sampling manifold, and at least one syringe insertable into the sampling manifold to enable sampling of solution in a respective vessel. The sampling manifold may be mounted onto the tilting mechanism.
Yet another arrangement for conducting automated transdermal diffusion cell testing using the vessels described above includes a controller, at least one drive console, each including a tilting mechanism that tilts the vessels and a fluid supply mechanism that supplies a regulating fluid to the compartment of each vessel, a sample collector, and at least one syringe pump assembly. Each syringe pump assembly including a plurality of syringes oriented with a plunger facing upward and an outlet downward, a structure for retaining the syringes, a mechanism for moving the plunger of each syringe in a controlled manner, and portsRelated News

Federal authorities are teaming up with a Hispanic construction organization in Georgia to hold a construction safety and health fair for construction workers and their families. OSHA staff plans to hand out Spanish-language publications and to answer questions about on-the-job safety and health issues Sunday at the Santa Fe Mall in Duluth.

The U.S. Department of Labor cited a chemical manufacturing company in northwest Georgia for 20 safety violations, and proposes the company pay a $77,000 fine. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced Monday that MFG Chemical Inc. exposed workers to fire and explosion hazards, among other safety infractions.

Under a settlement agreement with federal labor officials, Georgia-based carpet manufacturer Mohawk Industries Inc. will increase fire protection at its four carpet pad facilities, including one in Tifton.

About 100


Intestinal bacterial flora in normal adults in the U.K.
The A. reports on the composition of the bacterial flora being present all through the intestine of normal adults in the United Kingdom, listing the number and families of the aerobes and anaerobes occupying the various portions of the alimentary tract. Emphasis is then laid on a comparison between the normal "British" flora in the colon and rectum, where the ratio of anaerobes to aerobes is 100 to 1, and the flora found in normal adults in Africa, India and Japan, stressing the major differences in the numbers of clostridia and non-sporing anaerobes. The A. finally highlights the importance of the factors governing the intestinal bacterial ecology, as well as the serious consequences likely to arise from the alteration ofAn East German nudist recalls going naked beside the Baltic Sea in the 1950s, despite the disapproval of the country's communist authorities.

For years Germans have been bathing nude at the beach. Many are members of a naturist movement called the FKK, which was banned under the Nazis and faced official disapproval during the early years of communist rule in East Germany. Mike Lanchin has been speaking to one East Berliner who recalls the heyday of naked sunbathing beside the Baltic Sea, and who still likes to bare all when he goes on holiday.

Photo: Bathers enjoying the beach at Baerwalder See, Eastern Germany (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)


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NASCAR.com is part of Bleacher Report - Turner Sports Network, part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Network.Dr. Nikita Levy killed himself days after it emerged that he had been covertly recording video during thousands of pelvic exams

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A gynecologist who secretly used a pen-like camera to record hundreds of videos and photos of his patients' sex organs during pelvic exams will cost one of the world's most prestigious medical centers $190 million in a settlement with more than 8,000 women.

Dr. Nikita Levy was fired in February 2013, days after a co-worker alerted authorities at Johns Hopkins Health System about her suspicions. He was forced to turn over the camera, and committed suicide days later. Investigators discovered roughly 1,200 videos and 140 images stored on a series of servers in his home.

"All of these women were brutalized by this,"


said the women's lead attorney, Jonathan Schochor. "Some of these women needed counseling, they were sleepless, they were dysfunctional in the workplace, they were dysfunctional at home, they were dysfunctional with their mates. This breach of trust, this betrayal — this is how they felt."

The preliminary settlement approved by a judge Monday is one of the largest on record in the U.S. involving sexual misconduct by a physician. It all but closes a case that never produced criminal charges but seriously threatened Hopkins' reputation.

Lawyers said thousands of women were traumatized, even though their faces were not visible in the images and it could not be established with certainty which patients were recorded or how many.

Hopkins said insurance will cover the settlement, which "properly balances the concerns of thousandsgraduated from the Weill Cornell Medical College in Manhattan, and completed his internship and residency at Kings County Hospital Center. He began working at Hopkins in 1988. When the allegations came to light, he was working at Hopkins East Baltimore Medical Center, a community practice affiliated with Johns Hopkins Hospital. During his 25-year tenure, he saw roughly 12,600 patients.

Schochor said there is no way to identify which patients were recorded without having them "sit around a table and try to identify sexual organs without pictures of faces," something the lawyer said would be impossible and could cause the women more distress.

His suicide — by wrapping his head in a plastic bag with a hose connected to a helium tank — frustrated everyone who wanted to know his motives


FACTUAL BACKGROUND
Plaintiffs obtained insurance coverage from Ambassador beginning in December 1980. Before that, they were insured by Monarch Insurance Company, an insurer licensed in Pennsylvania. In purchasing the Ambassador policy, plaintiffs dealt with Rosenberg as well as with others at Milton. Plaintiffs sought to switch their coverage from Monarch at least in part because of their concern about obtaining a lower premium. The Ambassador policy, which was renewed once, remained in effect through December 1983.
In June of 1980, Rosenberg and Milton signed a contract in which they agreed to split evenly all commissions generated by his sales efforts. The agreement provided that Milton would collect the commissions, keep 50% of each, and pay Rosenberg the other 50%. Rosenberg worked out of Milton's New York City office, and underthe terms of the contract, he also had use of Milton's supplies, including stationery and business cards bearing Milton's name. In addition, Milton provided Rosenberg with clerical assistance, including typing, billing, and telephone answering. Rosenberg kept his client files in the office where Milton employees had easy access to them. Finally, Milton had veto power over any business solicited by Rosenberg.
Rosenberg worked closely with Milton personnel, including Phyllis Popper, who was both a major shareholder and the president of the brokerage firm. In particular, Rosenberg and Popper worked together on plaintiffs' account. Popper discussed proposed coverage with Rosenberg, and then sought to obtain a policy through Allied. Allied gave Popper price quotes regarding coverage by two insurers licensed in Pennsylvania. Popper met with and spoke to plaintiff Irvin


have Milton cover any judgments that may be obtained against them in those suits (up to the policy's limit of one million dollars per year).

III. STATUTORY BACKGROUND
Pennsylvania's Surplus Lines Law deals with the insuring of Pennsylvanians by companies not licensed as insurers in the state  companies known as "surplus lines insurers." The statute requires that those operating in Pennsylvania under its provisions fulfill certain duties. It imposes obligations on the "producing broker" and the "surplus lines agent," both of whom must be licensed by the Insurance Commissioner of Pennsylvania. The Law defines a "producing *288 broker" as the individual or corporation who acts "as a representative of the insured ... in a transaction involving placement of insurance coverage with an unlicensed insurer"; and it defines a "surplusand discuss how they work | | |together. | |Argue or Persuade |Take a position on a subject, and support your position with evidence.| |Compare and Contrast |Explain the similarities and differences between subjects. | |Define |Specify the meaning of a term or idea. | |Describe |Detail the events or characteristics that occurred as well as the | | |results. | |Discuss |Examine the main points of a view regarding a topic. | |Evaluate |Judge the qualities (pro and con) of a subject. | |Interpret |Explain the meaning of a concept or consequences of an action. | |Report |Present available information on a subject. | |Summarize |State the main points in a text, argument, or other work. |

Determine Your Purpose

After you know the assignment expectations, you can then


the steps outlined. However, a letter explaining company policy...

...There is very real conflict between the values of the police and of the bohemian marijuana smoker. For whereas the policeman values upright masculinity, deferred gratification, sobriety and respectability, the bohemian embraces values concerned with overt expressivity in behavior and clothes, and the pursuit if pleasure unrelated to – and indeed distaining – work. The bohemian in fact threatens the reality of policeman. He lives without work, he pursues pleasure without deferred gratification, he enters sexual relationships without undergoing the obligations of marriage, he dresses freely in a world where uniformity in clothing is seen as a mark of responsibility and reliability.
The sun has just sunk below the horizon and a gentle breeze caresses one’s face. The muddy water ofSoochow Creek, transformed to a golden green, flowed quietly westward. The evening tide from the Whangpoo had turned imperceptibly, and now the assortments of boats along both sides of the creek were riding high, their decks some six inches above the landing stages. Faint strains of music were borne on the wind from the riverside park, punctuated by the sharp, cheerful patter of kettledrums.
Under a sunset-mottled sky, the towering framework of Garden Bridge was mantled in a gathering mist. Whenever a tram passed over the bridge, the overhead cable suspended below the top of the steel frame threw off bright, greenish spark.
Looking east, one could see the warehouses of foreign firms on the...

...children in the age group 6-14 years a fundamental right? Your help will go a long


a Russian novus ordo, where nearly ever aspect of the liturgical service was rewritten, from the bows after the proskomede to the form of the epiclesis.

Nevertheless, a small problem remains in respect to the ancient Benedictine tradition. Its proper integration into a Russian and pan-Slavic context. It seems oddly out of place to perform the ancient Benedictine services in a context that is Russian and part of the Byzantine inheritance. It seems to lack integrity. The fact is that many Orthodox saints were promoters of the western tradition, such as Sts Raphael Haweeney, St. Tihkon Bulavin and John Maximovitch, not to mention the (legitimate) Ukrainian patriarchate under MYSTISLAV and VLADIMIR. Further, the Russian True Orthodox church, from the Ukrainians, maintains a western rite vicariate in Texas. The Benedictinesmaintained an Athonite monastery up until the Crusades, and the Benedictines were active in ancient Ukraine, where the western rite, as in Serbia, for a time, was more popular than the eastern rite.

Apart from these considerations, is there a method whereby the ancient Benedictine tradition, or the Gallican for that matter, can be part of the Russo-Ukrainian context without harming either partner? There most certainly is, and it is that of Rome. Rome not as a place, but as a concept, the passing of the torch of rule, and a rule integrated as to its affect, both ecclesial and theological.

The resurrection of Rome defines European history from the rise of St. Charles the Great in the west to the murder of the Tsar Nikolai II. In every case,


imperial institutions.

But since the concept of Rome was far more than the existence of imperial institutions, it developed into a concept of the ancient faith, the ancient faith capable of defending itself both by arms and by intellectual discussion. The first Rome fell just after the turning of the first millennium due to new and unheard of practices introduced into that see, practices designed to buttress the power of the Roman see apart from any real theological considerations. These include, most notoriously, the development of the filioque clause in the creed, a clause saturated with political, social and theological content, and highly misunderstood by critics, Orthodox and secular alike. The clause “from the Son,” in reference to the Holy Spirit, means that the procession of the Spirit derivesability, manifest in many local councils, such as that of Sardinia, to judge disputes as the last court of appeal. In practice, both in Rome and Byzantium, this amounted to the calling of a local synod to solve the problem.

The Greeks were soon to fall as well. However, from the point of view of the early 21st century, that fall took many forms. It is highly doubtful that the ephemeral “union” with the papalists just prior to the fall of the city is responsible. It is rather the condition of the patriarchate afterwards. The Greek Patriarch, after the fall of the city, became a cash cow for the Turks. All ecclesial positions were open to the highest bidder, and this became the normal functioning of the bishoprics. In


return, all Slavic bishoprics under Turkish control were suppressed in favor of Greeks who had prospered at the Phanar and were able to pay for their ordination and consecration. In the meantime, the patriarchate, in a bid to regain its lost power (though in truth occurring long before), began a systematic rewriting of the ancient liturgy of St. John. In general, this was the summary of the liturgical changes that were to create such havoc in Russia.

Changing of the prayers at the epiclesis. In the ancient rites of Greece, this was a lengthy set of prayers, including many bows and the veneration of many icons in the church. It was shortened, and the recitation of the daily troparia and the trisagion were eliminated. The antiphons were used narlyevery Sunday, rather than on feasts, which was the more ancient custom. In the ancient rite, psalms were sung in their fullness in the liturgy where the antiphons are placed today. The table of preparation was blessed during the little entrance, a practice dropped by the Greek (and later Russian) liturgical reformers. The sign of the cross was infamously changed by the Greeks at this time, a changed brought on the Russians under Nikon. The epiclesis was changed top include the phrase “. . . changing them by the Holy Spirit,” a phrase that does not predate the 15th century. The 9th hour was rewritten and shortened to eliminate the Beatitudes, the numerous prayers before the dismissal, and the elimination of the creed and many psalms said in


of the power of the center. It is a usurpation of the power of local synods and monasteries to evolve their own typica according to local needs, usages and traditions, as is the more ancient tradition. Both in Rome and Byzantium, the changes were arbitrary, since they came from many local uses, cobbled together with the aim of making a standard liturgy that would magnify the power of the center.

In the 20th century, the innovation common among the Greeks reached a fever pitch in that wake of the destruction of World War I. Broke, decimated and demoralized, the Greeks approached the English government (their allies in the war) and the Free masonic lodges to recreate the patriarchy. The calendar, Greek Masonry and the “new orthodoxy” of ecumenism derivednot a place, Rome can exist, and does exist, in every truly Orthodox chapel, skete and home. Rome means right belief, right law and right order. It penetrates every aspect of one’s being. There is no Orthodoxy without Rome, almost by definition. Russia has a special place in that her Roman mission can never end, largely since her mission still exists as a strong military power, with the largest number of Orthodox in the world. But it is more than that: Moscow became, as the number three signifies, a synthesis of the other two Romes.

St. Theophan of Poltava writes:

Oh, Russia, Russia! How terribly has she sinned before the loving kindness of the Lord. The Lord God favored Russia, and He gave her that which He had not given


to the Lord in all things. He will transform Siberia. But this Russia will exist only for a very short time. Soon thereafter will come to pass that of which the Apostle John speaks in his Apocalypse.

The first Rome is famous for its stark beauty, its love of law, its oratory, its love of “businesslike” order. This is valuable, but it can never exhaust the Christian life. The overemphasis of law leads to a fetishization of law, “legalism” and “scholasticism” in philosophy, order without beauty, logic without rhetoric. Byzantium provided Orthodoxy with its poetry and its merger with the rest of the world, in that the Byzantine empire was heavily influenced by Persian and other eastern traditions, making it truly ecumenical. It straddled the most strategic part ofthe world, the meeting of continents, Africa, Asia (and hence, North and South America), and Europe. Russia became a synthesis of both. A true love of law, Russia was placed to quite literally straddle the world. Law was never taken to extremes, and localism became the norm in Russian jurisprudence. The peasant commune and the ancient skete monasticism acted as an antidote to strict, Justinian legalism. Russia struggled with maintaining this synthesis, and it broke down for a time in the 18th century. Only after the liberation of the serfs did this synthesis take its rightful place. It was destroyed in the fires of World War I. In both cases, the Romes fell through pride and sin, the wages of becoming “European” and part of “modern culture.” Since


disperse itself and go into every nation of the globe spreading the gospel, a concept not lost on St. John Maximovitch, who spoke of this regularly. Hence, even the evil of the Bolshevik coup was brought to goodness by God, who used it both to purify the third Rome, as well as to force it to become missionary, not localized in Slavic lands, but existing in the most corrupt and alien city in the world, New York. Vladimir Moss writes,

For the Russian idea is in essence Orthodox Christian and therefore universalist. As Nicholas Lossky wrote, quoting Dostoyevsky: “The eastern ideal, that is, the ideal of Russian Orthodoxy, is ‘first the spiritual union of humanity in Christ, and then, by virtue of this spiritual union of all in Christ,time to creating entire jurisdictions, in France and in the Netherlands, dedicated to the western rites. Ukraine, in the same political boat as the Russians, felt the same, especially under the Blessed +Paladios, Ukrainian head of the Autocephalous Synod of Bishops of the Western Rite, created as autocephalous by the Second Rome. The diaspora situation, created a mentality that was missionary and synthetic, to create the fullness of global Orthodoxy through a single faith, but with many rites manifesting the traditions of the first two Romes. Hence the Slavs, aware of their global mission, the synthesis fo the first two Romes into a truly universal Roman life, have helped crate and encourage the western and other Roman rites. St. Anatole of Optina wrote,

There will be a storm. And


but through the liturgical vehicle of Rome considered as a totality, both Latin and Greek (using those labels in the broadest sense). This mission has been complicated as of late by the fall of the ROCOR into the (partially unwilling) MP. The fall of Jordanville was the acceptance of Stalin’s patriarchate as the actual head of the Russian church, while nearly all of the new martyrs condemned the close association of Sergius with the Cheka and OGPU. The Russian Orthodox church, in order to manifest its universal mission even further, was dispersed to the four corners of the globe, bringing about the final mission of Rome, the literal preaching of the gospel to all lands. That mission was rejected by the rump ROCOR in favor of “universal acceptance,”of Rome. If the first Rome was Latin, the second Greek (again very broad usages), the third is truly universal, the synthesis of universality with particularity, the single doctrine of Orthodoxy with the multiplicity of local typica. With the Bolshevik takeover, what was universal in potential became universal in act, the bringing of the gospel to all lands. Throughout the building of the Third Rome, the other Romes were dependent upon her, both in the stragglers from England and Italy who became Orthodox, as well as the Greek dependence on Russian aid through her modern existence. Russia then manifested her potential mission by bringing the two Romes together, a concept made pure both by the diaspora as well as the resurrection of the Old Rites of the west,


Biblically foreshadowed by the dead who rose in their graves at the crucifixion of Christ by the forces of Babylon, the Rome obsessed with law and power. Hence, what had existed potentially in Old Rome becomes manifest in all its universality in the 20th century. Alexander Kalomiros writes on this topic:

There will always be found a canonical priest, ordained by a canonical bishop, who will follow the Tradition. Around such priests will gather the small groups of the faithful who will remain until the last days. Each one of these small groups will be a local catholic Church of God. The faithful will find in them the entire fullness of the grace of God. They will have no need of administrative or other ties, for the communion thatwill exist among them will be the most perfect there can be. It will be communion in the Body and Blood of Christ, communion in the Holy Spirit. The golden links of the unalterable Orthodox Tradition will connect those Churches among themselves as well as with the Churches of the past, with the Church triumphant of heaven. In these small groups the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church will be preserved intact.

Power, in terms of political organization, was removed from the Orthodox, both in the fall of the Second and Third Romes, (not to mention the other attempts at restructuring Roman power in Gaul, Serbia and Germany, all of which were praiseworthy), and the Constantian era ended. The life of Babylon was stripped from her, and she was


forced to carry Rome within her daily struggle throughout the planet. Rome ceased to be associated with violence and coercion, and became the daily struggle for the faith, Rome was now purified and became right living, a right living preserved at one time by military force, from Moses to Nikolai, but now, with a small globe and Orthodoxy on the internet, the universality inherent in the Roman idea becomes increasingly manifest, while, ironically, being held by fewer and fewer people and the world races to its consummation. It has never been numbers who defined Rome, nor military power or size, but the holy faith which came into the world precisely at the height of Rome’s power. Is now reduced in size, but fully purified in terms of doctrineand right living.

Hence, the situation in the 21st century becomes this: Rome has its final synthesis, purified in doctrine, facing the anti-Rome, the very manifestation of Babylon, the System, manifested in globalist, cosmopolitan capitalism without borders, cultures or God. Rome is now the purified True Orthodox struggle, manifesting within itself the three Romes. Russia as its center, the largest Orthodox Resisting population cherishing the martyrdom of the last Constantian, Nikolai II, the Greek Old Calendar movement, which itself contains those from the First Rome, those western rite traditionalists within the Synod of Milan and the True Russian Orthodox Church. One in faith, many in rite and life. Small in numbers, powerless in politics, but pure in faith and doctrine. It is the final manifestation of Rome.

Peter replied, “Repent


fullness. For the baptized, grace is ever-present, the ability of man, sunk in sin and passion, to receive it (or even understand it), however, is another matter. Therefore, Orthodoxy remains outside of the 16th century polemics over “works.”

The ascetic life permits one, over time, to begin to see God within created nature, to see His activity. The ascetic can begin to see the universal embedded in the particular. Nature is not merely blind force (as the unredeemed see it), but is the “habitation” of God and his power. God is not “up” in the sky, but exists in another dimension of reality, imminent in creation, though not identified with it. He exists with the baptized in his fulness and power, but sin and passion obscure His presence. Theedge “yin/yang.” It is technology, the secret knowledge of ideology and the oligarchical elite to create a “better world.” Seven is the true resolution of contradiction in Christ himself and the waters of baptism. Seven is timelessness, both in the sense of tradition as remaining steadfast another meaning of the tree in ancient paganism. “Tree” might refer to both being rooted to the earth, as well as the steadfastness of tradition. It is both good and evil. The contradiction in nature, as being both good and evil at the same time, therefore neither, the domain of blind force, is resolved either by the gnostic prison of technology and slave labor to maintain it, or the life of asceticism, the liberation of the will over and above the domain


is based on “good works” in the sense that such good works create virtue, or a disposition of the will where objects in their lowest form (as brute givens) is replaced by a desire to see them in their fulness. He then begins to partake of divinity, being an adopted son of God through the agency of the Holy Ghost, but such divinity, or the divine light, as always been present since baptism. While the fullness of the grace of the Spirit has always been there, a life of vice/sin does not permit a man to perceive it, understand it, or live according to it. This takes place only within the boundaries of the Orthodox church, for it is here, and only here, where the Spirit operates. Theof the Holy Apostles.)

There is one religion only, the Orthodox Christian Religion. And this spirit the orthodox one is the true one. The other spirits, are spirits of delusion and the teachings are mixed up. (Elder Porphyrios +1991)

If any man receive not Baptism, he hath not salvation; except only Martyrs, who even without the water receive the kingdom. For when the Saviour, in redeeming the world by His Cross, was pierced in the side, He shed forth blood and water; that men, living in times of peace, might be baptized in water, and, in times of persecution, in their own blood. For martyrdom also the Saviour is wont to call a baptism, saying, Can ye drink the cup which I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that


body, so the separation of God from the soul is the death of the soul. And this death of the soul is the true death. This is made clear by the commandment given in paradise, when God said to Adam, `On whatever day you eat from the forbidden tree you will certainly die’” (cf. Gen. 2:17)

In other words, the soul of the unredeemed is of the earth, and is only immortal in a guarded sense. Hades, rather than Hell, is the place for the unredeemed soul, the soul who never knew Christ, and were never washed in the laver of baptism. They are merely natural objects, the principle of life, sunk in a deterministic life, encased in matter and nominal perception. In Genesis, Adam is called a “livingto those who expect the immortality promised by Him.” This same saint also writes in his Dialogues with Trypho, “the soul is not in its own nature immortal. . . .it is willed to live by God.” St. Maximos the Confessor writes, “”Death, is principally the separation from God.”

For the Orthodox people, the chosen people of God, the true Israel, however, we live with Christ, and we live with him to the extent to which we have prepared ourselves for Him in our life on earth. His light will either scorch us (the nature of Hell), or it will warm us (the nature of Heaven), and we merit this state insofar as we have (of have not) prepared ourselves through asceticism. As St. Symeon the New Theologian writes,


united to the soul by a special proximity (for how could that which has no body approach a body?) but rather by the departure of passions which came upon the soul on account of its friendship with the body and which have alienated it from the life in God.

Many other patristic writings on the nature of soul and its distinction from spirit could be adduced here, including St. John Chrysostom. The soul is of the earth as the body is, the soul, attached to the fallen man, merely seeks earthly ends. The influx of the Holy Spirit at baptism completes the soul, making it tri-composite, or, putting it another way, bi-composite, with the spirit enlightening the entire object, making the man “new,” in that he is “renewed,” hisWENDELL HUSSEY | Cadet | Contact

Brisbane Broncos fullback Darius Boyd has today reacted badly to the news that Jimmy The Jet is heading down south to the Rabbitohs.

It was confirmed a short time ago that James Roberts has been allowed to walk out of Red Hill to reunite with supercoach Wayne Bennett.

The news that Wayne got his man and has negotiated a deal for one of the most electric players in the game was taken poorly by the Broncos custodian Boyd, who is today wishing it was him.

Boyd, who played his first game NRL game this year under a coach that isn’t Wayne Bennett after following him from Brisbane, to St George to Newcastle and back to Brisbane again, begged Roberts to take him down to Sydney too.

“Please,


You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Benazir Bhutto Assassinated

CNN is reporting Benazir Bhutto has died from injuries received from a terrorist bomb attack:

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has died, according to media reports. Bhutto's husband was quoted by Pakistan's GEO TV as saying she suffered a bullet wound to her neck after a suicide bombing that killed at least 14 supporters at a rally today. developing story

The attack has left at least 14 dead and 40 injured, Tariq Azim Khan, the country's former information minister, told CNN in a telephone interview.

Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari told CNN affiliate Geo TV that his wife was shot in the neck in the attack.

The attacker is said to have detonated a bomb as he tried to enter therally where thousands of people gathered to hear Bhutto speak, police said.

Bhutto is said to have been leaving the rally when the attack occurred and was taken to a hospital in an unconcious state, the Geo TV report said.

The Associated Press reports Bhutto died at Rawalpindi General Hospital where she was taken after the attack:

A senior military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, confirmed that Bhutto had died.

Her supporters at the hospital began chanting "Dog, Musharraf, dog," referring to Pakistan's president Pervez Musharraf. Some of them smashed the glass door at the main entrance of the emergency unit, others burst into tears.

Bhutto was shot in the neck and chest as she was entering her vehicle, and then the bomber blew


himself up, FOX News has confirmed.

The Wall Street Journal reports Bhutto met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai before the rally at which she was attacked:

Before the rally, Ms. Bhutto had met with visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the end of his two-day visit here and told him that if she is elected prime minister she will work with him to fight terror. "We, too, believe that it is essential for both of our countries, and indeed the larger Muslim world, to work to protect the interest of Islamic civilization by eliminating extremism and terrorism," she said after their meeting.

This September article from Sky News reminds us why the Bhutto assassination is a setback in the War Against Islamic Extremists:

She matters because she is on the joint Pakistanimaya, Ed. UADY, Mérida, 1997.
 Gobierno del Estado de Yucatán, "Los municipios de Yucatán", 1988.
 Kurjack, Edward y Silvia Garza, Atlas arqueológico del Estado de Yucatán, Ed. INAH, 1980.
 Patch, Robert, La formación de las estancias y haciendas en Yucatán durante la colonia, Ed. UADY, 1976.
 Peón Ancona, J. F., "Las antiguas haciendas de Yucatán", en Diario de Yucatán, Mérida, 1971.

Category:Populated places in Yucatán
Category:Haciendas of Yucatán


Lispi Chevrolet, Inc., in 1973 was a campaign contribution. On the contrary, the evidence establishes that the $35,000 was the repayment of a loan which respondent had made to the corporation in May of 1972.
*438 The record establishes the following facts. In 1971, respondent, a practicing attorney at the time, and his cousin, Eugene Lispi, who was experienced in the automotive field, decided to go into business together as a franchised Chevrolet automobile agency. In June of 1971, respondent borrowed $125,000 from the United Penn Bank. This loan, secured by appropriate collateral, was obtained for the purpose of acquiring land and constructing a building to be leased to the contemplated Chevrolet agency. According to their agreement, Eugene Lispi, although he was to be a part owner of theChevrolet agency, was to have no ownership interest in the building. Eventually a mortgage was obtained on the building and respondent's $125,000 loan was paid. On May 23, 1972, at the same time that the June, 1971 note in the amount of $125,000 was paid, respondent secured a second personal loan, also in the amount of $125,000. The money from this second loan was deposited in the account of Lispi Chevrolet, Inc., a corporation organized by the respondent and his cousin, Eugene Lispi, for the purpose of operating the Chevrolet franchise which had been obtained. Respondent and Eugene Lispi each received 50% of the stock in Lispi Chevrolet, Inc., at a total cost of $50,000. The stock of each of the shareholders (at a total cost of $50,000)


Eugene Lispi for the original loans which each made of $37,500 to the corporation. The tax returns also clearly show the reduction of indebtedness to the respondent as a result of the $35,000 repayment.
The first contact of any kind between the Board and the respondent took place sometime in the early part of 1975. The tax returns referred to above were filed long before that time. Indeed, the first tax returns filed by the corporation indicating the indebtedness to respondent were filed before respondent received any repayment of the loan. Lispi Chevrolet, Inc., began doing business in the latter part of May, 1972. Both its federal and its state tax returns, filed in early 1973, state that the corporation had $50,000 of capital stock, and was indebted tothe other documentary evidence concerning the financial transactions that occurred.
The Board's report also states that the accountant "testified that he had inserted in the books in pencil `judge's loan $125,000.'" The Board's report says nothing further about this fact or what conclusions are to be drawn from it. Any suggestion however that the penciled notation indicated *443 something improper about the books is totally belied by the evidence. Entries in the daily journal and general ledger of the corporation were in ink and accurately reflected the financial transactions previously outlined. The accountant testified that the penciled notation was made several days before the hearing in order to assist his superior who was originally scheduled to testify and who was not as familiar with the transactions as the accountant.


conclusion that there were such improper alterations. In addition to the penciled notation referred to above, there was testimony concerning an opening balance entry for the year 1974. This entry was in ink, and reflected an opening balance of $50,000. When the accountant was asked if he could explain why that entry appeared to have been written after a prior erasure, he stated that he did not know because the actual entries are made by a bookkeeper. Subsequently, the bookkeeper was called to testify, and pointed out that at various times when making ink entries, if she made a mistake, she would erase the ink entry and make the proper entry. She pointed out several places in the books where this had occurred in areas having nothing toexplanation was reasonable; moreover, that explanation is corroborated by all the other documentary evidence previously discussed.
Because of the lack of evidence in the record that the $35,000 received by the respondent from the corporation was a campaign contribution, and because of the overwhelming amount of testimony and documentary evidence establishing that the $35,000 was a repayment of a loan, we reject the Board's conclusion that there was any violation of the election code.
The next allegation against respondent concerns his participation in the business of Lispi Chevrolet, Inc. Aside from the respondent's previously discussed investment in the agency, he has also received a yearly consultant's salary and use of a car. The salary was $8,000 when the business began, and was later increased, as the business grew, to approximately


from which it could be inferred that the respondent was in violation of the proscriptions of 5C(1). The record contains no such evidence. Not only respondent, but the Board's witnesses, testified that respondent never engaged in any business activities involving customers. While at the agency, respondent was in a private office; his visits were generally at night, except for one summer when on Saturday mornings, he would wait at the agency for his son who was attending confirmation classes nearby. Respondent was never at the agency during the week, Mondays through Fridays, during the day. On one occasion, a Board investigator conducted a week-long secret surveillance of the business premises. What he witnessed corroborated that to which all other witnesses testified. Respondent appeared at the agency once duringpart of a news story, and was not part of any commercial advertisement. The photograph's caption did not note respondent's association with Lispi Chevrolet, Inc. The group picture in which the respondent appeared was published on January 23, 1975, a date two years and eight months after the family business began. There is no evidence that during this period there were any other pictures published connecting respondent with the business. Nor is there any evidence that once the picture was taken, respondent had any awareness that the picture would be published in a newspaper. There is, in fact, no evidence in the record concerning the circumstances surrounding the taking of the picture. Nonetheless, we will assume that the photographer was a newspaper photographer known to the respondent, and


of the Canons.
In its report the Board stated that respondent admitted "on the record that he had been and, after warning, was continuing to use dealer's tags on his car." One of the dissents refers to the respondent as a "second offender" because he continued to participate in the business after promising the Board, at a private conference held in June of 1975, that he would withdraw from active participation in the agency. These conclusions are not supported by the record. The record contains no testimony about such a promise or that he was warned about the use of the dealer's license plate. No witnesses testified about the meeting. Nowhere in the record, either in the written allegations or in the evidence, is there anything establishing that thequestion of the dealer's license plate was ever discussed or brought to respondent's attention as a possible violation. The record does reveal that respondent took the position that he had a right to engage in a family business, and would continue to do so, but that he would refrain from attending meetings of the automobile dealer's association. The record also reveals that since that time respondent has not attended any such meetings. The record contains correspondence between respondent and the Executive Director of the Board both prior to and subsequent to the private conference held in June of 1975. In none of this correspondence is there any evidence that the license plate was considered a problem or even discussed.
The Rules of Procedure Governing the Judicial Inquiry and Review


should have been listed as contributions on the respondent's report, because as monies were raised by the Davis group they were transferred by check to the respondent who in turn sent the funds to the manager of his advertising campaign to pay for campaign advertising. The respondent testified that he did not interpret the Election Code to require him to report on his report these monies because they were not given directly to the respondent by campaign donors but by the Davis group which had received them from campaign donors. There is no evidence in the record that the respondent solicited or accepted these contributions directly from the donors. Under these circumstances regardless of whose view is technically correct under the Election Code, the fact remains that thethat discipline was warranted based on the respondent's relationship to one Judith Walton. The relevant facts are these. The respondent and Judith Walton maintained an intimate relationship which began when respondent was a practicing attorney and continued for about four and one-half years after the respondent became a judge. At the time the relationship began, Judith Walton was single but it continued after her marriage to her husband, John Walton. Respondent has at all times been married. His wife for a number of years before the relationship began and throughout the relationship suffered from mental illness requiring hospitalization on thirteen or *457 fourteen occasions. During the relationship respondent and Judith Walton made overnight trips together including a one week trip to Puerto Rico. Respondent made gifts of various


kinds, including monetary gifts to Judith Walton during the time of the relationship. At some time during the latter part of the relationship John Walton became aware of the relationship but did not object. During part of the time the relationship continued Judith Walton was employed at Lispi Chevrolet, Inc. Respondent was a frequent visitor to the Walton home, and on one occasion during an argument slapped Judith Walton several times.
On the basis of these and other incidental facts concerning the relationship the Board concluded as follows:
"Respondent, married and living with his wife and child, maintained an open and notorious meretricious relationship with one Judith Walton, a married woman, which continued from the beginning of his judicial tenure until about November, 1976."
The Board's conclusion concerning the relationship raisesso.
The last area which provided a basis for the Board's recommendation of discipline relates to respondent's appointment of Judith Walton as chief cashier in the Domestic Relations Probation Office. On this matter, the Board concluded that the respondent did not follow "established procedures" of the Court of Common Pleas of Luzerne County in his appointment. The appointment was rescinded about a month later by the Court En Banc and the position was filled by an appointment made from within the department. The record is quite clear that there was no written procedure or rule in the Court of Common Pleas of Luzerne County as to appointments, and there is no allegation otherwise. During the hearing the questioning of witnesses relating to "established procedures" was focused entirely on whether


reveal any evidence that the appointment was not made on the basis of merit. The record establishes that the appointee was well qualified for the appointment. She was an experienced cashier knowledgeable *465 in bookkeeping and financial matters. There is no evidence in the record that she was unqualified for the position. Moreover, after the rescission of her appointment as chief cashier, she was offered but rejected the position of assistant cashier. From this state of the record it can not be concluded that respondent's attempted appointment violated Canon 3B(4).
Because in this case our conclusion is to reject the recommendation of the Board, we have presented in detail our reasons for disagreeing with the Board's recommendation. We have also examined the record independently and find no evidence ofthe relationship of the respondent and Mrs. Walton, existing and carried on over a period of years, did not "bring the judicial office into disrepute" I cannot accept.
ROBERTS, Justice, dissenting.
I dissent from the majority's dismissal of the charges filed against respondent on May 3, 1976. I would accept the recommendation of The Judicial Inquiry and Review Board, dated August 9, 1978, recommending public censure. (See Report of The Judicial Inquiry and Review Board, filed August 9, 1978 in the Office of the Prothonotary  Eastern District.)


I bet I have close to a dozen Key releases down in my "spoken word" section, in the basement, of which my favorite, and yet also the most depressing, may well be the one Mindwrecker already shared, by Walter Brennan.

But here another prime example, an album featuring a speech by Dan Smoot, publisher of The Smoot Report, in which he extols the virtues of Mr. D. B. Lewis, who was a manufacturer of pet foods. (Smoot, it would seem, was a true believer. Not only was he associated with the Birchers, I learn from Wikipedia that he later went on to oppose George H.W. Bush's candidacy for the U.S. Senate on the grounds that Bush's positions were essentially those of a Democrat!)

It's amazing to hear, in this speech,Catlin: Vital Pompey land deal secured for Fratton future

Neil Allen

Pompey goal machine has Cherries in his sights

Mark Catlin believes the first marker has been laid in the potential development of Fratton Park.

Pompey have acquired a 30-year-plus lease on the former Beneficial Foundation building in Anson Road.

It was for a six-figure sum and there has been no borrowing involved in the purchase of the property

Mark Catlin

Adjacent to the North Stand car park, the agreement creates land opportunity should the Blues opt to redevelop their ground.

It is unconnected to ongoing negotiations for Michael Eisner’s takeover.

And chief executive Catlin believes the six-figure Anson Road land deal is crucial.

He said: ‘Whatever the outcome of the voting on the Michael Eisner offer of investment, the club carries on regardless and this is a


Americans actually oblige and hand over a suspect.

Britain is supposedly a sovereign country and its citizens – actual term subjects of Her Majesty – are not supposed to be handed over willy-nilly to any foreign entity.

But that is theory and in practice things are entirely different. The British authorities seems to have entirely handed themselves over to the Americans and this cannot be permitted to continue in this way. The UK is not the 51st State of the Union. It is NOT part of the USA and, as far as Europe, the EU and European Arrest Warrants are concerned, it should also require more than just the say so of some prosecutors to affect an extradition.

I must also say that it is very strange that Julian Assange canReview: Martin Atjazz Iveson has enjoyed a truly unique career. Having scored the music for the original PS Tomb Raider, he tired of the gaming world and began to explore the extents of soul and its relation to electronic music. Nearly 20 years of singles, four albums and heaps of stunning, subversive reversions have followed, and R2 have compiled 33 of his most remarkable rubs right here. Showcasing his range, here we find Atjazz at his most upbeat and tribal (King Britt's "Our Time"), his most lounge-like and smooth (Bob Sinclar's "The Ghetto"), his most tripped out, dark and electronic (Comfort Fit's "Ask The Devil"), his most percussive and carnivalesque (Kerri Chandler's "Rain") and his most dreamy and deep (Musaria's "Moment"). A celebration of a flawless repertoire so


8 bitflips, recovered 8 ones [+] 07 | 040C0105 | 00000100000011000000000100000101 | .... 4 times: 10 bitflips, recovered 6 ones [+] 07 | 04040105 | 00000100000001000000000100000101 | .... 1 time: 11 bitflips, recovered 5 ones [+] 07 | 04040005 | 00000100000001000000000000000101 | .... 3 times: 12 bitflips, recovered 4 ones Tag #3: used timings: 542 μs, 538 μs [+] 07 | 0105050D | 00000001000001010000010100001101 | .... 1 time: 8 bitflips, recovered 8 ones [+] 07 | 0105050C | 00000001000001010000010100001100 | .... 5 times: 9 bitflips, recovered 7 ones [+] 07 | 01050508 | 00000001000001010000010100001000 | .... 4 times: 10 bitflips, recovered 6 ones Tag #4: used timings: 560 μs, 556 μs [+] 07 | 0F0F0F0F | 00001111000011110000111100001111 | .... 4 times: 0 bitflip, recovered 16 ones [+] 07A News Blog

Keeping you in the know in the world of politics

TUSCALOOSA | Today Republican presidential candidate John McCain met with Franklin Graham and his father, Billy, the most revered evangelical minister in the world, in what is being interpreted as an attempt to shore up his support on the religious right. But McCain, who famously labeled Pat Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell as “agents of intolerance” in his run for the nomination against George Bush in 2000, only to seek out their support as he headed into this year’s… Read More »

TUSCALOOSA | Playing off the love fest in Unity, N.H., where Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama and his main party rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, appeared together for the first time to rally the troops,


Navy bolsters its electronics test systems

By Kevin McCaney

Oct 06, 2016

While transitioning toward an upgraded, electronic system, the Navy is continuing to invest in its Consolidated Automated Support System, which it uses to test the electronics systems on aircraft, surface ships and submarines.

The service has awarded Lockheed Martin, a longtime vendor for CASS, a $214.5 million contract for up to 400 CASS stations and 150 reconfigurable transportable CASS stations for the Navy and the governments of Australia, Finland, Kuwait, Malaysia, Italy, and Spain, according to a contract announcement from the Defense Department.

CASS, versions of which have been in use both at sea and ashore since the early 1990s, provides support for all Navy electronics, including computers, instruments, flight controls, radio-frequency devices, electro-optical devices such as infrared and laser devices,and visual systems. There are 713 CASS stations used for Naval aviation, with other systems used by Naval Sea Systems Command activities and nine foreign countries, the Navy has said.

The Navy is in the process of replacing CASS with eCASS, for electronic Consolidated Automated Support System, which is in low-rate initial production and is expected to be fielded starting in 2017. Lockheed also is a contractor for eCASS, having delivered the first 36 of the systems to the Navy early in 2015.

The Navy plans to deploy up to 341 eCASS stations, covering on all of the fleet’s aircraft carriers and at its Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Depots. The system has a smaller footprint that CASS and runs faster, though it is compatible with the legacy equipment. It supports more


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B.C. Lions looking for some good returns

B.C. Lions' quarterback Travis Lulay, right, hands off the ball to Tim Brown, during first quarter CFL football action against the Calgary Stampeders in Calgary on June 28, 2013. It's only the second week of the CFL season but already there is a sense of urgency among the B.C. Lions.Photo: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

VANCOUVER — Korey Williams wears No. 8 and Tim Brown No. 7 but, collectively, they scored a five in the B.C. Lions’ opening two games of the 2013 Canadian Football League season.

Fresh talent, fast track but same result, Williams was no more effective last Thursday against the Toronto Argonauts at BC Place than Brown was six days earlier in the season opener in Calgary.

The 2012 West Division special teamsplayer of the year, Brown probed here, he probed there but couldn’t bust a long kick or punt return against the Stampeders in the June 28 game at Calgary’s McMahon Stadium.

Williams got the assignment July 4 against the Argos while Brown was scratched, but the rookie did more retreating than wiggling and juking. In 12 touches, Williams totalled a mere 55 yards. Brown had 136 yards on 11 touches the week before.

Passable on offence, dominant on defence and apparently lost in their return game, the Lions seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time in practice Monday trying to work on achieving better field position. Superior special teams play is said to represent one-third of the winning equation in football, but the Lions are leaning more toward inferior


for their unwavering support.

Dr. Vodovotz is a co-founder of and consultant to Immunetrics, Inc., which has licensed from the University of Pittsburgh the rights to commercialize aspects of the mathematical modeling of inflammation. Dr. Vodovotz\'s involvement with Immunetrics is monitored by the University of Pittsburgh\'s Entrepreneurial Oversight Committee. Dr. An is also a consultant to Immunetrics, Inc.

This work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health grants R01-GM-67240-02, P50-GM-53789-08, R01-HL080926-01, and R01-HL-76157-02; National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research grant H133E070024; as well as grants from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Lifesciences Greenhouse, the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative, and the Emory University Department of Anesthesiology. The funds from these sources supported some of the work described in the manuscript, but none of the funding sourcesFriday, July 11, 2008

The summer right after high school was a really great summer. My friends and I spent a lot of time doing really stupid stuff and enjoying every minute of it. One of our default activities was to go to a park nearby with slupees and sit on the Knoll. If we tired of sitting, we would play on the playground or go "explore" the gully behind the park. I have many fond memories of that park, and the gully, including (but not limited to) the discovering of The Gully Monster by Jacob and Peter and the expedition I led Arrakis on which led to us scrambling up the hill and going through a random back yard.

Today, after Swing Club, I went back to this park


pola comida e epidemias.
Mentres tanto,
Nova Inglaterra víase cuberta
por unha néboa estraña
que non levantaba,
polo que o chan estivo conxelado
ata xuño.
No que se chegou a coñecer como
o "ano sen verán",
houbo quen pensou
que empezara a Apocalipse.
Este sentimento foi representado
no poema de Lord Byron "Escuridade":

English:
The year was 1816.
Europe and North America had just been through
a devastating series of wars,
and a slow recovery seemed to be underway,
but nature had other plans.
After two years of poor harvests,
the spring brought heavy rains and cold,
flooding the rivers and causing crop failures
from the British Isles to Switzerland.
While odd-colored snow fell in Italy and Hungary,
famine, food riots and disease epidemics ensued.
Meanwhile, New England was blanketed
by a strange fog
that would not disperse
as the ground remained frozen
well into June.
In what came to be known as "the Year Withoutηφαιστείων.
Μολονότι η κοινώς γνωστή
ηφαιστειακή καταστροφή
είναι η λάβα που σκεπάζει
τη γύρω περιοχή,
πολύ μεγαλύτερη καταστροφή προκλήθηκε
από αυτό που παρέμεινε στην ατμόσφαιρα.
Η ηφαιστειακή τέφρα,
διασκορπιζόμενη από τον αέρα,
μπορεί να καλύψει τον ουρανό για ημέρες,

English:
"I had a dream which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish'd,
and the stars did wander darkling in the eternal space,
rayless, and pathless,
and the icy Earth swung blind and blackening
in the moonless air;
morn came and went -- and came, and brought no day."
They had no way of knowing
that the real source of their misfortunes
had occurred a year ago thousands of miles away.
The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora
on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa
was what is known as a supervolcano,
characterized by a volume of erupted material,
many times greater than that of ordinary volcanoes.
And while the popular image


at any other point in human history. In fact, for most of human history, life expectancy at birth was around 30. Today it is more than 70 worldwide, and in the developed parts of the world, more than 80.

Brilliant researchers around the world are pushing for even better health outcomes. This year, we saw promising treatments emerge against Alzheimers disease, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple scleroris, and even the flu.

The deadliest disease of them all, cancer, is also being tackled. According to the American Association of Cancer Research, 22 revolutionary treatments for cancer were approved in the last year, and the death rate in adults is also in decline. Advancements in immunotherapy, genetic engineering, stem cells, and nanotechnology are all powerful resources to tackle killer diseases.

Breakthrough Mental Health Therapy

While cleanercontrol measures proffered in the wake of these mass murders by and large would have done little, if anything, to have prevented the massacres that inspired them.

Most conspicuously, in the wake of the carnage at a Connecticut elementary school just before Christmas in 2012, gun control advocates settled upon and rallied behind a proposal to beef up the system of background checks on legal firearms purchases.

That had absolutely nothing to do with how a mentally ill 20-year-old killed 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7 and six adults in the span of about five minutes. He took the weapons from his mother, who was his first victim that day. He did not buy them in the parking lot of a gun show or on the internet.


He just took them.

Legislation restricting the sale or transfer of firearms from one individual to another sounded like too little and too much at the same time. There was no obvious point of the legislation other than placating upset voters, and time and distractions do a better job than political placation anyway.

Proponents couldn’t do any better because they ran up hard against two truths: Americans at the time of the massacre were mostly opposed to tighter gun laws and the Second Amendment to the Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court since 2008 prevents the kinds of firearms restrictions common in most of the world.

In the wake of the most recent mass shooting at a school, which claimed 14 teenaged students and three staff members at a highRULEBOOK: IS THAT REASONABLE?

“[Without a Constitution] we may reasonably expect, from the gradual conflicts of State regulations, that the citizens of each [state] would at length come to be considered and treated by the others in no better light than that of foreigners and aliens.” – Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 22

TIME OUT: MAESTRO OF THE MOUND

ESPN: “Clayton Kershaw cracked open a window into the future on May 25, 2008. One minute, Vin Scully was introducing the television audience to the 2006 first-round MLB draft pick from Texas with the smooth cheeks and slight hesitation in his delivery. Thirty-two pitches later, Kershaw walked off the mound having struck out the side against the St. Louis Cardinals in the first inning of his major league debut. … Kershaw turned 30


operation and worked on his 2014 re-election campaign. The change is effective immediately. The departure of Schutz Zeckman is sure to intensify speculation that Scott is nearing an announcement that he will seek the U.S. Senate seat held since 2001 by Bill Nelson. Nelson, 75, a Democrat, defeated Republican Bill McCollum in 2000 and has not been seriously tested since. He breezed to re-election victories over Katherine Harris in 2006 and Connie Mack IV in 2012.”

GOP looks to avoid another special election fiasco - Politico: “National Republicans are moving to head off another special election fiasco — this time in a deep-red Arizona congressional district teeming with retirees that would never register as even remotely competitive in a normal election year. Two weeks after the party’s stunning defeatdefense in the Russia probe, marking another setback for a legal team that’s seen its numbers dwindle over the past week while it prepares for a potentially critical interview between the president and special counsel Robert Mueller. The law firm Winston & Strawn said Monday night that two of its partners — former federal prosecutors Tom Buchanan and Dan Webb — were approached by Trump but declined the job ‘due to business conflicts.’ ‘However, they consider the opportunity to represent the president to be the highest honor, and they sincerely regret that they cannot do so,’ the law firm said. ‘They wish the president the best and believe he has excellent representation in Ty Cobb and Jay Sekulow.’ Trump’s legal team is now led by Cobb, who is


$325 million loan from Citigroup Inc. may have run afoul of the rules and laws governing the conduct of federal employees.”

Trump pines for Porter - NYT: “President Trump has stayed in touch with Rob Porter, the former White House staff secretary who stepped down after allegations that he had abused his two former wives came to light, according to three people familiar with the conversations, and has told some advisers he hopes Mr. Porter returns to work in the West Wing. The president’s calls with Mr. Porter have increased in the last few weeks, as the number of people he is close to in the White House has dwindled because of the large number of staff departures, the people familiar with the calls said. In Mr. Trump’s orbit,few people are ever permanently exiled. He often sees aides who are subject to public criticism as extensions of himself, coming under fire because critics want to attack him…”

CALIF. TO SUE TRUMP OVER CENSUS CITIZENSHIP QUESTION

Fox News: “California on Monday promised to sue the Trump administration over its decision to ask the 2020 census respondents if they are citizens of the United States. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced the suit against the administration late Monday on Twitter… The Commerce Department said in a statement that the citizenship question would be added in response to a request by the Justice Department made in December. The statement said that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross ‘has determined that reinstatement of a citizenship question on the 2020 decennial census questionnaire is necessary


On the go and no time to finish that story right now? Your News is the place for you to save content to read later from any device. Register with us and content you save will appear here so you can access them to read later.

Having lost friends to the huge dragons, while making a living as a tourist guide, he knew the risks well.

"It's better you walk with me", he added.

I was on Rinca Island, one of the 29 islands that make up Komodo National Park in the Indonesian province of Flores. More relevant to his command, however, it's one of only three in the world home to free-roaming, people-killing Komodo dragons.

Until I'd seen signs for tours to it while on an extended trip to Bali, visitingbooking a two-day trip on a liveaboard — a boat I'd eat and sleep on. With a squatting toilet and floor mat for a bed, it was far from glamorous. But, with stops at Komodo, Rinca and what looked to be other attractions, all meals, and a price tag of $80, it would do.

Related articles:

I'd been lingering behind the group before our tour of Rinca had begun. Rushing along the dirt path to catch up with them, I'd forgotten where I was until Ramli's reminder.

Now, slowing my pace, I reached the others who'd stopped just ahead. And that's where I saw my first Komodo dragon. Well, five of them to be exact. Despite being solitary creatures, they were clumped together, basking in the sun, outside of the island's


national park station. The smell of food inside had drawn them there, Ramli later explained.

"I have many friends that got bitten by Komodos," he told us, as we watched them in wonder.

We all wanted to ask, but none of us did.

"Some survived," he answered.

Though the dragons are well-fed and the guides well-trained, the risk is real. In May 2017, Lon Lee Alle, a 50-year-old Singaporean man who had been staying with locals on Komodo, had gone out to see them alone one morning. He'd found one and had been taking photos of it when another had come up behind and chomped into his calf. Miraculously, he'd survived.

More recently, in separate incidents, two workers had been attacked. One is still in the hospital; the other had tragically succumbed tothe injuries.

Yet, here we were strolling among them. We reached a gazebo at the top of the path and took in sweeping views of Rinca's grooved green hills snaking along the vast expanse of blue. Without a boat or human in sight, the feeling of remoteness was overwhelming.

But it increased tenfold when Ramli told us his story.

After successfully fending off a dragon striking a worker while visiting the park 14 years ago, he'd been invited to volunteer as a guide. Not knowing any English, he'd learnt by listening to Adele and Coldplay and by scribbling words he'd hear visitors say in a notebook. He gave tours for 10 days straight before walking five hours to get back to his village. There, he'd spend his 10 days off with


More Minnesotans can claim health insurance than ever before. Unlike many of its neighbors, the state has leaned into the Affordable Care Act, and reaped rewards—only 4% of Minnesotans lack insurance for 2018.

MNSure recently announced that the 2017 open enrollment period broke its previous record for insurance coverage—a victory in the face of a nationwide drop in coverage on the individual market. Several other states that operate their own exchanges experienced success similar to Minnesota’s during the recent open enrollment period. States like California, Washington, and Connecticut reported increases in enrollment back in December. Meanwhile, coverage dropped by 400,000 enrollees in the 39 states that use the federal exchange.

The federal individual mandate to buy insurance will end in 2019. If Minnesota’s legislators do not entice healthy people toJack Tar (film)

Jack Tar is a 1915 British silent war film directed by Bert Haldane and starring Jack Tessier, Eve Balfour and Thomas H. MacDonald. An Admiral's daughter goes undercover in Turkey to help a British agent thwart a German plot during the First World War.

Cast
 Jack Tessier as Lt. Jack Atherley
 Eve Balfour as Margherita
 Thomas H. MacDonald as Max Schultz
 Harry Royston as Dick Starling
 J. Hastings Batson as Sir Michael Westwood
 Blanche Forsythe as Maid

References

Bibliography
 Goble, Alan. The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter, 1999.

External links

Category:1915 films
Category:1910s spy films
Category:1910s war films
Category:British films
Category:British silent feature films
Category:British spy films
Category:British war films
Category:English-language films
Category:Films set in Turkey
Category:Films directed by Bert Haldane

Category:British black-and-white films


When Michael Nicholson parents told him to pursue his education to the fullest, they likely didn't mean for him to still be a student at 71. But the Kalamazoo native just can't seem to get enough schooling: He's currently starting his 30th degree.

"I just stayed in school and took menial jobs to pay for the education and just made a point of getting more degrees and eventually I retired so that I could go full-time to school," he told ABC News.

Nicholson's one bachelor's degree, two associate's degrees, 22 master's degrees, three specialist degrees and one doctoral degree range in disciplines from education to law enforcement. "It's stimulation to go to the class, look at the material that's required and meet the teacher and students. It makes life interestingrestaurant, four were racially mixed. Babies there looked a bit like me. Curaçao was a complete contrast to Austria the country that was quite perplexed by me and my family. Austrians seemed to be constantly questioning whether I was the nanny or the mother of the white baby? In Japan, it was never an issue as they just absolutely adore kids and my son was a “mayor” for a week.

In Italy, it was quite a mixed racial experience where I could see that Italians are still struggling with their collective identity. Yes, they were the world’s superpower at one time. Note, this was a long time ago. They proudly talk of their Roman history, their renaissance period, their Michelangelo. However, their fascist past -which is not a so


Catholic Mass, the main event marking 300 years since the coronation of an iconic Black Madonna painting, has been served in Częstochowa, a Holy City in Poland's south, with top government officials in attendance.

Polish President Andrzej Duda and his wife, the speakers of both houses of Polish parliament and the prime minister, as well as dozens of clergymen and hundreds of Catholics, gathered for the Saturday service.

A papal crown was first installed on the painting on 8 September, 1717, the first time it ever happened outside Rome.

The event three centuries ago drew a crowd of 200,000 Christians, a huge number for the time, and started a tradition of now annual pilgrimages to the site.

The painting depicts the Virgin mother of Jesus and many Polish Catholics refer to herTORONTO - Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne got some direct feedback from a man in her neighbourhood following the auditor general's report last week that blamed Liberal policies for soaring electricity prices.

Wynne told the Economic Club of Canada today that she was in her local video store Saturday when another customer decided to offer some unsolicited advice.

She described him as a young father, and said he yelled from across the store: "Kathleen you've got to do better. You're wasting our money."

Wynne told the business audience that she figured the guy was having a bad day.

But she also said such interactions with the public remind her of why she got into politics in the first place: to create more jobs, more opportunities and a stronger economy.

The auditor general's annual report


Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, its characters, or its soundtrack.

Author's Note:

This oneshot draws some inspiration from the lyrics in Red Like Roses Part II, composed by Jeff Williams.

I wasn't dreaming when they told me you were gone,

I was wide awake and feeling that they had to be wrong.

It's been a long time since I've written anything, and this piece is the first I've ever done for RWBY. Much like the dark turn the show has taken, this will be emotional and depressing. Hope I did it justice.

Shattered

There was a distress call from Summer.

Taiyang's message burned in his mind.

She never made it back.

His clenched fists tensed further, causing his short nails to dig painfully into his palm.

Impossible.

He pushed his body to its limits with another burst of speed.

Summercouldn't be gone.

Qrow skidded to a halt in front of the door. He took a shallow, shaky breath, attempting to pull himself together. Turmoil reigned in his mind, scattering his every thought save for one: pure silver eyes set in a pretty face framed by black and red bangs.

With growing trepidation, he pushed the door open. Darkness greeted him. Darkness, punctuated by a shock of bright gold hair exuding a dim glow. Taiyang's lilac eyes met his own. And the anguish he'd expected to see hit him squarely in the gut.

"Tai…" Qrow stepped closer to his friend, bracing himself for the inevitable.

"Summer is dead…" Taiyang croaked hoarsely.

The truth cut deep into him, but the pain he'd expected never came. His heart should have shattered, yet all he felt


was a growing, freezing emptiness. And through the frost, he heard himself whisper. "How?"

Taiyang shook his head. "I don't know. She-" He paused, trembling. "They...they couldn't even find her body!" His aura flared briefly as he rose with his voice. "Shreds of her cloak was all that was left of her..."

Silence stretched out to fill an unnaturally long moment. Qrow took a tentative step forward. Numbness spread through his entire being as he took another step towards his former teammate. A heartbeat later, he found himself embracing his friend. It should have been awkward, like the ambivalence he'd felt towards Taiyang ever since Summer had gotten together with the man. At times, the smoldering jealousy in his heart had threatened to burst into flames. And at other times,he'd felt glad that his friend was able to make Summer happy. But this embrace felt right, much like the camaraderie that they'd once had.

"Qrow...there's something you should know…"

The foreboding tone sent Qrow stepping back. The hollowness in his friend's eyes chilled his already frozen heart. "Tai...don't…"

"She would have wanted you to know…"

"Please...don't say it…"

"Summer...she-"

"DON'T SAY IT!"

"She loved you."

The words froze the very air around Qrow. No. Impossible. Taiyang had to be wrong. He remembered it vividly: the softness of her lips, the sweetness of her breath, and the look on her face after. A look of complete shock and pain that he had read all too clearly. He smiled without humour. "We were her teammates. She loved all of us."

Taiyang shook his head somberly. "She loved you.


I can never forget the time when she fell gravely ill. That fever had her unconscious for days. And the first time she opened her eyes, your name was the first thing on her lips. She reached for me, and said, 'Stay with me, Qrow.'"

It was impossible. They had been partners. They had been best friends. But he knew, from the pain in her eyes that night, that she did not reciprocate his love.

"She never told me what happened between the two of you, but I know this: even when she was with me, you still had her heart."

Qrow stared blankly at his friend. His mind reeled from grappling with the revelation. None of it made any sense to him, but Taiyang's eyes were dark with grim certainty.None of it made sense, unless...

"Dad?" A quiet voice floated into the room as the lights flickered on. The two men turned in unison to spot the young girl in the doorway, wearing Taiyang's eyes and hair. She rubbed at her eyes blearily. "Uncle Qrow?"

"Yang…"

"Uncle Qrow!"

A streak of black and crimson flew past Yang and attached itself to Qrow's legs. Qrow found himself staring down at silver eyes that burned bright with innocent glee. "Ruby." He tried to remember how to smile.

"Dad? Uncle Qrow?" The young Ruby looked between them with an air of confusion, unable to comprehend the grief that hung heavy in the room. "What's wrong?"

"Ruby," said Taiyang quietly. Ruby turned to focus her attention on him. "Your mother...she-"

Qrow caught a glimpse of tears as the


man turned away sharply, unable to utter the cruel words that would destroy his daughter's world. Once, Qrow would not have found it in his heart to say the words either. But with his heart lost in the cold and yawning void within...he knelt down such that he was at eye level with the toddler. "Ruby," he said very slowly. "Your mother. She is gone."

"Gone?" Ruby repeated with curiosity. She cocked her head to one side, staring at him with a slightly bewildered expression.

"Yes," he answered. "Gone. She's not coming back. Forever."

A sharp gasp punctuated the air. In his peripheral vision, Qrow saw Yang run up to her father and tug at him, demanding a confirmation. But Ruby...she merely blinked. And a slow smile started to spread onher lips as she shook her head. "Mom will come back. She promised."

It was the conviction, the shining unshaken belief in those eyes that finally shattered him. Choking back a sob, Qrow turned away, no longer able to look into the silver orbs that were a perfect replica of Summer's.

Little arms reached out in an attempt to hug him. "Mom promised she will come back," said Ruby proudly. He could hear the smile in her voice, and it nearly tore him into pieces. No! Stop it! Summer is dead! He wanted to scream, but the words were caught in his throat. He had never been able to raise his voice at Summer. And now he found it just as impossible to shout at her daughter. Instead, Qrow mutely


pulled Ruby closer, willing himself not to give in to the tears that were threatening to spill.

Later that night...

Qrow stepped unsteadily over the threshold and was greeted by a dim lighting. The cramped apartment looked exactly the same as he had left it: messy, with clothes strewn all over the place. Stepping over a pile of clothing, he took another swig of wine.

Wine. There wasn't enough wine in the world to drown out the emotions tearing his head apart with all that pounding. Or maybe that was just the wine. Qrow wasn't too sure, but he was sure of one thing as he flopped onto the couch: there was enough wine for a person to drown in. He lifted his bottle again, only to find that his handwas empty.

"Where'd the damn wine go?" he growled, looking around. His gaze landed on the other end of the couch, where a bottle of wine lay on its side. "There we are."

As he reached across the couch, something fell out of his shirt pocket. A picture. His eyes immediately focused on the leftmost figure in the picture: a shy girl hiding in a white cloak.

Summer Rose.

And just like that, the fog in his mind parted, revealing the face of the woman he loved. Beautiful silver eyes shimmering with equal parts demureness and exuberance. Short hair that fell to her chin in a perfect blend of crimson and obsidian. A small mouth forever set in a little smile. And those lips - so enticing, so kissable, he could never


forget the feel of them pressed against his own...

Five years ago...

"Qrow! Stop drinking!"

"Leave me alone, Summer," Qrow slurred, staggering away from her.

"Qrow!"

There was something foreign in her voice - a hint of anger. Summer had never been angry with him, despite all the trouble he'd used to cook up with Taiyang back in their time at Beacon. He turned to look at his former partner.

She had her hood pulled back. Her red and black hair fluttered lightly in the wind. Her lips were set in a determined frown. Qrow wondered if she knew just how dangerously attractive she looked, especially with the hard look in her usually gentle eyes. He took another swig of wine and raised a questioning eyebrow at her. Yes?

Summer stepped forward and wrenched thecourse," Qrow drawled. "Now, let me have my drink back."

"No," said Summer firmly. "Stop tormenting yourself, Qrow."

"Why? Do you really care so much about how I treat myself?" Even through the alcohol induced haze, he knew he had gone too far. The flash of raw pain in her eyes made him yearn to take everything back.

"Of course I do," she replied, eyes shining with unshed tears. Qrow found himself caught by her gaze. Without thinking, he moved towards her. It was wrong for her to be sad. He had to fix that. He had to do something…

"Summer…"

And he surprised himself by dipping his head and pressing his lips against hers. It felt every bit as good as he'd imagined, except better. Her lips were sweet like nectar, and


far more intoxicating than all the alcohol he had imbibed. He pulled her closer, breathing in the floral scent that sometimes made him forget his own name. She leaned into him, her hands moving up his sides to rest on his chest.

A sudden shove sent him staggering backwards and back to his senses. Summer Rose stood in front of him with a hand pressed to her lips, staring at him with an expression of utter shock as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Summer, I-" I love you, he almost said. But the tears flowing down her cheeks told him everything he needed to know. "I'm sorry," he said instead. "That-that shouldn't have happened."

His words were met with silence. And for the first time, he feared that he hadThe Washington Nationals are back to shooting themselves in the foot. Talk about yet another postseason meltdown.

After Jayson Werth inexplicably tried to score from first on a double to left field and was thrown out by a mile with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, the Dodgers made the Nats pay in a HUGE way.

First came Joc Pederson leading off the inning with a solo home run off Max Scherzer:

3. Joc Pederson homers off Max Scherzer in game 5 of the NLDS to tie the game. pic.twitter.com/0a9IMHmzB5 — Frank (@Frankles7) October 14, 2016

That's some serious opposite field power off one of the best pitchers in baseball. Scherzer was pretty much lights out up until that point.

Manager Dusty Baker took Scherzer out after that homer and then


California, Arizona and Nevada, and also in Australia as a street plant.

Diseases
In the Southern U.S. mildew and fungal diseases have traditionally posed problems for L. indica. This was a major motivation for developing the L. indica × L. faueri hybrids, which show increased resistance to powdery mildew and fungus. The fungal pathogen Cercospora lythracearum can infest the plant in summer during hot, rainy weather and cause premature leaf drop. Gardeners plant resistant hybrid varieties or use fungicide sprays to help control this.

Insect problems with Lagestroemia indica include the crape myrtle aphid, Tinocallis kahawaluokalani, which can cause yellow spots and black mold, Japanese beetles, and the flea beetle. None of these insects are fatal to the plant and other predator insects are usually enough to resolve infestations; however applicationsthan two decades, the scenic property features two houses, a caretaker’s cottage, an art studio and a 6,000-square-foot production studio on 44 acres. Another support building with metal, wood and automotive workshops creates 10,000 square feet of additional space. Elsewhere is an eight-stall barn.

There are six bedrooms, five bathrooms and a country-inspired kitchen in the main house. A custom theater room has seating for 20 people. Other amenities include a library and a gym.

Irrigated pastures, four wells and a spring-fed pond are spread across the grounds. The property also includes a solar power facility and diesel generators for backup power.

Vickie Mullins and Leota Lardner of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Hallmark Realty hold the listing. The exact list price is $3,900,900.

Reynolds, who died in 2016 at 84, was known for


a product of the activities of the governing power, not revolutionaries or malevolent neighbors.

When a large part of the population is no longer able to make ends meet – a high popularity rating can be attained not only by a Lenin or a Hitler, but by a Lyashko. [Oleh Lyashko is a firebrand Ukrainian politician and leader of the Radical Party who is suspected by many of being a tool of the former chief of staff of the ousted Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych. ~ Ed.]

When the people pay for the showing-off of the president and generals with hundreds of soldiers’ lives, the army becomes a revolutionary cauldron.

New tariffs under old ‘schemes’ are the most effective revolutionary agitation.

The incomes of the ‘family’ businesses of the new government – againstwill get a full picture of the prospects for getting out of the revolutionary situation.

Decumulation of international loans is not solving the problem, only exacerbating it.

The Ukrainian economy is in agony not because of war and not because of a lack of money.

It is being undermined by total corruption, total ‘schemes’ and total ‘offshores.’ They are leading to the collapse of the economy and the country – to revolution.

But the authorities have been consistently reticent to radically change anything. They are continuing with fragmented, selective action for attractive television images as a substitute for systemic changes.

Very demonstrative in this respect were the events in Transcarpathia. The shootings and deaths – which attracted universal attention – had still not occurred, and both Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk were completely arranging both


the total corruption, and the total contraband smuggling.

A video of the aftermath of a fatal shoot-out in the Transcarpathian town of Mukachevo, between local police and fighters of the Right Sector paramilitary group. The dispute was allegedly over control of the cigarette smuggling trade.

When the dirt became impossible to hide – the decisive president appeared before the television cameras with decisive actions.

In other areas where the same dirt remains under the carpet – there have been no sudden movements by either the president or the prime minister…

To understand why, you need to answer two very simple questions:

Where are the key business assets of Poroshenko registered? Where are the key business assets of the associates and ‘fellow travelers’ of the president and prime minister registered?

How many personal business assetsa reference to traditional Ukrainian folk patterns on items of clothing and other material, a symbol of the Ukrainian nation. ~ Ed.]

In addition, attentive viewers will have noticed that in the first act of the play a large number of Kalashnikovs are hanging on the wall…

This means that not all the representatives of the regime may be as lucky as Yanukovych was to escape.

2. The war can all be written off. Even ‘to zero,’ says the regime

The authorities don’t just ascribe the deplorable results of their activities to the war.

Following the example of the Russian Provisional Government in 1917, as one of the main methods of countering the maturation of the revolution, the Ukrainian government has chosen to promote themes of patriotism and unity of government and people


his decree he has made us honest, made the law enforcement organs moral, made the judges fair and incorruptible, and so on.

But there is no decree yet…

Naturally, the president is to blame. He hasn’t issued it…

Political opponents or personal enemies?

During the eras of previous Ukrainian presidents, the political opposition always stood against them.

‘Rukh’ (National Movement of Ukraine) leader Vyacheslav Chornovil was killed in a car crash in 1999.

Kravchuk had Rukh, led by Vyacheslav Chornovil, as his main opponent.

Oleksandr Moroz and his Socialist Party fought against Kuchma, and his main instigator was Yuriy Lutsenko.

In [Kuchma’s] second presidential term, Viktor Yushchenko and ‘Our Ukraine’ led the struggle against ‘Kuchmism.’

The main political rivals of Viktor Yushchenko were the Regionals [members of the Party of Regions, led by Viktor Yanukovych – Ed.].

Againstwhom criminal cases were opened, and the entire fugitive team of his ministers and minders, who took – according to various estimates – between 30 and 40 billion out of the country.

Perhaps, in time, you can add Ihor Kolomoisky and his team to this list. The reasons, I think, need no explanation: they are all on view and audible. [Ihor Kolomoisky is one of Ukraine’s wealthiest men. Appointed governor of his native eastern region by the interim authorities in March 2014, shortly after the Maidan Revolution, he was sacked by Poroshenko a year later for exceeding his authority. He was publicly thanked by Poroshenko, however, and honored with a massive street party in his home city of Dnipropetrovsk for his service to the state at a critical time.


the destruction of the world order to which they are accustomed – are understandable.

The paradox is that Putin, casually flinging away the world chessboard, has awakened the West. Of course, if Western capitals had awoken earlier, perhaps there would be no Russian aggression in the Donbas. Consequently, the Russian system of autocracy would not have crossed the line, beyond which halting is already very difficult.

Yet the West has started to recover from the shock, forming a new doctrine of deterrence of the Russian Federation based on strengthening Europe’s eastern flank and pursuing military de-escalation in Ukraine. The first vector is reflected in increasing the defensive capabilities of the frontline states of Eastern Europe and the Baltic states through the restoration of the viability of NATO and the returnof a notable American presence in Europe. The second is in an attempt at diplomatic pressure and the imposition of sanctions to compel Moscow to stop (but not to return to the status quo ante).

At the same time, Ukraine is still in a grey zone of uncertainty. In Western capitals, not indifferent to the fate of Kiev, there is a hope that as the situation in the country stabilizes and real reforms are implemented, Ukraine will be drawn into the European orbit. But the truth is that, without support, the country still lies within the sphere of risks and threats.

Kiev has been promised the solidarity of NATO member countries; but they have still not decided on what the content of this solidarity will be. The Minsk package, in


of Transnistria (known in Russian as the ‘Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic’) lies on Ukraine’s southern border, between Ukraine and the small ex-Soviet Republic of Moldova. The product of a war in the early 1990s, Transnistria remains unrecognized by any UN member-country – including Russia – but is a de facto independent state with its own armed forces, president, parliament and cabinet of ministers. The district had perhaps over 600,000 inhabitants at the time of the USSR’s break-up, and while that number has decreased drastically, its population split roughly equally between ethnic Romanians (Moldovans), Russians and Ukrainians.

Transnistrian troops in formation (Photo: AFP/Natalia Kolesnikova)

A ceasefire was signed in July 1992 between the ex-Soviet Republic of Moldova and the self-declared PMR, leaving Transnistria with de facto independence from Moldova. The Operational Groupof Russian Forces (OGRV) – successor to the Russian (once Soviet) 14th Army once based in the Soviet Odessa Military District – remains in the enclave, now consisting of around 1,350 troops. An ‘official’ international peacekeeping force of Russian, Transnistrian and Moldovan troops serves as window-dressing for world consumption: peace is enforced on the Kremlin’s terms.

Transnistrian Coat of Arms

In terms of its political culture, Transnistria exists in a no-man’s land of extreme reverence for both the Soviet past and Russian imperial glory. Joseph Stalin is revered as a great man, while Russian Orthodox priests perform elaborate baptismal and other ceremonies in renovated churches. Statues of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin co-exist with those of the legendary Russian generalissimo and Count of the Holy Roman Empire, Alexander Suvorov, who defeated


the Turks and suppressed Poland in the late 18th century. Much as in Russia, patriotic nationalism with a heavy religious flavor melds with the images of the prison of nations.

This peace has become especially precarious in the period since a popular upheaval overthrew former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014. Russia’s annexation of Crimea and fomentation of armed separatism in eastern Ukraine has led to the worst relations between Moscow and Kyiv in nearly a century. Part of this has entailed Ukraine’s attempts to address potential border threats, including Transnistria. In addition to the military danger, Transnistria represents a source of unregulated cross-border trade, including arms and other contraband. When a territory is unrecognized by the international community, all its economic activity is deemed illegal, and allits international commerce as smuggling. Yet the old maxim of ‘no smoke without fire’ clearly applies to Transnistria: reports of trade that would be considered illegal even in Russia are too frequent to ignore. But Transnistria is not toothless, and the heightened economic isolation of the territory – a heavily armed sliver of land with no coastline – has given rise to a potential powder keg for the region.

In June, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko appointed former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili as the governor of Ukraine’s Odessa Region. In his short time as governor, Mr. Saakashvili has carried out several bold policy moves, including a purge of the regional administration. But, importantly, Saakashvili has also vowed to strengthen Ukrainian defenses along the border with Transnistria in an effort to


prevent both smuggling and possible military incursions. Odessa Region borders Transnistria along most of the latter’s length. At the same time, during his political career Mikheil Saakashvili has proven remarkably consistent in one aspect of his behavior: loudly and insultingly criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin. Some observers have suggested that Saakachvili’s incessant public insults motivated Putin to launch the 2008 invasion of Georgia that resulted in two separatist territories – Abkhazia and South Ossetia – gaining full recognition from the Kremlin.

Saakashvili’s geopolitical sense is borne of experience. He also evidently has a map in his head of the region in which he is currently holding public office. Reportedly, he wanted to be the governor of Odessa precisely because he perceived genuine threats to the region’s security. But heof the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR) have announced the mobilization of men aged 18 to 27 years. The corresponding decree of President Yevgeny Shevchuk, dated July 16, was made available on the portal of the PMR chief.

‘Called into the armed forces, border guards and internal troops are citizens (…) registered or obliged to register in military records and not serving in the reserves,’ says the document.

The decree applies to persons who have ‘lost their right to deferment of the call to military service, and also those subject to the call to military service and those being prosecuted for violation of the rules of military registration.’

Reports of worsening relations between Kyiv and Tiraspol have appeared periodically since the beginning of the year – in particular in connection with


Ukrainian troops conducting regular exercises on the border with Transnistria, said the head of the PMR in an April interview with the newspaper Kommersant. [Note: In the interview, from April 2015, Shevchuk claims that Transnistria is ‘not preparing to go to war with anyone.’ ~ Ed.]

In May 2015, the head of the State Border Service of Ukraine Viktor Nazarenko stated on the air on ‘Channel 5’ that a series of military threats emanated from the direction of Transnistrian.

Later, the head of the Odessa Regional State Administration Mikhail Saakashvili announced his intention to strengthen the border with the Transnistrian republic.

On June 11th, Kyiv sharply exacerbated the situation when President Poroshenko signed a number of laws denouncing agreements with Russia in the military sphere. The opportunity for the transit ofit failed to do in the USSR during the Soviet war in Afghanistan?

Western media and governments have long disseminated the conviction that Russian military units are active inside Ukraine, and indeed this seems incontrovertible in light of satellite imagery and other information, including first-hand testimony of military personnel captured within Ukraine’s borders. But the following story is from the Russian online newspaper Gazeta.Ru, which attempts to show both sides of the story by quoting representatives of the Russian Presidential Human Rights Council…

Several dozen contract soldiers from Military Unit № 22179, the 33rd Motorized Rifle Brigade (Maykop Intelligence Brigade), escaped from the training grounds in the Rostov region, fearing they would be sent to Ukraine. Criminal charges have been brought against them, and they face up to ten years


in prison for willful desertion. The soldiers and their relatives told Gazeta.Ru that they had been living in subhuman conditions, and that they had been urged by propagandists to go as volunteers to Donbas. Gazeta.Ru conducted its own investigation of the events.

Anatoly Kudrin

23-year-old soldier Anatoly Kudrin from the Maykop Intelligence Brigade [Maykop is the capital city of the Republic of Adygeya, in Russia’s Caucasus region – Ed.] has already been convicted for abandoning his post. He received a sentence of six months in a penal colony. Two other soldiers are in custody, and investigations of other contract soldiers who left their bases are ongoing. According to lawyers, the soldiers left the ‘Kadamovsky’ training ground in the Rostov region, fearing they would be sent to fight in the warin Donbas.

According to investigators, the contractors left the ‘Kadamovsky’ base ‘not wanting to endure the hardships of military service.’ Now, all these contractors – a few dozen people – are under investigation under Article 337 of the Criminal Code (‘Unauthorized Abandonment of Unit,’ carrying a sentence of up to five years in prison) and Article 338 of the Criminal Code (‘Desertion,’ carrying up to ten years).

‘I did not want to take part in the fighting on the territory of Ukraine.’

We are meeting with the mother of 20-year-old rocket launcher Ivan Shevkunov in a cafe in the center of Maykop. She is a short, very excited woman.

‘My son served as a conscript in Armenia in the Air Defense Forces. In July 2014, he returned and immediately wanted to continue