Ring News 24Boxing News Breaking Boxing NewsJaime Munguia retains WBO junior middleweight title with points win over Liam Smith in Las Vegas
Jaime Munguia retains WBO junior middleweight title with points win over Liam Smith in Las Vegas
Anthony Cocks
Australian-based boxing journalist Anthony Cocks has been covering the sport for over 15 years for various print and online publications. He refuses to believe that Roberto Duran ever lost to Tommy Hearns and says that Jeff Fenech would destroy Chuck Norris, Bruce Lee and Muhammad Ali on the same night.
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WBO junior middleweight champion Jaime Munguia 30-0 (25) overcame a spirited effort from mandatory challenger Liam “Beefy” Smith 26-2-1 (14) to retain his title over 12 rounds at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday night.
In his first defence of the title he won from Sadam Ali 26-2 (14) in May this year, the 21-year-old Mexican had to withstand an early attack from England’s Smith before taking over in the fourth round and landing the harder shots for most of the fight.
By the time the dust settled, Munguia was awarded the victory by scores of 116-111, 119-110 and 119-108.
“It was a tough fight and he’s a tough fighter,” said Munguia, who has only been past the sixth round once when Johnny Navarrete 31-13-2 (13) took him 10 rounds in April last year.
In the sixth round a sizzling left hook from Munguia dropped the 8-1 underdog, but the champion was unable to finish the job.
The fight ended Munguia’s six-bout knockout streak going back a year.
“I feel good. I’m happy. I think that the people liked it,” said Munguia. “I didn’t win by knockout like I always. This is the fifth decision win of my career. But I fought a good opponent who was strong. I came in very well prepared.
“There are no excuses and we will keep learning because this gave me a lot of experience. I’m only 21 years old and I will keep working in the gym. Liam Smith is a warrior. He is strong. There were times where I really landed punches, which really backed him up. He’s very strong and can take a punch, so I have no excuses.
“I was always looking for the knockout. I always looked for the fight, and I went in there like a true Mexican. I think going these 12 rounds will serve me as experience.”
Smith was originally set to face Miguel Cotto-conqueror Ali for the championship in May but was forced to withdraw after a skin condition caused by an allergy prevented him from training. This opened the door for the little-known Munguia to step in and win the WBO world title.
Despite the wide scorecards, Smith put up a good fight and was far from disgraced.
“I don’t think he’s a much better fighter than me,” said Smith. “It was the body shots that hurt me. I wanted the title I lost two years ago.
“I want to stay more active than before. I’m usually known for my fitness, but was I winded in this fight. I felt my skill level made the difference in certain parts.”
Undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk calls out Tony Bellew after victory over Murat Gassiev in WBSS final
Tony Bellew accepts challenge from undisputed cruiserweight champ Oleksandr Usyk
Read more articles about: Jaime Munguia, Liam Smith, Miguel Cotto, Sadam Ali


Wild Animals in Circuses Bill
Policy background
3 The Bill takes forward the UK Government's policy in relation to the use of wild animals in travelling circuses as set out in the Written Ministerial Statements on 1 March 1 and 12 July 2012 2 . The Government stated that it intended to pursue a ban on ethical grounds on the use of wild animals in travelling circuses in England. In the absence of any compelling scientific evidence that a ban could be justified on welfare grounds, such a ban would require primary legislation. Because primary legislation would take time, as an interim measure, the Government would introduce a licensing scheme using powers available under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The Welfare of Wild Animals in Travelling Circuses (England) Regulations 2012 came into force on 20 January 2013. Only two travelling circuses have been licensed under the 2012 Regulations to use wild animal acts.
4 In April 2013, the Government published a draft Wild Animals in Circuses Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny. The draft Bill was considered by the House of Commons' Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee who published their report in July 2013. The Government responded in October 2013. The Government did not accept the main select committee recommendation that the ban should only apply to some wild animals, rather than all wild animals. Since the Government response, no parliamentary time has been found to introduce the Bill. Several attempts to introduce the Bill by backbench means have also been unsuccessful.
1 Hansard 1 March 2012 Column 41 WS
2 Hansard 12 July 2012 Column 43 WS
What these notes do
Overview of the Bill
Legal background
Territorial extent and application
Commentary on provisions of Bill
Financial implications of the Bill
Parliamentary approval for financial costs or for charges imposed
Compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights
Annex A - Territorial extent and application in the United Kingdom
Prepared 8th March 2018


Using anthropology, data and design thinking to disrupt development consulting
Published Thu, May 11 2017 8:09 PM EDT Updated Fri, May 12 2017 9:43 PM EDT
Nyshka Chandran@nyshkac
In sunny Singapore, one start-up is disrupting the world of development consulting.
The field, in which companies advise public and private sector players on projects related to economic development, traditionally uses a top-down strategy. Zeroth Labs, however, takes that a step further with an adaptive approach to problem solving and constant experimentation.
The two-and-a-half year old consultancy applies behavioral insights to urbanization challenges in order to create new services and business models within emerging economies, and it's beginning to make waves.
"In the dominant business model of development consulting, you create great strategy based on great information and analysis, and expect that to work on the ground. But things aren't always as linear we'd like it to be," said Zeroth co-founder Bernise Ang, who was recently named a young global leader of the World Economic Forum.
One of Zeroth's projects: A prototype of a service center in Gazipur City, Bangladesh.
UNDP - Zeroth Labs - Tandemic
Development professionals need to formulate hypotheses, create a small-scale prototype, test it, and pay attention to what the data says you need to do next, said Ang, who boasts a finance and psychology background. "It's not as sexy because it now places the client as the expert instead of the consultant. Still, this is what I think will truly build the capability for developing countries to make life better for citizens. "
In 2014, Zeroth worked on a United Nations project designed to improve Bangladesh's social services that saw municipal officials in the city of Gazipur generate concepts for how they believed services should operate from a user perspective.
The end product was a new range of services that supported the blind, was more sensitive to women with children and culturally relevant for female slum dwellers. "An interesting prototype that emerged was an app for municipal payments and services — not because it's techy, but because of cash and corruption issues surfaced by the mayor's office staff," said Ang.
In international development, where the interaction of public, private and civil society players is key, understanding human behavioral patterns is crucial to creating sustainable solutions to real-life problems. Organisations such as the Brookings Institution have long advocated the importance of behavioral science in economic development.
Women in Gazipur City working on the Bangladesh social services project.
"Many mainstream management consulting firms don't have a significant anthropology practice where they conduct their own ethnographic research as it's more time and cost intensive, but it's a key way to uncover the kind of deep behavioral insights we find," stated Ang.
Zeroth, a spin-off from Ang's previous non-profit Syinc, deploys a careful blend of anthropology, data analysis, design thinking, and lean startup methodology across a range of social issues, including sanitation, waste management, youth, education, and healthcare. The key lies in the ability to pull these different ideas together, noted Ang, deploying her music training as a metaphor.
"I used to play jazz trumpet, and a lot of amazing jazz solos come about from playing metaphorical Lego with other pieces but in new, combinatorial ways. Everything is a remix."


By Akon Eddy, Kaduna
Senator representing Kaduna Central, Senator Shehu Sani has said he will dedicate a quarter of his salary to over 100 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), from Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states who flee their homes due to insurgency activities who are now taking refuge in Kaduna. He said he will also dedicate the period which he will serve in the Upper Chambers to see that the children have their dreams realized.
Senator Shehu Sani made the declaration during a visit to the IDPs’ camp in Badarawa, Kaduna North Local Government area of the state on Sunday.
The senator why personally distributing honey and bottles of Yoghurts to the IDPs, hinted that he got the news that there was a substantial number of IDPs in Kaduna, and as a senator representing the State, it’s obligatory of him to intervene.
“I got the news that we have substantial number of IDPs here in Kaduna. And as a Senator representing this very city, it is incumbent of me to intervene; and the intervention should be in such a way that I have decided to rent a house for them and also dedicate a quarter of my salary for the IDPs’ upkeep, education of their children, and for general support for all them in Badarawa.
“These people are Nigerians, they’re part of us and we’re morally bound to support and help them. I will dedicate the period which I will serve in office to see these children have a future and their dreams realized.
“I believe Nigeria has enough to support these people yo get their lives back. I’m here to offer moral and financial support not just for a day or two but to continue to support them so that the women among them can have their lives back. And the children can also have their future.
“These women have lost their husbands and children. They’re widows and orphans and there’s nothing we can do that’s enough to get them out of where they find themselves. I’m pained by the continuous situation of the IDPs.
“I’m very much disturbed that these persons are victims of insurgency that continue to threatened our peace, lives and freedom. The plight of these IDPs is a moral burden on all Nigerians. As long as they continue to remain in this position, we are morally at guilt to support them and also free them from the situation they find themselves,”he said.


Themes from the Vernacular
This evening, I turned on the CD player and put in a CD full of "American Music." I compiled the CD myself to celebrate the fourth of July last year, and interestingly, there are several pieces by non-american composers that appear on the CD. Among these are Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 "From the New World."
It's a work we often group into the "Americana" genre, as the nation of cowboys and colonials inspired the great work. Infused throughout the work are many original themes that Dvorak wrote based on Native American and African American melodies he encountered in the US. The native Bohemian wrote the work in 1892 during his stint as head of the National Conservatory in New York.
The second movement of Dvorak's symphony is particularly well-known for its beautiful melody which was later popularized as a spiritual (Goin' Home). It's interesting to think that Dvorak was attempting to write themes in the vain of spirituals, and that his original theme was later turned into a spiritual and became widely popular. He obviously paid attention to what he was hearing around the country.
Many composers have drawn on folk songs and themes from the vernacular in their music. However, not many have been able to create an original work which was later adopted as part of that vernacular. It seems backwards, but in fact it shows the care and respect that Dvorak had for this music. It is entirely possible to believe (if you don't know the history behind the work) that Dvorak's tune was in fact a spiritual that he borrowed - it fits all the criteria. Although there is some speculation about this possibility, it's highly unlikely that Dvorak's tune existed before his pencil hit the paper.
Here's a video of Dvorak's wonderful second movement from Symphony No. 9 "From the New World." Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYl4Xb4cDQ8&hl=en_US&fs=1&
Tagged: American music, Dvorak, folk music, New World Symphony, symphony no- 9 dvorak


Home » Struggle: A Documentary Film About a Brilliant and Forgotten Artist
December 13, 2018 by Rebecca Forstadt-Olkowski 8 Comments
In 2013, I wrote a blog post about a genius artist and sculptor I knew in the early 1980s. His name was Stanislav Szukalski. My post apparently popped up on Google and I was asked to do an interview for an upcoming documentary film about his life called “Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski.” Two of the producers are George and Leonardo DiCaprio who also knew Mr. Szukalski during that time.
The Lobby card for Struggle at LACMA – c/o Netflix
Happily, I didn’t end up on the cutting room floor and appear in a quick sequence. After four years in the making, I was invited to a screening of the completed documentary at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Stanislav Szukalski – Genius artist and Sculptor
Mr. Szukalski, or Stash, as he liked to be called was born in 1893 in a small town in Poland. He began to draw and sculpt as a child and had his first art exhibition at age 14. His family immigrated to Chicago when he was in his teens and at age 13, he enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago. A year later he had his first art exhibition. It drew the attention of Sculptor Antoni Popiel who encouraged his parents to send him to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, Poland.
The students being considered for the Academy were asked to draw from a nude model. Szukalski drew only the knee of the model, but it was so compelling, it immediately earned him a place at the school without having to take an examination.
Being the mad genius that he was, he had his own opinions about art education and after attending for a short time, hurled an insult at the Academy. Szukalski left abruptly and went back to Chicago.
He became entrenched in the Chicago arts scene where he met and became friends with Ben Hecht. Hecht later became a well-known screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist.
During the 1920s, Szukalski was becoming a rising young artist and had several important exhibitions. He worked in a grandiose and exaggerated style that incorporated meticulous detail and symbolism. It’s hard to explain what his art was like but Culture.PL describes it this way:
“It merged the decorative flourishes of Romanticism, and multiple currents of early 20th century European Modernism, Cubism, Expressionism, Futurism, as well as Pre-Columbian art.”
Let’s just say it’s like nothing you’ve ever seen in your lifetime.
Polivarus by Stanislav Szukalski
His reputation continues to grow
As he grew more popular, he showed his work at exhibitions in Europe and enjoyed his notoriety. He and his wife Joan returned to Poland on a commission in 1936, and they brought all his work with them. While they were there, he completed several large sculptures and other projects. News of his work spread to Germany, and he was asked to provide a caricature of Hitler who hadn’t yet emerged as a tyrant. Szukalski depicted Hitler as a ballerina, which, of course, didn’t go over well.
They were living in Warsaw when it was attacked by the Luftwaffe. His studio was destroyed along with most of his work. A few pieces were looted and found decades later.
Struggle – This sculpture was recovered years after the destruction of Warsaw in WWII and was restored. It was displayed in the lobby of the Bing Theater at LACMA during our screening.
Szukalski and his wife escaped returning to America ending up in Los Angeles. With his work destroyed and as a virtual unknown in America he ended up doing background art on several films through his association with Ben Hecht and worked at Rocketdyne creating engineering designs.
Echo – sculpture by Stanislav Szukalski – seen in his book “Behold!!! The Protong
My association with the artist
When I met Mr. Szukalski, he was 90-years old and was a friend of my Polish acting teacher Leonidas Ossetynski. We visited him several times at his small apartment in Burbank. Coincidentally, I now live in the same apartment complex. I always enjoyed our visits because he was so interesting to talk to. He was also a horny little bastard and often tried to cop a feel even though he was 90 at the time. I didn’t mind, though, because he was funny and we always had a great time. My late husband was asked to take photos of his work. The slides are buried somewhere in a box that I need to find and dig out.
Stanislav Szukalski (2nd from right) next to me (far right) in the early 80s at Stages Theatre in Hollywood when he was 90 years old. I was starring in a play there at the time.
With brilliance comes some eccentricity
Late in his life, he developed a theory that all human culture was derived on Easter Island after Noah landed there after the flood. I know it sounds nuts but he had the kind of imagination that produces amazing art. He had also developed his own alphabet as a child which he used in his letters and his writings. I have an autographed copy of one of his books signed with his unique scribble.
The unique handwriting of Stanislav Szukalski – He autographed his book for my husband and me in 1982
He died from a stroke in 1987 at the age of 93 and his ashes were taken to Easter Island by his friend Glenn Bray, his wife and some friends. Bray is a comic book aficionado who developed a close relationship with Szukalski. He became the executor of Szukalski’s will and inherited his collection. He has a prominent role in the Struggle documentary film as well as George DiCaprio. Several others, including myself, are featured in interviews.
A forgotten artist gets his due recognition
George DiCaprio became friends with Mr. Szukalski during the 1970s. He often brought his son Leonardo along when he visited. Leonardo also became a fan of his work and hosted an exhibition in Laguna Beach during the early 2000s.
Atlantea – sculpture by Stanislav Szukalski on display in the lobby of the Bing Theater at LACMA
Struggle was screened at a film festival in Amsterdam and our viewing at LACMA was the first official presentation of it in the United States. It’s being distributed by Netflix and I’m hoping it will have a wide release.
I recently saw the film At Eternity’s Gate about the life of Van Gogh. As we all know, he was an artist who didn’t receive the recognition he deserved until after his death. Mr. Szukalski’s skill set is on the level of Michelangelo or Da Vinci, and I’m not exaggerating. I’m hoping he enjoys the same respect someday.
An unpleasant surprise
In the course of filming, the production team discovered some alarming aspects of Szukalski’s life. It came to light that he had extreme anti-Semitic leanings during his earlier years. It was typical of the mindset of Poles at the time. I met several with similar views through my Polish acting teacher. After the destruction of Warsaw during WWII, and time spent as a citizen of the U.S., he changed his way of thinking dramatically. In his later years, he became more interested in humanity coming together as one.
Struggle is available on Netflix
The documentary is timely in that Szukalski’s work fully and explicitly encompasses the violence and terror of nationalism and its potentially tragic results.
Glenn Bray ingeniously filmed hours of Betamax tape of Szukalski near the end of his life that was used in the film. The vignettes are both comical and dramatic. It’s a treasure of a film and I’m so proud to have been a part of it. I hope you get a chance to see it.
View the film’s official homepage and trailer here.
Filed Under: Entertainment, Movies Tagged With: Art, celebrities, film
Wow. He sounds like quite the historical figure. A lot of us Poles can be a bit eccentric but creative. And making it from the 1800s to 1980s was pretty impressive. Its cool you got to meet him. My grandmother once met Mussolini when he came by her village in Slovenia. She wasn’t political so she was just like “Someone’s coming to the village? Better be a good host”. As for his anti-Semitic views of his past, people do change over their lives. On one Springer episode was this Klansman dad who in a later episode, returned after a black guy saved his life and wanted to help his family overcome their racial issues. None of us are the exact same person we were decades ago. If I get the chance I should check this movie out.
Rebecca Forstadt-Olkowski says
Thanks, Chris. It hasn’t officially been released yet but should be soon. It was a privilege to meet him and to work on the film. Interesting about your grandmother meeting Mussolini. You just never know about people. LOL
Haralee says
Wow, fascinating. How very cool back in the day your paths crossed then and now again!
You never know when someone you meet will be a significant event. That’s for sure, Haralee.
Tom P. says
Hi, do you know if struggle is still at LACMA if so, how long will it he there?
Hi Tom, It was only there for the one night as a preview. It is being distributed by Netflix and I’m not sure when it will officially open. I’m hoping it will be soon.
Tom P says
I was referring to the actual art piece 😁. That must have really been a very special project to have been a part of!
I’m not sure about the actual piece. I believe it belongs to Glenn Bray and he would know.


A little bit about us...
Group picture from a Denver Weekend, taken near our trees
Our club was founded on January 10th, 1981, after we had gotten the approval to do so from John and his office in late December 1980 - today we are the only official John Denver club in Germany. At this point of time, it has about 500 members in Germany, but also in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, France, Italy, Great Britain, Australia and the USA.
Main reason for founding the club all those years ago was to create a possibility for interested fans to be able to always get the newest information about John Denver's concerts, CDs, television appearances etc. Now, after John's fatal accident on October 12, 1997, of course some things have to be changed. Nevertheless, we have decided to go on in any case, and so to help that his music as well as his commitment for a better world won't be forgotten, respectively kept going.Until 2010, we published a printed newsletter. The last one came out in early 2011, on the occasion of our 30th anniversary. We have now completely switched to email newsletters. You can register to receive this information here. Of course we also - as far as possible - are happy to answer each question about John, his music etc..
Our club is a member of the "World Family Of John Denver Fan Clubs". That means we are regularly in touch with the other John Denver clubs all over the world - a wonderful opportunity to exchange infos, opinions and also to make new friends.
We will also keep alive a "tradition" of the club - once a year, we organize a "Denver Weekend", a club meeting. It is meant for everybody as a chance to get to know each other, chat, sing, watch videos... The proceeds go to a worthy cause, this year for example we have been supporting the Wild Bird Care Center Kirchwald. 1992, 1997 and 2002, we even made the joint effort, along with the other three clubs in Europe, to have an "European John Denver Weekend"...
In the years since the club was founded, we have, among others, supported the following organizations:
Menschen für Menschen
Deutsche Leukämie-Hilfe
Dolphin Aid
Windstar Land Conservancy and the John Denver Meadowlands
Plant-It 2000
Wildvogel-Pflegestation Kirchwald e.V.
In case you would like to join us, just register for the newsletter!


Cooperative agreements authorized between council and federal officials and agencies
• rules
• powers of Governor
• exception for inactive or abandoned site
(1) Notwithstanding the authority of the Oregon Health Authority pursuant to ORS 453.605 (Definitions for ORS 453.605 to 453.800) to 453.800 (X-ray Machine Inspection Account) to regulate radiation sources or the requirements of ORS 469.525 (Radioactive waste disposal facilities prohibited), the Energy Facility Siting Council may enter into and carry out cooperative agreements with the Secretary of Energy pursuant to Title I and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission pursuant to Title II of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978, Public Law 95-604, and perform or cause to be performed any and all acts necessary to be performed by the state, including the acquisition by condemnation or otherwise, retention and disposition of land or interests therein, in order to implement that Act and rules, standards and guidelines adopted pursuant thereto. The Energy Facility Siting Council may adopt, amend or repeal rules in accordance with ORS chapter 183 and may receive and disburse funds in connection with the implementation and administration of this section.
(2) The Energy Facility Siting Council and the State Department of Energy may enter into and carry out cooperative agreements and arrangements with any agency of the federal government implementing the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, as amended, 42 U.S.C. section 9601 et seq., to clean up wastes and contaminated material, including overburden, created by uranium mining before June 29, 1989. Any such project need not obtain a site certificate from the council, but shall nevertheless comply with all applicable, relevant or appropriate state standards including but not limited to those set forth in ORS 469.375 (Required findings for radioactive waste disposal facility certificate) and rules adopted by the council and other state agencies to implement such standards.
(3) The Governor may do any and all things necessary to implement the requirements of the federal Acts referred to in subsections (1) and (2) of this section.
(4) Notwithstanding ORS 469.553 (Active uranium mill or mill tailings disposal facility site certification required), after June 25, 1979, no site certificate is required for the cleanup and disposal of an inactive or abandoned uranium mill tailings site as authorized under subsection (1) of this section and Title I of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978, Public Law 95-604. [1979 c.283 §9; 1987 c.633 §2; 1989 c.496 §1; 2009 c.595 §955]


Awards and Funding
Gallery Representation & Public Collections
Since 2009, I have been one of the directors and curators of Unravelled Arts which we formed in order to commission artists and makers to work in response to historic houses. In 2010, twelve artists make work for Preston Manor in Brighton, Following this, Unravelled worked in partnership with Trust New Art at the National Trust and curated three exhibitions for them at Nymans House and Gardens (2012), The Vyne (2013) and Uppark House (2014).
The rich and complex histories of each property proved fertile ground for the artists involved. Having between 10 and 12 artists responding to the same site allowed multiple histories to be brought to light. An unexpected aspect of the curatorial project was the democratisation of history: the space for histories that would usually be deemed as marginal to move centre stage. The interventions also allowed for a more playful and free interpretation of the past, sometimes relying more on instinct than documented records.
In 2008 I curated Precious: Reclaiming Art and Craft at Hove Museum with Polly Harknett. Twenty artists whose work involved the transformation of discarded materials into things of worth were displayed with objects from the collections of the Royal Pavilion and Museums, Brighton and Hove.


Libertarianism Hits the Big Time
By David Boaz
Michael Crowley, late of the New Republic and now with Time magazine, writes thoughtfully about Ron Paul, Rand Paul, and libertarianism. Crowley notes that Rand Paul, “more politically flexible than his father,” has plenty of unlibertarian positions. But both of them are tapping into a real strain in contemporary politics:
But he, like his father, also knows well that a genuine libertarian impulse is astir in America…. polls show an uptick in both social permissiveness and skepticism of government intervention….[Ron Paul] has already waited a long time — and it appears the country is moving his way.
This is a current trend, but it’s also deeply rooted in the American political culture. As David Kirby and I wrote in “The Libertarian Vote”:
It’s no surprise that many Americans hold libertarian attitudes since America is, after all, a country fundamentally shaped by libertarian values and attitudes. In their book It Didn’t Happen Here: Why Socialism Failed in the United States, Seymour Martin Lipset and Gary Marx write, “The American ideology, stemming from the [American] Revolution, can be subsumed in five words: antistatism, laissez-faire, individualism, populism, and egalitarianism.”… Richard Hofstadter wrote: “The fierceness of the political struggles in American history has often been misleading; for the range of vision embraced by the primary contestants in the major parties has always been bounded by the horizons of property and enterprise. However much at odds on specific issues, the major political traditions have shared a belief in the rights of property, the philosophy of economic individualism, the values of competition; they have accepted the economic virtues of capitalist culture.”… McClosky and Zaller sum up a key theme of the American ethos in classic libertarian language: “The principle here is that every person is free to act as he pleases, so long as his exercise of freedom does not violate the equal rights of others.”…
Some people recognize but bemoan our libertarian ethos. Professors Cass Sunstein and Stephen Holmes complain that libertarian ideas are “astonishingly widespread in American culture.”
Much political change in America occurs within those guiding principles. Even our radicals, Lipset and Marks note, have tended to be libertarian rather than collectivist. America is a “country of classical liberalism, antistatism, libertarianism, and loose class structure,” which helps to explain the failure of class-conscious politics in the United States. McClosky and Zaller argue that many of the changes of the 1960s involved “efforts to extend certain values of the traditionalethos to new groups and new contexts”—such as equal rights for women, blacks, and gays; anti-war and free speech protests; and the “do your own thing” ethosof the so-called counterculture, which may in fact have had more in common with the individualist American culture than was recognized at the time.
In a broadly libertarian country most voters and movements have agreed on the fundamentals of classical liberalism or libertarianism: free speech, religious freedom, equality before the law, private property, free markets, limited government, and individual rights. The broad acceptance of those values means that American liberals and conservatives are fighting within a libertarian consensus. We sometimes forget just how libertarian the American political culture is.
And of course American politics and policy deviate a great deal from those fundamental principles, which leaves libertarians feeling frustrated, even angry, and seeming extreme or radical to journalists and others. But as Conor Friedersdorf just wrote in Time’s longtime rival, Newsweek, the media have a bias toward the status quo and establishment politicians, even when current policies and the proposals of elected officials are at least as extreme as libertarian ideas:
If returning to the gold standard is unthinkable, is it not just as extreme that President Obama claims an unchecked power to assassinate, without due process, any American living abroad whom he designates as an enemy combatant? Or that Joe Lieberman wants to strip Americans of their citizenship not when they are convicted of terrorist activities, but upon their being accused and designated as enemy combatants? In domestic politics, policy experts scoff at ethanol subsidies, the home-mortgage-interest tax deduction, and rent control, but the mainstream politicians who advocate those policies are treated as perfectly serious people.
And Fareed Zakaria, the editor of Newsweek International, made the point a dozen years ago in a review of Charles Murray’s book What It Means to Be a Libertarian (in the Public Interest, not online)
The reason that libertarians seem extreme and odd is not that they are a furious minority, angry at a world that seems to have passed them by, but rather the opposite. They are heirs to a tradition that has changed the world. Consider what classical liberalism stood for in the beginning of the nineteenth century. It was against the power of the church and for the power of the market; it was against the privileges of kings and aristocracies and for dignity of the middle class; it was against a society dominated by status and land and in favor of one based on markets and merit; it was opposed to religion and custom and in favor of science and secularism; it was for national self-determination and against empires; it was for freedom of speech and against censorship; it was for free trade and against mercantilism. Above all, it was for the rights of the individual and against the power of the church and the state….
The reason that libertarianism seems narrow and naive is that having won 80 percent of the struggles it has fought over the last two centuries, it is now forced to define itself wholly in terms of the last 20 percent. Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice if you were in Prussia in the 1850s, but in America in the 1960s? Libertarianism has become extreme because the world has left it no recourse.
Now, I don’t feel furious, angry, or extreme. I think that libertarianism is the philosophy of the American revolution, the basic ideology of America, and indeed the foundation of Western civilization. The concept of personal and economic freedom – giving people more power to pursue happiness in their own way by restricting the size, scope, and power of government – is not extreme. Nor is it reactionary. In fact, it is the direction in which civilization has been heading, with many digressions and blind alleys, since the liberal revolution of the 17th century. I am a progressive. I believe that the simple, timeless principles of the American Revolution – individual liberty, limited government, and free markets – are even more powerful and more important in the world of instant communication, global markets, and unprecedented access to information than Jefferson or Madison could have imagined. Libertarianism is not just a framework for utopia, it is the indispensable framework for the future.
General, Government and Politics, Political Philosophy
American Revolution, Cass Sunstein, charles murray, economic freedom, free markets, free speech, freedom, freedom of speech, gold standard, government, individual liberty, individual right, individual rights, libertarian, libertarian vote, libertarianism, limited government, markets, obama, politicians, private property, rand paul, socialism


Luxury online reseller The RealReal closes up more than 40% in debut
(Reuters) - Shares of U.S. online luxury reseller The RealReal Inc (REAL.O) closed up more 40% in their debut on Friday, giving it a market capitalization of around $2.4 billion and signaling investor appetite for listings of consumer companies.
Julie Wainwright (C), CEO of The RealReal Inc. takes part in the company's IPO at the Nasdaq MarketSite inside of Times Square in New York, U.S., June 28, 2019. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
The shares opened at $28, above their initial public offering price of $20, and closed at $28.90.
The offering of 15 million shares was priced at $20, above the expected range of $17 and $19 per share, helping the company raise $300 million in net proceeds.
The personal luxury goods market is expected to grow to between $364 billion and $415 billion in 2025, with millennials expected to represent 40% of the market, according to research firm Bain & Co.
The vast majority of The RealReal’s business is in the United States and Chief Executive Julie Wainwright said the company would eventually expand abroad.
“We have a huge opportunity in front of us. Two-thirds of it’s outside the U.S. so at some point we’ll go overseas but not in the near term,” Wainwright said in a telephone interview.
The RealReal is a marketplace for second-hand luxury items including clothing and accessories. People can list their unwanted luxury goods, some that are either used or still have tags on them, and the company then takes a cut when a sale is made.
The RealReal, which started out as a business run from Wainwright’s kitchen table, now processes nearly 2 million orders per year. It has expanded its physical presence by opening two brick-and-mortar stores in Manhattan and one in Los Angeles that collect as well as sell goods.
The company has been thriving on the rising sales of second-hand, or vintage, luxury goods - from Chanel handbags and Gucci dresses to Rolex watches - banking on growing millennial interest in the price and environmental benefits of recycled clothing.
Rival resellers are looking to cash in on the booming market, including thredUP, which branched into luxury last year, and established players like Vestiaire Collective.
The top-selling luxury designers on The RealReal’s online marketplace include Cartier, Chanel, Christian Louboutin, Gucci, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Rolex, Tiffany and Valentino.
The company posted a net loss of $75.8 million in 2018, compared with a loss of $52.3 million in 2017, on revenue of $207.4 million, up over 55%, its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed.
Investors in the San Francisco-based company include Perella Weinberg Partners and Great Hill Partners.
Reporting by Aparajita Saxena and Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru, and Joshua Franklin in New York; Editing by Susan Thomas and Alistair Bell


White Sox turn to Floyd in battle with Tigers
It could be the White Sox's inability to beat the Tigers this season that keeps them out of the postseason. If only Gavin Floyd could start every game against the division rival.
Floyd takes aim at a fourth straight winning decision this afternoon when Chicago tries to make up ground on first-place Detroit in the second of three straight games between the clubs.
The right-handed Floyd has won six of his past seven decisions while going at least seven innings in five of his last eight outings. That includes a win at Seattle on Sunday as he gave up two runs on five hits over 7 1/3 innings with six strikeouts.
"It was an all-around good ballgame," said Floyd, who was backed by homers from Tyler Flowers and Dayan Viciedo. "To get run support is nice."
Floyd is 12-10 with a 4.36 earned run average in 26 starts this season and has been solid in 15 road outings, going 8-5 with a 3.08 ERA.
The 28-year-old has had much success against the Tigers in his career, going 6-1 with a 3.31 ERA in 15 starts. He picked up a victory at Detroit on July 15, allowing one earned run in 7 2/3 innings.
The White Sox, though, have lost eight of 13 so far to the Tigers this year, including five of seven in Detroit following last night's 8-1 defeat. Starter John Danks was knocked around for eight runs over 4 2/3 innings to suffer the loss as Chicago fell 6 1/2 games behind Detroit in the American League Central.
"We've put ourselves in a pretty bad position here but we're not out of it," said Danks.
Flowers hit a home run for the White Sox, who have lost two straight following a win in five in a row.
Justin Verlander got plenty of support en route to his 21st victory of the season. He allowed one run over 7 1/3 frames to earn his ninth straight win, getting supported by Austin Jackson's two-run homer and a three-run double by Jhonny Peralta.
"Another stellar performance," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said of Verlander. "It was kind of a neat night because Justin picked the guys up and the guys picked Justin up."
Delmon Young added an RBI triple for the Tigers, who have won three of four and also maintained a 5 1/2-game advantage over the Indians in the standings while picking up the game over the White Sox.
Chicago will try to solve Tigers starter Brad Penny, who has won all three of his career starts versus the club with a 2.89 ERA. One of those wins came on July 17, when the righty gave up three runs over 6 2/3 innings.
Penny is coming off a horrid outing at Minnesota on Sunday as he was denied a third straight winning decision. The 33-year-old was drilled for seven runs on eight hits over five innings of an 11-4 defeat, dropping to 9-10 with a 5.07 ERA in 26 starts.
"I didn't really have a good breaking ball today," said Penny. "Didn't have a lot of opportunities to throw it and get a feel for it, but I felt strong, my arm felt great."


louise weir
@smallpublishersfair Holborn London this Friday/Saturday books,cards etc work at https://t.co/XlXQmwJg89 Be great… https://t.co/tNguStdbzg	3 years ago
Louise Weir is an artist, illustrator and lecturer on the Illustration course at Southampton Solent University.She grew up in a small hamlet in the North West of England called Hatton in the only local pub the “Hatton Arms”. The rural landscape and the large and rich variety of “locals” that inhabited her childhood have had a profound effect on Louise’s work and she has a fascination with narrative that explores these areas.
After a Foundation year at Mid Cheshire College she travelled East to study a BA in Graphic Design and Illustration at Hull college of Art before heading south to London to study an M.A at St Martins College.
She currently lives in Walthamstow and works in her studio next to London Fields in the East End of London.
She has been working within the Illustration industry for over twenty years with a wide range of experience across Design, Advertising, Publishing and Editorial. Working in the U.K and worldwide for clients such as The Royal Mail, CDP Advertising, The Ministry of Sound, Wardour Publishing, Random House Publishing, Penguin, The Guardian, Independent, Mail and Times newspapers.
She exhibits regularly in group and solo shows in the UK and Europe. Her current exhibition ” Expectations of the Past” has been produced with the support of Arts Council funding and will tour the UK during 2017/18. This new and recent work is an investigative journey of memory, identity and loss informed by Dickens’ novel “Great Expectations” which examines very similar themes. Exploring the text helped Louise examine her own personal history and emotional landscape, creating a dialogue between the text, isolated memories and specific events at the time of making. The dialogue between past and present is reflected in Louise’s methodology, which brings together a breadth of traditional and digital processes.
Her work has been discussed in anthologies of Illustration including, “The Fundamentals of Illustration” by Lawrence Zeegan, , Varoom, A.O.I Images, and journals published in connection with the Illustrative Berlin/Zurich 2007- 11 in which original artworks have been exhibited. She was also a founder member of a successful Illustration collective called Monster, and has also held a position as joint director at The Association of Illustrators.


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Sacramentalism & “Ex Opere Operato” (vs. Calvin #37)
January 30, 2019 by Dave Armstrong
Sacramentalism & “Ex Opere Operato” (vs. Calvin #37) January 30, 2019 Dave Armstrong
This is an installment of a series of replies (see the Introduction and Master List) to much of Book IV (Of the Holy Catholic Church) of Institutes of the Christian Religion, by early Protestant leader John Calvin (1509-1564). I utilize the public domain translation of Henry Beveridge, dated 1845, from the 1559 edition in Latin; available online. Calvin’s words will be in blue. All biblical citations (in my portions) will be from RSV unless otherwise noted.
Related reading from yours truly:
Biblical Catholic Answers for John Calvin (2010 book: 388 pages)
A Biblical Critique of Calvinism (2012 book: 178 pages)
Biblical Catholic Salvation: “Faith Working Through Love” (2010 book: 187 pages; includes biblical critiques of all five points of “TULIP”)
IV, 14:15
OF THE SACRAMENTS.
15. Refutation confirmed by a passage from Augustine.
Hence the distinction, if properly understood, repeatedly made by Augustine between the sacrament and the matter of the sacrament. For he does not mean merely that the figure and truth are therein contained, but that they do not so cohere as not to be separable, and that in this connection it is always necessary to distinguish the thing from the sign, so as not to transfer to the one what belongs to the other. Augustine speaks of the separation when he says that in the elect alone the sacraments accomplish what they represent (Augustin. de Bapt. Parvul.). Again, when speaking of the Jews, he says, “Though the sacraments were common to all, the grace was not common: yet grace is the virtue of the sacraments. Thus, too, the laver of regeneration is now common to all, but the grace by which the members of Christ are regenerated with their head is not common to all” (August. in Ps. 78).
Obviously, people have different levels of grace. Catholics don’t quibble with that.
Again, in another place, speaking of the Lord’s Supper, he says, “We also this day receive visible food; but the sacrament is one thing, the virtue of the sacrament another. Why is it that many partake of the altar and die, and die by partaking? For even the cup of the Lord was poison to Judas, not because he received what was evil, but being wicked he wickedly received what was good” (August. in Joann. Hom. 26).
A little after, he says, “The sacrament of this thing, that is, of the unity of the body and blood of Christ, is in some places prepared every day, in others at certain intervals at the Lord’s table, which is partaken by some unto life, by others unto destruction. But the thing itself, of which there is a sacrament, is life to all, and destruction to none who partake of it.”
In other words, it is connected to salvation (“life to all”), just as Jesus explained in John 6.
Some time before he had said, “He who may have eaten shall not die, but he must be one who attains to the virtue of the sacrament, not to the visible sacrament; who eats inwardly, not outwardly; who eats with the heart, and not with the teeth.” Here you are uniformly told that a sacrament is so separated from the reality by the unworthiness of the partaker, that nothing remains but an empty and useless figure. Now, in order that you may have not a sign devoid of truth, but the thing with the sign, the Word which is included in it must be apprehended by faith. Thus, in so far as by means of the sacraments you will profit in the communion of Christ, will you derive advantage from them.
Calvin, as is his wont, goes too far and denies an underlying Catholic principle: ex opere operato: the notion that the sacraments have inherent power and have effect precisely because God’s power is in them. Catholics agree that the benefits of the sacrament can vary, according to inner disposition, but they also assert ex opere operato, and it is Calvin’s aim to deny that. The Catholic view is Christ-centered, whereas Calvin’s view is too man-centered on the scale of things. He puts relatively more emphasis on the recipient rather than the Lord of the sacraments, Who uses them to accomplish His purposes. The Catechism of the Catholic Church asserts the proper, balanced view:
1127 Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer the grace that they signify. They are efficacious because in them Christ himself is at work: it is he who baptizes, he who acts in his sacraments in order to communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies. The Father always hears the prayer of his Son’s Church which, in the epiclesis of each sacrament, expresses her faith in the power of the Spirit. As fire transforms into itself everything it touches, so the Holy Spirit transforms into the divine life whatever is subjected to his power.
1128 This is the meaning of the Church’s affirmation that the sacraments act ex opere operato (literally: “by the very fact of the action’s being performed”), i.e., by virtue of the saving work of Christ, accomplished once for all. It follows that “the sacrament is not wrought by the righteousness of either the celebrant or the recipient, but by the power of God.” [footnote: St. Thomas Aquinas, S Th, III, 68, 8] From the moment that a sacrament is celebrated in accordance with the intention of the Church, the power of Christ and his Spirit acts in and through it, independently of the personal holiness of the minister. Nevertheless, the fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them.
1129 The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. “Sacramental grace” is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament. The Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature [footnote: cf. 2 Peter 1:4] by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Savior.
St. Augustine (virtually Calvin’s chosen “patron saint”) accepted ex opere operato. For example, he wrote:
Baptism consists not in the merits of those by whom it is administered, nor of those to whom it is administered, but in its own sanctity and truth, on account of Him who instituted it. (Cont. Cres., IV)
Whence this great power of water, that it touches the body and cleanses the soul? (Tractate 80 on the Gospel of John)
To my mind it is abundantly clear that in the matter of baptism we have to consider not who he is that gives it, but what it is that he gives; not who he is that receives, but what it is that he receives . . . Wherefore, any one who is on the side of the devil cannot defile the sacrament, which is of Christ . . . When baptism is administered by the words of the gospel, however great the evil of either minister or recipient may be, the sacrament itself is holy on account of the one whose sacrament it is. In the case of people who receive baptism from an evil person, if they do not receive the perverseness of the minister but the holiness of the mystery, being united to the church in good faith and hope and charity, they will receive the forgiveness of their sins. (On Baptism; cited by Protestant historian Alister McGrath, Historical Theology: An Introduction to the History of Christian Thought, Wiley-Blackwell, 1998, pp. 77-78)
Elsewhere, Calvin explicitly rejects ex opere operato, and in so doing, shows that he scarcely even understands what it is that he rejects:
To show more fully the agreement between the doctrine of the Papists and that which Paul opposes, it must be observed, that the sacraments, when we partake of them in a sincere manner, are not the works of men, but of God. In baptism or the Lord’s supper, we do nothing but present ourselves to God, in order to receive his grace. Baptism, viewed in regard to us, is a passive work: we bring nothing to it but faith; and all that belongs to it is laid up in Christ. But what are the views of the Papists? They contrive the opus operatum, by which men merit the grace of God; and what is this, but to extinguish utterly the truth of the sacrament? (Commentary on Galatians 5:1-6, section 3; translated by John King)
Calvin scholar David Curtis Steinmetz makes it very clear that Calvin opposed ex opere operato:
From the standpoint of medieval theology, Zwingli and Calvin placed the baptism of Jesus and John on the same level, partly by raising the baptism of John and partly by lowering the baptism of Christ. They elevated the baptism of John by insisting that John preached the gospel and offered the same baptism as the apostles. They lowered the baptism of Christ by arguing that it conferred no grace ex opere operato. (Calvin in Context, Oxford University Press, 1995, p. 168)
Reformed Protestant theologian G. C. Berkouwer explains very well, and fairly and objectively (as he usually does), the differences between Catholic and Calvinist thinking regarding the sacraments and ex opere operato:
Why, then, did the Reformers so unanimously reject ex opere operato? . . .
It is striking that so much agreement exists between Lutherans and Reformed precisely in the rejection of ex opere operato. . . . he [Calvin] objects to the ex opere operato not only because it is incorrect but because (as he remarks) it contradicts the very nature of the sacraments. . . .
[Dave: Calvin writes in IV, 14, 26 (cross-reference cited by Berkouwer, but in Latin footnotes):
It is here proper to remind the reader, that all the trifling talk of the sophists concerning the opus operatum, is not only false, but repugnant to the very nature of sacraments, which God appointed in order that believers, who are void and in want of all good, might bring nothing of their own, but simply beg. Hence it follows, that in receiving them they do nothing which deserves praise, and that in this action (which in respect of them is merely passive) no work can be ascribed to them.]
. . . we must now recognize that the Roman Catholic not only rejects this reproach of magic, but that he also faces a problem of subjectivity in the sacraments. This is already apparent in the pronouncement of Trent, which not only poses the ex opere operato, but also speaks of the problem of the obstacle. It is impossible, therefore, to speak simplistically of the Roman Catholic sacramental doctrine as “magical.” . . . a subjective disposition is necessary for the working of the sacrament. Rome never intended to rule out this disposition in an objectivistic manner, but only to deny that this necessary disposition is either causal or meritorious. . . . In spite of all the criticism from the Reformed side, Rome wants to defend the gratuity of grace. . . .
This mode does not simply pit objectivity against subjectivism, nor sacrament-magic against human activity. It does not place the absolute gratuity of grace in opposition to the meritoriousness and the preparation of man. It rather synthesizes and connects these contradictory elements, and precisely in so doing it places itself against the Reformed doctrine of the sacraments. . . .
For the Reformation, the objectivity of the sacraments could no longer depend on the efficacy of infused supernatural grace . . . The sacraments are no longer independent new fountains of grace . . .
The sacrament no longer has the function of infusing supernatural grace, but can only be understood in connection with the word of promise. . . . There is a receiving of the sacrament which is altogether different from the receiving of supernatural grace. (Studies in Dogmatics: The Sacraments, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1969, pp. 64-65, 67, 69, 74, 76)
The excellent Catholic Encyclopedia article on Sacraments describes Calvin’s and Protestantism’s errors in this regard and presents the Catholic alternative (paragraphs are my own, for easier reading):
Luther and his early followers rejected this conception of the sacraments. They do not cause grace, but are merely “signs and testimonies of God’s good will towards us” (Augsburg Confessions); they excite faith, and faith (fiduciary) causes justification. Calvinists and Presbyterians hold substantially the same doctrine. Zwinglius lowered still further the dignity of the sacraments, making them signs not of God’s fidelity but of our fidelity. By receiving the sacraments we manifest faith in Christ: they are merely the badges of our profession and the pledges of our fidelity.
Fundamentally all these errors arise from Luther’s newly-invented theory of righteousness, i.e. the doctrine of justification by faith alone (see GRACE). If man is to be sanctified not by an interior renovation through grace which will blot out his sins, but by an extrinsic imputation through the merits of Christ, which will cover his soul as a cloak, there is no place for signs that cause grace, and those used can have no other purpose than to excite faith in the Saviour. . . .
Against all innovators the Council of Trent declared: “If anyone say that the sacraments of the New Law do not contain the grace which they signify, or that they do not confer grace on those who place no obstacle to the same, let him be anathema” (Sess. viii, can.vi). “If anyone say that grace is not conferred by the sacraments ex opere operato but that faith in God’s promises is alone sufficient for obtaining grace, let him be anathema” (ibid., can. viii; cf. can. iv, v, vii).
The phrase “ex opere operato”, for which there is no equivalent in English, probably was used for the first time by Peter of Poitiers (d. 1205), and afterwards by Innocent III (d. 1216; de myst. missae, III, v), and by St. Thomas (d. 1274; IV Sent., dist. 1, Q.i, a.5). It was happily invented to express a truth that had always been taught and had been introduced without objection. . . . “Ex opere operato”, i.e. by virtue of the action, means that the efficacy of the action of the sacraments does not depend on anything human, but solely on the will of God as expressed by Christ’s institution and promise.
“Ex opere operantis”, i.e. by reason of the agent, would mean that the action of the sacraments depended on the worthiness either of the minister or of the recipient . . . It is well known that Catholics teach that the sacraments are only the instrumental, not the principal, causes of grace.
Neither can it be claimed that the phrase adopted by the council does away with all dispositions necessary on the part of the recipient, the sacraments acting like infallible charms causing grace in those who are ill-disposed or in grievous sin. The fathers of the council were careful to note that there must be no obstacle to grace on the part of the recipients, who must receive them rite, i.e. rightly and worthily; and they declare it a calumny to assert that they require no previous dispositions (Sess. XIV, de poenit., cap.4).
Dispositions are required to prepare the subject, but they are a condition (conditio sine qua non), not the causes, of the grace conferred. In this case the sacraments differ from the sacramentals, which may cause grace ex opere operantis, i.e. by reason of the prayers of the Church or the good, pious sentiments of those who use them.
(originally 10-21-09)
Photo credit: Historical mixed media figure of John Calvin produced by artist/historian George S. Stuart and photographed by Peter d’Aprix: from the George S. Stuart Gallery of Historical Figures archive [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license]
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Sacraments & the Church Fathers (vs. Calvin #36)
January 30, 2019 Radically Anti-Traditional Sacramentalism (vs. Calvin #38)
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Refugees & Fragile States
68.5 million children and families have been forcibly displaced from their homes. These are the largest numbers of refugees and displaced people since World War II. The vast majority of them come from “fragile states”, where families and communities are affected by disasters, economic crises, conflict, and social upheaval. By 2030, an estimated 80% of the world’s extreme poor (living on less than $1.90 a day) will live in these fragile places with weak governance and disrupted public services, like education, health, and clean water. World Vision has worked in fragile states for over three decades to provide life-saving support and durable solutions for the world’s most vulnerable children.
Follow our fragile states expert, Jonathan Papoulidis, on Twitter: @JPapoulidis
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Venezuela crisis: Facts, FAQs, and how to help
The Venezuela crisis has caused about 3.4 million people to flee the country, seeking food, work, and a better life. While the influx from Venezuela has caused tensions in host countries, it also has brought out their hospitable spirit.
8 reasons why the Syrian refugee crisis still matters after 8 years
March 15, 2019, marks eight years since the Syrian refugee crisis began. With reports of the war in Syria almost over and after eight years of hearing about and caring about this crisis, does it still matter? Compassionate voices come together with a resounding yes.
Fragile states: Helping children in the worst of all worlds
Our executive advisor on fragile states breaks down this difficult context for humanitarian work and explains how we’re uniquely equipped to respond.
People in 38 of the 58
most fragile areas receive support through our long- and short-term programming.
5,000 World Vision advocates
contacted Congress to oppose proposed 30% cuts to the foreign affairs budget, which funds lifesaving programs in the most difficult places, with success.
2 million refugees and displaced people
have been assisted by our staff in the midst of conflicts in Syria and Iraq.
What is a refugee?
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Refugees are people who had to flee their home country due to war, violence, or persecution, according to the UN Refugee Agency. Refugees are different from immigrants because refugees cannot go home, or are afraid that it is not safe to return. Displaced people have had to leave their homes for the same reason as a refugee, but they are still living within their home country. World Vision works with both refugees and Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in the most fragile places, including Syria, Iraq, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Why does World Vision work in fragile places?
We go where humanitarian and development needs are high. If estimates hold true, by 2030, around 80% of the world’s extreme poor will live in fragile states. What’s more alarming is that extreme poverty has a child’s face: the majority of people in fragile contexts are young. As a child-focused organization, we have a clear call to help the most vulnerable children — those who live in fragile states and who are increasingly forced to flee instability within and across borders as refugees.
What programs are most effective in helping families in these situations?
Programs that provide basic necessities while boosting a community’s resilience and self-reliance in the face of disasters and destitution are most effective. Direct assistance for children, households, and communities make a big impact in fragile states, since their governments are often unable to provide basic services. To be most effective, programs need to empower communities and work through local organizations, including churches, mothers’ groups, and farmers’ associations, so that they build local capacity while providing assistance. Programs should also help governments assume responsibility, over time, for service delivery and social protection.
How does World Vision’s work help?
We have worked in the majority of the world’s fragile states for more than 30 years. We know what types of programs work in these contexts, and more importantly, we have longstanding relationships and trust with the communities we serve. Our big focus in fragile states is on developing new approaches to enable transition out of fragility, especially in program areas where we are strong: water, sanitation, and hygiene; health; livelihoods and food assistance; and child protection, and education. By integrating all these programs, we help to provide communities with what they need most. But no single group or organization can tackle fragility alone, so we partner with churches, donor governments, corporations, and individual supporters across the globe, in addition to local communities, faith bodies, civil society, and public institutions where we work.
Ultimately, our successful programs empower refugees and displaced people and cultivate ingenuity and resilience, so that communities have the know-how, the confidence, and the ability to help themselves and care for their children.
How quickly can a fragile nation move toward resilience?
The journey can take decades, but we don’t have to wait that long to help change children’s lives. We are seeing communities achieve better health, education, livelihoods, nutrition, and gender equality. And while the road is long, sustained donor support is making a difference in the most fragile places.
Refugees and Fragile State Resources
World Vision’s Presence in Fragile Areas (PDF)
SomRep Positive Deviance Study (pdf)
This study of our emergency response in Somalia found belonging to a savings group and participating in preparedness and early warning activities were consistently related to both community identification of successful coping as well as food security status.
3 ways you can help refugees and those living in fragile contexts
Pray for refugees:
Join us in prayer
Spread awareness
Give monthly to the Refugee Children’s Crisis Fund: $29+
Your monthly gift will provide life-saving essentials like access to healthcare, clean water and nutritious food along with emergency supplies and safe places for children to play and learn.
Sponsor a child in a fragile
context: $39
Feed a refugee child for a month: $38
With the help of people like you, World Vision is at work in the most broken places—like Syria, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic. Your gift of a Refugee Food Kit can help provide families with desperately needed emergency food.
Together, we work to help communities develop the perfect recipe for sustainable success.
Choose one and see how our work gets done.
Poverty in America
Hunger & Food Security


Nigel Paine
About Nigel Paine
Nigel Paine has been involved in corporate learning for over twenty years.
He has run organisations producing learning software, CD Roms/multimedia materials,and offered development and support as well as learning resources to companies large and small.
Appointed in April 2002 to head up the BBC’s Learning and Development operation, he built a successful L&D operation which included a brand-new on-boarding program, a comprehensive leadership development program for over 6,000 staff and a state of the art informal learning and knowledge sharing network.
He left the BBC in September 2006 to start his own company focussing on building great workplaces by promoting creativity, innovation, values based-leadership and learning and the link between them. He speaks at conferences around the world, writes for a range of international publications, coaches senior executives in Europe, Australia and the USA and is writing a book on C21st learning leadership called The Learning Challenge, to be published in 2014.
Nigel is a Fellow of the Learning and Performance Institute, Chartered Institute of Personnel Development and the Royal Society of Arts and has been a visiting Professor at Napier University since 1998. In 2006 he was given the Masie Learning Thought Leader Award, and has been a Masie Fellow ever since. In 2012 he was giving the Colin Corder Award for outstanding achievement in corporate learning by the UK’s Learning and Performance Institute.


Books, Their Dedications, and The Media
CP Current Page: Opinion | Sunday, October 10, 2010
By Richard Land, Christian Post Executive Editor | Sunday, October 10, 2010
While his inauspicious beginnings as the only child of orthodox Jewish Russian émigrés did not augur his future notoriety, Saul Alinsky remains a man of tremendous influence to many on the left, including Jesse Jackson, Ralph Nader, Marian Wright Edelman, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Alinsky died in June 1972, but his principles, particularly as the "father" of the community organizing movement, survive him.
Some have called him Barack Obama's political "spirit guide." The president's successful campaign for the White House was framed on a foundation Alinsky built.
Soon after Obama graduated from Columbia University in 1983 he went to Chicago to work as a community organizer on the city's South Side, where Alinsky had been based. While Alinsky had already died, Obama was hired by those who had firsthand knowledge of Alinsky's modus operandi, and reportedly Obama was a devout student of Alinsky's book "Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals."
There is no question that community organizing remains a critical cog in the president's worldview, but Obama is not alone among Washington, D.C., power brokers in his affinity for Alinsky.
Hillary Clinton did her senior thesis at Wellesley College on Alinsky and his model of social change, noting, "There is no lack of issues; what is missing is the politically sophisticated organizers." She also wrote of him, "If the ideals Alinsky espouses were actualized, the result would be social revolution." In fact, Alinsky offered Clinton a job, which she declined, choosing instead to enroll in law school at Yale.
Clinton's thesis was embargoed during the entire time her husband, Bill, was in the White House. No doubt that was because the paper is such a strong endorsement of Alinsky and his principles, including this maxim from Alinsky's Rules for Radicals: "That perennial question, 'Does the end justify the means?' is meaningless as it stands; the real and only question regarding the ethics of means and ends is, and has always has been, 'Does this particular end justify this particular means?'"
Alinsky, a criminologist by training, details in the book's first chapter a clear distinction between his book and an earlier classic political treatise: "'The Prince' was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. 'Rules for Radicals' is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away." He later terms the book "a manual for the Have-Nots of the world regardless of the color of their skins or their politics."
His stated aim was "to create mass organizations to seize power and give it to the people…." Alinsky hoped to convert the "hot, emotional, impulsive passions [of radicals] that are impotent and frustrating" into "actions that will be calculated, purposeful, and effective."
Alinsky's book remains a founding document of sorts for those involved in grassroots organizing.
Yet there is something extremely noteworthy about his Rules for Radicals that few have noted. While his dedication of the book to Irene, his third wife, is innocent enough, the radical wasn't through with his formal notes of appreciation.
A notation in the book's front matter should give everyone pause:
"Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgement to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves and history begins - or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom - Lucifer." - Saul Alinsky
This startling front-of-the-book salute to Lucifer is clear admission that Alinsky's intentions were not entirely secular.
Yet while Hillary Clinton has served as First Lady, presidential candidate, U.S. Senator, and now U.S. Secretary of State, no one in the mainstream press has ever publicized the fact that Lucifer was so admired by the subject of her senior thesis.
And Barack Obama honed his skills as a community activist teaching Rules for Radicals in Chicago with the same people who were Alinsky's disciples. Yet not a word from the media.
It says much about Clinton and Obama's worldview that they have built so much of their life's work on Alinsky's teachings. It says even more about the national electronic and print media that most Americans don't know of Alinsky's admiration for Lucifer.
One can scarcely imagine the hue and cry that would have erupted if it had been discovered that George W. Bush had written his senior thesis at Yale on a person whose seminal work contained even a tacit dedication to Lucifer.
And how shrill would the pundits' calls be if it were found that Sen. John McCain had taught the writings of a man whose best-known work gave a well-placed tip of the hat to the Prince of Darkness himself?
Let's face it: The national secular media is in the tank for those on the left.
Book dedications can have far-reaching implications for authors. They are not casually dropped in the front of a book just prior to it going on the press. As an author of multiple books, I can honestly tell you that the content on the dedication pages of each of my books was purposeful and well-considered.
Trustees of the University of Illinois-Chicago recently took note of a dedication in a book by William Ayers, one of the founders of the violent group the Weather Underground and an associate of President Obama.
Ayers, who recently retired from the school, was being considered for emeritus faculty status. A professor's bid for such status is typically noncontroversial.
Yet a 1974 book "Prairie Fire: The Politics of Revolutionary Anti-Imperialism," which Ayers co-authored, is dedicated to what the Associated Press termed "a lengthy list of revolutionary figures," including Sirhan Sirhan, the man who assassinated Sen. Robert Kennedy in 1968.
Ayers has said he doesn't "regret setting bombs," and in his memoirs, "Fugitive Days," he confesses that he found a "certain eloquence to bombs, a poetry and a pattern from a safe distance."
The affinity of Ayers for Sen. Kennedy's assassin was not at all appreciated by Christopher Kennedy, chairman of the school's trustee body and the son of the late senator. He urged his fellow trustees to reject the honor for Ayers.
The university's trustees heeded Kennedy's wishes and declined to give the emeritus faculty status to Ayers, who the Sept. 27, 2010 Investor's Business Daily explained "became an academic when he realized he could do more damage to our society by controlling what our children are taught than by blowing up buildings one at a time."
While it is said you can tell a lot about a book by its cover, it is even more true that you can tell a lot about an author by perusing the pages before a book's table of contents.
A personal tribute to Dr. Norman Geisler
We're commanded to pray for presidents but not to give them photo-ops
'The Handmaid's Tale' is more conservative than you think
'Unplanned' movie will cause men to repent for mistreating, abandoning women and shift the culture
Religious freedom is for Muslims too


A-Level results 2018 – By the numbers
https://education-forum.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/A-Levels.jpg 960 640 Stuart O'Brien Stuart O'Brien https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/9defd7b64b55280442ad2d7fb546a9db?s=96&d=mm&r=g 16th August 2018 27th September 2018
Students have picked up their A-Level results, with 26.4% gaining As and A*s – the largest proportion to do so since 2012.
Overall, this year’s A Level results show:
Maths continues to be the most popular subject at A Level, with the number of entries up 2.5% on last year – up 26.8% compared to 2010;
Entries into STEM subjects continue to rise, up 3.4% on last year and up 24% since 2010;
An increase in entries to STEM A Levels by girls, up 5.5% from last year and 26.9% since 2010;
Over half of the entries were in subjects that open doors to the widest range of courses at Russell Group universities, with the proportion continuing to rise year on year;
The proportion of entries to art and design, music and modern foreign languages remains broadly stable;
Yorkshire and the Humber has seen the biggest improvement in entries achieving top grades (A* and A); and
In the second year of reformed A Levels, the percentage of UK entries awarded the A* grade remains stable at 8.0% this year, compared with 8.1% in 2010 and the overall UK pass rate remains stable at 97.6%, compared to 97.9% last year.
2018 marks the first results of 12 more reformed A Levels, following the introduction of the first reformed exams last year. Under these reformed A Levels students are examined after two years helping them build an in-depth understanding of the subject, better preparing students for future study or the workplace.
This follows universities saying many students lacked some of the skills and knowledge essential for undergraduate learning.
It comes alongside measures to create more, high-quality options for 18 year olds, including radical reforms to apprenticeships that are combining work with training in fields such as engineering and design; in some cases combined with a degree.
Secretary of State for Education Damian Hinds said: “I want to congratulate everyone getting their results today. It is the culmination of a lot of hard work and dedication – from both those receiving their marks and the teachers who’ve been supporting them every step of the way. They should rightly feel proud of their achievements.
“We’ve worked to improve education for every child – from their early years through to secondary school and beyond. I also want young people to have wider choice, whether that’s going to university, earning through an apprenticeship or in future taking technical qualifications that match the best in the world.
“Today is a significant milestone in the lives of many young people. No matter what path they choose to take next, we are working to make sure it provides them with a world-class education and a passport to an exciting future.”
In addition, a record rate of 18 year olds are heading to university this September, including a record proportion attending from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Government says it’s introducing further measures to offer more choice to students and widen access, including accelerated degrees and access to data so students know where they will get the best outcomes.
Universities Minister Sam Gyimah said: Congratulations to everyone getting their results today, and to those hundreds of thousands who will begin their university experience in September.
“Thanks to the support offered by this government, no student with the talent and potential is restricted from studying in our world-class university sector.
“We have worked with employers to design new high quality apprenticeships – including degree apprenticeships – making them longer, with more off-the-job training and proper assessment at the end so that apprentices are learning the skills that industry really needs.”
Apprenticeships and Skills Minister Anne Milton said:
University has often been seen as the only route to a successful career, but apprenticeships can be a great way to give you the skills you need to get the job you want.
We are shaking up the education system and working with businesses to provide even more opportunities to get into amazing jobs, and there are now high-quality apprenticeships available in a range of exciting industries including aerospace, fashion, nuclear and teaching – and up to degree level too.
From 2020 young people will be taking the first T Levels – new technical qualifications on a par with A Levels that the Government says will give young people more choice and more opportunities to succeed and fulfil their potential.
New scheme to boost teaching workforce for further education providers
https://education-forum.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Teaching-Workforce.jpg 960 640 Stuart O'Brien Stuart O'Brien https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/9defd7b64b55280442ad2d7fb546a9db?s=96&d=mm&r=g 15th October 2018 8th November 2018
Industry Spotlight – Post-FE: What students need to focus on to succeed in their careers…
https://education-forum.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Flying-Start-XP-MICROSITE.jpg 800 450 Jack Wynn Jack Wynn https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e6e4c614a3e43ed5c1e30f3c96cd4d3d?s=96&d=mm&r=g 20th September 2016 3rd October 2016
Prep for SATs exams damaging children’s mental health…
https://education-forum.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/nut-logo-EDITED.jpg 800 450 Jack Wynn Jack Wynn https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e6e4c614a3e43ed5c1e30f3c96cd4d3d?s=96&d=mm&r=g 28th June 2016 12th September 2016


Angels set Guinness World Record for sixth straight year
Written By Kirstie Chiappelli
(Getty Images) https://images.performgroup.com/di/library/omnisport/18/a/angels-050615-usnews-getty-ftr_ltkdv5taqek31p7q26yggvbsa.png?t=702639109&w=500&quality=80
The Angels may not have won a World Series since 2002, but they sure can throw a fiesta.
In honor of Cinco de Mayo, the Angels successfully set a Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of people wearing sombreros for the sixth consecutive year.
With over 20K participants, we hold the Guinness World Record for the Largest Gathering of People Wearing Sombreros! pic.twitter.com/auk5H445wu
- Angels (@Angels) May 6, 2015
The announcement came in the middle of the fifth inning during Tuesday's 5-4 win over the Mariners. In order for the record to be official, fans were required to don the sombreros that were distributed upon entry into the stadium at the same time for at least five minutes. The unofficial total of people wearing sombreros inside Angel Stadium for the record was 25,111.
"Sixth straight year of going for a world record now and next year, hopefully, it'll be seven," Angels Marketing Director Kevin Shaw said, via FOX Sports. "Now it's something that people actually point to on their calendar and look forward to see how they can be a part of a Guinness World Record."
In addition to the sombrero record, other Guinness World Records that have been set at Angel Stadium involve Snuggies, wrestling masks, cowboy hats, wigs and Santa hats.


Under Her Wings by Anne Marie Citro Book Tour & Excerpt
Contemporary RomanceDate Published: June 21, 2016
Wishing for death while living through hell, Gabriella is rescued off the rocks of a Scottish loch at the lowest moment of her life by the hot, humorous Edward and the sexy, staid Liam. The two men nurse the despondent woman back to health while teaching her how to pick up the pieces of her life. Both are captivated by her and vie for her attention.
Friendships are formed and secrets revealed. One man will become her lover, while the other becomes her best friend. Together, they have a past they cannot change, a present they must live through, and a future yet to be discovered. However, every time things appear to settle down for the trio, fate deals another blow, testing their trust and faith in each other and the love they have created.
Gabriella discovers the beauty of Scotland and life anew as she learns that trust is a two-way street that can either strengthen bonds or destroy relationships. Will she accept all that she learns or continue to believe she is betraying the memories she ran from?
Please Take Me
Gabriella stared out at the stormy water of Loch Snizort, five minutes away from the town of Portree on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. She sat on the edge of a cluster of boulders that were half-submerged in the loch. The spray of the water mingled with the tears streaming down her face. She was soaked, shivering, and not even aware the daylight was escaping from the night.
“Goddammit! God, if I believed in you—which I don’t—I would ask you why! Why!” She sobbed. “Why leave me? Please take me. I have nothing.” Her stomach muscles ached from the constant, racking sobs she couldn’t control.
She had contemplated suicide, but the fear that God did exist had stopped her. If by any chance an afterlife did exist, by killing herself, she would be denied the privilege of entering Heaven, of holding her beloved boys in her arms again. She would be stuck in the hell that was her never-ending existence.
It had been years—three to be exact—since her world had been turned from light to dark. Everyone had said she needed to deal with her grief, and she had tried. Regardless, it hadn’t worked.
Besides, who the fuck were they to say what stage of grief she was dealing with? What if the next stage never came, and she never recovered? Then what? Did people actually believe it was a conscious choice not to move on? Was it depression? Abso-fucking-lutely! Did seeing a shrink help? No. Did talking about it help? No. Did medication help? No, because no one seemed to understand Gabriella’s pain.
She had lost her world through no fault of her own. It was marred not just by loss, but also because of the rumours surrounding her family’s deaths …
Anne Marie Citro grew born and raised in the greater Toronto area of Ontario, Canada. She grew up in a large, loving family. Anne Marie is married to a very patient man. He is the love of her life. They have four very cool sons, and the girls they brought into their family that have become daughters of her heart. She has been blessed enough to finally have a beautiful granddaughter after four sons. She has her own personal gaggle of girlfriends, who enrich her life on a daily basis and make her laugh. Caesar Friday is her favourite day of the week. Caesars with the girls and date night with her hubby. She works with special-needs teenagers, that have taught her how to appreciate life and see it through gentler eyes. Anne Marie was encouraged by her husband to follow her life long dream to write. She loves the characters that take over imagination and haunts her dreams. She loves the arts and she has tried her hand at painting, wood sculpting, chainsaw carving, wood burning, metal and wire sculptures. Yes, her husband is a very patient man! Anne Marie is an avid reader and enjoys about three books per week. But nothing makes her happier then riding on the back of her husband's Harley and throwing her arms out and feeling the wind race by. Anne Marie and her husband take a few weeks every year to travel to spectacular destination around the world. Anne Marie is excited and can't wait to see what the next chapter holds for her life.and enjoys about three books per week.
Website: annemariecitro.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100012775572222
Twitter: @AnneMarieCitro
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/amcitro/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30369363-under-her-wings?from_search=true
https://www.amazon.com/Under-Her-Wings-Sistas-Book-ebook/dp/B01GP453MY/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1481036988&sr=8-4
Barnes and Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/under-her-wings-anne-marie-citro/1123892404?ean=9781533628183
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/under-her-wings-1
Emily Heisler


SocGen to pay $1.34 bn for Libya bribes, Libor manipulation
Monday 4 June 2018 - 7:35pm
FILE PHOTO: A logo of French bank Societe Generale is pictured on a building in Geneva, Switzerland, November 8, 2017.
PARIS - France&39;s second-biggest bank Societe Generale will pay US authorities $1.34 billion(R16.86billion) to settle allegations that it bribed officials in Libya and also manipulated the Libor interest rate benchmark, the US Justice Department announced Monday.
French prosecutors had said earlier that the bank had agreed to pay 500 million euros ($583 million) to end inquiries in the US and France into its dealings with the regime of slain Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi.
The French financial prosecutor&39;s office said the bank had agreed to pay 250 million euros each to France and the US to avoid corruption trials on either side of the Atlantic.
Societe Generale itself announced earlier that it reached agreements to settle the Libya investigations as well as a separate US investigation into its alleged rigging of Libor interest rates.
The bank did not say how much it had paid in total but said it had already provided for the cost and that it would have "no impact on Societe Generale&39;s results".
Last month, it said it had set aside one billion euros to settle the disputes.
Libya&39;s sovereign wealth fund, the Libyan Investment Authority, had accused Societe Generale of channelling bribes to associates of Kadhafi&39;s son Seif al-Islam as part of a "corrupt scheme" to get the LIA to invest billions in Societe Generale and its subsidiaries between 2007 and 2009.
The fund claimed that at least $58 million in bribes was routed through a Panama-registered company called Leinada, which was headed by an associate of Seif al-Islam.
Societe Generale paid nearly a billion euros to the LIA last year to settle the case before it opened in the High Court in London.
But it remained under investigation in the US and France.
A French court on Monday approved the deal struck with French authorities to avoid a trial, with a US court expected to follow suit on Tuesday.
Rate rigging
Societe Generale said it had also struck a deal with the US Department of Justice over its alleged attempt to manipulate the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor), which governs credit costs around the world.
"For years, Societe Generale undermined the integrity of global markets and foreign institutions by issuing false financial data and by fraudulently securing contracts through bribery," Acting US Assistant Attorney General John Cronan said on Monday.
The bank is the latest in a string of lenders, including Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and Goldman Sachs, to pay hefty sums to settle allegations of conspiring to rig the rate.
Deutsche Bank paid $240 million, while HSBC forked out $100 million.
The announcement marks an end to a scandal which led to the surprise departure of Societe Generale&39;s deputy CEO Didier Valet in March.
Valet, who reportedly quit over the way the dispute with the US was handled, was one of two senior executives to step down, along with the bank&39;s head of retail banking.
The departures rattled investors, casting a pall over Societe Generale&39;s results in the first quarter.
Higher-than-expected net profits of 850 million euros were offset by a decline in revenues of 2.8 percent to 6.3 billion euros.
Societe Generale said that its French retail banking revenues were hit by low-interest rates but were expected to stabilise in 2018.


Father of Sandy Hook shooting victim Avielle Richman found dead of apparent suicide inside Newtown town hall
NEWTOWN, Connecticut -- The father of one of the 20 children killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was found dead of an apparent suicide inside a Newtown municipal building, authorities confirmed Monday.
Police say 49-year-old Jeremy Richman, the father of Avielle Richman, took his own life at Edmond Town Hall, located on Main Street in Newtown, where he reportedly had an office.
He is the founder of the Avielle Foundation, an organization with the mission of preventing violence and building compassion by seeking a better understanding of brain health.
His body was found by a town worker around 7 a.m. Monday, but it was unclear when the suicide took place.
"The death appears to be a suicide, but police will not disclose the method or any other details of the death only to state the death does not appear suspicious," Newtown police said in a press release.
The Medical Examiner will determine the cause of the death.
"This is a heartbreaking event for the Richman family and the Newtown community as a whole," police Lieuteant Aaron Bahamonde said. "The police department's prayers are with the Richman family right now, and we ask that the family be given privacy in this most difficult time."
Senator Chris Murphy said Richman "was with me in my office two weeks ago, excited as could be about the Avielle Foundation's latest amazing work."
"My god. This is awful, horrible, devastating news," Murphy tweeted. "Jeremy was a good friend and an unceasing advocate for better research into the brain's violence triggers."
The Avielle Foundation issued the following statement:
"Our hearts are shattered, and our heads are struggling to comprehend. Jeremy was a champion father, husband, neuroscientist and, for the past seven years, a crusader on a mission to help uncover the neurological underpinnings of violence through the Avielle Foundation, which he and his wife, Jennifer Hensel, founded after the death of their daughter, Avielle, at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Jeremy was deeply devoted to supporting research into brain abnormalities that are linked to abnormal behavior and to promoting brain health. Tragically, his death speaks to how insidious and formidable a challenge brain health can be and how critical it is for all of us to seek help for ourselves, our loved ones and anyone who we suspect may be in need.
Jeremy's mission will be carried on by the many who love him, including many who share the heartache and trauma that he has suffered since December 14, 2012. We are crushed to pieces, but this important work will continue, because, as Jeremy would say, we have to.
As we did six years ago and now must do again today, we ask both the media and the public to give the family the privacy anyone would deserve to begin to process this tragic development."
Richman's death comes just days after the apparent suicides of two Parkland, Florida, area teenagers.
If you are in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741.
newtownsuicidenewtown shootingsandy hook elementary school shooting