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On July 25, 2017 U.S. Customs and Border Protection provided testimony at a Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee hearing titled "Deter, Detect, and Interdict: Technology's Role in Securing the Border". The CBP witnesses were Mr. Dennis J. Michelini, Acting Executive Director of Operations, Air and Marine Operations, Mr. Todd C. Owens, Executive Assistant Commissioner, Office of Field Operations and Mr. Scott A. Luck, Acting Deputy Chief, U.S. Border Patrol. Also providing testimony was Ms. Rebecca Gambler, Director, Homeland Security and Justice, U.S. Government Accountability Office. Seen here is J. Luis Correa asking questions of the witnesses.
Photographer: Donna Burton
Edgar Michael Wilton
Died 27 April 1954, aged 52 years.
These images were taken by Peter Gatoff. They were indexed and uploaded to Flickr as part of the Lahav Jewish Heritage project (a project funded by a bequest to Newcastle City Council by the Lahav Marital Trust in memory of Ron and Kath Lahav).
TWAM reference: CE.JW/6 - a collection of 4 CDs containing photographs of headstones at Elswick, Hazlerigg, Heaton, North Shields, North Shields Reform, South Shields and Whitley Bay.
(Copyright) We're happy for you to share this digital image within the spirit of The Commons. Please cite 'Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums' when reusing. Certain restrictions on high quality reproductions and commercial use of the original physical version apply though; if you're unsure please email archives@twmuseums.org.uk.
Please give me your feedback, first response, and other constructive input. Also - which is better layout?
Thanks!
Goal:
Easter graphic - leading into series on Hope
Audience:
Community (will be reaching out with Easter Invites
Direction:
Using www.iamsecond.com as inspiration. Also - to avoid any "girly" easter stuff - and appeal to men more.
Project:
Series graphic, also to be used for banners, printed invite cards, and web landing page
Other important info:
This Easter - we're mixing things up a bit around here. The teaching will be based on John 20 - and will focus around hope coming out of hopelessness. Imagine the hopelessness Mary experienced as she approached the empty tomb and thought someone had taken Jesus' body, but the hope restored when Jesus revealed Himself to her... We've captured testimonies on video of times when individuals have been in hopeless circumstances. These will air - then the teaching will take place on how even when it seems as if all hope is gone - God is hard at work - behind the scenes waiting to offer hope... then the second video will air - the same peeps sharing the hope God provided in the situation. Our main songs will be "Rescue" and "Everything Rides On Hope Now". The best part - we'll be launching into a 7 part series on Easter - each week the teaching will focus on another video testimony. We'll be closing the series with live testimonies from the chair.
2 weeks into the series we'll add "What's your story of hope?" to the graphic - and will begin collecting stories of hope from the congregation.
Setsuko Thurlow and Yasuaki Yamashita moving testimony on the catastrophic consequences of nuclear weapons during the Second Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, Nayarit, 13-14 February, 2014.
Photo by Zita Guerra/ICAN
All black background.
Vert on water in base barry wavy proper a lymphad argent on a chief gules a cannon between two millrinds or(Widgery).
Baron`s coronet.
Supporters: Dexter, An owl proper. Sinister: A widgeon proper.
Crest: Rising from a rocky mount a widgeon proper in the beak a pair of scales or.
Mantling: Vert and argent.
Motto: God my guide.
For John, Baron Widgery of South Molton, Lord Chief Justice.
Died: 26 July 1981.
John Passmore Widgery, Baron Widgery, OBE, TD, QC, PC (24 July 1911 – 26 July 1981) was an English judge who served as Lord Chief Justice of England from 1971 to 1980. He is principally noted for presiding over the now discredited and superseded Widgery Tribunal on the events of Bloody Sunday
Widgery came from a North Devon family which had been living in South Molton for many generations. An ancestor had been a gaoler and his mother served as a magistrate. He attended Queen's College, Taunton, where he became head prefect.
He was admitted a solicitor in 1933 after serving as an articled clerk, but instead of going into practice, he joined Gibson and Welldon, a well-known firm of law tutors. He was an effective lecturer in the years leading up to World War II while he was also commissioned into the Royal Engineers (Territorial Army) in 1938, having joined as a sapper. As a searchlight officer, in 1940 he transferred to the Royal Artillery. Widgery participated in the Normandy landings. By the end of the war he had an OBE, the Croix de Guerre (France), and the Order of Leopold (Belgium), and had reached the rank of brigadier.
After demobilization Widgery changed to another branch of the legal profession as he was called to the bar by Lincoln's Inn in 1946. He gathered a reputation for being a fast talker, and eventually came to specialise in disputes over rating and town planning, where his methodical approach and self-control were useful attributes. In 1958 he was made a Queen's Counsel, the first such award given to a post-war barrister.
Widgery became a High Court judge in 1961. As a judge he did not draw attention to himself and his judgments tended not to include any comments which were pithy, memorable or quotable. However, his calmness produced judgments which were generally regarded as fair and humane. One example cited in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography was his justification for limiting damages for economic loss in Weller v Foot and Mouth Disease Research Institute, a judgment handed down in 1966. Widgery headed several inquiries during his term.
He received promotion to the Court of Appeal in 1968, but had barely got used to his new position when Lord Parker of Waddington (who had been Lord Chief Justice since 1958) announced his retirement. There was no obvious successor and Widgery was the most junior of the possible appointees. The Lord Chancellor, Lord Hailsham, chose Widgery largely on the basis of his administrative abilities. On 20 April 1971 he received a life peerage as Baron Widgery, of South Molton in the County of Devon.
Shortly after taking over, Widgery was handed the politically sensitive job of conducting an inquiry into the events of 30 January 1972 in Derry, where troops from the Parachute Regiment had killed 13 civil rights marchers, commonly referred to as Bloody Sunday (a 14th person died shortly after Widgery's appointment). Widgery was faced with testimony from the soldiers, who claimed they had been shot at, while the marchers insisted that no one from the march was armed. Widgery produced a report that took the army's side. Widgery put the main blame for the deaths on the march organisers for creating a dangerous situation where a confrontation was inevitable. His fiercest criticism of the Army was that the "firing bordered on the reckless"
The Widgery Report was accepted by the British government and Northern Irish Unionists but was immediately denounced by Nationalist politicians, and people in the Bogside and Creggan areas were reported to be disgusted by his findings. The British Government had acquired some goodwill because of its suspension of the Stormont Parliament, but that was said to have disappeared when Widgery's conclusions were published.[6] The grievance with Widgery's findings lingered and the issue remained live as the peace process advanced in the 1990s.
In January 1998, on the eve of the 26th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, Tony Blair announced a new inquiry, criticising the rushed process in which Widgery failed to take evidence from those wounded and did not personally read eyewitness accounts. The resulting Bloody Sunday Inquiry lasted 12 years before the Saville Report was published on 15 June 2010. It demolished the Widgery report, finding that soldiers lied about their actions and falsely claimed to have been attacked.
Prime Minister David Cameron, on behalf of the United Kingdom, formally apologised for the "unjustified and unjustifiable" events of Bloody Sunday. As a result of the Saville report, even observers who are natural supporters of the Army now regard Widgery as discredited: the conservative historian and commentator Max Hastings has described the Widgery report as "a shameless cover-up".Lord Chief Justice
Widgery also ruled on the Crossman diaries case when the government attempted to suppress the publication on the grounds of confidentiality. He made it clear during the case that he felt Crossman had "broken the rules," but ultimately refused to grant an injunction preventing publication. In criminal cases, Widgery became concerned by an increasing number of cases resting on weak identification evidence. He declared in 1974 that misidentification was "the most serious chink in our armour when we say British justice is the best in the world." In March 1976 Widgery dismissed the first appeal by the Birmingham Six in respect of the Birmingham pub bombings.
His later years in office were marred by persistent ill health and mental decline. In Private Eye it was claimed that "he sits hunched and scowling, squinting into his books from a range of three inches, his wig awry. He keeps up a muttered commentary of bad-tempered and irrelevant questions – 'What d'you say?', 'Speak up', 'Don't shout', 'Whipper-snapper', etc.". He resisted attempts to get him to resign until the last moment, in 1980. For at least 18 months previously he had not been in control of either his administrative work or his legal pronouncements, he would fall asleep in court, and it soon became apparent that he was suffering from dementia. He died two days after his 70th birthday, in 1981.
The hatchment was painted by Mr Peter Spurrier, then Portcullis Pursuivant Herald of Arms.
091316: Chief of the USBP, Mark A. Morgan testifies at his first hearing as United States Border Patrol Chief with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. His testimony was presented at the Cannon House Office building before the House Homeland Security Committee, Border and Maritme Security Subcommittee on interior checkpoints and defense-in-depth.
Photographer: Donna Burton
On June 27, 2017, Acting Executive Assistant Commissioner Robert Perez represented U.S. Customs and Border Protection by providing testimony before the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee speaking about "H.R. 2851, Stop the Importation and Trafficking of Synthetic Analogues Act of 2017". Also providing testimony were Acting Assistant Administrator, Demetra Ashley, DEA and Congressman John Katko of New York's 24th Congressional District.
Photographer: Donna Burton
SPENCE, FRANCIS STEPHENS, teacher, journalist, prohibitionist, and politician; b. 29 March 1850 in Donegal (Republic of Ireland), third son of Jacob Spence, a Methodist minister, and Elizabeth Stephens; m. 1 July 1879 Sara Violet Norris in Eglinton (Toronto), and they had two daughters; d. 8 March 1917 in Toronto.
One of 12 children, Frank Spence came to Upper Canada with his parents in 1861 and the family settled in Toronto. Jacob Spence, who had been involved in Ireland in the abstinence movement led by Father Theobald Mathew, immediately took up temperance work in Toronto and would become secretary of the Ontario Temperance and Prohibitory League. An ardent crusader, he spoke from platforms across Ontario, towing his children in his wake to rouse temperance sentiment. He also operated a printing-press in his home to turn out pamphlets, a task for which the children were conscripted as printers and writers. The message of these temperance pamphlets – that material and moral progress were two sides of the same coin – would become a guiding principle for both Frank and his younger brother Benjamin H.
After attending Toronto Normal School, Spence taught near Lundy’s Lane (Niagara Falls), in Prescott, and in Toronto, where he rose to become a headmaster. But his childhood commitment to reform and his experience in publishing led him to leave teaching in 1883 to take on the editorship of the Canada Citizen and Temperance Herald, a task he performed for six years. As well, between 1884 and 1889 he managed its parent firm, the Citizen Publishing Company of Toronto Limited. Spence later edited other prohibition journals, including the Camp Fire, the Vanguard, and the Ontario Good Templar, and in 1902 he founded the Pioneer, which would become the official organ of the temperance movement in Ontario in 1904.
Having identified himself as a reformer, Spence was attracted to the Liberal party, in which he played an active role both federally and provincially. However, it was only in the city politics of Toronto that he campaigned for office. A member of the public school board in 1887–88 and a vigorous opponent of Sunday streetcars as early as 1893, he first ran for an aldermanic seat in 1894. He served as an alderman in 1896–97, 1899–1900, 1902–5, and 1914; as acting mayor in 1911; as a controller in 1904–5, 1908, 1910–11, and 1915; and as chairman of the Toronto Harbour Trust in 1904–11 and a board member in 1911–14 of the Toronto Harbour Commissioners, which he had been instrumental in creating. He ran for mayor twice, in 1905 and 1911, but lost both times, in part because of his announced determination to reduce liquor licences in Toronto, even in defiance of public opinion. Spence also held executive positions in both the Ontario Municipal Association – he was a vice-president in 1910–11 – and the Union of American Municipalities.
As a municipal politician and administrator, Spence was in the reformist mainstream. He favoured female suffrage (his mother had been a prominent suffragist) and was sympathetic to unions and public ownership of hydroelectric power. Indeed, he has been credited with being one of five key figures in the founding of Ontario Hydro [see Sir Adam Beck*]. He also supported the playground movement, and was an advocate of city planning, especially in the development of Toronto Harbour. All of these reforms were, in his view, bound together as elements of a compound of material and moral or spiritual progress. Spence had the twin faiths characteristic of many reformers of his day, faith in reason and faith in God. Their union was reflected in his writings and speeches, which were marked by evangelical righteousness – enemies would call it self-righteousness – hammered home with the reason of efficiency backed by statistics. Speaking to the Canadian Club in 1908 on the subject of Toronto’s street railways, he linked public ownership, efficient operation, the prevention of graft, and moral development. “The city highways ought to be controlled by the city council,” he maintained. “There is a social cohesiveness in the co-operation of a community . . . for the common good. When the man is working for the community he is working for himself. It is thus we attain the ideal. Ours becomes a better city. Ours is a truer Christianity.” The crucial requirement for both material and moral progress, however, was the destruction of the liquor traffic, and it was to this requirement that Spence devoted most of his life.
The Dominion Alliance for the Total Suppression of the Liquor Traffic, with branches in every province, and the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union [see Letitia Creighton*] were the major voices of temperance sentiment in Canada. Spence had become secretary (and sole full-time worker) of the Alliance’s Ontario branch in 1884 and, by 1891, of the national body as well. In these positions, from which he would dominate the Alliance until 1907, Spence was the chief organizer and strategist for the prohibition campaign. Yet his political affiliations, to the Ontario Liberals in particular, caused difficulty for both him and the movement. Though publicly more sympathetic to prohibition than the Conservatives, the Liberal government of Oliver Mowat* was slow to produce legislation. When in 1893 Conservative mla George Frederick Marter* introduced a bill to bar the retail sale of liquor in Ontario, a bill which Spence and other prohibitionists supported, the government substituted for it a measure requiring a court ruling on provincial jurisdiction in the matter. Spence, a gradualist in reform, was prepared to accept piecemeal legislation and to work within the Liberal party to achieve it. Less patient activists, the so-called Advanced Prohibitionists, wanted full prohibition immediately and were increasingly distrustful of the Liberals’ plodding pace. Their distrust was heightened by the provincial plebiscite on prohibition held by Mowat’s government in 1894; they had wanted a prohibition law without such a referendum. Spence, however, persuaded the Ontario branch of the Dominion Alliance to participate in the plebiscite and he was named secretary-general of its campaign. Prohibitionists won the vote, but the hostility of the Advanced Prohibitionists proved justified when Mowat deferred legislation, again pleading uncertainty over his constitutional powers.
Prohibitionists had also been active at the federal level. Spence met frequently with government leaders to demand national prohibition. The Conservative government responded in 1892 by appointing a royal commission to investigate the liquor traffic. Though Spence regarded it, correctly, as a delaying tactic, he agreed to act for the Dominion Alliance as its representative during the hearings. Most of the commissioners were opposed to prohibition, a sentiment reflected in their report, which was presented in 1895. It argued against prohibition, advocating instead more stringent controls on the sale of alcohol. Spence, feeling that the report ignored substantial testimony in favour of prohibition, published a response to it in The facts of the case: a summary of the most important evidence and argument used in the report of the royal commission on the liquor traffic (Toronto, 1896).
In 1893 Spence had been a delegate to the convention of the federal Liberal party, where he pressed for the adoption of prohibition in its platform. However, he grudgingly accepted a motion calling for a national plebiscite on the question, reasoning, again from his gradualist position, that a plebiscite was better than nothing. The Dominion Alliance supported him in this decision and named him its secretary-general for the national campaign. Held in 1898, the plebiscite resulted in another victory for prohibition. Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier nevertheless declined to act on it since prohibitionists, though holding a majority among those voting, had only a minority of the full electorate and had suffered a defeat in Quebec. Disappointed and bitter over Quebec’s response, but not yet disenchanted with the Liberal party, Spence turned his attention once again to the provincial scene.
In 1899 George William Ross, a member of the Sons of Temperance and a vice-president of the Alliance’s Ontario branch, became Liberal premier of Ontario. In what seemed a vindication of Spence’s faith in the Liberals, a bill was passed in March 1902 that provided for prohibition. However, conditions were added: the bill had to be ratified in a referendum and ratification would require 214,000 votes in favour (representing a majority of the votes cast in the provincial general election of 1898).
Advanced Prohibitionists in the Ontario branch, led by the Reverend Samuel Dwight Chown*, staged a revolt over this requirement. They organized the Union Prohibition Committee (later the Temperance Legislation League) to run candidates in opposition to the Liberals in the provincial election of May 1902, before the referendum. Spence and the Alliance were able to defuse this revolt by permitting the prohibitionists in each riding to determine which candidate deserved their support and “whether or not it is desirable to bring out an independent candidate.” In the event, six such candidates ran but all were defeated. Third party movements would never again be a serious problem for Spence.
Prohibitionists carried the referendum in December, but they fell some 14,000 votes short of meeting Ross’s requirement, a shortfall Ross used to excuse his government from further action. The convention of the Ontario branch in 1903 stripped him of his vice-presidency, and Spence, at last, abandoned partisan politics to concentrate on winning prohibition gradually by fighting campaigns against the retail sale of liquor within municipal jurisdictions. These campaigns for local option gave the Ontario branch considerable political experience, but the financial cost was high. To meet it Spence induced Protestant clergymen to surrender their pulpits to branch speakers for at least one Sunday each year, with the collection to go to the branch. By 1911 proceeds from these “Field Days” had enabled it to build up a head-office staff of as many as 10 organizers and 30 clerical workers.
This local-option policy brought considerable success to the Ontario branch, with much of the province, especially the rural areas, voting to prohibit retail sales. An added gain was that the Conservatives, who defeated Ross in 1905, enforced liquor laws more effectively than had the Liberals and were cooperative in gradually restricting the issue of liquor licences [see Sir James Pliny Whitney].
In January 1907 Spence stepped down as secretary of the Ontario branch to be succeeded by his brother the Reverend Ben Spence. He was made honorary president of the branch, though his energies were far from being drained. He retained the managing editorship of the Pioneer and continued, in city council, to fight for a reduced number of liquor licences. In 1912 the Alliance’s Dominion Council elected him president and asked him to visit all the provinces “to strengthen the cause,” a job that would necessitate much travel.
When Spence had resigned in 1907, his gradualist strategy was making progress, with the prohibition movement seemingly freed from the Liberal party and the Ontario branch well staffed and funded. This situation, however, soon changed dramatically. By 1910 it was clear that most of those districts which had not adopted local option never would. Any further advance would have to come about through a provincial prohibition law. The Conservatives refused to act but the opposition Liberals, led by Newton Wesley Rowell* from 1911, came close with a policy of abolishing bars. By the provincial election of 1914, a combination of prohibitionist need and Liberal promise had effectively brought the Ontario branch back into the Liberal camp. Spence had taken the branch far in organization and funding, but, in terms of strategy, 1914 found it back at the impasse of 1894.
The stalemate was broken in 1915 when the campaign for prohibition gained enormous momentum as part of the war effort in Ontario. The movement of the Conservative government of William Howard Hearst* towards the enactment of prohibition in 1916 was strengthened in 1915 by a resolution of the Ontario branch, presented by Spence in March, and by the formation in October of the bipartisan Citizens’ Committee of One Hundred. Spence was not a member of this committee, possibly because of his resumption of work as a city controller and perhaps because his years of strong partisanship made him a liability. He was active, however, at the federal level, where a similar bipartisan approach was initiated in the form of the Dominion Prohibition Committee, organized in Ottawa in December 1916. Its “guiding spirit,” Spence prepared its manifesto and was part of the deputation that met with Prime Minister Sir Robert Laird Borden* in January.
Frank Spence died suddenly of pneumonia at his Toronto home in March 1917, just as his life’s-work was about to be completed. All provinces but Quebec had adopted provincial prohibition, and federal prohibition was imminent, thanks in part to prohibitionist support for the Union government formed later in 1917. Though the movement departed from Spence’s strategy, in its focus on bipartisan committees, the organizational base from which it worked had been built largely by Spence. Luckily, he was spared knowing that most of his achievement would soon vanish as one province after another opted for government control and sale of liquor.
On June 27, 2017, Acting Executive Assistant Commissioner Robert Perez represented U.S. Customs and Border Protection by providing testimony before the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee speaking about "H.R. 2851, Stop the Importation and Trafficking of Synthetic Analogues Act of 2017". Also providing testimony were Acting Assistant Administrator, Demetra Ashley, DEA and Congressman John Katko of New York's 24th Congressional District.
Photographer: Donna Burton
On July 25, 2017 U.S. Customs and Border Protection provided testimony at a Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee hearing titled "Deter, Detect, and Interdict: Technology's Role in Securing the Border". The CBP witnesses were Mr. Dennis J. Michelini, Acting Executive Director of Operations, Air and Marine Operations, Mr. Todd C. Owens, Executive Assistant Commissioner, Office of Field Operations and Mr. Scott A. Luck, Acting Deputy Chief, U.S. Border Patrol. Also providing testimony was Ms. Rebecca Gambler, Director, Homeland Security and Justice, U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Photographer: Donna Burton
Sicily.
Late spring break.
The Villa del Casale is one of the most luxurious of its kind and is famous for the richness and quality of its mosaics (4th century AD), which are recognized as the most beautiful in situ Roman mosaics. This mosaic treasure testifies to the lifestyle habits of the Roman ruling class and shows the mutual influences between cultures and exchanges in the ancient Mediterranean - between the Roman world and the North African area.
The villa is spread over 48 rooms (about 3500 square meters of surface) covered with mosaics in perfect condition, perhaps by African masters, which allow you to retrace the history of the greatest of the Empires, with scenes of daily life, the depictions of heroes and gods, hunting and game scenes.
The Villa del Casale therefore represents a fundamental testimony for the understanding of Roman life and civilization to which it offers us, thanks to the perfect conservation of the environments and mosaic representations, an inimitable fresco.
The Room of the Little Hunt is situated to the north of the Peristyle, between the Room of the Fishing Cupids, Room of the Seasons and the Guest room with geometric mosaic.
The composition consists of four rows, each split into two, three or five parts.
More info on this mosaic
sights.seindal.dk/italy/sicily/piazza-armerina/villa-roma...
On July 25, 2017 U.S. Customs and Border Protection provided testimony at a Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee hearing titled "Deter, Detect, and Interdict: Technology's Role in Securing the Border". The CBP witnesses were Mr. Dennis J. Michelini, Acting Executive Director of Operations, Air and Marine Operations, Mr. Todd C. Owens, Executive Assistant Commissioner, Office of Field Operations and Mr. Scott A. Luck, Acting Deputy Chief, U.S. Border Patrol. Also providing testimony was Ms. Rebecca Gambler, Director, Homeland Security and Justice, U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Photographer: Donna Burton
Lt. Governor Anthony Brown delivers Veterans Legislation testimony before the Education, Health, and Enviornmental Affairs Committee. by James W. Brown at Annapolis
Lt. Governor Anthony Brown delivers Veterans Legislation testimony before the Education, Health, and Enviornmental Affairs Committee. by James W. Brown at Annapolis
Disability Rights Protesters outside Atos Origin HQ, London U.K. 09/05/2011
To kick-off the National Claimants Against Benefit Cuts's "Week of Action Against ATOS Origin", Disability rights campaigners, trade unionists and students demonstrated today outside the London HQ of Atos Origin to protest against the punitive medical testing of those claiming disability and sickness benefits. The new Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) has replaced Incapacity Benefit. Today's protest was the first of many protests this week in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Manchester, Liverpool, Plymouth and Truro.
Speakers gave their often harrowing accounts of those who have had their lives devastated by this unfair process designed to accomodate the governments policy of slashing the Welfare budget by 20%. There are many reports of the terminally ill being declared fit for work only to die weeks later, and there was one testimony from one young woman whose disabled brother was left in so much distress after ATOS declared him fit for work (which he clearly wasn't) and having his benfits stopped that he hung himself.
Protesters are angry that in spite of well documented criticisms of the Work Capability Assessment by Professor Malcolm Harrington who was commissioned by the government to review the W.C.A. process, ATOS have again been awarded a £300 million contract by DWP to continue making these flawed assesments which have already ruined many disabled peoples' lives and has already led to several suicides. On appeal - which takes about a year, in which time people's lives can deteriorate massively - around 70% of ATOS Origin's deeply-flawed assessments by unsympathetic staff who are paid by results, are overturned, leaving us to wonder how much money is this actually saving, and what is the appeals process costing, and in the meanwhile how much profound harm is being done to disabled people, their carers and their families, all of whom are experiencing huge amounts of increased stress?
According to NHS Information Centre incidents of self-harm, attempted suicide and actual suicide have increased in recent years since the introduction of the Welfare Reform Programme 2007 and ATOS Origin Work Capability Assessment regime.
Even though the National Audit Office estimated that for the year 2009-2010 fraud costs 0.6% of DWP's budget - massively below the levels stated by Chancellor George Osborne in the Comprehensive Spending Review, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, added to the recent wave of media disability hatred by saying in the Sun newspaper on December 1st 2011 "We have managed to create a block of people in Britain who do not add anything to the greatness of this country..." and “They have become conditioned to be users of services, not providers of money. This is a huge part of the reason we have this massive deficit. We have had to borrow vast sums of money. We went on this inflated spending spree."
This truly offensive and unfair meme was immediately pounced upon and wielded by right-wing newspapers in the UK, especially the Daily Mail, the Telegraph and more recently the Daily Express, who have all mounted nasty editorial campaigns portraying the weakest, most vulnerable members of our society as nothing more than workshy scroungers. This vilification of the Disabled is rapidly turning back the clock on hard-fought-for Disability Rights, as these newspapers are tapping directly into the ready willingness of some people to physically intimidate and bully disabled people, especially those with mental impairments, and it is reported elsewhere that incidences of bullying against the disabled has increased.
For more information contact press liason Linda Burnip of Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) on +441926 842253 or +447714 927 533
All photos © 2011 Pete Riches
Do not reproduce or reblog my images without my permission.
William joined the navy as surgeon's mate about 1780. In Nov 1784 he went on 'Nautilus' as surgeon's mate when that ship was engaged in a survey of the Das Voltas region of west Africa (today Namibia), the government hopeful it might provide a satisfactory destination for the convicts then overcrowding British prisons.
On 21 Oct 1786 he made application to join the NSW venture, an application supported by his former Captain, Thomas Boulden Thompson. Admiral Lord Howe returned his application with a tart reminder that he would be considered in his turn.
He was, however, appointed assistant surgeon and made the voyage aboard the ship 'Alexander' with the First Fleet.
In April 1800 he was granted 550 acres in the Petersham district (now the suburb of Balmain); here with another 100 purchased acres, he cultivated 50 acres of land. He grazed 94 sheep, ten oxen, 40 goats, 55 hogs and three horses.
Balmain sold his grant of 500 acres, which covered nearly the whole of the present suburb, in 1801 to John Gilchirist for 5 shillings, probably as part of a business deal.
After an eight-year revolt against the Syrian Regime of Bashar Assad, a secret system of arbitrary arrests and abuse has been developed, sending hundreds of thousands into prisons. Nearly 128,000 Syrians have disappeared and are presumed to be either dead or still in custody.
The U.S. Mission is proud to have partnered with the EU Delegation on an event to focus attention on the dire situation of detainees, missing persons and their families and relatives in Syria, in particular women amongst them, who suffer the most grievous violations and abuse.
Opening Remarks by:
Ambassador Walter Stevens, Head of the EU Delegation to the United Nations in Geneva
Roger D. Carstens - United States Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.
Moderated by:
Meskerem Geset Techane, Chair of the Working Group on Discrimination against Women
Testimonies from:
Yasmeen Benshi is an activist and a human rights defender from Latakia and currently the Executive Director of Yasmeen Al Horyia Human Rights and Development, established 2016 in Turkey by a group of jurists and activists who survived prison. She spent a year in prison where she was subjected to torture.
Sema Nassar is a human rights defender, working on documenting violence against women, arbitrary arrest and enforced disappearance in Syria. She is the Executive Director and co-founder of “Urnammu for Justice and Human Rights”, and co-founder of the “WE” network, a framework to create a safe environment for WHRD in the MENA region.
Yasmeen Mohammed is a Syrian Kurdish activist from Afrin. She was detained in 2013 after a peaceful demonstration. She is currently a political refugee in Germany.
Dania Yacoub is a PhD candidate and a former political detainee. She is currently a refugee in Hamburg and Director of the Women and Children Association “Nastatiaa”.
Overcome lyrics taken from Revelation 12:10-12
Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”
Lt. Governor Anthony Brown delivers Veterans Legislation testimony before the Education, Health, and Enviornmental Affairs Committee. by James W. Brown at Annapolis
FORMER: Testimony of CBP Commissioner Alan D. Bersin and DHS Acting Inspector General & Deputy Inspector General Charles Edwards on June 9, 2011 at the Dirksen 342 building at 10 am before the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee. Subject: Border Corruption-Assessing Customs and Border Protection and the DHS Security Inspector General's Office collaboration in the fight to prevent corruption. Seen here Commissioner Bersin in press interview after testimony.
Stone Gate
Flickering candlelight, silent prayer and hope will greet you as you pass the Stone gate and wonder what this place is. The Stone Gate is the most significant oath site in Zagreb. Feel free to stop by, light a candle and pray for health, happiness, good luck and love.
History
When citizens of Gradec received the "Golden Bulla" in 1242. which proclaimed "a free royal city on Gradec, the hill of Zagreb", one of the hardest commitments was that they had to build strong walls around the city. They fulfilled that commitment and between 1242. and 1266. strong walls with several gates were erected. Some parts of the walls and the Stone Gate are the only parts preserved till today.
How the Gate used to look originally is unknown, the only thing that is known for sure is that they were made of stone in a city where wood was the main building material. The oldest document that describes the look of the gate dates back to 16th century: it was an open building with no roof, with a tower in the north-west and a bridge over the dike. It was roofed in 1555.
Other gates were: Mesnička Gate in the western part, Opatička or New Gate at the end of Opatička Street, the gate under Friar's Tower (also called "Frauentor" - Woman's Gate, due proximity to a convent), and small gate "Dverce" in the southern part.
The legend
History of Stone Gate is by far more interesting than any other. It is sure that Stone Gate exists since 1266. despite the first mention dates only back to 1492. In 17th and 18th century, Stone Gate was damaged in fires four times: 1645., 1674., 1706. and 1731. The city was mainly made out of wood and fires were a frequent occurrence. During the last fire (in 1731.), Stone Gate was damaged badly but one painting remained intact - the painting of Virgin Mary with baby Jesus. Widow Modlar, the owner of it built a chapel inside of Stone Gate where it still stands (named "The Virgin and Child"), guarded by an impressive baroque fence, built in 1778. by craftsman Ivan Korta from Zagreb. Author and age of the painting are unknown, but it is a common opinion among experts that it is a work of a talented native artist.
The painting shows Virgin Mary as a ruler with a sceptre in her left hand and baby Jesus in her right hand, while Jesus holds a small globe in his left hand. It was painted on linen, sized 57x47 cm. On the 200th anniversary of its miraculous preservation in the fire it was crowned with a golden crown.
Oath site
Long time ago, Virgin Mary of Stone Gate became the most significant oath site, where pious find comfort and hope, light candles as a token of gratitude or a prayer. Many citizens of Zagreb got their prayers answered to, and plates with engravings of gratitude stand as a testimony. During centuries you can hear people in Zagreb saying: "I'll light a candle in Stone Gate if Virgin Mary hears my prayer."
Such words are not a figure of speech, you can see it every day in Stone Gate, where citizens of Zagreb stop by, light candles and pray for health, happiness, good luck and love. Even in the times when praying publicly was forbidden, citizens of Zagreb continued visiting the Stone Gate, which testimonies the significance of the Gate in everyday life. On May 31st 1991., 260th anniversary was celebrated and archbishop cardinal Franjo Kuharic named Virgin Mary of Stone Gate the protector of Zagreb.
Kamera: Zenza Bronica SQ-Ai
Linse: Zenzanon PS 50mm
Film: Ilford Delta 100
Kjemi: Rodinal (1:25 / 9 min. @ 20°C)
1 April 2024: Very many quite significant events has happened during the last 24 hours:
1. Yesterday, Benjamin Netanyahu underwent a hernia operation under full sedation. Unfortunately, he is back on his feet again.
[ Source - AP News: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is to undergo hernia surgery (Publ. 31 March 2024) ]
2. Yesterday, after two weeks of heavy fighting around the Al-Shifa hospital, the IDF forces suddenly retreated. During their presence there, they carried out hundreds of extrajudicial executions. There is virtually nothing left of the hospital and it’s surrounding area. Close to 400 Palestinians have been killed inside the hospital or in the surrounding area. Horrendous scenes as the civilian population are digging up decomposing corpses of adults, babies and small children that the IDF has tried to conceal by bulldozing their bodies under the sand.
[ Source - Palestine Chronicle: Unveiling Horrors – Testimonies of Israeli Atrocities in Al-Shifa Medical Complex (Publ. 1 April 2024) ]
3. Yesterday, the Palestinian Authority provisional government was instated as the new PA government by palestinian Quisling president Mahmoud Abbas (b. 1935). The new PA prime minister is Mohammad Mustafa (b. 1954). As you may recall; one month ago the Shtayyeh government suddenly and unexpectedly resigned; paving the way for an obvious US-Israel plan to install the PA Israel-collaborators in Gaza. You should also recall that in the 2006 Palestine elections it was in fact Hamas who won and who therefore are the de facto legitimate government in Palestine.
[ Source - The New Arab: New Palestinian government (Publ. 1 April 2024) ]
4. Yesterday, PA troops were caught infiltrating Gaza by the united Palestinian resistance. The infiltration was two-pronged: One attempt was done in the North of Gaza, and another was done through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt; disguised as humanitarian aid security from the Egyptian Red Crescent Society. As you may recall; two weeks ago Yoav Gallant (b. 1958) and Yair Lapid (b. 1963) put forward that Majed Faraj (b. 1963), head of the Palestinian General Intelligence Service could be envisioned as a new governor of post-war Gaza. Faraj immediately started putting together a PA military force that would be deployed into southern Gaza.
[* Note: This whole scheme seems to be following an Israeli plan for a Palestinian state 'solution' referred to as the "Palestinian Emirates" or the "Eight-State Solution" consisting exclusively of the Gaza Strip and the cities of Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah, Jericho, Tulkarm, Qalqilya and 'the arab parts' of Hebron. These 'emirates' would be united in a sort of clan- and tribal confederation, and is a plan proposed in 2012 by Mordechai Kedar (b. 1952) - a man who has also said that the only thing that deters suicide bombers is if they know that their sister or their mother will be raped in the event that they are caught.]
[ Source - Palestine Chronicle: Involving the Shin Bet – Resistance Thwarts PA Intelligence Operation in Gaza (Publ. 1 April 2024) ]
5. Today, Israel’s national assembly Knesset passed a law to shut down Al Jazeera in Israel - the law also implies that any other foreign content from may be or become illegal for broadcasting in Israel. This shows the fascistic nature of the Zionist entity and is all the more a reason to follow news from Al Jazeera.
[ Source - Middle East Eye: Knesset passes law to close Al Jazeera office in Israel (Publ. 1 April 2024) ]
6. Today, we get to know that Israel has introduced a new and totally arbitrary terminology of ‘kill zones’. ‘Kill zones’, according to them, have ‘broad rules of engagement’ where anything that moves inside is a ‘legitimate target’. This is meant to legitimize all the killings for no apparent reason that we have seen IDF perpetrating against unarmed defenseless civilians.
[ Source - The New Arab: Israel created 'kill zones' in Gaza, targeting any civilian who enters them (Publ. 1 April 2024) ]
7. Today, Israel bombed the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria. This marks a sharp escalation in international affairs. In my opinion, Israel and Netanyahu seems to be trying to provoke the Iranians into retaliating and drawing USA into a larger regional war.
[Source - PBS: Israeli airstrike destroys Iran’s consulate in Damascus, occupants killed or wounded, Syria says (Publ. 1 April 2024)
8. Today, USA and Israel will hold a virtual meeting discussing Israel’s planned ground attack on Rafah. Obvously they will be discussing how they can get the corrupt PA collaborators to do their dirty work for them. Israel are not able to defeat the Palestinian resistance on their own, and USA will have 'no boots on the ground'. So - do the math. This just goes to show even more that the USA is not interested in peace at all, they are funding Israel, they are providing them with weapons, they are diplomatically protecting them in the UN and they are 100% complicit!
[Source - Axios: Scoop: U.S. and Israel set to hold a virtual meeting on Rafah Monday (Publ. 1 April 2024) ]
Let the Palestinians themselves choose their own government in free and open elections without any US or Israeli interference
Governor O'Malley Testifies on the Maryland Transportation Financing and Infrastructure Act of 2012. by Jay Baker at Annapolis, Maryland
en.godfootsteps.org/testimonies/the-never-quenching-life-...
Christian Testimonies | The Life Force That Can Never Be Extinguished
I am an ordinary person who lived a run-of-the-mill life. Like many who yearn for the light, I tried lots of ways to search for the true meaning of human existence, so that my life could have more meaning. In the end, all my efforts were in vain. But after I was fortunate enough to accept Almighty God’s work of the last days, miraculous changes occurred in my life. It brought more color to my life, and I came to understand that only God is the true Provider of people’s spirits and lives, and only God’s words contain the true meaning of human life. I was glad that I had finally found the right path in life. However, whilst performing my duty one day, I was illegally arrested and brutally tortured by the CCP government. Thereafter, I underwent a life experience that will forever be etched into my life’s journey …
One day in December 2011 at around 7 a.m., another church leader and I were carrying out inventory on church assets when more than ten police officers suddenly burst through the door. One of these evil police rushed up to us and shouted, “Don’t move!” Seeing what was happening, my head reeled. In my mind I thought, “This is bad—the church is going to lose a lot of assets.” Next, the evil police searched us like bandits carrying out a robbery. They also ransacked each room, turning them upside down in short order. In the end, they found some property belonging to the church, three bank cards, deposit receipts, computers, mobile phones, and so on. They confiscated all of them, then took me, the other church leader and two others to the police station.
…
During the ten days and nights in the hotel, they kept the handcuffs on me, making me squat on the ground holding my legs. Looking back on the time I spent under arrest, I spent nineteen days and nights in the police station and the hotel, and it was the protection of God’s love that had allowed me to nap a little. Besides that tiny nap, the evil police hadn’t let me sleep at all in all that time; I had only to shut my eyes for a moment and they’d do anything it took to keep me awake—whacking the table, fiercely kicking me, screaming at me, ordering me to run about, and so on. Each time I’d be startled, my heart would hammer in my chest, and my nerves would be shot. What with being kept awake in this way and the evil police’s frequent torture as well, my strength ended up severely depleted, my whole body was swollen and uncomfortable, and I started seeing everything in double vision. I’d know there were people in front of me talking, but the sound of their voices would seem as if it were coming from somewhere far away. What’s more, my reactions were becoming very slow. For me to have somehow made it through this was all thanks to God’s great power! As God said: “He causes man to be reborn, and enables him to tenaciously live out his every role. Thanks to His power and His inextinguishable life force, man has lived for generation after generation, throughout which the power of God’s life has been the mainstay of man’s existence, and for which God has paid a price that no ordinary man has ever paid. God’s life force can prevail over any power; moreover, it exceeds any power. His life is eternal, His power extraordinary, and His life force is not easily overwhelmed by any created being or enemy force” (“Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). In my heart, I gave sincere thanks and praise to God: “O God! You rule all things, Your deeds are inestimable, only You are almighty, You are the inextinguishable life force, and You are the wellspring of the living water for my life. In this special environment, I have beheld Your unique power and authority.” In the end, the evil police got no answers to their questions from me, and they sent me to the detention house.
On the way to the detention house, two policemen said to me, “You’ve done really well. You guys might be in the detention house, but you’re good people. There are all sorts there: drug dealers, murderers, prostitutes—you’ll see when you arrive.” “Since you know we’re good people, why do you arrest us? Doesn’t the government talk of freedom of religion?” I asked. “That’s the Communist Party lying to you. The Party gives us our livelihood, so we have to do what it says. We don’t hate you or have anything against you. We just arrested you because you believe in God,” one of the policemen said. Hearing this, I thought back over everything I’d experienced. I couldn’t help but recall the words of God: “Religious freedom? The legitimate rights and interests of citizens? They are all tricks for covering up sin!” (“Work and Entry (8)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words cut right to the heart of the matter, allowing me to truly see the true face of the CCP government and how it tries to gain kudos it does not deserve: On the surface, it flies the flag of religious freedom, but in secret it arrests, oppresses, and cruelly hurts those who believe in God up and down the country, in the vain hope of banning God’s work, and it even shamelessly plunders the church’s money, all of which lays bare its demonic substance that hates God and hates the truth.
Whilst in the detention house, there were times when I was weak and in pain. But God’s words kept inspiring me, giving me strength and faith, allowing me to understand that, although Satan had stripped me of the freedom of the flesh, my suffering had edified me, and had taught me to rely on God during the torture of these evil demons, allowed me to understand the true meaning of many truths and to see the preciousness of the truth, and it had increased my resolve and motivation to pursue the truth. I became willing to keep obeying God, and to experience all that God had arranged for me. As a result, when working in the detention house, I sang hymns and quietly thought of God’s love. I felt that my heart had come closer to God, and I no longer found the days so painful and distressing.
During this time, the evil police interrogated me many more times. I thanked God for guiding me in overcoming their torture time and time again. Afterward the evil police withdrew all the money from my three bank cards. Helplessly watching the church’s money being taken by the evil police broke my heart. My heart was filled with hate for this greedy, evil gang of demons, and I yearned for the kingdom of Christ to arrive soon. In the end, despite not having any proof, they sentenced me to a year and three months of reeducation through labor for “disrupting the public order.”
Through being brutally persecuted by the CCP government, I have truly tasted God’s love and salvation for me, I have come to appreciate God’s almightiness and sovereignty and His miraculous deeds, and I have beheld the authority and power of God’s words. Moreover, I have come to truly despise Satan. During that time of persecution, God’s words accompanied me through the distressing days and nights, they allowed me to see through Satan’s cunning schemes and they provided timely protection. God’s words made me strong and courageous, allowing me to overcome that savage torture time and time again. God’s words gave me strength and faith, and they gave me the courage to fight with Satan to the very end…. Thanks be to God! Almighty God is the truth, the way, and the life! I shall forever follow Almighty God to the very end!
Recommended: More Why Does God Put Us Through Trials - Learn God's will and find the path to gain salvation and enter the heavenly kingdom.
Image Source: The Church of Almighty God
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DPAC & UK Uncut hold ATOS Closing Ceremony - 31.08.2012
As the Grand Finale to a week-long national campaign of protests against French IT company ATOS Origin and its spinoff ATOS Healthcare which carries out the much-criticised Wirk Capability Assessments on behalf of the DWP, which has seen tens of thousands of severely sick and disabled people declared to be "Fit for Work" and thrown off their disability benefits, several hundred activists from DPAC (Disabled People Against Cuts), WinVisible, Disabled Activists' Network, UK Uncut, Right to Work Campaign, Unite the Union, the GMB Union, Occupy London and the National UNion of Students descended on ATOS' London headquarters to carry out what they had billed as the "ATOS Closing Ceremony" - a reference to ATOS' hugely derided sponsorship of the Paralympic Games which is, say the activists, an act of spectatular cynicism by a corporation which is currently contracted by the Cameron government to the tune of £100 million to conduct the much-feared medical assessments without any reference whatsoever to peoples' medical notes of histories.
For two hours the crowd chanted slogans, listened to oral testimonies from people whose lives have been badly affected by ATOS decisions, heard accounts of people driven into such despair by dealing with ATOS that they have comitted suicide, and also heard many accounts of seriously ill people thrown off their benefits by ATOS who have been forced to look for work - having been declared fit for work - and who have died shortly afterwards. The list of people irreperably harmed by ATOS' computer-driven tick-box assessment which cannot possibly take into account the huge range of physical and mental disabilities seems endless.
Following some dogged Freedom of Information requests by two Daily Mirror journalists earlier this year it is now known that an average of 32 sickness or disability benefit claimnants who have been thrown off their benefits by the DWP following an ATOS zero-point rating and placed in the Work-Related Activity Group or who have been put on Jobseeker's Allowance have died shortly afterwards. In many instances relatives of the deceased have claimed that the stress of being treated in such an inhumane way by ATOS contributed to their deaths.
During the protest at Triton Square the 500-strong crowd were entertained by a street theatre performance which saw a fraudulent "ATOS Miracle Cure" booth set up. The "ATOS Reverend" would lay hands on a disabled person and tell them that "by the power of ATOS you are no longer disabled", and sent them through the ATOS Miracle Cure arch, but sadly once through the arch the disabled people realised they had been tricked and they were still, of course, disabled... but worse was to come, as each disabled person was then confronted by an "ATOS Doctor" who stated that because they were now officially no longer disabled and were fit for work they could now be assigned to do their dream jobs, to which end the phoney doctor handed each person a sheet of paper on which was written "100 meter runner", "Bar Tender", "Mountain Climber" and other completely unsuitable job titles.
At around 2:30pm a section of the crowd took off and headed for Westminster where they picketed outside the Department for Work and Pensions, during which an over-agressive action by the police resulted in a disabled man's shoulder being broken as he was knocked off his wheelchair when police shoved protesters into him.
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en.easternlightning.org/faith-and-life/prayer-to-God-rid-...
Testimony of Passing Exams: Through Prayer, I Saw God’s Wonderful Deeds
Mar 18, 2019
But as the exam grew nearer day by day, I still felt rather anxious, and so I prayed to God and confided to Him all my difficulties and all the things I had to say in my heart. Afterward, I read these words of God: “Be quiet within Me, for I am your God, your only Redeemer. You must quiet your hearts at all times, live within Me; I am your rock, your backer. Have no other mind, but wholeheartedly lean on Me and I will certainly appear to you—I am your God!” (“Chapter 26” of Utterances of Christ in the Beginning). “It’s very simple now: Look upon Me with your heart and your spirit will immediately become strong, you will have a path to practice and I will guide your every step. My word shall be revealed to you at all times and in all places. No matter where or when, or how adverse the environment is, I will show you clearly and My heart shall be revealed to you if you look to Me with your heart; this way you will run down the road ahead and never lose your way” (“Chapter 13” of Utterances of Christ in the Beginning). “Yes indeed!” I thought. “There is nothing God cannot do, and everything is administered in God’s hands. With God as my backup, what is there to fear?” I thought of how I usually only said I believed in God and in His sovereignty, and yet I had no practical experience of God’s words. Because of this, whenever I encountered a real difficulty, I would feel anxious and worried, and I saw that my faith in God was so very small! Seeing as I was a believer in God, I should learn how to rely on God and look to God in all things—this was crucial, and it was the greatest wisdom. After I’d come to understand these things, I said prayers of obedience to God every day, and my heart grew calmer and calmer.
Image Source: The Church of Almighty God
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Read more:
The Transformation of an Only Child—Only Almighty God Can Save the Degenerate Youth of Today
The 18th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, Ronald L. Green, delivers his testimony on Capitol Hill, Washington D.C., Feb. 26, 2016. Alongside other Service Chiefs, Sgt. Maj. Green testifyied on quality of life issues within the military before the Committee on Appropriations, Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Subcommittee, U.S. House of Representatives. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Melissa Marnell, Office of the 18th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps/Released)