brothers, Luther and Clarence. In a signed deposition on January 29, 1912, George Goldsby stated that he was born in Perry County, Alabama on February 22, 1843. His father was Thornton Goldsby of Selma, Alabama and his mother Hester King, who resided on her own place west of Summerfield Road between Selma and Marion, Alabama. George also stated that he had four brothers and two sisters by the same father and mother: Crawford, Abner, Joseph, Blevens, Mary, and Susie.


title: Crawford Goldsby

text: George served as a hired servant with a Confederate infantry regiment during the American Civil War. While serving during the Battle of Gettysburg, he fled and went to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he worked as a teamster in a Union Army quartermaster unit and subsequently enlisted as a white man in the 21st Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment under the name of George Goosby. (The spelling sometimes varied between Goosbey and Goosley). After the Civil War ended, he returned to the Selma, Alabama area. During his last visit, rumor spread that he would be captured and lynched for fighting with the Union Army, after which he departed the area for the Indian Territory. In 1867, Goldsby enlisted in the 10th Cavalry Regiment (Buffalo Soldier) under his proper name, and by 1872 was promoted to sergeant major. After the expiration of his five-year term, he re-enlisted and became first sergeant of Company D, 10th Cavalry.


title: Crawford Goldsby

text: Goldsby was born to Sgt. George and Ellen (née Beck) Goldsby on February 8, 1876, at Fort Concho in San Angelo, Texas. During 1878 (when Crawford Goldsby was two years old), serious trouble began to occur in San Angela (San Angelo), Texas, between the black soldiers and cowboys and hunters. The incident that led to the largest confrontation took place in Morris' saloon. A group of cowboys and hunters ripped the chevrons from the sleeves of a Company D sergeant and the stripes from his pants. The soldier returned to the post and enlisted the aid of fellow soldiers, who armed themselves with carbines and returned to the saloon. A blazing gunfight commenced, resulting in one hunter being killed and two others wounded. One private was killed and another wounded.


title: Crawford Goldsby

text: Texas Ranger Captain G. W. Arrington, along with a party of rangers, went on-post (at Fort Concho) in an attempt to arrest George Goldsby, charging that he was responsible for arming the soldiers. Colonel Benjamin Grierson, post commander, challenged the authority of the rangers in a federal fort. Goldsby apparently knew that the Army could not, or would not, protect him away from the post, so he went AWOL. He escaped from Texas into the Indian Territory. Sometime after being abandoned at Fort Concho, Ellen Beck Goldsby moved with her family to Fort Gibson, Indian Territory. She left her son, Crawford Goldsby, in the care of an elderly black lady known as "Aunty" Amanda Foster. Foster cared for him until he was seven years old, then Crawford was sent to the Indian school at Cherokee, Kansas. At the age of 12, he returned home to Fort Gibson.


title: Crawford Goldsby

text: Upon returning home, Crawford Goldsby learned that his mother had remarried. After departing Fort Apache, on June 27, 1889, Ellen married William Lynch in Kansas City, Missouri, before proceeding to Fort Gibson. Lynch, born in Waynesville, Ohio, was a private in K Troop, 9th Cavalry. He had served during an earlier enlistment with H Troop, 10th Cavalry. She was the "authenticated" laundress of the 10th Cavalry, D Troop, and stayed with the unit which gave her rations, transportation, and quarters. She transferred to Fort Davis, Texas, and to Fort Grant, Arizona. She was also with the unit at Fort Apache, Arizona. Goldsby and William Lynch, his stepfather, did not get along. Crawford began to associate with unsavory characters, drink liquor, and rebel against authority. By the time he was 15, Goldsby had moved in with his sister and her husband, Mose Brown, near Nowata, Oklahoma. However, Mose and his brother-in-law did not get along well, and Crawford did not stay for long. He went back to Fort Gibson, moved in with a man named Bud Buffington, and began working odd jobs.


title: Crawford Goldsby

text: Goldsby's life as an outlaw began when he was 18. At a dance in Fort Gibson, Jake Lewis and he had a confrontation over a dispute that Lewis had with one of Goldsby's brothers. A few days later, Goldsby took a six-shooter and shot Lewis. Thinking Lewis was dead, Goldsby went on the run, leaving Fort Gibson and heading for the Creek and Seminole Nations, where he met up with outlaws Jim and Bill Cook, who were mixed-blood Cherokees.


title: Crawford Goldsby

text: During the summer of 1894, the United States government purchased rights to a strip of Cherokee land and agreed to pay out $265.70 to each person who had a legal claim. Since Goldsby and the Cook brothers were part Cherokee, they headed out to Tahlequah, Oklahoma, capitol of the Cherokee Nation, to get their money.


title: Crawford Goldsby

text: At this time, Goldsby was wanted for shooting Lewis, while Jim Cook was wanted on larceny charges. The men did not want to be seen by the authorities, so they stopped at a hotel and restaurant run by an acquaintance, Effie Crittenden. They coaxed her go to Tahlequah to get their money. On her way back, she was followed by Sheriff Ellis Rattling Gourd, who hoped to capture Goldsby and the Cooks. On June 17, 1894, Sheriff Rattling Gourd and his posse got into a gunfight with Goldsby and the Cook brothers. One of Gourd's men, Deputy Sequoyah Houston, was killed, and Jim Cook was injured. The authorities fled, but later on, when Effie Crittenden was asked if Goldsby had been involved, she stated that it was not Goldsby, but it was Cherokee Bill. After her statement, Crawford Goldsby got the nickname "Cherokee Bill" and became known as one of the most dangerous men of the Indian Territory.


title: Crawford Goldsby

text: After this, the Cooks and Goldsby formed the Cook Gang and began to terrorize Oklahoma. Between August and October, Goldsby and the Cooks went on a crime spree, robbing banks, stagecoaches, and stores, and mercilessly killing those who stood in their way. During this time, Goldsby's hair started to fall out due to a disease inherited from his grandfather. The disease left him with so little hair on his head, he decided to shave the remainder off.


title: Crawford Goldsby

text: Because of the Melton murder incident, the authorities stepped up their pursuit for Goldsby and the Cook Gang. With the pressure on, the gang split up. Most of the men were captured or killed, but Goldsby managed to escape. When the authorities offered a $1300 reward for the capture of Goldsby, some of his acquaintances came forward and agreed to help.


title: Crawford Goldsby

text: On January 31, 1895, Goldsby was captured by Ike Rogers and Clint Scales in Nowata, Oklahoma; and taken to Fort Smith, Arkansas, to wait for his trial.


title: Crawford Goldsby

text: On April 13, 1895, he was sentenced to death after being tried and convicted for the murder of Ernest Melton. However, his lawyer managed to postpone the execution date.


title: Crawford Goldsby

text: In June 1895 a pistol was discovered in a bucket at the Fort Smith jail; Goldsby claimed that a prison trustee named Ben Howell had brought the gun in and then had run away a few days later.


title: Crawford Goldsby

text: In the meantime, Goldsby had made a friend, Sherman Vann, who was a trusty at the jail. Sherman managed to sneak a six-gun into Goldsby's cell-a Colt revolver.


title: Crawford Goldsby

text: On July 26, 1895, Goldsby attempted a jail break with it. He jumped the night guards as they came to lock him into his cell. A guard, Lawrence Keating, was shot in the stomach. As Keating staggered back down the corridor, Goldsby shot him again in the back. Other guards arrived and prevented Goldsby from escaping, but were not able to enter the jail either. Then another prisoner, Henry Starr, convinced the guards to let him go in and get Goldsby out. Moments later he came back with Goldsby, who was unarmed.


title: Crawford Goldsby

text: The second trial lasted three days, resulting in a guilty verdict and U.S. District Judge Isaac Parker sentenced Goldsby to be hanged on September 10, 1895. A stay was granted, pending an appeal to the Supreme Court. On December 2, the Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Fort Smith court and Judge Parker again set the execution date as March 17, 1896.


title: Crawford Goldsby

text: On the morning of March 17, Goldsby awoke at six to have a smoke break. He ate a light breakfast sent from the hotel by his mother. At 9:20, his mother and "Aunty" Amanda Foster were admitted to his cell and shortly afterwards came Father Pius, a Catholic priest with whom he had been voluntarily meeting for the previous five days.


title: Crawford Goldsby

text: The hanging was scheduled for 11 am, but was delayed until 2 pm so his sister Georgia could see him before the hanging. She was scheduled to arrive at 1 pm on the eastbound train.


title: Crawford Goldsby

text: Shortly after 2 pm while on the gallows, it was reported Goldsby was asked if he had anything to say and he replied, "I came here to die, not make a speech." About 12 minutes later, Crawford "Cherokee Bill" Goldsby, the most notorious outlaw in the Territory, was dead.


title: Crawford Goldsby

text: The body was placed in a coffin, which was placed in a box and taken to the Missouri Pacific depot. Placed aboard the train, Ellen and Georgia escorted the body to Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, for interment at the Cherokee National Cemetery.


title: Crawford Goldsby

text: On April 20, 1897, Ike "Robinson" {Rogers}, who was reported to have been involved in the capture of Cherokee Bill, was shot and killed by Clarence Goldsby at Ft Gibson Oklahoma.


title: Crawford Goldsby

text: In the 2021 film "The Harder They Fall" directed by Jeymes Samuel, the character of Cherokee Bill is played by actor Lakeith Stanfield.


title: Crawford Goldsby

text: The role of Cherokee Bill was played by the actor Pat Hogan in a 1955 episode of the syndicated television series, "Stories of the Century", starring and narrated by Jim Davis.


title: Forest cover by state in India

text: Tree density is the quantification of how closely the trees are growing in a hectare area. It is not the exact number of trees in the forest but, serves as an estimate to the foresters..The tree density of an area should be mentioned by the working Plan officer (WPO) or Divisional Forest Officer (Working Plan) after his field inspection of the lowest possible forest unit or compartment in the CH-3 form of compartment history. The compartment history forms are to be maintained at the Forest range and Forest division offices. The working Plan code-2014 mentions in the para 105 that the density should also be mentioned on the stock map prepared by the WPO/DFO in decimal figures. The crown density is similar to the tree density. The forest area with density more than 0.4 are considered good forest area and forest area with less than 0.4 tree density are considered degraded forest.


title: Forest cover by state in India

text: Forest cover is the total geographical area declared as forest by the government. As of 2021, the total forest cover in India is 713,789 Sq km, which is 21.71 percent of the total geographical area. There is a 1,540 sq.km increase in forest cover over 2019. Madhya Pradesh has the highest forest cover as per the area followed by the Arunachal Pradesh. Mizoram has the highest forest cover in terms of percentage of total geographical area.


title: Forest cover by state in India

text: Ministry of the environment forest and climate change used the mid resolution satellite data on LISS-III data from Indian remote sensing satellite. Minister of environment forest and climate change Bhupendra Yadav released the Indian forest survey report 2021-22 on the 13 January 2022.


title: Forest cover by state in India

text: The forest cover in 2021 in India by state and union territory as published by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) is shown in the table below.


title: Forest cover by state in India

text: Moderately Dense= All lands with tree canopy density of 40 percent and more but less than 70 percent ( 0.4 to 0.7 tree density).


title: Forest cover by state in India

text: Open Forest= All lands with tree canopy density of 10 percent and more but less than 40 percent (0.1 to 0.4 tree density).


title: Forest cover by state in India

text: The forest cover in 2017 in India by state and union territory as published by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) is shown in the table below.


title: Forest cover by state in India

text: Scrub= All forest lands with poor tree growth mainly of small or stunted trees canopy density less than 10 percent (Less than 0.1 tree density).


title: Forest cover by state in India

text: According to Forest Survey of India (FSI), the forest cover by State/UT in India in 2015 is listed below.


title: Forest cover by state in India

text: Moderately Dense= All lands with tree canopy density of 40 percent and more but less than 70 percent.


title: Haiti indemnity controversy

text: The Haiti indemnity controversy involves an 1825 agreement between Haiti and France that included France demanding a 150 million franc indemnity to be paid by Haiti in claims over property – including Haitian slaves – that was lost through the Haitian Revolution in return for diplomatic recognition, with the debt removing $21 billion from the Haitian economy. The payment was later reduced to 90 million francs in 1838, comparable to US$21 billion as of 2004, with Haiti paying about 112 million francs in total. Over the 122 years between 1825 and 1947, the debt severely hampered Haitian economic development as payments of interest and downpayments totaled a significant share of Haitian GDP, constraining the use of domestic financial funds for infrastructure and public services.


title: Haiti indemnity controversy

text: France's demand of payments in exchange for recognizing Haiti's independence was delivered to the country by several French warships in 1825, twenty-one years after Haiti's declaration of independence in 1804. Due to the unrealistic demands pushed by France, Haiti was forced to take large loans from French bank Crédit Industriel et Commercial, enriching the bank's shareholders. Though France received its last indemnity payment in 1888, the government of the United States funded the acquisition of Haiti's treasury in 1911 in order to receive interest payments related to the indemnity. In 1922, the rest of Haiti's debt to France was moved to be paid to American investors. It took until 1947 – about 122 years – for Haiti to finally pay off all the associated interest to the National City Bank of New York (now Citibank). In 2016, the Parliament of France repealed the 1825 ordinance of Charles X, though no reparations have been offered by France. These debts are denounced as the root of modern Haiti's poverty and a case of odious debt, debts forced upon a populations by abusive force. In 2022, The New York Times published a dedicated investigative series on the topic.


title: Haiti indemnity controversy

text: Saint-Domingue, now Haiti, was the richest and most productive European colony in the world going into the 1800s. France acquired much of its wealth by using slaves, with the slave population of Saint-Domingue accounting for one third of the entire Atlantic slave trade. Between the years of 1697 and 1804, French colonists brought 800,000 West African slaves to what was then known as Saint-Domingue to work on the vast plantations. The Saint-Domingue population reached 520,000 in 1790, and of those 425,000 were slaves. The mortality rate among slaves was high, with the French often working slaves to death and transporting more to the colony instead of providing necessities as it was cheaper. At the time, goods from Haiti comprised thirty percent of French trade while its sugar represented forty percent of the Atlantic market. About sixty percent of the coffee consumed in European markets was also produced in the colony.


title: Haiti indemnity controversy

text: Haiti's legacy of debt began shortly after a widespread slave revolt against the French, with Haitians gaining their independence from France in 1804. President Thomas Jefferson – fearing that slaves gaining their independence would spread to the United States – ceased the aid that was initiated by his predecessor John Adams and sought the international isolation of Haiti during his tenure. Haiti had hoped that the United Kingdom would support their recognition due to the kingdom's strained history with France, even providing British merchants lower import duties, though during the Congress of Vienna in 1815 the British government agreed not to prevent France's actions by "whatever means possible, including that of arms, to recover Saint-Domingue and to subdue the inhabitants of that colony". In 1823, the United Kingdom recognized the independence of Colombia, Mexico and other nations in the Americas while refraining from extending recognition to Haiti, further disillusioning Haitians seeking recognition.


title: Haiti indemnity controversy

text: Until France recognized Haiti's independence, the fear of reconquest and continued isolation would persist among Haitians. Haiti was also financially strained after purchasing equipment to defend itself from invasion. Knowing that improvements could not happen until Haiti received international recognition, President of Haiti Jean-Pierre Boyer sent envoys to negotiate terms with France. At one meeting in Brussels on 16 August 1823, Haiti proposed waiving all import duties for five years on French products and then duties would be halved at the end of the period; France refused the offer outright. By 1824, President Boyer began to prepare Haiti for a defensive war, moving armaments inland to provide increased protection. After being summoned by France, two Haitian envoys travelled to Paris. At the meetings held between June and August 1824, Haiti offered to pay indemnity to France, though negotiations ended after France said it would only recognize their former territory on the west half of Hispaniola and that it sought to maintain control of Haiti's foreign relations.


title: Haiti indemnity controversy

text: As a show of force, captain Ange René Armand, baron de Mackau, in the ship "La Circe", along with two men-of-war, arrived at Port-au-Prince on 3 July 1825. Soon after, more warships led by admirals Pierre Roch Jurien de La Gravière and Grivel arrived at Haiti. A total of fourteen French warships equipped with 528 cannons presented demands that Haiti compensate France for its loss of slaves and the 1804 Haiti massacre.


title: Haiti indemnity controversy

text: The Haitians wanted the French to recognize the Spanish part of the island as part of Haitian territory. However, the French flatly ignored this request. France returned the Spanish part of the island to Spain in the Treaty of Paris of 1814, which annulled the Treaty of Basel of 1795.


title: Haiti indemnity controversy

text: Under Charles X's ordinance, France demanded an indemnity payment of 150 million francs in exchange for recognizing Haiti's independence. In addition to the payment, Charles ordered that Haiti provide a fifty percent discount on French import duties, making payment to France more difficult. On 11 July 1825, the senate of Haiti signed the agreement of paying indemnity to France.


title: Haiti indemnity controversy

text: The payments were designed by France to be so large that it would effectively create a "double debt"; France would receive a direct annual payment and Haiti would pay French bankers interest on the loans required to meet France's annual demands. France viewed Haiti's debt as the "principal interest in Haiti, the question that dominated everything else for us", according to a French minister. Much of the debt would be paid directly to the French state-owned Caisse des dépôts et consignations. France ordered Haiti to pay the 150 million francs over a period of five years, with the first annual payment of 30 million francs being six times larger than Haiti's yearly revenue, requiring Haiti to take out a loan from the French bank Ternaux Gandolphe et Cie to make the payment. The first 30 million francs required a 24 million franc loan from Ternaux Gandolphe et Cie that resulted in high interest and Haiti's treasury was completely emptied, with a French ship transporting locked shipments of money to Paris. The story of the first payment – 24,000,000 gold francs – being transported across Paris, from the vaults of Ternaux Gandolphe et Cie to the coffers of the French Treasury was recorded in detail.


title: Haiti indemnity controversy

text: Haiti would continue to acquire loans from France and the United States in order to fulfill payments. Such large payments became impossible for Haiti and defaults occurring immediately, with Haiti's late payments often raising tensions with France. Ternaux Gandolphe et Cie seized assets of the Haitian government for failing to pay on its loan, though the Tribunal de la Seine overturned these actions on 2 May 1828. On 12 February 1838, France finally agreed to reduce the debt to 90 million francs to be paid over a period of 30 years to compensate former plantation owners who had lost their property; the 2004 equivalent of US$21 billion. President Boyer, who agreed to make the payments, was forced from Haiti in 1843 by citizens who demanded lower taxes and more rights.


title: Haiti indemnity controversy

text: By the late-1800s, eighty percent of Haiti's wealth was being used to pay foreign debt; France was the highest collector, followed by Germany and the United States. Henri Durrieu, head of the French bank Crédit Industriel et Commercial (CIC), was inspired to increase revenue for the bank by following the example of state-run banks acquiring capital from other distant French colonies such as Martinique and Senegal. In 1874 and 1875 Haiti took out two large loans from CIC, greatly increasing the nation's debt. French banks charged Haiti 40% of the loaned funds just for commissions and other fees and CIC would go on to acquire "much of Haiti's financial future", according to "The New York Times". Thomas Piketty described the loans as an early example of "neocolonialism through debt".


title: Haiti indemnity controversy

text: From 1880 to 1881, Haiti granted a currency issuance concession to create the National Bank of Haiti (BNH), headquartered in Paris by CIC which was simultaneously funding the construction of the Eiffel Tower. BNH was described as an entity of "pure extraction" by Paris School of Economics economic historian Éric Monnet. On the board of the BNH was Édouard Delessert, the great-grandson of French slave trader and owner Jean-Joseph de Laborde who established himself when France controlled Haiti. Haitian Charles Laforestrie, who mainly lived in France and successfully pushed for Haiti to accept the 1875 loan with the CIC, later retired from his positions in Haiti amid corruption allegations, joining the BNH board in Paris after its founding. CIC would go on to take $136 million in 2022 US dollars from Haiti and distribute those funds among shareholders, who made 15% annual returns on average, not returning any of the earnings to Haiti. These funds distributed among shareholders would ultimately cost Haiti at least $1.7 billion of development. Under the French-controlled BNH, Haitian funds were overseen by France and all transitions resulted with a commission fee, with CIC shareholders profits often being larger than the entire budget for Haiti's public works. The French government finally acknowledged the payment of 90 million francs in 1888 and over a period of about seventy years, Haiti paid 112 million francs to France, about $560 million in 2022.


title: Haiti indemnity controversy

text: In 1903, Haitian authorities began to accuse the BNH of fraud and by 1908, Haitian Minister of Finance Frédéric Marcelin pushed for the BNH to work on the behalf of Haitians, though French officials began to devise plans to reorganize their financial interests. French envoy to Haiti Pierre Carteron wrote following Marcelin's objections that "It is of the highest importance that we study how to set up a new French credit establishment in Port-au-Prince ... Without any close link to the Haitian government." Businesses from the United States had pursued the control of Haiti for years and from 1910 to 1911, the United States Department of State backed a consortium of American investors – headed by the National City Bank of New York – to acquire control of the National Bank of Haiti to create the Bank of the Republic of Haiti (BNRH), with the new bank often holding payments from the Haitian government, leading to unrest.


title: Haiti indemnity controversy

text: France would still keep a stake in the BNRH, though CIC was excluded. Following the overthrow of Haitian president Michel Oreste in 1914, the National City Bank and the BNRH demanded the United States Marines to take custody of Haiti's gold reserve of about US$500,000 – – in December 1914; the gold was transported aboard the USS "Machias" (PG-5) in wooden boxes and place into the National City Bank's New York City vault days later. The overthrow of Haiti's president Vilbrun Guillaume Sam and subsequent unrest resulted in President of the United States Woodrow Wilson ordering the invasion of Haiti to protect American business interests on 28 July 1915. Six weeks later, the United States seized control of Haiti's customs houses, administrative institutions, banks and the national treasury, with the United States using a total of forty percent of Haiti's national income to repay debts to American and French banks for the next nineteen years until 1934. In 1922, BNRH was completely acquired by National City Bank, its headquarters was moved to New York City and Haiti's debt to France was moved to be paid to American investors. Under U.S. government control, a total of forty percent of Haiti's national income was designated to repay debts to American and French banks. Haiti would pay its final indemnity remittance to National City Bank in 1947, with the United Nations reporting that at that time, Haitians were "often close to the starvation level".


title: Haiti indemnity controversy

text: According to "The New York Times", the payments cost Haiti much of its development potential, removing about $21 to 115 billion of growth from Haiti – or about one to eight times the nation's total economy – over two centuries according to calculations conducted by fifteen prominent economists. The history of Haiti's indemnity is not taught as part of education in France. Aristocratic French families have also forgotten that their families profited from the debt payments of Haiti. President of France François Hollande would eventually describe the money paid by Haiti to France as "the ransom of independence" and in 2016, the Parliament of France repealed the 1825 ordinance in a symbolic gesture.


title: Haiti indemnity controversy

text: In 2003, President of Haiti Jean-Bertrand Aristide demanded that France pay Haiti over 21 billion U.S. dollars, what he said was the equivalent in today's money of the 90 million gold francs Haiti was forced to pay Paris after winning its freedom from France. French and Haitian officials later claimed to the "The New York Times" that Aristide's calls for reparations led to French and Haitian officials collaborating with the United States on removing Aristide because France feared that discussions of reparations would set a precedent for other former colonies, such as Algeria.


title: Haiti indemnity controversy

text: In February 2004, a coup d'état occurred against President Aristide. The United Nations Security Council, of which France is a permanent member, rejected a 26 February 2004, appeal from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) for international peacekeeping forces to be sent into its member state Haiti. However, the Security Council voted unanimously to send troops into Haiti three days later, just hours after Aristide's controversial resignation. The provisional prime minister Gerard Latortue who assumed office after the coup would later rescind the reparations demand, calling it "foolish" and "illegal".


title: Haiti indemnity controversy

text: Myrtha Desulme, chairperson of the Haiti-Jamaica Exchange Committee, told IPS, "I believe that [the call for reparations] could have something to do with it, because they [France] were definitely not happy about it, and made some very hostile comments... I believe that he did have grounds for that demand, because that is what started the downfall of Haiti."


title: Haiti indemnity controversy

text: Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the French foreign ministry made a formal request to the Paris Club on 17 January 2010 to completely cancel Haiti's external debt. A number of commentators, for example The New York Times’ Matt Apuzzo, Selam Gebrekidan, Constant Méheut, and Catherine Porter, analyze how Haiti’s current troubles stem from its colonial past drawing references from the early 19th-century indemnity demand and how it had severely depleted the Haitian government's treasury and economic capabilities.


title: Matt Amodio

text: Matthew Benjamin Amodio (born December 4, 1990) is an American game show contestant who won 38 consecutive games on the game show "Jeopardy!" in 2021, the third-longest streak in the show's history, behind Ken Jennings and Amy Schneider.<ref name="Stelloh_10/11/2021"></ref> A PhD student in computer science at Yale University, he won $1,519,601 in 39 appearances on "Jeopardy!", making him the third millionaire contestant on the show in regular-season play. Across all American game shows, he is the eleventh highest-earning contestant of all time. His run on the show has been called the "Amodio Rodeo".


title: Matt Amodio

text: Born on December 4, 1990, Amodio is a native of Medina County, Ohio. He attended Medina High School where he graduated as valedictorian of the class of 2009. He graduated from Ohio State University in 2012 with a Bachelor of Science with Honors in Actuarial Science from the Department of Mathematics, while also earning a master's degree in Statistics. He also earned a Master's of Science (MS) degree in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Wisconsin - Madison in 2017. He received a PhD in Computer Science from Yale University.<ref name="Amodio_Yale_8/13/2021"></ref>


title: Matt Amodio

text: After receiving degrees from The Ohio State University, Amodio worked for NSA contractor Booz Allen Hamilton from January 2014 until July 2015 "design[ing] and programm[ing] algorithms for machine learning applications," "construct[ing] interpretable network graph models from massive social media data," and "research[ing] algorithmic models and frameworks for graph analysis of IP networks."


title: Matt Amodio

text: Amodio was a contestant on the quiz show Academic Challenge on WEWS in Cleveland, Ohio, while studying at Medina High School in 2009. Participating with two fellow students against two competing high schools, his Medina team finished in second place.


title: Matt Amodio

text: Amodio is the third-highest earner of all time in regular-season play, third-most successful in consecutive games won and fourth-biggest all-time winner. Amodio averaged $39,963 per victory, second highest all-time to James Holzhauer at $76,944. During season 37, Amodio qualified as the first seed in the next Tournament of Champions. He responded to 1,299 clues—54.6% of all of the clues given—correctly over the course of his run.


title: Matt Amodio

text: Actor Jonathan Fisher, originally from Coral Gables, Florida, who would himself amass an eleven-game winning streak, defeated Amodio in his 39th and final game. The episode originally aired October 11, 2021. Both appeared in the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions that aired in November 2022 but did not play each other. Amodio lost to Sam Buttrey.


title: Matt Amodio

text: To become a contestant on "Jeopardy!", a prospect must successfully pass a test prepared by the production team as a first step in the audition process. Amodio was repeatedly encouraged by his father to take the online test. After taking the online test twice, Amodio was invited to personally audition for the show. In addition to the test results, the producers consider the personality of the prospective contestant; as an introvert, Amodio was concerned that he would not be interesting enough for the show.


title: Matt Amodio

text: Amodio's winning streak came during an interregnum in the show's hosting position after longtime host Alex Trebek died in November 2020, during which the show was helmed by guest hosts. Amodio's streak spanned episodes hosted by Robin Roberts, LeVar Burton, David Faber, and Joe Buck. Mike Richards was named permanent host on August 11, 2021, but lasted only one taping day (first week of season 38), and was replaced by interim host Mayim Bialik (who rotated the rest of season 38 with Ken Jennings, but Amodio's reign ended before Jennings' official term as host, as Jennings was the first host of the interregnum). As "Jeopardy!" tapes five episodes per production day, Amodio recorded his 39 episodes on nine separate days (three on his first day, one on his final day).


title: Matt Amodio

text: Amodio played with his seventh different host during the Tournament of Champions, which featured Jennings.


title: Matt Amodio

text: Amodio is noted for his strategy of consistently prefacing his responses with "What's" instead of adjusting the interrogative pronoun to fit the response. He chose this method because "Jeopardy!" rules allow any question containing the correct response to be used; by not having to adjust the pronoun, he has one less thing to think about when formulating a response, potentially speeding response time. He has credited Wikipedia's format for allowing him to meander through various topics in a random but logical progression and learn content quickly.


title: Crokinole

text: Crokinole ( ) is a dexterity board game, possibly of Canadian origin, similar to the games of pitchnut, carrom, and pichenotte, with elements of shuffleboard and curling reduced to table-top size. Players take turns shooting discs across the circular playing surface, trying to land their discs in the higher-scoring regions of the board, particularly the recessed center hole of 20 points, while also attempting to knock opposing discs off the board, and into the 'ditch'. In crokinole, the shooting is generally towards the center of the board, unlike carroms and pitchnut, where the shooting is towards the four outer corner pockets, as in pool. Crokinole is also played using cue sticks, and there is a special category for cue stick participants at the World Crokinole Championships in Tavistock, Ontario, Canada.


title: Crokinole

text: Board dimensions vary with a playing surface typically of polished wood or laminate approximately in diameter. The arrangement is 3 concentric rings worth 5, 10, and 15 points as you move in from the outside. There is a shallow 20-point hole at the center. The inner 15-point ring is guarded with 8 small bumpers or posts. The outer ring of the board is divided into four quadrants. The outer edge of the board is raised slightly to keep errant shots from flying out, with a gutter between the playing surface and the edge to collect discarded pieces. Crokinole boards are typically octagonal or round in shape. The wooden discs are roughly checker-sized, slightly smaller in diameter than the board's central hole, and typically have one side slightly concave and one side slightly convex, mainly due to the inherent features of wood, more than a planned design. Alternatively, the game may be played with ring-shaped pieces with a central hole.


title: Crokinole

text: The use of any lubricating powder in crokinole is controversial, with some purists reviling the practice.


title: Crokinole

text: Powder is sometimes used to ensure pieces slide smoothly on the surface. Boric acid was popular for a long time, but is now considered toxic and has been replaced with safer substitutes. The EU has classified Boric acid as a "Serious Health Hazard". In the UK, many players use a version of anti-set-off spray powder, from the printing industry, which has specific electrostatic properties, with particles of 50-micrometre diameter (). The powder is made of pure food-grade plant/vegetable starch.


title: Crokinole

text: The World Crokinole Championships in Tavistock, Ontario, Canada, states: "The WCC waxes boards, as required, with paste wax. On tournament day powdered shuffleboard wax (CAPO fast speed, yellow and white container) is placed in the ditch. Only tournament organizers will apply quality granular shuffleboard wax. Wax will be placed in the ditch area so that players can rub their discs in the wax prior to shooting, if they desire. Contestants are not allowed to apply lubricants of any type to the board. Absolutely no other lubricant will be allowed".


title: Crokinole

text: Crokinole is most commonly played by two players, or by four players in teams of two, with partners sitting across the board from each other. Players take turns flicking their discs from the outer edge of their quadrant of the board onto the playfield. Shooting is usually done by flicking the disc with a finger, though sometimes small cue sticks may be used. If there are any enemy discs on the board, a player must make contact, directly or indirectly, with an enemy disc during the shot. If unsuccessful, the shot disc is "fouled" and removed from the board, along with any of the player's other discs that were moved during the shot.


title: Crokinole

text: When there are no enemy discs on the board, many (but not all) rules also state that a player must shoot for the centre of the board, and a shot disc must finish either completely inside the 15-point guarded ring line, or (depending on the specifics of the rules) be inside or touching this line. This is often called the "no hiding" rule, since it prevents players from placing their first shots where their opponent must traverse completely through the guarded centre ring to hit them and avoid fouling. When playing without this rule, a player may generally make any shot desired, and as long as a disc remains completely inside the outer line of the playfield, it remains on the board. During any shot, any disc that falls completely into the recessed central "20" hole (a.k.a. the "Toad" or "Dukie") is removed from play, and counts as twenty points for the owner of the disc at the end of the round, assuming the shot is valid.


title: Crokinole

text: Scoring occurs after all pieces (generally 12 per player or team) have been played, and is differential: i.e., the player or team with higher score is awarded the difference between the higher and lower scores for the round, thus only one team or player each round gains points. Play continues until a predetermined winning score is reached.


title: Crokinole

text: After 30 years of research, Wayne Kelly published his assessment of the first origins of crokinole, in The Crokinole Book, Third Edition, page 28, which leaves the door open to future research and discovery of the origins of the game of crokinole: "The earliest American crokinole board and reference to the game is M. B. Ross's patented New York board of 1880. The earliest Canadian reference is 1867(Sports and Games in Canadian Life: 1700 to the Present by Howell and Howell, Toronto, MacMillan Company of Canada, 1969, p.61, and the oldest piece dated at 1875 by Ekhardt Wettlaufer. Could Ekhardt Wettlaufer have visited friends in New York state, noticed an unusual and entertaining parlour game being played, and upon arrival at home, made an imitation as a gift for his son? After all, he was a talented, and no doubt resourceful, painter and woodworker. Or was it the other way around? Did Mr. M. B. Ross travel to Ontario, take note of a quaint piece of rural folk art, and upon return to New York, put his American entrepreneurial skills to work - complete with patent name - on his new crokinole board? As the trail is more than 100 years old and no other authoritative source can be found, it appears, at the moment, that Eckhardt Wettlaufer or M. B. Ross are as close as we can get to answering the question WHO (made the first crokinole board.)"


title: Crokinole

text: The earliest known crokinole board was made by craftsman Eckhardt Wettlaufer in 1876 in Perth County, Ontario, Canada. It is said Wettlaufer crafted the board as a fifth birthday present for his son Adam, which is now part of the collection at the Joseph Schneider Haus, a national historic site in Kitchener, Ontario, with a focus on Germanic folk art. Several other home-made boards dating from southwestern Ontario in the 1870s have been discovered since the 1990s. A board game similar to crokinole was patented on 20 April 1880 by Joshua K. Ingalls (US Patent No. 226,615)


title: Crokinole

text: Crokinole is often believed to be of Mennonite or Amish origins, but there is no factual data to support such a claim. The reason for this misconception may be due to its popularity in Mennonite and Amish groups. The game was viewed as a rather innocuous pastime – unlike the perception that diversions such as card playing or dancing were considered "works of the Devil" as held by many 19th-century Protestant groups.


title: Crokinole

text: The oldest roots of crokinole, from the 1860s, suggest the British and South Asian games, such as carrom, are the most likely antecedents of what became crokinole.


title: Crokinole

text: In 2006, a documentary film called "Crokinole" was released. The world premiere occurred at the Princess Cinema in Waterloo, Ontario, in early 2006. The movie follows some of the competitors of the 2004 World Crokinole Championship as they prepare for the event.


title: Crokinole

text: It also used to designate the action of flicking with the finger (Molière, "Le malade imaginaire"; or Voltaire, "Lettre à Frédéric II Roi de Prusse"; etc.), and this seems the most likely origin of the name of the game. was also a synonym of , a word that gave its name to the different but related games of pichenotte and pitchnut.


title: Crokinole

text: From The Crokinole Book 3rd Edition by Wayne S. Kelly "Is it possible that the English word 'crokinole' is simply an etymological offspring of the French word ''? It would appear so for the following reasons. Going back to the entry for Crokinole in Webster's Third New International Dictionary, within the etymological brackets is says: [French , ]. This is a major clue. The word fillip, according to Webster's, has two definitions: "1. a blow or gesture made by the sudden forcible release of a finger curled up against the thumb; a short sharp blow. 2. to strike by holding the nail of a finger curled up against the ball of the thumb and then suddenly releasing it from that position". So it seems evident, then, that our game of crokinole derives its name from the verb form (of croquignole) defining the principle action in the game, that of flicking or 'filliping' a playing piece across the board".


title: Crokinole

text: The word Crokinole is generally acknowledged to have been derived from the French Canadian word "Croquignole", a word with several meanings, such as fillip, snap, biscuit, bun and a woman's wavy hairstyle popular at the turn of the century. The US state of New York shares border crossings with both of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, all three of which are popular "hotbeds" of Croknole playing.


title: Crokinole

text: Crokinole is called ('flick-board') (and occasionally "knipsdesh" (flick-table)) in the Plautdietsch spoken by Russian Mennonites.


title: Crokinole

text: The World Crokinole Championship (WCC) tournament has been held annually since 1999 on the first Saturday of June in Tavistock, Ontario. Tavistock was chosen as the host city because it was the home of Eckhardt Wettlaufer, the maker of the earliest known board. The tournament has seen registration from every Canadian province, several American states, Germany, Australia, Spain and the UK.


title: Crokinole

text: The WCC singles competition begins with a qualifying round in which competitors play 10 matches against randomly assigned opponents. The qualifying round is played in a large randomly determined competition. At the end of the opening round, the top 16 competitors move on to the playoffs. The top four in the playoffs advance to a final round robin to play each other, and the top two compete in the finals. The WCC doubles competition begins with a qualifying round of 8 matches against randomly assigned opponents with the top six teams advancing to a playoff round robin to determine the champions.


title: Crokinole

text: The WCC has multiple divisions, including a singles finger-shooting category for competitive players (adult singles), novices (recreational), and younger players (intermediate, 11–14 yrs; junior, 6–10 yrs), as well as a division for cue-shooters (cues singles). The WCC also awards a prize for the top 20-hole shooter in the qualifying round of competitive singles, recreational singles, cues singles, intermediate singles, and in the junior singles. The tournament also holds doubles divisions for competitive fingers-shooting (competitive doubles), novices (recreational doubles), younger players (youth doubles, 6–16yrs), and cues-shooting (cues doubles).


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: The Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA; ) is a landmark United States federal law passed by the 117th United States Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden. It repeals the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), requires the U.S. federal government and all U.S. states and territories to recognize the validity of same-sex and interracial civil marriages in the United States, and protects religious liberty. Its first version in 2009 was supported by former Republican U.S. Representative Bob Barr, the original sponsor of DOMA, and former President Bill Clinton, who signed DOMA in 1996. Iterations of the proposal were put forth in the , and Congresses.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in "Obergefell v. Hodges" that the 14th Amendment requires all U.S. states to recognize same-sex marriages. This decision rendered the last remaining provision of DOMA unenforceable and essentially made RFMA "de facto" federal law. The future of same-sex marriage in the United States was put back into question in 2022, when a concurring opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas in "Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization" argued the Court "should reconsider" the "Obergefell" decision. RFMA officially repealed DOMA and requires the federal government to recognize same-sex and interracial marriages, codifying parts of "Obergefell," the 2013 ruling in "United States v. Windsor", and the 1967 ruling in "Loving v. Virginia". In addition, it compels all U.S. states and territories to recognize the validity of same-sex and interracial marriages if performed in a jurisdiction where such marriages are legally performed; this extends the recognition of same-sex marriages to American Samoa, the remaining U.S. territory to refuse to perform or recognize same-sex marriages.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: In July 2022, RFMA was reintroduced to Congress, with revisions including protections for interracial marriages. The Act passed the House in a bipartisan vote on July 19, 2022. Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin announced on November 14, 2022, that a bipartisan deal had been struck, and that they expected the legislation to reach 60 votes to break the filibuster. A motion of cloture passed 62–37 in the Senate on November 16. On November 29, the Senate passed it by a 61–36 vote, with a large majority of Senate "nays" originating from Republican Senators in the Southern United States. On December 8, the House agreed to the Senate amendment by a 258–169 vote, with one member voting "present" (abstention). 39 Republicans voted "yea". President Biden signed the bill into law on December 13, 2022. Public opinion polls of same-sex marriage in the United States indicate a strong majority of Americans are in favor; interracial marriage is supported almost universally.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: The final version of the bill divided American religious groups morally opposed to same-sex marriage; it was supported by some as a suitable compromise between the rights of LGBT couples and religious liberty, a position that was taken by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but was prominently opposed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Southern Baptist Convention due to their views on sexual ethics. Religious groups that supported the bill in support of their LGBT parishioners include the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Union for Reform Judaism, the United Church of Christ, and the Presbyterian Church (USA).


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: Prior to the Supreme Court's 1967 ruling in "Loving", anti-miscegenation laws were still in force in 16 states, all prohibiting interracial marriage. Until 1996, the federal government of the United States customarily recognized marriages conducted legally in any state for the purpose of federal legislation. Following an unsuccessful lawsuit aimed at legalizing same-sex marriage in Hawaii, the United States Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act, one section of which forbids the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages. The Supreme Court ruled this section unconstitutional in the 2013 case "United States v. Windsor".


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: In addition to requiring all states to recognize marriages performed in another jurisdiction, it also requires all territories and possessions of the United States to recognize marriages performed elsewhere. Prior to enactment of the Act, American Samoa was the only U.S. territory which neither performed nor recognized same-sex marriages, even if performed legally in another jurisdiction of the United States or elsewhere.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: In addition to repealing DOMA, the legislation would establish a method for the federal government to determine whether a marriage is valid for federal purposes, a legal dilemma known as choice of laws. Anticipating that federal courts and administrators would need to determine the validity "for federal purposes" of a marriage that is recognized in one state and not another, or in a foreign country and not by every U.S. state, it creates two tests. If celebrated in a state of the U.S. (with 'state' interpreted to include territories and the District of Columbia), a marriage is valid for federal purposes if valid in that state. If celebrated elsewhere, a marriage is valid for federal purposes if it is valid in at least one U.S. state.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: Legal scholars disputed whether the language of the Respect for Marriage Act was an appropriate solution to the problem. Lynn Wardle wrote that it "is substantively biased to circumvent state policies that do not allow or recognize same-sex marriage" and "a violation of federalism". William Baude endorsed the language of the Respect for Marriage Act. He argued that the options are to give priority to the place a marriage is celebrated or to the domicile of the married couple, that one's domicile is more easily manipulated, and that basing the choice of law on the place of celebration "promotes predictability and stability".


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: Law scholar Ilya Somin writes that the provision requiring states to recognize same-sex marriages contracted in other states is more likely to have constitutionality issues in the court system than the provisions that apply to the definition of marriage used in federal law; he also notes that the Act contains a severability provision in case one part of the Act is found unconstitutional.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: The 2009 bill was introduced by U.S. Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York on September 15, 2009, and garnered 120 cosponsors.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: The 2011 bill was introduced by U.S. Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York on March 16, 2011, and a U.S. Senate version was introduced by Dianne Feinstein of California on the same day. President Barack Obama announced his support for the bill on July 19, 2011.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: In September 2011, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida became the 125th cosponsor of the bill in the U.S. House of Representatives and the first Republican member of the U.S. Congress to announce support for the bill. In December 2012, Richard Hanna and Charles Bass became the next Republicans to cosponsor the bill.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: On July 20, 2011, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont chaired the first-ever congressional hearing on a proposal to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). On October 25, 2011, Leahy announced that the Senate Judiciary Committee would begin debate on November 3, 2011, with a committee vote likely to happen the following week. On November 3, 2011, the bill was debated in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where its passage was a foregone conclusion due to sufficient votes to pass being found in the 10 Democratic members of the committee, who are cosponsors of the bill; however, Republicans on the Committee requested the vote be delayed one week. During the debate Sen. Feinstein noted that DOMA denies same-sex couples more than 1,100 federal rights and benefits that are provided to all other members of that class, legally married couples, including rights to Social Security spousal benefits, protection from estate taxes when a spouse passes away, and the ability to file taxes jointly and claim certain deductions. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10–8 in favor of advancing the bill to the Senate floor.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: The bill's sponsors decided not to reintroduce the Respect for Marriage Act in 2013 until the United States Supreme Court issued a decision in "United States v. Windsor". They reintroduced it on June 26, the same day the Court ruled in that case that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: The aforementioned lawmakers Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York and Senator Dianne Feinstein of California reintroduced the legislation on the first day of the 114th Congress. Nadler remarked, "We must finish the job begun by the Supreme Court". In terms of co-sponsors, the proposal soon accrued 77 co-sponsors in the House and 41 in the Senate. The news received a warm welcome from LGBT rights groups such as the American Military Partner Association, which stated that Congressional action had to take place in order to assist same-sex military couples seeking veterans benefits.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: Section 2 of DOMA, the last substantive provision of that act remaining viable after "United States v. Windsor", was rendered obsolete in "Obergefell v. Hodges" in June 2015.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: The Supreme Court ruling in "Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization" in June 2022 overturned "Roe v. Wade" and "Planned Parenthood v. Casey". In his concurrence, Justice Clarence Thomas postulated that the court should revisit other past cases which granted rights based on substantive due process, including the right of same-sex marriages from "Obergefell", leading to concerns from lawmakers.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: In July 2022, the House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus Chairman David Cicilline (D-RI), Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) announced the re-introduction of the Respect for Marriage Act, which was revised to include protections for interracial marriages to codify "Loving v. Virginia". The Act passed the House (267–157) on July 19, 2022, with 47 Republicans joining all Democrats in voting in the affirmative.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: The Senate considered the bill, but it was initially unclear if it would receive enough votes to end debate. On November 14, 2022, a group of bipartisan senators, including Rob Portman (R-OH), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Susan Collins (R-ME) announced they had reached an amendment compromise to include language for religious protections and clarify that the bill did not legalize polygamous marriage. The amendment specifies that nonprofit religious organizations will not be required to provide services for the solemnization or celebration of a marriage. Shortly after, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the Respect for Marriage Act would be put up for a full vote.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: On November 16, 2022, the Senate invoked cloture on the motion to proceed (62–37) to the amended bill. All 50 Democratic senators and 12 Republicans (Roy Blunt, Richard Burr, Shelley Moore Capito, Susan Collins, Joni Ernst, Cynthia Lummis, Lisa Murkowski, Rob Portman, Mitt Romney, Dan Sullivan, Thom Tillis, and Todd Young) voted in favor of advancing the bill.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: On November 29, 2022, the Senate voted 61–36 to pass the bill. Voting in favor of the bill were 49 Democrats and the same 12 Republicans who had voted to advance it. Two Republicans (Ben Sasse and Patrick Toomey) and one Democrat (Raphael Warnock, who co-sponsored the bill) did not vote.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: On December 8, 2022, the House passed (258–169–1) the Senate's version of the Act, with 39 Republicans joining all Democrats in voting in the affirmative.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: On December 13, 2022, President Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law in a ceremony that was held on the White House lawn. Pelosi, Schumer, Harris, and Biden all spoke at the event, which also featured performances by the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, D.C, as well as musicians Sam Smith and Cyndi Lauper. Gina Nortonsmith and Heidi Nortonsmith, the lesbian couple who was one of seven same-sex couples who sued the state of Massachusetts for same-sex marriage rights in the 2001 "Goodridge v. Department of Public Health" case, were among those who spoke at the event as well.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: A September 2022 "Grinnell College National Poll" found that 74% of Americans believe same-sex marriage should be a guaranteed right while 13% disagreed and 13% were uncertain.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: Gallup found that nationwide public support for marriage equality for same-sex couples reached 50% in May 2011, 60% in May 2015, and 70% in May 2021.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: The Pew Research Center found 40% in 2010, 50% in 2013, and 61% in 2019. By 2016, 83% of Americans aged 18–29 supported same-sex marriage. In 2018, 60% of Americans said they would not mind if their child married someone of the same gender.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: Annual polling conducted by Gallup each May in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 has found support for same-sex marriage stable, with two-thirds of Americans indicating that same-sex marriage should be recognized as valid under law (a range of 63% to 67% was recorded). In 2020, 67% of respondents stated that same-sex marriage should be legally recognized as valid under the law.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: As of 2021, there is majority support for same-sex marriage in 47 states, ranging from 50% in South Carolina to 85% in Massachusetts. There is plurality support in Alabama, with 49% supporting and 47% opposing. Only Mississippi and Arkansas have majority opposition to same-sex marriage; in Mississippi, 55% oppose and 44% support, while in Arkansas, 52% oppose and 47% support same-sex marriage.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: Gallup found that nationwide public support for interracial marriage rose from around 4% in 1958, more than 50% in 1994, to 94% in 2021.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: The final version of the bill divided American religious groups opposed to same-sex marriage. It was supported by some as a suitable compromise between the rights of LGBT couples and religious liberty, a position that was taken by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but was prominently opposed by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Southern Baptist Convention due to their views on sexuality.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: On November 15, 2022, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released a statement regarding the RFMA, calling a bill that included "religious freedom protections while ... preserving the rights of ... LGBTQ [people] ... the way forward", while stating that church doctrine would remain unchanged in not recognizing same-sex marriages. The Church has supported some legislation in the past that supported LGBT rights, as long as they also included protections for religious freedom.


title: Respect for Marriage Act

text: On December 1, 2022, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops stated that "This bill fails to include clear, comprehensive, and affirmative conscience protections for religious organizations and individuals who uphold the sanctity of traditional marriage that are needed."