title: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

text: Chick and Wilbur deliver the crates after hours. They open the first one and find Dracula's coffin. When Chick leaves the room to retrieve the second crate, Wilbur reads the Dracula legend, and the coffin suddenly opens, and Dracula sneaks out. Wilbur is so frightened he can barely articulate his call for help. When Chick returns, he refuses to believe the story. The boys open the second crate, and Chick goes to greet McDougal. Dracula hypnotizes Wilbur, finds Frankenstein's Monster in the second crate, and reanimates him. Both leave, and McDougal finds the crates empty and has Wilbur and Chick arrested.


title: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

text: That night, Dr. Sandra Mornay welcomes Dracula and the Monster to her island castle. Sandra has seduced Wilbur as part of Dracula's plan to give the monster a more obedient brain. Meanwhile, Wilbur and Chick are bailed out of jail by Joan Raymond, an undercover insurance investigator who feigns love for Wilbur, hoping to gain information. Wilbur invites Joan to a masquerade ball that evening. Talbot takes the apartment across the hall from Wilbur and Chick and asks them to help him find and destroy Dracula and the Monster. Wilbur agrees, but Chick remains skeptical.


title: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

text: Wilbur, Chick and Joan go to Sandra's castle to pick her up for the ball. Wilbur answers a telephone call from Talbot, who informs them that they are in fact in the "House of Dracula". Wilbur reluctantly agrees to search the castle and soon stumbles upon a basement staircase, where he has a few close encounters with the monsters. Meanwhile, Joan discovers Dr. Frankenstein's notebook in Sandra's desk, and Sandra finds an Insurance Investigator ID in Joan's purse.


title: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

text: Dracula, under the alias of Dr. Lejos, introduces himself to Joan and the boys. Also working at the castle and attending the ball is the naïve Professor Stevens, who questions some of the specialized equipment that has arrived. After Wilbur says that he was in the basement, Sandra feigns a headache and tells the others to attend the ball without her. In private, Sandra admits to Dracula that she feels they are not safe to conduct the experiment. Dracula then turns her into a vampire.


title: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

text: At the masquerade ball, Talbot accuses Lejos of being Dracula, but no one takes him seriously. Joan soon disappears. Sandra lures Wilbur into the woods and attempts to bite him, but fails. While looking for Joan, Talbot becomes the Wolfman and attacks McDougal. Since Chick's costume is a wolf, McDougal accuses Chick, who escapes and witnesses Dracula hypnotizing Wilbur. Chick is also hypnotized and rendered helpless, while Dracula and Sandra bring Wilbur, Stevens, and Joan back to the castle. The next morning, Chick and Talbot meet up in the bayou and set out to rescue Wilbur and Joan.


title: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

text: Wilbur is quickly freed, but Dracula uses hypnotism to call him back. As Sandra prepares to cut into Wilbur's brain, Talbot and Chick burst in. Chick knocks out Sandra with a chair, and Talbot tries to free Wilbur but turns into the Wolfman again. Frankenstein's Monster breaks free of his bonds—Sandra tries to control him, but he throws her out the window. After a chase through the house between Chick, Wilbur and the Monster and a face-off between Dracula and The Wolf Man, Dracula transforms into a bat but is pounced on by the Wolfman, who drags the two of them to their deaths. Chick and Wilbur escape in boats; while Joan and Stevens set the pier ablaze while the Monster is standing on it, and he dies in the flames.


title: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

text: Wilbur scolds Chick for his earlier skepticism, and Chick remarks they have nothing to fear now. The Invisible Man addresses them from the boat's thwart, and they flee the boat in terror.


title: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

text: On November 28, 1945, Universal Pictures joined with British entrepreneur J. Arthur Rank, who bought one-fourth interest in the studio. In 1946, Universal reported a profit of only $4.6 million. They responded by dropping many actors from their contract roster, including Chaney. On July 31, 1946, an official merger began. The company, now called Universal–International, had only Deanna Durbin, Maria Montez, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello and a few other actors remaining on their payroll. Since the February 1941 release of "Buck Privates" starring Abbott and Costello, the duo were among the powerful stars at Universal. By 1945, the duo nearly split up as they were fighting each other and suffered from their own personal issues: Abbott suffered from severe epilepsy and Costello had nearly died of rheumatic heart disease in 1943.


title: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

text: In their first year of operation, the studio nearly went bankrupt. In 1948, William Goetz had been in charge of production since Universal merged with International Pictures. In the same year, Abbott and Costello's popularity was also waning. According to director Charles Barton, who was among the top comedy film directors at Universal between 1945 and 1952, Goetz did not want anything to do with Abbott and Costello after Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer had dropped their option for more films from the team and Camel Cigarettes dropped their radio show in 1947.


title: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

text: Robert Arthur, a former writer and associate producer of MGM musicals along with veteran Abbott and Costello writers Frederic Rinaldo and Robert Lees developed a script that involved Frankenstein's monster, Count Dracula and the Wolf Man. Their original script also included Kharis the Mummy, Dracula's son Alucard, and The Invisible Man. Their script involved the Monster becoming Dracula's slave and the Count's search for the brain of a simpleton to be placed into the Monster's body, eventually settling on Lou Costello's brain. Kharis, and Alucard were dropped from the script and the Invisible Man was only included as a small gag at the end of the film. On reading their script initially titled "The Brain of Frankenstein", Lou Costello responded negatively stating "You don't think I'll do that crap do you? My 5-year-old daughter can write something better than that". "Variety" made the first public announcement of "The Brain of Frankenstein" in July 1947.


title: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

text: Arthur felt strongly about the project and offered Costello a $50,000 advance on his percentage if he agreed do the film. Among the cast was Glenn Strange, who had previously played the Monster in "House of Dracula" (1945). Strange had only been in a handful of roles since that film, including Monogram's "Beauty and the Bandit" (1946), Eagle-Lion's "Frontier Fighters" (1947) and two for Universal: "Brute Force" (1947) and another Abbott and Costello film, "The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap" (1947). Other actors were called back to reprise roles from previous Universal horror films, including Lon Chaney, Jr. as The Wolf Man. Chaney had been doing stage work on "Of Mice and Men" and "Born Yesterday". Returning as Dracula was Bela Lugosi, who had not worked in a Hollywood studio since 1946 with "Scared to Death". Universal-International had Lugosi, Chaney, and Strange sign their contracts for the film on January 16, 1948. Lugosi spoke positively about the role during production, glad that the script was not "unbecoming to Dracula's dignity" and that "all I have to do is frighten the boys, a perfectly appropriate activity. My trademark will be unblemished".


title: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

text: Production began on February 5, 1948. According to Barton, Abbott and Costello were not happy with working on the project, noting that the two would "fight me like hell. But I stood my ground with them, and so did Bob Arthur". Barton continued that both the comedians would leave home several times during shooting the film, not show up, or spend about three days playing cards on set. Abbott and Costello improvised some dialogue in the film. Other script alterations were made in the film, such as a week within shooting when producer Robert Arthur decided to change the ending of the film to include a cameo by the Invisible Man.


title: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

text: The film had a new make-up department opposed to the old one headed by Jack Pierce. Emile LaVigne tended to Chaney's make-up while Jack Kevan worked on Glenn Strange. Both Chaney and Strange required one hour each in the make-up chair in the morning before each set with much of Strange's make-up now being a rubber mask. This saved approximately 100 total hours of production time on the film. Strange later recalled that the set was "one of the most enjoyable pictures I ever worked on".


title: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

text: An accident on set nearly led the production to be briefly halted. In one scene, Strange was supposed to throw Lenore Aubert through a window. An invisible wire would be attached to her to help Strange lift her. When she was thrown, she swung back into camera range, motivating Strange to attempt to catch her, falling and breaking his foot in the process. As Strange's injury was being treated, Chaney took to applying the make-up and portrayed the monster throwing Aubert through the window. By the end of February, the film's title had changed to one closer resembling its final release title. Filming completed production on March 20, 1948. A new scene was filmed after production wrapped with Jane Randolph on April 9.


title: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

text: Post-production started immediately on the film. Frank Skinner, who had previously scored "Son of Frankenstein" (1939) and worked on the score of "The Wolf Man", (1941) composed the original score for the film. Some effect shots were filmed in late March. Special effects for the film were developed by David Horsley and Jerome Ash. Special effects in the film included the bats that could be seen in the eyes of Miss Aubert and the animation that transformed Lugosi into a bat.


title: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

text: Contemporary sources vary on the first release of "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein". The AFI Catalog of Feature Films and Rhodes book "No Traveller Returns" declare it was released on June 15, 1948, with no information on when or where this release took place. Historian Gregory W. Mank has stated in three separate books that the film premiered in Los Angeles at the Forum Theatre on June 25, 1948. Earliest reviews of the film appear in publications such as "Variety" and "The Hollywood Reporter" only on June 28, 1948. Universal-International also did not copyright the film until August 1948.


title: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

text: The film went on to become the most successful film in the "Frankenstein" series since the original release of "Frankenstein" (1931). Along with "Naked City" and "Tap Roots", it became one of Universal-International's highest grossing features of the year. To promote the film, Universal paid Boris Karloff's New York hotel bill to pose outside of Loew's Criterion Theatre in New York to promote the film. Karloff agreed, stating "as long as I don't have to see the movie!" Box office was particularly strong in New York City, Chicago and Boston and Los Angeles. According to "Variety" the film earned $2.2 million in the US in 1948.


title: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

text: On the film's release on Laserdisc, Douglas Pratt, author of "The Laser Video Disc Companion" described the disc as "highly sought after" as only a few hundred copies were issued (MCA DiscoVision label release among the first videodisc titles produced in 1978). It was reissued as an Encore Edition afterwards. It was first released on DVD on August 29, 2000, and was re-released several times as part of different Abbott and Costello collections, "The Best of Abbott and Costello Volume Three", on August 3, 2004, on October 28, 2008, as part of "Abbott and Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection", and in 2015 in the "Abbott and Costello Meet the Monsters Collection". The film's Blu-ray debut and DVD re-release was on September 4, 2012, as part of Universal's 100th Anniversary series. It was also included in "Frankenstein: Complete Legacy Collection" (2014) along with seven other Universal Frankenstein films. Because this film includes characters and people featured in their own collections, it is part of the legacy collections of "Frankenstein", "Dracula", "The Wolf Man", and "The Best of Abbott and Costello".


title: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

text: From contemporary reviews, trade papers praised the film. A review in "The Hollywood Reporter" proclaimed it as a "crazy giddy show" noting that "Robert Arthur's production spells out showmanship right down the line, and Charles T. Barton's direction keeps things moving at a lively, vigorous pace". "Variety" echoed this praise, stating that Arthur and Barton "can chalk it up as one of the best for [Abbott and Costello]". The "Los Angeles Times" critic Philip K. Scheuer praised the film as "put together with enormous ingenuity. Its comic inventiveness seldom falters, yet it never seriously violates the tradition of the three celebrated creatures who are its antagonists". The review continued to be positive from other industry press papers, including "Film Daily", "Daily Variety", "Harrison's Reports", and "Motion Picture Daily". On the film's release in New York City's Lowe's Criterion Theatre, the film predominantly received negative films from the Manhattan critics. Bosley Crowther of "The New York Times" wrote that he found the idea of the film amusing but ultimately found the film to be an "assembly-line comedy". The "New York Sun" found the story was a "grand idea, but it was too bad that it could have been attended by persons capable of satire rather than pie-throwing comedy only". A review from "New York World-Telegram" warned audiences that if they did not have the palette for Abbott and Costello's comedy the film would be a "painful experience". The negative response to the film in New York made a review in "The Hollywood Reporter" refer to the New York critics as "the "BOO-geymen of Broadway". One positive mention in New York came from he "New York Star", which declared that "it's heart-warming to see all our favourite monsters once more, each inexorably expressing his individuality, all at the same time. It's kind of like a class reunion. They look a little older now, and a little tired. Dracula seems to creak a bit with arthritis as he emerges from his coffin these days, but his bite has lost some of its depth".


title: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

text: From retrospective reviews, Carlos Clarens wrote about the "Monster Rally" films such as "House of Dracula" (1945) and "House of Frankenstein" (1944) in his book "An Illustrated History of the Horror Film" (1967) summarizing that "the sole charm of these films resides in the very proficient contract players that populated them", but by the time of "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" was released, the film's "unconscious parody finally gave way to deliberate spoof" and at this point "Universal was flogging a dead horse". Later review from Kim Newman writing for "Empire" described it as not one of Abbott and Costello's better films, finding they do a lot of "whining and slapping business". Dave Kehr of the "Chicago Reader" stated similar reactions noting that Abbott and Costello "never got the hang of the kiddie slapstick Universal assigned to them" and that the film was "probably the last of their watchable films, though it's a long way from their best".


title: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

text: Following the success of the film, Universal-International paired Abbott and Costello in similar situations to this film. The first was "Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff" (1949). This was followed by other films and pairings, including "Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man" (1951), "Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1953), and their last film for Universal: "Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy" (1955). The duo only made one more film, "Dance with Me, Henry", which was directed by Barton and made for United Artists.


title: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

text: Lon Chaney, Jr. did not have positive things to say about the feature, later proclaiming that he "used to enjoy horror films when there was thought and sympathy involved. Then they became comedies. Abbott and Costello ruined the horror films: they made buffoons out of the monsters..."


title: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

text: In 2001, the United States Library of Congress deemed this film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry, The film is number 56 on the list of the American Film Institute's "100 Funniest American Movies".


title: Acute leukemia

text: Acute leukemia or acute leukaemia is a family of serious medical conditions relating to an original diagnosis of leukemia. In most cases, these can be classified according to the lineage, myeloid or lymphoid, of the malignant cells that grow uncontrolled, but some are mixed and for those such an assignment is not possible.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Street-level characters comprise a large part of the cast on the fictional HBO drama series "The Wire". Characters in this section range from homeless drug addicts up to drug king-pins in charge of entire criminal empires.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Avon Barksdale was the head of the Barksdale organization in season one. He comes from the projects, lives in the projects and plans to stay in the projects. For most of the first season he is the target of homicide detective Jimmy McNulty, who seems to be the only authoritative figure aware of his presence or his empire, which spans the most sought-after drug-dealing territory in Baltimore. Avon is uniformly feared by all other drug dealing criminal organizations in Baltimore due to his ferocity but due to his 'West Side' mentality is no threat to 'East Side' gangs. Together with his closest friend Russell "Stringer" Bell, Avon and their enforcers hold a monopoly on the drug trade in West Baltimore through intimidation and murder.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Stringer was Avon Barksdale's second-in-command, closest friend, advisor and the main strategist behind coordinating their street dealing organization which he does as the main contact for all business, while he attends a business college in relation to his aspiration as a clean businessman. Together, they operate out of a strip club which is a front for money laundering owned and licensed under a clean member of their gang.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Stringer is portrayed as more humble and quiet than Avon but is every bit as ruthless as his friend. He has aspirations to eventually leave the streets and drug life as a whole behind him despite his close and long relationship with Avon. In the third season Bell is killed by Omar and Brother Mouzone in his own commercial building that was in development at the time.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: D'Angelo Barksdale was Avon's nephew and a lieutenant in his drug dealing organization. He was mainly responsible for leading the corner boys in their street dealings and coordinating their earnings and performance. He was the main connection between the upper levels of the crew and the street kids that were selling the product. He struggles with the morality behind his trade and came close to informing on the crew because of it, only relenting because of loyalty to family ties his mother reminded him of before signing. He took the sentence and went to prison where he was killed by a hitman sent by Stringer Bell in season 2.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Bodie was a dealer who came of age working for Avon Barksdale. After the Barksdale organization dissolves, he is briefly independent (supplied by the New Day Co-Op) until Marlo forces him to join his crew. He is shot in the head by O-dog with Snoop and Chris providing a distraction after being seen having a conversation with McNulty, because Marlo suspects he may be a snitch.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Poot is a loyal drug dealer for the Barksdale organization, who serves brief prison time for his crimes. By the end of the series he is working at a shoe store attempting to distance himself from the game after growing tired of it and reeling from the loss of many friends.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Stanfield is a rising gang leader who gets into a turf war with the Barksdale Organization, becoming the key West Baltimore drug kingpin following Stringer Bell's death and Avon Barksdale's arrest. Stanfield is played by Jamie Hector.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Partlow is Marlo Stanfield's second-in-command and best friend in his drug dealing operation. He is played by Gbenga Akinnagbe.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Monk is a lieutenant in the Stanfield organization, and the third most recognized leader of Marlo’s Organization.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Snoop is a chief enforcer in the Stanfield Organization, she is a mid-way gangster and she is always seen with Chris Partlow.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Fruit is a prominent crew chief of one of Marlo Stanfield's drug dealing crews, and works closely with Jamal and Justin. Fruit is identifiable by his ever-present Kangol hat, and is the chief for one of West Baltimore's most prominent street corners. He is first seen negotiating with Dennis "Cutty" Wise over how to distribute a package of dope. He seems to be fair, but he later rips Cutty off, saying the package was taken by the police. Cutty protests, but Fruit pulls a gun on him and forces Cutty to withdraw.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Joseph "Proposition Joe" Stewart is an Eastside drug kingpin who supplies much of Baltimore through his direct connection to The Greek's smuggling organization. He is murdered and replaced as leader of New Day Co-op by Marlo Stanfield.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Cheese is the nephew of Proposition Joe and a crew chief in his Eastside drug crew. He is murdered by Slim Charles in the final episode as retribution for his role in Joe’s death. Although never revealed in the series, Cheese is Randy Wagstaff's father. Originally, his first name was listed as "Calvin" on the official HBO site, but it was later changed to "Melvin". The character is played by rapper Method Man.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Frog is a white street-level dealer from Greektown, Baltimore who was raised on Rapolla Street just like Nick. He used to attend St. Casimir Church, Baltimore. His allegiances are never made clear, though from the photo on the crime board in Season 2 he is shown with Petey Dixon. He is seen early in season two distributing a package for Ziggy Sobotka (and stealing from him in the process) and later negotiates with Nick Sobotka, who first admonishes him for being a wigga, to distribute another.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Louis and Joan's son and Frank's nephew, Nick is a well-liked young stevedore with extensive family connections to the Baltimore port and links to the criminal underworld.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Ziggy is Frank's son, an impulsive and often reckless young checker, loosely based on Pinkie Bannion, a real life docker in the Baltimore area, at the docks with a desire to prove himself and a respected father to live up to.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: White Mike is a mid-level South Baltimore drug dealer from Curtis Bay with his own territory. He supplied Ziggy Sobotka with packages of narcotics to distribute but their relationship soured when Ziggy failed to make adequate profit from the package. He is one of several characters in The Wire who are fond of strawberry soda. McArdle was supplied by The Greek's smuggling operation and was arrested as part of an investigation into that operation. He was quick to turn against his suppliers and gave up all the information he had.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Ricardo "Fat Face Rick" Hendrix is a drug kingpin from Baltimore's Veronica Avenue, on the East Side. He is typically seen smoking a cigar, and is among the first to join the New Day Co-Op. He is a dissenting voice in the Co-Op for Stringer Bell when Avon Barksdale is warring with Marlo Stanfield. Rick and Phil Boy assist Proposition Joe when he gives Bell the ultimatum, to either end the war with Stanfield or lose access to the high-quality heroin.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Later, he is the first to bring up the idea that West Sider Marlo Stanfield should work with the Co-Op against the encroachment from New York dealers. In season four, episode 11 ("A New Day"), Omar and Renaldo are spying on the New-Day Co-Op and briefly discuss a time when they robbed Fat Face Rick, who "fell down on his knees, wept like a little baby." At the end of the fourth season, Rick leads the quorum confronting Joe, after Omar has stolen the shipment.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: In the fifth season Rick's full name is revealed as Ricardo Hendrix, when "The Baltimore Sun" runs a story exposing a corrupt property deal. Rick owns a strip club named Desperado and the council wants to relocate him to redevelop the land. However, they are offering to pay Hendrix more than his club is worth and to sell him better council owned property elsewhere so that he will net a million dollars for moving. The paper exposes a history of campaign donations from Rick and people using the address of his club including several to city council president Nerese Campbell who is sponsoring the property deal.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Hendrix continues his involvement with the Co-Op and brags in a meeting about his property deal with his friend Hungry Man - drawing the ire of Stanfield.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: After Stanfield's arrest and sale of the connection to the Greeks, Hendrix, along with Slim Charles, is seen, in the series finale, meeting with Spiros Vondas and The Greek, discussing the new business arrangement for importing the drugs into Baltimore.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Nathaniel "Hungry Man" Manns is an older East Side drug kingpin and charter member of the New Day Co-Op. He is at the meeting to discuss encouraging Marlo Stanfield to join the Co-Op to combat the incursion of New York drug dealers into eastern Baltimore. Hungry Man believes that Stanfield is hiding bodies by putting several into individual coffins through a funeral home front until he is corrected by Slim Charles. He is part of the quorum that confronts "Proposition Joe" Stewart following Omar Little's robbery of the Co-Op.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Ghost is an East side drug kingpin and Co-Op member. He is part of the quorum that confronts "Proposition Joe" Stewart following Omar Little's robbery of the Co-Op. In the fifth season Ghost receives Baltimore County territory to compensate for territory lost in the gentrification of East Baltimore. Ghost continues to attend Co-Op meetings throughout the fifth season.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: George Alexander Glekas (Greek: Γιώργος Αλέξανδρος Γλεκας; February 18, 1960 - 2003) runs a warehouse and appliance store for The Greek under the name Pyramid Industries. He acts as the organization's fence. Glekas often gets advice from Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos on important deals. The retail store he owns was used as a front to move their stolen goods from the docks.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Prior to appearing in the series Glekas had been charged with fencing stolen goods in San Diego, but the case was dropped for lack of evidence. Glekas was indicted in the smuggling investigation but was not arrested because he was shot and killed by Ziggy Sobotka in a dispute over payment for a stolen car smuggling deal. Ziggy confesses to the murder and was shown serving time for the crime.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Phil Boy is another portly kingpin who joins the Co-Op, though he does not attend the initial formation meeting. He is noticeably younger than his colleagues, and he can be recognized by the do-rag he always wears. He and Fat Face Rick accompany "Proposition Joe" Stewart when he gives Stringer Bell the ultimatum, to either end the war with Marlo Stanfield or lose access to the high-quality heroin.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Bubbles is a heroin addict with a vast knowledge of the streets of Baltimore. He becomes an informant after a friend whom he introduced to the drug lifestyle gets badly beaten when using counterfeit money upon Bubbles' advice. Bubbles volunteers information and creatively points out key figures to the police in exchange for small amounts of cash for him and for his friend's escaping prosecution for a drug-related crime. Bubbles also befriends Kima, and despite their different situations, they share a level of mutual respect and empathy.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Brother Mouzone, meaning "judicious" in Arabic, is a drug enforcer and hitman from New York City. "The Brother" does not fit the usual picture of drug-trade "muscle", always wearing a suit, bowtie, and glasses, speaking politely and precisely. He is also quite erudite, reading magazines such as "The Economist", "Harper's", "The Atlantic", "The New Republic", and "The Nation". His attire, extremely proper and pious persona, and title of "Brother" imply that he is associated with the Nation of Islam, specifically its paramilitary wing, the Fruit of Islam, although this is never explicitly stated.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: On first encountering Mouzone, the street dealer Cheese mocks his formal style of dress by remarking that he must either be in "the Nation" or still let his mother pick out his clothes. He reveals himself as a Muslim when, believing he is about to die, he mouths "Allahu akbar" repeatedly after Omar shoots him. He is always accompanied by his "man" Lamar, who runs errands for Mouzone.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: The Deacon is a West Side church figure who is involved in many community projects. He also has many contacts within the city’s academic population. He is a friend of teacher Grace Sampson and helps her ex-boyfriend Dennis "Cutty" Wise when he is released after a long prison sentence. Initially he tries to encourage Cutty to enroll in a GED program, but Cutty is not interested in this idea.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: The deacon then helps Cutty to open a community boxing gym. He puts Cutty in touch with State Delegate Odell Watkins through the politically influential Reverend Frank Reid to help with obtaining the necessary permits for the gym. He also helps Cutty to get a paying job working as a school custodian at Edward Tilghman Middle, where Grace teaches the eighth grade.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: The Deacon is also friends with Howard "Bunny" Colvin. When Colvin was Western District police commander the Deacon often served as his conscience. Colvin started three drug tolerant zones in his district and the deacon was dismayed at the poor conditions addicts faced in these areas. He convinced Colvin to involve public health academics in providing services for the addicts now he had gathered them into an easy to reach area. Colvin was forced to retire because of his actions. The deacon found him a new job working with a sociologist, studying the prevention of repeat violent offender behavior.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: As a middle-aged man, Melvin Williams, the actor who plays the Deacon, was a real-life drug kingpin who was arrested by series writer Ed Burns in 1984 when the latter was a Baltimore city police officer. Creator David Simon was responsible for covering the arrest for "The Baltimore Sun" at the time. Williams received a 34-year sentence for his crimes and much of the evidence against him came from a wiretap investigation like the one featured in the first season of the show.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Dee-Dee is a drug addict. In Season Three she shows up in the Hamsterdam area buying an eight-ball of cocaine from a car. A year later she is living in West Baltimore and working as a prostitute. Fifteen months later again she is seen at a narcotics anonymous meeting.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Hucklebuck is a drug addict and friend to Bubbles and Johnny. He often assists them on their "capers" to make money for drugs. He is a part of Johnny's copper house robbery scam in season 1. Hucklebuck continues to live on the street when Bubbles is in recovery in season 5.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Lamar is the assistant and inept bodyguard of New York mercenary Brother Mouzone. He has accompanied Mouzone on both his visits to Baltimore. On their first trip they worked at the Franklin Terrace high rises for Avon Barksdale – guarding his territory against East Side drug dealers. Lamar failed to protect his charge against Omar Little on this trip. He was distracted by a dog and knocked unconscious by Omar while guarding a motel room door. His failure allowed Omar to enter the room and shoot Brother Mouzone.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Devar Manigault is Raylene Lee's partner and father to her younger son "Bug". Devar is feared by Michael and it is heavily implied that Michael suffered sexual abuse by Devar. Shortly after Devar is released from prison he is savagely beaten to death by Chris Partlow at Michael's behest. Chris spits on him at the crime scene, leaving his DNA, leading to his arrest for murder.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Squeak is the girlfriend of Bernard, a low level member of the Barksdale organization. Bernard was responsible for supplying the organization with disposable mobile phones and was told to buy no more than two phones at any one outlet and provide receipts for his purchases. Squeak's nagging convinced Bernard to start breaking these rules.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Sherrod is a young homeless boy who is befriended by Bubbles. He has been living on the streets since his mother succumbed to drug addiction. He last regularly attended school in the fifth grade at Steuart Hill elementary, though Bubbles tried to get him to go back at some point between the third and fourth seasons. As the fourth season starts, Bubbles is selling small items from a shopping cart to get by, and is trying to train Sherrod to run his own business.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Walon is an HIV-positive recovering drug addict. He first appears in season one when Bubbles and Johnny see him speaking at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. Bubbles is moved by the strength Walon conveys in his speech. They see Walon again in the projects looking after his drug addicted nephew.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Bubbles' conversations with Walon help him realise that he wants to get clean. When he makes a serious attempt, Walon gives him advice on keeping clean, which Bubbles is unable to stick with. Years later, when Bubbles is locked in a medical rehab facility, Walon visits him to again help him with his sobriety and grief. In season five he acts as Bubbles' sponsor, pushing him to be more open about his struggles and the death of Sherrod.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: Walon is played by singer/songwriter and recovering heroin addict Steve Earle. Earle also performs the theme song for Season 5, and his track "I Feel Alright" is featured in the montage at the end of Season 2.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: In season one Johnny is Bubbles' best friend and a drug addict with notoriously bad luck. He is naive and enthusiastic for "the game", allowing Bubbles to play the role of teacher. In the pilot episode he is badly beaten by Bodie Broadus, Poot Carr and Wallace after trying to pass counterfeit money to D'Angelo Barksdale's operation. This spurs Bubbles to become a police informant. Johnny disapproves and takes no part in it except when arrested by police.


title: Street-level characters of The Wire

text: After getting out of prison he joins back up with the Barksdale crew as muscle, but cannot complete a task he was assigned. Instead, he leaves the criminal world and starts up a boxing center in an attempt to reach out to local street youths. He is later wounded trying to talk Michael Lee out of a life of crime. He reappears in Season 5 to briefly train Dukie as well as to give him advice on how to deal with people that give him trouble.


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: In Judaism, the concept of the Jews as the chosen people ( "ʿam bəḥīr") is the belief that the Jews, via descent from the ancient Israelites, are the chosen people, i.e. selected to be in a covenant with God. The idea of the Israelites being chosen by God is found most directly in the Book of Deuteronomy as the verb "baḥar" (בָּחַר), and is alluded to elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible using other terms such as "holy people". Much is written about these topics in rabbinic literature. The three largest Jewish denominations—Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism—maintain the belief that the Jews have been chosen by God for a purpose. Sometimes this choice is seen as charging the Jewish people with a specific mission—to be a light unto the nations, and to exemplify the covenant with God as described in the Torah.


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: While the concept of "chosenness" may be understood by some to connote ethnic supremacy, the status as a "chosen people" within Judaism does not preclude a belief that God has a relationship with other peoples—rather, Judaism held that God had entered into a covenant with "all" humankind, and that Jews and non-Jews alike have a relationship with God. Biblical references as well as rabbinic literature support this view: Moses refers to the "God of the spirits of all flesh", the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) also identifies prophets outside the community of Israel and the prophet Yonah (Jonah) is explicitly told to go prophesize to the non-Jewish people of Nineveh. Based on these statements and stories, some rabbis theorized that, in the words of Natan'el al-Fayyumi, a Yemenite Jewish theologian of the 12th century, "God permitted to every people something he forbade to others ... [and] God sends a prophet to every people according to their own language." (Levine, 1907/1966) The Mishnah states that "Humanity was produced from one man, Adam, to show God's greatness. When a man mints a coin in a press, each coin is identical. But when the King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, creates people in the form of Adam not one is similar to any other" (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5). The Tosefta, an important supplement to the Mishnah, also states: "Righteous people of all nations have a share in the world to come" (Sanhedrin 105a).


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: According to the Israel Democracy Institute, approximately two thirds of Israeli Jews believe that Jews are the "chosen people".


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: According to Deuteronomy, when the Lord delivers the Israelites to the land, the other nations will be cast out, and "thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them" Deuteronomy 7:4-7:5,


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: A similar passage exalting Israel as the chosen people follows prohibitions on baldness and cutting yourself in mourning, "For thou art a holy people".


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: Sometimes this choice is seen as charging the Jewish people with a specific mission—to be a light unto the nations, and to exemplify the covenant with God as described in the Torah. This view, however, does not always preclude a belief that God has a relationship with other peoples—rather, Judaism held that God had entered into a covenant with all humankind, and that Jews and non-Jews alike have a relationship with God.


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: Biblical references as well as rabbinic literature support this view: Moses refers to the "God of the spirits of all flesh", and the Tanakh also identifies prophets outside the community of Israel. Based on these statements, some rabbis theorized that, in the words of Natan'el al-Fayyumi, a Yemenite Jewish theologian of the 12th century, "God permitted to every people something he forbade to others...<nowiki>[and]</nowiki> God sends a prophet to every people according to their own language." The Mishnah states that "Humanity was produced from one man, Adam, to show God's greatness. When a man mints a coin in a press, each coin is identical. But when the King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, creates people in the form of Adam not one is similar to any other." The Tosefta, a collection of important post-Talmudic discourses, also states: "Righteous people of all nations have a share in the world to come."


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: Most Jewish texts do not state that "God chose the Jews" by itself. Rather, this is usually linked with a mission or purpose, such as proclaiming God's message among all the nations, even though Jews cannot become "unchosen" if they shirk their mission. This implies a special duty, which evolves from the belief that Jews have been pledged by the covenant which God concluded with the biblical patriarch Abraham, their ancestor, and again with the entire Jewish nation at Mount Sinai. In this view, Jews are charged with living a holy life as God's priest-people.


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: In the Jewish prayerbook (the Siddur), chosenness is referred to in a number of ways. The blessing for reading the Torah reads, "Praised are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who has chosen us out of all the nations and bestowed upon us His Torah." In the "Kiddush", a prayer of sanctification, in which the Sabbath is inaugurated over a cup of wine, the text reads, "For you have chosen us and sanctified us out of all the nations, and have given us the Sabbath as an inheritance in love and favour. Praised are you, Lord, who hallows the Sabbath." In the "Kiddush" recited on festivals it reads, "Blessed are You ... who have chosen us from among all nations, raised us above all tongues, and made us holy through His commandments." The Aleinu prayer refers to the concept of Jews as a chosen people: "It is our duty to praise the Master of all, to exalt the Creator of the Universe, who has not made us like the nations of the world and has not placed us like the families of the earth; who has not designed our destiny to be like theirs, nor our lot like that of all their multitude. We bend the knee and bow and acknowledge before the Supreme King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be he, that it is he who stretched forth the heavens and founded the earth. His seat of glory is in the heavens above; his abode of majesty is in the lofty heights.


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: According to the Rabbis, "Israel is of all nations the most willful or headstrong one, and the Torah was to give it the right scope and power of resistance, or else the world could not have withstood its fierceness."


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: How do we understand "A Gentile who consecrates his life to the study and observance of the Law ranks as high as the high priest", says R. Meïr, by deduction from Lev. xviii. 5; II Sam. vii. 19; Isa. xxvi. 2; Ps. xxxiii. 1, cxviii. 20, cxxv. 4, where all stress is laid not on Israel, but on man or the righteous one.


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: Maimonides states: "It is now abundantly clear that the pledges Hashem made to Avraham and his descendants would be fulfilled exclusively first in Yitzchak and then in Yaakov, Yitzchak son. This is confirmed by a passage that states, "He is ever mindful of His covenant ... that He made with Avraham, swore to Yitzchak, and confirmed in a decree for Yaakov, for Yisrael, as an eternal covenant.""


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: The Gemara states this regarding a non-Jew who studies Torah [his 7 mitzvot] and regarding this, see Shita Mekubetzes, Bava Kama 38a who says that this is an exaggeration. In any case, this statement was not extolling the non-Jew. The Rishonim explain that it is extolling the Torah.


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: Tosfos explains that it uses the example of a "kohen gadol" (high priest), because this statement is based on the verse, ""y'kara hi mipnimim"" (it is more precious than pearls). This is explained elsewhere in the Gemara to mean that the Torah is more precious "pnimim" (translated here as "inside" instead of as "pearls"; thus that the Torah is introspectively absorbed into the person), which refers to "lifnai v'lifnim" (translated as "the most inner of places"), that is the Holy of Holies where the "kahon gadol" went.


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: In any case, in Midrash Rabba this statement is made with an important addition: a non-Jew who converts and studies Torah etc.


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: The Nation of Israel is likened to the olive. Just as this fruit yields its precious oil only after being much pressed and squeezed, so Israel's destiny is one of great oppression and hardship, in order that it may thereby give forth its illuminating wisdom. Poverty is the quality most befitting Israel as the chosen people. Only on account of its good works is Israel among the nations "as the lily among thorns", or "as wheat among the chaff."


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: Rabbi Lord Immanuel Jakobovits, former Chief Rabbi of the United Synagogue of Great Britain (Modern Orthodox Judaism), described chosenness in this way: "Yes, I do believe that the chosen people concept as affirmed by Judaism in its holy writ, its prayers, and its millennial tradition. In fact, I believe that every people—and indeed, in a more limited way, every individual—is "chosen" or destined for some distinct purpose in advancing the designs of Providence. Only, some fulfill their mission and others do not. Maybe the Greeks were chosen for their unique contributions to art and philosophy, the Romans for their pioneering services in law and government, the British for bringing parliamentary rule into the world, and the Americans for piloting democracy in a pluralistic society. The Jews were chosen by God to be 'peculiar unto Me' as the pioneers of religion and morality; that was and is their national purpose."


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: "[T]he initial election of Abraham himself was not earned. ... We are simply told that God commanded Abraham to leave his place of birth and go to a land that God would show him. He is also promised that his descendants will become a numerous people. But nowhere does the Bible tell us why Abraham rather than someone else was chosen. The implication is that God chooses whom He wishes and that He owes no accounting to anyone for His choices."


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: Rabbi Norman Lamm, a leader of Modern Orthodox Judaism, wrote: "The chosenness of Israel relates exclusively to its spiritual vocation embodied in the Torah; the doctrine, indeed, was announced at Sinai. Whenever it is mentioned in our liturgy—such as the blessing immediately preceding the Shema...it is always related to Torah or Mitzvot ("commandments"). This spiritual vocation consists of two complementary functions, described as "Goy Kadosh", that of a holy nation, and "Mamlekhet Kohanim", that of a kingdom of priests. The first term denotes the development of communal separateness or differences in order to achieve a collective self-transcendence. ... The second term implies the obligation of this brotherhood of the spiritual elite toward the rest of mankind; priesthood is defined by the prophets as fundamentally a teaching vocation."


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: Conservative Judaism views the concept of chosenness in this way: "Few beliefs have been subject to as much misunderstanding as the 'Chosen People' doctrine. The Torah and the Prophets clearly stated that this does not imply any innate Jewish superiority. In the words of Amos (3:2) 'You alone have I singled out of all the families of the earth—that is why I will call you to account for your iniquities.' The Torah tells us that we are to be "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" with obligations and duties which flowed from our willingness to accept this status. Far from being a license for special privilege, it entailed additional responsibilities not only toward God but to our fellow human beings. As expressed in the blessing at the reading of the Torah, our people have always felt it to be a privilege to be selected for such a purpose. For the modern traditional Jew, the doctrine of the election and the covenant of Israel offers a purpose for Jewish existence which transcends its own self interests. It suggests that because of our special history and unique heritage we are in a position to demonstrate that a people that takes seriously the idea of being covenanted with God can not only thrive in the face of oppression, but can be a source of blessing to its children and its neighbors. It obligates us to build a just and compassionate society throughout the world and especially in the land of Israel where we may teach by example what it means to be a 'covenant people, a light unto the nations.'"


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: "Originally the text read that God has not made us like the nations who "bow down to nothingness and vanity, and pray to an impotent god", ... In the Middle Ages these words were censored, since the church believed they were an insult to Christianity. Omitting them tends to give the impression that the Aleinu teaches that we are both different and better than others. The actual intent is to say that we are thankful that God has enlightened us so that, unlike the pagans, we worship the true God and not idols. There is no inherent superiority in being Jewish, but we do assert the superiority of monotheistic belief over paganism. Although paganism still exists today, we are no longer the only ones to have a belief in one God."


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: Reform Judaism views the concept of chosenness as follows: "Throughout the ages it has been Israel's mission to witness to the Divine in the face of every form of paganism and materialism. We regard it as our historic task to cooperate with all men in the establishment of the kingdom of God, of universal brotherhood, Justice, truth and peace on earth. This is our Messianic goal." In 1999 the Reform movement stated, "We affirm that the Jewish people are bound to God by an eternal covenant, as reflected in our varied understandings of Creation, Revelation and Redemption. ... We are Israel, a people aspiring to holiness, singled out through our ancient covenant and our unique history among the nations to be witnesses to God's presence. We are linked by that covenant and that history to all Jews in every age and place."


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: Many Kabbalistic sources, notably the Tanya, contain statements to the effect that the Jewish soul is qualitatively different from the non-Jewish soul. A number of known Chabad rabbis offered alternative readings of the Tanya, did not take this teaching literally, and even managed to reconcile it with the leftist ideas of internationalism and class struggle. The original text of the Tanya refers to the "idol worshippers" and does not mention the "nations of the world" at all, although such interpretation was endorsed by Menachem Mendel Schneerson and is popular in contemporary Chabad circles. Hillel of Parich, an early Tanya commentator, wrote that the souls of righteous Gentiles are more similar to the Jewish souls, and are generally good and not egoistic. This teaching was accepted by Schneerson and is considered normative in Chabad.


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: According to the author of the Tanya himself, a righteous non-Jew can achieve a high level of spiritually, similar to an angel, although his soul is still fundamentally different in character, but not value, from a Jewish one. Tzemach Tzedek, the third rebbe of Chabad, wrote that the Muslims are naturally good-hearted people. Rabbi Yosef Jacobson, a popular contemporary Chabad lecturer, teaches that in today's world most non-Jews belong to the category of righteous Gentiles, effectively rendering the Tanya's attitude anachronistic.


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: An anti-Zionist interpretation of Tanya was offered by Abraham Yehudah Khein, a prominent Ukrainian Chabad rabbi, who supported anarchist communism and considered Peter Kropotkin a great Tzaddik. Khein basically read the Tanya backwards; since the souls of idol worshipers are known to be evil, according to the Tanya, while the Jewish souls are known to be good, he concluded that truly altruistic people are really Jewish, in a spiritual sense, while Jewish nationalists and class oppressors are not. By this logic, he claimed that Vladimir Solovyov and Rabindranath Tagore probably have Jewish souls, while Leon Trotsky and other totalitarians do not, and many Zionists, whom he compared to apes, are merely "Jewish by birth certificate".


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: Nachman of Breslov also believed that Jewishness is a level of consciousness, and not an intrinsic inborn quality. He wrote that, according to the Book of Malachi, one can find "potential Jews" among all nations, whose souls are illuminated by the leap of "holy faith", which "activated" the Jewishness in their souls. These people would otherwise convert to Judaism, but prefer not to do so. Instead, they recognize the Divine unity within their pagan religions.


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: Isaac Arama, an influential philosopher and mystic of the 15th century, believed that righteous non-Jews are spiritually identical to the righteous Jews. Rabbi Menachem Meiri, a famous Catalan Talmudic commentator and Maimonidian philosopher, considered all people, who sincerely profess an ethical religion, to be part of a greater "spiritual Israel". He explicitly included Christians and Muslims in this category. Meiri rejected all Talmudic laws that discriminate between the Jews and non-Jews, claiming that they only apply to the ancient idolators, who had no sense of morality. The only exceptions are a few laws related directly or indirectly to intermarriage, which Meiri did recognize.


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: Meiri applied his idea of "spiritual Israel" to the Talmudic statements about unique qualities of the Jewish people. For example, he believed that the famous saying that Israel is above astrological predestination ("Ein Mazal le-Israel") also applied to the followers of other ethical faiths. He also considered countries, inhabited by decent moral non-Jews, such as Languedoc, as a spiritual part of the Holy Land.


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: One Jewish critic of chosenness was the philosopher Baruch Spinoza. In the third chapter of his "Theologico-Political Treatise", Spinoza mounts an argument against a naive interpretation of God's choice of the Jews. Bringing evidence from the Bible itself, he argues that God's choice of Israel was not unique (he had chosen other nations before choosing the Hebrew nation) and that the choice of the Jews is neither inclusive (it does not include all of the Jews, but only the 'pious' ones) nor exclusive (it also includes 'true gentile prophets'). Finally, he argues that God's choice is not unconditional. Recalling the numerous times God threatened the complete destruction of the Hebrew nation, he asserts that this choice is neither absolute, nor eternal, nor necessary.


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: Reconstructionist Judaism rejects the concept of chosenness. Its founder, Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, said that the idea that God chose the Jewish people leads to racist beliefs among Jews, and thus must be excised from Jewish theology. This rejection of chosenness is made explicit in the movement's siddurim (prayer books). For example, the original blessing recited before reading from the Torah contains the phrase, "asher bahar banu mikol ha’amim"—"Praised are you Lord our God, ruler of the Universe, "who has chosen us from among all peoples" by giving us the Torah." The Reconstructionist version is rewritten as "asher kervanu la’avodato", "Praised are you Lord our God, ruler of the Universe, "who has drawn us to your service" by giving us the Torah." In the mid-1980s, the Reconstructionist movement issued its "Platform on Reconstructionism". It states that the idea of chosenness is "morally untenable", because anyone who has such beliefs "implies the superiority of the elect community and the rejection of others."


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: Not all Reconstructionists accept this view. The newest siddur of the movement, "Kol Haneshamah", includes the traditional blessings as an option, and some modern Reconstructionist writers have opined that the traditional formulation is not racist, and should be embraced.


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: An original prayer book by Reconstructionist feminist poet Marcia Falk, "The Book of Blessings", has been widely accepted by both Reform and Reconstructionist Jews. Falk rejects all concepts relating to hierarchy or distinction; she sees any distinction as leading to the acceptance of other kinds of distinctions, thus leading to prejudice. She writes that as a politically liberal feminist, she must reject distinctions made between men and women, homosexuals and heterosexuals, Jews and non-Jews, and to some extent even distinctions between the Sabbath and the other six days of the week. She thus rejects the idea of chosenness as unethical. She also rejects Jewish theology in general, and instead holds to a form of religious humanism. Falk writes: "The idea of Israel as God's chosen people ... is a key concept in rabbinic Judaism. Yet it is particularly problematic for many Jews today, in that it seems to fly in the face of monotheistic belief that all humanity is created in the divine image—and hence, all humanity is equally loved and valued by God. ... I find it difficult to conceive of a feminist Judaism that would incorporate it in its teaching: the valuing of one people "over and above" others is all too analogous to the privileging of one sex over another." Reconstructionist author Judith Plaskow also criticises the idea of chosenness, for many of the same reasons as Falk. A politically liberal lesbian, Plaskow rejects most distinctions made between men and women, homosexuals and heterosexuals, and Jews and non-Jews. In contrast to Falk, Plaskow does not reject all concepts of difference as inherently leading to unethical beliefs, and holds to a more classical form of Jewish theism than Falk.


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: A number of responses to these views have been made by Reform and Conservative Jews; they hold that these criticisms are against teachings that do not exist within liberal forms of Judaism, and which are rare in Orthodox Judaism (outside certain Haredi communities, such as Chabad). A separate criticism stems from the very existence of feminist forms of Judaism in all denominations of Judaism, which do not have a problem with the concepts of chosenness.


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: The children of Israel enjoy a special status in the Islamic book, the Quran (2:47 and 2:122). However, Muslim scholars point out that this status did not confer upon Israelites any racial superiority, and was only valid so long as the Israelites maintain their covenant with God.


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: Some Christians believe that the Jews were God's chosen people, but because of Jewish Rejection of Jesus, the Christians in turn received that special status. This doctrine is known as Supersessionism.


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: Other Christians, such as the Christadelphians, believe that God has not rejected Israel as his chosen people and that the Jews will in fact accept Jesus as their Messiah at his Second Coming, resulting in their salvation.


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: Augustine criticized Jewish chosenness as "carnal." He reasoned that Israel was chosen "according to the flesh."


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: Avi Beker, an Israeli scholar and former Secretary General of the World Jewish Congress, regarded the idea of the chosen people as Judaism's defining concept and "the central unspoken psychological, historical, and theological problem which is at the heart of Jewish-Gentile relations." In his book "The Chosen: The History of an Idea, and the Anatomy of an Obsession", Beker expresses the view that the concept of chosenness is the driving force behind Jewish-Gentile relations, explaining both the admiration and, more pointedly, the envy and the hatred which the world has felt towards the Jews in both religious and secular terms. Beker argues that while Christianity has modified its doctrine on the displacement of the Jews, Islam has neither reversed nor reformed its theology concerning the succession of both the Jews and the Christians. According to Beker, this presents a major barrier to conflict resolution in the Arab-Israeli conflict.


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: The Israeli philosopher Ze'ev Levy writes that chosenness can be "(partially) justified only from the historical angle" with respect to its spiritual and moral contribution to Jewish life through the centuries as "a powerful agent of consolation and hope". He points out, however, that modern anthropological theories "do not merely proclaim the inherent universal equality of all people [as] human beings; they also stress the "equivalence" [emphasis in original] of all human cultures." He continues that "there are no inferior and superior people or cultures but only different, "other", ones." He concludes that the concept of chosenness entails ethnocentrism, "which does not go hand in hand with otherness, that is, with unconditional respect of otherness".


title: Jews as the chosen people

text: Some people have claimed that Judaism's chosen people concept is racist because it implies that Jews are superior to non-Jews. The Anti-Defamation League asserts that the concept of a chosen people within Judaism has nothing to do with racial superiority.


title: Cornish game hen

text: Cornish game hen (also Rock Cornish game hen) is the USDA-approved name for a particular variety of broiler chicken, produced from a cross between the Cornish and White Plymouth Rock chicken breeds, that is served young and immature, weighing no more than two pounds (900 g) ready to cook.


title: Cornish game hen

text: Despite the name, the Cornish game hen is not a game bird. The name is doubly a misnomer because both males and females are served as Cornish game hens, meaning that many are not actually hens.


title: Cornish game hen

text: Bred to develop a large breast over a short period of time, the fowl weighs roughly when slaughtered at four to six weeks of age and typically commands a higher price per pound than mature chicken. Adult Cornish game hens are not smaller than standard broiler chickens; the size of cooked Cornish game hens is due solely to the very young age at which they are slaughtered. The Cornish game hen is known for its tender meat which is easily able to absorb marinades and spices.


title: Cornish game hen

text: According to SFGate, "Saturday Evening Post" credited Alphonsine "Therese" and Jacques Makowsky of Connecticut with developing the small fowl in the mid-1950s. The couple crossbred Cornish game cocks with other varieties of chicken and game bird, including the White Plymouth Rock hen and the Malayan fighting cock, to produce a succulent bird suitable for a single serving.


title: Cornish game hen

text: The pianist and comedian Victor Borge was an early investor in and promoter of the concept, leveraging his personal popularity to transform the dish from an exotic menu item into a common household meal.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: On 26 June 2015, a mass shooting occurred at the tourist resort at Port El Kantaoui, about 10 kilometres north of the city of Sousse, Tunisia. Thirty-eight people, 30 of whom were British, were killed when a gunman, Seifeddine Rezgui, attacked a hotel. It was the deadliest non-state attack in the history of modern Tunisia, with more fatalities than the 22 killed in the Bardo National Museum attack three months before. The attack received widespread condemnation around the world. The Tunisian government later "acknowledged fault" for slow police response to the attack.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: In October 2013, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a botched attack on a Sousse beach while security forces foiled another planned attack nearby. The post-Tunisian revolution led to the 2014 parliamentary election in which the principal secularist party gained a plurality but was unable to govern alone, and ultimately formed a national unity government. Secularist Beji Caid Essebsi was elected president in the 2014 Tunisian presidential election. Since the overthrow of Tunisian president Ben Ali, terrorism increased, leading to 60 victims among security and military troops. Other attacks targeted civilians and tourists. Despite this, Tunisia was considered to be a secure country.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: On 18 March 2015, the Bardo National Museum in Tunis was attacked by three terrorists, leading to the deaths of twenty-two people, including twenty foreigners visiting the museum. Two of the gunmen, Tunisian citizens Yassine Labidi and Saber Khachnaoui, were killed by police, while the third attacker is currently at large. Police treated the event as a terrorist attack. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attack, and threatened to commit further attacks. However, the Tunisian government blamed a local splinter group of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, called the Okba Ibn Nafaa Brigade, for the attack. A police raid killed nine members on 28 March. After the Bardo attack, the government announced new security measures and declared the country safe again.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: On 26 June 2015 the Spanish-owned five-star Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel at Port El Kantaoui, a tourist complex situated on the coast about ten kilometres north of Sousse, Tunisia, was hosting 565 guests, mainly from Western Europe, 77% of its capacity. Tourists from the hotel as well as from the Soviva Hotel located nearby went to the beach.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: At around noon, Seifeddine Rezgui Yacoubi, disguised as a tourist, socialised with others, and then took out a Kalashnikov assault rifle concealed in a beach umbrella and fired at the tourists on the beach. He entered the hotel, shooting at people he came across. He was killed by security forces during an exchange of fire. All bullets were found to have been fired from the one weapon; the attacker had four magazines of ammunition. The attacker had spoken to his father on a mobile telephone which he then threw into the sea during the attack; it was retrieved.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: An Interior Ministry spokesman said that they were sure that others helped but did not participate directly, providing the Kalashnikov and helping Rezgui to the scene.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: Thirty-eight people were killed, 30 of whom were British. Among the fatalities was Denis Thwaites, a former professional footballer for Birmingham City, and his wife, Elaine. Victims also included people from three generations of one family: Adrian Evans, Patrick Evans and Joel Richards.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: The killer, Seifiddine Rezgui Yacoubi, also known as "Abu Yahya al-Qayrawani", (29 August 1992 – 26 June 2015) was a 22-year-old electrical engineering student at University of Kairouan from Gaâfour, in northwest Tunisia. He did not have the typical traits of an Islamic extremist: he had a girlfriend, drank alcohol and was a local break-dancing star. He was also believed to be high on cocaine during his rampage. He is believed to have been radicalized over such issues as the Libyan Civil War and Western inaction against the Assad government during the Syrian Civil War.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: Rezgui is thought to have been recruited by Ajnad al-Khilafah, an outgrowth of the Tunisian branch of Ansar al-Sharia, which was founded by Seifallah Ben Hassine, who had lived in the UK in the 1990s and whose mentor during that time was Abu Qatada. High Court papers relating to a control order placed on a British-based suspect state that Ben Hassine "aimed to recruit new members and send them to Afghanistan for training". The control order documents add that: "Abu Qatada appears as a watermark running through the whole of this case as being the mastermind."


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: Ben Hassine is reported to have been killed by the USAF near Adjabiya in eastern Libya on 14 June 2015. The strike was designed to kill Mokhtar Belmokhtar in an Ansar meeting. After the overthrow of Tunisia's President Zine el-Abedine Ben Ali in 2011, Ben Hassine was released from jail in March 2011 under an amnesty, and later founded Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia, which resisted proscription until 2013 arguing it was carrying out humanitarian work, even though Ben Hassine personally had led the storming of the US Embassy in Tunis on 14 September 2012, three days after Ansar's Libyan counterparts killed US ambassador J. Christopher Stevens in Benghazi, Libya. When Ansar was finally outlawed in August 2013, after the murders of two secular leftist MPs, he was listed as a proscribed terrorist by the United States, and he fled to Libya.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: Qatada wrote in a letter published online in January 2014 that Ben Hassine "is among the best of those I have known in intellect" and "the most knowledgeable of people of my intentions ... for he was the closest of people to me".


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: In January 2017, documents obtained by "Panorama" identified Chamseddine al-Sandi as the orchestrator behind the attack. He is named in confessions from suspects who were arrested in connection with the shootings. Rezgui was killed at the scene, but the documents obtained by "Panorama" say that he was recruited and directed by al-Sandi. The confessions say al-Sandi ran a militant cell responsible for both the Sousse shootings and the attack three months earlier at the Bardo National Museum in which 22 people died. Both attacks were claimed by the Islamic State.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: Immediately after the attack, the flight JAF5017, on its way to Enfidha-Hammamet International Airport, was redirected to Brussels. German tour operator TUI offered German tourists the opportunity to fly back to Germany and to cancel or adjust their bookings in Tunisia. British tour operator Thomson announced that flights to Tunisia would be cancelled until at least 9 July 2015, with ten flights departing on the evening of the attacks to bring 2,500 customers in the resort back to the United Kingdom. EasyJet and Thomas Cook announced that customers planning to visit Tunisia would be able to change their travel plans free of charge.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: Hotels were targeted in attacks to undermine tourism and because they were considered "brothels" by ISIS. Both tourism and the related industries accounted for up to 14.9% of the Tunisian economy in 2014.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: The United Kingdom's Home Secretary Theresa May and Foreign Office Minister Tobias Ellwood visited the site of the shooting on 29 June 2015. It was also announced that a Royal Air Force aircraft would be sent to repatriate bodies and evacuate the injured back to the UK. On 29 June an RAF Boeing C-17 Globemaster III flew from RAF Brize Norton to Tunisia to recover four British victims, with the C17 returning via Birmingham Airport to unload one patient, and returning to Brize Norton with the other three.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: On 29 June, the House of Commons chamber observed a minute of silence shortly before the Prime Minister David Cameron announced that a national minute of silence would be held on 3 July 2015 at 12:00 local time to remember the victims, exactly one week on from the attacks. Cameron later led several COBRA meetings. The Foreign Office sent a team to the hotel to support British survivors and learn more about the British victims. The Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner announced a heightened police presence and security for Armed Forces Day and Pride London events taking place in London over the weekend. On 28 June 2015, the Queen said she and the Duke of Edinburgh were shocked by the attack and offered their deepest sympathy to the injured. Sixteen British counter-terrorism police were deployed to Tunisia in the direct aftermath of the attacks, and almost 400 officers were sent to British airports to identify potential witnesses to the attack who had returned home.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: Between 1 and 4 July the bodies of all thirty British nationals killed in the attacks were flown from Tunisia to RAF Brize Norton. On 2 July Prime Minister David Cameron and Defence Secretary Michael Fallon began making calls for airstrikes in Syria, believing the Sousse attacks to have been coordinated from there. On 3 July, the UK held a nationwide minute's silence at 12:00 local time to remember the victims of the attacks as government buildings and Buckingham Palace flew the Union Jack at half-mast.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: Two British tourists, Allen Pembroke and Paul Short, were awarded the Queen's Commendation for Bravery in the 2017 Birthday Honours for aiding victims of the attack while it was still underway.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: An inquest to the attack was initially scheduled to start in November 2016 but was put back to 2017. On 16 January 2017, the first hearing of the inquest was held in the Royal Courts of Justice in London. The inquest found that the police response to the Tunisia Beach Attacks was "at best shambolic and at worst cowardly" after officers in the vicinity were found to be hiding or running in the opposite direction to the attacker. A security team close to the attack and armed with assault rifles and wearing protective vests, retreated to wait for reinforcements for a half an hour, during which time the lone gunman killed the 38 victims.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: By March 2017, at least six police officers were referred to trial for criminal negligence for failing to help the victims, and 27 others were referred on similar charges, according to the Tunisian Justice Ministry.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: A coroner at the inquest ruled that the victims of the attacks were "unlawfully killed" prompting the relatives of British victims to take legal action against tour operator TUI.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: Law firm Irwin Mitchell represented 85 families affected by the attack, who amongst them had lost 22 family members. Of the families represented, 63 Britons were injured, some suffering life changing injuries from gunshot and shrapnel wounds.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: The trial, involving more than 50 witnesses and experts, was heard in private due to the evidence being considered sensitive for security reasons. In a joint statement, a spokesperson for Irwin Mitchell and tour operator TUI announced a settlement had been reached. The settlement was reached “without admission of liability or fault and in recognition of the wholly exceptional circumstances of the case”.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: Tunisian president Beji Caid Essebsi called for a global strategy against terrorism and visited Sousse with Prime Minister Habib Essid, who promised to close 80 mosques within the week. The government also planned to crack down on financing for certain associations as a countermeasure against another attack. Essid announced new anti-terrorism measures, including the deployment of reserve troops to reinforce security at "sensitive sites ... and places that could be targets of terrorist attacks." The "exceptional plan to better secure tourist and archaeological sites" will include "deploying armed tourist security officers all along the coast and inside hotels from 1 July," and that:


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: Beji Caid Essebsi also denounced the "cowardly" attacks, promising "painful but necessary" measures to fight extremism in the country. He called for a firm response: "No country is safe from terrorism, and we need a global strategy of all democratic countries,"


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: On 4 July, Essebsi removed from his post the provincial Governor of Sousse and at least five senior police officers. Among the policemen dismissed were three from Sousse, one from Gaafour (the home city of Rezgui) and one from Kairouan, where Rezgui was studying.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: On 22 July, Tunisian MPs began a three-day debate on new counter-terrorism legislation. The legislation would allow the courts to impose death sentences to those convicted of terrorism-related offences. The legislation would also make public support of terrorism a jailable offence. If passed, the bill would allow law enforcement and security services to tap phone calls of individuals suspected of terrorism.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: On 8 July, the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office changed the advised status of Tunisia to "Advise against all but essential travel", resulting from 9 July in the planned return home of the estimated 3,000 British nationals in Tunisia at that time. ABTA and travel organisations First Choice, TUI and Thomson have stated that they plan to send no further British tourists to Tunisia until after 31 October 2015.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: On 4 March 2019, a memorial to the British victims, and a victim of the Bardo attack, called "Infinite Wave", was unveiled in Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.


title: 2015 Sousse attacks

text: Four other Islamist attacks took place on the same day in France, Kuwait, Syria and Somalia. The attacks followed an audio message released three days earlier by ISIL senior leader Abu Mohammad al-Adnani encouraging militants everywhere to attack during the month of Ramadan. No definitive link between the attacks has yet been established. One attack, at a French factory, resulted in the beheading of one person; another bombing at a Shia mosque in Kuwait City killed at least 27; and the other attack on an African Union base in Somalia undertaken by Al-Shabaab, killed at least 70.


title: Dots and Boxes

text: Dots and Boxes is a pencil-and-paper game for two players (sometimes more). It was first published in the 19th century by French mathematician Édouard Lucas, who called it . It has gone by many other names, including the dots and dashes, game of dots, dot to dot grid, boxes, and pigs in a pen.


title: Dots and Boxes

text: The game starts with an empty grid of dots. Usually two players take turns adding a single horizontal or vertical line between two unjoined adjacent dots. A player who completes the fourth side of a 1×1 box earns one point and takes another turn. A point is typically recorded by placing a mark that identifies the player in the box, such as an initial. The game ends when no more lines can be placed. The winner is the player with the most points. The board may be of any size grid. When short on time, or to learn the game, a 2×2 board (3×3 dots) is suitable. A 5×5 board, on the other hand, is good for experts.


title: Dots and Boxes

text: For most novice players, the game begins with a phase of more-or-less randomly connecting dots, where the only strategy is to avoid adding the third side to any box. This continues until all the remaining (potential) boxes are joined together into "chains" – groups of one or more adjacent boxes in which any move gives all the boxes in the chain to the opponent. At this point, players typically take all available boxes, then "open" the smallest available chain to their opponent. For example, a novice player faced with a situation like position 1 in the diagram on the right, in which some boxes can be captured, may take all the boxes in the chain, resulting in position 2. But with their last move, they have to open the next, larger chain, and the novice loses the game.


title: Dots and Boxes

text: A more experienced player faced with position 1 will instead play the "double-cross strategy", taking all but 2 of the boxes in the chain and leaving position 3. The opponent will take these two boxes and then be forced to open the next chain. By achieving position 3, player A wins. The same double-cross strategy applies no matter how many long chains there are: a player using this strategy will take all but two boxes in each chain and take all the boxes in the last chain. If the chains are long enough, then this player will win.


title: Dots and Boxes

text: The next level of strategic complexity, between experts who would both use the double-cross strategy (if they were allowed to), is a battle for control: an expert player tries to force their opponent to open the first long chain, because the player who first opens a long chain usually loses. Against a player who does not understand the concept of a sacrifice, the expert simply has to make the correct number of sacrifices to encourage the opponent to hand them the first chain long enough to ensure a win. If the other player also sacrifices, the expert has to additionally manipulate the number of available sacrifices through earlier play.


title: Dots and Boxes

text: In combinatorial game theory, Dots and Boxes is an impartial game and many positions can be analyzed using Sprague–Grundy theory. However, Dots and Boxes lacks the normal play convention of most impartial games (where the last player to move wins), which complicates the analysis considerably.


title: Dots and Boxes

text: Dots and Boxes need not be played on a rectangular gridit can be played on a triangular grid or a hexagonal grid.


title: Dots and Boxes

text: Dots and boxes has a dual graph form called "Strings-and-Coins". This game is played on a network of coins (vertices) joined by strings (edges). Players take turns cutting a string. When a cut leaves a coin with no strings, the player "pockets" the coin and takes another turn. The winner is the player who pockets the most coins. Strings-and-Coins can be played on an arbitrary graph.


title: Dots and Boxes

text: In analyses of Dots and Boxes, a game that starts with outer lines already drawn is called a "Swedish board" while the standard version that starts fully blank is called an "American board". An intermediate version with only the left and bottom sides starting with drawn lines is called an "Icelandic board".


title: Dots and Boxes

text: A related game is Dots, played by adding coloured dots to a blank grid, and joining them with straight or diagonal line in an attempt to surround an opponent's dots.


title: Levene's test

text: In statistics, Levene's test is an inferential statistic used to assess the equality of variances for a variable calculated for two or more groups. Some common statistical procedures assume that variances of the populations from which different samples are drawn are equal. Levene's test assesses this assumption. It tests the null hypothesis that the population variances are equal (called "homogeneity of variance" or "homoscedasticity"). If the resulting "p"-value of Levene's test is less than some significance level (typically 0.05), the obtained differences in sample variances are unlikely to have occurred based on random sampling from a population with equal variances. Thus, the null hypothesis of equal variances is rejected and it is concluded that there is a difference between the variances in the population.


title: Levene's test

text: Some of the procedures typically assuming homoscedasticity, for which one can use Levene's tests, include analysis of variance and t-tests.


title: Levene's test

text: Levene's test is sometimes used before a comparison of means, informing the decision on whether to use a pooled t-test or the Welch's t-test. However, it was shown that such a two-step procedure may markedly inflate the type 1 error obtained with the t-tests and thus should not be done in the first place. Instead, the choice of pooled or Welch's test should be made a priori based on the study design.


title: Levene's test

text: Levene's test may also be used as a main test for answering a stand-alone question of whether two sub-samples in a given population have equal or different variances.


title: Levene's test

text: Levene's test is equivalent to a 1-way between-groups analysis of variance (ANOVA) with the dependent variable being the absolute value of the difference between a score and the mean of the group to which the score belongs (shown below as formula_1 ). The test statistic, formula_2, is equivalent to the formula_3 statistic that would be produced by such an ANOVA, and is defined as follows:


title: Levene's test

text: (Both definitions are in use though the second one is, strictly speaking, the Brown–Forsythe test – see below for comparison.)


title: Levene's test

text: The test statistic formula_2 is approximately F-distributed with formula_19 and formula_20 degrees of freedom, and hence is the significance of the outcome formula_21 of formula_2 tested against formula_23 where formula_3 is a quantile of the F-distribution, with formula_19 and formula_20 degrees of freedom, and formula_27 is the chosen level of significance (usually 0.05 or 0.01).


title: Levene's test

text: The Brown–Forsythe test uses the median instead of the mean in computing the spread within each group (formula_28 vs. formula_29, above). Although the optimal choice depends on the underlying distribution, the definition based on the median is recommended as the choice that provides good robustness against many types of non-normal data while retaining good statistical power. If one has knowledge of the underlying distribution of the data, this may indicate using one of the other choices. Brown and Forsythe performed Monte Carlo studies that indicated that using the trimmed mean performed best when the underlying data followed a Cauchy distribution (a heavy-tailed distribution) and the median performed best when the underlying data followed a chi-squared distribution with four degrees of freedom (a heavily skewed distribution). Using the mean provided the best power for symmetric, moderate-tailed, distributions.


title: Reynolds American

text: Reynolds American, Inc. is an American tobacco company which is a subsidiary of British American Tobacco and is the second-largest tobacco company in the United States. Its holdings include R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, American Snuff Company (formerly Conwood Company), Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, and Niconovum AB.


title: Reynolds American

text: Reynolds American's subsidiaries manufacture and market a variety of tobacco products, including cigarettes (Newport, Camel, Pall Mall, Kent, Doral, Misty, Capri, and Natural American Spirit brands), electronic cigarettes (Vuse brand), and moist snuff (Grizzly and Kodiak brands).


title: Reynolds American

text: In 2010, Reynolds American's operating companies sold about 28% of all cigarettes sold in the U.S. In July 2014, Reynolds American announced the purchase of Lorillard Tobacco Company in a deal valued at $27 billion. In January 2017, Reynolds American agreed to be purchased by British American Tobacco for $49.4 billion.


title: Reynolds American

text: Reynolds American was formed in January 2004 and began trading publicly on the New York Stock Exchange as RAI in August 2004.


title: Reynolds American

text: In July 2004, the U.S. business of British American Tobacco (Batus Inc. and Brown & Williamson) combined with that of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (R. J. Reynolds), under the "R. J. Reynolds" name. RJR and Brown & Williamson were the second and third-ranking U.S. tobacco companies prior to the combination. After combination, R. J. Reynolds became a subsidiary of Reynolds American, with BAT holding a 42% share of RAI. Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, which manufactures the additive-free Natural American Spirit brand of tobacco products, also became a subsidiary of Reynolds American at that time.


title: Reynolds American

text: Prior to becoming RAI operating companies, both R. J. Reynolds and Santa Fe were part of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, Inc., which traded on the New York Stock Exchange as RJR. RJR became a subsidiary of RAI in July 2004. R. J. Reynolds was established as a tobacco company in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1875.


title: Reynolds American

text: In 2006, Reynolds American expanded into the smokeless tobacco category, with the acquisition of Conwood, the second-biggest smokeless tobacco company in the United States. Conwood manufactures and markets moist and dry snuff, loose leaf, plug, and twist chewing tobaccos. At the time of the acquisition, 70% of Conwood's sales came from the growing moist-snuff segment, with the Grizzly brand showing the fastest growth. Grizzly's continued growth since 2006 has made it the best-selling brand in the moist-snuff category.


title: Reynolds American

text: In 2008, RAI was recognized as a leader in corporate sustainability by being added to the membership in the 2008-2009 Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index (DJSI North American). RAI is the only U.S. tobacco company and one of 125 North American companies on the index. Selection for the Index is based on performance in a number of economic, environmental and social criteria.


title: Reynolds American

text: "The Wall Street Journal" reported in November 2009 that Reynolds American intended to buy Sweden-based Niconovum AB, a maker of products such as nicotine gum, for $44.5 million.


title: Reynolds American

text: Former Chairman, President and CEO of Reynolds Tobacco Daniel "Daan" Delen assumed the positions of President and CEO of Reynolds American on March 1, 2011, after former president, CEO, and chairwoman Susan Ivey announced she would retire as chairwoman November 1, 2010 and as President and CEO effective February 28, 2011.


title: Reynolds American

text: Ivey, now known as Susan Cameron, returned as CEO in April 2014 after being elected by the board of directors.


title: Reynolds American

text: In July 2014, Reynolds American, Inc. announced it would buy Lorillard Tobacco Company for roughly $25 billion a result of slowed sales. The deal is valued at $27.4 billion, including debt. Reynolds agreed to pay $68.88 in cash and stock for every Lorillard share and assume its debt. The deal also included the sale of the Kool, Winston, Salem, and blu brands to Imperial for $7.1 billion. The merger became official on June 12, 2015.


title: Reynolds American

text: On September 15, 2016, the former speaker of the US House, John Boehner, joined the board of Reynolds American.


title: Reynolds American

text: On October 21, 2016, British American Tobacco announced that it had offered to buy the remaining 57.8 percent of Reynolds American for $47 billion. In January 2017, Reynolds American agreed to a $49.4 billion deal, expected to close in the third quarter of the year after approval from both companies' boards of directors. The deal was completed July 25, 2017.


title: Reynolds American

text: On February 25, 2020, Chief Judge Rodney Gilstrap of the United States District for the Eastern District of Texas determined that Reynolds remained liable for its full portion of an annual $8 billion dollar settlement payment based on a settlement agreement that Reynolds reached with the State of Texas in 1998. Reynolds had previously claimed that its divestiture of several brands to Imperial had extinguished its obligation to make payments for those brands under the 1998 Settlement Agreement. Chief Judge Gilstrap disagreed in a 92-page memorandum opinion and order, finding that Reynolds' position was "oppressive, inequitable, and unreasonable" in addition to being contrary to governing law.


title: Criminal tattoo

text: Criminal tattoos are a type of tattoos associated with criminals to show gang membership and record the wearer's personal history—such as their skills, specialties, accomplishments, incarceration, world view and/or means of personal expression. Tattoos are strongly empirically associated with deviance, personality disorders, and criminality.


title: Criminal tattoo

text: Certain tattoo designs have developed recognized coded meanings. The code systems can be quite complex, and because of the nature of what they encode, the designs of criminal tattoos are not widely recognized as such to outsiders.


title: Criminal tattoo

text: Prisoners who were transported from Britain to Australian penal colonies between 1787 and 1867 were sometimes tattooed with marks intended to signify disgrace, for example, D for deserter. Prisoners often modified these tattoos to conceal the original design or to express wry or rebellious messages.


title: Criminal tattoo

text: A common prison tattoo in Australia is 'A.C.A.C.' - the initials to a derogatory phrase regarding cops.


title: Criminal tattoo

text: In France, five dots tattoo resembling the dots on a dice, placed on the hand between index finger and thumb are found on prison inmates. This tattoo represents the individual between the four walls of the prison cell ("un homme entre quatre murs"—a man between four walls); this also has the same meaning in Russia and Spain.


title: Criminal tattoo

text: Tattoos of three dots on the hand mean "death to cops" ("mort aux vaches / flics / poulets / keufs").


title: Criminal tattoo

text: "La Stidda," a Mafia-style criminal organization in Sicily, is known for using star tattoos to identify members.


title: Criminal tattoo

text: During the Edo period of Japan, "kyōkaku," urban "chivalrous commoners" or "street knights" typically wore irezumi, prominent full-body tattoos. "Kyōkaku" operated as cultural outlaw figures and were frequently used as characters in Japanese kabuki performances.


title: Criminal tattoo

text: Current yakuza have full-body tattoos, typically inked in secret by tattoo artists associated with clans. Due to a clear association between tattoo artistry and crime, the practice was shortly banned following the Meiji restoration. During the US occupation after WWII, this law was repealed. Modern yakuza tattoos, with common symbols and visual motifs, are noted for their similarity to current Western tattoo styles.


title: Criminal tattoo

text: Issey Miyake, a Japanese influential fashion director, has taken inspiration from Japanese prison tattoo culture to design wearable fashion similar to irezumi, "creating a jumpsuit with a tattoo motif that looked literally like a wearable second skin...".


title: Criminal tattoo

text: Russian criminal tattoos have a complex system of symbols that can give quite detailed information about the wearer. Not only do the symbols carry meaning, but the area of the body on which they are placed may be meaningful too. The initiation tattoo of a new gang member is usually placed on the chest and may incorporate a rose. A rose on the chest is also used within the Russian mafia. Wearing false or unearned tattoos is punishable in the criminal underworld, usually by removal of the tattoo, followed by beatings and sometimes rape, or even murder. Tattoos can be removed (voluntarily, in the case of loss of rank, new affiliation, "lifestyle" change, etc.) by bandaging magnesium powder onto the surface of the skin, which dissolves the skin bearing the marks with painful caustic burns. This powder is gained by filing "light alloy," e.g., lawnmower casing and is a jailhouse commodity.


title: Criminal tattoo

text: "As Russia's leading expert on tattoo iconography, Mr. Arkady Bronnikov can tell the prisoner's story from looking at the designs on his body. The huge spider in a web that is drawn on his skull reveals, in prison tattoo code, that he is a drug addict. Also, he is a repeat offender: The onion domes of a Russian church fan across his shoulder blades, each of the seven domes representing a different stay in prison. Above the church, across the back of his neck, the convict has stenciled, in Russian, "Not just anyone can hold his head this high."... "The more tattoos a convict gets, the more sentences he has served, the more respect he gets in prison," says Mr. Bronnikov. "The tattoos show that he isn't afraid of pain."


title: Criminal tattoo

text: Tattoos made in a Russian prison often have a distinct bluish color (due to being made with ink from a ballpoint pen) and usually appear somewhat blurred because of the lack of instruments to draw fine lines. The ink is often created from burning the heel of a shoe and mixing the soot with urine, and injected into the skin utilizing a sharpened guitar string attached to an electric shaver.


title: Criminal tattoo

text: "In [Russian] prison, the ink for tattoos was manufactured from molten rubber mixed with water and sugar. Artists used sewing needles sharpened on concrete cell floors. Sometimes, portraits of Stalin and Lenin--with or without horns--were in fashion, sometimes monasteries and medieval knights. Occasionally, caricatures of Communists with pig snouts or correctional officers in wolf guise were the rage. Maps of the gulag system, with Russia, portrayed as a giant prison camp, might be etched across someone's back. Crucifixion scenes were popular. Ronald Reagan was even a subject, according to a Russian dictionary of prison slang (Fenya)."