"Colts testify...prayer works"

"You praise God when you win, and you give him all the glory and the honor. But you praise him through the hard times as well and you thank him for the opportunities"

---Jeff Saturday, Colts center, on his belief in praying about success on the field. (taken from the Indianapolis Star January 27, 2007...article by Robert King)

day 07 365 days project...my computer has just shut off by itself, while I've been editing this image...am breathing in and out of a paperbag to try to calm down!

A visit to Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, Arizona is a must for all aircraft enthusiasts as this is the home of AMARC (Aircraft Maintenance And Regeneration Center). The aircraft re-cycling division of the USA forces. The great aircraft boneyard in the Arizona desert holds around 4400 airframes with a book value of $23.6BN . Large numbers of KC-135, Lockheed Orion, C-130 Hercules and F-16 Fighting Falcons are currently stored here (2020); but there are plenty of more interesting aircraft too. In some cases, like the Delta Dart and Canberra, just one example is in store. The Short Brothers C-23A Sherpa was a military development of the successful SD3-30 short-haul turboprop airliner, built in Belfast. The US army found it ideal for troop transport and light communications duties. Many have found homes in the secondary market, as the civil "N-" registrations on some of these stored examples testify to.

U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mark Morgan testifies before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs in a hearing entitled “Initial Observations of the New Leadership at the U.S. Border Patrol” in the Dirksen Senate Building in Washington, D.C., November 30, 2016. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Photo by Glenn Fawcett

Committee Chairman Senator Ron Johnson, right, and Senator Johm McCain confer as U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mark Morgan and U.S. Border Patrol Deputy Chief Carla Provost testify before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs in a hearing entitled “Initial Observations of the New Leadership at the U.S. Border Patrol” in the Dirksen Senate Building in Washington, D.C., November 30, 2016. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Photo by Glenn Fawcett

WASHINGTON (April 18, 2023) Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testifies before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on the Department of Homeland Security's budget request for Fiscal Year 24 at the Senate Dirksen Building in Washington, DC. (DHS photo by Tia Dufour)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivers his opening remarks before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on February 25, 2016, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., as he testified about the Obama Administration's 2017 federal budget proposal. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

Martin Chancey, executive secretary of the District of Columbia Communist Party, testifies before the House Fiscal Affairs Subcommittee March 28, 1941 on a proposal to increase by 50% the federal payment to the city.

Chancey testified in favor of the “Overton formula” that would increase the city’s real estate tax and put a special tax on the profits of “big business.”

The communist official said that the additional revenue was needed for jobless relief and more public schools. “Employables on relief rolls are not getting the proper aid,” he said.

However, some of the subcommittee members were more interested in attacking Chancey’s political views than considering his testimony.

“If this country doesn’t suit you, why don’t you move? Why don’t you go to Russian?” Rep. Sam M. Russell (D-TX) inquired.

Rep. F. Edward Hebert (D-LA) suggested that Chancey could not speak freely in the Soviet Union.

Chancey clapped back, “If I were in Russia I would not be in disagreement with the Soviet government.”

The Washington Post summarized some of Chancey’s testimony thus, “…the present war [between Germany, France and Great Britain] was promoted by munitions manufacturers, that the United States was already deeply involved in the war and that Earl Browder, convicted head of the Communist Party, had been ‘framed,’ and that the New Deal has deviated from its original objectives toward an imperialistic war.”

Browder had been charged, convicted and sentenced to four years in prison for passport fraud in retaliation for Browder’s support of the Hitler-Stalin pact of 1939. He served 14 months before being freed in 1943 as a wartime unity gesture after the U.S. overtly entered World War II.

Chancey continued, “If you fellows had it your way, we’d have a fascist government.”

Chancey headed the D.C. Communist Party during its period of greatest influence in the city, including a broad campaign against police brutality from 1936-41.

He oversaw the unionization of cafeteria and dry cleaning workers and carried out organizing at the Washington Navy Yard, Library of Congress and Bureau of Engraving, among other places. During his tenure, communists led the Washington Industrial Council, CIO and had significant influence in the cooks and laborer’s unions in the AFL, among others.

He was a prominent voice in the city, often quoted in the mainstream newspapers.

Prior to being assigned by the Communist Party to Washington, D.C., he was a communist organizer in New York and Ohio.

He entered the army in 1943 and resumed his Communist Party activities in Ohio upon his discharge in 1945.

He was charged and convicted of being a communist in a 3 1/2 month Smith Act trial in Cleveland in 1956 along with four other men and one woman. Four other alleged communists were acquitted at the time.

The specific charges included conspiring to teach and advocate violent overthrow of the U.S. government and having organized the Communist Party as a group for such purpose.

Chancey was sentenced to five years in prison. In 1958 a U.S. Court of Appeals sent the case back for possible retrial or dismissal based on an erroneous interpretation of the law. In 1959, Chancey was freed when the government dismissed the case.

In a statement before the court, the U.S. Attorney said, “The government has reappraised the evidence and has come to the conclusion that the evidence is insufficient to warrant a new trial. It reluctantly is compelled to ask for dismissal of the indictment.”

For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHskAr2KCx

Photo by Kellogg. The image is courtesy of the D.C. Public Library Washington Star Collection © Washington Post.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivers his opening remarks before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on February 25, 2016, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., as he testified about the Obama Administration's 2017 federal budget proposal. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mark Morgan testifies before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs in a hearing entitled “Initial Observations of the New Leadership at the U.S. Border Patrol” in the Dirksen Senate Building in Washington, D.C., November 30, 2016. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Photo by Glenn Fawcett

Governor Testifies on Marriage Equality. by Jay Baker at Annapolis, MD.

I just finished testifying at City Hall (that's councilwoman Gale Brewer in the arrow) and I am pretending to take notes as I am surreptitiously peeking my Tria 650's camera lens above the table. I was supposed to go last in this group of 3 but I just sat down right in front of the mic and grabbed it. Councilwoman Brewer said I had 2 MIN - when everyone else has had 10min! So I didn't get to say most of my notes - And the 30sec bell freaked me out.

I was the only person who testified as a consultant - not representing a non-profit or technology company. The group before me was Intel, IBM and etc. Everyone that testified pushed their own product/service - instead of giving them overall scope of the role technology is and can play in education. So I said my stuff - below is what I said and below that are my extended notes which I didn't get to.

I can't believe I even stayed to testify - the only reason I stayed is because I didn't feel that anyone talked about nyc youth in terms of civic participation. If that was addressed - I would've left. The woman from Apple brought up global citizenship - thank goddess! - but she flew in from Florida so a lot of nyc specific issues were left out.

MY ABBREVIATED TESTIMONY

HI AND THANK YOU - MY NAME IS TRICA WANG

I COME FROM THE PERSPECTIVE of someone WHO HAS WORKED AROUND THe WORLD - China and COMMUNITY - SOUTH BRONX - BED-STUY as a teacher and consultant in applying new technology to foster critical learning and civic participation.

ROLE OF EDUCATION IS TO CREATE CITIZENS WHO CAN NAVIGATE THE WORLD AND SOLVE PROBLEMS - that starts with solving problems in their own community.

WE HAVE A CRISIS IN EDUCATION!

youth are not engaged in civic participation and we are not encouraging youth to do so in a way that they can contextualize.

DIGITAL DIVIDE IS FAKE - IT's MADE UP = - THERE IS NO "LACK" of TECHNOLOGY in LOW-INCOME COMMUNITIES - YOU ARE ALL CRAZY (I didn't say that) - IT's RACIST and CLASSIST

THERE IS MORE DIGITAL CABLE SUBSCRIPTION In these "communities" then HIGH-SPEED BROADBAND INTERNET PENETRATION - this is problem

EVERY LOW-INCOME or IMMIGRANT YOUTH I WORK WITH IN the SOUTH BRONX HAS at least one and usually 2-3 of the following: cell phone, cell phone with camera, i-pod, mp3 player, cd-playerportable gaming devices, myspace accounts and blogs - THEY ARE VERY TECH SAVVY - WE JUST DONT'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THEIR INTELLECTUAL CURRENCY SO WE TELL THEM LEAVE LEAVE THE CELL PHONE /IPOD AT HOME.

WE are denying them of their intelligence and stuffing them with outdated text books.

FOR THE FIRST TIME WE HAVE TECHNOLOGY THAT IS SCALABLE DOWN TO THE INDIVIDUAL/ Previously only large government or commercial institutions could take advantage of this - but now individuals can create, share and access content so easily. The problem is not in eXPENSIVE EUIPMENT, the problem is in finding the right kind of technology experts who understand how to engage youth in technology from the perspective of critical thinking and civic participation. If we don't teach out youth to care about their world and to solve problems - then are in big trouble because other countries are (I did't say this last line but I wish I did! It would've been perfect!)

THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME SPEAK.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>EXTENDED NOTES<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

INTRODUCTION OF ME - Technology and Education Consultant

government agencies - NASA, United Nations

Cultural Institutions: Queens Museum of Arts,

Local Community Development Centers: Hunts Point, Bronx at The Point CD

NYC Dpt. of Education High Schools: Bedford Academy High School – Bed-Stuy

STORY of BED-STUY - Bed-Stuy media search story – versus Park Slope

-when youth googled Bed-Stuy, negative stuff showed up like CRACK - MURDER - DEATH - KILLING - RAPE - BLACK - UNEDUCATED

-when youth googled Park Slope (upper middle white gentrified ex-Puerto Rican neighborhood) down the block - positive showed up like TREES - BROWNSTONES - ART - CULTURE - CHILDREN - YOUT

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Representative Harold Rogers of Kentucky, before testifying about the Obama Administration's 2017 federal budget request before the panel's Foreign Operations Subcommittee on February 24, 2016, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

Louise testifies at a Ways & Means Human Resources Subcommittee hearing on October 23, 2013. Louise testified in strong support of a bill she has co-sponsored with Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN) that address the high rate of children in foster care being recruited into sex trafficking within the United States.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivers his opening remarks before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on February 25, 2016, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., as he testified about the Obama Administration's 2017 federal budget proposal. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken testifies before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on “The Biden Administration’s Priorities for U.S. Foreign Policy” in Washington, D.C. on March 10, 2021. [State Department photo by Freddie Everett/ Public Domain]

WASHINGTON - Assistant Secretary Alan Bersin, Chief Diplomatic Officer of Homeland Security, testifies on “Securing the Border: Understanding and Addressing the Root Causes

of Central American Migration to the United States”, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building

in Washington, D.C., March 25, 2015. During his testimony, Bersin addressed the issues of crime and violence and economic concerns as the causes primarily responsible for the recent rapid increase in migration to the United States by unaccompanied children. Official DHS photo by Jetta Disco.

Wild Rice, Horses and Pipelines by Winona LaDuke

Updated about a week ago

Wild Rice, Horses and Pipelines Winona LaDuke

Manoominike Giizis, it is the Wild Rice Making Moon. As the wild rice ripens in Northern Minnesota, a huge battle ground of tribal communities, landowners, the state of Minnesota and the largest pipeline company in the world begins. It is a clash of cultures, and pits money and oil against Native people and wild rice. In the next two weeks, public hearings, a wild rice harvest, a traditional spiritual horse ride and a canoe journey will make their way along the proposed route. “ The hearings will move the direction of the oil ,or where it is proposed to run, the horse ride and canoe journey will move against the current of the oil, in a third year of a spiritual journey for the wild rice and future generations.” Frank Bibeau , attorney for Honor the Earth explains . Honor the Earth’s Love Water not Oil campaign continues, this hear with the third annual Spiritual horse ride on August 25, including Anishinaabe tribal members as well as Lakota leaders from the Pine Ridge reservation who have been opposing the Keystone XL pipeline. They will be joined by other non Native allies on horse back and on canoe.

The Enbridge Company is proposing to move l. 4 million barrels of new oil across the best wild rice lakes in the world, in a new set of proposals involving up to 760,000 barrels per day of tar sands oil and 640,000 barrels per day of fracked oil from the Bakken fields.

This past week, the first hearing on the proposals was held in the Rice Lake community, one of the two most impacted native communities by the proposed Line 3 and Sandpiper routes. Forty or more tribal members testified, reaffirming what the state and pipeline company already know: The Ojibwe stand opposed to any oil pipelines crossing the reservation, or the l855 treaty area, and this position is supported by all the tribes in Minnesota, the Great Lakes and the National Congress of American Indians. The fact is, that every proposal to move tar sands or fracked oil has to run through Native people, and in Minnesota, this will be a problem.

At the same time as the Enbridge drama unfolds, the l855 Treaty Authority of the Ojibwe, notified Minnesota Governor Dayton of the tribal wild rice harvest in the 1855 treaty territory, informing him that tribal members would continue to harvest without any permits from the state. Archie LaRose, Chair of the Treaty Authority, pointed out the state’s mismanagement of the territory, and the most recent crash of the Mille Lacs walleye fishery, state proposals to gut sulfate standards, limit protection of wild rice lakes , and the PUC process on the four pipelines proposing to cross northern Minnesota and Ojibwe or Anishinaabe reservations and treaty territories. The state of Minnesota has promised to arrest Ojibwes for harvesting wild rice.

“ We find it ironic that the state of Minnesota would arrest and confiscate canoes and wild rice from Ojibwe people , yet refuses to protect this very rice from the pollutants of the mining and oil industry,” Frank Bibeau attorney for Honor the Earth and the l855 Treaty Commission told reporters. Tribal governments have been very frustrated with the state process, as the state PUC scrambles with four pipeline proposals and one proposal to abandon an aging line with some “structural anomalies”. A structural anomaly is what caused the Kalamazoo spill of 2010, and at least two more 50 year old lines (like the Line 5 under the Straits of Mackinaw) continue to concern most local residents. …Enbridge has gathered extensive integrity data on Line 3 throughout its years of operation. The integrity data shows a high number of integrity anomalies – specifically, corrosion and long seam cracking. Because of its integrity anomalies, Line 3 has experienced a number of failures during its more than 50-year history ( from Enbridge briefing notes).

After requesting government to government discussions, and being pushed aside by the state agency, Honor the Earth Executive Director Winona LaDuke, pointed out, “ This is 2015 not l889. Native people need to be treated as first class citizens not third class enemy combatents. ”In response to the state not releasing critical information, tribal governments held their own environmental impact hearings, with findings to be released by the Mille Lacs band in the upcoming month.

In the meantime, a spiritual horse ride and a canoe journey will be underway beginning in Rice Lake refuge on August 25, the same time as many environmental groups join together to protest at Department of State Representative John Kerry’s house, in particular, focused on one of these pipelines, the 880,000 barrels per day, Enbridge Alberta Clipper, which needs State Department action. The federal lawsuit on this case, White Earth Band of Ojibwe versus John Kerry will be heard in Federal Court in Minneapolis on September l0.

“The fact is that if a Canadian corporation can successfully secure eminent domain rights over the land of American farmers, we have a constitutional problem,” Bibeau said referring to the Enbridge Sandpiper case, and North Dakota farmer James Botsford’s attempt to avert the pipeline from his land. In terms of the Alberta Clipper case, the Tribe and a number of environmental organizations point out that the Enbridge Company is proceeding with moving oil, without an environmental impact statement.

The problem is large in scope , as Honor the Earth’s LaDuke testified at the hearing in Rice Lake, “The Enbridge Company … has wished to only account for the carbon used to power the transportation of the oil through the pipelines it is providing for the extreme extraction process.… We reject this suggestion as self serving and inaccurate. Responsibility for the total carbon footprint… would be required to be considered. It is as if we are saying that, those who operated the railroads to the gas chambers were not complicit in the Jewish Holocaust, but instead, only the SS which administered the gas, would be liable. That is preposterous. These pipelines constitute the railroad to the gas chambers of climate change…” Conservative estimates of carbon emissions from Line 3 and the Sandpiper, are calculated at 125,737,313 metric tons annually in the “well to wheels” impact. As Ojibwe wild ricer Dennis Jackson waited patiently for his time to testify at the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission hearing in Rice Lake, he listened to a lot of testimony and presentations. Every month, the story seems to get bigger, and the process more confusing.

Dennis was the 25th or so person to testify. He walked up to the front of the room with a cell phone and scrolled to a picture. The picture was Dennis’ 2013 harvest of 700 pounds of wild rice or manoomin from Rice Lake in his canoe. A canoe full of rice. That is a snapshot of this story, and the story of the wild rice. As Honor the Earth explained in testimony to the PUC, “…Let us be clear, this is the only place in the world where there are Anishinaabeg and this is the only place in the world where there is wild rice. We understand that, and fully intend to protect both ...”

Photos by littleredfeatherdesign.com for "Love Water Not Oil," tour. www.honorearth.org

No permission granted to use photos without permission, and must be credited to photographer and Honor the Earth.

WASHINGTON (April 18, 2023) Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testifies before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on the Department of Homeland Security's budget request for Fiscal Year 24 at the Senate Dirksen Building in Washington, DC. (DHS photo by Tia Dufour)

Originally the Intercession Cathedral (Mariä-Schutz-und-Fürbitte-Kirche) was Roman Catholic. It belonged to the Order of Trinitarians, and was built in classical style in 1821. As the history of the city of Vitebsk testifies, first there was a wooden church which foundation was laid in 1758.

In 1831 it was decided to close the Catholic Church and the monks who were there, were expelled from the city. A monk two-storey building accompanying the church, was later redesigned into a shelter for orphaned children. That was in 1840, but after ten years instead of the shelter a women's prison was opened.

All this time the church had been empty. It was only in 1858, when it was given to the Orthodox Church, the life returned here. Reconstruction had begun - and soon, the parish faced the temple instead of the Roman Catholic Church. However, it was decided not to change the basic architecture and the layout. By the way, the repairs were carried out on the donations of one of Vitebsk merchants. It was industrialist Gregory Volkovich. The reconstruction was completed in 1865 - and the Intercession Church bells sounded for the parishioners, now - the Cathedral.

In 1913 the church was rebuilt again in honor of the 300th anniversary of the Romanovs. During the reconstruction of the central part of the Intercession Cathedral a drum with a dome and two towers was built, and a triangular pediment became semicircular.

But in 1930 the Soviet power closed the Intercession Cathedral. Such an order related the other Vitebsk temples.

Since the beginning of World War II, during the German occupation, the bells of the Intercession Cathedral rang again, that was overjoyed by Orthodox believers.

And in August 1941 the church experienced one more important event: as Vitebsk history shows, the relics of Saint Euphrosyne of Polotsk were transferred here. They were here until 1943.

It's no secret that the war is ruthless. So the architecture of Vitebsk experienced difficult years of the war years, losing the original and unique works of art. It is not difficult to guess that the Intercession Cathedral also hurt: the towers and the roof were destroyed, the dome was abolished. By the way, after the war they did not fasten to recover the church, but there wasn`t an order about its demolition either. However, the time put everything in its place, slowly destroying the church and quietly wiping out the bright attraction of Vitebsk.

Although in 1980 the situation changed, and it was decided to demolish the Intercession Cathedral after all. And, in fact, the insidious plan was close to implementation, but people only managed to save the relics due to confluence of circumstances: first, alterations were obvious and, secondly, movement of intellectuals "Uzgorye" has played its significant role: the people rose to defend the church.

For the first time the matter was got off the ground in 1986 when the government made the final decision to rebuild the temple. The restoration was carried out according to architects Ratko and Lyadenko and ended in 1992. Although the first service at the Intercession Cathedral was held much earlier – on the feast of the Holy Virgin October 14, 1990.

Witebsk ist die wichtigste Industriestadt im Nordosten Weissrusslands. Am Zusammenfluß von Wisba und Düna (Dwina) liegt die alte Handelsmetrople.

Witebsk schaut auf eine über 1000jährige Geschichte zurück.

Als mittelalterliches Handelszentrum wechselte es mehrfach den Regenten. Die Stadt war litauisch, polnisch, russisch und wurde von Angehörigen vieler Nationen und Religionen bevölkert. Napoleon belagerte und zerstörte Witebsk; damit legte er 1812 den Grundstein für das katastrophale Ende seines Russlandfeldzuges.

In den beiden Weltkriegen wurde Witebsk wie so viele osteuropäische Städte fast vollständig zerstört und anschließend mühevoll wieder aufgebaut, wobei jedoch von der historischen Originalsubstanz nur wenig erhalten und überliefert wurde.

Lichtbild : Klaus Seidenfaden

Heute sieht es da so aus :

get.google.com/albumarchive/104992091075399512625/album/A...

Lt. Governor Testifies on P3 Legislation. by Jay Baker at Annapolis, Maryland

Testifies in US Congress

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken testifies before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on “Afghanistan 2001- 2021: Evaluating the Withdrawal and U.S. Policies – Part 1”, in Washington, DC, on September 13, 2021. [State Department Photo by Freddie Everett/ Public Domain]

Senator Ted Deutch Announces Candidacy For Congress

Deutch’s Proven Legislative Success and Ideally Situated Senate District Make Him a Formidable Candidate

October 15, 2009

Visit: www.TedForCongress.com

(Boca Raton) – Today, Florida State Senator Ted Deutch announced that he is a candidate for Congress in the 19th Congressional District. A special congressional election is expected to be scheduled in early 2010 for the seat that is being vacated in January by Congressman Robert Wexler.

During only his first term in the State Senate, Ted Deutch passed landmark legislation to ensure that the retirement funds of Florida’s workers do not support Iran’s illicit quest for nuclear weapons. Senator Deutch also passed legislation to protect healthcare for seniors and a bill that that will reduce smoking and fund nearly $1 billion in critical health care programs throughout Florida.

Senator Deutch’s senate district is ideally situated for a successful congressional campaign for the 19th District seat. Deutch already represents many more voters in the 19th District then any other elected official. In fact, Deutch currently represents almost half of the district’s voters. Wexler represented this senate district prior to his successful run for Congress. Also, like Deutch’s current state senate district, the 19th District is overwhelmingly located in Palm Beach County.

Senator Deutch issued the following statement regarding his run for Congress:

“It is with great excitement and humility that I announce my candidacy for Congress in Florida’s 19th Congressional District.

“This is a time of extraordinary challenges both at home and abroad. The economy is in crisis, with rising unemployment and skyrocketing foreclosures putting tremendous pressure on our families and seniors. Global concerns are at the forefront with U.S. troops on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq, the threat of terrorism, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and Israel’s essential need for security.

“Much like we face today, my father also lived in a time of extraordinary challenges. As a teenager, my father volunteered for World War II where he bravely fought at the Battle of the Bulge and won a purple heart. My father was the most patriotic man I ever met. He and my mother taught me when your nation faces challenges, you step up and you serve. It is for this reason that I am running for Congress - to continue this legacy of service and to give back to my community.

“I am running for Congress because I want to work hard every day to help solve the difficult challenges that the citizens of South Florida are currently facing. I will bring to Congress the same strong work ethic and common sense that I brought to Tallahassee. I am proud of the results that I have delivered in the Florida State Senate on education and seniors, health care, and through my successful efforts to ensure that the retirement funds of Florida’s workers do not support development of a nuclear weapons program in Iran or aid genocide in Darfur.

“My leadership and proven success as a State Senator is based on simple hard work and remembering that the people always come first. This is the same commitment that I will bring to Congress.”

About Senator Ted Deutch

Senator Ted Deutch is an accomplished legislator who has passed legislation on critical issues that have benefited seniors, public education, national security, and victims of the Holocaust. Deutch, 43, was elected to the Florida State Senate in November 2006. His state senate district is largely located in Palm Beach County and includes some portions of north Broward County.

Deutch received national recognition and testified before Congress for his successful legislative efforts ensuring that the retirement funds of Florida workers to not support Iran’s illicit quest for nuclear weapons or genocide in Darfur. In 2009, Senator Deutch passed legislation that will reduce youth smoking and fund up to $1 billion in critical health care programs in Florida, including $50 million per year in dedicated cancer research funding.

In the Senate, Deutch has also passed legislation protecting children, improving health care insurance for seniors, and, through his efforts, he helped secure a new senior center in Palm Beach County.

Ted’s commitment to public service earned him the prestigious Harry S Truman Scholarship and his civic and philanthropic work earned him the James and Marjorie Baer Leadership Award from the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County. He also has been honored for his efforts in the State Senate, most recently receiving the National Distinguished Advocacy Award from the American Cancer Society, and receiving the Florida Education Association’s Champion of Public Education Award.

A native of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Ted is the son of Jean Deutch and the late Bernard Deutch, who earned a Purple Heart serving his country during World War II. A graduate of the University of Michigan and the University of Michigan Law School, Ted is an attorney with the Florida law firm of Broad and Cassel. He currently lives in Boca Raton, Florida with his wife of 18 years, Jill, his 14 year-old daughters, Gabrielle and Serena and his 10 year-old son, Cole.

For more information visit www.tedforcongress.com

Columbia Professor Jeffrey Sachs testified at the UN Security Council on the Nord Stream Pipelines

youtu.be/OZyjFUXXGBA

Hindu Times: "US has no right to order ..." China shuts down Blinken's "Don't arm Russia" warning:

youtu.be/EOaGtm6YwTo

Hindu Times: China indirectly warns U.S. amid Russian war: "stop fueling fire in Ukraine":

youtu.be/-LrLXdn32Qg

____

The number of civilian casualties in Ukraine pales when compared to the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan:

watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/human/civilians/iraqi

IRAQI CIVILIANS

No one knows with certainty how many people have been killed and wounded in Iraq since the 2003 United States invasion. However, we know that between 275,000 and 306,000 civilians have died from direct war related violence caused by the U.S., its allies, the Iraqi military and police, and opposition forces from the time of the invasion through October 2019. The violent deaths of Iraqi civilians have occurred through aerial bombing, shelling, gunshots, suicide attacks, and fires started by bombing. Many civilians have also been injured.

watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/human/civilians/afghan

AFGHAN CIVILIANS

As of September 2021, more than 70,000 Afghan and Pakistani civilians are estimated to have died as a direct result of the war.

92% of the population faces some level of food insecurity and 3 million children are at risk of acute malnutrition. Some regions are currently facing famine. At least half the population is living on less than $1.90 per day.

www.jpost.com/international/article-732548

One year of war: Almost 300,000 estimated to be dead in Ukraine, Russia

Military losses are disputed, but it is widely agreed that the death toll has been monumental.

A grim milestone was set to be marked on Friday in the Russia-Ukraine War with the first anniversary of the Russian military’s invasion on February 24, 2022. High-end estimates of combined total military and civilian deaths are almost 300,000 casualties.

Russian and Ukrainian claims

Military losses are disputed, but it is widely agreed that the death toll has been monumental. The Ukrainian military claimed on Wednesday that over 145,000 Russian military personnel had been killed since the war's beginning. The White House claimed last Friday that 30,000 Wagner mercenaries had been killed in the war.

In January, Norwegian Chief of Defense Eirik Kristoffersen told Danish TV2 that Ukraine had lost around 100,000 fighters in the invasion. In November, US Joint Chief of Staff chairman Mark Milley estimated that each side had lost at least 100,000 soldiers.

On Wednesday, the Ukrainian Military claimed that since the war began that its forces had destroyed 3350 Russian tanks, 6593 armored vehicles, 2352 artillery pieces, 471 multiple launch rocket systems, 244 anti-air systems, 299 aircraft, 287 helicopters, 2029 drones, 18 warships, and 5215 other vehicles.

The Russian military said on Wednesday that since the beginning of the war it has destroyed 7,994 armored tanks and other armored vehicles, 4,189 artillery pieces, 1,038 MLRs, 405 anti-air systems, 387 aircraft, 210 helicopters, 3,222 drones and 8,501 other military vehicles.

The equipment losses claims by both militaries have been heavily disputed, with open-source intelligence groups documenting with visual verification putting the numbers significantly lower.

Prior to the invasion, Russia had amassed almost 200,000 soldiers on Ukraine’s borders. Following a September announcement of partial mobilization by Russian President Vladimir Putin, some 300,000 Russian reservists were pressed into duty, according to the Russian military. Ukrainian intelligence has warned ahead of a spring offensive that the Kremlin was set to draft between 300,000 and 500,000 more citizens. Russia has approximately 850,000 active duty troops. The CIA Fact Book estimated that as many as 50,000 Wagner mercenaries have been fighting in Ukraine.

Following a general mobilization announced by President Volodymyr Zelensky following the invasion, the CIA estimates that the Ukrainian military possesses 700,000 active personnel.

At least 8,006 Ukrainian civilians had been killed and 13,287 injured in the last 12 months, according to the UN Human Rights Commission, adding that the figure is likely much higher. The UK Defense Ministry noted on Tuesday that other analyses have put the figure at 16,000 civilians killed. The United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said that 90% of civilians had been killed by wide-area-of-effect explosives.

“These numbers, which we are publishing today, lay bare the loss and suffering inflicted on people since Russia’s armed attack began on 24 February last year; suffering I saw for myself first-hand when I visited Ukraine in December,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said.

“And our data are only the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “The toll on civilians is unbearable. Amid electricity and water shortages during the cold winter months, nearly 18 million people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Some 14 million people have been displaced from their homes.”

Civilian material loss has also been extensive. In October, the Kyiv School of Economics published a report claiming that the documented damage to buildings and infrastructure amounted to more than $127 billion as of September.

KSE estimated 135,800 destroyed buildings, among them 119,900 private homes and 15,700 apartment buildings. In August, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry estimated that 140,000 buildings had been destroyed, and 3.5 million people had been displaced or left homeless as a result.

Türk said in the OHCHR statement that "older people and people with disabilities have faced immense challenges, in some cases unable to reach bomb shelters or having to spend prolonged periods in basements in conditions affecting their health.”

The school’s report said that 978 medical facilities had also been destroyed.

The UK Defense Ministry noted on Tuesday that "Throughout January 2023, there was a very high intensity, and worsening trend, of damage being inflicted on both medical and educational facilities."

Some 1,270 schools and 786 kindergartens were destroyed in the war by September, the KSE report said.

“Students have seen their education halted or disrupted by attacks on educational facilities,” Türk said.

UNESCO said that by June 2022, some 152 cultural sites had also been destroyed, including 70 religious buildings. By September, the KSE put this figure at 775 cultural facilities and 80 religious buildings. The World Council of Churches on Wednesday claimed that at least 494 churches, synagogues and mosques had been destroyed, used by Russian soldiers as firing positions.

With a presumed spring and summer Russian offensive, these figures are set to rise even higher – with no end in sight.

With a presumed spring and summer Russian offensive, these figures are set to rise even higher -- with no end in sight.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, testifies during a House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology budget hearing, Wednesday, March 2, 2011 in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Lt. Governor Testifies on MHIP Legislation to the Senate Finance Committee. by Jay Baker at Annapolis, MD.

Governor and Lt. Governor Testify on the Gun Safety Bill. by Jay Baker at Annapolis, Maryland

Christopher Falcone (MPP ’14), Matthew Papadapoluos (MPP ’13), Erin Sullivan (MPP ’14), and Jessica Teng (MPP ’14) appeared in front of the House Commerce Committee to testify on House Bill (HB) 4996 which would allow equity crowdfunding in Michigan. The students have been working on this issue as part of their Applied Policy Seminar, taught by Professor Elisabeth Gerber. Their project has focused on the possibility of using crowdfunding to spur economic development in Michigan.

Kamera: Zenza Bronica SQ-Ai

Linse: Zenzanon PS 50mm

Film: Ilford Delta 100

Kjemi: Rodinal (1:25 / 9 min. @ 20°C)

+972 Magazine: ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza (Publ. 3 April 2024)

See also: Campaign to Stop Killer Robots

Richard Medhurst commentary: Israel's Killer Robot (Publ. 7 April 2024):

The Israelis are using a killer robot, AI, artificial intelligence, called Lavender. The code name is Lavender. And I want to read to you this exclusive from 972 magazine that contains interviews with Israelis who've used the system to target people in Gaza.

They're talking about it because it was written by the commander of an Israeli unit, and this unit - 8200 - it just so happens to be the one that is specialized in matters of cyber warfare, and so this book was written in 2021 and it's a proposal of having an AI system.

[* Note: This book was written by Lieutenant Colonel Yossi Sariel (b. 1978 in Haifa). As a 19-year-old in 1997 he was enlisted in the IDF's intelligence division. Sariel has a bachelor's degree in psychology and sociology, a bachelor's degree in Middle Eastern Studies from Bar-Ilan University and a Master's degree in Strategy, Security and Economics from the National Defense University in the USA.

In 2018 Sariel was awarded the 'Eliyahu Golomb Israel Security Award' for an 'Artificial Intelligence project' and an 'Anti-Terrorism project'. (Eliyahu Golomb (1893-1945) was a Zionist terrorist who was one of the founders of the Haganah and the Palmach).

Yossi Sariel was appointed commander of Unit 8200 in February 2021. In May 2021 he published 'The Human-Machine Team' under the pseudonym Brigadier General YS. His identity as the author of the book and the commander of Unit 8200 was revealed by British newspaper The Guardian on the 5th of April 2024 because through his book profile on Amazon he left "digital traces leading to a private Google account containing his name, along with a unique ID card and links to maps and the diary of the profile". Later it was also revealed that in earlier versions of the book Sariel's full name was mentioned. The IDF spokesperson replied in response to the publication [of Sariel's identity] that "the disclosure of the officer's details is a mistake".

Source - Hebrew Wikipedia: Yossi Shariel (b. 1978) ]

Well, it turns out it wasn't a proposal, because it actually exists and it's called Lavender. Such a machine, it turns out, actually exists. Okay, now let me read to you what they've written here.

This is the equivalent of a Terminator, make no mistake.

WASHINGTON (April 18, 2023) Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testifies before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on the Department of Homeland Security's budget request for Fiscal Year 24 at the Senate Dirksen Building in Washington, DC. (DHS photo by Tia Dufour)

Senate Subcommittee on Defense under the Committee on Appropriations hearing on Our Space Policy . GWU Elliott School Prof. Scott Pace testifies. , Washington DC. March 5, 2014 © Rick Reinhard 2014 email rick@rickreinhard.com

This gathering was in Winchester, Virginia. A reenactment that included every important leader. Here General McCleanen testifiies for the union. While Jefferson Davis (in white) the President of the Confederacy listens next to Honest Abe. You photographers should note the man in the straw hat. That's Mathew Brady the first important documentary photographer ever who's silver plates of the CIvil War testify to its grim reality.

Governor Testifies on Marriage Equality. by Jay Baker at Annapolis, MD.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack testifies before the House Agriculture Committee regarding the “State of the Rural Economy“ at the Longworth House Office Building in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Mar. 5, 2013. USDA Photo by Lance Cheung.

Governor and Lt. Governor Testify on the Gun Safety Bill. by Jay Baker at Annapolis, Maryland

A photographer takes a picture of U.S Secretary of State John Kerry as he settles into his seat on February 24, 2016, prior to testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Foreign Operations on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

Governor and Lt. Governor Testify on the Gun Safety Bill. by Jay Baker at Annapolis, Maryland

Governor Testifies on Marriage Equality. by Jay Baker at Annapolis, MD.

Greenpeace joins 300 Amazon Rainforest communities in a floating general assembly on the Jaraucu River to demand an end to forest destruction in the Verde Para Sempre Extractive Reserve. Boats gathered at the Jaraucu River, which is the main channel for the transport of illegal timber out of the reserve, to testify about the lack of governance in the region.

Washington D.C. (August 6, 2020) Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf testifies in front of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Henry Thomas, president of 3,000-member Laborers’ Local 74 and the Washington, D.C. Laborers’ District Council, testifies before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) December 6, 1950 where he testified about his communist actitivites and identifying other members of the Communist Party.

Thomas, appearing without an attorney, named five other Laborer’s Union members as members or former members of the Party. He had previously met secretly with committee investigators.

Roy Wood, D.C. Communist Party leader who would later be jailed under the Smith Act, called Thomas a “stool pigeon.”

Thomas also described the Communist Party organization in the District of Columbia identifying a high school branch, branches at Howard, American and George Washington Universities, a white collar branch and a secret branch.

He was in the largest, he testified, Unit No. 1 operating in midtown Washington, D.C. that spent most of its time organizing around issues of concern to black people, including police brutality.

Thomas testified he joined the Communist Party during the winder of 1937-38 and was active in the short-lived Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO) United Construction Workers that sought to organize the building trades along industrial lines.

Thomas came back the next day and provided the committee with more information, including the names of other people he said were Communist Party members.

Thomas was prominent in left-wing circles in the District of Columbia for approximately 12 years.

He was active in the campaign against police brutality in 1939-41.

He served 28 months in the U.S. Army during World War II and resumed his activities after his discharge in December 1945.

He worked to form a communist grouping within the AFL laborer’s union with three others. He then teamed up with Thomas Sampler, a rank-and-file activist who was seeking to oust mobsters from the union. Sampler later joined the Communist Party as well.

Thomas first won election as secretary treasurer and in 1948 the group was successful in ousting all of the old regime. The group resigned their Communist Party membership that year in order to sign the Taft-Harley non-communist affidavits. Thomas later testified that the group continued to meet with Communist Party leaders.

Laborers’ Local 74 was often among the sponsors of a number of civil rights and labor rights activities in the District of Columbia, including the Progressive Party and anti-police brutality events.

In June 1949 Thomas won a majority on the Laborer’s District Council to call a strike of all laborers’ locals in the area a day after union carpenters went on strike.

The month-long strike resulted in a wage increase, but set off an internal battle within the Laborer’s District Council between the left and right wings within the laborers that led to the investigations.

Thomas quickly broke with the Communist Party and without an attorney testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee about District of Columbia communist activities, naming names and describing party branches and activities. He also met privately with HUAC investigators.

Despite the controversy over his previous Communist Party membership, Thomas survived an attempt by the right-wing to oust him as president of Local 74 by eight votes.

In 1950 and 1952, the employers refused to meet with Thomas to negotiate contracts, but later relented after the laborers’ membership backed Thomas.

Thomas made some gains for the laborers, winning wage increases and establishing a comprehensive health plan.

Sampler, who had broken with Thomas and opposed him was later convicted of embezzlement of laborer’s funds and imprisoned where he died in jail.

Thomas later testified in the 1952 trial of Marie Richardson Harris, another District of Columbia alleged communist, who was convicted, in part, on Thomas’s testimony and sentenced to prison for failing to disclose her alleged communist affiliations on a government job application.

Thomas continued to serve as Local 74 president until 1955 when he was defeated 416-371. He went back to work as a laborer and periodically attempted to regain union office, unsuccessfully teaming up with activists of the 60s and 70s—often denying he had betrayed his left wing friends of the 1930s and 40s.

For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsk72YVXD

The photographer is unknown. The image is courtesy of the D.C. Public Library Washington Star Collection © Washington Post.

The Postcard

A postally unused postcard published by H.B.

Dunster

Dunster is a village within the English county of Somerset, just within the north-eastern boundary of the Exmoor National Park. The United Kingdom Census of 2011 recorded a parish population of 817.

Iron Age hillforts testify to occupation of the area for thousands of years. The village grew up around Dunster Castle which was built on the Tor by the Norman warrior William I de Moyon shortly after the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Castle is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.

The Castle was remodelled on several occasions by the Luttrell family who were lords of the manor from the 14th. to the 20th. centuries.

The Benedictine Dunster Priory was established in about 1100. The Priory Church of St George, dovecote and tithe barn are all relics from the Priory.

The village became a centre for wool and cloth production and trade, of which the Yarn Market, built by George Luttrell (d. 1629), is a relic.

There existed formerly a harbour, known as Dunster Haven, at the mouth of the River Avill, yet today the coast having receded is now about 0.5 miles (0.8 km) from the village, and no sign of the harbour can be seen on the low lying marshes between the village and the coast.

Dunster Castle

At the end of the 14th. century the de Mohuns sold the castle to the Luttrell family, who continued to occupy the property until the late 20th. century. During the English Civil War, Dunster was initially held as a garrison for the Royalists. It fell to the Parliamentarians in 1645, and orders were sent out for the castle to be demolished. However, these orders were not carried out, and the castle remained the garrison for Parliamentarian troops until 1650.

Major alterations to the castle were undertaken by Henry Fownes Luttrell who had acquired it through marriage to Margaret Fownes-Luttrell in 1747. Following the death of Alexander Luttrell in 1944, the family was unable to afford the death duties on his estate.

The castle and surrounding lands were sold off to a property firm, the family continuing to live in the castle as tenants. The Luttrells bought back the castle in 1954, but in 1976 Colonel Walter Luttrell gave Dunster Castle and most of its contents to the National Trust, which operates it as a tourist attraction. It is a Grade I listed building and scheduled monument.

Dunster Priory was established as a Benedictine monastery around 1100. The first church in Dunster was built by William de Mohun who gave the church and the tithes of several manors and two fisheries, to the Benedictine Abbey at Bath. The priory, which was situated just north of the church, became a cell of the abbey.

The church was shared for worship by the monks and the parishioners, however this led to several conflicts between them. One outcome was the carved rood screen which divided the church in two, with the parish using the west chancel and the monks the east.

The priory church is now in parochial use as the Priory Church of St George. It still contains 12th. and 13th. century work, although most of the current building dates from the 15th. century. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building.

In 1346 Cleeve Abbey built a nunnery in Dunster, but it was never inhabited by nuns, and was used as a guest house.

Gallox Bridge

Dunster had become a centre for woollen and clothing production by the 13th. century, with the market dating back to at least 1222, and a particular kind of kersey or broadcloth became known as 'Dunsters'.

The prosperity of Dunster was based on the wool trade, with profits helping to pay for the construction of the tower of the Priory Church of St. George, and to provide other amenities. The 15th. century Gallox Bridge was one of the main routes over the River Avill on the southern outskirts. The market was held in "The Shambles". However these shops were demolished in 1825, and now only the Yarn Market remains.

Dunster in WWII

During the Second World War, considerable defences were built along the coast as a part of British anti-invasion preparations, though the north coast of Somerset was an unlikely invasion site. Some of the structures remain to this day. Most notable are the pillboxes on the foreshore of Dunster Beach.

These are strong buildings made from pebbles taken from the beach and bonded together with concrete. From these, soldiers could have held their ground if the Germans had ever invaded.

Beach Huts

The beach site has a number of privately owned beach huts (or chalets as some owners call them) along with a small shop, a tennis court and a putting green. The chalets, measuring 18 by 14 feet (5.5 by 4.3 m), can be let out for holidays; some owners live in them all the year round.

Dunster Culture

Dunster was the birthplace of the song "All Things Bright and Beautiful" when Cecil Alexander was staying with Mary Martin, the daughter of one of the owners of Martins Bank.

The nearby hill, Grabbist, was originally heather-covered before its re-forestation, and was described as the "Purple-headed mountain".

On the evening of the 1st. May each year, the Minehead Hobby Horse visits Dunster and is received at the Castle. A local newspaper that was printed in May 1863 records:

"The origin professes to be in commemoration

of the wreck of a vessel at Minehead in remote

times, or the advent of a sort of phantom ship

which entered the harbour without Captain or

crew.

Once the custom was encouraged, but now is

much neglected, and perhaps soon will fall into

desuetude."

Another conjecture about its origin is that the hobby horse was the ancient King of the May. The Hobby Horse tradition begins with the waking of the inhabitants of Minehead by the beating of a loud drum. The hobby horse dances its way about the town and on to Dunster Castle.

Annually on the third Friday in August the village hosts the Dunster Show where local businesses and producers come together to showcase what Exmoor and West Somerset have to offer. A major part of the show is the showing of livestock, especially horses, cattle and sheep.

A more recent tradition (started in 1987) is Dunster by Candlelight which takes place every year on the first Friday and Saturday in December when this remarkably preserved medieval village turns its back on the present and lights its streets with candles.

To mark the beginning of the festival on Friday at 5 pm, there is the Lantern Lighting Procession that starts on the Steep and continues through the village until all the lanterns in the streets have been lit. The procession of children and their families is accompanied by colourful stilt walkers in costumes who put up the lanterns.

The old English Christmas tradition of burning the Ashen faggot takes place at the Luttrell Arms hotel every Christmas Eve. The pub was formerly a guest house for the Abbots of Cleeve; its oldest section dates from 1443.

The Dunster Yarn Market

The 17th. century Yarn Market is a market cross which was probably built in 1609 by the Luttrell family who were the local lords of the manor in order to maintain the importance of the village as a market, particularly for wool and cloth.

The Yarn Market is an octagonal building constructed around a central pier. The building contains a hole in one of the roof beams, a result of cannon fire in the Civil War. A bell at the top was rung to indicate the start of trading.

The Dunster Dovecote

The Dovecote was probably built in the late 16th. century. It has been designated as a Grade II* listed building and Scheduled Ancient Monument. It is approximately 19 feet (5.8 m) high and 19 feet (5.8 m) in diameter, with walls around 4 feet (1.2 m) thick.[81]

In the 18th. century the floor level and door were raised among several major alterations. The lower tiers of nest holes were blocked to protect against brown rats which had arrived in the Britain in 1720 and had reached Somerset by 1760.

A revolving ladder, known as a "potence", was installed to allow the pigeon keeper to search the nest holes more easily. In the 19th. century two feeding platforms were added to the axis of the revolving ladder.

When the ladder was installed in the 16th. century the base rested on a pin driven into a beam on the floor. The head of the pin sits in a metal cup in the base of the wooden pillar, which means the mechanism has never had to be oiled. When the Dunster Castle estate was sold, the dovecote was bought by the Parochial church council and opened to the public. Extensive repairs were undertaken in 1989.

The Dunster Tithe Barn

The Tithe Barn was originally part of the Benedictine Priory. It has been much altered since the 14th. century, and only a limited amount of the original features survive.

In the "Valor Ecclesiasticus" of 1535, the net annual income of the Dunster Tithe Barn is recorded as being £37. 4s. 8d (£37.23p), with £6. 13s. 7d (£6.68p) being passed on to the priory in Bath. The Somerset Buildings Preservation Trust has co-ordinated a £550,000 renovation project, turning the barn into a multi-purpose community hall under a 99-year lease at a pepper-corn rent, by the Crown Estate Commissioners who own the building.

Conygar Tower

Conygar Tower is a folly used as a landmark for shipping. It is at the top of Conygar Hill, and overlooks the village. It is a circular, 3 storey tower built of red sandstone. It was commissioned by Henry Luttrell and designed by Richard Phelps, and stands about 18 metres (59 ft) high so that it can be seen from Dunster Castle on the opposite hillside.

There is no evidence that it ever had floors or a roof. It has no strategic or military significance. The name Conygar comes from two medieval words Coney meaning rabbit and Garth meaning garden, indicating that it was once a warren where rabbits were bred for food. In 1997 a survey carried out by The Crown Estate identified cracks in the walls which were repaired in 2000.

Dunster Doll Museum

Dunster Doll Museum houses a collection of more than 800 dolls from around the world, based on the collection of the late Mollie Hardwick, who died in 1970 and donated her collection to the village memorial hall committee.

Established in 1971, the collection includes a display of British and foreign dolls in various costumes. Thirty-two of the dolls were stolen during a burglary in 1992 and have never been recovered.

Governor Charlie Baker testifies at the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission’s 10th annual Health Care Cost Trends Hearing at Suffolk University Law School in Boston on Nov. 2, 2022. [Joshua Qualls/Governor's Press Office]

Lt. Governor Testifies on MHIP Legislation to the Senate Finance Committee. by Jay Baker at Annapolis, MD.

Oregon Trucking Association President Jana Jarvis (left) and Oregon Environmental Council Deputy Director Chris Hagerbaumer present to the OTC.

Governor and Lt. Governor Testify on the Gun Safety Bill. by Jay Baker at Annapolis, Maryland

An anonymous worker testifies to the fear and intimidation organized workers face on the job at a hearing organized by the Milwaukee County Labor Council. The screen was used to protect the identities of workers who were concerned that speaking out could cost them their jobs. This worker was a pilot who told a story about a lifetime pilot for the "hometown" airline who experienced a hostile atmosphere for organizing. The pilot was eventually fired, but thanks to a fight by the pilot's union he was able to get his job back and is still flying today.

Raimund Stillfried von Rathenitz (1839 - 1911)

Chinesischer Bettler - Chinese Beggar, 1876

Albuminpapier, Albumen print

Albertina, GLV

Officer Raimund Baron Stillfried von Rathenitz moved to Japan in 1868 and opened a photographic studio in Yokohama in 1871. His first pictures of the city and surrounding scenery, which were intended for a local clientele, testify to the feeling for composition and spatial effects he ad acquired during his training as a painter. His later staged studio photographs of people in traditional costumes were mainly aimed at the increasing number of tourists and informed the visual perception of the country in Europe. After his returm to Vienna, the Imperial and Royal Ministry of the Interior commissioned him to document various crown estates in photographs from 1885 on. His snapshot-like street views, markedly different from the static photograhs taken in Asia, were made possible by the development of photographic apparatuses and materials: the cameras were becoming smaller and lighter, the negatives more light-sensitive.

The Albertina

The architectural history of the Palais

(Pictures you can see by clicking on the link at the end of page!)

Image: The oldest photographic view of the newly designed Palais Archduke Albrecht, 1869

"It is my will that ​​the expansion of the inner city of Vienna with regard to a suitable connection of the same with the suburbs as soon as possible is tackled and at this on Regulirung (regulation) and beautifying of my Residence and Imperial Capital is taken into account. To this end I grant the withdrawal of the ramparts and fortifications of the inner city and the trenches around the same".

This decree of Emperor Franz Joseph I, published on 25 December 1857 in the Wiener Zeitung, formed the basis for the largest the surface concerning and architecturally most significant transformation of the Viennese cityscape. Involving several renowned domestic and foreign architects a "master plan" took form, which included the construction of a boulevard instead of the ramparts between the inner city and its radially upstream suburbs. In the 50-years during implementation phase, an impressive architectural ensemble developed, consisting of imperial and private representational buildings, public administration and cultural buildings, churches and barracks, marking the era under the term "ring-street style". Already in the first year tithe decided a senior member of the Austrian imperial family to decorate the facades of his palace according to the new design principles, and thus certified the aristocratic claim that this also "historicism" said style on the part of the imperial house was attributed.

Image: The Old Albertina after 1920

It was the palace of Archduke Albrecht (1817-1895), the Senior of the Habsburg Family Council, who as Field Marshal held the overall command over the Austro-Hungarian army. The building was incorporated into the imperial residence of the Hofburg complex, forming the south-west corner and extending eleven meters above street level on the so-called Augustinerbastei.

The close proximity of the palace to the imperial residence corresponded not only with Emperor Franz Joseph I and Archduke Albert with a close familial relationship between the owner of the palace and the monarch. Even the former inhabitants were always in close relationship to the imperial family, whether by birth or marriage. An exception here again proves the rule: Don Emanuel Teles da Silva Conde Tarouca (1696-1771), for which Maria Theresa in 1744 the palace had built, was just a close friend and advisor of the monarch. Silva Tarouca underpins the rule with a second exception, because he belonged to the administrative services as Generalhofbaudirektor (general court architect) and President of the Austrian-Dutch administration, while all other him subsequent owners were highest ranking military.

In the annals of Austrian history, especially those of military history, they either went into as commander of the Imperial Army, or the Austrian, later kk Army. In chronological order, this applies to Duke Carl Alexander of Lorraine, the brother-of-law of Maria Theresa, as Imperial Marshal, her son-in-law Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen, also field marshal, whos adopted son, Archduke Charles of Austria, the last imperial field marshal and only Generalissimo of Austria, his son Archduke Albrecht of Austria as Feldmarschalil and army Supreme commander, and most recently his nephew Archduke Friedrich of Austria, who held as field marshal from 1914 to 1916 the command of the Austro-Hungarian troops. Despite their military profession, all five generals conceived themselves as patrons of the arts and promoted large sums of money to build large collections, the construction of magnificent buildings and cultural life. Charles Alexander of Lorraine promoted as governor of the Austrian Netherlands from 1741 to 1780 the Academy of Fine Arts, the Théâtre de Ja Monnaie and the companies Bourgeois Concert and Concert Noble, he founded the Academie royale et imperial des Sciences et des Lettres, opened the Bibliotheque Royal for the population and supported artistic talents with high scholarships. World fame got his porcelain collection, which however had to be sold by Emperor Joseph II to pay off his debts. Duke Albert began in 1776 according to the concept of conte Durazzo to set up an encyclopedic collection of prints, which forms the core of the world-famous "Albertina" today.

Image : Duke Albert and Archduchess Marie Christine show in family cercle the from Italy brought along art, 1776. Frederick Henry Füger.

1816 declared to Fideikommiss and thus in future indivisible, inalienable and inseparable, the collection 1822 passed into the possession of Archduke Carl, who, like his descendants, it broadened. Under him, the collection was introduced together with the sumptuously equipped palace on the Augustinerbastei in the so-called "Carl Ludwig'schen fideicommissum in 1826, by which the building and the in it kept collection fused into an indissoluble unity. At this time had from the Palais Tarouca by structural expansion or acquisition a veritable Residenz palace evolved. Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen was first in 1800 the third floor of the adjacent Augustinian convent wing adapted to house his collection and he had after 1802 by his Belgian architect Louis de Montoyer at the suburban side built a magnificent extension, called the wing of staterooms, it was equipped in the style of Louis XVI. Only two decades later, Archduke Carl the entire palace newly set up. According to scetches of the architect Joseph Kornhäusel the 1822-1825 retreaded premises presented themselves in the Empire style. The interior of the palace testified from now in an impressive way the high rank and the prominent position of its owner. Under Archduke Albrecht the outer appearance also should meet the requirements. He had the facade of the palace in the style of historicism orchestrated and added to the Palais front against the suburbs an offshore covered access. Inside, he limited himself, apart from the redesign of the Rococo room in the manner of the second Blondel style, to the retention of the paternal stock. Archduke Friedrich's plans for an expansion of the palace were omitted, however, because of the outbreak of the First World War so that his contribution to the state rooms, especially, consists in the layout of the Spanish apartment, which he in 1895 for his sister, the Queen of Spain Maria Christina, had set up as a permanent residence.

Picture: The "audience room" after the restoration: Picture: The "balcony room" around 1990

The era of stately representation with handing down their cultural values ​​found its most obvious visualization inside the palace through the design and features of the staterooms. On one hand, by the use of the finest materials and the purchase of masterfully manufactured pieces of equipment, such as on the other hand by the permanent reuse of older equipment parts. This period lasted until 1919, when Archduke Friedrich was expropriated by the newly founded Republic of Austria. With the republicanization of the collection and the building first of all finished the tradition that the owner's name was synonymous with the building name:

After Palais Tarouca or tarokkisches house it was called Lorraine House, afterwards Duke Albert Palais and Palais Archduke Carl. Due to the new construction of an adjacently located administration building it received in 1865 the prefix "Upper" and was referred to as Upper Palais Archduke Albrecht and Upper Palais Archduke Frederick. For the state a special reference to the Habsburg past was certainly politically no longer opportune, which is why was decided to name the building according to the in it kept collection "Albertina".

Picture: The "Wedgwood Cabinet" after the restoration: Picture: the "Wedgwood Cabinet" in the Palais Archduke Friedrich, 1905

This name derives from the term "La Collection Albertina" which had been used by the gallery Inspector Maurice von Thausing in 1870 in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts for the former graphics collection of Duke Albert. For this reason, it was the first time since the foundation of the palace that the name of the collection had become synonymous with the room shell. Room shell, hence, because the Republic of Austria Archduke Friedrich had allowed to take along all the movable goods from the palace in his Hungarian exile: crystal chandeliers, curtains and carpets as well as sculptures, vases and clocks. Particularly stressed should be the exquisite furniture, which stems of three facilities phases: the Louis XVI furnitures of Duke Albert, which had been manufactured on the basis of fraternal relations between his wife Archduchess Marie Christine and the French Queen Marie Antoinette after 1780 in the French Hofmanufakturen, also the on behalf of Archduke Charles 1822-1825 in the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory by Joseph Danhauser produced Empire furnitures and thirdly additions of the same style of Archduke Friedrich, which this about 1900 at Portois & Ffix as well as at Friedrich Otto Schmidt had commissioned.

The "swept clean" building got due to the strained financial situation after the First World War initially only a makeshift facility. However, since until 1999 no revision of the emergency equipment took place, but differently designed, primarily the utilitarianism committed office furnitures complementarily had been added, the equipment of the former state rooms presented itself at the end of the 20th century as an inhomogeneous administrative mingle-mangle of insignificant parts, where, however, dwelt a certain quaint charm. From the magnificent state rooms had evolved depots, storage rooms, a library, a study hall and several officed.

Image: The Albertina Graphic Arts Collection and the Philipphof after the American bombing of 12 März 1945.

Image: The palace after the demolition of the entrance facade, 1948-52

Worse it hit the outer appearance of the palace, because in times of continued anti-Habsburg sentiment after the Second World War and inspired by an intolerant destruction will, it came by pickaxe to a ministerial erasure of history. In contrast to the graphic collection possessed the richly decorated facades with the conspicuous insignia of the former owner an object-immanent reference to the Habsburg past and thus exhibited the monarchial traditions and values ​​of the era of Francis Joseph significantly. As part of the remedial measures after a bomb damage, in 1948 the aristocratic, by Archduke Albert initiated, historicist facade structuring along with all decorations was cut off, many facade figures demolished and the Hapsburg crest emblems plunged to the ground. Since in addition the old ramp also had been cancelled and the main entrance of the bastion level had been moved down to the second basement storey at street level, ended the presence of the old Archduke's palace after more than 200 years. At the reopening of the "Albertina Graphic Collection" in 1952, the former Hapsburg Palais of splendour presented itself as one of his identity robbed, formally trivial, soulless room shell, whose successful republicanization an oversized and also unproportional eagle above the new main entrance to the Augustinian road symbolized. The emocratic throw of monuments had wiped out the Hapsburg palace from the urban appeareance, whereby in the perception only existed a nondescript, nameless and ahistorical building that henceforth served the lodging and presentation of world-famous graphic collection of the Albertina. The condition was not changed by the decision to the refurbishment because there were only planned collection specific extensions, but no restoration of the palace.

Image: The palace after the Second World War with simplified facades, the rudiment of the Danubiusbrunnens (well) and the new staircase up to the Augustinerbastei

This paradigm shift corresponded to a blatant reversal of the historical circumstances, as the travel guides and travel books for kk Residence and imperial capital of Vienna dedicated itself primarily with the magnificent, aristocratic palace on the Augustinerbastei with the sumptuously fitted out reception rooms and mentioned the collection kept there - if at all - only in passing. Only with the repositioning of the Albertina in 2000 under the direction of Klaus Albrecht Schröder, the palace was within the meaning and in fulfillment of the Fideikommiss of Archduke Charles in 1826 again met with the high regard, from which could result a further inseparable bond between the magnificent mansions and the world-famous collection. In view of the knowing about politically motivated errors and omissions of the past, the facades should get back their noble, historicist designing, the staterooms regain their glamorous, prestigious appearance and culturally unique equippment be repurchased. From this presumption, eventually grew the full commitment to revise the history of redemption and the return of the stately palace in the public consciousness.

Image: The restored suburb facade of the Palais Albertina suburb

The smoothed palace facades were returned to their original condition and present themselves today - with the exception of the not anymore reconstructed Attica figures - again with the historicist decoration and layout elements that Archduke Albrecht had given after the razing of the Augustinerbastei in 1865 in order. The neoclassical interiors, today called after the former inhabitants "Habsburg Staterooms", receiving a meticulous and detailed restoration taking place at the premises of originality and authenticity, got back their venerable and sumptuous appearance. From the world wide scattered historical pieces of equipment have been bought back 70 properties or could be returned through permanent loan to its original location, by which to the visitors is made experiencable again that atmosphere in 1919 the state rooms of the last Habsburg owner Archduke Frederick had owned. The for the first time in 80 years public accessible "Habsburg State Rooms" at the Palais Albertina enable now again as eloquent testimony to our Habsburg past and as a unique cultural heritage fundamental and essential insights into the Austrian cultural history. With the relocation of the main entrance to the level of the Augustinerbastei the recollection to this so valuable Austrian Cultural Heritage formally and functionally came to completion. The vision of the restoration and recovery of the grand palace was a pillar on which the new Albertina should arise again, the other embody the four large newly built exhibition halls, which allow for the first time in the history of the Albertina, to exhibit the collection throughout its encyclopedic breadh under optimal conservation conditions.

Image: The new entrance area of the Albertina

64 meter long shed roof. Hans Hollein.

The palace presents itself now in its appearance in the historicist style of the Ringstrassenära, almost as if nothing had happened in the meantime. But will the wheel of time should not, cannot and must not be turned back, so that the double standards of the "Albertina Palace" said museum - on the one hand Habsburg grandeur palaces and other modern museum for the arts of graphics - should be symbolized by a modern character: The in 2003 by Hans Hollein designed far into the Albertina square cantilevering, elegant floating flying roof. 64 meters long, it symbolizes in the form of a dynamic wedge the accelerated urban spatial connectivity and public access to the palace. It advertises the major changes in the interior as well as the huge underground extensions of the repositioned "Albertina".

Christian Benedictine

Art historian with research interests History of Architecture, building industry of the Hapsburgs, Hofburg and Zeremonialwissenschaft (ceremonial sciences). Since 1990 he works in the architecture collection of the Albertina. Since 2000 he supervises as director of the newly founded department "Staterooms" the restoration and furnishing of the state rooms and the restoration of the facades and explores the history of the palace and its inhabitants.

www.wien-vienna.at/albertinabaugeschichte.php