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engineer Arnold Spielberg
Arnold Meyer Spielberg (February 6, 1917 – August 25, 2020) was an American electrical engineer instrumental in contributions "to real-time data acquisition and recording that significantly contributed to the definition of modern feedback and control processes".[1] For General Electric[2] he designed, with his colleague Charles Propster, the GE-225 in 1959.[3] He cited the first computer-controlled "point of sale" cash register as his greatest contribution.[4] He was the father of film director Steven Spielberg.
From the age of nine, he began building radios. He scrounged parts from garbage cans to assemble his first crystal receiver. "At 15, Arnold became a ham radio operator, building his own transmitter, a skill that proved fortuitous when he enlisted in the U.S. Army in January 1942, one month after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and joined the Signal Corps." After training as a radio-gunner for the Air Corps his skills in the design of new airplane antennas elevated him to Communications Chief of a B-25 Squadron in India.[4] During the Holocaust, Spielberg lost between 16 and 20 relatives.[8]:21
Leah Posner, a talented concert pianist, married Spielberg in January 1945.[9] After graduating from the University of Cincinnati with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, he joined RCA's Advanced Development Department in 1949, where he did early work on servo and guidance systems.[5][10]
In 1960, Spielberg traveled to Moscow as part of a delegation of electrical engineers from Phoenix. The trip coincided with an incident that is the subject of the 2015 Steven Spielberg film Bridge of Spies.[11][12]
Steven Spielberg describes the event his father experienced at the time:
Quote:The Russians were putting the pilot Gary Powers' helmet and his flight suit and the remains of the U-2 plane on show for everyone in Russia to see. A military man saw my father's American passport and took him to the head of the queue and repeated really angrily to the crowd, "look what your country is doing to us."[11][13]
When RCA entered the computer field, Spielberg began doing early circuit designs implementing computer logic. Moving into systems design, he was responsible for the design of a tape-to-tape data sorter. He designed and patented the first electronic library system, implemented as an interrogation system for data stored on an array of magnetic tapes. Promoted to Manager of Advanced Product Development, he was given responsibility for development of a "point of sales" system. The system involved a central processing computer called Recorder Central with ten satellites, specially designed point-of-sale units. All data were error-checked by feedback data verification. The system had all the capabilities of today's point-of-sale systems, including price lookup on a large drum storage unit, calculating sales transactions including sales tax and discounts, and credit verification.[1]
In 1957, Spielberg began working for General Electric. Here he was instrumental in developing the GE-200 series of computers.[14] The GE-225 was derived from the GE-312 and 412 process-control computers. Spielberg and Charles "Chuck" H. Propster had worked together at RCA on BIZMAC before designing the GE-225,[15] introduced in 1960.[9]
Spielberg retired in 1991 but continued consultation work for technology companies. He also worked with the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, formerly Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation,[9] an organization founded by his son, Steven Spielberg.[16]
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chadwick_Boseman
Chadwick Aaron Boseman was born and raised in Anderson, South Carolina,[10][11][12] to Carolyn[13] and Leroy Boseman, both African-American.[14] According to Boseman, DNA testing indicated that his ancestors were Krio people from Sierra Leone, Yoruba people from Nigeria and Limba people from Sierra Leone.[15] His mother was a nurse and his father worked at a textile factory, managing an upholstery business as well.[16] Boseman graduated from T. L. Hanna High School in 1995.[17] In his junior year, he wrote his first play, Crossroads, and staged it at the school after a classmate was shot and killed.[16]
Boseman attended college at Howard University in Washington, D.C., graduating in 2000 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in directing.[18] One of his teachers was Phylicia Rashad, who became a mentor.[16] She helped raise funds, notably from her friend and prominent actor Denzel Washington[19] so that Boseman and some classmates could attend the Oxford Mid-Summer Program of the British American Drama Academy in London, to which they had been accepted.[16]
Boseman wanted to write and direct, and initially began studying acting to learn how to relate to actors.[20] After he returned to the U.S., he graduated from New York City's Digital Film Academy.[21][22]
He lived in Brooklyn at the start of his career.[16] Boseman worked as the drama instructor in the Schomburg Junior Scholars Program, housed at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York.[5] In 2008, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career.
Boseman got his first television role in 2003, in an episode of Third Watch. That same year, Boseman portrayed Reggie Montgomery in the daytime soap opera All My Children, but stated that he was fired after voicing concerns to producers about racist stereotypes in the script; the role was subsequently re-cast, with Boseman's future Black Panther co-star Michael B. Jordan assuming the role.[24] His early work included episodes of the series Law & Order, CSI:NY, and ER.[5] He also continued to write plays, with his script for Deep Azure performed at the Congo Square Theatre Company in Chicago; it was nominated for a 2006 Joseph Jefferson Award for New Work.[25] In 2008, he played a recurring role on the television series Lincoln Heights and appeared in his first feature film, The Express: The Ernie Davis Story.[26] He landed a regular role in 2010 in another television series, Persons Unknown.[26]
Boseman had his first starring role in the 2013 film 42, in which he portrayed baseball pioneer and star Jackie Robinson.[26] He had been directing an off-Broadway play in East Village when he auditioned for the role,[27] and was considering giving up acting and pursuing directing full-time at the time.[28] About 25 other actors had been seriously considered for the role, but director Brian Helgeland liked Boseman's bravery and cast him after he had auditioned twice.[29][18] In 2013, Boseman also starred in the indie film The Kill Hole, which was released in theaters a few weeks before the film 42.[30]
In 2014, Boseman appeared opposite Kevin Costner in Draft Day, in which he played an NFL draft prospect.[31] Later that year, he starred as James Brown in Get on Up. In 2016, he starred as Thoth, a deity from Egyptian mythology, in Gods of Egypt.[32]
In 2016, he started portraying the Marvel Comics character T'Challa / Black Panther, with Captain America: Civil War being his first film in a five-picture deal with Marvel.[33][34] He headlined Black Panther in 2018,[35] which focused on his character and his home country of Wakanda in Africa. The film opened to great anticipation, becoming one of the highest-grossing films of the year in the United States. He reprised the role in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, which were released in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Both films were the highest grossing of the year they were released, with Endgame going on to become the highest-grossing film of all time.[36] Also in 2019, he starred in 21 Bridges, an American action thriller film directed by Brian Kirk, as an NYPD detective who shuts down the eponymous 21 bridges of Manhattan to find two suspected cop killers.
In 2019, it was announced that Boseman was cast in the Netflix war drama film Da 5 Bloods, directed by Spike Lee.[37] The film was released on June 12, 2020.[38]
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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This is exploding on social media and in the news now. Another case of a GenXer dying too young - but not from irresponsible behavior as was the case for many early GenX deaths.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chadwick_Boseman
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1569276/
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/28/entertain...index.html
'Black Panther' star Chadwick Boseman dies at 43
By Christina Maxouris and Amir Vera, CNN
Updated 10:44 AM ET, Sat August 29, 2020
(CNN)Actor Chadwick Boseman, who brought the movie "Black Panther" to life with his charismatic intensity and regal performance, has died.
Boseman has battled colon cancer since 2016 and died at home with his family and wife by his side, according to a statement posted on his Twitter account. He was 43.
"A true fighter, Chadwick persevered through it all, and brought you so many of the films you have come to love so much," the statement said.
"From Marshall to Da 5 Bloods, August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and several more, all were filmed during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy."
With his role as King T'Challa in the boundary-breaking film "Black Panther," he became a global icon and an inspiring symbol of Black power. That role was the "honor of (Boseman's) career," the statement said.
![[Image: 200828232604-12-chadwick-boseman-exlarge-169.jpg]](https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/200828232604-12-chadwick-boseman-exlarge-169.jpg)
Chadwick Boseman is shown as T'Challa in "Black Panther."
He graduated from Howard University
A South Carolina native, Boseman graduated in 2000 from Howard University, a historically Black college in Washington, DC. While there, he also attended the British American Drama Academy at Oxford in 1998.
"It is with profound sadness that we mourn the loss of alumnus Chadwick Boseman who passed away this evening. His incredible talent will forever be immortalized through his characters and through his own personal journey from student to superhero! Rest in Power, Chadwick!" University President Wayne A. I. Frederick said in a statement.
Boseman's breakout performance came in 2013 when he played Jackie Robinson in the film "42." Boseman's passing was announced the day Major League Baseball honored Jackie Robinson Day, an annual commemoration delayed by several months due to the pandemic.
"His transcendent performance in '42' will stand the test of time and serve as a powerful vehicle to tell Jackie's story to audiences for generations to come," Major League Baseball tweeted Friday about the actor.
Boseman made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in 2016 as T'Challa/Black Panther in "Captain America: Civil War. Black Panther then got his own stand-alone movie that released in 2018, which broke box office records. Marvel Studios president had previously announced the second movie of the "Black Panther" saga would debut in theaters in May 2022.
The actor starred in other films, including playing James Brown in "Get On Up" and Thurgood Marshall in "Marshall."
Boseman returned to his alma mater in 2018 to give the commencement speech. He told the graduates about his early days acting on soap operas, saying he was fired from an unnamed production after he questioned what he felt was its stereotypical portrayal of Black characters.
"The struggles along the way are only meant to shape you for your purpose," he said at the time.
He concluded with his iconic "Wakanda Forever" salute.
'A superhero to many'
Boseman "brought history to life" with his roles, Martin Luther King III said.
"As Black Panther, he was also a superhero to many," he wrote on Twitter. "And despite his 4 year long battle with cancer, he kept fighting and he kept inspiring. He will be missed."
The NAACP also paid tribute to the actor, saying Boseman showed "us how to conquer adversity with grace."
"For showing us how to 'Say it Loud!' For (showing) us how to walk as a King, without losing the common touch. For showing us just how powerful we are," their Instagram statement said. "Thank you #ChadwickBoseman."
Sen. Kamala Harris, who also attended Howard, said she was heartbroken over Boseman's death.
"My friend and fellow Bison Chadwick Boseman was brilliant, kind, learned, and humble," she tweeted. "He left too early but his life made a difference. Sending my sincere condolences to his family."
Actor Mark Ruffalo, who starred aside Boseman in the Marvel movies as the Hulk, said the death adds to the growing list of tragedies in 2020.
"What a man, and what an immense talent," Ruffalo tweeted. "Brother, you were one of the all time greats and your greatness was only beginning. Lord love ya. Rest in power, King."
CNN's Lisa Respers France, Andy Rose and Jon Passantino contributed to this report.
Steve Barrera
[A]lthough one would like to change today's world back to the spirit of one hundred years or more ago, it cannot be done. Thus it is important to make the best out of every generation. - Hagakure
Saecular Pages
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pbrower and I were up to the same thing. No wonder the Page Was Unresponsive.
Steve Barrera
[A]lthough one would like to change today's world back to the spirit of one hundred years or more ago, it cannot be done. Thus it is important to make the best out of every generation. - Hagakure
Saecular Pages
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Carl Assar Eugén Lindbeck[/url] (26 January 1930 – 28 August 2020)[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assar_Lindbeck#cite_note-1][1] was a Swedish professor of economics at Stockholm University and at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN).[2]
Lindbeck was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences,[3] the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters[4] and previously chaired the Academy's[clarification needed] prize committee for the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He was the first Swede to be appointed a foreign Honorary Member of the American Economic Association, and one of only three Swedes ever.[5]
Lindbeck has done research on unemployment (e.g. the insider-outsider theory of employment), the welfare state (including the effect of changing social norms), and China's reformed economy. Lindbeck received a Ph.D. from Stockholm University in 1963 with the doctoral thesis A study in monetary analysis.[6][7]
Assar Lindbeck also has a theory on self-destructive welfare state dynamics, in which the welfare system erodes norms relating to work and responsibility: change in the work ethic is related to a rising dependence on welfare state institutions. It was on the basis of this viewpoint that he promoted the economic theories of conservative American theorist James McGill Buchanan. Indeed, it is said that it was through Lindbeck's influence at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences that Buchanan was awarded the 1986 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, a decision which was criticized by the British writer and columnist George Monbiot in 2017.[8]
Lindbeck previously headed the Institute for International Economic Studies at Stockholm University, Sweden. In 1992–1993 he headed the so-called "Lindbeck Commission", which was appointed by the Government of Sweden to propose reforms in light of the then-ongoing economic crisis.
Lindbeck has criticized the Swedish rent control system since the 1960s. This has resulted in one of his most famous quotes: “In many cases rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city—except for bombing.”[9]
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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Subtle influence on something extremely important should you need it. Surgery.
Seymour I. Schwartz, M.D., F.A.C.S (January 22, 1928 – August 28, 2020) was the Distinguished Alumni Professor for the Department of Surgery at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York. He was one of the most prolific and honored surgeons in American history with further successes outside of the field of medicine as a renowned author and cartographic historian.[1] His most notable accomplishments in surgery include being the founding Editor-in-Chief of Schwartz's Principles of Surgery, Chairman of the Department of Surgery at the University of Rochester (1987-1998), Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons (1996-2004) and President of the American College of Surgeons (1997-1998). After spending nearly 65 years in the field of surgery, he has published hundreds of research articles, textbook chapters, and received numerous honors in the United States and abroad. Schwartz has lectured throughout the world as a visiting professor and donated to many philanthropic endeavors. His influence on surgical education and leadership has impacted nearly every practicing surgeon in the world.[2] Throughout his career, Schwartz has treated and changed the lives of tens of thousands of patients and trained generations of residents and fellows to share in his legacy and do the same.
Schwartz authored many books on the history of surgery, including Gifted Hands: America's Most Significant Contributions to Surgery, Holystic Medicine – The Patron Saints of Medicine, and The Anatomist, The Barber-Surgeon and the King. What began initially as a hobby, led to significant accomplishments and contributions in the field of cartography. His most notable cartographic publications include The Mapping of America, This Land is Your Land: The Geographic Evolution of the United States, Mis-Mapping of America, and Putting "America" on the Map. These contributions earned him the honor of serving on the board of trustees for the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution, as well as the Advisory Board for the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress.[3] In 2005, he was elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society.
Schwartz's Principles of Surgery[edit]
Among Schwartz's many accomplishments in the field of modern surgery, his most notable contribution was as Editor-in-Chief of Principles of Surgery (later editions titled Schwartz's Principles of Surgery) which has become one of the most widely read surgical textbooks in the United States and Internationally. In 1965, McGraw Hill Publishing Company approached six surgeons to write and edit a comprehensive textbook in surgery. It was intended to be the surgical complement to the company's earlier publication of Harrison's Textbook of Medicine, a leading textbook for Internal Medicine. At the time, Schwartz was known to McGraw Hill because of his recent publication, a textbook entitled, Surgical Diseases of the Liver. Schwartz was the most junior of the authors and therefore was the only surgeon on the editorial board who was not consumed by administrative responsibilities. He was unanimously voted to be the Editor-in-Chief by his co-editors, Dr. David Hume, Dr. Richard Lillehei, Dr. George Shires, Dr. F.C. Spencer, and Dr. E.H. Storer.[20]
The textbook was published in 1969 and became an immediate national and international success. It has been translated into nine languages and was in its 10th edition as of June 2015. It is the most widely read surgical textbooks among surgical residents and is frequently encouraged, if not mandatory reading in a number of surgical residency programs.[21] Schwartz remained the Editor-in-Chief for seven editions before passing this role on to F. Charles Brunicardi, M.D., FACS, the Moss Foundation Chair in Gastrointestinal and Personalized Surgery, Professor and Vice Chair Surgical Services, Chief of General Surgery, UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center, Department of Surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Among surgeons, the textbook is commonly referred to simply as "Schwartz" and is recognizable by its traditional yellow coloring.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_I._Schwartz
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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A great "Sixth Man" on a basketball team
For the 1980s NBA player, see Cliff Robinson (basketball, born 1960).
Clifford Ralph Robinson (December 16, 1966 – August 29, 2020) was an American professional basketball player who played 18 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Selected in the second round of the 1989 NBA draft, he played the first eight seasons of his career with the Portland Trail Blazers, followed by stints with the Phoenix Suns, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors, and New Jersey Nets. Robinson received the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in 1993 and was selected as an NBA All-Star in 1994. He played college basketball for the UConn Huskies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_R...born_1966)
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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former President of India
Pranab Kumar Mukherjee (Bengali pronunciation: [prɔnɔb kuːmaːr mukʰardʒi̯] (![[Image: 11px-Loudspeaker.svg.png]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Loudspeaker.svg/11px-Loudspeaker.svg.png) listen); 11 December 1935 – 31 August 2020)[3][4][5][6][7][8] was an Indian politician who served as the 13th President of India from 2012 until 2017. In a political career spanning five decades, Mukherjee was a senior leader in the Indian National Congress and occupied several ministerial portfolios in the Government of India.[9] Prior to his election as President, Mukherjee was Union Finance Minister from 2009 to 2012. He was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna in 2019 by the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind.
Mukherjee got his break in politics in 1969 when the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi helped him get elected to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Parliament of India, on a Congress ticket. Following a meteoric rise, he became one of Gandhi's most trusted lieutenants and a minister in her cabinet in 1973. Mukherjee's service in a number of ministerial capacities culminated in his first stint as Finance Minister of India in 1982–84. He was also the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha from 1980 to 1985.
Mukherjee was sidelined from the Congress during the premiership of Rajiv Gandhi. Mukherjee had viewed himself and not the inexperienced Rajiv, as the rightful successor to Indira following her assassination in 1984. Mukherjee lost out in the ensuing power struggle. He formed his own party, the Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress, which merged with the Congress in 1989 after reaching a consensus with Rajiv Gandhi. After Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in 1991, Mukherjee's political career revived when Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao appointed him Planning Commission head in 1991 and foreign minister in 1995. Following this, as elder statesman of the Congress, Mukherjee was the principal and architect of Sonia Gandhi's ascension to the party's presidency in 1998.
When the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came into power in 2004, Mukherjee won a Lok Sabha seat (the popularly elected lower house of Parliament) seat for the first time. From then until his resignation in 2012, Mukherjee held a number of key cabinet portfolios in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government – Defence (2004–06), External Affairs (2006–09) and Finance (2009–12) – apart from heading several Groups of Ministers (GoMs) and being Leader of the House in the Lok Sabha. After securing the UPA's nomination for the country's presidency in July 2012, Mukherjee comfortably defeated P. A. Sangma in the race to Rashtrapati Bhavan, winning 70 percent of the electoral-college vote.
In 2017, Mukherjee decided not to run for re-election and to retire from politics after leaving the presidency due to "health complications relating to old age." His term expired on 25 July 2017.[10][11][12] He was succeeded as President by Ram Nath Kovind. In June 2018 Mukherjee became first former President of India to address a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) event.[13]
Mukherjee was nominated as the presidential candidate of the United Progressive Alliance on 15 June 2012 after considerable political intrigue.[65][66] The elections were scheduled to be conducted on 19 July 2012 and the results were expected to be announced on 22 July 2012. The nominee of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was P. A. Sangma.[67] To file his nomination for the presidential poll on 28 June, Mukherjee resigned from the government on 26 June 2012.[63]
In the election, Mukherjee received 713,763 votes, while Sangma had 315,987.[68] In his victory speech, delivered outside his residence before the results were officially announced, he said:
Quote:I would like to express my deep gratitude to all of you who are waiting. The figure has crossed 7 lakhs, only one state remains. The final figure will come from the returning officer. I would like to thank the people of India for electing me to this high office. The enthusiasm, the warmth of the people was remarkable. I have received much more from the people of this country, from the Parliament, than I have given. Now I have been entrusted with the responsibility of protecting and defending the constitution as President. I will try and justify the trust of the people. I would like to reciprocate the congratulation Shri Purno Sangma has extended.[69]
Mukherjee was sworn-in by the Chief Justice of India on 25 July 2012,[70] becoming the first Bengali to hold the post of President of India.[32] After being administered the oath of office, he said we are in the midst of a fourth world war of terror (the third was the Cold war) and what minutes of peace can achieve cannot be achieved in many years of war.[71]
Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh both congratulated Pranab Mukherjee on his election as president.[72] Former Communist leader Somnath Chatterjee termed Mukherjee as one of "the best parliamentarians and statesmen of India" and said the country "has got the most able man for the top job."[73] Opposition leader Sharad Yadav declared "the nation needed a president like Pranab Mukherjee."[74] Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit commented and said Mukherjee will be "one of the wisest presidents." She further marvelled at the fact that parties in the opposition ranks supported Mukherjee. "Even the NDA broke up and wanted to vote for the president to be Pranab Mukherjee."[75] The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was reportedly "shocked" and "upset" at the cross-voting for Mukherjee by its legislative members.[76] However, the BJP party President Nitin Gadkari congratulated Mukherjee and said "I extend my hearty congratulations to Pranab Mukherjee on his election today as the new President of India." Gadkari further declared "I am sure that the country will make further development and progress. I wish him all success and a bright future."[77]
The Zee News noted: "What is striking about [Mukherjee] is that after more than four decades in public life, the Opposition had no ammunition against him after he was declared UPA’s choice for President. In spite of Team Anna making some noise about him being involved in some corruption cases, it has been more or less an easy ride for Pranab to Raisina Hill. Once when Sonia Gandhi announced his name, most of the allies and the Opposition came on board. Whereas, NDA partner JD(U) saw no merit in opposing him, one of the bitter critics of the Congress Shiv Sena too toed the line a little too easily. This support was not for Congress but for [Mukherjee]."[31]
Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013 was promulgated by Pranab Mukherjee on 3 February 2013, which provides for the amendment of Indian Penal Code, Indian Evidence Act, and Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 on laws related to sexual offences.[78][79] As of July 2015, President Mukherjee had rejected 24 mercy pleas including those of Yakub Memon, Ajmal Kasab, and Afzal Guru.[80][81]
In January 2017, Mukherjee announced that he would not contest the 2017 Presidential elections citing "advanced age and failing health".[82]
(more at Wikipedia)
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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Brutal jailer for the Khmer Rouge, serial mass murderer
Kang Kek Iew or Kaing Kek Iev, also romanized as Kaing Guek Eav (Khmer: កាំង ហ្គេកអ៊ាវ), nom de guerre Comrade Duch or Deuch (មិត្តឌុច); or Hang Pin, (17 November 1942 – 2 September 2020)[1] was a Cambodian war criminal and leader in the Khmer Rouge movement, which ruled Democratic Kampuchea from 1975 to 1979. As the head of the government's internal security branch (Santebal), he oversaw the Tuol Sleng (S-21) prison camp where thousands were held for interrogation and torture, after which the vast majority of these prisoners were eventually executed.
He was the first Khmer Rouge leader to be tried by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the crimes of the Khmer Rouge regime,[2] and was convicted of crimes against humanity, murder, and torture for his role during the Khmer Rouge rule of Cambodia and sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment. On 2 February 2012, his sentence was extended to life imprisonment by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.
Even though he was responsible for the death of thousands of people, Kang Kek Iew, unlike other Khmer Rouge cadres, did not dismiss or justify his crimes. He admitted that he had been wrong and that he had done horrible things; he said that he repented and that he had converted to Christianity. During his trial, he provided detailed accounts of what happened inside S-21 and inside the Khmer Rouge regime, and this helped shed light on the regime and other cadres' responsibility.[3]
In 1964, Kek Iew began studying for his teaching certificate in Mathematics, a subject he loved, at the Institut de Pédagogie.[8] The Institute was a cradle of activism under the directorship of Son Sen who was later to emerge as the Defence Minister of the Khmer Rouge and Duch's immediate superior.
On 28 August 1966, Kek Iew received his teaching certificate and was posted to a lycée in Skoun, a small town in Kampong Cham Province. He was a good teacher, remembered as earnest and committed by his pupils.[6][page needed] He joined the Communist Party of Kampuchea in 1967. Following the arrest of three of his students, he fled to the Khmer Rouge base in Chamkar Leu District where he was accepted as a full member of the Communist Party of Kampuchea.
A few months later, he was arrested and witnessed others being tortured at the Prey Sar prison[6][page needed] by Norodom Sihanouk's police for engaging in communist activities.[8] He was held without trial for the next two years. In 1970, when he was released following the amnesty granted to political prisoners by Lon Nol, he joined the Khmer Rouge rebels in the Cardamom Mountains bordering Thailand.
After the Khmer Rouge victory in April 1975 Duch and his men set up prisons throughout the capital including the infamous Tuol Sleng prison. Duch's request for a transfer in May 1975[14] to the Industrial Sector of government was denied.[8] The Tuol Sleng prison camp was initially headed by In Lon aka Comrade Nath with Duch acting as deputy.[6][page needed] Subsequently, In Lon was transferred and Duch promoted to be the Director.[15] By May 1976 all the prisons in Phnom Penh were consolidated and relocated to Tuol Sleng.
Prisons like Tuol Sleng were created to cleanse the population of suspected enemies of the revolution. In Tuol Sleng Duch ordered the execution of prisoners after their interrogation was completed. For example, on a list containing the names of 17 prisoners (eight teenagers and nine children), he wrote the order “Smash them to pieces.” On a longer list of detainees, his annotation reads “smash: 115; keep: 44 persons.” The text below this annotation reads “Comrade Duch proposed to Angkar; Angkar agreed.” On a list of 20 female detainees, Duch wrote annotations for each of them, ordering: “take away for execution,” “keep for interrogation” or “medical experiment". At least 100 detainees died after having all of their blood drawn for transfusions for wounded soldiers. Surgical operations were also performed on detainees in order to train medical staff.[16]
Duch impressed his superiors with his work and was appointed the head of Democratic Kampuchea's dreaded "special branch"; the Santebal.
As the party purges increased towards the end of the Democratic Kampuchea period, more and more people were brought to Duch, including many former colleagues including his predecessor at Tuol Sleng, In Lon. Throughout this period, Duch built up a large archive of prison records, mug shots and extracted "confessions".
On 6 January 1979, he was ordered by his superior to kill the remaining prisoners.[17] The next day Duch was amongst the last Khmer Rouge cadres to flee Phnom Penh after it fell to the Vietnamese army. Though he was unable to destroy much of the prison's extensive documents, he saw to the execution of several surviving prisoners before he fled the city.
Trial[edit]
![[Image: 220px-Kang_Kek_Iew_%28Kaing_Guek_Eav_or_...090720.jpg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Kang_Kek_Iew_%28Kaing_Guek_Eav_or_Duch%29_before_the_Extraordinary_Chambers_in_the_Courts_of_Cambodia_-_20090720.jpg/220px-Kang_Kek_Iew_%28Kaing_Guek_Eav_or_Duch%29_before_the_Extraordinary_Chambers_in_the_Courts_of_Cambodia_-_20090720.jpg)
On 31 July 2007, Duch was formally charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity and detained by Cambodia's United Nations-backed Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. Duch, represented by Cambodian lawyer Kar Savuth and French lawyer François Roux, appealed against his provisional detention by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia based on the more than eight years he spent without trial in Cambodian military detention. The appeal was unsuccessful and on 14 August 2008, the tribunal issued its indictment after completing their investigation of Duch.[20]
In February 2008, as part of the judicial process, Duch was taken to Tuol Sleng prison, the scene of his crimes. He reportedly collapsed in tears after stating, "I ask for your forgiveness – I know that you cannot forgive me, but I ask you to leave me the hope that you might."[21]
On 16 February 2009, the UN supervised trial of Duch began at a Phnom Penh court. Duch was prosecuted by international co-prosecutors William Smith and Anees Ahmed and was charged with "personally overseeing the systematic torture of more than 15,000 prisoners."[2] The presiding judge of the case was Nil Nonn. Duch was tried by a panel of five judges — three Cambodian, one French and one New Zealander — according to a 2003 pact between Cambodia and the United Nations establishing the tribunal.[20]
On 31 March 2009, Duch, in a statement in front of the Cambodia tribunal, accepted responsibility for torturing and executing thousands of inmates, expressed "heartfelt sorrow" for his crimes and vowed to cooperate fully with the tribunal.[22]
Duch surprised the tribunal on 27 November 2009 with a plea to be released. In his final statement before the tribunal he acknowledged his involvement in Khmer Rouge-era crimes, including the execution of more than 12,000 Tuol Sleng prisoners, but said they were committed by a "criminal party". Duch also noted that he had served more than 10 years in detention, and stressed that he had been fully cooperative with the tribunal. There were also conflicting closing arguments from Duch's defense team. His Cambodian lawyer, Kar Savuth demanded his client’s acquittal and release, while his international counterpart, François Roux pressed judges to hand down a lenient sentence.[23]
At the conclusion of the trial, prosecutors asked that Duch be given 40 years in prison if convicted.[24] On 26 July 2010, Duch was found guilty of crimes against humanity, torture, and murder; he was sentenced to 35 years imprisonment, with a pre-trial detention credit of 11 years being applied to his sentence and an additional controversial five-year deduction because his period of pre-trial detention exceeded the maximum allowed under Cambodian law.[25][26] On 3 February 2012, an upper court U.N. war crimes tribunal rejected his appeal and extended his sentence to life imprisonment[27] because of his "shocking and heinous" crimes. This ruling is final with no other chance for appeal. On 20 October 2018, he was hospitalized in serious condition.[28][29][30]
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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Kang Kek Iew nust be getting his first lessons in conversational German about now. It will be very useful where he is!
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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09-03-2020, 12:37 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-03-2020, 12:39 PM by David Horn.)
Tom Seaver, Pitcher Who Led ‘Miracle Mets’ to Glory, Dies at 75
A Hall of Famer, Seaver won 311 games for four different teams. But Mets fans called him Tom Terrific for turning around the club’s fortunes.
Tom Seaver, who had 3,640 strikeouts in his 20 big-league seasons, is sixth on the career list.
Tom Seaver, who had 3,640 strikeouts in his 20 big-league seasons, is sixth on the career list.Credit...Associated Press
Tom Seaver, one of baseball’s greatest right-handed power pitchers, a Hall of Famer who won 311 games for four major league teams, most notably the Mets, whom he led from last place to a surprise world championship in his first three seasons, died on Monday. He was 75.
The cause was complications of Lewy body dementia and Covid-19, according to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
At 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, give or take a few, with a thick waist and tree-trunk legs that helped generate the velocity on his fastball and hard slider and the spin on his curveball, Seaver at work was a picture of kinetic grace. He had a smooth windup, a leg kick with his left knee raised high, and a stride so long after pushing off the mound that his right knee often grazed the dirt.
With precise control, he had swing-and-miss stuff. He struck out more than 200 batters in 10 different seasons, a National League record, and on April 22, 1970, facing the San Diego Padres, he struck out a record 10 batters in a row to end the game. His total of 3,640 strikeouts in his 20 big-league seasons is sixth on the career list.
He was also a cerebral sort, a thinker who studied opposing hitters and pored over the details of each pitch — its break, its speed, its location. As he aged and his arm strength diminished, it was his strategic thinking and experience that extended his career.
Seaver pitched for the Cincinnati Reds, the Chicago White Sox and the Boston Red Sox during the second half of his career, winning more than 100 games, including his only no-hitter with the Reds against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1978.
Even so, the seasons he spent away from New York seem like little more than a footnote, because few players in baseball history have had the impact on a team that Seaver had on the Mets.
He was the team’s first bona fide star, known to New York fans as Tom Terrific and, more tellingly, The Franchise. The team was established five years before he arrived, and had not finished higher than ninth in the 10-team National League. Even then, the Mets had quickly earned a reputation for chuckleheaded ineptitude.
The Mets were hardly more inspiring in Seaver’s first two seasons, finishing 10th in 1967 and ninth in 1968, but Seaver himself served as the signal that the team’s fortunes were turning.
Until his arrival, no Mets pitcher had ever won more than 13 games in a season; Seaver won 16 his first year and 16 more the next.
He was the league’s rookie of the year in 1967, and was an All-Star nine times in 10 full seasons with the Mets. He had five seasons with more than 20 wins for the team, led the league in strikeouts five times and in earned run average three times. He won three Cy Young Awards as the league’s best pitcher.
All those achievements notwithstanding, there is no heroic Tom Seaver narrative without 1969, a year the so-called Miracle Mets won the World Series. That team charged from a losing record at the beginning of June and from 10 games behind in mid-August to capture the National League’s East Division crown, then swept the Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship Series and finally defeated the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles, winners of 109 regular-season games, four games to one for the World Series title.
Many Mets were unlikely contributors to the team’s unlikely success. None were more important than Seaver.
That July, he threw a nearly perfect game against the first-place Chicago Cubs, yielding only a single with one out in the ninth inning.
Beginning in August, the Mets went 39-14 the rest of the season, and Seaver won his last 10 decisions on his way to a 25-7 record and his first Cy Young. Then he won Game 1 of the N.L.C.S. against Atlanta (although he did not perform especially well), and he lost Game 1 of the World Series.
But he came back to pitch all 10 innings of Game 4, winning 2-1 and tilting the series in the Mets’ favor.
Beyond pure statistics, he was often given credit for being the workhorse whose expectations and example dragged the Mets from worst to first.
“He was a heck of a lot responsible for tightening things up around here,” the Mets catcher Jerry Grote told Sport magazine in 1970. “From the first year, he was going out to win, not pitch his turn. When Seaver’s pitching, those guys plain work a little harder.”
From 1969 on, Seaver was a celebrity — part of a new generation of sports heroes in New York. He starred along with Joe Namath of the Jets, who won the Super Bowl nine months before the Mets earned their championship, and Walt Frazier of the Knicks, who won the National Basketball Association crown in 1970.
During the championship season, when he expressed his view that the United States should get out of Vietnam, it was newsy, especially after protesters on Moratorium Day, Oct. 15, 1969, the same day as the fourth game of the World Series, distributed literature with his picture on it at Shea Stadium.
Further, both he and his wife, Nancy Lynn McIntyre, became popular objects of curiosity, recognized on the street and deluged with fan mail.
With their fresh-faced California good looks, they were invited to host a television talk show and to co-star in a regional theater production. A 1970 article about the two of them in McCall’s magazine was headlined “Tom & Nancy Seaver: America’s Very Own Beautiful Couple.”
The Mets never came close to their 1969 season again during Seaver’s tenure.
Intelligence is not knowledge and knowledge is not wisdom, but they all play well together.
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(09-03-2020, 12:37 PM)David Horn Wrote: Tom Seaver, Pitcher Who Led ‘Miracle Mets’ to Glory, Dies at 75
A Hall of Famer, Seaver won 311 games for four different teams. But Mets fans called him Tom Terrific for turning around the club’s fortunes.
Tom Seaver, who had 3,640 strikeouts in his 20 big-league seasons, is sixth on the career list.
Tom Seaver, who had 3,640 strikeouts in his 20 big-league seasons, is sixth on the career list.Credit...Associated Press
Tom Seaver, one of baseball’s greatest right-handed power pitchers, a Hall of Famer who won 311 games for four major league teams, most notably the Mets, whom he led from last place to a surprise world championship in his first three seasons, died on Monday. He was 75.
The cause was complications of Lewy body dementia and Covid-19, according to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
At 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, give or take a few, with a thick waist and tree-trunk legs that helped generate the velocity on his fastball and hard slider and the spin on his curveball, Seaver at work was a picture of kinetic grace. He had a smooth windup, a leg kick with his left knee raised high, and a stride so long after pushing off the mound that his right knee often grazed the dirt.
With precise control, he had swing-and-miss stuff. He struck out more than 200 batters in 10 different seasons, a National League record, and on April 22, 1970, facing the San Diego Padres, he struck out a record 10 batters in a row to end the game. His total of 3,640 strikeouts in his 20 big-league seasons is sixth on the career list.
He was also a cerebral sort, a thinker who studied opposing hitters and pored over the details of each pitch — its break, its speed, its location. As he aged and his arm strength diminished, it was his strategic thinking and experience that extended his career.
Seaver pitched for the Cincinnati Reds, the Chicago White Sox and the Boston Red Sox during the second half of his career, winning more than 100 games, including his only no-hitter with the Reds against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1978.
Even so, the seasons he spent away from New York seem like little more than a footnote, because few players in baseball history have had the impact on a team that Seaver had on the Mets.
He was the team’s first bona fide star, known to New York fans as Tom Terrific and, more tellingly, The Franchise. The team was established five years before he arrived, and had not finished higher than ninth in the 10-team National League. Even then, the Mets had quickly earned a reputation for chuckleheaded ineptitude.
The Mets were hardly more inspiring in Seaver’s first two seasons, finishing 10th in 1967 and ninth in 1968, but Seaver himself served as the signal that the team’s fortunes were turning.
Until his arrival, no Mets pitcher had ever won more than 13 games in a season; Seaver won 16 his first year and 16 more the next.
He was the league’s rookie of the year in 1967, and was an All-Star nine times in 10 full seasons with the Mets. He had five seasons with more than 20 wins for the team, led the league in strikeouts five times and in earned run average three times. He won three Cy Young Awards as the league’s best pitcher.
All those achievements notwithstanding, there is no heroic Tom Seaver narrative without 1969, a year the so-called Miracle Mets won the World Series. That team charged from a losing record at the beginning of June and from 10 games behind in mid-August to capture the National League’s East Division crown, then swept the Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship Series and finally defeated the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles, winners of 109 regular-season games, four games to one for the World Series title.
Many Mets were unlikely contributors to the team’s unlikely success. None were more important than Seaver.
That July, he threw a nearly perfect game against the first-place Chicago Cubs, yielding only a single with one out in the ninth inning.
Beginning in August, the Mets went 39-14 the rest of the season, and Seaver won his last 10 decisions on his way to a 25-7 record and his first Cy Young. Then he won Game 1 of the N.L.C.S. against Atlanta (although he did not perform especially well), and he lost Game 1 of the World Series.
But he came back to pitch all 10 innings of Game 4, winning 2-1 and tilting the series in the Mets’ favor.
Beyond pure statistics, he was often given credit for being the workhorse whose expectations and example dragged the Mets from worst to first.
“He was a heck of a lot responsible for tightening things up around here,” the Mets catcher Jerry Grote told Sport magazine in 1970. “From the first year, he was going out to win, not pitch his turn. When Seaver’s pitching, those guys plain work a little harder.”
From 1969 on, Seaver was a celebrity — part of a new generation of sports heroes in New York. He starred along with Joe Namath of the Jets, who won the Super Bowl nine months before the Mets earned their championship, and Walt Frazier of the Knicks, who won the National Basketball Association crown in 1970.
During the championship season, when he expressed his view that the United States should get out of Vietnam, it was newsy, especially after protesters on Moratorium Day, Oct. 15, 1969, the same day as the fourth game of the World Series, distributed literature with his picture on it at Shea Stadium.
Further, both he and his wife, Nancy Lynn McIntyre, became popular objects of curiosity, recognized on the street and deluged with fan mail.
With their fresh-faced California good looks, they were invited to host a television talk show and to co-star in a regional theater production. A 1970 article about the two of them in McCall’s magazine was headlined “Tom & Nancy Seaver: America’s Very Own Beautiful Couple.”
The Mets never came close to their 1969 season again during Seaver’s tenure.
He was my exact birthday twin, both of us born November 17, 1944. At first I thought Lauren Hutton also was but I believe she was a year earlier.
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Lou Brock, one-time stolen-base record-holder (single season and career)
Louis Clark Brock (June 18, 1939 – September 6, 2020) was an American professional baseball outfielder. He began his 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the 1961 Chicago Cubs but spent the majority of big league career as a left fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals. Brock was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985[1] and the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame in 2014. He was a special instructor coach for the St. Louis Cardinals.
Brock was best known for breaking Ty Cobb's all-time major league stolen base record in 1977.[2] He was an All-Star for six seasons and a National League (NL) stolen base leader for eight seasons. Brock led the NL in doubles and triples in 1968. He also led the NL in singles in 1972, and was the runner-up for the NL Most Valuable Player Award in 1974.
![[Image: 53a1849922be9.image.jpg?resize=464%2C620]](https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/bb/6bbc44c7-c5c9-5d5e-a9eb-e279db1af4e8/53a1849922be9.image.jpg?resize=464%2C620)
Stealing second base off Detroit Tigers' pitcher Mickey Lolich in the sixth inning of the second game of the World Series (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
![[Image: 95px-CardsRetired20.PNG]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c1/CardsRetired20.PNG/95px-CardsRetired20.PNG)
Number retired by the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team.
...........................
Chicago Cubs
![[Image: 220px-Lou_Brock_1964.jpg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b3/Lou_Brock_1964.jpg/220px-Lou_Brock_1964.jpg)
Brock made his major league debut with the Cubs on September 10, 1961, at the age of 22.[5] In his rookie season of 1962, Brock became one of four players to hit a home run into the center-field bleachers at the old Polo Grounds in New York since its 1923 reconstruction. His blast came against Al Jackson in the first game of a June 17 doubleheader against the New York Mets and was one of two that cleared the wall in consecutive days,[2] with Hank Aaron's coming the very next day. Joe Adcock was the first to hit a ball over that wall, in 1953. Babe Ruth reached the old bleachers (a comparable distance) before the reconstruction. Brock was not known as a power hitter, but he did display significant power from time to time.
Brock had great speed and base running instincts, but the young right fielder failed to impress the Cubs management, hitting for only a combined .260 average over his first two seasons. In 1964 after losing patience with his development, the Cubs gave up on Brock and made him part of a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals.[6] The June 15 deadline deal for pitcher Ernie Broglio saw Brock, Jack Spring, and Paul Toth head to St. Louis for Broglio, Bobby Shantz, and Doug Clemens. Cardinals general manager Bing Devine specifically sought Brock at the insistence of Cardinals' manager Johnny Keane to increase team speed and solidify the Cardinals' lineup, which was struggling after the retirement of left fielder Stan Musial in 1963.[7] At the time, many thought the deal was a heist for the Cubs. Broglio had led the National League in wins four years earlier, and had won 18 games the season before the trade.[8]
St. Louis Cardinals
After Brock was traded to the Cardinals, his career turned around significantly. He moved to left field and batted .348 and stole 33 bases for the remainder of the 1964 season.[5] At the time of the trade, the Cardinals were 28–31, in eighth place in the National League, trailing even the Cubs, who were 27–27 and in sixth place. Brock helped the Cardinals storm from behind to capture the National League pennant on the last day of the season.[2] Four months to the day after Brock's trade, the Cardinals won the 1964 World Series in seven games over the favored New York Yankees, who were appearing in their 14th World Series in 16 years (and their last until a dozen years later). Brock's contributions to the Cardinals' championship season were recognized when he finished in tenth place in voting for the 1964 National League Most Valuable Player Award.[9] Meanwhile, Broglio won only seven games for the Chicago Cubs before retiring from baseball after the 1966 season. To this day, the trade of Brock for Broglio is considered one of the most lopsided deals in baseball history.[10]
![[Image: 200px-Lou_Brock_2005.png]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/Lou_Brock_2005.png/200px-Lou_Brock_2005.png)
Lou Brock was part of the Cardinals' coaching staff during the team's 2005 spring training.![[Image: 200px-LouBrockstealing.jpg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/LouBrockstealing.jpg/200px-LouBrockstealing.jpg)
Lou Brock stealing at Busch Stadium vs the Atlanta Braves, 1975.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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British actress Diana Rigg
Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE (20 July 1938 – 10 September 2020) was an English actress. She played Emma Peel in the TV series The Avengers (1965–68), Countess Teresa di Vicenzo, wife of James Bond, in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) and Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones (2013–17). She also enjoyed a career in theatre, including playing the title role in Medea, both in London and New York, for which she won the 1994 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. She was made a CBE in 1988 and a Dame in 1994 for services to drama.
Rigg made her professional stage debut in 1957 in The Caucasian Chalk Circle, and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1959. She made her Broadway debut in the 1971 production of Abelard & Heloise. Her film roles include Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968); Lady Holiday in The Great Muppet Caper (1981); and Arlena Marshall in Evil Under the Sun (1982). She won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for the BBC miniseries Mother Love (1989), and an Emmy Award for her role as Mrs. Danvers in an adaptation of Rebecca (1997). Her other television credits include You, Me and the Apocalypse (2015), Detectorists (2015), and the Doctor Who episode "The Crimson Horror" (2013) with her daughter, Rachael Stirling.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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This is such a sad thread. People dying so young. The best people are gone. But thanks for keeping it going, Mr. Brower.
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Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari executed over 2018 security guard killing
By Reuters Staff
(Reuters) - Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari was executed on Saturday after being convicted of stabbing a security guard to death during anti-government protests in 2018, state media said, in a case that has sparked international outcry.
Afkari was executed “this morning after legal procedures were carried out at the insistence of the parents and the family of the victim,” the media quoted the head of the justice department in southern Fars province, Kazem Mousavi, as saying.
Afkari was convicted of killing Hassan Turkman, a water company security guard, and other charges. Iran’s Supreme Court rejected a review of the case in late August.
Afkari, a 27-year-old Greco-Roman wrestler, had said he was tortured into making a false confession, according to his family and activists, and his attorney says there is no proof of his guilt. Iran’s judiciary has denied Afkari’s claims.7
Afkari’s attorney accused authorities of denying his client a family visit before the execution, as required by law.
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“Were you in so much hurry to execute the sentence that you also deprived Navid of a last meeting?,” Hassan Younesi said on Twitter.
There was no immediate reaction by Iranian officials to the attorney’s accusation.
The International Olympic Committee said the execution of Afkari was “very sad news”, adding in a statement that IOC President Thomas Bach had written this week to Iranian leaders asking for mercy for him, while respecting Iran’s sovereignty.
A global union representing 85,000 athletes had called on Tuesday for Iran’s expulsion from world sport if it executed Afkari.
Afkari’s case had sparked an outcry from Iranians on social media and human rights groups. U.S. President Donald Trump also called on Iran this month not to execute the wrestler.
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The killing of the security guard took place during some of the worst unrest in a decade over economic hardships. Iran’s clerical rulers have blamed the street protests what they call “thugs” linked to exiles and foreign foes - the United States and Israel.
Iranian state television aired a video last week in which Afkari appeared to confess to Turkman’s killing. The television also showed what appeared to be written confessions by Afkari, but he said in a recording circulated on social media that he was coerced into signing the documents.
“I hit twice, once and then again,” Afkari was shown saying with a stabbing gesture during a police reconstruction of the killing.
Human rights groups frequently accuse Iran’s state media of airing coerced confessions. Iran denies the accusation.
Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Frances Kerry
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-iran-...KKBN2630EP
My comment:
If anyone has any doubt that Iran has a gangster regime, then this should disabuse you of such. The techniques for investigating a stabbing murder are well-enough established (finger prints, blood of the victim and perhaps the killer) that nobody needs to torture a confession out of anyone anymore.
Torturing someone into an abject confession of a capital crime, that coerced confession resulting in execution, is itself murder of the most premeditated and inexcusable kind.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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Robert W. Gore, inventor of a critical plastic
Robert W. "Bob" Gore (April 15, 1937 – September 17, 2020) was an American engineer and scientist, inventor and businessman. Gore led his family's company, W. L. Gore & Associates, in developing applications of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) ranging from computer cables to medical equipment to the outer layer of space suits.[1][2] His most significant breakthrough was likely the invention of Gore-Tex, a waterproof/breathable fabric popularly known for its use in sporting and outdoor gear.
.
While his father Bill Gore was working for DuPont, he was also experimenting at home with DuPont materials such as Teflon Polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon PTFE). He wanted to insulate electrical wires using PTFE, but attempts to coat wire with powdered PTFE did not produce a consistent coating. In April 1957, while Bob was still a sophomore at Delaware, Bill showed him around his home lab and explained the problem he was having.
Bob suggested surrounding the wire with a different form of PTFE, a white tape that was already of uniform thickness. His father expected that the PTFE tape would not stick to the wire, but he tried the idea, and it worked. Wires were laid between layers of PTFE tape and sent through a grooved calendar roll, then heated to melt the tape into a coherent coating. The result was a PTFE-insulated ribbon cable containing multiple copper conductors, later called "Multi-Tet Cable".
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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author Winston Groom (Forrest Gump)
Winston Francis Groom Jr. (March 23, 1943 – September 17, 2020)[1][2] was an American novelist and non-fiction writer. He is best known for his 1986 novel Forrest Gump, which was adapted into the popular 1994 film Forrest Gump directed by Robert Zemeckis. The film was considered a cultural phenomenon and won six Academy Awards. He published a sequel, Gump and Co., in 1995. He also wrote numerous non-fiction works, on diverse subjects including the American Civil War and World War I.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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Gale Sayers, from the NFL Hall of Fame: S
GALE SAYERS
7 SEASONS
4,956 RUSHING YARDS
9,435 COMBINED NET YARDS
5 ALL-NFL SELECTIONS
The
4 PRO BOWLS
(KANSAS)...6'0'', 198...GALE EUGENE SAYERS ... KANSAS ALL-AMERICAN ... EXCEPTIONAL BREAK-AWAY RUNNER ... SCORED ROOKIE RECORD 22 TDS, 132 POINTS, 1965 ... LED NFL RUSHERS, 1966, 1969 ... NAMED ALL-TIME NFL HALFBACK, 1969 ... ALL-NFL FIVE STRAIGHT YEARS ... PLAYER OF GAME IN THREE PRO BOWLS ... CAREER TOTALS: 9,435 COMBINED NET YARDS, 4,956 YARDS RUSHING, 336 POINTS ... NFL LIFETIME KICKOFF RETURN LEADER ... BORN MAY 30, 1943, IN WICHITA, KANSAS ... DIED SEPTEMBER 23, 2020, AT AGE OF 77
GALE SAYERS CHICAGO BEARS
"I had a style all my own. The way I ran, lurchy, herky-jerky, I kept people off-guard so if I didn’t have that much power when I hit a man, hell, he was off-balance and I could knock him down."
![[Image: Sayers_Gale_Action_180-220.jpg?535]](https://www.profootballhof.com/assets/1/26/Sayers_Gale_Action_180-220.jpg?535) Gale Sayers burst upon the pro football scene in 1965 with the kind of impact that the sport had not felt in many years. It is difficult to imagine a more dynamic debut than the one he enjoyed as a rookie. In his first heavy pre-season action, he raced 77 yards on a punt return, 93 yards on a kickoff return, and then startled everyone with a 25-yard scoring pass against the Los Angeles Rams.
In regular season, he scored four touchdowns, including a 96-yard game breaking kickoff return, against the Minnesota Vikings. And, in the next-to-last game, playing on a muddy field that would have stalled most runners, Gale scored a record-tying six touchdowns against the San Francisco 49ers. Included in his sensational spree were an 80-yard pass-run play, a 50-yard rush and a 65-yard punt return. For the entire season, Gale scored 22 touchdowns and 132 points, both then-rookie records.
Quiet, unassuming, and always ready to compliment a teammate for a key block, Sayers continued to sizzle in 1967 and well into the 1968 season. Then, in the ninth game, Sayers suffered a knee injury that required immediate surgery.
After a tortuous rehabilitation program, Gale came back in 1969 in a most spectacular manner, winding up with his second 1,000-yard rushing season and universal Comeback of the Year honors. But injuries continued to take their toll and, just before the 1972 season, Gale finally had to call it quits.
In his relatively short career, he compiled a record that can never be forgotten. His totals show 9,435 combined net yards, 4,956 yards rushing, and 336 points scored. At the time of his retirement he was the NFL's all-time leader in kickoff return yards. He won All-NFL honors five straight years and was named Offensive Player of the Game in three of the four Pro Bowls in which he played.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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How did we miss this one for so long?
Quote:US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the history-making jurist, feminist icon and national treasure, has died, aged 87.
Ginsburg became only the second woman ever to serve as a justice on the nation's highest court.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49488374
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![[Image: 220px-Kang_Kek_Iew_%28Kaing_Guek_Eav_or_...090720.jpg]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kang_Kek_Iew_(Kaing_Guek_Eav_or_Duch)_before_the_Extraordinary_Chambers_in_the_Courts_of_Cambodia_-_20090720.jpg)
![[Image: 220px-Lou_Brock_1964.jpg]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lou_Brock_1964.jpg)
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